Canadianisms Part 3

Icing vs. Frosting: As Little Lisa pointed out in her comment on yesterday's entry, in Canada it's called "icing." In the US of A, it's more commonly referred to as "frosting." These are pretty interchangeable and nothing really gets lost in translation - until, of course, you're trying to *make* frosting/icing, in which case you need something called "powdered sugar" aka "confectioner's sugar" aka, in Canada (and apparently the rest of the Commonwealth) "icing sugar." It's our turn to be literal on this one.

Also, while looking for a colouring implement to make my bunny cake's sweet pink ears, I found a pack of Laurentien pencil crayons (from Canada), and was surprised to see the package labeled "colored pencils." Interestingly, they refer to "pencil crayons" on the main page of the site, and have a whole explanation of "The Making of a Pencil Crayon". Why the discrepancy? Also of interest, according to the history on the company's Web site, Laurentien spelled "colored" on the package without a "u" until the latest redesign in 2003.

Bunny Cake!

Every year I make at least one bunny cake. And every year I'm totally convinced that it's the cutest bunny cake I've ever made.

To wit:



This year I even took the time to write up the instructions for you, my loyal UFF readers, so that you too can create a bunny cake of your very own.

You need:

• A yummy cake recipe (or a cake mix, no judgments!) - I've made many a successful bunny cake with Epicurious' White Chocolate Layer Cake (omitting the apricot filling) but pick something that's easy for you. Carrot cake makes a sweet brown bunny.
• A round cake pan. You only need one round layer to make the cake, so you can either make two bunnies, or use the rest for cupcakes.
• Frosting (I'm going to recommend homemade for this, but only because I don't know of a store-bought one that isn't sickly sweet - funny that I used to be able to eat that stuff right from the cannister!).
• Coconut (fresh coconut is delish but sweetened shredded coconut in a bag works just as well).
• Green food colouring.
• White paper (regular copier paper is fine) and the pink colouring implement of your choice (a crayon, pencil crayon, highlighter, whatever).
• Jelly beans (for your bunny's eyes and nose, as well as to make a flowery meadow for your bunny).

After you've baked your cake, follow these simple instructions to assemble the bunny.

Assembly:


You should have something that looks like this:



Decoration:

• Frost your bunny completely. The tail can get tricky; my best advice is to be generous with your frosting, and don't be afraid to sculpt the tail a little.

• Dye the coconut to make grass: Put some coconut and a few drops of green food colouring in a ziploc bag and squish it all around. If you love coconut, keep some white to sprinkle on the bunny. Spread the green coconut around the bunny so that he's resting in a lovely meadow.

• As you may already have deduced, the bunny's ears will be made of paper. I like to make them after I see my bunny so that they're proportional to his stature - chubbier bunny, chubbier ears. (Hehe, I said "chubby.") Cut your bunny's ears out of the white paper, and add a pretty pink hue to the insides. Tuck the ears behind the bunny's head (where you made the notch out of the cake back in Assembly Step 4).

• Give your bunny jelly bean eyes and a nose.

Voilà! Your bunny is ready to be the centrepiece at your Easter table. Not to mention dessert.

Happy Easter!

Spring

Pussy*
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

It's still cold in Brooklyn, but the pussy willows at the green market this morning are a sure sign of Spring.

Stuffed Bunnies

Easter was a big deal in my house. The Easter Bunny was always very generous, to the point where I'm kind of surprised that I didn't have any cavities until I was in my 20s (at which point the decay hit with a vengeance, but the 11-fillings-in-one-day story is another entry).

When Dos and I ran downstairs on Easter morning, in addition to an abundance of chocolate bunnies and jelly beans, we found a big stuffed bunny in the middle of the table, lording over the sugary treats. He was brown, and had kind of coarse fur, and soft white inside ears. We loved that bunny. We dragged him around and fought over him and took turns sleeping with him. A few days -- maybe a week -- after Easter, whoever had taken him to bed the night before would wake up to find that he'd disappeared. He always returned the following year.

I don't think he ever really had a name other than "The Easter Bunny," and I'm pretty sure my mom still has him around. I don't know where or how that tradition originated, but it's one I plan to carry on to my own family.

Also on the topic of stuffed bunnies, when I was 7 or 8 I wandered downstairs on Easter Eve around midnight, to find our kitchen in a complete state of assembly as my parents put the finishing touches on the most amazing sewn stuffed bunnies EVER. There was one for each of us, and they had baby bunnies too. Quite remarkable.

This year, I'm crocheting my first amigurumi, a very sweet bunny.

Easter weekend continues tomorrow on UFF with instructions to make your very own easter bunny cake!

Easter Week

Here's something to get you in the spirit: Daily Bunny.

The Guinea Pig at the bottom of that page reminds me... For a week a couple of summers ago, our downstairs neighbours were looking after a classroom Guinea Pig named Crystal. We wondered, could there be a more perfect name for a Guinea Pig? Recently I noticed a sign in my neighbourhood advertising a couple of Guinea Pigs up for adoption. Their names? "Peanut," and, the unprecedentedly sweet, "Dimmy."

Dimmy the Guinea Pig. That's some cute shit, yo.

And Found Again

I just found my wallet on the floor of my apartment, behind a chair.

The same floor that I mopped yesterday. I guess I missed a spot.

Take that, Universe.

Lost and Found

In the past two weeks, I have lost:

• My rental car


• My suitcase


• My wallet


• My cellphone

After all the losing, I decided that this week would be the week of finding! This morning when I arrived at work, I found a cookie on my desk! Thanks Doug! Later, when I came back to my desk from getting coffee, I found a gift-wrapped DVD of the first season of Three's Company. Yay! Thanks Bob! My attempt to implement the Law of Attraction might actually be working.

Now, about that cellphone and wallet.

Last Friday morning I noticed my wallet was missing from my backpack on my way to work. I looked around my apartment before I left, and when I didn't find it, I figured I must have left it at work. Apparently, not so much. I am still holding onto a thread of hope that it's in my possession somewhere and I will find it. Ideally tonight, before I actually have to buy anything with real money (like food).

Friday night I went out after work with some generous co-workers who agreed to purchase alcoholic beverages for me (see: no wallet). A couple of glasses (s/glasses/bottles/) of wine later, we took a car service back to my 'hood. Hours later I realized that I was phone-less. I borrowed various phones to call my phone and the car service many, many times, to no avail. DLang astutely pointed out that at some point the phone's battery would die. Good times. (I also probably wouldn't be as fortunate as Candace was in this regard.)

This morning I arrived at work to two email messages from friends who'd called me over the weekend and had spoken with a very nice car service driver who said he'd like to get the phone back to me. Hooray! I resumed my calling-my-phone regime and finally around 4:30 this afternoon the driver answered. He dropped the phone off at my office just now, and I am eternally grateful to him and Arecibo (please call them if you need a car in the BK - they rock). Sure enough, within minutes of having the phone in my pocket, it started singing the Low Battery Blues. Whew.

As an aside, it kind of sucked answering Monday morning how-was-your-weekend watercooler banter with, "I lost my wallet and my cellphone, and I set my cat on fire. You?"

There isn't really a moral to this story, or much of a point, except that my mom was totally right when she used to say that the thing that you lost was right where you left it. Now, if I could only remember where I left my wallet...

Advice for Cat Owners

On your cat's birthday, when you think it would be cool to give her a can of tuna with a candle stuck in it, don't put the dish with the tuna and the lit candle on the floor and try to take a picture of the cat looking at her "birthday cake" for your blog. In your cat's tuna-induced excitement she will have complete disregard for the open flame, and will burn off the lovely long whiskers above her eyes.

She will soon forget about this little mishap, but you'll be reminded every time you see the singed hairs, and you'll feel very, very guilty.

Lounging

Lounging
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

Caturday morning. Tomorrow is Memphis' 10th birthday! She will enjoy a celebratory can of tuna.

Book Networks

As you can probably imagine, social networking is more fun with friends!

I'm trying to figure out which booklist site to use. The contenders so far:

Goodreads
Shelfari
LibraryThing

So far from my limited usage, I'm kind of a fan of Shelfari (Goodreads keeps giving me errors when I try to view friends' profiles; LibraryThing wants me to pay to use it, and I'm cheap).

Anyone use any of these? Post a comment if you have any suggestions.

Amazon.com has so far overlooked a real opportunity here, to provide Web 2.0 networking à la Netflix.

Wits About Me

Lest any UFF readers think that given my recent travel mishaps I am entirely incompetent, I would like to also share my excellent handling of another minor life setback: The towing of my rental car (mini-van, actually) last weekend.

To transport a gaggle of co-workers to Jersey for the Sweet 16 party, and to make a subsequent trip to Ikea, I rented a mini-van. When I first moved to NYC, not having a car really stressed me out. When I complained about not having a car, experienced New Yorkers assured me that if I wanted to get away for a weekend, I could rent one. (Any car-owner knows that a rental is NOT the same as one's own car, however, I could get past that.)

I soon learned the flaws in the "Just rent one!" plan. For one, car rental places in NYC are almost universally, and inexplicably, closed on Sundays. And none of them have drop-boxes for the key, which means that you have to rent the car for at least 2 days (assuming you pick it up Saturday morning), and it also means that you have to drop it off before work on Monday. Also, car rental places need parking for all those vehicles, and NY real estate ain't cheap, so they're usually located on the outskirts of civilization, and usually there's a bit of a trek to the nearest subway station. The worst thing, however, about renting a car in NYC, is finding parking. I'm fine pulling out of the rental lot and driving around Jersey or Long Island or wherever, but as soon as I get close to my neighbourhood I can feel my breathing get shallower and my heart beat faster and I know my anxiety levels are way up because I'm going to have to find parking, ideally within a 20 block radius of my apartment.

I'm not exaggerating.

In Park Slope, there's usually ample parking on Saturday afternoon/evening, but if you're trying to find something Sunday night, forget it. Accept that you're going to shell out $30 for a garage ($40 if you are trying to park anything bigger than a sedan).

Unless, of course, you're me and DLang last Sunday night.

We drove around a bit, knowing from experience that our odds of finding something were slim to none. We finally drove up Union St. to a garage we've used before, resigned to paying to park the van for a mere 10 hours. Literally a few metres from the garage entrance, however, we spotted a spot! Hallelujah! I pulled in, and DLang got out to read the restricted parking sign: No Parking from 7am-10am.

Hm. We figured we could either spend the $40 for the garage, or risk getting what we estimated would be an $80 ticket.

Obviously we opted for the latter, or this wouldn't make it to the ol' blog (which I should probably just start referring to as The Confessional.)

Monday morning at 8, we schlepped through the residual snow and slush to Union St. to find not a single vehicle parked on the block.

Urf.

We walked to the subway and devised a plan: I would email DLang the license plate number, and he'd call the fabulous 311 to find out where we could pick up the car. For you non-New Yorkers, 311 is the number you call in NY to answer any question about the city. I'm not kidding. I've called to report a car alarm outside my bedroom window, to find out when to dispose of a box spring (Saturday), and to find out what movie was being filmed in the park across the street. (If you have any ideas for questions to which 311 might not have answers, please leave them in the comments, as I might just propose "Stump 311" as a party game.)

Anyway, I got to work and Googled "car towed NYC" which got me straight to the NYPD's listing of tow pounds. Conveniently, the Brooklyn pound is 1/2 mile from my office. By the time DLang got to work, I'd already pretty much solved the case, and by 12:30pm I'd returned the car (without having to pay an extra day, even) and was back at work after only a 90 minute absence.

The Brooklyn Tow Pound



This little adventure came with a hefty price tag: I paid $185 to get the car out of the pound, and also have a $115 parking ticket with which to contend. In the future, I will try to earn my cred by less costly means.

What a week.

Run Like A Girl

I'm back with Team in Training - this year as a mentor for the Nike Women's Marathon (yes, the very one that was my first marathon last year) and the NYC Marathon. Since they're only 3 weeks apart, I'll only be running the half in SF.

I can't wait.

Home Is Where The Cat Is

The travel saga continued yesterday afternoon when I learned that I'd saved myself $6 when I bought my ticket by checking a box that prohibited me from making any changes or cancellations to the reservations. How frugal. Since buying a one-way ticket back to NY for Tuesday was going to run me around $500, I decided to chance getting my visa renewed with faxed documents. To improve my odds, I swung by the university this morning to get an official copy of my transcript. The woman at the registrar's office hooked me up in about 10 minutes, bless her. DLang faxed my diploma and employment letter to Sirrah!'s office, and I swung by and picked them up on my way out of town.

Two hours and $50 later, I was through both customs and immigration. And tonight in Park Slope, DLang has received his token of gratitude (a snack pack of chocolate TimBits) and Memphis is curled up in my lap.

I'm glad to be back.

Happens All The Time

I'm just a little sleep-deprived this week, and my 6:45 a.m. flight to Toronto this morning didn't help matters at all. I packed last night, woke up at 4:30 (thanks Memphis, I really didn't need that extra half-hour of sleep AT ALL), and checked in at the LaGuardia at 6. There was a bit of a line at security but no big deal. I got to the gate as my flight was boarding, found my seat, and promptly fell asleep.

After we landed, and as walked off the plane towards Canadian immigration, I had the following thoughts:

"I need to brush my teeth. Where's my toothbrush, again? Oh yeah, in my blue suitcase. Hm, where is that suitcase, again? I don't remember putting it in the overhead bin. Did I check it? No, I definitely didn't check it. Hm. What did I do with it?"

Then it hit me: I left my suitcase AT SECURITY AT LAGUARDIA.

Oh. My. God. It was quite possibly the stupidest thing I've ever done. I am usually pretty good at handling mild-crisis situations (I have yet to blog about last weekend's rental-car-towing experience, but I totally rocked that ordeal). This morning I managed to calmly get myself to the Air Canada bagage inquiry counter and relay my story to the kind (and rather good-looking) gentleman working there. He directed me to the GTAA lost and found. I kept it together as I left the bagage claim area, then I called DLang to report the news. As soon as he answered, I lost my composure and had a minor breakdown at Pearson International Airport.

Eventually I pulled myself together enough to go to lost and found, where a very sweet GTAA employee did everything she could to help me track down the bag. She was unsuccessful, but she gave me a bunch of numbers and I called them back to DLang.

Agent DLang accepted his mission with great gumption, and trekked to LaGuardia this afternoon, where, to my great relief, he successfully recovered my bag (which fortunately had his name and address on the luggage tag). Apparently this happens all the time, and airports have a whole system to handle this situation. (DLang did get the impression that it was good that the bag hadn't yet been moved to the "Operations Room," which I imagine is fully of drug-dogs and detonation devices and burly security agents rifling through peoples' unmentionables.)

I can only hope that my breakfast date will forgive me for standing her up this morning, and that DLang's patience stretches far enough to FedEx me the paperwork (that was in the suitcase - why couldn't it just have been underwear and a toothbrush?) that I'll need to get home next week.

USPS Jedi Master?

I'm intrigued.

Pinkberry

Last night Brianna and I hopped the PATH train to Jersey City's Loew's Theatre to see The Decemberists in concert. [Note: I think that is the most linkalicious sentence EVER on UFF!] Anyway, before we did that, we stopped at the newly-opened Pinkberry, a heathy frozen-yogurt restaurant chain based in L.A. (Bri had the inside scoop - pun intended - on this treat. She LOVES ice cream, possibly more than I do.) Anyway, I diligently Googled the brand before hitting the store, and found lots of good press. And I love the name: "Pinkberry" is really fun to say. (The Nefarious Dr. Funstuff speculates that all words with a "k" are particularly fun to say, and he's a nefarious doctor, so who am I to argue?)

The store itself is sparse, and has a wall of bright and bubbly Japanese kitchen stuff reminiscent of my favourite desk accessory, the Sunshine Buddy. Pinkberry offers two flavours of yogurt: Original and Green Tea. They also have myriad toppings, including Fruity AND Cocoa Pebbles (in addition to the usual fruits and chocolate chips). They also offer carob chips which seems a bit odd to me, probably because my mom used to try to pawn off carob chips on us as being the same as chocolate chips, and, not so much.

Bri ordered Original yogurt with Fruity Pebbles and strawberries. I had Green Tea with raspberries and yogurt chips. The servings are generous, and 5 oz will cost you a mere 125 calories. The yogurt is *delicious* - it's slightly tart, and the green tea flavour was subtle and authentic. I'd probably go for a crunchier topping next time -- after all, it's kind of hard NOT to order Fruity Pebbles when that's an option.

A small cup with 2 toppings costs around $6, so Pinkberry certainly isn't cheap. It was worth the splurge, as I've never tasted anything like it. In fact, I'm inspired to try sour cream in my ice cream machine this summer to see if I can replicate Pinkberry's perfectly non-sweet taste.

Other notes from the evening:

• A Pinkberry employee chastised me for snapping this picture in the store:
  
  
  
  (Interestingly, I was once chastised for taking a picture at Starbucks, because clearly the inside of Starbucks is top-secret and God only knows what classified information might get into the wrong hands.)
  
  
• The Decemberists' concert was excellent! Lovely music, and a very high-energy performance.
  
  
• Going to Jersey City really wasn't so bad.

Sixteen Candles

Last Saturday afternoon, a group of my co-workers and I piled into a rented mini-van and drove to Plainsboro, New Jersey, for another co-worker's daughter's Sweet 16 birthday party.

I hope you followed all that.

I've heard stories about the extravagance of Sweet 16 parties, and while I've never watched the MTV series "My Super Sweet 16", I get the idea - these things are over the top! I'm pretty sure many of them cost more than DLang and my nups. My 16th birthday party (back in 1990) was basically the same as all of my other birthday parties in high school - a half-dozen girlfriends slept over, we made ice cream sundaes and watched cheesy horror movies ("Sleepaway Camp," anyone?). It probably cost my mom $100 and a decent night's sleep.

We were pretty excited about Aditi's party, because we work with her mom Nitika (and know that she's incredibly down-to-earth and wouldn't be buying her daughter a BMW or a diamond bracelet!), and also because we were going to get to chow on delish Indian food.

We arrived at the party before any of the other guests, and watched Aditi's family and friends trickle in. The Birthday Girl arrived fashionably late, looking stunning (and age-appropriate, I might add) in a sparkling turquoise lehenga and matching choli. Her family showed a video they'd made for her, and her friends danced for her. She lit sixteen candles in a Sweet 16 Candle Ceremony (who knew such a thing existed?). Not only did we have an amazing evening of dancing to Bhangra (screw in the lightbulb, pet the dog!), we experienced the Sweet 16 party at its finest. Sixteen is kind of a remarkable age of being on the verge, and the perfect time to receive public affirmation from the people who love you. Aditi was surrounded by her family and closest friends, and it was a good reminder to me that no matter what transition you might be undergoing in your life, (physically or virtually) being around people who love you is oh-so-important.

We got to eat some awesome Indian food, too.

Photos on Flickr

Review

I was reviewed by Sexy Simone over at So Many Blogs, So Little Time and the review isn't - how shall I put this - good. Apparently my blog is too white and fluffy. Perhaps I should rename it Snowball! Or just call it Marshmallow Fluff. I love that stuff. It was also apparently a strike against me that I have so few comments - so, Dear Reader, comment now and often! In return, I will try to redesign the layout at some point. But you're stuck with the fluff.

Transition

Awesomely, when I put Jillian's song in iTunes and sorted by Artist to play it back, it was immediately followed by Joan Jett's rendition of the "Mary Tyler Moore Theme Song" (aka "Love is All Around") - in other words, my theme song! (I have this idea that, like sports figures, we should have theme songs that play when we come to work in the morning. Perhaps an mp3 player activated by picking up a Bluetooth signal from one's cell phone as she enters the building? A girl can dream.)

Also in the playlist right now: "We Used To Be Friends" by the Dandy Warhols (and the Veronica Mars theme song). *Love* that tune (especially when I get to listen to it for longer than 30 seconds)!

Infatuated Girl

Jillian-with-a-J just posted her latest song, "Infatuated Girl" (the one I mentioned the other day). I'm listening to it now and, well, wow. She's amazing.

And I totally have a lump in my throat.

A Day Late

Grr
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

Yes, yesterday was Caturday and when Memphis was doing cute things in the morning I couldn't find my camera. Come on, it was worth the wait. Look at that giant paw, and that snarl as she destroys the camera strap.

And you thought she was sweet and innocent.

More DNA

Read my VisualDNA™     Get your own VisualDNA™

It's actually kind of interesting. Last week, a friend told me she'd written a song based on something I said to her last summer, which is that I fall in love 100 times a day. The song is called "Infatuated Girl." VisualDNA classifes me as a Love Bug:







Link via Little Lisa

Not Just π Day

Apparently it's also National Potato Chip Day, and to celebrate I present yet another Canadianism: Ketchup Chips! We also have Dill Pickle Chips and Sour Cream and Bacon Chips (but saying "Crème sure et bacon croustilles" makes them sound a lot fancier).

Apparently it's also Steak and BJ Day. Who knew?

Happy π Day!

To celebrate Pi(e) Day, I baked a couple of pies.

The first was Pecan Pie with Kahlua and Chocolate Chips:



It won the coveted "Pie that Most Embodies the Spirit of Pi(e) Day" award, for its clever rendition of π in pie dough.

The second was Banana Cream Pie:



Making Banana Cream Pie is inherently funny, because you get to say things like, "I'm spreading the custard on my pie" and "Now I'm putting the banana in the custard on my pie." And those phrases make me laugh.

Another thing that made me laugh was email I received that read, "Luckily no one brought 'e' to the office on 2/7 at 18:28... Phew." Hee.

Magic!

About a month ago, I became the proud owner of a snazzy orange iPod Shuffle. It just looks tasty, doesn't it? At first it showed up in iTunes as its silver cousin, but last week a software upgrade magically changed its icon to orange:

I love me some good design. Thanks, Apple.

Ten Book Questions

1. One book that changed your life?

"Still Life With Woodpecker" by Tom Robbins. Candace gave me this book around the time we became friends. It isn't my favourite Tom Robbins book, but until I read it, I didn't even know that writing could be this delicious. (For the record, my fave TR book is definitely Jitterbug Perfume.)

2. One book you have read more than once?

"The Shining," because it reliably scares the bejeezus out of me, and it's a perfect, not-put-downable summer read. I reread "Pet Sematary" last year, and it also continues to freak me out.

3. One book you would want on a desert island?

MacBook? Heh, I guess that isn't really a valid response. Rats.

This is a tough one. On one hand, I'd have so much time, so I'd like to tackle some great work that I'd never otherwise have time for, like a volume containing Shakespeare's complete works. On the other hand, I'd have so much time, so I'd like some kind of pulp that I could read repeatedly and not get bored by.

I guess I'll go with the Shakespeare (or some other infinitely long classic work, like "War and Peace"), for now.

4. One book that made you laugh?

"I Want To Go Home" by Gordon Korman. I think it might be because I first read it when I was extra-young and impressionable - anyway, I thought it was completely hilarious, and every time I've read it since, it has cracked me up. It's about this kid, Rudy Miller, who's a superstar at everything (sports, academics, even crafts) but he's kind of anti-social, so his parents send him to camp, and he spends the entire summer trying to escape. Hijinks, of course, ensue. I read it again 2 years ago and subsequently forced it on DLang, who read it because we're married now and "humour each other's literary preferences" was part of our vows. When I (frequently, and possibly annoyingly) looked over his shoulder and exclaimed, "Oh! You're at that part! Isn't it hilare?" he smiled politely and said, "Yeah, it's cute." Anyway, I don't know if it was lost on him because he didn't read it when he was 10, or because he isn't Canadian, or because he has a crappy sense of humour (just kidding!). Anyway, it still cracks me up.

Props to DLang: His work with Scholastic has garnered us copies of Korman's newer works, which I liked but didn't love.

5. One book that made you cry?

"The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. I finished this on President's Day morning and had to go get a box of Kleenex from the bathroom because I was crying so hard. It's a love story, and it's kind of science-fictiony, and the characters are very real and lovely.

6. One book you wish you had written?

"The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen I like the structure of this book (sections of the story are told from different characters' points of view), the layers and depths of the relationships (especially within family), the humour, and the honesty. I can very vividly remember scenes from this book, which also says a lot for the writing.

Oh, and I ate dinner (vegetarian Chinese takeout) at Jonathan Franzen's apartment last summer. He wasn't there - a friend was subletting it. Nice place.

7. One book you wish had never been written?

Huh, really? I don't know that I can wish this on a book. Oh, I think a lot of people liked it, but one book I really wish I hadn't read (and I stupidly kept reading because I thought it might have some redeeming quality at some point, and it DID NOT, not even a little bit) was "Jemima J," a book about which Wendy at Pound spewed enough vitriol back in 2003 that I don't have to repeat it here. Just, ugh.

8. One book you are currently reading?

"The Art of Happiness" by the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler. I happened across this book quite accidentally (my yoga instructor was giving away some of her collection, and I picked this up) and it's been so timely in my life that I feel like it was a gift. I'm particularly struck by making the distinction between pleasure and happiness. I recommend it.

9. One book you have been meaning to read?

"Special Topics in Calamity Physics" by Marisha Pessl. This book was lauded when it came out last year, and I picked it up immediately, and have been slowly reading it for about 6 months. It's not a hard read, and I enjoy it when I get into it, I just... take a long time in between readings, I guess. I'm not sure why.

10. Tag 5 people:

Candace, Chad, Rebecca, The Other Gillian, Bob

Sleeping In

Sleeping In
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

A lazy Caturday morning

Linky-Loo

In my brain this week:

Mark Morford thinks innocence is overrated (and I have to agree):

Drama is what we are designed for. Emotional (and physical, and spiritual) scarring and discoloration is, in a way, what we do. Our spirits are, after all, here to experience and taste and immerse in it all.

Mark Morford (yes, again) on change:

Here's the trick: Those things that you feel most terrified about releasing, that seem to contain your entire identity and without which you wouldn't fully recognize yourself, well, maybe they should be the first things to feel the razor: jobs, cars, hair, photographs, bedsheets, houses, ideologies, religions. To what do you cling? What holds all your fear of change?

Also from the Left Coast, San Francisco considers banning plastic grocery bags, giving us all another reason to be hopeful in this crazy world. (link via Slashfood)

I love New York.

And finally, in less than 30 seconds this video will make you laugh:

The Brianna Interview

Brianna blogged her answers to a set of interview questions written by a friend, and offered to write more questions for anyone who asks. I asked, she did, and here are my answers. And in the interest of passing it along, post a comment if you'd like a set of Gillian interview questions!

What’s your favorite quick and easy dinner recipe?

It's gotta be the Weight Watchers Balsamic-Mushroom Chicken recipe. I don't use WW anymore, so I don't have the exact recipe, but it just involves sautéing chicken breasts with mushrooms and balsamic vinegar, then reducing the vinegar to make a sauce. It's yummy.
(Please note that if the word "recipe" wasn't in that question, I'd probably have said Kraft Dinner.)

What pop culture guilty pleasure will replace "The O.C."?

Candace just gave me the first season of Veronica Mars on DVD, so I'm going to give that a shot. I can't even say that I'll miss "The O.C." much. You know how when a football team is out of the playoffs but still has a few games left in the season, and they let all the second- and third-string players get some time on the field because the stakes are so low? I'm guessing a few young Hollywood writers got to play at the end of that series, and it wasn't pretty.

What’s the best picture you’ve taken since getting your new camera? Is there a story behind it?

I take a lot of self-portraits (alone and with other people), and they frequently turn out well because I have long arms. A few weeks ago, I was at Fairway in Red Hook and I stepped outside the café to take a picture of the Statue of Liberty. While I was there, I also took a self-portrait, but forgot that I was zoomed in. Subject matter notwithstanding, I really like this picture:



Also in self-portraits, this one turned out well, too, but largely due to the excellent lighting that afternoon:



Then of course, there are the bazillion Memphis pictures, which, aw.

Who inspired you as a child? Do they still inspire you today?

My parents, a lot. They're both incredibly strong women. They do still inspire me. In fact, just thinking about all the ways in which they influence and support me inspires me to be a kinder and more compassionate to the people in my life.

You’re always trying new things – what’s on the horizon for Gillian’s next adventure?

Another summer of marathon training! I'm going to be a mentor for Team in Training's summer season, culminating in running the NYC Marathon on November 4!

Not Really About My Lunch

Bringing lunch to work update: I'm 2 for 2. Today I had help from Bob, who in addition to being an excellent musician (I saw his band P.G. Six play Tonic on Sunday night and they were great!) can also cook, and brought extras of his delicious Shepherd's Pie to work today. As an added bonus, that means I can have my PB&J (on delicious no-knead bread, of course) for lunch tomorrow!

New Canadianism: Keener. Using intarweb 2.0, and specifically LinkedIn, I recently got in touch with my first-ever QA boss. (LinkedIn has a professional focus, but I've only really used it socially, kind of like my day job. Just kidding! Hi co-workers!) Anyway. We emailed back and forth a bit, and she said she thought I'd always been a keener. I said the word out loud a few times at work this afternoon, and garnered the same response as when I use the term "point form": blank stares. Again using the power of the internet, I learned that it is indeed a phrase of British origin:

• A competitive personality, especially with regards to academics and athletics.
• A first-year undergraduate who takes meticulous notes, often at the expense of understanding course material as it is presented
• A Bristolian saying for someone who works hard.

I also learned that Catherine Keener is 47 - man, she looks great!

Mmm... Carbohydrates

No-Knead Bread
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

Candace visited this weekend, and in addition to traipsing around Park Slope, we (well, she) made the NYTimes no-knead bread (free registration required). It is unbelievably easy and delicious - I highly recommend it!

Patch of Sunshine

Patch of Sunshine
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

Happy Caturday!

Shots on Goal

On the weekend, I had an interesting convo with my mom about goals. She said she hates goals. I was surprised, since I think setting goals is really effective. I mentioned Robyn's comment that "Planning is priceless. Plans are useless" and that I thought plans were different from goals - but I couldn't really articulate why.

Dictionary.com provides us the following definitions:

goal: the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.

plan: a specific project or definite purpose: plans for the future.

It would seem, then, that a plan could conceivably be a way of achieving a goal.

Anyway. I've been intermittently updating my page on 43 Things and I'm trying to choose goals that I can actually achieve. As I write this, one of my goals is "Live with integrity" - which is incredibly important, but kind of hard to check off the list. It's still a good reminder for me to see it listed as something I want to do in my life.

Last month I flossed every day!

This month, in an effort to be healthier and also to save my hard-earned dollahs, I'm going to bring my lunch to work 3 times per week (M, T, Th). Updates to follow.

28/28

I flossed every day in February – 4 whole weeks! No exceptions, no matter how exhausted I felt. I consider my bedtime dental hygiene routine officially changed. W00t!

See more progress on: Floss Every Day

Fynn

Fynn
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

This is my nephew, Fynn. I got to hold him yesterday while he was sleeping. Holding a sleeping baby? Rocks.

Fantasy Fulfillment

I'm in Waterloo, and over the weekend while Gregoire was in Toronto, I spent some quality time with Sweet Sirrah, Charlie-in-Utero, and Bartleby the Labradoodle.

On Saturday night as I was heading off to the basement guest room, Sirrah offered, "You know, if it gets too cold down there, you can always come sleep with us." She paused. "That is, if you want to sleep with a pregnant lady and a big brown dog."

Dear Penthouse Letters,
I never thought it would happen to me.

Another Birth Day!

The population explosion continues with the birth of the lovely Miss Cara, who entered this crazy world on Saturday morning in California. Many congratulations to her mom & dad, and big brother Ewan, all of whom are happy and healthy!

(This bodes well for UFF readership, which will practically double by the time these kids can read. You know, in 2011 or so.)

Rock

When I was visiting my parents in January, Sunny asked me to go through her storage space to clear out my stuff, which I thought might amount to a few boxes. It did, if by "a few" you mean "1,200 sq. ft. worth of". Anyhoo. Much of it was throw-awayable, but there were a few keepers, like a box of pictures that contained such gems as this:
Apparently I thought that XL was an appropriate t-shirt size. So hot.

Please note my resemblance to Canadian icon Kim Mitchell:I am a wild party.

Happy Shrove Tuesday!

Today is Shrove, or Pancake Tuesday - aka Mardi Gras (which literally translates as Fat Tuesday). To celebrate, we held Waffle Wednesday this morning, and tonight DLang & I will be dining on deliciousOrange and Cinnamon Buttermilk Pancakes.

During many conversations today about the origin of Shrove Tuesday, aka Mardi Gras, I heard an (unconfirmed) rumour that Brits generally only eat pancakes on this day, and eating pancakes on other days would be weird there (like if we were to eat a Büche de Noël on some random non-Christmas Thursday). Discussing the religious origins of days like today (Shrove Tuesday is the precursor to Lent, which begins tomorrow, on Ash Wednesday) generated questions about the calendar, and it's interesting to note that the Christian Easter is based on the lunar calendar - that is, it falls on a different day each year, depending on the cycle of the moon.

It's almost like it's Pagan.

Shh.

Expats

"Hey G, thanks for the Smarties. Did you get them in Canada?"

"Yeah. You know they have Smarties here, but they're really--"

"Rockets! I know! So weird."

"Hey, you know they don't have point form."

"What? What do they call it?"

"Bulleted points? Or bulleted list, I think. And also... What do you call the thing you colour with when you're too old for crayons?"

"Pencil crayons?"

"Right, but here they're coloured pencils."

"Huh, and a toque is a knitted cap. It's all very literal."

As Seen On "Survivor"

"So now what do you think I should do with this coconut?"

"I dunno... Shred it or something?"

"No, the shell."

"Oh. Maybe you could make one of those coconut bra things."

"Oooh! A coconut bra! Good idea!"

Pause. "Or you could make the sound of horses' hooves."

Coconut Miracle

Coconut
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

I followed the instructions for cracking coconut on Epicurious to get into the coconut I bought this afternoon. I've cracked a few coconuts in my day, but I've never had one open so cleanly - the shell split in two, and the meat didn't break at all! (DLang suggested that I'm ready for "Survivor" now. Hee.)

P.S. General Tso's Chicken didn't photograph well, but it tasted awesome.

Oink

Today is the first day of the Year of the Pig. Last night, to celebrate the Chinese New Year's Eve, DLang & I met a couple of friends we hadn't seen in a while and went to the Notorious MSG show. If you have the chance, go see one of their shows. Or head on over to their Web site and watch some of their videos. They are completely hilarious and awesome, muthabitches.

For dinner tonight, because I like food celebrations, I'm going to try my hand at some Chinese cooking, and make General Tso's Chicken. I haven't cooked much Asian food (besides stir-fry), so this will be fun! My trip to Fairway this morning inspired me to cook more. I ran into a couple of friends there and we all agreed that shopping at Fairway makes us feel calm and happy about food.

Will post pics of dinner later. I also bought a fresh coconut which seemed appropos for dessert; I'll try to document the ceremonial cracking open.

Orange

Whiskers
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

Happy Caturday!

In Which Gillian's Social Life Gasps Its Final Breaths

Dos: you said you're coming here next weekend?
me: yeah
Dos: you wanna buy a wii? I have an extra
me: No way! And, YES!
Dos: ya, fred found a bunch, no per-customer limit, so i told him to grab me one
me: Sweet! How much?
Dos: ok, i'll hold it for you. $330 cdn after taxes
me: that's awesome! Thanks!
Dos: standard sports pak bundle, same as i got
me: W00t! I'm very excited.
Dos: cool :)

Go Ahead. Smooch It Up.

Little Lisa loves Valentine's Day, and so do I.

The Top 8 Reasons I Love Valentine's Day:

1. It has colours! Red, pink, and even white. Sparkles optional (only not really).
   
2. The theme! I love anything with a theme, like Vegas hotels and Super Bowl parties.
   
3. The theme of Valentine's Day is LOVE! A whole day dedicated to love? That totally rocks.
   
4. I like having an excuse to dot all my i's with hearts.
   
5. I have kickass Valentine jewelry.
   
6. Champagne, strawberries, chocolate.
   
7. Heart-shaped cookie cutters.
   
8. Did I mention celebrating love?

Here are a couple of happy (and fun) links for when you're not drawing hearts on your notebook today:
Anahata, the heart chakra
Monkey makes Valentine's Day cookies (this is so cute I can hardly stand it)

And, if you're reading this before you get dressed for the day, think pink.

Happy Birth Days!

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to two brand new humans and future UFF readers:

• Daphne Chareau, born yesterday morning in New Jersey
  
• Fynn, born this afternoon in K-W, Ontario (probably getting me the closest I'll ever come to being an auntie! W00t!)
  

Both babies, moms, dads, and Daphne's big sis Little G* are totally rockin' their now-with-33-to-50%-more families!

Congratulations!

*Not her real hair. Or mine, for that matter.

Biter

Last night I received the following email:

From: K-Dog
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 11:46 PM
To: Gillian
Subject: Biter

Look at the dolphin in the picture, biting my name.

I don't think Dog does a lot of drugs or anything, so I was quite puzzled.

It turns out he'd forgotten to include the context-providing link.

This is still cracking me up.

Alternate Realities

This afternoon, Bri and I attended a Heart Opening and Purification Workshop led by Nancy Allen at Lucky Lotus Yoga in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The first hour of the workshop was spent discussing reality and karma, which to me is very interesting stuff. One story that Nancy used to illustrate illusion was this one:

Say you have a pen. When you look at the pen, you see a pen, and you know that it's an instrument to write with. Then a dog comes in the room, and you throw the pen. What is the pen to the dog? It's a toy. The dog knows it's a toy, as surely as you know it's a pen. Then say the pen is sitting on the ground, and a bug walks up to it. To the bug, it's a giant hill. Again, the bug knows that as surely as you know it's a writing instrument and the dog knows it's a toy. And so in that moment, you have three equally valid and accurate realities.

Nancy's point was that nothing has its own reality; it has whatever reality we assign to it. We *give* the reality to the object, or the situation, or the person - it doesn't have innate quality in itself. This comes from Patanjali's Yoga Sutra IV.3:

We must destroy the veil of the quality of things. Then we must become as gardeners.

I guess the point is, next time you see something as having a negative quality, try to figure out how you can change your perspective to change the quality of your experience - that is, don't assume that the quality belongs to the object/situation/person, but that you are responsible for the quality that you see. Then, if you can, plant a seed (that's the gardening that Patanjali was talking about) with positive intention.

I'm pretty psyched about this idea.

Caturday

Presenting a new feature on UFF: Caturday, featuring the lovely Miss Memphis:



Inspired by Gillian, who blogs about her cat SheBang every Friday. And really, how could you not be inspired by a redheaded Canadian geek-girl named Gillian, who loves cats? The similarities are eerie. I wonder if her mom was ever a nun.

Observation

"I guess this happens when you live with another creature for 10 years, but I think Memphis and I have similar personalities."

"Yeah. You're both big and orange."

Groceries And The City: Part 2

In the heady days of FreshDirect first delivering to the BK, I was receiving at least one order a week from them. I loved that each fresh-food item had its own label that said, "Packaged for Gillian on ." I loved not lugging around the granny cart, and not carrying bags up the stairs. I also loved the occasional freebie that FD threw in. I had the idea that FD should team up with Epicurious so that when I was browsing recipes I could just add all the ingredients to my cart, and not long ago, FD introduced shopping by recipes! Woot!

On the other hand, while I kind of loved having boxes for recycling newspapers, but I didn't love the excessive packaging stylings of FD (they've since gotten much better about consolidating items).

Last year, a new outpost of Fairway opened in Red Hook, Brooklyn, about 2 1/2 miles south of our apartment in Park Slope. One Sunday morning, on a mission to check out Baked, also in Red Hook, DLang and I walked down to the 'hood. We ate delicious scones with strong coffee chasers, then walked down the street to check out Fairway.

I felt like I was home. Fairway in Red Hook has the little happinesses of a suburban grocery shopping experience, like a parking lot (!) and aisles wide enough to accommodate bona fide shopping carts. They have bins of neatly-stacked, fresh produce. And then there are the things that make shopping at Fairway a special experience, like signs enthusiastically recommending a particular goat cheese or coffee blend, and the half-dozen or so samples of olive oil from around Europe and even California.

Subsequent visits, the second of which was on Saturday, did not disappoint. This weekend, after stopping at the deli and meat counters, I took a coffee break in the café, which is right on the water and has a spectacular view of the Statue of Liberty. When I finally arrived at checkout with an overflowing cart, there was no waiting at all, and I breezed right on through. (Did I mention that Fairway delivers for the same price as FD?)

And so, while I'm still quite enamoured with grocery shopping while sitting on the couch in my pajamas, I'm going to take a little break from FreshDirect and start a weekly brick-and-mortar grocery shopping adventure. I think I could get used to a Sunday morning walk down to the water, a stop for breakfast, and an hour (or two) wandering up and down the aisles of this amazing store.

P.S. Brianna posted an excellent NYC grocery store rant yesterday - it's very frustrating living in a NYC neighbourhood in which Key Food, D'Ags, or even Gristedes are your best grocery options. At least when I lived on the Upper West Side, the 24-hour Duane Reade at the end of my block sold Ben & Jerry's.

Groceries And The City: Part 1

On a recent trip to D.C., one of the highlights was a visit to Trader Joe's. The brief stop made me long for suburban grocery stores with wide aisles and 56 brands of salad dressing and the irony of throwing reusable cloth shopping bags in the back of one's Subaru wagon. This weekend, then, when I found myself with both a rental car and a Super Bowl party shopping list as long my iPod playlist, I did what any displaced small-town girl would do: I went to Fairway.

My first NYC grocery experience was surprisingly good. I'd just moved into my apartment on the Upper West Side, and had nothing except a couple of suitcases. My company put me up in a hotel for two nights during which time I purchased a futon, bedding, and a towel. As my truckload of stuff wasn't due to arrive from California for another week or two, I wandered out to Broadway and found Zabar's. I went upstairs to the housewares section where I purchased a plate and glass (both of which I still have and use). I had a brief affair with Zabar's, going there regularly on my way home from work to buy some exotic cheese or other and delicious loaves of Eli's bread.

At some point I ventured a few blocks south and into Fairway, and I was hooked. The quality of Fairway's produce rivaled that to which I'd become accustomed in California. I found exotic sauces like pomegranate marinade, and I spent way too much money on them. I always bought more than I could carry home, and usually ended up taking the bus. Once, while toting about 6 bags, one of which contained a giant bouquet of fresh basil, I overheard a kid exclaim, "Dad! Something smells like spaghetti!"

When I moved to Brooklyn, I was disappointed in the lack of good grocery stores. I almost immediately started visiting the green market regularly on Saturday mornings, and supplemented our pantry with unexciting (and sometimes downright discouraging) stops at D'Agostino's (overpriced) or Key Food (yuck). Shortly thereafter, FreshDirect started delivering in our 'hood, and I started regularly internetting my way to yummy food (and wine! and beer! and even kitty litter!) delivery, which I didn't even have to carry up five flights of stairs.

To be continued...

Super Sunday!

I started watching football about 10 years ago, kind of by accident. I'd just started dating J, and when I visited him for a weekend during football season, he spent most, if not all, of Sunday in his sweats on the couch. At first it seriously ticked me off. The sun was shining, the outdoors beckoned, and there we sat, eating pizza and watching JB, Terry, Howie and Chris yuk it up during halftime. Then it occurred to me that not getting dressed and lying around for a WHOLE DAY without anyone caring is actually pretty sweet! After that epiphany I started to learn and appreciate the game, jumped on the Broncos bandwagon, and the rest is history. I don't watch other sports on TV because the commitment is too great. The beauty of football is that it's one day per week (two if you have cable), and since each team only plays 16 games per season, they all count. Plus it's a really smart, strategic game.

Although my interest has waxed and waned in some seasons, I always love the Super Bowl. I love the commercials. I love the scandal. I love the food. Every year for the past 10 years I've had a Super Bowl party. Even last year when my yoga teacher training fell on SB Sunday and we decided not to throw an official 'do, about 10 people showed up anyway!

I have a few Super Bowl Party Must-Haves:

1. Guacamole
I make chunky guac with tomatoes, red onions, lime juice, cilantro, and garlic. Also lots of salt and pepper. I'm a little worried about the guac this year as the avocados in these parts are woefully under-ripe. I bought 6 yesterday that were still quite green and they're currently stashed away with a couple of bananas in a paper bag in a cupboard, with a group of little avocado ripening fairies casting magical spells on them.

2. Whoopie Pies
These are really good. I make them every year. My friend Meredith has said when she gets married she wants me to make her wedding cake as a stack of whoopie pies.

3. Betting. On whatever. $5 that the Bears will win the coin toss? I'll take that bet. $2 that there'll be a flea-flicker in the first half? Done. If you're coming to my Super Bowl party, be prepared to gamble.

4. Team Colours. I strongly encourage you to dress in the colours of the team you're supporting. Can't decide? Look at the team colours, look in your closet, and pick something that matches. I really like team colours.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday, everyone! Go Colts!

Groundhog Day!

In today's episode of Adventures in Google, I found this little tidbit about Canada's own Wiarton Willie. Scandalous!

Happy Groundhog Day, everyone!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Infiltration

Little Lisa went back to high school today.

I laugh aloud. Plus, mad props to her for using "hilare" on her blog.

Local News

Arr!

My pirate name is:

Mad Morgan Flint

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.

Power Move

On Monday's The Show, Ze Frank asked for some power moves. Please note: Power moves are not about being cool, they're about being awesome.

Mostly because I could, I recorded my own power move:



P.S. I love my new Mac. <3

More JetBlue Awesomeness

If you can't make it to our Super Bowl party because you have to fly across the country, at least you can get some free beer!

Travel Bliss

On Friday night I flew to Toronto for the weekend. Before that, though, I spent a whopping 7 1/2 hours (no, that isn't a typo) at LaGuardia. Waiting. Sometimes patiently, sometimes, not so much. (Interestingly, both of the Air Canada flights from LGA to YYZ that were scheduled to leave after mine actually left hours before mine did. I chalk this up to something about airlines that I don't understand.)

Fortunately, I love traveling and I even love airports. There's an Ani DiFranco song that sums up my feelings quite nicely.

My recent flight home from California was on the Friday night redeye. I hate to admit this, but the older I get, the more aware I am that, while a good idea in theory, the redeye isn't so hot in practice. I hate the idea of spending a whole day traveling across the country, however, I just end up sleeping the whole day I get home. Anyway. The redeye on JetBlue has its advantages. In addition to the DirecTV and awesome snacks, passengers on these flights receive the Bliss Shut-Eye Kit.

My first experience with Bliss dates back to 2000, the year I first lived in NY. I was working at a company that shared office space with BBC America, and Ian, one of the radio reporters was doing a piece on Bliss. As part of the story, he had to bring someone to have a treatment at the spa. I eagerly volunteered to be his guinea pig, and the service (a Hot Salt Body Rub) was scheduled. (The weekend before the appointment, I fell asleep in Central Park with my t-shirt cleverly pulled up so that I could get some sun on my underexposed belly, which wasn't so smart, but we went ahead anyway.) The treatment was amazing, with the only drawback being that Ian basically saw me naked. It's kind of hard to jam a microphone in someone's face with your eyes closed, and it was a full-body treatment. (Trivia note: Bliss was started by a woman from Saskatchewan. Yay Canada!)

The Shut-Eye Kit is a brilliant cross-promotion between JetBlue and Bliss. It's a little ziplocky bag with an eye shade, earplugs, a teeny tiny sample of Lemon Sage Body Butter, and a one-use amount of minty lip balm. I love the Shut-Eye Kit. For one, it's free. Free stuff! On an airline! A discount airline, no less! Secondly, it contains really practical items. I'm not a huge fan of earplugs (they always fall out, except for those really squishy green ones, which these aren't), but the eye mask rocks, and wearing one really is the only way to sleep on an airplane. And, it's well-designed. Good design makes me happy.

So thanks, JetBlue, for kicking it up! I will admit though that I had absolutely no trouble sleeping, little kit of fun or not, when my flight finally left LGA at 1:30am on Friday. Er, Saturday.

On The Mat

While recent UFF postings have been sporadic, I'm sure that my faithful readers (both of you) are keeping up using the wonders of modern technology (Praise RSS!) and you'll be happy to know that I have many inspiring entries in store. That pesky day job keeps getting in the way of blogging. Donations are welcome.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

During my recent trip to California, I had the opportunity to attend an introductory Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class at the Ralph Gracie Academy in Mountain View. I'm pretty sure that had such an excursion been suggested to me a few years ago, my response would have been a firm "Thanks but no thanks." However, given my recent forays into athleticism (see: Triathlon, Marathon, and Boxing), and safe in the knowledge that knowing nothing about martial arts AT ALL meant that I'd have nothing to prove, when MFD suggested it to me, and I believe somewhat to his surprise, I enthusiastically agreed to try it out.

The Academy is located in kind of a strip mall on El Camino Real in Mountain View. I borrowed a gi and changed in the bathroom, in which hung the sign: "Please! If you must throw up, do it in the toilet, not the sink. Thank You." Heh. And, ew.

I warmed up a little, and then one of the resident black-belts, Gumby, came over to help with my introductory lesson. He explained the principles of jiu-jitsu, and showed me a number of moves, including the oopa (mount escape), guard pass, and posture in guard. I practiced each one a bunch of times. I was kind of meh at some of them, including the bridge, which is strange because Urdhva Dhanurasana is one of my favourite yoga postures. He also showed me three attacks: the cross choke, the Americana shoulder lock (that's a good instructional video, but remember kids, these are trained professionals. Don't try this at home), and an armbar from mount. Watch out: If you lie still and don't defend yourself at all, I could really annoy you.

Both Gumby and MFD (who goes by Canada in these parts) were incredibly patient and encouraging, and the experience was surprisingly unintimidating. After about half an hour of instruction/practicing, Canada asked Don (whose nickname, if he has one, I didn't catch) to spar with me. Ack! So much for unintimidating. I kind of didn't want to do it, but hey, I was there, so I tried out my new moves.

In sparring that first time I learned something valuable: Jiu-jitsu is *hard*. Don, a brown belt, was very nice to me, and I'm quite aware of the fact that he could have kicked my ass from here to Sunday (read: effortlessly choked me unconscious and/or broken one of my limbs). Don, should you ever read this, thanks for not doing either of those things. I really like having two functioning arms. I tried to apply some of the stuff I'd learned, but in the moment, it was difficult to remember which hand went where and when. The technique seemed logical but complicated, and I really appreciated the amount of work these guys put into training.

To round out the experience, I watched Canada and Don spar for a while. To my untrained eye, these guys looked amazing. I also extra-want to keep both of them on my good side (see: unconsciousness, broken limbs).

Big thanks to everyone at the academy, including Batata (who runs the place), Gumby, Don, and Canada. I felt very welcome and would love to come back next time I'm in the Bay Area. ('Course then I wouldn't have that whole "know nothing" excuse to fall back on.)

Postscript: At lunch afterwards, almost immediately after we sat down, Don asked me how much I weigh. I told him, and he replied, "Yeah, you're pretty robust for a girl." I'm totally taking that as a compliment.

MAXIMum Embarrassment

Yesterday morning when I arrived at work, there was a magazine (face-down) on my desk. On the magazine was a post-it note which read, "This was delivered to our building by mistake," and signed by one of our developers.

I turned it over, and it was the latest issue of Maxim. (I have no idea if that link is SFW; the cover of the magazine certainly wasn't.) Oh, and my name was on the address label.

Last year I bought something online and got one of those offers for a free (or super cheap) magazine subscription. As a joke, and because I like to keep abreast (literally) of what's in vogue in frat houses, I subscribed to Maxim.

Turns out the guy who brought it in lives a few doors down from me and apparently, of all things, that piece of mail was misdelivered. I love ya, USPS, but, ouch. This one's going to hurt our relationship.

Firsts

Gillian (Yay it's really snowing!)
Originally uploaded by emptysquare.

First (big awesome) snowfall in NYC this year.
First blog post straight from Flickr.
First blog entry using my new MacBook.

I'm feeling awfully grateful these days.

(Thanks to Jesse for snapping this pic.)

Oh my.

I just discovered that my mom's on Facebook.

I'm even too old for Facebook, and I'm only on there because Little Lisa, our Waterloo Co-op student last semester, told me it would make me cool. It didn't work for me, and it definitely isn't going to work for my mom.

In related news, I'm pretty proud of Mom for sending her first Evite last week, for her retirement party. Next thing you know she'll have some kind of retirement blog. I fear the internet is getting too easy to use. Web developers of the world, unite in the name of obfuscation!

California Dreaming

My high school Geography teacher Mr. McDonald instilled the fear of God in me about the San Andreas Fault and told us all that California is non-ecumene* and that you couldn't pay him enough to live there.

Earthquake-schmearthquake: California kicks ass.

I'm here in the Bay Area this week, working remotely. The weekend included another feeble attempt at surfing (I got a bit further than when I tried last Spring, but still didn't get up on the board) and hanging out with this cool dude:

With 32+ years of experience at being a very enthusiastic person, I'm learning to that liking a lot of stuff is a pretty good problem to have. It's still a problem, though. Imagine, for example, if you went to Small Town, Iowa to visit someone. (Play along with me. Maybe it's your mom's cousin or something.) As you drive by the local diner, you glance in the window and see the locals sitting at the counter, and you immediately wonder what it would be like if that was *your* local diner, and they knew that on Sundays you liked your eggs over-easy and your bacon crisp and your coffee with milk instead of cream, and the waitress called you "Hon" (which, to me, is the sign of an excellent diner waitress). Anyway, that's kind of what happens to me whenever I go somewhere. I have imagined myself living everywhere from Paris, France to Paris, Ontario, usually much to the dismay of anyone to whom I've mentioned these grand fantasies. (On the large majority I don't actually follow through, but there were those 2 little cross-country moves.)

All of my wanderlust is particularly bubbly here in California, for a whole host of reasons, and also because even though I only lived here for 18 months back in 1998-2000, my friends here are like family.

Plus, the weather is really good. In January, 10°C is "cold." Everything is relative.

*Good word, eh? Despite his earthquake-alarmism, Mr. McDonald was a good teacher.

Round 2

This morning I met with John again for Boxing Day: The Sequel. He kicked my ass even harder this time. I shadow boxed! I jabbed! I uppercutted! I hit the speed bag! I did sit-ups and crunches and tricep dips!

Last week I picked up the book The Gleason's Gym Total Body Workout for Women, and learned that I was correct about the 3 minute rounds with the 1 minute rest in between. The point of this is to get your body used to going all-out for 3 minute intervals (the length of an actual round). It's really cool to learn about a whole new sport!

John told me today that his favourite boxing movie is Rocky (which I haven't seen!) and that The Champ made him cry. Another one I'll have to see is Raging Bull, which was filmed at Gleason's.

I'm going back on Friday. I hope I get to jump rope and try the sand bag soon!

Happy New Year!

We rang in 2007 with a lot of Guitar Hero and champagne. I can almost guarantee some kind of entry that's actually worth reading tomorrow, after I've fully recovered. In the meantime, go take the Superhero Quiz.

I hope that this year is your best yet!

I am Spider-Man:
Intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Spider-Man		90%
Superman		85%
Robin		80%
Wonder Woman		75%
The Flash		75%
Catwoman		70%
Supergirl		70%
Iron Man		60%
Green Lantern		55%
Hulk		50%
Batman		50%

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...