Pet Peeve

Last week I was so mad on my way to work. Why? In the short drive from the feeder road to the highway on ramp, the guy in the car in front of me tossed a tissue, a cigarette butt, and something else out the window. I had a good mind to take a photo of him so that I could post his picture on the Internet, but road safety took over. He was driving a late model grayish black car (I think it was a Mazda) and his license plate may have started with 4636. Unfortunately I didn't get a pic. He deserves public embarrassment. For shame, for shame.

In other news, I'm in a good mood this week because my brother Galen is visiting me. He's been making breakfast and cutting up fruit for me to take to work every morning, and has cooked dinner for me as well. It's nice to hang out with him - tonight we went swimming after dinner.

In typical fashion

Oh my gosh, this is my first post for 2009?!? This will be unsuprising to those who know me well - on Sunday we went to pick up my stimulus check/consumption voucher.* Pick-up times were from 9:30am to 5:30pm on Sunday. Of course, we wanted to enjoy a leisurely Sunday at home, so we slept in, had breakfast, made tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, surfed the web...until I looked at the time and realized it was almost 5pm. We hurried out of the house and Neil pulled up to the Post Office where they were distributing the vouchers and I hopped out and ran in through the door at...5:29pm. Talk about cutting it close!

In other news, I'm still not fully unpacked from our trip to the States, I still haven't posted pictures from our ski trip to Korea last year, and we got a new camera (Canon PowerShot SD790IS), which I love and am working on (slowly, of course) getting the photos downloaded to my computer and uploaded online for all to see.

Some highlights of our trip back:

Neil picking kumquats from my Uncle Ted's backyard.


Close-up of the kumquats.


AMAZING "Papa's Portobello" burger at the Veggie Grill, one of the best meals we had in the U.S. My brother Galen took us there. It is really good (and yes, I'm using omnivore standards here). Go, go! You will be so glad you did.


We ended up behind "Obama '08 / GO V3GAN" at an intersection in L.A.

More to come...I promise!

*Instead of cutting checks to the people, the Taiwan government have cleverly decided to stimulate the economy by issuing vouchers worth NT$3,600 (about a little over US$100; they come in NT$500 and NT$200 increments). These vouchers can be redeemed participating retailers around Taiwan - it's sort of like universal gift certificates. Clever, huh?

Migraine

Had a horrible migraine Monday night. Left work early and crawled straight into bed. Not sure if it was due to monthly hormonal changes, or the 10°C drop in temperature overnight. I slept for over 14 hours and I'm better now.

Baking

I've been baking a lot recently. Behold:


Chocolate Chip Cookies


Chocolate Cranberry Pecan No-Knead Bread (I subbed cranberries for the cherries)


Pumpkin Surprise Pie ("surprise" = cheesecake layer)


Lemon Polenta Cake


Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake


Pumpkin Pecan Pie


Banana Muffins

workout log

Friday 5 Dec
Body Balance class - 50 mins

Thursday 4 Dec
20 mins elliptical (~3.8km), Level 7; 1 hr strength (core) training with trainer

Wednesday 3 Dec
Body Balance class - 60 mins

Monday 1 Dec
Elliptical trainer - 67 mins on the elliptical, 7.8km, Level 7

Reflections on the election

A little late, but here are some beautifully written reactions to the election:

Judith Warner's Tears to Remember
and
Shuna F Lydon's Where Did My Hope Go When It Was Lost?

The lines that strike me the most are the ones that speak to the fervent wish that America is turning away from being the land of the greedy and rich, and where "patriotism" will not be confused with "bellicose provincialism."

Hope that the hope is not misplaced - he's normal, he's not radical (he's just like us!), he's smart, curious, and post-Boomer (he's just like a few of us!).

And finally, as a former corporate speechwriter (of admittedly bland ones full of corporate buzzwords), this article on Barack Obama's oratory is instructive.

Happy Thanksgiving all. There is much to be thankful for.

workout log

Credit my brother's team workout log. I need motivation, hence a public workout log.

Friday 28 Nov
30 minutes elliptical

Thursday 27 Nov
25mins elliptical, Level 7, stayed b/w 8-9kph. 1 hr weight training with trainer: 3×20 standing rows bending forward, 3×20 ab curl on a balance board and balance mat, 3×20 leg throw down (ab exercise), 3×20 outer thigh/hip swinging lift while on a stability ball, assisted stretching

Wednesday 26 Nov
Elliptical trainer - 10 mins, Level 7, averaged b/w 8-9kph
Body Balance (yoga-pilates-tai chi mix) class - 60 mins

Monday 24 Nov
Elliptical trainer - 30 mins, Level 7, tried to avg 9 km/h but fell to b/w 8-9 in the last 10 minutes while watching CNN but sweated a lot), 5 mins warmdown