Ode to Coach

Unfortunately for you, my loyal readership of three, I haven't been doing too many exciting, adventurous new things lately. However something did happen that made my inner penny pincher very, very happy.

Too often I end up getting the short end of the stick when it comes to my retail purchases. I am probably partially to blame because I can be impulsive, buy something the second I see it instead of shopping around and end up with an over priced, poor quality item with no warranty or receipt. And if I do have a warranty or receipt I'm often too lazy to use it.

About a year ago, fed up with all the poor quality purses I always purchased falling apart on me, I decided to invest a little bit more and get a designer Coach purse. Not wanting to spend a ton on it, I went to the outlet stores in Napa Valley and found a great little bag for a little over $100, a great price for a Coach bag. I was excited, not only because I was now an owner of a Coach bag, but also at the prospect of having a bag that could hold up to my lifestyle.

Sadly not even a year after my initial purchase, my bag was already showing signs of weakness, fraying where the straps met with the body of the bag, Evidence it could not hold up to the endurance I expect and need out of a bag. Fortunately for me, Coach guarantees their products for the natural life of the product. All you have to do is send it in and they will fix it for you. A little before leaving for Japan, worried my poor baby wouldn't be able to make the trip, and I kissed it goodbye and sent it packing for the Coach Day Spa for bags in Jacksonville, Fl.

Weeks turned into months and Coach had given me no sign that they had received my bag at all or that it was being treated. I had a tracking number on it and I knew it had arrived safely. I decided to follow up with Coach and I sent them an email with the tracking number, and some details about my bag and see what was going on. After an email exchange back and forth involving me sending some pictures of my missing baby to them (cause I didn't know the exact make or model) I got the Dear John letter that I had seen coming....My bag was nowhere to be found. I barely had time to register my grief for in the next sentence in the email they informed me that they would be issuing me a credit for the current value of my bag $324USD plus tax (!!!). Despite its discounted price at the outlet store, my bag was worth a lot to me and it made me very happy to see that Coach recognized our special bond, and was even able to put a monetary value on said bond.

I eagerly hopped on the Coach website to peruse their selection and find the bag that could best assuage the pain of my loss. I narrowed the selection down to a list of a few, sent it off to some friends and got their feedback and was all set to pick one out. I logged onto the Coach website, ready to make my purchase, and there it was...A bag that I had somehow missed before. It hadn't even been on my long list of options that I had pored over the site looking for. Instantly, I knew we were meant to be. All other selections went out the window. This was the one for me.



Isn't she beautiful?!?

So I obviously got the bag, and thought I couldn't be more happy about it until yesterday when I decided to go into the local Coach store to buy some spray to protect my pretty little girl. When I was in there, I noticed my new bag was on display. Curious, I had to check the price they were offering it for in Australia. $720. For a split second I considered returning my princess to the Coach store in Australia, taking the money and exchanging it for American dollars (which is about .90 to the dollar right now) repurchasing my bag from the U.S. website and then pocketing the difference.

However I decided against it. I mean, really, how often does a love like this come along?

I love you, Coach.

Client Entertainment

In Australia, I go on far more in-person client events than I ever did working in SF. Naturally a good percentage of these are also fun events meant for us to get to know the clients a little better, build relationships and also have fun. Unfortunately for me, these 'fun' 'events aren't ones that I would consider universally fun...particularly because so far they have been in fields that I don't excel in...or to put it more bluntly, that I suck at.

Example 1: Golf

I know that golf is a sport all business people should learn. I now realize that, Dad, you in fact were not trying to torture me by making me take those Sunday morning golf lessons (when it was about as hot as the fifth circle of hell and I was sweating out Milwaukee's Best from the night before) but were instead trying to arm me with the skills I would need to engage in this social aspect of doing business. Perhaps I should have paid more attention during those lessons. Maybe I should have just not drank so much cheap beer the evenings before. Regardless of why, the lessons didn't stick. We have now gone golfing twice with clients. My excitement the first time going out was quickly eclipse by my realization that not only was this not going to be an easy game to pick up but also my hand-eye coordination in terms of hitting the ball was on par with that of a pot smoking chimp. When I did occasionally manage to hit the ball, it usually ended up in some sweet spot like this...



Seriously...how is anyone supposed to hit that???

And that is only when I was so lucky to be able to locate it after I hit it. I was actually able to defy the laws of physics multiple times on that course by somehow hitting the ball with a forward motion and making it take off on a trajectory backwards. Sadly, I feel these talents would be much more well received in a class room than they were on the golf course.


Example 2: Cooking

This week, we took our clients to an italian bread making class where you make bread and drink wine while socializing. I know what you're probably thinking. I'm italian. I like bread. I love wine. This should be a good experience. Well, on a scale of 1 to golf, I will say this wasn't quite at golf level, but I won't be trying out for Master Chef anytime soon either.

They made the whole experience relatively painless by pre-measuring all of the ingredients for us, walking us through every step, providing us with wine and pretty much only leaving us responsible for the kneading and shaping of the dough. I guess that makes your job a little easier in guessing where things went wrong for me. While everyone else's dough looked smooth and round like a cantaloupe, mine more closely resembled jaba the hut. Below are a few pictures I snapped with my camera during the class.




Though we baked some of the dough in class, they had us wrap up the rest of ours so that we could take it home and bake it. During the class, even wrapped up the dough continued to expand. By the time the class was over, my little jaba the hut had grown legs. I was pretty sure I could walk him home.

Last night I remembered my sad little pile of dough in the fridge, and with the help of my flat mate, I attempted to bake. The result? Surprisingly good. See for yourself below. That is an 'E' I etched on the top of it. I must say, when given premeasured ingredients and almost fool proof instructions to bake it while being closely supervised, I'm not half bad at baking!



I hope our next client event we can do something more up my alley...like beer olympics. I would totally rock at that.

R Party

Last weekend, to celebrate our U.S. Ambassador Rachel's Birthday (Ambassador program means she's over here working for 3 months with Google), our friend Hazel decided to host an 'R' themed party (since Rachel's name begins with the letter R, for those of you that needed it spelled out). We were all instructed to dress as something that began with the letter R and to replicate one of our favorite brunch places in SF, we had brunch and mimosas. It was a great time and there isn't too much more to tell than that, but I thought you'd appreciate seeing some pictures of the costumes and how it went.

To clarify, yes, I wore two costumes. I did a mid party costume change because I couldn't decide between the two...and because I love dressing up. (I was a ref and 'Robin' the superhero)

The other people you see in the pictures are a 'ranga' (It's aussie speak for a red head, derived from the word 'orangutang'), 'risky business' and a 'roo (or kangaroo, for those not fluent in Aussie).

Enjoy!

Melbournt Out

I spent this last Thursday and Friday in Melbourne (or better known as Ben's next destination) for client meetings and from the trip, I discovered a few things...

A) I LOVE QANTAS airlines

B) No matter where you are if it's raining, it sucks

C) I am destined to go to the Sonaisali Island resort in Fiji

I'll address these one at a time.

First, my love for QANTAS...This airline is absolutely unbelievable. Ben (my coworker I was traveling down to Melbourne with, not my brother) pointed out to me that if you're on a morning flight, they give you a copy of that days newspaper. And we're not talking a newspaper of their choice, they have all three main Sydney newspapers available for you to pick from. There is apparently always a decent meal served onboard (which they will take away if you are sleeping, FYI) and if you happen to fly between 4 and about 8 at night, your meal is served with a complimentary drink. I love this airline. On top of that, you may remember the name of it from the movie, Rainman. Dustin Hoffman's character only wanted to fly QANTAS because it was the only airline that had never crashed. I'm not sure how many years ago that movie was but this fact still holds true. I will say that in general, international airlines are far superior to the ones in the U.S (at least the ones I've seen internationally). I never really had reason to complain about the U.S. airlines before because it was all I knew but now I have seen the better life...and there is no going back.

Second, the rain continues to pour here. It did down in Melbourne as well. Aside from the inside of my hotel room (which was very nice) I got to see the inside of two office buildings, the inside of several cabs, the inside of the hotel bar. Sucky weather gives me a sucky attitude and this was no exception.

I should preface this third point by telling you that for quite sometime (when my background on my computer screen wasn't Tim Tebow) it was this beautiful picture I had found on the internet of somewhere in Fiji. I had no idea where exactly the photo was taken but I liked it because it was a very calming image, and it was obviously somewhere I'd rather be. When I got on the plane to come back from Melbourne, I grabbed one of those magazines they keep in the back pocket of the seat in front of you. Flipping through it, I came across an ad for Fijian vacations...and the image I'd stared at for so many months on end finally had a name...The Sonaisali Island Resort : http://www.sonaisali.com/ The picture that was my background is the one in the top left at that site. I'm taking this with in no uncertain terms whatever that I need to get to Fiji ASAP. If for nothing else to get out of the cold and out of this rain.

The Sky Is Falling

As usual, sorry about the delays in blogging. I never have enough hours in a day. These last few days the sky has essentially been falling around here. (Well, it's been happening for the last few months but every so often we'd get a day or two of hope in the form of a beautiful day and then BAAM, I'm all of a sudden in a torrential downpour wondering if I should be gathering two of every animal in an ark).

Yesterday was probably one of the windiest, nastiest weather days that I've seen here so far. As I left work to embark on my journey home, I pulled out my umbrella and remarked to myself that it has been a miracle since I got here that I bought three umbrellas and I am still in possession of all three. I prematurely patted myself on the back for a job well done. I started across the footbridge over Darling Harbor as the rain and wind was steadily growing stronger. 'Thank God I still have this umbrella' I thought to myself. All of a sudden a huge gust of wind came and...



It literally decapitated my umbrella.

I watched in shock as the top half of my umbrella was lifted hundreds of feet in the air by the massive gale that had just struck me before settling into Darling Harbor for its death at sea. I probably stood there for a good thirty seconds, holding what was left of the corpse of my umbrella, in the rain, before I fully processed what had just happened.

I have had many umbrella debacles in my day. More often than not, it is either that they are always inside out or just the sheer lack of them that causes my consternation. Never before have I actually seen the wind split an umbrella in two clean pieces, and I lived in Boston, which is the windiest city in the U.S. (Fun Fact! Chicago is known as the windy city because of all of the politicians they had there, presumably 'blowing a lot of hot air' - Boston actually has the strongest wind gusts in the U.S. making it the windiest).

I am counting the minutes until summer.