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“Kelly Osborne is Doing it Right”

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Have you seen Kelly Osborne lately? She’s lost 42 lbs and looks great.  The best part? She did it all through diet and exercise.

She can afford to turn to liposuction or hiring an intense personal trainer, but she did it gradually in a way that allowed her to stick with it and eventually grow to love it and make it a part of her life.

I completely agree with what she had to say about workout out:

“After DWTS ended I followed the Bar Method and now I do that three times a week at least. Not every day. I don’t have that kind of dedication. Working out sucks. You sweat and you stick, but then you’re done — and then you see that just taking an hour three times a week can change you so much. It becomes addictive.”

It is addictive! Now that I’m doing the most intense workouts of my life, I do find myself cursing the heavens before each routine.  But once it’s done, you feel great, like you’ve conquered the world. You did it! You got through it and you almost didn’t even start.  That feeling coupled with the fact that it doesn’t take that much time to see results is something that will keep you going and going.

You can see pics and read more about Kelly’s transformation on the FitSugar website.

Note: The Bar Method Kelly mentions is very similar to and has the same concepts as the Callanetics that I am doing.

“Los Angeles Street Food Fest Fail, Twitter Win”

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Was the well-intentioned, 1st Annual Los Angeles Street Food Fest a disappointment?  According to Twitter, the answer is yes.

A Twitpic of the massive lines at the LA Street Food Fest from seeson

A Twitpic of the massive lines at the LA Street Food Fest from seeson

I actually first heard about the Street Food Fest on Twitter.  A few days ago, one of the food trucks I follow mentioned that they might be at the fest.  I had forgotten all about it until I realized this morning that today was event day.  I went to the official website for more information and my mouth started to water.

Many of the city’s popular and trendy food trucks were gathering for the day.  They were offering special menus of small bites and keeping prices low so foodies could sample a bit of everything.  All that separated me from street food heaven was a short subway ride downtown and a $5 entrance fee.

Or so I thought.

One of the great things about Twitter, if not the best thing, is the search function.  Where else can one find real-time answers and opinions?  I was confident that there would be at least a few people who would be tweeting from the fest.  I entered a search for “street food fest” so I could get a sense of what the scene was like downtown.

The results started pouring in. Some were only a few seconds old. My eyes widen and my mouth got dry.

People were comparing the lines to lines at Disneyland. LinLorienelen said they were like Depression-era food lines.  Others had waited 40 minutes just to gain entrance to the fest, plus another 30 minutes waiting in line to order and then another 30 minutes to get their order.  What happened to being able to float from vendor to vendor and sample everything?  I was discouraged, to say the least, and then I saw this video from mochipark who tweeted, “If you’re not already at the street food fest, stay away. Way away.”



That was all I need to see (I had to laugh at the person saying “I’m still hungry!”).  I’m not a very patient person, even less so when it comes to food.  As the day progressed, I kept checking Twitter to see if the situation was changing.  It only got worse.  Several tweets talked of waiting over an hour and a half for entry only to be turned away. Yes, turned away! (Why bother waiting that long in the first place?!) The organizers had to nip the problem in the bud, although it was way too late by then. The turnout and demand was overwhelming. Many vendors rain out of food by 2 PM, even though the festival was scheduled to go until 5.  It was difficult for most to try more than one vendor, and the waiting, great Jebus, the waiting!

I hope that next year (if there is a next year), the venue will be larger and the event more organized. Though really, I don’t know what they could have done differently this year and I don’t blame the organizers.  This is the power of the internet and of social media. News of the street fest spread across the web like wildfire and everyone and their uncle showed up.  In my search results, I saw that tons of people were on their way downtown. Did they not know what was going on? Did they not care? I wonder how many people actually use the Twitter search function like I do.  I felt bad for those who tweeted, “On my way to the L.A. Street Food Fest. So hungry!”  Yeah, good luck satisfying that hunger in the next 2 hours. I’m sure it didn’t help that today was gorgeous, sunny and warm.  Strangely, the official Twitter account for the fest was silent today.  I’d like to imagine that those behind the account were too busy spending the day going “Oh. Shit.”

“Firefighting”

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

Wildfires have been raging here for nearly a week.  I can see the smoke and resulting water vapor from my apartment.  Fortunately, it’s not like it was a few years ago where I actually saw red and orange flames that lasted for hours.

These crazy clouds are actually a combination of smoke and water vapor.

These crazy clouds are actually a combination of smoke and water vapor.

This one looks like a bomb was dropped!

This one looks like a bomb was dropped!

I feel badly for all the people and animals affected.  We have evacuation centers in place for people and their pets, but where are those wild animals supposed to go?! Poor chipmunks, coyotes, bears and squirrels.  I hope they don’t suffer much. :-(  Also, we should all be grateful to the men and women out there fighting the fire in this 100+  heat and oppressive smoke.  It takes a special kind of person to chose to do that.

“Oops - Michael Jackson”

Friday, June 26th, 2009

When we were little, one of my younger sisters had the odd habit of exclaiming “Michael Jackson!” in place of “Oops!” or a curse word.  She would do this when she tripped, ran into something, dropped something or anything else that would elicit a surprised response.  We always thought she was unique in her weirdo-ness.

One summer afternoon, she and I were in the food court of our local Walmart, probably snacking on something barely passible as food.  A girl I knew from my high school, who was a grade above me, was working there and mopping the floor next to us.  Suddenly, Jamie slipped on the wet floor and let out a loud “Michael Jackson!” as she regained her balance.

Having overheard her, my sister and I looked at each other and mouthed “Oh my god.”  We could not believe that someone else besides her did that.  To this day, I remember that moment vividly, and his death today made me think of it again.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson.

“Is Nike ripping off Eddie Van Halen?”

Friday, June 12th, 2009

The evening news on NBC here in Los Angeles, before cutting to commercial, teased “Eddie Van Halen says he’s being ripped off. You be the judge.”

The subsequent story was about how Van Halen alleges that Nike is using his trademarked red, white and black striped guitar design for one of their shoes. The news then left it up to us to “be the judge” by showing images of Eddie Van Halen’s iconic guitar along with the shoes in question but—and this is a big but—they showed the wrong pair of sneakers. I don’t know which model they were showing, but it was a basic solid gray shoe with a black Nike swoosh and red stitching and a black or gray sole  (I don’t remember exactly, but it was just a basic shoe with SOLID colors). It looked nothing like Eddie Van Halen’s stripey guitar design and would make the average person think that Van Halen is making a big deal out of nothing and is just looking to sue Nike for the money. They also showed Van Halen’s own shoe design as a comparison, which does look like his guitar.

You would think the evening news of a major metropolitan area would do a bit more research. It took me all of 1 minute to find images of the shoes in question, which are a style of Nike Dunk Lows. Now you be the real judge; is Nike ripping off Eddie Van Halen? Does he have a valid argument here?

Here’s his trademarked guitar design, his official shoe design, and the real Nkes that are the center of all this litigation:

Eddie Van Halen's trademarked guitar design.

Eddie Van Halen's trademarked guitar design.

Eddie's official shoes with the design from his guitar.

Eddie's official shoes with his trademarked design.

The REAL shoes in question: Nike Dunk Lows

The REAL shoes in question: Nike Dunk Lows

I think Eddie Van Halen may have a case here, though you wouldn’t have known it if you watched KNBC tonight.

Update: When I was looking up pictures, Tim and I noticed that Eddie’s official shoes look like Converse high tops.  We didn’t think much of this, but thanks to Ace’s comment below, I now know that Converse is owned by Nike! Woah!  Didn’t know that.  This puts things in a new perspective.  Thanks Ace!

“Baseball Tragedies and Excitement”

Friday, April 10th, 2009

If you’ve watched the news at all today, you’ve probably heard about Nick Adenhart.

This promising 22-year-old pitcher for the Anaheim Angels (aka Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) was killed Thursday morning along with 2 other young people.  Another victim is fighting for his life.

The perpetrator, a drunk driving on a suspended license with a history of DUI, ran a red light and then fled the scene on foot.  Thankfully, he was caught about a half hour later.  Three people are dead.  Their killer, Andrew Gallo—if there is any sort of justice in this world—should never see the light of day again, let alone get behind the wheel of another vehicle.

In addition to the unbelievable suffering of his friends and family, Major League Baseball has lost a player with a lot of potential.  Good pitchers are crucial to the success of a team (just ask the Yankees), and Adenhart, by all accounts, may have become a great pitcher.  It brings me a bit of solace knowing he pitched a great game in his start last night and left the ball park feeling like a true “major leaguer.”  Hopefully, he did not suffer and went out still on that high.

Tonight’s game against the Oakland Athletics has been postponed to a date yet to be determined.  Friday will be the start of a 3-game series against the Boston Red Sox.  I’m sure the first game will be a somber one, but hopefully being back on the field and doing what they love will help the Angels move forward.

I will be going to the last game of the series on Easter Sunday, something I’m still really excited about.  I will be rooting for the Red Sox of course, but can’t say I’ll be too upset if the Angels walk away with the series.

Who can be upset at the Angels right now?

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