Thursday, August 19, 2010
A quick Trip in the beginning of August.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Lemon Meringue Pie
Well since it will cool down to sixty tonight I'm going to make a lemon meringue pie. I think I finally got the hang of spelling meringue as well as it no longer turns red when I'm done spelling it. :) I'm excited and it looks like it will be a pie crust, lemon curd filling, with meringue on top! Now I think the trick will be getting them to stick together. I'll try and post pics once I get them done.
Not much has been new this week. We did have an interesting Thursday, but other than that it wasn't a bad week. We "tested" Chris's new work schedule for August when he takes over the department. That had us getting up at 4am so that he could be on the train by 4:38. He then gets to work by 6. He also got off at 2, so often had a lot of time in the afternoon to get stuff done. We made it and our bodies started adjusting. I got to the point where I could kind of sleep through him getting around, but most of the time I just got up and got stuff done. Surprisingly at 5 am not much is going on so you can get a lot done. For example, on Friday I got my entire class done in about 2 hours, which is significantly less time than it normally takes me. We have also determined that we will be needing a second car soon. Our schedules are going to be synced up significantly less and having only one car won't work for us. :( We still have our bikes and whatnot, so hopefully we'll have a mild fall and late arriving winter (hopefully winter comes this year), and can use those as necessary.
Our Thursday was an interesting day. The electric company cut the power to the University and so Chris got to work on back-up generators for a while. The problem was that the fume hoods didn't work in the labs. This meant that all the volatiles that typically go up the hood were staying in the room and possibly causing a lot of problems. The department head canceled labs and even the research groups got to go home early that day. Chris got to go home and soon there after got a call from me. I got stung by something at the zoo and ended up in the er. I don't know what stung me, but I started wheezing and itching so the zoo ambulance rushed me up the street to the hospital. The docs didn't do much (like I thought) and I'm quite perturbed by the whole experience. We were going to do a voice over for the video at church that night, but didn't manage to make it in time as it took Chris forever to get to me in rush hour traffic. I talked with my allergist and apparently this means we're going to be doing more allergy testing. Oh Joy. I'm going back to the zoo tomorrow for the first time, hopefully no buggies will bite me.
One fun thing from this week was a wedding the 17th. Our friends Erica and Rob (from church) got married and we had a blast at the wedding. It was a good day overall and we got to spend some time with the "athletic" people from our church. Here's a picture of us at the wedding, I think it turned out well. :)
Not much has been new this week. We did have an interesting Thursday, but other than that it wasn't a bad week. We "tested" Chris's new work schedule for August when he takes over the department. That had us getting up at 4am so that he could be on the train by 4:38. He then gets to work by 6. He also got off at 2, so often had a lot of time in the afternoon to get stuff done. We made it and our bodies started adjusting. I got to the point where I could kind of sleep through him getting around, but most of the time I just got up and got stuff done. Surprisingly at 5 am not much is going on so you can get a lot done. For example, on Friday I got my entire class done in about 2 hours, which is significantly less time than it normally takes me. We have also determined that we will be needing a second car soon. Our schedules are going to be synced up significantly less and having only one car won't work for us. :( We still have our bikes and whatnot, so hopefully we'll have a mild fall and late arriving winter (hopefully winter comes this year), and can use those as necessary.
Our Thursday was an interesting day. The electric company cut the power to the University and so Chris got to work on back-up generators for a while. The problem was that the fume hoods didn't work in the labs. This meant that all the volatiles that typically go up the hood were staying in the room and possibly causing a lot of problems. The department head canceled labs and even the research groups got to go home early that day. Chris got to go home and soon there after got a call from me. I got stung by something at the zoo and ended up in the er. I don't know what stung me, but I started wheezing and itching so the zoo ambulance rushed me up the street to the hospital. The docs didn't do much (like I thought) and I'm quite perturbed by the whole experience. We were going to do a voice over for the video at church that night, but didn't manage to make it in time as it took Chris forever to get to me in rush hour traffic. I talked with my allergist and apparently this means we're going to be doing more allergy testing. Oh Joy. I'm going back to the zoo tomorrow for the first time, hopefully no buggies will bite me.
One fun thing from this week was a wedding the 17th. Our friends Erica and Rob (from church) got married and we had a blast at the wedding. It was a good day overall and we got to spend some time with the "athletic" people from our church. Here's a picture of us at the wedding, I think it turned out well. :)
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Fire Game, B'Day, etc
Well, it was a good birthday overall. I had to work, but it was at the zoo. We have deemed them "Zoorthdays" for those of us lucky enough to get birthdays in the summer. We get to pick an activity or two that we don't normally have time to do and those of us working all go and do it. For example, in June Katie picked the dolphin show. I picked the carousel as I've only ridden it twice this summer! That goes to show just how busy we are, as I rode it almost daily last summer. We also went through the butterfly tent and it was really pretty, as always. Here's a picture (taken by Jess E) of four of my co-workers and me on the carousel.
Last Thursday we went to the Fire game. Our third for the season. We had quite a bit of fun, even though the Fire lost on a stupid penalty kick. The game was good and well played. We got to see Findley (from the US national team) play against the Fire. We're slowly definitely becoming Fire fans. We had 5th row seats and it was great being so close. We could really tell when people were faking it, hence the ability to say the penalty kick was stupid. It was the third time Findley had tried to get a call in the box and he finally got one. The Mexicans behind us said something that I imagine translated roughly into, "That's a stupid call worthy of South Africa" refering to the horrid reffíng the World Cup had. Linda and I ended up wearing a similar color of purple, so we took a picture. The other one is a good one of Chris and me. A couple of pics from the Fire game:
This past weekend we also saw the end of the World Cup. I suppose my mania will go in the closet for a few more years. Though Chris is becoming a Fire fan and I'm slowly converting him to soccer as a great sport. He has thought that for a bit, but in taking him to the games and getting him to cheer and explain things, he's really starting to like the sport. :)
It has been brutal this week in terms of heat. We've had to run our ac, but we're glad for the window coatings that may or may not be legal. We kind of applied them regardless of the condo association. They haven't said anything, and we've even noticed a difference on our electric bill. For running the ac so much it should be much higher than it has been. We are actually able to turn the acs off during the day and it doesn't get horrid hot inside the condo, which is a drastic change from previous years.
Hoping all is well with you and that you keep cool during this heat wave.
Last Thursday we went to the Fire game. Our third for the season. We had quite a bit of fun, even though the Fire lost on a stupid penalty kick. The game was good and well played. We got to see Findley (from the US national team) play against the Fire. We're slowly definitely becoming Fire fans. We had 5th row seats and it was great being so close. We could really tell when people were faking it, hence the ability to say the penalty kick was stupid. It was the third time Findley had tried to get a call in the box and he finally got one. The Mexicans behind us said something that I imagine translated roughly into, "That's a stupid call worthy of South Africa" refering to the horrid reffíng the World Cup had. Linda and I ended up wearing a similar color of purple, so we took a picture. The other one is a good one of Chris and me. A couple of pics from the Fire game:
This past weekend we also saw the end of the World Cup. I suppose my mania will go in the closet for a few more years. Though Chris is becoming a Fire fan and I'm slowly converting him to soccer as a great sport. He has thought that for a bit, but in taking him to the games and getting him to cheer and explain things, he's really starting to like the sport. :)
It has been brutal this week in terms of heat. We've had to run our ac, but we're glad for the window coatings that may or may not be legal. We kind of applied them regardless of the condo association. They haven't said anything, and we've even noticed a difference on our electric bill. For running the ac so much it should be much higher than it has been. We are actually able to turn the acs off during the day and it doesn't get horrid hot inside the condo, which is a drastic change from previous years.
Hoping all is well with you and that you keep cool during this heat wave.
Monday, July 5, 2010
4th of July
For the third I had to work and Chris didn't. He managed to take his tux pants in to get them altered. The tux is quite nice and I should post a pic of it sooner or later. This week was quite nice. I had another adverse reaction with my allergy shot, but that was the extent of our excitement. The allergist saved me with epinephrine. I don't like epi, it really isn't cool. It also wasn't a good idea since I'm really close to only having to go weekly for a shot. Now I have to wait a few more weeks for that arrangement.
This week should be fun -- we've got a soccer game to augment our world cup mania that is wrapping up. We've been upset with some of the reffing, but overall it has been a good cup. Let's go for Germany to beat Spain, Netherlands to beat Uruguay, then Germany to beat Netherlands and win it all! That's what we want to happen since we've got everything else eliminated.
We're also getting ready for wedding season here. We've got one next weekend and that starts the craziness. I've also managed to get slightly sunburned -- but that's what the 4th of July is for.
Toy Story 3 is also a great movie. We went and saw it for the 4th. We didn't really see any fireworks as we had a ton of rain shortly beforehand. It was kind of sad to see the end of the series. I can't wait for them to come out on DVD. It was neat to see parents of people who were kids with the first one taking their little ones to the movie.
That's about all the time I've got tonight. I've got to get some rest since we plan on biking a lot this week. Chris fixed his bike and we did bike yesterday. We took an adventure through limestone trails. It wasn't the most fun ever because of the wind, but it was nice to go out with Chris.
This week should be fun -- we've got a soccer game to augment our world cup mania that is wrapping up. We've been upset with some of the reffing, but overall it has been a good cup. Let's go for Germany to beat Spain, Netherlands to beat Uruguay, then Germany to beat Netherlands and win it all! That's what we want to happen since we've got everything else eliminated.
We're also getting ready for wedding season here. We've got one next weekend and that starts the craziness. I've also managed to get slightly sunburned -- but that's what the 4th of July is for.
Toy Story 3 is also a great movie. We went and saw it for the 4th. We didn't really see any fireworks as we had a ton of rain shortly beforehand. It was kind of sad to see the end of the series. I can't wait for them to come out on DVD. It was neat to see parents of people who were kids with the first one taking their little ones to the movie.
That's about all the time I've got tonight. I've got to get some rest since we plan on biking a lot this week. Chris fixed his bike and we did bike yesterday. We took an adventure through limestone trails. It wasn't the most fun ever because of the wind, but it was nice to go out with Chris.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
World Cup Mania
Unfortunately the USA is now out of the World Cup. We've watched all the US games and managed to watch a good portion of the other games as well. Currently I'm actually streaming the Argentina-Mexico match, well streaming the radio at least. The game is on ABC and I just didn't want to deal with people to see the match. Both teams have been playing really well, so it will be unfortunate which team gets to advance. While it was great that the US made it to the Round of 16, I was kind of hoping they'd make the quarter finals again. Once again though, it seems Ghana has our number and is a young up and coming team. Maybe they'll go on to win the whole cup and we'll have a host of records broken -- like the first cup in Africa being won by an African side. While I'm saddened that the US is out, I'm glad that I'm not so emotionally involved with other teams. The possible exception being Germany. But even watching the game this morning I didn't have the same desire for Germany to win as I've had for the USA to win.
We watched the Germany-England game this morning. England looked like they had velcro on their cleats and were bogged down while Germany looked fluid and fast. It was kind of ridiculous. Twice this cup Germany has scored 4 goals in a game. This is ridiculous for most youth competitive teams, so having four goals against you in the world cup seems incredibly excessive. Portugal beat North Korea 7-0 though and that was definitely excessive.
The past week has brought heat, t-storms and tornadoes here. Fortunately the past few weeks of course I've been talking about weather for my Earth Science course. We got to go outside several times and look at clouds. The zoo has been the zoo and we're getting TONS of surveys. We regularly get about 500 surveys a week. We're managing to keep on top of the surveys and the databases. It wasn't something I thought the team of RAs would ever get together, but am quite proud that we did manage it. We can now color when we have free time as opposed to cutting stuff, copying stuff, and entering data.
Chris is in the midst of summer school. We forget how much work goes into summer school, and is is wearing us both out a bit. Well, its now halftime for the game so we're going to get some stuff done and I won't be at the computer.
Hope everything is well and cool where you are.
We watched the Germany-England game this morning. England looked like they had velcro on their cleats and were bogged down while Germany looked fluid and fast. It was kind of ridiculous. Twice this cup Germany has scored 4 goals in a game. This is ridiculous for most youth competitive teams, so having four goals against you in the world cup seems incredibly excessive. Portugal beat North Korea 7-0 though and that was definitely excessive.
The past week has brought heat, t-storms and tornadoes here. Fortunately the past few weeks of course I've been talking about weather for my Earth Science course. We got to go outside several times and look at clouds. The zoo has been the zoo and we're getting TONS of surveys. We regularly get about 500 surveys a week. We're managing to keep on top of the surveys and the databases. It wasn't something I thought the team of RAs would ever get together, but am quite proud that we did manage it. We can now color when we have free time as opposed to cutting stuff, copying stuff, and entering data.
Chris is in the midst of summer school. We forget how much work goes into summer school, and is is wearing us both out a bit. Well, its now halftime for the game so we're going to get some stuff done and I won't be at the computer.
Hope everything is well and cool where you are.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Just a few minutes
I want to procrastinate working on my powerpoints for Earth Science so I'll blog instead.
The pasta I wrote about last time turned out really really well. We're going to make more in fact. It was a nice buckwheat pasta and it was tasty with tomato sauce. I know that isn't how the Koreans or Japanese traditionally eat the buckwheat pasta, but it was tasty none the less. Today I'm going to try to make a simple rice pasta. It shouldn't be too difficult, but it will be me going at it alone instead of with Chris's help. We'll see how big of a mess I make. I just need to remember to keep the dough small.
I've got a day off of the zoo and am not going to the University since I'm not sure if my boss would be around. I also am going to go downtown tomorrow to watch the US beat Algeria and advance to the round of 16 in the World Cup. We've been watching a lot of World Cup lately. We managed to have someone taking pics of us at the sports bar across the street during the US-England game. During the US-Slovenia game I was told off by Linda for being too loud. Chris had said I couldn't have a vuvuzela and now both Linda and Tom (co-worker of Chris) agree. They were surprised that Stoops in TX couldn't hear me.
After making pasta I did a triathalon. It was a lot of fun. I had a late wave start for the swim and so it was interesting. We had to be out of the transition area (where you keep your gear for the other legs of the race) by 645 since the elite people started at 7. My swim wave started so late that those people were done before I even started swimming. I did quite well though. My overall time was 1:30. I did a 14 min 750 swim, a 46 min 23k bike, and a 24 min 5k. I had 6 minutes in transition time as well so that's great. I participated in it with Jolene. Chris and her boyfriend, Tim, came out and cheered us on. It was quite a bit of fun wondering when I was going to see them and where they would pop up. I surprised them several times by how quickly I was riding and running. Afterwards we went to breakfast (well, lunch) at Mimi's cafe and I didn't get sick. They have a gluten free menu and I just had an omelet, but still that's something. I couldn't have the muffins (which is a tragedy) and then I couldn't have the potatoes. One of these days I'll figure out what I can eat and go from there.
Other than this not much is going on. We haven't had anything damaged by the recent storms, we haven't even lost power. There have been some great lighting storms and if only I had a good camera to catch the lightning it would have been perfect. Friday it was great because in my Earth Science course we were talking about weather. It made the perfect day to discuss what creates weather and how weather might be different from climate.
Anyway, I should get on my earth science lectures and go with the topics of fronts and wind patterns that we'll talk about this Friday.
The pasta I wrote about last time turned out really really well. We're going to make more in fact. It was a nice buckwheat pasta and it was tasty with tomato sauce. I know that isn't how the Koreans or Japanese traditionally eat the buckwheat pasta, but it was tasty none the less. Today I'm going to try to make a simple rice pasta. It shouldn't be too difficult, but it will be me going at it alone instead of with Chris's help. We'll see how big of a mess I make. I just need to remember to keep the dough small.
I've got a day off of the zoo and am not going to the University since I'm not sure if my boss would be around. I also am going to go downtown tomorrow to watch the US beat Algeria and advance to the round of 16 in the World Cup. We've been watching a lot of World Cup lately. We managed to have someone taking pics of us at the sports bar across the street during the US-England game. During the US-Slovenia game I was told off by Linda for being too loud. Chris had said I couldn't have a vuvuzela and now both Linda and Tom (co-worker of Chris) agree. They were surprised that Stoops in TX couldn't hear me.
After making pasta I did a triathalon. It was a lot of fun. I had a late wave start for the swim and so it was interesting. We had to be out of the transition area (where you keep your gear for the other legs of the race) by 645 since the elite people started at 7. My swim wave started so late that those people were done before I even started swimming. I did quite well though. My overall time was 1:30. I did a 14 min 750 swim, a 46 min 23k bike, and a 24 min 5k. I had 6 minutes in transition time as well so that's great. I participated in it with Jolene. Chris and her boyfriend, Tim, came out and cheered us on. It was quite a bit of fun wondering when I was going to see them and where they would pop up. I surprised them several times by how quickly I was riding and running. Afterwards we went to breakfast (well, lunch) at Mimi's cafe and I didn't get sick. They have a gluten free menu and I just had an omelet, but still that's something. I couldn't have the muffins (which is a tragedy) and then I couldn't have the potatoes. One of these days I'll figure out what I can eat and go from there.
Other than this not much is going on. We haven't had anything damaged by the recent storms, we haven't even lost power. There have been some great lighting storms and if only I had a good camera to catch the lightning it would have been perfect. Friday it was great because in my Earth Science course we were talking about weather. It made the perfect day to discuss what creates weather and how weather might be different from climate.
Anyway, I should get on my earth science lectures and go with the topics of fronts and wind patterns that we'll talk about this Friday.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Pasta Making
I realize that it has been a few weeks since I blogged anything. Fortunately many people don't follow this blog weekly so most won't even realize it. I'm waiting for pasta to set before I can cut it so I have a few minutes to sit down and write.
For the most part summer has started with a bang. In the end of May we did stuff with friends for Chris's 30th birthday. We started the weekend going to a Fire game on Thursday night. Then Friday night Chris had friends over for a wine and cheese party. Then Saturday we went paintballing so that everyone could get shot. It ended up being an experience and I'm still wearing a few of the bruises. One of the bruises in my thigh still hurts when I run. Sunday night we went downtown and simply hung out for the most part. Then Monday we took a train out of the city and got to rest before a busy week.
I've also started working at the zoo and at a place called Westwood College. I'm teaching Earth Science on Friday nights from 6-10. It is going well I think. I'm not the "traditional" teacher, and most people seem to prefer how I teach to the "traditional" way, so that's a step in the right direction. The zoo is crazy. We are taking about three times as many surveys this year as we did last year, and we've got a few in the works that we are trying to get ready to roll out by the end of the month. It isn't that difficult to get a nine hour day in there if that tells you how much stuff we have to do.
We had our 5th anniversary this week. It was Thursday and it was a lot of fun. I went for a bike ride and a run, and then we went out for supper. We went to the Chama Gaucha restaurant. It is a Brazilian steakhouse. We went there for Mother's Day and hadn't been back since. The manager remembered us though so it was quite interesting. I didn't get sick for a second time, and I even ate the bread on teh table! There is something to be said about being able to eat the bread on the table.
Today I didn't have to work since tomorrow I'm participating in a triathalon. I'm quite excited and nervous, all at the same time. I'm scared to admit what time I will be getting up in the morning, but hey, it's all worth it. My friend Jolene and I are doing it, as well as a few other ladies from the church. We'll see how it goes. It has been much more fun to train for than a half marathon is. I do a lot of the stuff as cross training anyway, but this way it is required. Hopefully I'll make a good time.
Not much else is new here.
We had our 5th anniversary this week. It was Thursday and it was a lot of fun. I went for a bike ride and a run, and then we went out for supper. We went to the Chama Gaucha restaurant. It is a Brazilian steakhouse. We went there for Mother's Day and hadn't been back since. The manager remembered us though so it was quite interesting. I didn't get sick for a second time, and I even ate the bread on teh table! There is something to be said about being able to eat the bread on the table.
Today I didn't have to work since tomorrow I'm participating in a triathalon. I'm quite excited and nervous, all at the same time. I'm scared to admit what time I will be getting up in the morning, but hey, it's all worth it. My friend Jolene and I are doing it, as well as a few other ladies from the church. We'll see how it goes. It has been much more fun to train for than a half marathon is. I do a lot of the stuff as cross training anyway, but this way it is required. Hopefully I'll make a good time.
Not much else is new here.
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