The Day The Music Died . . .

Those of you who know me best know that I am some what obsessed with music.  

I could spend hours in a music store.  I love reading reviews of upcoming albums in Entertainment Weekly.  I love finding a new song that isn't big yet and telling others about it.  I love when I can say, "Oh I bought that CD last year, and it is just getting popular now."

In college I think the employee's at Tower Records Northridge, Woodland Hills, and Thousand Oaks new me by first name because I would go in every Tuesday to see what the new releases were.

iTunes and my iPod changed my life for the better.

I still mourn the day I got the email from Tower Records telling me they were closing their retail stores.

I accepted the fact that I would now have to shop at the Virgin Megastore.  I was never a huge fan of Virgin because I felt they were overpriced compared to Tower.

But now Virgin is going out of business too, and for a music lover this is very sad! 

That being said, I am very proud of myself, because even though the entire store is on clearance I have only allowed myself to buy one CD!   Trust me, for me, that is a minor miracle.

So to Tower, Virgin, Sam Goody, The Wherehouse, Licorice Pizza, I miss you all!

The Song Of The Day - American Pie by Madonna

To Die For . . .

OK Loyal Readers, I have often told people that my brain is full of a plethora of useless information. 

However, I think my knowledge of what desserts are offered at fast food and take out restaurants is pretty amazing.

When I lived in Southern California, my dessert knowledge was focused on fast food restaurants.  I could tell you what choice you should make at each establishment.  Keep in mind that every meal should have dessert attached to it in my opinion.

At Subway you should get the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.  If they are out of the Oatmeal Raisin, then you should go for the Chocolate Cookie with White Chocolate Chips.  

The Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese frosting at Carls Jr. is far superior than the Double Fudge Cake at Jack In The Box.

The Choco Taco at Taco Bell is not worth it.

An Apple Turnover at Arby's beats the Apple Pie at McDonald's any day.  And while we are on the subject, I am not a fan of any dessert offered at McDonald's.

That being said, any of the "pie" offerings at Burger King are pretty good, just tragically small. The Hershey's Pie, The Cookie Dough Pie, The Dutch Apple Pie, all good.

Now for a lesson I learned the hard way, sometimes KFC offers a chocolate cake.  Since I needed to know how it compared to Carl's Jr, I tried to order it.  Unfortunately, every time I tried to order it they were sold out.  To me that meant this thing must be really good if it is sold out all the time. 

Then one time they said they had one!  I was so excited I could barely contain myself.  My excitement went to immediate embarrassment when my Chicken Twister sat on a tray with cake that could feed a family of six.  Yes, KFC desserts are meant for the whole family.  So if you are going to order a cake at KFC, don't plan on sitting in the restaurant and eating it there by yourself. 

When I moved to San Francisco my fast food dessert regimen suffered because my stand by fast food restaurants just don't exist in the city on every corner the way they were available in Southern California suburbia.

So over the last few years I have found some new favorites to add to my list of must haves.  

My number one choice for best dessert for $4.00 and under is the Salty Chocolate Caramel Tart available at The Plant Cafe Organic (formerly known as Lettus.)

The Salty Chocolate Caramel Tart is pure heaven.  The rich caramel is topped with a generous layer of chocolate and topped with sea salt.  The sea salt enhances the flavors and creates a heavenly experience for the taste buds.

If The Plant is out of the Salty Chocolate Caramel Tart, try the Chocolate Cupcake with Vanilla Frosting which is equally yummy in a totally different way.

And again, I am not sure why the Wii Fit made my Mii get fat.  

The Song Of The Day - Wings Of Desire by Strawpeople

Make Someone Happy . . .

This week I got an early birthday surprise when a package arrived at work from my mom.  

Now for those of you who are not aware, my mom has periodically sent me packages of cookies ever since I moved to San Francisco.  Every time I have received a package of cookies I always share them with my co-workers.  Since I don't receive packages that often, now whenever any one sees the delivery guy come to my desk my coworkers ask immediately, "Did your mom send cookies?"

Suffice it to say my mom is pretty popular with the 4th floor. 

So when the package arrived this week, I almost didn't open it at work.  I knew my birthday was in a few days and I just assumed it might be a present and not food.  Plus, it felt heavier than the typical cookie package.

But before I knew it a crowd had formed around my desk.  And I realized they weren't going away.  They wanted me to open the package.

To everyones delight it was a giant heart shaped cookie.  Also included was a knife, napkins, and candles.

So it was immediately decided that we would have an impromptu early birthday celebration!

I would like to thank my coworker, Reiko who used my camera for what I thought was going to be pictures for the blog but actually was the short video of the event.

There are a couple of background points to know about the video.  

• There was debate as to whether or not the candles were trick candles.  So you hear Branden ask if "Carol is a trickster?"  I said, "She can be."  Because there have been trick candles on my cake in the past.
• Some of you may remember the blog entry dedicated to my coworker, Jan.  In the clip Jan mentions how my mom loves her because she sent special cookies for her one time because she doesn't like chocolate.

Thank you mom for sending the giant cookie that we enjoyed at work for the next three days!

Thank you to my coworkers who sang for me, to earn their share of the cookie. 

On a side note, special thanks to my boss Elizabeth who made yummy cupcakes on Friday...which meant everyone had to sing for me again.  

This year was the birthday that just kept on giving!

The song of the day - Make Someone Happy by Jimmy Durante

Defying Gravity . . .

Last night I went and saw the musical Wicked.   It was fantastic.  The play puts a whole new spin on everything you thought you knew about the Wizard Of Oz.

The cast included Patty Duke and David Garrison.  Patty Duke needs no introduction and she was great.  

David Garrison is best known as "Steve Rhoades" from Married With Children.

Patty and David were the "big" name stars in the production, I however was more excited that the cast also included DeeDee Magno Hall who was on The New Mickey Mouse Club (pre-Britney, Justin, Christina.  Post Annette.)  

DeeDee later went on to perform in a pop group called "The Party."  I happen to have all four of The Party's CD's and DeeDee was my favorite member.  So I was very happy to get to see her sing live.

Big thanks to An who organized the outing several months ago!

The Song Of The Day - Defying Gravity by Elphaba and Glinda 

Who Let The Dogs Out . . .

If you have ever wondered what a dog's life is like in the City with no yard to play in; wonder no more.

Instead of going out to play in the yard, they head on up to the roof for supervised "play" and bathroom time.

The Song Of The Day - Who Let The Dogs Out by Baha Men

Science . . .

* Warning This Entry Contains Images And Written Content That May Be Too Much For The Squeamish*

Last weekend my parents came up to visit.  I always try and think of a few activities for us to do together while they are here in the City.  This trip I thought it would be great to visit the newly opened California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.  I have heard great things about the Academy from the amazing Rainforest exhibit to the Planetarium to even the food.

Since the Academy only recently opened, it often sells out and is very crowded.  Because of this I knew I needed to buy the tickets in advance.  Done and done.  

Second, I also knew that once inside there would probably be long lines to get into each exhibit. Check!

The only thing I didn't know was that you needed separate "Time" passes for some of the exhibits.  The passes had to be picked up once inside the Academy.  Not done and not done.  No check!

As suggested on the Academy website, we arrived early in the morning.  As soon as we got in the door I grabbed the visitor map and declared we would immediately proceed to the Rainforest! 

Poor choice.

There was a forty five minute line to get into the Rainforest dome.  

Once inside the Rainforest dome you walk along a circular path that starts at ground level and works its way up into the canopies of the trees.  As you walk along the path there are birds and butterflies flying about.  In the photo above, a beautiful blue butterfly landed on my mom's shoulder.

Guests are asked to gently brush the butterflies off if they land on you.  You are also warned numerous times that you CAN NOT take the butterflies with you when you leave.  See sign below.

Now maybe I missed the whole concept that this was a "Science" museum.  But I was a little shocked when we were waiting in line to get into the Rainforest and right next to the line was a glass room "Research Lab" that had volunteers dissecting animals.  

OK, fine; it's a science museum and you are going to dissect animals.  But do you have to then project up close images on giant flat screen TVs of the dirty deed?

Don't believe me?  Check it out below!

The funniest part about the whole thing was that the volunteers who were doing the dissecting weren't necessarily even looking at what they were doing.  It was like a regular ladies social hour.  They were all chatting away and laughing as their hands continued to rigorously separate the skin from the body.

Also, there was a sign that said all research animals were donated to the Academy.  Well, they kinda looked like the same squirrels and birds that were outside in Golden Gate Park.  I wanted to immediately go outside and say, "Run Squirrel Run!"

After the Rainforest we rode the elevator down into the Aquarium.  It is a pretty good aquarium and even has a tidepool area where you can handle some of the creatures.

We then went to the Cafe for lunch.  There is quite a variety of food to choose from and everything tasted good.

During lunch we had heard some other guests discussing what time their "Passes" were for the Planetarium.  Hmmmm.  We didn't have "Passes."  Maybe I shouldn't have rushed us so quickly to the Rainforest. 

So after lunch we went in search of the elusive "Passes" only to discover that all the "Passes" had already been given out for the day.  That meant that we would not be able to see the Planetarium or the 3D Bug Movie.  I was a little upset about this, but not as upset as one guest who started yelling at the worker.

So without any "Passes" there were still a few other things we could look at.  We went up to the Living Roof.  The entire roof of the Academy is a 2.5 acre expanse of native California plants. Currently it was pretty much just grass.

Above are a couple more pictures from the Aquarium.

So the lesson of this story?  Get to the Academy early.  Immediately get your "Passes."  Don't look over at the glass room Research Lab while in line for the Rainforest.  Finally, if you are an animal who resides in Golden Gate Park, RUN!

The Song Of The Day - Disco Science by Mirwais

I Just Want To Find The Place . . .

I have to thank my co-worker for alerting me to this tip.  Actually, I am surprised I didn't figure this out sooner.  

I have shared on the blog that parking can be quite a hassle in the city.  My worst experience was driving around one Saturday evening for an hour and a half trying to find a place to park the car.  It is also quite common for me to have to ride the bus from where I eventually do park the car just to get back to my apartment.

Well, here is the pearl of wisdom that my co-worker discovered.  We both live within two blocks of Fort Mason.  Fort Mason has a large parking lot that is FREE from 5pm to 8am weekdays and FREE on Saturday and Sunday!

So on Friday evening when I was returning home around midnight from a friends birthday party, it dawned on me that I should not waste time driving around my neighborhood trying to find parking when I can just park at Fort Mason and be in bed under the covers within ten minutes.

Truthfully, this is going to revolutionize my decisions on whether or not I choose to drive places.

There is only one potential problem, I remember it being discussed that the city may start to charge to park at Fort Mason.  Until that day comes, I am putting it in park!

The Song Of The Day - Stolen Car by Beth Orton