oslo again

i've updated a photograph of oslo - added to this entry. i deleted his san jose shelter photo from the previous entry. his eye has healed completely. its no wonder he made it out of the streets. he is fearless (but still getting used to the sound of the vaccuum cleaner), inquisitive and quite spirited. he is not neutered so he's very territorial -- he rubs his chin on my finger when i'm by his cage.

oslo is not in norway

he's in sunnyvale. oslo is a netherland dwarf that i recently took under my wing. his coloring is called "black otter" by show breeders. although he's purebred, he is not show quality as the quality of his coat is bad. he was probably bred by an inexperienced or backyard breeder and dumped on the streets of san jose along with several other bunnies. his ears tips look like they were bitten off in a fight, possibly from being raised with a bunch of other rabbits. he was deemed unadoptable by the city of san jose animal shelter because of his medical condition. he has crusting all around his right eye and nose. one of his buddies he was found with appears to be really sick and has malocludded teeth. the shelter, way over its capacity, had several rabbits scheduled for euthanasia. he was on the second tier list. i pulled him out last thursday.
i must confess that he is quite irresistable. he's a spunky boy, weighing in at 2.8 lbs. dr. mackenzie at adobe animal hospital suspects his medical condition is due to exposure to an std. (gross!) yes, that's right. rabbits have sexually transmitted diseases as well. (with all dat free lovin' and reproducin', what'da expect?). so last sunday he received a shot of penicillin (works for humans, as well) and last night his face looks better. the crust is clearing up. oslo is the bunny that has red-eye in the picture. but his eyes are not red.
i''m attaching a pic of a random black otter dwarf i found online. i also found a chestnut agouti, so i'm attaching that because that's the coloring of my cute geriatric bunny, cash.

fun with oatmeal

i purchased a box of low sugar oatmeal in my favorite flavor, brown sugar. "it can't be too bad," I thought to myself. less sugar is good for you, right? well it tasted like crap and now i've been adding sugar to make it more edible. kinda beats the point.

sugar sugar

this week marked my attempt to decrease sugar intake. at work i refrained from adding sugar to my coffee. i couldn't bear to drink it sans everything, so i still added milk. sigh...one step to drinking java straight up. it wasn't as horrible as i thought. the taste has substantially downgraded, but has left me shuddering at how much sugar i used prior. if only more of my addictions and bad habits were this easy to wean myself off of.

june

dayz of a hya have been numbered, i'm ashamed to confess. neglected and cast away into the corner like some bastard child begotten from an ill-advised tryst. since no child should be left behind, tonight i attempt to restore dayz to its previous blogging glory. unlike some "faux" bloggers - no names mentioned here, JOHANNA - who presume to discuss the blossoming of a new year bursting with promise, yet proceed to leave the once fertile grounds dry and barren - i vow to nurture this literary garden. (this was june 30, i believe...)

what a bust! the sun has risen and fallen aplenty since, and this well runs dry. not for lack of resources. in fact, these past two months have provided such immense sustenance that it should be breaching levies. but no, not even a mere trickle. (07.27.06)

on your feet

after class, my hip-hop dance instructor (who's chinese) was chatting with another girl and me. after telling us she was part of a dance company, she proceeded to advise us, "don't ever date a dancer...especially those filipino guys...." lol

last weekend consisted of a much-needed repose at the embassy suites in south lake tahoe. fabulous hotel! nice room, complimentary breakfast, complimentary happy hour, good friends...it's all about cabo wabo @ harvey's. explored the bike trail, stopped by emerald bay, and discovered a hidden jewel...the madscrappers...a purveyor of the most divine scrapbooking accouterments.

girls on the run

here are some pictures from:

gotr(girls on the run sf) lollipop run 2006
may 7, 2006 - golden gate park, san francisco

i was a running buddy to 9-year old vanessa, who attends east palo alto charter school. she is a happy-go-lucky kid. her family was really nice as well. Her brother raced her on the last leg from the sidelines. we ran the 5k race. the interesting thing was that while we were waiting for the race to start, the girls would play clapping games. amazingly enough, they still play slide.

the sad truth

if you ever question why i constantly advocate spaying & neutering your pets and not supporting pet stores (which buy from puppymills) and backyard breeders and why i foster bunnies, here's the sad and ugly truth:

uc compensation

for anyone who's had to bust their ass working to pay off their tuition or is currently paying off a student loan, you should follow the sf chronicle's/sfgate.com's investigation on all the compensation that uc employees (the higher-ups, i.e. chancellors). it will make you extremely mad. they get so many damn perks it would make a hollywood diva's demands pale in comparison. they get paid even when they're haven't even started working for the universities and are paid even they're long gone.
and it took an investigation by a newspaper to make the uc admit their administrative oversights, which apparently are a lot. how can the uc regents even justify a $30,000 dog run for uc santa cruz chancellor denise denton, when she already gets a free living in the university house (4,214-square-foot public section, 2,680-square-foot private section), on top of her $282 k salary. i love dogs and all, but this ridiculous! this is ca state taxpayers' money!

from sf gate:

"As a result of that and other spending disclosures in the press, [uc president Robert] Dynes recently tightened the rules for renovation projects at university-owned homes and the offices of top executives. Under a policy announced at the UC Board of Regents meeting in Los Angeles earlier this month, Dynes said he must personally approve projects costing more than $25,000 at any of the 10 chancellors' homes and offices. And the regents will have to endorse any project worth that much involving the president's home or office.
However, it was Dynes who approved the funds for the improvements on Denton's list, according to her offer letter."

all this money given to people who are already "well-paid" really makes me sick, especially when the cost of higher education is increasing. student loan interests are going up. i busted my ass in school while working two or three jobs so i can pay for the roof over my head. (and for some students, the roof is not that great). shit, my grades would have been way better if i didn't have to worry about my financial aid. so many students and their families have to struggle to pay for the opportunity to continue their eduction, and its a slap in the face to read about these expensive perks given to people who are supposed to be leaders in higher education. don't give me a song and dance about trying to match up against private institutions and trying to get the very best administrators, because this is public money meant to ultimately help students. uc needs to be more accountable.

it's a damn shame.

das boot

a few weeks ago i was window shopping at valley fair when i saw a huge sale sign at the charles david shoe store. normally i wouldn't even venture there. shoes selling at regular price rarely meet my economic criteria [meaning: my a$$ is too broke]. i do like charles david, ever since eileen first introduced me to them. i would say that eileen is my fashion mentor who has educated me to the ways of the fashion world. for a while, i did not really think of shoes beyond the typical brands such as nine west and steve madden. then again, it may be more of an economonic standpoint, being no longer a college student and now a career woman with a full-time job that can afford to pay more is most likely the case. at any rate, i have my fashion muse who will eventually lead me to jimmy choos and manolo blahniks...maybe. hopefully. i'll keep my fingers crossed. and my eyes open. for a sugar daddy. ;P just kidding.
now back to the story. there was a fifty percent-off sale, andmy eyes zeroed in on some knee-high black leather wedge boots on the sale shelf. i was tempted to try them on, but i made the mistake of asking my companion what he thought of the wedge boots. not getting an encouraging, albeit honest, reply from him put a damper on my shopping spirits so i proceeded to exit the store.
two days later i ended up calling the charles david store to see if it had my size, which it didn't, which lead to me searching on-line for that particular style. the search then broadened to looking for boots. knee high. wedges. pointy elf styles were acceptable as well. just any pair of new boots. i just really wanted a great pair of boots! i was on a mission. but now its time to admit defeat. i clearly missed the boat on the clearance sales. the few available are either hideous-looking or only available in size 10. i've gotten over my boot fetish, especially since i've come to the conclusion that my boots have come and gone. plus i have so many of them in my closet that have never been used or rarely worn. beautiful, yes. functional, no.
i am endeavoring to find my perfect pump. i've found that although i have numerous strappy evening shoes to die for! and sexy knee-high boots, i do not have a great pair of sexy career or day heels/pumps. my company has a business casual dress policy, so i haven't been keen on building up my career wardrobe with power suits and what have you. plus i saw it as a sign that i was a "grown-up" and i didn't want to admit it back then. but there comes a time and place when one must accept what is.

nanay

today is my grandmother's 88th birthday. she's the best! she's the most kick-ass grandma i know. i can only hope for even half the spunk and energy she has when i'm her age! it's unfortunate that i do not live closer to her, but i always like to squeeze in a visit on my way up or down the interstate. i don't care how late i leave the 619 and how long that drive is and how traffic sucks through la, but i have to stop by. i don't comprehend her pangasinan and tagalog well . sometimes the conversation can be stilted. somehow, we make do. she always has a story to tell. i also love how she speaks her mind.
she's a big angels fan. i actually used to watch mlb with her when i was a child. i loved all the so-cal teams: padres, dodgers, and california angels! nowadays i'd have to claim the oakland athletics as the team to watch [i wonder who's influence that is...], but a few years back we both happen to agree that then-angels player troy glaus was the hottest-looking player in anaheim. see, same great taste! :)
i don't understand why some of my relatives, who live a helluva lot closer than me, do not visit her as much as i do. i love how she peeks out the window and waves to you when you are in the car. i worry about her, but i know she's in good hands. cyn and lyle always visit her.

what bakes in thy kitchen?

there's nothing quite as pleasing as feasting on fresh-baked bibingka. not just any bibingka, but my favorite - my mom's recipe. the pillsbury doughboy finally showed up after a long hiatus from the kitchen, spreading his giggles of joy and baking enthusiasm to this otherwise non-cooking household. the result: small crunchy flecks of coconut flakes oozing sweetness on top of a soft and delicious sticky rice flour cake.

the other school

don't hate...but i finally broke in my specialized baby on the grounds of cal's arch rival, stanfurd.

[cue in the boos and hisses]

yeah, i know. but i was stranded in palo alto, waiting for chris while he was at work and i wanted to exercise, so i had to do something. plus i finally had my helmet (thanks, jo!). it even matches the bicycle's color scheme, pale gray & red. it was fun. nice wide flat paths. since it was the weekend, there were a few students walking and riding around, but it was not abuzz with activity. perfect to meander around the cement trails. the campus is adequate, with pleasant looking architecture and nice athletic fields if you play rugby or run track, but it feels like any other private college campus in a pleasant neighborhood. it lacks the spirit of independence and vibrancy of cal - the grittiness, the complex blend of decay and progression, and intellect and disillusion. or maybe i'm just biased. [go bears!] it was quite chilly, though. my hands were freezing.

on a side note, i bought chris a berkeley hoodie, and now he wears it everywhere!

now that's olympic...

from sfgate.com:

"after his dominating win in the 500-meter event, long-track speedskater joey cheek of greensboro, n.m., announced he was donating his $25,000 in winnings from the u.s. olympic committee to a charity that benefits children orphaned by war in the darfur region of sudan.

with an exquisite sense of the moment, cheek also called upon his personal sponsors (nike, oakley, adt, qwest) and major olympic sponsors to match his donation. nike quickly announced it would donate $30,000 to the charity, right to play, pioneered in 1994 by norwegian speedskater johann olav koss.

At least one chronicle reader was struck by cheek's humanity and generosity and said in an e-mail he wanted to donate $1,000 to right to play.

cheek was back in action saturday night in the 1,000-meter event at oval lingotto, where he won the silver medal while teammate shani davis took the gold."

a valentine for thought

after marilyn monroe's death, former husband joe dimaggio (1914-1999) continued to send flowers to her grave every day for the rest of his life.
the first time i heard about this i thought that small action revealed so much without even saying a single word.
she passed away in 1962...that's about flowers 365 days a year, for 37 years. even though they divorced and she remarried (not sure if he remarried) and they went on with their lives, they remained close friends and she held a place in his heart. forever.

lies i told my dog

what a horrible person...i've lied to myself, lied to others, and misled my dog. deception is my middle name. when i first adopted chewy, the rescue organization classified him as a pomeranian mix. and he most certainly had the trademark pomeranian characteristics. so given the intelligence available to me at the time (and what little i knew of his history), i believed he was majority part-pomeranian and told others accordingly, even though his coat is different and his stature and weight is almost three times the breed standard. recently discovered evidence strongly suggests his roots lie elsewhere. unlike a certain leader of the free world who can not admit he is wrong (hey, i couldn't help it:P), i cannot ignore this information and "stay the course". so although chewy is not mostly pomeranian as i originally believed, i must confess that he's probably a german mittel spitz, a breed not recognized by the akc but recognized by the ukc (i think). although the pomeranian evolved from the same group of nordic herding dogs, the toy spitz and pomeranian are separate breeds. check this:

german spitzes

also try this link. still another, spitz world. what do you think?



despite the identity confusion, poor chewy took it all in stride. as long as people still want to come up and pet him and compliment him on what a happy and handsome boy he is, he's content.

pomeranian or not, mommy still loves him.
(although sometime in the future he will get a wolf sable pomeranian as a sibling, hehhe)

training day

last sunday eric, johanna, and i went running around alameda. we ran an 11-12 mile loop around central and east alameda and bay farm island (harbor bay pkwy). i have never ventured to that neck of the woods before, but i plan to return. great running and biking path. a highlight was seeing the raiders training facility, riveting views of the sf city skyline & bay bridge, and seeing all the nicer houses. i was looking for liv's work, since i'm sure we were close by, but did not see it. this sunday is the half-marathon.

do not buy pets from pet stores!

see this article on the crisis with bunnies in the bay area:

pet stores, especially serramonte pet store, have wiped their hands clean of this pet rabbit overpopulation problem. that's despicable. there is a reason why stores such as petsmart, pet food express, and petco no longer sell rabbits, and advocate adoptions for cats and dogs. it's called pet overpopulation. rabbits are the third highest euthanized animal behind cats and dogs. pet stores sell young, baby rabbits as impulse gifts that people buy for their children, significant other, or simply just because "they're so darn cute in the store window". pet stores often sell baby rabbits that are far too young to be separated from their mother, advertise them as the cuter, popular dwarf breed that stays small, and sell them to practically anybody who will shove the 20 or 25 bucks into their greedy little fists. they sell them to families with small kids, insisting they make good starter pets, whereas most rabbits are too delicate for the rough treatment given by over-excited, impatient kids. most rabbits DO NOT LIKE TO BE PICKED UP.

so when that rabbit suddenly grows to its true size-5 or 7 or even 8 lbs, and is not the "dwarf" the store claims they are, the family is no longer interested in them. and even if they are cute and furry and has the chubby dwarf face, the kids start to get bored and parents have to clean up the rabbits. sometimes the people at the pet store doesn't even sex them correctly (cuz the babies are too damn young to tell the sex) so a family that took home two "girls" issuddenly inundated with six or seven bunnies. heck, the first litter was a funny surprise, but the now its getting out of hand...no one in the neighborhood wants a bunny now.
and all along no one bothered to tell them that their $20 bunny would cost $80-120 to get it spayed. or that it would chew up the baseboards. or that they would far outlive the interest their kids show in them.
it all ends the same. the cute impulse-buy bunny has run out of time, and is now dumped at the park or in the shelter, where it will join thousands of other rabbits whose owners weren't told by that "responsible" pet store how much time, effort, and money it would take to properly care for a rabbit.

and that bunny, whose is perfectly healthy and lovable, will die.

i know first-hand what those pet stores claim to know about bunnies. when i was a kid, i bought a few bunnies from pet stores (back then, no one knew any better). one, who i bought as a gift for my best friend, was actually pregnant , gave birth a week after i bought her, and died a day later after giving birth to babies, who all died. most pet stores i've been in have lied about what breed they were and claimed they would all stay small. they have lied to my face and didn't know a damn thing about rabbits (i read the rabbit care books, so i knew what i was loking at). they sold me - a kid! - rabbits when they didn't even know if i had the proper housing or food for it or whether i had my parent's approval to bring home and animal.

even now when i walk into small pet stores, the lies go on and on. which is amazing, considering there is new information on rabbit care. it has evolved tremendously over the years. it is no longer the norm to stick a rabbit in a cage with a wire bottom and slide tray.

so screw serramonte pet store and all its bullshit lies. the owners don't care about animals. if they did, they would host rescue organizations and have them come in with adoptable homeless pets. but no, its all about profit.

this past weekend

despite decent weather conditions i did not saddle up (or gear up) and break in my specialized baby. poor thing is gathering dust and cobwebs. instead i opted for an oil change for my kitty cat and venturing out to marin for the house rabbit society-sf/marin chapter/save-a-bunnyhrs organization's volunteer gathering. i foster and volunteer for the the different organizations in the bay area. i watched match point at amc mercado with chris. i also went running with eric and johanna around lake merritt. all three of us want to run a race, either a half or full marathon. i think eric and i may do the rock n roll marathon in san diego in june. other future marathons i want to run in include the walt disney world marathon, miami (both in january, so maybe in 2007). i also want to run in alaska, ireland, or italy.

maiden voyage

hopefully this weekend's weather forecast will prove favorable so that i may embark on my maiden voyage. this past christmas i was blessed with my very own bicycle. (thanks santa! no speeding on your sleigh now...)

due to inclement weather and scheduled trips, i have not been able to customize the set-up nor ride it. every day as i set off to work, it greets me by the front door, begging to yield to its master. the gleam of the sleek aluminum alloy bars hints of its lean strength as it lounges in the morning light streaming in through the window. the shiny supple sculpted black leather pulled taut beckons me to take a seat. occasionally i would trail my fingers along the thick rubber treads of the back wheel. soon we will ride, i promised.

perceptions in the media

all the latest media hype is on the san ramon couple who left their two young children, one of whom is autistic, home alone while they jaunted off to vegas for nye. apparently they found someone to take care of their puppies, but not the kids. so the kids were left home alone with cheerios and frozen food. even more embarassing is that the parents are of filipino heritage. :(

wonderful. they can add their names to all the other filipinos and filipino-americans who represent us in the media: andrew cunanan. joseph de guzman. imelda marcos. when we're not terrorists, murderers, or corrupt politicians, we're baklas. hookers. prostitutes. sex workers. exotic orientals.

what is really pissing me off right now are the radio ads and trailers for that new happy madison (adam sandler's company) comedy movie, grandma's boy. i saw the trailer to it a few months ago during the previews at the movie theater. in grandma's boy, the main character is this video gaming loser who moves in with his grandmother. he is described by another character as always "spending all his money on filipino hookers". it's one thing to have that "joke" in a move. it's another thing to have that used in the trailer. now it is being advertised on the radio, and i hear that stupid ad and people get to hear the "filipino hooker" phrase several times a day.

filipino hookers. filpino hookers. filipino hookers. filipino hookers.

harmless, right?

fuck that shit.

not when u.s. servicemen gang-rape a filipina in the philippines.

it's an insult to all women. all mothers and daughters. all women of color. all professional women who worked their asses off to have careers. all women forced into prostitution because they have families to feed and their government has no jobs for them.

fuck all those foreign devils that come into third world countries and flash a few dollars, thinking they're the shit and they can do whatever they want to women and children. (that includes pedophile gary glitter who paid off the vietnamese families of those girls he raped. fuck you, too)

i hope those guys burn in hell for what they did to that poor woman.

more thoughts:
http://www.vday.org/contents/vday/press/media/0511092