Forget Little House on the Prairie! In this modern age it’s Little House on the Tow Truck.

I can't tell if it's a toy house or a real mini house.

Is it just me or are there more blue cars on the road?  In the past week or two while commuting to and from work, I’ve seen so many more blue cars than I’ve ever seen in my life.  In fact, I think at any given point there would be a blue car within my view, which is pretty unusual.  Typically it’s just a sea of silver, white, and black.  Where did all that blueness come from?

Then there’s the naming craze, what with Beyoncé naming her kid Blue and I’m sure many more parents to follow.  Even our CEO’s daughter has a middle name that is similar – Bleu.  At least they named their child before someone famous made it popular!  There’s also the issue of Katy Perry’s hair, which she dyed blue not too long ago.  It might just be one huge coincidence, but suddenly the color blue has been making a strong appearance across such different things that I couldn’t help but notice.  I always knew blue was a color that just about everyone likes, but this is definitely taking it to another level.

Let me ponder this as I hunt down some blueberries to enjoy…

It’s probably not a real albino spider, but it sure could be. It was threatening me with its body lifted high, so I blew on it and was surprised by how quickly it balled up.

Our sense of smell can be very important in how we experience things.  A bunch of the guys at work have gotten into the juicing craze and to quell their craving for foods, they’ve taken to smelling food instead of eating it.  Apparently a good long whiff of my junk food can help satisfy some of their hunger for the items!  To a certain extent, I can understand that, since we often smell things and start to experience it before it reaches our mouths.  Still, there’s nothing quite like eating the food after smelling it, so their diet baffles me.

Their recent quirky behavior has reminded me of how intensely we can be affected by our sense of smell.  One guy gets paranoid when he smells Febreeze, since that almost always comes from the restroom after someone has #2ed.  Meanwhile, whenever he comes back from smoking, I tend to get a whiff of that, which usually gags me.  Also, the office has a lingering musty smell from the dogs that hang out there.  I’m sure those with dogs don’t really notice since they’re accustomed to it, but I’m pretty sensitive to it whenever I enter the building.  I wonder if my cats make our household smell any different.  Missy certainly can smell like kitty litter at times!

Of course smells also evoke plenty of positive memories and associations too!  I love going home to the smell of cooking and I have this fantastic shampoo from the Hilton that makes me smile whenever I catch a hint of it, since it smells like a gentle perfume and reminds me of when Panda is in town.  Similarly, I have a strawberry EOS lip balm that is succulent and makes me happy not just with its sweet scent, but also knowing that my lips will feel soft and hydrated.  I don’t think I’d experience these things quite the same if I wasn’t able to smell them.  Their scents really do help enhance the experience!

Last time I was leaving Dulles Airport, Panda and I saw a plane coming in really low for a landing. It seemed like it might brush the trees on the way down!

Sometimes I come outside at just he right time of dusk and witness this brilliant display of color. It happened to me today when I left work and in this picture, when I was coming out of Target this weekend. If you don’t get the shot right away, it’ll be gone in 20 seconds!

It’s funny how interconnected we can be.  Lately I have come across many situations that make me shake my head at how small the world can be at times (or maybe it’s just LA).  The most prominent example is when I commented on a friend and coworker’s Facebook about a post he put up, then later saw that the next person to comment was one of the girls who used to live in my house!  The house that we have owned for about 10 years now…  At work the next day, I had to ask my coworker how he knew this girl and (dun dun dun…) she’s his cousin!  Wow.  Of all the coincidences in this universe, that is one I didn’t see coming.  So as it turns out, my coworker had been in my house before, many many years ago.

Other such situations include a trip to Wurstküche in downtown LA, where I got into line right behind a fellow 2008 UCLA orientation counselor!  Then, later on as I was eating, I looked up to find one of my pledge bros from AKPsi sitting at another table.  Imagine that.  And many months ago, one of the engineers at work and one of the operations girls were chatting because they found they had both lived in Michigan.  When the guy mentioned that he swam, she was interested because she had worked on the coaching staff or been an assistant.  Further probing revealed that she had actually been there working with the swim team that he was on during the time that he would have been on the team!  And then they both end up at the same (very small) company out in California?!

In addition, that same girl recently found out that her former roommate bartended with the girlfriend of one of our sales guys.  Of all the bars in LA and all the roommates and girlfriends these people could have had…  Seriously, what’s up with all this interconnectedness?  I guess even a large city like Los Angeles can quickly become small after a couple years of building relationships and connections.  Eventually you’re no more than a 2nd degree contact to anyone!

Aww, there’s a hospital in downtown LA that lit up its lights in the shape of hearts.

I find it interesting how differently each creature swims. You’ve got the glider, the floater, and the jerky kicker!

When I eat foods, the most important factor tends to be the texture of the dish rather than its taste.  That’s why I don’t eat calamari and why I love soup.  I’ll go for almost anything if it’s moist!  It’s very rare that I would like a dry dish with no sauce, so soup is generally a safe bet, since it has to have some liquid content at least.  I don’t know if other people care as much (I doubt it) and I think that usually people care more about the taste of their food.  However, it doesn’t work that way for me and I’d rather have a tasteless dish that wasn’t dry than a really flavorful dish that left me with cottonmouth.

For the most part, this isn’t really an issue – I love things that are smooth, crispy, crunchy, or any variety of textures as long as it’s not rubbery.  Something about the elasticity of a food (usually seafood) just doesn’t appeal to me at all.  Luckily, most things aren’t like that.  As for dishes that are very dry, I’ll still eat them if I have plenty of water.  I can’t stand it if I don’t get enough liquids to mask the dryness, which is why hot chocolate and tea are my friends when it comes to cookies and crackers.  Maybe my body’s trying to tell me that I’m not hydrated enough?

Whatever it is, I’m always looking for a place with great soup or noodle soup.  Yummm…