I Rant About Chinese Products Yet Again

One could easily say that yesterday I was on a tirade. It all started because I needed to wrap Eva's birthday present, the Tim Burton book I bought her while at the MoMA.

I could have simply used Christmas paper that I have at home, but the dilemma is two-fold. One problem is that I feel those who celebrate their birthdays so close to Christmas get jipped in a sense. They get cheated on gifts and most of the cheated gifts are wrapped in Christmas paper. I don't want to be one of those people; the one's who cheat others. I admit fully that I love to give people gifts. I love to make others happy be it with small gifts, large gifts, or simple compliments. So, as one might see, there was no way I was wrapping a birthday gift I was so excited about in Christmas paper!

The second problem with Christmas paper is that I prefer to save every sliver so that it may be used to wrap something next season. I don't want to waste it is what I'm saying.

So now I had the dilemma of how to wrap the gift. Simple I thought, get a handkerchief and wrap it in that. Well, that would have been nice if every handkerchief in the freaking US were not made in freaking CHINA! Scarves, head wraps, socks, and underwear...everything made in China.

So to end my tirade, I'll tell you that I chose not to wrap the book. I refrained from bitching too much about it, and yet here I am a whole day later still stewing!

One might ask, "what do you do now Steph?", and to that I have an answer! Go to furoshiki, they tell you where the wraps are made!

A Couple of Chuffing Questions

It's been a real fucked up day. My computer program hates me and is using Chinese symbols for my icons/buttons.



I was told to uninstall and re-install to fix the problem. Great! I'm so thrilled you told me that Bentley! Of course, considering some of the things that are happening around me to people I know, I should really stop bitching! I like to bitch about stuff though. I really like to bitch about China!

Here's my real point to writing today! I'm doing a gift exchange with friends. The gift needs to be generic and non-gender specific. In addition to said gift, I am including a small home made gift. What I would like are some ideas! What would you like that is small and relatively cheaply priced?? Small bottle of alcohol? Wine? Calendar? Crossword puzzles? A block of cheese? "Don't Let The Pigeon Stay Up Late" book? [Preferably something I can find that is not made in China, thanks]

So, give me some ideas while I give you some words!

rock:

1. To use. To make do with, usually to great effect.

In use: We don't need you to make the spare bed, we can rock the couch.

2.Streetball term for the basketball.
3. A form of cocaine.

V-Card: Virginity. All virgins have a "V-card" until they "cash it in" for sex.
BA: Badass, pronounced as bee-ay (as opposed to bitch being bee-ya).

NOW, a word question for you! Twitter friend @ibificus used the word "chuffed". Having never heard the word before I looked it up and found several different meanings. Now I'm curious. How do you use the word "chuff/ed"?

chuffed=adjective British Informal. delighted; pleased; satisfied. [As in, I'm chuffed by stories with sheep!]

chuffed=adjective British Informal. annoyed; displeased; disgruntled. [As in, I get so freaking chuffed when people talk to me when my body language says "get the fuck away".]

chuff (chuffed, chuffing, chuffs)=verb. To produce or move with noisy puffing or explosive sounds. [As in, I really didn't want to move those boxes, so in point I chuffed through the task so everyone knew.]

chuff (chuffs)=noun. A noisy puffing or explosive sound, such as one made by a locomotive. [As in, well, you get the idea!]

[By the way, those of you following my blogs (all One of you), you might have noticed my lack of letter writing as I noted I would do...nice of you to notice...I'm a slacker, you should know that by now]

NaBloPoMo Day Nine Post Seven - Oops!

Okay, so by the title I would hope you could infer that I missed two posts. I would hope more so that you are one of my two readers that pay attention often enough to simply know that I missed two posts.

Anyway, I'm way off the course of topic which is "how and why I would miss blogging"! I would like to blame work, since it is after all overwhelming me these days! I cannot though. As you may know, I was off to Berkley, California for a couple of days for a volunteer meeting for SEI (Structural Engineering Institute) that I am involved in since I am the local St. Louis Chair. It's not grand. You could even go so far to say I am Chair only because I lost the election. To be true though, I enjoy it some times as I altruistically love structural engineering. Sorry, off track, I won't dwell there but will get back to my point. I returned on Saturday, my first missed blog day/post. I would have sent a short blog from my phone, but was traveling non-stop in such a manner that my phone was on airplane mode most of the day. When I did get back to St. Louis, it was late, and so I only got a chance to do anything besides move at around 10pm; at which time I crashed into bed holding on snugly to my dogs that I missed dearly. It didn't occur to me until later in the day Sunday that I'd missed a day. I had sort of made a silent vow to blog Sunday with an extra to make up for my mistake. Well, you see how that went!

None the less, the bloggity guilt has overwhelmed me...and as such I will spend an enormous amount of time today catching up! Now is the time to either really try to focus with me, or to simply scroll to the bottom for your words!

-Thursday mom had surgery. She is doing well, but in a lot of pain. Thanks for all the well wishes!

-Thursday I flew out to Oakland, took the BART to the North Berkley station where I waited for a hotel shuttle to pick me up. Turns out two of the other meeting attendees were also waiting, so I got a head start meeting people!

-Friday I went to my meeting that went well. We then took off for a boat ride around the bay to look at the old, new, and still under construction Bay Bridge. I encourage you to go check out baybridgeinfo.org. We had a great guide and an all around great trip on the bay (despite my innate fear of water, I enjoyed myself). See pictures below.

-Upon returning to the hotel (that sits in a marina) I discovered that I didn't need to go to any meetings that evening, but only to a dinner that was several hours away. I decided to take that time to go for a jog in a nearby park, Cesar Chavez Park (see below for location and pictures). While jogging I literally had to stop to catch my breath from the over powering view. At the North end of the park as one turns the corner from the East, you can see out over the bay to the mountains, to Yogi Bear Island (see a map for real Island name), to the Golden Gate and Bay bridges, and even to San Fransisco. Breath.Taking!

- I flew home on Saturday leaving some meetings early. Saturday was the 7th, my anniversary. Considering how this year has gone, it's a small miracle we've even made it to three years. I choose not to air laundry on my blog, not the place nor the time. But, it should be noted that we did have a third anniversary and I did make it home for part of it!

- Sunday was a gorgeous day that started by taking the dogs to meet Amanda and Lou in a dog park in Edwardsville. They were worn out pretty quick, thankfully! From there we took the pooches home to then headed over to Kitchen Conservatory where I bought a knife as a gift, but the best part was that it was made in Germany (not China). I also bought some Vanilla Extract Paste.

-I made a small donation here...

Donate Here!

Words...
disco nap: Sleeping when you have something going later on that you need to get ready for.
Kraft singles: Dollar bills. Derived from another slang term that refers to money as "cheese".
audible: To make an unexpected, last-minute decision. This definition is derived from its meaning in football.

Columbus Is Not My Hero

I do not prefer to celebrate the American holiday known as Columbus Day. He was not the first to sail to the Americas, not a hero, but yet many see him as this. It was in 1400 that Europe started the arms race against China, the Ottoman Empire, and eventually the Americas in 1492. Columbus returned to the Americas after his first trip by entering into and consuming Haiti in 1493. Columbus and his settlers demanded much from the Natives and resistance promised Columbus of war. Years of slavery ensued, and it is suspected that the indigenous people of Haiti are really no more than a descendant of Spanish, and Spanish-Arawak mix. It is believed that by 1555 all true full blooded Haitian people had been eliminated by Columbus' genocide.

Fallen in Shanghai

If you saw this building, that had "fallen over"...perhaps you've wondered why. Most of you are clever enough to know it had to do with the foundation, but for a more precise answer, here you are...





[For those of you that speak English...
(1) An underground garage was being dug on the south side, to a depth of 4.6 meters
(2) The excavated dirt was being piled up on the north side, to a height of 10 meters
(3) The building experienced uneven lateral pressure from south and north
(4) This resulted in a lateral pressure of 3,000 tonnes, which was greater than what the pilings could tolerate. Thus the building toppled over in the southerly direction.]