OMG! A truck just smashed into the building!

That was my first thought this morning as I heard the rumbling and felt some serious shaking whilst sitting at my desk at work. Then I came to the realization that this is Southern California, and that this is lasting a little too long to be a semi crashing into the hospital (why would a semi drive into a the hospital anyways? derr!). Belatedly I stumbled to the doorway (an old wives' tale?) and when the shaking stopped, I looked around the corner to see my boss on all fours crouching underneath the flimsy plywood counter. Bwahaha!

Anyways, it was a mere 5.4, I can't imagine how crazy it must have been for my brother who was in Chengdu when that big 7.8 hit in May. According to USGS, there's a 99% chance for a 6.7 or greater in the next 30 years. Yikes!

Carb Coma

Sooo delicioussssssss..... Pizza for dinner last night. Pancakes for breakfast. A Churro for a snack. And linguini for dinner. With some focaccia.

Holy crap this weekend has blown my dietary plans to smithereens. Smithereens! I was surprised by the results of the recent NEJM study which compared low fat, Mediterranean, and low carb diets head to head. Having previously done low carb, I found it very effective but was also suspicious about it's effect on cholesterol. But guess what? The study shows that low carb is actually the best of these diets for cholesterol.

Another thought that's been buzzing around in my head for a while is one planted by Michael Pollan's book "The Omnivore's Dilemma." It makes some very good arguments about considering the carbon footprint of your food when making choices. I highly recommend this book for everyone - I think it's interesting even to the non-foodies out there.

So tentatively (after this weekend, haha!), I think I'm going to revise my diet thusly:
1. Low carb
2. More locally grown veggies
3. Cutting back to eating meat only once a day (writing this I realize I'm such a carnivore) with a long term goal of eating meat only 3x a week.
4. Less processed food - maybe one item every few days?
We'll see how it goes!

I Want to Believe

ZOMG! I can't believe they're back for another movie! I just have to be able to hold out until Tuesday when M's parents leave to be able to watch it.... (Michael has no idea how lucky he is I didn't drag him on an X-Files tour while we were in BC - heh heh!) It looks MUCH better than the first movie - more along MOTW than part of the confusing mytharc (at this point, who can even remember the mytharc?) And more URST with Mulder and Scully! That looks like may become RST! (of course, that can't really happen, I'm just another sucker for those previews.) Haha! I'm such an X Files nerd!

Nobody's Perfect

But do they really have to be incredibly annoying?

Dear Obama Campaign,

Let it be known that I still support your candidate and will vote for him. In fact I made my first donation to a political campaign to you - $500 early this year during the primaries. But recently, you have become a thorn in my side.

Firstly - $500 is a lot of money for me. After the third futile phone call pestering me for even more money, do you think you would give up calling me on an almost weekly basis? No. Even when I stated I did not have more to give, or that I had to wait until after I paid my taxes, or that when I feel financially able I'd contribute online, you continued calling. Uh, how many times do I have to say that I financially can't? It's frankly disrespectful. And with each no, you reply- "well how about $1500?.... No? Ok, what about $1000? Alright, how about $500 then?" Look - no means no. I'm not some fickle female who says I can't and then gets sucked into - "oh, ok $200. And charge it to my card!"

Secondly - if the contributor's address is on the West Coast, maybe your volunteers would have more luck squeezing cash from people by calling AFTER the target rolls out of bed and outta the shower. Those 6:30 AM calls are extremely irritating. Now I realize, my area code is firmly east coast. But come on. For a campaign supposedly in touch with the younger vote, you should realize lots of people move around but keep their cell number as their primary number. Besides, you have my address (it's where you sent the donation letter to).

Third - cease and desist with the fear tactics. Telling me to urgently contribute because McCain's ahead in fundraising is ridiculous when technically, he's not. The RNC is, but maybe the DNC should get itself organized and coherent and actually try to raise some money. I realize it's the same pot in the end, but don't spin it like it's some horror story. Just the facts please.

My last (I pray it really IS my last) phone call a few weeks ago consisted of me asking the volunteer to take me off the list.

P.S. Tell your candidate I'm thoroughly disgusted by his vote for FISA.

Poochi Poochi!

A few months ago I had the good fortune of my friend Christina and my brother visiting, coincidentally at the same time. It was the perfect excuse for us to try out izakaya. Other than sushi, we were all pretty much brand spankin' new to Japanese food, and our sushi experiences are more along the lines of everything stuffed into a roll rather than uni or ankimo.

We went to Honda Ya Izakaya and got a table in the tatami room. Izakaya is like Japanese small dishes to have with sake. At least that's my impression. And that's what Christina and I did, while the boys chugged their Kirin. Both of us being a sucker for names, we chose the Poochi Poochi for that reason alone. It turned out to be a sparkling, unfiltered sake which was too easy to drink - very refreshing with a fruity nose. And with a cutesy illustration of a pooch cuddling a little bottle on the label. It's like drinking the Hello Kitty of sake.

The food was pretty good. Miso eggplant was my favorite, and the pork belly and lamb chop yakitori are worth getting.

So now that I've tried izakaya, I'm stuck with wanting to go again. Very soon. Anyone up for some poochi poochi?

How To Turn A Hot Chick Into A Geek

I ran across a link to this article reading Salon the other day. Pretty funny, but don't they realize that geek girls are already hot chicks, hence no need to work on the non-geekster hotties?

SIGH

This has been a crazy time for me ... recently I've committed myself to finding a new job, contemplated moving to another city, had a major wreck on my brand spankin new mountain bike, and saw my dog nearly get mauled to death.

Unlike life, I'm gonna blog with one thing at a time.

So a dilemma that I know many Californians face is: should I stay or should I go? After living here for a year, I've unexpectedly found myself truly enjoying my life here. Yes, the traffic is bad. And materialism is a badge of pride. And downtown LA really sucks for such a huge city. And its the epicenter for the entertainment industry.(Yes, this is a bad thing.) But I've been seduced by the weather, the diversity of cultures, awesome Chinese food, proximity to the mountains and the outdoors, and all the cool places you can go within a days drive of LA. The biggest drawback that makes me seriously consider moving out of state? The ridiculous price of housing. Those who left in the last decade were the smart ones, the ones who didn't get sucked into the bubble. The ones who haven't had to declare personal bankruptcy and lose a lifetime of savings and possibly their only chance at homeownership.

I recently was offered a job that closely approximates what my dream job would be. The drawback? Denver. It's cold there in the winter, I don't relish playing in the snow, and I hate to say this, but it's awfully white. It's nice not being a minority in LA. But in Denver, I can own a great house well within my budget, still enjoy the outdoors, and be in the same city with some of my closest friends. And, my retirement and financial situation would have a much rosier outlook there.

Reading this post I can almost convince myself to move there. Almost. But not yet.