Question: does this make us candidates?

Shiny puffer jackets with fur-trimmed hoods — mostly guys, but some girls. I might actually buy one.
Rabbit fur scarves, accessories & trim — people don’t seem the least bit bothered by real fur here. I confess I did buy some furry earmuffs.
Shorts with tights and boots — Guess that’s popular stateside too, but even more so here. Damn these skinny short Japanese legs. I can’t fit into any of the awesome legwear or boots here. But my lace-up sheepskin boots are all the Tokyo rage. Take that, haters!
Jackets with complicated toggle closures. I saw one gal with a single toggle undone and it looked like total fashion suicide. People are so well-kept here.
Crazy inventive fake eyelashes — way more adventurous than what you’d see stateside. And the fake lashes here are made for wider eyes, so they actually fit me!

I wish I could provide pics of some of the crazy fashion, but it’s too rude to snap shots of strangers. There are countless more weird things than I could even state here, but in a nutshell, EVERYBODY is putting on a show. Being in Toyko totally undoes any preconceptions about homogenous Japanese culture, like those shots you get of a million suit-and-tie-clad office workers — even if the uniform is, well, uniform, the dudes here mix it up with Bowie hair and crazy glasses and whatnot. So incredibly cool to see!

Dear Google: You should not implement a feature that hides Labels that don’t have any useful content for me, but then have the hidden labels contain unread messages that then never get displayed. If you decide to implement such a ‘feature’ you should allow me to adjust settings to opt out of it.

Dear Shazam: Twitter integration only works if you allow users to modify the default tweet text, or if you make the default tweet text sufficiently un-douchey. But really you should just make it modifiable, come on.

Dear Chipotle iPhone App: You should tell me BEFORE I go to all the trouble of ordering via my iPhone that a) I cannot pay for my order via my iPhone at the location I have selected, and b) my order will never, ever, EVER get made before I arrive, thereby making iPhone ordering totally pointless.

TECHNOLOGY, YOU HAVE FAILED ME!

I love versatile kitchen tools.

Courtesy of Gizmodo (via imgur via Digg).

However, no task is too daunting for this handy lass. I MacGyvered my shoe back together using my dexterity, the original two staples and one of the nails (the other had gone missing), plus a few more Swingline staples and some Scotch tape from a coworker’s desk. (He also loaned me a screwdriver, so I could stop using my CamelBak water bottle to hammer everything together.)

So far, so good! I may not exactly build my own furniture, but don’t ever say I ain’t handy!

They come in three different heel heights, as well as different toe shapes, and they come with a set of five different ribbons of your choosing, and you can purchase additional ribbons or just use your own, presumably.  And of course, they have really detailed tying instructions, plus a printable sizing chart, and a gallery of all the ideas other customers have come up with — what a refreshingly complete and helpful website!

I think I’m in love!  Problem is, I tend to destroy wooden-soled shoes like you wouldn’t (woodent?) believe — I scuff them, I crack or chip off bits of them, etc.  And with cheaper shoes that are stained or painted, this means that the exposed chip or crack is a different color.  BUT, since these babies appear to be made of solid maple, cherry and walnut, in theory I wouldn’t have that problem.  And how great is that?  Plus, I bet I could send them back for touching up, or just have my carpenter dad do it for me!  Totally going on my wish list.

I had Grant buy me FOUR shots of wheatgrass juice from Jamba Juice on Friday afternoon, and then I got myself another four shots on Saturday and another four shots again today. And guess what? No sicky!

So I suppose our kitty is not the only wheatgrass fanatic in our household, after all. Maybe we’ll fight over it.