Actual Conversation

Me: So, what is your background (referring to school, degree, etc)
Girl: I have a PhD in Astro Physics
Me: huh

How do you even reply to that? This was a real life conversation with a real life person. I guess someone has to do it.

Just watching TV, guys

Valentine's Day

I'm not sure how I feel about Valentine's day. A silly excuse to buy cards and go out to fancy dinners. So instead, we made breakfast, dinner and dessert.

Lemon pancakes with ham, cheese and avocado omelets.

The cupcake recipe made WAY too many cupcakes. I had 2 dozen large and another 50 small. I made cream cheese frosting, lemon and salted caramel! Yum!

The Martha Stewart Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes are awesome!

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Cooking a Steak

I can cook a steak almost as good as a restaurant. So good, that I usually don't order it at a restaurant. Learned it from my dad, and it pretty much can't be beat.

He prefers a fatty steak, I like it a little more lean....makes me feel a bit better about eating red meat.

1. Get some filet mignon - sirloin or rib eye also works - but if you want to pretend like you are high class, get the filet from costco.

2. Preheat the oven to 375.

3. Leave the filets out to come to room temperature. Rub each side with emeril's seasoning, sea salt and pepper. Be liberal. Add a little olive oil on one side - this is the side you will cook first.

4. Get a pan that can go in the oven - cast iron works great. I use my le creuset.

5. Put a little olive oil in the pan and turn the heat on HIGH. Get the oil almost smokin'.

6. Put the meat in the pan and sear it. Put it in and DO NOT TOUCH it for at least 1.5 minutes. Use tongs to see if it is ready to flip. If it comes up easily, flip it. If not, wait another 30 seconds. Flip and sear the 2nd side.

7. Put the entire pan directly into the oven and cook. 4-5ish minutes for rare a minute or 2 more for medium rare.

8. Remove the meat from the pan and cover with aluminum foil.

9. Put the pan back on the stove with a little butter, red wine and garlic. Scrape the crusty stuff off the bottom of the pan and add any juice that came off of the meat. Heat and reduce.

10. Serve with the sauce. So good.

He's famous!

(and so are my shoes)

Read Nick's Blog

Nunchuck Skills

A conversation I had with my mom. She's adorable.

Mom: Do i have a nunchuck for the Wii and if i do, what does it look like ??? STOP LAUGHING !!!

Me: Maybe, it looks like this (and I attached the picture).

Mom: I have a nunchuck !!!!

To be fair, an actual - non Wii - Nunchuck looks like this:

Pee 9o ex

Ever heard of a blog spammer?

After my blog post about "pee 9o ex" I received 3 comments by people I've never met. And they weren't interested in my Mochi blogs or chopstick wrapper origami videos. They all provided links to their own pages, praising the results of "pee 9o ex."

I've learned that people can setup alerts that inform them ANYTIME someone blogs about a certain subject. Apparently, these people all have alerts for "pee 9o ex." And in an effort to keep them from spamming me again, I'm making it difficult for them to use the information in this blog.

I love a girl with a periodic table on her shirt...

Said Nick.

Nick and I volunteered at the Regional Science Bowl held this past Saturday at Los Positas College (just down the street from our place).

These kids never cease to amaze me. They have more random science facts in their brain at age 12, than I've ever had.

I was a moderator. I was the Alex Trebek. There were a total of 10 of us and 30 teams of students. I ended the day with a sore throat.....too much talking for me :-)

It's like the little league world series but for math and science kids. And, like little league, the parents take it way too seriously. I had a mom yell at me. Just a game. But it's not. It's LIFE to these kids. Last year's national champs came from our regional event. Their coach is a large, stoic man who looks like he eats english majors for breakfast. I haven't seen him smile. Even when they won. Anyways, too serious for me. Hope the kids don't get burnt out.

Some of my favorites:

1. The under the table, fist pull, accompanied by a "yes" - when they get the question right

2. When the captain yells out, "it's PEMDAS guys, it's PEMDAS" - after I've provided them with a question that involves solving an equation with parenthesis, multiplication, addition and subtraction.

3. The mumbling of "Oh man, we have to face Hopkins during the round robin"

4. The Captain pumping her team, "Guys, we know this stuff, we just have to be fast on the buzzers, we know it!"

Love it.

Tats

After a weekend at skiing, we headed to an awesome little breakfast spot! I had some sour cream crepes with tart raspberries and sour cream and they were AWESOME! As we were leaving we noticed a peculiar tattoo on one of the waitresses....so I had to sneak a photo. I pretended like I was showing Nick a photo and BAM, snapped this little gem. Is it Optimus Prime? If not, it's something close. Nicely done.

P90X

Have you heard of P90X? It's a set of workout videos that are super intense. I first heard about it a few years ago when my friend tried it out. She decided it wasn't her cup of tea and put it on the back burner. Since then, we've heard of a lot of people giving it a try. Nick even took a stab at P90 yoga....but only lasted through 45 minutes of the 1.5hr workout.

The only person we know that has stuck with it for longer than a few days is our buddy Chris....a pro athlete trying to stay in shape during the off season. Ugh, so not fair.

Speed Skaters

I've had a little spot in my heart for Apolo Ohno. Maybe it's because he's from Seattle. Maybe it's because he's got a little Japanese in him. I don't know.

So we're watching some short track speed skating when we realize that 2 of the top Americans are half asian half white - both from the northwest. Which prompts us to realize - we could have a future raising an American speed skater.

North Korea

I spotted an interesting article on CNN the other day. It was about an independent media company that made it into North Korea. They were able to get cameras in and made a mini documentary about their trip. It's absolutely fascinating. It's kind of long, but totally worth it.

The journalists were toured around North Korea and the trip culminates in a performance put on by 100,000+ North Koreans for the 10+ people being toured around. It's just insane! At the very least, read the article and watch the short clip on CNN.

You can read the CNN article here.

You can watch the whole documentary here.

Billie Jean

Found this clip the other day. I hope to move this well when I'm 81.

The intro is a little long, but stick with it.

Totally appropriate for work.

Chopstick Wrapper Origami 102

So I received a surprisingly high amount of traffic from the chopstick wrapper origami post (and by "high traffic" I mean 4 comments...but hey, you gotta start somewhere).

It seems that I wasn't as clear as I could be. So I videoed myself making one :-)

Hope this helps! Impress your friends!

Super Bowl Ads

So you can watch the super bowl ads on Hulu. I repeat, you can voluntarily watch an advertisement on Hulu. Yet, the advertisement is brought to you by coke. An advertisement brought to you by another advertisement. This sounds like something business school kids would talk about.

How to impress a recruiter...

I do some recruiting at work. For the most part, I meet awesome, smart people looking for jobs. Potential hirees are typically students, but occasionally they are working professionals. While the majority of the folks I meet are great, there's always a few that could use a little extra help.

Perhaps they never made it to the career center or missed that resume writing workshop. I doubt they will ever visit this blog in search of resume/interview skills, but it should be a little entertaining for everyone else.

1. Pick a decent email to use for job searches. No matter how many times people are told, a few still slip through the cracks. I just received an email from "StraighJacket..." wanting to provide me a cover letter to add to the resume she just submitted. My email is "brynashley" or "bmiyaha" at work. My email is nothing exciting. His/her email says "I might be crazy."

2. Resume = 1 sheet. It CAN be front and back - if you are a MS or PhD who has published a ton of papers or if you're 45 and have held 5 - 10 jobs. If you are a freshman/sophomore and hand me an 8 page resume, I'm going to be just as nice to you as everyone else, but I may question your judgement. (I'm actually not joking, I received a resume that was 8 pages long and it was paper clipped together - seriously? Use a stapler!)

3. Put your GPA on the resume - especially if you are a student. Unfortunately, that's one of the few metrics we can use to evaluate performance. You might be bad at taking tests, but I still want to know. If you don't put it on, I'll ask for it.

4. Don't act or be crazy. I once had a guy walk up to me and ask if I knew how flying saucers flew. He asked with a straight face and then proceeded to drill me about flying saucers. He concluded the conversation by asking, "If I come up with a design for a flying saucer, should I bring it to your or Boeing?" At this point, I don't care if you come up with a magic potion that makes people live forever - you're creepin' me out.

5. Give a firm handshake. I have 2 handshake pet peeves. The first, and most obvious, is the limp noodle. Come on. Shake it like you mean it. My other pet peeve is the "I'm gonna squeeze harder than you - handshake." You know the one. I shake the dudes hand - firmly - he realizes it was firm and adds a little extra kicker at the end. Hand = broken. I'd honestly prefer the handshake to be unmemorable - don't be a limp noodle and don't break my hand.

6. Interviews. Luckily, I've never sat through a particularly bad interview. Most people are very prepared and professional. But here are a few tips. If I make a joke and it's even a tiny bit funny, a courtesy laugh would be great. I courtesy laugh all the time. It just helps break the ice and tension (if any exists). You can turn almost anything into a positive - think about it before coming to the interview.

Here's a link to a funny cartoon about the different interview types. Thankfully, I haven't met any...yet :-)

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/interviewees

Skiing in Tahoe

Headed up to South Lake Tahoe for a weekend of skiing. The skiing was great and I did a bit better in the "powder" - although it wasn't as deep as Dodge. Lisa got a "berry" colored jacket last year and I got my North Face jacket back in high school. We didn't realize how similar they were until we put our hoods and goggles on....and we looked like twins.

Chopstick Wrapper Origami 101

I'm fighting with blogger right now and having a tough time inserting text between the pictures. So I hope you can still follow the directions to make your very own chopstick wrapper swan.

The only tricky parts come during the 2nd/3rd pictures from the bottom. At this point you need to tuck one fold into the other to hold the wings together...that may or may not have made sense. But give it a try.

Stace Down Under

My sis is on an "around the world tour" - one of those trips you do before officially growing up - sometimes I wish I'd had time for that. In any case, she's keeping a somewhat spotty blog of her adventures with her friend, Brittany or Britt - the blog is "spotty" because they don't get a lot of internet. It's pretty entertaining and the girls are pretty funny.

They are spending part of their time WWOOFing - basically they work on an organic farm and get to live and eat for free. Their first experience was on an earthship - yep, I said earthship. The best part is the compost toilet, and by best, I mean my nightmare. She's told me many times, "B, you'd hate this." Yep, yep I would. That's why I didn't do an around the world trip straight out of college with no money....I can't handle compost toilets. She's actually taking it well and will have lots of great stories to tell when she returns. I think they are currently gone from the earthship, staying with friends with a toilet that flushes.

To learn more about their travels, visit their blog: http://2for176.tumblr.com/

What do you do with YOUR chopstick wrapper?

Ever since I can remember, I've made swans from my chopstick wrappers. I think my grandma taught me how and I'm kind of OCD about it. I sit at the table, make a clean tear to remove my chopsticks and start to fold. It only take a few minutes (these days) and I have a handy chopstick holder when I'm done.

I've impressed our Japanese waitresses at the Benihana-like restaurant in Epcot and our waitress at the local sushi joint takes them home whenever I make them. She claims to have 100 in her room....not sure what she's planning on doing with them. To each his own.

I can teach you sometime if you'd like.

Things Grandma Says

My grandma has said some funny stuff. I wish I could remember it all. Here's one from last weekend.

B: I hear Hiroko (g'ma's friend) is sick.

G'ma: Yes, she's sick. I asked her if she got her flu shot and she said no. She didn't even get her HIV vaccine.

B: Do you mean H1N1.

G'ma: Oh, yes.

Reusable Bags

I'm a fan, and nothing makes me happier than a stylish reusable bag.

Baggu sells their bags individually and in packs. They come in almost any color imaginable and a few different sizes.

Envirosax come in assorted packs with various themes. Super stylish!

Chico bag has all sorts of different styles from messenger bags to slings to your basic reusable grocery sack.

These bags are SUPER cute but awfully spendy for a reusable bag - $20 a pop for something they sell at TJs for $1.50. But hey, it's good for the environment!

A dog and his bird

Caught Mochi napping at the top of the stairs with his new favorite toy. It actually sounds like a bird when you bite it (or when Mochi bites it).

King vs. Cal King

A friend recently made a bed purchase. She asked for a king, left the store with the sales slip and realized she had been sold a California king. She asked the man to change it and he said, "Why? Everyone in California gets a Cal King."

Interesting.

A Cal King is actually 4" NARROWER and 4" longer than an Eastern King (or regular king).

It turns out that they are only popular in California (go figure). Does that say something about Californians? Are we a little taller and a little slimmer? Meh, I dunno. But now you know the difference.

Songs I run to

My music taste is stunted, but that's ok. Here are some of my favorites for various moments while running.

Getting Started - walk out the door, legs still fresh, convinced you could run a marathon you have so much energy.

1. Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson (yep, the song from Princess Diaries)

2. Everything - Michael Buble (not a hardcore running song, but it's not too slow and it makes me smile)

3. Sunday Mornings - Maroon 5

4. Get out of this town - Carrie Underwood

5. My Humps - Black Eyed Peas

6. Maneater - Nelly Furtado

Huh, not nearly as much energy as I thought I have. I'm gonna need a little something to pump me up.

1. SexyBack - Justin Timberlake

2. Pump It - Black Eyed Pees

3. My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson (angry girl music seems to do the trick)

4. Single Ladies - Beyonce

5. Toxic - Britney (because no exercise playlist is complete without a little Brit)

6. Tik Tok - Kesha

Oh geez, I'm not gonna make it. My Power Song (thanks Apple)

1. Fighter - Christina Aguilera (it starts at slow, but then there's no way you can stop running)

I've got a lot of other random songs. But these are my "go to" songs.

You heard it here first

I predict a Band Hero/Rock Band game based on Glee.

And I will buy it. I'll pre order it.

Dogs are funny

Mochi didn't exactly love the water.....he swam to the shore as soon as he was in.

This dog, on the other hand, had a great time in the pool!

Dear iTunes

Home sharing might be great. But Nick doesn't need my Disney songs, Jessica Simpson and NSync circa 2002. I need his music!

It's not working. And he's tormenting me by playing my music on his computer.

Lemon Pancakes

We had some DELICIOUS lemon pancakes back in November. I'd been craving them really bad so I was off to find the perfect recipe. I found it here and doctored it a bit according to the ingredients I had on hand.

The recipe calls for meyer lemons - but who really has those just hanging around the house? Not met. Regular lemons it is! And I like things very lemon-y, so I pretty much doubled the amount of lemon. I didn't make the lemon syrup and just at the pancakes as-is. They were soooo tasty! I actually had a few extra and ate them the next day for breakfast. Still good. If you're a fan of lemon, give these puppies a try!

Oatmeal Pancakes

In an effort to eat more healthy, I made oatmeal pancakes for breakfast. They are less sweaty and a bit heartier than typical pancakes.

I found the recipe here and tweaked it a little bit.

I beat the egg whites until they had stiff peaks and then folded in the oatmeal, baking powder, vanilla and a dash of nonfat milk. Then, on med-low, I cooked them!

I mashed some bananas with peanut butter and used it as a spread. All in all, not too shabby. And relatively healthy!

Tomorrow, I'll showcase the lemon pancakes. More work, not good for you, but very tasty!