Browsing all posts in What-Not.

Oscar Party 2007

ICK helped us celebrate the 2007 Oscars, watching them with our recently high def-upgraded plasma TV. You can see every fly-away on those purdy celebrities heads in high definition!

I made wagyu tri-tip, risotto cakes, and a lasagna using bechamel sauce, prosciutto, and portobello mushrooms. I made my first pastel de tres leches for a dessert and it was deeelicious.

Here’s a shot of that lovely lasagna:

And some of the gang enjoying themselves. We had a group of 12 for the celebration and I won the oscar pool with 15 correct guesses woo hoo!

It was nice to make back the money I lost at poker a week earlier (I was the BIG loser ugh). Hope to do better at this Saturday’s game.

10 Weeks After Second ACL Replacement Surgery

Unfortunately, although this time the new ACL has held, I’ve developed bursitis in the knee. The orthopedic surgeon sort of shrugged and said it could happen because the area gets irritated during the surgery. I’m sure this is the case because the area that still hurts now was so acutely painful after the surgery that if I touched it or rolled onto it just right it literally took my breath away.

Now it is not quite so painful to the touch, but it literally feels like there are rice krispies in my knee the way it crunches when I bend. The area feels totally wrong – hard where it shouldn’t be hard – and at times when I am walking it hits me like someone just put a steak knife into the area.

Up until now I’ve been pretty blase about it – I had surgery, and surgery hurts. Now that it’s been 10 weeks though I’m feeling frustrated. I can’t do the physical therapy exercises to build strength in the leg because it aggravates the bursitis and I end up more swollen and start limping. When I limp, I apparently throw everything off – because I’m starting to have some pretty bad (and new) mid-back pain. Last night I slept maybe 3 hours because I kept waking up with back spasms.

I think you get to a point where daily pain becomes exhausting – you sort of accept it, but there are days when you just feel like you aren’t sure you can take it anymore. The doctor says there isn’t anything he can do. I looked into prolotherapy and sent my informaiton to a doctor who has a website about it – describing the background etc – but they haven’t bothered to respond. I should call, but I feel like if you put a web form up asking these questions, yet don’t respond to inquiries – you probably are a pretty lousy bet for care. I doubt it would be any better than Dr. Golden’s “gee, that’s too bad, but not much we can do about it” attitude.

Not Only Her Business, But Paula Abdul’s Business, Is Everyone’s Business

My friend related this story of another Cellphone Exhibitionist who was particulary unprofessional while chatting on her cell at the Trader Joe’s in Culver City. She was a tall, thin woman with short, rather butch, frosted hair. She was wearing a puffy vest – sort of like a hunter’s vest. She wandered through the aisles discussing Paula Abdul – she is getting some new reality show. She proceded to regale the person on the other end of the line and half of Trader Joe’s with a story of filming the reality series – according to her Paula Abdul was very late for fliming, everyone was waiting for her, and when she showed up hours later she was very upset because everyone was angry at her. She kept apologizing about being late.

My friend was horrified that this woman was telling this story loudly at Trader Joe’s – and frankly, the only reason I’m posting it is so that someone who works with the tall, butch-haircutted woman might identify her to her bosses so they can teach her a little bit about keeping her big mouth shut when talking on her cell phone in public.

The only Cellphone Exhibitionist who beats this one so far is the man who was discussing a comatose organ donor while eating at the UCLA medical center cafe.

I assume the woman at Trader Joe’s wanted everyone to think she was really important – she knows the inside scoop on poor Paula. I tend to suspect that people who talk loudly on cell phones about Hollywood business are pretty freaking LOW on the totem pole so to speak – so they need to blab in public because they think it makes them look “important.”

Beautiful Orchids and a Wacky Backyard

I meant to post some photos of my parents’ backyard taken during my visit over the holidays. My brother, who lives with them, is a plant nut – from a young age he could tell you the scientific name of any plant you stuck in his face (one of the amazing gifts of Asperger’s syndrome is this ability to remember EVERYthing too). He also has an amazing green thumb and used to grow the most amazing bonsais until my mom accidentally killed them when he was out of the country for a few years (she felt bad, but hey, it ain’t easy keeping bonsais going as a favor). He now grows incredible orchids. Here’s one that was in bloom during December that had a delectable fragrance.

Only thing is, this green thumb gets a little out of control. Fred just adores plants, and he wanted the yard to use a lot of native plants of Florida – in fact he even got some sort of thing from the state government about this (not sure if it is a declaration, protective designation – but he was very proud of it when the yard qualified). The yard is a bit out of control these days – one time it got so bad the neighbors complained and my dad had to shell out about four grand to clean it up. Looks like he might be shelling out another bucket of cash soon as you can see from these backyard pics.

We live on a golf course – so one of the goals was to block that view – no problem there I can tell you. You can see some of his orchids hanging – species that are not in bloom this time of year.

And another:

The front yard is scary – but for another reason – the indigenous plants seem to wreak havoc on the concept of grass. It looks like hell.

Has Bree Been Practicing?

We were a little wary when Bree showed up for Poker Night this weekend with some surprising and impressive card skills.

You can click the still photo below to watch a video of the trick.

Inca Is Fergalicious

My amazon parrot Inca loves to dance to the music – and this week she showed that she too is Fergalicious. Go to the link and play the first movie link (Inca is Fergalicious).

[Note: the video is 38 megs so it is best for broadband users or you will wait a looong time]

Conversation with George (no, not you George)

It’s been a while since I was privy to a long drawn out private phone conversation by a Cellphone Exhibitionist, but today at the Rumor Mill, a coffee shop/cafe on Washington Blvd., there were a couple of people holding long, deeply personal phone conversations in loud voices to be sure everyone knew their private business. One person in particular seemed really keen on letting the world know the details of her life, so I’m going to help her out:

Someone named George called this woman who appeared to be in her late 50s – or she could be younger but have had a lot of sun exposure because she referred often during the conversation to “paddling or biking.”
She started out by saying, “I was just thinking about you. Last night I think it was.” She seemed to be hedging about some plans – like maybe she was supposed to call him back but didn’t. Her excuse? “I thought maybe I’d bump into you.”

Apparently the plans were for tonight, but she couldn’t really do it because she is taking care of a neighbor’s dog, a Yorkie – what she described as “a pain in the ass.” She has to walk HER dog separately because the yorkie is too small and can’t keep up with her dog.

She thought about doing whatever next week, but then realized she can’t because she has yoga all next weekend.

The conversation continued for a while, with lots of responses of “Cool” on her end. George is apparently on a diet, but had some problems that must have been gross because the lady kept saying “Ew.” and then later said, “Oh my gosh.” I’m thinking really bad puking and diarrhea were being discussed.

Then she chimed in that they should get together because she “can’t eat anything either” as she is cutting down on salt and trying to lower her cholesterol. She is going to try a new fiber – Benefiber – because she heard it is really good to bring your cholesterol down.

More “ews” on her part as she listened to the fellow named George. Apparently he wanted to tell her more about his recent digestive problems. The conversation moved to flax seed oil. She thought that sounded interesting and planned to try it possibly.

She suddenly shifted the conversation to a plastic boat she’s selling. “It’s a good boat. It’s got a, whaddayacallit on the back, a rudder!” (LOL).

She only wanted $400 for the boat. “I paid 5. I think I’ll throw in a paddle. Not my good one, a cheap one I bought.”

[FYI - She mentioned she might be putting this boat on Craig's List - so if you see it for $500 you will know there is some negotiating room and you can bargan her down to 400.]

She told George she’s sorry he’s been ill and hopes they can do some paddling or biking soon. (She asks him if they all ate at the same restaurant, which makes me think the “ew” discussion was about a case of food poisoning.)

George has kids apparently – she asked about them. They decided that they would try to go bike riding in two weeks, and the conversation ended.

Thank you. Now I can read my paper in peace.

Inaugural Poker Night

I was the proud winner of a poker table top at my company’s Christmas party, and I just had to break it in. It’s funny how many people grimace at the idea of “game nights” – but we managed to get a few willing participants, and the reluctant one (Frank) had to comment half-way through our 5-plus hour poker marathon, “Wow, this is really fun. I didn’t expect it to be.”

Possibly the fact he doubled his money changed his opinion (while the rest of us either lost or broke even).

Heather and Bree wait for Frank to deal the cards:

Snacks and pizza from Cafe Ugo kept us playing long into the night:

Happy New Year!

I flew back to Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve – upgraded to first class so it was a much better flight this time (my gammy leg as my British friend Serena calls it had room to move!).

Celebrity spotting on the flight – actress Penelope Ann Miller sat behind me. I always remember one particular role she played – Tina Sabatini, the mobster’s daughter in The Freshman (also starred Matthew Broderick). I also saw her getting asked to move along by the zero-tolerance traffic police at LAX – someone pulled up in a Lincoln Navigator and they piled in their bags, but her husband ran back into the airport because they still had one bag to wait in baggage claim. Penelope had gotten into the driver’s seat and started to back up as the traffic cop came up to her window. She tried to convince the traffic cop that her husband was coming right back – but as anyone knows who has tried to wait for a passenger at LAX, they don’t give you even a minute. She had to go all the way around and and come back for him.

Last time that happened to me, my friend waited one minute too long and they wrote her a ticket, so Penelope got off easy.
LAX is always fun, especially during high alert periods like the holidays.

What IS That Catchy Tune?

Ever see a clever commercial that really catches your eye – and that tune! What is that? I like it! I remember one Mitsubishi commercial where the tune just stuck with me. The site adtunes.com helps you figure it out – and they include TV and movie tunes as well.