On my mind

The questions plaguing me at the moment:

(1) How do you get onto the White House speech writing staff, and how much does it pay?

(2) How do you ride the trolley in San Francisco ... not the cable car or Muni or Caltrain, but the pretty classic trolley cars I see crossing in front of the Ferry Building? Where do you get on, where can you go, how do you pay and how much does it cost?

(3) How much is a 120-acre parcel of land in an undeveloped, agricultural-zoned Eastern part of Lancaster, located ten miles South of a U.S. Air Force base, worth?

(4) What happened to Sam Seaborn on the West Wing?

So "plaguing" is a strong word. To put these queries to rest, here are my responses:

(1) The time and effort required to get a full answer to this question far exceeds my actual interest. As such, I'm letting this one go.

(2) It turns out they're not trolleys, they're the Muni F-line, otherwise known as "historic streetcars." They run up and down Market Street from the Castro to the Embarcadero (technically stops at Steuart), and along the Embarcadero from Market (Ferry Building) to Jones (Fisherman's Wharf). Since it is the Muni F-line, fares are normal Muni fares, and Muni Fastpasses, passports and transfers are accepted.

(3) Don't know yet, but apparently I have an uncle that owns some acreage out there that I should talk to if I'm interested.

(4) Who knows?!? He falls off the face of the Earth! At least that's what it seems like after it is heavily implied he will lose the California 47th Congressional race. But according to Wikipedia, and my glimpses at the last few episodes of West Wing's final season, it appears he does lose the California 47th Congressional race, but remains out in California, declining the White House promotion and returning to law firm life, only to return for the last couple of episodes to serve as Deputy to Josh Lyman, who is the White House Chief of Staff for the new President.

Now I can go back to sleep.

FB Acct Disabled Day 4: Status Updates

10:45am All participants agreed that Sook's Dailey Method class was particularly challenging this morning. Thank goodness there's noticeable sizing down happening, or I might just give up!

10:59am Trying out Barefoot Coffee Works' El Salvador Malacara (Thanks Anthony!) with my post-workout brunch of eggs, granola and pop chips (they were giving the pop chips out for free)

11:58am Excited to researching Alaska cruises!

3:43pm Got Facebook account back, and have mixed feelings about that.

1:54pm Can't believe the big controversial sports news is STILL Kiffin leaving Tennessee for USC.

9:52pm Thank goodness I have good friends (Thanks John!) willing to help me navigate the sea of information about Alaskan cruises. Whew!

Hangin' with the Wong-Changs on Saturday

This past Saturday, we played bridge with Wendy and Anthony. It was not all senior citizen night, though; we also played some 13-card poker and Omaha. Of course, the highlights of the evening came compliments of Kaiya at the beginning of the evening:


and of Cooper at the end of the evening:

FB Acct Disabled Day 3: Status Updates

Facebook still hasn't responded to my request to reinstate my account. Bastards. It's beginning to dawn on me that this may be permanent. Oh well, I'll cope.

January 12, 2010:

9:00am Yay, rain!

10:00am Coffee first, before heading to Ifshin to get violin checkup and supplies.

10:20am Quick stop at Moe's as I leave Peet's; reminder to check out Theory of Light and Matter by Porter and Paris Review Interviews IV and Kingsolver fiction

11:10am Having her bow rehaired, her violin sound post adjusted and strings replaced. Felt such joy when Jay Ifshin commented "beautiful violin!" and kept referring to a violin "of this caliber."

11:30pm Extra 40% off outlet prices @ Northface Outlet! Score!

12:45pm Lunch @ Chick-o-Pea. They have delicious falafel, pickled veggies and fries:

1:55pm Showed up at Girls Inc. to volunteer, but thanks to over-volunteering, they could only give me a tiny bit to do

3:00pm Checking out the Alameda "free" library since volunteering took less time than expected
3:30pm Read the first few chapters of Kingsolvers Poisonwood Bible at the library

4:00pm Heading back to Girls Inc. in Alameda to see if I can help teach some young girls how to use chopsticks

7:00pm Traffic is conspiring to make us late for dinner with Ching, Wilson and Ethan

7:30pm Hot pot with good friends and a patient, smiley baby!

10:30pm My new black Gap pants are here and they fit GREAT! Thanks for the free shipping Wendy!

11:25pm Yay, more rain!

FB Acct Disabled Day 2: Status Updates

January 11, 2010:

12:45am C. J. Alice Chuang just posted holiday pictures and videos to her new Picasa account, and checked out The Chen Den for the first time in months.

1:45am C. J. Alice Chuang is convinced that Minesweeper on hard is impossible on a laptop.

2:15pm C. J. Alice Chuang watched Leap Year and ate lunch with Wendy.

2:40pm C. J. Alice Chuang just heard Pearl Jam's new song "Just Breathe", realized how much she missed Eddie Vedder's voice, then got ecstatic that Pearl Jam is back (with sort of a different sound)! She was appalled at the family Christmas party to learn that her younger cousins had no idea who they were (Alive came up on the Rock Band challenge).

3:35pm C. J. Alice Chuang has a lot of information from John about cruises to Alaska to work through.

5:40pm C. J. Alice Chuang heard "Hey, Soul Sister" on her way to The Dailey Method, and again on her way back

5:45pm C. J. Alice Chuang doesn't understand why Facebook isn't getting back to her. Is no one working there today, or is the disabled@facebook.com account just a joke?!?

5:52pm C. J. Alice Chuang's plan: shower, Gilmore Girls, dinner, other TV and sleep

8:37pm C. J. Alice Chuang laughed her ass off for the second time today.

11:28pm C. J. Alice Chuang is signing off for the night.

FB Acct Disabled Day 1: Status Updates

Since my Facebook account has been disabled, I thought I would revive this blog just to share the status updates that now regularly come to mind. I'll post every 24 hours.

January 10, 2010:

12:07am C. J. Alice Chuang has found the silver lining to the disabling of her Facebook account - opportunity to try Picasa and Flickr, more time to get through her borrowed West Wing DVDs, and ... well ... more time period.

1:08am C. J. Alice Chuang is still up exploring Picasa and creating a new "2009 Holidays" album despite having woken up at 7am. She is exhausted and will probably sleep late, very late.

4:00am C. J. Alice Chuang can't believe she's up playing Minesweeper. She loses Facebook and copes by reverting to being her 19-yr old self.

10:30am C. J. Alice Chuang is half-zombie on her way to Stacks for brunch with Fe, Be, Max & Sophie

10:55am C. J. Alice Chuang receives lame comment from Stacks manager about her Cal vest (to the effect of, "you're in the wrong neighborhood - if I'd known you were Cal I would have made you wait longer"), and she says something snippy back (although instead of saying something effective, like "this IS my neighborhood" or "Felix, whom you just called from our party, is from Stanford, but apparently too ashamed to show it," I said simply, "I live here," implying that this IS my neighborhood, but not actually saying it). We all sit and discover Minnie Mouse pancakes, which are Mickey Mouse pancakes with strawberry slices for a bow.

12:45pm C. J. Alice Chuang loves her new Angel iPhone cover from Max & Sophie! And she's getting back into bed now.

3:15pm C. J. Alice Chuang had the best nap ever!

3:45pm C. J. Alice Chuang is rooting for Aaron Rodgers, the current Packers and former Cal quarterback! That was one exciting drive!

3:55pm C. J. Alice Chuang thinks that's a shame the Cardinals scored again, even though she likes Kurt Warner, too. This was just becoming a really exciting game. One full quarter left, so still could be.

5:30pm C. J. Alice Chuang misses her 2009 Christmas tree already. It was perfection.

9:20pm C. J. Alice Chuang helped her parents set up their new Samsung phones.

9:53pm C. J. Alice Chuang hopes the nap didn't ruin her for falling asleep at a decent hour tonight.

10:35pm C. J. Alice Chuang has no Sunday night TV shows to watch. Thank goodness for TiVo and West Wing DVDs.

Summer and Europe

Summer always makes me yearn for Europe, even though I've never been to Europe in the summer. It is because everyone else seems to go to Europe in summer, and so I come across numerous travel articles and television shows about European destinations.

Indeed, every travel magazine, section of the newspaper, and television network, will re-do Paris a dozen ways or more every summer. In the New York Times not only does their travel section contain a "Europe for Every Budget" slideshow feature and a "Frugal Paris" article/slideshow among other travel section gems, but the summer Paris fever has bled into their art and movie sections as well. There are at least three recent articles or columns on Julia Child and the new movie "Julie & Julia," and a featured column in the art section on the viewing habits of today's museum-goers, focusing on the columnist's recent experience at the Louvre.

I haven't been to Paris in six years, but I feel the tug every summer, knowing full well that summer is the worst time to go. But they sure make it seem inviting, don't they?

Mid-year check-in

I can't believe it's already July. As expected, I haven't been 100% diligent with my "resolutions."

First, my goal was to read a book a week, but between hanging out with family, vacations and keeping up the house, I could only squeeze in less than half that many:

How To Be Good by Nick Hornby
The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi
Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Japan A Traveler's Literary Companion edited by Jeffrey Angles and J. Thomas Rimer
Literary Trips edited by Victoria Brooks
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
American Wife by Curtis Shettenfeld
French Milk by Lucy Knisley
American Born Chinese by Gene Yang
What Should I Do With My Life by Po Bronson
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

There may have been a couple more I'm not remembering (I can't remember if I read Paris to the Moon or You'll Be Okay or On the Road last year or this year), and this of course doesn't count the numerous children's books I've read to Conner, Max, Sophie, Tommy and Ashley.

I've been much better in the food department. I hadn't really "resolved" to eat better, but after reading Animal Vegetable Miracle, I completely changed my grocery shopping and eating habits. Whereas formerly only ~5% of my groceries were organic, pesticide free, free range, cage free, and I paid no attention whatsoever to whether or not it was local so I can't say how much was or was not, now 95% of my produce and meat are organic, pesticide free, free range, cage free, and I buy local products (within ~100 miles of my home) whenever possible. I also buy fresh foods from local farmers' markets, local grocers and Whole Foods, to cook at home much more now, rather than buying prepared foods or eating out, which has led to even more good habits, such as eating breakfast on weekdays, which I never used to do. Of course there's always room for improvement (i.e. making an effort to buy from small coops or family farms, remembering to bring reusable bags to the grocery store more often than we do), but all-in-all it's been a pretty dramatic change, and I'm proud of the fact that we've kept it up for a half year now. I've even planted basil in my backyard and (re)planted rosemary in my front yard. I'm going to try and keep a few herbs alive first before I get into the vegetables.

As for blogging and exercise, I've been remiss. I have nearly a dozen travel blogs started and unfinished, and CJ's Spot is getting updated only once or twice a month now. And while I was on the Wii fit for an hour 3-4 times per week for the first 3 months, it fell to the wayside once the weather got better and I started running and hiking. This sounds like a good thing, except that I was only running or hiking twice a week in April, and then after an extreme hay fever attack, it gradually slowed to nearly no exercise at all. Just last week I realized this and ran for half an hour three times last week. I felt really good about it, so hopefully I'll keep it up.

I'm still enjoying being a housewife, even the quiet during the weekdays. I'm at a point where I can get excited about a job if it came my way, but I could probably do this housewife thing at least another six months.