Monday, March 29, 2010

Mmmmm... tastes like New Jersey...

And NO, New Jersey does NOT taste like sewer water and petroleum products... I swear, trying to convince people that the "New Jersey is nothing but concrete and oil refineries" stereotype is untrue and unfair is almost as difficult as trying to convince people that the "Republicans are all a bunch of hateful, racist, violent, rednecks" stereotype is untrue and unfair. I guess in both cases, people just believe whatever they're fed through the magic box with the little moving pictures inside it... if the TV tells you so, it must be true... never mind critical thinking or open-mindedness... (Sorry, but it's been a ridiculous week with the media -- I could definitely go on another rant, but I'll try to restrain myself for now... :))

No, no -- New Jersey, for those who are truly interested, tastes like Dunkin Donuts hazelnut coffee with milk and sugar. Yuuuum. Okay, I'm sure different people associate different tastes with the Garden State, but for me, the one thing that immediately takes me back to our awesome house with the huge picture windows and the purple-carpeted media room is Dunkin Donuts hazelnut coffee. Back when we lived there, we used to frequent the Dunkin Donuts in the Exxon station down the street -- we were a good half hour away from a Starbucks. (And that's if we wanted to chance going to the one in the Albertson's grocery store, which was NOT a "real" Starbucks... in fact, Rick once hated his Albertson's Starbucks coffee so much he literally spit it out onto the sidewalk... Sadly, he was with my dad at the time, not me, so I was not a witness to this event... but I have relished the oft-repeated tale and laughed in amusement many times... I'm sure Rick was NOT amused when it happened, but c'mon, it's funny NOW... :))

So in lieu of our favorite frou frou coffee shop, Dunkin Donuts was an excellent back up. We would always stop in and say hello to the sweet Indian family who ran the shop, and they'd have our coffee ready before we even got to the counter. And my mom would always require my presence if she went into the store, because apparently for some reason I'm really good at understanding heavily-accented English?? I don't know what that's about... Although I suspect it has something to do with being a quiet person... seriously -- because as a quiet person, I'm much more attuned to non-verbal communication than most people. Sometimes you can tell what someone is trying to say just by paying attention to the situation and the surroundings, and then matching it up with whatever sounds you happen to hear. For instance, if you're in a restaurant, and you've just been seated, and a waiter comes over and gestures in an inquisitive way and says, "I have a kite and some ink," well, you can probably be pretty certain that you heard wrong. BUT, you COULD probably figure out that he asked if "you'd like something to drink," because, well, that's almost always the first thing waiters ask when you sit down at a table.

Wow... I have no idea where I was going with that. (This is one of those posts that really lives up to my "random tangets" blog title... :)) I think my original point was that yesterday, while Rick and I were out and about, we decided to eschew our usual cappuccinos at Starbucks and hit up a Dunkin Donuts. I got my old standby -- hazelnut with milk and sugar -- and as soon as I took one sip, I was momentarily transported back to New Jersey. And occasionally, I really DO miss New Jersey -- especially this time of year, when baseball is about to start again. Next week (next week?!?) is opening day, and tonight is our hastily scheduled, impromptu, online fantasy baseball draft. (Things are a little unorganized this year...)

So I'm off to make a quick dinner and then head upstairs with my laptop to scrape up some semblance of a fantasy team... I don't have high hopes for this year, but who knows. The important thing is -- baseball is back!!! :)      

Monday, March 22, 2010

Let's try this again...

I'm so excited! (You know I just split this up into two posts so I could say I posted TWICE today... how often does THAT happen? :)) And it's a really silly reason to be excited, but nevertheless -- there is a new frozen yogurt/coffee shop right across the street from our neighborhood (take note of the COFFEE part -- it's not just frozen yogurt, but also Sweet, Sweet, Nectar of the Gods...). And what REALLY makes this great is the fact that it's within walking distance of our house. One of the things I was really looking forward to the most about moving to Chicago was the promise of stores/restaurants within walking distance of wherever we'd be living. It's much more difficult to come across locations like that in suburbia...

But we have, within the last couple years, found ourselves within walking distance of two drug stores (which can be handy now and then), at least four banks (which is never handy, since none of them are OUR bank), a decent restaurant (Z Tejas -- good southwestern-style food), and a few fast-food/casual places (McDonald's, a Quizno's, a really good pizza place). But all of them pale in comparison to the arrival of our new frozen yogurt/coffee shop. To have frozen yogurt within walking distance is already pretty awesome -- espcially since the walk to and from serves to burn off some of those (not much less than ice cream) calories. But to also have COFFEE within walking distance?? That's like my dream...

At one time, the now-exclusively-pizza place was actually a coffee shop (I believe I wrote about it on the blog a few times, because they also had some of the BEST carrot cake I've ever had), and I fully expected to make it a regular summertime walk destination... but the "coffee shop" barely lasted a few months before it was converted to a "Brooklyn-style" pizza place... and while they DO have some of the best pizza around, I don't consume pizza nearly as often as I consume coffee -- ergo, I haven't been there in quite a while (whereas I've been to Starbucks fifteen thousand times in the last week ALONE... okay, I may be exaggerating... but not by much... :)).

So now I just need to encourage everyone else in my neighborhood to patronize the new frozen yogurt/coffee shop, lest it suffer the same fate as the Brooklyn pizza place and turn into, oh, I don't know, a Philly cheesesteak joint or something. And I am NOT usually one to discourage the northeast from encroaching upon Austin -- we have FAR too many barbecue and tex-mex restaurants, and not nearly enough Brooklyn-style pizza or New York bagel shops. Still, I really like the idea of a regular summertime walking destination that ends with either dessert or caffeine...

Or possibly both... :)

I'm so excited!

No, no -- NOT about the unconstitutional monstrosity that our Dear Leader has forced upon a population of Americans, who, for the most part, were OPPOSED to said monstrosity... and not about the fact that Dear Leader resorted to bribery and threats to attain the votes he needed (which just seems, oh, I don't know... wrong??)... and certainly not about the fact that apparently, passing this bill means we can finally see what's actually in it (yes, they had "to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it," according to Nancy Pelosi... gosh, do you mean it, Nancy Pelosi? That's swell...). And I'm DEFINITELY not excited about the fact that half the people in this country have turned into a bunch of whining, selfish babies who all believe they are "entitled" to every single little thing under the sun, and if they don't get it, well, then it must be because of racisim, sexism, homophobia, intolerance, hatred, or some combination of the bunch...

Meanwhile hard-working (and, by the way, TOLERANT and LOVING) people are being penalized simply for living their lives in a responsible, logical manner... but this is NOT about logic, it's about emotion... and it is certainly NOT about "health care," it's about control. (This has baffled me from the beginning -- how have so many people been duped into believing this whole debate has been about "health care"???) I have a feeling there will be a few Democrats out of a job come November...

But like I said, that is NOT why I'm excited, and I don't want to write too much more about this because it's pointless. There will always be logic on one side and emotion on the other. There will always be those who believe that with personal freedom, you can succeed no matter WHO you are -- whether you were born in the poorest of conditions in the worst part of a city, or in a mansion in an expensive suburb... whether you're black, white, Asian, Hispanic, whoever, whatever... whether you went to a public school or a private school... whether you wore hand-me-downs or designer jeans -- WHOEVER you are and WHEREVER you came from, you can do whatever you set your mind to, IF you have the freedom to do so, and IF you take the responsibility for your OWN LIFE, and IF you make the decision to WORK HARD...

Unfortunately, there will also always be people who believe that WHO you are and WHERE you come from can be "unfair"... that depending on who you are and where you come from, you're not ABLE to create a decent life for yourself, so the government has to step in and "help" you, by penalizing OTHERS and by TAKING AWAY from those people who HAVE made the choice to live responsibly and to work hard. And let me ask: what is more "unfair" -- having to work harder than others to attain the life you want, or TAKING AWAY from people who have already made that decision, to "redistribute" what they've rightfully worked for?? It's so simple, yet people still don't seem to "get" it...

As for me, I still choose to believe that ANYONE -- regardless of who they are, where they're from or what they believe -- can create a better life for themselves IF the government gets out of the way and gives them the FREEDOM they need to do so, and IF the government STOPS telling people that they CAN'T possibly create a better life because the country is so "unfair." What MADE this country great to begin with was the idea that people could come here from ANYWHERE and make a better life for themselves... unfortunately, the goverment has now decided that it's not possible anymore. Wealth envy, hatred, and the love of power have won out for now. We can only hope that SOMEHOW there will be some REAL "change" in our futures and people will wake up before it's too late.

And since this has turned into a completely political post (a rarity for my blog... :))... I shall continue my original thought (which I never got around to saying) in my next post... I really AM excited about something really trivial, that has nothing whatsoever to do with our corrupt goverment...

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Occam's in action...

A few days ago, my dad gave me a copy of an article about Occam's Razor. For anyone who's unfamiliar with it, Occam's Razor states, "entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem." I know that everyone who's reading this already speaks Latin, so I'm sure no translation is necessary. (What? You guys DON'T speak Latin?!? What kind of craziness is the world coming to??) Okay, translated, this means "entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity." And translated into REAL English, Occam's Razor is the idea that the simplest explaination to a problem is generally the best one. (I think I may have touched on this idea in one of my "global warming" posts, where I had the audacity to postulate that the SUN has a much bigger impact on our climate than human beings. Apparently, that idea is a bit too "simple" for some people... but I won't name any names... algorealgorealgorealgore... um, where was I? ;))

Oh yes... so last night, after Rick and I had eaten dinner, I decided to make a nice cup of tea. (I know it sounds like I'm changing the subject, but just hang with me for a minute...) I also decided to get my coffeemaker ready to go for morning. And I refilled Echo's water bowl with some fresh water. In other words, I was running the tap quite a bit to fill up teapots and coffee carafes and dog bowls. As I put the teakettle on the burner to boil, I thought I heard the sound of water dripping. I glanced back at the faucet on the sink (which has had a tendency to be very temperamental lately -- it doesn't always shut off properly, so the handle has to be firmly mashed down to prevent the faucet from dripping), but it seemed to be completely off. And then I realized the sound was coming from somewhere near my FEET -- I looked down, and water was pouring out of the cabinet below the sink, soaking the little throw rug I keep on the floor.

I immediately ran to my computer to summon Rick. And yes, I know it's pathetic that we IM each other in the house, but in this case, it saved me from having to run upstairs while all that water was collecting on the floor. Instead, I just sent out an IM SOS, and ran to the bathroom for towels. Meanwhile, Rick ran downstairs and turned off the water under the sink (duh... I should've done that before I went to get towels... I'm such a girl... :)). We then proceeded to take everything out from under the sink and sop up the mess, while we tried to figure out WHERE the leak was coming from. Rick tentatively turned the water back on so I could run the faucet for a few seconds... there was some discussion about perhaps needing to replace the faucet, since it had been acting so finicky... maybe the whole SINK needed to be replaced, pipes and all... maybe we just needed an ENTIRELY NEW KITCHEN... actually, you know what? Bulldoze the whole house... it's the only way to be certain we really get to the source of the problem...

After a few seconds of running the water, Rick realized that the "leak" was definitely coming from the faucet -- it was dripping down the hose that connects the faucet to the water pipe. We have one of those faucets that pull out, so you can use it like a showerhead. Well, a showerhead for your vegetables (woe to he who tries to shower in the sink...). Pull it out, you've got a sprayer; thread it back into the housing, it's a regular faucet. Well, when we pulled out the hose and attempted to use it in "sprayer" mode, water indeed began spraying -- UP from the faucet, instead of down into the sink. So when the faucet was nestled into its housing and the water was turned on, all that water was flying back up the OUTSIDE of the hose and dripping down into the cabinet. The solution? A two-second tightening of the loose nut inside the faucet.

So to get back to Occam's Razor (see? I told you I'd get back to it...), we were all ready to start dismantling our kitchen and to spend who-knows-how-much money on a brand-new faucet in an effort to figure out how to fix that leak... when, in fact, the solution was simple, free and took two seconds. You don't always have to destroy the kitchen to fix the faucet. If the faucet is leaking, it's probably not the oven's fault. And the great thing is, Occam's Razor can be applied to just about any aspect of life: home, work... recreation, auto repair... finances, travel, weight loss (you mean it really IS as simple as calories in vs. calories burned?? Yup...). In fact, you would think that politicians could apply this same principle to all the things they like to screw up in Washington, D.C....

But that's a whole different blog post for another time... :)

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Bad blogger...

Yes, I've been the WORST blogger lately... along with the fact that annual report season at work pretty much turned my brain to mush (therefore rendering all creativity inaccessible), I've been having difficulty finding the TIME to sit down and write. I have to be honest -- the last few months have been very disheartening to me. I feel like I have no LIFE anymore -- every day is just rush, rush, rush, work, rush, rush, rush, sleep, repeat the next day. But I guess this IS life -- it's only the lucky few who can escape the drudgery. And of course I shouldn't complain -- there are a lot of people out there who NEED jobs right now and can't find any... so I should be thankful for what I have...

But enough about that. :) I've actually been half-wanting to start a NEW blog -- one solely devoted to health/food/working out. (But that would probably require an amount of time of which I am obviously not in possession at the moment...) I just started a new workout program to mix things up with my daily exercise -- while I absolutely LOVE my treadmill, I think it's a good idea to do something a little more challenging now and then. Supposedly there's this thing called "muscle memory," which is when your muscles become accustomed to whatever you normally do, and they actually "anticipate" the movement. So they don't have to work as hard as they used to. So your workout is a bit less effective than it once was...

Enter the aptly named "Insanity" workout. And if the last week is any indication, Insanity is pretty much a 60-day bootcamp, guaranteed to make you sweat a whole lot and possibly yell at the very mean instructor inside the television. But I love a good challenge, so I'm determined to stick it out for the 60-day duration. I've been working out in the afternoon for the past week, which I think might be the better schedule with these workouts -- I'm not sure I can summon the energy I need first thing in the morning...

And that is the only reason I'm still awake and blogging right now -- because I'll be "sleeping in" until about 5:30 tomorrow morning instead of getting out of bed by 4:45 to hit the treadmill. Unfortunately, it doesn't give me THAT much more time, so I'll have to sign off for now.

Hopefully I can return to "good blogger" status soon... :)

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Sunday evening random thoughts...

How was everyone's weekend? I feel slightly rested up from two weeks of crazy at work, including a weekend of annual report proofing last weekend. Thankfully, I didn't have any at-home work this weekend... which was good, because by Friday afternoon I believe my eyeballs were attempting to pop themselves out of my head, desperately trying to avoid any more reading. So these last two days have been quite nice, although I'm anticipating another crazy week starting tomorrow... hope my eyes forgive me...

So the Academy Awards are tonight... and I just really couldn't care less. I mean, is it just me, or are these awards shows pretty much just a way for actors to pat themselves on the back for being so "awesome"? Seriously, what do they DO, exactly?? Basically, they dress in costumes and play pretend for a living... we ALL did that when we were five years old... it's not like it's brain surgery... (when are the Brain Surgeon Awards??) Not to mention the fact that more often than not, half of them use awards shows as a political platform to spout their hatred of evil, conservative, rich, capitalists -- all while traveling in their private jets and fancy limos and wearing thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and designer dresses. Hmmm... Everyone is a hypocrite, but Hollywood seems to be full of super-hypocrites...

I think that our "Texas winter" is pretty much over. We came SO close to having REAL snow this year -- it actually did snow for a few hours a couple weeks ago. But as usual, it amounted to nothing. It was hilarious, however, to see people driving 25 miles per hour on roads that were no more treacherous than when it rains, simply because they could SEE snow flying around in the air. (Just a little hint: if it was 75 degrees the day before the "snow" falls, it's not likely to stay on the warm ground...) My friend Nick dubbed me a "snow snob" because of my derision towards the innocuous Austin snow... but I'd love to see some real, honest-to-goodness SNOW in this city some year -- you know, the kind that closes roads and shuts down the airport and forces everyone to stay home with cups of hot cocoa and blankets. Sigh... :)

Speaking of weather, it seems like we've had SO much rain the last few months. Which should translate into lots of bluebonnets this spring. That should be nice, anyway... I hate the seemingly never-ending rain, but at least we should get some great photo opportunities out of it...

We had a much-too-big lunch this afternoon, but since it's going on 7 o'clock, I should probably go heat up some soup or something. NOT looking forward to this week, but it's just five days and then I get another weekend... yay for weekends!!

Just five days... just five little days... 

Monday, March 01, 2010

The lone bubble...

Well, this is it. It took me a little over a year, but I finally finished off the very last piece of my Chicago Tootsie Roll stash. I managed to polish off a plethora of sugar-laden treats: regular Tootsie Rolls, flavored Tootsie Rolls, Tootsie Pops, cotton candy, chocolate-covered cherries, Andes mints, Blow Pops, Dots... And it's no surprise (to me, anyway) that the last man standing was a piece of Double Bubble bubble gum -- I rarely chew "sugared" gum, choosing to spend most of my gum-chewing hours on sugarLESS gum. (Four out of five dentists recommend it, after all, and that's a pretty big majority...)


So I went from this:



To this:


That's it. End of the line. No more sugar highs for me.

Incidentally, Dubble Bubble bubble gum (I just noticed, as I was looking at the picture above, that it's spelled "Dubble." Hmmm... Why not Double Bouble??), gets less-than-chewable after months in a pantry. My last few pieces resembled something akin to mostly hardened modeling clay, and probably would've been better suited to be used as bottle stoppers, or maybe some sort of ballast... but I was determined to chew them into oblivion, nonetheless.

Sigh... it was yummy while it lasted... :)