The Bay Area Rocks

No, literally. It was rockin' today. We had an earthquake the magnitude of 5.6 and lasted quiet awhile. Longer than most earthquakes I've ever been in atleast. But that's northern California for you. It's not uncommon around these parts like how brush fires are uncommon in southern California. MAN, it's a great time to be a Californian.

(Sorry for the lack of updates, Friends. I will be back once I get use to my new routine.)

Untitled

Since there's been no post by Mary Anne (she's been busy!) for a while, I thought I would post one of my favorite clips from HBO's Flight of the Conchords. Enjoy!

How to break an expensive toy in two hours

...and make a 6 year old cry.

This is how we spent our weekend.



Priceless.

Woot.

My reward from Leo for finding a job.

Yes, it's true.

My search for employment is over.

I finally got a job!

Going back to my roots

Yes, yes. I cut my hair. A lot of it. And even stripped it back to it's natural color. Why? Not quiet sure. Maybe because I was going for the boring Asian look. I dunno. I'll be releasing a new vlog soon, so I made sure I took photos so there will be no surprises. I know what you are going to say. So please spare me the negative feedback, will ya?


Not sure.


My roots.


Length from the side.


Being very subtle about showing off my guns.


Word.

Job Interview #412

I had an interview this week and got another job offer. But I have another interview tomorrow that will hopefully offer more $$$. I still have another 30 minute interview with ANOTHER company over the phone. It's raining opportunities. Alleluia!

How To Cook Chicken Adobo (A Popular Filipino Dish)

Free Video Hosting

And yes, Filipino's sing while they cook.

Friends

I was talking with a friend the other day. Said that the reason why it was easier for me to make friends with people in San Diego was because I went to school with most of them. And it makes sense. Adults don't really have friends unless they're co-workers or because they never left their hometown to make new ones. Yeah, it bites.

Trees and other things

Not quiet sure if this post has anything do with anything. But I just wanted to point out that the Bay Area's tree count is a lot higher than San Diego (my old hood). Well duh. I really like it. This morning, my neighbor two houses from us chopped down two humongous trees off her property. I'm assuming she wants to grow a garden of some sort in which will need some serious sun. Don't know why I was bummed about it. I'm a fan of trees. The homes in our neighborhood are so old (circa 50s) and charming. Each house with it's own personality. With lots and lots of trees. The neighborhood is so old that people who have lived in the area have changed the look of the houses from it's original floor plan several times. The streets are wide, the yards are big, and the people aren't bad either. The quality of our life has definitely improved 10xs. Especially now that we don't have neighbors downstairs, our cars are parked in OUR OWN DRIVEWAY/GARAGE now, and we no longer live off a busy street or having to worry about migrant workers watching us change through our window. One of our first nights here at the new house, Leo and I both freaked the fuck out because the silence was so eerie. It wasn't normal. It wasn't right. What happened to the rice rockets? What happened to the drunk migrant workers in the canyon fighting over the last beer bottle of the night? What happened to that loud bitch downstairs who-looka-lika-man? This shit ain't right. I think we've finally adjusted. I can't imagine us living there (our condo) again after living in our current home. We will return to San Diego. Just not anytime soon.

College Football

Mary Anne: Now that we are up here in the Bay, which college football team do you want to root for?

Leo: How bout Notre Dame?

Mary Anne: Uh, they're not in California.

Leo: Yes they are. Go online.

Shows how much he really pays attention to college football or the movie "Rudy."

The verdict? Our local Stanford University. Go Cardinals!

Monthly self-portrait: New glasses, again

But this time for good. I'm getting old and I realized the other day that my right eye is not as hot as it use to be. It first started with migraines, then drying of the eyes, and then neck/back pain. Continued to happen for two weeks. Two weeks of pain killers and lots of whining (with cheese and crackers, Erin, yes, har-har). Obviously it was something that I was doing on a daily basis because it wasn't getting any better. Hello, internet? See what happens when you are unemployed and looking? You stress yourself blind and retarded. I told the optometrist that I might have gone cock-eyed in the past few days. She asked me how I would even know that? I told her I have YouTube videos to prove it.

Only the strong survive.

Whenever I get a package of plain M&Ms, I make it my duty to continue the strength and robustness of the candy as a species. To this end, I hold M&M duels.

Taking two candies between my thumb and forefinger, I apply pressure, squeezing them together until one of them cracks and splinters. That is the "loser," and I eat the inferior one immediately. The winner gets to go another round.

I have found that, in general, the brown and red M&Ms are tougher, and the newer blue ones are genetically inferior. I have hypothesized that the blue M&Ms as a race cannot survive long in the intense theater of competition that is the modern candy and snack-food world.

Occasionally I will get a mutation, a candy that is misshapen, or pointier, or flatter than the rest. Almost invariably this proves to be a weakness, but on very rare occasions it gives the candy extra strength. In this way, the species continues to adapt to its environment.

When I reach the end of the pack, I am left with one M&M, the strongest of the herd. Since it would make no sense to eat this one as well, I pack it neatly in an envelope and send it to M&M Mars, A Division of Mars, Inc., Hackettstown, NJ 17840-1503 U.S.A., along with a 3x5 card reading, "Please use this M&M for breeding purposes."

This week they wrote back to thank me, and sent me a coupon for a free 1/2 pound bag of plain M&Ms. I consider this "grant money." I have set aside the weekend for a grand tournament. From a field of hundreds, we will discover the True Champion.

There can be only one.



courtesy of Craigslist.

Comments to an old post

Friendly reminder...

Whenever a new comment is made to an old post, I will receive a notification through e-mail. Just wanted to say thanks and I do appreciate your comments. =)

Sisters? Who? Us? Nah.

*Ding-dong*

Kailee (my daughter) and I answer the door.

Mormon Boy 1: Hi, we're from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we were wondering if we could speak with your parents about our church...

Trying to contain my inner laughter.

Me: I'm sorry...our parents aren't home right now.

Kailee looks up at me perplexed as hell.

I look at her with a don't-say-ANYTHING-or-imma-kill-you look.

Mormon Boy 2: Well that's okay. You can just give them this card and if they're interested, there's a phone number on the back where they can call. It would be a pleasure for us to come back and visit and just spread the word of our Lord, Jesus Christ...

*Grabs card*

Me: Absolutely. Thanks. Have a nice day, guys.

Mormon Boy 1: Yeah, you guys take care too. Bye.

*Closes door*

Me: They think we are sisters, Kailee. Pfft. What morons.

Why would anyone ever think that?



So weird. Not even.

A gluttony for pain

I don't know what is it with wasabi that I really like. It has the worst after taste and feel out of all things edible. I'm particularly liking these at the moment. Saw these at the grocery store and just had to have them. I seriously have to close my eyes and wrinkle my nose everytime I pop a wasabi pea in my mouth.




Good shit.
I have this weird love for foods that kick my ass. Like Indian, Pakistani, Thai, and Mexican. I just love spices that give me an absolute beating. Being Asian/Spainish, I have a natural tolerance for it.

On another note, I recently discovered my love for cooking now that I am home more than I like. I stepped out of my comfort zone (the dining room), grabbed a knife, and came *this* close to fire.

My mom is totally going to flip her panties.

EUREKA! IT'S BEEN FOUND!

I'm so happy. The airline I flew has the ring in its lost & found. I'm heading over there first thing tomorrow to pick it up. I was so bummed all day today. Virgin America was extremely helpful in locating it. That is one hell of an airline. If you ever get a chance to fly with them - do it!

Lost wedding band

This morning, Leo attended his personal training at the gym. I followed along soon after. We had taken separate cars because of his doctor's appointment after the gym. While he was lifting weights with his trainer, I noticed that he wasn't wearing his wedding band. I figured he must of taken it off prior to his work-out so I knew he was aware that it wasn't on.

We both left the gym at the same time.

As we were walking towards our cars, I had asked if he had taken his ring off and forgot to put it back on. It was then he realized he never even took it off. We soon found out that he lost it during his 3 week work travel after a bit of investigation, in which he claims he never took it off. Our only explanation is that it slipped off during the plane ride due to the high altitudes. Seems far fetched, I know. But I really don't know what else to think of it.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't sad, because I am. It's only natural for a girl to mourn over the lost of a wedding band. And it's also natural for a girl to gorge herself into heaps of chocolate ice cream and 5 shots of tequila chasers because of it. And not because it was an expensive platinum band or the fact that it hasn't reached it's one year anniversary. It's the fact that I love the person who wore it and that no matter where he went or if he had any doubts, he will always be reminded of that.

Fetch!

My dog, Cookie, doesn't get as much play on my blog. So I'm dedicating this post to him. I guess I'm just affraid to wake up one morning to find a ransom note next to his bed. I mean, how can you even put a price to his sweet little face?!? The cuteness- it will seriously make you want to swan dive into a pool of kittens and then put a gun to your head to blow your fucking brains into smitherines.

Here's a clip of Cookie and I playing fetch.


Here's another cute shih tzu. Same breed as Cookie. So cute!


Oh! And please watch this cute shih tzu too. Cuteness overload! AHHH!

FINALLY

I finally made time to do an FAQ for MTTP. You can read the FAQ on the previous post (below). I'm going to post a direct link to the right column once I'm done making minor adjustments to the site. I'll continue to add more. I figured I would use a different approach rather than an "About Me" section. FAQs tend to be less in depth with my personal life and more towards the site itself and also answers some of the questions you might have expressed in the past. I'm sure most of you can care less about what I do or where I come from. At the end of the day, it's just a thought...on a blog...about a girl...who probably doesn't give a shit about where you come from either.

FAQs

How did you come up with the name "Mightier Than the Pen?"
Before MTTP, I did receive free hosting from a friend (a la http://www.irev.net/). On the evening of July 4, 2006, I decided that it was going to change. I came up with the name while laying in bed. It was the first one that I had thought of. So naturally, it was love at first thought. I got up, walked over to the computer, whipped out my credit card, and the rest was history.

What does it mean?
It derives from the famous quote: "The pen is mightier than the sword." I guess I thought it was clever to say that the "keyboard is mightier than the pen" without actually saying it. And since I'm a blogger, it was quiet fitting.

Who's your host?
InMotion Hosting.

What is your blog really about?
I don't have a particular topic or theme. The topic's range from football to making love to a donut.

What publishing tool do you use?
I use Blogger. There's definitely a love and hate relationship between Blogger and I. But like I mentioned on a previous post, you can only expect magical things to happen with a company like Google. So I have full faith that my gripes about them will eventually change.

Who does your designs?
Me. All me.

Why is your website so plain?
A long time ago, before people became sell-outs and covered up their websites with gazillion marketing ads and widgets, there was this thing called "content." Perhaps I'm just "old-school" (urbandictionary.com).

What programs do you use for your images?
I use Photoshop for images/photos. And for the occassional quick and minor fixes, I use IrfanView.

What kind of camera do you use?
Canon Rebel XTi. Canon's are probably the best to use for novice photographers like myself.

What kind of camcorder do you use for your YouTube videos?
Flip Video Camcorder (Ultra). To edit, I use Windows Movie Maker.

PC or Mac?
In the meantime, I am a PC. Eventually, it will change now that I'm starting to explore more with the media side of blogging. *crosses fingers*


The Bay Area is just a general way of saying Northwest California. Where exactly are you located?
To narrow it down, we are located somewhere in Silicon Valley.

You seem to use a lot of profanity on your posts. Do you believe censorship is important to your readers?
I do and I don't. But trying to keep a clean internet is a fucking fantasy world. Since when was the internet ever really "clean"?

Questions? E-mail me at maryannerodis [at] gmail [dot] com.

How I know I married the right one

*Phone conversation with Leo in New York. Mind you - he's been gone for three weeks.*

Leo: Maybe when I come back home, we can switch sides of the bed. You can sleep on my side and I can sleep on your side. You know...to spice it up a bit.

Me: Oh yes. I'm getting so turned on thinking about your side of the bed.

[Mom, I really hit the jackpot with this one.]

It should be a compliment!

Desperate Housewives apologizes.

/begin rant

...at least it wasn't a comment about Filipinos working in airports, costco, or in the navy as an enlisted semen. How many Filipino corporate officers, board members, scientists, professors, etc do you know?

Please don't get me wrong. I'm all for equality, non-discrimination, and all that jazz. But how many Filipinos do you know that actually aspire to be something other than a nurse, airport, costco, mail, or factory worker?

Being Filipino, I've seen first-hand how the entire family works at the same factory, then moves to another factory, or to the airport, etc. They never really put in the effort to enrich their lives through some additional education or really pursue some way to climb up the ladder. All they wanted to do was make enough to get by, send some money home, build a house in the Philippines and then move back.

Which makes me digress further to what the hell they consider home? They lived in the Philippines for maybe 20 years. In the US for 30+ years. Really, at that point, what is home?

Anyhoo. This is just a generalization. There are a few of us Filipinos who have been inspired and aspired to better our own lives. Give it another generation or two and maybe we can fly the plane instead of service it.

This post was a lot longer than I intended.

Hacked + Fucked = Facked

Okay. Someone has hacked into MyBlogLog account and added a message on my profile on behalf of me to not solicit their "shit" on my MyBlogLog page. I deleted all that crap. First of all, it wasn't me. Contrary to the all the "shit" words on my post, I know for a fact it wasn't me. I received a couple of messages from people about it not knowing what the hell they were talking about.

I'll try to make sense of why I know it wasn't me:

"Oh and..." (WRONG - I DON'T TYPE LIKE THAT. SO WRONG.)

"Oh, and..." (RIGHT - I LOVE COMMAS.)

It's probably not a big deal to you, but just the fact that I have to change my password because someone has gained access to my crap, including my Yahoo e-mail account (MyBlogLog bought out by Yahoo), really gets to me.

I am so for the gmail camp.

Okay, good bye for now. Seriously this time.

Gone Fishin'

Friends,

I will be on hiatus from the internet for a couple of days starting tomorrow. Have a great weekend. Go Chargers!

Yours truly,

Mary Anne

The joy of being unemployed

I'm sure you probably have this impression of me by now about me wanting to kill myself. And that's okay. Suicide is not something anyone should take lightly. And that comment I made on my YouTube video about wanting to shoot myself in the head is just a figure of speech. Bitch, it's football season. You must be crazy.

Anyhow, there's a side of being unemployed that I am thankful for. Like doing whatever the hell I want, eating unhealthy, and making YouTube videos like this one.



Last weekend, Kailee and I went to Santa Cruz for the very first time. We had a bitchen' time. It's been awhile since I had that much fun. It was hard to keep up with her since she wanted to ride every single ride in the park TWICE. I'd trade my left boob for half her stamina.

And just for the record, I don't sit around on my computer moping all day long about being unemployed. You are totally high on dope if you think that. There should be a disclaimer on the YouTube website that says "PLEASE DO NOT TAKE ANY OF THESE YOUTUBE VIDEOS SERIOUSLY. CLICK HERE TO BE REDIRECTED TO THE CNN WEBSITE. IT SEEMS YOU ARE LOST." Perhaps if the Chargers don't win the playoffs AGAIN, then that's when you should really start to worry.

"Video for Everyman"

Fellow YouTuber, Paulino Brener, from Minneapolis had sent me a link to a really good article from the Wall Street Journal (Sept. 26, 2007) about the Flip Video camcorder, video editing software, YouTube, and the like. He was featured on the article as an everday consumer experimenting with the lastest technology craze. Thanks, Paulino! I'm glad we share the same sentiment about the Flip Video camcorder. =)