drunk ass

This weekend was my friend Ben's birthday. He's the one on the right below. However, the most memorable part of the evening happened at about 3am when we went to Peter's Cafe in Millbrae for some eats. My bald friend (who will remain unnamed for his privacy) was drunker than the birthday boy and it made for a good time (for the rest of us).

My bald headed friend telling his story (none of us can remember what his long ass story was about but it took a long time to tell).

Soon after, my friend began stomping on the floor. We couldn't see over the table so we asked Candice what the hell he was doing. Apparently he was flattening cutlery. No, we don't know why.

After all his story telling and cutlery stomping he gets all tuckered out and falls asleep sitting up

So we decide to build a tower of food on his head. It was fun, sort of like Jenga. See how many pieces you can add without waking him or having it all tumble down.

At this point there's french fries, pepper and now a piece of toast.

At this point, we've freakin' run out of food to put on his head. I thought the onion and fry behind the ear was a nice touch.

So the game turns from Jenga to Operation where you must now remove all the pieces without waking him.

It wasn't very challenging. My battery died here but after the last fry was removed we decided to use it to do some ketchup and mustard face painting. When he woke up we just told him that he went face first into his plate while he was sleeping to explain all the crap on his face. He seemed pretty convinced.

Top Chef

I'm a week behind in my reality TV watching, thank goodness for Tivo. We caught up on the finale of 24 on Sunday night and tonight we watched 2 hours of Top Chef. I was sad to see the emotional, lovable, all around good guy Dave go but I knew the producers would pit Tiffani against Harold after the novelty of Dave's constant crying wore off. You don't really think the judges make all the decisions now do you? If you think they do, you need to take media literacy 101, seriously. Tiffani v. Harold is the story of woman versus man, sly versus honest, daring versus steady. Of course good presides over evil and Harold wins. That's not to say all is fiction. I think the fact that Tiffani has a rotten attitude and flat out lied about giving Dave all this direction on the dessert, the most favoured dish, when in fact he was saving that recipe for himself if he were to make finals...I'll bet all of that had a whole lot of truth to it. I don't think the producers had to work terribly hard to create the bitch character in this show as Tiffani came out for that part in full force. I was sad that one of my favourites, Lee Anne, wasn't in the final three but I guess America can't handle having an Asian sister winning both of Bravo's big reality shows. In the end though, the story was well told. The moral of the story is simple: Be kind to people, be honest, be humble, be a team player, go with your gut, go with what you do best, stick up for good people and they'll stick up for you, don't backstab, don't take credit for other people's work, don't over complicate things and, finally, what comes around goes around. I cannot wait to try Harold's restaurant in Lower Manhatten and, while each restaurant has only one super star, it'd sure be cool to see Lee Anne and Dave there too. And if you're wondering how a chef spends $100,000 check this out.

weasel puke

I spent the weekend drinking too much and eating too much. Saturday night we went to Peter's Cafe in Millbrae which is open 24 hours. I really did not need an avocado cheeseburger and fries at 3am but it sure tasted good. I also had a taste of my friend's loco moco which was heavenly. Sunday I went to the art and wine fest down the street and it was just more eating. Simon came back from the UK and Germany with about 5 pounds of chocolate and a couple packs of Weasel Coffee, which according to the web site "has been eaten and regurgitated by rare Vietnamese weasels! Honestly! As you can imagine, the weasels' gastric goings-on radically alter the taste of the coffee and the result is a stronger, smoother, heady flavoured coffee that will appeal to serious connoisseurs of the mighty bean." I later found out it's made by the same company that makes Civet Coffee, which comes from Civet poo. "This feral feline prowls Sumatran coffee plantations at night, choosing to eat only the finest, ripest cherries. The stones (which eventually form coffee beans) are then collected by sifting through the Civet's number twos." Awesome. Now I'm waiting for my stupid files to transfer so I can reformat and sell this laptop. This is taking for freakin' ever. I hate doing IT shit like this.

eat

After a week of not seeing a whole lot of people, I decided to go out for drinks last night at Olive and then at Rye. A few too many it turned out. I spent the day today drinking Gatorade and watching Trading Spaces and What Not to Wear. I felt so guilty about doing nothing I decided to enter this Go List contest on TripAdvisor. This week's theme is budget so here's my contributions. Now I've finally got a list of my favourite Vancouver restaurants and sites written down somewhere.

Wen Ho Lee

This won't make up for the suffering he endured, but it helps. I just hope there is money left after paying back his legal fees for that witch hunt.

Photoshop

CIMG3793copy-artistic-sumi-e
Originally uploaded by vau604.

I just spent a bunch of time re-learning Photoshop. I wish I used it more often. Now I've downgraded to Photoshop Elements because I haven't the skills to use CS anyways. Check out the magic of the magnetic lasso tool (used to delete my background including some dude who looked like Napolean Dynamite eating chips behind me) and the Sumi-e filter. With all the blurring you wouldn't notice that I had a stupid infection on my right eyelid that whole weekend. It took great effort to try to open that eye extra wide so I wouldn't look like I'm winking in every photo.

I think if I were better at stuff like doing make up, I could've corrected for that, but I suck at that like I suck at doing my own hair. So before graduation, I got my hair done as a hair model during a class at L Salon. The owner and instructor did most of my haircut since my student designer was a bit new so effectively I scored a $110 haircut for $20. Too bad it looks like shit when you don't know how the hell to blowdry and style it yourself. How come other women know how to do these things and I don't?

weird day

I had nothing to do today. Well not nothing, I have a long list of chores and errands that have been on hold all semester but I didn't really have any appointments other than a little meeting in the evening with the future president of my Toastmasters club. Having nothing scheduled really makes the minutes and hours slip through my fingers. I wrote a long letter challenging the decision to deny tenure to a prof at my school, typed up some class notes, did some Toastmasters stuff, exchanged some emails with a potential landlord in Seattle (fingers crossed) and next thing I knew it was 4pm. And when that happens I screw up my entire meal schedule. I had two soft boiled eggs for breakfast at 10.30am, a bowl of dumplings at 4pm, some Cadbury's chocolate, and a bowl of gai lan (Chinese broccoli) and a mug of hot Ovaltine for dinner at 10pm. Normally I eat a hell of a lot more than that but I just sort of forgot. Good thing though since I also failed to get my fat ass to the gym. But still I hope I don't eat this way when I move out and eat alone. The routine of making dinner every night for Simon kinda keeps us on schedule and away from consuming crap for dinner. When no one's around, like this week for example, I will eat eggs for any meal. If not that then cheese, mac and cheese if I feel like boiling water. Sometimes having a routine is good.

week off

So it's exam week in high school so I have a lightened tutoring schedule and haven't started my summer job at TeleNav yet so I've taken the opportunity to do some hardcore organizing, like the paper that has accumulated over the last 6 years. It took me a solid day to sift through my boxes of paper. I've also started posting to Seattle Craigslist in the housing wanted section in hopes that a landlord will look there first for super clean tenants before posting their unit for rent. So far I've gotten legit emails from a couple with a newborn wanting to rent a room in the SAME suite (that won't help me in my quest to average 9 hours of sleep per night), a 50-year-old bible-thumping Asian woman (I guess my cussing and explicit mention of no bible thumpers went over her head), and a woman managing real estate for another landlord who instantly tried to recruit me into this W0rld Leadership Gr0up scam (aka W0rld Financial Gr0up, W0rld Lending Gr0up etc etc). I'm not sure how people can still be duped into these stupid multi-level pyramid recruiting schemes. They take registration fees and force you to pay to go to stupid seminars and promise you will get rich if you can share the "benefit" with all your friends and family. I did a little bit of Googling and they have their agents or associates or whatever going to all the anti-scam sites to rebut all the explanations of how they are scammers. I'm not terribly surprised that most of the folks who get suckered fall for the "no experience required" bit because they have barely a high school education. Didn't you people learn your lesson from Amw@y in the 1980s?

allergies

I don't know how many trees I've killed blowing my nose now. I don't even feel like going out tonight even though it's a long weekend and I'm sitting around here with nothing to do. Simon mentioned that he heard on John Tesh's radio show that humming a tune helps to clear the sinuses but it doesn't work when it feels like yours are filled with cement. And what the hell is he doing listening to John Tesh's stupid show anyway? The only thing that helped me sleep last night was laying in bed with a bottle of Miller High Life which I used to wash down 2 Benadryls after taking one more huff on the inhaler and rubbing my throat with Vicks Vaporub. I got up to brush my teeth after that and reflected on how fucked up it is to be drinking malt liquor in bed. I'm sure John Tesh would not approve.

tenure for Vergara

photo taken from http://www.myspace.com/egambol
OK one more thing I'll remember about this commencement was the grassroots efforts put forth by the students in the Asian American Studies yesterday. There is a very kind, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and all around wonderful professor who is being denied tenure in that department and his colleagues and students are fighting to have that reversed. You see, professors join on as "assistant professors" in a "tenure track" position. After three years or so, you put together a huge application for tenure which includes letters of recommendation, student evals, lists of publications etc. If all goes well you get promoted to associate prof and you're pretty much set in terms of job security for life. If you are denied tenure, you have to leave the school the following year and in my mind it's pretty much like getting fired. It's a pretty weird process that I'm just learning about as a rookie in the academic world. Anyways, Professor Benito Vergara was denied tenure which is outrageous. The guy really helped me out when I got started on my thesis and was looking for support from the Asian American Studies department. I was floored when I heard of the denial but I was really impressed by the students yesterday who chanted Tenure for Vergara each time our school's president spoke. When it came time to collect our diplomas, they marched with a big poster stating the same message. Way to get the message out to thousands watching the commencement ceremony. I'm going to go write a letter of support for him now. If you are reading this, know of prof Vergara, and want to help, please check out the following links:

http://www.myspace.com/tenureforvergara
http://www.petitiononline.com/vergara/
http://www.maniwalaya.org/

commencement '06

I am soooo ceremonied out. Most memorable piece of advice from my department graduation came from a prof that reminded us to always wear sunblock, floss your teeth and have lots of safe sex. Our keynote speaker at our school-wide ceremony this afternoon was the then assistant to Leo Ryan who went down to Jonestown South Africa to investigate a cult led by Jim Jones. Jackie Speier was shot 5 times and left for dead for 20 hours. Leo Ryan was shot dead on the tarmack as they attempted to fly out. She told the graduates (not in these words but I was too tired and delirious to remember them exactly) to live their lives as if they knew they wouldn't fail. Neil Young (yes the singer who is Canadian by the way) and his wife were also given honorary doctorates for founding the Bridge School for young people with disabilities. The only other thing I'll probably remember was seeing one of the deans hood one of the undergrad hood recipients. It was broadcast on a HUGE screen and it looked like he was going to kiss her on the lips and the whole crowd of students was like HOLY SHIT, HOLD UP! He ended up going for the cheek but it didn't look that way on the approach.

self-diagnosing

I'm going to bitch again about the health care in this country. I used to get strep throat and various flus a lot when I was little and that meant frequent trips to the local walk in medical clinic near my home. All we did was present my BC Care Card and I was in and out of there in a flash, no appointment and often at weird hours of the evening when normal doctors offices are closed. Now I'm sitting here on a Monday morning with an eyelid that has been swollen since Saturday morning. I've had eye infections before that usually just go away but this one got better towards the end of the day and worse in the morning after sleeping. So yeah, it's normal business hours and my medical clinic has no more available appointments for today, so I'm searching both Google and the Blue Cross site for walk-in clinics.

Alas there's no such thing outside of San Francisco. You either make an appointment or go to the hospital emergency with something that better be urgent. There is nothing in between, no after hours clinics, no walk-in clinics, nothing. Self-diagnosis is said to be dangerous and you should see a doctor bla bla bla, but what the hell are you supposed to do if the doctor can't see you? So http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/eye-problems.htm is my last resort until I can see someone tomorrow at my medical center which is the only listed "urgent care" facility in town. Urgent my ass.

Bay to Breakers

I was so excited about doing Bay to Breakers. Seeing all the costumes and performances along the way I think would be well worth the getting up before 8am. But now it is raining out and it will rain all weekend. That means I would have to deal with two of my least favourite things - getting up early and being in the rain. I also managed to get in a collision with my coffee table yesterday and my toe is still a bit swollen. Looks like I might not do the run afterall. Dammit.

skills

So I was listening to my friend Till's band Lapin Meta (download their MP3s there). And unlike a lot of little bands, they're actually really awesome and quite unique. I especially like "I Think We All Should Disagree." It kinda got me thinking I sure wish I had developed some musical skills when I was younger. I mean I had one of the best music programs in my elementary school where we learned guitar in grades 6 and 7. Then in junior high we had to take band and I chose drums and flute. Unfortunately, I never really kept with it because band practice was too early in the morning and I quit and now I can't even remember how to read music aside from recognizing quarter and whole notes. I think what I really wanted to learn at the time was piano but it's expensive and I was tied up doing gymnastics. But hey, I guess it's never too late to learn something new. Easier to learn an instrument at age thirty than to pick up gymnastics right? Anyone wanna exchange music lessons for gymnastics coaching?

studio

Here's the reason why I will likely have to live alone in Seattle. I'm just not normal enough.

gown

Oh yeah so I picked up my cap and gown today ($60 rental, what a fucking rip off. I think I need to start a cap and gown rental company). I was delighted to find that I did not get the smallest size robe. Nope. I got the 4'11" - 5'0" robe as the staff at the library laughed because I told them I was "five nothing." The smallest robe, however, is 4'7." Hell yeah, I didn't have to get the smallest one. However, I did discuss with my friend how shafted we get as professionals in America who are female, ethnic minority, and non U.S. citizen. Talk about triple glass ceiling. I reminded her that I get quadruple shafted for also being short. Who takes me seriously and sees me as an authority? Nobody!

semester end

It has been a hellish week even though I successfully defended my thesis last semester. (Yay) One of my two jobs at school is running a writing lab for the undergrads in my department where I help students polish their papers and check for APA formatting and... it's crunch time. Final papers are due and that means I have a line of students waiting for help.

After seeing some of the work students cobble together and call a college level paper, I can see why they're trying to force high school students to pass exit exams in this state. While the first cohort to go through this will suffer the most and it's a particular challenge for new English speakers, ultimately I think it's needed (at least for those who have reached a certain level of English proficiency). There are obviously students managing to graduate and squeeze into university via jr. college transfer who can barely construct a sentence and probably shouldn't have passed high school English. I think an exit exam will help administrators hold schools accountable for ensuring their students graduate with basic math and English skills. I know a high schooler who took the exam already and she claimed it was ridiculously easy. Anyways, I guess I'm just bitching because it's frustrating to see students go through the system having learned squat in English class. A select few would also get an F for effort and work ethic. That student in my friend's class spelled his own name wrong AGAIN for god's sake.

Many of the international students, on the other hand, have flourished over the semester and put together papers with depth and incredible organization. My hats are off to them for coming to a new country on their own, learning a new language, and succeeding in school. I don't think I could've done it at their age.

okay. enough complaining. I'm gonna go watch some more Bobby Lee skits on You Tube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYTbpCTphdc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbC2DlC0XDY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE4JSQ1lunQ&search=madtv%20bobby%20lee

runnin'

Just wanted to say congrats to my friend Will who just finished his first half ironman triathlon. His blog has some awesome pics and answers questions that non runners might have about when you eat, pee, and poo during a 7 hour race. I had no idea that some of you get buck ass naked during transition. Very educational. I also read a bit of Merrill's blog. I also had no idea some of you guys pee WHILE riding your bike. Do chicks do that too? What do you do if you get some on the other competitors?

my fun weekend

I had an action packed weekend including our department's year end party and impromptu karaoke after party on Friday night, a beach party at Great America all day Saturday, dinner at Korea House after that and on Sunday we did brunch, roller blading the Bay trail, and watching the hockey game at BJ's(no pics of that, sorry).

Oh yeah, Sharks fans, booing the Canadian anthem is neither classy nor cool. It's disrespectful. Shame on you. In fact, your two best players CheeChoo and Thornton, whom you love so much, are Canadian. You rejects were booing the top players of your own team. Oilers fans, you better take the high road. No booing!


Chul and Brent, a couple of our favourite profs at a karaoke in J Town after Bash. Yes that is a white man from the midwest singing Korean.

And out to Great America the next day

It was a beach party. That's Christopher Lawrence spinning back there, along with Donald Glaude and Mark Farina who played earlier that day.

And Korea House for dinner yummy

Check out this awesome egg sack we found in our seafood soup. Candice found it pretty tasty. This bad boy would be great on Fear Factor.

hold up

Three 13 and 14 year olds from Surrey (hehe) held up 7 banks in the greater Vancouver area. Some balls they got there. We thought shop lifting was a pretty big deal when we were that age. Thing is if I were a teller, I wouldn't want to take any chances but still it's not likely that they'd have a gun even if they are from Surrey. Guns are rather hard to come by up there (it's not Texas). I'm surprised they were able to get away with this many robberies before getting caught. I mean just seeing a group of boys that age at a bank is suspicious enough, you'd think they'd get caught on the second or even first attempt. Every time I go home to visit there are new tales of outrageous crimes, from drive bys to club shootings, hit and runs to home invasions. It makes me wonder if Vancouver's crime rate really is increasing or if it's just selective reporting and that mean world syndrome.

On an unrelated note, I am getting shit for sleep lately and it is driving me nuts. When we are blessed with beautiful weather I also get punished with allergies because apparently God, or whatever, hates me. I am starting to go through the medicine cabinet to grab fistfulls of any sort of pill sitting in a container with a label that says not to take it if I plan to operate heavy machinery. And I still cannot sleep. One night I decided to have a glass of port wine to knock myself out a bit but I'm allergic to most red wines including, as it turns out, the one I drank. The result was even more nasal congestion and some asthma. I sometimes think about doing a DIY tracheotomy just so I can breathe without keeping my mouth open all night.

walking

It seems I can't walk from the edge of my campus to my building without getting approached by a long line of people who want to:

- give me a Gideon's bible
- tell me about the Socialist Party or whatever their organization is
- get me to come to some student party to raise money for whatever
- vote for some student government thing even though I don't know the role of student government or the platforms of any of the candidates

I used to be sympathetic since the shittiest job I ever had was coercing people to sign up for a The Bay or Canadian Tire credit card and it carried a quota. But this was a job in a store where people expect these things to happen. The people above are doing what they do because they want to tell people about their cause. I wish they used less annoying ways to do it though. I have to say "no thanks" or "not interested" about 5 times everytime I'm coming to school or leaving it. I've made a game of dodging anyone holding a clipboard. It kinda just adds to my mental clutter to have to deal with them. I want to be able to walk uninterrupted and hear the birds sing and enjoy the view of the grassy quad in the sunshine.

Napoleon and Bullet

Thanks to Cecil for sending me this link to learn the Napolean Dynamite dance. Now I have something to do over the summer :P

So update number 4 on the Magic Bullet. I returned our defective one to Target sans box. They took it and credited the Amex but didn't allow a straight exchange. Of course that makes no sense but I'm sure folks there don't get paid enough to figure out how to "over ride the system." The cashier wasn't exactly Chloe O'Brien. So whatever. This weekend we took the 20% off coupon for Bed, Bath and Beyond that comes in the mail every week and got another one for $48. I used it last night to whip up an egg and butter to make chocolate chip cookies. It was...okay. If the contents of the container aren't sitting right down on the blades, it doesn't do anything and you have to detach the container and shake it to settle your contents back on the blades. It's kind of annoying. The good thing though is that it's easy to clean and put away unlike the hand mixer I was about to use. I guess if you mix little bits of things or sauces really often it might work out for you if you can get past having to shake the stupid container every once in a while to settle the contents.

evolution of dance

I have to admit that one of my few talents in life involves emulating dancing club goers who either hear a different beat in their head from everyone else at the party, or have no shame in breaking out dance moves that people born in the late 1980s have never seen before. My specialities include the sprinkler, the lawnmower, the Nordic Track (you'll see this one at raves), the Roger Rabbit, and the running man (with particular attention to rhythmic head turning with each slide). And that is why I so appreciated this video that Jane sent me.

uni adventure

We saw sea urchin at Ranch 99 last night so Simon decided to conquer it. It was no easy feat. Who the hell knew it would spew red crap. Once he got in and split the thing in half I almost fell on the floor. I expected it to be full of that orange goodness like you see at the restaurant but nope. There were valves and jaws and slime and tubes and all this nasty shit. I screamed when I saw the inside. It was like something from out of a horror movie. The fresh uni tasted, I dunno, a lot more fragrant than the stuff at restaurants. It tasted kind of like perfume. To be honest, I like the restaurant stuff a bit better. The fresh stuff was a bit intense.

sea urchin

oozing red stuff

EEEEEEEWWWW!

Simon spooning out the roe from the ugliness

all for this

hamster Jedi

Hamster Jedi

APAHM

It's Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! Time to set your Tivo to record some really great programming on your public TV station. If you don't see related programming during prime time on your local PBS station, write them a letter and cc: alerts@asianmediawatch.net. Some info about APAHM courtesy of Asian Media Watch.

HISTORY IN BRIEF

Efforts to establish a national Asian Pacific American Heritage celebration began after concerned Americans saw that the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) were omitted from the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial Celebration. The month of May was chosen in recognition of the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants on May 7, 1843, and of Chinese Americans who helped build the Transcontinental Railroad which was completed on May 10, 1869. It was also chosen to encourage educators to incorporate Asian Pacific American history into the curriculum while school is in session.

APAHM began as a one-week celebration enacted by Congress as Resolution 72 and signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. It was the result of legislation introduced by Congressmembers Frank Horton and Norman Y. Mineta (House of Representatives), and Daniel K Inouye and Spark Mastunaga (Senate). In 1990, APAHM was expanded into a month-long celebration annually recognized by Proclamation of the President of the United States of America, and later enacted into Public Law 102-450 on October 23, 1992 by Congress which permanently designated the entire month of May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Colbert

Colbert's speech at the White House and the video

Apparently the media didn't know what the heck to report about this so it's largely been swept under the rug.

my week off

Since my thesis is being read, my job this week was to grade student work (not hard) and lounge around and watch TV. Aside from everything on HGTV (other than the gardening and country style type shows) I've been hooked on Top Chef. Sadly my favourite Lee Anne Wong was cast off today. Guess they couldn't have an Asian woman win Project Runway AND its sister show Top Chef on Bravo. I truly thought she was the best. While Dave is my favourite personality on the show, he's probably the least experienced chef left. Because The Real Housewives of Orange County immediately follows Top Chef, I've gotten hooked on that too. There is something sickly addicting about watching a bunch of spoiled brats and their even more spoiled parents live their pathetic meaningless lives. It kind of makes me wonder if people who aren't born into money but become rich later in life will gradually turn into the shallow self-absorbed low lifes in this show. One of the women did come from more humble beginnings but she too was walkin' around with huge implants, bleach blond hair, and stupid ideas about what life problems are about. Even her mother was complaining about how she'd changed. After exhausting the good stuff on Tivo each day, I've been reading Cute, Quaint, Hungry, and Romantic: The Aesthetics of Consumerism. Great laugh out loud kinda read. Slightly pretentious use of language (learning those GRE vocab words a couple years back sure came in handy) but I'm finding that's what makes his writing so funny.

Stick It

So I saw the trailer for the MTV movie "Stick It" which is supposed to be the gymnastics version of "Bring It On." I'm not normally drawn to stupid teen comedies like that but I'll watch anything that has to do with gymnastics. Turns out there's a whole whack of real gymnasts in the movie including Carly Patterson, Bart Connor, and Elfie Schlegel. I tried to dig up the stunt doubles for the gymnasts to see if I know any of them but they aren't credited on IMDB for some reason. There's also a Canadian connection here. The lead is played by Missy Peregrym who was born in Montreal, raised in Surrey, BC (snicker snicker) and now lives in Vancouver. She's also 5'7" which is entirely unrealistic for a gymnast. I hate when they do that in movies. Be real already and cast a 5' midget like me. Vanessa Lengies, the co-star, was born in Montreal. At least she fits the bill at 5'2". Anyways, I have yet to see the movie. I can't wait.

blanks

I don't know why I'm filling this out but Dean and Sarah did. I'm going to be different and only do half of it because I'm lazy.

Finish the Sentence
I'm always: wondering what I should eat next
I love saying: my life sucks
I think flowers are: not permanent enough
My fav Beatles song is: Yesterday
My parents are: unaffectionate
I hate: bigots
I love: soft boiled eggs
I was born: a very long time ago
Sometimes I try too hard: to get things just perfect
I work well on things: when I don't have to work with a team of idiots
My childhood was: spent listening to ching chong taunts and ignorant questions about being Chinese
My school: has tiles missing from the ceiling and profs who make less than I did in the tech industry
I love to read books about: the experiences of Asian North Americans
I'm addicted to: being online
I drink too much: on the weekends when I'm not the driver
My earliest memory is: going to emergency after the window of our screen door slammed shut on my fingers
The last place I went on vacation was: Chicago
I think living far away from: sunshine, friends, and boyfriend is going to make me very depressed
I want to live closer to: Whistler
The President is: frighteningly dull
The Media: are what I research and analyze at school
Right now, I should be calling: Simon to see if he's lost money in Vegas
The glass is: too damn close to the edge of the table, move it to the center before it spills dammit
Kids can be: the devil's spawn
Kids were mean to me when they: poured something on the floor to watch me slip in the hallway my first week in junior high
Music companies are: too often the topic of undergrad papers I have to grade
I despise it when: ignorant people dismiss racism in the media by saying we can't take a joke
If I could go anywhere it would be: all over Europe, Asia, and Tahiti
I love to shop: in the bargain bin
Malls are a really fun place to: observe obnoxious teenagers making asses of themselves
I had fun when: I had a regular pay check that amounted to more than $400 and change

insomnia

I can never sleep when (1) I've had a nap (2) Simon's out of town. Last night I managed to satisfy both conditions. Simon's out at Interop in Vegas and I fell asleep at 9pm for about 1/2 an hour. By the time I dragged myself to bed, I was wide awake again. I really wanted to go for a bedtime of 11pm but after rolling around for an hour and a half I did the unthinkable. I turned on the lights, went downstairs and made a bowl of oatmeal. I never eat in the middle of the night. I thought that was just something people do on TV. But after trying to eat low carb all day just for the hell of it, I was craving carbs. After the oatmeal I had some whole wheat crackers and cream cheese. Brushed my teeth, went back to bed, and turned on the TV. I watched some special on American Pie and what's come of the careers of all its actors. By the time that was done, it must've been past 1:30 am. So much for going to bed early. I'll give it another shot tonight, maybe after a nice nightcap, and something to take care of these allergies that came with the beautiful weather.

day without an immigrant

Never a dull day in this country. Today is "Day Without An Immigrant" and there are rallies and marches taking place in many major cities here. I don't know how many immigrants walked out in Vegas, but if they did, I wonder how the hotels are doing. I wonder how the farms in California are doing. I wonder what people looking for construction help outside Home Depot are doing without the hired help. I wonder how many Americans realize the contribution of these people to our way of life in America. I hope they realize that today and support the plight of these immigrants. I'm sure it wasn't easy for them to walk out, lose a day's wages, and risk detainment to demonstrate that there needs to be immigration reform. Critics argue they should just go about immigration legally. What these folks don't realize is that the immigration process is not what it was 30+ years ago. It's a ridiculously long and near impossible process. For example, "Siblings of U.S. citizens from the Philippines currently wait a staggering 23 years."

And in your conversation about the events today, be conscious of how you refer to people.

youth hate crime

How is this not a hate crime? I don't get it. They're only getting charged with aggravated sexual assault. How about attempted murder?

HOUSTON -- A Hispanic boy who authorities said was viciously attacked and sodomized by two white teens shouting ethnic slurs also suffered cigarette burns on his back and numerous other injuries.
...
The attackers stomped on his head with steel-toed boots, poured bleach into a patio-umbrella pole and sodomized him with it, tried to carve something in his chest, and doused his body with bleach, investigators said.

Canada's dollar

Canadian dollar is stronger than ever. Since I live here, all that means is that I can buy less stuff when I visit home. But, still, hooray for Canada!

Bullet update part three: I called Target and they said I can return the whole thing even without the original packaging. We'll see if the person working there tomorrow is of the same opinion. We're gonna go for the exchange and give it another chance.

bullet update

So I got a bunch of comments/IMs/emails from friends who have been considering the Magic Bullet but didn't want to buy one until someone else recommended it. *hi Dan, I didn't know you still read this :) *

Well here's the update. On the weekend Simon put all the pieces in the dishwasher and threw out the box. Wasn't until yesterday that one of us found the time to try it. I wanted to make cheese cauliflower soup and thought it would be a quick way to grate the cheese. Well, I'm sad to report the damn blades didn't even turn. Not even one revolution. I'm sure it's due to my bad luck that we got a defective one. So now what? I found the receipt in my purse (Simon you're so lucky I always hang onto them for a few days) but we have no box for it anymore. So we need to (1) get someone else's box (2) try and return it to Target sans box. Pain in the ass. I also have a semi-functional desktop computer and PDA, a broken IR keyboard, and busted speaker in my car. Things that require a battery or power cord always break on me. I should just become ahmish.

private activities

I was in a class today and witnessed something horrifying. An older student sitting next to me took out a nail clipper and, yes, started to clip her finger nails right there during lecture. It's not even a big class. There were maybe 40 people there. The instructor talks really loud so she didn't hear it (or somehow managed to ignore her). But I was absolutely disgusted and traumatized....yes traumatized. Clipping your nails is a PRIVATE activity that you do, not only in your house, but in the bathroom. There is nothing more disgusting except maybe public nose picking, phlegm horking, or farting. So anyways, this woman was clipping away for a good 5 minutes leaving the clippings on a sheet of paper. I thought, okay well at least she's going to take that paper and dump all that nasty shit in the garbage can, but just as soon as she was finished she picked up the sheet and tossed her nail clippings on the floor next to her desk. Holy shit, I recoiled in horror and damn near went into convulsions when I saw her do that. You know how gross it is to see nail clippings on the floor all curvy crusty and yellowish? But that's not all. She decided to finish off her in-class public manicure by filing. I don't know about you but the sound of filing makes me cringe. In my mind the sound is closely related to chalkboard scratching and I had to resort to plugging my ears as discretely as possible. After the break, I could take it no longer and moved to a desk on the other side of the room.

homebody

Except for dinners out on Friday and Saturday night, I didn't go out this weekend. It was nice to get 11 and 9 hours of sleep because 8 just ain't cutting it lately. I really think I operate best on 10-11 hours of sleep. I spent Saturday morning on my thesis and then we hit the gym and ran some errands. With our ten percent off coupon, Simon managed to come home with two goodies from the As Seen on TV corner at Target - the The Magic Bullet and Smart Spin Stackable Containers. We'll see how these hold up. Right now our "set it and forget it" rotisserie has a broken hinge and our vaccuum sealer no longer vaccuums and seals.

That night our Entertainment Book coupons took us to Matsusono for all you can eat hot pot, grill, and sushi. The vent system was impressive. Unlike Hot Pot City, you don't come out of there smelling like your dinner and attracting all the neighbourhood's stray cats. They had prawns, sashimi, eel, huge oysters, kalbee, beef tongue, halo halo and all sorts of goodies. A very confused looking white couple came in and didn't eat anything except fruit for a good 20 minutes. I think they were waiting for someone to show them what the heck to do with the appliances on their table and a buffet of strange raw meats and seafoods. Unfortunately the people sitting in their line of sight was Simon and I and we happened to be sucking the brains out of about 20 prawn heads at the time. I'm sure that was more disgusting than helpful for them. After stuffing ourselves silly, we headed home, watched Cinderella Man, and then I spent the rest of the night on the can. Damn you Matsusono. If their restrooms were any indication, they probably need to tighten up on the sanitary issues there. Something was definitely not right and I shudder to think of what it might be that caused my "digestion problem."

Sunday we did a Top Chef marathon thanks to Tivo (could anyone be more in love with himself than Stephen the sommelier?) By afternoon I had recovered and we hit the gym again where I ran my 3.5 miles (42 minutes) which is a big deal for me being very much on the chunky side lately thanks to campus visits and too much restaurant eating. I totally could've done 4.5 but the place was closing. Next time. And now it's past my bedtime.

acknowledgments

Not to get ahead of myself, but the current draft of my thesis contains a big blank page on page V. That's where you're supposed to write your acknowledgments. This reminds me of high school when I had to think of something to write for the yearbook in grade 12. It seems so serious and...permanent. I'm really at a loss for words. I don't want it to sound like a bad Emmy acceptance speech. Can anyone direct me to some acknowledgments that are interesting, clever, maybe even witty and memorable? Or perhaps you can suggest your own in the comments here.

roomate postings

So I'm starting to browse roomate postings in Seattle again. Not because I really want to get into that situation (unless I can find someone just as anal about cleanliness as me and cool with my friends and bf visiting), but because the ads are so damn funny. The "we want a CHRISTian roomate" postings have lost their novelty but there are still many that crack me up. Some tidbits from one I just read and flagged for best of. That last bullet is very true of one person I know who was always insisting on QT (quality time) with her roomate which was totally not in the rent agreement!

- You have to not do drugs. Yes, this includes pot, just because it's easier to say "No Drugs Of Any Kind" than to say "Mayyyybe" and get a bunch of potheads explaining to me how they're "totally functional" and by the way can they pay in bud?
- You have to not be a LOUD drunk with LOUD drunk friends. You're welcome to come in a 2am blacked out and end up sleeping in the shower because you "can't find" your bedroom, as long as you don't do it loudly.
- You have to be relatively clean. I don't mean you need to walk around with Kleenex boxes on your feet, but don't leave your dishes in the sink the entire week, rinse your pubes out of the bathtub when you're done showering, etc. Your room can be a total sty (we'll just spray Frebreeze under the door or something)
- You have to be somewhat friendly....Yet please don't be annoyingly needy and like bang on closed bedroom doors because you're lonely.

WHAT WE'RE LIKE:
Jon: Modeled his personality during his formative years off David Spade and Chandler from "Friends." Works as a publisher downtown. Kinda metro but no-doubt likes the ladies. Can fix your computer, give deep-tissue massage, cook you dinner, recommend a good book, and beat up that drunk guy that followed you home.
Logan: Laid back homo. Thrives off of laptop, iPod, anime. Dead pan sarcasm. Likes beer and burgers. Frequents coffee shops to get work done. Enjoys the occasional bar; gay or straight. Gets along best with girls but can blend in with the boys. Insane crush on hugh jackman.

bake sale

I was headed to my meeting on campus today. There was live music at Malcolm X Plaza and tables set up all over the place for some sort of Multicultural AIDS Awareness day. It was a warm beautiful sunny day and I love it when there's live music on campus. As I got closer to the action I noticed the College Republicans club had a booth. I remember, they had some posters advertising their presence yesterday. They decided to be funny and host an "Illegal Immigrant Bake Sale" staffed by the privileged white boys in the club (and one very confused Asian kid). The ad read "legal immigrants $1.00, illegal immigrants - free." Ah, very funny. Free baked goods/free ride for illegal immigrants. I get it. I wanted to jump over the table and go apeshit on those Abercrombie wearing motherf*ckers but I noticed that there were many students peacefully holding up signs supporting immigration. They stood side by side quietly and effectively blocked the booth from plain view. The sight of those students demonstrating by standing in front of the Republican booth warmed my heart.

In other campus news, my school's president had 10 students suspended for protesting military recruitment on our campus. What kind of message is that sending?

I'm glad to see social activism alive and well here. I don't think I witnessed this much protest back at Simon Fraser. I definitely never saw the police called in to physically "mediate" conflicting groups like I have here on several occasions.

quake and grading

I don't have my meeting with my chair until tomorrow. I expect her to give me feedback that'll take me a solid week to address before the final version of my thesis goes out to my committee. So, until then, I'm going to sit here on my ass and do absolutely nothing so I can rest my grey matter. Right now I'm watching some History Channel special on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It's a really good one. Bit of trivia here for ya. The banks here in SF burned down to the ground and the money kept in fire proof vaults had to sit for days to cool off or they'd risk spontaneous combustion. But there was a one Bank of Italy owned by a guy named Giannini located in North Beach. He didn't have vaults like that so he took his horse and buggy and cleared the cash out of his bank (I guess before the whole building burned down around him). He covered up the money with oranges to thwart thieves and headed to his home in San Mateo (where I live!). He later brought the money back up to the city to set up loans for people and was clever enough to begin importing lumber from Oregon to start rebuilding San Francisco as well. It was said that, without him, San Francisco might not have gotten back up on her feet. His bank became what is now Bank of America.

In other news, one of my friends from school was grading papers in the lounge today. We were laughing about the quality of some of the stuff students turn in. We have our bad days too and sometimes what we turn in isn't publishable shit, but it certainly isn't this bad. The highlight in his pile of papers was a long run-on sentence constructed by stringing together a series of fragments, none of which made any sense on their own. But the winner by far was the student who spelled his own name wrong. We double checked. His name is definitely Jeff, not Jiff. There really should be trophies for this kinda thing. I suggested circling his name with a big red marker, but he chose not to embarrass the student any further. I totally would've done it.

Happy Easter

Down here in the US it's school/work as usual. No 4-day weekend for Easter like in Canada. Hope you have a good Easter (or Passover) anyways. Remember that bunnies are NOT good gifts and they usually end up being abandoned and sometimes having to be put down (or worse, set free in the wild) because people don't realize they're not really caged pets and not beginner pets for kids. They need to walk around like cats and can be trained to go in a litter box. They cannot live in a cage. That also means having some furniture/moulding chewed up. If you want to give someone an Easter gift, give chocolate instead. Here's a photo of my Bunny (now resting forever peacefully in my parents' backyard after living to age 8 last year) and a photo of a really really big 22 lb. giant continental rabbit. In comparison, my Bunny above was about 6 lbs.

10 best jobs

Check out this video talking about the 10 best jobs in America based on salary, opportunity for advancement, employee satisfaction and other stuff. #1 software engineer, #2 college professor.
I guess that means if I can actually find employment post-Phd, I'll be in a pretty good position. I'm mostly looking forward to long summer vacations, not the typical 2 weeks off a year.

damn you Canucks

I have seen more than half a dozen Canucks games. No, that's not a whole lot but in Vancouver they were really expensive and down here they don't play the Sharks that often. I have yet to see a winning game. I had to un-designate myself as driver to deal with this tonight. Damn you.

what a week

I turned in a draft of something that resembles a thesis today. Needless to say I'm brain dead. But tomorrow night I'm going to see the Canucks redeem themselves at the Shark tank. I'm designating myself driver so they had better win. I won't be able to drown my sorrows. I mean, dropping from 1st to not making it to play offs?? Okay, it's late, I'm tired, allergies are bugging me. I have nothing much else to say. Oh, except that I watched Wake Up, Ron Burgundy which is made up entirely of deleted scenes from Anchor Man. The plot is a little weak (obviously) but it's pretty twisted and definitely funny.

hot prof

I went to Google a prof at my school (Dina) to find her email address and stumbled upon this article about the benefits of being an attractive prof. It's an older article and not all that well written but it's kinda funny. My favourite part is this:

The good news is that looks are just one of many factors that affect student evaluations. In addition, the bar for beauty is probably low for academics (beautiful professors are about as rare as genius members of the World Wrestling Federation, says the University of Chicago's Mr. Kolb), so clearing it may be easier.

weekend

We did the unusual and went out on a Friday and not Saturday. We were planning to go celebrate a friend's birthday on Friday but he never returned calls and was obviously hiding from the inevitable because he had gotten completely sloshed on Thursday too. Oh well. We were already on the road so we did a little Polk Street barhop starting at Vertigo, home of cheap drinks. That night it was 16 oz. mango or raspberry margaritas for $5. We also got a "volcano" that feeds 5 for $18.50. the middle part has a bit of 151 which is lit on fire to look... well you know. The highlight was my friend Will (already quite drunk) snorting the last bit of 151 into his right nostril with a straw. We headed to the much talked about Grubsteak for late night eats after hitting R Bar (frat boy bar from hell, a little piece of the Marina (eeeew) transplanted on Polk and a place I will never ever go to again because I got unholy flashbacks from high school where I was one of few English speaking ethnic minorities among 2000 arrogant, ignorant, narcissistic white kids) and Blur after that. Apparently Will was throwing up (through his mouth I hope) until 2pm the next day.

Yesterday was productive. Had lunch, worked on my thesis at the library while a jack rabbit outside the window sat and stared at me for over an hour, good work out at the gym and the whole hot tub steam room routine, friend over for dinner and a movie. We watched Chronicles of Narnia which I thought was dreadfully boring. Actually I fell asleep and not just because of the 4 glasses of Manischewitz Wine. Watching only the evil characters die (with absolutely no bloodshed because it's Disney) and the "good" characters repeatedly triumph over evil with nary a scratch was gross and annoying. And the ending where they all get crowned king and queen and have a bunch of talking animals bowing down to them was too much cheese for me to handle. Sorry for the spoiler but who fucking cares, it was such a lame movie. I don't know. Is this the kind of fantasy that goes through the minds of stupid kids?

Update: I didn't realize Will already posted a blog about Friday. His is better (though weirdly reads a lot like mine) and has photos of the now infamous 151 snorting. His memory of the evening is blurry though. I did not dare Simon to drink the middle of the volcano. That would mean consequences for me, like carrying him upstairs. I'm sure one of us dared Shannph or Will and Will being Will took the offer.

my ghetto dinner

Last night was a Toastmasters night which means that I get home at 9:30 (or later if we go out for drinks afterwards) and Simon works late and goes out with friends for dinner. But since I'm chained to this stupid computer working on my thesis, no post Toasties drinking and eating for me. So I had THE most ghetto dinner ever. I just got back in town Sunday night so there are no groceries and I hate grocery shopping so I rummaged around for anything edible to eat before I headed to my meeting. And what I came up with was a can of Spaghettios. Okay, so it wasn't actually even Spaghettios. That would be too classy. It was more like Target generic brand cheesey tomato O-shaped pasta and the price was still on the can. Yup it was a little something I must've picked up from the bargain shelf to store for emergencies (like not having any food in the house) and the label read $0.47. I had a forty-seven cent dinner. Beat that!

I think Simon found that kind of pathetic so he came home tonight with pork tenderloin, salad, sharp cheddar, fresh sourdough, and wine. He's cookin' as I type this. Now the wine he got isn't any old wine. It's Manischewitz Wine. He didn't know what the hell it was but apparently it's Passover and there's all this Jewish stuff on sale at Safeway so he picked up a bottle. We got the one with Concord grapes and it is TASTY. Not only is it tastier than some fruity wine cooler, it has twice as much alcohol (11%). Hell yeah. Grape juice that gets you ripped for $3.50! I gotta stock up!

May 9th

That's the day I need to defend my thesis. I learned that defence is spelled defense in America. I'm having a really hard time writing today. I've eaten half a Cadbury Bar and had two cups of instant coffee (those International Coffees from a tin...my coffee maker is stored away somewhere due to lack of use but I am longing for it now). There are a few things that would make this next month a lot easier for me:

1. personal assistant to do laundry, cook, and clean
2. not requiring a minimum of 9 hours sleep (any less and I can't navigate my apartment without walking into walls)
3. not having to work (tutoring is really draining, especially with students under age 12)
4. having lots and lots of Ritalin readily available over the counter and free (for me, not my students... okay maybe for them too)

I read an article that more and more kids are diagnosed as ADHD simply because kids don't get enough exercise so they're all pent up and can't concentrate. The article said that some kids are getting off their meds by incorporating more exercise into their lives which helps them focus. Seems to make sense. I did really well in school as a child probably because I spent all my off hours scaling large trees, jumping off my sundeck (and almost breaking my arm), and generally running all over the damn neighbourhood until I was a big sweaty mess. Since I don't have a ready supply of Ritalin to help me get this fucking thesis written any faster, I decided to submit to the torture that is cardio kickboxing led by an instructor who is really genuinely fit (and not just fit to stand there and call out instructions.) Now my ass hurts, my abs hurt, and my arms hurt, and I STILL can't concentrate. What the hell is going on here.

Commonwealth Games

So Canadians living in the US will have no idea that the Commonwealth Games even took place because pigs will fly before American networks will think to broadcast the event. So it turns out we came in third in the medal standings after Australia and England. If you wanna see the details, or are just curious as to which countries make up the commonwealth, click here.

dotted line

I signed on it today. I've officially accepted my offer at a particular university, and just finished sending emails to York (Toronto), UC Irvine, and UI Urbana Champaign to decline their offers. I was on wait list for NYU but I'm not going to wait to see if I get on as a second round pick because the offer won't likely come with funding if I'm not a first round pick. School starts in late September so for now I need to focus on...graduating %$@ and will likely spend my summer working at Simon's company helping out with some marketing and what not. Since my assistantship is only 9 months per year and I won't likely get a teaching gig over the summer of my first year, I hope to come back here to do independent study, which means probably vacating whatever apartment I'll be inhabiting for my first 9 months in Seattle. I decided I'm going to have all inflatable and/or disposable furniture to make my move easier. I think that'd be kinda funny don't you?

OK, gotta get back to work. My acceptance is, of course, conditional upon my graduation with a MA which requires not spending all my time blogging.

Vancouver

So now that I'm out of that hotel and any weirdos reading this cannot come to stalk me, I'll reveal that the place I stayed at the last few days was the Travelodge. What a DUMP. I will never stay at at a Travelodge again if I can afford not to. My minimum requirement is no dark nasty stains on stuff like lampshades and chairs. Thank goodness for the nice leather seats, fireplace, flat screen TV, and free Wifi at the QFC grocery store in the U-District or I would've had to spend my evening hours at that Travelodge trying not to touch anything. Ugh.

Anyways, yesterday Jane and Joe came all the way down from Vancouver to pick me up. I took them on a campus tour and then we headed downtown to do some shopping. I took them out for seafood at Elliots Oyster House at Pike Place Market and then we made the long haul back to Vancouver stopping only for a flat of beer at the Duty Free. Apparently a $17 flat at Duty Free costs about $40 in Canada because of our liquor taxes. I've almost forgotten about that since we get our liquor ghetto style from the bargain bin at Albertsons.

I'm home now catching up on email and hoping to get some work done and will head back out in a couple hours to meet my friends new baby nephew, go for dinner in Yaletown and drinks at a lounge down there somewhere. And dammit I brought the rain back to Vancouver (again).

UW

I'm writing this from the little Seattle's Best Coffee place inside a QFC (grocery store) in UW's university district. I just finished the second day of my two day campus visit and I am wiped the hell out. I have not been able to dig up dirt from the current grad students except that it might be hard to pay rent with a 9 month assistantship if I have to pay 12 months rent. Solution: find summer work or, as I had planned, get a 9 month lease and spend at least the first summer back in SF doing independent study credits. Not so bad. The rain has stayed away since I arrived and for that I'm grateful. In fact, it's been really warm out in the day and there was almost blue sky. So I'm staying in this dump ass motel (brand name but still not so good). But it was cheap ($64 a night) and walking distance to campus. What the map doesn't tell you is that the walk is up a hill called Pend O'Reille that is sure to build me some serious buns of steel. Hiking up it with a backpack full of pamphlets, water, and a camcorder is even harder. The campus here is gorgeous. Comparing it to SFSU is like comparing the Hollywood hills to government project homes. California really needs to work on funding education man. The 10-week quarter system will be a bitch but it'll make shitty classes go by faster.

Anyways, more on this dump ass motel. There are goddamn stains on the inside of the lampshade that look like coffee, I think, I hope. There's no soap dish or shelf in the shower, there's no lotion or conditioner, the heater is deafening as is the street traffic, and the seats of both chairs are badly stained. Ew. I have put towels on both chairs because they are frightening me. Last night I listened as my neighbour on one side watched TV. After they were done, my neighbour on the other side watched TV until late in the night. That same neighbour woke up at 6am and I could hear their water running through the pipes. I think my few years of business travel spoiled me. I can't handle a two star inn and there's no way in hell I can handle a hostel I can tell you that now. Another prospective student stayed at the College Inn where the bathrooms are shared. She said the dent in the middle of the mattress was so deep she had to sleep on the bed sideways. I thought that was pretty funny.

Alright, time to think about finding some food to eat. Can't wait to get back to Vancouver and eating something other than catered sandwiches (not that I'm complaining about free food).

procrastination routine

I realized that my style of procrastination is rather formulaic and predictable and, for the most part, it involves doing various online stuff. Before I begin any major paper or work of any sort that I find difficult or boring or both, I do the following (not always in this order):

- check my email
- approve or reject comments made on my blog
- read MyYahoo page and click to read the interesting news items
- check my Google Adsense account
- look at my sitemeter stats
- look for stuff on Craigslist (e.g. free stuff or I help friends if they're looking for something)
- read other people's blogs and occasionally leave comments
- post a blog entry

If that's not enough to get me awake and warmed up, I also do a load of laundry and tidy up the apartment. This is an incredibly lengthy process that takes time away from my work but I just can't help it. So tell me, what is your procrastination routine?

printer review

So my trusty Canon S600 finally printed its last page. I got it online back in 2000 and it printed out page after page in brilliant colour. Once in a while it would feed two sheets instead of one, but for the most part it did its job well. Aftermarket cartridges were $6-7 (cheaper, I just found out, if you get 'em on eBay). Five and a half years of service. I'd say that's pretty good. The other day I decided to buy an older S450 off Craigslist so I could use up the remainder of my ink cartridges. The thing was $15 so I figured it couldn't hurt to try. Unfortunately, it didn't work. I emailed the seller and he was honest enough to PayPal my $15 back. Honesty is certainly what makes that site work.

So I thought I would share some research gathered the last few days by scouring Amazon and Epinions. Generally, HP printers are really high quality, really fast, but when you need to change the ink, with most models, you need to also replace the print head. Sooooo that means it's damn expensive to have an HP. There are no aftermarket cartridges for many models too. The Epsons are cheaper and also print really sharp images. There are cheap aftermarket cartridges for most of them but the complaint for many of the Epsons is that they don't use ink efficiently and the ink clogs up the head and you have to buy a new one or spend money fixing it. Apparently they don't last more than about a year. From my own experience and from reading hundreds of reviews, the Canons are generally the best bang for the buck. Super cheap cartridges ($2-3 on eBay, aftermarket), good quality printing, maybe not as fast as HP but good enough. Oh and they work for years. So I got this Canon IP4000 it's going for about $200 used on Amazon but......I found it on Craigslist from a fellow who lives five minutes down the road for only $35. His wife wanted to stick to HP (extreme brand loyalty). It had been sitting in his garage so I couldn't do a test print so the guy let me take it home without paying for it. I've tested it and it's AWESOME. Fast, sharp, and quiet. I'm going to meet up with him Saturday to hand over the cash and pick up some more cartridges he's throwing in free. I love it when people sell stuff and don't care if they're losing money on it.

BC ferry

Holy cow, one of those big huge BC Ferries sunk. Despite being a decent swimmer, I hate open waters. I don't like to be too far from shore, even with a life jacket and a jet ski. However, I did always feel safe on BC Ferries. They are huge. You drive your car onboard and there are over a hundred cars on the bottom floor and all the folks get out of their cars and hang out upstairs where there's a cafeteria and arcade and lots of seating. We used to take them over to Victoria or Cowichan or wherever we were going. I loved taking the ferry because the clam chowder is tasty and it was beautiful to look out at the water in the day time. But I'm not so sure I feel comfortable getting on one of those ferries again.

In other news, there was an earthquake here yesterday. I was at school in the basement of the creative arts building with my laptop when a friend IM'd me asking "did you feel that?" That reminded me of the time I was working in SFin 2001 and that Seattle earthquake hit. My geographically challenged father emailed me to ask if I felt that because it easily shook homes in Vancouver. Anyways, the one here yesterday was in the eastbay and though I was closer to it, I didn't feel it. Two friends working from San Mateo felt a good shake though. I like little shakes, they make me feel like the earth is just stretching so that it doesn't have to pitch a big fit all at once.

Simon's 30th

Simon celebrated his 30th this weekend. I booked a dinner at Schnitzel Haus just because it was something different and it was really well rated on Citysearch. It was a big hit (just like Mochica was last year). You can order beer in a gigantic boot that you're supposed to pass around the table. It got a little nasty with all that grease and lip gloss collecting on the rim but ah well. After dinner we went to Eight Club for a party called Ghetto Disco that didn't really get off the ground. We left and went to the trusty Voda Lounge and discovered upon arrival that they no longer allow drinking outside in Belden Lane where they used to put out benches and tables for the patrons. Darn it. They did, however, have a new pole for customers to try out their pole dancing skills. But we quickly got restless and walked a couple blocks to EZ-5, a little lounge on the edge of Chinatown. I'll spare you the details but let's just say that the garbage bag Simon was carrying in his pocket in case of emergency went to good use. In fact, he also used the bag that Denny (the other passenger in my car) was carrying in case of emergency. The owners at EZ-5 were so impressed with our preparation that they thanked us and loaded us up with bottles of water, napkins, and more garbage bags before we left. With that, we bid farewell.

Beer from a boot

The most delicious schnitzel ever

In America, a gift that comes in a Safeway bag is bound to be liquor. In this case, a 12-year-old Glenlivet

You've seen Zoolander right?

I will spare you the puking photos but let it be known that these two were the pukers. Man it must suck to work at a restaurant at 2am 'cause you have to serve people like us.

shared housing

While I'm nowhere near ready to be moving away just yet, I can't help but browse Craigslist Seattle to see what the housing is like up there. Since I plan only to stick around for the school year and spend my summers in the Bay Area, I figured it would be worthwhile to check out shared housing. Now I did that when I first moved down here and it wasn't the best experience in the world. My housemate, we'll call her Viv, was a nice girl. She was, however, a complete nympho. Every weekend morning I'd wake up and see a different man walking around the house despite the fact that she supposedly had a steady boyfriend. Viv shared a room (don't ask me how that worked) with another girl we'll call Martha. Martha was a tempermental self-absorbed arrogant yet emotionally unstable bitch. Martha, age 24, was also madly in love with a heavily bearded middle age man with a wife and kids. She was planning to move away to Texas to stalk him. Viv and I helped her get a headstart on that fantasy by kicking her ass out because we couldn't stand her. That was a glorious day.

After Martha, came a 21-year-old we'll call Rena. Rena seemed sane and pleasant enough. That is, until she came home wearing Viv's clothes, a brand new sweater no less. After a stern talking to, Viv continued to use our lotions and nail polish and one day Viv, who arranged her closet by clothing type, sleeve length and colour, discovered her clothes randomly jammed in her closet. Rena the chronic clothes borrower was at it again. Luckily, she didn't fit into my stuff. What pissed me off about her was that she managed to get food on the damn wall when she was cooking and left it for us to clean up. I could take it no more. I moved into a 1 bedroom by myself in the slums of South San Francisco. I preferred that to shared housing. But, still, I have friends with roomates and it seems to work for them, so I've been looking... you know just out of curiosity. Here are some snippets from shared housing posts I've seen recently (my comments in italics):

We are a CHRISTians who go to a AWSOME church and like to go on missions and crusades and street evangelism and are looking for a couple of CHRISTians who actually WALK the WALK and just don't talk the talk! (Oh my CHRIST, you have no idea how quickly I would turn and run from this place. What is with Christians wanting to live with other Christians? Do you ever see a post like that coming from a Buddhist? Jesus.)

I'm a guy living with a chickfriend. We are both from Eastern WA and figured, "Hey, let's pool our resources in the big city." So we moved in together last July. Soon after that she found a boyfriend and practically moved out. Which was cool for a while but now she is engaged and pregnant. Soooo, I said I would look for a new roommate so she no longer has to pay for an apartment she doesn't live in. Babies are so expensive. They are getting married this April Fools Day (no kidding). (OK, that was just a funny post. Poor guy)

Apartment has Comcast cable internet with wireless router so that I can support my World of Warcraft addiction. (Uh, do you bathe when you're feeding this addiction?)

All the bottled water you can drink from the 3rd deepest aquifer in the U.S. (WTF are you talking about?)

Current residents are 3 men and 2 women, ages 35-75. (I'm sorry, did you say 75? Aren't most people over, I dunno 50, sick of the whole shared housing thing? Do household chores include taking care of the 75-year-old?)

Bill and GNA (pronouced Gina) are looking for a female over 25 to live in domestic bliss (i.e. good communication and conflict resolution skills)with us. (I cannot live with people who speak of themselves in third-person and capitalize all the letters in their name, letters that make no phonetic sense. And "domestic bliss"? Is that a code word for swinger? Yikes.)

Must like cats (I have 3) (Three cats. That's three too many)

A must is that you are a very clean person and actually like to clean. If you know you aren't or are hoping to adjust, then this will not be a good fit for you. (Actually this is something that I would write)

RIP Lucky hamster

Today Simon got a call from a coworker who went into his cube to feed Lucky, his office hamster. He said Lucky had either passed away or had fallen into an extremely deep sleep. Rest in peace dear friend. Lucky was born in May 2004 and was given a second chance at life. A coworker's cat had come home to show off a prize. She walked into the house and spat out a tiny rodent. It was a baby and its eyes had probably just opened that week. Ruslan scooped up the baby and realized that it was a hamster and not a mouse (no tail). Not sure how a hamster ends up in reach of an outdoor cat but it did. Simon adopted the baby as his office pet and named her Lucky for obvious reasons. Despite traumatic beginnings she was very tame. Here are some photos taken of her the week we got her. Her eyes aren't really that red (only when we used flash).

So the big question is, who in the office is going to take care of burying the body? He's not back in the office until Monday and these things sorta can't wait.

alone

It feels weird when Simon's out of town. Kinda like a preview of what's to come of my life when I move away for school (lookin' like 90% chance I'll be going UW in Seattle, more about that below). I don't talk to anyone all day except my hamsters. I dropped a brazil nut on my hamster's head today by accident. Good thing those little critters are agile 'cause brazil nuts are huge. Talking to my students when I tutor is not the same because they're not adults. The 17-year-old comes close but, still, most of the dialog is instructional.

I had a break between sessions today so I decided to grab some dinner instead of waiting until 9pm to eat like usual. I headed to Tapioca Express to get a bento and milk tea and sat alone with a Chinese magazine that I couldn't read. I like to look at the pictures to see what hair styles look good on Asian hair and giggle at their occasional attempts to insert English copy. Eating out alone feels like I'm on business travel. I feel sort of mysterious because most people looking at me probably think I look too young to be on business travel and wonder then why I might be eating alone. My favourite place to dine by my lonesome is at sushi bars where I can watch the sushi chefs work and eavesdrop on random conversations.

Anyways, I'm on a wait list for NYU and have only to hear from York in Toronto. The other two schools I visited are not high on my list for various reasons. But UW is just looking like a real good offer and the emails I've exchanged with faculty and students have so far emitted a rather positive vibe. I'll also be getting better health care than I currently have and also dental and vision (and boy do I need to get my eyes and teeth checked...I'm loooong overdue). Flights back to SF are often on sale for $129 and it only takes 2 hours to fly here or 2 hours to drive to Vancouver. But still, this change is going to be hard.

procrastinating

I have a major project to do. My master's thesis which has been in the works for a couple semesters now mostly because I had too much going on, partly because I'm easily distracted with other personal projects. Today I decided to waste time by learning about all the neighbourhoods in Seattle and mapping their distance to the UW campus. After that, I started doing calculations of whether it's better to rent or own, given that there is some cheap real estate there (though I realize I have a very distorted idea of what a good deal is after living in the Bay Area in a rented 2/1 35-year-old shack that costs over a half million bucks). Anyways, I'm not done with that and I'm sure I'll waste more time on it now that I've discovered zillow.com. My final time waster of the day was this web page I just wrote and added Google ads to. Yes it's my not-so-quick-and-dirty guide to applying to grad school. I had to put that new found knowledge somewhere. Please enjoy (and give those ads some lovin')

kinda chilly

After traveling to Chicago where -2 C feels like -10 with the windchill, I'm handling the unseasonably cold weather here quite well. There was actually a dusting of snow in Sausalito over the weekend that caused two deaths as 28 cars piled atop each other on the 101 heading south toward the Golden Gate Bridge. Apparently it was raining one second and snowey and slick the next. That's pretty crazy.

What sucks for me is that there is no damn heat in our place right now. All sorts of shit fell apart over the Christmas holidays, e.g. our furnace breaking down and then our screen door ripping right off its hinges in a wind/rainstorm. Our landlord birthed twins around this time and we haven't really bugged her to get this stuff fixed because a screen door serves little purpose and we don't usually need heat in Foster City. But, damn, it's getting a little chilly in the mornings which makes it even tougher to crawl out of bed. I think it's time for a friendly reminder before my hamsters' heartrates slow and they slip into hibernation/coma. Meanwhile in Toronto it's really warm. I tell you it's the coming of the apocalypse.

OK gotta make dinner for one (Simon's in TO) and watch 24 on Tivo. BTW, did you know you can stream music from Tivo now? Pretty awesome.

back from Irvine

Three campus visits in a month is going to kill me. If not because of the time spent sitting on a plane, then because I make extremely poor food choices when I travel (especially if it's not on my tab). Ugh, my one work out this week didn't fix those. My visit to UC Irvine was great. The professors there are really nice and the vibe was so very positive. But being a public school, any of the UCs is not going to give me the funding I'm going to need to make ends meet as an international student (they can't waive non-resident tuition for more than the first year of study). But I also decided that despite my interests in people (first) and media (second), anthro is too far removed from communication theory, something I've spent way too many years studying to just abandon. So I spent the trip just being a good listener and letting the other prospective students ask all their questions. Irvine was strangely like Foster City but perhaps even more dull, I mean suburban. Everything is sooo spread out with alternating apartment complexes, office buildings, and strip malls. Here's a photo I took on campus.

pretty reflection captured on the window of a building at UC Irvine

I had nothing to do on Saturday afternoon so I went to Fashion Island to go shopping for a couple bday gifts. The outdoor shopping center was in Newport Beach. People here are stinking rich and all have small dogs who wear clothing that quite likely costs more than anything in my wardrobe. They also look strangely alike. Many many white women with really ridiculously dark tans, overly bleached blond hair, big boobs, and lots of make up and lip gloss... and there's something else. The skin on their faces is pulled unnaturally taut. Being there was really kinda spooky and surreal. I was pretty happy to get out of there and over to Orange County Airport to continue my people watching where the ladies didn't all look like clones.

view of the ocean from the entrance to Fashion Island shopping center in Newport Beach, CA

another view of Chi

So upon returning to Chicago, Dean, my presentation buddy from my school, and I parted ways and he had quite an adventure with a bunch of people he met through friends of friends. The JA connection is quite something, I tell ya. You gotta read about his weekend. Oh and there's pics of me presenting at the conference too.

Man my day was dramatic. I had one crying student in my writing lab and soon after that, the crazy union bitch who yelled at me last year came back. She didn't remember who I was and tried to get me to sign up for the union again. I politely said "no thanks" while she sat down and made herself comfortable. She replies, "Well, why not?" I'm thinking 'cause you already take a chunk out of my paycheck, I haven't benefitted in any way yet from this unionization thing, I'm out of here in a few months, and I'm too selfish to care, pay for, or fight for someone else's battle. But I replied, "I just don't want to and don't want to discuss it." She comes back with, "I don't understand why you wouldn't. Is there a reason why you're not signing up? There's no reason why you shouldn't." This time she refrained from yelling at me and left with a "fine." Good thing I got her out of the room in record time before I reached out and wrung her neck.

Anyways, it's time for me to pack up again. Going to Irvine tomorrow for a campus visit. The grad students there are taking us out for breakfast at Newport beach. Woohoo. I'm loving this VIP treatment from prospective schools. Somewhere in between I really need to be writing my damn thesis. Blog friends, sorry I haven't been commenting. I confess I've barely been reading but I'm dying to catch up once things settle down!

Chicago visit

Here, finally, are photos from our trip last week. I went to the APAGSO conference to present a paper while Simon made a visit to a datacenter. We managed to do some sightseeing and eating before and after I made the 3 hour trek down to Urbana-Champaign for the conference and campus visit. It was great to be able to walk to all the major sites in the city but it was hovering around -1 C plus windchill. You don't actually feel a lot of wind but trust me, something was making it feel a hell of a lot colder than -1. I had leggings on under my jeans and five layers of shirts on top. We had to buy touques (what the hell do you call those in American, wooly hats?) and mits and ear muffs. I think I'm definitely more of a west coast kinda gal.

Dinner our first night in Chicago at a Brazilian Churrascaria, i.e. all you can eat meat

Next morning I headed down to UI Urbana Champaign for the APAGSO Conference where it was "Unofficial St. Paddy's Day" AKA day that students go to classes drunk at 9am

After day 1 of the conference we went out for drinks in Urbana. Here's me with Dean, my panel respondent and fellow SF State grad student (Ethnic Studies) and Ryan on my left, University of Chicago (History)

The night I got back the first thing we did was grab some deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's

The crust is buttery and flaky like pie crust

This is Wells Street at night. We did a self guided midnight walking tour of the city in freezing temperatures. Good thing we found the South Loop Bar at the end of it for a drink.

Sunday was all about sight seeing. Here we are at Millennium Park checking out the kidney shaped reflective structures

Here I am at Millennium Park in front of the huge fountain that displays the faces of folks from Chicago. It's kinda creepy.

This is Michigan Avenue, the main drag. Architecture here is crazy!


And the only souvenir we brought back. It's a doormat in case you can't tell.

ORD

I'm writing this from Chicago O'Hare where my plane home is delayed 2 hours because it snowed today. It wasn't sticking but there was a good layer of slush on the ground and probably enough to mess up the flight schedules. The guy sitting across from me is reading Voltaire's Candide and is holding up the book to make sure everyone can see what he's reading. I dunno but if that doesn't scream of "I'm trying so hard to pick up chicks it hurts" then I'm not sure what does. Another guy sitting next to him saw the Canada patch on my backpack looked up and told us that he and his wife used to put Canada patches on all their luggage for international travel and it got them through airports a lot faster. I thought that was kinda funny.

I can't write too much more because I'm hogging the laptop but it was a good trip both through Chicago and Urbana-Champaign and I'll write more and post photos when I get home.