A Top Eleven List for 2011

Hey everybody, Happy Christmas and New Year to everyone! I haven't seen most of you all in a minute (for reals) and I hope you all have had a warm and lovely holidays. A lot of great things happened this year.

To reflect on simple and good things and to honor the year 2011, I have decided to make a Top Eleven (and a half) list of my favorite meals of the past year (in some kind of order I guess, not necessarily from cheaper to more expensive, as I did not have to pay the big bucks for some of these if you'll read.)

11. Las Cazuelas, 5707 North Figueroa Street, Highland Park (L.A.), CA
Great mix of Mexicano and Salvadoreno food. You can share three pupusas (awesome if you had not yet had them with the salsa roja and pickled cabbage...go now, anywhere they serve them), a coctel de camarones (shrimp cocktail) and platanos fritos (fried plantains) for LESS THAN $18. I AM FULL each time.

10. Folliero's 5566 N. Figueroa St., Highland Park (L.A.), CA
This spot literally is two blocks from Cazuelas. A couple of things: this might be, pound for pound pricewise and tastewise, the best pizza in the area. I love ordering anchovies and dicing them up into the clam pasta with white sauce. AND THEY DON'T CHARGE a corkage fee for wine. Folliero's, how I adore thee.

(9 1/2. At home, I made Tortilla Soup a couple of times, and it is a fave. It is cheap to do and takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to prepare. Also, there is soup for days afterward. Here is the recipe from Bigoven.com: link

9. also loved anytime my fiancee made arroz caldo, a filipino stew comprising rice and chicken, ginger and onions, lots of lemon and some potatoes. Then you top it with chopped green onions and fried minced garlic. It is so damn good, but I can't divulge her recipe; we can say that she prefers to use chicken thighs as they don't dry out and get tough and stringy like chicken breast sometimes can. Click for a picture and description of this yumminess. Some Asian countries know this dish as congee.)

8. Gaja Moc 2383 Lomita Blvd, Lomita, CA
Japanese plates can be enjoyed here. The Okonomiyaki here is great, especially for the reason that you cook it yourself on a (VERY) hot grill in the middle of your table. Their food is so tasty and there are many options to choose from. I also savored the takoyaki. I will be coming back here very soon.

7. 15.quince grill and cantina 363 Main St., Jerome, AZ
Earlier this past spring I visited parts of Arizona with the school. I took the kids to a former mining town (once one of the richest in the whole world during boomtimes) called Jerome. Now it is an artist's enclave that sports one of the best Mexican restaurants I have ever had the pleasure of trying. Killer salsa verde!!! Also incredible crucifix art, which is probably no longer up, but I bought one for my mom. Want to visit here in the winter time. Streets are so steep.

6. A Ri Rang Tofu House 529 E Valley Blvd., Ste 128, San Gabriel, CA
This was the second Korean tofu soup place I had been to. The girlfriend (at the time she was not yet betrothed to me) suggested, and you might as well consider me a delighted little Korean girl at one of these places. The soup is steaming, bubbling hot when it gets to your table, and the little plates of chilled banchan offer little different counterpoints to this awesomeness. OMG for reals KK.

5. Bacaro LA 2308 S Union Ave, near downtown Los Angeles, CA
Just a cool, cool place that serves all kinds of wine and beers while really focusing on serving great food. Just go look at the reviews from this link. The servings are tapas-style (standouts include the burger--it has a fried egg atop it, the mac and cheese, and the chicken piccata-style dish) though this is an Italian-inspired place. Don't go expecting huge portions and enjoy the huge tastes.

4. The Park Restaurant 1400 Sunset Blvd., Echo Park (L.A.), CA
I officially proposed to my fiancee here (just for good measure, she said "yes" twice that day). They have a thing for Friday dinners called Supper Club which included four courses (dessert is one of them) that were all completely solid. I had the Caesar salad, some nice veggies, a Chilean Sea Bass and a scrumptious dessert for only 20 bucks! I think this deal is 15 dollars on Tuesday nights!

3. Kous Kous 3940 4th AV #110, San Diego, CA
Went here twice in the past year. If you have never tried Moroccan food before, make this a first stop with complete confidence. The Moroccan mint tea will chill you out, or you can get your krunk on with one of many signature cocktails they serve. There is a family meal with three or four courses that is just BOMB. BOMB.

2. Mon Ami Gabi-Paris Hotel and Resort 3655 Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV
If I knew a French dude who could cook up a steak and french fries like that, I would want him to be my homey, too! One of the few times she and I ate red meat this year, and it was totally worth it. Only qualm was that we thought we'd reserved an al fresco (outside) table to watch the jumping water show across the street at the Bellagio, but had to settle for listening to the music and catching glimpses of it from inside. Flourless chocolate cake was impressive and I had to be wheeled around Vegas for the rest of the night. Couldn't even play Pai Gow no mo'.

1. Saison 2124 Folsom St., San Francisco, CA
Three things:
First, they are a 2 Michelin star-rated restaurant. Second, the fiancee's brother works there; thus, our entire meal was comp'ed. Last, it was the single most interesting and memorable dining experience I have ever had. It was a 15-course meal (and red, red wine) and just about knocked us out. In a good way. youtube video

SO... there is it! I hope you enjoyed the list. I have to go exercise now.

Fall 2011

Alison is 1 year old!!!!

Moving Out

Moving into a new place should be fun, shouldn't it? It's easy to move all of the heavy furniture and wrap up the glassware, fun to pack up all of the belongings and donate or otherwise trash things you don't necessarily need any more, and inspiring to make a needed change in your living quarters. Am I right?

People who think this way have probably never moved before. Knowing a lot of us Rat Racers, I have seen that moving is a necessary evil (maybe even beneficial?) from time to time. Having known many of you for years, of course we've gotten new roommates, wanted bigger apartments (or houses), broken up with significant others, and even gotten jobs or situations many hours (sometimes many hundreds of miles) away. And we all know one thing: Moving sucks donkey balls. Changing addresses, being uprooted, feeling like you live in a hotel...not to mention all of the work involved in dealing with the various things and trinkets one amasses over the years. Among this trove of goodies, for me at least, is included:

1 Ronco Pocket Fisherman (piece of crap)
a Chinese Lunar New Year red Lantern
a framed portrait of Vito and Michael Corleone
a pair of Perfect Pushups
a massive collection of porno magazines my cousin left with me when he and wife had a baby (he didn't want the poor child thinking her father was a sex-crazed weirdo)
too many baseball cards and comic books. Why did I buy the cards? At least I can read the comix on the toilet.
a Ripstick (kind of like a skateboard, except deadlier.)

I had confiscated that last item from a kid who was subsequently kicked out of school for brandishing a fake I.D. and getting caught trying to buy liquor for a hotel room party. I have also acquired other types of contraband, such as a pair of scissors from a kid who was threatening to stab one of his dormmates with a shiv. The two had started an argument with racial slurs that included an octopus and some of the usual epithets we hear all the time. The dormmate had protected himself by fending the interloper off with an aluminum baseball bat, which I also confiscated.

This last episode is what sent me over the feeling of wanting to move away from dorm and relinquishing my responsibilities of taking care of these international students to actually taking steps to move away and get my own place. There are three things I knew I would not miss about being a dorm father once I tendered my resignation letter: getting knocks at my door at all hours of the day when I was on duty (and also frequently when I was off), having my weekends taken over by supervising/taking kids on trips, and the dreaded post-midnight fire alarm.

Being a dorm father means that you are these children's parents, basically. First and foremost, you are there to provide discipline in times when they need to do homework because all they want to do is play video games. It is hard to pry a kid from the World of Warcraft, for example. Also, you have to resolve conflicts between those who have had things stolen and those you have suspected have stolen, after you have determined that they have, in fact, stolen. You are also there to provide a shoulder to cry on, a presence in the emergency room, and above all, a listening ear. I have dealt with kids who are struggling with the fresh onslaught of adjusting to the amount of work that high school classes present; seen broken noses, compound fractures, and a case of pneumonia; and advised a teen through losing his best friend because they were both getting played by a neighborhood floozy. It's hard and unforgiving work, but it is rewarding to see the kids start making their own decisions and dealing with their consequences. It's the only way to learn! Although most times the kids don't even realize you are helping them, and you realize what it feels like to be taken for granted, eventually they come to their senses and thank you for your help. It's eventually rewarding. Yet there are also fun times.

A lot of time as a dorm father I spent driving on trips. Trips to the mall, the ice skating rink, Tokyo Town. These comprise whole weekends. It was nice to get some spending money and head out once in a while, but I am sure that I will be loving having ALL of my weekends free from now on! Although it was nice to get to a place and telling the students to scram for a while, it is time to start rediscovering the real meaning of TGIF.

Finally, the fire alarm. This was no ordinary alarm. This was my nemesis, whisking me from my dreams to a place where I stuporically looked for some pants, stumbled out of my apartment while yelling, as loud as I could, "Fire! Everybody out!" then running to the school's kitchen to find out that some senior has been smoking cigarettes in the north wing bathroom again and silence that sunuvabeeyotch.

I have less than I week to live (at the dorm) now. Although this has made me into a different (perhaps more responsible) person, I can't want to see what kind of person I will be once out of the dorms again. Perhaps more appreciative of the quiet, perhaps a bit better equipped for adulthood. We'll see.

Upon Re-Watching TRON: Legacy

I was thinking about how much The Matrix must have been influenced by the original TRON and how much TRON: Legacy takes from The Matrix. I recently re-watched TRON: Legacy on DVD and found it to be not the hot mess that I remembered from the theater. I might have been projecting my frustration about having to wear sunglasses during a movie that takes place almost completely in the dark on to the content of the film. I have to say that even on just plain old DVD the movie looks awesome, visually its a pretty unique experience. I can't say anything about the soundtrack except that its amazing and perfect for the movie.
I remember thinking that Jeff Bridges performance in particular was completely muddled and inconsistent, but I didn't find it to be the case this time around. It's not his best work, but it's TRON so just be glad he came back for the sequel.

Don't get me wrong, its far from a perfect movie, there are a lot of "huh?" moments in there. I think that primarily because there are about 3 movies going on at the same time. I know that a TRON sequel has been in development for about 10 years. (My TRON DVD has a teaser for something called TRON: Killer App.) I think what probably happened was that the script in its current form is an amalgam of about 3 or 4 different scripts.

I will say that my biggest frustration with the new TRON is that the story of the character Tron is missing. He has transformed into something called The Rinzler and has a last minute realization/ redemption but then dies, seemingly. I would have liked to see the backstory on that.

Some bullshit

Some of you know (because I love to brag about it) and some of you don't know, but I am part of a team that is opening a new school next year. This school is run by teachers so we get to do all of the work hiring more teachers for our program.

So I got a resume from someone who is looking to get a math teaching job. I'm trying to not violate confidentiality, so I'm going to be intentionally vague. This applicant graduated from a certain famous technical school on the east coast that is a rival to the very famous technical school that is very close to where. Said person then went on to get a teaching credential and masters from another very prestigious university on the east coast. Think about the one people consider the best school in the country. That's the one. Not only does this person have this ridiculous education, but this person also has a ton of experience in the community where our school is volunteering in many non-profit organizations that I know and respect. The resume literally includes experience watching over the performance of space shuttle engines as they are in flight. And this person wants to teach math in a high school in a poor area of the east valley. The exact person our government talks about wanting to get into teaching math in our schools.

Oh, and I can't hire this person because of budget cuts and contract seniority rules.

Welcome to our American system of education.

The "Gastropub"

I object to restaurants call themselves "gastropubs". First of all, the term "gastro" makes me think of flatulence, so it doesn't really endear me to an establishment. Second of all, I think its presumptuous. It's a restaurant calling itself "gourmet". If you want to serve high end food you have to just do your best and let the customers decide if your food is Gourmet. Same thing with a place that sells booze and food. If your food is good and your beer is good then you'll get labeled as a gastropub. If not, your just a bar and grill, which is fine. But calling yourself gastropub doesn't make your food or your beer selection any better.

Input Overload

I'm beginning to realize that besides food and beer, one of my greatest vices has become sensory input. More specifically, listening to podcasts, going on the internet and watching TV. When you are alone all day and tired of listening to your inner monologue, you need something to keep your brain busy. But I think in these times of instant access to everything, we can definitely over do it. A good example is when I'm watching something on TV and then pick up the laptop to see what other movies or shows some actor has been in. Now, not only am I taking in input from two sources, but my braining is thinking about a third source. If I'm walking the dog or doing the dishes, I've always got a podcast going on the ipod. From time to time I've been having trouble sleeping. This is nothing new for me, but I find that the voices and scenarios from TV and podcasts are creeping into my psyche on the edge of sleep and my brain won't shut down. I know its important to exercise the brain, but I'm learning that its equally important to let it rest. I came to this clarity of thought on a 6 mile hike, during which I didn't break out my ipod, I just let my brain wander where it would. I can tell you that having not had more than 2 hours sleep last night, there was a huge data dump going on, like a waking dream. I feel a little clearer now and hopefully, I'll sleep tonight.
Ask yourself when the last time you sat quietly alone with your thoughts.

A Low carb Alternative Food

Those little honeys are bacon wrapped chicken drummettes. Finally, the pig and the chicken have come together to form the perfect food. Next time I might take the chicken skin off and wrap a jalapeno in there. Lauri made broccoli in a futile attempt to try and counteract the bacon.

happy days

When was the last time you had a really really good laugh? Like the kinda laugh that is uncontrollable! The laughing spell where you need to gather yourself but just can't cuz you keep thinking about the funny thing? When was the last time you laugh so hard you peed your pants, or spit out a drink or even had tears in your eyes?

I think we could all use one of those moments soon. :)

They finally made a monkey out of me!

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Trailer

Click on the Link to Watch on You Tube.

I have to say, this looks pretty cool. But I'm not sure of I'm up for a movie that turns realistic looking apes into enemies. The state of the Gorilla and Chimpanzee species is pretty dire right now and having stupid ass people see them as dangerous is the last thing they need right now. Having said that, I'll probably still see the movie.

Facebook This!

I watched 12 hours of Sons of Anarchy yesterday. It's on Netflix instant viewing now. It became so ingrained in my brain that I couldn't sleep. I had the phrase SAMCRO repeating over and over again. I had visions of Katey Segal smoking a joint and kidnapping Alison. So now I have to watch no more than 1 or 2 episodes a day. None today, too scary. Today, I'm goin to retreat back into middle-earth, where I have been pretty much living for the last three months.

ConAgra foods makes my favorite taco sauce and engages in price fixing. Matt Damon told me so. Its a little vexing to know that I could be getting cheaper taco sauce.

A Mystery!?

You are faced with an unsolvable mystery. Your life hangs in the balance. Do you call on Batman or Sherlock Holmes for help. Several things to consider, Batman is also a Ninja but he only works at night. With Sherlock Holmes you also get the keen mind of Doctor Watson, however Holmes is a coke fiend and Watson is probably his dealer.

Oprah

Did you know that Pete loathes Oprah Winfrey? It makes me giggle just thinking about all the little snickers and comments he makes when i watch her shows. Yes, i watch Oprah. Don't judge me! If you were home for four months and time no longer had meaning, then we can discuss it. I also feel like i'm somewhat justified in watching Oprah cuz its her last season. they don't do repeats of talk shows so i'm in the clear after her series is done. of course, there is her new network, OWN. Guess i'll still be watching some Oprah related stuff. sorry Pete!

Facebook, The Audience Isn't Listening Part 2

By chance I had heard of a T-Shirt called Three Wolf Moon. Its a T-Shirt with three wolf heads on it howling at the moon. It became a sort of internet phenomenon when someone stumbled on it on Amazon and wrote a review of it, imbuing it with magical powers. There are now over 1200 reviews of the shirt on Amazon and some of them are really funny. Anyway, I thought it would be worth the $20 to send Randy the shirt, addressed to “Mad Dog Moe” It made me laugh. So I order the shirt and have it sent to Randy’s house. Now, this is another attempt by me to get a rise out of someone. (Namely Randy, in this case) Performance art if you will.
I eagerly check my Amazon account to check the delivery status of the shirt. The package was delivered yesterday and would be waiting for Randy on the doorstep when he got home from work. I relished in the response I might receive. I laughed just thinking about it. Yesterday came and went and I got no response. This morning, I confirmed with Tim that Randy had received and opened the package. Tim, at least , let me know that he thought the gag gift was “very funny”. Ok so, Randy is not the type to over emote for sure, but to say nothing...? I thought maybe the gift had confused or angered him in some way. So I took to Facebook and in a jokey kind of way explained the gift. Randy confirmed that it was “a very interesting shirt”. Here is the thing though, as I said before every single thing I post on Facebook is meant for an audience reaction even when I write directly on someone’s wall, I hope for a reaction from our mutual friends. I won’t go into the play by play, because you can check Facebook and see that my post got no reaction. I checked it all day waiting for someone to do some investigating on Three Wolf Moon and appreciate, via comment, my little piece of performance art. As of this writing, there has been absolutely no reactions. It’s stupid, I know, but I’m really disappointed by this. There are several factors that may be contributing to the lax response, the first is that I posted on a weekday morning, so by the time people got home from work, my post could have been buried under 50 other posts, depending on how many friends you have. I also posted it on Randy’s page and Randy is not very active on Facebook, and we all know, if you don’t post regularly, people tend to stop checking your page. There may be people who would feedback but haven’t seen it yet. But on Facebook, if you don’t get the reaction you want in 24 hours your post is buried under hundreds of other posts and you may as well forget it.

Facebook, The Audience Isn't Listening Part 1

In February of 2005, Randy and I started a blog on Google’s Blogger service. The idea was that we would post our opinions on Movies, TV, Music, video games etc. and someone would eventually stumble across it and begin to pay us for our awesome writing skills and pop culture observations. What actually happened was that we ended up documenting a period in our lives, before we started working full time and were having a lot of boozy adventures, probably way too far into our adulthood. However, I did put in a lot of effort and wrote a lot of stuff that I’m pretty proud of, we even had an essay contest that had, at least, our group of friends talking about it.
Three major things have happened since 2005 that for all intents and purposes shut the blog down. The first is that I began working full time and a lot of the wasted days that were so interesting to write and read about came to an end. MySpace, Blogs and the internet in general were becoming more accessible than ever and I began to worry that if I wrote about work, someone would eventually see it.
The second, is that I got a cell phone. My job made me get one. I was like the last hold out on getting a cell phone and I wonder sometimes, if my job didn’t make me carry it, if I still wouldn’t have it. Anyway, I absolutely fell in love with texting. I could instantly send my thoughts and ideas out to a dozen people at a time. Really at that point, thats what the blog was all about. But with texting, people had to tune in. It was passive, they didn’t have to go searching for my latest post, it was sent to them and they eventually had to read it. Not only that, but because of the format, I had to be brief and did not have to spend time to flesh out a thought or even censor myself. My thoughts were laid bare in 100 character messages. In 2005 we had 474 post, the next year was a little over half that and then a little over half that the next year. 2007-2008 held pretty steady but by then we were at a quarter of our production of 2005. In 2009 production fell off by half again and in 2010 there were only 18 posts.
The third and most devastating thing to happen to the blog was Facebook. Status updates killed blogging for the casual blogger. Once everyone was on Facebook, I could post any random thought and it didn’t even have to be particularly interesting and I could get almost instant feedback from my friends, with hardly any effort. And what has become clear to me is that I crave that feedback. I don’t really write for myself, I’ve never really been a journal keeper, I write for an audience, I fancy myself a writer. Not in any real way, of course, but I feel like I have limited ability to entertain with the written word. I’m no good at telling stories orally, but give me a chance to revise and rewrite and I can spin a yarn from time to time. So, I’ll admit it, every single thing I post on Facebook is to elicit a response from those who read it. If I post something, and get no comments, I’m always disappointed. And I’m always puzzled when I see other people post something like “Off to take a nap” and they end up with 15 comments. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not down on Facebook, I like Facebook and I know that Facebook will allow you to blog, but I don’t think anyone digs that deep on my page to read a blog. Obviously there was nothing stopping me from continuing to post on my blog, its just that posting on Facebook was always so much easier and most of the time it provides almost instant gratification. A lot of times when I’m trying to compose a blog post, I get off on a rant and can’t find my way back to the point and just abandon the post altogether.
So that brings us to the present and explains why I gave up the pleasure of writing long winded, mostly embellished daily adventure stories. But something happened over the last few days that has made me want to go dark on Facebook for a while and try to get back to a more, to my mind, artful way of expressing myself on the blog. Here goes, talk about burying the lead...

New Design...Again.

Hi All,
As you can see, I'm playing with the blog design again. I took down all of the pictures, just to simplify the look. I haven't changed any of the permissions so you are all still free to post. I'm going to try to post stuff on here rather than Facebook from now on. I've made that claim before, but who knows, maybe I'll actually do it this time.

my family

my baby girl

ti·rade /ˈtīrād/ Noun: A long, angry speech of criticism or accusation.

here goes...

i work with people who don't give a shit, which i find incredibly annoying... because i do give a shit. i care about putting in my 8 hours each day. i care about doing a good job. i care about other peoples' feelings and always choose my words and actions carefully to avoid hurting them.

i wish that i could abandon all my work ethic and the consideration i give this damned place. i want to do the bare minimum while reaping all the benefits, too. i want to say anything to anyone and not care. i want to come in late, take long lunches, leave early and not think twice about it.

...but then i would be just another one of those people who takes and takes and feels so entitled all the time. i would rather just be hateful and blog about it occasionally.

Happy New Year!

Hello friends! Yes, it's been a little while since my last post (understatement) but I'm bored at work on my lunch break so the least I could day is say hi. I saw a news report yesterday that said people who eat lunch at their desks are more likely to overeat. How so when your hands are on the keyboard? Yes, I have a huge plate of leftover spaghetti dinner in front of me.

Anyway, I had a wonderful Christmas spent with my husband and the in-laws. New Year's Eve left much to be desired but what else is new? :)

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2011!