Recently, a friend said that either people end up not keeping up with their blogs or their posts dissolve into descriptions of the sandwich they ate that day. This post is for him. I ate a fudgesicle today. It's by Weight Watchers, but it was absolutely delicious. I can't stand the feeling of the wood popsicle stick without getting goosebumps all over, so Joe served it to me in a bowl. It was really yummy. Blogger says fudgesicle is spelled wrong and should be fussbudget. What on earth is that?
Around Christmas time, Joe bought be one of my new favorite things. It's a little notebook that I write down ideas I have. The categories are things like Things to learn, Home Decor, Funny T-shirts, and Things to Give. Basically whenever I think of something I want to remember, I write it in there. I love using it!
This is the notebook I use - it also has a bookmark and pouch!
Most of what I write is related to things I'd like to make (like a piece of art for our wall or a potential Christmas gift). Some of these ideas just pop into my head, but usually I see something that inspires me - or that I just want to copy outright. :) My inspiration often comes from everyday places (a bamboo project from Panda Express) or design websites (like Dustbowl), tossed in with the occasional visit to galleries.
This week I seem to have an underlying theme in my ideas. You highlight one part by doing something to the less-important part! I'll share.
Though it'll probably be a kid or baby name (or one of the dozens of t-shirt ideas I have written down) instead of hello, I see this in my future... That is the work of Emma Smart (found via sub-studio design blog).
Then I came across bleach stenciling. I already know how the conversation at home will go... Joe: You haven't done that?!? Me: No. Have you even heard of it before? Joe: No, but it seems like the sort of thing you would have done.
I think I'll let Mom off the hook for not introducing me... kids and bleach don't mix well.
Now that I've started thinking about it, I've already got several ideas going. I think my first go will be making some contemporary / modern placemats. Placemats are so expensive, but cloth and bleach are so cheap! I may try dipping the cloth in bleach water, or using rubber bands or strips of paper.
(these pics are some quickly done idea "sketches" I made using PowerPoint)
If you're looking for bleach stencil ideas, you should check out this site - they must have had fun!
I'd love to hear some of your ideas! Have you ever tried bleach stenciling? Is it as easy as it looks?
It seems like every time Joe and I take a picture together, one of us looks good and the other looks like a dog in a car wash. I really don't think it's all in my head. The Christmas before last we took over 80 pictures of us to put on a Christmas card. Three turned out okay. THREE! If that's not enough proof, here's some more...
This looks like a normal picture of me... actually, it's likely better than I normally look:Now, let's pan out a bit and see Joe: He did just walk in from the windy outdoors, but... well, maybe it's just in my head... but when I imagine a half-crazed hungry vampire who is about to blow his cover (which I imagine fairly often), this is the look I see. It's a little hidden behind the "Is this person going to count to three? I probably have a few seconds to get positioned" face, but that hint of barely controlled frenzy is there. (Hint: cover his mouth and just look at his eyes - it's there!)
The concept for the light came from a flight that crashed and was thought to have no survivors until years later. I read a little on the site they linked to about it and found that the crash happened in 2004! I couldn't believe I hadn't heard of it, much less that a movie hadn't been made of the dramatic tale! I was also surprised that they had pictures of the plane in air, and thought it was a fluke that some family member or news photographer happened to take pictures of the plane. After several minutes of reading the history of Flight 815, I realized my mistake. Yes, I was reading the story of the popular television series, Lost. (I've never seen an episode, but Joe and I have thought about watching it all on DVD once it's finished.)
What ever happened to design inspired by nature or emotions? I guess a lot of design now is inspired by art, I just hadn't thought of a tv series that way before. What do you guys think?
I had been thinking I should work on calligraphy, so I flipped through a how-to book and read the last section on illuminating letters. I thought I should really give it a try - how neat! Knots are a major player when it comes to illuminating letters. As an example, this is from the Book of Kells (an illuminated manuscript in Latin - the four Gospels - circa 800):
I already did one Celtic knot detail on the P of Peebles on my current embroidery project. (Still working on that, if you're wondering. I'm on the final e!)
I recently read three books by Stephen Lawhead - the first two in "The Song of Albion" trilogy, and the first book in "The Celtic Crusades" triology. All of them have heavy Celtic influences. I've read Scottish and Irish stories (fable style short stories) that give insight into Celtic mythology, and I find Lawhead's books a much more enjoyable way to learn a little about that culture.
On to my first go at Celtic knotwork... I didn't have any plain white paper, so you'll have to ignore the blue lines. The one in the bottom right corner is in-progress (so you can see the steps). Here's the finished product (I think it's my favorite):I didn't use a ruler or compass, but I did make dots to keep reasonable spacing. I got the designs from a website. It was fun! Making the knots added necessary mental stimulation to the episode of Quantum Leap we were watching at the time (as well as giving my obsessive-compulsive desires a peaceful outlet). I'm sure this will work its way into a gift or art for my home eventually.
Interesting side note: As I was reading up on the history of Celtic knotwork, I found that the Christians (monks) who came to the region adopted and continued / furthered the use of the native art (knotwork) by illuminating the manuscripts they copied. Joe and I have talked a lot about Christianity interfacing with culture - specifically the artistic part of culture. It seems like this is an example of art being enhanced (instead of ignored or squelched) by Christians, which makes me curious all the more!
(Isn't Seven Tiers of Heaven a phrase? If not, then I guess I get an F in word play for yet another blog post.)
Joe and I have been married for a full 7 years! We went to Salado, Texas, to celebrate. It's a small town that gets all done up for Christmas. There are tons of art galleries and antique / home decor shops. It was a very fun trip!
We admired the count down to Christmas...
Shared some secrets....
Enjoyed 70 degree weather (isn't Texas great?)...
Stayed in the Levi Tenney House.... (It was a bed and breakfast, but we were the only ones in the whole place!)Saw many knotted trees... Explored a beautiful old chapel... And discovered many cute shops.
My favorite part is how visiting all these places gets my creative juices flowing. I had several art project ideas (as if I'd ever run out) that may make their way into our home someday. There is also a Scottish heritage to the town which got my brain churning. In case you didn't know, Peebles is a town just south of Edinburgh, Scotland, located in Peeblesshire! Isn't Peeblesshire a fun word? I've mentioned my bed-covering (comforter) project briefly... in addition to our name, it will have the crest from this town. The crest doesn't have a lion or a shield or anything you typically think of... it's got three fish. But that's for another post! Speaking of, my next post with contain examples of something that was Scottish-inspired. I know, I've got you waiting on the edge of your computer-desk-chairs!
I think not. Maybe 1958. If it were 2009, there's no way that this is in the Science section of the NY Times. It's a Q&A, and apparently someone wrote in asking if it's safe to store foods near a microwave, where they may receive "unhealthy doses of microwave emissions." Really? I mean, really?
The answer isn't much better. He starts out with "If the foods you are storing near your microwave oven are not somehow visibly changed, as if cooked, then they are not being affected by your microwave," and continues with reminding us that using a microwave does not make food radioactive or contaminated. I was hoping that the author, C. Claiborne Ray, had recently joined the Times from Cnn.com, but was saddened to discover he'd been an editor there for over 25 years. Other challenging questions tackled by Ray include "Is it dangerous for children to go through metal detectors?" and "When I walk through the woods, are the same flies following me, or is it new ones in new areas?"
We had snow Wednesday - LOTS of snow! But that's not what this post is about. Sorry.
I work in a small medical research lab. Sometimes we have students rotate through, but generally there were three of us in the lab and my boss who is also a department head (so I usually see him briefly a few times a day). Recently, the other woman in the lab graduated (with her Ph.D.) and is currently moving out of state. For her last day, we had cake and this balloon lab person waiting at her desk when she came in. I made it. Give me some credit - it's a lot harder to draw a face on a balloon than one would think. And I don't draw noses.
So now there are only two of us in the lab! It's quite different, but good. It wasn't that long ago when I was hesitant to talk about my co-workers for fear it sounded like I worked at a strip club (seriously - there was Candi, Angel, Honey, and me - Kat).
work story #2
Thursday morning I woke up not feeling great, especially when I tried to coax my body out of the warm bed. So I sleep in a little, skipped my shower, and threw on a gray sweatshirt (one of Joe's old ones, no less) and jeans for work. I don't typically interact with other people much, so it doesn't matter how I dress. (I know, that's the sort of thing they'd freak out over someone saying on What Not to Wear.) Mid morning, I saw my boss and he reminded me that we had the award service this afternoon - where I'd get my 5 year service pin (I started here as an undergrad - I'm not quite that old yet). I had completely forgotten, and I asked him if I should run home and change, or at least put on one of our scrub shirts so people would assume I was doing some sort of surgery. He said "No, they don't take pictures or anything. It's not that big of a deal."
That afternoon, I went down to the lobby a few minutes early, and a large mass of people are already listening to the Dean of the college - they had started a few minutes early! They began calling up people for the 5-year service awards. A friend who worked with me when she first got here was the first to go up. They handed her the pin and a fleece blanket (embroidered with our logo). Then there was a FLASH. If only it had been our seizure-inducing fire alarm lights. They were taking pictures of each individual with the dean. I'm not sure you understand the magnitude of this. These things have a way of showing up on the website, recruitment material, and those banners they attach to the light posts for everyone to see. My boss looked back at me, and I did my best to give an incredulous glare. He laughed and turned back around.
Well, I didn't fall down as I accepted the pin and blanket, so it could have been worse. I'm hoping I blinked for the picture, though I'm not sure I timed it right.
And that's my work story for today.
P.S. I did take lots of snow pictures. Translation for Mom: I don't want any emails asking about the snow, I'll post them when I can. ;)
P.P.S. Though quite old, there really are three other Fun at Work posts. Everyone knows a convincing made-up number should be odd. Not only is four even, it's a square number. That's making up numbers mistake #19. Catching on yet? Fine, if you don't believe me, here are one, two, and three.
It's almost time to vote! Sadly, I'm not yet 100% sure who I'll vote for in the presidential election... lots to think about there. I will figure something out and vote tomorrow, though. And I'll get a cavity filled (less exciting, equally painful).
If you're in the Brazos county, here's a link to the sample ballot which includes the propositions we'll be voting on (if you haven't already voted).
Several places seem to offer free stuff to people who vote, so I thought I might share a few. Do leave a comment if you know of other places! And I think if you voted early, it'd still be fair to take advantage of these offers.
FreeElectionDayStuff:
Starbucks - free 12 oz cup of coffee (just tell them you voted) Ben & Jerry's - free scoop of ice cream for anyone from 5-8 pm
update: Joe went to Starbucks and got a free coffee after voting this morning - you don't need an "I voted" sticker like they said on KBTX.
Not in BCS: Krispy Kreme : free star-shaped doughnut and "I voted" sticker (perhaps with purchase?) Chick-fil-A: some locations are giving away free chicken strips or chicken sandwiches - look for signs advertising it at the location
Well, Friday was a bit hard to fit in some creativity. I had to take a little time off work to help the piano mover get the piano inside (you'll see a post about that later!), and then my parents came in town and were here in time to pick me up from work. We did some stuff at our house and then helped a neighbor & her kids put up a trampoline (a big task). After that we saw Get Smart on campus. Joe, my dad and I actually saw it in theaters a while back, but it's fun to watch it with students and we liked it the first time. My mom even admitted to some funny moments. We got out of the movie in time to see the band go by for midnight yell - meaning we got home VERY late.
So I'm making up my Day 2 and I've decided to write! I'll record some random things about myself (I know you're so excited) - things I think I'll forget and find interesting later on. I think a good way of doing this will be by talking about a tv show on ABC that I really like right now and why.
The show is Pushing Daisies. It's real actors, but has some sort of fantasy feel to it (bright colors, some over-the-top characters, a narrator). {You can skip the rest of this paragraph if you want - it's just some background on the show.} One of the actors happens to be Kristen Chenoweth, my favorite Broadway singer. The basic premise is that one man, Ned, has the ability to touch a dead person / animal and bring them back to life. If he ever touches it again, it will go back to death and he can't bring it back. If he keeps something dead alive for more than one minute, something else nearby dies. Ned is a pie maker who has brought back his childhood sweetheart after she was murdered. They both work with a Private Investigator to solve murders - mostly by asking the dead guy who killed him. Olive (Kristen C.) is in love with Ned (and was before the childhood sweetheart became a part of their lives), but she doesn't know his secret ability, and Ned doesn't know she's in love with him. Okay, so now you know what the show is about. Now, how it relates to me!
My favorite part is that in three of the eleven episodes that have been aired, there are songs! Each has struck a chord with me, and I'll tell you why.
I love how Olive randomly sings. I do this, too, when people aren't close enough to hear me. Several times I've been singing in the car when my cell phone rings, and I automatically hit the button to turn off the stereo, only to realize the stereo was off and the backup music was in my head. Really, I can't count how many times I've done that. So, you can tell how I can relate to this scene:
(yikes, one of the videos it gives you as a choice to watch next has a surprising title - it's really not about that - watch it if you don't believe me!) Another song is Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants (TMBG). In case you didn't know, Joe and I met at a church camp called Pettijohn in Oklahoma. At this camp, I also met Jennifer (my roommate and friend in college) and Wes (already a friend of Joe's - he was in our wedding). We still keep in touch with those two, but I also met Timothy Spain, who I haven't stayed in touch with. (Tim, if you googled your name and found this - tell me!) Timothy introduced me to TMBG and I thought it was great. He was right - it's great music to play while playing spades, something I loved to do. One of their more well-known songs is Birdhouse in Your Soul, and somehow the writers worked it into an episode quite appropriately. No, the situation in the scene below is not as weird as it looks - it's weirder.
Finally, since marrying into a Scottish name, I've become more interested in all things Scottish. To be honest, I can't always tell the different between Scottish and Irish things (I know, that's horrible), but I enjoy them both. Even before Joe, I've loved pretty much any song in 6/8, so Scottish music is mostly beautiful to me. Joe and I bought a tape (those things they used to make before CDs. CDs? You remember - that's what we used before iPods) for $1 at a truck stop, expecting top-notch quality. It was a Scottish Christmas album. Since we like both types of music, it held some promise. After listening to it, we decided that some guy with some recording equipment said "My Scottish uncle is coming in town, and I think I know someone who owns some bagpipes, I should spend the weekend making an album with them!" The one beautiful exception is a song sung by the "uncle" called Morning has Broken / Child in a Manger. I looked it up, and apparently Cat Stevens recorded Morning has Broken and made it famous. Our tape has some of it in Gaelic, and well as this verse "Child in a Manger, Infant of Mary / Outcast and stranger, Lord of All / Child who inherits all our transgressions / All our demerits on his fall." Between the tune, the lyrics, and an old Scottish man's voice, I love that version of the song! So that's what I'm reminded of during this scene:
I think I'd like Pushing Daisies without these songs, but they are what brought back happy memories. Anyone else watch this show? You should! You can even rent the first two DVDs of season one and watch the other 5 episodes so far online (abc.com). They should be paying me for this. ;)
First, a big congratulations to Nobel Prize in Chemistry winners: Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Y. Tsien ( who contributed to the isolation of Green Fluorescent Protein and found ways to use it as a genetic marker)!
My first project once working full time in a lab was modifying a gene (to put in a mouse) so that all cholinergic cells would glow green. Our lab was interested in cholinergic neurons, specifically in the basal forebrain, because a loss of these neurons is exhibited in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Instead of running experiments on cells and later (using RT-PCR) finding out for sure if it was the right cell (and if that data is useful for this purpose), we could use a fluorescent scope and visually select the glowing cholinergic cells.
Given that, it was a surprise to see this as the second sentence in a New York Times article featuring the Nobel Prize in Chemistry winners:
"The fluorescent proteins are now routinely used for observing the growth and fate of specific cells like nerve cells damaged during Alzheimer’s."
You should go check out this blog. You don't have to be a cake decorator (you can even hate cakes of all kinds) to enjoy the posts. You should start by checking out some of the "Fan Favorites" on the right hand side. Let me tell you, I've needed a good laugh the last couple of days and this has been great. :)
C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet. These are a few topics I found interesting that we didn't have time to discuss at a ladies book club. Several of us had different versions of the book, but the pages seemed very close (even hardcover). I figured I'd post them here just in case anyone reads the book and wanted to add some comments about some of this.
Pleasure - Chapter 12 Chapter 12 is probably the one that has stuck with me the most since reading the book a few years ago. Here's how part of it goes: "But the pleasure he must be content only to remember?" "That is like saying 'My food I must be content to eat.' " "I do not understand." "A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered. You are speaking, Hman, as if the pleasure were one thing and the memory another. It is all one thing.... When you and I met, the meeting was over very shortly, it was nothing. Now it is growing something as we remember it. But still we know very little about it. What it will be when I remember it as I lie down to die, what it makes in me all my days till then - that is the real meeting. The other is only the beginning of it." and later... "And how could we endure to live and let time pass if we were always crying for one day or one year to come back - if we did not know that every day in a life fills the whole life with expectation and memory and that these are that day?"
Danger - Also, later in the same chapter (page 76): If response to Ransom questioning him about the hnakra, Hyoi says "I do not think the forest would be so bright, nor the water so warm, nor love so sweet, if there were no danger in the lakes."
Unity - On pages 81-82, after killing the hnakra: "They had stood shoulder to shoulder in the face of an enemy, and the shapes of their heads no longer mattered." I just think there's something interesting here about the unity found from fighting a common enemy. Ruling ourselves - On page 102, Ransom talking with the learned sorns: "They cannot help it. There must be rule, yet how can creatures rule themselves? Beasts must be ruled by hnau and hnau by eldila and eldila by Maleldil. These creatures have no eldila. They are like one trying to lift himself by his own hair - or one trying to see over a whole country when he is level with it - like a female trying to beget young on herself." Later Oyarsa established that there were eldila on earth, but without the acknowledgment they have on Malacandra.
And it's not because there's been nothing to blog about, either! (I dedicate that double negative to my mother- and sister-in-laws, both English teachers.) I even have a bunch of pictures to go along with the Peebles' current events!
Until I actually upload those and take the time to write about them, I've decided to give you a list. It's a list of things that make me feel worse than realizing I haven't blogged about life lately. In no particular order, but still numbered:
1. I work really hard on some project and the first thing someone says (okay, I'll be honest, probably anything said in the first 2 minutes) is negative. Why do I want approval so much, anyway?
2. I say "Really, don't worry about it" for the kah-gillionth time when someone continuously apologizes for something for which one "oops, sorry!" would have been more than sufficient. (I don't just feel annoyed, I feel bad that I can't communicate that I'm really not bothered by something. I feel like people unecessarily apologize to me often.)
3. We're parked on the road in front of a friend's house and I open the door over their lawn to get in the passenger side. I sit in the car. It goes down - a lot. So much, in fact, that the door is now stuck in their grass and I can't pull the door closed without getting back out and trying again with the door not opened so wide. Our friends wave goodbye as we finally drive off.
I wish I could say #3 had only happened once or twice.
Well, I've got a few other things I've committed to getting done asap, so no promises on the blog other than I will try harder. Like another blogging friend recently said, I'm hoping that writing a little will help get me going again!
Make me feel better and post a comment of something that makes you feel worse than me taking almost 3 weeks away from posting on here! That should be really easy to think of something for everyone other than my parents, for whom my silence is more of a tragedy. Here's an example: You're happy to see you have just enough cereal left for breakfast. You pour milk in your bowl and then realize the milk has gone bad. Later you begin to think you shouldn't have eaten it.
It doesn't have to be funny. If you're unsure, here's an easy fill-in-the-blank sentence: "I feel worse when I have to change __________ than when you don't post." Fill in the blank with something like a diaper, a flat tire, or my toothbrush.
If you frequent this blog, you know my issues with spelling. I had high hopes for this article, but the writer did not go anywhere interesting.
Here's the one slightly-interesting (to me) paragraph: Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Carnegie, Teddy Roosevelt and even Noah Webster, father of American lexicography, all lobbied for spelling reform, their reasons ranging from traumatic childhood spelling experiences to the hope that easier communication would promote peace. In 1906, Mark Twain lobbied the Associated Press to use phonetic spelling. "The heart of our trouble is with our foolish alphabet," he once wrote. "It doesn't know how to spell, and can't be taught."
It went downhill from there. I guess that's what I get for trying to find thought-provoking articles on cnn.com.
We've been working on the house a LOT, so almost all of my record-keeping / posting energy is going toward that. I'm very excited for it to be, say, Tuesday. We're doing a ton of painting right now and we'll put the floors in this weekend, so I think the house (at least inside) will be nearly unrecognizable by Tuesday. We'll have the rest of the week to move in, which is longer than we've ever had to move... but we have roughly zero boxes packed as of this morning. I like the idea of moving one room at a time and then unpacking it there, but I'm not sure that will work out - we at least need to move the big stuff all at once.
Joe got be a surprise, and it's sitting in the back seat of our car with a blanket over it. He said he got it on craigslist, so my best guess was these incredibly cute baby geese. But it didn't move or make any noise and Joe didn't crack the windows. (interesting note: the post said "Very pretty geese; great for weed control, looks, meat" meat?!? These guys are too cute to mention that!) So I have no idea what it is. I like surprises! :)
We closed on our house this morning! I think in my dreams it involved less signing papers and more us standing in front of a big sign with balloons getting pictures taken as the sellers handed over the keys. If I owned a title company, that's what I'd do. They did have a candy bowl, which was a move in the right direction. I'm only a little sad that we didn't have a "handing over the keys" moment (yes, I actually brought my camera hoping for one, even if there weren't balloons). Oh well... we're now homeowners!
As a little tidbit, I'd like to share what happens when advertisers are asked to market to scientists. I'm actually embarrassed that I'm in the target audience, and can totally relate to times when my hand hurts from too much pipetting.
I'll let you know next time a boy-band bursts into our lab and takes us away to a beach. Maybe next week.
Joe and I have only watched one show on tv this week, and this was it: WIPEOUT. We watched the whole thing, cracking up most of the time.
One of the blogs that I follow posted this today. The show is stupid, I know, I know! But the announcers are soooo funny. Give it a few minutes, and maybe you'll be laughing, too.
It seems we're a little too old for the "all my friends are getting married" packed summers of weddings, but we do have one this weekend. It's my sister's best friend getting married, and my parents and the Looneys (Lauren & Kevin) are all coming down/up to attend. The latter couple is actually coming in tonight so my sister can help out all day tomorrow (if any of you are bored and would like to play Wii with Kevin, he shares pretty well).
I finally got a dress for the wedding (and probably the others I'll attend this year) on Tuesday. It's a little bit large (but the price was right and I was going to puke if I had to try one one more unflattering dress), so I probably will need to sew it up a little tonight. Hopefully that will be uneventful. :/ I'm pretty much rambling, but I felt like I needed to post something before family comes in town and I don't have time!
Oooo! Here's something I haven't written much about: house hunting! We've been looking at houses and considering buying one for a while now, but there don't seem to be any that are quite right for us on the market right now. I'm picky about the area, and there is one part of Bryan that we're very interested in. I've made a map (also below) to show the areas we're most interested in (we're not set on that, it's more of a starting place or best-case-scenario). Green zones would be first pick, blue would be second. The suns are places some of our nearby friends live. The house shape the only home we're considering at the moment. The milk and apples is Farm Patch. It also shows our workplaces (the little man and woman in the bottom right corner)... we're interesting in trying to bike to work, so closer to work would be better. If you're local, be sure to tell us about any other houses you see, especially for sale by owners we might otherwise miss!
Here are some fortunes from cookies Joe and I got last week. First, I'd like to dedicate Joe's to Danny and Andrew writers of the two blogs I read that have a focus on their personal health and fitness.
Today's a day to nourish yourself. Feed yourself well.
Mine sounds like it came from the Brother's Grimm generation.
Killing time murders opportunities.
P.S. Seriously - it's got to be Friday, not just Tuesday. Zzzzzzz.
I've seen waaaay more movies lately than I usually do, so I figured I'd write a little about them. I'll give spoiler alerts if I need to. I'm putting them in the order I saw them.
Made of Honor. This movie with a plot similar to My Best Friend's Wedding wasn't all bad (as I had half expected). It's mostly the predictable stuff that makes up a chick flick, but I was pleasantly surprised with the beautiful shots of Scotland towards the end.
Prince Caspian. I reread this book not long ago, and I'm going to warn any Narnia fans that this movie changes quite a bit. Of course we'd like our beloved books to be portrayed exactly the same in the movies, but that can't happen. Some of the changes were reasonable, and I think actually made it more smooth. Other changes made altered the characters themselves and really made me want to puke. I'm about to do a spoiler thing, but if you've read the book, then it's not like it actually spoils anything. //(SPOILER: Susan has a whole love-interest thing thrown in there that gagged me several times - especially in an overly-predictable way at the end. To me, that whole addition is like putting toilet humor in a Jane Austin-based movie to broaden the impact. Oh, and how Caspian plays into that, excuse me... *barf* Other than that, the biggest change I hated was how Peter stormed the castle... why do we need to invent more character flaws? Now, things I liked: The scene where that dwarf, hag, and werewolf are wanting to bring back the White Witch was mostly well done. In the book it all takes place in the dark, and the impact of Peter and Edward coming plays a huge part. Since the children arrive much earlier (a change of which I approve), they had to compensate for that impact. While I do not like that Peter struggled with considering bringing the witch back (seriously, he remembered her, no way would he want that for his beloved Narnians), I do like the way they visually displayed what was happening.)\\
Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Like most people my age, I grew up admiring Indiana Jones and kept wishing for a fourth movie. The hints at what was coming should have been more subtle. I would also prefer action scenes with SOME semblance of reality. //(SPOILER: The whole kid-swinging through the trees with the monkeys thing was way past my limit. Are you kidding me? And why did they have to use the SAME SCENE as the end of The Last Crusade - with the greedy guy dying and Indy trying to save him? What a waste.)\\
Iron Man. MUCH better than I expected, but for these comic-based movies, it seems like low expectations are in order. I could do without some of the displays of womanizing. I actually laughed a lot, which was a nice surprise. It seemed to go pretty fast, and I was surprised to find out it was actually a long movie. Borderline spoiler... the final fight scene was disappointing. After all that build-up, I'd personally like to see a few more things explode.
You'll all be relieved to know that this isn't a blog about some disgusting rash I have.
I've seen a commercial several times over the last couple of months and it really irritates me. Now, I'm not naturally environmentally-minded, but I am trying to become more that way. I do sometimes use paper plates, but do not think using disposable plates daily is being responsible behavior. The message of this commercial is basically "if you're a good mother, you will use paper plates - Dixie brand paper plates." Here it is if you haven't seen it:
Here are a few of the problems I have with this:
(1) A mother who cares about her children cares about their future. Not only does using paper plates contribute to a number of environmental problems your children will have to deal with, but also using them trains your children to carry on the same bad habits. (2) For the socioeconomic class that the commercial is geared toward, washing plates is the easiest part of cleaning up after making a meal. You can stick the plate in the dishwasher as easily as throwing something in the trash can. Sorry this isn't well written... I just felt like ranting a bit. :) Feel free to join in my rant by commenting!
Joe pointed out an interesting article about money in American culture. I'm probably not in the right circles, but I really haven't heard people talk about this outside our church - and even then it was more a push for change in our viewpoint/actions as individuals and families (or at least that's what I got from it, which could be different from the intent). This article is calling for change on higher up levels (i.e. government or companies) in society. I especially liked the point that - you should read it, it's only a short page and I only had to look up one word ;) (usury = practice of lending money at exorbitant interest).
I'd just like to draw a little attention to the fact that I changed some format-related things on my blog. Now this long-winded section is wider (an attempt to make posts look shorter). I've also added some things to the side bar - mostly some of the other blogs I read. What do you think?
I tend to take pictures of yummy food we make if I get a chance, so I'm going to post about them (I've done this once or twice before).
We like to have a warm breakfast Saturday mornings, and here's something we invented recently. I used a tart pan (thanks, Grammy!) and lined it with croissant dough (refrigerated Pillsbury off-brand). I baked it for a few minutes, mixing some eggs in the mean time with a touch of Mexican vanilla. I put the eggs in the crust, sprinkled cheese and pieces of sausage on top, and popped it in the oven. For Joe, any good breakfast is served with gravy and this was no exception.
We're growing Roma tomatoes in the garden this summer, so I've been trying to find creative ways of using them. One night we had a frozen lasagna and this bread, which Joe has named faux-caccia. I let regular white bread dough rise in the fridge overnight (in little balls so it pulls apart easily), covered it with olive oil, and baked it for a while. Then I added sliced-up Roma tomatoes and rosemary (both from our garden), and popped it in back in the oven for a few minutes. It was yummy!
In case you're like me, feeling a little sad that summer is here but you don't have any fun travel in store, check out #1 of the "31 Places to Go This Summer" special in the New York Times.
"Who needs Europe? The Texas Hill Country, west of Austin and north of San Antonio, might be the next best thing to crossing the Atlantic. The region is lush, colorful and, unlike much of the pancake-flat state, dotted with beautiful green hills that are evocative of Tuscany or the south of France. Moreover, the region is speckled with 22 wineries (www.texaswinetrail.com) that buzz with food and music festivals year round. And towns like Fredericksburg offer a taste of the Old World, with German-style biergartens and schnitzelhäuser."
I'll be kind and ignore the "pancake-flat state" comment. For now. Otherwise, it's not too far from here, and I can attest to the fun that can be had in Texas Hill Country. I do have to wonder how many New Yorkers will make the trip only to be surprised by the extreme heat.
(We'll actually be at Lake Buchanan for our 4th of July annual family reunion, so we do have a little trip in store!)
This one is dedicated to those of you who write lists and have trouble not thinking of the success of the day as dependent on how many things you checked off.
For that "5 things" blog, I hardly got anything done on that list. I thought that writing that may make some of you feel a little better. Here's the run down: What are 5 things on your to-do list today (not in any particular order)? 1. Get pictures to upload to blogger or complain about it enough for someone else to figure out my problem. I actually did this, but it just magically worked one time when I tried it. So no complaining was needed (not that I didn't try). 2. Write and start filming a new video. This has been difficult. Joe and I have very different visions for what to do, and it's frustrated me so much that I often lose any will to try making one. We did play a game where we made up a bedtime story. First Joe was alone with the camera and recorded the beginning of a story for 1 minute, and when the timer went off he wrote down the last sentence as well as three clues. I read the 3 clues and sentence, and then continued for another minute. I wrote down the last sentence and three clues and we switched. We ended up with 6 segments making up very possibly the worst bedtime story ever (okay, excluding the ones where someone dies - no one died in ours). When watched the whole thing together and cracked up. I don't know if I'll post it - it's really, really, REALLY dumb, but maybe some of you who know us would like to laugh at us. So I'll count this one as done, too. 3. Paint bamboo for our wall. Totally didn't happen. We have EVERYTHING we need for this project, but it just sits there. I'm going to have a dream tonight where I read a spell and the paint brushes will spring into action and gracefully create a masterpiece, but then I won't know how to stop them and everything in the house will be painted to look like bamboo. (Actually, as you would know if you've had to listen to any of my dreams, that's way to normal and predictable. Oh well.) 4. Finish the laundry. Pretty much, as long as you don't count folding it - hey, it's clean. 5. Get at least one more verse mostly written for the song I'm working on for Joe. (My days are not usually quite so creative, but today is a holiday, so I've set it aside for some projects.) I didn't get any of another verse, but I did work more on the music, and I'm having fun with it. In my inexperienced opinion, I think that's the way it works sometimes. Some days I feel like writing the story, some days rewording lyrics is a fun challenge, some days playing with a melody comes more naturally, and some days reading what I've got and setting it aside is just perfect. But I can't wait to finish it and sing it for Joe! He'll love it. It's so hard to keep it a secret! Joe's knows I'm working on it, and he knows the title is "Didn't He Notice?" That makes him nervous, but it's gonna be perfect for him! And he already knows to fake it at first if he doesn't really like it. :)
Remember when adding "ified" to the end of a word used to be cool? Me neither.
So, I've got about 5 posts I should have finished long ago, but get too frustrated trying to upload pictures. I was trying to get those done before responding to a tag by this beautiful woman, but I'm getting left behind by friends in a later generation of tagging, so I've got to hurry up and do it.
For the record, I'm pretty sure my husband has already done this, but I haven't read it yet.
Here are the rules: 1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. 2. Each player answers the questions about themselves. 3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog. 4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.
What were you doing 5 years ago? 1. Starting our personal webpage (joeandkathryn.us ... I thought "dot us" - how cute!) 2. Just starting work at a research lab at the medical school (I'm now in a different lab, but same school) 3. Adding a degree in "pure mathematics" so I would have options other than medical research. 4. Wondering how my baby sister could be old enough to be graduating from high school (she's now married and done with college). 5. Discovering life after Aggies for Christ (some of you will know exactly what I mean).
What are 5 things on your to-do list today (not in any particular order)? 1. Get pictures to upload to blogger or complain about it enough for someone else to figure out my problem. 2. Write and start filming a new video. 3. Paint bamboo for our wall. 4. Finish the laundry. 5. Get at least one more verse mostly written for the song I'm working on for Joe. (My days are not usually quite so creative, but today is a holiday, so I've set it aside for some projects.)
What are 5 snacks you enjoy? I made some categories, depending on my type of desire for the snack: 1. sweet: cinnamon-sugar anything (preferably toast or soft pretzel) 2. want a good taste in my mouth: cheese (sharp cheddar is my favorite) 3. really hungry but need to wait to eat a meal: Nature Made Oats & Honey Granola Bar (it works!) 4. slightly hungry: Pink Lady Apples (the best!) 5. "hungry" only because I happened to see it: bread of ANY type!
What 5 things would you do if you were a billionaire? 1. Ask people I love what I should do with my money, and do what's good from that. I'd probably ask some "educated" people I don't know, too... I think you're supposed to invest money or something like that so you can keep getting more. 2. Pay off my debt and that of loved ones who are trying (or will start to try) to make better choices with how they deal with money. (Apparently I like attaching strings more than my more generous friends.) 3. Have a homestead. Build at least one big house and some little ones nearby, and let my mom design them. There would be an orchard and a big garden for us (everyone who lives there) to share. 4. Only work in ways I really believe in and not get paid to do so. 5. Have some extended (at least 6 months) stays in several countries, becoming fluent in multiple languages and learning from their cultures.
What are 5 of your bad habits? 1. getting sick of things / people 2. getting in bad moods & withdrawing 3. reading for very long periods of time (though sometimes it's nice) 4. getting very frustrated when interrupted while typing (I just threw Joe out of the room) - this seems to be the one time I hate (and can't do) multi-tasking. 5. being sad / disappointed about things instead of letting them go
What are 5 places you have lived? (I'm writing them in order) 1. Dallas, TX (first almost 18 years) 2. College Station, TX (2 years, then again Bryan or CS since 2002) 3. Bangkok, Thailand (1 summer) 4. Malibu, CA (1 fall semester) 5. Agoura Hills (one of the millions of LA suburbs, past Burbank then Thousand Oaks), CA (9ish months)
What are 5 jobs you've had? (not all paid positions) 1. Junior Camp Counselor at Pettijohn (where I met Joe) 2. Volunteer at Presbyterian Hospital in whatever they call the area with the overly moody women who just gave birth ("Look at this sweet miracle... this is the best day of my life. No, I said juice half-full of ice - this is nearly 2/3 full of ice! Nevermind, I hate juice anyway.") 3. Proofreader for a publications company (Where their favorite game was "Pin the Blame on the Ass") 4. Cosmetician (no, it's not a real word, but it was my job title) in Malibu... imagine me helping the most vain people I've ever met with makeup? yuck. 5. Waitress for one week at a friend's family business... they didn't let me keep any of the tips, who's dumb idea was that?
What 5 people do you want to tag? note: I picked people a while back, so they may have already been tagged by someone else, but I took off the people (like Joe) who have already responded. original note: I first thought "I don't know 5 other people who blog who I can ask to do this" but then noticed on Google Reader than there are exactly 30 blogs I read. Busted.
1. Christy: She's awesome and does way more cool things than her blog reveals. This will at least get one more post up!
2. Shelley: Who I didn't get to catch up with when she was in town this weekend... this can be your penance. I know summer's busy, but you've got to get back to posting - inquiring minds must know!
3. My cousin, Bobby (though I think he just goes by Bob now): He's lived a lot of cool places and done a lot of cool things. I don't think he will want to post this, but I know we've got tons of family members who rave for weeks every time he does post something. Bobby, if you post, I'll let you out of the whole "tagging 5 more people" thing - so you don't have to worry about bad luck or a giant zit or whatever this sort of thing threatens if you don't pass it on!
4. Jenny: I'll pretty much do anything to hear again how you were paid to dance wearing Vegas-style feathers. That's so awesome.
5. Thad: Because sometimes it's just fun to jump on the (tagging) bandwagon.
I read this article on nytimes.com and was interested by this idea:
What accompanies the vegetables can also be important. Studies at Ohio State measured blood levels of subjects who ate servings of salsa and salads. When the salsa or salad was served with fat-rich avocados or full-fat salad dressing, the diners absorbed as much as 4 times more lycopene, 7 times more lutein and 18 times the beta carotene than those who had their vegetables plain or with low-fat dressing.
So throw out that fat-free ranch!
I'd also like to take this opportunity to complain that I can't upload pictures for some reason and that's what is holding up several of my blog posts (okay, two).
I'd also, also like to take this opportunity to help you out with Joe's blog. He tends to use big words a lot of the time, and I'd like to help you understand. For example in his latest post, I think the word "clandestinely" means something like secretly... it's a word in my favorite song from my second favorite musical-I-haven't-actually-seen. And, as I found out last night, in the blog's title "Making it all up as I go along... sundry tales and wails" he didn't really mean to type "sundried"... that's actually a word. I think he told me it means something like various or assorted. Even if you don't have time to make it through the most recent post, you should check out the video clip at the end, I helped! The second paragraph explains more fully what is exemplified. And I'm happy to say that my ad-lib actually caught Joe off guard at the end and made him really laugh. :)
I like ladybugs. But hundreds of ladybugs... it starts to get creepy.
Saturday, March 29th, I bought several plants for our garden at the A&M plant sale. I've got them all planted and set up (with tomato cages and the like) now, so I'll take a few pictures to post soon. When we bought the plants, I noticed that several of them had a bug problem. We asked one of the horticulture students who was helping what they were, and our worst fear (they are just plants, you know) was confirmed: aphids. So after planting the garden Sunday, I went to a nursery in town and bought some ladybugs. The only way to buy them was a refrigerated small container with over 200 of them. I was told to release them after dark so they were less likely to migrate. See the two ladybugs in the upper left-hand corner of the picture below? That's what they said would happen. Then they lay eggs and the larvae also eats the bad garden bugs. (I hope this is very educational for all of you.)
Like I said, Sunday night we went out to eat with the Wakefields and Blands (hehe, if she finds out Chalyce will fake-kill me for linking to that and then drawing even more attention attention to it with this parenthetical statement), so we didn't get home until very late. Joe was a great sport, and soon we had ladybugs EVERYWHERE! Don't believe me? Here goes:
All the tiny dots of the sidewalk were ladybugs - it was hard not to step on any!
Ladybugs on my hand!
Ladybugs on the water hose - why did they like it so much?
Ladybugs in my hair - I felt like things were crawling on me for hours!
I case you didn't know, I like to bake. Not cook, mind you, but bake. If you like to make cakes (or do so despite your distaste), I highly recommend buying this Wilton product: Bake Even Strips.
A friend tried to make a cake using the same cake mix I had, but she said it didn't come out as moist. The only controllable difference (we can't share an oven) was that I use the Bake Even Strips. They aren't super cheap (about $8 for two), so I was hesitant to recommend them, but did anyway. You may be able to get them cheaper at WalMart (even the small one here has them) or Hobby Lobby using one of their 40% off coupons.* I've had mine about three years and use them at least every other month, and they are still in good condition.
I made a cake last week, and thought it would be the perfect chance for a little experiment to test whether or not it was a fair recommendation. I was making a two layer cake (with ice cream in the middle), so it'd be fine if the top layer had a dome on top instead of being mostly flat - the perfect opportunity.
I prepared the batter, sprayed both pans with cooking spray, and then added the same amount of batter to each pan. (I feel like I'm at work and should be saying, "The batter was prepared as done previously (Peebles 2005). The sides and bottoms of two non-stick nine inch pans (Wilton) were coated evenly with cooking spray (HEB). After resting two minutes at room temperature, 375ml of the batter was added to each of the pans." If you're not screaming at me to stop, you should check this site out. It's great. Also know that I'm holding back to not make figure legends*.)
Anyway, I put a baking strip on one (just wet it and then pin in place) and not the other, then baked the cakes under the same conditions. Just in case you didn't already think I was nerdy, I also took pictures. (If you've been reading for a while, this really shouldn't surprise you.) But at least now you can see for yourself the difference and not have to take my word for it! On the one without the strips, the center rose and cracked and the outside pulled away from the pan. It was also drier around the edge. I guess it works similar to putting the pan in a larger pan of water (like you're supposed to do to keep cheesecake from cracking).
So buy Bake Even Strips!
*I feel ultra-cheap saying something that costs less than $10 is expensive. Oh well.
** Legends should be spelled ledgends. I've felt strongly about that since about 2nd grade, even willing to sacrifice my grades on spelling tests in efforts to support the cause.
I boycotted the New York Times for about 9 months after they published a specific book review (okay, it was for the last Harry Potter book which they acquired early under shady conditions) before the release date, despite the author's and publisher's request to do otherwise. Anyway, I never found a good replacement for the type of stories they publish, and ended up settling for the Dallas Morning News and the local paper online. I had to stop reading cnn.com all together - what trash it wastes time on!
Anyway, now I'm back to the Times. Here's the article that sparked my interest. I may enjoy it more than you since I work in a medical research lab that mainly focuses on aging and the brain, but I think most people would find value in it. The article discusses how some forms of (basically) dementia can result in one part of the brain losing function and another part developing more function. In some cases, the area that becomes more active is one that is related to creativity. For Anne Adams, she went from a mathematics researcher / professor to being unable to add single digit numbers, but with a wonderful ability as an painter. I really like her Invertebrate ABC's book... when I doodle, it tends to be symmetric and balanced, and that is definitely her style in her work for that book. On a side note, I also find it sweet that her husband wrote the words for the book. It seems like even after disease stuck her, they grew and found new ways to be one, working and creating together.
I was going through some Christian songs in my iTunes folder that had truncated titles, changing them to the full titles. Here are a couple I came across that were funny:
I mentioned before that Joe and I are taking Chinese (Mandarin) classes together. Last night ended week 4 - so we've had 8 of the 12 lessons. This post is starting out semi-boring, but I have a funny treat for you at the end (no, stop scrolling! wait for it!). (note: We're learning Mandarin, not Cantonese, but our teacher refers to it as Chinese, so I'll use that interchangeably)
First, a little about Mandarin (from my limited understanding <- that's my disclaimer).
As we're learning, we read and write Chinese in pinyin, basically a phonetic representation of the words (using the Roman alphabet). This is surprisingly not that helpful - for example "zi" is pronounced "dsuh" (you pronounce vowels very differently depending on their location in the word and what other letters are around it).
We also learn to recognize and write the Chinese characters. Each character is a whole word and there are no pronunciation clues within the character. That's different/unique as far as my language learning because sometimes I can look at a character and know exactly what it means but have no idea how to say it in Chinese.
Mandarin has 4 tones. This means you say the same exact sound in different ways to mean completely different words. Listen to this for an example. The word is "ma" and means (in the order he says it) mother, hemp, horse, and scold. I'm not sure about Chinese, but Thai is also tonal, and I've studied it some. With Thai, native speakers do not associate the words with each other since it's an integral part of speech, just as we would not associate words like grant and plant (except for you teachers who use word families). So if someone said "I would like to grant this tree," it would lead to some confusion. A native Thai speaker has the same problem understanding what you say if you use the wrong tone, and I would guess it is the same for Chinese. A quick funny story about how the wrong tone can create problems. In Thailand, our American friend Jeff was introducing an older woman, let's say her name was Pok (I can't remember). He meant to say "This is Aunt Pok" (aunt being a term of endearment/honor), but he accidentally said "This is crazy Pok." Thank goodness she had a sense of humor!
One especially nice thing about Mandarin is that there is no verb conjugation. If you've taken a foreign language, you've probably spend hours memorizing "avoir: j'ai, tu as, il/elle a, vous avais, nous avons, ils/elles ont" or something similar. It's great to only need to learn one word for a verb, and that concept actually makes sense! In French you even have to have different words (articles, adjective ending, adverb endings, etc.) depending on the gender (masculine / feminine) of the noun you are referring to... Chinese is such a relief!
Okay, that's probably more than any of you wanted to know about our language learning, but hopefully you learned something, too!
Now for the fun (if you scrolled down here without reading the rest, know that Santa's watching). Our teacher gave us all Chinese names to use in class. Chinese people say their family name first, followed by their given name (the equivalent of our first name). The names our teacher gave us are supposed to sound somewhat like our real name. My name is Pi Kai-xi ("Pee" (rising tone) "Kie" (rhymes with tie, lowish funky tone) "she" (high tone)). Kai-xi is supposed to be close to Kathy, which is close to Kathryn. The three words mean Skin Generous West. I kinda like my first name, since (relative to China) I'm from the West and I try to be generous. Here's the good part. Joe's name is Pi Jio ("Pee" (rising tone) "Gee-oh"(falling sharp tone)). It means Skin Vulture. Isn't that awesome?!? Joe said it sounds like a rock band. We found out last week that the same pronunciation (Pi Jio) with different tones is the Mandarin word-combination meaning beer! While that might be slightly cool, Skin Vulture definitely has a ring to it.
EDIT - SHORT RANT: Most of you know of my issues with spelling and frustration with the English language (I still strongly believe that if English were to make any sense, the correct spelling of "apparently" would be "appearently"). While writing this I repeatedly spelled "pronounce" and "pronunciation" wrong. Seriously - can we have some consistency? Either take the "o" out or leave it in! No wonder I want to be fluent in another language!
Many of you (meaning 3 of the 4 of you) may be thinking "Part Three? When were parts One and Two?" And then you notice that there are suddenly links in your question!
The medical students get fed more than the homeless in Palisades Park. (Ask Joe - when his college ministry group would go there, the most common answer to "Would you like a sandwich?" was "What type is it?" and many turned down the PB&J.) While working in a laboratory often means eating when you can smell some very disgusting things, here it also means often eating a cold sandwich when all you can smell is BBQ or some other delicious lunch.
But today was different. A co-worker (June Bug if you read the other posts - he is well known for his scavenging expertise) opened my door and said they had pizza down the hall. He didn't have to say it, the cheesy, buttery smell could only mean one thing: Pizza Hut. I headed down the hall and noticed that the medical students had already been through the line and that everyone getting pizza was from neighboring labs. I also noticed that two nicely-dressed people were standing near the pizza. This usually means office employees are guarding the food for the medical students, but since I knew everyone down there, I kept on my path. [They were both Indian, so imagine the words they spoke with the overly enunciated English that comes with Indian accents.] As I came close, the woman greeted me and said "There is pizza, bottles of water, and these cookies." I thanked her and was taking a slice of pizza when the man said "We have many more! Please eat until your heart is content!" That made me smile. I guess I'd never thought about that phrase, and and it's probably not something that medical professionals should suggest, but it was very kind and made my Friday.
A year ago about this time, Joe and I were squeezing in quick segments of recording for a video for our church's filmfest.Now, Joe and I have EACH lost 15+ pounds from this time last year (this is related, I'm promise I'm not just sharing my excitement), so we were both the heaviest we've ever been while doing that video.Joe wore an orange jumpsuit for the opening and closing scenes, but it only barely fit him years before when we made the purchase in Thailand.
Picture this: It's a Saturday afternoon, and campus is mostly empty.Joe gets keys to a piano practice room in the bottom floor of the MSC (Memorial Student Center at A&M) while I wait a safe distance away with a camera, tripod, and backpack.If you've never been there, a double-door opens to a short staircase which leads to a hallway with 4 practice rooms that are locked.Our key is for the first one on the left.We meet at the room where I keep watch (there is a small window in the room that you see at the end of the video) while Joe changes from his street clothes into the jumpsuit. The jumpsuit doesn't button at all above the waist, or (to be honest) the first one below the waist.
We're about halfway done with the taping (it is hard to make sure him hitting the keys lines up with the music) when we hear someone open the door to the practice area and start up the stairs. I go to the little window to see that it was a cleaning lady (or whatever the current PC term is). Joe hid in the front corner of the room (to be out of window view). She goes into the other practice rooms looking for any trash, and I know she's heading our way. I decide it'd be best to head her off, so I open the door and step partially out, still blocking the opening in the doorway. I asked her if she needed anything in the room, and said that we didn't have any trash. She said she was about to leave for the day, and that she would get in trouble if there was any trash in the rooms the next morning. I promised that I'd do a final sweep and make sure we didn't leave any trash in the room. She seemed satisfied with that, and then suddenly mumbled "quick check," pushed open the door, and walked into the room. I'll try to create a collage of what she saw: A man in an orange jumpsuit (that is clearly unbuttoned) standing facing the corner of room, but looking over his shoulder trying to figure out who else is in the room and looking embarrassed. A pile of clothes on the chair, including a watch and rings. A camera on a tripod.
Of course there were other things in the room, but judging by her expression she hadn't noticed them. She started to laugh. She again explained how if this room was a mess in the morning that she would get in trouble (in many more words that took decades to say), and I again assured her that we would clean up, and then she finally left... still laughing.
I recently paid off a student loan. Since then, I have received even more offers for ways to spend my extra money (presumably the monthly payment I no longer have to make). Even the letter from my loan carrier quickly went through "Congratulations! Keep this document for your records of paying off a loan." to get to "We offer a wide-variety of other loans to meet all your needs!"
All that reminds me too much of this passage - Jesus speaking (Matthew 12:43-45):
"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."
(EDIT: I wrote this and saved it several days ago. I've been very sick with the flu. Please pray I get better and that I haven't made anyone else sick. So far, Joe's healthy and he's been so sweet taking care of everything I need / want.)
A post about our anniversary is still coming, pending pictures. Until then, enjoy a few test questions from the "Reporting Fraud, Waste, and Abuse" training I had to take today. (I won't grade this for you, but you can let me know if there are any questions for which you need the answers.)
1. An employee responsible for reconciling a bank account lists a check that does not exist in order to balance the accounting records. The reason the account is not balancing correctly is that he has been taking money from this account for his personal use. Is there anything inappropriate with this employee's behavior? Yes, this is an example of embezzlement fraud. No, the employee is probably just borrowing the money and can return funds to the account without penalty.
2. Sam works in the vehicle maintenance department for a System member. When he isn’t busy, he works on friends’ and coworkers’ cars in the System garage using System tools. Sam is not being paid for this outside work. What is inappropriate about Sam’s actions? Nothing is inappropriate. It is inappropriate because Sam fails to charge his friends and coworkers for the work he does. System equipment can be used only for System business, and this is not System business.
3. Allie is responsible for contracting repair and maintenance work for the A&M System. Although bids are taken, Allie is the only employee involved in the selection process. The same contractor always wins the largest projects. A coworker lives near Allie and has noticed that this contractor has been at Allie’s house for several weeks adding a room onto her house. What should the coworker do? The coworker should accuse Allie of taking a bribe. The coworker should confront Allie and demand that the contractor build her a room just like Allie’s. The coworker should report what she knows to her supervisor, another administrative official or the System Internal Audit Department. While the above situation doesn’t look good, there has probably been no inappropriate behavior. The coworker should do nothing until she investigates the situation more.
And my favorite...
4. An employee often changes the amount of hours on a time sheet to claim hours she did not work. Is there anything inappropriate with this employee's behavior? Yes, this is an example of fraud. No, the employee is underpaid, and she just wants to earn what she is worth.
Tuesday night we had the EASIEST "nice" dinner (that we've cooked) in a while! First, I should define "nice." In our situation, "nice" means a meat and sides not all combined in one dish. It was easy because it hardly required any work to cook it. We also ate the freshed salad either of us have ever had! We picked some lettuce (about 5 different types!) straight from the garden in our backyard. After my experience with caterpillars, I was very carefully to wash the leaves carefully - we have no need for extra protein!
We ate the hand-picked salad with bread and spinach dip from HEB (they have the yummiest spinach dip, but it's a little pricey so it's only for special treats). We also had Betty Crocker Au Gratin Three Cheese Potatoes and Emeril's Chicken and Apple Sausage (heated on the grill). They had samples of this sausage at Sam's, and it's amazing! Instead of a strong pepper taste, it has a more savory blend of spices. It only has chicken (for meat), so it's fat content is nothing compared to regular or beef sausage. Mmmm, so yummy. I was so excited about our rare "nice" meal on a busy weeknight, I took pictures.
A friend of ours, Brian Gibbs, took over the voice lessons his wife had been taking when she moved to Scotland this fall. His recital was Saturday and it was a lot of fun. Most of the students were little kids, so the rest of the concert was cute (although somewhat painful :) ). Brian sang "Baby It's Cold Outside" which was recently made more popular by the movie Elf (hence the costume). Watch Brian's performance:
Joe seems to think I take interest in (and therefore, pictures of) some random things. I guess he's right, but they really seem interesting to me at the time! And, with a digital camera, my taking random pictures habit has only grown. Here's a few examples from the last couple of weeks:
I have a basil (which I keep accidentally pronouncing "basal") plant that I bought from A&M. When I planted it in the pot, I found a brown caterpillar on it. After chastising the little bug, I put him outside. Later that week, many more leaves had died on the plant. After some inspection, I found a green caterpillar with a guilty expression on his face (he also got moved to the front yard). A week later, the plant looked horrible and I ended up finding 5 more little green caterpillars! My stern talking-to had apparently not worked. Each time I had pulled off all the partially eaten leaves (because I was afraid it was a disease killing it), so I was surprised with even more leaves looked bad the week before now. I pulled off the bad leaves, and in the pile found a chubby green caterpillar. Here goes:
Next, an injury. For the 12 Week Challenge we had an obstacle course to compete in. It involved running, stooping under something while running, going up and down a LOT of bleachers, mini-hurtles, throwing a weighted ball, doing dips, and more running. We had to do three laps. Now my middle name, Anne, means graceful. People who know me well have pointed out that it must mean full-of-grace (in the forgiving sense) and not mean be actually being graceful (in the ballerina sense). They are right, and it gets much, much worse when I'm tired. To cut the story short, on the second lap I ended up tripping on a hurtle and slamming into the ground. I landed mostly on my right knee and left hip, so that's where the worst of the bruising happened, though scrapes could be found in many more places. Thanks almost entirely to the encouragement of others, I finished all three laps! (Life-lesson: dips on very cold bleachers when your hands have been scraped raw are VERY painful!) I walked funny for a couple of days, but recovered. I thought about taking a picture of the wind pants I had on (with a huge hole in them), but abstained. They were my favorite pair, you'll probably still see me wearing them. Here's part of the bruise on my hip almost a week after the incident (sadly, the biggest part is cut off, but you can see it start on the bottom left): Finally, another caterpillar-like thing. This is from just tonight (yes, this is how I spend some of my Saturday nights). Joe ran in (after I had spent 15 minutes photographing the creature both inside and outside) and said he got dibs on blogging rights. So I guess I will just show the pictures: (Yes, he had red stripes. No, I did not touch him.) edit: If you have trouble finding the green caterpillar, he's on the middle leaf on the right half of the picture.
P.P.S. Turns out, Joe was kidding when he said he had dibs on the caterpillar story (because it was obvious that I cared about it and he didn't). Oh well, I'll leave room for a little mystery. kp
Last Saturday we did an obstacle course for the 12 Week Challenge (where I discovered I really suck at jumping hurtles - you should ask to see my bruises). Our team (Joe and I) came in 2nd place! We then headed up to Dallas and spent some good time with my parents.
On Sunday we went to a Halloween-themed performance of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at the Meyerson. Here's a picture from our seats (yes, they were high up):
At the top you can see a person playing the Fisk Organ (has blue lights on it). It was neat, but because the concert was geared toward children and we were in cheaper seats, we had a lot of disruptive children and disrespectful adults around us. That made it hard to enjoy, but there were a lot of beautiful parts.
So last week, J.K. Rowling said that Dumbledore (one of the main characters in the Harry Potter series) was gay. I think I agree with the disappointment that a writer shares in this article.
edit: Even if you're not a H.P. fan, I think you would find the article interesting. Joe and I talked about it, and he said there's a whole field in philosophy about reality (and perception of reality) called ontology.
A couple of months ago, Hostias from Mozart's Requiem struck me as a great example of a bold prayer. I've thought about praying confidently and boldly, but have more difficulty doing it. This piece has a balance of pleading with God and forcefully reminding God of the promises he made. If you're short on time, I suggest starting at about a minute in (at -3:45). Sorry - the music quality is not as good as I had hoped.
This is rambling, but I don't do it too often, so I'm not apologizing... I'm rationalizing. A lot of people's blogs look more like this!
A lot of people I know sign their emails with their name in all lowercase. I like this - it gives a less formal air to the email. But I have a hard time doing it. The main reason is that "kathryn" looks really funny to me. Seeing as "kathryn" and "Kathryn" look a lot more alike than "greg" and "Greg" or "rick" and "Rick," it doesn't seem like it should bother me so much. But it does. "kathryn" just doesn't look like my name, so signing emails that way seems very fake. So I don't think I'll do it. As a side note, "kat" looks normal to me and I have no problem using it, but few people call me that (mostly work people and Joe's family).
I read something in an article that reminded me of a sign I almost bought at a tourist trap. It read, "There are three types of people: those who can count, and those who can't."
By the way, would you want this guy teaching your future doctor?
Here goes a quote from this article (emphasis added):
But Dr. Bill Sears, an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, is a proponent of total elimination diets to allow continued breast-feeding. "It's only been in the last 10 years that it's been appreciated that these babies don't have just colic," he said. "A colicky baby is a hurting baby, and 90 percent of the time they hurt for one of two reasons: Either they have a food intolerance or reflux or both."
I just got some pictures from my sister (thanks, Lauren!) from our family reunions this year. (Most of these are a result of me saying "Hey, could I use your camera real quick" or "Can you take a picture of that?") These aren't actually of family, just fun things on the road or while we were there.
First, from the drive from our Jasper Family reunion (my dad's mom's family)... (I was going to link to the blog about it, but I just realized I must not have blogged about it! We have a reunion every year near the fourth of July. It's the families of my grandmother and her three sisters. It's BIG! It was in Leakey, TX this year on the beautiful Frio River.)
First (and my favorite), the sign welcoming you to Hondo, TX:
Next, a sad sight. On the left is a shut-down Wal-Mart. What is that behind there? Oh! A new Wal-Mart Supercenter!
I think they had such a catchy slogan here that it should become a more wide-spread campaign. "Turn around! Don't drown!"
Kolache Festival and Joe Gets Another Weird Fortune
I'm sorry for three things: (1) I'm a week behind in my blog (2) I didn't take any pictures of the fun we had last weekend (3) Joe got dibs on a blog topic.
Last Friday night we stopped by First Fridays at the Frame Gallery in downtown Bryan. There is new art, live jazz, and a hands-on art project. It was fun (as always), and we ran into several people we knew.
We then drove to Caldwell for the street dance that was kicking off the Kolache Festival. A man with cowboy boots, tight jeans, a plaid shirt, a cowboy hat, and a boom mic was the entertainment. Oh, and he had an accordion. He was only one of many who looked like a cowboy but spoke Czech. He played and sang many Czech polkas and waltzes. Though we did not brave the dance floor (or street, as the case may be), we enjoyed the music and dancing.
Saturday morning we drove back out to Caldwell and made our way to the kolache stands (we had heard that they were known to sell out early). In line, we saw Julia (our friend Wes' sister) who was helping out some of her in-laws at an award-winning kolache stand. We tried some of their kolaches, and they were VERY good. I also found a chocolate kolache... so dangerous. It was very good, and it is very good I only bought one. They remind me of the chocolate croissants at La Madeline, only with a little sweeter chocolate. Joe tried a pumpkin pie kolache that was good, too.
We ran into Wes' mom, too! And Wes' friend's wife Christie with her tiny little baby boy. He was very cute. And we got to beat Wes and Heather to meeting him. We saw a few more people we knew, which was somewhat surprising given that there was an afternoon Aggie football game that day. We left the Kolache Festival about 11:30 or noon.
We next went to visit our friends April and Michael (and baby Joel) and their 3 baby chickens! Very cute. I got to hold one, and she was soft.
We went back to our place to shower (it was a very HOT Kolache Festival) and relax in the air conditioning a few minutes. Then we headed over to some new friend's place. Not only did they feed us a fabulous dinner, but they also let me ride their horse! Though Joe knew the husband, I didn't know anyone in the family ahead of time , but we had a great time and I think got to know them a lot better!
Changing the topic entirely....
Joe said he had dibs on this topic, but I kept the fortune, so of course I have to scan it and put that in my blog! I'll link to his as soon as he blogs about it. Today we had Chinese food at Joe's favorite local place - China King Buffet. Remember Joe's bad fortune he got there last time? Well the one he got today was just confusing! Any ideas on what this means?
(In case you can't read it, it says "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Wonton or Dumpling?)
After some of the rain we've had, I found this bee in a bucket we had sitting outside. He wasn't moving, but I'd thought I'd take a picture of him.
After I had taken the picture, I saw him move his wings a little bit (in the water). I used a branch to fish him out, and he was able to hold onto it! I took one picture of the rescued bee and was about to get a lot closer. Now, I know moths and ladybugs with wet wings can't fly until they dry out, and I assumed bees were the same way. They are not. He zoomed away.
P.S. I have no idea why everything is underlined - sorry!
I'd like to be the first to congratulate Joe on complaining about McDonald's in all three of his last three posts. Well done.
By the end of the second week of the challenge, I wasn't quite as sore as I had been. So Monday night I decided to do the extra workout (we had the option to get extra nutritional advice or workouts, I chose workouts) Brad had written for me. I also walked (not too fast, but enough to make my legs sore) for about an hour with Sesalee. Then Tuesday I had my workout. It's now Thursday, and I have my workout this evening, and I'm STILL sore. Pretty much all over.
Oh yeah, and this morning I drove behind the FIZZIX / John Galt car again. No new developments there. They also have an ATM metal decal and a Aggie Band window sticker on their car.
This is a video from Kindergarten - a performance our grade was doing (outside) for our parents. So do you think, at age 5, I was flirting or just having fun. He started it, by the way. Decide for yourself:
I recently changed all the entries in my cell phone's phone book to "last_name first_name" because about half were "first_name last_name" and I was having difficulty looking up numbers efficiently. I'd just like to state, for the record, that I did not make this change just to have my sister's name appear "Looney Lauren." ;)
While Joe was trying on some t-shirts at Target tonight, I overheard a brief insight into another woman's life dilemmas. Imagine this in a young woman's voice: "Does this look too slutty? I won't wear the bra with it." Maybe it was a rhetorical question.
One thing that I don't appreciate is closed-minded feminists.
An article in the New York Times (click here to read it) entitled "Off To Work She Should Go" talks about the decreasing number of married mothers who return to work after having a child. The author (Hirshman) felt it necessary to express herself after hearing the results from the study "Trends in Labor Force Participation of Married Mothers of Infants." Hirshman summed up the results:
"Sixty percent of married mothers of preschool children are now in the work force, four percentage points fewer than in 1997. The rate for married mothers of infants fell by about six percentage points, to 53.5 percent. The bureau further reports that the declines 'have occurred across all educational levels and, for most groups, by about the same magnitude.' In sum, sometime well before the 2000 recession, wives with infants and toddlers began leaving the work force. And they stayed out even after the economy began to revive."
Here is my least favorite section:
"Should we care if women leave the work force? Yes, because participation in public life allows women to use their talents and to powerfully affect society. And once they leave, they usually cannot regain the income or status they had."
Is the only way a human can "participate in public life" or "powerfully affect society" by joining the traditional work force? And, how much a person uses their talents or affects society has almost NOTHING to do with the income level they have. I would venture to say that a person who is earning money buy only using their talents is NOT meeting their full earning potential.
"And despite the happy talk of 'on ramps' back in, only 40 percent of even high-powered professionals get back to full-time work at all. That the most educated have opted out the most should raise questions about how our society allocates scarce educational resources. The next generation of girls will have a greatly reduced pool of role models."
So, I'm officially taking the stance of disagreeing with Ms. Hirshman. What a limited view she has. I wonder if she is able to live up to the standards she has for success. Considering she has a law degree but is a feminist author, I'd say - by her standards - SHE wasted some "scarce educational resources."
I think I'm in one of my cynical states. Why does media over-dramatize everything? I guess that's the wrong question - I know why: money. Fear drives people, and if they exaggerate everything, then they will get people's attention (and money). But could news be different? It seems like such a waste.
Okay, I've got another AP article that has hit me wrong...
In an article about former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, they mention a suggestion that he speak at the George Bush Presidential Library. This is located in College Station, TX, just a couple minutes drive from where I'm sitting.
Here's the quote: "The document appears to raise the possibility of Romney speaking at the presidential library of Bush's father, George H.W. Bush. It is located outside Houston, the same city where Kennedy delivered his speech. "
Actually, it takes about the same amount of time to get to Austin, so I guess we're "outside" both Houston and Austin. My theory is that they were trying to link Romney to JFK (since Romney is Mormon and Kennedy was Catholic), and stretching it to tie the two together.
Update: Here's the link on cnn.com if you're interested in the story.
This morning, my instant oatmeal package (the source of all useful information) asked for the name of the oldest full-length animated film. My co-worker and I thought of Fantasia, but it turns out that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was 3 years earlier (1937). Thinking back about Fantasia, I remembered this guy:
Did anyone else find this guy (Chernabog) to be really scary? I haven't seen the movie in years, but I know I had nightmares after seeing it when I was younger (okay, it didn't take much for me to have nightmares, but still). Maybe the movie was more for adults than children.
I can't believe I didn't have this linked already on my blog. Isn't it so annoying how people overuse the phrase "instant classic" ? Well, this music video is an instant classic! It's my favorite, watch and enjoy (it's family friendly)!
Today I had to take some tissue across campus (for work). For those of you who don't know that I work at a medical school, tissue in this case does not mean a Kleenex. When I got in my car, I realized that I had forgotten another thing I needed to bring with me. I decided to leave the tissue (in a foam box) in the car while I ran back upstairs to get the other item. As I was walking back to the building, I was assaulted by a line from Tommy Boy (which I saw way too many times in junior high and high school)... Richard (David Spade) says "You know that thing in the back seat? It's not an air freshener, it's a dead rotting deer carcass." What a lovely thought.
Before you go any farther, please note: I do not actually want you to get me any of these things. Well, except for the last one.
1. This would make some things easier... people ask a question, and I can just point to the shirt. (I by no means support all the shirts on this site, but here's where you can find it.) 2. People are horrified by potential outcomes in genetic engineering. I think the photoshop variety is equally disturbing. So please, no more pictures where animal faces are morphed with human faces. 3. Tofurkey (a tofu turkey, Tofurky is a brand name). I am also hoping to get the name changed to Turkfu... that just sounds much more exciting. 4. The following book for educational reading.5. The Jesus Christ Talking Action Figure. The makers of this action figure say "With up to 4 minutes of audio (28 different phrases), this figure will entertain, as well as educate, by immortalizing those who have led global impact in all areas of human endeavor." Man, what would we do without this doll - I mean action figure? I think they had some problems with the description... I'll copy it below - you'll see why I can't live without this doll (emphasis added):
Talking Action Figure has a 4 min. audio chip allowing it to speak 25 different phrases in the First Ladies own Voice!
Figures are limited in production and include an individually numbered certificate of authenticity
Figures also include a biographical pamphlet that includes rare photos and a comprehensive timeline specific to each figure.
Figures come dressed in period correct clothing that is period correct and been hand tailored to suit the figure
6. Create a state board certification for reporters and editors that requires rigorous testing over grammar, spelling and punctuation. All AP reporters must be certified in every state. In case previous blogs aren't enough to show my reasoning.... "A judge ordered testing Friday to determine whether three Duke lacrosse players fathered the child of a woman who accuses them of rape -- a prospect defense attorneys dismissed as an 'absolute impossibility.' " I think the defense might be on to something... I agree that is biologically an "absolute impossibility" for three men to father a child. (click here for entire AP article on CNN.com) note from after original posting: I just checked the article again, and they have fixed the mistake! But I promise I copied and pasted it earlier today into the paragraph above. It now reads "... to determine whether any of three Duke lacrosse players..." -KP
From the last couple of posts it looks like all I do is read the news. While I do read news stories every weekday, I promise there are other things going on. With that said, here's another comment on a news story. : )
A story about a tornado hitting North Carolina included a quote I liked: "A man who answered the phone at a gas station on Highway 87 said the twister 'just took a swath right out of that trailer park, right down the middle of it.' " A man who answered the phone at a gas station? So this reporter wanted a quote and decided to call a local gas station. What I can't decide is if he didn't ask the man's name, or if he decided that "a man who answered the phone at a gas station" really sounded better than "Bubba Jones."
This is just something that amused me. I had been ignorant of this particular element needed to provide a top-notch show.
A Guns N' Roses concert was recently canceled because "the band had wanted to drink beer, wine and Jagermeister while performing," (read the CNN article) which is against a Maine state law.
A band spokesperson commented, "Axl and the band are very unhappy about not being able to play for the fans in Portland but have been advised after several meetings with local fire marshals Nelson Collins and Bob Cadigan that they have made it impossible for the band to perform their show to the usual high standards that their fans deserve." (Emphasis added, click here for the GN'R statement.) (note: I'm sure this will change, but right now on the homepage for GN'R they have a link "A Message From Axl Rose" about this issue, and a picture above the link that gets across his message more succinctly.)
I haven't really felt like posting lately, but I think this is a pretty funny quote....
"On Sunday, the Stones played for former U.S. President Bill Clinton's 60th birthday celebration at the Beacon, where millions of dollars were raised for the Clinton Foundation's fight against AIDS, poverty and the environment."
The fight against AIDS, poverty AND THE ENVIRONMENT? Well, I'm glad to know someone is stepping up. ; )
There is a funny video that a co-worker discovered a music video to the song "My Cubicle" (a parody of "You're Beautiful"). I suggest watching it right now, otherwise you'll surf away from this post thinking "Wow, that was a waste of space" and actually be more right today than every other day you've thought that. I'm going to try puting it here... if that doesn't work, click on the title to open the link.
Okay, now that you've seen it and laughed, a true story I'll call "Irony: Case in Point." The coworker who shared this video with me had to leave, but insisted I share it with another coworker we feel is notorious for finding ways to put off or avoid work, from hereforth referred to as "June Bug" to protect his identity. Later that afternoon, I went to June Bug's office to get him to come watch the video. What did I find? June Bug with his tall chair back to the door and a scientific journal resting in his lap. June Bug was sound asleep. Too ironic.
I have a feeling there will be a few of these, so I'm calling this part one.
I'll start with some phrases I hear or say at work that are probably not all that common in the average workplace:
1. What type of drugs should I use today?
2. Do you have a brain for me? (When asked this, I completely ignored the individual. My boss had to ask, "Are you going to answer him?" before I realized he was talking to me... I guess I'm in denial.)
