Got A New Showerhead!

As much as I like my bathroom, the old little shower head has been bugging me. The shower arm was mounted low, so I got tired of bending over backwards to get my head low enough to be under the showerhead.

Decided to invest in a nice new showerhead that also becomes handheld. But it took me a few days to figure out how to get the old showerhead off! My wrench and pipe wrench weren’t doing the trick and I didn’t want to force it.

But eventually I did get that ol’ head off, and here are a couple good tips I found online that really helped me:

-see if there are any lime deposits or other buildup around the base of the showerhead and scrub some CLR on there; some people stick a mixture of CLR or vinegar or WD-40 in a bag and tie it to the showerhead, submersing it in the liquid for a while; I think that would help clean it for sure, but a little scrub action got the buildup off for me
-use a pipe wrench; for better grip, wrap a towel around the base of the showerhead and then clamp the pipe wrench onto that
-the biggest tip that helped me was to actually use the pipe wrench to turn the showerhead CLOCKWISE (yes, as in to tighten) first; that helped a lot in getting the showerhead loose and I was then able to turn it counter-clockwise and easily unscrew the showerhead off!

And voila, new showerhead now on!

New eTypical Music Video

I don’t know this song, I don’t know this band, and I haven’t listened to this kind of music since high school. But, if you can put up with the music, this is a really cool video to watch. Really cool type graphics, effects, and editing!

Directed by Adam Patch (www.etypical.tv), edited by Ashley Rodholm
Artist: Set Your Goals
Song: Gaia Bleeds (Make Way For Man)

Max and Relax and Have A Chillin Summer

What I love about my new apartment is that it stays pretty cool inside when it is 80 degrees. But today was the first day that I woke up wanting to turn on the A/C. Luckily I was off to work and didn’t have to.

Now that things are really heating up, I’ll be trying many different ways to stay cool and avoid using the air conditioner. One, like I did today, is to just spend the day outside, do something wherever.

I’m home from work and it’s still warm tonight at 8:30pm, but not that bad. In a moment I’ll be getting some orange juice and taking a bath. Only question is now, take a HOT bath and sweat it out and feel refreshed after getting out of the bathroom, or take a COOL bath to cool my body down now and relax? I’ll experiment with both this week. But I am known to take hot baths and showers no matter what, even in 95+ degree summer weather and extreme humidity in New York.

Avoid your A/C by staying out of your home! Here's a summer photo from my Lomography Fisheye camera from last year in Santa Monica.

Some ways to keep cool and save energy, including a couple I mentioned above:

1. Go out instead of staying in. Luckily I have the beach and would be happy just hangin out in the Malibu water all day then come home for a cool shower.

2. Take a cool bath.

3. Someone mentioned on another site to soak feet in water. But I think most of your body heat gets released from the back of your neck and your lower back, so maybe put a cool towel or iced gel pack in those areas?

4. Wear light clothes.

5. Place plants near windows to absorb sun energy.

6. Open windows at night if the air is cooler outside and turn on fans to circulate air.

7. Close blinds in daytime.

Yummy BCD Tofu House's Vegetable Tofu Soup

8. I’ve heard this one often: eat spicy food. I knew Koreans love to eat spicy food in summer, but never really thought about why. But there is nothing like a good sweat!

9. Wet your sleeves or t-shirt so the evaporating moisture will cool you down.

10. Try not to use the stove or oven much.

11. Get an old-fashioned paper fan to wave yourself with! That’s right, the manual air-conditioner.

12. Drink water (or in my case, juice, and lots of it!). I think it would help to drink Gatorade since it keeps you energized when you sweat….

13. Watch March of the Penguins. SEE the penguin. BE the penguin. In other words, think “cool”. Your brain itself does wonders.

14. Turn off your computer(s)!

Blackberries With Sweet Cream

This would be a fun time to make sweet, chilled, refreshing desserts like this one that the “Pioneer Woman” made! YUM. Check out the recipe here.

So here goes to a 2010 without using the air conditioner!!! I know I can do it. I just feel bad for future house guests that will be staying over at my place (hehehe).

ooOOOoooo

Check out this new Swedish Treehotel with mirror walls!!!

I want to go to there.

Spain Wins 2010 World Cup!

First time ever, Spain wins world cup!!! Can’t believe it! Photos of adorable Casillas in tears to come later.

**Update**

te encanto, casillas!!! por que cada vez lloras, yo lloro? estoy muy feliz por ti y espana y tu familia y tu equipo y… ok, tu novia.

Also, I agree with the commentator at the end: “Que grande es el capitan” (how great is the captain). Video below of Casillas (Spain’s goalkeeper and team captain, my favorite player) giving comment of the World Cup win to his girlfriend, Sara Carbonero, a sports reporter. Must see!

New Theme… AGAIN

I feel like playing around with Wordpress themes, but sadly cannot get my FTP editor working to start messing with the CSS. I do like this current one (called “clean minimal”). I need to get my program working soon to add a sub header or a second column.

I am tired at the moment so will try again later. Enjoy for now!

Pobre Pulpo!

Paul the Octopus has predicted that Spain will win the match. Sadly, he is receiving death threats and many people want to eat him.

Paul the psychic octopus predicts Spain will win the World Cup.

Don’t eat the messenger. And go, Spain!

Cafe Gratitude Opening In LA!

Yay! Cafe Gratitude coming down to LA this winter! I used to eat at the one in SF after shopping at a film expendable store in the area. Check out the article here: ”San Francisco’s Raw/Vegan Eatery, Café Gratitude, Heading to L.A.“.

It will be opening at Larchmont and Melrose. Be sure to check it out! Their food is so good. The people and the environment will always keep you in a good mood, not to mention their menu which consists of dish names like “I Am Healthy”, “I Am Peachy”, and one I am craving now, “Yo Soy Mucho” (a Mexican quinoa bowl with shredded kale). And when you order and tell them you want, “I Am Cool”, they’ll respond with, “You Are Cool”. Maybe the whole place and process is preachy and “culty” for some, but I’d rather be in a cheerful positive vegan place like this than a snotty one.

I’m not a vegan, but I’m a big fan of places that reaffirm positivity and I also like to see restaurants that don’t waste food (there is already an unbelievable amount of food wasted every year). Cafe Gratitude makes sure that leftover food is sent to a farm to be used as compost. Their unbleached cloth napkins are sent to auto places to be used as rags. And of course, they recycle as much as possible or used recycled items. They’re great for the community (in-season organic ingredients, workshops) and they have a lot of admirable and sustainable ways of doing things that other restaurants, vegan or non-vegan, can follow.

I know the locations up north receive their food supply from the Be Love farm up in Pleasant Valley. Only question is, does a Cafe Gratitude in LA also mean a Be Love farm in LA? Or perhaps partner with an already-existing farm?

Click here for Cafe Gratitude’s official website to learn more about their story and food!

Click on this photo to see a blog post with more photos at HappyFoody.com.

CB2 Sidecar High Dining Table: Wanted As Desk

I’ve been looking for a little desk to add to the living room, and was close to going to IKEA to get a white, narrow console-looking desk. But in trying to find alternatives, since going to IKEA is a day trip in itself, I looked at CB2 and found a couple desks I liked that were cheaper (surprise, surprise!).

Luckily CB2 is very close in walking distance, so I headed over there excited to get a desk. I saw the ones I liked, but then, I saw this:

It’s a dining table, but seeing this and thinking about having this for a desk did NOT help considering that it is $399!

So I went home without a desk. I was reminded when I saw this dining table that I like tall desks that I can stand at. So here I am, back to looking all over the internet and Apartment Therapy to find something like this for cheaper. I’ve found a couple affordable ones under $200 that look just like it without the bookshelf, but the bookshelf at the end is a nice touch. I want it so badly!!! Must find a way to replicate this somehow before I go back to CB2 and buy this impulsively.

A True Cinematic Plant

I was walking past Bristol Farms and a large, yellow flower plant caught my eye. Of course I went over, gave the lady ten bucks, and walked home with this giant plant!

It’s called the Dahlia Kelvin Floodlight. The big bloomed sunny flowers make me feel cheery and I loved the uniformity of the flower petals (I’m a math nerd so I like seeing natural geometry in nature).

I didn’t look at the plant name until I came home, but how fitting! The terms “kelvin” and “floodlight” are both used a lot in cinematography. Kelvin is a unit of measure for a thermodynamic scale (like measuring amount of daylight). And a floodlight is a lamp that is very powerful and bright and can illuminate an entire room. I can see why the flower is named this and like it even more now that I know what it is called! They grow from bulbs, which probably makes them easy to grow. I think because they grow from bulbs, the other great thing about them is that the flowers will keep growing back after the winter.

They have pretty thick stalks, like sunflowers, and grow pretty long. They also love the sun, so perfect for right out my door. Mine had several stalks falling over the plant, so I tied a ribbon around them for now to keep them straight.