stephsk8r's corner of the ice

Dad vs. Cell Phone

2011-06-23T21:03:00.002-04:00

We've been busy this spring, in part because my dad suffered a fall at our rental house and broke his heel. He was in the hospital for nearly two weeks (with one surgery) and then spent six weeks at a rehab facility here in town. All told, he was away from home for eight weeks, and he was so happy to be home.

But I wasn't letting him get away without a cell phone anymore. We bought a fairly simple flip phone and added him to our plan. Here's how it went:

Week 0: I plug in the phone to charge it, program my number and those of several relatives and friends into it, and try it to make sure it works. I explain how to call and tell him that because we're all AT&T subscribers, he can call my cell phone at any time for free. He can also make use of some of our shared minutes if he wants, and we have lots of spare night and weekend minutes he can use. Under no circumstances, however, is he to call his friend in England and talk for an hour. I leave with instructions for him to unplug the phone when the light turns green. (The red light/green light thing is brilliant. Works just like his cordless drill charger. Glad we went with this phone.)

Week 1: Dad learns how to call me.

Week 2: He calls me again. Makes sure to ask if it's still free for both of us. Yep, still free.

Week 4: "I was driving to Valpo and there was a train, so I thought I'd call."

Week 5: Phone runs out of battery and turns itself off. Fortunately, I am there to tell him to charge it.

Week 6: A text message arrives. Panic ensues.

Week 7: He can't figure out how to answer when I call, so he waits for it to stop ringing and calls me back. "The green button says CALL...." I can't really help him without seeing the phone (just like I couldn't help with the text), so I suggest that maybe he can answer the phone by opening it? We haven't determined yet whether this works.

Gotta love engineers. He could probably take apart and reassemble the thing perfectly, but using it is another story. It is awfully cute to see him wandering around with it, though.

England

2010-05-27T20:01:00.003-04:00

Steph and I just got back from an 11-day trip to England. We went with her mom to visit Steph's sister Stacy, her husband Roger, and their daughters Annabelle (almost 2 1/2) and Penelope (7 months). They live in the small town of Upwell, which is about 25 miles outside of Cambridge. We spent eight days there and a day and a half in London. We stayed in the most wonderful little B&B in the small town of Little Downham called Bury House; it was in a house that dates from the 1700s, and it was beautiful. The bed was very comfortable, the breakfasts were incredible, and everything smelled good. Also, they had five chickens in the yard who supplied eggs for breakfast.

Among the things we saw were the town of Ely, the city of Cambridge (complete with punting down the river), the Queen's country estate at Sandringham, Bircham Windmill, the Norfolk lavender farm, the beach town of Hunstanton (on the North Sea), the Church Farm Stow Bardolph rare animals farm, and Castle Rising. In London, we saw the British Museum, took a double-decker bus tour, and stopped by the Charles Dickens museum (in a house where he once lived) briefly as they were closing.

My favorite thing that we saw (other than Stacy, Roger, Annabelle, Penny, and their adorable off-white miniature poodle who is sometimes known as Goya and sometimes known as Puppy) was Castle Rising. The stonework was fascinating, and it was interesting to me that on a warm afternoon, some rooms were quite warm and some were very cool. We could learn a lot about passive solar heating from this structure. I also liked the spiral staircase and the layout of the rooms. We did not get to see Westminster Abbey because they weren't open when we were in London.

I enjoyed all the little differences between England and the US. (Roger asked us what things annoyed us about England, and we couldn't come up with any.) Some things I noticed:

* About 95% of the cars are stick shift. Almost no one parks their car in gear. (Why is this?)

* Diet Coke tastes different. Not enough for me to think it's a different soda, but slightly different.

* "Are you all right?" there means the same as "How are you?" here. I only figured this out after I saw a cashier ask it of the guy in front of me in line; I was relieved because I thought we somehow looked awful every day at breakfast -- our B&B proprietor asked us that every morning.

* When people asked, we would tell them we were from Indiana. Everyone knew that that was in the Midwest. I was surprised; I didn't know that much about the geography of England.

* Tea is everywhere. So is ice cream.

* England smells good. That may be partly because we were there when the lilacs were blooming -- I felt very lucky to experience an extra lilac season this year -- but in general, there are lots of pleasant smells.

* There is nothing cuter than a toddler with a British accent.

* The city of Ely has no actual movie theater but manages to support three small yarn shops. We visited them all.

We're still recovering from jet lag (though it wasn't as bad for me this time). All the flights were good except that I had terrible ear pain on the last leg of the flight home. We were fortunate to have a good friend petsitting for us, and all the creatures and the house were very well taken care of while we were gone. Lucy has been a little extra affectionate this week, which is nice because I missed her.

First blog post of the year

2010-02-02T22:44:00.003-04:00

So I've been a little behind on updating things around here.

This year I had only one New Year's resolution: to pass my Adult Bronze moves in the field test before September 1, when several elements on the test will change.

We began to focus primarily on the moves test in my lessons last June, and I decided not to skate in three competitions last fall because I finally started making progress on the moves and I didn't want to start working on my program again and lose the gains I'd just made. I decided to compete in Wyandotte in January, as I usually do, and we found out that they'd be having a test session in conjunction with the competition. It made sense for me to test then, even though my coach couldn't go, as I'd be there anyway and there would be other adults testing at the same time.

I'm pleased to report that I skated well during the test and I passed! My crossovers felt good, and I did some of the best left back outside edges I've ever done on the back crossover to back held edge pattern. (Part of that was because I didn't have to worry about running into anyone during the test.) One of the judges said I looked relaxed, which surprised me, as I didn't feel relaxed.

I did, however, feel quite relaxed during the competition later in the day. The warmup felt like any other practice, and I had fun skating my program. I'd been spending so much practice time on preparing for my test that I'd only run the program with music three times since I competed it last March, so I knew it'd be a little rough, but it wasn't terrible. We're working on getting some of the transitions to be smoother before sectionals on March 13.

In other news, I've finished two books on my Fill-in-the-Gaps list (Treasure Island and Wide Sargasso Sea), and I read a total of 25 books last year. I'm ahead so far this year, as I've finished three already. Knitting is going well -- I finished a cowl and several dishcloths, and I'm working on a baby blanket for our impending nephew. We celebrated the seventh anniversary of Lucy's adoption day last week. (I told her the story of how she was adopted and there was catnip for everyone.)

And now I'm caught up.

Lucy, posing

2009-11-23T22:16:00.001-04:00

Lucy, posing

Summer

2009-08-09T15:18:00.003-04:00

Whoops. I haven't posted in almost two months. I keep Tweeting and Facebooking everything I would normally blog.

The summer is flying by. Steph and I are taking a knitting class, which has been lots of fun. I've always wanted to learn to knit, and it's as much fun as I expected. In class, we're making sweaters, and outside of class, I'm trying to finish a bloblike thing that I've decided is a blanket for Spike. I'm hoping that he will like it despite its odd appearance. After that, I want to try my first sock, and I have a pattern for a kitchen rug that looks easy and interesting.

In other news, we got a scooter yesterday. It's a Buddy 125 and it's made by Genuine Scooter Company. It should get 90-100 miles per gallon, which I'm excited about. Steph and I both got motorcycle permits, and we'll take a safety course and get our licenses within a year. I'm currently afraid of turning corners on the scooter, but I'm reasonably good at traveling in a straight line so far. We also got high-quality retro-looking helmets. (I want my head to remain in one piece.)

Our garden has begun to produce vegetables. We've had several radishes, some small carrots, a few cucumbers, and some zucchini, including one that is larger than the dog. (The dog weighs more, but the zucchini is longer.) I blanched and froze some zucchini, and I'm going to make zucchini bread this afternoon. Really. I am.

Wicked float at Pride parade

2009-06-13T10:29:00.001-04:00

Wicked float at Pride parade

Just a dream

2009-05-28T22:14:00.002-04:00

My coach has been out of town for a couple of weeks, and I've been working on my Bronze moves in the field again. That's the next test in the adult stream; I have to pass it before I can test Bronze free (which I'm not ready for yet). Last night I had a vivid dream that I went to the rink in the morning for a lesson and I found that my coach had signed me up for a test session without my knowledge. (I don't think this could actually happen, but apparently it could in my dream.) I decided that I may as well test even though I didn't feel ready, and to my surprise, I passed. Tomorrow I'll have to see whether my dream improves any of the moves in real life.

My favorite David Letterman Top Ten List

2009-04-11T22:13:00.003-04:00

One of the local radio stations used to read the David Letterman Top Ten List from the night before during my morning commute to work. My favorite one was "Top Ten Greatest Books of All Time About Guys Named Steve," and I found it online and sent it around in an e-mail. Unfortunately, I lost the e-mail in the Great Hard Drive Crash of 2002, but I Googled it tonight and found it.

Top Ten Greatest Books of All Time About Guys Named Steve

10. "War and Peace and Steve"
09. "The Seven Habits of Highly Successful Steves"
08. "The Grapes of Steve"
07. "The Steves of Wrath"
06. "Steve Grapes Steve Wrath Steve Steve"
05. "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, Steve Is From Cleveland"
04. "Where's Waldo? Is He With Steve?"
03. "Time Life Mysteries of the Unknown, Volume VIII: 'Mysterious Guys Named Steve'"
02. "The Joy of Sex with Steve"
01. "The Bible" (King Steve Version)

Project Fill-in-the-Gaps

2009-04-02T20:43:00.005-04:00

For an English major, I've always felt that I'm not particularly well read. When I got 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, I checked off the ones I'd read, and I scored a miserable 29. (I've since read 5 or 6 more.)

I was pleased to find a new challenge over at Editorial Ass. Moonrat, inspired by her friend Andromeda Romano-Lax, made a list of 100 books she wants to read to fill in some of the gaps in her coverage of "classics and great contemporary fiction." The time limit is five years, and they both gave themselves "25% accident forgiveness," which means that if they finish 75% of the titles on the list, they'll consider themselves to have completed the challenge.

I'll start today with my own list, so I aim to finish by April 2, 2014. This leaves time for me to read plenty of other interesting books along with these. When I made my list, I started with the lists from the first and second editions of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and a list from the Guardian of 999 notable books of some sort (I forgot to save the title of the list!). At least 97 of the 100 books on my list come from there. In addition, I limited myself to only one book per author. Here's my list.

Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe

Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende

Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou

I, Robot – Isaac Asimov

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë

The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov

The Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan

A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess

Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs

Naked Lunch – William Burroughs

Possession – A.S. Byatt

The Stranger – Albert Camus

In Cold Blood – Truman Capote

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

The Awakening – Kate Chopin

Lord Jim – Joseph Conrad

Last of the Mohicans – James Fenimore Cooper

The Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane

Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick

David Copperfield – Charles Dickens

Out of Africa – Isak Dineson (Karen Blixen)

Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas

Silas Marner – George Eliot

American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis

The Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison

The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner

Tender is the Night – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Herland - Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden

Lord of the Flies – William Golding

The Thin Man – Dashiell Hammett

Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy

Catch-22 – Joseph Heller

The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway

Les Misérables - Victor Hugo

Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

The Turn of the Screw – Henry James

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce

The Last Temptation of Christ – Nikos Kazantzákis

Kim – Rudyard Kipling

Dangerous Liaisons – Pierre Choderlos de Laclos

Lady Chatterley's Lover - D.H. Lawrence

Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard

Main Street – Sinclair Lewis

The Call of the Wild - Jack London

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

Of Human Bondage – William Somerset Maugham

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers

Atonement – Ian McEwan

Moby-Dick - Herman Melville

Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell

Beloved – Toni Morrison

Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov

Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell

Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak

The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath

The Godfather – Mario Puzo

All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque

~~Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys~~

Portnoy’s Complaint – Philip Roth

The Satanic Verses – Salman Rushdie

Contact – Carl Sagan

The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

~~The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger~~

The Reader – Bernhard Schlink

Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott

The Jungle – Upton Sinclair

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein

East of Eden - John Steinbeck

A Sentimental Journey – Laurence Sterne

~~Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson~~

Dracula – Bram Stoker

Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lonely – Harriet Beecher Stowe

Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift

The Magnificent Ambersons - Booth Tarkington

Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson

Walden – Henry David Thoreau

The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien

Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain

Around the World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne

Candide – Voltaire

The Color Purple – Alice Walker

Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace

Ben-Hur – Lew Wallace

The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells

The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test – Tom Wolfe

Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf

In the interest of full disclosure, I've read about half of Dracula and maybe 60 pages of The Hobbit, and I may have read part of A Sentimental Journey in college, but I don't remember much, if anything, about it. I'm starting this evening with Wide Sargasso Sea.

Obligatory monkeys on ice post

2009-02-06T20:33:00.001-04:00

Hilarious.

Photos and updates

2009-02-04T19:07:00.004-04:00

I'm a little behind in my blogging again. My synchro team, Cincinnati Style (sorry, no Web site this year), skated well at Fraser in late January despite only having skated three practices together as a team. (One skater on the team was injured, which left them without have enough skaters to compete. In an effort to recruit an additional skater for the rest of the season, they ended up recruiting three.)

In our category, Open Adult, we tied for fifth out of nine teams. (The tiebreaker gave us sixth place.) We were thrilled, as we thought we'd surely be ninth. Here are some pictures of us on the ice.

Here we are doing footwork in a circle:

This is a pinwheel, again with footwork:

Here is a tri-spoke:

This is part of a block that moves down and across the ice:

We have another competition (Tri-States) in two weeks; we've worked hard on polishing the program and adding footwork, changes of hold, and other touches. I'm thrilled to report that the traveling circle doesn't scare me anymore, and I think we're improving each week. It's wonderful to skate on a team again -- it pushes me out of my comfort zone and makes me a stronger skater, and I love being part of something that's so much more than any one of us can do alone.

A week after Tri-States, I'm competing at the Deborah Burgoyne North American Invitational in Wyandotte, MI. This all-adult competition is friendly and fun. I'm working on a new program, and my goal is to skate the entire thing in time with the music. (And remain vertical, of course.)

Random tidbits

2009-01-07T22:51:00.002-04:00

1. We have named the Rabbit. His name is Eddie.

2. Phoebe doesn't seem to be bothered by Eddie. I drove her to work last week and she behaved perfectly.

3. Wii Fit is tremendously fun and cool. Except the part where it is mean to you when you skip a day. It will let you add activities, but not to previous days, so I couldn't find a way to tell it that I had spent FOUR HOURS at synchro practice on Sunday and there was NO WAY I was going to be able to drag my sorry ass onto that balance board afterward.

4. I'd like to thank the lady at Michael's who told me the secret to crocheting dish scrubbies. They're made of tulle. Who knew? Turns out we have quite a bit of it left over from the wedding, so I tried it. I learned that 4" is too wide, but 2" should work. The scrubbie I made is a little dense, but I think it'll still work okay.

5. Huckleberry is playing kitty soccer with one of Spike's bones. Seriously.

2009 resolutions

2009-01-07T22:40:00.003-04:00

1. Read 45 books or more this year, 15 or more of which are on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list.

What the heck -- let's try this again.

2. Lose most of the 34 pounds I gained in the past two years.

My goal is to fit back into all of my pants. We have recently begun to use our new Wii Fit, so I hope it will assist me in this goal. I will also eat more fruits and vegetables and not so many cookies, chips, and the like.

3. Keep doing 50 pushups, flutters/Supermans, and situps every night.

Every night that my arms aren't KILLING ME from FOUR HOURS of synchro practice, that is. I joined a synchronized skating team in Cincinnati that lost a skater recently to a knee injury. They were desperate to find a replacement because they no longer had enough skaters to compete. I forgot how sore your arms get when you hold them up for two hours at a stretch!

4. Consistent loop.

Or, failing that, a semi-consistent loop. I'd be happy with one in ten right now -- I haven't seen my loop in months. If you happen to discover it wandering around Cincinnati or Michigan somewhere, please send it back. I miss it.

Last year's resolutions: Update

2009-01-07T22:31:00.003-04:00

1. Read 45 books or more this year, 15 or more of which are on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list.

Nope. I only made it through 31 books, and only one of them is from the list. The upside of this is that I can't die!

2. Use up another three bottles of perfume.

Done.

3. Save money toward the Smart car and our wedding.

I mostly succeeded at this resolution. Both the Rabbit and the wedding are paid for, though our emergency fund isn't as robust as I'd like.

4. Increase my daily pushups and situps to 50 each.

I achieved this, along with slowly adding 50 Supermans (also known as flutters).

5. Go out for lunch only once per week at work.

Well, it wasn't only once per week, but over the year I averaged less than twice per week.

It's been a while...

2008-11-18T22:25:00.002-04:00

...so I'll hit the highlights.

We replaced the smart with a 2009 Volkswagen Rabbit, which we both love. We got a good trade-in value on the smart, and I think it's found a new home, as it's not on the dealer's Web site anymore.

My tenants moved out. We need new ones. I'm considering hiring a property manager. Last weekend we stripped the wallpaper from the downstairs bedroom, and I'm going to go paint it this coming weekend. It looks better already.

We delivered the art car to my niece a couple weekends ago. I spent about three hours teaching her to drive a stick, and it went pretty well with the exception of the clutch lasting a mere three days. They got it fixed, and she's doing pretty well with it. The only places we didn't finish were the roof and the edges of the front bumper where it wraps around on the sides, and she's been working on it some with her friends.

I've been skating more now that the rink at the state fairgrounds (where my club is based) is open for the season. Tonight I centered a bunch of spins (usually they're not that consistent), and this week my waltz jump improved as well.

A smart decision

2008-09-17T21:48:00.003-04:00

After much soul-searching, Steph and I decided to sell the smart car.

Why? Well, to put it bluntly, I don't love him.

I got in him a couple weeks ago and realized that I didn't want to drive him for the next 200,000 miles. I still don't like the transmission, despite a "lesson" from the dealership about how to drive it (they concluded that I was doing it right all along), and that's a deal-breaker for me. I don't need to have a car that's perfect; I don't even need a particularly luxurious car. I do, however, need to enjoy driving it. Buzz is cute, and he has some nice features, but the things I like about him (the CD changer in the dash, the auxiliary input jack, the outside temperature readout, the versatile cupholders) are readily available on other cars, cars that have non-annoying transmissions. (For the record, I think the smart car should have the option for a manual transmission. I understand that other people may not have a problem with its transmission; I just don't like it.)

It's a good time to sell Buzz: There's an 18-month wait for a smart car at the dealership. Also, yellow was discontinued for 2009, so it'll only be available if you order an extra set of panels.

You can see our eBay listing here. The reserve is significantly less than the Buy It Now price, although if you want to buy it for $22K, I won't say no.

I'm open to suggestions for alternate cars. We've test-driven several models, but we haven't made any decisions yet. For now, I still have the Honda, although I'll be giving it to my niece when she gets her license this fall. I also have Phoebe -- she's not going anywhere! -- and I can drive her in the meantime while we search for another car. I'm not restricting myself to new cars; a used car would be fine. I strongly prefer a manual transmission, and good gas mileage is also a major consideration. We'd like to stay in the same price range (or under -- I'd love to have extra money left over to add to the emergency fund).

NYR update

2008-07-18T19:34:00.002-04:00

1. Read 45 books or more this year, 15 or more of which are on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list.

I've been reading a little more lately, mostly quality stuff.

2. Use up another three bottles of perfume.

Doing well on the second bottle.

3. Save money toward the Smart car and our wedding.

Now that we have a smart car and the wedding is over, the savings is going toward building the emergency fund back up.

4. Increase my daily pushups and situps to 50 each.

Currently 47 each of pushups and situps and 30 Supermans.

5. Go out for lunch only once per week at work.

We had a stressful week, so we went out three times this week.

Book meme

2008-07-02T21:26:00.002-04:00

Meme from Steph.

The National Endowment for the Arts has an initiative you may have heard of called the Big Read. According to the website, its purpose is to "restore reading to the center of American culture." They estimate that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed.

Here's what you do:
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE. (I'll bracket them because Blogger doesn't do underlines.)
4) Reprint this list on your own blog.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 [Harry Potter series - JK Rowling]
5 [To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee]
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 [Little Women - Louisa M Alcott]
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 [Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier]
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien -- started it
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 [The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald]
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 [The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood]
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 [On The Road - Jack Kerouac]
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 [Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding]
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker -- partway through right now
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - A. S. Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 [Charlotte's Web - EB White]
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 [Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl]
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

My score: 23/100

Blogging from another country

2008-06-03T21:13:00.004-04:00

We're in Canada!

I didn't have much time to blog much about the wedding planning, but it all paid off -- our wedding was amazing. I can't remember ever being happier than I was during the ceremony, except for possibly the day after our first second date, when I learned that Steph liked me back.

This is the second day of our honeymoon in Toronto. Yesterday we walked around a lot. We went to Barbara Ann Scott Park, where there's a round outdoor rink; I stood on the concrete where it would be in the winter. We shopped at Winners, which is like a TJ Maxx or Marshall's, and I got a cute flowered shirt. Steph got a hat at Le Chateau, and I liked a shirt there but didn't want to pay $50 for it. We bought a small stuffed moose because we completely failed to bring any monkeys with us (except Hector, but he's too big to carry around and photograph). Maybe they'll forgive us if we bring them a new friend. We bought a book at Indigo about how to be Canadian. We walked through several other stores and had a good time looking around, and we found a brick labyrinth and walked it. We both thought of putting one in on an empty lot in our neighborhood; I'll mention it to the board when I get back. We had dinner at Elephant & Castle, which was just okay -- I mean, what kind of place fries their pretzels?! -- and we saw the movie Baby Mama in the evening.

Today we took the subway to Union Station and then walked to CN Tower. The view there was really neat even though it was overcast. I especially liked looking down on clouds. After we had our fill of admiring the view, we took a tour at the nearby Steam Whistle Brewery. It's a microbrewery that brews one kind of beer and does so in a very green fashion. The bottles are made with 30% more glass so they can be used 30 to 40 times, whereas regular bottles can only be used 10 to 15 times. All the energy used there is provided by wind turbines and hydro power. In addition, they have one of the only women brewers in North America. After we rode the subway back to the hotel, we ate dinner at an excellent Vietnamese restaurant, and now we're hanging out in the coffee shop downstairs at our hotel.

Tomorrow we go to City Hall at 2 pm to get married!

Check engine light saga

2008-05-07T21:02:00.003-04:00

The smart car started it all by throwing a check engine light on the way to work a couple Mondays ago. I called the dealer and made an appointment to have it looked at over lunch one day, and I decided to drive Phoebe the next day, both because I thought I'd give Buzz (Steph named him 'cause he looks like a bumblebee!) a rest and because I didn't want Phoebe to get jealous. Apparently I didn't reassure her enough that I still love her, or I mentioned too loudly in the parking lot that the Roswell show has been cancelled this year, or she just wanted to fit in, because she came up with a check engine light of her own on the way home.

I took the smart in and they diagnosed a bad part in the mechanism that blows warm air over the oxygen sensors in the exhaust pipe at startup -- it's the whirring noise that lasts fifteen seconds or so when you turn the car on. They had to order the part, so I dropped the car off last Friday and it was repaired under warranty. I made an appointment for Phoebe for this past Monday for the CEL, the window regulator from the Roswell trip, the battery fuse box that melted in California, the lid of the battery case that I cracked one cold winter day trying to get it to snap shut, and the brake light safety switch recall. Meanwhile, Steph called on her way to work today -- her truck has a CEL too, so I made it an appointment at Tune Tech for this Friday.

$806 later, I picked Phoebe up this evening (they wouldn't cover the $321 window regulator because I'd already had it done before) with an operational window, a clean throttle body, some new vacuum hoses, and a new battery fuse box and case. And yes, she was probably mad about me leaving her there for two days after she was done, so the CEL showed up on the way back home. Either that or the damn things are contagious. I'm kind of afraid to get in the Honda tomorrow.

NYR 2008 update

2008-04-18T22:19:00.002-04:00

1. Read 45 books or more this year, 15 or more of which are on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list.

I'm not making much progress on this goal. I'm on my way to finishing book #5, so I would need to finish 40 books in the next 8 months. Yikes. To my credit, though, I've been busy planning a wedding.

2. Use up another three bottles of perfume.

I finished up the first bottle this morning, and I'm partway through another (I've been alternating perfumes for variety).

3. Save money toward the Smart car and our wedding.

We've managed to save some money, but this wedding thing is expensive!

4. Increase my daily pushups and situps to 50 each.

My coach added "Supermans" to my daily routine. In this exercise, you lie on your stomach on the floor and lift your arms/torso and legs off the floor at the same time. It's going to help me arch my back for sit spins. I'm up to 25 of those and 44 each of pushups and situps, so I've made good progress here.

5. Go out for lunch only once per week at work.

I'm averaging more like one and a half to two times per week (the salad bar at Marsh counts as half).

smart car arrives!

2008-04-18T21:28:00.003-04:00

Our smart car arrived on Monday, and we picked it up on Tuesday afternoon. They had it sitting back in a bay by itself, and we spent quite a while poking around it and playing with its various features because our sales guy was running behind. It's so cute!

I like it very much for the most part -- it's easy to drive and very cute. The interior is laid out pretty well, too, and the clear panel in the roof is a nice feature.

Everywhere we go, people stare and ask what kind of car it is. My co-workers were so excited that they called a 3:00 meeting in the parking lot so I could show it to them. We proved that it's roomy enough for tall people, that it has a loud horn, and that you can fit a medium-sized guy in the hatch if you need to.

It's been ten years since I got Phoebe, and I'd forgotten how fun it is to get a new car. Steph and I have been trading off driving it to work. She keeps apologizing when she gets to drive it -- she thinks she's keeping it from me somehow -- but I'm just glad she likes it. I hope to keep it for many years, so we'll both have plenty of opportunities to drive it.

The car only has a few flaws: its transmission, the quality of its parts, and the lack of rear speakers.

The "automated manual" transmission shifts quite slowly, and if you take off with any speed at all, the car nose-dives with each shift. It behaves better if you shift it yourself in manual mode, but the car can't decide what gear is appropriate at city street speeds. It constantly asks to be shifted up or down with an arrow that appears in the instrument panel, and there are some speeds at which no gear seems quite right.

When he was showing us how to open the hood, the hatch, and the engine cover, the sales guy emphasized how careful one must be with various parts of the car. It seems that many people have broken parts of the car already, as they're quite fragile. Also, the engine cover (which must be removed to check the oil) is nearly impossible to release. It requires you to press down on it with your full body weight while leaning over the hatch to be able to turn the screw. I successfully managed that only once, and I wasn't ever able to get it to screw back into place.

The sales guy had the attitude that I shouldn't worry my pretty little head about checking the oil, telling me that I should instead just bring it in once a year for an oil change. I'm pretty sure that if the car began to burn oil and the engine was harmed before that next yearly oil change, the smart company wouldn't be sympathetic to my story that the sales guy said I didn't have to check the oil. (I reminded him that the manual suggested that I check the oil each time I buy gas, and he said that that was just the manual and I didn't have to worry about that.)

I ordered the car with the $350 premium stereo package. The mp3-capable 6-CD changer and integrated auxiliary jack are great, but there are no rear speakers. The sound very obviously comes from in front of you, and the bass is distorted even at the +2 setting (out of 7) . My 15-year-old stock Honda radio that plays my iPod through a cassette adapter in a deck that needs cleaning sounds better (except for the one speaker that rattles).

Other than those things, it's quite fun to drive and it's completely adorable. I hope Phoebe isn't jealous when I get her out this weekend and introduce them.

The beginning of the art car

2008-04-07T22:19:00.002-04:00

This weekend I began to attach the bottle caps to the Honda. I started on the door with the dent in case my adhesive didn't work, but it seems to be holding up well. Before I stuck the caps to the car, I sprayed them inside and out with a clear gloss Rustoleum paint that will hopefully keep them from rusting. The adhesive is 100% silicone caulk, and it needs 24 hours at a temperature of 40F or above to cure. I'd planned to adhere one cap as a test, but once I got started I didn't want to stop, so I did 15 on Saturday and 55 more on Sunday. 70 down, 12733 to go...

Thanks to Steph and Douglas for the photos.

To clarify about organic fruits and veggies...

2008-04-01T20:32:00.002-04:00

In my previous post, I intended the lists to serve as a reference for organic purchasing; I wanted to put my scrawled-on-a-paper-towel notes in one place so that I could access them when I make decisions about which produce to choose or substitute. I didn't at all mean to minimize the importance of organic food or the food we're getting.

Organic fruits and veggies

2008-03-30T21:06:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago, Steph and I signed up for Farm Fresh Delivery, and they bring us an assortment of organic fruits and vegetables every other Thursday, including some we wouldn't ordinarily buy. It's been fun to try new kinds of produce, and we can change the items if we find we can't face another head of broccoli or more apples one week. (If you should decide to sign up, please use my name as your referrer and we'll get a discount of some sort on our next order.)

I recently came across two articles online (unfortunately, I didn't save the links) that listed foods that derive the most benefit from being produced organically and those for which it doesn't matter as much. Here they are.

Foods that benefit the most from organic production:
beef
milk
coffee
peaches
apples
peppers
celery
strawberries
lettuce
grapes
potatoes
tomatoes
nectarines
cherries
pears

Foods that don't contain a lot of pesticides anyway if they're not produced organically:
watermelon
tangerines
oranges
grapefruit
bananas
peas
broccoli
cabbage
radishes
onions
blueberries
kiwi
pineapples
cauliflower
Brussels sprouts
raspberries
eggplant
mushrooms
asparagus
papaya
mango
avocadoes

Fortune cookie weirdness

2008-03-24T21:16:00.002-04:00

Tonight my fortune cookie was enigmatic:

Treasure your good memories and you need not worry about ending a banquet.

Huh?

Bottle caps and more bottle caps

2008-03-22T14:44:00.003-04:00

The art car project is moving along slowly. I currently have somewhere between 8000 and 9000 bottle caps, and I've sorted many of them. (Anyone who wants to come over for a bottle cap sorting party is welcome, by the way.) We're fashioning a bottle cap flattener to unbend the caps that didn't come off their bottles cleanly. I'm dying to attach a test cap to the car, but it needs to be dry and 40 degrees F outside for a 24-hour period afterwards, and that hasn't happened yet.

The distinctive smell of the bottle caps takes me back to when I was a kid. My family attended Labor Day pig roasts at the home of one of my dad's co-workers, and there were many kinds of soda and beer every year. I always got to keep the bottle caps. I especially like the stale beer smell for some reason, which is odd because I don't like beer.

I'm still here

2008-02-17T23:24:00.002-04:00

This weekend I competed at the Deborah Burgoyne North American Invitational in Wyandotte, Michigan, and I tied for second. I was mostly pleased with how I skated. I two-footed my first salchow because I was concentrating on getting a deeper entrance edge -- we worked on that in my lesson on Thursday. The rest of the program went well, and I didn't shake at all afterward. I haven't watched the DVD yet.

I stayed with Dan and Melissa, and we had a lot of fun hanging out and catching up. Saturday night we made cookies and watched Kathy Griffin, and I left for home this morning after the freezing rain melted into rain.

In other news, Steph and I visited the Smart dealership this week. They had a black and yellow car inside, and we both really like the color in person. I test-drove a silver Passion Coupe (the trim level I'll be getting), and I liked it a lot except for its clunky shifting. The reason they won't offer a traditional 5-speed manual escapes me. My car should arrive in about two months. In the meantime, my Honda will probably turn over 200,000 miles in the next two and a half weeks or so, and I have the camera ready to document the big event. It is not allowed to break down at 199,999.9 miles like Marshall's Fiero did on How I Met Your Mother.

Monkey blogging

2008-01-07T22:56:00.000-04:00

Apparently I am to write a post on behalf of Hector Monkey.

This is a picture of Hector Monkey.

He wanted to upload a picture of his butt, as he is inordinately proud of it, but I vetoed that idea.

Okay, okay. Here is a picture of Hector's butt.

He would like to express that he is against global warming and he is very worried about the polar bears. He saw a picture of a polar bear stuck on a piece of ice with no place to go. We brought home a plastic (resin?) polar bear for the front porch recently. You can help the polar bears at the World Wildlife Fund.

New Year's resolutions 2008

2008-01-01T21:21:00.000-04:00

Last year I made nine resolutions and did reasonably well in terms of achieving many of them. This year I'm going to have five resolutions.

1. Read 45 books or more this year, 15 or more of which are on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. Last night I was less than 20 pages from the end of the book I was reading before we went to Dan and Douglas's New Year's Eve party, so I finished that this morning, and I've started three or four other books. Last year I read 41 books, so I think this is achievable.

2. Use up another three bottles of perfume. Last year I did this by mid-December, and I'm hopng to do so again this year.

3. Save money toward the Smart car and our wedding. I'm listing this even though the Smart car should arrive by March and our wedding is in May.

4. Increase my daily pushups and situps to 50 each. My coach suggested doing pushups and situps to increase my strength for skating, and I'm up to 32 of each per night.

5. Go out for lunch only once per week at work. I'll keep track of this one again and see if I can do better this year.

Weekend update from last weekend

2008-01-01T15:55:00.000-04:00

Lots of fun things were going on in town last weekend. On Saturday afternoon, we went to the Indianapolis Auto Show at the Convention Center downtown. It seemed small to me in comparison to Chicago's, but I expected that.

VW had a nice area with two New Beetles (a triple-cream 'vert and a Sunflower Yellow hardtop), assorted Rabbits and Golfs, and a Jetta sporting VW statistics all over (VW owners are 29% more likely to recycle, 70% more likely to maintain their own Web site, and so on). I asked the guy how much they'd pay me to drive around with statistics all over Phoebe, but he said they'd probably just give me the stickers.

We sat in numerous cars, including a Toyota FJ Cruiser, a Honda Element, and a Dodge Magnum. The Smart Car was in the middle of the Mercedes section, and t were so many people crowded around it that it was difficult to take a picture. I talked to the two salesguys there, and they put me on some sort of VIP list to go to the dealership and take a test drive. They also told me that I'm in the first wave of cars to come in based on my reservation date. Yikes.

At the Mini display, we sat in the new Mini Cooper Clubman. It's like a Mini Cooper with extra room at the back, kind of like a station wagon; it's nine inches longer than the Cooper. Steph fell in love with it and wants one. I wonder if we could fit both of them in the garage at the same time.

Saturday night we finally got to see the Naptown Roller Girls roller derby team skate a bout against the Kalamazoo Kamikaze. It was fantastic -- not something I want to do, as I sustain enough injuries on my own, but I appreciate the skill involved. Their next home bout is Feb. 9.

NYR 2007 wrapup

2007-12-31T20:56:00.000-04:00

1. Floss: I succeeded in making flossing a habit.

2. Lunch: I was not as successful in going out for lunch only once per week at work as I have been in the past; however, some of my excesses in this department were attributable to the changes we experienced at work and the need we felt to go out together to discuss what was going on. Although I could have been more conscientious at times, I wouldn't say that I failed at this goal.

3. On time: I'm just going to have to start getting up earlier.

4. Flip: Because my loop has been so fickle, we've only worked on my flip maybe twice. I spent a lot of time on edges and turns, which will make my jumps much easier when I do start landing them consistently.

5. Save: This year we spent a lot, but we have a lot to show for it (gutters, balcony, fence, TV, truck cap, Route 66 trip, cruise, and server, among other things). Although our savings didn't increase, we didn't borrow money for any of these items, and we paid off the truck almost a year early. Although we didn't achieve this goal either, we certainly didn't fail.

6. Recipes: I'd like to make several of this year's new recipes again.

7. Trans fat: I was pretty conscientious about reducing my trans fat intake, and I did well for the most part, with a few slipups.

8. Perfume: I achieved this goal about two and a half weeks ago. I've been enjoying using my other perfumes since then, and I'll choose another three bottles for next year.

9. Compact: Well, I bought plenty of new things this year, but most of the time I did so thoughtfully, which is the point.

Overall, I feel pretty successful about my nine resolutions. I think I'll make fewer resolutions for 2008.

Books I received for Christmas

2007-12-26T13:25:00.000-04:00

I received several books for Christmas. Here they are!

From Steph:

Four to Score, Janet Evanovich

How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read, Pierre Bayard

Death Drop, Alina Adams

In Deep Waters, Volume One: Cruising the Seas, by Karin Kallmaker and Radclyffe

Ultimate Lesbian Erotica 2007, ed. Nicole Foster

Coach's Manual: Choreography and Style for Skaters, by Ricky Harris (I have the companion volume for skaters already)

Conditioning for Figure Skating, by Carl M. Poe (I've wanted this book forever)

The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Skating, by Robert G. Price

From my mom:

Mr. Pig and Sonny Too, by Lillian Hoban (in the first story, Mr. Pig goes skating, with hilarious consequences)

American Band: Music, Dreams, and Coming of Age in the Heartland, by Kristen Laine (features the Concord High School Marching Minutemen, one of the bands we competed against when I was in the Trojan Guard)

From Steph's mom:

Stitch 'n Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook, by Debbie Stoller (I still want to learn to knit)

A site for Patrick

2007-12-01T23:08:00.000-04:00

This link is for my co-worker Patrick. It's a site about the game of cornhole, and it even tells you how to build your own boards. Patrick is apparently the cornhole champion of a certain group of his friends who tailgate -- his story about the game (complete with reenactments of some of the throws) is entertaining.

Art car progress -- sort of

2007-11-27T23:17:00.000-04:00

I further researched the decoupaged quotes art car idea and didn't find a good sealant that I thought would work, so we're on to Art Car v3 -- covering the car in bottle caps. When I was little, I collected bottle caps, and my dad found them in the garage attic this summer and brought them to me. I was very excited to sort through them and think about what I could make with them now, and we have plans for further bottle cap art after the car is complete.

A week and a half ago, Steph and I went to dinner at Ralph's Great Divide with Dan and Douglas. While we were there, we thought to ask them to save bottle caps for us. Our server gave us about 200 that were still in the cap catcher under their bottle opener, and I stopped in last night and picked up another 330. A box of 4000 caps from eBay should be arriving soon.

The bottle caps are sorted by color, although I haven't figured out yet what design I want to make on the car. The caps are divided into containers of blacks, golds, whites, greens, yellows, blues, silvers, and reds.

Quote of the day

2007-11-21T22:57:00.000-04:00

Scene: Pizza Ranch, Washington, Iowa. We are there with Steph's family for dinner.

Riley: ...and my science teacher, he's...

Todd: Does he teach biology?

Riley: No, he's bipolar.

Todd: Oh, so he teaches geography.

NYR update 8

2007-11-18T22:29:00.000-04:00

1. Floss: Still flossing consistently.

2. Lunch: Doing a little better recently, although this is directly related to a sale on Healthy Choice and Marie Callender's frozen dinners at Marsh the other week.

3. On time: I have been leaving the house a little earlier.

4. Flip: No flip appearances, but I landed my loop doing a section of my program while my coach was watching last week.

5. Save: Truck is paid off! Now to save for the replacement for the Honda and pay extra toward the second mortgage.

6. Recipes: I made some garlic cheese biscuits from scratch a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, I picked up the wrong measuring cup when I added the milk, so they were three times as wet as they should've been. They turned out very, very flat, but they were tasty.

7. Trans fat: Steph found Crisco with no trans fat (I blogged about it last year, but I hadn't been able to find it anywhere yet). I can make my M&M cookies again!

8. Perfume: The third bottle is almost gone. I think I'll be able to start on a new bottle in a week or two. Or I might use a variety of perfumes until the end of the year.

9. Compact: Yesterday Steph and I went to several antique stores, including Midland Antique Mall, which is one of the places we went on our first first date in September 2000. I got an old coffee pot to use to heat water for tea -- I'd been wanting one for several years, and this one was only $6 and is very heavy. I also got a book and a vintage winter coat, which solves my problem of wanting a coat that doesn't look like a ski jacket to wear to work. I'll still wear that one when it's really cold out, but I can wear my new one the rest of the time. Last week I found an ad on Craigslist for several bags of business and casual clothes in my size; I ended up with 45 items of clothing for $50, and three of them were new with tags still on. Most items fit; I'm taking many of the ones that didn't (and some others that did but that I didn't think I'd wear) to work to share with some co-workers who might fit in the clothes. I'm also saving a few items for a friend's daughter, and I've put aside one particularly unusual piece of clothing for a gag gift or a white elephant exchange. (Yes, it's that good.) I wonder if the new-with-tags items fall under Compact guidelines or not.

Reason #1007 why I love my girlfriend

2007-11-18T22:17:00.000-04:00

She likes the same kind of toilet paper I do. (We found this out early in our relationship, but it still makes me happy. Plus it makes the shopping easier.)

Strange dream

2007-10-25T20:25:00.001-04:00

I had the strangest dream on Monday night. In the first part of the dream, I was at the rink (it looked different, of course) for a lesson. There were several very good skaters on the ice with me. In my lesson, my coach reminded me that my free leg should be higher before I cross it in a scratch spin. At the end of my lesson, I remembered that we hadn't gone over the end of my program, which I had recently learned and then forgotten.

Then my dream changed, and I was riding to work with Steph, who was driving a maroon Blazer. We must have worked in the same building, as she wasn't dropping me off. It was snowing, and the lines in the parking lot were covered up, so everyone was having trouble parking. The cars in the back half of the parking lot were lined up in rows parallel to the front of the building, and suddenly everyone re-parked in rows that were perpendicular, so we did the same.

At work, there was a drawing for four prizes. The biggest prize was some sort of weeklong fishing trip, which I wasn't interested in. I figured that if I won it, I could try to trade it to the winner of the second-largest prize, which was a weekend trip to Japan. I ended up winning the trip to Japan, so I didn't have to try to trade for it. We left immediately. (Steph went with me. Somehow we weren't worried about packing or about who would take care of the pets -- all this seemed to be taken care of.) When we landed in Japan, a man met us at the airport, and he was going to show us around. We brought our luggage to an apartment where we were going to stay, and we met the man who lived there and his dog. The man had to take a phone call, so we sat in the living room and petted the dog. At some point we realized that the dog probably understood Japanese and not English, so it more than likely hadn't understood anything we had said to it. Then the man brought the phone to me and told me that it was my friend Veronica and I should talk to her. She was asking how to use the correction feature on her typewriter, and I couldn't believe I was talking to her from Japan. Then I woke up.

Weird.

I don't usually remember dreams that are this long. Most of my dreams have been bad lately, so I was happy to have one that was fun. Plus I got to ponder the idea of a weekend trip to Japan all day.

NYR update 7

2007-09-27T19:32:00.000-04:00

1. Floss: Still flossing consistently.

2. Lunch: Trying to do better, but going out about twice a week. Things have been really busy lately, but they're starting to calm down, so I should be able to make some things I can freeze and bring for lunch.

3. On time: I got to work early once this week.

4. Flip: I haven't been working on flip attempts much because my loop disappeared and reappeared again. I need good technique on the loop before I get a flip.

5. Save: Doing well this month. Instead of putting any extra money that comes in into savings, I've been throwing it at the truck payment. Looks like it'll be paid off ten months early!

6. Recipes: I haven't tried any new recipes lately, but I might get ambitious this weekend.

7. Trans fat: Doing pretty well. Out of microwave popcorn at work. I did eat at Arby's today, though, which was bad.

8. Perfume: The large bottle is done now, and I'm working on the small bottle. I think I'll achieve this goal before the end of the year. I'm so confident about it that I've chosen several more perfumes to concentrate on next. I know that I'll always have several scents; I like variety and I have several favorites that I don't think I could choose between. However, I don't need as many as I have today, and having too many causes trying new BPAL scents to seem ridiculous. I want to be able to try new scents within reason.

9. Compact: I haven't bought anything new since... hmmm... it's been a little while. The books at Half Price Books don't count, but the chain and S hooks for the Sky Chair and the new toilet seat do.

I really need to update more often.

2007-09-10T20:48:00.000-04:00

Lots of stuff has been going on; I just haven't managed to post about it.

My new tenants moved in just over a week ago. They were very excited about the house, and I think they will take care of it well.

We went on a Western Caribbean cruise for Dan's 40th birthday. I liked Key West a lot and would like to go back sometime and see more of it. The Mayan ruins in Mexico were also amazing. My photos are still on my camera -- I'll get them up on Flickr sometime soon. We had an entire free day in Miami before our flight home, and we got to see Heather and Sara and the twins. It was so nice to spend time with them again -- I had only seen Heather and Sara once since they moved to Miami five years ago, and it was so much fun to meet the boys! They are five months old and very cute. Booboo is doing well at 15, and she seemed to remember me. Heather and Sara visited Indianapolis last weekend, and we got to see them then, too. The babies traveled very well.

Steph and I are having a garage sale on Sept. 22. Please come buy our excess stuff!

Long time no update.

2007-08-21T19:58:00.000-04:00

We've been busy getting the rental house in shape, trying to find new tenants, and getting ready for the cruise we're going on for Dan's 40th birthday next week.

Last week I started playing at a new games-for-cash site called Moola. Basically they give you one cent and you use it to play one of three games. If you win, you get two cents, and if you lose, you start over with one cent. You can risk more as you win more or you can continue to play for low amounts. It doesn't cost anything, and the games are pretty fun -- my favorite is very much like the old game show Card Sharks. If you sign up under me, I get a bonus equal to 4 percent of your total winnings.

Long week. Already.

2007-08-06T21:24:00.000-04:00

Recent happenings:

Kicked my tenants out. (Going to court next week.) Am having to do a lot of cleaning and stuff at house, plus taking many calls from prospective renters. Also letting in gas company and various other services.

Got in accident. Was turning in to McDonald's parking lot and a guy driving out of the parking lot didn't look and ran into me. Then he left. Driver's side rear door of Honda is bashed in pretty good. Fortunately, it looks like there's no structural damage, and I'm hoping to maybe find a door at a junkyard and have it painted and such.

Went to friend's wedding in Kentucky. Very nice!

Am watching a lot of cats this week -- four cats in two separate houses. One cat in each pair is shy.

Am tired. Have lesson in morning.

Garage sale finds

2007-07-28T18:28:00.000-04:00

Today I spotted a garage sale at my former neighbor's house. I've been to two of her previous garage sales, and at each one I found pants and/or shorts that fit me perfectly. (It's fairly difficult for me to find pants and shorts that fit. The things I found at my neighbor's sale fit me like they were made for me.) This time, I purchased more -- in all, 4 tops and 11 bottoms. I got one striped T-shirt, two long-sleeved shirts, and one short-sleeved sweater (it'll be great for work). I also got a skirt, a pair of khaki shorts that are a little big, and nine (!) pairs of jeans shorts that all fit well.

I love jeans shorts because they go with just about everything. Plus I don't have to worry about what color underwear I'm wearing like I sometimes have to do with khaki shorts. This year I was worried that my current two pairs of jeans shorts would wear out eventually and I'd never be able to find another pair that fit me, because I found both of these used -- one at a thrift store and one at a previous sale of this former neighbor. Six or seven of the new pairs of shorts are pretty cool, and the others will be good for wearing around the house at the very least. The ones I'll wear around the house are still worth having, as I'm currently very low on that category of clothing. Plus now I can give a couple more pairs of shorts that don't fit right to Goodwill!

The best part: 15 items of clothing, three of which I can wear to work on a regular basis, for $7.50.

The problem with Twitter

2007-07-23T20:59:00.000-04:00

The problem with Twitter is that I don't have anything to blog about anymore because I Twitter it all.

We have just moved to a new building at work. My space is less than half the size of my previous space. I barely have room to turn my chair around. I was extremely happy with my previous space, which I occupied for more than five years. Our new building is very nice, and it is in a convenient location.

This weekend we went to the Barnes and Noble in Noblesville for the Harry Potter release party. The trivia questions were fun. I finished the book on Sunday afternoon; I hadn't finished rereading Book 6 by the time we got Book 7. I liked the book. I won't say any more than that so I don't spoil anything for people who aren't finished yet.

As of yesterday, I've read more books so far this year than I did in all of last year.

I will finally get to skate on Wednesday after more than five weeks off the ice. I haven't been off the ice for this long since I hurt my back in 2002. Getting back on the ice then was difficult because I was so afraid I'd hurt myself again, but I don't think I'll have that kind of trouble now.

Phoebe's map of visited states

2007-07-11T21:38:00.001-04:00

Create your own visited states map.

Phoebe hasn't visited as many states as I have. In addition to my goal of visiting all 50 states, I have a goal of driving Phoebe to all 48 contiguous states. We're almost halfway there!

My map of visited states

2007-07-11T21:33:00.001-04:00

Create your own visited states map.

And we're home.

2007-07-10T21:44:00.000-04:00

We arrived home around 7 pm this evening. The drive was pretty uneventful today except for a severe rainstorm in Illinois. The rain was so heavy at times that I couldn't see the car in front of me (and it had its lights on). I seem to encounter that kind of rain on almost every return trip from Roswell on that particular stretch of road (although it's usually closer to Indiana). The animals were all happy to see us.

Today is Phoebe’s ninth birthday. She has 81147 miles, 21000 of which have been put on while driving to Roswell, NBeast, and other VW shows. This was her fifth Roswell and my sixth. (She doesn’t know that we missed two; she tends to break things when she finds out she didn’t go.)

Stats:

17 days
5126 miles
9 states
3 check engine lights (read by Howie, John Steele, and Rich)
1 window regulator
1 mass air flow sensor (installed by John Steele)
1 vacuum hose (courtesy of John Steele)
1 new tire (changed by John Steele and Jerry)
1 dog and 4 cats who are very happy to see us!

Test photo

2007-07-10T00:42:00.001-04:00

Test photo

Bug Ranch

2007-07-09T14:25:00.001-04:00

Bug Ranch
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Cadillac Ranch

2007-07-09T13:29:00.001-04:00

Cadillac Ranch
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Proof that I let Steph drive Phoebe

2007-07-08T13:17:00.001-04:00

Proof that I let Steph drive Phoebe
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

On the road back

2007-07-07T23:22:00.000-04:00

After lots of exciting travel, we reached the end of Route 66 yesterday. We walked around Santa Monica Pier for an hour or so and then drove up the coast on the Pacific Coast Highway towards Earl's house. There are parking spaces along the road at some points where people can pull off to visit the beach or surf. We stopped at one and climbed down the rocks to the beach. I had never seen surfers in real life before -- it was really neat to watch. We walked on the sand and waded in the water, and I called my dad to tell him that I was in the Pacific Ocean. (I think he's enjoying hearing about my trip because he took a similar trip with my mom in 1971 in their '67 VW Bus. He has a story from several of the places we've stopped.)

We continued on to the tiny town of Ballard and Earl and Syd's house, which is adorable -- Syd is so creative. After looking at Earl's VW collection and inspecting the travel trailer he insists is his next project, we drove into Solvang and ate at a Danish place. My dinner included cucumber salad and red cabbage, two of my favorite Czech foods from childhood.

This morning as we were leaving the hotel in Lompoc, John pulled up next to us and tried to clear Phoebe's check engine light. The cable between the car and the computer wasn't working, so we drove down to Auto Zone with John and with Rich and Kathie, who happen to live in Lompoc. The machine there read Phoebe's code as P0171, which is a somewhat generic code that may indicate a loose gas cap (which I'm sure is not the problem, as I always tighten it four clicks or more), a vacuum hose, or many other things. John pulled my engine cover off and spotted the worn vacuum hose right away. Auto Zone didn't have any 3.5 mm hoses, but John had some silicone hose in his tool box. It took him all of two minutes to replace it, and Phoebe ran better right away. (Mark G., you were right.) Her light hasn't come back on yet, so I hope everything is fixed now.

I should mention again how wonderful John has been. He not only changed my vacuum hose, changed my flat tire (in 107-degree heat), and replaced my mass air flow sensor, but also worked for an hour and a half in very hot weather to get Earl's car back on the road yesterday after a similar hose problem that ended up melting parts of the spark plugs. I believe he also helped change Rich and Kathie's fuel pump at the VW dealer in the Albuquerque heat. Without John, many of us would still be sitting by the side of the road waiting for AAA and trying to figure out how to find a competent mechanic in a strange town.

Tonight we're in Kingman, AZ. Our goal is to make it to Santa Rosa, NM, tomorrow evening in order to be home on Tuesday at a reasonable hour. We should be able to get on the road earlier tomorrow morning (the vacuum hose took a little time this morning), and the drive will all be on I-40, so we won't have to worry about California traffic. Off to the hot tub....

Ventura Beach

2007-07-06T22:46:00.003-04:00

Ventura Beach
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Santa Monica Pier

2007-07-06T22:46:00.001-04:00

Santa Monica Pier
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Ventura Beach

2007-07-06T20:40:00.001-04:00

Ventura Beach
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Grand Canyon

2007-07-04T19:28:00.001-04:00

Grand Canyon
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Grand Canyon

2007-07-04T19:18:00.001-04:00

Grand Canyon
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

View from train to Grand Canyon

2007-07-04T12:28:00.001-04:00

View from train to Grand Canyon
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Tues. night

2007-07-04T00:58:00.001-04:00

After standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ, I ran into a curb (also in Winslow, AZ, although it wasn't featured in any songs, which is probably why I didn't know about it, but I digress), which caused a flat tire. I am planning to get a new tire in the morning before we go to the Grand Canyon.

Mesas?

2007-07-03T14:18:00.001-04:00

Mesas?
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Monday afternoon

2007-07-02T18:42:00.000-04:00

We're at Sue Isley and Aaron's house in Albuquerque this afternoon. They fed us really good food, and we're currently using their wireless connection to upload Flickr photos. My uploads are going significantly faster today, and I may be able to get all of my photos up.

When we got to Albuquerque, we stopped at the dealer and I picked up Phoebe's mass air flow sensor. John might put it in tonight. Her check engine light came back on about half a mile before we got to the dealer.

This morning before we left Roswell, I tried to lower my driver's side window and heard the all-too-familiar crunching sound. Yes, it was another window regulator. Fortunately, this time the window was only open about three inches, and I was able to raise it with the switch. I put tape over the switch so I won't forget and try to use it, and I'll take her to the dealer when I get home. I think they're still covered under some sort of warranty, as VW knows that the part is bad. The last time I had a window regulator go out, they replaced both sides, so I thought they had designed a new part, but maybe not.

Tomorrow we head for Williams, AZ, and the Grand Canyon, which I've never seen.

2007-07-02T12:27:00.001-04:00

Phoebe's driver's side window regulator broke this morning AGAIN. Third one. At least the window wasn't open much and I could close it.

Sunday night

2007-07-01T23:34:00.000-04:00

Catching up, as we have had very little opportunity to blog. I haven't had a real Internet connection in a couple of days, and Steph has only been able to connect by cell phone/Bluetooth.

The Sky Watch party was a lot of fun. We got to see people I've known for a number of years and meet new people, too. Karen Talley showed us her beautiful new limited edition platinum gray and maroon convertible (complete with stuffed dancing dachshund).

I also ran into Joe, who used to own Firebug. After the first R2K, I drove to Tucson for a few days to visit friends before driving home. On the way home, I stopped on a whim at a Route 66 museum in Elk City, OK. As I drove into the parking lot, I noticed a red NB parked there, and as I parked next to it, I realized that I knew the NB -- it was Firebug, and I'd talked to Joe and his ex-wife for quite a while. I caught up with them on my way through the museum, and they told me that they'd been traveling through Colorado for a few days before returning home to Texas. Over the next year or so, Firebug developed engine problems, and VW ended up buying him back from Joe to investigate what was wrong. Joe no longer had a Bug, and we missed him in Roswell. At the Sky Watch party a few years later, Joe walked up to me and asked if I remembered him. I did, and he said that he missed having a Beetle so much that he came to Roswell. Joe went out and purchased a dark blue TDI upon his return from that trip, and it's a really pretty car. He's added subtle dark blue flames and a bunch of sirens and sound effects for his job as a firefighter. Joe grew up in the Indianapolis area, and we're going to have dinner the next time he comes back to visit family.

The food at the Sky Watch party was good this year (for anyone keeping track, potato salad, chips, baked beans, Polish sausage, hot dogs, and barbecued beef sandwiches were served). A mariachi band from the local mariachi school played as we ate, and we made our way outside to light up our cars for the Pod Glow cruise. Some of Phoebe's glow sticks were old and didn't work, but we had enough that I could wind them through both of her front wheels and put them around her mirrors and antenna. At the deglowing spot, John started tinkering with Phoebe's engine and deduced that her check engine light is indeed a mass air flow sensor, so I called the dealer in Albuquerque on Saturday morning and they set aside one for me to pick up when we stop there tomorrow. I also talked to Rich from Colorado, who has a raised off-road yellow TDI (and used to have the same wheels I do). His NB has extra bumpers; they're very cool, and I got some ideas from him about how to implement my dad's bumper idea for Phoebe, which will look quite a bit different from his but will probably be attached the same way.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and watched a couple of episodes of Futurama (including "Roswell That Ends Well") with Britt, Marie, Lisa, and Jason.

On Saturday morning, we drove over to the convention center and set Phoebe up for the car show. She looked pretty good despite being a little streaky from her wash the day before. We created an aliens versus dinosaurs war on the dashboard (no winner has been declared yet) and had an inflatable alien in the back seat. Jason counted 59 cars, which is fewer than in previous years, but the creativity of the owners and variety in the cars is still there. I'm having a lot of trouble with my Flickr uploads right now, but I'll get all my photos up eventually.

After the car show was the parade. I'm always surprised at how many people from Roswell come to see it. Our section of the parade engaged in a little precision Beetle driving (such as doing the wave with an entire line of cars), and we circled the route twice before going back to the motel to rest. We ate at Farley's, which we think might be a chain. The food was good, but it was very loud.

At night we attended a drive-in movie (Herbie the Love Bug) in the convention center parking lot. It was projected on an inflatable screen, which was really neat. We also saw the Car Crazy episode from last year about the Roswell2K show.

This morning we did a bunch of laundry before heading out for the rally. (I should mention that Jerry forgot that his clothes were in the washer -- it was obvious that they were his because his shirt with a patch of his car on it was on top -- and I was kind enough to dry them for him, so I know what kind of underwear he wears, and I can be bribed for the information.) A road rally, for those who haven't been on one, is a kind of scavenger hunt on wheels. You receive a sheet with questions interspersed with directions, and the idea is to answer the questions about various signs and attractions while following the directions correctly. Steph and I won first place in the quiz portion! This rally also compared the distance you drove with the distance the directions actually covered, and we didn't even come close in that portion -- we backtracked for almost 10 miles of the 14.6-mile route -- but we were happy that we'd answered so many of the questions correctly. They were tricky.

Tonight we joined the Head Alien for dinner at a Chinese buffet, and now we're at McDonald's because they have wireless. We leave for Albuquerque at 8 am tomorrow.

Rally

2007-07-01T19:16:00.001-04:00

Relaxing at the motel after the rally. We won first place and got a cool trophy!

Sunday morning

2007-07-01T19:06:00.001-04:00

Waiting for the laundry to finish drying so we can leave for the rally.

Drive-in

2007-06-30T23:52:00.001-04:00

Drive-in
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Car show

2007-06-30T15:34:00.001-04:00

Car show
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Mariachi band

2007-06-29T21:55:00.001-04:00

Mariachi band
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Friday afternoon update

2007-06-29T16:57:00.000-04:00

We're hanging out at Not of This World Cafe in Roswell this afternoon after going to Target for car wash supplies (couldn't fit them in for the trip out) and washing Phoebe, which is difficult with the water here. She's very streaky -- it's more obvious on a black car.

Last night we arrived in Roswell around 6 pm after driving from Tucumcari. The Blue Swallow Motel was great, and we walked to a little diner for breakfast with Lisa and Jason and then went through the dinosaur museum before getting on the road for Roswell. We had a really nice drive and stopped for a late lunch at a shiny silver diner that resembled a railroad car.

Phoebe got incredible gas mileage on the way here -- if she's completely full, she usually goes 100 miles with the needle on Full, 200 miles at 3/4 tank, 300 miles at 1/2, and 400 miles at 1/4. There are three dots between each quarter of the gauge. Steph snapped a photo at 167 miles and the needle had not even hit the first dot under full. I'm hoping for another 500-mile tank, but we'll be doing a fair amount of in-town driving this weekend, so that may not happen.

We unloaded the car at the motel and walked over to Tia Juana's, a local Mexican place where everyone who arrives on Thursday usually goes for dinner. (I've never arrived on Thursday before; the Eastern caravan traditionally arrives on Friday.) A nice time was had by all. I got almost nine hours of sleep last night, so I've been feeling a lot better today. Tonight is the Sky Watch party and the Pod Glow cruise. I realized today that I might be able to weave a glow necklace or two through the holes in Phoebe's wheels.

Hwy 40 in NM with Spacepod

2007-06-28T21:24:00.001-04:00

Hwy 40 in NM with Spacepod
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

We're here!

2007-06-28T21:17:00.001-04:00

Made it to Roswell about 45 mins. ago. Yay! 1501 miles.

Vaughn, NM

2007-06-28T16:57:00.001-04:00

Vaughn, NM
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Thursday morning

2007-06-28T10:52:00.000-04:00

We made it to the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM, late last night after stopping at the Big Texan in Amarillo, TX, for dinner. The motel is really cute -- our room has a section with a wood floor and a bathroom with vintage fixtures and tile. There is a garage next to our room for Phoebe, and she's sharing it with Spacepod, as Lisa and Jason are staying next door. Other stops yesterday were the Rock Cafe in Stroud, OK; a collection of Route 66 memorabilia; the Round Barn in Arcadia, OK; and the Route 66 museum in Clinton, OK.

I haven't been getting enough sleep, so we elected to stay here a little longer this morning, sleep in a little, and see the dinosaur museum and some of the other old motels and attractions in Tucumcari. Oh, yes, and breakfast at a diner somewhere. I'm glad we're arriving in Roswell today; having some free time tomorrow and a chance to sleep in a little again will help.

Yesterday I kept ending up near the end of the caravan, which is a difficult place to be. The traffic wave effect that's present in nearly all large traffic formations is much more evident at the end, and often the people at the front can't understand why the people at the back are complaining about trying to catch up all the time. The rain made the drive harder, too. Phoebe needs to have one or both of her wiper arms replaced because the springs don't hold them against the windshield strongly enough, so my wipers skitter around at higher speeds a little more than other people's do.

Today we are traveling with Spacepod and the pumpkin (Britt and Marie's Snap Orange color concept).

Wed. night

2007-06-28T01:47:00.001-04:00

At Blue Swallow Motel. Very cool! Phoebe is sharing a garage w Spacepod!

Tuesday recap

2007-06-27T09:18:00.001-04:00

Internet not working 4 me now. Blue whale yesterday!

Tuesday

2007-06-26T23:56:00.001-04:00

Too tired to blog by phone. Going to bed.

Rainbow bridge

2007-06-26T18:54:00.001-04:00

Rainbow bridge
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Interesting

2007-06-26T13:23:00.001-04:00

Interesting
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Cueball

2007-06-26T12:35:00.001-04:00

Cueball
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Closed...

2007-06-26T11:52:00.001-04:00

Closed...
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Monday update

2007-06-26T08:02:00.000-04:00

Still not able to get online on my own computer for various reasons. I spent an hour on the phone with Bright House last night trying to troubleshoot my dialup connection, which appears not to play well with a certain Windows update.

We started out with 12 NBs yesterday in Joliet, IL, and picked up three more along the way. Lots of photo ops, including the Joliet Historical Museum, which opened especially for us. We also stopped at the Gemini Giant, an old gas station, the Paul Bunyan statue in Atlanta, the Dixie Truck Stop, Cozy Dog (very greasy), Chain of Rocks Bridge, and Ted Drewes' Frozen Custard.

At the motel in the morning, we found out that Howie had a scan tool, and he was able to turn off Phoebe's check engine light. It came back on at the frozen custard place, and Chris thinks it's a mass air flow sensor. It's a part that can be taken out and cleaned to see if it's the problem, and everyone assures me that she'll be fine until we get home unless the light starts blinking. In fact, there are three or four of us with check engine lights on now.

Our 15 NBs: two black, two silver, three red, two white, two bright blue, two orange, one Harvest Moon, and one yellow. Three TDIs. No convertibles. Only one 2006 or later, but four '98s! Highest mileage: 192,000. Phoebe's mileage: 76,4xx.

Today we're off to see Meramac Caverns, the blue whale, and a couple of other things I can't remember at the moment.

Cozy dogs

2007-06-25T17:06:00.001-04:00

Cozy dogs
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Sunday recap

2007-06-25T09:19:00.000-04:00

Apparently I can blog only a certain number of characters from my phone. Anyway...

Lisa and Jason arrived in Indianapolis very late Saturday night, and we had breakfast at the Canary Cafe with them and Britt and Marie. They came to see our house. Lucy was happy to see her Lisa, and she even made friends with Jason. We got on the road to Chicago a little after 3:00, and after lots of traffic, we arrived at Summerfest around 7:45.

Unfortunately, Phoebe's check engine light came on while we were waiting to get on I-90. It had been off since she went to Tune Tech, so I had hoped that the problem that caused it had been solved. I immediately called Susan Hester to see if anyone had a VAG-COM tool, but she didn't know of anyone who'd brought one, so I called the ever-reliable John Steele, who had of course packed his. We'll meet him in St. Louis tonight and see if Phoebe's still throwing the P3191 code. She's had lots of fuel injector cleaner lately, so I don't think it's a clogged fuel injector -- I suspect an oxygen sensor or maybe a mass air flow sensor (though she doesn't feel sluggish at all).

In Chicago, we parked in a garage that had curved ramps going up to each level. I had to turn the wheel almost to the full lock to get up the ramps, and it was only after we got to the top that I learned that the ramps were two-way -- if you meet another car, one of you backs up (!). Coming down was equally scary, as I came close to bottoming out at the end of each ramp. Steph has a picture.

I got to drive a Smart Car! It's much bigger inside than it looks, and I didn't feel like I was driving a tiny little box. You can set the transmission in automatic or manual mode (and even switch between them on the fly). The shifts were a little clunky in automatic mode and somewhat smoother in manual mode. The Smart Car guy who went with me on the test drive said that he treats it like a manual even in automatic mode and lifts his foot off the accelerator when he wants it to shift. This helped. The engine is not particularly powerful at 72 horsepower, but the car could keep up with traffic. It has a small cargo area in back with a tiny pull-out cover.

After having dinner outdoors at a local restaurant that seemed to have every kind of food, we made our way to Joliet. There are 12 NBs here! We start off at 9 am.

Test drive

2007-06-24T21:52:00.001-04:00

I drove a Smart Car! It felt larger inside than it looked. You can shift it manually or let it shift automatically, and you can

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Road

2007-06-24T14:55:00.001-04:00

We are off!

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Blogging on the go

2007-06-21T11:20:00.001-04:00

Looks like I have mobileblogging set up too!

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Alien NB

2007-06-21T10:38:00.001-04:00

Alien NB
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Mini-caravan

2007-06-21T10:24:00.001-04:00

Mini-caravan
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

2nd try

2007-06-21T10:13:00.001-04:00

2nd try
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

National Drive Your VW to Work Day

2007-06-20T19:15:00.001-04:00

Friday, June 22 is National Drive Your VW to Work Day. Phoebe will be looking pretty, as we washed and waxed her this past weekend with my dad in preparation for our Roswell/Route 66 trip.

Radish serving

2007-06-18T20:35:00.003-04:00

Radish serving
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

The radishes are ready to eat! That's salt in the middle of the plate.

They were the most intense radishes I've ever had. I wonder if they lose their intensity as they're shipped around the country to grocery stores. Seriously, they made my nose run. They were very tasty, though.

Radish preparation

2007-06-18T20:35:00.001-04:00

Radish preparation
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Here they are after washing and trimming.

Radishes!

2007-06-18T20:34:00.003-04:00

Radishes!
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

I pulled six actual radishes from the ground. There are more, but I thought we'd leave them in the ground until we were ready to eat them.

Radish plant

2007-06-18T20:34:00.001-04:00

Radish plant
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

The package said they would have 22 days between planting and harvest, so I thought I'd check them out tonight. Some of the radishes were peeking out of the soil!

Radish plants in garden

2007-06-18T20:33:00.001-04:00

Radish plants in garden
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

We planted radishes for the first time this year. I was hopeful that we would grow a few.

AfterEllen's Hot 100

2007-06-14T21:50:00.000-04:00

After reading the AfterEllen Hot 100 list and Maxine Dangerous's response, I had to blog my favorites. Here, in alphabetical order by filename of the picture, are my top ten from the Hot 100. (Sorry, numbers 11 through 19. You're hot too.) I did not base my choices on the particular photograph AfterEllen had (although those were the ones I used); sometimes I didn't like their photo at all. In any case, here they are.

Kristen Bell

Deanna Casaluce

Guinevere Turner

Jennifer Beals

Lauren Graham

Lucy Liu

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Amelie Mauresmo

Salma Hayek

Tina Fey

I have to say that I'm surprised at some of the choices. Only one athlete? What happened to Annika Sorenstam? Maybe the whole TomKat debacle has prevented Katie Holmes from making the list. And has everyone forgotten Mary Stuart Masterson? I haven't.

New places to recycle corrugated cardboard in Indy

2007-06-11T21:13:00.000-04:00

Recycle Indianapolis has added two dropoff locations for corrugated cardboard:

Sam's Club, 3015 W. 86th St.
Eastgate Consumer Mall, E. Washington St. and Shortridge Rd.

Find more information about places to recycle various items at Keep Indianapolis Beautiful.

We've found Indianapolis Recycled Fiber at 1775 S. West St. to be the best option for most of our recycling. They take paper and cardboard as well as plastics 1 through 7 (the Keep Indianapolis Beautiful locations only take 1 and 2), and you don't have to separate the plastic anymore! We take glass and steel to the recycling container behind the downtown O'Malia's, and we're still in search of a non-scary scrap metal place to sell our aluminum.

Steph's birthday

2007-06-06T09:51:00.000-04:00

It's Steph's birthday today! Happy birthday, honey!

If you like, you can visit her blog and wish her a happy birthday. She hasn't decided yet whether she wants to go out to eat or eat at home tonight.

Caturday; or, I am queen of the chair.

2007-06-02T20:22:00.001-04:00

I am queen of the chair. I will push you out.

I am queen of the chair.

OK. I am queen of this chair, then.

I am queen of the chair.

Ha! I am queen of the chair!

I am queen of the loveseat.

No! I am queen of the loveseat!

I am still queen of the chair.