Monthly Archive for June, 2004

From Go-Quiz.com

It’s all fun and games until…

Going to forage for some grub now.

I was at a friend’s house last night and I accidentally walked out the door with my jacket and purse still sitting on a chair in her home. Oops. I didn’t realize this until I got home and it being close to 2:30 am, I wasn’t about to go back to get it (even though I knew she’d be up for a while).

So this morning when I went to visit at brunch with some of the blogging.la folks, all I had with me was a mostly empty purse (keys, phone, gum, & a few bucks I had lying around on my desk). I had already eaten at home, knowing I’d only be at the brunch for a little bit, seeing as I had to get off to work (Job #1.5) quickly.

Nonetheless, not having any money didn’t deter me from buying these signed Heisey sherbet glasses at auction today:

Description:
Seven Heisey glass dessert cups on faceted knobbed stem, cut with a band of leaves and flowers, signed; H: 3 7/8″
Estimated price: $80.00 – $120.00

I lucked out and walked out with the set for $40 (hammer price). Adding tax and the buyer’s premium, the set of seven was $50. The only things that would’ve made this deal better is if this was a complete set of 8 and if that lady in the room didn’t bid against me, I’d have gotten the set for a $30 hammer price.

When I get my purse back (my camera is in there), I will take detailed photos of my new glassware because for all the Heisey information that’s out there, I’ve not been able to identify the style of my particular set. So if anyone knows anything about Heisey glassware & happens upon my site, maybe they can tell me what I should be looking for to complete my set.

But I’m still pleased with the purchase & am glad that my “credit line” at the auction house is good enough that they let me take them home with me even though I didn’t pay for them yet.

Seen at blogging.la lunch: Justin Hall, 5000! (Spencer) +1, Sean Bonner, Caryn Coleman, Jay Bushman

Every so often, BossMan holds a “lottery” to get rid of some stuff he’s got lying around the office. But he usually sweetens the deal with a really nice prize of some sort (i.e. – basketball tickets, gift certificate, concert tickets)

In this case, the prizes were all pretty cool. Premium Emmy screener packages + 1 pair of Hollywood Bowl tickets.

Guess who won the grand prize of the Hollywood Bowl tickets? (Hint: The answer is in the title of this post.)

So now I get to decide between the following shows:
The Great American Concert with Fireworks – Walt Disney: 75 Years of Music
or
From Bluegrass Roots: The New American Acoustic

But if I wasn’t going out of town that weekend, I could’ve chosen tickets to:
Harry Connick, Jr.: Only You – An Evening of Romance and Swing

So YAY (I WON!) but BOO (No Harry Connick, Jr.) But the other two concerts look good, too!

… but the best part of dinner was the company.

Thanks to Keith for enduring the long trip from the Carolinas out to L.A. More impressive was that he survived the (seemingly) even longer trip from the airport to Hollywood (405, to the 10, to La Cienega to Sunset at 6pm… eeek!) during rush hour so we could have dinner together at The Grill at Hollywood & Highland last night.

Firstly, I must report to that Keith did indeed fulfill his duties as official Hug Deliverer™ for Meeta, YorkieMom, and Sophie & Lola… THANKS!

We had a nice table outside, overlooking the courtyard. The food & service was fantabulous. As requested, I brought my camera to document the food. However, I must admit that I was trying not to be as obnoxious as I usually am during meals so I turned my flash off; thus the blurry pictures. I was also a little deliquent because I didn’t photograph our salad or dessert. We started out with the Spinach Artichoke Dip as an appetizer. I remembered I had my camera in my pocket only after I had eaten all the garnish. Oops.

We also split a yummy mixed green salad and then I opened myself up to a case of Mad Cow by splurging on a New York Steak, which was charred just black enough on the outside, perfectly medium rare on the inside. Sorry to all my vegetarian friends if this slice of moo looks gross to you. I haven’t had a nice hunk of steak in a while & I couldn’t resist. Boy was it worth it. There are no pictures of the cheesecake (smooth, creamy texture in strawberry sauce), but since there is no photographic evidence, no one can prove that we had the extra calories!

A big THANKS to Keith for such a wonderful evening (thanks also for not making fun of me too much when I got us lost in the parking structure on the way out) and, of course, thanks to YorkieMom for letting me keep her hubby out late and also for sending along the album of Sophie & Lola pictures for me to see!

Ernie, Joz, and Mike. Photo taken by Yoshi.

What a pleasure it was to finally meet these guys. Since I’m not from that area, I had to rely on them locals to pick a location to meet.

I was told that the mall was THE place to be. *shrug* What do I know?

We sat under the watch of the LOTR Eye Sconces while poring over the 40 page menu, trying desperately to decide what to eat. Yoshi flipped immediately to dessert. The Limited Edition 25th Anniversary Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake caught my eye because it was just so freakin’ ridiculous to me that they even make and market a “limited edition” cheesecake.

As we were deciding on our “Super Creamy” (heh) Drinks, we all took turns guessing what the “surprise” in the Kahlua Kisser was. Guesses included “a mouse,” “tomatoes,” and “pickles,” but we decided “A SPIDER!” would be the best surprise to find in the drink. Except that several people at the table (we won’t name names) admitted to being positively phobic about our 8-legged arachnid friends. I asked our poor waiter what the surprise was and he disappointed us by telling us that it was just tequila. A spider would’ve been a much better surprise.

Ernie tried the Flying Gorilla (the waiter made sure it was flying, so that Ernie wouldn’t just have a gorilla… because what’s the fun about a gorilla that’s not airborne?) and Mike’s Amaretto Milkshake was amaretto-milkeshakey goodness (I ran out of adjectives, sorry).

Our food came and I tried to sneak photos of our food before people started digging in. Below you’ll see photos of Chicken Marsala, Meatloaf Sandwich, and some blurry Jambalaya on rice. I missed the appetizer and one of the entrees so I don’t remember what they are now.

It was a yummy dinner with funny conversations and really awesome company. The only disappointing thing was that Yoshi and I had to hit the road back to L.A. so we weren’t able to spend more time with these kick ass guys. Looking forward to the next time we’re all in the same mall town together again.

Yes, it’s true.

It’s quite unlike me (to be quiet, that is), but I’m fine.

Talk amongst yourselves.

I’ll be back soon.

Shannon has resurfaced at soupfork.com

Go on and show her some love. She’s been going through some not-so-fun times, including being by the side of her dying grandmother.

If you follow UCLA/Westside news, you may remember a story about a girl that was raped by three high school students in her dorm (DeNeve) about a year and a half ago. In December of 2002, 3 Carson High School students (Deshawn Carter Stringer, Jamar Dawson and Chuwan Anthony) were on a field trip to UCLA when they separated from their group and found their way into the dorms. Their goal was to “meet females,” and they told people they were football players transferring from Florida State. The victim, who is 5 feet tall and 95 pounds, was in her room working on a paper for finals.

Evidently, UCLA did a great job of hushing this story up. However, the suspects were caught & taken to court. Last week, the three suspects were acquitted on the various charges of because the prosecution claimed that the victim didn’t say no to ALL THREE MEN who showed up in her dorm room and began RAPING HER within minutes of their “meeting.”

These guys don’t deny performing various sexual acts on the girl, claiming that it was “consensual sex” and the jury agreed.

Hmmm… small woman in her dorm vs. 3 guys who are passing themselves off as football players. I wouldn’t be scared. [/sarcasm]

On May 7, 2004 an L.A. Times article stated:

Alleged Rape Victim Takes Stand at Trial
UCLA student says she remained silent during the dorm room assault by three attackers because ‘I didn’t know what they would do.’
By Cynthia Daniels, Times Staff Writer

She resisted at first, the UCLA student testified Thursday, but then remained silent as three high school students sexually assaulted her in her dormitory room on campus two years ago.

“I was really scared, and I didn’t know what they would do to me,” the woman testified in Los Angeles County Superior Court in the trial of the three men she identified as her attackers.

“I thought that if I cooperated, maybe I wouldn’t get hurt, maybe I would be OK.” Only 5 feet tall and 95 pounds, the woman said she did not resist because she was “confused and scared.”

Daily Bruin Articles:
UCLA rape trial jury hung
Defense says sex was consensual, not rape
Rape trial hinges on consent issue
Rape trial defense refutes allegations (details about what supposedly happened)

A petition created by “Friends of Jane Doe”

When we got to the office this morning, this is what we found lying on the floor in my office:

For some inexplicable reason, my poor sad, potted tree was knocked over and lying on the floor.

My co-workers thought I had gone bezerk before leaving last night and had taken the aggression out on the tree.

Although my tree is abused from not having any nutrition or real sunlight, I do water it and say nice things to it. I wouldn’t think of knocking the tree over (on purpose, anyway).

And I even stopped sharing my Diet Coke with it because someone told me that trees don’t like Diet Coke.

We think the cleaning people might’ve knocked it over last night. I picked it up and propped it up again, and even though it has lost a lot of soil from the pot, it seems happy again. See? Don’t we look happy?

(I think I should name the tree… got a suggestion for it?)

…bid on this eBay auction and move here.

Tony Alleyne is the interior designer behind this TNG valhalla.

Check out the before & after pictures.

Do you have to be in Starfleet Uniform to be a resident of this starship apartment?

Thanks to Sharky for the tip.
Continue reading ‘For the true Star Trek fan…’

In this instance, “it” was dropping a very large, very heavy book on my big toe late one night. When “it” happened, “it” was so loud that Yoshi even came over to see what I did.

And boy did “it” hurt. I do believe I cried over “it” but I was so tired that I went right to bed and promptly forgot about “it.” For several days, I actually couldn’t figure out why my right foot hurt so much, but since I am constantly hurting myself without knowing the cause, I figured “it” was another one of those kinds of “mystery” pains.

Being long overdue for a pedicure, last night I decided to take the dark nail polish off my toes & discovered that the base of the nail bed of my big toenail is a nice shade of ebony. Ew. (I hope it doesn’t fall off… Yoshi said it might.)

I had to ask myself aloud, “What happened to my toe?” several times before Yoshi remembered that I had caused my own toe injury when the book went BOOM on my toe.

Funny how remembering how it happened instantly brought all the pain receptors back to life.