Blarg

Ugh I just wrote a super snarky post and deleted it.

Generally, I try not to self-edit on this blog. I don't want to pretend that I don't have thoughts and feelings that I'm not proud of, and that I know are less-than-wonderful.  But...in this case I decided to edit.  Trust me, it was funny, but probably the right thing...maybe.  I have no idea.

Easter brunch!

Emily had a brunch at her house today, southern-style.  All of the other girls put on dresses and looked fabulous, except me.  Bah.  Fortunately Bjorn and Lisa showed up in their best casual attire, and the Phil showed up in his Easter sweats.

The food was excellent! Cheese grits, brown sugar cupcakes in a ham wrapper with candied pineapple (yep, you read that right), french toast casserole, a bacon log (see photo below), fruit salad, biscuits with sausage gravy...and I made some puff pastry squares with pastry cream and sliced strawberries.  Mimosas were served, of course.

After brunch we had an Easter egg hunt, and I found the one that looked like a rock.  Matt said "It's almost like you spend all day every day looking at rocks."

Ok, here are the pics.  And by the way, Kevin helped me figure out why my photos indoors are always so yellow, so half of the pictures are yellow and half are "auto-white-balance."

Notice that the cupcakes are not in paper wrappers...they are in MEAT wrappers!

Ooooh...not a good shot.

That's better.

"She's not fat, she's just big-boned!" -Emily

Barefoot in the kitchen.  Just like a proper Southern Lady.  Not preggers though.

Bacon log. I had a bite. It was salty.

James looking dapper

My strawberry pastry squares

Marit in a pretty dress; Bjorn in a sweatshirt.

I found an egg!

Tiiiiiired.

Damn I just bouldered for two and a half hours (with papa-to-be Jake and Nunley), and then the Nunsquatch and I went for a 42 mile bike ride on the American River bike trail.  I'd always heard that the trail was super nice, but had never ridden it before.  It is pretty nice, I must say.  And there are toilets, which is a bonus.

I do like biking around Davis though.  It's nice that you are out on roads through ag fields where there isn't much traffic (and the drivers are generally bike-savvy).  In addition, the other bikers out there are savvy and are moving pretty fast.  There are a lot of walkers, joggers, slow bikers and people with dogs on the American River bike trail...there can be a lot of weaving and dodging people.  Both are very nice though.  I'll try to make biking around Sac more of a regular thing now that I'm going to be working at the FWS office Mondays and Tuesdays.

I just need to figure out how to get my neck to NOT HURT when I do long rides.  Neck pain sucks.

Veggies!

A photo of California redbud (Cercis orbiculata).  One of the first natives to flower, the flowers bloom from all over the trunk and branches before leaves appear.  So pretty!

Maki stayed with me Wednesday night, which was fun.  She didn't have to be at work in Vallejo til 2, so I made french toast with some pumpkin brioche I had in the freezer. Then we went for a walk along the greenbelt, harassed some turkeys and bought some veggie plants from ACE.  It's way more fun planting things with somebody else!  I have 4 tomato plants, a Japanese eggplant and a chili pepper.  Typically I have a forest of tomato plants and few tomatoes...we'll see how it turns out this year.

Sorry for the qualities of the photos, but honestly, I'm not even pretending to be a photographer.

TURKEY!!

April Fool's!

Happy April Fool's Day!

There are a slough of jokes streaming through my reader page today.  Some of the best:


Doggie tock covers

McDonald's scraps composting because food won't decompose

I'll keep adding more as I see them throughout the day.

Narcissism

I read an interesting article on narcissism today and thought I'd share it. Being an athlete and hanging out with other athletes, sometimes full-time or professional, you run into a lot of this.  Science is also rife with narcissists. People are often at the top of any domain because they are narcissistic, so it has its benefits.  They are just terrible in any kind of relationship, friendship or otherwise. It's a classic trade-off. I need to get better at detecting it and making sure that I don't let toxic people get close. On the other hand, I don't really let anybody get close so maybe I shouldn't worry about this...

Is Narcissism a leadership trait?

This article only deals with workplace relationships, but the information is relevant to other areas. Narcissists can be extremely attractive:

Nevertheless, some narcissists are considered productive because of their ability to inspire others with their visionary and charismatic personalities that are effective in environments that call for strong leadership.

But I think that admiring these traits from afar is best. I have experienced this aspect vividly:

“When they are challenged or perceive competition, they often derogate and undermine anyone, even those closest to them, they perceive as threats (and unfortunately, they are vigilant in scanning for threats),” he explained.


It's not fun.


I think one of the first criteria I look for in any relationship is someone who looks me in the eye and asks "how are you" and listens.  Follow up questions are a bonus (it shows people are actually thinking about what you said). 


My advisor is an extraordinary leader, visionary and charismatic, and is far from being narcissistic.  It's been amazing working with him, and his example will carry over into my future.