Grandma's Big Mac Day

Visiting Grandma on her birthday.

Tricia's first Big Mac ever.

Michelle's second Big Mac ever, sort of.

Mark likes his burgers with tomato, lettuce, and onion only.

Today was Grandma's birthday, and I figure one of the best ways to celebrate her life is to eat her beloved Big Mac. So we visited her and Grandpa, then went to the McDonald's drive thru. To our great surprise, McDonald's is having a special on Big Macs, 2 for $3.50! I'm convinced Grandma had something to do with this timely promotion.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Noggin Noodlers

My white elephant present from Allison. It is ruining my life.

Christmas Party 2008

Watching the Laker game


BBQing in the rain


White Elephant


Family Photo

It was a typical Christmas party for our family. We started by watching the Lakers beat the Celtics. Then we watched Eight Below and challenged ourselves to fight the tears. Meanwhile, my mom and Tito Melvin barbecued in the rain, Tito Melvin in his raincoat, and my mom in her rain boots. RJ stealthily collected more chocolate chip cookie cheesecake cups to satisfy his sweet tooth.

We enjoyed a bountiful dinner by a roaring fire that burned Grandma Perla's scarf, sending Tita Susan into a deafening burst of laughter. Grandma's perfectly fine; her scarf, however, will never be the same.

This year's White Elephant was fun because it seems our group is slowly growing. Jessica, Mark, and Andrew joined in the gift-stealing--I hope they didn't think we were too weird. All of the parents waited impatiently as we prolonged the game with more and more thievery.

As soon as the game ended we were all rushed to pack up our gifts and advised to force ourselves to urinate to prepare for the ride home.

Some of us stayed behind to reminisce our unusual childhood pastimes--preparing garden berry soup, various animal rescues with craftily crocheted harnesses, sacrificing new white shoes to reunite a lone duckling with his family, and other interactions with the animal world that, in retrospect, were somewhat cruel.

When Andrew and I finally left, we had to scrape the ice off his windshield before we could get on the road. Ice on windshields in sunny Southern California, who would've thought.

It was a Merry Christmas indeed.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

One of my favorite books when I was growing up was If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. I went on Amazon to order a copy for RJ and Celeste and discovered that there's a whole series of If You Give... books!

Christmas Lunch with Grandma Eping

We took Grandma Eping to Tasty Garden in Alhambra so we could see her before Christmas time. Nice pic of my dad with his mom. Ninety-three and still quick like a cat.

Balikbayan Boxes

Ate Mahal sent me this hilarious video about the Filipino tradition of balikbayan boxes. Unfortunately, the video is all too familiar to me. Enjoy!

Finals Week Update

Tuesday: Physiology complete
Wednesday: Nutrition complete
Thursday: Speech Pizza Party canceled
Saturday: Statistics complete

Freedom!

Studying for Statistics

My statistics book has some interesting facts scattered around the margins, seemingly to keep one interested in the largely un-interesting subject of statistics.

Unusual stat: There are 1,929,770,126,028,800 different color combinations for Rubik's cube and only one correct solution.

Scientists think that a person is never more than 3 feet away from a spider at any given time.

Sixty-three percent of people would rather hear bad news before hearing the good news.

Tofu Ice Cream

A la Chabuya. Yum-o.

Christmas Pictures

We finally decided to use this one for our Christmas card.



Check out my dad's cool hat. Can you believe he's 52? He's diligent about maintaining his youthful appearance.



Andrew, our reindeer friend, and me.

We went to the Avenue of the Peninsula outdoor mall to take some pictures for our family Christmas card. We didn't exactly decorate the house for the Christmas season this year, so we had to find a cheerful, holiday scene elsewhere. I like the cool reindeer they have sitting on the benches throughout the mall.

This year we decided not to get a Christmas tree, opting to bring our 25-year old ficus tree inside as a substitute. I recently learned that my parents bought this ficus tree when they moved into their first house in Gardena, where I grew up. I remember my mom scolding Allison and me for tearing off its leaves to make our backyard "soup" for the chickens.

It was difficult to refrain from buying a fresh tree, but I decided that we're usually so busy with finishing up the fall semester that we hardly have enough time to put into decorating. I was considering purchasing a plastic tree that I could reuse year after year. However, after some research I decided against it because (1) many fake Christmas trees contain PVC, and plastic is of course, a petroleum byproduct, and (2) they don't have that fresh Christmas tree smell.

In the course of my research I came across a new trend in the Christmas tree industry: renting. Some companies will dig up a tree, roots and all, plant it in a pot, and deliver it to your house for the holiday season. When the season is over, they'll come back for the tree, bring it back to their farm, and re-plant it so that it can continue sucking up carbon dioxide and supporting local ecosystems for another year until the holidays come around again. How cool is that?

But for now, our family ficus tree will suffice.

Excessive Highlighting

Like most poor college students, I try to save some cash by buying used textbooks. I carefully go through Amazon to find books that are listed as "like new" or "no writing/highlighting." When I purchased my nutrition textbook, Nutrition Now, I was sure to do just that.

To my great disappointment, I turned to read the final chapter for my exam to find that some idiot has mistaken highlighting with coloring. The whole page is practically colored green, with the exception of the few parenthetical references.

Isn't the point of highlighting to highlight significant information? How can someone quickly find what is important if the whole page is highlighted! Not to mention it makes for some strained, uncomfortable reading...

Xena and Sonic's Breakfast

For the first time in a couple nights now, I was finally able to sleep well. This restorative sleep was unfortunately interrupted by the ravenous appetites of Xena and Sonic.

The two mischievous dogs decided to help themselves, once again, to whatever they wanted in the house. Today their breakfast included:

1 box of Cuties tangerines
1 bag of roasted peanuts
6 bags of Neogori packaged soup
1 loaf of tai san cheese bread
1 mini loaf of zucchini bread
1 bag of tangerines from Michelle and Dan's uncle
1 carton of eggs
1 Starbucks Halloween coloring book
1 set of crayons
1 House, M.D. Season 3 DVD set

Meanwhile, Ace sat in his house watching the other two destroy the house, yet again. Next time, a little warning would be nice, Ace.

Finals Week

Tuesday: Physiology complete
Wednesday: Nutrition complete
Thursday: Speech Pizza Party canceled
Saturday: Statistics

Freshia Market Part Deux

The secret for beautiful, porcelain skin? Naive skin cleanser for enhancing one's naïveté.

Who knew a platter of sliced beef tongue could be so elegant?

The Crab Lollipop

Freshia Market

Beef intestine casserole.

Drink from the toilet?

So I'm up late researching the problems associated with drinking bottled water. It's obvious that bottled water is bad for the environment. All that plastic takes a long time to degrade. But even for people who don't care too much about their giant carbon footprints, consider this:

Even when bottled waters are covered by the FDA's rules, they are subject to less rigorous testing and purity standards than those which apply to city tap water (see chart below). For example, bottled water is required to be tested less frequently than city tap water for bacteria and chemical contaminants. In addition, bottled water rules allow for some contamination by E. coli or fecal coliform (which indicate possible contamination with fecal matter), contrary to tap water rules, which prohibit any confirmed contamination with these bacteria. Similarly, there are no requirements for bottled water to be disinfected or tested for parasites such as cryptosporidium or giardia, unlike the rules for big city tap water systems that use surface water sources. This leaves open the possibility that some bottled water may present a health threat to people with weakened immune systems, such as the frail elderly, some infants, transplant or cancer patients, or people with HIV/AIDS.

If you're really interested you can read the full article here: http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/nbw.asp

Now consider how expensive bottled water is. If you bought a typical 20 oz water bottle from a vending machine for a dollar, you'd spend about 5 cents per oz. Now let's think about gasoline. Let's say gas is about $3 a gallon. 1 gallon = 128 oz. So, $3/128 oz is about 2 cents per oz. Bottled water costs more than twice as much as gasoline!

And speaking of gasoline, we used 17 million barrels of oil to manufacture plastic water bottles in 2006.

The cost of tap water: 0.00007 cents per oz.

Get a filter for your kitchen faucet. Get a cool reusable water bottle. Stop paying to drink from the toilet.

Mitsuwa

Random Christmas shopping at Mitsuwa. Check out Juno in Japanese.

Persimmons

Weird-looking persimmons.

Ikea Trip

The fruit basket hat.

Black Friday at Target

Dan, Michelle, Mark, Julie and I braved the long lines at Target on Black Friday. They even distributed maps of the store. The only things I had on my list were seasons 1, 2, and 3 of House at $13.98 each. Had to wake up at 4:00 am, but I saved $93.03 so it was worth it.

Thanksgiving

Look at the dancing turkeys.

Deep Fried Turkey

First deep-fried turkey experience. Michelle, Mark and I traveled to Mr. Cecil's Ribs in West Los Angeles to pick up the fried bird for the family celebration. I'm not really big on turkey, but everyone says that deep-fried is the way to go. It was good, but I'm still not that impressed with turkey.

The Demon

Sonic the Demon training in the dark art of stealing the souls of children.

Big Mama Guava

Check out this big mama guava.

Breakfast with Cindy

Had a chance to catch up with Cindy over breakfast at King's Hawaiian Restaurant. I haven't had breakfast there in many years now, and I've forgotten how delicious the bakery smells. I've been so busy lately with school so it was nice to see old friends again.

Mass Blogging

After being MIA for some time now, I'm back to blogging. I've been busy studying for physio, nutrition, working on speeches, mastering inferential statistics, and putting together my nursing school applications.

Just finished my third of four physio exams, and I feel pretty confident. If I can manage 97% in the class, I don't need to take the final. So far, I'm on the right track.

I'm writing my speech on switching from plastic water bottles to drinking from the tap/filtered water from the tap. Hopefully that goes well.

Statistics was interesting last week because the power went out during lecture (rolling blackouts to help fight the fires). It's a Saturday class in the bottom of the library, which meant that there wasn't much campus staff around to let us know what was going on, and that there were no windows to let some sunlight in.

Nursing school applications are due soon. University application for CSULB due November 30th--I just need to send my transcripts. Nursing application for CSULA due January 8th--waiting on final grades for this semester and one more recommendation letter. Tracking down transcripts is such a pain and quite costly. Transcripts from Narbonne, AP scores, El Camino, Harbor, and UCLA. All I need now are my transcripts with this semester's final grades. Grad school, here I come...

Yoga

Michelle and I decided to add yoga to our exercise plan. We were shocked to hear that Dan and Mark were excited to give it a try too. Andrew wasn't as excited, but I managed to convince him to join. See how relaxed Dan is?

It's been about three years since I've practiced yoga. Now I remember how much I loved the classes I took with the roomies at UCLA (especially since they were only $17 a quarter). I also remember how strenuous it can be. I was a little disappointed that I've lost so much flexibility since my last yoga session. My downward-facing dog needs some work.

In the end, Mark felt dizzy and sat out for a while, Andrew's feelings remained the same, pretty much indifferent, and Dan committed to becoming the best yogi he can be. He even bought himself his very own yoga mat (my stone floors aren't ideal for yoga).

Namaste.

Another Xena Binge

I'm starting to believe Xena has binge-eating disorder. While no one was looking, she managed to devour a can of almonds (I'm convinced she would've had two if she were able to open the second can), a box of candied nuts, some kind of Sees candy (thankfully not chocolate), and a box of six of my weight loss shakes (unfortunately chocolate). This was recently.

In the past she has binged on two batches of my freshly-baked red velvet cupcakes, wrappers included, a whole tray of Korean BBQ, boxes of silk soy milk, packages of Top Ramen, boxes of stonewheat crackers, large bags of peanuts, sunflower seeds, my mom's butong pakwan (a special request from PI) and lots of other stuff I've forgotten. On many occasions she has also knocked down the trash can we keep all of the dog food in, feasting on not only her food, but Ace's and Sonic's as well. She also enjoys harvesting from my dad's vegetable garden, helping herself to his Russian tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Chinese parsley, and kabocha squash. She has stolen mangoes, persimmons, bananas, and coconuts off the counter.

Well, she's highly-intelligent and resourceful at least.

I think Ace has bulimia nervosa. I know this sounds weird, but it seems like he watches his weight. And he likes to eat grass to vomit every once in a while.

And Sonic has pica. He's obsessed with eating socks, undergarments, and my mom's slippers.

Interesting group of dogs...

Poor Fish

This fish died, actually fried, screaming. Sad. Reminds me of the scene in Finding Nemo when Marlin and Dory struggle to breathe because they land on the docks, right before the pelican (was it a pelican?) scoops them up into his beak to save them. Well, except for the being saved part, because I definitely enjoyed eating this little guy.

Wine and Cheese Update

My parents went to the San Antonio Winery in Downtown Los Angeles one weekend. Didn't think there was a winery right there near Chinatown. Here's my dad with a glass of Stella Rosa and the Sunday paper. I actually like this wine--probably because it has such low alcohol content.

Today's Mail

No good.

Mommy's Rollercoaster

Had lunch at Tasty Garden in Alhambra a couple weeks ago. On the ride home, Colleen and I noticed that my mom holds onto those handles in the car with both hands. Even Grandma only used one hand.

Intolerance

The road to freedom is a difficult, hard road. It always makes for temporary setbacks.
—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ultimately, America’s answer to the intolerant man is diversity, the very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired.
—Robert F. Kennedy

Law and justice are not always the same. When they aren't, destroying the law may be the first step toward changing it.
--Gloria Steinem

Intersectionality Theory

Muscle Physiology Lab

Dorsiflex!

Wine and Cheese

So I'm not sure if this is a Filipino quirk or not, but my dad used to hate cheese. He says it's probably because he didn't grow up eating foods with lots of cheese. Then I remembered that when I mentioned fruit and cheese plates (sometimes Colleen brings them home from Starbucks after work) to Mark, who grew up in the Philippines, he thought it was weird too. And then I thought, whenever I go to parties at work, everyone seems to know the names of many cheeses, like havarti, gouda, and fontina. I only knew about these cheeses from watching the food network. But everyone at work seemed to know them as household names.

Then my parents went on a weekend trip to Carlsbad, near San Diego. They stayed at a nice hotel where they had free wine and cheese available for guests. When my mom asked my dad where he would like to eat dinner, my dad suggested they have the wine and cheese, because it's free of course. And now my dad loves cheese. "Free food is good food," he says.

Now my dad asks my mom to buy cheese when she goes grocery shopping. One night I got home from class to find my dad sitting at the dinner table with the wine glasses out from way back in the cabinets and a nice cheese platter with sliced pears and crackers. He sliced the cheese and pears himself. "Do you wanna try some wine and cheese, Naning?" So I had a small glass of red wine, which we drank at room temperature because according to the wine connoisseur he spoke with at the hotel, "That's the proper way to drink red wine." Haha, my dad is funny.

My mom recently bought a whole cheese platter with aged cheddar, swiss, havarti, and gouda. We've been nibbling on it here and there. Last night Colleen forgot to put the platter back in the fridge. Xena, always on the lookout for new kinds of food, seized this opportunity to try some cheese as well. Apparently she enjoyed it because she ate the whole platter. And helped herself to some stone wheat crackers and sunflower seeds as well.

Haha, my dad doesn't know yet, but when he starts looking for his cheese platter tonight after dinner I'm gonna have to snitch on Xena.

Walk Power Walk

Cousin Michelle and I have been doing this uber-cheesy workout video called Walk Away the Pounds. It's lead by Leslie Sansone, who looks exactly like Sarah Palin. It's embarrassing (but effective) so Michelle and I refuse to do the workout if other people are in the house, with the exception of Colleen. So when Andrew comes by the house, I make him hide in the room, haha.

Speech Obligation

I never wanted to take this speech class. But because I'm considerably older than most of my classmates, and considerably younger than the much, much older classmates, I haven't been too nervous about speaking in front of them. I guess you could say I'm not intimidated.

But now Prof. Oates has requested that I develop a persuasive speech about changing something in the world to present to the college's accreditation board. I don't think he understands that i HATE public speaking. I can't speak in front of adults who are actually going to listen to what I'm saying! I just need this class to apply for nursing school!!

I want to decline, but I'm not sure if I can. The way I see it, forget all of this "It's an honor to be asked" kinda stuff. I'm going to need much more of an incentive to speak in front of real people. No good.

Oh, and for the object I chose to represent who I am, I used Andrew's suggestion: a box of colored pencils.

Second Date with Physiology

Kicked some major puwet on my physiology exam. 96/90 = 106.7% I love being a nerd again.

Making of the Band

Andrew, Dan, Michelle, and Mark rock out...Guitar Hero: World Tour is here.

The Furminator

We've been thinking about buying this cool de-shedding tool called the Furminator for a while now. When Andrew found it on Amazon for $29.99 (reg. $49.99) we had to jump on it. The furminator website even claims it's "German Shepherd tested." And anything that claims to help with Xena's shedding is worth a shot.

It works. This furball is from a couple sessions with the Furminator.

It's kinda funny because we've been concerned that Xena has been gaining weight as she gets older, especially with her hip dysplasia. So we've been reducing her food. It turns out that a lot of that weight is hair, haha. So now we've brought her back to her usual three cups of dog food a day.

Look how beautiful she is...

Happy First Birthday Princess Celeste!

Celebrated my niece Celeste's first birthday, princess-themed, of course. Good food (mmm...garlic breadsticks), and good fun. Since she was born so close to Halloween, they decided to make it a costume party. This was the perfect excuse for us oldies to dress up like we used to when we were kids.

Andrew, my cousin Dan, and I decided to go as Napoleon Dynamite, Pedro, and Deb. Cousin Michelle came as the Mad Hatter. Cousin Julie was the white phantom, but I think she looked like Danielle from Ever After. My sister came as a Starbucks barista who has to go to work afterward.

My Tito Melvin thought I brought a new boyfriend. Grandma Perla said Andrew looked like a woman.