cool gadgets I love and use

Honestly I could probably write a blog about all the cool gadgets I love to use. But I won't because I'd like to appear to be a well-rounded individual. A while back I was catching up on my blog reading and stumbled upon a combo of tools that seemed intriguing. One is called Todoist. It's your basic to do list, but hosted online so that you can get to it, whether you are home, in the office or keeping yourself out of trouble with your mobile device in the waiting room of your dentist's office. Adam at LifeHacker took it a step further and added the plug-in Launchy to the works. Launchy launches stuff off your desktop without your having to find the icon or looking it up in your bookmarks list. It's actually pretty intuitive right from the start, so it was love at first Alt+space when I typed pho and up popped a link to the agency phone directory on our internal Intranet. For the first week, my new 'game' of choice was "stump launchy". I would type stuff to see if it wouldn't work. Then I decided that this game was a tad juvenile and started setting it up to index my music and other data files. The bad side is that I don't really need to organize myself to find things.

While I really don't need any new gadgets, I'd be curious if you are using something else that you feel is cooler or a useful addition to my gadget corral. If you already use these items and are equally enamored, maybe we can start a fan club.

Black cake

I'm making black cake today. I first came upon it in a book by Laurie Colwin Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen. I was thrilled to try it years ago when my roommates, 2 sisters from St Lucia, received a black cake from their mother one Christmas. It was in fact as good as I had imagined. I always wanted to try to make one myself. Laurie Colwin includes the recipe in her book, so it really was just a matter of getting the ingredients together and doing it.

So here I am. I did a web search for one ingredient, burnt sugar essence. Not something you would typically find in your local supermarket. (I did, my Safeway carries it, but yours might not). In doing so I came across this article and recipe variation. I'll be using this recipe today. But I was curious how much cake I would have gotten from several pounds of fruit and flour. Further searching found that others more driven than I, did follow Ms. Colwin's original recipe and had a lot more cake than they expected. So far, mine looks pretty good. I may have burnt out my hand mixer trying to manage all the ingredients. On the bright side, I'm pretty sure I didn't overwork the batter. I've to let it rest for a while before I can try it so, I can share my wait with you. Now you have to admit that this is a properly named cake. These babies are black!

Gratitude

After watching the Oprah episode where they recap the reaction to the Secret show, I realized that one thing that has been mentioned by several of the secret teachers is getting yourself in the right space by thinking about what it is that I am grateful. I wanted to post some of this now and come back in the next day or two (no more than that) with a list of things I am grateful for in my life. I am so easily distracted by, well anything, that I never get around to putting down what is it that is good in my life. In my conversations with others, I am quick to say how lucky we are in general for the things we have.

Things I am grateful for, in no particular order:
Health - I've been so fortunate so far with my health even though I challenge it regularly.
Family - Even though I joke that I love them and how far away they are, I appreciate them and the connection they give me to my past, present and future.
Friends - My friends are people who choose to be a part of my life. In addition to the companionship they provide, they also are my local family providing me with support of all kinds.
Work- I appreciate my job on so many different levels. It provides me with challenges, satisfaction, and outlet to help others and money. It's not so overbearing that I don't have time for things I enjoy, like taking Italian classes or spending time with friends and family.
My home - I love the place where I live and while it's just sticks and stones put together in a really pretty way, it provides a safe and peaceful place for me to go every day.
Cathryn - Cathryn is an amazing person and gives me so much support with laughter and love. I'm not sure if I love the way she makes me laugh more than the fact that she laughs at my jokes, even the bad ones. I'm grateful for laughter too. Laughing makes me happy.
San Francisco - This is the best city and has so many of the things I need to be happy. I can't imagine living anywhere else.
My art - This also makes me happy. I like the idea that I am creating something and putting it out there in the world. I like thinking about it, talking about it and doing it.
The Internet - Okay this one seems a little weird, but I fall back on it all the time. Even trying to come up with this list, I went online and googled it to get ideas to kick start my own gratitude list.

Gooooooooal!

I never really liked setting goals. I'm not sure why I have such an issue with them. Done properly, I've seen people achieve extraordinary things. But not me. I'm stubborn. I'm the one who will snarkily tell people on January 1 that my New Year's Resolution is to never make a New Year's Resolution.

Here are a couple of links with tips on writing goals
http://top7business.com/?Top-7-Tips-for-Writing-Great-Goals&id=1345

http://www.mygoals.com/helpGoalsettingTips.html

I'm going to start posting goals as they come to me and worry about organizing them once there are enough to warrant it. Got any tips you use when setting goals?

Steph gets a studio

You know how some things come about when it's the right time? For some time I've been thinking about getting a studio or setting up a space that is dedicated to art that isn't doubling as my office or bedroom or guest room. A couple of years ago, Diana and I went to some Open Studios in San Francisco and I just fell in love with this place that was a multi-building complex filled with artists of every sort. After much hemming and hawing, I completed an application and prepared for a long wait for a studio to open up. I had bills to pay, so I was okay with waiting a while. Well, a couple of weeks ago I got a call from the manager of The Point that there was someone looking to sublet a studio. Unlike some other calls, this wasn't someone looking to share but to sublet her studio, for about 6 months, maybe more. This was in the main building, so I called and went down the next day to take a look at the studio and meet the artist. The space was perfect for me and I let her know that I was definitely interested in subletting the space. She wasn't sure at that point when she'd be ready to move out, but considering that I was painting in my bedroom, I could wait.

A few days later, she'd met three other interested people and picked me for the space. Whenever I think about it I get so excited I might burst. I like the idea of taking a studio for a test drive. As much as I like the idea, I'm not sure if it's worth a long term commitment. If it does work out, I can participate in at least one Open Studio event in October. So I'll get to move in after the Spring Open Studios the first weekend in May. Oh and if the space suits, Diana may join me in the space. Since she is looking to use the studio when I'm at work and I want to use the space when she is home, it could work out well for both of us. Which would bring the already cheap rent even cheaper. I just can't wait. Sorry I don't have any pics for you now, but I'll post some after I get settled.

Sad and complex thoughts

I haven't been updating in here much. I know some of you have commented on how you miss my thoughts and observations on life. I appreciate your gentle encouragement as it was meant and know that I miss hearing for you all as well. I would love to come up with a list of reasons and excuses.

Some of it was work getting so darn crazy. I love my work, but had been faced with a ton of obstacles that kept my mind whirring with ways to do more with less and less and less.

Some of it was just being preoccupied with myself. I've been working out for some time now and just haven't been seeing any real results in the mirror or scale. So I consulted a nutritionist who has put me on the path to righteous eating. I comment often that I am being trained. In my head as much as in my body. What I am doing isn't anything magical, but it has allowed me to fairly consistently lose a pound a week since August.

But mostly I have been spending time worrying about and then missing my Mom who died last November. It's been a couple of months and I find what I miss most are the afternoon calls. My evening is too late to call home, 3 hours ahead of me. I can’t call right after work because I’ve got my gym buddies on my case if I’m late or missing. Or else I’d call Mom in the middle of her television programs, so I started calling (or getting calls) in the late afternoon when my productivity level is already fairly low. It’s a good time to chat most of the time.

I've been out in California for about 8 years now. Eight years ago around now I drove out here with my Amigo loaded up with clothes, my pet turtle, Gauguin, and Mom. Mom was a great travel companion. She liked the same music I did and could appreciate a companionable silence. She didn't drive as much as I had hoped, but it was nice to have someone to hang with for a week and then sightsee through San Francisco when we finally got to town.

She wasn't happy when I moved out here. That was for sure. But we still talked on the phone. If I didn't call her frequently enough, she would joking threaten to call the police to make sure I was still alive. While there were a lot of things we would talk about; books to read, movies to see, computer tutorials, there were still lots of things we didn't discuss. I always thought that there'd be lots of time to talk about the unspoken. But things don't always work out the way you'd like.

I’m starting to get back into the swing of things and find myself collecting thoughts and things I’d like to share with you all. So there will be more entries of frivolous thoughts and odd ideas that just have to be discussed. Oh, I’m going to turn on the comments area for only a short time after each entry is posted. Spammers have decided that spamming comment sections will make you more likely to click on their sites. Please don’t. I’ll delete them as soon as I can. If the comments are turned off and you’ve got something to say, you can send me email and I’ll add your thoughts in.

Swinging to S'pore

Sorry for the delay in getting at least a short entry up for the great fun that was my vacation to Singapore. I was excited to see my younger brother, Bill and his family. I wasn't so excited about spending practically an entire day in an airplane. I packed a bad full of warm weather clothes (completely inappropriate for San Francisco) and treats for the girls and off I went. I was concerned about how I would entertain myself for 19 hours. I brought books, magazines, my PDA filled with games, my iPod filled with music and some paint and paper. I felt more like an 8 year old than a 38 year old. But I wasn't going to take any chances. Nadine, my roommate drove me and my massive suitcase to SFO and off I went. I bought a little currency at the airport and meandered around the new to me, international terminal.

Boarding the plane I found my seat and was please that the plane didn't look too full. I kept one eye on the cabin door and quickly shifted over to a unoccupied center row. On Bill's recommendation I booked my flight on Singapore Airlines. I was please to receive a little booklet containing all of the dining choices for the next day (three meals) and beverages galore.

After that, my attention turned to the thick entertainment guide. Seems that the plane is equipped with personal seatback screens and on demand movies (60 choices, I counted them all), television programs, music (both mixed and full CDs) as well as Nintendo gameboy games. I had to force myself to sleep. I didn't pick up or turn on anything that I brought. I didn't want to get off the plane, but did so knowing that I'd be back to this wonderful place in just a couple of weeks.

The visit itself was fun. Bill and Hyun Joo had been sending me email asking what I wanted to do and see while I was visiting. Mostly I wanted to see them since Singapore will always be there for future visits and I hadn't seen them in about 2 years. When asked what I wanted to see and do, I replied that I wanted to see their favorite places. Granted I did read about Singapore to get an idea of what the place was like and I assumed that my brother would display his innate talents as a great travel guide. Little did I know that his wife was a kick-ass guide herself. Hyun Joo and I spent a ton of time the first week going to various neighborhoods around town. I would admit that we ate our way through Singapore, but honestly, there was too much food and not enough time.

Would I live here? I don't know about you, but everywhere I go, this question pops into my head and floats about. It's the reason why I moved out to San Francisco. I kept finding more and more reasons to say yes. But getting back to Singapore. Well living close to family would be cool. But the heat there was a bit much. And it's not like summertime back in New York. This is hot, humid, your-butt-is-sitting-on-the-equator-for-Pete's-sake! In all fairness, I'm not just picking on Singapore because it's hot. I just couldn't move to Minnesota either. I love Jerome and his family, but anyplace that gets so cold you need to plug in your car is just too cold for me. (I just realized how much my life resembles The Year Without a Santa Claus. One brother is the Heat Miser and the other one is the Cold Miser.)

But getting back to Singapore, there are lots of things that are uniquely Singapore. Some of them are simple things, like the way everyone backs into parking spots. So there you are in that scary mall parking lot with cars zooming around at top speeds and people are zipping backwards into spots. Since I back past two big pillars every day in the garage below my office, I can appreciate this performance under pressure. So after that I think it's only fair to be rewarded with a huge variety of yummy and incredibly inexpensive food at the hawkers stalls. English is spoken in Singapore, but when you are walking around, you hear so many odd additions, it makes your ears perk up. The use of Can and Lah are heard so much, I found myself starting responding with these two common colloquial words.

Spending time with my 2 nieces also introduced me to the concept of uncles and aunties. Hana's lessons in manners extended not just to immediate friends and family but to the uncle driving the taxicab and the auntie running the shop or taking our lunch order.

So I had a wonderful time, which included the tropical paradise that was our holiday within a holiday trip to Lomboc and the Qunci Villas. Many thanks for those kind visitors that allowed us to take their romantic getaway and add the joyful interruptions that only a friendly 3 year old can bring. I was lucky enough to get the best villa in the place (#8) with views of Bali for much of our stay there.

Trip highlights were spending time with Hyun Joo and getting to know her better. She is a great person and partner for Bill. Bill was busy working for chunks of my trip, so he missed out on tea parties and princess dancing. However I will be ever greatful for his introduction to the Zen of talcum powder. No way to get through this town without it.