Now to get started on 1.01.

Also probably a good time to pray to the approval gods :)

A nice cup of tea after a long and relatively crappy day.  This is also the very first picture I took with my new camera!

There has been some contention about whether Russell, the co-lead in Pixar's UP is asian.  I think the answer is yes.  I'm not sure where the confusion came from.  He also hates shots.

A beautiful game trailer -- was made by Passion Pictures with the Gorillaz crew, including director Pete Candeland, animator Robert Valley, and graphics by Alberto Mielgo.

In celebration of my Dad's birthday, my Mom took him to the Great Ape Trust of Iowa.  What is the Great Ape Trust?  I'm glad you asked

"Great Ape Trust of Iowa, formerly known as Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary, is a world-class research center dedicated to providing sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes, studying the intelligence of great apes, advancing conservation of great apes and providing unique educational experiences about great apes. Located in southeast Des Moines on 200 acres of lowlands, river forest and lakes, Great Ape Trust is among the largest great ape facilities in North America and one of the first worldwide to include all four types of great ape: bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans."

Apparently, adding a slice of avocado to any dish makes it worthy of the prefix California.  See 'california- burger, -omelet, -roll, -salad, etc.  Overall, I'm a fan of the world's fattiest fruit, and as a happy resident of California, I thought it was time to do a bit of wiki-pedia-ing to learn more.  Here's the rundown of interesting things I learned:

• All Hass avocado trees are descended from a single "mother tree" that was raised by a mail carrier named Rudolph Hass, of La Habra Heights, California.  Hass patented the productive tree in 1935. Tragically, the mother tree died of root rot and was cut down in September, 2002.  The Hass family naturally used the wood to make all sorts of wooden heirlooms.
  

• The word "avocado" comes from the Nahuatl word āhuacatl ("testicle", a reference to the shape of the vegetable). Historically avocados had a long-standing stigma as a sexual stimulant and were not purchased or consumed by any person wishing to preserve a chaste image.

• The first mention of avocados in English was in 1672 by W. Hughes, physician to King Charles II, after visiting Jamaica. He calls them "one of the most rare and pleasant fruits of the island.

• Because the avocado is a year-round crop, some olive oil plants, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, process olive oil during the olive season, and avocado oil during the rest of the year. As a culinary oil, avocado oil compares well with olive oil.
  

• Oh, you noticed that the avocado is a year-round crop! That's because avocado's can stay on the tree for months without over-ripening or rotting.  
  

I also came across a very tasty looking recipe for avocado ice cream.  Basically, the avocados take the place of eggs in the recipe.  Definitely a weekend project for this summer.

(photo courtesy of the very talented evan blaser, facts from wikipedia)

My Mom, Dad and sister all came out to California for spring break.  We were lucky enough to enjoy great food and unseasonably warm weather.  The highlight of the trip was definitely feeding 'Butch,' a retired Hollywood elephant who lives on Vision Quest Ranch in Salinas, CA.