Beef cantonese for your valentine heroine (or stud)

in the pic: flashback-->the maui yoga bootcamp with Rolf Gates was an awesome experience.

2/16
I’m applying for Teach for America and a teaching fellowship in NYC. I want to work where there is need. I seem to be pretty good at teaching. And I need a job. ‘Nough said.

Well Valentine’s day came and went. I have no valentine. But I’m sure loving the sun that is out in the sky…with very few clouds. I went for a bike ride yesterday.
I sprained my ankle two weeks ago. A pretty bad sprain. Trip to the doctor. Two weeks later. I’m trying to rehab it—doing some yoga. The outside of my foot where I think the tendons and ligaments got a bit stretched still hurt when I’m in the warrior I and child’s pose.


2/12
Reading Diplomatt’s peace corps samoa blog.. "But nothing is more sobering than driving through a familiar village and finding it unrecognizable. The Faofao Beach Fales are gone." WOW...good times I had at faofao. nice hike too. it's weird to read those sentences, even when i was in samoa when it happened. it's still weird and sad.

For all the huffing and puffing my mom does about learning computer-related things, I’m proud of her for trying. Tonight we learned how to design and print a business card. We got help from avery online design. That is a very useful web site. My mom’s mac doesn’t seem to have MSpublisher installed. I make her do all the clicking, in hopes she will (not really remember the exact steps) increase her familiarity with the computer.

My ankle is healing well. (sprained on feb 1) A call from the doctor says the x-ray shows no brokenness in my bones. That’s a good thing. But the x-ray does not show the fun with tendons and ligaments…of which are probably the real culprits of pain.

My mom used some of her flyer miles to book me a trip to NYC. I thought that was nice. I’m going for an interview with NYC teaching fellows program. i’m kind of excited to be visiting the east coast. I guess I like big cities. NYC is about as big as they come.


2/08
36 points in the scrabble is the word: heroin. That was the high point word. My grandma still won the game.

The superbowl was exciting. I mean the commercials. Yes, the game was exciting too. Too bad the Colts threw that interception in the fourth quarter, and then couldn’t convert for the touchdown on fourth down. It was an exciting game. Why do people like to watch other people get hurt (eg. Man with electric dog collar on him)? I laughed. My grandma laughed. Good job Saints! Payton manning throws really accurate passes.


2/2
Someone calling me from a 212 area code…4 missed calls…so I call the number. I hear the disconnected tone. Well…let’s see what the internet says…“This number is a landline based in New York City, NY and is unpublished.” So who’s the calling me?

I went to a couple of Chinese restaurants recently. Got a couple of Chinese fortunes worth noting. (well, I thought they were worth noting)
“a bold and dashing adventure is in your future within a year.”
Hmmm…I just got back from a bold and dashing adventure, but I’m always up for an adventure. The “bold” and “dashing” is what got my attention.

“an unexpected visitor will bring you good blessings.”
I like good blessings. Unexpected can be a good thing too.

If you’re in Astoria, OR, I have to recommend the beef Cantonese at the Golden Star restaurant. It’s yummy, with tomatoes.

I did another presentation about peace corps to a group of women at my church. I think I’ve done five presentations now. The routine is pretty tight..one note: I have not done a presentation with a projector yet, so I haven’t shown any of my 5000 pictures. Well, I did do one presentation at our house, which has a “fancy” tv that can hook into a laptop. I thought a presentation would not be doable w/o said projector, but it is working out OK. People seem to enjoy the music and stories and what few printed pics I have. Oh, and now also the souvenirs (thanks to Max).


1/30
I come back to America, watch TV…it seems almost every commercial is about some kind of drug..drug drug, or car. Drugs and cars. Fun.

I live in Astoria, OR now, but visiting Portland, OR. Portland has such a cool scene going on. Eyeing pages of the Willamette Week, and spied a band(?) called “five finger death punch.” Cool name. I wonder if it’s cool music.

taco bell's decision engine looks for cerification

in the pics: my mom likes to make cardamom bread. It tastes as good as it looks; I've missed my bike when I was in Samoa. A view from our house, looking out onto a bay and bridge.

1/28
Lunch at TacoBell today. Two burritos and a soft taco. It was good, and the hot sauce inspired me to write the first installment of “saucy hot tales: eating at the border”

Ahhh….we meet again. But since we’ve met “will you scratch my back?” ummm no, and oh darn. “help! I can’t tell where I am. It’s dark and I hear laughing.” Simon, is that you? No, I don’t look that funny do i? you can’t see me anyway.

Today was also my grandpa’s funeral and memorial. It was good. Some memories from me below.
Cutting blackberry bushes on my grandpa’s property was my (favorite??) summertime activity. That was the hard work. The fun part was using a rope to rappel down a cliff. I thought it was a pretty big cliff at seven years old.
I remember grandpa’s pickup truck. I helped fill it to the brim with yard debris, branches, grass, and whatever else we could find. Then early in the morning we would get up and go to the dump. It was much easier unloading the pickup. I liked going to the dump in the early mornings because after we were finished we went to a diner on the corner and I could order anything on the menu. The truck also had a grumble rumble when it was first started, and grandpa had to push and pull all these levers and knobs. I think the truck only allowed grandpa to drive it. I never saw anyone else drive it.
Many times when I visited at grandpa’s house, he would try out new (?) jokes on me. most of the time I just rolled my eyes and said, “grandpa that is another bottom of the barrel.” He kept trying though.
Grandpa always had a wall street journal (and a few other papers) everyday. He read them cover to cover! Everyday! He inspired an interest in investing. A few investing related tips I remember: “only buy stocks in blocks of 100 shares. You have to know the company you’re investing in.” grandpa (and grandma) also “inspired” a spend thrift attitude. “you had better be pinching your pennies” he would say. I guess I still try to do that. I like sales and coupons;)
Grandpa had a pretty loud voice. Sometimes when he wanted my attention he would say “front and center” and I knew I had better come quickly.
I remember coming to the house to get the big box of legos out and playing with my friends from school. I think that’s where my love of building things and taking things apart came from.
I have a stamp and coin collection. Grandpa would give me coins and stamps at various times.
Grandpa’s house always had ‘family’ in it. I hope I can have a family like that someday.
Oh and I know how hard it can be to rezone property you own. Grandpa was always complaining to me about the city meetings he went to and how no progress every happened.
I love you grandpa. Matthew

I asked my grandma her secret to long life. Here are a few things I heard: be happy. Keep busy. Do the crossword everyday. Eat healthy. Do physical work (cutting roses and black berries is good). Read your bible. Everyday.

Microsoft has a “decision engine” I wish I had a decision engine sometimes. Especially after coming back from a place like samoa. Back to a place like America. Too many options. Too much information.
And the (in)famous boobie flex. Where did I hear that? Oh well, I don’t know. I thought it was funny.

“any excuse to get dressed up in Astoria” well, you’d think there’s nothing happening in a small town called Astoria. Sometimes there’s not.
“There’s a lot of cancer here.” That worries me. I don’t like cancer. Hmmmmmmm.

Welcome to QuickTime 7, the world's digital media standard. Please take a moment to read the important information below.
Minimum System Requirements
• 233 MHz Intel Pentium class or better processor
• At least 128 MB of RAM
• Windows XP Service Pack 3 or later recommended
• Vista Service Pack 2 or later recommended
• Windows 7
Please note: A more powerful computer will deliver better playback performance

welcome to body1.1, the world's standard in body health. please read below..
minimum system requirements:
-8 glasses of ice cold water
-30 minutes of fun, medimum strenuous, weight bearing exercise
-20 minutes of quiet, still time, just for you
-minimum 2 minutes of heavy belly laughing

please note: a more power and sleek body will deliver a better, happier living experience

As I’m looking for jobs, it seems so many positions want to know if I have a certificate, license, or degree. Just being good at something or having experience is (many times) not good enough..hmmmmmmm…I want to be a certified yoga instructor, life coach, get computer certificates (A+, CISCO, Microsoft), and my MBA..seems like a lot..where do I start?

Interesting ingredients add flavor..and other things

in the pics: my mom and I attempted to make keke pua'a (pig and veggies stuffed in dough). It didn't really turn out how I remember it in Samoa. We decided to steam the keke instead of frying them (they get fried in Samoa). The steamer didn't really cook the dough adequately. Oh well..good first attempt. the pork (this is the way we do pig in America), mixing the dough, and stuffing and wrapping. no picture of the steamer.
Also a picture of some of my souvenirs from Samoa when they were set out on a table.

1/14

Things I liked to eat in samoa

Keke saina (the ones I bought at the KK mart)
Corned beef
french dressing
punjas rota wrap
Oranges/apples/
pringles
cheese
dark bread
CRUNCHY p-nut butter
Weet Bix (coconut honey)
bananas
cucumbers
tomatoes
ginger
…
Fish

Speaking of fish..in samoa, the fish on my plate had ingredients of: fish, sometimes oil.
I just ate some gorton’s frozen crunchy fish sticks. I really liked those growing up. Something has changed. They weren’t as good.
The ingredients in Gorton’s below. A LONG list. I like to read ingredient labels now.

Minced Pollock, Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid)Vegetable Oil (Cottonseed, Canola, Soybean, and/or Rice Bran)Water, Yellow Corn Flour, Modified Corn Starch, Sugar, Salt, Whey, Dextrose, Dried Yeast, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate)Caramel Color, Hydrolyzed Corn Gluten, Monosodium Glutamate, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Onion Powder, Colored with Paprika, Annatto and Turmeric Extracts, Natural Flavoring, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, TBHQ Added to Protect Flavor, Sodium Triphosphate (to Retain Moisture)Methylcellulose, Rice Flour, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein.
(side note: I did not put those hyperlinks in. but I think I copied this text directly from a web site, before pasting into notepad to clear all formatting..)

Not being in the Peace Corps anymore takes away your obvious interestingness, and interestingness is the main reason to keep a blog.
Well I think I can be interesting and not be in the peace corps. Being in PC just means you are interesting from far away. People have said that I’m interesting in the past. Maybe they were lying. People have said I have weird quirks. Do we want to go into those now. Not the best topics for a first date. Let’s go. I like to collect things. From the side of the road, of wherever. I was “found object man” one Halloween. I didn’t find anything during the party though.

Back to the US: I had very limited access to the internet while in Samoa. Not so in the US: internet is back, and I’m making up for lost time. But it seems there is SO much information and things I want to look at, and only 24 hours in a day./ I must say that right now I have 6 or 7 job leads. Who knows (says the pessimist in me), maybe none of them will turn up jobs, but I haven’t even started on the career/job website list given to us at our close of service.