The Adventures of Chris

I’m not a huge tv watcher, but I’m actually looking forward to the return of The Office and Entourage next week. I don’t even know what it is I like about Entourage. I can’t put a finger on its allure. The characters aren’t particularly deep, and in real life, I’d dislike some of them. Still, it’s pretty great entertainment.

I read in an interview recently that Jenna Fischer said something like “maybe Jim and Pam aren’t meant to be together. Maybe they’re the kind of people who help each other grow, but ultimately don’t end up together. That would be a great story to tell.” Some of the reader comments to that article made it sound like Jenna Fischer proposed that slavery be brought back. “How could she SAY THAT???”….”That would be the STUPIDEST idea in the world!!!!!”

That reminded me of the time when The Wonder Years ended when I was in junior high. Both my Spanish teacher and I were huge fans of the show. After the final episode, the narrator (Kevin) revealed that he and Winnie eventually didn’t marry each other, but instead remained good friends. My Spanish teacher was devastated, and after the episode aired, she lamented to me about it. My reply was that “sometimes that’s how life works.” In retrospect, I can’t believe I said that. What a 13 year old smartass. But then again, wasn’t I right?

Tomorrow I have to go to a cousin’s wedding in the evening, and the wedding festivities are scheduled to perfectly prevent me from watching either of the Final Four games tomorrow. It’s not my cousin’s fault, she had no idea. I mean, I don’t even know if she likes basketball. Dammit, it’s my cousin’s fault. Why’d she do this. On a side note, I’m wondering what tie I should wear. I’m overly protective of my ties. I keep thinking every oily sauce in the world is gunning for my ties. In fact, I prefer to wear my nicest ties to places where oily sauces could never be. Oily sauces are the worst - one drop and your expensive tie is ruined. It might as well be sulfuric acid, since you could tell people the burnt hole in your tie was something cool, like a bullet hole. That’s a lot better than saying the oil stain was from a piece of Chinese crab that you ultimately dropped on the floor because of that annoying Chinese “crustacean glaze.” Maybe I’ll wear a huge plastic bib, or an entire transparent plastic body cover like the raincoats they had in the Jetsons (which was a transparent plastic body cover.)

In a bid to get into better shape, I’ve tried to start playing some basketball lately. It’s great exercise, but damn, I wish I was better at basketball. When I was in elementary school, I was pretty good at basketball. I was one of the first picks during games, and I could really shoot. I remember a bunch of kids who played in some leagues wanted me to join their teams, but my parents didn’t go for it. Thanks a lot mom and dad. Now I stink. I’m as good as I was when I was 8. I even started wondering if I’d be able to beat my 8 year old self. I’d have the height advantage, but he’d be sneakier, quicker, and in better shape. The only consolation would be that the 8 year old version of me was a lot nicer than me now, so after beating me, he’d say “sir, you need to practice more…and…uh…you’re kind of fat too.” Then he’d say “how tall are you? 5′9′’? I’m going to be 6 feet tall when I grow up. My doctor said so.” Then I’d tell him the doctor lied.

In my bracket, I chose Florida to win tomorrow’s game. It sounds like I’m a traitor, but at the beginning, I figured that by choosing Florida, I’d put myself in a win-win situation. If Florida won, I’d win money. If UCLA won, I’d be happy anyway. It turned out that, the way the pool is set up and the other brackets were chosen, if Florida wins, I still won’t win the pool, meaning if they win, it’s a lose-lose situation. That’s called great planning.

Two great basketball related stories in the news today. First, the story of Washington Wizards player Michael Ruffin, who steals the ball with 2 seconds left and, thinking his team’s 3 point lead is safe, throws the ball up in the air, only to have it fall into the hands of an opposing team’s player, who subsequently makes a 3 pointer with 0.2 seconds left to tie the game. That is pure gold. Someone please upload that to Youtube asap.

The second funny thing was West Virginia’s NIT champion t-shirt, which omitted the last I in Virginia (VIRGINA).

Went to Ad Hoc this Friday night in Yountville for dinner.  All of us marveled at the tastiness of the dishes, which are more hearty American and basic than things at Bouchon and French Laundry.  I think this is the kind of food that I’d like to get good at cooking.  I don’t need to be fancy, but I do want to be able to make something like an apple crisp with perfectly cooked apples.

The next day, we had lunch at the S.F. institution, the Zuni Cafe.  It actually wasn’t on my list of restaurants I wanted to try, even though I’d heard of it many times.  Three of us split the hamburger (which the waiter memorably described as “memorable”) and the roasted chicken with bread salad (that takes 1 hour to prepare upon ordering).   I thought the burger was very tasty and lived up to the waiter’s billing.  The chicken was also done very well, accompanied by a bread salad comprised of just crusty enough bread and just tangy enough balsamic.  I’d go back for the burger (and order the fries this time).

Later that night, it was Tony’s Chinese wedding banquet.  The highlight of the night for me was seeing him in his official Chinese guy wedding outfit.   It was fantastic.

Lately, even before our trip to Ad Hoc, my favorite book has been Thomas Keller’s Bouchon cookbook.  The French Laundry cookbook is like reading a book on nuclear physics (with pretty pictures).  That kind of cooking is impossible for someone like me to both acheive and fully appreciate it.  Bouchon’s food is more accessible.  The Bouchon cookbook is also great because the constant theme is maintaining a very high standard when preparing relatively basic things.  That’s pretty much my culinary goal in life.

Currently Reading:

Bouchon by Thomas Keller

- The NCAA pool standings - Coin 53, Chris 51, Susan 44 (and with Washington St and Virginia losing it’s looking bleak for Susan unless UCLA wins the whole thing). This is probably the best coin-picked bracket ever. My bracket’s entered into a money pool and I’m tied for 2nd right now (right along with my brother and my dad).

- I made Chicken Cacciatore for dinner the other day. Susan kept asking me if it was good, but my reply was that it took too long to make. I guess that really meant that I didn’t love it, since I didn’t think 2 hours of my work was justified. It wasn’t bad though. I like stew and casserole like things. I don’t like dry food.

- Thanks to Steph and Shannon, I’m adding Ford’s Filling Station to the restaurant list.

- Susan introduced me to Literati, a word game on Yahoo. It’s like Scrabble, but the point totals for the letters are a bit different. The maximum points for any letter is 5 points, instead of 10. The other day I closed out a game by spelling out CRAGS and while doing so I used up all of my letters, spelled Creek with the C and spelled Dozes with the S. Three words in one! So exhilarating.

- I was looking up some Chinese films on Wikipedia, and after clicking through some links, I came to the entry for the film well-received film The Story of Qiu Ju. Check out this synopsis - “The film tells the story of a peasant woman, Qiu Ju, who lives in a rural area of China. When her husband is kicked in the groin by the village head, Qui Ju, despite her pregnancy, travels to a nearby town, and later a big city to deal with its bureaucrats and find justice.” Surely something was lost in the translation.

- Classic moment - My dad was looking a some of my dvd’s, picked up Dumb and Dumber and said “you really like this movie?”

- I finally upgraded my Macbook hard drive. I had to hunt down a Torx #8 screwdriver in order to do it (which I think is stupid,btw). In a “You’ve Got Mail” moment, I found set of torx screwdrivers at Virgil’s for $22, but went to Lowe’s instead and got a bigger set with a case for $12. Whenever I do stuff like that, I always wonder how close a small store’s price has to come to the big store’s price for me to buy from the small store. Unfortunately, for someone with time to spare, the answer equals the price of gas to drive from the small store to the big store.
- I made another recipe from Bon Appetit - Andouille Sausage and Shrimp with Creole Mustard Sauce. This time it worked out a lot better than my balsamic sauce mistake the day before. I think I like cooking for the same reason I like trying to fix things. It’s just the process of trying to make something that interests me. Btw, the food looked just like the photo, which is always nice. My tilapia the day before looked just like the picture…after a flock of birds picked at it.

- I’ve been listening to the radio more recently. I actually think Ne-Yo’s new song is ok (yikes), and I have to admit that Justin Timberlake’s songs are catchy, even if I don’t necessarily love them. I wonder how much of his songs are his producers’ work. Oh, and I really don’t like that Mika song.

- I just can’t into Sufjan Stevens and Bright Eyes. It’s like how I felt about Radiohead in the 90s - if they’re so popular, why can’t I join the party and like them a lot too? Thank goodness there’s Arcade Fire.

- The new Bravery song is…unbraverylike. (http://www.myspace.com/thebravery)

- After the first day of the NCAA standings - Chris 12, Coin 12, Susan 12

- Mindy Kaling’s blog is entertaining to read. While Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey blog about the Office and say hi to fans, “Kelly’s” blog is just about what she buys in real life. I initially thought it was a bit superficial, but then again, I’m blogging about updating my laptop hard drive. Reading about a great perfume from Neiman Marcus suddenly sounds riveting.

- I wonder if scientists could connect a computer to Angelina Jolie’s brain while she adopts children to compare and contrast her emotions to those of other mothers who adopt from domestic orphanages or who give birth to their own biological children. Her emotions just can’t be the same as those of most mothers.

- One of my pet peeves is that I can’t actually utilize every plug in a power strip because there’s always a gadget whose charger blocks two plugs. Therefore, this is genius. It’s called the Power Squid.

- Next week is Chefography week on Food Network. I thought the ones from last year were pretty interesting.

Let’s hear it for Live 105’s Soundcheck

Currently Listening to:

Youth Group - “Sorry”

I went to the car wash today. On the bulletin board/ad space they had set up, I noticed something funny. There was a business card for a realtor named Danielle something. Then I noticed that about a foot over, there was a handwritten ad for full body massages by the very same person (same first and last name). I thought that was hilarious. So what did I do? I tried to take photos of each ad with my camera phone. After I took a blurry photo of the realtor’s business card, an older white lady who saw me take the photo came over to the board, looked at the business card, turned, and grinned at me.

It’s amazing how quickly a joke can turn on you.

- I went to the Ralphs Fresh Fare in La Canada today, where I was rung up by the most inexperienced cashier I’ve ever seen at the grocery store. The cashier, a teenage guy, had to refer to the “code manual” for every item with no bar code. That meant anything from the produce section was a nightmare for him. The first problematic items - my tomatoes. After flipping through the guide in a panic, he finally entered the code…for Roma tomatoes. I said “You know, I bought regular tomatoes, and you charged me for Roma tomatoes, and those cost more per pound.” So the kid had to retrieve the tomatoes, take off the charge, and set them aside until later. Then came the gem, a red bell pepper. After flipping through the code manual again, he punched in a code. The word “asparagus” popped up on the screen. I said “uh, that was a bell pepper and you rang me up for asparagus.” Then I picked up the bell pepper and said “see?” Then the guy looked at me confused and said “that’s not asparagus?” I have no idea how I didn’t laugh. I know the memorizing all of the produce codes takes time, but you’d think that one of the requirements for a job at a market would be to know the difference between a bell pepper and asparagus.

Btw, I was very nice about the whole thing. If I have a soft spot, it’s for people who are new to their jobs. I personally know how it is to feel totally confused, with people upset at you, so I’m always super nice in those situations.

- Today I also got something I’ve wanted for a while - a slotted/fish spatula. I really don’t like using regular spatulas to flip fish. It’s not easy to get it under the fish and they’re not big enough to lift all of the fish. This is a problem with fish that breaks apart easily. I sprang for one today. Then I just happened to come home and read an article in old magazine where Tyler Florence said he had one too. Btw, it’s not a unitasker. It’s good for flipping eggs too.

I tried to cook dinner for my dad and I today. I tried to cook some tilapia with a balsamic butter sauce (from Bon Appetit). I totally screwed up on the sauce, so I came up with a lemon butter sauce that I had remembered from some food network show. My dad is a great test subject for cooking experiments. He’s got such low standards and he’s good at dishing out compliments.

- My dad is into American Idol now (he claims he’s watching it just because it’s “during dinner”), so I saw a few performances today. Man, some of those people shouldn’t be on a singing show. I’m kind of surprised that there aren’t better singers out there in America. Given the popularity of this show and how hard it is to make it in the music business, you’d think most aspiring, good singers across the country would try out. Are you telling me there isn’t one more Lakisha or Melinda out there in America? I have to think that the best singer in every church choir in America is better than the worst people in AI. Oh, and I can’t believe I had to watch Paula Abdul crying with Melinda after her song. Give me a break. The only song that Paula Abdul should be allowed to cry after is “Straight Up” and that’s only because it probably reminds her of her has-been status.

- Following up on Blockbuster Total Access…I’m not that big of a fan. While the in-store return is kind of handy, their mail turnaround is slower than Netflix’s and the wait time for popular movies is way longer than Netflix’s. I’ve read similar complaints online. I’m glad I’m not paying for the service.

- I bought a 160gb hard drive for my Macbook. I’m excited about it because I can run 80gb partitions for OS X and Windows XP with Boot Camp. I’m a geek. [Update: I just realized I need a special Torx screwdriver to install it…now I’m pissed.]

- I just watched Casino Royale. I’m glad they cut out a lot of the corny James Bond one liners. Daniel Craig is a lot more ripped than Pierce Brosnan. However, it was a little awkward that the storyline goes “back in time” but the technology actually advances.

- I’ve joined a number of NCAA pools this year. There’s nothing like the annual opportunity to show yourself and others that you know nothing about sports. I’m also set up against the coin this year. In the past three years, I’ve taken down the coin twice. Last year the coin chose a really unusual bracket. This year, the bracket is more conventional. It’s a Georgia quarter. Just when I thought he’d cheer on Georgia Tech, he chooses them to lose in the first round. That rational neutrality scares me.

- How come the winning dogs don’t get more credit for winning the Iditarod? News articles always talk about the drivers winning. I don’t know anything about sled dog racing, but I would assume that the greatest driver in the world would lose with slow dogs. Plus, I’ve read Call of the Wild so I know the dogs’ spirit is the most important thing. This idea was further cemented by Paul Walker’s dogs in the heart wrenching “Eight Below.”

I had dinner with my parents today. Nothing speaks more about the state of my social life as a 28 year old than my having a Friday night dinner with my parents at CPK in Glendale. Talking to my parents is an incredible experience. There’s this one part in the first episode of Scrubs, where J.D. is wheeling an old guy to get a test done and the old guy asks him “how does it feel to be a young hotshot doctor?” Then J.D. replies, “did you ever go see a movie that everyone told you was great, but because of those expectations, you end up totally disappointed?” Then the old guy says “movies these days have too many special effects.” It seems like 70% of things my dad says are nonsequiturs like that.

I’ve watched three movies in the last two days.

I watched An Inconvenient Truth. I thought it was really good. I came away with two thoughts. First, that it’s amazing how politics is such an overtly serious business that people inevitably are more interesting when they leave politics than when they’re involved in it. Second, I’m wondering why I was more shocked at seeing a computer animated polar bear drowning than I was at seeing massive glaciers disappear. But I’m going to do my part. I’m always going to turn off my computer when I’m out of the house, replace some regular lightbulbs with compact fluorescent lightbulbs, and use less hot water (it’s bad for dandruff anyway). As soon as they install a mass transit system up my hill, I’ll use that too.

I also watched Little Miss Sunshine. Susan, you were right. I liked it. Although the grandfather character was pretty entertaining, I’m kind of surprised that Alan Arkin won the Oscar. It didn’t seem like he was on screen that much. I also actually liked the music in LMS better than anything from An Inconvenient Truth. Most people wouldn’t agree. I think I just like indie movie soundtrack music.

Finally, I watched About a Boy (which I’ve seen before). I hate to say it, but I think Hugh Grant’s brand of humor is pretty entertaining, and I like the movie itself. I also think watching this movie is appropriate at this time because Hugh Grant plays an guy with no job who just lounges around. He calls it “island living” and he often wondered “if he’d ever have time for a job.”

Also, thanks to Wikipedia, I finally figured out the history and appropriate use of the word “bugger.” Here are some highlights

“When used in context it still retains its original meaning, implying sodomy.”

“Originally, it was derived from the word “Bulgarian” (so…is it derived from Bulgarian…or sodomy?)

“The past tense is used as a synonym for ‘broken’, as in “Damn, this PC’s buggered” or “Oh no! I’ve buggered it up”.

“The phrase bugger off means to run away [Let’s bugger off out of here]; when used as a command it means “go away” [”piss off”, “get lost” or “leave me alone”], which is generally considered one of the more offensive usage contexts.”

“Bugger All” means “Nothing” [I got bugger all for it]. The “Bugger Factor” is another phrase to describe the phenomenon of Sod’s Law or Murphy’s Law. In the UK, the phrase “Bugger me sideways” (or a variation thereupon) is sometimes used as an expression of surprise.”

Currently Listening to:

Little Miss Sunshine Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Devotchka - “Til the End of Time”

- I watched the first few minutes of American Idol while eating dinner on Thursday. I’ve never watched that show for more than a minute. All the fake Ryan Seacrest suspense really bugs me. I can’t take it. Oh, and I finally saw who Chris Sligh is. Yeah, we pretty much look the same.

- I went to the gym a few days ago and my left arm is so sore I still can’t bend it. Let’s give my fitness level a big round of applause. I’d do it myself, but, like I said, can’t move the left arm.

- I saw Albert Hammond Jr. at Amoeba Records the other day. He looks Armenian, but he isn’t.

- I started a trial Blockbuster Total Access membership. I’m a Netflix person, but I figured two weeks of free movies never hurt anyone. The perk of the Blockbuster thing is that you can return your mailed movies into the store and check out other movies (but these checked out movies have to be returned to the store, no more swapping). The guy at the store claimed that once you bring in the mailed movies to the store, that counts as a return, and that prompts Blockbuster to mail you other movies. If that’s true, then I guess this is a little better than Netflix. I’m not sure this is true though. Now it’s time to watch Al Gore tell me about how everything on the Earth will be melting soon.

- On a related note, I chose to return my movies to the La Canada Blockbuster instead of the Glendale one. The reason? At night, La Canada smells like a forest.

Currently Listening to:

Albert Hammond Jr. - “Everyone Gets a Star”

Susan asked me if I missed working. The answer is, not yet. It’s kind of fun to lounge around and do things like watch tv, watch movies, and fix busted stuff that I never had time to fix.

I’m wrapping up reading Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank. In the Grameen Bank model, a bank offers microcredit, or small loans to people who are too poor to qualify for loans at regular banks. Over time, the debtors repay the loans over time, at a reasonable interest rate. The model has been very successful, and Dr. Yunus received the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

I’ve wanted to learn more about microcredit ever since I heard about it. What really got me interested in the Grameen bank model was that it seemed more related to the study of personal motivations than it was to the countless charts I remembered from my economics courses. To me, economics has always seemed to be a study of personal motivation. After all, I figured that economics wasn’t much different than a pure science such as chemistry. Both are based on basic rules that don’t change. In the case of the Grameen Bank, the basic principle is that the poorest people, living under extremely oppressive conditions, won’t default on their loans because those loans are the only chance they have at a better life. To support the principle, the bank can point to an extremely high rate of repayment and the fact that the bank actually generates revenue.

The book highlighted some interesting points, like how the middle class can be the real oppressors of the very poor, how bureaucratically difficult it can be to set up a lending institution, and how strict enforcement of debt repayment practices can have a positive effect on self-esteem. I also liked how the bank purposefully puts an emphasis on lending to women, because women tend to be more resourceful and responsible than men.

The book also talked about applying the model to the U.S.. I initially thought that the model wouldn’t work in America. Besides the fact that I’ve got a pretty dim view of Americans, I also thought that the model wouldn’t work because (1) we’re a wealthy, capitalistic society and (2) government subsidies to the poor actually have the effect of dissuading people from working. As to the former reason, I figured that in a third world country, where manual labor and self-employment are more prevalent, empowering someone to do something on their own would holds more meaning than it does here. Giving someone $5 to make and sell straw baskets at a market in Bangladesh would seem like something that wouldn’t hold the same meaning here. As to the latter reason, if someone is given a welfare check for doing nothing, why would they want to work hard and potentially receive the same, or less money? The book addressed this (which was good), and pointed to some success stories, but I’m still convinced the effect of subsidies is very significant. I’m going to look into a book that might discuss this.

Nope, not missing work yet.