Hello all my Vox people!!!!
Just wanted to check in, let you all know that I'm alive & kicking.
- thehaitianqueen has become a tumblr blog, & I love it!
- I talk about all my carnival exploits at live from brooklyn.
- Last but not least, you can find me talking my behind off at twitter.
Hope all is well, & happy holidays!
If you could have personally witnessed one event in history, which one would you want to have seen?
This may sound strange, but I wish that I could've witnessed the attempted capture/murder of Pablo Escobar. I have a passion for watching true crime stories, especially when there has been some unsolved facts about how a murder happened.
So the other day I was cooking what I was hoping would be a nice juicy steak for dinner. But for some reason it didn't really look or smell very appetizing to me and the very thought of eating that slab of cow carcass really made me sick to my stomach. I took two bites and was done.
A similar thing happened the other day as I got ready to bite into my well-marinated chicken leg that had smelled oh so good in the oven. A big red vein was staring me right in the face - almost still pulsating as I set it down and decided to not take another bite.
This is when I decided it was time for me to stop being grossed out by my dinners and just cut out these things for good. It's been about a week since I've done this and I've likely eaten much more junk food than I should have, but it is also helping me to look at the way I eat and giving me more ideas on creative things I can make in lieu of meats.
I'll probably not give in completely and become a hardcore vegetarian, but I've decided to limit myself to chicken (breast only - no veins, kthanx) or fish only 1-2 times per week. I've been posting some of my meals on my facebook status only to realize that some of my friends would probably like to know the recipes I've been concocting, so as I try new things (or even if they aren't new and I put my own spin on them), I'll try to post them here.
I read this book on a recommendation from a friend and I ended up loving the story. It's a story within a story (as told by the protagonist) about a young man name Kvothe (pronounced Quothe) who becomes orphaned after his family is murdered by the mysterious Chandrian. After spending many years begging on the streets, Kvothe decides he must make his way to the university as this was what his family would have wanted him to do. Using his quick wits and his penchant for mischief, he is accepted into the university where he makes both friends and enemies. Kvothe is a magician, a musician and a young man trying to solve the mysteries of his parent's murder - this story is set in a completely original world with all the fantasy elements a reader would want to see.
How green is your school, office, or home?
Sponsored by One Million Acts of Green brought to you by Cisco.
Dude my building is so green. I work in the Cal/EPA building in Sacramento so we kind of have to be green as an example. Don't get me wrong - I love this building, but some of the green features are a bit wonky.
Here is what the website says (my notes in red).
"Green" Elements at the Cal/EPA Building
Cal/EPA Wins Award
In December 1999, California Construction Link magazine awarded the new Cal/EPA building "Best of 1999 Awards--Outstanding Engineering" for "innovation in air handling, window placement, and recycling, resulting in a 25-story office tower with significant energy savings over California’s stringent energy codes."
Cal/EPA's new home has many environmentally sensitive features. A few are listed below:
- Building design that maximizes daylight penetration through the optimal placement of windows, and by minimizing the number of hard wall offices close to the windows. (AKA - NO ONE GETS A GOOD WINDOW SEAT)
- Dual pane "Low E" exterior glass for energy conservation.
- Super high efficiency/low mercury lighting tubes, and perimeter light sensors that automatically dim the lights when the sun shines in brightly.
- Solar energy generation of up to 55,180 KWH by the 736 photovoltaic panels mounted on the low rise roof.
- Low-flow toilets. (THESE DO NOT FLUSH NUMBER 2 SO WELL...)
- Each floor has at least two mechanical rooms, which also function as "fan rooms" that serve only that floor, and can flush that floor with outside air, on command.
- Use of environmentally sensitive and resource efficient materials throughout.
- Provision of 25 electric vehicle charging stations on the roof of the city's Lot I parking garage (Cal/EPA is also pursuing solar panels for electrical generation in connection with these stations).
- Siting for the future placement of a 250 KW natural gas powered fuel cell.
- Use of zero-VOC (volatile organic compound) paints throughout the interior.
- Use of 52 percent recycled-content carpet tiles, with a "sticky-back" feature that does not require wet glue, and therefore significantly reduces the introduction of VOCs into the work place. (YEAH THESE ARE UGLY AS HECK)
- Special design of the dock area recycling center and recycling collection points on each floor to maximize recycling activities. (WE RECYCLE SO MUCH I DON'T EVEN HAVE A GARBAGE CAN)
I both love and hate blogging. I love it because it gives me the chance to
write about whatever I want; I hate it because I can never figure out WHERE
or how often I want to blog. Most of the time I get all caught up on
facebook or gmail where I feel more like I'm just micro blogging or
gossiping instead of sitting down and really thinking about something I'd
like to broadcast to the world. With that said, I end up bouncing from here
on Vox to my Blogger Blog (which I don't like much because the layouts are
so UGLY), but my friends can't really post here on Vox unless they have an
account, which is a bummeroonie.
Anyway, on to my ode to summer..
So far, summer has been really great. Although I hate the fact that I'm
getting furloughed 2 days a week at my state job - it really makes for
awesome times by the pool or shopping with my mom or having all day movie
marathons on the big screen at home.
A couple weeks ago me, my boyfriend, his daughter and my youngest brother
went to Great America (which I must sadly report is not as great as it was
when I was young), but we had a blast anyway. There were no lines for the
rides and we quite smartly packed our lunch in an ice chest as to avoid the
$8.99 corn dog meals in the park. We did kind of forget to take picture
though - except for that one of my boyfriend mock-elbowing me in the face
when my brother shouted "say cheese" from 10 yards away. I'm not sure it's
worth the effort to upload.
I've also been a major movie junkie thanks to the Blockbuster endless summer
promotion. We've been swapping out DVDs like maniacs at our house. My
favorite of recent past is *Gran **Torino*. I couldn't take my eyes off
Clint Eastwood - he is just so amazing. Plus the storyline was well crafted
and reminded me a bit of my own Asian-descent family.
My reading lists usually get longer in the summer and I've become a
frequenter of the public library after I realized it just wasn't worth
buying a book that would only take me one day to read. Right now I am
plowing through Stephen King's Dark Tower series (I'm on book 5 of 7),
reading Sookie Stackhouse novels here and there in between, and whatever
else seems to strike my fancy along the way. I should probably update my
booklists here...that may help.
Anyway - summer is a good, revitalizing time for me. I feel happier and get
more things done (maybe because the sun is out for oh so long). A few things
I hope to write about on the horizon:
- My middle brother's birthday is tonight - we're having a BBQ and I
haven't seen him in months because he lives in Truckee (but luckily he is
moving back and near my neighborhood). I'll take pics if I can remember.
- In two weeks I'll be at the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the
Half-Blood Prince (gotta dig out my witch costume!)
- And at the end of the month I'm going to see No Doubt and Paramore in
concert (yay!)
What is your favorite musical instrument?
Submitted by Chicago Shadow.Since I don't play any instruments, I like to hear and see people who play the bass guitar.
- Vox is starting to get boring again. Not a lot of updates, and honestly I'm not real motivated to post here either. I have another blog that I resurrected the later part of 08, but I don't like trying to maintain two blogs. But, I just might go back to posting there exclusively.
- Health wise - I'm doing wonderful! Still taking my Herceptin ever 21 days! If I didn't have the medi-port and had the need to visit the hospital for the one infusion I would feel 100% normal. I've been following up on the nodules identified on my thyroid during the PET and CT scans taken during my active breast cancer treatment. My Oncologist didn't think it was anything and wanted to wait until I finished the course of my treatment. I actually brought it up as I want to rule out any potential problems read:thyroid cancer. Had my first appointment with yet another Dr.M this morning. She was cool, a breast cancer survivor. She did a sonogram of the nodules on my thyroid and they drew blood to study my thyroid activity. There will probably be a specialize scan (forgot what she called it) and perhaps a biopsy. She told me she felt they were benign and that I shouldn't have anything to worry about.
- Well I have a long "to do" list for this month!!! The builder advised me that my new home will be completed on Feb 26th. So, one of the things I loathe - packing will have to start soon. Along with all the other tasks associated with a move. I'm excited! But this date actually caused me to cancel my plans to go to San Francisco for my birthday. Yea, its the exact week. But well worth it!
- Speaking of travel, I've decided to go to Australia this summer instead of Greece. I saw a program on television that featured Melbourne - LOVED IT!
- Been shopping for contemporary art and few specific pieces. I think I'm going to be painting a few on my own pieces. I forgot how expensive art supplies are though - MY GOSH! I don't know how/why I forgot considering T is a second year art major and I've had to buy her supplies every semester.
- One of my favorite shows is back! Nip Tuck! I think we are about 3 episodes into the new season. Christian has male breast cancer and of course he has turned it into way to get more sex! Whore! Loves it! Also, I watched RuPaul's new show "Drag Race" OMG! Some of them are a hott ass mess! His show should be interesting.
- Work is work. I'm blessed. I have work.
- Life is good!
The weather didn't slow the progress too much last week!
Items completed:
- hardwood floors installed
- glass in kitchen cabinets
- front door and all door hardware
- driveway and sidewalk poured
- Vanity glass in all bathrooms
- towel bars installed
- sod and shrubs
