Ferocious Gravy

Beautiful concert, terrible end.

2010-08-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

My great friend, Tina, and I were attending this concert last night. There were plenty of accounts of the events.

From my perspective, I thought that a speaker or a section of lights had fallen onto the stage. There was a loud THUD, and I looked to Glen Hansard, who seemed stunned, but he hadn't been hit or hurt. Then I realized the thing that had fallen was actually a person, and thought that maybe it was a lighting technician who had fallen from above. However, Tina had seen the guy fall/jump the roof, which seemed to confirm that he wasn't part of the crew, and it all just became very surreal.

Today, I keep seeing flashes of last night, mostly in still images. The impact, the look on Glen's face, the woman leaving the venue with her hand over her mouth, the girl in sobs waiting for the deputy to take statements, the security guards, the confusion, the band waiting off-stage, Glen's folded hands in the seat next to me, the helpless looks on everyone's faces. Honestly, I don't even feel like they're my own memories. Very unreal.

Considering an adventure...

2010-07-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I have been throwing around the idea of taking a cross-country road trip. This is mostly because Jesse has done it, and I haven't, and because he has such great memories of it, he wants me to do it, too. I'm not opposed to the idea, because I grew up "going for a ride" with my grandparents on weekends - driving is pretty much in my blood. I love it. Impromptu road trips are totally awesome.

However, the idea of an extended, planned, multi-state excursion has been really daunting to me. That's really the reason why we haven't gone on the trip yet. I can't wrap my brain around it. Who's car should we take? How many miles is it? Will we be comfortable for that length of time in that car? What should we stop and see? Isn't that an awful lot of vacation time? Do we go to natural wonders or roadside quirks? Both? Again, doesn't that take a long time? Where do we stay? How can we be sure we'll make it to the next hotel on that specific day? Oh, forget it.

Now that my wonderful friend and former neighbor, Chelsea, has moved out of state, I no longer have a built-in, trustworthy, animal-loving cat sitter nearby. We recently found out that our cat, Mimsy, may be more nervous/anxious than we once thought, and we're also treating her for crystals in her urine, and all this means that she needs daily attention and daily box cleaning, which is tough to accommodate while on vacation.

We tossed around some ideas for how to travel (in a car) with cats, but those visuals were pretty rough. I couldn't imagine keeping them in carriers the whole time, and even more than that, I couldn't figure out how to have a litter box AND luggage in the same space, with cats out and about, safely. Ugh.

At some point, Jesse came up with the idea of renting an RV for the cross-country trip, so we could take the cats with us. While I thought it was a great idea, we were digesting it very slowly (because renting an RV is not cheap, and the questions of how long the trip would be kept coming up). Last week, though, while I was looking for a hotel for a quick weekend trip for Jesse's upcoming birthday, a very odd idea hit me.

What if we just buy an RV?

That way, we can use it for the weekend trip AND the cross-country trip, and we'll probably get some good use out of it, given our cat situation.

So to skip to the good part: we're looking for a class C motorhome; it should be as short as possible while still having an always-out bed in the back (~25ft), low miles, not terribly old. Ugly is not a huge issue, but road readiness is. If you know of someone who's selling, please let us know. =)

I don't have any concrete experience with RVs, other than the fact that my grandparents were "full-timers" on their class A motorhome during their retirement, and drove it all over the country. Unfortunately, they've since passed away, and I didn't really ask any questions about RVing when they were alive, so this is all new to me (us). Luckily, library cards are still easy to get, so I've picked up several good books that assure me that RVing takes no special skills or training.

Anyway, as this idea (quickly!) developed, and in order to see if this is just a daydreamer's fancy or a true solution to our problem(s), we've decided to rent an RV for the birthday weekend trip. The plan is to pack up the cats and head out for an adventure, to see how we all like the travel style.

If it all works out and we love it, then in the future, you can look for us at the shuffleboard area of the KOA/Thousand Trails campgrounds (har, har). ;)

She's crafty

2010-06-03T22:03:00.000-07:00

My husband will be the first to tell you that a major pet peeve of mine is craft stores. When I was little, I absolutely loved all of the possibilities of arts and crafts. However, when I reached a certain age, there was a strange threshold I crossed whereby all the "cool" crafts were either (a) too complicated for me, since I had no patience, (b) too dangerous for someone of my age or (c) too expensive for a kid without income. Lastly, my mom really loved to meander slowly through the aisles of craft stores, and I would get bored and want to leave, but I couldn't, and so I'd just get mad and grumpy.

Fast forward to 2009:

I organized a Bake Sale at my office in May to benefit Bake for Hope. We had eight bakers, and we raised more money than any other bake sale in Northern California.

In June, my mom passed down to me the art of canning. We preserved half a tree's worth of apricots (it was days of work!). We even used the same ladle that my maternal grandmother used to use for canning. Seriously domestic, and even a little empowering, knowing that I can preserve some of my own food.

Around the same time, I took a "Sewing Machine Basics" class and then pulled my paternal grandmother's sewing machine out of storage under the stairs. I braved a fabric store and a sewing machine repair shop (the machine needed new needles). I read the machine's manual. I sewed a drawstring bag for Jesse (not pictured). My first "big" project was a set of baby booties and mittens for a new arrival of one of Jesse's co-workers. (The dad loves soccer, and it was a girl.)

Frankly, the rest of the year was a blur. During that time, my mom and I (with lots of help from my husband, my dad, a couple of good contractors and one bad one) disassembled a house, then re-assembled it, using lots of scraping, texturing, painting, shining, sweeping, whining, scrubbing, salvaging, shopping, straining and thinking.

We started with images like this (there used to be a cooktop there). Honestly, this is the cutest one. Most of the others are ugh-ly.

We ended up with images like this (the cooktop can't really be seen, but it was put back right next to the oven, after we re-finished the cabinets and had granite countertops installed). And the house sold quickly.

The only breath of fresh air was in December, and that air was filled with the scent of iced cut-out sugar cookies, marshmallow fudge, lime sugar cookies, etc. Christmas baking at Tina's house was totally awesome, complete with a bottle of wine and a fancy hors d'oeuvres dinner. I would show you a picture, but I can't seem to find one! (Tina - do you still have pics?)

Also in December, Jesse, Tina and I crafted other, inedible Christmas things. We made ornaments out of clay and painted them with liquid gold leaf and liquid silver leaf (not pictured).

Tina and I made little snowmen with red scarves, for tying little bags closed, or attaching to candy canes.

I also tried to follow Martha Stewart's project instructions to decorate clothes pins with wrapping paper, for hanging up Christmas cards. I still need to finish those up this year...

I know that this only catches us up to the end of last year. I'll try to post about this year's activities before the calendar flips to 2011. ;)

Stinkface

2010-03-03T23:56:00.000-08:00

So, my face stinks. In my never ending, yet fairly lazy, quest for less expensive/mainstream/chemical-laden skincare/household products, I recently purchased a bottle of Witch Hazel. I thought it would be yet another oft overlooked and yet completely genius perfect replacement for the chemical cosmetic toners I usually use. Unfortunately, even though Witch Hazel's extraordinary list of achievements and benefits is impressive, it loses MAJOR points in the scent category.

I'm big on smells, and I like things to smell good, even if that means using perfumes. Of course, I've had to compromise along the way, given the nature of my aforementioned quest, and many of the newer products in my house are virtually scentless. I'm more and more OK with that as time goes on. I used to think Jesse was nuts for buying unscented laundry detergent -- isn't clean laundry supposed to smell good, not just like hot cotton? Sheesh. Now I buy as many unscented things as I can (keep in mind this is a process).

Enter Witch Hazel. I'm thinking it'll be like hydrogen peroxide -- mostly unscented, but genius and endlessly useful. The marketing team did it's job -- the Witch Hazel sits on the bottom shelf in the health section of your local pharmacy or big box store, among the generic brown and white bottles of isopropyl alcohol and hydrogen peroxide. However, WH comes in a lovely clear bottle with a transparent, full-color label and a breezy font...this looks like good stuff! For $3? Sold. Usually, toner is $8 or more for a bottle half this size.

I get it home, I wash my face to prep for bed, and right about this time is when I start thinking that this stuff sounds too good to be true -- it's a natural astringent that doesn't strip natural oils from your skin. Why isn't this stuff more popular? Let me give it a sniff to rule out the smell as a cause for its downfall...

Nope, that's it. It's the smell. It has a damp smell, which I can only think to describe as "burning mildew." It's awful. I'm thinking that this is a BIG bottle of Witch Hazel... So what do I do? Why, rub it all over my face, of course!

I then immediately start running back and forth in the bathroom fanning my face, trying to get it to dry so maybe the smell will go away.

It does eventually dry, and I have to say...my skin feels really nice! Like high quality cosmetics nice, and all I did was cleanse and use Witch Hazel. I'm going to try to see if there's something I can add that will improve the smell (rosewater? Essential oil?), because it's so bad that I'm not even sure that the results are worth it.. Any ideas?

ETA: I couldn't keep up with the W.H. I had the most irritated skin after just three days or so, with tons of red spots on my forehead and cheeks. Terrible. My skin is far too sensitive.

Someone's advertising on my banana

2010-02-19T13:54:00.000-08:00

I feel very violated! Chiquita has started selling ad space on their bananas.

I'm paying for the banana, Chiquita. You shouldn't need to sell ads for something I'm already paying for. That's why HBO doesn't have commercials. My word, what is the world coming to.

If I had kids (and I don't, Chiquita, so don't worry, I'm sure your evil plot will still work), I would immediately pull all of the stickers off of the bananas I purchased, so that I didn't provide corporate ad space directly in my kids' lunchboxes. Either that, or I'd pay more for bananas that offer me the option of non-corporate-subsidized fruit. Sheesh!

Silence

2009-07-24T02:01:00.001-07:00

I'm having a hard time right now. I've been meaning to blog for quite a while. I've had a lot of developments in my life, mostly related to acquiring domestic skills. It has been, for the most part, a really great year for my personal life.

However, the thing that has finally made me break radio silence is our poor little kitty's illness. Honestly, my actual reaction to our current situation is that I want to be more silent than ever. I want to make it go away, pretend it isn't happening. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to be experiencing this. But I can't stand the thought of letting this pass by unrecorded, unacknowledged. I need to honor her and let people know that she didn't just disappear, that we have all struggled as a family through this time, and that it's a really big moment in our lives.

Pipper is really sick. She has cancer. It's terminal. We found out on July 6th, the day after we got home from the 4th of July weekend. When we got home on Sunday, her breathing sounded congested, which was weird and new. I went to work the next day, called the vet, and they encouraged me to bring her in so they could take a look. They suspected a respiratory infection. I rushed home, made it to the office by 11:45am, and they told me they wanted to take X-rays instead of just sending us home with antibiotics, as they would do with a younger cat.

I had to leave her at the office until 2pm, because they had to "let the machine warm up" and then they were on lunch break, then they would take the images and I could pick her up. When I got there at 2pm, I was sort of in a fog. I remember feeling like I knew something was wrong, and I even picked up a pamphlet in the lobby about a Pet Loss Support Group at the local Humane Society. Then again, I can sometimes be a little bit pessimistic, so I tried to shrug that off. Unfortunately, the feeling was right this time. The vet showed me the chest X-ray, and I could see the masses. Lung cancer, she said. And since we had previously told her that Pipper's head had been twitching sometimes, the vet said she suspected it was probably being caused by brain cancer.

Silence.

Sobbing.

Deep breath. "What do we do?"

She explained that she expected Pipper to have "maybe a month."

Silence.

How do you respond to that? I just cried and stared at the X-ray. I nodded. I tried not to lose it. I tried to be an adult, for whatever that's worth. I mentioned my husband, and how much he loves our little cat. She said that he was welcome to call her any time if he had any questions. We should watch her appetite, her mood, her breathing. She explained something about a blood test and that she would get a second opinion on the X-ray, but it didn't really register, since I could see those masses with my own eyes. She said there would be no pain, but that certain symptoms would cause stress, which we shouldn't put Pipper through, if we could avoid it.

Ok, thank you. Can I call if I think of anything else?

Yes, of course.

I cried in the exam room for a little while, and the staff tried to give me some space to be with our kitty for a few minutes. I decided I needed to deliver this news to Jesse in person, so I took Pipper home, made sure she seemed comfortable, then drove up to San Francisco at about 3:00pm. I called Jesse when I was around the block from his work. He met me outside. We cried. I tried to describe what the vet told me, but I had a hard time delivering the same message myself. We decided to go straight home. I gave Jesse the vet's phone number, and he called her on the way home. She apparently told him that Pipper had "two weeks to a month."

We had a bad week. She was sullen, exhausted, sleeping in a different room. She sounded extra "congested" if she got up and moved around (though she didn't do much of that). She didn't lift her head up if we walked into the room. We found ourselves frequently laying a hand gently on her to make sure she was still breathing.

We continued to work. Our friends were so supportive. I had prepared myself for a couple of 'off' remarks, but was so grateful that everyone seemed to understand. I recalled all of my friends who had lost pets. I kicked myself for anything I thought I said to them that might not have been appropriate. I wished I could've done more for all of them. I realized that you can't fully understand this situation without some prior experience, and that made me sad, too. I know that this will haunt me whenever a friend says they're going through something similar. It breaks my heart to think of that.

The following weekend was hard. Pipper had some kind of tremor on Saturday while Jesse was with her. The whole situation had become overwhelming -- we didn't know when we would "know," and we didn't know if she was experiencing stress. We had sort of lost perspective, since we hadn't seen her normal behavior in over a week. It was very lonely.

On Sunday afternoon, she sort of perked up. I don't exactly know what tipped us off at first, but she seemed a little more interested in the world around her. We could walk into the room, and she would look up at us. It was different somehow.

By Monday morning, she was hanging out with us on the bed like old times. She started to greet us when we walked into the room. She was proactively acknowledging us. I can't explain how happy and relieved I was. It was as if she was saying, "Here I am! Remember me?" And we did. We could finally see that she was still the same, loving, upbeat cat. She just got a little winded if she walked around too much. But once she was able to rest up, she was engaged and interested and cuddly. She started climbing up onto our chests. She started biting my hair and licking Jesse's head (some of her favorite things). She was on our bed all day (not in the other room). She was back, and we were so grateful. It was such a great week.

By this past Monday, I had come full circle, and I started to really internalize that, even though she was upbeat and perky again, it didn't mean she was getting better. It was just a really awesome period of time that would help us remember our little buddy as her happy, lovable self. I was filled with gratitude every time I saw her, and I tried to hold on to all of those happy moments and not take them for granted.

On Tuesday, Jesse noticed that her breathing had changed again. This time, it was really shallow and fast. It only happened when she exerted herself, but it was still really concerning. She also starting to do something that resembled coughing, except it was very weak, and it made her really uncomfortable. She would cough a little bit, then rapidly try to change positions and find another place to be. She was crouching down and looked a little bit panicked. As soon as the coughing stopped, she would try to lay down and relax. I could only think that the weakness and fear was caused by her reduced lung capacity. The masses must be growing, and she's suffering. We were so worried.

On Wednesday, it was clear that she was getting really tired again. I would see her asleep in the middle of the floor, which she never does. It was as if she got tired somewhere between point A and point B, so she would just lay down and rest. In the morning, she was not on the bed with us. Instead, she was on the rug next to the bed, curled up and looking fairly uncomfortable. We found her sleeping in the other room again on Wednesday night.

Yesterday morning, she seemed extremely uncomfortable. Not only was her breathing quick and shallow (while lying still), but she would curl up next to us and *immediately* lay her head down (on the side) and try to go to sleep. She just doesn't ever do that. If we're up with her on the bed, she's usually trying to get us to pet her, or biting us, or just sitting quietly with her head up and eyes open. We knew she wasn't feeling good at all. It hurt to look at her, because we felt like she was in pain, or at least really uncomfortable.

We talked and talked and talked about what we were seeing. We cried. We pet Pipper, hugged her, cried. She seemed to be unhappy when we touched her -- she would jolt her head to look at us, and she almost looked scared. A couple of times, when we touched her, she would quickly get up and scoot a few inches away, and lay back down. She was clearly telling us to leave her alone, she wasn't feeling good.

On Wednesday night, I thought it might be coming. On Thursday morning, I felt the tension in the room, as we talked about our observations. I finally said it: "Do you think it might be time?" He said yes, he did. We cried.

We decided that "tomorrow" (today) would be the right time. We talked to her.

We went to work, I called the vet. They were as reassuring as they could be, and I made an appointment. I hated being at work. I cried frequently, I locked myself in a conference room with my laptop and a box of kleenex. I've been wearing my glasses, because crying dries out my contacts, and I can't stop crying.

I got home Thursday evening, and rushed into the bedroom to find Pipper curled up on a rug next to the bed. She looked so sweetly up at me, and purred when I pet her. It broke my heart. I started to really question our decision. Jesse got home, we visited Pip again. I told him I wasn't sure. We petted her more, and out of nowhere, she started squirming and her breathing became really shallow again. She let her head fall to the floor, and we noticed that she had a new way of positioning herself. Her paws were always up under her chest, like she was trying to hold herself up and reduce the pressure on her body. It was just another sign. It was like she was telling us, "I want to be happy to see you, but I'm not happy about anything right now."

We talked for a long time. We talked about compassion, pain, indecision, fear, love, comfort. We talked about selflessness, and I said that I think I finally know what that means in this situation. We need to swallow our fear of making the wrong decision at the wrong time, and help our little buddy out of the discomfort her illness is causing her. It's not about us or our sadness. It's about what's right for her in this situation. She can't make the decision for herself, but she's trying to tell us what we need to do.

It's Friday morning, and our little buddy is hanging out in the other room, away from us. She's uncomfortable. If we approach her, she sometimes looks at us, sometimes doesn't. She sometimes purrs, sometimes tries to get away. She still pulls her little paws up under her chest. I watched her try to place her paw a different way, maybe to hold her head when she puts it down, I'm not sure. But every time she tried to move her paw, she would immediately pull it back under, like she couldn't find the right position. Jesse is torn, because she clearly wants to be left alone, but he wants to hug her for every second she has left with us.

So, this is our last day. Our appointment is at 3:00pm. There will be plenty more tears today, and an outpouring of love for our little Pip, as she spends her last few hours in our house. It has been such an awesome experience to have her living with us. I've had lots of pets, all through my life. Having only one pet has been a very intimate experience, and I'm so glad that Jesse has been able to experience Pip's unconditional love. Our little family of three has been so happy together for the past four years. We love you so much, Pipper.

What have you been up to?

2009-02-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

For those of you who read my blog, but who I don't talk to on a regular basis, I'm sorry that I'm a bum. =) I have been up to stuff, but I haven't said much about it.

Since my last post on January 7th, I...

...have traveled to Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
...magically acquired a ticket to the Swearing-in Ceremony for President Barack Obama. (w00t, Ry!)
...attended said Swearing-in Ceremony.
...told my realtor and mortgage broker to go away and leave us alone.
...became an iPhone user.
...celebrated my 2-year wedding anniversary.
...took a weekend road trip to Oregon.

Clearly, I've have a great 6 weeks or so, overall. The day after the Inauguration, I sat down and wrote an extremely long blog post (and saved it)... but for as long as it was, it seemed like there was a lot more detail that I was missing (probably because I was still exhausted). So I'll finish that and post it at some point, hopefully soon.

As a New Years Resolution, I think our mortgage broker and realtor decided to flip through their Rolodex and call everyone they once knew, to see if they were ready to be convinced to buy. We told them, in no uncertain terms, "No, please leave us alone."

(flash - next story!) Jesse and I celebrated our 2-year wedding anniversary at the end of January. Two years is the 'cotton' anniversary, so we did really think about how to incorporate cotton somehow. I tried to convince him that the majority of jewelry is made of cotton, as well as stainless steel ("cotton") pots and pans, and iPhones... So, when it came down to gift-opening, I reached into the small gift bag and what did my fingers touch? Shoot, it was *real* cotton. Only a tiny bit disappointed, I pulled it out of the bag, and unfolded what seemed like a black t-shirt. OK, it *was* a black t-shirt... that had iPhone buttons screen-printed on it! w00t! I dragged him off to the AT&T store right then and there, and now I'm a proud iPhone user! =) And, folks, if I'm an iPhone user, then these things have really taken off. I'm not an Apple fangirl, and I don't approve of spending the additional $30/month for a data plan... and *I* think it's totally worth it. I love it! Happy Anniversary, Bug! Thank you for my cotton iPhone! =)

Also for our anniversary, we had talked about going away somewhere for a weekend. We didn't need to go far... just a quick trip to mark the occasion. Jess suggested Oregon while we were doing dishes one night. It was a little further than I was thinking of driving, but he liked the idea of driving north on I-5 and spending a weekend in Ashland. Neither of us had ever been, but we both like theater, and Ashland is famous for its Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Ashland. Is. Adorable.

We absolutely loved it there, and we will definitely go back sometime. We saw a production of "Death and the King's Horseman," which is a contemporary play by Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka, who has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. It was an absolutely fascinating play, and I'm really glad that we had the chance to see it. The cast, and in particular the lead and the actress who played his wife, were so completely committed to their roles. Apparently, the play is based on actual events, when the Yoruba of Nigeria were under British Colonial rule. It was a very eye-opening depiction of the juxtaposition of Western values and tribal rituals and beliefs. Admittedly, Jess and I were mostly lost at the beginning of the play, because the language Soyinka used was so rich with metaphor. And the metaphors that were used compared life experiences to things Westerners aren't all that familiar with, like plants and animals that are indigenous to Africa, so it was hard to keep up. The language barrier created awkward silences when the actors would laugh at a joke Soyinka had written in that audience hadn't quite picked up on. All's well, though, because by the end of the first act, I understood the direction things were going in, and it only got better and better from there.

Jess and I both had the same impression when the play was over -- "wow, that was so Shakespearian." Of course, this playwright has a very different tone, different subject matter, and different overall style, but still... the language was rich, intense, and full of inuendo. We highly recommend it! But consider yourself warned about those metaphors. =) We thought we would've been able to pick it all up more quickly if we'd known what to expect.

And last, but not least by any means, downtown Ashland was SO charming! We went to dinner at the Brewery, we shopped in their great Comic Book store (they had awesome journals and non-comic books, too), and we went to a local candy store that had to-die-for caramel apples! We picked the "Toffee Almond Caramel Apple," which was a regular caramel apple, rolled in crushed toffee almonds. What more could a person ask for? They sliced it, we shared it... and then went back on our way out of town and got two for the road. Man, I wish we could get those here! But it looks like you can't even order them!!

That's all for now. =) I will try to post the Inauguration summary soon...!

Lessons from IRS Tax Code

2009-01-07T02:00:00.001-08:00

It's that time of year again, when we need to report our income to the Federal Government, so they can take "their portion," and leave us with whatever's left. Anyway, I was reading up on Tax Code...like you do...and I stumbled on, quite possibly, some of the most ridiculous government text I've ever seen. This can be found in Publication 525 from the Internal Revenue Service, current for 2008:

Stolen property. If you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it unless in the same year, you return it to its rightful owner.

I wish I was kidding. Alas, this can be found in the Other Income section, right between the "Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits" and "Transporting School Children" sections. Page 35.

So, I thought to myself, "Wow! This text was actually legislated." Because, really, of all the people in the country who pay taxes, how many of them are taking stock of the things they stole during the calendar year, so that they can accurately report that income to the Federal Government? Something tells me that honesty is not a priority for people who are already stealing. Moreover, those folks are probably not pouring over Tax Code (unlike Yours Truly) in their spare time.

OK, let's say you stole something. You then decide, in some alternate universe, that you're going to file an income tax return. Are you really, I mean...really, going to admit to Federal officials that you stole something? But then, really, why are Federal officials deeming stolen goods as legitimate "other income"? This was not good decision making. I'd like to see the revenue numbers for the years before and after this piece of Tax Code was published.

Sigh.

Do the Right Thing

2008-12-19T22:12:00.000-08:00

Jerry Brown is doing the right thing.

It is so sad to see that some people are still insisting, to this day, that it's somehow justifiable to actively strip a group of people of their rights under the law. We're not talking about a group of criminals.. we're talking about people who just want an equal and lawful way of expressing their commitment to one another.

Go, Jerry, go!

Brown asks state high court to overturn Prop. 8

(12-19) 19:43 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- State Attorney General Jerry Brown, in a surprise turnabout, asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to overturn Proposition 8, saying the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage violates basic rights guaranteed in the state Constitution.

[...]

"Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification," Brown said.

The authors of the state Constitution, he said, did not intend "to put a group's right to enjoy liberty to a popular vote."

[...]

"We have a conflict between the amendment power (through voter initiatives) and the duty of the Supreme Court to protect minorities and safeguard liberty," Brown said.

[...]

As the "chief law officer of the state," Brown said in his brief, he is "duty bound to uphold the whole of the Constitution" and not merely the power of the people to change the laws by initiative.

The Family Giving Tree

2008-12-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

My company has always had an organized charitable holiday gift-giving program. In years past, we would exclusively deal with Toys For Tots. So, you just bring in toys or money to the office, and then hundreds of toys are donated to children in need.

This year, we're working with Toys for Tots again, but instead of toys, we're helping out with their Literacy Program. We're donating books and money to support literacy and academic success. (Love it!)

On top of "Books for Tots," we're also working with The Family Giving Tree. I am SO excited about this! You know how there are gift-giving trees, where you take a piece of paper that says a child's age and gender on it, then you have to go out shopping for an appropriate gift? Right. Well, that's hard, because when you have the money to make a charitable gift, the chances are that you're too old to know what those little kids *actually* want at their ages. Sheesh! Don't get me wrong, I've done it anyway, but it's still not as easy as it could be.

Enter The Family Giving Tree. They actually provide cards (to decorate your office's tree) that include not only the kid's age and gender, but also *what they want for Christmas*. Genius. Here are the 3 cards I picked:

1. newborn baby girl needs baby supplies
2. adult male wants a rainstick instrument
3. 11 year-old girl wants a backpack & school supplies

Oh my goodness, I can't handle it! I *love* school supplies! My favorite time of the school year was when I got to pick out a new backpack, and fill it with a bunch of new pencils and paper and folders and markers and erasers, etc. I was thrilled to go buy school supplies for a sixth grade girl!

I decided to ask my co-worker what his daughter needed for 6th grade (her current grade), and he actually got me the list their school sent to him in August. I bought almost everything on the list. I had a blast! =) I bought a pink backpack, and filled it with:

- pens
- mechanical pencils & lead
- eraser
- glue stick
- white out tape
- scissors
- binder
- folders
- ruler
- post-it notes
- colored index cards
- calculator
- accordian file
- planner notebook
- markers
- "twistable" colored pencils (they don't need to be sharpened!)
- cute things (Hello Kitty bag clip & mini gel pens)
- an "American Girl" book on Starting Middle School (next year!)
- USB thumb drive

...that's right, a USB thumb drive. According to parents of elementary school kids around here, that's totally essential for school. More and more is done on the computer, and it's the easiest method for moving information around, I guess. Amazing. School continues to morph to meet the needs of each generation! I think that's exciting, and I wouldn't want this little girl to be left behind academically.

Anyway, as it turns out, The Family Giving Tree also does an event for kids who are starting school, to outfit them with these very same things. I think I might end up liking that time of year as much as I like Christmas! (maybe.)

More good news before bed.

2008-11-05T00:19:00.001-08:00

With all of the hard work ahead, at least President-elect Obama will have the help of a left-leaning Congress. I think he'll pick a more moderate cabinet, so I think the Executive and Legislative branches will be a good mix of minds.

CNN has called Alaska and Montana for McCain, but they're still deciding on Missouri, Indiana and North Carolina. I have a hunch they'll all go to Obama, but they're having a hard time accepting and calling it that way. ;)

A New President of the United States of America

2008-11-04T20:13:00.000-08:00

CNN told us the news, right at 8:00pm. Words can't express how happy and proud we are!

I voted!

2008-11-04T17:31:00.000-08:00

I've done all I can do.

And hopefully, this message is too late (because you've already voted), but I want to draw attention to Prop 8...

Prop 8 videos

Here are a couple of the best videos, in my opinion:

I'll keep my fingers crossed that the video surge in the past week or so has done enough.

Let the back-tracking begin!

2008-10-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin has been teaching Americans that they should be afraid of Barack Obama for being acquainted with William Ayers. Yes, he was acquainted with the guy. Does anyone ever bother to mention that the entire staff of the University of Illinois-Chicago is also acquainted with William Ayers? Somehow, that school has avoided turning into a terrorist hot house.

Let's hear what Sarah Palin is "fearful" and "afraid" of:

Hold the phone.. John McCain says we don't have to be afraid!

I guess Palin-McCain didn't mean any of that terrorist stuff. Obama's really a great guy, after all. And, seriously, that was the only exaggeration they've made.. you can still believe everything else they've said. Trust them. They won't mistakenly label anyone else a terrorist and put your children, spouses and loved ones in harm's way by starting more wars. After all, if they were going to do that, wouldn't that be the really scary thing?

People know that voting is free, right?

2008-10-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

A work friend of mine has recently begun displaying at his desk a blue paper cup emblazoned with the name "Obama." I took a closer look at it today, and I saw that it also had a sticker on it that said, "I voted in the 7-election!"

As it turns out, 7-Eleven is holding a coffee drink-off to stir up voters, Capitalist Style. They call it the 7-election, and they're publishing the "results" (read: sales figures) weekly in USA Today.

I know that election turn-out has been pretty sickly for the past few presidential elections (and worse for the smaller 'tween elections), and maybe that has contributed to the belief that you actually have to buy something in order to cast a vote. I just want to remind folks (and I know only about 5 people read this blog, but please tell your friends) that voting is indeed free of charge the United States, and you don't even need to drink coffee to participate.

On the flip side, the nice thing about this promotion is that it demonstrates the excitement surrounding this election. Pop culture is really embracing the Obama-v-McCain election. Case in point: this is apparently the third election that 7-Eleven has promoted in this way, and yet this is the first I've heard of it.

For those of you who are interested, 7-Eleven does have a color-coded map on their website that illustrates the latest results. Currently, 7-Eleven's coffee drinkers prefer Obama, with 59.13% of sales (McCain = 40.87%).

Before bed: Teddy bear, warm milk and an Obama quote?

2008-10-09T01:19:00.001-07:00

By now, you know I'm frustrated about the presidential race. I'm deeply bothered by the negativity, fear and hate that McCain and Palin are creating and encouraging.

Tonight, in order to calm myself down enough to get some sleep, I decided to look up some Barack Obama quotes. I wasn't prepared for just how effective the exercise would be.

The wisdom, peace and courage that this man is able to verbalize is both inspirational and comforting. He elevates the discussion of our core national and interpersonal issues unlike anyone I've encountered. I'm happy to re-publish a few of them here, in hopes that they can offer you a quick "pick me up" when you reach this blog. They've done wonders for my state of mind tonight.

People are very hungry for something new. I think they are interested in being called to be a part of something larger than the sort of small, petty, slash-and-burn politics that we have been seeing over the last several years.

BARACK OBAMA, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 11, 2006

-----

We have a stake in one another ... what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and ... if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done for the people with whom we share this Earth.

BARACK OBAMA, speech, Dec. 1, 2006

-----

Life doesn't count for much unless you're willing to do your small part to leave our children – all of our children – a better world. Even if it's difficult. Even if the work seems great. Even if we don't get very far in our lifetime.

BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jun. 15, 2008

-----

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

BARACK OBAMA, speech, Feb. 5, 2008

"My friends," I'm voting for "that one."

2008-10-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

During last night's Presidential Town Hall debate, John McCain said "my friends" on the order of 20-30 times. It got annoying, because it didn't sound genuine. He then referred to Barack Obama as "that one" exactly once, but it was easily just as memorable as his other phrase of choice. On top of that, it has really struck a chord with the voting public, and if you Google "that one," many of the highest ranked results are about the debate. In fact, some folks have already begun creating t-shirts and websites commemorating the remark.

So, thank you, McCain, for initiating millions of Americans into the "Vote for "that one" Club." I'm in.

That's it, I'm disgusted.

2008-10-07T16:01:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to be ugly here, because I believe everyone is entitled to his or her own political opinions. However, I'm totally disgusted by Sarah Palin at this point. She's so clearly not ready to be President, but moreover, she's not the type of person one wants to elect as Vice President either, because that means she'll be in the public eye, sayin' whatever she can to get a rise out of her audience, no matter who it hurts.

Take this Washington Post article. The majority of the article is spent discussing what we already know - she's got way more charisma than McCain. However, her quirkiness has absolutely crossed the line, here:

Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

It absolutely disgusts me that her idea of campaigning for the vice presidency is to take a dump on our country's free media, and to encourage other citizens to do the same. As a people, we may have been historically divided right down the middle as far as our views and beliefs, but the free media is uniquely able to hold up a mirror and help us see ourselves, and also serves as a window into how other people think and express their beliefs. If you don't like what you see, change the channel. That's one of our freedoms, and we need to protect it.

Here's another truly disgusting snippet:

The reception had been better in Clearwater, where Palin, speaking to a sea of "Palin Power" and "Sarahcuda" T-shirts, tried to link Obama to the 1960s Weather Underground. "One of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers," she said. ("Boooo!" said the crowd.) "And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,' " she continued. ("Boooo!" the crowd repeated.)

"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.

How painful is it to imagine a potential Vice President of the United States taking part in riling a crowd to the point where someone feels comfortable shouting death threats? It's absolutely disgusting. I may not agree with you or your politics, but I don't think anyone needs to check their humanity at the door to win an election.

As for me, I'm anxiously awaiting all of my Obama gear that I ordered from his campaign website. I'm not usually one to openly discuss my political views, but I feel that a line has been drawn, and I'm sick and tired of the ugliness the Republican campaign is perpetuating.

Mahalo for reading this post

2008-05-31T18:36:00.001-07:00

Aloha! We have returned from our trip to 2 islands of the great state of Hawaii. Two weeks, I've decided, is absolutely my preferred vacation length. It gives you enough time to relax, do a bunch of stuff, and really allows a person (though not [ahem] all people) to forget the daily grind. By the end, you either feel ready to return home, or at least ready to stop spending money (the latter in our case, for this vacation).

During the aforementioned two weeks, we did the following, which is not a complete list:
1. went for a sunset sail on a huge catamaran & watched fireworks
2. visited a royal palace
3. got lost in a hedge maze
4. got Lost on a deserted beach
5. performed an exhaustive search for the best shaved ice around
6. slept for 19 hours straight
7. island-hopped
8. ate breakfast on our balcony overlooking the ocean
9. went to a stand-up comedian/wizard show
10. traveled to the ocean floor in a submarine & marveled at a sunken ship
11. traveled to the highest peak of a volcano & gazed at stars and planets
12. drove through 600 turns & numerous one-lane bridges to a remote town and beautiful black sand beaches
13. went ATVing over abandoned sugar cane fields up to the edge of a rainforest
14. relaxed, read books and listened to live music on fine white sand beaches
15. took a helicopter flight over 2 islands and multiple beaches, valleys and waterfalls

In Jesse's words, "that's a hell of a vacation." I thoroughly recommend it to you, and would be happy to give you exact details of our favorite spots if you're planning your own visit to the Aloha state.

New game

2008-03-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

It's time for a new game I like to call...

Small World or Big Company

That's right, folks! It's the fun family game that everyone can play, Small World or Big Company. I hope you all join in the fun from home! It's really very simple...given a coincidental scenario, you simply need to choose whether the coincidence was caused by the fact that we live in a Small World or that I just work for a Big Company. Sounds easy, right? Let's get started!

Scenario: I was flying to Phoenix for a quick business trip. I was happily listening to my Zune, and noticed that the guy next to me also had a Zune (nothing too out of the ordinary - when you have a fun new toy, you tend to notice others who have one also!). Toward the end of the flight, he asked me how I like my Zune. I chatted a bit about how happy I was with it, and then he seemed overly enthusiastic about the Zune's capabilities. So I took a chance and asked, "Do you work for My Big Company?" He replied, "Yes I do." To which I said, "So do I." We swapped titles, and as soon as he heard mine, he said, "Oh! We've met! A couple of weeks ago at that Big Company conference, at a specific class, because a specific person introduced us." I realized he was right, and we then chatted freely as co-workers would.

Okay, so after I realized that this apparent total stranger and I had actually met (in a totally different city, neither our departure or arrival city for this flight) and indeed we effectively work together, my first thought was, "Small World!"

But is it really that small...? Or is this how my life will be, now that I work for a company that employs ~80,000 people?

Small World or Big Company?

That thing I'm thinking about

2008-03-09T22:02:00.000-07:00

This week, I spontaneously asked Jesse if he wanted to go to Hawaii with me in May. He dutifully asked his management if he could take the time. Once he said he could, I asked my management, and they were equally accommodating. Thus began my very excited excitement and subsequent obsessive obsession with our impending Hawaiian vacation.

Initially, the plan was to vacation for a week in Waikiki. Jesse's response was, "Hey, maybe we should take that interisland ferry to another island while we're there." Well, you can't just go to another island for a day (IMHO), and we were stuck with a 7-day period in Waikiki (timeshare), so I suggested that we stay for another week and do a second island. He was in, so I looked into the interisland ferry. From Oahu, the ferry only goes to Maui once a day. Done. Maui it is.

So I proceeded to talk to people about Maui, read up on Maui online, look into hotels, dream about it (ahem, this was all in one short afternoon)...and then I bought a guidebook on the way home.

Now, we've been to Hawaii (Oahu, Big Island) before, and we heard many a whispering about the inter-island ferry that was going to begin service any month (then), which would provide a convenient and economical way to get between islands. So when I looked into it, I found it very curious that there was only one ferry operating per day to and from Oahu-Maui. That hardly seemed to fill the transportation needs of island locals. I decided to read more about it, and it turns out that there are some very vocal environmental activists who are concerned that the ferry system is going to hurt ocean flora and fauna, so the company who operates it occasionally has to stop operations and wait for court proceedings, etc. On top of that, the ferry can't operate in bad weather (and these are tropical islands, so you never know when weather will get bad)... so we agreed to fly to Maui instead. It's more practical anyway, because you can't pick up a rental car at the ferry berth. What we've lost with the $10x2 more expensive flight, we'll gain in flexibility and taxi fee avoidance. And even though we're not taking the Ferry, we're still going to Maui, since we've never been and we hear good things.

So, as of today, we've booked flights and hotels, and we're ready to go. I'm SUPER excited. We'll be swimming with honus, riding horseback, hiking to waterfalls, eating macadamia nut pancakes and kalua pig, lounging around on gorgeous Maui beaches and checking out the Lost beach on Oahu in no time.

Has anyone else been to Maui? We would appreciate your advice. Truthfully, though, there's no guarantee we'll do anything more than the drive to Hana and beach walks. We really do want to rest and relax more than anything else. (eeeee I'M SO EXCITED!)

My 100th post is about ketchup.

2008-02-18T14:27:00.000-08:00

...of the "catch up" variety.

Jesse and I have been busy. Looking back, though, it wasn't all that interesting.. it just took up all of our time. From November through January, we were trying to buy a house. Unfortunately, it fell through due to forces outside our control. We continue to have the worst home-buying luck of anyone we know. So we're taking a break at the moment. We had planned to go to two open houses yesterday, but decided last-minute that we're just not ready to try again. It's exhausting.

We celebrated our one year wedding anniversary on January 27th. We went to Pacific Grove, and spent some time exploring neighboring Monterey and Carmel. It was a very peaceful trip. Jesse was sick, but he was a sport and went anyway, so we kept it very low-key. Our fanciest meal was at Passionfish, which was a recommendation from our friend, Rob. The food was totally delicious, so if you're ever in the area, go there. But skip their desserts, because they weren't very impressive.

Last week, I travelled to Seattle for a conference. I had to share a hotel room, which I was originally worried about, but it turned out to be the best part of the trip. My roommate and I got along very well, and were practically attached at the hip the whole time. The weather was nice -- pretty much like being in the Bay Area in February. Kind of cold, drizzly one day, but surprisingly mild for the most part. The conference helped me to realize how huge my company is. The 6,000 conference attendees represented only 7.5% of the total number of company employees. However, keep in mind that those attendees represent over 18x the number of employees at our subsidiary. We're so tiny!

What else? ...After being around thousands of people all last week (or having at least one person there for 99% of the time), I am really treasuring that I have occasionally been alone over the past couple of days. I generally find myself with songs stuck in my head. They're usually very peaceful slow songs, adding to the calm. Specifically, Paolo Nutini's "Last Request." I found this song on YouTube while I was hunting around for Jehro videos. Jehro and Paolo Nutini do a really nice duet, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Oh, that reminds me of something very notable -- Jesse and I went to a Tori Amos concert in December. We went with one of his friends, and it was unanimous - this was a *fantastic* concert. Tori has graduated to full-blown rockstar status, if you ask me (and since you're reading my blog, it's kind of like you did ask..) So, from this post, my two album recommendations are Paolo Nutini "These Streets," and Tori Amos "American Doll Posse." And, if you haven't heard it yet, definitely get Jehro's self-titled album. It's excellent warm weather music, so you might want to wait until Summer. I'll try to remind you when the weather gets nicer...you won't regret it.

That's all I have for this edition of Ketchup. Please tune in again later to see if there's anything else happening. I can't guarantee there will be, unfortunately. =)

my 99th post is about video games

2007-10-29T22:43:00.001-07:00

Sooo, Jesse and I have been spending lots of time together lately, which is awesome. Actually, we've mostly just been spending time in each other's presence, while playing video games. Am I complaining? FAR from it. Let's list the positive aspects of this situation:

1. Jesse's home.
2. Jesse's home.
3. We both really like video games.
4. Jesse spent a ton of time working too hard and not playing any video games at all, other than those he was made to "play" for work.
5. Jesse's home now.
6. We've had a stack of games piling up that needed playing.
7. I spontaneously bought a DS a few months ago, and I love, love, love, love it.
8. I then bought Jesse a DS a month or so ago, and he loves, loves, loves it Jewel Quest.
9. Jesse's home!!!
10. Jesse was given a PSP, and instead of hoarding it and making me jealous, he selflessly handed it over to me, PLUS a new Ratchet & Clank game that I didn't even know existed.
11. Jesse's my favorite, and he's home.
12. We bought a PS3 in September...
13. ...then bought our first game for it at the end of October.

So maybe that list got a wee tad bit off topic, but you get the point. We like games, and playing them in each others company ain't half bad. We're basking in the unfussiness of it. It's awesome. You could come over, and you could play games in our presence, too. Pizza's on us.

Oh, right, and on to the bad things, since one should strive for equality in blog posts...

1. That Ratchet & Clank PSP game wasn't awesome. It was good, but the story line was dumb, and the boss battles were disproportionately difficult next to the regular game play. And it was short, at only 12.5 hours at my slow-gamin' speed. Oh well.
2. We crashed the *other* Ratchet & Clank Game (Future: Tools Of Destruction) pretty hardcore. Jesse hit start (to try to pause) right after he jumped into the ship. That k-i-l-l-e-d the game. But luckily it had just saved.
3. We eat too much pizza.
4. Jesse's obsession with Jewel Quest makes me want to play Jewel Quest. =(

And, that's it! That's the list of bad stuff. Not so bad! Life could be worse. And it has been, like when Jesse worked for 3 months straight, only coming home to sleep (most of the time).

So YAY JESSE BEING HOME!

NYC 2

2007-08-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

Usually, when I travel for work, I freak out before going to sleep, because I'm so worried that the alarm clock won't go off, and that I'll make a terrible impression on who I'm about to meet by showing up late. Well, I freaked out, as usual. However, unlike most times, when I overcompensate by shooting out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off in the morning, I just kept hitting snooze today, as though I was at home. It wasn't like I was relaxed--it's that, MY GOD, I was drowsy.

So I got up, showered, dressed, realized that all the walking yesterday had worn a hole in my heel, and went downstairs. I bought some bandaids (actually, a travel-size first aid kit) and taped up my heel for another walking-heavy day.

We walked down the street to a Starbucks, then walked to the office, found our conference room, shook some hands, and got some danishes and fruit for breakfast. We then sat, and sat, and sat. The first half of the day was actually fascinating, and we were all anxious to hear the interesting preso information. The problem was, as soon as I sat down, my body remembered that it was only 5:00AM in my home timezone. OMG, I kept having the overwhelming urge to excuse myself, so that I could go find a quiet room where I could lay down for a nap. So, even though I'm mostly anti-caffeine, I decided to have some coffee, which perked me up.

At the end of the day, we decided to excuse ourselves from dinner, which was planned for a chain restaurant, so that we could meander around the city and find something more interesting to do. We caught a cab and went from midtown down to Greenwich Village. We walked around, back and down for a while.. then we decided to get a slice of Famous Ray's pizza.
Delish! I took a picture, because I knew that Bug would want evidence. =)

After that, we walked around a bunch, knowing full well that the Famous Ray's was just an appetizer. We were on the hunt for anything that looked interesting, and we wanted to stop somewhere for happy hour, too. So we walked around, stopped into a Souvenir shop, where I proceeded to spend $60 on NYC-themed clothing. Then we found a funky bar with loud live music, so we stopped in for a drink. It was SO HOT that I had to ask the bartender to put more ice in my drink. I'm telling you, the ice was the best part of that drink. The bartender was this awesome 40+ year-old Irish guy with bushy salt-and-pepper hair, tons of tattoos, and a seriously bad temper. He had a lot of charmisma, but he was literally yelling at this guy at the bar, telling him that some band should've come in and asked him face-to-face if they could book a gig at his bar, instead of calling on the phone. "Who the FOKE to they think they are?! FOKE THEM. FOKE 'EM ALL." It was so hysterical.

When we came out of there, it was still light out, and we were on our way to Little Italy, to find some delicious NYC Italian food, when we found a store called UNI QLO. We were so intrigued, because there was this enormous glass case in the front of the store, with spinning mannequins showing off the new line of clothing... it was all bright fluorescent lights, all white and glass.. we had to go in. My co-worker asked what the store was, and the clerk explained that it's sort of like a Japanese Old Navy. Most of the prices were extremely reasonable. I walked around that store for about an hour. I would've bought more, but I was worried that I'd have buyer's remorse, with no opportunity to return anything.. but it was fun nonetheless!

After that, we decided we were too hungry and tired to wait 'til we got to Little Italy, so we stopped at the first place that sounded good, Gatsby's.
I didn't expect much from this pub. When I think of pubs, I have two basic memory groups: casual, yummy, hot, stick-to-your-ribs food in Cambridge, England. OR really bland, awful trying-to-be-exciting-but-nowhere-near-succeeding disappointing food in California's SF Bay Area. Soooo, I ordered my cider, as usual, and decided to order onion rings for an appetizer, to soak up the cider and to provide a base, in case I didn't like my dinner. I ordered the chicken pot pie, thinking that I might as well give the place a shot.. and oh my GOD, it was delicious! I would order that again in a heartbeat, and I heartily recommend it to you. =) Yum. Good service, too. And I discovered that the best sauce for onion rings is ketchup mixed with hot sauce. Wow, that was a good dinner. My co-worker ordered the Cottage Pie, which was sort of like a shepherd's pie, but it was not very good. It tasted way too sweet, and it had curry powder in it. Just weird.

After that, we went back and forth as to whether we would get some dessert and coffee. After all, everything had been so good, and we had walked for miles, so we deserved it, right? No, no, no, we decided that we were waaaay too full, so we just caught a cab back to the hotel. Of course, in order to get to a busy intersection where we could catch a cab, we had to pass by kiosks of cheap jewelry and purses. I bought a $10 silver ring for $5, which I'm very proud of. My co-worker told me that the secret to negotiating is walking away, and it totally worked. I'm a pro now! =) I wish I would've tried that at the t-shirt shop... =(

Oh well! All in all, a great day in NYC. I'm thinking that it would be nice to take a vacation here, see s'more stuff, like the MoMA and the Natural History Museum. Hopefully, I can get my hubby to come back here with me. =) Maybe I can bait him with some Famous Ray's pizza.

NYC day 1

2007-08-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

I flew into JFK today for business, and I thought I'd blog about the experience, mostly so that I would remember it myself. While I was in SFO, I did the self-service check-in. I had already selected seat 26A (window seat) weeks ago, online, but I thought it'd be interesting to see if I could get a better seat (closer to the front), so I hit the "look for other seats" button. BAD IDEA. The system knew I wanted a different seat, so it must've released my seat to the other people checking in. I ended up with seat 26E, no closer to the front of the plane. Worse than that, I was dead-center, middle seat of the middle block of seats. Just about as far from any windows as you can get. Poop.

Oh well. I took some delicious Unisom on the plane, and so was able to sleep for 3 out of the 5-hour flight. I have only recently discovered anti-histamine-induced sleep, but it's wonderful, I tell you. This is coming from someone who has desperately wanted to sleep on plane for years, but couldn't. I've tried red-eyes, I've tried not sleeping for 36 hours prior to the flight.. you name it. The only thing that works is Unisom, and so I am thankful for Unisom.

There were two other interesting things about my flight:

1. There was a blind man two rows ahead, who spoke very loudly. I was kind of annoyed, until I started listening to what he was saying. Fascinating. He works in SETI, and was telling the stranger in the seat next to him all about the new equipment they're working on, to listen for communication further out in the universe. Didn't catch many details, but my mind immediately turned this guy into the actor who played the blind SETI character in the movie Contact.

2. The other interesting thing was that the plane I was on tilted/turned to correct its path for landing VERY late in the game. I mean, you can see that you're really close to the ground, and all of a sudden, the plane jerks to the right, straightens out, turns, straightens, and then you land. I can't imagine how stressful that is for the pilot.

Anyway, after landing, I took a cab with co-workers into Manhattan to our hotel. I checked in and was told that the only room fitting my criteria that they had available was a "small room" with a queen-size bed. My other option was a king-sized bed on a smoking floor. (No thanks!) So I'm writing this from a "cozy" room in Manhattan, with a view of tall buildings and residual blue glare from Times Square's crazy lights.

We had dinner at a nice little french bistro-type restaurant called Balthazar, where we ate entirely too much food. We ordered and shared three appetizers: lobster risotto, foie gras, herb ravioli with stewed tomatoes. I didn't eat the foie gras, and had to explain that I truly was morally opposed to it. (side note: Someone recently told me that the chicken and geese who go through the horrendous force-feeding procedures actually *like* it. That's disgusting. Aaanyway, I digress.) The other two appetizers were really tasty and come recommended from our whole group. Then I had steak frites with maitre d' butter. Delicious, delicious. I'd do that again in a heartbeat. For dessert, we again ordered 3 and shared. I had their banana ricotta tart with banana ice cream. It was yummy, and the carmelized bananas kind of had a crispy creme brulee feel. The other desserts were also delicious: (1) profiteroles with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, and (2) the peach/blueberry tarte. YUM.

We were all SO full after this huge dinner that we went for a walk to see the lights of Times Square. You know, this area is full of such a vast variety of retail establishments... and smells! I wouldn't describe any of the smells as being particularly "fresh," but it's very entertaining to walk through 10 different air currents in a single block. I definitely couldn't live here. I'm so suburban. =)

Six Mois

2007-07-27T00:25:00.000-07:00

I'd just like to take this opportunity to say how happy I am to have been married for the last six months. And I really like the date today: 7/27/2007. Isn't that pretty?

Anyway, Happy ~~Half-year Anniversary~~ Halfiversary, Bug! Thanks for getting up the nerve to pop the question in May 2006, dealing with me as we planned the wedding, and ultimately going through with the whole thing six months ago.

Now, I'd say that it's high time we sat down and wrote out our thank you cards. ;)

Gnocchi dokey!

2007-07-17T00:08:00.000-07:00

I searched online to find creative ways to use leftover mashed potatoes. I made way too much for a dinner over the weekend (no shock there -- I always make a bunch of leftover mashed potatoes). The thing is, I grew up in a house where these potato leftovers never went to waste, because they were always a favorite. Now, I struggle with leftovers in a house with only two people, especially two people who aren't home much, and who like a little variety. And I can only eat so many mashed potatoes for lunches at work.

Long story short, I went searching and found potato pancake recipes, shepherd's pie recipes, etc. My favorite recipe of the lot was one with only three ingredients (ding ding ding, we have a winner folks!): mashed potatoes, flour, egg. Who knew gnocchi could be so simple? I've never considered making gnocchi in my life. I'm not the biggest fan, actually. I don't hate them, but I tend not to order them in restaurants, because they're usually in thick cream sauces, and are boring after like 5 bites.

But at home, gnocchi were so much fun!! I pulled out all of the ingredients, and I was eating gnocchi ten minutes later. (Sharlene, are you reading this? I know I just emailed you this story, but I was so excited, that I thought I'd blog about it, too!!). I was home alone tonight, so I cooked up a serving, and flash froze the rest, then put 'em all in one bag. I think Jesse will be thrilled, because gnocchi are high on his list of things to order at Italian restaurants (probably topped only by chicken parmesan).

So I served my homemade gnocchi with a little butter, fresh pepper, and parmesan cheese. I will make this recipe again in a heartbeat! It's so easy. And SO cheap. I don't think I'd ever buy gnocchi in the store now... I'll just wait until I inevitably make an excessive amount of mashed potatoes again.

Lifting weights.

2007-07-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about blogging lately. Unfortunately, I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to blog about, exactly. I thought there was nothing going on in my life. I thought I was "not doing anything." But here's the thing! I've figured it out! I wasn't doing nothing -- I was overwhelmed by too much stuff. Here's my list:

1. The company I work for was acquired by a big, massive, rich company.
- I had to go to meeting upon meeting about this
- I had to re-enroll in all company benefits (vision, dental, health, etc.)
- Switch computers.
- Learn a whole set of different websites for reporting vacation, sick time, time in general, etc.
- Figure out how to get my paystub (paperless)
2. Our house was disgusting following (and previous to, for that matter) the wedding.
- We had arts'n'crafts piled-up from wedding prep
- After being so busy with the wedding and losing sight of how bad our house was, we just didn't want to look at it anymore, so it got worse.
- We couldn't relax when we were at home, because it was very overwhelming.
- We stopped cooking for ourselves, because we really didn't want to go into our kitchen.. which leads me to bullet 3...
3. We've been eating like crap, which kills the energy level.
4. We've put a lot of energy into avoiding things we need to do.
- wedding thank you cards
- open wedding gifts (there was a pile of beautiful, still-in-the-packaging presents in the corner of our dining room.
- go to the grocery store and buy actual food
- get my wedding gown cleaned and preserved
- blog
- updating the wedding website with wedding and honeymoon photos
5. We've been house-hunting, because we really want to "settle down" and stop wondering when our landlady is going to raise the rent.
- Talk to mortgage brokers
- find any and all tax, bank, work paystub, etc. documents for X period of time
- call, call, call people
- call, call, call more people
- actually look at houses
- work with one realtor through the offering process the first time
- suffer the disappointment of that deal falling through
- work with a DIFFERENT realtor to look at other houses
- call, call, call more people
- meet at houses that are for sale, meet at real estate agent's office, etc.
- in general, spend a lot of time thinking about houses and money
5. We had a garage sale, since we already have too much stuff, and we knew we'd end up buying a place that's much smaller than our current place.
6. We got sick for a couple of weeks, after hanging out with and talking to all of those people at said garage sale.
7. I stopped taking the train altogether, which you'd think would be nice, but it has been awful.
- I don't read anymore.
- I spend a ton of money on gas
- I work much more irregular hours (usually longer).

OK, so maybe the list doesn't seem like these items should take a lot of time away from blogging, but you have to put it all together: I work long hours at a "new" job, come home to a gross house that overwhelms me, eat like crap, and daydream about houses I don't own. It's kind of sad, and not worth blogging about anyway. It hasn't felt like I have much to talk about.

But here's the real news: Jesse's sister came to visit (who, I guess, I could start referring to as "my sister-in-law," since neither of my brothers is married and it's not ambiguous), which really lit a fire under our butts. Jesse and I spent three VERY long nights cleaning our house to an acceptable level of tidiness. Then we hosted the adorable Kody for three days, during which time we cooked every meal and always cleaned up after ourselves.

We also used lovely new appliances that were supplied to us as wedding gifts, including a handheld cordless vaccuum and a small food processor. (Note here that there is no longer a pile of unopened gifts in the corner of our dining room).

It feels like a major weight has been lifted, and so I've decided to blog about it.

Fin.

Hearing wedding bells again...!

2007-03-19T15:06:00.000-07:00

The Mister and I drove up to South Lake Tahoe on Saturday so that we could be at a surprise birthday party for my friend and maid of honor Tina. Her boyfriend, Mat, had us all meet at a restaurant, and Tina came in and was very surprised, as planned, etc. Then we all drove up to the cabin he'd rented, and we walked down to the snow to take some pictures. The lovebirds were up first, and as we all got situated with our cameras, Mat dropped to one knee and proposed! She said yes (duh!). They seem very happy, the ring is very shiny, and just like that, the wedding bells are ringing again!

In other wedding news, Jess and I are also heading over to Philly at the end of the month for the wedding of his long-time friend, Ben. Ben's marrying his long-time partner, Margo, and I'm SO looking forward to seeing their little dreamboat son, Simon (almost a year old), dressed up in a little suit. So excited.

Being on this side of wedding planning ourselves (i.e. now that we're done) weddings seem exciting again. I'm really looking forward to helping with and admiring the little details, instead of deciding on and having to pay for them. ;) w00t!

Mr. and Mrs. Married

2007-01-29T23:45:00.000-08:00

We've been getting honked at for two days now, driving around town in our "Just Married" mobile (thanks to Tina and Ry and Kody)! Lots of "Congratulations" and lots of smiles and waves. It's pretty nice to see the world get happy about something -- yay our marriage!

Jesse and I have been frantically shopping for the warmest clothing and accessories that we can find in California before heading off to Quebec. (Eep, cold!)

We've loved being married so far -- Jesse called the airline we're flying with, and I heard him say "My wife and I..." while I signed up for a membership at REI and used my married name for the first time. I'm sure we'll come up with lots of other fun stories in the coming weeks.. for now, we really need to pack for the trip, which we need to leave for in 5 hours.. everything last minute. =)

The Honeymooners

2007-01-14T00:04:00.000-08:00

That's us! Can you believe it? We actually planned our honeymoon travel less than 3 weeks before the wedding. In fact, it was within 14 business days of the day we'll be leaving for the honeymoon -- that means airfare was slightly more expensive. D'oh! Oh well. We had other things to do first -- what can you do? =P

For those who don't know yet (that's probably most people), Jesse and I are going to Montreal and Quebec City for a total of 10 nights. I'm SO EXCITED!!! This will be our first trip out of the country as a couple (and we've been together for almost 7 years). We both studied French, so we should be able to manage signs and menus, but I'm a little worried about pumping out grammatical sentences in French during live conversations... eep! Wish us luck.

We're staying at some pretty francy hotels, thanks to Winter rates. One is a very famous landmark, one is a very schmancy modern boutique hotel, and the last one is where John Lennon and Yoko Ono had a 10-day "bed in" and recorded Give Peace a Chance.

Other than the dates and the hotels, we have no real idea of what we'll be doing in Quebec. Jesse did find an awesome snow park, which is very similar to a water park, only all of the slides are ice and snow instead of rushing water. You can also do some ice kart racing there (similar to go-karts, but colder and with more fish-tailing, I'd imagine).

So, my new tasks are as follows:
(a) find super warm clothes that will keep me dry,
(b) buy a guide book or two,
(c) get a good street map,
(d) extend my health insurance to cover out-of-country emergencies,
(e) pack -- eventually
(f) relax, relax, relax! Woohoo, honeyMOON!!!

Can't wait!

Tears of Joy

2007-01-03T22:46:00.000-08:00

Shut up, no, they're not about my upcoming wedding. =P

(Yes, I'm excited about my wedding. No, I'm not unhappy... remember that this post is about tears of JOY!!! Read on...)

Jesse and I were just sitting around in our living room, and I made a comment about how he puts all of his grumpy thoughts down in his blog (which is true -- fans of Jesse's blog, he's really much happier in real life). So he showed me his latest blog post, and I chuckled at what he wrote, then I clicked through to my blog from his, and he asked me if anyone else had commented on my last post.

Uh...

Amanda: No, nobody reads my blog.
Jesse: Doo hoo hoo, that's so sad!
Amanda: I know, I don't know why I bother to blog anyway, because I could just call you to say, "Happy New Year, I'm sick, write an email to yourself."

So we start laughing at my pathetic blog, and I get a little teary-eyed so my vision blurs, and I scroll down to prove to him that no one but he comments anymore...

Amanda: See? Every single post has one comment, and it's always from you...
(one comment)
(one comment)
(one comment)
(one--woah, wait--that's a different shape digit!)
Amanda: Oh, this one has two! I guess I'm not so lame.
Jesse: [shifty-eyed] mm-hmm, that's great.
Amanda: Wait, oh no, does it say just one? D'oh I couldn't see it very well.. [frown]
Jesse: [look of love mixed with pity] Oh man, I can't lie to you.. it says zero comments.
Amanda: [bursting into fits of laughter] Oh god, I'm such a loser! Why do I even blog? I'm going to blog about this!

And...I did.

And Jesse will probably comment. (Thanks, Bug!)

Illness, the Wedding and Goals, oh my!

2007-01-02T10:09:00.000-08:00

I'm sick and working from home today. I know I never blog anymore, but I do occasionally add info to Wedding Central. Does that count? I think I caught a bug from Jesse's sister while his family was out visiting us from Los Angeles and Philadelphia. My throat feels swollen and also burns after a while if I'm talking or swallowing. I'm staying home today to try and avoid talking (hurting myself) and spreading germs (hurting others). Boo hoo.

The wedding is coming along! We're up to our ears in our "To Do" list. It is in an Excel spreadsheet, and has a conditionally formatted cell that tells us how many items are remaining, and changes colors depending on how high a number it is. Seriously, folks, I'm in Project Management land now, remember? That's how I roll. Anyway, we're still very in the red. I just came up with another thing today that we need to do -- our (or at least my) rings need to be polished before the wedding, so I have to figure out when to do that.

I found a website where you can compose an email to yourself and have it sent at a future date. Well, you can compose an email to anyone, I guess, but the point is to remind your future self of things you're thinking of today. I just sent myself a halfway-there reminder of my 2007 goals. I should get that email on June 2, 2007. That way, if I mess up and don't do anything by then, I'll still have half a year to get 'er done.

I may need a reminder, since I haven't been thinking much about much lately, aside from the wedding and my waistline (that truly expensive dress better fit when it comes in!!!). Happy New Year, everyone!! =)

No Boots, No Camp

2006-11-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

It's called "Boot Camp," but it's really just organized exercising outside ~~at the crack of~~ pre-dawn.

As you probably know by now, Jesse and I are getting hitched in January. You may or may not know that I've already ordered (and paid for) the dress. Since it's already on its way, I am doing my very best to make sure that it will fit when it finally shows up on January 10th. I still have a little ways to go and I have joined a Boot Camp to keep me motivated as we near the Big Day.

Anyway, the camp is on Monday Wednesday and Friday this week. I survived Monday, and today I'm very stiff and the ol' muscles are fairly sore. I guess that's what I get for basically never exercising prior to joining a BOOT CAMP. Tomorrow, we're meeting at a high school track -- I think there will be some bleacher-climbing in the near future. Wish me luck!

Out on the Bay

2006-11-05T23:58:00.000-08:00

Jesse and I went out to dinner tonight at Skates on the Bay. Now, for those of you who are used to going out to dinner often, and who may even frequent upscale joints, maybe this restaurant would be "just another restaurant." For Jesse and I (we eat at home nearly every night and bring our lunches to work almost every day), it was really great.

I'll go into detail about what we had: Baked brie with macademia nut crust for appetizer. Caesar salad for Jesse, mixed greens w/Maple vinaigrette for me (with pears, candied pecans and bleu cheese). Then Jesse had the New York Strip for his entree, while I had something that would normally be considered his "usual" -- some parmesan crusted chicken with mashed potatoes and arugula. Yum! And we also had dessert -- Jesse had "original burnt creme" (custard) and I had the apple-walnut cobbler. Holy moly! Everything was really yummy.

The only thing I think I'd hesitate to order again is the brie... brie is really yummy on its own, and it didn't need all the extra stuff they added to it (the macademia nuts, plus balsamic vinegar reduction, plus honey, not to mention apple slices, all served with herb foccacia) ... anyway, it was a little overdone.

So, if you'll be in the area for our wedding in January, this place is located about 10 minutes from the reception site in Berkeley. If you're looking for a nice place to have dinner, this place was great. It sits right out on the bay, with huge picture windows in 3 directions (we couldn't see much at night except lights and water, so I couldn't tell you much more about the view than that). I'm sure it's lovely during the day.. not that there will be much daylight in January.

It's nice to see that a restaurant with such a nice location (including great views, presumably) still keeps up the quality of their food. So many places in the city let the quality go when the location is so valuable on its own (a disgustingly overpriced lounge called "The View" in SF comes to mind).

Anyway, don't go to The View. DO go to Skates on the Bay. Enjoy!

Presidential Tag Clouds

2006-11-03T16:34:00.000-08:00

This came around in an email at work today, just as a "this is interesting" note...

Presidential Speeches Tag Cloud

And it did not disappoint! I think you'll agree.

Feeling like a human again

2006-10-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

It's a good feeling.

1. Going to work feels normal again (after completely changing jobs within the company and losing two friends from my close social group at work -- yerks! Stupid grad school and stupid Taiwan). Anyway, I've settled into the new responsibilities, and the new group of people, and it's going ok, all in all.

2. Jesse and I have made a few decisions about the wedding, and that's nice.. the location, obviously, is set, and we've all but signed ourselves up with a caterer. Also, we've found a band or two that we dig, and still more are writing to us (from our Craigslist ad). I'm planning on ordering my dress this weekend, and Jesse has a tux appt coming up... oh, and "Save the Date" cards are in the mail, and people are receiving them all over the place. That's good.

3. There are games coming out over at Lucas which is awesome. Jesse has been working really hard for a long time now, and it's nice when things are completely done, and in the end user's hands... that means there are no more revisions, no more late nights.. for those games, anyway!

4. I'm back to eating better.. our house sort of turned into a junk food pit for a month or so there.. it was pretty bad. I just kinda felt mildly ill on a daily basis. I think part of my clarity and desire to sit down and blog today can be attributed to the fact that I feel healthier, after only a few days of eating better foods.

5. I bought a bunch of new clothes. This helps my state of mind because I'm not in a total panic every morning, running late and whining about having nothing to wear.

6. We have Tivo! This makes our evenings more calm -- we're not racing home to catch the TV shows we like, and we're not calling our friends in the middle of the day to ask them to tape things for us... we can just sit down and watch something whenever we want. It's so relaxing, and it's a nice burden to have had lifted.

Anyway, the overall change is that I'm just a little calmer. I guess that means that at some point, I'd lost my grip, but I've apparently found it again. It's really, really nice.

Holy Moses!

2006-09-02T18:58:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness!!!

Jesse set up our ~~new~~ old router just now (using the "Super Easy Set-up" button), and now we are both blogging SIMULTANEOUSLY. Amazing. Please welcome us to 5-7 years ago.

Next things next -- TIVO. It's waiting downstairs, our joint birthday present to each other. Suh-weet!

And now, just to prove that this is not a hoax, Jesse and I will click "Publish Post" at the EXACT SAME TIME...

For my birthday...

2006-08-27T23:49:00.000-07:00

On Friday (my work birthday)...

1. my friendly co-workers took me out for lunch (awwww!)
2. our super-nice waiter sang to me and gave me free chocolate cake
3. after lunch, Sharlene surprised me by coming back to work (she quit(!) to go to grad school) and bringing me a homemade peach pie -- amazing! I was so touched. =) Aaaand it was yummy.

For my actual birthday (today), I...

1. got several birthday cards from: Tina, Jesse, Pip, my mom, my dad and my uncle
2. had a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast
3. went on a picnic with Jesse at our favorite picnicking park (Vasona)
4. flew a kite (a flying stained-glass-like honu -- a sea turtle)
5. shopped for shoes
6. bought 2 new pairs of shoes (sweet! dress-casual shoes comfortable enough to walk in to and from the train)
7. went out to dinner with Jesse
8. ended up at dinner with Jesse and my mom, dad, brothers and uncle (Jesse surprised me!)
9. worked a little, so that my Monday would be less stressful
10. blogged

Jesse baked his first-ever cake today, and it was a total success. =) It's a pretty pink strawberry cake with fluffy white frosting.

Anyway, all in all, it was a really nice birthday, and I think 26 is going to be a good year. =)

Thank you, Technology.

2006-08-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

I am so out of the habit of blogging. Good thing I told Teresa I would keep up with this thing, otherwise I might just quit altogether. Here's the problem (shh! don't tell): my old job allowed for more time to read funny articles online, emailing friends and blogging. Now, in my new job, I tend to be busy and slightly more tense all day. It's not that the job is stressing me out -- it's that it is made up of 100 tiny tasks to complete throughout the day, and I'm constantly worried that I've let something dropped, which would screw up a dependency and mess up the delivery schedule for some project... so I'm always "on." I have post-it notes everywhere, and Outlook reminds me of tasks I have to complete every 10-15 minutes. =P

So anyway... Life is good right now. =) I've been taking the train to work for pretty much the last 2 weeks. I love it. Although we sometimes have to rush to get to the train station, Jesse and I (I think!) are more calm in the mornings. The train schedule sets up a rigid go-to-work time and a rigid come-home-from-work time, and I am enjoying the routine. I also like walking a few blocks to work in the morning, then back to the train station in the evening, and the community feeling of travelling in the same direction as a large group of people at the exact same time. Although this phenomenon also occurs on freeways, I'd say that rush hour is not a community that I miss being a part of. =P My car also loves not driving 40-50 miles per day.

In other news, Jesse and I have cemented the date for our wedding. It's going to be on January 27, 2007. We have updated Wedding Central (2.0) with this information, and pretty soon, we'll get around to adding more text and pics to that website, so go there for wedding-related updates. Aaaand at some point soon, we're going to figure out the "save the date" thing, too. People (especially those with crazy schedules or people who have to travel long distances) should get either an email or a paper notice.. we'll see how that goes. If you're reading this blog post, you're pretty much one of the first to know the date. =) Congrats. Thank you, Technology.

Gah! My ring finger is naked.

2006-08-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

Jesse made me do it! =(

I am without my engagement ring. It was too big. It has to be re-sized from an 8.75 (it fit easily on my thumb) to a 6.75. You may be asking yourself: Was I insulted to receive a ring that was that much too big for me? Not at all. It's not one of things that crosses your mind when your best friend gives you a diamond ring and asks if he can spend the rest of his life with you.

(w00t!)

Anyway, back to the point of this whole thing...

It's gone! I feel a little bit lonely without it. =( I won't have it back until Wednesday the 16th. That means that when I see two people tomorrow at Jesse's birthday party for the first time since the engagement, they won't be able to check out da ring. =(

Oh well... Apparently, when I get it back, it will fit tightly to the point where I won't be able to yank it off my finger very easily -- it'll get stuck at my knuckle. Does that mean I'll have to shower with it? Sleep with it? Will I ever be able to take it off, or will they have to cut it off of me to prevent the deadening of that finger once I've swelled into my 60s?

...the answers to THESE questions and more in 40 years, folks!

I think I'll go back to pining for my ring now...

Jesse is 30!!!!!!!

2006-08-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

Run on over to Jesse's blog and wish him a Happy Birthday! Or better yet, send him a ridiculously sparkly piece of Happy Birthday animated web art on MySpace.

Have the happiest of birthdays, Bug!! I think it's going to be a great year!

Change of pace

2006-07-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

I've been working at the same company for 3 years -- I started out doing orthographic transcription for just about six months, and I have been an analyst for the past 2.5 years. Now, on Monday, July 17, I'll be moving into Project Management. That should be a slight change of pace.

But the most important thing is that I am finally done interviewing and considering various offers -- I can just concentrate on transitioning out of this position and into the next one. As stressful as that should be, it seems totally relaxing to me after the past month.

And as proof of that fact, I actually went to bed before 11:00 last night, and I slept soundly until 8:00 this morning. It was awesome.

WOW we're busy.

2006-07-09T00:09:00.000-07:00

This was a three-day work week for us. It was the longest short week I've ever worked. There was so much stress and anxiety crammed into those three little days. But it was quickly followed by the weekend -- sweet, we get to relax! Not quite yet.

Last night (Friday), Jesse and I went with a group of friends to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2 -- pretty good flick. It was the 9:40pm showing, and it was about 35 minutes from home, so we got in around 1:20 or 1:30am. Then we wound down a little and went to bed, just to get up early today to run to a Bridal Fair in downtown San Jose. It was supremely low-key there. We basically just entered a bunch of raffles, picked up some magazines, looked at a bunch of ugly dresses, and left.

Then we went out to lunch with my mom at the Spaghetti Factory. Yum! Jesse accidentally left his hat there. But we didn't have time to go back and get it, because we were already working on being late for the wedding we were supposed to go to today at 3:00pm.

So, we went to my mom's work and changed into our wedding clothes in their bathrooms there, then ran out and raced to the wedding. That was really nice. The happy couple had two ceremonies: one to reflect her Hindu background, and one to celebrate his Jewish background. Super interesting. We hung out with nice people, ate good food, and eventually left around 9:30pm.

At which point, we drove back to my mom's house -- because she'd gone back to the Spaghetti Factory and picked up Jesse's hat for him. So sweet. And we were so exhausted. We finally made it back home around 11:30pm tonight, and we're exhausted.

Tomorrow morning, I need to get up early so I can clean the house and hit the grocery store -- we're having a big group of people over for an ebelskiver breakfast at 11:00am.

Goodnight!

Down, down, down, down...

2006-06-16T18:38:00.000-07:00

In general, I've been down for the past five days or so. I am working hard at work, and long hours. Jesse is also working long hours. We might come home late, or we might leave work early to rush across the bay to look at a potential wedding location, effectively killing an evening... we aren't eating altogether well, we aren't relaxing much, we aren't sleeping enough. In short, my (our) routine has changed drastically for the past week, and I'm none the better for it. Add to that a heaping helping of other stuff that's going on that I don't feel like discussing in a public forum, and you've got one very tired, stressed-out and down blogger.

Which doesn't make for an interesting blog... which is why I haven't been blogging... I just decided to say "hi" today to anyone who might be concerned about me. =)

Karaoke Night

2006-06-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Comcast Digital Cable offers free Karaoke?

(I'll assume you said "no.")

Neither did we! So, last night when a commercial told me that tidbit of information, I thought to myself, "I've never felt so happy to have been informed by paid advertising! This is awesome!"

So I immediately stopped the show we were watching, and went surfing through Digital Cable menus (not pretty). Sure enough -- karaoke! So, Jesse and I had an impromptu karaoke night last night. You should've been there! (You could've stopped us...)

We sang such classics as:

"Somewhere Out There" in the style of Linda Rondstadt and James Hogan
"La Bamba"
and
"Pour Some Sugar On Me"

So, whereas at 7:00pm yesterday, I was totally ready to get rid of Digital Cable, by 11:00pm, I was sold on why we need to keep it. ;)

Wedding Central

2006-05-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

We created our little Jesse+Amanda engagement space over at TheKnot.com. It's linked over there on the right-hand side of my blog. -->

There isn't much there yet, but we did write up a little synopsis of the proposal. It's in writing now, so we don't risk losing our voices from telling the story over and over. More details will be added as we, you know, decide on them. Enjoy! =)

"pop!" goes the question

2006-05-21T01:07:00.000-07:00

... "yes!" goes the girl.

Most of the people who read my blog (Jesse, Jesse's friends & family, two of my friends) know already, but maybe I'll get a few surprise comments from other lurkers I don't yet know about, by informing the Blogger public that:

We're engaged!

That's right! On Sunday, May 14th, Jesse popped the question on the side of a Kona-Waimea highway (190). I had to de-code a numeric message, we were checkin' out a particularly awesome rainbow, etc, details... Apparently, he had already asked both of my parents for "permission" to marry me, and basically all of his friends and family already knew it was going to happen.. I was the only one in the dark. =)

...and none of my friends knew (not that Jesse's friends aren't my friends ... you know what I mean). So, if any of my friends are lurking, this is your sneak-peak at the news. ;) (Psst, let me know you're here, so I don't expect you to act surprised on Monday!) Otherwise, you'll have to wait for your email, phonecall, or glimpse of this near-blinding gem I'm cartin' around these days.

Any questions you have regarding our engagement or impending wedding will be answered tout de suite! Hopefully, we'll have one of those wedding announcement website things up within a couple of days.. We have lots of decisions to make, and people to keep updated!

Oh yeah, and we're back from Hawaii, too. Hello!

...and there we went.

2006-05-12T23:19:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I are headed for Hawaii tomorrow morning. By 3:00pm Pacific time, we'll have arrived on the Big Island. If you want us to bring you back something, you're a little late. We're totally exhausted from cleaning, working and packing.. and now we're going to go to bed. Or, soon, anyway. Aloha!

Hey, is that Jesse?

2006-05-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

I went over to MySpace.com today and saw the usual little "Cool New People" section right below the username/password fields, and thought at first, "Meh, whatever," but then I realized that one of the pictures looked just like Jesse!

That one on the left! With that other girl that's not me!

So I looked over at him (he was sitting right next to me) and said, "Hey, is that you with some other girl?" and he craned to get a good look and said, "Woah...that's strange."

Naturally, I had to investigate! So I clicked on that picture, logged in, and checked out the user's pics. Found it!

Yeah, no.. that's not Jesse. That's just some dufus who, when compressed down to thumbnail size, is lucky enough to resemble my Bug. I mean, I'm sure he's a perfectly nice guy, but he's no Jesse. Hooray!

Flaming piles of poop?

2006-04-24T00:31:00.000-07:00

I found an ad for this product in the back of a home and garden magazine I'm fond of... it was an odd find, so I thought I'd share it with my blog patrons.

That's right, someone has capitalized on the idea of setting fire to human waste. It's the Incinolet, "The World's Only Electric Incinerating Toilet!"

I can't think of anything funny to say about this. It's a toilet that burns poop in the comfort of your own home away from home. The point, I guess, is that you'll no longer have to truck your waste to a treatment facility, because you can now go anywhere you want and just toss a bag of poo-ash in the nearest park trash can. Score one for you, score zonk for the elderly lady who sifts through that trash for lucrative recyclables to pay her rent.

And beware, fellow KOAers, the Incinolet requires good ventilation out the side of the RV. This may mean that your alfresco family lunch won't be sporting that fresh country air feature you were hoping for.

Cook for a day, eat sleep for a month.

2006-04-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

We had a cooking bonanza at our house yesterday (Easter Sunday). I invited my mom and dad over. And so the four of us were around the house all day, with the world's biggest load of groceries and bowls, spatulas and muffin tins. It was fun, but it was a huge amount of work.

The impetus of the event was that, while we're all eating healthier (me, Jesse, my mom and my dad), we all cook dinner for just one or two people each night. Jesse and I have been having virtually no trouble with this effort -- we plan the week out in advance, and then cook dinners of varying degrees of complexity. No biggie. But my mom and dad both live alone, and so only cook for one person, which makes it slightly more difficult. And your food options can get boring after a while, with leftovers as a staple.

So I decided to plan this event, whereby we'd get together and cook up a storm, then cool the foods down (or in some cases, just prep them without cooking at all), and store everything as single or double servings. All of that goes into the freezer, et voila! Lots of dinners with virtually no prep required each night for dinner.

When all was said and done, we had a total of 9 different entrees, 2 breakfast dishes, and a bunch of cooked shredded chicken that can be added to various dishes on a whim (salads, soups, enchiladas, fajitas, quesadillas, etc.).

So, needless to say, after 10 or 11 hours of cooking and standing, there were sore feet and backs to go around. It was totally exhausting. And I would do it again in a heartbeat ... a heartbeat a couple of weeks from now.

Hawaii, here we come!

2006-04-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

Jesse used to always talk about wanting to go to Hawaii. Well, last year (January '05) we went to Oahu, stayed on Waikiki, parasailed, went horseback riding on the beach, experienced a luau, and generally relaxed. I think it would be safe to say that he loved Hawaii. I loved Hawaii, too. =)

Well, I just wanted to take this opportunity to rub it into the faces of people who are reading my blog: we're going back to Hawaii in one month. In fact, we're going here. Seriously, that's gorgeous. I'm jealous of myself! =D I can't wait.

So, it's off to the Big Island (Hawaii) for us. One week. We'll be back, most likely as untanned as we were when we left! =) If I find any other gorgeous pictures of Hawaii that I have to brag about, I'll let you know.

The pain is all gone

2006-04-11T00:42:00.000-07:00

I was reading through some of my old posts, just passing time.. when I stumbled upon this glimpse of my past. It serves as a reminder of why I blog, or take notes in any way about my life.

I had oral surgery on February 10, 2006. That's exactly 2 months ago. The wisdom teeth are gone. The pain is gone. It was totally worth any and all trouble I may have gone through to have the procedure done. Until I read that blog post, I had pretty much forgotten about that part of my life!

...Again, seriously, if you're still suffering with four extra useless teeth in your mouth, and you know who you are, please have them removed. I was the scaredest scaredy cat ever when it came to thinking about having that surgery.. but it was not a big deal, it was easy, and it's over. It has only been 2 months, and I don't ven think about it -- day in, day out, it's just pain-free jaw movement. Go do it!

Worst exposition ever.

2006-04-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I spent most of Saturday in the studio at his work. He was mostly working, I was mostly hanging out. We decided to buy a new video game on the way home: Kingdom Hearts II. Yes, this is a Square-Enix collaboration with Disney. Yes, the first game was really fun. Yes, I liked this Disney product. No, I don't generally like Disney. But none of this gets to my point, which is: the beginning of this game suh-hucks.

It's about 4-5 hours of bland cinematics with brief "action" interludes, where you button-mash to do the most boring tasks on earth (beat the crap out of a bag of garbage on a cart to get it up a shallow hill and into a garage ... why didn't they implement a "push" action? .. or "defeat the strange enemies" seven or eight times for no reason -- they haven't even attacked). Dull. We would set the (wireless) controlled down for so long to watch the cut scenes that the controller would shut itself off from lack of use. Lame!

Follow that with 1-2 hours of "Oh my god, is the game going to start now? Wai--wha--crap, no. It's another movie. Oh my GOD this game is so dull!!" They give you so much time to dwell on how bored you are that you start to pick on other things about the game, too.. like why haven't PS2 graphics come further.. and why do they keep using that same music track for such different tasks... and why did they charge $50 for this piece of crap... and why did I even play the first game, if they were going to tell me the whole freaking story over again, complete with footage and dialogue from the original?

Anyway, about 6 hours into it, the game really took off -- and by "took off," I mean we finally got to do some real action stuff, in worlds that already existed in the first game (after that many hours, they still didn't deliver anything new?)

So yeah, can't wait to get back to that game soon. Of course, we will, because we still have an ounce of hope that it will deliver in the end. Please, KH2.. please don't let us down? Please?

Finger Cots

2006-04-04T15:11:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of finger cots? That's right, they're condoms for your fingers.

My friend Mark had a little run-in between a vegetable peeler and his thumb. The thumb got all dramatic and apparently gushed blood for a few minutes. He was an unhappy guy, and had to buy that liquid bandage substance to protect the wound, because bandaids just weren't cutting it for him. Well, he showed off his wound for a week or so, and still mentions it occasionally.

So when Jesse and I were at Walgreens last night, perusing for nothing in particular, we found these most hilarious of First Aid tools. They were purchased, and I presented them to Mark today... explained that there were various sizes (small, medium, large, extra large) in the package... and he actually put one on. So awesome!

Anyway, that's about it. Seriously, folks, finger cots?

Income and Expense

2006-03-27T13:36:00.000-08:00

I made a sweet donation to KQED (PBS) a while back and received two tickets to the "Real Estate Wealth Expo" in San Francisco for this past weekend. I invited Jesse to go, but he wasn't totally interested, so I invited my mom, and she was thrilled out of her mind. So my mom and I spent the weekend with about 60,000 other people at Moscone Center (North AND South) learning about real estate. This real estate expo apparently broke records for the largest event of this type ever held anywhere in the world. It was BIG.

There were four "keynote speakers" whose names you may recognize:
1. Suze Orman, finance guru, author and CNBC call-in show host
2. Tony Robbins, motivational speaker and life coach (or .. whatever)
3. Robert Kiyosaki, "Rich Dad/Poor Dad" author, investor
4. Donald Trump, duh

All of these speakers were amazing. They have huge personalities and lots of information to share. In fact, these people did the least amount of SALES while on stage. Throughout both Saturday and Sunday, there were tens of other talks you could attend at various times -- each and every speaker was selling their packaged set of tapes, books and other training for hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Suze Orman made no attempt to sell us anything -- I'm not even sure she mentioned that she's an author. So I went out and bought a book of hers, and my mom bought two. My mom already had Robert Kiyosaki's book, and Tony Robbins' tapes, and I watch Donald Trump's The Apprentice TV show. So, they all got our support when all was said and done. =) Great group of speakers. In addition to the famous group of speakers, I also really enjoyed listening to some others, James Smith and David Lindahl. I was very impressed.

It was a lot of fun. It was exhausting (walk walk walk walk walk walk walk, sit sit sit sit sit sit sit sit sit, walk walk walk, sit sit sit sit sit sit), but very motivating and intriguing. Not bad -- I got to support KQED and I got to go to a great weekend-long seminar.

Taxes and Awards

2006-03-13T13:53:00.000-08:00

Jesse and I did our taxes this weekend. Yes, you can congratulate us. We don't owe any money. Suh-weet!

Jess also told me today that he found out he can bring a guest to the Game Audio Network Guild Awards on March 23. Excellent. =) I'm going to an awards ceremony with Bug! It'll be interesting to see how game awards go...

Ker-time-travel!

2006-02-27T00:47:00.000-08:00

Ker-time-travel is a great sound.

I hear that this is also something Jesse would enjoy. Maybe we should keep it in mind for his birthday.

But this is my favorite for many, many reasons. Okay, two: I love the show The Nanny, and I constantly repeat that line from Deuce Bigalow, European Jigalo [sp] that goes, "Hi, I'm Deuce Big-gest lady I've ever seen!"

Yes, this is the Amanda you never knew.

How I made it through the weekend

2006-02-26T23:58:00.000-08:00

First off, I left work at 5:30pm (woah, early) on Friday so that Jesse and I could head off to Cirque du Soleil. Let me just say, for the record, that I am a serious Cirque critic. I had seen six of their shows (Nouvelle Experience, Quidam, Dralion, O, Varekai, La Nouba) before Friday, and with the exception of La Nouba, the quality of the shows had been draining since Quidam. So, off we went, and I was so excited -- even though I only half-expected to be impressed.

But woah, nelly! As soon as we walked into the Big Top (le grand chapiteau), we knew we were in for a treat! What beautiful set design. It was very elegant with a Victorian flare -- there was a scrim painted with heavy "curtains," cherubim and seraphim.. and there were beautiful antique candellabra, and strings of dim light bulbs ... anyway, I think you probably had to be there. If you've seen any Cirque shows before, you probably wouldn't expect such a heavy-looking atmosphere. It's usually very modern and ephemeral. We sat there, tittering and nearly bouncing in our seats, we were so excited to see what else was next -- you'd think, at this point, that we were just in for a royal let-down, but noooooo... it was awesome. That's all. Just beautiful. After six or seven Cirque performances, you're used to the jaw-dropping acrobatic stunts, and the superb performances.. but the costumes! The lighting! The style and design of it all.. it was so impressive.

So, when you see one of those big Corteo billboards (if they're coming to your town, you will), just know that their little advertisement drawing doesn't do the show any justice whatsoever. It's a gorgeous show. I wouldn't say it has the most amazing stunts (not that the stunts aren't fantastic -- just that other shows are stronger in that area), but it is on the top of the list for Cirque beauty. There are some visuals in Corteo that make you think giddy thoughts like, "Wow, why isn't the world like this all the time?" and "I feel like the luckiest kid on earth! This is like a fairy tale!"

So, go see it. It's expensive (all Cirque shows are, and it's only getting worse), but I have to say ... it's worth it. (Not that I paid for it, because it was a Christmas present from Jesse... but you know what I mean)

...and now we move on to the part of the post I like to call, "the rest of my weekend" -- the other 48 hours of the weekend, as compared to the 3 hours of Cirque du Soleil, will only take 2/5 the number of words (the blog police can test me):

Jesse and I got up on Saturday and I made chocolate chip waffles for breakfast -- "woah, chocolate chip waffles?" you might ask.. to which I would answer, "yes, they were yummy, and I even dusted them with powdered sugar. how very domestic of me." Then we went to Santa Cruz to buy a new "alumni" license plate frame for my car, and to have linner out on the wharf, perched up over the water. Pretty! Followed by some hardcore couch-potatoing and then bed. Sunday, we woke up and headed over to a Cingular Wireless store, where they proceeded to tell us that a Motorola Razr phone would cost us our life savings unless we needed a new contract, so we left. Then we shopped at Target a little and came home to do laundry and make veggie corn dogs for dinner. I also took a bath (very european) and did my self review for work, two weeks late. Now you're all caught up on my weekend. Happy Monday!

Pretty Good Day

2006-02-24T12:06:00.000-08:00

I worked really late last night -- didn't go to bed until 3:45am. But that was my punishment for not getting much done at work yesterday. I don't know what it is about my mind or body or whatever, but I love to work late at night. It's satisfying, I get a lot done, I can concentrate, I enjoy it. Anyway, I'm getting a lot done today at work, too. But that's because I have to. Have to. I turned down an invite to go out to lunch -- just hangin' out at my desk...

...because I'm going to see Cirque du Soleil's Corteo tonight with Jesse! Woohoo! It was one of his Christmas presents to me. I'm really excited to get out and see live performers, hear live music, and generally to be really content.

So I'm leaving work early today in order to get there on time. I have a lot to get done before then, so I'll bid you, my blog-reading audience, adieu. I wish you well, and I hope you're also having a pretty good day.

New rule.

2006-02-23T18:28:00.000-08:00

Identify yourself if you comment on this blog!

It came to my attention that a few of my friends actually read my blog. Yet only one or two people comment. It occurred to me that maybe it was because I only allow Blogger users to comment here. So today, I changed the settings -- now non-Bloggers can comment. But you must tell me who you are. =) Even if that means emailing me with your special symbol or something.. I don't know.. something. =)

But, in other news, I'm thrilled that new "anonymous" people are lingering and commenting. Makes it worth my while to write. Welcome, anonnymooses!

And that's that.

2006-02-22T14:02:00.000-08:00

I went to my follow-up appointment today for the ol' wisdom teeth extraction thing. The doctor was happy with the condition of the "area of surgery." He seemed concerned to find out if I had any numbness in my lip, chin or tongue. Apparently, my bottom wisdom teeth roots were so long that they had tangled around the nerve that leads to my lower lip. He seemed very relieved that I am experiencing no numbness whatsoever. That said, I believe that I am the most relieved one here. =) So anyway, he showed me my teeth (apparently they keep the patient's teeth if they are unusual in any way) and checked my mouth and then I was outta there!

That means it's done! Aside from the fact that I still have open wounds in my mouth, I'm doing very well. Almost no pain at all, except for the occasional chewing-induced ache, cured easily by Advil. All's well.

I'll say it again: go get your wisdom teeth removed. =)

It's Pink Flower Day!

2006-02-14T15:04:00.000-08:00

Pink flowers! Specifically, gorgeous long-stem pink roses! Valentine's Day should be my favorite holiday, with all the pink!

This morning, my friend Mark presented me with two beautiful long-stem pink roses. I was touched! I couldn't figure out why Mark was giving me pink flowers.. He's a prankster, though, and made light of it. About an hour later, my friend Chelsea presented me with an identical pair of roses. Of course, then I was totally suspicious. Chelsea said that Mark put her up to it. Then some time passed.. there was a meeting, and lunch, and sitting around and working and all, and then I decided to call Jesse and poke at him and see what he would tell me.

Although Jesse hasn't admitted anything, I can't imagine why else I would have received two more identical pairs of roses this afternoon from friends Sharlene and Katie, bringing my current total to ~~eight~~.

...Rob just dropped by with a suspiciously similar set. Total = ~~ten~~.

...David just dropped by with the sixth identical set. Total = one dozen!!

And they all just say the same thing, "Happy Valentine's Day, Amanda!" and walk away.

So, Dear Diary, I'll keep you updated...

Pain, pain, go away..

2006-02-14T14:37:00.000-08:00

I'm back at work today. I had the surgery on Friday, then I worked from home on Monday. I didn't use any pain killers yesterday until around 7pm. Today, I woke up and took some Advil, then I had some more at lunch time.. and I'm still in pain. I think it's all the talking and laughing and smiling I've done today that's tiring out my poor achin' jaw. Not to mention -- I chewed actual food at lunch today. Gah, pain.

So I'm still really happy I had the teeth pulled, and I'm happy to be at work and socializing, but it hoits, it hoits.

Pretty soon, it'll stop hurting and I won't even think about it anymore.. right?

That wasn't so bad!

2006-02-11T21:04:00.000-08:00

If you still have your wisdom teeth, but you should've had them taken out.. just go do it. It wasn't that bad. Take it from me -- I was scared poopless about getting it done, and it wasn't that big of a deal.

I got the nitrous to calm me down about the I.V., then they stuck me once in the arm while I inhaled (meh.. I didn't even get dizzy!) ... then I felt them stick me for the novacaine, but I don't think I cared too much. I was mostly out by that point.. then I was really out. They didn't put me to *sleep*, because I was supposed to be vaguely aware of what was happening. The only thing I remember was flinching whenever I heard someone turn on a saw (two or three times), and I heard the doctor say, sternly, "Don't do that." (I don't think they wanted me to flinch) ...

But then I opened my eyes, and a sweet lady was telling me I was all done, and I was being rolled into another room, and my mom was there, and they told me to sit up, and I did, and they told me to answer some questions (and I tried), and then they eventually asked me to stand, and they walked me out to my mom's truck.. and I dozed on and off the whole way home. The only thing I really wanted after leaving the office was some water.. My throat and mouth were so dry that I couldn't swallow. My mom said you could hear my skin sticking together as I tried. No harm done, I dribbled some water, and that was fixed. Back to sleep.

I got home, was starving, slurped down some apple sauce (dribbled a bunch too) .. slept, more apple sauce, pain killers, sleep, rinse, repeat. Eventually I graduated to chocolate pudding & pain killers, and weak iced tea.. and sleep. Ice packs, pain killers, sleep, and eventually the only things left that were numb were my bottom lip and my tongue. That was all but gone by my actual bedtime, and I slept through the night.

Now, on my second day, I just have some lower jaw discomfort (like someone punched me, a little swollen, stiffness on the left side) .. but all's well. Mashed potatoes are pretty much my favorite food right now. As it turns out, most soft foods are sweet, but that gets old quick. I tried to take just Advil today, but it didn't help the pain much, so I went back to Vicodin. The day has been better since then.. I get drowsy, I watch TV, I eat ice cream.

All in all, a superbly positive experience. =) The post-surgery pain is nothing compared to what I expected -- just a little stiff and sore (mostly stiff). Looking forward to getting the stitches out, and moving back onto solid foods. Anyway, do it if you haven't done it yet. If you're in the Bay Area, I can recommend a good doctor. =) Yay, it's over! Woohoo!

Thanks for being my Health Brigade, Bug! =)

Surgery & Sickness

2006-02-07T11:41:00.000-08:00

I'm petrified of doctors. I used to love to get my eyes checked, regular check-ups, teeth cleanings.. but now I hate all of it. It all started with that needle one doctor stuck in my eye. It ruined me! I also pass out for various reasons now. I threaten to all the time when I think a doctor wants to do anything remotely traumatizing for a treatment. Especially around needles. [shovel]

Anyway, the needle-in-the-eye thing happened when I was 18. Since then, various dentists have told me I need to have all four of my wisdom teeth removed. I'm 25 years old, which means I've put up with teething pain and other jaw and cheek pain for seven years. [sigh] So I went in for a consultation at an oral surgeon's office this past Friday, at a friend's referral. He was a stern guy, but confident. I really want to get my wisdom teeth out before there are other age-related issues to worry about. And what if I'm ever without health insurance? Anyway, it's time. I made my appointment for this Friday, February 10th, at 10:45am. Stay tuned for news.

In order to have the surgery, I have to fast for 8 hours prior to going in, which includes NO food, NO drinks, NO water.. and I can't be sick. Now, Jesse has been sick lately, with a head cold or the flu or something. We've been trying to make sure I don't get sick, but I'm not sure we fully succeeded. Yesterday, I started getting the same symptoms he had a week ago. =( So I'm guzzling Airborne and sucking down 100 ounces of water a day.. Doing everything I can to stay healthy. I don't want to have to skip the surgery -- I may not re-schedule. =(

Ok, once this whole surgery thing is out of the way, I'll try to post something cheerful. =)

Now we're cookin'

2006-01-11T17:02:00.000-08:00

Jesse and I have been cooking for ourselves since we got back from the Christmas/New Year holiday travel blitz. We've sat down to breakfast together every morning, packed lunches together, and then come home to either make or serve (if slow-cooked during the day) dinner. Just wanted to note that it has been such a nice change. =) Even though we're obviously spending more time on meals, I feel like our home life is a lot less hectic. We've even somehow managed to keep up with our dishes every single day. Flamazing.

Now, the studio/office is a whole different situation.. we'll have to get around to cleaning it someday. It's mostly my fault - I got a new (well, two new) keyboard(s) and printer for Christmas, but I haven't set up the printer (huge box in the middle of the floor) and I left out the packaging for one keyboard, along with the second, unpacked, keyboard. Oh yeah -- does anyone want to buy my second keyboard? I don't want to go through the hassle of finding a store to return it, and get store credit.. yuck.

But meals! Meals are going well. I feel healthier (imagine that -- not eating out every night), and I know we're saving money. w00t.

Christmas is over!!!

2006-01-04T16:08:00.000-08:00

With all the traveling we did this Christmas, I'm really excited that I'll soon be able to sit down and relax... especially since, now that I have a slow-cooker, I won't have to think about what to cook for dinner nearly every night. =P Gotta spend some time looking for excellent recipes to fill the tried-and-true-recipe box.

Now, all that's left to do that's Christmas-related is: ship remaining gifts that either didn't arrive on time (Kody-pink fuzzy dice, my dad-slow cooker) or didn't get sent out by us on time (Ry and Lisa, calendar and sample library), unpack the gifts we received at our first christmas (haven't gone through them since Christmas Eve, because they were left at my mom's house when we flew out to Philly).... and sleep.

Jesse and I never quite recovered from jet lag -- we were sleeping from 11pm or midnignt to 8 or 9am pacific time the whole time we were on the East Coast.. that translates to 2 or 3am to 11am or noon. So it would seem like we got enough sleep, but I'm still exhausted. Yawning all day. =(

Ack, blogging is hard. For the past 6 months, I haven't been able to think of anything to say here. So I guess I'm going to stop writing now. TTYL!

Christmas is coming!!!

2005-11-29T15:23:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again! I've been listening to Christmas music for the past two weeks (yes, since before Thanksgiving). I *love* Christmas. Wanna know why?

1. I love the warmth of the indoors because of the COLD out-of-doors.
2. I love buying presents that will make people happy.
3. I love wrapping presents.
4. I love Toys for Tots.
5. I love knowing that people all over the world are genuinely concerned about the well-being of strangers, if only for a short period of time. That short period of time is these next few weeks, and I love this holiday for it.
6. I love all the little kids running around desperate to get on their parents' (and Santa's) good side just in time for the parade of presents.
7. I love turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy and stuffing.
8. I love that people complain if they love their family's home-cooking but aren't able to have it. How often do you get to hear people saying nice things about being with their families?
9. I love White Elephant gift exchanges.
10. I love Christmas music.
11. I love shopping when the people around me are also shopping with the same goal -- to find the perfect gift for someone on their list. How often during the year do we have shared goals with virtually everyone around us? It's the great, invisible, Christmas bond!
12. I love sweaters and scarves and gloves. I love when they're printed with snowflakes and other cold-related symbols. Cozy!
13. I love Christmas generosity -- like when you're out with friends or family shopping, and one person volunteers to run out in the cold/rain/snow to fetch the car, while everyone else can huddle together for warmth. Or when people give money to those "annoying" bell-ringers outside of every grocery store, just because it's Christmas.
14. I love creating surprises!
15. I love overcoming a good mystery (like figuring out what my gift is before Christmas -- sorry, Bug).
16. I love the smell of pine needles and Winter spices.
17. I love to bake.
18. I love seeing a beautiful Christmas tree decked-out with candy canes and lights and presents, not to mention a star on top!
19. I love driving around neighborhoods to check out Christmas lights and decorations -- the outward, physical evidence of a community's celebration of a holiday is so special. No matter how they celebrate or why.
20. I love the simplicity of Christmas. People are generous and happy (or at least attempting to be both). And there are only so many symbols of Christmas, and yet they're re-interpreted every year and for each new generation. Santa, snowflakes, snowmen, the tree, stars, gifts, candy canes, sleighs, reindeer, lights, wreaths. Everyone knows the stories. Everyone knows the songs.

I love it! You can think it's cheesy. You can be cynical. But I plan to be happy. I plan to be generous. I plan to be refreshed by the season. You Summer-lovers have had your "day in the sun." I plan to enjoy my day by the fire. =) Happy Christmas!!!

Scattered thoughts

2005-11-23T14:34:00.000-08:00

My mood is all over the place today. I'm listening to fast music, depressing music, foreign lyrics, hip hop, Tori Amos.. weird. I usually like to stick to one style (that's the way my moods work, anyway).

Anyway, I'm scattered today. I think it's because of the anticipation I'm feeling about this weekend. Jesse and I are headed up to Groveland for Thanksgiving tomorrow morning. We're meeting my brothers and parents there. The last time Jesse and I went away for Thanksgiving with my family, the atmosphere was a disaster. I'm really, really hoping that doesn't happen again. Also, Jesse will be worried about our cat, Phillip, because we'll be gone for longer than usual. And I'm tired. I haven't been able to fall asleep lately, but I still have to get up at the same time in the morning. =) In any case, I just don't think this will feel like a "long weekend." I think it'll be more like a long weekend.

On top of that, I'm at work today.. and lots of other people are, too. But the parking lot is empty as though no one's here. It's really bizarre. It's just a bizarre day. And I'm doing someone else's work, because that person is already on vacation.

It's sort of like the Twilight Zone. Ever have one of those days? It's the middle of the week, but it's the end of the week. Remember how I said I was having scattered thoughts? Toldja so.

Multi-media reviews, in short

2005-11-21T17:12:00.000-08:00

"Elephunk" by Black Eyed Peas

I know this is their older album, but I just imported it to my iTunes list, so I'm actually listening to it now. Good stuff! Super energetic. Great production. Catchy tunes. Not always the most elegant choices lyrically ("Let's get retarded," "The girlies in the club got the plump lump-lumpas," etc.), but it's the beat and the production you listen for... These guys are geniuses when it comes to the hook. It's money well-spent. I encourage you to listen to BEP, if you don't already. My favorites: "Let's Get It Started" (the extended album version is really good), "The Boogie That Be," "Smells Like Funk," "Shut Up," and "Hey Mama" (this is the song that made me start IMing with exclamation marks for no reason -- happy music!).

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Holy smokes! Good movie. =) I'm all caught up on the books, so they sometimes blur together in my mind. I went into the theater knowing the basic chunks of the story, but not all the details and relevant characters. Let me tell you: this movie tells the story well! I never felt like I was falling behind on the story, and yet it didn't drag at all ([ahem] Chamber of Secrets [ahem]).. in fact, I found myself gasping at some of the more adrenaline-driven moments. Amazing special effects, great story-telling (tons of the content from the book was removed with a great result), better acting overall ([ahem] Emma Watson still over-acts a little [ahem]). I even really loved the music. Yay, Patrick Doyle! I loved his work on Great Expectations, among other movies.

Go see the new Harry Potter movie. =) And buy a BEP album.

I got a few haircuts...

2005-11-15T15:56:00.000-08:00

No, that's not just me being unclever, messing up the already-unfunny saying "I got a few hairs cut." I actually got a few haircuts.

On Friday, I went with two other friends to get a haircut. I went first. I didn't *love* it, but you know.. sometimes you just need to put your own styling flare on the 'do before it looks right to you. Fine. Then our guy friend got his hair cut. Then my other girl friend got her hair cut. She didn't look thrilled, but she wasn't saying she didn't like it .. just that she "didn't know." Oh well.

So we all went our separate ways Friday night.. I got home and decided I didn't like my hair. I felt like I had a mullet. Too many short hairs up front, plus long hair in back = mullet. So I resolved to get it fixed somewhere else. I made an appointment on Saturday afternoon -- it was settled. I would be getting my hair fixed on Monday evening!

On Saturday night, I went to another mutual friend's housewarming party. My haircut buddy girl friend had chopped all her hair off!! Apparently, she went home crying that night and decided to get it fixed an hour later. Our sentiments weren't too far off from each other! =)

So yesterday, I finally got my turn to get the haircut fixed -- another small fortune later, I love my hair. I went from mid-back to shoulder-length, and it's a much nicer style. Mullet is gone. The stylist said it wasn't perfect yet, because there was still a majority-rule of short hair in front, but you so can't tell. It's fixed, as far as I'm concerned.

So I went from having really long hair and only getting a cut twice a year to having shoulder-length hair after two haircuts in a single weekend. ;) Even though it cost me an arm and a leg to go through the ordeal, I'm still really happy with the result. =)

No sleep for a good sleeper...

2005-11-07T15:50:00.000-08:00

Last night, Jesse and I jolted awake to the sound of a loud THUMP, only to realize that our bed was no longer parallel with the floor. He was downhill from me. It was very obvious that the bed had somehow structurally failed us. So sad.

Shaken and traumatized, we resolved to get up (it was about 12:30am, I think) and disassemble the bedframe. We moved the heavy pieces to the side of the room, and went back to bed -- which was now just a boxspring and mattress on the floor. Our pillows kept falling between the mattress and the wall. Neither of us got a good night of sleep.

As if that weren't bad enough, I woke up in the morning the sound of the TV crackling (like it had been turned on) and then ceasing to make any other noise. Curious, I popped my head up to take a look around... the alarm clock was flashing "12:00 .. 12:00 .. 12:00" ... That's right, the power went out.

So I happily recalled that I have a battery-powered alarm clock next to the bed for just such an occasion. That clock read 7:19am. It's 10min fast, so it was actually 7:09am. Our alarm goes off at 7:10am. [sigh]

Doh, he's gone.

2005-11-02T10:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, him. But not gone gone. Just on a short vaycay to visit family. I took him to the airport this morning, bright and early.. or overcast and early. =( Doh.

Oh well. Working away, waiting for the chick flick to come in the mail fron Netflix. I ordered it special, since there aren't many chances for me to get away with watching crappy TV/movies, now that Jess and I live together.

Speaking of crappy TV.. Seriously, I don't watch it anymore. And I used to watch a lot. Some of my favorite crap: HGTV/TLC home improvement shows (which I would typically only watch until a commercial came on, then would continue my surf), infomercials (yes, the Magic Bullet, the plastic containers that all fit on the spinning holder, anything by Ron "Set it and forget it!" Popeil), the MTV faux reality drama Laguna Beach, etc. I kinda miss it all. Maybe I'll channel-surf and stop on shows I actually want to watch for the next couple of days, so I can get it out of my system again. =)

I actually have lots to keep me busy.. I'm getting that movie in the mail, I'm planning to hang out with a couple of our friends (T and Mark) at their new house one of these nights, and I have to get up super early on Saturday morning to distribute voting precinct supplies for the Registrar of Voters.

That's right, California! The governor's Special Election is coming up, next Tuesday (November 8th). Don't forget to vote.

But I digress... Lots to do. I also ordered some new potholder loops so I can get started on some crafty Christmas presents. Anyway, Jesse will be home soon, and it'll be like this separation never even happened... right?

Here's the dish!

2005-10-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I had my parents over for dinner this past Saturday night. They seemed to have a nice time -- we showed them around and they loved our apartment, they ate all their dinner so I guess that went all right, and they gave us money as a housewarming present. Woah! As soon as we saw it, someone (Jesse? My dad? I can't remember.) mentioned that we could use the money to buy ourselves some microwave-safe dishes. Now, when I first moved out on my own, I realized that, although my grandmother's china is pretty, and it puts on a beautiful light show when microwaved, it's probably not the best idea to heat foodstuffs on it. So I stopped. It has been two years since I have heated food in/on something other than pyrex, corning ware, or paper towels. So when the idea came up to spend money on microwave-safe dishes, I thought, "puh! not necessary."

But when my parents left, Jess brought it up again: "You know, maybe we should buy microwave-safe dishes." Ok, ok, ok... Just because I'm used to it, doesn't mean it's the best plan to live without this convenience. So we went shopping online... within an hour, we had picked out dishes we're both going to be happy with. So even though I wasn't excited about buying new dishes beforehand (what? am I not a girl? what's wrong with me?), now I'm thrilled! They're in the mail, and I'm going to receive them any day! How exciting is that?!

And Jesse and I are talking about going up to Groveland this weekend. That promises to be relaxing. Relaxing promises to be nice. And now I'm stalled thinking of things to write about, because I'm daydreaming about relaxing...

Early Fall Primetime TV Reviews

2005-10-11T17:13:00.000-07:00

The saving grace of my early Fall is that prime time TV is back. Here's what I watch:

Medium: Awesome. Such a good show. Great acting, great script, variety in storyline, topic matter. So good. It's hard to figure out what will happen next.

Amazing Race: doh. I'm currently boycotting this show. As one of its main proponents in the early years (read: every year 'til now), I'm really angry that they messed with a good thing. I needed my Tuesday night strategic, backstabbing race-around-the-world. Instead, it's now a family show and they have yet to leave the United States. Boring.

The Apprentice/Martha Stewart: So good! This re-vamped version of Trump's original is so much better. The candidates are annoying, but the tasks are interesting, and they've made some great improvements over The Donald's show: (1) no immunity for PMs, (2) Martha doesn't say "you're fired" at all, which makes sense, since no one has been hired yet, (3) she writes a very well-balanced and insightful letter to the eliminated candidate each week, explaining why they won't be continuing, and (4) there's no Donald Trump! No more comments about how the female candidates are beautiful, no more flirting from the candidate side of the table... it is more professional. Only downside: Guy to Martha's left, lose the cigar!

Joey: Same show, different season. It's funny, the acting and writing are good - it's entertaining and watchable. I don't cry if I miss an episode, though.

Survivor: Same show, different rules (as always!). They keep this show fresh by realizing that the strategy is the only thing the show has going for it (well, that, and all the boob and butt shots the cameramen and editors like). The rules change, the challenges seem to be genuinely challenging, and the teams are shuffled around at various times to keep the players awake and their strategies exciting.

The Apprentice/Donald Trump: I was a fan of The Apprentice the first season, but it has gone downhill since then -- the Donald is too over-the-top, the editing is bad (you never like anyone all season, then you're supposed to support one of the final two? no way!), and lots of bad, impulsive decisions seem to be made in "the boardroom." The only upside: The candidates are making better decisions about who to bring into the boardroom this season (probably because they're aware of how bad the decisions can be)!

ER: I didn't start watching this show until two seasons ago, and I'm a huge fan. The writing is consistently excellent, and the acting is always great.. the characters shift job roles and hierarchy so subtly that it always seems real .. almost like real time. Few shows can do that, probably because they can't guarantee the show will still be on the air long enough to complete a storyline. ER doesn't have that problem. Awesome. I would cry if I missed an episode of this show. ;)

Our house = warmed

2005-10-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

We had our housewarming party this weekend, on Saturday night. It was really nice -- lots of fun people showed up. At 7pm, when it was due to start, I wondered why people always like to be fashionably late.. then I realized: I'm always late. It's karma.

So people started rapidly showing up, and then I realized: I had way too much in the way of drinks. Oh well. People ate, they drank (a little) .. but we didn't run out of anything, and everyone seemed satisfied. I never had to say "no, we ran out" if someone asked for something. That's always good for a nurturer like me. =P

Our front bonus room smelled like ant spray all night, even though we'd been airing it out for two days. And then, of course, we got ants inside the house. I think we scared them out of the bonus room and into our house. How annoying: our house is cleaner than it has ever been, and now we have ants. Awesome!

Some of our invitees didn't show up. Two of Jesse's friends didn't show, and my brothers didn't come. That made me sad. But our house was full and laughter-y well into the night, and people seemed to be having fun.

Ever since the party, I haven't been able to get up in the morning. Last week was incredibly hectic at work, and the cleaning and prep work for the party has knocked me out.. I'm ready for a vacation now.

My computer doesn't work.. it gives me some sort of error about not recognizing the non-existent floppy drive. Exciting. And the case is a piece of junk: as my brother put it, "It looks like they hot-glued the electrical, instead of soldering it." So I have to replace the case and then worry about the other stuff... Blah.

Computer Puzzles

2005-09-30T17:22:00.000-07:00

So, I'm buying a new computer. I ordered all kinds of things from newegg.com two days ago, and most of it has already arrived. The things that were sent from California are already here, while the things being shipped from New Jersey haven't yet arrived. They're so slow in Jersey. =P (j/k friends from Jersey, if you exist) (and to all my friends from Philly, since I know you exist, I wasn't really j/k) Now, that big puzzle of pieces just needs to be put together next week, by my brother, who has awesomely volunteered to help his little sister out.

And I also bought my first mobile phone game. Jesse bought Bejeweled, and I chided him for spending so much money on such a silly little thing... then I was inspired by his silliness, and bought Collapse! for myself. Awesome. I'm a big Collapse fan. And It's so fun to have it on my phone. I'm also really into spending money I don't need to spend right now. What's that about? =P

And that's where I'm going to awkwardly end this post. Seeya!

The new and improved Busy Rooni

2005-09-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

Hello, Journal. Long time, no see. How have you been? Good. Oh, me? Busy.

Work, work, work... Socialize, socialize, socialize. I have nothing to complain about, so I won't. =) Just busy, and I always think about writing, but never sit down to do it because I feel like I don't have anything interesting to say..

Over the weekend, Jesse and I socialized a bunch with friends: we went to a wedding on Saturday afternoon, which was really nice -- we danced a bunch and made friendly conversation. Then we followed that up with socializing at a friend's house (with fellow wedding attendees), which was also really nice. Then the next day, we helped still other friends move some heavy things into their new place. And that night, we went to a dinner party for another friend's birthday. Somewhere in there, we painted some pottery at one of those fancy retail establishments that lets you do such things. That was really fun -- the "fun" that means you put your creative brain to work to design something, then spend hours painting and painting and painting more detail until it's done. All in all, a super nice weekend.

Monday, my mom called and begged me to go to Home Depot and choose paint colors for her house. We bickered over blue-greens and yellow-greens until we settled on the very cute color "Little Green Frog." It should be very pretty.

Tuesday, my friend (the same friend we socialized with on Saturday night) wanted me to go shopping for vacation clothing, since she's leaving tomorrow morning (and I'm taking her to the airport). So that's been my week so far. Currently, I'm working hard at my place of business.

And tonight, I just found out, I'm going out again for paint color work. And over the coming weekend, I'll be cleaning and prepping the house for our upcoming Housewarming Party (the following weekend).

So that's my life.. and from this boring blog, you should be able to see why I haven't been writing lately -- not that I'm too busy, but that I really don't have anything to say. =)

Ferocious schedule

2005-09-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should start all my blog subjects with "ferocious" .. it's a pretty awesome little adjective.

Anyway, on to the schedule.. I probably shouldn't complain, but I will anyway. ;) Remember, I'm an introvert.. hectic social schedules stress me out.

I worked over the weekend (not the whole time, but still, it interfered with the whole relaxation thing) .. then Monday, there was a client visit at work -- I was with them from 8:45am to 8:45pm. Tuesday, I came home early to stress out about a report that's due this week. Today, I stayed home all day to do that report. It's done. Tonight, I'm going to a friend's house to help make wedding favors (yay helping out!). Tomorrow, Jess and I have a bunch of things we'd like to do -- make a nice dinner, play more Ratchet & Clank, watch a new movie from Netflix... but we'll probably just make a simple dinner, pay bills, watch Survivor and call it a night. =) Then Friday, I'm going out to dinner for another friend's birthday (yay Nola's!). Then it's Saturday morning at home (nice weekend breakfast with Jesse, maybe?) and off to the overnight bachelor and bachelorette parties (for the betrothed couple) we go!

Next week, I'm hoping the work schedule slows down a little. Maybe I'll feel more inspired to write in Ye Ole Blogge more if I feel like I have some time to myself here and there.

Oh yeah, and I'm working on buying a new computer -- that way, maybe Jess and I will both have nice set-ups in this home office space. Wish us luck! Wish me luck! I wish you luck. Talk to you all again sometime soon. =)

My two weekends, and Katrina in-between.

2005-09-03T13:04:00.000-07:00

I had a great birthday, last weekend. I was bummed out, trying to squeeze everything in (Jesse time, family time, quiet time, bridal shower time, etc.) ... and there was a "pre-wedding hang-out session" that my friends were planning for our engaged friend who's getting married at the end of the month (it was also her bridal shower over the weekend) ... I was getting so stressed out that I almost didn't go, but my arm was twisted several times around, and I relaxed a bit over lunch with some other friends, so I ended up going (happily). And wow, it was a good thing I did! =P It was a surprise birthday dinner party for me. =P Sheesh. I don't think I've ever had a surprise party before, so I didn't quite know the lead-up warning signs.. hehe

It was super nice; we went to a swanky place called Nola in Palo Alto. (Woah, go to that link -- going there only just reminded me that it was a Nawlins-themed restaurant. Poor New Orleans.) The food was great, the company was great, and we had a sweet private room at the back of the restaurant.. I was very impressed and touched.

And then, on Saturday (my actual birthday), Jess and I packed up a picnic lunch, and he read to me on the banks of the lagoon in Foster City. I fell asleep. It was very relaxing.

My mom (who's totally my biggest fan and should've called me at midnight as soon as it turned August 27) didn't call me to say Happy Birthday, so I was bummin' out into the late afternoon... Then, of course, she called me at about 7:02PM singing the HB song into the phone, and apologizing profusely for missing my exact birth time of 6:55pm. Awww. So, I had to forgive her. And then I was in good enough spirits to go out to dinner (without my mom's call, I was totally thinking of just going to bed early and not eating dinner), so Jesse took me to a sweet little italian restaurant called Tomatina. Yum.

Then on Sunday, I went to my friend's Bridal Shower. It was bridal showery. I embarassed her with lingerie, which is pretty much the purpose of a shower, right? Then my family took me out to dinner Sunday night, staying with the Italian theme, to Maggiano's. Nice decor, but we ate outside to stay cool. Beautiful night, good food, fun joke-and-story-telling. It was nice, overall!

Then came Monday, and the hell of this past week. Ugh. So much work, so much hurricane crying. My company built a whole emergency hurricane relief application, to direct people to the Red Cross donation lines, the FEMA info lines, etc. All of this extra work piled on meant that I didn't get my original work goals for the week accomplished.

So here I am, on a Saturday, at work. Doh! Oh well. I'm fortunate enough to live in a beautiful state, with temperate weather, and my home and the building in which I work are still standing.

Poor New Orleans (not to mention other destroyed areas along the Gulf Coast). I've donated money, but I wish there was more I could do... Something tells me, though, that there's a premium on space in the disaster-stricken areas, and they don't need another mouth to feed.

James Taylor Madness

2005-08-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

Cool, calm, smooth. That's James Taylor, right?

According to the guards at the gate, who didn't bother doing a serious check of our companions' carry-in items, "This is a pretty low-key crowd. We're not too worried."

Jess and I didn't receive a pat-down at all. They didn't search our stuff. I think it's safe to say they weren't worried about riots at the James Taylor concert. Would you be? I wouldn't. In fact, I wasn't.

Well!

If you've never been to the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, it's important to point out that it's fundamentally different from run-of-the-mill Amphitheaters in terms of seating: assigned seats are on big stone steps, as opposed to those stadium-style flip-open seats. So when you sit down, the person behind you has their feet right next to your back.

The people behind us were evidently getting sloshed early on. Sometime at the end of the concert -- I believe it was either the last song (before encores) or the first encore -- the woman sitting next to me (my mom's friend) suddenly jerked forward, as though she was supporting a huge weight. Sure enough, a person had toppled onto her, and a split second later, I was also being pushed forward.

In a setting like this, that's probably the only thing you worry about: "I hope no one loses their balance, cuz this could get ugly!" (it's just a giant set of stairs)

I thought someone had passed out, or was trying to pass in front of people and lost their balance. Nope. Just as I'm turning around to see if everyone was ok, people around us started yelling "STOP! STOP IT! GET OFF OF HIM! STOP!"

Seriously, folks, it was a James Taylor concert.

Jess and I jumped to our feet and stood in the aisle, trying to get away from flying fists. The fight would go on for another minute or so before two cops came down toward us. Of course, remembering that we're on a giant set of stairs, and this guy is drunk and throwing punches, it was hard for the cops to approach him. So they didn't. They just let him continue to fight as they called for back-up.

They got a third cop involved, and they all still stood far away from him until he calmed down (stopped punching and swearing at people). Then he sat down and started examining his leg, which was apparently bleeding.

Eventually, the whole group decided to get up and leave (including the fighty guy), and things calmed back down. My mom said someone stepped on her hand in the mayhem (the tip of her thumb was black with trapped blood -- it's amazing more people didn't get hurt, in the cramped conditions).

Seriously, folks, it was a James Taylor concert.

Other than the fight and minor injuries, it was an excellent concert. A beautiful night to be outside, listening to a soothing singer-songwriter. Sorry you missed it, everyone who wasn't there.

I try to like butterflies.

2005-08-23T09:52:00.000-07:00

It's still Summer. Jess and I live in a somewhat foggy area (it's no San Francisco, but it's cool and moist many evenings/mornings), so it doesn't always feel like Summer at home. But I'm reminded that it's Summer when I think of my schedule...

Seriously, I'm an introvert. I like to stay home and do quiet things (read, sit, think) to recharge/refuel. But ever since someone turned the sun on back in May/June, I've been busy trying to act like a social butterfly. Two of my friends are taking the marriage plunge this year (one already did in June, the other will in September) and because they're female, that means three party dates each: bridal shower, bachelorette party, wedding ceremony and/or reception. In addition, my mom is renovating two houses. Jesse and I moved, we did some renovation in our new place, and August brings both Jesse's and my birthday.

So, my quiet time has been cut back, due to everyone's need to take advantage of the Summer sun. Jesse and I tried to get away from our hectic pace last weekend by driving up to Yosemite and picnicking by a lake. It was really nice. Unfortunately, we did have to come back home. And now I'm at work, accepting and denying meetings, answering questions, and planning parties and gifts for other people's parties.

In fact, our intern had his last day yesterday (it's the end of Summer), so we took him out to lunch. My team at work is raucus and upbeat, so it was fun. Because of my recent trip to Yosemite, I was reminded of something I told my mom a few months ago: In the Summer, when you drive across Central California, you kill multiple specimens of California's bug species with your car's front end. I mentioned to her that she might not ever drive to her vacation home in eastern California if, before she left, she was given a tray of bugs and butterflies and a baseball bat, and told she had to beat them all to a pulp before she would be allowed to leave for vacation.

Is that mean? The lunch crowd recoiled and laughed uncomfortably at the story. Oh well. Sometimes it's hard for me to know if I'm funny or just inappropriate.

My book

2005-08-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not really my book, because he wrote it, but it is for me, which sort of makes it mine. My book!

Jesse's writing me a novel. It's called The Amber Lantern, a bedtime story by Jesse Harlin. For those of you who don't already know, Jesse has made a habit of reading to me before bed. It's so relaxing, and it's so sweet -- I recommend that all boyfriends do this for their girlfriends. Yes, ladies, I read to him, too, but he's so much better at it, and he has the patience for it -- it's so great!

So, of course he's incredibly creative. Visual artist, musician (duh) and writer. He tells one great bedtime story after another -- but he's writing this one down! And it's chock full of inside jokes and references to us (you'll have to get these out of me one-by-one.. I don't want to post a list of inside jokes, because, you know.. then they'd be outside jokes).

So the copy I got for my birthday is an official, bound version, containing the first three chapters. So far, Jess has read the first chapter to me -- I wish I could tell you what the whole book's about, but he won't let me read the back cover, and the whole book's not done yet anyway. ;) I can tell you that the first chapter sets the story on Kipiki Luni Island, with a dragon who's learning to fly, and a decorative tin monkey with a colorful past, who've just met a shipwrecked duck. It's all very exciting to me -- I'll tell you how it turns out. ;)

Thank you, Bug! I know it's not my birthday yet, but I love my present, and I think you're the sweetest and the best! Tippit, Bug!!

This is how I pulled it off...

2005-08-15T16:54:00.000-07:00

Jesse said he'd let me tell you all how I pulled it off. I was super busy, and this is the first chance I've had to write. So, here goes...

I figured out what I wanted to do, then I told Ry (Jesse's brother) that I was thinking about it. He showed me some other Chicago-style pizzeria that shipped complete pizzas. I called Italian Delite. Anthony said, "Uh, not sure.. but I know it would be a bad idea to ship the complete pizza. The sauce would ruin the dough." Anthony also said to "Call back tomorrow. Frank will be here. Joe's here today, and I can tell you right now, Joe would say 'no.'"

Okay, so I called Frank. Sweet, helpful Frank. He said Italian Delite was thinking about doing this as part of their normal business, but it hadn't been fully explored yet. Long story short, he really wanted to help. He offered to freeze the pizza dough, sauce and cheese for me. He wanted to ship it himself, but his suppliers weren't calling him back, so we resolved that Jesse's mom (Karen) would have to do the legwork. Luckily, she was willing and available!

I called dry ice retailers (for obvious reasons), shipping companies (price estimates, ability to ship dry ice), Acme and Wawa and hardware stores (trying to find a styrofoam cooler). I also needed to get directions to all of these places, in the correct order, because Karen's internet connection was on the fritz.

SO! That's the prep. Lots of phone calls, taking notes, organization. Then I called Karen mom and explained the whole plan -- she was game! Sweet. Frank, at Italian Delite, said he didn't want me to pay for the pizza until he heard whether it worked out for us. I'd say it did!

Poor Karen got lost once or twice, because places weren't where they said they'd be, and the whole thing took a few hours, all told. But with the cooler, the pizza ingredients, and the dry ice, packaged up, she made it to FedEx by the Overnight-shipping cut-off time, and it made it to California without a scratch!

I needed a lot of time, after work, to get the pizza ready. The sauce was still frozen, and the dough was way too cold to rise. So I asked Jesse to go to Radio Shack to buy a memory card for my digital camera, because I needed to take pictures. It worked perfectly! He bought the excuse, and it bought me more time.

It's really, really hard to press pizza dough super thin. Really hard. I gave up on using my fingers (my arms were hurting), and I can't spin dough, so I used my rolling pin to finish it(Sorry to all the pizza snob foodies reading this).

I set the oven to 450F a good 45 minutes before I put the pizza in, so it was really hot. I put the dough on a thin metal pizza pan with holes in it, dressed it with a healthy amount of sauce and cheese, then put it in on the bottom rack.

It wasn't but 2 minutes later that Jesse got home. Then I started panicking -- I didn't know what else to say to him to keep him from knowing what was going on. I was hiding it the best I could. (Cook, dammit, cook!) Then it was done (I hoped), and I showed it to him -- the rest is history.

Happy Birthday (last thursday), Bug!

After all this anticipation...

2005-08-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

...I won't even get to fill my readers in on what the "big deal" is about my plan(s) for Jesse's birthday! I'm going to have to let him fill everyone in...

Doh.

I've been waiting so long to be able to tell everyone.. =D

Oh wait, no I haven't.. Everyone I come into contact with on a daily basis pretty much knows. (Except Jesse--heehee!)

Anyway, it IS his birthday, but if you know the plan(s), please still keep mum! HE doesn't know yet.

...at least, I don't think he does...

Tomorrow, tomorrow.. I love ya!

2005-08-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

I WISH I COULD TELL YOU ABOUT JESSE'S BIRTHDAY.

I'm starting to think I can't wait.. I have a lot of nervous anticipation. I hope he likes it.

I know he'll like it.

And I'm doing a lot of baking tonight.. I'm making cupcakes and banana bread. And I also have some coffee cake mix I might throw together for a birthday breakfast... we'll see if I have enough time or energy.

I'm babbling.

I'm excited! I wish I could tell everyone BUT Jesse, but he's probably my blog's most consistent reader. =P (Hi Jesse -- it's only a day away!)

I don't bring you flowers anymore...

2005-08-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so I hardly ever write. While some may not appreciate my neglect, I'm sure that Jesse will, eventually.

His birthday is Thursday. Thursday! It's Monday already. I'm obsessed with preparation. We'll see if he enjoys the effort I'm putting into it.. If so, he'll tell you all about it. If not, he'll probably tell you all about it. =)

Unfortunately, since that's all I think about (other than Jesse and tiling), and I can't talk about it -- because you-know-who reads this blog -- I don't have much to say here for the time being.

T-shirts galore!

2005-08-04T16:41:00.000-07:00

You should check out Threadless.com .. they have quite the unique t-shirt collection for sale.

All are different.
Some are...tasteless and funny, cute in a disturbing way, sweet, creepy yet artistic, blasphemous, disaffected, attempting to make a point, or otherwise awesome in general.

I know some of you will enjoy poking through these new t-shirt options. I know that I will definitely enjoy seeing them around. Have fun! =)

YAY! I figured it out!

2005-08-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

So it's still early, technically, but I have decided on what to do for Jesse's birthday. Watch for more details in his blog, as I'm sure he'll update people as more is revealed to him.. =D =D

keep livin' your vidas loca

2005-08-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

Phew, this is a good little afternoon laugh... do read up, enjoy, and comment away.

"Sometimes it feels like nobody understands your rebellious, genre-defying crew of goth-rocker pals—am I right?"

Look no further.

It's Birthday Month again...

2005-08-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

...and as always, Jesse's up first.

All you people in relationships where your birthdays are far apart from each other: rejoice. Jesse and I both have August birthdays, two weeks apart. And they're fast approaching.

I almost always wish my birthday would come first (in fact, we swapped birthdays last year, but it didn't work out so well). He's so creative, and I feel pressured to make his birthday great. Not that I don't *want* to anyway, but the fact that my birthday is looming shortly after his makes it intimidating -- "What's he going to do for mine? Will he think his birthday is lame in comparison with his plan for mine?"

Doh.

Oh well.. I have eight days left, and counting. I hope it goes well -- wish me luck! I have lots of ideas, but as a procrastinator, I'm not allowed to decide on a final plan yet.

And now I'm listening to Techno Squirrels

2005-07-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

You know, it might seem bizarre to switch from Vaz Hoil to Techno Squirrels, but they're actually closely related and strangely good together. =) Do check them out, and enjoy!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm listening to Vaz Hoil

2005-07-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

Luv Spackle, to be precise. It's music like this that puts a smile on my face and helps me to get through the work day. ;)

Thanks, Vaz Hoil!

I'm old.

2005-07-20T16:56:00.000-07:00

I just got home from a business trip. I was upset at the lack of organization and planning for our arrival -- they didn't even really know why we were there. And I was really thirsty, but they didn't provide free drinking water to anyone, so I had to buy it for 55 cents. I thought that was an outrage. Not even drinking fountains for their workers. Unheard of.

Let's get back to that first sentence.. business trip. Wha? Am I old? Shouldn't I be running around Europe with a backpack and no permanent address at this stage of my life?

On top of that, while in Sacramento on said trip, I met up with an old friend from High School. We haven't spoken in five years. FIVE YEARS. Where does time go? This means that, while Travis and I were very good friends from sixth grade through high school, Jesse has never even met him. That's just weird.

My life is beginning to get segmented into eras. But, with any luck, the Era of Poop will be drawing to a close soon...

Illness, business, entertainment and #2

2005-07-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

I've been sick for the past several days. It started in my throat on Saturday, then became general congestion/coughing/sneezing. Today it's basically congestion. I worked from home Monday-Wednesday, and I'm making an appearance at work today, though I'm probably just passing my germs around. =( Sorry, work people.

Anyway, life's good. Jess and I are trying to spend time together, but it sometimes feels like we're still long-distance. He went on a business trip last week, and I'm going on a business trip next week -- weekends are too short as it is, and I'm leaving Sunday night for Sacramento. Yay, work. =( ...it's like we have careers or something.

On another work-related note, Jess bought me Tetris last week (while he was down in LA on business), which was awesome. I have to get better at that game, so that when people play it at work, I have a chance of playing for more than 5 minutes without getting my butt kicked.

On a non-work-related note, I've begun to read The Da Vinci Code, which is probably the most entertaining book I've read since my junior year of High School (I essentially stopped reading for pleasure after my senior year, because they gave me so much to read that I cracked!). I'm not a particularly fast reader (I sort of have to absorb every word on the page -- I can't just skim. I have to hear all the dialogue in my head), but on the first day, I read 50 pages or so. Then yesterday, I read another 200. I only have another 250 pages to go or so, so I might just finish it tonight. Totally addictive.

While we're not talking about work, I should bring up that Jess and I watched the new reality show premier of Brat Camp last night. These "brat" teenagers are dropped off at a survival camp aimed at teaching them about routine, respect and resposibility. All the kids look like my friends from high school. It was entertaining, and I want to see what happens in later episodes -- I guess that means it's good TV. And who doesn't like a good story about campers being confronted by the fact that someone anonymously went number two out by a bush (and was dubbed the "phantom dooker" until they confessed)?

Anyway, talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic: Jess and I seem to be surrounded by random poop right now in our lives. What's that all about?

Flaming passionate love.

2005-07-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

Some guy set himself on fire before proposing to his girlfriend.

Wow. I'm not really impressed -- I'm mostly just disturbed by this. I hope they're really just nice, normal people (is it possible to label them as normal at this point?) who will have a long life together, complete with interesting stories to tell their grandchildren... Good luck, guys!

Weekend Ketchup

2005-07-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

If you're one of those weird Americans who pronounces that word [k a tS * p], then you get it. If you're like me, pronouncing it [k E tS * p], you're probably slightly confused, and maybe the post won't even help much.. but here goes:

It was a long weekend for me. I notified my manager long ago that I'd be taking Friday off, because it was the day I was due to be out of my old apartment, etc.. so I knew I'd need it for unpacking at the very least. Turns out, my work gives two days off for the Fourth, so I had Friday, Monday and Tuesday.. that's a five-day weekend. Sort of like a work week, when you consider that we mostly unpacked and coaxed our new kitty out from under the sofabed in the office. In any case, there was no romantic camping or picnicking for the five-day weekend. Just hanging out at home and erranding out occasionally.

So, aside from getting the cat, my only news is that Jesse is gone for the next few days, and I'll be "mostly hanging out at home and erranding out occasionally" for the rest of the week. =P

Oh, and here's a "shout out": my friend from college (and work now, too), Chelsea, got married on June 25th (she just got back to work today, so that's why it's coming up now -- you don't want to post about these things before it has been confirmed!). ;) (I'm kidding -- sheesh!) But the best part is that she got married on the beach in Jamaica. Congratulations, Chelsea and Shaun!

...ahh, NOW it makes sense why my weekend wasn't all that notable.

Let's help the guy out...

2005-06-30T17:07:00.000-07:00

If not for the science, then at least do it because MIT houses the famous Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, Noam Chomsky.

Show some love for Linguistics (or MIT...and blogging). =D