I'm reading this really interesting book called "God Talk: Travels in Spiritual America" by Brad Gooch. A friend in my Wednesday night bible class gave it to me to read, and I'm really enjoying it.

What's fascinating to me is I know about all the alternative religions he's talking about. I know people who are into the Urantia Book and the Aquarian Gospel of Jesus Christ. A good friend is a well known TM teacher in Berkeley, and whose boyfriend was meditating in India with Beatles. I know people who are into Gurumayi, Yogananda, Vivikenanda, Ramakrishna, and I know someone who even studied with Fred Lenz.

What's interesting is how many people are searching outside of mainstream christian religion for answers that they're not getting. I did the same, but ended coming back to Christianity because it was my first religion. I did find what these other spiritual seekers were looking for in the religion of my childhood, but I think only be exploring other alternatives and finding out that my childhood religion had all the answers all along. I just didn't know it at the time and needed to leave to find out.

I had the sniffles all day, and I couldn't tell if another cold or flu was coming on or if my allergies were acting up, so after church I came home and slept most of the day. When I sleep, my immune system kicks up and can kill any bug that's invading my system.

I took the bus on Saturday and spent alot of time outdoors, since I was going to three different places and didn't want to deal with the hassle of parking. It was a nice sunny day, although the temperature was in the 60's and it was quite chilly if you weren't in the sunshine. So, either I got too cold and picked up a chill, or being outdoors in the Presidio kicked up my allergies, or I was around too many people who might have been carrying cold germs and didn't know it.

I spent some time on Sunday, installing McAfee Virus Scan 7.0 on my computer. My Norton Anti-Virus software wasn't compatible with windows 2000. I'd also been getting way too many trojans on my computer, so I figured I'd better get a win2000 compatible virus software program right away and since McAfee was on sale at Costco for about $20 with a rebate, I bought it.

Right before I installed McAfee, Norton said I had another trojan virus on computer. I typed the virus name on the web, and I found out I had a variant of a worm virus called YAHA. It's a nasty little trojan virus that somehow attaches itself to your virus software. I tried to delete it, but every time I rebooted my system the YAHA worm virus would reinstall itself. The YAHA virus creates a directory on your system that says \microsoft\tcpsvs32, and had a program in there called die.exe. I ended up hacking into my registry and deleting the Norton virus line in my startup. Once I did that, I was able to delete and directory and the worm. What a pain!

When I installed McAfee and ran the virus scan, the program additionally picked up nine infected files with the virus trojan. So scary. The McAfee virus scan included a Firewall program, so I installed it as well. Hopefully, the new programs will keep trojans away. I got rid of the preview pane in my mail program too.

I don't know how I picked up the trojan either, but most likely it was from an email with an exe file or scr file attached to it.

The Arts of Pacific Asia was a well heeled event, with exhibitors showing museum quality pieces. I saw a beautiful gold Buddha from Kashmir from the 9th/10th century CE for $120,000. The I saw chinese Han dynasty vases from 200 BCE, but there was no price. There was also an exibitor from New York who had some great Mughal Empire paintings, which I think are so beautiful, selling for $3,000 and up.

You could also purchse Meiji era Japanese prints, a favorite of mine, from a UK exhibitor for $1,100 and up. There were chinese snuff bottles galore, as well as those strange tiny chinese shoes going for $400 and up. There were also beautiful clothing and rugs, as well as ceramics, furniture and jewelry.

I think the most inexpensive thing I saw there, was a small but very pretty century japanese woodblock print from the early 1900's for $65. I was tempted to buy it, just to have something from the event, but settled on a book of Mount Fuji paintings and woodblock prints for $20.

It would so great to have money to collect beautiful art objects. There were several things I saw there that I would love to have, including the $120,000 gold Buddha, which was the best looking Buddha there. I mean it had to be right? It cost enough. I saw a beautiful japanese gold screen with cranes, price not shown, which probably meant it was unbelievably expensive. I would love to own it, but it's huge.

If I had money to spare to buy museum quality art, I'd probably have a big house to display all my art objects, because that's the other thing you need to collect art, the space to display it. There's a couple at church who collect museum quality christian/religous artwork, but they also own a 4-floor Queen Anne house in the Haight where they can display their collection proudly. Lucky people!

The American Flag exhibit at the Presidio was great. It was so fun to see all the different flags, and see how the flag evolved as our country evolved. I loved how the first flags had handsewn stars.

The curators made the exhibit so interesting by adding the history of each flag. In the 1800's, there was a big controversy about whether to add states that were "slave" states. Henry Clay's Missouri compromise of 1820 tried to settle this issue by having the government add one free state and a slave state at the same time. This compromise also established the 36° 30´ parallel as a dividing line in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase territory. Below it, new states would allow slavery; above it, slavery would be banned.

I'm sure this issue was covered in my American history classes, but I'd forgotten how contentious the slavery issue was and how long it had been brewing. Clay's Missouri compromise of 1820 postponed the outbreak of the Civil War.

In 1850, California entered the union as a free state, yeah Cali, which upset the balance of free and slave states since the western territory was not covered by the 1820 compromise. Henry Clay again helped to broker a compromise, whereby any state entering the union would decide on its own to be a free or a slave state. Kansas apparently went through a bloody fight over the slavery issue, but eventually entered the union as a free state.

The exhibit showed some flags from the North that left out the fifteeen slave states, called "exclusionary flags". Between 1860 and 1861, seven slave states withdrew from the Union because of slavery and started the confederacy. These slave states were South Carolina (Jesse Helms' state), Mississippi (home of Trent Lott) , Florida, Alabama (George Wallace's home state), Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. An additional 6 more slave states would join eventually join them.

Since I had the classic left wing liberal education, I started to speculate that those states that had entered the Union as slave states most likely voted for Bush in the 2000 election. I'm bad huh? You can blame that left wing liberal education of mine.

The exhibit also had some George Custer memorabilia, and I saw George Custer's belt buckle and one of his diaries. Custer graduated from West Point, and fought in the Civil War for the Union.

Othe items of interest was the arrangement of the stars and over the years and the stripes. There were some interesting star arrangements over the years. There was also an issue about the number of stripes for awhile too. The exhibit also noted that the practice of carrying the flag into battle started during the civil war, to tell the two sides apart.

I went to the gym today, and I decided to see how I felt running on the treadmill. I haven't run in so long. When was I was heavy, runnig was really painful and then there was the freaky feeling of having body parts like my butt jiggle that never jiggled before. Talk about your body moving without you.

I ran at the 4.5 speed for 15 minutes, then upped it to 5.0 for five minutes, and then upped it again to 5.5 minutes (about an 11 minute mile) for the final five minutes. I couldn't believe it! 25 minutes of solid running, and I wasn't sore and the only thing jiggling was my tummy. YEAH!

God, I would love to run a 10k again or at least train for one. The Far Side 10K is in December, and that would be a good race to shoot for. They always give out cool tshirts too.

I used to love to run, and logged about 15-25 miles a week. I ran two miles every day, and every weekend a long run of 5-10 miles. Running always made me feel strong and healthy, and I'd like to get that feeling back. I'm not sure if I'm ready for outdoor running, but just being able to run without stopping for 25 minutes on the treadmill is good enough for me right now. I wonder if I'll ever get back to the point where I can do do trail running, and have no fear of big hills. That would be a miracle.

The terrorist alert has me a little worried, but what can you do? You've still got to go and act as if nothing terrible is going to happen. What happens if that alert ever goes to red? That's what I'd like to know.

I've got a busy weekend planned as well. I'm checking out the American Flag exhibit at the Presidio, then I plan to check out the Arts of Pacific Asia show. My brother collects antique japanese art objects, and I'd love to get something for him. Plus, there's my Saturday workout at the gym as Saturday is my weighlifting day.

I don't think the SF Bay area is a target, but you never know.

It's all too much to think about, so tonight I'm seeing "Chicago". I could use a little song and dance in my life right now, to lift my worried spirits. I hear "Adaptation" is a must see for screenwriters and writers in general, and I'll probably see that movie sometime this weekend as well.

I hate living in this scary post 9/11 world!

So I watched half an hour of the Michael Jackson documentary. I saw the part where he's dancing. Man, the boy can move. Then they showed the 3,000 acre estate he lives on. After that, I switched channels. Michael Jackson looked so strange to me. His face, his nose, and even his hair. And what is up with his voice.

God, I really used to like him too. I thought he such an innovative music artist, and before the Pepsi fire, not a bad looking guy. I guess I didn't want to watch the documentary because I didn't want to spoil my images of him and respect for him. I mean, the guy comes off as such a freak. And what's worse, the guy is breeding and makes his children walk around in masks. Can you imagine what the psychotherapy bills for the children will be like now and in the future? It's sad, so sad.

I wasn't sure what to write about today, but then I remembered I was going to write about seeing "Gangs of New York".

What a great movie. It was violent as heck, but I really admire the scope and breadth of Scorcese's vision. He directs the kind of story that is so perfect for the big screen. It made me wonder about my screenplay, and how my story is personal and small compared to Gangs.

Daniel Day-Lewis was superb, but then he always is. I don't think that I've ever seen a bad performance from him. I think I would have to agree with some reviewers that Leonard Dicaprio was a bit miscast, but he can't help it if he's Hollywood thin and pretty. Cameron Diaz was also an interesting choice as the only female in the movie. Her irish accent was flawed, and although her acting was adequate, I think that playing next to someone like Day-Lewis made her acting weaknesses stand out. I think Dicaprio suffered from the Day-Lewis eclipse as well.

Day-Lewis is so riveting as an actor, that all attention goes to him when he's in the scene. Liam Neeson has the same power as Day-Lewis, but he was only in the movie for such a short time. Day-Lewis' hair was so darn greasy, that I really got the sense that he was dirty inside and out.

I was surprised by the orgy scenes. It's kind of stuff you see in french movies, and almost never in american movies. I loved the fight scenes movies, which were way better than the fight scenes in Braveheart. I love all that blood and gore stuff when it's realistic. I know that this sounds strange, but seeing realistic violent scenes is the only way for me to visualize a violent fight. I've been lucky in that I've never been seen violence up close, but in some way I think it's unfortunate that I've never really been exposed to the more seamy side of life. My life has been quite sheltered, and to me this explains my love of violent movies. Perhaps if I had a taste of violence in my real life, I might not be so fond of it on the big screen.

The movie really made me want to read the book, and it also start me wondering about what my immigrant grandparents went through when they came to this country. I know they hated it, and vowed for their children and grandchildren to have a better life. I think they succeeded it, but it makes me wonder what hardships they had to go through. They never talk about it, even when you ask them. They just say it was a hard life. I think they want to forget that part of theif life, block it out, perhaps because it was too painful; I wish I knew.

I saw a special on Bravo about the authenticity of Gangs of New York. The show interviewed a historian who said that irish have come a long way in America, and how excited they must have all felt when just 100 years later, an irish catholic by the name of JFK was elected to be president of the country.

Wow. I just read Thomas Friedman of the NY Times latest column entitled "Will My Neighbors Approve?".

Here is what Friedman says about the war on Iraq, "Now, truth be told, I think I get this war, and, on balance, I think it is a risk worth taking — provided we have a country willing to see it through."

Friedman is endorsing the war on Iraq. I would put a link to it here, but you have to register with the NY Times to probably see the column. Friedman also writes that much of the country does not support the war, and I think he may be right about that although I'm surprised. Friedman attributes people's lack of enthusiasm for the war to the bad economy, and he has a point there; economics rule.

Still, I thought for sure that there would be more support for the war in the states that voted for Bush. Perhaps Friedman is wrong. What's interesting about the anti-war movement to me, is that there are no publicized anti-war rallies in NYC. Why is that? Is NYC still hurting from 9/11 and in a serious post 9/11 security hangover? Or has 9/11 turned NYC into war hawks or into shell shocked barely surviving peace doves? No one talks about the lack of anti-war demonstrations in NYC, which I find odd, but perhaps the media understands NYC's mood better than I can.

I heard on the news today that if you were predisposed to a war with Iraq, Colin Powell's 90 minute presentation at the United Nations answered all your questions. However, if you were against a war with Iraq, there was nothing that Colin Powell could have said that would have convinced you to change your postion.

I thought Powell gave very convincing evidence, but I was a cautious supporter of the war before his speech.

Two things that stood out for me in Powell's presentation.

1) who is tipping off the Iraqis on the UN inspectors itinerary? Is it someone on the team, or is it a result of Iraqi intelligence.
2) Iraq has never accounted for all the chemical and biological weaponry found by the UN inspectors in the 90's. This issue is frightening for me. I'm like people, what is the silliness about having Saddam Hussein contained? I don't think so. Not if Iraq may still have the chemical and biological weaponry from that period. This is where I don't get why people don't think he's a danger, or that Hussein is a person who can reasoned with like a normal person. Whatever.

Whether the anti-war protestors like it or not, we are on a road to war. There are over 100,000 troops in the middle east preparing for the event. The cost of sending them and keeping them there is enormous, and they wouldn't be there unless we were going to war.

I don't enjoy war. I am not a war monger or a war hawk, but I also don't think the US should make the Neville Chamberlain mistake and think that Saddam Hussein like Adolf Hitler is not threat to the world.

What scares me too, is there are news reports floating around that say that our intelligence sources are showing the same amount of communication among Al-Queda operatives that they saw in the day preceding 9/11. What are those terrorists planning, and why is it so hard for the US to find them and lock them up?

JS at Just a Pose talks about feeling homesick. When I watched "Lilo and Stitch" a couple of weeks ago, I felt so homesick.

First of all, Lilo and her sister live on the island of Kauai, where I was born and spent the first eighteen years of my life. Secondly, the music and the flower dress Lilo wore called a muumuu were so familiar to me. I wore muumuus all my life growing up, and I was taking hula lessons as soon as I was able to walk. Talk about being homesick! I wanted to head to the local store and make myself some poke, a local raw fish dish that trendy restaurants are calling ahi tuna tartare.

The movie however, also had an SF Bay area connection. The guy singing the opening theme song and the surf song, David Keali'i Ho'omalu, is someone whom I've heard in person here. I think he lives somewhere in the East Bay, and I've seee him and his hula troop at hawaiian festivals in Alameda and out at Fort Mason. I'm sure it's the same guy, because his voice is so unique.

The first time I heard him was at a hawaiian festival in Alameda. When he started walking to the stage, everyone started clapping and was so excited to see him like he was some local rock star. As soon as he chanted and sang, I realized why he was revered. His voice sent shivers down my spine. There is something so powerful and ancient in his voice, like he was channeling the ancient hawaiian spirits or something. His dance troup does hula in the old style, where it's more like religious rituals and not flowery songs. Some of the hula reminded so much of hula for men, where it's more like choreographed fighting techniques.

My only criticism of the movie is Lilo didn't speak with a hawaiian accent, which they call "pidgin english' in Hawaii. I think all of the other hawaiian characters did, but not Lilo. For Kauai, that would not be normal. If the show took place on the island of Oahu, the pidgin accent wouldn't be so noticeable, but on the outer islands the pidgin is very thick and of course, varies from island to island.

When I was growing up, the pidgin accents drove the teachers nuts and we all went through "elocution' lessons. I've pretty much lost my accent, so that most people can't tell I'm even from there, although if you pay attention to that kind of stuff you'd know. I've taken Speech for Stage classes, so my accent has been smoothed over, although I think it will always be there. And when I go home, it only takes a few days for it come back. My mother can't understand me, unless I speak in pidgin, or at least that's what she says. I think she just likes me to talk the way I did when I was a kid, because it's familiar to her. You can't fake the hawaiian pidgin accent either.

My cousin who was born in Michigan, and spent the first four years of her life in Minnesota, picked up a serious pidgin accent because she lives and works in Hawaii, but I can tell she's not native born. She pronounces certain words in a way that a native Hawaii born person would never pronounce.

My accent is all mixed up anyway. I've been told I've picked up some midwestern speech patterns, because I went to college in Iowa. I also spent some time in Southern California and NYC, so my brother keeps saying I sound like a valley girl and my acting teacher got freaked out because I had some NYC speech patterns. Then just to complicate things, I took an acting dialect class on how to speak with a proper English dialect, called RP or received pronuncation or BBC english, and how to speak Cockney, so some of those speech patterns have slipped into my accent as well. I was thinking of trying out for the play "Major Barbara" one year, and I thought taking the class would give me an edge in auditions. I never tried out for the play, but I can still do the accents quite well, although I mix them up constantly and ended up sounding like high pitched american Michael Caine.

Which OS are You?

This is so funny, because I have a wince baby laptop! This quiz comes from Gordon Zaft's blog.

I had to get blood drawn today for some routine tests, and for my own comfort I always warn the lab person how hard it is get blood out of me. I've had lab people tell me that my veins are too small, and how they can't find my them. I've had the tourniquet tied so tight around my arm, it left marks. I've opened my eyes to see to a broken needle or two in my vein. And when they do finally get the blood, I get a bruise that lasts for days. I don't give blood anymore, because it took an hour to just get half a pint and my arm was so sore.

Today was no exception. No matter how much I warn the lab technician, they never listen. They look at me insolently like they're saying "how dare I tell them how to do their job." First I told the lab tech the tourniquet wasn't tight enough, but she didn't listen. She stuck the needle in my left arm, and I could feel her moving it around because of the pain. Finally she gave up and said, "Your veins are too small and they move too. I need to try the other arm and use a smaller needle." I shot her a "I told you so" look, which of course she totally ignored.

I offer up my right arm, and I tell her again that the tourniquet is too loose. The lab tech moved it further up my arm and tightened it. Then she started tapping my arm looking for a vein, but again to no avail. Finally, she tapped my upper arm where the tourniquet was, and magically a vein bulged out. This seemed to excite her, and she quickly grabbed a needle and obtained her sample. The lab technician smiled at me afterwards and says, "Your veins are really small, and they move, but I got them." I smile and left the lab with band-aids on both arms, wondering why I bother even saying anything since it's always the same.

I saw the Winslow Homer watercolour exhibit at the Legion of Fine Arts today. Homer painted exquisite watercolours of his favorite pastime, fly fishing. His use of colour was amazing, and his mixing of greens and oranges reminded so much of how Cezanne mixed these two colours together. Once you see an Cezanne oragne, you never forget it. I can recognize a Cezanne painting just by the colour orange.

Homer also does fantastic water and rushing water scenes, which is amazing since he did it with watercolour, which is such a delicate medium to work with. Homer's blues are beautiful. What I like most about his watercolours was how close he got the colours to match what you actually see in nature. To match what nature can do with colour takes genius, and Homer definitely had the genius touch.

The exhibit showed a few of his Florida paintings, and he minute brushwork to portray the spanish moss hanging from tree, or the delicate palm fronds were incredible.

Although the subject matter of trout and anglers was not very interesting to me, to see Homer's genius with watercolour and his delicate brushwork was a fantastic experience.

I just finished watching "Brush with Fate", a surprisingly not so schmaltzy Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. I missed the opening credits, but I believe the movie was based on the book, " Girl in Hyacinth Blue" by Susan Vreeland. Brush reminded me so much of the movie, "The Red Violin", a hauntingly strange, eerie and beautiful movie.

Glenn Close was great. She has become such a great character actor. Her character reminded me so much of an ex-school teacher at church, that it was as if Close had personally studied the mannerisms and looks of this woman I know. And the surprise ending was fantastic, and ultimately sad. Like I said, not your usual Hallmark sugar coated ending, but something far more disturbing and unsettling. I definitely will have to read the book now; I love good historical fiction.

There was a swarm of earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay area this morning. I felt two of them. You always know it's a quake, because if you're sitting you feel your butt move first.

I felt the first one at 8:22 am, while I was reading the Sunday paper. It was small, but unmistakable. I waited thinking I'd feel another one, but nothing happened. Then at 10:22 am, when I was getting dressed for church, the building shook again and it felt like something had hit the place. It was small sharp jolt, and again I waited for the aftershocks to follow but nothing happened.

The earthquake at 8:22 am had a magnitude of 3.6. The earthquake at 10:22 am had a magnitude of 4.2 There was other quakes all morning, but those are the only two I felt. I hate earthquakes, but they're a fact of life here, and I don't know if I'll ever get used to them.

I woke up late this morning, turned on my computer and was very shocked and saddened to hear about the shuttle disaster. It will be interesting to hear how this happened and why. They were so close to landing too. A very, very sad day for the seven astronauts, their families, friends and loved ones.

Is the US following Japan's lead, Lower prices a boon to consumers, but causing headaches for retailers .

"Deflation -- a sustained decline in prices in goods and services -- is a vicious cycle. A sluggish economy forces businesses to reduce prices, which prompts consumers to delay their spending because they believe even better bargains are ahead."

I also read somewhere earlier this week, that the dollar for the first time in years was worth less than a dollar. How that is possible, I don't know. I'll try to find the article and post it.

There are For Rent signs all over San Francisco. I heard some media financial gurus interviewed on the radio on Tueday, The Dolans, and they said that they expect the market to go even lower. The Dolans said there are two many people still in the market, with dwindling stock portfolios, and at some point they will panic and take their money out to prevent any more losses. The Dolans warned that if you're still in the market, you would need to stay in for at least 9 years to make your money back. The Dolans themselves got completely out of the stock market two months ago.

My IRA is safely in money markets, but my smaller 401(k) at work is in stocks. I'd like to pull the money out of my 401(k) as well, but I think I may have missed my window of opportunity. I should have pulled out when the market was at 9,000. I would have lost money anyway, since I started putting money in my 401(k) during the summer of 2000. So much for the theory of dollar cost averaging I spaced this one out. The amount always looked okay to me, because my company was matching my amounts. SPACE CADET!!!

I doubt I will be working at my current company in 9 years, and I need to research if I can leave my money in fund if I leave the company. My 401(k) is at Fidelity, and I would love to keep my money there. I think the market may tick up at the end of February, and if it does, I might get out and take the loss. When the market does go lower, I'll go back into stocks and get some major bargains.

This is the Superbowl theory of the stock market. If the AFC wins the superbowl, the market goes down. If the NFC wins, the markets go up. Since NFC team Tampa Bay won, let's hope the theory holds, at least until I can move my money to money markets.

A scary article, Drug-resistant staph infections breaks out among L.A. County gays. The radio news is reporting today that this staph infection can now also been in gay men in San Francisco. What is going on, and why does it seem to only be attacking gay men?

I love this song. It's so airy, fairy, so bubblegummy, but every time I hear the lyrics it makes me smile.

Breathe In by Frou Frou

I read you and God I'm good at it I'm so spot on
Chord shapes in air go press that dissonance if you dare
And you breathing in finesse an innocent
From her partying

And I'm high enough from all the waiting
To ride a wave on your inhaling
And I'm high enough from all the waiting
To ride a wave on your inhaling
'Cause I love you no?
Can't help but love, you know...

What part of no don't you understand I've told you before
To just get off my case this isn't happening stop this now
And I where was I? I have to be somewhere
Now where did I put it?

And I'm high enough from all the waiting
To ride a wave on your inhaling
And I'm high enough from all the waiting
To ride a wave on your inhaling
'Cause I love you no?
Can't help but love you, no...

Is this it is this it is this it?

Yes hello we're back and we're taking calls
Now what was the question?

And I'm high enough from all the waiting
To ride a wave on your inhaling
And I'm high enough from all the waiting
To ride a wave on your inhaling
'Cause I love you no?
Can't help but love you, no...

I saw another great movie last week called "Requiem for a Dream". Here's another "Pulp Fiction" reference. I thought that "Pulp Fiction" had some of the best scenes showing how drugs get into your system, but Requiem does them better. I'm not sure if Requiem stole it from Pulp, since it's been awhile since I've seen that movie, but the scenes seem similar.

"Requiem for a Dream" is the best movie I've seen on drug addiction, and how and why people get into it. Ellen Burstyn was amazing, and I can why she got nominated for Best Actress the year the movie came out. The movie also features a very young looking, thin and flat chested Jennifer Connelly. Maybe all those rumors about her fake rack are true, because she did not have one in this movie.

Requiem showed quite convincingly I think, that people always take drugs for emotional reasons. Either they're lonely, they're bored, they're looking for fun, they're looking for something that's missing in their environment or inside of themselves. Then like most things in life, if drug addiction could be plotted on a graph, it would resemble a bell curve.

Somewhere at the top of the bell curve is the point at which you pass from emotional need and into physical need. Alcohol addiction happens the same way, by the way, and yes, I did see it plotted on a graph too. For every person, the point at which you pass from emotional to physical addiction is different, but for all once you pass the "point of no return" there's no going back.

The movie showed cost of the physical addictions as well, and how it sneaks up on you. But the movie also showed how for awhile, the drugs do fill the void, maybe not for very long, but they do fill the void. And this is why drugs can be so very dangerous; they work. Drugs fill voids like nothing else, and they do it very well, and they fool you into thinking they will the void forever. But it's a lie, and they don't. The drugs end up filling up the emotional void, but then they create a physical void that only more drugs can fill. This is how drugs seduce you, trap you, enslave you, till I think you get to the point where you wonder if the emotional void you thought was hell wasn't as bad compared to the physical hell of the drug void. Do drug addicts wonder about this irony?

I rented the movie from Blockbuster, and it said it was the edited version. The movie was quite graphic, so I'm curious now about the unedited version. I may try to rent it from somewhere else just to compare.

The guy who cowrote the screenplay for Requiem, wrote the book as well, and I'm curious to see how the book compares to the movie. The movie spooked me about drug addiction, but I've been spooked in reality before, so I could definitely relate. Would the movie spook other people as well, who haven't tasted what drug addiction could be like? Somehow I doubt it.

There is no way to describe the depths of an emotional void and how you will do anything to fill it, if you haven't experienced it for yourself. For every person it's so different. Some people have very shallow emotional voids, others are quite deep. I'm not sure which ones are the lucky ones. Some people also have an amazing tolerance for drugs, and others can get hooked after a few times. The results however, no matter how fast or slow you get there, are the same.

I saw American Buffalo last Thursday at ACT. I read the play in college, and saw a production of it years ago, and seeing it again reminds me that a great play is timeless no matter when you see it.

First of all, there is the classic David Mamet full of foul language dialogue. The dialogue was radical when Mamet wrote it in the 1970's, and now it just makes the audience laugh. Think of Good Fellas or any mob Joe Pesci character, and you've got classic David Mamet dialogue. Think of the some of the great "Pulp Fiction" dialogue that Quentin Tarantino wrote, and how the gangsters were so angsty and into discovering themselves, and you realize that Tarantino ripped it from Mamet almost 25 years later.

Secondly, the acting was amazing. Marco Barricelli was perfect as Teach, and gave this almost lovable and sexy low life character a tangible desperate energy. He reminded me of Sean Penn's energy when I saw him on stage a couple of years ago. Matt DeCari as Donnie Dubrow was also terrific, and boy did he nail that chicago flat A accent. Damon Seawell as Bob was also very good, and I liked how he gave his character all the tell tale signs of an addict like rubbing your arms because you've got the skin crawlies.

Finally, I'm not sure if Mamet invented low life characters as worthy entertainment, but he sure perfected it in this play. Half way through the play, I realized that these guys were total losers, total low lifes, and I started asking myself why am I am watching these people. Then almost immediately, it hit me that Teach reminded me a guy I dated 8 years ago. There is nothing like recognizing that one of your ex boyfriends resembles a low life character you're watching in a play. I started to understand that these low life characters are quite universal, and that despite their income level, you end up relating to them or finding yourself in them.

I started to wonder if I was like Teach, a person who is always dreaming, always looking for the next big thing, pretty full of themselves, silly sometimes even, and most importantly pathetic. I don't know. I think there might be a little Teach in all of us. Who isn't out there dreaming of the next big thing, not ever satisfied with their life, thinking there might be something better out there for us, thinking (no matter how small the thought) that that world just doesn't treat us the right way? I know

I know I think like Teach sometimes. Sometimes I get in a bitter mood, and I rail against the world and my circumstances. I hate when I do that, but it happens. And yes, when I'm bitter, I feel really pathetic, suicidal sometimes. Thankfully, the bitterness moods are few and far between, but I know I've experienced them and American Buffalo reminded me of what they're like.

Maybe that's what the best plays do. They put you in touch with a part of yourself you don't like, would like to forget, wished you could forget, are in denial about, but which you ultimately know is part of your own personal experience, and part of the human condition as well.

I slept all morning, and then woke up bored and hungry. Since I've been sleeping non stop practically since 2 pm yesterday and not eating, I helped myself to a bowl of vanilla ice cream by Dreyer's Dreamery and low fat Smucker's chocolate sauce. Yummy!

The ice cream stayed down and didn't upset my stomach, so I guess this means whatever bug has been attacking my system is now gone. It's either that, or the flu bug loves ice cream.

Then I decided to load Turbo Tax on my computer and start on my taxes. I made a ton of charitable contributions this year and gave away a bunch of stuff, so I'm getting a huge tax refund. YEAH!!! Now I just have to figure out what to do with the extra money. I'm tempted to put the money towards paying off some debt, but another part of me is saying no, spend it on something you've always wanted like a laptop. I have money to buy a used laptop. I couldn't get a 3-4 pound laptop that I've been wanting with a new chip, but I could get a decent 5 pound laptop, with a decent chip brain. It's tempting, very tempting.

There are other things I could also buy like a new ring for my right hand. I had to give my pretty blue topaz ring away to a friend of mine, since I suddenly became allergic to it. Then there's those Dansko Mary Jane shoes I've been dying to have.

It's nice to have a huge tax refund, but I'm only getting it because I donated and gave away more than the standard deduction. If you don't own a property or a business like me, the only tax breaks most people have left, taxes totally kill you. I had charitable contributions of almost $700 last year, and still it wasn't enough to get me past the standard deduction. I hate that!

I'm taking a sick day today, and I'm at home. I should have taken a sick day yesterday, but I went in and ended up leaving at 1 pm. My body is fighting some kind of flu, I think. I'm getting the chills, I'm sweating, and my tummy is cramping. Since I've been trying to beef up my immune system, I don't get normal flus or viruses, I get them in halves. When I had the Norwalk virus, I went to the bathroom a lot, but I wasn't throwing up or feverish. The last time the flu went around the office, I got a stomach thing, but no runny nose or other cold symptoms.

I mean, I'm glad my body is working to fight off illnesses, but since I only get half the symptoms, it's hard to diagnose what is ailing me. Oh well. At least it's not a full blow nasty flu; those are the worst.

A weird thing happened to me on Friday night, January 24. I fell asleep listening to a radio program on KSFO, Coast to Coast, and woke up to hear this different talk show host talking about Covenant Network. The executive director of Covenant Network is a member of my church, and she's in my Kerygma bible class on Wednesdays. I was on a committee with her for a year, and have known her for several years. She's a Wellesley grad, was a college classmate of Hilary Rodham Clinton, and I think she used to be a book editor at Random House.

It's so weird to hear my friend's organization talked about on the radio. The conservative radio talk show host was talking about a couple of presbyterian churches in Hayward and Castro Valley inviting a transgender presbyterian minister from Georgia to talk to them, so they could have a greater understanding of transgender people and issues since the slaying of Eddie "Gwen" Araujo Jr. -- the 17-year-old transgender teen slain last October. I guess Covenant Network helped to sponsor the event or something.

From the Covenant Network website, here's what they're about.

"The Covenant Network of Presbyterians is a broad-based, national group of clergy and lay leaders working for a church that is simultaneously faithful, just, and whole. We seek to support the mission and unity of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in a time of potentially divisive controversy. We intend to articulate and act on the church's historic, progressive vision and to work for a fully inclusive church.

We seek to live out the Reformed faith found in Scripture and our confessions, and in our life together to follow the principles laid out in the Call to Covenant Community. We strive to proclaim and embody the gospel as we have learned it from the life and ministry of Jesus; we affirm the centrality of the Bible in our church; and we value the dynamic tension between unity and diversity. The Call to Covenant Community has been affirmed by more than 2,500 ministers, 2,000 other officers, 19 former Moderators, 300+ sessions, five presbyteries, and the Synod of Lakes and Prairies.

Covenant Network was founded in August, 1997 to support the passage of Amendment (97)-A, the "Fidelity and Integrity Amendment." Its founding Co-Moderators were Robert Bohl, Pastor of Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas and Moderator of the 206th General Assembly, and John Buchanan, Co-Pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago and Moderator of the 208th General Assembly."

It's strange to have one's personal life and a hot news topic come together on a conservative talk show program in the wee hours of the morning.

On Thursday, January 23, I took advantage of Dine About Town and had dinner at the Pacific Restaurant at the Pan Pacific Hotel. The restaurant had decent reviews on CitySearch, and since I've been curious about what the inside of the Pan Pacific Hotel looked like, I booked a reservation.

First of all, the restaurant is way overpriced. Entrees were in the $20's, which is high considering the quality of the food is average. I thought the food was similar to the Daily Grill, which is much cheaper. I had the salmon, and it was drowning in oil. The Daily Grill serves their fish this way too. I know some people like their fish drizzled in olive oil, but I find this technique unimaginative and so five years ago.

Secondly, since the restaurant is overpriced, the place was empty yet the hotel was overflowing with guests. Usually hotel restaurants are full of hotel guests, because it's convenient and a guest can charge the food to their room. I don't know if the restaurant was empty because of the bad economy and the visitors are watching their pennies carefully, or that even the out of town visitors knew the restaurant was no bargain.

The only saving grace of the restaurant for me was listening to the few diners that were there. A beautiful, immmaculately coiffed white haired woman was sitting a few tables from me. She looked like one of those older society matron types, with her Bottega Vanetta bag, her silk shirtwaist dress that perfectly matched her green eyes, her rings, her double strand huge baroque pearls and the fine italian wool navy blue blazer with the gold buttons. The silk dress was definitely designer or off the rack designer, probably bought sometime in the 70's, but which still looked timeless and classic.

The society matron had beautiful unlined skin, and was still very thin, but she had all the tell tale signs of old age; arthritic looking age spotted hands, severe lines around the mouth, a crepey neck, clouded eyes, stained teeth, bad eyesight, and of course the lifeless white hair. However beneath the ravages of age, you could telll that this woman was quite the refined blonde bombshell in her youth.

The society matron was crying and telling the french waiter that his accent reminded her of her french husband. She had lived in France with her husband during world war 2, and had kept a journal of her experiences for her grandsons to read. The woman's husband's family had been in banking, and they were killed by the Nazis during the war because they had refused to give up the combinations to the vaults.

The french waiter told the society matron that while he was growing up was Lyon, he had met an old man who told him a story about the Nazi occupation of Lyon that he witnessed. Apparently, there was a Nazi in Lyon nicknamed "the butcher of Lyon". This Nazi, whom the waiter said was caught 10 years ago, had sent a whole school of 40 children to their death at Auschwitz.

Great story huh? The society matron knew all the waiters and they knew her, which must mean she's a regular eater there. I love hearing people's stories. Everyone has such an interesting story to tell, and if you just shut up and listen, you'll discover whole new worlds.

Tomorrow, my review of American Buffalo.

I wonder what would happen if the White House were to show the world evidence that Iraq has biological and chemical weapons. Personally, I think it would cause mass hysteria and panic around the country and people would be freaking out. I know I would. Is that why Bush isn't showing us the evidence?

Some people are saying that if Clinton was in Bush's position, there wouldn't be as much opposition from the left. I wonder about that too sometimes. When Clinton was in office, we sent troops into the Baltic regions and no one said anything. Hmmm.

It's been a whirlwind four days, with my birthday on Friday and then having an event planned every day since Thursday, that I haven't had the time or energy to blog.

But first with Sunday's news. Yes, I am bummed about the Oakland Raiders losing. I thought for sure they would win by a touchdown, but the Tampa Bay defense was strong and Rich Gannon and the Oakland offense never could find their rhythm. Weird thing too, with the center being sent home. No one on the team will admit that this incident made them lose the game, but it's got to have been a distraction. Not sure if I even heard what the real story was on the center, but I'm sure the news will come out soon enough.

So damn! This is the second San Francisco Bay Area team this year to make it a sport championship final, and then bomb out at the end. The SF Giants lost to the Anaheim Angels, when in game 6 it looked they had it all wrapped up, and now the Oakland Raiders, who were a 3.5 point favorite to win, get stuffed in the superbowl. Bummer, bummer, bummer!

I liked that Oakland Raider was full of veterans and older players, or as the media dubbed them "football senior citizens". I wanted Oakland to win, to make a statement that just because you're old doesn't mean you can't play. I didn't want Tampa Bay to win, beause it sends the message out to everyone, that if you've got enough money and are willing to give up draft picks, you can buy a coach and win a superbowl. It's the New York Yankees style of winning championships, and I didn't want the same thing to happen to football. But it did, and that's too bad.

Thank god, football has a salary cap, so the George Steinbrenner school of winning championships can't infect football entirely. But because of salary cap, most of the Raider players will be gone next season, since the Raider will be seriously over the salary cap next year. Oh well. Al Davis did get spectacular draft picks in giving up John Gruden, so they'll be able to rebuild the team that way.

I think the Raiders lost because Al Davis has so much bad karma with the NFL. He's still in lawsuit with the NFL and with the City of Oakland as well.

Someone in the NFL office must really be a big Sting fan, since he appeared again. I loved Santana's appearance and No Doubt, and even Shania Twain. But Sting? Come on. I mean, I love Bon Jovi, but I can't believe they're playing at some other big event on TV. And why wasn't there any rap/hip hop acts like Nelly? Guess the NFL front office doesn't listen to the music that most of their players listen too or believes in variety in their acts.

I did love the way the Dixie chicks sang the national anthem, but I'm a Dixie Chicks fan. I kind of liked the spoof of the Bud Light two girls fighting commercial down the "The Practice". I think it only came on once, and it was funny. Then there's the visa check card commercial with Rondi and Tiki Barber, such cuties, where Rondi has a visa check card and the checkout girl makes the observation that Rondi is the one in the superbowl and Tiki isn't, because he's the one who uses check. Funny. The Ozzy Osbourne commercial was funny, but Pepsi Twist does not taste good. I wonder how much Pepsi paid all those people to be in that ad.

More later on Thursday's events - I went to see "American Buffalo" at ACT and ate at the Pacific Restaurant the Pan Pacific Hotel, Friday's events - I watched "Lilo and Stitch" and "Gangs of New York" and ate at One Market and at a Singapore/Malaysian/Thai restaurant, and Saturday's events - I went to a lecture on Tibetan art, wondered through a Chinatown street fair and saw "LOTR-The Two Towers." Like I said, it was a busy four days.

Here's an editorial on the US and Iraq from Arab News, Saudi Arabia's First English Daily, Editorial: Iraq and US. The media is Saudi controlled, but it's interesting that the writer says that perhaps the best way to keep Saddam Hussein under control is to have UN weapons inspectors permanently stationed in Iraq. My question is, who is going to fund this solution? Is it the USA, since we fund most of the United Nations expenses anyway? I mean it sounds like a half decent idea, and an alternative to war, but it's logistics of this solution that bothers me.

For the wine readers, I tried Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon, on sale at Trader Joe's for $1.99, and it was very good for the price. An article in the SF Chron said people were calling Charles Shaw wine, "Chuck for a Buck". The wine is young and it wasn't as smooth as a more expensive wine, but for a $1.99 it's totally drinkable and a great picnic or every day dinner wine. If I didn't know it cost a $1.99, I'd have guess the cost of the wine to be between $5-15.

Check this link out, Future of Public Interest in the Digital Age at Stake as FCC Proceeds with Plans to End Longstanding Safeguards. The FCC, which is coincidentially chaired by Colin Powell's son, is reviewing the FCC rules which allow how many media stations a company may own in a given market. I think the current number limit is eight, but the buzz on the conspiracy theory radio programs is that the FCC will lift the limits thereby creating media monopolies.

Don't we already have media monopolies on the radio with a company like Clear Channel, which owns a ton of radio stations? If a company like Clear Channel is allowed to own all the sources of media in a market, doesn't that they mean they will control all forms of communication media like radio and TV. This is not good. Of course, the internet is there as a source of alternative information, but I don't like that one company may one day be able to own and control every radio and TV station in a market. Talk about being able to "control the message".

I'm watching American Idol for the first time, and it's a very funny show. I'm watching and listening to these people, and I'm thinking I'm not such a bad singer. I took a semester of singing lessons from a woman who graduated from Julliard, so at least I had some training. Some of those people, I mean, it's amazing, Simon is right; they're really bad.

Just watching the judges' faces during the bad singing is hilarious. It's like watching a torture show, and what's a trip is some of those people don't know they're out of tune, can't carry a tune, or just can't sing period. No wonder it's a hit. It's a riot. A sad riot, but a riot nonetheless.

I've been measuring myself again, and although I seem to be on weight plateau, I've lost an inch off my waist and an inch off my booty. I've had two weightlifting sessions this month, so maybe that's the difference because I've been the same weight for three weeks now.

I'm not freaking out just yet, because I can't complain about an inch loss off my hips and my tummy, but I just wish the scale would move. Maybe my body is shifting again, and my body needs to get caught up. Maybe the weightlifting I've done has added more muscles, and muscles weigh more and that explains the weight plateau. I don't know.

I wonder if I'll lose my hips or are they permanent now. I never used to have them. Hips do make certain types of clothing fit better, like jeans and skirts. With my hips, I can finally wear women's pants. At my thinnest in high school, I could only wear a men's size 29 jeans. They were the only jeans that fit my waist and my hips.

I once had a seamstress friend design a dress for me. When she was draping fabric around my body, she got frustrated and kept saying over and over again that I had no hips to hold the fabric up. But that was when I was younger. Now I have hips galore, and although I'm not very fond of these lumps on the sides of my body, I do like how they make clothes shopping easier.

Not much to say today. I feel all talked out somehow. I did love Bush's line in the news today. "This business about, you know, more time -- you know, how much time do we need to see clearly that he's not disarming? As I said, this looks like a rerun of a bad movie and I'm not interested in watching it. " He sounded irritated in the sound bite, didn't he? I don't blame him though; 11 years is a long time.

Check the out the full text of Bush's comments to reporters, Remarks by the President After Meeting with Economists.

So I'm deciding whether to drop out of my Saturday morning City College of San Francisco yoga class, because the yoga teacher spent about 15 minutes telling people to go to the anti-war rally. I'm like, HELLO! I'm paying you to teach me yoga, not to hear about your politics. I was irritated on Saturday, and my irritation has been building to just downright anger.

I just experienced what the conservatives are saying what's wrong with public education; public school teachers trying to politic in a non-political class. And obviously this woman knows nothing about yoga, because if she did, she would know that her integrity is so off and she's committing an act of bad karma. Her job is to teach yoga, not politics and she's not, and she knows it; that's classic bad karma. She doing something wrong and she knows it. And this woman is going to teach me yoga and its philosophy? PLEASE!!! She knows nothing of the subject if she's politicing in an exercise class.

This is the first time I've ever come across this in a class at CCSF. It's frightening to me. I want to send her an email, and harangue her about it, but what's the sense. She won't get it, and I know she doesn't get what yoga and its philosophy is truly about. I don't need someone teaching me yoga and its philosophy, who doesn't understand the basic laws of karma.

The woman then went on telling the people in class to write to Gray Davis, and tell him that we don't like the public education budget cuts. And I'm like why? So I can have a freak like you teach class an exercise class, and spend most of it telling us your political views. When we do go to war with Iraq, and I belive it's a fait accompli at this point, I just know this yoga exercise teacher is just going to spend more class time spouting off her political opinions. Do I really want to deal with this for a whole semester every Saturday morning?

I take classes at CCSF, because they're cheap, I get to meet a variety of people, and the teachers I've had have been very good. Now granted, the country is an extraordinary set of circumstances with the upcoming war with Iraq, but to have this yoga teacher, who's said she's studied yoga and its philosophy all her life, commit seriously bad karma on the first day of class just doesn't sit well with me. I feel bad too. I'm a great believer in public education, but if this is what public education is turning into, then I'm not going to waste my time. I can afford to take private yoga classes. I won't get the variety of people I'd meet in a public education class, but I think the teacher will teach yoga postures, and not spend the time informing me of their political opinion.

My only consolation in this whole thing is, very few people in the class took the anti-war flyers she was handing out, and everyone had that bored looked in their eyes which seemed to say "shut up already and teach us yogic breathing", which of course she didn't, because she ended class early so she could go the rally. Talk about instant karma, but I doubt she got that too.

So the Raiders won, and they're playing their old coach who bailed to go to Tampa Bay, after Steve Mariucci, the ex 49er coach, waffled on whether to take the job. It's the kind of drama even Hollywood could invent. Real life is sometimes way more interesting than fiction.

And Al Davis, who people call "the godfather", I just found out was the first NFL owner to break the colour barrier and hire african american players. Which reminds me that tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day, and I don't have the holiday off. Bad huh?

My pastor read a sermon at church today that Dr. Martin Luther King delivered in 1956, and it was very good. Dr. King had pretended he found a long lost letter from Paul to American Christians. The man definitely had a way with words as was evidenced by this early sermon. The themes Dr. King brought up in 1956 are so timeless too, as the country faces whether affirmative action and other programs to promote racial diversity have any merit at the college level.

My Dr. Martin Luther King connection. During my college time, Dr. King's daughter enrolled at my school, but left after a semester to go to Howard University in Atlanta. I never saw her, but everyone said she was very nice.

Although I'm a 49er fan, I'm jumping on the bandwagon to cheer on the Raiders because they're a Bay Area team. It's one of the perks of living in an area with two football teams. There's a good chance if one of them loses, the other team may win. GO RAIDERS!

The geriactric Raiders team is definitely redefining for professional football the age limit and longevity of players who stay injury free and take care of themselves. I read Bill Callahan even had the players train differently, so they don't get too tired because of their age. His strategy has paid off, as the Raiders look strong and don't fade in the fourth quarter as many teams expect them to do.

I love the fact that Bill Callahan has never held a head coaching job before, and now finds himself as a rookie coach in his first superbowl. I wonder if he allowed himself to have this dream. And what a dream. There are head coaches who have never taken teams to the superbowl, and Callahan goes in his first year.

My prediction: the Oakland Raiders will win Superbowl 37 by a touchdown, and it will be a close, well fought game.

And now we can look forward to why we really watch the Superbowl; the commercials.

I caught part of the North/South Senior Football Bowl yesterday in between errands. During the half time, I watched the senior football players take their shirts off and get weighed and measured before a room full of pro football scouts and coaches. The announcers said that sometimes players don't give their correct weight and height, so this process checks them.

It was very weird watching the whole process. I was first reminded of an animal auction, and then a slave auction that I've seen depicted in movies. But if these guys make it to NFL, they will get paid bucket loads of money. Some guy from the Detroit Lions said, "Some of these players are taller than I thought they were, and thicker too." Wow. The coaches and scouts really pay attention to a player's physical attributes. I had no idea.

Uh oh. Poor Philadelpia Eagles. If the Raiders win, it will be the Chuckie Bowl.

Why I drink alkaline water. Aside from all the health benefits, it does make filtered water taste very good. Honestly.

Bad diet, either a present one or one in the past, can cause acid wastes to be stored in the body. A meat and potato diet, for example, can cause the body to become more acidic. When acid wastes enter our bloodstream, the blood, in order to maintain that narrow pH range, will store them somewhere else. Acid salts stored in the body, over the decades, will overburden the system. A way has to be found to rid the body of wastes. Some examples of solidified acidic wastes are cholesterol, fatty acid, uric acid kidney stone, urates, sulfates, and phosphates.

The body uses the blood system to dispose of wastes; these are removed in liquid form, and are often deposited in the lungs and kidneys. If there are too many wastes to handle, they are deposited at various organ systems, like the heart, the pancreas, the liver, the colon, and other locations. Sometimes these wastes are deposited on the walls of arteries, and over the years can spread throughout the body.

The breakdown of this disposal process, especially of acid wastes, is what we call the aging process. In order to slow down and reverse this process, one must begin removing acid waste from the body.

The best way we have found to do this is to drink alkaline water. This water, having a pH of between 9 and 11, will first neutralize harmful stored acid wastes, and if you consume it every day, will gently remove them from your body. Yet, since the water is ionized, it will not leach out valuable alkaline minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, or sodium.

Japanese doctors have treated their patients for over four decades with alkaline water. They believe that the immune system loses its power to throw off disease when the body becomes too acidic. They advocate drinking alkaline water, eating alkaline foods.

In case you were wondering ... (Note: this stuff tastes really quite yucky, but boy is it good for my energy level)

Dr. Richard Schulze’s Superfood
100% Organic Vitamin & Mineral Food Concentrate

Dr. Schulze formulated this perfectly balanced blend of SUPERFOODS to supply you with natural food source vitamins, minerals, amino acids and essential trace nutrients. These are Nature's nutrients, not man-made synthetic vitamins. This is the finest whole food and herb vitamin and mineral product available anywhere. All the ingredients are the richest WHOLE FOOD & HERBS on the planet. ALL THE INGREDIENTS ARE ORGANICALLY GROWN.

Two rounded tablespoons of SuperFood will give you 2-5 times the vitamins you need for the entire day, or more! Many of these sources are single-celled plants, which means they almost digest by themselves and assimilate into your bloodstream in minutes!

Contains: Spirulina Blue-Green Algae, Chlorella Algae, Alfalfa grass, Barley grass, Wheat grass, Purple Dulse Seaweed, Beet root, Spinach leaf, Rose hips, Orange and Lemon peels and non-active Saccharomyces cerevisiae Nutritional Yeast.

Spirulina Blue Green Algae
Spirulina is the most concentrated, nutritious food on this planet. It is the highest natural source of complete protein (75%). We use the only organically grown spirulina in the world, from Hawaii. The high amount of sunshine there makes this spirulina higher in Beta Carotene than any other. It is also a rich source of B-vitamins, especially B-12. Grown using water pumped from 2000 feet deep in the ocean, this spirulina is also one of the richest sources of minerals. One of the oldest types of algae, it has a soft cell wall for easy digestion and assimilation.

Chlorella
Chlorella is second only to Spirulina in nutritional content. Another of the algaes, it is an excellent source of nutrition and complements Spirulina well. The cell wall had been cracked to make the nutrients more available and increase digestibility.

Alfalfa, Barley and Wheat Grasses
These are the Vitamin/Mineral herbs. They are mildly cleansing and the greatest sources of nutrition of any grasses. Grain grasses are more potent than the grains themselves, offering us a rich array of vitamins, minerals and chlorophyll.

Purple Dulse Seaweed
Seaweeds are the riches source of assimilable minerals on the planet. They contain all the minerals and trace minerals that are found in the oceans and the earth's crust. We chose Purple Scandinavian Dulse because it has the highest mineral concentration and also tastes bland. Many seaweeds taste fishy and are offensive to vegetarians.

Beet Root and Spinach Leaf
Beets and Spinach are some of the richest, most assimilable sources of organic iron. Beets, being a root vegetable and growing underground, change inorganic raw elements into plant minerals, that are usable by us. Spinach is a rich source of calcium, iron and vitamin K. Both of these plants are famous for their blood building ability.

Rose Hips, Orange and Lemon Peels
Revered as the best sources of vitamin C, these fruits are also a balanced C-complex source. They contain bioflavinoids, rutin, vespertine, calcium and all the trace elements that are known to be necessary to assimilate vitamin C. The citrus peels are also one of the highest sources of pectin which has been proven to remove heavy metals (mercury, lead, etc.) from the body, even remove radioactive contamination like strontium 90.

NON-Active Saccharomyces cerevisiae Nutritional Yeast
This yeast is grown on beets and pure molasses. It is the second highest source of complete protein in nature (50%), and the richest source of B Vitamins. It is also a rich source of iron and many other minerals. The yeast we chose is heated high enough to absolutely destroy any yeast activity, but not high enough to lessen the B Vitamin content. It is totally NON active and safe for patients with candida albicans or on yeast free diets.

Three examples of my daily food totals from my excel food journal worksheet. They are very typical of what I eat on a weekly basis. Be warned. I'm in the middle of a serious chocolate craving this month.

Food for 1/6/2003
Breakfast – the same every day
Schulze Superfood vitamin shake
1 cup apple juice - 120 calories
1 banana - 100 calories
2 tbs superfood mix – 0 calories
2 cups of coffee w/milk&sugar – 25 calories

Lunch
2 cups of veggie soup – 300 calories
1 apple – 90 calories
5 ak-mak crackers – 116 calories

Snacks
1 slice pugliese bread – 40 calories
1 cup trader joes cheese crunchies – 140 calories

Dinner
french fries – 120 calories
1 veggie corn dog – 150 calories
1 tbs ketchup – 40 calories
1 see’s candy chocolate balls – 40 calories
1 freshly baked choco chip cookie – 110 calories

Beverages
6-8 cups of alkaline water - 0 calories
1-3 cups of german/italian mineral water with a slice of lemon - 0 calories
Total – 1391 calories
****************************
Food for 1/9/2003
Breakfast – the same every day
Schulze Superfood vitamin shake
1 cup apple juice - 120 calories
1 banana - 100 calories
2 tbs superfood mix – 0 calories
2 cups of coffee w/milk&sugar – 25 calories

Lunch
2 cups of veggie soup – 280 calories
1 pear – 100 calories
3 wasa sesame crackers – 150 calories

Dinner
Salad: 1/3 lb of baby organic greens, 1/3 avocado, handful of sunflower seeds, 4 radishes, 2 small organic baby carrots, handful of homemade croutons, and homemade olive oil (1 tbs) & vinegar dressing – 325 calories
2 see’s candy chocolate balls – 80 calories
2 freshly baked choco chip cookies – 220 calories

Beverages
6-8 cups of alkaline water - 0 calories
1-3 cups of diet pepsi - 0 calories
Total - 1400 calories
******************************
Food for 1/15/2003
Breakfast – the same every day
Schulze Superfood vitamin shake
1 cup apple juice - 120 calories
1 banana - 100 calories
2 tbs superfood mix – 0 calories
2 cups of coffee w/milk&sugar – 25 calories

Lunch
2 cups of veggie soup – 180 calories
1 orange – 90 calories
4 wasa sesame crackers – 200 calories

Dinner
1 grilled soy cheese sandwich with 1 tbs butter – 220 calories
2 see’s candy chocolate balls – 80 calories
2 freshly baked choco chip cookes – 220 calories

snacks
1/2 cup trader joes cheese crunchies – 70 calories
1/8 c almonds – 85 calories

Beverages
6-8 cups of alkaline water - 0 calories
1-3 cups of diet pepsi - 0 calories
Total – 1390 calories

A friend is visiting my home island Kauai. I'm very jealous, but I'm also reminiscing about my beach bunny roots, when the five biggest concerns in my youth were:

1) how to not get tan lines - tan lines are evil, they still are!
2) how to get every single hair off my body - body hair is very bad for tanning - you get polkadotted skin.
3) the best time to tan for maximum sun exposure without burning.
4) boys, boys, boys.
5) what bikini to wear under my clothes to school, just in case I got invited to the beach.

Finally, a good decision is made by a San Francisco appeals court, State appellate court overturns ruling in Haygood case.

Talk about a good case for the abuse of affirmative action policies. The woman made a mess out of San Francisco elections and ran up the election budget, and then said she was fired because of race. I don't think so. Can you spell "incompetence"?

Check this wild article from CNN.com about trading on Saddam's futures, A contract on Saddam.

Here's the trading screen on Saddam's future, Tradesports.com.

A great article from The Mercury News on the anti-war protests tomorrow, Anti-war movement taking shape.

On A.N.S.W.E.R., the sponsors of the protests, "Many of A.N.S.W.E.R.'s lead organizers have close ties to the International Action Center, formed by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, and to the Workers World Party (WWP), a socialist sect whose politics often are criticized as too left, too doctrinaire, even for Bay Area liberals. Some of the WWP's more controversial positions are its support for the governments of Iraq and North Korea; its backing of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic; its claims that reports of Serbian atrocities against Muslims and Croats were overblown; and its defense as recently as 2000 of the Chinese government's deadly crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989."

On the A.N.S.W.E.R.'s anti-israeli stance, "One of the biggest divides is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While more moderate anti-war groups like the ``Win Without War'' coalition have pointedly skirted the contentious issue so as not to alienate mainstream Americans, the World Workers Party, the International Action Center and now A.N.S.W.E.R. are staunchly pro-Palestinian.

``"In the anti-war movement it's some kind of taboo thing to bring up Palestinians,'' said Richard Becker, a member of A.N.S.W.E.R.'s steering committee and a longtime member of the WWP. "But if the United States is arming Israel, that's a war. Some view Israel as a shining example of democracy in the Middle East, and they are worried that liberals will withdraw support from the anti-war movement if we criticize Israel. But we think it's possible to have big, mass actions and support the Palestinian cause at the same time."``

I listened to the Ronn Owens radio show this morning and he asked the following question, regading tomorrows anti-war protest in downtown San Francisco:

If war is not the asnwer in how to deal with Saddam Hussein and Iraq, then what is?

Owens said he hasn't seen the supporters of the anti-war protest realistically answer this question, and I haven't either. I do not want my country to engage in any war, and I certainly wasn't a supporter of the first gulf war, but until I see someone, anyone answer the question of how we're supposed to deal with Iraq with anything other than war, than I will not support the anti-war protests.

Protesting is good. Protesting is great for our country, but I wish the people who organize these protests would provide alternative answers and courses of action to whatever they're protesting. It is irresponsible and immature to protest without an alternative realistic course of action. The world of 2003, the new millenium is much too complicated to simply say no, to say I don't like what you're doing, and then not offer a better and realistic way to do things.

What's ironic to me, is the anti-war protestors aren't even talking about the situation with North Korea, which I think is much more explosive than the Iraq situation. Is it okay for the US to go to war with North Korea, but not okay to war with Iraq? North Korea has nuclear plants, they backed out of the nuclear proliferation treaty, and they've threatened the US with war? But are their anti-war protests going on about war with North Korea? NO! What gives with that?

It seems logical, doesn't it, that if you are anti-war, you should be against war with any country and not just some countries.

Christopher Hitchens has a new piece for the UK Mirror on Iraq and the UN weapons inspectors, Grim Truth About to Emerge in Iraq. Hitchens is my favorite grouchy Brittish intellectual. I love it when he and Chris Matthews go at it on Hard Ball.

All the astrologists are saying that we've been going through a Mercury retrograde since the beginning of the year. A Mercury retrograde brings back people and issues from your past into your present life. So of course this week, I get contacted by two of my ex's.

1. The ex-husband sends me a newspaper clipping of himself interviewed in his local paper. The ex-hubbie, who I know will one day end up in Fortune Magazine, Time or some other glossly weekly rag, as a successful internet entrepreneur. He's about to hire his first employee for his internet shop. The ex-hubbymeister was such a slacker boy, that it's surprising he's the head of his own successful business. He even told me his business plan, and I was shocked by how well thought out it was.

I loved what he told the reporter about himself: "graduated from an elite jesuit high school". He went to Bellarmine in San Jose. But, he forgot to mention that he went to UC Santa Barbara, or UC Isla Vista as he called it, for a year, then transferred up to Cal Berkeley. At Cal Berkeley, he was accepted into the School of Music, he's got an incredible voice and perfect pitch to boot, and was double majoring in music and philosophy, before dropping out a semester before he graduated.

2. The lying and cheating ex-boyfriend from 1995 called me to invite me out to some event he was emceeing, and wouldn't it great if we could see each other. Here's a guy who told me on the corner of Divisadero and Geary one night that "he thought I was the one, but he couldn't give up his bachelor ways", and I'm like, "whatever".

I am so mean to him, and he keeps calling. He called me two years after we broke up and said to me, "I've been thinking about you every day since we broke up", and I replied, "Really? I haven't thought about you at all". Isn't that so mean? But still, the freak of nature calls. Like I'm going to forget the reason we broke up in the first place was because he couldn't keep his johnson in line. He cheated on me, and we were just dating. Memo to ex-boyfriend; if you can't be faithful while dating, you're probably not going to be faithful in a longer term relationship and definitely not in marriage. I think he calls because he's a Taurus, he's stubborn and he won't let go, and I'm like "whatever".

From the 49er management press conference - head coach Steve Mariucci expressed a desire to become vice president of operations for the 49ers, and management said no and then they parted ways. 49er General manager Terry Donahue mentions that owner Dr. John York said there were philosophical differences in the way he and Mariucci wanted the operation run. Interesting. Hey they let George Sieffert go, and he had most winning percentage of any head football coach at the time.

Someone on ESPN once said of the SF Bay Area, "the pressure cooker that is San Francisco Bay Area sports". I guess ESPN was right.

Rumors, rumors, rumors ... ESPN is reporting that 49ers release Mariucci from final year of contract. On the radio, they're reporting that the 49ers management team is having a press conference at noon. God ... shocking ... was Skip Bayless right?

I made it to gym tonight. I'd forgotten how the gym is full of beefy, hunky, beautiful yummy boys. Men with lovely muscled backs, arms, torsos and legs who make me think about what it would be like to run my tongue all over them or at least their well muscled body part. Mouth watering bickie boys, bickielicious sweaty beings, who sometimes smile at me. Do they think I'm cute? Or are they marveling at my fat rolls? Does it matter? Aren't we all just eye candy for each other at the gym?

Yeah! Joe Millionaire rocks and won # 1 ratings for the second week in a row. I skipped my workout because I was afraid I would miss this fantastic show. What's actually more fun than watching the show, although that's a blast too, is listening to people criticize the show and bemoaning the demise of american culture. The reality shows like Joe Millionaire came from the BBC, or says the SF Chron's TV columnist, BBC honcho smirks at U.S. copycat shows.

It's the Brit's fault!!! They started it, and the american TV networks are just copying. Get it right people, and blame the Brits.

I suppose I should comment on President Bush's latest tax cut proposal. I'm against it for the following reasons:

1) a lowered tax revenue due to a faltering stock market and ecomony. Those so called budget surpluses were estimates based on a continuing strong economy.
2) it doesn't address the Alternative Minimum Tax, which affects more and more people every year.
3) if the US is fighting a war on terrorism, doesn't it take money to fight this war? What about increasing spending for the new Homeland Security Department?
4) I read somewhere that the proposed war on Iraq is estimated at costing $4 billion. I know the Iraq war plan includes seizing the Iraqi oil fields to help pay for the war, but the logistics of the seizure don't make sense. Even if we could seize the oil fields, how do we pay for the war till then?
5) don't we need money to pay for a possible war with North Korea?
6) The UK Telegraph is reporting that America is veering towards the biggest hole ever in its government finances as the cost of tax cuts and increased military spending threaten to unsettle the world's largest economy.

Need I say more? It's just like budgeting at home. More money going out than coming in makes for a bad financial situation at home and for our federal government.

I love making my own croutons for salads. They taste so much better than the stuff you can buy in the store. I feel so Martha Stewartie when I do this.

I take my favorite bread, Grace Baking Pugliese (italian country bread), and let it sit around till it's hard. Then I cut bread up into cubes, pour two tablespoons of light olive oil and lots of this seasoning called Garlic & Herbs. The seasoning is so tasty, you don't even need salt. Then I toss the bread cubes in the oil and seasoning, and then roast them till they're crunchy. YUMMY!

I got the gist of the recipe from this woman I used to work with, when I first moved here, who eventually started her own catering business. She gave me such a great recipe!

I'm taking advantage of San Francisco's Dining About Town 2003, and have reservations at Hawthorne Lane, Bacar and the Pacific Restaurant at the Pan Pacific Hotel. I've always wanted to check out the Pan Pacific Hotel, so this is my excuse.

On Saturday I had lunch at Postrio, which was great. The menu lunch prices weren't that bad, and I'll probably eat there again when I'm downtown shopping.

I'm trying to decide if I want to spend more money and try Boulevard, and go back to Farralon. Farralon is a great restaurant; beautifully decorated and heavenly food. I want to try restaurants I've never been to, and although I've been to Farralon before, I just love this restaurant.

The money that's spent goes to Meals on Wheels, a service that delivers meals to homebound elderly people. It's a fun way to donate money to charity as well as try new restaurants for budget prices.

On Saturday, there was an event at Union Square Park to kick off Dine About Town 2003. I heard something about it on the radio, but forgot and made reservations to eat at Postrio. For $10, you could go into a tent and sample food from all the participating restaurants as well as meet the chefs. I was bummed out, but the lines were really long to get in so that made me feel better about not going.

For entertainment, they had a band made up of restaurant people including Joey Altman from the Food Network. Altman isn't a bad guitar player! He's also much better looking in person, than he is on TV. Too bad that accent of his annoys me to no end.

A scary article from the New York Times via Yahoo on the catholic priest sex abuse problem, Trail of Pain in Church Crisis Leads to Nearly Every Diocese.

Points I found interesting and horrifying at the same time:

¶The data show that priests secretly violated vulnerable youth long before the first victims sued the church and went public in 1984 in Louisiana. Some incidents date from the 1930's and 1940's.

"This has been going on for decades, probably centuries," said Richard K. O'Connor, a former Dominican priest who says he was one of 10 boys sexually assaulted by three priests in a South Bronx parish in 1940, when he was 10. "It's just that all of a sudden, they got caught."

¶Half of the priests in the database were accused of molesting more than one minor, and 16 percent are suspected of having had five or more victims.

¶Eighty percent of the priests were accused of molesting boys. The percentage is nearly the opposite for laypeople accused of abuse; their victims are mostly girls.

¶While the majority of the priests were accused of molesting teenagers only, 43 percent were accused of molesting children 12 and younger. Experts in sexual disorders say the likeliest repeat offenders are those who abuse prepubescent children and boys.

¶The survey also shows how pervasive the abuse has been. Using information from court records, news reports, church documents and interviews, the survey found accusations of abuses in all but 16 of the 177 Latin Rite dioceses in the United States.

¶The church is still covering up cases. Despite the pressure on bishops over the last year to reveal the extent of the abuse, some refused to release the number of accusations or the names of the accused priests.

One question keeps echoing through my head - what if they didn't get caught ... how long would the catholic church have allowed this go on if no one had said anything?

Power is back on, and now I'm watching this interesting movie called "Enemy of the State". I'm going to have to rent it to see the beginning.

Power Outage

There's a power outage in my neighbourhood. It happened just as I watching the Eagles/Falcons game. I'm sure hardcore football enthusiasts not to mention bars are upset by the lack of power.

I'm listening to the news, and surfing the net on my baby laptop. The phone lines are still working, and I just put some batteries in my portable cd player in case I want to listen to music. The radio news is reporting that PG&E has no idea how long the outage will last or why it happened.

I'm very well prepared for emergencies, so I'm okay. This is a good test of my preps, but what an inconvenience. I've been thinking of buying a battery operated TV for emergencies, and now I think I will.

So on a wild whim, I went back to Sears to try on a Lands' End size pants. And they FIT!!! The waist is snug, but that's okay because on the Lands' End website you can buy pants with stretchy waist. I like buying pants from Lands' End because they have stretchy waist pants, and they'll hem your pants to any length. I can buy pants to fit my bum, but then the waist doesn't fit or it's too long and usually both. You can now even order jeans and chinos fit to measure your body exactly on the Lands' End website, if you have serious problems with finding pants that fit.

So I'm my fantasy size 8, which I've always wanted to be for such a long time and I'm not even at my goal weight yet. I think Lands' End sizes run big so I'm probably still a size 10 in other brands, but who cares. I'm my fantasy size 8. What a trip! There was a woman on Craig's List who wrote a post about how much easier it is to navigate the world of men and dating in a size 8 butt, as oppposed to a size 16 butt which is what I used to be. I think I copied it, so If I find I'll post it. It was a good writeup.

The whole thing new size thing is blowing my mind because at my thinnest in college, I was a size 4/6. My butt measurement is one inch away from my butt measurement in high school, which is really cool.

I was sitting at the mall eating my veggie delite subway sandwhich, my heavenly baked Frito Lay Dorito nacho cheese chips (one bag is 170 calories), and drinking diet pepsi and thinking to myself, is working out and eating low calorie for the rest of my life worth a fantasy size 8 butt and miraculous maybe size 4/6 butt. And my answer was "HELL YEAH!".

Now if I could only just get that washboard abs look I've always wanted, but have never had.

Movies watched since June 2002 when I started keeping track:
13 Conversations about one thing
61*
A walk to remember
Amelie
Blade
Blue Crush
Changing lanes
Clerks
Die Another Day - James Bond 007
Dogtown & Zboys
Donnie Darko
Dragonfly
For the love of the game
From Hell
Gone with the wind
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Hedwig & the angry inch
High Fidelity
Hollywood ending
Kpax
Lagaan
Lantana
Life is Beautiful
Merci pour le chocalat
Minority Report
Monsters inc
Mulholland Drive
Oceans 11
Panic Room
Pay it forward
Pollock
Reign of Fire
Rivers & Tides- andrew goldsworthy
Serendipity
Signs
Stars Wars: Attack of the clones
The Big Lebowski
The Cat's Meow
The fast & the furious
The legend of bagger vance
The Man who wasn't there
The mothman prophecy
The Red Violin
The Ring
The Rookie
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Spanish Prisoner
The Tailor of Panama
The time machine
The virgin suicides
Triple X
What women want
Wonderboys

Books Read in 2002:
A room with a view - EM Forester
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Confederates in the attic - Tony Horwitz
Disappearing Acts - Terry McMillan
Five quarters of the orange - Joanne Harris
God and the evolving universe - James Redfield et al
How to study the bible for yourself - Tim LaHaye
Harry Potter & the prisoner of azbakan - JK Rowling
John Henry Days - Colson Whitehead
Jurasic Park - Michael Crichton
Killing time - Caleb Carr
Making a literary life - Carolyn See
Movies in the mind, how to write a short story - Colleen Mariah Rae
Screenwriting - Richard Walter
Sin and Syntax - Constance Hale
The age of innocence - Edith Wharton
The dynamic laws of prosperity - Catherine Ponder
The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz
The house of the sleeping beauties & other stories - Yasunari Kawabata
The house on mango street - Sandra Cisneros
The jungle book - Rudyard Kiplinq
The right to write - Julia Cameron
Things fall apart - Chinua Achebe
Watermark - Joseph Brodsky
When god writes your love story - Eric & Leslie Ludy
Who moved my cheese - Spencer Johnson
Woe is I, a book on grammar - Patricia T O'Connor
Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks
Your Infinite Power to be Rich - Joseph Murphy

Check this this link out, Top SF Restaurants offering $29.95 dinners & $19.95 lunch. Such a deal! Eleven of the restaurants are on The SF Chronicle's top 100 restaurants for 2002. It's a froggie price fixed 3-course menu, but $30 for a dinner at a fancy and usually very expensive restaurant in San Francisco is quite a bargain.

Those Ariana Huffington SUV and terrorism ads are very funny. I almost bought a hybrid car in 2000 when I needed to buy a new car, but I was wary. The Honda Insight I was told, needs to be plugged into a socket to get power and I don't have a garage so the car didn't make any sense for me. The Toyota Prius looked okay, but you can't get it with a sunroof, and I have to have a sunroof on my car. A sunroof is so essential to my driving life, since I don't like wind blowing on my face.

My Golf is an automatic and it has 2.0 litre engine (a big engine), so the gas mileage is so-so. I get 22-24 mpg for city driving, which is what I mostly drive, and about 30+ for freeway driving. I went down to San Luis Obispo from San Francisco one weekend, and made it there driving on 101 on half a tank of gas one way. The mileage when I drive long distances in my car is amazing! It's city driving that sucks. If a drove a stick, I'd probably have better gas mileage.

Ships that pass in the night and speak each other in passing; / Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness; / So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another, / Only a look and a voice; then darkness again and a silence. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet (1807-1882)

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The ratings for "Joe Millionaire" are out, and it was an incredible success. The beginning was boring, but I loved it. I totally loved it! I love the catiness of the women; I love the insecurity of the I think incredibly unattractive cro-magnon bachelor man, and I love the corny as all heck butler. This is so much interesting than that frothy and idiotic Sex and the City. Real life is so much more interesting than fiction.

I heard an interview with Katy, one of the women who was rejected on the first night, and she said that all the women received an all expenses paid vacation in Paris for a month, and it was totally worth it for the free trip. I mean, I think I'd get on the show for a free one month trip to Paris, but I've also been fantasizing on going on "Love Connection" for years. Remember that old TV dating show?

I'm writing a novel on women's power games, and this show is like a bonanza of research material for me for how competitive women really are and how they behave. I got a big taste of bitchy, nasty competitiveness women at my last job, but that was on the career business level. I think how women play high stakes power games in corporations is similar to how they play power games with men, and it will be interesting to see if I'm right. People say men are nasty power game players, and they're right, but women aren't that far behind. Men at least don't seem to take the business stuff personally, whereas the women I've had to deal with were totally scary vicioius people. I never felt fear going up against a man in a business meeting, but I've learned to become very wary of women, especially women VPs or women who would kill to be VPs. And believe me, they would literally kill to be VPs.

Stats for 2002 from my Palm, which I bought in June 2002.

I read 29 books in 2002. I decided not to count all the movie scripts I read in 2002, even though they're like books and I had to analyze them for people. I definitely need to read more books in 2003. I'm such a bad bunny girl!

I saw 52 movies, rented or in the theatre and not counting TV, since June 2002. That seems like a lot of movies to me, but I know there are people out there who see way more movies than me.

I didn't keep track of theatre plays, but I probably saw at least a 12-15 productions in 2002. This is normal for me.

I saw one ballet, two operas, one dance festival, and one symphony performance in 2002. I definitely need to see more opera and ballet productions, more dance festivals and go to symphony more. I saw a music concert while in West Virginia, but I didn't count it.

I took five seminars and one class in 2002. It was a good year for personal education.

I flew to LA to see the Andy Warhol exhibit, which was tres cool!

You know you're a big city dweller when part of your New Year's chores includes printing out and posting where you can see it 1) the Parking Meter Holiday Enforcement Schedule and 2) the Street Cleaning Holiday Enforcement Schedule.

A great new song heard on the radio today - "Scorpio Rising" by Death in Vegas featuring Liam Gallagher on vocals from Oasis.