Friday, August 29, 2008

Emergency Supply Kit

No, I'm not talking about emergency supplies for a *real* emergency, like an earthquake or flood or something, though everyone should have something like this.

What I'm talking about, though, is something completely different. Something much more dorky, and something I will absolutely have once I have kids. I'm well on my way there now, although I really have no good reason to. Ladies and gentlemen, I am referring to an Emergency School Supplies Kit. Paper, pens, glue...all the things necessary to make sure last-minute school projects will be almost as awesome as projects we knew about weeks in advance. Plus, you always have supplies on hand if you want to just do an art project! Genius! My parents' house always had craft supplies, and I think it's just a good idea.

I currently have a wide array of pens and markers, a ream of printer paper (aka: paper for making birthday cards), a small paint set, and all the gift-wrapping supplies you could ask for (yes, I have a plastic container filled with various bows). I even have spare 2-pocket folders and 3-ring binders...all remnants of my over-preparedness in college I suppose. Oh, and (just like my mom) I have a place in my linen closet known as "the gift shelf" where I keep spare things such as soaps, lotions and picture frames that could be used for last-minute "oh crap, I forgot that co-worker's birthday" or "I just need one more little thing to throw in with this gift" type presents. Secret's out folks...the gift shelf is a thing to behold.

Anyway, I am not at all ashamed of my mom-like collection. I like being prepared, and this stuff comes in handy all the time. It's great, and I highly recommend it if you have the space and the desire to be a total nerd.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

L'Adrienne

My wonderful friend Adrienne is spending the year in Lyon, France, studying literature and soaking up the culture (granted, she spent her childhood in France...doesn't that sound so posh?). Oh, and did I mention she and her fiance are getting married while she's there?

Like any modern woman, she is also blogging and posting pictures online (all photos in this entry are hers), which of course serves not only to document her trip, but to make us all jealous. I loved the 3 or so days I spent in Paris...even though that was over three years ago, I still think about it and remember how much I just loved it. The beautiful buildings and lovely cafes...the cobblestoney streets and just listening to the French speak...I just remember feeling like everything around me was beautiful.

I was only in Paris, and some day I want to go back to France and spend some time in the South, but I just have such lovely memories of it all. I remember stepping off the train and seeing my first whitewashed building with wrought iron window boxes filled with red flowers and just falling in love.

I'm not saying I'd want to live there...that would just be crazy - I've only spent a few days in one city, I don't speak the language well, and, well...I'm not moving to France. But I absolutely want to go back to visit. Perhaps I will save up my money, the dollar will stop being so weak, and I will be able to afford it next year. Perhaps not. Either way, a girl can dream.

And until then, I'll just keep living vicariously through Adrienne...

Ballet Body

On Tuesday night, I took a class called Ballet Body at my friend Laura's gym. It was part ballet class, part pilates, and was actually pretty good. I was nervous at first, since it's been about 5 years since I took classes regularly, but it was a gentle class, and the instructor was very nice (he even said I can come back as his guest - aka for free - any time!). I probably won't be going every week, since it's all the way out in the Marina (it took me an hour plus to get home, and the class itself is only an hour long!), but it's something I'll probably do a few times a month (Laura - time for a sleepover!).

I don't so much care about getting the "ballet body," although I certainly wouldn't mind, but I really liked getting back into the ballet movements. It felt really good to port de bras and pique turn, even though I did get dizzier than I'd like to admin. Ah, these things were so much easier 5 years ago! :-) And it was fun putting on my leotard and tights -- but my leotard somehow does not offer as much support now as it did then (go figure), and I had to pull the old sports bra-under-the-leotard trick. Oh well.

There are a few beginning/intermediate adult classes at Berkeley Ballet that I'd like to try as well, though those aren't free, and will probably be more difficult. Maybe I'll start out with one and see how it goes...

Anyway, that was Tuesday night. I woke up on Wednesday morning feeling a little bit more sore than I would have liked, and wondered how the heck I was going to make it to Pilates at noon. BUT, I made it. I forced myself to go, and it was a good decision. While I can hardly move today (no really -- it was painful to bend down to put on my shoes), it's a good feeling. I never used to get this sore when I was dancing regularly, and I'm looking forward to building myself back up to a place where *real* workouts (as opposed to plugging away unenthusiastically on the elliptical) don't hurt so badly the next day.

Hooray for ballet!

(PS - lots of parenthesis in this post. sorry.)

Monday, August 25, 2008

She knows me so well...

My friend Laura sent me this card from someecards.com today...She knows me so well.


PS - I promise...meatier post to come.

Google Docs in Education

I tried to post this directly from YouTube over a week ago, and apparently it didn't work. Sorry to just post another video (Mom commented that my blog is getting "boring" -- I'll be writing more substantial posts soon, I swear!), but I thought this was nice...and especially for those of you who are teachers or students, it's good stuff!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Rainn Wilson = funnyman

As I've mentioned before (though maybe not, since I can't find where), Rainn Wilson is doing a semi-hilarious promo for his new movie, The Rocker, which involves the pretend kidnapping of Jenna Fisher. This video was up on the site recently, and while it is not part of the Jenna story, it's pretty great. Backstage footage of people sucking up (mostly) to Rainn. Makes me want to see the movie, because I hadn't realized how many awesome people are in it.

Untitled. Take That, Internets!

Wow. It's been almost a week since my last post. Sorry 'bout that. It's been busy at work. And at life. Mostly because I've been obsessed with the Olympics and have been barely making it through each day, what with the lack of sleep and all. I hate to say it (no I don't), but I'm kind of glad the craziness is almost over. I didn't watch anything last night, and while I wish I could have seen Misty May and Kerri Walsh win the gold, it was really nice to just relax on the couch -- even though I didn't go to bed until almost midnight (damn these messed up sleeping patterns and Chelsea Lately!), passive TV-watching alone was a little less intense than the usual craziness of watching the Olympics with The Boy and his roommates.

In other news, I just saw this Obama commercial on this website. I really like it.

Friday, August 15, 2008

They're just so good.

Jessica Freedman- Habanera

My friend Jessica is an outstanding singer. I think this was for a class assignment where she was told to "create something inspired by opera."

She's so good.

FaceBook In Reality - idiotsofants.com and BBC'sThe Wall

so funny. love it.

Sara on Tour Again

This girl just doesn't sit still anymore! I just received an email from her mailing list (yes, I'm on the mailing list) about her upcoming (HEADLINING!!!) tour...and she's just barely started her tour with Counting Crows/Maroon 5! I remember when she toured with Marc Broussard...but I'm pretty sure she opened for him last time. Crazy world we live in.

In case you're interested, here's the blurb from the mailing list email.

SARA BAREILLES ANNOUNCES FALL HEADLINING TOUR WITH SPECIAL GUESTS MARC BROUSSARD AND RAINING JANE

TICKETS ON SALE BEGINNING AUGUST 9!

Hot off the heels of the incredible success of her first ever headlining tour, songstress Sara Bareilles announces that she will head back out on the road this Fall for a second set of headlining dates in support of LITTLE VOICE, her Gold certified debut album for Epic Records featuring one of the biggest hit songs in the country, "Love Song" and its follow up single, "Bottle It Up." The tour will officially kick off on October 9th at Spreckels in San Diego, and will cover 20 major cities across America, wrapping on November 7th in Atlantic City, NJ. Sara is currently on the road for a string of dates throughout July and August with Maroon 5 and Counting Crows. Joining Sara on tour this fall will be singer/songwriter Marc Broussard the eclectic rock-folk band, Raining Jane.

Visit www.sarabmusic.com this morning for a personal message from Sara about the upcoming tour and a brand new video blog.


Funny Friends: The Hoosegow

Phil, Myles, and friends perform The Hoosegow - a 1920's inspired song about dancing in prison. Such fun!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer

omigod omigod omigod omigod

I cannot wait.

Conan O'Brien - ''Pilobolus''

I haven't posted a "real" blog in a while, and for that I do apologize. Hopefully, you will all enjoy this video though, and know that I will write something for real this week...unless things suddenly get as crazy as they have been the last few weeks!

More later...

Jeez, Olympics. Can't a girl get some sleep?

The Olympics has seriously been messing with my sleep schedule. They don't start until 8pm, which means they're usually not over until midnight. Last night, they weren't over till 1:30. AM. That leaves us with a measly 5.5 hours of sleep before heading off to work. Dear lord, are we crazy?

Yes.

But.

It was worth it (I think).

Of course, they show the best stuff last, spending the first hour or so of coverage on semi-finals of indoor men's volleyball, and pre-qualifying rounds of swimming that doesn't involve Michael Phelps. They want you to stick around until the end, when it's the all-around women's gymnastics, and when Phelps has a chance to win yet another gold (PS - you'd think we would be sick of Phelps winning by now, but no. Can't. Stop. Watching. He's even tricking us now...trying to make it look like he might not win and then pulling a full body length ahead in the last few meters of the swim. What a tease.).

It was fun to watch our awesome athletes do what they do...and you better believe I'll be watching again tonight -- thank god I can sleep tomorrow morning though. These late-night Olympic viewing marathons (um, we watched 6.5 hours of Olympics last night!!!) are
taking a toll on this working woman and her working man.

Someone suggested TiVo'ing the competition and watching it when I get home from work, or even over the weekend. Um, clearly this person is not a true Olympics Obsessor. Here's what's wrong with that philosophy:
  1. It is hard enough to avoid all media outlets while you're watching it "live" - all the media posts *actual* realtime results, and stupid California TV puts us several hours behind the news to begin with. I can't imagine avoiding all the news, not to mention the people talking about it, for another 24+ hours until I get home to my TiVo. Which brings me to
  2. If you don't watch it the night it's on, you can't talk about it the next day. Part of the fun and excitement is getting to talk about it with everyone who watched it, and get geared up for what's going to be on next!
  3. There's something exciting and fun, albeit exhausting and painful, about watching it in semi-realtime. We know we're not seeing it *live*, but still...watching it without knowing the results is pretty damn exciting! I felt like a total outsider not having watched the Opening Ceremony live (I was on an airplane). I'm watching it online now, and it's really cool...but now nobody wants to talk about it. It's sort of isolating, and makes you feel like a total latecomer to the club. The Olympics are supposed to bring people together, and you just can't feel the same camaraderie while watching it alone on your TiVo after everyone else has already seen it. At least I can't.

Anyway, back to work. I can barely keep my eyes open, and I may need a nap before tonight's competitions...and boy, will I sleep well tomorrow morning!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Legal Land

I saw this video posted on Not Martha, and it's too fun not to share! Watch the video, and then click here to vote for the guy who created it -- if he wins, he'll get $10,000 for law school!

Olympic Drama

Even though I haven't watched the Opening Ceremony yet (but will watch it here soon), I've been hearing so much drama that I thought I'd post.



DRAMA!
  • The little girl who sang "Ode to the Motherland" was actually lip-synching, and it wasn't even her voice being dubbed! Some government officials decided it would be better for the country's image to have a cute girl singing, and the girl with the best voice was not the cutest girl. I guess it's less of a musical performance and more performance art, or a theatrical-acting type thing...or maybe that just makes it sound less sad for the poor girl who wasn't attractive enough to be featured. At least they both get credit. Full story here.
  • Someone sent this article around at work today, and I'm not sure that he knew it was a joke.
  • Apparently you could see a blue screen projected at some points during the Opening Ceremony...technical difficulties?
  • There's a big to-do about the fact that the fireworks display was actually CGI and not *actual* fireworks. Drama Drama! NBC responded to the "fakery accusations" in this article. I don't know, the excuse of "it's always faked a little" seems to be happening a lot (they said Pavorotti "faked" his singing years ago because of the cold weather). Excuses, excuses. Whatever. I'm sure it looked cool, and they were honest (albeit not totally explicit) about it.

More Phelps tonight...can't wait. I've been avoiding all the sports broadcasting websites so I won't find out results beforehand...not that I really care that much. But geez, that Phelps is ridiculous. Last night, in the qualifying round (not even a *real* competition), he was totally hanging back, looking like he was going to save his energy and just swim hard enough to place - he was at least a half-body length behind, in 2nd or 3rd place. Until the fourth and final lap, when he shot forward and beat everyone else by an entire body length. What the heck, man? He's a machine!

Getting Stuff For Free

I am pretty good at getting things for free, complaining my way to discounted meals, discounted clothing, or complimentary hotel upgrades for my managers, but my mom is the champ. Seriously, I don't know how she does it.

Proof of her skills? My Southwest flight to Berkeley after visiting my family this past weekend was delayed by an hour. I was annoyed, but not really peeved enough to make the call to customer service. I think I need to be really, truly pissed off to make that call. She said to just call them and tell customer service that you want to be compensated for the inconvenience. I reluctantly said ok; it was worth a shot, as I've got some traveling coming up soon and it would be nice to get a free flight. However, after many days of fighting with Comcast, I think I'm just feeling defeated or something. I called customer service and accepted their "Sorry, for a 1 hour delay due to weather, there's nothing we can do." I thanked them for their time, and hung up the phone. Loser!

My mom, upon hearing this, decided she would take matters into her own hands and call them herself. She called - without my flight information or anything - and got them to email me a $50 credit to be used towards future travel. I haven't gotten it yet, but I bet if I don't, she'll make them double it.

Thanks, mom.

This is pretty silly.

Models from Deal or No Deal doing a parody of The Office. It's pretty silly, but I kinda liked it. Silly models.

Dead. On.

This is pretty hilarious. James Franco and Mila Kunis reenacting a scene from The Hills - with actual dialogue from the show. Wow.

See more James Franco videos at Funny or Die

Monday, August 11, 2008

Caaaarol!

So, a few weeks ago I went to an event for Art and Artifice, a fantastic exhibit at the Museum of Performance and Design, featuring costumes and designs from the last 75 years at the SF Ballet. Really cool.

They were advertising an upcoming exhibit called "Hello, Carol!" - a celebration of Carol Channing. I thought it looked pretty fun, and then I saw the Best Thing Ever. I can't describe it any better than the description online, so here you go:

HELLO, CAROL! A Celebration of Carol Channing

This one night only concert Thursday, September 25, 7:30 p.m. at the Herbst Theatre features Carol Channing plus special guests Carole Cook, Rita Moreno and others in an evening of song, accompanied by the 65-piece California Pops Orchestra (Kim Venaas, Musical Director).

Tickets are $30 to $65. $125 front orchestra
VIP tickets include an exclusive reception immediately following the concert upstairs at the Museum of Performance & Design.

The post-concert reception also offers a special sneak preview of the Museum’s retrospective exhibition "Hello Carol! A Celebration of Carol Channing" which opens Sept. 26 and runs through March 14. On view will be such treasures as the iconic red dress from the original 1964 "Hello, Dolly!", outfits by costumer Bob Mackie, video and audio clips, posters, programs, original drawings by the great Al Hirschfeld and Miss Channing's Tony and Golden Globe awards.

Proceeds from the concert benefit the Dr. Carol Channing & Harry Kullijian Foundation for the Arts, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving arts education in California schools.

For more information, please call 415-255-4800 or visit www.mpdsf.org.


She is kind of amazing. I am kind of way excited about this. Oh, and I'm going with my friend Andrea, who I used to do theatre with in high school. this is going to be unbelievable.


PS - I bought Special Edition 2-Disc DVD sets of both Singin' in the Rain and Meet Me In St. Louis at Costco today. Price? $8.99 each. Even though I own Singin' in the Rain on VHS already, this was totally worth it.

PPS - My email (both corporate and personal) has been down for almost an hour, leaving me unable to do about 99% of the work I normally do. Hooray.



See Your Next Car!

My dad and a friend recently opened their own car dealership in Long Beach, CA called Your Next Car. He's been wanting to be his own boss for as long as I can remember (who doesn't, though, really), and it's pretty cool that he was finally able to make it happen.

They've got great cars on the lot, and the location is lovely, so if you're in the Long Beach area and are in the market for a new car, check them out!

Olympic Mania!


I've never really been into the swimming events of the Olympic Games, but last night's relay was AWESOME. USA beat France by 0.08 of a second, and Michael Phelps is 2 medals away from being the Best Olympic Athlete Ever. Seriously.

And the drama surrounding lovely French swimmer Laure Manaudou added some emotional connection to the events as well. Tres scandaleux!

I like this little picture -- Google is doing a different doodle for each day of the Olympics -- the little diving piggy is just adorable! :-)

Friday, August 8, 2008

Paris Hilton - I know I'm way behind

See more funny videos at Funny or Die


I know I'm way behind the times on this, but Rachel just showed this to me. Loves it.

Jessica is Awesome



I've been trying to share this by posting directly from YouTube, but it doesn't seem to be working, so I'll just embed it here.

She is so talented, I don't know what to do. From what I've read, this was a vocal jazz class assignment to create something inspired by opera.

Awesome.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Cal Women's Huddle - the Roundtable

I participated in an awesome event known as the Cal Women's Huddle on Friday night, and the women in my group and I wrote up a hilarious (if I do say so myself) recap of the event. It's posted on the California Golden Blogs (the blog that The Boy and many of the boyfriends/husbands of the women in my group write for). Check it out by clicking here!

fun with football players!

Oh yes, so cool.

You may or may not have noticed, depending on the city you live in and how often you use Street View, but many Street View images have been recently updated.

A few months ago, the Street View team updated the images around the Google campus in Mountain View...and we got to be in the pictures! Check it out below :-)


View Larger Map

Driving Directions: New Instructional Video

Check out the (latest and greatest) instructional video from the Google Maps team. I got to help write the script and even contribute to the directing a bit...it's actually quite informative, and I think it's somewhat entertaining as well (and that's a real, live, Google Maps engineer doing all the talking too!) ;-)



PS - When I first posted this, it was auto-playing, which I thought was pretty annoying. I don't like when you go to a website and instantly there's sound or music or something (especially if I'm going to said website while at work, and I don't have the headphones plugged in). I decided to investigate to see if I could fix it...and lo and behold: there was something in the code that said "autoplay=1"!!! Laura, one of my awesome engineers, showed me that by changing it to "autoplay=0" the video would no longer automatically play! Hooray for engineers! I totally learned something about coding today!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Sara on Tour Again...

This girl just doesn't sit still anymore! I just received an email from her mailing list (yes, I'm on the mailing list) about her upcoming (HEADLINING!!!) tour...and she's just barely started her tour with Counting Crows/Maroon 5! I remember when she toured with Marc Broussard...but I'm pretty sure she opened for him last time. Crazy world we live in.

In case you're interested, here's the blurb from the mailing list email.

SARA BAREILLES ANNOUNCES FALL HEADLINING TOUR WITH SPECIAL GUESTS MARC BROUSSARD AND RAINING JANE

TICKETS ON SALE BEGINNING AUGUST 9!


Hot off the heels of the incredible success of her first ever headlining tour, songstress Sara Bareilles announces that she will head back out on the road this Fall for a second set of headlining dates in support of LITTLE VOICE, her Gold certified debut album for Epic Records featuring one of the biggest hit songs in the country, "Love Song" and its follow up single, "Bottle It Up." The tour will officially kick off on October 9th at Spreckels in San Diego, and will cover 20 major cities across America, wrapping on November 7th in Atlantic City, NJ. Sara is currently on the road for a string of dates throughout July and August with Maroon 5 and Counting Crows. Joining Sara on tour this fall will be singer/songwriter Marc Broussard the eclectic rock-folk band, Raining Jane.

Visit www.sarabmusic.com this morning for a personal message from Sara about the upcoming tour and a brand new video blog.



Saturday, August 2, 2008

Chicken "Parmishan"

Ha. Ha. I am so clever. This is my variation on Chicken Parmesan, also a variation on this recipe (mostly because that recipe uses the word "plonk").

What you need:
  • 1 chicken breast per person (frozen is fine, with rib meat is fine, whatever. if it's frozen, you'll have to thaw it in the microwave first)
  • some spinach (a few handfuls, enough to fill the bottom of your baking dish...speaking of which...)
  • a baking dish. mine is square, because I felt like using a square one. I think it's 9x9. It might be 8x8. I have no idea.
  • marinara sauce of some sort (I had about 1/2 a jar leftover in the fridge, and it was enough)
  • herbs of your choice (I used fresh rosemary, basil, oregano and lemon verbena. dried herbs would be ok too if you don't have fresh.)
  • cheese. cheese. cheese. (I used cheddar, parmesan and mozzarella. erm, string cheese.)
  • balsamic and olive oil, just a swirl or two of each. my olive oil has lemon in it. yours doesn't have to. you could actually skip the olive oil - it ended up having a little too much oil in the dish still after baking.
  • tomatoes - I used cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
  • tin foil

How you do it:
  • pre-heat your oven to 375F
  • put your chicken in the microwave to thaw (unless you thought ahead to put it in the fridge before you left for work. I did not. thus, microwave.). Your micro probably has a defrost setting - mine is fancypants and has a defrost-poultry button. I just pushed it, and it defrosted for about 13 minutes, slightly cooking the edges. I'm ok with that.
  • while chicken is thawing, prepare the baking dish
    • put spinach in
    • put a few spoonfuls of sauce on spinach
    • swirl/drizzle balsamic and oil
    • put herbs in (not basil)
    • use spoon to swoosh it all around until it's mixed pretty well
  • put cheddar cheese on top of spinach/saucy mix.
  • put chicken on top of cheese.
  • put cut tomatoes around the chicken
  • put bits of mozzarella on top of chicken (I used both string cheesy strips and little discs that I sliced. because I'm fancy.)
  • sprinkle lots of parmesan on top of that
  • more mozzarella over it all
  • cut basil into cute little strips if you want to be pretty about it, or just cut it into small bits. whatever. it's your meal. put the basil on top of it all.
  • cover dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes
  • take foil off and bake for another 15 minutes
  • let it sit for 5 minutes (don't burn yourself!), and then eat!
fresh out of the oven...mmmmm

I served with Trader Joe's eggplant cutlets (above) and some homemade garlic toast (secret family recipe).
Delicious!

Friday, August 1, 2008

Al Gore

So, I think it's funny that both Dooce and Crazy Aunt Purl reference Al Gore inventing the internet (Crazy Aunt Purl has many more references than that one post, but I only felt it necessary to link to one. And then to explain myself, apparently.).

I thought it was just a Crazy Aunt Purl thing, but when Dooce mentioned it recently, I felt I needed to do a bit of research. Was there some whole "Al Gore Invented The Internet" movement of which I was unaware?

Apparently so.