A while back, I introduced my team at work to Wahoo's, bringing a little slice of one of my fave SoCal institutions up here to the land of granola, Priuses and organic ... everything. It was an immediate hit with the girls and so we will occasionally make the trek (all 10 minutes of it) to Cupertino where the closest Wahoo's is located. (As an aside, I think Wahoo's makes the best quick-serve cheese enchiladas EVER.)
As we gathered our wallets and sunglasses, we polled the rest of the office to see if anyone else wanted to join us... but alas, no takers. Down in the parking lot, as I backed out of my spot, I spied our principal scientist coming out the front door of the office building and I rolled down the window, leaning across Jessica in the passenger seat to yell "Hey, Magnus! Get in the car!"
The girls giggled. And Magnus squinted to see who it was and then did come over and get in the car. (Brave guy!)
With our hijacked scientist in the backseat, we were off in pursuit of mexi-goods. When Magnus found out there would be fish tacos at our destination, he relaxed.
And yes, we brought him back safely, although in retrospect, I'm sure we could have commanded a pretty decent ransom.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
The Opposite of Lent
Big congratulations to all my wonderful Catholic friends who made commitments to give up certain habits, vices, food and various other things for Lent. I always find it fascinating to hear what folks have decided to forego for that 40 day period preceding Easter.
I know at least a couple of people who have committed to staying off Facebook for Lent. (Is that really a sacrifice?) One of my co-workers gave up shopping... but just for clothes and shoes. (What a glorious loophole allowing you to carve out your own Lenten parameters. Clothes and shoes may be off the list, but handbags and jewelry are totally fair game!) Another friend of mine gave up meat for all of Lent (not just on Fridays) a few years ago and she hasn't actually eaten meat since. Impressive!
This year, my former altar boy, Special K, gave up sweets for the holy fasting period. And he took it really seriously, not even having regular soda nor his regular morning mochaccino nor sugar in a cup of tea. In a moment of solidarity (or insanity), I actually thought, "You know, I'll give up sweets, too. It will be healthier, it will be supportive and it will be something we can do together!"
Yeah, that lasted about 6 hours.
What Special K accomplished in his pious efforts to make a meaningful sacrifice, I MORE than made up for on the other side. I went straight for gluttony, swinging around a full 180 degrees as if a meeting between Lent and my personal willpower was like trying to push together the North ends of two magnets. Not gonna happen.
They say timing is everything and it just so happened that during those 40 days at the office, we had cupcakes (multiple times, thanks to all the March/April birthdays), donuts, an ice cream social and pounds of chocolate and other goodies delivered from Costco. Not even a fair fight.
Now that Lent is over, however, I am back to yogurt, bananas, granola bars and carrot sticks.
Final score:
Lent: 40
Shari: 0 (but with a couple of darn good red velvet cupcakes!)
That ain't so bad!
I know at least a couple of people who have committed to staying off Facebook for Lent. (Is that really a sacrifice?) One of my co-workers gave up shopping... but just for clothes and shoes. (What a glorious loophole allowing you to carve out your own Lenten parameters. Clothes and shoes may be off the list, but handbags and jewelry are totally fair game!) Another friend of mine gave up meat for all of Lent (not just on Fridays) a few years ago and she hasn't actually eaten meat since. Impressive!
This year, my former altar boy, Special K, gave up sweets for the holy fasting period. And he took it really seriously, not even having regular soda nor his regular morning mochaccino nor sugar in a cup of tea. In a moment of solidarity (or insanity), I actually thought, "You know, I'll give up sweets, too. It will be healthier, it will be supportive and it will be something we can do together!"
Yeah, that lasted about 6 hours.
What Special K accomplished in his pious efforts to make a meaningful sacrifice, I MORE than made up for on the other side. I went straight for gluttony, swinging around a full 180 degrees as if a meeting between Lent and my personal willpower was like trying to push together the North ends of two magnets. Not gonna happen.
They say timing is everything and it just so happened that during those 40 days at the office, we had cupcakes (multiple times, thanks to all the March/April birthdays), donuts, an ice cream social and pounds of chocolate and other goodies delivered from Costco. Not even a fair fight.
Now that Lent is over, however, I am back to yogurt, bananas, granola bars and carrot sticks.
Final score:
Lent: 40
Shari: 0 (but with a couple of darn good red velvet cupcakes!)
That ain't so bad!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
I'm Sorry, But I Just Don't Care
Am I the only one who thinks that the whole concept of "defensive indifference" in baseball is ridiculous? I just learned about this notion the other day when Special K and I were watching a game and as a runner stole a base, the announcer said that it wouldn't count in that player's stats and he noted "defensive indifference" as the reason.
Special K explained that if the defense (ie. the pitcher and the catcher) make no attempt to put the baserunner out, then that play is scored as "defensive indifference" and no stolen base is credited to the runner.
Excuse me?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the pitcher and the catcher aren't even paying attention, isn't that even more reason to credit a stolen base to the runner? Heck, if he can make that move without attracting the offense's attention, perhaps he should even get twice the credit. I don't know of any other sport where the defense can just sit back and say that a play or scoring doesn't count just simply because they weren't paying attention.
I wish I had known about that rule when playing sports in high school.
"Oh, that goal doesn't count because frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
Perhaps I'll adopt this philosophy in my day-to-day life now. Imagine:
In business (to my boss): "Oh, I'm sorry that I totally missed my revenue numbers this quarter. Since I wasn't even really paying attention to the business, I'm allowed to claim 'professional indifference.'"
To my friends: "Yeah, I'm sorry I missed your birthday, but because of "personal indifference", your birthday didn't even really exist for me."
To the cashier at the movie theatre: "I'm not planning to actually pay attention to the movie, so I shouldn't have to pay for my ticket. It's called "Hollywood indifference". Thanks for understanding."
Special K explained that if the defense (ie. the pitcher and the catcher) make no attempt to put the baserunner out, then that play is scored as "defensive indifference" and no stolen base is credited to the runner.
Excuse me?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the pitcher and the catcher aren't even paying attention, isn't that even more reason to credit a stolen base to the runner? Heck, if he can make that move without attracting the offense's attention, perhaps he should even get twice the credit. I don't know of any other sport where the defense can just sit back and say that a play or scoring doesn't count just simply because they weren't paying attention.
I wish I had known about that rule when playing sports in high school.
"Oh, that goal doesn't count because frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
Perhaps I'll adopt this philosophy in my day-to-day life now. Imagine:
In business (to my boss): "Oh, I'm sorry that I totally missed my revenue numbers this quarter. Since I wasn't even really paying attention to the business, I'm allowed to claim 'professional indifference.'"
To my friends: "Yeah, I'm sorry I missed your birthday, but because of "personal indifference", your birthday didn't even really exist for me."
To the cashier at the movie theatre: "I'm not planning to actually pay attention to the movie, so I shouldn't have to pay for my ticket. It's called "Hollywood indifference". Thanks for understanding."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)