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Showing posts from January, 2009

cheese

Why does some powdered cheese taste pretty decent while other powdered cheese tastes like chemical waste? I realize the right answer to this question is "make cheese sauce out of real cheese, dumbass," but honestely it seems like the task of managing realistic cheese taste would not be all that complicated. In related news, Rachel Ray was making real cheese sauce the other day, for her "reuben mac and cheese." Miriam thinks it sounds terrible, while I'm pretty convinced it would be delicious. I may have to whip some up this weekend.

Winter in Wyoming!

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I might be alone, but I'm happy to see that winter has returned to town, even though it apparently got cold enough to split my passenger-side mirror in half. Enough of that 60-degree weather: let it snow! After the trip to Cabela's last weekend, I've now got some real snowboots. Oddly enough, they're the first real snowboots I've had in a good long while, like maybe a decade. Anyway, they make me feel like I'm wearing toasty-warm all-wheel drive. After the trip to Cablela's last weekend, I also now have a picture of me beneath the Giant White Virgin Mary shrine at Pine Bluffs: I've been by the shrine a time or two or twenty, but this is the first time I've ever stopped. Glad to have a picture of the momentous event. Apparentely those Nebraskans know that everybody coming over from Wyoming line is in need of some GWVM lovin'. Frigid temps and a half-foot of snow also seem fitting for UW club hockey's last home game, Friday night at 9:30 p

hold on loosely

I got to see my cats tonight. I miss those little bastards. The visit makes me think of those country lyrics: It was a different life / When we were boys and girls / Not just a different time / But a different world. It's funny how long ago two years has been. Mostly, though, that's a good thing.

Friday goodtimes

Tonight Will's band ( St. Olas ) is playing Coal Creek. I'm excited to hear their new stuff. And I'm excited that myspace tells me how to describe their sound, since I didn't really know what to say about them. Now I'll just say, "They're acoustic indie americana, man!"

try-athlete

This morning's workout: 1/4-mile swim, 4-mile bike ride, 1 1/2-mile run (on the elliptical). Maybe I should start training for one of Wyoming's triathlon events . Ha, ha. I'm a funny guy. Actually, it looks like the Diabetes Dirt Duathlon in Sheridan can be completed as a team event. That's more my style!

the day after...

My favorite reference authority (wikipedia, I mean) says that inauguration is "a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's rule. An example is the ceremony in which the president of the United States officially takes the oath of office." In other words, the MAIN EVENT of yesterday's multi-million dollar affair was, well, the oath. It's just a tiny bit funny, then, that Obama ended up retaking the oath , without reporters, Bible, or porta-potties--the ultimate low-cost version of an inauguration. People who bitch about the cost of this inauguration should remember, I think, that much of the cost was related to the extremely high turn-out for our new president It's almost like people are excited about having this new guy in office (or maybe just happy to see the old guy leaving). Despite wide disagreement about crowd size , most media sources are saying there hasn't been a turn-out close to this since Lyndon Johnson's in 1965. And at leas

ambivalent

If I didn't think that the unseasonably warm weather might be somehow related to global warming, I'd be totally excited about my bike ride this afternoon. Wearing shorts in January just feels wrong, though.

vocabulary lesson

People seem to have a negative view of politics. Not just national politics, but the general concept of politics. As in, "I really like my job. It's just that, you know, the politics sometimes get to me." That authoritative source, wikipedia, says that politics is the "process by which groups make decisions." In other words, every one of us is involved in politics, unless, of course, we're an island. I'm no island, but I do believe that most group decisions manage to protect and preserve the interests of the populace . I imagine the alternative: "I really like my job. It's just that, you know, the anarchy sometimes gets to me." I like this definition of anarchy: "a theoretical state in which there is no governing person or body of persons, but each individual has absolute liberty" (wikipedia, citing OED). Call me crazy, but I prefer politics to absolute liberty. Watching the inauguration today, there were definitely

hillbilly

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There's something about a chipped front tooth that makes me want to move to Kentucky and throw some tires on my roof. Yeehaw: Just a week after my six-month check-up, I'll be headed back tomorrow or Tuesday to see if they can fix the tooth I managed to break today at the weekly pick-up game. (Side note #1: With skills like mine, I'm not losing sleep wondering if I'll get invited to play with the new president. Side note #2: We played full-court today. We may be in better shape for the intramural season than I believed. Side note #3: When I was a sophomore in high school, I chipped my other front tooth, also playing basketball.) It's exciting to be playing team sports again. In addition to the pick-up game and the upcoming intramural basketball league, Quincy recruited me to the indoor soccer team. (Side note #4: before the indoor soccer field was an indoor soccer field, it was a flea market; before it was a flea market, it was a bowling alley. Funny how th

iron filings

Iron filings--that's sorta the taste in my mouth when I play soccer. I forget that I have an inhaler, which might actually make a difference. I mean, I feel at this point in my life that my overall fitness is high enough that I should be able to play longer than 4 minutes without being completely winded. But instead, iron filings. Nonetheless, I'm so excited to be playing in the indoor soccer league. It's mostly the same team of people I played with last summer--people I don't really know outside of this context but who seem to be really great people. If a 24-minute indoor soccer game makes me winded, I can only imagine how I'll feel when I take the court with the English Department intramural basketball squad, playing full-court ball against mostly 18-year-olds.

Mountain Standard Time

Sarah E. and Emilene and Melissa all turned out for the bluegrass concert on campus tonight. It was nice to have a bit of my-age company; most everybody else looked to be freshmen or sophomores. All in all, though, it was a pretty good crowd; Sarah and I estimated about 150-175 people, and most of them dancing by the end of the night. Even I danced/hopped/jumped-up-jumped-up-and-jumped-around for the last few songs. I just don't know what to do with the top half of my body. Or the bottom half. Angles and elbows, that's me. The band, however, was all fingers and bows and drumsticks, blazing fast. They were great. And they taught me a new trick: archive.org. You can hear and download their stuff there ! (Hint: #10's a great cover!) And I like their name, Mountain Standard Time. That's a fine name for a bluegrass band.

no cavities!

In addition to being the first day of school, it was also go-to-the-dentist day. Disappointingly, the hygienist who has been cleaning my teeth is not there anymore. I'm pretty bummed about this, actually, since she did a really great job of making sharp-tools-poking-my-gums a decent experience. And having a bearable expierence at the dentist is worth a lot to me. I've realized, the past few times that I've been at the dentist's, that getting my teeth cleaned stresses me out. I mean, I don't have anxiety or anything beforehand, and I definitely don't hate going, the way some people do. But when I'm there, I notice that my whole body tenses up, and I hold my breath without even realizing it. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with my new hygienist: letting someone do the sharp-tools-poking-my-gums is a pretty intimate encounter (I don't mean that in some weird fetish-y way, either, sicko), and I'm not sure I trust the new girl with the task.

and now you're older still

I don't know if other people had a good time at my birthday party (and Elsa and Jim's going-away party)last night, but I did. And I feel more mature, too. Not that I'm a grown-up or anything. Even as I prepare for the start of the semester, I find myself much less stressed about the things that used to keep me awake for nights before the first day of classes. I think some good things are happening cognitively; my brain is becoming able to process things in new ways. I can't quite explain it more than that, but overall it gives me sense of optimism about the coming year.

smooth ride

News in today's Laramie Boomerang: " MBNA has set up several spades dangling from tree branches throughout the trails complex, as well as placed a plastic bucket at the Tie City trail head, to provide ways for people to dispose of dog waste. 'We ask that people scoop their poop or knock it off the trails, because it gums up your skis,' Axtman said." In related news, I learned that even though my skis are waxless, I still need to wax them, cuz over the course of the season I'll pick up stuff that will gum up the skis. Like tree sap. Or worse.

additional reasons for optimism

I got my electronic credit card statement in the mail yesterday. Seemed a bit off, so I checked out the charges online. Turns out, the check I put in the mail two weeks ago never showed up, so I had finance charges and a late fee. Plus, Hertz had charged me some questionable fee from the rental car in Phoenix. On top of this, I haven't been able to log onto my online checking account since just after setting it up in early December, so I couldn't quickly confirm whether my check to the credit card people had cleared. In other words, I spend a lot of time on hold this morning, waiting to talk to customer service people. I can imagine that credit card companies and rental car companies deal with a lot of upset customers. I hoped I wouldn't become one of them, since the charges represented about $160 of stuff that wasn't my fault. Wonderfully, all of the representatives I talked to on the phone were, well, wonderful. They were sincerely nice (not that phony-smile bu

By the numbers

Cars in the parking lot at Tie City when I started my morning ski: 0 Approximate wind speed in the parking lot: 70+ Time on trail: about 50 minutes Piles of dog poo I saw on my route: half a dozen or so Along the Meadow Trail I spotted a gardening spade hanging from a tree. Seemed like a weird implement for a snowy trail. But then, as I was heading back to the trailhead, I realized that maybe whoever'd been carrying the spade had had the same idea I was having: sure would be nice if somebody would clean up the poo. Maybe somebody brought along the spade to pry up cold, frozen turds from the trail! Maybe next time I head out for snowshoeing, I'll take along a spade and a bag and be a good samaritan. My first inclination was to be annoyed by people who didn't clean up after their pets. But I'm going to take the optimistic view, that these dogs were trailing along 50 yards behind their human companions, stopping to sniff around and enjoy the outdoors, and that their o

Democracy in action!

The Laramie Boomerang's breaking news story this evening: "In a Laramie City Council vote tonight that was decided by two coin tosses, councilor Jodi Guerin was elected mayor, while former mayor Klaus Hanson was elected vice mayor." Two coin tosses. No recounting of hanging chads. Hopefully no late-night back-stabbing, either. Maybe that will be tomorrow's breaking news. * * * In entirely unrelated news: Apple announced this week that they're switching to DRM-free music downloads. This is only one more reason for me to make the switch to a Mac and to iTunes.

slippery slope

I've said before that the 'problem' with Prop 22 and other gay marriage legislation is that these types of laws open the door for 'polygamy,' 'incest,' and 'pedophilia.' Now, a recent posting from Newsweek suggests, at least to me, that social attitudes may be shifting towards greater acceptance of inter-family marriage, in addition to acceptance of gay marriage. I'm not sure how I feel about what appears to me to be a widening definition of marriage (and, by extension, of romantic love, I guess). Growing up, I didn't have much exposure to alternate versions of a "happy family," but I know that part of the reason I like About a Boy so much (aside from the irreverent wit, of course), is Marcus's realization that, in strong relationships (of any kind, maybe), "You need a backup. If you're only two people, and someone drops off the edge...then you're on your own. Two isn't a large enough number. You need th

new year

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Six days into it, 2009 has been a pretty good year so far. My friend Deb came up from Denver on the 1st and 2nd, mainly for the opportunity to experience All That is Snowshoeing. We went up to Chimney Park, traipsed around for about two hours, got a little bit lost, and then rewarded our hard work with lunch at the Woods Landing Cafe. I'd forgotten how good their burgers were, but a bite into that juicy, fresh beef patty was a quick reminder. Delicious fries, too--real potatoes with Lawry's seasoned salt. And, then, of course, pie, with ice cream. Saturday I finished up Christmas shopping and put the final touches on the quilt rack I made for my sister, then had dry roads for the trip down to Greeley. After Dad and Susie got in, Sarah and Joel fed us all some steak and taters and salad, and then on Sunday we had Christmas. I'm pretty lucky to have such a great family. Quilt rack: On the way back to Laramie today I stopped off to search for some new pots and pans. A