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

Saturday, January 29, 2005

good stuff on tv 

This last week at work has been pretty crazy. So i've needed some good, mindless entertainment to balance my mental overdrive. I'm pretty much a Go-Go-Go person, so finding downtime is hard for me. This week I've turned to the TV for a few hours of pre-recorded drama and humour. My DVR gave me 3 great shows:



The Broken Hearts Club
This was a sweet movie about a group of gay men in LA. Seriously a heartwarming romantic comedy that looks deeply and truthfully and relationships, love and friendships. Sweet, romantic, and funny -- without being annoying about gayness (aka Queer eye..)


Kumars @ No. 42
A BBC show that is hilarious -- it's about an Indian family that builds a soundstage for their son to host his own TV show. The show's been a big hit in England apparently and according to The Custard TV Guide: "
In August 2002, the format of The Kumars At No 42 was sold to US network NBC in a £6m deal. It will feature a Mexican family rather than Asians; a Los Angeles suburb, rather than Wembley. German TV has also shown an interest – its version would feature a Turkish family. "


Goodness Gracious Me
Imagine Saturday night live -- for and by Indians. It's the perfect television show for ANY Indian ABCD or BBDC (American Born Confused Desi for my non-indian readers). I laughed for the entire show -- a deep laugh due to how easily I could relate to this show. I feel like i have LIVED half of the shorts. (Sheila: you have to watch this show!)

On another note, I also decided to spruce up my Netflix movie list so that I am actually taking advantage of this service that I PAY for... and spent some time flipping through their site. I am using their new "friends" feature (I was part of a the beta group via a friend actually) and I have to say I think the friend feature is a bit creepy.

It shows the movies recently watched by your friends -- that you are connected to. So for me, it would show that I haven't watched any new movies lately because I have not rented or rated anything new. Do I want people to know this? Do I want them to know that I recently spent a weekend watching "But I'm a cheerleader" AND "Bring It On?" ... and did I really need to know that my parents (who are my friends on netflix) watched "Babe" and gave it 5 stars while they watched "Best In Show" and only gave it 3 stars? I feel compelled to call my mom and talk to her about her rating system (and my perceived feeling that it isn't well-tuned...). This whole concept of being connected to your friends online is great -- but it also brings out these stalker-like instances. I feel like I know more information about people than I sometimes want to...and I also feel like via my blog, my pictures on Smugmug and Flickr, and the friends I'm connected to through these services (and things like Orkut, Spaces, and Friendster -- not to mention Dogster) present this skewed and yet, true, idea of who I am.

Crap. I'm 20 minutes late to pick up my friends for dinner. I better run -- but trust me there is more to come on this topic.

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

champagne, curry & cake 

I had my first dinner party at my new house last friday. It was a fun night - i brought together a mix of people who mostly hadn't met -- 10 guests, plus my mum & step-dad. My mum was the real hero as she cooked the majority of the food. I baked another lemon-coconut cake (similar to the one i made for new year's but this time with blueberries). The menu was simple: champagne (to celebrate my new friends in seattle and my new home) and curry. Curry is a simplification -- we had chicken curry, a chick pea curry, spinach curry (aka palak paneer) and the two colonial veggie classics: cabbage fougard and brussel sprouts. I really like cabbage and brussel sprouts. We drank a lot of gewurztraminer wine too! Below are a couple of pictures from the party, there are more on flickr.

Guests dine away...

Click on the photo to go to the flickr page and see all the notes!

Oliver and Buddy warm up by the fire...


Outside of warming up my house, there is another great side effect of throwing a party: you have to clean house. Before my party, and my mum's arrival, my house was kinda a wreck. boxes everwhere, projects to be figured out and just a lot of things to be done. My mum and bill really helped out -- they broke down the empty boxes and helped me relocate or get rid of unneeded clutter. The result was that i finally got my house guest ready. My mum also helped me make a significant (if long-term temporary) upgrade to my dining room. Since i was having 10 guests, I knew i was going to need a dining table -- but i hadn't found one that i liked...and it's not something you can just go out and buy. So i clearly needed a temporary solution -- the result is one i love:

BEFORE:


AFTER:


How did this happen? Well, the key is the carpet. It sets the theme for the colors in my living room / dining room and adds a lot of warmth. I found the carpet online (on pottery barn, ahem) checked it out in the store and ordered it. The reality is that when you buy furniture online it takes time to arrive -- the carpet was actually backordered but it arrived days before my dinner party. I then picked up the tables -- actually two sets of DIY nesting tables -- from Ikea. The pillows are part of Target's valentine's day promotional home collection. The carpet was not cheap. The nesting tables were about $50 for the set of 3 (so $100 for the 2 sets) and the cushions were $15. That's basically $200 for a dining room set....and yes, it's "temporary" but i think it will be around for awhile...

Thursday, January 20, 2005

elves 

my mum and step-dad are visiting and it has been wonderful! they spent a couple of days at the Salish Lodge spa-ing and resorting and now they are back here with me and they've been acting like little elves. fixing things. testing things. crawling in the crawl spaces and checking it all out. it has been very, very helpful. Even better they've been cooking me breakfast AND dinner. yummy!

Saturday, January 15, 2005

iced in the land of ports 

UPDATE (14:11): I am iced in. We put chains on my car and i drove the driveway circle, and uhm, my car slid around about 180 degrees and i think i hit the petunia plant. and uhm, so yeah, i'm going to stay the night.

I found this picture on Flickr that gives a good sense of the layer of ice that is covering parts of my car. I say parts because i spent a good 30 minutes pouring warm water and defrosting to get ice off of the windsheild and side of the car so i could make it "driveable."


Photo Credit: Freezing Rain by Shoseph.

ORIGINAL POST:
I may be stuck in portland. Here's the weather report:

Freezing Rain in Portland.

and the road report (i may never get back to seattle...):
Road Reports from Katu.
HIGHEST IMPACT
I-5 - Numerous accidents on I-5 from MP 90.00 after 183rd Ave. to MP 95.00 before Exit 95 Maytown starting 10:07 AM, 01/15/05 until further notice due to rain and snow mixedFrom milepost 88 to milepost 96.

I'm here for a baby shower -- that has been postponed to tomorrow because of the ice. I'm supposed to go back to Seattle tonight. Right now my car is literally COVERED in a sheet of ice. I ice-skated my way to my car to check it out. I wish i were joking, but really i'm underplaying the severity of it all so that I can pretend that I may actually get home in the next 24 hours.

Friday, January 14, 2005

off to portland 

I'm going to portland for part of the weekend for my step-sister-in-law's baby shower. It will be great to see the extended family and spend time with everyone. Plus I've got an appointment tomorrow at my favorite spa - Aequis.

on another note: sleep is precious. Lately I've had to be into work early in the AM -- well early for me, is 8 am or 9 am. Last night, for no good reason, I just couldn't sleep! I didn't go to bed to almost 4 am... and i didn't even finish packing -- but had lots of good talks with friends (around the globe) and family. Anyways, so i get NO sleep -- and what happens? 7:20 am call from JB - cindy's on NPR. 8:15 am call from Mom, she missed her flight to Boston. 9:30 am SMS text message from a co-worker, meeting cancelled. *sigh*.

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

i want... 

no i don't *need* it, but yeah, totally buying one this weekend...i think i can use it as validation that i actually intend to workout on a regular basis in 2005...and it is sooo small and such a nice compliment to my ipod, and cooler than the mini (which pretends to have enough space to hold valuable amounts of music, but really doesn't)....the shuffle is up front. 240 songs, that's it. perfect for the ultimate workout mix!

Sunday, January 09, 2005

it's snowing! 

i woke up this morning and it's snowing!! it's a winter wonderland out here in queen anne. i'm going to save a snowball in my freezer to commemerate my first seattle snow.

cute doggie 

I really love this picture by Gary Porter. It won an honorable mention in the "Best of Photojournalism 2004 - Feature Photo" contest.



Credit: Gary Porter, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"Going for a leap" - Mason, 6, and Melena, 7, Steffes take "Trixie" out for a "leap" in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Trixie, a Jack Russell Terrier, has a hard time staying on the ground like normal dogs, and commonly performs a three foot vertical when she's excited. Neighbors have been known to come by when she's outside just to watch her leap. May 13, 2003.

Friday, January 07, 2005

need a gmail acct? 

hi. I have literally 100's of gmail invites. It's time to give them away! So, if you, or someone you know, needs an invite post a comment below and i will send you an invite.

natala

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

random thoughts from 1.4.05 

Calculated Risks
Living life is about, IMHO, taking risks -- calculated risks.

Discoverability
What's the point of having great content or good information if no-one can find it? Building really good products isn't about making them cool by having the coolest feature set, rather it is by making it easy for the user to discover how to use the product and the key features. The element of "discovery" appeals to the adventurer in many of us.

Apple gets marketing:
The new feature iMix this week on iTunes? Jennifer Garner's "Workout Mix." Damn, that's great marketing -- as this is going to be a HUGE week for Jennifer. She's got a new movie coming out AND the alias two-hour premier! And of course - a workout mix is perfect since who doesn't want to have Jennifer's tough body?

Home Buying
Is really, really time consuming.

Children
Are the greatest social-scientific genetic experiement anyone can run.

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Tsunami Relief Resources 

International aid organizations:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund)
United Nations' World Food Programme
Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors without Borders (donate!)
CARE International
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

UK/Europe:
Disasters Emergency Comittee (DEC) - comprises a raft of aid agencies, including the below and others
British Red Cross
Oxfam
Save the Children UK

North America:
American Red Cross
Canadian Red Cross
Save The Children
Oxfam America

Trackback: Anders Jacobsen: Webloggers: Give to tsunami victims and I'll give too!

or Donate via 1-click: here.