on a completely random note, i really love these doritos packages from japan.

merry christmas, everyone!

it's been a bit of a difficult weekend, as my mom told me (in no uncertain terms) that she didn't want to see me or talk to me. i had been planning to see her today, since we usually spend christmas eve together. traditionally, my family had celebrated on christmas eve, by attending the family mass in the late afternoon, then returning home to find that santa had arrived and opening presents that night. that kept us from getting up early on christmas, and (as i'm learning is truly important in any relationship) left christmas open for extended family holiday-time.

anyhow, i saw my mom on wednesday night and thursday morning, and that didn't go entirely smoothly. when i got in, she was grumpy (from dealing with metro airport traffic) and i was grumpy (from dealing with air-travel and a mis-labeled luggage carousel. we went to dinner, which is always a bit of a challenge since we're both picky (i don't like 'american' food, and it's pretty much all she eats). then we had a bit of an argument when i didn't know what my dad is serving us on christmas day. she wanted to make sure she isn't serving the same thing that night, and since we were having this discussion on dec 20, i hadn't even thought that far ahead.

when i emailed her the next day to let her know that my dad had emailed me about having lasagna, she wrote back that she wanted to cancel seeing each other on christmas eve. i was confused and tried to make sure she knew i was eating with dad on christmas, day and in response she sent me a link to my flickr account, which only confused me further. the most recent photos on flickr are photos that my dad sent from thanksgiving, which is apparently what upset her. i guess i'm either not supposed to see him, or not supposed to have/post photos. i'm sure it doesn't help that the other most recent photos are from the halls' trip to san francisco. however, i tend to take photos when people visit and when i travel. and i post photos that are sent to me (that steve and i are in). so unfortunately that means that since the halls visited, and since my dad sent me some photos with us in them, the most recent photos don't include my mom. and i guess that made her sad (which is understandable). and then that made her mad (not as understandable).

so today, instead of seeing my mom, i hung out at the halls. i'm sure steve was glad for the extra time with his family, but for me it was bittersweet. i could not have asked for nicer in-laws, but it would be nice if my mom would like me and want to see me as well.

we had a dinner party tonight, which went pretty well. we tried all new recipes (daring!) and invited a pretty diverse/random group of people we like and want to hang out with more.
here was our little menu:
little baked prosciutto bites (filled with pear and goat cheese)
shrimp salad served on endive
bay leaf crusted pork roast
butternut squash and apple puree
green bean and fennel salad with pecans
wild rice
and christy's famous rosemary shortbread cookies.

yum!
the green bean and fennel salad needed a different mix of beans vs. fennel (more beans) and i probably would have left lumps in the squash for texture since it looked like baby food. however, the prosciutto bites, squash, pork and cookies were all huge hits.

okay, off to bed!

the nytimes magazine had this funny excerpt from a letter that mark twain wrote to his wife in 1874:

"My darling, I want you to be sure & remember to have, in the bathroom, when I arrive, a bottle of Scotch whisky, a lemon, some crushed sugar & a bottle of Angostura bitters. Ever since I have been in London I have taken in a wine-glass what is called a cock-tail...before breakfast, before dinner & just before going to bed...to it I attribute the fact that up to this day my digestion has been wonderful -- simply perfect. It remains day after day & week after week as regular as a clock"

i really loved this little article about the US rock paper scissors champion. hopefully you will too.

we had a bit of a date night on friday night with our friends jessica and eric. we had dinner at the new
fancy schmancy mall here in town, which kinda puts somerset mall in troy to shame. their food court uses real plates and silverware, sells wine/beer, and has branches of some very nice restaurants. it was a bit weird to see how hopping the food court was on a friday night, but it was yummy... then we saw casino royale. we *really* liked it, and i have to say that i was pretty smitten with daniel craig. it's not that he's completely hot when you see a still photo of him, but he is incredibly hot in action. i realized that i really haven't seen more than a couple of bond films, so we are going to try to schedule time over the next year to rent and watch all previous bond films. there's a pretty good ranking that entertainment weekly did of the bond films from best to worst located here.

i just finished the bookclub book for our meeting tomorrow, and loved it. it's called the hemingway book club of kosovo and was written by a woman in her mid-50s who goes to kosovo to teach english in 2000-2001. it's a quick but moving read.

i love that the book has a website that not only has information about the book, but updates on the author's students.

so i wrote this long post the other night about my recent trip to vegas, and i just realized now that i guess i somehow didn't save it properly. gosh darn it!

it all boils down to this:
- i took a very lovely trip to vegas right before my birthday
- on the night before my birthday, i stayed up until 5:30 am
- that seemed like an okay idea at the time, since i believed my one-hour flight would be on time and i could sleep the following afternoon
- that didn't work out, since my flight left the vegas airport more than 2 hours late and then sat on the tarmac
- while in vegas, i saw prince's new show, which was funky, but not as funky as i would have liked. he only played a few old songs and ranted a bit about scripture. he did, however, walk right by me when jammin' his way through the audience. yes, he is short.
- while in vegas, i saw don rickles. i was given the choice of seeing either don or 'tom joyner’s oh oh oh comedy show”. i decided to see don, since i'm guessing he won't be around as long as the tom joyner crew. i also was already feeling very pasty white in the desert sunshine of vegas, so i didn't feel the need to feel even more white in an audience of tom joyner fans.
- i went to the 'comic relief' after-party, which was filled with comics (sarah silverman, billy crystal, bill maher) and other fun festive people. dane cook wouldn't take a photo with me (even though i saw him doing that with other folks, and i only asked him since it was my birthday and i was put up to it), so i'm through with him. on the other hand, i'm even more infatuated with ed burns, since my friend knocked over a tray of glasses and ed helped pick them up (he even said something sweetly dorky like "it's always easier when working together!")


so that's my trip to vegas, in lengthy bullet-point fashion. i wish i had properly posted the previous version of my trip, since i'm sure i was much more witty that time.

___________________


we had a really lovely time this thanksgiving in michigan, and were grateful that we got to see a number of friends. we truly are blessed with the sweetest, smartest, wittiest, most fun pals around. so yeah, i'm pretty thankful.

michael moore has written A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives, and i heartily encourage you to sign it.

mmmmm... there's a fancy schmancy and yummy looking new place to get lunch on our office's block. and they're open for dinner for those super-fun nights that i have to work late. yum!

george clooney is the sexiest man alive. duh. that's the biggest non-news i've heard in awhile.

of course, i think steve is super cute. don't you agree?

i hate to take any sort of pleasure in anyone's misfortune, but i figure i can be completely pleased about dave brandon not being re-elected to regent, since i'm guessing he does just fine with his day job.



it's been awhile since i've written anything about what we've been up to. work has been not just busy, but extremely stressful lately, as one of my accounts hasn't been going so well. i'm hoping things will get smoothed out by thanksgiving...

steve and i had a lovely pre-halloween weekend up in napa valley with our friends ann + andy, who came in from nyc to see their friend 'fabulous jeffrey' graduate from culinary school. we'd never met jeffrey, but we crashed a lovely party for him at a beautiful estate, and then went with a group of his friends to a couple of wineries that he'd worked at, where we had special tastings of their reserve wines. we learned that we don't like even the reserve wines at beringer enough to buy them with an employee discount. we are, however, even bigger fans of robert sinskey wines. yummy!

on halloween itself, we went down to the castro to see the craziness firsthand. for those unfamiliar with the castro halloween celebration, there are some photos of costumes here. the best photo of what the street looks like filled with revelers is here. anyhow, this year some bad sports caused a ruckus; several gunshots were fired and the whole thing was shut down.

i guess those are the most exciting things that we've been up to lately.

we're going to be home in michigan for both thanksgiving and christmas. we're hoping to have some sort of get-together with our friends on 11/25. if you're interested in seeing us, drop me a line...

blackberry ad

steve said i need to get this helmet. he's probably right...

i can't believe bob barker is retiring from 'the price is right'! i mean, i can't believe he's still on the show until june.

my favorite quotes from the official news release on the cbs site:

"I will be 83 years old on December 12," he said, "and I've decided to retire while I'm still young."


He said he'd take on a movie role if the right one came along, but filmmakers, take note: "I refuse to do nude scenes. These Hollywood producers want to capitalize on my obvious sexuality, but I don't want to be just another beautiful body."

But when it comes to saying his final TV goodbye, Barker said he'll do it the same way he does each day on "Price": "Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered."

here's a hint as to how my last week has been at work:

happy International Moment of Frustration Scream Day!

looks like we're coming home for the thanksgiving holiday!
i want to see everyone, but have no idea how to do it. those of you reading that who live in michigan, is it gauche to have some sort of big event where i can see you all (like reserving a "party room" at a restaurant)? or maybe just having people stop by at my in-laws, where i'll likely be staying?

we had a lovely weekend here in town. keenan and carrie brought petra to visit us so that she could present at a toxicology conference. apparently she did a kickass job. wooohoo, go petra!

oh. wait. steve just told me that keenan was the one that presented, and petra was the little pink person that kept crying. i'm sorry that i was confused.

it was great to see the boras. they even put up with the raging party that we had for steve's 30th birthday on saturday night. we had about 20 people over, and i used our two story living room wall to project some messages from friends who wished steve a happy birthday from afar. steve's high school friend justin also brought some impressive high school and early college footage of steve that got us all giggling as well.

the other highlight of the party was an amazing cake that our friend derek (who's taking a cake decorating course so that he can make a wedding cake for a friend) put together especially for steve. i had promised a prize if anyone brought an erotic cake, and so (even though he couldn't come to the party!) derek dropped off a boobie cake for steve and the partygoers to enjoy. hopefully soon i will upload a photo or two for you all...

having visitors lately has really led me to think a lot about living out here. it's really damn far from a lot of our friends, but i'm also extremely excited about all of the fun things to do and see out here. steve's parents (who were here last week) were amazed at how beautiful it was, and his dad does an admirable job singing the praises of our beautiful bay area on his blog, where he also compares san francisco to detroit. ahhh, detroit. (insert sigh here). well, at least detroit has the tigers (go, tigers, go!).

in terms of local things that i love that steve's dad didn't gush about, the amazingly temperate weather is one of them. locals may complain when it's "hot" or "freezing" but that just means it's 80 or 50. seriously, it usually only ranges from 55-75. today was a beautiful, sunny 70 degrees.

and in terms of culinary delights, see's candies are awesome. they're not only all over the place at the airport (which is dangerous enough for me), but they also have a store right across from my office building. evil!
between see's and beard papa's it's amazing that i don't eat more sweets. i guess it's just gotten to the point where i think about them. mmmmm...

...


very random change of topic: i was walking past a toy store on my way home, and discovered that darth tater has been joined now by spud trooper in the lineup of star wars themed mr. potato heads:



gotta love it!

i had the distinct pleasure of traveling to NY this past week for work, leaving during the fun phase of airport security when NO liquids were allowed (and therefore making it impossible for me to fly with just carry-on luggage) and flying back once the idiotic "one quart plastic bag" rules went into effect.
i thought about buying a bunch of plastic bags in NY, but since you're only allowed one filled with toiletries in your bag, i wondered if having the rest of the box of baggies would matter. i also decided it was completely retarded to have to buy a bunch of ziplocs just to get home, and that my bag was a bit heavy to lug through the airport anyway.
well, i'm obviously not the only one irritated. a wisconsin man wrote "Kip Hawley is an Idiot" (mr. hawley is the director of the TSA) and was apparently detained at the milwaukee airport.
i have to say, i would have been fine with being detained for a few minutes for the pleasure of expressing my opinions in that manner, if only i had thought of it. and many people seem to agree.

my in-laws are visiting, so from the minute i got back we've been having touristy fun. we went to our awesome and famous farmer's market, then drove up to marin county, where we went through some of the awesome areas along highway 1, including muir beach and stinson beach. today we went to the final giants game of the season and then watched one of my fave movies, strictly ballroom, which we chose because steve's parents are taking tango lessons. man, i love that movie!

in other news, the betty brigade got some great press this week. go, sharon!

steve and i disagree about whether lindsay lohan really reads the economist. he says no, and i am guessing she likes to skim the funny captions.

i love that the nice folks at mattel are teaching civic responsibility by having a new barbie that comes with a dog (named 'tanner') also come with a pooper scooper:

i love that the upcoming borat movie is causing a furor, although i do feel kinda bad for the poor suckers that work on kazakh public relations.

question for you all: is there a reason that shampoo is usually clear and conditioner is opaque?

after another long, hard week at work, i needed to take today off. i did work a little, but didn't quite finish what i needed to for work. i guess that means that tomorrow will be super fun (good thing that steve has to work too, so i won't be alone in my misery).

we went to see the cal bears take on the minnesota golden gophers this evening. my friend derek is an alum and apparently they have trouble selling out their stadium (which is just mind boggling to wolverines like us), so he gets several free tickets for each of his paid tickets. for the upcoming portland state game, i believe he said that he received 12 tickets in addition to his paid 6. crazy!

their stadium is desperately in need of renovations. it's really old and tired and they have to have porta johns everywhere. on the plus side, the setting (nestled up against some dramatic hills) is cool, and it does have a pretty neat history.

not only is it quite tired and run down, but it's right smack dab on the hayward fault line. ew.

so it's good that they're planning a
huge upgrade and overhaul.

anyhow, it was a really different experience than steve and i are used to at the big house. they have a cannon that they shoot off! it's way up on a huge wooded hill on one side of the stadium, which is called tightwad hill because of the (mostly students) that hang out up there, watching the game for free. i can't imagine that they can really see the details of each play (especially when it's foggy like it was tonight) but i suppose people enjoy being able to drink while being sort-of at a college football game. i suppose they also like being the topic of a green day song. (i *love* that they're from the bay area!)

i did miss the availability of apple cider and cider mill donuts, which i *must* have at every michigan game. but it's nice that at cal they have dreyer's ice cream. it was too cold and foggy today for me to want it, but it's a classy touch.

anyhow, that was our day.

we saw a mention in the wall street journal today that david brandon donated a bunch of money to UM, some of which will specifically go to aid in the construction of a neonatal unit at mott hospital. the unit will be named the
'nick and chris brandon neonatal intensive care unit' after the brandon boys,
who were treated for a rare blood disorder at mott years ago. i find this particularly interesting since some of you may recall that i not only worked at domino's, but worked with chris. i vaguely recall going out around ann arbor with him (and nick too, i think) and it involving some sort of hijinks (sharon, can you remind me of some of these details? i believe you -- like me -- were there, and hurting the next day as well)

ahhh... good times!

i can't wait until someone donates some money so that someplace can be named after me.

steve went to college with a guy whose family had a lot of things around ann arbor and chicago named after him. apparently the kid couldn't play some sort of band gig with steve one day because he had to be up at north campus for the dedication of the bell tower, which has bells named after each member of his family. can you imagine having a bell named after you?

i don't really think either a bell or a hospital really fit me. it would have to be something less formal -- kinda like how they have seats named after people at performance venues, but maybe for me it'd be a table at a bar. i like the idea of one of the front booths at old town. i guess they don't really handle donations quite like that at private businesses, though. hmmmm...

i have a friend here who works in development at berkeley. we got into a big discussion at our last dinner party, asking her whether or not the university would turn down a massive donation from a controversial person. others at the party kept pushing her on whether they'd take money from someone like larry flint. she pretty much said they'd take money from anyone that's not convicted of a crime. i then came up with two donations that she said they'd decline:
- donation to the forensic studies school by o.j. simpson (not convicted, people!)
- donation to the pediatric hospital by michael jackson (again, not convicted!)

ew.


i'm kinda procrastinating about going to bed since i have to work tomorrow...

steve's already in bed.

i guess i should go and stop being a lame blogger...

zac + penny done had a baby. awww...

in the meantime, steve and i went and got some culture with the mayor at the san francisco symphony gala. swanky! and the afterparty was pretty fun too. i have to say i'm a little weirded out that the mayor's girlfriend's name is brittanie mountz, which sounds either like a call girl or a pseudonym.

sorry i haven't written lately, amigos. i have been really unhappy busy with work. i had a really bad week last week (as you know, i don't go into work detail on my blog) and i have a huge presentation next monday -- the largest online media plan i've put together at one time. cross your fingers for me!

steve and i spent the weekend having as much of a 'vacation at home' as we could. i really tried not to work (i only logged about 4 hours over a 4-day weekend, which is *spectacular* for me!) and basically unplugged from pretty much everyone for most of the weekend. we read books, went for a couple of little explorations around the city, went to the farmers' market, cooked a ton of yummy food, watched movies and played games. it was kinda like a 3.5 day date! then on monday we re-engaged with the outside world, and met up with rebekah & minh for a hike up at mt. tamalpais and stinson beach. you can see the photos from our hike here, on my flickr account.

hooray for scenic northern california!

i was reading through an old industry newsletter (written before youtube got purchased by google) and found this great quote:

"The viral video space is so hot right now; it's like Hansel from the movie 'Zoolander,'" said Aram Sinnreich, managing partner of RadarResearch, referring to the 2001 comedy about competition in the modeling business. "I wouldn't be surprised to see (online video market leader) YouTube receive a bid of $1 billion. Whether the company is worth it is another question."

___________________________________

this past week has been pretty amazing. i went to las vegas last wednesday for a vendor trip, and stayed at the wynn which is very, very lovely. there was a lot of hullabaloo about it when it opened because it was so very expensive to build, but i actually didn't think it was much fancier than the bellagio. if i was able to afford to stay anyplace in vegas, i'd still choose THE hotel (the four seasons). however, when you're in vegas, i believe you should spend as little time in your hotel room as possible, so i will never spend my own hard-earned money on a ridiculously fancy room. it was darn nice to stay in one last week, though!

we went to a few comedy shows, since i was there for the comedy festival as a guest of AOL. the first night that we were there, the two shows we were offered were 'tom joyner’s oh oh oh comedy show' or don rickles. i have to admit, i knew that tom joyner would be more popular, and that it would be much more -- shall we say? -- contemporary. however, i also know that don is a living legend, with not many years left of performing, so i was one of only half a dozen people in our 100+ person group that chose to see rickles instead of the joyner show. we were seated in the front row, which was a bit scary since he picks on the audience. however, the couple i was sitting with was jewish (as is don) so he didn't pick on our group very badly, and kept referring back to the couple i was with, giving them tips on their relationship (in a very -- shall we say? -- don rickles way). don kept talking about his time with frank sinatra and old vegas, and i kinda started feeling bad about all of the old places that have been torn down to make room for the mega-resorts like the wynn. not bad enough to want to move to an older hotel, but it did make me want to find out more about the great old hotels of the early vegas heyday.

another night we saw bill maher, who was pretty darn good. of course, i knew i'd agree with pretty much every word out of his mouth, so that helped.

in order to get a bit of non-comedy entertainment in, i went with a much smaller group to see prince's new show. i wish i could say that it was uber-awesome, since the club that has been customized for the show was really cool, and i really like prince, but he has kinda weirded out in the past few years.

here's a bit of his recent bio from allmusic.com:
In the fall of 2001 he released the controversial Rainbow Children, a jazz-infused circus of sound trumpeting his conversion to the Jehovah's Witnesses that left many longtime fans out in the cold. He further isolated himself with 2003's N.E.W.S., a four-song set of instrumental jams that sounded a lot more fun to play than to listen to.

so yeah, he didn't really play much of his old stuff at the show (four or maybe five songs) and he did throw out a few lines about scripture... however, he still rocks pretty dang hard and jammed out into the audience, walking right by me. sweet!

the last night in town we went to the big 'official' after-party for the comic relief benefit, which was as star-studded as comedy events go, i'd guess. sarah silverman was walking around, as was bill maher, dane cook, billy crystal and a bunch of other random celebs. at one point, a member of the group i was with bumped someone and a bunch of glasses fell off of a tray. a guy in the group next to us helped my friend pick up the glasses and then made some cheesy comment about teamwork, and we noticed it was super-hottie ed burns. mmmmm...

on the down-side, when the clock struck 12 that night, we were standing right near dane cook. it had just become my birthday and our group was pestering me to take a photo with him, so i went over and asked. there had been skanky girls running up to him and bugging him all night, so i thought it was very adult and appropriate to ask, and then the bastard said "actually, i have to make a phone call right now, but i'll come over in a minute" and walked away. he walked about 10 feet away, made his call, then walked farther away so he wasn't as close to our group anymore (but was not at all far). the group i was with -- which included a bunch of AOL folks, including one of the comedy programming guys -- was pretty miffed. we all decided that he's overrated (and not very hot in person). i didn't even want a damn photo with his big head anyhow.

that night we ended up hopping around the strip until after 5 am. we didn't really go that wild, but there was just so much to see... when i got up then next morning to leave the hotel around 9:30, the hotel was much quieter and there were a lot less people around than there had been 5 hours prior. i love that town...

i hate how the news media covers completely ridiculous stories -- and how we all fall for it and start to care way too much about smaller news items while bigger issues fall off of our radar. sign this petition if the ridiculous amount of jon benet coverage lately has you sickened as well.

steve got a raise, but i'm a little worried. i am afraid he's going to blow it all by buying this.

actually, i guess that wouldn't be so bad...

a big shout out to a few friends with major, major accomplishments lately:
- hooray for keenan and carrie, whose beautiful baby girl, petra, was born on august 3rd
- hooray for bruce and vanessa, whose short film eskimo movie will be shown at the LA international short film festival
- hooray for the lovely and talented poet barbara tran (who many of you may recall lived in the house with the cannon on revena street), who has a poem pubished (on page 68) of the aug 21st issue of the new yorker



my friends rock.

sorry it's been awhile since i've posted anything saying what i've been up to. my college roommate dropped me a line and it made me realize that i hadn't even said where i went on vacation with my mom.

well, mums and i went to traverse city, michigan. she doesn't fly and loves northern michigan, and since it was her birthday, she was the boss. it certainly wasn't where i would have chosen to spend 12 hours traveling to (to/from airport, flight, + 5 hours driving) but it ended up being really lovely. even eating at a 'fancy' restaurant there is relatively inexpensive and we had great, sunny weather for most of our trip. we got along really well (with only one minor spat) and so overall the trip was a success, and i think we'll both have great memories of it.

i realized on that trip that i don't think i've ever been to traverse city. i guess i may have driven through at some point, but i was completely thrown off by the layout of the main 'strip' of hotels, which are right on the water, but are also right on a pretty major (for that part of the world) highway. i definitely don't remember that, and i think i would have.

my favorite part of the trip was that my mom and i took a drive over to the town of boyne city, where my family used to camp for a week every summer at young state park. we walked through the campground, sat on the beach for awhile, and i took a lot of photos (which eventually i'll post). it was really cheesy of me, but i got pretty nostalgic and choked up.

this past weekend we were gone again, to a wedding in chicago. one of my coworkers (who used to work in my group on the McD's account) got married, and it was really lovely. they're a damn attractive couple, and the wedding was at a really beautiful historic church with tiffany windows. we were hoping that the wedding reception would be wild, since she has a large family and his family was coming in from nigeria for the event, but it ended quite early (it was a sunday evening wedding after all). however, they looked stunning -- especially in the traditional nigerian outfits they wore at the reception -- and we had a great time. again, i should post pictures.

it's late, and we didn't get home until nearly 1 am last night (darn late flight!) so i'm going to wrap up by telling you all that i miss you lots. :)

i don't know where this came from, but it appears to be accurate (sigh).


RESUME

GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20520


EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE


LAW ENFORCEMENT

I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been "lost" and is not available.


MILITARY

I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.


COLLEGE

I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE

I ran for U.S. Congress and lost. I began my career in the oil business in Midland, Texas, in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas . The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.

I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry, including Enron CEO Ken Lay, I was elected governor of Texas.


ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS

I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America

I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money.

I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.

With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after losing by over 500,000 votes.


ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT

I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.

I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.

I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.

I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.

I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.

I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.

I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market.

In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their
jobs and that trend continues every month.

I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire" Condoleeza Rice, had a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President. I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.

My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. History, Enron. My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.

I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution.

More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history.

I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed. I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.

I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.

I appointed more convicted criminals to administration than any President in U.S. history.

I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States government.

I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.

I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.

I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law. I refused to allow inspectors access to U.S. "prisoners of war" detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.

I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election).

I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.

I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.

I garnered the most sympathy for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and l ess than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.

I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.

I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. citizens, and the world community.

I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families-in-wartime.

In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.

I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.

I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD. I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden [sic] to justice.


RECORDS AND REFERENCES

All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view.

All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.

All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review. I am a member of the Republican Party.

PLEASE CONSIDER MY EXPERIENCE WHEN VOTING IN THE 2006 MIDTERM ELECTIONS.

whoa. this is some hard sudoku here.

ann shared this video of ok go doing an awesome routine on treadmills. i highly recommend it.

steve shared with me this article, which shows that our mayor, gavin, is a fan of what mayor daley has done in chicago. i just knew that the two of us had something in common! of course, this city works so incredibly differently that i can't see a one-man dynamo working such wonders here.

steve and i got a kick out of this craigslist posting. i suppose it's funnier if as a couple you find it hilarious to tease each other (with absolutely no basis in fact or even in our respective opinions) about being a "hairy armenian" (steve-o) and a "potato eating uke" (ukrainian, me).

anyhooooo, you've got to admit that postings on craigslist are often amusing. i think it would be hilarious to start putting up fake postings about bands that you're trying to form, listing the most ridiculous variety of influences (afropop, XTC, and mahler, for instance) and then -- if someone responds -- singing your heartfelt self-written masterpieces-in-the-works to them via phone. i wrote several little ditties tonight about how i love indian food that i feel would be ideal candidates for this scheme.

very exciting stuff:

we have a brand spankin' new library right down the street, from which steve rented four books last week (and he read three while i was on vacation, which makes me quite jealous of his reading speed!)

fleetweek here in SF looks awesome!, and it's right over steve's b-day

i love the onion. two articles lately were particularly funny to me:

Bush Grants Self Permission To Grant More Power To Self

Report: Meat Now America's No. 2 Condiment

i'm on vacation in northern michigan with my mom.

man, oh man, tom monaghan is crazy. argh.

if you're a michigan fan, alum, or ann arborite, you may want to consider signing the petition here to save the 'big house' from cheesy and repulsive corporate luxury boxes. blech.

on a more upbeat note, check out this website by a guy living with down syndrome that has defied the odds by getting married to another woman with DS. i read their story in time magazine and if the story isn't appealing enough to you to check out his site, please do so for the circa-1998 personal website graphics.

okay, so i'm a dork, but i thought this was incredibly funny: everyone keeps throwing the term "web 2.0" around in my industry. and nobody really agrees on exactly what it means, although there's a pretty good (and quite long) article on it here.

anyhow, i thought it was pretty funny when one of the ad industry trade publications wrote up a quiz, asking readers to identify the name as either a web 2.0 company or a star wars character. since i'm a fan of both, i loved it. i did pretty well, too, getting only 4 wrong (and i had to guess at more than that). if you're so inclined, you can take the quiz here.

we are gearing up for a massive party here at chez hall (which isn't the official name of our place here in sf -- steve calls it "sara's ark" due to the big flood, and i'm still undecided on a name). we have about 40 people that have RSVPed for cocktails on friday night (!).

speaking of cocktails, tonight i went to the fairmont hotel's tonga room. crazy cheesy, but i loved it. the food wasn't anything to write home about, but the kitchy-ness was amazing. the best review and description that i could find online is here.

my buddy alex has pointed out this awesome list of 10 unintentionally horrible company URLs. highly enjoyable!

also highly enjoyable: the movie the incredibles -- i can't believe i only saw that this weekend. sheesh, we're horrible about seeing movies!

this weekend was pretty mellow. yesterday we ran a boatload of errrands, picking up a bunch of things we needed to get our place fixed up enough to throw a shindig next weekend.

today we decided to have a bit more fun. i went out with my friend jessica for brunch at my favorite local joint and then for pedis. by the time i got home, steve wanted to have some fun too. he convinced me to go to the beach to go for a run, and on the way home we stopped by fort funston, which is apparently a hang gliding mecca. it was awesome to watch a group of people hang gliding over the cliffs -- and crazy that it's within city limits! we agreed that we need to get out and explore crazy little corners of the city more often. this place rules!

just a tip:

ahhh... just as i suspected, michiganders know that the state is fudged, but they still love it. i got into an impassioned discussion about meijer (of all things) today.

...

on a very non-related note, steve and i participated in the San Francisco AIDS Walk on sunday. it was incredible! over 25,000 people walked the 6 mile course, and the event raised over $3.7MM for charities helping people in the bay area. i met my initial goal, but since i've found out that i can fundraise until august 11th, i've set a new goal of raising $1000. please visit my site and donate here. if you'd like to see my photos from the event, you can check them out on my flickr page.

an email from my hubby alerted me that "Dude! You can now break down congressional votes by astrological sign! Thanks Washington Post! I'm totally voting for the Aquarius party next time."

go scorpios!!!

wow, this radio ad for vernon robinson is ridiculous. steve and i want to go the gay mariachi party, and have no idea why we haven't been invited.

i noticed that vernon is excerpting one of bill cosby's speeches for one of his ads. i cannot possibly believe that's okay with bill. BILL! SUE THE PANTS OFF OF THIS GUY!


...


on a very different note, i received these chocolates as a gift today, and they are rocking my world right now. i'm eating them 1/2 of a chocolate at a time and it's good that steve is home and watching, or i'd probably eat the whole wonderfully expensive box.

if i had a ton of money, i would buy fort awesome, which is back on the market.
actually, if i had a ton of money, i would buy this house in ann arbor, which steve and i have always loved.

you never know... we could end up back in ann arbor someday. after all, google announced today that they're building a huge office there. we did love seeing our A2 friends last week and miss them terribly, however, we're pretty happy here in cali at the moment.

on my more-reachable "wish list": this camera, which is apparently super easy to use, has flash memory (no tapes/CDs/memory sticks to fiddle with!), has a built in USB port (no cords to tangle up!) and runs on regular batteries (no stupid custom batteries to order!). it's also way tiny, and could fit in my purse. i may just become a vlogger instead of a blogger!

i'm so glad that the hoff is recovered from his accident. he's been doing some great work lately, by the way. definitely take the time to check out this video. the song is catchy -- i'm afraid it might be stuck in my head all day tomorrow.
sheesh, that guy is so great.
it kinda made me want a hasslehoff t-shirt.
initially, i went online expecting to find this classic:


then i found shirts with this:

and this:




there are quite a few knight rider shirts, and a few with fun photos of the hoff. there are also a couple "what would hasslehoff do?" shirts available (although i didn't think the graphics were nice enough to link to -- really, i must have *some* standards!).

i think this one might be perfect for steve:



lastly, i unfortunately found this specimen:



for shame, hoff haters!

...

and since hasslehoff isn't exactly the most american of topics for me to be writing about latelate on independence day, i would like to take this opportunity to highlight a more american news story this evening: kobayashi has done it once again, winning the annual independence day hot dog eating competition on coney island by devouring 53¾ of nathan's famous hot dogs in 12 minutes. takeru, we didn't doubt you!

i am so totally marking my calendar to buy this when it goes on sale on july 21st.



(just kidding!)

we're in michigan for a superfunpacked week: a wedding, two milestone birthdays (60 & 40), a baby shower and a multi-day family reunion. whew!

steve got in a couple of days ago (he came ahead of me for the bachelor party), and i arrived in yesterday. we've already accomplished quite a bit: steve went to the bachelor party (they went to a lugnuts game), a wedding rehearsal and helped throw a massive rehersal dinner at his folks' house (which was tonight, a day after the rehersal -- which i've never heard of before), and i helped throw the baby shower today. busy, busy, busy!

next friday night we'll be hanging out in ann arbor, so if any of you reading this want to meet up with us, drop me a line. by that point most of the festivities will have concluded and we'll be able to relax...

tonight i went to meijer on my way home (steve's mom only has skim milk, which i can't handle, so i had to pick up 2%). i get lost at meijer nowadays. i decided to look for a couple of little things and it took me *forever*! i guess meijer-ing is a skill that i've forgotten. i've lived too long in the land of smaller inner-city supermarkets, where you have only a few brands of each item (except for pasta sauce, of which there are a zillion varieties at any store but a bodega).

my one other michigan thought for tonight: i love driving around michigan on the weekend of the fourth of july. you're bound to see fireworks from the highway, and it's pretty dang comforting to me, since it reminds me of childhood. i remember that we'd sometimes pull over to watch, and i thought it was sooooo cool to just stumble across a fireworks display on our way to or from a family get-together. happy fourth, everyone!

i thought i'd take this opportunity to update you loyal readers on the saga of the wine-stained pants. i tried to get them dry cleaned, but was told that they were not cleanable. i then took them into the restaurant, where the manager told me he'd talk to the waiter and get back to me. i left him my business card and the pants (hell, i didn't need them anymore), but didn't hear from him for a week. i probably should have stalked him, but i've been mega-busy. anyhow, i finally called, ready to rip him a new ***hole. (i am convinced now that i was too lax on them at the time -- all they gave me were a couple of desserts and the glass of wine that we drank before the waiter spilled it. they didn't even pay for my cab home, which i thought he agreed to at the time). anyhow, i was able to prompt him to remember me, and eventually he told me that if i bought new pants and brought in the receipt he'd reiumburse me. argh. i mean, i do need new pants now, but doesn't he realize how traumatic it is for women to shop for pants, especially under pressure? i went to ann taylor (since that's where the originals were from, and where good lined work pants cost $128 when they're not on sale) and they didn't have anything that i liked -- mostly cropped pants in summertime, it turns out. it wasn't until afterward that i realized i should have just bought ANY pair of pants and taken them in to show him the price. argh! now it will have to wait until after our michigan vacation. hopefully he'll remember me and won't try to haggle with me. yet again, argh.

one last note: thank you to those of you who generously donated to support me in the san francisco aids walk that i'm doing in a couple of weeks. i'm thrilled to have reached my goal, which steve says was too wussy in the first place. hopefully i can raise a couple of hundred dollars more.

this here is my new favorite blog. well, it's tied, i guess (since i still love datawhat). anyhow, the new fave blog is all about taquerias around town. mmmm...

on a very different note, i just signed up for my first ever charity walk, the AIDS walk san francisco on sunday, 7/16 in golden gate park. i probably should be doing some sort of charity run since i need to get back in shape... anyhow, i'm walking with the UM club of golden gate, and i'd *lovelovelove* it if you felt like donating and helping me reach my fundraising goal. you can submit a donation very easily via my webpage. thank you!

steve and i had a lot of fun on the folger's 'tolerate mornings' website, which has a kick-ass wakeup call application (the "eagle" selection is much better than "lucy" or "sheldon").

as it says, you're awesome -- like bacon.

ugh. i have been fighting a summer cold for about a week (which i -- of course -- got from steve). my throat hurts and my head is filled with phlem. ew.
we did have a pretty good weekend, though. we discovered a cool little bar right near us with good burgers (score!) and had dinner with some new friends (although i had to beg out early since my throat hurt.

laugh du jour: chris from family guy meets a-ha.

wine spill update: the cleaners can't get the red wine stain out (drat!). i guess that means i have to go into the restaurant and show them, and then try to convince them to give me $ for new pants.
the pants were from ann taylor, and i went to ann taylor yesterday to try to find some similar pants, but had no luck finding anything in my size that was the same color (kind of a grey-ish tan). i'm thinking my best bet is to print out the home page of the pants section on anntaylor.com and show them that pants are generally about $100-130 at that store. thoughts, anyone?

hooray! we rented out our condo in chicago! we have tenants moving in july 1. we did have to pay a month's rent to an apartment finder, but hey, at least we won't be throwing quite as much money down the toilet each month.

well, this has never happened to me before...

i was at dinner with a colleague (aka business friend) and the waiter spilled half a bottle of (pretty expensive) wine all over me. my shirt-front and lap were SOAKED. i had no idea what to ask for, and the red-faced waiter was clearly ready to do pretty much anything (he pretty seriously offered to even let me somehow borrow his pants to get home -- which i declined in favor of wearing an apron over my stained pants).

what should i have asked for?
i got the bottle of wine comp'ed (as well as dessert and coffee), and am taking in my dry cleaning bill.

did i wuss out? should i have aimed for free dinner? originally they only offered the wine -- was that sufficient?

argh.

i must go now. steve says i smell like cabernet...

that's weird -- i just noticed that my last post (which described my trip on 5/9 to E3) was posted on 5/5 somehow. i think i must have done that accidentally, and that i was actually posting someday around 5/12. so, um, yeah, i changed it.

...

i hate to say it, but i can't stop looking at this silly one page ad for windows live messenger. i am a dork.

i only have a couple of friends on myspace (my bro, a couple of coworkers) since i only really use it to tinker around and try to understand what in the heck everybody sees in that site. however, i've just added a new friend, which increased my # of friends by 25%. check out the most depressing friend on myspace ever.

...

it's been a crazy month here at the hall household. lots and lots of travel.

after my trip to LA, i was here for a few days and then steve and i both parted again. i went to a search marketing conference in hilton head (brutal to get all of the way there via non-direct flights for a one day event). i wasn't originally planning on going since it took for-frickin'-ever to get there, and since i don't know much about search (we work with an outside company on most search marketing campaigns) but then steve pointed out that if i don't know much about search, i really *should* go, and then i realized that i had a conference two days later in florida that had early morning (7:30 am!!!) starts each day, and realized i would be silly not to go out east a couple of days early to get acclimated to eastern time. so... off i was to hilton head. i had about 36 hours in between conferences and didn't really feel like blowing my own money to stay over in hilton head alone (i got tons of mosquito bites the one evening i was there anyhow) so i went up to michigan for about 30 hours, and hung out with my mom for mother's day. it was damn swell -- we got along great, and i took her to a day spa. :) she also agreed to let me eat at two of my favorite places while i was there. we took a few walks (her favorite thing) and i taught her to do sudoku puzzles (she's now addicted as well). all in all, it was a great trip. i just wish i had been in michigan longer so that i could have spent more time with friends. i am back in four weeks though, for the mega-trip that involves steve's bro's wedding, my dad's 60th, my best friend's baby shower, and perhaps some sort of way of honoring another friend's 40th (even though her party is during the wedding, which means that i can't make it)

whew. i'm tired already thinking about that trip. of course, it's late, so that could be it too...

wow! a list of the biggest stupid online ideas! i love it!

what i love about the northwest part of the country: no bug screens needed on windows!

sorry it's been so long since i wrote. i have been traveling, and it's been nuts. i'm so exhausted that i'm going to keep this short...

last week i was in seattle. microsoft has this big shindig for advertisers, which has gotten bigger and bigger over the years. this year's agenda included the taping of a couple of segments of donny deutsch's show 'the big idea' where he interviewed both bill gates and jay-z. it was pretty damn interesting to hear bill gates speak. i saw him before a few years ago, and i think he's even more nervous somehow. he talked a lot about his love of technology, and about his philanthropy. however, the thing that all of the news media really seemed to focus on in their coverage was that (when asked) he basically said that being the richest guy in the world is a huge hassle, which i can totally imagine is true. he has to ride a different route to work every couple of days, i've heard. and apparently (according to unverified rumor) there was some sort of kerfuffle with jay-z's posse since they usually pack heat and that wasn't allowed on the campus in redmond.

poor bill was sweating up a storm under the lights. he so totally needs certain dri, which i am a huge personal fan of. he had pit stains the size of grapefruits. :(

jay-z was still overwhelmed by bill. he was so obviously in awe that it was cute. too bad he didn't give bill some fashion tips



anyhow, after the conference ended i stayed in town and saw my college buddy shannon, who just had her supercute baby clara five weeks ago. she and her hubby greg are so hip -- they took me to this cool restaurant/bar that served yummyyummy crepes. it made me think of cafe zola in ann arbor.

then on saturday i went to my first ever crew regatta. my friend john rowed with UM and now lives up in bellingham, wa. he was already planning to come down to seattle for the weekend when he found out that i'd be there, and he and his lovely wife ashley took me along with them to see the UM crew team get crushed. they were rowing in this major regatta that had about a dozen races. they were honored enough to be asked to row in the big race at the end, but the poor club team at UM was racing against the varsity team at washington (which had several teams) and the RUSSIAN NATIONAL TEAM. now, i have no idea who thought of that, but that was just cruel. russia let washington row near them for awhile, and then kicked everyone's butt. still, it was a neat thing to see, and the alumni club had a big tent there with free food and drinks. i got to meet a couple of ex-crew-ers that were up from sf, so maybe i even made some new friends.

speaking of michigan, steve got to see some folks there last weekend while i was finishing my trip to seattle. i came back to an empty apt here and was a bit sad. it was nice to have some time to just do silly sara stuff (like organize insignicant little piles of things around the house and stay up reallyreally late) but i was lonely. on sunday, though, i had a great girly day. i went with a friend-of-a-friend (my childhood buddy anna's friend jessica) out for girly brunch and pedis. it was awesome, and it was the chummiest girl outing i've had since coming here. i actually walked with her when she went to catch her train afterward and was really sad when she went home.

then on monday i left again and went to LA. i had some meetings for work, and i also got to attend E3. it's as nuts as they say. the visual stimulation is overwhelming, and the booth babes really are incredible. i had my photo taken with a few just for laughs, but didn't have a decent camera with me (stupid pixel-y phone cam) so i'll have to scan in the one that was printed out for me.

i'm not a gamer, as many of you know, but the convention was still amazing. EA's booth was probably the coolest. their superman game really impressed me, and they have this game called spore that i think i could really get into. i'd link to the reviews, etc, but i'm sooooo tired. i also got to see tony hawk bail mid-trick in the promo show for his new game, and i got to see fatal1ty (crazy famous gamer) kick a whole lot of ass.

i could have stayed over last night, but i was sooooo tired, and hadn't seen steve in a week. in fact, i'm still tired now and haven't seen much of him, so i'll sign off.

happy and tired in sf..

hooray! we had a fun weekend!
steve and i went up to yosemite this past weekend, and had a great time. we loved the place we stayed at, evergreen lodge, which had nice cabins (ours had a faux woodburning stove), a pretty darn good restaurant, and a bar where they had a live band playing on saturday night.
the weather even cooperated -- which was a bit of a surprise after 2 months of straight rain here in n. cal. saturday the sun came out a bit and we hiked around stanislaus national forest and saw the major touristy things in yosemite valley, and then on sunday we got up early and snowshoed around some giant sequoias. it was so peaceful and lovely! we were the only ones on the tour with our guide, eric, and didn't even see other snowshoers until we were almost back at our car at the end of the trip. snow was falling most of the time (it was actually sort of "wintry mix"-y) and yet we didn't even mind. i had my hat off after a while because it was the sort of lovely precipitation that you don't really mind.
it was a nice bonus that i'm apparently pretty good at snowshoeing. the guide kept making cracks at how i was going to break the course record (steve and eric let me go first) and i kept running ahead of the boys. i guess i was just excited!
we didn't take many photos, but the few that we took that are okay are posted on my flickr site, here.

it has been soooooo rainy here since we moved. it's been a big bummer for me, since i like walking to work, and i don't think i've worn a skirt more than once and my white pants *at all*.
i finally started leaving my favorite shoes at the office so that i don't have to lug them back and forth every day. i'm especially loving my funky new black pair. i wear black pants never every day, so these are going to get lots and lots of use...



on a very different note, steve agreed to take a mini vacation this weekend. i have tomorrow off and we're going up to yosemite national park. i'm sooooooo excited! it's beautiful up there! i've only been in the summer, and it's still snowy there due to all of the rain we've had lately, so it should be really different. we've rented a cabin here and are planning to go on a tour, as well as do a little bit of hiking, biking and snowshoeing. our cabin has a fireplace and the lodge on the property (which reminds me a bit of a summer camp) supposedly has a bunch of activities this weekend, including a billiards tournament and easter brunch. woohoo!

happy easter, everyone!

ooooh...poor detroit!

life is good.

tonight i went to my first meeting of a local bookclub group. we ate sushi, drank good red wine, and had really good discussions about a book i thoroughly enjoyed: the undertaking: life studies from the dismal trade.

i suppose it's cheating just a little bit to have a book (and a topic!) that's so ripe for conversation and count the bookclub as something to be excited about, but i really do feel the group could be a good fit for me. it's an especially nice surprise to have enjoyed it so much, since it was a random bunch of women brought together by craigslist (which, hey!, worked for me in chicago!).

i still desperately miss my group back in ann arbor, but i'm optimistic. the women tonight were a good mix, ethnically (black, white, asian), professionally (banker, boutique owner, teacher, artist, chef, non-profit manager, and me) and personally (married, dating, swinging single, mom). i just hope that i like the next book that we read as well. we've picked two and the folks that couldn't make it will help us narrow it down.

in the meantime, i'm going to attend another meeting of a bookclub that friends-of-friends invited me to. we're reading assassination vacation, which i'm also excited about. the meeting is during passover, and we're having a kosher potluck.

in other news, i am pining for a new handbag. well, that's not really news. still, i am really sick and tired of everything that i own, and i'm finding that my clothes here don't seem to fit in as well as they did in chicago. and (despite the fact that i'm female) i dread shopping, and so i'm craving a new bag. i particularly like this one, although i'm not sure if i like it better in brown or white. i would like to think that if only i bought it i wouldn't lug my computer home every night and would just carry around one fashionable bag instead of a big fat bag of work and an overloaded purse.

last item of the night (and then i'd better go read for a bit): check out sonya kitchell. she's a niece of a woman that i work with, and i got her CD back in january. she's been picked by starbucks as an artist that they're going to help break, and the CD just got released today in all starbucks locations, as well as traditional outlets. she hit SXSW, and now she's going on tour. i'm excited to go and see her at the swedish american hall here in town (and yes, the venue has something to do with my excitement -- maybe steve and i will whip up some of the meatballs that we bought frozen at ikea beforehand for a thematically appropriate supper). let me know what you think...

sorry that i haven't written in awhile, amigos.
life is good.
it's rained ever since we got here, and i've been insanely busy with work, but i'm still so happyhappyhappy.
somehow we're happy as larks with each other. steve's been sososo good, making me dinners, doing laundry, and being my personal trainer at the gym (even when i was nearly in tears on saturday because i was in so much pain, he praised me for being "tough"!).
i'd say i was blessed, but i think that has connotations beyond what i'm trying to convey.

i am feeling very nostalgic lately, though. i think i may have already blogged how i had a dream about walking through fort awesome, and very clearly remembered the view from the bathroom window at night (i guess i dreamed about the bathroom because that's where i was most likely to be in the middle of the night). i had a similar wave of nostalgia when going food shopping here, missing my dear coleman's in ann arbor, and fox & obel in chicago's streeterville. i miss walking through the old west side to see what everyone has planted in their spring yards, and to admire the jack o'lanterns in the fall. and i miss walking along the chicago waterfront, whether at the marina in grant park or over the bridges that cross the river.

i am sure i'll feel nostalgic someday about it here too. i guess it only takes a couple of years. for several years i was nostalgic about my singleton days during the wild 90s internet boom in new york. i don't really pine for that anymore. i love the city, but that lifestyle is apparently too far away for me to viscerally miss it.

san francisco is a beautiful city geographically. the hills are completely transfixing to a midwesterner like myself. whenever we cross the bay bridge (either way) i am grateful for steve driving so that i can look at the houses all precariously perched on the hills over oakland, or the curvy roads lined with apartment buildings and victorians here in the city.

i will admit that we have failed a bit in the same way that we did in chicago: we picked a non-neighborhoody neighborhood to live in. there are a few little shops and some cute restaurants here, so it's a bit better than chicago, but i do miss seeing the flower-filled yards, the neighborhood parks with kids playing baseball, and the the sense of community those sorts of thing seem to create. it's going to be baseball season here in my neighborhood (two blocks from Pac-T&T-SBC-Park) very, very soon. i suppose that may conspire to make me feel a part of the city -- and therefore *love* the city -- in a way that i don't quite yet.

i so totally want these stamps. i mean, i know that i can't really pay for postage in yen in the US, but they still rock.

also, i can't get enough of google romance. sure, i'm already taken, but the fact that it's "a free date plus the added accrued value of the past decade’s worth of post-Industrial Age online marketing genius, all tied into a real-time, video-based, GPS-tracked, psychographically astute and environmentally pervasive promotional system" has really made me think twice about the good and bad qualities in my long-term relationship. i think steve and i need more buzzwords.

i don't exactly work on advertising for super-sexy brands, but then again, cleaning *can* be sexy.

speaking of sexy... well, actually, i guess i'm NOT continuing on in that vein -- i'm heading in quite the opposite direction: check out these superheroes on the toilet postcards. i especially love wondergirl.

i don't know what's more depressing: reading about the state of the US auto industry, or reading about the war in iraq. ick.

things here are really crazy, but good. but then again, don't i always say that?

this week has been exhilirating. i've been working on some side projects, and then working with my main client on some big strategic stuff. i've sold through some mega-big ideas, and so overall i'm fine with the fact that there have been long hours.

...

i woke up in the middle of the night the other night, and as i trudged down the hallway to the bathroom i remembered the way i loved the moonlight coming into the window in our bathroom in ann arbor. the floor was always *really cold* but the light was diffused at a beautiful angle through the bathroom window and it was always so peaceful at night.

i'm not sad to have nostalgia about a2: i miss my friends there, but i'm happy to have pleasant memories.

hopefully each stop on our little road through life will have random memory-inducing moments like that. :)

i so totally need this shirt.

you should have heard how it made steve laugh.

these cards make me laugh a ton. so yeah, we're laughing a lot tonight. i had a hard day and need it.

here's one more funny thing: i ask myself this question all of the time.

i am so sorry that i've been a bad correspondent.
i've been working a zillion hours (well, not really a zillion, but a LOT) and i'm so exhausted and tired and yet i am feeling a massive amount of guilt because i owe everyone an email and call, and i miss hanging out with steve.

:(

my crunch period at work is almost over, though, and i've accomplished a helluva lot over the past few weeks, so despite how worn out i am, i feel good about the work that i'm doing. i'm good at it, and i've achieved some awesome things the past few weeks. i've sold through an almost 300% increase in my budgets and am now working on the staffing plan. i'm taking over some smaller accounts from one of our sister offices and am pitching a HUGE new account.

one thing i need to do (other than find a time to workout!) is be a bit better about managing my stress. i must remember to be "little miss sunshine" as much as i can at work, even at the end of a 14 hour day, and not inhale the lovely gifts of chocolate and cookies that vendors ply me with.

and, oh yeah, i need to sleep.

i miss you all. my last big project (well, of the ones i know about) is over on monday at noon, so please cross your fingers for me that the meeting monday morning goes well. you'll hear much more from me after that.

lovelovelove,
s.

farewell to fort awesome...

our friends adam and rachel live in a hip, funky loft in the not-so-swanky part of soma here in san francisco. they invited us to a party with the best theme i'd heard of in a long, long time: cake vs. pie. tastings were scheduled for 9:30 with voting shortly thereafter.
it all sounded so perfect.
i read further down in the emailed invitation. they listed their phone number and email address for RSVPing, and then their address: the number, street name, and the name of their place: fort awesome.

i gasped aloud.
"steve! adam and rachel call their apartment 'fort awesome'!!!"
we had to verify with them that we weren't somehow reading it incorrectly.
and we weren't.

i felt a little trigger of sadness, since i felt such ownership of that home name. i know that we haven't lived there in over two years, but still...
we packed up the personalized pint glasses, and steve took them over as a host/hostess gift. we kept one since i'm such a sentimental sap.

alex is here visiting, and i told him the story. he agreed that i have a reason to be a bit sad. even if adam + rachel's place is awesome, our fort awesome will always hold a place in my big ol' sappy heart.

my friend bruce pointed out this awesome website: boatnerd.

i was plesantly surprised to finally see some sort of article on area code loyalty. i've kept my 734 even during my move to chicago, and don't plan on changing it anytime soon. it's obscure enough that i get asked about it all of the time. (where's that???)

steve and i took a bit of a road trip yesterday. we went down to santa cruz to see my friend kate, who was in from chicago. we drove down highway 1, and loved exploring the coastline. you can check out some of our cheesy beachy photos here.

go shani, go shani! i don't care what hedrick says, you gotta do what you gotta do, and he did it! (and i agree with alex, who pointed out that the NBC interviewer sucked. of course, with costas as their lead, it's no surprise.
on the other hand, i'm so done with apollo. i can't believe the hype this guy got both in salt lake and torino. and honestly, he couldn't bring himself to admit it, but he was just outskated. hyun-soo ahn beat him fair and square.
looks like the same sort of overhyped jinx has hit bode miller too. i wonder if it's as bad of a sports jinx as the wheaties box jinx if you're super-hyped by the media prior to going into olympic competition.
ponder that, will ya?
on a very different note, i have to say that i'm now even *more* into joey cheek, what with his charity donation to "right to play" and the fact that his challenge to sponsors has led at least 10 corporations to match his donation.
rock on!

omg, bob costas is soooo mean! what a horrible commentator for the olympics on NBC!
i mean, he can't seem to come up with anything nice without it being some sort of build-up to a snarky comment! during the parade of nations at opening ceremonies he was so amazingly creative with his nasty comments (which i'll paraphrase):

"sweden has been very successful at the winter games. that success, however, has not been matched at the summer games."

"armenia has a very small delegation. of course, they have no real chance at a medal."

"denmark, of course, is here under heavy security because of the recent cartoons controversy."

so anyhow, he's basically a jerkypants. and then tonight he interviewed poor lindsey jacobellis, and was practically taunting her about her stumble that led to losing her commanding lead in the snowboard cross. at the end he even said "congrats on your silver medal" with what i swear was a sneering emphasis on the word "silver." sheesh. what an asshat.

i do have to say that i think joey cheek's excitement over his speed skating gold medal was super cute. what do you think?

we had our housewarming shindig this weekend. we had folks over to watch the wacky euro-nutso olympics opening ceremonies (what was up with playing disco during the 'parade of nations'???) while having opening ceremonies of our own. these torches were the coup de grace. seriously, we may have gone through two batteries each in 3 hours, but they ruled.

we had a great weekend overall. i'm pretty much well again (although my head still fills with a bit of snot overnight) but the weather was so great and i was feeling well enough that we did all kinds of fun stuff. we went to the chinese new year's parade and out for indian food (hooray! there's a good indian place right near our apartment!) with melissa and david on saturday. and on sunday, after steve got back from his first soccer game, explored a bunch of the parks. we loved walking along baker beach. soooo beautiful!

and now, after that fun... back to work. it's going to be another long week at work. luckily i can listen to the olympis telecast in the background, and replay any superexciting great performances (and wipeouts). dvrs rule!

wow -- these are truly amazing cakes. i especially love the "marge and homer simpson in a bathtub" cake under the new creations heading.

god, i love what white castle does in advertising. it was the most fun brand i've ever worked on, even if my time on the brand was brief. check out this viral campaign that they've been doing, trying to get the day after the super bowl to be considered a holiday! steve and i were just saying that last week, and if only we'd known, we could have joined forces with them and lobbied together!

check it out -- the san francisco chronicle did a big story all about the building that we're renting in. makes us sound ultra-swanky (of course, assuming that the plumbing is all working).

i arrived at work this morning to find that my voice had disappeared overnight (and since i left home before steve was up, i hadn't noticed it sooner!). argh! i've never lost my voice before, and it was extremely stressful! i cancelled most of my meetings for the day and tried to do everything via email, but did find myself whispering/croaking at my coworkers and trying to stifle my hacking cough.

i never admit that i'm sick, but i do believe steve's sickness has indeed caught me this time.

by around 3 pm i was beat, so i actually headed home and went straight to bed. of course, now that's got my sleep schedule a little out-of-wack, but i think i should be able to pass out pretty soon, thanks to some sleepytime tea.

our place is still a mess of boxes, but i did make a little progress this evening, and steve made me some yummy soup, so the day wasn't a complete wash.

i just hope i feel good enough by sunday (and non-infectious!) so that i can go to my friend derek's for his HDTV superbowl-watching fete. we don't even have cable hooked up, so we can't watch it here!

on the plus side, we found out tonight that the contamination test (to see if the flood from the toilet contaminated the carpet) came back negative, so they don't need to replace the carpet, and we can fully unpack. hooray! hopefully we can also get our washer + dryer hooked up tomorrow. it's been over two weeks and we have a massive pile of dirtydirty things!

croak. gnight.

wow, i'm tired.

there is a ton going on for me at work. luckily, my clients and co-workers are very cool, and the campaigns themselves are much more interesting than i thought they'd be. i *almost* didn't mind working 11+ hours every day this week so far.

we're still not very unpacked, but we're getting excited about feeling more at home. we've got the bathroom upstairs mostly functional again (although not the toilet of doom, for which a new valve is on order) and my clothes are finally all in a closet. steve's office is still pretty much in boxes, but he's been working at the kitchen table, and is now using a land-line internet connection instead of his cellular connection. hopefully he can find his apple airport somewhere in the boxes soon so that the wireless network can be set up and we can both be online at the same time.

the weather here has been just as we expected -- 50s or so, and a mix of rainy days and blissful blue-sky ones. for some reason the rainy days here are extra rainy, though, since my hair product couldn't come even close to standing up to the weather-induced frizz. :)

i can't wait for this weekend. i want to sleep in and get the rest of this place unpacked. i want to feel like we're home again.

miss you all!

well, we're finally both 'home' here in san francisco.

home is still full of noisy dehumidifiers, torn up carpeting and floorboards, and no furniture, but, hell, it's home. our stuff arrives in the morning, which we're really excited about. it'll be great to have furniture, dishes, and a coffee maker again.

steve is sick (shocker!) but it sounds like his japan trip went well.

i saw three great movies at sundance, and found out that my clients are super fun.

i already wrote that 'thank you for smoking' was great, and i'll stand by that. it was our group's favorite, and had lots of laugh-out-loud moments. there's some controversy about katie holmes's performance, since her character supposedly has great tits (she was quite miscast, both physically and dramatically) and the fact that the movie premiered at the toronto film festival with a long sex scene showing her boobies, and then was shown at sundance with a shortened sex scene with no jugs. the rumor has it that tom cruise demanded that they cut the scene, and that he wasn't even able to watch it without his crazy e-meter going off.

weirdo.

anyhow, the director has said that it was a technical problem. um, sure. and apparently they're claiming it'll be released with the original, longer scene intact. i guess i'll just have to go and see it and see if i have to take back my "physically miscast" comment.

the second movie was 'alpha dogs' which was really well done, but incredibly hard to watch. the story is disturbing because it's true, and it further convinced me that i could never live in LA since i'm convinced that while it could happen in other places, somehow it seems like it's such an LA-valley sort of tale.

the third was 'quinceañera' -- and it won the dramatic prize. we were kinda worried about it, since we saw it at the end of a long day, and weren't really in the mood for a dark or downer sort of film after 'alpha dogs' but we were pleasantly surprised. it was touching and lovely, and i'd tell you more, but you can look it up online if you'd like.
i'm pretty tired, and steve's already in bed, so i'll sign off now...

remind me to tell you about the wild night at the bar that followed.

it was all fun, but i'm just so dang glad to be home!

hello from park city!
i'm at sundance today with some clients, and it's snowing *beautifully*!!!
we saw the movie 'thank you for smoking' which was hilarious. definitely a must-see.
i was really torn between my desire to see something really good ('thank you' had positive buzz) and something completely crappy/wacky, since it would be kinda fun to see a movie that isn't going to be picked up for distribution. however, i laughed tons and forgot about my waterlogged sf apt for awhile, so it was perfect.
gotta run -- i'm typing this from the intel lounge, and there are others awating their internet fix.

i'm writing ya'll from NYC tonight...

our first week in SF has not exactly gone according to plan. :(

first of all, let me clarify by saying that work is going extremely well. i really like my colleagues, am pleasantly surprised by the cool stuff that our office is doing, and they are so dang glad to have someone in my role that i'm veryverymuch appreciated.
so all of that is good.

what's sucked is my apartment situation.

as mentionned previously, we spent sunday night at the airport.

monday i went to walgreens and picked up the provisions i needed to stay in the new apartment for the first time: toilet paper, paper towels, shower curtain, detergent, soap, etc. i was really excited. i got everything from our suitcases unpacked and on various shelves throughout the house and was feeling really good when i went to bed.

i got up around 2 am to use the bathroom and found over an inch of water on the bathroom floor, and water seeping into the carpet all around it. there was water dripping into the kitchen (which is almost directly underneath the bathroom) via a lighting fixture. needless to say, i freaked out.
building maintenance was extremelly fast at responding (thank god) and was able to shopvac up the standing water in the bathroom. apparently the toilet had overflowed. the water appeared clear, but well, nobody knows just how clean and clear it was.

luckily the water didn't seep into the bedroom, so i was able to try to sleep that night. i did set my alarm to go off every couple of hours (although i was awake both times) so that i could feel the floor around the mattress and make sure the water hadn't somehow crept that far.

at 7:30 am the water removal experts came, with large fans and lots of other miscellaneous equiptment. they put plastic runners down the hallways and cautioned me not to walk around barefoot until they had water testing experts come in to see if the water was contaminated. they hooked up their fans and then i went to work.

i got a call from our landlord that afternoon. he told me that there was debris (specifically, wads of kleenex and a qtip) in the toilet and basically accused me of causing the mess. he said there was damage to 4 other apartments and that although he was going to file a claim with his insurance, they would reject the claim because he was renting it. he asked if we had renters insurance...

well now, normally, we would have renters insurance. and we do have our property insured, but since it's en route to san francisco (in a truck somewhere, heading west) i hadn't insured our place in san francisco yet. i simply didn't make it one of the first things that i did that one day i'd been in san francisco (instead i focused on getting the electricity and phone hooked up and some addresses changed on our chicago bills).

argh.

so our landlord basically tried to get me to admit to wrongdoing (when i suggested that it was the previous tenant, he said "we had no problems the whole year she was there") and said that he'd keep me posted as the costs were determined.

arrrrrgh.

today i was on a flight most of the workday, and then finally spoke with building management this evening. not only was the building manager (perry, who seems like a good guy, and -- if my memory from 2 am serves me well -- is quite good looking) very responsive and nice the night of the disaster, but i wanted to get the scoop from them since i figured they don't have any skin in the matter of who's paying for it -- they know that the bill will go to the owner.

perry confirmed that there was indeed a qtip in the toilet (he also said he'd send me digital photos). i was *relieved* to hear that it was one with a blue 'stalk' since it confirmed for me that it couldn't have possibly been me that caused the flooding. i only have q-tips with the white paper 'stalks', and while i'd been 99.9% sure that i hadn't even used one that evening it was great to get that burdent of potential responsibility out of my head (seriously, who cleans their ears at night? i do it after i shower, and i didn't even shower there until the following morning, in the downstairs bathroom). it's little solace though, since i know that i can't really prove my innocence, and i'm still really freaked out because perry also confirmed that there was damage to multiple units in the building. he said the costs could be as high as $20,000. that made me almost drop the phone.

i don't know what the next step is, if i have to get a lawyer or what. i am really freaking out and am wishing steve was here (he's in japan this week).

originally i wasn't looking forward to traveling this week (first here to ny, then to utah for a weekend at sundance) but now i'm extremely grateful not to be in that apartment with the whirling fans and the potentially contaminated carpet.

argh.

everyone reading this: please cross your fingers for me that justice will be done and they'll realize it wasn't me, but instead the previous blue q-tip using tenant who caused my apartment's plumbing catastrophe.