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My mom says I'm special. And I have always believed I am special. I always thought my Korean heritage gave me special powers that made me smarter and live longer than the average human. Now I have learned that it can also cause my death. I'm talking about the Korean Kryptonite: The Electric Fan. Fan death is caused by the use of an electric fan in an enclosed space for a long period of time. There have been many reported cases of fan death, all in South Korea. It is widely believed that Korean physiology makes us uniquely susceptible to this kind of fatality.

Oftentimes victims will be discovered in the morning lying next to a fan that had been left on accidentally all night. The tragedy of fan death can be averted by the simple act of leaving a window open. Death by fan is usually attributed to suffocation or hypothermia. Some believe fan death is caused by the breaking up of oxygen molecules by the fan so the air is no longer breathable, which is just silly. The most sound and scientifically accepted belief is that the fan creates a vortex in a small, windowless space, which sucks all of the oxygen out of the room, creating a vacuum. Some manufacturers have included timers on their electric fans to avoid liability. Fan death research is ongoing. Some scientists speculate that central air conditioning could also result in deaths, which is a scary thought! Below is a video warning of the dangers of fan death. Not a laughing matter!

So, rumor has it the infamous Cuban dictator is dead. The funny thing is that celebrity gossip site Perezhilton.com broke the story. I can't believe he's been dead for a week and there hasn't been an announcement. I wonder what the next steps are for U.S. relations with Cuba. The embargo has always been a stupid idea. Cutting countries off from our products is not punishment for "enemy" countries. It's probably a gift. The worst thing we could do would be to flood their country with our corporate identities in order to westernize them. If we really wanted to convert other countries to our way of life, our way of thinking, our religion, our government, we should give them as much access to our stuff as we can in an effort to dilute their own culture. Exposure to as much violent television, Wal-mart, and fast food is the way to destroy a culture, not cutting them off.

I like to call people on my way home from work. My commute is about 30-45 minutes, depending on traffic. I use my cell phone with a hands-free device, aka ear piece, and traffic is usually only going about 10 miles an hour so I'm always stuck following the flow behind the same car the entire time on the freeway. As soon as I leave work I will fix up my ear piece and set up my phone in the cup holder and then right after I have found my spot in my favorite lane (I swear it's faster than the other ones) I'll get out my cell phone and start dialing.

My husband is always first on my list. If he doesn't answer I will call back two more times in a row just in case he's running to the phone or he didn't hear it. I used to call over and over again until he yelled at me one time because he was in the bathroom and he thought I was in trouble or had an emergency because I kept calling. I only do it because he never hears his phone until I've called at least five times, but that's a topic for another post.

If my husband doesn't answer or I know he's busy and wants to work, then I start calling my mom, sister, and whoever else is in my phone book. My friends and family know about this and I feel have come to accept, even expect, my phone calls. In fact, now they ask right away, "Are you driving home?" I don't know if the rest of the world is aware of this, because my family doesn't seem to be, but driving home through traffic during rush hour is boring. You can't relax because some jerk is always driving dumb and cutting people off. All the music is the same on the radio and I can only stand about 20 minutes of NPR because by that time I've heard the traffic report three times already. I don't need a traffic report, I'm already in traffic. The traffic report is never different, just like the weather. Traffic is backed up from the split to Baseline and weather is hot and dry.

Anyway, I get a lot done during this time. I set up lunches, weekend outings, and dinner plans with my husband. Today Paul and I decided on steak and potatoes. This encouraged me to do the potato dance in the car. He couldn't see me, so I made sure to sing it for him:

I say, we can dance if we want to
We can leave your spuds behind
'Cause your spuds don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no spuds of mine
Potato Dance! It's the Potato Dance! It's the Potato Dance!
pPpP-oOoO-tTtT-aAaA-tTtT-oOoO.

Ha! in your face Quayle!

I thought the threat to our environment wouldn't affect me. I thought I had more time. But now I've found out that one of my favorite snacks, the Gummy Bear, is threatened by the popularity of biofuels. The price of glucose is going up and it could mean the end of the Gummy Bear. Now is the time to stockpile. When the world comes to an end Gummy Bears will become precious commodity, invaluable for trading. The only trick will be where to put them so they last and so my neighbors don't realize and come to steal my Gummy Bears. I could handle global warming and crazy hurricanes. I don't know if I can handle the end to Gummy Bears.

It's all set, plans have been finalized; we're finally going to Japan next month! Paul and I have been talking about this trip for years and now we're finally going. We'll be visiting Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. We'll see the Akihabara and Harajuku shopping districts. And of course, the Tokyo Game Show- video game convention. It's like the Japanese version of E3. We're so excited it's like we're on crack!

This video provided by the Japanese provides us tips on keeping safe.