Insomniac in L.A.

Good Bye ... Or Not?

2010-09-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

I accepted a job offer in Seattle a few months ago and when I moved in the middle of July, I thought that it might be time for me to retire this blog.

I had said my good-byes to friends and family in Los Angeles, and was reacquainting myself to old friends in Seattle. Quickly settling into my new former city, I was looking for houses to buy, and had even put an offer on a house.

Then two weeks ago we were informed that the company that I had been working for less than 2 months was merging with a very large Fortune 500 company. The mood at work went from relaxed and collegial to one of impending doom.

After (not) sleeping on it, I withdrew my offer on the house within 24 hours of learning of the merger. This started me on a mini-adventure in the search for housing in Seattle. I looked high and low, near and far. I looked at apartments, houseboats, and floating home.

And I've decided that it isn't quite time for me to retire this blog just yet. I've decided to start up another blog about my life in Seattle, but keep this blog because, well, I might be back in Los Angeles in a few months...

Just to remind me that my L.A. life isn't too far behind me, I saw Sir Mix-a-Lot and his entourage down by the pier in Seattle a few weeks ago. The sightings don't end just 'cuz I'm not in L.A. anymore!

Sighting at the Mall

2010-06-22T17:20:00.001-07:00

I went to the local mall to get my watch battery replaced and saw Ted McGinley walking out of the Williams and Sonoma. Just last weekend I happened to turn on the t.v. and 'Married With Children' was on. In the episode Jefferson (Ted's character) was mistaken for 'that guy on The Love Boat'. That show aired over 15 years ago.

Ted looked good, and he's aging naturally which is always great to see because plastic surgery is almost an epidemic in Los Angeles.

Star Sighting at the Airport

2010-06-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

I neglected to add in my last blog entry (Great Wall Marathon) that Tony Hawk and his entourage were on our plane back from Beijing. We first saw him at the Beijing Airport. Tony and his people were intermingled with the people from our marathon tour group. As we got in line for departure inspection, I turned around and saw him with one of his children on his shoulders. Tony is really tall and it's hard to miss him in China. One of the older gentlemen from our group, Craig, was talking up a storm with his wife. He had no idea who he was talking to.

Apparently some of the people in his entourage are famous skaters and snowboarders too. Somebody recognized them from the X-Games. One of them sat next to my sister and me on the airplane-- he was really chill and a good airplane seat neighbor. Tony and his family flew first class and everybody else flew coach, so we didn't see him again until passport inspection at SFO.

I was told that they were in Beijing for a few days for the opening of some huge skate park. China is now trying to promote skating. I'm trying to imagine skateboards intermingled with the bikes, motor scooters, cars, and rickshaws.

Great Wall Marathon

2010-06-10T17:30:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, I was looking at adventure marathons online. I was actually looking for info on the Big Five Marathon when I came across a link to the Great Wall Marathon. The chance to run on the Great Wall of China? That sounded just plain cool and not as menacing as running on the African Savannah with a bunch of wild lions and hippos.

After the L.A. Marathon this year, I wasn't up to doing another marathon soon. But I almost never have a problem 'kicking out a fun half'. Plus, I have a friend who ran the Great Wall Half a few years ago and her description of the full combined with the fact that I don't really enjoy full marathons made the decision to run a half an easy one.

I had the time, the money, and the ankles/knees (most importantly the time) this year to run the Great Wall as a half so I did-- and it was a great decision! It was a fun and challenging race, and I enjoyed the experience.

This is one of those races where runners are required to buy into a tour package to run the race. I had picked up a flyer at a pre-race expo last year for Kathy Loper Events, one of the race tour operators that operates out of the U.S. I have only great things to say about the tour. I LOVED IT! Kathy, Kurt, and Sharon (the operators on the trip) did a great job organizing everything. My sister came with me and we did the 9 day tour which took us through several sights in Beijing and some of the sights in Xi'an, as well as the race on the Great Wall. Comparing my tour photos with a friend who had toured China several years ago, we went to several of the same places in Beijing and Xi'an as he did. I guess that part of the tour was pretty typical, so I won't describe it too much because this blog entry is about the race on the wall and not tourist sights in China.

They offered several distances for the race: 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon. I did the half and my sister did the 10K. To briefly describe the courses for those interested in running one of these some day: the 5K runs only on the wall; the 10K runs through one village and up the wall in the primarily uphill direction, then runs downhill on the road to the finish; the half marathon first runs through a village and uphill to the wall, it then runs on the wall in the primarily downhill direction, then through a few villages before finishing where it started; the marathon runs the same path as the half marathon except there are a few extra villages in the middle, and then they run the wall a second time in the direction opposite of what they ran the first time (i.e. primarily uphill).

I had read descriptions of the race online before running it, but the videos/photos/descriptions that I read did not describe it accurately (especially for training purposes). In general, the stairs of the Wall are not even or level and some of them are just a bunch of loose rocks. This should be no surprise since they were made by hand over a thousand years ago to purposely make it difficult for people to infiltrate the Wall. However, the first surprise was that the steps are much steeper and taller than seen in the pictures and video. The best way to train for them would be to run up and down two 'normal' stairs at a time. The second was that they are very shallow so the best way to go up and down them if you have adult sized feet is sideways. The third surprise was that the section through the village in the middle (i.e. after mile 9) is actually a pretty steep uphill through manure fertilized farmland and rocks. This was one of those 'jokes' where runners look at the elevation chart and see a small blip and think nothing of it until they actually run it and realize that the blip was small on the chart because the elevation change at the wall is super huge in comparison. That blip is actually a pretty big 4-5 mile uphill on unstable ground.

The descriptions before the race said that the best way to train for the marathon would be to run an hour, then do an hour of steps, then run another hour afterwards. This is exactly what I did for the half marathon. These training runs were grueling but worth it. They made the uphill and upstairs of the race relatively fun. These training runs did not adequately prepare me for the fact that most of my steps would be down. If I had known this, I would have done some trail running where I would take the road to the top and the trail back down to the bottom.

Even with all of this, I was very happy after running this half. It was my personal worst half-marathon time by over an hour (compared to when I ran a half on a sprained ankle) because there were several traffic jams along the wall and I wasn't able to really run the wall section. But I loved every minute of it!

One last tip: two days before the race they had a pre-race inspection day where we walked the section of the wall where we were to run. Even though it freaked me out a bit after walking it, I'm glad that I did because my brain was ready to process the challenge and danger before the race. Some people did not do the pre-race inspection, but I think it is a wise thing to do considering the possible problems with footing along the wall.

LA Marathon 2010

2010-04-20T15:20:00.001-07:00

It has taken me a while to post on the LA Marathon so let's cut to the chase. The Marathon Medal:

The ribbon on the medal is very nice. It is printed on both sides with photos of the 'Icons of LA' that we ran past during the race. Unfortunately, the medal design looked really familiar to me. This is a comparison with the Long Beach Half Marathon 2009 medal:

As for the race itself, the course is destined to be a classic. It starts at Dodger Stadium (literally waited on the outfield grass) and ends at Santa Monica Pier. And it is a tourists' L.A. primer in between. People stopped to take pictures in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, and I stopped to get a photo (camera on phone) with one of the cross-dressing cheerleaders in West Hollywood:

One of the funniest sights were the store managers standing outside of their shops on Rodeo Drive-- apparently to keep out the marathon running rif-raf. They were ridiculously serious. I guess they were trying to prevent the marathon runners from (literally) running off with a Versace Suit! At mile 20 when I was just ready for it to all be over with, we entered the Veterans Administration. They had American Flags posted along the side of the road and some veterans came out from the hospital to cheer us on. It was really really nice.

Though it was a great course, I was happy to see the end of this race. Personally, it was my worst marathon time by far and I'm not happy about that. But I'll leave the drama and complaints about the events that transpired that day out of the blog.

Advice for those running the race in the future and are reading this blog entry for suggestions: 1. The McDonald's on Hollywood Blvd is a great place to use the bathroom (around mile 14-15). Otherwise you risk having to compete with a homeless person for the portable toilets. 2. Hill training. The first half of the race is hilly, and the first 5 miles have some steep hills. A lot of people didn't know this and it killed them in the end. 3. There is another not-so-fun up-hill section around mile 20. It doesn't look bad on paper, but it isn't fun on legs after 20 miles. 4. The traffic leaving Santa Monica after the race was really bad compared to normal horrible L.A. gridlock. Be prepared to spend a few hours in your car.

Otherwise, I would definitely recommend this race. The organizers tried to put on a great race and it showed!

Most recent star sighting

2010-02-20T17:20:00.000-08:00

I haven't left the Valley much lately so it has been a while since I've seen anybody notable. This week I happened to drive over to the West side of L.A. and *poof* two celebrity sightings. A few days ago I saw Samuel L. Jackson in his car (more like a big black truck/SUV) trying to maneuver through traffic. Then this morning I ran past Josh Duhamel having breakfast at a sidewalk cafe. They both look pretty much like they do in t.v. and the movies. I've got to get out of the Valley more!

Snow!!!

2010-01-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, right after New Years Day, I got to hike in snow which is a rare treat here in Southern California!

I know that most of the middle of the country is literally frozen in sub-zero temperatures, and the desire to be in snow when I can easily hang out at the beach and bake in the sun sounds stupid to a lot of frozen people right now. But something in my primal being just craved snow-- not just seeing it on the top of the mountains from afar, but I craved actually surrounding myself in it like when I grew up in Wisconsin.

The two local options for snow are Big Bear at the ski resort, or to the Palm Springs aerial tram to the top of Mt. San Jacinto (tram drop off at 8500 ft elevation, mountain top at 10,300 ft elevation). We chose the tram and had a lot of fun!

The tram itself moves through multiple climate zones which they liken to traveling from the desert in Mexico (base) to the mountains of the arctic (top). It rotates while traveling up the mountain so you get 360 views without any effort. And it is the world's largest rotating tramcar. It was, in a nutshell, worth the entrance fee and ride to get to the top of the mountain.

Walking through the snow was a blast too! It was icy so we opted for 'Yak Trax' shoe grippers instead of snowshoes. The Yak Trax made a huge difference and gave us enough traction that we didn't feel like we were slipping and sliding. We were surrounded by a few other nature trail walkers and hikers. But the majority of people were there to go sledding with their children. They sell sleds at the tram gift shop, and there were a lot of people having tons of fun. It was fun just watching them slide through the snow and ice.

Temperature-wise, it was in the 50's at the top of the mountain so it wasn't that cold. The ice/snow hangs around because it gets below freezing at night and there is a lot of it for the sun to melt.

This is definitely one place that I plan on re-visiting someday, and I would highly recommend it to anybody who wants a little refreshing break from the heat and desert below!

The intimacy of walking

2009-12-21T15:45:00.000-08:00

I am sans-automobile for a few days and decided to do my errands on foot. While walking towards my bank on Ventura Boulevard I noticed a lot of graffiti on walls, trash cans, mailboxes, and gates. I normally don't see this "urban art" when I drive past it at 30 mph in my car. I also don't see how much litter and dirt there is on the streets. I can't help thinking that if more people walked this area daily, they would make more of an effort to keep the area graffiti and litter free. Los Angeles would be a much cleaner city if more people walked instead of drove.

Once I got to Ventura Boulevard, I also noticed that the character of the street has changed in the past year. A few years ago the street was chock-full of upper-end boutiques, shops, and restaurants. Last year there were quite a few store closings and 'for lease' signs. Now these empty storefronts have been filled with discount and lower-end businesses. I would never have though it would be the case, but I guess Ventura Blvd is a reflection of the state of the economy.

On this walk I also noticed a lot of condos and houses for lease, but none for sale. Newly built condos are being leased instead of sold. I'm assuming this is because the builders can get much more money (and a higher occupancy) if they rent out the units instead of sell them.

I never notice this stuff when I drive. And I focus on other stuff when I run the streets. But walking the streets has made me wish more people walked so they could actually see the city they live in. The city feels more intimate and personal on foot, and neighbors more neighborly when we aren't separated by metal cages.

I wish more people walked around town but then again this is Los Angeles-- a city married to the automobile.

A great way to start a Sunday morning

2009-12-13T22:37:00.000-08:00

Today I ran my first 10K race. I've run 5K's, half-marathons, marathons, and ultra-marathons. And I've run a lot more than 10K in training. But I had never gotten around to running a 10K. In fact, I probably still wouldn't have if my sister hadn't insisted that she wanted to run the 10K instead of a 5K-- and I'm glad she did!

We ran the 'Say No To Drugs' Annual 5K/10K Classic. The course went through the backlot of Universal Studios and it was a wonderful race. We ran past 'Wisteria Lane' of Desperate Housewives fame, the Bates Motel, part of the 'Jaws' set, and several other interesting movie sets. With the mountain background and the cool temperatures, it was a beautiful race! Plus, with a relatively small number of participants (approx 2000) it wasn't as insane compared to almost every other race I've run in the past few years.

I wish that I had brought my camera and gotten pictures. It was just that kind of race. My sister had fun for her first 10K too.

For those of you thinking of running the race in the future, I say GO FOR IT. Just a little warning-- the course is VERY hilly. Someone had told me this before, but I wasn't prepared for the extreme slope. It wasn't the uphill, but the downhill on slick and wet slopes that gave me a moment of pause. Even worse were the sections of cobblestone ground. It was closer to a trail run than a regular race course. But it was still a lot of fun and I plan on running this race again next year!

A 5-day L.A. itinerary

2009-11-17T19:07:00.000-08:00

An old friend of mine visited this past week and it was a great chance to see some of the sights in L.A. that I haven't seen before. Luckily she wasn't that interested in seeing stuff like Hollywood Boulevard or Rodeo Drive so we got a chance to see some of the 'interesting' sights in and around L.A. Namely, we visited the following:

- The Queen Mary. This is an old sailing vessel that is now permanently docked in Long Beach. It was lots of fun to wander and explore, and it just *feels* haunted in places.

- The Fashion District in Downtown L.A. My friend is a sewer and quilter and we thought we would explore and look at the textiles. This multi-block area is AMAZING. There is store-upon-store of gorgeous fabric, beads, and trim for making clothes, drapes, jewelry, decorations, etc. And the best part are the deals that you can find here. There were complete bedding sets (gorgeous fabric) for $20-- the kind that I've seen at Macy's for $300!

- The Getty Villa. The grounds and the building are gorgeous and make for a very relaxing visit. I'm not knowledgeable in antiquities, but the explanation placards were very informative and relatively interesting.

- The Channel Islands National Park. The highlight of this has to be the hundreds of dolphins that we saw while on the boat returning back from the island.

- A taping of Jeopardy. We're not Jeopardy fans, but I think it was still interesting for my friend to see how shows are taped. The Jeopardy stage is larger than it looks like on t.v. which surprised me since every other set I've seen is smaller than it appears on t.v. Also, I never realized that there are Game Show Groupies akin to Star Trek Fans. The audience was primarily the groupies and relatives of the contestants. There were only a small handful of people who were there just to see the taping of a television show. Of course we saw Alex Trebek. He's just okay. Let's just say that he would not be anywhere near the top of my dinner-party invite list. He didn't seem to be that interesting, or smart, or nice ...

I don't usually get a chance to see what this city has to offer until somebody visits. It was a lot of fun taking a vacation in the city that I live in!

I remember the '80s

2009-11-05T10:38:00.000-08:00

I admit that I am old enough to remember the group 'Huey Lewis and the News'. Not only am I old enough to remember them, but I actually recognized 'Huey Lewis' at the grocery store yesterday. In my mind I see him in the black leather 80's style bomber jacket. But he was wearing regular street clothes at the grocery store, and it was a little bit of 'is that....?' His car was parked behind mine in the parking lot, and as I was putting my groceries into the back seat of my car, I saw him get into a red convertible Porsche. Then I knew it was him. He was easier to recognize because he fit into my impression of what a rock-and-roll star should look like.

This has been quite the week for spotting celebrities at the grocery store!

A really good idea

2009-11-04T09:10:00.000-08:00

One thing that most people know about L.A.-- it is a driver city. It is normal to spend hours in a car driving from place to place. With all the driving is the increased chance for car accidents. There are certain parts of the city that I avoid because they tend to be overpopulated with wealthy people in big SUVs who don't care about the traffic laws or anybody else on the road. I have been rear-ended several times since moving to this city and feel like a seasoned veteran at dealing with fender benders.

When I dropped my car off at the car mechanic today, we got to talking about car insurance and dealing with car accidents. He has had a lot of frustration dealing with the car insurance companies. As a result, he has developed a simple form that can be used for 'In case of accident'. The form contains space for the date/time/location, then information on the other car including the car's VIN number, year, make/model, car license, and license state. It then has space for the standard information of driver license number, state, name, insurance company, policy number, etc. Basically, he compiled all the information that an insurance company would need to complete a claim. If any of you are interested in a copy of the form just let me know and I can send it or post it online.

The genius of this ready-made accident form is the obviousness of the need for it. It's hard to think clearly after an accident sometimes. And sometimes it is even hard to find a sheet of paper to take down the other person's information. Having this form makes getting peoples' info a standardized process. I plan on keeping a copy of the form in my glove compartment so that I will be prepared when there is an accident.

BTW, the one item he stressed was to get the other car's VIN number. People sometimes get fake licenses or give the wrong telephone number, but police can usually trace a car's VIN number to the owner. If nothing else, get the other car's VIN number.

Happy motoring!

Top Ten List

2009-11-02T09:37:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I've seen a recognizable celebrity, but yesterday I saw someone who is in the current news media: David Letterman. I saw him at the grocery store parking lot yesterday. I had just parked my car and was walking to the corner and he was driving and waited for me to cross in front of his car. No, he wasn't wearing a hat. Yes, he was here in L.A. I know his show is filmed in NYC so I have no idea what he was doing here. Maybe he went to a Halloween party?

Anyways, in honor of David Letterman, this is my Top Ten List of favorite places to see a celebrity in this town:

1. Running (usually along the ocean between Venice and the Palisades).
2. While shopping at Fry's Electronics (section with the really big screen TVs).
3. At a restaurant.
4. On a plane (flying into/out of LAX or Burbank).
5. Driving on the streets.
6. At Starbucks (in Brentwood off of San Vicente or in Bel Air off of Mulholland).
7. While hiking past their house.
8. At the theater.
9. Local grocery store and farmers market (Studio City and Sherman Oaks).
10. Shopping at Target.

Halloween Disneyland

2009-10-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

Disneyland and California Adventure at Halloween-time:

Unfortunately it was very windy that day so there were no special Halloween fireworks. But the cooler temperature made for a pleasant day with no-wait lines (until school let-out). Disney Halloween is definitely fun! Plus, the little kids are in costumes for the special Disney trick-or-treating!

Nike Womens Half Marathon

2009-10-21T02:08:00.000-07:00

I wasn't expecting much after attending the race expo, but the Nike Womens Half Marathon ended up being a really gorgeous and fun race. And the Finishers necklace from Tiffanys isn't too shabby either (see photo below).

My friends agreed with me that the Nike Womens Marathon race expo is the 'lamest' race expo that we have ever attended. It was a large tent in the center of a block in downtown San Francisco that contained race packet pick-up, one smoothie booth, one 'manicure' station, one 'wall of shoes' (all Nike of course), a booth for the race's charity, and some song/power-station/iPod syncing booth. That's it. There were no other vendors. With space at a premium I understand not wanting to allow too much miscellaneous stuff. But really. What was supposed to be 'cool and hip' was actually disappointing.

So I started the race a little skeptical. Was it just a bunch of hype?

I was wrong to be skeptical. This race was outstanding. The scenery was gorgeous and challenging, and the race itself was well organized for the runners. The aid stations were well stocked and the volunteers were fabulous, there were motivational signs placed along the route, and the amount of cheering and bands along the route was just about right.

I had a great time! My one tip for runners of this race in the future is to take it easy on the uphill. We saw people powering themselves up the first hill and a lot of them were probably ridiculously spent at the end. There are LOTS of steep hills on this course since it is San Francisco. But the reward for the hills are the amazing views of Alcatraz, the Golden Gate, and the bay itself.

The one thing that should be fixed at the race is that there is a literal wall of people on the other side of the finish line. There were so many people stopping to get their pictures taken with a fireman handing out a Tiffany's necklace that it was actually a hazard for runners. I had to weave through them one step after I crossed the finish line. They should probably move the firemen several yards behind the finish line so runners don't have to come to an abrupt stop.

I ended up getting my necklace from a really young fireman who was standing way in the back. He seemed shy and stood back from the crowd. It was my pleasure to get a necklace from him, and when I opened up the box I was very happy with the shiny and pretty reward inside!

Long Beach Half Marathon

2009-10-12T07:30:00.001-07:00

While running the Long Beach Half Marathon yesterday, I realized that my motivation to run races has completely changed.

When I first started doing races, it was for the adventure and (somewhat) the comeraderie. Now it feels like racing has become more of a personal check-list of 'races to do'. The Long Beach Half Marathon was exactly that kind of race.

I was told by several people to arrive early because traffic is bad for this race. So I pre-programmed my GPS the night before, took my friends' suggestion to avoid the 710 highway and use surface streets, and arrived at the pre-paid parking with plenty of time to spare. (Note for those planning on doing the race: take the 405 and get off at Long Beach Boulevard. Some of my racing buddies took the 710 and were stuck in a virtual highway parking lot. Also, the pre-paid parking is a nightmare. You are better off parking at the convention center and/or parking for free at a meter on Long Beach Boulevard.)

The weather was cool and ideal for running. But when I started the race, I really didn't feel "it"-- that enjoyment and flow that sometimes comes with running. The race was incredibly crowded and went along a narrow bike path which could barely hold all the people. It was like Disneyland only without the huge costumes. Though the pace would have been okay normally, the pace that my friend set that day was just a little too fast for me. At mile 6 I dropped behind and slowed down. But then the ball of my left foot started to hurt like there was not enough cushioning in the shoe. I re-adjusted the shoe but nothing helped. I kept on running running running until mile 11 when I cramped in my right calf. I stretched and walked a little, then ran for a while again before my left calf cramped. Those blasted cramps!!!

The finish line was ridiculously crowded. We had to wait in line through a crowd of people just to leave the finish line area. Maybe the race has grown big quickly and the organizers didn't realize that it would be this crowded? Or more like I was finishing with the mass bulk of the half-marathoners (and elite marathoners) so everybody was there at one time.

I felt as spent on this half as I sometimes do on a full marathon. I can't explain it. You just can't predict how things will turn out on race day!

Would I recommend this race even though I personally didn't really enjoy it? Yes, I would recommend it. The race is relatively flat and the temperatures are mild. There is a lot of race support (though I didn't even notice the Hooters girls at the mile 3 waterstation) and the locals are friendly. If you don't like crowds, it probably isn't for you. But if you feed off of their energy, it is definitely a pleasant race.

Plus, it's another race to check-off on the Southern California Race 'to-do' list.

Remember him?

2009-10-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the television miniseries 'North and South' from back in the 1980's? It starred several people who you may remember (e.g. Patrick Swayze and Kirstie Alley). It also starred this guy named James Read. Remember him? The good looking George Hazard? Northern counterpoint to Patrick Swayze's Southern character? According to Wikipedia he has done a few other recognizable television roles since.

I saw him at the theater the other day (at Parade the musical). He sat a row in front of me just a few seats over. He looks almost exactly like he did on North and South-- only better. Though the miniseries was over 20 years ago, he looks like he could be in his early 40's. Apparently he is 56 years old and one of the best looking and sexiest celebrities that I have seen in person (and I've seen Dennis Quaid and Aaron Eckhart). I want to know James Reads' secret to staying so young looking!

Professors on strike

2009-09-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

Thursday, September 24, 2009 is the scheduled date of the University of California Professors Strike.

College professors on strike? If you look at the list, they are calling for a strike on all of the UC campuses-- Berkeley, LA, Riverside, Irvine, San Diego, San Francisco, Davis, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Merced. I was also told that certain staff will be participating in this strike as well.

Their list of demands is relatively simple: 1. People paid under $40K/year should not have to experience a paycut 2. Re-address the furlough issue 3. Make UC spending more transparent.

It will be interesting to see the results. How many professors will actually follow through on the strike? The list is primarily humanities and liberal arts professors.

Truthfully, the loss of a single day of classes (especially the first day) is minor for most undergraduate college students. I assume most professors will compensate by creating a heavier homework load for a few days and/or spending less time on less important material. In practical terms, one day less of classes has as much impact on learning/teaching as expecting professors to take furloughs.

When I was an undergrad, there was a really bad snowstorm one year that actually shut down the University of Wisconsin campus for one day. Vehicles weren't moving on the street because there was too much snow. All classes were cancelled EXCEPT for my physical chemistry class. My professor, knowing that it would snow heavily the night before, spent the night in the dorms with his college aged son. He showed up to class and presented his lecture to a handful of us (who didn't listen to the radio or check the t.v. before we trudged through the snow to class). I don't remember the topic covered in that lecture. I just remember the dedication the professor showed to his students that day. What do you think this strike is REALLY teaching students?

Packaging matters

2009-09-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

Like a lot of people, I try to be relatively careful about the types of food that I eat and often buy organic and hormone-free foods. Though I suspect that the foods that I buy aren't always as organic/hormone-free as I would like, I figure a little improvement is better than nothing.

But then I read an article in Chemical and Engineering News about the leaching of chemicals from packaging into food and drugs.

The bis-phenol issue in plastic water bottles has been well publicized recently to the point that metal water bottles are a fad (of which stainless steel are the premium non-plastic option). And I've been aware of issues with storing and cooking with plastics and aluminum for a while.

But it never occurred to me that the inks and dyes used on the outside packaging of foods and medicines could actually get into the food or medicine and contaminate it to a point that the food would be recalled or the medicine would become ineffective. I was also not aware at how often this contamination occurs. In the article, they cite recalls of cereal in Germany when ink from the outside of the cardboard box got into the cereal, BPA being banned in baby bottles, infant formula with packaging ink contamination, IV bags with packaging ink leaching inside, contamination from glue used to attach a syringe, and carcinogens coming from processed rubber lids.

Thinking about it scientifically, the possibility of contamination makes sense. A lot of inks and dyes are toxic and/or carcinogenic. I just assumed the FDA rules were adequate for food packaging. Surprisingly the rules don't cover the entire packaging. As it is now, manufacturers can use toxic ink on the outside sticker label if it doesn't touch the food. But as all of the recalls suggest, this rule needs to change.

In the big picture, what does this really mean for us? It means that highly packaged organic food is potentially not as 'organic' as people like to believe. And this gives me another reason to eat fresh 'simple' foods.

The thrill of a bargain...

2009-08-22T14:49:00.000-07:00

Years ago (like over 10 years ago) I tried on a Versace dress and was amazed at how beautiful it looked... on ME! I had never worn anything that nice before. It was at a Factory Outlet Center and the dress was marked down 90%, but it was still over $100, I was living in Iowa, and I couldn't see myself ever wearing it.

I saw an ad in Thursday's paper for the Barneys New York warehouse sale this weekend. A friend had gone a few years ago and got a great deal on a (originally) very expensive bag that she used to haul around her school papers. Having the time, and being a little curious about the bargains, I went to the sale.

I'm not sure if it's the economy or that fact that the sale was moved downtown (instead of in Santa Monica) this year, but it wasn't as crazy as I had heard it could be. There was no fighting and grabbing stuff away from other people at all. The main craziness was in the 'dressing area' which is basically a big curtain. About 100 women were there fighting for mirror space, undressing down to just their underwear, and some walking around bra-less looking for their friend/daughter/sister to try on the next blouse/dress/sweater/etc.

Looking through the racks, I told myself that I was only going to look at practical things-- things that I could wear to a job interview or in the work world. The mark-downs were pretty good. 60-75% off the lowest price on the tag for designer clothes and 25% off the lowest price for ready-to-wear clothes. A lot of the designer stuff was originally over $1000 and was marked-down to $300, with the final price being around $120. I ended up finding (and buying) a blue jean dress that was originally $810 with the final price being $40 after all the mark-downs. Yup I paid $40 for a $800 dress. It is a nice dress and *somebody* in this world probably paid full price for it. Though I can't imagine having so much money that I would actually pay that much money for a dress made of blue jean material. In fact, there are probably people in the Midwest that think I'm a sucker paying $40 for a blue jean dress.

The best part of the sale in L.A. is that there were a lot of clothes in my size on the racks. One girl commented that all the clothes were "soooo big". She was looking through the racks for sizes 6 and 8. Size 0 and 2 were picked clean. Hooray! One time when normal sized women win in Los Angeles!!! :)

When a celebrity dies at your workplace

2009-06-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week when Ed McMahon passed away, there was one news truck in front of the UCLA hospital early in the morning.

This afternoon a co-worker came into the lab and announced that Michael Jackson was at the UCLA hospital. Then a little while later somebody else said that traffic was getting crazy in front of the hospital because of the media and paparazzi. Then somebody else announced that he passed away. Around that time we started to hear helicopters overhead, and got multiple e-mails notifying us about street closures and heavy traffic. When I checked the online news, thousands of people were swarming in front of the hospital. It was amazing to see.

It also made traffic crazy today. Some of the streets around the hospital were closed, and I wouldn't be surprised if ER traffic was directed to another hospital. I left work at 7 p.m. hoping it had died down a bit-- and it had, but traffic was still heavier than a normal workweek evening.

Just watching the news crews and crowds at various places in L.A. on t.v. is crazy.

I feel horrible for his kids...

Update: The next day a co-worker described her ordeal trying to get home. She takes the bus and had to walk through that throng of people. She said that it took her about 15 minutes to walk through the crowd because there were people everywhere-- not just on the sidewalk, but on the street, on the steps and walls of the buildings next door and across the street, everywhere. This is a walk that normally should take 5 minutes or less. Considering the craziness of the subsequent media coverage, I don't think the Michael Jackson mania is going to calm down any time soon. I can't imagine what it is like to grow-up and live with this kind of paparazzi/media swarming every day of your life.

Everyday life...

2009-06-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't have noticed if someone hadn't pointed her out--Catherine Keener, an actress in 'Being John Malkovich' and '40 Year Old Virgin', was at the park while our lab had its picnic.

One of my co-workers got pictures with her in the background. Truthfully, she looked very 'hippy' and the picture my co-worker got was very clear and not at all flattering. Once she noticed that we noticed her, she quickly vamoosed from the park.

It's too bad that she didn't stay and enjoy her friends' picnic. We wouldn't have bothered her if she had stayed... but maybe she's skittish because she has had bad experiences with paparazzi.

Anyways, it just made the picnic more fun and let us talk about the 'famous' people we've all seen.

Just last week some of my friends saw the Governator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) during a Saturday morning run (which I skipped) and they all shook his hand. Being star-struck, one of my friends told the Governor that he was doing a good job--to which Schwarzenegger gave him a sort of funny look. Afterwards, my friend beat himself up about it since he is a school teacher! And education is just one of the many services that is losing funding during this horrible California budget debacle.

Yah, California is sort of imploding on itself right now. But we can still see movie stars at the park or on a early morning run. I guess that's our consolation prize (wah wah wah wahhhhhh).

Very Pretty

2009-06-06T07:03:00.000-07:00

I saw Halle Berry at the theater last week. I went to see Oleanna at the Mark Taper Forum (where my sister works) and Halle Berry was there to see the play (starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles). She knew several other people in the audience and waved 'hi' to them. And she is just as beautiful looking casually as she is in the movies.

As for the play, the content was interesting but the execution left a little to be desired. I realize that the dialogue in this play is probably difficult to read and act out, however, the play was really slow in the beginning and the acting was annoying to watch at times. On the plus side, the set was nice to look at-- lots of pretty woodwork. To be fair, this was a preview show so I'm sure they'll work out some of the kinks by opening night.

Latest Famous

2009-05-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my neighborhood Whole Foods where I saw George Wendt, the actor known for the character Norm on 'Cheers'.

I first saw him in the deli section waiting for somebody to serve him. I had to do a second take and look a little more closely because he is much greyer now than he was 20 years ago!

Then I was two people in line behind him at the check-out. The cashier was very nice to him. What did George buy? Basically food that I would expect someone from Chicago to buy. Several bags of potato chips, beer, wine, and potatoes.

The guy behind George (in front of me) was a fawning idiot who told him how much he loved him and all of that. Once George accepted the compliment and started to ignore the guy, the guy talked to the guy behind me about knowing Springsteen, being backstage at some other concert, and very loudly announced to everybody in the checkout area that he knew people. He looked at me and sort of pointed to George like I should say something to him. Truthfully, writing about him on my blog is enough for me :)

Living with famous architecture

2009-05-24T07:39:00.000-07:00

Having seen a few Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in Wisconsin, I thought it would be fun to see some of the buildings he built here in Los Angeles. The only building that is available for public viewing is the Hollyhock House. Everything else he built here in L.A. is either a private residence, or damaged by the 1994 Northridge earthquake and not safe for public viewing.

They would not let us take pictures of the house on the inside so here are a few pictures of the house from the outside:

The house is in a location with beautiful views. I can only imagine how wonderful it was when it was originally built before the urban sprawl surrounded it on all sides. It was built before the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatories-- two prominent icons you can see from inside of the house.

Does the house represent So. Cal. living like Wright intended? Not even close. The woman who had the house built, Aline Barnsdall, disliked the house so much that she didn't live in it and had a second home built. Though there is some wonderful craftsmanship and detailing inside the house, it feels very heavy. Plus, like every other Wright house that I have seen, it leaks bucketloads of water when it rains. And for true impracticality, the master bedroom was intentionally built where you were supposed to sleep on a fold-away futon in the corner of the room (in a multi-million dollar home in the early 1900's ?!?!). It's definitely a house for looks not for living.

The ego of architecture trumping the function of a building makes me think of my current workspace at the California Nanosystems Institute building at UCLA. It was profiled by the LA Times (read here) as innovative architecture. I have to say that some of it is beautiful to look at, but it lacks some basic function. The building is epitomized by the 'signature' cross-the-building ramping staircases that require you to cross the building while going between floors:

The staircases are great for art, but not so great for living. Not only do we have to go outside the building to use the staircases (which hang over the parking garage), but the metal stairs are shallow and already rusting in some places. The stairs aren't so bad when there are other simple stairwells available to move between floors. But unfortunately this isn't always the case and we're stuck with those 'iconic' stairs.

Truthfully, in the case of a fire or earthquake, the outdoor stairs in the building are its death trap. I would rather have a simple house with the gorgeous views than the Wright designed concrete block. And I'd rather have a simple ugly laboratory building with properly functioning A/C than the architectural icon that I work in.

Amazing!

2009-05-16T09:25:00.001-07:00

I'm at that point in life where, unless I know the people well, I see faces that I recognize but I can't always remember where I recognize them from. Most of the time I let it go because it takes a lot of effort to remember where I know a person from in passing.

In the weekly Leggers Running Club e-mail this week, they mentioned that one of the winners (Victor) of 'The Amazing Race' is a Legger. It makes sense that a marathon runner would do well in the race since it is essentially a physical endurance race with some brain games thrown in for audience delight. When I saw the e-mail a little light went off in my head--I have seen him before on Saturday morning runs (and some races) but I never put 2 and 2 together.

Victor showed up for a run this morning and as he walked towards the group, people gave him a nice little applause and congratulations. It was really nice... or should I say, it was AMAZING!

Some people just look better in person

2009-05-02T12:04:00.001-07:00

I was standing around waiting for my running buddies this morning when Bob Greene, Oprah's trainer who helped her complete the marathon, ran past me. He looked straight at me like he knew me and I waved like I knew him. He wasn't one of those focused runners who ignores the scenery. He was running by and taking it all in. He seemed like the type of guy who would say 'hi' to fellow runners as he passed them.

He was also REALLY good looking. I don't really watch Oprah, but I have seen him on the show a few times. Honestly he looks okay on the show. But he is 100 times better looking in real life. Maybe it's the fact that he was running which brings out his natural color, or the fact that studio make-up flattens peoples' skin tones. All I know is that he is one of the few people that I've seen who looks super-hot in real life and just average on t.v.

I guess he's living testimony of what good healthy living can do for you!

L.A. County Fair Commercial come to life

2009-04-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

There is a L.A. County Fair commercial where a mother and her daughters are shopping in a boutique and discussing whether wool comes from a boy cow or a girl cow (see it here.) Ridiculous, isn't it?

But then I heard about the following conversation between a friend's co-workers:
Girl 1: Veal is a bird right?
Girl 2: Veal isn't a bird, it's a type of fish.

And then I had the following conversation at the farmers market last weekend:
Husband: Look at that rhubarb
Wife: Wow is that a vegetable?
Me to couple: This is swiss chard
Husband: Yup it's rhubarb (pointing to the yellow swiss chard next to the red swiss chard).

Granted, mistaking swiss chard for rhubarb is less of a misnomer than believing wool comes from a cow. But the L.A. County Fair tagline is so true. If there was ever a place that needed a county fair, it's L.A.

Dinner with Dennis

2009-04-16T22:57:00.000-07:00

When the movie 'The Right Stuff' came out years ago, I just loved it. And I had a mini-crush on Dennis Quaid. That crooked smile was just quirky enough to make my insides feel like jelly.

Tonight I saw Dennis Quaid and (I believe) his wife at the restaurant where my friend was having her birthday dinner. He was sitting at the bar next to us while we were waiting for our table, and I would never have recognized him if somebody hadn't said something. He is much thinner and taller than he looks in the movies. A lot of heads turned when he left the bar and walked towards his table. I tried to look without looking and he noticed my friends and I trying to glance towards him non-chalantly. I even made eye contact a couple of times, but I felt sort of shy and he seemed nervous about being noticed.

Wouldn't you know it, his dinner table was right next to ours! So I got a great view of him while eating, and we made eye contact a few times again. Yes, I was too shy to even smile. Instead I had a great dinner with really good conversation. And Dennis Quaid in the background just added to the fun.

Celebrity at the grocery store

2009-04-05T15:06:00.000-07:00

I just saw Eric McCormack at the grocery store. He's the guy who played Will from 'Will and Grace'. I wouldn't have noticed him except his son (around 6 years old) was touching all the loaves of bread as I was picking out a loaf. He came over and grabbed his son telling him to 'come over here' in that parent's 'stop doing that' sort of voice. What surprised me is how normal he looks. He always seems like this spiffy shiny person on t.v. and in the magazines. At the grocery store, he wore a t-shirt and jeans and looked non-glamorous. He didn't stand out from the other dads around him at all. I'm not even sure if anybody else noticed him besides me.

A couple of aisles over, there was this guy who wore a police-like uniform only they guy looked like he belonged on the show 'Reno 911'. He was too short and wimpy to be a real police officer or security guard (in a fight I probably could have taken him). He wore dark sunglasses and was looking around like he was somebody that we should be noticing. He stood out because he was just weird. And if he is somebody famous, I have no clue who he is. If somebody told me he was at the grocery store to film an episode of Punk'd or Hidden Camera, I wouldn't be surprised.

All in all, it was a fun Sunday afternoon trip to the grocery store!

Pasadena Marathon Inaugural Redux

2009-03-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I ran the Second First Pasadena Marathon.

Some of you may know or remember that I had been training for the Inaugural Pasadena Marathon to be run last November. It was to be my 2008 marathon but that plan ended up in smoke (literally-- they canceled the race due to wildfires). I was dead-set on running a Pasadena Marathon so I was one of the first to sign-up when they rescheduled the Second First Pasadena Marathon (a.k.a. Inaugural Redux) for last weekend.

In the week leading up to the marathon, the forecasters had predicted temperatures in the 60's and possible scattered showers on marathon day. By the Thursday before the race the forecast was for a 70% chance of showers with potential thunderstorms.

It started to sprinkle while we were lining up at the race start. It was light misty rain that is typical of Seattle-- the kind that actually makes for fun running. But as the race start time got closer and closer, the rain started to get heavier and heavier, and I was getting wetter and wetter. At 6:30a.m. the race officially started and the skies opened up and dumped water everywhere.

After about 20 minutes, the rain stopped and we all started to enjoy the race. People started to discard their improvised raingear (garbage bags and plastic ponchos) as we ran past Cal Tech. I picked up one of these plastic ponchos off the sidewalk because it was still early. I'm sooooo glad that I did this. At about mile 5 the sky started to dump water again and the gutters in the streets started to flood. The plastic poncho didn't really keep me dry, it just made it harder to get completely soaked. I thank whomever threw it away and hope they didn't regret throwing it away too much.

It continued to rain heavily off-and-on until about mile 15. I saw people huddling under the bathroom structures at the Rose Bowl just to get a break from the rain and wind. About that time (mile 14), a Japanese man looked me in the eyes and said, "This is miserable." The funny thing is, I didn't feel miserable until he said that. Then I thought, "yeah, this IS miserable and I am only half-way done." I was cold, wet, hungry, and tired. Then a few miles later, as I pushed myself uphill, my left calf started to cramp. So I walked. Every now and then I would try to run, but then I would cramp even worse somewhere else. So I walked some more. By the end, I started to cramp in my upper back so I could barely move my arms without cramping. But I kept walking. And I finally walked across the finish line and received my medal.

In retrospect, it wasn't that bad of a race. I now know what it is like to run a marathon in the rain and will be better prepared next time. Plus the scenery is gorgeous and the non-ideal conditions created a sense of unity of spirit based on common suffering.

Since this was Pasadena's first marathon, I expect the race organizers will work out some of the kinks by next year. It was suggested that I write the following section in case somebody involved with the marathon wants to know things that should be improved. It would be nice if in next years race they would do the following: 1)Tell the police officers NOT to stop the runners to let traffic through. Nothing makes runners more angry than messing with their race times because they have to stop for traffic during a race. 2) Tell the volunteers there IS a difference between water and sports drink. It is not nice to be told they are being given water only to be given icky tasting sports drink by a surly teenager. 3)Get more portable restrooms and put them throughout the course! Luckily there are a lot of bushes around the Rose Bowl, but come on! I had to wait until the Rose Bowl for a bush because there weren't enough restrooms. And I'm a girl! 4) Tell the volunteers NOT to make disparaging remarks about how bad the runners look or how slow they are. I heard several comments about this throughout the course. And I easily made the time cut-off. I can't imagine what it was like for the people behind me. 5) Make sure all the bike riders are past the startline before you start the runners. Really. It's just common sense.

All in all, I'm glad that I did the race. But I'm not sure they will get a lot of repeat business. I heard a lot of complaints during and after the race. It is going to take a couple of months and a little bit of marathon amnesia before a lot of people sign up for this race again.

Celebrity ghosts?

2009-03-03T22:09:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I attended a dinner party with some people who had worked the front desk at several celebrity hotels in NY and LA in the late '80s/ early '90s. The conversation got really interesting when they described their experiences at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.

Chateau Marmont was and is a favorite place for celebrities to stay while in Los Angeles. It sounded like the people working there almost had a bed-and-breakfast relationship with the guests in the early 90's-- the guests knew the service people by name, they had conversations over lunch, and the service people helped the guests like they were family.

There were LOTS of stories of drug abuse, wild behavior, celebrity secrets, and who's nice/who's a jerk. Most of them are things that probably shouldn't be written about by me in this blog because they aren't my secrets or stories to tell. However, there were a couple of stories that were fascinating and (I'm pretty sure) won't get me sued for slander-- they are the ghost stories at the Chateau Marmont.

Several people have died in the hotel (including John Belushi), and several of the rooms are reportedly haunted.

One guest (she was a well known celebrity, maybe RuPaul (correction from previously Angela Bassett)?) came down to the desk one morning and asked if the maids cleaned up in the middle of the night. The desk clerk told her that the housekeeping staff hadn't shown up for the day yet. She then said that she had come back late the previous evening and taken off her clothes and jewelry and sort of left them as piles on the floor because she was tired. The next morning she woke up and found them neatly folded and placed on the bureau. She couldn't explain it. The desk clerk's explanation was that she had a very 'neat' ghost :)

Another story involved a man who was researching a book on The Doors. He happened to stay in the suite that the group used to stay in back in the 60's. He was awoken in the middle of the night by what sounded like loud partying so he went to the window to see if there was a party in the garden below. When he got up, he realized the sound wasn't coming from outside, but from inside the room around him. He checked out of the hotel in the middle of the night.

Another woman had come down to the desk in the middle of the night and reported that she had been sleeping when she heard the window slide open and an intruder walk over to the bed where she was sleeping. Thinking the intruder might potentially harm her, she laid still in the bed. She then felt the intruder sit on the bed and lay down next to her. She lay there for a while waiting for something to happen, but nothing happened. She then turned in the bed to see her intruder and when she turned she saw nothing. And then she noticed that there were bars on the window to prevent someone from breaking in from outside and that the window had indeed been opened.

The most haunted room? 79. We were told not to stay in room 79 because it is the most haunted room. Even the hotel staff don't like to go in there. Apparently somebody died in that room? And several hotel guests have reported hearing knocks on the door, and seeing lines of ghosts pushing on the door trying to get into the the room. Furniture in that room gets moved into odd positions. One woman reported a head floating outside of that window. And even a straight-laced accountant reported hearing things in that room.

From the skeptics point of view, there was a lot of drug use in the hotel and some of these ghost sightings could easily be explained as hallucinations, or other brain processing anomalies in the middle of the night.

But there were so many reports of the same things from a wide variety of people that it makes the ghost stories seem very real. And sort of fun. Just as long as I'm not the one experiencing them.

And now for a brief commercial message...

2009-02-07T15:29:00.000-08:00

My sister gave me the following item. It was a promo freebee from work:

It's a can of Spam promoting 'Spam-a-lot', the theatrical musical version of Monty Python's The Holy Grail. I guess it is a collectors item. And I don't really like Spam that much. Any ideas what to do with it? E-bay or frying pan?

Running in Southern California

2009-01-26T21:19:00.000-08:00

It is really really cold in most of the country, and I definitely feel lucky to be in Southern California for the winter! Even when it is 'cold and rainy', we can still go outside and enjoy being outdoors because it is almost never really that cold or that rainy (in comparison to other parts of the USA). Wintertime here is ideal running weather.

Last Sunday I ran the Carlsbad Half Marathon and besides being partially sunny and in the 60's, the race course was one of those beautiful Southern California Coastline runs. It reminded me of the Palos Verdes Half Marathon. They are both out-and-back courses that wind through a few neighborhoods, but mainly run along the Southern California Coastline.

Here is a little description of these race courses (for those of you interested):

The Carlsbad Half started at the Westfield Mall, wound west towards the Pacific Ocean and through cute little Downtown Carlsbad, ran south for a few miles along Highway 1 past the power stations, then turned around and came back the same route back towards the mall. They advertise it as a flat and fast course. It is definitely flatter than some races out there, but it does have a few hills. Being by the ocean, I got the chance to distract myself by looking at the boats on the water and the pelicans flying (very closely) overhead. Other nice distractions were the multimillion dollar oceanfront houses in Carlsbad that I (and almost everybody else) oogled and fantasized about living in.

The Palos Verdes Half Marathon, which I ran last Spring, has even more multimillion dollar oceanfront houses and big hills. It started at a park that overlooks the Pacific, winds up and down a road that follows the coast, runs through several neighborhoods and oceanside golf courses, then turns around and comes back to the park. The great thing about this race is that the course had some spectacular California Coastal views. And since the race is sponsored by the local Kiwanis Club, it is relatively small and has a very hometown race feel-- they served watermelon to the runners post-race.

I have to say, honestly, that I am enjoying these races a lot more describing them after-the-fact than while I was running them.

The heat at the Palos Verdes race was scorching, there was very little ground cover, and the race organizers ran out of water. People were giving runners water from their garden hoses, and I'm not sure if she was a volunteer or a good samaritan neighbor, but one woman went to the local grocery store and was handing out full bottles of water because the race ran out.

In the Carlsbad race I just wasn't feeling it and ended up with bad cramps at the end. I tried to control my pace in the beginning, but every time I checked I was going too fast in the first half. I paid for it in the second half of the race. I slowed down, but was running fine, until after the mile 12 sign when I started to cramp in my calves and hamstrings. I walked the rest of the way and must have looked pretty bad because people were trying to direct me towards the marathon finish corral instead of the half-marathon corral. Yup, I ran it slow enough that there were marathon runners finishing at the same time as I was finishing the half marathon. To my credit, the marathon started 90 minutes earlier than the half marathon-- but still, it was sort of disheartening.

Would I recommend these races to other people? Definitely! Would I run them again myself? Considering how I felt at the end of these races we'll have to wait and see on that.

Insomnia

2009-01-12T02:44:00.000-08:00

Staying true to being an insomniac, it is 2:45 a.m. and I can't sleep. I've been wide awake for about an hour now and am just waiting to fall asleep. If the past is any indicator, I'll probably fall asleep around 6 a.m. and have to wake up around 7 a.m. to get ready for work.

I had a stretch of time in November, when I took a break from running, when I felt like I could get a gold medal in sleeping. It felt good and I had lots of energy too!

I'm ramping up my mileage to prepare for the new inaugural Pasadena Marathon in March, and my insomnia is ramping up with it. I know this is a sign of overtraining. But I told myself that I would do this one marathon this year and take a break from marathons for a while.

But I've had this problem with insomnia for a long time and it's not just related to running. I remember asking my parents for a digital clock when I was about 7 years old because I wanted to be able to see what time it was when I woke up in the middle of the night. This was back when most people had bedroom clocks with clock faces, and digital clocks were relatively expensive. I got a digital clock for my birthday that year and discovered that I almost always wake up between 2 and 3 a.m.

I've had a lot of practice at being an insomniac. Imagine what I could have done in that sleepless time if I would have been a more productive insomniac...

Happy New Year!

2009-01-03T17:22:00.000-08:00

I celebrated the New Year in the Channel Islands off the California Coast. We spent the night camping on Santa Cruz Island and saw foxes, whales, and dolphins in addition to the beautiful hill and coastal views.

Here is a sampling (mind you that I am not a professional photographer):

And our boat passed through a huge school of hundreds of dolphins (the video is better in high definition if youtube gives you that option):

In high quality video, you can also see a whale near the horizon:

I hope you enjoy the pictures and videos and have a Happy New Year!

The state of television today

2008-12-27T08:37:00.000-08:00

The thing about Christmas vacation is that everything is rushed and stressed before Christmas, but relatively boring and anti-climactic afterwards. I normally have just antenna t.v., and I've been taking advantage of my parents' Dish Network t.v. while visiting them.

This is what I've learned from t.v. these few days:

1. Surfers in Southern California have a history of being territorial and have attacked other surfers they consider non-locals. I watched a really bad half-hour documentary to learn this on the Documentary Network.

2. There is a battle brewing in New Zealand over milk containing A1 casein versus A2 casein. A study has showed that A1 casein containing cows milk is linked to diabetes, and there are claims that it is also linked to brain development issues (e.g. autism). A2 containing cows milk apparently does not have these links and is closer to the milk made by humans. The battle is brewing because most milk in Europe, New Zealand and Australia is A1 milk and switching over to A2 would mean changing over to Jersey and Guernsey instead of Holstein milk cows. (The U.S. sells mainly A1 milk also)

3. There are scientists who argue for 'geo-enviromental engineering' machines/devices to reverse climate change. They have tested things like CO2 scrubbers and pumps to move ocean water from one part of the ocean to another. What could have been really interesting t.v. turned out to be more crappy semi-science and what I consider to be a really bad idea. Truthfully, instead of trying to create clouds to reduce the warming effect of the sun, shouldn't we just do stuff that works with nature to prevent the need for artificial clouds?

4. You should not wear skinny jeans unless you are a skinny and tall person yourself.

5. 'House' is one of the few re-runs that I can stand to watch over and over again.

6. Ghosts are people who have died and have not passed on. Spirits are people who have died, passed on, and 'return' to us every now and then. Poltergeists are ghosts that are up to no good. And Angels are 'different' beings and were never humans. Getting rid of ghosts in a house is apparently as easy as lighting a few candles and telling them to go away.

Even with a few hundred t.v. channels, it is a struggle to find anything worthwhile as my list above indicates. I'm satisfied with having antenna t.v. and just watching the specific cable shows that I enjoy online at hulu.com or other online t.v. sites. I might miss some stuff like the documentaries on milk production, but I waste a lot less time watching the other garbage.

Dream versus premonition

2008-12-16T20:20:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I dreamt that I was sitting on a plane that was stranded in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. It had crashed without falling from the sky, but everybody on the plane was fine. While we were sitting around waiting to be rescued, an avalanche of snow fell on top of the plane. The layer of snow above my head was very small so I was able to dig myself out and dug out several other people on the plane.

The dream was vivid but I didn't take it to be much else than a dream--though I did tell people about it the next day.

Then a week later I read in the news that a plane in Denver had slid off the runway and crashed. There were some injuries, but nobody died.

This wasn't exactly my dream but I was a little wigged-out by the similarities.

Last night I had a dream that there was a big flood.

I never dream of disasters. I dream about not being able to find the classroom where I am supposed to take (or administer) a test. I dream about getting a bad haircut and being naked at the grocery store. I can not remember ever having a plane crash, avalanche, or flood dream except the ones that I've had these past few days.

I must be watching too much news. With the weather patterns, it's not too much of a stretch to say that once the snow melts there will be a big flood. Or that the snow is going to cause problems with travel and avalanches.

It's just a weird feeling when a dream becomes sort of real.

Nobel Prize winner versus George Clooney

2008-12-03T06:11:00.000-08:00

The weekend before Thanksgiving was the annual retreat for my department at work. The keynote speaker this year was the 2007 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology, Mario Capecchi. Typically famous scientists usually arrive for a talk, give the talk, and then leave. However, Dr. Capecchi was nice enough to stay for the whole weekend! It was an obvious thrill for a lot of people to say that they had talked to, played ping pong with, and bowled with a Nobel Prize winner. He is obviously a great man who has an even more amazing life story.

Dr. Capecchi was born in pre-World War II Italy and when he was very young his mother was taken by the Nazis to Dachau for protesting the Fascists. From the ages of 4 to 9 he lived on the streets of Italy starving. His mother was released after the war and spent a year searching for him. She found him in a childrens hospital/orphanage where all of the children were naked and their daily meal consisted of a cup of coffee and a crust of bread. Apparently his mother gave him his first bath in 6 years when she found him. They then came to the U.S. to live with his uncle (mother's brother) and aunt in Pennsylvania. As Dr. Capecchi described it, he passed through Ellis Island on a Sunday and started school on a Monday. It was the first time in his life that he had been to school and he did not know how to read or write, nor did he know English. It is obvious that his family cared a lot about him and helped him get a proper education. He ended up doing his PhD under James Watson (of double-sided DNA Nobel Prize fame), and eventually took a professor position at the University of Utah where he did his work on homologous recombination in eukaryotes and created gene knock-out mice. This technique basically allows us to make mice with specific genetic mutations (i.e. mouse models) that cause and/or mimic diseases like cancer, obesity, and Parkinson's.

With all of this, Dr. Capecchi is a really nice man. I think a lot of people were intimidated by him the first day of the retreat. I saw him walking around the posters by himself and pretty much sort of isolated because people were afraid to talk to him. But as the weekend progressed, people got over their fears and were excited to get some face time with him. It was sweet.

The retreat ended with a talk given by Jorge Cham, the comic strip artist for PhD Comics. Being more of a grad-school pop-culture talk, his talk was entertaining and not intimidating. It was the cotton candy ending to a meat and potatoes weekend. When I spoke to Jorge during the book signing, he seemed sort of defensive about the fact that he is now a comic strip artist and not a practicing engineer. It makes me wonder how long he is going to keep this up.

The title of this blog is 'Nobel Prize winner versus George Clooney'. The Nobel Prize winner is obvious, but what about George Clooney? Last weekend I was hiking in the hills close to where I live and as we came down from the hill towards the houses, my sister said that George Clooney lives in that area. As we were walking past one house, I heard people playing basketball. The house had a huge court in front that was wrapped in green tennis court netting. My sister and I distinctly heard a man talking while playing basketball. Yup, that man was George Clooney.

If I were hosting a dinner party and had to pick between Mario Capecchi and George Clooney, Mario Capecchi would definitely win the invite... but I guess that it would be okay if George Clooney hung around for drinks afterwards ;)

Today at the farmers market...

2008-11-16T12:17:00.000-08:00

One plus of not running the marathon this morning is that I was able to go to the local farmers market. While there, I saw William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) shopping for produce. They looked scraggly like they just got up out of bed and did not change their clothes before deciding to go to the market. They were definitely not 'shiny' like you see in the movies or on t.v. In fact, most of the other people at the farmers market looked a lot more put together and awake than they did (at 10a.m.). They also looked very annoyed which gave me the impression that they were not enjoying themselves.

So I didn't run the marathon today because of the wildfires. But I did get to see some celebrities. I guess it's an L.A. trade-off.

Mother Nature wins again

2008-11-16T05:20:00.000-08:00

It is 5 a.m. and I can't sleep.

At 3:42 a.m. someone's car alarm went off on the street. I checked my e-mail and there was still no updates. Since I couldn't sleep, I went downstairs and got ready for the marathon as if there were a chance that it would still proceed as planned. I made my oatmeal and drank my tea. Then at 4:05 a.m. I got the e-mail saying that the Pasadena Marathon had been cancelled due to poor air quality from the wildfires surrounding Orange County and Los Angeles. Phone calls were exchanged over the next half hour as I contacted people and people contacted me regarding the cancellation. I tried to go back to sleep again, but I'm an insomniac and now up for the day.

I think the organizers made the right decision. After years of planning, it has to have been a hard decision to pull the plug today. From the beginning, the race organizers have taken the runner into account and this decision reinforces that. I look forward to whatever solution they may have for the cancellation because that have my full confidence and respect. If they want to increase interest and make a lot of people happy they will reschedule the marathon for mid-February when the L.A. Marathon was supposed to take place.

As for me, I have been specifically training for the Pasadena Marathon for half a year now and was looking forward to the marathon today. It was going to be my 'big payoff' before going into a much needed rest and recovery mode. It was also supposed to be a day of spiritual rebirth-- where each step symbolically represented the past that I am leaving behind and the future that I am moving towards. It was something that I did during the L.A. Marathon, and was planning on doing today. Oh well, I guess there will be no endorphin and sugar-depletion induced feel-good high involved in my rebirth today. Bummer.

Card carrying member of the UAW

2008-11-11T07:45:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I described that the UAW petitioned to represent the University of California system post-docs. Well, last week I got an e-mail informing me that it is now in effect. Here is an excerpt from that e-mail:

For your information, the Office of the President Labor Relations had notified us that the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) has confirmed majority support for Pro-UAW in the bargaining unit determination to represent Postdoctoral Scholars and Postgraduate Researchers at all UC campuses. Approximately 1,000 individuals at UCLA are included in this new systemwide bargaining unit, with a total estimated at approximately 6,400 members.

We understand that the University will send a letter of recognition to PERB today, November 3rd. At that point, Pro-UAW will have exclusive representation rights, and there may be no changes in working conditions, including wages, unless authorized through the systemwide negotiation process.

The American auto industry is practically on death's door and the UAW decided that unionizing PhD's was the logical next step for survival? I grew up in American Motors Corporation country. I saw the UAW burden that company with strikes and demands to the point where the company pretty much died. And I saw the aftermath as friends' parents lost jobs, the economy in my hometown crashed (and never fully recovered), and the people and town were forgotten once the UAW no longer needed them. Needless to say, I am now a card carrying member of the UAW, and I'm not proud of it.

Sometimes you're right, sometimes not so right...

2008-11-08T12:15:00.000-08:00

It turns out the guy that I saw last weekend could not have been Lance Armstrong since he did a bike race in Texas last weekend (and of course won). BUT, while I working a water station for the Leggers this morning, I saw Aaron Eckhart running in front of one of our pace groups. He eyed some of the water and goodies on the table, and one of the people working the water station offered him water. He turned it all down and as he was running away, the woman who offered him water and I were like, "Hey, that's Harvey Dent from Batman!" Then we all started talking about the movies that he was in and how good he looks in real life.

It was fun and I have additional spotters to confirm my sighting this time!

Is that... running past me?

2008-11-01T18:02:00.000-07:00

In an earlier entry I noted that I saw Lisa Ling while running by the ocean earlier this year.

Over the summer, I also saw the actress who plays Dr. Cuddy on House (Lisa Edelstein) running by the beach. I wasn't 100% sure it was her the first time because it was early in the morning, she didn't have make-up on, and her hair was a bit messy-- but I saw her again a few weeks later running along the same path by the beach and am fairly certain it was her.

I *think* my biggest sighting happened this morning. As I was running along the same ocean path where I saw Lisa Ling, a man who looked a lot like Lance Armstrong ran past us. I only saw him for a few seconds because, like a high school algebra problem, he was approaching us at X mph and we were approaching him at Y mph (so we were actually approaching each other at X+Y mph). He was wearing sunglasses so I didn't see his eyes, but he was wearing one of the popular yellow Livestrong wristbands. I nodded to him as we ran past each other, and he looked over at us.

My friend Shannon (who lives in the movie star haven of Brentwood and is sort of blase about this stuff) thought it probably actually was Lance Armstrong. So until I hear otherwise, I am going to assume that yup, my Saturday morning running comrade was indeed Lance Armstrong ;)

Florida Wildlife

2008-10-28T19:05:00.000-07:00

I had planned a Florida vacation that included camping and snorkeling and lots of interaction with nature. Unfortunately, Mother Nature intervened and it rained really really hard while I was there. My friend Michelle and I ended up enjoying the local sites around the Florida Keys instead. Most memorable was Fantasy Fest in Key West. We had not heard about it until we showed up in Key West to take the ferry boat to the Dry Tortugas National Park. It is a two week long festival that includes a Mardi Gras style parade, 'costume' contests, lots of liquor, and nudity. Well, not complete nudity. The website for Fantasy Fest says specifically that "Nudity is illegal. Key West city code specifies that body paint does not constitute clothing." So we did see women wearing pasties and men wearing a sock (not on their feet).

The kicker of it all is that we saw these not-completely-nude people walking down the street at noon. And they were definitely not in their 20's or 30's. Many of them looked like they were hippies in the 60's which would make many of them in their 60's or 70's. That's right. We saw 60-year old practically nude men and women walking down Duval Street around lunchtime. Yes, I have pictures. No, I'm not going to post them.

To round out the wildlife sightings, we also saw some alligators, crocodiles, and an iguana in the Everglades; and a dolphin and flying fish in Biscayne National Park. And of course, lots and lots of birds everywhere.

Here are some of my impressions of South Florida:

Little changes make a big difference

2008-10-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

I have been doing the sports physical therapist exercises for a week now and I can feel the difference. I also had a gait test and after some corrections to my running form, my 11 mile run yesterday actually felt great!

The rotated pelvis problem that I have isn't noticable in a mirror, but I could definitely see it on the video from my running gait test. For the running gait test, I ran on a treadmill for about 45 minutes (overall) while the physical therapist videotaped me from the back and side. The PT then analyzed every aspect of my movement from hip to toes in video-taped slow motion.

My old running form was more straight legged and lazy, and the rotated hip causes the right leg to be a little longer than the left. As a result, my right hip compensates by tilting up during each step and the rest of my body compensates for the hip by tilting in various directions. My right ankle and foot overpronate (collapse the arch), and my lower back arches to the right more. This all explains why my right foot and ankle and lower back hurt sometimes.

After doing a little search on the web, it seems like a rotated pelvis is more common than I thought. It just isn't diagnosed that often because the symptoms are typically things like back or knee pain-- and when people have back and/or knee pain they tend to think the problem is the back or knee. Also, diagnosing it requires someone willing to spend time to do a full structural exam-- something most MD's don't have the time and/or knowledge to do. It's too bad because from what I've read, a small misalignment in the hips can cause pain pretty much everywhere in the body because everything is off-kilter.

Fixing my messed-up alignment is going to take a couple of months of strengthening and stretching. For the first phase (first month) I was given a set of stretching exercises that takes about 30 minutes to get through, and another set of strengthening exercises with light weights that takes at least 30 minutes to go through. The list is pretty thorough and works everything from my neck and shoulders down to my calves and hamstrings. The exercises aren't strenuous at all, just time consuming.

The one exercise specifically designed to stretch and push my right pelvis back into alignment is a high lunge. Basically, I lunge my right leg against a heavy chair or the wall with my right foot at about mid-thigh height bouncing three times. I am supposed to do this several times a day on my right side only. I have started to feel a little bit of aching in my right hip and I'm assuming this is because I am stretching the hip back into place.

As for my running form, I was told to lift my legs up more in front and in back. It feels like I am doing a combination of high-stepping and butt-kicking, but from the video my form looks much more fluid and efficient this way. I was given gradually increasing time intervals to slowly incorporate the new running form into my runs. I tried it yesterday morning and the new form felt really good compared to my old lazy legged form.

I'm amazed how these small changes could make such a big difference in just one week. I'm so glad that I found the root of my problem now when I'm still relatively young! Now the thought of being a 70 year old marathoner doesn't sound so impossible for me :)

Fast food eating women

2008-10-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

I recently saw the following audition notice under the role name "Fast food eating Women":

"I would like a wide range of women who are not in very good shape. I don't want giant obese people, just folks who look like they could stand to lay off the cheeseburgers. Would like looks to range from very normal to charactery/quirky. Also would like women who are good with physical comedy."

I don't want to comment too much on the text because the word selection speaks for itself. This is a Hollywood job ad. They will probably use someone with my body size for this role... even though I run over 20 miles a week, I wear size 6 jeans. I am fat for L.A. but healthy sized by all other measurements. Sad, huh?

Gotta move that pelvis!

2008-10-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

Last week I had a structural exam with the physical therapist at Phase IV. This was the first time that I have had a full structural exam and it went a little something like this: take off your shoes and socks and stand over there, now turn around, now bend this this way, now hold this limb in place while I push it, now sit over there and twist this way, now lay over there and bend this limb, etc. etc.

Edwin, the PT, measured my ability to rotate, bend, and extend every joint within my core body, legs and arms. The only joints I think he missed are my jaw and my fingers. He even pulled out a tape measure and a big plastic protractor to measure my extensions and positions on one side relative to the other. The result was a slight bit of weakness adducting one of my legs, unbalance in the flexibility to rotate my neck (injured by a chiropractor a few years ago), not so great posture in my upper back, and that my right hip is rotated forward from my left hip.

The rotated hip was newly diagnosed but not surprising. It's probably caused by a combination of running on the slanted part of a road, and driving in L.A. traffic (use just one leg to brake and accelerate). I expect that some of my hamstring, back, and other pain is caused by the discrepancy in leg length caused by the rotation in one hip over the other. In fact, one of my running partners this morning--who is herself a trained PT-- says that it is a problem that she often has. When it happens to her, she has the same sorts of pains in her hamstrings and legs. Her solution is to go to a chiropractor who releases the tension in the hip by massage so it then aligns properly again. She says that she helps it by getting lots of massages.

Hmmmm.... getting lots of massages.... besides the expense, it doesn't sound like too unpleasant of a treatment plan! I'm going to see Edwin again next week. Let's see if his treatment is as pleasant as the 'lotsa massage' solution.

As for the posture, well, I have horrible posture. It's a bad habit. I read a lot and hunch over in front of the computer or lab bench a lot. I know that I am not alone. I've often wondered if those special posture devices that you see in the back of magazines would help me. My next session is on Monday and I assume that I will be assigned a lot of back and core strengthening exercises to help with the posture. We'll see!

Now where is that phone number for the massage therapist...

Longevity is my goal

2008-10-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

I have been having stiffness and cramping in my hamstrings, hips, and ankle for the past few months. It started as stiffness after runs over 18 miles or so, and has now become cramps and pain after more than 9 or so miles. I tried taking a break from running for a week, and then two weeks, but it didn't completely alleviate the pain during or after running. Since I am scheduled to do the Pasadena Marathon in November, and do not want to take a complete break from running before the marathon, I decided to go to a sports exercise physiology clinic for some help.

Even though I am a very average athlete, I chose to go to Phase IV because I had heard a lot of good things about them. Apparently, they service a lot of serious (i.e. Olympic) athletes. On Friday, I went for the initial consultation meeting where they described their program and services, and I described my needs and goals. I am scheduled to have a full body structural assessment by a physical therapist this coming week, and over the next few weeks will have a gait assessment, VO2 max assessment, and follow-up training over the next 4 months.

One question they asked me was 'What goal are you working towards?' They mentioned that some people have goals of completing a specific race, or climbing a specific mountain. At the time, I didn't have any particular goal in mind besides alleviating the pain.

On my Saturday morning group run, I ran with a 71 year-old (Charles) who is on the second round of doing 50 marathons in 50 states. By second round, I mean that he has already completed the initial goal of doing 50-in-50 and is doing another 50-in-50. He has 12 more marathons to go before he has completed 100 marathons in 50 states. He has already done over 120 marathons in his lifetime. I asked him how he kept himself from burning-out and he said that he always runs races slow, and always looks forward to the next race.

After running and talking with Charles, I realized that longevity is my goal.

When I turn 80, I want to still be able to run a marathon, hike in the mountains, travel to foreign countries, or do whatever I want to do. I don't want to just run the next race, I want to be healthy enough to run the next 50 years. I look forward to seeing what the physical therapists can do to keep me towards that goal!

Black-tie event!

2008-09-14T19:05:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I attended the re-opening gala for the Mark Taper Forum-- a theater that is part of the Los Angeles Civic Center in downtown L.A. It was an invite-only affair primarily for large donors to the theater. However, my sister is an employee and she received an invite for her and a few guests. And I was lucky to be one of the guests.

There was a special dinner before the show held on the plaza in front of the Taper for the donors. The entire plaza area was surrounded with huge temporary walls of greenery and cloth so it was almost impossible for someone to look into the area and see the VIP guests. While waiting for the doors to open for the non-dinner attendees, I saw Laurence Fishburn standing outside the doors smoking a cigarette. I pulled out my camera and joked with my friends about asking him to take a picture of us (not with him, just of us alone ;).

After we entered the theater, I had so much fun looking at all of the people in their fancy dresses and tuxedos. It was crowded and was difficult to move around. While waiting for people to move up the stairs, I looked over and saw Angela Bassett waiting to move down the stairs. She saw me notice her so I gave her a friendly smile and she smiled back. She looked just as gorgeous in real-life as she does in the movies.

While we were taking a quick self-guided tour of the newly renovated theater during the intermission, we saw Ron Rifkin, Victor Garber, and Joel Grey hanging out with each other. I also saw Robert Sean Leonard who plays Dr. Wilson on 'House' which was a bit of a thrill since I love that show and think that he is a great actor. I also saw Ed Begley Jr. who my sister remembers as 'that guy who sells earth-friendly detergent at the farmers market.'

The play showing at the theater was 'The House of Blue Leaves'. It starred a bunch of people that we recognized from television shows-- John Pankow (Mad About You), Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle), Kate Burton (Grey's Anatomy), and Diedrich Bader (the Drew Carey show).

After the play, they had an after-event reception with drinks on the plaza. Dame Edna was holding court with some children from one of the sponsored charities at the reception, and Tony Shalhoub (Monk) was there joking around and taking pictures with Dame Edna.

As we were leaving the gala over the Red Carpet, a woman asked my friend to take a picture of her and her mother with their camera. Standing behind the woman was Zachary Quinto, the actor who plays Sylar on Heroes. Seeing him was a bit of a surprise. He looked much taller in real life than I had imagined.

The next morning I was buzzing from the fun of the evening. I felt a little bit like Cinderella at the ball that night... and now, two days later, I'm back to my regular world of blue jeans and t-shirts. *sigh*

Disneyland Half Marathon

2008-09-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

My friends who ran the Disneyland Half Marathon last year said that it was a lot of fun. I believed the hype, and signed up for the race. The registration is expensive for a half marathon ($100+misc fees) but I thought the experience would be fun and I had to try it. The race runs around and through Disneyland and California Adventure for the first four miles. Then it is directed through the 'neighborhoods' of Anaheim past Angel stadium and back through Disneyland to the finish.

I'm typically up for a good half-marathon. I've done quite a few because they are usually a lot more fun than a marathon-- I usually feel great afterwards, and they don't require extra training over my daily running routine. Unfortunately, I think I will have to play the role of Cruella de Ville and say that I didn't really enjoy this race (I know, Boo! me).

Starting from the beginning, the race was irksome. The pre-race instructions (which were posted online a few days before the race) were vague about how to get to the race expo to pick up my registration/bib. They assumed everybody knew how to get to the Disneyland Hotel Convention Center (or were staying at a Disney Hotel) and did not even provide a hotel address. Also, the expo was placed in the back of the Disneyland Hotel without clear signs on how to get there unless you parked at the $12 hotel lot. I parked at the Downtown Disneyland parking lot (first 3 hours are free) instead and ended up walking around and asking several people how to get to the hotel and expo.

The real clue that the race organizers are probably not serious runners themselves was the fact that the safety pins they gave us to attach the bibs were HUGE. They were almost the size of diaper pins. I ended up using some other smaller safety pins from a previous race to attach my bib.

On the morning of the race, there were lots of really enthusiastic people. It should have made the race more fun, but instead it was annoying because the streets of Disneyland are too narrow to move that many people efficiently-- especially when they wear huge costumes and stop to get pictures with the Disney characters (which I admit to doing also, see below). I darted and wove through the crowd which added about an extra mile to my race (according to my Nike plus).

It wasn't like a hometown half- marathon race like Palos Verdes, San Jose, or Los Angeles' City of Angels. All of the people cheering the race through Disneyland were paid employees which made the race support feel a little forced with the frozen smiles and beauty-queen waves. Later, in the streets of Anaheim, they did have a few high school kids and bands cheering which was fun. But I couldn't help thinking how volunteers at other races cheer people on for community spirit versus for free tickets to Disneyland. I really missed seeing those personal 'Go Cindy, Love Mom' type of signs on the side of the road that I usually see at really crowded races.

What I think really annoyed me the most was the humidity--which is not Disney's fault. It has been uncharacteristically humid in Southern California this summer and it made the race exhausting. I was cranky at the end, and people singing (or was it piped in?) 'It's a Small World' through the last tunnel before mile 12 made some people hurl-- literally. Okay, that may be an exaggeration. It was probably the heat and exertion that made them stop on the side of the road. But I FELT like hurling when I heard the music. Does that count?

This is probably a great race for Disney fanatics and first-timers who are looking for a half-marathon party. I guess that I am just too much of a Scrooge McDuck and feel that the race wasn't worth the cost. I'm glad that I did it so that I don't have to do it again.

As promised earlier, here are a few of my documented "celebrity" sightings.
Buzz and Woody:

Boo and Sully:

And here is the door-knocker sized medal from the 'Happiest Race on Earth':

Notes from my time travels

2008-08-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I went back to the city that I grew-up in for my high school reunion. I sort of felt like my adult self had gone back in time to hang-out with my child self.

It had been several years since I had been back, so I was prepared for some of the sensory differences between Wisconsin and Los Angeles. In Wisconsin, it feels like the grass is greener, the streets are cleaner, the buildings are smaller, and there is more breathing room. But I wasn't prepared for the extreme sense of nostalgia. I wasn't prepared for the homesickness for a time and place that have already passed.

Visiting places that I had once known well--like my old neighborhood, former schools, and favorite stores-- was a bit of a thrill. Some things were different. A lot was the same. I would drive down streets and associate childhood events with the buildings and streets. Re-visiting my hometown was like seeing an old boyfriend several years after parting ways. There was comfort and easiness, but an awkward knowledge that it comes from a past intimacy and not from the present reality.

I am still in contact with several friends from high school, and we agreed to attend the reunion together. I think we were all a little nervous about the reunion for different reasons. But I think that we all had fun in the end. It was interesting to see the changes and paths my former classmates took in life. Plus it was really fun to see what they look like now ;) Though a few people had not matured and still lived in their high school personna, most people were living their lives in the present. Did people hang-out with the people in their high school cliques? Yes, but it was only natural. These were the people they knew best in school and the people they most wanted to catch up with. I know that I was guilty of this.

The funny thing is, through all of the weight gain, balding, and wrinkles, we all seemed to see each other as we did in high school. We were comfortable with each other in these roles, but I would like to think that we were mainly grown-up enough to not limit ourselves and others to our high-school selves.

I REALLY disliked high school. However if I had to do it again, I would do a lot of things the same. They were awful experiences, but necessary to build character and strength that I have needed at various times in my life.

It has been a few days and I finally feel like I am back in the present. The jet-lag on time travel is something fierce.

On a side note for those of you looking for a celebrity sighting:

I hung out with The Pig.

The Garden

2008-07-13T08:11:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived a townhouse with a small patch of dirt in the front and a little bit of porch space. When she first moved into this place, she placed a cute little gnome named Floyd in the patch of dirt to decorate the 'garden'. That night, Floyd disappeared and the girl was very sad :(

But this did not deter the girl and she adopted another gnome, Olaf, and placed him on her front patio out of sight from people on the sidewalk:

All was well in Gardenland when one day, a baby deer statuette appeared in the garden where Floyd had once been. How did this happen? and Where did the deer come from? The girl enjoyed the deer and left it in the garden for everybody to enjoy. But one day, a month later, the deer statuette also disappeared. The girl was once again sad :(

She adopted another tiny gnome named Steve and placed him next to her banana plant on the second floor patio:

And one day at the zoo, the girl saw a cute little pink flamingo and she adopted it to keep Steve company:
But the girl never forgot about little Floyd, her first gnome. Until one day, her sister-in-law sent her a huge surprise! Floyd (facsmilie) came home! This time, the girl put Floyd next to Steve so the two could frolick in the dirt together:

And everybody was happy in the little garden. The girl was happy, the flamingo was happy, the gnomes were happy, and the garden was happy :)

The End.

The UAW to represent PhD scientists?

2008-07-10T18:35:00.000-07:00

I got an e-mail yesterday notifying me that the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) has petitioned to represent all post-doctoral researchers in the University of California system. Apparently there are a little over 5,000 UC post-docs and they claim to have gotten over 50% of our signatures on the petition. By having signatures from over 50% of the people, the UAW automatically represents all post-docs if California's public employment relations board (PERB) determines that the signatures are valid.

The UAW tried to unionize us 2 years ago (2006). We were told that the movement was not started by a post-doc, but by someone from the UAW who had been involved in unionizing graduate students at the University of Washington and University of California. At the time, UC post-docs started a multi-campus letter-writing campaign to dispute the UAW's claims towards unionization (Science article describing the backlash). In the end, the petition was thrown out because many of the signatures the UAW submitted were not valid. Some signatures were not from actual post-docs, and some signatures were from post-docs who rescinded their names from the petition. Basically, their methods of gaining signatures were 'shady' and people didn't like it.

Because it failed 2 years ago, I was surprised to see this issue come up again. Once again, I am VERY skeptical that the UAW actually has signatures from over 50% of post-docs in the UC system. What really surprised me is how quietly it came up this time. I have seen no chain e-mails or anti-pro-uaw websites popping up. Are post-docs really for UAW representation this time?

If you ask the post-docs that I know, the answer is NO! We are NOT for UAW representation of post-docs. But somebody out there must be if they got signatures from over 2,500 people (or maybe they didn't?).

I am not against unions. I am just against a union in this case. First of all, all UC post-docs get basic benefits like health insurance and access to a retirement plan. Also, the UC provides resources to help with safety and job issues. Plus, post-docs tend to be intelligent and highly motivated people who have chosen their positions and have other options if they do not like their jobs. We are a far cry from starving factory workers with no other prospects in life.

Yes, lots of professors treat their post-docs badly and make their lives miserable. But I highly doubt the UAW could make any difference in these cases-- they aren't going to negotiate giving a person credit on a paper when they do the work, or making sure someone gets a good recommendation when they deserve it. The UAW isn't going to make an asshole PI less of a jerk.

Also, some post-docs earn their higher salaries by bringing in grant money and their own fellowships. This money comes from the government and non-profit foundations. By forcing these people to unionize and take potentially lower salaries, they are being penalized for success. Also, all taxpayers and charitable donors are being penalized too. Some of the money they had assumed would be going towards medical research, cleaning the environment, or building better business models would directly line the pockets of UAW fat-cats instead.

The UAW takes over 1% of our salaries if they represent us. Assuming there are 5,000 post-docs who make $40,000/year on average, this means the UAW gets $2 million/year. It is obvious why they want to represent us. The question is, why in the world should WE want THEM?

Update: Post-docs are now part of the union.

Being Human

2008-06-17T07:26:00.000-07:00

The longer that I am in Los Angeles, the less human I feel. The constant barrage of "what's in it for me" and "I want things my way, screw you" behavior wears at me and I have sort of closed my eyes and formed a robot-like mentality so I don't absorb too much of the negative energy directed my way.

But yesterday, I had a little reminder that I am indeed human.

The place where I am living is going to be tented for termites in a few weeks and the condo owners met yesterday to discuss the process with the exterminator. Before the meeting there was concern about one condo owner. She had previously stated that she was against the tenting and had "bought some poisons from Home Depot and sprayed it on her porch and there are no termites anymore", and that we should spray around her. There was concern that she did not understand the process (since English is her second language) and she would not leave her unit for the spraying. One neighbor tried to knock on her door to talk to her and she wouldn't answer for him. I tried calling a few times before the meeting and she didn't answer. I ended up leaving a phone message stating that we could discuss her concerns and maybe help her out.

She didn't show up to the meeting.

Immediately some of the other condo owners wanted to hire a lawyer to put a lien against her property to force her to leave her unit. Many of us felt horrible about this, and we left the meeting feeling a little horrible about the entire thing.

Yesterday evening, after the meeting was well over, she called me. She told me that she didn't have a job and didn't have the money to pay for the tenting, and that she had asthma and didn't know how to move her plants. She was extremely concerned about her plants. So I talked to her as a compassionate neighbor. I told her there was the possibility of paying in small increments. I also told her that I would help her move her plants to the side yard where they would not be killed. And after I told her this, her demeanor completely changed. She was extremely grateful and willing to go through the tenting.

As I lay in bed after the phone call, I realized that I felt human for the first time in a long time. Since moving to L.A., I have gotten used to being bullied into submission. It's hard not to feel jaded against people when this happens. But this was a little reminder that sometimes operating from a place of love is better than operating from a place of fear.

Hopefully I don't forget the feeling too soon.

The guy who created Body Worlds

2008-06-08T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I saw a celebrity of sorts-- Gunther Von Hagens gave a talk at UCLA. Dr. Von Hagens is the man who patented the plastination process that is responsible for the Body Worlds exhibits. For those who may not have heard of Body Worlds, they are a series of exhibits where human bodies are plastinated after death and peeled apart and posed in various life-like positions. This exhibit has been so popular that they are on exhibition version number 4, and others have created several knock-off exhibits.

I have had several occasions to see Body Worlds, but chose not to go because something about the entire concept does not sit well with me. In fact, I wasn't planning on going to Von Hagens' talk except several people in the lab were going (yup, I sometimes go to academic talks based on peer pressure).

He had a full house. All the seats were taken and people were standing and sitting on the steps on the side of the lecture hall. Since the lecture was hosted by the Department of Pathology in the medical school, I could understand the interest in his talk. A lot of people attended because (1) they were curious about the man who created the exhibit, and (2) they understood his results and wanted some insight into the process. Basically the guy brought his version of science to the masses and the masses included educated scientists at UCLA.

Surprisingly (or maybe not surprisingly), the talk was more of an oral history of the exhibit and a slide show of his 'work'. It was not a very technical talk. His technique was summed up in one slide (*technique summarized below). His talk was more of an art exhibit talk and during the Q&A, he received a question that pretty much 'accused' him of being an artist rather than a scientist. Truthfully, I think he is an artist that uses scientific technique and facts as his materials and canvas. But I think there is nothing wrong with that because a lot of science is personal interpretation anyways. A lot of science is more art than unbiased 'science'.

From the scientific and teaching point of view, I have no problems with his work. One of his Q&A criticisms was that he artificially colored muscles and other parts of the body rather than leaving them 'as is'. For anybody who has had an anatomy lab knows, it is hard to differentiate between different parts of tissue 'as is' and the contrast helps people understand what they are looking at. Plus, looking at an entire body the color of boiled chicken feels morose. In the same vane he was also been criticized for 'posing' the bodies. I also agree with him that it is more interesting and educational to see the entire body in positions of movement and action rather than posed as they would be in a morgue.

However I can't seem to put aside my spiritual and ethical biases. I find his work creepy. The funny thing is that he is starting to include animals like giraffes and elephants in his exhibit and I found those slides fascinating and not creepy. I did not, however, feel the same way with the human body slides. I think it is the same queasiness I feel when I see people missing limbs on television or read about dismembered body parts. There is something about seeing bodies when they are not the biological 'norm' that just feels dreadful. When Von Hagens showed a picture of his newer 'works' where he shifts body parts around like a cubist painting, I was particularily turned-off. I would probably feel this way about animals if he started to shift their body parts around too.

As for the man Von Hagens himself, I found him to be over-the-top. He constantly wears a fedora and speaks with a lot of 'flair'. He was more of a circus barker than a scientist. Then again, I wonder if it would have been more creepy if he were very technical and scientific. He has a strong East German accent. Technical descriptions of body position and dissecting of body parts would have been like a caricature of a bad guy scientist in an Indiana Jones movie.

Am I now more likely to see a Body Worlds exhibit? Yes, I would go mainly to see the animals. But I don't plan on putting in any extra effort to make it to his exhibits any time soon.

---------------------------------------------------------------
*Shortly after death, the bodies are saturated with very cold acetone to essentially freeze the tissues in acetone. They are then soaked in a liquid plasticizer (think epoxy) and placed under vacuum. The vacuum causes the acetone to evaporate out of the tissues and the plasticizer to be pulled into the body. The plasticizer is then cured using the corresponding fixer (such as UV light or a second chemical).

I'm the Coupon Queen!

2008-05-31T15:35:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a trip to the local Ralph's Grocery store where I saved over $32 on my bill, and I ended up paying about $36. That almost a savings of 50%! I was so proud of myself that I called my mom and reported my success. She thought it was funny and commented on the extra work that I had to do to save money. But the truth is that it wasn't that much extra work and it isn't rocket science.

My system is as follows. I leave the coupon section from the Sunday paper and other ads on the dining room table with a pair of scissors. When I am eating breakfast, I go through the coupons and clip out the ones for items that I expect to purchase within the coupon expiration period. Then I file the coupons in a small plastic envelope with divisions that have labels like 'dairy/cheese' and 'paper products'. Before I go to the grocery store I make of list of things that I need to buy and go through the coupon folder to see what coupons I have that match the things on my list. I also bring the coupon envelope with me to the grocery store just in case I see something that is on sale that I could store and have a coupon for--like toilet paper. Ralph's has double coupons everyday so I tend to go there because the coupons go further.

It just happens that there were a bunch of coupons for organic foods about a month ago to celebrate Earth Day. These same foods are on sale right now because I think the store stock-piled for people who would use the coupons the same week they came out in the newspaper. Now they are selling the excess inventory.

Yes, it is sort of silly to be happy over saving money using coupons. In all honesty, it isn't just about the money savings-- though that's a big incentive. I think a lot of coupon people enjoy 'beating the system' with their coupons. I'm not a religious coupon clipper. I go through periods where I clip them, but most of the time I'm too lazy or don't bring the coupons with me. But I just have to say that a friend told me that his mom paid for his first two years of college by setting aside the money that she saved using coupons and investing that money elsewhere. Coupon money is money afterall! I just wish they had coupons for gasoline...

Ray Bradbury!!!

2008-05-25T09:03:00.001-07:00

My general reaction when I see a celebrity/famous person is something like, "Oooh, I just saw [insert name here]." Sometimes it registers in my memory long enough for me to want to post it in my blog, but most of the time it doesn't rate at all. Thus, the infrequent updates on celebrity sightings.

Yesterday I saw a play of 'Farenheit 451' at the Fremont Center Theater in South Pasadena, and Ray Bradbury happened to show up and speak a couple of words for the show and sign books and playbills afterwards. I was over-the-top excited to meet him! I wanted to get this blog up a.s.a.p.!

Mr. Bradbury is 87 years old and still writing. Before the play, he introduced his friend Forrest Ackerman (who is 91 years old). Mr. Bradbury credited Mr. Ackerman with starting his career as a science fiction writer by asking him to join the 'Clifton's Cafeteria Science Fiction Club' and with giving Bradbury money to start a weekly and go to the Worlds Fair in New York. It was from essays and stories written during this time that got Bradbury noticed. To true hard-core science fiction fans, seeing Mr. Ackerman would be just as (or even more) exciting than seeing Mr. Bradbury since Ackerman is the original sci-fi fan and has the ultimate sci-fi collection in his house in L.A.

Mr. Bradbury also wanted to note that he was wearing a medal that he got recently from the French-- The French Order of Arts and Letters Honor. You can see it in the picture above where he is signing a copy of a book that I brought from home, "The Toynbee Convector". He was surprised to see the book because it wasn't one of the books on sale at the playhouse, and he said that the book was the first book that Ted Turner had ever published 30 years ago and that Turner was still rich ;) My book is actually a first edition published in 1992 story copyright in 1983, but I wasn't about to correct him.

I was intimidated by him-- not because he is scary-- because I have known his name for a big hunk of my life. I read Farenheit 451 in junior high school and really respected him for his ideas and writing. The people at the playhouse told me to stand next to him for the picture, and my sister said that I was really shy about it. I admit, I was shy, but I got the picture anyways:

I got a picture with RAY BRADBURY and me! OMG! I was giddy and happy in the car afterwards.

Who cares about those other famous actors, I met RAY BRADBURY!!!

Of course, not everybody would care about this as much as me. Apparently somebody showed up at the theater last night expecting to see the film, Farenheit 451. When they heard that it was a play and that the playwright was there, they left because they wanted to see a movie.

My silly mom

2008-05-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

I had the following conversation with my mom yesterday (on Mother's Day):

Mom: Your daddy says these lemons are dried and we have to use them. They look okay. (Starts to peel the lemon and break it into sections) I wonder if they are good.

Me: Are you really going to eat the lemon ?!?!

Mom: Why not? It looks okay. (Puts a lemon section in her mouth)

Me: What are you doing?!?!

Mom: (Face scrunches up and lips pucker a lot)

Me: I'm taking a picture of this! (Runs to get camera)

and voila:

My sister and dad came into the kitchen to see what was going on and started laughing when they saw my mom eating the lemon. She only had one section and decided that it was too sour to eat.

That's my mom! She's silly and I love her for it :)

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Are you impressed?

2008-05-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

When my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew were in L.A. for a visit a few weeks ago, we went to Hollywood to see the walk of fame. Predictably, there were characters trying to make money off of the tourists, a la:

The guy charged a dollar for the picture. There was also a really sad looking Superman and Spiderman on the street. Do you think these guys pay royalties to DC or Marvel Comics? I'm guessing not.

Two weeks before they came, I spent a few hours up in the Antelope Valley Poppy Fields (about an hour north of my house) and saw the following:

I posted more pictures on my photosite if you want to see more pictures of the flowers. They were gorgeous and worth every penny I spent ($5 for parking and gas to get there).

The Hulk on the other hand-- worth the kitsch? You decide.

Justin Chambers at Walgreens

2008-03-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

My celebrity sightings always seem to be people that many of my co-workers don't recognize because they are foreign born or much younger than me. Yesterday however, I scored a 'big one'.

As I was walking back to my car, I had to stop for a car backing out from the space next to my car. As he was backing out, I looked at the driver and he looked back at me. Then I kept on looking and he looked back at me again. It was Justin Chambers, a.k.a. Careve from Grey's Anatomy.

Yes, he was cute in real life. Even cuter than on t.v.

This celebrity sighting brought me recognition and respect from my co-workers-- they watch Grey's Anatomy but had no idea who Lou Grant/Ed Asner or Lisa Ling (previous sightings) are. Either I am a more thorough conoisseur of American television, or they just watch less t.v. than me. Sadly it is probably the latter.

So I don't forget to mention it for posterity, Alice and I were at a restaurant where Zack Efron and Vanessa Hudgens happened to be dining a few months back. We didn't know they were there until paparazzi hounded them as they walked out the door. The paparazzi were horrible with the flash pictures and quickly jumping in their cars to follow them. Just from seeing that, I think the law that prohibits paparrazi from getting within a few hundred feet of celebrities is a good idea.

Hello Lisa Ling!

2008-03-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

During my run along the ocean this evening, Lisa Ling ran past me in the opposite direction. Lisa was originally on 'The View', that women's daytime talk show, and is currently on 'National Geographic Explorer' and a correspondent on 'The Oprah Show'. As she was approaching us on the trail, she looked familiar but I couldn't place the face. My initial instinct was that she was someone in my running group but as she ran past my running partner said, "Hi there Lisa Ling!"

Just from her look and demeanor she seemed like a nice person-- like someone I would be friends with. It was nice to see a friendly celebrity.

I don't run fast, but I have fun

2007-12-21T09:51:00.000-08:00

John from my running group put together another great video from our City of Angels Half marathon on YouTube: City of Angels Video. He did a good job capturing the fun of doing these races.

I am realistic enough to know that I will probably never win any of these races (unless I keep running into my octogenarian years in which case I have a good chance of winning my age group ;) But coming in first isn't why I run. It is about being around supportive and encouraging people.

It was hot during last year's L.A. marathon and I had leg cramps that came and went after mile 13. The water stations had run out of water, and I desperately needed salt that was nowhere to be found. I was walking most of the time at mile 18 and just hoping that I would finish in a reasonable time. A woman from the neighborhood was standing in the middle of the street with her daughter and a plate of cookies. She saw me, smiled, and gave me a cookie. Then she said some words of encouragement that I don't really remember except that I started to cry after she said them. I was walking and crying down the street, and I remember thinking that this was one of my most amazing experiences. Almost nowhere in my life have I been at a place where thousands of people surrounded me and cheered me on and wanted me to succeed! There was no criticism of how I looked or how slow I was. Nobody was trying to push-me-down to pull themselves up. It was all about cheering and supporting everyone to the finish line. It was about humans loving and caring for each other.

This is why I love running races.

Last Saturday

2007-12-12T08:05:00.000-08:00

With Christmas and the New Year coming and an upcoming move (to a new apartment/townhouse), my days and weekends are busy. Last Saturday I got up early to help with the Leggers waterstation. One of the people in the group, John, makes documentaries for the History Channel and he put together this video. John is great and his videos have really added a lot to our training experience this season.

On Saturday after the water station, I went shopping for Christmas gifts. At Linens and Things, Kristy McNichol got in line behind me. She actually looked her age and it made me happy. Her face has not changed that much except that she has gotten a little older (wrinkles and all of that), and her body is that of a typical healthy middle aged woman. Thank goodness there is one middle-aged actress out there who didn't get nip/tucked to oblivion! I would have taken a picture if I could have, but it's a little embarrassing for me. I don't have the guts to be paparrazzi. Plus, all I had was my cell phone and I didn't want to pay a ridiculous charge to Sprint PCS for uploading the photo from my phone.

Star sightings during the City of Angels Half Marathon

2007-12-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

I ran the City of Angels Half Marathon yesterday as the group mentor/pacer for the Leggers 12 minute pace group (I'm in red):

John, the person taking the photo, had a Garmin that told us our pace by GPS measurement. It made my job a lot easier because I have this habit of zoning out and running to how I feel-- and I felt good yesterday. His digital pacer reeled me in several times, and kept me doing my job properly.

The City of Angels Half is a beautiful course. It started at Griffith Park, then ran along the L.A. River to Silverlake and past the Silverlake Reservoir, through Echo Park and along the pond there, and finally into downtown by the courthouse. I had rarely seen Los Angeles as beautiful as it was while running along this course.

While running through Silverlake, Geddes Watanabe, the actor who played the foreign exchange student in Sixteen Candles and one of the geeks in Revenge of the Nerds cheered us on from a street corner. It was a pleasant surprise to be cheered on by a recognizable movie personality.

At the race expo the day before the race, I was given a signed headshot by the guy who sold me my newspaper. It was sooooo L.A. to be given a headshot as a 'gift'. Nope, he wasn't attractive and he wasn't a recognized actor. I'm not sure why he handed me his headshot while selling me the newspaper. Maybe he thinks that I am an influential person in Hollywood with connections, and not an ordinary scientist.

While on the way to Area 51...

2007-11-19T07:40:00.000-08:00

I saw a Ferengi in Vegas!

Actually, I was at the Star Trek Experience because my friend Michelle wanted to go, and while there I snapped a picture with an alien lifeform ;) And if you are wondering, YES, the Star Trek Experience is like going to a Star Trek convention except a lot more expensive. I don't think it is worth the money unless you are a huge Star Trek fan.

For other pictures from Vegas and Death Valley, click here.

My new GPS Toy

2007-11-01T11:37:00.000-07:00

I have been eyeing GPS systems for the past few months, but could never convince myself to spend the money on one since I have a pretty good compass in my head and rarely get lost. But I still liked looking at them because several models have a real-time traffic monitor and anybody who commutes in L.A. can appreciate this feature!

When I first moved to L.A. I subscribed to sigalert.com and would access this info from my phone. In the end, I canceled my service because I was paying a lot for cellphone internet that I rarely used and just checked the sigalert maps (free) before I left the house or work.

My sister noticed that I was eyeing GPS systems and has heard me complain about traffic a lot, so she bought me a Navigon 7100 for my Christmas/birthday present. It came in the mail yesterday and I was very surprised to get it!

I was not familiar with the Navigon since I had been eyeing Garmin Nuvi's and some TomTom systems. The Navigon 7100 is about the size of a PDA and has some nice features like FREE lifetime realtime traffic monitoring, and freeway lane recognition. The commute this morning was my first trial of the Navigon. It did a good job telling me there was an accident on the 101 and that I should take the next exit afterwards to avoid the traffic. However, it did not have information on slow/heavy traffic (just accidents) so it didn't swing me around the traffic. Instead, I drove around it myself onto side streets and this is where the Navigon did a good job and a bad job. It recognized small streets really well and had no problems telling me the shortest route (distance wise). On the other hand, it had me doing frustrating traffic things like turning left onto really busy roads and driving down roads with a lot of stoplights.

In general, I like it so far. Let's see what the evening commute is like...

Uncle Leo!

2007-11-01T09:40:00.000-07:00

I went to a screening of 'A Mighty Heart' at the Directors Guild in Hollywood last night (my sister got the invite and took me as a guest) and the place was relatively empty since it was Halloween. But I did see one recognizable actor-- Uncle Leo from Seinfeld! His real name is Len Lesser. He looked a little more elderly than he looks on t.v., but otherwise, he's very recognizable.

The movie, BTW, was not really worth my time. I came out of it annoyed because it didn't provide me anything really educational or new-- just a barrage of moving pictures and people rushing around and yelling to induce a feeling of drama. It was disjointed (in a bad way) and I got BORED (and I like long and slow foreign films). For me it was entirely unsuccessful and felt like I was watching 2 hours of the t.v. news.

I know that Angelina Jolie is probably trying for some sort of award nomination from this movie. But I feel like the movie was just trying wayyyyyy tooooo hard and because of it I didn't feel as much of a connection to Angelina Jolie's character as I know that I could have.

On the plus side, I did see another 'celebrity' to add to my list ;)

Had another 'who?' sighting

2007-10-05T15:00:00.000-07:00

I just had another 'who is that?' celebrity sighting while walking to Ralphs Grocery store in Westwood. I just saw Allison Mack, the actress who plays Chloe Sullivan on Smallville (WB t.v. show about Superman/Superboy). I have to admit that I didn't even know her name until I looked it up online. But I recognized the face! She is frail-like thin in real life and walked past me quickly with a stone-cold face not making eye contact with anything. Hmmm, do papparazzi or crazy fans hound her? It sure was a lot of 'don't mess with me' attitude from such a small lady. I prefer my Dave Matthews sighting a lot better-- he smiled and gave a little head nod like a normal, friendly person.

How do buddhists deal with insect infestations?

2007-09-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks we have had an ant infestation in our kitchen and in my bathroom. It started when it was ridiculously hot in L.A. and they haven't really left our apartment ever since.

I have been smashing, spraying, and drowning ants like crazy. I'm tired of it. I have been looking for more humane solutions to get rid of the ants like blocking their entrance into the apartment with baking soda and/or chili powder. One online suggestion was to place a huge dollop of sugar OUTSIDE of the apartment along their path between their ant mound and the apartment. This sounded like a good idea except we live on the top level of an apartment and I don't really have access to their path outside the building unless I take the window screen off and rappel down the side of the building-- which I might do in a week or two if they spread beyond the kitchen or bathroom.

As I was looking at the scads of ant corpses around my bathtub during my morning shower, I felt guilty for killing the ants. I wonder how buddhist monks deal with insect infestations since they are not allowed to kill other living creatures? Do they just let them swarm around their living quarters? What about disease carrying mosquitos, do they leave them alone too? Knowing buddhists, they probably do leave them alone and allow for the suffering as good for the soul.

I guess that I should be a better buddhist.

The power of the masses

2007-09-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

I have been particularily fascinated with the search for the wealthy adventurer, Steve Fossett. For those unfamiliar with the story, Fossett was known for breaking all sorts of land and air records and has been missing since his plane took off for a routine scouting flight in the Nevada desert. Being well connected and well known, people are using the latest in technology to find him.

This reminds me of the search for Jim Gray, the former computer science professor who also worked at Microsoft Research and IBM (as well as other companies). I read about the search for him in Wired magazine. He was lost at sea at the beginning of the year and the tech world rallied around his search. The latest in communication and satellite technologies were used to find him. It appears that they are doing the same thing for Steve Fossett. In fact, we as common citizens with spare time and bandwidth can join in the search for him using software and computational power from Amazon.com (Search for Steve Fossett link).

The problem with the latest in technology is that it still hasn't gotten to the point where computers can identify objects in complex backgrounds as easily as the human eye. I guess that is the purpose for the call for help in searching for him online using human eyeballs. People all over the world can look for him without leaving their computer. That's pretty cool.

It makes me think of the problems we have with detecting cancer in patients. Many cancer diagnoses and tumor staging are still done by human eye. In this way, detecting cancer in patients using images is essentially the same problem as the search for Steve Fossett and Jim Gray. It all depends on the eyes of the doctor and/or medical technician.

Even though lots of people (including me) are working on other (biochemical) ways of detecting cancer, the human eye is still state of the art.

Update: They called off the search for Steve Fossett yesterday (Sept 20). It looks like this search has gone the same as the search for Jim Gray. One thing about these searches is that it seems like they seem to develop new tools and get them out faster with each subsequent search. Of course I hope they never have to use these tools again, but I have the feeling that they probably will, and hopefully next time we find the person quickly and in good condition.

Photo with Ed Asner!

2007-08-31T13:56:00.000-07:00

Ed Asner was on the plane that I took from Burbank to Portland last week. I have photographic proof:

He is the person in the distance to the far right of the photo:

Apparently he flys between LA and Portland a lot because his daughter lives in Portland, and he is a member of the Oregon Film Council. I saw him when he first got on the plane, but was not sure it was him until the guy sitting next to him on the plane started blathering away. I looked over and it was definitely him. I asked Alice to take a picture, but she was too embarrassed, so I had her take the picture of me with him in the background.

"Oh Lou!!!"

I saw Homer Simpson at the Kwik E Mart

2007-07-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

I finally got a picture with a real celebrity-- Homer Simpson from 'The Simpsons'. He was hanging around the Kwik E Mart in Burbank to promote his new upcoming movie. I snagged a couple of pictures.

BTW, those pink donuts are not as good tasting as they look.

Justin Timberlake sighting on Melrose

2007-07-19T15:24:00.000-07:00

My sister just called and told me that she saw Justin Timberlake in the car behind her as she drove down Melrose. The car followed her a while and she looked back several times to double check that she was correct in her identification. Justin was in the passenger's side of a black BMW. No (obvious) papparazzi were following them, and my sister did not recognize the guy driving the car.

Carl Lewis again, and again

2007-07-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

I have seen Carl Lewis twice now. The first time was at the 2006 Nike Run Hit Remix in L.A. I was a volunteer who was supposed to stand at the finish line to escort the winners to the special 'winners area', and he was at the finish line to congratulate the winners and all of that. He is one man who is as tall and big, if not bigger, than I imagined from seeing him on television. And he was flirting with the young and cute girls who were standing at the finish line (holding the finish line tape for the winners).

I saw him again at the Will Rogers 5K/10K in the Pacific Palisades on July 4th. This time I was a runner, and he was standing around taking pictures with people and being like people usually expect of a multiple olympic gold medal winner. He was cooooool.

These two sightings have given me the distinct impression that he shows up at local charity runs a lot. In a way it is cool for 'regular folk' like me to get to see Olympians like him. But in a way his regular appearances sort of dilute my enthusiasm for seeing him. I still think he is an awesome athlete, but I feel like I will probably see him a lot more if I run or hang-out at a lot more running races in Los Angeles.

I guess familiarity extinguishes the novelty. Next time I go to a race, I'll bring a camera and ask Carl Lewis for a picture.

2007-07-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

To continue with my *star sighting* watch:

Evangelia saw Victoria Beckham (a.k.a. Posh Spice of the Spice Girls) walking outside Barney's on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills on Saturday afternoon (7-7-07).

According to Evangelia, she was surprisingly short and wore extremely high heels.

It is usually a surprise when I see celebrities in person and they are much shorter than I assumed from seeing them on television or the movies. Bill Gates is shorter than I assumed him to be. To me, he looks like he is 6 feet tall or higher. In reality he is probably closer to 5'10" (from the time he walked past my cubicle at work).

Celebrities also seem to be much thinner in person than they appear on television. I took a tour of the WB Studios and judging from the size of the costumes in the display cases, a lot of the actresses seem to be size zero minus.

Take home message: objects are actually smaller than they appear on t.v.

Celebrity sightings in everyday life

2007-06-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

After my Steve Carell sighting last year (see previous entry), a friend of mine (in Seattle) suggested that I keep a blog of all the celebrities that I have seen.

My first question is what makes a person enough of a celebrity that I should note them in my blog? I admit that I have seen a few bona fide celebrities around town, but I live the average person's life and do not frequent celebrity hotspots, so I rarely see actual celebrities. Instead I see actors who are or had been on television or in movies. Should I judge somebody's celebrity status by the number of people who recognize the name? Almost two years ago, after I moved here to L.A., I saw Geraldo Rivera. Most people know who he is so I think that makes him a celebrity. I would say that he is a lower list celebrity because Geraldo almost ran over an old man riding a bicycle with his car. His behavior didn't make me feel warm and fuzzy about him.

I think what people really want is interesting circumstances around seeing these people. For example, my friend Randy told me his story of how Brad Pitt almost ran him over. Randy was crossing an intersection off of Sunset Blvd by the windy hilly roads when a blue Suburban was slowly navigating down the hill and had a hard time stopping at the intersection. Randy looked over at the driver as he bit into a big egg-roll and saw that it was Brad Pitt slunking down trying not to be seen. He saw Randy with the egg roll in his mouth and Randy saw Brad barely miss hitting him with his big truck. I think most celebrity sightings are about recognizable people doing everyday things like running at the park or walking their dogs. I think the reality is so much less glamorous than what people expect.

My 'biggest' and most exciting celebrity sighting was Jack Nicholson getting out of his car (black convertible) in Idylwylld, CA and walking to the Bank of America ATM. I spotted him, and Aaron suggested we go in the direction of the Bank of America because he wanted to get a better look. It sort of felt weird and stalker-ish to follow a person just to get a longer glimpse of them in everyday life. But I did it anyway ;)

People at work see lots of famous people all the time. Evangelia saw Keanu Reeves in front of the UCLA hospital a few months ago. She also saw and got pictures of Arnold Schwarzenegger in a convertible from the bus as they drove past him. Mila has seen lots of people around town--Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, Nicolette Sheridan, and Harrison Ford while getting ice cream or going out to dinner. Don't worry my dear friends, I plan on blogging about their and other friends' sightings because it would be really boring if it were just the people that I see!

Some of the celebrities that I remember having seen in the past two years:
Kyle MacLachlan (from Sex in the City)-- seen him twice! Once touring the Getty Museum, and once while waiting for a plane in Aspen (he was in line behind me)
Jack Nicholson (see above)
Dave Matthews on the sidewalk in Seattle (he said 'hi' to me about two years ago :)
Jennifer Gardner (Alias) at the theater (no Ben Affleck with her)
Laird Hamilton (super sexy surfer) along the beach with his buddies in Waikiki
Steve Carell (see previous blog)

Celebrity Sightings

2006-10-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

I have discovered a new popular activity here in L.A.-- celebrity sightings. The attitude towards it is a lot like going to a wildlife area and spotting animals. Some animals are common, others are rare. Some spook easily, others are gregarious and interactive. The reaction of people when they spot celebrities is much the same as well. Some people make a lot of noise and move towards the celebrity, and this inevitably scares the celebrity away. But most people try to be sly about it. They pretend to not notice the celebrity and talk in quiet and hushed tones while 'casually' keeping an eye on the celebrity the entire time. The thrill of seeing a celebrity is a lot like the thrill of seeing big game in its natural habitat.

My most recent celebrity sighting was Steve Carrell of '40-year Old Virgin' fame. I was at the grocery store in my regular people neighborhood on the way towards check-out when Steve Carrell walked into the grocery store. I noticed him right away, but nobody else seemed to notice him. He walked towards the canned goods with a confused 'my wife usually goes to the grocery store so I have no idea where anything is in this place' sort of look. As soon as I checked-out and got back to my car, I called people to let them know that I had seen Steve Carrell at the grocery store. I had just experienced something special.

Seattle departure pains

2005-08-11T17:49:00.000-07:00

I have been in such a frenetic mode that I haven't been enjoying my last days here in Seattle. Yesterday was my last day at the ISB and it was sad, but I haven't had time to reflect on the fact that I am leaving because there has been too much to do. I am rushing around packing, having good-bye lunches, dinners, and drinks with friends, and getting rid of things that are not going to be moved. When I pause for 15 minutes or more, I feel guilty for wasting time. But even worse, I start to feel sad and miss my friends and life in Seattle. I am pretty sure that once the moving crates and car are packed, the final good-byes are said, and the keys are dropped off with the real estate agent, the reality of the move will start to sink in and I'll be very sad. I am looking forward to the drive down to L.A. to decompress and think about where I have been and where I am going to go.

I think what is saddest is the constant 'last-time to do...' and 'good-byes'. Every day for the past week I have been doing something for the last-time, or saying good-bye to somebody. For all my friends in Seattle-- I WILL MISS YOU ALL! I may have complained about Seattle, but I am glad that I lived here and met all of you :) Seattle has a special place in my heart...

Wasting time and bandwidth instead of packing moving boxes

2005-08-09T16:24:00.000-07:00

I am a lemming. I have started a blog. There are a bizillion reasons for me NOT to blog away, such as complete lack of time, but I am starting one up so that I too can become one with the bloggersphere (a.k.a. procrastination).

I went to the escrow office today and signed the papers to sell my condo this morning. It's amazing how much paperwork is required to buy a place and put it on the market, but how little paperwork is required by the seller at the final signing. I guess a person is less important when they are being given money. They are more important when they are spending lots of money.

Yes, I should be packing right now. But I'm looking at this huge mound of boxes, 75% or more full of books, and I'm re-thinking my consumer lifestyle. I'm a sucker for buying into the advertising that tells me to buy useless junk. And now I'm paying for it in moving boxes.

I'm really going to miss this condo in Seattle. But at least I have stuff from friends to remind me of how much I will miss Seattle... that is, if I can find them in these moving boxes.