I need get an iPod already

I had no idea how much I hate classic rock until tonight. I was at the gym for the first time in ages, and I was driven out by the music. It was mildy annoying at first, but after an hour of non-stop Rollings Stones and ZZ Top, I was cranky. Finally, when Bohemian Rapsody started, I couldn't take it any more and had to leave. It has never been that bad before. I even asked the guy at the desk what the deal was, but he could only agree with me and say that he couldn't change it.

I need to finally get around to ordering an iPod Nano.

So out of touch

I feel like such an out-of-touch American right now. Three days after the fact, I just read that there was an earthquake in Indonesia that killed close to 6,000 people and left over 200,000 people homeless.

The earthquake happened on the weekend, when I was out and about in San Francisco and sailing, so I wasn't looking at Topix.net or anything, but still. You would think I that I would have heard about it on the news while driving in my car, while skimming MyYahoo, or while talking with people. No one mentioned it on the sailing trip and no one mentioned it at work. I found out about it because I saw a headline on IBM's intranet homepage for an article about IBM employees there (they are all accounted for).

This also reminds me that I still haven't done so much of my earthquake preparedness. I could probably find a flashlight and a few bottles of water, but that's about it.

You can make a donation to help with relief efforts through the Red Cross/Red Crescent.

Rocking and swaying

I spent this beautiful, sunny Sunday sailing with some guys from work. And now I am still rocking while sitting on my couch. OK, I wasn't really sailing. I was just along for the ride. I took pictures and tried to stay out of the way.

We started in Sausalito, sailed around the bay, and then headed out past the bridge into the open ocean for a little while. Then we found some kite surfers and had fun watching and cheering for them. Next thing we knew, six hours had passed!

We chartered a 31-foot Beneteau, which was really nice. And I was suprised–spilt between seven of us, it really wasn't that expensive. I would love to spend the weekend on it.

Typing and typing

I just got back from a little overnight trip in the city. And ever since I got home, I have been glued to my computer typing away. Flickr is full on new pictures, along with a lot more descriptions than usual. Check out Metroblogging San Francisco for quite a few new posts. And now it's my own little blog's turn. I am going to try to write about everything that I didn't talk about on the other two sites. I think San Francisco has the same affect on me as skiing: I have such a good time that I feel the need to write it all down. This could take a while…

I had such a wonderful day and saw so many interesting things that I have been busy documenting it all. First of all, Friday afternoon, a friend and I went down to Gilroy to do some outlet shopping. That place is dangerous. I bought tons of new summer clothes. Let me just say this: chocolate is my new color. Oh, and white. I started buying white for the first time last summer, and I have stepped it up a notch this year.

Friday night I took Normen to a little get-together in San Mateo. I was the DD, so I got to be the sober person laughing at the drunkies. It was a very fun night. We ended up staying until after 2 AM. Then Normen and I drove up to his apartment in Hayes Valley, where I crashed until noon today. Who knew that I could sleep so well on a little air matress on the floor.

We finally got up about noon and walked down to Blue Bottle Coffee where I had an incredible organic cappuccino. It was so amazing that I had to take a picture. Then I caught the bus to the Ferry Building to catch the tail end of the famer's market. Because I was planning on a full day of shopping, I was limited as to what I could buy and carry around with me. I ended up with the following haul:

• CIA Greystone Herb Garden Honey: a harvest from the hives at the organic garden of the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena. I had wanted to get some local honey because that is supposed to help with allergies, but they didn't have any from the San Jose area. But I sampled the different honeys they had, and I was blown away by the variety and complexity of the flavors. The CIA honey is the darkest, most interesting honey I have ever tasted.
• Frog Hollow Farm organic meyer lemon marmalade. I have never tasted a lemon marmalade before, and it completely blows orange marmalade out of the water. The little bits of rind in it are delicious. This jar isn't going to last long.
• Whole wheat walnut bread from Acme Baking Co. I discovered on my first visit to the Ferry Building that the bread baked right there is a lot better than the Acme bread you can get in the grocery stores. And I never noticed before that they use organic flour. Cool.
• Nectarines from the central valley. I loved talking to the grower about the differences between Washington and California growing seasons and varieties of fruit. They got kind of beat up by the time I got home, but I have set them out to ripen as the lady instructed, so I am hoping that they will still be tasty on Monday.
• Brooks cherries. The nectarine lady recommended that I get some cherries from another grower there when she heard I was from Washington so that I could compare them to Bing cherries. I munched on them as I walked around. They tasted and looked like less intense Bings.
• Dried cherry tomatoes. I saw these bright red dried tomatoes and couldn't resist. The guy selling them recommended that I soak them in white wine for 20 minutes and then toss them with pasta or salads. I can't wait!
• Burnt caramel Recchiuti chocolate. Oh. My. God. This might have been the best piece of chocolate that I have ever had. Period. And yes, I am including La Maison du Chocolat. The texture was perfect. The flavor was devine. The finish lasted forever. I think I should join the club.

Ok, that's the end of food section. Now art! Across the street from the Ferry Building are the art tents. You'll find your typical SF phtography and beaded jewelry there. One photographer's work caught my eye from all the way across the plaza. I ended up falling in love with one photo of a tea cup and teapot and ordered a large print. My first real artwork! It is going to go in my kitchen after I repaint. I could go off about the colors and the intimate feeling of the image, etc., but I'll save that until I have it and it is hanging on the wall. For now, I'll just say that everyone should go check out Jill's photos in San Francisco.

My other big art purchase was a necklace from Blue Wild Indigo. Her jewelry stood out amongst the typical bead necklace stalls there. There was something delicate and refined about it. I bought the Urban Cowgirl Lariat in chocolate brown with a brown beaded pearl. It is so light and soft that I put it on before I bought it and haven't taken it off yet. It is very much jewelry for someone who isn't into jewelry.

The other cool artist I met was a guy who made some really interesting pottery. I didn't buy any because I just can't buy pottery when my house is already overflowing with it. But I spent lots of time admiring his work. He had the best glazes, which he told me he mixed himself. Making glazes is a whole other aspect of ceramics that I haven't even begun to delve into. He also had a nice touch: he glazed the bottom of his mugs, which is quite tricky and labor intensive. Plus he does all of this just during the summer; the rest of the year his is an elementary school teacher in Oakland.

Meeting these people made me think. They are out there making their art and making a living. I felt really  good about spending my money on that stuff today. And I think I'll feel happier when I wear my new necklace compared to my Target necklaces. Same goes for when i look at my new photograph in my kitchen compared to my Ikea poster in my livingroom. I'll remember talking to the people who created these things, and I'll remember the sunny afternoon when I bought them, and I'll have that emotional reaction that real art evokes and that something from Target can't.

I have spent way too much time writing. I have no idea where my evening went. I didn't even get a chance to talk about going to Eric's Restaurant or my experience waiting for a dressing room at H&M talking about auras. I guess those stories will have to wait. Right now I am heading to Safeway because it is the only thing open to buy cat food and contact solution. Then I have to get to bed because I have to get up early because I got invited to go sailing in the San Francisco bay tomorrow. It should be a perfect day for it!

Bought some music

I haven't bought much music in the past three months. The last thing I bought was "Congratulations" by Blue October and Imogen Heap, and it is completely addictive. Today I finally bought five new songs:

• "Blue Light (Engineers Anti-Gravity Mix)" by Bloc Party because I can't get it out of my head since Rob gave me the live Coachella concert by Bloc Party
• "Wink of an Eye" by Kaskade because I saw Kaskade at Coachella and have been wanting to get something
• "Teardrop" by Massive Attack because I found it on iTunes and liked the 30-second snippet
• "Sing" by Ivy because I wanted some new Ivy and I loved this song as a kid
• "Rainbow Connection" by Sarah McLachlin because it was on the same album as "Sing"

As long as I am dreaming…

 

The commercials worked, and I want the new Lexus GS Hybrid.

Fuel economy: 25/28 MPG city/highway
Emissions: SULEV
0-60 MPH: 5.2 seconds

Push-button ignition
Adaptive cruise control
Choice of bird's-eye maple or red walnut trim
And so much more

MSRP: 66K

So probably won't be buying this any time soon.

More realistic is the Camry Hybrid. It gets 39 MPG and costs 40K less than the Lexus.

Still my dream house

 

A couple years ago, I bookmarked this house as my dream house. I just looked at it again, and it still is. Not that I am in any hurry to build my own house. But someday…

I love that it is straw bale. I love the openness, the big bookshelves, the sliding doors and walls, the laundry and offices areas, the shower that opens to the outside, and the concrete floors.

Just what I needed

Thanks, Khan, for pointing me to this about IBM's death spiral:

Here's how one IBM employee put it recently as he resigned: "Unfortunately, I see IBM as a place run by salespeople and project managers with a sell and install mentality, even in services. There is no technical leadership, innovation or proper understanding of our customer's needs and requirements. The architecture profession is dysfunctional and cannot remediate itself. These factors may change, but not in the short term and when it does it is likely to be brutal, and I'm not patient enough to wait around until it does."
…
When your QUALITY is crap, your costs increase. You compensate by throwing more and more people at the problems that result from poor quality. When you try to cut costs, the problems increase and the quality suffers even more. IBM is in such a death spiral, and it is a direct result of a management decision to sacrifice quality…

Just what I needed this week to cheer me up. horray me.

Getting kids to eat healthy: the new entertainment

The word seems to be getting out. We feed our kids crap and they are getting fat. How do I know? Because I watch TV shows that tell me that. I am facinated by the new crop of reality TV shows that are trying to get kids and families to eat better and exercise more. I have watched:

• The Biggest Loser, Families. Two families complete to lose the most weight while working with nutritionists and personal trainers.
• Honey, We're Killing the Kids. Dr. Heart shows parents projections of what their kids will look like at 40 if they continue eating poorly, and then helps them create a healthy new lifestyle over three weeks.
• Jamie's School Lunch Project (Jamie's School Dinners in the UK). Naked Chef Jamie Oliver goes on a crusade to completely overhaul the school lunch programs in London.

All of these shows have web sites with lots of nutrition and exercise information to with them, along with plenty of things to buy to help. I wonder if families are watching these shows and changing their own habbits? Or are just people like me watching them and so are they preaching to the choir?

The school lunch project is by far the most interesting of the bunch. I am really amazed at what Jamie has accomplished. He also has tons of information about how you can help to improve school lunches. Remember in Super Size Me when Morgan goes to the schools and shows the horrible junk food that most of the kids are eating, and then he shows the alternative high school where they are eating real food? Jamie's project is like that, on a huge scale.

While I was looking for a link for Super Size Me, I just made two very cool discoveries: first of all Super Size Me now comes in a "PG" version for educational purposes. I always thought that that movie would be great to show to kids because they would really relate to Morgan and the format of the movie, but that schools and parents would never show it because there is swearing. So even though I disagree that you would have to make an edited version for kids, I know you'd have to for it to be shown.

Also, Morgan has a blog! I know I shouldn't be surprised because everyone has one these days, but I am still quite happy, especially since it seems to be updated fairly frequently. I am also happy to see that Morgan is going to schools and talking to kids, and annoyed to see that he has to deal with such stupid crap.

I am also getting re-inspired to go forward with my own little healthy food education idea. I was all set to go with a cooking class for some kids that I work with earlier this year, but then because of some personel changes, it was put on hold, and then life got busy for me. Now I am ready to go again and maybe now do more of a summer program sort of thing.

I have been encouraged by my smaller efforts as far as healthier snacks go. The kids normally get fruit snacks, pretzels, or cheese crackers for snack. These have been healthier options that we have had in the past, but I am still not happy to see kids eating the same processed food all of the time. So sometimes I bring in some fresh food. Ants on a log is always a huge hit because the kids have decided it is a combined art project and snack. Strawberries were also much appreciated (also by the adults!), but I was disappointed to see that some thought that the naturally sweet berries were too sour, which I blame on the unnaturally sweet snacks they usually eat.

Ok, I am rambling again, but my mind is spinning kind of fast thanks to the doubled iced espresso I had a few hours ago, and I really should put that energy towards some work that I need to get done so I'll get paid so I can pay the mortgage.

Not that EXITEd

So it seems to be a requirement every spring to talk about how to get more girls interested in math and science, why there aren't enough female engineering, and how math can be FUN!! Oh, pu-leeeze.

I am so sick of it. Maybe I am just bitter. I had the "you're a girl who's good at math, so you should be an engineer" brainwashing throughout school. And here I am, doing a job that I am really pretty good at. But guess what? I hate it. Maybe hate it too strong of a word, but I am definitely not passionate about it.

Why don't we encourage kids to do what they are passionate about? Do what they really want to do? Sure, I was told that I could be anything I wanted to be, but at the same time, I was also very much encouraged to pursue a science-oriented career, preferably related to math and physical sciences because biology is a little on the girly side.

We took a career interest test in high school, and guess what it said I should do? Be a social worker. Yup. And guess what everyone's reaction was? Laughter. And I blew off the test. Guess what my mom said when I came home one time during my first year or two of college and said that I was considering being a teacher? "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." I am sure she didn't think anything of her offhand comment, but it did make me stop and reconsider.

And now here I am, thinking about going back to school to do something related to social services, education, or public health.