Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Confessions from the blogosphere
I'm working on posting a floorplan of our condo, like Benita's floorplan in this post: Chez Larsson: Our humble abode. I would also like to post my laundry instructions chart because it's cool but I can't figure out how to post a Word document or at least table formatting.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
New blogging tool: a Nikon D40
Friday, December 19, 2008
My invisible disabilities made their mark this week
For the third time in the past six years, I tripped and fell down completely flat on my face this week. The picture of my chin is from the night of the fall and the pictures of my knee are from Friday morning, four days later. I'm actually kind of excited about the bruises because you can see them and people seem to understand how scary and painful the fall must have been. I wish that, without painful marks on my body or a wheelchair, I could convey how my MS symptoms feel and the affect of MS on my life all the time.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
These people are organized
Santarchy & Santacon
From santacon.com:
Welcome to the worldwide Santacon nexus, the orginal resource for Santarchy events across the globe.
Every December for the last 15 years, Cacophonous Santas have been visiting cities around the world, engaging in a bit of Santarchy as part of the annual Santacon events.
It all started back in 1994 when several dozen Cheap Suit Santas paid a visit to downtown San Francisco for a night of Kringle Kaos. Things have reached Critical Xmas and Santarchy is now a global phenomenon.
You'd better watch out! Santa's coming to town!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Lexi's sleeping habits
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
I finally did it!
Here's our new clock for the kitchen. If it looks familiar, it's because I've blogged about it before. It's the Atomic Clock & Thermometer from Smith & Hawken.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Featured pet: Patches
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Cute new glasses, bad news and confirmation of suspicions
I think these might be my glasses but I'm not positive.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Moving on to the sunroom
The Container Store > Cable Shelf Brackets
Our Cable Shelf Brackets can be used with almost any type of 5/8" to 3/4" shelf. We show them here with our Driftwood Melamine Shelves (sold separately). They accommodate shelves up to 16" deep, and hold up to 100 pounds when in installed on wood studs or cement, and 75 pounds in drywall. Installation is very easy. For mounting on wood studs, we recommend using the screws included in the package and a 1/8" Drill Bit. For drywall, we recommend 3/16" x 3" Toggle Bolts (sold separately, listed below) and a 1/2" Drill Bit. $19.99 per set
It would be cool to hang shelves for plants using these brackets. I know, not recycled materials but cool nonetheless. We have the paint for the room so we could paint wood shelves to match the walls.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
A red striped rug (Saranac) was suggested...
Frog Indoor/Outdoor
You can also easily see the time from a distance. No shit.
38 inch Metal Wall Clock
This classically designed 38' Metal Wall Clock will complement any room in your home. The large decorative wall clock features a white face and black roman numerals and has a metal frame that is durable and long lasting. It is perfect for hanging over your fireplace or in your entryway hallway. You can also easily see the time from a distance. Requires 1 C battery, not included. No assembly required.
How about a new rug for the kitchen?
I just can't seem to get enough of my kitchen. I'm not sure what will make it feel complete to me.
Dash & Albert Rug Company
Friday, November 28, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
"Yang Yang was so cute and I just wanted to cuddle him. I didn't expect he would attack."
By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, November 22, 2008
(11-22) 07:18 PST BEIJING, China (AP) --A college student in southern China was bitten by a panda after he broke into the bear's enclosure hoping to get a hug, state media and a park employee said Saturday.
The student was visiting Qixing Park with classmates on Friday when he jumped the 6.5-foot (2-meter) -high fence around the panda's habitat, said the park employee, who refused to give his name.
The park in Guilin, a popular tourist town in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, houses a small zoo and a panda exhibit. It was virtually deserted when the student scaled the fence surrounding the panda, named Yang Yang, the employee said.
He said the student was bitten in the arms and legs. Two foreign visitors who saw the attack ran to get help from workers at a nearby refreshment stand, who notified park officials, the employee said.
The student was pale as he was taken away by medics but appeared clear-headed, he said.
'Yang Yang was so cute and I just wanted to cuddle him. I didn't expect he would attack,' the 20-year-old student, surnamed Liu, said in a local hospital, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Liu underwent surgery Friday evening and was out of danger, but will remain in the hospital for several days, Xinhua said.
Yang Yang, who was flown to Guilin last year from Sichuan province, was behaving normally on Saturday and did not seem to suffer any negative psychological effects, the park employee said.
He said it was not clear whether the facility would add more signs around the enclosure or put more fences up.
"We cannot make it like a prison. We already have signs up warning people not to climb in," he said. "There are no fences along roads but people know not to cross if there are cars. This is basic knowledge."
Pandas, which generally have a public image as cute, gentle creatures, are nonetheless wild animals that can be violent when provoked or startled.
Last year, a panda at the Beijing Zoo attacked a teenager, ripping chunks out of his legs, when he jumped a barrier while the bear was being fed.
The same panda was in the news in 2006 when he bit a drunk tourist who broke into his enclosure and tried to hug him while he was asleep.The tourist retaliated by biting the bear in the back.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
I'm not sure what to say
John Paul Plauché established Plodes Studio in 2003 as a coalescence of art, product and ar- chitectural design. His Houston-based “design everything” studio is recognized among the next generation of innovative thinkers and shows par- ticular promise in design and entrepreneurship. John’s work communicates a clear, conceptual intent infused with process and meaning, while incorporating everyday observations, behaviors and personal experiences. reDO is a limited edition redefinition of a soon to be extinct icon. The infamous aluminum tube web chairs that society has taken for granted for so long are restored to accentuate their covertly true modern form. A stitched leather silhouette of the once web, new hardwood armrests, and mirror polished frame not only redefines the chair’s physical presence, but also its identity. No longer bound by the outdoors and stereotypes, reDO is elevated to kin chairs with roots in Bauhaus modernism. 24”W x 24”D x 32”H weight: 15 lbs restored tube chair, stitched leather, hardwood arms.
$2,500.00
reDO by plode studio
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
I really like this clock and had almost talked myself into spending $179 when I realized it's it's 27 inches in diameter. Wow!
THE FURNITURE :: Antique Black-finish 'Longford' Clock with Decorative Carved Accents from the Wall Collection by Bulova. FREE SHIPPING
Obsessing about the kitchen again...
I don't know what to do. It's not that big of a deal but I've given it so much importance. We went to an antique store in Potrero Hill to look at vintage clocks but they were really expensive and needed to be plugged in. We tried the Alameda Flea Market and found other cool stuff but no clock. When the search began, I tried to find something right for the time period of our building (1908) but just found lots of mantle clocks and funky things with pendulums. Then I tried thinking about a time when the kitchen had been remodeled in the past. Perhaps when the first "modern" set-up was installed in the kitchen but that didn't really work either. Our stove is a 1951 O'Keefe and Merritt so that adds the possibility of something mid-century but that's so trendy and a look I'm actually trying to avoid. A sunburst clock just isn't going to cut it. Back to the drawing board. Here's a contender:
Atomic Clock & Thermometer - Smith & Hawken
Monday, November 10, 2008
Is this a cool holiday gift for my boss?
Free Rush Upgrade*
* Choose standard shipping at checkout and this item will be upgraded to next day delivery at no extra charge. RESTRICTIONS: Cannot be shipped to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam or the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Decorating for the way we really live
Decorating for the way we really live seems to be a comment expressed by many interior decorators but do they know what that really means? I see lots of Sunbrella fabric used on the couches in the pool house and that just doesn't mean anything in my world. In my case, our new stainless steel chef's table (craigslist find for $80) is perfect for making dinner (PB&J, tortilla chips and a glass of OJ) to eat alone on our new Tolix stool at 9 pm while the husband watches TV in the front room. This is the way WE really live.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Hold your ground, Munchy!
Another awful cold!
Does anyone else get more colds and flu now that they take Rebif? I just had a cold a few months ago and it lasted forever. My current cold is going on 6 days and it just seems to get worse each day, not better. I saw a P.A. in my G.P.'s office this morning and he thinks maybe the Rebif is suppressing my immune system and that's why I keep getting sick and staying sick longer than usual. I'm not sure if that's right or how it works. The first year after I was diagnosed and I took Rebif, I never got sick. It's been the last year and a half or so that I've been sick at least 3 times and have flu like symptoms again from Rebif on Monday nights. I'm starting the list of questions for my next appointment with my neurologist. It's in January but I'm sure his voicemail will be full until then anyway so I'll sit tight.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Evidence of the vacation
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Back to the kitchen
Played hooky on Monday to attend this ground breaking
Stanford breaks ground on largest U.S. stem cell center
By Will Oremus
DAILY News STAFF WRITER
Stanford University broke ground Monday on a 200,000-square-foot, $200 million building that will become the nation's largest stem cell research facility.
When it opens in 2010, the Lorry I. Lokey Stem Cell Research Building will house 600 scientists who specialize in the study of stem cells, which may hold the key to treating diseases such as cancer, diabetes and Parkinson's. It will serve as a hub for work that is now spread across campus, partly due to federal restrictions on the promising but controversial subfield of human embryonic stem cell research.
"The Lokey Building will have a transforming impact on stem cell biology and regenerative medicine," predicted Philip Pizzo, dean of the School of Medicine.
The center is one of several that will be erected in California with the help of grant money from a 2004 state proposition authorizing $3 billion for stem cell research in the state. A 2001 Bush administration policy restricts research on new lines of embryonic stem cells in facilities that use federal funding, citing moral qualms with the destruction of human embryos.
Stanford this year received the largest of the state's stem cell building grants, $43.5 million. Earlier this month, philanthropist and Business Wire founder Lorry Lokey pledged another $75 million for the building. The university and other private donors will fund the remainder of the project's cost.
A symposium before Monday's groundbreaking ceremony offered a glimpse into the type of work that the new center will encourage.Stephen Quake, co-chair of the bioengineering department, described a recent breakthrough in which his team used a non-invasive DNA test to identify prenatal Down syndrome without risking miscarriage. A new microfluidics laboratory at the Lokey Center will facilitate similar research.
He was followed by Renee Reijo Pera, an expert in human embryonic stem cell research. She explained how the inner workings of embryonic stem cells can provide clues into the origin and nature of sporadic diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes.
The new center, Pera said, will afford scientists "the tools to being to unravel the mysteries of the lineage and how we come to have the different cell types that we have."
Though they're colleagues, Quake and Pera run laboratories on opposite sides of the sprawling Stanford campus. Quake's work is sanctioned by the federal government, while much of Pera's is not.
The Lokey building will put them side by side, Pera said, "sharing equipment, sharing ideas, meeting in the halls and having lunch."
The university has been recruiting stem cell specialists in recent years, including Pera, cancer researcher Michael Clarke and otolaryngologist Stefan Heller, who works with stem cells in the inner ear. It plans to bring on even more once the center opens, Pizzo said.
Irving Weissman, director of Stanford's stem cell institute, said in a statement that the building will encourage researchers to "apply stem cell thinking to different problems, including regeneration, aging and cancer."
Article from the San Jose Mercury News
Friday, October 24, 2008
Obsessing about the hallway now
Here's our hallway. The runners are fine but the color doesn't look that great with our hardwood floors so I'm looking for new ones. Since the rugs themselves have worked pretty well, I'm looking back to the PB solid sisal runner again. It comes in some different colors now and I think espresso is closest to what we have. I can't tell if it's a warmer, and possibly better, color for the hardwood floor or not.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Still fussing over the kitchen
And this is the new stainless steel chef's table:
We're deciding on a stool. I'm still hung up on this stool made by Tolix. It's available at Design Within Reach in a 30" version and elsewhere in various heights so don't worry if it looks puny here:
Good?
Friday, October 17, 2008
Jackson Has 'Floating Woman's Syndrome'
Janet Jackson's Form of Vertigo Once Challenged Medicine's View of Migraines
By LAUREN COX
ABC News Medical Unit
Oct. 17, 2008
After two weeks of last-minute concert cancelations and rumors about her health, Janet Jackson has revealed through a publicist the mystery disease that was keeping the lifelong performer off the stage: a rare form of migraines called vestibular migraines, or migraine associated with vertigo.
In this Sept. 17, 2008 file photo, singer Janet Jackson performs during her concert in Los Angeles. Jackson has been hospitalized after falling ill shortly before a concert performance, according to her representative.
(Mark J. Terrill/AP Photo)
"It feels so good to be back after being down just a little bit," Jackson told the crowd at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., Wednesday.
"Janet wanted very much to resume her tour so as not to disappoint her fans, but she continued to suffer from vertigo and could not perform," said Jackson's manager, Kenneth Crear, in a statement Tuesday. Jackson's agents said she was not available for comment.
Most people know migraines come with pain and nausea, but migraine with vertigo?
Doctors say Jackson's type of migraine is well-documented, but it only affects 3 to 5 percent of the general population. Why it happens remains somewhat of mystery.
"It's a variant of migraine headaches, but the pain it not so severe," said Dr. Susan Broner, an attending physician, neurologist and headache specialist at the Headache Institute at Roosevelt Hospital in New York, N.Y.
"We don't have strict diagnosis criteria for it yet … and we don't have any hard evidence of why people experience the dizziness," she said. "But we are interested in studying this."
In the past, doctors thought dizziness was figuratively in the patient's head, usually a woman's head.
From Floating Women to Migraines
"Twenty to 30 years ago this used to be called floating women's syndrome; [doctors] used to consider it a psychiatric or neurotic syndrome," said Dr. Steven D. Rauch, a professor of otology and laryngology at Harvard Medical School and a doctor at Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston.
Rauch said the symptoms of vestibular migraines may mimic the spinning in classic vertigo, or patients might just constantly feel off balance.
"Patients feel like they have no balance, or they feel like they're rocking on a boat all the time, like you're lost in space," said Rauch.
True Vertigo, or Not?
Those symptoms might sound exactly like vertigo to a lay person, but Lisa Haven, executive director of the Vestibular Disorders Association, said there's a clear difference.
"First of all, vertigo is a symptom; it's not a disorder," said Haven. A common cause of vertigo is something called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, or BPPV.
Haven said patients often get BPPV with age or a head injury such as whiplash. In BPPV, the tiny particles in the inner ear that tell nerve cells which way is down become dislodged. Like a maraca, the loose particles move with any motion of the body confusing the nerves in the ear and the brain.
But with migraine-associated vertigo, the tiny particles are not the problem. Instead, Rauch said, doctors are redefining what it is to have a migraine.
"Migraine was all about headache, and now we realize the headache is part of the greater spectrum," said Rauch. "The modern migraine is this global distortion, and usually it's an intensification of a sensation."
Migraine a Sensory Problem
That sensation could be pain, but it also could be vision, sound, smell and motion. But, according to Rauch, painkillers for migraines won't help the symptom of vertigo. Patients who have vertigo with migraines can only prevent migraines through lifestyle changes and carefully adjusted medication.
Just as all the other sensitivity during a migraine can be severe, so too can the problems with motion.
"It can be very disabling until it's brought under control, I really can believe she's unable to meet her obligations," said Rauch.
Rauch guessed Jackson would have a particularly challenging time managing her symptoms on tour, since preventing migraines requires a regular sleep, eating and exercise schedules.
But Jackson's publicist implied that everything was under control.
"She's a world-class entertainer and needs to be at the top of her game to give her fans the show they expect," said Crear, Janet's publicist. "She's feeling much better and is ready to hit the road again to finish the tour."
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
A quotation for Tuesday...
Oh, say, can you hear?
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Today's quotation
Friday, October 10, 2008
Not Again
Important Message from the Dissolution Committee (DC)
It is with a great deal of regret that we write to inform you that we will not be able to pay you for work performed after today, Friday October 10 and, as a result, that your employment with the firm will be terminated today. We also expect that we will need to inform other employees over the following two weeks that we are unable to pay them any further and will need to terminate their employment. We do expect that we will be able to continue to pay some people for a longer period of time. Regular paychecks will be provided today but because of the volume of final paychecks we will need to prepare, it may take a few days to get your final paycheck to you. We know this is important to you but please be assured your colleagues in the Payroll Department will be working as hard and as quickly as they can to get you your paycheck.
These actions have been forced upon us by the two banks -- Citibank and Bank of America -- that control our ability to make any payments. Generally, they have refused to pay employees who we cannot convince them are necessary (as they define it) for the wind down efforts. We understand how upsetting this news is. You should continue your activities to serve clients, including, where applicable, to bill your time. Time billing and client service are two of the criteria the banks are examining in our continuing negotiations with them to maintain an orderly transition.
We want to thank you for your professionalism and forbearance to date and ask you to continue to proceed with the same degree of professionalism you have demonstrated during your valuable service to the firm and to its clients.
The Dissolution Committee
Not fishing on a Friday
It may seem a bit unusual but I'd like to recommend another blogspot site that was created by the late Yolanda Bain, a yoga instructor from San Francisco. http://yogayolanda.blogspot.com/
There's a lot of inspiring and life affirming content on the site. She appears to have been a wonderful person who will be greatly missed.
Gone Fishing
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
It's official
You do not have displacement or bumping rights for other positions within The Firm. However, in order to conduct an orderly liquidation, The Firm may continue to employ a very limited number of employees after the date of the shutdown. If you wish to be considered for such work, please notify me by email; The Firm will let you know about past November 28 work within the next few days.
This letter constitutes notice to you pursuant to statute. As a terminated employee, you may be entitled to certain benefits, which will be the subject of a separate communication. The shutdown is being treated as a plant closing under relevant law, and includes the termination of employment of employees employed at 275 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025.
In the event you require additional information, please feel free to contact your local Human Resources Generalist, Wendy Kwan, at (650) 324-7192 or email HellerEhrmanMgmt@hellerehrman.com.
Sincerely,
Heller Ehrman Management
HellerEhrmanManagement | HellerEhrmanLLP | 333 Bush Street | San Francisco, CA 94104
tel: +1.415.772.6000 | fax: +1.415.772.6268 | email: hellerehrmanmanagement@hellerehrman.com | web: www.hellerehrman.com
Stainless steel chef's work table
This is what I want for our kitchen. It's $705 for the 48X24X36H size.
Cucina Americana Work Tables - John Boos
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Mini Uniko Olive
Friday, September 19, 2008
Lexi is getting famous
I attached a link to this photo on a comment I made today on an AT:SF post and this photo has been viewed 22 times today.
What I'm doing with my next Borders coupon
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