No biting the personnel

We were in Vancouver this past weekend. The first place we stopped at, after Dim Sun at Sun Sui Wah, was Daiso in Richmond. This is the first North-American store of the chain and the most profitable one of all 3000 locations. So… what does Daiso sell? Everything, for less than 2$ a piece, in pastel colors, with broken english. Unlike your average 1$ shop, the quality is surprisingly high. I suspect they make their money by selling some items at a really really high margin to compensate for a loss on others.

In any case, to quote their web site:

Richmond Daiso carries over 50,000 types of products in various styles (over 700,000 individual pieces in total) including: household items, tableware, cutlery, cooking pots and pans, lighting fixtures, rugs, artificial plants, vases, garden tools, shoes, socks, scarves, car accessories, luggage and bags, glassware, porcelain, arts and crafts, bookcases, magazines, stationery, toys, oriental tea, soft drinks, snacks, candies, spices, cosmetics, massage products, electrical and electronic items, and many more.

Frankly, they had soooo many cute things in their stationary, tableware and gift wrapping sections that I had to drag her out of the store. I’ll admit though, I almost bought yarn for a friend. 2$ seemed too good to be true though. Stop on by next time you’re in Vancouver and judge for yourself. The store is a few blocks west of I-99. Make sure to wander the shopping mall too; gems are hidden in there.

P.S.: more on Daiso

In Japan alone, there are over 2,400 stores; and Daiso ranks second to Tokyo Disneyland, receiving higher brand recognition and customer satisfaction among Japanese female consumers than the world famous Sony, McDonald’s, and Toyota.

From p. 72:

The state of matters all over the country was so alarming, that George I. shortened his intended stay in Hanover, and returned in all haste to England. He arriver on the 11th of November, and parliament was summoned to meet on the 8th of December. In the mean time, public meetings were held in every considerable town of the empire, at which petitions were adopted, praying the vengeance of the legislature upon the South-Sea directors, who, by their fraudulent practices, had brought the nation to the brink of ruin. Nobody seemed to imagine that the nation itself was as culpable as the South-Sea company. Nobody blamed the credulity and avarice of the people - the degrading lust of gain, which had swallowed up every nobler quality in the national character, or the infatuation which had made the multitude run their heards with such frantic eagerness into the net held out for them by scheming projectors. These things were never mentioned. The people were a simple, honest, hard-working people, ruined by a gang of robbers, who were to be hanged, drawn, and quartered without mercy.

Although the list has been around for a few years, I stumbled on it once more last night. Close the door, read it and laugh; weeping is optional. I miss Shakespeare. I’ll have to find the list of upcoming productions around here.

Worth 25$? Yes.

Location: Six Seven is located on the ground floor of the Edgewater hotel on Alaskan way. Facing the water, you’d have a great view of West Seattle, Alki beach and the Olympic peninsula on a clear day. Walking in on a Sunday night, we got a table next to a window. Sadly, as in many restaurants which such a view, the strong indoor lighting in the evening reflects so much on the window pane that you can’t fully appreciate the view.

Ambiance: There’s something unique about Six Seven. On the one hand, the staff is trim and dressed in cool black, the music is a mix of jazz and lounge, the plates have funky shapes and the bar area has a cool TV wall setup. It’s a bit like Earth & Ocean. On the other hand, everything is like a fake forest. Yes, including faux wood. Sorry, I’m not a fan.

Wait staff: Our waitress promptly showed up to introduce herself. She then proceeded to inquire whether it was our 1st time at this establishment and to explain, with enthusiasm, that the restaurant was participating in the 25 for 25 program this year. No pressure either way (which is nice since some of the restaurants on the program barely mention the word 25). She was very friendly and efficient; within a few minutes she was back to take our orders. Our only complaint is that we had to ask for bread to be served. You shouldn’t have to ask for bread. Then again, having tasted it, we don’t recommend the bread. We suggest you familiarize yourself with Dahlia bakery instead.

Food: The smoked black cod appetizer was very well received: it had a very nice undertone of sweetness and a pleasing buttery texture. The sunchoke and yukon puree was similarly very nice. While I could have done without the breadstick, the piece of gravlax added contrast to the creamy soup. If you don’t know - I didn’t - sunchoke is also known as Jerusalem artichoke. For main course, we had the mahi and the venison. I’ll admit, the grilled Mahi on a bed of rosti was one of the best grilled fish I’ve had recently. Go for it. Although the venison was good, its preparation wasn’t as perfect. The meat could certainly have been tenderized a lot more. For dessert we had the “Green Tea Panna Cotta” and the “Six Seven Charlotte, Espresso and Raspberry Roll with Spiced Rhubarb Compote”. Both desserts were quickly devoured. The creamy panna cotta had a much stronger flavor of green tea than expected; strong enough that the slight bitterness hinted of macha, condensed green tea. Somehow though, it didn’t have the grainy texture of the powder. If you’re a fan of green tea, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. The charlotte, although also a wonderful finish to a great meal, was a tad too sweet for my taste; that was redeemed by the strawberry coulis which added a wonderful touch. As I wrote earlier, avoid the bread: it’s soggy, oily, crustless and short on glutten. Moreover, the dipping vinegar is too young.

Parking: after circling for a few minutes in Belltown we found a parking spot right across from the Edgewater, on the other side of Alaskan Way and the train tracks. Free.

Conclusion: For a different review, you may want to read the Seattle Times’ review. In our opinion, at 25$, the price was right. We’ll revisit.

In this chapter, published in 1852, Charles MacKay discusses the ambiance in the early month of the South-Sea bubble that rocked London in 1720. While the South-Sea company was the most prominent story, many smaller ventures appeared.

From p. 54:

In the mean time, innumerable joint-stock companies started up every where. They soon received the name of Bubbles, the most appropriate that imagination could devise. The populace are often most happy in the nicknames they employ. None could be more apt than that of Bubbles. Some of them lasted for a week or a fortnight, and were no more heard of, while others could not even live out that short span of existence. Every evening produced new schemes, and every morning new projects.

From p. 55:

But the most absurd and preposterous of all, and which shewed, more completely than any other, the utter madness of the people, was one started by an unknown adventurer, entitled, “A company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is.” Were not the fact stated by scores of credible witnesses, it would be impossible to believe that any person could have been duped by such a project. The man of genius who essayed this bold and successful inroad upon public credulity, merely stated in his prospectus that the required capital was half a million, in five thousan shares of 100l. each, deposit 2l. per share. Each subscribe, paying his deposit, would be entitles to 100l. per annum per share. How this immense profit was to be obtained, he did not condescend to inform them at that time, but promised that in a month full particulars should be duly announced, and a call made for the remaining 98l. of the subscription. Next morning, at nice o’clock, this great man opened an office in Cornhill. Crowds of people beset his door, and when he shut up at three o’clock, he found no less than one thousand shares had been subscribed for, and the deposits paid. He was thus, in five hours, the winner of 2000l. He was philosopher enough to be contented with his venture, and set off the same evening for the Continent. He was never heard of again.

For a long time now we’ve been able to listen to earning’s annoucements from the large companies. For example, here are the webcast’s of the conference calls of the recent financial results quaterly reports of Napster. I don’t own shares in that company but I’m an avid user of their product. Listening to their staff go over the state of the company’s finances gives me a perspective of the company that I won’t get elsewhere. Hearing the CEO talk about his company is very different from reading a journalist’s interpretation.

Recently, Mark Evans, wrote about the RBC Capital Markets - Communications, Media & Technology Conference. Now this rocks! Check out the list of webcasts; who attended? Cisco (talking about Video/IPTV), Research in Motion, Palm, Shaw, Rogers, Telus and, yes, Nortel’s new CEO Mike Zafirovski. Maybe you’ve been reviewing these companies for your portfolio. Maybe you’re just looking to keep up with technology; you’re wondering what’s this IPTV thing folks talk about.

Either way, congrats and thank you to RBC Capital Markets for webcasting their conference. It’s an incredible opportunity to hear the leaders of great companies talk about their own areas. I know I learned a lot.

Maybe it has been around for a while but it is only today, as I was listening to Wait Wait…, that I heard of NRP’s podcast directory. A few clicks later, I had enough hours of that wonderful radio show
 downloaded to save my sanity as I spent my afternoon preparing my 2005 tax paperwork. You’ll also find KUOW’s weekday first and second hour as well as the book reviews.

On a recent Saturday morning, I found myself at the Shoreline library with time to spare. From the audio books section I came out with three books: Who Moved My Cheese by Dr. Spencer Johnson, When You Ride Alone You Ride with Bin Laden by Bill Maher and Mean Business by Al Dunlap.

I find audio books or podcasts are great for the road. With at least a half hour commute each way, I can average a book per week. Moreover, since I’m driving, I can’t concentrate fully on the book’s content. I can’t stop and ponder. Nor can I use a highlighter. I also can’t fall asleep if the book is too boring for bedtime reading. Finally, for some content, I absorb more by passively listening than active reading. It was true for the Dalai Lama. It’s true for the mice.

Who moved my cheese is a self-help book of the 80s. The author also penned The One Minute Manager. At ~100 pages each, you can probably afford the time to read them both. Will you find happiness? No. Will you get reminded of some basic truth of your career if not your life? Maybe. Will you water your tree of common sense? Probably. We now own both books in paperback version. Let us know if you want to borrow either.

Who Moved My Cheese follows one smock who’s lost his cheese and enters the “labyrinth” to find it. On the way there, he discovers that the cheese was bound to move, the journey shouldn’t be feared and that you learn more by embracing change than fighting it. His buddy instead stays back praying that the cheese will come back. Drawing his sustenance from crumbs and driven by despair then bydelusion, we can assume he’s the stereotypical disgruntled employee that only shows up to draw his paycheck. FWIW, we never learn what type of cheese has gone missing but I recommend you visualize American cheese. I’m not sure any other cheese would drive me as quickly to abandon everything to find something better.

Seriously, what are some of the lessons imparted on the reader? Here are some selections:

1. Having cheese makes you happy.
2. The more important your cheese is to you, the more you want to hold on to it.
3. If you do not change, you can become extinct. My take is you will.
4. Always ask yourself: What would you do if you weren’t afraid?
5. The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese.
6. Move with the cheese and enjoy it!

There are more but these should set the tone.

Do I agree with author? Good question. How’bout u? Do you agree with the author? I used the word employee earlier but do you really think this is about work? It doesn’t have to be. What was the last personal project or endeavor you embarked on that fell through. People change; they grow closer; they move away. Tastes and interests evolve; only sometimes do they align with your’s. Change is inevitable. Assume it wasn’t for a second. Assume the entire world around you was stagnant. Would you also be frozen? No, you’d be finding ways to grow - at least we hope you would.

In my opinion, the first question to ask is do you know what cheese you like? If you don’t know, you’ve got bigger problems. Let’s say you like Parmigiano Reggiano. The real question the book doesn’t ask is: do you control your parmesan? Can someone take it away? Could your favorite cheese store one day stop selling it?

Enough with the real cheese analogy. My point is that it’s too easy to say that someone else took your cheese away. If you really care about this cheese, if you’re passionate about it, how did someone else get to take it away? How did you let it be taken away? The book presents this mischievous individual as some mysterious other-worldly power. Bullsh… Whether it is another human being, a trend in people’s opinion, a community dropping the ball or a real mouse, somewhere there’s a point of failure. So why didn’t you intercede to prevent that failure? Why weren’t you positioned to block it? That, the book completely sidesteps.

It’s ok to lose. It happens. Sometimes you try really hard at something you really believe in yet life doesn’t look your way. But to feel the cheese moving and to be smart by moving with it before it’s completely gone, that’s giving up to easily on your ideals.

It’s also ok to be stubborn. If you’re right, go for it. Be stubborn and fight it out tooth and nail. It won’t be easy; but nothing ever is, right? Only then is it ok to move. Don’t take it personal and don’t stick around sulking.

In summary: read the book; acknowledge the existence of cheese; talk to the owner of your cheese store. What our adventurer found in the end wasn’t a new hobby, a new car, a new house or a new relationship. It was mature manchego.

A few weeks ago, I came back home to the “The password is invalid. Please enter…” message box. Either someone tried to login to my laptop or the keyboard misbehaved during the day. Since then, I’ve discovered that [$&(*FHAF&*($%] is not a valid user account and that a string of 55 characters does not, magically, grant you access to my account.

Unfortunately, I need the computer to be ON during the day. Sadly, even with almost no CPU activity, the AMD Turion processor in the laptop generates enough heat that the fan is always running, the room cozy and the keyboard toasty. Correct… I can’t close the lid and have the laptop running at the same time. The laptop is just too hot for the screen.

All of this would be ok if this portable stove wasn’t so beckoning to small heat seeking mammals. Is “kiddy pillow” a supported scenario for laptops? Does Acer hire cats to test its keyboards?

Sigh… Look at him!!! Look at those eyes… Not an ounce of remorse or of shame.

I’m giddy; this rocks.

On January 25th I placed an order on Amazon with one of their resellers for ~$100 of running gear. I never have time for my runs during the day, I can only run early in the morning. Mornings which are cold in Seattle making running in shorts less enjoyable. Thus, I ordered running tights; the price was right. The next day, I received an email from the reseller: sorry, your item is out of stock; btw, here’s a discount on your next purchase with us.

Uh… that sucks… Isn’t inventory control a solved problem by now? Oh well… I’ll order something else later. It was only three days later that the thought fluttered across my mind. It lingered long enough for me to confirm. When you order on Amazon from a reseller, Amazon handles the billing. They immediately charge your credit card. The charge of $99.90 hadn’t been reversed. Reversing, I learned, is a reseller duty. Since they don’t have the goods, it’s their responsibility to cancel the sale. The instructions from Amazon were clear: step one, contact the seller. And so I did.

You can guess what happened: reseller promptly replies, apologizes for the screw up, promises to reverse the charge within 24hrs and reminds me to use my discount with them for my purchase. By the way, the discount is only valid for a few weeks. Don’t delay. Smells like a bait and switch.

Last night at midnight I filed a reimbursement claim - step two - under Amazon’s A-to-z guarantee. It took 5 minutes. This morning, my bank account shows that the charge has been removed. Score one more for online shopping.