Tiger Balm, for what ails you

The Worcester Night Life programs are one of the best values around. For a modest fee, you can take course ranging from basic harmonic to oil burner technician to Linux for beginners. The programs range from a few hours to a whole semester.

Yesterday, Sandra and I took a tour of Chinatown in Boston. We learned about the history of this sometimes rough section of the city, about those who settled there. Most of the residents speak Cantonese while people who have settled in Massachusetts for jobs in high-tech speak Mandarin. (Did you know that there is a group and a language named Hakka in mainland China and Taiwan?)

We had dim sum at the China Pearl, visited a bakery, an herbal pharmacy (Tiger Balm is made neither from nor for tigers), several restaurants, clothing and gift stores, and a grocery store. We bought a black chicken, carrots the size of a baby's arm, and several packages of snack cookies for young and old. We saw, but didn't buy, live eels, dorian melon (with a smell like carrion in custard), and vegetarian squid. It was good fun. A big part of it was getting over the notion that things need to look like the stuff you'd find in Stop & Shop, Denny's, or Subway. More than a billion people have kim chee, pork roll, or rice and tofu in soy sauce for breakfast. They're doing just fine without the Coronary Artery Bypass on a Bun Special.

I expect that we'll see a lot of dogs on Alitalia once this news gets around.

Today's automated search for a technical documentation job:

• Director of Housekeeping for a company in Florida: "Accomplishes housekeeping human resource strategies by determining accountabilities" and "Avoids legal challenges by understanding current and proposed legislation...."
• This one sounds dirty, but isn't: Sr SAP HR Org Mgt, Persnl Mgt Bene, Trainn/Evnt Mgt (*HOT Perm*)#881

This clip with John Cleese has been making the rounds on the 'net lately. It's an advertisement for a company that provides online backup services. A friend of mine works there. The clip may be a bit esoteric for those who don't work with IT departments, but, for the rest, it will be uncomfortably familiar. You'll need to have the sound on your computer.