the Diva Platform

By now you’ve probably seen the news that Mars (with help from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire-Hathaway) is planning to buy Wrigley.  This is interesting to me on a few levels–when I did research, I focused on what we call “packaged goods” (namely everything you buy at the grocery store) and did a lot of confectionery research.  So when this deal was announced, I was a bit surprised from a business sense.  I never thought Bill Wrigley Jr. would sell his family’s company.  Of course, since they’re public, the family doesn’t own the whole company anymore, and the company’s main focus isn’t to manufacture good candy, it’s to be responsible to the shareholders.  Sometimes that means selling yourself so that the shareholders get the best deal (though I can’t wrap my head around the idea that the best idea is selling out, which means here that the shareholders get cash and no stock….if I was an individual stockholder, I’d no longer own a piece of the company.  Yeah, it’d be nice to get the big bucks, but it’s a payout, and you no longer have that cache of owning a company).

The business part of this also makes me glad I’m not doing research because it’s a pain in the ass to find information on private companies–especially Mars.  They’re really private.  It’s basically impossible to find detailed financials on them–which was always fun explaining to the poor consultant who I just laughed at because he/she didn’t usually know any better.  Their manager (who did know better) told them to get the information.
Anyway, this is also interesting because I wonder what will now happen to Wrigley Field and the surrounding neighborhood, aptly called Wrigleyville.  The Cubs are for sale, and Wrigley doesn’t pay for stadium rights…will this mean the name could change?  Would Mars pony up for it?  Could I be living near Mars-Buffettville?  Though that makes me think of a Mars buffet, and boy, wouldn’t a candy buffet be nice right about now?

Oh, I know. I can totally be bought off with candy.  If the offer is right.

Did you see yesterday’s Oprah where they revisited some of their most famous (or infamous) regular-people guests from the last few years?  I actually taped it to watch during lunch–I’ve started a new aerobics class on Mondays during Oprah, and I’ve come up with a new work rule for myself:  If I miss Oprah (and The View) or the topic doesn’t interest me, I don’t watch it.  I spend that time doing whatever or writing.  Now, if I miss the show and the topic does interest me, I’ll usually go to the website and get the five minute version of what happened.  That’s usually enough for me.

However, yesterday’s show featured the hoarder from last fall who had so much stuff in her house that she and her husband could hardly move.  The stuff filled a huge warehouse, and it took weeks to clean it all out.  I love the hoarder’s story because it’s a kick in the pants for me to get rid of stuff, not hang onto things I’m not using (or don’t like), and not to buy things I don’t need.  I think about her a lot when I look at the state of our apartment most days, and I’m trying to get better about my bad habits of holding onto paper and magazines.

She was back on because they were checking up on past guests to see how they were now.  She is actually doing really well.  The house is almost immaculate–the only real problem was a couple of boxes of paperwork that the husband had held on to go through.  He’s supposed to finish going through those in the next six weeks.  It was amazing–and inspiring–to see how they had actually changed their mindsets and stopped this unhealthy behavior.

Of course, now I want to get rid of some more stuff.  I’ve been a little bit successful–got rid of a lot of CDs I wasn’t listening to and some clothes I wasn’t wearing (or were past their prime).  I’ve managed to consolidate my papers from three file cabinets down to two–one new, one old (though the two empty file cabinets are still in our living room, waiting for the Boy to decide if he wants to use them to store papers).  I’ve gotten rid of some kitchen gadgets we never used too.  Still, I still have too much stuff–still have a load of stationery (not too many takers on the mail offer, so it’s still out there), lots of magazines, a lot of paper, that kind of thing.  Hopefully I’ll be inspired to continue paring it all down so that what I have doesn’t overwhelm me on a regular basis.

Do you find yourself wishing you could listen to some cool handbell music?  Well, if you’re in Chicago on Sunday, come down to the Chicago Temple (77 W. Washington), where the bells will be doing a long postlude/short concert after the 11:00 service.

We’d thought about doing another concert this spring, but with the early Easter, we got thrown off schedule and just don’t have enough music put together for a long concert.  Plus, our sanctuary’s being totally renovated, which makes logistics a little odd.  Once the construction is finished in the fall, we’ll probably do a big concert to celebrate the new space.

Still though, I’d love to see you while we ring this Sunday.  Enjoy the bells–and check out the photo exhibit we’re putting on in conjunction with Looptopia which is this Friday.   I’ve got a few pictures in that as well–one of which was selected for enlargement to draw people into the exhibit area–and I’m really excited to be a part of it!

Do you ever use the coupons you get at the grocery store checkout? I do, if it’s for something I use. I’m less thrilled when I buy a product and get a coupon for a competing product because said competing product is usually inferior and I hate the coupon clogging up my wallet.
It’s kind of a nice gesture, I guess, reminding you to buy something on another trip. Oh, I know it’s because they want you to shop at their store again, but hell, I do the majority of my shopping at one store anyway, so it’s not really about that.
What I hate about them is that if you use one, another will spit out, requiring you to buy more of the same product. I just bought six Lean Cuisines to get a dollar off. Now you want me to buy eight so that I can get $1.50 off? I live in an apartment with a smaller refrigerator–I don’t have room in my freezer for all of these frozen dinners! [I do realize that $1.50 is a slightly better deal than $1.00 off six, but it really is all about space in my case.]
I should just buy a couple of meals on my next shopping trip and see if the coupon machine gives me a coupon for six. Mess with the machines a little.

In the meantime, I’m going to think up a great, fun moment to get that Celebration Charm. Yippee!

Just yesterday, I was complaining about desperately trying to come up with blog topics. All I really needed to do was go to the mailbox.

The old job had a myriad of wonderful benefits, most of which terminated within a month of my employment. The one benefit that I cared least about, life insurance (when you have no kids and no debt, it’s hard to care about that payout. Ask the Boy though, and he’d give you a totally different answer), just can’t seem to get it straight that I don’t work there anymore.

First I got a bill because the insurance company just assumed I wanted to continue my insurance. Then I went through a bit of hassle to terminate my account (not a ton, and I will say the customer service person I worked was very pleasant and got stuck working through a problem that was my fault for not taking care of a long time ago).

I figured that after getting three or so different statements in the mail saying that my certificate was cancelled/my address change had been updated (though I wasn’t trying to change my address–I was trying to change something else on my account and the computer must’ve read “address change”), I wouldn’t hear from them again. Wrong. Now I got a statement saying that my coverage through work had been upped due to a salary increase. Hmmm. OK. Maybe some paperwork took longer to process and mail out than others did, but really, don’t you know that I don’t have an account with you anymore? And thanks for upping my coverage effective 4/1/2008, a full two months after my termination date, but I’m not supposed to get that anymore.

I’ll do what I’ve always done with the life insurance: Ignore it and hope that it just goes away on its own. However, all these extra mailings do rile me up a little bit because it’s just wasting money–and I’m sure that waste would get passed on to me at some point in the form of charges.

Although I do subscribe to too many magazines for my own good, I still hate it when I don’t get the issue before I see it in the store. I finally got my May Marie Claire with Tina Fey on the cover, something Astrochick mentioned to me a good two weeks ago. Oh, sure, two weeks ago I got my May Vanity Fair, which I’m still working on so I don’t really need the Marie Claire, but I would think that if I was a subscriber, I’d reap the benefit of getting it before the average Joe in the store can buy it. After all, I may not pay full cover price, but you have that guaranteed number you can use to command higher rates for your advertising.  Don’t I get rewarded for that?
Still, though, I’d rather have the Marie Claire for bathroom reading, taking over for Cosmopolitan. I mean, I don’t know what extra sex tidbit Cosmo put in to make this issue even sexier than the last one, but it’s not one that I notice (and I probably won’t notice next month, when that month is the “sexiest issue ever”). Maybe I’m just too desensitized to all of the sex talk going on in that magazine, or maybe it’s the lack of professionally generated content, but just four months into my subscription, I’m pretty bored with it. I can only handle so many sex tips from regular guys on the street or readers’ embarrassing moments or readers’ embarrassing moments when they use those sex tips. Is writing for Cosmo like writing for one of the bridal magazines, where every issue is pretty much the same because your readership turns over constantly? Does the Cosmo staff get bored with writing about sex stories all the time?  Do they get tired of dreaming up 15 new sexual positions each month that are like, “Do it with him sitting down and you on his lap, BUT he keeps one buttcheek off the chair.  That’ll be a WILD RIDE!”
Anyway, now that I finally have my Marie Claire, I also get to enjoy a “hair special” booklet on getting glam hair in a flash. The back of the booklet shows a bunch of tools you can buy to help you achieve that fab look in a hurry. One item is a hair dryer, and I wondered, “How often do people buy hair dryers?” I’ve had my Conair Pro Style Mini Dryer 1500 Watts for twelve years, and before that it was my grandmother’s.  Who knows how old it is.  Technology’s apparently improved though because they’ve got 1800 watt dryers on the market today, however that makes a difference.

Do most people keep their hair dryers as long as I have?  Do you have problems with them breaking?  Am I just lucky?  I mean, I’m not in the market for a new hair dryer until this one breaks, but I was just curious about this product.  I use it on a daily basis (for five or ten minutes at a shot–it doesn’t take long to dry my hair), just like this person who seems to think the average life of a hair dryer is about a year, but either I have one stellar product, or I got a magical appliance.  If it’s the latter, long may she reign in my house!

Some days I’m really low on topics (this being one of them), but I try to think of it more as a challenge to come up with something blogworthy.  So, is this conversation good enough?

The Boy loves talking to people.  He’s the icebreaker, the social coordinator.  He’ll talk with you until the cows come home.

This weekend he was at a fencing tournament and told me he hung out after he was done, chatting with the other people there.
“Of course you talked with the other fencers,” I said.  “You like to jibba jab!  You’re a Chatty Kathy!”

“I’m a what?” he asked.

“A Chatty Charlie?” I replied tentatively.

“That’s better.”

“Can I blog about this?”

Sigh.  “If you have to.”

Yeah…let me look around and see if I can find a rant or two for the rest of the week.

I got to go to a Cubs game this past weekend because my little buddy S was in town with her fiance and wanted to go. Because we got there just before the game and didn’t want to pay a fortune, we ended up with standing room only tickets, which was fine by us.

The Cubs have been playing a few weeks, a fact I notice pretty much only because I see traffic monitors at the corner, a lot more cars, drunken Cubs fans, and I sometimes hear the cheers from Wrigley Field. I don’t really know how they’re doing–somehow, the excitement and love of the game has been overshadowed by a survivalist mentality: If we can just get through this homestand, we’ll be fine. Repeat throughout baseball season.

Because I wasn’t paying attention, I didn’t realize how big a deal the acquisition of Kosuke Fukudome was. OK, he’s our first Japanese baseball player (who apparently got a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 9th on Opening Day. That tied up the game, but the Cubs later lost. Some things don’t change), but I didn’t quite realize how people were going nuts for him. His shirt/jersey is one of the most popular–and I saw a lot of them at the ballpark. Jerseys with his name written in katakana. Regular t-shirts. Novelty t-shirts–the novelty tee guys must be having a ball with this because the selections of Fukudome t-shirts include:

A Bruce Lee-type in Wrigley Field

“Fukudome is my homie”

A Harry Carey t-shirt that says, “Horry Kow“

Oh, yes, we’re pulling out all the stereotypes for your amusement (or lack thereof)!

One other Fukudome item is a Daniel-san-Karate Kid-type headband that has a bunch of Japanese kanji on it, plus Fukudome’s number. I tried to figure out if this was typical Japanese baseball fan attire, but on the few YouTube clips I looked at, no one was wearing something like this.

I can only wonder what Fukudome actually thinks about this–if he even notices the shirts and headbands. Does he say to his friends back home, “Yeah…they’ve got this karate headband with my number on it. And people wear them. I don’t get it.” Or is this just “wacky American” behavior that he’s taking in stride?

It’s April. I shouldn’t be thinking about Christmas now, but in light of thinking about too much garbage and having too much stuff (and I’m thinking this before Oprah’s show last Thursday–but that’s an extreme of giving up pretty much everything for a week…and is it me, or do a lot of people use paper plates instead of the dishes in their cabinets? What’s up with that?), I thought how we’ll start hearing about Christmas in July, and then we’ll see lights and stuff in the stores in August (probably), and then before I know it, people will be asking me for a Christmas list.

When the Christmas list request comes in, I never know what I want, and it always takes a while to come up with a reasonable list of stuff that I either want or need. But how about the stuff I don’t really need but end up getting? That’s always a part of the holidays that I’m guessing we all think about, right? I’m not talking about making sure everything you get is what you want. What I’m talking about is the three people who don’t know each other, but all thought it would be good to get me pajamas this year, not knowing that last year two other people surprised me with pajamas that are still in good condition.
If I’m really clever, I find a way to use said unneeded gift, but most likely it sits in the drawer for a year or two before I finally do need it or I get sick of having too full drawers, so I donate it to the gays. Of course I feel guilty for not using a gift that somebody went to the trouble to get for me, so I thought that maybe I could compile a short list of stuff I’m good on. Just in case you care. And if you don’t, at least I can use this as a little reminder of how much I actually have and do need to use.

pajamas (I have at least four pairs, if not more, hidden underneath some stuff)

socks and underwear (went through the drawer last week and can hardly shut it)

kitchen gadgets (I’m lucky those drawers shut)

pens and pencils

post-it notes

stationery (we’ve discussed the stationery problem already)

towels (both kitchen and bathroom; the exception is the dishcloths the Boy’s mom crochets. I could use a few more of those)

polo shirts

sudoku books (I love sudoku, but I got a fab gift of several puzzle books for my birthday, and I’m still working through them)…actually, make that all puzzle books.  I’ve got a stack of logic puzzle books that I need to finish up too.
tote bags

slippers

And this list may grow–but hopefully it will help me realize what I have an abundance of that I either should use or share.

It’s Earth Month, so I’m feeling guilty about the garbage situation again.  You walk by Whole Foods, and there are big signs proclaiming it’s Earth Month, and please bring your own bags.  Then I see a bunch of people walking out of and around the store with regular paper bags (100% recycled paper, yes, but it’s still using paper).

Oh, I do see people here and there who bring their own shopping bags, and I see them more often, which makes me feel like a change is starting to take place.  But what’s going on outside of the city?  Is this whole “bring your own bag” just a pipe dream for helping the environment?

I’ve started watching this series on VBS.tv about Garbage Island, that big vortex of garbage and plastics that’s floating around the Pacific Ocean.  It’s too big to clean up (would cost “billions,” so of course that apparently doesn’t make it worthwhile to do), so we’ll just continue to watch and talk about it, meanwhile probably getting some plastic into our own systems from the fish we eat (do you hear my mother in your head saying, “There’s a reason I don’t like fish!”).

It’s totally depressing me though, and even if we can’t clean up Garbage Island, it’d be nice if we could clean up around home or recycle more or figure out how to deal with garbage dumps that are filling up.  I’m not perfect either–there are plenty of times when I simply want to throw everything away instead of seeing if it can be reused or recycled in any way.   

Still, I’m trying.  I’ve been looking for a bit of a volunteer activity lately, and I think litter might be it.  Maybe I can help make a difference.