Frank Gehry is in the House.

You know me, I'm not big on fate, the metaphysical or anything remotely associated with the spiritual or supernatural.

The universe is way too mind-blowingly big for any of that nonsense.

But yesterday, while writing a post about the Chiat/Day offices in Playa Vista…er, Los Angeles, my wife was in the other room conducting one of her raucous spring cleans. I know it's the end of January, but here in Southern California the temperature is in the low 80's.

While purposely making lots of noise, to distract me from my blogging, she miraculously came across our Frank Gehry/Chiat/Day teacup set. The cups and saucers feature the sketch Gehry reportedly made on a napkin before designing the iconic Binocular Building in Venice, which used to house Chiat/Day and is now home to the local offices of Google.

The set, two cups and two saucers, was given to us in 1992 in lieu of a Christmas bonus. If memory serves, there was a lot of grousing in the hallways that year.

"Merry Fucking Christmas!"

"Why didn't they just had me ten bucks and call it a day?"

"I knew blowing off my vacation and missing my daughter's birthday party would pay off."

Of course I never participated in that kind of mutinous employee behavior. I swallowed the party line and chose to believe that someday these cheap Chinese-made pieces of ceramic may have some artistic or architectural value.

So I began hoarding them.

Buying sets from disgruntled employees. And pestering HR for any "extras." The picture above only represents half my collection. I still have three other complete sets, in their cardboard boxes, wrapped with a faux-silk band and emblazoned with a Hank Hinton Skull and Crossbones insignia.

Chances are the teacups and the saucers aren't any more valuable today than they were 20 years ago. But my wife is under the overly-optimistic opinion that they may become a family heirloom one day and finance the college education of our future grandchildren.

And that's worth something.