One of those days

Ever have one of those days when your mind works like this?

(courtesy of http://dresdencodak.com/2010/02/09/the-process/ )

A whole other world

There are times that I have to face the fact that it is unlikely that I will every qualify as one of the super-rich. In fact, sad as I am to admit it, it is unlikely that I will ever even qualify as "well off". But sometimes you come across something that makes you think "if only...". For example, today I stumbled across

http://www.privateislandsonline.com/

The perfect place for those of us with a few extra million lying around to purchase a weekend getaway. Someday?

A silent shout-out

This morning as I was getting ready to go to the temple, I pulled from my closet a very old pair of slacks, still in great condition, with a story that I doubt anyone but me remembers. When I was 14 or 15, my  mother sent Kari and I to Fred Meyer's to buy me a new pair of slacks (they were having a sale). When we got there though, we discovered that the sale was because all of the slacks were weird and unusual sizes. Kari however knew I needed slacks, so she found me them, we bought them and took them home. I remember her getting in trouble, because apparently, they were fairly expensive. As I put those same slacks on this morning, 10 years later, and notice that they are still the nicest pair I own, I am grateful for a sister with good fashion sense, even when it got her into trouble.

For those who aren't engineers

Because I think its good to learn new things, and because I had to look it up, I have attached a link to the short brochure discussing the SI (or Systeme International, for those of you who speak french) and the equivalent units contained within. Its a quick read at 180 pages, something for the whole family to enjoy.

http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf

Waffles need love too.

Last night, our family had breakfast for dinner. We don't take this kind of thing lightly, first you start with the bacon (it greases the griddle) I like to save the grease on the side for if I need more later, and then you get the amazingness that is pancakes cooked in a pan lubricated with bacon grease. As of late, since my wife can no longer eat flour, I have been making separate batches of batter. I decided I wanted mine to be waffles, but after mixing the batter, I realized this would mean that my food would get non stick spray, while the pancakes had bacony goodness. Thankfully, I had the bacon grease and a paintbrush for food (at least thats what I call it). I painted the bacon grease onto my waffle iron, and voila, even more delicious waffles. I highly recommend it. Well, except for maybe not for those of you in my family who are allergic to bacon grease...

Good old fashioned science

I finally got around to the egg in vinegar experiment.
For those of you who don't know what this is, the general concept is that when you soak an egg in vinegar, the acid will eat away all of the calcium (the hard part) leaving just that smooth membrane you see sometimes when you are trying to crack the egg open.

Expect smelliness (it is vinegar).

As a scientific sidenote, I am reminded of my own early forays into this "science" stuff. Much of my early interest came from my mother. Our first true experiment was the classic baking soda and vinegar, I don't know where she read about it, but needless to say, we underestimated its power, which is how we managed to explode a small tupperware container and got the mixture on every surface of the kitchen (including a great deal of the ceiling) No wonder I'm into this kind of thing. 

A movie review?

As a warning to my beloved family, all of you who have not seen "We Bought a Zoo", it is a wonderful movie, one of the best I have seen in some time, however, expect to cry. More than once. Very good, go see it.

Food Adventures

This is a dragonfruit.

I had to buy one because I thought it looked like something out of a video game.

 If you look in the picture above, you can see that I had to look up how to eat it (look at the computer screen in the background).

But what astonished me the most is what it looks like inside.

The website said it tastes like a cross between a kiwi and a pear, which is dead on for the texture (its really bizarre) but we found the flavor to be really really bland. Not at all the sort of thing you expect from something with "dragon" in the name. So I've scooped out the middle and am going to try and freeze it and make it into some sort of water-ice-esque  dish. 

Childhood Memories

This one is for Dad, I hope you're reading.

I was going through some of my old stuff and I came across this old toy steamboat I remember dad getting me for one of my birthdays (it is functional) I had to modify the candle, but it still runs as well as it did 10 years ago.
What happened to all those really cool old toys?

P.S. - Remember the copper piping we bought to try and build a larger scale model? I wish we'd finished that, maybe with scott and nate?

Recipe: Quinoa Hamlet

Pronounced: Keen Wa

Makes 4 Hamlets

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Quinoa (rinsed if called for)

1 cup Water

8 slices Ham (deli style)

6 Med Eggs (or 4 large) well beaten.

Assorted spices to taste (I used Salt, Cayenne Pepper, Garlic Powder, Dried onion, it doesnt take much and gives the quinoa great flavor) 

1) Combine 1/2 cup Quinoa, Water and Spices in small pot, bring to a boil and hold for 15 min. Remove from heat.

2)Place 2 slices of ham in pan (or 2 each for as many as you can make at once) on medium high. Spread Quinoa on each slice (I would keep it less than 1/4 in thick) Once the ham starts to sizzle, carefully pour the egg over the quinoa. It will try to get away from you, just try to keep it mostly on the ham. 

3)In a couple minutes (whenever you think is right) get your spatula under one of the pieces of ham and fold it over top of the other, flip several times to be sure the edges are cooked (it may ooze a little) Allow to cool, and serve.

Courtesy of that part of my brain I wish I could activate at will (Alexis won't get home from work to eat these for another hour)

P.S. - I only made 2 of these, but I expanded the recipe to use all of the Quinoa, it shouldn't cause a problem, but you never know...

MAN POINTS: -2

So, remember that windshield wiper I fixed, well, it worked great until it snowed, now neither wiper works.

As a side note however, I did manage to sell my car (not the one that is breaking constantly and I fear for its life) for $300 more than I paid for it. Thats got to count for something, right?

Is that really necessary?

So, I had purchased some salmon fillets from wal mart the other day, and noticed that the bag was marked "Resealable". Now, each fillet is individually vacuum packed, so does it even matter if you put a zip loc seal on the bag they come in?

MAN POINTS: 1

This week I completed what I would consider my first real car repair. I have done oil and tires, even spark plugs and a rotor (that would have counted, but several people helped me) However, earlier this week Alexis went to leave for school in the rain, and strangely, the windshield wiper on her driver side didn't work (a bad thing in rain or snow. I am obviously not a car person, but after a fortuitous encounter at work, I proceeded to pull apart my wife's car, I pushed the arm that connects the drivers wiper back into place, it stuck, and (at least for the moment) it works great. 1 man point for me.

The car scared me

Last night, as I was leaving my friends house to come home, I opened my car door and to my horror, the lights didn't come on. As my brain frantically searched for what to do with my car that obviously had a dead battery, the ice on the button in the door frame broke, and the light came on. Then I drove home.

Cell Phone Post: Last finals week

This is what a laptop screen looks like when dropped off a table onto a linoleum floor:

When I called dell to get information, they kindly offered to send me a replacement for only $450, I kindly replied that the laptop itself was not worth that much and that I was only looking for a part number. They gave me one, but of course it wasn't real, if you look closely at the picture above, you can see the frame is removed so that I could get at the real part number on the back. Enter ebay, and less than $110 later, this is the final product. It made me feel very useful to be able to fix this myself.

Just words

This is a note to anyone who is reading this, as a heads up, I finally got around to copying all the photos off my cell phone, and I am trying not to deluge anyone, but there are a lot of posts from those to catch up, so check back often, there should be lots to post about for a while.

Who's seen fantasia?

This is the roof of a car, I dont know what made the frost form like this, but to give you an idea, most of those crystals are 3 fingers wide (some almost as long as my arm). These are the kinds of things you see vacuuming cars at 6:30 a.m. Work must be good for something :)

Good enough for city work....

What is this?

I discovered a lovely service of my blog today, in that it shows stats on how well my blog is being read. Now I will openly admit that I do not post often, that my posts have been varied and eclectic, and I am a bit odd overall, but I still find it a tad disappointing that since the beginning of the new year, it appears that I am the only person to have visited my blog. I will have to work on this.

In Memory of a good shirt

While it may seem odd, I wished to post this because of the unusually extended service of this shirt, which I finally had to admit to myself had passed its prime today. It was purchased for my by my older sister when I was in middle school, at that stage between child and young adult when a person is liable to make poor fashion decisions, and whether it was to prevent her own consternation or out of genuine care for a younger brother, I appreciate it, even if my fashion sense is no better now than it was then. So, after 10 plus years of good service, goodbye shirt.