Julia's Mexico City

BOOK MARK IT!

2007-11-16T07:08:00.000-08:00

juliasmexicocity.com

I'M OUTTA HERE!

2007-11-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

I have moved to Typepad. Please make new bookmarks for this blog at:

http://juliasmexicocity.typepad.com/

Good-bye Blogger! Hello Customer Service!

I'm Super Annoyed at Blogger...

2007-11-09T10:15:00.000-08:00

So, for days and days I have not been able to upload pictures. There are some work arounds (from the blogger help boards) but I've also been busy with the kitchen redo and visiting my sister.

But I have been looking into Typepad and I think I will be switching soon. It costs money, but I'm guessing when you pay money, there is CUSTOMER SERVICE!!

I'm grateful Blogger is free, really. But now I'd like to have some service.

But I don't know when I'll switch over as we have lots more work being done on the house next week....so many distractions!!

Blogger Woes

2007-11-03T10:44:00.001-07:00

Blogger is having issues with its image uploading software. So I'm a bit hamstrung to blog!

Hopefully it will be up and running soon....

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess it's All Saints Day now...

Here is Kurt's pumpkin from last night:

We heard a non trick-or-treating grown up walk by the front porch and laughing at it, telling his friend to check it out.

It Came From Under The House!

2007-10-31T12:45:00.000-07:00

More scary stuff just in time for Halloween.

The old dead pipes -- that's the cold water pipe from the shower.

Sorry if you are reading this over lunch, but here is the inside of the shower pipe:

And a closer, though blurry version. Maybe it's better blurry so you aren't so freaked out.

Aaaaaahhhhhhhh

2007-10-31T08:20:00.000-07:00

Just showered in our old shower with new pipes, new showerhead, new faucet handles, new water pressure. It's crazy awesome that you can turn on the water, then if you want a smidge more hot, you just turn the handle a smidge more and you get some more hot and even more pressure! In the old days it was bascially one setting for hot and if you wanted more hot, you turned the cold down. Water pressure remained the same at barely more than a strong trickle.

I'm so happy. Nevermind that there is much plaster patching to do...WE HAVE NEW PIPES! WE HAVE WATER PRESSURE LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE!

Dystopian Movie Meme

2007-10-31T07:47:00.000-07:00

I saw this on Travis' site. She got it from Annika. You copy the list then bold the ones you have seen. Adding notes to a few was my idea...

1. Metropolis (1927)
2. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
3. Brazil (1985)
4. Wings of Desire (1987)
5. Blade Runner (1982)
6. Children of Men (2006)
7. The Matrix (1999)
8. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
9. Minority Report (2002)
10. Delicatessen (1991)
11. Sleeper (1973)
12. The Trial (1962)
13. Alphaville (1965)
14. Twelve Monkeys (1995)
15. Serenity (2005)
16. Pleasantville (1998)
17. Ghost in the Shell (1995)
18. Battle Royale (2000)
19. RoboCop (1987) --watched this one again on election night 2000. I figured since Bush was the winner I might as well get acquainted with the near future.
20. Akira (1988)
21. The City of Lost Children (1995)
22. Planet of the Apes (1968)
23. V for Vendetta (2005)
24. Metropolis (2001)
25. Gattaca (1997)
26. Fahrenheit 451 (1966)--didn't see but read the book recently and it BLEW MY MIND!
27. On The Beach (1959)
28. Mad Max (1979)
29. Total Recall (1990)
30. Dark City (1998)
31. War Of the Worlds (1953)
32. District B13 (2004)
33. They Live (1988)
34. THX 1138 (1971)
35. Escape from New York (1981)
36. A Scanner Darkly (2006)
37. Silent Running (1972)
38. Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
39. Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)--Hmm, did I see this movie or am I just remembering scenes from Ridley Scott's Apple commercial? We read the book in high school in 1984 and I dressed up at Julia for school one day.
40. A Boy and His Dog (1975)
41. Soylent Green (1973)
42. I Robot (2004)
43. Logan’s Run (1976) I've even been to the crazy fountain in Ft. Worth where they shot scenes.
44. Strange Days (1995)
45. Idiocracy (2006)
46. Death Race 2000 (1975)
47. Rollerball (1975)
48. Starship Troopers (1997)
49. One Point O (2004)
50. Equilibrium (2002)

Shiny!

2007-10-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

Under the kitchen sink! Shiny new copper pipes!

Oh and I guess we have some patching to do....

Out With The Old

2007-10-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

It's good that you only get to look at the insides of your old pipes when they are being replaced with bright shiny new copper pipes. I mean YIKES!
This one is from the laundry hook up:

This is from the kitchen:

Look at the tub spout! Blech!

Let's see a close up on that hideousness!

And that cold water shower pipe:

Kitchen KlusterF***s--New Pipes Going In

2007-10-29T11:06:00.001-07:00

Talk about Just In Time!

The plumbers opened the wall to get to the shower/bathtub pipes. Check out the pipes on the cold water:

Holy crap! That was gonna blow and soon. (click for even bigger horror.)

My Very Own Guitar Hero

2007-10-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

You know we have a Wii. We have a few games. But now. Oh boy. We have GUITAR HERO III!!

Here's Kurt in our first jam session.

He wanted to be sure you saw his stats.

Good Monday Morning!

2007-10-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

I got up a little earlier today than normal because the plumber is coming shortly to start redoing our pipes and I wanted to do my walk and shower, etc before he comes and shuts off the water. I haven't been out in the morning for a sunrise walk in a long time and it was so lovely and refreshing. The sky was amazing, red golds, yellow golds, and all the clouds kissed with colors in all directions. (I'm sure the smoke from the fires helped, but I'll take the slimmest of silver linings where I can get it.) I'm glad I was up to see it.

Kitchen KlusterF***s!

2007-10-26T18:11:00.000-07:00

The continuing adventure of Kurt and Kulia as we redo bits of our kitchen. Part of this saga is getting our old galvanized pipes replaced with copper. (Don't worry, we are getting professional help with this portion of the show.) The plumber is also removing the old water heater and we got a new-fangled (but not in Europe) tankless water heater! The plumber delivered it and hung it yesterday in preparation for Monday's big New Pipes day.

Here's the new heater outside:

And here are the AWESOME safety graphics that come with it!

You can view my full set of safety graphics on flickr right here. Enjoy.

The War

2007-10-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

Have you been watching THE WAR on PBS?

It's brutal and moving and uplifting and depressing.

We were watching Episode 4: The Pride Of Our Nation and it was mainly about D-Day (June 6, 1944) and the Allied invasion of France. One of the survivors was talking about his experience and how he and his older brother both landed on Omaha beach, the most frakked up of the invasion spots that day. This gentleman's brother didn't survive and he said that he would have rather lost his arms and legs than have lost his brother that day. The scene faded out and Kurt got up to go to the kitchen. We had already finished dinner so I wasn't sure why he was getting up. I said, "what are you getting?" and he said, "I need a drink."

And how.

And yet we (the national "we") are At War. Doesn't feel like it at all. Times are different, politics are different, the world is different. But guess what? War is just exactly the same. What's that saying? War is Hell.

How Do You Complain About Your Mailman?

2007-10-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

If I get a magazine (which I do at least three times a week), it ALWAYS arrives with a soggy/sweaty patch on the back from the mail carrier. It's kind of gross. How do you complain to their bosses in an anonymous fashion? I'm normally assertive about these things, but the guy knows where I live. He delivers our mail, our bills, our paychecks, our online purchases.

It's a challenge. Any ideas?

Fires In California

2007-10-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

I saw this photo on Yahoo and it made think how hard it will be for those homeowners to return. There is going to be some serious survivor guilt to work out. Tough times ahead for everyone.

AP Photo/Chris Carlson

Tapioca Pudding

2007-10-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's been almost two weeks since I last posted, apologies. I appreciate everyone coming by to check and see if "Julia finally freakin' wrote something new yet!!" Well, here I am. You can read about what I was doing last week in more detail here. The nutshell is I was at my sister's helping her out while she had her first chemo session. My nephew was also in the throws of Homecoming and we went to all his events.

The week before that I was working on posts at Metroblogging Los Angeles. We had a series going about the 25 Most Famous Dead Angelenos. I chose to write about #11: Julia Child and then #5: Harpo Marx. It was a great series and fun to write about such great characters.

This week Kurt and I are already busy trying to get prepared for some re-plumbing of our house. Copper pipes hooray! (I hope our water bill doesn't skyrocket...) And we are getting a tankless water heater to replace our old standard one. That will be interesting. You'll see all about that next week with many photos.

But about the title. Things have been hectic and stressful and scary, but are better now. Recently, thanks to Jacquie, I discovered Trader Joe's Tapioca pudding. Bad news, really. I never remember how much I LOVE tapioca pudding until I have it, but I never remember to buy it. But now, oh boy. I was afraid I'd eat pints of it in one sitting. But as I'm focused on eating healthfully, I haven't bought the pint sized tubs. But then, TJs to the rescue! They make individual servings of sugar free tapioca and it is just about as good. Thanks TJs! (And I would have posted a photo of tapioca pudding, but it really doesn't photograph well.)

So forgive my long absence, and thanks for sticking around. There will be more from here on in! (or is it out?)

Wacky Pumpkins

2007-10-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

My sister sent me an email with hilarious photos of wacky halloween pumpkins. This one really made me LOL:

Finally, something else to do with your pumpkin guts...

And this one because I never knew what goatse was until I read Boing Boing.

This American Life

2007-10-11T09:15:00.001-07:00

If you've never listened to an episode of the radio show This American Life, I highly recommend you do so. You are missing out on some amazing stories/entertainment/drama/information. I mostly listen to public radio (KPCC and KCRW are number one and two on all my radio dials) and I subscribe to many of the podcasts of the shows on these stations. Podcasting is a dream come true for me because I always wanted a machine that could record stuff off the radio, much like you can record stuff to your tivo (nee VCR). Now I can! I can hear all of Le Show and catch the latest episodes of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! which is LAUGH OUT LOUD funny. I usually listen on my morning constitutionals and wonder what people think when they pass me and I'm really laughing.

I've been behind on This American Life because I've been A) out of town and B) not exercising enough. And I realize how much I miss it. Act I of the episode #339 Break Up really caught my imagination. The episode is 29 minutes long and worth every second. There is love, romance, Phil Colllins, heartbreak, sad songs, Phil Collins and a little bit of healing. Please listen to it and tell me what you thought of it.

Ira Glass and his team do remarkable work. Oh and they won a
Peabody Award for their episode Habeas Schmabeas about prisoners being held in Guatanamo.

I have not seen the TV version of the show, but it's in our Netflix Q.

Radio is awesome.

Kiva Repayment

2007-10-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

I got an email from Kiva today telling me that one of the borrowers I had loaned some money to has fully repayed her $325 loan.

Blanca Cortez was the second business I helped fund on Kiva back in April. Now the money has been returned to me and I am free to re-loan it to someone else or keep it. I'm going to go and find another small business to help. You should too.

My loans are not large, $25 each, but that $25 goes far. Check out Kiva!

Katching Up On Our Kitchen -- The Douchebag Episode

2007-10-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

So, you may recall the first episode of our new reality series: Kitchen Klusterfucks with your hosts, Kurt and Kulia, way back in August. We'll, we've both been out of town and working so much we haven't had much time to get the new countertops organized. We've done some cursory research and realize that we want laminate counter tops since this is not going to be a complete kitchen redo and we can't spend a fortune.

Today we went to Expo Home Design to see what they had. I have heard bad things about their installation services and crews but I figured, let's just go see what they have and price stuff out. No biggie. But we are ready to start making some decisions so we might have used them if the price and service were right.

We didn't even get that far.

We walked into the Kitchen Countertop show room and there are only salespeople in there and they all look up "Hello! How can we help you?" The older "gentleman" stepped forward, smiling. I said "Hi, do you have laminate?" and he said, partially laughing, "No, this isn't Formica-land." I stopped short and said, "Okay, I guess we came to the wrong store then." and started to turn around. He tried to follow up with "We have blah blah and blah blah and blah blah countertops, why do you want laminate?" I did look back at him and said something like "We were just looking for affordable countertops and what you said was pretty rude." And we left.

I apologized to Kurt because I just motored right out but holy crap!!!

"This is not Formica-land"?!?!?! What a douchebag.

I got the manager's number and called from the car to say how frickin' rude that guy had been. I didn't get his name, big mistake, but I was so put out I couldn't stay in the same room to find it out. I hope the woman I spoke to did actually speak to him to let him know that we wouldn't even be coming back.

It's back to IKEA tomorrow to look at their new fall line.

Katching up with Knut

2007-10-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

Knut!!

Love that ice bear.

You can go to the Zoo Berlin website and see movies of Knut swimming and playing. He's super cute.

What A Difference A Day Makes!

2007-10-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday:

Today:

AAAAAAhhhhhhhh.....!!!

Feels so good!

(I know, mom, you still want it blonde and no bangs....you won't have to wait long....)

Sputnik/Google

2007-10-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

Google must have read my post yesterday...

"Space Brains"

2007-10-03T07:50:00.000-07:00

In the October 8 issue of Time Magazine is an essay by Jeffery Kluger called :Space Brains" about how the US "got smart" after the USSR launched Sputnik. The essay is also smart and on some levels depressing. Here is the quote that made me sad:

Within a month [of sputnik's launch], President Dwight Eisenhower named MIT President James Killian his science adviser and told him to put the nation on the scientific equivalent of a war footing. The government stressed math and science in public schools, steered college students toward science degrees, created a National Aeronautics and Space Administration and pointed it generally spaceward. Spaceward is where the country went.

Instead of fearing for the worst (world war three) Eisenhower geared up for science and discovery. He geared the country up to be SMARTER, not stronger. Can you imagine if even a fraction of what we are spending on the "war on terror" were going toward education and diplomacy? What if even just a tiny bit of that money were spent on teaching people how to speak the languages of the world, the languages of the middle east in particular, so we can, oh, I don't know, TALK to people in other countries, IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE?

I can speak a smattering of spanish. I had 4 years in high school and 3 semesters in college. When I was in Mexico City last year for two months, I spoke it every day and learned a lot about language and humor and culture. Most people don't understand that learning another language is not just about learning different verb conjugations and vocabulary. When you think about how something is said in a different language, what idioms are used, it opens up a window to how people live, their history, their imaginations.

50 years ago we decided to become the smartest kids on the playground, and we did it. Now, it seems, we decided to be the bully. We're doing a bang up job of it too.

Spam Wording

2007-10-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

You've all had wacky spam emails in your inbox. Today I had a good one:

Get your first look at the next Fearless Yacht

Sounds like a great new Transformer superhero show!

What'a a Little Hair Between Sisters?

2007-10-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a 4 day job at a company I used to work for, ages ago. There are still a few people here that I know and like from the "old days." I chatted with one who was on vacation last week when I started. I thought she was on vacation, but in fact she was out for three weeks, donating one of her kidneys to her brother. Both of them are doing great.

What a gift!

And she was so blasé about it (that's her style). But it brought tears to my eyes that people can be so wonderful and giving. So thinking about cutting off my hair/shaving my head to support Jen while she does chemo seems really insignificant. It doesn't involve anesthesia, cutting tools, possible infection or recovery time. And unlike a donated kidney, my hair will grow back.

But let's get to the heart of the matter -- literally. Are you an organ donor? You should be. My friend said that if her brother had needed to be on a list it would have taken Y E A R S before he found a donor. No one can tell you what to do, but really, why not donate your organs? You'll be dead, you won't need them. And I'm pretty sure whatever god you believe in wouldn't mind in the slightest if you showed up a few organs lighter. (And if your god does mind, maybe you need to find a new one.)

If you already have that pink sticker on your license, great but have you talked to your family about it? Make it clear to everyone what your wishes are so that in case of emergency, there is no confusion. If you are about to die, you don't want people haggling over your body. Make it easier for everyone you know, make the decision for them ahead of time and tell them what you want.

Sign up here if you haven't already.

Read more about it at National Transplant Society.

90,000 people are on organ donation lists. We are a country of over 300 million people. Someone dies every 13 seconds. How come we can't save those 90,000? Seems crazy.

Still Wrong

2007-09-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

And yet, I'm still laughing.

What is wrong with me?

(Saw this on LAist.)

Secret Lovers (Well, At Least Pals)

2007-09-24T08:07:00.000-07:00

Blogbud Will posted about his two dogs sharing space, something they don't normally do in the house or anywhere. It made me remember this photo I took last week:

Bunny (the smaller cat sitting up) is the alpha, even though she's 1/3 smaller than Mouse (lying down). Bunny enjoys wrestling with Mouse, even with her current ACL situation. (Mouse doesn't enjoy the wrestling so much.) The wrestling is usually followed by a lot of running/chasing around the house.

But every once in a while, while I'm on the way to the kitchen, I'll glance down the hall and catch them together. Snuggling or bathing each other. Like last week. They always look at me with a "What? We're not doing anything" look then usually slink away from each other. I had enough time to take a few photos.

I think they need couples counseling.

"Julia" Mug

2007-09-20T17:45:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, I could NEVER find any personalized anything with the name "Julia" on it. Apparently the world was full of "Julies" and never a Julia was considered. "Julie" is not my name but I had to suffer (oh yes, suffer) through mini metal bike license plates and souvenir mugs or t-shirts that said only "Julie". To this day, when I am in some tourist trap, I still absently look at the rows of names and expect to see and always find "Julie."

Until now.

There I was in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum gift shop. A huge rack of mugs faced me. I knew not to bother looking for my name and instead looked for "Kurt." There was no "Kurt" of any kind. Then I glanced over to the Js and saw this:

OMG!

Holy cow. After 35 years, there it was.

Did I buy it? No. I'm over the pain of having the wrong name tag growing up. So just knowing that tag is out there is enough.

Thank you NASM!

Don't Tase Me Bro! The REMIX

2007-09-20T08:32:00.001-07:00

Yes, our civil liberties are being eroded. Maybe my denial of that fact is what makes me LOL while watching this video.

Plus the fact that this guy seemed to be wanting trouble so he could be a youtube phenom.

Wow, am I that cynical?

On The Mall in Washington DC

2007-09-13T06:27:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I spent Saturday being a tourist in DC. Here are some more pictures.

Outside the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden sits this huge Lichtenstein. (Brushstroke, 1996)

I love Roy Lichtenstein's work and I wish I knew how to speak "art" so I could tell you why. The graphics and colors and giant images pull me in. And the humor. I bought this print about 17 years ago and still love it.

Across the mall, in front of the National Archives (more on that later) is the National Gallery of Art - Sculpture Garden. And because Washington DC is designed so beautifully, I could see the Brushstroke again:

Love that.

After the museums, I sat outside and had lunch, watching people play all kinds of sports. I like how the mall is everyone's playground.

Then I walked down to the Washington Monument and later to the Vietnam Memorial and Lincoln Memorial. (More about them later.)

HOT freakin' day, and muggy. But suddenly (it seems) it is fall here in Washington DC. It's still quite warm during the day, but less muggy and less intense heat. Yesterday, in the shade in the morning it was surprisingly cool. Amazing to live in a place with proper seasons.

Knut Update

2007-09-09T16:28:00.001-07:00

Knut has entered those "awkward years" but he's still pretty cute!

Sorry For The Delay--I'm In Washington DC!

2007-09-09T06:20:00.001-07:00

The last few weeks have been a bit crazy and busy with visiting my sister and a new job. I'm in DC now for work for a few weeks and thankfully, have had a weekend off! I have also been blogging on Metroblogging DC while I'm here and so you can catch up with what I've seen there too.

Friday afternoon I walked over to the backside of the White House after work and saw this gentlemen. I appreciated his sentiment.

Here's his site. By the way, have I ever mentioned how much I LOATHE MySpace? Not the idea of it, not the popularity of it, but the ugly, lame, poorly designed layout that (I guess) people build so that you can't see or get a clear understanding of what is on anyone's page. Un-readable!

Back to DC:

Yesterday I spent the morning at the Air and Space Museum on the Mall. Just walking in the door and being presented with the first space capsules from Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions, then Chuck Yeager's X-1 was almost too much too soon! These are aircraft I've read and studied and watched movies about and here they are! Holy cow. I was blown away by how SMALL the original Mercury capsule was for John Glenn. (Brian would never have done very well in there.) They were truly "Spam in a Can". (Speaking of Mr. Yeager.)

The X-1 (aka "Glamorous Glennis") was fabulous. A man broke the speed of sound in that aircraft. People thought it couldn't be done. People thought you would die, instantly break up into a million pieces, etc etc. But of course not. Awesome. Plus the combination of guts and insanity to be a test pilot. The Wright Brothers were brave since people had barely even begun to understand what flight was all about. But flying is commonplace and you start building aircraft that may or may not stay together in conditions no one has ever been in before, that is what pushing the outside of the envelope is all about.

Here she is in action:

I enjoyed the WWII aircraft and history areas as well. I love going to airshows to see them still fly, nothing like seeing a P-51 Mustang zooming overhead. (Chuck flew Mustangs in WWII. No big surprise!) Here is a restored Mustang that flies in Texas:

Gorgeous!

There was more to the day...I'll get back to it later...stay tuned.

Humor At Scientology

2007-09-03T16:43:00.000-07:00

Saw this t-shirt today while at the movies:

If you can't read it it says on the bottom:
"Providing gay actors with wives since 1952"

Dulles is Cool

2007-08-31T18:33:00.000-07:00

Dulles (IAD to you frequent flyers and pilots) has a phenomenally cool terminal. It opened in 1962 and sees over 27 million passengers a year. There is a ton of construction now as they are building a train system to the two satellite terminals.

Here is a photo from the history page on the official Dulles webpage.

The structure was designed by architect Eero Saarinen, he of the TWA Terminal at JFK Airport (aka JFK) and the St. Louis "Gateway Arch" among many other things.

My mom loves Dulles too. She especially likes the The Mobile Lounges. You can click the link for more info but here is a great paragraph about these tres moderne beasts, also part of Saarinen's design:
This was the first US airport designed for jets and so there was no precedent for Saarinen to follow. One of the most distinctive features of the airport was the lack of any building extensions onto the airfield for aircraft loading. Instead passengers traveled from the terminal to their planes, which could be waiting over a mile away, on strange vehicles called Mobile Lounges and Plane-Mates. Saarinen viewed these mobile lounges as an extension of the airport. They were mobile buildings that served as transportation. Apparently when the lounges were first introduced they had a bar onboard and it was possible to drink cocktails while being transported to your plane!

Those were the days...Here's the visual (yanked it from that same site above):

I enjoy flying into and out of places that are visually stunning and have some history I don't expect.

Speaking of "Resentment"

2007-08-31T18:24:00.000-07:00

In my last post I mentioned the word "resentment" being used when describing a cat's feelings. Not an hour later, I come home from the grocery store to try and blog and get some stuff done and this is what I see:

Ahem, Rabbit.

(She never sleeps here.)

I imagine in her mind: "Oh Yeah? My turn to put YOU out today. See how that feels."

Okay, maybe she just loves me so much for taking care of her and she wants to keep my seat warm and be near me.

Hmmm, but she's a cat....

In Other Medical News

2007-08-31T15:11:00.000-07:00

Bunny's sports injury is acting up again. She had knee issues a few years ago, but with some medication and "rest" she was fine. Lately she's been licking the same spot on her same leg, just making the hair go short, but not limping or acting at all different than normal, much to Mouse's chagrin when Mouse gets chased around and around the house. But yesterday Bunny was definitnely walking wrong on her left back leg so to the Vet's we went this morning.

The prognosis: Arthritis. She has serious calcification on her left rear ACL. (See? Sports injury.) She got a shot of prednisone to help reduce inflammation and now she'll get half a baby aspirin every other day. She's resting comfortably.

Bunny is about 14 and so this is not a shocker, and as you may recall, she is a Rumpy Manx. And Rumpy Manxs tend to have odd but generally minor lower spine and hip issues (what with no tail to extend their spines...). And I say she's "about 14" because when I got her in 1995 from the West Side Animal Shelter, she was an adult and they estimated she was between 1 and 2.

I learned a really good trick years ago for vet visits. I bring the carry boxes in from the storage area in the house the night before and just leave it in the living room. By the next morning, no one is panicing and so picking them up and putting them in the box is a snap. Bunny got home around 11 this morning and I left the box in the living room while we had lunch. When I got up from lunch, Mouse was hunkered near the bookshelves, panic-stricken, sure she must be next. Poor cat. Her blood pressure must have been elevated all morning.

I was reading a website about kitty arthritis and saw this part:
Symptoms of traumatic arthritis may include the following:
A painful joint, causing limping on that leg and resentment of the joint being handled.

I love that with cats, you use the word "Resentment" because that is exactly what it is.

I lurves my Bunny! And Mouse too...

The Whole Story About Jen as of Today (8/30)

2007-08-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the whole story:
Last Tuesday she went to the Doctor because she felt a lump of something in her belly. (She had a fibral benign tumor in her uterus removed 3 years ago). She went to get an ultrasound and the doctor said, hmmm, better go get a cat scan because this thing is too close to your kidneys. So she did that night and they said, hmmm, better go talk to an Oncologist tomorrow. That Oncology appointment was just to rule stuff out -- we hoped. So she met with the Oncologist last Weds and he said, hmmm, can't say it's cancer until we take it out and no matter what it is, we need to take it out because it's too close to your kidneys. (Though her kidney functions are all normal.) So he scheduled her for surgery last Friday and said it could be 1 hour or many more depending on what we find. Surgery was 6 hours. And it was cancer. But we didn't know what kind yet and it would take a few days to figure out. But the doctor (one of the best in San Jose) said he does this kind of surgery often and is very confident they got everything out. Good to hear.

Meantime, my mom was on her way to hang with Jen anyway and I was on my way to DC for a meeting on the movie I'm working on. I was scheduled to return on Tuesday. While I was in DC, the doctor said the cancer is Stage III uterine cancer, and the slowest growing kind. So she will need chemo just to make sure that any lingering cells get blasted but doesn't need to start until she's healed from the surgery -- so about 3 1/2 weeks from now. I spent Tuesday afternoon and all day yesterday with her and she looked great. Honestly for having had MAJOR f-ing surgery 5 days before, she just looked like she needed a long nap. She was walking around and up and down stairs (not quickly, but she is moving). She was also farting -- very important after big surgery so we all had a laugh about farting. In general she's mad and annoyed and cranky and apparently was swearing up a storm right after waking up from the surgery. I was pleased to hear it. If she hadn't been, I would have really worried.

I'll probably go back this Saturday for a day. Then I'll be off to DC for 2 1/2 weeks or so on this movie, back in time to help her get into the chemo situation. Its going to be tough and I might have to cut my hair in solidarity (but honestly, why would me cutting my hair all off be any surprise or different in my life?!?!) But the doctors are all very positive and so, therefore, am I.

If you know my sister, you'll know that this picture shows how well she's doing. This is her, watiting to be discharged yesterday:

The caption reads "When can I facking go home?!!"

If you want to see a picture of her scar, go here.

Flying to DC

2007-08-27T04:39:00.001-07:00

I'm here for one day for a work meeting. Then I'll be back in California with my sister.

I always like taking photos from the airplane window. Here are a couple from yesterday.

There was a lot of haze in most spots, plus the window. One of these days I'll be getting a new camera...that I can control better. And then I'll take a photoshop class so I can tweak. So much to do!

Jen

2007-08-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

Found out yesterday my sister Jennifer has fucking cancer.

She had some major surgery and we'll know more in a few days. She woke up and was pissed off and swearing, so that made me feel a little better. (If she hadn't said "Fuck" a lot I would be more worried.)

Cancer sucks.

I put my LiveStrong bracelet back on again. Not sure why. Helps me focus my positive energy on helping Jen get better I guess.

A New Joke

2007-08-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

Kurt and I wrote a joke together.

Cat walks into a Doctor's office: Doctor, my ears are falling off.
Doctor says: How long have you had this problem?
Cat says: What?

I was reminded to post the joke today after seeing this kitty on my favorite afternoon break site.

Lotto Safety

2007-08-23T17:23:00.000-07:00

I bought two quick picks last Saturday and didn't win--big surprise! But I had forgotten about checking for numbers until today. After the devastation of not finding winning numbers, I turned the ticket over and found, to my delight, Lotto Safety Graphics! It's almost as good as winning $70million.

How many people have IRONED their lottery tickets in the past to require that you warn them not to? How often have you thought to yourself, "Gee, I should spiff this ticket up before I claim my prize."

Why are people so weird/stupid?

Backyard Decadence

2007-08-22T14:51:00.000-07:00

No photo. Just a thought about how nice it is to work at home with Kurt and when it is time for lunch, we fired up the BBQ, threw burgers on, picked ripe tomatoes from our garden to put on the burgers and had a lovely meal. So fabulous.

Friends Found and Lost -- Jai

2007-08-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

Reconnecting with Steve has been so wonderful and fun. And while writing to him, I had to dive into my storage drawer full of old journals and notes and keepsakes. There aren't too many, though I'm sure there are more things in a box outside in the garage. But in my joy of finding old (hilarious) journal entries and things Steve had written and given to me (we used to write gobs of poetry and share it with each other) I found two notes from my friend Jai.

These precious artifacts brought tears to my eyes as she died in a house fire in 2003, along with her two babies. Horrible. I'm shocked that it has been four years already.

The two notes are very Jai. Neither have dates on them, but it would have been between 1982 and 1984. Here's the first one -- all spelling and punctuation are hers:
Side 1:
(Top left corner where she folded it up and then wrote a name for delivery)
(P.S.)
(Paul Siminon)

J J

(JoJo)
(Joe Jackson)
(J.J.)
(Jenna Jones)
(Julia Jon)

Then she starts:
Trick: [Kool, great, classy, wonderful, hot; positive adjective]
Whip: [slimy, junk, stupid, brainless, a general waste; a negative adj.]
These are two words my broth. and his gang appropriated at Pun, a couple of years ago {one word follows but is unreadable}
Anyway, I'm kind of wierd in a lot of ways, one is that I keep secrets really well. There are somethings that I can't say to anyone, can't even say out loud. I even keep some things secret from myself. Sometimes I just won't let myself think about something, in that way, I can keep myself from knowing how I feel about something, I just avoid the thoughts. I may be psychotic, schitsophreanic or sometimes, but I am nice whenever I am able to be (which I think is usually most of the time) and when I can't be, I just try to live through it, minimizing the injuries to other people. So maybe I can't do a good job. So kill me; please don't want to be the one to snuffit m'self.

Side 2:
Julia Jon is a cool name! Do you want it? (I once named a girl Jenna Jones.)
Then in someone else's handwriting it says:
Day 1,
I'm bored my gizzard just hangs there
Back to Jai
I found this on the floor, interesting ¿no? This is here in Existential and we are supposed to have our Heinlein Book. So, here I am with Bill's Needle-eyes poking right through me because he's mad at me and Jos and Shelly because none of the three of us This is so funny: Jos & Shelly were begging Bill to let them go to their lockers to get their books (of course he wouldn't let them) so J & S are wandering around the room making trouble, picking up books and generally being a nuisance. Jos is being so funny it's driving Bill nuts. Yow!

The second note was also folded to a small rectangle and the address said:
to Julia Jon
(check out the paperclip!)
(don't lose it!)

Of course the paperclip is not there...

Inside it says:
to Julia Jon
I just rewread your letter that you gave me a while ago. I write things better too. Anyways, did I ever tell you that I really enjoyed that letter and it's sentiment? Well, anyway, I know we have been through some quite rocky times. Times in which you wanted to dump me in the dirty river. Thanks for not. I really hope that the important friendship we have (important to me) will continue to last. I need it, as I'm sure you do. I still thank (God or whatever) that I found you as a friend.
Please forgive me for all the less than good or nice things that I've done or said: and accept me with all of my fallabilites.
I wish to be as good or better friends, as ever. YOW!
Yow!

I went to Family Life Thrift today,
Check out my new plaid shirts!
Check out Elvis Costello, my new album is very trick (ask me about "Trick" and "Whip")
Love, Karin Lea

(Typical photo of Karen -- "Karen! Let me take your picture!" and she would pose thusly.)

She came to school named Karen, then changed her name to Karin. Then a year later to Jai. And Jai she stayed. We became friends, as she told me, because she was new to our school in her Junior year (my sophomore year) and she looked around at people in one of her classes (that I was in) and decided I looked like the nicest person. So she chose me. And we were friends. She introduced me to music I had never heard of: Adam Ant, U2, Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, The Fabulous Pink Poodles, The Waitresses. Maui didn't have a pop music FM station so New Wave stuff was not readily available. And Jai had moved from Oahu (The Big City!) with all her vinyl. We went shopping at thrift stores for men's suit coats and shirts. We were on the swim team. There was something wacky and different about her that I had never met in another person. I was all small town girl and she was all big city all-knowing teenager. I adored her. (Except, apparently, when I was mad at her about something -- see the above note.)

After she died, I got a tattoo in her honor. She had become an artist and jeweler, making lovely lovely cloisionne pieces to sell from her company, Jairations. I borrowed her logo:

and had the artist at Sunset Strip Tattoo Parlor copy and create a tattoo version.

Jai will always be in my heart, but somehow that wasn't enough.

I miss my darling Karen.

Jai, James and Jessica's memorial page.

Googling Your Past--UPDATE

2007-08-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

I found Steve and all is right with the world.

After the post I wrote in July, I dug around in my closet and pulled out my high school yearbook. On Steve's page (seniors got a whole page) he had written a long note but also included his old address and phone number. So I googled the phone number and lo and behold, his parents run a B&B out of their house and there was an email address. I emailed them, and asked if this was the same family and if so, could they please forward my email address on to Steve as I would like to reconnect. His mom wrote back saying yes and yes and that they would give the email to him the next day. This was around July 26 or 27.

I didn't hear a thing from him and I was worried that maybe he didn't want to be in touch with anyone from high school. That would have made me sad, but I also would understand. I know I'm in a very small minority of people who loved high school. Was I popular? A cheerleader? No. We didn't have cheerleaders and even if we did, I wouldn't have gone out for it. I just went to an amazing small school and had great experiences there. Full disclosure -- I was Social Committee Chairperson for two years and then Student Body President in my senior year. I was involved.

But back to Steve. As the days turned into weeks, I also thought that he would write but it would just take time. I've had a few unexpected emails float in over the transom from people I hadn't heard from in ages and often it takes a few days to wrap my head around all the memories that come up around that person. I think email is good for that. People can contact you but its not like getting a phone call and being put right on the spot. Hate that.

Saturday was the day. I got an email from him just as we were about to leave for a dinner party. His note was warm and full of love and fond memories as well as a mini update on his life. We wrote a few emails over the weekend and will continue to do so this week, I'm sure. I'm so glad he is well and happy and just as sweet as ever.

Hooray for the series of tubes!

LOLCats

2007-08-17T17:29:00.000-07:00

After yesterday's post about the stealthy nature of Mouse, I saw these two and they made me giggle. Why do I find the whole concept of LOLCats soooo funny? Do you have to own cats to find the humor? Whatever it is, I love this whole craxy throughout-the-universe-in-perpetuity meme.

(This one came from LOLCATS.)

(This one came from I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?)

Olly Olly Oxen Free!

2007-08-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

Can you find the Mouse in this picture?

Click for bigger if you need help...

Beating the Heat

2007-08-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

We converted the garage a couple of years ago into an office space for Kurt. The walls are drywalled and we put in a big window (thanks to Kurt and Mary) and a new entry door so it feels like a cool little studio. But "Cool" doesn't work in summer as there is no ceiling, just the unfinished underside of the roof. So in the summer it gets beastly hot from time to time. There is an R2 unit air conditioner, but it has to work too hard and wasn't as effective as possible with all that hot air coming through. So, a frugal idea -- use a large shade sail to block as much sun/heat as possible before it hits the roof all afternoon.

Voila:

And it appears to be working pretty well for the price/effort.

More Car Stuff

2007-08-16T16:06:00.000-07:00

Saw this at Trader Joe's on Tuesday night.

I have a Macedonia country sticker on my car as well. I've never seen another until now.

Zdravo!

Speaking of ...

2007-08-16T15:59:00.000-07:00

... Cool Cars, we saw this beauty while driving to down the 405 to Ikea this past Sunday.

What is that thing? Other than fabulous, I mean. It had historic plates on it too.

Very nice.

Click for bigger.

MIA-POW Bracelets--UPDATE to my Update!

2007-08-13T18:19:00.001-07:00

I hit "publish post" too soon!

I looked through the bracelet - how and when to return website and found a full page of information on Sherman, Peter W.!!
And best of all, Jen, here's his picture:

Wow.

He was lost June 10, 1967 in North Vietnam, status: MIA in 1973. His remains were returned to the US in January of 1991.

MIA-POW Bracelets--UPDATE!

2007-08-13T17:19:00.000-07:00

I knew Jen would know the name of her MIA/POW: Captain Peter Sherman of the US Navy.

Bonus! She still has her bracelet:

We were IMing about it this morning and she said:
Mine was a Navy Man that Died in Vietnam....when we were at the wall I found his name and talked to one of the people there who told me where to look on the wall and that he was a navy guy...made me cry

So I looked up the The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall site online and found this info:

PETER WOODBURY SHERMAN
CAPT - O6 - Navy - Regular
Length of service 22 years
Casualty was on Oct 17, 1973
In , NORTH VIETNAM
Hostile, died while missing, FIXED WING - PILOT
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Body was recovered

You can click through to this page to add personal rememberances or photos. There are three there for Captain Sherman and these comments brought tears to my eyes.

I'm writing this post while I'm clicking through the Vietnam Memorial Wall site (Live blogging my blogging, I guess) and just found this page about Bracelets. Here is a history of the bracelets (quick read) which was an idea of a college student and became a national program. And even more amazing, if you have a bracelet you want to return, you can go here to see if the family is looking for it. There are 8 people listed saying they have Peter Sherman's bracelet with their email addresses. What if they all became pen-pals with my sister and they shared their memories about who they are and where they were when they got the bracelets?

Jen would have to tell it in her own words, and I've never been to the Vietnam Memorial (I've haven't been to DC yet) so I imagine that the experience is intense to begin with. But going to the memorial where the only person's name you might know is from a bracelet you've had for over 30 years, then finding his name and a bit more information about him, must be wonderful and sad. What a connection.

I'm an old sentimental softy. No argument from me there. I just love this kind of thing, the stories, the connections, the history. The internets and all the people behind each page, are amazing.

Thanks for sharing, Jen!

MIA-POW Bracelets

2007-08-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

While writing about "Walk For Mankind" and my sister and living in Kahala, I remembered that Jen (and all her friends) had MIA/POW bracelets for soldiers in Vietnam. I'm sure Jen still remembers the name of her soldier. To my 7 or 8 year old mind, they were pretty cool and I wanted one. I wanted to wear the name of a soldier in Vietnam on my wrist, to think about him far away. I really don't think I quite understood the reality of all that was going on at the time, but the bracelet brought an immediacy to this hazy "war" thing to my young mind.

I googled around for the bracelets and found this picture:

It came from this website posting from May 2006: Family History Circle: Get Out Your POW Bracelet

You can buy new ones now for people currently serving, but you have to provide the name of the person to have the bracelet made. POW-MIA Memorial Bracelets

I'm not sure where Jen got the one she got, but I like that you were given a random name. Seems nice to send positive thoughts to people you don't even know, remembering them without having met them.

Walk For Mankind

2007-08-13T09:30:00.000-07:00

(Jen is going "Ha! I remember that!" right now and maybe forwarding this post on to Betsy...)

In Honolulu around 1973 or 1974, there was a fundraising thing called "Walk for Mankind." I was only six or seven, so I remember this event more as a tag-along to my sister Jen. It was created by Project Concern and sponsored by the Ala Moana Jaycees. I did some cursory googling and didn't find much else.

I remember it was a long walk, maybe 20 miles and that it required sponsors. (Though I'm sure I didn't walk 20 miles and didn't have my own sponsor list.) So my sister and her friends were going door to door asking for sponsors. Hopefully they made a lot of money since we lived in Kahala and I recall walking down Kahala Avenue (more on that neighborhood here) and having people answer their doors. There is a specific memory that I have about "looking for sponsors" but am not sure if I was actually there, or just heard about it. (You know how family myths can be.) The memory is of my sister and friends knocking on a door and having a man answer, don't recall how the sales pitch went or if he sponsored, but then when we were leaving, someone said, "That was Peter Lawford!" (Or was it Peter Lorre?) Anyway, I had no idea who either was at the time, but remember thinking just how cool that someone famous lived down the street! (Not long after that I would get to meet Jack Lord and take a photo with him.) (Hey Mom, do you know where that picture is?)

I remember the actual walk day as exciting--tons of people on the roads, walking for mankind, with bands playing at parks along the route and aid stations, etc. I'm sure I walked from our house to Triangle park (only about 1/2 mile) to be part of the fun. Here is the visual--click for bigger. The link to the actual map (so you can zoom around Oahu) is here.

(I guess it is actually called "Fort Ruger Park" but I only ever knew it as Triangle Park.)

Funny thing about Triangle Park -- when Kurt and I (and our great AIDS Marathon team) ran the 2001 Honolulu Marathon, the last few miles are down Kahala Avenue and next to Triangle Park, right by our old home and stomping grounds. Fun to take Kurt on a tour of where I grew up while running a marathon! (We had gotten married only a month before...

(What you can't see in this photo is how hard I'm crying right at that moment. The whole experience was intense and wonderful.) On top of getting married and running a marathon, we raised over $6,000 for Aids Project LA! Thanks to all of our sponsors for that achievement!

The reason these thoughts sprang up is that I emailed blogbud Will to see if he wanted to schedule another long walk toward the end of the year. In February he walked the entire length of Sunset Blvd. and had suggested a walk down Western next. It's only 28 miles! Yippee. I need a new exercise goal to look forward to.

DIY My Ass

2007-08-11T12:34:00.001-07:00

We had a Saturday project on the books today -- regrout one part of our kitchen countertop tiles and see how hard it is, then do the rest. (It's not a big kitchen.) Part of that was to also recaulk the sink area because it really needed it. Really. A lot. We thought we'd have a day long project, let it all dry for 24 hours, cook easy stuff on the BBQ and use nothing we needed to wash. Oy.

Welcome to our new reality show:
Kitchen Klusterfucks!
Starring your hosts, Kurt and Julia!

While we did do research and bought all the right tools, we still had the wrong tools. But I will say it was not quite our fault. The house is 70 years old and the tile is original and therefore the grout is very very thin. So thin that the thin grout saw blade couldn't fit into it. Fack #1. Tried to get a new one, but they are all the same size, crap. So Kurt chipped away at the grout with a spackle knife and it was working (thin enough) but such a pain in the butt. So while he was working away at that, I started on removing the grout around the sink. Which was fine until all the tile started coming off around the sink. Fack #2. I barely touched it. In fact, just pulling the old caulk up loosened it all. So basically the tiles around the edge of the sink were only held on by caulking. The morter had long stopped adhering due to years of water seeping through. Two of the wooden support beams underneath just fell off when I poked them. Nice.

So we look at each other and go "Well?" We don't have a budget for a new kitchen sink or countertops, but we need something. So after a short discussion, we decided to make a quick fix with duct tape. Hooray duct tape! And then start calling people who have done recent sinks/countertops. Ikea is the key word and tomorrow we are going to look at what they have. Then hopefully hire someone in the next few weeks to replace the sink and countertops.

Here is the photographic evidence.
The sink with the tile all gone from the center and the support beams gone.

That's some old sink.

From underneath -- look! Plants! Sheesh.

The very temporary fix which Kurt calls "Post-Modern Catastrophe" or "Nuclear Winter Fix" or a "Ted Kaczynski Special."

Nice, huh? Of course it will leak, but hey, it can't be worse than the tiles that just fell off...

If anyone knows a great kitchen counter top specialist, on the cheap, let us know.

Beach Image

2007-08-06T18:38:00.000-07:00

Last week Thursday we went out for some lovely cocktails and appetizers at the Casa Del Mar Hotel in Santa Monica with some good friends. As the light was fading, I took some photos out the window and liked this action shot.

The hotel holds fond memories for us as this is where we spent our first two nights as a married couple. We called it our Minimoon as we were not able to take a honeymoon until a year later. But then we did it in STYLE: One week in Portugal and three weeks in Italy. I'll have to start scanning some photos. That was just before I was getting into digital images, but maybe I'll look to see if by chance I got disks with my prints. I'll write about that another time.

Back to the Casa Del Mar. This is the kind of guest room we had:
Classy, beachy, but not overdone. Made me/us want to get a chaise lounge.

Then, there was the bathroom and I'm a sucker for a GREAT bathroom. These pictures don't help much because I had to do a screen grab but basically the tubs are big enough for two and we spent hours in it, drinking champagne and being generally goofy about being married. Because don't forget: Kurt and I started dating in January (2001), got engaged in August (2001) and got married on November 3, 2001.

See? So happy!

We got to the hotel around 9:30 or 10pm of our wedding night, after our fabulous non-fussy wedding/party/reception/celebration, and stood in the room, looking around then looked at each other, laughing, "What do we do now?" First things first, right? We were HUNGRY! The cliche was true, you barely eat at your own wedding and the In-N-Out burger and fries I had with my sister and niece at 11:30 that morning had long been used up on dancing and smiling and hugging. So we turned right around, still looking just like the picture, and went down to the lobby restaurant and had a nice pasta dinner, then went back to our room and crashed. The rest of the weekend will be left up to your own imagination about your own wedding nights, or wedding nights to come...except ours involved a whole canned chicken and champagne. I'll say no more.

(Sarah.)

Backyard In Action -- UPDATE

2007-08-06T18:29:00.000-07:00

So Kurt got the shade sail up and it looks quite nice.

In terms of practicality, not bad, I just wish it had been a little larger and a right triangle instead of an equilateral triangle. We talked about putting another one up to control the hot sun in the afternoons where this one misses, but alas, there is no obvious place to attach another. Summer won't last much longer, right?

Great Quote

2007-08-04T16:44:00.001-07:00

Werner Herzog was on Fresh Air the other day, talking about his latest film, "Rescue Dawn." They were talking about documentaries (Mr. Herzog also made "Grizzly Man") and he said that he watched all kinds of things, Anna Nicole (when she had her show), Wrestlemania, etc. When asked why, he said:
My answer is the poet must not avert his eyes from what’s going on in the world. In order to understand what’s going on, you have to face it.

The poet must not avert his eyes.

That struck a nerve.

You Don't Know

2007-08-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

I don't even remember where or when I took this photo. Clearly I was on some walk, somewhere on the westside. Funny.

Soothing

2007-08-01T21:12:00.001-07:00

My good friend Tom sent me this site.

Be prepared for soothing goodness.

Ohhmmm.

Nini's Atomic

2007-08-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

For those few who know why this is cool...

Saw it in a hardware store parking lot today.

I dig the name and might have to use it for other things!

Holy Mackerel!

2007-08-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

Ages ago, someone found and shared the website of Weight Watchers recipe cards, circa 1974. I still cry with laughter when I read them today.

Kurt and I have our favorite:

These are three words that should NEVER go together. (And notice that this recipe falls under the "Convenience Fish" category. Fish can be so inconvenient, can't they?)

The one that had gasping for breath was this one (all are best read with the snarky comments from Wendy McClure)

Something about "Impressive Buoys" just kills me. And this category is great "Fish Spectaculars"!!!11

This one we laughed and laughed about -- WTF is Shashlik? -- Until I went to Macedonia on business and ordered Shashlik on the menu. (No reference to Caucasions in Skopje, though.) Delicious when made in a country that has shashlik in it's culinary history.

By the way, Ms. McClure has published a book with even MORE of the crazy recipes. The book is called: "Gee, your book smells terrific!"

The reason I thought of these aweseome food cards today is because Boing Boing pointed me to a site called Do What Now? with old recipes, ads and other retro-wacky stuff. For some reason this one made me spit on my monitor I was laughing so hard:

Trout is not as funny as Mackerel, and yet, something about wrapping them in corn husks just made me lose it.

Lastly, from the weight watchers card site is the link to the Gallery of Regrettable Food. You know it's going to be good and I see that you are now scheduling yourself some alone time so you can look at them all.

Enjoy!

Please Check Out

2007-07-31T15:12:00.000-07:00

My just-posted rant on Metroblogging Los Angeles about a specific telemarketer phone call I got today.

Shocking and hilarious.

Nina's Bracelet

2007-07-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

Last summer while working in Mexico City there were very few of us non-local crew members. So those of us staying at the hotel together would go out to dinner from time to time. One of those guys was the A camera operator and I got to meet his whole family when they came to Mexico for a two week visit. He and his lovely wife have two kids, the youngest is Nina. She was 12 and we bonded over reading and Harry Potter as she had lots of time on set (and so did I) to chat. The DP's daughter was there too, Clara, and about the same age, so she and Nina were good pals and lots of fun for me to talk to.

One day I bought a bounch of bracelets from a street vendor, bracelets with the square beads with images of saints on them, very common in Mexico City. But the ones I found were made of clear plastic and looked like this:

I had bought three of them in different colors. Then thought to myself, why on earth did I buy three? (I had already gotten lots of gifts for friends and family back home.) Not long after thinking this, I saw Nina and Clara (and their parents) in the hotel and realized, oh, I bought them to give to the girls who were making my days so much brighter. I stopped them and gave each their own and they seemed pleased. It made me feel good to do such a little thing.

A day or two later, I saw Nina and her mom in the hotel lobby and Nina said, "I bought something for you." She pulled out a small knotted bracelet with beads and gave it to me. I was really touched and tied it on right there. Then I gave her a big hug and said thanks. Here it is:

That was almost a year ago exactly. About two weeks ago, the knot finally gave up and it fell off. Luckily, I felt it go and grabbed it. I will keep it for a long time.

Last summer was tough and I'm still feeling so many crazy emotions about my dad's death and where I was in my soul while working a job so far away from friends and family and Kurt and the cats. Nina (and her whole family) really brightened up a dark time. I will treasure her conversations and this bracelet.

Thanks Nina.

Freaky Mouse -- Update

2007-07-30T17:09:00.000-07:00

After posting about dear Mouse the other day, I got two responses with photos. One was from my sister and their dog, Tippy, is just like Mouse in his resting position.

Then (as he says, which I love as a new word) blogbud Will sent me photos of his cat Pepper -- here is one:

Now, we will take the Mouse watching to a new level. For the first time captured on "film," our Mouse does her thing. Behold.

Normally she'll do this for many long minutes at a time when you call her name out. But then the camera is revealed, she's out of there.

Mouse is a Freaky Kitty

2007-07-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

The thing is, Bunny is fierce! but oh so cute. And she likes to have her cuddles. But Mouse....Mouse is different. You know how cats have to be near you when you move to another room or part of the house? Mouse likes to come and be near me when I'm at my desk. Sometimes she just lies on the floor, looking like a normal cat. Other times I glance over and that is what I get:

I haven't asked her to play dead. She hasn't fainted from the heat. That's just Mouse.

Tour De France -- Updates

2007-07-26T08:39:00.000-07:00

The Tour de France is exploding off the back of its own peloton.

Frakking Vinokourov. Godsdammit!! I was looking for a hero, a real inspiration, someone who was down but never out, someone who wasn't fictional (sorry Harry), and thought I had found one. My dreams were dashed with Vino. Rasmussen I didn't like much anyway, can't explain why, so I don't care about him being out. The only cycling I watch is the Tour, so I'm a cycling n00b but I really really enjoy the physical insanity of the Tour de France. But now I feel like I have to let my naivete go, become cynical. That bums me out.

Come on Contador, mend my broken heart.

Read about Rasmussen here.
Read about Vino here.

Words of the Day

2007-07-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

I got these two words over the last week in my daily email from Urban Dictionary. The first one: typeractive, completely refers to me in my non-paying job, sort of summer break, workless state. But I also think I've always been this way. Definition: Someone who is overly talkative on emails or text messages. As in: Man, this Emily (Julia) should get a job. She's been messaging me every 2 minutes. And there are 10 emails in my inbox from her. She is way typeractive today.

Then there was BGP which made me laugh because I've had it happen to me twice. Definition: Short for background props. Placing oneself in the background of another person's picture, usually striking some strange pose or making some other gesture, unbeknownst to the subjects or the photographer. As in: Look at this random guy getting his BGPs in your picture!

The first time was around college with friends at The Getty in Malibu. A waiter at a cafe took our picture and this guy stuck his head in the back and made a funny face. It made us laugh so hard when we got the photos back. Then in 2004 there was this very subtle version:

Click for bigger and look at the girl inside the window.

The thing with BGP is that it is a selfless act of fun. You will never know how much the person who sees the photo will react. I suppose in the digital photo age, there is a chance for immediate notice of the person in the background, but generally, you don't expect it or notice it until much later.

When traveling to very touristy spots, I had an idea about creating a freaky photo situation. Find a family or couple or group of people who are clearly in a city like Rome or Paris for only a day or so. Walk around behind them all day and constantly get in their pictures in wacky, obvious ways. If you have a partner, you can make it less obvious by having them "take your photo" at the same time. Again, though, this is a bit of performance art that you can't ever really see the results of. But hey, somewhere, you know you got your BGPs.

Googling Your Past

2007-07-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

You've done it. We all do it. Can't help it. You can even buy t-shirts about it. But aside from googling yourself, (googling oneself?), and googling for things we might actually be looking for, I think we most often google old friends or lovers or hot mad crushes who we haven't seen or heard from in years.

I went to a very small high school on Maui. There were 33 people in my graduating class. The whole school was 7-12th grade and had about 200 students. Everyone knew everyone. And yes there were the usual high school groups, but because the school was so small, and there were no "homerooms" and lunch was a different assigned table every two weeks, you were kind of friends with everybody. (It's not the same anymore.)

So how is it that I can still not have any idea where Steve is? I spent about an hour yesterday googling and searching for him online. But he has a very very very common last name so when you google him in a certain city, or any city, for that matter, you get a jillion hits. I thought I got pretty close though, yesterday. I found a picture of a man about 40 who looked like how Steve might look. It was a page with his email address at work. So I emailed him, hoping and hoping. But alas, no. An email came back saying "Nope, sorry, wrong Steve." Bummer. I'll keep trying.

Steve was very dear to me, we listened to music a lot (Cyndi Lauper, Missing Persons, Duran Duran--we were so New Wave.) and talked about all those great teenage things: guys, the future, dreams, college, how sex might be some day (not in too many details though!). I adore Steve, I think I still have notes he wrote me that I stuck in my yearbook. But where did he go? I have no real idea and it makes me sad.

If you are out there Steve, I'm looking for you and hoping you are well and happy.

This was the only picture I could find with me and Steve together. 1985.

SPOILER ALERT!

2007-07-24T22:16:00.000-07:00

(Stole/borrowed this from sean bonner.)

Favorite Commercial

2007-07-24T18:32:00.000-07:00

Maybe ever? Well, maybe favorite commercial from my 30's?

Whatever. I just love it. We would rewind on tivo to watch it over and over when it used to play.

I want to see outtakes on this! Anyone know anyone?

That Time of Year

2007-07-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

We don't have air conditioning. We don't need it. And yet, there are a few weeks during summer when it does get pretty warm at night. Years ago I bought a window fan, kind of like this one:

(Though not quite as fancy) and it works great. The temp cools down enough at night so that we can suck in cool air while we sleep (and the ceiliing fan helps distribute it) and suck out the warm air during the day. I like how it works and still find I need to sleep under a light cover, even on the warmest nights to come.

It's late in July and somehow I keep thinking it is late August. Not sure why. Do I want the year to be further along? No. Is it that hot? Not really. Maybe because I have a job coming up and so I'm feeling time fly.

Still plenty of the Tour left though, to make it seem like July is still with me.

Tour De France -- Vino ROCKS!

2007-07-23T20:57:00.000-07:00

Stage 15 today. 6 more to go, tomorrow is a rest day. And while my new hero, Alexander Vinokourov is out of the race for the overall win of the Tour, he just keeps rocking my world. He was a Yellow Jersey hopeful at the start of the race, then crashed hard on Stage 5 needing a total of 60 stitches for both knees and an elbow. People weren't sure if he would even keep riding. But apparently you can't keep the guy down. He won the Stage 13 time trial and then lost 28 minutes yesterday and everyone counted him GONE. But not Vino. With apparently nothing to lose, he figured, why not win another stage and keep Astana up at 2nd in the overall team standings? The guy is tough as nails and an inspiration.

Today was all about Vino. But I'm not forgetting out the 24 year old up and comer, Alberto Contador on Team Discovery. So much to look forward to from this guy in many Tours de France to come! Oh and PS, he has a titanium plate in his head!

¡Viva Gazpacho!

2007-07-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

Summer time is here and our tomatoes are plump and ripe and deeeelicious! And we have so many and it is so hot that gazpacho is the answer.

YUM!

Backyard In Action

2007-07-22T16:53:00.000-07:00

We are doing a little update to our backyard/backdoor. Tearing down the makeshift pergola thingy that was here when the house was bought (and is now full of termites) and we'll put up a shade sail instead. Someday there will be a set of french doors and a deck...

No, your eyes are not playing tricks, that door is TINY.

Finished!

2007-07-22T13:12:00.001-07:00

I'm not a speed reader, but I am a fast reader. I got the book yesterday around 2ish and read off and on until about 11:30. Then slept, then woke up and read from about 8:30 until about 12:30. I'm finished and I'm sad and happy and sad. Characters die, that's for sure, and when you least expect them to.

Now it's time to hit the showers after my read-fest!

Enjoy yours.

IT"S HERE!!!1111

2007-07-21T14:46:00.000-07:00

I'm reading. I'll come up for air later.

One last thing before I go -- Anyone watch Vinokourov KICK ASS on Stage 13 today?!?! That guy has got some guts.

This Harry Potter Weekend

2007-07-21T06:56:00.000-07:00

First I'm going to the Ho'olaule'a with Sarah. Then I'll be home to read my Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I might blog. I might not. Don't be alarmed if I don't, just reading before I accidentally see any spoilers!

Oh Boy

2007-07-18T18:47:00.000-07:00

How am I supposed to get anything done?

Buuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Aloha, Dad

2007-07-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

My dad died a year ago (July 16, 2006). I was in Mexico City.

On my morning walk yesterday I was listening to This American Life episode #14 "Accidental Documentaries." Act I played recordings of a family to their son at medical school in the 60's. A slice of American Life. Today I continued listening to the series and Act II was Ira Glass talking about his father who used to be a deejay before Ira was born. Act III was by Nora Moreno who's father was "a pioneer in Spanish-language broadcasting in America" and about how their parents met and married because of it.

This all brought me back to my dad and the anniversary of his death. I had been thinking a lot about him lately, wishing so many things had been different in his life and my life and our lives together. I have really wanted to ask him a lot of things lately. Not father daughter stuff, we had some of that when I was younger, so I'm not bothered by that. I want to know about his time in radio and television. I want to know about stuff that happened in his life way before I was even born.

I began to think of this a few weeks ago while Kurt and I watched a few Dodger games on TV and how Vin Scully is just amazing at what he does. He works alone, doing the play by play and in baseball it's mostly about filling time. So he has to know everything there is to know about players and teams and stats and history. He is so much fun to listen to. Now we are watching the Tour de France and Phil Liggett is the same way. I want to ask my dad what that was like, announcing games or events, filling time, how do you come up with all that talk? (I did know my dad well enough to know that this part wasn't particularly hard, "coming up with talk.")

My dad worked as a sportscaster in radio and TV in Honolulu in the late 40's and 50's. I believe he started in radio at KGMB and then he moved to TV when KONA TV (now KHON) kicked off its programming on Channel 2 June 24, 1953. My father was a "local personality" and was heavily promoted along with newsman Webley Edwards and entertainer Lucky Luck. Back in his radio days I'm told he recreated baseball games on the air. This is a lost skill and I barely know anything about it and I wish I could ask my dad about what it was like.

My dad was 43 when I was born and had been out of broadcasting for a long time by then. He moved on to advertising and PR in Honolulu and was very successful working for local politicians. And he was still sort of famous, I guess. When I was about nine or ten or eleven, older people who worked in stores, after seeing my last name, would ask me if Carlos Rivas was my grandfather. I would say "He's my dad" and they would say how they used to listen to him on the radio or TV. But I never knew that dad. The dad I knew worked as in-house marketing/PR for a development company on the Big Island and helped build Waikoloa. Then he retired and tried a few other businesses and all the while wrote (local newspaper columns, short stories, etc.)

By the time I was old enough to be myself around him, not the scared, aim-to-please little girl, and interested in him and his big life way before I came along, he was just beginning his descent into alzheimers. Too late. I didn't even know all the things I wanted to know about him and now I wish I could go back in time just to ask questions. Even for this blog post I had to supplement the family myths that are stored in my head with some online research. There is so much I just don't know.

I don't miss my dad the way most people miss their dads who have died. I barely knew the guy. I mean, I was 39 when he died, but he'd had alzheimers for about six or seven years and before that I was barely getting to know myself and how I even wanted to relate to him. My parents split up when I was about five so he was never a full time figure in my life. We knew each other well, but we weren't close. And now I want to just ask him questions about his life and I can't. I wish we could have been closer, I wish he could have been different in some ways. I wish I could have been different in some ways. I wish I wish I wish. I do know that my dad did the best he could with what he had.

Aloha Dad.

Word of the Day: Cafediem

2007-07-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

Urban Dictionary: cafediem

Caffeinate the day.

To ask someone if they want a coffee, say "cafediem?"

This is something that really resonates with me.

Hawaii vs. Texas

2007-07-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

So we cleaned out our emergency kit today and for fun and a laugh recycled our can of spam for dinner. (Turkey spam, not the original.)

Now, I ask you -- Who is from Hawaii and who is from Texas?!?!111

Describe and discuss the difference in side dishes and conidments.

Tour De France

2007-07-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

By no means do I consider myself an expert in the world of cycling. But thanks to Lance Armstrong, Kurt and I have been watching the tour every year for about five years now. It is always fascinating to watch the amount of pain these guys go through, then get up the next morning and do it again. They say it is the toughest race in the world and I can't really disagree. The race starts with 189 riders (all on teams) and every day, usually at least one rider has abandoned the race or has crashed and had to abandon. Yesterday was particularly sad as Michael Rogers and Stuart O'Grady had to bow out because of crashes and injuries.

There are still 12 stages (stage=day of racing, there are 21 days of racing, total) to go, so if you are curious, check out the tour on Versus if you get it. (Tivo is a great help when watching.) The scenery is gorgeous, especially now in the Alps.
(Copyright A.S.O. / Amaury Sport Organisation)(used without permission...)

The best part for us while watching is the commentary by Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, Phil Liggett in particular.

Nobody gets more excited than Phil and he has become famous (infamous?) for his great/wacky "Liggetisms" while waching and commenting. Some of our favorites are:
"He'll need to dig deep into his suitcase of courage."
or "He'll need to unpack his suitcase of courage" and "Let's hope he remembered to bring his suitcase of courage." (Oh wait, that was either me or Kurt riffing on this theme.)
"He's exploding off the back of the peloton!" (Because no one ever just slows down or falls behind.)
"The peloton is angry." (We sometimes feel the peloton is merely miffed or peeved.)
and our favorite that we heard the other day:
"These are the boys who refuse to say never say die."

It is a hell of a thing to watch. Check it out if you if you want some true reality drama. Just as a "for example" Vinokourov is riding with stitches in both knees and one elbow after a bad crash in stage 5 and he was (still is?) expected to be a contender for the yellow jersey in Paris. Unbelievable.

Summer Movie

2007-07-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

We went to see Transformers today.

Mindless summer popcorn movie: fun, silly, lots of hot bot action. Just what you want. But then, right when you are settled into the movie, it all goes wrong. All suspension of disbelief is blown:
The government agencies use Macs, even inside the Pentagon!

Dammit! I was having a good time laughing at, I mean, along with the movie and they have to go and ruin it.

Kurt summed it up nicely: It's no National Treasure.

RV Porn?

2007-07-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

Not long ago I wrote about a sweet little RV call the T@B, remember? It looked like this:

Now the same company has a bigger version called the T@DA (pronounced Tah Dah!) (Okay, that's goofy, but I don't mind.) And it looks like this:

Ooooh. Here's an inside photo:

I still like the original T@B best because it is SOOOOOOOO cute! (OMGPONIES!!!111, etc.)

Then on Boing Boing (I'm 99% sure it was Boing Boing) I read that Airstream has teamed up with Design Within Reach to create a signature series:

Um, totally adorable.
But even better is the inside:

Classy!

Airstream also has a tres tres moderne series:

Really, all of these are much nicer (not to mention larger) than many of the first apartments I ever lived in.

I love road trips but don't love cheap motels or actual camping. These mighty minis could just be the answer. LOVE them.

John Singer Sargent

2007-07-13T10:50:00.000-07:00

Last week on Metroblogging LA I asked Where Is Your Favorite Painting in LA? with my answer being Dr. Pozzi At Home by John Singer Sargent. (Dr. Pozzi lives at the Hammer Museum in Westwood.) That post got me thinking about Sargent and how much of his art I've been lucky enough to see.

I fell madly in love with John Singer Sargent's work about 12 years ago. I was in London in 1996 and went to the Tate and due to some major remodeling, saw only one small portrait there (Vernon Lee, 1881) but I wanted more.

Two years later, I was in NYC (for the premiere of Godzilla, of all things) for just a few days and knew there were Sargent paintings on temporary display at the The Metropolitan Museum of Art. After the movie premiere madness was over and the day before I was leaving city, I went to the Met and asked for the exact location of those paintings. "Oh, that section is closed today." Oh no. My flight left at 6pm the next day so I asked, "Will that section be open tomorrow?" "Yes." Okay, whew. Next morning, I called again to make sure, "Are the Sargents available to see?" "Yes." Yippee! I taxi'd over there (I wanted to say "step on it!" but held back.) and got to the info desk and asked for a direct route to the Sargents. "Oh no, that section is closed today." My mind screamed WHAT?! But I kept my outward composure and said, "Oh no no no no no no no, they said yesterday it would be open and I even called earlier to check and I leave tonight." The woman said, "Oh I'm so sorry." She paused then said, "Hang on." She made a phone call then hung up then turned back to me, writing on a slip of paper. "Go to the Egyptian Room and see the guard by the rear door of that section, he'll take you to the paintings." My eyes wide, I ran through the museum and found the guard. He looked at my paper and said, "Come with me." I followed him through gallery after empty gallery and then he pointed to a corner of a large room with natural light and there they were. He waited off to the side and I stood and admired Mr. Sargent's work. The funny thing is, I can't tell you which paintings I saw there, I was so overwhelmed. I took a few minutes and then turned back to the guard and said, "Thank you." He nodded then escorted me through some large storage areas (I wish I could have said, "Hang on! I want to look at all this stuff in here!") and back to the front. Thank you so much, Metropolitan Museum!

A year or so after that, there was a huge show of Sargent's work that was only showing in London, Washington DC and Boston. I couldn't pass it up. I decided that I would go to Boston for the weekend and see it all. My tickets were for the first group on a Saturday morning and I'm glad I chose that time as there were fewer people to contend with.

The paintings blew my mind. Took my breath away. Knocked me for a loop. I have to make up some new cliches for how it felt to look at these beautiful creations.

(Click on each image for a larger image and please remember that recreations of most paintings, as good as they may be, just don't do the original work justice.) Dr. Pozzi was there.

Paired with Madame X.

And Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose with its magical lantern light.

There were amazing water colors that I didn't even know about and I fell madly for the ones that depicted Venice. (Venice being one of my favorite places on earth.) I love that he chose to paint Venice from the non-tourist point of view. The Rialto is probably one of the most famous images associated with Venice but look how Sargent chose to paint it:

And this one of gondolas near Piazza San Marco:

Not so obvious.

By the way, have you ever tried paiting in water color? It's hard.

There were a few paintings done while Sargent was in North Africa that really made an impression on me:

In the last of the the many rooms of the exhibition was a large canvas (about 9' by 20') entitled "Gassed." (Click on this image to see it much larger -- so much detail to see.)

Sargent had been commissioned by the British War Memorials Committee to paint something large for the Hall of Remembrance. (The painting now lives in the Imperial War Museum in London.) He spent four months in France seeing the war close up and sketching. He returned to London to creat the final piece. It's a powerful statement on war. Notice the men it the far distance playing soccer.

After viewing the whole show, I walked back to Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose and sat on a bench there, just staring. An older woman sat down next to me and we began talking. Her daughters had given her a trip to Boston (from DC) for the weekend to see the show. What a beautiful gift. I am so glad I gave the same gift to myself.

I love Sargent's work because of it's straight forward nature. He's most famous for his portrait work and portraits can be so stiff and dull. But Sargent posed his subjects in not so traditional ways and somehow with his amazing technique brought them to life. Standing in front of the paintings, it seemed like if I touched the hem of a dress, I would be able to feel the velvet or silk of that dress, not oil and canvas. And most of the subjects feel like they are just about to step out of the image and continue a conversation you had started earlier. They are so alive.

If you get a chance to see paintings by John Singer Sargent, or any artist you love, do it. Go see the real things as often as you can.

Images from top to bottom:
Dr. Pozzi at Home (1881)
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

Madame X (1883-4)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885-6)
Tate Gallery, London

The Rialto (1909)
Private Collection

The Piazetta (1904)
Tate Gallery, London

Fumme d Ambre Gris (1880)
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass

Bedouins (1905)
The Brooklyn Museum, New York

Gassed (1918)
Imperial War Museum, London

(All images are either from the museum website where each painting lives or from the John Singer Sargent Virtual Gallery.)

Great T-Shirts

2007-07-13T09:50:00.000-07:00

I was catching up with Wil Wheaton's blog and he posted a really brilliant t-shirt which I also had to post here.

Love it! You can buy your very own at ThinkGeek. (The description of the shirt on their site is worth clicking over for.)

Also at ThinkGeek is this gem:

I plan to buy one of each.

I Hate Teaser Trailers

2007-07-12T17:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday before Harry Potter, we saw this teaser trailer:

And I am still watching it and laughing about the phone bit. And Duane Johnson? AND Alan Arkin?!?! Genius.

But dang it! Summer 2008!!

Vantage Point Trailer

2007-07-11T19:04:00.000-07:00

This is the movie I was working on in Mexico City last summer!

Higher res versions available on the quicktime site.

Tell me what you think, then I'll tell you what I think....

Potter

2007-07-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been holding it in until now. But we're going to see Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix at 3:30 in Westwood at the big ass theater. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111!!

All day, I have been having Potter on the brain because whenever I want to use an example, it's related to HP. My mom wrote back about the appliance porn and said, "you win" and what came to mind was "oh no, anytime you bring up Sub-Zero, you win. It's like catching the snitch." Seriously, I was going to write that to my mother. But I wrote it here instead.

Okay, there were more but now I can't recall. Clearly I need a remembrall.

I love being freelance!

Appliance Porn

2007-07-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

My mother and I are sending each other appliance porn.*
I started out with this from Surfa's Restaurant Supply:

She countered with this:

I am an amateur. I know when I've been schooled.

*Funny thing: when I googled "appliance porn" the second result listed was this blog with the VERY SAME model of fridge my mom sent me. Clearly, when we are talking appliance porn, we are talking Sub-Zero PRO 48.

Getting back down to earth, I will counter with this:

Not as hard core, but more along the lines of what our budget is (for now.)

Fresh Pavement

2007-07-11T11:38:00.001-07:00

There is a commuter park and ride lot behind a church in our neighborhood. Recently it got repaved:

Looking at that fresh, smooth, black pavement made me instantly wish I still had my roller skates. Nothing like virgin pavement for skating the hours away on a hot summer day. Remember when you heard about a street or a road or even someone's driveway being repaved and waiting waiting waiting for it to be done so you could have that perfect ride? Heaven.

Bunny is Fierce! (Speaking of Fierce)

2007-07-11T08:25:00.001-07:00

If you know Bunny, you know she's fierce. Don't let the name fool you. The Rabbit will F you up....with Super Cuteness!

I went to get more coffee and there she was, in the bedroom doorway.

Kurt is still in there sleeping and so The Bun had to be partially there and partially out in the rest of the house for some reason. Usually she's sleeping on his head at this time of the morning. But just looking at her, all cat-loafed out in the door, I was thinking -- best cat in the world! (as we cat (or any pet) lovers do.) Made me think of one of the best throw-away lines I've heard recently. We were watching Big Love the other day and Bill's mother (Played by Grace Zabriskie) was sitting in a chair at The Compound with a chicken in her lap and she says, "Best chicken in the world." Then her phone rings and the scene starts. Totally random and hilarious. We had to rewind and watch again.

Yesterday morning there were major squirrel territory wars going on in our backyard. It was quite amusing. I went on my morning constitutional and came back to see that things had settled down. The two victorious squirrels were relaxed and grooming:

And snacking:

Victory was acheived--I AM SQUIRRELTICUS!

I turned around and saw this:

Bunny wants to know whey she can't go out and be fierce with the squirrels.

Because Bunny, they would kick your tail-less ass!
(Bunny is a Rumpy Manx. No really, that is what they are called.)

Tiny Animals on Fingers

2007-07-11T08:01:00.000-07:00

There is a Flickr group out there called Tiny Animals on Fingers. There are some really sweet images. I haven't joined but I do have a photo that I took last year that would apply:

Click for a better view...

On the site there are many many photos of some very cute and funny little critters. For some reason, this one jumped out at me.

There is something just so adorable about mini versions of fierce things.
(This photo from essexjan on flickr.)

Reminded me of Frazgo's post about a hawk family in his trees and a baby hawk's first flight.

OOOOh. Look at that little guy! He wants to be so fierce! But not yet. Gotta figure out these dang wing things!

Speaking Of Words Of The Day

2007-07-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

Merriam-Webster has included the word "ginormous" in their update coming out this fall.

G-I-N-O-R-M-O-U-S

Pronunciation: \jī-ˈnȯr-məs\
Function: adjective
Etymology: gigantic + enormous
Date: circa 1948
Definition: extremely large : humongous

Dated from 1948!? Seriously? Where has it been hiding?

You Know Someone Is From Hawai'i If:

2007-07-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

(Got this from my stepmom -- thanks Diane!)

They have a separate circuit breaker for their rice cooker.

Only NOW they know that cilantro is the same as Chinese parsley.

They measure the water for the rice by the knuckle of their index finger.

They know which market sells poi on which days.

They know that Char Sung Hut is closed on Tuesday.

They can handle shoyu with green mango, li hing mui gummy bears, raw egg on hot rice, and pearl tea (carnation milk in hot
water with sugar) with creme crackers.

Their refrigerator has half-empty jar of mango chutney from the '95 Punahou Carnival.

The condiments at the table are shoyu, ketchup, chili peppah watah, and kimchee. Also, takuwan, Hawaiian salt, slice onion, and pickle onion.

They go to Maui and their luggage home includes potato chips, manju, cream puffs, and guri guri for omiyage.
(Kurt must have his malasadas from Home Maid Bakery.)

They think the four food groups are starch (rice), Spam, fried food, and fruit punch.

A balanced meal has three starches: rice, macaroni, and bread.

They know 101 ways to fix their rubber slippers -- 50 using tape, 50 using glue, and one using a stick to poke the strap back in.

They sometimes use their open car door for a dressing room.

They wear two different color slippers together and they don't mind.

Nice clothes means a T-shirt without puka.

They are barefoot in most of their elementary school pictures.

They have a slipper tan.

Their only suit is a bathing suit.

They drive barefoot.
(If I'm wearing slippers or other slip on shoes, they MUST come off to drive. I literally can't drive with them on.)

They have at least five Hawaiian bracelets.
(my bracelet got stolen last year. Bummah. )

They never ever, under any circumstances, wear socks with slippers, or an aloha shirt that matches their wife's muumuu.

They still call the Blaisedell Center the HIC and it's Sandy's, not Sandy Beach.

They say "I going go for lawnmower da grass" when they mean "I'm going to mow the lawn."

They can understand every word Bu Lai'a says and they know what his name means.

They have a sister, cousin, auntie, or mom named "Honey Girl" or.....

Someone in the family named Boy, Tita, Bruddah, Sonny, Bachan, Taitai, Popo, or Vovo.

They still chant "Hanaokolele" when a friend or co-worker goofs up.

They say "Shtraight," "Shtreet," and "Shtress."

They say "Da Kine" and the other person says "Da Kine" and they both know what is "Da Kine."

The "Shaka" and the "Stink Eye" are worth a thousand words.

They're shopping at Epcot Center at Disneyworld and they may say something to their sister and a complete stranger says, "You're from Hawai'i, aren't you?"

They feel guilty leaving a get-together without helping clean up.

The idea of taking something from a heiau is unthinkable.

They call everyone older than themselves "Aunty" or "Uncle" and they kiss everyone in greeting and farewell.

They let other cars ahead of them on the freeway and they give shaka to everyone who lets them in. (And get mad if someone they let in doesn't say thanks.)

Their philosophy is "Bumbai."

They would rather drag out the compressor and fill that leaking tire every single morning than have it fixed.

The only time they honk their horn is once a year during the safety check.

If a child needs a home, they give him one. She/He becomes "Hanai."

They can live and let live with a smile in their heart.
(Aloha spirit, brah.)

Their male best friend's name is either Wade, Max, Nathan, or Melvin.

Owns two types of slippers: da "good slippas" and da "buss-up/stay home slippas."

Does not understand the concept of North, South, East, and West, but instead gives directions as Mauka, Makai, Diamond Head, Ewa, and uses landmarks instead of street names.
(This is true and it drives Kurt a bit nuts. I've lived on the mainland for 22 years and it is still a hard thing to figure out!)

The first thing they look for in the Sunday paper is the Long's ad.

They take off their slippahs before going into the house.

You ask what year they grad and where they grad from, and then you say "eh you know so and so..."
(And for you haoles, this means high school.)

When it's done, they say "pau!"

Me In Mexico City Last Year

2007-07-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

Pantalla verde para efectos visuales.

It's been over a year since I started this blog. Thanks everyone!

Best Words of the Day

2007-07-09T17:02:00.000-07:00

Travis had a post about the Word Of The Day on Urban Dictionary and I had to riff on her riff after spending/wasting much time on the site. (Thank you Travis, it was a S L O W afternoon at work.)

Four that stood out are these--and please click through to read some of the "using the words in a sentence" examples:
LQTM = Laughing Quietly To Myself:
A more accurate representation of the human response to funny things seen on the interweb.

Decidership:
Other word for dictatorship.

Bluetool:
A person who wears a bluetooth wireless earpiece everywhere they go to seem trendy and important. Places to spot bluetools include movie theaters, malls, restaurants, gyms, grocery stores and cars.

Kraft Singles:
A Chicago slang term meaning dollar bills. Derived from another slang term that refers to money as cheese.

That last one reminded me of Slang Flashcards from Knock Knock. I don't have them with me to scan/upload/share but I did snag one from Knock Knock's site:

The examples are hilarious but not nearly as good as the graphics. Oh man. I highly recommend you buy some. "Cheddah" is a word I learned from these cards, so I knew exactly what Kraft Singles was referring to. I'm so street.