stolen

I just found that somebody stole stuff from my little boutique at the store. I picked these great Hello Kitty and other great design steel key chains while we were in Japan.
I put some out and people love them! However I just found out that a 3-piece Hello Kitty and a Star with crystals key chains ($60 value!)were stolen! I'm sad. I try to bring fun and pretty things to people and allow them freedome to browse the boutique, but then these lovely key chains were stolen, along with some other chunky rings a few weeks ago... boooooo!

Booooo the person/people who stole my stuff, and don't blame the language I'm using toward the person/people in my head, I'm just going to gently put those words down as f&*# 'em. f&*# 'em 'til they rot in h&*#.

live 8 concerts

I found "Live 8"at the library. It's a concert series (4 DVDs) by wonderful singers and bands and celebrities at major cities in the world. Its belief was that with the 8 most powerful men (leaders/presidents of 8 powerful nations) in the world, 3rd world hunger could be stopped, and children will be helped and educated.

Too bad the library only lets you borrow DVDs for a week, and there's a bunch of people on the hold list so I can't renew 'em right now. I have to return it tonight.

There are some really great concerts on the DVDs, and I guess I'll just have to put myself on the hold list again.

umm... anchorage, ak?

I order books from Taiwan sometimes where I can find great books from Taiwan and Japan, which is very helpful. Usually the company sends out books either via DHL or UPS Express.

My books left Taiwan on June 9th, and got to Ontario, CA on June 9th. (Amazing, I know, but there's the time difference bonus that we get, remember?) I was really excited to see that when I checked out the delivery status, and figured that I'd get my package on Saturday.

WRONG! Apparently my package went to Anchorage, ALASKA and spent the weekend there. Hmmm... interesting. Well I've got my package this morning, so I'm not really mad or anything, and I know that sometimes UPS re-route their deliveries, but... California-Anchorage, ALASKA-SLC, UT? Hmmm...

Package Progress:

Location Date Local Time Activity
ANCHORAGE, AK, US 06/09/2006 1:47 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
ONTARIO, CA, US 06/09/2006 1:01 P.M. REGISTERED WITH CLEARING AGENCY;SHIPMENT

under the weather

I've been feeling a bit under the weather this past couple of days. I've been hearing people who come in to the caffe saying, "I've been sick for a week," "I've got sinus infection," etc. Apparently while they were talking they delivered tiny little viruses to me as well. *sigh* I've been sniffling since.

I guess the only semi-fun thing about being sniffly is that Yama would come and check me out whenever I sniffle.

scrubbing my shower clean

Scrubbing Bubbles came up with this new battery-operated automatic shower cleaner, where you'd push the blue button everyday after you take a shower, the squirt head would spin and dispenses cleaner onto the shower walls and door. The company guarantees that your shower will be sparkling clean in 3 weeks or less.

I'm all for the ease of cleaning so of course I got one to put in our shower. It's been there for a few days now. We'll see how it is. If it doesn't work I'm going to bring it back and demand a refund.

hot weather is here to stay

It's been quite hot in town this past few days, and while it's trying to rain today, it's still super hot, which makes me want to sware at people, things, and the passing cars.

But then I saw this photo we took when we were in Kyoto. It's a little fountain in front of a Gion temple. These fontains are built in front of Japanese temples to allow visitors to wash their hands and cool off before they go into the temples, and they are usually built to suit the theme, looks, and such of the main temples. You'd hold the scoop in your right hand to pour water and wash your left hand, and then hold the scoop in your left hand to pour water and wash your right hand. It really cools you down quite a bit in hot weather.

takashi is cool

The caffe was closed on Saturday because of the chaotic road closures for the downtown events, and we went to Takashi's.

We did the omakase, which is pretty much the term you use when you want the chef to be creative and use whatever is fresh at the restaurant to create wonderful sushi and other dishes, or whatever he recommends specifically to you.

We had a different chef this time... didn't get to sit in front of Takashi! The dinner was fabulous.



the grilled scallops and miso-marinated black cod were fantastic!


the sushi was good; however the nigiri was a bit too firm for me.


finally tried anago, its texture was firmer than unagi.
and ahh... of course the legendary takashi's hakozushi- "the box".

and they are good friends

I think I'm fortunate to have wonderful dogs and cats in my life. They are loving, playful, and sweet. Another great thing is that everyone gets along and they are all good friends!

And recently Yama and Jasper just love hanging out together in the front room.

ginger on the tree

We moved our furnitures around so we can place the kitty tree by the window. The cats love to look out of the window, and this way they don't have to sit on top of the couch to do it.

Ginger apparently loves the idea, too!

ginger the tiny and serious

Ginger is probably the smallest cat of her age I've ever seen. Sure there are skinnier cats out there, but not this small in height and length. I've also noticed that even though she's all small and cute, she always looks really serious and older in photos. Hmm... maybe she has an older soul?