Geek in Heels - Page 84

Jul 13, 2011 • In Art/Design, Entertainment, Movies

Inside the Architecture and Sets of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you are probably well aware that the Harry Potter film franchise will come to a conclusion this Friday. J and I probably won’t be able to watch the movie until next weekend due to a lack of a babysitter, but you can bet that we are eagerly awaiting the last film with great anticipation.

Lucky for us, the web has been jam-packed with Harry Potter tributes and celebrations. One of my favorites thus far is Architectural Digest‘s interview with Academy Award–winning production designer Stuart Craig, the man who helped bring J.K. Rowling’s vision to life.

Here are some of the pictures included in the interview. Click on over for descriptions and even more eye candy.

Learning to Balance (Opposites Attract)

J is finally back from his business trip, and I couldn’t be happier.

This was the first time in years that we had spent a night apart, so being away from each other for three nights was plain torture. We had promised each other that we would video chat every night via Skype, but you know what happened to my computer. 😥 I really wanted to cry when I first saw him this morning, and I’m not just saying this because I know he will read this.

And to show my appreciation for him, J returned home to a…

To-do list on the fridge for him.

I know! Aren’t I such a great wife?

Later in the day, when I jokingly nagged him about the list, he (very rightfully) asked, “Can’t I just get a day to rest on my day off???”

I’m pretty sure that if you ask J what one of his biggest annoyances about me is, he would tell you that I need to chill sometimes. That everything is not imperative, that non-emergency situations can wait, that I need to take things slower and enjoy life once in a while. (That to-do list on the fridge? I would’ve taken care of them myself a long time ago only if I were tall enough to do them.)

I know this, because one of my biggest annoyances about him is that I feel he needs to stop being so relaxed about everything and get things done ASAP, before everything starts piling up and/or we forget about it until it’s too late.

J and I have many, many things in common. We are both computer geeks who are obsessed with Star Wars. We both love professional basketball and football (we have rooted for the same teams — the Knicks and the Ravens — even before we met) but aren’t that into college sports. We are both musicians who play various instruments in addition to belting it out on karaoke with a good beer in our hands.

The list goes on and on.

But personality-wise, we couldn’t be more different. J is a true extrovert through and through, while I am one of the biggest introverts you will ever meet. He is very personable — the type of person who can become your new BFF in just one night — while I have the social skills of a gnat. J loves to joke around, and I am much more pensive and serious. He lives life in a carpe diem manner when I like to plan and think out everything. He sees the glass as half-full while I’m sure most of my readers are well aware that I tend to be a pessimist.

There are certain types of personalities where, if you put two people together with the same type of dispositions, they will mesh very well together. “We are so alike…it’s like I met my long-lost twin AND best friend!”

Then there are types of personalities where two people with similar characteristics may end up hating each other. (I am actually quite certain that if I were to meet someone with the same personality as me, I probably will not like him/her very much.) Or, when two people with completely different temperaments predictably do not get along.

I think that I have gotten very lucky in that J and I have many preferences in common, but our personalities are complete opposites that complement each other very well. He helps me get more out of life and see the bright side. I keep him grounded and focused. And by doing so, we make each other better people.

It’s funny, because J and his brother W are complete opposites…in fact, W’s personality is very very similar to mine. What makes this even more interesting (and perhaps a bit freudian?) is that W’s wife is very much like J. Whenever the four of us get together, it’s not unusual for J and my SIL to be joking around while W and I sit there rolling our eyes at them.

If you are in a relationship, are you in the “opposites attract” type? Or were you and your significant other drawn to each other for your similarities?

(The photos from this post were from our engagement session, shot by our wedding photographer Danny Weiss.)

The Law & Order: SVU Drinking Game

I wonder which would get you drunk faster: this or the “But Um” game from HIMYM?

Via Miss Cellania.

Sleeping Dog

I guess today is a doggy post day!

I have to say that I completely sympathize with the dog’s owner…and I’m sure I will empathize even more after BebeDeux is born.

(Comang feels the same way too. When Claire is being especially loud or obnoxious, he will let out a big sigh and go into our room — where it’s dark and quieter — to take a nap.)

Via Reddit.

Eye Boogers on Our Walls!

Meet Comang.

An old picture of our shih-tzu, before (like my husband likes to say)
his “manhood was taken away”

He may never pee or poop in the house. But he likes to leave his mark in other ways.

How? By smearing his eye boogers all over our walls and moldings.

I present to you exhibits A and B for your consideration:

We first discovered these markings a few months after we adopted him two years ago. It’s a pretty smart move if you think about it — why use his clumsy and sharp-nail-filled paws to remove his eye boogers, when it’s easier to drag the side of your face against the wall and the molding around each door?

But it’s kinda gross too.

I cleaned our walls and moldings the best I could, and in order to discourage him from continuing this nasty habit I started to diligently clean his eyes every day.

But he continues to do this. I don’t know if it’s become a habit or what, but he refuses to stop (and many times, he’ll do it while we are not looking).

Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can get him to stop?

And if anyone can chime in with the best way to clean this solidified gunk from our walls and moldings, I’d really appreciate it too. 🙂

Nervously Waiting for #3

In the 24 hours that J has been away on his business trip…

1. My laptop died. 😥

Either that, or it’s tinkering on the edge. The symptoms seem to be similar to what this guy was experiencing, and there does not seem to be a solution. (I do not have Apple Care either.)

I have not been as diligent about backing up — my last was about 2 months ago — so at the moment I am thinking about all the pictures and files I have added since, waiting around and anxiously hoping that it will power back up again.

Luckily J still has his old MacBook lying around the house, so I am typing away on that at the moment. But it obviously does not have my files, apps, etc and it is not exactly mobile since it needs to be plugged in to a power source at all times. (#firstworldproblems)

We were actually thinking about buying a replacement MacBook Pro for me in late August, when J gets his bonus at work, so even if this laptop never starts back up again I will only be without my own personal computer for a month. Be that as it may, I am still quite attached to my 3.5-year-old MacBook Pro because J had given it to me as a wedding present. Yes, it had been acting up here and there for the past year, but I refused a new laptop due to sentimental reasons…and because I’m afraid Claire and/or BebeDeux might ruin a new $2,000 machine.

(I am sure some people are wondering why I need such a pricey laptop. It’s because I am always running power-intensive programs like CS5.)

How does this affect you, my readers? Well, I had been working on the massive spreadsheet which housed all the entries for my Amazon Gift Card Giveaway…and obviously I no longer have access to it. (A spreadsheet was necessary to delete all the multiple entries, and to keep track of all the Facebook entries as well.) So you will have to wait a few more days for me to re-do the spreadsheet, or for my laptop to come back to life. Sorry! (But I swear I will announce the winners by the end of this week. Promise!)

In addition, posts will probably be light until I get my technological issues squared away. (I don’t like writing posts from my phone because it’s falling apart and I’m not eligible for an upgrade until next month.) I know, it’s a travesty, but I’m sure you can all manage. 😉

Now, on to the second bad…

2. Claire got her first bruise.

She was sitting on the floor, playing with her toys…then BAM! She suddenly fell face-down onto a hard plastic music-making contraption.

She immediately started crying, and I was able to calm her down in just 10 seconds. Because she stopped crying so easily, I thought that no harm had been done. But I was wrong.

Aren’t cheeks really difficult to bruise? I mean, a more bony area like the forehead or a knee gets bruised easily, but a cheek? That means that she must have hit her face pretty hard, right?

The worst part about this experience is that I was right there. I was sitting right next to her and I wasn’t distracted by anything either. I just watched her fall into the damn toy and I let it happen.

I know that Claire — as well as BebeDeux — are in for much more serious injuries in the future. But there’s just something about your baby’s first boo boo that breaks a mother’s heart. I wonder how bad I’ll feel when she gets her first cut/scrape. Or a broken bone (knock on wood).

The timing couldn’t have been better, because Claire is being baptized this Sunday. I thought to myself that if the bruise is still noticeable come Sunday, I could just put some makeup over it…but then again, I don’t want to be that mother.

They say that bad things come in threes. Hence, the title of this post.

I really miss my husband too. 🙁

What Costs More in 2011?

Living in an area with fairly good public transportation — in addition to having an infant who does not like car rides much — I hardly ever drive anymore. I even walk to the grocery store, pushing Claire in her stroller (thank goodness our stroller has a huge bottom compartment that fits 5-6 full grocery bags).

So when I took the car out Friday night and saw that I was running dangerously low on gas, I was in for a rude awakening.

$55 for a full tank of gas??!!!

Apparently this wasn’t that bad, either. Friends tell me that gas prices have actually decreased in the past month, and that they were regularly forking over more than $60.

And this was in the state of New Jersey, where gas prices are relatively low compared to the rest of the country (plus you get free full service!). I can’t imagine how bad it is in states like California, where gas prices have historically been the highest in the country.

I then thought back to a few months ago, when I had read a former student’s Facebook status update:

I remember waiting anxiously to turn sixteen and get my driver’s license. Now that I finally got it, all my allowance goes toward gas money. Wtf!

I had chuckled at this and commented, “I still remember how when I had first started driving, gas was $0.99/gallon. Did I just give away my age?”

Back in those days we could easily fill up a tank for less than $20. (I remember only getting Premium gas too. Now, it’s Regular or nothing.)

Even last year, I think that a trip to the gas station “only” cost $35-40.

I couldn’t help but dig through my Google Reader Shared Items to take a look at this chart again:

Courtesy of one of my favorite informational blogs, Flowing Data, the chart compares the costs of living between the dates of March 2010 and March 2011.

Based on what I recalled about gas prices, I wasn’t surprised to see that the cost of transportation had increased the most (9.8%), with gas prices alone going up 27.5%.

The price of food has gone up too — I remember my mother complaining to me that last year, she was able to purchase an entire month’s worth of groceries for $200, but now, $200 worth of groceries only lasts 2-3 weeks.

Do you find anything surprising or particularly interesting about this chart?

Have you found that the cost of living has significantly increased in the past year relative to inflation?

How much does a full tank of gas cost in your area?

Smile Band-Aids

This may be a bit morbid to some, but I have never been bothered by the sight of blood and am personally loving the concept of turning a boo boo into a smile. 🙂 Designed by Da Wei Xing.

Via Yanko Design.

My Exciting Friday Night

Last night, I got to meet one of my all-time favorite authors.

I also indulged in the best fried chicken in New York.

And that was one of the most exciting things to have happened to this 6-months pregnant mother of a 9-month old in a very very long time.

Sad, isn’t it?

The rest of the post will chronicle this action-packed evening, so this is an advance warning to those who may feel that their time may be better spent skipping the rest of this long entry. Please feel free to stop reading now.

But for those who are interested…

OHMIGOSH OHMIGOSH OHMIGOSH OHMIGOSH OHMIGOSH I got to meet James Rollins!

I was first introduced to James Rollins when I picked up Map of Bones at an airport in 2005. ‘It kinda sounds like Dan Brown,’ I thought to myself as I proceeded to the cashier. While I am not a big fan of Dan Brown, he certainly writes some fast-paced, entertaining stuff…and this is exactly what I needed on my 6-hour flight.

I finished the book during that flight, and I immediately craved more. (A review I read once called Rollins a perfect mix of Dan Brown and Tom Clancy, if you want to get a feel for the type of books he writes.) For the next few months, I purchased all the other books that Mr. Rollins had written. I just couldn’t get enough.

Fast-forward to just a few months ago, when I realized that James Rollins just might have a Facebook Page and wouldn’t you know it? He does. I immediately “Like”d the page and the group (in addition to following him on Twitter) and began to notice just how involved he was in the social media world, really taking the time to interact with his fans. Being the chicken that I am, I did not post much to his Facebook pages or reply to his tweets, but I did manage to build up the courage a few times and couldn’t contain my excitement when he actually replied to some of my comments!

This is how I found out that James Rollins would be on a tour to promote his latest book, The Devil Colony, and that he would be making an appearance at the Mysterious Bookshop in New York.

The rain started almost as soon as I left the house, and continued through the night. And let’s not forget that I was traveling at prime time rush hour — on a Friday evening in mid-summer, no less — the traffic was horrendous. Add that to the fact that I had only slept 3 hours the night before, so I was tempted to just turn back home on more than a few occasions.

Then, as I arrived at the parking garage where I had made “reservations” via Best Parking (there was no way I was taking public transportation in the heat, rain, and humidity while six months pregnant…at least not when we have a car) I wanted to scream as the attendant told me that the lot was full. All the other parking garages would cost me about $10 more. 👿

Fine. I told myself. I found another lot and hurried through the rain to my destination, getting drenched in the process. As the book signing was part of Harper Collins’ ThrillerFest and I knew that a bunch of authors would be in attendance, I wanted to get there as early as possible in order to avoid crowds.

As much as I am a bibliophile, I had never been to a book signing before and I had no idea what to expect. I knew that most book signings consist of the author reading excerpts from their latest and greatest, a Q&A session, and/or fans waiting on a line to get the author’s John Hancock inscribed inside the book.

Suffice if to say, this was not a typical book signing. I had expected tables where authors would be signing books — there were none. Instead, everyone was just mingling and talking…they even had snacks and free booze! (Later, I was to discover that this was actually a reception held by the Mysterious Bookshop in honor of ThrillerFest.)

I spotted James Rollins almost right away, but I was too scared to approach him. Instead, I stood in the shadows like an idiot, like I was expecting him to just saunter over and introduce himself. I saw that the woman next to me was clutching a Rollins novel, so I asked her what we were “supposed” to do.

“I don’t know. This is my first book signing too!” she whispered back.

After grabbing a drink (no beer or wine, just water) and stuffing my mouth with some crackers, I managed another few minutes of acting like I knew what I was doing…then I noticed that a crowd was starting to form around Mr. Rollins.

I knew that it was now or never.

There was definitely no line. Fans stood around him in a large semicircle, and he just greeted each one by one, taking time to answer questions, sign books, and take pictures.

I was a bit too timid and let a bunch of people go ahead of me — people who, if there was a line, would have definitely been behind me. After about fifteen minutes of this, Mr. Rollins became proactive and actually turned towards me (!) and invited me forward.

I acted like a complete idiot. I gushed about how I love his books (my favorite of all his books, Amazonia, is his favorite too!), how BebeDeux was kicking the entire time I was reading his new book, and how I have converted my husband — who usually hates to read — to a fan too.

When it came time for him to sign my book, he asked me my name in order to personalize it…and as I spelled out “H-Y-O-J-I-N” he asked, “And your last name is Hwang, right? Middle name Jenny?”

😯

He continued, “I thought I recognized you from your Facebook profile picture. Your name is a hard one to forget, and I definitely remember you from Facebook.”

😯

I handed over my camera to another fan and got the photo below. (Thank you for making the picture so blurry, lady. And I knew I should have brought my DSLR, not my crappy point-and-shot.)

When he asked me how far along I was and whether I knew the sex of the baby, I blurted out that I had considered naming BebeDeux’s middle name Seichan, which is the name of one of the characters in his “Sigma Force” series. I think I may have freaked him out a little by this, but he took it all in stride and just let out a hearty laugh.

My other thoughts on James Rollins? I could tell that he was remarkably sharp and very intelligent (he actually used to be a veterinarian before becoming a writer full-time), a bit reserved but quite charming at the same time. He was also incredibly sweet and considerate of all his fans. Some of them brought multiple volumes for him to sign, and he took care in personalizing and adding little notes to each one. (He had written in mine, “Great meeting a Facebook friend in person!”)

When my “meet and greet” was over, I walked around the bookstore for a few more minutes to gather my composure. (I had just met a real-life celebrity…a NYTimes best-selling author, no less…and he remembers me from Facebook!) I then headed back out into the rain and stood under an awning while I ordered our dinner for the night. I had a specific place in mind, you see…

Lately my sister and her friend had been raving about a Korean-style fried chicken place called MONO+MONO. My sister had told me that if I were to go, I had to have their bulgogi sliders too.

So after placing my order, I made the trip from TriBeCa to the East Village where I circled around the restaurant only a couple of times before finding street parking (score!).

As soon as I entered I loved the vibe of the place. (Their tagline is, “The Best Korean Fried Chicken seasoned with 30,000 Vinyl Jazz Music in NYC”) It was clear that it wasn’t just a fried chicken place…it was a restaurant-bar-lounge in one. Take a look at their decor:

(photo courtesy of their website)

I have also heard (and confirmed via their website) that every Sunday – Thursday, their happy hour special consists of all-you-can-eat wings and 10 beers for just $20.

In other words, it is definitely a place J and I would have loved to frequent back in our pre-baby days.

My take-out order was waiting for me when I walked in. The smell of the chicken was killing me on my drive back home, but I managed not to scarf down any wings in the car and ordered J to tear open the boxes as soon as stepped through the front door.

The verdict: THE best fried chicken in New York. Seriously. Some people say that their soy garlic wings taste too much like BonChon/Kyochon’s, but my sister and I can tell the difference in the slightly more garlicky taste (which is always a plus for garlic lovers like me) and the thinner, crispier skin.

I really, really liked the bulgogi sliders too. I think it might be a seasonal dish because it’s not on their menu online, so I’m forever grateful to my sister who told me that I should order it. To quote HIMYM, “I love this burger so much I want to sew my ass shut.”

So that was my exciting night.

Yes, it ended before 9pm. Yes, I realize that it wasn’t that special compared to most other people’s lives.

But to this mommy, it was one that brings a smile to my face.

(And a big thanks to J for working from home that day and watching over Claire so that I can go out early that night!)