It's after Spring Break, and I finally feel like I have my life back. School still takes up most of my waking hours, but I've had time for cooking, movies, and other fun stuff. First of all, check out this awesome video from YouTube which quite accurately portrays the dilemmas I've been facing lately:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdJyyJ2qur0
And secondly, go see "The King of Kong", a new documentary about the quest to be the world's best at Donkey Kong. It's hilarious. We hear from the middle-aged men who spend their lives in the arcade, and from their wives who don't know how to react to being called the "wife of the guy who plays Donkey Kong." (Actually, only two of the men are married, obviously.)
If an infarction causes loss of the anterior spinal artery at a particular spinal segment, pain and temperature sensation is lost, but not fine touch (since that portion of the spinal cord is supplied by the posterior spinal artery.) How amazing.
30 March 2007
Alive! I swear!
Ok, so I've been TOTALLY slacking lately...and there is no excuse. I don't even really have time to be posting now, but I just wanted to share the following information:
It's illegal to be in a cemetary in Virginia after dark.
Good to know. I found out this tidbit by almost getting arrested on Tuesday. Brian and I were strolling around UVa to walk off an enormous meal, and I wanted to show him the monument to fallen Confederate soldiers that is in the Civil War cemetary near the first year dorms. It was too dark to see anything, so we were already almost back at the gate by the time the cops reached us. Luckily, it was pretty easy to convince them we had NO IDEA it was illegal, and that we were upstanding young citizens- it probably helped that we hadn't been drinking (what? crazy). So, they just checked our IDs over the radio and let us go with a warning.
The funny part of the entire incident was that we weren't doing anything! Or trying to do anything illegal! How bizarre...
Oh, and off topic- about that trip two weeks ago to Valley Forge PN- it snowed and sleeted the entire way home. 6 hours of I-81, staring out the windows at cars on their roofs.
Down to the jewelry store packin' a gun
"Wrap it up, I think i'll take this one"
It's illegal to be in a cemetary in Virginia after dark.
Good to know. I found out this tidbit by almost getting arrested on Tuesday. Brian and I were strolling around UVa to walk off an enormous meal, and I wanted to show him the monument to fallen Confederate soldiers that is in the Civil War cemetary near the first year dorms. It was too dark to see anything, so we were already almost back at the gate by the time the cops reached us. Luckily, it was pretty easy to convince them we had NO IDEA it was illegal, and that we were upstanding young citizens- it probably helped that we hadn't been drinking (what? crazy). So, they just checked our IDs over the radio and let us go with a warning.
The funny part of the entire incident was that we weren't doing anything! Or trying to do anything illegal! How bizarre...
Oh, and off topic- about that trip two weeks ago to Valley Forge PN- it snowed and sleeted the entire way home. 6 hours of I-81, staring out the windows at cars on their roofs.
Down to the jewelry store packin' a gun
"Wrap it up, I think i'll take this one"
14 March 2007
Cause for Celebration
My car passed its Virginia State Safety Inspection today. If I believed in God, I'd be thanking her. I swear I scared the woman at the garage by yelling in delight when she called me to come pick up my car and told me that it was good to go.
It truly is a miracle. My car is a 1991 silver Buick Regal, a front-wheel drivin' snowmobile, a canoe transporter, an indestructible tank, a home away from home. I've driven it since I turned sixteen, and it has never left me on the side of the road. The A/C hasn't worked a day, the roof is rusted from my aluminum canoe, it leaks coolant at a very slow rate, the glove box is broken, and the passenger side windows don't roll down. It's such a piece of shit that I didn't even buy collision insurance this year, just liability.
And I love it. It's my baby. I love it even more than I loved the hat that I threw away. But every time it gets inspected, some stupid expensive shit always fails. Motormount, 2002: $500. Driver's side window motor, 2003: $300. Rear struts, 2006: $400. You probably now understand my glee upon learning that my Buick is street-legal one more year.
I love my car! Thank you baby!
In other news...
Today was an amazing day. First, the weather was spectacular, sunny with a high near 80 degrees. Absolutely beautiful for mid-March in Charlottesville. I took this opportunity to bike to work (also I'd dropped my car off at the shop), which reminded me how out of shape I was, but it was somewhat of an achievement, nonetheless.
After work, I picked up my car and drove to Brian's. We sat for a long while drinking beer on his front porch, just watching the sun sink lower and kids shooting hoops on the street, and enjoying the spectacular ambient temperature. I can't imagine a better way to spend the evening.
Early tomorrow I embark on a roadtrip with the rest of my officemates to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to meet everyone in our home office with whom I communicate frequently by phone. Should be a blast!
Going down the road, feelin' bad...
It truly is a miracle. My car is a 1991 silver Buick Regal, a front-wheel drivin' snowmobile, a canoe transporter, an indestructible tank, a home away from home. I've driven it since I turned sixteen, and it has never left me on the side of the road. The A/C hasn't worked a day, the roof is rusted from my aluminum canoe, it leaks coolant at a very slow rate, the glove box is broken, and the passenger side windows don't roll down. It's such a piece of shit that I didn't even buy collision insurance this year, just liability.
And I love it. It's my baby. I love it even more than I loved the hat that I threw away. But every time it gets inspected, some stupid expensive shit always fails. Motormount, 2002: $500. Driver's side window motor, 2003: $300. Rear struts, 2006: $400. You probably now understand my glee upon learning that my Buick is street-legal one more year.
I love my car! Thank you baby!
In other news...
Today was an amazing day. First, the weather was spectacular, sunny with a high near 80 degrees. Absolutely beautiful for mid-March in Charlottesville. I took this opportunity to bike to work (also I'd dropped my car off at the shop), which reminded me how out of shape I was, but it was somewhat of an achievement, nonetheless.
After work, I picked up my car and drove to Brian's. We sat for a long while drinking beer on his front porch, just watching the sun sink lower and kids shooting hoops on the street, and enjoying the spectacular ambient temperature. I can't imagine a better way to spend the evening.
Early tomorrow I embark on a roadtrip with the rest of my officemates to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to meet everyone in our home office with whom I communicate frequently by phone. Should be a blast!
Going down the road, feelin' bad...
Cheese and broccoli casserole
I'd been dreaming of cheesy broccoli with chicken for a few days (I occasionally, by which I mean all of the time, crave and obsess about certain foods), so Brian and I experimented a little making dinner yesterday. All we knew was that our dinner needed to include chicken, broccoli, lots of cheese, and garlic. And what do you know? Our made-up recipe was tasty! Now if only I could figure out why my carrot cake turned out bright yellow instead of its usual brown.
Cheese and broccoli, etc., casserole:
8 oz cheddar cheese
1/2 pack egg noodles
2 chicken breasts, thawed
2 cloves garlic
frozen broccoli in sprigs (florets? not sure...)
8 oz. milk
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
pepper
mushrooms (optional)
Prep:
Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Mince the garlic. Grate the cheddar cheese. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
This part is slightly complicated because you have to do several things at once.
1. Boil the noodles only until they are chewy (not all of the way done). Drain and toss with a little olive oil to keep them from sticking together.
2. Saute the chicken with the garlic (and mushrooms). Do Not Overcook.
3. Put the broccoli into your large casserole dish, enough to cover the bottom, and put half a centimeter of water in the dish. Microwave for about 1.5 minutes, then drain the water, leaving the half-cooked broccoli in the dish.
Mix up these ingredients in your casserole dish with about half of the cheese.
4. Make the sauce. This requires concentration and constant stirring. First, microwave the milk for about a minute to warm it up. Then melt the butter in a saucepan. Once it is completely melted, add the flour and stir like crazy until it is smoothly blended. With the heat on medium, add the warm milk and stir forever for it to blend well with the butter/flour mixture. As soon as this is well mixed and slightly thickened and bubbly, add about half of the cheese and continue to stir. Add pepper and paprika. Once the cheese is completely blended, pour it into the casserole dish and stir a little just to make sure that everything is coated.
Bake at 350 for half an hour. Yum!
Look out of any window any morning any evening any day.
Cheese and broccoli, etc., casserole:
8 oz cheddar cheese
1/2 pack egg noodles
2 chicken breasts, thawed
2 cloves garlic
frozen broccoli in sprigs (florets? not sure...)
8 oz. milk
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
pepper
mushrooms (optional)
Prep:
Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Mince the garlic. Grate the cheddar cheese. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
This part is slightly complicated because you have to do several things at once.
1. Boil the noodles only until they are chewy (not all of the way done). Drain and toss with a little olive oil to keep them from sticking together.
2. Saute the chicken with the garlic (and mushrooms). Do Not Overcook.
3. Put the broccoli into your large casserole dish, enough to cover the bottom, and put half a centimeter of water in the dish. Microwave for about 1.5 minutes, then drain the water, leaving the half-cooked broccoli in the dish.
Mix up these ingredients in your casserole dish with about half of the cheese.
4. Make the sauce. This requires concentration and constant stirring. First, microwave the milk for about a minute to warm it up. Then melt the butter in a saucepan. Once it is completely melted, add the flour and stir like crazy until it is smoothly blended. With the heat on medium, add the warm milk and stir forever for it to blend well with the butter/flour mixture. As soon as this is well mixed and slightly thickened and bubbly, add about half of the cheese and continue to stir. Add pepper and paprika. Once the cheese is completely blended, pour it into the casserole dish and stir a little just to make sure that everything is coated.
Bake at 350 for half an hour. Yum!
Look out of any window any morning any evening any day.
09 March 2007
Vegas, BABY! Recap, part 1
I have returned from Las Vegas, city in the desert. Actually, I got back on Monday, but it's taken a few days to adjust to this time zone again and my Charlottesville schedule.
(this was the view from our hotel room in the Tropicana)
It was a fantastic trip! and we all had a great time, especially me, in my first decent vacation since I joined the general workforce. I can't describe everything, because our itinerary was jam packed, but I can share a general list of facts about Vegas, as well as events and conclusions:
1. I'm not a big fan of traveling by air. In the category of speed, planes certainly beat out all other forms of transportation, and I will continue to travel this way when necessary, but if there's a choice, let me drive. Nothing beats a good old-fashioned roadtrip.
2. Katie: $100, Las Vegas: $250. If you can't subtract, this resulted in a net loss of $150, the amount of money I had set aside specifically for gambling. The reason for a budget was two-fold: I would spend money on gambling (ordinarily I'm too conservative, aka cheap), and that I would not spend too much money on gambling. At least I diversified- I lost money at poker, blackjack, AND slot machines.
3. Experienced the funniest hour-and-a-half of my LIFE watching a drag show. We had front row seats, and I laughed so hard that my cheeks hurt for the rest of the evening. Not only! did host Joan Rivers tell absolutely hilarious jokes continually, but I had no idea that I would get to see so many celebrities while I was in Vegas, including Britney Spears, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Bette Midler, and Cher.
4. Free drinks if you're sitting at a slot machine! Our drinks of choice were vodka tonics (me), gin-and-tonics (mom), and double Scotch on the rocks (my grandmother), along with many rounds of beer.
5. I was continually astounded by the scale. Las Vegas casinos are big. You cannot simply stroll from one end of the Strip to the other. They're very confusing too, and not just the ones that look like giant pyramids or a tropical desert. Casinos are designed so that neither you or your money can escape easily. There are so many different ways to be dazzled, by rides and lights and spectacular exhibits and shows, and so many ways to spend money. Basically, Las Vegas is just Disney World for Grown-ups.
6. Vegas is a posterchild for an environmentally immoral city. For example, they do not receive electricity from Hoover dam- the overabundance of lights and the air conditioning is all powered by coal and natural gas. You only need to take one drink out of the faucet to tell that the water is hard and old, and that they are using irreplaceable (in their case) groundwater for the fountains.
7. They have awesome double-decker buses going up and down the Strip. Of course, they're $2.00 a ride, but that is chump change (literally) in the city. This picture, for example, was taken from inside the bus.
8. Parking is free at all of the casinos on the strip. The competition between the casinos is to the tourist's advantage, but it also means that sometimes it's hard to find information. It took me a day-and-a-half to find one of those kiosks full of brochures.
9. The topography surrounding Las Vegas is amazing, especially for a geologist from the east coast. You can see the rocks! because they're not covered up with vegetation. We rented a car for a day and visited Hoover Dam and Valley of Fire state park. I picked up a few samples for my collection...
10. Vegas is amazing! and I love to travel to new places, especially ones with such interesting landscapes, but I sure am glad that I'm a Virginia girl. Home sweet home.
Los Angeles, give me Norfolk Virginia
Tell the folks back home this is the promised land callin'
and the poor boy's on the line
(this was the view from our hotel room in the Tropicana)It was a fantastic trip! and we all had a great time, especially me, in my first decent vacation since I joined the general workforce. I can't describe everything, because our itinerary was jam packed, but I can share a general list of facts about Vegas, as well as events and conclusions:
1. I'm not a big fan of traveling by air. In the category of speed, planes certainly beat out all other forms of transportation, and I will continue to travel this way when necessary, but if there's a choice, let me drive. Nothing beats a good old-fashioned roadtrip.
2. Katie: $100, Las Vegas: $250. If you can't subtract, this resulted in a net loss of $150, the amount of money I had set aside specifically for gambling. The reason for a budget was two-fold: I would spend money on gambling (ordinarily I'm too conservative, aka cheap), and that I would not spend too much money on gambling. At least I diversified- I lost money at poker, blackjack, AND slot machines.
3. Experienced the funniest hour-and-a-half of my LIFE watching a drag show. We had front row seats, and I laughed so hard that my cheeks hurt for the rest of the evening. Not only! did host Joan Rivers tell absolutely hilarious jokes continually, but I had no idea that I would get to see so many celebrities while I was in Vegas, including Britney Spears, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Bette Midler, and Cher.
4. Free drinks if you're sitting at a slot machine! Our drinks of choice were vodka tonics (me), gin-and-tonics (mom), and double Scotch on the rocks (my grandmother), along with many rounds of beer.
5. I was continually astounded by the scale. Las Vegas casinos are big. You cannot simply stroll from one end of the Strip to the other. They're very confusing too, and not just the ones that look like giant pyramids or a tropical desert. Casinos are designed so that neither you or your money can escape easily. There are so many different ways to be dazzled, by rides and lights and spectacular exhibits and shows, and so many ways to spend money. Basically, Las Vegas is just Disney World for Grown-ups.
6. Vegas is a posterchild for an environmentally immoral city. For example, they do not receive electricity from Hoover dam- the overabundance of lights and the air conditioning is all powered by coal and natural gas. You only need to take one drink out of the faucet to tell that the water is hard and old, and that they are using irreplaceable (in their case) groundwater for the fountains.
7. They have awesome double-decker buses going up and down the Strip. Of course, they're $2.00 a ride, but that is chump change (literally) in the city. This picture, for example, was taken from inside the bus.8. Parking is free at all of the casinos on the strip. The competition between the casinos is to the tourist's advantage, but it also means that sometimes it's hard to find information. It took me a day-and-a-half to find one of those kiosks full of brochures.
9. The topography surrounding Las Vegas is amazing, especially for a geologist from the east coast. You can see the rocks! because they're not covered up with vegetation. We rented a car for a day and visited Hoover Dam and Valley of Fire state park. I picked up a few samples for my collection...
10. Vegas is amazing! and I love to travel to new places, especially ones with such interesting landscapes, but I sure am glad that I'm a Virginia girl. Home sweet home.Los Angeles, give me Norfolk Virginia
Tell the folks back home this is the promised land callin'
and the poor boy's on the line
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