Under the Sea

I am thinking about bringing back the "week in review" posts I used to do, so long as they don't consist of "Mon: work, Tues: work, Wed: work" and the like, because then they would be kind of boring. We'll see what happens; my guess is that they would largely revolve around food. But the reason I was thinking of this was because of all the eating that has gone on this weekend. It's like being an eating machine.

On Friday night, since Amy was in town, we went out to Caracas for arepas, then to Rice to Riches for rice pudding and then to Oliva for sangria... and there was even talk of going out to Queens to search for the arepa lady. If only we had the energy and space in our stomachs (we didn't, on either count). A ton of food and a really heavy food coma.

But the other trend, other than a lot of food, has been that I have been eating seafood all weekend. We did a summer associate lunch at Nobu 57 on Friday, which was like all seafood, and then we went for all you can eat sushi last night for dinner. Then today, we went out for my dad's birthday and we went to Aquagrill. Lots and lots and lots of fish. I love fish, so this was good, but sooooooooo much good food this weekend. I really need to work out. But tomorrow morning, it's right back into a nice chair at work. If only we had those treadmill desk setups ... that could literally change the lives of office workers who are usually confined to their chairs.

My mom claims she has some sitdown exercises that you can do. I wonder if any of them are possible to do in a skirt without attracting a lot of attention from flailing around everywhere. Any suggestions for exercises that you can do seated in an office while doing work?

Miss Universe

Miss Japan should have won.

Sigh.

But I was happy to see Kayne's dress in a recognizable form... yay!

More Feud

You've got to be kidding me.

A different episode - They asked a hundred married men, "Name a way in which your wife is like your mother."

Answers?

1. Both good cooks

2. Both nag (this was my answer)

3. Both care about me (awww)

4. Same height (what the...?)

5. Both female (umm....)

6. Both like to talk

Such odd answers...

Family Feud

First of all, what a horrible question. Second, how bad are these answers?

"Name a quality a man looks for in a wife that he also looks for in a secretary."

One contestant's answer: "Brains."

Buzzzzzzz. "X"

Not there.

I'm not sure what I think of that.

Answers?

Good looks, efficiency, neatness, personality, good figure, loyalty, honesty.

*eyeroll*

Learning Styles

But I said I'm good at remembering names... is that auditory? At least, I used to be good at it...

You Are a Auditory Learner

You tend to remember what you hear, and you have a knack for speaking well. You excel at debating, foreign languages, and music. You would be an excellent diplomat - or rock star!

What's Your Learning Style?

But I Don't Really Like Cats

I don't really like cats other than baby kittens (if they don't come near me) and tigers...

You Are: 50% Dog, 50% Cat

You are a nice blend of cat and dog. You're playful but not too needy. And you're friendly but careful. And while you have your moody moments, you're too happy to stay upset for long.

Are You More Cat or Dog?

Sarcasm

You Have Your Sarcastic Moments

While you're not sarcastic at all times, you definitely have a cynical edge. In your opinion, not all people are annoying. Some are dead! And although you do have your genuine moments, you can't help getting your zingers in. Some people might be a little hurt by your sarcasm, but it's more likely they think you're hilarious.

How Sarcastic Are You?

Crazy

Torrential downpours is the theme of the day.

 

When I tried to wake up this morning, it was pouring straight against the window and so dark out that I went back to sleep.

 

By the time I went to work, they had said that it was going to clear up.  Sure enough, it was bright and sunny and I came in with sunglasses.  It was still not too bad when we went to lunch, fairly sunny.

 

I thought when they said "clear up," they meant for the rest of the day!

 

Apparently not.

 

When we left lunch, it was pouring.  Waited for it to let up and then took the subway one stop.  Got ice cream and it was finally done raining.  Just very wet.

 

Back to work and now it's pouring again.  Thundering nonstop.  Ick.

Adoption

I adopted a giant panda today.

 

I am going to pretend it is Tai Shan.

Eating Machine

A big BLAH to my inability to stop eating!!!!!

I think I just ate way too many lychee gummies. Bad bad bad bad!

And before that, a couple of bites of cake, and before that, a huge salad for lunch, since I just realized the place down the block has a fixed price salad with 5 add-ins plus free stuff, unlike the one in the building which is pay per ingredient. And before that, I was eating one of those giant sized Costco chocolate muffins all morning. Ack!!

I'll go chew gum. That should solve it. Yeah.

Fruit2O

Hmm, is it Fruit2O with an "O" or Fruit20 with a "0"? I guess the second way it looks like "fruit twenty" but...

Oh wait, I'm dumb, the "O" in H2O isn't a number, it's a letter, so I suppose it is just Fruit2O, excuse my ramblings.

Which I am too dumb to delete :)

Anyway, I was just writing to say that the grape flavor of Fruit2O is pretty good. I got a free bottle of it on the way to work yesterday outside Planet Hollywood and I was hoping they would be back again today. Unfortunately they are not. But at least it was kind of refreshing outside today. Not quite as humid, and not quite as 100 degree heat. Crazy how 80 degrees with a cool breeze seems like perfect weather. It's actually quite a nice day to go walking around. If only I could...

Stereotypes Perhaps

Your Driving Is is: 58% Male, 42% Female

According to studies, you drive both like a guy and a girl. This means you're a pretty average driver, with typical quirks. Occasionally you're frustrated and or a little reckless, but that's the exception - not the norm.

Do You Drive Like a Guy or a Girl?

I am a Chestnut Tree

You Are A Chestnut Tree

You are a born diplomat with a well developed sense of justice. And even though you're impressive and intimidating, you're also fun to be around. You can be irritated easily, and you sometimes act superior. Nevertheless, you are sensitive of others feelings and very loyal. Sometimes you feel misunderstood and are fiercely close to those who know you best.

What's Your Celtic Horoscope?

Control

You Are 56% Control Freak

Generally, you are in control but not a control freak. You life is usually in order. However, sometimes you get too obsessed with making everything in your life picture perfect.

Are You A Control Freak?

Pouring

If I had come home now instead of when I did (not too long ago), I would have been stuck in the pouring rain.  I'm so glad I left when I did.

Life Without Blackberry

The past couple of days, I have been experiencing life without a Blackberry.  It is very strange.

 

I was never one of the people who thought of a blackberry as a leash or something that would keep me working all hours of the night.  Instead, I saw it as a way to get peace of mind - to confirm that people aren't looking for you, to know that there isn't something urgent to do, to feel like you have some idea of what is going on without needing to be in the office.  In a sense, it gave me more free time.

 

But I haven't gotten an email since Friday morning on my blackberry - and I have definitely gotten email since then.  We found out that there was a Cingular outage so messages were "delayed."

 

Since it wasn't working (except for PIN), I didn't bother carrying it with me to meetings.  It was kind of odd to travel without it.  I hadn't really known this weekend why it wasn't working, because I didn't remember about the outage.  I just kept resetting it over and over.  But since it was the weekend, I wasn't that concerned.  After all, it was my alarm clock and back-up phone.

 

But now service is supposed to be restored.  Only I'm still not getting messages; they're not delayed - they're just not there.  So tech has it now, so I am really blackberry-less.  Definitely an odd feeling.

 

Health fair time.

Spanish

You Passed 8th Grade Spanish

Congratulations, you got 7/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Spanish?

Wow, taking this quiz reminded me of just how much Spanish I've forgotten over the years. That sucks.

Argh. Bookshelf. Now.

Searches II

Looking through the pageload activity and apparently I missed a few searches.

Such as can't sleep bar exam tips.

If you are not at all used to drowsy medicine, I do not recommend taking anything that will make you drowsy before the exam because it could throw you off. However, if you have taken drowsy medicine before, it might not be a bad idea because most likely your mind is going to be racing the nights of the exam. By drowsy medicine, I mean, for example, allergy medicine that makes you tired. That would have been perfect for me, since I take allergy medicine anyway... I should have just substituted the stuff that makes you tired instead of the regular stuff I always took.

Maybe then I wouldn't have slept through so much of the MBE. Hmm. I think I tell that story too much. But learn from me - get some sleep or you may be kicking yourself trying to stay awake. And it might not work (sigh).

And other searches like...

Strip Italy of cup. (I think the page I looked at originally doesn't pick up google blog searches). My answer to this one is "don't do it."

Benji donyelle. My favorite SYTYCD couple - so sad that they're not dancing together this week. Every week, they've made me smile - what am I going to do now?

Revere, Massachusetts. Stayed there in May. It was fine. But considering what we were there for, it probably would have been better to stay in Boston itself... but I got to go to Taco Bell...

Bar exam outlining. Everyone does this their own way. You have to do what works for you, what you have figured out after years of school. For me, it was charts. To someone else, those charts might be totally useless.

Benji and Heidi west coast swing dance. Incredibly fun and made me smile. :)

Materazzi lips; Zidane. Only two people really know what happened here and no forensic lip reader is going to convince me otherwise.

Now I'm really done and will go look for a book.

Searches

Wow, I haven't checked my blog stats since June? I guess I've been traveling... anyway, they are mostly about Barbri and the bar exam, which should come as no surprise.

Barbri simulated MBE results
Barbri simulated MBE
JDJive 50 questions before noon
Barbri essay grading what score supposed to get
Barbri essay (x 2)
PMBR simulated score 105
Barbri plastic bag (x 4)

Hmm. I cannot help with the first 2 of those items, because I don't remember anymore. I'm not sure what the 50 questions before noon is about - aren't there 100 questions in the morning session? Or am I delirious since I didn't make it through much of the MBE awake? Same comment as the first 2 items for the next 3 things. I think that would be a year-specific thing, probably.

Now, as for the Barbri plastic bag... I remember when I was alarmed that you had to bring everything in a clear plastic bag to the bar exam. I remember wondering about personal items and how it felt kind of invasive to have everything you were bringing with you on display for the thousands of other test takers to see. But it's not like anyone cares, since it's the bar exam. The bags actually hold quite a bit - I managed to bring in a water bottle, chocolate, cookies, gummy bears, lots of pencils, money, transportation cards. A lot more fits in a plastic bag than I ever thought possible.

And, even though you're supposed to be concentrating on the test ahead (ha), it was kind of amusing watching hordes of people crossing the West Side Highway with large Barbri (and other assorted) plastic bags. You kind of wonder what people think when they're sitting in their cars watching. Who are all these crazy people and why do they only own plastic bags?

Fructus industriales pmbr
This one confuses me. The PMBR part makes me want to put it in the first category, but I don't know what the rest of it means.

Stargate atlantis body swap episode weir gets switched
I used to watch Stargate Atlantis in Chicago before Sci-Fi was cancelled from the Comcast line-up (grr), and then I sort of stopped. I can't remember if I saw this episode or not.

Carly patterson oops
No idea.

Loudy Tourky and black and white
No idea.

Pandas
Tai Shan
Okay, those two I know about. I mean, pandas and Tai Shan have been the primary blogging topic for a long while now. He's too adorable not to talk about... constantly.

Turkey leg Helen's
I believe there is a picture of this in the July 2005 section. Enjoy.

I really should find a new book and go to sleep...

But I was just thinking about this heat wave we're having. If I remember correctly, this is the type of weather we had during the bar exam last year. It was in the 90s, incredibly humid and very sunny. And it sucked to be in the passenger ship terminals taking the test because there wasn't really any air conditioning except in the lobby, which was... not where we were actively taking the test. Let's hope the heat wave happens now and not again during the bar exam. I don't wish that type of unpleasantness on anyone.

Good night!

Things I Did Today

Things I did today, other than work:

• Walked around outside in the hot sun and humid 90+ degree air
• Ate a colorful and yummy salad of baby spinach with alfalfa sprouts, fresh basil, red onions, shredded carrots, chickpeas and cheddar cheese
• Watched the penultimate episode of the season of 24 (yes, I realize I am very behind)
• Watched tonight's episode of Treasure Hunters
• Watched Robot Chicken
• Watched both of the new episodes of Naruto from Saturday
• Cleaned up a little bit and realized just how many little hotel bottles I have
• Read the alumni magazine... well, just the class notes section
• Watched Tai Shan and his mommy sleep the day away and spend the rest of the day looking for treats
• Finished reading Crossing California (I suppose I will now need to find a new book to read... time to scan the bookshelf)
  

How very exciting...

Humidity

It is hot and humid out there.  Alvin looked up the weather for me and it came up as 95 degrees, feels like 100.  Yeah, I can believe it.

 

I went walking around outside for about half an hour, and ended up getting fruit juice but now I wish i had gotten an ice cream bar.  I mean, I passed a ton of Mister Softee and other ice cream trucks.

 

Hmm.  Juice doesn't go bad, at least not really if I drink it throughout the afternoon.  Maybe I shall go get a strawberry shortcake bar.  Hmm.

 

Oh, by the way, at some point during the afternoon, they paved over the spot by the building and the ice cream truck is back.  That was fast.  Maybe I am meant to go...

Heat Wave

It's hot outside.

 

Last night, I was watching the Weather Channel and it was 83 degrees at 1:15 am.  The forecast said that today, 47 out of the lower 48 states were expected to have temps in the 90s.  (The exception: Maine).

 

That's a lot of states with super high temps!

 

Not only that, but the 1st half of 2006 was the warmest on record since records were kept.

 

That doesn't seem good to me either.

 

It didn't feel that hot to me when I went out for lunch, but I was coming from air conditioning that was just starting to get chilly.  The temperature on the sign by Cafe Metro said that it was 94 degrees outside.  I can believe that.  But with the sun and the mugginess, the heat index must be much higher.

 

My mom says the TV says it is 96.  Yuck.

 

Maybe I will take a break and go to the ice cream truck later.  The ice cream truck was forced to move to a new corner, because the one it is usually at (right next to the building) is now blocked off because someone dug a huge hole in the ground.  Maybe I should call 311 and find out what happened.

 

I want to go sailing.

 

Or to the zoo to see Tai Shan.

 

Or to bed to take a nap.

 

The heat may not have bothered me as far as the "ugh, it's so hot and sticky" feeling, but it did give me a headache.  Blah.  And now, it's making me sleepy.

 

Back to work.

Finally

Finally, uninterrupted Tai Shan viewing.  He's not moving around, just sitting calmly and eating his bamboo.  Adorable Tai Shan.

You know how people put up pictures of their kids or their pets in their office?  Yeah... um... I bet you can see where I'm going with this, right?

Butterflies

They did a close-up of a butterfly on the DC panda cam.  That's great and it was pretty, but I need my Tai Shan fix!

Pandas

The pandas have been MIA since I got to work.  What happened?

 

I'm instead watching Mei Sheng on the San Diego cam.  Better than looking at close-ups of rocks.  I tried looking at other animal cams from the DC zoo but I only fleetingly saw a tiger, and then some flamingos but their video stopped.  The only reliable videos were of fish.

 

Lots of pandas eating bamboo in San Diego...

Lost

They lost Tai Shan!!!

 

No, I hope that's not serious.  I think he just went into a cave or something, but the camera people can't find him!  Oh noooooo!

Football

I don't have enough time to say everything I want to say about this headbutting aftermath, but all I can say is that it would be a travesty if FIFA really were to strip Italy of the World Cup title based on a "he said-he said" and a bunch of lipreaders.  I mean, seriously?  And Zidane's agent going on and saying that we'll soon find out "exactly what was said"?  Please.  What gives your guy so much more credibility than Materazzi?  Why should I necessarily believe what he says more?  There are a lot of people out there taking any pro-Zidane rumor as the truth, but I don't consider every word falling from his lips to be sacred. 

 

Not to mention that I think there would be a massive riot in Italy were that to happen.  There's no evidence!  If there were such incontrovertible "proof" of racism, I think we would have known by now and wouldn't be relying on lipreaders.  Sheesh.

Occupation

I think I want to be a zoo panda.

 

You get to eat bamboo, probably your favorite food.  You get to sleep all the time, whenever you want.  You get thousands of adoring fans, who "ooh" and "aah" at you in person and watch you on webcams because they think you are adorable.  You raise a lot of money for the zoo (although maybe it just goes to the $3 million it takes to keep you).  You get to relax.  You get special custom-made fruitsicles and new toys on your birthday when you're a kid.  You're loved for being just who you are.

 

And I mean, seriously, eat, sleep and play.  Sounds like not too bad of a life.  And you're not in that much danger from other animals because you're in a zoo.  I think I want to be a zoo panda.

Pandas

The pandas are playing in the bamboo together!!! Well, they're eating, but it's absolutely adorable, and I want a picture to keep...

 

My obsession with pandas (which already existed) has reached new heights ever since I went to the National Zoo. So cute!!!!

Number Five

You Are 5: The Investigator

You're independent - and a logical analytical thinker. You love learning and ideas... and know things no one else does. Bored by small talk, you refuse to participate in boring conversations. You are open minded. A visionary. You understand the world and may change it.

What Number Are You?

Hmm

This legal research project I have feels a little too much like law school.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that I have been affected by every distraction on the planet today.  Mostly watching futbol and other Spanish TV (since ABC's pre-game basically consisted of commercials and I am sick of their droning), but then following comments on the whole Zidane thing online for hours...

Eating popcorn chicken, which I did constantly through bar studying and paper writing...

Lots of Television Without Pity (except during school, it was during the TV season and there was much more to read)...

Blogging...

I suppose I should go back to work.  Wheeeee.

Puppy

This puppy down the hall has been barking for hours and hours.  Where is its owner?

Gol Gol Gol Gol Gol

ITALIA!!!!!!

WOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!

CLE

"Give the gift of CLE" reads the subject line of one of the emails I got this morning.  I don't think CLE is a gift, do you?

Paper

From a footnote to a case I am reading for work (Heffernan v. Pacific Dunlop GNB Corp., 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5 (N.D. Ill. 1993)):

"At the onset, the court notes that the parties - particularly defendants - have, through the sheer volume of paper submitted and tangential arguments presented, needlessly obfuscated an uncomplicated dispute between a corporation and a former director.  'Responses' to 'replies' to 'responses' add little and cloud much.  The parties, and the court itself, could have been better served through the exercise of greater restraint, taking the form of sharpened arguments, exacting discussion and less paper."

I love it when the courts start making comments about the parties.  Hehe.

Sad News

My mom just told me that my piano teacher passed away. I haven't seen her or spoken with her since early college, but it was still really sad and made me cry. I immediately looked up the article that she had read in the newspaper, and was stunned to find out that this had happened way back in March. It just hit the local paper now (my mom would have seen it if it were there earlier).

I was surprised that I had such a strong reaction to the news considering how long it had been, but then I remembered that I had seen her every week for about 9 years. That's a really long time.

Very sad to hear about this. Kind of makes all my ranting about the fireworks seem slightly less important. Sigh. :(

Those Fireworks

I think I used to like the coverage of the Macy's 4th of July fireworks. I remember watching it as a kid and loving the fireworks. (Generally, I love fireworks.) But I was really underwhelmed by what they showed on TV this year.

I don't know if I've just been spoiled by spending a summer watching fireworks live in Chicago, or whether coverage just wasn't as good as it used to be. They used to show fireworks twice a week in Chicago and I would watch them from the apartment window, so I never missed any of the fireworks. But I don't remember the camera cutting away from the fireworks themselves as much as they did tonight on TV, especially during the finale!

Some comments on the fireworks:

- Stop showing shots of the crowd, the out of focus flag, the Statue of Liberty shot that looks like it came right out of the intro to Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and the Macy's sign on the barge. These shots are all fine between songs, but not when the fireworks are going on. It's no good for me to see someone going "ooh!" in the crowd over fireworks that I can't even see! I cannot see what they are oohing about, and what good is that?!

- Along the same lines, during the grand finale of the fireworks, I do not want to see shots of the crowd multiple times!! It's the finale!!

- If you are going to show the crowd, show them in a little PIP thing like the orchestra so that I can at least see what is going on.

- Cubes! I was looking forward to them so much and then they were barely even shown. Part of the time, the camera was showing the cube fireworks launching but then when they burst open in the sky, we caught like the bottom corner.

- There were some cool fireworks, but generally I was kind of bored and underwhelmed. Maybe it was all the crowd shots breaking up the fireworks. Maybe they just weren't as good? Maybe I'm spoiled from Chicago.

- The shots of blank sky were great as well. Good job NBC. Other good ones were hearing the fireworks exploding over the heads of the crowd, but, umm, not seeing them for quite awhile.

- The planet ones were cool.

I guess that's the advantage to going in person, not having to put up with all of the network's attempts to be "artistic" or something. I don't watch the Macy's show on TV to see kids watching fireworks. As I was saying to Alvin, it's different from the Boston Pops show that is on right now where they have been showing some fireworks inbetween. I am watching this for the Boston Pops, accompanied by some fireworks. Macy's, you watch for the fireworks, not the crowd or the so-called "atmosphere." Stick the other crap between songs, and please NBC, don't cut away from the finale again. That was just really really bad. The best part of the show and you show me someone that I am not interested in seeing. Stick to the fireworks.

[pause]

CBS/Boston's editor is doing this right. They are doing very few crowd shots, and when they are, they are shorter and they are doing it when it's too smoky to see. Or between songs, which is the right way to do it. It seems better planned than the New York one. Much much better.

Cameras

Continuing my obsession with the Shake Shack camera... you have to look at the video here:

http://www.robotonwheels.com/2006/07/02/shake-shack/

Bah

Bah, cannot switch to Italian because then my picture disappears from gmail.  Grr....

More on the fireworks and NBC's "wonderful" coverage later.  Really.

Interesting

I signed in to a gmail account today and realized that chat is now available in other languages.  Yay!  I don't need to leave gmail in English!

But what's amusing is one of the translations that babelfish came up with:

"You can see when the others are online and to make to know they when you six online, not to the computer, occupied, tired or other anchor."