Aimless twentysomething. Likes: housewares design (critiquing, not creating), crude garment construction, rearranging furniture, music in spanish, movies, cooking and eating meat, cutting up fruit, redwood trees and rolling hills, recommending holes-in-the-wall, not paying full price on beautiful things.
Don't be creeped out if I'm randomly commenting on your blog. As a posterous girlfriend I'm invested in making this a home-y place to blog =)
I liked these the first time I saw them, and even better when they went on sale for like $3-4 each. Handmade in Portugal. Doesn't it look like something you'd get from Anthropologie Home? Do you like 'em? I love 'em! I got 'em at Ross! =P
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This is the entry for 'success' in the M-W dictionary. I hear Miss Peggy Lee crooning, "Is that all there is?"
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That's what Sid Agrawal wrote in an e-mail to someone just over an hour before he was shot to death on Friday. This story is so tragic, not to mention shocking that it happened so close to us here in the South Bay--the suspect was arrested just blocks away from the new 99 Ranch that Garry and I went to on Saturday. My deepest sympathies to the families of all involved in the killings. Suspected gunman arrested in 3 deaths at Santa Clara chip startup
There was no indication that Jing Hua Wu posed any danger when he walked into the offices of his Santa Clara employer Friday, a few hours after he'd been fired. So there was no reason for three top company officials to refuse his request for a meeting. But some time after Wu and the three executives went into a room to talk, police say, the 47-year-old engineer pulled a 9 mm handgun and shot all three dead. Nineteen hours later, a Bay Area manhunt ended when police cars swooped into the parking lot of a shopping center at El Camino Real and Grant Road in Mountain View. Wu was unarmed and made no attempt to struggle, police said, when officers piled out of the cars at 10:45 a.m. Saturday and handcuffed him in front of the Home Consignment Center store. The shootings caused "genuine fear in the community," said Santa Clara police Chief Stephen Lodge at a news conference Saturday afternoon, adding that it was a relief "to be able to take him into custody." Authorities said Wu would be booked on suspicion of three counts of homicide for the Friday afternoon slayings at SiPort, a small semiconductor company at 3255 Scott Blvd. Police identified the victims as Marilyn Lewis, 67, of San Jose, who was the company's head of human resources; Brian Pugh, 47, of Los Altos, who was vice president for operations, and Sid Agrawal, 56, of Fremont, who was the company's co-founder and chief executive. "These were truly three innocent victims, just doing their jobs," Lodge said. "That's what makes it such a tragic event." Wu, a test engineer who worked at SiPort less than two years, was "let go" Friday morning because of his performance, a company spokeswoman said. Early police reports indicated he was laid off, but the spokeswoman said that was not the case. Later in the day, sometime after 3 p.m. Friday, Wu returned to the business and asked to speak with the three executives, according to Lodge. Citing statements from other employees who were in the offices at the time, police said Wu was dressed casually and gave the executives no reason to be concerned. "He must not have been acting too strangely for them to agree to the meeting," Lodge said. Only Wu knows what was said during the meeting, the chief added, because only he and the victims were in the room. But other employees heard the shots and saw Wu leave the offices and drive away in a silver sport-utility vehicle. They called police at 3:53 p.m. Officers arrived within minutes and found several workers cowering in fear. The three executives were dead. Wu had no history of violence or mental illness, as far as police know, Lodge said. All-night search Officers found the silver SUV near the spot where Wu was arrested, but they were still searching for the gun Saturday night. Shocked neighbors said Wu was a friendly man who has lived for the past 11 years on Emerson Lane, a quiet Mountain View cul-de-sac, with his wife and three sons — a 2-year-old and two 6-year-old twins. "He's been a very good-natured, calm, even-tempered guy," said Jim Pollart, who lives a few houses down from Wu. "I can't imagine what could have caused him to do this." Pollart said his family socialized a lot with Wu's family at the community pool and clubhouse. On Sundays, Wu and his wife, Pollart said, often rode the light-rail train to the farmers market in downtown Mountain View. "They're nice folks. Nice people," Pollart added. "I think we'll never make sense of it." Meanwhile, friends of the three slain executives were reeling with grief. "They were all just really solid, nice people," said SiPort board member Drew Lanza. "This whole thing is really sad." Lewis, who lived in San Jose, worked at NeoScale Systems before joining SiPort in November 2006. No one answered the phone at her home Saturday. In an online profile, she wrote: "As is customary in a startup industry, I wear multiple hats "... facilities, HR, recruiting, payroll, etc." Pugh, who was married and had two children, grew up in San Jose and later moved to San Diego, before returning to the Bay Area to work at SiPort about a year ago. "He's a very detail-oriented, numbers person. He was a very loving family man," said Robert Boles, an architect who was working on a remodeling project at Pugh's home. A woman who answered the door at Pugh's home Saturday said she was too upset to talk. Immigrant from India At Agrawal's two-story English Tudor home in Fremont, a steady stream of visitors came to pay their condolences Saturday to the sons and the widow, who was too distraught to speak to reporters. Outside the house, a huge pile of shoes lined the exterior entryway. Friends said Agrawal came to the United States from India with big dreams in the 1970s — and by most accounts he succeeded. "We all had dreams of higher studies and coming to America," said Sanjay Mittal, who had known Agrawal since his days in college at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur. Ambitious with an entrepreneurial spirit, Agrawal worked at Adobe Systems, Intel and Bell Labs, and he started a handful of companies on his own — some more successful than others, in fields from networking to data storage and semiconductors. His latest venture appeared to be doing well, friends say. Specializing in chips for hybrid digital radio, the company was attracting the interests of venture capitalists — and Agrawal seemed excited about its prospects. "He was pretty happy. I remember him telling me the products were starting to work," said Mittal, who also owns a software company and was planning a trip to Brazil with Agrawal and his wife. "He worked very hard. We have to. You work late hours and travel a lot, whatever it takes to succeed." Beyond his business interests, Agrawal had sophisticated tastes. He collected a variety of art, once even traveled to Cuba for a particular piece, and enjoyed good wine. "I remember I had to carry a piece of art for him from India," said Arya Bhattacherjee, who has known the Agrawals for more than two decades. But Agrawal's biggest source of pride was his family — his wife, Asha, and two sons, Ankur and Ashish. Friends said Ankur is a freshman at Harvard University, while Ashish graduated from Harvard and is studying medicine at the University of California-San Francisco. "He was a very honest, very gentle, a very straightforward individual, a real family man," said Steve Fields, a contractor who worked with Agrawal and exchanged e-mail with him Friday afternoon. Fields wrote to tell Agrawal that he couldn't finish a particular job because a family matter had come up. At 2:23 p.m., Agrawal e-mailed back: "It's OK, family comes first."
_______________Article Launched: 11/15/2008 03:01:32 PM PST
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Just another satisfying meal at Hong Kong Bistro. Comes with choice of mashed potaters, rice, or spaghetti.
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The new 99 Ranch Market in Mountain View. It's like an Asian Whole Foods--so fannncy! We got panko breadcrumbs, large pea shoots and lots of other Asian goodies. Plus, I got Garry and early Christmas present: a fancy Zojirushi rice cooker. A far cry from my $15 Yan Can Cook ghetto rice cooker--my brother swears by his Zojirushi. We look forward to many batches of perfectly cooked rice.
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DISCLAIMER: This entry's gonna make me sound like a hopeless girl drowning in her own vanity. Straight males and girls who have better things to think about, feel free to move right along.
I have a confession to make this Friday evenin'. After a few months living with the Paiges I bought at Century 21 (NYC's best kept secret), I realize I love them. Now, one thing that frustrates me about peoples' obsession with premium denim is that I've rarely heard anyone who was able to articulate a) exactly what makes them different from the regular store-bought variety, and b) why they were worth the absurd price. Because of this, I always assumed they were brand whores interested mostly in the status they were buying, deluding themselves into thinking they were paying for higher quality or better fit, and collecting designer jeans like some people collect broken hearts. I don't care what you say, 8+ pairs of $150-$200 jeans in anyone's closet is absurd.
That said, I am considering investing in another 1 or 2 pairs. And I'm going to try to articulate my reasons in an attempt to show it isn't really the status I'm buying or just another excuse to show off. Feel free to let me know if I'm only kidding myself.
1) I refuse to pay more than about half off retail for these jeans. I think my current upper limit is about $100, which when you think of it is not that much more than a pair of full-priced jeans at your usual BR or Express (though it is a far cry from my grubby $23 Gap jeans).
2) They make me feel more polished and grown up. I think it's the tailoring that makes them decidedly un-grubby, and the slight heft, the weight of the fabric does a good job keeping my fatty little pooch in check (all that food comes at a price, eh?). I guess you could say it buys me a little bit of confidence. Which is what true fashion is about, in my humble opinion--some combination of self-expression and aspiration.
3) Butt pocket designs. I'm sure 75% of the reason I love my Paige jeans so much is the gorgeous embroidery on the butt pockets. They are a delightful surprise every time I catch them peeking out in the mirror, and they instantly elevate everything else I'm wearing. When I see designer jeans with plain/bland butt pockets, I can't help but think, "Why bother?"
4) Fit through the thighs. It's pretty inevitable that regular jeans, without the added lycra or tailoring, stretch out and sag abominably just under the butt. I never used to notice it before, but now I see it everywhere, on everyone. One thing I've come to appreciate about my Paiges is their uncanny ability to cling to my butt. Hah! I don't think all designer jeans are created equal in this respect--I've really only tried on 1-2 brands so I'm not sure which have mastered it, but I've definitely seen coworkers (my coworkers are all obsessed with premium denim and refuse to wear anything else) wearing designer jeans that also sag abominably. Again: "Why bother?"
5) A beautiful, confident drape. See the pictures below.
6) Lovely washes--though many regular denim brands do this just as well.
Anyway. I decided to educate myself a bit on some of the brands available out there, so I could begin to sort out my preferences. Here are some ones I particularly liked:
Anyone else have favorites they want to recommend?
As a side note, I am really liking the Gilt Groupe's offerings. It's just barely within the price range I'd be willing to pay for certain items...not cheap (I still have to hem and haw about everything) but not impossible. In other words, I'm doomed.
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