Boulevard - San Francisco

DUNGENESS CRAB SALAD
Avocado, Fresh Green Garbanzo Bean & Cucumber
Spring Lettuce, Watercress & Herbs

ATLANTIC BLACK SEA BASS
WILD CAUGHT & PAN ROASTED
Asparagus, Fresh Morels, Potato Risotto with Rapini
Mushroom Beurre Fondu

Warm Brioche Bread Pudding with Brooks Cherries in Syrup
Pistachio Ice Cream, Cherry Sorbet
White Chocolate Absinthe Sauce

Pinot Gris, Ancien, Sangiacomo Vineyard, Carneros 2005

TWO- San Francisco
Fried squash blossoms, mozzarella stuffing, blistered cherry tomatoes, tiny olives
Cast iron pan half chicken, garlic, kale, pine nuts, currants
Warm orange-pistachio crepes, pistachio ice cream, orange segments
Jim Neal Sangiovese

[I’ll likely dream about that dessert for years to come]

…it is my life, and it returns with the end of my recent class.

Happy to say I’ve put another notch in my education belt. Finished up class on Sunday, and now I am ready for some R and R. For that, Butterfly and I will be staying in the fabulous city of San Francisco through the weekend.

So adieu sweet Dallas, parting is not much sorrow
I’m thrilled to say good-bye till it be morrow… or Sunday, as the case may be.

Rhode Island …here we come. Just got the tickets today.

Heading there again this year with the ever youthful ‘rangutan. Fun is sure to be had.
I wonder if there will be any good food?!?

(Also on the 2008 travel planner: San Francisco/June, Chicago/July, RI/August, Montana/September and (Varanasi, Dehli, and Rishikesh) India/December. More details to come.)

Disclaimer: Some rules of Mathematics have been irreparably harmed and/or distorted in the manufacture of this humor.

Butterfly’s yoga teacher is staying with us this week. She is here to teach a 6-day yoga workshop. It’s really been a delight having her around. She is warm and engaging company.

One of the things I am most enjoying is getting some free time to mess around cooking. I took a few days off work so that while they are busy at the workshop I can putter around in the kitchen and have some (hopefully) tasty morsels ready for them when they get here. Yesterday my kitchen looked like a T.V. cooking show. I had all the ingredients chopped and lined up on the counter, and while some rocking good music played in the background I cavorted with pots, pans and tongs to blend a hearty, healthy Asian-style shrimp stir-fry/soup. Half the time (or maybe all the time) I have no real good idea what I’m doing…I just enjoy the doing of it.

So far no one has gone hungry, so I must be doing something right.

Common game theory has held that punishment makes two equals cooperate. But when people compete in repeated games, punishment fails to deliver, said study author Martin Nowak. He is director of the evolutionary dynamics lab at Harvard where the study was conducted.

“On the individual level, we find that those who use punishments are the losers,” Nowak said his experiments found.

Those who escalate the conflict very often wound up doomed.

-Nice Guys Don’t finish Last

Typically I think of DC like I do SLC…nice city, if you could just get the residents to move. But with the political scene as hot as it is right now, it’s been fun to be in the center of it and hear the bar-stool analysts (= armchair QBs).

(Plus, I got to hear from Donna Brazile, Michael Murphy and Chris Matthews in person today as well as a host of others. Nice mix of perspectives.)

I’m back in DC again this week … and right now…it’s warmer in DC than in Dallas.

I have a big project report due at work this week, so of course I took this test instead (plus I cleaned my desk area really well, and updated/tossed some of my files…oh and I renewed my driver’s license…so of course I do feel kinda productive, but the report still isn’t finished).

Your score is 63 out of a possible 100

Above Average Procrastinator
You rank between the top 25% and 10% in terms of procrastination. That is, when it comes to putting things off, you often do so even though you know you shouldn’t. Likely, you are more free-spirited and spontaneous than most. Probably, your work doesn’t engage you as much as you would like or perhaps you are surrounded by easily available and more pleasant temptations. These temptations may initially seem rewarding, but in the longer-term, you see many of them as time-wasters. Though you likely often still get your work done, there is probably a lot of last minute panicking and unwanted stress. You may want to reduce what procrastination you do commit. If so, here are three tips that have been shown to work:

Goal Setting
This is one of the most established ways of moving forward on your plans. Take any project you are presently procrastinating and break it down into individual steps. Each of these steps should have the following three aspects. First, they should be somewhat challenging though achievable for you. It is more satisfying to accomplish a challenge. Second, they should be proximal, that is you can achieve them fairly soon, preferable today or over the next few days. Third, they should be specific, that is you know exactly when you have accomplished them. If you can visualize in your mind what you should do, even better.

Stimulus Control
This method has also been well tested and is very successful. What you need is a single place that you do your work and nothing else. Essentially, you need an office, though many students have a favorite desk at a library. For stimulus control to work best, the office or desk should be free of any signs of temptation or easily available distractions that might pull you away (e.g., no games, no chit-chat, no web-surfing). If you need a break, that is fine, but make sure you have it someplace at least a few minutes distant, preferably outside of the building itself. If you are unwilling to take the time to get there, acknowledge that you likely don’t need the break.

Routines
Routines are difficult to get into but in the end, this is often our aim. Things are much easier to do when we get into a habit of them, whether it is work, exercise, or errands. If you schedule some of those tasks you are presently procrastinating upon so that they occur on a regular schedule, they become easier. Start your routine slowly, something to which you can easily commit. Eventually, like brushing your teeth, it will likely become something you just do, not taking much effort at all. At this point, you might add to your routine, again always keeping your overall level of effort at a moderate to low level. Importantly, when you fall off your routine, inevitable with sickness or the unexpected, get back on it as soon as possible. Your routine gets stronger every time your follow it. It also gets weaker every time you don’t.