Wasn't I "tagged" another time recently?

I was tagged by Grad Girl, who centered her answers around personal finance (she's mainly a PF blogger), and I may or may not do the same. We'll see:


What was I doing 5 years ago?

In the spring of 2003, I was finishing my second quarter of my freshman year of college. I was probably going crazy. At that point, I was still into majoring in acting. I wasn't involved in 10,000 activities (yet), but I was helping to manage an independent, student-run theatre festival.

Five things on my to-do list today (or things I did today - in no particular order):
1. Picked up sinus infection medicine at Kaiser
2. Ate lunch with friends, instead of at my desk
3. Had a chair massage, in which my sinuses were massaged - weird, and good
4. Got totally distracted doing this
5. Passed out on the couch watching Jon & Kate Plus 8 (well, haven't done it yet...)

Five snacks I love, regardless of cost or nutritional value :
1. White Cheddar Soy Crisps (either TJ's or Stacy's) (no, I don't buy them on Amazon. But I could.) (The people at Trader Joe's have offered to sell me an entire case. More than once.)
2. Chocolate Pudding
3. Chocolate.
4. Cheese.
5. Pickles.

Five things I would do if I were a billionaire, assuming I had to spend it on me:
1. Live somewhere where I am near the ocean and have a view of city lights, but not too far from civilization.
2. Try a new restaurant every night (I'm stealing this from GG).
3. Travel instead of work - but do whatever kind of work I want in my off-time.
4. Buy really nice clothes.
5. Hire someone to live with me whose sole job would be getting rid of spiders/bugs so I don't have to feel guilty making The Boy do it all the time.

Five bad money habits I have:
1. Splurging when I get a little extra money - even if I can technically afford it, I feel guilty.
2. Not paying enough attention to my Vanguard accounts.
3. Trying to push others to be more frugal.
4. Not going out enough - being too frugal.
5. Not carrying enough cash.

Five (four) places I have lived:
1. Los Angeles - San Fernando Valley
2. Los Angeles - Westwood
3. England (Stratford/London...for a month)
4. Berkeley
5.

Five jobs I’ve had:
1. bagel seller/preparer (bagel shop)
2. Front Desk Attendee (dormitory)
3. Archivist (music library)
4. Intern (literary management/dramaturgy)
5. Administrative Associate

Five bloggers I'm tagging (I'm going to try to tag blogs I haven't tagged before):
1. An English Major's Money
2. Now, Looks More Like Real Life
3. Seriously Jazzed
4. Mediocrity At It's Finest
5. The Actor/Composer's Notebook

I Am So Congested I Can't Name This Post

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you...The Chronic Sinusitis Sufferer. She may exhibit signs of drowsiness, grumpiness, discomfort, and child-like behavior (ie: whining, selfishness and curling up into the fetal position). This is likely caused by the feeling that her head is no longer firmly attached to her neck, but is rather floating like a heavy balloon somewhere just above it. Also, the stuffy nose, puffy sinuses, and scruffy appearance (caused by chapped nostrils, and a lack of desire to keep up appearances) do not help the cause. She is most assuredly feeling disoriented, with the inability to focus due to the swollen sinus cavities in her face. She probably also has a headache that won't quit, and has gone through several boxes of tissue in the last two days.

Please approach her with caution, as she has not yet received antibiotics [note: she HAS tried Tylenol Severe Allergy and Wal-itin, to no avail. Those are for chumps. She needs the perscription drugs.] - hopefully, for all our sakes, she will get them tonight.

grrr.

so many tabs...

• Vlogs (video blogs) from Mel, of Flight of the Conchords.
• Crazy Aunt Purl makes me laugh.
• Really bizarre story about some really psycho landlords in San Francisco.
• Cool pots and stuff, maybe I'll use something like this to plant a garden on my back steps.
• This family lives in an RV. I think I would get claustrophobic, at least when it's too cold to be outside.
• Topanga Elementary School is doing Seussical The Musical. Too cute.

And on a final note, if you click here and start playing, you will get addicted to this website. In a good way. I had forgotten about it (after having played for months last year), and now it is back in my life. Eek.

Flight of the Conchords

Yet another glorious video from Flight of the Conchords.

Such a Good Saturday

Ah, yesterday was lovely. While we somehow managed to wake up at 8:30 (why do we always wake up early, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on the weekend???), we stayed in bed reading for about an hour and a half. I haven't done that in a long time, and it was really, really nice. I love the book I'm reading right now, and I'm glad I'm falling back into a habit of reading on a consistent basis. We made a delicious breakfast of eggs (sunny-side-up), tomatoes, spicy italian sausage, potatoes and toast, with the remnants of our Cougar Gold cheese. Absolutely yummy.

Then we headed over to the Farmer's Market, where we purchased all sorts of things, under The Boy's suggestion that we just buy whatever looks good and figure out how to cook it later. "That's what the chefs do," he explained. A good theory, I think. Now what to do with beets, bok choi, potatoes, onions, and fresh halibut, pasta, oregano, and basil? I think I have an idea...maybe. We scarfed down two (big) scoops of Three Twins ice cream while listening to three awkward asian teenage boys sing "All I Have to Give" by the Backstreet Boys. It was awesome.


I went to get a haircut, and stopped into the most relaxing store ever. Harmony Yoga Pilates is a yoga/pilates studio + aromatherapy store all in one. They spent a lot of time trying to get the aesthetic in the store just right, and boy have they succeeded. There are a ton of different kinds/brands of soaps, lotions, oils, etc., and they are displayed beautifully. I spend about 2o minutes just wandering around the store, smelling things and feeling relaxed. The yoga/pilates studio in the back is beautiful, with hardwood and exposed brick. Mmmm I might have to check out a class or two. I am on a hunt for a pilates ball, a small one like we often use in the class I take. It's not weighted, really, and it's about 9" in diameter I think. I've found them (I think) online, but I want to buy it in a store so I can make sure it's the right one. I think I'm going to have to check out a big sporting goods store.



Picked up a few things at Walgreens, where I saw these interesting and colorful flowers, and headed home to prepare to welcome Shonelle and her friend Maya for Craft Night. We actually got some crafting done (I finally finished my scrapbook from Amsterdam/Paris/England 2005), and ate our way through an entire batch of onion dip. Not that that's unusual. The Boy came over for a few episodes of The Office, and we went to bed before midnight. All in all, a lovely Saturday.

This morning, we walked down to the Thai Temple for brunch (or "Sunday Hour," as the sign says - even though it's open from 10-1). I love that it takes less than 5 minutes to walk there from my house. Awesome. Now we're sitting on the couch in total food-coma-mode, bellies full of curry and pad thai, and mango with sticky rice. The weather has been just wonderful, and I'm looking forward to a day of lounging around and relaxing in the sun. And maybe some fresh halibut for dinner.

Happy Weekend!

San Francisco Friday

Yesterday evening, I went into San Francisco to meet up with my old buddy Sanjay, who is in town visiting from Puerto Rico, where he teaches at Princeton Review and speaks no Spanish ("I can order food REALLY well though!"). I've known him for almost 10 years, so it's nice to reunite every once in a while.

However, we have very different styles of plan-making. He is more along the lines of the rest of the population, whereas I am fairly psychotic when it comes to organizing get-togethers. I prefer to specify a time and a location, and meet up there and then. I am trying to be more open and spontaneous though, so I tried to keep my cool (and *mostly* succeeded) when plans kept changing, and things felt like they were never going to come together. But you know what? Everything worked out fine, and while it wasn't my ideal or preferred way of scheduling a night out on the town, it was fun. Yeah, I spent over an hour sitting alone at Dolores Park, but I had brought a book, and I actually enjoyed just hanging out alone, people-watching (hippies and hipsters galore! puppies! babies! hula hoops!) and reading and taking in the fresh air. Until it got cold; then I was all, "hey Sanjay, where the hell are you!??" For Reals.

For the whole evening, I was just along for the ride - a position I'm not used to being in. I am usually the planner, and I stress out (or whatever) about getting everyone coordinated, in the same place at the same time, on schedule, etc. It was kind of nice to just get in a car and follow along with wherever we were going. At one point, we were on the corner of 14th and Valencia, not sure where this restaurant was where we were supposedly meeting people (people I didn't know, mind you. check me out!). And until we walked into the restaurant, I was convinced we were going for sushi. Turns out, we were going for gourmet (aka: organic shmancy hippie) pizza. Go figure. But it was delicious (albeit overpriced), and it was even kind of fun sitting at a table with 8 strangers making semi-awkward conversation. And oh-my-god, the bathroom at this restaurant (downstairs; the upstairs one wasn't much to talk about). Worth a trip out there just to see the craziness (see below).

All in all, I really enjoyed the evening. I had a great time walking from BART to Dolores Park, taking pictures of the funky shops and interesting San Francisco architecture. Photos below:

And Oh Yeah, Some Links

I can't tell if I am repulsed or intrigued by the idea of this fake jellyfish tank. I love looking at jellyfish, but I just don't know that this would do it for me. Plus, it's expensive. Plus, it's kind of chintsy, right?

My friend Erin is a really good poet. I have forced her to email me her poems for years now, and she is currently getting her masters in poetry (well, writing in general, I think...but she's a poet). Anyway, she's really talented, and her poems always rub me just the right way, and I usually feel smarter having read them. Reading poetry is a "smart" thing, right? Just kidding. I love me some e. e. cummings like the best literary snobs. That's not the point though. The point is that Erin is a wonderful poet, and her poetry is now available online HERE - through at-large magazine. Just click on POETRY and then E.C. MESSER [Why Captain, I had no idea.] This issue is the "Jungle" issue, though I'm not sure what that refers to (even after reading the blurb on the homepage). Maybe Erin can elaborate in a comment.

This might be one of the funniest twitters Dooce has ever twittered.

There is so much I want to do in San Francisco. I'm going to have to start scheduling things in, so I don't waste away my weekends puttering around the house.

Oh my lord, The Laptop Compubuddy Sleeve. Holy Crap. Trust me, you will want to click here and check this out. This is one of those "a picture's worth a thousand words" cases.

I really enjoyed this Leah Garchik column...sometimes I really wish I could go to one of these fashiony things, just to check 'em out.

California Golden Moms

The Boy writes for a rather popular Cal-Athletics-Themed Blog, The California Golden Blogs (link to change soon, once the blog is officially a part of SBN, which is apparently somewhat of a big deal. I don't know much about the sports-blogging world, but this is what I am told). Anyway, there has been some drama going on over at the Golden Blogs in the last week, which you can read a little about here, but the point of this blog post is that there was a special guest-post this week.

I would just like to provide a quotation from said recent guest-post, written by The Boy's mother, who went with him to a practice earlier this week (just what every mom wants to do when she's in town visiting her son, right? Just kidding. Well...) - it cracked me up.

"Like the brother, #19 stands about 6′7" and has the really long legs. I’m guessing he wears about a size 15 shoe, which you can only buy on-line."

It's just so very mom-like, and it just made me smile.

Earth Day!

You didn't think I would blog today without mentioning Earth Day, did you?

Three Earth-related things I love:

1. Planet Earth. Seriously. If you have never watched it, watch it immediately. It's about $60 from the Discovery Channel Store, but you can get it on Amazon for around $25! Buy the whole series. Just do it. Rent it first if you want, but trust me, this is something worth having in your collection. There's a scene from "Seasonal Forests" that I replay over and over in my head if I need a pick-me-up. Click here and go down to forests: leaps of faith, approximately 1:40 into the video. Good lord I love it.
2. Envirosax. Very cute alternatives to the reusable bags your local grocery store sells/gives away. More expensive than those, most likely (they will usually run $0.99-$2.00; the ones on this website will run you around $10 apiece).
3. If you want to send someone a card the old-school way, try sending these cute little babies. These cards come printed with instructions to moisten and bury in the ground - they come embedded with wildflower seeds! Lovely!

I hope you all had fantastic Earth Days...mine wasn't as sunny as I would have liked, but it rained a bit this evening, which is good for the planet! April showers bring May flowers, right? :-)

An English Major - Writing!

I've posted before about a personal finance blog I adore, An English Major's Money, and the writer of said blog has just launched a NEW website/blog! The Interpreted World features her musings and analysis about "arts, culture, and the semiotics of the mundane."

Two of my favorite recent posts are Aunt Sally and Cherry Tomatoes and Class in America. She has a great writing voice; easy to read, engaging, witty...I'm a fan! Plus, her webmaster/boyfriend helped with the design, which is absolutely (minimalist-ly) fabulous!

Check out The Interpreted World today!

Holy Crap, You're Out There!

I recently signed up with Google Analytics, just to track how many readers I actually have out there, where you all live (not on a personal level - it just shows how many people in each geographic location), etc. And after a few days of tracking (started on 4/17/08), I have to say...wow! There are more of you than I thought!!!

A few stats that blew my mind:

• I have readers not only in California (where most of my friends/family are), but in New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Washington, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and something that says "not set." And that's just the Top-10! All y'all out there from from 35 of these United States! Pretty cool!
• There are 295 "absolute unique visitors," which I think means at least 295 people have come to the site. What?! Who are you people???
• Most people spend an average of 21 seconds on the website, which makes sense, as my posts are generally short.
• Apparently people who read this blog speak not only English, but Spanish, Russian, Japanese, German and Norwegian! Go you!
  
• My reports say that 88% of the visitors are new (as opposed to returning), but I think that's mostly because I've only been tracking for a few days. I'm thinking this number will even out more over time, but we'll see.
• I hit a peak of 100 page views on Sunday, April 20 (people out there getting stoned and coming to KimsKitchenSink?), but Saturday, April 19 held a close second at 99 views (Happy Passover?) - it's a little confusing, because another section of the site reports 121 views on 4/20, but I think that's total views vs. unique views (repeat visitors in a single day vs. separate individuals visiting only once).
• Most people view 1 page (I'm guessing the homepage, or maybe the page of the newest post), and a decent number (10%) visit 2 pages - which means people are actually clicking around to previous posts and such. Neat!

So yeah. Wow. I'm glad all y'all out there are are reading! It's definitely more than the 8 or so friends and family members I had thought!

I am kind of in shock.

(click to enlarge image)

where my readers are, globally
(the darker the green, the more readers in that region)

PS: Most of my readers (80%!) come, apparently, from referrals - which means I owe a big thanks to you lovely bloggers out there who link to me either in the sidebar or in actual posts to your blog! Thanks!!!

[note: If you want to find out all sorts of interesting things about your own blog/website, it's super easy to do through Google Analytics. Just use your gmail/blogger account and sign up. If you don't have a gmail account...well...get one. What's taken you so long? As you know, I'm terrible with the technologies, and it only took me about 5 minutes to set up. You enter the name of your blog, they give you a piece of html code, which you just copy-paste onto your blog/website. Easy peasy.]

Give My Apartment Some Love

So, I entered another Apartment Therapy contest. I pretty much enter these things to offer some representation for people whose apartments don't look like they're torn from the pages of expensive design magazines. Go to the link above and vote if you want, but please do leave comments (you have to create a login, but they won't email you or anything if you don't want). People can be sort of mean (or "pretentious" as The Boy observed today), so it's always nice to have positive reactions. Not that I really care; I love my apartment, and I don't care that my couches don't match, or that my style is sort of "college" (honestly, who cares?) - as long as it makes me happy, I think that's what matters.

I have been having a lot of mixed, mostly negative, feelings about Apartment Therapy lately. On the one hand, they have a great mission of helping people make their homes comfortable and lovely, blah blah blah. But I just feel like so much of what they recommend or love or feature is expensive and often sort of sterile. Maybe that's just my taste though. It seems that a lot of people love super clean lines and a sort of museum feel. I like soft couches and colorful pillows. To each his own, right?

Anyway, check out the entry, look at the slideshow of pictures (and the oh-so-lovely floorplan), comment if you like.

I think that even though my apartment doesn't really "fit in," and it's not "inspiring" to most, it's representative of who I am; and I think there are plenty of people out there who subscribe to Apartment Therapy but don't subscribe to the belief that designer is the only way to have a "cool" home. And I love it.

The end.

Dashing off...

I'm about to dash off to LA for Passover, but I wanted to empty out the tabs in my browser before I get on the plane. There are just too many.

This post is dedicated to Jennifer, because today she told me that she likes when I do this. Yeah! Validation! Really, folks, I do this for you. (No, I do it for me. But I like when you like it.)

And here goes:

• Mary Roach came to speak at work today about her new book, Bonk. I'm really excited to read it. Here are some articles from the New York Times, NPR, and The SF Chronicle about her and the book.
  
• Dooce (aka Heather Armstrong) was written up in the Wall Street Journal. It's actually a pretty concise article about what she does and how she does it, though you can't really get the full scope of the awesomeness that is her website until you read it yourself. I haven't watched this TV interview yet, but she wrote about it, and it looks like fun.
• Today marks the 102nd anniversary of the Great San Francisco Quake - and this guy Herbert Hamrol is the last survivor, at age 105. The lovely Sara posted this interview with him today. (thanks, Sara!)
• Emily has a rather magnificent talent for posting things that I'm really interested in. Like this photo album of food.
• I'm a big fan of archiving my emails...here are some reasons why you should, from the Gmail team.
  

Post 200!

I don't have anything extra-special or grand for post #200, but I do want to quote Leah Garchik's recent column, because it is just too funny not to share - especially with Passover looming, which naturally means I'm thinking of more Jewish things.

"Merry Passover: The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports from Rome (via Lynn Dunlop) that Pope Benedict XVI is partial to a Jewish almond-and-raisin pastry bought for him by his Jewish physician. Meanwhile, Tory Norwood helped celebrate her mother's 80th birthday with dinner at Eccolo in Berkeley. One dish on the menu was 'artichokes fried in the style of the Roman Jews,' prompting Norwood's mother to blurt out, 'How can people be so cruel?'"

Things

All of a sudden, I am up to 198 blog posts. I believe this will be #199. When the heck did THAT happen???

Anyway, here are some things of great (or not) interest:

• Thanks to Elon, for posting this BBC article about those email "please help and receive 1 bajillion dollars" scams. Very interesting. I'd kind of like to be a part of an email-based sting operation like this.
• My friend Grant's dog won Pet of the Month at their vet (in England. Ooooh). Awwww. Check out Strider!
  
• Send Bethany Grundle to the Democratic Convention!!! She's the truthiest faux-13-year old reporter out there! Just create a login name and vote (up to 15 times a day!). Goooo Bethany! (I mean Jessie) (I mean Bethany) (I mean) Oh, and you can do all your 15 times at once, so you don't even have to come back to the site 15 times! Just click away!
• Do you want to see some CRAZY Chinese dancers and acrobats performing a ridiculously impressive bit from Swan Lake? Holy crap, it's so crazy. Click here.
  
• OMG, pygmy hedgehogs. Oh. My. God. Unnatural, maybe. Totally frickin' adorable? Yes.
  

White Wedding

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while now, but recently, my dear friend Colette's uncle got married in the snow. Yeah. In the snow. On skis. I'm not a champion skier or anything (as The Boy will confirm, or rather he would, if he read this blog), but this is definitely a different idea for a wedding...and I think it would be pretty fun. Do they have to stand in "pizza" or "wedge" position the whole time? Do they just make sure the entire wedding area is perfectly flat? These are the questions, my friends, these are the questions.

I do not have the answers, but I think this must have been quite a fun wedding experience for all. Definitely not something you see every day, and when you go to as many weddings as Colette does (I swear, this is the year of the wedding for this girl), it's probably nice to go to one that does something a little different!

brrrr cold wedding party!

Sruli Recht

Jon Carroll wrote this bit about designer Sruli Recht, of whom I had previously not heard. Mr. Recht (Sruli?) is quite the artiste, apparently, when it comes to (in my opinion) pretentious clothing-as-art, art-as-life, life-as-metaphor type things. It's sort of like the J. Peterman catalog, but for high-fashion I guess (since there are no prices on his pieces, and he lists "exhibitions" and "awards received").

Take his website, for example, which states:

this site is not here. do not look at it.
it has been deconstructed
and all The Kings horses are putting it back together.
painfully.

then you will have more non-product,
charicouture and robo-coco accidents to look at

for
sewing is a contact sport

Yeah. That's what I thought. I never really understood the high-fashion thing, despite many hours of America's Next Top Model (which, regrettably, I will never get back), and frankly, I don't think I ever will. And that's ok with me.

Speaking of J.Peterman, I'd never actually looked through the catalog with any interest before...but I just went to the website to get the link for this post, and I must say, there are some lovely things in there! Erin, this hat is looking at you! Too bad it's all *just* out of my budget...

Make Me Sick

I'm home sick today, and I'm not really feeling like posting, but I have a few things in my tabs that I wanted to share, so I might as well do it now.

These two articles from Philly Mag and the New York Times about younger and younger girls going for spa days, fancy hair treatments, waxing, etc. It's really disturbing. Really.

Cirque du Soleil has a really great recruiting website full of videos and such. Check it out, even if you're not a crazy circus performer.

Brown Butter Toffee Blondies, via Martha Stewart. I kind of want to make them, but apparently not enough to actually do it (the recipe has been in my tabs for at least a week).

Taylor-the-Great

I've written a little before about my friend Taylor, who is currently on tour with Jersey Boys. I've probably seen the show 6 times, and I think I've seen him do all of the roles he understudies - including Frankie Valli (in Seattle; and yes, I was already in the area). He's super talented, and ridiculously motivated and focused. Also, he is (almost) always patient with me when I have computer questions (oh yeah, he's also kind of brilliant with technology); plus he was fantastic when my family and friends saw the show in San Francisco, taking us all on a backstage tour and explaining all the little secrets behind making the show run smoothly. Run-on sentence. Oh well.

Anyway, Backstage.com recently wrote an article about what it's like to be on tour, featuring a rather long interview with Taylor. If you want to catch Taylor in the act, here's a clip from the Jersey Boys cast's rock concert to benefit Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS, at The Shout House in Minneapolis.

Squishables

Someone at work just sent out a link to this website that sells "squishables," which are basically giant stuffed animals. They are, for the most part, round and freakishly cute. But they are also all around $40. In my opinion, that's a lot of money for a stuffed animal, even if it is 3 feet in diameter. I mean, look at this rooster. So completely squishable. I don't even know what else to say except that the chicks (ha ha) who started this website are probably geniuses. I really wish they had a hippo...something tells me it would be even more ridiculously fabulous.



I am currently trying really hard not to buy these bunnies. They are only $15 (they're much smaller than the 3-foot squishables), and dear lord, they are bunnies that come zipped up inside a carrot. Bunnies! In a carrot! What will they think of next?

I'm smitten. Wouldn't they make a great gift for my friend's soon to be 2-year old? Or, I don't know...my cube?

Email me (kimskitchensink [at] gmail [dot] com) if you are smitten too and you want 10% off your order (valid in April 2008 only). Oh yeah, they'll ship anywhere in the world.

Idol Gives Back

So, I'm not usually one for these celebrity fundraiser benefit concert type things (oh wait, I'm a total sap), nor am I one for American Idol (I just watch the singing and the criticism, right Brian? yeah. and The Hills isn't a guilty pleasure of mine either.)...but I turned on the TV and it was on (thanks, TiVo!), and now I'm watching (again, thanks TiVo - I can fast forward through commercials or anything else I don't want to watch). My question is though...when was it initially on? It looks like it is on "Tue. 8/7c, Wed. 7:30/6:30c & Thu. 8/7c" (from the Idol Gives Back website), but I SWEAR I was watching highlights from it on E! News at the gym yesterday (I promise! I even saw Taylor's mom fix Brad Pitt's microphone!). Le sigh, I am confused. Is it not live?

Here are my reports:

Carrie Underwood sang George Michael's "Praying For Time." I was honestly so moved by it that I started writing this blog post. Lyrics here, and a video here.

The celebrity power behind this year's Idol Gives Back is massive. I didn't watch last year, but seriously...just name a celebrity. They were probably there. Robin Williams as "Russian Idol." So funny.

The 8 finalists sang Seasons of Love. Someone's mic was on way too loud, and I don't know whose. But he/she was a little sharp, I think it was that Kristy Lee Cook, but I could be wrong. I probably am. I don't know what I'm talking about. I don't know...I like RENT and all, but this song is always the song for these types of things. Isn't anyone sick of it? Doesn't anyone find it a little tired or cliche at this point?

I sort of love little Miley Cyrus. I really don't want to, I really don't. But she's totally adorable, and she does actually have some of her dad's musical talent. And let's face it: she can rock a stage. And like I said, she's freaking adorable. Somehow, I have faith that she won't go all Lohan or Duff or Olsen or Spears on us...although with the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus thing, she might have a few issues later down the line. Oh well. She seems very grounded for now. My God, Am I Celebrity-Gossiping??? Stop.

Causes Spotlighted (that I remembered off the top of my head just now): Education, Malaria, AIDS, Katrina, Medical Care in the US, Violence in low-income communities...every celebrity had a chance to speak up about something. I don't know how I feel about that-I kind of like that it's not a benefit to support only one cause, but I don't know if something gets lost in the fact that it's this sort of jumbled grab bag of causes. I think I like that it's a lot; it highlights the fact that there is so much going on in the world. I actually think Alicia Keyes summed it up well: "It's crazy when you think about it, about how you can change the life of people forever, for the price of a pair of shoes." Did you hear that, celebrities? Did I hear it?

We all know how easy it is to get caught up in our lives, and it's also easy to get caught up in guilt. Guilt for not being charitable enough, guilt for complaining about things that are not as big of a problem as say, 8-month old babies dying of malaria because they don't have mosquito nets. I understand why so many people only take time to talk about these things a few times a year. It's hard. It's hard to think about, and it's hard to deal with. It is incredibly overwhelming to think about all the trouble that's out there, and how small and helpless you feel. You donate your $50 or so, and feel good for a while, but unless you dedicate your life to charity work, do you ever feel like you're really making a difference? How much of a difference can you make if you "ignore" it to go back to your normal life full of indoor plumbing, hot water, comfy beds and affordable medicine?

Blech. Now I'm just confused.

To donate: call 1-800-IDOL-AID or check out the website. Your employer probably does a corporate match (I know mine matches a donation of $50 or more). Even better.

Jessie Gaskell Wins "Best Person Ever" Award*!

So, you know that series Dorm Life that my friend Jessie writes for/acts in with some of my other friends? Because I have some damn cool friends back in LA? (thank god for the internets!)

Anyway-ay-ay, the UCLA Marching Band (The Boy can insert his comment here about how Cal is better than UCLA) played the Dorm Life theme song during the Final Four game!!! HOW COOL IS THAT? Oh yeah, so cool it deserves all caps. Yeah!!! Check it out (17 seconds long).



UCLA Band Plays Dorm Life Theme at Final Four! - video powered by Metacafe

And in the spirit of Jessie Gaskell being the Best Person Ever, you should go to her blog often and always, but especially you should go right now and read this post about all the fabulous things that are happening, including the Webbies for which Dorm Life received honors. Did I mention that they were up against things that were written by the likes of HBO, ABC and The Onion? No? Well Jessie mentioned it, and more. So go here and read!

*Note: The "Best Person Ever" Award is not an "actual" award. I just made it up.

Lucky (the) Dog!

Today at work, we celebrated a very momentous occasion: The 1st Birthday of a one Mr. Lucky T. Dog (he goes by "Lucky," so I might just be making up the rest. so sue me. no, please don't sue me). It was also the 1-year anniversary (or "Google-versary") of Lucky's owner Eugene (he's worked at the Goog for 1 year), so the celebration was doubly exciting. The party was held in the Building 42 Tech Stop, where Lucky's papa works (he's one of our tech-geniuses: these guys fix my computer/blackberry/life all the time). Lucky dressed up for the occasion, and we feasted on a magnificent cupcake display during this casual but still fabulous festival of merriment.

Photos:

Lucky in his non-birthday sweater. This is pre-party, though he looks pretty wiped out already!

Lucky and his soccer-themed cupcake extravaganza.
No, he didn't actually eat cupcakes...not for lack of trying though!
Please note the tuxedo.

Livin' The Dream!

My friend Josh (of the Huckabee Girl video) and his friends are in this contest called The Sketchies. If they win, they get lots of cool stuff, including $25,000 in cash, $15,000 in production gear and the opportunity to meet with UTA online agents. Yeah, pretty cool.

Go here to watch "An End of An Era" (you may have to click "next video" a few times to get to it) and click the little thumbs up icon to vote for it's total coolness. He made an instructional video in case you don't get it, too. He's just that awesome.

Heart,
Kim

The Merits of Pudding

Why do I love pudding so much? More importantly, why have I been neglecting pudding for so long?

Recently, I re-discovered my absolute love of chocolate pudding. Homemade, but instant (instructions say wait 5 minutes, though I like to let it sit in the fridge for at least half an hour before I eat it), it's seriously such a good idea. All the time. Here is my list of all the reasons I can think of off the top of my head why I love pudding.

1. chocolate pudding, come on. instant. chocolate. pudding.
   
2. the word "pudding" is fun to say
   
3. it's also fun to call people puddin' face, or puddin' butt, or pudding-monkey. trust me.
   
4. makes a great dessert.
5. makes a great breakfast.
6. the perfect creaminess factor
   
7. that little "crust" it gets on the top when it's been in the fridge for a day or so
8. really good with whipped cream and sprinkles (but honestly, not much isn't)
9. super cheap: a box that makes 4 servings is usually $1 if not less, and the amount of milk needed (2 cups, i believe) costs around $1 as well. if i'm not mistaken, that's $0.50 per serving of delicious chocolate pudding-y goodness.
10. so so so very good.
    
11. good for sore throats
12. good for when you're sick
13. good for when you're in a bad mood (see point #5)
14. something about is magical, like i'm a little kid feeling so happy to have pudding; except as an adult, i can really appreciate the way i feel about feeling that way. yeah?
15. there are already 14 reasons to love pudding
16. using a whisk is really fun.
    
17. you can make it in one big bowl (not my favorite way, but to each his/her own, right?)
18. eating pudding out of little individual cups is somehow awesome.
19. it's jiggly
20. milk has calcium, which is good for you. hence, pudding is good for you.

So there you go. 20 reasons, and I'm sure I could come up with more. I really, really love chocolate pudding.

No Title Left Behind

I hate that title right now as it is staring me in the face, mostly because it's the first thing that came to mind, and sounds like No Child Left Behind (duh) which is A) a not-so-effective thing in general and B) the inspiration a pretty terrible one-woman show (called No Child... - yes, with the ellipsis) - in my opinion (I think Berkeley Rep is doing it just to be political, honestly).

Anyway, that's the title because that's all I can think of right now. That and the song "Heart of the Matter" (which, by the way, I always thought was called "Forgiveness," until I watched Rock The Cradle on VH-1 to see Lucy Walsh, an old friend from my days as a ballerina, perform it). But I didn't want to be cheesy and write "Heart of the Matter" as a blog post title. Especially since I wasn't feeling like talking about matters of the heart. Not like this post is about titles being left behind.

I digress. From what? I don't know. From a point of any sort, I suppose.

Anyway, here are some things that are currently in my tabs or on my mind:

• Jon Carroll wrote about the area around 51st and Telegraph, which is kind of where I live. He wrote about the freeway entrance by my house, anyway. Don't send people towards the MacArthur entrance, come on! I LOVE how it's never crowded down there!
• If I only had a million dollars and some extra space, I would buy this portable fireplace. I seriously would. I'm trying to think of where I would put it in my apartment right now, actually. It would go nicely in front of the space heater, and I could store it away behind the dining room table or behind a door if I wasn't using it. Who wants to buy it for me?
• This homemade chalkboard idea is actually pretty neat. It actually made me think that an old window like that might make a really nice wall decoration - above the stove, perhaps? On my extra dining room wall where I might hang a picture instead?
• Dating advice from Postcards From Yo Momma - it's actually good advice, and advice I think I should follow more often. This one is just funny.
• I just learned how to make a check mark like this: √ (alt-v). It was totally an accident.
• Check out the premier of Sara's new video on VH1 here.
• And honestly, if you're feeling down or tired or sad or worn out, try going here and listening to Tired Magician (and everything else). And then buy the CD, because it will be so worth it. I love my boys, what can I say?
  
• I am tired, and don't have time to go to the gym today because work is just that overwhelming. It's annoying when your brain isn't functioning as it should and you have a lot to do all at once. I know people everywhere experience these types of job troubles, and I know I have it really good here, but there are still those days where you just want to quit it all and live like a hermit on a beach somewhere, you know?

This looks perfect.

How I Spent My Evening

Ok, so I am trying to be motivated to enter Apartment Therapy's "Small Is Cool" Contest, and one thing you need in your entry is a floor plan (the other is 5, count them 5, pictures of your apartment - which means I have some big-time cleaning to do before the 4/14/08 entry deadline). Now, I have no idea how detailed this floor plan needs to be, but I was pointed to this website, and after just a few hours of totally dorking out, I came up with this:

It took a while to figure out the nuances of the site, and I'm sure I still have some figuring out to do (like, how do you export? I just took a screenshot...), but I'm pretty satisfied with this.

Enjoy!

If you like Gypsy...

...read this article in the New Yorker. One of the most well-written reviews/articles about one of my favorite classic musicals.

Phil Ward is Stupid

Just kidding. He's not. But here he is singing a song about being stupid. It's funny. Enjoy. And check out his website. Maybe if enough people watch this youtube video, he'll get around to finishing his second album...so watch the video below and go to youtube and leave some comments!

Diaper Cake

Ok, so nobody I know is having a baby any time soon, but this is pretty funny. Next time there's a baby shower, I might just have to do this. Oy. In a good way.

Things in My Tabs

Jon Carroll on losing things.

My friend Summer is in a show in San Francisco. She is a clown. A good clown.

The Princess Song made me smile when I was having a bad day.

My friend from high school and all around badass, Susie, has a mom, who is also a badass, apparently.

I like not martha, especially because of posts like this.

Purses.

Click the pictures to go to the websites where I found them...

Not quite the every-day purse, but I like it kind of a lot.


This is more along the lines of the every-day purse, except I'm not sure about the flap. And it's pricey.


Love this one...a little big, a little expensive (a lot expensive).

A possibility, but not quite the right color.


I love this one...is it worth the money?

I stopped looking once the prices got into the $150 range. Just can't imagine spending $150 for a purse. Thoughts on those pictured?