look at the pretty orchids (aka "love plant in bloom")

Cannery Row & Carmel

The next stop after the Aquarium was a walk along Cannery Row. This was also hyped up and more of a disappointment, probably because half the strip somehow disappeared behind the scaffolding that we had to walk through to get to the livlier part of Cannery Row.

I also find it ironic that there are so many seafood restaurants located right next to the Aquarium. Hmm, should I be eating seafood after learning about how we should be protecting sea life??

The highlight of Cannery Row was the wine tasting. As we walked in and out of the various stores of overpriced items, we entered our first retail winery, where we were allowed free wine tastings of four different wines of our choice (well, it was $2 a glass if you chose a wine with an * next to it). I, the "un-refined" one, just tipped the glass back and swallowed the wine in one gulp, and also making a grimace of a face while doing so. The Boy, the more "refined" one in our group, actually did what all those wine connisours do on TV--swivel the glass to airate the wine, smelled it first before tasting, took a little bit of wine and sloshed it around inside the mouth before swallowing. I tried immitating but I looked like an alien trying to drink water so The Boy made me stop trying to be all knowledgeable about tasting wine. Eh, whatever. My favorite is still the Brut sparkling wine. That glass did not make me grimace. I actually wanted more.

We continued our walk and found a second retail winery that also offered wine tasting but it would cost $5 for six different types of wine. I was already feeling tipsy from our first wine tasting, so The Boy was the only one trying out the wines at this second location. However, this place poured half a glass of wine for each type (the other place was only an inch off the bottom of the glass), so I had to help The Boy taste his selection of wines. This place also offered crackers, so I was hoping that my munching on crackers would reduce the tipsiness in my head. I was later told the crackers were for cleansing the palate before tasting a new type of wine. Goes to show what I know about the art of wine tasting.

Needless to say, I was quite giddy after that experience. Continuing our walk, err...The Boy walking and me hanging onto to him because the road kept spinning...we found a store devoted to tobasco sauce. There were walls lined with hot sauce ranging from 1 to 10 (1 being mild and 10 being "pants on fire hot"). There were samples being offered. And so there were tastings being done by the both of us. Being the hard core spicy eater, I went straight for the 10 rated habanero sauce and I tell you it made me cry. But it was a good burn.

Cannery Row was fun and all, but there was a lesson learned: McDonald's for breakfast, wine tasting for afternoon snack, hot sauce tasting for another snack, plus a heavy dinner equals really bad heartburn for the rest of the night.

... ... ...

On the last day of our romantic getaway, we went to Carmel by the Sea because everyone who is in Monterey HAS to go to Carmel. Here's a tip: If you're under 40, skip Carmel. The shopping is geared for older folks and it's quite boring. The scenery was worthy of some photos, though.

Can someone tell me what language that is?

The Boy picked a flower off the tree and stuck it in my head. Isn't that sweet?

Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Boy planned a funtabulous weekend in Monterey for us (well, he agreed to the location and gave me full allowance for planning). First stop was the Aquarium. Here are some photographic highlights from our visit:

hee hee -- don't flash the octopus -- hee hee

that means you can't moon the octopus either.

The picture above is a skeleton of some weird deep sea ocean dweller. I hope it looks more friendly when it has flesh and scales.

... ... ...

The picture below is of the pretty jellyfishies. It was so awesome to see this pretty glowing thing gently swimming through the water and also know that one touch of its tenticles could kill you in about three minutes.

Can you find tell which end is the moray eel's head and which is its tail?

... ... ...

Below is the underside of a sting ray. I always thought rays had funny looking faces. It's blurry because this ray was swimming too fast to be caught on camera.

Can you find the flounder fish?

... ... ...

Sardines swimming so fast, I was spinning around in circles.

Yes, that thing in the picture above is a fish. It's a huge fish, probably five foot in length and three feet high. However, I forgot the name of it, and can't even find it. At first, I thought it was just a floating log. But then it came floating towards the glass and it had this tiny little mouth that only opened a couple of inches, big enough to eat krill and floating micro organisms. Cool huh?

... ... ...

Overall, the Aquarium was informative and fun but still highly overrated. And it's definitely not worth the $25 per adult being charged. A tip for all those who wants to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the future: be smart (like me!) and buy the tickets at your hotel or online or whereever just as long as you don't stand in line at the aquarium for tickets. Trust me, you'll spend a good hour waiting in line just to get tickets.

TGIF -- yummy goodness

Where can you get some real good greasy goodness? T. G. I. Fridays of course!

Since I was in the area of Sunny Law School, I picked up Q and together we headed for some much needed food. First, I surprised her with a box of cupcakes from Kara's Cupcakes, which looked sumptuous and made my mouth water. However, in our shopping madness, I wasn't able to try these delicious cupcakes (I was only able to hear Q moan about it's goodness when she was eating one while I was driving us to the mall), so I'm letting Q make the reviews about those cupcakes.

Okay, back to the greasy goodness that is Fridays...

We each started off with a different form of alcoholic lemonade. See how big those glasses are? They fill it up with alcohol too. For lunch!! Who drinks that much for lunch? Needless to say, Q and I were not able to finish the drinks, and the only reason we kept ordering food was to attempt to finish the drinks. We failed miserably. I don't think we even finished one glass combined.

If you're ever at Fridays, you should try the Fried Macaroni and Cheese. They are to die for. Nice, crunchy coating on the outside. Yummy gooey cheesy goodness on the inside. I suppose anything fried is goodness to the tummy.

So, like I mentioned above, in our attempt to finish our alcoholic lemonades, we ordered the Brownie Obsession. See how pretty it looks?
And now see it disappear before your eyes!

After this healthy meal, we spent the next four hours walking off the alcohol and looking for the perfect pair of sunglasses, the perfect little purse and contact lenses solution. Fun times.

dum dum moment #4

"Option #2, $17.95 (minimum 2 people)"

Me: Honey, let's get this pre-set meal. It has everything we usually order anyway.

BF: Where? Let me see.

Me: Here, on the left side of the menu.

BF: Uh huh.

Me: It has potstickers, which you like. Then a soup dish, Honey Walnut Prawns, Princess Chicken and steamed rice. See, that should be enough for the two of us.

BF: And it's only $17.95?

Me: That's what it looks like to me.

BF: Okay, but ask if you can substitute steam rice for chicken chow mein.

Me: Okie dokie.

BF: Ever since you went back to school, you've been looking for cheap deals everywhere.

Me: Me so smart.

....

An hour later, after consuming all the food set out in front of us, the bill arrives and The Boy is looking at it strangely.

Me: What's wrong? Did they make a mistake with the bill?

BF: I don't know why the total is $54....

Me: What?! Let me see.

BF: I thought the meal was only $17.95.

Me: HA HA HA. We're such dum dums.

BF: Huh?

Me: It's $17.95 PER PERSON, minimum requirement of two people.

BF: Ohhhhh. Well, that makes more since because this is an upscale tourist trap.

Me: I was kinda wondering why they offered something for so cheap. Oh well. Lesson learned.

....

Cost of this dum dum moment: $61.00 for lunch for two and a blow to both our egos.

doctor's orders

Due to this incident back in high school, I've been suffering from joint pain in the knees ever since. But it doesn't stop me from being active. I run on the treadmill. I run on a track. I play badminton (even tried raquetball!). I climb stairs (which hurts more than running). I used to take spin classes and even step classes (if you can imagine that especially if you know I have no rhythm). And if the pain is particularly bad on a certain day, I will either do the elliptical or not exercise at all. I just tend to ignore the pain that results every time I bend my knees.

However, there is this nagging pain that has been radiating from the corner of my left knee for the last two weeks. I have stopped running on a treadmill or around a track. I even stopped using the elliptical. This pain is worse because it tends to grow in intensity at night, when I'm trying to go to bed and all I can think about is this throbbing pain on my left knee that shoots stabbing pains up to my hips and down to my ankles. How can a person sleep through that?

So I finally went to the doctor today. She ordered x-rays and referred me to an orthopaedist, who I will probably see after Spring Break. I wanted her to order an MRI since I don't think the x-ray will show anything. But hey, whatever she needs to do to get my insurance to cover the costs is fine with me. Hopefully the orthopaedist will eventually order the MRI (and I really really really hope this will not involve surgery--vicodin will numb the pain right?).

The doctor did, however, order me to stay off my feet as much as possible and to stop all activity that would cause undue stress to my knees. i.e. no more exercise involving the legs. This is one doctor's order I will faithfully follow!

However, the only reason I exercise is to help curb the effects of all the eating that I do. So I can't exercise, it means I *shouldn't* eat as much as I normally would like to. I guess I won't be pigging out during my spring break in San Francisco.

Ha, that was funny. Like I have the will power to refrain from eating. The doctor just said lay off the feet, not lay off the food. =)

best professor ever

With twenty minutes left until the end of class, our Civ Pro Professor tells our class:

"We'll stop here for now. You all go home and get some sleep."

The class, sleep deprived from doing an all nighter on our appellate briefs, clapped loudly in appreciation. Then the Professor added:

"Oh yeah, don't forget the interpleader is due next time."

I guess we can't have it all good all the time.



And now, I am off for a much needed nap.

orchids in bloom

BF Quote: "If you kill our love plant, the relationship is over."

...

Good gosh, talk about the pressure. It's hard enough to keep a regular plant alive, let alone an orchid plant! Well, it's been almost a month and the plant is still alive. In fact, the orchid has BLOOMED since Valentines Day, so I guess our love is blooming too.

...

Yes, you may commence gagging now.

i finally beat it!!

after many many many many many attempts over the last month, I have finally succeeded at beating the expert level of Minesweeper. I don't care that it took me 460 seconds. I beat it. My name is on the best times list. I'm done.

I can now go back to life before the addiction of Minesweeper.

crazy weather day

9:00 a.m. -- it's freaking cold out (okay, it's like 50 degrees, but that's still cold to my standards).

4:00 p.m. -- it's freaking warm out -- I'm guessing it was 75 degrees but the sun was out, I wasn't freezing in my long sleeve t-shirt and there was a nice gentle breeze. Beautiful spring weather. Why can't it be like this all the time?

6:45 p.m. -- it's freaking pouring cats and dogs! About 15 minutes before it started pouring, my tv show was interrupted by the news people saying that there is a "raging thunderstorm happening right now in the heart of Kansas City..." I looked outside and it was clear so I thought the news people were insane. Lo and behold, 15 minutes later, water started pouring from the sky. And there's lightning too. Tornado warning is still going on.

7:23 p.m. (right now) -- no more rain.

If Mother Nature wanted to top it off, she should make it snow in the next hour. That would be some sort of record for one day.

call on me! call on me!

I think my professors got together and decided that February is call on Q-Pig during class month.

The Prof for Constitutional Law calls on people according to a seating chart, going down the row from one person to the next, so it's pretty easy to guess when your turn is. So when it gets close to my row, I prepare better notes and try to act like I know what I'm talking about. Got called on for the first time two weeks ago and my "act" has worked so far.

The Prof for Civil Procedure likes to use his attendence list, pick a person to start with and then proceed alphabetically from that point. So, each day at the start of class, I hold my breath while waiting to hear who will be the first name he calls for the day. If the name starts with an A, I'm pretty sure I won't get called on. If the name starts with a K, I better listen and be ready to answer questions. Unfortunately, you don't get much warning if the Prof calls on you first, which happened to me last week. Luckily, I was semi prepared and was able to act like I knew everything I needed to know about joinder.

The Prof for Contracts just like to pick people at random, and unfortunately for that person, he/she will be picked on for the rest of the hour and will have to stand during the entire time. I had this same prof last semester, and he never called on me. I just assumed that he was afraid to butcher my name so that's why he never called on me. I admit, I started getting lazy for this class since I figured he'll just never attempt to pronounce my name so he'll never call on me. Yes, I did wonder why he just didn't use my last name, since it's not too hard to say a two letter word, even a foreign one. And what do you know? He decided to call on me today, using my last name. I was not prepared. I've been slacking off on the basis that he will never attempt to pronounce my first name. Of course I read the material, I just didn't "think" about it or properly analyzed it. Plus, I read this case three days ago so my memory was a bit fuzzy. Somehow, by the grace of some holier being, I survived the 40 minutes of questioning and the same time spent standing up holding a book.

The Prof for Property uses a "shuffle card" system. I also had her last semester and have yet to be called on. She claims that she shuffles the stack of cards, goes straight through the stack and then reshuffles. There are many people who have been called on three or four times already, so I seriously think she doesn't have a card for me. That, or my card is really glued to the back of someone else's card. So, yeah, I've been slacking in that class too. Knowing my luck, however, I'll probably get called on tomorrow because February is apparantly pick on Q-Pig month.

So, on that note, I'm going to read for Property.

fat free chocolate brownies

As I was shopping at the same place that sold this great Wok Gift Set, I saw these boxes of brownie mix that shouted "FAT FREE" and I thought to myself "WOW, can it really be?"

...

So, I bought four boxes of this No Pudge Fat Free Brownies because they had a variety of flavors (mint chocolate, cappuccino and original) and I couldn't make up my mind. Mint chocolate is my favorite so I doubled up on those.

...

As soon I got home, I made my brother go buy some yogurt (all you need to add is fat free vanilla yogurt!) and together we made a batch of mint chocolate brownies. It was a really thick mixture, but after thirty five minutes in the oven, out came the brownies. My brother gobbled up most of it, but luckily, I was able to sample a slice before my mother started ordering me around in the kitchen but a slice is not enough of a sample. My brother said the brownies tasted just like normal brownies, and since he most of it, it must have been really good. There was no time to bake another batch so I took the remaining four boxes of brownie mix back to Kansas City.

...

Well, wanting to share this new found goodness (and to also sample it again), I took the boxes of brownie mix over to M's house for our girls night in. She chose the cappuccino brownie mix and as we were watching The Pink Panther, we could smell the chocolate wafting through the living room. However, after letting the pan of brownie cool off, it turned out that it wasn't baked all the way through when I tried to cut it. So we stuck in back in the oven for another twenty minutes, and it still wasn't cooked all the way through. The bottom was still a bit fudgy and creamy. We were both craving chocolate so we didn't want to bake it any longer and just sorta let it cool while we scooped it into our mouths. M didn't like the brownies because they were too chewy for her taste. I couldn't get past the fudgy texture. I hate things sticking to my teeth.

...

It seems that Pudge-Free-Brownies-GOOD has a score of 1 and Pudge-Free-Brownies-BAD also has a score of 1.

...

Since I still have two more boxes of this stuff, I will try again and see if the fact that we used a glass baking dish at M's house has something to do with it (I used a metal pan at my mom's house).

...

But isn't the Pudge Free pig just so darn cute?

dum dum

I wish I was talking about the lollipops...

Dumb moment #1: Not realizing that 06:52 PST meant 08:52 central time AND that it's military time for AM and not PM.
Cost of this dum dum moment -- a losing bid on eBay.

Dumb moment #2: Getting overly excited about finding a $150 plane ticket to see The Boy; call The Boy to share good news but disappointed that he didn't answer the phone; was about to buy the tickets before they disappeared into oblivion before realizing that the reason the tickets were so cheap was because it was a roundtrip ticket from OAKLAND to KC and not the other way around. I guess no one wants to visit Kansas City....
Cost of this dum dum moment -- having to settle for $220 tickets, sacrificing the "surprise I'm here on your birthday" moment for The Boy, and spending fewer days away from Kansas City...um... I mean fewer days spent with The Boy.

Dumb moment #3: Not realizing that "The Stinking Rose" refers to a bulb of garlic and not a rose that actually stinks.
Cost of this dum dum moment -- my ego.

I'm thinking the brain needs some sleep now.

hmm...

Now I've seen everything. Pay just $7.99 and you get everything you need to make AND serve chicken stir fry for four.

Not sure whether I should be offended or upset that I didn't come up with the idea myself.

Happy Year of the Pig!!

People born in the Year of the Pig are chivalrous and gallant. Whatever they do, they do with all their strength. For Boar Year people, there is no left or right and there is no retreat. They have tremendous fortitude and great honesty. They don't make many friends but they make them for life, and anyone having a Boar Year friend is fortunate for they are extremely loyal. They don't talk much but have a great thirst for knowledge. They study a great deal and are generally well informed. Boar people are quick tempered, yet they hate arguments and quarreling. They are kind to their loved ones. No matter how bad problems seem to be, Boar people try to work them out, honestly if sometimes impulsively. They are most compatible with Rabbits and Sheep.

Click here for the other Chinese Zodiac animals.

On a similar note....if you read the following sentence, would you be offended?

"Famous pigs include Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, singer Elton John, actor Ken Watanabe and Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek."

Yeah, I just laughed real loud. Full story here.

winter wonderland

We got tons of snow dumped on us last night. Yeah, that's all snow, not a blank sheet of paper.

Doesn't it all look so serene and pretty?

Walking to school.


My very warm hat with the poofball on top. The Boy hates this hat, so I had to send him a picture just to annoy him.

Okay, I'm done taking pictures of the snow. Mother Nature, you can make the snow go away now. Thanks.

oh the misery

BF Quote of the day:

BF: I don't want to talk about it anymore. I'm done whining about my misery. Let's change the subject....

Me: Ok...

BF: ...talk about something happy about you...

Me: Um..

BF: ...tell me what's miserable in your life right now. That will make me happy.



And at that moment, I fall over backwards in disbelief that my misery makes the Boy happy. Generally though, the Boy is happy if the misery is not related to him. Yes, I have such a wonderful boyfriend.

Don't know why but still gotta love the guy.

Well, at least for another day.

Barrister's Ball

AKA Law Prom. Or, as an upperclassman told me, Geek Ball. I guess we're all geeks in law school.

Yes, I went to Law Prom. I took a female friend because the Boy laughed at the thought when I invited him a few weeks back. Oh well, his loss. He would have enjoyed the premium open bar, especially when they started serving cocktail drinks in full size plastic cups (the kind you take to picnics and drink soda out of). He might not have enjoyed standing 20 minutes in line waiting for a drink, but he would have enjoyed getting smashed along with all the other law geeks.

Okay, what's the absolute worst thing that can happen when you go to a party? Seeing someone else wear the EXACT SAME DRESS you are wearing. Yep, that happened to me. I bet she didn't pay $25 for the dress, though. I didn't recognize her so she was either an upperclassman or someone's date/wife/girlfriend.

While spending the entire night staying away from my blond haired clone, I did spot out three more dresses that were duplicated (two people wearing the same dress). Then we spent the time trying to decide who looked better in that dress. It was like a real life episode of US Weekly's "Who looks better?"

I'm guessing that Kansas City is a small community that all the women go shop at the same places and end up buying the same dresses. Great. I need to do all my shopping in San Francisco from now on. I knew I should have worn the red velvet dress.

Gotta go, halftime show is on.

priorities

Things I HAVE TO FINISH TODAY:

--Start writing 1100 word memo about dog owner's liability for dog bites.
--Finish that memo by 9 a.m. tomorrow. (Yes, I've been procrastinating ever since it was assigned last week because I have no motivation whatsoever to write this memo.)
--If time permits, read for Contracts and Civil Procedure.

Things I ACTUALLY accomplished today:

--Talking to the boy for half an hour.
--Ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
--E-filing my federal and state tax return.
--E-filing the FAFSA.
--Ate some Doritoes Cool Ranch
--Exchanging email messages with the boy for half an hour.
--Spent an hour on Lexis Nexis researching about a company being sanctioned for failure to use a back-up server to preserve emails (unsuccessful attempt to find a case the Boy mentioned in said email exchanges).
--Ate dinner.
--Watched Grey's Anatomy AND started writing the memo. See I'm good at multi-tasking.
--Discovered that the Mayor of San Francisco is a homewrecker.
--Wrote this post.

and finally

--Finished the memo, but it's still 86 words over the limit.

I quit...for now.

POS

Professor: Why are you sitting all the way back there? I don't see your name back there on the seating chart.

Student: I have a laptop that is a POS and it needs to be plugged in all the time.

Professor: What's a POS laptop?

Student: It's a Piece of Shit.

Professor: I had to ask.

----- ----- -----

That was the only highlight of Contracts today. Then it was torture for the last twenty minutes of class due to the professor's mood swing of being pissed off that no one had their UCC.

The one day I decide not to lug the UCC to class is the one day that the Prof decides to read from it.