Author: helene

Categories
rant Review Time

Old Can Openers, be gone!

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This is a picture of what my can opener roughly looks like. I have to say, I thought maybe there was an issue with the Chicken of the Sea cans when I last talked about it. But no, today when I was trying to open up a can of sliced olives (under the Safeway brand), I realized that it is not the cans that are defective, it’s the can opener.

This whole kitchen set I bought from Target (I forget the name of the brand unfortunately) has been nothing but trouble for me ever since I bought it. The knives that came with it don’t do a great job at cutting anything, and the spoons/spatulas/etc. are poorly made. The spatula has actually melted in high heat! And now, I complain about the can opener, because it has done nothing but cut through cans horribly. Might I say, it has done a rather crappy job. I had to spoon out the olives today slowly, trying not to cut myself on the can’s sharp edges.

I wish I had the name of the set, but oh well–I just know, I have learned my lesson and will never buy such a cheap set again.

Categories
Business Musings Donny Deutsch Entrepreneurial Journey motivation television

Entrepreneurial Spirit

Been watching a lot of Donny Deutsch lately. I just realized I had been spelling his name wrong for the past week or so. Anyway, watching his show has made me feel really restless and motivated to get up and do something. I am considering starting up a business on my own. Who knows what will happen?

Well, I’ll let this feeling sink in overnight and see if I feel the same in the morning.

Categories
American Culture Business Musings Japanese culture

Otetsudai: Japan’s answer to finding temps, stat!

I just read an article in BusinessWeek about how in Japan they have a GPS-enabled system called “Otetsudai” where they track down available job hunters within a certain vicinity for temp-hiring with jobs that need workers as soon as possible.

Basically, job seekers use their cellphones and log onto the Otetsudai website to indicate their availability at a given time. This in turn sends out a signal to the GPS servers about the availability of workers in a given area.

This sounds like a really great program and I kind of wish the US was advanced enough with mobile Internet right now to have a similar program. I know sometimes I am out just wandering San Francisco but I would be willing to work at any moment. It’d be nice to be on-call like that, especially if I know I have the time to spare. Too bad mobile Internet browsing is still rather limited due to service providers charging the service to customers. Not enough people really do mobile browsing here as compared in Japan, where it has been around forever. Plus, so far it seems like a lot of phones here in the US are not yet GPS-capable, which is another big difference between US and Japanese phones.

I remember when I was in Japan a few years ago for studying abroad, I got a cellphone with au KDDI. I didn’t really know how to use my phone, but then one of my Japanese friends showed me how we could use GPS on my phone for free. Now, remember, this was two years ago. Two years ago, here in the US, GPS was only really becoming known by most consumers. Even then, I don’t think GPS was available on cellphones just yet.

My oh my, the Japanese continue to amaze me.

Categories
Japan Japanese language learning

Need to brush up on Japanese.

I am really disappointed that I have not been practicing my Japanese enough in the past year or so. I used to know so much Japanese, but now I struggle with the grammar and kanji again. It’s not fun at all–but it’s so hard to really practice Japanese without having someone else practice with me or…I need to go back to Japan.

It would be nice to be able to speak/write fluently again. Well, just gotta keep working hard on it this year.

Categories
My San Francisco Chronicles

San Francisco Public Library: Dream Haven

Wow, just wow. Today I went to the SF Public Library (Main branch) and my friend was not joking–the place is overwhelming in a very good way.

I entered through the Larkin Street entrance and was just amazed at how large the place was. Back east, my public library was small–granted, it was a decent size for the town, yes–in comparison with the SF library though, the library back east is a molecule.

There are around six floors (I think? I didn’t study the map hard enough because I was so overwhelmed) of books, books, and more books. There’s also a cafe, a bookstore, and you can check out magazines/periodicals/DVDs/CDs/etc. Wow, just wow…I had a hard time figuring out what all I wanted to check out since I was in shock most of the time, haha. It was as if I were in a candy store (oh that old cliche….).

Anyway, I ended up checking out a couple advertising/marketing books and a novel. The library has a program called “SF Reads” where, for a month or two, the library features a book recommendation for SF people to read and talk about. I find it a very clever and motivating idea; hell, this might be how I can get myself back into my reading habits.

Sigh. I think I’ve found a new love.