Snow?!

The weather folks had been saying all week we'd get rain mixed with snow for a couple days this week, but yowsa -- it's been coming down pretty heavily for the past couple hours now. Luckily I'm working from home, as is my usual gig on Fridays, so I don't have to deal with being out and about in it. So far, it seems like it's only really sticking to grass/trees anyway. Check out the view from my living room window (looking out over my complex's backyard; unfortunately, you can't see in detail just how fast it's coming down):

Favorite restaurant dishes in Seattle

I would have a bear of a time trying to narrow this down to 10 items (I love to eat!); and besides, listing whatever pops into my head may help spread the word about restaurants you all, my two readers, haven't yet tried..

• Coconut or pear gelato at Tutta Bella (seasonal flavors)
  
• French fries from McDonald's
  
• Mongolian tofu with brown rice from Snappy Dragon
  
• The deep-fried-bread appetizer at Joule (the dish is unfortunately not on the menu)
  
• Tiramisu at either Buca di Beppo or Tutta Bella
  
• Grilled chocolate marshmallow brioche sandwich at Oliver's Twist
  
• My own creation of 1/2 spaghetti with mizithra and 1/2 spaghetti with alfredo sauce at The Old Spaghetti Factory
  
• A petite guacamole bacon burger with onion straws instead of raw onions at Red Robin
  
• Crème brûlée at Sambar (no Web site of their own -- crazy!)
  
• Chicken teriyaki at Nasai Teriyaki (I swear I ate here once a week during my four years at UW ...)
  
• Sweetcream ice cream with strawberries and Heath bar at Cold Stone
  
• Chicken lettuce wraps at P.F. Chang's
  
• Tortellini at Santorini (though I can only eat about 10 tortellinis before I'm full! It's so rich)

TV hotties and the upcoming weekend

When I have trouble sleeping (which, unfortunately, has been pretty often the past few months), I pass time by making lists of random stuff in my head. A couple nights ago, my topic was TV hotties; in no particular order:

1. Michael Weatherly, "NCIS"


2. Zach Braff, "Scrubs"


3. Jason Bateman, "Arrested Development"


4. Scott Foley, "Felicity" (I was much more of Noel fan than a Ben fan..)


5. Zachary Levi, "Chuck"


6. Josh Duhamel, "Las Vegas" (the most "model"-ish of my list; I usually go for less pretty boys)


7. David James Elliott, "JAG" (circa the mid-'90s)


8. Michael Vartan, "Alias," "Big Shots" (lucky Jennifer Garner got to be with both Michael and Scott Foley -- on TV and in real life. Not fair!)


9. David Annable, "Brothers & Sisters"


10. John Krasinski, "The Office" (though I like his hair better when his bangs are brushed down over his forehead)

There's a pattern of sorts.. I mostly like comedic actors, and guys who have boyish/smiley faces. A great sense of humor and snappy wit is definitely a requirement for all my friends -- male or female.

Since the weather looks to be cold, wet and possibly icy/snowy this weekend, I may have to scrap my usual weekend hiking outing with Chrissy. However, I did find some local goings-on that piqued my interest: The Lakeside School's rummage sale (Bill Gates' alma mater) and VegFest at Seattle Center. I'm not a full-on vegetarian, but I'm a huge fan of substituting tofu for meat at restaurants and I don't like seafood. $5 to get in, and there's free food!

Post-'Idol' and 'Bachelor' thoughts

Brooke: I thought her voice sounded great, but I was a little bored by the song. Had a bit of a freak-out moment when they went to an overhead shot and a yellow-tinged light shone on her hands and they looked all wrinkly and alien-like. Weird!

David Archuleta: Love the guy, but thought his performance was not really true to who he is (I think the judges commented on this as well). Plus, the mood/lyrics of the song were almost devotional -- like it was someone at a talent show at a Christian convention. But maybe I was just in a cynical mood last night because I was reading "The God Delusion" during the commercials ...

Ramiele: Pretty blah. I'm thinking she'll be gone this week.

Syesha: Had never heard the song before, but she sounded great.

Kristy: She actually sounded really good, though the song choice was a bit odd to me ("God Bless the U.S.A."?? I'm guessing folks will vote for her out of feelings of patriotism).

Michael: I really liked his performance, but he was definitely straining on a lot of the higher notes, and came off as nearly shouting to get them out.

Chikezie: Very cheesy and old-fashioned (I'm in agreement with Simon here -- as always).

David Cook: My favorite performance of the night. Straight out of an arena-rock show.

Jason: More of the same from the dreadlocked one. I love his voice, but give us something a little different already!

Carly: Should be good enough to pop her out of the bottom three this week, though I thought she seemed a little disconnected. Simon pegged it as nerves.

...finally also watched Monday night's "Bachelor" last night. It wasn't as salacious as I was expecting it to be, but Matt did kiss on at least a few girls. Two more girls sang for him (about which one bachelorette said "I was pissed!" ... huh??), and this girl Shayne had a bit of a freak-out on him, to which he said in his comments, "The drama is really a turn-off." But then, surprise, he still gave her a rose in the end. Probably because 1) she's attractive, 2) she's Lorenzo Llamas' daughter and 3) it's "Bachelor" tradition to keep on at least one psycho chick through the fourth or fifth episode. Finally, I was a bit annoyed by the final interview of one of the axed bachelorettes. She tearfully said something to the effect of: "I just can't wait to get home to my cat. I've missed him a lot. I can't wait to hear him purr and have him on my lap. He's the love of my life right now." Way to live up to the (outdated) stereotype of single, female cat owners being losers!!

Red wine = not a good sleep aid

I get sleepy pretty quickly after just a couple sips of red wine, and since my insomnia has been rather wicked lately, I thought I was being a smartypants last night by having half a glass of red wine around 9:30 with the idea of having it help me fall asleep. Big mistake! I hit the sack around 11 and only slept fitfully and sporadically for the next several hours as I had to get up FOUR TIMES to pee. Ugh. I was hoping the wine would be good for something (I'm trying to force myself to like the stuff for the health/social benefits), but no suck luck.

Starting to feel the exhaustion set in already...

'Bachelor' crush -- for now

(ABC)

I must admit I'm periodically drawn to the TV to watch "The Bachelor" when it's running. I think I've watched maybe one season the entire way through (and that might've actually been one of "The Bachelorette" series), though, because it inevitably becomes groan-inducing and just, well, ridiculous. Hearing that this season's bachelor was from Britain, I had to TiVo the first episode. And slap me silly if I don't have a wee bit of a crush now on one Matt Grant. He's tall (6'5"), boyishly handsome and has this kooky sense of humor I really like. Plus, in that opening ep, there are priceless shots of him dancing on a sidewalk, getting frisky with the side of a phone booth in London, and dancing in his bedroom as the closing credits roll. No matter how much I like him right now, though, I can almost guarantee you that by episode three, he'll have sunk down to the level of previous bachelors. Namely, constantly commenting on how "beautiful" or "gorgeous" the girls are, kissing on as many of them as he can, and professing to have extreme attraction to several of them at one time. It's a predictable slide by now!! Though, after popping on to the Web page for the show just now, I'm thinking the slide may start by ep two tonight, as the preview says: Matt doesn't wait to bestow his first kiss, as the women attempt to out-strut each other as models in a sexy fashion show with a sizzling group date in Las Vegas!

Yikes. Too bad all of his four older brothers (he's 27) are married.

Before we begin.. a disclaimer

One of my carpoolmates mentioned the other day that apparently people who blog on company time (or while in the office, I'm guessing) are seen as presenting their employing company's point of view. So I just want to say right up front that these ramblings and random thoughts of mine have nothing whatsoever to do with my employer (Microsoft) or its positions on, well, anything and everything. Though, being that most of my blogs will be on really random topics (TV shows, food, boys, viral videos ...), I doubt MS will have an opinion anyway ;o)

But there you go! Read on, Mac Duff.