Hej da! Sweedish for Screaming Children

It’s Sunday afternoon. The kids are hyped up on too much sugar. What are mom and dad to do? Oh, here’s a great idea – take them to IKEA! I feel more or less the same way about kids and dogs -- I can enjoy them individually but not generically. And when you put them together in packs with too much stimuli, they are only a source of noise and annoyance. That's certainly what they were today at IKEA.

One of the mixed blessings of owning a car in San Francisco, is that my friends lacking four wheels often ask for my a ride, such as today’s IKEA run. Not that I am complaining, mind you, but I wonder how many IKEA dollars I have spent in recent years that might have gone into savings had I not taken friends to IKEA? Chances are that I might have blown them on $15 dish washing soap at Williams-Sonoma

I managed to escape today by spending just over $30 of things I actually need – candles, batteries replacement halogen bulbs. Until Warren Buffett made his gift to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, IKEA was the largest foundation in the world. As a recent Economist article revealed that their main objective is promoting better architecture and design. But just how much they actually give is a bit mysterious. Since most of their products are made in the Global South, it does seem they could send a few dollars that way instead of promoting better design in Scandanavia.