Orangette and 101 Cookbooks are my newest distractions at work. I'm such an amatuer compared to these gals! "Me like food. Grunt."

Just goes to show...practice makes perfect. I always know exactly what I mean in my head...but translating it so that others can comprehend it? That's still a bit beyond my skill level. I'm at the level where I get excited over something and then BEAT PEOPLE OVER THE HEAD until they're excited too. I've been thinking I may need to refine my technique here and there.

Also, I think I want Orangette's boyfriend. That latest entry...him making her a metric buttload of good food...ooooooh so dreamy! As my friend Maureen puts it, "okay...i agree. if a very handsome vegetarian hunk were to greet me at the door with cured ham and exotic foods...i'd think it were pretty damn nice too."

In other news, things are good. I'll try and post more when I'm not getting distracted with simulations and reading blogs and cooking/burning things and my cute little boyfriend. I really should be working more at work, so I'm working on that.

The San Francisco Chinese New Year's Parade was pretty cool...they set off a lot of fireworks, there were a ton of people out, and there was a decent amount of energy going, which will make or break your parade. There were a bunch of marching bands, elementary/middle schools, performing arts groups, kung fu groups, and lesbian/gay groups with adopted Chinese babies marching...I can't remember all the acronyms but I'm sure you can figure it out...any combination of key words like "multi-cultural", "lbgt", "mixed", "coalition", and "families". There was even one for gay priests with multicultural families. I was impressed by that one. They looked like very nice priests. It was a loooong parade though. Those poor elementary school kids were pretty much glassy-eyed at the end. I'm sure their feet hurt, since mine were barking.

After the parade J and I stuck around for some congee and noodle soup at one of the numerous hole-in-the-walls in Chinatown...it was extremely busy and cheap and filling. It's funny how happy you can be when your unmet needs are finally taken care of...bladder, stomach, hydration, comfort. I just remember feeling so content with everything once that bowl of congee came out with the fresh ginger and green onion on top. We took the N-line back to J's car, and passed yet another cute restaurant district going through the Inner Sunset...going to have to check that out as well, especially since that's where KC's new apartment it. I've heard good, funny things about Cafe Gratitude: apparently they give you affirmations along with your order. Like "Here's your salad; I am grateful for your presence." I guess it's cheaper than a fortune cookie...

Dim Sum on Sunday morning was heaven. I don't know if I can describe to you what it is like, after the drought of Portland and Boston. I've never seen half of the dishes they offer, and all of them are good. We drove to Daly City with J's roommate and his girlfriend, and they let me order everything, which meant I stuck my nose in everything that came by and grunted yes or no. I love that role. And then we ate. I love that roll.

Oregon will always be home. But CA has some of the best asian food I've had outside of the respective countries, and the dilemma of only getting to live in one of them has me stymied.

Anyways, we finished off the day with a trip to the Botanical Gardens, then climbing at Mission Cliffs, then crepes at Ti Couz, where we ran into Carolyn and her climbing friends! (friend of Chris' from High School that was totally my idol growing up) It was awesome to catch up with her, and she's in town consulting for a month. So now I'm all fired up about SF, even to the extent of looking at apartments downtown. Of course, then I looked, and the rent prices turned me into stone. We'll see. I hate moving anyways...

Random blurbs:
Interesting Article on consumer spending and debt.

I wish I had read "A Million Little Pieces" before this hubbub about James Frey LYING about EVERYTHING in the book came out. Somehow knowing about his mostly privileged life makes me feel ambivalent about his rambling Randomly capitalized Sentences. Why would it be acceptable from a poor, barely literate guy? Condescending societal condoning I guess. Go ahead and get into drugs, you poor bastard. Then write a Novel about it and get rich, and you'll have had the American Dream. *links stolen from Mac Hall. I'm sorry I'm so unoriginal.*

But from a rich guy? If you get into drugs when you're rich...who feels sorry for those guys? Take Paris Hilton. If she wrote a book about her struggle's with drugs, there's no way I'd buy it. Now why is that?

More later after I drive up to SF. Have fun in the canyon PB!

This is an abomination. I have yet to get tired of cooking, but I am getting tired of the taste of my own cooking.

Here's my problem. I'm fundamentally incapable of cooking a meal for 1-2 people. When I cook, I cook quantity. (And quality, of course) Which means if I make dinner for myself, it can also be lunch for the next week. The week I've been eating combinations of fried rice, artichoke and pea tagine, Indian garbonzo stew, and saag paneer for lunch, and I'm thoroughly sick of all of those recipes. They were fun to make, and I'm sure in the long run I saved money by not going out for my meals, but it's only been a week! If this keeps up, I'm going to get sick of my staple recipes, and start moving on the special occasion ones!

I should amend the fact that I do my grocery shopping at four places: Costco, India Cash & Carry, Kyo-po (Korean grocery), and Safeway for the last resort. This means I pretty much get everything in bulk. That's probably the problem right there. But how can you beat the value???

Take tonight's dinner, for instance. Having almost exhausted my lunch tupperware stocks in the fridge at Intel and having had produce staring at me begging to be cooked (I'll be in SF this weekend, so I can't put it off), I made banana bread, brownies (ok those were unnecessary), eggplant w/ Indian spices (I'm really into that Indian cookin...), boiled corn, and I'm about to try and make some broiled portobellas with feta and wilted greens. And if y'all have any ideas for 1lb of spinach and green beans that possibly involves fresh mint, send them my way, because that is the next project. OTW that mint's gonna be in my tea.

Those mushrooms turned out fabulous, by the way. Saute two handfuls of Costo Spring Mix with one large handful of Costco Washed Spinach, garlic, salt, olive oil, and a teaspoon of red wine vinegar. While this is cooking down broil two stem-removed portobellas in a pan until you can smell them (5 min?), and then top with the wilted greens and feta. Finish the feta with a quick turn again under the broiler until it's nice and brown. I don't know if it'd be a good date meal: it's a very pretty dish, but it's impossible to eat delicately. Lucky for me I live alone!

This entry is rather rambling, in between cooking, eating, and drinking two-buck chuck out of my mug. But back to the dilemma...I buy a lot of produce, I cook a lot of food, but I can't manage to eat it all without losing interest in eating it. I also have a limited tupperware stock, so there's only so much food I can pack up to SF for J to eat. We like going out to new places way too much anyways, and I do feel kind of weird cooking a buttload and sending him home with all of it. Like some weird post-90s spin on feminism: "I'm strong-willed and independent, but I happen to have this weird thing about making you dinner." *aside* I read an interesting Salon book review talking about how boys and girls of today are so confused about the gender roles they're supposed to play that they're giving up and deciding for themselves what "masculine" and "feminine" means. Here Here. Sometimes I feel that when I was younger I made certain decisions on this matter and the rest of my life I'm going to find myself living up to them. (i.e. deciding I don't ever want to be a girly-girl. The cooking thing is too closely tied to the love of my stomach to be a gender matter)

By the way, if you need a new cheese to go insane over, Cypress Grove's Bermuda Triangle is probably my favorite of all cheeses, ever. Their Humboldt Fog seems to be more easily accessible, but if you can find the Bermuda Triangle it is to die for. J and I had it as an appetizer at SF's legendary Greens: the only extremely expensive, gourmet vegetarian restaurant I've ever been to, but worth every single penny. I've got the Humboldt Fog in my fridge right now (25$/lb!!! I'm such a brat!) and the melding of a brie-like creamyness with the blue cheese-tasting vegetable ash in between layers of chevre...god I'm drooling. right. now. And I just ate.

I think the problem is Costco. I'm still not resolved on this...I can get bags of produce for what I would spend on one day's need of that item. Say, spinach. 1-2 bunches of spinach will cost you around 2-3$ at most grocery stores. I can get 3 pounds of spinach for that at Costco. Now repeat this for salad greens, onions, garlic, oranges, apples, bananas, and cheese. Do I spend the equivalent amount of money and get less but have less worry of wasting food? Or do I succumb to the economy of scale and find a balance between needing to cook and not waste food or needing time to go climbing/do work with?

It's not really that big of a problem...it's just something I ponder during my resultingly numerous somewhat lonely meals. In the end buying bulk is probably worth it because I do manage to cook it all, and it provides me with a week of meals, the equivalent of which would require some X multiplier on money and time spent on multiple trips to the grocery store + gas.

It's just no fun to cook for one. I need a pig. See, I'd say I need y'all to live with me, except sometimes the stuff I cook...doesn't...quite...turn out well. The days it does I'm all dissapointed that I've got no one to show it to, but the bad day's make me happy that I can only harm myself. The aformentioned saag paneer was less than stellar. It was, however, edible, and I learned thad I need to cut the paneer into smaller cubes. And the brownies I just made turned out tasty, but you can slightly taste the olive oil I substituted for the butter in an effort to use a healthier fat. Butterfat just has too many necessary qualities to sub out in chocolate baked goods. I knew better, but was pressed for time.

Now, if I had a pig, I could feed it the oopses and the bad results and the leftovers that I've lost interest in. Maybe that's why people have kids. Hmm...

I know, I haven't been posting much...I've been finding out that my efficiency somehow decreases the less I have to do. So even though I've got tons of free time, somehow it always ends up frittered away. Blech.

Anyways, help me decide if I should get this couch. Justin loved it when we saw it at IKEA, and I was...less than impressed by it's comfy-ness. However, with a nice throw over it, no problem. And that reduced price makes it much more appealing.

I need a couch soon, and it is leather...

VOTE!

My group (Mobile Package Design) is hiring. If you've got an EE background, it's almost a guaranteed job. It might not be the most interesting/difficult stuff you've ever seen, but in my mind that's a good thing.

After breakfast with Aditi, a nice visit with Sherv, and a lot of putzing around this weekend, I'm starting to feel much more at home, both at J's place in SF and my place in SC. My friend Keevin is down in SC this week for Intel business, so we're probably going to go climbing, and my parents decided to make a last minute trip out for Chinese New Year this weekend, so my schedule is starting to make me feel like I have a life. I recently saw that Intel has pickup soccer games at noon every day except Monday, so I'm going to have to go check those out...slowly but surely the things on my happiness checklist are getting covered. My pantry is stocked well enough that it makes me happy just looking at it. I've got polenta. eee! I do need to track down some sumac though, and hit an Indian spice market at some point.

I also just found out that there's some pretty good bouldering in downtown Berkeley, which seems rather random, but will be a good excuse to visit Sherv more. There seems to be some decent outdoor stuff everywhere in CA, disregarding the traffic and crowds, which isn't that small of a thing, but when in Rome...

I'm thinking about running a Redwoods Marathon, or a halfie. Haven't decided on that yet. First things first...start running!

I still need to get a couch, or think about getting a couch. Haven't done that yet either. Luckily, I'll never get too out of shape to sit down...

Work has been really nice. School-like, almost. I'm still in training, and probably will be for a few months, so mainly I get in, run a few simulations, look at demos, and read up on high speed electronic design engineering. The guy who is mentoring me is really nice and smart, and I don't think I could have asked for a set-up more suited to what I want/need. Although setting my own "work hours" are tough. I find myself working more at home/J's place, and taking care of personal stuff when I'm at work. Weird.

I'm working on two plans: 1 is to get F-A people out to the West Coast, and 2 is to get the '03 crowd (and whoever else wants to go) to go to the Pi Reunion. I'm excited about it, and yes I know I'm a dork. I can't help it...the thought of going dancing/clubbing with Kristin in Las Vegas makes me start bumping in my cubicle.

Mac Hall is so great. The previous comic was great too. And the guy who draws it kind looks like Patrick. Same taste in hats and all...

The move has been good. I would say great, because I have the money (theoretically in my head...we'll see about real life) and space to get decent furniture, and I live really close to campus, and I just signed up for a rock gym membership. I would say great, but it's been honestly kind of lonely. I miss having friends to call for every last thing. Living in a single is lonely too...Getting a roommate might be the way to go, since I kind of need people around otw I get all depressed. But I'll be up in SF this weekend with J, and I'm definitely going to see Kristin Coan from HS this saturday, and hopefully see Aditi/Sherv/Hippo at some point. So the outlook is positive, though I have trouble going day to day during the week without much people interaction. It's a rough life after school. Even for those of us lucky enough to be in relationships. Sometimes I don't know how everyone seems to manage.

Thanks to KJ though for cheering me up : )

And wish me luck keeping myself from getting fired during the 9 month probationary period. I still am terrified that they're going to figure out that I'm a fraud and send me home with my tail tucked between my legs. My legacy of love from MIT: the largest nincompoop complex in the world.

Hey Wahby...you should tell Woz that there's a street named after her in San Jose. Everytime I drive by it I think "hey! it's Woz!"

This has been awesome. I've already had 2 weeks off from working, with one more to go before I start at Intel on Jan. 9. My parents are still in Australia so I spent xmas down in Coos Bay with J's family, which went really well. I was worried that I would be intruding on their family celebration, but they really made me one of the family, including giving me tons of loot. For xmas J got me a glassblowing class down in SF from the people that put on the Glass Pumpkin Patch at MIT, which is totally sweet since one of my biggest regrets was never taking the class that MIT offers. I got a cookbook and a mandolin from his mom, an aluminum camping wok from his dad, chocolate from his brother, and melamine and titanium utensils in my stocking. Oh, and a porcelain salt pinch pot and a Peugot pepper grinder. It's soooo sexy! And I love the japanese mandolin: I've been slicing things up just because I can. It makes really, really good looking julienned carrots. I'm not going to have any furniture in my apartment, but my kitchen is going to be fully stocked. In addition, we ate, partied, sociallized, surfed, and did all that holiday stuff that makes you appreciate being home for the holidays. I got back into Portland on the 26th for Lindsay's birthday party, and have been furiously packing up/saying my goodbyes since. I pick up my parents from the airport Sunday, and then drive down Monday morning. I'm mostly packed, though I still have to figure out how much room I have for pots/pans. And I am sooo ready for this move. Ready, with a bit of scaryness thrown in, just because I'm not really that big on change, and this is a big change. But ready. Here's to the new year!!!

I'm throwing myself a going away party at my house this Friday, 7pm. If anyone wants to drop by before I drive down to CA on Monday, that'd be cool. It's just going to be a few climbing friends and beer/pizza so far.

Or we'll be at the Dixie tomorrow at 9pm. Mechanical bull and all.

I want to see what the MIT brain thinks about this.

Check out Miah's post on the community blog.

Ok, so I don't know if this is uncouth or what not, but I figure since we've already discussed salaries, it's kosher. I got the official offer from Intel today. Base salary 52K based on a grade 3 entry level. Average expected bonus based on performance: 7k. Geographic compensation for Santa Clara: 13% of combined. So assuming I perform well and Intel does well, I'll be making around 65k. I think that my friends were right, and that for corporations the salary that you name doesn't matter, as long as it's not too high or too low. I guessed the right figure for a Portland salary: ~50k, but boy was I off trying to figure the CA inflation.

I feel like the more people talk about this stuff the better we'll (as n00bs to this bargaining-for-your-bread world) do in the future. But this stuff interests me: how the world decides who is paid what and how that relates to the actual usefullness of that job in my mind. And how different companies compare in "compensation". I know Nike's known for underpaying, because they figure you're lucky to be working for them. *shrug* Anyways, I don't know if you care, but that's what I got. Now...was the MIT education worth it? This has yet to be seen.

I just got the unofficial offer from Intel...it's not in writing yet, so I need to go apply officially online and all that, but YAY!!!

Damn you Holloway for showing me up!

That said, my Thursday consists of:
7am: Yoga
8:15am: 30 min. run
9:30-5pm: Work. With a big lunch in between.
5:30pm: Climbing

Not too bad. Although my "30 min. run" was more like 20 minutes. And I got to yoga late. : )

I think I'm ruining the communal blog by posting so much, but I swear once I hear back from Intel I won't be posting DAILY trying to type away my anxiety.

Yesterday I went to a party thrown by a friend from soccer and offended her by telling her that she should come to Patrick's party because she's cute and single. I'm not quite sure how. It's a reminder to meet new people every now and then...everyone else I hang out with would have been cool with that statement, but I spent the next 20 minutes trying to backpedal and tell her that I really just want her to meet the rest of my friends. Oi. I really, really hate social faux paus. (is that plural?) I'm going to obsess over what I should have said and if she still likes me for the next few days, and I hate knowing that I'm going to do that and not being able to figure out 1) how to stop it and 2) how to prevent it from happening again besides just STFU. All this when I know that she probably was fine with it after letting me know where she stood. Meh. Don't you love social anxiety? 2 more parties to go to before my week is over. Boy oh boy oh Awkward!

http://beust.com/weblog/

Check out the Nov. 20th and Nov. 23rd entries about WoW. I like the price breakdown of entertainment.

I'd summarize them better than that for you but I have to go cull more mice from my colony of mice and then spill more phenol on myself. That was fun.