nonstick weblog

I was in Vegas last weekend with my sister and BIL. He had some dental convention and I kept my sis company. Along with checking out the outlet mall and the M&M and Coke stores, one of my must-do’s was meeting @ThinGuy and @MrsThinGuy (Craig and Denae to those in the parrallel, non-twitter universe).

We met at Firefly on Paradise, a tapas place with really good food and really good mojitos. I had a lot of both. I was nervous to finally meet Craig and Denae. I have this short complex and Craig is a giant. Fortunately, we were sitting except for the initial hug, hug, handshake, handshake.

I also got to meet Julie and Terry, a couple of their friends. I think Terry is Mr. Magically Delicious. I forgot to ask. But he is Irish. And was wearing a green hat with a shamrock on it. And wouldn’t share his cereal.

I had a blast. My sister and BIL had a blast. Huge thank you to Craig, Denae, Julie and Terry. Definitely keeping you guys on the Vegas-Must-See list.

A few years ago while visiting my parents’ village in China, we noticed something. The men and women there have some huge noggins. And the men all looked like my brother, but I digress.

My mom, my brothers, one sister, and I have been saddled with huge heads proving one size does not fit all. And my children have big heads, too. In fact, Didi can barely fit his head through the neck hole of most of his shirts.

Growing up, we could not understand why we had big heads. Big heads were not a Chinese thing. Most Chinese people can find a hat that fits. But during this trip, we hit upon it. All those people in my parents’ village have big heads and they are Hakka. Therefore, Hakkas have big heads. Which explains the missing top on the Hakka hat.

When I got home, I checked online for famous Hakka people to test my theory. Deng Xiaoping – big head. Leslie Cheung – big head. Chow Yun-Fat – Really big head. Our family now refers to our big heads as Hakka heads. As in “Don’t cry, Mui. You don’t have a big head. You have a Hakka head.”

I have finally gotten around to getting my own domain. I have imported all posts from blogs.sun.com and blogspot.com. Now that I have to PAY for having a blog, I plan to post more often.

This site is in flux. I am not techie enough to know how to do things fast, but techie enough to break stuff trying. So please bear with me if something you like disappears or something you don’t like jumps out of the screen and bites you.

Tweeters were challenged yesterday to write a story using 6 words a la Hemingway: “For Sale: Baby shoes, never used.”

@editweapon won a @zappos contest where the prizes were a Van Halen towel and a $100 gift certificate to zappos.com. @editweapon decided to pass on some of his spoils by presenting the $100 gift certificate as the reward for the best 6 word story.

Here is my submission: Parents dial 011-86 to call home.

I don’t know who won or if they have chosen a winner yet. But I loved the opportunity to flex my creative writing muscle.

My friend and colleague, Marc Dierens, recently started his own Sun blog. He is avid in virtual social networking and just gave our staff a briefing on Second Life and Facebook and how Sun utilizes them to build and strengthen networks internal and external to Sun.

I am on travel again. I find it really easy to find my rental car in parking lots. It’s the one that no one actually buys. But I can’t find it in the parking lot at the W. They all look the same.

As you all know my husband teaches at the University of Utah and he tipped me off to this article in the Salt Lake Tribune. The bill that just passed the legislative committee and is moving to the House says that those with concealed weapon permits may “openly carry” their weapons on any publicly owned property. Yes, folks, it includes the U where my husband is employed and where he regularly pisses off students.

Being able to carry a concealed weapon is bad enough. Now you can openly intimidate without ever uttering a word. I can’t believe I pay the salaries of the idiots who think it is okay to allow people to openly carry there weapons anywhere, much less in the classroom. Do we not learn from the gun related tragedies on college campuses across the nation? Is my husband now supposed to ask to see their permit when a student thrusts his holster forward as he disputes the grade he received? How would these politicians feel if I openly carried a weapon into the capital? WTF, Utah?

Last week I was in MPK and BRM and got the chance to meet some of my Twitter buddies. I met @kevinchu and @davetong for lunch on Wednesday and @lskrocki for lunch on Friday.

The experience was weird. I am used to working with people for years and never meeting them in person. If I do, I already have the email and phone relationship as a foundation. With my Twitter buddies, the relationship is built on blog entries, one way communications; and tweets, brief quips that can be two way communications.

They say that words only communicate 7% of the message. As I had never even spoken to these folks, I was getting the additional 93% all at once. And it was quite an experience.

@kevinchu was a lot quieter than I imagined, but when he did say something, it was a gem, kind of like Silent Bob. @davetong was as I imagined, a garrulous and funny guy. @lskrocki was just as I imagined, too. I expect that if anyone witnessed @lskrocki and my lunch, they would describe it as jibber-jabber, jibber-jabber, cackle, cackle, cackle.

I have to wend my may to Las Vegas soon to meet @thinguy and @mrsthinguy.

I have lately noticed that my vocabulary is crap. I blame it on fatigue or brain farts, but really it’s because I have not taken the time to build or maintain my vocabulary. I need to read more and write more. In writing, when I need a word, I can take the time to ponder. When speaking, I just sound “duh” as I search for the appropriate term.

A friend and colleague just moved to the SF Bay Area from Spain. He told me that he studied South Park and Californication so he could fit in. Um. Probably not what I would have chosen. Any recommendations?