Friday, February 29, 2008

Please Talk to Kids About Aids

I finally got a chance to watch this video tonight, and I strongly encourage you to do the same. A lot of the comments on the website are from people who are against the idea that young children should be educated about AIDS because then young children learn about sex and drugs. I completely disagree. While I don't know that I would attempt to teach my 4 year old about it, my feeling is that by the time kids are in school, they're hearing about this stuff anyway. You can't protect your children forever, so you might as well provide them with accurate information. Some day, when I have children, I want to be able to answer their questions, from the inevitable "Where do babies come from?" to questions like "Will I get AIDS if someone sneezes on me?" I think it's really important to answer children's questions honestly and to never assume that they're too young to handle the true answers to their questions. On the flip side, how do you decide when to bring it up yourself, and when to wait for them to ask you? My hope is that I'll be able to create an open enough familial relationship so that my children will want to ask...but that's probably not too realistic. It's a tough call: when is the right age to talk to your children about serious issues? In today's world, I don't think you can wait until they (or their peers) are already experimenting.

And that's my little soapbox spiel.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

I love this restaurant. I wrote about the deliciousness that is In-N-Out this morning, in fact, when an email thread was going around at work with people discussing various burger joints (someone mentioned they had never tried it, even though it's right down the street from our offices!).

Today, I had to go to Costco for work. In-N-Out is directly across the street from Costco. Having been thinking about it all morning, and being able to smell it (driving with the windows down, ahhh the temptation of Spring), I could not resist. I pulled in and spent roughly $5 (the first time I've paid for lunch since working at Google!) on a cheeseburger (animal style), fries (with sides of sauce), a chocolate shake, and a side of pickles. I felt like I was being so rebellious, not eating my usual salad. I was in control, the wind was blowing through my hair as I listened to jazz while I drove the approximately 2 miles back to campus. I felt good.

And then I ate.

And ate.


And ate.

I haven't eaten this much "bad food" in a long time, and my body is not pleased. For the last 3 hours, I've been feeling rather greasy. That's the best way I can describe it. My insides feel greasy. My fingers feel greasy (and I washed my hands). My mouth feels greasy, and no amount of cold water is cutting it. I feel like I need to cleanse, and detox, and take a hot shower and gargle mouthwash. And floss.

In-N-Out is not supposed to make me feel this way! I'm used to the post-burger food-coma; I mean, that was one of the lovely things about eating it in college. After you eat it, you feel so...satisfied.

But alas, I am not feeling satisfied. I guess I'm just so used to spinach and lean meats and veggies that my body is confused. And I feel a headache coming on. What the heck, body? You used to love this stuff! I am feeling bloated and tired and I am questioning my belief in "quality you can taste." I mean, it tasted VERY good. But now? I just want to sleep.

Clearing out my Tabs

I have too many tabs open in my web browser right now, all things I've read recently that I wanted to share. So I'm sharing them now, in the spirit of cleansing.
  1. I am not ashamed to admit that I teared up a little reading this story about a rescued Iraqi dog. Thanks, dooce, for leading me to the story.
  2. Thank the lord for Stuff White People Like. This thing cracks me up, and so often I find myself thinking "so true, so true" while reading it. AND I just found out that my friend Michael is friends with the guy who started it! I am SO COOL. Do white people like being a friend of a friend of a sort of famous person? I bet they do. Also, here is an article about it.
  3. This film sounds really interesting. It's seems to be about sex and AIDS and how/when to educate children on the subjects. Apparently you can watch or download it online for free or order a copy of the DVD for $5.99 here. It's only 26 minutes long; I think I'll watch it on the way home tonight.
  4. Sara is a celebrity blogger! Weird. Cool, but weird.

Monday, February 25, 2008

I Love Getting Mail

I love getting mail. Letters, postcards, magazines, even catalogues from stores I probably won't shop at. The only think I hate getting is other people's mail, because honestly, who wants to get mail that was meant for someone else? You can't open it, you feel kinda guilty about throwing it away...I usually end up just leaving it out for the mailman. I've stopped writing "not at this address" on the envelope. It happens so often that the mailman has started to get it without my little notes. But does this mean he'll stop bringing me mail that goes to people that used to live at my apartment? NO. He'll take away Justin's mail when I leave it sticking out of the mailbox, but for some reason, he still thinks that I want to receive it. Note to USPS: Justin no longer lives here. Neither do Estelle, Nundubu, or the variety of other people whose mail you put in my box every day.

But I digress. I do love getting mail. Especially packages. I love getting packages so much that I send things to myself at work. I recently had about $50 in Amazon.com gift certificates, and I spent almost all of it on the following: Harry Potter, book 1 (the only one I didn't have), Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (starring the lovely Lesley Ann Warren*), the entire series of planet earth (for under $20!!!), and Babes in Toyland (which has yet to arrive). Hells yes. I had almost forgotten about them (ha. yeah right.), but all three of the aforementioned packages arrived today (in separate packages, which means opening more "presents" - so fun!). Perfect for a day when I think I might be coming down with the cold/flu/thing that has been going around. It totally lifted my spirits. Does that make me shallow/superficial/a capitalist? I don't know. I don't really care. I am feeling happier.

Mom, I know you read this blog. Please send Bubbies. I have not found them at my local grocery stores, and I crave them. Ladies and Gentlemen who read this blog, if you enjoy pickles, and have never had one, click that link and find yourself some Bubbies. They are amazing.

*note: I just realized that maybe Ann Warren, an actress I knew in college, was named after Lesley Ann Warren. One can hope, right? Cause that would be cool.

This Just Made My Day

Friday, February 22, 2008

Baby Humor

For your Friday Humor Needs, please check out this website, courtesy of dooce. Some of my favorites below:

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Dark Clouds, High Wind

When the sky is blue, and dark storm clouds suddenly begin to blow quickly across the sky, I get an odd feeling that something is about to happen. Maybe I've seen too many movies about witches, but this evening, I found myself standing alone, waiting for the shuttle, watching the dark, heavy clouds whisk horizontally past me, the cold breeze making me just cold enough to feel alive, and I felt very, very powerful.

Yeah, too many witch movies.

Two Cool Things


Library built into a staircase


Compost-machine that plugs into a regular outlet and can be installed in a cabinet.
I kind of want one. Maybe then I'd compost more.

That is all.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Babies on Parade

In the spirit of posting lots of videos today...here's a hilarious video, courtesy of Andy.

Oh. My. God.

This trailer just gave me the chills. I am so excited, I can't even tell you. Who wants to see this with me? Seriously, I haven't been this excited about a movie in a LONG time.

Pickles? Really?

I must give thanks to Nick's girlfriend for posting this video on his facebook wall. I can't believe someone is afraid of one of the greatest culinary creations in the universe.

Where have I been?

I just realized that I haven't blogged since Valentine's Day, and that was a while ago. My V-Day included a really yummy box of hand-picked chocolates (all dark, some with nuts, some with pomegranate, pretzels, marshmallow...all yummy). The Boy knows me, what can I say? I hope your V-Days were everything you hoped they would be...and more.

Speaking of everything you hoped it would be...and more...I saw 27 Dresses this weekend. I was visiting the lovely Reed in Colorado, and we got some girls together to totally girl-out at a chick flick. I hardly EVER do this, and boy is it fun. There's something so guilty-pleasure-satisfying about a totally predictable, rom-com (as Chrissie calls it). Cute guys, pretty clothes, witty banter, what's not to love? It's so formulaic, down to the sarcastic best girl friend and the puppy-eyed cute boy who the ingenue/sassy heroine fights with but eventually realizes she's in love with. But I love it. And this movie hit the spot. Especially with appearances by Jan from The Office and Kitty from Arrested Development (ok, I know Judy Greer is in a ton of movies and things, and she's fabulous in them all, but she's probably best known in "this crowd" from AD). [note: spoiler - if you can have a spoiler in a rom-com - quote from the wedding at the end of the movie..."Is this day everything you dreamed it would be?" "No. It's more." eeeewww aaaawwwwww cheeseball!]

Anyway, highlights from this weekend include:


dorking out at the Boulder, CO office


margarita (only needed one!) at this mexican restaurant whose name i've forgotten


aaaaand I MADE THIS HAT!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Valentine's History, Courtesy of Sara's Website. Valentine's Thoughts, Courtesy of Me.

I don't have much to say about Valentine's Day...I'm not a huge fan of it (though you wouldn't be able to tell by the way I super-decked-out the meeting room for the meeting I helped to plan...or by the way I decorated my cube. I think I just like decorating.). I mean, in my day-to-day life, I try to have flowers and chocolate around at all times, so what makes Valentine's Day special? And why is TODAY the day when you show others how much you love them? I try to tell people I love them whenever the thought pops into my head (which usually leads The Boy to respond with, "What did I do?"). So again...why is this day different from all other days?

I don't really know.

Because our significant others should feel compelled to get us a little gift? Because we wear pink and red? I don't know.

Sara journaled a funny little thing about V-Day that I thought I'd share. It's a little different, and a lot fun. Enjoy.

Almost V Day Wow. Do NOT go look up St. Valentine. There's a whole mess of facts and people and disjointed stories that I can't make sense of. Booooooring.
I will admit that I don't know the story of St. Valentine but i THOUGHT that I did. And what I thought i knew as fact was kind of a nice little story. So, i'll go ahead and disseminate false truth as long as you agree to remember that I'm kind of making this up from a half memory that I thought I heard on the History Channel. :)


St. Valentine's Day: by Sara Bareilles (and the history channel of my mind)

once upon a time there was terrible unrest in a faraway land. (History Channel ALWAYS talks about faraway lands.) A tyrannical King was being an a**hole and told everybody that they couldn't get married anymore. (he might have said something like, "I decree that there will be no more marriages until.....blah blah blah.") I don't know what he was so pissed off about. But he said he would kill any priest who married people, and the people who tried to get married. Sucks for them.
Among those people was one (ta-daaaah!) ST. VALENTINE. Who decided that in the name of love he would continue to marry people and uphold the value of two souls finding each other. And so he did. And then everyone in the kingdom was happy again and the King ran away and a good kind Queen took over. Yay for that.

the end.

*this is completely made-up. get over it.

Happy Day of Loving.

Oh, and PS - WHY do some people pronounce it "Valentime's" Day? That makes no sense. It's spelled with an "n," not an "m," people!

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Tax Time, Grown-Up Style

So...taxes. We all have to pay them, and finally, this year, 2008, I will be filing my own taxes as a Grown-Up. As someone with an official Big Girl Job and a Big Girl Paycheck (relatively speaking, anyway), I am no longer being claimed as a dependent by my parents. I didn't want to be, and I don't think that technically, I can be, though I can't honestly say that I understand how that all works. That's how I feel about this whole tax situation in general...but I am determined to figure it out. Big Girl Style. This means that I will not be using an accountant - in the past, I just turned in my W-2 forms to my parents who would take them to their accountant. My finances are pretty straightforward (I don't have any dependents or property, I don't own a business, etc.), and plenty of people my age do their own taxes sans-accountant, so I don't see why I shouldn't be able to just do it.

Obviously, taxes aren't due for another ~2 months, but I've always been one to start early, plan ahead, and try to learn as much as possible before making a move. SuperAnalysisKim to the rescue!

In case you're wondering why I am blogging about this, I've decided to document this process for a few reasons:
  1. Documenting/journaling usually helps me to feel more focused and determined. If I am chronicling something for all the world (or 8 loyal readers) to see, I'm more likely to stay on top of it.
  2. It will make it more fun. I enjoy writing, and I think that writing about this process will make it more enjoyable. I'm hoping it will help me to think of it as an exciting challenge rather than as a frustrating experience...or at the very least, I can vent my frustrations somewhere in a creative way.
  3. Maybe some of you readers out there are also filing your own taxes for the first time and will enjoy commiserating or celebrating with me. Maybe you'll have some tips or advice. Who knows?
  4. This blog is called Kim's Kitchen Sink, and in case you've never read my blog before, I basically write about whatever I feel like writing, whenever I feel like writing it. And that's how that works.

Anyway. My first question was...where to begin? I did a simple google search for "how to file taxes" and went to this page, the second on the list of results (directly under the IRS homepage). After reading the super-simple, fully-approachable outline of how the process works, I decided to brave the IRS homepage, which turned out to be way less scary than I had imagined it to be. Thanks, government. It was totally unexpected of you, but it is totally appreciated.

On the aforementioned IRS homepage was this link to something called Free File. I haven't heard anything about it on any of the personal finance blogs I read, but it seems like just the ticket. However, the skeptic in me says it seems too easy. You can only use the service if your gross adjusted income is under $54,000, which mine definitely is, so maybe that's the catch? I don't know. Has anyone out there in the internet-universe used it? Is it as straightforward/easy/fast/free as it looks?

Any thoughts you out there have are more than welcome.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Gorilla Art

I have always loved Koko. I have very fond memories of reading the Koko and the Kitten book when I was little, and I've always thought her story was beautiful inspiring. It's so neat to me that she learned sign language and is able to communicate with humans -- so rad!

Anyway, I just found out about Gorilla Art. Koko and her late partner, Michael, painted pictures and named them themselves (using sign language to communicate the titles of the paintings). I just think this is unbelievably interesting, and really really cool. Proceeds from art sales go towards the Gorilla Foundation, which helps to protect the endangered gorillas like Koko.


This picture is titled Love.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Why am I So Weird?

The backstory: Next week, Mon-Wed, I am going on a company "team building" trip to Disneyland. I won't mention all the details because it's not nice to brag, but suffice it to say that I am getting paid to go to Disneyland.

The story: I forgot to print out my flight/hotel/itinerary information at work today. My printer at home didn't work the last time I tried to use it, so it looks like I'll be copying the necessary information down, by hand. Do you know why I'm weird yet? You must not know me very well. I am weird because I am actually very excited about doing this. I am looking forward to going home and copying my flight information, shuttle instructions, BART times, etc. into a notebook or onto some lined notebook paper. I probably forgot on purpose (subconsciously) just so that I could do this. And let's be honest: if I hadn't forgotten to print them out, I probably would have recopied them anyway just so I could have it in the format that was easiest for me to read, without unnecessary information, and in my own handwriting. It's like the best combination of organizing and list-making! AND it's about Disneyland, which doesn't hurt. But yes. I am a total weirdo, and I am ok with that. I will sit on my couch, watching the HGTV and What Not To Wear episodes I've been TiVo'ing all week, meticulously making an organized list of where I need to be and when, and how I'm getting there. I just hope I have a good, fresh notebook waiting for me at home. I'm pretty sure I do.

...and then there's the packing list. This kind of fun shouldn't be legal.

Linky List

For your enjoyment this Friday, I provide to you several things you should check out:

  1. This article from the New Yorker was blogged about by Emily and now I share it with you. It's very interesting. It's pretty fair to both candidates, and just affirms to me that Obama is the candidate who speaks more closely to what I want in a President.
  2. omigod, I am definitely going to make my own Samoas. No, not Samoans. Samoas. The chocolatey, caramely, coconutey, ooey gooey goodness that is my tied-for-favorite (with Thin Mints, of course) Girl Scout cookie. When is it cookie season again? Who cares?! I can make my own! (yeah, I'll probably make one batch and realize it's easier to buy them, but it still looks like fun)
  3. Once again, my hilarious friend Jessie has hit gold with one of her online videos. This one, a parody-of-sorts of Obama Girl (a parody in itself, but a different kind) called Huckabee Girl, is really, really funny. If you like it, check out the rest of Jessie's blog, which is also very, very funny. And because I'm linking a bunch of political-funny-music-video-things, if you haven't watched Obama Girl vs. Giuliani Girl, please do so. I don't know anyone who made it, but it's funny stuff.
  4. I forget who it was, it might have even been my Google Reader "suggested blogs," but somehow I decided to add Not Martha to my feed. I really like reading this feed, and I especially like the way the actual blog/website is laid out. It's easy to navigate, and has a page called To Make, which is basically a link to every blog she's written about things to make, from poached eggs to a knit sweater to a homemade sun jar.
  5. Lastly, the radio show I started while at UCLA, I'm In A Band And So Am I, is doing really, really well. In the almost two years since I graduated, the show has continued to not only consistently remain on the air, but also to grow in recognition and, well, awesomeness, bringing you the best and worst in unsigned, self-produced music. DJ Octoon, the current man-behind-the-mic on Sunday nights from 8-10pm PST at www.uclaradio.com, has started an Unsigned Artist of the Week "contest" of sorts...and has released a Best of I'm In A Band 2007 CD! I'm getting a copy, for sure. Check out the myspace page, or email him at inaband (at) gmail (dot) com for more information!

And that's all that fit to print!