Krunk4Ever!

When transferring the elliptical images over to my computer, I noticed a few images that I hadn’t talked about yet:

I also got these from Costco and they’re super yummy. They’re called spanakopita and the description states: spinach and feta phyllo triangles. According to Wikipedia:

Spanakopita is a Greek spinach pie with a filling of spinach, feta cheese (usually), green onions, egg, and seasoning (often including dill). The filling is wrapped in layers of phyllo pastry with butter and/or olive oil, either in a large pan from which individual servings are cut, or rolled into individual triangular servings (see burek). Once baked, it is golden in color.

In Greece, it is mostly eaten as a snack, an alternative to tyropita.

In restaurants it can be served with tzatziki sauce and a Greek salad. It has become a popular item in Greek restaurants worldwide, and is served as either a light meal or an appetizer.

After it leaves the oven, the outside is crispy and the insides are soft. The only unfortunate thing is that each dish comes with 12 triangles and I can’t possibly finish all of them in 1 sitting, and after you leave it out for some time, the crispiness disappears. It’s also on sale this month (from the coupon booklet).

So I had some left over beef turnip dish thingy from Sichuanese Cuisine earlier this week and decided to finish it up. I also had some left over rice I had prepared to make fried rice with. I was taught that left over rice is the best for doing fried rice, due to the fact that freshly cooked rice sticks to the wok and is too mushy. Leave it in the fridge overnight and the rice-lings harden up. Anyway, I was trying to figure out what type of meat I wanted to add to my fried rice. What better than to use this already cooked meat.

So while I was at Safeway, I picked up some green onion and peas and carrots. I already had eggs, so now I was complete.

It tasted actually really good. Too bad the chili peppers weren’t really edible, so I had to picked them out. However, it did make my fried rice spicy, and that was definitely added an interesting flavor.

Who the heck decided to pronounced bologna as baloney or decided to write baloney as bologna? While shopping at Safeway today (which I have now found out that postage stamps don’t contribute to the $50 total if you want to get the 10¢ gas discount), I was walking down the ham aisle. While trying to decide what to get, I was surprised the Oscar Mayer Bologna wasn’t on sale, but every other bologna was (beef, turkey, etc.).

Anyway, I always just thought “baloney” was just a slang for bologna since it’s not easy for kids to say bo-lone-ga (which is what I’ve always called it). Someone awhile back corrected me and told me that’s how “baloney” is supposed to be spelled. I was like WTF? What idiot decided to spell baloney like that or decided to pronounce bologna as baloney.

Anyway, I decided to look up bologna to see if there’s a good reason for this. According to Wikipedia:

It is commonly called bologna and often pronounced (by hypercorrection) and/or spelled baloney.

However, I did noticed that there was a city in Italy called Bologna:

Bologna (IPA [boˈloɲɲa], from Latin Bononia, Bulåggna in Emiliano dialect) is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, in the Pianura Padana, between the Po River and the Apennines, exactly between the Reno River and the Sàvena River.

They apparently pronounced Bologna as bo-lone-ya, which I can see how, and definitely sounds more correct than Baloney, Italy.

Digging up some more, I found this on Online Etymology Dictionary:

bologna - 1850, variant of bologna sausage (1596), named for the city in Italy, formerly Bononia. See baloney.

If a city like Bononia does exist, I can completely see why baloney is pronounced as so. Searching on Wikipedia resulted in this:

Bononia is the Roman name of several cities, including:

• Bologna, Italy
• Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
• Vidin, Bulgaria
• Banoštor, Serbia

So my hunch tells me that it could be that this sausage was originally called baloney because the Bologna city back then was called Bononia. After the city changed it’s name, they didn’t change the way the sausage was pronounced, and when it was added into the English dictionary, it took the pronunciation of the original Bononia, but used the modern name of Bologna as the spelling.

Fascinating…

Last week during dinner with some coworkers, I brought up about the most expensive coffee in the world. It started with talking about water, tea, and coffee having no calories if you don’t add milk or sugar. So while on the topic of coffee, I had remember seeing them talking about the most expensive coffee in the world in a Chinese detective drama series I saw a few years back. I forgot what it was called, but I remember how it was made. I recalled that they had to feed the coffee beans to a cat. The cat would them poop it back out (I know, faux pas for dinner topic). Somehow, during the digestion process, the cats inner body adds something to the coffee beans that makes it taste and smell a lot better.

Everyone was so disgusted by this fact, they claimed they wouldn’t even try it. I couldn’t understand why… I mean, the coffee beans will be thoroughly wash and all the poop would be removed and there won’t be any remnants of the poop or the coffee beans ever being inside a cat’s stomach. I had brought up about vegetables being inside fertilizer and people just washing it and eating that, but they said fertilizer wasn’t exactly poop. Xyon gave the example of if I would eat undigested corn stuck in my poop if they washed it very carefully. He does have a point, but nonetheless, I don’t think my stomach makes corn taste or smell better, so I wouldn’t do it.

Anyway, after I came home, I decided to look up some information. It turns out it’s called Kopi Luwak. According to Wikipedia:

Kopi Luwak or Civet coffee is coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus).

Kopi Luwak is the most expensive coffee in the world, selling for between $120 and $600 USD per pound, and is sold mainly in Japan and United States, but it is increasingly becoming available elsewhere, though supplies are limited. One small cafe, the Heritage Tea Rooms, in the hills outside Townsville in Queensland, Australia has Kopi Luwak coffee on the menu at A$50.00 per cup.

Kopi is the Indonesian word for coffee, and luwak is a local name of the Palm Civet. The raw, red coffee berries are part of its normal diet, along with insects, small mammals, small reptiles, eggs and nestlings of birds, and other fruit. The inner bean of the berry is not digested, but it is believed that enzymes in the stomach of the civet add to the coffee’s flavor by breaking down the proteins that give coffee its bitter taste. The beans are excreted still covered in some inner layers of the berry. The beans are washed, and given only a light roast so as to not destroy the complex flavors that develop through the process.

So it turns out a it’s not exactly a cat. A Palm Civet is actually a cat-sized mammal in the family Viverridae, sometimes referred to as the Toddy Cat. And it’s not really coffee beans, but coffee berries. I had no idea coffee berries existed. Anyway, I’ve pretty much gotten to the point I’d tried anything if someone recommends it to me, and wouldn’t mind trying a cup of this coffee. I personally don’t like coffee that much, and if I do drink it, it’s usually in the form of mocha or a lot of milk and sugar.

But A$50 (~US$40) for a cup of coffee… Wow!

Last week, I met up with MandalayX as he was up in Seattle for the PAX 2007. I was invited a few friends, but PAX isn’t really my thing. I enjoy playing games, but not as much as what most people would assume. Let’s just say the game I play most often is still probably Free Cell, and I can go without turning on my Xbox 360 for months.

We met up on Thursday night and we caught dinner and just chatted. There was a lot of catching up to do. For those who don’t know, MandalayX was my roommate freshman year in the dorms. We’ve kept in touch, but didn’t really see each other that often after the 1st year. He appears to be doing well, but his hours are rather harsh. I guess that’s the problem with family businesses. He wanted to check out my place so I took him back and showed him around. He even got to try out MexiCoke. He said their wasn’t much difference in the initial taste, but the aftertaste was definitely different.

All in all, it was a pleasure to see him again. That reminds me, I still have some food left over from that night… Guess that’ll have to wait till Tuesday as I’m going over to a friend’s place for a cookout for Labor Day.

Was going to blog about my new file server, but that’ll have to wait.

After eating a chips ahoy cookie yesterday, I suddenly had an immense toothache. One of my teeth has been aching recently and when I tongued it, I can feel a small hole. I’m thinking, either a big cavity has formed or my filling is broken off. It’s hard to measure size with tongue as it just felt like a gaping hole.

So I went to Rite Aid after work today for 2 items, one of those dental mirrors so I can see what the heck is going on with that tooth and the other was for some pineapple coconut ice cream.

Finding the dental mirror was rather simple. They had 3 options: $6.99, $7.99, and $8.99, all which also came with 2 of those teeth scratching thingies. I opted for the cheap one cause all I really needed was the mirror.

Anyway when I walked in, I had noticed they didn’t have an ice cream counter. However, I was even shocked to find out their ice cream section was almost completely empty. Looking at the tags, it didn’t look like they carried any Thrifty/Rite Aid brand ice cream. I was highly disappointed.

When I got home, I shot this email over to Rite Aid customer service.

Hi,

I’m from California and recently moved up to Washington. I’ve always been a big fan of Thrifty/Rite Aid ice cream and had a craving for some pineapple coconut ice cream today.

However, I was disappointed that the Rite Aid next to work did not have an ice cream stand nor sold any of Thrifty’s/Rite Aid’s famous ice cream in the frozen section.

I was wondering if there are any Rite Aids around my area that do have an ice cream stand or sell Thrifty/Rite Aid brand ice cream.

Thanks!

Yes, I really WANT pineapple coconut ice cream.

Then I went to check out my tooth. Turns out the 2nd tooth left of my left canine did in fact have a big hole where filling once used to be. Whenever I eat something sweet or cold, it sends chills down my body. Guess I’ll be using my right jaw for awhile now.

My initial guess is that I had chewed or something hard and my filling didn’t like that. Could be all the ice I chew all the time.

I really need a dentist recommendation up here. If anyone’s got a good one, please let me know.

If you’re wondering if I’ll be giving up sweets and cold stuff in the meantime, the answer is a rather clear NO. Give me sweets or give me death!

Upon further inspection, it doesn’t appear the filling has fallen off, but actually part of my tooth. With my Canon SD1000 in macro mode and no flash mode and with the help of my LED flashlight, I took these 2 pictures (DO NOT CLICK IF YOU ARE EASILY GROSSED):

It looks like the filling didn’t crack and is rather smooth on where this new hole is. I wonder how I managed to crack this hole… It looks exceptionally dirty and I even went to use mouthwash after seeing the 1st picture. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to have help as you can see in the 2nd picture. As you can see, the rest of my teeth are pretty clean. I guess my toothbrush can’t reach into that tiny hole.

Grrrrr. I really need to see a dentist asap now.

Joke aside, back in April, I got my first (ever) speeding ticket. Of course I was very scared. I don’t think I’ve ever been unafraid of a police pulling me over. The officer had marked me down as doing 44 on a 30 mile per hour zone. So my head started to run through all the possible scenarios. Since this was my first moving violation, I could get a deferral, but that means I won’t be able to use that again for 7 years. Then there’s hiring an attorney to contest the charges.

Let me explain how moving violations differ from California for my fellow readers (well from California). In California, if you haven’t had a moving violation within a year, you can opt to pay the fine, go to traffic school, and the moving violation is never recorded in your record. However in Washington, we don’t have that. We do have what is called a deferral, where you can use it once every 7 years and what happens is that the violation is marked as deferred on your record (but not reported to the insurance companies). You have to pay an administrative fee of $100, but you avoid any potential insurance rate hike. If you don’t have another traffic violation in the next 12 months, it’ll be marked as dismissed on your record. However, if you do have another traffic violation within those 12 crucial months, both violations will appear on your record and you’ll have to pay both fines.

Hiring an attorney seemed like the way to go. Should try to save my deferral for another day. Worst case scenario would be that I couldn’t get the ticket dismissed and would request for a deferral. Lawyer fees were a bit steep ($250-350), but I’ve heard good things about Jeannie Mucklestone and Timothy Coogan. I opted for Timothy Coogan as he was $100 cheaper and if he lost the case, I’d get a full refund on the lawyer fee. I called up the law firm and provided my information. They told me to fax in the court notification once I got it.

Things were set. However, I never did get the court notification. Turns out that the clerk who entered my information didn’t read the back of the ticket where I updated my mailing address. My driver license still shows my old address (should really get that changed), and it had mailed it to my aunt and uncle. Funny thing was that they’ve moved also, but somehow the mail ended up at their new apartment.

Anyway, the court date was in the middle of June so there was plenty of time left. I faxed it to the law firm and things were set once again. I called a few days before the court date to confirm things were still A-okay.

On the date of the trial, I was rather nervous. I even went to the wrong location (stupid SE vs NE streets). I did manage to get there on time, but instead of being there 20 minutes before the appointed time, I only had 5 minutes to spare. What was even scarier was that I didn’t see my attorney. I gave his law firm a call and they said he’ll be there any minute.

Judge started roll call and my lawyer was nowhere to be seen. When he got to my name, he noted that the law offices of Timothy Coogan was on his way and told me not to worry. I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief for now.

So the judge started dealing with people who wanted deferrals first, then followed by people who were contesting on their own. Someone from the law firm finally showed up and pulls me aside. He tells me that Timothy was stuck in Seattle on another case and wouldn’t be able to make it. He says he’s taken a look at my file and there were a few points that he could argue on, but the current residing judge is known for not accepting those points. He says he wants to request for another date and hopefully get a “nicer” judge. There was apparently a 1 out of 3 chance I’d get the nicer judge on the next try. I was fine with that. So when it was my turn, he requested for another court date due to the fact that primary counsel was not available.

A few weeks past and I got my new court date in late August. Thankfully they got my address correct this time. I notified the law firm and they said they’ll be there. I was however shocked at the time I had to be there: 8:45am. I was like *@#!, can I even wake up?

So last night, I actually went to sleep early (1:30am). However for some reason I kept twisting and turning in bed. Either I was nervous about tomorrow’s court trial or that I couldn’t sleep that early.

This morning, I woke up at 7:30am just in case and even went to Starbucks to get a kick start for the day. Hjo3 had mentioned a new drink called the Arnold Palmer, which is actually a mixture of lemonade and tea. It sounded like a weird combo, but had potential. I decided to give that a try today. When I asked for the Arnold Palmer, the Starbucks baristas look at me like I from another world. I said I believe it’s a mixture of lemonade and black tea, and she goes, “I can do that.” It appears to be called a Lemonade Iced Tea in that particular Starbucks. Wikipedia states:

One of Palmer’s (legendary golfer) favorite drinks allegedly is a combination of half iced tea and half lemonade, a drink which is often referred to as an “Arnold Palmer” in his honor. It is now available under the name “The Original Arnold Palmer Tee”

They also have a separate entry for the drink itself. The drink itself was really refreshing and I like the taste.

Anyway, I screw up again and even though I’ve been to the court before, I thought it was on Bellevue Way (which I needed to past), but the court itself was on 112th Ave SE. I somehow ended back on the 90 freeway and had to bust a U at the next exit. I entered the address into my GPS and it got me to where I needed to go.

I arrived at the court about 15 minutes before the alloted time, so I sat there waiting for both my lawyer and the judge. The judge that entered the courtroom was new, but it was also a male. The previous lawyer that had showed up said it was a female judge that was “nice.” I’m like sigh…

My lawyer showed up awhile later, but like the previous time, contest with counsel was set to be the last to go. I forgot to note, that the courts and the lawyers like to group a whole bunch of people with the same lawyer for the same time slot. Makes life easier I suppose. I wasn’t the first one my lawyer decide to contest and his case was dismissed because the LIDAR book of records was not publically available and due to the fact that a civil trial can’t be held, the case was dismissed.

I’m sitting here thinking, I think I got caught by a LIDAR too, which I heard was extremely bad because LIDARs are really precise and the moment you even detect a presence of a LIDAR, you’ve been locked and caught already and that’s why the original lawyer thought my chances of winning was rather low.

So I was up next, and my counsel said the same reasoning as before and the judge said, “Due to the fact that a civil trial can’t be held, I’ll dis… Actually, let me read this completely, the notes are rather long.” I was SO happy for a moment, then now super suspenseful. So he spent about another 30 seconds reading, and it’s like the longest 30 seconds that I can ever remember, and he finally says, “This case is dismissed.” I thanked the judge and then I thanked my lawyer, and I walk out a super happy boy.

So while browsing through the ice cream aisle today at Safeway, I decided I was going to get a sherbet today. I’ve been longing the flavor of Rainbow Sherbet for quite awhile now, however I was never able to find it in a size that I can consume or a flavor that I like.

So I’m usually turned off by most things (besides milk) that say low fat. I hate low fat cookies. I hate low fat ice cream. I hate diet sodas. Even with milk, I need reduced fat 2%. However at Safeway today, the choice was either a big gallon or 5qt Rainbow Sherbet which I’d probably get sick of before I’m done, or Safeway Select Low Fat Sherbets. Dreyers also had a couple, but they were single fruit flavors and I wanted a mix of fruit flavors. Dreyers were also low-fat.

So I ended up picking up the Safeway Select Pineapple, Raspberry & Orange Sherbet, and to my surprise, it actually tasted really good. They even had tiny pineapple chunks. Accordnig to Edy’s Grand Rainbow Sherbet Ice Cream, the description of Rainbow Sherbet is A refreshing mix of orange, pineapple, and raspberry flavors. Those are the exact same fruit flavors as the one I got! Although this ice cream did have a slight rainbow flavor, it felt like something was still missing from it. It could be that I haven’t had Rainbow Sherbet for many years now and have just forgotten what it taste like.

So I was talking to Ungsunghero about this and it turns out that sherbets are just low fat in general, due to the less milk content. I looked at the ice cream carton again and it does say “naturally” low fat. I guess I shouldn’t be afraid of low fat sherbets anymore.

Our conversation got back to Thrifty (now Rite Aid) ice cream and it turns out that Rite Aid sells their own brand of ice cream. My mom used to really like this ice cream that had coconut flavor and pineapple chunks, which I was quite fond of too. I mean those are the main components of piña colada (yes, I knew that before Ungsunghero told me), but I was pretty sure the ice cream flavor wasn’t called piña colada. Ungsunghero says it’s called pineapple coconut and apparently I can purchase it from Rite Aid in a carton from the freezer section. I personally never really buy food from Rite Aid, but with this new knowledge, things may need to change.

So when I was shopping at Safeway today, that box of powdered donuts kept flashing at me telling me to buy it. Of course I succumbed and now I regret the decision. They’re so addictive!!! I’m not talking about the big powdered donuts. I’m talking about the little bite-size powdered sugar baby donuts (or as they called it, donettes). That stuff is like crack! Every time I walk by it, I pop another one in my mouth. They’re so bad for me, yet I always go back for more. Just typing this makes me want to eat another one.

So I was telling Ungsunghero about how addictive they are and he mentions how powdered choco donuts are damn good too. I was like… WO! They make powdered chocolate donuts too!?!?! I’ve been missing out! I was actually contemplating about driving to a 24hr supermarket to see if I can find chocolate powdered donuts. Ungsunghero corrects himself and said he actually meant to say mini chocolate donuts, which I agree are awesome too.

But wow! Why haven’t they made chocolate powder baby donuts! I would so buy that. Just thinking about it makes me drool.

Hostess, are you listening? WE WANT CHOCOLATE POWDERED BABY DONUTS!!!

So there’s this yearly health screening thing that Microsoft holds where they take some blood and some skin samples and some tears. I was just kidding about the tears and skin samples. Anyway, they measure your blood pressure, your cholesterol and all the other mumbo jumbo. My numbers have always been pretty nice, just that my body fat % and BMI (body mass index) is a bit high.

Last years result were:
Blood Pressure: 114 / 79 (desirable: 120 and below / 80 and below)
Total Cholesterol: 162 (desirable: less than 200)
HDL Cholesterol: 54 (desirable: 40+)
LDL Cholesterol: 97 (desirable: Less than 100)
Triglycerides: 54 (desirable: Less than 150)
Glucose: 94 (desirable 60 - 110)
Body Fat %: 24.4% (desirable: 8% - 19%)
BMI: 26.6 (desirable: 18.5 - 24.9)

I was recommended to do cardiovascular exercise 5-6 days/week for 30 minutes to lower my Body Fat % and BMI. That was one of the reason I got the exercise bike.

This years results are pretty much the same. I did lose about 10lbs along the way, but that didn’t really help lower my Body Fat % or BMI much.

This years result are:
Blood Pressure: 120 / 80 (desirable: 120 and below / 80 and below)
Total Cholesterol: 134 (desirable: less than 200)
HDL Cholesterol: 50 (desirable: 40+)
LDL Cholesterol: 72 (desirable: Less than 100)
Triglycerides: 60 (desirable: Less than 150)
Glucose: 86 (desirable 60 - 110)
Body Fat %: 24.3% (desirable: 8% - 19%)
BMI: 25.5 (desirable: 18.5 - 24.9)

At first I was shocked when I saw how close to the borderline my blood pressure was, but then I look at last year results and there were only up a tiny bit. I also attribute any errors to the fact that the lady taking my blood pressure made me laugh while the numbers were dropping.

My total cholesterol took a big drop, lowering both good and bad cholesterol. Not too sure if that’s a good thing, but I’m still within the desirables. So that’s good, right?

I have no idea about the triglycerides or glucose as those numbers moved around a bit, but not much.

Both my BMI and Body Fat % dropped, but by so tiny of an amount. Haha. I’m debating if it’s worth it to continue exercising. ;p Interestingly enough, last year I told them I was 5′ 6″ and this year I told them I was 5′ 5″. I noticed if I punch in 5′ 6″ and 153lbs into the BMI calculator, that puts me at 24.7, just within the desirable. I think I’m really 5′ 5″ (tried measuring myself yesterday with a tape measure), but I’ve given both numbers out as my official height (license shows 5′ 6″). If you want to find out your BMI, you can use the BMI Calculator at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. BMI’s in my opinion are never that accurate as they use your height to estimate your volume. Xyon says the most accurate way to measure BMI is to have to strip naked and step into a pool of water and see who much the water level rises.

All in all, I’m happy with my results and the numbers say I’m pretty healthy. Rob (our project’s Lead PM) walked out as I was going in and asked how much damage I was expecting. You see, I bring in snacks and food every week, ranging from candy to cookies, from dried mangos to beef jerky. People drop by my office to get food every now and then and I don’t exactly bring in the healthiest food. Rob drops by every now and then for a slim jim or cookie. He said the damage my snacks caused wasn’t too bad. Derek on the other hand… he’s afraid to come to my office now.