100 things about me in no order

This isn't one of those questionnaires, it's more like free-association. 100 things should tell you a lot, but I can't promise everything. Yes, this is narcisitistic, but I figured that if people wanted to know something about me, this might be more intriguing than a boring old profile.
I haven't been terrible productive right now at work because this is the most dead part of the year, when it comes to news (everyone is on vaction in the community), so it hasn't been hard for me to scribble something down as soon as it pops into my head.
Mostly, I'm missing Yelena terribly. Talking on the phone with her is pretty much my only solace. Enough moaning, here's the list:

1. Before I became a writer I wanted to be an architect.
2. My sophomore year of college I lost 26 pounds.
3. I was born in New York and raised in San Francisco, which should never be called "Frisco."
4. One serious movie I cannot get enough of is Wonderboys.
5. The best vacation I have ever taken, as a kid, was with my family to camp in Big Sur, Calif.
6. I have two younger brothers.
7. The first two-wheeled bicycle I learned to ride was too big for me to get on myself.
8. When people name their children after ideals, like "Hope," it drives me crazy. Continued...
9. I have been dating my current girlfriend Yelena, since October 2004.
10. I believe vanilla far exceeds chocolate ice cream in complexity.
11. I am deathly afraid of un-enclosed heights, so airplanes are fine but rock-climbing is out.
12. My parents are still married.
13. I am not, nor have I ever been, married. Yet.
14. If I had one to pick one cocktail it would be a gin and tonic.
15. I have only one credit card, tied to my checking, and I am terrified of it.
16. When interviewing people I prefer to tape record, but this is often perceived as lazy.
17. I was a virgin until I was 18.
18. I harbor a not-so-secret love of cooking elaborate dishes.
19. Although I am Jewish not Catholic, if I could nominate one person for sainthood it would be neighbor Fred Rogers.
20. I love swimming but hate public pools.
21. I speak French quasi-fluently, it took me only seven years.
22. The only sports I watch on television are hockey and college football.
23. My first blog entry was in 2002.
24. I have zero musical talent, kazoo does not count, although I tried to play the trumpet and the guitar once.
25. I have a deep sense of nostalgia for the mid-1980s.
26. I drive a Subaru station wagon.
27. The best cake in the world is my Mom's chocolate raspberry.
28. My first CD was the Beatle's red compilation album, the second was Green Day's Dookie.
29. I have worked for newspapers since I was 16.
30. I am allergic to fish/shellfish/seafood and, no, I don't know what I'm missing.
31. I cannot do math.
32. I purchase books like an addict.
33. My best night on the town was in Portland at Montage in the spring of 2005; five bottles of wine for five people over four and a half hours.
34. Between nectarines and peaches I always pick nectarines.
35. I have never been to Chicago.
36. I would rather be freezing cold than even remotely hot.
37. I love listening to public radio on rainy weekends.
38. I can make hollandaise sauce.
39. I think all furniture should have clean lines.
40. I never buy dryer sheets of fabric softener.
41. I think bouquets of flowers are a necessary evil.
42. Roommates are always a bad idea unless you are sleeping with them.
43. I love my car but would prefer to never drive it, so I always try to live close to work or school or take public transportation.
44. Politics are no longer my bag, I see too much of the ugly side of political parties as a journalist to ever want to help either.
45. Favorite colors are total B.S.
46. People who say things like, "Oh, I don't read, did you catch Survivor last night?" should be shot.
47. I am devoted to Safeway, but love Whole Foods-esque stores.
48. I attended a Jewish sleep-away camp outside of Yosemite as a kid and consider the weeks I spent there some of the best summer days of my life.
49. Woody Allen and Diane Keaton in any movie pre-1980 is an ideal to be obtained. Even in an oppressive future they are so damn likeable.
50. Hummers (the car) are a disgrace.
51. Humidity makes me sweat badly
52. I know AP (Associated Press) style and write in it all the time (see #95).
53. I hunt-an-peck type.
54. I rarely carry cash.
55. The longer my hair is the more it tends to puff into an afro.
56. The Dick Van Dyke show is ridiculously unrealistic, but totally brilliant.
57. I have never received a speeding ticket.
58. I used to own PCs and run Windows, I am now an Apple person.
59. My parents used to call me "the camel" because as a little kid I rarely went to the bathroom until the moment before I was about to explode.
60. Lemonade is my favorite summer drink.
61. I have always wanted a tattoo, but fear of pain and my ever-changing style have prevented me from getting one.
62. I have shaken President Bill Clinton's hand.
63. My brother Eric bit me a few times as a hyper little kid, he's now studying to be a rocket scientist in Cleveland.
64. I like big TVs and sound systems (not that I own one), but mostly for watching movies.
65. IKEA is my own personal savior.
66. I was a Boy Scout, but fell short of becoming an Eagle Scout. On thing I learned, duct tape fixes everything.
67. I hate LA, and love the movie "LA Story."
68. Coca-Cola not Pepsi.
69. My friend April is going to be the next Martha Stewart, she turned me onto steamed artichokes with gritty mustard sauce.
70. I wear boxers.
71. Cool white linens on your bed are great, but impractical. Flat sheets are pointless too.
72. I love the smell of real cinnamon and vanilla - air fresheners smell awful.
73. I vividly remember panicking during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
74. I did not drink wine for over a year after I got sick once on cheap red wine.
75. There is nothing as satisfying as a hot shower.
76. My best friend is a girl.
77. Toast is essential, and I own an antique chrome toaster that makes perfect toast every time.
78. Quickie sex if fun.
79. My room in my parent's house was filled with inventions I created.
80. I like scarves and long, old-fashioned men's coats in the winter.
81. I am a good dancer, but poorly coordinated in every other avenue of life.
82. I have not eaten beef since I was 15, and no red meat either except for some fantastic lamb I had on my 21st birthday.
83. I was born in 1983, and share my birthday with singer Michelle Branch.
84. My first girlfriend in college is now married and living in South Korea.
85. I consider authentic Chinatown dim sum, or Mel's Diner the perfect Sunday morning hangover cure.
86. My youngest brother plays ice hockey.
87. The only taste I truly hate is black licorice.
88. Seeing blood makes me squeamish.
89. I prefer a messenger bag to a backpack.
90. I love waking up next to the woman I love and thinking she looks beautiful, even tousled.
91. I pick at my cuticles.
92. I have been on two cruises, both to Mexico.
93. My laptop is named "Woodward" and my desktop computer is named "Bernstein."
94. I love lightning.
95. I can program Web sites in HTML, CSS and Flash.
96. I have only three first cousins.
97. I have had mono.
98. San Jose is overrated.
99. My grandma calls me her 'number one barana.' I was her first grandchild
100. My middle name is Ross.
     

Doesn't this sound good?

I found an intriguing article on NYTimes.com about the French developing different more relaxed ways of cooking that breaks with the whole reverence for "gastronomie." Dubbed Le Fooding, the creators describe the movement as food with feeling. Leave it to the French chefs to try and break with tradition by naming a new movement. This looked tasty though.

Steamed Chicken With Cilantro Oil

Continued...

1 3 1/2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped

Zest of one lime, minced

1 3 1/2- to 4-pound free-range chicken, cut into 8 pieces

4 cups packed cilantro leaves

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Fine sea salt to taste

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

Ground black pepper to taste.

1. Purée the ginger in a food processor. Place the purée in a piece of cheesecloth and, over a bowl, twist it to extract as much juice as possible -- you should get 2 teaspoons. Discard the pulp. Stir lime zest into the juice.

2. Gently peel back the skin on the pieces of chicken and rub the ginger-lime mixture over the meat. Replace the skin and pat it into place. Tie the wings to the breasts with kitchen twine. Let the chicken marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the cilantro and cook for 30 seconds, then transfer to a bowl of ice water. Drain and pat dry. Put the leaves in a food processor, add 1/4 cup of the olive oil and pulse to a paste. With the processor running, add the remaining 3/4 cup oil. Season to taste with salt.

4. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in the bottom of a steamer. Place the chicken in the top of the steamer basket, cover and steam until the chicken is nearly done, about 20 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a rack to dry.

5. Heat the grapeseed oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it is hot but not smoking. Brown the chicken on one side, then season it with salt and pepper, turn and brown it on the other side, seasoning it again.

6. To serve, place the chicken in the center of four serving plates (preferably white). Surround each serving with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the cilantro oil. (Reserve extra oil for another use.) Serves 4.

Talkies: The first podcast

Announcing a landmark event: HyperboleAir podcast numero uno! Click here to download the MP3. The heavily-NPR-influenced show is chock full 'o good stuff. In this initial 10 minute episode:

News from Spokane

The Intro

Scary stoves and bare walls

Life as an intern

Charlie and the motion sickness factory

Weekend visitors and Watergate

The street where I work

This is my building, the Spokesman-Review Tower in Spokane, Wa. where I'm working as a reporter for the Spokesman-Review. It's the Hogwart-ish looking tower (it has a clock and a weather vane on top) with the sweeping, curved, modernist addition. Pretty classy eh?

How am I not myself?

Apparently, Maureen Dowd's mother, unbeknownst to me also a writer, had a fondness for the Talmud. Dowd writes:

"Mom - a woman who always carried a small bottle of Tabasco in her purse - wrote out hundreds of recipes, adding notations of her own, including Mamie Eisenhower's Million Dollar Fudge (1955), which she deemed "Rich as Croesus, but oh so good," Mrs. Nixon's Hot Chicken Salad and Barbara Bush's High Fiber Bran Muffins.

In the middle of her recipe cards, she wrote down a quote that appealed to her: 'The Talmud says, If I am not for myself, who will be? If I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?'"

HOT CHICKEN SALAD? Mrs. Nixon - hot chicken salad?! This brings a whole new meaning to "I am not a crook."

Someone learned how to make pretty icons!

Microsoft just announced the "demarcation" of Windows Vista (nee Longorn). Incidentally, the media release video the kids over in Redmond, Wash. whipped up is unintentionally the funniest thing I've ever seen. There are also a lot of shots of the new "improved" interface which features glossy aqua icons circa OS X 10.1. Basically, some scotch tape and Photoshop layer elements, because as we know, nothing says new version quite like some "inner glow" applied to the logo of your choice. The new fenestrated tagline "clear - confident - connected" sounds a bit like a new STD drug marketed towards social butterflies (paging Quagmire).

All cheap shots aside, for the first time I don't really have any clue about where the future of the dominant OS is going. With Mac soon to be available to run on Intel's X86 chips, and subsequent hacks to put Tiger on non Apple-hardware sure to follow (by the like of tech-junkies like my brother, Eric) There may be some real bumps in the road for both companies as roles are redefined.

Talking to Eric when I was at home brought up some excellent points. While he considers the aesthetics of Apple's hardware to be superfluous, he did not seem particularity opposed to potentially running their OS - it is very stable, UNIX-based and just as capable as Windows - on a PC box he'd have built. Strange times indeed.
[Via Engadet]

Flash is for the FUTURE

I've been learning mad crazy flash actionscript skills here at the Spokesman-Review where I'm working as a Web reporter intern. That basically means I'm somewhere between a news reporter and a web designer although the two halves of this position don't exactly overlap. My new-found actionscript skills don't guarantee that Hyperbole is going to get all crazy blinged out (although, god knows, I love over-built flashy goodness), more likely I'll build some flash based-audio slideshows to take advantage of that images section currently lying dormant.

Muggles rejoice!

I got my copy of HP and the Half-Blood Prince today. I'm at work so it's sitting on my desk, burning me with its tempting, green cover. I heard the first paragraph on NPR and it was surprising hear about a prime minister instead of Mr. Potter - possibly my favorite literary celebrity except maybe Hunter S. Thompson. One thing that I found interesting about their story: a nonprofit printer and publisher, in cooperation with Potter publisher Scholastic, will publish Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in Braille on July 19, in eight volumes. This is apparently a record-breaking turnaround.
I wish I could just read it now. Damn you ethics, damn you.

WiFi booster, Circa 1910?

I am writing to you, ladies and gents, from my apartment under very interesting circumstances. I am currently sitting in my (dry) claw-foot bathtub surfing the net and writing an entry. You see, when I said I had no Internet in my apartment I had not taken into account the free (albeit slow) WiFi signals that might have been seeping into my bathroom. Despite a very thorough search with my laptop, using a lovely free program called iStumber, I neglected to check in my shower. Moreover, I had not fully contemplated the amplification power of one porcelain-coated antique bathing implement. That changed yesterday when 'net withdrawal sent me searching yet again. The bathtub is comfortably large and on a hot evening like tonight the milky-white surface is pleasingly cool to the touch. I highly recommend this. Photos are sure to come, the image is priceless.

Tattooed Dead Trees of Recent Attention

I have no TV or Internet since arriving in Spokane (yes, I may try to work that into every post), so I have been reading voraciously. Here is my list of consumed books(subject to expansion):

All the President's Men
Frisco Pidgeon Mambo (re-read)
Life of Pi
The Tipping Point
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

PS: Can I just say I love cheesy clip art? Especially when a google image search for "books" yields this monstrous picture as a first result. If you have an suggestions for a good read, by all means - post away.

I've entered a new "life-stage"

No, I'm not getting married, but two of my co-workers (and friends as well) from the Daily Emerald, Ryan (onetime Pulse editor) and Adrienne (Online editor)are engaged. Apparently, this love stuff is contagious. Dave and Anne are set to wed in November, now Ryan and Adrienne, with all the upcoming weddings should I invest in a tux?

Truly Scrumptious

I'm in Spokane, Wa I have no Internet. Posts are gonna far and few between people. I'm sorry. I had a few spare minutes and I had to write this down. The IMAX in Riverfront Park is going to be showing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Yes, I think I may need to go drunk. Massive Tim Burton trippyness. I cannot wait.