Stayin' Warm

A quick memory for my "little sis" Shelly who passed away 4 years ago today. I still think of you often and look forward to seeing you again in Heaven someday. Keep doing that goofy dance till I get there!

Wow - cold temperatures in the midwest. I see Cedar Rapids is supposed to be -51???? I took a stab at explaining that to some of the Taiwanese in the office, most have never felt temperatures below +40 degrees. I tried the freezer analogy, but that's not right. What I was considering was using the analogy of poking them with a pencil eraser and stating "That is 0 degrees".... then poking them hard with the leaded end of the pencil "That is -10 degrees"...... then grabbing a baseball bat to see if they get the idea. On a positive note, last year when I suffered through the Minnesota freezing cold/snow and was thinking "next winter I'll be in Taiwan"..... well I'm in Taiwan and it's back up in the 70s today. An absolutely BEAUTIFUL day today, windows are back open and the skies were 100% blue. It should be in the 70s all weekend so a good time to go out and enjoy the warm January air. How many times will I get to say that in my lifetime back in the midwest??

Interesting side note - Taiwan is beginning to pass additional and stricter no smoking in public laws. I don't fully understand them yet, but note that the recent trend (and a good trend in my mind) making it more difficult for smokers to pass along the harm to others who don't want it has now arrived in Taiwan. Not a lot of smokers here though - my guess is one in maybe 8? Maybe one in 10? But China... it's well over 50% there I think.

Pictures posted again of yesterday's wedding of Tony. You'll see the work gang in many pictures, one of whom flew up from Singapore to be in the wedding! An array of fancy foods, some good, some ok, some I wouldn't touch. You'll like the chicken picture. The chicken meat was actually really good! But the Chinese folk lore says that if the chicken head points to you, you will be the next one laid off. So we just kind of turned it so it wasn't pointing at anyone in particular. That picture is now one of my favorites so far in Taiwan. They also played a game for a kind of raffle where everyone writes a wedding message on a card (with tape on the back side) to give to the new couple. When they enter wearing outfit #2 (remember, there are 3 outfits), everyone walks up and puts their card on the groom somewhere. Then the MC pulls off three cards at random and those people on the card get a special gift! It was fun, especially since one of my employees was one of the winners! On a side note, the DJ sucked as they were playing about 30 minutes worth of music, the only song I recognized was "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer (from the movie She's All That for those who remember) and I heard it 7 times. The first 4 times as part of the loop, but then during the exit line (outfit #3), the song was played over and over!!! So no, that song will not be played at my wedding now. I will make sure of that!

On a side note - I'm thinking of starting up a wedding dress rental company in the US. Like the Taiwanese, they rent their dress instead of buying it (similar to the groom's tux).... wonder if that would work?? Thoughts?? Would some of you be willing to sell your wedding dress to my new company at a cost much less than you paid for it?? How much is that antique-never-to-be-used-again-nor-fit-into-again dress in the closet worth to you?? This could be my chance.....

Miracle on the Hudson River... kind of a weird situation, but a miracle none the less. There was discussion today at work of the crash in 2002 here in Taiwan of a China Airlines crash on its way to Hong Kong were 225 people were killed. That's a lot of people unfortunately:(

Have a great weekend - for most of you, try to stay warm!!!