Lent 2009

I'm not catholic (i was raised episcopalian) but i do celebrate / honor lent. it's one of my favorite religious practices because it provides an opportunity to reflect for a lengthy period of time about something in particular. Plus it ends with easter whcih has all these great "rebirth" overtones (plus bunnies & chocolate!) Over the years I've given up lots of things for lent - sweets being the most popular choice.

This year I have decided to give up "non-whole grains." What does that mean? Basically I'm not eating processed grains. The grains I eat need to have the whole kernel with the wheat germ and all the fiber from the outer bran layer of the wheat, and all the protein from the inner endosperm.

In general, as I restructure my diet, I want to focus on local, whole, and organic foods. I love breads (and carbs) but I don't think they always serve me well...and since i'm good with rules, I've decided that this would be a good way to try life without processed carbs for a meaningful period of time.

So what can I eat?
- whole wheat bread (i'm going to check on this as i may need to go to whole grain not whole wheat)
- steel-cut oats
- stoneground things (like corn) or organic farina (i.e. stone ground wheat berries)
- barley, buckwheat, quinoa, millet
- brown rice

things i can't eat (and will miss):
- french bread!
- cupcakes
- any kind of instant cereal
- granola (i think -- i'm checking on this one)
- luna bars

There are many more things I can't eat...

I do have two exceptions planned -- i hadn't realized lent started so soon!
(1) Dinner at the corson building (where i went tonight -- and it was awesome)
(2) Dinner in CA with my family at some Indian restaurant tomorrow night.

Outside of these two identified exceptions, i'm going to rigorously keep to this lent commitment. i'm excited!

Hai-Cuba

My good friend wrote a haiku for my dog, Cuba, who passed away in December. She shared it at the memorial we had for Cubes. It's awesome.


Hai-Cuba

Small, grey, and fuzzy.
Her size not matching her heart.
Beloved by all.

It's a funny thing ...
how something so darn tiny
can mean everything.

Onward she frolicks
in fields and gardens above.
Down here, we miss her.

my little dog, cuba: 2006-2008

my little dog, cuba, died on weds dec 10th. she died from complications from an emergency surgery she had on monday. she ate a rock -- i will never know or understand why -- and she had to have it removed. unfortunately the surgeon made a mistake and didn't close her intestines completely causing her body to go septic over the next 48 hours. i was there when she died and i think a part of me - a cuba-sized - part of me died too.

cuba was a 5 lb morkie -- a maltease yorkie mix. I got her when she was 6-weeks old. she completely changed my life - she had a frolicky, whimsical spirit that brightened every room. over the last 2+ years we spent a lot of time together - she traveled with me, she went shopping with me, in many ways she has been my closest and dearest companion. now that she is gone, i'm a little bit lost and i'm lonely. I feel that gap in my life and i miss her cheerful, sprite-like greetings when i came home. i miss snuggling in the morning and going on our exploratory walks all over queen anne. she may have been little, but her favorite thing was to go on walks and check-in on the neighbors.

Someone wrote to me that cuba represented a sweet and disarming part of me. I think that's true, she often acted as my ambassador - providing sweet joy to those around with little licks and some of her cute moves (downward dog stretches, over the shoulder winks, running around for toys, jumping with glee). She had a lot of cuteness to her. She would eat her food one piece at time -- i'd line it up in a row and she would eat each one bit by bit. it was adorable and silly.

i'm so sad by the tragic circumstances and i feel that time was stolen because of human error. losing a pet is always hard, the unexpectedness of it, i think, has made it a bit harder for me. i am incredibly grateful for my friends and family (and my co-workers). they have all been amazing. i'm not a very emotional person, but this has broken me and i'm deeply sad. my friends have come and taken care of me - cooked me food, taken me out, saved me from complete loneliness. my dad has come up to stay with me for a few days. it's been great and the connectedness i've felt from all the support has been a blessing.

i don't yet know how to commemorate my little one properly. the nearness of her is still close - i woke up this morning expecting her little self to be in bed with me.

all i can say is this: cuba, my little morkie, was awesome. i cherished my time with her -- and i loved her completely. i will miss you little one.

Below are some cuba pictures -- for more go here.

WOOOHOOO! Obama!

Last night, at the War Room in Seattle, I watched as Barack Obama was elected president. I am so excited! Change has come to America and wooohooo i am ready to do my part!

Here's a pic from last night -- what's missing is the champagne and the cheering.


I was glad to be in seattle, a city that is quickly growing on me now that I actually admit to living here :) At the same time, my people back in CA are having a rough morning as it looks like Prop 8 will pass. It provides a bittersweet reminder that we have a lot of work to do.

sunny in seattle

i am so happy with this weather forecast:

it's a little bit geeky ...

a couple of weekends ago David and I went to San Juan island for a mini-break. It was awesome (as you can see from the pics). We did hit one snag -- we decided to play a board game (Scavenger Hunt -- there's more strategy to it than one would think!) but the game required a pair of dice...which were no where to be found...and we didn't have the internet...So, david wrote some code and voila we had dice. See below (the formatting is a little off because of my blog -- sorry david!):

0  
0

UPDATE: hrm i seem to have broken the code. it worked wonderfully on vacation :)

SMX Advanced Presentation

Last week I gave a presentation on adCenter during the "Amazing PPC Tactics" session at SMX Advanced. My presentation focused on three things: Keywords, Bulk Tools & Tricks -- check out the presentation below for the details. It was a really fun session with lots of interesting information -- if I get links to the other presentations i'll post them.

This conference was a particularly exciting one for me as a product I've been working on shipped in Beta -- adCenter Desktop. Here's a link to an article on the launch. If you are interested in trying out the bulk management application, fill out this form and let us know.

| View | Upload your own