on the economy

you cannot escape all the talk about recession anymore. it's in every newspaper, radio, website and conversation. what i don't understand is how exactly we got to this point, because from my perspective, things look really dismal. fed cutting rates + falling dollar value + high fuel costs + high unemployment + rising food costs = ?????? what does this all mean? is this the year we fall? in a way, i'm kind of hoping it is. i think we need a wake-up alarm call as americans. we need to know that our country is only as great as we make it and hold ourselves accountable to it's prosperity. i know the average person feels helpless to make any difference but how do you know if you don't even try? i think in order to taste sweetness you have to know what bitter is, and our generation knows nothing of bitterness. we spend like crazy, hurt each other, hurt ourselves and blame everyone else. we have to evolve into a more responsible society and i am hoping that if we do enter a depression (i already consider this a recession, despite what "experts" say), it will act as a catalyst for change.

a good thing about being korean...

we have adorable babies...

korean baby singing hey jude


hello! good morning! johnny is supposed to be building my coop today but is now helping clean out one of my mom's rental houses. it was really cold yesterday and last night, almost freezing! my veggies made it through OK, though.

veggie garden grow!

well, it's been a week since johnny built my raised veggie garden, and i have since planted the following: yellow onion, zuchini, yellow squash, sweet green bell pepper, ceyenne pepper, roma tomato, beefsteak tomato, watermelon, yellow wax bean, peas, green beens, okra, carrots, and cherry tomato (on the patio). I also have a hanging basket of strawberry plants and various herbs. i looooove picking the leaves and smelling them. i have pineapple sage, lemon balm, lemon thyme, peppermint, and lavender. i am going to take progress pictures as i go along, so the official snapshot for week one is this:

sorry that it's all out of focus. i'm still waiting on the return of my nikon. also, the garden has advanced beyond this significantly since this photo was taken. i am very curious to see how much this little garden can actually produce. i still want a pmpkin patch somewhere but i still have to figure that one out. johnny is building me a chicken coop!! i can't wait to see it!! i can't wait to have chickens!! i might even build a small koi pond this year....

and last night, in another indian cooking extravaganza, B and i made a feast. everything absolutely from scratch, too. i made potatoes and peas samosas (which came out better than i imagined), B made tadka dal and saag paneer and johnny made tandoori chicken and tofu - from scratch! imagine that, my small town redneck made indian tandoori from scratch! we topped everything off with a super sweet seedless watermelon. its'gooood!

bibi is oprah

omg, this is hilarious. on dogster you can take a quiz to find out what clebrity your dog is most like. i did bibi first, and she turns out to be like oprah. i'm gonna do syrus and louie next...
Wow, your dog is Oprah!
Oprah
The Host with the Most
When Bibi barks, people listen. Yes, indeed, Bibi is Oprah Winfrey.
A true rags-to-riches story, Bibi is a comeback pet who has not only survived a troubled start, but uses her success to lend a helping paw to others. Well-rounded and hard-working, Bibi has re-written the rules of stardom and continues to spread her influence throughout the animal kingdom. Still a down-home country girl, Bibi's one weakness is the chow that she knows from her youth, and she's not afraid to gobble up a little gravy every now and then. Bibi manages to keep her positive reputation intact, despite being hounded by the press and her thousands of diehard fans everywhere she goes. Bibi is smart, creative and innovative and has used these qualities to build up an empire the likes of which have never before been seen.



louie
Wow, your dog is Johnny Knoxville!
Johnny Knoxville
Up for Anything
The kind of pet that can leap tall fences in a single bound (or not, but give it a shot anyhow), louie is the original Jackass, Johnny Knoxville!
Going through the pain so you don't have to, louie knows that he trots a fine line between funny and stupid, but he doesn't care—he's laughing about it all the way to the pet store. His over-the-top antics make you grimace with fear and you often find it hard to believe that he actually enjoys playing the class clown. But louie laps it up and continues to defy the odds, despite your warnings and concerns. Other males in the pack tend to be a little jealous of louie, but the females find him simply dreamy. A die-hard good ol' boy, louie is more of a General Lee type than a Knight Rider, but give him enough time to think things through and he's sure to find a way to wreck both vehicles at the same time.



haha... syrus got
Wow, your dog is Will Ferrell!
Will Ferrell
The Comedian
Keeping a straight face around syrus is a cheek muscle-wrenching nightmare. Try as you may, but giggling is inevitable because syrus is comedian Will Ferrell!
For a while syrus was just funny on Saturday nights, but that's all changed now that he's taken his act on the road. Whether he's being silly in real life or on the silver screen, syrus has a true knack for making people crack up. syrus has even managed to make the crossover to the cyberwebs, where he delivers raw, fresh, uncooked humor to his countless cyberpet fans. A fast runner, syrus runs marathons when he's not dreaming up his next slapstick routine. Widely talented and able to impetsonate any number of two and four-legged critters, syrus's fans will be lapping it up for a long time to come.

all this rain!

we have been dowsed with about 3 or 4 inches of rain in the past four days. that's a great thing. i laid in bed listening to the raindrops (inside and outside the house) and picture lake lanier filling to it's brim... i sincerely hope we get out of this drought this spring. i put an old 5 gal. bucket under the downspout by the front porch and it was full overnight. i soaked my mushroom log, and maybe if i am lucky, i'll get a mushroom crop out of it. the planter box was a little flooded this morning, but it seems to be slowly draining. the back patio was filled with rainwater - i need to tackle that project next.

it's been 65 days since i saw a movie at the theatre - and yesterday we had planned to go to the inman park festival but it was pouring all day so we went to the theatre instead and saw "forbidden kingdom" which is a martial arts flick with jackie chan and jet li. jet li played the monkey king, which i remember watching as a cartoon in korea. i give the movie 3 stars (out of five). it wasn't awful, but parts of it were corny. i gorged myself on theatre candy, and paid for it this morning.

bibi is doing better. she seems to be using her leg more now, maybe even a little too much. but she is completely spoiled rotten cause she gets to sleep in bed with us and now expects it. she will walk up to the bed and stare at you until you pick her up and tuck her in. then she gets pissed if louie or syrus try to lay in bed too. i love snuggling with the bunni in bed - she'll just lay there and let you kiss her, play with her feet, you can even nibble on her cheeks, blow raspberries on her tummy.... yea, she's a dog. we know.

my mom is now a part of the food shortage hype. i offered to give her some leftover squash, zuchini, and onion plants and she said we need to plant a lot more. so i imagine this year we are going to be gardening like crazy. she got me some chickens but i need to build the coop first. i have no idea how that's gonna work out - chickens, dogs & cats.....

**oh, i always add things to my posts last minute, but i just can't help but poke fun at what retarded shit people build and the even more retarded people who buy into it... http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/apr/26/travelnews?page=2
seriously, it's like watching the paris hilton of architecture. i hope those stupid islands sink into the ocean.

the beautiousness of spring

it's been gorgeous outside the past several days, with random rainshowers here and there that makes the whole world burst with green and colorful blooms. today is one such day. i have been enjoying my new front porch so much lately i haven't been able to bring myself to sit at a computer any longer than at work and therefore am way behind on pictures (believe it or not). so, let's see...shall we continue in chronological order?

the other day we all sat out on the back patio and had watermelon and lemonade and conversation. the dogs, especially syrus, were trolling around the table, wanting to taste the scrumptious watermelon we were eating so we gave him the leftover rind. we had no clue how much they would end up enjoying it! syrus's underbite serves him well as a melon scoop!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNMZTy7mdIg


here is a final shot of the new front porch, which i heart so much. we will eventually get prettier chairs out there, but damn those camp chairs really are comfy! to the bottom left is the newly planted tea olive tree, which is one of my favorites. the hibiscus is still waiting to be planted in the front yard, by the sidewalk.

and a closeup of said hibiscus, with a particularly pretty bloom which my crappy camera and my shaky hands did a terrible job of capturing. i'll try not to complain too much about that crappy camera because it is better than no camera...

and the best pic out of many that B and i took of this gorgeous dragonfly that appeared out of nowhere and chilled on the screen of the front windows all early afternoon with me. i remember catching these as pets in korea and keeping them in little cages - but none of them are as colorful as this little guy.

so i told B how to catch a dragonfly and she did! she said it was so cool! then we let him go and he flew and briefly landed on my stevia plant. but before i could snap more pics, he flew off into the sky.... ahhh the freedom of being a beautiful dragonfly!

so, that's the gist of it. god, i love spring! i still have some planting to do but i am expecting a nice bounty of herbs and veggies this year. weeeee! i can't wait!!

handy dandy

if you scroll down to the bottom of my blog, you'll find a new widget to help you pick out a plant. it's pretty neat, try it!

dinnah....is served...

this is going to be a really long post... but it will be a visual feast...

boy, i was busy tonight! as soon as i came home i was gardening. i wanted to hurry up and transplant my seedlings into the new raised bed planter box today but as you can see, there isn't enough soil. johnny went back to get some more, and even that wasn't enough! i mixed in: two kiddie pools' worth of garden soil (roughly 2 bags each?); a big bag and a little bag of peat; two big bags of plain soil, half a small bag of organic fertilizer; and a big bag of compost with cow manure. and all of this on top of the entire contents of my compost pile. i shall be starting a new, improved compost pile now - hopefully this time with big fat red worms. so anyways, i am just about dying of anxiousness to get this garden going, especially since johnny's family is coming to visit this weekend. i also planted all of the kitchen herbs and the hanging baskets of fuschia.

the herbs you see below are (from left to right): rosemary, stevia, thyme, sage, and catnip.

if you are wondering about the kiddie pool comment above, last year i tried to grow pumpkins on my roof. unfortunately, we had the extremely severe drought and all outdoor watering was banned. so they died. before you wonder why i would let a vegetable garden die, we seriously thought water was going to run out. it was that bad. plus, it was a pain in the ass to try and get up on the roof all the time, especially with my bad ankle. the funny thing is, one plant actually survived. i pulled it out and was surprised to find this:

isn't he cute? looks tasty, too. not sure if i can bring myself to eat it, though. i might just look at it lovingly for a few days. maybe i'll try to re-plant it. now i have big plans for the rest of the yard. i have decided to completely till the triangular wasted space between our houses and plant pumpkins there, along with the beans.

wait, it doesn't end there~! after johnny came back with some batteries (finally!) for my stupid camera, i was able to take a bunch of pictures and start dinner. i took a picture of louie to demonstrate his new whiskerless 'do.




if you click on the picture, you can zoom in and see that he has indeed been trimmed. how goofy is that? dear, sweet louie. moving on...

i promptly began dinner, which was to be a modest sampling of homemade indian fare. i though about trying to make palak paneer like B does, using the mexican crumbling cheese instead of paneer (it works!), but i didn't feel like doing that much work. johnny had marinated the chicken and tofu in tandoori and yogurt all day so all i had to make was the basmati rice, and a side dish - which i ended up making my usual aloo mutter and chana masala. the result was fantastic. and, i just love how vibrant indian cuisine looks!


the chiken and tofu tandoori came out marvelous; johnny grilled them outside. i didn't get a chance to take photos of it because we inhaled them so fast. it was damn good. i love indian food.


the end.

* i lied! here's an exciting update: i may have chickens this week!! i found a woman on craigslist who is selling laying cochin hens and chicks and rhode island reds. i contacted her about getting three hens and four or five chicks, but i need a place to put them!! i need a chicken coop!

vote for me!

oh, there's so much to tell you....

but for right now, click on this link and vote for my design! You should make one for yourself, too!

**well, i wanted pictures to back this up but i have no working camera as of yet. my new one is still at nikon's service department and my crappy old one goes through batteries like a newborn goes through diapers. so, imagine if you will....

all last week johnny and my stepbrother have been building me a new front porch. yes, i was very excited because as you all know, my front porch was hideous (see below). the porch is now more or less done, waiting only for a few last embellishments, but let me tell you it is fabulous and i LOVE it. i want to spend all morning and evening out there. i have a place to perch and watch the neighborhood, hang out and chat, water my plants and enjoy other leisurely activities...



here is a progress shot from last tuesday. you can barely see the corner of the old porch to the right where it caught on fire last year. thank god i don't have to see that anymore...
here's what it looks like nearly completed:

as you can see, a vast improvement and i was very impressed with the workmanship. notice that the same day the deck was laid was Penelope's birthday. i have since then bought a bunch of plants and graded the area in front of the porch to create a path to my garden which (surprise again!) johnny built for me using the wood planks from the old porch. i can't wait to show you all of this but my stupid &$%# camera is dead.

and last but certainly not least - a small mystery worth remembering. at some point during the day last sunday while johnny and i were busy doing yardwork i noticed that Louie's whiskers were missing. yes. missing. at first, it was so strange i couldn't even wrap my mind around it so i spent the entire day questioning johnny and wondering out loud what the hell could Louie have gotten into that would cause all of his whiskers to disappear. well, they weren't entirely gone, but cut really really short. then i noticed his eyebrow whiskers were gone, too. in fact, every whisker in louies head was gone except for one lone whisker above his eye. he looked quite ridiculous and blissfully unaware of it.

i figured he may have gotten into the bathtub and was chewing on one of my razors? or perhaps they got singed off somehow? i can't even describe the frustration and sheer perplexity of wondering what happened to louie. although it was funny to watch him licking his chops and making weird faces. so after we finished doing yard work and were chillin' on the porch, i noticed that syrus had a few whiskers missing - but only a few... now that was truly weird because syrus is notoriously obsessive compulsive and would not allow anything to happen to his whiskers. i checked bibi's face - she was fine. so it was something that only syrus and louie could have gotten into. hhhmmm...

well, all i could do is wait for other members of the household to return home for questioning. i wasn't entirely convinced that johnny was innocent but i needed confirmation from B and my stepbrother. finally, late that night B comes home and sits next to me on the porch. we share the peace pipe and i started to ask her about the whiskers when johnny immediately went on the defensive before i could explain to B what happened. all she could do was laugh...and laugh...and laugh... she told me that SHE had "groomed" louie. he apparently needed a whisker cut. she said syrus wouldn't sit still for it. no shit.

i swear it was the funniest thing ever. you had to be there, i suppose... but what made it so funny is that this is the sort of trivial mischief that I would have done myself once upon a time... louie is just too easy to pick on. and only a mother would notice something like that... good one, B.

Dove Kills.

She's here!!

yes, the newest unit of my friend's family arrived at 4:28 am this morning - all 6 lbs. and 3 ounces of tender pink happiness. Doobie is a girl!! And her name is Penelope Jane! She is absolutely the cutest damn baby in the world. Mama and baby are still at the hospital, resting and I am stuck here at work, trying not to jump out of my seat and go hang out with all of them. I did stop by earlier and snapped some photos and hold the baby - since I am at work, I can't post the pics yet, but I promise I will tonight...

ahh..something about the newborn child of people you care about just makes the heart melt. isn't she cuuuuute?? she opened her eyes a bit, after i flashed her like paparazzi with my camera and scowled at me. she looks just like her parents, too. Mama is a hero! she handled it like a pro. Little Penny Jane is going to have a beautiful life. I can't wait to see how she grows up!

shitstorm #2

well, all i can say is at least this time there was no actual feces flooding the house. except this plumbing disaster is uniquely nasty. the drain from the kitchen sink was corroded away and instead of fixing it properly, the previous occupant and first person to experience this problem decided to just patch the hole with putty. the problem is, this isn't just a little drain under the sink, this is the main pipe from below the house that connects the kitchen sink to the sewer line. so, for the past several months, everything that we have put down our kitchen sink (including garbage disposal and dishwasher) has been sitting in a puddle rotting underneath the house. nice, eh? it's so disgusting under there, johnny had to "prepare" himself to go assess the situation. he came back and compared it to the movie, Amityville Horror. The corrosiveness of the waste actually dissolved foundation wall brick. i have a septic field under my kitchen and no septic tank.

so, here i am, at work listening to paul simon and trying not to care while johnny and my stepbrother are spooning each other on the kitchen floor fixing the disaster that is my kitchen.

oh yes, there are pictures. you don't wanna seem them, but i'm going to post them anyways - when i get home from work.

well, at least it explains this.

oh the joys of torture...

we like to play funny jokes on our dogs. I was watering the blackberry bushes and louie was just begging to play with the water hose...

spring at summitridge

here are some random images for you to enjoy. my pitiful persimmon tree with homemade crutch
my embarassing front porch, note the yellowyness of everything...
random corner of my kitchen. i am not a heavy drinker.
still-life study: my dining table, with flowers, a papya, two handmade bowls, and sketches for a yurt. oh, and doogie door in background.....
my failed attempt at making homemade paneer.
the view from my front porch. that's a shitload of pine.
i think i'll name it.....seymour...
compost pile and mini cold-frame
close-up of pretty hyacinths
pretty hyacinths - they look like grapes...yummmm

pictures, pictures, pictures. they say so much more than words...

boycott the beijing olympics

friday, as i was driving through the pouring rain to visit bibi at the vet hospital, i drove past a group of regular people and tibetan monks who were standing at the corner of the intersection holding flags and protesting. it's the first time i have ever seen tibetan monks in the US, much less monks protesting (peacefully, of course). I saw the face of one monk who was soaking wet and just standing there - and the brief glimpse i had of his face as i passed by was that of sorrow. it's easy for us comfortable americans to turn a blind eye to what's going on in the rest of the world as we go about our day to day business - but we have an opportunity to ACT on a worldwide issue. I have nothing against chinese people but i do have a problem with their government's actions. Well, I have a problem with many actions of my own but not quite in this degree. These people need our help, need to be heard. I don't think that China should have been granted the priveledge to host the olympics despite it's crimes against humanity and for that reason I boycott the olympics. What effect will this really have? Well, me by myself would be little to none. It's more of a personal sacrifice because I love watching the olympics. I was there in Seoul 1988 and i consider many of the athletes to be heroes. I think what needs to happen here is for people to be aware that there is a situation here. We have to hold our leaders accountable. The people have to demand justice and equality and peace. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7334545.stm

the real cloverfield

hahahahaha... yea i know i'm corny. this is a clover patch next to my carport. doesn't it look lush and pretty? actually today it was snowing pollen. it's a good thing i don't have allergies because i would have been dying today. i spent the whole day cleaning - inside and out. i rinsed off the windows, the back patio, the back porch and my car. there was so much pollen it was caked on everything like chalk dust. johnny patched the roof (i've been sleeping under a leaky roof) and replaced my brakes. I did a chunk of my taxes and (halleluah!!) cleaned up my office a bit.

now i can actually do stuff in my office besides check my email. look at how clear my desks are!! yes, i still have a ton of shit but it's neater. this weekend was good because we finally got to do things we've pushed back for too long.

bibi is doing well. she is very stubborn and prefers to follow you room to room than stay in any one place for long. we have to put her in the crate for that. but she's doing well.

bibi

bibi is home again - doing better. we got her a new crate and i took pictures of louie hogging it.

aaaawww... poor bunny. look at her speckled little butt. she is totally stoned in this picture, we ended up taking her back to the hospital the next morning. We just got her back today after work and so far so good.

a moment of silence, please...

for the late great Martin Luther King, Jr. Today is the anniversary of his assasination and the very unfortunate loss of a great person who gave some of the greatest speeches of all time. Have you heard a MLK Jr. speech? If not, I highly recommend it.

Here is his last speech - do you think he knew what was about to happen?

the good 'ol days

i thought i would post some pictures (yippee, photos!) of some models i built in school, just fyi. these are all 100% my design and fabrication. enjoy!

japanese "style" teahouse...







american dream house...



oatland island aquatic center...





mars labitat...







and here's a special treat for those of you who actually read this whole post... found on digg.com:

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

bibi's under the knife again

today bibi is having the TTA surgery on her right hind leg. She tore her cruciatus ligament and is having it repaired with a wire cage. i am worried sick about her but i have confidence in this doctor, unlike EVIL BANFIELD who screwed up her other leg. Did i mention that i hate BANFIELD and that they are evil, lying, money stealing, pill pushing, creless and inconsiderate buttholes? yes, they are. stay the hell away from them. if you don't believe me, google for yourself. anyways, she will be in the hospital overnight and hopefully tomorrow we'll have her back. i feel so bad for her, and i hope she is OK and the surgery is a success. please god.

other than that stressing me out, i have been having a nice day dreaming about living on a farm commune. yea, i am all kinds of distracted today, needless to say i can't get anything done at work. i am a terrible employee. i can't help it though! this is bloody boring work.

**update 04/02**

Bibi is finished with her sugery and it was a success. She is fine, as far as I could tell, and staying at the hospital until today. Johnny went out and got her a prosh crate and crate pad that's all comfy soft. In fact, louie and syrus have been sleeping in the crate since we set it up last night. i'll post pics of it later...