Wow, almost four years ago I started regularly posting on girlrobot.net. Since then, a lot of things happened. I traveled a bunch of different places, I bought a sidekick, I bought an iPhone, I got kidney stones, I got a new nephew, I witnessed a shuttle launch, I moved around about 4 times, I messed up my knees and could barely walk for months, I got married, I bought a house…those are just some of the more memorable things for me….

All along, I was posting as best I could, every weekday. As much as I LOVE blogging, I’ve come to the realization that I just can’t keep it up any longer. At least not regularly. My schedule is just too busy and blogging has become somewhat of a chore. Instead, from now on, I will be blogging when I have time. There will be weeks where I blog every day…and there will be weeks where you won’t hear a peep from me. Four years ago, I wasn’t even sure if there was a single person reading my blog. Now I have ~150 RSS subscribers and over 150,000 visitors. This past year my readership has been somewhat stagnant though, which made me realize even more that I need a blogging break.

Things I will be doing instead:

– learning how to use my new camera
– cooking new recipes
– working on crafts
– planning for my EUROPE trip in September (yes!!! so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
– catching up on tv shows that I’ve missed out on over the years (yes Hakushaku, i’ll try to watch The Wire too :P)
– and most importantly…exercising!

I hope you will still check in once in awhile or add my feeds for girlrobot.net and jumpintheocean.com to your RSS readers. Either way, thanks so much for reading my ramblings, links, and commentary!

aw…i’m so sad right now! maybe one day i’ll have more time to blog regularly again!

Yes, I was one of those people that liked to make fun of Keanu’s bad acting skills and wondered how he always got such big movie roles. Well, turns out he’s a pretty decent guy….well more than decent….he sounds awesome according to this reddit thread where people are sharing stories about him.

Back in the late 90s and fresh out of college I got my first job as an assistant prop designer on the set of Chain Reaction (Keanu was a supporting actor with Morgan Freeman). EVERY DAY for the last few weeks of filming, Keanu treated the stage hands and “grunt workers” (including myself) by taking us out for free breakfast and lunch. He was genuinely a very nice guy to work with.
Since then, I’ve worked on about 30 different sets and have never met an actor as generous and friendly as him. Most actors I’ve seen and worked with are total douches who always think they are better than us. Keanu on the other hand, at the very least, was socially approachable and definitely kindhearted.
That was one example (that involved me directly), but (on the same set), I remember him going out of his way to give my friend a ride to the repair shop to pick up his car… I’ll write more as I remember, but its been a while.

A family friend builds movie sets, doesn’t design, is one of the poor dudes that just builds. Anyways he worked on the set for the Matrix and Keanu heard about family trouble he was having and gave him a $20,000 Christmas bonus to help him out. He also was one of the only people on the set that genuinely wanted to know peoples names, would say hello and mean it, and would talk to people as they were his peers and not below him just because they were practically making nothing to build a set. I’ve never heard anyone say Keanu is douche, seems like the nicest person in Hollywood from a second hand experience.

A friend of mine told me that she was once stranded on the side of a highway outside LA when her jalopy broke down. She had no cell phone (that was before most people had cell phones) and no way to call for help. Then a nice black porsche pulls over and as you can guess, it was Keanu. He tried to help her jump start the car and when it didn’t work, he called AAA for her. When they towed her car, he offered her to drive her home, which she accepted. He drove about 50 miles out of his destination just to drive her home. She told me she hoped he would hit on her but he didn’t, he was just a gentleman, dropped her at her house, gave her his phone number and told her to call him if she needed further help.

I had a few friends working special effects jobs on the Matrix movies, he bought all of them fucking HARLEYS for Christmas during the shoot for the second one.
One of those guys, Paul, said that Keanu was the most sincere, humble and lovely dude he’d ever met. Said he eschewed contact with the cast in favour of hanging out with the crew, was the only guy the martial arts coaches respected out of the whole cast, and was the bravest man he’s ever met. That scene in the first Matrix film, the assault on the office tower lobby – Keanu turned down earplugs for all the charges blowing everywhere taking “bullet holes” out of pillars, walls etc, just for authenticity. When he turns and hides behind a pillar which explodes with bullets hitting it on both sides, Paul said “the entire crew was about 15 metres away, with ear protection, and all flinching anyway when the charges blew – Keanu just took it like a complete badass”.
EDIT: I remembered, Paul also told me that Keanu once explained to him why he was getting so many action roles. He had injured himself at some point and had fused vertebrae in his upper back or neck, so when he turned his head, his shoulders and chest tended to follow, because of his limited flexibility. “It makes me look dynamic, rather than disabled” was his explanation.

i love reading stories of famous people actually being down to earth and nice!

Spray some cotton balls with my favorite scent and stick them in my linen closet

Buy some new deodorant now that summer is here

and get some cute shorts!

Learn how to use my new camera

then take a cool picture and use it as my google homepage background

Top rated beers at Bevmo – if we ever finish the beers from the wedding, we’ll have to try these hehe
Workers find unusual items in Disneyland river – weirdest item was a computer tower
Conning Harvard – story of a guy who managed to con several ivy league schools!
Fox erases applause from Obama’s West Point speech – another proof of how shady Fox is. Their news is fun to watch for entertainment though
What your email address says about your computer skills – I always make fun of boyrobot for using a yahoo.com address!
Lake dragged for mystery beast – this can’t be real right? (scroll through for pictures of this scary looking animal!)

I waited a LONG time to get this. In fact, I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger but thanks to boyrobot I got a very early bday present (since I wanted it before my FL trip) BEST GIFT EVER. I AM SOOO HAPPY RIGHT NOW! The camera is charging but I couldn’t help but snap some pics before I charged up the battery just to see if my camera purchase was justified. If not, I can always return it cuz it’s from Costco hehehe. So here are some pictures with my old camera (Canon S3 Powershot) vs my new camera Olympus EP-1,

My keys…don’t you love the robot key cover? If only you could SEE it!

It suggested I raise my flash, ugh!:

With my new camera…WORLDS BETTER!

These were all on the auto setting, straight out of the box. I barely knew how to operate the camera! It can only get better from here!!! So excited!!!!!

Just read a useful article about 72 steps to a healthier home. The following are more of notes to myself that I should be doing. Click the link for the full list.

3. Air out dry cleaning. Take off plastic bags before you come inside so that any residual perchloroethylene, a common dry-cleaning solvent and suspected carcinogen, can evaporate. If your dry cleaning has a strong chemical odor when you pick it up, give it back and ask that it be properly dried. Or Google “organic dry cleaning” to find a perc-free service near you.

4. Establish a no-shoes-indoors policy. Keep a basket of slippers at the door for family and guests alike.

8. Filter your drinking water. Activated carbon filters—whether a pitcher, tap-mounted, or under-sink model—can cut levels of lead, chlorine, and other contaminants. Request a copy of your municipality’s annual water quality test or use an at-home test kit, such as Watersafe’s City Water Test Kit ($20; discovertesting.com), to check it yourself. Shown at left: Pur’s 2 Stage pitcher, whose maker says it even filters out atrazine, a weed killer (from $15; purwater.com).

11. Toss cracked cutting boards. Opt for ones made of maple or a hard plastic so that germs don’t have a place to hide.

13. Use your range-hood fan when you cook. It’ll reduce cooking-related air pollutants, including carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide, and will lower humidity, which can encourage bacteria and mold. Before the gunk builds up on the filter, clean or replace it.

21. Pot up a plant or two. Spider plants, peace lilies, philodendrons, and aloe vera can help neutralize formaldehyde (found in furniture) and benzene (found in car fumes and paint supplies). Snake plants, English ivy, Boston and asparagus ferns, and Areca and bamboo palms are good neutralizers too.

23. Sanitize handheld devices. Cordless phones, TV remotes—even computer keyboards—may harbor more bacteria than a toilet seat.

34. Sanitize faucets, where germs and flu viruses collect fast. Wipe them down with a 3 percent hydrogen peroxide solution or try wipes that use plant oils to kill germs and viruses, such as EPA-certified Seventh Generation Disinfecting Wipes

48. Wash sheets, duvet covers, and bedspreads once a week in hot water to keep asthma-inducing dust mites under control.

59. Set up a humidity monitor. Aim for a humidity level of 40 to 50 percent; a higher level can trigger the growth of mildew and mites. If levels fall below 20 percent, consider a plug-in humidifier—and follow the manufacturer’s care tips.

61. Schedule an HVAC checkup to make sure furnaces, boilers, and water heaters are properly venting carbon monoxide.

So everywhere we go we are hearing WEAR SUNSCREEN but did you know it turns out that only 8% of the sunscreens out there are even “safe”???? I checked my favorite sunscreen that I always use, Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch, and was disappointed to see it was rated a 7 which is in the category of “Avoid”.

I checked out the list of top safe sunscreens and I realized I had never heard or seen of any of these. Well, I’m a girl of convenience so if I don’t see these sunscreens at the stores i go to, I am probably not going to buy it. So I started looking for the next best option. I immediately thought of Trader Joe’s since they usually carry more “natural” products and also at a reasonable price! And lo and behold, they do carry their own suncreen. Yay! And it’s rated a 4 which although is not the best, it’s still way better than my old sunscreen. I picked it up at my TJ’s today but I haven’t had a chance to try it yet. Reviews online all seem favorable though.

You can check the rating of your own sunscreen here.

I was just checking out boardgamegeek to read up on the latest boardgame news (yes, I know how nerdy that sounds lol) and I was surprised to see that there is a new #1 boardgame….Puerto Rico! This is one of our favorite games so I am happy to see that it is rightfully at the top of the list. I recently played the #2 game, Agricola, which is tons of fun too but SO COMPLICATED. My mind was kind of blown each time it was my turn because there were so many different options.

Anyways, Puerto Rico seems like a complicated game at first but after you play it a few times, it’s actually pretty easy to play and I highly recommend it to serious board gamers. If you are interested in playing it…I just noticed it’s on sale at Amazon.com at an AMAZING price!

It’s regularly $45 and on sale for $28 with free shipping (and no tax for most states)!!!

This game is highly strategic. It involves no dice and is a turn based game in which each player gets to choose roles to play. If anyone wants to learn to play this game, contact me and we’ll teach you how to play! Or if you already play, contact me so we can play sometime! We are always looking for new players.

Pillow talk – pillows for long distance lovers
Last days of late night with Conan (before he started the tonight show) – wow….he totally looks like his mom!
The uselessness of air marshals – $860M??? seriously?
The making of Lady Gaga – pop=manufactured. she’s a good performer though.
boxoh – universal package tracking
10 awesome companies built by teens – i love reading young success stories….inspiring!
How to avoid mosquito bites – don’t drink beer

If a company gives me good customer service, I am definitely going to blog about them. The last time i had such excellent customer service was with Zappos. I love when companies aren’t all about the money and know that pleasing their customers will go a long way.

So last week I ordered a gift on Amazon that I needed for a baby shower I am going to on Sunday. I have Amazon Prime (which I highly recommend) so I expected my item to arrive in 2 days. After 4 days passed, I realized that it was strange that I hadn’t gotten my package yet. So I checked the status online and it said it had been delivered at my door! No package. Ughhh….I was so worried because I needed it by Sunday!! (This was yesterday) I immediately went online…by this time it was too late to call so I shot them an email right before I went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, I already had a response. They asked me to make sure my neighbors and building manager (if I lived in an apartment) did not pick it up by mistake and if not, to reply to the message. So I did. Soon after, I received a message saying they would ship it 1-day to me no questions asked! My package will arrive tomorrow!!!

How’s that for customer service?

The crazy thing is….when i got home today I found a note in my mailbox saying someone had mistakenly gotten my package and to give them a call when I want to pick it up. Of course, I’ll be returning the 2nd item I got because Amazon went out of their way to get me my package even though it turned out not to be their fault.

Anyways, I’ve ordered a billion items from Amazon now and this is the first item I had a problem with but it’s so nice to know how they treat their customers. I LOVE AMAZON!