my new bed rocks! (as in, "is way cool," not "sways to and fro")

how I managed to put it together by myself is beyond me, but can we please add this superpower to my list?

what a wonderful weekend. :)

and it's amazing how people can continue to surprise you...

ahh... good night. and see you in the morning. :)

so trekking up the "eye-four-oh-five" on an early summer Friday afternoon (with no less than four large IKEA pieces in the back of the family minivan) gives one an extensive amount of time to sing, tan, and reflect on all that is wrong with traffic these days.

as the freeway slowed to its usual 15-20mph slow and go status, I noticed a fire engine slowly trudging along behind me, wedged on the quasi-shoulder between the #1 lane and the concrete divider. its lights were flashing, but its sirens were not blaring, so I really don't know the severity of whatever situation it was trying to reach, but it's a fire truck. there's something probably extremely time sensitive going on. but could the fire truck reach the incident? well sure, but no faster than I could.

then it hit me. we need an emergency vehicles access lane. think about some dude on a motorcycle weaving in and out of lanes or that punk kid in his abomination of a fixed-up car (yeah, I'm getting old)... and think about the medical attention that is oh-so-urgent when there's an accident. emergency vehicles need to have access to these situations. even with side streets, there's really no getting around traffic congestion.

now one may argue that this extra lane would be a waste of valuable driving space... and thus one may propose that we use this lane for carpool/emergency vehicles such that the lane would be outlined in special emergency lights and such that in the event the emergency lights began to flash, carpool drivers would be forced to quickly exit that lane until the lights ceased.

yeah... I'm not sure about this idea. it's no U-turn signal, or windshield wipers that go the other way, but hey, it's a start.

and SPEAKING OF EMERGENCY SITUATIONS ON THE ROAD... I saw the CRAZIEST THING EVER WHILE DRIVING TODAY!!! I was in the #3 lane going north on the 405, near Carson, and I happened to look in my rear-view mirror just as a light blue sedan reversed across the freeway from lane 1 to lane 4, fishtaled into a complete 360 and then jerked to a stop on the shoulder!!! ISN'T THAT INSANE? I am absolutely baffled at what caused the entire thing... Really, the ONLY explanation I have of this is that the guy lost control and ran into the center divider, then tried to back out of it, but slammed on his accelerator instead of his brake, sending him clear across the freeway, and then he freaked out and hit the brakes, locking them and sending him into fishtail mode... really, it was a sight from the movies. and I don't think ANYONE WAS HURT!! he didn't hit any cars before he came to a stop on the shoulder...

crazy huh?

ok, LACK and MALM need my attention.

ok it's been a REALLY long time now. so long that I think I just read through all of the old posts in their entirety.

It's interesting to note just what gets put into a weblog and what doesn't. I mean, there is so much that is so utterly important in life that is completely left out... and so much that is so uttterly trivial but is brought into the spotlight on more than one occasion. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that... just a side-reflection.

It's hard to figure out just where to pick up. It's like when you get together with a really good friend with whom you haven't really spent quality time in a long while (think 4-hour Claim Jumper meal or Parisian train station breakfast/brunch) and the beginning conversation is almost at the level of choppy intermittent small talk punctuated by a "what should I order" here and there... and then that (it's not awkward, but I don't know how to describe it) feeling subsides and the outing develops into one of the best conversations ever experienced in the history of conversations.

Perhaps that's what this is right now. The (insert proper adjective here) small talk.

Well it's past midnight on a Thursday evening. I sit in my darkened (yes, I need to buy lamps, I'm going to do that tomorrow) living room on the way-too-big but oh so comfortable sectional + chaise with JT in lap blogging to, on my right, the snoring sounds creeping out of Ryan's bedroom, and on my left, the ever-permeating blare of the building intercom system. And additionally on this particular evening is the incessant sound of police sirens, punctuated by what has to be a conversation between a cop and a resident (either here or next door) about "the teenagers who threw a chair at me." I put my money on the drive-by boba-ers in the brand new white Mercedes.

Tony's recovering from his cold with a mean knack for Chexx hockey (and a series-winning score that is too unbearable to report). Stacy's gone to bed early with an apology. Brendan's starting a phone conversation with "you dirty, dirty whore." Alex's left for bed and returned when realizing that he cannot for the life of him sleep that early. Leah's questioning whether or not Alex's tv watching in the master bedroom whilst Stacy's trying to sleep is bothersome. Arun's (hopefully) resting up for his grand return home. Avec le chien.

And here I am. Nowhere.

(haha. I'm so NOT Mark, though at times I feel like I am. why is that?)

it's good to be back. in more ways than you can imagine.

Ang is back!

so how 'bout those national spelling bee prize winners?

from cnn.com:
A 14-year-old Indiana boy mastered "autochthonous" to win the National Spelling Bee Thursday, outdueling 264 rivals, including one who fainted on stage but recovered to take second place...

In the end, he defeated Akshay Buddiga, a 13-year-old from Colorado Springs, Colo., who had briefly collapsed on stage rounds earlier.

Within seconds of crumpling, Akshay stood up and, to the amazement of the judges, immediately started spelling his word: "alopecoid," which means like a fox. He got it perfectly, drawing a standing ovation.

He was led off stage for a medical check and returned for the next round.

Akshay made it into the final twosome while sitting on a chair at the microphone, looking weak, his questions to the judges barely loud enough to hear.

hour 30 in bed/on couch affords lots of friendster/orkut-perusing, education article summarizing, and ofoto album updating...

pics from Desi's graduation!

pics from Shirley's Bday wine tasting

note to self: see the passion in those around you, and let that be your inspiration