Prangster in Chicago

Hello meat

Last night's dinner was Argentine steak at Tango Sur. BYOB and no corkage fee. Less than $80 before tip for 3 people. Ridiculous. I came home and fell right asleep. Pretty nice start to the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend...

You're welcome

We launched a massive corporate site last week and got these personalized glass plaques from the client. It's a beauty, isn't it? This baby will join other corporate gifts in my drawer like the baseball cap, pens, t-shirt, water bottle, b-school sweatshirt, college football jersey, reusable shopping bag, cookbook, CFL light bulb and the biography of a U.S. president (Lincoln, I think). I also got a ladies' watch with a red alligator strap last year, but it went to Ebay heaven.

See you soon, Tokyo (and Janice and Helen too)

I can't stop researching things to do in Tokyo! It's like a part time job. I've decided to stay in the city three extra days by myself after Janice and Helen have both left. The plan is to keep exploring and eating, and see how lost I can get by myself on the Tokyo subway system. The best part is that Tokyo is pretty much like New York to me. I've been a handful of times already and done most of the tourist stuff. Now it's just about taking the time to absorb and enjoy whatever the hell I feel like.

Here are a few things already planned:

- We're staying at Hotel Claska. It looks incredible. And between the three of us, the room rate won't be bad for three nights. It's got a gallery space, restaurant/bar, a book shop and these modern tatami rooms. I booked through Tablet Hotels. The location could be a little out of the way, but that means we get to explore a new neighborhood.

- Helen and I will be doing our Uniqlo and Beams run before we meet up with Janice. Mmm, Beams. Hopefully Helen and I won't slip into "dead mode," where we turn into shopping zombies from dehydration and exhaustion.

- We're going to have a nice, long reunion dinner on Saturday night. Location to be decided. The three of us haven't been in the same city since maybe 2006, which is far too long. We first became friends in Year 9 (or was it Year 10?) because we had to sit alphabetically in home class in an Asian huddle: Chen, Chen Chow, Cheng. Helen and I annoyed the crap out of Janice by speaking over her every morning. Then she cracked and crossed to the dark side.

- If I can swing it, I'd like to take a class at Freedom University. It seems similar in concept to the School of Life in London. Most of the classes are focused on communications, design and the arts, with the English-language classes taught by the guy who used to head Patagonia in Japan. The web site is mostly in Japanese so I cold e-mailed to ask about the class schedule. I hope it works out because then I'll have a legit excuse to buy lots of Japanese notebooks and pens. And Bad Badtz Maru stickers.

10 items or fewer

1. I'm selling stuff on ebay this week. It makes me feel like an entrepreneur. Out of 14 auctions, so far 6 have bids. I'm so rich.

2. I'm enjoying reading the Corner Office series on NYT. My favorite line from this week's column is about giving feedback: "When the puppy pees on the carpet, you say something right then because you don’t say six months later, “Remember that day, January 12th, when you peed on the carpet?” That doesn’t make any sense."

3. I've blocked January 2-5 in my iCal for "Tokyo with Helen and Janice." Seriously. Can't. Wait. It's going to be a million times better than the real 10-year high school reunion, which was canceled because only 50 people out of 300 signed up. Kinda sad but shrug. I'm glad that 10 years later most of us are older and wiser and don't want to fork over $50 to catch up with people we haven't bothered to stay in touch with anyway.

4. My Starcraft phase is finally petering out. There's this one Zerg mission that I just can't beat. You win, Zerglings. I've run out of vespene gas.

5. In the past two weeks, I've seen three plays as part of an event called Free Night of Theater. It's a freebie lover's paradise. I saw Death of a Salesman at the Raven Theater. Richard III at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. And last night I went to see Fake at the Steppenwolf. The shows have all been great and I've seen lots of well-delivered spitballs. 

6. I've booked my December plane ticket from Chicago to Taipei using United miles. I love you, United.

7. I'm seriously considering whether or not to be one of those people with the shiny metal Kindles. It's like having a library in my bag! The only thing holding me back is the feeling that in 6 months' time they'll introduce another Kindle that downloads movies, has a camera, has a phone and plays Starcraft.

8. I made guacamole on Saturday night and learned that having too much guacamole makes it less delicious.

9. Churros at XOCO are worth the wait.

The chin of a superhero

The riverwalk

Another riveting photo taken on the walk to the bus stop! This time I turned back to steal a shot of the building my company moved into back in June. VSA is on the second floor way on the left side of the photo. I wonder if the river will freeze over by December?

Speaking of freezing temperatures, I'm defrosting a Sara Lee cheesecake right now. It's been a while since I've had one of those. How much can I eat tonight in one sitting? Hmmm.

New cooking goal: pizza dough (and pizza)

Check it: whole wheat pizza base with spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese. Done!

How to be chuffed but still cool

I love Dave Eggers, it's true. He's a hero of mine. So when I got to see him in person earlier this week at a charity screening of Where the Wild Things Are, I was so chuffed. Soooo chuffed! But like the time when I thought I saw Samuel L. Jackson in NYC when it was really just a wax statue of him outside the entrance to Madame Tussauds, I was as cool as a cucumber on the outside. But crazy fireworks on the inside. I mean, come on, that could've been Samuel L. Jackson just standing there on the sidewalk! Helen was with me. She remembers the nanosecond of excitement we shared.

My worst nightmare has happened to the city of Phoenix

There's a typo in this poster. Do you see it? It's agonizing. There's absolutely nothing worse than finding a typo when it's too late. But for Phoenix, it gets so much worse. I left a comment on the blog of the design studio that made this poster (they're called Seesaw) and they said the copy was provided to them by the organizers of Phoenix Design Week. So the typo is everywhere. It's a freaking typo pandemic. See it again on the Phoenix Design Week web site and cringe.

Update: The homepage of the Phoenix Design Week site has been redesigned and the typo is gone. But it will always haunt us.

I just barfed. This candle from Barneys costs $375.

I thought the price of this candle was the most ridiculous thing about it. And then I read the product description:

"A wind of freedom coming all at once from the Mascara coast and down from the mountains bringing in its foolish race the green scents of fresh mint, the rashness of fights, the hot and peppered air of ginger and the perfume of tea and tobacco from the Ouled Nail tribe. Top notes of spearmint, lemon-yellow, black currant bud, apple, ginger and clove, heart notes of jasmine and base notes of vanilla. This vegetable-based wax candle with pure cotton wick is biodegradable, allergen free and contains no pesticides. Housed within a beautiful glass vessel."

What is this, The Sims homeware catalog? There are so many things wrong with the first sentence in that paragraph. What the hell does the "rashness of fights" have to do with perfume, or the "wind of freedom" or its "foolish race"? Why is a wind of freedom racing foolishly anyway? And I Googled "Mascara coast." I don't think it even exists! The most worthless product description ever.

And why does this pillow, with embroidery of a tiny dog and tree on the back of it, cost $550? Barneys is so stupid.