Our furnace is kaputt. We can either spend a few hundred on a quick fix or else several to many thousand on a replacement that’s probably long overdue. Since it’s 40 degrees indoors, both of them seem appealing. Fortunately it’s supposed to warm up to 60 outside by Sunday, so we can probably tough it out while we wait for one or the other to happen.

But in the meantime, one of the companies who gave us an estimate has sort of an amusing name, which prompted Victoria (the Mandarin scholar) to comment that it sounded Chinese, and in a quick few exchanges we merged in all our favorites from the Chinese business name hit parade and came up with the ultimate name for a new business, especially if it caters to a Chinese clientele: Lucky Golden Rising Star Dragon Snake Happy Wind Joy Luck Fortune Fish Club. Luckily for anyone wants to start a new business, we’re not entrepreneurial types, so we won’t be needing a name and I’m not going to run out and trademark it. I’m too busy freezing to death here in my office. Help yourself!

For those who are eager to read the next (overdue) smørgåsbord installment, here’s a tidbit: the word “smørgåsbord” effectively means “buffet of lots of yummy little things,” but its literal translation is a triple compound that I guess the Chinese would also appreciate: butter-goose-table.