Sunday, October 22, 2006

KIMOCHI WARUI

As many of you know, my job is, uh, not my favorite thing in the world. (There I said it nicely.)
Lately though it has been fairly tolerable until this week. I have written before about my boss with the purse or the MURSE as we decided to call it, but I have some strange new events to report and I don't intend to be mean about it in any way, more just incredulous and kind of at a loss of what to think.

We have a conference coming up this week and my boss is stressing because he has never done one before. ( He is new.) Anyway, because of this stress his ever constant "smoking breaks" have increased dramatically and so has the smoke cloud he carries with him. ( picture Pigpen from Peanuts, only with cigarette smoke.) He has NO sense whatsoever of personal space and so whenever he comes to ask me a question, he will come BEHIND my desk and stand about 3 inches away from me and begin talking. Normally this would be tolerable, however, he REAKS of smoke, not just his clothing but EVERY breath that comes out of his mouth. I should just put up with it, BUT, being pregnant has made my nose about 1000 times more sensitive ( look out canines) and so it is just MISERABLE sitting there. Plus, I have a baby to think about- I know, I know, I am COMPLETELY selfish for hoping my baby's lungs aren't damaged just because he feels the need to go on and on and not complete a full sentence in English ( even though he got a Masters degree from Harvard???? how did that happen???)

Anyway, this last week has been FULL of days where he comes up and does this close up suffocation thing, but then, Friday topped it all. As he is standing there three inches away from me he starts to SCRATCH HIMSELF. RIGHT THERE. NEXT TO ME. Then he proceeds to use same hand to touch my computer screen. ( I'm praising the Lord he didn't touch my mouse.)

EWWW. SCARRED FOR LIFE. EW.

Now, EVERY culture is different and has certain codes of operation, however in a year of working with 9 other Japanese men, I have NEVER had this happen. I would really like to prevent the situation from happening again, and also just get the man to give me some SPACE. But I don't know how to ask or suggest that he do this.

There are 2 things though. Number 1. I should have a bonus coming at Christmas time. Not a huge one, but definitely a needed one, so I can't say anything that would put my bonus in jeopardy.

The second thing is a problem in Japan known as hikikomori. Japan has a huge problem with young men being embarassed, made fun of, suggestions given to and they become COMPLETELY traumatized and as a result become recluses and NEVER leave their houses again. There are MILLIONS of these hikikomori in Japan.

It's like in the movie "Shall we Dance". They show it somewhat in the English version, but much more so in the Japanese version. The louder, bigger dance lady screams "KIMOCHI WARUI" to the larger gentleman who is trying to learn to dance but covered in sweat. He pulls her in and her face lands in his sweaty chest and of course she isn't happy. It literally translates to " bad feeling" but is SOOOOO much stronger than that. fingernails on a chalkboard comes slightly closer. So of course the guy is TOTALLY embarassed and starts crying and stuff in the movie and probably goes home and becomes a hikikomori.

My boss seems like the nerdy, jittery enough type that if I mentioned anything, even maybe a small suggestion or request that he would go home and become a hikikormori, although that might be difficult seeing as how he is in a foreign country. But anyway, what do I do? Tough it out?? Any thoughts or comments??

Finish reading post.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Budget Deficit?!? No Worries! The Gov't has levied a Sponge Bob Toy Tax!

For any ya'll out there in LYMA land who have traveled with children lately, I know you'll feel my pain...

My wife and I were flying out of Salt Lake with my son a couple of weeks ago. On the way to the airport, my mother gave my son a gift - a "Patrick Star" liquid filled squishy toy. (Frankly, I was more excited about the toy than my son, but that's my right as a father!) We threw the toy in our baby bag.

When we arrived at that nice little table where they make you declare all of your liquid filled items (conveniently after we had checked our bags), the security personnel were adamant about the fact that the Sponge Bob toy was a bomb. They made us throw it in the box along with other confiscated items. I tried to argue that along with baby bottle full of white fluid, a medicine bottle, diaper rash cream, etc. the toy was merely a baby item. They weren't having it. They made me give it up.

We'll leave the debate over the new security measures for another post. What I want to discuss is what happened to my toy. This morning on the today show, they did a piece on what happens to confiscated items after their owners give them up. Apparently, in many states, they are auctioned off. In fact, according to the Today Show, airports across the country confiscate an item every 3 seconds. The money Illinois made auctioning off confiscated goods was added to the state's general fund, earmarked for schools.

I'm for giving more money to schools just as much as the next person, but I've got a great idea:

Use the money to cut down on the waiting time at airport security!

I sure hope when they are calculating what the war on terror costs America, they include the cost of my Sponge Bob toy.


Finish reading post.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Sue 'em All

So there is another tobacco lawsuit. I have mixed feelings about this type of lawsuit. On one hand I think it is kind of ridiculous to choose to smoke for thirty years and then blame someone else when you get cancer. On the other hand, it would certainly put a smile on my face to see big tobacco lose billions of dollars, regardless of why or how.

I don't know what kind of success these suits against tobacco companies have had (maybe some of you can fill me in) but I think they have not had much luck. I do know (from the movie Runaway Jury) that there hasn't been a successful one against a gun company (unless the movie is lying to me, but why would it do that?). I guess the reason that these suits don't succeed that much is the element of choice, you chose to smoke, someone else chose to shoot the gun, it wasn't the company's fault, etc. There is a point there, but like I said, I wouldn't lose any sleep if they had to shell out millions every time someone died of lung cancer. So who's fault is it? Should anyone be held responsible?

Then I had another thought, relating all this to conference and recent lessons in church. Cigarettes are an addiction that can end up ruining, or ending your life, what about pornography? Has anyone ever sued a pornography company because they got addicted and lost their job or family? Could such a claim ever succeed? You could probably point to a quantifiable loss if it cost you your job, or alimony, or child support. Could you claim emotional distress? What would you have to show to win? Is it just your own fault you are addicted and you should take responsibility? Say what you will about plaintiff's attorneys, that is one I would like to see them bring.

Finish reading post.

Monday, October 02, 2006

100 Meter Freestyle and Strangle a Guy

Jerry Seinfeld does a bit about the Olympics that is pretty good. In it he talks about the biathalon in the winter olympics, that is the one where you combine cross country skiing and shooting a rifle, Seinfled jokes that this makes about as much sense as a swimming event where you stop to choke someone at the end of the pool. I have discovered that an equally odd combination of events has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, I just never realized how dumb the combination was until now.

This year the NCAA changed the rules of its football games in order to make them shorter, I guess for TV (I have no idea why anyone would ever want a football game to be over sooner, but that really isn't the point). If you follow college football at all you have probably heard that the coaches don't like the rule changes very much, I won't bother explaining them, but the basic complaint is that they change the strategy of the game and make it more difficult to come from behind. I recently read in Sports Illustrated that one option for shortening the games that the coaches would have preferred was to simply shorten halftime, thus making the broadcast shorter without effecting the game. This suggestion was rejected by the NCAA who informed the coaches that the marching bands needed the full halftime to perform.

And there is the odd combination. Why on earth do football and marching bands go together? You have probably never noticed it either because they have been together for so long that it just seems natural, but in reality it is a disgustingly abnormal relationship. I don't want to address which is better (you can probably guess where I stand on that one), but rather point out that as a football fan I have virtually no interest in the marching band, and I am pretty sure most other football fans would agree with me. Having them around in the stands during the game to play Hey Baby, or the school song is kind of fun (as long as you don't get the seat right in front of them and have a trombone in your ear for the whole game), but I think most football fans would be indifferent at best, play it on the loudspeaker for all I care. The point is, I don't think that the people who are there for the football care if the band performs at halftime or not, as long as they get their bathroom break and a fresh beer.

I don't mean to degrade marching bands though. They work hard and have a real talent, and there are a lot of people who want to see it, but I don't see the connection to football. I know two drum majors, and I can't see either of them on the front row painted blue with their shirt off in -10 degree weather cheering on the team. The band fans probably don't care about football any more than I care about the band. I think that if the roles were reversed and I had to watch three hours of a marching band just to see twenty minutes of football in the middle I would probably shove a pencil through my ear and/or eye. When you think about it, having a marching band at halftime of a football game is kind of like having the fat lady sing an aria between rounds at the WWF.

I think it is time to end this unholy union once and for all. Marching bands to the marching band competition, football to the football game, and never the two shall meet.

Finish reading post.