I'm still alive...

Yes, I am still here... and maybe someday I'll discover a way to blog more efficiently... In the meantime: Random Thoughts!! :)

So I was complaining to Rick this afternoon that I'd forgotten to get my baseball lineup in for today, and lamenting the fact that this "work" thing gets in the way of such utterly important activities as fantasy baseball. And then he informed me that our new fantasy baseball provider (a free system, as opposed to the pay system we've used the last few years) allows you to change your lineup even AFTER games have started, as long as whoever you want to move around hasn't started playing yet. This may actually be an improvement over previous years, as our old system would not allow ANY changes after ANY game had started. And I often had a tendency to forget about my lineup until mid-afternoon, at which point it was too late to do anything. (And for some reason, I always seem to end up with a lot of West Coast pitchers?? So half of my pitchers don't start playing until around 9 o'clock Central time...)

Mom and dad ran off to Chicago without me last week. (Thanks a LOT, you guys... :)) I happily would've tagged along, but I'm saving my vacation time for an upcoming excursion, which will be revealed at a later date. (Actually, I think just about everyone reading this already knows... I mean, I have about five regular readers, and four of you are coming with me, so...) I told mom and dad to return with some Argo tea and Ghirardelli chocolate, because if they were going to leave me here while they went off to have fun in the big city, the least they could do was bring back presents. That's the way it works, right? Right. Well, when they returned, I received exactly ZERO pieces of chocolate, and not a single tea leaf. This only reinforces my conviction that I MUST be present for any excursions to the City of Chicago. Obviously if I want something done right, I have to do it myself. (Heehee... just kidding mom and dad! Okay, not really -- I'm coming with you next time... :))

So my awesome brother Eric just passed the Illinois ethics exam, which is the first step toward taking the Illinois State Bar exam. Apparently he took the same exam (or something similar) years ago when he was fresh off the turnip truck (or fresh off the farm... or fresh off his stint as a trapeze artist in the circus... or fresh off the stroll he was taking down a random street when he saw an "Ethics Exam Today" sign and decided to pop in and take a stab at it...), and he passed, but juuuuuust barely. Well, this time, after many years away from the turnip truck/farm/circus/random strolls, he totally blew it out of the water -- I mean, this guy has developed some serious ethics in his years on the police force. I bet he never even returns home from work with a pilfered post-it note or paper clip. That would be unethical. Anyway, like I said, my brother is awesome, and that bar exam doesn't stand a chance against his ethical brain and his #2-pencil-wielding hand... (Little does he know that the final question is, "Could you please write out your favorite recipe that uses mayonnaise? The more mayo the better... lawyers love mayo...")

I discovered tonight that I don't hate Brussels sprouts as much as I thought I did. The few times I've tried them, I've only been able to choke down a few bites before giving up. But my older brother Robert (who used to work as a chef and is still quite the proficient cook) told me that I should try peeling away the outer layers of Brussels sprouts before cooking, because apparently those are the most bitter. So I prepared Brussels Sprouts a la Robert tonight, making sure to peel away the first couple layers of sprout... then I tossed them with olive oil and salt and pepper, and roasted them in the oven (probably a tad too long, as a few of them were slightly charred...). The result was definitely not bad... I'm not going to say Brussels sprouts are my FAVORITE vegetable, but they're definitely not my LEAST favorite, either. (That honor is bestowed upon the horrible carrot, which I just CAN'T seem to enjoy no matter HOW it's prepared. Unless it's been cooked so long that it's flavorless...) I would definitely make them again... I'm happy that I can finally add another veggie to my slowly growing rotation of dinnertime options.

Okay, I'm off to bed... it's about to be past my ridiculously early bedtime... Good night! :)