Tired and Procrastinating

I was looking around the Internet for a little ornament kit where you could immortalize your baby's hand or footprint in Plaster of Paris to make a keepsake ornament. What I typed in Google was "Christmas Ornament Plaster Baby". Among the results of my search: Not as much fun as a "plaster-ed baby", but at least it won't throw up on you.

My little girl, Lil' Miss Hiccup! What, like you expected a picture of her face? Oh relax, you readers are all friends or family of mine, so you've seen her in person anyway.

As you may have noticed, I tend to post things that help me procrastinate from work/daily life. To make myself feel better, I thought I'd try to at least be organized about it. So, whenever I have a video or game or whatever to share and procrastinate with, I'll put it under this Procrastination Station heading. (I know that technically, EVERYTHING that I post could be considered procrastination material, but that's neither here nor there.) It's not much, but hey, I've got to do something other than take care of Lil' Miss Hiccup and watch "The View" . And not necessarily in that order. File this under: Things I Wish I Had Enough Patience To Do. Cool mashup of "Toy Story 2" and "The Dark Knight" Trailer.

AAAANNNNNDDDDD....we're back! After a nice little sabbatical away, I'm back to the blog. Many apologizes, but as you may or may not have noticed, I had a baby. And boy, it's a lot different than I thought it would be (in good ways and in bad), and I'm sure there will be several posts about pregnancy, labor, and parenthood to come. It may be sporadic, it may be scattered, but I promise to keep you up to date with random thoughts, weird videos, and of course, free stuff. Speaking of free stuff, it's a bit too late today, but I all hope you did me proud and collected your free: coffee, donut, ice cream, etc. for voting. What a great day - free treats and a new change for the country! Democracy tastes good!!

I know I haven't been around lately, but to compensate and try to win your love back, I offer you this:

Being pregnant, I've come to learn that lots of people are much nicer to you than usual. More random people smile at you. Ask about your due date. Hold open a door for you. You also get perks. Normal perk: someone gives up a seat on the subway for you and your bulging belly. A little more strange and rare: Closer parking at the Rite-Aid and Babies 'R Us. Now, this comes along, which to me seems the strangest. On Wednesday, May 21st, Baskin-Robbins will be giving a free soft serve ice cream cone to any expectant mothers . Yep. They're helping us expand our bellies even more with delicious ice cream to promote that the company is starting to offer soft serve. I'm not sure a) how they'll verify some women's claims that they're pregnant, particularly if she isn't quite showing yet, b) what being pregnant has to do with soft serve, and c) what would keep a - how would you say, um...woman with a non pregnant related large belly from going to claim ...

Here's a fun little typing game . I especially like how they line you up in little VW bugs and you race just like in those horse racing games where you roll the ball up the ramp to "gallop" or "trot" ahead. Thankfully, I'm a little better at this game than the horse race. Extra bonus: Your boss will think you're being really productive today!

Irvine Robbins, co-founder of Baskin-Robbins , died on Monday, May 5th. The LA Times has a nice write-up about the ice-cream man. Working at Baskin-Robbins was my first "real" job in high school, and it's sad to see someone go who was responsible for such flavors as Jamoca Almond Fudge and Praline's 'N Cream. Although it killed me to serve samples to customers that wanted to try almost every flavor in the joint because they couldn't make up their dang mind. Just pick any flavor people! They're ALL good! Mr. Robbins, if I still worked at the 31 Flavors on Arroyo Parkway, I'd give you a 21-scoop salute! p.s. Gold Medal Ribbon: by far the hardest to scoop - that caramel ribbon hardens like there's no tomorrow. p.p.s. Don't forget, you can get free ice cream if you sign up for their birthday club! *Peanut Butter & Chocolate of course. If you thought it was something else, then you obviously have never tasted it. Silly fool.

Black Denise Richards? OR... White Gabrielle Union? What do you think? Maybe it's just me...it's more apparent when they are moving. Think about it the next time you see either one of them in their next show or movie.

If anyone catches me doing this with my dog, you have permission to slap me.

From the LA Times Website :

Now that the writer's strike is pretty much over, tv nerds have been discussing which shows will likely make it back on the air. Friday Night Lights doesn't seem to be on that list and NBC's Ben Silverman pretty much ignores it for underdog* 30 Rock . So, how will we save our wonderful show with pretty much some of the best acting and writing on tv? Best Week Ever has some ideas . Check them out, sign the petition and send a lightbulb over to smug, biased Silverman. Riggins would not go quietly into that good night! *Please stop touting 30 Rock as if it were on the brink of cancellation. Stop pretending that this is the coolest show that only people in the know are watching. Don't worry, we're watching it. Put your effort behind something that really needs it, instead of promoting a show that doesn't need it anymore, just to look like you're down with the people. ( I really like 30 Rock, but FNL is the show that needs the saving right now)

Our house would be so much cleaner!

It's Chinese New Year today! So celebrate the Year of the Rat and go eat some long noodles, oranges & turnip cakes! Lucky you if you still get lai see . (One of the downfalls of marriage is that I now have to give instead of receive. Boo.) On a separate note: Nick Jr. is coming out with basically, the chinese Dora . Kinda cool - maybe if I watch it, I'll learn me some Mandarin!

Whenever I talk to friends from out of town, they always ask me if I've met anyone famous. Given that I've lived in LA for almost all of my life, I have to say yes. But then, I can never think of anyone off the top of my head. And I think it's because of this: LA is the home of tons of celebrities. It's their little comfort zone. So, if I see Arsenio Hall at the Pier 1 Imports on Ventura buying throw pillows with his wife (true story), then I don't want to bother them and go on about how much I like their movie/show/blog/record/children's name. Let them be and live their lives like any normal, non-star/celebrity. That's how I would want to be treated if I were to become an international superstar. HOWEVER, they are still everywhere and with this blog, I will document the celebs that I see around town. I am not Gawker or Defamer and will not note precise details like time of day and intersections and all that. Not that there's anything wrong with that....

Taken from the balcony outside of my boss' office

Enjoy. Flying Hamsters.

Tape Babies.

No, not cheap food. Cheap prices. (relatively). The annual dine LA Restaurant Week is coming up at the end of the month and is an excellent chance to get to try out those fancy schmancy restaurants that you're read about on Chowhound , yet never went to because they're just too pricey for ordinary days. Birthdays and Valentine's Day yes, but ordinary I'm-too-tired-to-cook days, no. So, if you're looking for an opportunity to try some of the hip/trendy/foodie restaurants without handing over your first child, head on over to their website, check out the list of restaurants and make a reservation. The dates are: Jan 27-Feb 1 and Feb 3-Feb 8, 2008. Some of the places on my short list: Crustacean , Asia de Cuba , Nick & Stef's , and Grace . Oh! and maybe this place too. Good luck! Enjoy your meals & let me know how they were!

Or, at least a weekend. After a blissful couple of holiday traffic-free weeks , I was greeted with this sight this morning. Is it too late to start daydreaming about Summer-lite traffic?

So, you'll notice that the blog is a bit more colorful than before. I thought that it would be a little easier to read some of the text on screen, and well, I was in the mood for a change. Enjoy the template: Rounders 4, everyone! As soon as I can figure out how to change the top photo to something more relevant, I will. Although, with the rain in LA, it's kinda appropriate.

So, I've noticed that throughout the last couple of weeks, the episodes of The Simpsons that play at 11pm on FOX have been particularly fantastic. (For those who think that every episode of The Simpsons is fantastic, well, get over it. There are definitely differences between ones that give us a chuckle and ones that we quote for years and years.) They've been playing a lot of classic episodes, such as the one where Moe manages Homer's boxing career, or the one where Shelbyville steals the old Springfield lemon tree. I feel like it's still Christmas. So, check them out before they start playing the not-so-great ones again. Here's a clip from one of the ones I hope they play soon. Yah! Yah!

I hope everyone had a fantastic past couple of weeks. Mine was filled with a lot of family, friends, and food. My Auntie's waffle dogs were particularly top notch this year. I hope everyone got what they wanted from Santa. The best gift for me, however, came from the dear citizens of Los Angeles that stayed home and off the highways for the last 2 weeks! Woo Hoo! I was able to get to work this morning in 35 minutes! To the allergist in Studio City in 15! I felt like the freeway had just been built and that no one else knew about it. This feeling was especially strong on Christmas morning when the Hubband and I drove to Culver City. We felt like Will Smith in I Am Legend - not a car in sight, practically. Below, a couple of pics from my normally crowded commute on the 2 Freeway: It'll be gone by Monday, but it sure was sweet. Thank you fellow Los Angelenos! Happy Holidays!