So, for the month of May, Bank of America customers can get into 95 museums all over the country for free (link). You just show your bank card at the entrance.

Today, I went with a few folks to the Asian Art Museum in SF. There was no special exhibit as they were prepping for the manga exhibit that starts June 2nd. Instead, I spent close to 2 hours perusing the 2 floors of neverending Asian artifacts. My companions breezed through in less than an hour and looked ready to collapse waiting for me to finish. Anyways, I probably walked past hundreds of different Buddhas (Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Indian). Needless to say, I was a little tired of Buddha by the end of the day. I did not realize how pervasive Buddhism was throughout Asia. Overall, I enjoyed the outfits the most (i.e. the robes, the warrior armor). After that, I would say I liked the East Asian paintings and calligraphy. I would have liked to see more Persian art. The Yoshitoshi exhibit was a little violent.

My thoughts are little scattered right now. Coherency comes with sleep. So, sleep I will.

Plastic Ocean:

A vast swath of the Pacific, twice the size of Texas, is full of plastic stew that is entering the food chain. Scientists say these toxins are causing obesity, infertility…and worse.

(…read more)

Ban the Bulb:

Sometimes an idea seems almost too good to be true. But this one is not. If there was a worldwide shift from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescents, the drop in electricity use would permit us to close 270 coal-fired (500-megawatt) power plants that are contributing enormously to climate change.

(…read more)

2140 University Ave, Berkeley, CA
Fare: Thai

So my supervisor at the Museum treated all the georeferencers to lunch last week. Apparently, this is popular place for museum folks to have lunch. We saw two other groups of them there that day. The food wasn’t spectacular, but I think all Thai food tastes the same (not bad, but the same). Prices are pretty cheap (around $6 a plate). I got tofu with Chinese broccoli. The portions are pretty big, but I forgot what Chinese broccoli is and was a little disappointed that the crowns were so small. I inhaled my plate (as usual), so the flavor was probably good and probably sweet (like most Thai food I’ve had). Not bad for cheap eats. {6.5/10}

2042 University Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704
Fare: Salvadoran
website

I have never had Salvadoran food, but this place is pretty good. It was recommended from a few people to try the Papusas. I got one with pork, bean and cheese. Tasty! It’s basically a corn tortilla stuffed with whatever filling you choose (there were 9 choices). It comes with pickled cabbage and sauce. I also had the Carne Asilada (shredded beef with egg) which comes with a choice of 2 sides (I got salad & rice/beans) and 2 corn tortillas. The dish was kind of salty & dry, so I might get plain rice if I got it again. The rice/beans were delicious as they were nicely seasoned and fried. The bill came out to ~$30 + $4 tip for 2 people. Service also seemed good, though the restaurant was pretty empty. {8/10}

So, I went to a (girl) strip club tonight…with some ladies from FemSex. I now have “Centerfolds|Wednesday” stamped on my wrist. It was definitely chiller than I expected. The girls were friendly…though at $25 a pop plus tips, I felt my wallet cry a little.

I also found an addictive erotica site (Remittance Girl). To be honest, it kept me from studying more than once this week. I’m just sad that so many of the longer stories are “to be continued” because the author is finishing her masters right now. I felt this little sigh of relief reading the stories after years of denying my fantasies. I’ve been very sheltered. In fact, I remember when I first learned what sex is…after reading a book I bought at a library book sale. At 12, I would have never expected Danielle Steele to be so explicit.

Some fucker stole my front tire. I feel stupid, even though I wasn’t the last person to use/lock up my bike. I really don’t want my bike…especially since it is physically impossible to ride now. That thing has cost me more frustration than joy.

I just needed to get that out, since there is no living body nearby to hear my rant. Oh, and these last couple days have been the busiest dead days ever. Dead my ass. I need sleep.

World Without Oil is an alternate reality game funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and ITVS. It’s an online game, with the premise that we have reached peak-oil.

(…continued)

This looks interesting. Lately, I’ve been freaking myself and my friends out by saying that we will go into another major Depression when all the oil dries up, so this goes along perfectly with my line of thought. Too bad the site isn’t working right now. Tsk.

I had another one of those days where I cook for half the time because my food is starting to go soft. Today I made tomato salsa and apple crisp. In one fell swoop, I was able to use up my cilantro and apples!

This latest baking adventure was a bit more successfull than my vegan, chocolate muffins a few weeks ago. Now, the apartment smells like apple-cinnamon goodness. It’s rather blissful.

I also made falafel from a box last weekend. I highly recommend Fantastic Foods falafel mix. The yogurt dill sauce recipe off the box was alright. I’m still not a huge fan of plain yogurt. The remainder of my dill also wilted before I could figure out what to do with it.

Also today, the ERG study group and I went to celebrate the end of our problem sets with some Korean food at Koryo on Telegraph. It was pretty good. We got a stew, chicken curry, marinated spareribs, bean cakes and rice cakes. I really liked the spareribs. Our bill came out to ~$44 for 5 people. I think we were the only non-Korean table in the whole place. My only real complaint was that service was pretty slow.

So, my thesis proposal is due next week and I don’t think I have enough to write about.

My original idea was to map avian flu emergency preparedness in the Bay Area, but alas, only a handful of the people I emailed replied and no one offered to be my mentor. Project sadly scrapped.

Now I am proposing to do a project on the BioGeomancer workbench being developed through the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Basically, it is an automated georeferecing process that converts speciman locality data to geographic coordinates. My original plan was to just test how much the application would improve georef rates by having student volunteers work on a couple data sets with/without the application. Then, some stat analysis. Problem is, my ES instructors feel that this wouldn’t be enough for my year long thesis and that the implications would be too cut and dry (i.e. it’s faster or it’s not). I’m starting to feel that way too. Plus, the instructors decide my grade for the class, so appeasing them is in my best interest. Anyways, I’m basically stuck on how to make this project more interesting. Ideas are welcome.

Btw, I don’t know where I’m living this summer. This is probably the latest I’ve waited to figure housing out. I’m looking into the co-ops or a couple random sublets…but overall, it’s all up in the air at this point.

I just had a strange day…not really freaky, but it gave me a wierd vibe.

I ended up being fed in class and then being swiped into the dining commons for lunch. I love free food. Oh, and TSW was having their grand opening on campus, which also included free food. Not to mention, I won a backpack. This is the second time in my life I can remember winning anything. The first was last semester when I got the KALX tickets to RIOTTT!fest. Not to be greedy (you know I am), but I went hoping to get a shuffle. It’s pretty awesome that TSW moved onto campus from the middle of nowhere (aka University Hall).

Anyways, I digress…though, really, my life is one big digression.

Carina and Jackie convinced me to see Spiderman3 though I never say 1 or 2. Before that, I got a burrito I didn’t really want at Razan’s Kitchen. So, the movie was laughable. In fact, the audience kept laughing…especially after someone cried (everyone in the movies cries). Not to mention, Peter Parker gets to channel his inner emo boi. My favorite part was when someone’s cell phone went off. They answered it. They proceeded to have a conversation as a room full of pissed off Berkeley folks shushed and yelled for them to shut up. It was pretty amazing.

To end my day, I managed to sit next to a lady on the bus who insisted on calling everyone crazy, laughing to herself every once in awhile. I almost talked to her, but stared blankly away instead. I wonder what she would’ve said.