Category: Random Newness

Navy Bay Bridge Run

IMG_0832 (1)I did it! I ran across the Coronado Bridge on Sunday morning with about 10,000 people, The Boy and The Husband. The Boy ditched me immediately after we crossed the start line, but is forgiven because he had a finish time of about ten minutes better than me, so, good on him.

While this was for a great cause, and I had a great time running with our neighbor’s SDG&E team, these runs with the 5 a.m. wake up times cause me to seriously to question my sanity… or at least decision making abilities.

We ran across the bridge with a reservist who told us about his five tours on active duty, and dozen more as a reservist. He had speakers tucked in a backpack playing military running cadences for the group’s motivation- it sure helped me get up the bridge. When asked, he suggested that civilians who are interested in donating time and treasure to returning soldiers should look into the Wounded Warrior Project for a reputable organization to guide us.

IMG_6596IMG_0838Before we actually hit the Coronado bridge, we passed a mariachi band playing for the throng, but on the other end of the bridge was the Navy brass band to help us finish- what a great way to wrap up the run!

IMG_0830This honorable man ran the four plus miles in full gear and holding the flag. He wasn’t the only one I saw running with a flag and gear, either.

From the home page of the Navy Bay Bridge Run you can read that “this annual Navy-hosted event includes the public in raising money for the Navy’s Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR) programs.” It was an honor to run with these men and women on active duty, reserve and retired status, and all us civilians pitching in a tiny bit to bring attention and funds to America’s navy personnel. An honor and a privilege.

Taste Testing Korean Snacks with a Couple of Ringers! (Part TWO)

Part Two of our taste-testing extravaganza focused on the sweet treats and drinks while the K-pop was playing in the background…
IMG_6528Banana Kick- Can you imagine your basic cheese puffs, with NO cheese or powder, but with banana flavor instead? Comments included “Holy crap, it’s a banana cheese puff!” and “ Weird, but cool; tastes less banana-y than they smell.” We dug these things.

IMG_6525Corn Silk Tea- Joseph was so happy that we didn’t like this as much as he did. This was clearly one of his favorite home foods. Corn Silk Tea is a very mild tea that, very oddly, I thought tasted like tea plus the milk left over from a bowl of Cap’n Crunch. Yeah, I know, like I said- odd… but not in a bad way. I can totally see why this would be a favorite if you grew up drinking it- kind of like how most other world cultures can’t stand our root beer, but we Americans LOVE it.

IMG_6537Custard Cream Cakes- Joseph and The Boyfriend said that these are Korean Twinkies. Honestly, the comparison is a bit insulting. These are WAY better than Twinkies.

IMG_6538Matdongsan- One of the snacks that the boys were most excited to eat and have us try. To quote them: “Tastes like Korea.” I thought these were really good, peanut butter cookie meets cracker-y wafer-ish treat stick.

IMG_65572% by Lotte (Peach Flavored)– Oh, man! This was great! 2% is a non-carbonated soft drink that is not overwhelmingly sweet. We all liked it. “Ooo, right in the Childhood,” was The Boyfriend’s comment. We totally should have gotten more of this in different flavors. Get this- you can buy Lotte’s 2% Peach from Amazon, if you are so inclined.

IMG_6541Jolly Pong- almost exactly the same thing as the American honey puffed wheat cereal Sugar Crisps (now called Golden Crisp to not sound so sugar laden) or Honey Smacks (does that cereal even exist any more) . But more delicate. Really good!

We still have the frozen treat to try, and another aloe flavored soft drink, some various ramen and a couple more sweet snacks to try… Looks like Joseph will have to ask for an extension on his student Visa? We can hope. Have a great summer with your family, Joseph, and we wish you all the luck in the world when you start university next fall. New York doesn’t know how lucky it is to be getting you, I hope you take Manhattan by storm! We should make Willy do this with Chinese snacks next year, shouldn’t we- maybe between the Fall play’s Saturday performances? Ha, look out, Willy, you are next!

Taste Testing Korean Snacks with a Couple of Ringers! (Part One)

The Girl attends a school with kids from all corners of the globe. Actually, pretty much all schools in the greater Southern California area fit this description. For tonight’s new adventure, tasting Korean snack foods, we conscripted two great kids (I can call 18-year-olds “kids” since I have 30 years on them).IMG_6519 (1)

  • Joseph, from South Korea, classmate and friend of The Girl for several years, our native expert
  • The Boyfriend, who lived in Asia for four years, and totally on board with steering us toward his favorites

I bought five packages of snacks last week. It took the boys all of TWO seconds to take me up on my offer to drive back to our local H Mart to make sure we covered all of their favorites. Now we were up to over twenty, savory and sweet- not counting the soft drinks and ice cream the boys were excited for us to try.

The Summaries
The kids were fried after Week #1 of A.P. Exams, so we kept K-Pop going on Pandora and snacked away for three hours and came up with the following:

IMG_6527“Shrimp Crackers” from the boys: “Aaaaahhh!!! What did they do to our favorite childhood snack?!? Wait! By the 3rd bite it is starting to taste right.” We newbies thought they were pretty good.

IMG_6530“O!Karto” Italian Gratin flavor… we dug ’em. The favorite of The Boyfriend. good!

IMG_6532“Crab Chips” Meh. Unanimous. Tasted better than they smelled.

IMG_6534“Onion Rings” Like wheat based Funyons. Good, but not as good as King Funyuns.

IMG_6536“Tako Snacks” Thought I would slip octopus flavored chips past my son. The Boy resisted. Although they tasted better than they smelled, all these rated was another “meh.”

IMG_6539“Gg-Ggol-Corn” Joseph says this is his best attempt at Anglo spelling of Korean… A whole lot like Bugles, but WAY less salty. Very good!

Next post- Sweet snacks and beverages!! Holy cow, this was fun!

Avoiding Traffic… For Your Health

Our usual (and usually traffic-jammed) route home from school was crippled by road work. Again. Only one more month of this drive for the sake of school, then I can freely visit this lovely beach town as 75% of the other cars on the road with me every day- as a tourist! 

We decided to take a different way home today, climbing up through streets wide enough for only one car. A dozen other drivers and I were mighty glad we didn’t meet anyone traveling the opposite direction. We really enjoyed our drive. One of the breaks between houses hugging the side of the hill opened up to the most SPECTACULAR view of this part of So. Cal. that I have ever been treated to. Even The Boy remarked how glad he was that we discovered this detour, though by the time we hooked back up to a more familiar (traffic free!) artery, he was declaring that only nut-jobs could live in such precariously perched houses. It was a beautiful detour.

This week I overheard a news clip about the effects of traffic on the frail, human carcass.  A little on-line research uncovered a couple of the lengthier articles that the talking heads on the news were sound-bite summarizing: one from WomensHealth.com (where I found and borrowed the only photo in the post), and another, more in-depth spread over at The Wall Street Journal.

Some of the effects include, but are not limited to the following:

From Women’s Health Magazine-

  • Your blood sugar rises
  • Your cholesterol is higher
  • Your depression rist rises
  • Your anxiety increases
  • Your happiness and life satisfaction decline
  • Your blood pressure temporarily spikes
  • Your blood pressure rises over time, as well
  • Your cardiovascular fitness drops
  • Your sleep suffers
  • Your back aches

These info bits come from a slew of studies, not just one, spread out over the course of several years, and for me, are a generous serving of Food for Thought.

Photo from The Women's Health online article "Ten Things Your Commute Does to Your Body"
Photo from The Women’s Health online article “Ten Things Your Commute Does to Your Body”

Popular Mechanics Magazine- Knowedge (and humor) for 14-Year-Old boys and Me… actually, anyone

IMG_6185IMG_6161On the flights home Saturday, I thought for my New Thing O’ The Day that I ought to pick up and read a different magazine- cover to cover, one that I had never considered before.

Popular Science looked great, but that would be cheating since I had read that before, but Popular Mechanics looked really good, too. I’d poke my eyes out before reading a gossip rag. I really DON’T care which celeb is popping encapsulated gold leaf so they can literally poop gold.

IMG_6163Check out some of the fun stuff I learned on a two hour flight:

Big Ol’ fold out section all about hammers. Now I know more about hammers than you, ha!

IMG_6165A really informative article all about the Lego company- from its beginnings to the MIT designing the programable bricks and their own feature movie.

IMG_6168
A “Field Guide to Life” section designed to teach anyone at any age how to do something… like

IMG_6167IMG_6166Butcher a pig, for ages 46-59, (my age demographic, here!) build a stone wall, play poker for money, or identify edible plants… I like that plant stuff. And poker. I’m not offended that the pig butchering was not in my age group.

IMG_6182Some of the best and most humorous writing though, was in the shorter info-graphic-y sections like “How Your World Works- How High Can I Get Up In A Lawn Chair With Balloons?” No author credit is given, but credit needs to go to whoever wrote this section- it was funny.

And…

IMG_6180IMG_6181The best- in the Skills section, which has the lead in “Found a dangerous piece of heavy machinery with the keys in the ignition? Here’s what to do next.”- “How to Drive Anything”- complete with Action Hero Bonus information! Alexander George, I like your writing. Please keep this up. Signed, a 48-year-old mom of teens. One of the best lines: “Tanks are not good for Fast getaways.” Duly noted. Thank you.

IMG_6172And another Skills article, a Q and A “Ask Roy” which covered noisy neighbor fixes and dangerous building advice…

There were a boatload of more interesting pieces in this month’s Popular Mechanics, not the least of which include an article explaining Blackberry’s QNX operating system, another explaining how some of the directors of “Furious 7” got an amazing action shot for the latest movie in the franchise,IMG_6185 a short but cool look at the 2015 Corvette (cool, but I’m a Mustang girl), and a TOTALLY SLICK look at what a 1965 Fender amplifier looks like, all exploded out for you to see each part.

My son will love this magazine now that I’ve finished it. I liked it so much that I think I’ll actually order a magazine again- we both would love this if these all represent how this publication usually rolls out.

Should I be worried that a lot of my interests align with those of a 14-year-old boy? I’ll reflect upon that question a little later… Top Gear’s Africa special is on and begging to be watched.