when it rains, it pours...

my life is busy right now, and will be for the next month. so please forgive the lack of posting.

my engine light in my car came on last night. my car won't accelerate correctly. when i hit the gas it tries to throw me through the windshield. i guess that's what seatbelts are for.

have you ever had to pack for two entirely different trips that are back to back? three days in texas, five days in l.a., some business, some pleasure = lots of clothes. too bad ican't just fold my closet up in an inspector gadget fashion.

my back has been aching for three days straight. no big deal, i just pop 4 advil every 4 hours and it dulls the pain. i'm going to the doctor tomorrow in hopes that i get some pain killers and/or muscle relaxers so i won't become that crazy plane passenger pacing the isles and mumbling curse words to myself.

i found out that the government will be sending me a little more than $2,000 this year. i wish i could say i will be doing something fun and exciting with all of it, but it looks like most of it will be going to the toyota service center, kasier health, and wells fargo visa. and then what's leftover will purchase me a new digital camera since my old one only works on the 3rd tuesday of every month that ends in "q."

i really don't have the time to be posting at work. i have to type up a 6 page list of instructions for while i am out of town next week, finalize a newsletter going out to some of our big spenders, enter 30-something pledges into the database, print letters to those 30-something pledgers, write 2 new calling scripts, and plan an end of the semester party. somehow though, i manage not to care...

and on a random note...this is kinda amusing.

under the influence...

i love my dentist. mostly because she let me have nitrous oxide before drilling into my teeth. i haven't had that stuff since i had teeth pulled when i was about 11. but not only did she make me a "happy camper" (as she put it), but she gossiped the entire time she was filling my cavities. i got informed on all of her kid's shenanigans and other local dentists' lives. it was great...so great i didn't even realize an hour of drilling, filling, and filing down had been done. and now i will sit and wait for the entire right side of my face to de-numb.

lost in working...

last night i watched lost in translation. as always, i noticed new things about the movie and laughed at jokes i didn't even hear the first time i watched it. such a good movie it is. (did you hear that yoda comin' out in me, tim?)

anyway, while i was watching the scene where charlotte (scarlett johansson) is watching all of the japanese kids play in the arcade i realized something: the form of entertainment in japan is very different from ours. think about the video games they make...they are all relatively simple, push the button, or combination of buttons, to get something done. not very creative if you ask me. see, i'd rather sit down and play myst or the sims or something that engages me for a long period of time and requires me to put some thought into it...rather than memorizing a pattern that will put me on the "top scores" list. and do they even really produce movies? it's been a while since i've seen anything but anime come out of the japanese hollywood hills.

why can't they come up with something a tad more creative??

not that i am knocking the japanese here...they have come up with some great stuff, like my car for example. but think about how much they work...more than we do. the entire japanese culture is built on the idea of work and production. people there live to work. the average work week is over 40 hours...often close to 50. now i realize that america is not really at the top of the list of "shortest work weeks," but at least we take more vacation than them. japan only gets 10 days pto. we don't even have a national requirement. it's up to individual employers, but the national average is 14 days. but britain...they get four weeks! bloody hell!

what i want to know is if these two things are related. does the amount of work a person does affect the level of creativity possible? has the fact that japan works non-stop led to their video games sucking in the complexity department? think about britain’s movies and t.v. shows - much more thought through, more complex character development, and arguably better than some of the ideas coming out of hollywood. america's game show producers have even gotten to the point where they are stealing from the UK because they are shooting blanks!

so maybe, just maybe, if our employers gave us a few extra days off and cut us some slack when we want to go home at 430pm, rather than keeping us caged in until 5pm we would come up with some better ideas when sitting at our desks. maybe if they let go of that day you surfed the web 3 times in one 8 hour period and chilled out a bit, you would be a little more inspired to be productive at other times. and god knows, maybe it could actually give you an idea! and perhaps, america would quit ripping off britain’s ideas and come up with some of its own if we all had a few more days to ourselves.

tag four meme...

alright, so i am so honored that this reached me. especially after showing up here first. i realize that it may not seem like such a big deal to everyone, but anything that ties me with a famous blogger makes me feel special.

FOUR JOBS I'VE HAD
* hostess at salt grass steak house: i smelled steak all day and gorged on their bread during breaks
* student caller for su phonathon: thus the reasons i have the job i do today
* administrative/accounting assistant for cici's pizza: experience that taught me that not everyone organizes and thinks like i do
* hostess at monica's 701 in g-town: time-filler while searching for a real job after college

FOUR MOVIES I CAN WATCH OVER AND OVER
like dooce, i have a hard time with this one because me watching movies twice hardly ever happens. but for these, i'll make an exception.

* eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
* lost in translation
* garden state
* love actually

FOUR T.V. SHOWS I LOVE TO WATCH
* LOST
* CSI
* vegas
* all my children

FOUR PLACES I'VE BEEN ON VACATION
* london
* cozumel, mexico: senior hear of high school spring break. where i learned the definition of "binge drinking" and decided that being hung over and snorkeling is not always the best idea.
* las vegas, nv: my 21st birthday with my mom.
* san diego, ca: spring break 2005. where tim and i had our first date.

FOUR FAVORITE DISHES
* steak and mashed potatoes
* thanksgiving dinner
* barbecued salmon with grilled romaine and citrus vinaigrette
* brownies

FOUR WEBSITES I VISIT DAILY
* dooce
* facebook
* myspace
* the black stripe

FOUR PLACES I'D RATHER BE
* austin, texas with all of my friends drinking margaritas and eating queso
* hawaii
* on my couch catching up on TIVO
* wine country

FOUR OTHERS I'D LIKE TO TAG
* tim
* erin
* elizabeth taylor
* sublime

kamping...

as promised, a little bit about my camping trip this past weekend.

we left on friday 11am so we could hit some wineries in mendocino county on the way to the campgrounds. it was a beautiful drive, even though it rained (and snowed!) all the way there. all of the wineries were great - i recommend visiting the hwy 128 area if you're ever in the area.

personally, i found one winery we visited the best. not because of it's wine, but because of its deco. the entire tasting room was full of imported african art...tables, chairs, canoes, and even the bar. everything was made of dark, gorgeous wood, had all these intricate carvings, and had great stories behind them. my favorite was a set of chairs and a table that looked like elephants. it was said to be good luck if you sat in the chairs with the trunk up, so we all were sure to sit in one for a minute.

after stopping at a few other places, we turned off of hwy 128 onto hwy 1 toward our campsite. in case you don't know, hwy 1 is famous for its beautiful views and windiness. and also, in case you don't know, i do not like the idea of easily rolling off the road, flipping down the side of a cliff, and sinking to the bottom of the ocean. so while tim enjoyed the view of the pacific, i concentrated on the curves of the road a head of me.

we arrived at the KOA kampgrounds early friday evening and checked in. since it was raining and cold all weekend (and one of the people who went is pregnant), we opted for the kabins, rather than tent-site. good call too, because most of the camp-sites there were rather soggy and gross. had it been nicer, i would have been all over pitching a tent...i'm not the type afraid of bugs and a little dirt.

that night tim and i had hot dogs and wine, spent the time it wasn't raining by the fire talking, and then crashed pretty early.

the next day we all got up and cooked breakfast at the kamper kitchen (or maybe i should say we kooked breakfast at the kamper kitchen), then trekked down the road to the beach. thankfully it was sunny that morning, so we took the opportunity to frolic in the sand and snap some photos. at the risk of sounding corning, and somewhat over-reflective, i have to say that being out on the beach and looking out into the ocean reminded me of how small i am. and i still am having trouble grasping the fact that i live as far west as america goes. i'm sure one day i'll be able to fathom it all, but at the moment it's still a little baffling for this southern girl.

after walking back from the beach, we got back onto hwy 1 to go to pacific star winery. now, i know that i said the african-art place was great...but this winery rocked. it was right on the coast and boasted a fantastic view of the ocean. the wine was great, and a two-sided list of sampled led us to eating lunch at their picnic area before we hopped back into the car. during our meal, tim tried to give me a heart attack by playing on the rocks and taking pictures of the incoming storm. thankfully he climbed back up okay and we were on our way back to the campsite.

tim and i enjoyed a rainy, but beautiful, sunset that night and then returned to cook a great meal of grilled steaks and chicken with the rest of the crew. after melting an entire bag of marshmallows in the fire (you should try this - it is highly entertaining) and drinking a few beers we all turned in for the night.

the next morning we all headed out to do our respective things and tim and i decided to take a leisurely drive home. we wound down the coast, driving through several cute ocean-view towns and stopping often for pictures. while in sonoma county state park we pulled off to walk down to "stump beach" and enjoyed what little sun we got that day on a lovely hidden beach. we even ate lunch in the town where both "the birds" and "the fog" were filmed. after turning back east, and away from the coast, we drove through some of the most beautifully green country side i have ever seen. since it had been raining all day, the green was so vibrant and contrasted nicely with the patches of scattered blue sky.

once again, ignoring the fear of sounding cheesey: i feel like the entire trip's purpose was to remind me of the beauty in the world. it also got me itchin' to get back into photography. hopefully with all of my upcoming travels/visits there will be lots more to see.

highway 1 south

highway 1 north

green hills and blue sky

random late night, in bed blogging...

dear natalie portman,

please get a wig. your haircut makes you look like a man. a little, annoyingly, non-attractive man. it does not help that you wear men's clothing to interviews. i like you, you're a great actress, but spare us all while you grow your hair back out. thank you.

okay, now that that's off my chest.

the dentist sucks.
a) because they poke and push on your teeth to the point that your gums bleed,
b) because that toothpaste they use feels like it has sand in it,
c) because they make you feel guilty for not flossing,
and d) because somehow they get away with charging you an ungodly amount for filling pin-head size holes in your teeth.

every time i got a craving for something sweet today i felt the sting of guilt in my molars. okay, so maybe that was one of the 4 cavities i have. most likely the one where i need a root canal. unfortunately, i was given my father's side of the family's teeth genes. and as my mom put it, i also received her "inability to budget properly" gene that had led to me re-evaluating my spending habits in order to figure out how i will pay for my teeth to be healed.

kitten shits smell like rotting flesh and spoiled milk.

on the other hand, camping this weekend was fantastic. you can find pictures here, at TBS (The Black Stripe). enjoy. i promise a mini-recap soon.

ain't nothin' like texas bar-b-que (or, and ode to chrispi's blog)...

tonight i went out with the camping group to plan our weekend excursion. tim and a few of the guys had gone to this bar-b-que joint last week and suggested we return this evening. it was called "bo's barbecue."

let the list of complaints begins here:

first, it's spelled "bar-b-que"...or "barbeque" sans hyphens...or "bbq"...i'll even accept "barbie" for the aussies’ sake, but nobody who really knows bbq spells it "barbecue." okay, so i realize that some people may, but in the cowboy world i grew up in, we didn't.

now, before i continue to tear this place apart, let me admit that their drink selection was fan-tast-tic. the cooler was full of all types of beer from every place you could imagine. and the counter was crammed with great wines - many with really nifty bottles i might add. they had bottled root beer, glass bottle coke, and various other tasty beverages. my thirst was in heaven.

but this was not enough...

upon approaching the ordering counter (which i will admit is reminiscent of places like duke's in georgetown and rudy's ("the worst bbq in texas") in round rock, but was still not enough to make up for the things to follow) i viewed the menu and was puzzled by the lack of a barbeque sandwich. they had brisket...and they had a rib sandwich, but when i asked for them to put the brisket on a bun the lady looked at me like i had ordered chinese food. for some reason, they could not combine these two items...strike two.

once one of our friends sat down after ordering she mentioned that she asked the cashier (same lady referenced above) what the difference between "lean" and "juicy" ribs where. and i kid you not, the lady looked at her and said "well, one is lean and one is juicy." no shit sherlock.

now, not only was the restaurnt's name incorrect, the entire atmosphere of this place was off. picture this: parquet floor...metal tables...wooden chairs. on the left when you walk in is a big screen t.v. with basketball. in the far left corner, a stage. (i'll go back to the purpose of the stage in a minute...keep picturing all this first though.) in the back right corner, a huge brown, leather couch next to the kitchen entrance. ferns are hanging from the ceiling nearly ever 3 feet and carnations sit in the center of every table. not really what i consider the typical look of a bar-b-que place.

going back to the stage though... one might expect to hear some country-ish music, maybe some blue-grass, while scarfing down ribs and wiping bbq sauce from their face, but no...bo's had jazz. yah...jazz at a barbeque joint.

as the band started to gear up, my food arrived and i had forgotten to expect brisket. on my plate sat some salad, a ice cream scoop of "potato salad" (it was more like cold mashed potatoes with some onions in them), a piece of bread, half a sweet potato, half a plastic container of sauce, and brisket. i dug in quickly, hoping the food would revive my longing for bbq, and was mildly disappointed. i needed salt.

when i didn't find any on the table i returned to the glazy-eyed counter attendant and asked where i could find some. "oh, we don't have any," she said. "none? anywhere?" i replied. "no." i really should have stopped there, but my eyes were shooting flames at this point and i looked at her and said "you don't even have any in the kitchen? don't they use it to cook?!" and walked away. this was the last straw.

so i drenched my brisket in bbq sauce (more like watered down ketchup with tabasco in it) hoping to make up for the lack of sodium and ate my dinner. the whole time i felt like a part of my texas soul was dying. i can't believe i put that sorry excuse for bar-b-que into my stomach. lone star state, please forgive me.

now i guess for a californian, bo's does the trick. perhaps it's the best bbq you can get around here. but as far as this cowgirl goes, she ain't ever goin' back to bo's. unless i am promised some country music, given peanuts to shell onto the floor, and those damned ferns are replaced by a few texas flags on the wall. that, and they put some damn salt on the table.

on...

the oscars:

i'm rather happy that brokeback mountain only came out with 3 awards. i was going to be rather upset if it swept all the major catagories. now, before you jump to the conclusion that i don't like gay people, or cowboys, or love stories remember that (a) i live in california (san francisco for that matter), one of the most liberal states in the country, (b) i am from texas, and (c) i'm a hopeless romantic. it's just that i always get irrated when that most talked about, referenced movie of the year wins across the board. i am glad to see that the acadamy picked the best movie of the year for the fact that it was a FANTASTIC movie. (now, tim will probably ask me how i know it was a great movie because i claim not to remember much of it due to too many glasses of wine and being tired...but i do remeber that at the end of it i was floored at what a great movie it was.) there's a good article on cnn.com that talks about arguements as to why it didn't win.

tim's birthday:

we went to yoshi's last friday to celebrate the exit of his 28th year and the beginning of his 29th journey (see chrispy's comments on this post). great food...good jazz...fun night. i was really pumped about the guy (roy hargrove) playing that night, but sadly dissapointed that the songs he and his quartet chose to play were rather slow. he's a trumpeter and so i expected this great, upbeat show...not so much. instead we left early because our eyes were starting to droop. don't get me wrong, it was a great show...i guess i'm just getting too old to stay up late and listen to slow music.

this week:

regardless of my body's refusal to wake up this week is going to be an eventful one. first, tim's college friend and his brother are coming into town tonight. see, one of the great things about living here is that it's a hot vacation spot. it's great because i really don't have to go anywhere to see people...they come to me! i'm sure due to their visit there will be a few more nightly outings than usual. second, this weekend i am going camping near medocino. i'm really excited since i haven't been camping since...um...well, september 2004. i know...not that long ago, but i grew up camping on a yearly basis and there was a void left in 2005 because i never got a chance to sleep outdoors and "get back to nature."

traveling:

last night tim told me he wanted to go to cambodia at some point. so i googled some pictures of the place and i can tell you right now that i am already saving for that vacation. it is SO beautiful there...and they have some fantastically awesome ruins. so yah, i'm down. plus, they have monkeys.

dear tim...

happy 28th birthday!

i made you a cake:


you can have a piece when you get home.

love always, d.

linking...

"We are like point assassins; we creep in undetected and move faster than a human eye can detect."

my first earthquake...

11:35am
2 miles SW of Orinda, CA
3.4 magnitude

it finally happened. after waiting over 6 months to feel the earth move beneath my feet, it happened. and i didn't even know it.

see, i was sitting on my couch in my living room and heard my pictures rattle. and the couch kinda shifted. but i credited it to the business next door. (my apartment backs up to an ally where huge trucks loaded with stone and wood go by.) but, lo and behold, i noticed a few people i know in oakland had away messages with references to earthquakes on them.

"hmmmmm." i thought. "maybe that wasn't construction."

so i went to this site and learned that a 3.4 magnitude earthquake occurred only a few miles down the road from me. if i had been at work i would have felt it more...and probably known at the time that it actually was a quake, and not construction, but nonetheless, it's still totally exciting.

my mom didn't really find it "exciting," so much as worrisome, but i assured her that no damage was caused and i was okay...just oblivious to what it feels like when seismic activity occurs due to the earth's tectonic plates shifting.