Forbidden Island
Alameda
Thursday, June 25
8:30ish

Would love to see you there!

Exposed Plumbing Shower and Tubfill, originally uploaded by lalalydia.

Ok, it's been done for a bit. But, I finally put up the before and after pics! Enjoy... we sure are!

Forbidden Island
Alameda
Thursday, June 25
8:30ish

Be there!

Date:	2009-05-22 11:11
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	sore

I am obeying g_na and posting in LJ. I, too, have noticed that hardly anyone posts in here anymore. Which is too bad, because I do enjoy reading people's entries. I am v. guilty of not posting regularly, however, so I can't complain too much.

So, because I wanted to get rid of the bike tire around my middle, and because I felt "in a rut" with my none-too-frequent, fairly non-energetic workouts... and because this trainer woman at my gym came over and helped me at the right moment, I decided to buy a package of training sessions. Which was v. expensive! What recession!?!? Anywho, I am appx four sessions in and OWWWW! Every couple days a different part of my body decides to be injured. The past few days it's my ankle.

Other side effects of seeing a trainer: I've been compelled to spend more money on equipment such as a heart rate monitor and this weekend I'll be buying new sneakers as I suspect part of the problem with the ankle is that my old sneaks are lame. They were cheap.

I really like my trainer even though she insists on torturing me. She's funny and sarcastic and laughs at my jokes. She's also helping me with nutrition and diet stuff, and has decreed that I can't drink wine every night (she is evil) at least not right now while I am trying to lose body fat. The sad part is: I know all this stuff and I know if I want to look and feel better, I have to make some lifestyle changes. Always hard to make changes, but I suppose it's necessary.

Hopefully this will get easier and I will get stronger. I imagine both will happen... eventually. In the meantime... OWWWWWW.

In other news, the bathroom remodel is so close to done and I promise to post before and after pics on my flickr page.

Attended Lena's wedding @ Voodoo Donuts in Portland a couple weekends ago. Pix are up from that. It was wonderful... congrats to Lena and Paul. What a great weekend!!!

Saw Santigold (formerly Santogold) last night at the Warfield. Definitely one of the better shows I've seen in a while. Her opening act, Amanda Blank, was surprisingly good. Santi had great energy, sounded good, and had some kickass backup singers who had choreographed dance moves for each song. I love it when there are dancers! Reminds me of MBM shows of old... ah... memories!

And next week, Prodigy! Woo to the HOOOO!

Date:	2009-03-22 16:13
Subject:	Friends, don't buy a house.
Security:	Public
Mood:	angry

It only leads to stress and heartache. We have a flat roof-area at the front of the house, which was completely re-roofed a little over two years ago, that is leaking again. SO AWESOME! :(

Can I get a WAH-WUH?

Date:	2009-03-02 12:22
Subject:	You know what I think?
Security:	Public
Mood:	sad

2007 is back and it's masquerading as 2009! GAH!!!

The adventures continue in Santa Fe. We went to dinner last night at a VERY popular place called The Shed and the wait for two was 1hr45min (!!!). We decided to wait, had a drink, and made the acquaintance of a very nice gay couple, Brian and Bob. When their name was called, they invited us to join them (they had a four top) and at the end of the meal they paid! And we didn't even have to put out! :) They were really sweet guys (and extremely generous, obviously) and it was a great evening.

And today, we saw Famke Janssen in a shoe store. And ran into our wedding coordinator dude at the place we went for lunch. Good times! Sort of makes up for the fact that we NEVER see Julia Roberts up in Taos (she used to stop in at my step-mom's yarn store on occasion).

Tonight: tapas to be followed by fancy, overpriced drinks at the hotel where we got hitched.

Date:	2008-12-27 14:53
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	happy

Quick post while the hubband naps. We arrived in Santa Fe a few hours ago. It's all covered in snow! So beautiful, but we definitely need to be cautious when walking and driving... so not used to this! We're staying at the same B&B where we stayed for our wedding, but not the same room (with the "holiday surcharge" it was beyond our price range). I think we're staying in the room in which melting_girl stayed. It's lovely. Had to move the car twice due to limited parking at the B&B, and the innkeeper felt so bad about it she brought us a little bottle of champagne and some strawberries and chocolates! It wasn't that big a deal to move the car, but THANKS! :) Given the altitude and the fact that G doesn't drink, I should nice and drunk in no time flat. As is my practice here, I will be making sure all meals involve green chile, and have already found something adorable for our friend's baby girl (they have the best stuff for kids here). I will also surely be able to find all the birthday gifts for the nephews while here and in Taos. I can't believe I have until Jan 5 off... all I can say about that is... AAAAAAAAH!!! Now for some more of the sparkling wine.

-This frikkin headcold has now made me miss: jwz's party, nice dinner with friends, nwc anniversary... NOT pleased at this point.

-To make myself feel better, went out and finally got myself an iPhone. Quite a jump in technology from the Motorola Rzr phone. Wheeeee!

-Stressing out about the company holiday party which I am planning. It's next Friday. I feel like I am in pretty good shape, but thoughts of minute details keep me awake at night. Will be happy when it's over.

-Now settling down for a lovely evening of entering addresses into my computer/phone, customizing phone, and perhaps some nice relaxing GTA4. And, of course, nose blowing. And coughing.

Possibly another victim of this lovely economy we're currently enjoying: Our favorite, local (within walking distance) Salvadorian pupusaria closed down. WAH! :(

Had to find an alternate pupusa source on Saturday night for our Val Kilmer movie night with enolarama and thrustoleum, which was quite fun. Real Genius is, as always, fantastic and Willow (which I'd somehow never seen before now... I KNOW!) was cheesy goodness.

Yesterday, visited the SFSPCA with melting_girl to help her find a new kitten. There were a lot of cuties, but we found her an awesome little shiny black girl named Ophelia (perfect!) who is a total sweetheart. Post kitty acquisition, we enjoyed a lovely home cooked meal (that girl can cook!).

All in all good weekend, aside from the restaurant closing of course.

Date:	2008-10-02 10:10
Subject:	Dood.
Security:	Public
Mood:	annoyed

How did I manage to miss that Freezepop played a show at the Elbo Room in early September??? Dammit! What happened to my show radar back-up system (I'm lookin at you gratinier)?!?

Got called for Jury Duty starting on Tuesday, November 4... wonder how that's gonna work exactly. Good thing I've got permanent absentee ballot!

lydia.jpg, originally uploaded by lalalydia.

* Take a picture of yourself right now.
* Don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair...just take a picture.
* Post that picture with NO editing.
* Post these instructions with your picture

I want to go see some modern (aka contemporary) dance. It's running from Sept 18-20.

http://www.robertmoseskin.org/

My pilates teacher is in it... Anyone want to join me? Hubby is SO not interested. :)

Date:	2008-08-26 18:51
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	pissed off

It's always a pleasure to come home and see your normally-indoor cat crouched in front of the house, being menaced by a neighbor cat. GODDAMN CONTRACTOR! Luckily she seems okay. GRRR!

Date:	2008-08-11 21:11
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	chipper

After talking with gratinier today, I realized that I haven't shared my exciting news with most people... possibly because it happened SO FAST. I have a new job!

While I *love* A.C.T., I had come to the conclusion that a career in fund raising was not for me, So I started looking for a new job. Enter craigslist. I found an interesting job listing at a video game company (an industry that I've been wanting to get into for a long time), so I applied. They called me the next day. I interviewed the following week and they offered me the job at the end of that week. Woo!

I finished up at A.C.T. last Tuesday and started the new job at Planet Moon Studios the very next day. I am their Executive Assistant/Office Manager. Today was my fourth day on the job... things are going well so far. Everyone seems great! Best of all, they seem open to the possibility of my growing with the company, so hopefully I won't get stuck in the admin role forever.

In other news, saw the Faint last week. I agree with jwz that the crowd was lame-ola. I am not crazy about the new album... hoping it will grow on me. I am very excited that the Presets are coming back in October and they're playing with another new band I like called Cut Copy.

Lastly, another season of So You Think You Can Dance has come to a close. Boo hoo! But, yay for Joshua! Yes, I am a dork. I accept this.

My witty husband wrote a wrap up of our annual Comic-Con adventure, so I've stolen it to repost here as I am very lazy! I did want to add: how excellent it was to get to hang out with sisterbean and enolarama at and after the show!

THE COUNT
---------
0 White Queens (boooooo!)
1 Power Man
1 Banana
1 Gaius Baltar and Blond Caprica 6
1 Bionic Commando
1 (totally awesome) Optimus Prime
1 Lounge Fett
1 Pimp Vader
1 Peter Mayhew
1 Scooby, holding 1 Shaggy in his arms
1 Fembot (awesome)
1 Family of Lockjaw, Evil Lyn and Orko (their baby! it was crazy!)
1 Watchmen space pod
2-5 Assorted Phoenixes, both Dark and standard
2 (hot) Black Widows
4 Disney Sluts -- that is, scantily clad female Disney characters;
thankfully none of them looked like Snee or Pete's Dragon
15 Cobra soldiers, including 2-3 Cobra Commanders
22 Solid Snakes, including one (1) Solid Snake with cardboard box over
his head
34 Slave Leias, of varying degrees of overflow
87 Boba Fetts
1830 Anime characters I couldn't identify
2153 Jokers, including 2 Joker-as-a-nurse
17459 Jedis and stormtroopers
125,000 nerds (woohoooooo!)

24,000 Amount in dollars for your very own Nightmare Before Xmas Halloween town
400 Length in miles of line to get into Hall H
103 Volume in db of most of the video game booths
25 Weight in lbs of deodorant not used by con attendees
12 Number of foofy tropical drinks had at the Tiki bar
1 Number of women asking a Klingon to sing opera in Klingon


DHARMA INITIATIVE
-----------------
There was a Dharma Initiative booth at the con, where you could enter a tiny room and were given a series of questions while other operatives filmed your responses. The purpose of the test was never stated, and no additional instructions were given the interviewees. Two of our acquaintances took the test (each test was different, apparently) and they 'passed', but we don't know the significance of this. Though we do know both people have gone missing since the con...dun Dun DUN!!


CELEB SIGHTINGS
---------------
Richard Hatch, of both original and extra crispy Battlestar Galactica, and also Streets of San Francisco, walked by me right as we were going in. Not as tall as he looks on telly.

Matthew Fox, of Lost and Party of Neve, sighted by our friends, not by us, but they swear it was true. Apparently our friend yelled "HEY JACK!!!" [his character name from Lost] but there was no response; not even a middle finger.

Kiefer Sutherland, of 24, Lost Boys and Flatliners (I know everybody already has the extra-erect Special Editions of these, right?). Kiefer and entourage bulldozed right by me on their way out of the exhibit hall. My ninja reflexes failed me (not enough Mrs. Fields cookies in my system) and I was unable to whip out my phone in time for a piccy. Again not as tall as I expected.

Ray Bradbury, noted author and perennial fixture at Comic Con, was wheeled by in his wheelchair. He looked a little out of it. In fact, he looked barely conscious, which made me a little sad. Does he even like coming to these things?


WHEDON
------
Though we skipped Whedon Love Fest 2008 the day before due to time constraints, we did manage to see his whole presentation on his new show, Dollhouse, starring Faith from Buffy and Helo from Battlestar. Eliza Dushku, the star of the new show may be physically petite, but has a personality larger than life. Her most memorable quote was when she referred to Whedon as her "career brassiere". Brilliant.

The show looks promising but not outstanding; it is after all, too early to tell. However the most amusing portion of the whole panel was when one girl asked the question of the day in front of thousands of adoring fans: "Uh, yeah, from the clip, uh, the show looks pretty mundane and boring...can you explain why I should watch it?" She got a lot of boos.


IN BRIEF
--------
* During the Simpsons panel, creator Matt Groening mentioned how his comic strip "Life In Hell" does *not* run in syndication in the San Diego Reader (a local publication similar to the SF Weekly). Por quois, you ask? Because the paper has a strict anti-gay policy and the fez-adorned strip characters Akbar and Jeff were apparently too gay for print.

* During the Spaced panel, featuring all three creators of the show, there was a fake shootout between one fan and Simon Pegg, just like one of the episodes. Good times!

* It was great to walk down the evening streets of downtown San Diego's Gaslamp district, where one can espy lots of well-tanned jiggly bimbotrons prancing amid jedis stopping for photo ops, while 4 masked mexican wrestlers in suits look on from a nearby restaurant terrace. My people!

* Two jokers, comparing notes on purpleness and makeup. Nice.

* Not going to mention Stormtrooper Elvis, since that's the equivalent of saying "the sun rose today".

* Dean Koontz, famous writer that I've never read, was given a whole panel by himself in one of the very large auditoriums. He deftly handled people's questions and gave a few amusing anecdotes. However, his anecdotes failed to cover why he was wearing some sort of mutant Austin Powers wig that soared far above the realm of "helmet" or "ridiculous". He looked like a koontz.

Date:	2008-06-27 12:59
Subject:	Toy U Want
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused

Hilarious! Devo is suing McDonalds over a Happy Meal toy that sports the familiar red hat. You go, Devo!! Make them pay.

McDonald's Sued By Devo Over Happy Meal Toy

Our good friend, and the maniac that DJ'ed our wedding reception at the DNA Lounge, has a new music website. Filled with reviews and discussions of bands many of us know and love. As Gerry says, "Please pass the word around so he can finally acquire the life-sized solid gold Mark E. Smith statue he's always on about."

http://www.thequietus.com/

I have a ticket to see the Presets at Mezzanine next Wednesday and no date... who's going? Bueller?

Only listened to a portion of the new album so far and me likes.

Also, really like the Santogold CD. Finally listened to all of the new Goldfrapp album. Super mellow. Must say, I do prefer all the other albums, and if they're going to be mellow, I wish it was more like the Felt Mountain type of mellow. But, I think this one might grow on me over time.

We also picked up the Flight of the Conchords CD. All I can say is: yay. And: Gingerballs.

In other news, we were in Portland this past weekend and got to spend some quality time with mistresshellena, her boy, and magpiesf. Much fun was had. I like Portland a lot! Especially the hotel in which we stayed. Very shwanky... Highly recommend Hotel DeLuxe if you're ever in Portland.