2011 New Year's Resolutions

A few years ago, I was in a transitory period in my life, and I decided to post all of my resolutions on facebook. I made a long but fairly reasonable list of things to accomplish by the end of the year and the act of posting them in a place where I could easily keep track of them, made me feel more accountable to them. I also made sure that nothing on my list was implausible. Last time it worked fairly well and I accomplished most of the tangible goals. While nothing was impossible to do on it's own, compiled with the rest of the list it was a bit much to do all in one year.

Well, here are my new New Year's resolutions and here's to hoping I can get them all done. I left off one or two that may be common knowledge to my closer friends but that I really just can't share on here. 

• Pass the CFA Level II - Maybe if I had set this as a goal last year, I would have done it. We're working out a new study plan and I'm trying to figure out how to balance that with this blog. 
• Pass the lead climbing test - I think I'm getting to the point where I have the strength to do it. Maybe it's time to get back on that horse and try again.
• Speaking of climbing... climb an 11.b or maybe even an 11.c - This may venture out of "things that are possible" but the real goal here is to keep pushing myself to climb harder routes and get better at it.Well, we got the 11.b out of the way early so guess it's time to shoot for the 11.c?
• Climb Outdoors - (yes, I added this in the middle of the year, never too late to tack on more goals, right??) I don't know why this didn't make the original list but it's really pathetic that I haven't made it outdoors yet. 
• Don't put a relationship before yourself - I may not fully be ready for something serious yet but I'm sure I will be but I know how these things go and I don't want to compromise my plans at the moment. I have a lot to figure out and I can't shelve any of that for anyone else right now.
• Think before you speak -not gonna happen My friends are very good at calling me out when I contradict myself or change my mind on something. I really don't want to be full of BS but a lot of times I'm not even sure what I want or what I'm thinking. Maybe I need to figure that out before I start mapping out my future.
• Pay off my car loan - done! Pretty self explanatory.
• Build a little bit of a nest egg - It would be great to save up a little extra as a back up or to travel or maybe for a house or grad school. 
• Dress better - This may sound superficial and flies directly in the face of the item before it but I really want to"dress for the life I want, not the life I have."  When I see myself down the road in my career I picture myself wearing suits and nicer clothes so why not start taking steps to dress the way I see myself in 5 or 10 years? Plus, who doesn't feel a little more confident or successful when they clean up and put on something more sleek?
• Travel somewhere new - Wouldn't that make a fun blog post? This actually would be fairly easy - even though I've been to several places around Europe and Brazil, I've never been to New York, Boston, DC, Chicago, Canada, or Mexico. I had the pleasure of going to Amsterdam and Brussels for the first time during my last trip. I don't want to stop there though. I think I'm going to finally venture to some of the cities I haven't seen stateside as well.
• Be nicer - I kind of have a sarcastic, mean sense of humor. While I mean well, sometimes in the wrong situation my jokes can be a little hurtful. I need to work on saving my mean jokes for the right time and place.
• Keep in touch with my relatives more - the older I get, the more I appreciate my family and how amazing they all are so I really want to work on staying connected with all of them. 
• Keep up with my blog - This blog has really helped me at a time when the best thing for me was to get out of the house and experience new things. I had been really unhappy with a lot of things when I started writing this blog and I look at my life right now and it is so far from that. I may still be looking for change and wondering what comes next but I'm also pretty happy with my life. It's fun to think of the list of things I want to do and make an actual plan to do them instead of watching the list grow. I've also been learning to be more open minded about trying new things. There are a lot of experiences that on the surface may not have sounded that appealing, but that's the thing - you never know how much you're going to enjoy something until you've tried it.

So there is my list. It's a lot of stuff but it's all pretty reasonable. I will try to update throughout the year as I get things done. I think the hardest thing will be balancing studying with updating the blog, but I've already started mapping out new places I can go to where I can study as well (Blue Bottle Cafe,  you are at the top of my list).

Happy New Years Everyone! Wish me luck :) Hopefully you can take care of your resolution(s) too!

Week of November 29th 2010: SF Weekly's Holiday Benefit at the Academy of Science

This was actually a week of deals since I found out about this event through a deal site as well. For $10, we got admission to this open bar benefit at the Academy of Science and how could I say no to that? So Eddy, Try and myself all bought tickets for it and on the first Wednesday in December, we were on our way to the event.

We got there and were instantly greeted by a table full of mini cupcakes and glowing drink mixers. We each grabbed a cupcake and mixing stick and headed to the bar. Eddy got an acai vodka flavored drink while Try and I got some apple cider with rum. We then found another mini cupcake table. I took a picture of the cupcake tower with my rum cider but I was trying to be discrete so the picture wasn't framed well.. oops!

From there we decided it was time to find some food. We walked around and found tables with pizza, mini quiches, chips and salsa, etc. While that may seem like a lot of food, the portions were tiny and we quickly realized the food to beverage ratio was quite small.

So why fight it? We gave up on many of the food booths and started checking out the alcohol sponsored tables. We found it almost impossible to not be holding two drinks at once. The acai vodka had a stand where they were making acai vodka lemonade drinks. They were dangerously sweet.

Eddy also found a booth with whiskey and tequila shot samples. I may have made some man friends at that table when I told them about my prior experiences with Bourbon Whiskey. We both tried one of each although he had to help me finish mine.

After wandering around a little bit more, I found the wine sponsor. They only had two kinds but of course they were Chardonnay and Cabernet which are my two favorites. I ended up just standing around that table for a while enjoying the wines.

At that point, we were definitely feeling the effects of an open bar, alcohol sponsored event so we switched over to beer. Luckily for us, the event was also sponsored by Blue Moon. We ran into my friend Jeremy at the event (who happens to ALWAYS be at the same things as me, but that's another story) and he pointed out that they let you grab two beers at once - so we did and headed down to the aquarium.

I had come straight from work so my feet had started to hurt from my heels so we found a place to sit in the aquarium where we could watch the fish swimming over head. It was nice to rest a little bit and chat with my friends. But too much rest isn't good for anyone so we grabbed our beers and walked around the aquarium until the event ended. Honestly, I would go back to the Academy just to walk around the aquarium. Both times that I went, I didn't go to the aquarium until just before closing so I don't think I've ever gotten to look through it in as much detail as I would have liked. Guess we have to go back?

Week of November 29th 2010: Pica Pica

One of the ways I find new places to go and things to do is to go on some of those "deal" websites (Groupon, Living Social, Town Hog, etc.). Doing something new each week can be expensive.... so, when Shannon recommended getting the Town Hog deal for Pica Pica, I figured why not?So, I bought the deal and a few weeks later decided to check it out with a coworker.

Pica Pica is a Venezuelan maize sandwich place. I suppose they're actually more like tortas. You get to choose from 3 different corn patties for your little sandwich, but we had the "Arepas" on all of them since it seemed to be the least bulky. We then realized that with their prices, the coupon I had was actually going to get us a ton of food. We ended up getting four of the sandwiches (two pork, tomato, and avocado; one skirt steak with plantains and black beans, one chicken and cheese) and a few empanadas (pork/chicken/beef, black beans, and tilapia).

The sandwiches were all really good, but the maize bread was very thick. I would have preferred if it was thinner like a tortilla so it didn't over power the filling so much. The pork/chicken/beef empanada was also amazing. The tilapia one smelled a little fishy (no pun intended..) so we didn't finish that one. My friend was also a big fan of the signature hot sauce on both the sandwiches and the empanadas.

Overall the place was really good and worth checking out. I had never tried Venezuelan food before so it was nice to, but I think in the future I would just prefer some carnitas tacos from El Tonayense. Man, I love those things so much...

Merry Christmas 2010!

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday and hopefully there is lots of wonderful food involved. I'm currently trying to figure out the best way to bring a truckload of leftovers with me back to San Francisco...

...which is looking beautiful by the way. I love the way they dress up the city for special occasions (they made the buildings orange when the Giants were in the playoffs).

I'm still annoyed I lost my old camera, but this new one isn't turning out so bad....

Week of November 22nd 2010: Ice Skating in Union Square

I don't know what it is about ice skating that I enjoy so much. Even though I grew up in the burbs of Los Angeles, it's just always been nostalgic for me. Maybe it's because I learned how to rollerblade before I could ride a bike without training wheels. Maybe it's because hockey was watched more avidly in my house than football. I don't know exactly but I've always loved being on the ice. So, when my friend Tim and I were thinking of things to do the Sunday after Thanksgiving and he suggested that - I knew we had a winner.

On of the things I really love about this city is that every Holiday season, they build a few ice rinks around the city - one in Union Square and one in the Financial District. I know this isn't unique to SF (heck, LA even had a pop up ice rink in Pershing Square and it hardly gets cold enough there to keep your ice cream from melting on Groundhog's Day), but they always felt so much accessible here.

So, Tim and I met up for our ice skating adventure. We bought our tickets, grabbed some coffee and waited in line to rent our skates. Eventually we got out onto the ice and as much as I love skating, I dislike crowds more. It was pretty tough to skate with the ice traffic jam that we encountered instantly. We still managed to have some fun, but I know we both would have loved it more if we weren't constantly worried about bumping into people.

Despite the fact that we hard trouble skating as much as we would have liked, it was still nice to see Tim and talk with him again. It was interesting to think that we had met up in the beginning of my new thing a week adventure and here we were touching base again. Yes, I know you should see good friends frequently but the ironic thing was that I'd also come full circle and was once again dealing with the same uncertainties that I had been a few months earlier. He may not know it, but his advice along with a few others really helped me figure things out a little bit.

I'm the kind of person that is fairly open with what I am dealing with - maybe too much and I've started to realize something about advice - when it comes to it, there are three kinds of people: there are people who may listen to you but won't really guide you. They won't give you advice - right or wrong. There are others who will try to tell you what to do or how you should be. And then there are the people who will just ask you questions. They won't tell you what to do directly but they'll ask you the questions that will help you get to your answer. That week I had a number of people who asked me the right questions at a time when the only answers that would help me were the ones I figured out myself. Tim was one of those people.

As for the ice skating - I was able to go again a couple of weeks later when it wasn't so crowded and I got to race across the slick, slippery surface and love ice skating as much as I usually do. I'd like to get out there again before the rinks go away so if anyone is interested let me know! I can give tips but I'm not sure how helpful they will be.

Week of November 15th 2010: Top Chef Just Desserts Viewing Party with Yigit Pura

One of my all time favorite shows ever is Top Chef. I remember the first time I saw it. It was about 4 or 5 years ago and I was channel surfing with my then boyfriend. There was absolutely nothing on TV so he picked a cooking competition show that happened to be having a marathon. I wasn't too happy about this since I had been forced to spend many an hour watching cooking shows with my mom and I found them incredibly boring. However, it didn't take very long for me to get really excited about the show I was watching. It was the first season and it was really exciting to see the contestants running around my future home (I was living across the Bay in Berkeley at the time) of San Francisco competing in various cooking challenges.

It wasn't long before I was hooked and set aside some time on a Wednesday night to cheer on my favorite contestant of the season, Harold, as he took home the very first Top Chef title. Ever since then, I have religiously tuned in to watch each season of chefs compete in challenges that got more and more difficult each season. Top Chef was my gateway drug to liking cooking shows. I pretty much keep it to challenge type shows like Chopped, Iron Chef, Challenge, etc. but Top Chef was always the first.

However, despite how impressive the chefs looked, every season there was one thing that never failed to be true - all of the chefs sucked at making a really impressive dessert. It quickly became clear that making pastry desserts required a different science and skill set than savory cooking and many of these incredible cooks just could not make a top dessert.

Well, Bravo decided to capitalize on this and made a Top Chef season soley for dessert chefs. I, of course, tuned in.

After a long and very interesting season, it was finally time for the finale. I had been planning on watching it at home as usual but then I found an exciting alternative. Macy's was hosting a viewing party for the show and they were having one of the finalists, Yigit Pura, there for a meet and greet. Yigit was a cute Turkish pastry chef who runs a catering company in San Francisco. I RSVP'd and eagerly looked forward to the event.

My roommate, Try, and I showed up early to make sure we got good seats and we got a decent spot in line. However, as we got closer to the front we noticed a lot of people weren't being let in. When we got to the front, I gave them our name and it turns out we weren't on the list. I was pretty frustrated since I had RSVP'd the week before and was disapointed in the event staff for not planning the function better. They should have closed the RSVPs if they were over booked. It was even more frustrating when it became clear that 80% of the guests were actually employees at Yigit's catering company. I understand him wanting his friends there to support him, but then they should have tried to find a bigger space to host the event since it wasn't really a public event after all.

Eventually, they let us in and said we could stand in the back. We could hardly see the TV so we decided to just go home and watch it on the DVR. However, we managed to snag a couple of $10 gift cards. We browsed the kitchen section and then realized there was a little Godiva stand. One of the challenges had been to make 4 Godiva chocolates. My favorite contestant, Morgan (he was a rock climber so it was an easy choice...), had won that challenge. We decided to use our gift cards on the chocolates so we could take them home and have an actual taste of Top Chef while watching the finale.

As a note - I did take pictures of the chocolates... on my camera.... so sorry that you can't see what they looked like. One of them had an acai filling though since he had been married to a Brazilian (another reason to like him!) and it was incredible. If you find yourself near a Godiva, I really suggest trying it!

And... I bought a new camera! I'm basically giving up on the last one and writing all of these posts without pictures has made me realize that I can't really go without one. Here's to not losing my new camera and using it to take lots of fun pictures for my lovely readers.

Week of November 8th 2010: Rickhouse Bar

After one of many disappointing Cal football games that took place in November, my friend Steve decided we could all drink away our sorrows at one of his favorite bars, Rickhouse. Like many other popular bars in San Francisco, Rickhouse is a prohibition themed bar with a classy 20's feel, and when you get my friends in a themed bar - you get themed outfits. Since many of us came straight from the game, or with little time to change in between, we didn't get as dressed up as we have before. I did manage to have enough time to grab my fedora before heading out to the bar.

Upon arrival, we learned that Rickhouse is a little limited space wise and we had to wait outside until a few people cleared out. Luckily though, it was a beautiful and warm November evening and the bouncer was extremely friendly so the time passed quickly.

Soon we were inside where we were greeted by a table full of our friends and a big bowl of punch. My friend Brian got a round of drinks although when I asked him what it was, all he could say was, "I know it had champagne and some kind of juice" in it. Well, much more than I knew. We finished our champagney, fruity drinks and helped out with the punch before it was time for most of our friends to catch BART.

Try and I decided to go out a little longer and met up with another friend at 15 Romolo, another speakeasy themed bar (they really are everywhere in this town). It wasn't my first time there so I won't bore you with the details but I wanted to keep the post going a little longer since I had so much fun rocking my hat. I think I may need to start wearing it out more often. I could do with a few more accessories every now and then.

Week of November 1st 2010: Giant's World Series Parade

The Wednesday after the World Series victory, the city coordinated a parade through the city. Luckily for me, it the start for the parade was only a couple of blocks away from my office and my boss sent out an email saying that we could all take a long lunch to go see it.

Once I got to work, I was pleased to look out my office window and see that although the parade actually started a couple blocks away, the staging area was just outside my office window. Once we saw that the crowd starting to grow, my coworker Alex and I went downstairs to anxiously await the players arrival.

Cable cars were lined up all along Washington St. and as we got there, we saw workers taping up signs with players names. Alex and I decided to wait in front of the car for Brian Wilson since we both maybe sort of had a crush on him. Plus, we realized that when the parade started, the next cars to pass us would be for Buster Posey, Aubrey Huff, Pat Burrell, and of course, Tim Lincecum.

Soon, the players started arriving. Buster Posey got to his cable car first. We waiting anxiously while someone talked to him about the logistics of the parade and when he was done, the crowded cheered for him and asked him to smile and wave for pictures. He seemed a little uncomfortable with his obvious fame and popularity but eventually he gave a little pose(y) for the camera.

Eventually, Brian Wilson got to his cable car. He had the same little talking to but sadly he never really got into posing for pictures. We were really disappointed since we'd seen his internet videos and were  quite aware that he didn't have that same shyness that Buster clearly exhibited. It was kind of a let down. I know he's famous for his eccentricity and doing pretty much whatever he wants but it always grinds my gears when an athlete or celebrity blows off their fans. I was able to get an almost half decent picture but it would have been nice if he went with it a little more.

Contrarily, his cable car sharing teammate and fellow bearded pitcher, Sergio Romo, was as outgoing and friendly as you could imagine. He stopped to sign everything and posed for a ton of pictures. He definitely just had fun with it and really enjoyed to upbeat atmosphere of the parade. The guy even stopped to sign a baby (which Posey and other players eventually signed as well).

Soon after we got our pictures, the parade started and the cable cars sped past us. We got to see Aubrey Huff and Pat the Bat enjoying a couple of Bud Lights on their car and Lincecum try to wave to all of his fans. It was nice to see the rest of the players return some of the love to their many supporters.

I just want to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures in this post. I took a ton that day and was really excited to post them all (part of the reason it's taken me over a month to put this is up is because I knew it would take a little while to upload everything). Unfortunately, I lost my camera last week. I am desperately hoping that it turns up soon but the more I ask around about the night of its disappearance, the less confident I get. I give it until Friday before I give up completely and buy a new one, but that won't bring back the last month's worth of pictures. Luckily, I have used my cell phone for a lot of pictures for this blog (and luckily had used to send a couple picture messages from the parade, hence the two photos I was able to upload).

Week of November 1st 2010: Celebrating the Giant's World Series Victory

The life of a sports fan is one often filled with misery. I cannot count the number of times I've watched a Cal football game or a Giants baseball game that was going rather well, only to have it end with me nearly pulling out my hair in frustration. This was not one of those days. There is nothing like seeing your team qualify for the playoffs, be called the underdog the whole time, only to win the whole thing in five games. Your championships can be spread out by 50 years or more but the feeling of watching it happen, it's worth the wait. If it takes another 50 years (and man, I really hope it doesn't) then at least you can look back and say "Yea, I got to see it happen last time."

When people ask "Where were you when the Giants won the World Series?" I'll be able to say I was with friends at a crowded bar with everyone intently glued to the screen as Brian Wilson struck out the last batter. I was there when everyone started hugging each other and taking pictures while singing "We are the Champions." Those memories aren't going anywhere.

With a playoff run like that... you can't just call it quits and head home when the game is done. The whole city was alive with pride, excitement and a buzzing energy that you can't compare to anything. So we followed that buzz all the way to AT&T Park to really be part of the crowd. We stood in front of news fans and then went into the nearest bar to celebrate a little more.

The best part was going back out to the street an hour or so later and seeing the crowds still as full as possible. Everyone was excited. Everyone was happy. For one night, everyone in San Francisco agreed on something - everyone was proud of their San Francisco Giants.

So... if the Giants can do it - maybe Cal has a shot sometime in the next 50 years?