SaraInSanFran

Diabeetus

2008-04-28T21:44:00.001-07:00

I doubt many of the non-D crowd will find this funny, but Wilford Brimley cracks me up. That is all.

Can you have one without the other?

2008-04-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

I was in a car recently, on a long drive, with a professor and some fellow students. During the course of the ride, I referred to Zack, Zeph's brother, as my brother-in-law. The immediate response, understandably, was, "Oh, so you guys are married?"

"No, we're not. In fact, we're going to try and avoid it for as long as possible."

Later I felt the need to explain, especially to the married individual in the car, that this is not because I am anti-marriage in general. Sure, I think there is a lot to be said for standing in solidarity with those who cannot be married, and that has definitely influenced my decision, and marriage does work for some people. Just not me.

My reason behind not marrying has always been that the institution is meaningless to me, and I refuse to go through the pageantry for the sake of other people. I was willing to do it when it still meant something to Zeph, but it doesn't anymore. Marriage brings us no more security in the permanence of our relationship than we feel now.

Did my parents' divorce somehow influence that decision? Probably. Just because I marry you doesn't mean I am not going to leave you. It just means that I have to complete some paperwork after I walk out the door. Is that a harsh way to view it? Yes. Is it cynical? Yes. Is it unromantic? Yes.

But that doesn't mean that my life is unromantic. Romance is what happens in your day-to-day routine as you interact with your partner. Romance is being awoken daily by a freshly-showered body crawling back into bed for one more dose of warmth before starting the day. Romance is brushing somebody's shoulder, or leg, or face, as you walk past him when entering a room. Romance is falling asleep late because the conversation after the lights go out is just that interesting.

And I don't need a ring or vows or a slip of paper in order to experience any of those things. I just need his word. That's enough for me.

Dear (Old) Shoes

2008-03-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Shoes,

I am sorry to tell you this, but I now have to refer to you as Old Shoes. Yes, you read that correctly. Much like a man going through a mid-life crisis, I have replaced you with a newer and sportier model.

I know that our relationship has been rough. There was the time that I left you for New Pointy Shoes. But the red dye inside stained my feet a color appropriate for my adulterous ways, and I knew that only your pure white insides could surround my toes.

Then there was the recent fling with oh-so-cute Polka Dot Vans. But after time Vans began to smell, and I felt myself washing repeatedly to remove the scent of disloyalty before I came crawling back to you.

But this time it is over for good.

It's not entirely your fault. I am the one who scuffed you repeatedly when I failed to tread carefully, and I take full responsibility for using you so often that I wore out your back end beyond repair. We did try to make it work, but the new sole I paid for did not restore you to your pristine former self.

This is why I must move on. New Shoes can run with me when I need to catch a bus. New Shoes can go with me everywhere - to the office, on a hike, or shopping around town. New Shoes fit like a glove from the very first day, and our relationship hasn't yet caused me an ounce of pain. And, most importantly, New Shoes do not cause me to develop blisters that need medical attention like some of the cheap Young Shoes I have heard of.

Thus, Old Shoes, I leave you. We can continue as friends, but only if you understand that New Shoes are now my primary shoes, my everyday shoes, my I-love-these-shoes! shoes.

Thanks for all the good times,
Sara

P.S. Here's a picture of New Shoes. Do you blame me for leaving you?

Quote of the Week

2008-03-05T09:59:00.000-08:00

As I was walking home last night, I overheard a snippet of conversation from another group of students:

"You guys, I finally figured out what I am going to do with my life. I am going to be a mortgage broker."

I chuckled to myself because I have made many such statements over the course of my college career, and indeed throughout my life.

Age 8: I wanted to be a teacher
Age 12: I wanted to be a lawyer
Age 16: I wanted to be a mediator for family and divorce cases
Age 18: I wanted to be a counselor
Age 19: I wanted to be a therapist who specialized in sex and sexuality issues
Age 20: I wanted being a diabetes educator
Age 21: I wanted to be a college professor (specifically one who lectures while sitting on a table in the front of the room like all the cool profs in the movies)

And now that I am graduating? I want a job that I don't hate that will give me health benefits.

And eventually I want to go to graduate school, but definitely not now, and maybe not even a year from now. I want to find a grad school where I can study what I want to, but also one that is in the Bay Area.

And I want to infiltrate a video game company and start a covert operation in order to improve representations of women in games. And I want to teach, either full time or part time. And I want to find somebody to fund the crazy web project ideas I have floating around in my head. And I want to work with Zeph on the crazy web project ideas floating around in his head. And maybe I want to do a combination of some or all of these things.

For once, I am fine with not knowing where the hell things are headed. Life will work itself out. That having been said, the next person who asks me what I am going to do when I graduate is getting a punch in the nose.

Battle for the Microwave

2008-02-28T15:01:00.001-08:00

In an attempt to save some cash, I have started bringing my lunch with me a few days a week. Cassidy and I eat lunch together after class every Tuesday and Thursday in Club Ed, a grab-and-go lunch station run by USF's cafeteria company. Luckily, this cafeteria spot has a microwave, as well as plenty of free silverware, condiments, etc. should I ever need them.

Today I brought a frozen spinach lasagna from Trader Joe's (which was awesome by the way), and thus I needed the microwave. So I tore the plastic film off the top of the lasagna, read the instructions (15 minutes? no way!), popped the lasagna in the microwave, and set the timer for 10 minutes.

Given that most food usually takes much less time to heat, I was feeling kind of bad for monopolizing the microwave. But nobody else seemed to need it, and damnit, I need to eat too, so I tried to subdue my inner guilt. 7 minutes left to warm lasagna!

A girl sitting toward the back of the room got up and made her way toward the microwave. It looked like she had some sort of lean cuisine, which takes very little time to microwave, so I considered letting her pop in her food. After all, I was only hoping that my lasagna would be done in 10 minutes, it might take as long as 15. What is proper public microwave etiquette if your food isn't done and somebody is waiting? 5 minutes left on the microwave.

As my brain was churning the girl from the back of the room reached the microwave, and must have clearly seen that there was food already being cooked within. But, for whatever reason, she opened the door of the microwave. I thought she would put her food in with mine, which would have been cool. I'm down with sharing my microwave. 4 minutes left.

She took my lasagna out of the microwave. She set it on top of the microwave. She put in her own food in, and started it cooking. At that point I was not so accepting of this communal microwave business. Still, I figured that if she took my food out then she must have had a good reason. She must have been in a hurry to eat. She must have had a class that starts soon. There must have been some reason she took my food out and replaced it with her own! The microwave dinged. Her food was done.

Only it wasn't done! She hurried over and stirred her food, then put it back in for another 3 minutes. I was no longer thinking she had any excuse, I was just wondering how the hell to politely bring to this girl's attention that THERE WAS ALREADY FOOD IN THAT MICROWAVE! The microwave dinged again. There was no movement from the microwave thief. I stood up, marched over, pulled her food out, threw it on top of the microwave, and stuffed my own back in again. I set the timer and withdrew my invitingly warm lasagna a mere 4 minutes later.

I swear it was another 10 minutes before microwave thief emerged from the back of the room to claim her lean cuisine, which by then was lukewarm and seasoned with despicableness.

Organic Christmas in February!

2008-02-06T20:29:00.001-08:00

I had two New Year's resolutions this year: eat more vegetables, and go to the gym on a more regular basis. I am slowly starting to find more fun classes to take at the gym, so the only war left to wage was on the vegetable front. Unfortunately, my grocery store of choice (Trader Joe's) is not so great in the produce department. The produce goes bad in less than a week, some of it has been trucked in from Mexico, and they don't always have all the organic options I want. Thus, last week I did some research and signed up for an organic vegetable delivery service called Westside Organics.

I was excited even before my first box arrived. I squealed with joy this past Friday when the contents of my bi-weekly box were posted to the website. I clicked in amazement as I changed some items in my box and added a few fruit items to my all-vegetable smorgasbord. And this afternoon, on the day of my first delivery, my jaw dropped in disbelief as, after practically running home from class, my box was nowhere to be found on my porch.

Luckily, it hadn't been stolen by my envious neighbors. Upon opening the door, I found that Faye, my wonderful roommate, had moved it inside for me earlier that day. Whew! I dragged my prize into the kitchen, and immediately tore open the lid. There were so many vegetables! I was so excited! I wondered how the hell Zeph and I would consume all of this food in 2 weeks!

Of course, I then pulled everything out of the box to snap pictures of it all (for you blog-readers), and then I stuffed it all into my fridge. Well, all of it except the potatoes and the onions. Did you know you shouldn't keep potatoes and onions in the fridge? Something about the humidity makes them spoil faster. So those babies got placed in the cupboard.

My review so far? This place rocks! The produce all looks really good, especially for being grown without pesticides. They also delivered some grocery items for me, including a carton of eggs from a farm in Santa Cruz, and everything perishable was packed with ice packs to keep it fresh on the porch (unnecessary in SF, but it was still a nice gesture). Right now my only problem is that I don't seem to have enough room to store everything! However, that is easily fixed by getting a smaller delivery every week rather than the huge one I am currently getting every-other-week.

Alright, alright, you want to talk price, and I understand that. We paid $80 for all the items that came in our box (the base price for the all-veggie box is $50, and I added some extra items). But! Before you fall over, here's what that money got us:

1 small avocado, 1 bunch of green chard, 1 meyer lemon, 2lbs roma tomatoes, 0.5lb of loose leaf spinach, 1 hunk of celery, 1 bunch of basil, 1lb tangelos, 2 apples, 2lb yukon potatoes, 4 onions, 1 head of red cabbage, 1lb baby bok choy, 1 head of lettuce, 4lb red potatoes, 1 bunch of carrots, 1 bunch of broccoli, 1lb of leeks, 1 bunch of green onions, 1 bunch of radishes, and one bunch of kale.
See? That's a lot of food! Actually, it's more than I wanted since I thought I had removed 2lbs of the red potatoes when I added the 2lbs of yukon potatoes, but I digress...

Of course, I had to make something delicious with this fresh produce for dinner. What's a girl to do with 1 avocado, a bunch of basil, and 2lbs of tomatoes? Make a tomato salad!

It was delicious, considering that tomatoes aren't in season. Just cut up some tomatoes and avocado, add finely chopped basil, drizzle with olive oil, and add salt and pepper to taste. Yum!

Recipe: Breakfast Burrito

2008-01-16T10:26:00.000-08:00

Although I try and plan a week's worth of meals ahead of time, things don't always work out that way. Last week was one of those times, and I had nothing to make for dinner on Thursday. Rather than order out, I scrounged around and found the ingredients to throw together a pretty good breakfast burrito. Here's what ya do:

It's always a good idea to get all the ingredients out first. For my burrito, I decided to use eggs, hash browns, cheese, sour cream, and salsa, all wrapped in a flour tortilla. If you want to add meat, it's a good idea to cook it before you add it to the egg mixture.

The first step is to brown the hash browns. You could do this in a pan, but I found it really easy to brown them in the toaster oven. These are frozen hash brown patties that Zeph picked out at TJ's one day, so they were just hanging around in the freezer.

While the hash browns are crisping, you can prepare your eggs. I used 6 eggs to make 3 burritos, which comes out to 2 eggs per burrito. This was a good amount, and made burritos that were easily wrapped. To make the eggs fluffier, add a little water or milk. I just found out last night that Jacques Pepin recommends adding sour cream, so I might try that in the future.

Cook the eggs until slightly runny. You want to turn off the pan before the eggs are completely cooked, and then let them finish cooking using the residual heat in the pan. If you wait until the eggs looked perfectly cooked to turn them off, then they will end up overcooked. This is bad. Once the eggs are cooked, add the hash browns (I mashed mine with a spoon as I mixed them in) and some grated cheese. There should be enough heat left in the eggs and hash browns to thoroughly melt the cheese.

To assemble the burrito, spoon some of the egg mixture onto a tortilla and add whatever toppings you desire. I used sour cream and salsa, and I would have added some avocado if I had had any.

Fold, and eat! I love cooking on nights like this because half of the fun is poking around in the cupboard and finding out what the hell will go good together. Don't be afraid to try new combinations!

Recipe: Portobello and Goat Cheese Sandwiches

2008-01-09T11:09:00.000-08:00

After the carnage of Monday night's dinner, it was time to tone it down a bit with an easy vegetarian meal. Here are the steps to making wonderful portobello mushroom and goat cheese sandwiches.

Grill some portobello mushrooms until grill marks appear. Don't wait for them to be super black, because you need them to stay on the grill a little longer after the initial grilling period.

Yes, that is a George Foreman grill. It is one of the best pieces of kitchen equipment I own. One day I hope to own the model with adjustable feet so that it can be a slanted grill or a flat grill. There's not much fat to be drained off in the mushrooms, so all that happens is some water loss.

After the mushrooms are mostly grilled, place some goat cheese on top and let the cheese melt. I prefer putting the cheese on the side with the gills because it sits in the natural concave shell of the mushroom.

While the cheese is melting, get out whatever kind of bread you want the sandwich to be on. Sometimes I use whole-wheat buns, but I happened to have some focaccia in the house, so I used that. If using a flat bread, cut the bread in half length-wise.

After you have sliced the bread, spread on whatever condiments you wish. I spread half of my bread with pesto and the other half with a little bit of mayonnaise.

Once the cheese is melted, assemble the sandwich, and eat! Extra produce can be added, if it is desired. I added some slices of tomato to my sandwich for extra moistness. Mmmmmmmmmmm

YouTube Debut!

2008-01-08T10:44:00.000-08:00

I posted my first video to YouTube yesterday. It's a short clip of me deboning the chicken that Zeph took with his canon digital camera. Check it out...

Recipe: Stuffed Chicken

2008-01-08T10:09:00.000-08:00

Last Friday when San Francisco was experiencing a huge storm and Father Privett closed campus, I sat on my couch and watched hours of cooking shows on PBS. The segment that intrigued me most was Jacques Pepin deboning a raw chicken and then stuffing it. "I can do that!" I thought to myself. So I set out to do it.

You start with a whole chicken, and make a slice down its back. Cut into the front of the breast to remove the wishbone, and then start peeling the meat down the front of the carcass. You can use a knife here and there, but mostly the meat will just come away by pulling with brute force.

After you have the front and back of the main carcass removed, you need to take the bones out of the wings and legs. To do this, work the meat away from the bone using a knife and your hands, slowly turning the legs and wings inside out in the process.

After enough slicing the leg bones will be free. Look at how the joints still work!

Eventually, after all the work, the chicken will be free of bones. It still looks like a chicken, just a very flat chicken.

Now that the chicken is deboned, you can start stuffing the bird. My stuffing consisted of one package of chopped frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed dry), one carton of mushrooms (tops only, chopped fine), two cloves of garlic and one onion (both of which were also chopped fine), and some goat cheese. Fill all of the empty cavities in the legs and wings with spinachy goodness.

Reform the chicken into a chicken shape, taking care to wrap all of the stuffing so it doesn't spill out.

Then tie the chicken with kitchen twine or some other kind of oven-safe thread material (white embroidery thread worked well for me).

Pop it in a pan and roast it in a 350 degree oven until cooked through. Mine took about an hour and a half.

Slice

Eat!

See my flickr page for more photos, as well as for how to make the gravy.

Christmas Tree Shopping, Sans Car

2007-12-19T11:36:00.001-08:00

After deciding to buy a giant Christmas tree this year, then walking to the location where we wanted to buy the tree only to find an empty lot, and then taking the bus to a lot quite far from the house, we finally found the tree.

Of course, the tree was at least 20 blocks from our apartment, it was rather heavy, and all we brought with us to help move the tree was a laundry cart. And, as fate would have it, once the stand was nailed into the bottom of the tree it would no longer fit in the laundry cart standing upright.

So how do you walk a Christmas tree home in San Francisco? Lay it across the shopping cart, and have one person push while two people guide the front of the tree. Rotate spots every so often so nobody gets too tired, and be sure to take lots of pictures along the way.

Even though it was the most trying, this is probably the most fun I have had getting a Christmas tree in years.

More Reasons to Love Etsy

2007-12-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

My friend Christina turned me on to Etsy last year, and this year when I started my Christmas shopping I started surfing Etsy again. I forgot how awesome this website is! The items are homemade (most of them), they are sold directly by the people who make them (most of the time), and they are funky and fantastic (all of the time!). But, this year, I found a few more reasons to love Etsy.

1. Toy recalls got your Christmas panties in a bunch? Etsy has great gifts for children that are lead-free. Check out this adorable doll, this awesome logging truck, or this great robot craft kit. (Is a robot craft kit gender neutral? That's what I was going for. Personally, I really want that logging truck!)

2. If your family is anything like mine, the post-present-opening paper carnage takes over the living room. Not only is wrapping paper expensive, it's not exactly the best solution for the environment. But the funnies from the Sunday paper (my stand-by solution to a lack of wrapping paper) don't exactly put me in the holiday spirit. So this year I am wrapping all my gifts in cloth gift bags. The OleBagLady has a bunch of great cloth gift bags on Etsy, and plenty of bags with Christmas prints. Save these bags and reuse them year, after year, after year.

3. Everybody loves unique gifts, and on Etsy you are sure to find something unique. But what if you don't find something your gift-receiver will absolutely love? Send somebody on Etsy a message and ask him/her to make something for you. This isn't The Gap, people! You can go straight to the top and make special requests. OleBagLady and I (Tami is her name) tossed around ideas and she is making me gift bags in a custom size for the gifts I am making in my pottery class.

Ok, enough procrastination. Time to go finish out this semester, so it can finally be Christmas!

Retro Sara in San Fran

2007-12-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

Sara in San Fran started as an email newsletter that I sent to my family friends my Freshman year of college. It was published quasi-weekly, and it had a list of sections that appeared in each issue. One of the sections was "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." Here's one edition of that section.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Good: The best thing about the school cafeteria on weekend mornings is that you are almost expected to arrive in your pajamas. I can get up, put a sweatshirt on over my jammy top, go get some pancakes, walk back to my room, and still have plenty of time to watch cartoons in my pajamas. I don’t think that sleep attire is accepted in any restaurants other than the ones on campus.

The Bad: Struggling to turn the knob on your heater so the heater will turn on, finally getting the heater turned on all the way, and then not being able to turn it off. Second to this is having an idea on how to fix the heater, but not having the tools with which to do it. Why doesn't anybody bring a large wrench with them to school?

The Ugly: The fact that the garbage in the hallway (less than 10 feet away from the door of my room) perpetually smells. However, it never smells of the same thing, as the mixture of food and trash in it changes from day to day. Today it smells like old cat food. Not dry cat food, wet cat food. I actually sprayed some Glade air freshener in the hallway. Now it smells like a mixture of fresh apple scent and wet cat food.

**I should mention that shortly after this issue got sent out, I received a toolkit in the mail from my Nonna, which of course contained a wrench.**

Word Verification is Evil

2007-11-29T13:50:00.001-08:00

Why is it that I fail miserably whenever I have to type in the letters in those annoying word verification images? Is it just me? Does anybody else have this problem?

What makes it worse is that when I mess it up, blogger obviously throws me an easier set of letters. It's treating me like the slow kid in class, and I hate being treated like the slow kid.

Trader Joe's Finds of the Week

2007-11-27T17:52:00.000-08:00

The beer edition!

Zeph and I like to try new beers from TJs every so often (okay, usually once a week). We each get a six pack so that we can try two different types of beer (plus, if one of us hates it, the other will probably drink it). This week we went all out and got three six packs because neither of us wanted to waste a beer-of-the-week pick on the pumpkin ale, but we were both dying to try it. Here are my reviews of this week's brews.

Pumpkin Ale by Kennebunkport Brewing Company: Does it taste like pumpkin? Yes. Does it taste like beer? Yes. Is that weird? Strangely, it works. This beer is fairly sweet, and not too hoppy nor too malty. An all-around weird and tasty beer.

Henninger Premium Frankfurt Beer: An ok beer. It tastes (and looks) like a Heineken, so don't expect much more than you would get from your average supermarket beer.

Black Toad Distinctive Dark Ale: I love this beer! After having this and the TJs special ale, I have decided that dark beer full of toasted malt flavor is definitely my thing. I wish I could come up with a convincing, logical argument to accompany such a spectacular ale, but I can't. All I can do is continue to sit here drinking it (yes, I am drinking beer and blogging simultaneously) and insist that you go out and pick up a six pack.

P.S. In case anybody was wondering, TJs isn't paying me to write any of these crazy posts, though I am thinking of asking for a small sum.

P.P.S.S. Yes, I am drinking at 6pm. Yes, I am a busy college student, and I will be doing homework later. No, the two are not incompatible.

P.P.P.S.S.S. If you (the reader) happen to be a professor of mine, I promise I am not about to do any homework for your class.

New OLPC Blog

2007-11-21T19:24:00.000-08:00

I have a lot to say about OLPC, and the musings on the project and my experiences with my XO laptop don't really jive with this blog. People searching for OLPC info should be able to find it without sifting through posts such as the best items to buy at Trader Joe's, and people who only care about my random posts on gender, gaming, and USF shouldn't be bombarded with posts about OLPC.

The solution? A new blog! Do I have time to maintain two blogs? No. Which is why the OLPC blog (olpcsf.blogspot.com) is co-authored. Currently, I am the only one who has posted, but I am confident that the other two authors will pipe up once they get their hot little hands on their laptops.

If you or anybody you know is interested in being added as an author, please let me know. I hope it will become a hotspot for a variety of experiences and opinions, as well as a way to meet in physical space (laptops in tow, of course!).

Cream of Mushroom Soup

2007-11-21T14:45:00.000-08:00

The turkey pot pie recipe I just posted calls for a can of cream of mushroom soup, which is probably one of the most basic ingredients in a pantry. So, on my latest trip to Trader Joe's, I decided to pick up a couple of cans in addition to the one I needed for my pot pie, only to find that TJs doesn't carry cream of mushroom soup. In fact, they don't carry cream of anything soup! No cream of broccoli, no cream of chicken, no cream of asparagus. As I stood in the soup aisle pouting, creating a traffic jam in the early morning rush of TJs human traffic, Zeph asked, "Why can't we just make our own?" And dangit, he was right!

So I whipped out my smart phone, hopped on my mobile internet, and Googled "how to make cream of mushroom soup," all the while still blocking traffic in the soup aisle at TJs. Usually I would scoff at using a cell phone in such an earthy place, but this was a mushroom emergency. I found this website, grabbed some ingredients, and merrily finished shopping.

On Monday, I again checked the website to see what the recipe called for, and then pretty much did whatever I wanted using the general guidelines offered. It worked perfectly, and shopping at chain grocery stores was once again avoided! And now, without further ado, my final recipe:

Cream of Mushroom Soup
What you need:
1/2 cup of mushrooms (volume when chopped)
2 cloves garlic (optional)
2 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp to 1/4 cup flour (depending on desired thickness)
Spices

What you do:
Mince the mushrooms and garlic. Over medium heat, melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add the mushrooms and garlic, and saute until brown and aromatic. Mix in the desired amount of flour (1 Tbsp will make a thinner sauce, and 1/4 cup will make a sauce the thickness of condensed soup). After the flour and the butter are completely mixed, add the stock and milk. Turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring the soup to a boil, stirring consistently. As the soup is heating, add in spices to taste. I used salt, pepper, and the Scarborough Fair quartet.

Once the mixture has simmered for a few minutes, the flour will have done all the thickening it is going to do. If you want a thicker soup, it is possible to add more flour at this point. Be sure to add it slowly and whisk in thoroughly to avoid lumps. If the soup is too thick, more stock and milk can be added (in equal parts). Eat this soup as a meal (it was really tasty), or add it to any recipe that calls for it.

What to Do With All of That Turkey

2007-11-21T14:25:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, which means that starting Friday the world will be plagued with two things: the obscene uber-commercialization of Christmas, and too much leftover turkey. I can't do much about the former, but I have a tasty solution for the latter.

Turkey Pot Pie
What you need:
1 bag of frozen vegetables
About 2 cups of cooked turkey meat
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 sheet of puff pastry
herbs, spices, etc. to taste

What you do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the soup, the veggies, and the turkey together in a big bowl. Season according to your personal tastes. I added some pepper, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (I season everything according to Simon and Garfunkel). Pour the mixture into a square 8x8 baking dish, and place 1 sheet of puff pastry on top. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the pastry if golden brown on top. Let cool for a few minutes, then EAT!

This makes a pie with a fairly thick filling. Add some chicken stock to the mixture if you want it a little more creamy.

Trader Joe's Finds of the Week (Carb Edition)

2007-11-18T17:02:00.000-08:00

I missed last week's entry (damn you, senior thesis!), so I threw in an extra one for this week.

One: Van's all natural gourmet multi-grain waffles. I'm usually leery of foods that are dairy free, but these waffles are amazing. Not only do they taste good, but they're actually good for you! They have 5 grams of protein, 5 grams of protein, 100 grams of delicious. Plus, two waffles are only 190 calories, which is few enough for everybody's battle of the bulge this holiday season. I like to cook mine in the toaster oven, cover them in peanut butter, and devour.

Two: TJ's brand Puff Pastry. It's frozen, it comes in 8"x8" sheets, and it bakes up crispy, flaky, and oh so delicious. Use in place of pie crust for a pot pie (more on that later), or top with your favorite cheese for a wonderful appetizer. I recommend stocking up on these, as they seem to disappear from the freezer case at lightning speed these days.

Three: Challah rolls. Challah bread is good to begin with, but put it in nice little individual servings and it's even better. They don't go stale as fast as other dinner roll. They also don't mold as fast as everything else we keep atop our microwave. This makes them cost effective, since we aren't throwing them out uneaten, as well as yummy. And if there is one thing I like more than yummy, it is cheap and yummy.

I gave one, I'm getting one

2007-11-15T17:49:00.000-08:00

The One Laptop Per Child (OPLC) initiative opened up sales of its laptops to North America on Monday in the form of it's "Give One, Get One" program. Until November 26, if you donate $400 to OLPC they will send one laptop to a child in a developing country and one laptop to you. After waiting (impatiently) since then for payday to come, I finally made my donation early this morning, and my laptop will soon be on its way. I am so excited!

This is one purchase that I thought about extensively before moving forward and it, and the indecision had nothing to do with the price. I considered the selfishness of keeping a laptop for myself instead of donating two laptops. I also took into account how much $200 could help a child if given in monetary form instead of laptop form (a common critique of the OLPC project).

Obviously, I ultimately decided that keeping a laptop for myself is not a bad thing to do. OLPC needs users in the United States to promote its program, both by producing positive media about the program and by contributing to the creation of programs for its new operating system. I may not know how to code in Python, but I can be a decent blogger when I don't have a thesis deadline looming overhead, and thus I think I can contribute to the popularity of this program.

The problem of children being given free laptops instead of free food and water is still a concern of mine. However, I think that education is key to producing adequate food and securing adequate sources of water. And as education is the goal of this program I think it can only help with the more immediate needs of individuals, even if it does take some time.

What was the deciding event in this struggle of conscience? I was reading the reviews of the laptop written by children who use it, and one of the children wrote, "The things we didn't know, we go check on the laptop." That's when it hit me. These kids don't have access to google. They don't have access to wikipedia. They don't have access to all of the internet knowledge tools that I take for granted every day.

So, rather than throw some money at the issue and feel that I've done my part, I chose to become an active part in the project. I want to work with the recipient children to create programs they need, not programs US corporations want to push on them. I don't just want to give them access to websites, I want to be active in making that web experience more educational. Yes I am getting a laptop, but I am also getting a mission, and that is to actively help make OLPC the successful program I know it can be.

World Diabetes Day

2007-11-14T12:32:00.000-08:00

Why am I talking about World Diabetes Day? I have type 1 diabetes, and I was diagnosed when I was 19. I have been pumping for a little over a year now, and the pump is probably the best thing that ever happened to me.

How does diabetes affect my life? I check my glucose levels 5+ times a day, I change my pump infusion sets and the insulin in the pump when I'm supposed to (every 3 days), and I try as hard as I can to keep up with a healthy diet and exercise plan. I visit my doctor 4 times a year, I know all the ins and outs of the medical billing and insurance systems, and I know never to trust a pharmacy to get your prescriptions refilled on time. Wearing a dress takes an extra 15 minutes of planning so I can find a place to put my pump, I carry skittles with me wherever I go, and I check to make sure I grabbed my test strips more than I check to make sure I have my keys. I can administer insulin shots in a moving car, I can check my blood glucose without a table to rest anything on, and I can tell you the carbohydrate content of almost any food just by looking at it. I also get instant membership to a great online community, TuDiabetes.

What does WDD mean to me? It's a way to bring attention to the fact that diabetes still has no cure. There have been major medical advances when it comes to diabetes management, and I am lucky that I never had to use some of the more archaic forms of treatment. But the pump is not a pancreas. Insulin is not a cure. Test strips will not revive my insulin-producing beta cells.

What do I want you, as the reader, to do? Learn the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes, support stem cell research, and, if you can, make a contribution to the Junior Diabetes Research Fund (they focus on type 1 research).

There is no cure for Type 1 Diabetes. Yet.

Trader Joe's Finds of the Week

2007-11-06T17:20:00.000-08:00

So the whole "Open Source Wednesday" thing obviously did not become a serial event. So let me close the book on that by saying, "Open source is good. Use it!"

Now that that is behind us, I would like to turn my attention to something I enjoy just as much as software: food. For those who don't know, Zeph and I do all of our grocery shopping at Trader Joe's. Why? The food is cheap, it's healthy (well, most of it), and it tastes good. It's also good for my relationship because Zeph and I don't have to argue over whether to get organic or non-organic (I prefer the former, he the latter) since TJs usually only has organic options. I'm sure Zeph could write a whole blog on why he doesn't support organic, so it's something I won't get into at the moment.

Another thing I like about TJs is that the products change every week. Right now they have really good canned pumpkin (organic, of course), pumpkin bread mix, and other fun foods to help commemorate the start of fall (I know fall started for the rest of the country a month ago, but SF just finished our 'Indian Summer').

Every Monday I go into work and tell my co-worker Anne the great things I picked up over the weekend, and she tells me the latest thing she tried. So, as my blog slowly takes over my life, I in turn thought to myself, "I should blog about that!" This is my long-winded introduction to the fact that I now hope to share my latest TJs treasures with the blogosphere.

This week's gems:
Brussel Sprouts
I know that brussel sprouts have a rep as one of the worst vegetables on Earth, but believe me, they're good! The best way to eat them is to toss them in some olive oil, add salt and pepper, and roast them in the oven for a half hour or so. Come to think of it, almost anything is good tossed in olive oil and roasted in the oven.

-and-

Trader Joe's 2006 Vintage Ale
I don't know how something made in 2006 can be called vintage, but this beer is so good I'm not going to argue the semantics. It's a dark beer, and it comes in a pint-sized bottle. I don't usually like dark beers, but this one is amazing! Watch out for the kick - it's 9% alc/vol.

That's it for this week! If you want more info on TJs products, check out the Trader Joe's Fansite.

Good Sunday Mornings Consist of....

2007-11-04T17:24:00.000-08:00

Salmon sandwiches with mixed green salad, served with a bottle of champagne.

What fabulous restaurant serves such great food? My kitchen!

Here's how we made them...

Sandwiches:
-salmon fillets
-pesto
-mayonnaise
-tomato
-mixed greens
-capers
-ciabatta

To make the pesto mayonnaise, mix the pesto and the mayonnaise. I can't tell you how many parts mayo to how many parts pesto because Zeph did the mixing. It's all a matter of personal taste anyway. Next, grill the salmon (Zeph used the Foreman grill for this), heat the bread, and top with pesto mayo, tomato, capers and greens. Use the rest of the bag o' greens for a side salad, and top with your favorite dressing (TJ's lite parmesan ranch) and good croutons (TJ's garlic cheese croutons).

We served the fabulous meal with a bottle of champagne (why is it always reserved for special occasions?), and promptly followed it with a nap. It may not be good as the 100+ massages my mom has had during the last three weeks in SE Asia, but it was pretty darn good.

Why Gender Segregation of Games is Bad

2007-11-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

Today, indil left a comment on my post about Playhut's new virtual worlds. He writes:

Do girls play games as much as boys? Why not? Is it because girls don't like to play video games? Or is it because girls don't like to play the video games that boys like to play and boys like to play the majority of games out there right now? It's old news that boys and girls like different types of games. Tailoring a game for a specific sex to maximize the possible enjoyment of the experience is smart, not ignorant...

I started to comment back, but soon realized that I had a lot to write about the subject. It soon hit me why - I already did write a lot about the subject! The literature on girls' games is what inspired me to study female gamers for my senior thesis, and my literature review discusses the topic extensively. I am not a master of brevity, so rather than attempt to reproduce the major points found in my literature review I have uploaded it here.

Earthquake!

2007-10-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

The room just shook, and one might speculate that I would used to this by now. But still, every time it happens I wonder if the shaking is going to stop or if my house is going to fall down around my ears. My heart is still pounding.

FEMA and the SoCal Wildfires

2007-10-29T09:45:00.000-07:00

I want to start this post by stating how sorry I feel for the individuals who lost their homes in the recent wildfires that swept through Southern California. I can't even imagine what it must be like to lose everything, including a home.

However, I have a problem with the way the news media has been portraying the incident. One of the many NY Times articles that I have read on the subject centers on how Bush is reacting to this natural disaster in contrast to how he acted during Hurricane Katrina. Of course he is acting faster to provide federal aid during this disaster! He can't stand the fallout of another mis-step when it comes to helping the victims.

All opinions of the President's politics aside, there is something inherently wrong with comparing San Diego to New Orleans. The NY Times article linked to above states some of them, such as the number of homes destroyed in each national disaster (many, many more in New Orleans), and response of local governments. Ok, that is true, but why is nobody mentioning the racial and socioeconomic makeup of the areas affected? Check out the two photos that appeared at the top of the article, one of victims of the fires and one of victims of Katrina.

Notice that the white couple on the left have multiple suitcases, and what appears to be a shopping bag, whereas the only some of the people in the group of African Americans have even a backpack. SoCal residents had time to gather their belongings and leave, and apparently enough time to do a little shopping during their stay at Qualcomm stadium. Katrina victims didn't have food or water.

The NY Times also included an interesting sidebar to one of their articles, although the article it accompanied never even referenced the statistics offered.

As you can see, the areas affected by the fires are richer neighborhoods (over 25% earn more than 100K a year, and only 9% are below the poverty line) with more white people, and far less African Americans. If Kanye were to comment on this disaster, he might be inclined to say, "George Bush loves white people." And he would be right. It is easy to see that the racial makeup of the areas affected is vastly different, and that the homes affected in Southern California belong to people who probably have enough insurance to fix their homes or enough money to pay for new ones. Of course, there are poor people who were affected in SoCal, but the fires broke out in Malibu and Beverly Hills, people! Why is nobody mentioning that one of the main differences between the fires and the hurricane is that George Bush is being called on to help rich white folks instead of poor black folks?

Additionally, why is the NY Times not covering the particular hardships that undocumented immigrants are going to face after the fires? FEMA will not release aid to anybody unless a social security number is provided, and they are not releasing aid to anybody until a given social security number is verified. Even if undocumented workers weren't already leery of applying for social services, the announcement of FEMA's new regulations ensure that very little, if any, of the undocumented population is going to receive aid. In a town so close to the border, this is an issue that is going to have an impact on rebuilding of homes in lower income neighborhoods (I don't know how many were affected).

The news media needs to stop praising Bush for being quick to respond to a mostly white population, and acknowledge that even his quick release of aid is not necessarily going to help all of the people of color in the area. He hasn't changed since Katrina, the situation has.

Scrabble

2007-10-27T00:18:00.001-07:00

Christina is in town from Texas this weekend! And what do cool kids do on a Friday night? They play scrabble.

Final Scores:
Zeph - 112
Sara - 127
Christina - 185

The challenge for you:
Find out what letters the blank tiles represent.

Boys vs Girls

2007-10-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

I would like to start this entry by re-affirming that I think virtual worlds are fascinating. Second Life is only to grow in popularity, and Club Penguin (for kids) is probably the cutest virtual world. If the players of Club Penguin weren't all under 18 (which makes it harder for them to be research subjects), and if asking for their email addresses was even possible (Club Penguin only allows chat using phrases coded into the game), I would be tempted to study that virtual world instead of World of Warcraft.

Tangent aside, I start slogging through the news that has piled up in Google reader over the week, and I find this article. It's a short one, so you should all read it, but I know you probably won't, so here's the important sentence:

"On Tuesday, the company said it launched two online worlds--one for boys and one for girls--under the brand GoLive2.com Kraze."

Yes, you read that correctly, not one virtual world, but two. "One for boys and one for girls." The times are few and far between when I wish that slapping my computer in my office would cause my somebody's head to sting somewhere else in the world, but this is definitely one of those times. Why do girls have to have a separate virtual world than boys? Why can't we foster platonic cooperation between the sexes? Are the worlds designed differently, one with trucks and one with dollies? What if a girl wants to play with the trucks? What if a boy wants to play with a doll? Does the game require children to play in the world of their own gender? What about children who do not have a gender (intersexed children)? What about children who are biologically female or male, but present as the opposite gender (trans children)? Why does this company feel the need to reinforce the gender binary? In the words of my friend Will, who greenlighted this project?! (It took all my effort not to swear just then; my grandma reads this blog.)

My Thursday was going so well. Damn you, Playhut!

Edit: Apparently I need to catch up on all of my new items in Google reader before blogging. Virtual World News also covered the story, and they offered a link to the website for both the boys' world and the girls' world. And I thought the story couldn't get any worse. Even the music for the sites has been designed with gender in mind. I'm going to go cry now.

Led Zep Midterm

2007-10-24T13:09:00.001-07:00

To all the scoffers:

Here is a copy of the questions I had to answer (in 200 words or less per question) for my Led Zeppelin midterm. This is to prove, once and for all, that this class is not the musical equivalent of underwater basketweaving. It's frickin' hard!

Note: My prof sent the questions out in all caps, or at least that's how my email server interpreted them. I apologize for all of the "yelling", but I am too lazy to retype all of the questions.

1. HOW WOULD LISTENING TO LED ZEPPELIN IN SURROUNDSOUND WITH FOUR SPEAKERS, TWO RIGHT AND LEFT, TWO FRONT AND BACK, ENHANCE THE DRAMATIC NARRATIVE QUALITIES OF 'WHOLE LOTTA LOVE'?

2. GO TO ERIK DAVIS'S WEBSITE (www.techgnosis.com) AND READ ABOUT HIS IDEAS. THEN RELATE THE CONCEPT OF 'TECHGNOSIS' TO THE LED ZEPPELIN TEXT.

3. HOW DOES THE SOUND OF THE GUITAR DURING THE SOLOS ON 'CELEBRATION DAY' AND 'TANGERINE' ILLUSTRATE DAVIS'S THESIS CONCERNING TIMBRE AND TRANCE, AS EXEMPLIFIED ON 'NO QUARTER'?

4. HOW DID JIMMY PAGE'S WORK AS A SESSION MUSICIAN AND WITH THE YARDBIRDS LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR THE ORCHESTRATION OF GUITARS UTILIZED ON LED ZEPPELIN'S ALBUMS?

5. WHAT IS IT THAT LIES ON THE WHISPERING WIND? (He later stressed that he wanted an answer that included an interpretation of the song, not just "your stairway.")

6. FROM WHOM DID LED ZEPPELIN TAKE THE FOLLOWING SONGS – A) BLACK MOUNTAIN SIDE; B) DAZED AND CONFUSED; C) WHOLE LOTTA LOVE; D) STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN.

7. DESCRIBE MICROPHONE PLACEMENT DURING THE RECORDING OF THE GUITAR BREAK ON 'HEARTBREAKER' AND EXPLAIN ITS INTENTION AND ITS EFFECT.

8. WHAT IS THE CONGRUENCE BETWEEN DRONES IN MUSIC AND ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND HOW CAN THIS INSIGHT BE USED TO UNDERSTAND THE MEDITATIVE ASPECT OF LED ZEPPELIN'S MUSIC?

9. WHAT IS THE SIMILARITY BETWEEN GOODWIN'S TIMING AND ZEPPELIN'S AND HOW DO BOTH DIFFER IN NATURE FROM BONHAM'S?

10. USE THE JIMMY PAGE QUOTE ON THE FIRST PAGE OF OUR SYLLABUS AS THE BASIS FOR A CRITIQUE OF THIS EXAM.

You can find my answers here.

Feminism is Awesome

2007-10-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

In case you needed proof for the above statement, I recently received some from my writing-group-mate Jamila.

Feminists Have More Fun

I knew that the crazy notion of gender equality practiced in my own romantic relationship had something to do with its success. Now I have the science to prove it!

Of course, science can't seem to get with the times, and the study is only of heterosexual couples. I want to know how feminism affects couples of other sexual orientations! Someday I hope science gets to the point where it doesn't privilege hetero couples over gay, lesbian, queer, or poly romances.

2007-10-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

This blog is supposed to be about my scholarship, too, right? Here's my midterm on Mulan.

In the End, They're All the Same:
Gender and Sexuality in Disney's Mulan

Animated films are often discounted for not having any substance, and therefore are sometimes deemed unworthy of in-depth academic study. What this generalization neglects is the profound impact animated films can have on children, especially in terms of how youngsters are socialized into societal norms. Furthermore, animation is not just for children. In 1989, with the release of The Little Mermaid, Disney made a concerted effort to try and draw more adults to their films, going as far as to create separate marketing campaigns aimed at adults<1>.

Nine years later, Disney released Mulan, an animated film in which a Chinese girl takes her father's place in a war against the Huns<2>. Compared to the princesses who came before her, Mulan seems to send a message that Disney finally learned the term feminism and tried to make a film with a more independent female protagonist. Critics immediately saw the differences between this Disney films and those that came before, describing it as “a tale of a young woman's struggle to overcome societal stereotypes.”<3> But is Mulan truly transgressive? Disney does allow for the challenging of the essentialism of gender, but only if the end is the same as all previous Disney movies: a heterosexual, monogamous relationship.

Mulan starts out as a movie that challenges gender essentialism. As Mimi Nguyen posits, “the sly acknowledgment that gender norms are socially constructed is amazing - both masculinity and femininity are exposed as elaborate performances.”<4> Both instances that drive home Nguyen's statement regarding the construction of gender occur during song. The first mockery of gender essentialism is the song entitled, “Honor to Us All”, which follows Mulan through the process of preparing for the matchmaker. What is most striking about the scene is the elaborate work that goes into making Mulan a perfect woman; her face is painted, her waist is cinched, and her hair is elaborately coiffed. That Mulan is so uncomfortable being forced into the role of woman is further proof that femininity is not something that comes naturally. Mulan has notes written on her arm in case she “forgets something.” If gender was something a person knew how to do instinctively, would it be something that one could forget? The song shows the way in which gender is a performance, and, furthermore, a performance that Mulan would rather not take part in.

Masculinity proved to be a learned attribute during the song entitled, “I'll Make a Man Out of You.” This piece is sung by the military captain, Shang, and follows the men (and Mulan) through their training. During the chorus of the song, Shang outlines that men must be “Swift as the coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon, with all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the moon.” His lyrics are interspersed with the background singers (in a deep, booming voice) reciting “Be a man!” At first, Mulan appears to fail at being a man just as much as she failed at being a girl; she can't shoot an arrow, aim a cannon, or carry a heavy load. But, by the end of the tune, she has succeeded to the point of being better than the men. Similar to the musical number discussed previously, the fact that the men had to be taught how to be manly proves that gender is not innate, and Mulan's ability to learn how to be masculine when she is biologically female is further proof for the point.

Although these two songs are a major departure from the typical Disney production, the end of the film returns to a socially normative presentation of gender. After saving China (twice), Mulan is offered a position in the Emperor's council. However, she declines the position of power so she can return to her family's home. Had the protagonist been male, I doubt he would have refused such an honor to return home to the family. Rather than let Mulan continue her gender transgression, Disney puts her back where she belongs: the home.

Upon her return home, Mulan presents her father with a sword to prove that she saved China. Her grandmother's response is, “She brings home a sword? If you ask me, she should have brought home a man.” Apparently saving China (twice) is not enough to gain the respect of her family's matriarch; even though she has succeeded in winning a war, the accomplishment is empty if she did not succeed at securing a husband. Luckily for her, Shang enters immediately after the grandmother's comment and asks to speak with Mulan. Grandma rejoices and exclaims, “Sign me up for the next war!”

The song that begins as the film fades to the credits is entitled, “True to Your Heart.” It is a song in which a man is telling his (presumably female) subject that she must be “true to her heart.” Unsurprisingly, the man informs the woman that if she listens to her heart, “it's gonna lead you straight to me.” Although most of this song occurs as the credits roll, it is the capstone of the movie, and thus can be seen as the film's overall message. Throughout the movie, Mulan is on a gender journey, during which she experiences being both female and male in an attempt to learn her true identity. She is on a search to be “true to her heart,” and at the end of the movie she finds what it is she supposedly desired the entire time: a stable man and a content life at home.

Although Mulan does allow for the expression of radical views regarding gender, these viewpoints are allowed to be expressed only if the female protagonist ends the film subscribing to traditional feminine ideals. Mulan is praised for portraying an independent female character, but in the end she still finds herself in a relationship with a man. In addition, the man that she becomes attached to is her military captain, a man who by default has more authority than she does. This causes her romantic relationship to have an inherent imbalance of power, even though she has succeeded in becoming a powerful woman. Therefore, although Disney appears to be breaking out of the mold when it comes to Mulan, the film is only one more in a series of heteronormative, sexist productions.

------------------------------------------
<1> Magiera, Marcy. “'Mermaid' Aims to Reel in Adults.” Advertising Age. October 16, 1989.
<2> Mulan. 1998. Directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook. Produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation.
<3> Wong, Stephen. “History? Close Enough.” Entertainment Insiders. Available: http://www.einsiders.com/reviews/archives/mulan.php
<4> Nguyen, Mimi. “My Mulan.” [Personal Website]. Available: http://www.worsethanqueer.com/slander/mulan.html

A Week of Google Reader

2007-10-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

Thursday: Discover that Google Reader exists. Add some blogs to the reader, find new blogs on the blogrolls of those blogs, add more blogs to the reader. Read interesting articles on "wiki the vote" and portable VW avatars

Friday: This reader thing is pretty cool! Find that BBC has a news headlines feed, and add it to the reader. Also add the tech headlines from BBC news. Feel well informed about global news. Find that even if Microsoft is evil it isn't hurting Linux box sales. Get sent updates from my new favorite diabetes blog. Read "lol cat bible" and die laughing.

Saturday: Feel not so informed about national news. Add the SF Chronicle to my subscription list. Feel well-informed about national and local news. Read about human and robot love.

Sunday: Realize that the chronicle's RSS feed has more local than national news. Subscribe to the NY Times' RSS feed, making it the third news site I have in the reader. Also add the NY Times Washinton RSS feed, to keep up with the dealings of all the dirty politicians. Read another article on the Turkey debacle and learn about the Google gPhone. Really falling in love with this new well-informed me.

Monday: Wake up, go to gym, come home, check email, and then check the reader. 100+ news articles and recent blog posts for me to skim through. Read the headlines from the Chronicle, the NY Times, and BBC News. Read the latest tech news from CNet and Slash Dot. Feel like a good citizen. Go to work. Come home. 100+ more articles for me to read. Get the latest on what happened during the day. Give Bush a chance to explain why he vetoed the health care bill, laugh at AOL's demise (though not at the poor employees), and cringe at the Discovery Channel taking over HowStuffWorks.com.

Tuesday: Wake up at the crack of dawn. Go to gym. Go to class. Go to other class. Get a lunch break. Check email, check reader. 200+ news articles and blog posts to read? This is getting out of control! Scroll through news headlines just to get the number of new items in the reader down to 0. Read about a few interesting things, including a great response to an attack on Halo 3, an East-Coaster's take on Los Angeles, and the fact that the BBC is finally offering mac and linux-friendly video formats (finally!).

Wednesday: Same routine as Monday: Gym, Home, reader. Still way too many news articles for me to read! Starting to feel discouraged about news media and the state of the world. Realize that the Chronicle and the Times keep sending me doubles of stories. Feel overwhelmed by the amount of data available for those who care. Wonder if I care any more. Hope that our President doesn't insult the Dalai Lama, catch up on my mom's travels in South East Asia, and read about the move toward digital. Go to bed feeling informed to the point of exhaustion.

Thursday: Wake up and have, again, way too many new articles to read. Decide that it's time to give the news sites the axe. Cancel the subscription to BBC News, cancel the subscription to SF Chronicle, cancel the subscription to NY Times. Keep the NY Times Washington feed (you can never let down your guard when it comes to the sneaky politicians!). Begin to enjoy google reader again. Read about fun stuff like The Daily Show episodes being posted online, the release of Ubuntu 7.1, and Europe exploring cell phone use on flights. Wonder if I want to be on a transatlantic flight where cell phone conversations are allowed.

Friday: Wake up, read the manageable 50 or so new articles and blog posts, and go to work feeling like Google reader and I are BFFs once again. Read articles on Halloween costumes for geeks, the all-important children's cough medicine debate, and find out what my mommy has been up to in SE Asia over the past few days.

Moral of the story: Don't get so caught up in news stories that you miss what really interests you. Stay informed, but realize that nobody can be an expert on all current events. Oh, and if your mom has a blog, read it!

Honors Thesis Colloquium

2007-10-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

Blogs posts have been a little sparse over the past few days (I even missed Blog Action Day), but that is mostly because school has taken over my life. I had a midterm due this morning (a film analysis of Mulan), I have another due this coming Tuesday (my Led Zep midterm), and then there is that little, teeny project I'm working on this semester: my thesis.

Luckily, the interviews for my thesis are moving right along. I have three done already, one scheduled for later in the week, and one more that is in the works. It's amazing what you can accomplish with a few well-placed Facebook posts!

I know all of you are dying to hear my Sociological discussion of video games, so here is the info on my class's colloquium. It's taking place on Friday, November 2, from 10am to 12:30pm. There are eleven students presenting their work, and all of them are really interesting. My favorites are the projects focusing on pro-anorexia message boards, representations of women in bridal magazines, and an exploration of sneaker collector culture.

So come, eat some free food, learn a little more about sociology, and see some great students who are sure to become big names in academia.

Here's the flyer for the event.

Saturday Morning Rant

2007-10-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

Normally I try and discuss my dislike of companies/groups/news stories in a more thorough manner, acknowledging the pros and cons of all sides to the story. But this week has been a killer one for tech news, and thus I am beyond all logical discussion of the 2 most outrageous stories of the week. Maybe once I get this out I will be capable of taking a step back and viewing the situation more objectively (not that I believe anything can be looked at objectively), but until then passion will prevail.

1. The MPAA is trying to prosecute TorrentSpy for not complying with a court order. As a little bit of background, TorrentSpy is a site that allows users to search for torrent files, or files that allow users to download movies and music. I don't know in detail how torrent files work, but I do know that sites such as TorrentSpy don't provide the files, just a path on how/where to find them. The IP addresses of all visitors to the site are stored in their server's RAM (for a short period of time), and the MPAA decided that it should have access to a log file of those IP addresses. Unfortunately, a court agreed with the MPAA, and ordered TorrentSpy to hand over all data on individuals who use the site. While the order was being challenged in court, TorrentSpy did something genius: it shut down access to the site from all IP addresses in the United States, thereby agreeing to give the MPAA a log while at the same time ensuring that the log would not contain any data on people in the U.S. Brilliant idea, right? Well, the MPAA doesn't think so. They are now trying to go after TorrentSpy for defying the court order to hand over the data.

There are so many problems with this that I don't even know where to begin! One, the judge must not know what RAM is. RAM is not a log file, and it only holds data for so long before new data bumps out the old. As Zeph puts it, asking somebody to turn over RAM logs is like asking somebody to write down every single thought he/she has and turn them in.

Two, TorrentSpy didn't previously (before it was asked to) have a log file that contained the IP addresses of everybody who visited the site. Isn't there a law that protects people from having to start collecting data that wasn't previously collected just because somebody now wants access to the data?

Three, the court order was a way to scare TorrentSpy and similar sites into shutting down. So what did TorrentSpy do? It basically shut itself down in the United States. But with the new case filed, the MPAA is saying, "We want you to start offering your services again so we can catch people doing what you won't allow them to do anymore." If RAM can be likened to thoughts, then I think the MPAA can be likened to three-year-old children who first ask for food and then throw a tantrum when you feed them. Give it a rest already! As Zonk kindly points out, go after the people who are making money off of selling illegal DVDs, not people who provide free file-sharing services.

The MPAA needs to realize that the War on Piracy is going to go just as well as the War on Drugs, or the War on Terror. No matter how often they tell people to "just say no," no matter how many times they supposedly find the location of the caves where the pirates are hiding out, the public is going to continue to download movies. Either find a way to allow the public to do it legally, or be prepared to fight a never-ending battle.

2. Microsoft is charging Linux, Open Office, and other open source software providers with patent infringement. Are patents being violated? I have no idea. If patent infringement is occurring, is Microsoft just as guilty as anybody else? Probably. As with the last issue, there are so many problems with this lawsuit that I don't know where to begin.

One, Microsoft needs to stop bullying the smart kids in school. Open source is an amazing approach to software. It tries to allow everybody to download quality software free of charge, while at the same time giving anybody who is smart enough to code the chance to make great programs. It's like a great art cooperative; the creativity fostered in such an environment produces better products that the public can benefit from (I have to say it again) for FREE. But no, Microsoft wants to make sure that everybody has to pay for its expensive, sometimes inferior products.

Two, it is true that Linux use has doubled in the home in the last year. That's right, Linux users (the sum of all Linux distributions) account for 0.81% of the market share. Vista, the new Microsoft operating system, is more popular than all of the flavors of Linux combined. So why does Microsoft bother to go after less than 1% of users? Probably because more businesses are realizing that Linux is a better system to use on servers, and Dell now sells PCs that come with Unbuntu, not Windows.

Which leads me to issue three: For the first time Microsoft is faced with some competition, and what do they do? They file a lawsuit to stop their competitor! Rather than try to improve their operating system, their software, their customer support, or anything other products they manufacture, they try and eliminate the competition outright. If for no other reason, these charges should be dropped to ensure better market competition, which would lead to better software for all. As my friend Will Faught said in regards to making software more secure, keep the government out of it! The real suit should be The People vs. Microsoft. The crime: holding a monopoly in the computer industry for so long that it has stifled the advances that could have been made. Viva la Open Source!

"Eighty million years without sex"

2007-10-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

With a headline like that, how can you resist reading a science and nature article on the BBC News website?

The question that accompanies this article: Would eighty million years of no sex be a life worth living?

Of course it probably doesn't matter for the creature being studied, since said creature doesn't have the biological makeup necessary to engage in sexual activity, and therefore doesn't know what it's missing. But, forget that for right now, and imagine that somebody (a trustworthy somebody) shows up on your front door and offers you almost eternal life, but the catch is that you can never have sex again.

For those of you who don't feel the need to broadcast your answer on my blog, I think it's still a question worth pondering internally or with a partner.

My answer? I would slam the door in the guy's face!

Open Source Wednesday

2007-10-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

This is first in a new series of weekly posts on open source alternatives to corporate software (mostly Microsoft). Through these posts I hope to show die-hard microsoft users that there is better software out there, and it's all free!

This week: Firefox
What it replaces: Microsoft's Internet Explorer

Why it's better: That whole tabbed-browsing thing that IE7 has? Isn't that great? Well Firefox started it! Tabbed browsing changes the way you view the internet, and makes is easier to manage all of the website you have open. But there's more...

Have you ever been doing research on the web, and you finally find the perfect website, and as you are reading the page your browser crashes (Unexpected Error? Of course you didn't expect it!)? Well, if you are using IE you better have a good memory in order to be able to find that page again. But with Firefox, when you reopen the program (this is assuming Firefox ever crashes, which is does rarely) it offers to restore all of the web pages you were viewing when it crashed. No memory of a ten-year-old child needed!

Firefox checks spelling as you type in web forms (like blog post entry boxes). 'Nough said.

Best of all, Firefox allows for the creation of live bookmarks. Now you can just click the bookmark to see what has been updated on your favorite blog or news site, even if you don't subscribe to an RSS reader.

And, the number one reason you should switch to Firefox...

Who would want to use a boring 'e' when you could use a world-savvy fluffy fox?

Compatibility Issues: None! Enough people use it now that web developers ensure their pages can be viewed in Firefox. The little guy can make its way in the big, bad Microsoft world.

Nature Rocks

2007-10-06T20:02:00.001-07:00

Today was the Leap Sandcastle Classic, a kids' competition to see who can build the best thing out of sand. I say thing as oppose to castle because very few of the structures I saw looked remotely like a castle. The theme of the competition was "Nature Rocks," so most of the structures were animals and musical instruments. My favorite was two crocodiles laying in the sun, one on its back and one on its belly. I got there too late to see the construction process (I heard the signal to stop building as I was walking up the beach), but the finished products were mind-boggling nonetheless.

The beach was crowded with kids, their parents, and tons of photographers. Maybe I haven't been getting out much lately, but all of the events I have been to in the city recently (Love Fest, Folsom Street Fair, etc.) have been inundated by photographers. I love that people are out documenting great moments, but what bugs me is that nobody seems to ask permission to take pictures of people anymore. This doesn't apply to structures made of sand as much as it does to actual people, but have photographers gotten so wrapped up in getting a great shot that they forget about the privacy concerns of their subjects? That having been said, please check out my pics from the event on Flickr (click the "Nature Rocks" photo in this post for a quick link). I apologize to any event-goers caught in the background.

Oh! How can I write about this event and neglect the best part of the day! The weather was amazing, especially for Ocean Beach. I think I may have even toasted my face a little.

After the event Mom, Zeph, and I had linner (dunch?) at the Beach Chalet, and Mom was even nice enough to drive us home. I love being able to spend time with my mom, although I wish she and Zeph wouldn't pick on me so much when we get together. Isn't she supposed to take the biological child's side? On the other hand, I guess I shouldn't complain that my mom and my partner get along so well that they gang up on me; It's better than having them gang up on each other.

And now I am off to play Halo 3 with my honey. The end to a perfect Saturday...

Human Tetris

2007-10-05T22:45:00.000-07:00

Do you think this show would last on television in the US?

Rules for Success

2007-10-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

I promise this won't be another "10 rules for how to succeed in life" thing. Rather, I am sharing with you how I get anything done that I would rather not do.

The key is to make rules for yourself. For example, I had many books to read over the summer in preparation for writing my senior thesis. I also had the complete works of J.K. Rowling to read. Guess which group of books I spent more time on? Eventually, in order to get any real work done, I created a new rule. For every chapter of Harry Potter I read, I had to read a chapter out of a scholarly book. Suddenly, I was actually getting somewhere on my thesis project.

The current rule is that I can only buy a pair of awesome new gym pants if I go the gym 5 days a week for 2 weeks (for my detail-oriented family, that is 2 weeks total, not 2 consecutive weeks). This has proven to be harder than I thought, as things keep popping up that diminish the amount of time I have to go to the gym. Plus, Friday just isn't working out as one of the days I get my butt up and go. It's Friday morning, and what am I doing right now? Blogging. What should I be doing? Elliptical-ing my heart out.

4 days down this week, one more to go. I can almost feel the moisture-wicking fabric...

The Haight and my Intro Class

2007-10-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

Before this rant (or, as I like to think of it, scholarly musing) begins, let me give some background information. Last week the assignment in my intro to media studies class was to collect artifacts that represented the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco in the 1960s and post it on our class message board. Then, the class took a field trip to the Haight (which is about 6 blocks from USF) and collected artifacts from today's Haight, which included interviews, photos, and video. These artifacts were also posted to the message board, and old Haight and new Haight were compared.

A surprising number of students wrote about the commercialization of Haight and about the neighborhood today the neighborhood being a symbol of materialism and capitalism. While the Haight is probably more commercial than it was in the '60s, it is problematic, and even somewhat untrue, to make such a blanket, black-and-white statement.

Let me explain further...

It is true during the '60s there were programs dedicated to free everything, including housing, food, and medical care. But some of the hippies did buy stuff, if only food, drugs, or the latest LP. I agree that they probably didn't buy 15 pairs of shoes (which, unfortunately is soooo easy to do in the Haight), but some of them had at least one pair. Therefore, while not overly materialistic, the hippies did buy things, and thus there have always been stores in the Haight.

Furthermore, to chastise the Haight for becoming overly commercialized is to ignore all of the counter-capitalist businesses that exist there. My favorite example of such a business is Coffee to the People, a cafe that only sells organic, fair trade coffee and tea. Although a coffee shop, it is far from Starbucks, and the fact that it is still in business (I am unsure when it opened) is a testament to the fact that businesses that treat their workers, the environment, their suppliers, and their customers with respect can still be profitable.

Even though there exist many other stores which probably don't dig as deeply into the origins of their products as Coffee to the People does, most of the businesses are small rather than corporate. In fact, San Francisco Law requires that any "formula retail" establishment apply for a special permit before setting up shop in the Haight. The only large corporations that come to mind when I think of the Haight are McDonalds, Ben & Jerry's and Wells Fargo (the Gap recently closed its Haight & Ashbury location), and of those three I know that at least one (Wells Fargo) is so environmentally friendly that it was awarded a "Green Business" status by San Francisco Green Business.

The other aspect of Haight that makes it anti-capitalist is the wide array of second-hand stores. While I can't find any good evidence to support the claim that second-hand stores are anti-capitalist (at least in the 5 minutes of googling I did), it seems intuitive to me that by buying something used the corporation that manufactured the good doesn't get any more money for the item, and instead a local business profits. Furthermore, something new didn't have to be created, packaged, and shipped, so the impact on the environment is less for second-hand goods (if even No Impact Man will buy second-hand goods, then they must have less environmental impact).

In short (if only brevity were my strong point...) there are stores in the Haight that sell things, but a closer look at the structure, type, and products of the stores receals that the neighborhood is far from an all-consuming, materialist, capitalist beast (or at least as far from it as the Haight is from Union Square).

I promise that not all of my future blog posts will be this academic, nor this long (well, I kinda promise that), so please stay tuned for more!

I made this account to comment on other people's blogs

2006-11-10T09:54:00.000-08:00

I would like to think that I am witty enough to create my own blog posts. But who has time to be witty while writing papers about the doctor/patient power relationship in medical TV shows and (in a separate paper) sexual dysfunction in women? So, I will merely feed off of the wit of others, adding my (sometimes) funny comments to other blogs. Unfortunately, to do that I need my own account, which is the only reason this blog exists.