Drunk Driving on Bar Stool

The AP reported that in Newark, Ohio, the police responded to a call saying there has been a crash. What they found was a 28 year old man who had crashed his bar stool powered by a deconstructed lawn mower, which he says can up to 38mph.

Kile Wygle, the bar-stool rider, was hospitalized for minor injuries. At the hospital, he told the
police he drank 15 beers prior to riding. He was then charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated. He pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial.

Where can I get one of those?

[Image via AP]

Our Garden

T and I got to work on our garden this weekend. We're putting it in the Tucson house since that's where he currently lives. We went to Lowes to buy our supplies and well, there's not much to say about it yet because we didn't do any of the actual planting yet, just built the box.

We bought 64 feet worth of wood that we had cut. After taking it home, we treated the pieces with a water seal waterproofer. After it dried, we nailed the pieces of the wood together with brackets and laid the bottom with this landscaping fabric (to avoid weeds). Since we did not have a staple gun, we thumb tacked it into the wood which seems to work just as well.


All in all it was a great project and I'm glad we did it together. I was a bit of a whiner because I'm not much for manual labor, but I am a bit of a perfectionist so I was irked that the pieces were not straight. But T just kept saying "We're not making it for NASA."

So voila! We have a 24 feet by 4 feet garden box that is about 8 inches deep. We're going to need quite a bit of soil. More to come as we get moving on it.

Single Asians

M sent this to me this morning. It's a parody of Beyonce's Single Ladies. It's actually not that funny, but its funny these girls did it. I'm kind of embarrass for them.

Man Gives Wife Meth

King 5 News report that some crazy dude in Lewis County, Washington wanted his wife to have more energy to clean the house, so he added meth to her water. His wife was breast feeding their three month old kid and she did not know meth was in her water.

He is being charged with assault and child endangerment. The man is currently locked up in the Lewis County jail on another pending charge. Detectives said they learned of the meth incident while listening to the inmates phone calls.

Fan: Nobu Matsuhisa

I am a fan of many chefs for different reasons, and often it is not just their food. I became a fan of Nobu Matsuhisa initially because of his celebrity following. Everyone wanted to eat at Nobu and those who did raved about it. Even my friend J says its one the best sushi she's ever had.

After reading this recent article in CNNMoney.com, I have so much more respect for him. Chef Matsuhisa knew he wanted to be a sushi chef and always followed that path. He faced such trial and tribulations to get to where he is now. I like that throughout the interview, he always went back to how he cares more about the food and his customers than how much money he was making. That is something to be admired.

[image via CNNMoney.com]

Moth!

This relative of a butterfly just flew into my office and I'm frightened! It's HUGE!!! And all over the place. My boss tried to help me smash it with my legal pad but it didn't work and so it was just chilling in the lights. I was brave enough to climb on a chair to capture this photo.

P, my coworker thinks its hilarious how squeamish I am (I crawled under my desk as it was flying around). He decided to swat at it in the lights and now its hidden behind my book shelf. Wahhhh. I'm scared.

Low Mortgage Rates, Great for Buyers

According to this article in the AP, mortgage rates have dropped to a record low this week. The average 30 year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 4.85% this week. The rates fell again after the Federal Reserve said it will give $1.2 trillion into the economy to lower the rates and loosen credit. Mortgage applications had a surge, but 80% of these applications were from borrowers looking to refinance and reduce mortgage payment.

In Freddie Mac's survey, the average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 4.58 percent this week. Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 4.96%. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages rose fell to 4.85%.

Bottom line: if you are planning on purchasing a home or have the means to do so, jump on this now. I know I've been searching. My real estate professor last semester told me to avoid those adjustable rates though.

[image via frontdoor.com]

Scottsdale in NY Times

The Travel section of the NY Times did a pretty interesting article of the so called new Scottsdale. As a Phoenix native, I have seen Scottsdale and Phoenix flourish into this pretty big city. I remember back in the day when Scottsdale was nothing more than an empty fake cowboy town that we would only cross city lines if we wanted to go to Fashion Square mall.

Now, its a full bustling city with farmer markets, restaurants, high end shops, spas, live music, festivities and well, culture. I think the biggest change would be the night life. It is full of over priced drinks, scantily clad women, and over groomed men. Oh, and celebrity sightings can be had at any of the clubs or new hotels too.

I must say though, I am really happy with the new Scottsdale. There are plenty of bars and clubs to go to in Old Town, delicious and I hate to say it, trendy restaurants to dine at, and relatively good looking men and women to people watch. It does make me a bit self conscious being around all these beautiful people at such fancy bars. If T is in town, we usually venture to Old Town with our friends at least one night of the weekend. We may spend quite a few bucks, but it's always a party.

[image via 480area.com]

Pharrell likes McDonald's

Pharrell is too funny. He really wanted his Mickey D's.

Pug Head Tilt

I'm not a fan of pugs, but my coworker showed me this. It's so cute!

Fan: Grant Achatz

I'm a big fan of Chef Grant Achatz. I follow him on twitter, read his "Back of the House" articles from the food section of The Atlantic, etc. He is so creative, talented, and very accomplished. Even with all the awards and recognition, he still seems like a down to earth guy whose always about his craft and I love that. He is also a good writer.

In his most recent article, he describes his dining experience at a restaurant unnamed. The restaurant seems bizarre, but definitely interesting. I like the way he writes because he is very descriptive and how he relates things back to his restaurant, Alinea. Check out some of his past articles too if you get a chance.

Green Thumb Gardens

Six years ago I was the President of the Youth Volunteer Advisory Board for Maricopa County. My team and I help set up a community garden on the South side. This was to help the low income neighborhood with their grocery budget and give them a sense a togetherness and community. I am not sure if it still exists or if people are caring for it, but I was proud of what we did.

Accordingly to this article from the AP, because the economy is doing so poorly, many Americans are starting to garden. Garden advocates call these "recession gardens" and hopes that it will be similar to victory gardens after WWII.

My favorite part about those victory gardens were that its intent were to inspire self sufficiecy, which we all need more of anyways. Although today, people are gardening more for the savings it can provide, the idea of growing your own food garden is amazing. The interest in community gardens have also greatly increased. The list to join some are growing quickly with no one leaving.

Both sets of my grandparents have been doing it for years and we get tons of vegetables from them and it's delicious. In recent days, T and I have been talking about starting a garden. After reading this and really thinking about it, I am even more passionate about getting it going. Not only will we know where our food comes from, but the idea that we did it ourselves will be great. My philanthropy of choice is to feed the hungry so hopefully, our garden will be very fruitful, and I will be able to share the fruits of our labor.

[image via ThriftyFun.com]

Kidney for Love

The Today showed did a really sweet story today on a couple who were married for 27 years, divorced, and then fell in love again.

Jim Tobin was ill with polycystic kidney disease and a transplant was the only cure. Ten years ago, his ex wife, Bernadette Tobin offered to be tested because she wanted Jim to live so he could see their grandchildren. She was a perfect match.

After recovering from the transplant, she moved back in with him and they fell back in love. They married again last Sunday at their Massachusetts home, 17 years after their divorce.

This warms my heart. I know a few older people who are in need of kidney transplant and I have discussed with various others about whether they would donate their kidneys, some say yes, some say it depends. My grandfather doesn't want our kidneys because he knows he is going to pass soon and it won't be worth it. My boss won't give his to his brother because he has two sons who might need them. It's all so strange. I would never hesitate on donating if I'm a match because a life is a life. But everyone has their own way of thinking and its their body and life so you can't really pass judgment.

That lady's compassion and the couple's love inspires me.

[Image via MSNBC]

Asian Glow Can Cause Cancer

According to this New York Times article, my so called "Asian glow" from consuming alcohol can kill me, sort of.

The redness is a result of an enzyme deficiency called ALDH2 and affects a large population of the Asian race. Because the deficiency causes the alcohol to not metabolize correctly, the toxin, acetaldehyde, accumulates in the body. This can result in esophageal cancer (also caused by smoking), with survival rates being very low.

The article suggest reduce drinking can prevent the cancer cells from building up and thus, avoiding the cancer effect. There is a test you can take to test whether you are ALDH2 deficient.

I do get the rapid heart beat symptom often, but sometimes I get beet red and sometimes I do not get red at all. I wonder if I am starting to build a tolerance to the effect. Either way, I have already cut back a lot on my alcohol consumption, so I am not too worried. But I do worry for all my other Asian glowing friends. Go get checked out!

[image courtesy of freephoto1]

Vermont Senate Approves Gay Marriage Bill

Congrats Vermont. You're almost there!

The article says that the opponents wore stickers that said “Marriage: A mother and father for every child.” I wonder if they researched what the statistics were for divorce, single parent homes, etc. I'm so tired of this unequal rights bull crap.

Weekend Update 3/20-22/09

I will do my weekend updates, only if I find that weekend to be particularly interesting.



Friday, T and I saw "Knowing." I was pretty much pissed off at him during most of the movie because I was scared and was fearful of the nightmares that I would be having later that night. However, once the ending came about, all my fears faded away because of how ridiculous it was. The movie was pretty good though minus the terrible ending, but I rather have watched "I Love You, Man."

Saturday, we were going to go the Spring training game. Not realizing that since it was the biggest rivalry of the Chicago teams, we should have purchased our tickets in advance. So sold out tickets and nothing to do on a Saturday, we decided to drive up to Camp Verde to catch up with his family. I have never been to Camp Verde before, but he assured me it would be lots of fun. As we pulled into this little rural town, I started getting nervous, as I usually do with any small white folks town. Being Chinese and sticking out like a giant 5'9" thumb, I have endured a few racial situations before. T said I was being ridiculous and well, I probably was since it was 2009 and there are many Asian/Chinese people all over the place.

T, being the professionally trained cook, got suckered into manning the grill. While he was doing that, I was being helpful and cleaning some dishes. This older lady walked up to me at the sink and asked, "Honey, are you the dishwasher for the night?" She wasn't rude about it, just a bit racist, but since I'm too polite, I casually answered no and ran away to find T to say "Hah!"

Overall though, Camp Verde was fun. I love T's family and the friends of T's mom were really nice, welcoming, and best of all, hilarious.

Sunday was uneventful. I worked at my parents' restaurant, read a book, ate too much, went to bed. And here we are Monday.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

M sent me this yesterday after I had emailed her the link to the Passive Aggressive note blog.

She found it on the copy machine at ADP where she use to work, which was pretty funny already. But of course, because she is creative like that, found that the note also fits with most men (more specifically, Kevin, her coworker).

New blog - Welcome!

Being an avid reader of food blogs, I decided to start one myself. I had blogged when I was young via Xanga, but I don't think anyone Xanga's anymore. And that was lame anyway because I was 16 and had a lot of teenage angst going on. This new blog was going to be solely food reviews, recipe testing, etc. but I watched Jay Leno last week (the one with President Obama) and he had this bit about weird 99 cent store items. I decided there and then that I wanted to blog about that and all the other things I find funny in the world (it is not hard to make me laugh so there should be many post). The frequency of the blogging will be dependent on how much work I have going on at my actual job.

At any rate, I hope you enjoy. :)

Hugs,
B