the new iPhone commercial, not quite

Here's a mockucommercial for the iPhone 3g.

Hee hee!

Summertime in Oakland

It feels different, the summertime in the hood.

I don't like walking alone at night as much, compared to the winter which is a bit odd. I don't carry a purse at night and def not my laptop.

My neighbors have more parties, drink more, play music louder and longer, and ironically it all makes me want to stay inside in the summer.

I get more random guys saying stuff and driving slow by me in the summer. I try to not dress nice or wear a skirt. I intentionally put on a uniform, the most casual I can be.

It doesn't make me want to buy ice cream from the ice cream man or go to a burrito truck, which I feel more comfortable doing in the winter.

And all this time, I thought that summer would be the most fun. Well, the firework show was amazing and it's nice it's not raining. Besides that, I'm ok with fall coming.

What's new?

Ah, what to say? Stuff is new but there's nothing I feel like writing about.

I feel tired this week and a bit on edge/tired. Hopefully I'll feel better by this wkend.

I wore a pencil gray skirt today that I don't know if I've ever worn out. I've had it for yrs, it's always been a bit too tight but this morning it was loose. I was surprised but loved wearing it with my fancy black heels with the bow. I was dressed up. I think the being on edge and some anxiety this wk has made me lose my appetite and drop a few pounds. Yey for anxiety, yey. Whoo hoo.

I got to sign my first letter at work today which is kinda a big deal. A letter that gets sent to the public with me as the contact and my signature. After two months of preparing countless letters for other people's signature, it feels fresh and cool. I would def love to take on more responsibility even as I've just gotten over being overwhelmed.

A week from now, some things should be more clear. We'll see.

I'm getting the new iPhone soon, maybe this wkend when it's released. Maybe next week. I don't care enough to stand in a line overnight to get one. I am so excited. Everyday a situation comes up where I sigh and say, "If I had my iPhone right now..." I basically decided a yr ago to wait a year for the second generation to come out. In Jan, I really really wanted one as I was switching phones but decided to wait until this summer bc I knew it was coming out. So it is! And it will be soon mine! The notes, PDA part, the web, online part, the pictures, and voicemail, everything. YEY :)

"I got a Masters degree then got married" gray hoodie

OK, actually a clip about yogurt and how women are targeted by ads...

No way!

Ok, I've had to interact with this kind of guy and yeah, it's REALLY fun to get these calls. Sarcasm dripping.

It's 4:27 long but worth every second esp the last 45 seconds. OMG, all I can say.


http://view.break.com/527579 - Watch more free videos

Grateful v3.0

There are just so many stories in the news I want to write about but they all make me sad and tired. The father and two of his sons killed in a completely random, not "road rage" as the press is saying, act in SF; a suspect has been arrested and while he is innocent until proven guilty, it doesn't look like he's innocent based on evidence. But his fancy pants lawyer is working overtime to spin the gang member as a sweet family man with a wife and baby including having the wife on the news saying, "Everyone is surprised" as they show pic after pic of him with his fellow rough gang members. BS you're surprised. BS. I just don't even know what else to say. Bullshit.

The huge accident on 880 today that shut down the freeway and killed two people. I'm sorry.

The fires, asthma problems, housing crisis, Bank of America laying off 7,500 employees after buying Countrywide, young kids that are sick - does anyone else just feel sad from the world sometimes?

I don't take being grateful for things lightly but I want to be grateful as a discipline, to turn away from what comes too easily - everything else.


So with that, things I'm grateful for:

1) Health insurance and being healthy

2) Healthy Choice chocolate fudgesicles

3) A working fast cool computer

4) My free tv

5) the Alameda library, free books

6) Mitch and Nora








Nora's paw looks like a shrunken money paw, lol.

Grateful v2.0

I am grateful for:

1. Carpooling with Greg, Jon, and this week Wayne. They make me laugh and Greg can be a good gym buddy, too. (Good luck with all the stuff going on right now, Greg)

2. So I Think You Can Dance - ah yeah

3. Getting to leave work today at 3pm and come home and chill

4. My mom coming to visit next week, dinner with my brother and wife, and taking a day off work to go see tigers :)

5. Feeling motivated at work today and finishing a lot of random projects including creating a cool excel tracking sheet

I am v. proud of myself today for a) not eating any chocolates from the candy jars at work, and b) going to the gym and doing 40 minutes on the elliptical. Go me!

Grateful

(It has now been a year since I started the blog, wow time flies).

I am grateful:

1. For my and my families health
2. For a good affordable oscillating remote controlled fan from Costco
3. For time and space to be more chill
4. For discussions at community dinners
5. For having a job, not being unemployed
6. For my cats Mitch and Nora who are the cutest cats ever
7. For having enough food and my needs met

Karaoke and other important things

I sang karaoke three times in one week, twice at work. Ah yeah, this is def my kind of work. I sang YMCA, All My Life by K-Ci and Jojo, and badly badly sang My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion. Karaoke is fun!

Not sure if it's because I'm older or this workplace feels different, but I find myself talking about my church and faith a lot more at work than I ever have before. Community dinners come up naturally in conversation esp as I bring in leftovers or take up a coworker's offer of buying her tamales for my dinner next Monday night. One coworker was fascinated by our community living and told how she has tried to start a community with shared living for awhile and studied European community models but hasn't seen it take off. We agreed that there is prob have to be a bigger shared vision like spirituality. Another coworker stopped me in the halls to share how she and some of her friends are thinking about buying property together to move in and have their parents move in, as a new approach to community and caring for elder parents.

I really think ppl are hungry for community and shared life.

It's freaking hot in Oakland, sweating here in bed, watching my borrowed TV, and catching up on my writing.

The borrowed TV - I feel like it's a way God has answered one of my simple prayers. I've been TV-less since Dec. 1 and I've liked it but now have been wanting a TV. One of my fave shows, So You Think You Can Dance, is on and bc it's live, it's not a show you can watch online. Tired from work, I've been tired of going to other people's houses to watch TV. I just want to to veg at home with a TV. So I've been thinking about this for a few months (and had already decided in Jan that I would get a TV again in Aug for football season) and getting a job opened up ideas. I started researching this wkend online but I struggled bc I just didn't feel like it was the right time to spend money on one. And I'd only buy an HD one bc of the upcoming analog change. So I kept going back and forth but there was no right I could feel right about it esp as I really really want an iPhone in July and will be getting one. How could I splurge twice when I just got a job??

So last Sat I saw Jody's old TV in Kristin's room and, things ended up with me borrowing her old analog TV. I had a few glitches with setting up my dvd player and tivo (doesn't work too well without clear vision, boo) but at least I now have sitcoms and SYTYCD and movies. Even though I didn't clearly pray for this, I wanted to not spend money and be wise about my situation and I feel like God agrees with that and helped me honor that. I got what I was craving while not spending money I didn't want to spend. It's not perfect but it gives me a few more months before I feel I have to buy one.

I feel grateful :)

Random

An interesting article on No Child Left Behind, the history, and current vision.

Did I mention that I renewed my passport last month, mailed it on a Monday, and received the new one back the following Thursday? Only a week and a half. I was impressed.

Last week, after our Board mtg that ended after 11pm, our pastor and another leader were standing outside a car and were held up at gunpoint. I had left but headed upstairs to chat with Wayne. As we were on the porch, talking about how late the ice cream truck comes by, we saw two youth running somewhat oddly to chase the truck down. Were those guys the robbers? Could I have been robbed also, if I had walked and chatted with them instead of going upstairs?

Mo and Nic are gone, in France. Cleaning their place today. I miss them.

Thanks Pin for coming over and installing my wall heater. Not like I need it right now but good to have.

Tomorrow we're celebrating Philippine Independence Day at work with yummy Filipino food at lunch. I'm really excited!

I'm wiped, time for bed. Early tonight, for a change.