Kim Karalekas

Here goes:

The Bachelor: Ugh. So I rarely ever watch TV and I hate to admit I’m watching it, but it’s true. It all started a few weeks back when I found out a girl from Oregon was on the show. Then I found out the guy is from Dallas, which I thought could be an interesting dynamic as well…in case you were not aware (let’s hope you are), BUT if not, I’m from Oregon (more or less) and live in Texas. Anyway, I watched a few episodes and now I’m hooked.

Who knows what the guy is like in real life; however, if he is anything like how he is portrayed, well, that is wonderful. One of the first things both my dad and I noticed when arriving here in Austin was the Southern hospitality and…well, sense of respect and values displayed in many Texans. Jake, the Bachelor, def. portrays these attributes through how he presents himself (or at least how they have edited the content…), respect, family values, kinda old fashion, genuine, Southern…actually reminded me alot of the culture and mentality of the Mexicans I was around during my study abroad. Anyway, I’m digressing but the point is this: Jake, if none of those girls work out, I am available. Just saying… (;

Aziz Ansari: I’ve been recently introduced to this comedian and I think he’s pretty darn hilarious. He’s an engaging storyteller and honestly…I feel like he starts telling a story, then completely blows it out of proportion and hyperbolizes…or just makes up everything else. Something I might or might not be familiar with…

Family + Friends: I have the best family and friends. …that pretty much covers it. Love + miss you guys (=

New apartment: I have one. I moved across town, closer to work…and life. It’s a good apartment. Lots of windows and open spaces. I feel like I live in a mini citi tho within my complex AS THERE ARE 1,000 UNITS! wtf right? That is just nutzo.

Austin friends: So, it’s funny. The group of new friend I’ve made down here is awesome. BUT, sooo entirely different that my friends back home. Why different? Because they are all somehow related to the science / medicine field. They’re all my age or a bit older and either are: a nurse, going to med. school, doing science related research, teaching science, physical therapy (I’ll take ‘The rapists for $400′ …Celebrity Jeopardy..anyone??). Anyway, point is, I’m learning quite a bit about science-y things, which is great as I am curious about basically everything. It’s just interesting for me to observe the Friday night conversations of my current circle, versus back home with my ad., music, architecture, etc. friends (= Neither is better nor worse, just a different experience! (=

Pico: I made some pretty darn good pico the other day. It sure feels good to have time to cook these days.

Daily walk: We are taking those at API! Every day at 2 pm, our whole office either circles the parking lot for ten minutes or goes below the building and circles there. Or if it’s really horrible, we’ll lap the cubes. I love the daily walks, great for afternoon productivity + building internal company culture!

And speaking of API, we are now offering programs in Dublin! How neat is that?! (=

Justin Townes Earle: Michael told me about this singer and wow, it was such a good show! I felt like I was in another generation. He reminded me a bit of of Johnny Cash…and there was a fiddle and an upright bass. So wonderful. I love Austin and it’s amazingly wonderful eclectic music scene.

The Super Bowl: I’m not a huge sports connoisseur, but I watched it with some friends and of course enjoyed the company. However, while watching, I was thinking: hmm it sure is kinda funny that there are groups of Americans all over the country, dedicating an entire afternoon / evening to spend with each other having parties, eating, drinking watching this football game. However…why is it that our country is having major issues: terrorism, health care reform, tea party, dissatisfaction with Obama, filibuster issues, wars, unemployment, national debt, etc.  …these huge huge HUGE things that need major reform…and quicky, yet there seems to be a blanket of apathy and a lack of sense of urgency to take responsibility and perhaps collaborate with one another or even have educated discussions on how to fix the issues?

I guess as long as football is on and the stores are selling beer, life is all good though, right? I guess I should probably stop worrying about silly things like this though – I mean, I’m sure someone else will fix it and if not, Obama will take care of me. Let’s be honest, why bother with politics and my future / well-being / safety/ life/ political infrastructure of my country when football is on TV and beer is in the fridge? Good talk.

Hippes. Yup, they’re here too:

Frank. I’m not a hot dog type of girl but oh my god. There is a place here I have been introduced to called ‘Frank.’ Best hot dogs ever. This one is the Chicago dog with a veggie hot dog. The relish is neon green. So delicious:

Google Buzz: Meh. This morning I watched the press conference on the release of Google Buzz – not sure I’m buying it. I think the technology is great – Google always does a great job with this, but I don’t know why we need yet another social networking site. Google claims that this is different because it publishes content from you top 40 friends in a Digg-like fashion – the idea behind this is to surface “meaningful” content.

My two main points of contention. Google says the internet has become saturated with meaningless content. Agreed. Google says Buzz filters the meaningless content and surfaces the content of value. HOWEVER, Buzz works kinda like an aggregator. So let’s say I tweet something. Then it brings it into Buzz and indexes it…so basically, Buzz duplicates, triples, quadruples, whatever, the same exact tweet, defeating the purpose of cleaning up the Internet. Unless I am misunderstanding what it does; however, I don’t think so, as that is exactly what one of the guys said during the press conference. Even above this, it doesn’t solve the problem of people publishing meaningless content and wasting time posting meaningless, shallow projection on the Internet.

My other issue is with one of the examples one of the guys used when describing how Buzz is used in the mobile realm. This example was this: the Buzz “nearby” feature. The guy said: let’s say you go to a concert and you want to see what others around you at the concert are saying…with the technology they have build into Buzz, you can do this. Basically it’s a GPS type technology that allows you to search the projection of those around you. …yeah, that is impressive…on a technology level. BUT, it goes back to…just because we CAN do it, doesn’t mean we should or need to. If you want to know what people around you at the concert are saying, why can’t you JUST ASK THEM…or maybe open your ears and listen for a few seconds?! I know face to face interaction and conversation is a bit outdated and archaic…but serious. Let’s not get ridiculous.

Oh and one other thing (that really grinds my gears): One of the guys was talking about voice recognition and how you could potentially post by JUST SPEAKING. …WHY!!!! Are we THAT lazy?! Here’s what I think:

Anyway, I am getting off track. Let’s end with something nice and pretty. The Texas sky is always a winner: