Apparently there is a Jewish Christmas tradition in NYC.  Since everything is closed except for movies and Chinese restaurants, Jewish people go to Chinatown for a lunch meal and then do the movies afterward.

My Jewish friend and I walked through Chinatown in search of a restaurant that didn’t have an hour wait.  We ended up picking one with roast ducks on hooks hanging in the window.  I had been eating Fujianese cuisine near my part of the Chinatown.  The Cantonese roast ducks, congee, beef chow fun, and shrimp egg noodles were oh so delicious

Even though I hadn’t quite felt the Christmas spirit the last few days, being in the crowds and later at the ice rink in Bryant Park today has brought me new cheers

Really deep down inside, there’s an entrepreneur in me that’s waiting to get out.

Like most people, I have a lot of ideas and like to talk about them.  Most of the ideas die out in this stage; after a couple beers, they are never talked about again.  Funny thing about this idea was that I never talked about it; I just went and did it.
When I came back to the US, I was looking to help my uncle, who owns shoe factories in Vietnam, secure a few contracts with US brands, so I started looking details of the import and export business. The gist of the business would be to represent his company, a shoe manufacturer, in obtaining shoe contracts from name brand companies.  Other than wearing shoes everyday, I can’t tell you much about the details of shoe making.  Naturally that would make pitching a shoe factory’s ability to a shoe designer quite difficult.

At the end of the day I am connecting buyers and sellers.  So who are the big buyers out there?  Think about this for a moment.  Nike?  What about Target?  What about Walmart?  Now we are talking.  Or the US Government!  Bingo.  If the US government is the biggest buyer with their ungodly budget, then why don’t I find out what they want to buy and find people who have the goods?  The process makes much more sense when it’s driven by Demand rather than Supply.  Further, they are probably the most recession proof demand there is because no matter how bad the economy is, people are still paying taxes and the government is still spending.
That was four weeks ago.  Fast forward to today, I now have my first contract with the military to deliver Apitong Lumber to them.  www.taiwanjackllc.com 

Admittedly, my entrepreneurial track record is not very good, but I have high hopes for this one

I remember what a friend of mine said when he moved to NYC a few years back.  “New York is such a big city; there are so many people.  I will probably feel lost.”  He made it here just fine although he did move back to CA just a few months ago.
Living in NYC is like being in a room where 100 rotating mirror balls hang from the ceiling and go-go dancing lights flash in your face.  There is so much stuff going on all at once.  Everyone has many choices of what to do with his time, assuming he is not working 12 hour days and hoping not to be on the blacklist for the next round of layoffs.

Good thing about NYC is that old friends from high school and college have found their way here.  It’s good to see familiar faces and catch up.

I just moved to the smallest 3 bedroom apartment in Chinatown part of NYC.  I live with a turkish film maker, who by the way sports a beard too, and two russian students who decided to move into a 6′x8′ cubicle.  This is a far cry from the comfortable Boca apartment Jose and I shared, but I am one block away from the best food in the city.

So life begins in the big apple. As Frank used to sing…

“If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere,
It’s up to you, New York, New York.”