crashtacking

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:50:21 GMT

Sorry for being so pathetic for the past.....3.5 months. Craziness ongoing. But I'm back, I'm going to keep this blog thing up if it kills me! Sadly, no goths for me like my dear friend HolidayAudio, but in my new life as an IP person, I have discovered the world of highly entertaining patents. Today's patent of choice:

Patent number: 4022227
Filing date: Dec 23, 1975
Issue date: May 10, 1977

Abstract
A method of styling hair to cover partial baldness using only the hair on a person's head. The hair styling requires dividing a person's hair into three sections and carefully folding one section over another. http://www.google.com/patents?id=H4k5AAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&dq=partial+baldness

Cougar bite you....owie!

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:40:59 GMT

So it's been a long time - hard to do journal entries with the chaos and stress of looking for a job! But the countdown is on - I finish up here in the lab in a mere 7 days and start with UChicago Tech on May 1.   A great May Day!!!   I'm super excited for my new job.   Of course, this week, the ACS calls me up for an interview about this amazing job that I'd applied for in January.   I couldn't believe it!

There's been some wild wild stuff happening in Chicago lately:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-cougar-shot-webapr16,0,1215541.story

Yes, a cougar was shot and killed in Chicago last week! When will the violence end? Even cats are getting shot in the streets.....
Of course, as with all notable events, the internet pundits have some entertaining and en pointe comments......here are a few of my favorites:

Police excuses:   I'm surprised that the police report of the shooting of this animal neglected to mention whether the cougar was carrying in his paw what appeared to be a concealed weapon. This is Chicago after all.
—Robert P. Austin

There have been more cougar sightings: There have more 'cougar' sightings in Chicago in the following places: Gibson's, Tavern on Rush, The Lodge, Luxbar, and most bars in Wrigleyville after a Cubs game.
--Walter Brzeski Chicago

The fact that this cougar made it all the way from northern Wisconsin is remarkable, only to meet a sad end in Yuppieville......

Today there were reports of more sightings of a cougar in the west side of Chicago. Why are these cougars coming south to vacation, we wonder?   Taking tips from the Canada geese?

Doomsday postponed

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:41:13 GMT

I don't know, I might have stayed a little longer.....these guys look so friendly and inviting!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23893293/?GT1=43001

Triplets!

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:22:25 GMT

As HerdingBats said in his blog, we're having triplets and we are super excited!!!

Whoa - it's been forever!

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:29:43 GMT

Okay, I'm back, and I'll go ahead and post that ciabatta recipe that some people have been dying for, since it's so amazing:

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp extra virgin oliveoil
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 cups flour

Put water and yeast in mixer, and allow the yeast to dissolve into the water.   Then add the olive oil, turn the mixer on (use the bread hook if you've got one), and add the flour one cup at a time, and the salt.   Knead for a couple of minutes - this dough should be pretty darn sticky and just barely staying in a lump on the bread hook.

Coat the inside of a large bowl with more olive oil, and transfer your dough into the bowl.   Cover with a damp towel, put it in a warm place (like on the oven, with the oven turned to "warm" or 200 degrees) and allow to rise for about an hour - the dough should have at least doubled. I recommend multi-tasking by watching a hockey game.

Then, coat a baking sheet with olive oil. Punch the dough down and divide into three parts.   Stretch each part into a rough loaf-shape (I do this by stretching and dangling the lump of dough a bit) and place on the cookie sheet.   Again, allow the loaves to rise to double-size - about an hour. More hockey.

Pre-warm oven to 450.   Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the loaves are turning a bit golden and you can knock on them and tell they are done.   Eat warm, standing in your kitchen over the cookie sheets!!!

Gotta try something new for Thanksgiving....

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:49:21 GMT

Because we've gotten a little bored with the other 10 delicious recipes we prepare for Thanksgiving, we're trying a couple new ones. This is one I'm particularly excited about!

The puffs can be formed and chilled or frozen on baking sheets well ahead of time, then simply popped into the oven.

Servings: Makes about 4 dozen.

subscribe to Bon Appétit

Ingredients

1 cup water
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt plus additional for sprinkling
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (packed) grated extra-sharp white cheddar cheese
2/3 cup minced green onions

Preparation

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Bring 1 cup water, butter, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to boil in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat; mix in flour. Stir over medium heat until mixture becomes slightly shiny and pulls away from sides of pan, about 3 minutes; transfer to stand mixer fitted with paddle. Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition to form sticky dough. Mix in cheese and green onions.

Using 2 teaspoons, form dough into 1 1/4- to 1 1/2-inch ovals; drop onto baking sheet 1 inch apart. (Can be made ahead. Wrap in plastic, then foil. Refrigerate up to 2 days or freeze up to 2 weeks.)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake cheese puffs until golden, about 30 minutes if at room temperature and 35 minutes if chilled or frozen. Serve immediately.

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:03:51 GMT

In an instant, we go from a happy child running around, taking rides in the laundry basket and putting everything she can get her hands on into the trash can, to our poor one-armed little girl.   Last week was sheer insanity - after having spent the majority of Saturday watching her throw up and get weaker and weaker and calling the doctor every 2 hours to make sure we still shouldn't take her in to the ER, I spent Sunday evening understanding her illness in a way that only someone else who has it can. Lying on the floor in my bathroom watching the room spin and wishing I could just pass out because it would feel so much less painful while students happily talked about the next house trip in my living room......and after a night of throwing up every hour or so, Tim started in at 5:00 AM on Monday morning!

After a long conversation about which would be safer, biking or driving Nellie to daycare, we decided to go with driving, because that doesn't require as much balance and we were both extremely weak and ill.   So we took her up there and were surprised to see 6 kids, instead of the usual 5 - thinking that we should keep an eye on the situation because we'd told our daycare provider when we starting having Nellie with her that we felt like 5 kids was really the max a single person could handle, I teetered my way back to the car and Tim drove me to work.   Not an hour later, my coworker burst into our weekly "what have you done" meeting with my boss and said I had to call my daycare immediately - something bad had happened!   I ran upstairs and called, and all I could hear was Nellie crying in the background and my daycare provider was hysterical.   I got something about her arm, and that was it.

So I literally ran back to my meeting and said, "I have to go.   Something bad has happened." And just kept running. I called Tim while biking back to BJ, since he was home busy throwing up, and said, "You can't be sick anymore.   Something's happened to Nellie. Put your clothes on, get your car keys and your bike, and meet me at the car!"

And I ran into BJ, got him, then biked frantically down 60th to the parking lot where we'd stashed our car for the day. We screeched up to 50th and Woodlawn, and then literally stopped the car in a bus stop, threw on the flashers and ran into the building.  We walked straight into the apartment and took our girl from our daycare provider - her shirt was off and her arm was wrapped in a towel with an icepack, but it was clear that it was broken.   Nellie cried and cried, and I just put her head on my shoulder and told her that it would be okay, and let Nicole know that we'd talk to her later and let her know what was going on and how Nellie was.   Tim stayed a moment longer just to get a few details, and  I just walked down the stairs and to the car as carefully and smoothly as I could, holding Nellie tight and talking to her about how it was all going to be okay.   I sat in the bottom of the car holding her as Tim drove slowly with the flashers on to the hospital, and he also managed to get our pediatrician on the phone and she told us to go straight to the DCAM.   We got there, tossed the keys at a valet, and went straight to the third floor.   The doctors and nurses were all wonderful - everything was very smooth, all the people were careful and thorough and gentle, and there were support people all over making sure we had what we needed.   There were even women on each floor we ended up visiting whose job is "support and distract." I want this job - one of them spent an hour in our room in the ER blowing bubbles for Nellie!   Her memories of this event feature "more bubbles" prominently! (thank God)

An extremely traumatic xray revealed the obvious, and we were shuttled down to the Peds ER, where they have a dedicated casting room. (Strange - kids break things a lot, you think?)   Third most traumatic moment of the day - placing the IV.   Tim and I both said to the nurses, "She's really strong!" And they waved us off - "Yes, toddlers do fight these things a lot, don't they?" Not like ours - the two nurses who came weren't enough.   Tim held her legs, I held her arms and held her in my lap, and THREE nurses placed the IV. They can't say we didn't warn them....

Second most traumatic moment of the day - they sedated her with ketamine and versed and did a closed reduction using a live xray for placement.   The scientific nerd part of me though this was incredibly cool technology, if only I could be watching someone else go through this.....   she was sedated but obviously still experienced the setting - I had held her all day, but when she calmed down after the sedation, I got off the bed and put on my lead coat and stood with Tim while the doctors set her arm and put on the initial plaster cast.   As they snapped it back in place (a sound I never want to hear again), she looked for me, and said, "mom! Mommy! Ow!" And I just kept talking to her.   The sedation was very short, so she was back to struggling within 5 minutes.   The doctors were quick and efficient.

Back to our ER room we go, while they waited for the ketamine to wear off and to do a formal set of x-rays to determine if the reduction held after they did the casting.   And a visit from the social worker - DCFS is now involved, because it was an unwitnessed fall.   Wow.   The fallout on this has been extensive - within minutes of us arriving home, we had a DCFS emergency social worker in our house.   She had to inspect Nellie for any bruises or marks, and she talked to us about our daycare provider. It was good that we had the opportunity to tell her that we thought she was an excellent mom and that she had taken good care of Nellie, with this being a noteable exception and a terrible accident.   We were terrified to hear that one of the possible outcomes of this would be that she would lose her own kids!   What a world we live in.   DCFS went straight to her house, and apparently she is not able to be with her children or with any others without supervision, and she can't sleep in her home until the investigation is closed.   She was optimistic that it would be over last week, but apparently there are still some things going on - I don't have the details.   We also had a surprise visit from Special Victims Unit the next day, and she also went over to the daycare after seeing us.   I can understand why these things are protocol, but I just hope that things work out and everyone understands this was just an accident. An accident due to some degree of negligence, but an accident nonetheless.

I feel just awful about this whole situation.   Tim and I had some concerns about the daycare and the number of kids, but Nellie was so happy there, we knew she was getting good care.   She is a sweet little girl and was learning good skills there (please, thank you, sharing...), and the children she was with were also well-behaved and good tempered.   She was always relatively clean and definitely well-fed and happy, so we know all her needs were taken care of.   But maybe she was not carefully watched, and she's a toddler - she doesn't know limits, and that's why adults watch babies.   So we've learned a very important lesson, and we're lucky it was her arm and not something worse.

And I feel awful about our daycare provider and what she is going through.   No good mother should have to fear that her children will be taken away.   I know she feels terrible guilt about what happened, and putting her through all these extra hoops seems just cruel. We are doing everything we can to make it easier for her.   And the children miss Nellie and Nellie misses them.   Tim's going with her up to see them today, so hopefully that will be a fun visit for everyone - I wish I could be there!

We're keeping our girl at home for the foreseeable future - this requires us to work insane shifts, but we do this because we love her and we want her to be safe, and we love each other and we know we can get through it! I"m working 5AM-2:00 PM, and Tim's working 12:00 PM - 9:00 PM.   And we've found the kindness of students who are willing to listen to the baby monitor for two hours in the middle of the day while she naps.   We are very very lucky.   And, of course, family who are always willing to come help!!!

Who knows? We may find that this is a great way to save $1000 a month and to spend more time with our girl.   We're getting the hang of this home-parenting thing, slowly but surely.   Coloring is an important activity!

Update - yesterday's xray showed that the bones are still in alignment and look fantastic, so we're super-happy that it is going well.   Still another appointment next Tuesday, but it's all good! Nellie has a fiberglass cast on now that is much sturdier looking than the plaster wrapped in an ace bandage.....

That's our news.

And yesterday, poor Amadou Cisse was murdered on 61st and Ellis. Yes, 100 feet from our bedroom, as we slept.   His crime was coming home late from his Chemistry lab, and he'd just successfully defended his PhD dissertation. What a horrible horrible loss.   Of course, the community is shaken and upset, and many students fear for their safety as they walk through the neighborhood. For only the fourth time in our 8 years in the house, we had a special house meeting to talk about things - safety, thoughts, what is happening around the area and what is changing.   A hard meeting. (especially because I've lost my voice!)

Well, Thanksgiving will be a good time to be thankful for the things we have and thoughtful about those who have lost so much.   I can't wait to spend time in the kitchen making fabulous food - I've already got my recipes lined up!!!

Apple Crisp a la St. Paul the Redeemer in Lime Springs, Iowa.

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:24:27 GMT

Because you know it doesn't get better than this and it's Monday so we all need to think something happy!!

Preheat oven to 375.   For a 9x14 pan, use 5 lbs tart (read Grannies) apples, peeled, cored and sliced.   If you want to be super-spoiled, use this: http://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Apple-Potato-Peeler/dp/B0000DE2SS

Toss apples with 1 cup white sugar, cinnamon, cardamom (every good Norwegian knows that the key to happy baking is cardamom!), nutmeg and cloves to taste. Yes, to taste.   Sprinkle 1-2 tbsp flour over apples and mix again (to thicken the liquid during baking).
Layer apples in pan.

For crust:
2/3 c. flour
2/3 c. oatmeal
2/3 c. brown sugar
6 tbsp. margarine.
cinnamon
cardamom
nutmeg

Cut crust ingredients together with a pastry cutter until crumbly, and pile on top of apples.

Bake 35-45 minutes, until apples are tender.

To COMPLETELY spoil yourself, serve warm a la mode and with a glass of ice wine!!!!

Caution: A hard lesson learned - do not serve to a giant crowd of undergrads and expect to get any yourself!

The Increasing Man-Elephant Conflict

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:03:49 GMT

Now this is what happens when parties get WAY out of control:

Elephants electrocuted in drunken rampage

They had found rice beer in Indian village; incident reflects loss of habitat

Updated: 7:47 a.m. CT Oct 23, 2007

GAUHATI, India - Six Asiatic wild elephants were electrocuted as they went berserk after drinking rice beer in India's remote northeast, a wildlife official said Tuesday.

Nearly 40 elephants came to a village on Friday looking for food. Some found beer, which farmers ferment and keep in plastic and tin drums in their huts, said Sunil Kumar, a state wildlife official.

They got drunk, uprooted a utility pole carrying power lines and were electrocuted in Chandan Nukat, a village nearly 150 miles west of Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya state, Kumar said

"There would have been more casualties had the villagers not chased them away," said Dipu Mark, a local conservationist.

The elephants are known to have a taste for rice beer brewed by tribal communities in India's northeast. Four wild elephants died in similar circumstances in the region three years ago.

India's northeast accounts for the world's largest concentration of wild Asiatic elephants with the states of Assam and Meghalaya alone estimated to have 7,000 of them.

"It's great to have such a huge number of elephants, but the increasing man-elephant conflict following the shrinkage in their habitat due to the growing human population is giving us nightmares," said Pradyut Bordoloi, a former forest and environment minister for Assam.

Wow.

I had no idea there was a man-elephant conflict, but having been made aware, I am most concerned. We need to do something about this! I propose mediation and a rehab program. That's worked so well for all those pop-tarts out there - and frankly, I think the similarities between drunk elephants on a rampage and club-hopping, drama mama pop-stars in Benzes are striking.

In other news, my friends in So Cal have been evacuated and their condo development is burning.   Pray for them and everyone else in Cali that they are safe!!!

Nellie's Halloween costume progresses nicely - I completed the back, and am trucking away on the front. Tonight's goal - finish the front and knit the hood.   :) Can't wait to put pictures up when it is done!

Knitting acquisition problems....

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:40:19 GMT

I'm in love:

If being totally gorgeous weren't enough, they are compatible with the interchangeable set I already have! Yes, i need them like I need a hole in my head, but wow are they ever cool!!!! I know I'd use them, for sure - how much prettier are pretty projects on gorgeous needles? Drool.........

I just completed an online survey about knitting UFOs - that would be knitting unfinished objects. I am happy to report that I fall healthily into the middle of the fiber-obsessed, with about 10-12 projects languishing in various baskets and bins. However, the people who put together this survey came up with some pretty entertaining statistics:

"Those of us who answered the Knitting DailyUnFinished Objects Pollhave a combined total of nearly 65,000 UFOs. That's a lot of unfinished knitting sitting around in workbaskets and closets and ziplock bags; it works out to an average of about 7 UFOs per knitter.

Every UFO represents at least one pair of knitting needles (the circulars and the dpns probably cancel each other out, so let's just say "one pair per project")...that means that the above data represents130,000 knitting needles.

We shall not even begin to think about how many stitch markers, lost tape measures, and tiny pairs of scissors fallen down under sofa cushions this represents."

I hereby vow to post my annual knit list on my livejournal each year from now on in an attempt to keep myself honest about how much I really need to get done and what I actually need to complete, as opposed to "OMG! I love this yarn and I need to start working on this new project right away" (which translates to, "I'm so sick of working on this freakin' baby blanket and I really need an excuse to do something different so I'm sure I can figure out how to justify why X is much more important to be working on right now....."    Since I'm confessing, I shall confess that I am exactly half way through Butternut's baby blanket and have as of last night dropped working on it to devote my attention to generating Nellie's Halloween squirrel costume.   Let's be fair, though - Halloween is next week and Butternut isn't due to arrive until November 15!  I WILL GET THESE DONE!

That aside.....it feels like it's been forever since I went to Loopy. :( Maybe if I'm good and get three projects done real soon, I'll treat myself to a little field trip.......with a shopping limit!

I heard from my new best friend, chatty Goth, today.  Sadly, they don't need me on their Halloween song, but would like to work with me for the next song.  Hooray! I am breaking into the Goth world.   Time to go buy some black eye-liner!! Maybe I should buy black yarn at Loopy.....

I want to go here!

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:35:26 GMT

Wow, so the world may not be going to hell in a giant, defrosting handbasket, after all!

First we hear that more people are getting screened and fewer people are dying of cancer, and now the bald eagle is off the endangered species list!

The new National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota sounds amazing - definitely a place I'm putting on our Midwest "must see" list. Minivacation over spring break, you say? Sounds excellent!

I definitely want to go here and see the amazing bald eagles and spend the day peering through my binoculars - yes, I'm a big dork. Then again, giant predatory birds are pretty cool, yo!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21309719/

Knit-Tastic

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:38:29 GMT

A highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway. Glancing at the car, he was astounded to see that the person behind the wheel was knitting! The trooper cranked down his window and yelled to the driver, "PULL OVER!" "NO!" the driver yelled back, "SCARF!"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=M6ZjMWLqJvM

Encouraging News

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:26:29 GMT

This was good to hear - appears that the cancer research is working!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21299632/

Moral of the story - prevention prevention! Get screened, ya'll.   Early and often. For all of those cancers out there.

Went apple picking this weekend and managed to drive for two hours and yet pick only a single apple (well, it is apple picking, not apples picking....). How does that work? But I did ride in a fifty gallon drum painted like a Holstein and pulled by a tractor - can't beat that for entertainment!

Went to the Bears/Vikings yesterday - what a trip. Literally - we biked there!   We don't bike in clement weather, so of course it rained the whole way up. But the sunset on the way back (our stomachs happily filled with deliciousness from Quartino) made it totally worthwhile.

And yes, they lost. But only after Devin Hester returned a kick-off for an 89-yard touchdown, and added another touchdown as a receiver. So while the Bears defense sucked, strangely, the offense made it an excellent experience. When was the last time you could say that? Wait, Hester is on special teams - okay, that makes sense. Now we're talking Bears football again. This is the smallest fan in the stadium cheering when Hester scored the second touchdown!

Tasty Bites and Friends with Views!

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 19:30:58 GMT

How bout dem Bears??? Who woulda thunk they'd beat the 4-0 Packers after sucking so much the last four games? It's like they decided to play or something......that and it's something about Favre and the Packers that just makes Lovie's blood boil. Hey - he's a nice guy, and it's not his fault your quarterback can't throw and he can!!!! 6 days until the Bears-Vikings game!!!! It was some consolation after the..uh....Cubs failed to appear in the playoffs. Let's just pretend that whole thing didn't happen.

Went to a cocktail party for Victoria's 30th this weekend and boy did we drink lots of good wine! Kristen hosted - GORGEOUS VIEW, as they live on the 17th floor of a condo in the fork of the Chicago river. So they have a two-sided view of the river facing east, all the way down past 333 W. Wacker. Sears tower, Hancock building, merchandise mart. Unbelieveable. I'd spend all my time there looking out the window and never getting anything done! We were gonna make cognac brownies for this, but alas, our oven is venting toxic fumes (carbon monoxide) into our apartment everytime we turn it on, so rather than killing ourselves and our precious daughter, we elected to give raspberries little semi-sweet chocolate skirts and call it a day. I can't even talk about the oven situation, it makes me so angry.

Chorizo in Red Wine:

16 oz of GOOD chorizo (not the squeeze kind in plastic wrapping, but real, encased chorizo).
1 bottle of red wine
Pre-made polenta

Pour red wine into a large skillet or chicken-fryer, add the chorizo.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Turn off heat and let cool, then store overnight in a covered dish or a gallon ziploc, with the red wine!

The next day, remove the casing from the chorizo, slice into 1/2 inch slices, and put in a deep skillet with the same red wine in which it was marinated overnight. Cook until the red wine is reduced to a thick sauce, then serve immediately. We literally ate this out of the cast-iron skillet on polenta! (see below for polenta)

Polenta for chorizo:
Slice polenta into 1/4 inch slices (like crackers.) Brush very lightly with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper (or something else fun, like basil or some "italian seasoning". Bake in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes or so, until polenta is warm and easy to handle - a little firm!

Department of Planning

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 19:20:22 GMT

Okay, so I'm tooling back from lunch on my bicycle and what should pass me but an environmentally sensitive and entirely unbelieveable Toyota Prius with a big, important-looking governmental seal on it and the words "Department of Planning."

So I want to know - how do such things even come to exist? I would think that if you were to try to put together a department of planning, just planning to have the meetings to figure out what you'd plan to do in such a department and to determine how many more planning meetings would be necessary to plan to build the building and all that had to be done to generate a department, it would be pretty much a classic catch 22. Of course, this is what bureaucracies do best - create more bureaucracy! I wonder how many governmental relatives work in this department.......

And can you imagine what life would be like if you worked for the department of planning? I wonder if everyone has crackberries so that they can make sure they've planned everything without conflict and to log in all of their planning meetings......or do people ever meet in such a department? Maybe they just plan to meet.....maybe it would be better named the "Department of Good Intentions....."

Speaking of planning, we are in the throes of Oweek.....be nostalgic, everyone!!!!

Grapes of Laugh...

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 17:37:58 GMT

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20181556/

Okay, so I love to peruse the often snotty but occasionally funny wine blogs, and the above is just cool! I've gotta check out a couple of these.   I have enjoyed fine Fat Bastard wines in the past.....

So a whirlwind weekend with the parental units (anyone out there remember when their elementary school went to this politically correct and ineffably bland descriptor for the people who love you and care for you and bail you out of all of your problems?).

However, some seriously good eating - my folks had a gift certificate to Ruth's Chris steakhouse, so we went and gorged ourselves on some very basic and exquisitely cooked beef, with equally well executed side dishes and a fantastic shrimp appetizer.   My only disappointment - my whiskey sour cocktail was definitely made with a mix.   Such a fantastic dinner and you start out with a crappy sour mix? BOO.

But I learned some fun stuff - they sear their steaks at 1000 degrees. (Yes, I put the right amount of 0s in that), and serve them on 500 degree plates.   Me being a stuffy food-nerd, I sent the waiter into the kitchen to ask the chefs what kind of serving ware they were using, since it didn't seem likely that you could put regular stoneware in an oven and heat it to 500 degrees! Answer - no,not regular stoneware. It's some cool stuff called "vortex" that is special and heat resistant.   Ya learn something new every day.   Learning something new is so much cooler when it's accompanied by an excellent dinner and a tasty bottle of red wine.....

Dragged the folks all over downtown, and it culminated with an extremely hot but very informative CAF river boat architectural tour. Those things are so cool, and I love tall buildings!

They are off to visit Grandma, and I've been on my own the last two days, but PRT and TMM are back today - hooray! I got some pictures from Mimi and she seems to have had a blast visiting her other family, but I WANT HER BACK! SHE'S MINE!!!!!    They come in at 7 tonight and I absolutely can't wait.

Working my butt off so that I can be free and clear tonight.   That will involve something just short of a miracle, I tell you.   But good news - the boss loved my abstract! I have been uplifted by approval - I'm such a puppy dog sometimes, begging for a pat on the head.   Who cares - maybe I'm finally out of the doghouse.    I just have to keep working my tail off to keep it that way and get this stuff off my back!

Holiday Audio - I can see your cockroaches and raise you one- on Sunday when I took the dog out, I got off the elevator and discovered a dead mouse, just hanging out in front of the elevator. Me, I work with mice every day, but a free range mouse is just not my thing.  I like my mice in boxes busy being scientific. I got right back on the elevator to the lobby and had the nice man at the front desk take care of it!   Blech.   That was the beginning of thinking, "hey, running by the lake every day is awesome, but I'm kind missing BJ."   Couldn't pay me enough to live in this magnificent shambles in the winter - I can only imagine the beasties who inhabit the place when it gets cold!   Also, since it was so gorgeous outside last night, I opened all the windows to air out my stagnant digs.   Two hours later, I discovered that I had opened my home to an actual army of the largest spiders I have seen since I left the south. It took me two hours and all my troups (fortunately, Tula Tom and Anya are very excited about eating spiders) to get rid of that creep crawling feeling, as well as the creepy crawlies. I'm back to my air conditioned box, no matter what the weather outside - can't handle the invasion again!   Beemad, I feel for ya!!!

Cool view of the day - when I went running this morning, the lake was so buffetted by the south wind that the north side of the point was just a giant sand flat and the 57th beach was twice as big as usual! Of course, I was so fascinated by the view that I almost got blown off the path. I'm sure that the cars whizzing by on their way to work were quite entertained by my drunken-looking staggering against the wind.

stalling out on the work front.....

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 16:43:04 GMT

kinda fun:

http://www.nbc5.com/video/13664289/index.html#

put it on the full screen if you can....

TMM and PRT are in NJ by now and I'm a swinging single!   Eeeekkkkk.......

Hopelessly stalled out at work - status: ASH abstract draft submitted, paper hopelessly stalled.   Currently in a state of complete brain mush. Need to get myself moving! May require massive amounts of caffeine.

Foodie discovery:
Michigan Riesling (on the sweetish side) is delicious with Calypso plaintain nachos.    Yum!!!

Ever have one of those days

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 15:14:03 GMT

When you can't figure out what the hell you're doing at work? I just came in this morning and sat, looking at my desk, wondering what exactly I was supposed to accomplish today. Not that I don't have anything to do - quite the opposite. I'm so completely slammed with deadlines, I have no clue where to start.

So it's a really great idea to can it all and write in my LJ, right?

At least my reports during yesterday's normally tortuous first thing Monday-morning series of meetings seemed to make the boss happy. I may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on this project - so tired of feeling like I just can't get it all done! It will be nice to have an accomplishment!

PR back in daycare today, after a day of massive amounts of snot and crankiness. She seems back on track, and crankiness aside, it was nice to sneak in an extra half-day with her. She can be pretty entertaining! One of the highlights of the day is that she managed to convince us to give her spaghetti and meatsauce for all three meals of the day - it makes for a very orange baby. But happy, and that's really what it's all about.

Justin and Luke helped move our two new (massive) sofas over last night and we enjoyed a chicken stir fry dinner with them - quite tasty, but all the cayenne pepper I'd put in didn't even make a showing, so I'll have to ramp it up next time. We talked about this NYT Perlstein essay that slams the UofC. I hadn't heard of it (one of the disadvantages of moderating the listhost is that you don't get e-mails posted by anyone who is also moderating this listhost), so I've gotta look into it and see exactly how much I think this guy has his head up his butt. I'm sure you'll see a rant-posting from me soon on the topic.

Stay tuned.....

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 02:55:33 GMT

Small went to her very first baseball game today! I know, I know, the all-American thingy. But at least we didn't have to disagree on the team - it was Cubs/Mets, so everyone won....except for the Mets. (Couldn't resist!)

Great game - 6-2 Cubs, both in contention for their divisions.  And Miss Thing had a fantastic time - she gorged herself on pretzel and mustard (okay, mostly mustard), and generally loved the crowd. Not thinkin she got much about the game, but who really does at Wrigley?

Brunch at Uncle Ben and Aunt Victoria's beforehand was divine - who knew how tasty caprese would be with eggs and homemade pork sausage? Have to keep this on my list of tasty brunch items, for sure.

After the game, we WALKED from Wrigley down to Quartino the meet the ladies for dinner - a great walk, but the circumstances could have been better.   It alternated between drizzling and downpour for most of the walk. But that didn't deter the world's least responsible parents! (Actually, she was napping for much of the walk, so rather than wake her up by stopping, we trudged down Clark street in the great grey city. The greyness was much relieved by a brief stop at Caribou that resulted in tasty frosty coffee beverages.)

We did have the opportunity to be meet two lovely and friendly gay guys who were walking their bassett hound and had also taken refuge under a highrise awning - Nellie was absolutely in love with the dog, so we relaxed and chatted until the rain let up.  One of the better things about city life, those random run-ins.

Dinner at Quartino for the damp trio - fabulous as always, and the company marvelous. Can't believe Laura is taking off this TUESDAY!   Glad to know we will still be in touch via blog, though.... ;)   Ate and ate and ended up wearing a sizeable amount of my profiteroles. It's bad enough that I'm naturally a clutz, but when my child is sitting on my lap eating chocolate sauce with her fingers - I can only say, thank goodness for paisley. Of course, the paisley didn't change the fact that I discovered I had chocolate tribal markings down the side of my face and neck when I got home and looked in the mirror as I was brushing my teeth! It's the new mom-chic, I tell you.

Restaurant was extremely loud - had no idea it could be so mind-boggling!   Excepting the company of our table, I have to be a little snarky - SO MANY CLUB FLOOOSIES!!!! Oy. I just wanted to smack someone - the were all so focussed on being fabulous, it made me feel a little queasy and dead inside.  Of course, you could say I was just feeling insecure about my new tribal tattoos. But really, so many of them were so self-focussed they couldn't be bothered to move on the sidwalk to allow a stroller to go by - come on!! Get over yourself!

Okay - watching the ultimate dork-show - "Ice Road Truckers". Okay, you know you're curious. Check it out - History Channel. What a psycho idea - driving gihugic trucks full of diamond mine equipment across lakes.   I gotta look into this.