And all before 6am

We've moved! More than a year after graduating from college we are independent from my parents again. Or at least we will be once we have everything cleaned out of the closets at their house, and the couch they're giving us, and the fact that a friend of Dad's is washing our carpets today, and they are giving us paint for our living room and... alright, lets face it, I'll always owe them something a lot.

I guess that's what parents are for. So, thanks to Mom and Dad for putting up with us. We'll try to make it up to you.

In other news: HOUSE!!!

Not an apartment, or a basement, or a room in the attic, and I don't care if its only 750 sq ft, its a house, with a yard, and places to park our cars, and a landlord who wants to let me fix things up and is willing to pay for stuff*.

*once harvest is over and he has money, give im a break, he's a farmer.
And pictures:

The living room:

To the left is kitchen and back door:

(everything might be a little messy- we did just move, and then found out we'd be getting our carpets cleaned, so everything's been shuffled a few times)

But we have a back porch:

With lights and everything.

And a BACK YARD:

Straight back from the living room we have the hall box:

On the left is the bathroom, then the small bedroom and then the "large" bedroom is around the corner.

The bathroom (where all of our clothes are at the moment):

The small bedroom, which I need to vacuum (but hey, it's not even 7 yet):

And the large bedroom, which for scale, when we put our queen mattress in the corner, overlaps the window a good 2 inches and only leaves 2 feet at the foot of the bed. 

And that's every room but the utility closet. If you want to see more, and you know me, you'll just have to come visit :) I have an extra room now.

Now, to continue my life dump, I have a new phone, its a nexus 6, and while not quite as big as my face, it is bigger than my beard (P.S.- I have a beard):

For those of you who are interested, work is going great. I am officially the designer Food Grade QA Manager Production manager back up IT guy guy who does pretty much anything. Once one (or multiple) of those things become my job title, I should even get a raise. Love you all, I still check your blogs almost everyday, so write something.

 (sometimes it's messy, I didn't figure out your whole instagram pictures thing for weeks. I miss your posts, but the pictures are nice, maybe I should use instagram more)

Mixed Metaphor

I once had a car, she was beautiful, and shining. She was not new when she came to me, she had seen a good life, and a little abuse. There had been an accident or two, the odd scrape. One or two stupid boys had left marks or scratches in her. One unknown assailant had even broken a window. But those hurts were fixed by the time she came to me. Over the years we covered many miles together, both of us growing in character.

People are a lot like cars. Not these new computerized bits of plastic, but an old car full of character. We all start with that new car smell (if you don’t believe me, ask a new mother) Our skin is smooth and shiny, and we’re forever trying to figure out what all these button and knobs are for.

“Is that my finger? Now what do I do with it? OW OW OW!!! Eyes are a bad place for fingers.” Etcetera.

Over time, we learn more about what we are, a truck picks up the dings and scratches of a well used life through work. And many a man has shed a tear when its finally time for that old truck to go.

Near the end of her life, my car had stained upholstery, some of the buttons on the radio didn’t work quite right, and very few people knew just how to turn the key to get her to start, but she was mine, and I loved every ding and stain, could tell you how most things came to be broken. Familiarity even lent itself to surprises, like finding that $20 in the center console I forgot about, or the $1 Susan B. Anthony I put in the change box when I was 12.

The end came suddenly, in my life that always seems how it is. A mistimed pressing of the brake, and it was all over. The shine that I still saw even if it had passed from her years before was finally gone.

Except that it isn’t, now it’s a part of me, part of my rattle in the ducts, the cough when my engine first starts up. That little bit of extra character I now carry with me.  

MAN Points Regained

Anyone who actually reads this on a regular basis (I think that's mostly Kari) will remember my last encounter with the windshield wipers on my Nissan. Last year, I finally took it to a shop to be repaired. I have since decided I'm not taking any of my cars back to that particular shop for any reason, but that's beside the point. After the first real snow her, I went out to clean off the car, and the windshield wipers promptly broke again. I waited a few days (to try and get rid of the snow and ice) then took it apart. Turns out the "repair" job they charged me $70 for last year?  They just pushed the pieces back into place. I could have done that for free. So anyways, I realized if I didn't want to be taking my car apart every other week all winter I needed a more permanent solution. I wish I had gotten a picture, but needless to say, the linkages on my windshield wipers are currently held in place by a 2' section of metal hangar and an assortment of brightly colored zip ties.

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.

New Beginnings and a Merry Christmas

This is our Christmas tree this year, 

Some things most of you may not notice, there are no ornaments, just a few candy canes. The odd part about this  is that we have ornaments, and extra lights (this is a pre-lit), but in what I feel was a little bit symbolic, they just never got put up. We have had a wonderful year, though things have been a little tight. Some happy moments in the last few days (even if they made me a little sad). Due to a few wonderful weddings, we hadn't made any plans to visit anyone this year, but hearing from those of you who were so excited to see us made me happy, even if we couldn't come, though we're already making plans for next year. Overall, its been a good year to be truly grateful, to see those little miracles that have come together to make things ok. Thanks to all of you who have been a part of it, the calls and the little surprises, Merry Christmas, and all our love,

Steven and Alexis

All I want for christmas...

Today on woot

only 350 grand too.
(this really was on woot.com)

This is a real picture

The largest adult insect ever found

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-12/look-giant-bug

Ig Nobel

I think I found my favorite IgNobel Award for this year:
Public Safety: John Senders, from Canada, ran a series of experiments in which the test subject navigated a major highway while a visor repeatedly flapped down over his face, blinding him. 

Words

Influence in this world is made in words. Not in the simplicity of them being spoken, though it is certainly possible to influence through what we say, but in the power of creating words. Who can argue against the power that Tolkien wielded when he created words like "Hobbit" and the stories that defined them, just as Philo Farnsworth forever changed the world with the word "Television". The things we do everyday have the power to change the world, and the echoes and ripples that come to us, in their strongest form, are the words that we use. We even define ourselves through our words, whether we believe them or not, the words we describe ourselves by change who we are. I hope someday to change the world with a word, whether through a story, an invention, or, most likely, through the word I use to describe the greatest thing that comes from a person, my child. I want to change the world.

What exactly is "thin air"?

I love google

I know this may not make sense to a lot of you, but todays special google image

One of the links was to the article below titled:
Why Pierre de Fermat is the Patron Saint of Unfinished Business

I highly recommend it
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0817/Why-Pierre-de-Fermat-is-the-patron-saint-of-unfinished-business

Gmail motion

How it started

(this was an april fools joke)

(or so we thought)

Who has this much time on their hands?

Sandwich

Recently Alexis introduced me to something very dangerous, I have dubbed it the Reese's sandwhich. Nutella and peanut butter. I think its going to make me fat.

Limits

I came to a very odd realization today as I was writing my final paper for the semester. I have never disliked writing, but there has always been something missing in it for me, and the truth of it came to me, writing is 2 dimensional.  I dont mean this as 2 dimensional lines on a piece of paper, but as a 2 dimensional process of thought, you can only ever convey your thoughts in a line segment, a piece here, a piece there, but if you cut up your pieces too small or try to connect too many at a single point, you lose your meaning. My thought processes run in 3 dimensions, every point serving multiple purposes, ideas spreading in all directions, so that when you try and take a 2 dimensional snapshot for a paper, some of the lines cross each other in the wrong places or have to be edited out so you can see others. That is what unsettles me, that I have to choose an exact path, and no one who ever reads my writing will see the beauty of the many branching paths in my mind.

Phonezoo

The opening to this video is my new ringtone, it makes me happy (it was what I was doing instead of writing my paper on what the rest of it is about)

Justice in the Universe

So, lately I have been taking these Nature Valley Granola Thins to school for lunch (it takes about 6, I didn't buy them) but much like reese's peanut butter cups, they come with this little piece of cardboard that the bar sits on so that even if the chocolate melts you can still get it out. So I opened my first one for lunch today, and much to my surprise, it didn't have the cardboard. More than an hour later (I eat them slowly throughout my day) I opened another, and to my amazement, it had two cardboard pieces. Coincidence? Possibly, though its more likely to have something to do with the factory's process for packaging them. And now that you've read this far, most likely expecting me to make some point, I think the most honest thing I can say is that this is it, the thought doesn't go any deeper, have a nice day.

Seven (now 8 apparently) Intelligences

Maybe I am the only person who has not heard of this before, but there is a Harvard professor who has put forth a theory in which he defines 8 intelligences.
-Self
-Language
-Music
-Body Movement
-Nature
-Math/Logic
-Spatial
-Social

In his theory he says that everyone is a genius in at least 1 of these areas, and I like that thought. I think too often people spend their lives worrying about the areas in which they are not geniuses, and miss the opportunities to focus on those areas where they are truly amazing.

Hope you all have a great day.

What every true geek needs.

(If you cant tell, its a pizza cutter)

Pancakes.

The Station

Feel the Power

(sadly it has now been disassembled, what you see here is two desktops, a laptop, a wii, a VCR, as well as a broken laptop under the desk)

Cori was right (as always)

The router was receiving wireless interference, so I couldn't access its settings. Que household Faraday Cage.

 

CRASH

I finally got fed up enough to pull the "Windows Vista" sticker off my laptop. I was trying to think about places to put it, and had finally decided I would put it on the car. Then I thought, that would be stupid, I'm already having car troubles, why on earth would I put something on it that is just an invitation to crash.

The Manly Cookbook

This is the next cookbook I want:

Why? Because there just aren't very many cookbooks out there that call for ingredients like liquid nitrogen and a commercial grade centerfuge. It just sounds fun.

You know its time to do the laundry when....

My New Dream Job

I have been going on an adventure today. As any of you who know me (and obtain information about my life in ways other than this blog or facebook) know, I am currently both unemployed and not attending school, so today I set out to explore the world of my mother-in-law's netflix account, as well as fold the laundry. This is when I discovered top gear, a british car show for people who aren't very serious about cars. So far they have turned a small car into a makeshift space shuttle

>

as well as driven a regular pickup truck across the english channel.

Add to this the opportunity to test drive cars like the Bugatti Veyron and the Lamborghini Gallardo.

I would be willing to move to england to do that.

School crossing

does anybody else ever wonder why the school crossing sign shows a picture of a lady with a purse and a man carrying a briefcase?

A trust issue.

So, as I was walking out of my last class, it began to rain. This did not bother me as there had been rain forecast in the next couple days, however, in the 5 minutes I was out side that rain transitioned to sleet, to little balls of snow, and now to an all out snow storm. And yet, when I went into the library and checked my weather gadget, do you know what the forecast was? Partly cloudy. Now, it has since updated itself again, and now says snow, but is it really worth anything to me if the only weather it forecasts accurately is what happened 15 minutes ago?

All I want for Christmas...

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/vintage-speed/maverick-flying-car-now-legal?click=pm_news

I CAN BE CREATIVE!!!

Ingredients: One white doughnut bag
                  a permanent marker
                  an old night light
                  and an intense desire not to do homework
and VIOLA!!

 

isnt it cute :)