Junk Mail

I just realized that the only pieces of mail I get everyday now are junk mail. I guess no one sends things in the mail anymore. E-cards, E-mail, E-bills, E-this, and E-that. Everything is electronic nowadays. I actually don't mind getting junk mail. Well, maybe only certain kinds. I like the colorful and full print advertisements for upcoming sales and discount coupons. Even restaurant menus are Ok. Those especially come in handy when ordering take-out.

What I hate the most of all junk mail are those annoying re-finance interest rate notices I get day in and day out. First of all, they usually have on the envelope the words, "IMPORTANT: DATED MATERIAL," underlined. They try to make the letter more important than it really is. Inside the letter, the typical words:

"We can save you hundreds on your current mortgage from ABC Bank! 30-year fixed interest rate is only 6.8%, blah blah blah. "

I guess it would have been important to me if I can actually save a few hundred bucks for the next 30 years. But the truth of the matter is that I've already re-fied multiple times since I took out a loan with ABC Bank. Since then I have had loans with DEF Bank, GHI Bank, all the way down to XYZ Bank already. And why would I refinance against a 6.8% rate if I currently have a 5.3% rate??

I suppose that the word, "dated," on the envelope refers to how dated the information they actually have on their records! My two cents to those people sending me those junk mail is that if you really want to extract business from me, get your numbers straight!! Get your records current!! It's nothing more embarrassing than to have your customers think that you are stupid. Or outright incompetent. So unless you can get your records straight, it's best to divert your investment from buying stamps for junk mail to upgrading your system instead. Now, that's the smart thing to do.

Aggh, today is finally Thursday! This week seems really long. I guess whenever we get a short week at work, we mentally think the days will go by fast. But reality is that the anticipation for the weekend simply makes the waiting even longer than it really is. A hard concept to comprehend, but the truth indeed.

I don't know if you've been watching the gameshow Jeopardy!, but I've been catching it everyday after dinner for the past couple of weeks. This is this one guy on it who has been champion for 27 straight days. Yep, 27 days! They used to have a 5-day limit, but the gameshow has since lifted that rule. He has won over $800,000. It's really amazing how minute and how obscure some of the details this guy knows. First he's fast with the buzzer, and second, he knows every subject from A to Z. I totally think that he might be a genius! The gameshow hosts should definitely bring back some of the previous 5-day champions to compete against him. I wonder when will he lose, and who will dethrone him? That would be so interesting!

On a side note, here are some more hearts for you. These I found along the Embarcadero during my daily lunchtime walks. I'll upload more next time... meanwhile, enjoy!

Heart #7: Trapped Heart - this is one of my favorites so far. This heart is covered with thick steel wires all around. It's 3-D...different from the other painted ones I've seen. This was located across the street from the Ferry Building along the Embarcadero.

Heart #9: Map Heart - This is one of the steel interlocking hearts. This is a rough sketched map of the San Francisco.

Heart #8: "I Left my Heart" heart - A scared look on the person's face, but it should be a happy thought... This heart was found in the plaza along Embarcadero. This one was found across the street from Herman Justin Plaza.

Heart #10: "Artist at Heart" heart - This heart was on Market St. near First St.

Happy Birthday

June 27th was my blogspot's 1st birthday. Sorry, I'm a few days late. It has been a wonderful 1st year talking and writing to you. I am looking forward to another year and many years to come. Happy Birthday!!

Hearts in San Francisco

If you haven't already noticed, more than 20 fiberglass or interlocking steel hearts have been popping up on city streets of San Francisco these past few months. The official launch date was February 14th to be exact (how thoughtful!). There will be more hearts to come... a total of 130 of them will be appearing on street corners, plazas, and sidewalks throughout San Francisco. The project is called "Hearts in San Francisco," which helps boost the tourist industry by allowing visitors to "see" and "leave" their hearts in San Francisco. The hearts are decorated by local artists with different themes. The hearts are on display until September 2004. After that, the City will choose a few of them to be auctioned off. The proceeds will benefit the San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center. More information on this can be found at Hearts in San Francisco's website.

I knew about this City project on the San Francisco Chronicle a couple of months back. I decided that it would be a very nice weekend activity to "find" all the 130 hearts. Afterall, I have until September and it was a really great way to explore the City. So my husband and I ventured off today to find our first set of hearts. We found 7 hearts in total!! Here are the hearts we found ... believe me, there will be more to come!

Heart #1: The Silver Heart - located in front of the now-closed DFS Galleria, across the street from Union Square on Geary Blvd.

Heart #3: This heart was located in front of the Four Seasons Hotel on Market, near 4th St.

Heart #2: The Fern Heart - located near 555 Market St. between 2nd and 1st St.

Heart #4: The Ethnic Heart - found on Union Square.

Heart #7: Mom's Heart - located on Union Square.

Heart #5: Strawberry Heart - located in front of the McKesson Headquarter building on Market St. near New Montgomery St.

Heart #6: This heart was found in front of Macy's, on Geart Blvd, across from Union Square.

Half-day Fridays

It has been a long while since I took a day off from work and didn't go anywhere. I was supposed to take today off as vacation to recuperate from my trip, but I ended up working at home instead. I actually am grateful for the luxury of being able to tele-commute although I'm not allowed to do that too often. It was nice. I went out to lunch with my parents and even did a little grocery shopping. I love having the ability to take off for a few hours from work to run errands. Today was such a beautiful day that it reminded me of those good old days when I had "half day Fridays." I used to work 9-hour days Mondays through Thursdays and 4 hours on Fridays. I really loved those Fridays when I get to leave work right after lunch. I always ended up shopping though, which became a very expensive habit after a while. But the ability to have a head start on weekend road trips or to be able to take afternoon naps was something I really enjoyed and missed. Now, I work 10-hour days everyday and no half-day Fridays! So unfair!

Aloha!!

I find it absolutely impossible to work in Hawaii if you have a view to the outside world. What I mean is that when you somehow get a glimpse at the beauty of the beaches and blue sky, you won't be able to concentrate at all. Can't imagine having to work in a window space where you can actually have an ocean view. The beaches and weather are so beautiful here that it may be a torture just to have a window office. Well, during my time here, I managed to sit in an area tucked inside, so I wasn't able to see the light of day. That way, I can actually concentrate on work and stay awake during meetings. 4 non-stop 12-hour days are just enough for me though. Tomorrow I hope to have a nice stroll along the beach before I hop on the plane back to San Francisco. There are still a million things that I need to do for work but I'm practically handicapped because I'm using dial-up and the files take about 1/2 hour to pull up. Oh well, I guess those just have to wait!! I just need it to get it off my mind!

No Purchase Necessary

I am confused on the phrase "No Purchase Necessary" attached to game contest rules. Just this morning, I saw an ad on a big chain grocery's website promoting a Match & Win game. The How-to-play games instruction was as follows:

"Buy any four items from participating products and receive a game piece at checkout. Match your game piece(s) to the corresponding boxes on the game board. Collect all the game pieces to complete a row on the game board and you're a winner!"

The prizes include Complete home makeover, 2004 Honda Pilot SUV, etc, etc. But then, as always, at the bottom of the contest rules I spotted those 3 confusing words: "No Purchase Necessary." So there they were. How is that possible? How can I receive game pieces without purchasing? Can I write to the company and simply "ask" for the game pieces? How does it work?

Trip down south - Destination: San Diego

Now that I finally have the privilege of posting pictures on Blogger, I must take advantage of it so that my loyal readers can see that photos I took in San Diego. It was a very nice trip - relaxing and eventful. We went to all the places designated as "touristy" and more. We are actually quite pleased that we covered a lot of ground and actually got around the City + Orange County with a very generic map we picked up at our rent-a-car office. Weather was decent, first 2 days were cloudy -but by the weekend, the sun was full-blown. Met up with Wontonwrapper on Sunday to visit San Diego's world-famous Wild Animal Park. Animals were all hiding under the trees for shade -- so didn't really get to see them in full scale. Below I have some pictures to share. We went to more places than those listed, but didn't get a chance to take any pictures. This trip will just have to remain in my memory!!

A ground squirrel 

This is a very chubby squirrel we encountered at the La Jolla Cove. The picture doesn't really show the detail, but squirrels in SD doesn't have the same big tails we normally see here in NorCal. They don't climb trees at all. They just go underground and out on the streets.