Let Me Fix That for You

When one thing ... just ONE thing ... is out of place, don't you want to just reach out and fix it? Maybe even download it if it's a picture and Photoshop it to death until you get it right?

That's the way I feel about these pictures. It make me want to slap my forehead and do something about it. But I can't. So I'm not going to fixate on it any more.

Yeah, right. As if.

Food Name Failures 2

Ohhhh, what were they thinking when they named these food products anyway? No matter that the names are accurate, no matter that they actually make sense in the country where they were packaged.

When they're sold in America, their names and slogans take on entirely different meanings, sometimes becoming totally politically incorrect.

Here, have a look:

I have one more bunch to show you at a later date.

Expensive Fajita

Er ... Tell Me the Price Again?

Last April, when the wife and I visited our grandson in Fremont, CA, I wanted to try out more restaurants that we'd never gone to before. One of them was Mil's Diner in Milpitas, a short freeway drive from where we were staying.

I checked out their menu online. Everything looked fine, until I came to their omelette section and saw their posted price for a Fajita Omelette. It was pretty steep, even if they had to bring in the ingredients from Mexico.

Well, of course, it was an error by whoever typed up their website menu for them, but it was a shocker, none-the-less. The thing is, they know about it, but still haven't fixed it.

My breakfast was good, by the way, and no, I didn't order the fajitas.

Water Nice Thing to Do

The wife and I were recipients of refreshing kindness recently.

On a sweltering-hot Thursday afternoon, we were presented with cold bottles of water from iNvision, where the wife had to get an MRI on her knee.

Then, after a long wedding banquet at the Halekulani Hotel, the valet people gave each of us a bottle of cold water to refresh ourselves on the drive home.

The were neat-looking bottles too. Each company had their own logos printed on the bottle. Just a little gesture that shows their aloha for their customers.

Where Hawaii Ranks 28

Here we go with more best-worst rankings recently released about where Hawaii stands in the general scheme of things. As usual, some good, some not so good.

Worst States to Retire (Bankrate, 2014)

1. New York
2. West Virginia
3. Alaska
4. Arkansas
5. HAWAII

States with Highest Income Tax Rates (The Tax Foundation, 2014)

1. California (13.3%)
2. HAWAII (11.0%)
3. Oregon (9.9%)
4. Minnesota (9.85%)
5. Iowa, 8.98%)

Best City for Child-Free Living (mylife.com, 2014)

1. HONOLULU, HI
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Boston, MA
4. Pittsburgh, PA
5. Seattle, WA

Highest Required Annual Income to be Happy (NerdWallet, 2014)

1. HAWAII ($122,175)
2. District of Columbia ($104,700)
3. New York ($99,150)
4. Alaska ($98,850)
5. New Jersey ($95,700)

Most Expensive U.S. City to Raise a Child to Age 17 (U.S. Dept. Of Agriculture, 2014)

1. New York (Manhattan), NY ($540,514)
2. HONOLULU, HI ($429,635)
3. San Francisco ($402,112)
4. New York (Brooklyn), NY ($400,951)
5. HILO, HI ($369,559)

Get Yer Cheap Women Here

I saw this wonderful opportunity for men to meet women at a discount. Go to the Expo for Hawai'i Women and take $1 off the price of one.

Isn't that great? And isn't it amazing that they have an exposition with women on display? And isn't it wonderful that if you bring in a coupon, you can ... wait ... hold on ...

Never mind!

LinkedIn’s inCafe

inCafe Entrance

When I visited my grandson in Fremont this past August, the wife and I were fortunate enough to have lunch with my son, who works at LinkedIn in Mountain View, just across the San Francisco Bay.

I took pictures of their cafeteria, called “inCafe,” and had intended to run them in my restaurant blog, “A Place for My Taste.” However, after thinking hard about it, I decided not to run the pictures there, because inCafe isn’t a restaurant. It’s a private dining area for the employees of LinkedIn and it would not be appropriate to present it as a restaurant.

Start of the Lunch Crowd

LinkedIn is not a garage operation, not by a long shot. Situated across the street from Google, it occupies seven buildings and has more than 1,000 employees. They’re all fairly young. I saw hundreds of them in the cafeteria, and they all looked to be in the 30’s and 40’s. I mean, after all, the tech industry is fairly young and we old farts aren’t very adept at what they do.

inCafe is not a typical cafeteria. It’s like a buffet – specialty stations, healthful foodstuffs, a modern youthful dining area with colorful furnishings, a wide variety of foods, a game room. And the best part for its employees? It’s free of charge. Employees don’t have to pay for anything there.

Dining Room

Tempted as I was to do a multi-plate buffet experience, I decided not to. After all, this was a lunch as guest of a corporation. Instead, I had a salad plate and a few lunch items (gnocchi, pizza, spring rolls, pickles and roasted avocado).

Yum!

My pix:

Peppers and Veggies

Wok Station

Salads

Grille Station

Dessert Fig Bars

Tandoori Station

My Salad Plate

My Lunch Plate

So ... how can you eat there? Three ways: (1) Be invited by management, (2) Know a family member who works at LinkedIn, or (3) Get a job there.

Phone Pix 30: Horizontal and Vertical

Horizontal (side to side, in case you forgot) and vertical (up and down) lines fascinate me. I don't know why, they just do.

And so whenever I spot them in nature or in a man-made arrangements of sorts, I whip out my smart phone and click a few pix so I can share them with you:

Christmas Tree Garlands, Long's Drugs Manoa, Aug. 8, 2013

Folded Paper Shade, Dr. Carl Yorita's Office, Aug. 12, 2013

Wood Fence, Craig's Son's Home in Fremont, CA, Sept. 28, 2013

Stone Wall, Black Angus, San Jose, CA, Sept. 29, 2013

Tree Trunk, Houge Park, San Jose, CA, Sept. 29, 2013

Dried Bamboo Arrangement, Gyotaku Japanese Restaurant, Nov. 4, 2013

Questionable Fixes 3

The other day, I talked about wanting to fix things. But one thing for sure, I won't fix them the way these people fixed their problems.

Here's what some people did to fix the problems they had with their cars (I sure hope these were just temporary):

I've actually done that side-view mirror thing when a truck clipped off my driver's side mirror.

Bone, Bone on the Range

Remember those goats we saw during our previous trip to my son's home Fremont? Here's a picture to refresh your memory:

Well, they were nowhere to be seen on our last trip. No green grass for them to munch on in the glen. Everything was brown and dry, with lots of dirt patches, kind of like being in the Dust Bowl of the '30s.

The whole valley was brown, because of the extended California drought:

I did see one goat. Well, not an entire goat – just a skeleton. The skeleton was pretty much stripped clean.

Which led me to wonder: How did it die? It couldn't have died of thirst, could it? Did a coyote get it? Did it die when the grass was tall enough to hide it? Did vultures strip the bones of all the flesh?

And how about the herders? Didn't they notice that one of their goats was missing? Didn't they see the vultures? Didn't the herding dog alert them? (And on a weird note, did the herding dog munch on the goat meat?)

So many questions … so few answers.

KGMB-TV Messed Up Again

Somebody at KGMB-TV, Channel 9 Honolulu, needs be fired, or at the very least get his/her pay docked, for inexcusably confusing the words "affect" and "effect" on the station's early evening newscast last night.

The teaser promo should read, "The June Jones Effect." Not "Affect."

Didn't anybody there go to English class in school? Shouldn't everybody know the difference between "affect" and "effect"? I got that drummed into my head so many times in junior high and high school, not to mention in my undergraduate and graduate journalism classes in college.

Okay. One more time. Repeat after me: "Affect" is a verb; "Effect is a noun." Got that? Hey, KGMB writer, I'm talking to YOU. Better yet, get someone who knows proper English to proofread what you write. Or, email me the copy and I'll do it for you.

Er ... you do know what verbs and nouns are, right?