the best life ever

Without power

2009-04-20T22:22:00.000-07:00

During the recent windstorm our power went out 3 times. I was amazed that it was never out for longer than about 20 minutes. However, the second time, it was after sunset and I was in the bathtub.

It wasn't hard to find the soap and washcloth. It wasn't hard to find the shampoo, so I started washing my hair as I had intended. Only then did I wonder how I would dry it. At that point I began to think how dependent my life is on easy access to power of some sort. I could manage in the dark within the confines of the bathroom, but I needed electricity to dry my hair, gas to heat my water, light to read my book. As I sat there wet-headed in the dark in the cooling water, the resource worries of the world seemed a bit more real.

things are breaking

2009-04-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

Lately life seems more fragile than I remember it being.

subconscious

2009-04-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

Last night I had another dream about someone I know preparing for death, the 3rd in the series, I guess. I hate to say it, but this one was actually better because it was about cancer, i.e., not intentional.

blessed are those who mourn

2009-04-01T11:07:00.001-07:00

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)

It's hardest when I'm driving because it's not like you can distract yourself too much when driving without the situation becoming very dangerous very quickly. The closest I have been able to come as far as distractions has been listening to podcasts in the car. They take more of my attention than just listening to music most of the time, unless I'm trying to sing along. Most recently Mosaic has been going through the beatitudes. Although I had been putting it off, I finally listened to Blessed Are Those Who Mourn. Despite the fact that it was a little rambling, it caused me to cry 3 or 4 separate times during the course of my 25 minute commute.

First: Mourning involves love and loss. We do not mourn things we love but have not lost, nor do we mourn the things we lose but have not loved. The second of these things is probably more important -- a deep sense of loss is an indication of our humanity, our ability to have deep connection with others, the fact that we are able and willing to love.

Second: We can take the fact that we mourn as an indication the love is stronger than death, because the fact that someone we care for has died does not cause our love for them to cease. The first time I heard (or read) this somewhere else, I thought it seemed like too much of a play on concepts; it seemed in some way too sappy. Now, although it does seem true, I'm not sure that it is meaningful to pit love against death.

Third: Jesus weeps with those who mourn in John Chapter 11. Maybe this is comforting because it reminds us that we are not alone. But the outcome for Lazarus and his loved ones is not the ending I am expecting to get.

Revelations 21:

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

According to Erwin McManus, the "no sea" part seems a little arbitrary until you consider the fact that John had been exiled to the island of Patmos, an island with an area of 13 square miles, surrounded by the Aegean sea. Thus the sea must have represented to John separation from everyone else, including those he cared for, those he loved.

I don't know how to deal with the loss of a loved one without telling myself there is hope that one day we will meet again. Particularly, when she was taken so prematurely, seemingly in the prime of her life. In my mind this is why eulogies and memoirs allude to heaven. It's what's necessary to end on an uplifting note.

I am still looking for more of the comfort promised in Matthew 5:4.

people who share too much?

2009-03-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

He asked how it was going, and I replied that things were okay, I couldn't stop sneezing, and maybe allergies were the problem. I asked "how are you" reciprocally, and he started to tell me about his father's poor health, being in and out of the hospital several times to avoid death, paperwork, notes from doctors, dealing with employers, medicare, disability, jury summons, moving, mailing addresses that banks and other organizations had that needed to be changed.

All this via instant message, initiated by him, the first time we had talked in almost 2 years. It's not that I don't care (at least I don't think it is), but to dump all that on someone who you were never particularly close to in the first place and after a few seconds in online chat? I guess I just don't feel comfortable with that level of sharing.

still early

2009-03-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

I have been waking up too early, relative to other members of this household. I suppose I have also been going to bed too early as a result. And I don't like waking up before the sun comes up.

Right before I woke up this morning I had been in the middle of a bad dream. I think it was set in the present because everyone around me was the same age they are now, and I seemed to be the same age as well. But it also felt futuristic in that culture and social norms had changed to an extent. Basically, in this world in my dream it had become acceptable for people to decide to end their lives. I knew because one of my parents had decided it was time, and as a family we were making preparations for the appointment day. I found it to be incredibly disturbing that someone so close to me would choose this, but I was even more bothered by the fact that everyone seemed to think it was no big deal. That life should just go on.

At the same time, a substantial portion of my dream involved preparation. Making arrangements, gathering mementos, getting ready to say goodbye. You don't get that every day.

5 things I am thankful for

2009-03-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

Keeping a gratitude journal is supposed to make people happy or something. Here are my five for the day:

1. Being employed, getting a paycheck.
2. Rats that are super cute and sweet and non-biting. They even come when I call.
3. Good health -- yeah I'm getting over a cold, but the experience just highlighted the fact that it's pretty rare that I get sick.
4. Good students, the ones you want to teach.
5. Husband who will squash bugs, and fix things, and make bread. (Not all at once.)

attitude is everything

2009-03-16T11:30:00.001-07:00

It's weird how your attitude towards things can change so quickly. In the past couple of weeks I've come to find ordinary household tasks and chores something of a relief to do. Initially part of my change in attitude towards making the bed, doing dishes, and generally picking up was due to the fact that I found them comforting due to their ability to distract my mind from dwelling much on grief. But there was also another thing. Whereas previously I had found myself keeping tabs on how much housework I'd been doing (particularly compared to others in the house who were less cleaning-inclined), it has since seemed so meaningless to waste energy and emotion on that sort of thing. At least compared to issues that are literally life and death matters, keeping score of bed-making and dish-washing is a waste of time.

I am so proud of my 4-year-old niece (who is not technically my niece but that is besides the point). She is a wonderful, bubbly, bright child. She was amazing through all of the events surrounding the funeral. Instead of hiding shyly from hundreds of people or crying for her mother, she sat quietly on her father's lap, handed her grandfather a tissue and held his hand. Last Monday her play room and bedroom were a bit of a mess, so I suggested we clean them up. Whereas I would imagine cleaning up to be an unpleasant task, she takes pride in being able to put things where they belong. She enjoys knowing where each toy, each piece of clothing goes. She put her jackets back on their hangers to put in the closet, and I got to show her a neat little trick -- that the jackets stay on the hangers much better if you zip them up just a little bit. She hadn't done zippers before, but she figured it out really quickly and seemed satisfied at having gained competence at a new task. Attitude is everything.

things that are not helpful

2009-03-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

Overall I haven't told people at work what happened, even less details of what occurred. Mostly I don't want to put people into the position of having to respond to the information or having to come up with something to say.

I don't know what it is about people finding out that you have lost a family member that makes them want to immediately tell you about someone they knew who also died. This is not helpful to me.

It's likely that what happens is that he or she will tell me that they had a grandparent pass away and how difficult of an experience that was. But 1) we expect people to die when they are old. If the person managed to reach a state of having grandchildren who are full-grown adults, I figure that they have lived a pretty full life. And 2) is that really supposed to make me feel better? to be reminded that, yes, people die, and it sucks for everyone around them?

pop music dependence

2009-03-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

I find pop music strangely comforting. It fills the silence but fails to evoke real emotions.

parental wisdom

2009-03-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

Growing up it was very easy for me to cry. I don't know whether I specifically cried a lot (that would be the assumption), but my dad told me that my tears flowed too easily. He told me that I should cry more sparingly, or else my tears would become devalued. Today they started coming during office hours when my student asked me how I was doing. I managed to regain my composure as I pressed a tissue against my eyes. But I feel as though I am constantly at the edge, and the smallest things can start me again.

a tribute

2009-03-09T23:55:00.000-07:00

Given for my dear cousin Shirley Ming Chang-Divadeenam, whose life we remembered today.

I’ve known Shirley since before I can remember. Our mothers are sisters, so Shirley is my cousin. But she’s the closest thing to a sister I’ve ever had; and I have been blessed to have her in my life. Although I’m sure there were times when it wasn’t cool to hang out with her six-years-younger cousin, Shirley never let me know it. I looked up to her, and she took care of me and always made me feel welcome.

Shirley taught me gentleness when I was six. Shirley had some small bird figurines made of fuzz and wire. I had similar ones, shaped like baby chicks, but she also had a rooster and a hen. I wanted the whole set, so I took them. But kids aren’t very good at stealing things, so it was obvious I took them. Shirley asked me about her missing chickens, but she without accusation or anger. I felt sorry for what I’d done and started to cry. She comforted me, and I gave the birds back.

When I was in junior high, Shirley took me to Six Flags Magic Mountain, a theme park with roller coasters. Magic Mountain was the big kids’ park compared to Disneyland, which was obviously for little, elementary school kids. Shirley was the first person to take me to ride roller coasters. She was old enough to drive but nice enough to bring me along.

Three years ago I was engaged to be married. For whatever reason I had not been interested in wedding dress shopping, although some girls are, even before they have any plans to get married. A couple of months were left before the wedding, and when we were in Kansas visiting, Shirley learned that I did not yet have a wedding dress. She let me borrow hers, which had been preserved and boxed. Even this, she was willing to share.

Of course, over the years our relationship has changed in subtle ways. For one, we were no longer just an hours’ drive away from one another. Perhaps more significantly, we took on new roles and responsibilities as adults. But throughout my life she has always made me feel that I am a valuable person. Through her kindness, she always demonstrated her love.

I expect this is why I liked spending time with Shirley so much. When I was a child, her family would drive to our house in the morning, and after dinner, they’d be ready to drive home. Often I begged them to spend the night so that I would have more time to spend with my cousin. Occasionally I would successfully persuade her parents, and they’d stay over until the next day, but eventually they would have to leave. I would stand at the curb as they got into their car. We would exchange our goodbyes through the rolled-down car windows. The car would start to pull away, and I would follow it down the street and around the corner, running and waving.

Today, as I felt back then, I miss Shirley very much. The friends and family she leaves behind have experienced a tremendous loss. But I tell myself that she had somewhere to go, and seek comfort in knowing that one day we will meet again.

the lunch routine persists

2009-03-05T12:26:00.000-08:00

I am at my desk, eating the same thing I always eat for lunch on Thursday between noon and one. Routines bring comfort, though spontaneity may bring excitement or interest.

some observations on grief

2009-03-02T17:43:00.000-08:00

1. It is just like it is on TV.
In Season 2 of the West Wing, President Bartlet's personal secretary, Mrs. Landingham, dies after getting hit by a drunk driver. In the season finale episode, "Two Cathedrals", President Bartlet's memory flashes back to particular moments in his life with her at random points during the day. The particular interactions, things remembered, things said, interrupt you without warning. It is just like that.

2. So much seems so trivial.
When something of actual consequence happens, you realize that everything else is so trivial. I log onto Facebook due to habit, and looking at status updates I'm completely unmoved. I've had the book, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, for probably a decade now. For several weeks it has been sitting in my bathroom. The book talks about how not to get angry when you're in the car and another driver cuts you off. Unless someone is being born or dying, emotions seem wasted now.

3. I find that I have to constantly do something. It doesn't matter whether it's washing dishes, cleaning up, surfing the web, or (most beneficially) working. I have to keep myself busy because if I stop for a minute and let myself think, the memories, the questions, and the pain creep into my consciousness. More generally, I can only describe my state as a complete lack of understanding. And I can't hold back my tears.

2009-02-28T11:53:00.001-08:00

It is a very dark day.

early birding

2009-02-26T08:01:00.000-08:00

I like being on campus before everyone else gets here. I mean, I don't have to be the only person -- that would be creepy -- but I enjoy the quiet freshness in the morning. It's not the lack of people and activity; staying late in the evening when nobody is here anymore does not seem to have the same effect. It's the cool, still damp air. It's the extra time I have to prepare mentally, unhurriedly, before my morning class. It's feeling like the day is fresh.

the lunch routine

2009-02-24T14:29:00.000-08:00

I can't say that I have a lot of routines. Or maybe I do have routines, but they aren't conscious ones.

I am on campus Tuesdays and Thursdays (at least). This semester I have developed a Tuesday/Thursday lunch routine. I get lunch from the salad bar on these days. It
is the sort of salad bar where they weigh you food, and you pay based on how heavy your plate is. I get the smallest plate available, which is not a plate at all but a rectangular-shaped tray, the sort that french fries were served in my junior high school cafeteria. I load the tray in the following order:

spanish rice (approx 1 scoop)
black beans (approx 1 scoop)
pineapple chicken (3-4 pieces, which probably comes out to 2 oz.)
cooked plantains (2-3 broken broken pieces)
romaine lettuce with occasional slice of tomato (until the tray fits no more)
topped with about 2 Tbs of guacamole

(I would call the ordering of salad bar items atypical in that salad bars generally start with lettuce, then you add stuff on top. Secretly I wonder if this is all part of the plan to encourage customers to load up on the heavy (thus costly) items in a diet that runs opposite any sort of Volumetrics plan.)

I have my money out or easily accessible, and am ready to put my tray on the scale as soon as the person in front of me in line vacates their food from it. My lunch costs between $3.50 and $4.50, and as soon as I know this, I move my tray off of the scale so the next person can put their food there. (Secretly, I pride myself on being very efficient at this, and feel slightly superior to those who fumble for money and allow their plates to linger on the scale, holding up the rest of the line.) I move myself and my lunch over to a small table which holds a huge bin of plastic forks and another huge bin of spoons. The counter next to the table also has a small bin of pepper packets and a small bin for salt packets. I take one of each in my left hand, tear openings into them with my right, and try to sprinkle salt and pepper evenly across my food, which from the top, looks like romaine lettuce and guacamole. Grab a fork and wedge it into the food so it stays. And I'm on my way.

Routines are good for me because I'm not a particularly decisive person. Having this certainty of a non-decision reduces stress from my day. But I did not go out of my way to create this routine -- it just happened. Call me boring, but I wouldn't mind having a few more routines.

punctual

2009-02-22T13:30:00.001-08:00

There is a window of time in which it is possible to be on time, and after that, I find that I don't really care anymore. It's possible that I should treat 'on-timeness' as a continuous variable, but in my mind it feels so binary.

from expectations to execution

2009-02-20T16:36:00.001-08:00

Particularly when something bothers or upsets me, if I step back for a moment and think about it, it is inevitably a case of the situation not matching my expectations. I expect that this is why special occasions become stressful for me. I have a mental schema of what birthdays, holidays, etc. are supposed to look like, some pre-existing notion in my head of how things are supposed to go. But instead of doing something about it or communicating these expectations, I just expect them to happen. This is the perfect setup for FAIL.

Possible solutions:
1. get rid of expectations
2. do something to bring about expectations

The last couple years I have focused on option 1 a lot with little success. Perhaps I will look into option 2.

I mixed tea and hot chocolate together

2009-02-15T10:20:00.000-08:00

8 oz. hot water
1 black tea teabag
1 heaping tsp of Ghiradelli hot cocoa

It's pretty good. One might describe it as chocolatea.
I like to try new things.

the service man came to check out our plumbing problem

2009-02-14T17:24:00.000-08:00

Apartment living takes away some of a man's opportunities to be manly.

valentine's day plans or lack thereof

2009-02-13T15:55:00.000-08:00

Some thoughts regarding the upcoming Valentine's Day:

1. I used to REALLY like Valentine's Day. Strangely, I think all the years I really liked Valentine's Day happened while I was single. To me, then, Valentine's Day was about expressing love to everyone, friends and family. Valentine's Day was not about romance but appreciation and gratitude. I took the opportunity to be a reminder to myself to love others. What happened?

2. I guess that happened was that I succumbed to all of the socio-cultural hype. The norms inculcated into me by popular media and, perhaps more disappointingly, my social network and/or friends. When people start asking whether or not you have Valentine's Day plans, you start thinking that you should, and if you don't, there's obviously something wrong with you or your relationship.

3. But I didn't buy into all of the social norms, particularly, the one that says that the entire burden of responsibility falls on the man (in a heterosexual relationship). I also don't think the proper way to celebrate or acknowledge Valentine's Day necessarily includes chocolates, candy, and flowers. Although having a more restricted sense of what the holiday entails would be so much easier.

4. Instead, there is now lots of ambiguity. Nobody is really in charge (unlike birthdays, in which case the non-birthday-haver should take more responsibility for planning). There's no specific script to follow -- buy a gift, buy no gift, go out, stay in. And if there is anything I have discovered about myself (or that has been discovered onto me) in the last few years of living, it's that I deal with uncertainty very poorly.

5. So all in all, my feelings about Valentine's Day are mixed. Even more so because of all the newspaper, magazine, and blog articles about how to celebrate Valentine's Day without breaking the bank (given the economic crisis and all) suggesting that a really great way to celebrate Valentine's Day on a budget is to "Make your partner a home-cooked dinner." Because it'll be really special and all. Maybe it would be more special if I didn't already do that five times a week.

I think I would be much happier back at one.

The story of my Kindle

2009-02-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

I bought myself a Kindle back in June as a graduation present, and as something to make the train rides to work a little faster. I really liked it, basically for all the reasons people were supposed to like it; and then I broke it.

It turns out that "forgetting that the Kindle is in your backpack and thus throwing it over a fence" is not covered by Amazon's warranty. Yes, I was also surprised to learn this. It also turns that replacing the screen is prohibitively expensive, so I went back to paperback.

But now there's a Kindle 2, and I have to decide whether I'm willing to risk another relationship with a beautiful but fragile device. It seems like it's better than the Kindle 1, but not fundamentally different. Same price, specs improved by ~20%. Since I loved the first one, this seems like it ought to be a good thing; but I was still hoping for something... new.

a nearly empty nest

2009-02-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

When we found out one of the two female rats we'd adopted might be pregnant, we had no idea what we were going to do. When 12 baby rittens popped out, we still didn't have a clue. Overall, I've discovered that Facebook was pretty useless, and Craigslist pretty good, for findings baby rats new homes. Now we've got just one little guy left (schedule to be picked up this weekend), and I feel both relieved and a smidgen glum. When I separated the baby boys from the girls (at 5 weeks, to ensure no more accidents), the girls' cage seemed so lifeless and sparse.

I hope we raised the rittens well. I hope they make others happy and enjoy their lives.

good things

2009-02-02T01:00:00.000-08:00

I played tennis four days in a row. Thursday -- class at Central Park. Friday -- practice match with Harish, Chris, and Lisa. Saturday -- 7.0 mixed league in Redwood city (6-2, 7-6) and today's 8.0 mixed in Burlingame (unfortunately, 1-6, 4-6 and Alex watched us get crushed). Concurrent with my rediscovery of tennis I have also had the first time discovery of pain to the back of my right hand. Initially I associated the pain with a past wrist injury. But then I realized it's in a totally different spot -- not the wrist. This is good because the previous injury prevented me from playing altogether due to pain. The current injury just produces pain when I hit shots a certain way, like when I try to add a lot of wristy topspin to my backhand.

Yesterday and today I decided to take some Tylenol before my matches. I think it helped with the pain. Specifically, I didn't feel like I was hitting shots in such a way as to minimize pain. Instead I was just hitting the shots that seemed like good ideas strategy-wise. I think that's the way to go.

I worry about overdoing it though. I guess what I wonder is whether it's reasonable to play through the pain, and the pain is just a sort of nuisance. Or whether the pain is trying to tell me something, like "Hey, lay off the tennis a bit." I worry that by continuing to play I might be worsening the condition, or worse, causing some permanent damage. For now I just hope (perhaps too idealistically) that the pain will go away on its own. Because I'm not yet an old person.

I have enjoyed playing tennis. I feel like my doubles game is getting better, and today I had quite a few decent points at the net. I'm excited for the rest of the season's games.

free car wash

2009-01-25T19:03:00.000-08:00

I moved my car onto the street in anticipation of rainstorms and a free car wash. I did not anticipate that this might cause birds to deposit poop on the front windshield of my car.

how the rain sounds

2009-01-21T23:06:00.000-08:00

The sound of rain falling on the roof at night is wonderful. It is improved if I have a hot cup of tea or am tucked into blankets. It is degraded by the sound of traffic that whizzes by. I remember falling in love in an unusually rainy winter in L.A., and the sound becomes magic.

rats are kid pets

2009-01-19T23:38:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about how I have this perception of rats as being kid pets. You don't think of grown people as having pet rats, really, unless they are the sort of person with characteristics that make them seem not quite fully adult. Before we ended up having rats ourselves, the person I had most recently encountered having rats fit this stereotype. This guy with rats had a dark room with shelves full of board games and card games, and his house had fantasy art (like, D&D style) on the walls.

I think the thing about pet rats is this: they are a non-committal sort of pet. A convenience pet. A trainer pet. A pet that is not a burden, because rats don't live very long. You are making a 2 or 3 year commitment when you get a pet rat. A cat or a dog will probably be around for 10, maybe 15 years. I know that this is at least one reason we got rats -- because one member of this two-person household said that he did not want to rush into making a decision that would last 10 or 15 years.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about this idea of investing in things (in a non-monetary context) -- primarily relationships, but also things like work and leisure activities. I have also been considering the notion of "You get what you pay for." I think the principle applies to rats as pets. I think that the short-term commitment / minimal investment involved probably reaps proportional rewards. Rats don't ask for much, but they probably don't give a lot back either. Although I like our rats and appreciate that they display sociability and intelligence, I don't think the emotional rewards and relationship is comparable to long-haul pets. Of course, even if they were, I'm not even sure I would want to become so deeply attached to something I know is only going to live for 2 years.

belated resolutions

2009-01-16T12:01:00.000-08:00

Two weeks into the new year, and I am finally getting around to coming up with some new year's resolutions. Better late than never, right? Which brings me to the first one...

1) I will do important tasks before the last minute (or beyond). Mostly, this goal has to do with creating self-imposed deadlines for those tasks that are not urgent but are important. It is particularly applicable to tasks which I perceive to be onerous. In order to ensure that tasks are done in a timely manner, I will create checklists with small, specific actions that should be accomplished in order to complete the task or reach the end goal. Fulfillment of this resolution will allow me to be less anxious, more relaxed, and feel less guilty. The quality of work I produce will also be higher, and I will be proud of what I have done.

2) I will not go two days in a row without some sort of physical activity. The standards for what counts as physical activity can be lax -- a 20 minute walk, 10 minutes of jumproping, 500 jumping jacks, 3 sets of push-ups. But there should be some exercise every day, or at a minimum, every other day. This will improve my general well-being. My mood will be better, since exercise is a known enhancer of mood. I will be more alert because of the oxygen circulating through my body. More generally, this is also good for health.

3) I will not drink soft drinks. When I am looking for a little caffeine boost, I will drink tea instead. Bored? Water will do. This will help me not to feel bloated, as sodas sometimes cause me to. Also, my teeth won't decay from all of the acid, like those teeth kids use in their science fair projects about soda pop.

4) I will be thankful for what I have rather than dwelling on all the things I want. I will get rid of the things that I have but don't need. I will be okay with giving or even throwing these things away if necessary. This will make my life better by making my living environment less cluttered (me, more relaxed). It will reduce the hassle of constantly having to deal with the extra stuff as it takes up space and collects dust. In the future, I will not have accumulated so many things that they become a burden. This also includes being thankful and not critical of not-so-tangibles, like relationships, family, being employed, and nice weather.

5) I am going to read the books I have purchased but not read. I am going to spend more time reading books and less time reading blogs and the news online. It's not that I have anything against blogs or online news, but I think I do it in excess. Blog and news reading is shallow and frenetic, whereas reading books takes focus and is deep. I think taking time again to read books will help me become a more focused person. Also I won't feel like I have wasted my money to just have books that take up space.

6) I will blog even when I don't feel like blogging. I will remind myself that my future self will wish that my past self had been the blogging sort.

I opened the windows to change the air, and it is loud outside.

going out

2009-01-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

Today I managed to leave the house and make it to the grocery store without my purse. My purse, which contained my wallet. The wallet that keeps cash, credit cards, and generally, means of purchasing groceries. And I had been so proud of myself for having remembered to bring my re-usable grocery bags.

new job, new place

2008-11-17T10:12:00.001-08:00

Makes me wish I had blogged about it at the time.

Old Knees

2008-06-06T22:17:00.000-07:00

Last night we watched "So You Think You Can Dance." After too many hours of sitting stupefied on the couch, admiring the energy and grace of teenagers and twenty-somethings, I went to change for bed. However, I stopped in front of our full-length mirror to attempt a plie or two and wonder whether 65 was too old to begin ballet lessons. It was quiet and as my knees straightened back up, they crackled. They didn't creak; they crackled. Perhaps I will stick to watching dancers -- or join the percussion section of the band.

circumstances

2008-05-16T23:09:00.000-07:00

The day's festivities were long and tiring. It may have been less tiring in cooler weather. It's nice to see friendly, familiar faces. I'm glad it's over.

Looking for Netflix for shoes

2008-05-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

I need a shoe collective. Lately while tidying various areas of home and car I've been reminded of the fact that I have too many shoes that I bought for a specific or occasion, worn them once and never again. It displeases me. Not so much because I feel the money has been wasted (I refuse to pay much for these shoes), but because all of these one-time-use shoes are taking up space.

Possible solutions:
1. Refuse to succumb to social pressure that requires that shoes and outfit match in terms of color and formality.
2. Refuse to attend occasions where such matching shoes and outfit are required.
3. Find a shoe collective where I can rent shoes for specific occasion and return them immediately thereafter.
4. Be more willing to get rid of unused shoes, perhaps at Goodwill.

Option #4 sounds the most promising at the moment.

$2 coin-operated car wash.

2008-05-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

I finally washed my car today, after several months of neglecting to do so. The accumulation of filth upon my car had seemed gradual, but I think it had lately reached a level where the amount of additional dirtiness necessary for me to perceive that it was actually becoming more dirty was severe.

I learned something about this fact of human perception, perhaps in my high school psychology class. When a stimulus is rather strong, the amount of increase necessary for humans to perceive the change becomes greater. I think the example I learned from back then was sugar in iced tea. If you have no sugar in the iced tea, after you add a heaping tablespoon you can notice the change. But once you've dumped half a cup of sugar into your iced tea, the addition of a tablespoon will not taste like much. Unfortunately I don't know what this phenomenon is called, so I cannot cite it here.

So anyway, my car had reached a level of dirtiness that caused additional dirtiness to be imperceptible. I started to feel embarrassed about the uncleanliness of my car. And in a series of events over the last several days, which included 1) dreading that my mother would see my dirty car when my parents came to attend my thesis defense, 2) attending a friend's wedding at a fancy house in the hills and having to hand my car over to (and pick it up from) valet attendants, and 3) deciding to park around the corner from my parents' place, so as not to smear our mothers day visit with dirt from my car. So this morning I knew what had to be done.

I pondered the manner in which I should wash my car. The first option was to wash it in our apartment's tiny parking lot -- once when I had talked to my neighbor about my dirty car with chagrin, he offered the hose he had for the water spout out back. Also I could take it to one of these hand car was places (although maybe they are a combination of machine and hand car wash) all over Los Angeles. But an investigative report that the Los Angeles Times printed a couple of months ago made me feel like these are shady operations. I didn't really want to get involved. Finally, I could take it to a coin-operated car wash and spraying it clean myself. There are also quite a few of these places around L.A. And option #3 is what I chose.

The coin-operated car was is a pretty good deal. It cost me $3, or 12 quarters, which is a pretty good deal considering that I spent $1 somewhat frivolously on 4 minutes of car VAC, not that there was so much dirt inside my car. So the wash itself was two bucks. The nozzle sprays different liquids. I used the spot free stuff (a foamy blue cleaner) and HIGH PRESSURE RINSE. The hose really sprays water out in a high pressure way. I felt as though, if bad guys approached or something, I could turn the hose on them and blast them into oblivion, or at least knock them onto their behinds. There wasn't a really good way to dry the car off afterwards. They didn't have any blow dry equipment as far as I could tell, though a couple people were using rags to wipe their cars down.

All in all, the car is now clean and I am proud. Why didn't I think of doing this a long time ago?

$2 coin-operated car wash. Small price to pay for a bit of self worth, confidence, pride.

broken glassware

2008-05-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

This morning while washing dishes (a fair number had accumulated as the result of general busyness of recent days) I was scrubbing a small glass bowl and I broke it with my bare hands. The bowl just cracked somewhat down the middle and left me holding two bowl halves of approximately the same size, one in each hand. I inspected the fault line to see whether I could assign fault to some original and inherent weakness in structure, but had no idea what I should look for with just my eyes. The last time I broke a dish, I think I had put down a glass too hard and caused it to crack. Because I like to read into things I decided that destruction of dinnerware means I need to be a more careful, sensitive, or gentle person. Though I'm not yet sure how to operationalize any of this.

popsicle stick crafts

2008-05-07T19:06:00.001-07:00

On my evening walk along Venice Blvd (always heading west, then coming back up east) I saw a bird fly by with a stick in its beak, as though it were collecting construction materials for its nest. I turned my head as it flew by, and my eyes followed it to a ledge above a convenience store. It landed and walked towards its nest, presumably to add the popsicle stick it had just procured from the streets of Los Angeles.

Dissertation writing takes its toll

2008-05-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

1. My car is so dirty that it's no longer recognizable as white, and I worry when I'm driving that I'll get pulled over for having illegally tinted windows.

2. My hair is longer than it has been any time in recent memory. I think I'm also losing my hair because it gets pulled off when I take out hairbands. A haircut would be a good thing.

3. My right contact lens is partially torn. Not a tear right down the center, but a tear in the corner, and I am out of replacements so I will keep wearing this one until I am bothered to make an eye appointment. My eye used to get irritated because of the tear, but I have been wearing my broken lens for months.

4. We haven't been to the gym in forever. That discounted corporate membership to Ballys, alas, going to waste. I feel myself getting increasingly soft and blob-like.

5. The pile of recycleables continues to accumulate, not just in the apartment (since we would be overwhelmed), but in our vehicles. The other night I dreamt of being buried alive in all of this recycleable trash.

6. We actually managed to run out of scratch paper. We figured it would never end, some six or nine months ago, which is why we were willing to recycle a whole bunch of it. Statements from our financial institutions that come in the mail have become fair game.

7. We had Hamburger Helper for dinner last night (not with real hamburger), which I am convinced was the cause of my evening-long gastrointestinal woes. Yes I did add spinach, and OK, it tasted pretty decent, but is stuff that come out of a box ever really food? Ok, so I was curious about it because I had never tried any and a friend was eating it. But that's besides the point.

The point is that dissertation writing hasn't been all that bad (nobody died and no animals were harmed in the process), the whole experience is practically over, it's seriously an excuse that I use not to take care of random stuff that I've decided is not urgent. It will be great to take care of these silly, day-to-day, kinds of things once the dissertation is over and done.

kefir

2008-05-04T23:34:00.000-07:00

Kefir: yogurt for people who like liquids better.

New Moon

2008-05-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

Due to my mixed feelings regarding Twilight, I wasn't sure if I wanted to forge ahead and read the second book in the series, New Moon. But I started reading, kept reading, and finished it last night. Yes, this after I stated that too much could rot your brain. All in all, I preferred this second book to the first one. Less swooning/obsession/fawning, more pain of love lost, and finally more action and backstory. The werewolves vs. vampires thing is an interesting layer to the story. I actually found myself tearing up, which made me feel a bit silly -- guess it was an emotional day.

Chimpanzee retirement

2008-05-02T22:50:00.001-07:00

I Chimp Therefore I Am
Originally uploaded by wokka.

Apparently in the U.S. we have chimpanzee retirement communities. I just learned about this from the Human Resources episode (podcast) of Chicago Public Radio's This American Life (which I love). The episode aired a couple of months ago. I only listened to it now because I like to have a healthy backlog of podcasts so that I don't feel as though I'm in danger of running out.

According to the episode, as well as this article from the NYTimes, we have an excess supply of chimps as a result of AIDS research in the 1980s. At the time it was believed that chimpanzees could be used for medical testing of the AIDS virus. Since researchers figured that testing on chimps might be able to procure a cure, many primates were bred for this purpose. Only, they weren't really useful at all, because they didn't really get sick from AIDS. There are also a bunch of chimps who have been actors in Hollywood. But they are only suitable actors for about 5 years, at which point they become too strong and rebellious to cooperate. So lots of chimps that are no longer useful.

But unlike scenarios where we have too many rats, pigeons, or dogs, we don't put down chimps because we have decided that it is unethical. After all, they share a ridiculous (98%) of our genetic makeup. So in 2000, then-President Bill Clinton signed the Chimpanzee Health Improvent, Maintenance and Protection (CHIMP) Act, and now chimpanzees can spend the rest of their days in locales such as the Chimp Haven. As described in the podcast, chimpanzee retirement experiences range from wilderness preserve to extremely human. Cheeta, who acted in many Tarzan films, is over 75 and spends his days eating Doritos, tickling the ivories now and then, and watching his own films. Some former research subjects have one foot in each world, having to learn how to forage for food in a wilderness setting but also being fed three square meals a day and enjoying General Hospital now and then.

What would you choose?

Twilight = candy = tasty, but too much will probably rot your brain

2008-05-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I read Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. It's the first book in a series of books named, coincidentally, The Twilight Saga. I first learned about the book via YouTube vloggers, fiveawesomegirls, who seemed to be fans -- so much so that they traveled to the middle of nowhere, where most of the book takes place. Then a week or so ago, one of the Culver-Palms Youth mentioned having just read the first book and also liking it a lot. It's a Young Adult book, but I happily read through all the Harry Potter books last summer, and the Twilight books have really good review ratings on Amazon.com, so I figured I'd give Twilight a try.

I have to say that I was disappointed.

I suppose it's not a bad book, but a mediocre one. When I actually browsed through the reviews and read what readers had to say, a pattern seemed to emerge. A number of the reviews indicated disappointment with the book for its shallow characters and dialogue, melodramatic plot, and rather inane lessons for adolescent girls. In this first category, this one's my favorite. A number of comments leapt to the author's defense, mentioning how much they loved the book, how well they could relate to the characters, how it was the best book of all time. On the whole, it seems like this first group of reviews is written by adults. The second group of reviews, by teenagers (who often mentioned the fact that they are teenagers and could totally relate).

There are about 1500 reviews right now, a lot of them which seemed to convey disappointment but the vast majority of which gave the book 5 stars. I'll give the book some credit for knowing its audience, and recognize that even I like to eat candy sometimes. I mean, for all of my complaining to Alex throughout, I did keep reading.

best supermarket checker ever

2008-05-01T00:00:00.001-07:00

Is it appropriate to call them checkers? Checkout person?

I started shopping at Vons (associated with Safeway and Pavilions) when I moved to Palms at the beginning of grad school. I noticed that, unlike at Ralphs, where I'd grown accustomed to shopping in college, at the end of VONS transactions, they thank you and wish you a good day, referring to you by name (or the name printed on your receipt). Employees in the store, whether reshelving, stocking produce, or some other activity, always ask how you are doing and whether you're finding everything okay. And this is all good. But one supermarket checkout clerk goes above and beyond the call of awesome.

She appears to be middle-aged, and her English carries a heavy Cantonese accent. I first made mental note of her when she refused to sell me grapes.

She refused to sell me the grapes because I had picked up green grapes, which were not on sale. They were something like 3.99/lb, unlike the red grapes, which were .99/lb. that week. She told me she could just keep my stuff there, and I could put back the grapes I had picked up, and get the correct grapes, come back, and finish being checked out. Not being particularly wed to the green grapes, I complied. Pretty cool, I thought.

She is also unwilling to let customers miss out on VONS Club savings. If a customer comes through the line without his card and could potentially miss out on VONS Club savings, the checker lady will ask other customers in line whether or not they will lend the fellow a swipe of their card.

My most recent visit to VONS included such an experience, and I happily let the other customer take advantage of my VONS Club savings. The supermarket checkout lady pointed to the two cartons of ice cream among my grocery selections and noted that they were Buy One, Get One Free that week. Remembering the incident with the grapes, I asked whether she memorized all the week's grocery deals. She said she HAD, and that before coming to work each Wednesday (the day that the grocery stores' weekly specials kick in), she goes through all of the grocery store flyers for the local chains.

"So you know the deals at Albertson's and Ralphs?" I asked. (their rival stores)

"Yes!" she said. And proceeded to tell me that chicken was on sale at Ralph's this week, telling me how much per pound of what.

I am humbled by her dedication to her work.

How far is the East from the West?

2008-04-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

[cross-posted on my xanga]

Lately I am reminded of how gracious God is, and how much we fall short of the mark. For four years in college I was extremely active in my campus Christian fellowship, so that I'm almost certain that the number of hours I spent in fellowship, evangelism, and bible study was equivalent to (if not more than) the amount of time I spent on schoolwork. We forged friendships that were supposed to be good for a lifetime, and then some. And as far as friends go, I owe to my college fellowship some of the best friends I have had.

But as Christians, we're not just supposed to be there for our dearest friends. We are supposed to love our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, the poor and the disenfranchised, the widows and orphans. Easy, right?

We are also called to love those who suffer from mental illness. We are to love those that we don't know how to deal with because they are struggling with questions of how to be Christian and transgendered. We are to love those who are trying to figure out how to be Christian and gay. In the past year I've had three different friends approach me with these issues. And they have indicated in various ways the belief that our Christian friends from college would not be or have not been supportive.

This is how we lose people. It's not necessarily that we push them away; we just fail to bring them in. Because they're not extroverted, successful, funny. Because they're sometimes awkward or moody. Because they question their identity in ways that we don't understand or have decided are wrong. Because they don't nod their heads in agreement with every word the preacher proclaims True. Because their political opinions differ from ours. Because they don't fit the mold.

When we respond with instant judgment, disapproval or even disdain, it's easier for them to decide that perhaps Christianity is not for them. And we are happy to let them go, because it's so much easier than having to deal with the questions.

It breaks His heart.

Glorious tedium

2008-04-26T15:30:00.000-07:00

So far it has been a glorious, work-filled weekend. Although writing is an enjoyable task, revising, proofing, and cleaning up references are not. To me, these activities are the opposite of fun. I look forward to a future in which word processing software automatically pulls references from the interspace and attaches them to in-line citations it extracts from reading my mind. Until then, here's to Endnote--combination friend and foe.

Doin' stuff, learning things.

2008-04-25T10:04:00.000-07:00

This week has been awesome because I forced my class to edit Wikipedia as one of their assignments, and they did because it was required. I wasn't sure how it would work out, whether or not they would get things working, whether it would be worthwhile. But most of them completed all the activities, and despite some initial deletions of articles they had created, I think my students found the experience to be a good one. There were many comments about how they didn't realize how easy it was to edit Wikipedia. And of course, before I forced myself to try so that I could compel them to do so, I didn't know how easy it was either. In general I am in favor of learning activities in which the learner is challenged to try new things. It's great fun to watch and to see them learn.

Gherkins, Baby

2008-04-25T00:11:00.001-07:00

Gherkins, Baby
Originally uploaded by Kevin Lawver.

Oh, yeah. The funny thing is that I made up the phrase 'Workin' like a gherkin'", and I frequently ask Alex if he's been workin' like agherkin. Or if I have been persistent in reading, writing, class prep, etc. I will proclaim to him that I have been workin' like a gherkin. It has probably been about a year or so since I started spouting this nonsense. But the other day, I decided to look "gherkin" up on the Internet. I'm not sure how I got the spelling right, but, LO AND BEHOLD! A gherkin is a cucumber. So all this time I've been working like a cucumber. Which obviously means that cucumbers work pretty hard.

Workin' like a gherkin

2008-04-24T23:46:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how I inadvertently turned our blog (well, mostly my blog) into a food blog. It was unintentional, but probably related to the fact that it's pretty easy to blog stuff based on photographs, and I tend to take pictures of food. Also, I'll blame Cathy at My Epikorean for getting me all excited about her decision to food blog.

Anyway, completely unrelated to food (?), we the residents of Apartment C have been pretty on-task all day. Allowing time for meals and bathroom breaks and the occasional venture off-task to Wikipedia or YouTube, it ended up being some 12 or 13 hours of straight-up MENTAL LABOR. I was hoping for 15, because then I think someone should publish a book with the title, Writing Your Dissertation in 15 Hours a Day. Because, you know, writing your dissertation in 15 minutes a day is for the weak. Or, alternatively, for the disciplined and well-organized.

Nevertheless, I think we are both seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, a tunnel which has been twisty and windy and included trails off the path now and then. Still, (I think) I can't wait to get out.

Where can I get some tran fats? Nowhere, according to US labeling

2008-04-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

I had a revelation at the drug store as I was checking out a package of ethnic-looking cookies at CVS's "food" section. I have never seen Nutrition Information claiming a product to contain trans fat.

When I first heard that food manufacturers would need to start labeling the amount of trans fat in their products, I was thrilled. When the new labels started to appear a year or two ago (though not legally required in the U.S. until January 1st, 2008) I was surprised to find that a number of products I had assumed to contain trans fat (due to their listing of partially hydrogenated oils in their list of ingredients) claimed to have none. Then I learned that food companies were allowed to round down. If the amount of trans fat per serving was less than 0.5 grams, they could label the amount as 0 (while having to advertise as NO TRANS FATS per serving). I thought this was sort of a cheap play, to allow rounding in such a manner (0.49 grams/serving could get away with 0).

According to the FDA (according to Wikipedia), the average American consumes 5.8 grams of trans fat per day (2.6% of calories.) But I bet if you added up the number of grams of trans fat on the labels of everything the average American consumes, you will get a big fat zero. The labeling requirements in Canada allow products with less than 0.2g of trans fat per serving to advertise 0/serving.

Upon realizing that I have never seen anything above 0, it made me wonder whether companies have dropped the amount of hydrogenated oils in their recipes, or whether it has always been the case that labeling the amount of trans fat per serving would always allow it to appear as though there are none. Which makes me wonder what you have to eat in order to see any Nutrition Info change. Because it would be funny if we forced everyone to change their labeling, just so that everyone could label the amount of trans fat as 0.

Utilitarian Eats - Veggie Patties

2008-04-07T11:56:00.001-07:00

I like to spend time preparing meals that are appealing not only taste-wise, but aesthetically as well. But I've been busy (as perhaps is evident by the infrequent blog posts), and sometimes you just eat to live instead of living to eat. I packed lunch to bring to campus today, as I often do. After meals consisting of Powerbars or other similar energy-dense food, this is probably my next most utilitarian meal: two veggie patties.

Mom and dad drove up to LA to have dinner with us last night, and they brought with them a box of Costco-purchased Don Lee Veggie Patties. They're pretty good -- not really the sort of veggie burger stuff I am used to (usually primarily soy-based and attempting to look and feel like meat). Rather, it looks like a mash of carrots, celery, onion, and hash browns with some sunflower seeds mixed in. They came fresh, not frozen. The flavor is quite decent. After microwaving them for a minute in my tupperware-esque container, I mashed it up with a spoon so that it would look more like a meal.

I think the two mashed-up veggie patties are not as efficient eats as protein bars. I think a major advantage of a protein or other energy bar is that they require no preparation whatsoever besides unwrapping the bar. I actually had to put the veggie patties into the tupperware container this morning, and remember to pack a utensil of some sort. The protein bars, however, you can unwrap and instantly eat on the go. You just bite pieces off -- there's no need for a fork or a spoon.

How much longer must we wait for the meals in a pill that we were promised by the Jetsons?

I always wondered who gets the non-fruit toppings.

2008-03-09T13:46:00.001-07:00

pinkberry with fruity pebbles
Originally uploaded by eraine.

I saw these being constructed as I waited for my own, and was intrigued by the combination of fruit + fruity pebbles + granola, so I asked the designers if I could perhaps photograph their yogurt cups.

Being rather boring, my own yogurt just had toppings of fruit.

vegetarian tacos

2008-03-06T18:24:00.001-08:00

Vegetarian tacos
Originally uploaded by eraine.

I was quite happy with how these turned out.

inspired by the purchase of:
soyrizo, meatless, soy-based chorizo (which was on sale at the grocery store)

while cooking on the skillet, I added:
great white northern beans and little red beans (previously crock pot cooked)
chopped tomato
chopped black olives

from our organic veggie box:
red leaf lettuce
roma tomatoes
avocado

topped with:
3-cheese mexican blend (shredded)
greek style plain yogurt

all on a:
soft taco flour tortilla (from the oaxacan market down the street)

Real, Korean kimchi

2008-03-04T18:16:00.001-08:00

real, Korean kimchi
Originally uploaded by eraine.

Ever since our visit to Korea in January, I've been regularly craving kimchi. I didn't go out of my way to find any. I just put some in my basket while shopping at VONS. But while telling some people about this, the Real Live Koreans expressed dismay that I had been eating VONS kimchi and recommended that I get some higher quality kimchi from the Korean market.

So yesterday on my way home from campus I went through Koreatown and stopped by The Galleria at Olympic & Western in search of quality kimchi.

At the supermarket, it took me a while to get to the kimchi section. I entered near the produce and made my way across the store to the frozen section, and I felt a sort of buildup as I wondered when I would run into the kimchi. When I finally saw it, I was not disappointed. The humongous jars of kimchi I saw were Costco-worthy, and now I am really curious as to how long the huge jars ($18.99) would last a Korean family of four. Cathy at Epikorean tells me -- about a week, or two weeks MAX. The kimchi section had kimchi for sale in pouches, in addition to the stuff in jars.

I went home with this (pictured above) 48 oz. container of kimchi. I would say this is a mid-sized container, relative to the rest of the options I had available. I got nappa cabbage kimchi, which I think is the most generic (common?) sort.

About this kimchi, it's pretty spicy. It's more intensely red and spicy than the kimchi I've picked up at VONS in the past, and Alex said "it's because you're white and wimpy". I disagreed about my being white.

So now a question I have is, how much kimchi consumption is too much? Are there dangers of eating too much kimchi? As a probiotic, it's supposed to be good for your intestinal tract and improve your digestion. But all those spices have to be taxing on your system, right?

coupons and other costs

2008-02-29T11:30:00.000-08:00

I am trying to blog regularly, so I decided to make this comment a trackback instead of a comment to the post.

Jerome was highlighting some of his recent triumphs with coupons.

Coupons can be pretty great, although the one time my 'no purchase necessary' coupon was rejected at Ralph's has left me with slight fear of coupon rejection. I had gotten this 'Free box of any Kashi product under $4.50' for filling out an online questionnaire and sharing my very valuable opinions about whether I thought 'cheese and pimento' crackers sounded more appealing that 'sun-dried tomato and pepper' (these flavors just now made up on the spot). Anyway, my checkout guy refused to take the coupon, perhaps because it looked as though I had printed it out from my computer, despite the fact that the coupon was supposed to have some sort of code thing to verify its value. Oh well.

Alex and I went bowling last night at AMF Mar Vista and for 2 - $4 games we got 2 buy-one-game-get-one-free coupons. This is awesome because I think it will help our goal to bowl more frequently. We also bought bowling shoes to help with the process. Neither of us have ever owned bowling shoes. At $50 each (Zappos.com, price includes shipping) it will take us slightly over 11x bowling to recoup the cost. Barring traumatic injury or early death, I think it's doable. If we expect to live 60 more years, that would mean bowling at least once every 5.4 years. Although this is assuming that we'll both be able to bowl in our 80s. Maybe by then we'll break 100 regularly.

Finally, the other thing that is coupon-like but not exactly a coupon -- rebates. Rebates can seem like a good deal, but these days I'll only buy something w/a rebate if I would be willing to buy it anyway (w/o rebate), since the money often doesn't come back. I've never tried to hunt unreturned rebates down, but I've been burned too many times.

penne rigata in white sauce

2008-02-24T00:38:00.001-08:00

penne rigata in white sauce
Originally uploaded by eraine.

ingredients:
pasta, spinach (fresh or frozen), milk, white wine, vanilla, olive oil, butter, garlic, basil, salt/pepper

directions:
1. cook pasta according to box directions (whole wheat penne rigate used here, 8 min.). water is salted to ocean-ness, a la alton brown
2. while water is boiling / pasta is cooking, crush and mince garlic (1-2 large cloves, 3-4 small ones)
3. pour several Tablespoons of olive oil into pan, and allow garlic to sit in the oil for a few minutes. a couple of teaspoons of basil (chopped, dried in my case) too. add some white wine (maybe 1:2 ratio of white wine to olive oil) and pinches of kosher salt
4. put oil on low heat until pasta is cooked. drain pasta.
6. add spinach (approx. 2-3 cups frozen in my case) to heating pan. pour in some milk (whole), a few Tablespoons and a wee bit of vanilla
7. then pour drained (not rinsed, so it's still hot) pasta over spinach
8. toss pasta in oil and spinach, adding a small amount (1/2 a pat) of butter for taste. add kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste as well.

served 2.

tasty possible future modifications:
toasted walnuts
sauteed mushrooms
slow-roasted tomatoes
asparagus (if alex is not too averse)

rainbow blueberry banana bread

2008-02-22T22:29:00.001-08:00

rainbow blueberry banana bread
Originally uploaded by eraine.

I thought it was going to be much more disgusting-looking, based on my peek into the top of the bread machine before the bread was done. All I saw was a dark bluish-green color, reminiscent of inappropriately mixed play-dough, dirty water in which one rinses watercolored brushes, and creatures from the swamp.

I guess that's what you get, since yellow + blue makes green.

We had a couple of overly ripe bananas, so I thought I'd give banana bread a try. Alex even had a recipe written down for some already. But of course, I can never leave well enough alone. I cut back on sugar and added blueberries to the mix.

The coloring wasn't uniform and the bottom was caked with flour because I didn't know how to use the bread machine. The batter probably could have been stirred a bit before starting the machine. Also, according to our resident bread machine expert, it helps to put the liquid ingredients in first.

Easy Spirit -- darn comfortable shoes

2008-02-22T00:55:00.000-08:00

In preparation for my campus visit last week, I upgraded elements of my wardrobe. So far I am very satisfied with the expenses incurred.

1. Pant suit set (obtained during Ann Taylor's suit sale) -- quality and classic. I do so much shopping online these days that I was very tempted to get an outfit online. But I did go to the mall, and I was pleased.

2. No-show trouser socks from Target. Pleased, although they are so thin that I'm not sure how they will fare in the washer+dryer. I felt it was necessary to get some socks because even I know better than to match the dark pant suit with my white athletic socks.

3. Black loafers from EasySpirit. I am especially happy about how well these shoes worked out, since I have been the victim of lovely but uncomfortable/painful/torturous (depending how long they are worn) shoes many times before.

As soon as I considered getting interview shoes, I decided that they should be appropriate but comfortable. I wanted to be comfortable, and it was likely that I'd have to do some walking on the campus. I was tempted to try the whole athletic shoes with suit thing, but decided that professional basketball players are the only ones who can get away with that. So for comfortable shoes I headed to EasySpirit. Because even their store name seems comforting.

Although I had never purchased shoes there, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I browsed their selection carefully before trying on a couple pairs. I was in the store for 20 minutes or so. During that time, several people and couples came into and left from the store. Not one of them appeared to be under the age of 50, which caused me to question whether it was okay for me to buy EasySpirit shoes.

But they were comfortable. So I did. And they are still comfortable. I think those older folks are trying to keep this secret for themselves.

cauliflower, oven roasted in cast-iron skillet

2008-02-20T19:34:00.001-08:00

cauliflower, oven roasted in cast-iron skillet
Originally uploaded by eraine.

My first time using the cast iron skillet in the oven. I was pleased. No measurements, because I'm lazy like that.

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2) Chop head of cauliflower into florets.
3) Mince 2 cloves of garlic and toss with cauliflower and extra virigin olive oil.
4) Season with garlic salt, oregano, coarse black pepper, nutmet.
5) Sprinkle with shredded romano.
6) Pop skillet into the oven for 30 min, agitating contents every 10.

I reduced heat to 325, maybe halfway through.

Numb3rs -- Thnks fr th mmrs

2008-02-20T14:35:00.001-08:00

Numb3rs Season 2 DVDs
Originally uploaded by eraine.

We tried to watch Numb3rs. We really wanted to like it. Unfortunately, watching episodes eventually became an obligation, and I found myself saying things like, "We should watch Numb3rs". A couple episodes were decent, and Alex liked talking about the mathematical aspects that he understood, but this box is probably going back to eBay unfinished.

Props to the actors in the show, who made the experience more worthwhile.

How to make your kids eat brussel sprouts

2008-02-19T13:05:00.001-08:00

How to make your kids eat brussel sprouts
Originally uploaded by eraine.

We don't have kids, but I suspect that most kids (or adults, for that matter) will eat pretty much anything you put on pizza.

Shopping list for today:
- tofu and other non-meat things, maybe veggie burger patties, quorn "meatballs"
- cheddar, perhaps shredded
- tortillas
- quinoa,
- tomatoes -- small or roma
- cream of mushroom soup
- extra virgin olive oil
- onion
- frozen corn

Taiwan trip preparation

2007-12-22T16:06:00.001-08:00

We are leaving for Taiwan tomorrow morning. It will involve many hours of flying plus an additional many hours of non-flying travel, some of which is time spent for the sake of leaving extra time around. The non-flight time includes:

15 minute drive to LAX
3 hours to check in, go through security, and wait at the airport
time spent sitting on planes but not flying
several hours in Narita, Japan to transfer to a flight to Taiwan
time waiting for a bus to Taipei
a 40 minute bus ride and foot/cab travel to our hotel

Theories and research on the psychological consequences of temporal construal suggest that temporal distance increases the weight of cognitive outcomes compared to affective ones. My thoughts regarding the chocolate cake I may or may not consume right prioritize its taste, texture, and the pleasure of enjoying it. The chocolate cake I think about eating next week, however, probably conjures more ideas about its caloric density, what it will do for my longevity, blood sugar, or waistline.

In addition, construal level theory posits that individuals' mental models of distant-future events are more abstract compared to near-future ones. When purchasing these tickets to Korea and Taiwan, I imagined the people we would see and the places we would go. Now that flight time is less than 24 hours away, I'm stuck on the fact that comfortable air travel could be much more so.

Trope, Y., & Liberman, N. (2003). Temporal Construal. Psychological Review, 110, 403-421.

Photo of LAX, Tom Bradley Terminal by Willie Lee.

the importance of listening to Christmas music right now

2007-12-16T16:19:00.001-08:00

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town.

Christmas music is playing in the apartment because I believe it is of utmost importance that we listen to as much Christmas music as possible while we still can. I feel that the opportunity for listening to Christmas music is diminished compared to most years because

(1) all of our Christmas shopping has been done online, and none of the online stores have been playing Christmas music for customers
(2) we will be on an airplane or in international airports during many of the key Christmas-music-listening hours
(3) related to that, we will be out of the country, where I expect we will be less likely to overhear Christmas music played by shopping establishments
(4) also related to that, we will experience even FURTHER loss of potential Christmas-music listening time due to the fact that we are flying into a time zone which is 15 hours ahead of our own (time loss!).

So time is of the essence. O Holy Night.

It has been a while since I have purchased music in a physical form. The only Christmas album that I have ever owned (versus my parents, who have some Christmas music sets that they probably purchased at Costco) is 98 Degreees' This Christmas. I purchased the CD because in colleged I determined that it was absolutely necessary to own all albums by 98 Degrees. But I don't actually have that CD around because I accidentally gifted it to Gena when I gave her my CD player, which unbeknownst to me, had the only Christmas music I have ever owned, inside.

Sleigh Ride. So it's Christmas tunes via streaming radio. Thank Verizon for high speed internet.

Happy Holidays.
A Holly Jolly Christmas.

christmas candles photo originally uploaded by don2g.

My First Blog

2007-12-13T22:35:00.000-08:00

It seems that my daughter-in-law is dragging me into the online world, just as my brother and I dragged my mother into the world of email. She loved it, being able to communicate with family who were thousands of miles away. Now I can communicate with thousands who are only miles away.

I'm doing this instead of writing Christmas cards, a chore that I enjoy only once I've started it. I like re-reading the letters we got last year, imagining old friends looking young as they did when we last saw them 20 years ago. From the adventures some of them are up to, they may indeed still be that young.

As I write a Christmas letter, I imagine saying the words to the person it's addressed to. To whom is a blog addressed? Whose face should I conjure up? For the moment it is Eraine's.

Wheeeeee! / I did it again

2007-12-10T17:32:00.001-08:00

Why I Can't Eat Onions

2007-12-10T05:05:00.002-08:00

Somehow it's 5am and I'm still awake. It's been a while since I have been up this late -- that's more Alex's thing. But I got caught up in working on my submission for Threadless, "Why I can't eat onions."

Lately Alex and I have talked about the value of doing things.

I hesitated for a moment before hitting that OK button. In doing so I am allowing them full rights over my artwork if my shirt is chosen for print. But I figure I can always produce more drawings, and it would be awesome (and money) to win.

overdressed

2007-12-03T14:10:00.000-08:00

I may be overdressed, being mildly bundled up in a fleece while it is 75 degrees outside. I don't feel silly because there are lots USC undergraduates ambling about campus in sweatshirts and jackets. The weather was cool all day yesterday, and last night's observed low was a chilly 42 degrees. The temperatures for tomorrow, December 4, are forecast by weather.com to include a high of 79 degrees. We are all confused.

bad reasons to buy a dog

2007-12-01T14:56:00.000-08:00

Last night we were planning to go work out after CPY, but we got boba instead. Boba was a reasonable substitute for working out because the place we went to, Westsubs, is right next to the gym. As you may have guessed from the establishment's name, Westsubs is not specifically a boba joint in the way that Teastation or Lollicup are. But they have an elaborate menu of boba-full and boba-less drinks, from smoothies and slushes to your standard thai and milk teas. Alex had a thai tea with boba, and I had a hot milk tea with boba. The boba did not seem particularly sweetened, which was fine with me, because I tend to like my drinks slightly less sweet.

Westsubs has a collection of board games and magazines for your enjoyment while you sit and eat or drink. We played The Allowance Game, a simple die rolling, piece-moving game in which certain squares you may land on indicate gains or losses of money. You get $3 allowance each time you round the corner at Home, and can earn money on squares such as "Mow the Lawn" or "Recycle Cans." You spend money buying bubble gum or "Give to charity." We tried to make the game more exciting by adding extra rules, but finally we ended the game before either of us had managed to save up the winning $20.

After the game playing we decided to browse magazines -- Glamour for me, Men's Health for him. I was curious about Glamour's cover story on 25 ways to immediately boost your mood. If I were to write such a feature, it would include items like: 1. Have a caffeinated beverage, or 2. Visit cute overload or check out some lolcatz. Although some of the suggestions by Glamour were quite reasonable (I think take a bubble bath was one), I was appalled to see that "Buy a dog" was also included on their list. That is, Buy a dog. Do it! You know you want to.

WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING? How on earth does taking a bubble bath compare to purchasing a live, furry, animal with a lifespan of ten or fifteen years?? Sure, playing with an adorable new puppy will probably boost your mood, but a quick pick-me-up is the wrong reason to get a dog!

On a related note, people should not buy dogs as surprise gifts. Like deciding to have children, it's the sort of thing that people should talk about and plan in advance. I was administering a final exam in a large lecture hall last year, when an occasional whimpering sound could be heard. None of us knew where it was coming from. Later I left the lecture hall and saw a student playing with a puppy outside. She explained to me that since she had finished taking the exam, she was watching the puppy for the girl who had sat next to her during the text. The girl had just been given the puppy as a surprise birthday gift from her boyfriend. GEEZ.

adorable site

2007-11-29T23:31:00.000-08:00

The meomi website is so cute I nearly peed my pants. No, not really. But it is really quite adorable. I couldn't help but "awwww and ooooohhh" for several minutes. The cutest part is that the little creatures move around and make sounds when you mouse over them. I'm tempted to buy things so I can call some of that cuteness my own.

things that sound more exciting than they are

2007-11-24T09:48:00.000-08:00

Next up in this category... LASER SCISSORS.

Yes, I am browsing the Internet for holiday gift-giving ideas. No, I am not likely to purchase laser scissors, since they don't actually cut things with lasers.

clutter

2007-11-16T11:33:00.000-08:00

Our apartment is too small, and/or we have too much stuff.

Workout payback

2007-11-15T01:15:00.000-08:00

It seems to me that a fair world would not reward pain with yet further pain. Nevertheless, this is how exercise seems to be working for me. On Monday, Elaine and I went to Balley's and did upper body work. Yesterday we were both sore, and this morning it was genuinely unpleasantly painful. There are a number of weird things about this, not the least of which is the fact that the most intense soreness appeared two days after the event.

Also, although I loathe to consider it, I may be getting old.

Elaine and I also both registered Republican today with the intention of voting for Ron Paul in the Republican Primaries. It is quite interesting to see the gap between the internet (extremely pro Ron Paul) and the real-world-based-polls (decidedly less pro Ron Paul). I certainly hope that Ron Paul's supporters make it to the polls come election day.

daylight savings

2007-11-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

I still have not yet gotten used to the daylight savings change. It feels so much later than it is.

knowing what you want

2007-10-18T16:45:00.001-07:00

I have great admiration for individuals who know what they want in life, who set goals, and who plan to achieve them. I wonder how they can be so sure of themselves -- how, exactly, do they know that they know? The impending end of this recognizable unit of time in my life (schooling) requires some decision-making. Specifically, I need to figure out what I really want to do.

The only trouble is, I think that I have spent too much of my life concerned about what it is that others want me to do. You would think that I'd be able to tell the difference by now, having reached adulthood. I should know what my preferences are, and the types of work that make me tick. Unfortunately (?), I think that my habitually denying between what I want and what others want of me has caused the difference to become blurred.

I keep saying that I wish I had a robot (computer program?) to which I could give all sorts of information about myself -- my likes and dislikes, my habits, my preferred lifestyle, and things that I think I enjoy. It would take all of the appropriate data and variables and tell me what I should do. Or what is the next best thing?

married

2007-10-13T01:24:00.000-07:00

In my inbox:

S. Alex says that you two are married on Facebook. We need you to confirm that you are, in fact, married to S. Alex.

To confirm this relationship request, follow the link below:
http://usc.facebook.com/n/?home.php

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

katamari sampling

2007-10-11T18:03:00.001-07:00

I'm thinking that another name for snowball sampling (sometimes referred to as network sampling) should be Katamari sampling.

Early

2007-10-05T06:16:00.000-07:00

I became very awake this morning at 5 for no apparent reason. Around 5:30 I decided to get up. Now what?

thai fortune cookie

2007-10-01T15:48:00.000-07:00

Got Thai last night at Thai Taste, a restaurant down the street, probably a mile from here. At the end of dinner we received our bill with two fortune cookies. Have Thai places always been able to distribute fortune cookies, or is this a recent happening? Are all Asian restaurants allowed to do this now?

My fortune came with nice sentiment if not grammar:
"You and your love [sic] one will be happy in your life together."

not a cookie haiku

2007-09-29T23:58:00.000-07:00

oatmeal cookie dough
microwaved for two minutes.
no cookies, just smoke

so that's what this stomping is about

2007-09-29T11:46:00.001-07:00

I was walking back from the post office yesterday afternoon when I saw a young woman coming down the stairs extremely slowly. She was seated on the stairs, scooting down one step at a time while hanging onto the handrail. Next to her was a pair of crutches, and she had a cast of some sort on one foot. Nearly immediately I knew that she was our new upstairs neighbor, and figured out what all of that stomping must have been about.

I introduced myself and asked if she lived upstairs, and she explained that she had moved in about 2 months ago. She recently broke her foot, so she's been hopping around upstairs! She apologized about possibly causing disturbances for us. She figured we must hear her, being directly below her apartment.

Anyway, I couldn't stop laughing to myself afterwards. This information makes the noise much more easy to tolerate. So much for my career as a detective.

clutter abounds

2007-09-27T23:39:00.001-07:00

We need to have more space or less stuff. Between these two choices, the 2nd is probably better.

he's back, hooray!

2007-09-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

Now we have lots more stuff to cram into our apartment. We have more board games than we know what to do with, and now some duplicates of kitchen stuff because some were purchased for temporary use over the summer. But back is good.

stomping, or loud upstairs neighbors

2007-09-24T01:10:00.000-07:00

This post is actually supposed to be for Sunday. Even though I can set the timestamp to read any date and time, I don't want to set this back because it seems dishonest.

Neighbors upstairs have been stomping lately. I don't know that they're really stomping, but that's what it sounds like from here. Either they are stomping or performing a dozen jumping jacks every once in a while. They might be moving furniture in some odd manner. I don't know that moving furniture should sound like stomping, but I've heard that when people move furniture it sounds loud from adjacent apartments. At one point when there was more continuous stomping I thought, "Maybe they're playing DDR." I should be happy about the idea of people playing DDR, but I don't think DDR players should live above the first floor.

There was also loudness of a different sort at what seemed like 4 in the morning. I don't know whether I preferred it to the alarm clock incidents of several months ago.

Maybe someday we'll live where we don't have to hear our neighbors.

decor

2007-09-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

Today included more wonderful rain and my first time using an electric drill. Curtain rod is up, now we just need some curtains. The bedroom feels spartan, with plain white walls that don't have anything on them. I wish I had a stronger decorator intuition. And I wish it was as easy to rearrange furniture, carpet, and walls as it is in the Sims!

it did rain

2007-09-21T20:49:00.001-07:00

It did rain. You know what I love about it? I never wash my car, which my mom hassles me about to no end. Yet today, my car is clean!

chilly and gusty today

2007-09-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

It is nearing the end of September and for the first time, actually beginning to feel like it. So far all semester, I've heard students and colleagues complain about how cold it is inside our building. It has been warm out, so it seems not unreasonable to go to class wearing shorts, flip flops, and tank tops (at least for students, if not professors). But air conditioning is always cranked up inside, which contributes to warming on a global scale, but many freezing students and instructors. Today I actually heard two different people mention it being cold but referring to the weather outside! Although I dislike being cold, the cool weather comes as a pleasant surprise. As an added bonus, the next two days' forecasts look like rain...

Python Problems

2007-09-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

I love Python---it's a fantastic language. Still, it does have a few annoyances, one of which I encountered while dealing with very large integers. I've been frustrated for a while that ints and longs are considered to be different types, as opposed to (for example) one being a subclass of the other. Recently when doing typechecking (which, I understand, should be avoided as much as possible in Python) I ultimately ended by sticking in the gem:

assert isinstance(int(x), int)

Now, to me, this looks pretty similar to

assert True

which is a pretty unexciting statement. Of course, I was both amused-and-not-amused when I started getting TypeErrors. Yes, it turns out that int(x) can return a long, which is not an int. Although I doubt that I'd prefer it throwing an exception, there seems to be something strongly disconnected here.

In any case, if you would like to make sure that your functions are being passed integers in the larger sense of the word, the statement you're going for is probably:

assert isinstance(x, (int, long))

cheap stuff

2007-09-19T22:41:00.000-07:00

Most recent Craigslist exchange was my $10 for someone's ikea coffee table. Super cheap, but I think this is the second time I've bought this exact same model of table for $10 off of someone from Craigslist. I don't think it's the same one, because last time I bought it in the Bay Area for temporary summer furniture, and this time I'm in L.A. But I like the possibility.

I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. Having things below eye level increases the likelihood that I will bruise my knees or shins, but I figure I can recoup my ten by resale if needed.

at least one sentence per day?

2007-09-18T01:29:00.000-07:00

Today I walked to Lincoln (the street), which is 2 miles from here and makes the round-trip a 4-mile walk. From my old place in Palms, I used to do a 4 mile walk up and down Venice from close to Bagley to the 405. The weather this time of year makes an evening walk a bit before sunset very pleasant. Although I don't mind walking alone -- I like to take in my surroundings -- it's also nice to walk with someone else.

blogging

2007-09-14T13:53:00.001-07:00

I wish I blogged more, but for some reason don't actually do so. I think it's because I've set some internal threshold for quality of post -- whether it's something as vague as interestingness, or just length -- too high. Here's my first post in a while. Brief and mundane.

20 dates for under 20 dollars

2007-07-26T14:21:00.001-07:00

20 dates for under 20 dollars. In case anyone was wondering, I came across these via Digg, not browsing Yahoo Personals. I was pretty excited when I saw the title because I thought all 20 dates would come out to a total of under $20, or an average of $1 each! Alas, I think they mean each date is under $20.

In any case, we have done the following in the Los Angeles area:

2. Go to a museum -- The Getty, where we actually joined up one night that they had a free lesson in figure drawing and we practiced on sculptures

4. Go on a romantic hike -- Well, we may not have been on a romantic hike, per se, but we have been hiking and we go for evening walks around the neighborhood.

6. Beat the heat with an ice cream date -- Yes, we do eat ice cream.

11. Stroll through the botanical garden -- Huntington Library has beautiful gardens, and Alex particularly likes succulents. (Free to visitors the first Thursday of every month.)

13. Build a bonfire -- We used to do fires in the fireplace when Alex lived with one, but I expect it would be nice to do an evening bonfire at the beach. It probably wouldn't be worth it unless we had a bigger group though.

We could but haven't really:

12. been bowling -- Since there's a bowling alley down the street from where we live, there's not really a good excuse (besides Wii Sports bowling).

15. paint pottery together -- This is pretty specific, but I think the idea of making stuff together more generally would be nice.

new social support group for women

2007-07-13T13:18:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start a new social support group for women on their periods.

It will be called "Why the #*$&@# am I bleeding?"

Group activities will involve not swimming, not eating cold foods, wearing dark-colored pants, and generally feeling aggrieved.

Who wants in?

transient summer: how to live temporary

2007-06-28T16:37:00.001-07:00

We moved into a 1 bedroom apartment in Mountain View on a three-month lease (not easy to find, some complexes wanted a couple hundred/mo more rent , and most would not lease for less than six months. Alex will be here for about three months; I'll be here now for a little less than two.

Being here has made me realize that I take for granted a lot of things that less transient people typically have in their homes. Like cooking utensils. A can opener. Soap. I've also realized that, despite the fact that I consider myself to require very little maintenance, I need a fair amount. I'm unhappy sitting in an empty apartment to be alone with my thoughts. You'd think that being in an environment without the distractions of social interaction, toys, and media would be incredibly conducive to work and dissertation-writing, but the opposite turns out to be the case -- instead of hours of productivity and accomplishment, the empty box leaves me feeling mostly despair.

That last sentence was more dramatic than it needed to be. Some people don't have enough to eat or a roof over their head -- further evidence that humans judge by comparison rather than objective assessment. Anyway, my solution to this problem is to try to be out elsewhere as much as possible. The City library (where I am right now) is within walking and biking distance, and is quite nice.

I wish I were staying longer so that I'd actually try to settle in rather than just get by or make do. I wish we had a microwave oven, chairs, and stable Internet. I wish I didn't know that our L.A. subletter didn't have it so much better than I do. But maybe he wishes our place had a pool.

asians who have non-asian sounding last names

2007-06-22T00:18:00.000-07:00

I have been a Smith for several months now, having jumped through the appropriate hoops (stood in the right lines, filled out the correct forms) to undergo a legal name change. Most things have now been switched over; a stray account here or there, and all of my school stuff remains under my old last name.

Before and after I went through the name change, friends of mine asked if I was planning to change, what I'd change to, and afterward, why I had decided to make the change. My main answer has been that I thought I felt pretty neutral about the whole thing, and I thought it would increase Alex's happiness by some small amount, so I changed my name. I realized that a new last name involved some administrative hassles, the name would take some getting used to, might change my sense of self-identity established over the last twenty-six years. Also, it would make some things easier -- e.g., recognition of us as a family unit, which would make things easier once we have kids.

What I didn't spend nearly so much time thinking about is the fact that I don't look like a Smith at all. This was made most salient to me when I went to check out a book at a public library in Los Angeles, and the (black) man behind the counter said, "Now how did somebody like you get a last name like Smith?" I told him that I had become a Smith by marriage, and he nodded with understanding.

Handing customers their receipts, checkout clerks at Safeway / Vons / Pavilions grocery stores glance at it briefly before addressing them by name. Both the name of the savings club card owner and the name on the credit card appear on the receipt, so I get either a "Thank you Ms. Smith" or "Have a good day Ms. Chan" depending on which part my checker reads. I could just be overly sensitive or making this up, but each time they address me as Ms. Smith instead of Chan, though I get the sense that I have just presented them with a conundrum or puzzle.

I wonder which of these thoughts the are thinking:
"Ah, she must have married a caucasian fellow."
"Near-victim of China's one-child policy, adopted and saved by a white, American family."
"Witness protection program member?"
"Identity or credit card theft?!"

Today I considered another practical implication of my name change when I went to meet someone selling used Wii games on Craigslist. We had communicated via email and she knew me as Smith -- would she recognize me, an Asian female outdoors?

And I realized that this is an identity issue that comes with a marital name change that some, but far fewer, individuals will undergo. An increase in interracial marriages accompanied by name changes will prepare store personnel for my arrival and payment. I wonder how long it will take before I'm used to it.

Gmail error and Google's wry sense of humor

2007-06-15T10:59:00.001-07:00

First Gmail said it was taking a while to load and maybe I should try out the HTML version.

Then I got this:

Dear valued user,

You have reached the error page for the error page...
You win!

Yeah it's sort of funny. I hope Alex has fun there this summer.

Models of Efficiency

2007-06-14T15:43:00.000-07:00

The DMV is not what most people would consider to be an efficient organization, and tales of long lines abound. Never the less, my experience at the DMV today leads me to conclude the following efficiency ranking:

1) First Internet Bank of Indiana
2) DMV
3) Bank of America

When Elaine and I added her to my checking account at First IB, it took five minutes of paperwork and a 41 cent stamp.

When I went to the DMV in order to transfer the title of Elaine's car from her parents to us, it took five minutes of paperwork, and eighteen minutes in line.

When Elaine and I went to BofA to add me to her checking account, it took fifty minutes of waiting in line, five minutes of talking to a "banking specialist"*, then the five minutes of paperwork, then five more minutes of talking to the banking specialist, and ultimately resulted in us leaving without accomplishing our goals. The story follows.

We walked into the bank on Tuesday, and after learning that we couldn't alter accounts by talking to a teller, we sat down in the plush chairs to wait for the single banking specialist at work that day. They had a giant open building and a small basket of lollipops in a manner reminiscent of visits to the doctor's. We were shortly greeted by a greeter, who's job it was to take down our name and our reason for wanting to speak with the banking specialist. During the momentary break between clients, she would approach the specialist and tell her why the next people were there. This was an important job, as by the time clients were allowed to see her, they had generally forgotten why they had visited Bank of America that day, and often why they had an account with Bank of America at all.
After waiting for what not only seemed back was actually measured to be upwards of fifty minutes, our turn arrived. Once we had sat in front of the banking specialist, she explained ... very ... slowly ... that I would need not only one, but *gasp* two forms of ID, and that I would need to know my social security number. Since a major credit card apparently counts as a second form of identification these days, we were apparently over prepared with my passport. After another period of waiting, the woman produced a form for us to sign, that they might have our signatures on file. More questions, offers of new services, and painfully slow explanations later, we arrived at a problem. Elaine's mother was already a joint account holder. Did we want to open a new account?
"No." After an hour of waiting, after long discussions of the lack of necessity for brick and mortar banks, and after plans to imminently close the account Elaine had, we didn't want another.
"Are you sure you want him on your account? Then either one of you could just take all the money."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"So either one of the joint account holders can just close the account?"
"Yes."
"And could we do this just be talking to a teller?"
"Yes."
"Thank you. Bye."

At this point, it felt like we'd found kryptonite. If we can simply close the account, and open another one at a better bank, we have no intention of going through the hassle of getting all the necessary signatures and spell components in order to change the names on the account. At the same time, we still need the account for the time being, since Elaine has direst deposit set up with them; but the clock is ticking.

* I decided to only put quotes around banking specialist at its first appearance. The quotes are intended to express my skepticism at the legitimacy of such a term, especially as used in this context.

Giftcard Tradeoff

2007-06-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

This may not actually be the final post related to gift cards, but I hope it is. Elaine and I dropped by Circuit City today, while waiting for her oil to be changed. Although Circuit City is generally a fine store, this one is a bit lacking. We had originally intended to get either a copy of Guild Wars or a new Wiimote, but our choice of stores had none. On our way out, however, we spotted something we could use: iTunes gift cards. Also noticing Virgin Mobile Top Up cards, we decided to split our original CC gift card down the middle. $50 of iTunes for Elaine, $50 of airtime for Alex (note that Elaine's music benefits Alex, and Alex's airtime benefits Elaine).

Do gift cards make good gifts? Selling gift cards

2007-06-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

There's the other side to that great thing about gift cards coin. We were given a bunch of gift cards about eight months ago and still have not managed to use them yet. A couple of them were sold on eBay, and the others we figured we would be able to use. Unfortunately this has not yet been the case.

First example: $100 gift card to Circuit City. We do electronics, computing, video games, so it seemed plausible that we would be able to find a good use for the card. But we are always looking for a good bargain, we prefer to buy things used, or we will only buy something new if it is offered on sale at a reasonable discount. We rarely have retail store loyalty.

Another example: $20 Barnes and Noble gift card that I've had since Christmas. Definitely an appropriate gift because I regularly purchase books. But I buy them new in stores because used books are just as good. I've been to the bookstore with gift card in hand many times, but have been unable to buy anything at retail price knowing that it's much cheaper (and recycled) online.

Luckily, existence of a market for gift cards and certificates makes it so that if I ultimately decide that I'd rather have slightly less cash, I can part with the gift card online. Similarly, if your niece/nephew is that that into the Radio Shack gift card you got them for Christmas, they can barter for a different sort of gift card or trade it for universally-accepted cash.

Note the following restrictions for selling gift cards on eBay:
* The value of the gift card may not exceed $500.
* You must have the gift card
* You can only list one card per week

Also, you are likely to lose 10% of the card's face value + your eBay listing fee.

Bankrate.com provides more info about the secondary market for gift cards, including various other venues for swapping and sales.

The great thing about gift cards...

2007-06-11T15:58:00.001-07:00

Time to go shopping
Originally uploaded by tomeppy.

... is that you can buy them on eBay.

A number of guests at our wedding last October gave us gift cards of varying increments to some restaurants and shops. We have wanted to use them, but because we prefer to buy things used whenever we can, it has been hard to actually consume the gift cards. The other problem is that I've sometimes gone to the store to get something, and realized upon arriving that I should have brought the gift card currently sitting at home. One gift card, the one for The Cheesecake Factory, we knew rightaway that we would not be interested in using. So we looked to see whether it would be feasible to sell them on eBay. Indeed, a massive market of buying and selling gift cards and certificates exists.

How can the gift card market help you in your frugality?
Buyers -- if you know what store currency you are looking for, you can get the gift card on eBay for up to 20% off face value (10-15% is the norm). Gift cards are most beneficial if you (1) already know the store or restaurant where you will spend money and (2) have the ability to postpone your purchase by a few days or a week. (3) Gift cards may also be beneficial if you shop the same store(s) regularly, i.e., you don't have to worry whether or not you will make future purchases there.

For example: I decided that I wanted to purchase several episodes the Bravo show Work Out off of iTunes at $1.99 each. Granted, the truly frugal thing would be to watch it for free or not at all, but we don't have broadcast or cable, and I decided it would be worth the money to me. Instead of immediately purchasing the episodes at full price, I found an iTunes gift card auction on eBay that was about to end. The $15 gift card (which fit the number of episodes I was planning to buy) cost me $13.26 (free electronic shipping), giving me an 11.6% saving for very little of my time, not to mention +1 to my eBay reputation.

Another example: Those past a beginner stage of frugal living probably brew their own coffee. Or quit the caffeine habit. But those who have decided that the value of their daily cup of Starbucks is worth more than the monetary cost can purchase a $50 gift card on eBay for $45 and get their month's caffeine at 10% off. Find a better priced auction and increase your savings, but already that's $200 in your pocket if you spend $2000 on coffee a year.

Finally: Have a friend whose birthday is coming up in a few weeks? They are into electronics and other stuff, so you figure you will get them a Best Buy gift card (Whether or not gift cards make good gifts is debate that will be left for another day -- I come from a Chinese cultural background and have no qualms giving cash). By buying the card on eBay, you pay less for the gift card, and they can still purchase the same amount of stuff. If their birthday is tomorrow, or TODAY, this may limit your options somewhat. But fortune favors those who plan ahead.

N.B. As with all eBay transactions, use good sense before you bid. Check out the seller's reputation, types of goods they typically sell, and feedback comments from buyers. If you have any questions about the items, definitely ask.

Happy bidding.

*Photo by tomeppy

robots-look-for-housing

2007-06-09T17:22:00.001-07:00

robots-look-for-housing
Originally uploaded by eraine. How do I make this bigger?

I don't like looking for housing... or maybe I don't like dating

2007-06-08T17:55:00.001-07:00

for rent
Originally uploaded by mgoldstein.

I've been spending a lot of time on Craigslist these days. Initially, a large part of it was needing to find a subletter to take over our 1-bedroom for a couple of months in L.A.

Looking for a subletter reminded me of the setup on The Bachelor (rather surprisingly, we watched every single episode this season). The Bachelor's stated goal is to find the woman whom he feels best fits him in terms of personality, attraction, life goals, etc, but whom he also believes to feel the same way about him. He is supposed to be looking for a long-term relationship, so he wants a woman who would also be interested long-term.

But there is a large degree of uncertainty and reliance upon trust. He dates multiple (though their numbers decrease through the course of the season) women and wants all of them to be interested in him, but in the end he can only pick one. The women, on the other hand, have similar incentives to demonstrate their interest, because if they aren't interested at all, they become easy targets for elimination.

Our situation is this: We want to have the best subletter possible. For our situation, that's a clean, responsible, respectful individual (or couple) who wants to rent the apartment for the two months in which it will be vacant. We want a guarantee of the subletter's commitment long-term. That is, we want to ensure that they will not rent for one month, then skip out, leaving us having to scramble for a second subletter or leaving the apartment not paid for and empty. We are choosing between multiple candidates, all of whom indicate interest by responding to our CL ad, and they are looking for other possible living situations because our choosing them is far from assured.

Love is complicated. Rent, we can ask for up front. (So we have.)

Now that we've found someone, there's this issue of figuring out where we will live in the Bay Area, and whether I'll find something (e.g., my job) besides my own thing (academic research) to do. I can't wait until we're more settled. Regular housing searches are not much fun.