Ingy Pants

Christmas Crackle: The Back Catalog

2011-12-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

While we're at it, here are the first 3 mixes in the Christmas Crackle family.
Enjoy!

Christmas Crackle 1
Listen here: http://grooveshark.com/#/search?q=christmas+crackle+one
sort by album, then click play all for best results

Christmas Crackle 2
Listen here: http://grooveshark.com/#/search?q=christmas+crackle+2
sort by album, then click play all for best results

Christmas Crackle 3
Listen here: http://grooveshark.com/#/search?q=christmas+crackle+3
sort by album, then click play all for best results

Christmas Crackle 4

2011-12-01T23:51:00.000-08:00

Here is this year's Christmas vinyl compilation. The songs were compiled with 100% pure vinyl, discovered in the greater Seattle area, plus St. Louis and throughout New England on our road trip this past October.
Special thanks to my bruddah, Arlo, and his gal Cheli, who found some sweet tracks on their own thrift store forays.

Listen here on Grooveshark : http://grooveshark.com/#/search?q=christmas+crackle+4
(sort by album to get the song order right)

You can listen online, or I think grooveshark has a downloader if you wanted to take it with you.

Enjoy, and Happy Holidays!

Christmas Album Cover Goodness

2011-12-01T15:44:00.000-08:00

I have been combing through the stacks the past few years looking for Christmas records for my traditional all-vinyl holiday mix cd titled 'Christmas Crackle.'
Not every album makes the cut, but a lot of the covers are so awesome I had to share.

Here are some of my fave album covers, in no specific order. Don't make me play favorites. I love them all.

I'm a sucker for a space-age silver cut-out dress. The album itself was so-so, lots of strings, no Moog to be found.

Backwards spelled letters = Krazy Kute

Freddy has that hot, brooding German sailor look to him. The look that says either "Ich Liebe" or "I'm going to smother you in your cabin while you sleep"

John Schneider, sigh...swoon. 'Nuff said.

Back cover, even swoonier. And the sweater! Oh, the sweater.

Santa, lying in wait, it's payback time.

Until I heard this album, I never realized the true awesomeness of Brenda Lee. This cover displays her sparkliness, and the beauty of big hair.

Robert Goulet. The master at his craft. I imagine after this picture was taken, he sipped some scotch and told the kids, "Scram, daddy needs a nap."

One of the finer Salsa Disco Christmas records on the market.

Santa looks like a jerk on this cover.

Loretta with the world's smallest Christmas tree. So sweet.

I love white christmas trees with monochromatic blue trimming...

...and wreaths trimmed with music star faces.

Soulful organ jazz, like what they used to play in Skippers seafood restaurants in the 80s.

Matching plaid outfits = adorbs. And these cats can really swing!

"The magic fingers of Merlin" Brilliant.

Love.

So many hidden layers of meaning in this cover. The sparkly hourglass shows all the sands of time have run out. Is this an album about time gone by, times to be remembered? What are the murky shapes in the background? What is he trying to tell us? What is going on???

Gold. Shiny. Shiny shiny shiny.

Classic old ornaments. Wanty.

Mario Lanza. Bedroom Eyes. Danggggggg.

PINE CONE.

Dead-eyed Santa. Scared of this.

I like Mrs. Oldham's go-go boots. Tres chic.

Can someone bring smoking jackets back? Please?

World's saddest sno-cone shack :-(

2010-04-05T16:56:00.001-07:00

In the parking lot of Bernie & Boys grocery store in Burien, this sad little sno-cone shack sits, a shell of its former self.

The fact that the 'Out of Ice' sign was written on a Budweiser sign might hint at what happened to the ice funds.

Easter

2010-04-04T17:34:00.001-07:00

Being on the non-religious side of things, I tend to get surprised by Easter.
There's not as much build-up as Christmas involved, for one thing. Not a ton of commercials and pre-Easter events happening.
And other than piles and piles of candy loaded at the aisle end caps in stores, there is no other memory jogger to speak of.

That's why after we got up and had breakfast, I was taken aback by having to curtail the day's activities. We'd planned on running errands, in particular going to Costco to get a membership. I hazily thought about Easter and places being closed on that day. So I called and lo and behold, Costco is indeed closed today.

It seemed like such a non-reason to be closed. But again, I'm not a kid anymore. I remember being a kid and looking forward to Easter baskets my mom would make, filled with candy, that fake green grass, and some other treasure. Dipping eggs in Paas egg dye after coloring on them with crayons to make some cool effect. And the easter egg hunt, looking for eggs in the yard.
This is a non-event kind of day for me now. Not that I'm complaining.

When I asked Jacob's father, Klaus, what Easter is like in Norway, he said it's a big week-long holiday there. But most folks are non-religious, too. They use the time to go to the mountains and go skiing. Stay at a little cabin somewhere, ski it up, have a nice time off, then go back to work the following week.

Maybe hearing about how Norwegians enjoy Easter inspired me to enjoy mine in much the same way. Jacob and I enjoyed a lunch of rabbit over cappellini with homespun pesto. The rabbit was left over from birthday dinner last night at Cafe Juanita. A little while later I took a snooze and wrote a bit, just enjoying the non-day.

And now, dear reader, I will leave you with this, the top scariest easter bunny pictures:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-65-sketchiest-easter-bunnies

Dangerous + DIY Karaoke

2010-02-08T21:23:00.001-08:00

Dangerous Karaoke:

Have you seen this article? Apparently, singing the song 'My Way' can get you killed if you are in the Phillipines:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/08/karaoke-in-the-philippine_n_453435.html

The song has never been one of my faves, I must admit. It really is sort of sloppy and braggy at the same time.

DIY Karaoke:

I loves the karaoke. Having given up the sauce, the allure of the late-night dive karaoke bar has lost some of its shine. I don't mind going out for a bit and crooning, but after a while people get all (as TBTL puts it) "tired and emotional" and their boozy rendition of 'In a Big Country' by Big Country gets to sound more like Shane McGowan's third encore at a Pogues concert.

So in the past year, if I do want some karaoke action, I'll set up private shindigs at my house. The benefits include no unfair favoritism from the KJ and endless songs. So far I've rented equipment from Seattle's Best Karaoke. They are awesome! But they're also a bit spendy.

So now I've turned to a more homespun system that is much cheaper than renting from the experts, and doesn't involve costly purchases of newer karaoke cd's. It is awesome! Here are the special secret ingredients:

DIY Home Karaoke system --

1) Cheapo mixer
2) Effects processor -- optional, only if you want to add some nice reverb to smoove out the rougher edges whilst singing songs like 'Livin' on a Prayer' or 'Holding out for a Hero'
3) 3 1/4" audio cables
4) 1-2 microphones
5) Laptop or computer (avec high-speed internet access)
6) Rhapsody account
7) small headphone jack to RCA cable (to connect from computer to mixer)
8) wheeled computer desk (optional, but nice for mobility and storage purposes)

The key thing here is Rhapsody. They have thousands upon thousands of songs to choose from. And they have the most recent hits. While Bamboo Garden and China Gate are lagging behind with 'Just Dance' by Lady Gaga, Rhapsody has 'Poker Face' and 'Love Game' in spades. Booyah!

Except for no bouncing-ball lyrics (you need to read a static lyrics page instead, like from a google search), that is the only downside. Which can be a pretty big downside, particularly if you don't know the song that well.
Par example, I tried doing 'She Wolf' by Shakira. Fortunately I was home alone, with no one but my cat to feel the pain. And it was painful. Believe you-me.

But with some of the songs I know better, there's no issue.

Rhapsody's playlists also help me to stash my karaoke faves away for the next event. Here's my current list of karaoke possibilities:

Disturbia
Poker Face
Love Story (Taylor Swift)
SOS (Jonas Brothers)
Total Eclipse Of The Heart
I Will Survive
Bette Davis Eyes
Heart of Glass
Girlfriend (Avril Lavigne)
Linger (Cranberries)
Break It Down Again (Tears for Fears)
Paradise City (G&R)
She Sells Sanctuary
Just Can't Get Enough (Depeche Mode)
Just Like Heaven (The Cure)

And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to annoy my cat with another rendition of She Wolf. I know I'll get it. After maybe 100 more tries...

work schticks

2009-05-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

Several years ago I frequented a spa in the U. District that had massage plus steam and sauna rooms. Since it was sort of an overall spa place, if I wanted a massage with my sauna, I might get a different massage therapist at any given time, unless maybe I requested someone specifically.

This one woman I saw, let's call her Helen, was OK enough. She used Tiger Balm, which I kind of like, but also view it as sort of a ben gay-ish crutch in the massage bag of tricks. So that was sort of strike one. As I lay down on the massage table, on my back, she asked me to move my legs over a bit.
Now, having recently been to massage school, I knew how to position myself on a table so that I was straight, so it seemed a bit odd, but I complied by moving my legs to the left, then basically moving them right back to where they were. She seemed pleased with this, and then with a wry smile said "As my grandmother would say, your legs were all cattywhompus (sp??)." She seemed delighted to deliver this folksy little colloquialism to me, and I provided the appropriate chuckle as her reward.

The rest of the massage was OK, not the best I've had, but it got the job done.

A few months later I returned to the spa, and got this same woman for a massage. I assume she sees many customers, so wasn't too surprised when she didn't recognize me.

I got on the table, made sure my legs were in perfect alignment with my body, and waited. She gave my body a quick up and down eyeball and _again_ asked me to straighten my legs. Then she delivered the gut-wrenching statement that, as her grandmother would say, my legs were all cattywhompus. It was then that I knew this was her schtick. This was what she said to all her new clients, to give them that warm, downhome feeling. I viewed it as horribly obnoxious. Particularly because the rest of her banter was so mundane, this cattywhompus phrase stuck out.

I left, and vowed never to return again. Since then I have discovered Olympus Spa, and have never looked back since.

OK, so here's another one. At my dentist office, one of the dental assistants has an ongoing schtick where she looks at my tongue during the cleaning. Each time, she comments that I have a few little white dots on my tongue that speak to me either being iron-deficient or b-vitamin deficient. Not enough of a problem to show up in blood tests, mind you, but deficient nevertheless.

She counsels me on getting vitamin supplements, and goes into great detail about which supplements to get, when to take them, and why this is of such urgent importance. This is all while she's got her hands in my mouth, so I can't even politely tell her to mind her own beeswax and stick to what she knows, which is getting my teeth spic 'n span. I manage a few grunts of acknowledgement, and pray that her advice will end. It usually takes about 10 minutes to get through the sermon, then it's over.

I imagine her day is fairly monotonous, and she needs a nice, safe schtick to work off of. She can talk while people are a captive audience, and it probably makes the time go by more quickly. Fortunately this time around mid-way through her speech she had to switch with the other hygienist - the heavy smoker who is not about health, but instead into reminiscing with me about my favorite cigarette brands from when I smoked. Now that's something I can get behind. :-)

Feng Shui Loser

2009-04-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

I bought a house a few months ago. It's a cool mid-century house, with only 2 previous owners during its entire lifespan. First, by the man who built it, and second by a nice woman and her kids.

When I moved in I knew I'd need some ideas on how to decorate and place things. I asked my friend Heather over for a Feng Shui consultation (if you're in the greater Seattle area and are looking for a solid and very reasonably priced Feng Shui expert, Heather is it!).

Heather came over and did an evaluation, giving tips on each room of the house. The thing about Feng Shui is that when approached sans hocus-pocus/superstition and sans rigidity, it just makes sense. Even if you don't buy into the idea of energy, most of the ideas around placement and colors just look good from a pure design perspective.

But I actually do believe in the whole energy flow thing, too. So that brings me to my story of how I'm a Feng Shui Loser.

When Heather was upstairs, we were looking at the sloped A-frame dormer ceilings. She pointed out that this could affect me as I slept, that there might be a feeling of pressing down from the ceiling. Can't argue that, so she said the cure would be to place a small mirror on the lamp, wall or bedside table angled upwards.

I went to a new-agey store that sells crystals, incense and whatnot and gathered some supplies. I was excited. I had a spring in my step, thinking about how much more spiffed up my house would be as I implemented a few simple corrections.

As I proudly took my purchases up to the register, the woman (let's call her Moonshadow) raised her brow and said "Ah, I see we're doing some Feng Shui?"

I beamed, but not too much, as I wanted to appear aloof, as though I'd been doing Feng Shui and this was old hat for me. "Yes, I'm just doing a few things around the house."

She pointed to the mirror I'd picked out, a tiny 8-sided affair. "What are you using this for?"

I told her about my A-frame celings, and how the mirror would help to correct that.

Moonshadow bristled and looked at me with eyes both world-weary and with a hint of pity. "Oh, no no no. This mirror is only for outside use. You would never use this indoors. For slanting ceilings, what you do is hang two flutes from the ceiling. Piece of cake, problem solved!"

I politely accepted her advice, but planned to go ahead with the mirror trick. I could see that she thought it was a complete waste of time that I use a mirror. But I'll be damned if I hang f'in flutes from the ceiling. That to me sounds like the Feng Shui equivalent of a fraternity pledge dare. It ain't happening.

I can just see it, I walk into the room, and continually hit my head on these frickin' flutes every time I walk in? No thank you.

I walked out with my purchases, and I could see her shaking her head, almost clucking to herself about such simpleminded fools as myself.

I put up the mirror that night, undaunted. And you know what? That teeny sliver of a mirror, to me, is holding up the whole ceiling. And that's good enough Feng Shui for me. M'kay?

My new fave radio show - TBTL

2009-04-16T09:54:00.001-07:00

I have recently discovered a radio show that is rockin' my socks: TBTL (Too Beautiful to Live w/ Luke Burbank).
It's on 97.3 FM, a local show, at that!

As you know, I'm a fan of radio. And as you might also know, I've recently been disappointed with some of my previously loved radio shows:

http://ingypants.blogspot.com/fasting-from-tal.html

So imagine my surprise when I discovered this gem of a show. They talk about pop culture and news and things. Not a whole lot, really. But it's really fun and enjoyable. I'm going to recommend it to my friends who are even not in the greater Seattle area. It's just that good!

The mark of a good show - radio, tv or otherwise - is that it's engaging even when you're jetlagged. I had just flown in from a business trip last week, and got in during the evening when the show was on. I was so excited to enjoy it as I drove from the airport to my home. It was a gentle way to ease into my return home, after feeling a bit fried from the flight.

So, for those who want to take a sample of it, check it out here:

http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=93

And...enjoy!

Democrats kick a$$ in '09

2009-01-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

First, there is this news story:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Politics/story?id=6740011&page=1

Second, there is this awesome lexulous move made by Kaytie. I mean, damn!

Clipped Wing

2009-01-13T13:54:00.000-08:00

I fractured my wrist (radius) last week playing soccer on Wednesday. It was a dark and stormy night. I was going for the ball and fell down. My wrist broke the fall, and then I felt a dull immediate pain. I went into semi-shock and Kyle (our team's captain) helped me out.
He told me jokes, got me water, and even drove my car to my house and made sure I made it to the hospital.

Here is a pic of my hand before it got even more puffed up (the bottom bump is where the fracture occurred):

I got a cast last week that goes past my elbow. Basic everyday tasks have gotten pretty tricky. Bathing, opening zip-lock style food bags and opening doors are new and exciting adventures. I have figured out ways to use my mouth, knees and feet in ways previously unimagined.

I was feeling kinda blue about being all injured. I had this feeling I'd never heal. So I went to Wikipedia and looked up the bone healing process. It turns out that my body is healing the crap out of itself. It's quite cool. It's neat that the body has a blueprint of every bone and knows just how to repair it.

The latest issue is that things are starting to smell a little ripe-ish. I guess it's inevitable. But I can't just sit there and do nothing. So my current plan of attack is to use handy-wipes to keep my hand clean w/o using water, dousing the cast in pure lavender oil, and using this!:

It's kind of like the flowbee, but less creepy. It allows fresh air to flow through and reduces moisture, and thus reduces "the funk."

I'm going to the doctor's this Friday to check and make sure the bone didn't shift. I might even get a shorter cast if healing is going well. Fun!

Snow!

2008-12-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

It's snowing up a storm here. Really beautiful, and fortunately I can work from home without a lot of disruption. I'm able to make some headway on some stuff that requires heads-down focus, so that's good.

I walked to the store a few minutes ago to pick up some provisions. On the way back I thought about things that are essential on a good snow day.

Yak Trax:

These little guys slip onto your shoes or boots and turn them into slip-proof footwear. I used them on solid ice and in snow, and they grip like nobody's business.

Toll House cookies:

There's nothing finer than warm cookies from the oven on a cold, blustery day. And it's just so easy!!

Creepy Ski Masks:

I don't wear a ski mask, as a general rule. I don't ski, for one, but I also don't like the whole creep-out factor. As I walked outside today though, the snow was whipping around from the wind. It stung my face, ouch!
So I thought today would be a perfect day to wear one of these scary children's ski masks.
I didn't, but it would have been fun.

Home for sale

2008-12-03T23:21:00.001-08:00

I put my house on the market today. I decided it's time to move to a more spacious abode. I'm excited to soon be able to entertain more than 2 people at a time (my current house is quite petite), and to have some room for crafting and such.

My current house has become quite cute, though, I've got to say. I spent the last couple of years remodeling it. I think the thing I'll miss the most is the bathroom with the heated tile floor. Sooo nice on cold winter nights coming home from soccer. There's nothing finer than a heated tile floor for rain-chilled feet!

I found a new house in the same area (Burien is nice and reasonably priced, and it's become hometown for me). Now it's a matter of finding a buyer for my current house in a reasonable amount of time. It's kind of a tricky little shell game. I guess this is the norm, but to me it's a bit too up in the air. I like things to be pretty firm and solid.

If you're interested in my current abode, by the way, let me know!
The price is right! :-)

It's Easy Being Green

2008-11-03T10:26:00.000-08:00

I am now working on a team in Amazon that is devoted to green initiatives. Our current focus is on better, eco- and customer-friendlier packaging:

www.engagdet.com sums up what my team has been working on. It's exciting to be part of this movement. Yay!

Barack the Vote

2008-10-30T09:34:00.000-07:00

Let's all be sure to Barack the vote next Tuesday. I already done did it via absentee ballot sent in early to make sure it counts.

If I hadn't, and I'd forgotten, then this would have happened to me (sent by my brother Arlo)

:-)

Kundalini is Kool

2008-10-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

My friend Sarah (aka Anand) was recently featured in Conscious Choice magazine:

http://seattle.consciouschoice.com/2008/10/health_yoga0810.html

She teaches Kundalini yoga at Eight Limbs Yoga on Capitol Hill.
I have taken one class from her on intuition a few weeks ago which was really neat. We learned different postures and meditations to increase our intuitive abilities.

I like what I've seen from Kundalini yoga because it's very playful and positive. The couple of times I've done it I've felt sparkly and glowy afterwards.

Dig!

OK, so I actually had cancer

2008-10-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

A month ago I met with Dr. Flugstad, my primary doctor for my tumor removal and aftercare.
He is an orthopedic surgeon, he took out my tumor and has been meeting with me every 6 months for check-ups.

Thinking that what had been removed wasn't cancer (because he had told me it wasn't), I was concerned about the amount of radiation I've been getting with all the CT scans of my lungs.

I'd been getting frustrated trying to get a hold of him through his office, and his assistants weren't giving me clear answers.

When I finally did meet with him face to face, I gave him this feedback and he immediately got defensive. This didn't really help me to have a feeling of ease, but I asked my questions anyway. Why was I getting CT scans if we were 2 years out and I seemed fine? Why risk radiation of this level (CT scans are at least 20 times the radiation dose of an xray)?

He got more and more defensive, to the point where he said "why are you getting so upset? I saved your life!" Which is the most f'ed up thing for a doctor to say. That's his job. And what did he mean anyway by saving my life, if this thing had been benign?

He told me that it had ultimately turned out to be cancer. A sarcoma (a rare type of cancer at that). And he'd spent 30 minutes talking to me, and couldn't spare any more time so could I please hurry this up?

After leaving his office in tears, I decided if I could help it, I'd never go back to see him again. I searched for a new doctor, a CANCER doctor, not a surgeon. And I found one at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Dr. Kane. She specializes in sarcomas only. So she knows her stuff.

The conversation with her was kind of funny, because I had asked her to confirm that this really was a sarcoma and not a benign tumor. And she said that yes it was a sarcoma, but that since it hasn't come back (at least not yet), I was -- congratulations -- a cancer survivor. Through my tears I laughed and said how many people get the bad news of having had cancer and the good news of being a survivor so close together?

I like this dcotor much better. She has a good bedside manner, and I don't feel like her ego is on the line. She spent over an hour explaining things and answering all my questions.
I think Dr. Flugstad did a great job with the surgery itself, but he is too busy and his bedside manner could use a LOT of work.

So, yeah, I had cancer. Kind of a slight paradigm shift, but ultimately not much. Other than the whole reminder of my mortality, not too much else has changed. But I'm glad I switched doctors, and found one that suits me better. Let's just not settle in life, m'kay? It's too short to do that.

St. Louis!

2008-09-04T07:07:00.001-07:00

IMG_3013
Originally uploaded by ingroid

I visited my sister and her family just outside of St. Louis this week. I'm here today enjoying the first cooler weather (buckets of rain) since I got here.

Earlier in the week it was wonderfully hot. I felt like I got a bit more summer out of the deal, since in Seattle things are cooling off as summer tapers to an end.

Here is my nephew AJ holding a juicy honeycrisp apple. We went to Eckert Farms over the weekend to do some apple-picking and play.

Kris (my sister) gave me the grand tour of the area. We went to the zoo on Saturday, including a cool exhibit with animatronic dinosaurs:

St. Louis Arch on Tuesday. We went to the top of the arch which overlooks the city. You can see the whole city laid out before you in all directions. Cool!:

I love old buildings

2008-07-17T17:33:00.001-07:00

For a while I was taking pictures of old buildings on my way to work. I drive through the more industrial area of Seattle (SoDo area) and some of the warehouses and other structures are abandoned or just run-down.

There's something so beautiful about them. Like their emptiness carries more meaning, more weight. I get to fill in the gaps with all of that space. I imagine what the building was used for, what was housed there. What happened there. And why has it fallen out of use?

Also, the vegetation takes over again, and that's just beautiful. Seeing butterfly bushes forcing their way out of cracks in the floor, california poppies brightly shining against the dull grey of cement. Gorgeous.

I went to the 3D Photography museum in Portland a couple years ago when they were showing an exhibit on Ellis Island. A photographer had taken current pictures of the decay of this national treasure, and interspersed these modern photos with old photos in 3D showing the structures as they once were. 'Adagio for strings' played throughout and I literally was on the verge of tears, it was so sad. And yet, at the same time, I was struck by the beauty of these decrepit buildings, shadows of their former selves, and yet so much more than that now.

There is a term called 'Wabi Sabi' which perfectly illustrates the beauty of roughness and collapse. I think this is what draws me to those old buildings.

There is a photographer, Tim Kirsch, who has been taking pictures of old structures, and his work is fantastic. I might be jealous, only his work is so inspiring that more than anything it just makes me want to get out there and take some of my own pics.

Here is his site:

http://www.opacity.us/

India, rest o' trip

2008-07-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

The rest of the India trip was good and sometimes not-so-good.

Some highlights of the trip for me were:

* seeing a Bollywood movie in a theater (Jodhaa Akbar, 3 hours long, in Hindi with no subtitles, but totally worth it!)
* the Taj Mahal, pictures don't do it justice
* delicious Indian food, including my favorite dessert, gulab jamin (a donut-like ball in sweet syrup)
* colorful saris that the women wear as their everyday clothes -- beautiful!

I also loved how random people would stop me and ask to take their picture with me. Here are a few of such shots:

The things I did not like about the trip were:

* poverty/poor infrastructure
* tourist traps galore

On the poverty/infrastructure front, I saw more starving people than I'd ever seen before. Plus the major cities were surprisingly not as maintained as I'd expected. Delhi in particular surprised me. There were areas that were nice enough (particularly right near the hotel), but further afield I saw areas that were falling apart or looked literally bombed out. Like this area:

On the tourist trap front, most of our drivers would try to drive us to over-priced stores where I assume they get kick-backs. I much preferred the open-air bazaars, which were super-cheap and had more interesting stuff.
I finally ended up pretending to be sick so that our driver for the day would stop taking us on side-journeys to one of his "friends'" stores.
There were also people in Delhi who would literally swarm us on the street and try to direct us to over-priced stores. Yikes!

The Taj Mahal though was just breathtaking. The architecture, the attention to detail, and the surrounding buildings and gardens were exquisite. Here is me just drinking it in:

One thing I enjoyed was checking out everyone's car altars. They had Ganesh or other gods posted to the dashboard or swinging from their rear view mirrors.
I thought it was cool-looking, and kind of sweet. But then one of our drivers mentioned a saying about driving in India:

Driving in India, you need three things:

1) a good horn
2) good brakes
and 3) good luck!

I guess that's where these altars come in. :-)

So all in all, it was a good trip. When I travel I get to see a new place, a new outlook. But it's sooo nice when I get to come back home.

India trip, day two

2008-06-16T03:42:00.000-07:00

I'm in Hyderabad now. Spent the weekend traveling (24 hour plane trip) and enjoying jet lag. In between that, we went to a really good restaurant and ate spicy lamb biryani (a southen Indian dish made with rice and served with a spicy tangy sauce).

At the end of the meal they brought up finger bowls so we could wash our hands. This is not the norm in the States, where at best you'd lick your hands until clean (e.g., KFC's "finger-lickin' good" ads) or use a moist towelette (typically reserved for meals eaten at gas stations). So this was a big step up. For the uninitiated, here are the basic steps for finger bowl usage (as demonstrated by resident hand model, Jacob):

STEP 1: Spritz fresh lime juice on hands -- ma nature's hand cleaner!

STEP 2: Dip hands in warm water

STEP 3: Gently pat hands until dry

So we enjoyed some good food.

We also went to the Qutab Shahi tombs. It's neat, these kings and queens would have tombs built so that when they died they could get buried properly. The tombs are really beautiful, and the grounds have pretty trees and gardens to walk around. People will go there to have picnics and hang out.

Within the grounds there is a large well, which looks more like a reservoir. Right before it there is an ominous sign:

A sign which no one seemed to heed, since people were going swimming into it with abandon. Some of these swimmers were also jumping off from above and plunging into the depths. Cool! Crazy!

We also went to a museum (Salar Jung) and looked at cool old weaponry, exquisite marble statues, paintings and such.

Today after work it's off to the botanical gardens and some more delicious food. Yum.

India Prep

2008-06-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

I'm going to India tomorrow for another business trip. At the tail end of the week, I'm also going to Delhi and Agra (to see the Taj Mahal). I'm so excited!

I've been getting ready this week, gathering up supplies and packing and whatnot.
Yesterday I decided my hair was getting bushy enough and went to get it cut. I usually go to Hairmasters, but one of the hairstylists there just opened up her own salon in the neighborhood, so I decided to support my local salon and check it out.

Carla wasn't there, but another stylist was there. She seemed a bit standoffish, and then I realized that she spoke only Spanish. I wasn't fazed, because I had my picture with me (I'm telling you, that's the only way to fly hair-cut wise -- it's bring a picture or face the consequences):

Once we sorted out the language problem, I spoke very broken Spanish and between that and my photo of Jean Seberg, things went fine. It was kind of fun trying to dredge up the Spanish I'd learned like 5 years ago. I took one class with Gus back then, but I guess some of it stuck. Kinda neat.

So now tonight I'm playing soccer, and then packing some last-minute stuff before flying out tomorrow at noon. Yay!

Future me + sauna creepiness update

2008-05-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

Update on sauna creepiness: I emailed the management at the club about the sauna incident. They were very responsive, and are taking care of that dude. Yay. It's cool that they're on top of it after me emailing them. I haven't seen him since, too, so I think things are a-okay.

And here is my new fave site: http://www.futureme.org

It has little time capsules that people write to themselves. And if they make them public, everyone else can view what they wrote. I wrote myself a little something to be opened later on, asking myself a bunch of questions about what happened with this or that thing. I'm looking forward to reading this later on.

But the letters from other people to themselves are particularly interesting. It's neat to read about what people tell themselves. What they hope for, what they are worried about. And I wonder if what they're worried about today, isn't a problem later on. Or if it's still an issue, and they get to finally let it go after realizing it's been plaguing them for so long. Or maybe they get to just entertain themselves with some silly little note. Fun.

creepiness in the sauna

2008-05-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

I work out and sauna it up at the club (HAC) pretty regularly. It's generally a nice, positive vibe kind of place. Yesterday it was chilly outside and I had mapped out the evening to be a calm, downtime kind of night. So I decided to grab a sauna in the early evening to warm up from the chilliness and kickstart some relaxation.

I went to the club and made a beeline for the sauna. The whole pool/sauna/steam area was practically deserted, which is usually great. It means I can just sit back and relax without a lot of distractions.

I walked into the sauna and thought I was alone. Then from the top corner (which isn't visible until you fully enter the room), a voice said "hi there, I was going to do something, but now I'm just going to watch you. I'm like a shark, you see, and I like to just look at women. So that's what I'm going to do with you."

I looked up and saw an older man sitting there, staring at me. It was super-creepy.

I considered staying in the sauna for a brief second (this was, after all, the only reason I'd come to the club that day) but I realized this guy seemed unbalanced. I told him that what he'd said was very scary and I asked him his name. He paused for a while, then said "um...Tom Brown." I left the sauna and talked to the front desk peeps (two younger women). I pushed for them to talk to this guy, at first they just said "oh, Jimmy? Yeah, he's pretty strange" So they knew him.

So his name wasn't Tom. Tom, it turns out, is the member of the club that brings him. And apparently Jimmy has done weird, inappropriate things before.

Tom (a minister, and Jimmy's friend) was in the pool, and when the front desk person (Julia) went to talk to him, I joined them. I was livid. I told Tom what had happened, and he downplayed it. He said that Jimmy was known to say inappropriate things, but that this was probably different. I gave up at that point. I saw that Jimmy wasn't in the sauna, so I went in and tried to calm down.

After a while the heat worked its magic and I just let it wash over me. I could see through the glass wall Jimmy, Tom and Julia outside talking.
I went outside to offer my information. Jimmy said this was all a big misunderstanding, that he thought I'd been someone else (???) and that was that. I told him it was totally not ok to say those kinds of things to a woman in a public place. He seemed pretty unbalanced as we were talking (a creepy smile on his face, his eyes shifting back and forth).

I could see I wasn't going to change his outlook at that point, so I went back into the sauna and tried to enjoy the rest of my visit.

Julia and the other front desk person mentioned that Jimmy's nickname is 'Skinny Jimmy' and they gave me his website. Apparently he'd lost a bunch of weight and now thinks he's god's gift to women: http://www.skinnyjimmy.org/

I'm going to disagree on that. And hopefully (for him) I don't run into him again.

KLAM - my new favorite radio station

2008-03-21T16:29:00.001-07:00

Here are some "radio commercials" my friend Andy made with his bruddah 'n friends for KLAM radio. They are hilarious. My current faves are handshake.com and Hansen's by the River:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=331004225

The thing I love about the handshake.com one is how true it is. There are sooo many social networking sites. I'm on about 4 of them, and sometimes I don't really see the point. It seems like myspace is good for knowing about which bands are playing, and I only use facebook for the games (scrabulous 'n chess).

Enjoy!

Guest Series: Barbie's Vacation

2008-02-17T09:40:00.000-08:00

Barbie's Vacation: a story by Isabella Genevieve Calabrese, love Bella
To Mommy and Daddy

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

Ken and Kylie are going to the art gallery.

This is Samantha. She is putting little balls on a painting.

This is Hannah Montana. She just painted a really good picture of an artist.

This is Amantha and America. They are diving into the ocean.

Watch them swim!

Oh no! They are climbing a palm tree in the Snake Desert with cobras around them.

"Help help!" Amantha cries out.
Ken comes to the rescue.

"Gotcha! You're safe."

Amantha and America are safe and sound with Ken on the motorcycle and them on the back.

America and Ken are happy to smell a flower and to be at home. Woohoo!

THE END

fun weekend!

2008-02-03T12:24:00.001-08:00

Not one but two friends visited from different parts of the country this weekend. John made a visit from New York, and Mark came up from LA. It was one of those weekends that was non-stop chock full of fun.

I met John and Jonas at the McLeod Residence to show them the closet:

Then we ate at Etta's for delicious brunchiness.

Later on I met up with Mark and took him to the McLeod Residence for a viewing of the closet:

Afterwards we adjourned to Vivace for the best coffee on the planet. I don't make it up that way very often, so it was a real treat.

I tried Grass Jelly with Mel and Todd earlier this week, and now I've wanted to spread the word about this unusual dessert item. It is somewhat flavorless, with a smokey aftertaste. And it's gelatinous-ish. And it's kinda gross (to my perhaps untrained palate, or er...no, it's just gross).

So I got Mark to try it. Note the spittle-like bubbles that formed on top:

And here is Mark's take on it:

I tried again at Jonas and Theresa's with a second can:

But I didn't win anyone over:

Doesn't hurt to try.

It's Sunday now and I just had brunch with my friends Stacey and Heidi at the Salvadorean Bakery. This afternoon it's Super Bowl Sunday. How in one weekend can I have this much fun? I don't know, but I ain't complainin'.

good review!!

2008-01-25T13:36:00.000-08:00

The Seattle Times did a write-up of the show, and they liked my stuff!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2004143845_visart25.html

I like hearing which picture people prefer, because it seems to say something about them, too. Some people like the happy Theresa beach shoes, or the fountain shots, or the gloomy swing. Or the abstract seaweed on the beach. And that might mean that they're frivolous, or depressive, or maybe they just like what they like.

The reviewer liked the gloomy swing picture the best.

Unicorns walk among us

2008-01-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

This is gay in the best possible way.
I'm hoping that this starts a trend of wearing bejewelled unicorn horns. That would be so boss.

See the article for more information on the Sao Paolo fashion show sporting unicorn horns.

I like how her horn matches her eyeshadow. That's cool.

Fasting from TAL

2008-01-15T22:04:00.000-08:00

I've enjoyed listening to This American Life (TAL) for a few years now, and the past year as a podcast. For those not familiar with the show, it's a radio program that documents the lives of peeps living in or who are from the US. The stories can be funny, or strange, or sad. But they are usually entertaining and just plain satisfying to hear. I think it's the voyeur in me that enjoys the program the most. I get to hear about someone's life, their mis-steps, their successes, and that's just fun, really.

But lately I've been listening to it with a different ear. Every narrator of every story has the same voice. It's like they all went to the Ira Glass slightly disaffected but kinda engaged in the topic school of radio speaking. I imagine them narrating their piece from the couch in their funky, eclectic apartment. Bookshelves surrounding them piled with liberal political leaning books, some Nietzsche and Proust thrown in for good measure. A spent cappuccino cup on the coffee table, smoking a cigarette looking up at the ceiling, eyes hooded, voice gravelly and drained.

I want a different narrator. I want someone sweet from South Carolina, who doesn't have that semi-jaded tone. Or someone from Vermont who is maybe a bit out of touch with all these city-fied goings-on. Give me a different voice, please.

So I'm going on a fast from TAL. Not sure how long it will last, but to tide me over I've swapped This American Life (TAL) with the Savage Love Podcast. Why? Because it's real, it doesn't mess around, and it's still about people. In fact, it's about people's sex lives, which is infinitely fascinating. And it's only 30 minutes long, so how cool is that, eh?

If anyone knows of any other good podcasts out there that you like, lemme know!

Face Facts, it's Winter time

2008-01-15T11:15:00.001-08:00

OK, even though my springy/summery photos are up at the McLeod Residence, I think I need to face facts that it is, indeed, winter.
It snowed today, though I only saw heavy frost in my area, a lot of folks are stranded on the roads or stuck at home as a result.

So it's time to break out the hearty soup recipes. I made a nice batch of split pea soup last night to sustain me this week. I thought I might share these simple recipes with the people who read this blog. Maybe it'll help you enjoy the better aspects of winter, bundling up in sweaters and blankets, making good food and enjoying being inside on a cold day.

So, in no particular order I bring you four of my fave soups: split pea, black bean, lentil and vegetable barley (or my new favorite variation, kasha/buckwheat):

Split pea soup

Olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2-5 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
1 ½ cups dried split peas
5 cups water
1 red potato, cubed
3 cubes maggi vegetable bouillon
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon marjoram or oregano
Rosemary, optional

Over medium/medium-high heat, sauté onion and celery in olive oil until onion is translucent.
Add garlic for just 1 minute (just enough to slightly cook the garlic without turning it brown).
Add the split peas and water, stir.
Add the bouillon cubes, potato, and herbs, stir.
Bring to a boil, stir, and turn to low heat.
Cover with a lid, stirring occasionally.
Cook for 40-60 minutes until soup is smooth and delicious.
Serve with some hot sauce drizzled on top (like sriracha, mmm).

Black bean soup

Olive oil
1 onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
Ginger, grated or chopped (lots, like ¼ cup or so)
4 to cups cooked black beans (2 15 oz. cans rinsed and drained, or cooked from dry beans)
5 cups water
3-4 cubes maggi vegetable bouillon
2 teaspoons marjoram or oregano
1-2 red bell peppers, diced
2-3 jalapenos, diced (use separate cutting board and use sandwich baggies on your hands)
Lots of limes
Lots of cilantro

Sauté onion in olive oil over medium heat until translucent.
Add garlic for just 1 minute (to cook without turning it brown).
Add beans, ginger and water.
Turn up heat in order to bring to a boil, while adding bouillon, oregano, red peppers and jalapenos. Stir.
Once it has reached a boil, cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, stir occasionally.
Spoon into bowls with a bit of lundberg short grain brown rice (deelish), top it off with lime juice and a big handful of cilantro.

Lentil soup

Olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2-5 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
1 cup dried brown lentils
4 ½ cups water
1 red potato, cubed
1 carrot, chopped
3 cubes maggi vegetable bouillon
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon marjoram or oregano
Rosemary, optional

Over medium/medium-high heat, sauté onion and celery in olive oil until onion is translucent.
Add garlic for just 1 minute (just enough to slightly cook the garlic without turning it brown).
Add the lentils and water, stir.
Add the bouillon cubes, potato, carrots and herbs, stir.
Bring to a boil, stir, and turn to low heat.
Cover with a lid, stirring occasionally.
Cook for 40-50 minutes until lentils are soft.

Vegetable barley (or buckwheat)

Vegetable Barley soup

Olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2-5 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
1/2 cup barley (or buckwheat/kasha)
4 ½ cups water
1 red potato, cubed
1 carrot, chopped
1/4 cabbage, chopped
3 cubes maggi vegetable bouillon
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon marjoram or oregano
Rosemary, optional

Over medium/medium-high heat, sauté onion and celery in olive oil until onion is translucent.
Add garlic for just 1 minute (just enough to slightly cook the garlic without turning it brown).
Add the barley and water, stir.
Add the bouillon cubes, potato, carrots, cabbage and herbs, stir.
Bring to a boil, stir, and turn to low heat.
Cover with a lid, stirring occasionally.
Cook for 40-50 minutes. enjoy!

Ingy & the Chocolate Factory

2008-01-11T00:41:00.001-08:00

yummmmmm
Originally uploaded by ingroid

I took my work team to Theo Chocolate Factory in Fremont. It was super-cool and deeeeee-lish.
It's a great company, too. Fair trade, organic, and just good folk. And the chocolate is really tasty, too.
They make it in small batches and don't put in gross fake additives. So you get just really good chocolate.

Here's a cacao pod. It looks like a dried fruit rind:

Inside the fruit is something called mucilage, which looks like a bunch of silkworms. They ferment and dry them, then they roast and do some other stuff, and you get tasty chocolate.

Note to self, I definitely need to get a machine with a button that says "Chocolate Pump":

Yes.

We tasted a bunch of different chocolate from different parts of the world. Each one tasted exquisite and different from the others. Then we tasted some of the flavored chocolates, and I was in heaven. Two of my faves were 'Bread & Chocolate' which has bits of toasted buttery bread in every bite, and 'Coconut Curry' which is so delicious -- curry powder, coconut and chocolate = yum.

Winter visit

2008-01-09T21:00:00.000-08:00

Josh & the sarangi
Originally uploaded by ingroid

Josh came by for a visit recently. It's such a treat to see him. He usually comes once a year around Christmas time. He lives in The Netherlands (in the Hague), but his family lives in the US so if he makes it home for xmas, I get a day or so to hang.

I got to meet his neat ladyfriend Aki. We went to the Santa Fe Cafe and talked about Haruki Murakami, Banana Yoshimoto and our other favorite authors.

I saw them again before they left town, and Josh brought over his new super-cool instrument, the sarangi. It's ca-razy lookin', and sounds gorgeous.

the show!

2008-01-07T00:18:00.000-08:00

crop o' viewers
Originally uploaded by ingroid

The opening of the closet went well! It was last Friday, and it was super-fun. Friends and family showed up, and checked out my closet and also enjoyed the other neat art that was at the McLeod residence.

Here are photos from the closet, in 2-D form:

Seasonal Therapy

I'm working on converting them to anaglyph so if you happen to have some red-blue 3-D geeko glasses lying around, you can see what all the hubbub is about without actually coming to the gallery. I'll post those sometime soon.

The grass in the closet was meant to be a nice touch of springtime, and I think it worked well. The light in there is wonderfully bright and full-sprectrum, so it helped to infuse people with sunshiney feelings.
The nice little surprise was the motion-sensor bird that I bought online (at Amazon, mais oui). Chris Weber had the smart idea of putting it slightly out of sight, so it'd be peeking from the doorframe. It worked great, because only if you got up close would you trigger the motion sensor. It has kind of an angry little chirp, so it startled a few people.

It has been such a neat experience putting this little exhibition together. It's great to share visual fun with others. And it's got me thinking about more projects, which is always a good thing.

Pro-choice

2007-12-28T22:58:00.001-08:00

pro-choice
Originally uploaded by ingroid

I went to a restaurant today for lunch in the ID to try out a new place. It's a bit farther from work than I usually venture, but I thought what the hey.

I went to the ladies room and discovered this treasure. A woman with a semi-mullet, gazing serenely at some roses. Above her is a promise that many people strive for, 'Freedom of Choice.' But choice of what, you might ask? Why, the choice between bulky maxithins sanitary napkins and tampax. The best choice of all.

Was this what that Roe vs. Wade hullabaloo was all about? Why, this vending machine had it solved all along, and judging by this woman's hair since at least the mid-80's!

Spring/Summer in 3D

2007-12-11T14:30:00.001-08:00

I got my very first photography show this January! It's a show of springy and summery images in 3D, to be viewed during the dreary months of winter.

I've been wanting to do this for a while, and have been taking pictures for the past few years as sort of a stockpile. Gathering up those quintessential moments of greenery and blooms, with the idea of using them during the winter.

I finally got up the guff to ask around and see if anyone might want to host my photos in a gallery. I talked to Lindsey, who is a member of the McLeod Residence, and I got to meet up with Lele and Chris to pitch the idea. They were into it!

My show lasts from January 4th to the end of February. I told them I could use any space available, from a full room to a teeny corner of a room. So they're giving me a closet. Ha! Which is actually quite cool. I don't even need that much space, really, since the photos are seen through a viewer. But having the closet will give me a chance to include some additional extra-sensory items to round out the experience. You'll see....if you show up.....which I hope you all will.

The opening of "the closet" is on January 4th from 6-9PM. But you can pop by anytime the art gallery is open to the public (Tues-Sat 10AM-6PM) between Jan 4th and the end of February to see the display. Dig!

India!

2007-11-17T18:01:00.001-08:00

CIMG4928
Originally uploaded by ingroid

I went to India at the beginning of the month for work. I went with my manager, Jacob, as we have some team members working there now.

The plane ride was something like 22 hours. India is 12 1/2 hours ahead of us, but surprisingly once we landed and after a short nap, I was ready to hit the town that same day.

Our friiend Rao took us all over our first day, on a Sunday. We went to Golconda Fort, Charminar (a monument to the ending of the plague) and Birla Mandir, a gorgeous Hindu temple.

I loved the food, the colorful sights and the people of Hyderabad. Traveling around the city was a bit unusual. I saw a buffalo driven cart with the driver talking on a cell phone, buffalo walking down the busy streets, not getting hit, and moving buses so full of people they spilled out the sides. Also, people drive with no thought to lanes, turn signals, etc. They honk at each other to communicate, but not out of any road rage. More to say "hey, I'm coming!" Pedestrians, cars, buses minicabs and buffalo all share the street and for the most part they seem to make it work.

This picture was taken in moving traffic. Note the pedestrian deftly crossing RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. He somehow made it across while we were moving. Also note how many cars are in the road. This was a two-lane road, but somehow they managed to make it into a like 12 lane road.

India was awesome. It was great to see another part of the world. Expand my horizons. It's always good to be reminded that how I live my life is not the only way, and going to a different country takes care of that nicely.

F-in' Crazy

2007-10-22T12:22:00.001-07:00

truck-upclose
Originally uploaded by ingroid

I was driving Arlo home after Blake and Michelle's super-fantastic wedding spectacular this Saturday. We were driving down 4th towards Belltown and there was a big fancy truck driving down the road in front of us.
It had all kinds of lights on it, and the tailgate had two TV's showing WWE (wrestling) in unison. It was freakin' crazy.
We snapped some pictures of it, but due to the fact that we were laughing and freaking out, they were mostly blurring. This is the best shot of the bunch.
If you could please imagine a big burly truck with tv's with wrestlers posturing and posing blaring from the back. And then thank ole Glory, cuz this kind of thing could only happen in the good ole US of A.

scaredy cat

2007-10-11T12:21:00.001-07:00

Ingrid
Originally uploaded by ingroid

If you had a pair of red-blue 3d glasses, you'd be seeing me in 3d right now.

Yep, that's right, I've been busy with all things 3d. I took pictures of friends for their wedding in 3d. And I've been combing my 3d pics, organizing them and getting ready to do some sort of show of my work.

I didn't realize it, but I've been putting this off for a while. Out of fear that people wouldn't like my work. My photos might be too boring, too snapshot-y. And then there's the added pressure of technique with 3d photos. See, if they're not taken or mounted properly, then to the "experts" they don't look good.

I had a great talk with Theresa a couple months back. Theresa is an artist, and we discussed my fears around showing my work to others. She boiled it down really well. She asked if I cared about technique to such a huge degree, I said no. And then I said all I care about is what I like. And then it was like these clouds lifted. Clouds I didn't even know were there.

So anyway, short story long, I'm bringing my "cream o' the crop" Summer photos to the 3d camera club meeting this Saturday.
I'm toooooooootally nervous. I remember the last time I brought photos there. I thought they'd looked fine in my viewer, but when I saw them up on the big screen for the 3d slideshow they were really lopsided and hard to view. Everyone was polite, but they kinda sped past them without a lot of discussion. A few people mentioned some technical shortcomings (to be helpful, I think), but I think I just took it in as I suck as a 3d photographer and filed it away.

I still take 3d photos, but I rarely show them to the really good pros. I show them to friends and family who I trust, but that's about it.

So after talking to Theresa, I realized that I can and should show my stuff to broader groups of people. To me, a 3d photo is this beautiful jewel. It captures a time and place like no 2d photo can.

I have pictures of the San Juans, with green green water you could just dive into. Or a beautiful mountainside, or Crater Lake that makes you feel like you're on top looking down into the basin. So for me that's what my photos do. For someone else, I don't know. And I guess that's not something to worry about, eh?

I'm not going it alone on Saturday though. Ryan and Julie are probably coming with. I need some moral support, so this is a good thing. They are nerdy enough to not mind sitting in a room for 3 hours listening to people talk about apertures and stuff.

Wish me luck.

My Dinner with Ingy

2007-09-12T11:46:00.000-07:00

I had dinner with Ingy!

It was delicious! We went to Maneki in the ID. I'd heard of this restaurant from Sarah, but hadn't yet been able to go until now.

Ingy and I share the same name (his real name, my nickname) and that's how we first met each other a few years ago. He's currently living in Seattle after living in Taiwan for a while, so I got to catch up with him and see what's up. We talked about languages, betel nut stands and cos fashion.

I was feeling hungry and adventurous, so I got to try the Black Cod Collar (delicious) and the salmon egg sushi (salty-tasty, but the bursty feeling of each egg was a little disconcerting. The Avocado and Ponzu salad was totally tasty -- I've been thinking about it all day today.

Bath remodel is done

2007-09-08T07:35:00.000-07:00

After what seemed like a long time, my bathroom is all finished and I.Love.It.

Here's a before of the bathroom:

Note the cruddy vanity, the plastic-y walls, dingy floor and teeny-tiny shower/bath. Pretty much every time I set foot in the bathroom it felt dirty, and it didn't really matter how much I cleaned it.

And here's the bathroom now:

I took a shower last night and enjoyed the nice big kohler showerhead and the post-shower heated floor felt so nice.
The bath/shower actually extends out to the left behind the wall with the sink on it. It is awesome. The travertine tile is luscious to the touch. Yum.

And yay.

More bath remodel photos...

Kreepy Kat

2007-09-06T15:20:00.001-07:00

This robotic cat from Japan is at once cute/fluffy and very creepy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69AQNtnxji0

It kinda reminds me of Toonces when he drives off the cliff and has that weird expression on his face:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA4djg6ILxU

Congee is the new Pho...

2007-09-05T17:33:00.000-07:00

...and if it isn't, it should be.

I got back from Klamath Falls day before yesterday with what seemed like a bad flu/cold. I felt all achy and out of it.

By Tuesday (yesterday), it was in full swing. I was exhausted, feverish, and totally out-of-it. I had practically no appetite (definitely not my usual state). I had the day off, but my home was off-limits because the contractor was putting in my lovely bamboo flooring. So I slept in my car off-and-on (so weird, but true) and went to the movies to see 'War' (too violent for my tastes, but I like Jason Statham's growly whisper thing, and the plot was simple and easy for my fever-befogged mind to follow).

I went to bed at like 8, which is also not my usual bedtime. I writhed in bed for a while as the fever and piercing head/body ache rolled along, then finally went to sleep.

Today though I got up and actually felt pretty normal, but still not up for big meals or running around.

I skipped breakfast and had an early lunch of the most dreamy, delicious and simple food: congee. It's a hot rice porridge-like soup, savory, with bits of fresh grated ginger and spring onions. I got it with fish, then added some spicy sauce. It was total comfort food, and felt really good on my poor body that had been through the wringer the night before.

So note to all: congee is good stuff. Try it!

roller derby RULEZ

2007-08-22T10:25:00.001-07:00

CIMG4239
Originally uploaded by ingroid

Last weekend I went to see the Rat City Rollergirls for the first time. It was incredible. I loved the outfits, the attitude and the general spirit of the whole thing.

At first I didn't quite know what was going on. The rules and object of the game were kinda hazy. But then as things went along I started to get the gist of it (particularly thanks to Mel and Todd's explanation). By the end of the night I was cheering and shouting and way into it. The next day my throat was hoarse.

One aspect that is great is that each person on each team has a colorful name. Like Mona Lethal, Georgia O'Grief and PMS 24/7. Just great stuff.

During the halftime they had the Roller Derby Brats (a younger girl set ) come out and play. Their limbs seemed to be made of balsa wood, as they drifted around the rink. They didn't have the same breakneck, out for blood defensive maneuvers. One of them (mainly a jammer, who is the offensive position) was fantastic. She looked like she weighs about 60 pounds, but man could she blast through a wall of defense:

The Rollergirls are done for the season, but stay tuned for next season, cuz they totally rock.

Kickball Showdown

2007-08-02T15:19:00.001-07:00

I no longer play kickball, but I have friends that do, on the Westcoast Kickball League. I played a few years back, but I realized that I was actually not coordinated when it comes to the game. So I've left it up to the experts to make it happen.

One beautiful thing about the kickball league in Seattle is that tomfoolery is not only encouraged, it's expected. Part of this tomfoolery includes a pre-game taunt that in the past has included burning or breaking things, blasting rockets into the stratosphere, and intricate dance routines. The taunts range from high art to lowbrow (but very funny) humor. But until recently the taunts were on the field.

Now Ball Deep (the team I used to be on) and another team have taken it to cyberspace, and the results are totally awesome.

For tonight's game, Ball Deep and the Space Tractors are pitted against each other, and they brought their taunts before the game even has taken place. These videos are both really incredible. Space Tractor's one is super-cool:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dLQPY8lyEow

But my personal favorite is Ball Deep. Partly because you can hear me singing on the made-from-scratch rap song that accompanies the video (anything girly is me), and partly because my brother is on the video at one point droppin' some mad-dope rhymes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-HNZV3a_Ko

I can't wait to hear who wins tonight. After bringing these taunts to the table, there's probably going to be some serious kicball going down tonight.

old haiku

2007-07-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

I spent the morning today cleaning out my shed. It was stuffed to the brim with stacks of paper and junk in boxes. Some of it valuable, other bits literally trash. I bagged up all the trash, put it in my car and hauled it to the dump. this included dropping off a dozen cans of paint, an old kiddy pool, levelor blinds and moldy fabric pieces. yech.

I found some of my old journals and writing sealed up in a box and decided it needed to have a better home indoors. As I put the journals on a bookshelf, I thumbed through them. Stuff I'd written 10 years ago was right there, bringing back memories. Neat stuff.

At the same time, lately I've been really getting into learning photography from the masters, and checking out books from the library. It's gotten me thinking about what makes a great photo. For me, it's that certain something where in one single frame, you've frozen time and captured a moment. And part of that beauty is that you can sit and drink in this one moment in time, and not worry about all the other moments that are whizzing past you right now. You get to just let time stand still. It can create such a smooth peaceful feeling.

And this got me thinking about haiku. A haiku poem can be just like that. A temporal freeze-frame, but in words instead of picture. I have been writing some haikus again, and then today happened to come across some old ones from maybe like '99, I think? Here are a few from that time:

half-dead houseplant
shivering outside in cool November
put it out of its misery

the tamarisk on the corner
drips with fresh rain
always happy to see me

when we reach the place
where we both meet
we're silently grateful to each other

sagging cactus
reproaches me on the fridge
when I grab some ice cream

I'll post some of my new stuff if/when I write something blog-worthy.
I found some other stuff, too, which I'll probably be scanning and archiving, and maybe posting. Like old letters and pictures and stuff. Yay.

Durian in Burien

2007-07-15T19:06:00.001-07:00

Tamarind Pops
Originally uploaded by ingroid

Last weekend Mike showed Mel, Todd and I around Burien. I've lived here for several years now, and as it turns out I've only scratched the surface of all the hotspots. Mike is quite smitten with Burien. I like it alright, but after our day I really feel a new appreciation for this hidden gem of a town.

We kicked off "Burien Fest '07" by stopping at a Mexican restaurant for lunch. The food was gooooood! I had a pork tamale that was super-tasty. And the horchata and tamarind drink was deelish.

The restaurant had a little store attached to it, so we looked at interesting products. The bag I'm holding is tamarind poops...er...pops. Yum!

After lunch we stopped at a Polynesian restaurant/caterer. They sell Polynesian outfits, hot Polynesian food, plus nonperishables such as canned mutton, camp pie and "crack sandwich" (turns out it's just a flakey peanut butter cookie type thing).

Note the can that Todd is holding in the photo. One thing we realized in Burien is that pull or "expiration" dates have little actionable meaning. The can of coffee Todd had in his hand expired back in '04. Errr...yeccch.

We then went to Wayne's Fruit and Vegetable stand. I had never gone in to this place because I had assumed all they sold was, well, fruits and vegetables. And they do sell some reasonably priced, fresh and some very exotic produce. But they also sell other interesting things. Todd managed to get what might be an even more disgusting beverage than the 3 year old coffee: commando bear, an energy drink that should come with a complimentary insulin kit. Yikes.

Wayne's also sells crab spawn cakes and the most bad-ass lookin' salad dressing EVER:

We also tasted Durian pudding, which tastes as bad going down as it does burping it up later on. Mmm.

Here are more pics from the day if you'd like to peruse the beauty and mystery that is Burien:

http://flickr.com/photos/33682034@N00/tags/burienfest07/

Super-exclusive barber shop

2007-07-11T23:48:00.001-07:00

Osami Barber Shop
Originally uploaded by ingroid

Last winter I was walking past this one barber shop in the International District frequently. I had never noticed it before, but once I did I found it quite pleasing to the eye. I love the sign on top, and inside they have that real old-timey feel with solid barber chairs and all the barbers wear crisp pastel barber shirts and clean cut pants.

One day I noticed a sign on the door that said something like "no new customers." This seemed kind of odd to me. I mean, it's a barber shop. Usually they'd say something like "walk-ins welcome" or mayyybeee "by appointment only" if you're one of those fancy places. But to actually not allow any new customers at all? Wha? How is this possible?

I looked closer at the shop on that particular day, and one of the barbers gave me the stink eye. No joke. Also, I noticed that there were three barbers in there, and none of them had a customer to work on. So....what's up with that?

I started forming theories, as my active imagination tends to do. My first thought was it's some kind of a front. But for what?

Then I thought maybe it had a magic spell cast on it by someone long ago, and only the customers from that time that the hex or what ever was put on it can go there and get there hair cut. And if the customers go anywhere else, their hair grows back immediately. and the barbers can only cut those people's hair for the same reason, that any other customer that might walk into the barber shop will get a non-haircut or something. So maybe that's why they put up the sign?

This reminds me of this place that was near one of my apartments on Capital Hill. It had a clean, windowless exterior. I'd see well-dressed men walking up to the building, take a quick peek around to see who saw them, and slip in the front door. Once I was right behind a man who was walking in, and I got to get a further peek in and saw that the floor was highly polished and had a nice black and white check pattern going on. The walls were painted a muted earth tone and there were some dried elongated architectural looking flowers in a vase.

My first thought was this must be a safe house for spies. Only joking, or well, maybe half-joking. But other than that I didn't know what it could be for. No clue.

Then one day one of my friends said, oh, that place? It's a bath house. As in, a gay bath house where men do.....em...stuff with other men. And that made more sense than it being a super-secret modern decorated spy safe house.

I looked up Osami's barber shop and see one mention of it by someone who said it rocks. This was 3 years ago. Did they allow new customers then? Was that before the magic spell was placed on it?

Oh, and by the way, it totally looks like it would rock. If I was a guy I'd so want to go there and get a haircut and a shave. That would be sweet.

Tiley goodness

2007-07-04T08:44:00.001-07:00

CIMG3421
Originally uploaded by ingroid

I am about to embark on a bathroom remodel, which I have been looking forward to ever since I bought my house.

My bathroom is tiny, which can't be changed. But other features which have been annoying or downright insane can now be replaced. Like, in the winter time, the bathroom gets so cold that I have to turn the heater on before I use it. It's like it's literally an outhouse, it's that cold. The toilet has begun to rust at the bottom of the bowl, so sometimes I'll tell guests "that's not poo, it's rust," which is just a weird thing to have to say. The walls and bath enclosure are covered with cheap vinyl, which was installed with epoxy glue. How do I know? There are smudges of yellow glue crud here and there all over the place. Yech.

So needless to say, I'm totally excited about this remodel! I have been looking at tile and am probably going to go with travertine, which is a nice natural material and has lots of warm tones (I'm going for a "warm" look). So now I'm confused about which tiles to do though.

That's where you, dear reader, come in. Can you tell me which of the following tile combos you like? I'm doing a slightly darker tile on the floor, and am doing a tile wainscotting to about hip height in the lighter tile. So check it and let me know which you like! I need help!!

Mahogany/Durango Especial

Mahogany/Philadelphia

Moresco/Ivory Especial

Noce/Durango Especial

Noce/Sahara Gold

So, yeah, let me know what you think. It'd be good to get some different opinions going at this point. thanks!

too-short haircut

2007-06-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

I went to get my hair cut yesterday after letting it get kinda bushy for a few months. I hoped that this one lady who does a good job of cutting my hair was there, but alas she was not. The woman who cut my hair (let's call her Marcy), wasn't familiar with a rosemary's baby cut, nor a vidal sassoon cut or a pixie cut. So I resorted to looking up pictures in hairstyle books and pointing them out to her. Marcy got what I was going for, and she said she'd do about 1/2 an inch, and if I wanted it shorter she'd go from there. That sounded like a nice, safe approach, so I agreed and she began the cutting.

The first half of the hair cut was silent. I don't mind talking or not talking during hair cuts. If either I or the stylist have something to chat about, though, I'm open to talking. So about halfway in we started talking about short vs. long hair. I told her I like long hair, but just not on me. She said that she had very long hair last year and cut it all off to donate her hair to Locks of Love (the group that collects hair to make wigs for cancer patients). She said her boyfriend dumped her because of it. He didn't understand why she'd cut off all her hair to give to some person she didn't even know. She then proceeded to go off on said boyfriend, and didn't stop cutting my hair. She was on a roll, and was talking and cutting like there was no tomorrow. It ended up being very, very short. It kind of reminds me of when you bite your nails a bit too far to the quick. I have naturally curly hair, so my bangs are up around my hairline right now. Yikes.

And she just kept on talking about this ex beau.
I finally got her to put the scissors down, saying, ok, yeah, that looks good, I think we're done here. Marcy stopped and I paid her and left.

Once I got home, the super-short cut started to grow on me. I am wearing big clunky earrings to offset how short the hair is, though.
So my advice to any stylists out there is please, please don't style hair when you're angry. Don't do it.

Virginia, ah

2007-06-14T07:14:00.000-07:00

After leaving Brooklyn on Sunday, I went by train to visit my Aunt Jane in Virginia for a week. It was nice to ride the train down and just chill out, stretch out and watch the countryside roll by. Oh, I had bought a dozen bagels before leaving Brooklyn, and they smelled something awful of garlic. I love garlic, but even I was overpowered. I stashed them in the above bins, and the smell still clung to the cabin. After a while my nose fortunately tuned it out, and hopefully the other passengers did the same. As I was getting off, I picked up the bag and the smell resumed, only this time it was attached to me. I felt like apologizing, but instead I held my head up high and walked out with my stinky bag of bagels. Oh, and by the way, they were delicious.

I got into town in the evening, Jane picked me up and so began my stay. It was rainy that first night, and Jane jokingly thanked me for bringing some Seattle weather with me. Ha! After that night, the rest of my stay was mainly sunny and warm.

My plan in visiting Jane was mainly to relax and not to do too much sightseeing or the like. I got to visit with Jane, read, take walks in her forest or down to her pond with the dogs, and meet some of her friends (who are interesting, neat people).

The day before I left, we went to see Dick's new house and had a brunch with the family. I got to see family I haven't seen in a long while, which was really good. Here's a pic with my aunt, uncles and me:

I also got to hang out with Nipper again. I really enjoyed meeting her in February, and so it was nice to pick up where we left off and get some quality tummy-scratching time with her.

Mick and Bean, Jane's two horses, were lovely to behold. I am a bit in awe of how big they are, and how beautiful:

I ended up listening to country music whenever I was in the car (I guess that's the only radio station that comes in too well) so I enjoyed listening to songs like "Honkeytonk Badonkadonk" (a song praising some cowgirl's ample derriere) and some song about a high maintenance woman don't want no maintenance man. Funny stuff.

Now I'm back in Seattle, enjoying the rest of the week off.

Brooklyn, sweet Brooklyn

2007-06-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

Ah, I just got back from a great trip to the other coast. First I went to Brooklyn for the weekend to visit John, Sam and meet little Oliver. What a great time.
The cab ride in I was feeling a little jetlaggy, and it took a bit of a while, but then I was richly rewarded as we drove into Park Slope. Wow. Beautiful old brownstones, with postage-stamp yards decked out to the nines. John and Sam's place is super-charming, and has tall ceilings and all these little touches (like curved ceilings, and a window above the bathroom, and stuff like that).
We walked everywhere, which was nice because I had hoped to get some exercise but thought I wouldn't be able to being in the city. Turns out peeps walk everywhere, driving is none too common. I think I've been living in neighborhoodia a bit too long. Here's a picture of John and Sam en promenade:

Oh, and here is a totally cute picture of Oliver doing this weird face that John said he'd just started doing. It's so funny. It must feel good to do.

Oliver is a really neat baby, I'm so glad I got to meet him. He's got great fashion sense, and thanks to his parents he'll also grow up with good manners and impeccable taste in music. He already seems to be showing his personality, too, which is sweet and sensitive with a hint of wry wit.

On Saturday we went to the Brooklyn Botanical garden and walked around the park, which is huge. John and Sam told me people enjoy the park like a big backyard, since most don't have backyards of their own. People were barbecuing, playing games, walking, picnicking. It was neat, I liked the energy of seeing all these people in one spot, doing their own things surrounded by other people doing the same.

And here's Sam and I at the Japanese garden witin the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. As Sam put it, we are so BFF.

I heart Lost

2007-05-24T14:31:00.001-07:00

CIMG2519
Originally uploaded by ingroid.

I went to a Lost season finale viewing party last night and brought dharma initiative peanut butter and celery sticks.
I love Lost, and of course they provided endless cliffhangers, they just kept racking them up throughout the show. So deliciously tantalizing. So evil. Sigh.

first hike o' the season

2007-05-09T14:46:00.001-07:00

CIMG2451
Originally uploaded by ingroid.

Jodi and I went to Cougar Mountain on Sunday. It was my first hike of the season, and was a nice gentle hike to get things started.

The weather was pretty ideal as far as comfort goes. Overcast, no rain. It was a little blah for my tastes though. As we walked along the gently sloping trail, I had the sense that we were in no-time land. That it was permanently 1PM. It was almost a little unsettling.

But that had little to do with where we were, I think that was just more the weather in general giving that overcast funk to everything.

We got as far as this waterfall and had a snack. At one point this family wandered by us and the little girl asked if Jodi's dog ate mud. She asked with true curiosity. It was the kind of question that only a child could ask. If an adult asked it, you'd think something was really off about them. That's why I like kids. They ask these really crazy questions, and you answer them in all seriousness. So cute.

That same family went up the trail a bit, then turned back down and told us there was a cougar up the trail. I guess they don't call it Cougar Mountain for nothing.

As we were climbing into the car, I saw the most beautiful bushes with these pretty flowers on them. I snapped a picture to maybe find out what they are. If you know, drop me a line!

Fashion Show!

2007-04-22T22:48:00.001-07:00

CIMG2378
Originally uploaded by ingroid.

On Friday Carol and I went to the Art Institute's annual fashion show. My friend Gretchen co-produced it, so I wanted to cheer her on and also see some neat fashion and stuff.

I've been thoroughly enjoying ANTM this year, so I was hoping to see some catfights or the like, but no such luck. Everyone was very well behaved. :-)

Carol and I got there a few minutes early, but most of the seats were already taken. There were, however, quite a few reserved seats sitting unused. It seemed really silly to me that about half of the people in attendance had to stand. Particularly Carol and I. So we decided to do the only sensible thing and crash the VIP seating area. We got great seats one row away from the catwalk. And the people we were impersonating never showed up, so it was good that we indulged.

As for the fashion show itself, it was great! Lots of cool clothes, some more art than everyday wear, and a few that were real "think pieces" (as in, I'd have to think long and hard before wearing that). A few of the models became my favorites. The one pictured above was really pretty and I loved her hair. It was slightly teased and just had a nice flow to it. But my all-time fave model from the night is this little filly:

You might not be able to tell from the photo, but she's just got this awesome confident vibe. Not quite bitchy, more poised and just plain cool.

Here are more photos from the evening:

tags/aifashionshow2007/show/

There's another fashion show coming to Seattle in August (8/2). It benefits the Northwest Sarcoma Foundation. If you're interested in going, let me know! We could get a whole posse to go and enjoy some fashion goodness.

Carol and I were also thinking of jetting to Milan or perhaps Tokyo sometime soon to hit the fashion shows there, so if you're interested, do drop me a line.

backyard neighbors update

2007-04-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

I'm WFH'ing (working from home) today, sitting on my back porch typing away and smelling the sweet smell of freshly mown spring grass. Ahhh. I looked at the house facing my backyard, and realized that I'm not hearing loud music. Puzzled, I realize I haven't heard it in a few weeks. This is the house that non-stop had loud parties and annoying, bass-y music coming out of it all the freakin' time. (See previous post neighbor stuff)

Then I notice that the creepy boxing dummy they had in the yard is gone. And, in fact, the backyard is entirely cleared of their stuff.

A dark blue van pulls up and two men cheerfully get out of it. I ask them about the house, and they tell me it's been sold and they were finishing up fixing it up. YAY!

So, hopefully some nice, non-loud people will buy it and putter around quietly, enjoying their little corner of the world (thus allowing me to enjoy mine). Yay.

Pregancy Pics

2007-03-30T09:27:00.001-07:00

heart
Originally uploaded by ingroid.

I haven't been very bloggy lately, but I _have_ been doing stuff. One of my favorite things that I've done in the past few weeks is taking pregnancy pictures of my friends Heather and Laura.

Heather was due any day when I took these pictures. It was so fun to work with them. They were really open to trying out different shots, styles, lighting, etc.

This was my first major indoor photography shoot. Some things went wrong (like I couldn't get my viewmaster camera to work, I forgot a back-up battery for my digital camera, so couldn't use it, etc.). But I had brought tons of black 'n white film, which was intended to be the core of our shoot, so it worked out well.

I want to do more photography, particularly of people and living things. I've been doing photography mainly of non-moving things (like scenery, statues, etc.), so it's exciting to move into trying to capture the moods and emotions of actual people.

Here's another one of my fave shots from the bunch.:

Heather gave birth to Alex 10 days ago. He's totally adorable. Yay!

Winter Break

2007-02-19T14:48:00.001-08:00

CIMG1968
Originally uploaded by ingroid.

Kris, my niece and nephew and I just got back from Virginia for a trip to visit our Aunt Jane.

She lives on acres of beautiful land, has dogs galore, plus three cats, 2 horses and a donkey. We hung out, had delicious dinners and I got to take long walks in the woods.

We also got to see the farm in Middleburg where Aunt Jane, my mom, and my uncles grew up. My Uncle Dick is building a house on a portion of the land and it looks over rolling hills. Gorgeous.

Jane also treated us to a facial on one day, and a massage on another, so it got to the point of relaxation where Kris and I had a hard time remembering what day it was. We went shopping in Sperryville, and I found this clock really expressed my inability to remember that time existed:

I started missing Rama, and I think Jane's cute Jack Russell named Nipper picked up on that.

After a while she started poking her head in at night or in the morning for a little snuggle. She was a great surrogate Rama until I could get back home. Nipper is also totally adorable in her own right, equal parts sweetness and piss 'n vinegar. Perfect.

I got back yesterday, and I'm now nursing a cold. The weather here is nice and mild, and Rama has been glued to me, purring, making muffins on my lap every chance he can get. Ah, it's good to be home.

Project 365, neato!

2007-01-14T18:31:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Ryan, I heard about a neat project called Project 365 where you take one picture per day and document a year of your life in photos. Neat!
I'm a little late, it being mid-January and all, but better late than never, eh?

So far I've taken two days' worth (one photo each) and put them on Flickr.
One thing I'm confused about is how to be able to view them sequentially from oldest to newest. Flickr did this weird thing where it's showing the newest one as the oldest, or vice versa, or what ever, it's annoying. If anyone knows what I'm talking about and can let me know how to set the photos up to view them in the right order (other than clicking backwards) I'd mucho appreciate it.

This is a creepy snowman I found on a walk I took around the neighborhood yesterday. He's kind of burly _and_ he has an icicle shoved through his head. Yikes!

Here's today's photo, where I went grocery shopping at Trader Joe's. I bought the multi-seed tortilla flat bread and enjoyed it with some delicious mediterranean hummus. Yummm.

Is anyone else doing this photo fun project? If so, I want to see!

resolute

2007-01-13T08:26:00.000-08:00

I never really go in for the new year's resolution thing, but I gotta say that there is something to it. Or, at the very least there's something to a new year, a clean slate, a fresh start. And that this new beginning starts in the darkest time of the year doesn't hurt. I find winter to be an excellent time for reflection. Sure, this can end up balancing out towards darker thoughts, but all in all it's an excellent time to think about what really matters and what is just so much fluff.

In lieu of an actual resolution, lately I've been thinking about things that no longer work for me. No longer serve me. I've been trying this thing on where I ask myself if I'm doing something out of habit or impulse, or because it's what I really want in this moment. I've been trying it on, laying it over decisions like a template. I'm enjoying the results. So far this week it's gotten me to a soccer game in the snow on Wednesday (which was totally fun, though we lost horribly) and it's also gotten me in the house for 2 days straight listening to great music, watching 'Dawn of the Dead' and doing some writing. Yay.

I'll be venturing out later today for a friend's birthday dinner, but I'm almost loathe to go out at all. I imagine if I wait until this evening for my first face-to-face contact with humans I'll be a little rusty, so I should probably at least go to my 3d camera club meeting this afternoon to get some social activity. Otherwise by tonight I might communicate by banging the table and throwing sugar packets across the room.

my lungs are [relatively] healthy

2007-01-05T16:07:00.000-08:00

I went back for my second CT scan of my lungs since September to get a follow-up. My last CT scan of the lungs showed that there were little teeny-tiny specks which could be from my [previous] years of smoking, from just random bad air or something, or they could be the start of lung cancer.

The only way to see if it was lung cancer was to check back in a few months and see if the size of the specks had changed. I went back on Wednesday and they did the scan. I was kind of nervous. After going through the surgery and the radiation and the waiting and waiting to find out about my arm, there was still the chance that this thing was cancer. And so getting this CT scan only to find out that the specks had changed would be very very bad.

I decided to be bold and ask to see the scan once they'd done it. It was quite cool! It was neat to see my lungs, see the specks (which seemed kind of big, actually, yeesh). And then I got kind of worried. Because they didn't have the other scans to compare them to.

So my advice to those who are getting testing is to ask lots of questions throughout, and be pushy about looking at your scans and stuff. If nothing else, it's interesting. And you or your insurance is paying a bundle for this stuff, so may as well get the full amount of information that you can, eh?

So yeah, I got kind of anxious. I called the doctor's office and he very nicely checked the before-and-after right then and there and told me there was no change. I didn't even realize that I was still anxious until I heard that news. Now I really do feel like things are going to be okay. In fact, every day really is a gift. That's how it feels. And every day really is.

Mt. Baker, ooh la la

2006-12-31T08:44:00.002-08:00

I just got back from a trip to Mt. Baker with my mom and step-dad, George. We drove up on Thursday morning and got back yesterday. We went there to do some snowshoeing and to enjoy the scenery.
We stayed at the Mountaineers lodge with about 60 other people. The lodge is pretty big and has great big windows to allow you to take in the views. Everyone sleeps in dorm-style bunks, and we ate breakfast and dinner together in a dining hall. The last time I went to the lodge I was 10 I think, so it was neat to go back and see it. Most of the times we went up there was during the summer, so it was also cool to see the familiar terrain under a thick layer of snow. It was totally different.
We went snowshoeing for a bit once we got in on Thursday. This was my first time. I can definitely say I'm glad I started going to the gym, because it's quite a workout. It's also beautiful scenery that you wouldn't get to see otherwise as you're walking on your duck flipper snowshoes.
On the second day it was really windy, which kicked up the snow.

The snow felt like tiny needles poking at our skin. The views were still breathtaking, and we got a good 3 hours out there, but decided to pack it in once we saw the wind wasn't going to die down.

Oh, and the views of the sunrise both days were gorgeous. There was no tv, no radio, nothing to detract from the beauty of nature. So in the mornings people would get some hot tea or cocoa, read for a bit, then watch the sunrise through the tall windows.

what ever happened....

2006-12-21T15:20:00.001-08:00

.....to yellow eyeshadow?

The last time yellow eyeshadow was in style, I was about 13. I remember buying some crazy colored yellow eyeshadow and blue mascara. I tried to get up the gumption to wear it. And all those teen magazines with their quizes on "how wild do you dress?" goaded me on. But I never quite got up the guff to do it.

Now I'm older, I don't care as much. And truth be told I probably wouldn't wear yellow eye shadow. But I'd like to have the option. Hmm. Maybe now that straight leg jeans are back in style (which is like, the worst cut of jeans ever) yellow eyeshadow will follow suit and make its long-awaited comeback.

and....done

2006-12-21T10:45:00.000-08:00

I went to my last radiation appointment today, yay! My arm is totally messed up right now. The skin got bad pretty rapidly this week, so it's good that it's over. They say it will get a little worse even after radiation, and then it will start healing.

I feel like I really achieved something. Like I've been holding my breath all these weeks, and now I can relax. I met some neat people during treatment, both technicians and patients. The patients I met were mainly women going in for breast cancer radiation. Women who are funny and vibrant and fighting for their lives. We bonded over the aforementioned parking problems, and also over how things were going with our treatment, and just day-to-day stuff.
I felt a weird misplaced guilt that I don't have cancer and they do. But I was still in there for radiation, so dude we were in the same boat in that way. Shrug.
Oh, and there was one woman who drove me totally crazy. She was this petite thing who reminded me of Pig Pen from the Peanuts, but she had a cloud of martyr-ish anger (instead of Pig Pen's clean dirt) hovering around her. She drove me nuts. I mean, dude, we're all going through radiation here. What makes her so special? Everything was a big inconvenience for her. Like it wasn't for everyone else?
But other than that, I'm feeling relief at not having to go to radiation. Who knows, I might feel anxious at the free-fall of no treatment, of waiting to do more tests in January and just not knowing if the diagnosis will change. But for now I just feel calm and peace.

Oh, and my new physical therapist positively ROCKS. She knows about massage and yoga and is giving me a more holistic approach to getting my arm back in shape. She's cool, too. She's someone I'd enjoy talking to at a party or in some other non-treatment setting.

I'm glad it's Christmas time, and time for things to slow down and unwind. I'm glad that it's a time for friends and family to gather and enjoy each other's company. Yay.

weekend of wonders

2006-12-17T17:33:00.000-08:00

The power went out late Thursday night during the crazy wind storm. It came back on early yesterday morning, and in the meantime I used candles and plenty of blankets. I gotta say, electricity good, lack of it bad and cold.

Fortunately, Josh was in town, so Matt and I were out of the house so we could enjoy being in warm cozy places (like my car, and the rebar and the movie theater and such).

On Friday night we went to Dina Martina's Christmas Show. It was fun and sweet and crazy. The next day we met up and had breakfast at 611 Supreme. Yum. Then we took Josh to see Borat. Matt and I had already seen it, but we knew that Josh *needed* to see this movie. He's been living in Holland all these years, so we needed to expose him to some American "cul-chah."

After seeing Dina and Borat in less than 24 hours, we recited our favorite phrases, peppering our normal everyday conversation with fun words and expressions we'd picked up.

Later, after some indian food, we went to see an all-ages show featuring Speaker Speaker. I have become such a homebody, and it's hard to pry me out of my home routine for an evening of live rock music these days. But I really enjoyed it! I liked how, it being all-ages, there was no crazy drinking going on. People seemed less sour, more happy and excited and dancy. They were there for the music, to enjoy it.
First off, meeting Speaker Speaker was lovely. Matt does booking for them. It was great to meet them -- they're such nice boys, funny and clever. And they put on a power-packed set, to boot.
As for the rest of the show, I had a good time. One of my fave bands of the evening was 'Boat.' I liked their solid lyrics and melodies and they seemed to be having as good a time playing their songs as I did listening to them. Neato.

It's Sunday now. I'm at home, it's the evening. Tonight I do the fun task of tossing everything from my fridge and freezer and unwinding from the weekend's joys.

Why, you might ask?

2006-12-15T14:25:00.000-08:00

Because I'm EVIL

stuff 'n things

2006-12-07T10:09:00.000-08:00

So things are going pretty well. I'm not feeling tired anymore. I'm full of pip, actually. Last night I played soccer, and at first I was really sucking. I'm out of shape, haven't run in a couple of weeks.
I decided to have a PMA (positive mental attitude) and during the second half I tried to go to the ball, to play as though I could really do something. I played a much better second half, and I think that dose of PMA was the reason.

Last weekend I got inspired to make a holiday mix. I went to a couple thrift stores and bought a TON of vinyl christmas records. I drank coffee, danced around the house, and hand-picked super-cheery, super-cheesy songs to put on the mix. The end result is a happy compilation called "Christmas Crackle." I've sent it off to some out-of-towner friends (those who I have an address). If you want a copy (either in-town or out-of-town) lemme know and I'll give you one. I "heart" spreading holiday cheer.

OK, now a confession. I am avoiding going back for another visit to my physical therapist. I haven't gone in two weeks, and was supposed to go this week but I neglected to set up an appointment.
My PT, bless him, reminds me of Michael from The Office. Take our first meeting. He spent the first half of our visit telling me about his glory days of sports in college. I was this close to going off on him when he finally got around to talking about my arm. He has no filter between his brain and his mouth, so a lot of what he says is a) about himself or b) offensive and/or not-funny jokes (including sexist ones). For a while I was assigned to a junior PT who I really liked. She was normal and we have the same taste in TV and such. But now I am assigned back to him.

How can I describe it? OK, to illustrate my point, one day I showed up early to an appointment. I was sitting in the waiting room. His current patient pulled him aside to talk to him as privately as possible (which ended up being right next to me). She was a sweet elderly black woman. She proceeded to tell him that the thing he'd said at their last session was incredibly offensive and that any African American would have found it so, and that if she had been of a different temperament she would have asked for him to be fired. He listened, but didn't seem to really get it. He apologized, but as soon as he did it was as though it hadn't even happened.

OK, as I'm writing I think I'm realizing I don't like this guy, and need to stop seeing him. My avoiding going to see him has the potential to affect my arm recovery. Wow, thanks blog universe for helping me see the light. That's weird! :-)

jerkasaurus rex

2006-11-21T20:06:00.000-08:00

I drove to my radiation appointment today, and found that all 11 spots designated for radiation patients were taken. I was kind of taken aback, because usually when I drive there are several spots available. These are special radiation treatment parking spots. They don't cost money and they give you a bright green parking pass to use when parking there. They're just a few steps from the Swedish Cancer Institute, too. I drove around a couple of times, hoping that someone might finish their appointment and leave.

A few minutes later, once I gave up and decided to park in the pay lot, I saw this guy coming from the opposite direction (not coming from the direction of the Swedish Cancer Institute). He hopped in his car that was parked in one of the radiation treatment spots. I walked over to his car, gave him a sweet smile and a wave. As he pulled down his window, I asked him if he was getting radiation treatment. He looked at the sign that said "radiation treatment parking" and said "no." I then proceeded to chew him out for parking in a fucking radiation treatment parking spot, which means making someone who needs that spot (like, um, me) walk from free/cheap street parking further away or pay for parking. He was taken aback, but also kind of like whatever. What a fucking ass.

Other than feeling a bit tired, I'm not in too bad shape. But some of the people I see in the waiting room with me are not so lucky. They're exhausted, run-down, sick. And they need all the conveniences they can get. It pisses me off that this jerk decided to put his comfort above someone's health like that. Hopefully my words helped him to wake up, or at least will deter him from doing that again. Lame.

stayin' warm, lookin' cool

2006-11-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

So I've been thinking about simplifying things, removing the unnecessary and paring things down to what's truly important. My ipod died the other day, and at first I got really angsty about it, but then I realized that a) I didn't want to spend a ton of time figuring out how to get it repaired and b) I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a new one. Both a) and b) meant time out of my life that I didn't want to give up. (Money=time spent at work).

So I've been thinking about other parts of my life where my spending is unconsciously out of control for no reason. Like food. So I've been bringing my lunch on most days, which are more nutritious than eating out. And I have mostly stopped buying lattes and now drink herbal tea or work-brewed coffee in a real mug instead of paper cups. And I'm taking the bus most days instead of driving. These things help my bank account, plus tend to help the environment a bit, too. Which makes me happy.

So then I turn to look at my home. November is here, and it's getting pretty cold. I have electric heating at my house, which can be kinda spendy.

I investigated whether I could get a gas line put into my house last year, but I called the gas company and they said it would cost about 20,000-30,000 since the gas line ends at the other end of my street.

I love heat. I love warmth. But I also love not shelling out a lot of money for heating bills. So I've taken to wearing sweaters and thick socks these days to avoid putting the heat on. But the one area that gets affected is my nose. I was talking to Matt and Josh about this the other day, and joking that I should just buy a ski mask and wear it around the house. But my worry there is that the neighbors might see me walking around my house in a ski mask and think someone's robbing the place. I then proceeded to pull up a picture of ski masks that is truly frightening:

Then I found out that you don't need to wear a whole ski mask to protect your nose from the cold, you can just wear a nose warmer:

Is it just me, or is a nose warmer kind of obscene? Something about it just seems very wrong. On the other hand, it just might do the job. Hmmmm.

Don't be surprised if these show up in your stocking this year from yours truly....

ze updatez

2006-11-14T12:44:00.000-08:00

So last week I went to the self-defense class. It was good! I learned how to get out of several grabs, and we practiced yelling and such. This was one of the few times when yelling "Fuck off, get the fuck away from me!" earns you an A+ with the teacher.

I started radiation last Thursday. So far, so good. It's really quick and I am not feeling any effects yet. Basically, I go to the office and change into a robe. Then I sit in the waiting room and read a magazine or look at the fish in the aquarium. The tea selection is pretty good (Tazo), or I might have a cup of water.

The waiting room is monitored via camera, so they know when I'm there. I don't have to check in. It's kinda high tech, and kinda weird. Then the radiation technician walks into the waiting room and escorts me to the radiation room when they're ready for me.

I lie down in the same position I was in during the CT scan (left arm up over my head). They kept a mold of my arm position, so I slip my arm into that mold and it fits perfectly. They measure my arm, body and head position, then make sure the table is at the correct height and distance. If it's even slightly off, I'll get radiation in the wrong spot.

They leave the room and the radiation machine gets positioned above me. I hear it go on, it makes a slight buzzing sound while it's giving the radiation. This lasts for about 30 seconds, then they move the radiation machine underneath me, and give a dose to the other side of my arm. If they don't give equal doses from both sides, then I won't get evenly exposed, and the tumor could return.

So far, so good. As for my arm, it is doing well. I can move it without stiffness, and I'm lifting weights and doing stretches (thanks to physical therapy) to keep it strong and limber.

CT's and waiting rooms

2006-11-03T10:48:00.000-08:00

ingy-ct
Originally uploaded by ingroid.

Here's a picture of me at yesterday's radiation simulation. Note my non-happy facial expression and awkward arm position.

The thing about the CT scan machine is that it is used prior to radiation treatment, and you are forced to fit onto a long and narrow board in order to fit through the donut shape of the CT machine.

But the radiation treatment itself doesn't require this. In fact, they tell me you're in a wide open room and the radiation machine can move around in any angle at all. I really think they should come up with a more comfie machine to do the initial scans. It seems annoying the way they currently have it set up.

Before yesterday's appointment I was sitting in the waiting room. They told me I didn't have to slip into my robe yet, and so I sat there in my street clothes and started knitting. A few chairs down was a man in his robe with his wife, who was comforting him. He looked sad and uncomfortable. Then, a few minutes later he got up and came back in his street clothes. He looked completely different, more human. Here's what he looked like before:

A few minutes later they asked me to change into my robe. I did, and immediately I felt like a PATIENT. Instead of a person. I thought about it, and decided that they shouldn't offer people sterile boring hospital robes, but instead snazzy happy robes.

I sketched up a few designs:

Here's a woman's robe I'd like to see them hand out. It has those snazzy feathers at the cuffs and bottom, like the ones that Mrs. Roper wore. And she's wearing bunny slippers and an elegant turban. Tres chic.

Here's a man's robe. It's actually a lovely (non-)smoking jacket, made a little longer for modesty. And it comes with a white-tipped cane. See how dapper he looks?

Maybe my ideas will never get off the ground, but it's fun to dream.

Radiation still a go

2006-11-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

After looking at the pathology report, my team o' doctors have decided I should go ahead with the radiation. On a scale of 1 to 4, 1 being mild cancer, 4 being extreme cancer, I'm a 0 to 1, mostly on the 0 side.

But even if I was a zero, they say they'd still want me to get the radiation because the margins of the surgery were pretty tight (since it was in my arm), so any lingering tumor cells might still be hanging out ready to build up another one.

Today I went in for another simulation, which is where they position your arm and scan you to make sure that they're going to radiate just the necessary area, and nowhere else.

It, again, hurt like a sumbitch. Last time I was all nice and sweet. I was still nice this time, but I decided to complain, telling them it hurt. I did this pretty much every time they came into the room. No one could do much about it. I needed to be in the right position, which meant being in a very awkward position where my shoulder blade felt like it would pop out of myback, but it felt nice to just kvetch a bit.

Next week I start the radiation (on Wednesday). I'm at work now, so I guess I should hop to it. More on the fun details later.

Dx = not cancer

2006-10-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

I got the call from Dr. F. (the surgical oncologist) just now. He called me with the lab results, and according to the pathology report, I do not have cancer.

Wow.

All signs pointed to it:

* Two MRI's showed weird tissue in the mass
* The mass was very large

The report called it an "atypical lypomatous tumor with spindle cell features and myxoid stroma." I guess that's why the MRI showed up with the weird tissue results?
I asked Dr. F. if there was a chance that it's cancer, and he said yes, but it's incredibly small. Wow. He also said though that I'd be getting tested for a while and monitored closely to make absolutely sure.

I'll be talking to Dr. B. (the radiation oncologist) probably tomorrow to find out what the next steps are. I might still end up getting radiation to make sure that the (now) non-cancerous lump doesn't return.

I want to thank everyone for your support, thoughts and prayers. I've felt the good vibes for many weeks now, and it really has held me up through this.

I think I'm going to go now and celebrate. Or take a nap. This whole thing has been a little exhausting.

kickin' a$$

2006-10-23T11:20:00.000-07:00

My plan is to be back in shape for Spring soccer. So I'm planning various activities to stay in shape (and maybe be in even better shape!) for soccer in the springtime.

One activity involves simply walking more. I've been taking the bus and walking to and from the bus stop, trying to take the long way if possible. And walking up the stairs at work is good, too.
And there's the fun running with the soccer ball up and down a field (with or w/o obstacle course). Kinda fun, but can be repetitive after a while.

Once/if I start radiation, running might not be too fun (because of having to bend my elbow), so I bought a jump rope. I tried it out last night and it was super-fun. I got totally winded and had to take breaks, but it was fun doing different moves. And what an inexpensive workout. Just a few bucks for a jump rope and you're set.

Since I'm taking the bus _and_ since it's getting darker out these days, I decided it would be a good idea to take a women's self-defense class. I don't live in the bestest neighborhood, and besides, even if I did it's just good to know this stuff.

I took a women's kung fu class years ago, and I don't remember any of the moves. It seemed more geared towards getting people into kung fu, and less into a "top 10 moves that stop an attacker in their tracks." The class I'm going to take seems more geared towards a bullet point view of here are the moves and how to do them. I like that.

If anyone wants to take it with me, let me know, too! There are still spots available. Here's the link if you're interested:

www.homealive.org

Pickle Surprise

2006-10-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

I can't stop watching this video. It's Sid & Marty Krofft-tastic. It's a feast for the eyes. It's at once creepy and oddly familiar.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NwEt6doEglA

Thanks to Arlo for sending it to me, and thus setting off the cycle of me watching it repeatedly.

updates 'n stuff

2006-10-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the radiation oncologist (Dr. B) to do the radiation simulation. Basically, the radiation tech people had me lie back and positioned my arm in different ways to see which way would work best during my radiation treatment.

It's important to get the same positioning each time, so that I get radiation exactly where I need it, and nowhere else. The position we settled on was my arm up over my head. I stayed like that for over 30 minutes, and they made marks on my arm and ran me through the CAT scan machine. I couldn't move an inch. Not even my toes or my other arm or anything. It got to be incredibly painful in my shoulder, but I still couldn't move. At the very end, one of the technicians was about to give me some tattoos on my arm. She was going about it very nicely and gingerly and I told her to give them to me as quickly as possible so I could get out of this incredibly painful position. She was really nice and was like, "oh you don't want me to say 1-2-3 beforehand to get you prepared?" I was like, no, just do it, I'm alreay in pain here. She gave me the tattoos and I didn't flinch. It actually felt good as it got my mind off the shoulder pain. Ha!

Looks like I start radiation probably next week. It will last 7 weeks, 5 days a week. I might be a little tired and get a sunburn type thing in my arm. Those are the two main side-effects.

After that I met with the medical oncologist (Dr. L), who I hope not to spend much time with at this point. He was really nice (all the doctors I'm seeing are really nice and smart and good). As the medical oncologist, though, his main focus is for people whose cancer has spread to other parts of the body. There's a risk this has spread to the lungs, and if it has that's where he comes in. We discussed things, and I started asking about my friggin' lab results. I had the surgery on 9/15, and the pathology report still hasn't come back. As it turns out, my tumor has gone from Seattle to Boston, and it's now being looked at in Cleveland! My tumor has officially travelled more than I have this year. It sounds like I'll hear the results "any day now" so that's good. I'm feeling positive about the possible results. And if it's not-so-good, then I can deal with it as it comes.

Later yesterday evening I had the supreme pleasure of dining with Matt at Stellar Pizza in Georgetown. Oh my god, what tasty pizza! It's really good stuff. The crust is good, the sauce has a nice spiciness to it. That's some good pizza.

Matt and I were talking about my lucky tumor going to Boston, but then neither of us was that jealous of it going to Cleveland. I mean, what's to do in Cleveland? Matt mentioned the rock 'n roll hall of fame, and I was wondering why they chose Cleveland? As it turns out, there is a reason: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_and_Roll_Hall_of_Fame
Who knew?

fish 'n stuff

2006-10-10T16:42:00.000-07:00

My friend Joel fulfilled one of his dreams the other day. What might be every Nor'westerners dream, to make a fish latte. For the delicious, frothy details, see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45382703@N00/sets/72157594320996182/

In other news, my site is now being advertised (through my super-awesome high-power connections). Please don't click through, but do check out the following:

1) do a google search for ingypants
2) notice the advertisements mentioned on the right-hand side (but don't click it!)

I wrote the ad copy myself. The character restriction inspired it. The first draft made a little more sense, but in some ways the final product makes even more.

okeydoke

2006-10-09T12:27:00.000-07:00

Progress! In what seems like a very short time, I've regained much of the use of my left arm. The main things that are still missing are flexibility (it's sore and can't move very quickly in any direction) and strength (I'm still not able to exert more than 5 pounds of force).

I can walk and clean things and drive and best of all I can run! Over the weekend I went to a local school and did some soccer drills on their grassy field. It felt so good to actually be active. It has been weeks since I've run around and felt the blood pumping and felt that clean sweat from a good workout.

I can't play on the soccer team yet though, because the arm strenght isn't there, and also when Rama jumps up on me and jostles my arm, I can really feel the pain, so I know there's still a lot of healing that needs to be done yet.

Also, I'm still waiting to hear back from the lab results. It's been over 3 weeks now, so my doctor is putting some nice but needed pressure on them to send the results back. It'll just be nice to know, and have it official. There's 99% chance that it's cancer, and 1% chance that it's not. Not great odds, but still, it would be nice to know the results so I can know for sure, one way or the other.

Yesterday I went to the Bodies exhibit. I was kind of on the fence about it, because there is some controversy surrounding the bodies that are featured. I decided to go, and to thank the bodies for teaching me.
I'm really glad I went. It was really well done, and some of the stuff was amazing. Like, they figured out a way to isolate just the blood vessels and remove the rest of the tissue from the arm and leg, so you got to see the blood vessels as they really sit in the body. Incredible. If you're thinking of going, I highly recommend it.

must-have products

2006-10-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

cheez-markerz
Originally uploaded by ingroid.

While down in Klamath Falls over Labor Day weekend, I picked up a few must-have items from the Goodwill. Numero uno being two packs of cheese markers. These are a party essential. No more mixing up brie and camembert, velveeta and government surplus cheese. And what's more, they're reusable!

Another useful tool is the crumb sweeper. I had never witnessed the crumb sweeper in action, or even knew of its existence, until Matt and I went to a decidedly fancy schmancy restaurant in August.

We didn't mean to go to one that was this fancy, but somehow there we were. The food _was_ delicious. And before the dessert/coffee course, the waiter guy cleared our plates, then came back with a teeny tiny hand broom and dustpan and swept the table!! It was just amazing. And weird.

Anyhow, just a few days later I found this plastic version (let's call it "crystalline," shall we?). I'll be handing it off to Matt to continue the enjoyment of sweeping tables off after meal time. A very handy thing to do.

eh, wha? (part two)

2006-09-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

The diagnosis was on a Friday, so I had all weekend to completely flip. The appointment with the specialist was on Monday, so I went online and gathered all the information I could on cancer in general, sarcomas in particular and everything in between.
I learned that usually people get surgery to have the majority of the cancer removed, and then radiation, chemo or both to clean up any remaining cancerous cells. I also learned that cancer cells aren't strong, they're more like wayward cells -- confused and lost and bumbling around inside our otherwise wonderfully vibrant bodies. That made me feel better. Until I looked at the huge lump in my arm which had suddenly become an interloper. Instead of a benign visitor.

On Monday I saw the specialist. I was leary of seeing him because of the track record of doctors in my life. Two doctors who mis-diagnosed this (however unintentionally) and a third who diagnosed it correctly but had zero bedside manner. After a lot of fear going on over the weekend, I finally had to resolve it. I decided to thank the people I was going to meet on Monday. Thank them for being there to help me, for doing the job of helping me get well.

My mom went with me, which was such a help. He looked at the lump, and looked at the MRI info. He agreed that this looked like cancer. We discussed options. Biopsy it first and see what we were dealing with. Or go for the surgery and remove it outright. I wanted the surgery. This thing had been growing for 9 months unchecked. The time to get it out was exactly as soon as possible. Besides, with a biopsy, there is always the risk of messing with the tumor and causing it to spread. Not something I wanted. Surgery was miraculously scheduled for that Friday.

The rest of the week I worked (mainly to get my mind off of things), wrote up a will and my medical wishes, and did all the chores around the house that require the use of two arms (since I knew after the surgery mobility would be limited in the left arm).

That Friday (9/15) I went in for surgery. I didn't eat anything all day, which was totally weird for me. I'm usually such a grazer, snacking on this and that throughout the day. If I even had like a stick of gum they would have turned me away. They also asked me not to wear lotion or hairspray, since it was considered a fire hazard. Good to know!

The surgery was a success. They removed all of the tumor, but also had to remove my biceps brachii muscle and the nerve that feeds it.

I stayed in the hospital over the weekend and went home to my mom and step-dad's out in Redmond for the next week. Being there was so great. I got some of mom's home-cooked meals (yum) and lots of help getting around.

My arm was completely useless then. As it turns out my arm is still pretty much useless. I can't lift more than 5 pounds, and it hurts if I do too much with it throughout the day, developing into an aching roar by nighttime. Part of my forearm is totally numb, as though shot with novacaine. They say this may or may not go away. I keep talking to my forearm telling it that it's super-smart and that all of the nerve cells will find each other and allow full nerve function again. It's fun talking to my arm like this. :-)

I'm going to physical therapy now, and eventually they say I'll have most if not all of the strength back, which is way cool.

I'm going to the specialist's again for a follow-up this week to learn more about my prognosis. The lab results are not back yet, so hopefully he'll know later this week.

Through all of this, I have got to say how truly blessed and lucky I am to have such amazingly wonderful friends and family who are all so supportive. I feel like I'm not going through this alone, like I'm bolstered by everyone's support. And I am. So, hey, if you're reading this, thank you.

eh, wha?

2006-09-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

For many months I've had a lump on my arm and just assumed it was a gross yet harmless fatty nodule known as a lipoma. Other people in my family have lipomas, so it was safe to assume this was the case. Just the same, I went to two doctors and they both diagnosed said lump as a lipoma. It was located on my left upper arm, just above where the elbow bends. It kinda made me look like I was super-buff, until you looked carefully and then it just looked weird.

Being of the more earthy, non-invasive bent, admittedly these two doctors that I saw were not mainstream, one is a naturopath and the other a chinese medicine doctor. But still, two opinions pointing towards this benign diagnosis had me convinced that this was a totally harmless lump.

The months passed and the lump grew. It went from lemon-sized, to orange-size to practically a grapefruit. I started playing soccer and felt self-conscious about my lump. I'd wear long-sleeve shirts in the heat of summer, or prop my arm in lump-hiding ways to avoid stares.

Finally my vanity got the better of me and I went to see a doctor a few weeks ago to have the thing removed. I remember sitting in the waiting room, kind of excited to have it removed, and secure in the fact that it was just a harmless little lump. Nothing to be afraid of.

I met the doc and told him I had a lipoma and wanted it removed. He asked me some questions, never smiling, staring at me with icy blue eyes that matched his surgeon's cap (why was he wearing that cap?). He examined me, did the whole breathing with the stethoscope thing and looked really long and hard at this lump on my arm. He didn't seem to think this was a lipoma. In fact, he said it looked like it was decidedly _not_ a lipoma. I began to cry. I couldn't find the kleenex through the tears, and hoped that he'd take this as his cue to find me some. He didn't, so I wiped my eyes in order to find the damn kleenex myself. I did, and we discussed the next steps.

He said I should get an MRI so he could see what we were dealing with. He said it could be fine, but there was a possibility that we were dealing with something cancerous. I asked to get the MRI immediately, and his scheduler-person found me an appointment for the following day, Thursday.

The MRI was not too bad. It made all these weird noises and clunked around, and soon the different sounds became rhythmic and calming. I didn't ask the MRI people what they saw, I mean, this doctor with the cold blue eyes was probably just being overly cautious, and this was just a larger-than-usual benign lump. I really was thinking that.

Later that day (Thursday) his office called me to set up an appointment for Monday with a specialist. I asked them why, and they said I'd need to talk to the doctor for that, they didn't know.

I still thought this guy was being overly cautious, so the next day I went to my appointment with the regular doc guy. I sat in the waiting room and the receptionist handed me the MRI results. I didn't look at them, just thinking that I would wait for the doctor. Finally they led me into the sterile examination room and I waited some more, and read the results. It didn't look too good. In fact it looked quite bad. The results showed that this looked like cancer. And the only thing the report wasn't sure of was what type of cancer it was. FYI: This was not a fun day.

The doc walked in and he looked at me like I was a person with, well, cancer. He told me that the MRI is very accurate and that there is very little chance that this is anything besides a tumor. He said it was most likely a sarcoma (cancer of the soft tissue). I felt very alone, and very freaked out, like nothing I've ever felt before.

Sarcomas, he said, tend to shed cells in the blood stream (as opposed to other cancers that shed into the lymphatic system). So since the first stop blood makes on its trip back is the lungs, it's possible that the cancer has spread to the lungs. He ordered a CT scan of my lungs to find this out. He dropped me off at the scheduling-lady's office with a "good luck to ya" and that was that. I blew my nose off and on while the scheduling lady called around to find a CT scan appointment for me. While on hold, she asked me, "didn't you bring someone with you?" As though I knew that I'd be diagnosed with cancer, and knew I'd feel this way, like this was a routine kinda thing for me. Understandable, though, since she probably handles this kind of thing all the time. But still, kind of funny that she'd say that.

OK, more on this happy topic later. The Office is almost on, and I want to get all ready to see what happens in the season opener. Woohoo!

reunited

2006-09-07T18:56:00.000-07:00

CIMG0803
Originally uploaded by ingroid.

I went to my family reunion on my dad's side this weekend. It was really good, lots of fun, and kinda exhausting. My dad passed away several years ago, and I'm just now getting acquainted with his side of the family after not having much contact for about 25 years.

It's mysterious how families can fall out of touch with each other. I'm still sorting this particular case out, and realizing that it might never be solved. I think the best thing is to simply be thankful that I get to be back in touch with my cousins, aunts and uncle.

Here's a pic of my cute little nephew, AJ, as he clambers his way through my cousin Sherry's dog door. He repeatedly climbed through the dog door on Saturday, it was really adorable:

And here is my aunt Aileen and cousin Celeste, two neat ladies if I do say so myself:

The area that we were in, Klamath Falls, is the southern part of Oregon. The drive takes about 10 hours, which wasn't so bad since I had a book-on-tape and my ipod to keep me company. One shocking difference was how dry the air was. I didn't realize how much moisture we have in Seattle! And how few bugs as well. We're pretty lucky, I've got to say.

It was nice to get away, and now it's nice to be home and settle back into the rhythm of things.

i heart soccer

2006-08-30T22:46:00.000-07:00

CIMG0674
Originally uploaded by ingroid.

I just got back from playing soccer with my regular Wednesday night team. I just love soccer.
I used to play many moons ago. I remember the drills and the tons of running we did before practice. That I wasn't too keen on, but once we were on the field it was great fun.

Here's a picture of me pretending to kiss my cute pink soccer ball, because I love it so.

I quit smoking last year over labor day weekend (on a fluke, really). And since then I've been enjoying all sorts of activity, soccer most of all. Funny how once your lungs can actually function, you can do things like run and move.

So I haven't played soccer since I was 16, and I'm way out of shape in comparison to my 16 year old self. At the beginning of the season I would immediately get winded. My brain would remember the right moves, the fake-right, move-left maneuvering and such, but my body just couldn't keep up. It was really funny. Like in those dreams where you try to do something and are just running in slo-mo.

As the season draws to a close, I'm starting to get more endurance and so now my body can sometimes do those moves my brain remembers. It's so much fun. Yay soccer.

noizy neighborz

2006-08-28T15:58:00.000-07:00

My backyard neighbors that moved in a few months ago are LOUD and have parties quite a few times a week. During the day and night at random times (so, several times a week) they play really loud, bass-y music that reverberates in my rib cage when I’m in _my_ house. It’s really loud.

They also recently got some sort of weird standing dummy that they’ve been beating up on in the backyard (yikes!). I saw them on Friday with it. One guy was beating up on it and talking to it, saying that he wasn't going to pay him back for the money he owes (to the dummy). Hmmm.

I've called the cops on them to get the music turned down, and have been talking to my neighbors and they called the cops recently as well.

Yesterday during the day the music was loud again. I mean, it hurts my eardrums kinda loud. I went outside to ask them to turn it down. They complied but didn't say anything to me. They're really creepy dudes.

I finally found their landlord (a property management company) who was actually really concerned and engaged. They said that they would follow up right away. Yay!

I mean, I've done my fair share of late-night revelry and drunken braying, but these guys go way beyond that into a whole other kinda deal. We shall see what happens next...

wedding photographer, moi?

2006-08-26T23:38:00.000-07:00

CIMG0256
Originally uploaded by ingroid.

I was the wedding photographer for my friend Priscilla's daughter's wedding. Her daughter Jonnie and her betrothed Aaron were wed last night in a sweet and lovely ceremony in town.

I loved that they had their own elements in the wedding, like this totally super cool dragon-wing heart. They also had matching chalices in the same design for the wedding toasts. So cool.

I got to say I was incredibly nervous about doing this. I mean, I have zero formal training in how to take pictures, much less wedding photography.

But I got some books from the library on it and studied up some, and was very fortunate that the wedding DJ gave me really good advice and put me at ease.

The happy bride and groom after the ceremony.

The winner of the bridal bouquet toss, beaming.

Bubble-blowing in honor of the bride and groom.

Dancing the night away.

friday nite, oh yeah

2006-08-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

So I just bought a cheapo yet kinda neato camcorder. It only cost 80 bucks! I remember in high school taking media tech class. We had these huge clunky camcorders that were sooo heavy and big. And the batteries in them needed to be drained before we could recharge them. And editing involved copy from tape to tape on these huge consoles, which was cool and yet laborious.

I'm just now catching up with some of the breakthroughs in technology, like the teeny tiny pocket camcorder and youtube and the like. You can take a video, edit it and slap it up on the web is less than 5 minutes. Wow.

It's Friday night and the weekend is chock full of busy-ness, so I'm taking Friday to just chill. And I took the liberty of taking a silly little video of what Friday night holds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4v8gypiVjs

Now it's back to the snax 'n tv. Catch ya later.
:-)

You Know What You Want

2006-07-31T12:56:00.000-07:00

I challenge each and every one of you to take this on as your mantra this week. Just think what you could achieve.

:-)

spam as art

2006-07-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

I've been getting spam for as long as I can remember. While annoying, some of it can have a lyrical, otherworldly quality to it.

There's the obvious sex, drugs and (particularly) viagra spam. But then there's the more subtle kinds. Some of them have crazy person talk, or start off saying personal things like "thought you'd like this" or "I'm sorry." I like that last one because it is something we all like to hear, so it makes us curious even though we know it's probably just a robot.

Lately my friend Blake and I have been collecting some of the more interesting spam snippets that have come across our inboxes. Like found objects floating in space and landing on my computer screen, these little scraps of words shoved randomly together form meaning to me. Or at least I want to make meaning out of them. I'm a human, it's what I do. So I have been lifting these phrases and immediately deleting the advertisement they came from. Like taking a ripe piece of fruit and cutting away the mottled skin to leave the juicy underlayer.

Now I don't know what to do with them. I'm sure it'll come to me, so I keep adding to the list until something comes to mind. So far, he's some of my faves:

films faking pretense
doomCrack Opening pipeCrack
ladder uvula seals onion
public relations banjo
patron saint edit
Your health, needle-made
shoestring HIV
coerce erase
mule emule
Awakening Quietman Must
doubtthat means. Andthat provideth
optimally game. removes conflict
floodlit mockery
absence referees. silver medalist
lack love absence
Panama ipecac
events testify witnessed
ridiculously daylight
dubious call-in show
indescribably gaseous
missing yearold whiz kid.
invention camera combine it.Not
breeding pigsty

Someone came up with a modeling program that takes spam as input and turns it into plants or 3-d architectural models. I think this is cool.

I'm thinking of doing something more along the lines of poetry, prose or maybe performance art. Spam phrases to me just scream performance art. But beyond that I don't know the details of what to do with it, so I'll continue quietly collecting it until I figure it out.

demolition is fun

2006-07-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I went over to my friend Jason's to help out with taking down his garage. He's doing a remodel of his home, and is starting by removing the existing garage and then building out from there.

This is me looking all bad-ass and like I know what I'm doing, which is a bit of a lie. Jason and his parents taught me everything I know so far about demolition. I now know the perfect way to use a sledgehammer on drywall (use it like a fist) versus on wooden beams (like a golf putter). I wish I'd been angry about something, because I could see it being the perfect way to vent.

Found!

2006-06-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of working at an online retail company is that now and then authors and musicians stop by on their publicity campaign and they share their latest works.

Today I got to see Davy Rothbart of 'Found Magazine' fame as he and his brother promoted the latest book "Found II."

Found is really cool. Basically, it's a zine that displays found items (mainly notes, lists and letters) and comments by the finder of the object. The thing I like most about the whole thing is how infectiously funny and sweet Davy is. The items aren't judged, they're simply artifacts of our lives shared with others to be savored. Sometimes sweet and funny, other times tragic. But all the while really human.

Davy read off a bunch of his favorite found letters and lists. After a while I was literally crying with laughter. His brother put some of the letters to music and sang a few well-crafted songs to us as well. The booty rap turned into a poppy-folk song was priceless.

I ended up getting a cd and some of the magazines afterwards. Yay.

ps - I stayed up wayyyy too late last night (try 3AM) watching my new Netflix obsession, Season 1 of Lost. As a result, I'm a hurtin' unit today. So I put this picture up as my wallpaper to coax me through the day:

Making Love....

2006-06-22T14:12:00.000-07:00

out of nothing at all.

As a follow-up to my earlier post regarding one of the most perfectly crafted stadium pop-rock songs of all time (and-i-can-make-all-stadiums-rock.html) I bring you the video to this song.

Note the backlit white-man's 'fro. And the unlikely man-whore protagonist. And the subtle homoerotic undertones of the lead singer singing to said man-whore on the plane. And last but not least, the hawt love dance at the end with his special lady. This video was so ahead of its time.

http://www.freephotosandvideos.com/videos.php?vid=6vhaOgVp3PE

Krazy Kat Lady + call for more happy music!

2006-06-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

img006
Originally uploaded by ingroid.

This is who I want to be when I grow up.

This is also from a craft book I picked up at the Goodwill the other day. I was thumbing through the book and record stacks and found this lovely little picture nestled in the craft book. There are some other choice pics therein. I love my scanner for this very reason, the ability to display weird pictures for the world (or at least a handful of people) to see.

On that trip to the Goodwill I also picked up a few records. For anyone who sends in their picks for happy/upbeat/fun cd's or songs (or artists) I'll be giving you a happy vinyl mix. I've expanded it! So it's not just for the person who sends in the most ecommendations for neat cd's, it's for anyone who sends in any!!!

So far I've gotten some great recommendations, so keep 'em coming!

Call for happy music

2006-06-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

Now that the sun's out again, I just created a playlist in itunes to put all the fun, happy, uplifting music in one place. The only problem is, it's hardly a day's worth of music. And I've got quite a few albums.

I've got stuff like HoJo (Howard Jones), Sugarcubes, Wham!, Erasure and Tom Jones in it. But now I'm realizing that most of my music is of the chilled-out variety, so up-beat bouncy happy stuff is few and far between.

Anyone have any ideas on what music gets them all zippy-skippy?
Please do email me or throw a comment in. I'll take any and all suggestions.

The person who gives me the most ideas gets a prize!!! A mix I've been working on: a mix of fun/happy/upbeat music from my vinyl collection. It's got some rare finds, and some really good stuff.

Have you heard?

2006-06-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

churchsign-2
Originally uploaded by ingroid.

Ok, ok, yeah, this isn't real. Ya got me.

But it looks real, yes-no?

I got it from churchsigngenerator.com

Dig!

Lindsey's Birthday Extravaganza

2006-06-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

It was this guy's (Lindsey!) birthday on Friday:

He threw a super-fun-power-packed birthday party, and looked quite dapper in his fine suit.
There were balloons. And a delicious spread that Heather put together. There was performance art. And a live band that had been assembled solely for Lindsay's benefit and enjoyment.

Pam and I got to be back-up singers in the "All-Star Band." The lead singer was none other than the illustrious Harvey Sid Fisher. Here's a pic of Pam, Harvey and myself getting a little practice in before the big show. Pam was, per usual, both supa-fine and hilarious.

Thanks to Stacy for taking the above pictures, and for wearing that dress and those gloves, oh my god those gloves. Hotcha!

Waiting no longer

2006-05-26T13:40:00.001-07:00

I've continued to have the "Waiting for a Star to Fall" song stuck in my head. It will subside for a while, and then resume its endless looping at random moments.

My friend Blake offered some advice. He said what works for him is to actually listen to the song. So I requested a copy of "Sounds of the Eighties: The Late 80's." This is a veritable treasure trove of tacky late-80's music that I so enjoyed during my younger years. I remember blasting some of these jams on KUBE (before KUBE changed its format).

"Tell it to my Heart" by Taylor Dayne, "Hungry Eyes" by Eric Carmen ("Nobody puts baby in a corner!"), "Valerie" by Steve Winwood and of course, "Waiting for a Star to Fall" by none other than Boy Meets Girl.

I just popped the cd in now and I'm letting the over-produced sounds of "Waiting for a Star to Fall" wash over me, bathing me in its sickening sweetness. Like a bad-pop homeopathic remedy, I hope that this does the trick in erasing it from my brain.

waiting...

2006-05-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

For the past week I've had the most stupid song stuck in my head "Waiting for a star to fall." It's from one-hit wonder band, Boy Meets Girl. It's been stuck in my head for several days now, and it's driving me up the wall.

And it's not even the whole song, it's just the chorus, and then the bridge, and then the blaring sax, then it loops back around again.

I'm trying to find a song that is not as annoying to supplant it so that I can go along about my business without this awful wretched sickeningly sweet song swirling around in my head.

Here are the lyrics:
http://www.80smusiclyrics.com/artists/boymeetsgirl.htm

...and I can make all the stadiums rock

2006-05-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

Can I just say that 'Making Love out of Nothing at all' might just be the most perfectly crafted lite stadium pop song EVER?

It has it all. It's sweet and sensitive. It's bristling with sexual tension. It smells faintly of soap and man-scent. It refers to sports.

I've got it stuck in my head, and no amount of itunes repeat-plays will dislodge it. Check out these lyrics and see if it doesn't get you, too. I'm so doing this at the next karaoke excursion:

I know just how to whisper
And I know just how to cry
I know just where I find the answers
And I know just how to lie
I know just how to fake it
And I know just how to scheme
I know just when to face the truth
And then I know just when to dream
And I know just where I touch you
And I know just what to prove
I know when to pull you closer
And I know when to let you loose

And I know the night is fading
And I know the time’s gonna fly
And I’m never gonna tell you everything I gotta tell you
But I know I’ve got to give it a try

And I know the roads to riches
And I know the ways to pain
I know all the rules and then I know how to break’em
And then I always know the name of the game

But I don’t know how to leave you
And I’ll never let you fall
And I don’t know how you do it
Making love out of nothing at all

Making love
Out of nothing at all
Making love
Out of nothing at all
Making love
Out of nothing at all
Making love
Out of nothing at all
Making love
Out of nothing at all
Making love
Out of nothing at all

Everytime I see you, well the rays of the sun are all
Streaming through the waves in your hair
And every star in the sky is taking aim at your eyes
Like a spotlight
The beating of my heart is a drum and it’s lost
And it’s looking for a rhythm like you
You can take the darkness from the deep of the night
And turn it to a beacon burning endlessly bright
I gotta follow it ‘cause everything I know
Well, it’s nothing ‘till I give it to you

I can make the runner stumble
I can make the final block
And I can make every tackle at the sound of the whistle
And I can make all the stadiums rock

I can make tonight forever
Or I can make it disappear by the dawn
And I can make you every promise that has ever been made
And I can make all your demons be gone

But I’m never gonna make it without you
Do you really wanna see me crawl ?
And I’m never gonna make it like you do
Making love out of nothing at all

Making love
Out of nothing at all...

Stephen Colbert at White House Press Corps din-din

2006-05-02T15:26:00.000-07:00

OMG. This is so totally awesome. I love Stephen Colbert's dry humor on the Today Show.
He took it to Washington and did a wonderfully biting speech:

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/04/29/stephen_colbert_kick.html

Just beautiful.

stoopid tv

2006-05-01T23:11:00.000-07:00

TV Shows:

Can I just say that I'm going to be so happy once 7th Heaven goes off the air? If you happen to enjoy that show, then please just move along. But I've got to say that none, absolutely none of the characters are remotely interesting or appealing. Every time an ad comes on which says this is the last season I say a little 'hurrah.'

Another show that I just don't get is 'Deal or no Deal.' This show is so incredibly inane that I can't even believe it. I can feel the minutes being taken from me, my soul slowly being sucked away, my brain cells quickly getting picked off. The premise of this show is basically that there are like 100 suitcases containing a certain amount of money in each one. And the contestant guesses which one has a million dollars in it, but usually walks away with less money. Each suitcase is held by a gameshow model, and it's hosted by an uncharacteristically staid Howie Mandel. That's pretty much it. No thought, no brian-power, no nothing. It makes me angry when I watch it. ANGRY.

Commercials:

Zelnorm, a prescription medication for constipation. They mention that it is for people who have tried over-the-counter medication or fiber. But, um, hi, have you ever heard of just good ole-fashioned water? Yeah, that's right. Water has been known to fix constipation like nothing else. Oh, and maybe some exercise, too? Crikey.

There's also this commercial for some computer virus detection software. It has a guy with a slight British accent, and a woman with a Russian accent. They're obvious stereotypes of smart, sassy Europeans who know all about computers. At one point the woman says the word 'virus' but it comes out 'why-rus,' of course because of her eastern European accent. So weird.