Lotusblog

I am currently translating a report (from English into Japanese) for an important meeting tomorrow. The report concerns the environmental certification of a certain product that we import into Japan. It’s a very concise report, and it explains the testing methodology, standards and verification processes of the GECA (Good Environmental Choice Australia) eco-label.

But golly gosh, it is the worst report I have ever read in my life. Every single page (and there are 19 of them) contains a spelling mistake. It’s like GECA are deliberately doing it to break up the dull monotony of passages like…

“The verification procedure is managed via a Documented Quality Management System and Certification Program Manuals which have made significant use of the ISO 14 000 series. The following standards have been adapted to the programs requirements, ISO 14 001, 14 0012, the 14020 series, 14 031 environmental performance evaluation, 14040. The program is self declared to be in conformance to ISO 14 024 as a Type 1 Program. This verification report has been compiled in conformance to these procedures.”

Sadly, I think it’s just badly written. Without a spell-checker. Or a proofreader. Typed by a squirrel.

Mr. P. Johnson (the “undertaker of quality assurance” for this report) should be utterly ashamed of himself.

Was just reading over on Treehugger about a recent competition to design a commuter bike for the masses. You can read more about it here but the comments after the article raise some very interesting (and mostly valid) points.

Jeff Stephens sums it perfectly:

“In other words, these design competitions are intellectual circle jerks, because the goal is to win the competition, not to create a better design.”

Too busy to post anything recently- and my plan of bringing all the content from the old blog to this blog has sort of stopped dead in its tracks too.
What the hell am I doing every day?
Well, one thing I did was upgrade the grege site.It’s a lot less cluttered, easier to use and dare I say, nicer on the eye now. I decided to remove the original products that we sell- having everything all on one website wasn’t really helping anyone- in the parlance of the pros, were we B2C? B2B? Who knew?

So I decided to make grege primarily a “corporate” site, an information portal for our business customers. The interior objects, furniture, kitchen and tableware and so on will be displayed on a new site, to be announced soon.

We’re looking for distributors in outside of Japan, so if any of you in Europe, the US, Oceania or Asia know of anyone… let me know. For the time being though, you can still see the ep range (which has always had its own website) right here.

Yesterday I had an enormous amount of grief trying to send emails. And that’s supposed to be the world’s easiest thing in the new information economy, right?
Every single message I sent came back several minutes later telling me that since my mail server had been blacklisted (for spam) and that all emails from me were being rejected.
This sort of thing has happened before. From my limited understanding of the issue, a computer on the same network (this is probably the wrong word, so if you can correct me, please do) was sending spam. The reaction of every other mail server on the internet, then, was to blacklist the server I was using it, and reject email from said server for 24 hours (during which time the spammer would have given up and moved on).

The outcome of all these shenanigans can be summed up as follows:
1. Spam still gets sent. It always does.
2. Innocent users get inconvenienced.
3. I get really angry and write a pointless blog post about it.

So please, if you happen to meet a spammer, please politely ask them to refrain from their nefarious deeds.

A very kind person (whom I am have never met) emailed me today with an offer almost too good to be true. The subject title was “The more meat you have, the bigger pleasure you give”.
I thought it was very kind of Carly Mcdermott to offer me this advice, but when I opened her email I was taken to a website selling some of manhood lengthening pills.
Goodness gracious me, I thought.
And there I was thinking of the roast beef (see my previous post here) that I just wrote about.

And now I am struggling to end this anecdote. Can anyone suggest a sentence to end this entry in smart, witty way?

Character A: He’s got a roast beef!

Character B: That ain’t a roast beef, this is a roast beef!

Roast beef at J&M house

Don’t worry people, it’s all under control. My FT Weekend arrived yesterday. I guess the delivery people were taking time off over the weekend. (a well deserved break, I should add)

Apart from that good news, not a lot else to tell.
Back at work.

It’s Sunday (Jan 4th, 2009), the last day of the break, and I am feeling rather out of sorts. I could do with another week off, for starters. But I think the thing that is really troubling me is that my FT Weekend wasn’t delivered yesterday.

It made me realise that I am addicted to the Secret Agent and Mrs. Moneypenny. Reading their columns on pink newsprint whilst lying on a futon, the afternoon sun streaming through the window… ecstasy!

Reading them online just doesn’t really compare does it.

Having a few days off usually means a bit of extra time in the kitchen. You get a chance to try those things that, during the week, you just don’t get around to doing.

So tonight was the night I finally tried a chocolate self-saucing pudding. I didn’t have much time, so I wanted a quick and easy recipe. I found this.

And the verdict?

Well, I think it could have done to have been cooked at a slightly lower power rating (I did 5 minutes at 1000 Watts) but nonetheless, it was bloody great! It was a great match with the custard recipe I found here. I can’t believe how easy it is to make a stonkingly good custard.

So get out there and make a killer dessert that will blow the winter blues away. Let me know how it went in the comments below.

So it’s already July. It’s stinking hot. I am in Japan. No more trips for a while. I just upgraded my blog software.

I feel like a fish out of water.

Can I ever blog again?