amateur's corner

opening my eyes to the wonderful and tragic world of dog rescue

2011-11-30T20:57:00.000-08:00

this is a picture of patsy smiling and showing off how clean and white her teeth are. she is a small american staffordshire terrier, who is very sweet, well behaved.....with all the love in the world to give. this picture doesn't do this girl justice, as she is an absolute beauty.

since adopting gus, much of my free time has been spent at the barking lot, the rescue that saved him. owner, stacy, nursed gus through parvo, and a handful of other ailments. the love i feel for gus has made me totally and completely indebted to stacy and her mission. even though i am just a core volunteer and spend up to 25 hours a week there, i have an official title. i am the barking fee supervisor. i think that translates into accounts supervisor in normal business speak. given that it has been a long time since a real job, excluding internships, this stability and work like environment is beneficial. ofcourse i could go back to serving at bars and restaurants, but that wouldn't help me on my path to the kind of career that i want, and it would certainly not be as fun or fulfilling as saving dogs.

sometimes at the barking lot i feel like a superhero. when a normally balanced dog acts out, even just once. he becomes food aggressive and bites his friend over a treat or bowl of kibble. i insert myself into the situation, pull the dogs apart, clean up their injuries, and tell them that it is okay. that they won't be put to sleep because of one mistake, because of one bite, because they are part pitbull. i give them a kiss, a bath, and good scratch. sure enough, they are over the situation. anyone who has broken up a dog fight, (and who doesn't become hysterical) will notice that the moment the fight is over, a calm comes over the dogs as they realize 1. fighting really sucks, 2. ouch now i have an owie, 3. what was i fighting for..... dogs live in the moment, as soon as someone stops the fight and demands calm submissive behavior from the dogs, the frantic energy of the fight is gone. it is pretty amazing, and i have seen stacy do it several times. despite my lack of experience with dogs growing up, i think i am learning these techniques quickly.

i used to be afraid of large dogs. i think i was bit through a fence when i was little, near my abuelita's house. it wasn't hard, but it gave me a scare and became a lasting memory. it has been so beneficial to work at the barking lot because i am aware of changes in my perceptions of our big dogs. some dogs we have had since i started volunteering up to a year ago and i used to think they were so big. just like when you return to your old elementary school, a place that once seemed so big, and is now miniature. the fear of the big dogs has shrunk in my mind and now it takes an impressively large dog for me to notice their size.

gus would really like a friend. i can tell. next time pickle and i are considering getting a bigger dog. we love labs and golden, but are also considering pittie breeds. i would love to have a calm, sweet, pittie, that could serve as a ambassador for the breed and illustrate how good they could be with the right family. ultimately, we will decide as a family, and gus will get his say too. of the many great things about working at the barking lot, i love the ability to watch the dogs and see their behaviors, whose alpha, dominate, submissive, who is calm, energetic, who listens, who is distracted, who is food motivated....exc. essentially, i get the pick of the liter. (hahha pun)

well that is all for now, have a dog gone good day!

2011-11-12T23:09:00.000-08:00

"The other day a woman wouldn't let me hold her baby because she said I was too drunk...."

"First of all, don't bring your baby into a bar. Second of all, if I'm drinking malt liquor at a playground, I'm calling it a bar." -tosh

Two beers and a drop of 600 points in the market later!

2011-08-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen Inside Job yet, go rent it, pay 5 bucks for it on demand....see it immediately.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/174282/movie-trailers-inside-job---trailer

Basically the point of this blog is to bring up how rating agencies, specifically standard and poor's, dropped the *&^%ing ball when it came to the banks on the verge of clapse and the buying up of junk mortgages. All those banks that went bankrupt, were bought out, or received a ridiculous amount of government bailout money had AAA ratings just days or hours before they filed chapter 11. How did our rating agencies screw up that badly? They suck that is how.

Why didn't our government prosecute our rating agencies for....i don't know...accurately rating our banks. you know ....their jobs. And now Standard and Poors downgraded the US GOV to a AA+ rating, sending our stockmarket into the dumps again. As big a drop as in 2008.... once again you screwed us standard and poor. Thank you very little.

saturday thoughts

2011-05-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

i just clapped for a band on tv. it felt right, and then weird.

i wish i could make a career doing what i am best at. unfortunately i don't think i can be a professional avocado picker.

why do all baseball players look like douches?

isn't whistle blowing just the adult version of tattle telling?

how did the tenacious d movie happen without me noticing, i am making up for lost time now!

procrastination reaches seriously combustable levels

2011-05-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

nearly done with my first year of my mba. i am currently, one finance final, one econ final, one group ids paper, and one econ term paper away from the amazing half way mark in my masters. i really need to be working on my econ term paper right now, which i am writing on pita chips, (i know how to pick some interesting topics, huh). i just can't focus. econ really is the most awful subjects i will ever have to study. it is a shame too, because it is so applicable in everything you do, that it is just stupid. it is always about this point in the semester, when crunch time turns into distraction time. blogs, facebook, and a new smart phone do not help.

but worst of all, knitting. it seems i only love knitting when it is keeping me from something really unpleasant like econ. last semester during finals, i knit the beer koozie necklaces, this time i want to make monsters, a lot of monsters.

here is my inspiration.

i am going to start with some monster chunks...

these look way more fun than econ, huh?

say cheese!

2011-05-09T20:48:00.000-07:00

www.rescuedcards.com

lil' gus got his photo taken by professional, inspiring, and all-around awesome person, monica hoover. he was a little camera shy, but she captured his goofy, lovableness, don't you think? she is working to get her "rescue cards" picked up by a large retailer. they are beautiful greeting cards that feature rescue doggies, a portion of proceeds from sales will go to the rescues that saved the dogs photographed. even in her state of extreme hunger and exhaustion she was wonderful. it is no easy feet to photograph 30 puppies and abut 50 dogs in one day.

if you also love her photos, you can like her on facebook here.

doesn't play well with others

2011-05-02T21:05:00.000-07:00

i recall the occasional phrase, "doesn't play well with others" on elementary report cards. i was always exceedingly bright but would get knocked down to a "satisfactory" on report cards due to this. i was also the youngest in my grade, started kindergarten at age four, went to college at age 17, will finish grade school at 24. so i am accustomed to being the youngest around but interestingly instead of being complacent and agreeable, i still to this day, get worked up over the stupidity of group projects. lets just say, mba=a million group projects. luckily i have formed amazing friendships with easily the smartest gals in my program, but still we wind up with some hangers on in our groups that, don't do shit, and just drive me bonkers. i tend to get much more upset about these boogers then other people do. don't get me wrong i am not a type a, perfectionist, will accept nothing but the best....... i am human, i will fall apart, or slack occasionally, or even procrastinate to dangerous levels.... but never, do i not complete my portion on time, when others are counting on me. be it the magnitude of team sports i played growing up, or learning the worst thing you can do is let your peers down, or perhaps i just like to feel superior. maybe it is a little of all of it, but i don't let me team down. i finish my part with due diligence and am ready to get everyone else parts and see them fit together like a puzzle that creates a project that REALLY represents the magnitude of combined brain power of our group. insightful, witty, creative, thorough, and most importantly complete. but dummies that are in my group always seem to make this a near impossible task.

i once had a teacher who, during class one day, asked, "who here likes group work?" about 1/5 of the class raise their hand, "the teacher says, now everyone take a look at these people, remember who they are." ....."all of those that didn't raise their hand, hate group work more than anything, it is because of you few, with your hands raised, that they hate it." quickly hands went down. but i felt so great in that moment, that a teacher understood and was empathetic of the struggles to carry the dead weight that is your lazy classmates.

but riddle me this. why, if teacher know how horrible a struggle it is, do they still assign so much group work?

i know, because in the real world, you will have to deal with lazy, unmotivated, or just bad colleagues.

i maybe optimistic, or naive, but i hope to work in an atmosphere someday with people who care about the quality of their work, that can meet a deadline, that have a sense of time urgency, and are intelligent and decent people. (oh, and team-players too!)

of all the lies that one could put on a resume....to lie and put you are a team player, when you actually are not, just because it is one of the BUZZ phrases that managers like to see, has got to put you in one of the deepest rings of dante's hell.

and that is why ladies and gents, i don't play well with others.

traffic from interesting sources

2011-04-29T16:30:00.000-07:00

so as anyone who blogs would know, you can see where traffic to you your blog comes from. the stats page tells you various cool information like keyword searches that brought your blog up in google, among other things. interestingly i saw more than usual traffic coming from certain keyword searches, that were, surprising, and well ummmmm....disturbing.

now think of what someone might search, that would accidentally bring up a blog called amateur's corner. if you were thinking along the lines of pornography, you would be correct. i can't believe, that it took me two years to realize that my title had a dirty innuendo. i am usually so good with clever innuendo, i guess this one just slipped by.

anyway, for the internet community that stumble upon my amateurs corner by uhmm...accident, i apologize for the mix up. let me just say, it is pretty unlikely that any risque photos will be posted here.

how hilarious that i received way more traffic to my blog than i would've under a less ambiguous title. as a marketing professional in training, i wonder how useful a tactic that is for seo. give links or web pages potentially dirty names, in order to get more keyword hits. one unconfirmed stat that i always hear is that the web is 70% porn, so someone could strategically use that to their advantage......right?

:)

Goodwill Pub Crawl

2011-04-14T11:18:00.000-07:00

pub crawls are pretty frequent happenings in pacific beach area of san diego, so the need to distinguish themselves through t-shirts, mustaches, and common themes is needed. pickle and i have been on a hand full of them, and they are always fun. for some reason, walking with a group of friends, or soon to be friends, down by the beach, drunk, leaving one bar before it gets old or stale, only to stumble to the next new place, it's just so exciting.

last weekend, we were lucky enough to join a group for a dual birthday fiesta. we didn't know more than a few people, but we liked the theme and like meeting new people so, we went. the theme was "dress to embarrass." the idea was that everyone met a bar, wearing clothes they planned to donate to goodwill, they names are pulled, and the name that you pull, is the person you will be dressing at goodwill. at goodwill, it is a free for all- the craziest items that anyone can find, are put on and then starts the pub crawl.

i must stop to mention, how this idea also supports goodwill, we may have left the store looking a little bit like a tornado hit it, but i bet the group spent about 300 + dollars there. plus we donated our clothes. ....well, most of us did. i decided to wear leggings that were jeans, or jeggings as they are commonly referred to. when it came to drop them in the donate bin, something in me didn't want to part with the jeggings. they made it back to the trunk of my car, and they will be worn again, probably as another joke.

anyway, here is a photo of me and pickle in the glorious outfits that were chosen for us. pickles was a women's- set and very tight on him, he looked like he was going to bust out of it, like the incredible hulk.

random pics and movie reviews

2011-03-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

since when is this jimi hendrix song called "Voodoo Chile".....i dunno, but i think i like it.

dyl pickle schooled me in "apple" scrabble today w/ "roved" i challenged it too, what an idiot. worst part is he gave me a decent definition that turned out to be right. i will think twice before i question dyls knowledge of the english language.

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movie reviews;

the social network,

well i certainly don't understand what all the hoopla was about. i found the story interesting, but i felt like i could've edited 45 minuted out. but those winkelman twins, that were rowing the whole time, ....babes. 45 minutes of lawyering up should get cut, and 45 more minutes of the crew team should be added. just a suggestion.

the fighter;
excellent. can't believe mark wahlberg was pretty much the sole person not nominated for an academy award in that cast. well, what does the academy know? so he plays pretty much the same character every movie he is in... so what! you can't help it if you have been type-casted as a bad-ass, with an amazing six pack. loved this movie, and amy adams, and christian bale too.

that is all for now, unless you want to watch this snl short "mark wahlberg talks to animals"

Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education | Video on TED.com

2011-03-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education | Video on TED.com

The ethical side of business

2011-02-26T22:52:00.000-08:00

my accounting instructors have mentioned everything from fudging numbers, to creative accounting, and keeping things off the balance sheet. no wonder so many execs have been caught participating in unethical business practices. maybe we should take a closer look at how we are teaching accounting and financial practices to mba students. it seems to me that damn good accounting and illegal activities can look very similar.

but this post isn't to talk about the sarbanes-oxley act, it is to shine the light on some companies doing the right thing, just because. few have realized that there is money to be made if you stay true to values. here are some of my favorite.

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http://www.outofprintclothing.com/

t-shirts that feature the original book art on classic novels.

"For each shirt we sell, one book is donated to a community in need through our partner Books For Africa."

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another is the shoes adopted by the so anti-trendy, that is has become trendy, pseudo-sub-culture, the hipsters. and it goes so well with their flannel and chunky boots. tom's shoes donated a pair of shoes for every purchase to a child in need, all over the world.

http://www.toms.com/

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the greater good website (specifically the shopping part)

The GreaterGood Network is a family of websites that provide simple, effective, feel-good ways to directly help people, animals, and the planet. Thank you for your caring online actions.

I am a fan of this website because when you choose rescue animals, then each product for sale, tells you how many bowls of food that it will buy.

https://www.theanimalrescuesite.com

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Randomness--Quick Update on This Year's Success and Failures

2011-02-11T20:59:00.000-08:00

can you believe that it is february already? my aztec basketball team is rated number 6 in the nation, amazing! i hope to get tix to a game coming up, but students are camping out at night in order to get their hands on the student section tix. i just don't know if i have that kind of school spirit in me.... we will see.

i have been failing at getting motivated and we are four weeks into the semester, i really need to get my shit together before my midterms sneak up on me.... please adhd, give me a freakin' break.

surf class has been occupying my thursday afternoons and this week, (our first week in the ocean) i stood up twice, for a long duration of time. the same day, my older sister was kind enough to text me that a "small" great white SHARK was spotted just 15 minutes from where i was surfing, 500 yards form the shore..... awesome.... it will be difficult to surf next week without playing scenes of jaws in my head. dun nah............. dun nah...........dun nah...dun.nah..dunnah!

i would poop my wetsuit if i saw this!

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/feb/10/small-great-white-spotted-coast-la-jolla-cove/

funny, because i saw lots of dolphins yesterday while in the water, but next week i hope i can tell the difference between this.....;

and this;

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KNIT FAIL:
i have also failed to finish all my beer koozies... i promised more than i could deliver. i need to get on these, many are mostly completed just waiting to be stitched up.

BROWNIE FAIL:
tried this recipe, and i messed it up fo sho, because (pickle can vouch for this) mine tasted like garbage.

READING SUCCESS:
well not anything school related, MBA FAIL, but i have finished three books in just a few weeks. i feel good about it, since i really love reading but my add has often kept me from completing books, even if i was very interested in them. (okay i didn't finish the last 10 pages of MJF's book, and not the last 50 of redemption) i am not a perfect person, alright!

back to school, back to school

2011-01-20T09:50:00.000-08:00

last night i started class again. i couldn't help but think about the contrast of this first day versus my first day last semester. last semester (my very first semester of the mba program, i was so nervous i felt like i would throw up at any minute.) i felt like i didn't belong, that people would make fun of my art degree (i was right, they did) and i would not be able to compete against these business undergrads and older professionals in class, ultimately (on my first day of class) i thought i would flunk out and it was just a matter of time.

last night however, i was happy, excited to see some friends i hadn't seen in a while, prepared (with all course materials, i brought two calculators, gross huh?) i had the confidence that comes with an amazing 3.5 gpa the semester before, and ringing in my ears was my little cheerleader inside (it's a metaphor, i was never or never will be a cheerleader), saying "kim you got this!"

here is the description of this class, so you can read how scary it sounds.

financial management-- the uglier sister to the financial reporting class i suffered through last year. a little bird told me the professor wasn't that great either! this is what is said about the professor on ratemyprofessor.com ;

so as you can see i was a little hesitant. but honestly, it isn't like he can flunk all of his graduate students, right? plus there were a couple little idiosyncrasies that i think i can focus on that will at least keep me entertained. one....how he writes on the chalk boards. (i know there are chalk boards, what are we in a 19 cent. school house with kids of all ages) sidebar: i am very upset that this class is not in the fancy grad. rooms, shaped like a U (for the socratic method i suppose) with huge professional tables (looks like congress, but miniature) and we have pink comfy swivel chairs. i love the chairs in that room. oh EBA 339 i miss you......okay back to my story, this classroom has chalk boards and those awful chairs that are connected to your desk set up in rows. gross huh? okay well, sterk tends to bang on the chalk board very loudly each time he writes. cracks me the F up. i love it. secondly i also love when he is a little rude and ends conversations abruptly and awkwardly with students. so awesome to watch.

so here is the rest of my line up.....looks fun huh? not.

the cheese nightmare

2011-01-07T13:26:00.000-08:00

my first ever guest post! isn't it exciting. the author, alex, is a friend of mine whose gourmet cooking would impress even the greatest chefs, critics and institutions on par with le cordon bleu. i asked him to create a recipe for his creation that he named the cheese nightmare. enjoy!
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The Cheese Nightmare

Ingredients

18 slices bread
18 plastic cheese squares
Extra cheese rectangles (to taste)
Directions

First things first. You are going to want to pick the right cheese which sounds easy but beware. There are many logical pitfalls to mind whilst attempting to tame the fickle beast that is: The Cheese Nightmare. Many people think that Velveeta would be a tasty ingredient however, while Velveeta is excellent for making dips it is simply too runny. You don’t want to buy generic cheese squares because they taste grossly offensive. You also don’t want to buy the thicker cheese squares that are separated by wax paper as their heartiness often leads to an inexplicable phenomenon known as “cheese sweat”. If you don’t believe me go ahead and whip up some ‘mares’ on a first date and see if you get a second. While the taste is similar the thicker cheese lacks the chemical properties that gives regular plastic cheese its warm inviting glow when presented on a tasty piece of bread. Kraft American Cheese Slices have time and again proven themselves in the microwave as the go-to cheese for every culinary situation. I find them to have a nice, piquant after dinner flavor. Heavy, but with just a touch of mellow smoothness.
Step 2 is to choose your bread and here you can really go in any direction. Picking a unique type of bread will undoubtedly give your cheese nightmare that little something that separates it from all the others. Keep in mind however, that the heartier bread the more the flavor of the cheese singlet will be masked. On the other end of the spectrum if you decide to go with thin bread like Wonder, for instance, you risk sogginess which will surely ruin any dinner party. Indeed choosing the right bread is the most challenging quandary in which one must overcome to make the perfect cheese nightmare.
Put the cheese on the bread. Sounds simple right? Incorrect. Some breads are oddly shaped and create yet another sticky wicket for you, the gourmet chef, to best. I have found that when unwrapping the plastic cheese it is best to stop after the first plastic unfurling step and to tear the thin rectangle of exposed cheese away from the main body. You are left now with a small rectangle and the larger cheese “square”. You can now use this cheese rectangle to customize your nightmare by placing it where needed to create an equal cheese distribution across the face of the bread.
Lay two pieces of paper towels in your microwave (this is to absorb moisture)
Put assembled cheese nightmare on paper towel and microwave for 20-30 seconds depending on wattage of microwave
Let cool for 30 seconds to 1 minute
Consume. Many words and phrases have been used to describe the feeling after eating a cheese nightmare: sublime; scrumtrulescent, self-actualization. Whatever type of religious experience you have after eating a cheese nightmare for the first time just remember that the cheese nightmare were created to be shared. Make them for your friends, family and loved ones so you can all enjoy the experience together.

friends look good in polaroids

2011-01-04T21:37:00.000-08:00

trade my spinach for your fusilli

2011-01-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

this is a vegetarian pasta recipe that i threw together tonight. and it was good!

sidebar: this is not a professional food blog! it is called amateur's corner, because i am just that, an amateur. i really just recently (last couple years) began eating vegetables and cooking for myself, so i feel that some context is needed when viewing posts like these that detail (what i think are) great cooking successes. mostly, i post anything and everything i don't want my ADHD mind to forget. so without further ado, trade my spinach for your fusilli.

i used;
half box of spinach fusilli
8 basil leaves
quarter large onion
two small zucchini
two roma tomatoes
3 stalks celery
one clove garlic (minced)
trader joes marinara sauce
salt, pepper
oregano
olive oil
fresh bread

boil water for pasta

add garlic, onions, olive oil and celery to sauce pan for 5 or so minutes, til onions start getting clearish

add diced tomato, and zucchinis, salt, pepper, oregano to sauce pan for 5 or so minutes

add pasta to boiling water

add marinara sauce to pan, and fresh basil cut up for few more minutes

drain pasta, cover with sauce

serve with cut pieces of bread (drizzled with EVOO) and tomato, mozzarella, and basil.

yummy (serves two hungry people) takes about 25 min.

dude, my blog features many pasta dishes... it's almost as if i lived in florence, italy for a year and ate nothing but pasta.

2011-01-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

my sister got an awesome camera, canon rebel. and here are some pictures, the two of the ornaments i took, and the one of gus i just thought was too cute to not include. it was a great holiday season and my family completed a 1000 piece puzzle together, aren't we cool!

barbie isn't the only slut who gets a dreamhome!

2011-01-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

some may know, as of the 1st of jan. hgtv started their new dreamhome sweepstakes. you can enter once on hgtv and once on front door.com each day til feb. 18th. this year's home in stowe, vermont is gorgeous and even though i know i would have to sell it, property taxes and such would be too expensive, i love the look of everything.

HGTV and FrontDoor

i will be entering dyl pickle and i everyday, mostly because the winners every year say they did it religiously. you should all enter as much as possible.

here are some pictures of my favorite things in the house.

Epic New Year's Just Always Happen To Me

2011-01-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

so this year for NYE my mom bought tix for my family to go to the big night san diego party, and got us all nights at the hotel, which was the beautiful hilton bayfront, it was pretty epic. all food and vip top shelf booze included. never had to wait for a drink. great music, great company, what a blast. drunken night, preceded by not too too bad of a headache (stuck to grey goose vodka and juice the whole time). woke up the next morning continued to drink bottomless mimosas and come to find my mom and her cousin booked the hotel rooms again another night. so we did it all over again. (pickle in my head saying "can't stop, won't stop") we went to dinner, then drank in the hotel bar, and we were all tired and exhausted (looking like zombies), but somehow we managed to make it out to shout house that evening. we came back to hotel bar around 2am. and we shut it down. then when you'd think it was all over. we went to our hotel room to drink more. bet you thought i would have a wicked hangover. but no. man good vodka goes down better than cheap beers at pint night.

pickle and i walked to a park the next morning with gus, who i have failed to mention was at the hotel with us both nights. pet friendly hotels are awesome. then went home. great great NYE.

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it isn't the first great NYE i have had. just a couple off the top of my head. was when dyl pickle came to flo-town and we celebrated at midnight in piazza raphael smashing empty champagne bottles in the square with hundreds of crazy italians.

another, was at B-stone bar in kearny mesa, with pickle's friend mike. it was a crazy time indeed.

great new years just seem to happen to me and i am very grateful for that and to my awesome mom who bought us vip tickets.

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my resolutions;

workout------gym 2 times a week, extra long hikes or walks 2 times a week
cook more-------eat healthier, more veggies (can't be too hard since this last year i learned about whole foods, and have come to like quinoa, butternut squash, and others, and i have great resources, hungry hungry hippie, and 101 cookbooks)
pack leader------ straight from the dog whisperer, i need to be a pack leader with calm assertiveness.
study better------sdsu mba program won't kick my butt, i want to get better than my 3.5 gpa next semester. which will be challenging, all of my classes will be very difficult.

Slow Club- Apples and Pairs

2010-12-15T11:42:00.000-08:00

annoying radio personalities

2010-12-09T11:41:00.000-08:00

how do these people get these cool jobs. i long for the time when radio hosts knew about music and kept the chit chat to a minimum. now, a 20 second clip of a great song is followed by the intro to an awful morning show, where the uneducated hosts talk about fuck-all, that noone care about. (ie. their kids, their wife, celebrities going to rehab, conservative nonsense bable.)

i decided to write this post after i have written my second enraged email in just a few months to radio stations in my city. the latest one i included below; it was in response to a hispanic man calling in asking a question, (trying to win some prize) and the host just started making fun of his accent and how the man said "job." the man never got a chance to win the prize and was instead humiliated on a radio show that he is a fan of.

to:dsc@sandiegojack.com

you guys are mediocre at best. why can't we just hear music in the morning instead of ignorant, uneducated, radio personalities making fun of hispanic callers and their accents. I don't get why some people like you, I think you are a disgusting human-being. try being more courteous to your fans; your show is terrible, and you should feel really fortunate that you have them.

kim minkel
graduate student in business
1/4 hispanic heritage
someone much smarter than you

we need a revolution to bring music back to radio. dumb reality shit has already taken over MTV (supposed to be music television), and now we are losing our radio.

the silver lining is however that local podcasts have hit the internet and i can now listen to them in my home. what to do in the car in the mean time? i guess i will just have to make sure my ipod is updated with new tunes and with me at all times.

here is one of my favorite san diego podcasts, let me know if you know any others!

http://www.owlandbear.com/

got brand loyalty?

2010-12-07T22:40:00.000-08:00

as i conclude my marketing class tonight, i can't help but feel relieved that i made it through my first mba class. now to reflect on one concept, brand loyalty, here are some items that have that something extra, that i will never give up. do you have some items that you are completely stuck on?

Mumford & Sons - The Cave

2010-11-26T18:02:00.000-08:00

Kings Of Leon - Radioactive

2010-11-16T10:01:00.000-08:00

Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over (2010 Version)

2010-11-16T09:50:00.000-08:00

freaky friday!

2010-11-12T16:12:00.000-08:00

sorry these thoughts are all over the place.

i've been knitting a lot lately. i have decided since i am living on student loans, knitted gifts for x-mas is a good idea. plus i found a project that i am so excited about and everyone who is anyone would love. knitted beer koozie with strap. take a look at the pictures below, jealous right! ofcourse right now it takes me about 4 hours to make one. :0 also bought a guide to knitting so i can hone my awesome skills. knitting, it's not just for you grandma!

this is a picture of my friend and the beginning of my knit koozie obsession. see, don't they look happy! don't you sometimes wish you didn't have to hold your beer. well, problem solved.

lately i had 4 beautiful house guests. friends of mine that i met while studying abroad in italy came to visit me for my birthday and the fun was epic. see picture! went to my and pickle's favorite sushi restaurant and a piano par, where i got stupid drunk got called on stage and made an amazingly good ass out of myself. :)

here we are at stone brewery in escondido, beer tour and best lunch ever.

now i am behind on school work, so i will probably disappear from this blog for another month.

went to whole foods for the first time today (hungry hungry hippie inspired me). i bought so much food, from the deli got a jicama slaw and seasonal squash quinoa, both were delicious. got butternut squash, hummus, tons of broccoli and cans of pumpkin (not sure what i am going to do with those yet). it was like disneyland for adults who love healthy food.

bought a thick yoga mat..... must start exercising!

So to add to my very long list of things i am trying to learn. knitting, spanish, blogging, photography, cooking, guitar.....

"Take Me Out" by Atomic Tom LIVE on NYC subway

2010-10-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

Fitz and the Tantrums - MoneyGrabber

2010-10-20T16:45:00.000-07:00

2 years of MBA, 2 years of IBS.... oh god, i hope not!

2010-10-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

oooohhhh midterms are upon us.

*financial reporting midterm was a group one and is now behind me, my group got a 42/50, which sounds respectable but in grad school it is all about the average, and this score was just under the average. major bummer!
*statistics, wicked hard test on probability functions that i took wed., will see how i do on that one, but i thinking 80/100 or 85/100 (after the curve) curious to see how close my prediction is. (also already given a pretty complex assignment on determining confidence intervals and writing them up into a report for a marketing team, due on wed. this coming week) that is just cruel in my opinion. (way to kick your students while they are down professor r)
*organizational behavior, midterm is on monday, i need to make about 250 flash cards this weekend for this test.
*marketing midterm on tuesday night (definitely typed tuesnight first) which i will begin studying for, after the monday midterm, so as to not confuse my brain.

tangent----
saturday (after 12), i am officially taking a pause from add meds and studying and will go to the homecoming game (sdsu vs air force), with pickle and some mba friends/classmates/peers? we will be tailgating and eating unhealthy food and drinking beer.

ofcourse i am thinking that i might bring a sac lunch and be sipping peppermint tea. reason being, i have self diagnosed myself with ibs and partaking in frat boy like drinking doesn't sound like a good idea. (surprised?, i have talked about grosser things on my blog before)
isn't it that true you take your amazingly intricate and delicate digestive system for granted, until the day it stops working.

i feel that there is a lot of misinformation online about what to eat to promote healthy digestion. i always hear veggies, whole grains, foods rich in fiber. (but this is if you have a relatively healthy digestion before hand) the last thing you want to do in a serious bout of ibs is to start eating all the fiber you can find. (in fact i continually make this mistake, which is my reason for blogging about it, force myself to remember for the future.)

anyway, i am torn from wanting to eat healthy, and wanting to end my ibs. so i am going to try to not stress and i will go to henrys and get the following things.

peppermint tea
bananas
greek yogurt
sweet potatoes
apple sauce
white bread
white rice
acidopholus (supplements)

wish me luck on midterms, and with the digestive stuff.

Water World

2010-10-14T12:34:00.000-07:00

werid ass dream last night

i was a vistitor on a strange planet, that worshipped water and used it for everything. and yet water was scarse, and used for many different things.

the dream starts,

i am driving in a car around a scenic road through a red, rocky environment (a lot like the 40 min rocky area of arizona that you drive through to get to las vegas from san diego) anyway i was in the backseat with a citizen of this rock planet and front seats were my twin sisters. we were asking about the planet.

next, twins are gone, just me and this girl who lives here. she tells me about her brother who was captured and put in prison for a crime he didn't commit. she enlists my help to break him out of prison, since i can not get in trouble, because the laws of this planet do not apply to me. (weird justice system, i know)

we walk up to the strangest prison i have ever seen. guards have water guns (little ones, not those bad ass super soakers), so we go up to the prison in the sky and we sit in seats of what looks like a hangy rollarcoaster (you know when your feet are dangling.)

the girl is gone and i am siting next to her brother, above a river, and he pulls off his harness and drops into the river. confused i do the same, we climb out of the river, and start runnning, a gaurd stops him and shots him in the face with a water gun, but i grap the gun and shoot the gaurd in the face, i grap the brother and we get away.

now we are at his folks house, and they have a small pool in the house. everything is white or blue, and in deep contrast to the desert background we have been running from. water is sacred i find out here, and it can be used to heal and debilitate (ie the guns). anyway. breif family reunion in the pool, and then the police show up. (the brother hides in some special water) i dont know, it was bluer water and he disappeared into it.

the police grill me for helping a prisoner escape, i told them i didn't know what would happen, and reminded them that i am outside their jurisdiction and so they left.

i woke up.

weird right!

The Sassy Curmudgeon: If Wishes Were Horses Testicular Atrophy (or, Like Father, Like Daughter)

2010-09-30T12:14:00.000-07:00

The Sassy Curmudgeon: If Wishes Were Horses Testicular Atrophy (or, Like Father, Like Daughter)

awesome post by sassy curmudgeon. stolen, because i love when art is interactive, someday i hope to open a gallery or museum around this concept.

which reminds me of a art show during my undergrad, 100 years ago, at sdsu there was an artist who made sculpture out of large wooden beams, and they could be moved and changed by finding secret levers or compartments in the beam. it was so much fun to try, and also to observe people interacting and trying to figure out the puzzle. i will try to find out something about this artist and post it.

(tangent) i know i haven't been very clever on my blog lately and have been borrowing heavily from other clever people. but that is because i need to do homework for chapter 5, 6, 7 in statistics, write the critical analysis on my meg whitman paper, and meet with my group about my dupont financial statement analysis. it is much less time consuming to borrow than create, so get over it.

i am making responsible choices for me future. having an mba better be a-w-e-s-o-m-e.

anderson cooper, i love you.

2010-09-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

what a dick, huh?

you will be so glad you read this.....my dog's caloric intake

2010-09-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

i should absolutely be focused on my mountains of accounting (sorry financial reporting, s.e.c. rules and such) and statistics homework, but i would hate to neglect my blog and my many avid readers. lol

anyway, i have been concerned with how much and what gus eats since, well ... since day one when we got him. sometimes i think he is looking a little chubby. so i wanted to figure out how many calories he eats a day vs. how many calories he should be eating.

resting energy requirements or rer

the rer is the basic amount of energy that a dog would use in a day while remaining at rest. the formula to calculate rer for animals between 2 and 45 kg (5 - 99 pounds) is:

rer in kcal/day = 30(body weight in kilograms) + 70

so gus weighs about 22lbs or

1 pound = 0.45359237 kilograms

22(.45359237)= 9.98

rer=30(9.98) +70

rer= about 370 calories

(the hard part was finding out the calories in his food) because we mix honest kitchen and canidae.

so i deduced that we should be feeding him about 420-480, depending on how active his day was. and that is about what he does eat, not counting the cat poop he eats when i am not looking. gross huh...what is with dogs and cat poop?

but now if he gets fatter, i am going to say to him 'gus, that cat poop is really going to your thighs.'

here is gus a few days after we got him. he is about twice as big now, but just as cute.

lady gaga, you make me sick!

2010-09-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

http://style.mtv.com/2010/09/13/2010-vmas-lady-gaga-meat-dress-real/#more-12468

a friend of mine posted this link on his facebook and i left the following as a comment. i know i couldn't resist being judgemental. no one is perfect okay. this is in regards to the dress that lady gaga wore to the mtv video music awards.

the real cost of this dress;

so it took 50 lbs of meat to make this dress. consider this it takes 16 lbs of grain to produce 1 lb of meat. so in essence this dress needed 50 times 16= 800 lbs of grain to make. (that could have feed people...). it is estimated that 800 million people go hungry each day.

further more, the water that was used to produced these grains and that the cow drank were wasted. clean water is such a precious resource and lady gaga just wasted thousands of gallons. not to mention the pollution from the cow (in terms of gas (methane) to the air quality and the cows excrement run off into our underground water aquifers. (cow excrement is the largest pollutant to our fresh water preserves)

finally all those grains that were fed to that cow that lady gaga wore, were probably soy or corn. two crops that are the most damaging to the topsoil in America (which we are losing at several inches a year). also the two crops which the most harmful pesticides are used on (further polluting our environment).

i get it, she is edgy! but how cool are you lady gaga when you show absolute carelessness for the planets limited resources. resources that we as people have to share.

i like fashion too, but i like clean air, clean water, and food to eat more.

you suck lady gaga!

sidenote: economics is essentially just looking at our limited resources and allocating those resources in the most efficient ways. i think producing meat so that lady gaga can make a meat dress (to further prove that she is outrageous) is not the best use of our finite resources. were inefficiencies exist, changes should be made to correct them. we need to correct this behavior in hollywood. if there are people out there who think this is cool, they should be smacked in the side of the head with a cattle prod (or better yet a copy of one of the following books)

diet for a small planet by frances moore lappe
in defense of food by michael pollan
omnivore's dilemma by michael pollan
food politics by marion nestle
the china study by collin campbell, phd

a window into my relationship

2010-09-12T20:08:00.000-07:00

watching football game, and a commercial comes on for some cookie cutter cop show staring some obscure, cute blonde actress. last line of preview, "...something something something, 'cause i'm a us marshall.'

kim: (identifying with cute blonde actress) wouldn't it be cool to be a us marshall. i mean, i think there are only a handful of them.

pickle: (looks up from his laptop and fantasy football stats) hmmm, i dunno. i just know that chuck norris was a texas ranger.

kim: (pauses to consider what pickle has just said) what? (thinking that isn't the same thing, ....is it the same? i mean i don't know anything about us marshalls or texas rangers. maybe they work together sometimes to fight crime. maybe it's like how the marines are part of the navy. states rangers are part of the us marshalls ...(that doesn't sound right). maybe texas ranger is just a made up title, chuck norris gave to himself. i have never met a marshall or a ranger, so maybe they are both made up. .....stupid made up us marshalls.)

cute song, small world, randomness, art

2010-09-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

found this song on a blog of someone who i went to high school with. small world, smaller blogging community. anyway it occurred to me today that if i just have a couple readers, whose blogs are well read, their followers may occasionally read my blog, and become readers, and grow exponentially. anxiety and insecurity rising, my blog isn't ready for that sort of lime light. lol. but really i should actually start blogging daily and making things more interesting.

update: i have another follower, bringing the grand total to 3! yeah! so this is a shout out to you rick, even if the act of clicking 'follow' on my blog was an accident, i have now mentioned you in a post and have therefore guilted you into being my most loyal reader. haha women are so tricky, huh.

to anyone thinking to themselves what a loser, she only has three followers. to be fair, my friends and family do not follow this blog, except you safuego (i love you). but yeah you would be right, what a loser. :)

on another side note, i should check with the artist to make sure it is alright first. eh, i'll check later, here is some new art from a friend of mine. he is a san francisco artist and if interested i can put you in touch with him. i am sure he will be excited for exposure on such a popular blog (wink wink).

"a gale in the night" by chris love

why are there no blog posts in august?

2010-09-10T17:37:00.000-07:00

well aug. i was busy working my butt off at my seasonal position as a waitress by a pool at the legendary hotel del coronado. probably one of the most challenging jobs, physically, that i have ever done. so to the point, i got a weekend off for my friend safuego and her husband's joint bachelorette/ bachelor party in las vegas. it was epic!

okay so drinking in a party bus the way there and back was a great idea in theory, but not so good in practice. a couple people got sick / peed in bottles + the bus had poor ventilation = misery. despite it all though, it was a great, great time.

here are some highlights that i can remember;

-pickle dancing the night away at the club "the bank" (he is not a man that dances under usual circumstances)
-nobody got arrested or fought
-donnelly's boy short underwear that read, and i quote... "maneater"
-mojitos at belagio, mmmm i love mojitos
-greenman high rolling (at least for a little while), while pickle, donnelly and i danced behind him
-drunk idiot at cesar's palace betting on every number at the roulette table, then announcing "i win every time!, i win every time!" as he knocks chips everywhere. what a mess.
-pickle more than once, referring to the aforementioned hotel as "little" cesar's palace
-morning after, disgustingly hungover, laying on the grass outside flamingo, a gross ass bird befriended us. the thought of him will forever creep me out.

in answer to the question in the title, the reason there are no posts in august is that it took weeks to recover from this trip. honestly, weeks.

farmer's market

2010-09-10T17:02:00.000-07:00

today pickle and i went to our local farmer's market. i learned that lime and sea salt almonds are delicious and that free cheese and green chile tamales taste better than ones you pay for. my favorite part of the experience was the free samples. that should be a practice that should move beyond costco and farmer's markets. i love trying stuff first. plus, i then feel obligated to consider buying it at that point. it is a delicious good sales strategy.

we bought;
raw almonds
heirloom tomatoes
plums
cantaloupe
loaf of multi grain, extra seedy bread
tabbouleh, hummus, and pita
tamales
strawberries

i don't need to go to paul mitchell school for this

2010-09-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

so today after my shower i decided i would cut my own hair. now, in order to put this statement into some context, my sophomore year of undergrad i vowed to never cut my hair again, after i accidentally cut my eyelashes while doing my bang trim. couldn't wear mascara for a year. i think it is safe to say however, that is mistake you only make once. anyway, i just recently cut gus' hair and it was a success so i decided my hair is next.

plus, if you have been reading my blog, you know i am beyond broke and paying for someone to cut my hair is out of the question. how about i pay for food for me and my dog first. my overpriced masters program second, and well that leaves me in the negative.

in addition to all this, the last couple times i have had my hair done, i have been less than impressed. lets be real, if my hair is going to be uneven or have trailer park looking highlights, it better be me that is making those mistakes. i didn't go to school for this, or log thousands of hours doing hair, i don't claim to be an expert, and most importantly i don't charge for my services.

anyway, i finished, blew it out and it looks pretty good. i mean, not that it has to look great, i have wavy hair and all. i was going to take a picture, but then i couldn't bring myself to take one of those pictures in the bathroom with your phone. see below----> they make me cringe

okay maybe demi moore looks good doing it, but that is it, everyone else looks dumb.

Nic Marks: The Happy Planet Index | Video on TED.com

2010-09-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

Nic Marks: The Happy Planet Index | Video on TED.com

happy planet index. this is why i love ted. beside being on a statistical analysis kick, i love how ted inspires.

David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization | Video on TED.com

2010-09-08T16:56:00.000-07:00

David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization | Video on TED.com

tribute to my stats class. "data is the new soil"

broke but inspired

2010-09-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

these are just some images that are aesthetically pleasing to me.... they all come from a blog fav of mine http://thebeautyfile.blogspot.com. enjoy!

first week of my mba

2010-09-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

-$20,000 in student loans, -3,000 to bail friend out of jail, -2,600 to buy another car, -800 to fix old car (yes i now have two cars).

it has been a very busy month and i have not had a chance to write about all my goings on. but, despite being as broke as can be i am extremely happy in my current life situation. no longer am i stuck in the purgatory of out of college but without real job. i am now back to being a student, enrolled in a mba program that is ranked in the top 50 in the nation.

i am one week in and have already decided that i need to save managerial economics til next semester.

my current schedule as it will remain;

ba 650 financial reporting and analysis
ba 651 organizational behavior
ba 652 statistical analysis
ba 655 marketing

my impression of my classes is that they will be very very challenging, ...of my professors, that they love what they do and really do want us to succeed,...of my classmates, that they are the most intelligent group of people that i have ever met.

i have quit my job and my guitar lessons :(, but i can't justify guitar lessons when i am living off loans. my only focus for the next two years is to do well in this program, network my butt off, get great internships, and get a job that will make me rich.

taco salad mystery recipe

2010-07-19T21:40:00.000-07:00

this salad was amazing, however, i have no idea where the inspiration came from for this. i can't seem to find the recipe i used and will probably never be able to recreate it exactly. even though i started a blog to record and archive these sorts of things. i think i really must have a.d.d. anyway, i know that the dressing was made form lime juice and other things, (honey, but i remember thinking i would 86 the honey on my 2nd attempt)

thank goodness for photos....
ingredients; avacado
corn
chicken
tomatos
red onion
black beans
salsa
tortilla chips
various seasonings
exc..

pride!

2010-07-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

these are some highlights of our night in hillcrest during pride. a picture says a thousand words, so here are 3000 for you to ponder.

1st guitar lesson

2010-07-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

yesterday was my very first guitar lesson.

i need to write down this mess of feelings that i experienced after my guitar lesson, so that i can continue to practice and not lose motivation.

i felt excited with the possibility, happy that i was trying something totally new and foreign, every song i heard i tried to make a mental note to learn (once i am good enough obviously), pure bliss and joy, and all i did was learn chords Em Am C and D and how to hold the guitar correctly.

so happy to have found something else that i think i will love very much.

my current listenings, it's good, real good

2010-07-14T20:59:00.000-07:00

Cold War Kids- Santa Ana Winds
Cold War Kids- Audience of One
Cold War Kids- Golden Gate Jumpers
Dr. Dog- Shadow People
Julian Casablancas- 11th Dimension
Julian Casablancas- Tourist
Free Energy- Bang Pop
Delta Spirit- Strange Vine
Delta Spirit- Ode to Sunshine
Surfer Blood- Take it Easy
Surfer Blood- Swim
TV On The Radio- Wolf Like Me
Violent Femmes- Kiss Off
Drake, ft. Peter Bjorn- Let's Call it Off

while listening to these tunes you should be relaxing, maybe stretching on a yoga mat, drinking either a light mexican beer (sol preferred, but corona will do) or iced green tea- because it is so damn hot, or reading blogs.

happy listening!

picture needs some explanation, huh? okay, i stole it from a family member, he had it on his facebook page, what a hussy huh? anyway, the background is, that it was taken in tahiti (i think), for a modeling agency (chip n' dales, i think) when he was working with them. (he isn't the man in the photo, for anyone wondering) i love it, for obvious reasons, and took it. i don't think he would disapprove though. so enjoy.

the forgotten....

Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros- Home
Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros- Janglin'
Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Maps
Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Gold Lion
Vampire Weekend- Cousins
Vampire Weekend- (everything else vampire weekend has ever made)

Penne a la Punk Ass Betsy-- tribute to pioneer woman

2010-06-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

this is so so yummy..... found the recipe on pioneer woman's blog. i don't know what they were thinking with the amount of heavy whipping cream they used. i am convinced it is a typo. I used reg. whipping cream and about a third of what the recipe calls for. but yummmmmm...dil pickle made a delicious greek salad to go with it.

Here is the recipe from the website

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/09/cooking_with_my_punk-ass_little_sister_penne_a_la_betsy/

Prep Time: 25 Minutes

Cook Time: 25 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Servings:

Ingredients

¾ pounds Penne Pasta
1 pound Shrimp
3 Tablespoons Butter
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 whole Onion (small)
2 cloves Garlic
½ cups White Wine (or To Taste)
1 can Tomato Sauce (8 Oz)
1 cup Heavy Cream.......(used 1/3 cup whipping cream)
Fresh Parsley, to taste .....(i didn't use this, parsley is fluff in my opinion)
Fresh Basil - To Taste
Salt To Taste
Pepper To Taste

Preparation Instructions

Cook the penne pasta until tender-firm, also known as al dente.

Peel, devein and rinse (under cool water) 1 pound of extra large shrimp. Heat about 1 tbsp. butter and olive oil in a skillet. Add the shrimp and cook for a couple minutes until just opaque. Do not overcook them. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Now, put the cooked shrimp on the cutting board and pull off the tails. Chop the shrimp into bite –sized pieces and set aside.
Finely dice one small onion. Mince two cloves of garlic.

In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the garlic and onion and sauté, stirring occasionally. After the garlic and onions have cooked a bit add your white wine. Let the wine evaporate for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. If you would rather not use wine, you can use low-sodium chicken broth instead (about ½ cup).

Now add an 8-ounce can of plain tomato sauce. Stir well until combined. Then add 1 cup of heavy cream. Continue stirring. Turn heat down to low and let simmer.

Now chop your herbs, about a tablespoon of chopped parsley and about the same amount of chopped basil, or if you’re feeling very proper, chiffonaded.

Now add your chopped shrimp back into the tomato cream sauce. Give it a stir and add salt and pepper to taste. Throw in your herbs and stir until combined. Finally add your cooked penne pasta and give it a good stir.

member jacket this way please

2010-06-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

so as anyone who has met me knows, i am a real sucker for a cause. aspca commercials will make me cry and empty my wallet. some causes obviously i feel closer to than others, and that's when i get really sucked in. anything that has to do with animals, and i'm hooked.

walking through a shopping center the other day, a girl from greenpeace asked me if i would like to help save the whales. i said i don't have time and walked on (don't judge, that is what most people do.) but then after walking around a little more, i saw her get shut down by dozens of other people, so i went over and asked how it is that i can help. (after all, who doesn't like whales) i told her that i thought what she was doing, (though challenging) was really important. long story short, i am now a member of greenpeace. whether it was because i felt badly for the whales or the girl, or both.

today, i realized if i am going to give money to an organization, i should really get something for it. (that is the selfish part of this story)..... since i want to work at a contemporary art museum, if i become a member, who gets invited to new showings and events, that would be educational for me and maybe help me rub elbows with the right people. so short story, even shorter, i am also a member of MCASD. can't wait until the next "thurday night thing."

oooo i hope there are some sweet perks.

pieces i wish i owned

2010-05-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

source: Elle Italy shoot with Behati Prinsloo

source: various fashion blogs that i covet, prob the beauty file

source: sf style, the writers look for inspiring looks around sf, then photograph them. it rocks.

source: sf style

e.r.

2010-05-19T15:10:00.000-07:00

okay, so i will try my hardest to eliminate any graphic imagery from this story. which, i mind you, is difficult since the whole event was pretty disgusting.

so sunday, after helping safuego pick out flowers for her upcoming wedding, safuego and la actress, came back to my apt to see if we could actually put the centerpieces together ourselves. I made lunch, fresh green salad, romaine and spinach, corn, tomatoes...and a frozen baked pizza.

we watched some tv and then the girls went home. pickle ate our leftovers, and then it started.

4:45 migraine

5:15 stomach pains

5:45 nausea and vomiting starts and continues every 25-30 min for the next 7 hours

9:00 get to ER,
so embarrassing, after checking in, i look for some where to sit and nobody will let me sit near them- probably because i looked like death and was carrying a large green bucket to throw up in, but still.... people suck. so i finally find a place to sit, and precede to my bucket to... you know.

9:15 i go back to get a pee test and blood drawn, while a poor nurse named allison took my blood, i continued to..... you know. while my wonderful boyfriend held my bucket. after this, they told me i had to go back to the very crowded waiting area, but since i felt a rumble in the deepest part of my stomach, i knew that i did not want to be that far from a bathroom, so i refused. i asked pickle to get me a diaper, (which they should really make in smaller sizes, the diaper came half way up my stomach, out my skinny jeans) i looked so pathetic. (i also want to add, that i didn't need my diaper, {it was precautionary})

9:30-11:30 i laid a towel down on the floor next to a chair for pickle to sit in, (near a bathroom, in the triage area), and curled up in the fetal position on it.

11:30 an angel of a male nurse brought me a stretcher to lie on and a couple warm blankets since i was shivering. (yep i was shivering wearing two sweaters of mine and using pickles huge one as a blanket, i know i am overly dramatic but i felt like i was going to die.) of course moving into the stretcher made me have to ....you know some more.

1:30 am a wonderfully cute/young/ the girl version of doogey howser m.d., came to check me out, she gave me two bags of saline, poked and prodded all my organs to make sure i didn't have appendicitis, pancreatitis, or any ---itis.

1:45 am as soon as the saline drip had time to work, i started to come back to life. but weird, as the saline goes in, you become ice cold from the inside out. i'm sure anyone who has had an iv knows the feeling, it sucks.

3:00 am pickle gets me home and to bed.

5:00 am i wake up, because you know why.

......and finally the demon is out of me.

it is now wed. and i am just now eating normal meals and feeling normal. wow, worst sickness i have ever had: fastest progressing, most dehydrating, grossest, most cholera-like poisoning ever.... and......i did it to myself.

so glad my friends and pickle didn't get sick. man, do i love my boyfriend and my dog who took such good care of me, they are the best.

and the culprit, i blame the spinach. Because fairly recently (6-8 mo's ago) in so cal there was a salmonella/spinach scare. never again will i eat uncooked spinach, but in the fight of salmonella vs kim montoya, i think i should call it a tie.

cell phone cameras, who do they think they are?

2010-05-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

wow, i'm impressed. uno took these pictures with her phone. here is a panoramic of the lake i live near, and at the right edge gus walking with me. and here i am right after giving gus a treat for coming when i called him. he has finally learned rollover and what a proud parent i am.

man morsel monday (a day late)

2010-05-11T14:53:00.000-07:00

whose looking forward to the world cup now, huh? this girl, that's who. i am so glad that vf put landon donovan on the spread. (he should've gotten the cover- or at least his own centerfold, but someday I will be rich, i will buy vf and make them carry out my biding.)

a little monday positivity

2010-05-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

to those of you who have work today, breath deeply once, and think of something you can do today that isn't your job. i'll tell you, on the worst of days, it always made me feel better, to take a longer lunch, clip my fingernails, get a pedicure, haircut, pick up dry cleaning, exc.... all on the company dime. you should officially make today time theft monday.

as for me, i don't have work today. i am in the purgatory between jobs, where it is amazing to have all the free time you could ever want, but no money to do anything. so, i think i will take gus to the beach today and take some pictures with my diana.

polaroid beach, polaroid bar

2010-05-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

love the 80's feel.

so the reason these pictures look different. my scanner likes to f%%% with me and keep me on my toes. It took me a few attempts and at least an hour of my life to be disappointed over and over again with its lack of consistency. anyway, this will remain the final product. and i will keep this in mind when i decide which camera to take out with me, the diana (an expensive, unpredictable, old bitch), the polaroid (artsy arse doesn't get along with scanner) or my new Lumix SLR (digital freedom- which i lost the cable to).

some explanation of pictures;

pickle and i at mission beach- yes i know that pink hat it awesome.

enchilada night- (haven't had successful enchiladas since)---pickle holding lil gus as he stares lovingly at the food. next to them is my sister, (we will call her uno, for reaons she understands, not that it matters, since i am pretty sure i am the only one reading this.) which makes me wonder why i correct my spelling mistakes. no more-- i want to embrace spelling errors.

d & b- (sister dos) and her man (sheriff woody) i guess nicknames are useless here, since their names are written on the polaroid. unless.... i put the wrong names on the photo to fool you. anyway, the purpose of this photo, comemorate the night they engaged with one another. (yea, i know, but i like how it sounds)

beach again- pickle's brother and wife with him, also- you can't see it, but there might be a tiny lil fetus in this picture. we found out recently that there is a bun in the oven.

because i am in between jobs for the next couple weeks i hope i have time to spill out more of my sardonic genius onto this page.

a new philosophy

2010-04-23T21:41:00.001-07:00

mnmlist : less

Stop buying unnecessary things.

Toss half your stuff, learn contentedness.

Reduce half again.

List 4 essential things in your life,

stop doing non-essential things.

Do these essentials first each day, clear distractions

focus on each moment.

Let go of attachment to doing, having more.

Fall in love with less.

little gus gus, light of my life

2010-03-08T11:12:00.000-08:00

feb. 26th pickle and i adopted a puppy. 4 months old, he started life a bit rough with parvo, uri, sarcoptic mange, and giardia. thank goodness for stacy, bruce and dawn at the barking lot foundation who saved him from being put to sleep at the la county shelter. stacy, had him running in her pack, in no time. i am so happy that there are people like her and that she was willing to take a chance on me and pickle, (who have never taken care of dog ourselves). we love him to pieces. he was potty trained after 2 days in our apt. and to be fair the 2nd day was pouring rain outside. he already knows sit. he loves his toy frog and stealing his cousin jack's toys. his favorite snack is peanut butter and those chicken jerky strips make his belly hurt (no more of those).

pickle and i gave him his first bath since we've had him the other day and he took it very well, he liked the bath, but the blow dryer noise scared him a little. after the doggy street festival were pickle and i volunteered, gus demonstrated some barking and growling that he had learned from the big dogs. pickle and me were not impressed (even though it is kinda funny). but he is still learning. we discovered a baseball field near our apt and gus loves going there to chase the ball and frisbee.

i feel like a whole world has opened up to me, full of dog lovers, dog stories, dog stores, dog food, dog toys, dog everything. it is very fun. but most of all i love when he comes up and licks my face and lays down in my lap. my social life is pretty much down to zero, because i only want to be with him, and only want to go places he can go. sorry friends, mommyhood is rough.

master's degree in something useful that can get me a decent paying job, hopefully

2010-03-08T10:48:00.000-08:00

cold rainy winter days like this make me want to move to mexico. but at least it gives me time to write about the beginning of my latest academic adventure. on feb. 16th i received an email from sdsu informing me of their decision to admit me into the mba program of the college of business administration. excited, yes....scared, yes! the letter informed me in kind language that because of my creative background i may want to brush up on some real material. i was assigned statistics, economics, and managerial and financial accounting texts to review before my program starts in the fall. i have yet to get them.

i feel that i really want to succeed this time, not just get the degree but make valuable connections, network, and graduate at the top of my class. of course, we all start out with the best of intentions. we will see where i am come december????

in other news. bought a polaroid camera, and $100 worth of film. first pack, fail. on second pack...pictures to come.

ideas/goals/objectives

2010-02-14T23:19:00.000-08:00

well this list is embarrassing. here are some things i would like to learn. yes some things on the list i maybe too old for, too young for, too busy for, too lazy for, too slow for, too untalented for. (i couldn't figure out how to write that grammatically correct--grammar fail)

photography
cooking
knitting
guitar
calligraphy
driving stick
surfing
spanish
paddle boarding
rock climbing
hiking
skateboarding
yoga

this is a photo composition from an art gallery i used to work at. (i use the word work loosely.) the artist is adam lewis smith, despite me thinking of him as a mediocre person (to be fair, who isn't though), some of his compositions are exceptional. this one i like very much.

potato, onion, veggie burger love

2010-02-12T14:09:00.000-08:00

needed to feed me and pickle and have pretty close to no food in the apt. this was simple and delicious.

4 small russett potatoes (thinly sliced)
.5 white onion
pinch of cayenne pepper
vegetable oil (don't be stingy)
1 tsp of minced garlic
salt and pepper (shoop, shoop ba doop)

veggie patty (defrosted- cut up and added at end)
4 big flour tortillas

i put all top ingredients in skillet and cooked on high heat for about 12 min. put veggie burger for about a minute. served on warmed up tortillas with tapatio and ketchup.

so so so good. but,

when i do it all over again, i will put the onion in a few minutes after the potatoes.

amatuer photographer, amatuer cook

2010-02-12T11:39:00.000-08:00

so... a few days ago i tried a couple recipes found on veggiebelly. i figured a blog post was necessary to document all the mistakes that were made.

http://www.veggiebelly.com/2009/09/ricotta-stuffed-tomatoes.html

stuffed tomatoes...need i say more, delicious! only mistake was only making 12.

http://www.veggiebelly.com/2008/10/pasta-with-seven-vegetable-sauce-curing-a-canned-food-obsession.html

seven veggie pasta

call me crazy but when i looked at that picture i did not realize i would be making the sauce.... i know amateur mistake. but what can i say, my mom raised me to believe that sauce came from a jar. also silly ol' me didn't realize i would need a blender to puree the cooked vegetables. do not ask me how i thought the vegetables would turn into a sauce, i suppose i thought some magic was involved.

so i set out to the store to buy ingredients and holy cow pine nuts are expensive. so i opted for the almond substitute that my recipe suggested (mistake numero uno). while i was cooking i realized this was going to be a lot of food. so i told dill pickle to invite some hungry former marines over (mistake numero dos). not that i don't enjoy the company of pickles entourage, but when you are experimenting in the kitchen, and it is almost certain that things will go terribly wrong, it is best to not have witnesses.

so, food is bought, guests have confirmed. i begin cooking around 3:oopm (keep in mind dinner sched. for 8:00pm), mostly because i was bored and because there was a lot of dicing in order. that was mistake numero tres. if something takes 5 hrs to make, it probably isn't worth it.

after tomatoes are stuffed with the heavenly concoction that is ricotta, pesto, corn, and garlic. i put those in the fridge and set to work on the pasta. that was when i realized that i needed a blender/ food processor and magic or positive thinking were not going to puree my veggies. pickle suggested to just have a chunky sauce. i pictured a stew atop penne noodles, and since that vision grossed me out, i told him he would have to find me a blender. he went to target and bought one. 20 dollars for blender+ 25 dollars on ingredients= a meal that better be worth 45 dollars

final product, not so great. kind of tasteless. but my awesome apt full of marines ate it up like it was the greatest thing to come out of le cordon bleu. i stole the pictures from the veggie belly website so you can see her polished version. i didn't think about it at the time, but my next culinary experiment will be photographed.

over and out.

Instant

2010-01-20T23:52:00.000-08:00

montana tubbing aug. 2009- more polaroids to come...
taylor swift, floating beers, butts hitting rocks, water snakes

Seconds

2010-01-20T22:41:00.001-08:00

nature photos; pickle @ iron mountain, ramona lookout
color photos taken with small square frame

yours truly

wild card on new years. double exposure with pink and reg. flash.

First Attempt- Black White

2010-01-20T21:46:00.000-08:00

pickle doing big arms outside our apartment at dusk. weird the background is almost completely black.

lake murray at sunset; b&w photos taken without frames

expenses: 6$ on film- 20$ on development- 8$ on cds =34$ for 23 pictures. polariods don't seem so expensive now. considering getting the 35mm back for the diana in order to make my learning curve a little less expensive.