I’ll be taking a short break from blogging…so at least everyone can be a bit more productive at work. But keep any ODD encounters filed away to share with the hive when I return.
This temporary parting reminds me of farewell messages in high school yearbooks. Remember all those overused phrases that you had to scribble for your classmates? Have a great summer, KIT (keep in touch) and see you next year… What other phrases do you remember writing during your high school days?
Still have all your yearbooks? Did you make a heart around that crush you never had the guts to talk to? Do you still keep in touch with your best friends or high school buddies? What groups or clubs were you a part of? Anyone remember those pages you could buy in the back of the yearbook where you could create your own collage of photos and messages?
Flash forward to the present. What “temporary goodbye” message would you like to leave on the O&E blog? Write one to me, to friends you have “met” on O&E or to the Bee Bee Dees and Honey Bees as a whole.
And of course, you’re always free to e-mail me directly. Hope to BEE back soon!
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I’ll leave you with this parting story about a temporary mistake that would’ve been nice if made permanent…
Oklahoma state worker temporarily gets six-figure bonus Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma officials say a typo resulted in a state employee receiving a bonus of $850,000 — but it was only temporary.
Jo Harris was supposed to receive an $850 longevity bonus for working at the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission for seven years. But a misplaced decimal point turned that into a six-figure windfall.
Officials say they caught the error before the $850,000 left state funds.
Harris’ original paycheck issued in February was canceled and a new one was issued with the correct bonus. Officials told Harris about the mistake and asked her to watch her personal bank account.
Harris said she would let state officials know right away if the extra money entered her account because “I don’t go to jail for anybody.”
Food! The word enough can make some of us salivate, our stomachs growl and our eyes grow big.
Pictures (remember those mochi and manju ones?) showing the wonderful colors and textures can leave us almost tasting the flavors and eager to go out and get the real deal.
And it can also have the opposite effect, if it’s an item that makes you question if it’s even edible. Pig stomach? Dead scorpions? Fried silkworm? I think I’ll pass…
But that’s what’s on the menu at the Olympics in Beijing. Three Olympians got a cook’s tour and were able to sample some of the country’s most popular food items…
Olympians given stir-fried journey through China By ELIZABETH WEISE
USA Today
BEIJING — Stinky tofu didn’t make the cut for Olympic diver Ariel Rittenhouse.
“Though it didn’t taste as bad as I thought it would,” she said.
Fellow diver Christina Loukas liked the “squirty dumplings” and was happy to bypass the fried silkworm on a stick. But rower Bryan Volpenhein, a trained chef, was in heaven.
“This pig stomach is just like cold bacon,” he says, urging his fellow Olympians to have a taste. They oblige, but without the gusto the bronze medalist showed.
The trio spent a morning getting a cook’s tour of Beijing by Jen Lin-Liu, author of “Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China.“ Lin-Liu, a California-born, Beijing-trained chef, took them to Jiumen Xiaochi. The first sight upon entering was a vendor using tongs to pick the dead scorpions out of a plastic bag full of the skittering, writhing arthropods.
‘SCORPIONS TASTE LIKE POPCORN’
Next door, skewers of the now-dead scorpions are arrayed next to cicadas, silkworm pupae and sea horses, all waiting to be deep-fried.
“Scorpions taste like popcorn,” Lin-Liu told them. “Silkworms are nutty. Sea horses are mostly crunchy, but it’s a little hard to eat them because they’re so cute.
“Maybe I’ll try one on the way out,” says Volpenhein, 32.
The athletes each take a wooden tray and make their choices.
Volpenhein grabs a plate of “stinky tofu,” fermented soybean curd that’s fried but smells very much like rotting meat. “I love it,” says Lin-Liu. “It’s like blue cheese; it doesn’t taste the way it smells.”
The divers load up on jiaozi — dumplings — and other typical Beijing street food, taking turns sampling the fare. It’s a far cry from the scrambled eggs, fruit and chicken Loukas, 23, says she’s been eating at the Athlete’s Village.
“This is way better. This is real food,” says Volpenhein.
A clear winner are the “doorknob dumplings,” named for their puckish-shape. Filled with beef, they’re very moist.
Rittenhouse, 18, takes a bite. “Oh God, I’m so sorry,” she says, as the juice squirts all over her dining companions. Despite the warning, by the end of lunch everyone’s made the same mistake.
NO ROOM FOR DESSERT?
The desserts are less of a hit, though they like the name of one brown and white pastry. “It’s called Donkeys Rolling in the Dirt,” Lin-Liu explains.
After lunch the trio heads by rickshaw to Lin-Liu’s Black Sesame Cooking School for a dumpling-making lesson. Master jiaozi maker Guizhen Wang shows them how to roll out soft dough rounds, then stuff them with pumpkin, pork or greens before crisply pleating the tops.
Dozens get ladled into boiling water while Lin-Liu makes up a quick sauce. Then the Olympians tuck them into heaping platters of the steaming jiaozi.
“Are these the ones we made?” Loukas asks.
Lin-Liu shakes her head. Wang wasn’t sure they were sturdy enough to survive boiling.
Still, says Volpenhein, “this is the best food I’ve had yet in Beijing.”
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I couldn’t find a video of that actual tour, but here’s one that shows some of those same items up for sale on the streets of China.
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So thumbs up or down? How open are you to trying new foods? When traveling, is it a must to sample cuisines of that region? Or do you just long for your rice?
What are some of the ODD foods you have tried? (Some of you may have already mentioned them during the off-topic comments on previous posts, but please share again with our new O&E friends if you don’t mind.) I probably can’t contribute much to this post since I’m one of those picky eaters that rarely tries new dishes. I like to stick with my favorites and will only eat something new if it looks appetizing, tasty and “normal.”
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THANKS TO AN O&E LURKER WHO JUST SENT ME THESE PHOTOS! SEE UP CLOSE MORE OF THESE DELICACIES FROM CHINA!
Money, money, money! We work diligently for decades to pay our bills, put food on the table and clothes on our backs. After taking care of the necessities, decisions — and possibly some arguments — are made on where the leftover money goes toward. Spend or save? Buy or window shop? A gift for me or you?
One man in Michigan hasn’t wavered for more than half a century on what his annual purchase must be. And we’re not talking chump change here…
Man drives home 53rd new Cadillac in 53 years Associated Press
FLINT, Mich. — There are loyal customers, and then there’s Joseph Macko. The 84-year-old Flint man has bought or leased a new Cadillac every year since 1955, the year Disneyland opened in Anaheim, Calif. “You only live one time. Money is to spend,” he told The Flint Journal. “I spend it once I get it.”
Macko, a retired General Motors Corp. worker, used to buy a new car every year, but he’s been leasing the last few years. Last week, he drove home this year’s fresh set of wheels — a black 2009 Cadillac DTS — from the Al Serra Auto Plaza in Grand Blanc.
Joseph Macko takes the wheel after signing a lease for a 2009 Cadillac DTS in Flint, Mich. It’s the 84-year-old retired worker’s 53rd Cadillac in 53 years. (AP Photo/The Flint Journal)
“He looks forward every year to buying a new car,” said Gordon Taylor, who has been Macko’s salesman for 22 years. “He wants that same vehicle.”
Marcella Macko said her husband isn’t the spendthrift he might seem — he saves up all year to pay for a new car.
But, she said, she just doesn’t get excited anymore about the annual ritual.
“He does, but I don’t,” she said.
Information from: The Flint Journal, www.mlive.com/flintjournal
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Looking back at your spending habits, is there one item you must buy every year? One super-expensive pair of shoes? The latest toy to add to your collection? A piece of new furniture? Any ODD must-have purchases?
Do you buy it because it’s on sale or a great deal, are following some kind of tradition or can’t break the habit?
The only thing I seem to religiously buy are cosmetics from Macy’s during the free gift sale. Though I believe the item itself is overpriced, the free samples you get with the gift makes it a good deal. Only problem is that the sale happens about three to four times a year and several brands offer this deal. So I have a huge collection of assorted products and cosmetic bags from Lancome, Estee Lauder and Clinique. Anyone want a free lipstick? I have jars full of them since I hardly wear lipstick and one stick takes forever to use!
What stores must you always check out when you go to the mall? Do you have to stop at a certain store every week to see what new items have been stocked? Or how about online shopping? Always checking out stores’ Web sites to see what the latest products are?
Do you see yourself as more of a spender or saver? Do you live by a budget and add up receipts? Are paychecks spent as soon as you get them? Do you go credit-card crazy or often pay by cash to keep a better eye on purchases?
Are you the type that will drive miles away to get that sale price? Spend 20 minutes in line for Costco gas to save pennies a gallon? Do you recycle all your cans to get that nickel back?
Are you a guy’s guy or lean toward metro? Women, do you like the sensitive and romantic type or a macho man? Lumping all men into certain categories just doesn’t make sense because obviously each man has his own unique mix of traits that make him the person he is.
You can have an affectionate guy behind closed doors who shows a military-type dominant personality that the public sees. Or you can have a seemingly wishy-washy or easy-going guy when others are around but who calls all the shots when at home.
But have you heard of the term “retrosexual” before? According to UPI, a British author has written a book that posits the opposite of the so-called metrosexual man is a “retrosexual.”
Dave Besley’s new book, “The Retrosexual Manual: How To Be a Real Man,” urges readers to reject such metrosexual concepts as carrying purse-like bags, being flattered by attention from gay men and referring to men’s toiletries as “products,” The Sun reported yesterday.
Besley wrote the retrosexual man instead engages in behaviors including rejecting foreplay in favor of having the woman send a text when she’s ready for intercourse and avoiding public crying at all costs.
The book says retrosexuals are not allowed to know the definitions of words such as manicure, pedicure, facial and exfoliation. They also must only give women compliments in such a way that denotes a lack of understanding — for example, Besley suggests men tell their women, “That’s a nice badge, brooch-type thing you’re wearing.”
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What do you think of such a concept? Like the term sounds, it seems as if this author wants men to revert to caveman-type behavior though I don’t see what the point is or what result is meant to be achieved.
Do you know of men who already are “retrosexuals” but maybe not intentionally?
On a twist on his book title, what defines a “real man” to you? Someone who can protect and provide? One who can win battles — mentally and physically? A man who is competent, considerate and in control? That sounds like a pretty good checklist to me. And of course, he has to have a big heart and know where his priorities and loyalties lie.
Yes, we live in an unsafe world. It is theoretically likely (though the ODDS may not be high) that you could get injured by a wayward bullet, a falling airplane part or some random weapon by a frantic robber.
How do you stay safe on America’s streets while still looking fashionably good? You can’t walk around in Army gear all day because you never know when you might get an invitation to some hoity-toity event.
Well, there may be a solution for those who want to look stylish while still being able to withstand fire from an Uzi machine gun. Just got to head overseas first to buy what the paranoid super-rich are clamoring for. Oh yeah, and it’s gonna cost you. This is according to a story on UPI, which is reporting that bulletproof designer fashion is now available through Britain’s best-known retailer:
Harrods is now carrying a Colombian entrepreneur’s line of luxury “ballistic daywear” for customers fearing personal attack. Included among those wanting the clothes are King Abdullah II of Jordan, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and actor Steven Segal, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.
The customized clothing line includes a polo shirt, a blazer, a sports jacket, a biker jacket and a raincoat with prices ranging between $6,500 and $15,400. It is described as being wearable at parties even while tough enough to withstand fire from an Uzi machine gun.
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Designer Miguel Caballero even “tests” the clothes’ durability on his employees — by shooting them! (I found a video but unfortunately for some reason it is not loading properly [no pun intended!] into this story…)
So does bulletproof fashion go overboard or is it always better to be safe than sorry? Would you have a need for such an ensemble in your daily life? In an unrelated fashion story, reported on UPI, the largest teachers union in Britain has criticized a manufacturer of school uniforms for marketing a blazer designed to help students hide iPods:
Chris Keates, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, described Marks & Spencer’s “Blazer for iPod,” which is part of the clothing manufacturer’s 2008 Back to School collection, as “unnecessary and an error of judgment.”
The blazer, which is available in both male and female styles, features an inside pocket for hidden electronic devices and hidden built-in controls compatible with iPods. The jacket also features lapels designed to conceal earphone wires.
“Teachers are already battling against the misuse of such technology in classrooms. Pupils nowadays come to school equipped with mobile phones, MP3 players, and portable games consoles when teachers would like them to just bring a pen,” Keates said. “In its place this technology is useful, entertaining and perfectly legitimate for youngsters but its place is not for personal use in classrooms.”
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At least it sounds like those blazers would make it less likely students would lose their iPods…
What kind of gadgets do you wish you could fashionably attach to your outfits? Regarding your cell phone, are you one of those who stick it in your pocket or clip it on your pants? Ladies: Are you one of those who can never retrieve your phone in time because it’s lost somewhere in your purse?
Ever get annoyed by impractical designs? Pretend pockets? Too tiny buttons (to do and undo)? Complicated bows that practically leaves you playing Twister just to tie?
Any ODD fashions (besides those you see on a runway) you’ve seen worn around town? What were your favorite fashions back in the day? Bell-bottoms or Z Cavaricci pants perhaps? Or maybe popped collars for the men and ruffles for the ladies? Anyone remember baby doll dresses and clogs?
