Monday workout

- 15x Power Jumps
- 15x Push-ups with feet jumping forward & then back
- 15x Inverted Rows
- 15x Step ups (onto bench) and jump on each side

Repeated x2

- 15x on the sit-up bench, lean back, bring straight arms to head, circle arms down to body & sit up

Birthday/Holiday dinner

On Sunday we went to my parents' house for dinner.  It was my parents' anniversary and we were celebrating my mom's birthday as well as the holiday season.

I made a prime rib roast, brussels sprouts with bacon, and caramelized corn with mint.  I also brought the snickerdoodle cookies I made earlier last week.  Lawrence made potatoes au gratin that my brother and aunt totally scarfed down.  My brother made garlic mashed potatoes, and my mom made a tomato ox-tail soup.  The food was all well received, thankfully.  It's not the type of fare they usually eat.

I totally forgot to get my mom a birthday present.  :(  I also did not get any of them Christmas presents.  I was going to bring snowflakes.  I crocheted lace snowflakes as ornaments for my coworkers.  I was going to give my parents a few bigger ones but I hadn't starched/blocked any of them yet and I forgot I won't be seeing them again until after Christmas since they're going to Vegas.  I guess everyone is getting belated gifts from me.

Doh, I also forgot to bring Melody a snowflake.  I probably need to make some more for my cousins too.  I still have another week and a half for those.

We still don't have a Christmas tree yet.  I've mentally given up on the whole idea just so I won't be disappointed.  Every time we plan to go get a tree...something comes up and we don't have time, we're too lazy/tired, or we're not in the mood anymore.  I feel like I should have decorated more to make up for it, but I had been waiting for a tree to really start decorating.  We put up lights around the apartment and that's about it.

At my division's holiday party, I won the centerpiece (now that I think about it, I won it last year too).  It was actually a really nice flower arrangement in a squarish vase.

The holidays seemed to have really snuck up on me this year.  I just barely planned for gifts in time and only made non-personalized items that I could crank out fairly quickly.  I just barely starched them with corn starch last night, AND I had a 9am meeting this morning I had to be on time for.

Monday's workout

Floor exercises, all the way across:

- 2 lunges forward, 1 lunge back; 2 lunges back, 1 lunge forward

- forward inchworm push-ups; backward inchworm push-ups
- ** At this point, my vision was dotted and my ears got plugged so I lay down for a quick rest.  I don't know why as I wasn't gasping for breath or feeling nauseous.  I did feel a little cold as if the blood was rushing away from my head (which Lawrence says could have caused the change in vision).  I also noticed as I was doing the first 2 exercises that I didn't stop in the middle as often as I normally would have, particularly for the inchworms as my upper body gets tired from those quickly.
- crab walk forward; crab walk backward
- forward broad jumps; backward broad jumps
- forward sprint; backward sprint (x5 rounds)
- side steps forward; side steps back (x5 rounds)

Ab exercises:
- Holding a 5lb. weight in each hand with arms straight up, lean weights to the right and then to the left.
- On a tilted sit-up bench: come up a little, go back down, come up halfway, go back down, then come up all the way.

Movies

Just watched Avatar in IMAX 3D at Universal Citywalk.  I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.  It's something I could see myself really getting into if they came out with more stories.  It gave me the same feeling I got from the fantasy & sci-fi I read in high school, like Anne McCaffrey's stuff.  And for some reason it also reminded me of the line for Star Tours at Disneyland.

After taking a quick perusal through the trailers on Apple, these are the movies that look interesting: Sherlock Holmes movie.  Other interesting ones coming up: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Iron Man 2, Prince of Persia - Sands of Time, Robin Hood, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, The Lightning Thief (doesn't look so bad for a young adult-targeting film...or maybe I just reallly have a thing for anything in the fantasy genre).

Some movies that are already out I probably want to watch...Up in the Air, Burn After Reading (yeah, that came out a while ago), and Inglourious Bastards.

Racist terms

Is it better to (1) identify racist terms and maintain their negative connotations by denouncing their use or (2) attempt to reclaim racist terms by widely using them in ways that connote positivity?

Monday's workout

So Monday was better than last Monday.  I didn't feel so nauseous afterward, but it was still pretty tough.  It was heavy on the cardio this week, and Melody said she wanted to focus more on cardio stuff.

- 10x - squat, touch the ground, jump to the right - repeat x4, jumping back, left, and then forward to make a square - OMG this was killer on my thighs.
- 10x - shoulder push-ups
- 1 min each side - rows using a resistance band tied around a pole, as many possible, as quickly as possible
- Repeat those 3 twice
- 15x - rollouts on the wheel

My thighs are SO SORE.

Blech

:( No workout last night.  I ended up staying late at work and I was too tired to try to rush to make it.  I didn't want to bother Lawrence by asking him to pick me up & drop me off at the gym.  I had also planned to use the extra time to get some cleaning up done.

Well, when I did get home, Lawrence cooked dinner.  He cooked up the 1.3lbs of shrimp we bought into 2 Chinese dishes - ketchup chili shrimp and shrimp with eggs.  I put rice in the cooker and he made one more dish - steamed ground pork.  We sat down at the dining table to eat dinner together, awwww.  We then ran the three new WoW instances (3.3 patch was this week).

Blech, that's when things went downhill.  I got tired pretty quick after that - it was about 10pm.  Granted, I've been pretty tired at night and have gone to sleep early this entire week.  However, I ended up plopping into bed while waiting for Lawrence to finish chatting with one of our guildies.  Maybe I was feeling crabby or something but I didn't bug him about cleaning up.  Apparently he was confused that I plopped into bed and was waiting for me to start cleaning so he could join me.

We discussed this at length when I woke up in the middle of the night at 3am because all the lights were on and he was making (what seemed like) a ruckus in the kitchen.  I didn't fall back asleep until 4-4:30am.  I woke up tired and with bags under my eyes at 8am.

And still - cleaning didn't get done.  We realized again how different our philosophies are.  Yet again, I feel like I do things wrong because he is all about the doing, which gets stuff done, and I'm about the planning, which gets stuff done efficiently (when or if it ever actually gets done).

And STILL we haven't cleaned.  I can't decorate.  We can't get a tree yet.  Tonight perhaps?

Weird things you can find at a Chinese bakery

My newest find:
Mochi, red bean paste, pork sung (dried, shredded, cooked pork), and salty duck egg yolks inside a flaky pastry topped with sesame seeds.  This must be the weirdest thing I've seen yet.  Strangely, it works for me because I like the mixture of sweet & salty.

Other delicious items you can find:
Potato salad buns - buns with a slit down the middle that are filled with potato salad.

Cream buns - Buns with a slit down the middle filled with a rich, buttery cream topping.

Hot dog buns - Buns with either a whole hot dog baked in (ends peeking out) or slices of hot dog baked in but only slightly covered by the bun.

Ham & cheese buns - Buns baked with slices of ham and cheese completely inside the bun.

Taro bread - Loaves of bread baked with taro paste swirled into the dough.

Coconut raisin bread - Bread baked with raisins and sweetened shredded coconut flakes.

Monday's workout

- Holding a 15lb weight in one hand, lunge forward & touch weight to ground, step back, left weight to shoulder and push up.
- Inchworms, one-legged.  After the push-up, raise one arm up, twisting the torso while putting weight on the other arm; repeat for the other side.
- In succession: 12 squats, 12 jumping squats, 12 lunges, 12 jumping lunges.
- Ab exercises: lying on a mat, press knees & upper body together (I actually had to put my hands down for support on this one); alternate lifting/lower legs without letting them touch the ground.

There may have been more, but I don't remember.  I ended up nauseous and cold for the next half hour.  I think it was a combination of the exertion with an infection I was recovering from as well as the complete lack of physical exertion for the previous week.

Workout

It was good to start exercising again after being bogged down by so much Thanksgiving food all last week.

- 15x - With a 10lb dumbbell in each hand, simultaneously lift one straight up while bending knees to touch the other one to the ground, then alternate.
- 15x - With those same dumbbells, jump feet into push-up position, do a push-up, jump feet forward and stand up holding the dumbbells; repeat.
- 15x - Lunges with the forward foot on one of those tiny BOSU balls.
- 15x - Squats with each foot on a tiny BOSU ball.
- 15x - Lastly - stepping side to side, landing on one foot and bringing the other foot behind.

All of this repeated 2x.

Etsy for Foodies

Becky, I'm glad I keep up with your Twitters.  I hadn't heard of this site before, but Foodzie looks very interesting, especially since right now I'm in more of a food/cooking phase than a crafting phase.  It looks like Etsy for food producers.  You can search for sellers in your local area and they value sustainability, using recyclable materials, making their foods from local farms, using organic ingredients, etc.

Workout

Last night~

x30 2-handed swings with the 12kg kettlebell
x20 1-handed swings on each side
x15 a cable cross-body exercise, with each arm, once with the arm near the weights and once with the arm far from the weights as they cause you to use different arm muscles
x15 jump feet back, push-up, jump feet forward, jump up, repeat, holding onto two small 9lb weights (I think?).

Moderation

I made garlic cheese biscuits on Saturday.  They were absolutely delicious.  I tried not to, but I scarfed down a few.  This was a couple hours before we went out for Korean BBQ, and I just couldn't help myself.  :O  I had to finish off the last bite of biscuit before we stepped out the door.

Paula Deen's Garlic Cheese Biscuits

Cooking [almost] every night?

I'm on a cooking roll!  I think what really kick started it all was when I subscribed to several cooking blogs.  They'd have really awesome sounding recipes, often using foods I never considered cooking before.  Before long it turned into a culinary adventure!  :)  I can't even keep up with tracking all of it here.  These are a few recipes I made lately that I ended up really liking:


smittenkitchen: moroccan-spiced spaghetti squash

The Wednesday Chef: carmelized corn with fresh mint

Just Hungry: new potatoes with butter and soy sauce

Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream

Monday workout

Circuit of 3 exercises, repeated 3 times:

15x Circular push-ups on the Smith machine bar in each direction.
15x Circular inverted rows on the Smith machine bar in each direction.
15x "Asterisk lunges" in each direction holding two 15lb dumbbells (lunge forward and touch dumbbells to ground, lunge to the side with the same leg bent and touch dumbbells to the ground, lunge backward with the same leg and touch dumbbells to the gound)

Rye Bread

I baked some rye bread last night.  This was with dough I had prepared nearly 2 weeks ago.  I'll probably bake the rest of it today as 2 weeks is the maximum they say you should store it.

The first thing I noticed was that the dough was very wet and sticky.  I also wasn't paying that much attention to the instructions so I forgot to dust the top of the ball of dough with flour before I started stretching the surface dough.  I also put it directly onto my peel (aka bamboo cutting board) with what was apparently not enough flour or cornmeal.  I should have put it on the counter first, making sure to throughly flour the sticky outside, then put a ton of cornmeal on the peel, and finally only put the dough on the peel when I was sufficiently ready.

Well, that wasn't the end of it there.  Only after I made cuts in the top of the dough did I realize it was sticking to the peel.  I slid a thin spatula under the dough, trying to cram more cornmeal there as I went.  Given that the dough was already rather formless and soft, it just started to deform more and more.  Plus, the cuts on top were spreading and starting to become part of the outer skin.  Finally I was able to slide it easily - and in the oven it went.

The fun didn't stop there - no...I had my cup of hot water ready to pour into the heated baking pan sitting in the oven.  For some reason I didn't pull the rack out, instead I thought it would be perfectly fine to pour the water into the pan through the upper rack (the one that the stone & dough were sitting on).  In my haste, I missed and ended up pouring hot water on the stone and the dough.  Uarahghggh. I tried to brush it off with my oven mitts, but it was hot in there.  The water was steaming from the heat of the stone, so I thought screw it and closed the oven door.  The water did evaporate pretty quickly, which was good.  I left the bread in for about...25 minutes I think.  The internal temperature was 205F when I took it out.

Now for the bread itself - it's got a nice brown crust.  The part where it split was not the place where I cut it.  Because of all the smooshing around, I turned out this weird shape.  The cornmeal on the bottom gets rather hard and crispy - maybe I should go for a finer ground cornmeal next time.  The inside is cooked through (yay!).  There are a few large holes, but the crumb is mostly small holes.  It tastes kind of like rye bread, but the flavor is not very heavy.  I didn't add any caraway seeds, which might make a huge difference.  Lawrence doesn't actually like caraway seeds.  Next time I'd like to try adding molassses for a dark, or maybe even marbled rye bread.

I've never eaten my bread toasted.  I tried putting some butter on it, but the bread needs to be warm for that to work (to melt the butter and all).  In the end, I go back to dipping slices of the bread in olive oil sprinkled with freshly ground sea salt and black pepper - YUM!

Hydroponics - continued.

Tonight I bought a better gallon-sized water bottle for the reservoir.  The bottom is mostly flat.  We stuck the tubes and the bottles in, and were briefly disappointed when we realized it wasn't reaching the top of the bottles.  I asked Lawrence if the pump was turned up all the way - it wasn't.  So, we turned it up and WOAH, it pumped better than it did yesterday.  The most influential factor may have been the higher water level in this bottle.  We speculate it may produce more water pressure, letting the water rise more.

In any case, it turned out perfect.  We used some more zip ties to hold the water bottles to the dowel/air tube.  I also planted my seeds in the starter cubes.  Our next step is to wait for them to germinate, sprout leaves, and grow roots.  As soon as that happens we can transfer them to the water bottles!  :D

Here's the entire setup:

Here are a few close-up shots (ok, so they're not THAT exciting...but I'M excited!):

Garden materials bought

Less than $30 for a single vertical system?  Maybe if I shopped around for the best deals and already had half the initial supplies, or was able to get some of the materials in smaller quantities.

Ralphs
3x - 1.5L bottles of Fiji water = $2.35 x 3 = $7.05
1x - 1G bottle of Arrowhead water = $1.10

Dick's Sporting Goods
1x - 3-pack of Inflation needles  = $2.73 (+tax)

Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH)
1x - 7/8"x48" circular poplar dowel = $3.47 (+tax)
3x - packets of seeds (chives, cilantro, thyme) =  $1.89 x 3 = $5.67
1x - utility knife = $2.40 (+tax)
1x - 1/2" x 260" pack of plumber's tape = $1.20 (+tax)
5' - 3/8" vinyl tube = $0.39 x 5  = $2.14 (+tax)
1' - 1/4" vinyl tube = $0.32 (+tax)

BetterGrowHydro
1x - Eco Air 2 pump = $14.87 (+tax)
6x - Rockwool Cube = $0.12 x 6 = $0.79 (+tax)
3x - 3" Round net pot = $0.42 x 3 = $1.38 (+tax)
6' - Airline tubing = $0.25 x 6 = $1.65 (+tax)
1x - 1qt Pure Blend Pro Grow = $19.54 (+tax)
1x - 1qt Pure Blend Pro Bloom = $19.54 (+tax)
1x - 10L Hydroton Rocks = $9.55 (+tax)

Total Cost so far: $93.40

However, I'm going to have a lot leftover of the hydroton rocks, plumber's tape, and seeds.  The inflation needles also came with an extra 3rd needle.  If I made two more units, it would probably be a lot more cost effective.  The nutrients cost a lot more than I expected.  I could probably also get away with a thinner dowel.

DIY Window Farm

The resources out there are rather spotty.  I want to document this process in written & video form, perhaps coming up with a better instructional manual as well.  Being completely new to the hydroponics scene, the details are a little confusing and I could imagine that being a hindrance to others as well.

Workout & Food

Sunday was Melody's Kettlebells 102 workshop.  It involved more complex kettlebell exercises than the 101 workshop.  We did cleans, squats, presses, snatches, windmills, and push-ups.  We also learned a few variations on each and some two-kettlebell versions.  I did a double kettlebell snatch on the 8kg bells.  :)

Yesterday night's workout, just 3 exercises repeated twice:

x15 - One-legged inchworms
x15 each side - Lunge, touch ground with 10lb dumbbells, step back, lift dumbbells to shoulders and press
x15 each side - Renegade rows (hands on dumbbells in push-up position but with feet wider apart, lift one dumbbell to armpit, put it back down and lift the other to armpit).  I was technically supposed to do a push-up between each row, but I guess that was a little too much. :(

Ended with 15x - 1kg medicine ball crunches where I lift and lower my legs and hands, alternating passing the ball and extending the limbs.


Food
So I was good last week, and this week I got really lazy again.  I didn't cook over the weekend even though I had been planning to.  It's really going to take some dedicated planning time.  I have a spaghetti squash I want to do something with, plus the ground pork and green beans I bought last Thursday but still haven't cooked.  Lawrence's mom came over yesterday so now we also have a pineapple, Chinese long string beans, and some brussel sprouts.  Talk about random.

Vegetables are carcinogenic?

Apparently, way before humans ever thought to create pesticides, plants already had their own internal mechanism to deter animals from eating them.  I was surprised when I read on the food site I linked to a couple days ago that celery produced carcinogenic compounds.  You're not supposed to eat bruised celery because the bruising starts a process that increases the production of that carcinogen by 100x.  The same is true of several other vegetables apparently.

I found these next two pages while I was looking for more information about this:
http://mathforum.org/~josh/alfalfa.html
http://potency.lbl.gov/herp.html

Bruce Ames, a biochemistry professor at UC Berkeley was the one who started research into the extent of this.  It's rather scary looking at all that and seeing what produces carcinogens - potatoes, spinach, coffee, peanut butter, raw mushrooms, coffee, alcohol, anything that's been browned...

However, Ames conclusion is not to severely restrict your diet but to realize that you probably encounter many more carcinogens in your diet that are naturally produced than are residual chemical pesticides or food additives.  Go ahead and be aware (don't eat bruised vegetables!), make sure you take in foods and nutrients that have anti-carcinogenic properties ("cruciferous" vegetables, vitamins A, C, E, and selenium), and eat high fiber foods so that food does not stay in your system too long.

Hydroponics - "Window Farms"

Today I read an article on re-nest about Window Farms.  The idea is to let urban dwellers grow hydroponic gardens inside their apartments all year long using vertical, hydroponic, modular, low-energy, high-yield edible window gardens built using low-impact or recycled local materials.  These structures are DIY, although the developers are in the process of putting together kits for sale.  They have a blog they use as a forum.  The site is not an ideal medium for communicating and for growth as specific information is sparse and hard to find.  But, they do have pdf files on the site with material lists and step-by-step instructions on how to create your own vertically-hanging hydroponic garden.  I never realized it would be so cheap, but the site claims you could get it all together for less than $30.  I did some research and some math and without any special deals, it is nearly that low.

I proposed to Lawrence that we give it a shot and he agreed.  Now my biggest difficulty is figuring out where to put it.  The reason this idea really appealed to me was that one giant wall of our studio is all window.  We've got 4 sets of blinds.  I want to put the plants at the window on the opposite side of the room from our bed.  There's also an Ikea bookcase in the corner.  Actually, that corner of the room has long been a logistical problem for me.  We've too many things that need to take up the space there.  Currently, it's effectively a 5'x8' space in our room that's completely useless.

Food site

Wow, this site has a really informative cooking guide section:

http://www.asianhomerecipe.com/

Workout & last night's food

Last night was mostly upper-body using barbells.

Using 2x 7.5lb weights on each side (30lb + the bar):
- Clean & press
- One-handed deadlift
- One-handed rows
- One-handed shoulder press
- Squats

Using 1x 7.lb weights on each side (15lb + the bar):
- Jerk? (holding the bar with both hands in front, explode and jump while lifting the barbell overhead and landing with legs split)

- Push-ups with each hand on a barbell as they lie almost parallel to the sides.
- Barbell rollouts
- Attempted to do "z" sit-ups, but failed so I did opposite arm to leg crunches instead


When I got home, I cooked dinner using the leftovers and random vegetables we had in the fridge:

- Blanched and then stir-fried some "michihili" Chinese cabbage Lawrence's mom gave us with the rest of the top sirloin that I cut into strips and marinated with soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, green onion, and garlic.
- Heated up the vegetable soup I made the previous night.  The tomato adds a nice sour note to the flavor of the soup.
- I made fried rice from the leftover rice in the fridge, adding in some green onion and 4 eggs.  I should have kept the rice and the egg separate until the egg solidified so that it wouldn't coat the rice and make the rice soggy.  Next time.

Time Management

The Pomodoro Technique

actiTime - an online application

Essential tool: a timer.  I've downloaded a few quick & dirty apps.  There are also a Firefox plug-ins and iPhone apps.

Dinner

Success!

I have a pot of vegetables on the stove right now.  I can probably eat that tomorrow.  Meanwhile, I stir fried some noodles with sliced top sirloin beef and cabbage.  I also blanched celery and tossed it in soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar.  It didn't turn out bad, and I positively LOVED the celery.  That's surprising because I usually hate celery.  I don't like the grassy taste.  I think the blanching removes most of the grassiness and then the sesame oil just adds yummmmminess.

I still need a thermos or something to bring soup to work in.

Cooking

We finished the last of the potato salad yesterday.  It was good, but there's too much egg, potato, and mayonnaise in it for me to make on a regular basis.  Last night I baked some potatoes for dinner but I didn't get a chance to eat mine until I got home from knitting.  I took the last loaf of French bread and made banana chocolate chip bread pudding with it.  It took longer than I expected to finish baking - by the time I took it out it was 12:30am and I had a 7am dentist appointment to make.

At the dentist, I got a temporary crown on my tooth.  I'm going back in about 2 weeks for the actual crown.  I'm getting used to the dentist now.  I think the only times I really tensed up were when he put the needle in my gums, but even that wasn't that bad.  It's weird that they had to put thread between my tooth and my gums in preparation for the crown.  I can feel the swelling in the gums around the tooth compared to the other side of my mouth.

Tonight I want to cook up some of the vegetables we have in the fridge to make a soup - tomatoes, carrots, celery, onions, cabbage, napa cabbage, and then maybe throw in some noodles in there.  Or I could stir fry the noodles with the cabbage and carrots.  I could pick up some pork or beef on the way home to throw in as well.  OH right, I totally forgot I also wanted to make some Chinese cold celery salad with my celery.  It's super simple - blanched celery cut into short long slices are tossed in sesame oil, and other seasonings of your choice (e.g. soy sauce, salt, sugar, ginger, cilantro, rice vinegar).

I need to stock up on some additional Chinese kitchen basics~

- dried shiitake mushrooms
- dried scallops
- rice wine
- rice vinegar
- MSG

- green onions (perishable)
- ...

I already have~
- corn starch
- soy sauce
- sesame oil
- various sauces & pastes (sesame paste, oyster sauce, bean paste, chili paste, sweet chili sauce, hoisin sauce)
- ginger (perishable)

Workout

Today~

Across the floor (and back) exercises:
- Two lunges forward, one lunge back; two lunges back, one lunge forward on the way back
- Inchworms forward; inchworms backward
- Broad jumps forward; broad jumps backward
- Walking kettlebell swings forward each way (26lb kettlebell)
- Crab walk forward; crab walk backward
- Side-stepping squats, alternating sides with each step

- With a dumbbell (15lb I think) and with one leg propped up on a bench behind you, raise the dumbbell to the shoulder and press up. Lower it back down to the ground and repeat.
- 15x Sit-ups.
- 15x Lying on your back and with one knee bent, lift your butt up and then lift and lower the other leg.
- 15x Roll outs on the rolling wheel of dooooom.

Busy day

This morning I went to Melody's Kettlebells 101 workshop. It was a basic intro to kettlebell exercises - swings, presses, squats, rows, lifts, and Turkish get-ups. We were outside at Washington Park, and it was actually really nice. The weather was great (we were in the shade of a large tree). It was really nice to do the exercises outside with the fresh air. Air circulation inside the gym is not good at all and you can really tell the difference when you work out outside. I actually want to go to next weekend's Kettlebells 102 workshop, even though I hadn't considered it before.

I at 5:30pm I started cooking. I had started a French starter (pate fermentee) yesterday for the French bread I wanted to attempt today. I made shinjaga shoyu bataa, or potatoes with soy sauce and butter. Lawrence and Wilson both liked it. :) I also roasted a head of cauliflower with olive oil, thyme, red pepper flakes, and chopped garlic (a recipe from Emeril). That was pretty good. Finally, I made potato salad using russet potatoes, and boiled eggs, carrots, frozen corn, and frozen peas mixed together with mayonnaise. Yummy...

I ran into some issues with the French bread - I think it dried out too much while proofing, so each of the shaped loaves formed a dry skin around the outside. This made it difficult to score and did not let the bread expand while baking. I've still got the rye bread dough I prepared yesterday from the ABin5 book.

Workout

Last night~

- With hands on a box, jump feet back and do a push-up. Jump feet forward, jump on box, and then jump up for a pull-up. (15x)
- With one leg propped up behind on the box, bend the other knee to touch the ground. (15x each side)
- One-legged inchworm push-ups. (5x each side)

Did each of these twice.

workout

Monday night~ balance balls

- With each forearm on a balance ball, and knees on the ground (i couldn't do these from my feet), roll the balls out sideways and then back together.
- Face down with belly on the ball, lift two 10 lb weights up and down with arms in the shape of: a Y, T, W, L, and I.
- With a balance ball between the back and the wall, and with one foot having only toes touching the ground, bend the knees to crouch all the way down and then back up.
- Lying with the ball under the upper back while the knees are bent and the back is straight, hold two 15lb dumbbells straight up and rotate them out from the head, around the body, and back together to bring them up again (without the weights going below the plane of the shoulders).
- With hands clasped together, rest forearms on a ball (had to do these on my knees too) keeping torso straight, and roll the ball forward then back.
- With one leg up behind you balanced on a ball, bend down with the other knee (i had to hold onto the wall or else i was falling over).

Last of the ABin5 dough

I finished off the last of the Artisan Bread in 5 min dough today. It was probably close to 1.5 lbs. I had to leave a little bit of dough that had dried out on the edge of one of the containers. This loaf I cut with a scallop pattern on top after I let it rest for at least an hour after taking it out of the fridge. While baking I used some tips I picked up from Peter Reinhart's book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I let the oven (including my roasting pan) heat up to 450F while the dough rested.

After sliding the dough in onto the tile, I poured hot water into the roasting pan so it would generate steam. We actually picked up a mist sprayer from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, so I used that to mist the sides of the oven and generate more steam. 15 minutes in I flipped the tile around to help even out the bread's exposure to the heat in the oven.

I think I opened up the oven to mist toooo many times. Nearly 30 minutes in, I stuck in the thermometer and the internal temperature was at ~160F. I needed it to be at 200F, so I upped the heat to 480F and left the thermometer in the bread to monitor the temperature. The alarm feature is awesome. :) The crust turned out a nice color, and this time I definitely slashed it deep enough.

I just tasted it, and I think that I over-handled this dough again. The holes are not as big as I'd like. The crust, although crispy on the outside, is not as thick and flavorful as the first bread I baked with the ABin5 dough. I'll have to think about this a bit more to figure out what I did. Perhaps it was the changes in oven temperature from constantly opening the door?

Workout

Last night:

- 30x double handed swings with the 12kg kettlebell
- 30x right handed swings
- 30x left handed swings
- 20x two-handed cable exercise, pulling from down low on one side, up and across the body while keeping arms straight and twisting the torso
- 20x while holding a 10lb dumbbell in each hand, with both arms extended straight up the entire time, lean all the way back on a BOSU ball and then do a crunch into a sit up and then stand up

Repeated all of this twice.

I'm going to try to get a bike this weekend.

More bread

I baked my 4th loaf of bread today. I baked it at 470F for 35 minutes. This time I didn't cut into it deep enough on top before baking. It probably would have expanded more. I tried not to handle it too much while shaping so I wouldn't disrupt the air bubbles. I tried to keep the dough flatter and wider too so that it wouldn't be too thick in the middle. I think that may have been a factor in the middle of my bread loaves never being fully cooked.

Bread #1: Rosemary Bread (or what was left of it before I realized I should snap a photo)


Bread #2: Rosemary Bread


Bread #3: 5 minute Artisan Bread


Bread #4: 5 minute Artisan Bread


The color on those last 2 photos is a little darker than it's supposed to be because we had no natural lighting and no good camera lighting.

Parents

I had lunch with my parents on Sunday. I taught my dad HTML in the afternoon. It's interesting talking to them about various issues because most of our conversation for the past 5 years consisted of them complaining about me or trivial daily talk. We started talking about religion, and it only came up because I didn't know the name for Christianity in Mandarin. I brought up a bunch of other religions that I didn't know the Mandarin names for, and Lawrence brought up Scientology. It turns out my parents even know about Scientology! Haha, initially it was the religion that Tom Cruise is into, but my mom told us about how there were people she knew who got into Scientology. She had a middle school friend who used to be a devout Buddhist, vegetarian and all. Turns out she had a change of heart and turned to Scientology. My mom, and I love her for this, exclaimed at how she could drop one thing she devoutly believed in and pick out another devout belief. It didn't make sense to her that one could just pick and choose a religion, swapping for other religions whenever one felt like it. I agree. Go mom!

Workout + the unexpected

Yesterday was 3 sets of plyometric exercises.

1.) 15x Jumping left and right over an exercise bench with both feet together.
2.) 15x Plyometric Incline Push-ups (jump at the top).
3.) 15x each side Cable arm pull (ok, not the official term, but basically pull to the chest, using the shoulder).
4.) 15x each side Hop Steps (jump forward, back, left, right on one foot).

On my walk home, at the intersection of Colorado and Arroyo Pkwy, there were pro-Health Reform demonstrators on all four corners with big signs and banners. I couldn't help but wonder how it could compare to something similar up in SF or Berkeley.

Pizza Stone/Baking Stone

These can be expensive if you buy one from a cookware store. What you can do instead is go to a hardware store and buy a "quarry stone" which is a non-glazed ceramic tile. It needs to be non-glazed and lead-free, made completely from clay. I've heard that this alternative does the job starts at $.99.

Stress, stress, stress.

No WoW tonight. I'm exercising from 6:30-7:00pm, picking up my dinner from Gelson's on the way home, and then doing stuff that needs to be done in the apartment - vacuuming, scrubbing floors, washing dishes, doing laundry, throwing out trash, etc. Maybe I can do some stuff to relieve stress because I am seriously getting stressed out.

Stupid cat has started peeing on stuff around the apartment. It could be because we switched her litter around. It could be because we've been switching her food around. It could be because his brother has been in the apartment and she's feeling territorial. Maybe she has a urinary tract infection. If she does it again, we should probably take her in to the vet.

Monday night workout

15x - step back into a lunge with arm extended holding onto a cable, then pull cable towards chest while bringing up the opposite knee
20x - double-handed kettlebell swings, 16kg
20x - single-handed kettlebell swings on each arm, 12kg
15x - lean back on a BOSU ball and then stand up, while holding a 15lb medicine ball above head
15x - lift two 10lb dumbbells from the ground to the shoulders, then press up

repeated through the kettlebell swings

It's been a little cold lately and my tummy got cold on the 2nd set of kettlebell swings, giving me some cramps. Otherwise, I might have been able to get a little further. I didn't get as tired as the last few sessions so I think I'm getting back into the routine of things. :)

2nd time - success!

Success of sorts at least. This time, I left it in the oven without having turned the oven on. I let it rise twice and baked it at 375F for 30 min.

It turned out a little denser than optimal, and a little undercooked towards the bottom center. Perhaps it would have cooked more evenly if I didn't just stick it on a cheap baking sheet. If I let the dough rise in a warmer space, it might have also turned out a little lighter.

Taste-wise, it was pretty good. It didn't turn sour so I know I didn't let it rise for too long. The crust is actually decent. We don't have a spray bottle, so I just flicked some water into the oven with my fingers to add moisture (supposedly for better crust).

When it came out, the outside was not brown and pretty. That could have been due to not baking long enough or not putting stuff on the outside (olive oil? egg?).

I would love to do this again, but I think I'm not strong enough to knead the dough properly. It seemed to be kneaded so much better after Lawrence did it...and ugh, that sucks. I hate not being strong enough for things. With practice, I hope, it'll get better. This can be a supplementary arm workout for arm endurance.

Bread attempt #1

FAIL.

This is the recipe I'm using: Jo's Rosemary Bread.

I got the yeast activated and kneaded the dough. I let it rise for an hour but realized that it was just sitting on the counter and was probably not in a warm enough place to properly double in size. So, I put it in the oven on the lowest setting, 170F, which was apparently way too hot. I should have realized. One site I read said 80-90F was ideal. So...time to start over.

Shoes?

I've been wanting to get new boots for a while. My old ones are too old. I looked around for some last winter, but none of the ones I saw at DSW really did it for me. Becky's awesomely cute boots inspired me to look some more.

I saw this pair in Anthropologie's newest catalogue, and I actually thought they were really cute. But, OMG, $500 price tag WOAH!

Kitchen tools

I want these, but sadly they are either too expensive for me to justify or their utility is too limited.

- a KitchenAid stand mixer
- a food processor
- a rolling pin
- a santoku knife
- a ramekin set
- a springform cake pan
- a bread machine
- a pastry cutter
- a nice frying pan
- a nice sauce pan
- an Asian hot water thermos that's not plastic lined

Dad

My dad is so cute sometimes. I'm glad my relationship with my parents is getting better. I had dinner with them on Sunday and my dad asked me about web hosting and creating a website for his Chinese Kunqu Opera group. He has been talking about it for a long time, and maybe close to 10 years ago, I created a basic page for him on Angelfire.

I'm actually pretty excited about teaching him HTML. I could probably handle it myself too since they're not looking for anything particularly complicated, but I've already told him that he would have to give me all the content first. One of the ladies in their group is a graphic designer, so she may be able to help with the design of the site as well. Maybe I could help with the English translation of the pages, as he wants to do the site in Chinese.

My boss suggested I go ahead and pay for the domain and hosting for my dad so they could have their own domain, as a sort of father's day gift. Maybe if they get the pages going, I'll do just that.

Religious Confrontation

Watching Bones has got me thinking more about religion. I liked the series at first, but I'm getting more ambivalent the more I watch. It's becoming a show where the conservative, religious, righteous, traditionally masculine cop is converting the logical, open-minded, atheist anthropologist scientist. But maybe I just feel that way because of my own biases? :)

I've always felt like my life has been rather bland and without confrontation. Granted, I actively avoid confrontation, but it seems like so many other people get it thrown at them whether they want it or not. I've always imagined how I would lash out if someone tried to confront me - I'd come up with a scathingly witty retort, or land a swift sturdy kick to the groin and then a solid hook to the head. I know that if it ever actually happened, though, I'd be caught like a deer in headlights. People are rarely ever that definitively antagonistic. Things do not happen in stark blacks and whites - things happen in shades of gray. People try to sweet talk you and they keep a smile on their face. They won't touch you, or if they do they are so polite you can not fault them. In those cases, you would be breaking social conventions by lashing out. If you lash out, they will have ammunition to call you the crazy one, and they would have won. These people need to be handled with finesse and not brute force.

In any case, all these situations take practice to know how to handle, and I don't have that experience. I suppose that is why I like to read about others' experiences, so I can think of ways to handle the situations. Religion is something I go back to because it's one of the few widespread ways in which people can still discriminate and not be socially ostracized. Living at home, I'm pretty certain we've had religious proselytizers at our door, but if our parents or grandparents answer they always had the excuse of not speaking English. After moving out, I've only lived in secured apartment buildings. That definitely keeps away most of the door-to-door people.

All my experience with religious proselytizers has thus been when I am out - either on campus, sitting at a public place. In these situations, the proselytizer has many options and will not usually continue to bother me if I express that I have no interest in their religion. Isn't that what we atheists want - to not have the religious push their agendas on us with their talk of hellfire and brimstone? Sure, but damn it, I want that religious person to see my point of view. I end up feeling silly for that - the anti-proselytizer atheist wants to try to convert the religious proselytizers! A new thought came to me when I read a thread on the atheist boards. Instead of me feeling like I want to shove my anti-woo rationality down their throats, how about I turn it around and ask them why they believe in what they do? If they can acknowledge there is no rationality in their reason for believing, then I can be satisfied. There's nothing I can do if someone is willing to believe in something they have no evidence for.

The next time I get approached by a religious person in public, I hope I will have the courage to be confrontational and actually talk to them. Ugh, I suppose that means I'll actually have to remember facts and things. Eh, maybe it will be fun?

Exercising resumes

I actually worked out last Thursday, but I can't remember what I did besides that it was very exhausting.

Yesterday night's workout:

- 30 2-handed kettlebell swings with a 26lb kettlebell
- 20 1-handed kettlebell swings on each side
- 15 push-ups with each hand on a medicine ball
- 15 lunges on each side where the forward step is on a mini BOSU ball
- 15 squats with each foot on a mini BOSU ball
- repeat all the kettlebell swings

dentist

Wow, my dentist wrote me a letter welcoming me to his office and also a thank you letter to Lawrence for referring me.

So, a couple weeks ago I went in for a teeth cleaning. It was my first time at the dentist's office in probably 3 years. One of my molars was experiencing pain and sensitivity to cold and pressure, so I knew something was up that I needed taken care of. Turns out it was a large cavity. I scheduled with them to get it cleaned out after my trip to SF.

On Thursday I went in and they cleaned out the cavity and infected areas and put in a temporary filling. My dentist said that I needed a root canal, which we scheduled for this coming Saturday. After that, I'll need a crown on the tooth. It would have been a lot scarier, but my dentist did a good job calming me down. With the anesthetics, I could barely feel a thing. It was my first time seeing a dental dam being used, but it really helped because I didn't have random bits of things flying around my mouth. They even put goggles over my eyes to protect them. Because of the fear I had expressed over the procedure, the dentist was very careful to make sure I was numb and not feeling any pain. He even gave me headphones so I could listen to the radio and not think about the noise of the drill.

The bad news...dental work is expensive. I just hope I won't need more done for a long time.

:D

folsom street fair...wow. awesome. oh, and i wish i lived in san francisco.

Stressed?

Argh, I skipped out on working out again last night. I just started the monthly yuck again and I was stuck on a programming bug that I still can't figure out.

I minimized the news feeds on my iGoogle homepage so that I wouldn't have to read headlines about things that would piss me off. But, I still visit Yahoo and read the Ravelry forums, both of which provide me plenty other news to get stressed over. It's rather frustrating because I'm only interested because certain things are rather important to me. But, because they're important to me, I get stressed our reading stupid stupid things.

I thought I was the queen of being laid back and relaxed? I used to actively try to relax myself so maybe that will help - listening to classical/ambient music, focusing on breathing slowly and deeply, and following set routines like stretches before bed.

monday night workout

I've been slacking and I've missed several sessions. I started up again last night.

Three exercises:
- 15x - Start with one knee down to the ground and one arm extended, holding onto the cable (about 55 lbs). Pull the cable to the chest while thrusting the knee up.
- 15x - Lunge forward while holding two 10lb dumbbells, keeping them down and towards the ground. Use the front leg to pop yourself back up into a standing, feet together position (this was very tiring). Alternate legs.
- 20x - Holding an 18lb (I think) medicine ball with both hands, do jumping jacks (jump feet out and lift ball straight up, jump feet in and bring ball down to chest).

I was pretty out of shape. I didn't get through the 2nd set of medicine ball jumping jacks because I was getting nauseous.

RPGs

I had been toying with the idea of getting into tabletop RPG for a while but it had seemed a large and daunting world to step into without the assistance of someone who already has experience. Well, yesterday night we went to Game Empire in Pasadena and bought a book to start with:
Anima

It's got pretty pictures and is encompassed in only one book. It's high fantasy and the graphics look like Final Fantasy/anime style so it appealed to Lawrence.

Upon getting home, I started looking into anime-style RPGs and found one that looked interesting:
Maid RPG

It's only $8 for the pdf and apparently you only need to read 20 pages of it to start playing. The site you order from is Indie Press Revolution, which looks pretty awesome. Looking around I saw some other RPGs I may want to try as well as a totally cute looking Redwall-esque comic series called Mouse Guard.

Bao Qing Tian, again.

OMG they're making a new series with the 3 main characters from the 1993 Taiwanese series.

http://yule.sohu.com/s2007/40bqt/

Thursday workout

2 exercises - 2 sets, 15 reps each

1) With hands on a low jump box, jump feet back and do a push-up. Jump feet in and hop onto the box. Grab onto the pull-up handles and pull self up then lower self (I had to give myself a jumping start). Jump off box and repeat.

2) With a dumbbell in one hand and with one foot up on the jump box that's behind, bend the other leg while keeping the back straight to touch the dumbbell to the ground. Stand up, left the dumbbell to the shoulder then press straight up.

After that, I did 15 reps of:
- While holding onto the pull-up handles and standing on the jump box, curl abdomen and lift knees toward chest.

Bao Qing Tian

OMG, I found downloads for the KTVs of the Bao Qing Tian opening/closing theme songs.

Hearts on Fire

Hearts on Fire! Hearts on Fire! Burning, burning with desire!
Hearts on Fire! Hearts on Fire! Burning, burning with desire!
Burning for the steel....Hearts on Fire!

lawls...I love those European heavy metal/power metal bands.

Popping zits and ingrown hairs

An old thread on the forums came up again recently. It was about popping epic zits/cysts/boils/infected ingrown hairs. There are some crazy whacked out stories there - I love those girls so much. :)

fires

It's scary, we could see the flames in the mountains as we drove home on the 210 tonight. Apparently the fire near La Cañada quadrupled in size today. Driving over to Melrose, we could see the huge mushroom cloud of smoke coming from the mountains. It has burned over 20,000 acres so far and has been rapidly spreading in every direction. At least...the fire has to get all the way through Altadena before it reaches Pasadena.

monday workout

Tonight I did 2 sets for 4 exercises:

1) With 1 foot propped on a bench behind me, and holding a 15 lb dumbbell on that same side, bend the other knee so the dumbbell touches the ground. Stand up and lift the dumbbell to the shoulder, then press it straight up. 15x each side.

2) With a 12kg/26lb kettlebell in each hand, do alternating rows, 15x alternating sets.

3) With those same kettlebells, do a kettlebell push-up (with hands on the handles). 15x

4) On a BOSU ball, lean back all the way and then lean forward to stand up without using hands.

At the end, I still had a couple minutes so Melody had me do one-handed kettlebell windmills. With the kettlebell kept pressed up with one arm, rotate and lower yourself so you can touch the ground with the other arm. I got through 6 of these on each side. It was much more difficult for my left side than my right side.

Thursday workout

kettlebells
- 30x each - 2 handed kettlebell swings, left handed swings, right handed swings (all using the 12kg/26lb bells)
- alternating deadlifts with a kettlebell in each hand
- suitcase squats with a kettlebell in each hand
- clean, squat, and then press with an 8kg kettlebell

medicine ball
- with the 4kg/8.8lb medicine ball, do..."basketball" moves? Holding the ball at waist level, step to the left as if passing, then turn to the right and jump up, extending the ball up as if to shoot, then step to the right as if passing

ground exercises
- in push-up position but with forearms flat on the ground, lift one arm to press palm to the ground, and then the other arm. Lower the first arm so forearm is again flat on the ground, repeat for the other arm.
- lying straight sideways with one forearm flat on the ground under the shoulders and the other hand on the hip pointing up, lift the torso so the body is in a straight line from toes to head. Lower the torso and repeat.

TV

In college, I didn't watch TV. I had one that I picked up from a cousin, but it just collected dust in a corner of the room. All viewing of any sort was on the computer. Even then, I mostly just watched anime and Japanese/Taiwanese dramas. After moving to Pasadena, we bought a nice plasma TV and got cable. I've now got favorite programs that i watch. :) It was surprising to realize that when I saw the "Fall Preview" on Yahoo's front page, I was looking forward to several of the shows on the list.

First of all, both Project Runway and Top Chef are starting up this week. YAY!

I may watch Dollhouse but I'd have to get through the first season. I've only seen the first episode, but the Yahoo article hints it may be promising. I'm looking forward to the new developments on Fringe. The finale of the first season was a cliff-hanger. I love the Big Bang Theory and can't wait to laugh at more nerdy jokes. Castle was cute (hah, Nathon Fillion...) and the romantic tension is quirky and funny enough to not make me want to roll my eyes. House! More House is always good.

Because I like to have these things on hand...
Dollhouse - Sept. 25
Fringe - Sept. 17
Big Bang Theory - Sept. 21
Castle - Sept. 21
House - Sept. 21

Monday night workout

After a week-long hiatus, I met Melody at the gym last night. In the afternoon I had seriously considered canceling again as I just got my period and was feeling tired (did not get a good night's sleep either), unfocused, and was getting abdominal cramping. After I got home, I took a brief half hour nap and that seemed to help a lot. I was able to exercise last night without too much of an issue. Melody had me do floor exercises. Each exercise I did forward across the mat, then backwards back across the mat.

1) 2 lunges forward 1 lunge back one way, then 2 lunges back, 1 lunge forward going back
2) inchworm push-ups forward and backward
3) broad jumps forward and broad jumps backwards (jump as far forward as possible from a standing position)
4) squats, starting sideways and rotating 180 degrees for each one to move across the floor and back
5) alternating diamond push-ups and wide push-ups to move across the floor and back (only half the floor for this one)

I felt guilty I didn't actually finish that last one. I tried to go down for the diamond push-up, but my arms gave out. I felt like I should have been able to because I wasn't exhausted or gasping for breath, but as Lawrence pointed out, this was strength training and this is what strength training is like. You do it until muscle failure, and the effects are different from cardio. But still. :( I wanted to be able to finish!

Elements Kitchen

I just had a brunch meal at Elements Kitchen, in Pasadena. That was some good food (and it helped that we didn't have to pay for it). I got the buttermilk biscuits that come with honey butter and strawberry jam. The biscuits were so deliciously flakey! YUM. For an entree I ordered the croissant sandwich that came with bacon, eggs, and a tomato aoili with a side of sweet potato homefries. The croissant was also deliciously flakey. The eggs were perfect and just a little gooey in the yolk. The bacon would have been better if it were folded up so that I didn't have to bite of chunks of it at the ends to reach the rest of the sandwich.

Lawrence got the duck burrito and said it was good. There was also a farmer's market salad that was very fresh and yummy. Josh got the lobster mac'n cheese with wild mushrooms and truffle oil. That was very delicious but came a little too late in our meal (they may have forgot about it).

I think...PHP is not for me?

I've had thoughts, but I always pushed them down because I felt like I was *supposed to* like it, use it, breathe it, learn it, and put it on my resume because "OMG duh, who doesn't know PHP?" I've tried to use it a few times but I never got super far. It took reading a post on SitePoint today for me to realize that maybe it's not just me. Apparently PHP does have its very real problems since it has grown in inconsistent ways. I've also never been forced to use it in a professional setting. Nonetheless, I can't help but feel guilty for preferring C# & Java.

Julia Child

I wish I had watched her show when I was a kid.

Barbell exercises

Today I used the barbell. I'm not sure how heavy it was...there were 2 plates on each side that said 7.5 (lbs?) plus a smaller one that may have been 2.5 (lbs?). However, that adds up to close to 40lbs, and that sounds like too much.

- First exercise, lift the barbell to shoulder height. As Melody put it, don't lift it with your arms, put your arms under it. I'm not sure I described that correctly, but I think it's to reduce strain and risk of injury. From shoulder height, press the barbell up. These are full body moves that require strength from your legs as well. I had to do as many as I could, with a goal of getting past 15. I made it to 25, w00t!
- With the barbell lifted at shoulder height, do 15 squats.
- Holding on to the barbell with both hands, do 15 one-legged deadlifts on each leg.
- With just two 7.5 lb plates on the barbell, do 15 one arm overhead barbell presses. I did 15 with my right arm, but only got to 8 on my left arm.
- Lastly, I did 15 barbell rollouts.

Harry Potter Club?

I found an interesting group on Ravelry today. It's the Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House Cup group. People can join for a Hogwars "school term" at the beginning of which there will be a sorting ceremony to divvy up people into their houses. There are various course subjects like Charms, Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts, etc. that you can sign up for. Each one will have assignments that you can complete to earn points for your house. For example, an Herbology assignment could be to create something with a plant fiber. There's even a Quidditch tournament of sorts, adapted to the knitting/crocheting process.

It sounds like a ton of fun and I only wish I had found out about it sooner. I'm not a HP fanatic, but I do enjoy the series and have always loved stuff like this. That brings me to my next point - this totally reminds me of the online Redwall Clubs I used to be in back in junior high! At that time, however, everything was writing/fan-fic based. It's interesting to see the concept carried out to another series in another medium. I wonder if there are more out there. How would I go about finding them??

Monday exercise

Plyometrics.

20x each (also each side where applicable)

- With feet together, jump up onto the box and then back down.
- On the Smith machine, with the bar set at the lowest level, do a push-up and push off the bar.
- One-handed lateral cable rows as quick as possible, with the weights set to 25 lbs.
- Repeat these 3 exercises 3 times each, but the 2nd and 3rd box exercises are, respectively:
- One-legged jump ups onto the exercise box.
- With one foot up on the box behind, bend the other leg and jump up.

- Last exercise, which I was only able to get through 7 of...push-ups with 8 lb. dumbbells. With hands on the 8 lb. dumbbells, jump legs back and do a push-up. Jump legs back in, stand up and press both dumbbells straight up.

Thursday night workout

only 2 exercises tonight:

- The first one was with a box underneath the pull-up machine. With hands on the box, jump feet back and do a push-up. Jump feet forward and with both feet together, jump up onto the box. Do a pull-up, jumping if necessary (it was) and try to lower self slowly. Jump back off the box and repeat.
- The second was with a BOSU ball. I've done this one before a few times - lean all the way back with your back on the ball. From there, stand up without using your hands. With legs straight, bring hands to the ground and walk hands forward into push-up position. Do a push-up and walk hands back to feet, then stand up. Repeat.

I got through 2 sets of 15 reps of each exercise.

Convention-fail!

Today we went to Comicon. I think Lawrence is now permanently opposed to all future conventions. We actually drove down to san diego on saturday. There was a bunch of stuff we had to take care of beforehand though so we didn't actually leave until 2pm or so.

The drive down was rather uneventful until Lawrence asked if I had brought our ticket printouts. I hadn't seen them on the bed (where he said he had put them) when I put the bedsheet into the washing machine (meaning there's no way I could have missed them if they were there). Turns out he had already put them into our bag.

We spent the night at Xin's place. His coworker, Lynn, came over with her griddle and we cooked Korean bbq for dinner. We played rock band, I chatted with Lynn, the guys played Wii Golf & Street Fighter IV. I totally conked out around midnight. Lawrence, since his sleep schedule has been skewed, did not go to sleep until around 4am. We got up around 7:30am and left for the convention at around 8:00am. Xin lives about 20min. from the convention center so it didn't take us too long. We drove around trying to find a breakfast place as well as parking. We parked, and then we realized we left the ticket printouts in our bag at Xin's house. Major-fail. By this time is was 9am. We had to drive back to Xin's house and then back to the convention center - by that time it was 10am and Lawrence's cousins had reached San Diego (they drove from LA). There was some traffic and in that hour we were driving, all the parking lots had completely filled up. We ended up parking at a mall that was about 5 blocks from the convention center.

I was real grumpy and tired because we didn't have time to grab food. We stopped by a Ralph's supermarket and picked up some breakfast burritos. After we left, Lawrence asked if I had the ticket printouts. I told him no. He had asked for them earlier because we had his cousin's ticket and he wanted to give it to his cousin (haha, before we ended up losing it probably). He never gave any papers back to me. This caused him to get majorly stressed and frustrated. He went back into the supermarket to try to find where he left the papers. Finally he found it and we proceeded on our way to the convention center. We got in without much trouble as there wasn't really a line. For being the last day, there were still a TON of people there. Of course, this was Comicon.

We walked through some of the exhibition hall...first back and forth through the artist tables and then all the way down the hall along a wall. At the end we were kind of tired so we sat down at the tables there. By then it was about 12pm and everyone wanted to get some food so we left the convention center and walked back to the mall we had parked at. We ate at the mall's food court - can you say BLEGH? I was hoping to try out some good local dining but the others I guess just wanted cheap mall crap. Um, so I guess I'm a food snob. :)

We went back to the convention center to explore the exhibition hall some more. Along the way, we managed to lose the others (there were 6 of us total). I actually kind of liked it because 6 people is too many to have to stop at every table every person wanted to visit. It makes me feel bad when I want to stop at a table because I take a long time and it's not usually anything anyone else is interested in. Then, Lawrence gets a call from one of his cousins and it turns out the other cousin is missing (Phillip).

Phillip didn't bring his phone, and he wasn't with any of us. This was around 2:45pm. We all sort of freak out because the place was freakin' HUGE and now we had to somehow find Phillip - who could have been anywhere. We all circled through the exhibition hall multiple times. Lawrence walked back to the parking garage. I walked through the upper level of the convention center. His other cousins sat near the Lost & Found. Unfortunately, they don't page people unless there's a medical emergency or it's a child under 10. We did not make any contingency plans, and I had not even known that Phillip did not bring his phone. That was admittedly very stupid of us. We were all so hot and tired...it took us until 5pm to find him. By then the convention was over and we didn't even get to explore the booths. I had even just found the area of booths I was interested in and I didn't get to shop around. What a waste of a trip to Comicon. :/

Not only was the trip a waste, there was so much frustration involved throughout the entire process. I feel bad for Lawrence because he said he expects to be frustrated. It makes me sad that we can't take it easy when we're supposed to be on a trip to enjoy ourselves. Is this how all our vacations are going to turn out? I hope not. Partly, I think it would be easier to go to things with just the 2 of us. I also feel like I should take it upon myself more to think about stuff that needs to be done. If I had been more diligent about keeping track of our tickets, it would have saved us a lot of frustration. If I had thought ahead I could have suggested we set up a designated meeting place in case someone gets frustrated (or maybe even suggest that we split up and then meet somewhere at a specific time). I hate it when Lawrence gets frustrated. I get sad, and then that feeds his irritation because he doesn't like making me sad. We get stuck in this stupid self-feeding loop of irritation until it blows up or blows over. At least we don't hold grudges against each other.

Now, we are back at Xin's place. Lawrence is sleeping, I got to take a shower (it was bugging me all day that I didn't get to take a shower this morning because my hair felt greasy). We're waiting for Xin to get back so that we can go grab dinner and then we'll drive back to LA. We would spend the night and drive back tomorrow but Xin has a 6am flight to catch. We'll probably just chill tomorrow and play some WoW so that we can hopefully at least do something relaxing this weekend.

Word Associations

So I was on the pooper today when I my mind turned towards the word "fecal". I realized that when I see or hear the word "fecal", as in "fecal matter", I tend to think of the word "fetal"...."fetal matter"??? It's not pretty, however which way you look at it.

Popular fantasy authors/books I'm personally not a fan of

I've seen some lists of recommendations for fantasy authors and I always notice a few that pop up that I don't really agree with even though they are popular with other people. Here's my list with my reasoning why I don't like their books. I'll add to the list as I come up with more.

Diana Gabaldon - [Outlander] - This was recommended to me by Peggy. I've seen this recommended on some female-heavy recommendation threads too. I peg (haha) this one as more romance than fantasy even though there is "time travel" involved. The fantasy elements are way too simple and basic to be integral to the story. Perhaps the sequels improved on this - I read in the synopses that there is more time traveling involved. Sorry, but it was just a step up from trashy romance for me. Not that there's anything wrong with trashy romance...but it's not what I'm looking for in a good fantasy novel.

Sharon Shinn - [Archangel] - This book/series was recommended to me by a former roommate who knew I liked reading fantasy. However, I would probably categorize this book more as a fantasy-romance crossover. I tried to like it but it just didn't do anything for me. I don't remember specifics as this was 5 years ago, but partly what killed it for me was the reliance on Christian themes. It paralleled Christian mythology too much, and at the time at least, I was so over Christian mythology for it to add any value to the story for me. There may have been some interesting story elements, but nothing that really stood out to me.

Anne Bishop - [Black Jewels Trilogy] - I bought the trilogy because I saw the series recommended a few different places. I even bought an additional sequel book. Lawrence even read all the books. The mechanics in the world Bishop created are definitely interesting, however I think the story and its execution sucked. Part of it may just be a preference in style. Even though this was set in a fantasy world, the characters felt very modern- as in I could imagine the characters from Charmed or Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the story as a TV show. It didn't have the non-modern fantasy feel that I personally like. Actually, this is probably a big reason I don't like some of the fantasy-romance crossovers out there. I also don't read any of the currently popular vampire teen fantasy novels because they mesh too much with modern life. Back to this series though - the thing that really killed it for me was when I realized the main characters were never in any real danger and the antagonists were comically stereotypical bumbling villains. Every tight spot the protaganist found herself in, somehow every time, something fortuitous would happen and nothing was ever really tragic. I know some bad things did happen to her (I read this a couple years ago so my memories are fuzzy) but the "dangers" always felt grossly over exaggerated and the resolutions entirely predictable.

Robert Jordan - [Wheel of Time series] - I read these books in my freshman year of high school, 10 years ago. I really got into them but I stopped midway through the 5th book because I realized it was getting repetitive without every going anywhere. None of the characters were really likable and I couldn't take one more mention of the icy stares and braid pulling. NONE of the women were likable, and I think one of the men was but he didn't get much attention in the story. It sucks because the story had SO much potential if only it had been properly developed and paced. I heard the last few books were much better but I don't think I could put myself through the torture of reading the middle books (literally thousands of pages where nothing happens).

Exercise

Last Thursday I sliced open the index & ring fingers of my left hand. I was at Union station when a sticky piece of hard plastic tape got stuck to the bottom of my shoe. I tried to pull it off, but of course because it was sticky and stuck to my shoe, and because the edges were jagged, I ended up slicing my fingers on it. It bled profusely and the kind cleaning lady in the bathroom at Union Station gave me some toilet paper and told me in Spanish to press on it for a few minutes so that it stops bleeding. Melody also told me that cuts on your hands and face tend to bleed a lot more than other places. Lawrence confirmed it was because there are so many capillaries close to the skin, so a cut doesn't need to be deep before it bleeds a lot in those places. Melody also said that because of the increased blood, wounds tend to heal faster there too.

Thursday night, I went to workout but I told Melody I had to hold off on anything that required too much hand gripping for fear of re-opening my wound. I did some exercises on the BOSU ball (the half sphere with the plastic backing) instead. These should all be in reps of 15.

• Squats with each foot on a separate BOSU ball.
• Dumbbell rows while standing on a BOSU ball.
• Lunges with each foot on a separate BOSU ball.
• Push-ups with feet on a BOSU ball.

There was probably more but my memory fails me now.

By yesterday, my finger was speedily on its way to a good recovery. It has sealed up nicely and is just a little tight as the new skin is being formed. Monday night's workout consisted of 2 mini circuits of 2 exercises each. 15 reps for each exercise, repeated 3 times for each pair of exercises.

• Push-ups with shins on an exercise ball, alternating pulling in the exercise ball so that your knees reach your chest. This was tough on my core because it was very difficult to maintain my balance with my legs on the ball throughout the push-ups. I wimped out and only did 10 reps of this one each time. If I gave myself more time I might have been able to do more, but by the 10th push-up, I was falling over each time lol.
• Low rows with the cable machine set to something over 100lbs.

• With one foot resting on a bench behind me and holding a 12.5lb dumbbell in the opposite hand, bend your knee to touch the ground with the dumbbell, then stand and press the dumbbell straight up above your shoulder.
• Lying on the ground, lift one leg up and rest your other foot on an exercise ball. Lift your midsection so your body is straight and then bend the leg resting on the ball to bring the ball in towards you. Straighten the leg bringing the ball away from you while your torso is still lifted above the ground and repeat.

yarn-gasms

I wound a skein of my Sundara Aran Silky Merino in Black Cherry. I started a Cavern Cardigan with it, a top-down low-cut cardigan with raglan sleeves. It's about 4 inches long now and whenever I look at the smooth swaths of stockinette, I'm overcome by yarngasms because the aran silky merino is so beautiful. It's silky soft to the touch but the merino ensures that it's not as limp as a 100% silk yarn would be. It's got the slight sheen from the silk, accentuating the subtle variations in the rich black cherry coloring.

I finished knitting my $90 scarf this weekend. It's awesome and totally cute and currently drying on the dining table.

Money-saving food

So I've been doing pretty well so far in eating the pasta I cooked.

Monday - dinner + Lawrence's dinner
Tuesday - lunch (I had 2x $1.25 fish tacos from Rubio's for dinner)
Wednesday - lunch + dinner
Thursday - lunch

Assuming I finish off the last bowl of pasta tonight for dinner, that would mean my $10 pasta has lasted 7 meals. That comes out to about $1.43 per meal. Comparatively, I would typically spend anywhere from $10-$15 for lunch each day, and on top of that maybe a drink from Starbucks that cost ~$4. Then, on top of all of that, Lawrence and I would eat out for dinner. That turns into anywhere from $20-$35 for dinner for the two of us.

I would love to make a spreadsheet for myself but I'm feeling rather lazy about it. I would probably log into my Mint account so I can see all the restaurants we've eaten at to extrapolate an average amount spent, and then compare that to future expenses if I cook all my food at costs of <$2 per meal. That's too much effort, but maybe I'll get around to it if I'm bored enough. What I really need to do is come up with some options for myself. I need figure out proper well-balanced meals that I can make in a large batch and then bring to work for lunch.

Granted, there are other areas I can save money...like for breakfast I could probably go cheaper than the $1.50 cups of Greek yogurt, I probably shouldn't be getting random $.75 bags of chips from the office snack shack, and $3.50+ for a Starbucks espresso drink is probably not very cost effective. Baby steps...

Monday night - "300" - and wallet-friendly food

Melody had a "300" workout for me last night. It's 30 reps each of 10 different exercises. Unfortunately, yesterday was my day off and my body was pretty out of whack. I had only one meal the entire day, and that was 12 dumplings at about 2pm. I was also hella tired and took a 2 hr nap before working out. I only got through 6 of the 10 exercises and I'm pretty sure I could have gotten through more if I had kept myself hydrated, rested, and fed throughout the day.

Assisted pull-ups - With the bar on the Smith machine set to about chest level, cross your feet and do pull-ups.

Kettlebell swings - With a 12kg kettlebell.

Squats - With an 8kg kettlebell.

Push-ups - I did 15 from the feet and finished with 15 from the knees.

Half get-ups - With an 8kg kettlebell. The first half of a Turkish get-up. Lying on the ground, one leg bent and one straight, hold the kettlebell at the chest and press it straight up. Bring yourself to a sit up positiong, putting your weight onto your other arm's forearm and then hand (with the kettlebell still raised). Lower yourself by doing the reverse.

Rows - With the 8kg kettlebell I think, 15 with each arm.

The exercises I didn't get to included lunges, kettlebell snatches, kettlebell clean & press/jerk (er, don't remember which), and one more.

I stopped by Gelson's afterwards to make my meals for the week. I cooked up some spaghetti with Italian tomato sauce, some sauteed Italian squash/zucchini, ground beef, and sausage. The sausage had been sitting in the fridge for a while so I'm not sure if they're still entirely good. Lawrence thought they tasted sour but I thought they were fine. Total, the batch I made cost about $10. The sauce was $5.00, the squash + zucchini were $2.50, the ground beef was $2.00. The sausage and the 1 lb. (dry) of spaghetti I already had on hand (Lawrence's mom is constantly giving us tons of noodles - udon, soba, somen, spaghetti, linguini, etc. - I've got a box full of just dried noodles).

Unfortunately Lawrence won't eat any more of the pasta because the sausage has tainted everything else with its sourness. My tummy has been just fine so far though, so let's see how far this will get me. So far, it has been good for last night's dinner and today's lunch. I'll heat some up for a quick dinner before going to my knitting group tonight, so that's effectively $3.33 per meal so far. Although, if I count Lawrence's dinner last night, that makes it $2.50 spent for each of 4 meals as of tonight. There is still a ton of it left and I think I may even be able to get through Friday dinner with this pasta.

Next time I'd like to make a creamier sauce, or something that will stick to the noodles more. Maybe I need a higher sauce to noodle ratio. I briefly tried to find something online about noodle:sauce ratio but nothing popped up.

Unless I cut up the noodles so they're smaller or use a smaller pasta, I think it may be better to keep any large additions on the side. The chunks of squash and sausage were not evenly distributed within the noodles. I had to scoop out the veggies from the bottom of the pot to balance out the noodles. I may try cooking the ground beef with the sauce next time, or maybe make some sauce from scratch. I didn't want to bother this time because the jar said not to boil the sauce - perhaps because that would remove too much water content. I gave it a nice extra little kick by adding some red pepper flakes. I've found that I'm more comfortable with consuming medium-spicy foods and will actually prefer it for the kick it gives. That reminds me of the Koreans I knew in college. :)

Renegade Craft Fair - or - OMG, where did my money go?!

This weekend was the first time the Renegade Craft Fair came to Los Angeles. [Becky: if you haven't been to it before, you should definitely check it out when it' in SF...which it will be actually next weekend July 18-19!).

I went to check it out today since it seemed to be the kind of indie craft stuff that's right up my alley. It was held in downtown Los Angeles, and while not directly accessible from the Metro rail lines, I had a decently easy time getting there by switching to a bus. Note to self though, wear walking shoes instead of 4-inch platform heels next time. The fair was held on the top floor of the California Market Center, a building which apparently showcases the latest in fashion, home accessories, and gift items.

There were a lot of vendors, which made it a great shopping experience. You get a lot of variety and can easily spend several hours exploring all the cool stuff. Products included jewelry, clothing, screen printed t-shirts, posters, greeting cards, pet items, baby clothing, handspun yarns, novelty buttons, natural make-up, soaps, and tons more. A lot of the vendors sell on Etsy.com and I even recognized a few.

I ended up spending a ton of money here. Some vendors didn't take credit card, so I took their business card instead. I also picked up the business cards of vendors that had stuff that looked interesting but didn't have anything that immediately caught my eye. The following are the vendors I bought from.

Rebe
http://www.myrebe.com/
$87.80 - I bought a thin sweater made of a knit fabric. It opens in the front and has a single button under the bust. The bottom is angled so that it's longer in the back, and the neckline has a slightly ruffley collar. I didn't expect it to look good on my since I usually avoid thin stretchy fabrics, but this sweater is definitely very cute. I think I'm a little too busty to wear it buttoned, but it looks great open too.

Jake & Micah
http://www.jackandmicah.com
$16.46 - I bought a collar with a bell for my kitty. It's made from a red fabric with flowers on it. I like the idea and if I ever am productive enough I may try to make one myself.

fomato cards
http://www.fomato.com
$20 - 8 cards. These people sell some totally cute, random, weird greeting cards. Most of the ones they had on display were birthday cards with themes ranging from tea, potatoes, pessimism, eating whole foods, cheese, sushi, to evil figures in history.

Spincycle Yarns
http://spincycleyarns.com
$84.98 - I bought a "Sparkleface Scarf Kit". I think I've seen this store mentioned on Ravelry before. There were a ton of handspun/hand-dyed yarns in all colors. I couldn't decide what to get since all the colors were so beautiful, but I knew I had to buy something (knitters represent!). What ended up catching my eye was a sample scarf. The yarn is a handspun made from 75% merino wool and 25% kid mohair. The kit is actually a collaboration between Spincycle Yarns and Moth and Squirrel, who makes cute felted critters from recycled thrift shop wool sweaters. The kit comes with a cute little felted bird with a button on the back so you can use it as a scarf pin. It comes with a pattern too, awesomeness!

Figs & Ginger
http://www.figsandginger.com
$21.95 - Their items were simple and few but all totally cute! Their necklaces & earrings come with either birds, deer, or bunnies and I bought the little bird stud earrings. I really wanted to get the birds sitting on the circle, but this was the last vendor I bought from and I already spent wayyy too much.

traveling rhinos
http://www.travelingrhinos.com
$32.00 - "Character" handspun yarn in whites, blues, and greens. This is a corriedale wool yarn with bamboo, tencel, and angelina sparkle fibers. This was the 2nd handspun yarn vendor I saw, so I had to buy a skein! :)

jane e roberti
http://janeeroberti.etsy.com
$52.44 - Sakura Branch earrings. Jane makes jewelry from sheet metal pressed out into shapes, and then cuts in designs with a jewelry saw. The necklaces and earrings she makes are beautifully delicate looking!

meander
http://meander.etsy.com
$50 - I don't see my receipt for this one so I guess I'll have to look at my credit card bill. (ETA: I looked at my bills!) I bought a pair of dangly hoopy earrings. The girl at the booth was awesome - she commented on my earrings too (I was wearing dangly hoopy earrings too). She also loves the long dangly hoopy stuff! I ended up switching out my earrings after buying the pair.

Nate Duval
http://www.nateduval.com
$35.00 - 2 printed tees. They're actually new designs, just printed a week ago. Both are thin low v-necks with floral line drawings printed on. I wanted to get more of these types of thin tees after I found I really liked the one I bought at Macy's.

__________________________

darling bud designs
http://darlingbuddesigns.etsy.com
This was the third vendor I saw that was selling handspun yarn. I wanted to buy some but they didn't take credit cards and I didn't have enough cash on me. I did get a free sample of the yarn with the business card, which is pretty cool.

dee&lala
http://www.deeandlala.com
This vendor sells letterpress stationary and greeting cards. I love the art style of the work - very simple and geometric. The paper is thick and the letterpressing, which creates a textured surface, makes the work even more unique. If I hadn't already bought 8 cards, I totally would have bought more here. They were selling $4 each, $10 for 3.

mehoi.com
http://www.mehoi.com
This was the first booth I saw at the fair. What caught my eye were the cute little ear studs (which weren't actually that little). There's a cute cute pair of sheep - perfect for a knitter. Unfortunately they were cash only, or rather, essentially cash only as the credit card processing would convert to Canadian $ and charge a ridiculous percentage. There was no BofA atm nearby so I didn't get to buy these earrings before I left the fair. :(

Sweet Meats
http://www.sweet-meats.com
When I saw this booth, I couldn't stop smiling. Becky, I thought of you at several of these booths, but none of them channeled you as much as this one. The girls at this booth were selling plush meats. Ham, t-bone, bacon plushies = teh awesomeness!

tanya aguiniga
http://aguinigadesign.com/
Some of the booths seemed less commercial and more artsy, as in they were showcasing an artist's designs. This was the one that caught my eye the most because the artist used fibers. There were felted birds and bracelets/necklaces from looped yarns.

There's probably more I could write about but I'm tired now. Whew, what a day! After coming home, I ran multiple heroic dungeons with the guild...Utgarde Keep, Utgarde Pinnacle, Azjul-Nerub, Ahnkenet, Nexus, Violet Hold, & Culling of Stratholme. I wrote this blog entry in the downtime. I am thoroughly tired now and do not look forward to seeing how much money I spent today. OMG, it must have been over $400. I just spent $250 on yarn from Artfibers too... :( OMG OMG OMG.

Tomorrow I am seriously going to plan out my meals for the week and buy stuff super cheap from the market so I can cook my meals, even if that means spaghetti every single day. OH MY GOURDS! ;_;

Forgot to post about Monday's workout

It was a short 3 exercise circuit repeated 3 times.

1) Step-hop up an exercise bench - 15x each side
2) Push-ups with feet resting on the exercise bench - 15x.
3) With one arm on a cable attached to 100+lb of weights, start from a lunge position and stand, simultaneously bringing one knee up and pulling the cable towards you - 15x each side.

Thursday workout

Kettlebell exercises at the gym (I think these are correct...I really should have written this the day of):

a single 12kg kettlebell:
- 30x two-handed swings
- 30x one-handed swings, each side

a single 8kg kettlebell:
- 15x sequence of clean, press, snatch, each side
- 15x snatches, each side

with two 12kg kettlebells:
- 15x with hands on kettlebells, jump feet back into push-up position, push-up, jump feet in and stand up holding the bells

a single 12kg kettlebell:
- 20x two-handed swings
- 20x one-handed swings, each side

Kitty Update

I thought I posted about this but I guess it slipped my mind...we took Muffin back to the vet when we told them that she wasn't eating anything and had not passed any poop. Lawrence took her to the vet (I had to go back home when I was halfway to work because he couldn't get her into the carrier, haha). They gave her an enema and she passed 8 meatball-sized hairballs. I wish I could have seen them.

She still wasn't eating much after that (I don't blame her, it was probably pretty traumatic) even though her temperature is normal, so on Monday the vet gave me some multivitamins and an anabolic steroid to give her. This steroid apparently does not damage the liver and will stimulate muscle growth, which will cause her to have a voracious appetite. They said it works very well but they couldn't get it for a few years because humans would abuse it. When I woke up this morning, all her food from yesterday was gone so it looks like things are getting better. :) Once she's back to normal I'll be able to take her in for her vaccines.

Creamy Yogurt

I've been trying out various brands of Greek yogurt ever since I first heard about it on the Body4Life forums, and then later on the Ravelry forums. Greek yogurt is thicker and creamier than American yogurt. It's also less tangy and I loooove it! The ones that I've seen also do not use HFCS. It may have a lot of fat, but it really fills me up in the mornings. It's got lots of proteins and none of the sweeteners and additives of the regular yogurts (Yoplait, Dannon, etc.). Even with the added fruit flavors, it's not too sweet.

Fage is one of the popular and more widely available brands but I actually haven't tried it. Trader Joe's has their own brand which is pretty good. There's also Oikos (from Stonyfield Farm), which I have not tried, and The Greek Gods, which I have (it's okay). Recently, however, I bought a Canadian brand I found at Gelson's...just to try it. This stuff was SO GOOD - it's "Mediterranee" by a brand called Liberte. It's very rich and creamy - omg, soooo goood.

I used to buy yogurt on sale at $.50 a cup and then eat 2 cups for breakfast. Each cup of this yogurt is probably fewer ounces, costs around $1.50, but I only need to eat one in the morning and I'm happy. It also beats going to Starbucks and buying some sugar-filled pastry. I'm going to check in on Gelson's whenever I walk home and seriously stock up if this stuff ever goes on sale.