Run Baby, Run Baby, Baby Run Run.

[Short post]

My friends, Puneet and Chan, ran the SF Marathon yesterday.

I am so proud of them, it was their first marathon. I have a hard time running more than 5 miles...sigh.

Anyways, way to go gentlemen (Puja's influence)!

Puneet finished in record time, so I wasn't able to catch him at the finish line... Pun, why do you always have to run so fast?!? =) (...kidding of course)

Below are some pictures I shot after the race:

It Ain't the Butterfly, It's the Chupa Chup.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maverick_87/2521200671/

[Written on July 15]

So last night, I was at J.Lee’s place. We were getting set to go watch the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (it was awesome!!!). I’m a huge Harry Potter fan and I even wore my Gryffindor cloak and brought my wand!

Sorry…I digress. Okay, so back to the topic at hand. We were in the kitchen grabbing a snack and all of sudden Jess pulls out a Chupa Chup! Have you ever had one? If you thought tootsie/blow pops were good (for they record, they aren’t), you will think these things are godsend. They are delicious. She got them as a party favor from a wedding she was at. What a great idea…no?

I first had Chupa Chups when I was studying abroad in Santander, Spain during high school. The university I was taking classes at had a food-truck right outside the building and one day I happened to try one and became hooked. I literally had Chupa Chups and tiramisu ice cream (the other treat I got hooked on) everyday for the rest of my time in Spain.

Anyways, if you haven’t had Chupa Chups, I suggest you get a hold of some (if you’re in SF, you can get them after your meal at Tropisueño)… and remember it ain’t the butterfly, it’s the CHUPA CHUP.

Note: Apparently the work "Chup" in Tamil (the language) means “suck.” Oh how the 'world of words' amazes me.

Lucky Ladybug.

Source:http://naturescrusaders.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/ladybug.jpg
Almost every Tuesday, my co-workers and I go to the local farmers market to get lunch. Today was no different (it is 7/7 however =)), except that while waiting in line for Donna’s Tamales (vegetarian + vegan…http://www.donnastamales.com/), my coworker Aditi tried to kill me.

Okay, I’m kidding; she only took a swing at me because she saw something crawling on my arm (in my defense I didn’t know that something was crawling). In any case, when I realized it was a lady bug, I started to panic. I frantically asked her where it went, and eventually found it on the ground, still, as if her attempt to shew it away might have literally scared the life out of it. My heart sank (yes, I’m a drama queen), but then I gave it a little tap and it scurried away. Oh, how relieved I was. During this whole process, my coworker as well as the people standing behind her whom I yelled at (“Be careful! There is ladybug!”) looked at me befuddled.

And that got me thinking… where did I get this notion that ladybugs are lucky? I googled ‘why are ladybugs lucky’ and although I didn’t find a great reason, I did find that a lot of different cultures around the world find ladybugs to be lucky. So even though my coworker and the onlookers thought I was crazy, I now know I’m not!

Also, I used to have this toy ladybug phone, and when you pulled it the wings flapped. I tried to search for it and find a picture, but couldn’t. Did anyone else have this toy?

Btw… has anyone used Bing, the new Microsoft search engine? I just tried it to ask my ‘why lucky ladybug’ question, but it yielded the same results as Google. I guess I’ll have to read up on its value proposition.

You Can't Have Any Color You Like.

or:

For those of you who live in New York, I was wondering if in the last year, you have see any streets lined with bright pink (with black polka dot) trash bags (like the image above). At first when I heard about the "anycoloryoulike" project, and its attempt at the beautification of trash (with biodegradable trash bags), I thought "wow that is cool (eco-friendly)!!!"

But after further consideration, I decided that even though I love PINK, and the thought of pink trash bags sounds cool (in theory), it is not! Why would you ever want to beautify trash bags?? Beautifying things makes people more attracted to them, which makes them want to have/use them. Take the iPod, although mp3 players were out for a while, Apple's ability to create this sleek, fun to use device caused a music/technology revolution. I hope this isn't what happens with these trash bags (they are scented too apparently). We want to produce less trash not more!!! By giving people pretty trash bags, you are encouraging them to throw things away. I support the biodegradable aspect, but you can already buy bags with that feature, and for a lot cheaper.

So really, we don't want/need trash bags in "Anycoloryoulike", and I dislike(potentially hate) your project, Adrian Kondratowicz (I don't dislike you however, since I don't know you). The only great thing about these bags is they are $35 per 10, so who the heck (I had another word here before) would buy them anyways? Who, you ask? BIMBOS!

In addition, a bunch of magazines claim that these beautiful trash bags were meant for dual purpose - to beautify the city and help bring attention to how much trash we throw away. If that is true, then why the hell are you selling them[trash bags] on your website? I am semi-open to changing my mind about these bags and your project. But please, EXPLAIN.

Pictured below is more Bimboness (note: the photograph, as art, is cool):