My Quirky Island

Hey, go milk the dogs

2009-10-02T03:29:00.000-07:00

Ever notice that every dog on this island has teats like a cow? I was watching a "cow dog" the other day and came up with a brilliant entrepreneurial idea. Okay, Saipan has an excess of dogs, right? Well-- instead of collecting and euthanizing them, let's make a dog dairy. And... because I don't think dog milk will sell well, lets make cheese from the dog milk. We'll need to give it some exotic European name so people won't associate it with Saipan boonie dogs.... (you know like "Pecorino Romano" is from sheep milk). Then we sell it all over Asia in teeny tiny expensive packages. Well... except most Asians don't eat cheese-- but they do like trendy things in Japan. We need to make dog cheese a hip and trendy new food. (Oh, according to the web, the French word for a female dog looks like a good cheese name... "Chienne")

Well, except my kids are refusing to milk boonie dogs for me, because they think I'm nuts. (no argument here). Oh well, yet another brilliant idea of mine tossed on the scrap heap.

Thirty some years ago, I had the brilliant idea to sell water in soda vending machines cause I don't like sugary drinks... .someone stole that idea, and made gobs of money. If anyone steals this idea and makes gobs of money, I'm calling my attorney. (I'll also pass out from astonishment.)

OK, um... GROSS!! Dog cheese?? I'M KIDDING!! Please, kids, don't try this at home.

Someone needs to do some Editorial Cartooning

2009-06-03T02:43:00.000-07:00

I read about the Governor's State of the Commonwealth address briefly. I was DYING for someone to have the courage and talent to spoof it in an editorial cartoon. No such luck, darn. So... here's my vision: I'm picturing a little body--- perhaps in a Napoleon stance with his hand in his jacket with a large Governor Fitial head on top.
Someone would have to compile all the things he's blamed for the current situation... garment industry demise, CUC, Lt. Governors who commit felonies, Wall Street, Rats, Boonie Dogs, giant cockroaches, mainlanders... etc. Then, at the end... perhaps a Richard Nixon pose with the double peace signs going on and a "so vote for me for 4 more years" line.... Needs refinement and a darn good artist.

I shouldn't have dropped out of that art class in college....

Oh, and I really miss Harry Blalock on the radio-- especially Tuesday's with Tina Sablan. Now I truly am clueless about what goes on here.

Sigh.

Where to shop in Saipan-- um, online?

2009-01-10T22:26:00.000-08:00

Since the shopping selection here is so skimpy, it's time to compose a list of places to do some nice online shopping. Not everyone ships to us, and I'm learning that if they won't ship by priority mail, you won't see it for 3 months. Here's my list so far...

J C Penney-- fast shipping,
J & R electronics in NYC-- they carry my printer cartridges, but they only ship expre$$ mail to Saipan
Hanes.com fast, good shipping bags-- don't get damaged. My kids love their clothes
Amazon.com -- will only mail books, no electronics or other stuff.
Walmart-- won't ship priority, expect a 2-3 month wait
NETFLIX I guess they mail out of Hawaii... I love you Netflix!
Drugstore.com/Beauty.com lots of stuff you can't find here

I will say that I do sometimes shop at Kvns department store by the Post Office, (get my flower pots and area rugs there), Joeten Susupe-- because it is the closest thing to Walmart we have, and Ace Hardware--the closest thing we have to Home Depot-- Oh yeah, and Price Costco, which is basically a store that orders lots of stuff from REAL Costco, ships it over here and resells it. Other than these places, basically my money goes off island. What a bummer we haven't got more selection to keep our money here.

If you've got more good shopping places to add-- here or online, I want to know.

My sister-in-law suggested I blog ...

2008-09-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

We've moved to Saipan. It's a quirky island. One of my new friends described it as seeming like "bizarro-land" when you first move from the states. I've decided to collect some of the quirkiness to this blog, so others can enjoy it.

Squid in a can. I can honestly say I've never seen that at Safeway.

This is the view from my house. MY HOUSE!! Hmmm, how many millions would I pay for this in California? Okay, not quirky, but aren't you jealous?? Not yet? Well... let me continue-- we live just up the hill from the beach. This ain't no Southern California "standing room only, freezing cold" beach, it was OUR beach... and maybe a dozen other folks.

On Labor day, the older kids went snorkeling with their dad and saw cool blue starfish out in the coral. Gotta get them an underwater camera. No wet suits-- the water is about 85 degrees F. The water level is about waist high for a long way out-- protected by some sort of natural reef wall that you can see. The younger kids and I hung out near the beach and played with a hermit crab. I'll post some more quirks later.