K and I were on BART, headed to his company's holiday party along with scores of other well-dressed East Bayers. At MacArthur station, a well-dressed couple got on the train, sat down, and pulled out boxes of holiday cards. They proceeded to spend the next few stops scribbling furiously, checking their (separate) mailing lists, and conferring on whether or not Lisa still lives with Keith and if they still live in California.
I admired their industriousness. Their BART ride could not have been longer than 20 minutes, tops.
The kicker? They were sending Hannukah cards at least a week after Hannukah.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
What was that noise?
Driving to work yesterday I heard a weird buzzing noise from the the dashboard of the car. (Not the Corolla, but that's another story.) The only other time I've heard this noise has been when I've left the key in the ignition and opened the driver's side door. It's clearly the "You're a bozon!" alarm. What had I done now?
As I approached the office, I noticed a lot of frost on the ground, and out of curiosity asked my dashboard controls what temperature it was outside: 34 degrees F. Yikes!!
The Prius has a neat little freezy indicator light, a snowflake on the road (no pic, Teh Googles have failed me). K didn't believe me when I told him about it the first time.
Brrrr.
As I approached the office, I noticed a lot of frost on the ground, and out of curiosity asked my dashboard controls what temperature it was outside: 34 degrees F. Yikes!!
The Prius has a neat little freezy indicator light, a snowflake on the road (no pic, Teh Googles have failed me). K didn't believe me when I told him about it the first time.
Brrrr.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Shanghai Chronicle, Day 2
…because there weren’t enough hours in Day 1.
What do I do in Shanghai? I keep moving. Mom sets a challenging pace of shopping, eating, and shopping. Day 0 (usual arrival time: 6pm local, after a 13 hour plane ride) starts with a 1+ hour cab ride into Shanghai. Once I arrive, Mom immediately starts asking me what I want to eat. This time we went to the new tapas bar located in her apartment complex, Zoco. She’s been talking about it this trip. The proprietor (her neighbor, a friendly guy from Barcelona named Miguel) gave us a number of good tips on the dishes. Notable: balsamic vinegar ice cream.
Then bed.
Day 1, I have a conference call at 8:30am. Construction starts noisily upstairs at 9am, and the Jawbone wins. We run some errands and swing by a few clothing stores on our way back to the apartment. We achieve purchase. We then meet up with some friends locally for lunch: delicious won ton soup and vegetables; they have something called “pineapple bread” (which has nothing to do with a pineapple except a vague visual resemblance due to a topping of sugar on the round bun), beef chow fun, and a fish head hot pot. Our other friend has a pork sandwich.
We then hop in a car and head over to the fabric market, a rambling, claustrophobic, 3-story building packed with fabric vendors and tailors in approximately 20 x 20 foot squares. Miles of shops. Miles of fabric. The vendors aren’t as actively confrontational as they are in some of the other, similarly-configured malls; these are also used to foreigners and many speak English to the wide variety of tall tourists roaming the halls. We spend hours looking at brocades, Chinese silks, Thai silks, buttons, coats, dresses, pashminas, scarves, and sartorial sins against nature. A few hours later I’m dreadfully jet-lagged and we stumble out of the building with bags full of loot. We repair to the apartment complex for gelato and an introductory session with the tailor.
Dinner: a local new Chinese restaurant (extension of a well-known restaurant in Hong Kong, apparently) where our friend B orders excellently. We roll home and I have another conference call at 10pm. The jet lag is brutally bad by then.
Day 2, I sleep in and halfheartedly attempt some morning yoga. We have an excursion planned, to the north side of Shanghai.
We first stop at Shanghai’s latest architectural transformation – “1933” – a building that was formerly a slaughterhouse and has now been rebuilt into an expo center and party space, in advance of conversion into retail shops and restaurants. The outside is a beautiful Arts and Crafts concrete façade.
The inside is a confusing warren of passages, ramps (including one labeled “cattle road”), and stairs, overhung with the creepy aura of someplace where things used to be killed. We check out a few of the design exhibits, and beat feet when we get too spooked.
Next we head to WuJiaoChang where Chiang Kai-Shek planned an ideal Chinese community in the 30s, with the intention of rivaling the concessions’ hold over Shanghai. A few large buildings survived the intervening years. We start with the stadium, where this year’s Special Olympics were just held. They’re pulling up the field and it’s gloriously large and deserted. CKS built it in order to prepare the Chinese for their first Olympics in 1936 in Berlin. We drive by another building that has since been repurposed as a school. Its façade is dark gray, almost brown, and clearly shows the passage of time. In contrast, what was to be the “facing” building across an imposing central boulevard/square is now a hospital, and it has been cleaned and preserved. We sneak into the building and admire the ceiling decorations and design details. Another building, the civic center, is now a sports university,
fronted by soccer fields and throngs of students practicing golf swings and playing tug-of-war. The building is in the traditional style, but built out of concrete. It’s impressive.
Finally, we stop by the former aviation club. Soong Mei-Ling (one of the famous Soong sisters and CKS’s wife) was head of the Air Force and wanted to promote China’s air power. The building is in the shape of an airplane, with plane details throughout. The interior has been whitewashed and now houses the pharmacy services.
Throughout all this, we drive blithely into the compounds with our private car, pile out, take pictures, drive away again, and no one gives us a second look. We get a few curious stares here and there, but probably because the blond woman, Mom’s friend A, is giving us great historical detail as we walk around, in Australian-accented English. It’s a good time all around.
Somewhere in there we stop for lunch at a local restaurant, whereupon A (whose interests tends to both the historical and the architectural) finds out that Mom’s cousin B is an architect whose family’s roots lie firmly planted in Shanghai. They have a lively conversation, including B’s story of how his childhood asthma attacks in Shanghai were the key to his family’s escape to Hong Kong during the Communist years.
In the afternoon, we get massages. Really cheap massages. Right across the street. Gotta love the local economics. The tailor swings by to show us some fabric, and we decide to eat locally for dinner. Yum.
What do I do in Shanghai? I keep moving. Mom sets a challenging pace of shopping, eating, and shopping. Day 0 (usual arrival time: 6pm local, after a 13 hour plane ride) starts with a 1+ hour cab ride into Shanghai. Once I arrive, Mom immediately starts asking me what I want to eat. This time we went to the new tapas bar located in her apartment complex, Zoco. She’s been talking about it this trip. The proprietor (her neighbor, a friendly guy from Barcelona named Miguel) gave us a number of good tips on the dishes. Notable: balsamic vinegar ice cream.
Then bed.
Day 1, I have a conference call at 8:30am. Construction starts noisily upstairs at 9am, and the Jawbone wins. We run some errands and swing by a few clothing stores on our way back to the apartment. We achieve purchase. We then meet up with some friends locally for lunch: delicious won ton soup and vegetables; they have something called “pineapple bread” (which has nothing to do with a pineapple except a vague visual resemblance due to a topping of sugar on the round bun), beef chow fun, and a fish head hot pot. Our other friend has a pork sandwich.
We then hop in a car and head over to the fabric market, a rambling, claustrophobic, 3-story building packed with fabric vendors and tailors in approximately 20 x 20 foot squares. Miles of shops. Miles of fabric. The vendors aren’t as actively confrontational as they are in some of the other, similarly-configured malls; these are also used to foreigners and many speak English to the wide variety of tall tourists roaming the halls. We spend hours looking at brocades, Chinese silks, Thai silks, buttons, coats, dresses, pashminas, scarves, and sartorial sins against nature. A few hours later I’m dreadfully jet-lagged and we stumble out of the building with bags full of loot. We repair to the apartment complex for gelato and an introductory session with the tailor.
Dinner: a local new Chinese restaurant (extension of a well-known restaurant in Hong Kong, apparently) where our friend B orders excellently. We roll home and I have another conference call at 10pm. The jet lag is brutally bad by then.
Day 2, I sleep in and halfheartedly attempt some morning yoga. We have an excursion planned, to the north side of Shanghai.
We first stop at Shanghai’s latest architectural transformation – “1933” – a building that was formerly a slaughterhouse and has now been rebuilt into an expo center and party space, in advance of conversion into retail shops and restaurants. The outside is a beautiful Arts and Crafts concrete façade.
The inside is a confusing warren of passages, ramps (including one labeled “cattle road”), and stairs, overhung with the creepy aura of someplace where things used to be killed. We check out a few of the design exhibits, and beat feet when we get too spooked.Next we head to WuJiaoChang where Chiang Kai-Shek planned an ideal Chinese community in the 30s, with the intention of rivaling the concessions’ hold over Shanghai. A few large buildings survived the intervening years. We start with the stadium, where this year’s Special Olympics were just held. They’re pulling up the field and it’s gloriously large and deserted. CKS built it in order to prepare the Chinese for their first Olympics in 1936 in Berlin. We drive by another building that has since been repurposed as a school. Its façade is dark gray, almost brown, and clearly shows the passage of time. In contrast, what was to be the “facing” building across an imposing central boulevard/square is now a hospital, and it has been cleaned and preserved. We sneak into the building and admire the ceiling decorations and design details. Another building, the civic center, is now a sports university,
fronted by soccer fields and throngs of students practicing golf swings and playing tug-of-war. The building is in the traditional style, but built out of concrete. It’s impressive.
Finally, we stop by the former aviation club. Soong Mei-Ling (one of the famous Soong sisters and CKS’s wife) was head of the Air Force and wanted to promote China’s air power. The building is in the shape of an airplane, with plane details throughout. The interior has been whitewashed and now houses the pharmacy services.
Throughout all this, we drive blithely into the compounds with our private car, pile out, take pictures, drive away again, and no one gives us a second look. We get a few curious stares here and there, but probably because the blond woman, Mom’s friend A, is giving us great historical detail as we walk around, in Australian-accented English. It’s a good time all around.
Somewhere in there we stop for lunch at a local restaurant, whereupon A (whose interests tends to both the historical and the architectural) finds out that Mom’s cousin B is an architect whose family’s roots lie firmly planted in Shanghai. They have a lively conversation, including B’s story of how his childhood asthma attacks in Shanghai were the key to his family’s escape to Hong Kong during the Communist years.
In the afternoon, we get massages. Really cheap massages. Right across the street. Gotta love the local economics. The tailor swings by to show us some fabric, and we decide to eat locally for dinner. Yum.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Ow.
Yesterday I started the P90X fitness program. You may have seen the infomercials -- it's a many-DVD training program that is designed to lean me down and muscle me up (some, nothing grotesque).
Well, ow.
The first DVD was an hour of pushups and pullups, followed by 330+ reps of various ab exercises. No, I did not finish. I sucked floor mat for a good portion of the workout period, and spent the rest of the time staring up at my disobedient noodly appendages draped helplessly over the pull-up bar.
Mister Cheery Pants on the video kept telling me it was all right to be a weak-ass jello-bellied drag-ass, and that soon -- soon! -- I would be as mighty as he and his fat-free iron-slinging dance troupe.
Mmmyeah.
Ow.
Well, ow.
The first DVD was an hour of pushups and pullups, followed by 330+ reps of various ab exercises. No, I did not finish. I sucked floor mat for a good portion of the workout period, and spent the rest of the time staring up at my disobedient noodly appendages draped helplessly over the pull-up bar.
Mister Cheery Pants on the video kept telling me it was all right to be a weak-ass jello-bellied drag-ass, and that soon -- soon! -- I would be as mighty as he and his fat-free iron-slinging dance troupe.
Mmmyeah.
Ow.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Last minute Halloween!
What with being sick last weekend, there wasn't much time to throw together a costume. (We were planning to attend a friend's costume-required party on Halloween night.) I briely fantasized about making a Lt. Uhura (original Star Trek) dress, but since I didn't leave the house all weekend, no luck there. Instead, my colleagues at work decided to get dressed up as witches, went to the Halloween superstore for some strategic accessories, and much fun was had by all. 
M helped me style my hair in a gravity-defying pseudo-mohawk, spray it orange, and bought me some enormous orange eyelashes that convinced me I need to wear fake eyelashes more often. And I find the black nail polish to be appealing somehow. Perhaps it's time for a brief goth period for me? Ha ha, okay just kidding.(click on the images for larger versions)
Mom's response: "It's not as cute as the one we took of you when you were a toddler."
Well, duh! ;) I have the same dopey grin at least. Thanks Mom.
When life gives you lemons, play Halo
Or, no trip to Pt. Reyes in October.
We were supposed to go to Point Reyes again last weekend with our friends E&S, but instead both of us got very sick. My version included an inability to eat anything fatty, a generally nauseated feeling, and exhaustion. K's version was mostly about feeling like crud. Since I wanted to be distracted from feeling hungry and K wanted to be distracted from feeling like crud, we played Halo. We finished Halo 3 on Heroic, and started again with Halo (original flavor) and eventually got to Halo 2. Along the way we compared rendering complexity, interface design, and game design. it's very cool to see what has changed (quality of graphics, complexity/diversity of user interface) and what hasn't (basic weapons design and usage, HUD, cooperative play mechanics). NB: the fall-off-the-platform sequences at the end of 2 still suck.
Machinima enthusiasts are great Halo users as well, and apparently certain game elements were included in Halo 3 to facilite video creation - like providing an "at ease" stance when the Master Chief is carrying a weapon (he's not aiming his gun so you can see his face, making it better for dialog scenes). The guys from Red vs. Blue appear to have contributed some humorous moments during actual gameplay as well.
E & S did manage to get to Pt. Reyes on Saturday, whereupon their double-bagged trail mix was eating by an enterprising mouse. (Apparently the rangers knew about this and warned them, but no one quite counted on just how enterprising the mouse was.) They had a really good time, as expected. While we didn't exactly have a really good time, we were at least distracted for a time from feeling like crud. I was still tired into this last week, and kept resting.
We were supposed to go to Point Reyes again last weekend with our friends E&S, but instead both of us got very sick. My version included an inability to eat anything fatty, a generally nauseated feeling, and exhaustion. K's version was mostly about feeling like crud. Since I wanted to be distracted from feeling hungry and K wanted to be distracted from feeling like crud, we played Halo. We finished Halo 3 on Heroic, and started again with Halo (original flavor) and eventually got to Halo 2. Along the way we compared rendering complexity, interface design, and game design. it's very cool to see what has changed (quality of graphics, complexity/diversity of user interface) and what hasn't (basic weapons design and usage, HUD, cooperative play mechanics). NB: the fall-off-the-platform sequences at the end of 2 still suck.
Machinima enthusiasts are great Halo users as well, and apparently certain game elements were included in Halo 3 to facilite video creation - like providing an "at ease" stance when the Master Chief is carrying a weapon (he's not aiming his gun so you can see his face, making it better for dialog scenes). The guys from Red vs. Blue appear to have contributed some humorous moments during actual gameplay as well.
E & S did manage to get to Pt. Reyes on Saturday, whereupon their double-bagged trail mix was eating by an enterprising mouse. (Apparently the rangers knew about this and warned them, but no one quite counted on just how enterprising the mouse was.) They had a really good time, as expected. While we didn't exactly have a really good time, we were at least distracted for a time from feeling like crud. I was still tired into this last week, and kept resting.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
"Normal" Life
At the risk of invoking the Doom Gods, I'll say that life and work have been somewhat calm recently. The week of vacation did me a lot of good. Family time was fun and relaxing (mostly). Camping was very relaxing. Work has been going through a brief lull where I'm neither traveling a ridiculous amount nor working on a LOT of projects at the same time. I'm learning to make time for quilting and house cleaning again. (Who knew that ironing could be so relaxing?) I even managed to go shopping with my girlfriend R this past weekend and bought about 50 wrap dresses.
Trust me, I am enjoying it while I can!
The India tour I was planning to take with Mom in January was unfortunately cancelled due to lack of interest, so we are in a flurry of considering new options. K and I may check out Shanghai for Thanksgiving. We may head to Italy in January. The planning period with endless options is enjoyable and (because I am who I am) somewhat brief. I'm looking forward to the next adventure!
And with the A's out of the running, I'm really hoping the Red Sox win the World Series. Go Sox!
Trust me, I am enjoying it while I can!
The India tour I was planning to take with Mom in January was unfortunately cancelled due to lack of interest, so we are in a flurry of considering new options. K and I may check out Shanghai for Thanksgiving. We may head to Italy in January. The planning period with endless options is enjoyable and (because I am who I am) somewhat brief. I'm looking forward to the next adventure!
And with the A's out of the running, I'm really hoping the Red Sox win the World Series. Go Sox!
Pt. Reyes in September
This is becoming a good habit!
K and I went on another three-day trip to Point Reyes National Seashore. This time we were at Coast Camp right next to the water, and were joined by our friends D and M. We had originally planned to hike over Mount Wittenberg to the camp (we've done this before and it's a nice way to burn some calories plus the scenery is a great Pt. Reyes sampler) on Friday, but K's company ended up having a team-building day so we went there first instead.
Team building for a game company means: paintball! K's sordid past includes some hard-core paintballer years, so he had the gear and the attitude to have some fun playing. I watched some of it, but wandered off for a part of the time. His colleagues were very nice about inviting me to join, but I was happy to pass on the bruises and bonus sweat. We were headed camping, after all.
We managed to get into camp before dark, but there was no sign of D and M. Unfortunately, between the heat, paintball, and hiking, K had triggered himself a migraine. Our stove was nearly out of gas, so it took forever to cook dinner, plus we waited a good while for D and M to show up (enjoying some primo star-gazing in the process, at least until the unbelievably bright moon showed up). In the end, K went to bed with barely any food (but a lot of Excedrin) in him, and D & M made the hike in glorious full moonlight and found the camp just fine. M cheerily said, "I think I've pitched more tents in the dark than in daylight!" as she did exactly that.
A note about the moonlight: a recent New Yorker article talked about how cities are _over_lit. Planners (and people) tend to favor more light, with the assumption that that means more visibility and more safety. However, it turns out that humans are really well adapted for low-light seeing, and studies have shown that _less_ light often results in lower crime and vandalism. Plus, there's the environmental effect whereby some animals navigate via the brightness of the stars (newborn sea turtles, for example), and since cities are now brighter than the ocean reflecting the sky, they're getting misdirected and dying in great numbers. My personal test of wandering around camp without my headlamp on and, later, under just the moonlight confirmed that I could see just fine. Not particularly detailed, but fine enough to find my way, not get hurt, and notice other moving objects on the trail. The article prompted me to downsize our porch light, and I'm glad I did. Now, how can we get more cities to work on decreasing their light pollution? (Yeah yeah, I've seen the Simpsons episode.)
When we woke up in the morning, there was a deer in our camp.
Saturday we opted for the Coast Trail, which somehow ended up being a round-trip hike of about 9 miles, including side trips to Sculptured Beach and Arch Rock. The tides weren't with us, so we couldn't do any really cool exploring, but the hike was beautiful and we saw lots of birds (mostly pelicans) and a few seals. M is a very entertaining energizer bunny. She gets these weird urges to run, and apparently D has a collection of photos of M running away from him. (So far, she always comes back.) She definitely helped the miles go faster. I think.
We were pretty pooped by the time we got back to camp. D was darn near zombified ("Braaaains...") and we managed to summon enough energy to make dinner (yummy pasta) and plop into bed. We'd planned a moonlit trip to the beach, but we were all fast asleep by then.
The next morning we packed up the camp, walked down to the beach, and proceeded to sit there for a few hours. It was great. Peaceful, relaxing, sunny...D was man enough to go swimming (nutbar), and after the initial I-can't-breathe-it's-so-cold shock, seemed to have a good time splashing around. Thankfully the undertow wasn't acting up that day. We saw seals, horses, dogs, and even some more albino sheep. (Yes, SHEEP.) We were there long enough to watch the tide come in, and eventually peeled ourselves away and headed back to our cars.
That night we managed to tidy ourselves up enough to head into the city for dinner with my Dad (mmm...chicken), and slept well in our own beds. The next day: chores and Teh Haloz. Ah, vacation!
K and I went on another three-day trip to Point Reyes National Seashore. This time we were at Coast Camp right next to the water, and were joined by our friends D and M. We had originally planned to hike over Mount Wittenberg to the camp (we've done this before and it's a nice way to burn some calories plus the scenery is a great Pt. Reyes sampler) on Friday, but K's company ended up having a team-building day so we went there first instead.
Team building for a game company means: paintball! K's sordid past includes some hard-core paintballer years, so he had the gear and the attitude to have some fun playing. I watched some of it, but wandered off for a part of the time. His colleagues were very nice about inviting me to join, but I was happy to pass on the bruises and bonus sweat. We were headed camping, after all.
We managed to get into camp before dark, but there was no sign of D and M. Unfortunately, between the heat, paintball, and hiking, K had triggered himself a migraine. Our stove was nearly out of gas, so it took forever to cook dinner, plus we waited a good while for D and M to show up (enjoying some primo star-gazing in the process, at least until the unbelievably bright moon showed up). In the end, K went to bed with barely any food (but a lot of Excedrin) in him, and D & M made the hike in glorious full moonlight and found the camp just fine. M cheerily said, "I think I've pitched more tents in the dark than in daylight!" as she did exactly that.
A note about the moonlight: a recent New Yorker article talked about how cities are _over_lit. Planners (and people) tend to favor more light, with the assumption that that means more visibility and more safety. However, it turns out that humans are really well adapted for low-light seeing, and studies have shown that _less_ light often results in lower crime and vandalism. Plus, there's the environmental effect whereby some animals navigate via the brightness of the stars (newborn sea turtles, for example), and since cities are now brighter than the ocean reflecting the sky, they're getting misdirected and dying in great numbers. My personal test of wandering around camp without my headlamp on and, later, under just the moonlight confirmed that I could see just fine. Not particularly detailed, but fine enough to find my way, not get hurt, and notice other moving objects on the trail. The article prompted me to downsize our porch light, and I'm glad I did. Now, how can we get more cities to work on decreasing their light pollution? (Yeah yeah, I've seen the Simpsons episode.)
When we woke up in the morning, there was a deer in our camp.
Saturday we opted for the Coast Trail, which somehow ended up being a round-trip hike of about 9 miles, including side trips to Sculptured Beach and Arch Rock. The tides weren't with us, so we couldn't do any really cool exploring, but the hike was beautiful and we saw lots of birds (mostly pelicans) and a few seals. M is a very entertaining energizer bunny. She gets these weird urges to run, and apparently D has a collection of photos of M running away from him. (So far, she always comes back.) She definitely helped the miles go faster. I think.
We were pretty pooped by the time we got back to camp. D was darn near zombified ("Braaaains...") and we managed to summon enough energy to make dinner (yummy pasta) and plop into bed. We'd planned a moonlit trip to the beach, but we were all fast asleep by then.
The next morning we packed up the camp, walked down to the beach, and proceeded to sit there for a few hours. It was great. Peaceful, relaxing, sunny...D was man enough to go swimming (nutbar), and after the initial I-can't-breathe-it's-so-cold shock, seemed to have a good time splashing around. Thankfully the undertow wasn't acting up that day. We saw seals, horses, dogs, and even some more albino sheep. (Yes, SHEEP.) We were there long enough to watch the tide come in, and eventually peeled ourselves away and headed back to our cars.
That night we managed to tidy ourselves up enough to head into the city for dinner with my Dad (mmm...chicken), and slept well in our own beds. The next day: chores and Teh Haloz. Ah, vacation!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
On the Road Again
Been a while since we posted...it's been busy.
We got out to see S&P&S&N for their housewarming and anniversary party in Merced, and it was another blissful day at the pool. They even put my name on one of the floaties! Slight drawback was that the "permanent marker" was no match for Coppertone Bug & Sun (SPF 15 and DEET), so I briefly had some very fetching black marker tattoos.
I'm in Birmingham (UK) this week, and would entertain you with a photo of my hotel room & environs, except I forgot to bring my camera hookup cable. It's a nice hotel room that looks out over trees and...another hotel. I'm rather more interested in checking out the pool at some point. And, while it is a very nice hotel room, it turns out we are some distance from the city-center, so I'm planning to be healthfully familiar with the hotel accoutrements before Friday.
We got out to see S&P&S&N for their housewarming and anniversary party in Merced, and it was another blissful day at the pool. They even put my name on one of the floaties! Slight drawback was that the "permanent marker" was no match for Coppertone Bug & Sun (SPF 15 and DEET), so I briefly had some very fetching black marker tattoos.
I'm in Birmingham (UK) this week, and would entertain you with a photo of my hotel room & environs, except I forgot to bring my camera hookup cable. It's a nice hotel room that looks out over trees and...another hotel. I'm rather more interested in checking out the pool at some point. And, while it is a very nice hotel room, it turns out we are some distance from the city-center, so I'm planning to be healthfully familiar with the hotel accoutrements before Friday.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Careful what you wish for
Remember my comment about taking all the 4.x earthquakes in the world rather than a Big One? Well, there was a 3.2 last night around midnight that jolted me awake, and a 2.7 on Saturday night that jostled my sudoku session.
The list of earthquakes in our region seems sobering at first, but the actual numbers are quite low. Could be a truck going by...could be an earthquake. Given that the wind patterns are pushing the constant sound of trains our way at night, I've got enough nightmares without actual ground motion!
The list of earthquakes in our region seems sobering at first, but the actual numbers are quite low. Could be a truck going by...could be an earthquake. Given that the wind patterns are pushing the constant sound of trains our way at night, I've got enough nightmares without actual ground motion!
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Baseball, Olive Trees, Model Ships, Tents
Been a bit remiss on posting, but real life gets busy sometimes.
Went to a baseball game in the rain today. What? Okay, it was really your classic spitting Bay Area fog, but I was decidedly wet. And unimpressed with the weather. It did humid up a few times, but I ended up wearing my fleece for most of the game. Thank goodness my colleague G brought her fleece blanket and was willing to share. I also managed to convince my workmates that the cheese that comes with nachos is really made of plastic. We were all very disappointed that the malt guys didn't come around after the 3rd inning. It's a vast anti-malt conspiracy, attempting to replace our ballpark favorite with crappy Dibs, Toll House cookie sandwiches, and sno-cones. Feh!
I also finally planted the olive tree that mom gave me for my birthday. It's been sitting, happily potted, in the backyard since the BBQ. R gave me some llama dung (yes, llama dung) to help give it a good start. He has a garden at his house in Napa and it produces the most amazing vegetables - he says, because of the llama dung. Interestingly, the area around where I've been watering the olive tree has sprouted new evil weeds. The ground in our neighborhood is so fertile, it's just waiting for more water to make it go crazy. (In digging a hole for my tree I came across all kinds of root networks, ready to send up new shoots.) All the more reason to replace our lawn with something more environmentally conscious, I say.
And isn't it funny how "weeds" are "the plants we don't want"? I was thinking that the other weekend when pulling up the bastards. I wish there were a better way for me to like what my garden volunteers.
My guest feature photo this post are models from my brother's childhood collection. I remember these being displayed with great respect on the high-up shelves in his bedroom when we were growing up. (High enough so I couldn't mess with them, I assume. My brother is no dummy.) They've been a bit dinged around in storage at Dad's, and somehow I am now in possession of them. (Along with C's storage "bank", containing mainly Boy Scout merit badges so far as I can tell.) Hey bro, do you want these back?
We also bought a tent on sale at REI. K decided he doesn't have enough sprawl room for sleeping in our current 2-person tent. When we got it home, I insisted on setting it up in living room and testing it. It's definitely bigger than it looks in this photo. Hee hee!
Went to a baseball game in the rain today. What? Okay, it was really your classic spitting Bay Area fog, but I was decidedly wet. And unimpressed with the weather. It did humid up a few times, but I ended up wearing my fleece for most of the game. Thank goodness my colleague G brought her fleece blanket and was willing to share. I also managed to convince my workmates that the cheese that comes with nachos is really made of plastic. We were all very disappointed that the malt guys didn't come around after the 3rd inning. It's a vast anti-malt conspiracy, attempting to replace our ballpark favorite with crappy Dibs, Toll House cookie sandwiches, and sno-cones. Feh!
I also finally planted the olive tree that mom gave me for my birthday. It's been sitting, happily potted, in the backyard since the BBQ. R gave me some llama dung (yes, llama dung) to help give it a good start. He has a garden at his house in Napa and it produces the most amazing vegetables - he says, because of the llama dung. Interestingly, the area around where I've been watering the olive tree has sprouted new evil weeds. The ground in our neighborhood is so fertile, it's just waiting for more water to make it go crazy. (In digging a hole for my tree I came across all kinds of root networks, ready to send up new shoots.) All the more reason to replace our lawn with something more environmentally conscious, I say.And isn't it funny how "weeds" are "the plants we don't want"? I was thinking that the other weekend when pulling up the bastards. I wish there were a better way for me to like what my garden volunteers.
My guest feature photo this post are models from my brother's childhood collection. I remember these being displayed with great respect on the high-up shelves in his bedroom when we were growing up. (High enough so I couldn't mess with them, I assume. My brother is no dummy.) They've been a bit dinged around in storage at Dad's, and somehow I am now in possession of them. (Along with C's storage "bank", containing mainly Boy Scout merit badges so far as I can tell.) Hey bro, do you want these back? 
We also bought a tent on sale at REI. K decided he doesn't have enough sprawl room for sleeping in our current 2-person tent. When we got it home, I insisted on setting it up in living room and testing it. It's definitely bigger than it looks in this photo. Hee hee!
Saturday, July 21, 2007
K's Chicken Abomination Recipe
In response to a friend's request for the recipe, K wrote:
Weeelll...see...um...part of it is from the Best Recipe "grill-roasted chicken" recipe. And part of it is from stuff I read. And I made the rest up.
I'll do my best to remember everything. Here we go:
Ingredients:
1 chicken
1 can of beer (quality not important; I use Pabst Blue Ribbon)
1 cup (or so) herbal chicken rub
1 cup (or so) kosher salt
The herbal rub:
I use the paprika-based chicken rub in The Best Recipe. You can use any chicken rub, really, as long as it does NOT contain salt. You are brining this bird, and that would be way too salty to eat if you use a salt rub. Go for things like rosemary, paprika, oregano, sage, basil, cumin, and just a little hot stuff like cayenne. Google "chicken spice rub" and you'll get lots of ideas.
The night before:
- Get a non-reactive (glass or plastic) tub or pot just big enough to contain the chicken. Fill with enough water to cover the chicken (best guess is fine).
- Dissolve the salt in the water, stirring until it's clear.
- Put the chicken in the brine and put the tub in the fridge.
The morning before:
- Dump the brine out.
- Rinse the chicken in cool water and pat dry.
- Massage the chicken, inside and out, with the herb rub.
- Put the chicken back into the fridge.
1-2 hours before mealtime:
- Take the chicken out of the fridge.
- Open the beer and pour off (or drink) just less than half of it.
- With an old-style triangular can opener, punch two extra holes in the top of the can so it looks sorta like a radiation symbol.
Okay, now at this point, you do different things depending on whether you're grilling or oven-roasting.
Oven-roasting (less prep, weather-immune, milder flavor)
- Remove the top rack from the oven and set the bottom rack as low as necessary to fit a vertical chicken.
- Preheat the oven to 375 or so. Anything from 350-400 is fine.
- Get a pan with raised sides and put a cake cooling rack or roasting rack in the bottom of it.
- Shove the beer up the chicken's butt.
- Stand the chicken on its drunsticks and the beer can in a sort of tripod setup, with the beer can on the rack and the drumsticks poking through to rest on the roaster pan bottom.
- Put the pan with the chicken in it into the oven.
- Monitor the temperature. It's ready when the deepest part of the breast meat is 170. Depending on your oven and the size of the bird, it'll take an hour or two.
Smoking (tastier, much more macho)
NOTE: You need a grill that has enough headroom to fit a vertical chicken under its lid.
- Fire up your charcoal grill. Get 4 or 5 big (3") hardwood chunks, soak them in water for an hour, and add them to hot barbecue coals.
- Or get a handful of hardwood chips, make a double-thick tinfoil tray, soak the chips in water for an hour, then put them in the tray and set the tray on the grill.
- If you have a gas grill, fire up your gas grill to low/medium, then use the chip try method above.
- Stand the bird on the grill, using the drumsticks and beer can as a tripod. I find that it's more stable if the drumsticks are jammed between the grill bars.
- Cover the bird. Check on it every 15 minutes or so and adjust the temperature of the gas grill, or add briquets to a charcoal grill, to keep the heat up while not scorching the outside of the meat. Replenish wood chips if they burn off.
- Monitor the temperature. It's ready when the deepest part of the breast meat is 170. Depending on your grill and the size of the bird, it'll take an hour or two.
Okay, now the tricky part: removing the beer can. This recipe makes fall-apart chicken that is very moist and tender. So you will have some trouble getting the beer can out without making a huge mess.
First, get the beer out of the can, otherwise you risk spilling it all over your chicken during extraction. Not great. Take a meat fork (you know, those ones with two big ol' prongs) and punch a hole in the bottom of the can and let the beer drain out. For effect, I sometimes do this while it's still on the grill. (Stab! Pfffsssshhhh!!! Oooo! Aaah!)
Now you can set the brid down horizontally and gently twist and pull until it's free. Remember, it's hot! Sometimes a knife needs to be inserted and run around the perimeter of the can to free it.
Ta da! Ready to carve and serve.
Weeelll...see...um...part of it is from the Best Recipe "grill-roasted chicken" recipe. And part of it is from stuff I read. And I made the rest up.
I'll do my best to remember everything. Here we go:
Ingredients:
1 chicken
1 can of beer (quality not important; I use Pabst Blue Ribbon)
1 cup (or so) herbal chicken rub
1 cup (or so) kosher salt
The herbal rub:
I use the paprika-based chicken rub in The Best Recipe. You can use any chicken rub, really, as long as it does NOT contain salt. You are brining this bird, and that would be way too salty to eat if you use a salt rub. Go for things like rosemary, paprika, oregano, sage, basil, cumin, and just a little hot stuff like cayenne. Google "chicken spice rub" and you'll get lots of ideas.
The night before:
- Get a non-reactive (glass or plastic) tub or pot just big enough to contain the chicken. Fill with enough water to cover the chicken (best guess is fine).
- Dissolve the salt in the water, stirring until it's clear.
- Put the chicken in the brine and put the tub in the fridge.
The morning before:
- Dump the brine out.
- Rinse the chicken in cool water and pat dry.
- Massage the chicken, inside and out, with the herb rub.
- Put the chicken back into the fridge.
1-2 hours before mealtime:
- Take the chicken out of the fridge.
- Open the beer and pour off (or drink) just less than half of it.
- With an old-style triangular can opener, punch two extra holes in the top of the can so it looks sorta like a radiation symbol.
Okay, now at this point, you do different things depending on whether you're grilling or oven-roasting.
Oven-roasting (less prep, weather-immune, milder flavor)
- Remove the top rack from the oven and set the bottom rack as low as necessary to fit a vertical chicken.
- Preheat the oven to 375 or so. Anything from 350-400 is fine.
- Get a pan with raised sides and put a cake cooling rack or roasting rack in the bottom of it.
- Shove the beer up the chicken's butt.
- Stand the chicken on its drunsticks and the beer can in a sort of tripod setup, with the beer can on the rack and the drumsticks poking through to rest on the roaster pan bottom.
- Put the pan with the chicken in it into the oven.
- Monitor the temperature. It's ready when the deepest part of the breast meat is 170. Depending on your oven and the size of the bird, it'll take an hour or two.
Smoking (tastier, much more macho)
NOTE: You need a grill that has enough headroom to fit a vertical chicken under its lid.
- Fire up your charcoal grill. Get 4 or 5 big (3") hardwood chunks, soak them in water for an hour, and add them to hot barbecue coals.
- Or get a handful of hardwood chips, make a double-thick tinfoil tray, soak the chips in water for an hour, then put them in the tray and set the tray on the grill.
- If you have a gas grill, fire up your gas grill to low/medium, then use the chip try method above.
- Stand the bird on the grill, using the drumsticks and beer can as a tripod. I find that it's more stable if the drumsticks are jammed between the grill bars.
- Cover the bird. Check on it every 15 minutes or so and adjust the temperature of the gas grill, or add briquets to a charcoal grill, to keep the heat up while not scorching the outside of the meat. Replenish wood chips if they burn off.
- Monitor the temperature. It's ready when the deepest part of the breast meat is 170. Depending on your grill and the size of the bird, it'll take an hour or two.
Okay, now the tricky part: removing the beer can. This recipe makes fall-apart chicken that is very moist and tender. So you will have some trouble getting the beer can out without making a huge mess.
First, get the beer out of the can, otherwise you risk spilling it all over your chicken during extraction. Not great. Take a meat fork (you know, those ones with two big ol' prongs) and punch a hole in the bottom of the can and let the beer drain out. For effect, I sometimes do this while it's still on the grill. (Stab! Pfffsssshhhh!!! Oooo! Aaah!)
Now you can set the brid down horizontally and gently twist and pull until it's free. Remember, it's hot! Sometimes a knife needs to be inserted and run around the perimeter of the can to free it.
Ta da! Ready to carve and serve.
Weekend Update
Sorry no posts last week. Couldn't talk. Too busy.
Last week was actually rather stressful, so I did the Girl Thing and rounded it off by getting a nice pink pedicure. Yes, pink. Rather a bit more pink than I'd planned, but the color was leftover from an impulse buy in San Diego (we were there for cousin M's excellent wedding). It's kind of a happy pink, so it'll do.
Saturday I headed out with some girlfriends to visit another girlfriend who has moved to Merced. We had a fantastic day at their pool in the 90-100 degree weather. There was one moment when I was lying in the pool on a green floatie and thinking that I felt just about perfect. There's nothing like idleness, a little Vitamin D, and kahlua brownies to cheer up the soul. If I can get a chauffeur to drive me to/from Merced next time (~2.5 hours), it'll be perfect. Now where could I find one of those? Sweetie?
This past week was more relaxed, partly because my boss it out of town, and partly because my brain was fried. The main excitement Friday morning was the 4.2 earthquake, some 5 miles from our house. We're used to the occasional rumbler, but this one jolted us out of bed and really zapped us awake. Small earthquakes aren't usually that scary...unless you're right on top of them! We did learn a few good lessons, like the fact that my glasses were sent tumbling to the floor and I couldn't find them, not great if it were the Real Thing. But there's really no knowing what'll happen in the big one. I'll take all the 4.x earthquakes in the world, every day of the week, rather than anything bigger, thankyewverymuch.
We don't have too much lined up for this weekend (lunch with friends, dinner with Dads), and we're continuing to test out the "one weekend day free" hypothesis so I get a chance to recharge my batteries. So far, so good.
Last week was actually rather stressful, so I did the Girl Thing and rounded it off by getting a nice pink pedicure. Yes, pink. Rather a bit more pink than I'd planned, but the color was leftover from an impulse buy in San Diego (we were there for cousin M's excellent wedding). It's kind of a happy pink, so it'll do. Saturday I headed out with some girlfriends to visit another girlfriend who has moved to Merced. We had a fantastic day at their pool in the 90-100 degree weather. There was one moment when I was lying in the pool on a green floatie and thinking that I felt just about perfect. There's nothing like idleness, a little Vitamin D, and kahlua brownies to cheer up the soul. If I can get a chauffeur to drive me to/from Merced next time (~2.5 hours), it'll be perfect. Now where could I find one of those? Sweetie?
This past week was more relaxed, partly because my boss it out of town, and partly because my brain was fried. The main excitement Friday morning was the 4.2 earthquake, some 5 miles from our house. We're used to the occasional rumbler, but this one jolted us out of bed and really zapped us awake. Small earthquakes aren't usually that scary...unless you're right on top of them! We did learn a few good lessons, like the fact that my glasses were sent tumbling to the floor and I couldn't find them, not great if it were the Real Thing. But there's really no knowing what'll happen in the big one. I'll take all the 4.x earthquakes in the world, every day of the week, rather than anything bigger, thankyewverymuch.
We don't have too much lined up for this weekend (lunch with friends, dinner with Dads), and we're continuing to test out the "one weekend day free" hypothesis so I get a chance to recharge my batteries. So far, so good.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Vacation Week
K and I took this past week off for some R&R, which in this particular case stood for Roadtrip and Point Reyes.
The roadtrip took us up to Oregon City, Oregon (just south of Portland) to visit with K's siblings and their families, with children ranging in ages from 8 months to 13 years, all brilliant and well-spoken and a ton of fun and totally exhausting. K's sister S had rented a beach house out in Pacific City. To me, Pacific City seems like just about any beach town I've stayed in, whether that's Hawaii or California -- salt-bleached houses, boating detritus, quiet suntanned locals, and a distinct local pace of life. In sum, very enjoyable and relaxing.
We spent one day down at Netarts Bay, where the RV park folks will rent you an aluminum boat with a motor and some crab traps, bait, and measuring doo-hickeys and you can try your luck at crabbing. We found no dungeness that qualified, but did pull up two small red rock crabs. (nasty little fellers)
We also made the trip over to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. This was something of a pilgrimage for K, the inveterate cheese-lover. We got to see the assembly lines where cheese is sliced, weighed, and packaged, as well as the slightly less interesting cheese fermenting vats. And then we got samples and ice cream! Fantastic. And I have verified that cheese curds do indeed squeak when you chew them.
Finally, this past weekend we went hiking in Point Reyes with two friends, E and S. They are getting ready for a trip to Alaska in August, so they were testing out various vegetarian backpacking recipes (tasty) and equipment (Jetboil - cool) and general communication/compatibility while hiking (seemed good to me). Some of the things they'll have to deal with in Alaska I don't envy - bears? Hungry bears? Hungry smart bears? Okay, maybe I'm just scared about the bears. They were saying that you have to put the clothes you cook in into the same bear-proof storage as your food, otherwise they might think you're tasty. *shudder*
No bears for us! We saw white deer, turkey vultures, berries, poison oak, other deer, red tail hawk, quail, rabbits, lizards, burned-out trees, the ocean, lots of fog, and a decent amount of sun. Pt. Reyes National Seashore is truly a wonderful place, and surprisingly close to the husle and bustle of San Francisco (we picked up E from downtown SF at 5pm and were picking up our camping permit in the park by 7pm, and that includes a packing break at S's in Marin). I'd like to go there more often. As for Alaska, assuming I go there someday? I'll take the tourist route.
The roadtrip took us up to Oregon City, Oregon (just south of Portland) to visit with K's siblings and their families, with children ranging in ages from 8 months to 13 years, all brilliant and well-spoken and a ton of fun and totally exhausting. K's sister S had rented a beach house out in Pacific City. To me, Pacific City seems like just about any beach town I've stayed in, whether that's Hawaii or California -- salt-bleached houses, boating detritus, quiet suntanned locals, and a distinct local pace of life. In sum, very enjoyable and relaxing.
We spent one day down at Netarts Bay, where the RV park folks will rent you an aluminum boat with a motor and some crab traps, bait, and measuring doo-hickeys and you can try your luck at crabbing. We found no dungeness that qualified, but did pull up two small red rock crabs. (nasty little fellers)
We also made the trip over to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. This was something of a pilgrimage for K, the inveterate cheese-lover. We got to see the assembly lines where cheese is sliced, weighed, and packaged, as well as the slightly less interesting cheese fermenting vats. And then we got samples and ice cream! Fantastic. And I have verified that cheese curds do indeed squeak when you chew them.Finally, this past weekend we went hiking in Point Reyes with two friends, E and S. They are getting ready for a trip to Alaska in August, so they were testing out various vegetarian backpacking recipes (tasty) and equipment (Jetboil - cool) and general communication/compatibility while hiking (seemed good to me). Some of the things they'll have to deal with in Alaska I don't envy - bears? Hungry bears? Hungry smart bears? Okay, maybe I'm just scared about the bears. They were saying that you have to put the clothes you cook in into the same bear-proof storage as your food, otherwise they might think you're tasty. *shudder*
No bears for us! We saw white deer, turkey vultures, berries, poison oak, other deer, red tail hawk, quail, rabbits, lizards, burned-out trees, the ocean, lots of fog, and a decent amount of sun. Pt. Reyes National Seashore is truly a wonderful place, and surprisingly close to the husle and bustle of San Francisco (we picked up E from downtown SF at 5pm and were picking up our camping permit in the park by 7pm, and that includes a packing break at S's in Marin). I'd like to go there more often. As for Alaska, assuming I go there someday? I'll take the tourist route.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Cross-Dressing Weekend!
Aw come on folks, it was Pride weekend in SF. No, we did not cross-dress for our birthday party (although now that I think about it, that could have been fun...). We had a pile o' people and a jolly good time and a very cute cake on Saturday.Sunday I went into the city to have brunch with the Dads and watch a matinee of San Francisco Opera's production of Der Rosenkavalier. It was fantastic. Three sopranos singing some beautifully lyric music by Strauss. Just lovely. One of the leads is a classic "trouser role" where a woman dresses and plays the part of a man - in this case, Octavian, the young lover. Even more amusing, Octavian cross-dresses as a serving-maid to dupe the annoying clod Baron von Ochs.
All of this as punctuation to Pride weekend. It was amusing to visit the opera mezzanine (where many folks go during intermissions for a smoke or breath of fresh air) and see all the attendees using their opera glasses to gawk at the heaving throngs of Pride dancers - still going strong into the afternoon, the heavy OON-cha OON-cha OON-cha bass beats only barely masked by the opera house's stone walls.
I was a bit depressed by the opera, as it's all about how the "older" woman realizes she must make way for young love. Not a great weekend for me to be hearing about how the 30-something-year-old woman was feeling "old". Not even if it WAS beautifully sung.
This Thursday: Don Giovanni, Dad's favorite. I've never seen it before.
Reaping the slow of mind
I can't make this stuff up:
Just got an envelope from the bank that has the mortgage on our home (and who recently sent us a notice announcing a rate increase to 8.75%) containing an offer to invest $10,000 or more into a CD paying a whopping 5.05%.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, my dear fellow?
If I wanted to make 8.75%, and I had $10,000 available, I would INVEST IT AGAINST PRINCIPAL, you vampiric maggots.
Full marks for cojones, though. Next time, include the CD promo in the SAME ENVELOPE as the mortgage rate increase. Half the postage, double the irony.
Although, for comedy purposes, I would love to know the quantity (and home phone numbers! I need more gullible friends!) of all the mortgage customers who took them up on this lose-lose deal.
I mean, come on, what kind of intelligence test IS this? I can understand keeping some cash in an interest-bearing checking account or something for emergencies while you pay your mortgage, but a FREAKING CD?? You can't even touch that dough for a YEAR or more. So why in nether Hell would you invest in a 5.05% CD when everyone in the country is looking down the business end of a 6+% mortgage?
Sheesh.
/rant off
/for now...
Just got an envelope from the bank that has the mortgage on our home (and who recently sent us a notice announcing a rate increase to 8.75%) containing an offer to invest $10,000 or more into a CD paying a whopping 5.05%.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, my dear fellow?
If I wanted to make 8.75%, and I had $10,000 available, I would INVEST IT AGAINST PRINCIPAL, you vampiric maggots.
Full marks for cojones, though. Next time, include the CD promo in the SAME ENVELOPE as the mortgage rate increase. Half the postage, double the irony.
Although, for comedy purposes, I would love to know the quantity (and home phone numbers! I need more gullible friends!) of all the mortgage customers who took them up on this lose-lose deal.
I mean, come on, what kind of intelligence test IS this? I can understand keeping some cash in an interest-bearing checking account or something for emergencies while you pay your mortgage, but a FREAKING CD?? You can't even touch that dough for a YEAR or more. So why in nether Hell would you invest in a 5.05% CD when everyone in the country is looking down the business end of a 6+% mortgage?
Sheesh.
/rant off
/for now...
Friday, June 22, 2007
Boss Week!
This has been a tough week. If I may indulge in some whining:
On the flip side, I hear that my bro and fam have moved into their sweet new digs in NYC. Hooray! And we're celebrating our joint birthday party tomorrow. Double Hooray! Did I mention it's my birthday tomorrow? I'd almost forgotten. Here's a shout out to Mom - thanks Mom!
Here's to nowhere to go but up! And now for a quick nap...
- Exhausted. Too much travel.
- Infected. Got a tetanus booster Tuesday.
- Stressed. A few major projects, meetings, and high visibility. This week.
- Depressed. Personal stuff. K and I are fine, it's other stuff.
- Still exhausted. Went straight home and into bed the past 2 days.
- In pain. Damn that tetanus shot hurts!
- Annoyed. Woke up this morning and found our phone doesn't work.
On the flip side, I hear that my bro and fam have moved into their sweet new digs in NYC. Hooray! And we're celebrating our joint birthday party tomorrow. Double Hooray! Did I mention it's my birthday tomorrow? I'd almost forgotten. Here's a shout out to Mom - thanks Mom!
Here's to nowhere to go but up! And now for a quick nap...
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Winds of Change
K and I saw a few friends this weekend who are moving out of the area. *sniff*
Two are a couple who are moving to Baltimore for his job. D had a horrendously long slog getting his various impressive (at least to me) degrees, and this is a huge reward for him. (Yes, even Baltimore!) I am very very happy to see how happy he is, and very very sad to see the two of them move away. S was a theater co-conspirator in Ye Olde College Dayz, so it's been a treat (understatement) to have her nearby. If anyone has managed to teach me a smidgen of manners, it's her. (Sorry Mom, you never stressed the value of thank you notes.)
The other person leaving town is my stalwart baseball buddy, the Q. He's finished his giant-brain degree at that other school, and is headed to some town in the Midwest that I've never been to. I hear it's a cool place though. He'll need mukluks. Again, I'm very excited for his career, and very personally, selfishly sad he's leaving.
Even some local-area friends (with a totally adorable newborn) are moving house across the bay.
Change is hard!
We'll just have to steal some left-behind friends, those people we've met for years at mutual gatherings and thought, "Hey, they're cool, we should hang out sometime." It's worked for us before, and it's a nice way to build a circle of friends. Makes explaining how you met a little hard though. "Well, we know the same couple who don't live here anymore..."
Safe travels to all. Send email and links to photos!
Two are a couple who are moving to Baltimore for his job. D had a horrendously long slog getting his various impressive (at least to me) degrees, and this is a huge reward for him. (Yes, even Baltimore!) I am very very happy to see how happy he is, and very very sad to see the two of them move away. S was a theater co-conspirator in Ye Olde College Dayz, so it's been a treat (understatement) to have her nearby. If anyone has managed to teach me a smidgen of manners, it's her. (Sorry Mom, you never stressed the value of thank you notes.)
The other person leaving town is my stalwart baseball buddy, the Q. He's finished his giant-brain degree at that other school, and is headed to some town in the Midwest that I've never been to. I hear it's a cool place though. He'll need mukluks. Again, I'm very excited for his career, and very personally, selfishly sad he's leaving.
Even some local-area friends (with a totally adorable newborn) are moving house across the bay.
Change is hard!
We'll just have to steal some left-behind friends, those people we've met for years at mutual gatherings and thought, "Hey, they're cool, we should hang out sometime." It's worked for us before, and it's a nice way to build a circle of friends. Makes explaining how you met a little hard though. "Well, we know the same couple who don't live here anymore..."
Safe travels to all. Send email and links to photos!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Sprouts-ville
One of the tourist attractions in Brussels is the Manneken Pis, or the fountain with a little boy peeing. Notice I didn't say "big attraction" (you'll have to click on the pic to actually see him). Anyway, the Bruxelleois are inclined to dress the poor guy up for any of a number of events, so I was amused to notice the very practical ladder chained up in plain view to the right of the tourist-swarmed fountain. You can see the feet sticking out below and to the right of the urn. I noticed it while I was looking for the "CAMERA SECURITY!" indicated by two signs on the wall. Couldn't find a camera. They must be pretty secure. 
I came back to my hotel early today to rest and, later, work. Turned into a nice day so I opened the window and set up shop. Not such a bad location, really.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
There's always a first time
Can you guess where I was yesterday? Stupid tourists were blocking the front, so the backwards picture was much more accessible. (This is a reverse of that one. Thanks, Photoshop!) Unfortunately, sometime before or after I took this photo, my wallet disappeared. I say "disappeared" because I can't honestly say I know it was stolen, and given I very jet-lagged at the time, there's a non-zero chance I unintentionally made someone's day (there was about $100 USD in my wallet, not to mention 3 credit cards and my California driver's license). Welcome to Teh Suck.
The folks at my hotel were fantastic, and encouraged me to check my bags again before sounding the alarm. Once I confirmed it was gone, they called Amex for me, helped me figure out how to pay for the room, and showed me how to get to the police station to file a report. Very nice folks.
After an initial panic, it broke down like this: my bank would re-issue me a one-time, temporary card within 4 business days. Amex would re-issue me my card from an Amex office, same-day. I had enough USD to convert to Euro to get a train ticket to Brussels so I could work on Monday. The only hitch was that there wasn't an Amex office in Amsterdam, or I might've gotten that sooner. All in all, not bad -- K could've wired me cash if it got really desperate, and my very lovely colleagues were all willing to loan me cash until I got things straightened out. Room service, here I come.
The good news: I had a nice hotel room with internet access, and took a very nice bath. My friend D cheered me up (in chat) with stories of his misadventure in Denmark, when he and his girlfriend lost their rental car keys on the beach and the super high-tech Volvo locked itself down so they got to retrieve their belongings through the window and crash with a local beach entrepreneur for the night. I was doing pretty well by comparison.
Unfortunately the most I saw of Amsterdam was on the tram on the way to the train station. I think between the beer, museums, and nice walks, K and I could have a really nice week there. We'll definitely bring safely belts though. No purse for me!Can you see why Amsterdam really reminded me (visually) of Cambridge, Mass? I knew you could.
Oh - in all my years of traveling, this is the first time I've lost my wallet. Feh!
Friday, June 8, 2007
How not to get hired
I participated in a job interview and review today where we opted to pass on a candidate for the sole reason that he was too negative.
He had worked at a company that was, by all standards, dysfunctional (and is now shut down). He worked on a project that has been poorly received in the marketplace. He took on a wide variety of tasks on that project and completed them effectively.
Here is how he presented that history: he worked with idiots, his project sucked, and he kept adding taks to his plate because his coworkers were unwilling to do unattractive (though necessary) jobs.
When asked directly what he would have changed about the company or the project, he had no ready answer. He really had to think, and even then his answers were composed entirely of "not do this" and "fix that" and "correct this person's mistake." None of his answers were positive or actionable, such as "do this" or "add that" or "redo my work in this superior way."
We tested him thoroughly, as we do all candidates. He complained several times, to several different people, about the amount of work required to complete our tests (even mentioning more than once that he should be paid to do that much work).
Here are some examples of how he could have experienced exactly the same set of circumstances, and been exactly as honest, and also been positive (and likely have been hired):
"My last project could have been successful if we had..."
"I did my best to help the team get everything done, whatever it took."
"Your tests are very thorough. You must have highly qualified staff!"
When faced with tough times, the successful and inspiring and desirable approach is: Take on what you can handle. Encourage your teammates and seek ways to meet goals while keeping everyone sane. After the tough times are over, use hindsight to look at the situation anew and figure out ways it could have been made easier or been handled more effectively. Focus on what people did right and how to do more of that.
Being negative doesn't just make the hard times harder. It can directly prevent you from getting into a better situation (as it did in this case), because people want to work with positive, supportive, solution-oriented, learning coworkers.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
The Venice of the North
I'm hanging out in Bruges, Belgium for a few days, World Historical Site and cute little town. Medieval architecture, horse-drawn carriages, and cobblestones abound.
Did you know that the standard side-dish for most main courses in Belgium is fries? Life is good.
I've mentioned before that my ideal America is one where gas is as expensive as it is in Europe, and the additional cost pays for public transportation. (Spare the Air days are another fantasy come true -- free transportation!) Imagine the advertising possibilities!
Sunday, May 27, 2007
No Car Saturday!
In light of reports that more Americans are driving this weekend than ever (in spite of the crazy-high gas prices) K and I decided to do everything via public transportation instead. (For those of you not in the US, it's Memorial Day Weekend. Most folks get Monday off.)
We considered taking the ferry to Angel Island for the day, but the 8am start didn't happen. Instead, we:
It was a cool day, originally overcast and burning off around noon. The pace of strolling, window-shopping, stopping for a rest, interacting with other walkers was quite civilized. And while the bus schedule was somewhat less that reliable, it was a nice conveyance for a holiday weekend.
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