Sakura of DOOM

So apparently, whenever I knead bread in my stand mixer for too long, the motion somehow screws the workbowl in more securely.

In other words, I cannot for the life of me detach the thing.

It's a KitchenAid Artisan. Does anyone have any tips? It's not really urgent, but I'd like to wash it someday...

Since my dad is in town, I am being fed fancy food for free. Tonight, we went to Sino, which an immensely trendy Chinese restaurant. I could tell it was trendy because I couldn't hear myself think over the noise and the music, and it had a color theme of black and red and lighting so dim you couldn't really see.

Also, they had black toilets in the bathroom to match the decor. I was immensely amused by this.

There were also eight-foot-tall Chinese characters written on the red wallpaper in the hallway to the bathroom. I tried standing back to read them, but the hall was so narrow that I ended up whacking the back of my head against a wall.

To further comment on the bathroom (I swear, I will get to the food), the faucets were also extremely trendy things that basically looked like rods of metal sticking out of the wall. I assumed they used motion sensors, but after waving my hands around a few times and not getting any water, I figured it must be an extremely well-disguised non-motion-sensor faucet. I twisted. Water indeed came out. Alas, it ended up arcing into the next sink, thereby confirming that a) the faucet used very poor motion sensors and b) I nearly broke the faucet.

After confirming that no one saw me aim a faucet at another sink, I managed to wash my hands and get back to my food.

The menu is an interesting blend of traditional Chinese-American food (Szechuan beans, ma po tofu, even mu shu pork) and fusion (Kobe beef tartare and crab risotto). We ended up getting lobster dumplings, Kobe beef burgers, quail, scallop and prawns, seasonal vegetables and fried noodles.

The lobster dumplings were rather interesting; normal potstickers with a shumai-like shrimp mixture inside, with chunks of lobster. Sadly, the dipping sauce was a little too sweet, and the shrimp taste overwhelmed the lobster taste. Also, while I don't dislike shumai, they aren't my favorite as well. The Kobe beef burgers were teeny little mini burgers (three), which split nicely with me, my mom and my dad. I noticed after eating mine that all of them had different toppings. I inadvertantly took the one with sauteed, wonderfully carmelized onions (muhahaha!), while the others had tomato and cucumber. And while the beef wasn't anything remotely Chinese, the burgers were tasty and juicy and beefy. Mmmmm.

I thought that the food would be fairly fusion-esque after tasting the appetizers, since they didn't really resemble traditional Chinese food at all, but it actually turned out fairly normal! The seasonal greens (bok choi) were delicious and light and crunchy, with a small scattering of chili pepper over it (not as traditional). The quail was served with sticky rice with black mushrooms (the kind that comes steamed in a lotus leaf), which was tasty but a little too sticky, and nearly-pickled cabbage and carrots. But oh, quail! I probably should feel guilty for eating a bird so small, but I wasn't thinking about the teeny drumsticks and wings because the skin was crisp and the meat was dripping with fat, and it was that perfect taste in which it's nearly too salty, but not quite.

The scallops-prawn-and-sugar-snap-pea stirfry was also fairly traditional, only with sugar snap peas instead of snow peas, with the addition of shallotts. The scallops were slightly overcooked and too tough, as were the prawns, but the sugar snap peas were delicious, and I'm not just saying that because I like peas. Then there were fried noodles with tomatoes, bell peppers and beef, which was more sweet and sour and therefore tasted more American, but it was still good, though different.

But mmmm, quail. Tomorrow, fusion-Vietnamese! And the day after, a surprise restaurant in Napa!

The good: I have a desk! Finally, a computer on a desk!

The bad: I dented the hardwood floor while building the desk. Mom is going to kill me =(.

The good: Desk was successfully built!

The bad: Keyboard tray not as maneuverable as previously expected. Woe. Will try and buy and install new keyboard tray.

The good: I bought a chair! It was horrifically expensive, but it's also horribly comfortable and will match my couch. Also, I have been utterly spoiled by nifty ergonomic things at work, ergo the worrying about the chair and the keyboard tray and etc.

The bad: No time still to organize things.

The good: Desk! Yaaaaaaay!!!!!

1. There was no hot water for a shower yesterday night. It's quite nice that it's not snowing, but on the other hand, standing naked in the tub waiting desperately for the water to heat up while your big toe slowly freezes from testing the water isn't so fun. There was no hot water this morning as well, so I put my hair up (cringing at the non-shampooed-ness of it the whole time) and muddled my way to work, certain that everyone could tell I had not showered. I was seriously debating bringing in shampoo and soap to work to shower at the company gym, but decided not to.

2. I finally scraped together the remains of my motivation and went running again. I may have nearly died a few times on the elliptical, but I made it! Indeed, I made it only to leave the gym and find that it was pouring rain and that I only had a thin sports jacket on. It wasn't snow, this is true, but it was really freaking cold! Thankfully, the hot water worked tonight, or else I would have ... I don't know. Waved my hands around in frustration and yelled at the plumbing? Somehow I doubt that the universe feels very threatened by me...

3. This isn't a Murphyism, but I figured I'd note that I got my "Zombies are the new black" shirt! Thank you for putting together the orders, katie_m! I put mine on to go running and stood in front of the mirror and squiggled with glee. Ok, I was also squiggling because a bit of my blue sports bra was showing and it matched the trim on my socks, serendipitously! Um. Yes. It was happy!

4. My dress pants are usually the type where there's a metal catch in the front, which hooks easily, along with a button to secure the fastening. Unfortunately, buttons are not very securely sewn on or something, so the buttons inevitably fall off, leaving me to rely on the metal catch.

I had been worrying all day about how tight my pants were (they were a bit uncomfortable). So while I was walking up the stairs to go to a meeting, coworker B. called out to me, asking, "Hey, did you book the meeting? The room's full....?"

This would have been a perfectly normal question, except around "Hey," I suddenly noticed that my pants weren't tight! Joy! thought I, in the brief delusion that I had somehow shed six inches from my waistline over lunch.

Screwy, went my brain about three seconds later, as I realized that my pants were indeed looser, but that they were also starting to slide off.

SCREWY! went my brain, as I realized that for a second time, as B. finished his question and waited for my answer, along with four other coworkers.

"Uhhhh......." I said to B., quickly putting my planner and water down on the steps in front of me and desperately hoping that no one could really see me trying to hitch my pants up from my hips and refasten them through the stair railings.

I think this may be worse than the other time my pants have betrayed me (the sad thing is that there is another time!).

1. My mouth is still in pain. Unfortunately, the pain is only there in the morning, and I can't take my pain killer until I get in the office, because I have to drive.

2. However, I have decided that I sound like Sean Connery.

3. On the other hand, I'm not sure if sounding like a balding Scotsman is a good thing.

4. I also still can't open my mouth all the way yet.

5. The cookies rilina gave me sit on the counter, taunting me with their must-be-chewed-by-molars-ness.

6. I bought too many books today at the company book fair thing.

7. I need to stop reading medical symptoms online, because I've almost convinced myself that I have dry socket because I drank a milkshake with a straw on Sunday.

8. I have a coupon for a free cookie that taunts me.

9. There was free pizza at my lunch meeting today, which taunted me.

10. Edible objects need to stop taunting me. It is quite unfair.

Since rachelmanija wanted to know...

The door to the women's bathroom was replaced at my office a few months after I started working here, mostly to make the floor handicap-regulation compliant. The new door was a nifty automatically opening model; the door would open veeeerrrrry sloooooowly once you pushed it a little.

There was much confusion as people adjusted to the new door. Every time I'd walk by, I'd see someone pushing the door open, then staring as the door opened veeeerrrry slooooowly. You could just see the wheels in their head turning: "Is someone behind the door? Should I go in? Is our bathroom haunted? What to do, what to do??"

Then, of course, just as everyone finally got used to a self-opening door, it stopped working. And then it started again. And then it stopped.

The door is very heavy, so you have to put a good deal of force in it to get it to open if the door has decided not to work, but if it has, all you need to do is tap it a bit. I think if you hung around the door for a long enough time, you'd see people (like me) giving the door a cautious tap, and then staring in confusion as it refused to open. Or they would barge ahead, full tilt, and end up flat on their faces by pushing too hard when the door was already opening.

Cubicle life amuses me. So do doors (I have an apparently life-long history of conflict with doors. I do not get along well with inanimate objects).

Owowowow, this made me laugh so hard I cried. I think the best one is in the comments, on a cat, a hamper, and a rubber band.

*collapses into giggles*

I think I am finally beginning to understand the cult of Friday (otherwise known as "TGIF"). In Taiwan, we went to school Mon.-Fri. with another half day on Saturday. They changed that my senior year so that we only went to school every other Saturday (but took out a few national holidays for it). I think after I graduated (of course), they finally changed it so that people had a five-day week like the rest of the freaking world. But, I got rather used to working on Saturdays.

College, everyone's schedules were completely out of whack, especially later on. I had the occasional free Tuesday, or one class only on Thursday, or etc. At the bookstore, I worked Saturdays and got Sundays and Wednesdays off.

Now, I have normal weekends. And on Fridays, there's this incredibly different atmosphere. Everyone is somehow bouncier, anticipating the weekend, more jokes are made. I sing loudly in the car. It's quite nifty, really.

I've found that I don't actually mind my commute all that much. Well, I hate driving, so it's on the tolerable level, and there are many annoying cars on the road. I think those super-fast cars that like to weave in and out of lanes without a turn signal deserve a special place in traffic jam hell. But I have my bouncy CDs and Assassins in the car, and since it's just me, I sing at the top of my lungs. And somehow, the driver's seat has shower-like acoustics, so I actually sound not-so-bad when I do it. The bad thing, though, is that now I'm in the habit of randomly bursting into song for my favorite bits ("Chaaaaarlie said, 'Hell! If I am guilty than God is as well.' But God was ac-quit-ted and Charlie com-mit-ted until he should haaaaaaaaaaang... still he saaaaaaaang..."). That wouldn't be so bad, except now I do it at the top of my lungs and when other people are still in the car. So far, "other people" have mostly been the boy, who doesn't really mind, but I fear I will start doing it and completely embarrass myself one day.

I'm very good at embarrassing myself. Lately I've begun haphazardly walking into cubicle walls. I don't think anyone has seen me do this yet (thankfully), but still. It's not like the cubicle walls have moved or anything. My feet and brain just somehow manage to miscalculate so that I bounce off them. I used to be very good at opening doors and not coordinating it very well so I would just perfectly get the half-opened door edge right in front of my face and walk smack into it.

Really, how can I be expected to play video games and make those characters walk in a straight line and avoid walls when I can't do that in real life with my own body?

Have finally got Premiere. Installed Premiere. Looked at Premiere for about three seconds and freaked out and ran away.

Also am not sure how to rip my DVD to MPEG or AVI.

I feel I am not meant to be a vidder.

Seriously though. With Photoshop it was easier because I had the boy, who nominally knows how to use Photoshop. So I watched him diddle around and made him do things, and picked up enough of the basics enough so that I could just press random buttons and see what effects they had. Unfortunately, the boy doesn't know Premiere so I can't watch him. And I started reading the help files, but my brain completely zonked out. I don't understand any of the terminology and there's no helpful person sitting next to me pushing buttons and showing me how it's done.

Hrmph.