Half-Assed Homemaker

If you get your ID questioned (and then rejected) for beer, try getting a new picture taken where you look less heavy, if possible. (Spinach salad and Pasta Alfredo diet, look out Dr. Phil).

Know your height.

When the person who chose the restaurant chose to eat dinner elsewhere before you get to the restaurant... worry.

Dense restaurant employees will stand at your table for second after second, expecting you to hand her stuff or pass stuff along to the rest of the table. You just accused me of fraud, don't expect any favors.

Said employee also thinks trying to sell you soda is a good idea. Corn syrup and mystery toxins far worse than alcohol is not a substitute for beer.

Not having any health code violations on record is usually a good thing, unless it is because there are no recorded health code inspections for that establishment.

An Indian restaurant named Kennedy's Irish Pub... sketchy.

Indian restaurants are insulting in more ways than one. Give Americans some credit, greasy isn't the only flavor they know.

I've been trying to pick the zucchini early while they are still small. I like the sweeter fuller flavor of the baby zucchini. It seems that at some point, there is only so much zucchini flavor to go around so letting it grow bigger will not help the flavor. The other day I picked some small enough that I was able to steam them whole and still be able to cook them in a few minutes.

Piercing the outer flesh gave a nice snap which balanced the tender veggie goodness inside nicely. The snap seemed to propel the flavor to all corners of your mouth.

I wish Kagi accepted PayPal. In that case I'd have purchased a license for a particular software application ages ago. Don't they understand it's easier for me to tweak the preferences file than it is to actually get up retrieve my wallet? It would be even easier to type in my password at PayPal and buy a license!

This is the first time I've seen spam that used "urban lingo" and innuendo.

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Send me back bro, when you`ll be done...(if you know what i mean...) See ya,

Maybe they are going after the same impact as McDonalds' i'm lovin it campaign which uses capitalization and spelling errors to convince us that McDonalds can be street.

I guess uniting Asian and Asian Pacific Islander Americans just isn't enough.

Who's on the phone? I hope it's not the glee police or you two are busted! Did your mail-order honor student finally clear customs? Did you just find out that you won honorable mention in the Orange County Fair Bendy Eyebrow Contest? Is the guy who found your other phone asking where he can drop it off? Why you two are so jubilant, I'll never know... and it will drive me insane.

I spent some time this morning with some kindergarteners today. I tried to explain the Landscapes Initiative to them. I showed them some photos from our Mount Whitney Climb. I also showed them this, a 3D rendering of DEM data for Mount Shasta. I explained how it was a drawing made with numbers. I had everyone stand up and crowd around me in descending height order. I asked their teacher what we looked like, "a mountain" she said. I then explain how our heads could be like dots and the computer could fill in between the points and draw a mountain.

I summarized data art as telling a story using numbers. We proceeded to story time by drawing numbers on the board, imagining what each number may look like and making a story out of those objects. We got as far as 13, there was a stray 19 in there somewhere.

There were three trampolines. Can you guess the corresponding numbers?

Something tells me that offering Free Engraving with purchase of an iPod is a brilliant attempt to make used iPods harder to resell.

I could see how people may snub the "God's my Copilot" iPod in favor of a new iPod, engraved with "You are Lisa Simpson" or something more personal. You could buy a Hollywood commemorative engraved iPod here. Authenticity would be a hard thing to prove, which is probably why the seller isn't trying to get a premium on the price, but this is an example where engraving something with a wide appeal may not necessarily make it harder to sell.

I can't wait for delivery of my "Beer, Sleep and Boobs" iPod.

I took the Baby-Bullet Train to work today. It was exciting and rather fast. I left a bit earlier to catch it and there was a lot less traffic on the road to get to the station.

There was all kinds of fanfare surrounding the baby bullet's maiden voyages. There was a woman in the subterranean walkway handing out schedules talking up the baby bullet. At first, I assumed she was handing out Jesus Saves trading cards or the like. I wonder what kind of gum those come with.

The conductor was handing out commemorative fake passes on the train. I would have taken one had I known they were individually numbered. The short bus now picks us up at Mountain View Station where signs for Giant hot dogs beam at you (especially nasty sounding at 8am). I'll have to get used to this but change is good.

I made a house warming gift for my friend, more specifically a "Your Apartment Rocks" gift was how I preannounced it to him. I was taken aback when I saw the place, enough to promise a gift. It's a long story but it involves a piece of Japanese pottery.

By the way, I'm not sure what the piece is called but it is so beautiful. It's a deep bowl and the lid that has a little knob on it. I've seen one used in a tea shop. The tea master used one hand to lift it and shift the lid slightly to trap in the leaves as the tea was poured into cups. I want one. The camera is at the office so I'll post a photo of it soon.

You know those hard drinking nights when you find yourself at 3 am feeding pieces of perfectly ripe peach to your cat? Yep, another one of those.

I read an article about a woman fighting for her right to hang up her wash, I was fascinated. I was silently cheering when I found out that clotheslines are protected as a solar device under Florida's solar rights law.

I think this is another battle in the war between new sterlility and old world aesthetic. Clothes lines are so beautiful. There is something romantic about drying your clothes in the fresh air, scented by the nearby plants.

Please notice the donation button to the right. Make a Patriot Donation today, it's good for America. If words like Patriot and Convenience can sell laws and fleecing respectively, imagine what it could do for something positive!

Your donation will go to the ETHICS Society so here is low down about Claire and the ETHICS Society for those that don't know.

Embrace the Homless, Initiate Change. Claire collects and distributes donations of clothing, household items and food each Sunday morning. Throughout the rest of the week, she collects donations from other sources such as flea markets and launders any clothing donations that need it. She calls it the ETHICS Society and the act of donating makes you a member.

The money will be used to wash and dry the clothes. Any local blog readers who have things to donate can give them to me or bring them to St. James Park in San Jose on Sunday mornings.

Anything is welcome, this includes clothing, shoes, socks (always a big hit), coats, pillows, blankets, sleeping bags, plastic bags, food, water, books, toys, other household items, anything that can be saved from the landfill and given a new life.