Archive for November, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
Nov 27th
We have eaten all the turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, and vegetables we can handle. We’ve played a few card games, and now everyone is relaxing. Ryan is fixing his sister’s computer, his mom and I are watching TV, and Lisa and his dad are hanging around here somewhere.
The pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust that I made tastes good, but it got REALLY tall in the pan, and then I had to bake it a full 20-25 minutes longer than the recipe called for, so the outside got dark, and the crust kind of fused into a kind of gingersnap caramel candy. I’m not sure what I did wrong…perhaps the wrong sized cheesecake pan? And next time I’ll try putting it in a water bath to keep the oven moist. Any expert cheesecake bakers out there with ideas of what might have gone wrong? It still tastes good, though, so I’ll definitely try it again.
This year I am especially thankful for family. I know that’s a total cliche, but every day I am reminded of how lucky Ryan and I are. We get along very well with each-other’s families. We both come from large families that are super-supportive, and the older we get the more we realize that that isn’t as common as it should be. And this is our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, which kind of puts an emphasis on the family part of it.
Of course I’m also thankful for other things that are less sappy. For instance:
- Facebook, and it’s ability to let me keep up on people (some might say stalk, but I don’t like to label things)
- Blogs – I get great recipes, read different perspectives on the news, and have a fabulous time living vicariously through people. Plus, some of them are very educational! I swear!
- Our apartment – it might not be anything fancy, and we could definitely “use” more space, but it’s the perfect size and cost for us at this point, and I LOVE living next door to our friends. We can wander back and forth, visiting, drinking wine (or beer or pop or whatever), and just hanging out. It’s awesome.
- Having a washer and dryer in our apartment building – we just got this about a month or 2 ago, and I am so so happy that we no longer have to transport all our laundry and the detergent and everything else to the laundromat. Also, the cost savings….my God, the cost savings….
- Books (and by extension, the public library) – I’ve really been on a reading kick since we got married. I think I was overwhelmed with not having any spare time to read for a while, so now I’ve been devouring whatever book I could get my hands on. And so I’ve been spending a lot of time at the library.
- Recently the city of Duluth had to make some big budget costs, so they’ve been asking people to volunteer there. I decided that volunteering at the library is pretty much the PERFECT job for me, so I signed up. So now, every Monday and Thursday I’ll be spending 2 1/2 hours there after work reshelving books in the non-fiction section. And I’m thankful for that too – I’ve been wanting to do some volunteer work, and this seems like it will be the perfect thing.
There are many other things I’m thankful for (um, our FRIENDS, for instance), but it’s late and apparently Ryan’s mom and I are going to try to brave Kohls tomorrow morning to pick up some scent diffusers for gifts for the people she supervises. I’m just hoping to make it through the experience without punching someone (Just kidding – I’m all bark and no bite, in case you haven’t noticed). We aren’t heading out until about 8, though. We aren’t THAT hardcore.
Happy thanksgiving, everyone!
I’m becoming a total Betty Crocker (just kidding!)
Nov 24th
Ryan worked a lot this weekend, and so aside from going out with friends (yummy Chinese at our favorite restaurant, and then pie from Betty’s Pies, and then dinner with Ryan and his coworker (also Ryan) and his wife (Tricia)…because apparently we just couldn’t stop eating), I had a lot of free time. So, I decided to make a couple pies. It is almost Thanksgiving, after all. I made a pumkin pie and then a pecan pie. And you know what? It was pretty easy. Mostly I have the kitchenaid mixer we got for our wedding to thank for that one, along with the store bought pie crust (WHAT? I don’t have enough counter space to roll out pie crust, and our table has gaps that would leave weird lines in the crust. Also, I’m lazy!). Anyway, both recipes are the custard type of pie, and they were both out of the How to Cook Everything cookbook I got from my aunt for a graduation present (I believe…correct me if I’m totally wrong on that one). They are both pretty good, I have to say. Especially for my first attempt at pecan pie. I was kind of scared of that one.
Also, if you like to cook but you need LOTS of instruction, including color pictures and funny commentary, you should go here: The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Because she is awesome. And funny. And every recipe I’ve tried from there has turned out great. Especially the AWESOME pumpkin cake I’ve made a couple times recently (once with the whiskey once without – it’s great both ways). You should try it. It’s also good with cream cheese frosting, if you aren’t a whipped cream fan or you want to bring it to work (that’s what I did with the last one I made).
So yah. I baked this weekend, and I scrubbed our kitchen floor on my hands and knees. Like I told some friends this morning, I think I’ve been possessed by an alien. But at least we have pie and a clean kitchen, right? It’s a small price to pay for alien possession.
I’m getting back to work now. I apologize if I sound a little scatterbrained today. Must be all the sugar. Or the aliens.
Google Reader will be the death of me
Nov 19th
In case you haven’t noticed, I like to read blogs. All kinds of blogs (don’t be fooled by the short list on the left – that was set up when we first started the blog and hasn’t been updated). I read mom blogs, HR blogs, tech blogs, blogs by people living in NYC, blogs by people living in the middle of nowhere, blogs by people my age, much older and younger (although I’m pretty sure none of them are MUCH younger than I am). And up until recently I’ve always either bookmarked each one or linked through from someone else’s blog to theirs. That is how I’ve found some really great blogs. I figure if I like their writing, I’ll probably like the writing of people they like. I only know a couple of the people whose blogs I read personally. But many of the others I feel like I know. Most of them are much better about updating than Ryan and I are.
Last week sometime (I think it was last week…), Ryan was setting up Google Reader for himself. Of course his is full of Slashdot and CNN and stuff. News feeds, mostly. And I was telling him that I haven’t used Google Reader yet, and was kind of scared to. I had heard horror stories about people with 200 unread messages, and it would totally stress me out to have something like that, I thought. But the next day, I succumbed. I went through and added almost all of the blogs I read regularly to my Google Reader. And at first it was really overwhelming. There were well over 200 entries. But I had read most of them, so it wasn’t too bad. But now, there are like 20-30 new entries every day. A lot of them I can skim through, and I do like having them all in one place, but God forbid I ever have to go without internet for a few days….it will not be good. On the other hand, I don’t have to worry about forgetting which blogs I’ve checked, which I haven’t, and which one was linked from where. As Monty Python says, “Always look on the bright side of life.” Or something like that.
Do you all read a lot of blogs (Adrienne, I know your answer to that one!)? Do you use Google Reader or some other method of tracking them all? Or do you bookmark/link from others/remember the sites?
EDIT: Just after I posted this, Lifehacker (one the blogs I read) came out with an entry about how Monty Python is sick of rip offs and stuff on youtube, so they created their own youtube channel. I have updated the link to direct to that video, which is apparently higher quality, and is Monty Python approved. Thank goodness for Google Reader, huh?
I’m a terrible dork
Nov 13th
Ryan is helping his friend Nic set up a Dungeons & Dragons character (I don’t play, but Ryan does with a few friends from work sometimes). I was surfing the web, and wasn’t really paying attention to what they said. I overheard something about a portable ram, and they were laughing about it. A while later, this conversation took place:
Nic: What equipment should I get?
Me: What if you had a portable goat? Does that count as equipment?
(Ryan and Nic look at me like I’m a psycho)
Me: What?!
Ryan: Um…that was a portable ram. A BATTERING ram.
(All of us burst out laughing, and I laugh so hard I’m crying)
Obviously I have no idea about how this game works. I thought it was odd that they could carry around an animal, but who knows with these things…
I take comfort in knowing that as much of a dork they think I am for not knowing about the battering ram, they are bigger dorks for playing D & D.
What is up?
Nov 13th
I’ve been in kind of a weird funk lately. I’m not sad or anything…I just have no motivation to do anything productive, and I can’t seem to get caught up at work (even though I have been working at it). When I get home I don’t want to do anything but sit and watch tv or talk to Ryan. I don’t know what my deal is.
How do people stay motivated? Is there some sort of trick that everyone else knows about that I don’t?
ps. Why does it seem like when one person I know is going through a hard time, there are at least 3 others I find out are also going through something rough? Why can’t we all be happy all the time? (OK, I know the answer to that one…but it still sucks).
Ryan and I are getting company this weekend. Well, really Ryan is getting company – I don’t think his high school friends are coming up to hang out with me. It should be fun, and I think we are going out on Friday night…but it means I have to help Ryan clean the apartment. Which, as mentioned above, is not on my list of top 10 fun things to do lately. Once I get going on it I’m sure it’ll be fine, but it’s taking that first step and doing the dishes or sweeping and mopping the floor that is the problem. I need a little house-cleaning fairy to come and do it for me. And make the bed, and better organize things so we actually have room for all of our stuff (especially Ryan’s computer stuff – for such small machines, the stuff takes up a LOT of room).
Well, I’ll be done rambling for today. Please fill me in on what you lack motivation to do. It will make me feel better!
Happy Veterans’ Day!
Nov 11th
I want to put a thank you out there to all the veterans that have served and are serving our country. Thank you for fighting for us, for putting your lives on the line. Ryan and I are only two of the many that appreciate all you do and have done for the United States. And we send special thanks to our family members that have served and are serving. Thank you!
ps. The reason I haven’t posted pictures from Halloween may or may not have something to do with Ryan and fixing the server that hosts the site and other technical information I don’t really get that amounts to “you can’t put pictures up for now.” So you should all send him harassing emails that he should fix that. ASAP.
President Obama…it has a nice ring to it
Nov 5th
I have to get going to work, but I am so happy with the election results. And it’s so heartening to see how many people in the US and around the world are so happy about this. Like everyone else, I think John McCain did a fabulous job in his concession speach – it was graceful, humble and eloquent. Obama’s speech held the entire room quiet (we had 5 friends over). It was so awesome to know that this is a moment in time that we will tell our kids about…a GOOD thing that happened that I will always remember where I was when it was made official. I don’t think I’ve ever had a good thing that I knew would be like that. It’s always been bad things…9/11, the end of the OJ trial. I don’t specifically remember the Challenger explosion (I have the worst memory ever, aparently), but that would have been a bad one too. But this is a great thing. And I am so excited for the future of our country. I know it will be a long road, and I know that President Obama won’t be able to make all the changes he wants, or perform any miracles. But it feels good to have a general feeling of hope.
Making History
Nov 4th
I wanted to document this day in our online journal. Ryan and I woke up early and walked to our polling place (only 2 blocks from the house) this morning to vote. I don’t know how he voted on anything other than the Presidential ballot (we are both Barack Obama supporters, and proud of it, if you couldn’t tell). The line was out the door as soon as it opened up, but it was moving pretty quickly. People stood in line quietly, visiting with each other or just waiting patiently for their turn. It seemed like there were a lot more people in the 2nd half of the alphabet – our line was long, and the A-K lines were almost empty most of the time. Odd.
Now that we’ve done what we can, it’s kind of weird to sit here waiting for the day to end and the results to come in. There’s nothing else to be done. This is it…what we’ve been waiting for. And I’m so excited to be a part of it. Now I just hope it turns out the way I want it to. We are having some friends over tonight to hang out and watch the results. I’m thinking it’s going to be a happy get together. We are making buffalo chicken dip. It’s all a little surreal right now. I’ll say one thing – if Obama/Biden win, I will be elated not only because I agree with most of what they stand for, but also because I (hopefully) will not have to hear from Sarah Palin again until at least 2012. As I told a friend this morning, maybe she can find a respectable newspaper or magazine to read by then.
What are your election day stories? Were the lines long? Are you voting later on today? Fill us in.
A quick rundown
Nov 3rd
Halloween was awesome, visiting friends and Ryan’s family was great. Pictures will come soon. But just in case I don’t get back here, I want to remind everyone to VOTE tomorrow. Whoever you are supporting, make sure you get educated on the choices you have and make your voice heard!
I’ll be going before work tomorrow to try to avoid the super-huge lines I’m sure will be there after work. Plus, our polling place is only 2 blocks away. I can walk! ;-) Let’s all do our part to make sure that we have a say tomorrow. And if you can help someone else have their say by maybe giving them a ride to the polls, or watching their kids while they go vote you should do that too (although it would be a pretty cool experience for older children to see their parents vote).
I don’t know how widespread this will be – especially after a law was passed restricting it after the 2004 election, but if you see something going on at the polls that doesn’t seem right – people being intimidated, lied to, whatever, you can call 1-866-OUR-VOTE to report it and get advice. But I heard on MPR this morning that after the 2004 election, Minnesota passed some rules about challenging – mostly, you can’t bring in people from out of state to challenge a person’s right to vote, and the challenger has to have “personal knowledge” that the person they are challenging isn’t elligible. So hopefully it won’t be a big issue here. But for those of you in other states – be on the lookout. No one should feel intimidated into not voting if they are elligible.
