k*spot: Life

Yay it's november!

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:18:23 GMT

November is my favorite month of the year because its the time they bring back the Gingerbread latte at starbucks. Whoo! T remembered and went to Starbucks to get me one this morning (aww)

Anyway, to make things even better, Thanksgiving is this month (and while its kind of meaningless since the REAL thanksgiving for me is in October, I like to eat turkey, so yay!), and Dine Around Seattle is also going on this month - 30 restaurants with $30 3-course dinners. Here are the ones I want to try to hit:

1. Mixtura (Peruvian, have been there before but definitely want to go back)

2. The Oceanaire Seafood room (because Brian from top chef is there!)

3. Andaluca (because I always drive by it but have never been)

4. Market street (because maybe Ballard isn't actually that far away and I should stop avoiding it)

5. 35th Street Bistro (because they listed Paella on their menu)

Anyone wanna come with?

corn mazes are fun

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:26:07 GMT

(belated posting)

A couple weeks ago Tom organized a trip to a corn maze - I've never been to one and it seemed like a lot of fun... We went through the first time with the map (which turns out to make the maze a lot less fun) and then the second time without (much better). In combo with a perfect day of sunshine, some spiked beverages and goofing around in the corn field, I couldn't have asked for a better saturday afternoon.

i really hate birds

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:45:47 GMT

To follow up on my post last week about the stupid birds that set up shop to make babies in my air conditioning unit, they're now gone but only after leaving a load of crap everywhere. Like seriously? How do such small birds make so much poo??

I will not hestitate to chop up any birds next time by turning on the a/c and letting the blades of the fan mash them up. Should have listened to Zappa after all.

those dumbass birds

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:48:03 GMT

I was just reminded after catching up on Vanesa's latest blog entry about how she has a birds problem that I haven't checked in on those noisy birds in a week to see if they've left my air condition unit yet. This whole bird incident started about 1 week before my mom came to visit, which totally freaked me out because I didn't want to turn on the AC in fear of chopping up the baby birds (and thankfully I didn't listen to EZ bbecause those birds would have been toast), but at the same time I felt seriously inconvenienced because Starbucks is building a new building across the street and it kicks up a lot of dust which sucks whenI have to leave the patio doors open.

ANNNNNYYYWAYS...I guess I'll take a peek today to see if they're still there. The mommy bird is pretty vicious and always looks like she's going to peck my eye out so I've been avoiding looking in on them when its not necessary....hopefully they're grown up and gone and I can board up the gap that they snuck through to set up home.

what would you do?

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 23:47:55 GMT

t was telling me about a dream he had last night about being chased/fighting in a warehouse. It reminded me of two scenarios that always cross my mind when watching movies - sure, chase/fight scenes are more exciting but is that really the best way to save your ass in a situation?

Would you run or hide?

Let's say you're being chased (you know, the typical alley in the city where there is trash and dumpsters and side streets). Would you jump in a dumpster and try to hide hoping that the person won't find you? Or would you try to out run them?

Would you run or play dead?

Let's say you're the last one standing of your posse - their bloody bodies are everywhere - and the killers are still at large. Would you try to run from the killers, or just pretend you're one of the dead?

my AOS medical experience continued: Red flag #5

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:18:37 GMT

I forgot to mention the most horrific part of my medical exam.

The part when the doctor told me "I only use new needles" and showed me the fresh package containing the needle. Uh, you had to tell me that? Like isn't that a given? Don't all 'legit' doctors (ie. ones that are listed on the Department of State official civil surgeon list) SUPPOSED to use clean needles?

my AOS medical experience

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 22:02:35 GMT

So for those who know me, I've been going through a pile of paperwork to get my visa renewed. Yesterday I went to do my AOS medical, and overall it was a pretty crazy experience. I had to go to a state certified civil surgeon - and anyone who has gone through this process knows its really hard to find one that will take an appointment.

Luckily, I found one on the third try. Or at least I thought I was lucky.

[I'm not going to name the doctor, because they were actually SUPER nice and I have a lot of respect for them because they definitely take patients from all walks of life and are super nice to everyone that walks through their door]

Red flag number 1: I should have known that anyone who accepts an appointment as "Sure, come by on Tuesday at noon" is probably not running a very professional shop. I felt like I was making an appointment for a haircut or something.

When I called that morning to confirm my appointment and ask what to bring with me in terms of ID, they reminded me to bring payment, in the only accepted formats of cash or cheque. Red flag number 2: What kind of doctor only takes cash or cheque?

On arrival, I was greeted by a waiting room FULL of people. Red flag number 3: Probably all 12 people in this room have the same "noon" appointment that I have. Funnily enough, at least half the people there were holding the same form as I was, hoping they could get their AOS done too.

Red fag number 4: it was quite possibly the DIRTIEST most unhygienic doctor's office I have ever seen - except for the one in the middle of nowhere in vietnam which isn't saying much because it wasn't actually much better.

2 and a half hours later...I finally got into an exam room. Here are some pics from my experience:

Wood grain exam bed - very 70s

a very professional stool

some sort of scary equipment from the 70's I don't know what this is for, but it was in the room maybe they should dispose of their sharps? the container is scarily full.

jellystone birthday, 1800 miles later

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:56:38 GMT

thanks to all who texted, called, wall'ed etc etc for my birthday :) I'm either 24, 37, 31 or 93 - thanks for asking.

I had an awesome time at Yellowstone and Amangani in Jackson hole with T. Ths was my first roadtrip since my dad passed away when I was a kid AND also a place that as a kid we had roadtripped to, so it was a great birthday surprise. Not to mention that T already factored in my apprehension to sitting in a car for prolonged periods of time and got us an H3. Obnoxious, yes, but seriously the only way to travel in comfort.

bests and worsts

Tue, 15 May 2007 23:16:01 GMT

a couple random reviews...

Overlake Hospital Emergency Room - Best

Trust me, I know a thing about emergency rooms. For whatever reason, ever since I moved to Seattle almost 5 years ago, me and the ER have become good friends - if its not a sports injury, vacation injury, food poisioning, its something like totally random mysterious nerve damage that puts me in the E.R. Basically, I'm kinda clutzy and I seem to play sports where I'm the smallest person on the field.

Anyway, of all the emergency care facilities I've been to in King County, I have to say Overlake hospital over in Bellevue is by FAR the best - they're nice and friendly, the wait isn't too long and their doctors are awesome. They have the type of doctors/nurses/staff that you'd expect to get but rarely do in other places. Last night's ER doctor on duty had me and T cracking up the entire time we were there.

Pine Tree Cleaners - Worst

Pine Tree used to be awesome when their previous owner Mike was around. He was friendly, jovial and overall you just trusted him with your clothes; and he made a point to get to know his customers so that everytime you came in you felt welcome. Anyway, I guess he must have sold it off or passed it along in the family, but now the guy that is there is a total jackass - he could care less about listening to special instructions or giving a crap about customer service. Needless to say, I am now looking for a new dry cleaner - know any?

Clothes Encounters & Adam Tailor - Bests

Two really great tailors if you're ever looking for someone to do more than hem your jeans. The woman that runs Clothes Encounters is a hoot and really knows her stuff (but its far - its in Greenwood) - I got a Vera Wang gown done there and was really happy w/ her work, and Adam Tailor (down in the Square) is a great local tailor though his place is hard to catch open.

one dog please.

Wed, 02 May 2007 22:51:20 GMT

After being in sun valley last week with T, and spending a bunch of time with his friends who all have massive dogs, I totally want a St. Bernard or a Bernese Mountain Dog - who knew big dogs were so sedate and sweet?

(pics courtesy of dailypuppy.com)

no more bear cam :(

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 19:13:49 GMT

I've been following the bears at the Woodland Park Zoo for a year and a half...I don't know what it is about seeing bears loll around all day that's so amusing but I love to see what they're doing - lying on the rocks, roaming around their area, dipping their paws into the water. High quality entertainment, I tell you (and yes I actually have gone to the zoo in person to see the bears).

Anyway, I went to the website yesterday and noticed that it was down - like wonky-my-tv-is-broken kind of down, so I emailed the zoo (web)keeper about it and I got back this email this morning.

Dear Karen,
A storm this winter has damaged the cam. Despite several ongoing attempts to fix, we will be pulling the cam until further notice.
Sincerely,
Woodland Park Zoo

I'm SO SAD! This is horrible! I'm considering asking around work to see if anyone in the hardware group could help with some new cameras but I don't know anyone who works over there ...

finally made it to mcleods!

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 21:50:58 GMT

Thu, Mar 8, 2007 at 11:15pm
Originally uploaded by McLeod Residence Photo Booth.

yay!

that thing takes a picture so fast its hard to be ready for it...i'm still looking at the screen

red carpet ball - a fundraiser for lupus

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 01:11:37 GMT

Last weekend a bunch of us got all dressed up for the red carpet ball to help raise money for the lupus foundation.

This picture cracks me up b/c Shar was in the bathroom when the picture was taken so Tom took the liberty of photoshopping her in.

omg, i want a dog

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 02:18:54 GMT

AmyB sent me a link to Daily Puppy ... a site with nothing but cute puppies and dogs! ....It reminded me how much i like beagles (my roomate had one in college) tell me this doggie isn't cute!

jipped!

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 01:09:56 GMT

What the hell, man?!

Not only did I get T's membership for him, the price has since gone up (I didnt have time to get my own), AND he is the 100th member!

From the McLeod Blog:

t, local laundry detergent inspector and host of legendary events such as Ms. Russet's 17th Annual Sticky Wicket Social, is our 100th member.

Bar: Vessel. Weird

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 20:59:29 GMT

Saturday night I met up with Buster and Lele and headed over to a new place called Vessel. I'd never heard of it and Buster didn't know much about it other than Bethany mentioned it. Now, I don't know Bethany well at all, but I cannot believe she'd like a place like this - she usually has way better judgement than that. Buster really wanted to go because apparently they have slow melting ice. Yes, slow melting ice, like wtf does that mean?

Anyway, its another one of those places that's trying to be all chic but falls flat. It's like, "if we buy all design within reach furniture and make it all stark-modern with like neon lighting effects it will be cool, right?". The cheesiness of the place is only rivalled by Boka which has glass bamboo and a bar that changes color. The location is a bit odd as well, it makes sense if you work downtown since there aren't really any bars in the downtown core, but its an odd place to go on a saturday night because there really isn't anything else to do around there so you're kind of committed. Anyway, I can't imagine I'll ever go there again, the drinks (which were OK) and the slow melting ice (aka a big ball of ice) aren't enough to bring me back.

4 randoms

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:33:25 GMT

Like hello, best movie of the year! "Little Miss Sunshine" was SO funny - if you haven't seen it already, go see it! My absolute favorite part had to be when they got pulled over by the cop.
My indoor soccer team kicked off last night with a 10pm game! 10! I must be getting old but really? That's pretty late to be playing, especially since there were no female subs so we ran around the entire game huffing and puffing. We won though (yay!) which is good. August is looking pretty light for sports, but I did pick up Football in addition to soccer. Football is fun!
I learned how to drive stickshift! Well - sort of - i was mostly forced into it because t wasn't feeling well and we had to get back into the city somehow. I still need the lesson on hills but at least I got out of the parking lot for a change (and onto I-90!)
and most importantly ELYSIAN FIELDS OPENS TODAY! (That's the new Elysian Brewery in Pioneer Square - 542 1st Ave S). Can you say Karen's new place to eat burgers like every day? OMG OMG OMG!

Bill and Melissa's Wedding

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 00:37:01 GMT

So I didn't blog about it last week but t, jay and i went to Bill and Melissa's pre-wedding wine tour. Despite the ridiculously early wake up time and the long bus ride to Bill's hood of Yakima, the day was hilariously fun.

At the last stop there were a bunch of tasting places all together, and nestled in the complex was a beer place. Now, I can't tell if we lost it when we were at the A-something (can't remember the name winery where Jay tried to skip out on the reds but we peer pressured him into drinking) or if it really was the beer, but after the beer (and the pretzels) we were tanked. Before embarking on the long journey back to Seattle, we stopped at a McDonalds for food/restrooms and t had the fantastic idea that we should go into the playland. For those of you that have been wondering what 'Jay got in the blue slide twice' means - this is it: *I* went through the entire jungle gym before sliding down the yellow slide, and somehow jay managed to just get into the blue slide for t to take a picture for us on his polaroid. We thought we were done so we left playland to the restaurant area of McDonalds. Too bad t was a bit out of it and didn't set his exposure correctly so the picture came out all white washed out, except for jay - so t made us get BACK into the slides to take another picture (and of course it didn't come out that well either). Oh well, we had a good laugh about it and now I have pictures of Jay in a slide. I'll get t to scan them soon :)

This past weekend was the wedding and it was so beautiful! Who knew the Newcastle country club was SO nice! It's at the top of a hill over looking the city with great views all around. Aww, Bill and Melissa looked so happy, we (PM crew) couldn't have been happier for them!

Anyway, check out my photo album for more pics.

viceroy

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 21:46:00 GMT

from tk:

rock paper scisscors

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 20:50:09 GMT

Andrew and erik fight it out at the hideout - 100 dollars on the line.

a lil bit older ...

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 00:07:48 GMT

so all of last week all I knew was that I was going to be going somewhere and doing something for my birthday but I didn't know what - some people (ahem, cinthya) kept on rubbing it in that they knew what it was but I was fairly clueless about it. t apprently told everyone except for me - damn you walter for being too drunk and not remembering!

anyway, i spent my actual birthday in vancouver with t, and then we headed up the next day to go to whistler to go fly fishing! BEST BIRTHDAY WEEKEND EVER! (thanks t :) I've ALWAYS wanted to go fly fishing - when I was a kid, my dad used to take me and my bro out lake fishing in the summer with some family friends, and since i was little i've always wanted to learn how to fly fish.

fly fishing is really hard but really fun. I don't have waders yet but that is the next thing on my list now that i have my own rod and lots of flies (btw, flies are the awesomemest things ever - i want to learn how to tie my ow flies!). Who wants to go fishing with me soon?

dan, golf, baby shower, kate, greenlake, softball, sangria

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 23:00:23 GMT

well, that pretty much sums up this past weekend -

Dan - if you ever find yourself at a bar with this charming, unassuming fellow, do NOT, i repeat, do NOT let him talk you into touchdowns (shot of vodka dropped into a glass of redbull) or any other variety of shot. I think every time anyone goes out with Dan they wake up with a serious hangover :) Dan is by FAR the best pusher I have ever met!

Golf - Following Friday night's bar hopping, I played in the Fidrych Golf Tournament. You can imagine how well I played. I stepped it up on my last hole (the 9th) with a good drive and an amazing putt to contribute to team fourplay.

baby shower/babyQ - I left golf early to go to Allison and Peter's baby-q. How fun! It was my first baby shower ever. Yummy cake, good weather and painting onesies. I love that all of the onesies have personality (i painted a high heel shoe on mine ;)

kate - yay kate is back! more skirts and shopping and girlie movies! welcome back to seattle, i missed you! late dinner at Palomino and then drinks at Boka (weirdo new place)

greenlake - Lydia and I have decided to start running together. Finally I have someone who runs at the same pace as me (aka the pace where you dont sweat too much and you can still gossip)

softball - the other team nearly forfeited (not enough players), managed to scrounge together some folks to play and nearly beat us, but we came back in the bottom of the last inning to beat them with a 3 run stand up homer. yay!

Sangria - more fil festivities on the roof of Vaughn and Adam's building. My fave sangria is definitely the 'strong'. It was a beautiful day to be hanging out in the sun, but man does that stuff hit you hard! We ended up needing to go to Umi to get some follow up food, before I called it a night.

Anyway, good weekend, action packed. who could ask for more?

superman totally sucked

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 01:36:11 GMT

Talk about being overhyped (ahem, Torres). I saw Superman the other day and I couldn't have been more bored - slow slow slow. I should have gone to see the devil wears prada! Anyway, I can't say I'm really that into these superhero type movies the same way that some people are (torres, eames), but I liked Batman Begins and the x-men movies so I figured, sure why not? If you fall into the same camp as me (not that into the genre) you should definitely skip it. And I can't remember who blogged it, but really the bullet to the eye was over the top. like gross me out.

Otherwise, things have been chill - I've been sick for the last couple of weeks and I can't seem to kick this nagging cough.

trans-fatty k-star

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 16:43:16 GMT

It's funny, my mom emailed me last week about trans fat (my mom is one of those parents that takes full advantage of the 'email this article' link on every news site) and then I heard about it again this morning on NPR while in my semi comatose state of waking up to go to starbucks to meet a friend. Basically they were talking about how trans fat is bad for you, and how starbucks treats are totally full of trans fat.

It's not like I didn't know my cinnamon scone was bad for me, but I was reminded again of why I shouldn't eat them (I think I've been having one a day for the last 3 weeks). Each one has 520 calories, 65mg of cholesterol, 12g of saturated fat and 5g of trans fat. Oops. That on top of my venti soy latte (270 calories, 1g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol) is a lot to be eating for brekkie. The only plus is the combination gives me 75% of my recommended daily intake of calcium. I might get fat and have a heart attack but no osteoperosis here!

Anyway, new (re)vow - no more cinnamon scones!

bean ball & friends

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 19:55:35 GMT

Started the weekend off right with carpool directly to Toi with walter to get some food and drinks. Jane met us and we headed over to Umi for her Korean thing (which after 5 minutes we decided was wayyyy too much to handle and moved to the normal dining room to eat. Dave (from toi) and Adam dropped by, Cody, as always took good care of us. Yay for sushi! Jane and I had the WORST bar experience ever at Del Rey - just call her Kimberly and me Jamie, and someone tell that loser MBA from Wharton that "I go to Wharton, and I work at Microsoft" is not a good first line.

Saturday was one of those days when I just LOVE LOVE LOVE that I bought my place...I spent the morning puttering (and by morning, for some reason I woke up at 6am) - dishes, laundry, moving things here and there. I'm so domesticated its scary sometimes. Anyway, after finding out that costco closes at 6, racing over to whole foods in bellevue, I had a couple peeps over for drinks before heading over to cowgirls. Who knew you could have a sommersault race down my hallway?

Sunday kicked off another season of softball with BEAN - holy crap we're good this year - I mean, we lost, but it was an actual REAL game vs. our normal getting slaughtered on a Sunday afternoon. I'm actually optimistic that we're going to win some games for a change :) After the game I stopped by U Village where the salesman at Cole Haan thought I was 21. 21! When I told him I was a lot older than that and no longer a student, he guessed 24. Asian genes, I guess.

anyway, that was my weekend...now i'm back at work...boohooo.

yay for weekends!

Sun, 11 Jun 2006 22:12:05 GMT

Last week was a long one, but interesting one - I spent three days at management training. Now for those who have been a manager for some time, this seemed a bit tedious for them, but for me it was such an interesting learning experience. I mean, it really was all 'no duh' but without it being explicitly mentioned, I dont think I really thought THAT much about it. For the most part I've been practicing a lot of these things already (learned skills from previous managers and torres) but it makes me realize how much more of a conscious effort I can make to being a better manager. I also learned alot about myself and my social style (communication and work style) and the differences with others and how to work better. People fascinate me! Anyway, enough work talk!

The weekend has been wonderful - getting my car back from having the bumper and light fixed (yay no more dodge caliber), spontaneous rooftop barbeque, shopping (and killing time with Luke at Kenneth Cole), random bump ins at Barneys and sushi. yay! Brunch this morning at Cafe Campagne, softball practice in the sun (holy shit our team is good this year - no wonder, none of the original members but 4 are still on the team) and later, the ballet!

redheads, umi, sopranos

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 23:44:41 GMT

The last little while has been tons of fun...the weather has been getting better and so therefore so has my mood! Lu and Mel were in town last week for business (why dont I have more business trips to toronto?) which was awesome because I got to hang out with them without feeling like I had to take off work to entertain them (not that I could have anyway because I ate up all my vacation days going to vietnam).

Mel, Lu and I

Canadian redheads invade - Ok so we were the only redheads at the party and we got totally called out onto stage, but hey, how often does Erik turn 30, and how often does Mel pack her entire wig collection? :)

Umi Sake House - so worth checking out! Umi is where bada used to be, but none of the bad things that Bada used to be. We went to their opening last wednesday night - when I saw it the week before when I dropped in to say hi to Cody and even the evening before, it totally didn't look like they were going to make it in time for their opening. The decor is so beautiful! Thank god for knowing someone at the restaurant because by the time we got there they were running low on fish, but thankfully we got the hookup of a bunch of sushi. I ended up there again on Saturday night with Erik before Sara's gradutation thing at the rendezvous.

Look! Free sushi! Oh my!

Sopranos - HOW DISSAPOINTING WAS THAT FINALE?! WTF! Oh well, I hosted the finale again at my place - this time we cooked dinner (thanks to the fine direction of Mr. Washington and the chopping skills of Walter). Thankfully I was able to pawn off the remaning 12lbs of dessert of to Adam and Amy, otherwise I'd be eating tiramisu for breakfast lunch and dinner.

Anyway, the last couple weeks have been a lot of fun...I can't complain...

My nemesis, the bus

Wed, 31 May 2006 15:06:17 GMT

My timing for the bus is always so off - my resolution to take the bus more often is coming along slowly - but i always find the experience so frustrating. This morning, like all mornings so far when i have attempted to bus, i stood at the corner of 4th and jackson just as the light turned red for me to cross the street, and green for the 545 to drive away. Drat! Everytime!

Anyway, my second gripe about the bus is that i can either chance it by taking the shuttle when i get to redmond, or i could walk. Twice now i've been screwed pretty badly by the shuttle - i even made a stern phone call AND wrote a stern letter the last time it happened. How could it take 30 mins to go one kilometer?

Nothing really came out of my strongly worded (yet professional) complaint to shuttle services, but at least something came of my second stern letter to starbucks - letter and coupon (it was one of those days - two letters in one hour!)

Anyway enough t9-ing for me for now. Fingers crossed today's bus ride will get me to work on time for my 9am.

Ps. The dude beside me smells. ew.

- k

(this message was sent from a mobile device)

mon pauvre genou

Wed, 17 May 2006 02:16:25 GMT

well my knee is getting better - for those that have seen me walking around campus, i'm no longer gimping like one of my legs is longer than the other, and I'm actually able to walk up and down stairs instead of needing to take the elevator. Exciting!

The tape stitches are off, and now just waiting for the really fat scab to fall off. I'd take a picture but I doubt anyone actually wants to see it. Though, I can see parts of the scar and it doesn't look that bad. Yay! I started physio today, and hopefully I'll be 100% soon.

Other than that, things are going good, the weather is awesome and my allergies are out of control but I'd rather have sun and sneezies over rainy cold any day. I also started some sort of business over the weekend - perhaps when you start your weekend on mimosas you become more entrepreneurial? Anyway, I need to follow up on that - apparently we also registered the domain while we were sitting at Del Rey.

Beat the Bridge

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 19:43:07 GMT

Abby, Chris and I decided one night (and I struggle to recall because I think we might have been at a bar) to do the Beat the Bridge race. Abby is like crazy marathon runner girl and Chris is always in shape, so its really me that this is a stretch for since I hate running. We did our first run last night after work, and despite still having this stupid cough, it wasn't that bad. I guess all the soccer I've been playing is paying off in terms of endurance (aka not being winded). Afterwards, Abby cooked us dinner at her place (which me and Abby wolfed down and started eating chris' food because he was slow) and Chris filled us in on the unending drama that is his life ("what kind of person does that?!")

Looks like Jason is doing it too - any bets on who will finish first? (I bet he will, I run 10+ minute miles)

weekend randoms

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 01:50:08 GMT

Friday night I was determined to not let my stupid lingering cough get the best of me and I met Keith out for a drink. These days with no-smoking laws in place its actually possible to do that - had there still been smoking allowed in bars I would have steered clear away since it would have ruined my throat.

On Saturday, I was super duper productive running errands here and there - this week has been a mess for me w/ getting sick and all and so there were all these little loose ends that I didn't get around to during the week that I had to get buttoned up. I even dropped off all my old clothes to goodwill! (yes, they might have been sitting in my car since I moved to my condo but whatever). I spent the afternoon in Belltown - I've found that whenever I check in there, Vaughn is bound to appear and I should really stop looking like a total bum because I should just assume I am going to see people I know. I headed over to Del Rey with Eytan and Vaughn for a bit, where Vaughn tricked me into eating a mushroom. Well, tricked isn't really true, he kindly offered me a bite of his burger and I noticed there was a bad taste to it and there it was, a mushroom. ick. Later that evening Mr. Chair and I went to Jai Thai for a quick bite before heading over to Cinerama to see V for Vendetta which I was pleasantly surprised by - I thought it was a pretty good movie and worth seeing.

Sunday I had brunch at Monsoon and then went to the Spelling Bee at town hall with Jasmine. Man, who knows how to spell iliocostalis?? The first couple of rounds were pretty easy but got really hard, really fast. I was pretty surprised that probably 10% of the participants were home schooled. I had no idea home school was all the hotness around here. In fact, the winner from the last two years were home schooled as well. Anyway, later that evening I met up with Martha for some 25 for $25 action at Sazerac which I've passed by a million times but never actually ate at. Not bad - I dont know if I'd put it on my list of restaurants to go back to, but definitely worth my $25 bucks.

drama is so much better when its someone else's

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 03:08:41 GMT

I haven't seen my friend Chris in what seems like forever (Chris and I were interns back in the day and also my fake half brother) so we got together for some sushi (only my second time this week).

What I love about whenever I see Chris is that we do these recaps of how things have been since the last time we saw each other and the stories (and subsequent schemes) are always hilarious. He makes my life seem so much more tame and manageable by comparison because he's always dating someone totally crazy :) The situations he finds himself in are always so incredibly ridiculous all you can really do is laugh - Chris' dramas are always over the top.

I doubt we'll be able to do any of these schemes without laughing, but I have to do a drive by to see this first hand.

overwhelmed and underwhelmed

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 02:37:17 GMT

I've been MIA for a while, there have been a million and one things going on in my life that just thinking about how to explain them all makes me tired. Overwhelmed and underwhelmed is the best I can do - things are better now for those that were wondering.

I had the first great weekend in a long time, full of randomness and sunshine - it's been way too long - Jasmine and Jane for inviting me boarding, Daniel for the trip to bainbridge for a snack, sushi for dinner w/ walter. Top it all off with a quiet evening at home of mindless tv and an amazing sunset.

advice from friends

Sat, 24 Dec 2005 20:20:22 GMT

amisha (of "boys are like vending machines" fame) gave me some very good advice today along with her new theory of "bins" (which isn't AS catchy as the other one but is very true). There's so much going on in my head right now, sometimes I forget what's really important even when its right in front of me.

a.merry xmas eve! says:

   ppl are more important than money and career
a.merry xmas eve! says:
   truly
a.merry xmas eve! says:
   ppl make life worth living
a.merry xmas eve! says:
   the rest is just necessity to keep it moving along

its good to have good friends...especially good friends that stay with you through the years

everything will work out in the end, right?

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 19:41:45 GMT

tests turned out to be normal, one less stress for me over the holidays.

everything else? still up in the air.

everything will work itself out one way or another at some point, or at least that's what i've been telling myself. i can't wait to go home to toronto.

uhm, there's a coffee cup on the roof of your car

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 18:48:01 GMT

This morning I went to starbucks as usual, and then headed down 1st ave to the on-ramp of I-90 to drive to work. As I was driving, I noticed a white car in front of me, driving with a starbucks cup on their roof.

Now, if you haven't ever accidently driven with something on your roof, you should know that its totally possible to drive with an object on the roof of your car for miles if you're driving along city/residential streets because you're probably not going too fast. Being the absentminded person that I am, I (of course) have done this before, including once driving with a pair of boots on the top of my car (a motorcyclist pulled up beside me and handed them to me - how embarassing).

Anyway, I pulled up beside the car, rolled down my window and waved at the woman in the passenger seat - wave - point - point - wave. She hopped out of her car (which actually scared me because it was unexpected since the cup was on the other side of the car above the driver) and said that it was a fake cup and handed me a gift card for starbucks just for noticing and stopping.

While I LOVE coffee, starbucks and free things (especially all together), there's something about this campaign that doesn't quite sit well with me, maybe because I feel like it cheapens the efforts of those that actually think about others in their daily lives. I'm not even talking doing big things for others - just the little things that you can do for other people (which I've observed most people don't seem to do) like giving up your seat on the subway/bus, smiling at strangers, holding the door open for someone - seem so basic and fundamental to human interactions that it bothers me that someone is giving rewards out for doing them. Does that make sense?

Anyway, that being said, it doesn't bother me THAT much, I took the card and I'm still going to enjoy my free latte tomorrow morning.

i liked it better when i was on vacation

Mon, 28 Nov 2005 18:55:22 GMT

Boo - back at work! It was very nice last week to be able to sleep in every day!

Anyway, my mom came to visit for the thanksgiving holiday - we shopped, ate, went to the bloedel reserve on bainbridge, museum of glass in tacoma, and watched harry potter. All in all, a fun little visit.

Here's me and my mom freezing our arses off at the museum of glass outdoor chihuly exhibit....more pics in the photo album.

bizzy weekend

Mon, 21 Nov 2005 08:33:40 GMT

Saturday, I literally spent the entire day (minus ballet time) either a. at home depot, b. painting c. waiting for paint to dry. I thought painting my bathroom would be a breeze, but small spaces + many obstacles (mirrors, toilet, tight areas) made it a very time consuming activity. I ended up doing nothing else with my saturday afternoon and night, but my bathroom now looks much better - its brighter (was brown, now white with a hint of creamsicle).

Sunday was a pretty busy day - campagne, zoo, sonics!

For those *lucky* enough to be part of the Snuffles crew or sit anywhere within earshot of my office, you know that I've been watching the brown bear at the Woodland Park Zoo a lot lately. After a tasty brunch with D and E, we headed off to the zoo to see the bears (me) and the arctic fox (E). Now I know where the bears are when I don’t see them on the cam – they’re sleeping in their cave. They looked a little blue today – they were lolling in their cave, napping. Nonetheless I’m happy I got to see them. They look so cute and fuzzy! It's sort of hard to tell but the “furry wall” on the right of the picture is actually the bear’s leg. He was sleeping with one leg propped up on the wall of the cave.

I also got me a new umbrella - I spotted one today while looking for a parking space on the way to brunch at a great store called Urchin on first ave. It was cute and pink and calling my name! Here it is with my MRS (mostly recent shoes - mostly because I haven't worn those yellow shoes in a while since they have leather aka non-rain-proof soles)

If this day couldn't get any better, Mr. Chair scored some phat seats to the Sonics game and took me. What a game! I love Ray Allen, he's awesome! The game started out not so good - Sonics down and playing sloppy. But by the 3rd, Sonics had caught up, and by the 4th, Sonics were keeping it together, just enough for the win.

All in all, an awesome weekend - I'm excited about this week - its a short one and my mom is coming to visit!

vacation bug

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 18:02:49 GMT

Exactly one year ago, I bought a plane ticket to Santiago, Chile (with a return ticket to seattle coming back from Lima, Peru). It was a last minute thing - I knew I wanted to go on vacation, but wasn't sure where. Up until then, I think Vietnam was the front runner, but cheap 1-way tickets + a friend backpacking in South America was enough to change my mind. I jumped on a plane 10 days later for three weeks of random wandering with my friend steve. I laugh reading through some of the entries I wrote while I was there - I miss backpacking!

A year has passed and my attempts at vacationing have largely been foiled by the workie + rockstar. I've got my toronto tickets booked for christmas but I'm itching to go somewhere warm and toasty and full of sun.

where to go?

the day after halloween is the best day ever

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 18:11:10 GMT

its the day when starbucks busts out their christmas drinks - namely, the gingerbread latte! I'm a total sucker for anything gingerbread, so gingerbread in liquid form plus caffeine? Heavenly!

Plus, gingerbread lattes make me think of home and friends, and gets me excited about going home for the holidays. Meet you at BCE starbucks in 10, Craiggie?

worst day ever

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 22:10:55 GMT

omg, so this day is blowing after all.

I BROKE MY SPACE HEATER! the fan blade like totally snapped off so the coils heat up but there's no heat distribution so it just smells like my office is on fire. I think they call that a fire hazard.

I think I am going to have to start wearing my parka every day. I can't work under these conditions, its like the tundra around here.

not as blue

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 17:00:26 GMT

geez my blog has become a diary of self help.

anyway, thanks for all the texts and phone calls, I got a good night's sleep and I'm feeling much better, thanks. Plus, I'm pretty sure today is going to be a better day because:

This morning when I went to starbucks I thought I'd treat myself to a fatty scone. They said they were out of cinnamon scones, but then managed to find one for me. Yay!
It was sunny and beautiful on the drive to work (so sunny and beautiful I nearly forgot to get of I-405)
It's Friday! Whee! and I plan to do absolutely no work this weekend.

deep thinks

Thu, 27 Oct 2005 20:51:30 GMT

ok, maybe not DEEP thinks, but thinking nonetheless about my life in general.

I don't know if it was the random conversations I had with D or with B over the last week or so, but I went home yesterday feeling a little bit blue. And for the most part they aren't new revelations, but the same little things that pop up in my head once in a while...like the fact that I dont remember what my dad's voice sounds like, that I've now lived more than half my life now with only one parent, that I have no real benchmark or model for 'what makes a good relationship' because the one relationship I look up to (my parents) is still the same percieved model from when I was 13 and even more naive than I am now.

Maybe cuz it's fall, and its time for change? (seems to be a trend with me I suppose) Maybe it's a phase? I don't know, but I feel like I'm ready for something different.

a whole lotta birthdays

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 23:45:20 GMT

Saturday was Fil's birthday at Wasabi/Apartment/Twilight and Cam's birthday at Bada.

Today was Mike's birthday, and we came to work to find that Mike had gotten peeped (in the marshmallow persuasion).

Maya and I didn't do the peeping (or did we?) but we did come up with an elaborate plan for the birthday surprise. The timing part? Not so good, nor the part where I was supposed to get the cake from the fridge but I didn't know which one and checked all three floors not knowing it was in the fridge in the office not but 10 steps away from me. Oh well. Despite that, I think we did pretty well, especially on the gift part - superman cat costume for the man who loves superman and has cats?

Yeah, I know, I'm a genius.

Mike says he'll go try it out on his real cats this evening. I can't wait to see the pictures!

yay for good weekends

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 17:52:14 GMT

Friday night I met up with Bubba for dinner at Ipanema Grill - talk about a meat coma! It's a brazillian meat buffet, where you don't even have to get up - They bring the meat to you! Anyway, watching Bubba scarf down pork rib after pork rib was almost enough to make me ill ;) so we headed off to Barca to celebrate mc's pum-ship. Walter come out (of course), but the real surprise was Shree and Dora. Rumor from a trusted source is that shree has been peppering his 'real' check ins with fake ones. Since when does Shree go out EVERY night of the week now that he's an east sider? Also, since Lu's visit, I think I've seen Paul and Keith more this month than I have in the last three years. wtf?

Anyway, despite a late night, I still managed to get up early (ahem, d.) and go to ballet class. This is my first class since my ankle fiasco of early 2005, so I was really excited to be back. The ankle is holding up well, but I definitely avoid pirouettes and wear my ankle brace for fear of hurting myself again. After class, I decided to be efficient and go directly to the super market to get the turkey for my thanksgiving dinner. When I say efficient, I mean I decided not to bother to change out of my ballet gear after my class. Which means I looked like a fool. Which means I did not want to be seen by anyone I know. Which means (of course) that I bumped into someone I knew, who looked at me as I was a freak in pink. Oh well. I spent the rest of the day running errands and cleaning my condo (ok, that's a lie, I shoved a bunch of things in my closet) . Sat night was the usual - sushi at wasabi with Walter then random belltown bars.

Sunday (the big day) I spent cooking, on the phone with steve and hether for advice, and at costco (yes, i really was there twice). The turkey turned out really well thanks to help fr/ mr. chair, except for the fact that the entire dinner took about 2 hours more to prepare than any of us had anticipated. Anyway, that was my 'pilot' dinner party, I think I'm ready to start having people over now...

canadian thanksgiving

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 22:58:38 GMT

So its Canadian thanksgiving and I have decided that I'm going to have a little dinner party to celebrate how awesome Canada is.

Plus, I like turkey.

I do have a couple problems though:

I dont know where to get a turkey
I dont know how to make turkey or any of the things one might expect with turkey, like gravy or stuffing.
I have 8 guests but only 6 chairs.

I know how to solve #1 and #3, but #2 is going to be a bit of an experiment. Anyone with turkey tips please send 'em my way!

Watch out seattle...here comes Luen!

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 21:00:42 GMT

My friend Luen is coming to visit next week (which means I have to get my ass in gear and clean my condo). I haven't had a visitor for what seems like FOREVER (Ingi was the last).

Last time Lu was here (I just read through an old blog entry far too embarassing to reference directly)

we both slept on the floor since i didnt have a bed at the time. (hey i was ghetto poor intern at the time) but i think we consumed enough alcohol for it not to matter. Lu also slept on a bench in a park.
Lu was no longer able to mock me about 'jeff probst' (aka nick)
we rode in paul's convertible
we got ridiculously sunburnt wandering around discovery park, which didn't help the 'asian bar tan' we got when we went out at night
we shopped so much lu got in trouble at customs when she went back to Canada.
we ran around and kissed pigs

I think we're far more responsible and mature now that 4 years have passed so I can't imagine hijinx like this would ever happen again.

I mean, they took the pigs away so we definitely can't repeat there.

creature of habit

Mon, 12 Sep 2005 20:08:31 GMT

We just moved to a new office building today where the bathrooms are switched in terms of their location when you come into the building. The women's room in our previos building was on the left side when you entered through the lobby, now its on the right side...and of course, not once, but twice already today (its only 1pm) I've almost walked into the mens room. Not good. I didn't drive today, but I can guaruntee that tomorow morning I'll drive to the wrong building - which is what I did sporadically for over two months after our last office move.

I'm so used to the day in day out routines of working here, I'm definitely a creature of habit (that, or an old dog that can't learn new tricks, but i'd prefer to believe its the former).

disappointment

Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:01:51 GMT

there's nothing worse than feeling disappointment. disappointment in someone you trusted and valued, and disappointment in yourself for not seeing how stupid you were for bothering to make time for this person.

mr. chair says i have a good heart for always giving people second chances, but i feel stupid and embarassed for being so naive and trusting.

new camera

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 01:25:58 GMT

so as you might have noticed, i've finally gotten back into the habit of posting pictures. i stopped for a while because i broke my last camera in costa rica and was too mad about it to even look at other cameras.

Anyway, on impulse i bought the new sony cybershot t7 - i found a ridiculously good deal on techbargains a couple weeks ago and couldn't pass it up! 5.1 megapixels, Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens with 3x optical zoom; 2.5-inch LCD display, 3/8 inch thin at its narrowest and 5/8 inch at its thickest. its so tiny and thin, i love it! It's smaller than Charlie's cellphone for pete's sake!

i had the previous cybershot t1 and despite the annoying sony proprietary memory format bullshit, i love the quality of pictures and the UI of the menus.