The World at My Fingertips

Is it Too Early for Christmas Music?

Posted by: Yuriko on: November 11, 2009

I’m in the process of ripping some cds into iTunes so I can put them on my iPod.

Tonight, I’m ripping:

  • Linda Eder’s Christmas Stays the Same
  • Michael Ball’s Christmas
  • Martina McBride’s White Christmas
  • SF Cast of the Phantom of the Opera’s Christmas Center Stage
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Getting All Gussied Up for Santa

Posted by: Yuriko on: November 9, 2009

IMG_9207Charlotte has decided to look so cute for Santa this year.  I hope she gets lots of presents!

Here We Go…

Posted by: Yuriko on: November 6, 2009

IMG_9204 We’ve gotten some Christmas decorations and a new 4 ft fake tree.  So, we’ve started decorating for the holidays.  We haven’t done the patio yet.. but we’re hoping.

It’s Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas….

Posted by: Yuriko on: November 5, 2009

Time has sure flown!  It’s now after Halloween and coming upon Christmas.

This year, we’re going to decorate the patio – not because it’s fun, but because our apartment complex is having a patio decorating competition with the first prize being $100 in a gift card.  Needless to say, that’s big incentive!  Not to mention that we heard that much of last year’s competitors have since left and the only real competition we have is last year’s winner.

I’m looking forward to getting my creative juices flowing.

49er Training Camp

Posted by: Yuriko on: August 1, 2009

Just got back from the morning session…IMG_8552

Frustrated About Finding a Job in Denver

Posted by: Yuriko on: July 26, 2009

Apparently, people want you to live there first before hiring you. Funny, huh?

Happy Birthday Charlotte and Shaun Hill!

Posted by: Yuriko on: July 25, 2009

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Rediscovering an Old Friend

Posted by: Yuriko on: July 24, 2009

I was reading my Google Reader, which usually has my favorite blogs… but as a lark, I added Google Staff picks as well and came across a Bento Box Blog called Just Bento.com.  Now, being raised in an old fashioned Japanese family in America was a little different for me.

When I was younger, most of my friends had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and I was stuck taking a bento box to school.  Of course, I got all the weird looks from those who did not know what it was.. and of course, there also came the ridicule because the other kids thought they were so cool with their squished white bread sandwiches.  And, of course, trying to fit in, begged my mom to make me sandwiches so I could be like the other kids.

After a while, my mom conceded and made me bologna sandwiches — which did not taste half as good as her bento boxes.  Now, thinking back, I really had a good thing going back then when I had my bento boxes.  I wish I hadn’t begged my mom change my lunch.  So, now, I’m trying to get back into the best part of my childhood – lunch. :)

Now, there are all these sites on the Internet for bento!  Here’s one that has information about bento.  I just wish I could get the cute containers again.  When I was younger, the container my mom always used was made of metal.  I guess it was easier to clean that way.

Wordless Wednesday

Posted by: Yuriko on: July 22, 2009

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Where is the Best Place to Live?

Posted by: Yuriko on: July 21, 2009

With the world at my fingertips, it is easy to look online and read an article about a certain place and read how it is such a great place to live. Most of these articles, in my opinion though, are a little biased.
Some people are paid to gush about certain places so these sites can get more tourists and gain more money. Some places aren’t all that fantastic, in the first place.
To me, I really like hearing from local people about their hometowns and what they particularly like about it. Is there a giant maze of corn that nobody except the town knows about?  Or the best little place to find a really good hamburger?

I’m looking for people, just like you, who can help me find out what the best places have to offer.  If you’re a blogger, and don’t mind writing about your town, contact me today!  I’d love for you to do a guest post here about your favorite place in your town.

No Red Lights on This Section of the Information Highway

Posted by: Yuriko on: July 15, 2009

127_2773Hitchhikers are welcome (at least for now).

I am working pretty hard right now just to get more traffic to come to my blog to visit and maybe leave a comment or two.  I, for one,

think that I have something contribute, even if it’s not the wittiest post, or even the most entertaining.  So, in my attempt to look around to find out how I can gain more traffic, I came across some advice about getting more traffic to my blog.

One of the pages I visited, suggested that I use craigslist to gain more traffic.  Of course, the advice also stated that you should have relevent content and it should be good.  Well, I guess there goes my idea out the window.  But, if you think about it, who are they to judge what is relevent or not?

So, I started looking at craigslist and came across LuckyMama’s ad.  She has some good ideas about driving traffic to your website.  To

visit LuckyMama, click here.  I also started looking at the forum and what topics I was interested in and came across the supernatural forum section.  Being a ghosthunter at heart, I started posting some comments on the forum and have had a request for a photo – which I post on my own blog, of course.

So, I guess I am slowly getting the hang of it.  It looks like the true secret to getting web traffic and more readers is to keep posting and being consistent in your postings.  As the saying goes, If you build it, they will come.

In the meantime, I’m just happily building my blog catalog of posts.

Photo of an Orb? Maybe.

Posted by: Yuriko on: July 15, 2009

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What is the Governator Really Thinking?

Posted by: Yuriko on: July 14, 2009

I don’t claim to know everything about the government or how to run it.  I am, afterall, a simple Californian, who seems to be stuck in a pickle.

I live a good 1 hour train ride away from work.  In order to get to work, I take the BART.  At this moment, I pay about $12 a day just to get to work and home.  I haven’t factored in the cost of gas or the maintenance of my car into this.  That would make the cost a little higher each day.

I also work for the State of California.  I always enjoyed working for the government because of the stability and the confidence that in the end, the government will pay back with a nice retirement.  But now, I’m wondering what the government is thinking?  First, in February, we received mandatory furloughs because of the budget crisis.  Since then, we’ve had furloughs which we could take at our own discretion so that state offices can still continue to function and serve the public (which is what most state departments should do).

Now, this month, we’re back to the mandatory furloughs, only this time, instead of two, we have to take three days off, closing offices on Fridays.  I suppose that this helps with the budget by saving the state the electricity bills, and what not… I still don’t understand it sometimes… how cutting my pay will help the economy and the state.  Why pick on the little people who are trying to make a living and not the ones who are given six-figure salaries with endless expense accounts and allowances?  Do the higher ups REALLY need that money?  Do they REALLY need an allowance for a car?  During this budget crisis, shouldn’t the government ask these high paid employees to voluntarily cut their spending or salaries?

And another thing.. the BART negotiations.  The governor has chosen to reject a 60-day cooling off period for the negotiations.  Now, is that a good thing?  If the BART strikes, many many more people will drive, congesting the freeways and roads, causing more accidents and trouble.  If the negotiations go sour, there’s the possibility of a strike… without the cooling off period, there may be one and then we’re screwed!

I wish I knew what the governor was thinking when he rejects plausible ideas and requests.  Shouldn’t we all be compromising so that everyone can be satisfied with the end-results?  I hope that BART doesn’t strike and I hope we get a budget soon!

Stay! Why is it Sooo Hard to Grasp?

Posted by: Yuriko on: July 10, 2009

I guess it is my own fault that my dog, Shaun Hill, does not want to stay when told.  He’s had a very free puppyhood, doing whatever he wants, more or less, and he’s getting away with a lot of stuff in the house, including (but not limited to) hiding under the bed to chew something he found, picking on Charlotte when she sleeps, fussing when I want to get him ready to go out, and barking at the air. (Maybe we have ghosts.)

He’s still in the later stages of puppyhood, I know, but he’s a little spoiled, I think.  We were walking him with Charlotte today around the block after dinner.  He was okay, until he started pulling.  Of course, it’s hard to walk with my husband in tow because my husband doesn’t seem to have much patience for training and he kept scoffing at my attempts to be a “tree” to stop Shaun Hill from pulling me down the street.

By the time we were out the gate, I had him pulling me down the block.  Around the corner, I finally got to a quiet street and was able to calm him down a little — just enough that he would sit when I told him the 5th time.  Then, he started doing a little better with the sitting.  When we went back inside the complex, we walked around the office and I got him to sit, but by then, my husband was tired of my attempts to control my dog.

He was better, I guess, as we were getting home until we passed a neighbor’s house and what sounded like a very evil chihuahua that is penned up in the back yard all day.  No wonder that thing sounds grumpy.  At least our dogs don’t bark like that..

Just My $.02 about Michael Jackson

Posted by: Yuriko on: July 7, 2009

No matter what you want to say about Michael Jackson, you must admit that he was one great entertainer.  I really do not care what kind of spin the media would like to put on him.  That’s just what the media always want to do: put a damper on someone so caring and talented so that he looks like a monster.

Admittedly, he has changed over the years and because of that, I am sure that the press and the public have taken their pop shots at him because he’s in the public eye so much and the public will view him as someone who is not normal because he wants to have slumber parties with kids and enjoy kids’ company.  It’s not normal, right?, for a grown man to want to play with kids and genuinely have fun with them without having anything seedy going on.

Has anyone ever thought about how Michael Jackson felt?  He’s basically grown up in front of the public and he didn’t seem like he had the normal childhood like any other normal kid.  He didn’t have the normal life growing up… and so perhaps he wanted to recapture the childhood he never had and wanted to make sure that kids were able to have a fun childhood like he never got?  So people took advantage of that.

So, now that he’s gone, people are sorry to see him gone.  People will fight over his kids.  People will always remember the years towards the end.. but hopefully, the years in the beginning will overshadow the negative years.  Or at least, the public will always remember what a great entertainer Michael Jackson was and what a good, dedicated, and loving father he is.

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