Category: Misc

You’ll want to send this to all your friends…

Steve Gibson for President

I’m not writing a sex blog…really, I’m not, but I did find these two articles amusing recently, so I thought I’d share.

Space.com article about the possibility of sex in space

(and Chris Garlington’s humorous comments about the article here.)

Times article about sex at the Olympics

I think that this story, from CNN.com this morning, is HILARIOUS. Yes, it’s wrong to deface signs and all, but it’s still funny. I can definitely relate to their umbrage. The funniest part, though, is thinking about how offended those guys are gonna be when they see that they’ve been called “typo vigilantes” for correcting a hand-lettered (therefore, any mistakes on it are, by definition, NOT “typos”) sign. THAT will drive them crazy, I guarantee you.

Things that I’ve done over the past month or so:

Driven to countless orthodontist appointments, sleepovers, Latin tutoring sessions, guitar and piano lessons and pre-season volleyball clinics.

Started work on qualifying our yard as a Certified Wildlife Habitat with the National Wildlife Federation.

Spent more time than I’d like to admit watching hummingbirds frolic in our yard.

Celebrated Girl’s 13th birthday. We haven’t had her party yet, but we’re working on that…

Had a fabulous Alaskan vacation filled with canoeing, kayaking, camping, hiking, dog-sledding, glaciers, and all manner of wildlife (photos coming ASAP).

Braved the crowds during “tax-free weekend” to buy uniforms and shoes for Boy and Girl.

Saw “The Dark Knight” on a big IMAX screen at the Bob Bullock museum. I am still absolutely incredulous and horrified that there were children in the audience.

Waited as long as I could stand it to see “Mamma Mia” (Hubby didn’t want the kids and I to go without him), but finally saw it on Sunday, while having a wonderful glass of wine and a burger. It was absolutely everything that I had hoped it would be (more on that later).

Things that I have NOT done in the past month or so:

Update this blog. And for that, I apologize. Especially to Staci, who has put up with my cat puke photo for longer than anyone should reasonably be expected to.

It has been a very busy few months, but all is well. The kids start back to school on Tuesday and I am hoping to have at least a BIT of time to myself after that and will hopefully start blogging on a more predictable basis.

The look/topics of the blog may change in the future, however, as Hubby and I have decided to go back on the “South Beach” diet. This diet requires lots of cooking, especially in the early stages, but it is not the kind of cooking that I typically do (carbs are verboten), so it may get boring for the serious gourmands in the crowd. I am going to try to come up with “South Beach”-friendly recipes of my own, in addition to some favorites from Dr. Agatson’s books.

Also, I may be making a return to the working and/or educational world soon. Boy and Girl are getting older and much more independent and I am also feeling the need to use my brain for something other than figuring out whether a yellow and navy-striped shirt qualify as a “dark” or “light” for laundry purposes. I have some possibilities in the works, and this may not happen right away, but it is something that’s “in the pipeline”, so to speak. This change may also alter the tone of this blog. No way to know until we get there.

All I really have to offer at this point are some ponderings on some recent traffic altercations that I’ve had. I am (paternally) congenitally “blessed” with a hot temper and I am getting to the point where I just absolutely HATE driving. I would GLADLY become a mass-transit convert, if that were even remotely possible where I live. So, here are my open comments to some of my recent fellow travelers:

To the lady that went out of her way to avoid letting me into her (exit) lane the other day on southbound MoPac (I had my blinker on and she SPED UP on purpose, for no other reason than to just be MEAN):

Nice. Really nice. Thanks. I really didn’t want to exit there, anyway. I really wanted to go a mile out of my way and take my time to turn around and come back. Thanks again; you’re a peach. I really like your cute little “Jesus” fish.

To the guy that followed behind the ambulance the other day on the Lamar bridge over Lady Bird lake, taking full advantage of the path created by all of us drivers, yielding to an emergency vehicle, so that you could squeeze in before the lane closed again and get yourself out of traffic for a while:

You are a piece of human refuse. Unbelievable.
(BTW, yes, I am SURE that he was not affiliated with the ambulance or a family member of someone being transported; he turned off very shortly after and ended up going the same way that I was. I saw him at another intersection a couple of blocks later, picking his nose at a stoplight.)

To the guy that parked THISCLOSE to my driver’s door (way the hell over the parking space dividing line) at the drugstore the yesterday, rendering my door impossible to open, in a blinding rainstorm:

Thanks so much. I really wanted to climb into my passenger’s seat and crawl over the console and gearshift. While getting DRENCHED. Does your wife have a Jesus fish on her car? It took every bit of willpower that I had to not roll down my window and key the SH*T out of your car. Thanks to your parking job, I wouldn’t have even had to reach to be able to do it. It was VERY tempting, I tell you. Lucky for you, my calmer side (and the fear that Walgreen’s might have surveillance cameras) prevailed.

Grilled Crosshatch-Cut Hot Dogs on Grilled Croissants

These sound really yummy and all (hot dogs on a croissant? Yum!), but is it just me? Don’t these look a little, umm…. graphic? Maybe even phallic? If these still look appetizing to you, you may click the photo for the recipe… I think I’ll pass, though…

I am very thankful that the foam/espuma fad is dying out. I’ve always been a bit disgusted by this phenomenon.

Why, you ask? Because I live with three cats and, to me, foam looks like cat puke.

On two completely unrelated notes:
This will be my last post for a while, but some of you have mentioned that you’re not fond of the new blog format and would like to see the add-ons (author photo, etc.) return. Please rest assured that this (ugly) new format is temporary. I upgraded to the new version of Moveable Type (the blogging software that I use) and it farged up all of my plug-ins. I don’t have time to fix it now, but will tackle it as soon as we return from Alaska.

Which brings to me to:
We are headed to the Yukon tomorrow for what we will hope will be an adventure-filled trip of dog sled riding, helicopters, hiking, camping, bear-watching and family fun. I’ll take lots of photos and will provide some info upon our return, but we will be VERY out of touch for a while. Have a great time while I’m gone. Now’s as good a time as any to browse through the archives…

So, the question is…

Does the dancer rotate clockwise or counter-clockwise for you? Or both?

It’s supposed to be one of those “right brain/left brain” things…who knows what any of that means, but it’s entertaining, anyway…

Leave me a comment and tell me what you see.

Two things:

You’ve got to see this video of this 13-year old amateur marksman (markswoman? shootist? pistolera? I have no idea what the term is…). No matter your feelings on guns (especially guns and kids, which I will admit skeeves me out a little), you’ve got to admire her skills. Her dad is a friend and former co-worker of my Hubby’s. She would like to be on the Army’s shooting team someday.

Also…

Hubby won tonight at his monthly poker game! We might just have to teach Boy how to play poker on our vacation, when we have some down time. He would be SCARY good at it. Girl, on the other hand, can’t bluff to save her life and will put on sunglasses and a hoodie (Unabomber-style) when we play “I Doubt It“. Boy ALWAYS wins.

I was at Barton Creek Mall briefly yesterday and happened to see the line of (mostly) guys, waiting outside the Apple store for the new iPhones:

Here’s the scoop on fideos, for folks who may not have used them (or heard of them) before. Fideos are Spanish and they’re a kind of “home-y” comfort food and NOT a gourmet/upscale kind of food. They are a type of pasta, so they can usually be found in the pasta aisle (usually down low, but if they’re not there, try the “Hispanic Foods” aisle). The kind that I buy is in a small, yellow box and it’s called “Q & Q” (Quality and Quantity) and it costs about a quarter for 5 ounces. I have better luck finding them in larger, discount-type stores, rather than in gourmet markets (think HEB, not Central Market). For my buddies on the East Coast, think Giant, rather than Wegman’s. I will admit that are a little difficult to find (and sorry, Trish, I have NO idea where to buy them in Korea.)

The good news, however, is that there is a REALLY easy substitute. Fideos are really just extra-thin spaghetti/angel-hair. The only difference is that fideos are pre-cut into short, equal little lengths (about 3 inches?), so a great substitute (and one that a lot of recipes tell you to do, anyway) is just to buy angel hair or really thin spaghetti-type noodles and break them into pieces. You’ll have to buy the angel hair that is packed into boxes or long bags like spaghetti, rather than the angel hair that is curled into little “nests” (or would that be “hairballs”?)

I must admit that I’ve never done the “broken noodles” thing, myself, but I imagine that the dish would cook up exactly the same. As you know, I am a bit…umm….let’s go with “particular”…and I like the precision of the noodles being all the same size, so I do think it’s worth the trouble to find the actual “fideos”, but don’t stress about it. Some recipes will tell you to toast the pasta before you cook it, some don’t, but I usually do, even if it doesn’t say to, because it just gives it better flavor.

So, Staci – don’t turn that cookbook page, baby – it’s just pasta!