Department of Motor Vehicles

My registration expires April 09. Today is April 30, 2009. The last day of April. Thankfully, I headed to the California DMV in Santa Monica on Monday to register my car and get a new California License. Even though I have moved from Virginia, I had Arizona plates. Why you ask? After returning to the states from Italy, I 'bought' my brother's car from my mom and shipped it to Virginia from Arizona. I proceeded to the Virginia DMV to register my car unknowing of the grief I would receive from the mean Indian ladies at the DMV counter. This is not intended to be a racial post whatsoever. I am just stating the facts. Before moving on to critiquing the Virginia DMV, I will mention that the Arizona DMV has a pleasant experience. There are many locations as well as express locations. They also have many online services which were available before Virginia DMV did. Also, your driver's license does not expire till you are 65 years old, so you never have to renew your license. The emissions tests are done at special locations, not gas stations like in Virginia. It is like a drive thru car wash. Quick and easy.

Moving on, I have waited in line at the Virginia DMV about four or five times to register my car. The first time I went they would not let me register my car because the registration was in my name and my mothers name. We kept it like this because the bank told us that we could do that so we could keep the current insurance on the car that was in my mom's name while the car was shipped to VA. Then I could go and register the car under my name only when the car arrived in VA. When arriving at the DMV, the mean Indian lady told me that I could not do that and my mom had to be present to sign the papers to take her name off. How was I supposed to do that when my mother was in AZ? In the end, I had to FLY my sorry a$$ to AZ, and go to the AZ DMV and reregister my car under my name only. I then make it back to the VA DMV. This time she (Indian lady again) tells me that I need to give them the title to my car. I do not own the title on my car because I have a lien. She also tells me that I need to pay sales tax on the car. WHAT? SALES TAX? Isn't that done when you buy the car? But I did not have any paperwork with me so I had no idea what I paid and did not pay. So I stomp off fuming. I call the bank. The bank would not give me the title, but required the DMV to fax a request for the title. The DMV on the other hand told me I had to bring the title and they would not fax a request. Does this make any sense at all? If both parties would not budge, what was I to do? The bank also told me that in Arizona when the car stays within the family, you do not need to pay sales tax on the car because the sales tax was initally paid when my mom first purchased the car. So the nice lady at the bank mailed me a copy of this law so that I could bring it to the DMV. I go back again with my letter to yet another Indian lady. More arguing continues. Indian ladies scare me because they are so stern and direct. I stomp away again. THEN I get a letter from the Arizona DMV saying that I do not have Arizona insurance and need to show proof of insurance or my registration will be taken away or something or another. So I am in panic and write a letter to the AZ DMV with a copy of my VA insurance and an explanation of my situation with the VA DMV. So even though I hate the VA DMV with a passion at this point, I head back scared that the AZ DMV will do something bad to me. Finally I get a NICE white grammy at the window! I explain everything that is going on and how frustrated I was and if she could please please give me a solution I would be happy to do it. She looked over all my paperwork and then explained to me that the reason I need to pay the sales tax is because in VA law if you owned the car under 1 year, then you need to pay sales tax. If you owned it over 1 year, you do not need to pay sales tax. Also, I do not have to do my title with the DMV. I can just REGISTER my car and let the bank keep the title. So she told me that if I have not gotten caught with an Arizona plate yet, I should just come back after I have owned the car for a year. This was about 4 months away. Yes this whole process took 8 months from my first visit to the VA DMV until I met the nice white grammy at the window. By the time the 1 year mark rolled around, I had basically decided to move to California. At this point, why would I visit the horrible VA DMV again. I forgot to mention that every visit to the DMV included over an hour wait before walking up to the window and a furious korean girl stomping thru the parking lot after.


Because of my horrible experiences at the VA DMV, I dreaded going to the California DMV. The only reason I finally went this week was because my registration expires today. You can make an APPOINTMENT at the California DMV. AWESOME! This is very quick. I tried making an appointment, but the available times were not good for me. So I decided to go in without an appointment. Boy, was this the BEST experience at any DMV! The employees have their own desks. It is mostly black employees who are lively, peppy, and friendly. The Santa Monica DMV reminded me of the movie Barbor Shop. The person who helped me even had garbage pail kids cards at his desk! I got my registration and plates right away. I did however have to take a written test for my drivers license. In california, you must take a 36 question test if you are from out of state and an 18 question test to renew your license. I did not study for this test because Dorothy and HY told me it was easy. I did look over HY and Will's tests because you get to take it home. The questions looked pretty simple. I was scared they would ask speed limit questions like when you get your permit. But none of those questions were on HY's or Will's tests. Unfortunately, they WERE on my test. I started sweatin' bullets while taking my test because they asked 2 speed limit questions and also they asked what is the maximum you would go to jail for a DUI? How in the world would I know that? There were about 8 or 9 questions I was unsure of. You could only miss 6. While I was sitting there many other people were finishing their tests. The lady checks your answers right there. Everyone failed. And she was MEAN! She would say..nonono you need to STUDY. nonono you FAIL. Of course, she was Indian. I am not joking. I was getting more scared at this point. I did not want to fail or go back to the DMV. I finally head up to the desk to get my questions scored while holding my breath. Luckily, I PASS! Only 2 questions wrong. She was not even happy for me. She was shocked that I got only 2 wrong. She kept looking at the paper over and over again to make sure she didn't miss a WRONG ANSWER. I think she LOVES telling people - YOU FAIL YOU STUPID.

So there is my critique of the DMV from three different states. Not that this post would really interest anyone. I am sorry for anyone who needs to visit the VA DMV. Oh, when I say VA DMV, I mean NOVA DMV. Mari also had a big problem at a NOVA DMV and went to Harrisonburg to go to the DMV! They helped her right away. NOVA=Snobby. Maybe worse than Boston.

My last task - put the license plate ON the car!!!

Annie Cooks...

I forgot to take a picture of Annies first meal she prepared for Linn and I on monday night. She made chicken and shrimp stir fry with broccoli and onions. During her cooking process she was taking the thawed chicken out of the microwave and spilled the bacteria filled salmonella chicken juice all over the microwave, stove and floor. It was disturbing. I had to get up from my evening rest and proceed to scrub the kitchen down. Even with the little slip up, dinner was very good.

Last night Annie and Linn came in about 5 minutes after me from the gym. They walked in on me boiling water. I was cursing under my breath because I was trying to eat my LAMYUN before Annie got home! I was caught red handed! Annie was wide eyed coming into the kitchen scolding me looking like she was about to put me in the corner with a bucket of water to hold over my head. So she made me a tomato and scallion omlet. I begged for for the avocados on the side. It was delicious-even though I probably would've been really satisfied eating my lamyun.

I guess I need to say a nice thank you to Annie for saving my workout! But I'm pretty positive that the omlet had about triple the calories of the lamyun. What do you think?
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A+ Shrimp Dumplings!

Yesterday Linn and Annie ate shrimp dumplings at korea plaza.  I started craving it after that conversation.  So after church today, HY and I headed to the Korea Plaza food court.  If you are ever in the neighborhood, you must make a pit stop and try these shrimp dumplings.  Definitely TRUE RELIGION!  They are filled with a meat, noodle, veggie, and shrimp mixture. It is on the spicy side.  Actually, quite spicy.  They give you 8 dumplings for 7.99.  CASH ONLY.  This is actually a pretty good deal considering HY and I shared and there were still 2 left over which I gobbled down for dinner.  You can also get a dumpling plate which has 2 of these shrimp dumplings, a king dumpling, and a sweet dumpling with red bean inside.  I recommend this if you like a variety of dumplings.  

I also got some kim bap.  It was forgetable.  

My main reason for going to Korea Plaza was to go to ABC Plaza to get some more lock and lock containers for my lunch.  I ended up also grabbing this mini egg pan. I love it!  It is perfect for cooking my spinach and egg white scrambles.  Also, I can now make egg white omlets without the egg whites running all over a huge pan.  The best part is that it is easy to clean.

I was quite lazy today so my food for tomorrow is very small and sad looking.  I have my spinach and egg white scramble, mangos, and the beef stir fry I made last week.  Also, lucky for me, Annie went grocery shopping so I don't need to!  Thanks Annie.

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Pack Rats

Are you a pack rat? Annie sure is. Have you checked your drawers and under your bed for things you have that is surely trashable lately?
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so what CAN we eat?

Today on the way to work I was listening to Ryan Seacrest (who's show really sucks, but I took all my CDs out of the car last weekend). On the news portion they mentioned water bottles being contaminated with a bleach like substance at a school in California. Of course I googled and here is the only thing I found:


Source: http://www.kmph.com/Global/story.asp?S=10241714
Article reads:
FBI probing contaminated water bottles at school if (document.layers) {document.write(''); document.close();} coreAdsCreate('wnsz_20', 'loc', '100', 'wnsz_20', 'News'); Associated Press - April 24, 2009 7:33 AM ET SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) - The FBI is investigating the contamination of bottled water at a school in Southern California. Twelve students at Mesa Junior High School in Santa Clarita complained of headaches, nausea and dizziness after drinking water from a vending machine. It appeared to contain a "bleach-like substance." The students were taken to a hospital and released. FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller says a hazardous materials team was sent to the school. A spokesman for The Pepsi Bottling Group says there is no evidence that the contamination was caused by the company. Pepsi is conducting its own tests. Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I am quite disturbed by this news. Do I need to filter my own water? Grow my own garden? Raise my own livestock? I am an avid water bottle drinker. I am a water snob. I don't even drink Brita water. It tastes funny. They did not mention which brand of water it is, but they said it was PEPSI. I am guessing this is Aquafina. FYI: Aquafina is tap water. Does it seem like a new food epidemic arises every other month these days? Let's review some big epidemics.


1. The first epidemic I remember was halloween candy. I wasn't allowed to eat my halloween candy anymore because bad neighbors were poisoning little children and also putting razor blades in chocolate. Was this even true? It may have been a gimmik to get parents to buy separate candy for their kids as well as buy candy to give out for trick o treaters. Even if it were not true, I sure would not let my own children eat candy from strangers.




2. Then I wasn't allowed to eat 'gehlan bap' (egg rice) with raw egg because of Salmonella. If you are korean, your mom surely would have made you rice with raw egg and soy sauce. Sometimes I got to enjoy this with kraft singles on top. This was my favorite meal. I was saddened the first time, when my mom proceeded to fully fry the egg before putting it in my rice.




3. Then the awful Mad Cow disease. I don't have much to say about this, but I did not eat steak for a while.



4. And who can forget the Tylenol Killer? How awful! I am allergic to ibuprofin. So that means I can barely take any over the counter pain meds like advil, asprin, etc. I am not highly allergic, but I get a few hives on the face for an hour or two. But I stay away because who knows to what extreme my body will react. So I take only Tylenol. Makes me anxious.


5. Then there were those nasty green onions that caused Hepatitis A. I love green onions. How would you make a great pot of 'yookehjang' (spicy korean soup with a lot of green onions) without green onions? And what would you sprinkle on top of 'sullungtang' or 'gom tang' or any other murky korean soup? What a shame.


6. AND THE BIRD FLU! Ah the bird flu. This was huge in 2006. I remember this because the girls and I went backpacking around Europe the summer of '06. I wouldn't let anyone eat any chicken or touch the pigeons. They still did. But I definitely did not.


7. And the awesome spinach I eat in my scrambled egg whites. How can spinach cause E-coli?


8. and the one epidemic that DID get me sick - PCA's peanut butter recall. I had a peanut butter cupcake from gtown cupcakes and I immediately threw up. This was not just a one time vomit and sleep kind of thing. It was a sleep using the toilet as your pillow kind of thing. It was a horrible experience. This caused me to miss out on a snowboarding trip the next day. Peanut butter used to be one of my favorite jars. I used to eat spoonfuls on its own when I was little. Creamy Jiff. But now, I have given up peanutbutter. Even planters peanuts have been recalled. If you walk into CVS, there are signs everywhere saying to return planters peanuts.


This is not at all an exhaustive list. There was also that huge pet food recall from Canada and tons more. It would take me too long to think of all the ones I remember in my life. I think we should go back to farming and bartering. No more mass production.

I wish I was one of those people that didn't freak out from this kind of news. But I do. I have a rule not to microwave food twice. I only keep leftovers for 2 days at the max. When I lived with Rebecca she ate ALL my leftovers. When I would head for the trash, she would scream at me and eat the food. She definitely has a strong stomach.

I on the other hand, I have a weak stomach. I believe that my mother has given me a weak stomach. She has shielded me since a young age from all these crazy food epidemics. That is where I get my food fear from. This is why my stomach has not had a chance to build up it's fight against bacteria.

I have tried and tried throughout the years to stay away from the 'scary foods'. Then I stepped foot on Italian soil and 2 weeks later what happens? I get Salmonella poisoning. GREATTT. I ended up in the hospital for a week and then stayed in the house for a week. It was a very horrible experience. Not the Salmonella, but the hospital! I was in a foreign country where the nurses and maybe 90% of the doctors do not speak English. I thought doctors had to speak English. There are no phones in the room. My mom had no idea where I was. I didn't even know where I was! I cried every night. I had 2 weird Italian grammies next to me in the room that kept trying speaking to me in weird Italian dialect. The TV was in Italian. People smoked inside the hospital. The toilets were not normal. All I could do was sleep or stare out the window. Everything was just bad. Finally the horrible corporate people (another story I may explain at a later time) let my classmates visit me 2 days later. Thank GOODNESS! My roommate brought me my PHONE, LAPTOP, and the THIRD SEASON OF LOST! Then I had visitors every night. They all took turns coming to visit me. The highlights of my day.

The day I got to leave, a few classmates came to get me. I know I STUNK. But they were so kind and said I didn't smell and squeezed into the cab with me. But I knew I smelled really bad because I could smell myself. One of my friends had to translate what the doctor said when I left. All the doctor said was..and I quote..."don't eat your shit." Do I need to comment further?

After I returned to the horrible corporate people, I received my own bathroom in the building. It had a sign on it that it was mine and I had a key. I could not share a bathroom for a few weeks. I was thouroughly embarrassed.

Conclusion: Guess it doesn't matter what we do to keep ourselves safe from these horrible deathly food epidemics. You just gotta be darn lucky.

Birthday Season

Tomorrow is Yoojung's birthday. Well it would be considered today on the east coast. When I was about to post a nice birthday blog, I realized that I forgot to give a shout out to jisun who's birthday just passed.


Every year in the start of spring, we have a massive birthday blowout for 4-5 weeks straight. Starting with Jisun on April 15, Yoojung on April 23, Jungeun on April 25, Sungsill on May 4, and Lisette on May 10. Every weeknd is a birthday celebration usually filled with food and alcohol. A lot of planning is involved. Trying to think of something 'original' to do for 5 people in a row is pretty challenging. In the end we usually end up eating dinner and heading out to get trashed beyond comprehension. After good plans for birthday celebrations pan out, massive amounts of evites start shooting out. Schedules must be cleared for these 5 birthday weekends. Yes, this is the dreaded birthday season,as we call it. However!! However...I secretly love the birthday season. I long for the birthday season. The dreaded birthday season means that I get to plan 5 awesome birthday parties (an obsession of mine). The dreaded birthday season means that I get to spend 5 weekends in a row with the friends I love without interruptions from family engagements, significant others, and just life's events that we must tend to. Besides December which includes MY birthday of course and Christmas and New Years Eve, this dreaded birthday season is probably my 2nd favorite time of the year. I guess if someone asked me which were my favorite holidays I would say Christmas and the Birthday Season. It may not be a holiday to you, but it is a holiday to me.


This year, now living in California, I am missing my 2nd favorite holiday! As we get older, I guess we get either lazier or smarter. The first batch of birthdays including Jisun, Yoojung, and Jungeun came with a joint celebration with a BBQ at at the park and a night of crazy kfun at section 2. Looking at the pictures makes me nostalgic and sad to have missed a great time. Here are the birthday girls!







The next birthday up is Sungsills. And then Lisette's. I cannot divulge what was planned for their birthdays since it has not happened yet. But I am already disappointed to be missing them both!


The pictures below are from the past birthday celebrations. I am only posting these to make sure you know that I am not there now, but I WAS! and don't forget that you beeps!

Cake I made with Rebecca for Jisun's birthday in Richmond. Cake I made for Jisun's birthday in Va Beach

Cupcakes and mini cakes I made for Yoojung (Mari) and Jungeun's birthday at Alto Plaza
Birthday girls at alto plazo
Sungsill wearing her pink birthday presents.
Italian feast I made for Sungsill's birthday
Awesome cupcakes and LIS cookie made by Sungsill for Lisette's birthday


So Birthday girls: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ONCE AGAIN! Thank you for being born. Thank you for being my friend. Don't forget about me now that I left the east coast. Much love! And of course...WISH I COULD BE THERE!!!! You should also feel honored that I think of your birthdays as a holiday.


--I do have to say that the girls did throw me an AWESOME birthday weekend this past December. I was actually surprised for once in my life! Because no one can keep secrets from me. Thank you Thank you.


(Even though I secretly love birthday season. This year I actually secretly loved NOT having to plan anything and just sitting back and sending nice hallmark cards. Shhhh don't tell.)

Sake House

I went to Sake House tonight with Annie. 

RATING: TRUE RELIGION!

I am very picky about my sushi.  I LOVE sushi.  I grew up on sushi.  I can eat sushi every night.  I just love the texture. And the fresh taste.  When people ask me my favorite food, I usually say sushi.  But picking a favorite food is hard, always depends on my mood.  My very favorite type of fish is yellow tail and fatty tuna.  The only better sashimi I have had is at NOBU.  The yellow tail with jalapeno at Nobu is orgasmic.  Can't beat that.    But other than that yellowtail dish at Nobu, the rest of the sushi has the same quality and taste in my book.  This picture does not do the place any justice at all.  I already started eating the dish before I took picture. And of course it is off my blackberry, so it is not great quality and I did not get the whole dish in the picture.  

Sake House is on the corner of Santa Monica and 4th.  I think.  I'm pretty sure it is.  It's very cozy.  There are a lot of tables though.  We sat at the sushi bar.  Annie got a spicy tuna roll and I of course got the Chirashi.  This is usually what I order when I eat sushi.  I think Chirashi is the best deal when it comes to eating sushi. You get to try all the different fish for a cheaper price.  But chirashi is a hit or miss kind of dish.  Bad sushi restaurants will give you only tuna and salmon with little stuff on the side.  Good sushi restaurants give you a good assortment of fish.  At Sake House, not only was the assortment vast, but the size of each sashimi piece was generous, and it was very fresh.  The spicy tuna was very good and spicy!!!  The spicy tuna is not really that spicy at most places.  The spicy tuna here made my cheeks get really hot.  This is my new favorite spot in Santa Monica!!!  I already know that I will frequent this restaurant many times.  

They also have dishes with seared pieces of fish like albacore and yellowtail.  Two pieces of albacore were in my chirashi. and let me tell you, it was AMAZING.  DELICIOUS.  Now I know where to take visitors.  

Also, me and Annie downed 2 bottles of Ginro cold sake.  Wonderful. There goes my workout.  But it was worth it. It is the first night that I actually went out and did something since I moved to LA on Feb 8.  I let loose and had a great time.  Thanks Annie!  Annie is also a good nagging voice.  She made me workout today. I mean literally MADE me.  I whined and groaned all day, the whole way there, and even after.  But I felt good after.  Except that we downed the 2 bottles of sake.   But Annie did not let me get pinkberry after sushi.  I pouted the whole way home.  Then I came home and had a 100 calorie snack pack because I was drunk and hungry.  Might as well have let me eat my pinkberry!  

I think this place may be new.  I googled it and I only found one listing on yelp.  And the yelp listing only had one review.  How can no one have reviewed this restaurant on yelp!?

A side note: This place looks like it is korean owned.  Everyone looked japanese, but later they were speaking korean to each other.  It was a fake me out.  No matter, it was delicious!  

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Honolulu

I am currently reading Honolulu. My one purchase for myself here in Claifornia. Other than my La mer face sunblock. I bought this at Barnes and Nobles at the grove while waiting for Yoojung, Sungsill, and Lisette to arrive after their crazy trip to the fashion district right after hopping off the plane. It is about a korean woman born in the late 1800s who ends up moving to Hawaii. So far it is about this girl named regretful. Her parents named her regretful because she was not a boy. I don't know how I could have grown up during that time period. However, the book jacket says that the story is about 4 picture brides in Hawaii. Obviously, I did not get that far in the book yet. I love reading books that have history in it. It may be fiction, but you get a glimpse the past. I hated history class in school and always barely passed. Espeically US history. But after living in Italy and meeting all these people from around the world, I started getting very interested in other cultures and history. I used to read wikipedia during boring lectures about wars and historical events. Granted, I forgot everything I read. Also me and my roommate there read a lot of books. She had a lot of books about the "olden days" of different cultures. That's how I really got into it. But don't get me wrong...Twilight is still my favorite series, with shopoholic and harry potter as a close 2nd and 3rd.

Yamenah

I had my session with my new trainer today. Yamenah! I have no idea how to spell her name, but that looks good to me. She is awesome! She is energetic and informative. She watched everything I did and told me what I was doing wrong and counted for me. I think I will enjoy meeting with the trainer more. We didn't get on one machine. She made me do everything standing in the hallway. It was fun. I sweated more than I ever sweated before. She is a professional dancer. Awesome. I like my new trainer. I'm glad I switched. But I did see my old trainer and it was so awkward. I didn't talk to him. I meant to call him before my session today, but I didn't. I wish I did. Just to say thanks and why it didn't work out. Now he probably thinks I just don't like him.

Before my session I warmed up on the treadmill. I was running and my heart rate was 157. At that point I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest. It hurt. Um...that is NOT good. I am definitely not in shape. My target heart rate is 139 and my max heart rate is 178. If my heart rate was 178 I think my heart would REALLY burst. Poor heart. And it is not good that before heading to the gym I watched an episode of house while eating dinner where his girl had to get a heart transplant. Wonderful. That show freaks me out, but I keep watching it.

My trainer also told me to eat carbs only once a day. GREAT! I love carbs. What will I do. How do I live without rice?! Ack!

I think I had a very productive day today. I got home and ate dinner right away. Some left over spaghetti. Yeah not really healthy food. But whatever. I still only ate 1168 calories today!!! WOOHOO! Maybe today I had a 1500 calorie deficit because I worked out. I skipped my 100 calorie snack pack too =D Planning what to eat helps a lot. Packing all the food for the day during work and having dinner ready to nuke makes life easier when it comes to food. I'm not wondering what to eat and starving on the way home. I think when I am starving I start craving those oh so unhealthy foods. Because when I am starving, I just want everything. Hopefully I don't go too crazy on this weekend.

After dinner I cooked my lunch for tomorrow. Stir fry again! Hye young's recipe of course. If you didn't read before, her stir fry recipe is throw everything in the pan with some oyster sauce. So today's stir fry consists of 1 chicken breast, 1 package of tofu, 6 asparagus, half a yellow onion, and half a korean cabbage. I will eat this for lunch and dinner tomorrow. Maybe I will share with Annie if she wants to try my concoction. It's not that flavorful, but I love cooked cabbage and green stuff like broccoli and asparagus. So even without a lot of sauce, I like it. My breakfast again is scrambled egg whites with spinach and a chille tortilla. But this time I only packed half the tortilla. I also have the other half of my grapefruit from yesterday and edamame.

I bought the package of precooked edamame from costco that you just thaw, so I'm waiting to eat all of it so I can have a new snack. If you want simple, get the costco edamame. I just take a handful, wash it, and then put it in my container. The next day it is all thawed and nice for eating. They also have individually packed edamame at wegman's. There is no wegmans in california. I miss wegmans. I tried getting the big bags of edamame and boiling it myself, but it never comes out right. I don't know how much salt to put in it or how long to cook it. My ex coworkers always told me KISS! Keep it simple stupid. However, I believe the last S really stands for something else that can not be said in the workplace without a report to the ethics officer.

I finished making my lunch just in time to go to the gym. I came home the same exact time as Annie and Linn. We were driving into the garage together. We chit chatted and I made Linn dinner. It was fun making someone else food! I love making other people food. Annie just ate cereal.

Blockbuster Vs. Redbox

VERSUS

So after the whole Netflix craze, blockbuster went spiraling down quite quickly. They then tried to implement the no late fee clause. Also they started opening their stores till 3am. Then certain stores started 'renigging' this promotion and closed at midnight again and charged late fees. Then they finally created their own mail in DVD service to compete with netflix. I never got into the netflix craze because I am a spontaneous and imaptient person. I do not like choosing what movies I want to watch ahead of time and waiting for them in the mail. If I want to watch something at any given moment, then I want to have it at arms reach.

Then Rebox made a breakthrough and gave us the $1 movie rental option through a vending machine! I don't know if it is an original venture though. While living in Italy, I saw these DVD vending machines in all neighborhoods. The only downside to redbox is that it only carries a limited amount of Movie selections. Also, when a new movie comes out, it is usually all out by the time I make my way to great red machine. The plus side is that it is easy access and it is only $1 with a $1 late fee per day that it is late. Another downside is that the redbox machines are inside supermarkets. So you have to go when the supermarket is open. It would be better if it was outside on the street.

Now to the purpose of this post. I have just now discovered that blockbuster has changed its prices. Obviously to compete with redbox. New releases are now $2 and old movies are $1. These rentals are for 1 night only and the late fee is $1 each extra night. I used to be an avid blockbuster goer. Every weekend I would go and rent 4 or 5 movies and spend at least 20 bucks. Why did I do that? I was a platinum rewards member. That means I always got a free rental with my rental and some other bonuses. That's how much I frequented blockbuster. Over the years I stopped renting and started buying. I would go into blockbuster just to buy 5 dollar movies. The stores were always empty. This weekend I went into blockbuster in Arizona and it was packed. I guess the decrease in price has been a success for the former movie rental giant. This was a good move on blockbuster's part considering that currently, the biggest money making industry is the movie industry in this decling economy. I think I will revive my platinum rewards status membership at blockbuster and start renting my movies there again. It is worth the extra dollar to get a new release if they actually have it in stock! As you can tell I am starting to rent movies again instead of buying. My funds are limited to the necessities of life. And yes traveling IS a necessity...for my life at least. Way to make a come back, blockbuster!

Annie's Arrival!

Annie and Linn have finally arrived.  YIPEE!  Welcome to California!   They looked totally spent.  I'm so happy to see them.  YAY to another friend in LA!  We had a nice cold beer together. My first one in a long time.  Linn set up my wireless with no help to Annie!  Annie tried for about 2 minutes and she didn't know jack. What kinda Computer scientist is that?  It took forever, but Linn got it to work.  YAYEE!  Finally!  Thanks Linn.  I have been living without wireless since I moved in more than a month ago.  This caused me not to go on the internet very much at home. 

 So Annie kept telling me that I better blog about her being here, but she keeps talking to me and I can't concentrate.  She is just rambling on and on about everything in the world like she has not talked to another human in a month.   They also videoed their trip.  We watched it on my huge HD tv and it was awesome. The sky was so beautiful. Annie and Linn were so dorky making fake movie trailers to sappy music.  But their kids will love it some day!

So after work today I headed to whole foods to get some fruits and veggies.  But I ended up spending more than an hour roaming around the store.  I have not gone shopping since my move at all.  The only thing I bought was a book and baby clothes for HG's baby's 1st birthday.Keeping the bank account full is a very hard task. Therefore, shopping for necessities has become an enjoyed pastime for me.  I spent 15 minutes in the tea aisle.  I was looking for green tea to help my digestive system.  I really wanted to get this tea which is green tea with assorted fruits.  I wanted the mango one.  But it was a whopping 9.99 for a canister filled with 15 tea bags.  So I moved on and got myself a Tazo green leaf one.  

I also checked out the hot food area.  They have a pizza area just like in Italy!  They cut slices from these long pizzas and sell it to you by the weight.  But in Italy they have either these long oval shaped pizzas or square ones that are a litte thicker.  But not as thick as what we call the 'scicilian pizza' here in the states.  I liked the square pizzas better.  But I had a very nostalgic moment at whole foods in front of the pizza section.

After my weekend trip home and my indulgent moment at El guerro canelo, I am now getting back on track.  For my breakfast tomorow I made an egg white and spinach scramble in a chille torilla.  For lunch I have a turkey burger with asparagas.  I like asparagas, but I never really cooked it before. I don't know what to do with it. So I just put it in the pan with some salt and pepper.  And I also have half a pink grapefruit and some edamame and a snack pack to give me some energy throughout the day.  Tomorrow I meet with my new trainer!  Gosh - back in workout mode.  It's a good thing that I have a trainer because if I didn't have a session tomorrow I would have just said "'I'll just get back on track after this weekend'.  

So everyone in korea makes these sponges.  The first time I saw it was at Yoomi's house.  I was so intrigued.  I don't know why. But you can put it in the microwave to kill the germies.  Or put it out in the sun.  Then I saw one at yoojungs house. And my mom had them too!  This time when I went home, I snagged three of them!  My mom's friend's mom made them all and gave it to her.  So I have a new business venture in mind to make these and sell it I don't know how it will work out.  I want to make cute animals and other things.  I think people would like them.  Michi suggested I look at Etsy.  and i found a lot of crocheted sponges.  But these are made out of special yarn I think? I don't know.  But no one talked about microwaving them!  So maybe these are a little different.  I will keep you posted on my new business venture....if it ever comes to life.

And off to bed we go.

SORA!

How can u not love this dog!?
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Home sweet home

I love being at home. I get to just chill out and lay around eating Mom's food. But I still got a little bit of exercise! We took our dog walking around the golf course every day. He loves it. He runs around like crazy. It's his own huge playground. Yesterday he even jumped into the pond. I love when he swims.

So here is how my mom dresses. She still thinks she is in her teens. It's hilarious. But I like it. Always young at heart! I kept asking her if she was going to go do the cha cha cha. (This is actually a dress under the sweater)

I wish I can take sora home with me! He follows me everywhere around the house. It's so cute. I love it.

A bird made a nest on top of our ladder. Theres one at our front door too. Now we can't use the ladder anymore. I don't know if you can really see the birds in the picture. (Click on the picture and you can see it bigger)

My mom used to kill every plant we used to have in the house. I used to make fun of her every time she would buy a plant because she couldn't keep it alive. Same as me. But now that she is older she loves gardening. She has a vegatable and fruit garden in the backyard. It's not in season right now so I couldn't take any pictures. But it's awesome. We get to eat fresh food from the backyard. And she loves planting nice trees and bushes and flowers, etc. These are yellow birds of paradise and roses. Can you believe this grows so beautifully in the desert?

I have to leave today. Back to California. In a few hours. =( There is nothing waiting for me in California. Except the gym. Ack. Arizona is so relaxing. Very quiet. Back to real life soon.
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EL guerro Canelo!

Break from the diet! Lunch with Nida and Lindsey. Only in tucson can u get these scrumptious sonoran hot dogs and carne asada tacos! I love you el guerro canelo
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Just for MICHI

LOoK wat I found at the airport! Ok so its not a 100 calorie snack pack. But its close! 140 calories! And this almost my FAV junk food! I was VERY excited. Sitting at LAX is no fun.
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