Which is why I was temporarily taken aback when I got a package from Zhangzhou today. You know, Pantuo. It's in Zhangpu County. In Zhanhzhou, Fujian. In China.
I don't know why I'm so amused by this little package, which came without any receipt or anything. I just know it cost ¥016.80 to ship, which, if I did the currency conversion correctly, is $2.46.
Maybe I'm just amused that we live in a world in which we can so easily buy cheap crap direct from China. Without using a middle man, a month later, it'll actually show up at my office in a funky envelope. I mean, I know that most of the stuff I buy comes from China, but it's never this direct. To the best of my knowledge, I've never received any personal mail from this far away. (And yes, I know I'm contributing to the trade deficit. But it's just $1.)
Hey, I'll take anything I can get. It's a Monday morning.
Anyway, we'll see how long -- if at all -- my $1 USB hub works. My expectations are low, but $1 is a very small price to pay for a little blog fodder today. Win-win from Chen Wenhui. Thank you, sir, you'll get a positive eBay feedback.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
