Natala la la la ... ... ...

Saturday, June 28, 2003

challenge: how long can i survive... 

without my cell phone.
I left my cell in a co-worker's car yesterday (i think i was just soo excited to get out of the car after being in it through 2 hours of horrifying LA traffic -- made worse by the fact that we took a ridiculously long "scenic" route back to the office)... on top of this i missed my flight home because of a bomb threat that caused chaos at the airport -- it took me 45 minutes to get from Hertz to my flight, which meant i got there 29 minutes before my flight was to leave and at which point united no longer accepts passengers. really i'm not bitter.
anyways, i've decided to try surviving for 3 days (which include a weekend mind you) without my cell phone. i think it will be ok, it's just that cellphones are so damn convienent. Here's a picture of my MIA phone:

I'm slightly tempted to go out and buy this phone which has the built in camera...but it isn't quite as sleek as mine and i'm willing to wait a bit for the next version.


UPDATE: i survived. living without a cellphone is possible, but really, really inconvient. i don't think i'd do it again. but for experimental purposes this was good.

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

i'm trying to improve my blog's search result rank...  

Tim, Me, Ben and Delia last summer at the BBC.

so it turns out that my blog does not rank particularly high on a search for me (natala menezes)! this bothers me, so i'm trying out some tactics to improve this page's relevency to searches for me. It turns out that since this blog doesn't really talk about *me* (that me being Natala Menezes, mr. googlebot!) it doesn't really know how to relate my blog to me... so here, dear readers is a bit about me: natala menezes.

* i like to read. check out the "bookshelf" on the right for what's currently in my reading rotations...
* i work at google.com (you know that search engine dot.com...)
* i like to travel. i've been all over europe, india, australia, new zealand and lots of the US. i can't wait for my next adventure...
* i volunteer by teaching kids how to speak in public, debate topics and become leaders...

Thursday, June 12, 2003

sixteen candles  

tonight leslie, alexia and molly+and I went to to see an outdoor showing of sixteen candles at santana row. i had forgotten how wonderful this movie is!

"I can't believe my grandmother felt me up!"
" You know, I'm getting input here that I'm reading as relatively hostile. "
"I can't believe I just gave my panties to the Geek!"
"What's a happenin' hot stuff?"
"He's wearing a red argile sweater, brown pants and red shoes...no he's not retarded!"

this kid brian has a wonderful collection of information on this movie, including an interesting table comparing the music played in the movie, video and dvd.

Wednesday, June 11, 2003

everyone needs a hug 

There's a woman, well, a guru, who believes that her mission in the world is to hug everyone. On one level i totally respect this -- everyone needs some physical interaction with others in a non-sexual maternal way...but another part of me thinks that there must be some kind of health issue present (particularly in our days of SARS) with hugging so many people!
Interested in how to get your hug? Go Here.

Tuesday, June 10, 2003

tribute: johnny cash.  

i fell into a burning ring of fire, and it burns, burns, burns...


he's the man in black. he's the sorrowful voice of wisdom, humor and the pain of lost love (whether you lost it yourself or it just walked away). I appreciate this man.

Snippet One: i walk the line
I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time.
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you're mine,
I walk the line

Snippet Two: a boy named sue
And he said: "Son, this world is rough
And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough
And I knew I wouldn't be there to help ya along.
So I give ya that name and I said goodbye
I knew you'd have to get tough or die
And it's the name that helped to make you strong."

Monday, June 09, 2003

tribute: nas. i know i can ... be what i wanna be 

Nas' latest song, I Can, is just awesome. I even appreciate the f�r elise back drop, reminds me of my sister playing that song over and over as she practiced her piano...
chorus:
i know i can
be what i wanna be
if i work hard at it
ill be where i wanna be
i know i can (i know i can)
be what i wanna be (be what i wanna be)
if i work hard at it (if i work hard at it)
ill be where i wanna be (ill be where i wanna be)

For the complete lyrics, visit here.

Sunday, June 08, 2003

note to self: never be a nag... 

so once again i ended up at antonio's nuthouse wearing flip-flops and hanging out with the boys. one of the guys just broke up with his "non-girlfriend girlfriend" -- who we all kinda liked -- because she was a nag. Why are girls so bothered by the littlest things? a discussion ensued. the key highlight: don't be a nag. little things are little things and guys just don't think that way. I have to agree. I tend to think that generally guys and girls approach problems differently, but the nagging thing is just one of those habits that women have been affiliated with. i think a lot of women do this because they don't have an outlet -- partially because they've put everything into their relationship -- so they need all of their partner's attention and when they don't get it they get frustrated. the solution? for most women, just talk to them. for me, it is has always been about letting the little things go, and when there's a problem, consolidating issues and addressing them systematically. but that's me.
conclusion:
dave drilled it into my head. chris agreed. nico nodded. i promised: i will never nag. unless of course, i want the relationship over (this was agreed upon as a sure-fire strategy).

Saturday, June 07, 2003

stop! you didn't stop!  

Just now when i was driving back from the store a woman yelled at me because i didn't stop long enough at the stop sign before turning right onto the street where i live. She was belligerent and a bit scary. I thought there was a possibility she was going to run after my car and continue her tirade when i parked at my home. she did not.

however, her yelling bugged me because i feel strongly that what is most important about driving is *being aware.* When it comes to stopping at a stop sign, i think the relevant thing to do is assess the situation: are there people around? children playing? cars coming? cars stopping?
the answers to these questions should guide your action.
I always do this, then i "clear my alleys" -- check each intersection and make sure they are clear of trouble, and then, i proceed.

The thing is, this doesn't always take three seconds. When it does i'll stop, look look look and sometimes look more to assess the situation, but in many cases, i'm clear to proceed after a mere stop. I believe that i should be able to do this. I think the 3-second stop rule doesn't work to make people better at assessing the situation, but rather make them better at following the rule. This woman has clearly lost sight of why we had the rule in the first place: safe driving. I'm a good driver, and i'm safe on the roads. I know when to stop, and for how long to linger. let me be.

Friday, June 06, 2003

soda pop 

what is going on with the soda industry? Pepsi is sponsoring a BILLION dollar sweepstakes? and it's a co-promo with yahoo! sprite just came out with a new soda - sprite tropical remix. i have to say i quite liked the commercial. but i thought tv-advertising was dying, haven't they heard?

Wednesday, June 04, 2003

really, he doesn't bite 

luke and i are having a contest to find the coolest dragon.
My search: chinese dragons.
Luke's search: chinese dragon

Here's one of my favorites.

Tuesday, June 03, 2003

find humour in the mundane 

ri�dic�u�lous adj.
Etymology: Latin ridiculosus (from ridiculum jest, from neuter of ridiculus) or ridiculus, literally, laughable, from ridEre to laugh
Date: 1550
ri�dicu�lous�ly adv. , ri�dicu�lous�ness n.
Synonyms: Ludicrous; laughable; risible; droll; comical; absurd; preposterous

(1) Deserving or inspiring ridicule; absurd, preposterous, or silly.
(2) Fitted to excite ridicule; absurd and laughable
(3) Unworthy of serious consideration; as, a ridiculous dress or behavior.
(4) Broadly or extravagantly humorous; resembling farce

so devoid of wisdom or good sense as to be laughable:
"the absurd excuse that the dog ate his homework"
"ask a nonsensical question and get a nonsensical answer"
"a contribution so small as to be derisory"
"it is ludicrous to call a cottage a mansion"
"a preposterous attempt to turn back the pages of history"
"her conceited assumption of universal interest in her rather dull children was ridiculous"

the word of the day, of the week, of the month, of the year. my favorite word. "That's ridiculous"

republicans, duke fans and the problems of dating... 

what? I just found out that my good friend is not only a republican (with barry goldwater as her hero!) but she's a duke fan. i always get on fine with republicans, but a duke fan? this is hard to take.

Dating is flawed: as my friend brooke says "it isn't about meeting interesting people" it is about *dating* -- interesting isn't the game or the objective. But, i like interesting people. i enjoy them. i meet many interesting people. people who i want to spend time with. people that i learn from. however, i meet very few people that i would actually be interested in dating. perhaps the flaw is not in dating, but me? nah.....

don't dream it's over: how could they remake this song? the woman has no passion, she sings this song with a whine. yuck. long live neil finn! six pence none the poorer!

what the government needs is technology: technology used to create integrated social services from the DMV to welfare. A single entry system, which could actually track if you qualified for one social service and let you know that then you also qualified for another one. The government needs to be the most effective data manager in the world. our government still uses carbon paper. not good.

Sunday, June 01, 2003

Bridal showers and tagging up 

Bridal showers have a few traditions (outside of lots of silly games about the bride and groom). One tradition is to save the bows from the gifts to create a bouquet that the bride carries during the rehearsal.
Recently, this has become a problem. Every bride registers at Williams-Sonoma. Every package is wrapped in this awful *tan* colored gross-grain ribbon. The result is a bland, unexciting collection of bows. how mundane. WS should offer multi-colored bows! WS is a monopoly though, so they don't have to.


For some reason i crave anonymity. This is self torture. I'm never going to get this. I am one of those people who will walk into a train station at 2 am on the French/Spain border and run into someone i know. Tonight i went to a Giant's game for my friend Hillary's husband's 30th birthday. I've never hung out with Hillary's gang (who are all wonderful people) but out of a group people: i work with one, i went to grade school with one, and i went cubing with one in college. There were a couple of standard cross-overs (went to grad school with a friend, works at a related company, knows friend of friend etc.) as well. For some reason this type of stuff has started to spook me a little bit.