Crash & Burn @ the Post Office, Part II

Continuing on with yesterday's postal discussion, as it turns out
Hiroko wasn't too impressed with my idea of adding an extra
centimeters strip the postcards that we will be sending out for
Christmas cards this year. She suggested we should just reprint them,
or put them in envelopes. And pay for the extra cost. Reprinting is
really something I don't want to do because the ones we have created
are so beautiful.

So I succumbed to her suggestion of putting them in envelopes. Hiroko
has some clear plastic envelopes that are actually the size of
postcards so I slipped them all in there one by one and took them to
the post office today.

I was determined to get them to go as postcards so I pushed the effort
at the post office. Unfortunately, this time I was told that they
could not be sent as postcards because they were in an envelope. Even
though the envelope is clear.

I was also told that because it is a clear plastic envelope goes as a
special price. That special price turned out to be ¥260 per card!!

So I went back to the office, laughing.

I'll get these out sooner or later. They may make it out to the people
by new years if we're lucky. But I'm going to do it dammit!

I love you!

Cam

Via iPhone (please excuse any bizarre autocorrections)

The Case of the Lopsided Post Card

A funny thing happened today that made my Monday morning.

 

On the weekend we created and printed out Christmas Cards to send to the people we met up with on our Around the World Tour. I had some L-size photo paper, so printed the cards in high-quality mode. Of course it uses a lot of ink, but I think it was worth it. I flipped them over, wrote a message, and the addresses on the back and put them in my bag to post today.

 

This morning I zipped over to the post office to mail them. The person at the window looked at what I gave him, then suddenly disappeared for a minute or two, and came back with a ruler. He carefully measured the size of the cards. Twice. Then he looked up at me and told me that they couldn't be sent as postcards (or anything else, as is, for that matter) because they were too small!

 

There is apparently a fixed size for postcards, and this is what they say on the Japan Post website about that:

Long side:14〜23.5cm

Short side: 9〜12cm

Long side should be 1.4 times longer than short side.

 

The L-size photo papers are 9cm X 13cm!

 

I blinked a few times. And then a grin spread across my face. I went back to the office laughing.

 

But laughing doesn't get the Christmas cards shipped, so, what to do, right?

 

I guess I could reprint everything on actual printer-ready postcards and that would be that. But I would then have used twice as much ink. I would also have to buy the inkjet printer postcards which have a premium price attached to them.

 

"Is there a better option," I asked myself?

 

Well, I could put them all in individual envelopes and send them as letters. If I did that, it would be a simple matter of buying a pack of envelopes (100 yen shop), writing the addresses over again and visiting the post office once more. That's no trouble. But, doing that would make the postcards become letters which are sent at a different rate: JPY 110 for letters as opposed to JPY 70 for postcards.

 

Hmmm….

 

What to do… what to do…?

 

"Are there any other options", I asked myself again? There has to be something other than just two options!

 

And then it dawned on me: "Eureka!"

 

I'll take them all home, and cut 1cm strips of printer paper, and tape those strips to the postcards, making them 9X14cm; the perfect size. And then I will take them back to the post office and send them out to our friends. Sometimes I amaze myself with my ingenuity.

 

That satisfies my sense of … whatever my satisfied sense may be, and makes me laugh at the same time.

 

And I like to laugh. Or grin a cheesy grin (or a bacony grin?) at the very least.

No sense getting pissed off over stuff like this. Life is too much fun to NOT see everything as another adventure!

 

It's all in the perspective; nothing is fixed in stone. Not even stone!

If you change the way you see things, the Universe steps in and the world changes to meet your perspective.

It really works. But it all has to start from within.

 

I love you!

Cam

A Rather Nice Mantra (Needs Tweaking)

This is rather impressive. And beneficial. Maybe to you, too, dear reader.

 

The following "declaration" belongs to Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories and is available on their English website, under SNBL Philosophy (http://www.snbl.com/en/3000.html). They have some other good stuff there.

 

One can always hope that the company does more than just pay "lip service" to these spiritual "principles" in their Corporate Philosophy. Let us believe that they actually do walk their own talk.

 

If any of this strikes a harmonious chord in your soul… liberate it!

 

I love you!

 

*********************************************

 

I believe in myself
and the life that was given to me.

I cleanse my actions,
polish my words,
and heighten my will
to cultivate a spirit that is
strong and flexible... gentle and tough.

I embrace hardships as
opportunities to challenge my wisdom,
and when I find peace and happiness,
I gladly share it with others.

I admonish excuses and lies
in my thoughts,
and listen carefully to the faint sounds
of my inner-voice.

I train my spirit diligently,
each day,
and use the power of enlightenment
to advance.

I declare to use all of the power
given to me to serve my life...
and all life.

 

*********************************************

Japanese Futons Are Back!

Finally, the answer to all of the questions on my Globalized Love videos: "How do I get one??!"

The Big Shark Swallows The Little Fish

Wow... today started as a very strange day... First I got a call saying my class at Kobuchizawa was cancelled.

Then I get to work and my Global Biz boss tells me to stop all of my work and wait until 15:30. Then Kyoko comes down to the lunchroom and tells me to stay there.

Then the entire company assembles.

Then our president tells us that the entire group was bought by our rival CMIC.

Wow... It has been a very strange day.

The funny thing is that for about a month I have been telling my Global boss that the way the pharma industry is changing these days SMR would be best to be bought out by a rival CRO in order to compete with the global CROs who are restructuring like crazy...

I was right!

Wow...

How cool is that! I get to experience a brand new happening!!

Posted via email from Thoughts From The Big Rice Bowl

Friday night...

Friday night.., I just finished 30 minutes on the reclining stationary bike with P1 (to prepare for four days of Shangri-la with Max) and then another 30 minutes of floor work with P2 (looove P2). I had a good long bath and now I'm on the train heading home to do my laundry, cook dinner and have a good night's sleep... Tomorrow is Mayu's dad's memorial service and I will be attending in my black suit and black tie as is appropriate for sch an event...

Friday night...

The inebriated young sarariman has passed out on the platform chair while awaiting his ride home. His Pocari Sweat has fallen from his flaccid hands and lies useless between his legs. Drool runs from the side of his mouth and slimes his necktie which rests on his unbecoming paunch which has arrived seemingly 20 years too soon...

Friday night...

A pretty, young woman in sweats and white crocs with a massive girl-wallet stuffed in her back pocket, pulling her sweat pants down and making her short legs look even shorter walks past me while talking to someone on her keitai. She is exclaiming to her partner that the person is now able to read! It makes me think she might be talking to a gaijin. Suddenly my height catches her attention and as I walk by she does a double take, possibly wondering at the possibilities of talking to a gaijin while another passes her by...

Friday night...

The neck sweat stains have all been applied with sweat stain remover and my work shirts have been placed in the laundry machine with the other non-fuzzies of the week. The second load (fuzzies) will come in 50 minutes after this load has been completed and hung...

Friday night...

An email from Mayu arrives, discussing tomorrow. I'll call her back in a big; right now the hunger is too intense to have a meaningful convo with anyone important...

(pause)

The meat is in the frypan and some cheese to take the edge off the hunger has reached my stomach...

Friday night...

Happy Easter to those of you in Christian countries.

I love you.
Cam

Posted via email from Thoughts From The Big Rice Bowl

This breaks my heart

A photo of a beautiful shiba-ken walking in the deserted town of Futaba in Fukushima.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/view/all-gone-2#comments
This town is in the 20km illegal-to-enter zone.
It will eventually find water, but food will likely be a different matter. And dogs are domesticated; they do best with human interaction. This breaks my heart. And this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Posted via email from Thoughts From The Big Rice Bowl

'Divorce ceremony' gives couples chance to make clean break

Make no bones about it divorce is HARD. In fact it is quite likely the hardest thing one might ever undertake and for so many reasons. Here is a very interesting concept for those struggling with the anger and rage that often accompanies divorce...

'Divorce ceremony' gives couples chance to make clean break
TOKYO Some divorce-bound couples in Japan are smashing their wedding rings at ‘‘divorce ceremonies,’’ vowing to make a clean break and a fresh start in front of friends and family.
"Congratulations on your divorce.’’ Guests wish the former bride and groom well on their separate lives at the ceremony, which involves smashing wedding rings using a wooden hammer, held by the soon-to-be ex-spouses, a ritual antithesis to cutting the cake at weddings...
Read the rest here: http://tinyurl.com/SmashThatWeddingRing
You can read my comments on this as TheBigRiceBowl in the comments section. In a nutshell? Well, aside from being overpriced (most ceremonies in Japan are), I think this is a very good idea; it actually allows the divorced couple PHYSICAL CLOSURE which is often missing from divorce. It allows them a link to actually let go of the anger, rage, and ugliness that builds in 95% of all divorces. Since divorce rates in the US are 50% (1st marriage), 60% (2nd marriage), 75% (3rd marriage), if someone imports this to the USA and adapts it to American culture, it could actually be a good business. I'm serious; it isn't exploitation. It's hard to admit but most divorced people really do have a lot of pent up anger, frustration and rage inside them that is rotting them. Who wants to have a new relationship with a rotten person? If you can physically release this anger, you can renew yourself, move on, stop living in the past, and begin to rebuild your life. I personally know people who could have used some serious closure ...
I love you!
Cam

Posted via email from Thoughts From The Big Rice Bowl

TEPCO Really Deserves a Ginormous Spanking

TEPCO seeks 20% cut in employees' annual salaries
Friday 22nd April, 07:00 AM JST
Tokyo Electric Power Co is considering cutting annual salaries of its employees by around 20% as part of its restructuring effort to make compensation payments over the emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex, company sources said Thursday.
The utility is now under negotiations with its labor union to reach an agreement by the end of this month, they said.
The proposal targets around 33,000 union members and does not include a workforce cut, the sources said, adding that TEPCO is also considering reducing remunerations for company executives.
The utility, meanwhile, is mulling selling off its assets to secure funds to pay compensation for people affected by the nuclear crisis, triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
TEPCO, for example, will try to acquire hundreds of billions of yen by selling securities it holds such as KDDI Corp stocks and real estate it owns, the sources said.
The link is here: http://tinyurl.com/TEPCOisUGLY
My thoughts are in the comments section as TheBigRiceBowl (that's me! - Until I leave Tokyo)
Have a great day.
I love you! (but I don't love TEPCO)
Cam

Posted via email from Thoughts From The Big Rice Bowl

I KNEW that one day my notebook computer would serve a legit purpose!

It makes the perfect music stand! I can angle it as I like and the music books aren't suddenly going to slip off the stand and fall to the ground!

Praise the gods for the invention of the notebook computer!!!

Love!
Cam

Posted via email from Thoughts From The Big Rice Bowl