We're getting a new cheese box!
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@Pepijn (“Juliette has ADHD, Pepijn doesn’t”)
@juliette That really might be part of it right?
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@juliette That really might be part of it right?
@Pepijn you think?
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We're getting a new cheese box!
For real: it's so chill to do adulting by commission
One of us (the working group) researches the matter. Eventually they prepare a short presentation outlining requirements and offering a limited number of options.Then together (management group) we.. just decide without having an existential crisis about accidentally buying the wrong cheese box and destroying all hope for future happiness of humanity. It's nice.
@Pepijn I can imagine that making cheese-related decisions are difficult in a French-Dutch couple. We smuggled a Tefal one when coming back from holidays in France because we don't trust Dutch brands with our Époisses.
PS: I'm with @juliette here: How do you expect us to notice the presence of a pen? -
Why we implemented this fun system of consumerism.
@juliette and I usually align on what we choose, but operate differently in how we choose.
I'm a person who puts a pen a little bit sideways before going to bed. That way the next morning I remember to do XYZ.
Juliette is a person who for no reason at all puts a pen a little bit sideways and until she needs a pen never again thinks of pens, let alone this one.
This difference in operational methodology can create friction.
1/3
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@juliette That really might be part of it right?
@Pepijn @juliette My wife and I have a similar set of characteristics.
We’ve eventually arrived at the following methodology:
0. Some decision is needed
1. one of us brings it up.
A) one of us has strong views on the matter > they share them
B) no one has strong views
2. The matter rests for a while
3. one of us feels like taking the decision. If it’s big, we do another review loop
4. One of us goes and does the thing. The other person doesn’t complain about how they did it. -
@Pepijn @juliette My wife and I have a similar set of characteristics.
We’ve eventually arrived at the following methodology:
0. Some decision is needed
1. one of us brings it up.
A) one of us has strong views on the matter > they share them
B) no one has strong views
2. The matter rests for a while
3. one of us feels like taking the decision. If it’s big, we do another review loop
4. One of us goes and does the thing. The other person doesn’t complain about how they did it. -
@CarstenBoll It very much much pre-dates the existence of our hobbit and even our cohabitation. As far as I remember this is how I have always done things. It's faster than writing and easier to implement.
Slightly askew pens are just an example of the method. Other ways are stacking items etc.
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@CarstenBoll It very much much pre-dates the existence of our hobbit and even our cohabitation. As far as I remember this is how I have always done things. It's faster than writing and easier to implement.
Slightly askew pens are just an example of the method. Other ways are stacking items etc.
My partner's system is to keep it all in memory and feeling overwhelmed and exhausted about it.
My system is to write it down and then forget about it, or - my best system yet - do it immediately, as in RIGHT NOW.
I will sometimes be asked to think about something for a few days, which does not ever happen. I can think about it now, spend a few hours diving into it if it's important enough for that and then make a decision, or I can forget about it until some calendar event reminds me to think about it again.
On the plus side I am very good at making decisions - I will think about it for some period of time determined by the importance of the decision, then I will make a decision, and I will never doubt that decision or consider it again.
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My approach is different. I'll spend some time looking at various cheese boxes but am likely to get interested in the history of cheese boxes as well.
So eventually I end up doing quick side quests, ending up on Wikipedia, reading how the proto-French already used goat-wood honey-lined boxes to store dairy, before returning to browser tab #15 for the Mepal box.
At which point Juliette is both interested, ready to murder me, and utterly lost.
And that's why we now use powerpoint.
3/3
@Pepijn enjoyed this although I don't know why.
I never put a pen sideways (sideways to what??) on purpose and it would not at all do anything.So you chose the Mepal box?
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@Pepijn *staring at my round coffee table, eyes twitching*
I like the things I have from Mepal. They are very square-y! And as I don't need it on my coffee table that's handy.
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@Pepijn *staring at my round coffee table, eyes twitching*
I like the things I have from Mepal. They are very square-y! And as I don't need it on my coffee table that's handy.
@Pepijn also, I had to laugh at 'we don't have much choice' after you told us about your carefully researched presentation to choose the cheese box

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@Pepijn Yeah, at least my brain is somewhat healthy not to compare lines to each other all the time. I don't envy you for that, although I need to set timers to remind me of a windows i opened 10 minutes ago...
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Why we implemented this fun system of consumerism.
@juliette and I usually align on what we choose, but operate differently in how we choose.
I'm a person who puts a pen a little bit sideways before going to bed. That way the next morning I remember to do XYZ.
Juliette is a person who for no reason at all puts a pen a little bit sideways and until she needs a pen never again thinks of pens, let alone this one.
This difference in operational methodology can create friction.
1/3
-
We're getting a new cheese box!
For real: it's so chill to do adulting by commission
One of us (the working group) researches the matter. Eventually they prepare a short presentation outlining requirements and offering a limited number of options.Then together (management group) we.. just decide without having an existential crisis about accidentally buying the wrong cheese box and destroying all hope for future happiness of humanity. It's nice.
OF ALL THE CHEESES TO PICK FROM!
The chosen cheese-box is now part of the family.
I'm somewhat intrigued by the marketing image on the box. Of all the cheeses to display inside this premium box they went with what in appearance is an extremely young, almost wet, industrial yellow cheese.
There's also a weird fork and a text promoting the included cutting board. No knife or slicer is shown.
While I have your attention: do share if you know of a place selling table-top-cheese-guillotines.
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OF ALL THE CHEESES TO PICK FROM!
The chosen cheese-box is now part of the family.
I'm somewhat intrigued by the marketing image on the box. Of all the cheeses to display inside this premium box they went with what in appearance is an extremely young, almost wet, industrial yellow cheese.
There's also a weird fork and a text promoting the included cutting board. No knife or slicer is shown.
While I have your attention: do share if you know of a place selling table-top-cheese-guillotines.
Question about advertising and origin labeling:
We bought a cheese-box produced by Mepal. Their factory is located in the Netherlands. In a province called Gelderland*.
On the bottom of the product it says "Made in Holland". Which is factually incorrect*.
While I could not care less about the Netherlands / Holland distinction in spoken word it kinda "feels" wrong seeing it on a product.
What do you think?
*Noord- / Zuid-Holland are just two of twelve provinces.
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Question about advertising and origin labeling:
We bought a cheese-box produced by Mepal. Their factory is located in the Netherlands. In a province called Gelderland*.
On the bottom of the product it says "Made in Holland". Which is factually incorrect*.
While I could not care less about the Netherlands / Holland distinction in spoken word it kinda "feels" wrong seeing it on a product.
What do you think?
*Noord- / Zuid-Holland are just two of twelve provinces.
"Holland" feels like the informal version of "Nederland", so while not technically correct it does feel like it's culturally okay.
Think of phrases like: "Ik hou van Holland" (TV), "Hup Holland hup", etc. All of those are about the country, not provinces, and used by people in the entire country.
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Question about advertising and origin labeling:
We bought a cheese-box produced by Mepal. Their factory is located in the Netherlands. In a province called Gelderland*.
On the bottom of the product it says "Made in Holland". Which is factually incorrect*.
While I could not care less about the Netherlands / Holland distinction in spoken word it kinda "feels" wrong seeing it on a product.
What do you think?
*Noord- / Zuid-Holland are just two of twelve provinces.
@Pepijn Until fairly recently it still was the "official" branding, so especially in 2014 it would've been "technically correct" from a marketing perspective https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland.
> In January 2020, the Netherlands officially dropped its support of the word Holland for the whole country
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Question about advertising and origin labeling:
We bought a cheese-box produced by Mepal. Their factory is located in the Netherlands. In a province called Gelderland*.
On the bottom of the product it says "Made in Holland". Which is factually incorrect*.
While I could not care less about the Netherlands / Holland distinction in spoken word it kinda "feels" wrong seeing it on a product.
What do you think?
*Noord- / Zuid-Holland are just two of twelve provinces.
@Pepijn The problem probably is, that we call the entire country "Holland" in Danish? So in Denmark the origin labeling would be correct.
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Question about advertising and origin labeling:
We bought a cheese-box produced by Mepal. Their factory is located in the Netherlands. In a province called Gelderland*.
On the bottom of the product it says "Made in Holland". Which is factually incorrect*.
While I could not care less about the Netherlands / Holland distinction in spoken word it kinda "feels" wrong seeing it on a product.
What do you think?
*Noord- / Zuid-Holland are just two of twelve provinces.
@Pepijn I would only use Holland if referring to that specific state. Otherwise I'd say Netherlands.
Kinda strange because the only example I can think of for somewhere like Germany is Bavaria, and that's probably in certain circumstances. Austria, Switzerland, France I can't think of where it'd be used. I wouldn't use Wallonia/Flanders to describe the whole of Belgium either.
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@Pepijn The problem probably is, that we call the entire country "Holland" in Danish? So in Denmark the origin labeling would be correct.
@MThaastrup I've been intrigued how smooth Danes deal with this:
Many of my Danish colleagues say Holland in Danish, and without even thinking about it say Netherlands when they speak English.
Very different than, for example, Germans who seem to stick to either Holland or Netherlands/Niederlanden in both English and German.
