Resolutions Check

I just looked at my 2009 resolutions from last new year's eve, and I have a mixed report with respect to progress.

Here's what I resolved and how I did:

1. Manage inboxes more effectively. Get work inbox under 100 and get gmail inbox under 2000 (that's a third of what it is now).

Work inbox - FAIL. Currently at 488. I don't think I went under 100 all year. Gmail inbox - FAIL but progress. If I wanted to be under 2000, and that was a third of what I had on NYE, that means I had over 6000 on NYE (which sounds right). I'm currently at 2772 messages. So, while I may not be under 2000, I'm a lot closer than I was at this time last year and that's substantial progress. And I didn't do what I tend to do when "stuff" is out of hand and move it all to a "review later" folder or box to get it to this point. I've been working hard on deleting email! It's so much work!

2. Do something active every day. Preferably the 30 day shred (when it comes), DDR (when it comes) or Wii Fit or Wii Sports. Or the gym we pay for...

Massive FAIL. In fact, in the month leading up to the wedding, I barely had any time to work out. The 30 day shred is good, but with all the boxes in our apartment, we kept running out of room, not to mention time. DDR was fun, but it's hard to set up, and takes a lot of space in our apartment that we don't currently have. Wii Fit and Wii Sports are good, but again time and space. After months of not going, we no longer pay for that gym. I need to figure out how to fix this. I really want to swim daily but we have no pool.

3. Eat healthier. Take pictures to keep to the goal. Take vitamins daily. Remember to fill prescriptions regularly.

Mixed FAIL. Eat healthier. I don't think it's all that different from before. I tried to keep count of calories to see what I was eating, but I can only do it with packaged foods (aren't those less healthy?) or at restaurants that have nutrition calculators (few). Take pictures to keep to the goal. What did I mean? Take pictures of what I eat? That I do. Take pictures of me? That I don't. Take vitamins daily. Now that we have bottles of gummy vitamins, yes, success, easy. Remember to fill prescriptions regularly. Meh.

4. Clean the apartment. Get rid of coffee table before the end of the first quarter.

Massive FAIL. Apartment not clean. Coffee table still here and covered. Bane of my existence.

5. Blog at least once a week.

Not sure... I would prefer to blog more than once a week, and actual posts of substance, but I don't think I've achieved that. I think I blog in spurts. I guess better than nothing at all, but I would like to be more consistent. Let's call this one mixed success.

So... to summarize, I made progress on deleting emails in gmail and take my vitamins. I guess that's better than nothing... sigh.

Thinking about my resolutions for 2010... let's see what I come up with by NYE!

Late Night Notes

It's really late, but just a few notes.

1. I still don't like the new DVR functionality. I want to be able to rearrange the shows how I want them so that the bad stuff deletes first!

2. By being in the office all day (about 16 hours), I didn't experience any of the melting heat (except on my way in to work in the morning) or the crazy thunderstorms.

3. It's nights like tonight when I'm really glad that I can leave the office and hop in a cab and be home in 5 minutes.

4. I seem to be naturally on Hawaii time, and sleeping at 4 or 5 am. Correction, my bedtime appears to be on Hawaii time, but I have to try to get up for East Coast time. I need to sleep earlier and I need more sleep!

5. I'm glad I worked from home the night before tonight so that I was able to exercise. I did some pushups at work tonight (ugh) but not the same as the Shred.

6. All I keep thinking is that I need more sleep!

So on that note, since sleep has taken over my brain, I am going to try to get a couple of hours. Sigh.

Late Night List

(Warning: Potential TV spoilers ahead! Although SYTYCD should be done airing everywhere - including Hawaii...)

A few random thoughts instead of sleeping:

1. I have no idea why someone would want a denial of service attack on Facebook and Twitter. I was reading an article this evening asking what the point of such attacks would be (and how that may be the point - not having one). (Sorry, I can't remember which article or I would link it.) All it meant was obsessive reloading of Twitter to try to make it work, and annoyance at feeling disconnected from the world! I finally gave in to Twitter, mostly to aggregate my web surfing, and so far, it had worked - I visit many less sites just to check their updates, because I don't need to check as often. But today, I was disconnected again! And today was the day of the Psych and Burn Notice Twitter contests...

2. On to Burn Notice... I can't wait to watch the summer finale again. That was really, really good. I was worried that with all the hype about how good it was, and all the expectations being built up, that it wouldn't live up to the higher expectations, but it did. I really love that show.

3. I've been talking about it a lot over the past couple of weeks, but I really think that USA Network just gets it right now. They are pretty good at reaching people (Twitter and Facebook contests, updates, etc. just an example), making their people accessible to fans and, perhaps most importantly, they deliver on good content. It is at the point where I will watch whatever new show they put out (can't wait for White Collar) because I have faith in their brand. (I will at least check it out. I don't stick with everything. See: Starter Wife.) They find something that works, they give it a chance to develop, and I wish more networks operated that way. Outside of SYTYCD, I think the majority of the DVR right now is USA shows. I have Psych to thank for all of this (and possibly a trip to DC which first alerted me to Psych).

4. On to SYTYCD... congrats to Jeanine! I voted a few times for Jeanine, more for Brandon, but I would be satisfied with either of them winning. I would not have been happy with a Kayla win (she's technically good but I have never felt a connection with her) and even less happy with an Evan win (he's very good at what he does, but just looked out of place when not in his element with the other dancers). I think Brandon was the best dancer this season and would have loved to see him win, but I knew they wanted a girl to win. I think next season they'll want the winner to be an "unusual" or "underrepresented" specialty, or something like that. Or maybe ballroom...

5. I really do like tacos (from the last post). I could have eaten tacos again for dinner today despite having them for lunch. Yum. I really should do one of those favorite foods posts. But it's so hard! So much good food!

6. I'm excited for the fall TV season (Glee!!!!!) and the press tours only make it more exciting. Although I had to scan quickly through anything related to Fringe today (but still managed to see some of it) since we still aren't finished with last season. Yes, I know it's been a few months. But now we have to watch it online because the DVR failed. I hope it's still on Hulu. I love Hulu.

7. We're going to a wedding in Chicago this weekend. Should be fun, even if it's 90 degrees with scattered storms. Classic Chicago summer, right? Although it feels like this trip should still be weeks from now. It hasn't hit me yet that it's August and there's only like 60 days yet to go. Wasn't I supposed to be in shape by now?

8. I haven't done EA in over a week. Part of it is work - late nights, little sleep - and also my knees and ankles were bothering me for a few days. But it's not good to stop doing it! Bad! The past few days I have been using that Slendertone/flex belt thing. I wonder if it works. I feel some tightness in my abs afterwards but does it really do anything? I guess we'll see?

9. I could go for a taco right now. Or a samosa.

10. I need to get into a better sleep routine. Every day around 3 pm, I just can't keep my eyes open no matter what I do and it's really frustrating. Nothing really works either. What foods can I eat to stay awake? I know the answer is more sleep, but I would like to preemptively combat the fatigue by eating things at lunch that don't give me food coma. Suggestions?

Off to get ready for bed and read some more Harry Potter 1 (yes, I am re-reading all the books to make myself feel better after the butchering of movie 6's story).

Weekend Notes

It's been a really busy weekend. A lot of fun, but late nights, lots of traveling and two weddings have left me completely exhausted. So, only a few quick notes and observations from this weekend:

1. I miss undergrad. It was so great having everyone in the same place, and I think I really took for granted how easy it was to just get together and hang out. Now, with everyone spread around the country and real world responsibilities, it's just so much more difficult.

2. Somehow, we got a better rental car on this trip, booking through Priceline, than we did the last time we rented a car at this airport, directly from the rental company. Not only was it a fraction of the price, but we got a bigger car and it had GPS which they normally charge extra for! Even better, since I was expecting so much less.

3. I love JetBlue. Not only do they still allow you to check a bag for free, but they have free snacks and of course their wonderful DirecTV. And their flight attendants were super nice. Although I don't remember much about our return flight, since I was asleep from the moment we got into the air until we began our final descent into JFK.

4. At last night's wedding, the service for our table was so bad that it was funny. At the outset, we asked them if we could just serve ourselves. (It was a Chinese banquet, and we would prefer to pick out what we liked instead.) I don't know if they were insulted by it or something, but after the first course (which, honestly, most people would want to choose their own food from since it had the pork/cold cut type stuff and the salads), they started serving our table (right next to the head table...) last. And later we saw that other tables had 2 fruit platters, instead of 1. And then we hadn't gotten cake yet, when they went back to the table next to us to offer them seconds. My aunt (mother of the groom...) mentioned to the waiter that our table hadn't gotten cake yet, and he said, "I know, we'll get there" and offered seconds to the other table. Sad, but very amusing. Food was actually pretty good though.

5. Have you ever seen a vending machine serving burgers and fries? How about in a parking garage?

6. All the work I did deleting emails and getting my inbox under 5700 has been undone. I am back above 5850.

7. How far apart do they usually put rest stops on the interstate? 50 miles felt very, very, very, very long early on a Saturday morning. It was actually pretty crowded for 6 am at the rest stop. Yay for hash browns.

8. The new JetBlue terminal at JFK is gorgeous. I can't believe this is the first time we've been there since they redid it, but I guess it makes sense since they don't fly to Hawaii.

9. I love going to weddings.

10. I should be sleeping now, but since I tried to recover last night by sleeping so much, I woke up late, and the late night cycle begins again. So glad it's a 4 day week!!

Late List

A short post, since it is very late, and I should be sleeping!

1. My gmail inbox is now down to 5780 messages. Considering that it was over 6000 messages earlier today, that's progress. But it doesn't feel like it. It feels so slow. How could I have so many thousands of messages still left? What are they?!

2. We finally finished watching last season's episodes of Chuck and I loved it. I was a little spoiled about the finale since it's been awhile since it aired, but I was excited to see it, and it definitely lived up to expectations. Thank goodness there's going to be a next season.

3. I have decided I'm not going to use up DVR space on Mental. It will be Lie to Me-treatment where I watch it on Hulu when I have time. It's interesting but I don't care enough about it to want to give it a spot on the DVR when it's available on Hulu.

4. Yet again it rained today. They said we have had over 5 inches of rain this month already, and the monthly average is only around 2 inches. Sounds about right. It's been gloomy, cloudy and/or rainy almost every day, with some cold thrown in too. This is not June weather! I feel so bad for all the June brides who planned outdoor weddings here in NYC and have been getting hit with this weather.

5. I went on a shoe shopping spree this weekend. I don't usually like to go shoe shopping, and haven't really bought shoes in a long time (other than work shoes), so it was surprising how many pairs I came home with. But it's good - I discovered a style I like for the wedding and now it's on order (they didn't have my size in that color)! Yay! Another thing (almost) done!

Off to sleep. Will never lose weight if I don't get more sleep. They have done studies about that, I think -- how sleep is necessary if you're trying to lose weight and get in shape. Good night!

Mental Thoughts

Random thoughts from past my bedtime:

1. I have had enough of bugs for today. (Well, I never want to think about them or see them or have them around me, but enough is enough for today!) First, some background. In my first office, I rarely had any flies. Once in a while, they would come in from outside, but that was it. When I moved into my solo office, the first time I got a chance to look at it, I saw all these bug carcasses on the windowsill. Gross! I didn't want to blame the previous occupant, but I had never had that problem before! Then, they didn't go away once I was there, and I reported it to the building who said that it wasn't that uncommon since apparently the flies like to eat this glue or rat poison that's in the vents. After a year or so, they finally vacuumed the vents out and the bugs were for the most part gone. That is, until a few weeks (or is it months? I have lost track of time) ago. They're baaaack! More dead carcasses, dying flies and active ones flitting into my forehead. Joy. I am sick of seeing dead flies and they give me the chills!

So, back to today. My office neighbor apparently came in to find about 30 dead flies on his windowsill. Ewww. I did not go look to corroborate this, but they got maintenance to agree to send an exterminator. For all of our offices with fly problems. I only saw 2 dead ones on my windowsill but when I started moving folders, found 4 more. Ewww. Turns out the exterminator was a maintenance man with a vacuum and a can of Raid, but so be it. Hopefully it works. Eww. Just recently, at home, a spider decided to torment me. Sigh. Oh - and right after our whole discussion at work about the dead flies - a live one decided to make an appearance. Eww.

2. I'm so tired. I don't know how to get rid of the tiredness. And I have to get up early to go to the dentist tomorrow morning. I seriously dislike going to the dentist.

3. I watched both episodes of Mental tonight. It's interesting. I never got into House, but people say this is basically House in a psych ward. I don't love it, but I like it enough to keep watching it... especially since it's summer and there's nothing else on except the Mentalist repeats.

4. I did not eat well today. I did ok until lunch, and then had cookies during my afternoon meeting, and got chips and guacamole with dinner. I don't really think I needed the chips; I think what I really wanted was the guacamole. And then I ate Sour Patch Kids. Bad me! Ugh. I only have a little more than 100 days!

5. Uploading old pictures from 2005... and life just seemed so much simpler. Sigh. We're getting old.

Weekend Time

Heading into Memorial Day weekend, a few random notes:

1. I have been so exhausted lately, and I don't understand it. Most days, it feels like the "focus" part of my brain has just vanished, and I don't know what happened to it. What happened? Is this like second-stage burn-out or something?

2. I saw a gorgeous sunset today, made more gorgeous because of the clouds. I love sunsets for their colors, but the clouds made this one. See?

You really need the panorama and large sizes to do it justice, but the stitching isn't so good on my mini-camera panoramas, so I'm not posting those.

3. It's Fleet Week here in NYC and everywhere you look there are men and women in uniform. (I also spend most of my time in midtown, so that's probably why.) I ran past the piers this evening, and the place is locked up like a fortress.

4. I don't think I have ever had "vinegar peppers" until tonight.

5. I ended up walking 1.5 miles at lunch today (round trip) because I either couldn't find the places I was looking for, didn't like the options, or didn't know what I wanted. I ended up going to Zaiya, which is never a bad option, but not where I intended to go!

6. Bryant Park looked wonderful today with the sun shining through the green trees. I love that it was in the 80s today. Summer is really coming!

7. Since it's so warm, it's quite hard to believe that just last week I was wearing a fleece jacket on top of two shirts to go to the food fair. This weather is insane. But just bring on summer! Woohoo!

8. One of these days, I think I'll just sit and watch the sunset instead of only seeing it on my evening runs. Of course, this would require me to be in shape and have the luxury to not have to run at the time. Someday.

9. All afternoon, I had the song that plays on the Cafe Boulud website in my head. I don't know why. Yesterday it was Kris's studio version of "No Boundaries" and today it's some French (I think) song. I don't even speak French!

10. So excited for a 3 day weekend! Even if it's not a full vacation and I have to do some work over it, I'm still excited for an extra day, warm weather and more time!

Weekend Notes

Random weekend notes:

1. I have been sick all weekend. Thank goodness it was a 3 day weekend so I could try to recuperate, but let me just say that being sick on a 3 day weekend SUCKS. I'm sick of being sick! I'm hoping this Theraflu stuff works... on top of the 5-6 other things I'm taking...

2. I can't believe our long (8 years long!) national nightmare will be over tomorrow. It's almost unimaginable!

3. I watched 5 hours of Lost tonight, broken up by the new episode of 24. It's like drama overload. (Would have watched all 6 hours of Lost on Sci-Fi (yes, it was 6, not 4, I was wrong before), but was taping 2 things (Kyle XY and 24) on the DVR.)

4. Poor Alvin didn't have today off, so for him, today is not still the weekend.

5. I had better sleeping habits this weekend when I was sick, but now it's back to almost 1 am and still up.

6. Our save the dates came in the mail! Yay! Although they're a little lighter in color, and less contrast, than we expected. I guess the proof looks different on the laptop than it did on the paper. But they're still pretty. And Wedding Paper Divas has been a good company to work with. (I love that they have customer service chat!)

7. I have still not decided whether or not to watch the inauguration in public, but will most likely be watching at my desk.

8. I never knew until tonight that the quick way to make hot dogs in the microwave was to wrap the hot dog in the bun and wrap the whole thing in a towel. It's so quick and easy! I've never done it that way before... How have I missed this?

9. I hope I remember to take the Halls cough drops tomorrow, on top of the Sucrets which I will run out of, and my Theraflu pack.

10. After my post about wedding dreams, I had one non-wedding dream (relating to Boston, Hawaii, public transportation, getting to Logan airport, and coastline views), but the rest have all had something to do with weddings. I guess I will just live with it. :)

Off to getting ready to sleep!

2009 Resolutions

This should be my last post of 2008. Resolutions for 2009.

I made a lot of resolutions last year, most of which I didn't keep. Hopefully this year is better.

1. Manage inboxes more effectively. Get work inbox under 100 and get gmail inbox under 2000 (that's a third of what it is now).

2. Do something active every day. Preferably the 30 day shred (when it comes), DDR (when it comes) or Wii Fit or Wii Sports. Or the gym we pay for...

3. Eat healthier. Take pictures to keep to the goal. Take vitamins daily. Remember to fill prescriptions regularly.

4. Clean the apartment. Get rid of coffee table before the end of the first quarter.

5. Blog at least once a week.

Hopefully I can keep these. Happy new year!!

(Edited to add: I just looked at last year's resolutions after I made these. They're like the same resolutions! And I resolved that in January I would buy a sunrise alarm clock. It's still on my to-do list! This is insane! Anyway, happy new year!)

2008 Recap

To continue my new years theme, my 2008 recap, part one!

2008 was a mixed bag. It was a great year in many ways - starting to plan our wedding and continuing to plan our life together; thankful for home, family, health, work and the people in our lives; trips to Disney and to Maui; Obama's election and finally moving out of the dark ages. In many other ways, it was also a really difficult year, most notably to the country with the bad economy hitting more people and closer to home than I ever expected. On to the recap:

Movies/shows I saw in the theaters in 2008:
Kung Fu Panda
Iron Man
Spamalot
Wall-E

Vacations/trips in 2008:
Orlando, FL
Chicago, IL (for work)
Washington, DC
Maui, HI
Milton, NY

Books read (for the first time) in 2008 (since this is a new category for me, I really can't remember what I've read!):
Paper Moon
Treason by the Book

I wish I could do something like favorite dishes of 2008, favorite new restaurants of 2008 or favorite TV episodes of 2008, but this would have required advanced planning. Maybe next year. More recap to follow (as I eat pretzels and watch the Project Runway marathon).

Annoyed

Today has been, for lack of a better word to describe it, "annoying."

Maybe it was a reflection of the weather, but everything was annoying today! To illustrate, today I was annoyed:

- when I woke up and read the emails waiting for me on my blackberry

- that it was dark, cold, damp and/or rainy all day long

- that I have felt sick and/or weak and/or weary day after day, causing me not to go to the gym for over a week

- by all the work I have to do and all the work that just doesn't seem to get done

- that I had to go to Europa for lunch to avoid the rain (but luckily it's in our building) instead of someplace more exciting

- that when I went to Europa for lunch, some girl slapped her umbrella around getting my entire suit jacket wet, since I deliberately went to Europa so that I wouldn't get wet

etc, etc, etc. There's more where that came from.

The bright spots were no line at the bank when I went to deposit a check in the morning and the serenity at an odd moment of the day when I sat alone in a conference room waiting for a meeting that ended up not happening but where it was quiet and peaceful and I got a lot of work done (despite an active movie shoot on that floor).

Hopefully tomorrow is a better day. I'm feeling a little less annoyed now after watching Eli Stone...

Mid-afternoon Thoughts

1.  I love split pea soup.  Yum.  I didn't know until I went to Cafe Europa that there existed both yellow split pea and green split pea soup.  I love green split pea soup...

 

2.  Being at work when not feeling well is not fun!  And I could use my Poang chair here at the office...

 

3.  I thought for sure that Joe must go.  His behavior during the campaign was despicable.  He said he wouldn't go after Obama personally and he did, even questioning his patriotism.  If it's true that Obama wants him to stay in the caucus (which he said he would only do if he could keep his precious chairmanship), I have to think he must have a good reason...

 

4.  Cold weather is back.  Wheee...

 

5.  I wish my office light switch had a remote.  There are multiple times a day when the sun shines really brightly on my computer area (which I love), and I want to turn off the artificial light, but it requires going up to the light switch.  I'm not against that, except half the time, 1 minute after I sit back down, the sun is gone. 

Assorted Thoughts

A few assorted thoughts on this Saturday night:

1. I'm sick. It started Thursday night and I have felt like crap all day. I don't really know what it is and am not very good at identifying the symptoms, other than "sick." At least not right now.

2. Since I am sick, I basically slept and watched TV all day. That's probably good for the DVR since it was almost full of shows we hadn't watched yet. Sleep is just good for everyone.

3. I can't believe Norm Coleman is trying to force them not to do a recount. The vote separation is so close that a manual recount really could change the outcome. Of course, that's exactly why he's acting like this, even though you can be sure that if it were the other way around, he would be yelling for one.

4. I wish the apartment could just clean up itself.

5. The soups at the Ollie's by our apartment are gigantic bowls. I got won ton mein (spelling?) when we went yesterday to try to help with my sickness and the bowl was gigantic. That dish reminds me of Hong Kong because when I went as a teenager, we had it for breakfast daily. I like that, a big bowl of noodle soup for breakfast. It's a nice start to the day. Nowadays, I just eat half a bagel.

Friday Reflections

Some end of the week observations:

1. First, a note to my 23rd floor "neighbor" who isn't very neighborly.

Dear Neighbor,

There was no need for you to shout "take the stairs!!" at me after I got off the elevator. I kind of thought you were acting like a jerk the entire time before you yelled at me, but that took it to another level. Tapping the elevator button in the lobby 11 times, shaking your head and sighing at the descending elevator (like that will make it go faster?), tapping your foot and checking your watch repeatedly in the elevator after I clicked a low floor button (I do have peripheral vision, you know) and then after I turned the corner, furiously tapping the close button. I understand you're impatient, but the world does not revolve around you (or me, or the next person).

But your shouting "take the stairs"? Rude and unnecessary. And you waited until I was all the way down the hall, which makes you, in addition to being a jerk, a coward. If you felt so strongly that I should take the stairs, why not say it to my face? If you had, I would have told you that I do take the stairs on a regular basis (which may be why I've never encountered you before) but when I fell, I injured my knee badly enough that going up the stairs hurts. But you didn't care. In your cowardice, impatience and self-centeredness, you bellowed down the hallway something extremely rude as the elevator doors were closing.

Someone didn't teach you any manners. Maybe you should stop taking out your problems on other people.

Sincerely,
Your Neighbor

2. Now that the unpleasantness is out of the way, I am very amused by the Gossip Girl ad I saw in the subway. It quoted the Parents Television Council's review of "mindblowingly inappropriate" the way that other shows would quote something like "stunning" from EW. Good job, ad people.

3. I love the Container Store. The only thing about it is that there are too many choices! I went there today looking for airtight storage boxes for dry food, and there were like 2 walls full of choices. I ended up getting Snapware.

I think there was more I was going to write about when I was thinking about my post while walking, but I don't remember any more. Maybe later.

Thoughts

Some random thoughts as I'm watching the Nathans hot dog eating contest:

1. Where do they get these titles on ESPN and/or who thinks up these competitions? "Cheese fries specialist." "Beef brisket buffet-eating champion." "Specializes in meat on the bone." "World jellied cranberry sauce champion." "Major League Eating's only faith-based eater." (What's a faith-based eater?)

2. We lived near a French restaurant that was an institution in Hell's Kitchen. It had been there for years until it got evicted by the landlord, who claimed he wanted to tear the building down so he could build a condo building. They finally ended up closing in the spring after fighting the eviction in court for years. Last Friday, I looked out the car window and was shocked. They had just taken down the Le Madeleine awning in the past week or so, and what was there now? A new red awning. For a new French restaurant. Looking like a mini-branch of a French restaurant near my office. So, the landlord lied? Not that I should be shocked, but I am. I really thought he evicted them so he could tear the building down, not put in a new restaurant. It's so close to the apartment, and I don't want to hold it against the tenant, but the actions of the landlord... just shady.

3. How do you eat 171 pieces of sushi in 6 minutes? (Or was it 8, I don't remember.)

4. I don't recall previous summers having these types of rain threats. Nowadays it's like a threat of scattered thunderstorms daily. It's like living in Florida. I need a poncho.

5. And I want to go back to Epcot.

6. It's hard to eat while they're eating hot dogs. Because the face-stuffing is actually kind of gross. And our TV cuts off half of the tracking chart on the top corner of the screen. People only have half names.

7. Yesterday at work we had an ice cream social as a summer associate event. It was Coldstone and I was expecting large cartons of premixed combinations, but they had the slabs and mixed them for you, just like in the store. I ended up getting vanilla with a brownie, Oreo and rainbow sprinkles. The only thing missing was cake batter ice cream. Mmm. Cake batter ice cream.

8. I don't know how you can compete in major league eating and eat this much, and still be so thin. Or competitively eat cannolis. Or pickled jalapenos.

9. I can't wait to see Wall-E.

10. Kobayashi is awesome. I don't understand why these commentators think it's such a big deal "if the belt stays in America." It's not like Americans don't like Kobayashi. Seriously. And the 5 dog eat-off? So disgusting. At least this way the commentators don't get to whine about America not winning on Independence Day. *eyeroll*

Searches

I haven't done one of these posts in awhile, but I also haven't checked the blog stats in awhile. Here are some recent searches which landed people on this blog and my comments. Hopefully this will help people who somehow arrive here looking for something that they won't find.

Portillo's Calorie Counter
Empanada Mama Calorie Count
No calorie counts here. Unless I'm talking about the outrageous calorie counts on the NY menu boards. I just don't find them helpful. They are cluttering up the menu boards and making them hard to read without adding much value. I've talked about it all before and am not going to force you to read it again. Except to say that now that I have seen it implemented at a bunch of places, I'm not sure it's going to make any impact on my life.

Crayon psychics
There were a lot of searches for this, but I honestly have no idea what that is even supposed to pull up.

Paldo aloe drink
... is delicious and refreshing, and my favorite aloe drink brand.

I swallowed a prong off a plastic fork
I totally forgot that I did that. Wow.

Cigarette smoke masks
When you find one, let me know.

Southwest Caesar Salad, Wendy's
I like this salad. This salad and the taco salad are probably my favorite Wendy's salads. I thought about getting one at the Wendy's at the mall on Sunday but figured I could just get it at work. I tried going to Wendy's yesterday by work, but they didn't have it on the menu and it's not on the website! It was on the menu board at the mall on Sunday. I'm so confused. I love this salad and it's good because I don't even need the salad dressing. Why, Wendy's? Why won't you put this and the wild mountain chicken sandwich on your permanent menu? Yes, I'm still whining about the wild mountain chicken sandwich.

Post-course paced program
First, a note about the bar exam. The searches seem to have picked up lately for bar exam related topics, and I guess it's about that time. So, a preliminary note. I wasn't a HUGE bar studier. It was kind of hard to do when BarBri started during final exams in law school. So I was never up to date and was behind for the whole program. For that reason, I'm not sure I did any post-course paced program. But I also didn't follow the regular one very well either. But it seems like a lot of people are concerned about this post-course program thing. Is BarBri ending soon or something?

Evergreen Chinatown
Good Chicago restaurant. I recommend.

Blackberry reception problems
Sigh. Try popping out the battery and the SIM card. I do this too often. But don't get me wrong, I'm thankful to no longer have that old blue unit that wouldn't receive messages even when it told me my signal was as strong as it could be.

What do the crayons mean in the movie The Dark Floor
I don't know of any movie called The Dark Floor. Sorry.

Will BarBri replace lost iPod
I doubt it. Did they make you lose it? Otherwise, I doubt they would do anything.

Cedars of Lebanon restaurant in Hyde Park
If this is still there, I also recommend. I haven't really been for a meal in Hyde Park since graduation.

Placenta pearl cream
I don't really have the time or space to go into this again, but at least it sent you to the right link.

Above 100 on the BarBri simulated MBE is ok
Honestly I have no idea. I don't remember much about the MBE.

Simulated MBE did terrible
Sorry to hear it. :( It'll get better. If they still have the questions on computer, that's a nice option for practicing.

BarBri clear plastic bag
The clear plastic bag thing bothered me the whole time prior to the exam. I worried about how I could possibly carry everything in one plastic bag? It worked out fine. Not something worth worrying about.

Mayo shrimp
Sorry, not a huge fan.

There is also a certain search looking for a part of the body of a famous gymnast which I have mentioned before, and I don't understand why, years later, people are still searching for this. It makes no sense to me.

Exhausted. Time for sleep. Good night!

Comprehension

Things I currently don't understand:

 

1.  Why it's wrong to say that Americans are bitter when they absolutely are.

 

2.  How some polls show over 20% of Americans that still believe Obama is a Muslim after the entire Rev. Wright controversy.  And why it would even matter if he were.

 

3.  Why I bought a salad of edamame, black beans and corn and why it was the main part of dinner.

 

4.  Why American culture doesn't permit more vacation taking.

 

5.  Why I just can't get it right in the morning in the shoulder seasons when selecting which coat to wear.

Goodbye to 2007

Alvin and I went out to a wonderful Italian dinner to celebrate New Years Eve once I finally finished working. It was really nice but getting home was a bit of an ordeal. Last year we had seen the swarms of people going up 8th Avenue, but this year there seemed to be massive crowds walking up 9th Avenue. And just stopping in the intersections and standing around. It took a lot of winding through cars in the street just to get home! And then the cops blocked off our street already.

But now that we're here, my annual new years recap/resolutions. I always intend to do this earlier, but it never happens.

Despite my posts where I'm annoyed with all the commotion and chaos with the Times Square NYE, the new year is actually one of my favorite holidays. Although it's probably new years day. New beginnings, the chance to start over, an easy way to hit restart and do all those things that you want to do. And if my resolutions don't really work out, I get to refine them and try again on Chinese new year. :)

So here's the recap (as I was getting ready to write this, I realized I left San Juan off of last year's trip list; how could I forget that?):

Movies/shows I saw in the theatre in 2007:

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Vacations/trips in 2007:

• Frankfurt, Germany
• Singapore
• Shanghai, China
• Chicago
• Washington, DC
• Seattle
• Juneau, Alaska
• Sitka, Alaska
• Ketchikan, Alaska
• Victoria, BC

Big events of 2007:

• Engagement :)
• Family Alaska trip
  

Resolutions:

The usual ones:

1. Exercise more.
2. Eat healthier.
3. Sleep more.
4. Clean the apartment.
5. Get rid of stuff I don't need.
6. Keep in touch better.
7. Keep files organized.
8. More free time and time off.
9. Keep inboxes clear.
10. Post/write more.

And some more specific resolutions... for January, at least:

1. Buy a sunrise alarm clock and work on shifting to a morning routine and getting to work earlier.
2. Try to do at least 10 minutes of exercise per day.
3. Try to eat healthier and smaller portions.
4. Try to sleep by 1 am.
5. Get gmail inbox below 3,000 messages (and keep it that way).
6. Get work inbox below 300 messages (and keep it that way).
7. Clean 5 things per day.
8. Keep budget book current.
9. Try to keep work files organized.
10. Take vitamins daily.

Good luck to me. Happy (almost) new year! 20 more minutes until a fresh start!

Week in Review

This week, I:

- walked to Rockefeller Center to see the picket line on the first day of the writers' strike. Didn't stay long enough to see if I recognized anyone because I was hungry and cold, so I went to Wendys.

- almost threw up on 42nd Street as I ran to the subway station. I was walking really quickly and trying to get to the station as quickly as possible because I was late. I was looking around for a clock instead of at my feet. Luckily at the last second I saw that I was about to step on a dead pigeon and was able to catch myself, lift my leg back up and swerve. It was pretty recent since the blood was very red and fresh as it leaked across the sidewalk. Ugh.

- had a good dinner with Alvin at Spice Fusion on 8th Ave. It wasn't very crowded but the food was so, so much better than this place we went to on 9th Ave for a buffet, so I would really like it to stick around longer. The chickpea dish was excellent.

- didn't get much sleep and felt like I was going to collapse from exhaustion. Today I drank Fruit2o energy water but it made no difference and I kept getting more tired throughout the day. Clearly caffeinated drinks don't have the desired effect on me.

- had to start my "winter" routine of wearing comfy warm clothes to the office and changing when I get there.

- was really happy about the Country Music Awards being on ABC because it meant that I didn't have to tape the entire ABC lineup (and it's my favorite TV night of the week). However, despite having 3 hours less to tape this week, I still was not able to tape or watch: Big Shots, Without a Trace, Moonlight or Women's Murder Club. And I'm missing Brothers & Sisters from a few weeks ago as well as some other serials here and there. Serious DVR overload issues and too little time.

- had a lot of meetings.

- played a lot of Scrabulous.

- had to say goodbye to Mei Sheng, one of my favorite pandas, as he left from the San Diego Zoo for China. So sad that we can't just tune in to the webcam to catch up with Buddy.

- contemplated why Britney even wants custody if she's just going to shop for chandeliers and leave them in the car.

- watched the tree outside the window develop vibrant golden leaves and then watched them get dull. It's that time of year again.

- cheered for the donkeys on Amazing Race and thought about how I want to go to Ireland.

- found myself addicted to both the US and UK version of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. (It's in a hard time slot for the US version since I watch Gossip Girl and Private Practice).

- was sad that the numbers are still bad for Journeyman when it's really getting good.

- tried to clean my office but all the papers I sorted and got rid of were replaced by more new papers. Oh well.

- intended to post many, many times but didn't get around to it until now (when I should be sleeping). Good night!

Random Monday Notes

[Warning: Discusses tonight's TV]

1. I realize the date above this post will say Tuesday but for me, it's still Monday.

2. The Journeyman earthquake episode was really good tonight. I think the show is really hitting its stride and I hope it doesn't get cancelled. I wish networks would just give shows time to grow.

3. I don't understand why the Empire State Building was lit up red white and green for days in preparation for Columbus Day but tonight it was blue.

4. There was an ice cream truck on the corner by work today. And it was warm enough to get some, if I wanted some.

5. The big Kodak ad in Times Square said "pricey ink stinks." I don't know why I was amused by that. I think it was the "stinks" part.

6. Our DVR just does not like Heroes. I have come to that conclusion. Because whenever I get the "out of space" message, it is about Heroes. For example, today I cleared 5 hours to tape 4 hours, 40 minutes. It gets to Heroes (at that point only 2.7 hours on the DVR of those 5 had taped or were committed to currently taping shows) and it tells me there's no space. So I clear another hour, and at least this time (not always!), it's fine. But it doesn't ask me to clear another hour for Journeyman. I don't get it. It's like a weekly thing when Heroes goes on. And it doesn't make any sense to me. It was like that during finale time too last spring. We are finally up to the final arc from last year - April!

7. People seem to be disappointed with scripted TV this year. Maybe I just have low standards?

8. I went on a walk today to try to figure out what to get for lunch (and ended up at the deli downstairs from the office to get a salad) and passed by the Columbus Day parade and also the skating rink at Rockefeller Center. 82 degrees, sunny, and a little puddly.

9. My favorites on Dancing with the Stars are Helio and Julianne. I don't care if they didn't get the highest scores from the judges tonight; their routine was just the most fun! They make me smile.

10. I would like Just Salad to open up closer to my office. It's a little bit of a walk (which is good for health but less so for time) but the salads are so good!