my new hero

This guy Boone Pickens was on 60 Minutes. Sure he is Republican and made a lot of money on oil. But now he is eighty years old and trying to make the largest wind farm in the world. Not to save the planet so much as to make more money. That's the way the world turns, on cash.

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dream house

Sometimes I like to make a list of what I want my dream house to have. Here are a few of the must haves.

• Be on the corner
• Space in kitchen to allow for hanging pots
• Natural light in the main bathroom
• At least 1 and 1/2 bathrooms
• At least two bedrooms, plus office/den (would be nice)
• Back porch that is screened in, the cats will love that
• Garage for car
• ...
  

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the battle rages on

When Ziggy first came into the house, Marley was totally smitten with him. Literally taking care of him and play fighting. But the play fighting has turned to hissing and growling. Marley won't even let me near him anymore. Trying a few things to keep the peace. I let Marley in the bathroom with me as a bit of a sancturary from Ziggy. I gave him some Rescue Remedy, but he gets more lazy (not cleaning himself) then actually relaxed. I also put a liittle dry food back into the diet. We shall see how all of this cat social behavior experiment goes. I would just like quiet when I'm home. :)

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word: footage

Tonight was a very different kind of class. It was faster than most. And more complex than anything before. Well, at least for me. I'm now expected to pick up the cuts and movements quickly. No following others. Think with my own brain. And then add on the next part of the combination. I still don't cut hard enough. But I did find myself flowing through the movements. Letting it happen without pin-pointing the fine details. That will come in time. I felt good at the end of class.

Funny how McDonald's is right next to the subway entrance. Even though I'm hungry I have to kind of ignore it. Very tempting. Might have to find a new way home.

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yellow belt and bike messengers

Last night was my first class with a yellow belt on. It felt different. The belt was brand new and I was able to get it real tight. In my head it was different too. I had a stronger desire to do well and cut better. In fact my arm was fairly sore after. Plus I got a bit more respect in class. I was part of the bows given before and after class. You could feel the static in the air. It was an awesome feeling.

At some points of my training I didn't think I could do the moves they asked for. Eventually I got more in shape and understood what was being said. I guess I'm still impressed that I can do these things when my mind is put to it.

On an off topic, got to use a bike messenger for the 1st time. Long sad story about data recovery of an old hard drive... It finally needed to go to a place to be worked on. The file copy was taking too long, so I thought to have it delievered to my office when done. There was a messenger service upstairs. It cost about the same as a can service. Too bad the dude wasn't allowed up to our office floor. The building has it's own courier guys. So instead "Creepy Guy" brought me my hard drive. Never a dull moment in the city.

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bootleg

Up in Rochester there is a head shop called Aaron's Alley. Back in the day they would sell Grateful Dead bootleg concerts on tape. They were like the only source for live music. On Monday I went to see Death Cab for Cutie with my brother at Radio City. We were on the first floor, near the back door. Gave us a great view. Near the middle of the show I noticed a lot of people had a phone or such up in the air recording the show. By the end of the week there was like 56 videos up on YouTube of the show. Funny how some things never change, just get upgraded.

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signals

The ice cream truck usually parked on the corner of my office building has gone away. Those awesome street vendors are now selling pashmina scarves instead of sunglasses. This morning it was so dark that it didn't feel like I even went to sleep. As dark as when I to bed. Darkness when I wake and darkness when I come home. I don't even have to kick off the covers in the night. The smell of dying leaves in the air. These are all the signs. The signals. The chill is in the air. Even with temps in the 70s, still need a jacket and scarf. The humidity is gone. Soon the leaves will be changing and the snow will fall.

salmon

Between my flatmate and me, we made poached salmon with mango salsa last night. Oh so easy to make and it tasted awesome. Who knew! I have tried to fry fish before and always failed miserably. Now I've found a new technique. And the wine was a perfect addition to it all.

Ziggy

I'm such a sucker. On Friday there was this cute little cat hanging out in the front yard on my way to work. He was pretty friendly and gave me a meow. I figured at the end of the day (got out early :) if he would still be there, then I would figure out what to do. Well, of course he was still there and surrounded by 3 young girls. They wanted to get him into a box to take him home. I chatted with them and then scooped him up to take him home. The 3 girls were so sweet, not wanting me to take him cause they really wanted to take him home.

Got the boy home, gave him a bath, and a bit of dinner. After a quick trip to the vet to make sure he isn't infected with tasty germs, he was allowed to meet with Marley. The two boys have been chasing each other around the whole apartment since. They are getting along so well that in the end we decided to keep him.

From Ziggy

quarterlife

I have to admit, I started watching quarterlife online after seeing the pilot episode on TV. In 1 day I watched all 36 episodes (like 10 minutes each). It was awesome. Next up, 90210! It's like reliving my teenage life. Freakin' hilarious.

facebook

How adorable is it when you can change your status on facebook to "in a relationship with..." and link right to that person's profile? Is that just so overwhelmingly and yet sickening cute!?! Excuse me... have to go puke now. ;)

technology

I was up in Rochester, NY last week visiting with family. Had a total blast - mom fed me well and kept me busy the whole time. Well here is the story. I was at Best Buy to drop off old cell phones and then did a little browsing. My cousin is looking for a new laptop, so I thought I would check the pricing there. This salesman was busy chatting up two customers. He was explaining to them that a Mac doesn't get viruses because, well see, the Macs don't get IP addresses cause they have mac addresses. I started to choke-laugh just then. I had to walk away cause if I heard any more, I might have had to step in. What really pisses me off about this whole thing is that people who don't know about technology go to a store for help and get fed even more bs. Got me thinking how I can help people learn about computers. As in like the truth. Without making it more confusing. After school is finally all done, I should take my free time to teach some of those community classes. I think I would be good at it.

Sushi

I'll admit it, I'm a total sushi snob. I really don't care for the fast-food prepackaged sushi rolls. On Friday I tried out a new restaurant for lunch. Looked like a good place, right in Korean Town. Ordered the sashimi box with green tea. It started with a salad of zucchini, carrots, and seaweed - fairly tasty. Then a light broth noodle soup with crab meat. Not much taste to it, but good for summer. Then the box came out. By the way, I asked for no mackerel. I got about 10 pieces of sashimi, 2 of the same kind since I asked for no mackerel, plus a California roll and green salad. The salad didn't taste good, so I gave up on that. The white rice looked good, but too hard. The sashimi pieces were ice cold. That means it's not fresh and obviously sitting on ice. Oh well, high hopes were not fulfilled. Guess I'm back to the place I usually go to for sushi.

natural and organic

Slowly but surely I've been replacing each product of my everyday life with natural, organic and/or eco-friendly products. Sometimes its harder than others. Today my sinuses were on a rampage, sneezing my brain out. I have to get soft Puff brand type tissues, otherwise my little nose will be red. I've tried the other recycled type brands, but they basically suck. So I kind of staggered out of the apartment to get a few things from the grocery store and allergy drugs. I didn't go the extra 3 blocks to the "nicer" grocery store, cause basically I was tired and my brain was a bit cloudy. Anyway, they didn't have the 7th Generation recycled garbage bags I usually get. They had all the major name brands, none of which say from recycled products. I had to swallow my guilt and suck it up to buy just plain old plastic bags. I did remember to bring my own bag to the store. I've been proud of myself on doing that. What I don't get is, when I mention to the cashier that I've got my own bag which I then put on the counter, they just like stop. I have to dig out my money and they don't even bother putting the stuff in the bag like they would if I hadn't stopped them from using a plastic bag. The world seems to run on the same method without room for change. My mom just switched over to reusable bags. Of course she lives in a place where plastic grocery bags will be recycled (not a single grocery store in my hood does this).

Products I love:
Shikai Color Reflect - shampoo and conditioner
Kiss My Face - shaving cream
7th Generation - paper towels, toilet paper, garbage bags
Mrs Meyers - counter top spray, good for cleaning Marley's paw prints
JASON tea tree- deodorant (no aluminum)
Nature's Gate hemp - body lotion
Lily of France bar soap - lavender

And yes, Marley is on natural, grain-free canned food by Wellness. No more dry food. He is also on a daily dose of liquid acidolphillus (for digestion) and Pawier (for his dirty eyes and ears). A street cat never had it so good.

iaido fun

I got a real treat in Iaido classes this week. I was the only student both nights. Which meant total one-on-one time with Sensei Dave. The 1st night was pretty awesome. We didn't start with jumping jacks... surprisingly. We did a lot of basics, like fixing up my position and such. My problems are that my front foot is not pointed straight, it keeps going to a slight slant. The other is my balance. I keep doing dancer (ballet) positions. Like putting my feet in line, instead of stepping out to have a better stance. Both things I have to work on. Then we did the first 4 katas. All need a lot more work.

On the second night of class, again no jumping jacks. We sat in seiza facing each other with our bokutos between us. Then he went over the parts of the katana. All Japanese words that I must learn and repeat when tested. I can get most of them, but I need like flash cards or something. I'm working on my own training manual. Basically pointing in the things that I have a tough time with. If I got it and can memorize it, then I don't need to write it down. I figure eventually my manual should be empty cause it's all moved into my head. Optimistic I know. Then we moved into the kamaes that I must also memorize. The 7th always stalls my thinking. Going to start saying them out loud as I ride the train. Let people look at me strange. :)

By the end of that class, well it ended short. My right foot had a blister and it ripped open. Believe me it didn't hurt a bit. Actually kind of awesome. But trying to shuffle on the floor is uncomfortable with a big piece of skin flapping about. So, I said "Excuse me Sensei Dave, my blister opened up". He asked if I wanted to fix or end the class. Since we went for like 2 1/2 hours on Tuesday, I requested we end the class. I think he was disappointed. He enjoys teaching very much. And I can't express the appreciation I feel for that real time and patience he spent on me. Now my duty is to gain much from it and do better next class.