October 27, 2007 by j.

Ah, the sun returns to us after a week of rain! Perfect timing too, we went to the pumpkin patch today and picked out some gems.

You know what I was thinking about the other day? I was in the ladies’ room at work, taking care of business, and I thought to myself - how does a large corporation determine how much toilet paper they are going to buy in a year? This amount surely must be budgeted on someone’s annual numbers. If say, they determine the average office worker makes 2.3 trips to the bathroom on a work day, times 22 work days in a month, times x squares per male visit and y squares per female visit….. I mean, is that how it works?

And, I know that in retail businesses there is a concept called shrinkage, which refers to the amount of loss the company experiences as a result of damaged or otherwise unsaleable merchandise, as well as internal theft. The retail companies factor this amount into their forecasts as an expected loss. Now… does a corporation/office building do the same? Of course there isn’t merchandise moving in and out, so losses wouldn’t show up in that format, but.. I was thinking - surely the maintenance crew for the building NEVER pay for toilet paper for their homes. I mean, if you had daily access to unlimited supplies of toilet paper, would you go to Wal-Mart after work and buy a 12-pack of Angel Soft because you had a coupon? No, I’m pretty sure you’d just help yourself to the office’s supply. What if you had 12 kids and a fat husband at home who are all monstrous pooping machines? And what if your elderly momma doesn’t have a lot of money, so the least you could do is keep her bathroom stocked? What kind of impact does this have on the amount the company spends on TP supplies? I wonder…

I still have to post pictures of our recent trip to nyc and the greatest steak evarrr!!

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October 20, 2007 by j.

I attended a funeral early this morning. A close friend to my family - she was only 50 years old, taken from us much too early by cancer. She is survived by a husband and two children.

What kind of strength does it take for a man to hold himself together through hours of sorrowful well-wishes from his wife’s friends, and to know that he is doing it alone? What kind of courage does it take for him to stand in front of his friends and talk about saying goodbye to his wife in her final hours? What kind of despair weighs on his heart, that he can sob openly for his loss?

An excerpt from his eulogy, translated from Chinese (but delivered much more beautifully in native language):

My most memorable moment from our courtship was when we climbed Yushan (Taiwan’s tallest mountain) together. We barely made it to the top, but I have a picture to prove that we made it. You were so tired and didn’t want to go any further, and I had to drag you to the top. I soldiered on, and as you clung to me, I thought to myself that I could be strong for both of us. I understood that I had found the person that I wanted to walk beside me for the rest of time.

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October 8, 2007 by j.

My weekend of adorableness:

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October 5, 2007 by j.

Omg, 5:15am and I just bought all this crap on ebay. What is the matter with me??

On a related note, LG sells a phone called “Shine”, and I found the following listing for it:
Available in Shinny Silver, SHINE is a visually captivating mobile phone. The mobile you place ‘SHINE’, you will be able to feel everyone’s glance becoming drawn into the attractiveness of the phone. This is simply a result of people’s instinctive attraction towards things that shine. Its design was inspired by luxurious shine of metal, creating minimal yet chic look & feel that will undoubtedly make you a person that shines. A true innovation, SHINE offers a new experience to the mobile phone technology, allowing a device so cold and emotionless to carry such naturally attractive and premium value. Cold, yet full of radiance, ‘SHINE’ will make you a brilliantly attractive existence.

Well, goshdarnit, I’m sold. Who doesn’t want to be a brilliantly attractive existence? Hm, I’m pretty sure my people were behind this listing.

You know what’s fun? Getting that email after you buy something on ebay, where they tell you you’re a winner.

This just isn’t right…

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October 4, 2007 by j.

9am. In the office. I wish I were dead. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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October 4, 2007 by j.

Omg it’s 4am, and I can’t sleep. I’m consumingly obsessed with finding an heirloom wedding kimono to hang up in my living room. The one I am fixated on costs over 3000 buckaronis - it’s black silk with the most gorgeous set of white cranes embroidered on the back, with lots of pink and white blooms and marsh grasses scattered about for framing. There could be a peacock lurking in the background, or maybe a crashing wave. I can’t remember now. When you hang it up, it looks like the most perfect picture you’ve ever seen in your life. IN YOUR LIFE.

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October 3, 2007 by j.

Things one should not do: Smell a filet, decide it smells questionable.. but grill and eat it anyway.
Oops. Lesson learned.

A bad day to be a duck

Over the last few days, I’ve seen several very thought-provoking documentaries as part of the APA film festival held annually here in DC. One was about host clubs in Japan, where women go and pay men to spend time with them in a boyfriend-ly fashion… called modern-day geisha houses, it amazes and humbles me that an entire industry has been built around meeting women’s emotional needs. Another one I saw was about the family of the Sikh gentleman in Phoenix who was shot in the days following 9/11, just because he was wearing a turban - the one image that stayed with me was of several of his brothers, heads wrapped in turbans, huddled around an American newspaper with fingers pressed to the paper, trying to piece together the foreign words explaining why their brother had been murdered. Not much more to say about it. Overwhelming. DC denizens, the films continue through the weekend with several strong selections available on saturday. Hope to see you there!

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