My Celebrity Look-alikes

I checked out Nina's blog this morning and saw that she'd put her picture through a celebrity look-alike face-recognition program and it told her she looked like Elizabeth Hurley. So I tried the celebrity look-alike program as well, and found out that I looked like Winston Churchill.

You can do it too! Just hit the Want one too? link (bottom right) and upload an attractive photo of yourself.

The Dock Of The Bay

This is the first album I ever owned. I bought it at Woolworth's for $3.99.
What was the first album you ever bought?
The last album (download) I bought was "Reveries" by Paolo Conte, an old white guy.
What about you?

Great Highway Run

me, Tom, Emmy
This morning there was another race. This time it was a 4-miler, up and down a stretch of the Great Highway, by the ocean. (Dolphin South End Runners Club.) My time was 40 minutes and some seconds. Damn, if Emmy didn't come in right behind me.

Oh! I almost left out the most important part. Carbo-loading the night before: Magnificent takeout from Shanghai Dumpling King on Balboa. (Great tip, Mary Ann.) Vegetable & Pork Steamed Dumplings, Green Onion Pancakes, Chicken & Corn Soup, and Braised String Beans. Beer with lime. 2 Halloween ReeseSticks.

Fosamax Chronicles: 7:40 am

bone property of Dogbark.com, my great web host



Tom, in pajamas: Have you already had a shower???!
Me, in jeans: Yes. I couldn't bend my esophagus for one half hour.
Tom, looking at clock: But now you can start throwing stuff down your gullet.

While I was waiting to throw stuff down my gullet, here's what else I did. I googled Paolo Conte in order to figure out the very best album to download for Katy's birthday. OK, and I might make a copy for myself, too. This was the first reference that came up, and I decided to play the game. Here's how:

1. Put your MP3 player on shuffle.
2. Press forward with every question.
3. The song is the answer to the question.

Here's how it went for me. Very funny! Spooky, too.

1. How am I feeling today?
Young and Free - Sasha Dobson

2. Will I get far in life?
Fever - Dave's True Story

3. How do my friends see me?
Fallin' - Alicia Keys

4. When will I get married?
Kiss Me Quick - Dave's True Story

5. What is your best friend's theme song?
If Loving You Is Wrong - Cassandra Wilson

6. What is the story of my life?
Daddy-o - Dave's True Story

7. What was high school like?
Runnin' Down a Dream - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

8. How am I going to get ahead in life?
Citywide Rodeo - The Weepies

9. What is the best thing about me?
If Not For Dreams - Sasha Dobson

10. How is today going to be?
Bossy - Kelis

11. What is in store for the weekend?
Suicide Blond - The Weepies

12. What song describes your parents?
Miss You - Bossa & Stones

13. How is my life going?
Under My Thumb - Bossa & Stones

14. What song will be played at my funeral?
Out of Time - Astrud C./Bossa & Stones

15. How does the world see me?
The World Spins Madly On - The Weepies

16. Will I have a happy life?
Slow Pony Home - The Weepies

17. What do my friends think of me?
Throw It Away - Cassandra Wilson

18. How can I make myself happy?
Fool To Cry - Lima Moananu/Bossa & Stones

19. What should I do with my life?
Emotional Rescue - Freedom Dub

20. Will I ever have children?
Follow Through - Sasha Dobson

21. What is some good advice for me?
Flawless - Hedda Layne

22. What is my signature song?
Sex Without Bodies - Dave's True Story

23. What do I think my current theme song is?
Sandman - Dave's True Story

24. What does everyone else think my theme song is?
Crazy Eyes - Dave's True Story

25. What's your style?
Sleight Of Time - Cassandra Wilson

26. What kind of lover are you?
Heaven Knows - Cassandra Wilson

27. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Let's Spend The Night Together - Bossa & Stones

Now you can play. If you don't have an MP3 player, you can order one here for $79. (Just go ahead and charge it; the shipping is free.) Plus, if you buy it online, you can get it engraved for free–with something like: for me with love, I hope you like it!

Clarification

I got many serious e-mail messages in response to my post about the Calorie Restriction Diet yesterday. An example:

I did very briefly scan the article but, gosh, why add one more burden to my life? I’m not so much interested in maintenance (‘cept w/ my car) as I am w/ living. I know there’s a balance but when so much of one’s life is involved in working (and commuting) the last thing one wants to think about is bodily maintenance. D’rather practice piano or set up my sewing machine table than spend time shopping for and cooking healthy calorie restrictive meals. I know it’s wrong of me but…

The last thing I meant to do was inspire guilt. The diet was something I had been wondering about in theory only. You would have to have many interests outside food to be able to carry it off. To reassure you, I'm re-posting a photo of the real me (above).

Life Extension And Love

I had lunch with two buddies yesterday. One was telling how her husband told her every morning how much he loved her. I felt a twinge of envy.

Did you read the article in the NY Times yesterday (front page of science section) about how you can live lots longer if you eat a certain type of calorie restricted diet? Fascinating in so many ways–the least of which, to me, is the longevity part. It's New York magazine's cover story this week, too: The Diet To End All Diets: The radical premise of the Calorie Restriction Diet is the less you eat the longer you'll live (weight loss and better sex a bonus).

Tom had a meeting last night. Yes, on Halloween! When he called at 9:30 and said he was on his way home and hadn't eaten, I was horrified. I started going through the cabinets, trying to find something to have ready. The cupboard was bare. I thought about what I had read in the paper. I put together a Calorie Restriction Diet plate for him. (Above).

The next morning I was telling him about the article, explaining that it's exactly what I had been wondering about lately: How little one could eat, but still get enough nutrients to be really healthy. (Just in theory, of course.) I pointed out that if every evening he ate the type of dinner I made him last night, he might in fact live 40 years longer.

"But I don't want to live 40 years longer than you. So you'd have to do this, too."

It was my husband saying how much he loved me.

Happy Halloween from Aggles

from left: Aggles, me
I had asked Aggles what I was supposed to do with all the leftover bourbon when she flew back East. Today this was in my mailbox:

Happy Halloween! Here is the best Bourbon Ball recipe ever:

Chocolate Bourbon Balls
fr. Betty Crocker’s Ultimate Cookie Book, p. 102

2 Cups finely crushed chocolate wafer crumbs (i.e. chocolate graham crackers)
2 Cups finely chopped almonds (“finely” being the operative word here)
2 Cups powdered sugar

Mix that all up together, then add:

½ Cup Bourbon
¼ Cup light cornsyrup

Shape into 1 inch balls. Roll in powered sugar. (The balls – not yourself.) Cover tightly & refrigerate at least 5 days to blend flavors.

Spooky Resemblance

from 'Tude: Have you seen a barong mask, Linda? For some reason Warnke's mask reminded me of it ...

I looked up barong masks. I think you have something there, 'Tude. Maybe not so strong a resemblance to the green frog below, but I had to post him too, just because I love all his leetle tiny teeth.

Free DAVe Art

Dave Warnke

Scared you won't have anything to wear on Tuesday? You can download free masks at SFGate (our San Francisco Chronicle online). When I saw this one I almost died of happiness. It's Dave Warnke, my favorite artist.

Rainbow Falls 5K

This morning I took eleven (11) minutes off my last 5K. Still, I'm not sure I'm ready to tell you my time. OK, if you insist. It was 31 minutes and something. I was still pulling up the rear. But actually, quite a few people came in behind me, including EMMY!!! (That's her, above right, looking slightly chagrined.) In truth, she came in at 31 minutes and something too. I was able to keep up with enough runners that I didn't get lost, and that had a positive effect on my time.

A couple of weeks ago I decided what the hell. I sent in my check and joined the Dolphin Runners Club. I bought the family membership. So in the future, Tom (below) will drive Emmy and me to the races in the family car; and will be able to participate in the events himself. That's a good thing, because that means one more person behind us, if you catch my drift.

Emmy's Best Friend's Husband's Show

That's my next door neighbor Emmy and her best friend, Beth.

Below is Beth's husband, David. David Hughes. He had an Open Studio today. In a big green building right across from the Balboa Bart Station. A beautiful show. With nice refreshments: carrot cake with cream cheese frosting under glass, baby pretzels, and wine.

Little Sea Monkey

From Mark Morford's column today:

Maybe we are like a giant tank of magical little Sea Monkeys, a huge glass-enclosed experiment that God saw in the back of a cosmic comic book one day, and so She sent in four billion proofs of purchase and 16 trillion box tops and She waited and waited and finally one day Cosmic FedEx finally delivered the package.

And She got all excited and set it all up and poured in the magical goop and then watched the tiny pink creatures mutate and mate and create their little cities and landscapes and mocha lattes and cars that park themselves. And lo, it was cute. For a while.

But perhaps She has exhausted this particular experiment. Perhaps disinterest has set in. The tank is, after all, growing stale. The little creatures have lost their novel vibrancy and are intentionally soiling their own tank and breeding like weeds and God is perhaps just sighing, taking another long pull from the cosmic martini and saying no, that's not quite what I had in mind at all.

I found a little sea monkey on the beach this evening who hadn't lost his vibrancy. When I asked his dad if I could take his picture, he said, "Sure!" but we couldn't get him to stay still. I found out it was the first time the kid had ever been to the ocean in his life.