No parents are perfect

I haven't read a Cracked Magazine in probably 25 years. And today, I came across this article:

7 Things Parents Do That Screw Up Their Kids Life

Too funny!

"We have previously mentioned how the whole self-esteem movement turned a whole lot of people into dicks, because they emotionally can't handle anyone who doesn't boost their ego. We further theorized that this gave birth to the modern douchebag movement."

Comfort food? #2: breast milk ice cream

And this London ice cream shop SOLD OUT of it:

Breast Milk Ice Cream

Woah. I'd probably try it, but something about it does just seem a little off-putting.

Comfort food #1: grits!

I grew up eating grits. My favorite preparation is with loads of butter and fresh ground black pepper. I didn't know it was southern comfort food until I moved to California, and rarely saw them on a menu. And now, they're all the rage:

Grits

Bingo!

I won the final game, the grand prize, the BLACKOUT! (Thanks, Val, for treating me to a wonderful sendoff before my two month travels with MONEY in my pocket!)

Support freedom, visit Egypt

Man, I want to go back NOW and feel Egypt again...

Tahrir Square, Egypt's Newest Tourist Draw

Another blind drawing

Kissing the Sphinx for my 40th bday

Postcards to future selves #1

The Motivation Button

(I drew this with my eyes closed, while listening to the Magnolia score soundtrack)

Himalayan wildlife

The male Markhor hangs his tongue out when he's in pursuit of a female for mating. I just learned about it on Nature on PBS. It looks so lewd, and desperate.

They are quite majestic looking animals, though. Especially for a goat.

And the Himalayan jumping spider, whose Latin name (Euophrys omnisuperstes) means "standing above everything" is the highest known living animal on earth. It can live at elevations as high as 21,000 feet! Isn't it cute? I mean, for a spider.

What happens when we go hiking...

Those who lead inspire us. We follow because we want to, we follow for ourselves.

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy WHY you do it”

Wise words from Simon Sinek's TED talk:

Rainy day window #12 & 35

"Well, they’ll stone ya when you’re trying to be so good


They’ll stone ya just a-like they said they would


They’ll stone ya when you’re tryin’ to go home


Then they’ll stone ya when you’re there all alone


But I would not feel so all alone


Everybody must get stoned"

Yes, an homage to a good old catchy Dylan tune...

Though maybe a day like today is a better day to go get a cup of coffee

at the ever-so-hip local java-watering hole, Four Barrel...

Women entertaining themselves

with their babies do,

and firemen.

And all stripes of urban hipsters.

Wouldn't you?

Eye of the earth

It's actually the Richat Structure in Mauritania. But it does look like the eye of the earth...

Click on this Google map and zoom out:

Eye of the earth

Cool!

Travel lust destinations, entry #1

I'm a travel-lust. I always want to go out and see the world. I have a long list of places I want to visit. This one I just learned about today. And I...want...to...go!

Socotra Island, off the coast of Yemen

(image credit: Jan Vandorpe)

WOW!

Look at those trees!

Morning elixir

I love the way fresh-squeezed blood orange juice floats lightly atop my o.j.

And today it's in one of the glasses from the set my grandfather gave my grandmother in the late 40s... and she hated them. According to my mom, she pitched such a fit as to how ugly the engraved glasses were, that my grandfather swore he'd never give her another gift. And apparently his promise held until the day he died.

I love these heavy-based glasses with his initials etched into them: F.C.G.

Frank Cherry Gorham

oh me oh my oh, how i love my honey

happy valentine's day, light of my life... 11 years and still getting better

Grimes Poznikov

I'm not sure the pen's discovery is news story-worthy, but I am glad the story brought this interesting fellow into my awareness.

The Automatic Human Jukebox

On the 19th day they cleaned the square...

The word “tahrir” means “liberation.” It is a word that speaks to that something in our souls that cries out for freedom. And forevermore, it will remind us of the Egyptian people: of what they did, of the things that they stood for, and how they changed their country, and in doing so changed the world. -- Barack Obama

Explosion of emotion: It was all worth it!

I could listen to this again and again. The sounds of people united in successful liberation:

Kitchen curiosities volume #1

Look closely. This is what I found after putting the dishes away. Why is it that the spoons have multiplied, as the forks diminished in number? Where have the forks gone? And where did the spoons come from? It's like the sock disappearing from the dryer conundrum....

Squeezing change out of a blood orange

Until blood orange season rolled around, I never would have put citrus in my morning bowl of fruit, yogurt & granola. Ew!

But I love, passionately, blood orange, so the other day I peeled one, and put the slices in with Brown Cow Cream-Top maple yogurt, and drizzled it with Bay Area Bee Keepers Valllejo honey that I bought at the Forage SF Underground market that day.

Wow. Sublime. A whole new me: yogurt and citrus.

So I tried it again today: blood orange and banana and pecans with granola and Brown Cow Cream-Top vanilla yogurt, then honey drizzled on top.

Delicious!

Maps and data, two of my favorite things

I can't decide if 1,147 bicycle-related accidents is a lot or a little in two years. I guess even one bike accident is too many, but considering how hard it is for people to see bicyclists, it's unrealistic for no accidents to occur.

The Bay Citizen published this comprehensive map of all the bike accidents reported to the SFPD between Jan '09 and Nov '10, with neat little pop-up boxes that details every incident, including who is at fault.

I really love interactive maps: where geography and information come together to satiate the curiosity!

Click here to be directed to Bay Citizen's new Bike Accident Tracker.

And this is amazing: CrimeMapper for all crimes in the US in a given period, wow!

Graceful and mean

Yesterday I walked over six miles with V & S: from the Marina Green, up Fillmore, down Broadway to the Lyon Steps, down and up, then back down to Crissy Field, along the bay to the Warming Hut, then back to the Green.

It was a bright sunny day, and a warm wind blew ever-so-slightly. I had on short sleeves!

We walked passed the newly-renovated Palace of Fine Arts, and were stunned by how lovely it is. There are some mallards and other ducks paddling around the pond. We joined a few other people - a family with small children and a dog kept well away - in marveling at the beauty and grace of the swan that sat nearby, preening it's feathers.

Then almost simultaneously, us three ladies said, "And they are so MEAN!"

...and I noticed we were all keeping our distance.

February sunset

I looked out the window yesterday and saw the golden light of the setting sun. I grabbed my camera and ran out to capture this shot.

I spent all afternoon and evening, just hanging out in my room, and listening to tunes.

The Steelers lost today, 31-25, giving the Packers the super bowl title.

It makes me sad to think of all the Egyptians still clinging to Tahrir Square. I hope the long view shows how pivotal their roll was in changing the political landscape.

Today, we are all Egyptians!

"The lion-hearted Egyptians I met on Tahrir Square are risking their lives to stand up for democracy and liberty, and they deserve our strongest support — and, frankly, they should inspire us as well. A quick lesson in colloquial Egyptian Arabic: Innaharda, ehna kullina Misryeen! Today, we are all Egyptians!"

-- Nicholas D. Kristof, in Cairo

Nicholas D. Kristof/The New York Times

Read article here: We Are All Egyptians!

Following the daily tribulations of Egypt

I have been following the daily trials and tribulations of Egypt, jockeying between CNN, the NYTimes, and streaming Al Jazeera, stunned to see the streets that I was just walking along a few weeks ago, now filled with the hope and passion of the people.

Tribulation is defined as: distress or suffering resulting from oppression or persecution, and derives from the Latin tribulare to press, oppress.

Very intentionally I titled this post "... OF Egypt" instead of "IN Egypt" because it is the people that make a country, not the government, not the constitution, nor the recognition or description of other "states" that make it so.

Egypt herself, each of the 85 million people that make up her whole, are being repressed, oppressed by the hands of a few.

My heart beats more rapidly for the people of Egypt, and my eyes weep at the images of so many gathered in solidarity, taking to the streets, to reclaim their identity and to stand together to say, "WE ARE EGYPT!"

Considering almost a quarter of the population lives in the incredibly bustling city of Cairo, the Egyptians can handle chaos. It's the repression of the elitist regime that is doing them in.

Here is a video shot by my friend Chris on January 1 of this year, when we were in Egypt to celebrate my birthday. It shows how easily people jostle and flow around the insanity of the construction happening in the main transportation terminal, Ramses Train Station.

I do not mean to belittle the painful and difficult events taking place on the streets of Cairo by comparing it to a peaceful day at the train station. I show it as encouragement that the people of Egypt are strong and resilient, and once the violent oppression is lifted, they will surely flourish.

Note the dizzying array of construction going on, while the people very easily and casually navigate the chaos.