- 08:01 may you have peace and joy this Christmas day #
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I bring you: a cat in my lap this holiday. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I did!
See you in 2010!
You know for retail in Hong Kong, Xmas is huge and we spent a lot of time and energy planning for its arrival and departure. In the past month, I watched almost daily this Treemap visually identifying category composition, which products move and how they perform. In this particular interpretation which I hided confidential information, you can imagine the grids are product categories, the size of the rectangles are sales, height of them are quantity sold, while colors are margin. Don't you think it is highly effective to spot out anomalies or patterns? The best thing about Treemapping is that I can see individual product performance in relation to the whole picture of the department.
I've been using Treemapping for years and eventually settled on a German made Treemap software by Macrofocus. They have constant updates to enhance features and import excel files almost instantly. It has been a great tool for me for the past few years and I feel thankful for such great software development.
If you don't know what Treemap is, check out my previous post "A Visual Person's Links", Treemapping wikipedia or find out some of the treemap images from Google to get a glimpse or to start with.
We used to sell larger versions of these beautiful paper storage boxes from PLUS, the series is called Living Post which is very good for organizing your home and work desktop. This year they released a smaller version which is also cheaper at about HK$98 per piece. Instantly they became our top sellers in Xmas.
Most people have their stationery stuffed in a drawer without classification and eventually a lot of them are not used on regular basis, they are just lying there to be thrown away one day. The problem is, like most of your other stuffs, that without organization, things are not being used to their potential and this is such a waste.
So instead of putting stuffs in drawers, Living Post offers to have your gears accessible on your desktop. Yes you have to create a space for such storage boxes but the payback is guaranteed. You make things beautiful so that they become useful.
I now use a square orange box to store clips, craft related stuffs such as MT masking tapes, leather tools. The large drawer is just the right size for postcard or 4x6 photos, a calculator, Field Notes and Moleskine pocket size notebook fit perfectly well inside. My other narrow black box is used for photo related stuffs such as shutter release, 35mm film canisters, tapes, etc. It also serve as a place to put miscellaneous or temporary stuffs.
The Living Post drawers are tiny but enough. If you are not a stationery freak, chances are you will find it useful in your own ways. Say for storing daily cosmetic stuffs, for a dedicated place to store all your keys and cables, etc.
I wish they have a version with wood pattern which fits perfectly with my desktop theme at home.
- 09:05 it is cold and very white, but also very pretty #
- 09:11 Photo: xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe tumblr.com/xry4wkb0u #
- 11:27 uh oh, freezing fog closing in - let's hope there isn't anything nasty lurking #
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Moonmallow (the adorable plushie above) and I hope you and your loved ones have some very happy hollydays this year. ^___^ I've been busy with buying pressies for my friends and family, wrapping the pressies, and sending out cards to people over the past few weeks. Everything seems like a blur-- but a very happy blur!
I'm sending many warm thoughts your way. <3
- 14:08 I want my own harpist too, why do the Royals get everything? ow.ly/Ozbz #
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since i saw matt last wednesday and we decided to start seeing eachother again, he calls me every day, just as he had done before we broke up. it's not that i mind, in fact, i'm extremely happy to hear from him. he's busy off and on at work, so when i call him, he usually has customers. it's just easier for him to call me.
i'm not making this easy for him, by any means, but with stuff like that, i feel like i am. should i not be answering when he calls every time?...on the flip side, i don't want to be too hard to get and push him away, given why we broke up. i'm afraid the further i push him away, that i'll push him right into dixie...could be the insecurity that's creeped into my psyche lately...
i've never been in this situation - i've never gotten back together with someone that i had previously dated, let alone in these circumstances and i'm not sure how far to really stay away and when it's OK to be available. he's really busy with work right now, so it's a little easier to stay away from him and not see him all the time, but as far as phone calls? he calls just to tell me he loves me...
he's one of those stubborn hipsters who doesn't believe in text messaging, so that's never an issue. i don't know...just don't really know what i'm doing in this situations and don't want to make any mistakes, or get taken advantage of, or be too easy on him...
i think i'm over thinking it.
i'm seeing him tomorrow.
Frequently, I will fall madly in love with a piece of furniture that leaves even my closest friends & allies scratching their heads in confusion. Such was the case with my new desk. When I first showed it to my husband, I could tell he was skeptical, but knew better than to say so...When the glimmer is in my eye, just back away.
It was love at first glance on Craigslist for me:
So I contacted the owner to arrange a viewing. We had several conversations over the course of a few days while attempting to fit our schedules together and I learned that the desk had belonged to his mother and he had the pity-able task of sorting out her belongings. I told him that I was a furniture maker and would take really good care of it...that I wasn't sure if I would refinish it, or leave it alone, but either way it would be loved. In a small way, I think these exchanges may have been a bit therapeutic for him, as I sensed he was perhaps a bit choked up on the other line.
I should mention, in addition to being incredibly kind, he was also extremely fair with the price ($45 for desk, chair, & mirror) and generously offered to deliver it to me for free.
So yesterday, when he showed up, it was an easy no brainer. I saw it on the truck, knew it was love, handed him the money, and brought it in the house. It was a little dirty from being in storage, but a little simple green & elbow grease was all it took to clean up nicely:
While pulling out one of the drawers, my husband discovered hidden treasures had fallen into the back of it. I couldn't believe it - a beautiful desk AND hidden treasure! I had hit the jackpot. The best things we found: an antique bottle opener, stolen from a San Francisco hotel called The Raphael; a porcelain lid to a tiny box (this must have made her CRAZY trying to find it); an old silver swiss army knife? or nail cutter?; and best of all - a tiny gold skeleton key with a #2 on it.
Doesn't that just pique your sense of wonder & adventure like crazy???!!!! WHAT on earth does that key open and HOW will I find it?
Well, those questions may have to go unanswered. I plan to call the man today and offer him what I found...but I'm REALLY hoping he doesn't want them back, because I love them so much! I would like to keep them with the desk, either displayed behind my computer or in a shadow box on the wall. Each item has so much history and so many secrets to tell...If I am allowed to keep them, I know they will provide endless inspiration and possibly good luck while spending long hours feverishly writing at this desk.
