happy independence day

The July 4th eating contest occurred this morning.



My brother claims to be the biggest fan of Joey Chestnut, the American eating contest chmapion.

Tom: "Experts said the 60 hot dog barrier couldn't be broken by humans! It was like the four-minute mile. Joey Chestnut proved them wrong. He's really a symbol of human achievement."


The Japanese champion, shown here after eating almost six pounds of pizza to win a Pizza Hut eating contest.

i thought that was the opposite of liberty

I'm on a weekend trip with friends. Last night, talking in the hot tub:

Dan: [after a long discussion about love] "Okay, now shouldn't we discuss computers or startups, to counter-balance all the talk about girls?"

Omst: "Computers aren't the opposite of girls."

Dan: "What's the opposite of girls?"

Omst: "Death."

30

I turned 30 over the weekend. On Saturday, my brother took me to afternoon tea at the Ritz Carlton.


Tom, looking earnest.


Finger sandwiches, and little cakes. I like the warm scones with clotted cream.


Relaxed with tea.


They brought out a little cupcake for me.

Tom: "When I called, they asked me to spell your name over and over. I spent five minutes correcting them laboriously, and they ended up just writing 'Happy Birthday N'."

Me: "Is there an N? I think it's an exclamation point."

Tom: "You know the pastry chef probably got a notecard from the phone person, with misspellings of your name crossed out six times, and then 'Niniane' with a question mark at the end."


Sunday morning, a few friends went hiking in South San Francisco. BaHiker.com is a great web site for finding hikes.


Picnic breakfast. I am so impressed that Meghana actually packed fried eggs and individual cups of sliced fruit.


Later in the day, I wanted to go hiking again. I requested a place with trees and water. Dan picked Land's End in northwest San Francisco.


Dan called out with relish how the hike contains both trees (pointing at trees) and water (pointing at ocean). I like how you can see the Golden Gate Bridge in the background of this photo.


Good job, Dan! I am surprised the hiking trail was not overrun by tourists. It was actually pretty empty.


The trail ends on the beach.




Then we went to Sushi Bistro, where I ate a lettuce wrap with unagi and sashimi. It's the first time I've seen a lettuce wrap in a sushi place. It was great.

eating contest!

My brother and I have been invited to an eating contest!

In high school, Tom ate a pound of chocolate in 22 minutes to win a bet. Last month, his Sims 3 team held a contest to eat 30 chicken mcnuggets within an hour. He came in second place, finishing in half the allotted time.

The contest is in August, in Mountain View! Discussing the contest with my brother, over tea:

Me: "I'll make a war banner that says WANG in chinese."


Tom: "And I'll bring mustard and ketchup, and use them as war paint." [mimes streaking paint onto his cheeks]

Me: "Okay. I'll pick a theme song too."

Tom: "This is so much setup. What if I eat one hot dog and I'm done? You'll still be trying to extend the war banner, and the song won't even be playing yet."

...

Later, chatting over IM with the eating contest host:

y.w.: say hi to your awesome-sounding brother for me.
niniane: ok
niniane: my brother says hi back, in an awesome-sounding voice
y.w.: cool. i imagined guitar riffs playing as he said hi.

show him the hand, jenny

I would like to hereby show my support for Governor Sanford's wife. Finally there is a politician wife who is not standing idly in support through her husband's infidelity.

"His career is not a concern of mine," she told reporters as she departed the family's vacation home in Sullivan's Island, South Carolina. "He's going to have to worry about that. I'm worried about my family and the character of my children."

She added that she would be fine, with or without her husband.

"I have great faith and great friends and great family. We have a good Lord in this world and I know that I'm going to be fine and not only will I survive, I'll thrive," she said.

... Jenny Sanford would not reveal whether she was headed back to the family's home in Columbia. "Right now we're taking it a day at a time. Right now we're going out on a boat."

Photo from previous times. She was a Wall Street executive before marrying him.

You go, Jenny Sanford!

(My previous thoughts on this matter)

bagel

Dinner at Chez Panisse last night with David and Nina, who are here for a wedding. They live in New York City.


David told a story of his friend visiting recently from Berlin. He took the friend around Manhattan. They stopped at a bagel shop.

Friend: "This bagel is amazing."

David: "Yup."

Friend: "I wish we could have bagels this good in Germany."

David: "Well, whose fault is that??"

O_o