No Sound of Music

Sorry that the other blogs haven't been updated in a while.
News blog.

In good news, I'm starting to work on getting the Shadow Rising read since I have to catch up to my hubby that is currently four books ahead of me. Almost 200 pages into it. I also have the Iron Tower trilogy waiting for me in the car... but I figure on getting caught up first. Once I'm on a reading streak I'm hard to stop.

Reasoning? It's been busy the early in the week at work and I'm about to loose my part time person. So the other odd 14+ hours of the week I can't fill have to be fit around some summer help that is spotty. Damn college students. She won't work fridays and she has classes on mondays and wednesdays... but goes back to school at the end of july.. when does the maddness stop? Not there.. she also has five days during the month she won't work due to vacation. Right.

I had a nice birthday. Nothing as extravagant as years past. Things are getting a little tight, and its hard to cope sometimes when you want to celebrate but have to keep it low key. Or work for a few hours on your birthday. All in all it was quiet, but it almost didn't feel like my birthday.

Tomorrow is the one year wedding anniversary. I told work that I didn't want to wake up to a phone call that whomever couldn't show up to the work in my place. I've been promised. Cause jeez if I can't keep the anniversary sacred, what kind of wife would I be? I just hope nothing happens, I have faith in our ability to make our own fun, I just am wary of our ability to make our own bad luck.

Seeing More Everyday

There are no words to express my astonishment.
Inflatable Speakers

And in addition to that, I don't think there is enough sleep in the hours of the week for me. Maybe I should just reconcile myself that 6 hours of averaged sleep a night is really OK. I was going to say something else but I've forgotten. Anyway, the pest problem is lessened but still there. For whatever reason, taping up an exhaust vent we don't use and having our neighbor's apartment sprayed has made it to where we only see two to three of the wiley things around.

I need to review Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, In Good Company, and Rushmore. I'll do it sometime. Right now I'm trying to come up with good forum graphics for my guild website. Don't worry, I won't link it here, if you're interested in what its based off of- you probably already frequent the outlets it is linked in already.

I also need to review Captives of Blue Mountain by Wendy and Richard Pini. later. I don't know when I'm going to get past page 20 in the Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan. This hasn't curtailed me putting in more holds at the library, the lack of more of them becoming available for me to pick them up has spurred me onward to find subject matter that will garner prompt acessability. I'll be mad if it all comes in at once. Spiteful library people, I bet it's the summer volunteers.. I've had requests in since the 16th. and there are 14 copies available!

And I've renewed my love of pickles. It has been far too long. mmmm. Sandwich stuffers, kosher.

I Have Your Update

Here & now for forever. :D

Life has been crazy, the past couple of days we've been invaded by mysterious flying insects.. so last night (the night I normally don't get much sleep since I open and close the next day) I stayed up late to clean and rebuy certain items that ended up getting hit by Raid. BTW- KMA kills insects in the air with mist is FALSE. You have to hit these suckers three times head-on.
Anyway, good luck to them to find anything to feed on.. everything got the bleach and/or vinegar treatment.

I also need to write up next month's schedule. Bleh.
BTW- if you love me, for my birthday I need money. Not socks, or cards. Just send me a dollar bill in an envelope if you're sending a card. I'm smart enough to recognize sentiment when I see it. The only exception will be fresh whole pineapple. Contact me for details on picking a ripe pineapple.

Nixie Magic

Oooh, you know those neat looking count-down device you see in movies from the 1960s and 1970s? The tubes are cold cathodes called nixies.. the lcds of the day. Some dude had even made wristwatches out of the smaller tubes!

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=nixie
http://www.amug.org/~jthomas/clockpage.html

Too bad they're out of production, rare, and expensive. Darn, all the good stuff is!

Tut Tut!

Well look what's coming to Florida...

LOS ANGELES (March 1, 2005)—Groundbreaking CT scans of the celebrated pharaoh King Tut will be displayed in the National Geographic exhibition Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, scheduled to begin a four-city, 27-month tour of the United States on June 16, 2005, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale
One East Las Olas Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale,
FL 33301
Tel: (954) 525-5500

December 15, 2005 - April 23, 2006
http://www.kingtut.org/

Not as cloes to me as I'd like (over 300 miles!), but who knows, maybe I can by the time winter rolls around. I missed going to the three other Smithsonian buildings to see the Hope diamond and other stuff, and I know that during the Tennessee bicentennial there was a big Titanic exhibit that rolled around and I never got to see either. It would be kinda neat, and so would being able to go to a themepark (or SeaWorld- 160 miles) for the first time in eight years.

To the Point

New news posts ... pithy comments as well for viewing pleasure.
http://news-cruising.blogspot.com/2005/06/tech-and-eats.html

I promise, I will start the Shadow Rising today. Considering my hubby has already started Crown of Swords, I'm pretty far behind him.

I also want to add something amusing- a menu I saw.

(assorted fruit and berries)
Bowls of shredded coconut, raisins, and plain yogurt
Granola
Milk
Eggs Benedict with Fresh Spinacch and Mushrooms - NO HAM
Healthy Muffins Assorted
Assorted Bagels & Ceam Cheese
Butter & Preserves
Coffee & Tea

This is made far more amusing by another menu making the matter more plainly stated.
"Egg Omelette-Vegetarian/Vegan"
Right.
Even more amusing was the added soy/milk proteins to add to their beakfast. Why didn't they just put out the Accent?

Updates: Danger!

Well, I was reading, and I finished a lot of books, and while I was reviewing them, I got lost.
So there are two book log posts.
One on reviews.
One on . . . lots of else.

Enjoy.

BTW- saw Batman Begins last night, and all in all, I think it rocked. Bale didn't mess up the role as far as I'm concerned, and Katie did her job without trying to steal the show, like a certain Mary Jane actor... >:o
Lots of action, lots of awesome special effects (no overbearing CG touch to it- very nice!), presence of storyline and continuity, Scarecrow was great when he had his mask on. I really have no complaints. I'm no purist though. I have to agree with Aerie-

I'm just going to forget about those movies done by that guy that wasn't Burton, okay? They don't exist. Burton can have his own little funky dark and unusual corner of the Batman universe because what he did worked to a degree, but this, this, this was MAGIC, this was everything a Batman movie should be, it wasn't about the special effects or the wow and the dazzle it was dark and gritty and absolutely sheerly perfectly perfect why are you still reading this GO SEE THE MOVIE NOW.

Hehehe.

On the trailers before the movie-
Why no new Harry Potter trailer? It IS A WB film. The present trailer is almost three months old.
What crack head at Disney let the idea that City of Heroes crossed with Spy Kids was a good idea? Sky High is a middle schooler flick if they don't mind the heavy cheez-wiz factor. I question the sanity of putting a Disney channel movie on the big screen.

Second. I don't understand Serenity. From all looks I have given it- it looks like a cross between Battle Angel Alita and the Fifth Element with maybe a touch of Starship Troopers. Also it seemed to have some extreme bad acting kicking on the hero role. The last time I saw acting delivered with such cheezy lack of passion was when one of the later episodes of Angel was on TV. When did being a strong and grizzled character equate with don't try to act, just deliver your lines and look tough. And the silent creepy girl semi-heroine thing is kinda played out. In all countries of origin. My husband tells me this is a sacred movie to those who followed the tv show that was abruptly canceled. He calls it a thank-you to the fans. Very sweet, but I didn't see it, and I'm not interested or understanding the huge following behind it. Very very odd.

The Midnight Oil is Olive

I can thankfully say that I have NOT been dreaming lately.

I have also been sleeping like the dead until I need to be at work or I have at least slept nine hours, whichever comes first. According to my hubby, I have also been snoring. Which results in a dry raspy throat that takes an hour and two glasses of water to make go away. I hope I don't swallow any spiders. Ick. Neurotic, no?

I have had a lot going on of course, and I finally had to scratch the itch that is blogging. Hi hi. Though the next two hours will never pass by quickly enough for me. I want my Foo Fighters CD and I'm really excited about the midnight showing of Batman Begins tonight. As I had to explain myself to the hubby, I never got to see any of the others in the theatre, I was way too young- so this is kinda redeeming part of my lacked childhood. I know he wonders how I managed to have a childhood that didn't look like Pebbles Flintstone.

I will be updating the Book Log today with two reviews. Check my profile for the linkie.

I hate fast food at this point, including doughnuts. They put way too much crap in them and take it for granted that the customers will suck it up and not eventually pick up a clue that a lot of the things that ail them are the chemicals that are stuffed in their custard pie or french fries. Check out the BK Veggie burger:

BK VEGGIE® BURGER-
Water, Vegetables (Mushrooms, Water Chestnuts, Onions, Carrots, Green Bell Peppers, Red Bell Peppers, Black Olives), Textured Vegetable Protein (Soy Protein Concentrate, Wheat Gluten, Water for Hydration), Egg Whites, Cooked Brown Rice (Water, Brown Rice), Rolled Oats, Corn Oil, Calcium Caseinate, Soy Sauce (Water, Soybeans, Salt, Wheat), Onion Powder, Corn Starch, Salt, Hydrolyzed Corn, Soy, and Wheat Protein, Yeast Extract, Natural Flavors from non-meat sources, Sugar, Soy Protein Isolate, Spices, Garlic Powder, Dextrose, Jalapeño Pepper Powder, Celery Extract. Contains: Soy, Wheat, Milk and Egg. This is NOT a vegan product.

From HERE

Oh yeah, and watch out for those new 'healthy sides' for your kids-

MOTT'S® STRAWBERRY FLAVORED APPLESAUCE
Apples, Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Strawberry Puree, Sugar, Natural Flavors, Ascorbic Acid, Red #40.

Problems- apple sauce is sweet in and of itself, it doesn't need teeth-rotting sugar, or natural flavors... its supposed to taste like applesauce. I'll give two hints though, that flavors is their way of sneaking in flavor enhancers nothing really along the way of natural or healthy. And did you know that over half the corn crops in the U.S. are legally genetically modified? Your modified corn startch has been monkied around with to carry not only natural pest control, but to make their own flavor enhancers as well. Peachy, eh?

Ranting aside, I made lots of pancakes last week. And I did them all from scratch and twice without eggs. And they turned out perfect. Oh yeah, and I didn't use butter in the pan, I used olive oil. They were great. I'm starting to learn that stuff is all purpose GREAT. w00t!!

Here was where I was going to write BRIEFLY about the Netflix movies the past month.. but that got too big and got shunted to the Entertainment section.

And the book blog will have to wait til tomorrow since I got carried away, but I wrote post it notes so I'm sure I'll have plenty to say.. lol.

Eat Pecans, not Almonds

Update on news page- Rant warning. You've been warned.

But for today, I have pancake recipes and glad tidings. Eat more beef, women should not be vegan. If you cannot contact me and you are wondering about the previous statement, tough toodles and do some intereting googling. If you can contact me, you probably already know what went down, or know better than to ask.

Teens shouldn't go vegan.
Wild Fish is hard to find.
Eating too much spinach can retard vitamin absorption. But it could be less worse.
Too little fat or protein can mess a woman up.
Absorb calcium, but wisely.
Over cooking tomatoes is like adding Accent to your meal -

Yep. When it's in its bound (bound to other amino acids) natural form ( nuts and grains and seeds are solid and have fiber which slow down digestion), it will take time for the body to assimilate the glutamate. The less processed a food is, the less likely it has been changed into a form more readily absorbed by the bloodstream immediately, such as in overcooked soups, overripe tomatoes. The action of high heat with liquid, chemicals, enzymes, and bacteria break down the protein.

- from HERE

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I had a dream a couple nights ago where I was walking in woods with exposed roots. Only lots of the roots were really writhing snakes. I can't remember it all, but for some reason I had to either pass through the wood or gather some roots. Either way, I hate snakes. We're talking rain forest, rattlesnakes, diamondbacks, everything but cobras. Makes my skin crawl. Some of them were illusions, some weren't.

Been having lots of disturbing dreams lately, like being late for work, people being violently ill, being back in middle school, and my husband teaching a sixth grade math class. Very bad dreams. I blame Oliver Stone and Barton Fink.

Anyway, I promise pancakes and funny papers!

PANCAKES

Thin Pancakes
Butter your way

**EDIT- on second thought, a lot.. no, all of these are pretty mature comics.. so stuff like QoW, GU, PvP, PA, SP... ugh.. ok, all my favorites can be pretty vile. Dont' be a prude and click these for your laughs. You'll get shocked or something. They're pretty very pretty funny. :)

COMICS

****Order of the Stick - mwf
***Angel Moxie-mwf
***AppleGeeks-bi weekly
**GU Comics-m-f
*MacHall-doesn't update often.
*****PvP Online-DAILY
*WTF Comics-doesn't update often, bi-monthly?
**Penny Arcade-normally mwf or something like it.
*****Queen of Wands -daily reruns
*****Girl Genuis - m w f
*****Something Positive - updates at least daily



Plug for WikiBooks and Wikipedia!

Moral of the Story: Eat more pancakes with your funnies!

Nothing and Everything

Update in News Section.

I discovered why I thought I had posted much more often in May. I have a few text documents in my folder of comments I meant to post, but got overloaded with work before I could do so. That sucks. But hey I do work. Also, some back dated logs a kind friend held for me.

And I had a great night last night after dinner. I have the sweetest guy in the whole world. To quote Jon Crosby, "I don't have anything, if I don't have you." I wish I could have slept in. Had a really good talk too. Made lots of sense. I need to mellow out. lol.

I think I'm going to make a news blog for my amusement and just link the url here when I make new posts. Less fatty going on here, there must be. Thank you, Yoda.

Back to the birthday money. Still no clue. I need a couple new things for my closet. Definitely need to get hangers and a knife for chopping, all the ones we have are serrated. PITA. Thinking about wrapping up my sfbc agreement too. Dunno. Or a couple more pieces of Fiestaware. Moving does horrible things to china. I've downplayed my desire for a wacom, I need to do more art stuff now first, then maybe get a graphire or something. Later.

No more Smokey Bones, the service and portions the last two times have been god awful. Applebees for the win! At least when they screw it up they make it right. 'Nuff said.

Keep Going Like Nothing Happened...

I wish I had some of this. Until we find out it's just as addictive as soft drinks and gives us cancer. But whatever works now right?
As I repeat from my gaming blog, I've gotten a lot more done now that I've stopped playing MMORPGs. I even found stuff that's been missing for almost a whole year. Creative enhancing stuff. Hopefully I can start making art again.

Spring cleaning has come late into my life, not only in the dwelling, but in me. The nagging sense of unhappiness has creapt into the undercurrents of day to day life and I've kept going rather than looking at the roadkill-remains. It results from not taking as good care of myself as I could be. I'm doing better in most ways than I did when I lived in TN... but definitely not as active. I have a hard time rectifying time to be away from my home and husband just to work out. I feel like I am hardly there, and I don't feel good about it either.

I don't understand how people can work forty hours a week.
They try to go partying or act like they have a family life after spending 17+ hours of the day sleeping, driving, and being at work. 88 hours doesn't feel like enough when I get home after six most days and have to be in bed by tweleve for my biweekly 11 hour workdays. Most weekends I have 36 to try and fit in what cleaning and quality time I can. I so understand and respect full-time moms and dads now.

I also feel a pressure to reach some standard I'm not sure of in a career. I'm happy with my job, but I know I can do more and I resent not being able to do it yet. I don't want some disaster to come along and not be able to financially pull myself out of it. If my car broke down I guess I could ride the bus and get a bike. I'm sure we could rent someplace really cheaper for a short time. Our bills aren't that much. Its some weird notion of surplus and the media breathing down the collective neck of Americans that there must be such and such criteria to be able to live past 50 and retirement or you'll live under the bridge. I think I'm really unfair to myself.

I need to chill out.

Food Thoughts

On a seperate note, I hope we get to make onion rings and tortillas this weekend.

I think it would be fun.

Mmm, churros!
So that's how to make Guacamole
Pico Pico Pico!
with Sopapillas
But how to make Tortillas? This way or This way?