GALFROMDOWNUNDER UPOVER

The Kosta Boda snowball: the classiest affordable gift of the 80's, born in 1973 FOR THE BENEFIT of those D ownunder: last month  was Thanksgiving, the day when 'mericans down tools and celebrate the "the blessing of the harvest and the preceding year," according to Wikipedia . It's more like the blessing of the buffet, and generally not a day to bear gifts except for oneself, what with stores now opening on the actual day of thanks...is nothing sacred?  As an advertising/marketing pundit I use retail therapy to keep abreast of product design and retailing strategies (ok that's my excuse). My destination? The  TJ Maxx outlet in Wilton, Connecticut, where I'm visiting for the holiday.  Today it was empty. One explanation:  TJ's  merchandise is always on sale, so there's no real reason to make a beeline for it on  Black Friday.  "You're the first customer to acknowledge that," said the bored attendant at the jewelry

The breakfast-fest known as dim-sim...aka Chinese tapas It's the Year of the Rat so... First, here's a fab field guide to dim sum , because that's what every self respecting Chinese does at some point (maybe months earlier or later), to celebrate Chinese New Year. To get you into the spirit, here's an old chestnut exhumed yet again, the fabled 88 Ways to Know You're Chinese . Google that phrase and you'll come up with all kinds of variations, but this one dates back to 2002 so is probably more original (it mentions a Walkman). I've taken the liberty of annotating them based on my own upbringing. The 89th way: you eat durian without holding your nose (or drawing blood)  If you're Chinese, see how many fit you, divide by 88 and  multiply by 100 to get your percent-Chinese rating. (But being Chinese and good at math, I didn't need to tell you that, right?). If you're not Chinese, try it and see how good a Chinese imposter

Dec 2014:  University of Hawaii Forestry Professor JB Friday helps me  nip an invasive albezia tree in the bud  UPDATE June 2023:  my Hawaii lot is for sale  for a  mele  (song). Read a  quick bio of the Big Island .  Contact  Lisa Roach  of Savio Realty, lisar@savio.com, Cell 808-494-8575, Office (808) 965-9500 Here's the listing .  This is a very decent buildable lot on the big Island of Hawaii - a mile and a half from the cute and cool hippie town of Pahoa and 20 miles up a highway to Hilo. After years at the sub-$3-4k mark, prices have gone up very slightly, but still incredibly cheap for a piece of land IN HAWAII. We are talking under $10K for most lots in subdivisions with roads, electricity and yes, some with town water and even a community center.  At 8429 sqft, my lot - a pizza-slice shaped near-corner lot, is slightly bigger than the average 8040 sqft rectangular rowhousy-sized lot. No brittle albezia trees to clear either.  Taxes on my lot are $200/pa and HOA fe

Children's Book Council Picture Book of the Year - Notable Book : An excellent book for teaching kids (and the rest of us) about diversity - or at least being a bit different Once in a  blue moon,  everyone has  a really,  really excellent dream.  How easy is it to write a good 10-and-under children's book? Flip through the dozens of thin, large-format offerings in the 10-and-under kids section of any bookstore and you think, c'mon, how hard can that be? Large type, short sentences, the occasional big word thrown in (because kids these days listen to your business calls) and of course, cutesy illustrations - not photos. Drawings please.  Hey, my kid could do that! But flip a little slower and you'll discover just what it takes to achieve that winning trifecta: a fresh, engaging voice that's accessible but not infantile; a plot that's uncomplicated but not predictable;  a visual treatment you feel you haven't seen somewhere else b