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

Monday, November 29, 2004

Winter 

Winter
Originally uploaded by Semisonic010.

it's cold in seattle now. mike took this pic this morning (i think) and it captures my impressions of the AM frozen grass shock well.

yeah, i do miss California...



on another note, my coworker gave me a mini-lesson on japanese today. All their sounds are composed of consonant-vowel combos -- ki, ka. mi, ma, na, yo etc. etc,. i think this may be why all their words sounds so damn cute! moshi moshi!

Saturday, November 27, 2004

hotel california 

i picked up the lovely painting above from my friend seth today. He's a fabulous artist, and I'm psyched to have one of his paintings to hang in my home.

however, right now, I am beginning to feel sore from walking all over downtown SF today... yep. my legs are tired and i need to pack...so you know, now's the best time to BFD --> blog for distraction.

on that note: i heard a wonderful piece on NPR this morning -- Sarah Vowell read one of her stories on Thanksgiving on This American Life. It was ab-fab.

Monday, November 22, 2004

yes, it is november  

which means 4 months till the madness!

go wildcats!

puppy love2 

I'm back in California for Thanksgiving. It's been great thus far -- but the best part has truly been hanging out with my doggie. He's missed me as much as I've missed him!

christo "gates" 

Source: NYT

I have always wanted to see a christo exhibit live, and this one looks like it will be spectacular. hmm... a trip to NYC in Feb...sounds cold, but maybe...
Read the NYT article here.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

ferret freedom 

I just went to PetCo with my pup to get him a new leash. I've been wanting to get one of those zoomy leashes so he can run ahead without pulling my arm out of the socket. It seemed like a good thing, but I had no idea that the leash i wanted was so dangerous! According to the multiple pages of safety documentation that came with it I am now running the risk of finger amputation, arm/leg burns or cuts and i'm generally on the edge of potential hazard...

anyways, the thing that caught my eye while leaving petco was the prominently displayed ferret magazine:



aside from the obvious humour of a ferret in a cornacopia basket, the headline: Annual Holiday Gift Guide captured my attention. Ferrets are illegal in California, so the idea of shopping guide for an illegal pet really caught me as funny.



The article piqued my curiousity, so i decided to check out the current state of affairs in ferret-land. I turned to the Californians for Ferret Freedom website... er that's Ferret "legalization" not Freedom... but anyways, it turns out that there's been quite a bit of activity on the ferret front! Recently, DaGovernator vetoed a Ferret Freedom bill: "I am returning Senate Bill 89 without my signature. I love ferrets. I costarred with a ferret in Kindergarten Cop. However, this bill is far too bureaucratic and it legalizes ferrets prior to conducting an environmental impact report (EIR)...(full text here)"

I love that Arnold mentioned his costar in his decision to reject SB 89. Anyways, looks like there is more to be done on the Ferret Freedom Front. Here are some additional resources, should you decide to become an impassioned ferret supporter (or if you secretly own a ferret and are looking for resources):

Californian's for Ferret Legalization
Free CA Ferrests!
Ferrets Annonymous
Modern Ferret Magazine
Ferret Magazine (clearly less modern than the one above, but published the shopping guide).

Saturday, November 20, 2004

go bears! 

Source: SF Gate

it is *always* a good day when the bears win Big Game. And yes, that's three in a row...

Thursday, November 18, 2004

and i thought i received a lot of e-mail... 

According to an article on CNN.com, BillG receives over 4 MILLION e-mails a day. much of it spam! yikes.
Here's a link to the article.

Upate: In the article, SteveB says that MSFT has a "department" working on BillG's e-mail. I think that's a mistake, i really think he meant that MSFT has a department working on *spam* ...

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

blogs are becoming sooooo mainstream.... 

Credit: http://dedicated.amymargaret.com/

Even the west wing gets it:
i'm watching a new episode right now and Josh Lyman (aka Bradley Whittford) is being plagued by a "blogger." The Blogger posts about Lyman running an SUV into another car while he was car shopping....and choosing a non-environmental choice. It's a funny scenario. But what is more interesting is that The West Wing does a good job of showing the speed of the internet -- and the raw nature of blogging (they can't negotiate with the blogger and her push-button publishing allows her to post her "scoop" immediately and without editorial review). Within seconds the blogger posts, people read and the story spreads like wild fire. It's all very exciting.

Update: Yes, I do think Bradley Whittford is hot.

Sunday, November 07, 2004

sparkle motion 

Source: Sparkle Motion

on sat night i went to see maya's friend's perform their 80's tribute as part of the chaos cabaret. The sparkle team was great -- i even got sparkled!

overall the entire show, was uhm, interesting...but the company was excellent and good times were had by all. There were a few worthy highlights:

- Toshiro Hirano, the japanese (native) country-singer / yodler. You can here him singing "T is for Texas" here or "waiting for a train" here. it's really remarkable.
- the Pogo Stripper --- imagine a hot guy stripping while jumping on a pogo stick. really, it is quite appealing...

Friday, November 05, 2004

allerca 

Source: Actsweb

wow. this is both creepy and "i gotta have one" cool at the same time. Allerca has developed a "hypo-allergenic" cat. yup. you can pre-order one (they predict availablity in 2007) for a mere $3,500. i wonder what type of personality these cat's will have...they could be all sweet and docile or they could be jeckyll and hyde...of course, that wouldn't really be any different then a normal cat...

(thanks to Sonia Says for the tip.)

Thursday, November 04, 2004

thursday rituals.... 

today is a day of rituals. My morning began with a wonderful workout at the proclub, in their theatre room. This room is kept dark and i swear at 7am when you are just waking it is the perfect way to workout in a semi-sleepy state and transition to the beginning of the day. After my workout I spent 15 minutes in the steam room -- it's important to open and cleanse those pores! Then a brief spin in the hot-tub before getting ready for work. Meanwhile, my car was getting detailed by their onsite car wash. It was fabulous!

Work has been fun, I spent part of the day in a product development training. We had a competition, and my team's product was really spot-on *and* cool. I swear, putting a little thought into what the product looks like makes a ton of difference.

Tonight I have my precious thurs. eve ritual - the apprentice with the music team. Although today will be even more special as we'll also be watching the season premier of the O.C. woohoo. my pop-culture needs will be fully sated by the time i head to bed.

I think creating rituals when you move to a new place are essential. my thursdays have definitely become my "core" day to refocus, reboot and re-energize.

on another note, i think this picture is cool:


Photo Credit: Seth Coe-Sullivan, 1st place winner
Nikon International Small World Competition

The picture is of: Quantum dot nanocrystals deposited on a silicon substrate (200x)Polarized reflected light...

Monday, November 01, 2004

vote early and often.  

Please vote.

Update: UGH. I just took the elevator home to my apartment and overheard a trio discussing the election. They were saying how it didn't matter who you voted for OR who won. Their quote? "Herman Muenster could win and it wouldn't matter. We won't have peace."

Ok, I will give them that -- we will probably not have peace in the near future, if ever. Things in Israel are off-the-hook bad...the situation in Iraq is messy, at best, and the world's greatest terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, is still on the run...but this election is important. and WHO you vote for is important. Why? Healthcare. Jobs. Foreign Policy. and...Supreme court seats. With a republican congress (which is the way things are looking), and Bush's "screening" of elligible candidates, I am seriously concerend about the type of individual that he would place on the court. Given that this is a *lifetime* appointment, risking a bad placement isn't an option.

So, let me amend my statement: Vote. Vote Kerry.

I may not be the most enthusiastic Kerry supporter, but i do think a vote for John Kerry is the right thing to do.

Also, Check out these viewpoints on voting: chester nikhil

breakfast for dulcy 

i've promised all my guests a spa-like stay and a delicious, home cooked breakfast. below are the pics from my first breakfast - yummmmmy!



Pictures from preparing the food: