Odds and Ends

I check the Provo Craigslist Missed Connections every week or so on the off chance someone has written something about me.

My favorite albums of 2008 were For Emma, Forever Ago (Bon Iver); Lust, Lust, Lust (The Raveonettes); Starfucker (Starfucker); Some Are Lakes (Land of Talk); Oracular Spectacular (MGMT); and Devotion (Beach House).

I'm not living up to my potential.

I secretly enjoyed Happy Sumo more than I should have. It's not even real sushi. It's (delicious) overpriced Americanized fish, seaweed and rice.

I found this website fascinating and very helpful in my new quest to overcome depression and anxiety.

I love Toby even though he's a jerkface.

That is all.

Happy Tofurky Day!

Today marked my first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian. If I'd been with a lot of meat eaters, I may have been a little nervous, but being with my two other vegetarian roommates and Celia who only eats poultry anyway, it was the easiest vegetarian feast I've ever enjoyed!

Between the four of us we made food for roughly 86 people. We had green bean casserole, broccoli and cheese casserole, buttered asparagus, apple and cranberry dumplings, yams with marshmallows, vegetarian stuffing, mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, poppy seed rolls, regular rolls, cranberries, and pomegranate flavored Sprite. We forgot to thaw the Tofurky so actually we'll be eating that either tonight or tomorrow. But seriously, I think we're going to end up eating all this for about three weeks. And we haven't even started on the pies. We've got like four pumpkin pies, a berry pie, an apple pie, some apple strudel, and pumpkin muffins. SO MUCH FOOD.

And here's the thing, I've got two more Thanksgivings to attend. One tonight at Ryan's (I'm bringing mashed potatoes and one of my homemade pumpkin pies) and one tomorrow with John-Ross's grandparents. Intense!

Tonight, at 1am, I'm going to Mode with the roommies for the 30% off sale. Then to Coal Umbrella for 35% off of everything there as well.

And tomorrow it will be time to get a Christmas tree. I'm staying in Utah for Christmas since I'm a grown up now with a real job and not much vacation time. I can't believe its so close. I've got my Christmas presents for everyone all picked out already. I will not be taken by surprise this year like I was last year. No way, Monet!

Well, it's about time to start warming the potatoes and gravy for Ryan's. I'm really excited for this installment of Big Kids Thanksgiving. I love my friends. And get together at Ryan and Cade's are always fun. Plus, Ryan's quite the cook from what I understand. Although I won't actually be able to eat the turkey... I'll probably bring some Tofurky along for the ride.

Other than a few snags, today has been and will continue to be a pretty good holiday. My roommates are like my family. I love them. They're what I'm thankful for the most today.

Man Beheads Hitler.... waxwork......

I woke up WAY too early this morning (6:39 to be exact) and got to work at 7:05. Yes I DID get ready in 10 minutes, thank you very much. It's been... slightly redonkulous (I use that non-word regularly these days. I don't know why). One guy didn't show up this morning. Cool. I had the pleasure of rescheduling all his appointments for Monday. We still haven't heard from him. He might be dead in a ditch somewhere for all we know. Awesome.

Every time the phone rings I'm terrified it's going to be Duct Tape Guy. He's schizophrenic and calls about 6 times a week on different lines to ask if we can get Duct Tape out of his carpet. When questioned on how it got there, his answers range from "I don't know" to "someone put it there" to "some people that I don't know came in and put it there... I don't know why." Apparently it's everywhere, and you can't pull on it or get it off the carpet, even when using knives.... Each time he calls it goes back and forth between "But can you get it out? But how much will it cost? But... can you get it out? Well, how much is it going to cost? Hmm... could you get it out though?"

I had a dream a few weeks ago that he was stalking me -- standing outside my doors and windows just waiting for someone in my family to come out so he could get it. When he called the other day, I answered and had to make someone else talk to him because I was so creeped out. My mom spoke to him on Wednesday and he asked if someone could call him Saturday morning to set up an appointment. She promised someone would. Guess who that someone is....

But I am NOT calling. Our tech manager is supposed to, except he's not here. So in the mean time I'm stuck praying every phone call that comes in will be a legit customer or sales call. Anyone but duct tape guy!

Luckily it's been pretty quiet/boring in here this morning (less moments of deep fear struck to the center of my heart as that little red plastic button lights up and the ringing begins). I've been reading random CNN articles and found these gems:

Man Beheads Hitler Waxwork - I'm pretty sure Hitler felt that one! This world is definitely a safer place now.
Faked Tiger Photo Sparks Web Furor - Who knew a poster of a tiger cut out and placed in some bushes could cause such controversy and get so many government officials fired?
$32,000 for Queen Mother's 'Pack the Gin' letter - Hey, the Queen Mother obviously knew how to plan an outing.
University given collection of 78 rpm records - Syracuse Univeristy got 50 tons of old 78s! Effing awesome! I want to venture there just to check out their sound lab, it's second only to the Library of Congress!

So that's my boring day so far. I don't feel like being productive per se, so I'm blogging/reading/dreading duct tape guy instead. I'm seeing Tilly and the Wall tonight, which I'm pretty excited about. And I may see Maria Taylor tomorrow night at Tractor Tavern. We'll see how it goes.

Cheese lovers: I finally tried Brie. And the consensus is..... I LOVE IT! This is literally the first time I have ever said that about a cheese. It was sooo much better than that hammy smoked gouda I tried. I like soft cheeses. I think next on my list is this Stilton I saw that had cranberries in it. It looked pretty delish. I might be coming over to your side. I can't say for sure, but if it gets better from here, then you've definitely won me over. Good lord. I will now have to inform people I'm not only a bottled water connoisseur and a picky vegetarian, but a cheese lover as well. I'm becoming the ultimate food snob.

This is getting lengthy, but I've got another 3 hours here, so Imma keep going (not for 3 hours, just... until I feel done haha).

Last night. 4th of July. I kind of hate big holidays like this because I can't really leave the house unless I want to deal with insane parking lots, crowded stores and bad traffic. So I stayed home and tried to read and ended up sleeping half the day.... crapola.... the phone... duct tape guy? Ah, no. A nice lady in Lacey instead.

Anyway, I got a bit cabin feverish by the end of the day and ended up sorting through my entire book shelf. I came up with a pretty big stack of books to sell. And I've got a stack of books to read and then sell. And a stack I've already read and want to keep. And many stacks of which I haven't read and thus don't know if I will keep. After that, the fireworks began.

Now, living on the lake, we get a pretty awesome show every year. We're practically surrounded by big fireworks. The guy a few houses down even hires a professional to do a half hour show around 10 and our entire cove stops their fireworks to watch. Except us. Because our show freaking rocked. My brother and cousins bought 200 mortars, screwed all the tubes to two boards, and while someone was prepping the right side, someone else was lighting the left, so the fireworks were almost continuous. It was the best show they've put on yet.

And afterward came the annual sparkler bomb. This year was supposedly the biggest they've done to date. It was 6 bricks duct taped (no, not duct tape guy) together, with one sparkler sticking out on the top. The boys had a tough go convincing my parents to let them do it, but eventually they gave in, so long as it was far enough away that no shrapnel would hit surrounding neighbors/boats. They floated it out about 80 ft from our dock and my cousin Devin lit it, then my brother pulled him back with a rope as fast as he could. A few seconds later came the house rattling BOOM and a title wave and pieces of Styrofoam everywhere. It was great! (if not eco-friendly).

So that's that. I think I'm done now haha. I've run out of things to ramble about and bore you with, so I guess this will have to do. I hope everyone had a safer 4th than the people across the lake who had an ambulance at their house for 45 minutes last night. Enjoy this (rainy in Washington) day!

UPDATE: DTG just called. Agh! I only talked to him for a second though and then made one of the technicians here talk to him (since I am not good at being mean/firm hah). But guess what he said? Instead of the usual, Marty grabbed the phone and duct tape guy said "I got it all up!" He called two more times, but realized he was calling the same place and said so, then hung up. Maybe this is the end of duct tape guy's phone calls! I hope so! Yaaaay!

P.S. I am so sorry this is so outrageously long hahaha

Of colons and crafts

Sewing: I bought a sewing machine and stocked up tools for a good sewing kit. And I've bought some cute fabric I'm going to make napkins out of. I've got to start somewhere! I'm using Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter as my guide into this wonderful world.

Crocheting: I also found that as cheesy as Vanna White is, her yarn colors by Lion Brand are actually tres tres chic. I bought a size Q crochet hook (i.e. a really huge one) and yarns in light purple and dark purple that I'm using simultaneously to make a small afghan (the blanket, not the person). It's really cute so far. I think I'll embroider some flowers or something on it when it's finished.

Knitting: I finally bought the belt buckle for my orange knit bag. So now I just have to finish sewing on the straps and the buckle, and that stretchy, completely impractical little novelty item will be finished! yay.

Cooking: I bought Veganomicon from the grocery store tonight and have started reading it. I am not a cook by any means. I know very very little about how to put recipes together or even what most ingredients are - I see the names and have no idea what kind of flavor they evoke or even what they look like. But this has a great intro into vegan cooking. The authors go into detail about what each ingredient is, where you're most likely to find it, and sometimes they even suggest specific brands they prefer. I'm not a vegan, but I wouldn't mind trying out vegan recipes at home. Especially since I'm a bit sick of all my regular vegetarian food.

Frenching: I've learned past and present tense. I feel much more complete.

Musicking: Laura Veirs and Bon Iver are my favorites at the moment. Particularly the latter. His minimalist recording is completely offset by lush arrangements of melodies and his almost orchestral use of vocals. Yummy. Honorable mentions for the week are Dosh, Bowerbirds, Tender Forever, Mariee Sioux, and Hanne Hukkelberg. All worth checking out.

Living: Life is good. I'm really tired lately but I'm hoping the vegetarian geared multivitamins I bought today will fix me up in that area. That and if I can just get off my duff and do some Yoga more than once a month, I think I'll be feeling much better.

Updating: That's it for now. Peace!

Opening your heart out to the front

In the past month I have happily taken meat out of my diet. In the past two weeks I've done without refined sugars. And this past week I've managed to implement a fairly successful workout routine, alternating cardio and light weight lifting Thursday through Tuesday and yoga on Wednesday if I'm free (I should technically be at Institute on Wednesdays, but I've just been such a recluse lately). I'm kind of loving all of this.

For starters, I've gotten a lot more creative with what I eat. I'm trying a lot more new things and liking most of them, and I'm forcing myself to eat more fruits and vegetables. Tonight I had a soy chick'n patty with avocado, tomato, lettuce and Nayonnaise (eggless Mayonnaise) on a whole wheat bun, and I made a fruit salad with fresh cut mango, strawberries and pineapple. Delicious! And Brocky loved the Mango!

I've been having trouble remembering which fruits are actually in season right now (what with science making it possible to have all kinds of fruit year round, whether it tastes great or not). So I did a little Googling and found this site that lists which fruits and vegetables are in season when. It's been really helpful.

So along with all the great food I'm eating now, I have so much energy I'm not really sure what to do with it. Generally in the late afternoon I get really drowsy and just want to go to bed. Not so anymore. In fact I seem to get a little antsy that time of day. Which is great because by the time I leave from work, I've got enough energy to put together something to eat that's actually worth eating, then workout later on.

And by the way, weight lost? 7lbs in the past week. Yippeeee :D

Funny moment tonight: I was doing yoga in my kitchen (that's the only hard floor available to me, and I don't use the dining nook so it's a great little space for yoga) and Jordan walked in to get a drink of water before bed. I was just finishing up my practice so I was lying on the floor with my palms facing up at my sides, eyes closed and breathing deeply. I could tell he was kind of tiptoeing around, so after about a minute of breathing and trying not to laugh at him (faces are supposed to be soft in yoga!), I finally said "Jordan, you should do yoga with me." I think he jumped a little bit, then we laughed and he asked if I knew he was there the whole time haha. I said, "well yeah, I'm not asleep!" He did a little one legged yoga pose then tramped off to bed.

I love my family! And the way they make fun of/tease/support me in all that I do. And I do some crazy weird stuff sometimes, I know.

The meat and potatoes of it

This makes me really sad. I want to know what I can do to make this stop! Don't we all at the very least have a right to eat?

Riots and Instability Spread as Food Prices Skyrocket

Joke's on us

Band of Horses is continuing to grow on me. I'm such a butthead sometimes, I swear. I should have gotten into them a long time ago, but I was too stubborn. Sigh. They remind me of The Shins with just a hint of Now It's Overhead mixed in.

Tonight I made tofu stir-fry over lo-mein noodles. It was yummy. Then I did the responsible thing and washed my dishes, did some laundry and finished my French homework. And all with time to spare. I feel like a real grown up. Weird.

And speaking of weird, the office was in some kind of freaky vortex today apparently. Everything broke. The bulbs above my desk started to flicker and flash because they were about to go out, one phone line would crackle or just stay silent when we picked it up, another had a fax tone going through it all afternoon, the database won't work thanks to a corrupt file that made everything below a certain line just disappear, my mom's version of Excel suddenly wouldn't work today and asked for the disc, the security system is wonky and didn't go off or turn off when the tech manager came in this morning, and one of the credit card machines was causing problems.

Then at one point, instead of the usual three to six people we have in the front office at any given time, there were suddenly two security system technicians climbing through our ceiling on ladders, two guys filling out applications at the front counter, a customer asking about getting her couches cleaned, two of our technicians changing the light bulbs above my desk, our tech manager, my mom and of course the three of us who are secretaries. That is twelve people all in one small space frantically trying to answer phones while the door bell rang incessantly from people walking in and out. It was insane. I'm not sure I ever fully recovered.

Apparently April was playing a fool's day joke on us. I don't know what else to call it.

It was just a wonky day all the way around. So I think I'll let it rest and hope for un-wonky dreams and an un-wonky day tomorrow.

Today is Brocky's birthday. He is two.

I think no one reads this anymore. But what do I know? And really it's for me anyway. I guess I just can't help but wonder.

I started a new knit project today. I really needed something to do and crochet squares, while nice, are not exactly challenging. Well, neither is my new project, but at least it will be something I can use when I'm finished with it. And it's going super fast. It's an orange garter stitched messenger bag. I really love the yarn I'm using too. It's very soft.

We went to a Mexican restaurant tonight for Brock's birthday. He loooves his chips and dip. Guacamole is his favorite. I ordered two cheese enchiladas and I forgot to say no beans, only rice. I don't normally like refried beans anyway, I think they're kind of gross, but now I think they're doubly gross because they've got lard in them. Very few places use anything else. So I ate the one enchilada that wasn't touching the beans haha. I brought the other one home. I'm going to try to suck it up and just eat it, but seriously, I've become a bit of a freak about this. I really really hate eating anything that has animal in it. I never ever thought I would be this way. Maybe after a few weeks I'll calm down, I don't know. But right now it's a little bit of a pain hah.

I think I'll get back to knitting now. Or sleeping. One of the two.

Healthier rambling

aaagh, work is boring, and I'm going a little bit crazy!

So, I will ramble here.

Firstly, I have decided to learn how to sew. I know how to knit and how to crochet, but it has become more obvious lately that knitting/crocheting things that don't look like something your crotchety old great grandmother would make for a wee-tyke is very hard to come by. Unless you're super talented/have the time to work teeeny tiny knit stitches to make something more akin to fabric. But then you've generally got to sew it anyway.

I've done a little research and I think I'm going to get a Brother sewing machine from WalMart. They're only $70 and supposed to be pretty easy to learn on. I don't want to invest in something really nice until I know I enjoy sewing. I'm pretty excited about this venture though. I've been wanting to learn for years.

Next, I just want you all to know that I am really enjoying being a vegetarian. I am, for once, eating veggies and enjoying them. And I'm discovering my love for other things I'd never really considered before. So it's going well.

I think I want to start doing Pilates. I remembered this week that I did it once at a YW activity from a real Pilates instructor, and I loved it. I think I could barely walk the next day because I was so sore. But I'm ok with that. There's a new studio opening in Auburn, but I don't think it'll be open for group classes until August, so I might have to go up to Kent instead. Or maybe I'll look into Yoga if there are no Pilates classes around here. I loved Yoga back in high school.

A week... or so's... worth of accomplishments

I finished The Book of Mormon. Finally. 2 weeks and 2 days from start to finish. It's been really neat. I certainly have felt the difference in my life. An added peace. It has of course brought me to a better understanding of my own shortcomings, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing :)

I'm going to read The Infinite Atonement next I think. Though I'll probably take my time with that, just reading a little each day. And of course I'll continue my scripture study, just not in such a ravenous way hah.

In other news I managed to finish 7 more squares for Warm Up America in the past week. I have also caught up at work and have a routine down finally. And the whole being a vegetarian thing is going pretty well, minus the whole family ganging up on me and trying to make me miss meat (which I don't) thing. I'm actually really enjoying the fact that I'm forced to think up other things to eat. It's making me more creative. So, 4 days down, another 26 or even a lifetime to go. I guess we'll see what happens!

Fish are friends, not food

I have been so incredibly lazy this weekend. I think I've been asleep more than I've been awake. But considering I worked 5+ hours of overtime last week learning a ton of new things, I'm pretty ok with how I spent it. That and I finally finished Alma. And I read half of a health book that... well... has kind of turned me into a vegetarian...

I'm so grossed out by slaughterhouses that it's all I can do to eat things with milk and eggs in them, let alone any meat. I don't know if it will stick, but I signed up for the 30 day Peta Vegetarian challenge. I'm going to give it a try and see how I feel. I am by no means an animal activist, and I'm wary to actually call myself a vegetarian because I can't stand those people who are "vegetarian" for a few weeks at a time in between Big Macs and chicken sandwiches, but I am willing to try this out and see if I really do feel healthier afterwards.

Also thanks to this health book, I now want to cut out all bleached flour and hydrogenated oils. I'm not quite there yet because that stuff is in almost everything, so I'm going to have to do some hunting around and trying new things. I'll just ease into it. If I can get that down, I may eventually cut out eggs and milk altogether as well. I'm going to have to learn to do a lot of my own cooking.

This is a new experience and I'm actually pretty excited. Eating is suddenly kind of an adventure!

Girls night out

I'm a little late tonight because I've been out with Avery. We saw Penelope today. Ok, seriously, probably one of my favorite movies of the year. I mean it's not perfect, but it's really, really cute. And I'm basically in love with James McAvoy. He is delicious!

In other news, I got to talk to Julian tonight, Aves' and my friend from Australia. I haven't talked to him in ages (he's more Aves' friend than mine) but we called him about midnight and had a good chat. He had some funny and rather spot on things to say about my relationship status. It's nice to hear an Aus accent now and then :)

Also on the topic of foreign things, we went to World Market after the movie. I love that store more and more every time I go. We got some Tim Tams (of course) and Mint Slices (mmm) plus some Ritter Sport and Japanese gummy candies. Oh and Aero, which is a weird chocolate candy that has bubbles in the middle that sort of tingle on your tongue if you let it sit for a little while. Not my favorite, but alright none the less.

So that was my day. Things are pretty good. I'm sad Avery is leaving to go back to school tomorrow, but that's life. I'm just glad I have a best friend who is as amazing as she is.

Eerie: It's not just a lake near Canada

Shonna, the office manager, is gone. Tod fired her this morning. It was kind of sad, but mostly it was just a huge relief. The office had that sort of weird, empty, creepy calm-after-the-storm feeling, but it was also, oddly, very positive. Kind of in the vein of the cat's away so the mice are out to play. We let go of some of the things we'd been struggling with in the office and got excited to rearrange tasks and schedules. I think this will be a good change.

Disappointment of the day: Top Foods didn't have pancake in a can. Unless it was somewhere other than the pancake section. I didn't check the organics section so there's a chance. But it's a slim one.

I did however try a vegetarian corn dog. And I liked it way better than a regular corn dog. Morning Star makes the best vegetarian food. Seriously. Their Chik'n Nuggets are sooo good.

Lately, I really wish I was just in Utah already. Which is weird. Because I really love my family and I like my job and for the most part I'm enjoying my life the way it is right now. That and I mean it's UTAH. Ick haha. But I honestly wish it was next January already. And other than superficially, I don't really feel unsettled about it, just excited. I can't wait!

Life tastes good

The extent of my obsession with Nutella has reached ridiculous levels. I cannot get enough of it. I think this is because when I was younger, I had a few too many bad experiences with Ferrero Rocher - which I still think is disgusting - and it resulted in my thinking that I didn't like hazelnut. Thus I as a child and teen I had no desire to even attempt something like Nutella.

I wish I'd known then what I know now.

Because I'm obviously making up for lost time. First it started out with just Holland Rusk. That's all I'd eat it on. Now it's bagels. And toast. And when I'm done spreading, I can't help it. I lick the knife. I just can't let it go to waste!

What I am getting at, is that if you haven't tried it already, do. Now. Run to your local grocer and buy a jar of it this second. It will change your life.

On the topic of foods that have altered my reality in a serious way, we now come to pancake in a can. Well, ok, it's actually called Batter Blaster. I found out about it today, and it blew my mind! Brad, our tech manager, was telling us about it, and at first we in the office thought it was a joke. Then when we realized he was serious, we thought it just sounded nasty; like cheez whiz style pancakes full of chemicals and preservatives.

But not so! It is in fact USDA certified organic! And the pancakes it makes actually look really good! Who would have thought?? You MUST check it out. Just watch the video. You too will be a believer.



I know, you want some now don't you? I'll get some soon and let you know how it is. And I think maybe I'll put a little Nutella on it while I'm at it...

Professor Layton and the never ending trial of my patience

Sorry about the cussing, but ahahaha, I can't stop laughing over this comic! Because even though I'm enjoying playing this game, this is sooo truuuue. Hahaha

It has been a wonderful Valentine's Day thus far. Brandon is clever and wonderful. Every couple of hours I get an email with a message and a photo attached. The photo is of random areas or things around his house, and hidden within the photo is a heart. My job is to find the heart. This was the hardest one so far. You'll have to make it bigger to find it.

Today is my one day of the year to enjoy really terrible yet some how delicious store brand sugar cookies covered in sprinkles. Every year I look forward to these. I generally only eat them on either Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day. Once in a while I'll buy the flag ones on the 4th of July. They're crunchy and sweet and turn my fingers pink. Yum yum.

I'm going to start my packing tonight between watching the latest Tivo'd episode of Project Runway and solving riddles with the help of Professor Layton, Luke and their horrid British accents. Good times!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I want to dream in 50,000 colors when I'm dead

I have been waxing nostalgic about the most random things tonight! I started thinking about them as I cut my bangs and then I just started recalling one odd item after another. In conjunction with listening to Snakes Say Hisss! it managed to get me out of my annoyed mood and into one that's a bit silly. So here are some of the things I thought about:

This would be the fire hydrant plant holder I got for my 16th birthday. I walked into English and there it was, sitting on my desk. Thank you Danual. I still love it.

Also around one of my birthdays, last March I was in Utah visiting Katy and we stopped by the Moore's house in Salt Lake one night. And on the wall was a poster I think John-Ross had put up. It was a cheap copy of Vincent VanGogh's Starry Night, and on it in big white letters were the words "I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ART." And it so absolutely summed up my feelings on that painting and the people who claim it as their "favorite painting ever" that I just had to laugh.

I remembered also a video game I used to play on the computer. It was called The Neverhood. And I guess it has a bit of a cult following nowadays. It was all done with claymation. The game was a bit like Myst but sooo much quirkier and better. And the music in it was amazing.

Does anyone remember the movie Grandpa's Magical Toy Shop? or King Cole's Party? or perhaps Wee Sing Together (also known as Sally's Birthday Party)? These were all the Wee Sing movies my grandma used to have us watch. They were all so.... tacky haha. It was like Barney, but trippier. And more annoying. But we watched them all time. Those were good times. Especially Grandpa's Magical Toy Shop, with Punchanello.

And one that's a lot more recent: I was talking about mushrooms to Brandon and the fact that I've really only tried the common mushrooms you can get at a grocery store. And he piped up with "Oh you mean the Agaricus Bisporus?" And I just started laughing so hard. Probably one of the things I love the most about Brandon is that he knows the Latin names for a ton of different mushrooms. And he's been to fungus fairs. I love it. Oh my gosh, I love it!

Life is all about enjoying the little things. And boy do I. There are so many small moments in life that are hilarious and random and I just love every one of them.

Ups and downs, bigs and littles, longs and shorts

I feel so annoyed today. My word.

And I am taking it out as a grammar Nazi! It really bothers me when people write "feelin" and "doin" and "goin" and all other -ing words without the -g. It sounds so uneducated. Also, it bothers me when people write "then" instead of "than." Oh man and I saw someone spell Jamaica as Jamacia over and over and over the other day. It just never ends. What is wrong with our schools??

Sigh.

So anyway. Stake conference today. We had one session instead of two so I had to park a block away at a different church because there was no parking to be found. Elder Nelson was supposed to come but he got a new assignment at the last minute so our Area Seventy spoke instead. The meeting was pretty good. It focused on missionary work mostly. Being a good example. That kind of thing.

I made peanut butter heath bar cookies for my family this afternoon. They are yummy.

Man I wish I was in California right now. Sadly I'm going to have to wait another 138.5 hours. At least it's relatively soon now. Then it's 9 days of vacation. Aaah.

Love and Mathematics

Smoked Gouda: Okish. It was cheese. It tasted a little like ham mixed with cheese.

Republican Race: Ick. I may end up voting for a Dem. Sigh.

The fact that I have Brandon obsessing over the very same pattern of triangles I've obsessed over for about 6 years: Hilarious. Draw a square, now put an X through it (connecting the corners) and then draw a triangle on each of the four sides of the square. Now try to trace that shape without picking up your pencil or retracing any of the lines. Yeah, it's impossible. And I've been trying to come up with either a way that it is possible or a reason, mathematically, why it is not possible, since I was probably about 12 years old.

The Tower of Hanoi: Interesting. I figured out the pattern and I've been amusing myself with it for the past fifteen minutes. I haven't tried past 5 discs.

The Great Gatsby: Loving it. I started it earlier today and I'm nearly finished. I'd forgotten how much I love hearing about the Jazz Age. And I like Fitzgerald's tone.

Crochet squares completed: 5.5

Days until I leave for California: 10

Biggest geek ever

Ok, really, this is getting ridiculous. I've been refreshing CNN.com all afternoon just waiting for the voting results to come in. My idea of a great night tonight is getting some snacks and hunkering down to watch CNN bring me the results in real time!

I'm a bit tiffed about the McCain/Huckabee scandal in West Viriginia because lets face it, anyone who thinks they're going to be able to support the war in Iraq without the IRS collecting our taxes is a little nuts, and I don't think he's got even a small chance of winning the primary or, if by a miracle he does, the national vote. So to have Huckabee still in the race is a joke and obviously a ploy with McCain to split the GOP votes and keep Romney from winning. Dirty dirty politics.

Aaaaagh, I am completely obsessed! This is worse than in 8th grade when I made my mom swear she'd wake me up in the middle of the night to tell me who'd won the 2000 Presidential election (she did not, however, wake me up, because we didn't know who was president for... how many months? Thanks Al Gore...)

Ok, on a completely different topic, I have been told that my gateway cheese should be Smoked Gouda. I'm going to give it a try tonight.

Alright, well, that's enough rambling from me. I might post a rant later when I hear Romney hasn't won and psycho McCain is the GOP front runner... or heaven forbid Huckabee...

I think I'm probably going to end up voting for Obama after all . Sigh.

You're talking like a girl again

It was a big news day today, my word. My CNN news ticker was changing all day today. Insane. India and the middle east are without internet for a while. I'm not sure how their banks or stock exchanges are coping. The UNHCR have had to pull out of some of the Darfur refugee camps because of carjackings and other attacks. The U.S. senate passed their version of the stimulus plan. I'm kind of more partial to the house version, but either way, I hope one of them gets passed soon. Britney's back in the hospital (these stories as top headlines actually really annoy me, but whatever). And the governator has officially decided to back McCain.

Craziness.

I must say though, it kept me from being completely bored at work. Well that and my crocheting. I finished another square and have started on another. It's going pretty well. I feel like I'm getting better at it.

So, Godiva has put together a room made almost completely out of chocolate. Apparently anyone who buys a box of Godiva chocolate could possibly win a weekend get away to a replica of this room to be reconstructed in Manhattan in May. It's too bad I'm not much of a Godiva person, because that would be almost as good as staying in an ice castle.

I'm still on a bit of a Sarah Blasko kick, but tonight I've changed it up and have been listening to A Weather. It's nice and mellow and lovely. It makes me feel all twinkly and sleepy and happy. I can't wait for their full length to come out next week. (p.s. if you watch the video on their page, I was at that show hehe. They opened for Bright Eyes at the Showbox last... oh my word... February? March? It was almost a year ago now. Weird. Also, Aaron is really nice. I slept at his house in Portland last May.)

I have been told I should try to find my gateway cheese. i.e. the cheese that will really get me interested in the cheese world so that my eyes won't glaze over when people start naming off cheeses they love. So that I will be genuinely interested in the cheeses they care so much about because not only will I love cheese, but I will constantly be on the search for the best cheese known to man. I need to begin somewhere and let my cheese passion grow to match those of the cheese lovers I know and find so dear. So, my gateway. I need one. Any suggestions?

Well I think I'll go crochet some more. Go Warm Up America!

Central Coast Cali, here I come! (Please don't rain on me) countdown: 16 days. It's so soooon! Yaaay!