youtube intrigues

dog vs. vuvuzela - dog win

dog vs. car - dog also wins

pokemon a cappella - someone with too much time on their hands

tis the end of june

wedding in michigan this past weekend - photos

the trip made me reflect deeply on my current life, where it is heading, and my social skills and relationships. overall i am not where i want to be, mainly because what i truly want i have to build towards, and i am unwilling/unmotivated to do so.

so my new goal is to not only find a job, but to figure out what i truly want out of my life.

current amusements

1. re: farscape. almost done, just have the movie left to watch. what the frell is with the ending in season 4? oh right, crazy cliffhangers was something they did to all seasons. sigh to series cancellations...

2. laptop is officially falling apart, meaning i should look into a new one soon. sad cuz i was hoping to wait on a new one...

3. i really dislike articles that gives its information as slideshows. do you REALLY have to make me click through each of those?

4. today i ate at the only schlotzsky's in madison (it's on the east side and kinda far-i'm amazed it's actually even here). man, i miss that place.

5. the library is my current best friend for books, dvds, internet (if my laptop connects...), and quiet working solitude

6. so i'm thinking europe, possibly in the sept/oct range. places high on the list: madrid, athens, prague, rome, budapest. yes, i know, i am going to need more planning than that, and to spend lots of money...

7. uh oh... the 4am nights are coming back... and i'm not even playing starcraft to instigate it.

8. per request, a picture of the paper cranes (both folded and unfolded). current count at 200, eventually hitting 1000... someday.

9. latest hobby - knotting hemp jewelry. i've been working on them these past couple weeks while watching various dvds. slightly mindless knotting with mindless videos, all in a day's work...

10. one more piece of art - i started playing with my tamagoyaki (sweetened egg omelette). and it was delicious.

the classic mario theme

mario music... in beatbox and violin style

i wonder if the younger generation even recognizes the theme. it makes me sad to think i am actually old enough that people i talk to may not know.

that's life

well, maybe next interview. onwards with self enrichment.

added a bunch of random pictures to my 2010 collection: enjoy

Andaluca

Food blog posts... Let's try one.

Lately I've really enjoyed tapas-style restaurants. You order several small plates of food for smaller portions and get to try out more flavors in one sitting.

On my recent trip to Seattle, WA I had the pleasure of dining at Andaluca. I had a prix fixe three course dinner menu to choose from. The ambiance was great, the service was friendly and timely.

First, bread with a really tasty hummus. I forget what was special about the hummus though.

Next was the starter. I got the tuscan tomato bread soup with a basil creme fraiche (that's the white part). This had to be one of THE most delicious tomato soups I've ever had. The consistency was smooth, the flavors were put together well, the tiny croutons gave crunchy and fluffy interest to the soup.

Then, the pintxos (small plates). They all came out on one plate, and each had a unique flavor.

The orange-ish rice was their mini andaluca paella, with a lot of different types of meat and cooked in a saffron broth. This was my favorite of the small plates. Nicely flavored, light, filled with goodies.

The two fried balls were potato croquettes. I actually found this place by searching for croquettes so I had high hopes. It was a little bland but fried well. Not my favorite, but it filled my craving.

The white dish was a risotto with garlic scapes and oyster mushroom. I've never had garlic scapes before. It was a subtle flavor, just as the waiter said, cooked tender to match with the rice in the risotto. Filling and interesting.

Then the sweet stuff - strawberry parfait with lemon sorbetto and candied lemon zest. By this time I was super full and really only wanted the fruit. The sorbetto was quite tangy and delicious with the strawberries. The lemon zest was fun to crunch on too.

Overall, I give it 8/10. Definitely recommended, they have some really good dishes.

(The score sorta includes the fact that for some reason I stayed awake that night battling indigestion and discomfort. Not sure what made my stomach unhappy, but Andaluca was my only meal at night... so... yea...)

the mind, it wanders a lot

1. this month's income: $141 from selling stuff in a garage sale and on craigslist. hooray for money!

2. goodbye SC2, for a few weeks...

3. sitting behind 2 kids on an airplane made raising them very unappealing. both of them were tired and antsy, and one of them could not stop crying throughout the ~4hr flight. the poor parents said they had another 4hr flight and 1.5hr drive ahead of them...

4. i'm having second thoughts about the whole move-to-a-new-town thing. there are definitely nice parts about madison and good friendships, all of which i would have to rebuild, substitute, or find again in a new town.

5. that said, i just came back from my first onsite interview! it went ok, could have gone better. they will contact me next week. but now i have motivation to take technical classes too...

6. i am still not a fan of poppyseed in my breads

7. my communication skills are getting dull - i can imagine and hear the phrase i want to use, but i have trouble saying it eloquently

8. i have read more books in the past month than i have in the past... 5 years? and i think the reading streak will continue. hooray! currently reading the gods themselves (asimov) and ender in exile (card)

9. filtering your speech and actions is something that should be done regardless of how well you know the person. any action can be damaging to a relationship, even if they know that is the "real you"

10. when i volunteered to clean some critters' cages today, the little rat drew blood and the guinea pig kept running away from me. it made me a little sad. sorta like keanu sad.

six four one oh

these knives look really cool

is it just me, or does gmail load messages very slowly now?

i'm starting to purge things from my closet and room. yay. much needed since... a long time ago. i found my clunky old iriver, plus a bunch of stuffed animals i will be giving away. bye bye nostalgia.

latest intrigues

we made takoyaki today. now i smell of fried and burnt oil. the balls are harder to shape than i thought.

i was also surprised by a sink hole in guatamala... seeing something like that is not very comforting.

SC2 beta was extended until 6/7. i'm getting slightly better at it. once beta's gone i'll be sad until 7/27.

i'm almost done reading all books from the ender series (ender, bean, and the newer ones). now to find another series to catch up on...