Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

I witnessed a UVA awareness event while having brunch at The Nook. A bunch of male athletes, along with some women, walked the mall in heels and passed out flyers for SARA (sexual assault resource agency). At first I thought this "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" was supposed to be an empathy-building exercise for the young men statistically likely to sexually assault women. And I thought it was doing a grave disservice to the community; these guys prancing around and joking weren't going to have the least bit of understanding until they were wearing heels while trying to escape from someone larger and stronger than themselves who was threatening (or had already started) to harm them. However, once I caught a glimpse of the flyer I saw it was just to promote the resource. At which point I thought it was a cute gimmick, but perhaps the patrons casually dining in outdoor cafes weren't the citizens who would most urgently benefit from knowing about the free help available to victims.

Henry's Dirty Pickle

This martini is a house speciality at Escafe, and I highly recommend it if you like gin and pickles.

Coffee Explosion

I really enjoy my new Aeropress coffeemaker, but I was pushing the limits (exceeding, actually) of my coffeemaking abilities. I read on some forum that one could capture some of the coffee oils and thus body by inverting the first seconds of the press. But rather than a few drips which I presumed to be the penalty for an inexperienced press, I got a full, painfully hot coffee explosion. Lesson learned--I am too like Icarus.

Bed Built!

Almost there... after another 12 hrs of labor, construction is complete. Now all that remains is to finish the piece--prime a few more areas, add more wallpaper to the shelves, paint the outside wood areas, and upholster the top. That's all.

Bed-Building Day

I like to lean against the large cushions while in bed, but they take up 10 inches of the bed's length so my toes are unpleasanty close to the end of the mattress when I sleep. So I came up with the obvious solution to put the cushions on a 10 inch shelf behind the bed. But then I realized I could simultaneously solve the problem of no nightstands by extending the shelf and adding lower shelves on each side. Yesterday I designed the unit and purchased the materials. I even fit all the 8 foot boards in the car myself. Today I build. This is what I've accomplished in 4 hours.

Bathmat Cats

It's cute when Rambo and Merlin are buddies.

Mint Personal Finance Software

I haven't tried this software, since it's not yet available. But since I want to try the beta I am dutifully putting this link to their website on my blog.

But Did They Set It Up Themselves?

I just read that some presidential candidates set up profiles on My Space. I am flabbergasted since I recently tried this myself. It hadn't occurred to me earlier to set up a page since, well, why would I need that? Apparently I need that to get one of my friend's email addresses off the site, so I filled out the questionnaire and have a space. But I've got to tell you, I don't get it. I actually found a product I want to beta test that required a link on My Space to qualify. Great! But heck if I could figure out how to add a link! I finally got the link to show up, but I don't think I did it right. So I don't know how I feel about politicians getting into this since I can't imagine they have any idea about how it all works and it's just their staff typing it all in. I swear, it's easier to make a page using RoR than My Space.

Fancy Target!

I got directions to the Target in Irvine, CA but had a heck of a time finding the place. There as a shopping mall with department stores, so I was looking for a nearby lot that would have the Target, pharmacy, video rental type of stores. No such luck. I eventually found the Target behind this fancy facade. But inside was just a plain old regular Target.

Above the Park

This photo doesn't do the garden justice. I'm dining at the 8th floor cafe at Saks and have a bird's eye view of the skating rink at Rock Center, and above that, two rooftop gardens. They're lovely
formal affairs, but I find it interesting that the occasional garden visitors don't seem to be nearly as fashionable as the lunchtime crowd in here. Yet I doubt any of the garden strollers wish they
were here instead, primarily since I doubt they even know this cafe exists, let alone that we can watch them like ants under glass.