Personal — Comments
07
Aug 09

10 years later…

ucla 1998On a hot and rather frantic August day, 2 sunburned kids from Los Angles tied the knot in the oh-so-fancy wedding chapel at the Excalibur Hotel. Details of that day are blurred by memory, but two things stand out: 1) the dude who married us has the biggest beard I had ever seen and 2) Adrian promised that day to do whatever I said and cater to my every whim as long as he lives (I reviewed the tape).

So far, he’s done a pretty good job.

Halfway into this venture, we spawned 2 of the ugliest kids to ever live. We now live in a hovel and never have any fun. But like, the total opposite.

Happy Anniversary to Adrian aka Flying Insect Killah.

Internet / Video — Comments
05
Aug 09

But I don’t have an iPhone

Nor do I plan to get one. I need to understand is this weird need for companies to isolate active users of their products by not offering an option for those of us without iPhones, Black Berry’s or Nokia’s. Some of us have phones with similar features. Some of us (namely me) have been asking for over a year now when our phones will be supported. You can only get a blowoff for so long until you become sick of it.

I used to be the biggest champion of sites like Qik, 12seconds and Shozu. (Note: normally, I would link to these sites. Now, it’s not worth my time.) When I had my PPC-6700, I used these sites with no problems. I told all my friends about them. I blogged about them. Then I got the Sprint Instinct. It’s web-enabled, has video, can send MMS and has many other features that users of the above phones wanted but lacked. What it doesn’t have is good marketing and sales. Somehow, that means it’s not worth supporting for whatever reason.

In July 2008, I contacted each of the companies asking when my phone would be supported. Every single one of them told me soon, to wait until October. Meanwhile, I watched as apps for phones and iterations of phones that were released after mine were created and touted. I watched as companies sent out press release after press release about their newest iPhone app. Screw the users of the other phones though. I’m not saying that they should solely cater to me, but I know that I am not alone with this frustration.

The lesson I’ve learned in not being part of the lowest common denominator is that I have to find workarounds and sometimes it’s a little harder and more time consuming that it should be.  I don’t use those sites mentioned above any more. My accounts at both Qik and Shozu have been canceled for awhile now. The 12seconds one will be shuttered as soon as I find a way to back up some of the videos shot on the site. Instead, I will continue to use YouTube and Blip.tv because both of those sites support mobile uploads of video, even just 12 seconds of it.

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Books — Comments
05
Aug 09

Help the Louisville Free Public Library

I don’t know if you’ve noticed your friends in Indiana and Kentucky may have been offline recently. A pretty bad storm has hit the area and there’s been some bad flooding. On FriendFeed, Steve Lawson posted a photos of books and a bookmobile under water. You can find more details on how to help below.

Health / Politics — Comments
05
Aug 09

My Healthcare Story

My doctor In 2002, I found out I was pregnant the week I returned to work from disability leave. I was let go the next Monday. Throughout my pregnancy, we paid $640 per month towards COBRA. I received  unemployment. My self-employed husband was covered under my plan. On April 29th, I was discharged from the hospital. Within the week, I received bills and then a shock from CIGNA: my health insurance was cancelled. My payment in April was a day late. CIGNA chose to send me back my check and cancel my coverage. The cancellation took effect retroactively to April 30th. That meant my follow-up visits to my OB/GYN and to the new pediatrician all had to come out of pocket.

There’s a lot of noise out there about the proposed healthcare bill going through Congress at the moment. There are a lot of lies being told by right-wing propagandists. A lot of astroturfing being done by the health insurance & pharmaceutical companies. I do not know if the proposed bill is going to help. What I do know is that for over 60 years this issue has arisen and the GOP tells us that we have to wait and see. If they haven’t been able to come up with a reasonable response or alternative solution in this time, why does anyone listen to these people?

I find it frustrating that people who receive taxpayer funded healthcare (I’m talking your elected representatives here)  have the audacity to go out and tell you that taxpayer funded healthcare is “socialism”.  It’s just mind-blowing when people I know who receive some kind of government assistance parrot that line with no sense of irony. When you tell them that just like with gay marriage or abortion that if they don’t like it, don’t participate they have no response but to sputter. No one is forcing them or their doctors to join in the proposed bill. They do not have to use the service. That is no reason to deny it from others who want it and need it.

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Events / Food — Comments
04
Aug 09

AUG. 8: Korean BBQ Cookoff

kbbqLet’s toss this event under Reason #873 Why I Love Los Angeles. That’s right, Yelp and the Korean American Coalition have partnered to bring us Los Angeles’ first Korean BBQ Cookoff. Some interesting details:

Los Angeles’s first Korean BBQ Cook-off will showcase some of the best dishes by top Korean BBQ restaurants. Presented by the Korean American Coalition – Los Angeles (KAC), in partnership with Yelp, the Cook-off will be judged by distinguished judges who will present the prize for best the BBQ dish on Saturday, August 8, 2009.
• 5,000 participants expected for the event
• Ten restaurants are participating in the competition including Beverly Soon Tofu, Byul Dae Po (Star BBQ), Ham Ji Park, Jinju Galbi, Mu Dae Po, Park’s BBQ, So Hyang, and Soowon Galbi.
• The restaurants will sell dishes for $10-15/plate. (It’ll be worth it….it’ll be good quality meat)
• Other food booths will include (tentative list): shaved ice, drinks, grilled corn, and more.
• Barbecue categories will include LA galbi (marinated bone-in beef ribs), galbi (marinated boned-out beef ribs), pork ribs, bulgogi (marinated sliced sirloin), and grilled intestine barbecue.

It’s no secret that I enjoy meat, eating and BBQ. I also enjoy Saturdays and ogling cute Korean boys. Needless to say, I’m going to try my best to get over to this event.

Date:
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Time:
12:00pm – 8:00pm
Location:
The Summit at 6th
Address:
3223 6th St.
City:
Los Angeles, CA

You can find more discussion on FriendFeed.

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Fitness — Comments
04
Aug 09

EA Sports Active: Halfway through the 30-day Challenge

Day 5 - Me doing DDR Universe I splurged on the EA Sports Active back in June after hearing rave reviews. The title was created for the Nintendo Wii and I was eager to compare the ‘game’ to the Wii Fit. Surprisingly, I haven’t taken the time to write about my experiences with the Wii Fit, so I’ll try to squeeze in some thoughts here in comparison with the EA Sports Active.

After you make your profile, you can choose between using preset workouts, creating your own or taking the 30-Day Challenge. It’s clear from the title that I chose the last option. I first set my 30-Day Challenge in June, but due to an injury and general busy-ness, never completed it. I decided to start over and stick with it as much as possible.  When you do the Challenge, you’re given a calendar that tells you went your next workout day and  it gives you days of rest. July 21st was my first day back below are my thoughts on the first half of this Challenge.

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Internet / Women — Comments
04
Aug 09

Are sponsorships to conferences to be expected now?

Monopoly before I started losing When conference dates and location are announced, excitement is expected. Greed is not. Trish Robinson alerted us via FriendFeed about the general response to BlogHer ‘10.  She posted:

What the hell has BlogHer turned into? Nearly every comment on the first post announcing next year’s date are people trying to find sponsors and how to get a free trip? Wow. – Trish R

Curious, I clicked the link.

I am new to the ‘blog-a-sphere’ and didn’t make BlogHer 2009, it seems 2010 is coming to my hometown here in the big apple, how do I register since I won’t be requiring the hotel? Is there a separate registration section for us NYC based bloggers? what is the rate if you don’t require a hotel?

Should I start posting for a sponsor already/now???

So much to learn, so little time! :-)

That’s a worrying reaction for many reasons, but as you scroll through the comments, you see others posting about looking for sponsorships.

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Entertainment / Kids — Comments
01
Jul 09

Ilia wants to be Indian

Compagnie Dansez Masala - Bollywood Dance -10

Image by pixiduc via Flickr

We watched some Bollywood movies the other day. My daughter, dancing on my bed, turned to me and said, “I need to be Indian. Because then you can wear pretty clothes, have a dangly thing on your head and get henna on your hands…when you get boobs, you get a dot on your forehead. Oh, and dance around the mountains in the rain. When I grow up, I’m totally going to be Indian.”

She is also convinced that she can now speak Hindi, because she was repeating the movie lines.

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Entertainment / TV — Comments
28
Jun 09

Maid For You Poll: Round 2 Pearl Gallagher vs Benson

Entertainment — Comments
27
Jun 09

Maid For You Poll: Rosie or Alice Nelson

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