Nice udders!

Cow Beauty Soap (ミルク成分配合 [with a combination of milk ingredients])

Note the highly effective branding: nothing says fresh and clean like a dairy cow.

Got milkfed?

Milk seems to be a big selling point here in Japan, at least judging from the increasing number of milkfed bags I see on the train.

What is the world coming to?  Is the recession taking that big a toll on the gum industry that they can’t send a coupon for a free pack of gum to a customer that was truly disgusted by one of their products?  I took the time to write and sent back the entire package of gum (minus two pieces for A-Yo and I), and the best they can do is a letter from a customer service representative?  Seriously.  They are the number one gum-seller in the world with annual revenue of $5.4 billion and 2007 profits of $2.3 billion and they can’t give me a free pack of gum in a flavor that I can stomach?

To be fair, I did not ask for a free coupon – partly because I did not want to seem like I was only writing to get something for free rather than truly complaining, and also I was curious to how they would rectify the situation without my asking for specific recourse.  Well, I guess we know the answer to that now.  NUTS TO YOU WM. WRIGLEY JR. COMPANY, SUBSIDIARY OF CANDY CONGLOMERATE MARS, INC!!!

Their letter is below the jump:

Dear Yulzopolis,

Thank you for letting us know how you feel about Orbit® Positively Pomegranate gum.  We’re happy to hear from you and we truly value your feedback.  Input from customers like you helps us to constantly make improvements and ensure that we are always providing you with top-quality products.

We introduced Orbit® Positively Pomegranate gum to provide customers with a fresh, new flavor for the brand they love.  We’re very sorry that you didn’t like this flavor, but we greatly appreciate you taking the time to try it and sharing your thoughts with us.

We’ll be sharing your feedback with our researchers, who are constantly working on new flavors to add to our product lineup.  We hope you’ll keep an eye out for our new products, try them when they come out and let us know what you think.  Thank you again for reaching out to us and we hope you’ll continue to enjoy Wrigley products in the future.

Sincerely,

Sarah W.

Customer Affairs Representative

Does anyone have any other ideas for interesting topics to post about?
Now that the Obama administration is settled in and Bush is gone, my
urge to write about news and politics is decreasing. And this
recession has gone on so long, I’m also tired of depressing economic
news. But since I’ve been posting so rarely, maybe I can get back
into some of those topics since I’ve had a good break. But in
general, the idea of a self-contained series of posts on one-topic
seems like a good way to generate content and keep motivated.

I was certain that I would never finished the pack (for which I spent $1.30), so I knew the only logical thing was to write a letter to Wrigley to complain and return my unwanted nasty-berry gum.  A-Yo and I had a laugh riot writing the letter, and even though we tried for a humorous tone, the gist of the complaint was real.  So their customer service people better send me some coupons for free gum….otherwise I’m out $1.30 for the gum and $0.42 for the stamp.  Our masterwork below the jump.

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am writing in regards to your “Positively Pomegranate” flavor of Orbit gum. Unfortunately, my experience was not very positive. Today I purchased a pack of the pomegranate gum, and tried a piece. Needless-to-say, I was not pleased with the strange, berrylike taste. When I came home, my wife asked what smelled like some sort of chemical emanating from my coat pocket. I showed her my recent purchase and she was shocked and appalled. She tried a piece, and immediately spit it out.

I usually don’t complain about products, and I have always been pleased with Orbit gum, even the fruit flavors. However, I would like to return the offending package of gum, which is enclosed within.

What is most amazing to me is how this product made it through your product testing and focus groups. I am shocked and puzzled that anyone would like this flavor and recommend selling it to millions of people.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Yulz!

Masses of pollen wafting from a forest of Japanese cedar trees. (Photo credit: The Yomiuri Shimbun)

My seasonal allergies, the dreaded 花粉症　(kafunshou), have started up. My nose isn’t running too much, but my nose and eyes are super itchy, and I may just claw my eyes out. I never had allergies in America; I wonder if I’ve just developed allergies as I’ve gotten older, or if I’m only allergic to the Japanese cedar tree.

In other news, I only have 7 more days of school, and only 8 more classes! Today, I’m gonna play a game sort of like Scattegories with my 4th graders, so hopefully that will be fun and easy.

Also, I finished Far Cry 2 last night. The story picked up toward the end and became a little more interesting, but the game took way too long to move the story along. All and all it was a fun game. Now that I’m done with the story mode, I’ll try out the multiplayer mode, and try to pwn some n00bs!

Barsik

Yesterday it snowed here in Denver.  I was busy at work and did not want to go out in the snow to let Barsik out at lunch.  Yes, leaving the dog inside for almost 9 or 10 hours is tough….I usually let him out at lunch unless I have a compelling reason not to drive home.  When I do stay at work all day,  I try to spend extra time in the evening playing with the dog.  So yesterday, I let him off the leash and he ran around in the apartment courtyard.

Unfortunately, when there is fresh snow, Barsik’s favorite activity is finding the frozen crap of other dogs, digging it up, running around with it in his mouth, and sometimes, eating it.  It is totally disgusting, but he can’t help himself, and I didn’t stop it like I usually do since I wanted him to get enough exercise after being inside all day.  This was a mistake.

Last night I let Barsik in bed with me.  I normally can’t do this when A-Yo is here, since she forbids the dog from sleeping with us…and not without good reason, if you read further…but since she is out of town, I decided to indulge our precious, lovable Barsik and let him sleep at the foot of the bed.

In the middle of the night I was awakened by Barsik squirming around and then getting down from the bed.  I figured he was just going back to his cage to sleep (he loves his cage).  But then I hear…ack ack uuuahuuacksplat…the traumatizing sound of a dog yaking.  I turn on the light and to my horror, see that Barsik had puked…and not normal puke…the puke was the partially digested crap of other dogs!  (yes, this blog post has come full circle, for all of you following at home).  Luckily it was all confined to the doormat by the entryway.  Even though he eats other dog’s crap, Barsik is actually very smart and will try to wait by the door for you to open it if he has to puke (which happens occasionally).

So to summarize – 10 seconds after being in my bed, my dog regurgitated the feces of other dogs onto my welcome mat.  If that is not a convincing reason not to let dogs sleep in your bed, I don’t know what is.  I just glad he decided to make it to the door…I think I would have completely flipped out if I had woken up and found vomit-shit on my bedsheets.

Today I was very productive in the cleaning department.  I brushed the dog, washed the dog, washed the dishes, washed the car, washed some laundry, vacuumed the apartment, and swept the porch.  Barsik wasn’t a big fan of getting brushed, which is surprising since a lot of dogs think it is like a little massage.  Maybe he just needs to get used to it.   A lot of loose hair came out, which will hopefully cut down on the hair laying around the apartment that I am constantly vacuuming.

The only thing left on my cleaning agenda is to clean out the inside of my computer with compressed air.  I will probably do that tomorrow.  I hope no dust bunnies inside there spontaneously combust between now and then…

Click below for details.

If only we had lied and answered “no”!

I uploaded the photos to Picasa. Bill and I are the little kids that look like extras from “Children of the Corn”.

1. I got married (legally) in 2008 – which is a plus since I get a larger standard deduction and am spending my life with the woman I love.  And since A-Yo can’t work, she has no income to bump me up into a higher bracket.  But this leads to some trouble since…
2. I’m married to a nonresident alien without a Social Security Number.  This isn’t a big deal, we just have to apply for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.  And since I am a US citizen, we can choose to file jointly and count her as a resident for tax purposes.  So we have to do the ITIN form and attach a statement claiming A-Yo as a resident.  More complicated than usual, but probably a piece of cake compared with dealing with immigration bullshit with USCIS.
3. The other big change:  Moving to Colorado and taking a new job – which is good since I make more money and can deduct the moving expenses.  But now…
4. I am renting out my house in Tallahassee.  So I have to count the rent I receive as rental income.  But I do get to deduct all the expenses and the depreciation of the rental property.  And since I lived in the house as my primary residence for most of the year and converted it to a rental mid-year, I have to split  my deductions for personal use from the rental business use.  So in some ways it balances out (I get to claim my homeowner mortgage interest deduction for part of the year and claim mortgage  interest as a business expense the rest of the year), but it is a bit more complicated than usual.
5. Now that I am in Colorado, I have to pay state income tax (The horror!).  I had it easy for so long in Texas and Florida…this is the first time I’ll ever have to pay a state income tax   Hopefully it won’t be too big a pain and I’ll get a refund from that too.

Taken together, all these things make my taxes this year a lot more complicated and tough to get a rough idea of how big a refund I’ll be getting.  I’ll just have to wait for all my W-2s and other tax documents to come in the mail, pay to unlock some of the advanced features in TaxCut or TurboTax (or do my taxes by hand the old fashioned way!!!), and file a little later than usual so I can make sure everything is in order.  HopefullyI won’t have to pay to go to an accountant.  I think I should be able to figure it all out and manage to pay my taxes without getting arrested for tax evasion.