I'm back!

After discussing my blog with Brie at work, I've decided that I still have lots to say. Stay tuned. More to come.

Sensible planning

I was quite happy to read about the sensible addition of a pissoir to the new Dolores Park in a letter sent to the house by the San Francisco Planning Department.

Sure, this was announced a few months back (even the NYT mentioned it), but it's news to me!

It is exciting that our elected officials are taking a pragmatic approach at urination. I mean, men already pee all over the park, so why not build facilities that will be used on busy days. Currently the toilet situation at DP is inadequate at best. The men's room has a urinal that fills completely with water and one stall. There are a few port-a-potties around the park, but those are an eye-sore and unisex, which means queues on busy park days.


Dutch pissoir in Amsterdam

Having a blog is a lot of work

I started this blog before Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. This was before it was easy to share pictures and updates from the palm of my hand. I had to take pictures with a digital camera (remember scanning?), upload them to my hard drive and then upload them to the blog. Since I'm not a very good writer (or maybe it's I just don't have the patience to articulate my thoughts through the magic of prose), I chose to let the pictures do the talking. Afterall, a picture is worth a thousand words, is it not?

Now days, I can use Instagram to share pictures to my community and even email my parents with a few clicks on my iPhone. No longer do I have to sit down and think of fun comments and share the story behind the picture.

Why am I saying all of this? Well, because if I want to start blogging again, I am going to have to write about things of substance (not to be confused with substance abuse).

Any ideas on what I should blog about?

More QQ'ing from BYU fans

Doug Robinson, columnist from the Deseret News, is still sour that the Pac10 chose BYU's instate rival, Utah, over the Cougars.

The Cougars came with what most would consider baggage: They won't play on Sunday, which would create headaches for the Pac-10 TV contract, and their honor code and conservative living don't fit in with the liberal Pac-10 crowd. Otherwise, BYU should be as attractive as Notre Dame, another religious school that is repeatedly courted by BCS conferences.

He hit the nail right on its head. BYU is not a good fit with the rest of the Pac-10. It is a religious school that openly discriminates against gays and doesn't allow it's students to play on Sunday. That does not fit with the likes of the University of California and the other 7 public universities. The two private schools in the Pac-10, Stanford and USC, are private, non-sectarian research universities.

Bottom line: BYU fans can scream till they are blue in the face, but they will never be part of the Pac-10.

Something's Brewing down in Arizona

Republican Governor, Jan Brewer, has until Saturday to act on arguably the nation's toughest legislation against illegal immigration. Both sides of the debate have really been protesting furiously over the past few weeks, and there is no question that this a hot-button issue during an important election year.

The media has been covering this like crazy, but I want to know why nobody has brought up one very important fact:

Is Jan Brewer actually Terence Stamp as Bernadette from "Priscilla Queen of the Desert"?

Noonan on Palin

I rarely agree with what Peggy Noonan has to say, but she really is quite eloquent when it comes to Sarah Palin.

"In television interviews she was out of her depth in a shallow pool. She was limited in her ability to explain and defend her positions, and sometimes in knowing them. She couldn't say what she read because she didn't read anything. She was utterly unconcerned by all this and seemed in fact rather proud of it: It was evidence of her authenticity. She experienced criticism as both partisan and cruel because she could see no truth in any of it. She wasn't thoughtful enough to know she wasn't thoughtful enough. Her presentation up to the end has been scattered, illogical, manipulative and self-referential to the point of self-reverence. "I'm not wired that way," "I'm not a quitter," "I'm standing up for our values." I'm, I'm, I'm.

In another age it might not have been terrible, but here and now it was actually rather horrifying."

I think she literally is talking about her disco stick!

First, let's start out with the fact that I am completely in love with Lady GaGa. I thought that I was too old to get all starry eyed over a pop diva, but I guess at age 32 I still can fall in love (like I did with Madonna, Kylie, Cher, et al).

Over the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the Lady Gaga's song "Love Game", specifically, what is this disco stick that she sings of? The easy answer would be a penis, right? But why would Lady GaGa lower herself to such a simple metaphor for the male genetalia. Besides, I'd like to think of her as one big lezzzzzzzz. Oh you know you want to see her eat out Katie Perry's snatch just as much as the next person. But that still doesn't answer the question as to what this disco stick really is.

The good people over at BuzzFeed were wondering the same thing, and came to the same conclusion. What does she use this disco stick for? Is this how she harnesses her power? Is it magical? Does she use it to make muffins with? I think I'm going to make my own disco stick and see what kind of trouble I can get into with it.

I <3 Umami

I can always rely on my father to fill my inbox with about 4 - 5 emails a day. They are 99% forwards or webclippings of articles that he feels I would appreciate. The topics cover the whole spectrum, from MLB Baseball to cooking to family genealogy.

The other day, he sent me an article titled, "Is MSG Making a Comeback? After Years of Demonization, MSG Remains Ubiquitous as a Flavor Enhancer". It's a fun little read for those of you who grew up with a little shaker of "Ajinomoto" in your kitchen. (My parents were against having it in the house, even though we probably consumed enough of on a regular basis.)

I'm a fan of MSG and I'm not afraid to admit it. I won't eat at a Chinese restaurant near my house that has a huge sign out front that says, "Absolutely No MSG". Please. The reason why I eat Chinese food is for the MSG!

Color Splashed

A few months ago my friend David asked me if I wanted to meet the host of HGTV's "Color Splash", David Bromstad, and possibly be on TV. Never to let an opportunity like that pass, I said yes saved the date on my calendar. For those of you who don't know, David Bromstad is the openly gay hottie designer on cable television.

On the big day, fellow Star-F*cker, Sam jumped in my car and we drove up to Corte Madera to be on the live taping of Color Splash in West Elm. I was pleasantly surprised to find only a few other people, which gave me time to chat with David and ask him for his advice on decorating a room. After the taping, I got his autograph and probably made a complete fool out of myself since I was gushing like a 12 year old girl.

My episode of Color Splash aired this past weekend and I was amazed at how many of my friends watch it. I don't think the "Fusing Contemporary and Tribal" episode is available on HGTV.com yet.




David even said my name on tv.

The March to Spring

Beware the Ides of March, for they are upon us. Winter is slowly retreating back, and giving way to the longer days and warmer weather of spring. The birds are singing and the flowers are blooming. Thanks to Day Light Savings, we now arrive home in the evening a little happier (although waking up is a real bitch), which gives us more time to do that last bit of work around the house or enjoy a margarita with Trader Joe's Margarita Mix, which retails for just $2.99 here in San Francisco.

This has been a tough winter. Hopefully with the snow melting and the bears coming out of their dens comes happy fun times.