Burgers and Walnut Chic Thugs

DJC and I met my mom and dad out in trendy, "prestigious" Walnut Creek for dinner earlier tonight. My parents LOVE this place called The Counter. They serve totally customizable beef burgers, turkey burgers, veggie burgers and chicken sandwiches. My parents rave about it! What follows are my impressions. Don't let the four Yelp stars fool you...

First off, the decor: WHACK. Picture it, if you can: Super minimal, metal and white paint, cheap tables and uncomfortable chairs, bright lights, and (wait for it...wait for it) an Andy Warhol-esque tribute to the Notorious BIG, a child-like painting of one single Run DMC Adidas shoe, and a bunch of grafitti skateboard decks (a la Pharrell and his little Skateboard P schtick) graced the walls.

Yeah, just like this, but of Biggie instead of Marilyn.

And this was the shoe:

Walnut Chic WHAT WHAT!! Hollah!! Soooooooooooooooo ghetto and tough! So gangsta!! White high school kids driving $80,000 Escalades on $5,000 rims bumping 50 Cent and rapping along like Fitty was telling their life story seem to be the target demographic for this place. Sorry, but the vibe of the inside came off ALL KINDS of wrong. WHACK. Seriously.

Next up, the wait staff: Everyone looked like they either belonged in a Blink 182 video OR like they were trying too hard to somehow skank their way into the Playboy Mansion without the actual pretty people noticing. Given the tragic homage to hip-hop, I was totally confused.

The music: Uber chill downtempo Netmusique-ish tunes, followed by twangy country. WTF?!

Wait...isn't this a BURGER place we were at? Oh yeah, right, the food...

Unfortunately, that was kind of confusing, too. Diners are presented with a checklist of a mind-boggling amount of ingredients and instructed to choose whatever they liked. The good: variety. One could eat here every day for a month and never even come close to having the same sandwich combination twice. The bad news is, well, who really wants sun-dried tomato vinagriette or dried cranberries on a burger? Weird. Way too weird. My chicken breast was thin and kinda dry, but the ginger soy sauce and grilled pineapple helped. The wheat bun was pretty tasty, though.

With all it's shortcomings, I'll probably go back. It's good for a laugh. I hear the milkshakes are pretty decent, although it remains to be seen if they'll bring all the boys to the yard.

Hella word, ya'll. Hella word.

I'm too late...

When I watched the Katie Couric/ Sarah Palin interview, I had immediate flashbacks of Miss South Carolina and her awesomely famous ramble-throw-in-as-many-buzzwords-as-you-can speech, and I intended to post them both together, but Dan Renzi beat me to it. The ROFLMAO bonus comes from the SNL skit he threw in at the end. I (heart) Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. So freaking hilarious. Am I alone in my eager anticipation of the Palin/Biden debate?

Because some of you might never make it over to Dan's blog otherwise, I'm posting the link here. If you've got a case of the Mondays like I do, watch all three videos in succession and try not to laugh. Go ahead...I DARE YOU. =)

Just so you know...

If you meet a coworker who resembles the Kung Fu Panda in a long hallway, and he assumes a one-leg-back fighting stance and begins throwing joke punches at you, and you, in joke retaliation, bust out your best-that-you-can-do-in-4"-heels-sidekick (which, admittedly, is pretty high...I am fairly flexible, after all), along with a "HI-YAAAH!", OF COURSE your boss will see the whole thing and quietly point to the waiting area, where you failed to notice- due to the focus required to throw a decent sidekick in 4" heels- the young man waiting to be interviewed for the recently opened DBA position. The young man, he won't think you're the least bit funny. In fact, he'll look downright frightened. Your boss, however, will be in hysterics.

That is all.

Ok, WTF?!

Calling Arvay, BT, possibly Mr. Wombat...EXPLAIN.

/me cocks head sideways and sports a seriously vacant look

I don't...get it.

Quick Updates

Man, I've just got ZIP ZERO ZILCH to blog about these days. BT has wonderful recipes. Arvay's got her adorable dogs and her adventures in the great wilderness of Alaska. Lucky_girl has a brand new little one and no time to sleep, let alone blog. Me...I'm just...normal, boring. Meh.

So, what's new in my life? Well...

...the job is still great. I am learning SO much and I am SO busy during the day, I hardly notice the time. There have been days where I'm honestly surprised when lunch time rolls around. And even though I like being busy and feeling useful, it's seriously cut into my online shoe-shopping habit (although, I've recently acquired a few cute pairs that I'll eventually get around to posting one of these days).

...last weekend, I volunteered to interview potential Cal Alumni Association Leadership scholars. The kids, (Ha! I can call them that now!) who were sophomores, juniors and seniors, were vying for a small monetary award for their positive contributions to the Cal community, as well as communities outside of the Cal campus. I met some of the neatest people. It made me feel like I could have done so much more with my time at Berkeley. These kids had really accomplished some great things and helped numerous individuals. I enjoyed myself tremendously and I would do it again in a heartbeat. All you Cal alum out there should really think about doing this next time the e-mail invitations are sent out. It's time very well spent, trust me.

...DJC and I have recently started the frustrating and difficult process of buying our first house condo. Everyone keeps saying that this is the time to buy, and after living in the same place for close to four years now, we're ready for a change of scenery. Plus, throwing money away on rent is sooooo last year.

...every day brings another fun, amazing Facebook surprise. I've reconnected with lots of people I haven't spoken to since 1994, and for at least one person, it's been longer than that! I love hearing from all my old high school friends and seeing pictures of their beautiful families. Honestly, I had no idea how much I had missed some of these people and without Facebook, I would never have known how to find them again. Funny thing...I was SO against social networking sites until I signed up. Since then, I'm having a blast talking to all my old friends! As much as I hate to say it, I have to thank DeKap for bringing at least one positive thing to my life. Viva Facebook!

...shockingly, I didn't hate Kim Kardashian on Dancing With the Stars tonight. I KNOW! I thought she'd be a bubble-headed bimbo (with a tush to match), but she was charmingly sweet and, most surprisingly, very articulate. Weird.

And that's about it. I've got a new song over there in the sidebar, but yeah, nothing else is really going on these days. Life, as they say, is good. I've got nothing blog-worthy to write about. No whining. No rants. I'm just living, breathing, loving, and being. It may not be much, but it's nice.

Cash Rules Everything Around Me, C.R.E.A.M, Get tha money, Dollah dollah bill, ya'll.

Whoo! Longest title evar!!

In light of the American economy's recent massive suckage, I thought I'd post a few of the frivolous consumer items that have caused my money and I to part ways...

LOVING the cool kick of Bare Escentuals Buxom Lips glosses. I'm a sucker for new makeup and colors. So much so that even while I was unemployed and damn near broke, I picked up Ginger and instantly fell in love. Last week, I stopped in to my local Sephora and snagged Brandi and their newest product, the Buxom Lips Full Color in Stella, which is more like a slick lipstick than a gloss. I'm diggin' it all the same, though. MUAH!

My old college pal Goose shocked us all when he packed up and moved to Hawai'i several years ago. Since then, he's been tirelessly working on a new beverage...one that has the opposite effects of the Red Bulls of the world. The delicate blend of native Kava root and chamomile mellows the drinker out, while imparting a sense of focus. Its called Ozia and its finally available in stores throughout Hawai'i. Its also available shipped to the mainland by the case. I recently put in an order that arrived on Saturday. I have to say, it's like nothing I've ever tasted before. It's definitely good, but its a bit of an acquired taste. In any case, I'm proud of him for having a vision and following it through. Cheers, Goose!

In other parts of the food and drink department, I enjoyed Trader Joe's chocolate croissants and a glass of Montevina Pinot Grigio on Sunday morning. It was totally indulgent, totally delicious and a perfect way to spend a day off from the gym. And Montevina always has something fun going on at the Big Crush, where I will most certainly be dropping a lot of cash. So soon!

And then there's Cal football tickets. And THANK GOD, hockey season is starting soon. I'm sure Lucky_girl and M and Miss E and JE will surely want to take in a few Sharks games. As for DJC and myself, we can't hardly wait...

It's only money and you can't take it with you...right? ;) Happy consumerism!

On Sarah Palin...

Ok, I'm not gonna say much about this "pitbull in lipstick" (EW! Her own words, bee tee dub), mostly because I think these people's articles say it better than I ever could...

Morra Aarons-Mele from the Huffington Post

Hilary Rosen from CNN.com

And if you need a more down to Earth point of view, here's Matt Damon pretty much hitting the nail on the head (and God bless him for saying what I've been thinking):



I only have one question for Mr. Damon: Is there really such a thing as a good Disney movie? I'm just sayin'...

Good to Know

In case you were wondering if the Large Hadron Collider has destroyed the world yet, click here. That should pretty much sum it up for ya.

This ends your silly, unfounded theory PSA for the day. Thank you. ;)

VMAs 2008

Good lord. Is MTV trying to make itself totally irrelevant in one night? Is that possible? Is MTV already totally irrelevant? If not, they took a giant step toward that goal last night with their annual Video Music Awards. Is anyone over the age of 15 even mildly interested in pop music anymore? Good question. I think not, but year after year, MTV feels the need to shove it down our throats by glorifying the puzzling state of pop music, while simultaneously exposing it for the utter shit that it is. Does MTV even play music videos anymore? Oh...right...no.

A few observations:

1. I honestly couldn't identify Christina Aguilera while she was performing. I missed the beginning (where, apparently, she sang the one song she's famous for "Genie in a Bottle") and actually wondered if MTV had stooped low enough to allow Brooke Hogan to perform. Yeah, it was that bad. Even her trademark vocals weren't enough for me to ID her.

2. Lil' Wayne, honey, pull them drawers UP. Leave something to the imagination, please. And find different material to rap about. I think I speak for most people when I say that we're all TIRED of hearing about how rich you are. Fuckin' punk.

3. After last year's catastrophic opening performance, I was really rooting for Britney. Every commercial I saw and celeb-trash blog I read announced that she was opening the VMAs again this year and I hoped it would be better than her Comeback v1.0 flop. Well, it was better...to a certain extent. She was clothed this time, looked cute and fit and most importantly, lucid, and didn't lip-synch sing...but this is where the "better" ended. She was responsible for FOUR GODDAMNED LINES, and she even screwed those up. Brit Brit, it's pronounced "an-ni-ver-sa-RY", honey. Its OK, though...MTV more than made up for last year's flub with unabashed ass-kissing at this year's awards. So sickly sweet, they both are. Ick.

4. The best part of the whole pre-show was the dance duel between my beloved Kaba Modern and the awesomely wacky Fanny Pack.

5. I LOVE Russell Brand! More Russell Brand! I vote for Russell Brand to host every awards show MTV has the balls to put on from here on out! He was the only good thing the show had going for it...

6. Well, not the only thing:

I am NOT a Kayne fan. I think he's a whiny, self-important gazillionaire and most of his music is too over-produced (and whack) for me to get in to. But this...this was stunning and gave me chills. And you know if Kayne's performance is the standout of the night, shit's gone downhill, folks.

Don't even get me started on The Jonas Brothers (who?) and Jordin Sparks (double who?). Lame and lamer. Kinda like MTV these days...

The Rick Roll strikes again...

...except this time, its the BarackRoll, and its about ten times funnier than the original:

Or at least I thought it was. But then again, I cracked up the first time I got Rick roll'd...and then spent the rest of the song singing along. Yeah, I'm easily amused. You all know that much. Sue me. =)

Happy Monday morning. Ugh.

Perfect

There are times in life where nothing is better than hanging out with your very best friends and listening them spin your favorite music in a uber chill San Francisco studio after a day where the Bears ANNIHILATED the opposition.

/me takes a deep breath, takes it all in and smiles BIG.

Aaaaahhh, this is what its all about, folks. Sunny days. Blue skies. Good friends. Great tunes. Strong drinks. Laughing until it hurts. AWESOME times. Life...its pretty damn good right about now.

I'm raising a glass to you, wherever you might be. Hopefully, you are feelin' it tonight, too.

Peace. =)

Blah blah blah...

Sometimes, life kinda gets in the way of updating this thing. You know how it can get...

All's well. No worries, but as it turns out, I'm a pretty boring person leading a very average life. And for the moment, I've totally run out of things to talk about. The Sarah Palin circus extravaganza, however, is a different story. I could babble endlessly. But I won't. Politics, in this medium, are difficult to discuss.

I hope you understand. I'm gonna go watch The Hills. How predictable I am...