Aug04

She Has A Good Heart – my first movie

by misheel on August 4th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Posted In: Mongolia, Motivational, Personal

This is my first movie.  It is a product of Digital Storytelling class with Aspen Writer’s Foundation and Final Cut class at Anderson Ranch that I took in June, thanks to Digital Arts Foundation’s sponsorship. I feel that I owe it to Charles Abbott and Michael Stranahan to continue working with Final Cut and become much better at editing, shooting, and storytelling in this new media. I am very grateful to be able to understand the basics of putting together footage. Education unlocks doors. The rest (getting equipment and experience) is up to me!

The movie is about my great-grandmother. I was pretty ambitious and didn’t appreciate the wisdom of my great-grandmother when I was younger, and a few thoughts in hindsight…

It was fun to create the soundtrack in Garageband and edit. There is still so much to learn!

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Dec30

Biases In The News: Iran & A Case of the Doctors’ Spat

by misheel on December 30th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized

Biases In The News: Iran & A Case of the Doctors’ Spat

by Misheel Chuluun

Check out some of the biases I’ve noticed this morning in the US News & WSJ. How they present the info is funny & insidiously biased.

Regarding Iran

Okay, I know the citizens of the “Six Nation Talks” with Iran (US, UK, Germany, Russia, China, & France) don’t want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. And pretty much a lot of other people around the world including a few Iranians.

But biased news is good to note, regardless of our preferences. (By the way, when these six nations talk with Iran, shouldn’t it be called SEVEN NATION TALKS?)

  • The leader of the Iranian opposition is Mir Hossein Mousavi (not Mir Hussein Mousavi). After seeing a lot of the names of the Iranian opposition with Hossein in their names, I began to wonder if I’m making a faux pas. But no, there’s no phonetic or linguistic differentiation. Just a diversionary Western spelling to differentiate perception. Same with Imam Hossein, Ali Hossein Montazeri, etc. all of whom happened to be fueling the Iranian government opposition side.
  • “Iran’s government lashed out at US and Britain” (not “Iran lashed out at US & UK’s governments” which would probably be more accurate since Iranians in general have been protesting US and UK’s involvements in their affairs, and Ahmadinejad is somewhat a mouthpiece)…
  • Pro-government demonstrations in Iran are “staged,” as they protest US and UK involvement, and want the foreign-tainted opposition leaders to be killed, displaying“Death to Mousavi” posters

A Doctors’ Spat

Today: “Two top medical journals found weaknesses in how the FDA approves cardiovascular medical devices.” AMA and JAMA articles cited studies looking at 80+ cardiovascular devices approved from 2000 to 2007.

But a few days ago on 12/23/09 in WSJ, it was described under a headline of a “doctors’ spat.” The younger doctor, Nalini Rajamannan, who brought this issue to light, was described as competing against Dr. Patrick McCarthy of the prestigious research hospital at Northwestern University, who invented this cardiovascular device, Myxo ring.

The fact is, he installed this device into people before any government testing or approval. This established, famed doctor claimed, pretty much that all’s well that ends well… since it turned out not to be harmful, and later approved by the FDA, there shouldn’t be any legal trouble. FDA agreed there was no violation.

Perhaps now, since “top medical journals” back the younger doctor now, it is legitimate to report the “FDA loophole” as the primary issue and to bring the problem back to FDA’s procedures.

Can human experimentations be approved post-hoc? Hmmmm… just a two doctors’ spat, huh?

Just sayin’.

-Misheel

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Dec24

Last Week In Review: Bar Opening, Fundraiser Sundays, & CWMD

by misheel on December 24th, 2009 at 3:38 am
Posted In: Gurkhas Restaurant, Marketing

Here are last week’s highlights!

Gurkhas Bar & Restaurant:

We had the soft opening, private party on Saturday. This event required the construction staff to finish the bar at a tight schedule, barely finishing in time; Ben to coordinate cooking all the appetizers with the kitchen staff; my coordinating all the marketing activities with Narayan; my coordinating hiring of new staff; Narayan and I purchasing of all equipment, drinks, and supplies; my coordinating with all the liquor and wine suppliers; coming up with new specialty drink recipes; practicing making them on the fly literally hours before the event; making the new menus; helping design the marketing material; training the staff on what to do; and taking care of details like filling the balloons with Helium. I hardly slept 6 hours straight any single day.

The whole experience was totally nerve-wrecking, and felt like I was sitting there getting injected at an operating table with anesthetics, except it lasted a whole week! Nothing can compare to Gabriel’s being there for me, driving 4 hours from Aspen. I am so grateful for his support and commitment to be there for me, even though he had work back in Aspen the next day.

But it was a success! All the guests enjoyed themselves, or at least told me they did. They loved the drinks.

Know of a Good Cause, Local Nonprofit, or Good Initiative that is Looking for Funding?

At the restaurant, as their Marketing Director, I am doing an initiative Fundraiser Sundays, where 15% of all proceeds on every Sunday will go to a different local cause. Also, there will be a presentation on that cause at noon at the restaurant, a blog post on the magazine Grow2Be (The magazine will be launched soon by Warren Stokes. I am a volunteer writer.), and the nonprofit will also be highlighted at local newsletters.

I shared this information and asked people to submit good suggestions through postings at various local groups on LinkedIn. Over 40 people responded with awesome details, information, and offers to help. I am overwhelmed with all the wonderful efforts there are in this community.

Colorado Women Making a Difference

Melissa Costanza, founder of this group, gave me ownership of this group of 164 amazing ladies. She is moving to Florida. I first met her at a CWMD event suggested by my brother Mergen Chuluun.

Having just moved to Colorado from Chicago, three months ago, I was grateful to meet her among 10 other awesome ladies. I called her soon after, to ask her for advice on how I can get my marketing initiative off the ground with the Gurkhas Restaurant, where I was starting to work. She gave me 4 ways to contact her, called me a couple of times to make sure she got a hold of me, and then spent an hour and a half speaking to me as if she was a longtime friend and mentor.

Melissa gave me lots of great ideas, embellished my ideas, and gave me so much to go on that my new job as a Marketing Director for the restaurant really pulled all my other interests together into it. She is a phenomenal lady.

Melissa’s mission with this group is to help everyone succeed through facilitating everyone helping each other. I am so grateful to know Melissa in the brief time I met her. I would like to help everyone here succeed in the same spirit that she offered her help to me.

Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful week. Enjoy the holidays!

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Dec19

How to Download Mongolian Cyrillic on A Mac

by misheel on December 19th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Posted In: Mongolia

How to Download Mongolian Cyrillic on A Mac

by Misheel Chuluun

Here’s how I did it.

  1. Download Mongolian Cyrillic keyboard layout here.
  2. Go to folder MacintoshHD/Library/KeyboardLayouts. Mongolian Cyrillic Keyboard Layout should be there. (if it’s not there, then do #3) Move it to MacintoshHD/Users/(pick yourself)/Library/KeyboardLayouts.
  3. Find the layout you downloaded. Make sure you remove the .xml part of the ending, and then Move it to MacintoshHD/Users/(pick yourself)/Library/KeyboardLayouts.
  4. Download Mongolian Cyrillic font here.
  5. Go to your International settings in System Settings. Pick Input Menu tab (Language/Formats/Input Menu). Check Mongolian Cyrillic Keyboard. (If you didn’t have it already, a flag should appear on your computer menu bar, on the right side, next to your battery reserve indicator.)
  6. Open Macintosh PAGES. (Microsoft Word for Macs didn’t work for me.)
  7. Pick Mongolian font.
  8. Pick the Mongolian keyboard on the Flag I mentioned.

Type in Mongolian.

-Misheel

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Dec14

Last Week In Review; Gurkhas, La Roi Soleil, Enophiliacs, Meetups, & First Podcast

by misheel on December 14th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Posted In: Personal

Planning for the bar opening at Gurkhas restaurant and the opening parties are keeping me completely wrapped up in details like cocktail napkins, cost basis, finding music performers, etc.

Here are some of the highlights from last week, though. Some of the information may be a repeat for the more avid readers of what I’m up to (like Gabriel, who subscribed to the daily updates–*smile*) on http://misheel.posterous.com.

Got Library Card

Books, Electronic Service and ebooks, and Periodicals.

Public Library is also a great venue for educational events I can hold.

I’m planning an educational presentation with dad’s Mongolian Air Quality Powerpoint materials within first 2 weeks of January, there. It would work well as a marketing tool for the Benefit Events like Enophiliacs Meetup, Gurkhas Bar Opening, and Fundraiser Sundays. (http://www.meetup.com/Enophiliacs)

Saw La Roi Soleil – French Musical

For a free show, it was so entertaining. And all in French!

Enophiliacs – wine & dinner group and benefit for Clean Air Mongolia project

Group now has 38 members

3 paid guests already for the first event, which is scheduled January 21st.

Gabe got a job

Started receiving the Wall Street Journal

One of the coolest gifts. Thanks, Mergen.

Rory Vaden’s Presentation down in Denver, on Humor and Public Speaking

Now I know that I can be funny, and more than once a year! ;-)

I also know now how to apply it in Presentation

FYI – Rory Vaden is colleague from Southwestern Publishing Company, Summer 2002. He was twice a Finalist and runner-up to the World Championship of Public Speaking Competition, hosted by Toastmasters International.

Had my Spanish Lesson #1 and got a Mongolian language student

Unexpected, but definitely part of the big picture

By the way, the teacher and the student are the same person, Jose, a chef from Peru who is going to travel to Mongolia next summer to study authentic Mongolian cooking

Babysitting job for 6 mo old twins, a couple of days a week in January

Unexpected, but money speaks. I had babysat “for free” for my neighbor, just hanging out a few times. She asked if I’d be willing to do it as a paid gig for month of January, before her regular babysitter starts. I am more than happy to help.

Daylite is super useful

Learning the tools and the habits as an ongoing process to becoming more efficient is important. I focused on updating and using my Calendar, Daylite, because ultimately I must manage my contacts and time better.

Wildly Successful Women Meetup

May have found a publisher – I don’t think self-publishing is going to work for me. I’m too busy with lots of endeavors. I need other people to manage parts of the process of publishing, even if that will add years to the timeline.

Met a lady who owns a hotel – Very cool, because with my real estate background, this is a strong investment interest. I will invest in a hotel, in the future.

Met a lady who runs the Small Business Development Center – The reason this is awesome is a no-brainer because of all my entrepreneurial pursuits

Met lots of women who were totally supportive of my Clean Air Mongolia project and Sustainable Business Support in Mongolia (http://misheel.net/my-mission/)

Boulder Startup and Founder Meetup

Met the organizer, who knows tons of entrepreneurs and great resources for the entrepreneurs

Met a faculty member at Leeds College of Business who is conducting a Feasibility Course in the Spring semester and looking for entrepreneurs to work with a team of students. This is cool because I can work with them on the LOFT Containers idea.

Organizers Meetup

Met a guy who sells POS equipment to restaurants. That means he knows LOFT Containers idea’s target clients.

Met a guy who is an inventor. I can introduce him to a prototype making company’s founder.

Met a couple who is running a Volunteer Vacations Meetup, looking to expand it internationally.

First podcast with Mergen – SEO Podcast

It didn’t feel like a success, but definitely a progress!

Artsy Fartsy Book Opening

Illustrations by a former HS swim team member and classmate, fellow IB-er Kendra Spanjer. I saw several old classmates! J

Please keep in touch, let me know how you are doing. As you will note, I met a lot of people through Meetup.com. I highly recommend it.

Love,

Misheel.

P.S. You can always find new poems and blogs I’ve written by following links off of http://misheel.posterous.com at the top of the page. I wasn’t as active writing last week, but I’ll definitely put in more info this week.

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