South Bay Soliloquies

Leaving Los Angeles

2011-06-18T17:56:00.001-07:00

I'm leaving Los Angeles soon to pursue new adventures in Dallas, TX. If you like what you read please continue to follow my antics at:

Dallas Detour

Recipe: Crab Rangoon

2011-04-10T21:37:00.000-07:00

When I lived in Butte, one of my favorite restaurants was Asia Garden. Situated off in one of the lesser-used entrances to the mall, Asia Garden was one of a small handful of Chinese restaurants in town, and they had the red wall hangings and big round table with the lazy susan to prove it. While I frequented the restaurant quite frequently with one of my former boyfriends, and later with friends and family, I never figured out the name of the proprietor.

I don't even quite remember my list of "usual" dishes I'd order there, although I vividly remember my now-ex-boyfriend always ordering the sweet-and-sour chicken. Maybe I ordered sesame chicken. Or cashew chicken. I think they had a good rendition of Moo Goo Gai Pan. The mu shu pork was decent too. I remember getting wonton soup there a lot, but eventually crossed over to hot-and-sour territory. But indelibly marked in my mind was the crab rangoon appetizer. Little triangle-shaped pillows filled with cream cheese, imitation crab, a touch of ginger and the tiniest hint of chives. Delicious.

I've made them a few times since, always using real crab. And they are tasty. I usually prefer a 2:1 ratio of crab to cream cheese, although you can feel free to fiddle with it.

4 oz. cream cheese
8 oz. crab meat (I usually use canned crab)
1 TB. minced ginger
1 tsp. chopped chives
wonton or egg roll wrappers

In a bowl, mix the cream cheese, crab meat, ginger and chives together thoroughly. Dab a bit of filling in the center of the wrapper, and wrap the wrapper up. Asia Garden makes these up in triangle forms, where one point of a square-shaped wrapper is brought over to it's opposite point. But you can make them up in any variety of traditional wonton folds. Deep fry for a couple minutes, in batches.

Alternatively you can spray a mini-muffin pan with an oil and place a wonton wrap in each cup. Spoon a spoonful of filling in the center of the wonton wrap, and bake in an 350 degree oven for around 10 minutes.

Backpacking Recipe: Chicken Curry Wrap

2011-04-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

Got this from Backpacker Magazine and tried it out this weekend after our trip (it ended up being cold and rainy so we opted to stay in a hotel and have a slightly different adventure around Palm Springs). It's super-filling and really tasty, so I just know it will work great for when we actually do go backpacking. It serves two generously.

Before you go, pack in a 1-quart ziploc bag:
1 TB. salted cashews
1 TB. raisins
1/2 TB. curry powder (oooh imagine how awesome this would taste if you made your own curry powder!)
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Pack separately:
1 2.5 oz ranch dressing cup (Hidden Valley makes these, you can find them in the regular dressing aisle)
1 foil package of chicken (found near the foil packages of tuna and salmon)
2 tortillas or pitas (we actually filled 3 pitas with this)

When you're ready to eat, add the chicken and ranch dressing to the ziploc bag and mix thoroughly. Fill the pitas or tortillas with the curry mixture, and eat.

You don't even taste the ranch dressing with this, and there are enough textures and flavors going on that it tastes like "real" food and not reconstituted-in-the-woods food. I'm almost tempted to see what this would be like heated in camp over rice.

Earwax

2011-03-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

I told this story to my boyfriend last night and he about doubled-up laughing. So I thought I'd share it with everyone, because it *is* funny, and also because I can definitely say I've gotten something out of dating so many people who were so obviously not right for me.

I used to date this dude who would tell me his earwax smelled sweet. On occasion he would proffer me a used q-tip, saying, "Smell it!"

No. I don't want to smell your earwax. I don't even want to smell mine. The rabid curiosity of people-with-Y-chromosomes and their bodily fluids/substances never cease to amaze me.

So imagine me getting chased around this guy's apartment by him wielding a earwaxy q-tip.

Yeah. He was a real winner, that one.

By the way, I have so-called "dry" earwax. Most Caucasians have "wet" earwax. Learn more about it here.

Chicken Marsala

2011-03-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend made this for me Valentine's Day weekend. So delicious! I tried making it a few weeks later but it didn't come out the same. We decided that I made the chicken part the best and he made the sauce part the best. So the next time we make it together I guess that's how we'll divide who does what.

I made this tonight with a leftover chicken breast that I sliced up.

Adapted from the Cooking for Engineers recipe.

2 Boneless Chicken Breasts
Salt, Pepper, whatever else you like to season your chicken with
1 TB Crushed Garlic
1/4 c. Shallot or Onion, finely chopped
8 oz chopped mushrooms
1 c. sweet Marsala wine
1/2 c. heavy cream
Some starch (fettuccine, mashed potatoes) to serve with the chicken marsala.

Season and saute the chicken breasts as you normally would. Set aside. In the same pan add the shallots and garlic. If you need a little more oil you can add it as well. Saute for a few minutes, then add the mushrooms. Saute the mushrooms until they're ready. They'll turn dark brown and shrink. You'll know. If you have to ask they're not ready yet.

Add the wine, and reduce until it coats the back of a spoon. Stir in the cream and add the chicken back. Coat the chicken with the sauce, then serve over your starch.

Make Your Own Oatmeal Packets

2011-03-08T14:06:00.000-08:00

I lament I don't have photos for this. Maybe I'll go home and take some photos of the packets I made, then I can post them to show you.

I like oatmeal for breakfast on occasion. Not the instant Quaker Oats kind of oatmeal, but the rich, steel-cut kind. The stuff that tastes like anything but wallpaper paste. Add some dried fruit, a dash of cinnamon and a spoonful of heavy cream, and it's a filling breakfast. Perfect for cold mornings.

Anyway, I don't know of anyone who makes 'instant steel-cut oatmeal' packets, so I guess I'm stuck in making my own. There's something really convenient about not having to measure stuff out in the morning. Eyeball some hot water, add packet, mix and microwave. Really easy.

There's a fellow who did the cost breakdown using regular oatmeal, which is helpful. I think the steel-cut stuff is slightly pricier. I don't remember how much a canister of instant steel-cut oatmeal cost at Trader Joe's, but it couldn't have been more than $5.00. I bought a packet of their mixed fruit, which included golden raisins, dried blueberries, dried cranberries, and dried cherries ($3.99). I already had cinnamon and cardamom at home, and I bought snack-size Ziploc baggies beforehand (not sure how much that cost, but I plan on reusing them, so. . . . ).

I think a canister of steel-cut oats from Trader Joe's is supposed to be like 17 or 18 servings, which ends up being about $0.53 a packet when it's all said and done. Not bad for a tasty breakfast, and way cheaper (not to mention healthier) than anything I could buy for myself! I guess I'm also not counting the cream or milk, but technically you don't have to add that.

Instant Steel-Cut Oatmeal Packets

1 canister of steel-cut oats from Trader Joe's (McCann's is also good, and I think Quaker also makes steel-cut oats)
1 8-10 oz bag of dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, cherries, apricots, whatever)
Cinnamon
Sugar (optional, I didn't add this but a lot of people like their oatmeal sweet)
Cardamom (optional)
Snack-size ziploc-style baggies

Put 2 TB (1/4 cup) of oatmeal in each baggie, until there is no more oatmeal left to dole out. I think this turns out to be close to 20 baggies for the Trader Joe's oats. The "number of servings per box" is probably a good number to start with.
Add 1 TB of dried fruit to each baggie. If you have a little left over you can distribute the remaining fruit among all the baggies. If you have a lot left over it's probably best to save for another time or use.
Add a big dash of cinnamon to each packet, and a little dash of cardamom. If you like sugar you can add a tsp of sugar to each packet.
Seal up all the baggies, and you can store them in the canister they came in.

When you're ready to have oatmeal for breakfast, you can mix one packet with 3/4-1 cup of water (the recipe on the box says 3/4 cup, but you also need a little extra to rehydrate the fruit) in a deep bowl. Microwave for two minutes, stir, and then microwave for 3 extra minutes. You might have to recalibrate the recipe if you're using a different brand of steel-cut oat. Let stand for one minute, then add cream or milk before serving.

I'm getting into backpacking, and the idea of packing my own delicious breakfast-away-from-home is really exciting to me. I can just grab a couple packets, throw those in my bag, and go!

On "Still Having It"

2011-01-31T20:40:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend recently went on holiday for a few weeks, leaving me somewhat stranded in L.A. I attempted to entertain myself, with and without friends, with some success. Actually, I did a lot and did a good job of entertaining myself in L.A. over the two weeks, even though emotionally I was somewhat of a basketcase.

The night before he was to return, I decided to go see 127 Hours by myself. I dressed up, treated myself to sushi, then headed over to the theater, like I used to in my single days. My big "Single Girl Night Out" involved going to the same Japanese restaurant and downing plum champagne and spider rolls before heading over to the adjacent movie theater to see a film where I could pick my own seat. The theater has changed somewhat, so now the seating is a free-for-all. I guess you can't expect things to stay the same. Everything always changes.

I got to the theater early, so I sat on one of those long cushy benches to wait for people to filter out. There were some screens set up so you could watch upcoming movie trailers.

"You could almost skip buying a ticket and come here to watch the trailers." This guy was sitting on the other end of the cushy bench. Blue jeans, button down shirt. He was the only other person hanging around, so I guess he was talking to me.

"Yeah, some of them look pretty good."

He gets up, then walks over to me. "Hi, I'm John." We shake hands and he sits down next to me. John is an architect and lives in Playa. We chat for a few minutes while he waits for his friend to show up. He introduces me to his friend, who I honestly don't remember. They turn to go into the theater, and then John turns back to me.

"Hey, I never do this, but you're kinda cute. Can I have your number?"

Marathon Doping

2010-12-09T09:49:00.000-08:00

I'm not plugged into the running news like Don is with cycling, but I read this today and thought it would be good to share.

The Confessions of Eddy Hellebuyck

It's a very well-written editorial; I'm so used to Runners' World publishing new diet and training fads. I was pretty sad when The Penguin left Runners' World and it felt like the quality of writing there declined dramatically. So this piece was very refreshing to me.

Dinner Tonight - Greek Chicken & Pasta

2010-11-10T10:50:00.000-08:00

I just found a recipe that will save my evening.

I wanted to make something that involved penne pasta and chicken, with minimal cleaning and tasty. Of course that pretty much leaves me with heavy alfredo and tomato sauces, but I found something that I think will be just as tasty and healthier:

Penne with Greens, Olives and Feta

Yes! He loves olives, so I think this will be a hit. Coupled with chicken breasts marinated in olive oil, lemon juice and oregano, ala Braised Greek Chicken and Artichokes, I think that would be tasty.

One Year Later

2010-10-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

Just a year ago I ran my first marathon, not knowing what it was going to be like after mile 20 or how hard or painful it would be to just keep going, one step in front of the other. There are some official race photos where it's obvious I'm walking and in pain. Quads and feet aren't supposed to burn like that. I remember around mile 18 my feet swelled up in my shoes and I honestly didn't know if I was going to physically be able to keep going. By mile 20 my feet weren't bothering me anymore, but it was certainly a scare for me. I had made the cosmic bet that I was going to finish that day, and I had gone all-in with everything I had.

I accomplished my goal, which I admit at this point seems fuzzy and perhaps contradictory. To be honest when I crossed that finish line I was just happy to not be pushing myself forward anymore. I didn't feel changed, or like I had restored whatever honor or face I thought I'd lost. It was anti-climactic and somewhat disappointing. I remember my friends had opened a bottle of champagne with dinner that night and all I really wanted to do was lie down and hope my legs would stop hurting. The realization I might have actually accomplished something came months later, when I was thinking about going out for a run and thinking, "Damn! 26 miles is far!" It came when I would tell people I was training for a half or another full, and they would give me those funny looks that said "You're crazy!"

Where do you go from there? When you've spent so much energy consumed by one goal, what happens after? I guess in my case I go out and do it again. I really enjoy running half marathons, and I feel I'm a strong-enough runner where I can start to strategize my approach to running half marathons pretty well. Full marathons are another story. I still feel I'm just surviving that distance.

I'm stronger and faster today than I was a year ago. I'd like to think I'm healthier mentally and emotionally as well. I probably still push myself much too hard in races and not hard enough in training, but it's something I can work on.

I'm running marathon #2 this weekend - MCM again - it's a nice course and the logistics/support are most excellent. Plus my dad can get off my case about the colors they use on the ribbon (I'm pretty sure it's going to be scarlet and gold this year - 35 years of MCM!). I bought a bike recently and I'm going to incorporate some triathlons into my racing season next year.

I haven't peaked yet - I'm not sure I'll run MCM next year, as it's an expensive trip for me, but I'm certainly going to keep running!

President Obama Speaks at USC

2010-10-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

I got to hear President Obama speak at USC on Friday. Unfortunately I didn't get to see him because of the way the stage was set up and the size of the crowd.

I really hoped he would have a very inspirational, motivating speech, but it was just a pro-Democratic stump speech. I thought he sounded a bit desperate. I was really sad and disappointed as President Obama is known for his uplifting and inspirational speeches and I hoped I could hear something I could take away from the experience.

I've been trying to find a place to upload his speech (around 20 min, 521 MB). If anyone knows of a good free video hosting site, please let me know so I can get the video out.

And hey Trojans. . . . .Fight On!

What Else He Shaves

2010-10-21T00:19:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to think I must *really* suck at relationships. They fail when I feed them with much love and affection, they fail when I feed less love and affection. They fail when I try too hard. They fail when I give up trying. What? What is it? Why can I get it to work?

I'm a bit lost that people say women have so much power in relationships, because I just am not seeing that at all. I don't think I'm ever going to get married to that guy who's the perfect teammate for me and have little fat babies. I'll have fat Shiba Inus instead. Because the people love just isn't working for me. It's tragic and I'm frustrated and I honestly cannot figure out what I'm doing wrong. I can suspect, and change the gameplan a little each time I go out with someone new, but it's always, without fail, an epic failure every time.

How is it that I can be so damn smart and yet so dumb with this relationship bullshit? I mean, the player I knew in college got married, and the jerk who used me to move to South Bay before dumping me has been married for a year and a half already.

Maybe I'm just un-marriable.

Strangely enough I think I'm picking better guys with each iteration, although the last guy (not the current guy) is a bit of an outlier. Weirdo.

Anyway. We had this "State of the Relationship" talk the other night. One of the the things that came up was jealousy and opposite-sex friendships. I thought we had already talked about it, but apparently we didn't really see eye-to-eye on things. I certainly did not see that I was here and he was way the fuck over there (on that topic, the relationship, etc. etc.). How'd I miss that? To tease me at the end of the conversation, he said,

"So who's this guy you went to dinner with the other night?"

"He's a friend from cycling. He's nice; I got the impression that he wanted it to be a date but I told him beforehand that I had a boyfriend. He seemed disappointed, poor guy."

"You're not attracted to him?"

"No, not really."

"Why not?"

"Uh (I don't need to look when I'm *with* someone already! Gee, one guy is hard enough for me to figure out! What am I gonna do with two!?), I don't know. He's a cyclist. He shaves his legs. That's weird." (Sorry Don! I had to say something!)

"He shaves his legs huh? I wonder what else he shaves?!"

"Eew!"

So There I Was . . . . .

2010-09-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

Standing in Victoria's Secret, a bit vexed they didn't have the pretty lacy "lilac frost" panties to match the bra I found, and perturbed that their selection of pretty white delicates were lacking. I have the free cotton panties in my hand, along with the white delicates I decided to settle for.

A fellow who was there with his wife and small daughter looked at me, and said, "You work at The Company, right?"

I honestly never saw this fellow before in my life. How the hell did he know? "Uh, yeah. I work at The Company."

"I knew I recognized you! I see you all the time walking by my building! You're always going somewhere!"

"Yeah, I'm on my way to Coffee Bean." I'm standing there with panties in my hand talking to some married guy I've never seen before who's apparently been spying on me at work long enough to notice that I frequent the nearby cafe. This seems ripe for comedy.

"That's right! You're always walking back with coffee!"

He's got me like a deer in headlights now, because I'm not walking to Coffee Bean all that much these days. Not only that, but how can someone notice me for so long and yet not eventually say hello and introduce himself? Preferably in the context where he's been noticing me, and not in a lingerie store?

I'm not sure whether to be slightly disturbed that this guy recognized me without my Company Badge (which, if you don't socialize with coworkers, ensures your anonymity at The Company. At least, I have a hard time remembering names of people I rarely interact with when I don't see their badges), or to be perplexed that I was having a random conversation I did not initiate with a married man at Victoria's Secret.

At any rate, I obviously need to find a better way to get to Coffee Bean. Or do a better job at becoming a mistress of disguise. Or figure out how to exploit this strange ability or quirk to profit and make my millions.

Brown People vs. Black People

2010-09-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

You know how people are either brown people or black people? Brown or black being the predominant "accessory" color. Brown shoes, black shoes. Brown belt, black belt. Brown bag, black bag.

I've always thought I was a black person. I have more black shoes than brown, I think black eyeliner looks better on me than brown eyeliner (when I actually manage to wear the stuff).

And then of course he has to say, "I think you're more of a brown person, with your skin tone and hair color." Then again, he's biased, because he's most obviously a brown person.

So because I'm curious, here starts the great Brown Experiment of 2010. I'm still skeptical.

Dinner For One - Meatball Sandwich

2010-09-13T20:29:00.000-07:00

All right here we go. Really unhealthy today. You can see I'm trying to offset the meatballs by throwing in the carrots and broccoli, but then I lose points by adding the side of ranch dip.

I'm pretty sure this could be a dinner for two or three, but let's be lazy and say that I'm making a meatball sandwich for dinner and I'm gonna eat meatball sandwiches for lunch all week.

Meatball Sandwiches
1 bag of Trader Joe's frozen Meatballs
1 can of tomato sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes
garlic (I used a spoonful of pureed garlic from Trader Joe's)
olive oil
basil
oregano
pepper
provolone cheese
whole wheat french rolls

OK. Heat up a small saucepan, and pour in a little olive oil. When it heats up put in the garlic and add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Stir in basil, oregano and pepper. Wait for it to bubble and turn into a really good sauce. Add the meatballs and disappear for half an hour.

Toast the french roll, add the cheese and some meatballs, and eat. I recommend you be unhealthier than me and eat with potato chips. :)

Race Report - Heartbreak Ridge Half Marathon

2010-09-13T20:18:00.000-07:00

Apparently this means I'm a 27-year-old Civilian. Military types got a "M" on their right leg. I've never been involved in a race where they mark your legs up, so this was new to me.

The Heartbreak Ridge Half Marathon at Camp Pendleton was certainly more difficult for me than San Francisco. It was hot, the dirt-packed trail was uneven and hilly, and my foot decided to act up on me too. But finishing this race was certainly one of the most satisfying things I've done.

I really like being on Marine bases. I don't know why. It's just a nostalgic thing; I know what to expect from the experience and everyone is just there to have a good time.

There was a woman Marine who was carrying the flag that day; she was dressed in all black and on the flag were all the names of the people who died on 9/11. I'm not particularly sentimental about 9/11, but I thought what she did was pretty cool and she's much tougher than me. We passed each other up until just after the half-way mark, and then when we passed her up for the last time we chatted a bit. We remarked on the super-fast man who practically finished just as we were passing the 3-mile mark, and the uneven terrain. We were just past 9 miles when she said that they're going to send the snipers out in a couple miles. "Let's hope they miss!" I said.

I don't know if I'll do this race again; the shirts were pretty cool (although the fabric isn't the best technical t-shirt fabric) and it was really a nice experience to be on a base again and be around all that military spirit, but this was truly an energy-sapping race. On the other hand, it was really cheap ($40) and it was very, very satisfying to finish.

I ran this with a friend who runs triathlons. He is a much stronger runner than I am, even though he's been on the "cookie eating training plan". He gave me a bunch of tips on motivation and breathing, and I was able to give him tips on running hills. Even though he was stronger, I have a slightly better technique for charging up and down hills than he does. So that was nice that we could share knowledge like that with each other. Even though I kept pestering him to run on ahead of me, he insisted we stay together and cross the finish line together. It was really nice of him and his encouragement certainly helped me finish faster than I otherwise would have.

I Feel Like I Must Be A Racist. . . .

2010-09-10T15:42:00.000-07:00

Because I think the "good" dancer must be a black man. . . . and the "bad" dancer is a white engineer.

Psychologists Identify Killer Dance Moves For Men

Dinner For One - Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken

2010-08-31T18:28:00.000-07:00

I'm threw this together tonight after I realized I had all the ingredients.

The Alfredo sauce is based on the one I've posted before (incidentally one of the most popular posts on this blog), and I marinated the chicken breast in lemon juice and olive oil.

Alfredo Sauce

2 TB Butter
2 TB Heavy Cream
1/4 c. Grated Parmesan (I honestly have no idea how much I used, I'm a bit of a mouse and love cheese), plus more to top
Dash Nutmeg

OK, after marinating the chicken I sauteed it in some olive oil and garlic. Seasoned with salt, pepper, and paprika. You can add some Italian herbs if you like as well. While the first side was cooking I heated up my water for the pasta.

When the pasta was done I drained the pasta and put it somewhere else, somewhere not the pot. Melt the butter and add the cream to the pot, put it back on the stove on low. When the sauce gets warm and starts to thicken, add the cheese and noodles. Toss. Top with the nutmeg.

Why Do Free Upgraded Drinks Bother Me?

2010-08-17T21:18:00.000-07:00

I ordered an Original-sized Pomegranate Paradise with soy protein. Why did this dude just give me one that looks like the Original-sized cup took steroids? Sure, he was being flirty and extra helpful when I ordered, but. . . . oh. I get it now. It's not that I don't appreciate the favor, it's that I asked for one thing at a beverage counter (in this case, Jamba Juice), and distinctly got something I did not want. I'm pretty sure I eat enough sandwiches, so it can't be because they think I need to eat more. In which case, I don't think all the frozen smoothies from Jamba Juice can help me.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened to me. Go all the way back to 2006, Twin Falls, Idaho, at the Starbucks inside Barnes & Noble. There was this barista who had spent a lot of time in Lodi and in some weird way we got along and over time I realized he had taken a liking to me. He started adding stuff to my coffee orders as "favors" that totally annoyed me and made me not want to go there.

"Do you like it? I added an extra shot of espresso for you." Thanks man, now the coffee-to-flavor-to-steamed-milk ratio is all fscked up. If I drink the whole thing I am going to be extra-super wired for the rest of the day. This is not what I wanted. :(

I know I should just smile and roll with it, be grateful and thank the Beverage Gods that there are beverage service people who want to do favors for girls they think are cute. One day I will not be cute anymore, and the baristas and juice guys are not going to surprise me with an upgraded drink for free.

But man, it bothers me. It's not fair to all the other random strangers who wander into the cafe or juice joint and wander out with exactly whatever drink they ordered. It bothers me because I don't want to turn into one of those snobby bitches who ask the barista to scoop off the foam (why would I do that?!? The stuff tastes great!). It bothers me that I can't be a random stranger whenever I go to whatever place. I gotta be the odd person out. I should take my free upgrade and run, but I wish I didn't feel so guilty about it.

I don't get this kind of treatment at my Coffee Bean near work. They're all just nice to me because I go there a lot and we're all friendly. They know what I like (it's Americanos with room now) and they've never tried to surprise me with some magical "favor".

Whitewater Kayaking

2010-08-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I spent up at the Kern River whitewater kayaking. I took a 101 course from Shannon at Sierra Sports, and she's an awesome instructor and guide.

I obviously don't have quite the upper body strength or endurance for two full days of kayaking, but I had a lot of fun and learned something new. I didn't quite get to the point where I could perform rolls unassisted, but I'm sure with practice I'll get there. I got banged up a bit on some Class II/III rapids that turned me over and forced me to bail out, but it was all in good fun.

One of the best parts about the weekend was the camping! I haven't been camping in years and even though there were no showers and just a port-o-potty, I had a great time. I saw the most magnificent sky of stars both Friday and Saturday nights. We saw 5 meteors on Friday night and 3 on Saturday (probably part of the Perseid meteor shower), plus a couple spy satellites on Saturday night.

If you're ever up by Bakersfield and want something fun to do, go check out Sierra Sports and take a class from Shannon!

Olivia

2010-07-21T21:47:00.000-07:00

I met a delightful little girl at the podiatrist's today.

I was sitting in the waiting room reading a magazine when she approached me with a cup of water she drew from the water cooler. "Here you go!" she said. She drew a cup of water for herself and sat down next to me.

"Thank you! That's very thoughtful of you! What's your name?"

"Olivia. What's yours?"

"Diane."

"Diane? Do you have a little girl?" Holy shit. The questions little girls ask.

"No, I don't have any daughters or sons."

"Do you have a husband?"

"No, I don't have a husband either!"

Olivia's mom came in and started putting Olivia's shoes on. "Mommy, this is Diane, and she doesn't have any little girls and no husband either!" Apparently Olivia found my lacking of daughters and husbands noteworthy.

Where was I? Oh yeah. Podiatrist's office. If you ever want a podiatrist in South Bay Los Angeles, I got you one. This guy is awesome. Dr. Thompson on Skypark in Torrance, but he also has an office on Sepulveda in Manhattan. Best doctor I've met in South Bay so far.

Anyway, I'm cleared to race on Sunday. Yay! And both my podiatrist and my physical therapist think I need as little support as possible - neutral shoes all the way for me.

I'm going to drive up to San Francisco tomorrow, and it's going to be excellent. Tomorrow also happens to be 100 days to MCM as well. The countdown is on!

So Sunday. A year ago I ran the same race, and it was quite possibly the most awesome running experience of my life. Yes, it trumps my beloved first marathon. When I finished the race I had the most magnificent runner's high. I was certainly not the fastest half-marathoner that day, but to me, I had just conquered the known Universe. And I really wanted to f*** someone. (Hey, conquerors claim prizes all the time, right?)

On top of all of that, I also PR'd that day (PR stands for Personal Record). I think my time was something like 2:37. It is easily the toughest half-marathon course I've run, but I had my best time to date.

I'm going to take that bridge by storm this year. Bring it, hills of San Francisco! And I'm going to break 2:30. . . . or else I'll just go back next year and do better.

Speed Bump

2010-07-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm officially not ever shopping at your store again, Road Runner Sports! You might have screwed my 2010 racing season up for good!

I went in last weekend to get a new pair of shoes. Mine were starting to get a bit fatigued and I thought it would be nice to have a new pair for my race next weekend. They were Mizuno Wave Rider 12s, a neutral shoe. I never had any problems with them and enjoyed running in them.

At Road Runner Sports, one of the things I liked (read that, liked! I'm not liking you guys anymore!) about their store is that they have some pressure sensitive mats and a video camera on a treadmill that can analyze how you step, how high your arch is, etc.

Well, my left foot overpronates a bit. Nothing to be worried about, and while I do have nagging pains every once in a while on my left side, it's nothing I freak out about. I just make sure I stretch and chalk it up to my body's unique idiosyncrasy.

The girl at RRS practically snapped at me, "Who said it was OK for you to run in neutrals! You should be in stability shoes!".

For the record, no, no I do not need to be in stability shoes. Give me my neutral Mizunos and leave my overpronating left foot alone.

So last night, I get the great idea to test out the new shoes (also Mizunos, but stability ones, with a stiffer sole) during my speed workout. My feet hurt a bit after the run, but I chalked it up to just breaking-in pains. By 9:00 PM, my left foot had a swollen lump on it (near the back of the arch) and was very painful. I iced it, and tried to go to sleep.

12:30 AM - I decided to go to the hospital, since the darn foot woke me up and I couldn't put a lot of weight on it.

4:30 AM - The doctor decides to "aspirate" the hematoma (bruise), but we get nothing. Great. I've been poked thrice (once for the numbing agent, two tries for the "aspiration") for nothing. The doctor did say she could inject some liquid Motrin, but I decline. They send me home with crutches. I'm slightly grateful for the crutches, because I'm not sure how I could have gotten to my car otherwise.

7:20 AM - I arrive at work after a short nap, sans crutches. For whatever reason my foot doesn't mind walking around so much.

All of this wouldn't be so stressful if I didn't have San Francisco's half next weekend. They don't defer registration, and I think even if I could get it deferred it's past the deadline (July 11th). Brilliant.

I'm totally going to return those shoes and never shop there again. If they're willing to exchange me some Wave Rider 13s (supposed to be very similar to the 12s) I'll concede them that, but no more shopping there for me. It's gonna be Village Runner or A Snail's Pace all the way.

Since I'm doing so well today I'm hoping I can just take it easy this week and next and be OK for the half marathon. I hope. Man it would suck having to tell my parents they can't watch me race because some blond bimbo at the store tried to tell me what would "work better" for my feet than what was already working fine. I should make her pay for the hotel and registration fee.

Restaurant Review - Rinaldi's

2010-07-13T22:01:00.000-07:00

Oh man, this place is awesome. I can't recommend this local sandwich shop more. They use Boar's Head Deli meats, have both hot and cold subs, and a large variety of chips. I'm never going to Subway again!

The new fellow I'm seeing recommended this place to me for lunch, and it's fantastic. I wish I had known about this place sooner, because it's pretty much right in my backyard.

I can't wait to get to San Francisco next week and hit up some of the Italian delis there, but I'm stoked that there's one I can frequent for lunch on a weekly basis.

I had the 6" USC Trojans today (come on! What else would I order?), and it was fantastic. Add some Kettle Chips and a drink to your order and soak up that sandwich bliss.

323 Main St
El Segundo, CA 90245
(310) 647-2860

The Gripping Hand

2010-07-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite operators in C++ is the ternary operator, rarely used in practice. I was first exposed to it my first or second year of college and immediately liked it. It was just such a quick and elegant way to express something that could take up four or five lines of code.

I'm not quite sure where I was going with this now, because I really wanted to talk about The Gripping Hand concept in Niven and Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye". Possibly because ternary operator makes me think of ternary logic, and this "gripping hand" concept kind of deals with that.

I think humans tend to be a bit binary in how we think (on one hand we have A, on the other hand we have B). So this idea of the Gripping Hand was novel and interesting to me in the book. Basically, the aliens in the novel have three hands; two hands for detailed work, and one heavy "gripping hand" for the strong-arm stuff. Because these aliens have three hands, their logic follows suit: on one hand we have A, on the other hand we have B, but on the gripping hand, C.

One of my classmates from USC, who you could say is one of those engineer-types who needs the ideal, perfect solution, asked me which job offer of two he should take. "Job A makes more money and is stable, but Job B is innovative and unstable. I'd get to program with Job B." He liked neither offer enough to pick one on his own. "So go hunting for more jobs," I said. Not that he liked that idea any better, but hey. I guess even the Gripping Hand argument can't win all the time.

Every Time I'm Disappointed . . . .

2010-07-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

I try to tell myself that I wasn't entitled to whatever I thought I was supposed to get. Why this is such a difficult concept for others in my generation, I'll never know. It certainly is frustrating trying to explain the concept to people who just don't want to see it. Maybe I am not being articulate enough.

For example, I'm not entitled to receiving e-mails from random strangers from whatever online dating service I use decides it wants to match me with. I'm not entitled to phone calls from certain guys I happen to be infatuated with. Unless I'm actually in a relationship with some person and can reasonably expect a certain behavior from that person, I'm not entitled to whatever behavior I thought I was going to get from that person. Or something like that. (While it's possible I can correctly predict what will happen given two data points, that is certainly no guarantee, and it's not fair of me to blame the other person for the surprise.)

I have to treat myself respectfully and love myself fully before I can garner any similar feelings for or from another human being. By putting the responsibility of my happiness and satisfaction in my life out of my hands and into someone else's, I've automatically doomed myself to disappointment and misery.

Also. . . .isn't it nice that life isn't quite what I expected it would be? For all the downs, I've had some pretty awesome ups as well, including ones I was not anticipating.

Race Report - Redondo Beach 4th of July 5K

2010-07-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

Well today surely could have gone better. I can't imagine it going worse!

It was kind of the perfect storm of crappy circumstances. I had wanted to PR for this 5K but I knew I had slim chances, given I did a long (7.5 mile) run yesterday that I consider a resounding success. In the grand scheme of things I feel the long run was a lot more important to feel good about than the 5K.

Showing up at the race at 7:00 AM wasn't early enough this year; the awesome parking spot I had last year had already been taken, so I had to park about a block and a half further away. Not bad, but there aren't many free parking spots in that part of town. I can't imagine how ridiculous it will be next year, having to show up 90 minutes before the race.

I do really love how much support this 5K gets every year. It's also fantastic to see all the parents out with their kids and dog people out with their dogs. I saw a pair of Dalmatians who were just raring to go, as well as a woman with both a Dachshund and a very grumpy German Shepherd. Lots of happy Labrador Retrievers as well.

The weather was great for running; not sure what the actual temperature ended up being, but it was overcast and relatively cool.

From this day forward I will not deviate from my proven breakfast strategy of Clif bar and banana chased with water and sometimes coffee. Oh man. I thought I'd be fine with cereal and strawberries since that was what I had yesterday morning, but no. My race day stomach would not have anything of it.

TMI warning, but this was my first race where I had to deal with day 1 of a "monthly" visitor. Totally not fun. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later.

My legs were still pretty tired from last night's run, and about halfway through my calves and ankles were screaming, "What fresh hell is this, woman? What is WRONG with you?" I did have to stop and walk a few times, but I think overall I'm a much stronger runner now, even compared with last year.

I was able to have an all-right kick at the end, and I definitely pushed myself pretty hard that last mile; hopefully the photos come out with me looking like a winner and not desperate or goofy-looking. I want some awesome "I am woman, hear me roar!" finish photos some day. My time? 33:44 (10:53 min miles). Not bad considering the situation. Maybe I'll sign up for a Turkey Trot this fall and try to PR then. I definitely think I'm capable of a sub-30:00 5k under better personal conditions.

Now I Wonder

2010-07-02T17:07:00.000-07:00

I was a little surprised at getting picked up at my apartment on our last date. I didn't really have the time to "sanitize" the place. Now I gotta wonder what he must have thought when he most likely saw this stack of books in my bookshelf (top shelf, center stack):

Well? Don't you?

Baggage

2010-07-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

We all have emotional baggage. That shit that weighs us down, that we drag through the years hoping to somehow unburden ourselves of it. If we're really awful, we force the people around us to carry it for us. If we're really evolved, we've discovered how to just let it go. If you're like the rest of us, you pull it all hoping that it doesn't get any heavier.

One particular piece of baggage that I've carried with me involves men and abandonment. When I was a little girl my dad used to be gone for six months out of the year. To this day I have no idea how my mom did it, because I'm fairly certain I'm much too insecure to deal with that.

I've always been afraid of being abandoned. I'd chase my boyfriends with phone calls because I wasn't secure enough to let them contact me. When they finally would abandon me, I would wonder why I even cared all that much about them in the first place. Knowing why a thing is broken doesn't do much in terms of fixing it.

He's lightened that load without me even realizing it. For the first time do I feel free in letting him contact me, secure of his attraction and desire. How refreshing to let him pursue me at his pace, knowing that he'll be back. There's a je ne sais quois about his attitude, about how he looks at me, and I just know that I have nothing to worry about. I'm safe with him.

I savor the sweetness and realize that I think nothing of calling him. Nothing of a text, an e-mail, a poke on the infamous book of faces. I relax in that I know he'll be back, and it's delightful.

Granted, I've just been exhausted too, so maybe I took that particular piece of luggage and left it at the last stop.

What Fresh Hell Is This?

2010-06-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

Just when you think you've got the world figured out Life throws you a curve ball. Happens every time.

All my friends would be right to say my love life is a mess. I've always wanted that certain special relationship. I've tried so hard to create that in my life, with whatever poor sap that was the mark for the next 8 months or how ever long he decided to stay around. I always strived to create that great relationship. Failed miserably every time.

Went through my whole emotional Renaissance. All "Let's be single until after grad school" planned out. Fully intended for that to happen. But I made a profile on eHarmony just in case I was matched with someone I took a liking to. At least create the opportunity to go out on a date if I wanted to. But honestly I've been exhausted about dating, about relationships, and none of my matches really excited me. The idea of logging on and looking sounds tiring. I probably have 15 communications sitting in my account right now that I just don't want to deal with.

So I meet this guy, and he's just, you know. Perfect. Went to grad school with a woman from work. Good buddies with her boyfriend. We met one night after I went to happy hour with my colleague. Next thing you know he's asked me out and he's just being the perfect gentleman and all. . . .dreamy. Perfect smile, warm brown eyes. Nice voice. Sweet on me.

And I feel like such a mess. If we had met a year ago I'd probably be doing all sorts of things to get in my own damn way. Now I'm just too drained to do anything but let him be nice to me. He knows quite a few of my embarrassing stories (like the one I don't think I told anyone in L.A. - how'd he tease that story out of me?), and read my whole story of why I run and was somehow not scared off by the fact I used to be a Marine Officer Candidate. Practically poured over my entire Facebook profile and read everything. Somehow did not get scared off.

He makes me feel comfortable and safe and I don't get creeped out that he's interested in me. Did I mention we have compatible interests (runs triathlons!) and he loves to travel? Not to mention has great stories? Don't get me started on how I asked him the "would you go to Mars?" question and even though he didn't say yes, his answer reminded me of something I read in this article and made me say, "Aw! That's so sweet!"

My colleague is really excited. Before we went out on our second date, she asked me when it would be. "I don't know, but it's a little late to set up something for this weekend."

"Oh! You're supposed to go out on date #2 this weekend and then you're supposed to get married!!"

Say what?

Turns out we did go out on date #2 this weekend. He called me Saturday to set it up. I normally don't like going out on such short notice but he's out of town until after the 4th and he's been punctual and completely not flaky. If we end up getting married she needs to go to the wedding to tell that story. Because that would be a damn fine story to hear at a wedding.

But honestly, I'm terrified. I'm a deer in the headlights. My shit's not together, I'm not ready for this! I feel like I'm moving in slow-motion and the world is moving in real-time around me. It also feels like a giant conspiracy. Some star is looking down at my situation and having a great big laugh at my expense. Thanks Fate. Way to kick me while I'm down.

There is No "The One"

2010-06-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

I read this today in the comments section of a Slate advice article, and was overjoyed at the wisdom of this statement:

"Just to clear something up with my characteristic killjoy crabiness: There is no "The One." That is a fantasy sold to us by movies and romance novels. If you are looking for "The One" you will end up constantly chasing after greener grass once the initial heat of a relationship dies down, and, in my opinion, doing so will make you unhappy.

From my perspective, making a long-term relationships work takes dedication and compromise - deciding what you want and then sticking to it. Love is important, but secondary. Of course there are limits, but deciding that you're going to commit to a relationship does more toward making you satisfied in the relationship than love. Love(the eight month kind) comes and goes and in a relationship sometimes all you have to hang on to is your decision to hang on. That decision will make him "The One" more than anything else.

Sorry, not completely on topic, I know. Just like to blabber."

Now, just try telling this to the people I date. My relationships tend to last around 8 months. :-P

Inter-People Communication

2010-06-21T01:53:00.000-07:00

I watched season 1 of The Big Bang Theory this weekend. Every episode. That should prove sufficient nerdiness warning for this post!

In computer science there's this idea of inter-process communication, and a common method of accomplishing this is this other idea of message passing. Two different models of message passing are synchronous and asynchronous systems.

Synchronous systems require an acknowledgment before sending out the next message. Asynchronous systems don't care, just send the message!

I think dating usually works synchronously, although there are times when communication is asynchronous. I don't know about you, but those asynchronous points in communication cause a great deal of anxiety for me, mostly because I'm not sure if the message was received or not. I think guys have a similar problem; I read in a book somewhere that guys like getting an acknowledgment after a date that it went well. Not necessarily to set up the next date, but just to know that the lady had a good time. After experimenting with this a little bit, I've noticed that a quick text the day after a date will improve the odds that the guy will set up the next date quickly, by a factor of several days.

Quite obviously there is no way I'll be able to get social norms in dating to adhere to any kind of communication protocol (although I theorize that if we did have some sort of protocol we'd have a lot fewer misunderstandings). And I think that neither synchronous nor asynchronous message passing will provide an ideal solution that will enhance early-dating-communication while maintaining current social norms. But I do think some of the principles can apply successfully.

Say Bob wants to take Alice on a date, yet will be out of town next week. He doesn't want his window of being able to contact Alice to close, so he has to contact her before he leaves town. Given current social convention, Alice is free to respond any time while Bob is out of town, although if she's very interested in Bob, sooner is better than later.

But now Alice has to wait until Bob gets back! And even if Bob has access to his communications devices (because let's face it, who doesn't have their cell phone with them most of the time?), social convention dictates that Bob wait until he returns before he contacts Alice with the details of their date. This waiting causes a lot of anxiety for Alice, even though she already knows that Bob will probably contact her. If Bob sent a quick acknowledgment with a message that he'll contact her when he's back in town, Alice would have no need to be concerned. Or maybe Alice is just an neurotic.

Or maybe Alice would be so busy with her own life that she'd forget about Bob being out of town, and when Bob returned and contacted Alice, his window of opportunity on dating Alice would have closed (happened to me!).

Here's another example. Say Bob and Alice go out on their date. They have a good time, but Alice waits patiently for Bob to contact her for the second date. According to social convention, Bob must wait several days before contacting Alice again, but during that time doesn't really know if Alice had a good time or not. Bob stresses for several days waiting for the requisite time to pass. If Alice sent a message to Bob the next day saying she had a nice time, then Bob's anxiety is relieved. Or maybe Bob is a neurotic. (This maps to the anecdote I mentioned earlier)

At any rate, dating is very stressful for everyone involved. If we were all better communicators (or selective mind readers), things might go much more smoothly.

Skinny Jeans

2010-06-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

I'm getting "me" back. Not just getting "me" back, but really hanging on to the "me" I have. There was the guy from the internet, the guy from my department, the guy from the other department, and the guy from the parking lot. Within a span of 24 hours I simultaneously lost interest in all of them (the guy from my department is, let's say, one of those people who you wish would permanently bother someone else), mostly because I felt too exhausted to get involved with or deal with any of them. Even though I have a lot of free time now to sit, navel gaze, and watch Netflix and YouTube all evening, I prefer it to whatever torture the dating world has dreamed up for me. I would rather have all of "me" than share myself with any fellow who is unwilling to share his half. And for me right now, I don't even think half would be nearly enough for me.
This morning, when I was dressing myself for the day, I pulled a pair of my fabled skinny jeans from the closet. The ones I saved for when I lost enough weight that I'd have my "beach body" back from last year. The ones that made me feel the sexiest and empowered. Miraculously enough, they fit! Not fit perfectly, but comfortably enough I could wear them and not look like an overstuffed bratwurst sausage.
I wonder what else will fit when I have more of myself to keep.

Where The Cute Girls Are

2010-06-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

I've had two married men independently tell me the same thing, so I'm thinking it must at least be true among the men I know at work. I'm now going to share their secret with the world, but only because I find it so hilarious.

Men scope out and keep a map (either in their heads or written down somewhere) of where all the hot girls at work sit.

I don't even know where the hot guys at work sit (Someone please tell me there are hot guys at my work!)!

And I thought women were the only ones who plot.

Movie Review - Robin Hood

2010-05-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

Say what you will, I kind of liked the Ridley Scott take on the Robin Hood myth. I would have much preferred the original conception of the film, which was to have the Sheriff of Nottingham be the protagonist (played by Russell Crowe), Robin Hood be the antagonist, and Maid Marion be the third side of the love triangle between the two. Somewhere in the middle of development the plot changed to having Crowe play both the Sheriff and Robin Hood, and finally they decided to go with a prequel of the original Robin Hood tale. Most of the film's faults could probably originated in the many script rewrites.

While not as good as Gladiator, the film is not awful and will probably improve dramatically if Scott gets to release a director's cut on DVD (or is it BluRay?). The acting is superb, even though Crowe's accent is all over the UK, and the fighting scenes are well-shot, although there are not nearly enough guerrilla fighting scenes that I feel should be in a Robin Hood film. Then again, if it was just another hash on what's been done many, many times before, the whole thing would have been boring, wouldn't it?

Cate Blanchett and Russell Crowe have great chemistry together. It's not an overt romance, and it's played delightfully. As much of a cad as Crowe is, I'm still charmed whenever his eyes are lighted just-so and he smiles with his self-satisfied grin that he's done something nice to win the lady over. And let's face it, the great favor he does for Marion *was* pretty amazing. Excepting the last battle, Cate Blanchett perfectly nails her updated version of Marion. Maybe it's because I'm getting older now, but I really wish Hollywood would just let women be women. I'm all for female empowerment, but that doesn't necessarily translate to having a token woman fight alongside the guys. I thought Marion's character was perfectly empowered for a woman of her time and situation.

Besides the "Marion does Joan-of-Arc" thread, the other thing I was fairly unhappy about was including Robin Hood in with the signing of the Magna Carta. It felt a bit reaching and I'm certain most American viewers don't even know what the Magna Carta is, let alone its' significance in history. I'm not quite sure how one would re-cut the film to minimize these scenes, as it's an fairly integrated subplot.

I did like how Robin Hood ends up in Nottingham to begin with, as it satisfactorily explains why the original stories have Robin with both peasant and noble roots. The antagonist Godfrey is far more scary and dangerous than the Sheriff of Nottingham, and if they do make a sequel to this film, it will be hard to feel satisfied running around Nottingham when Robin and his men have fought off the French army on the shores of England.

While the film is all right and worth a viewing, it's probably all right to wait until you can rent it. I would have much preferred seeing a film shot with the original version of the script, as it would have been ambitious and interesting without turning our protagonist into the Savior of England.

Also, here is a well-balanced review that I like.

Garden Update, Part Two

2010-05-09T17:01:00.000-07:00

After I did my garden update yesterday I went to Home Depot and saw they had ARTICHOKE plants in stock. Weeks ago my parents sent me these three Grow Boxes (Self Watering Containers that are supposed to be the best - and most expensive - you can buy; lots of people make their own though) that I hadn't yet planted with stuff.

Artichokes are supposed to want a lot of room, even though the directions with the Grow Box said you can plant 6 Artichokes in one box. So on the left I have 2 Artichokes, and behind in the other Grow Box I have Broccoli seeds waiting to sprout. On the right I have my pepper plants that I started from seed. They wilt a bit during the day and then spring back in the late afternoon. I'm not sure what to do about that, as they didn't seem waterlogged when I pulled them out of their old containers. When I transplanted them I also noticed that they've both developed quite a root system, so I'm pretty happy about that. And no, I don't know why the pepper in the back is so much smaller than the pepper in the front. I started them both at the same time, and have treated them the same as far as I know.

I really love eating artichokes, by the way, but they are so expensive. So I really look forward to growing my own. I eat a lot of broccoli too, so let's hope that I can eat as much as I can grow!

I'm enjoying my gardening experiment so far this year; I hope that it continues to go well!

Garden Update

2010-05-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here's another garden update!
I've been meaning to do this for a while; I guess it's been around three weeks since my last update. I have lots of lettuce sprouts! You can see the rose has put out some new branches, and the Early Girl is getting tall!

Not only is the Early Girl getting tall, but I spotted this cutie the other day! So hopefully I'll have tomatoes soon.

I've been noticing some weird stuff going on with the tomato foliage, on the Early Girl and both the Better Boys. At first I thought it was fertilizer burn but now I think it might be Early Blight? I've removed the worst offending leaves but what do you think?

The Better Boys.

I'm getting lots of baby strawberries! I'm pretty excited about these guys!

Of the four new offshoots the Peace rose has put out, one of them has a bud that is beginning to emerge.

The Home Depot California Wonder has lots of blossoms and fruit starting to form.

The mini rose that was my birthday present is also doing well, putting out lots of new buds and branches.

My parents sent me some Earth Boxes, but I'm not sure what I should *do* with them. I'm running out of room though. I've thought about putting the Bell Peppers I started from scratch in one, and maybe getting some Artichokes and putting those in another one. I'm a little worried about the Artichokes though because from what I've read they need a lot more space than the Earth Box can provide. Also, the potting mix I have isn't well-suited for self watering containers. Any ideas guys?

No Kids?

2010-05-07T07:48:00.001-07:00

Today is "Bring Your Child To Work Day" at my workplace.

This morning when I walked in, both of the guards (the one in the parking lot, and the one at the building), both asked, "No kids?"

Geez, I didn't think I looked *that* old. When I said that I was single and had no kids, both guards seemed embarrassed. I kind of thought it was funny.

Maybe I gotta start wearing my hair down at work or something!

Garden Update

2010-04-15T19:12:00.001-07:00

Am I way in over my head?
I am running out of room for containers!
I cut off the Peace rose buds when I saw them infested with aphids one afternoon. Not a ladybug in sight. The rose hasn't been putting out new leaves or anything like that, so I decided to help it focus on growing roots. I didn't really want to see what an aphid-infested bloom looked like, anyway.

I finally caged my tomatoes! The Early Girl is growing like a weed; as tall as the rose is. The Better Boys have finally figured out how to grow up and have started to put out leaves almost as prolifically as the Early Girl.
I added a jalapeno pepper and a patio tomato today. The Patio is supposed to be a cherry tomato. So we'll see. I also added a white carnation today too; it was horribly root-bound and I thought I could try dividing the plant. I was horrified to discover it was one plant! So I hope it survives. I wanted to use the pot that came with the miniature rose my parents gave me for my birthday, but when I tried to pour out some rainwater it slipped out of my hand and broke. Thankfully it was in clean pieces, so I'm going to try to epoxy the thing back together this weekend. Then it can serve as a water catcher for one of the carnations (if either of them make it)

My herbs are doing well; you can see I gave the chives a haircut (for the mashed taters I made earlier this week). I think the bottom herbs are getting a bit waterlogged though; the Thai Basil is still unhappy and you can see that some of the chives are yellowing. So I'm going to cut back and just water once a week and see how they do.
I started some mesclun seeds today; that's what the plastic is covering over the one pot. After they've sprouted I'll pull the plastic off. The Lobelia seeds haven't sprouted yet so I'm not sure what went wrong there. I've kind of given up on that idea though.

What else? The strawberries are really taking off too; the flowers that were there a couple weeks ago are now baby strawberries, and there are lots of other blooms and baby strawberries on their way as well.

Delicious, Delicious Mashed Potatoes

2010-04-12T07:21:00.001-07:00

Mashed potatoes is one of my favorite comfort foods. Okay, anything with potatoes, because when you combine them with fat (in the form of real butter), you get the perfect triage of starch, salt, and fat that makes for supreme bad-for-you deliciousness.

Francis Lam (who is fast becoming my favorite food author) just wrote an article on Salon covering the mashed potato, and his technique of preparing them.

I like to make mine by hand with a masher, and I leave the skins on. I use real butter (but some of the comments suggest olive oil, which I will definitely try) and milk. I usually cook a clove of garlic with the potatoes, and now that I have fresh chives from my garden I can add those in too.

Some of the other comments suggest a dash of nutmeg, which sounds interesting and I'd like to try that too, but I'm not so sure how well that will go with garlic.

Garden Update

2010-04-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

I transplanted the Peace rose today, as well as a pepper plant from Home Depot and a rose my parents sent me for my birthday. I also fertilized all the plants that I didn't transplant today, using Miracle Gro's Shake 'n' Feed plant food. It comes in a smaller shaker jar than the one in the link. I just read the FAQ on the product and it says not to use it for container plants. Oops. If anyone has any helpful gardening feedback they can give to me, I'd sure appreciate it!

On the left is the rose; I planted Lobelia seeds around the edge of the container. On the top right is the Early Girl and on the bottom right are Better Boys I planted from seed. I need to get tomato cages for these soon. These are all 7 gallon containers. You can get them at Home Depot for around $10.

The Early Girl tomato and the California Pepper I bought from Home Depot both have flowers on them. The strawberries have lots of flowers on them and I'm hoping I'll get to eat some fresh strawberries in May!

Movie Review - Clash of the Titans (2010)

2010-04-02T23:39:00.000-07:00

This update of the 1981 cult classic isn't bad when taken at face value. I'm honestly not sure exactly what all the critic hate is about. The original isn't exactly a gem, and already runs fast-and-loose with Greek myth.

I did take the critics' warning and shyed away from the 3-D theaters, since that seems where the bulk of the hate is centered. The film was intended as a 2-D picture, and the rushed up-conversion probably won't be worth your extra $5.

In all, I really enjoyed Clash of the Titans, which goes into the same campy/cheesy guilty pleasure bucket that films such as 300 belong to. Outside of the Kraken, I really liked all of the CGI character designs, my favorites being the Pegasus and Medusa. They really made horses fly, and it's absolutely fantastic. (I want one! My birthday is next week - can I have one for my birthday please?) The animators and character designers for Medusa really took the essence of her myth and brought it to the screen. She is both beautiful and hideous.

The throne room at Olympus is updated in several ways; the Greek stage human clay figurines "play" on has been converted into a satellite's view of the ground in the middle of the throne room, complete with cloud cover and water features. The clay figurines remain, but I didn't feel it was as hokey in this incarnation.

As much as people like to give Sam Worthington a hard time, I like his Perseus better. He's not nearly as silly Harry Hamlin's insipid version. I am both intrigued and annoyed with Gemma Arterton's Io. She's beautiful, we get that already. Using her as an expositionary device just makes her acting grating to watch (I can't imagine she'll be any better in Prince of Persia, where she plays a similar role). She does have the cheesiest line in the film, for whatever that's worth.

For fans of the original, Bebo is in the new film.

If you want to go see something fun and a bit mindless, I'd say this is a good film for that. It's definitely enjoyable if you don't expect it to be the next best thing to come out of Hollywood. Remember it's a remake of a cheesy flick, and it runs fast and loose with Greek myth. But then again, myths have changed to suit the teller's needs (one of the reasons so many versions of the "canon" myths exist). Buy popcorn and watch this from the back of the theater. And go see it in 2-D.

Container Garden

2010-03-29T08:31:00.001-07:00

I've decided to start a container garden this year, as my patio gets just enough light to get "stuff" to grow. I had started some stuff from seed, but only the tomatoes and peppers made it.

I planted a strawberry pot with lots of herbs, and another strawberry pot with strawberries. I have an Early Girl tomato that I bought from Home Depot, as I don't have faith in my tomatoes that I planted. I also bought another pepper plant, so I think I'll be making a lot of fajitas, chili, sloppy joes, and stuffed peppers with all the peppers I'll be harvesting.

My favorite roses are the Peace rose, and I bought one to plant. My track record with miniature roses is an across-the-board failure though, so we'll see what happens. I also bought a packet of Crystal Palace Lobelia to plant under the rose; I think it will make it look really nice.

I hope this experiment turns out well. If the strawberries don't last through the year I'll probably try alpine strawberries next year in the strawberry pot. I tried some years ago when I was in Amsterdam and thought they were delightful.

Here are some container garden resources:

Container Vegetable Gardening - from Ohio State University
Vegetable Gardening in Containers - from Texas A&M (pdf)

Texting While Socializing

2010-03-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

I saw this article on Slate and thought it would be interesting for discussion. (Is it just me, or are Slate and Salon hit-or-miss these days? Then again, I feel my blog is sometimes hit-or-miss, so I guess I shouldn't complain)

I was on a 2nd date once in an outdoor concert. My date seemed like a nice guy but I was bored to tears by him. I had a comrade text me several times about the date, and when I mentioned how awful it was turning out my comrade offered to call me with an "emergency" so I could leave. I didn't want to do that so I grit my teeth and waited the date out.

If I was genuinely interested in the guy I wouldn't have been texting my buddy. Then again, someone told me afterwards that if I was bored to tears then the guy deserved to have the girl be distracted/pulled away by other things. I'm not so sure I agree with that.

When I'm casually with someone I will answer phone calls and texts unless we are actively in the middle of a conversation. But if I'm just getting to know someone I like to give them my full attention.

It's Not Supposed to Be a Race. . . . .

2010-02-09T20:34:00.000-08:00

This whole Life thing isn't supposed to be a race, right? We're supposed to muddle through this whole thing and hopefully we come out at the end with whatever we put into our lives.

Yet I feel simultaneously ahead and behind. More behind than ahead.

The person I think of as my ex from college is getting married in May. The relationship didn't work out for a lot of reasons; mainly I think we were just young and ultimately had incompatible world views. We both did a lot of ugly stuff to each other. So it goes.

He bought a house and has a dog. He's getting married already. I didn't "lose" because he wasn't right for me but I feel like he's "winning".

It's easy to focus on all the stuff that I don't have. I don't have a house of my own. I don't have a dog. I don't have enough time to do all of the things I want to get done in the day.

I try to tell myself that it's better that things worked out the way they did. I'm too young to get married anyway; I'm working on a higher degree and don't have the time to put into a live-in relationship. I try to tell myself that I think I'm prettier than the other girl, although in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter. At. All. I try to tell myself that neither of them has completed a marathon and neither of them works for The Man I work for. (Even if The Man gets me down some days, I think the deal I have with The Man is pretty good.) I'm fairly certain that I make more money than he does, or that I at least started out making more money than he does. I try to tell myself that it's hard to make it in L.A. and that if I was living in Sacramento making the money I do here I could easily afford to buy a house of my own.

Yet all of that feels hollow. It feels the weight of what I've gained since we parted is less than the weight of what he's gained. I feel like it should be even. It should be fair.

I try to tell myself that most married people are miserable, that many first marriages end in divorce. On the other hand I tell myself it's a good thing he found someone who is compatible with him. Someone who is a little older and has the compatible brokenness to deal with his mother issues I could never handle. It's a good thing they look happy together.

He told me once that he thought I'd never marry. He blamed our relationship's failure on me.

This whole mess was so long ago and yet I still feel "stuff" about it. I don't want to be the woman marrying him but I wish there was someone out there who wanted to marry me.

It's not supposed to be a race but I still feel like he won. Shit. I hopefully have at least 3/4 of my life to live and already feel like he won.

It's not supposed to be a race. Why do I feel like I lost?

Recipe: Szechuan Chicken & Potatoes

2010-01-26T11:42:00.000-08:00

I honestly have no idea what this recipe is really called.

When I was in college, my favorite math professor married a woman from Chengdu, in China. Wow that lady can cook. She is also very sweet and kind. My professor picked good. :)

When I was fortunate enough to be invited over for dinner, she would make the most fantastic dishes. I saw her cook once and tried to pay attention so I could replicate the dishes later. This was one of the most delicious she made. Warning: this totally clears your sinuses.

Skinless, boneless chicken, cubed (I use about 1/2 - 1 chicken breast per serving)
Potato, cubed (about a 1:1 ratio of potato to chicken)
Salt to taste
Szechuan red pepper to taste
Chopped green onion (just the greens, and I don't know how much. Maybe 1/2 stalk per serving)
Chopped cilantro (I have no idea exactly how much, but it's a lot. Maybe a half bunch for two servings.)

Boil a small amount of water and boil the potato cubes until they are cooked, about 5 to 10 minutes. Drain.
Heat up a wok and put some oil in it.
Stir fry the chicken until cooked, then add the cooked potato, salt and red pepper.
Stir fry a minute or two to get the flavors to mingle, then add the chopped green onion and cilantro and stir fry some more. The cilantro will wilt a bit, and then you will know it's done.

Eat with rice.

Here is a hint; if you have kitchen shears you can just hold the stalks of cilantro over the wok and snip away.

Restaurant Review: Bonjour French Pastry

2010-01-15T13:25:00.000-08:00

This is a "Japanese French" -style bakery, so they have lots of delicious pastries in traditional and traditionally Asian flavors (like green tea and red bean).

The servers there were really nice, and the decor is very "Asian cute" in a French style. If you have some better term for Asian-French fusion please let me know.

The cakes are pretty yummy and normally sized (as opposed to the steroid-sized anything you might find at an American bakery), and the ingredients tasted fresh.

They don't accept credit cards here, so make sure to bring cash.

Bonjour French Pastry
18222 S. Western Ave.
Gardena, CA 90248
(310) 323-1468

The Women Men Don't See

2010-01-12T13:14:00.000-08:00

I have a deep love for really good science fiction. The kind that makes you look at our world in a new perspective and say, "huh." (As opposed to "huh?") I have a deep love for the spirit of Star Trek because of this (which is now a mere shade of what it once was).

I read Slashdot fairly regularly. One story posted quite a while ago was a question asking the Slashdot readers what would be appropriate and belong in a high school-level science fiction literature class. I can't seem to find the link now, but someone posted a link to a syllabus of a college-level course which included the James Tiptree short story "The Women Men Don't See". The title alone fascinated me and I was compelled to search it out. You can buy a James Tiptree anthology on B&N here or read the story online here. (If you get the anthology I recommend looking up "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?")

Go read it. It's not long. I could spoil the pivotal scene for you, as several bloggers have done, but you should have the joy and delight of reading it yourself.

I've asked several men if they would go on a one-way mission to colonize Mars, to be a part of history. Almost all of them have said no. The one exception that I can remember said that if the mission was something like Total Recall he would go. Why not? Men are happy here. Comfy. There's nothing to compel most men to find a new life.

And women? If I could go to Mars to start life on a new world why not? Why not try for something better than what we have today, and have a pivotal role in building it? Why not give the world a reason to remember my name (3:15 in this clip)?

Rose Parade Preview

2010-01-01T01:17:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Tonight my boyfriend and I wandered around the staging area for the Rose Parade floats.

My favorite floats were sponsored by the city of Torrance and the Ronald McDonald house.

The Ronald McDonald House float was space-themed.

City of Torrance float. I really liked it because of all the birds and the "greenhouse look" to it.

I can't remember who sponsored this float, but it's a tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen of WWII.

Honda float. It's a ship piloted by their Asimov robot.

Taiwan's float, sponsored by China Airlines

Here's a start to a brand new year!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T15:59:00.001-08:00

I found this great blog today and wanted to share. This gal really is feisty, in a good way!

Foxy Pink Cheetah: Feminism

Shell Shocked

2009-12-13T13:34:00.000-08:00

Have you ever signed up for something and then realize when it was over that, had you known what you were signing yourself up for in advance, you would have never signed up for it in the first place?

Yeah. That's what Advanced Operating Systems at USC taught by Professor Neuman is like.

Don't get me wrong. I actually *liked* and *enjoyed* the class, even though operating systems is not my strong suit. And Professor Neuman is awesome. The running joke among a few of us is that Professor Neuman can cause a lightbulb to spontaneously light up through sheer enthusiasm and mental brilliance. He's that good.

But had I known in advance that the open book, open note final would involve two 3" binders full of papers we had to read, the actual textbook for the class, my own notes and the slides from class, I think I might have passed. Or questioned my sanity.

For future reference, if you take this course from Professor Neuman, be prepared to learn a lot about distributed operating systems. Neuman is God when it comes to this and computer security. Yes. Try taking a class from God. The brain cannot get any fuller than this, and there is no dial past 11.

If you do take this course from Professor Neuman, here is a list of the readings to pay particular attention to:

Any paper on Kerberos or Prospero.
The Cheriton and Lampson papers are especially "good for you".
Neuman's paper on Scale in Distributed Systems was nicknamed in my class "The Magic Paper". Much knowledge is to be gleaned from this. Read this paper even before you take the midterm.
The Fault Tolerance and Mach papers are "good for you" as well.

When you take the final, for God's sake please print out a copy of your reading reports. They came in handy as I didn't have to re-lookup many of my answers. Also, for the design problem, a lot of people seem to get hung up on details. The specifics of the problem description are only there to provide some context for solving it. You can't completely forsee or solve every problem this system is going to have in the 30 or so minutes you have to solve it. The point is can you get the broad strokes of the solution and convey them in a way to the grader to show that you have an understanding of the course material. Your solution doesn't have to be "right", but you do need to justify your decisions in a way that "makes sense".

Anyway, in a way I'm sad the class is over. I look forward to taking Computer Security with Neuman next Fall.

Bento Snack

2009-12-03T15:21:00.001-08:00

I actually made a whole lunch for Mr. Bento today, but here's just a photo of the snack portion (because it turned out the prettiest). This is the small tupperware container, filled with cheddar cheese, smoked sausage, and crackers. If I had a couple grape tomatoes I would have squeezed them in around the crackers, but other than that everything fit quite snugly. The angle of the photo just makes the container look half empty.

The rest of the lunch was Thanksgiving leftovers; stuffing and green beans in the rice container and turkey slathered with cranberry sauce in the soup container. The large tupperware container had peanut butter cookies and chex mix to snack on, but I haven't really tackled that one yet.

Hey Twilight Fans!

2009-12-01T13:51:00.001-08:00

Please, please, please, for the love of homemade macaroni with real cheddar cheese, please explain to me why you love this series so much.

Because this synopsis of Breaking Dawn and this comparison of Edward's behavior to an abusive relationship signs checklist do not help your case.

I watched Twilight last night. On YouTube. And I do not understand the appeal of Edward's character *at* *all*. I was OK with his character until his conversation with Bella in the hallway when he tells her flat-out that no one would believe her version of what happened with the van. Holy crap. Any fascination I had for the character completely died in that moment.

I actually really liked the Jacob character (even though I *know* he forcibly kisses her in one of the later books). Given the choice between the two, at least it appears that Jacob genuinely cares about Bella (although the reason why escapes me. I think she's an awful human being, even for being an angsty teenager).

And yes, when they make the film version of Breaking Dawn, I think they should keep it as true to the novel as the synopsis. Because at least that film would be hilarious.

Turkey Day

2009-11-26T01:10:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I volunteered myself to host Thanksgiving for my parents and sweetheart this year. This is the first time I've hosted Thanksgiving, and while I'm a bit freaked out, I think I'll be OK. :)

Did I mention I don't have an oven?

I do, on the other hand, have a very nice Weber Q 220 that I think will work for all the "oven like" things I'll be doing.

I'm going to make:
Dinner Rolls - I'm going to borrow liberally from the Taste of Home Garlic Herb Rolls recipe. I really don't need 20 dinner rolls. :)
Turkey (I found an 8lb free range one that was quite a dear price at Whole Foods - it should fit in the grill) - I'm going to be inspired by Alton Brown's recipe, but omit the brine because I don't have a pan big enough to brine the turkey in. Let's hope butter under the skin will do the trick. I found a neat grilled turkey article here.
Stuffing - A bag of Pepperidge Farm's herb seasoned stuffing made Mrs. Cubbison's style. Saute the celery and onions with the giblets for the best results. I haven't decided if this will go in a dish on the grill or if I'll just make it on the stovetop.
Roasted Acorn Squash - sprinkled with cinnamon
either steamed green beans or steamed asparagus (I found asparagus on sale that looked kind of nice, so I think that will be the winner)
Pumpkin Pie - using the recipe on the can of pumpkin and a pie crust made with an egg.

I finally found kitchen twine at Ralph's. It seems like one of those things that should be ubiquitous to the kitchen, but I honestly don't think many stores carry it. If they do it's not in a good location. I almost bought "turkey lacers" and steal the twine from that until I spotted the real thing.

Facebook "Friends" Criteria

2009-11-18T17:04:00.000-08:00

I have some weird criteria when it comes to "friends" on Facebook. Does this make me snobbish or weird?

If you are genuinely my "friend", you can be my friend on Facebook.
If you are in my familiy, you can be my friend on Facebook.
If we work together, you can possibly be my friend on Facebook.
If you are someone I met randomly and we hit it off, you can be my friend on Facebook.
If you are someone I went to school with, and we maintain in some sort of contact (via Facebook or e-mail, or phone, or IM), you can be my friend on Facebook.

If I only vaguely think your name is familiar, and we went to high school together, I have to wonder why the hell you want to be my "friend" on Facebook. Is it because you genuinely want to know what I've been up to since May 2001? If I say that you're my friend, you're never going to write on my wall or e-mail me, so what's the point? I don't necessarily have any ill feelings towards you, but I just don't think you have a need to know about what's going on in my life if I can barely remember your name and don't remember what you look like. If we went to high school together and you're married with kids, chances are as soon as you see my full profile you will write me off as persona non grata anyway. What are you going to get out of being my friend other than the privilege to nose around my photos?

If you're from college and we took some classes together, I don't mind being your Facebook friend. But honestly, I possibly don't remember you either unless I immediately write on your wall something about how it's been so long. Sorry. Names from people in college are even more elusive to me than names from high school. Isn't that weird?

However, if you're a professor I took a class from I'd love to have you as a Facebook friend.

The Mormon Proposition

2009-11-17T14:40:00.000-08:00

Here is my pro-gay-rights rant for the day. Every time I hear about Proposition 8, I get upset. Even though the vote was over a year ago.

I'm not gay, but I do have gay friends. And the gay people I know are some of the nicest people I know, period.

I honestly don't care who people marry, as long as it doesn't involve abuse of any kind. Want to marry someone of your same sex? Fine by me. Want to marry 2 or 3 or 10 other people? Go right ahead, as long as everyone else involved is genuinely happy with the arrangement. Why limit the crapshoot that is marriage to just straight, theoretically monogamous people?

I really want all marriages in this country to be reduced to civil unions performed at the courthouse for everybody. Then if you are religious you can have your white wedding at the church with your pastor/priest/bishop/flying spaghetti monster presiding. It's not taking away from anyone's marriage, just separating the concepts of marriage recognized by the state and marriage recognized by your flavor of deity worship.

I don't even care what religion you are. I know a lot of atheists, a lot of Catholics, more than a few Mormons. I know some Hindu and Buddhist people too. You want to go practice your religion in any way you see fit, go right ahead. But don't hurt other people in the process. If you believe magic underwear will save you, wear it. Wear two pairs, on top of each other, if you think it will help God recognize you as one of the Chosen Ones. If you believe you need to face Mecca every morning and pray, do it. Get audited too, if you need it. Don't celebrate birthdays either if you believe that will keep you from reaching Paradise. Go right on thinking there are monsters in the bathtub if that helps you out spiritually.

Just don't hurt other people. Not physically, not mentally, not emotionally, and certainly not sexually. Just don't do it. It is in complete and absolute conflict with 'civilized' life. If your religion does things to harm other people or interfere negatively in other people's lives, your religion deserves to lose its tax-exempt status, or get rightfully smeared in documentaries or the media. That just seems fair and karmic to me.

My dad taught me to treat other people the way I would want to be treated. I've gotten shit on quite a bit because of that well-ingrained philosophy. But I still believe there is a grain of truth in it.

If I found myself in a position of being emotionally and financially ready, and in a relationship with a man who I liked enough to get married to, and he liked me enough to get married to me, I'd like to feel free to get married if we so chose to do. Denying that same choice to homosexual people is hypocritical and selfish.

Watching those old geezers smile and say that it would be "better to be dead than be homosexual" gets the Aries in me all upset. What the hell people. I'd really like to know where they get off on saying something like that.

I get really pissed off when people say sexuality is a choice. It's not. It's a continuum. To think that it's a binary decision where you just say, "Oh, I must be [blank] today" is stupid.

And to be persecuted for something you cannot change about yourself, that just sucks. You think homosexuals and bisexuals WANT to be treated poorly by their societies? Who in their right mind would CHOOSE that?

OK. I'm done for today.

Rolling My Eyes

2009-11-11T15:14:00.000-08:00

Mormons throw support behind gay-rights cause

I thought that it was already illegal to discriminate against homosexual people in housing and employment. . . .talk about being over a year late and many millions of dollars short. . . .

IKEA Experience

2009-11-09T21:19:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about getting bar stools for my studio apartment's counter for a long time, and now I have the pressing incentive to actually do it: I'm hosting my parents and my boyfriend for Thanksgiving dinner. I've had my parents over at my place for Thanksgiving before, but I feel this is the first time I'm actually "hosting" dinner. I guess I need to get "civilized" and get some damn bar stools. At least after Thanksgiving I can host happy hour, whenever I'm home on a Friday night and want to kick it with some colleagues.

Have you ever noticed that "Happy Hour" is full of sad, depressing saps? Maybe I don't want to be introducing that into my personal space.

So to dip my toe in the water, my boyfriend took me to IKEA this weekend and we wandered around. Wow. I didn't get anything, but it was a fun experience. We almost had a moment similar to the one in (500) Days of Summer, where Joesph Gordon-Leavitt and Zooey Deschanel have a date in IKEA, start making out in one of the display bedrooms, and one of them says to the other, "We have a Chinese family in our bathroom." We walked into a kitchen display and looked into the adjacent living room display, where several people had made themselves at home on the couch.

Have you noticed how *slow* people move through IKEA? Talk about sheeple. There's even the dude or dude-ette who is wide enough for two people and somehow always manages to walk into your path, no matter how you try to get around him/her. The single path is WIDE, and yet shoppers manage to congest the whole flow of traffic.

Tonight I drove down to the IKEA nearest me to obtain the bar stools that will provide dinner seating for four in my little studio. I found some online that would suffice, for half of what other barstools would cost me. The store near me had some in stock, and I thought it would be a neat adventure to navigate IKEA on my own.

Well, I managed to completely irritate several IKEA employees tonight. The bar stools I wanted were not in the self-pick-up area, and I had to figure out how the whole "full pick-up" process worked by consulting an employee each step of the way. I was obviously not one of the IKEA-converted glassy-eyed zombies that roam the aisles. But I successfully obtained the stools, and was so flummoxed that I totally forgot to get a jar of lingonberry jam, frozen potato pancakes, and frozen Swedish meatballs for Scandinavian convenience food experimentation. (That sounds so naughty!)

Ah well. I suppose that will all wait for next time. I spied $5.00 8x10 frames with included mats that will work well for my travel photos that have been begging to be framed for the past 9 months or so. . . . .

Women Are Tough Too, You Know

2009-11-06T09:10:00.000-08:00

Associated Press: Civilian officer shot gunman, ended rampage

What the hell Lt. General Cone? Women are just as capable as men, and you're just figuring this out?

Love, Lay Your Head On My Weary Shoulder

2009-11-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

I once saw Spencer Day live in Hollywood. Nice guy.

He just released a CD, and was on the Craig Ferguson show in September. I missed seeing him in Redondo Beach last weekend. Maybe next time.

Anyway, I remember this song from his show. It's a lot more polished now, and still quite lovely.

And now I want a hug.

Women in Space

2009-11-02T10:38:00.000-08:00

Right Stuff, Wrong Sex

This makes me want to simultaneously roll my eyes and shake my fist in anger.

Of course they weren't going to put women in space. Because we're all weak and stuff. Can't handle the stress.

I remember a Navy recruiter who once tried to recruit at my high school. He told me that women weren't allowed on submarines because they couldn't take the physical and psychological stress.

An aside: the other night I was a passenger on a flight and I saw the cities below encrusted in lights. I thought they looked just like photos of nebulas sent back from Hubble.

Marine Corps Marathon 2009 - Race Report

2009-10-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

Yay! I finished my very first marathon! (05:31:18)

To tell you the truth, I had no idea how big a deal it seemed to be to other people for me to finish. I went out to D.C. because I had a very personal goal and it was very surprising to me that so many friends and colleagues were interested in supporting me and cheering me on. So thanks friends! :)

The Marines run such a fantastic and organized race, and it's very evident why it's so popular. I think it took less than 5 minutes to pick up my race packet. For such a huge race, that was incredible to me. When I ran Long Beach last year it took 20 minutes easily, and I've had to wait in packet pick-up lines for many 5Ks as well. So to basically show up and have the Marines there almost immediately produce my bib, race packet goodie bag, and shirt was incredibly impressive.

Very funny side story: As my friend who I was staying with and I were approaching the queue for bib pick-up, I realized I had forgotten what size shirt I stated on my registration that I should get. It wasn't listed on my e-Confirmation either. My friend said, "Oh, don't worry. I'm sure they'll have some young strapping Marine size you up and say, 'oh, I think you're a size C!'"

I go pick up my bib and head over to the table to get my goodie bag and shirt. The Lance Corporal handing out shirts asked me what size I needed and I said, "You know, honestly I don't know!" He blatantly looked me over and said, "It's just me, but I think a size small would fit you best" and laid out a shirt for me to compare myself to. Just wow. He totally lined himself up for volunteering for this job, and he is having an awesome day. :)

The weather on Race Day was absolutely perfect. It started off pretty chilly in the morning but it turned into such a gorgeous day. It was nice to be running the start of the race in the neighborhoods around Georgetown and see the trees whose leaves had started to turn.

Watching the 2 Osprey V-22s fly by overhead in both helicopter and airplane mode before the race was pretty awesome to witness. It was also nice feeling followed by the black Army helicopter throughout the race.

A big "Ooh Rah" to the Marine Captain who ran the marathon in full cammies and boots, carrying his unit's guidon. I saw him around mile 2, and thought if I kept up with him there was definitely no way he would be put onto the stragglers bus if we didn't beat the bridge. At this point in the race I was very worried I wouldn't be able to keep up my pace. I did eventually pass this Marine around mile 4 and I hope he made it OK.

The amount of support this race has is absolutely astonishing. Not only do you have Marines along the course cheering you on you also have A LOT of spectators. The sidewalks are literally lined with spectators and at times it feels there isn't enough room to get past them.

I did see the White House when I was running around the Mall. I'm not familiar enough with Washington geography to really know any of the museums or memorials I saw, and my eyes were more focused on the road than they were on the monuments.

Beating the bridge at mile 20 was a great feeling. It was something I was worried about and to know I had made it was such a relief. There was a runner who caught up with me around mile 18 and said that he must have seen me 100 times that day; he commented that our strategies were different but we had the exact same pace. I was run-walking and he was running the whole thing. He said he might try my strategy some other time. I'm pretty sure he passed me for good by the end of the race though; I was pretty worn out by the end.

Those last six miles were absolutely brutal. After beating the bridge, my feet swelled up around mile 22 and made it very painful to run (on top of my legs feeling very tired). I walked most of the last six miles. The leg of the race down into Crystal City was also fairly demoralizing, despite the spectators. The course is such that you run down one side of the street and come back up the other, but there's no real clue as to *how far* you need to go.

I was lucky to not really hit the wall. I can't imagine how difficult it would have been to just finish if that had happened to me. So I'm glad that I was careful in pacing out my calorie intake during the race. Those oranges they had at mile 9 were soooo yummy and satisfying! I wouldn't have minded taking a Gu from all the Marines calling out that they had Mocha flavored Gu, but I've *tried* Mocha flavored Gu and it's truly nasty. So I skipped that. The sport jelly beans were a god send as I had run out of my own fuel by that point and I was starting to get ravenous.

I only had the urge to sit down once. But I knew if I did I wouldn't finish.

It's a cruel joke to tell people "they're almost there" when they have 5 more miles to go. I thought the Grim Reaper hanging out around mile 24 with the sign "The End is Near" was hilarious.

The last two miles, but most especially the last mile are really tough. The course runs you through the starting area, which looks to be a bit of a ghost town by the time I made it there. Then the course winds down a ramp before finishing at the top of a really steep hill. I tried running up the hill but had to walk part of it.

The post-race organization was also very impressive. Lines of congratulations from all the Marines is truly humbling. There's a line of Marines who are handing out space blankets; the Marine who gave me mine made me turn around and wrapped the space blanket around me. You get herded into chutes where 2nd Lts give you your finisher's medal; the Lieutenant who gave me mine must have seen how I was hurting and pointed out where I could get my finisher's photo at the Iwo Jima War Memorial, Powerade, and food packet. Immediately after getting your medal there are photographers taking candid finisher photos. I headed over to get Powerade before I got my photo taken; the Gunny who gave me a bottle of Powerade looked at me with kind blue eyes and said, "There you go dear." After getting used to being called "ma'am" by Marines all day, it was kind of nice to see this guy who was old enough to be my uncle or dad say something compassionate.

I thanked each and every Marine who helped me out that day, and they all said "You're welcome" back to me. I sort of feel like there's a Hemingway/Donne-esque "No Man is an Island" thing going on. It's very humbling.

Actually finishing the race was anti-climatic for me. Even now I have mixed feelings about it. I don't feel triumphant, I don't feel instantly more special or more unique than I did the day before. I don't even feel like I've accomplished anything extraordinary and I'm not even sure I gained what I set out to gain by doing this. I'm surprised at how many people have commented on how big of an accomplishment it was for me. I honestly wasn't looking for recognition from my friends and loved ones, so to be getting so much of it was a real surprise. It was such a relief just to trot across the finish line. I started weeping and kept thinking to myself, "I did it! I did it!" When I called my parents my dad asked me what was wrong because he could hear me crying over the phone.

I recommend skipping the shuttle buses and just taking the Rosslyn metro back to wherever you started from. I waited about an hour for a shuttle before I decided my bladder couldn't wait any more and I dropped out of the line to use a port-o-potty. Then I tried the metro line which went *much* faster.

At any rate, I want to run it next year. It's on Halloween, so I guess I'll be chasing more than my own personal ghosts. I'm pretty sure I can beat my time.

Last- Minute Marathon Tips

2009-10-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

Because this is so neat. . .
The guy is a coach in NYC (Toby Tanser).

Last Minute Marathon Tips: shot with Nikon D90 from Mike Kobal on Vimeo.

Why I Run

2009-10-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

I'm running my first marathon in a few short days. I'm undertrained, but I know I can at least walk the distance. I will probably be able to run at least half the distance, and I don't expect my time to be less than 5 hours. I've never claimed to be a fast runner.

I've been a bundle of nervous energy, excitement, and anxiousness. I don't doubt that these feelings will only intensify in the time between now and the start time.

Running this marathon has been a goal of mine for such a long time. Whenever people ask me why, and I try to explain it to them, some of them get it, and others don't. I had several people chew me out that I *shouldn't* have this as a goal, and that my purpose for doing it was silly and unnecessary.

A few years ago, I was a Marine Officer Candidate for a few short days. But what a glorious few days that was for me. It was my dream to become a Marine Intelligence Officer, a dream I fostered and held dearly for 15 months. 8 weeks before I was to ship out, I rolled my ankle during an OCS prep weekend. 4 weeks later, I contracted a cold that turned into a sinus infection. I was not physically ready to go the day I shipped out. I failed the initial physical fitness test (PFT) on the run and my dream ended before it even had a chance to get started. A star winked out for me that day.

Could I have tried to apply to OCS again? Sure, but I would have needed a perfect score on the PFT, something I knew I could not obtain on my own.

I had never failed anything I had wanted like that in my entire life. I was personally devastated.

Life has since taken me on a different path, one that most would argue has been for the better. But I still felt that some lost part of me lay discarded somewhere in Virginia. An idea was born.

What better way to regain face than to run the Marine Corps Marathon? Since I had fallen out on the run, which was a measly 3 miles, what better way to tell the Marines that they had made a mistake if I could go back and traverse 26.2 miles on their turf, not far from where I fell out of the PFT?

I'm no longer bitter or disappointed with the way things turned out, although I do think of it from time to time and wonder how my life might have turned out. And my experience with the Marine Corps has changed my life for the better. Through the Marine Corps I was introduced to running. Were it not for the lessons I learned while running and for having running as a hobby I would not have had the resilience to bounce back as well as I did earlier this year. I am much healthier today than I was then. So I have the Corps to thank for that.

Is it a silly goal? Perhaps. But it is my goal and if I drop out of it now, what does that say about me?

I <3 Dan Savage

2009-10-13T19:13:00.000-07:00

Dan Savage is a smart and witty journalist who authors Savage Love for Seattle's The Stranger.

In response to this New York Times' article Grievous Choice on Risky Path to Parenthood, Dan wrote this scathing post, whose sentiments I share exactly.

The Stansels keep a blog here. In the editorial, there is a photo of one of their babies' feet. The child's foot is so tiny the Stansels were able to slip their wedding rings on the foot. And then take a photo. You've got to be kidding me. Human depravity knows no bounds.

A couple videos from interviews Dan Savage has done with Steven Colbert, from last year:

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Gay Roundup - Dan Savage

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Michael Moore

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Proposition 8 Protests - Dan Savage

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Michael Moore

Perseverance

2009-10-13T17:22:00.001-07:00

The truth about grit

I like the idea of grit. Merriam-Webster defines the quality of grit as "firmness of mind or spirit : unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger".

Grit is an old-fashioned, honest quality. Manly, but in a non-sexist way. I'd like to think that women can by gritty too, but I'd also like to think there was a more feminine way to call that quality.

When all else fails, try, try again. Pick yourself up and keep going. Because the only person you can truly rely on is yourself. I'm being very honest here. We are all born into this world alone, and we die alone. Much of our lives we struggle on our own. There is no one else who can shoulder that burden for us but ourselves.

By pushing our responsibility of traveling through this life onto others, we commit ourselves to mediocrity and misery. There is nothing wrong with having a companion, in fact, I most love the concept of having a confidant with which to share my life and experiences with. But in the end I'll still be on my own.

I'm not quite sure what my thesis for this post is supposed to be. There was something in the original article that made me think about what it means to be an adult, what it means to truly be self sufficient. And I definitely think grit is one of those things you must possess if you truly desire growing up.

Miramar Air Show

2009-10-05T22:15:00.001-07:00

OK, the photo isn't from the air show, but I like it.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Marines, and for Marine rotor craft units. My dad used to maintain them, and as a child I remember going to Marine Corps Air Station Tustin and just being in awe of the huge hangars they had there. The city of Tustin desperately wants to tear those hangars down in the name of development, and when that eventually happens a part of my childhood, a part of whatever mythology I crafted for myself, will die forever, to only live in my memory. When I am gone what will be left?

I went to the airshow last weekend, and had a blast. When I was a little girl my daddy would take me to the air show in Chino, and I imagine the air show in Tustin as well, to see the planes. To go down to Miramar last weekend and touch the aircraft again was a delight for me. To smell that odd, distinctly military smell of sweat, dust, and motor oil was a treat. To feel that cargo webbing and steel painted over in olive drab again was heaven. To touch the nose of the Super Stallion that touches the sky - is ecstasy.

To be among Marines again, to be among the few and the proud. I was comfortable in that environment, being on a military base again. If you know how to talk to them, they'll let you in their world.

"Hey Marines! Do you know where [Parking Lot] Silver 1 is?"

"Oh sure - it's all the way down this road. Here; I'll walk you out."

"Oh that's not necessary"

"It's OK. We're not doing anything around here anyway. (To his buddies) Hey watch that van and make sure nothing happens with that."

"How are you tonight?"

"Oh, we're all right - been doin' this since seven this morning. We'll probably be here until midnight tonight, and then we get to wake up at six AM tomorrow and do this again." I don't know anyone in the military who doesn't complain about this all-encompassing duty that seems to allow for less-than-optimal sleep. I mean, they ALL do it, and they all use the same phrases.

"I see." A car approaches from behind, and the Marine's buddy says, "Hey man, move over to the side of the road."

"Eh, he can go around." He waves his arm so the car will pass.

They're all so young. When we walked onto the flight line that afternoon, there was a slender Marine wearing cammies that looked oversized for his tall frame, and BCGs that made him look geeky. I wonder if he joined to prove his friends he was tough. He gave us a big grin and waved us into the correct direction.

One Marine stopped me to check my bag and called me ma'am. Whenever grocery checkers call me ma'am it kind of irritates me, because I am NOT old enough to be a ma'am. I make exception for the military.

Some psychologist says that the sound of car engines arouses women. I think jet engines work better. :)

Coffee Break

2009-10-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

Sometimes (more often than I care to admit), I will wander across the street from work to the Coffee Bean for a cup of that delightful black brew. I know I'm going far too often because the employees recognize me and know me by name. They even know what I typically order - a small (or regular, depending on how tired I am) Americano, with room for cream.

An Americano is comprised of espresso and hot water. If that's not enough for you, get a Red Eye. It's espresso and drip coffee. I like the term sailors and Marines have come up for it: A "depth charge".

Anyway, I'm at the bar thing that has the sugar packets and carafes of half-and-half, 2%, non-dairy and whatever else they have out for creamer. It's nice that they have those little sticks for stirrers. So much better than the short plastic straws, which never reach the bottom of your cup to stir up the sugar crystals.

He walks in. I haven't seen this dude in ages. Back in the day, we would head out for Starbucks runs around 10:00 AM and commiserate over failing relationships and work politics. Since the last time I ran into him, he's moved at least once and had a baby with his girlfriend (wife now? I didn't check his hand for a ring). This was the guy who used to tell me, "Don't chase 'em; replace 'em!"

"Hey!" He says. "I haven't seen you in forever! What's new?"

I wait for him to order, and as he's pouring cream and sugar into his cup he says out of the blue,

"Diane, you're going to make a great mom."

Huh? Where the hell did THAT come from?

"You know why? You're patient, and really kind."

I know he's being sincere, but it wasn't quite the pick-me-up I wanted that afternoon.

Polanski Media Circus

2009-09-30T16:38:00.001-07:00

Polanski defenders lose sight of true victim

(Steve Lopez is the journalist who wrote the book that inspired the film "The Soloist". I blogged about the film earlier this year.)

This whole Roman Polanski extradition thing is really a media circus I do not want to watch.

I think this issue will last until Polanski dies, or until he is extradited and faces trial. No matter what the victim's wishes are, he still committed a crime. One which I don't feel was fairly served in the 42 days he spent in jail before bailing.

I don't feel the outcome of this case will cause more sex assaults to go unreported, as I think getting law enforcement officials to believe a crime has even taken place is hard enough.

If Polanski truly wanted this thing to be over, he wouldn't fight extradition and would just go pay his debt to society. But I guess it's easier to be a martyr.

Fortune

2009-09-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

"Keep Your Plans Secret For Now"

Recipe - Greek-Style Stuffed Peppers

2009-09-20T15:18:00.001-07:00

I made something like this a few weeks ago with my new boyfriend. We had a lot of fun, and the food was really tasty. This is a good "team effort" recipe that allows for breaks and "downtime". I would also hope that it's really hard to screw up.

My problem is that I don't have an oven in my apartment, and I've yet to be motivated enough to get propane for my grill (now THAT would be REALLY tasty!). So I've altered the recipe to suit my devious purposes. If you *do* have an oven and want to try out the original recipe, do note that a lot of people have found it to be a bit bland, and suggest to double the seasonings.

Greek-Style Stuffed Peppers
1/2 c. diced onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 - 1 lb lean ground meat (preferably beef; I used 2/3 lb leftover bison from my parents' visit)
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 c. cooked brown rice
1 can diced tomatoes
2 large bell peppers
1/4 c. crumbled feta cheese, plus more for topping

In a large saute pan, saute the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the meat and brown. Add the pepper, oregano, rice, and tomatoes. Cook until most of the liquid is either evaporated or absorbed by the rice.

Meanwhile, either halve the peppers or cut the tops off of them, and scoop out the seeds and membranes. Boil some water (may add some salt if you want) and add the peppers. Cook for 3-5 minutes, depending on how soft you like them cooked. Drain the peppers.

Incorporate the cheese into the filling mixture, and then fill the peppers with the filling. Sprinkle additional feta on top of the peppers (I ran out, which is why you see no feta garnish in my photo) and consume with extreme prejudice.

I suspect this takes about an hour from start to finish, and is well worth the effort expended.

Wanderlust

2009-09-18T09:20:00.001-07:00

Alaska Airlines now charges $25 per piece of checked luggage. To me, this is completely unacceptable. I've wanted to learn how to travel light and be basically as mobile as possible while traveling, but I suppose this has become the final incentive to actually do it.

I recently purchased an Eagle Creek Thrive 65L, which meets the size restrictions for Alaska Airlines' carry-ons. I think the H + W + L dimensions end up being something like 45.8", so it might end up a little large if I tried to take it on a different airline. On the other hand, if I learn to pack light I could compress it a little bit and get away with saying it's not really 45.8" but some other, smaller number.

The Thrive 65L only comes in Eagle Creek's "medium" frame size, which is a pity because my torso length is something like 15" ("short" or "small"). I did e-mail Eagle Creek and suggest they make this in either a women's version (as the woman's fit Thrive 75L is too big to carry-on) or adjustable for a shorter frame.

I've written about my love of Eagle Creek products before. I strongly believe in their packing aids, although it could just be how awesome their marketing team is.

My level of wanderlust was tolerable before I received the backpack; now I feel like I *must* travel somewhere. Rediscover myself and meet new, interesting folks. Eat strange food. Have adventures. Pity my next trip won't be for another month or so, and it's a short trip at that. Any suggestions of where I should go on vacation next summer? I'm thinking Peru or Argentina. . . and I suppose this is only if I don't take a summer class.

If you have the wanderlust and want to travel on the cheap, I suggest checking Travel Independent out. That site has a wealth of information on it.

Restaurant Review - Peter's Place

2009-09-17T00:42:00.000-07:00

Yet another case of moving to more convenient pastures, only to find a really great place to eat not far from where I lived. . . . .

Peter's Place is located in a tiny strip mall of Asianish stores. . .it's in the strip mall just North of Sue's Kitchen, which has fantastic Taiwanese beef noodles. But I digress.

To date, Peter's Place is the only restaurant I've found in South Bay that serves Chinese breakfast. I think the next nearest place to get Chinese breakfast is at least an hour out of South Bay, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. My favorite breakfast of all time is a bowl of warm soy milk accompanied by shaobing and you tiao. They have both the salty and the sweet soy milk, and while I like them both, I prefer the sweet soy milk. I can't tell if they make it from scratch or if it's just soy milk out of a jug and heated up. There's a place in Rowland Heights that makes their own soy milk and it's absolutely divine. And fan tuan; I only had the savory kind but I think they have the sweet kind too. The shaobing was particularly delicious.

They also have a bunch of other dishes like dumplings and noodles and fried rice, but I don't intend on coming here for anything but Chinese breakfast on lazy Sunday mornings. I'll probably be a greedy pig too and get extras for breakfast during the week.

The family who runs the restaurant is really friendly, and the menu is in both Chinese and English (which means it's got to be good!). The waitress was particularly forgiving with my butchering of the language. At least I'll have the opportunity to practice my Mandarin more.

Peter's Place
23816 Crenshaw Blvd
Torrance, CA 90505
310-539-6058

Three Year Anniversary - Let's Punch It!

2009-09-14T23:04:00.000-07:00

Three years ago, I moved to L.A. to start my career and grow new roots.

Tomorrow, my pension with my employer vests, which means that when I retire I will have supplementary income to help with the bills. Wow. I'm a company girl all of a sudden. When did that happen?

My three-year anniversary of moving to L.A. was actually last Thursday (the 10th), but when I think of my life really starting in the City of the Angels I think of the day I started my career.

My life has become something I could not have dreamed it would be. With each passing year, I've grasped new opportunities and had adventures I could not have imagined having when I was in college. With each passing year, my quality of life has improved and my general happiness has increased.

My career is finally feeling like it's going to take off. I'm making it in one of the best schools for graduate study. I'm generally healthy and I'm grateful to have good friends and loving parents. I'm truly grateful for what I have, because in many ways it seems to me I've been blessed more than the average person. A few years ago I don't think I would say my cup was more than half full. Now it overflows.

I like the idea of double fisting Life. We only have so much of it, and I want to get as much experience, as much knowledge, as much adventure as I can possible handle. Time is a resource I must not squander. I barely even have the time to contemplate its passing.

In the new Star Trek movie, Captain Pike commands Ensign Sulu to "punch it" when pulling the Enterprise out of space dock. That is totally how I feel about my life right now. Let's go!

Movie Review - Extract

2009-09-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

As I sat through this funny film, I was bothered by my lack of ability to figure out the point. Maybe there was one, and I missed it. But it feels like there should be a clever point, with a film titled "Extract", centered around a flavoring extract owner whose side-kick at work is played by J.K. Simmons. Blame the Coen brothers and their brilliant dark comedy from last year, Burn After Reading (also involving J.K. Simmons).

Joel (Jason Bateman), the flavoring extract owner, ain't getting no loving at home. His wife, Suzie (Kristen Wiig), loses the loving feeling after 8:00 PM when she slips the sweatpants on. So every night he races the clock to get home before 8:00 PM, and every night gets sidelined by the annoying, well-meaning, socially clueless neighbor who lives across the street.

Dejected, Joel heads to a local bar, where he is consoled by Dean (Ben Affleck) who encourages Joel to have an affair.

Hilarity ensues.

This is probably not worth going to see in the theaters, although it is very entertaining at times. I think the best part of the film is near the end when Suzie berates the annoying neighbor. Poor guy just couldn't take the shock.

It Goes To Eleven

2009-09-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks my stress levels were running around seven or eight. Stressful, but manageable. I was successfully juggling work, school (and school-related stuff), running, and my other two exercise hobbies as well as my social/love life. I was tired at the end of the day, but in command of my domain.

This week, I find out my stress level can go to eleven. Damn. All of a sudden, I was desperate to keep all of those balls in the air. If I let any of my exercise plans slip, stress doesn't get relieved and I become a lot more unpleasant to deal with, not to mention seriously unhappy. If I let school slip, I don't get the education that I crave. If I let work slip, well, school doesn't get paid for and neither does my car or apartment. You get the picture.

Tonight while I was running, I remembered how hard it was for me to get to the point where a 5K was something I didn't need to train for to do well in. I didn't have the mental endurance to push myself further. I limited myself with my physical, emotional, and mental pain. I spent several years at that level, not knowing how to break out of the glass ceiling I'd made for myself.

For me, it took a lot of courage to gain the level of self-trust needed to regularly go beyond three miles. Some days I still struggle to run five miles, but I consider that distance now my regular training distance. It's been only very recently that I've been able to consider ten miles an easily-obtainable long run.

This is a matter of perspective. A year ago, ten miles might as well have been one hundred. I was very demoralized that I might never reach my goal of running the marathon. How could I run twenty-six-point-two miles when I had such a hard time running three-point-one? Today, I feel my goal is within my grasp and I know that I have the training and the mental strength to reach out and grab it.

Just where am I going with this? Well, this thing that has caused so much stress in my life will not be the toughest thing I have to face in life. It was unexpected and possibly life-altering. To top it all off, there is absolutely nothing I can do to change it. Facing this thing head-on will be practice for when I have really difficult stressful events to deal with. Learning to relax, to breathe, to maintain inertia and forward motion, these are the skills I'm going to obtain from this difficult experience.

Because my mental toughness goes to eleven too.

LACMA - Pompeii and the Roman Villa

2009-09-06T16:18:00.000-07:00

I went up to LACMA today; they are having a Pompeii exhibit there through October 4th. Some of the loot they dug up in Herculaneum and Pompeii is there.

After going to LACMA for the Dali exhibit a couple years ago, and visiting the Getty Villa (modeled after the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum) a couple times, I have to admit this special exhibit was underwhelming for me. There were a few pieces I really thought were great though.

Bust of Caesar - yes, there was a marble bust of Julius Caesar there. The realism of the Roman and Greek sculpture always takes my breath away. It's as if you can gaze into the face of the man, and he gazes back into you. He doesn't seem like the kind of fellow one could easily get along with.

Plato's Academy - some mosaic artist assembled this fantastic piece together, each tile smaller than my pinky nail.

Aphrodite - there were several life-size sculptures of Aphrodite/Venus on display. There's something in the beauty of depicting the female form in marble, a hard material, in a way that preserves the soft form and clothing. It's absolutely amazing to me.

There is a fresco depicting Apollo that was my favorite piece of the exhibit. The fresco was in a house or inn that was underwater, and fortunately the fresco was able to be removed and preserved. They were able to save almost three walls of this fresco that decorated a dining hall. Really fantastic.

At the exhibit gift shop, I noticed a magnet with the phrase, "Momento Vivre" (to live in the moment). Because once the moment passes, it is gone forever.

Sign Spinning Mile Markers

2009-09-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

The Marine Corps Marathon folks have just announced they are having sign spinners for 9 of the mile markers along the course. This will be the first race in the United States to have sign spinners for mile markers.

Remember Praan?

2009-09-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

I've already commented how much I like the Garry Schyman piece Praan, composed for the Where The Hell Is Matt? 2008 dancing video.

Now I find out there's free piano sheet music for this inspirational piece of music. Wow.

I have time to devote to my piano hobby, right? Right?

One More Breath

2009-09-02T14:38:00.001-07:00

My yoga instructor has a great philosophy.

"All you need is one more breath", he tells us. "This is practice for what we do in the real world. Dealing with the frustrations and tensions on the mat is going to help us when we're faced with challenges in our lives. Being calm and learning how to relax in Warrior II is going to help you remain centered and calm when faced with stressful situations at work and at home and in the rest of our lives."

As we come down from Standing Split, he says, "Clasp your elbows, bend your knees, relax your neck and just breathe."

Just breathe. Because all we need is one more breath.

One more breath.

Just one more breath.

Grad School - Just What Did I Sign Myself Up For?

2009-08-31T17:18:00.000-07:00

I know this was not going to be easy. But I'm up for challenges, and I'm up for completing goals I set for myself.

I knew in advance that I would probably have to rearrange my leisurely summer schedule to accommodate the extra reading and coding (depending on the class) I would need to do in order to complete the course requirements for this degree.

But holy crap. At least 80 pages of technical papers (not including the papers on how to read technical papers and write research papers), plus 4-5 chapters of textbook before Friday afternoon? Just what did I get myself into?

OK, at least the "Implementing Remote Procedure Calls" paper sounds like fun to read. Am I so disturbed?

I'm going to have to learn some mad speed reading skills or something to get this accomplished. Either that or just not sleep for the next 15 weeks.

If anyone out there has any hints or tips, please leave a comment. Even if it's funny. :-P

Note Organization

2009-08-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

When I took my algorithms class last semester (Spring 2009) I bought a nice little Moleskine notebook to put my notes in. And then I proceeded to go overboard with my note-taking.
I left a few pages in the front blank, to later serve as a table of contents. As the semester wore on, I would number the pages, and then go to the contents page to put the topic of the lecture (sometimes there were two or three) and the page number you could find it on. I took it a step further when I included homework assignments and pasted in the given solutions.

As the semester progressed, I kept up with this psychotic scheme. It actually did come in handy once or twice when I was studying (cramming?) for the final. It was really nice to just look up a topic by going to the table of contents and then flip to the page where the notes were located. But I slacked on keeping up with the homeworks (they weren't mandatory). Because I have a good half of the notebook to fill, I need to paste in the remaining homework solutions into the book before the first lecture of my next class starts tomorrow night. For completeness.

Don't think I'm so crazy. I earned an A- in the class. If I hadn't been so stressed the week of finals, I definitely believe I would have earned an A.

If only the rest of my life could be so organized.

When Zombies Attack

2009-08-26T10:15:00.001-07:00

A scientific paper.

I'm not a fan of horror films, but I love Shaun of the Dead. I' m a big Resident Evil 4 fan as well, even though the player doesn't deal with zombies in that game.

Anticipation

2009-08-24T21:05:00.001-07:00

I gripped the paper ticket in my hand. It was a warm day, and I had really booked it down to the train station after work. The sweat from my hand softened the cardstock of the one-way Green Line ticket.

I had woken up early that morning, so I could go to work early and leave early enough to drive home and walk down to the train station, about a mile and a half away. This elaborate scheme was so that I wouldn't have to leave my car at Hawthorne Airport, and also (apparently) so I could get some exercise in. He had raised some concerns about leaving my car at the airport after dark, and also it would be more convenient if we didn't have to stop on the way back to pick my car up on the way back to my place.

Plus I like public transportation, even if the train system in L.A. is woefully inadequate. And the airport is just right across the street from the station.

Man, where is that train? There must be three of them down at the Marine Station by now. What's holding them up?

A Raytheon employee had joined me in wondering what was holding the trains up. He had bowling league tonight, and a Tom Clancy book to finish. The Bear and the Dragon. He only had about 20 pages to finish, if that. If only my time weren't so valuable and I still had a long commute that I could make by train. I would get so much more reading done.

A train finally rolls in, about 15 minutes behind schedule. It had to be today, huh? Oh well. It's not like he's going to strand me at the airport. Plus he has to refuel and everything. I might still make it there before he does.

I tick off the stations as we come to them. Mariposa. Aviation. Hawthorne. The next one is Crenshaw. I glance at the airstrip and don't see his plane on the tarmac. I run down the wrong stairwell and end up on the opposite side of the street I want to be on. I cross Crenshaw, then Imperial Highway, impatient that the lights take so long to turn. All the while I'm glancing at the sky. I see a couple planes land; neither of which are his.

I run to the terminal. As I pass the runway I see his plane parked in front. He must have landed after I got off the train but before I reached the bottom of the stairwell.

The two guys who were working the desk last week are still there, and recognize me. I guess they don't have too many passengers fly out of Hawthorne. Or at least pilots who pick up their dates there.

Pretty soon he strolls into the terminal and we hug. We head to the pilot's lounge so he can call the briefer and check on the weather. Before I know it we're heading out onto the tarmac and he's telling me to get into the plane first. He does his pre-flight inspection, checking the flaps, making sure everything is good to go.

It's a beautiful day, but he cautions me that there is a lot of turbulence and take off would most likely be bumpy.

He climbs in, buckles up and we close the canopy. He rattles off the take-off checklist from memory (the first time he took me up he pulled it out and went over each step very methodically). "Cle-ar Prop!" he calls before he starts the engine. He contacts the tower and we get permission to take off.

He pushes the throttle forward and when we get enough speed he pulls up on the stick ever so delicately. And then we're airborne. Free.

Movie Review - (500) Days of Summer

2009-08-24T09:44:00.000-07:00

I saw this delightful romantic comedy a few weeks ago and have been slacking on blogging about it.

Here's a link to the trailer.

The film bounces around to different days in the relationship. You'll see Tom and Summer (played to perfection by Joesph Gordon-Leavitt and Zooey Deschanel) share an in-joke together, and then you'll see how the in-joke got started, for example. I'd love to see this film again and take notes, just to reorganize the days in order and see if the relationship becomes even more clear to me.

Tom is a true romantic, who believes he can never be happy until he finds The One girl for him. Summer is the delightful free spirit who becomes Tom's muse. She's independent, funny, charming, and doesn't believe in love. You can already see the disaster in the making, but like a car accident, can't tear your gaze away. Tom loves without reserve, and it's refreshing to see this in a film (as opposed to the woman-who-loves-without-reserve, which is more common).

Tom and Summer meet at work, but it doesn't seem there's a corporate fraternization policy in place at the greeting card company. Tom is bored to tears over his job (he quit following his calling to be an architect) and Summer has just been hired as the boss' new assistant. Tom falls in love immediately.

The song-and-dance number is fantastic and fits the film's quirky style perfectly. For Tom, on that morning, it's only natural that the sun will be shining, bluebirds will be singing, and the rest of Los Angeles will want to take part in his joy.

I think this is a romantic film for those who have already had some disappointments in love. Many of the behaviors remind us of similar crazy (or stupid) things we have all done or can relate to in relationships, and it's nice to see characters who actually grow in this film.

There is one fantastic scene which juxtaposes reality with Tom's expectations, and this was one of the most brilliant pieces of film I've seen all year.

Once the viewer can accept that Summer will definitely not end up with Tom in the film (it's hard to believe even though we're told the film is not a love story, and we're as blind as Tom when it comes to looking at Summer), the story becomes a font of possibilities. At a certain point I wanted to start pushing Tom to forget about her and go do his own thing, which he does, admirably. But only after several days of living in his bathrobe and going down to the convenience store in his slippers to buy bourbon and twinkies.

The film does toss the viewer one romantic bone at the end, and while it caps the film nicely it does seem to be overly predictable and disappointing compared to the 90 minutes that precede it.

Overall, this was a refreshing, funny, and very enjoyable film. It's probably not necessary to catch it in theaters, but there is a scene which highlights some of L.A.'s architecture that is nice to see on the big screen.

San Francisco Half Marathon 2009 Race Report

2009-08-22T20:44:00.001-07:00

I know this is a little late, but I was waiting for official photos. I'm getting super skinny (I've dropped a few pounds since this race as well) and my parents have been bugging me for running photos. . . so I might as well get ones where I'm looking damn good if I'm going to pay through the nose for them. . . .

Wow. This was an awesome experience. I'd never run a race out-of-driving-distance from my home before, and I was pretty ambitious in my goal setting (2:30:00 was my goal time). This was the most challenging half marathon I've ever run, yet the most satisfying and the one with the best recovery. I was energized when I finished the race, and wasn't even sore or tired. I was a bit stiff afterwards, but the next day I went to yoga and was just fine. I also PR'd (personal record) on this race: 2:37:07. So I was very satisfied with my performance.

I drove up a couple days before the race, and my good friend Krista ran it with me. We split up a mile or so into it because my leg was nagging me (it tends to do that the first few miles, and then after I'm warmed up it's fine and I really start to pick up the pace).

It was really cold that morning and if I had known better I would have brought warmer clothes overall. The race also started earlier than the other two half marathons I've run. By the time we were shuttled back to downtown it had turned into a nice day.

As far as races go, it was very well organized and well run. The recovery goodies were great and I really liked the Cytomax energy drink they used. The flavor is light and not too sweet.

I distinctly remember either missing some of the mile markers or they just weren't there. . . .however, there were witty sayings put up along parts of the route, which provided lots of amusement to the crowd of runners (Such as Confucious' saying "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step").

The best part of the race was going over the Golden Gate Bridge. Man, what a beautiful memory. The bridge was wreathed in fog, and three lanes had been closed off for us (two for running, the other to provide a buffer between us and traffic). Sometimes cars would honk at us in support, which was nice. But mostly the only sound you could hear was the sound of cars whizzing past and runners' shuffling feet.

After getting over the bridge and back, the race dropped us down to Golden Gate Park. I knew there were hills in San Francisco, but the big hills were nothing compared to the little rolling hills. Talk about demoralizing. I ended up having to walk part of this section just because I was so sad about getting so close to the finish and having to run up and down these little rollers. Also the mile markers were getting spotty in the park and I would see a lot of finishers walking around, so for the last mile I was wondering where the hell the finish line was. Not necessarily a problem with the race, but it was frustrating to round yet another turn and see nothing.

The line to get my California Dreamin' Medal and Jacket was pretty long - I waited over an hour. I saw my friend Krista finish a few minutes after me (I had passed her after the bridge, and she opted to walk up the big hill after the bridge. I was still feeling strong enough to keep going) and we ended up meeting back at the hotel.

The line to the shuttles was pretty long too; another 45 minute wait. A few runners and myself were amused at one runner who was taking a smoking break in the park. Wow. Just wow.

Overall I had a great experience and definitely recommend this race. You see a great deal of San Francisco and there's nothing quite like the achievement of running over the Golden Gate Bridge twice in one day to make you feel like you've accomplished something rare and fantastic.

Signals

2009-08-17T23:10:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I've kind of dropped off the blogging map is that I've taken up Argentine Tango. I've had a lot of fun and I'm learning a lot.

One thing about social dance is you learn a whole new way of communication with your partner. All of the things in Argentine Tango, all of the fancy stuff you see, is all communicated through signals the lead gives the follower. It's not magic, it's a very complicated bit of non-verbal communication going on there.

I think the lessons I've learned on the dance floor can definitely be applied to real life in general and relationships specifically. If the follower doesn't know what a signal means, the message will be lost and the lead will have to give up executing whatever he/she had in mind. (Yes, a woman can lead in Tango) At milognas I've definitely been inept enough to miss a signal or two. And I can instantly tell who the good leads are after a dance or two with them. Or at least if I like the way they lead me. :)

I've heard of some ballroom dancers who are good enough to "carry" their partners and disguise any skill deficiencies. Not so in Tango. In Tango, you can only be as good as the weakest partner. Good thing I follow well.

Coincidence or Fate?

2009-08-17T10:02:00.000-07:00

I definitely think people look for patterns in their lives. After all, with so much chaos, isn't it only logical that we would want to find some sense in all that muck?

I've recently met someone, who, at this point, I think our stars were aligned to meet.

God that sounds so hokey.

He lives not far from one of my favorite places in Los Angeles, in a city that I dearly enjoy to hang out in. He used to work just a hop across the street from where I currently work, and I'm certain we frequented the same Coffee Bean and fast food "grill" for coffee/lunch on occasion. We both knew, not to mention have similar fond memories of a certain burger shack in Playa Del Ray. While we don't work in the same industry, we do have similar degrees and similar skills. Not to mention unparalleled chemistry on all fronts.

The whole experience of meeting this fellow just over a week ago has upturned my exciting single girl's life upside its head. And left me thoroughly confused. I never thought meeting someone new who was also compatible would be easy. I also thought I would be bored to tears by many more dates before I found someone I actually liked.

I don't often talk about my personal life on here, but I wanted to comment on how . . .spooky this whole situation seems. I was just talking to a coworker recently who mentioned how much Life seems to depend on "blind, dumb luck". If this just happens to be a cosmic fizzle in the grand scheme of the universe, then so be it. I have to say I've enjoyed the time I've spent with this fellow so far. But if it turns out to be something more, then I don't know what to call it.

As I've gotten older, the strange giddy excitement of meeting someone new feels the same, yet has also changed into something more nuanced and complex. I feel more cautious now if I really like someone, but I also hold a deep hope that this person might be my match. I've become more cynical with relationships, but still hold out the romantic hope that maybe one day I'll find someone (or he'll find me) who will be my loving companion on this great adventure called Life.

Conan, Are You Trying To Tell Me Something?

2009-07-22T01:07:00.001-07:00

This is way more than I usually expose about my personal life on here, but let's say things are coming to a head and Diane 2.0 has had enough. (Diane 2.0 is what I've been calling the revamped "me" I've been working on since my breakup)

I usually watch The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien online while I eat dinner a few days after they air. Usually, I don't pay attention to the musical guests and just let the episode play out while I do something more interesting.

The musical guest for the episode I watched last night was Demi Lovato's "Here We Go Again", and Kate Voegele's "99 Times" for the episode I watched tonight.

I know it's just a coincidence, but I feel Conan is trying to tell me something very particular about a certain person in my life, who I can't seem to get rid of. No, not my ex-boyfriend. He's long gone, and good riddance. But someone else who I thought I was over with and now I'm in a recursive loop saying to myself, "expecting something different to happen, given the exact same input over a multitude of iterations, is insanity". I hope this makes sense and can help someone else out there.

Let's say, my ex-boyfriend dumped me, and this guy wants to get me back in the loop of saying "Here We Go Again", and each time we have an interaction I think to myself "99 Times".

Hey. At least Diane 1.0 would have texted or called him by now, just to figure out WTF is his problem and to be disappointed with the answer. I haven't done either, and I won't. I already know his answer.

I need to get to the point where I can apply P!nk's U + Ur Hand with this fellow, and I'll really be done.

Yes, my friend. I think saying "Don't talk to me anymore" is a great line. I might even have the guts to use it tomorrow when the lout comes back for another round.

Recipe - Just Oatmeal

2009-07-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

I've come to respect a decent oatmeal. Not the mushy, gummy instant stuff. But something hearty, like Silver Palate's Thick and Rough (that's what she said?) Oatmeal. It's pretty expensive compared to the tub of Quaker Oats, but it's so worth it. It holds its own against fruits, nuts, and other oatmeal additions.

Here's how I've been making mine recently:

1 c. water
1/3 c. oatmeal
2 TB dried blueberries
2 TB dried cranberries
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 TB brown sugar (I have no honey, otherwise I'd use that. But it probably doesn't need any additional sweetener.)

I eyeball the amount of dried berries; it's a small palmful each. I also eyeball the amount of cinnamon (just sprinkle enough in to look good) and sugar (one heaping spoonful).

Boil the water, then sprinkle in the oatmeal and berries. Turn the heat to low and simmer 10 minutes. Add the cinnamon and sugar, then consume!

Movie Review - Public Enemies

2009-07-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

Public Enemies is the kind of film where the fantasy of cinema is supposed to uphold the fantasy of the viewer and eclipse reality. At least the trailers give one that impression. I found the film almost free of cliche, and that was refreshing to see.

While there are elements of the John Dillinger mythos in the film, Michael Mann's collaboration with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale appears almost sterile at times. There's no clear-cut protagonist or antagonist in this picture, as it's obvious both Dillinger and Purvis are not nice men. However, most of the film does focus on what Dillinger is doing; apparently Purvis doesn't have much of a life outside the Bureau. Bale plays Purvis as a cold and completely uninteresting character.

I enjoyed watching Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard together. I wish there was more of an intimate, emotional heart to this movie, because I would have loved to see more scenes between Dillinger and Billie Frechette. When Dillinger breaks out of prison, he calls Billie and says, "I love you". It is the only instance where either character acknowleges his/her feelings for the other, and Depp delivers the line so powerfully the viewer is compelled to believe Dillinger's drive to be near Billie and protect her must be love, no matter how messed up and unhealthy their relationship must be.

There is a lot of action and a lot of gun fights in this film, and while I suppose that is to be expected, I was under the impression Dillinger preferred the quick and sneaky getaway as opposed to fighting it out with the cops. The scenes where Dillinger escapes from jail were more exciting for me to watch, most especially his escape with the fake gun.

One big problem I did have with the film is that it never establishes who is who outside of Hoover, Purvis, Dillinger, Frechette, and Anna Sage. There would be a scene involving some big names in 30's crime and I would have no clue which of the suits-and-hats in the frame was the guy who's supposed to be such a big deal. This aspect is especially frustrating in war movies and I was surprised to have to deal with it in Public Enemies. By the end of it I just didn't care which random dude was Baby Face Nelson.

Not knowing much historical detail re: Dillinger and his bank robberies, I would have liked some sort of extra visual clue of the timeframe and location of events. The film starts out that way, but forgets the average viewer probably isn't intimately familiar with the timeline after that.

The cinematography and set dressing is excellent; I've read that filming locations include the actual street the Biograph theater sits on as well as the Little Bohemia Lodge. It's a neat little thrill to see something as it might have been on the big screen like that.

Overall, the film is enjoyable and is the kind of historical action-drama one would want to see in the theaters. But do keep in mind that it feels more like a documentary and less like a big gangster flick.

Restaurant Review - 85C

2009-07-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

A friend recently introduced me to sea salt coffee at 85 C in Irvine. I've kicked my coffee habit, but whenever I'm in Orange County I want to go there to pick one up. (They've also recently started selling them in a large size . . .I guess even Taiwanese stores are not immune to the Supersize Me problem)

85 C also sells Asian breads/pastries and cakes which are of very high quality. It's worth it to pick up several different breads to take home and eat the next day. But high quality breads are pretty easy to find; to my knowledge 85 C is the only place in the U.S. selling sea salt coffee.

Sea Salt Coffee is an iced, slightly sweetened coffee enhanced by a topping of foamed sea salt. The salty foam is supposed to enhance the sweetness of the coffee. Try it! It's fascinating.

If you're in the area, I recommend checking 85 C out for their specialty sea salt coffee. They are open until at least 10 PM all nights of the week.

85 C
2700 Alton Parkway #123
Irvine, CA 92606
(949) 553-8585

What Victory Feels Like

2009-07-10T13:27:00.000-07:00

I really appreciate Dilbert, but I super-appreciate Scott Adams when he comes up with stuff like this:

Race Report - Village Runner 4th of July 5K

2009-07-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is the second year I ran Village Runner's 4th of July 5K, and I had a blast this year!

I arrived super early (6:30 AM) to get a parking spot. Last year I think I arrived around 7:00 or 7:30 and had to drive a mile or so away for parking. Not bad, but not ideal either.

The pre-race festivities didn't seem as big as last year's, but that's OK.

I had a lot of trouble breaking away from the pack. I decided I was going to try my best and see if I could break my PR that I set in April (33:30). When I started off races walking, I tried to get into the back of the pack! Why were all these walkers starting up front? Arg!

The sole hill is a mean one. It tricks you into thinking that you're doing good, but you're only halfway up.

I hope I ran consistent or negative splits this time, so yay for me! My first mile was something like 12 or so minutes, and my time at the 2nd mile was 22-something. The guy before the finish line yelled 32:40 before I ran past him, and I just pushed it because I really wanted to beat my time. Because it took me a couple minutes to get across the line, I think I got a 31:00 or 32:00. If I got a 30-something that would just be pure icing for me.

They always have great post-race recovery treats at this race. I grabbed an apple and a banana with peanut butter. Yummy breakfast!

I hope next year they start doing corrals, because it's just frustrating trying to move past all the walkers at the beginning.

Update: My time was 31:25.

Dudes. . . .

2009-07-03T23:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a head's up for you. If you want to take a girl out, do not do these things (especially in combination):

1 - Ask a girl out the night-of. She's busy. She has plans. She's executing those plans. Even if she's not, she should be. So don't fuck it up with your head-game of "I'd like to take you out tonight and my time-management skills suck so badly I can't plan this three days in advance."

2 - Don't give her a hard time for not calling you. That's your job. Remember? She's out living Life.

3 - Don't tell her that because you couldn't get a hold of her that you:

are going out to do something she's said to you multiple times that she'd like to do (in my case, club dancing)
reject her when she asks if she can come along
then tell her you made plans with other people

To do any one of these things, but especially all of these things in this order, surely puts you into the realm of douchbaggery. Most especially if you flaked on doing something with her earlier in the week.

Yes, I'm pissed. But I'm more pissed I can't find my visor for my 5K in the morning. :)

Fun With Speed Dating

2009-07-03T19:12:00.001-07:00

I decided to jump back into dating with trying out speed dating. The premise is that you pay a company some money (I've seen some as expensive as $50, but the one I went to was $36) and you go to a restaurant or club. Everyone is given a card and a number. Typically the girls will sit at the tables or booths and the guys will rotate around every 5 or so minutes. At the end of the event you write down the names of people you would like to see again, and if they want to see you then the organizer of the event will e-mail you later with their contact info.

I've been to a couple of these events and they're really fun. I don't believe I'll actually meet someone there - the point for me is to meet some people, learn a little bit about human behavior, have ridiculous amounts of fun, and go home without having to worry about if any of those dudes will call later.

The second event I went to was a lot more successful for me than the first. I think this was primarily because it was a combined event of older and younger people, and I just happened to be the youngest woman. Dirty old men! ;)

Anyway, I think I already have one date for next week lined up and several more tentatively planned within the next two weeks, so I don't think I'll need to go speed dating for a while. I'm trying to exercise this theory of dating two or three men at the same time to avoid getting to attached to any one particular dude. So hopefully my theory works in practice. I can't even claim that this theory is my own! I think I've read about it from several different authors. (OK, I've definitely heard of this theory from more than just one author, but Diana Kirschner is the only one who comes to mind right now)

Some of the people I've met at these seem all right, some of them I can tell right off that they are not right for me, and some of them are pretty interesting! (At least for those first five minutes)

If you're in L.A., single, and want to try something fun, I recommend SpeedLA Dating. It's a British import, the owner and hostesses I've met all seem very nice, ladies get a free makeup application, and they serve treats! They have events all over Los Angeles (the two I went to were in Hollywood, but they occasionally have events in Manhattan Beach).

Michael Jackson is Dead

2009-06-25T15:41:00.000-07:00

LA Times Article

I think this comes as a shock to everyone.

I'm not a fan of Michael Jackson, but I think Los Angeles has always had a love affair for the star. When I moved here three years ago, you could still listen to his 20-year-old songs on the radio next to the top-ten of the week. Even now I'll hear "Billie Jean" or "Beat It" on the radio every now and then.

I Am Woman! Hear Me Roar!

2009-06-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

I kill big spiders on my own. This is a major accomplishment. I am the queen of my domain.

Movie Review - Star Trek (revised)

2009-06-13T17:31:00.001-07:00

Star Trek in IMAX with a couple drinks is so much better.

There. I said it.

The Happiest Girl To Ever Be Dumped

2009-06-13T17:11:00.001-07:00

I highly recommend not moving twice in less than six weeks. It wrecks havoc on your stress levels. I also highly recommend not having another major life stressor happen in between moves that are six weeks apart. But I've done both of those things, and the Superwoman high I've been feeling throughout the last two weeks has skyrocketed. I can conquer anything Life throws at me. Life, dish it out!

I found a place close to work that is economically priced and I think I will be happy living there. I have returned to South Bay, and I think my quality of life will improve dramatically. One of my dear friends from before I left California came over and helped me unpack some of my things on Thursday.

"I've never seen a girl so happy to be dumped," she told me after dinner.

Is that so? Maybe. I personally theorize that I've reached my limit of stressful activities for the year, and just don't care anymore. If anyone or anything wants to weigh me down, I just don't need that person or thing in my life right now.

I only have vague ideas of where certain items are, and for someone who tries to be fairly organized, this bothers me greatly. Ditto for having a truly chaotic house.

But I am free. I don't have to check with anyone on plans I make for myself, I don't have to compromise on what time would be good to go to sleep or wake up, I can eat whatever I want without having to consult with someone else. . . .

My list extends to at least the other side of the Pacific.

I've never been happier to be single. Usually I feel like I need to be in a relationship, and that idea just doesn't feel palatable to me anymore. Dates are nice, but who needs a suffocating relationship when you can be free, and easily find attention from members of the opposite sex?

South Bay Soliloquies

Leaving Los Angeles

Recipe: Crab Rangoon

Backpacking Recipe: Chicken Curry Wrap

Earwax

Chicken Marsala

Make Your Own Oatmeal Packets

On "Still Having It"

Marathon Doping

Dinner Tonight - Greek Chicken & Pasta

One Year Later

President Obama Speaks at USC

What Else He Shaves

So There I Was . . . . .

Brown People vs. Black People

Dinner For One - Meatball Sandwich

Race Report - Heartbreak Ridge Half Marathon

I Feel Like I Must Be A Racist. . . .

Dinner For One - Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken

Why Do Free Upgraded Drinks Bother Me?

Whitewater Kayaking

Olivia

Speed Bump

Restaurant Review - Rinaldi's

The Gripping Hand

Every Time I'm Disappointed . . . .

Race Report - Redondo Beach 4th of July 5K

Now I Wonder

Baggage

What Fresh Hell Is This?

There is No "The One"

Inter-People Communication

Skinny Jeans

Where The Cute Girls Are

Movie Review - Robin Hood

Garden Update, Part Two

Garden Update

No Kids?

Garden Update

More Gardening Links

Delicious, Delicious Mashed Potatoes

Garden Update

Movie Review - Clash of the Titans (2010)

Container Garden

Texting While Socializing

It's Not Supposed to Be a Race. . . . .

Recipe: Szechuan Chicken & Potatoes

Restaurant Review: Bonjour French Pastry

The Women Men Don't See

Rose Parade Preview

Merry Christmas

Shell Shocked

Bento Snack

Hey Twilight Fans!

Turkey Day

Facebook "Friends" Criteria

The Mormon Proposition

Rolling My Eyes

IKEA Experience

Women Are Tough Too, You Know

Love, Lay Your Head On My Weary Shoulder

Women in Space

Marine Corps Marathon 2009 - Race Report

Last- Minute Marathon Tips

Why I Run

I <3 Dan Savage

Perseverance

Miramar Air Show

Coffee Break

Polanski Media Circus

Fortune

Recipe - Greek-Style Stuffed Peppers

Wanderlust

Restaurant Review - Peter's Place

Three Year Anniversary - Let's Punch It!

Movie Review - Extract

It Goes To Eleven

LACMA - Pompeii and the Roman Villa

Sign Spinning Mile Markers

Remember Praan?