Take Me Somewhere

A really good friend of mine just gave birth to her first child the other day. I believe the baby was a month early and it was induced. Just a few weeks ago I had gone by to visit her in Los Angeles and she'd told me about the Chinese tradition of not bathing for a month after the birth. And then on Slate today I was reading about the postpartum customs of women from around the world. Not washing your hair or brushing your teeth for a few weeks seems gross but I guess if it's tradition it's defensible. My friend says she's loving it so far, and she's a Virgo and a total germaphobe like me.

Originally they had been told that they would be having a girl, and my friend and her husband had decided to name their daughter "Chloe," which would have meant that the child's name would have been "Chloe Yang." Just add a "Grace" in the middle of that and call it a day. Unfortunately, the doctors messed up and the baby turned out to be a boy. Now the baby's named after a French designer instead of an obscure young adult heroine. Too bad.

Speaking of children named Chloe, a friend who I named and modeled a character after in the book named her kid "Chloe," and now that kid is so cute she's actually a baby model and was recently in a Target ad featured on a Times Square big screen. Little people, making moves.

I was reading this article about Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos. I'm fascinated by any Chinese Americans around my age who have made it big time. "Look at this guy," my brain says, "he could be a family friend (or me)!" Aside from Hsieh's drive and success, the part that struck me about his story was how even his closest friends don't know anything about his romantic life. "Close friends and employees either giggled nervously or balked outright at queries about it."

Mr. Hsieh, who professes fascination with dating guides like Neil Strauss's "The Game" and pontificated on his theory of the evolutionary futility of sexual jealousy, said he does not date. "I don't usually define dating or not dating, together or not together," said Mr. Hsieh, nursing another tall shaker of wine at the Downtown Cocktail Room. "I prefer to use the term 'hang out.' And I hang out with a lot of people, guys and girls. I don't really have this one person I am dating right now. I am hanging out with multiple people, and some people I hang out with more than others."

A Ms. Lim, who may or may not have dated him in the past, says: "It's kind of a gray area. I think of everyone I know in my life, he's the best at not feeling jealousy," she added. "But I think he's human, whether anyone believes that or not."

I love how this multi-millionaire has a mysterious dating life that the journalist had to dig into. I love how Tony is basically just another unable to commit male but isn't tagged as a playboy or womanizer. Neither of which he is probably, but part of me wonders if a profile on another single and young CEO -- a non-Asian one -- would have pegged him as such a sweetheart. Then again, they basically compare him to a robot so maybe I'm just reading a little too much into it. Either way, for my next pair of shoes I'd like to purchase them through Zappos. And I'm gonna work on having my friends believe that I'm human.

Here's a 2009 article about Zappos' customer service and corporate culture. And the possible real key to their success: free shipping.