6.10.2006
6.09.2006
http://www.gwu.edu/~alumni/benefits/bricks.html
6.07.2006
6.06.2006
Bill Clinton, Clarence Thomas, and George W. Bush all entered a spelling bee. George W. won, of course, because he was the only one who knew that "harass" was one word.
i also bought a printer today because i decided if i continue to write out flashcards by hand, my hand will probably fall off in a matter of days. good times.
it's move out season here in college land, and these kids have been leaving all kinds of crap in the common area for other people to come and pick up. old issues of the economist, lamps, a coatrack, a couple of computer monitors, a computer keyboard, chairs, tables, four issues of oprah magazine, the cushiony arms of an office chair, a full-size bed covered with a variety of yellowish and brownish stains (it took a couple of days, but someone eventually claimed the mattress and left the box spring behind), and a very large (at least 3 feet wide) painting of four indian women in saris. i was going to take a picture of the painting, but when i got down to the lobby, it was already gone.
6.03.2006
shanghai restaurant: near durant food court. our waitress was a hoverer. soupy buns live up to hype, but h says beware the oakland location.
su hong, palo alto: beef soup with delicious chewy noodles, shrimp w/scallions, fish, squash with those gluten balls, shanghainese noodles... we ordered so much i can't remember what else. but everything was really good.
quizno's, bancroft near campus: classy! love how the counter guy summons the next person in line by saying, "next guest?"
breads of india, sacramento at dwight?: NOT AS GOOD AS I REMEMBER. curry was too salty, our garlic naan lacked garlic. sad.
la mediterranee, college near ashby: cheap! and pretty good. pomegranate marinated chicken--they give you four drumsticks!
gelato milano, shattuck at center?: wanted to support an asian brother, but the stuff was just way too sweet. i suggest you go in solely to taste the white peach flavor. not recommending the full size though. we got panna cotta (not a fan), strawberry (not bad), yogurt (would have been great if less sweet), white peach (first bite good, next bites overwhelm with sugary flavor), some italian cake thing (meh).
saul's delicatessen: some beef dish and a grilled cheese sandwich with tomatoes. satisfying.
mi lindo peru, sf mission: marinated beef poured over crispy french fries. 'nuff said.
samwon garden on telegraph: first time, kalbi. second time, aljjigae and dduk mandu guk. love the kalbi, a little "eh" on the soups (though infinitely better than seoul gomtang).
seoul gomtang on telegraph: so wanted to like this place, but EVERYTHING had msg in it. banchan was a bunch of different kinds of kimchi. we ordered samgyetang and soontubu. thumbs down on both.
naan n' curry, telegraph at durant: not bad. naan was good, but we're not fans of their tendency to leave the bones in the chicken.
t-rex, tenth street at gilman: the sides were ridiculous. macaroni shells drenched in parmesan and cheddar cheese. cornbread with maple butter (does it sound like it'd be soggy? because it defied all expectations and was kind of crisp with buttery goodness. we continued eating this long after we'd declared ourselves grossed out). asparagus with tarragon creme fraiche... i thought this was just okay. for the main courses, between three of us, we ordered brisket, spareribs, baby back ribs and pulled pork. unfortunately, we were underwhelmed by the dry meat. and it's what we came for!!
a cote, college ave (rockridge): pommes frites, mushroom tart, beef, fried artichokes... INSANE (1hr+) wait.
mount everest restaurant, shattuck at university: curry, tandoori fish?, naan... can't remember what else. friendly servers.
la burrita, durant avenue: i can't go here anymore. i order a burrito meant to last two meals and then i eat the whole damn thing.
top dog, center street. linguica, calabrese, hot link. yum.
epicurious garden
- kirala: chicken bento and rainbow roll. i give it a randy jackson aiight.
- soop: greek chicken soup.
love at first bite, vine: red velvet cupcake, black bottom cupcake. red velvet was a little dry, but the cream cheese frosting was delicious. black bottom cupcake moist, but too much black bottom.
teacake bake shop, bay street: white cupcakey, blueberry cookie. loved the frosting, and everything there was adorable. not much selection by the time we came by, though.
pasta pomodoro, bay street: cannot recall exactly... shared a pasta and a salad, and ate lots of bread. food was decent, service was lousy.
gregoire, cedar at shattuck: ribeye with gorgonzola sauce and roasted tomatoes, crispy potato puffs, strawberry bread pudding with white chocolate sauce. and a mango drink and a coconut pineapple drink. thumbs up.
steve's korean bbq, durant food court: bibimbap with beef.
cafes:
royal grounds, shattuck at channing. lots of weird people along with this girl i had hoped i'd *never* run into again. but there's lots of room to work, they have dreyer's ice cream, and it's close by. $4 minimum for credit cards, wireless internet $15 a month.
sufficient grounds, durant at telegraph. came here twice. first time was fine, second time the punk kid making the sandwiches gave me bread that was burned black on the bottom. miffed!
village grounds, shattuck at delaware. nice atmosphere though it gets hot in the afternoon, yummy cilantro chicken empanada, free wireless.
fertile grounds, shattuck at delaware. illy coffee, they also sell scharffen berger chocolates at the counter. a little cramped. free wireless.
berkeley espresso, shattuck at hearst. coffee was all right. free wireless.
strada, bancroft at college. americanos. banana nut muffins. cheesecake.
peet's coffee, shattuck at kittredge. americanos all around.
yali's cafe, oxford. lemon square, citrus green tea, african something tea.
zemocha, shattuck at berkeley way. owned by a nice guy who's a former network architect. specialty is their hot chocolate. interior almost unbearably hot.
6.01.2006
5.31.2006
5.17.2006
from "Paul McCartney and Second Wife Split":
He was a famously uxorious man who was said to have spent only one night away from his first wife, Linda, in 29 years of marriage (she died of cancer in 1998).
from m-w.com:
ux.o.ri.ous
Pronunciation: "&k-'sOr-E-&s, -'sor-; "&g-'zOr-, -'zor-
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin uxorius uxorious, uxorial, from uxor wife
: excessively fond of or submissive to a wife
- ux·o·ri·ous·ly adverb
- ux·o·ri·ous·ness noun
5.08.2006
ty: sisqo. thong song.
5.07.2006
5.06.2006
1. jl had us show up there when the entire place was booked for some socialite's private party.
2. dc was swinging his arm around while he was talking on the phone, and burned my sandaled foot with the lit end of his cigarette.
3. i was 6 feet away from r@ch@el r@y! she was in a semi-private room blocked off by her people. i just stared at her and smiled, and she stared back with a nice "your staring is making me feel uncomfortable" smile. but sl, who's way smoother than me, hollered, "i love you r@ch@e1 r@y!" and she smiled a big smile and waved a little wave.
5.04.2006
5.03.2006
5.02.2006
A shimmy is a dance in which the body is held still, except for the shoulders, which are alternated back and forth. When the right shoulder goes back, the left one comes forward. It may help to hold the arms out slightly bent at the elbow, and when the shoulders are moved, keep the hands in the same position. Flappers performed this dance in the 1920s. The origin of the name is attributed to Gilda Gray, a Polish emigrant to America. An anecdote says that when she was asked about her dancing style, she answered, in heavy accent, "I'm shaking my chemise". In an interview Gilda denied having said this, and also earlier usages of the word are recorded.
The move is also known under different names in various folk dances, in Gypsy dances. In Russia language this move is called "Cyganochka", of "gypsy girl", and is done by gypsy female dancers to produce a chime of costume decorations made of the sewn-on coins, which probably explains why Gilda Gray would want to "shake her chemise".
When done fast, shimmy produces an erotic effect because of moving breasts.
The dance move with this name is used in various modern dances.
Members of the historically African-American fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi often use a form of this dance to distinguish themselves in casual, social environments. The members form a single-file line and shimmy side-to-side in unison, often to the beat of background music.
5.01.2006
12 more hours of cramming.
3 hours of writing.
done, duh-done, done, done! (sung & shimmied to the tune of the "thong song")
"At the New York bar review course," goes the joke, "all the Harvard and Columbia students run after the Brooklyn and St. John's students yelling, 'Hey, what's the New York law on torts?' All the Yale students run after the Harvard and Columbia students yelling, 'Hey, what's a tort?'"
4.26.2006
A minute in the sunlight
Can take away a whole life
Still, there's something about you
Once or twice
Everything was lined up straight
There's nothing you could ever trust
Something about you
Hear the clear spot
Did you think that I would call
Cause sometimes I don't feel
Like talking at all
I'm better, now you're gone
A minute in the sunlight
Is nothing you could ever trust
Something about you
Hear the clear spot
Did you think that I would call
Cause sometimes I don't feel
Like talking at all
I'm better, now you're gone
A minute in the sunlight
Is nothing you could ever trust
Something about you
There's something about you
There's something about you
There's something about you
There's something about you
There's something about you
There's something about you
There's something about you
There's something about you
4.25.2006
"Let nonconformity ring."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/25/BAG06IEERH1.DTL
Not that everyone doesn't agree that the free box has always attracted some problems. Both sides admit that when quality donations are dropped off there is the potential for, well, let's call them disagreements. Savvy free boxers can grab the good stuff, hustle over to the vintage clothing stores on Telegraph Avenue and make a tidy profit. With money involved, complications ensue.
"I can't tell you,'' says Hines, "how many times I have seen two 45-year-old guys slugging it out over a pair of women's shoes.''
4.24.2006
4.23.2006
Optimism bias is a well-documented phenomenon. Most people don't assign a great deal of weight to statistics; they don't think the rules apply to them. When you warn people about the dangers of smoking, lots of them whip out a story about some guy who smoked 10-20 cigars a day for 70 years and lived to be a hundred years old. The problem is, for 99.9% of these storytellers, this guy is George Burns.
4.22.2006
4.21.2006
Wow, I made it sound really boring.
=================================================
China and Its President Greeted by a Host of Indignities
By Dana Milbank
Friday, April 21, 2006; A02
Chinese President Hu Jintao got almost everything he wanted out of yesterday's visit to the White House.
He got the 21-gun salute, the review of the troops and the Colonial fife-and-drum corps. He got the exchange of toasts and a meal of wild-caught Alaskan halibut with mushroom essence, $50 chardonnay and live bluegrass music. And he got an Oval Office photo op with President Bush, who nodded and smiled as if he understood Chinese while Hu spoke.
If only the White House hadn't given press credentials to a Falun Gong activist who five years ago heckled Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, in Malta. Sure enough, 90 seconds into Hu's speech on the South Lawn, the woman started shrieking, "President Hu, your days are numbered!" and "President Bush, stop him from killing!"
Bush and Hu looked up, stunned. It took so long to silence her -- a full three minutes -- that Bush aides began to wonder if the Secret Service's strategy was to let her scream herself hoarse. The rattled Chinese president haltingly attempted to continue his speech and television coverage went to split screen.
"You're okay," Bush gently reassured Hu.
But he wasn't okay, not really. The protocol-obsessed Chinese leader suffered a day full of indignities -- some intentional, others just careless. The visit began with a slight when the official announcer said the band would play the "national anthem of the Republic of China" -- the official name of Taiwan. It continued when Vice President Cheney donned sunglasses for the ceremony, and again when Hu, attempting to leave the stage via the wrong staircase, was yanked back by his jacket. Hu looked down at his sleeve to see the president of the United States tugging at it as if redirecting an errant child.
Then there were the intentional slights. China wanted a formal state visit such as Jiang got, but the administration refused, calling it instead an "official" visit. Bush acquiesced to the 21-gun salute but insisted on a luncheon instead of a formal dinner, in the East Room instead of the State Dining Room. Even the visiting country's flags were missing from the lampposts near the White House.
But as protocol breaches go, it's hard to top the heckling of a foreign leader at the White House. Explaining the incident -- the first disruption at the executive mansion in recent memory -- White House and Secret Service officials said she was "a legitimate journalist" and that there was nothing suspicious in her background. In other words: Who knew?
Hu did. The Chinese had warned the White House to be careful about who was admitted to the ceremony. To no avail: They granted a one-day pass to Wang Wenyi of the Falun Gong publication Epoch Times. A quick Nexis search shows that in 2001, she slipped through a security cordon in Malta protecting Jiang (she had been denied media credentials) and got into an argument with him. The 47-year-old pathologist is expected to be charged today with attempting to harass a foreign official.
Bush apologized to the angry Chinese leader in the Oval Office. "Frankly, we moved on," National Security Council official Dennis Wilder told reporters later. It was, he said, a "momentary blip."
Maybe, but Hu was in no mood to make concessions. In negotiations, he gave the U.S. side nothing tangible on delicate matters such as the nuclear problems in North Korea and Iran, the Chinese currency's value and the trade deficit with China.
Wilder pleaded for understanding. "Some people today want to see a quick fix to the trade imbalance," he explained. "But in the new global economy there is no quick fix."
In the arrival ceremony, Bush, after leading Hu on a review of the troops, welcomed him to the White House. Hu clapped for himself. He was less enthusiastic about the long list of demands Bush made in his welcome speech: expand Chinese consumption of U.S. goods, enforce intellectual property rights, and allow freedom to assemble, speak and worship.
Hu's reply was overshadowed by what the White House transcript politely called an "audience interruption," as if somebody had sneezed.
The meeting in the Oval Office brought more of the same. In front of the cameras, Bush thanked Hu for his "frankness" -- diplomatic code for disagreement -- and Hu stood expressionless. The two unexpectedly agreed to take questions from reporters, but Bush grew impatient as Hu gave a long answer about trade, made all the longer by the translation. Bush at one point tapped his foot on the ground. "It was a very comprehensive answer," he observed when Hu finished.
Last came the unofficial state luncheon. After the butter heirloom corn broth and the ginger-scented dumplings had been consumed, Hu rose with a toast that proclaimed he and Bush had "reached a broad and important agreement on China-U.S. relations."
The White House didn't see it that way. Instead of a statement about a new accord with China, it issued a press release titled "MEDICARE CHECK-UP: Prescription Drug Benefit Enrollment Hits 30 Million . . . ."
Research editor Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
4.17.2006
4.14.2006
1. The Grand Canyon, USA
2. Great Barrier Reef, east coast of Queensland, Australia
4. South Island, New Zealand
5. Cape Town and Table Mountain, South Africa
6. Golden Temple at Amritsar, Punjab, India
8. Sydney, Australia
10. Taj Mahal
11. Canadian Rockies
12. Uluru (Ayers Rock), Australia
13. Chichen Itza, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
16. Petra, Jordan
17. The Pyramids, Cairo
18. Venice
19. Maldives, Indian Ocean, 450 miles SW of Sri Lanka
20. Great Wall of China
21. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
25. Auckland, New Zealand
26. Iguassu Falls, Argentina and Brazil
27. Paris
28. Alaska
29. Angkor Wat, Cambodia
30. Nepal, Himalayas
31. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
32. Masai Mara, Kenya
33. Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
34. Luxor, Egypt
35. Rome
37. Barcelona
38. Dubai, United Arab Emirates
39. Singapore
40. La Digue, Seychelles, 1000 miles E of Kenya.
41. Sri Lanka, S of India
43. Barbados, 100 miles E of the Caribbean chain
44. Iceland
45. Terracotta Army, Xi'an, China
46. Zermatt, Switzerland
47. Angel Falls, Venezuela
48. Abu Simbel, Egypt
49. Bali, in the Indonesian archipelago
50. French Polynesia (Bora Bora), 165 miles NW of Tahiti
4.12.2006
1. entering berkeley grad school applications into a computer
2. selling christmas ornaments at neiman marcus
3. running around capitol hill
4. wandering the halls of the irs
four movies i would watch over and over:
1. shawshank redemption
2. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
3. the sound of music
4. yeah, that's it.
four places i have lived:
1. dublin, ohio
2. seoul, korea
3. berkeley, california
4. arlington, virginia
four tv shows i love to watch:
1. west wing
2. sopranos
3. sex and the city
4. roseanne
four places i have been on vacation:
1. florida
2. peru
3. thailand
4. canada
four websites i visit often:
1. my.ebay.com
2. slate.com
3. imdb.com
4. craigslist.org
four of my favorite foods:
1. raw seafood
2. steel cut oatmeal
3. vanilla yogurt
4. kalbi
four places i would rather be right now:
1. seoul
2. finished with law school
3. cooking school in italy
4. bed
