home sweet home

well, i am finally back home. i feel rested and delighted. i intend to back-blog all my advenures since christmas but for now i'm just trying to warm up as it is so freaking cold out here. The picture above is from the beginning of my trip -- i'm looking out from the pool deck at Si Como No in Manuel Antonio.

where am i?

today i am rafting the Rio Pacuare with Rios Tropicales. I´ll be spending christmas eve on the side of a river and chrismas day rafting...happy holidays to all.

my next vacation?

this is completely the type of thing i would do -- after all there is so much romance and adventure in sleeping in an igloo... and if it weren´t around $500 a night, i´d so be there. $500 to sleep on a bed of ice. oh my... Check it out -- Ice Hotel.

diablo...

so my last day in Arenal was a blast (not literally, as i left this morning without a volcano sighting..sigh....) but the day was amazing. my massage and treatments at the Tabacon resort were surreal. I feel totally refreshed and relaxed. The thai massage was perfect -- its a stretching massage, so not really a massage at all. i was lying on the floor in an outdoor bungalow (how cool is that!) and the woman stretches you --think contortion -- and massages your body and you get all warm and languid feeling. she said i was very flexible, hahah. i never think of myself as flexible...after the scrub, reflexology and massage i soaked for a bit in the hot springs. yummy! they have really gone to town and its totally worth it. the experience is very lush, and wonderful.



after my day of relaxation i went back to my hotel, took a nap and then met my new friend Fiona for dinner. we had a blast (again not literally), and *two* bottles of wine....from Casillero del Diablo .... so aptly named...needless to say, i woke up this morning with a terrifc hangover.



i am now back in San Jose, recovering, planning a bit of shopping and then resting up for my two day rafting trip tomorrow. Yeah!! christmas on the riverbed is going to be excellent.

rest & relaxtion

today i am doing nothing. which for me is hard because i like to be planned and have a schedule, and all things considered, some people will probably think that todays plan is really a schedule... but anyways, for me it gives me the mental space of not having "plans"...so anyways, i´m heading over to the Tabacon Hot Spings as soon as i post this for a bit of R&R -- a week ago i would have said much needed R&R, but now that i´ve been on vacation for a week i can´t really say that! i feel relaxed, i feel content, i feel energized. i really do love the outdoors! but today, i am focused on my other passion: spa-ing. its an art really. i´m planning to enjoy a thai massage (no idea what that is, but i have had all the other types they offer and im trying to be adventurous) then a body polish and then some reflexology thing...all of this will be accompanied by soaks in their luscious hot springs and views of the volcano, which is still covered in clouds.



p.s. i´m posting the picture below as i thought it was funny and it has the hot springs in the background. You can read the story here.

la fortuna waterfall

went to the la fortuna waterfall yesterday, it was very cool. literally. the waterfall was stronger than usual because of the rains, so we were pretty soaked from it...which was refreshing, all of costa rica is refreshing actually....it just has a fresh outdoorsy feel to it.

my friend lia and i decided to taxi in and hike / walk back -- a very good idea. the waterfall was prettty amazing and the 200 meters of steps back out from it were equally thrilling (should have spent more time on the stepper!)...the fun part was that on the walk back we were followed by this little black dog who we´d been seeing around town. he walked with use for awhile until we stopped in a shop and he decided to stay in the shop -- since it was raining outside -- yes we were walking in the rain. its amazing how useful plastic ponchos really are.



after the waterfall we met some friends for the traditional dinner of rice and beans (costa rican food is NOT exciting), and then went to the Baldi hot springs for some evening volcano watching (in this case cloud watching) and some R&R. Baldi was pretty nice, and much cheaper than the Tabacon hot springs ....

horseback ride to volcan arenal

i went horseback riding this morning, in the rain. it was actually fun, and a bit chaotic... we took a route from across the hotel, and then through the hillside farms and into the jungle. the trip came with all the fun stuff (augmented by the rain), including a tromp through a few rivers, hiking (well the horse) up stone covered pathways, and forging through mud a foot deep. it was an experience. i started by asking¨"is it western or english" but it wasn´t either -- it was pure country! the horse had its own mind as we walked, stumbled, and cantered along. we got as close to the volcano as is safe -- but sadly it is still covered in mist... and we discovered a gorgeous lake-gorge that was covered with blooming purple water lillies. orchids and birds abounded.



all in all it was quite an experience. very invigorating, although i´m not as sure that the horses loved it as much as i did, which was the one significant downside.

arenal

i am now in arenal, and i am here to see the volcano....but instead, it is covered in rainy mist and well its likely that my three days in arenal will end without a lava siting.... sigh. also, spending three days in arenal is probably a mistake, this town ¨la fortuna¨ is well nothing...at least when its covered by a volcano!! my plan for today is to catch up things, then tomorrow i am going horseback riding up to the mountain...i.e. the mist, and then in the afternoon i will do the hike up to the crater and to the waterfalls...the following day i am going to spend ¨relaxing¨ at the Tabocon resort....soaking in hot springs and being pampered with my massages and what nots...we shall see how it goes... i´´m a might worried that there´´s no action in this town.



in monteverde i met some wonderful people and had a great time, so it was sad to see it go away... and to arrive here in this overcast town...oh my....where is the sun? i need sun!!

monteverde + disney

when you put these two together you get skytrek. this is one of the most fun things i have done -- a complete adrenlin rush. you know how in the movies, like george of the jungle or whatever, tarzan zips through the rainforest on a rope and flys past trees and little openings and things and you wonder how you could ever do that? well that´s pretty much what you do on skytrek. it´s amazing!



as a note, there are many other canopy tour companies in monte verde. i had initially signed up for another company (the original canopy tour) but switched to Sky Trek. its by far the largest and most extensive, and its wonderful. don´t waste your time with the other ones, they won´t compare.

new book genre a la bridget jones

i´ve been reading this somewhat horrible book on my trip..the title is sort of irrelevent because this post really isn´t so much about the book as much as it is about this genre of book. i´´ve recently noticed that the genre has taken over and i´´m not sure what the literary name for it is '-- but essentially these are books about women in their late 20´s early 30´s and their search for love (and of course matrimonial bliss). There´s a ton of these out there (Jemima J, Good in Bed, Is that a Moose in your Pocket, Bookends, Shopaholic)...and my friend is thinking about writing one. here´s my thinking of the core elements of this "genre":

* the main character (i.e. the woman) is in her late 20´s early 30´s and her profile is best described with adjectives like ¨independent¨ or ¨kick'ass¨

* she either lives in london (is british) or in some major metroplis (NYC, LA, SF -- i.e. not chicago) and considers herself a ´city-o-phile´ -- up to date on the latest restaurants and trends (although shes probably too cool to go there)

* wicked or biting sense of humor thats a bit self-depreciating

* recently got out of a serious, long term relationship that needed to be over (because it was boring or stale)

* she has a strong set of social relationships (friends), typically one is gay (with uber good fashion sense) and at least one is some sort of ethnicity (cityophiles are afterall diverse). all are upper-middle classish and educated.

* she has a job, that doesn´t realize her true potential and its usually in PR or some literary field

* somehow she has a pretty decent wardrobe complete with at least one pair of prada shoes or manalo blahniks...and at least one black ¨too die for¨ outfit

* she hasn´t has sex in a while b-c of either a hangup wiht her past love or moping, but she reveals that she has some sort of quirky sex trick that prooves her sexual prowness



there are two sub-blots that also define these books

* life altering change: she eiother decide to move, or quits her job, or loses 100 lbs over night

* major misunderstanding: the key plot occurence is that the man she is eventually going to fall in love with is somehow involved in some sort of misunderstanding, the resolution of which will permit them to fall in love and get to wedded bliss. how this misunderstanding occurs, and how it is resolved, is well, what makes each and every book different ...

kayaking in the mangroves

i´´ve got some time to kill and a decent internet connection '-- so here goes a blast of blog updates. i´m going to try and date them to the day that they actually occured but well...i don´t generally know what day it is lately so that may be more idealistic that true!



so on weds i had a wonderful day in MA. i went kayaking in the mangroves near damas island. i love to kayak '-- its a great relaxing workout and you get to commune with nature in a subtle way. the mangroves were very cool.





the funny part of the day (outside of the traditional me falling out of the kayak while trying to lean back and then quickly to the side to snap a picture of a white faced monkey) was the newlywed couple that was on the trip with me. oh my were they a riot. the two of them were in a joint kayak -- but had never kayaked together before...and they kept on arguing and getting stuck. what should have been a 3 hour kayak ended up being almost 4 because they kept getting turned around and going backwords or literally getting stuck in shallow water.



after my wonderful morning kayak, i took a nap and a shower and a short swim, then i went over to SiComoNo to watch the sunset. i had a lovely coconut cocktail, watched the sun go down and then headed over to the Sea Glass Spa for a massage and papaya body scrub and mini'-facial. i´m on vacation, right?





the spa treatment was pretty good, i wouldn´t recommend my masseuse (an older white man who introduced himself as ¨thomas¨ but who i´m sure used to be Tom) but the woman who did my body wrap and mini-facial was amazing. Her name was liz and i thought she was great. the look and feel of the place was neat as well.

manuel antonio

is really lush and warm and rainforesty feeling. i arrived. i took a nap. sleep is such a wonderful thing. then i went to manuel antonio national park in search of a few things like sloths and monkeys. i got some awesome pictures, but in the interim here is a post of some of the animals i saw



these guys were literally swinging from the trees finding bugs and munching on them.

flight to costa rica

i decided to take the earlier flight out of SJC so that i could have breakfast with my friend Brooke in PHX. this caused more chaos than i would have thought -- they booked me on an earlier flight to costa rica which is not what i wanted -- but in the end it all worked out and i got on my flight and had breakfast with brooke and got to see her lovely home. it was fun to be in AZ too -- i haven't been in so long.



i slept every moment i had on my flights, completely and totally -- i was toasted from the all-nighter i pulled getting ready to leave. i got inot San Jose, CR and got a taxi to my hotel. the hotel was like an oasis. it reminded me of arriving at the YWCA in india. All this chaos around you and then arrival at a little oasis covered in sparkling lights. In india they had these beautiful star lights, here it was just hundreds of festive lights and holiday decorations. in the middle of what would otherwise be a fairly dark and dank road. the hotel was wonderful -- my room had a santa stocking on the door. all the little touches. staying in nice hotels is totally worth it. the interesting thing for me is that travelling alone i'm being more reflective and calm -- and planned. i sometimes feel like i've got too much planned -- but then i like that too...but its something to think about



now i'm in manuel antonio at Villas Nicolas. the place is adorable and my room is really a mini apartment complete with a VIEW of the ocean -- truly lovely. everything is warm and cozy here...and i feel relaxed already.

in costa rica

so i'm going to try and blog my trip instead of sending out e-mails. we shall see how this goes...the biggest problem with this idea is that i can't locate the 'carrot' arrow things to make the BR tags so my test will probably wrap and wrap...oh well. at this point i've arrived in manuel antonion and i'm feeling really relaxed - just woke up from a nap :-) and now i'm heading in to the park...in hopes of seeing a slot or a monkey. more to come.

his lordship at the beach

Brizzie loves the beach.

puppy love

this adorable little bundle of love is the newest addition to our family. He was born the day after my birthday and he's an australian shepherd. We adopted from the Aussie Rescue group. He eats happy dog food and is a bouncy, happy baby puppy. His name is officially: Lord Brisbane Bear Chase (he's my mother's dog, so he carries her last name - chase). I call him "brizzie bear."

i love these socks

there are many things worth loving. socks do not typically make that list.




They don't even make the really, really long list. however, smartwool socks are different. these socks are special. These are the socks that i wore when i lived in Minneapolis in College. I swear, these socks saved my life. On an average winter day, there's just a chill to the air. It's not really "cold" but there's this lingering "brrrrrrr" to be had. So you put on wool socks, but they make your feet sweat. And they stretch out. But smartwool socks are different, they fit snugly -- but not too snugly -- around your foot. They let your foot breathe. You can wear these socks all day long, all night and your feet will never overheat or get tired. These socks just rock!

mr. halloween...

My friend JB cracks me up. We've known each other for years, and he's got this quirky sense of humour that can just make me laugh for hours. He's also one of the sweetest, whip-cracking-wittiest, people i know AND a truly genuine and loyal friend. He went as a morman-door-to-door guy for halloween, which is just a hillarious play on the way he looks and his attitude. the best part is he wore it to the wine shop where he works. hahahah.

panda watch: 1 month later, a lot bigger

Today:
A month ago.

too cute for words

the pandacam at the San Deigo Zoo is my favorite thing on the web today. Bai Yun had a baby boy cub on August 15, 2003. My friend amit thinks that lemurama is cooler.

madonna + missy

i've been waiting for a madonna / missy collaboration. i pretty much love everything missy E does. but a GAP commercial? no no no. that's not what i meant.

echo lake

i've spent the last few days relaxing at wonderful echo lake (entryway to desolation wilderness, near tahoe). My cousin Jasmine is working at the Chalet for the summer. There was a crew of us staying at The Oakes family cabin: My aunt Jenny, my cousin sammy from australia, the Oakes (John & Debbie) and then of course Jasmine, Jared Oakes, and Scott. I had a wonderful time hiking around and spent most of yesterday kayaking. The water was *cold* and the air was warm so it worked out wonderfully. We slept outside under a blanket of stars. I highly recommend electricity free living.

let sleeping dogs lie

I'm taking care of my co-worker's dog ely. He's a wonderful pet. so well trained and mellow. I've taken him with me to work the last two days and he was wonderful...he came with me to all my meetings and he's been a big hit. There was one minor incident -- he ran into a water post and punctured his leg. It was quite scary -- he was bleeding, but we had a health fair that day at work and my vet from Adobe Animal Hospital was there! they checked him and said he was ok. i'm cleaning the wound with hydrogen peroxide twice a day and putting on some neosporin. Ely doesn't seem to notice a thing, and the owund is healing fine, but it totally freaked me out.



Last night we went over to my parents house for dinner. We went to the local park and then had dinner outside in the backyard followed by a walk downtown for ice cream and those pearl tea things. At the end of the night, after a full day of work and walking around town, we were pooped and both feel asleep in my mum's living room -- as the picture below by my mum shows.







right now he's sleeping on the floor ... soooo tired after a morning at the beach and breakfast with Vignetta at my old hangout, the Grove, on chestnut. We visited catnip + bones too -- where he tasted yummy treats and charmed everyone.

phyllis...an oral history

tonight i went out with my mom and step-dad and my aunt (who came up from santa barbara) and my cousin sammy (who flew in from australia) ... it was sooo much fun! Ely, the dog that i'm dog-sitting, came with us too. It was really great to see my mom and aunt interact and tell stories about growing up in India. They were telling us about how my grandparents went to England in 1954...by ship!!! They were gone for three months, much of it spent on the ship!



They were also recapping old jokes my grandfather used to tell. My mom, wonderful as she is, really isn't the best joke-teller. I've decided that my sister should learn these jokes because she's a great joke teller, just like my grandad.



What's the shortest poem?

Fleas

Adam, had em.



What's the longest poem?

Go On.

Go On. Gooooo Oooon. Go On. Go. On. Go On. Go On Goooo On. Go Ooooon. Go On Go On go on Go onGo On. Go. On. Go On. Go On Goooo On. Go Ooooon. Go On Go On go on Go on Go On. Go. On. Go On. Go On Goooo On. Go Ooooon. Go On Go On go on Go on...



Then there all the jokes you've got to see live....like the one about the man who gets a suit made at the tailor. And he goes back to the tailor because the sleeves are too long, and the tailor says "oh, just hold the sleeves like this" and then the pants are too long and the tailor says "just hold the pants like this" and the story goes on and on and evenutally the man is holding his suit in all these weird poses! it's hillarious, but you've got to see it live. My grandpa used to tell this story with uncle jack, his high school chum. they'd laugh for hours.



My favorite joke is the one about phyllis the flea. I can remember my grandad telling this story and loving it and always falling for it :-)

It's all about this circus flea, phyllis. "Jump Phyllis, Jump" (note: my grandad's hands are out in front, fisted with the thumb on top and you have to imagine phyllis is jumping from one thumb to the other thumb). "Do a cartwheel phyllis" "Do a loop-de-loooooop" "good phyllis, good" "Jump Phyllis, Jump" "Phyllis! Phyllis! oh! Phyllis No Phyllis" (at this point my grandad would pretend that phyllis had jumped off the stage and down his shirt and down his pant leg...it's physical comedy at its best.



it's moments like these that make me cherish every precious minute i have with my family.





Chase Family Reunion, Brisbane Australia 2002



Sammy and all the girl cousins

blogging 101

the funny thing about blogs is that when you have one and your friends and family actually start reading it, they start to think you might be writing about THEM. sometimes of course you are, but often you aren't. the e-mails that result "i can't believe you exposed me like this" (when i was talking about my cat) ... are just too funny. too bad you can't post them as notes to your blog...

highly recommend: jason mraz

i bought the Jason Mraz CD today (well i ordered it from amazon.com a few days ago and it came today) and i really like it. he's lyrical.

"Oh love it's a brittle madness, I sing about it in all my sadness"

these boys are fast

*sigh* i just lost my post. i am no longer inspired. let's just say, these guys are incredible.

get well cards

one of my favorite people is really sick. no one knows whats happening or why. i've been wanting to write him a card to let him know i'm thinking about him, but everything i want to write sounds so sappy and insincere. "i hope you feel better, this sickness stuff sucks" just doesn't seem to cut it -- esp. when this sickness stuff might not get better. and i don't want to write something like "i know you'll be ok" or "this will pass and you'll be fine" because the reality is that it just might not be ok. so how do you convey to someone that you care without seeming trite? i'm still not sure. in the end i wrote the only thing i felt i could write -- a short note that said i didn't know what to write, that i was inspired by his spirit and tenacity (jeez is that the right word?) (i am inspired by him), that i didn't want to be sappy and that i cared and was here.

now i just need to find a stamp.

i'm sleeping too much

for some reason i've been getting around 9 hours of sleep a night. I usually get somewhere around 6. I really don't know what's going on.

UPDATE: i also seem to be bumping into things. what's going on?

dog days of summer

there's an extra dog in this picture...thanks to wes for taking it.



things i've learned about dogs:

* the dog park is a SCENE. people brought beer. there were 16 dogs there. as the new kid, i didn't yet fit into the social structure. i think there's some sort of sniffing peeing initiation ritual.

* dogs fart

* dogs don't know what's your space and their space

* dogs sniff everything

* dogs pee on things, but don't give a damn about fire hydrants

* dogs chew on anything. should they be chewing on bark? won't they get splinters? apparently not.

* walk your dog. it is important to tire dogs out. it will make you happier because they will be tired and lazy and sleep. i think people who have dogs must be healthier for all the walking.

* finding legal places to take your dog off leash is essential. i highly recommend Pulgas Ridge -- 16 acres of off-leash trail fun.

* dogs and horses don't like each other. Dogs are scared of horses because they are significantly bigger than a dog. So they figure they should attack (because you know, that's the smart thing to do when faced with someone oh, 4 times your size). Horses are scared of dogs because, well, horses are skittish and are scared of everything. How do i know this? i came across two horses when i was walking the pups in woodside (i was trying to find the upper windy hill entrance which i have never found *sigh*). When we came across the horses, i had the dogs off-leash. this was, uhm, bad. It worked out, but i got the feeling (from the stares of the riders) that this could have been a very nasty scene and that we had just miraculously escaped.



tomorrow is my last day with the dogs. it's been fun to have them around, but i have to say, i'm relieved to be returning them. i think nick will be happy too, he's been feisty today, i think he misses Kassie & Luke.

this evil beast

just peed in the hallway at work. i'm not feeling the canine love anymore.

challenge: who let the dogs out?

i'm taking care of my friend's luke and kassie's dogs. oh my.

challenge: how long can i survive...

without my cell phone.

I left my cell in a co-worker's car yesterday (i think i was just soo excited to get out of the car after being in it through 2 hours of horrifying LA traffic -- made worse by the fact that we took a ridiculously long "scenic" route back to the office)... on top of this i missed my flight home because of a bomb threat that caused chaos at the airport -- it took me 45 minutes to get from Hertz to my flight, which meant i got there 29 minutes before my flight was to leave and at which point united no longer accepts passengers. really i'm not bitter.

anyways, i've decided to try surviving for 3 days (which include a weekend mind you) without my cell phone. i think it will be ok, it's just that cellphones are so damn convienent. Here's a picture of my MIA phone:



I'm slightly tempted to go out and buy this phone which has the built in camera...but it isn't quite as sleek as mine and i'm willing to wait a bit for the next version.





UPDATE: i survived. living without a cellphone is possible, but really, really inconvient. i don't think i'd do it again. but for experimental purposes this was good.

i'm trying to improve my blog's search result rank...

Tim, Me, Ben and Delia last summer at the BBC.



so it turns out that my blog does not rank particularly high on a search for me (natala menezes)! this bothers me, so i'm trying out some tactics to improve this page's relevency to searches for me. It turns out that since this blog doesn't really talk about *me* (that me being Natala Menezes, mr. googlebot!) it doesn't really know how to relate my blog to me... so here, dear readers is a bit about me: natala menezes.



* i like to read. check out the "bookshelf" on the right for what's currently in my reading rotations...

* i work at google.com (you know that search engine dot.com...)

* i like to travel. i've been all over europe, india, australia, new zealand and lots of the US. i can't wait for my next adventure...

* i volunteer by teaching kids how to speak in public, debate topics and become leaders...

sixteen candles

tonight leslie, alexia and molly+and I went to to see an outdoor showing of sixteen candles at santana row. i had forgotten how wonderful this movie is!



"I can't believe my grandmother felt me up!"

" You know, I'm getting input here that I'm reading as relatively hostile. "

"I can't believe I just gave my panties to the Geek!"

"What's a happenin' hot stuff?"

"He's wearing a red argile sweater, brown pants and red shoes...no he's not retarded!"



this kid brian has a wonderful collection of information on this movie, including an interesting table comparing the music played in the movie, video and dvd.

everyone needs a hug

There's a woman, well, a guru, who believes that her mission in the world is to hug everyone. On one level i totally respect this -- everyone needs some physical interaction with others in a non-sexual maternal way...but another part of me thinks that there must be some kind of health issue present (particularly in our days of SARS) with hugging so many people!

Interested in how to get your hug? Go Here.

tribute: johnny cash.

i fell into a burning ring of fire, and it burns, burns, burns...




he's the man in black. he's the sorrowful voice of wisdom, humor and the pain of lost love (whether you lost it yourself or it just walked away). I appreciate this man.



Snippet One: i walk the line

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine

I keep my eyes wide open all the time.

I keep the ends out for the tie that binds

Because you're mine,

I walk the line



Snippet Two: a boy named sue

And he said: "Son, this world is rough

And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough

And I knew I wouldn't be there to help ya along.

So I give ya that name and I said goodbye

I knew you'd have to get tough or die

And it's the name that helped to make you strong."

tribute: nas. i know i can ... be what i wanna be

Nas' latest song, I Can, is just awesome. I even appreciate the f�r elise back drop, reminds me of my sister playing that song over and over as she practiced her piano...

chorus:

i know i can

be what i wanna be

if i work hard at it

ill be where i wanna be

i know i can (i know i can)

be what i wanna be (be what i wanna be)

if i work hard at it (if i work hard at it)

ill be where i wanna be (ill be where i wanna be)



For the complete lyrics, visit here.

note to self: never be a nag...

so once again i ended up at antonio's nuthouse wearing flip-flops and hanging out with the boys. one of the guys just broke up with his "non-girlfriend girlfriend" -- who we all kinda liked -- because she was a nag. Why are girls so bothered by the littlest things? a discussion ensued. the key highlight: don't be a nag. little things are little things and guys just don't think that way. I have to agree. I tend to think that generally guys and girls approach problems differently, but the nagging thing is just one of those habits that women have been affiliated with. i think a lot of women do this because they don't have an outlet -- partially because they've put everything into their relationship -- so they need all of their partner's attention and when they don't get it they get frustrated. the solution? for most women, just talk to them. for me, it is has always been about letting the little things go, and when there's a problem, consolidating issues and addressing them systematically. but that's me.

conclusion:

dave drilled it into my head. chris agreed. nico nodded. i promised: i will never nag. unless of course, i want the relationship over (this was agreed upon as a sure-fire strategy).

stop! you didn't stop!

Just now when i was driving back from the store a woman yelled at me because i didn't stop long enough at the stop sign before turning right onto the street where i live. She was belligerent and a bit scary. I thought there was a possibility she was going to run after my car and continue her tirade when i parked at my home. she did not.



however, her yelling bugged me because i feel strongly that what is most important about driving is *being aware.* When it comes to stopping at a stop sign, i think the relevant thing to do is assess the situation: are there people around? children playing? cars coming? cars stopping?

the answers to these questions should guide your action.

I always do this, then i "clear my alleys" -- check each intersection and make sure they are clear of trouble, and then, i proceed.



The thing is, this doesn't always take three seconds. When it does i'll stop, look look look and sometimes look more to assess the situation, but in many cases, i'm clear to proceed after a mere stop. I believe that i should be able to do this. I think the 3-second stop rule doesn't work to make people better at assessing the situation, but rather make them better at following the rule. This woman has clearly lost sight of why we had the rule in the first place: safe driving. I'm a good driver, and i'm safe on the roads. I know when to stop, and for how long to linger. let me be.

soda pop

what is going on with the soda industry? Pepsi is sponsoring a BILLION dollar sweepstakes? and it's a co-promo with yahoo! sprite just came out with a new soda - sprite tropical remix. i have to say i quite liked the commercial. but i thought tv-advertising was dying, haven't they heard?

really, he doesn't bite

luke and i are having a contest to find the coolest dragon.
My search: chinese dragons.
Luke's search: chinese dragon


Here's one of my favorites.

find humour in the mundane

ri�dic�u�lous adj.

Etymology: Latin ridiculosus (from ridiculum jest, from neuter of ridiculus) or ridiculus, literally, laughable, from ridEre to laugh

Date: 1550

ri�dicu�lous�ly adv. , ri�dicu�lous�ness n.

Synonyms: Ludicrous; laughable; risible; droll; comical; absurd; preposterous



(1) Deserving or inspiring ridicule; absurd, preposterous, or silly.

(2) Fitted to excite ridicule; absurd and laughable

(3) Unworthy of serious consideration; as, a ridiculous dress or behavior.

(4) Broadly or extravagantly humorous; resembling farce



so devoid of wisdom or good sense as to be laughable:

"the absurd excuse that the dog ate his homework"

"ask a nonsensical question and get a nonsensical answer"

"a contribution so small as to be derisory"

"it is ludicrous to call a cottage a mansion"

"a preposterous attempt to turn back the pages of history"

"her conceited assumption of universal interest in her rather dull children was ridiculous"



the word of the day, of the week, of the month, of the year. my favorite word. "That's ridiculous"

republicans, duke fans and the problems of dating...

what? I just found out that my good friend is not only a republican (with barry goldwater as her hero!) but she's a duke fan. i always get on fine with republicans, but a duke fan? this is hard to take.



Dating is flawed: as my friend brooke says "it isn't about meeting interesting people" it is about *dating* -- interesting isn't the game or the objective. But, i like interesting people. i enjoy them. i meet many interesting people. people who i want to spend time with. people that i learn from. however, i meet very few people that i would actually be interested in dating. perhaps the flaw is not in dating, but me? nah.....



don't dream it's over: how could they remake this song? the woman has no passion, she sings this song with a whine. yuck. long live neil finn! six pence none the poorer!



what the government needs is technology: technology used to create integrated social services from the DMV to welfare. A single entry system, which could actually track if you qualified for one social service and let you know that then you also qualified for another one. The government needs to be the most effective data manager in the world. our government still uses carbon paper. not good.

Bridal showers and tagging up

Bridal showers have a few traditions (outside of lots of silly games about the bride and groom). One tradition is to save the bows from the gifts to create a bouquet that the bride carries during the rehearsal.

Recently, this has become a problem. Every bride registers at Williams-Sonoma. Every package is wrapped in this awful *tan* colored gross-grain ribbon. The result is a bland, unexciting collection of bows. how mundane. WS should offer multi-colored bows! WS is a monopoly though, so they don't have to.





For some reason i crave anonymity. This is self torture. I'm never going to get this. I am one of those people who will walk into a train station at 2 am on the French/Spain border and run into someone i know. Tonight i went to a Giant's game for my friend Hillary's husband's 30th birthday. I've never hung out with Hillary's gang (who are all wonderful people) but out of a group people: i work with one, i went to grade school with one, and i went cubing with one in college. There were a couple of standard cross-overs (went to grad school with a friend, works at a related company, knows friend of friend etc.) as well. For some reason this type of stuff has started to spook me a little bit.

note to self: never wear flip-flops to a nuthouse...

some days are just great from beginning to end. today was one of those days. breakfast with my girls (Alexia and Brooke). solid meetings. good productivity. star sighting: got to meet gwenyth paltrow and the guys from coldplay (well shared the hallway...) and then hours of good conversation.



the day ended (when the evening began) at La Bodeguita. I love this restaurant. it is my bar. Laura made me their new drink, a KLP. delicious! sweet, creamy and ooooh so potent. If they'll make it for you, this is a must have!



I met three old friends at la bod: nico, ri ri and chris (ben, french where were you? DP: you must get well) there is something special about getting to spend time with boys. they give you perspective. they share insight. they listen to your silly stories of meaningless crushes, they share their stories. they give you the most valuable insights -- without the fluff. without the detail. We talked about women and men. Why do women remember all the details? How long should you wait? is it all a game? YES. it is all strategy. a dance of offense against defense against *coolness*. 5 hours later it is almost 3 a.m. I'm just getting home. i'm tired, i'm happy. sleeeeeeeeeeeeep.

future all-stars...

as if child talent shows and modeling contests aren't enough, now 3 year olds are being pegged as future NBA greats? uh-oh. someone's going to need therapy.

either way, this kid is cute as hell.

two fashion disasters before 10 a.m.!

Jem, the only truly outrageous fashionista of the 80's.



This morning while driving to breakfast I saw a woman wearing acid wash jeans, and they were pegged! she even had a pink scrunchie in her hair. An oversized pink fluffy scrunchie. The worst part: i don't think she was making a tribute to the 80's! such a nightmare.



Then, as i was leaving breakfast, i saw another woman wearing shorts (those long, poofy, linen ones) with penny loafers and short socks. you know the one's that fold over? yup.

Yes, you can "burn rubber" on a bicycle...

so i'm riding my wonderful *new* trek 2300 road bike today...it's a nice day, sunny, light breeze, late afternoon sunshine. can't be beat really. I'm on one of my favorite routes through los altos hills that ends up on arastredero ... as I'm heading back down arastredero there's a steep incline when you go under the freeway. I'm on this section of the road and i look down at my odometer. SHIT. i'm going 40 -- 40!! -- miles an hour. I ride on average at 14 mph, the fastest i typically go is in the 20's, i've hit the 30's every now and then, but 40! I look up, AAAACK!. I must stop. I must stop in 20 meters. there's an intersection with cars! i'm going to die. I screech on my breaks. My back wheel fish tails (i think to myself, how odd, a bike fishtailing...) and i stop. I'm not dead. yeah! ... then, what's that smell? uh oh. In stopping so quickly i literally burned down a section of my back tire. I can see the threads. oh my. oh my. oh my.

it's all about fake eyelashes and four inch stilettos...

this was my "do nothing" weekend. in theory i was going to make no plans, but ... things just happned organically which seems a lot less chaotic then my typically over-booked lifestyle. "dinner on weds" "lunch on thurs" -- i guess i've never really recovered from my "lady who lunches" term of unemployment...sigh...



BLT. on sat. i saw "better luck tomorrow" the new MTV produced Justin Lin movie. This movie explores corruption, morality and the challenge smart kids face with the boredom of being, well smart. It's twisted. It has a good sountrack. It gets close enough to the reality of being a "model minority" that its a bit disturbing and even the trite moments (i.e. when they display SAT vocab terms across the screen) can be forgiven because at the end of the day, this is an interesting dark film that people should see. The cast is excellent, the story is good, the film is shot well. GO.





On the other side of the cinematic spectrum is the movie i just got back from: Down with love. This movie is hillarious, sweet and *exactly* what a funny, silly movie based on love in the 60's should be about. Ewan McGregor was perfect as the suave "Catcher Block" and Renee was great as the sassy feminist-man-hater (in her pillbox hat, stilletos and batty eyelashes). For a bit of silliness this is a must see.

dot. dot. dot.

some people will always be cause for inspiration. my tribute: try and write a three-dot blog.

Recruiting...

Leon Powe (above).

I just read the Top 100 HS recruits log, and Arizona picked up two of the top 10 (Ndubi Ebi - who we may lose to the NBA and Mustafa Shakur). Excellent work Lute, as always.

CAL got Leon Powe ... as well as Marquis Kately and Ayinde Ubaka AND DeVon Hardin -- all local recruits. I'm really looking forward to watching Leon play...now what do i do with my Stanford Season tickets? CAL is going to be very exciting this year.



I'm bummed that Carmelo Anthony declared early for the NBA draft. It isn't surprising, but he's an exciting player to watch -- after AZ lost this year, he made my tourney experience.



for fun: check out cbs sportsline's pre-season (hey the tourney is only 10 months away) top 25.

carlwithak.com

My friend carl is really silly. Here is shameless promotion for him-- easily scraped from his website with love.

I'm like keanu? please...

You are Neo, from "The Matrix." You
display a perfect fusion of heroism and
compassion.



What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Bloggity Bloggin?

so awhile ago the company I work for (google) acquired this very cool company, blogger. I've been testing out the services and now i'm posting on my public blog...and of course trying to customize my blog in ways that were probably not intended...

why aren't my titles working? UPDATE: they seem to work now.

but now my archives have disappeared...uh oh...

oooh....ahhhh....

Nico, Debbie J and I went to a stanford baseball game at the Sunken Diamond tonight after work. It was really fun. Baseball is actually good entertainment and permits good conversation. PLUS they had really cool fireworks at the end of the game...Fireworks are wonderful.