even ostriches like the golden gate bridge!

Courtesy of San Francisco Chronicle:

San Francisco, CA - An ostrich has boldly gone where no ostrich has ever gone before.

The 6-foot-tall bird, who apparently didn't feel like hiding its head in the sand, escaped from the back of a cargo van on the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday, stopping evening commute traffic in both directions and sending dozens of tourists racing for their cameras.

The ostrich, a female, got loose around 4:45 p.m. from the rear of the northbound van, which was heading for a Healdsburg vegetable farm, said California Highway Patrol sergeant Wayne Ziese. A sudden acceleration of the van caused the bird to smash through the rear window and land on the bridge pavement, just north of the toll plaza.

"It should never have happened,'' said the driver of the van, Ronald Love. "The ostrich's butt broke the window. You never would think an ostrich could fit through a little window, but she did.''

Love, the owner of Love Farms, had bought the ostrich for $300 a few hours earlier in Watsonville and was taking it to its new home. Love said he had rescued the ostrich from a date with the butcher and was planning to use the bird to produce ostrich eggs, and this is how the bird showed its gratitude.

The usual gaggle of afternoon bridge tourists began passionately snapping photographs.
Bridge police officers, Highway Patrol officers and a bridge tow truck driver helped Love corral the ostrich inside a garage used by bridge tow trucks. The ostrich roundup took about 10 minutes.

"It was quite an adventure," Love said. "Strange things always seem to happen with ostriches. I guess this proves it.''

Ziese said the bird had suffered "minor road rash" but was otherwise not injured. Love was not cited.

"We've never had an ostrich on the bridge before,'' Ziese said. "This is a first.''

Last year, a deer dashed southbound across the bridge and disappeared into the Presidio. There have also been raccoons, squirrels, skunks and loose pets.

"Ostriches usually are very gentle,'' said Love. "An ostrich is easier to keep than a goldfish. Unless it's been too long in the back of a van, I guess. ''

frou-frou! frou-frou!

Last night, Eric, Heather and I hosted a Frou-Frou Foodie Potluck at our not-so frou frou house. I made an Angry Shrimp with Citrus Salad that not only smoke-bombed the place, but was large enough to feed an army. Eric H brought the most amazing pâtés, Heather cooked up a tasty chicken paella, and Fernando somehow missed the part about it being frou-frou and contributed mac 'n cheese and rice krispie treats. There was tons more food than that, but I don't know who brought what, since I didn't know 1/2 the people there :-)

Debbie not only showed up in her bridesmaid top ("see, I did wear it again!"), but also brought a flambé thing... or whatever that thing is that makes crème brûlée all crispy on top.


Eric shucks the oysters that he and Karen brought back from Hog Island that day


I am Dr. Eeevil Pop


Hmmm... do I know anyone here?


Wait! I think I see someone I recognize...


Irma and Clyde chat while chowing


"I am 00-Flamo!"


Debbie, looking lovely in her bm top


Yum.


Vijay and Patricia


The Dixie Cup Club - wine in paper cups is even better than plastic!


I love this picture :-)


Karen and Luke


Had to bring out the prom gown since Debbie got all dolled up for us


We don't know what's going on here


We REALLY don't know what's going on there!


Yeah, Clyde - what *were* you doing to your butt?!


Eric: "You should see how its spelled."
Carolyn: "Is it a horse?"


Er.


Me and the MIT geeks, er, I mean, boys


Clyde gets busy with our wall


And we all have our "OC" moment.


My favorite picture of ePop (and yes, its because you can't see his face!)


Val, who not only matches our couch, but was nice enough to help with the dishes.


That's Megan's tongue


Eric H: "What does that say? I love dogs?"
Fernando: "I like cross-boning."

le nectar colonial et le chop-chop

On Friday, Heather, Greg, Karen and I had dinner at Nectar Lounge, a wine bar in the Marina. The wine was fabulous - I especially liked their Bad-Ass Red Flights. And the food? Well, it was tasty, but apparently just not enough. I was satisfied, but I've also been on a diet for the last couple of weeks, so anything that's not a salad is really quite wonderful to me! Greg, Heather and Karen, on the other hand, were all still starving after dinner - Heather wanted sushi, and Karen even suggested pizza!

The moral of the story? Don't eat in the Marina :-)

Afterwards, we headed to Le Colonial, where one of Karen's friends from Cisco was having his going away party. We met up with Clyde and Carolyn, and spent all night alternatively avoiding / telling off slimy guys who couldn't dance. It was a great time, despite the fact that I lost my favorite purple fuzzy sweater (yes, the one I wear every day!). Wah!!!


Ahhh. Summer in San Francisco has Karen and Heather freezing their butts off.


Karen, me, Alex, and whoever that guy is that's leaving for Japan.


Clyde and Carolyn, those fabulous darlings!

On Sat morning - or should I say afternoon? - I crawled out of bed and headed straight for the acupuncturist. This week was much better than last. For one, I started reading a great book about Traditional Chinese Medicine - Between Heaven and Earth, A Guide to Chinese Medicine, by Harriet Beinfield - so I knew a bit more about what was going one. I also started seeing some results for the 1000 poo-pellet herbal supplements that she has me taking. But mostly it was because, after I froze and complained last week about how COLD it was, my acupuncturist put me on a heated massage table. It was so warm that I was sweating (not to mention about 20 degrees warmer outside to begin with)!

After my semi-torture session, I headed straight over to Gene and chopped all of my hair off. In reality, we preserved much of the length - part of Gene's long-term strategy/con to get me to grow my hair out. But he definitely chopped off a whole bunch of layers, and while I'm slightly nervous that I look like a butch now, I really like it :-)

I wonder if I'll ever manage to grow my hair long...

training diary, week 3: crazy cracker cravings

Oy. Starting a diet and exercise program is always difficult. But starting one in the midst of some powerful PMSing... I'm surprised I survived. Minus the very random craving for unsalted crackers and ground beef, Week 2 went considerably well.

*~*~*~*

Training Diary, Week 1
Weight: 130 lbs (including ~ 3 to 5 lbs of water weight)
Body Fat: 30%
Fitness Level: Good, and improving every day!


Karen and I at Le Colonial on Fri, 8/26


Moi et les roomates @ le Frou-Frou Potluck, Sun 8/28

Workout Record, Sun. 8/21 to Sat. 8/27:

• Sun, 8/21 - Elliptical Trainer, 30 mins
• Mon, 8/22 - Elliptical Trainer, 3o mins
• Wed, 8/24 - Spin class, 45 mins
• Fri, 8/26 - Weight training with Mark, 1 hour; Spin class, 45 mins

*~*~*~*

Week 2 was much, much, much better than Week 1 - mostly due to the major adjustments I made into my schedule, and the shifts in my focus. As I mentioned in last week's blog (did I?), after nearly having a nervous breakdown, I decided to quit going to the Kaplan class, and study on my own. So far, the results have been good study-wise, and the flexibility I've added to my schedule totally paid off from a training perspective.

Week 2 was also the first week that I carefully tracked my eating, thanks to a meeting with Janet - my nutritionist - who helped me lay down some guidelines regarding total caloric intake, meal balancing and timing. She allotted me more points than Weight Watchers does, which made all the difference!

In addition, I'm tracking to plan regarding my exercise. As mentioned, I'm aiming to get up to cardio 5x a week - preferably something intensive, like spinning or kickboxing - and weight training 2 - 3x a week. This week's goal was 4 cardio, 1 weight, which I hit. But what I'm most proud of is the 2 of those cardios consisted of a spin class, which is super-high in intensity. I'd almost forgotten how much I love working out - but spin after work on Wednesday totally gave me that endorphin high, and my studying was more focused than ever that night!

However (cue ominous music) - I also did hit a snag this week: PMS. When I get cravings, its like my life cannot go on until I satisfy them. Well, all week I've been craving crackers. Yes, you heard me right - crackers. I've eaten at least a box of saltines over the course of the last week!!!

But despite the cracker connundrum, both Janet and Mark are optimistic about my progress. I forgave myself for my cracker transgressions, since its only week 2, and am moving on, rather than feeling guilty. And Mark has been impressed by both my dedication, as well as my eagerness during training. "You've got your game face on," he remarked on Friday. "I can see the determination in your eyes. You'll be there in no time."

wisdom from pee-boy

david: ugh....drank an espresso and then ate an liquid ice
david: now, my stomach feels weird
serena: ew
david: gee...thanks for the moral support here!
david: i'll dedicate my next shit to you
david: =)
serena: thanks
serena: i feel so loved
david: taking a shit takes time
david: and since, time is money
david: and taking a shit requires effort
serena: ooh, i like money
david: you've got the formula to love right there, baby

For more Wisdom from David, check out A_holia_Asphyxiatoriousness. (I like to call him Pee-Boy.)

riders 'n rednecks

What do you get when you put pigs in blankets, PBR and olives, wifebeaters, American Mullet and lots of pregnant, chain-smoking, spandex-wearing peeps together?

The Riders and Rednecks party at Topher and Kimmy's, of course!

Need we say more?


Kimmy 'n Crew with deviled eggs, cheez wiz, cheetos, and pigs in blankets. Yum.


Everyone's pregnant and drinking!


Arrrr.


Farmer Topher with Bon Jovi groupies from hell


Everybody gets beat up by Mom.


Marje, pregnant, smoking, and starting on another one.


Matias, showing off that Texas armpit.

my personal ad

Think I'll get many dates with this?

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/msr/92755026.html

holy crap!

My company, Plumtree Software, just got acquired by BEA!

http://www.google.com/search?oi=stock_keyword&q=stocks:PLUM

What does this mean?! We're all kind of in shock right now...

the new spam

I've noticed a recent innovation in the world of spam... Commenting on blogs! If you notice, there are 5 comments on last night's post. However, when I took a look at them, most of them are ways to lure ppl to websites that may or may not deploy spyware to your computer. (I didn't click on them.)

I've reported it to Blogger, and deleted the most obvious ones. But just in case I miss one, or one shows up on your blog - beware!

a united europe

One of the best proposals to further unite Europe:

European Commission has just announced an agreement
whereby English will be the official language of the
European Union rather than German, which was the other
possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government
conceded that English spelling had some room for
improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan
that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c".
Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with
joy.

The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This
should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one
less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond
year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with
"f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new
spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more
komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double
letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate
speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent
"e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go
away.

By the fourth yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such
as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from
vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil
hav a reil sensibl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil
find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united
urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German
like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.

training diary, week 1: head like a hole

*** Updated with week 1 picture below! ***

Week 1 was just brutal. Trying to incorporate not just one, but two lifestyle changes into your routine almost killed me. (The other was the GMAT studying - more on that later.) I ended up exhausted and on the verge of a nervous breakdown by Friday afternoon - at which point, I scheduled myself a facial at International Orange and canceled all of my weekend social plans.

*~*~*~*~*

Training Diary, Week 1

Weight: 129 lbs
Body Fat: 30% (official!)
Fitness Level: Fair


Me, Karen and Topher on Sat, 8/20

Workout Record, Sun. 8/14 to Sat. 8/20:

• Sun, 8/14 - Elliptical Trainer, 30 mins
• Tues, 8/16 - Elliptical Trainer, 35 mins; Kickboxing, 10 mins
• Thurs, 8/18 - Elliptical Trainer, 20 mins
• Fri, 8/19 - Strength Training with Mark, 1 hour

*~*~*~*

As I said, Week 1 was pretty rough. I was feeling constantly guilty, because I didn't feel like I was either working out or studying enough, as well as completely boxed in from not having my time to myself. I'm a creature of habit; the lesson learned from this is that I need to slowly introduce life changes one at a time. I ended up wide awake at 2 am on Friday morning, unable to sleep from anxiety and washing all of my towels. Even though I was mostly dead all day Friday (my mgr. even pulled me aside because she was worried about me), it helped spark some important decisions on my part.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were days of renewal and adjustment. I met with Janet McBride, the nutritionist in the whole training program for the 1st time, on Friday afternoon. She's really cool, and I do like her approach to food and nutrition. I also had my first session with Mark on Friday. Despite the fact that I didn't think he was super dynamic at first, I really like him - he has a very understated presence that belies his knowledge, and helps encourage you. I got a great routine from him for home!

After my training work, I headed over to International Orange for my facial and massage. Ohhhhh. It was just what I needed! My skin had been feeling horrid and dull for the last few months, and the facial just ate away at all the dead skin cells and left me with a glow!

On Sat am, I continued my quest to improve my health and also put my life into balance with my first ever trip to the acupuncturist. What a nutty experience - she basically told me to close my eyes and hold out my hands, made a diagnosis (accurate!), stuck pins in me, gave me a really really rough "massage", and then gave me lots of herbs that look like poo pellets. I kinda like it :-)

I woke up on this morning, ready for my Kaplan class, and decided that I was just not going to go. I guess this is a mark of maturity or something - knowing yourself well enough to know when something isn't working for you. Ironically enough, the classes were making me study less efficiently; whenever I looked at the material, I just kind of did a half-hearted job because I knew there was the class. I realized, surprisingly enough, that I study better on my own, so I quit the class and revised my schedule and syllabus for self-study with the Premium Online Course. This frees up an additional 6+ hours of classroom time, and - if today was any indication - will help me study much more effectively.

As Scarlett said, "Tomorrow is another day." Week 2 begins...

playing telephone

There was an explosion in downtown SF this morning, but that's not the point of this post. When I came into the office, my co-worker told me that she heard that a bomb went off outside of the Charles Schwab building, and that two people were dead.

This happened only minutes before I came in, so it took a while to find info online. But, when the news finally came out, what happened was that some underground electrical issue caused an explosion and blew a manhole, one woman was injured, and the Ralph Lauren store caught fire.

Not that that's not news in itself, but its just interesting how things get blown out of proportion via hearsay - no pun intended.

For details on the explosion, check out the article.

"excuse me, i'd like to order the russian beef..."

Apparently, happy cows do not come from California - they come from Russia.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's long winter will just fly by for a herd of Russian cows which, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, will be fed confiscated marijuana over the cold months.

Drug workers said they adopted the unusual form of animal husbandry after they were forced to destroy the sunflowers and maize crops that the 40 tonnes of marijuana had been planted among, Novye Izvestia daily reported.

"There is simply no other way out. You see, the fields are planted with feed crops and if we remove it all the cows will have nothing to eat," a Federal Drugs Control Service spokeswoman for the Urals region of Sverdlovsk told the paper.

"I don't know what the milk will be like after this."

Courtesy of Yahoo! News

the before pictures

Alex suggested that I post some "before" pictures so that people who I've only known for the last year know what I looked like before I gained all this weight. So here they are.









Now you know why I've been so damn cranky about being fat :-(

disappointment

I am highly disappointed by this season's shoe selection. I went to Nordstrom's today, and wasn't even tempted to buy anything. Now I have nothing to look forward to for the next 3 months.

training diary, week 0: so it begins

I've been trying for the last 6 months or so to take off the 10 lbs I gained the last couple of years due to stress, work, some really emotional family issues, and just getting older in general, but since January of 2004, I haven't really been committed. But this week, I got serious and signed up for a training program at the Bay Club that includes 10 personal training and 3 nutrition counseling sessions. At $750 a pop, I'd have to say that I'm committed :-)

To keep myself on track, I'm posting my progress week by week, with some brutally honest stats. So... its 10lbs or bust!

*~*~*~*

Training Diary, Week 0:

Height: 5'2"
Weight: 130 lbs
Body Fat %: Approx. 30%
Fitness Level: Fair to Poor


Week 0 pictures. Yuck.

Workout Record, Sun. 8/7 to Sat., 8/13:

• Mon, 8/8 - Elliptical Trainer, 30 mins; Weights: 20 minutes
• Tues, 8/9 - Elliptical Trainer, 20 mins
• Thurs, 8/11 - Spinning, 45 mins; Abs, 10 mins
• Fri, 8/12 - Elliptical Trainer, 30 mins
  

The Plan:

• Spinning, Mondays and Thursdays
• Cardio Kickboxing, Tuesdays
• Elliptical Trainer (30 - 45 mins) on Wednesdays and Sundays
• Weight Training, Fridays and Sundays

*~*~*~*

Even though I just technically met with my trainer on Friday, I started prepping myself for the program by forcing myself to work out, and eat a little healthier. I was particularly proud of myself on Thursday, when, after a looooong meeting that lasted until 6, I made myself go to Spinning - despite the fact that I was tired, cranky, and hungry. Good thing too - it really pumped me up again.

On Friday, I met with Mark for the first time. Apparently, Mark is something of a celebrity, having been recently written up in Men's Health magazine and featured on MSN. I'm pretty excited... he's very low key, but both understanding and motivating. Most impressive of all is that he personally lost almost 200lbs! Check out his website at www.xbigman.com.

I'm so excited!

the plight of asian men

"Self-pity is like masturbation. It's an individual experience not shared by anyone else and it keeps people content being losers."

POV One: Where is the Love?

POV Two: Quit Whining!

Who shall prevail? Vote!

bits and pieces

I don't know anyone else who gets as excited by a great toothbrush as I do. I got this crazy Oral-B Pulsar toothbrush yesterday, and its amazing (and just a little bit freaky). It vibrates!

And I can't believe Peter Jennings died this weekend! How sad! Its like the end of an era... I grew up watching him on the news. I remember my aunt used to have the biggest crush on him when I was 8 or something.

its all that...

... and a Bag of Chips @ Madrone Lounge last night was a huge success. One could even say that it was "all that".

*Cheesy joke guffaw*

... Bag was seriously the most fun party that 09:Babies has ever thrown, and probably even one of the best parties I've been to! Even though we've had some great parties with really amazing people and talent, this was the one that caused almost zero stress. Plus, there's something about 80's music that just makes everything happy and fluffy.

Besides raising another $600 for the AIDS Walk, we saw some pretty kick-ass 80's costumes. The AIDS Walk team itself was a melange of styles: Laura went for the preppy cheerleader look (Like Totally-Girl), Heather the ever-classic goth (Goth-Kitty), Isidro fashioned himself after Don Johnson (Miami Chump), and I was the Madonna concert reject (Madonna-be).

The saddest thing about this entire experience was that all of us managed to pull these outfits together out of our closets.

It was a terrific end to my tenure at 09:Babies, and a great way to kick off my hibernation. Lots and lots 'o pics below! *MWAH!*

Me, Laura and Diana are like, totally psyched about the party.


Eric reminds us that in the 80's, he was a clerk at 7-Eleven,
while Isidro waits for his Miami Vice moment


W-I-G-G-Y!!!


Hey, Isidro forgot his Lacoste shirt, so we had to make him one


Definitely the costume winner of the night! Too bad you can't see his pants.


Eric H, coming out of hibernation to rejoin the living (and single) world.


Khaotic Groovemintz in the house, post-dance show


YEAAAAAAH. Hot.


"Why didn't I date a guy like this in high school?" wonders Diana.


Nice shirt, Matty.


Karen shows off her leg-warmers


DJ Kap$hure busts it out. One of the best sets he's ever played - for sure.


Diana "touches herself". OK, technically not 80's, but we love that song anyways.


Fern and Laura and a scary blue light


Whoever you are, you rawk \m/


Clyde busts it out


Diana and Jarret get into the groove


Whatever...


"Look! I can DJ and take pictures at the same time!"


Nothing like dancing with my fairy godbrother


Hey Mickey!


Whatever we're singing along to, we loved it


Eric H, Fern and Paula


Goth-Kitty and Miami-Chump strike a pose


Pablo? Paco? Why did I keep removing your shirt?


Me and Clydo


I don't know why Clydo is now wearing my shirt...


Despite his big smile, I'm actually strangling Fern in the car.


Goddamn you, feed me!

For all 100+ pictures (Isidro and Laura went nuts with my new camera), check out the slideshow at Ofoto.