Chutney Chicken Salad Salad, please

Yesterday I was at Stanford for a seminar and I went out to lunch with the seminar speaker and 2 PhD students. We went to the museum cafe, which has three sections on its menu: Salads, Soups and Sandwiches. I ordered a Chutney Chicken Salad at the counter, took my number and went to find a table.

A few minutes later, the waiter brings me a sandwich. I take it back in and say that I ordered a salad and go back outside. A minute later, the manager comes out and very snootily informs me that I ordered the sandwich. I said "I ordered the Chutney Chicken Salad". He says (again in his snooty voice) "If you wanted the salad, you have to ask for the Chutney Chicken Salad Salad. "

So the default is to assume that when a customer asks for a salad, they want a sandwhich unless they specifically state that they want a salad salad? My lunchmates teased me that in Berkeley, the default must be salad. That's right. Where I come from, if you want a sandwich, you have to specify "I would like the chutney chicken salad sandwich sandwich, please." Otherwise you'll find yourself looking at a chutney chicken salad sandwich salad.

Mt. Timpanogos

When we were in Utah a week and a half ago, we tried to climb Mt. Timpanogos. We started at the American Fork canyon trailhead and climbed for 4 hours. The last 2.5 to 3 hours of hiking was in the snow. The trail was packed down reasonably well at first, but eventually we were following in deep footsteps in the snow, which is really exhausting. Our feet were wet and cold and our legs ached. I just keep telling myself that I had to keep taking steps.

We finally got to a point where it didn't seem safe to keep going without hiking poles. We could see the summit 1000 feet above us, but we needed to walk across a hillside in deep snow and there was a huge drop off with sharp rocks at the bottom to one side of us. There were a couple other people near where we were, but no one was trying to go much past that point. By then we knew we wouldn't make it to the summit anyway because we were approaching our 'turn around no matter what time' - the latest that we could turn around and still make it back for the rehearsal dinner. We were secretly relieved that we got to turn around 20 minutes early because we were so tired.

The hike back to the car always seems to take forever. The scenery in the canyon was spectacular. We stopped and took a lot of pictures.

View of the summit from where we turned around:

The trail through the Aspens:

The view on the way back down the mountain:

Ed hiking with the summit in the background:

Glacier Lake

We just got back from our overnight trip to the Tahoe National Forest. It was my first backpacking trip in the Sierras. We parked the car at Carr Lake. On the first day, we hiked to Penner Lake and then continued on to Glacier Lake, where we spent the night. On the second day, we hiked back to our car via a more direct route. Total hiking: about 15 miles. We’re so sore we can hardly walk.

Glacier Lake was beautiful. It was crystal clear and there was a ridge with patches of snow behind it (but the air was very warm, even during the night). We climbed the ridge this morning and were able to see panoramic views of the surrounding lakes and forest. It was quite spectacular.

Here are the highlights of the trip:

We decided to do some wilderness freestyling (i.e. “If we head through the woods in that direction, we’ll get to the other trail we want to be on. It’s a shortcut!”) We were lost in the woods for an hour and a half. But not scary lost – we knew we would eventually find the trail.

“I think that lake we passed half a mile ago was the lake we are looking for. Turn around.”

I spent half the night lying awake with my heart pounding because I could hear animals outside our tent. I kept telling myself that I haven’t ever heard about anyone getting eaten in their tent. At one point, I saw deer sniffing the bear canister. When I heard something chewing on my pack a couple of times, I got up and made a noise to shoo it away. Ed claims I kept waking him by making “rat noises.” I also had to wake him once to look out the tent window because I was too scared.

We seriously over-packed our food. We brought 3 sandwiches, 3 brownies, a can of Pringles, a bag of Chex party mix, a half pound of beef jerky, 12 granola bars, 8 pop tarts, 2 packs of ramen-like noodles, and a freeze dried dessert for four. We brought home 1 brownie, half a bag of Chex party mix, ¼ pound of beef jerky, 11 granola bars, 6 pop tarts and a freeze-dried dessert for four.

We got to put our new high-tech Steripen water purifiier to serious use on stream and lake water.

We went for about 18 hours without seeing any other people. It was awesome.


Here are some pictures:

Our first food break in front of one of the many little lakes along the trail:



Gathering drinking water:

One of many mountain meadows we encountered. Why doesn't our lawn look like this?

Our little campsite at Glacier Lake:

Ed at our campsite:
Me climbing up the ridge next to Glacier Lake to take in the views:

One of the views from the top of the ridge:

Hiking

So I know I only post about once a year, but I just had to share this one. I'm in Montana for a conference. I'm a little annoyed that the conference is in Montana, but to make the most of it I figured I should really try to climb the mountain outside my window:

I did not in fact make it to the top. But I'm still pretty proud of myself. Here's a picture from the top of where I went. See the little blue lake in the upper-right of the picture? That's where I started. :)
I climbed about 2500 feet, from a starting elevation of 7500 to about 10,000.

Now I'm all excited about hiking and I want to be like Nikki and Ed. :)

They Just Can't Leave Well Enough Alone

Every day I come to my office and eat a Cookies 'n Cream-flavored Promax Bar. No matter what I had for breakfast, I get hungry for the Promax Bar as soon as I sit down.

I'm not that creative with meal planning. I've been eating the same kind of Promax Bar every day for a year and the same breakfast for the last 7 years. At least I stopped eating the same kind of Trader Joe's tortellini's for dinner 4 or 5 times a week when Ed started cooking. My actions are backed up by research, however, which shows that people think they prefer a variety of food, but really don't. When researchers asked people to pick out the yogurt/candy bars they wanted for the next week ahead of time, they picked a variety of flavors/types of bars. But when they got to pick what they wanted every day, they tended to always pick the same kind.

So last week Ed brought home a new box of my bars from Trader Joe's and there was new writing on the front: "All-Natural," along with the warning "Note: our white yogurt coating may exhibit minor color variations because we now use all natural ingredients." What???? You can't change the formula on me. If I wanted "all natural" I wouldn't be eating a protein bar, I'd be eating food. The new bars don't taste the same or have the same texture, so I might have to find a new morning office snack. I guess I shouldn't be eating that junk anyway.

Our Walk

Today, we went to Muir Woods and hiked to Stinson Beach. The hike to the beach was 5 miles long with beautiful views of valleys, Redwoods and the ocean. It took about 2 hours and 15 minutes. We had lunch at a restaurant in town and then walked down to the beach. It was overcast and cold, but there were lots of freaking crazy people in swimsuits and some were in the water. Ed and I watched for a few minutes while we shivered in our windbreakers and then headed back.

We decided to take a different trail home. From the map, it looked like there was a mile of really steep climbing and then a couple miles of relatively flat trail along a ridge, and finally a couple miles of down hill back to the car. It turned out that the steep part was actually 3 or 4 miles of switchbacks. I was really happy that we weren't climbing straight up and the trail and the views were really spectacular as we made our way up a ravine filled with all kinds of vegetation. It was a gorgeous section of trail. By the time we got to the ridge, I was REALLY tired (I was pretty tired when we got to the beach in the first place). My legs and back were killing me and my legs seem to be getting heavier and heavier. The views along the ridge continued to be really pretty, though - the trail alternated between open, dry expanses and dry stream beds with lots of vegetation.

Finally, we started going downhill for the last couple of miles back to the car. I was feeling better and we moved pretty fast. The hike back took 3 hours and 15 minutes and we figure that the whole thing was 12 or 13 miles with about 3000 vertical feet of climbing. Luckily, the weather was pleasant and not too hot, or it would have been pretty miserable.

If you come visit us, we'll take you to see some Redwoods (but we won't make you hike 12 miles).

Camping Stuff

I keep buying camping stuff. Ed thinks I'm crazy and worries that we won't use it, so I had to remind him that when biking was my hobby of the month, I did the same thing. I bought a whole bunch of biking accessories and then having all that stuff (plus the guilt that would have been associated with not using it) made me ride my bike all the time (over 2,500 miles).

Besides, most of my camping stuff serves a dual purpose:

Hiking pants=Work pants (because I live in Berkeley)
Self Inflating Seat Pad that folds up really small = Pad for hard backs on church pews
Small, lightweight camping pots = play cookset for our future child
Back pack = Emergency pack for walking out of the Bay Area after an Earthquake
Sleeping Pad = Office bed

We're planning a trip to the Sierras in a couple of weeks. I hope we don't get eaten by a bear.

Backpacking Trip

We went on our first backpacking trip this week. Our destination was the Sunol Wilderness area, which is south of Dublin and east of Fremont. We forgot our camera like lamo-s, but we basically did the same thing as this guy. But instead of green pastures everywhere, imagine brown pastures. We missed the 2-week window called Springtime in California.

We spent most of Tuesday morning puzzling about how to fit enough stuff for a 2-day trip into the packs that our friends loaned us. After paring down our equipment a bit and figuring out a way to attach Ed's sleeping bag to the outside of the pack, we were ready to go. My pack weighed 20 pounds and Ed's weighed 30.

We drove down to the park and checked in at the ranger station to reserve our spot in the backpacking area. He pulled out a map and told us to pick the site we wanted. "Are any of sites reserved already?" "I don't know. Do you want me to check?" "Um, yes." (He dawdles around in the back room for several minutes...) "Yes, Sky Camp is reserved." "Okay, we'll take Eagle's Eyrie."

Our hike lasted for 3 hours. We went about 4 miles, with 2000 feet of vertical ascent. It's quite a bit hotter there than in Berkeley and I'm not in great shape these days, so it was really hard. Also, there were cows all over the park, so we had to watch out for the steaming piles.

When we got to the backpacking area, someone was already in Eagle's Eyrie, claiming to have reserved it weeks ago. We weren't that surprised, given Mr. Reservation Ranger's lackadaisical attitude about campsite reservations. The sites are spread out far enough that each one is private, so we consulted the map and went off in search of a different one. The one we got was better anyway, because it had a picnic table.

There was a communal water spigot in the area, but the water had to be purified, so we got to use our new UV SteriPen while all of the other campers were pumping their filters like suckers. There was also a communal outhouse 100 yards from our camp area, which means I still haven't been forced to do my business in the wild.

Dinner preparations consisted of pouring boiling water on freeze dried chicken tetrazini, which tasted great after all that hiking. During dinner, a park ranger drove up on an ATV and started telling us about a fire in the park. Visions of packing everything up and heading back to the car were flashing through my head when he told us that we were safe for the night and just wanted to make sure that we weren't planning to head in the direction of the fire the next day. After he left, we cleaned up and got in our tent to play cards. I creamed Ed in the first two rounds of Lost Cities. He made a good comeback in the last round, but it wasn't enough and I was victorious.

The next morning, we slept in until 9am, as we are wont to do. After we broke camp, we took an easier trail back than the one we came on because we were still sore from the previous day. We got home around noon, and took nice long showers.

Overall, the trip was a success. I think we are ready to take it to the next level (no picnic tables or outhouses.)

Living in the Hood

Warning: If you are Ed or Nikki's mother, you should stop reading now.

Ed and I used to think we lived in a safe neighborhood. We walk around a lot and never see scary people loitering about.

Then one day we looked at the crime report in the random neighborhood paper that someone throws in our driveway every week (usually we just drive on until it's reduced to pulp and then we peel it off the driveway and throw it away). In our little town of Albany (15K people) there were 5-10 car break-ins, a couple of auto thefts and an armed robbery. When I mentioned this to my neighbor who lives two streets over, she said that their cars had been broken into on the street, her husband's truck had been stolen, and she suspects some kind of drug operation is going on at the end of her street.

Then today, 4 policemen knocked on my door asking if they could search my backyard because they are chasing a bad guy and he might be back there. Yikes. I peeked through the window - first they sent their dog to sniff around, then when he started eating a weed instead of looking for the bad guy, they all walked back there with their guns out. I went and stood in the front room - I didn't want to be hit by a stray bullet.

A few minutes later, I heard them yelling in the neighbor's backyard. Hopefully that means they caught him. If not, maybe he's hiding in our unlocked shed. I didn't see them look in there and I didn't want to startle them by yelling out the window when they were all standing there with guns drawn.

Now maybe Ed will understand my obsession with keeping the doors looked when we're at home.

Spring Cleaning

A few days ago, I made a long list of spring cleaning chores and I was really looking forward to finishing a couple of big projects that were under deadlines so I could relax and do my cleaning without anything hanging over me. This morning I finished my last big paper revision and sent it off to my coauthors, and then all of my cleaning enthusiasm immediately disappeared.

I forced myself to halfheartedly wash the dishes and clean the kitchen. Then I started on the laundry. When I went to take out the first load, I saw that there were wet wildflowers all over the clothes. They were in the pocket of my hiking pants because some kids we took hiking kept handing them to me on our hike. Picking the foliage off of a bunch of wet clothes was doubly annoying because I always get on Ed's case about not checking his pockets. (I know that you're not supposed to pick wildflowers at a state park and I made them stop once I realized that we shouldn't be doing that.)

Then I tried to tackle the big walk-in closet in our hallway, but after about 10 seconds, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye that I believe may have been a big spider, so I'm done with that closet for a couple of months. Possibly, forever.

I finally gave up and here I am, sitting in my messy office, writing this blog post.

Exercising

I'm very pleased with myself for getting up this morning and riding my bike up and down our hill for 23 minutes. I've worked out a little route that involves climbing 2 medium hills and 1 steep hill. Right now, I have to paper-boy all the way up the steep hill (i.e. weave back and forth across the road instead of riding straight up the hill). It's kind of embarrassing.

Ever since last Sunday, when I decided that Ed and I were going to be backpackers, I've been spurred on by a fear of dying on the mountain to all kinds of amazing feats of leaving my house to exercise. This is the third time this week.

In contrast, during the 6 months between last September, when we went on a monsterous 13-mile, 9-hour hike up and down a 5000 foot mountain in Yosemite Park, and last Sunday, I think my total exercising consisted of 1 bike ride, 1 hike, 3 or 4 walks and a game of tennis which had to be cut short because my neck hurt.

Springtime

Someone is playing 'What Child is This?' on the Carillon Bells outside. Hello, it's March.

I published something!

On Wikipedia.

I corrected a glaring error on the Statement of Cash Flows page. At first, I was hesistant, but Ed urged me to give it a try. After all, everyone's doing it, and it's so easy! So I clicked on 'edit this page' and made the change. I didn't have to log on or register and the change showed up right away. Now I want to do it again.

Sigh. Cartoon network vs. Boston. Round 1.

Who do you think would come out on top? That's a little too easy, isn't it? Take a read: Two Arrested In Marketing Ploy Behind Bomb Scare

So Cartoon Network *might* end up loosing $750,000 while gaining *insane* publicity for it's shows. And Boston looses what little post-big-dig pride it had left.

Notice that the ad campaign has been going on for a week in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Which cities panick and call in bomb squads to five of the devices, detonating two, and investigating for a day before they can figure out that these are in fact not bombs, but shiny pictures of a cartoon character? Sigh.

Where have you been?

I found a website that will make a map of the states you've visited. Here's mine (although I have to admit that I've only been to Missouri and Ohio during an airplane layover and in Missouri I didn't even have to get off the plane):



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Plastic Surgery

Yep, so I have now entered the world of 'plastic surgery'. Of course not in the way that is most common.
The top five surgical procedures cosmetic procedures in 2005 were:

1. Liposuction with 455,489 procedures performed
2. Breast Augmentation with 364,610 procedures up nine percent from 2004.
3. Blepharoplasty (cosmetic eyelid surgery) came in third with 231,467
4. Rhinoplasty (nose reshaping) is the forth most common procedure with 200,924 procedures performed
5. Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) reported 169,314 procedures

Shockingly Scar Revision is not mentioned, it should be though. With a really good surgeon, it is a wonder what they can do for a really bad scar... I think that it is all those years of practice hiding scars from face lifts and breast augmentations...

However, just when I decided that Plastic Surgery is a really good thing, I heard a sad story of a breast augmentation gone wrong. Somehow it caused a collapsed lung. I had never heard of that before... Afterwards I felt a little guilty. My surgery went beautifully, and it looks as though I will have a beautiful result (very thin knee scar -- I'll post a picture when I have a good after one.

Still, any surgery is risky, I guess it is just a matter of weighing the pros and cons, the risks, finding the best surgeon possible, and probably good follow up care...

anyhow, I was wondering, what is your view of plastic surgery, Vain, or understandable? Would you ever consider it? And if so, just something small, or would you consider something larger, like for instance if you started to develop jowls...?

T Rex

Last night I dreamed that I was being chased around the neighborhood that I grew up in by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. I woke up when he caught me and started to eat me.

dr. appts

Last week, I wanted to go to the doctor for two things. Let's call them X and Y. I naively thought that I would be able to accomplish X and Y in one appointment and I called up my medical facility:

Me: I would like to make an appointment for X and Y.

Person: Okay, I can schedule you on Friday for X. Now, let's see when we can have you in to do Y.

Me: Can't the same person do X and Y?

Person: Yes. Do you want me to find someone that can do both?

Me: Yes, please.

Person: Okay, we can have you in for Y on Thursday. Now about X.

Me: Can't the doctor do X at the same time?

Person: Let me check....yes, she can. Would you like me to schedule you for both at the same time?

Me: YES.

Person: Okay, you're scheduled for X and Y on Friday. Please arrive 15 minutes early.

When I actually went to the doctor, she did neither X nor Y, but instead took my history, listened to my breathing, sent me to the lab for blood work and referred me to another doctor for X and Y. I now have an appointment for X and Y next Monday.

Ed had blood work done last week too and when we got our lab results back, we found out that we both have the same cholesterol level and that it's one point into the 'borderline' range. We've never had high (or borderline) cholesterol before, so I guess I'm going to have to chalk it up to the bacon grease, butter and whole cream that have become staples in our diet since Ed has learned to cook really good food.

Why it's hard to buy gifts for your loved ones

It turns out that when you know someone really well, you tend to think they are more like you than they really are and you ignore information about their preferences. More here.

Halloween

I know I'm a little late for Halloween, but I'm going to blog about it anyway.

Some of our friends invited us over to carve pumpkins and the one we chose was a little too unfresh. We should have been worried when we cleaned him out and found pumpkin seeds with 2" sprouts. But we didn't think he would go this fast:



That's poor Mr. Pumpkin 2 days after we brought him home. We had him inside the house and burned a candle in him one night...I guess the heat really sped up the decomposition process.

In less disgusting news, Ed and I tied with some Uoompa Loompas for 'Cutest Couple' at our church Halloween Party. We went as Salt and Pepper. I was wearing all white with a big 'S' on my chest and Ed was wearing all black with a big 'P'. Most people got it right away, except for some of the PhD-types who were overthinking it too much..("S&P 500? Am I missing something here?", "SP...PS...Are you standing in the right order?")