Monday update

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

Cozy dogs
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Sunday recap

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

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

We are off!

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Blogging on the go

Looks like I have mobileblogging set up too!

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Alien NB

Alien NB
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Mini-caravan

Mini-caravan
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

2nd try

2nd try
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

National Drive Your VW to Work Day

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

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

Radish preparation
Originally uploaded by stephsk8r

Here they are after washing and trimming.

Radishes!

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

NYR update 6

1. Floss: Still flossing consistently.

2. Lunch: Went out twice this week.

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

4. Flip: I haven't been skating enough recently. Moving to the new rink has been a challenge because it's farther away from home and work and because the rink is usually really cold.

5. Save: Our upcoming Route 66/Roswell trip is going to put our savings on hold for a little while.

6. Recipes: I haven't tried much in the way of new recipes lately.

7. Trans fat: Doing pretty well. Almost out of microwave popcorn.

8. Perfume: The level in the large bottle is going down fast!

9. Compact: I'm having to buy some new shoes because I have to wear orthotics now and they don't fit in most of my old shoes. It sucks -- I have one pair of shoes I can wear to work in the summertime. I had just gotten to the point where my shoe collection was almost perfect, and now I can't wear most of my shoes most of the time. Unfortunately, I still need to keep most of them for the times when I don't wear my orthotics because otherwise I won't have any shoes that match most of my clothes. I'm supposed to wear the orthotics 90% of the time. It's going to be difficult to find shoes to take to Roswell.

Electric mower

I have a Ryobi cordless electric mower that has served me well for the past eight years and is still going strong. Unfortunately, they don't make it anymore, but here's another option: the Neuton. It provides only a 14" cut rather than the 18" that my mower has, but it has several desirable features that my mower doesn't have, such as an available extra lift-out battery.

Either mower (as well as a corded electric mower) will pollute significantly less than a gas mower does. Mowing with a gas mower for an hour produces the same amount of pollution as driving a car 50 miles.

Funny discussion

While looking for another article, I came across an MSN discussion board thread on the topic of best and worst wedding gifts. Some of the worst gifts are hilarious, and many of the best gifts are touching. It's adding some levity to the whole wedding planning thing.

Dadblogging: Articles and brochures

Instead of mailing me stuff, my dad brought it with him last weekend.

* Brochure from Anthem on physical activity
* Chicago Tribune article "A lot rides on damaged alloy wheels"
* A diagram he drew of something that may have to do with water pipes
* A printout of a Yahoo article on Constellation Energy Group
* A Jim Mateja review of the 2007 Saturn Aura Green Line hybrid
* Some Toyota promotional material from England
* The official guide from the Chicago Auto Show
* A savings card from the auto show for 10% off at Firestone
* A CD sampler from Scion
* A cool metal Scion keychain (mattindy77, it's yours if you want it)
* A GTI pen holder (like the Beetle ones) complete with a set of stickers to customize it
* Honda, Toyota, and Scion promotional material
* Chevy Volt and Corvette promotional material
* Saturn and Chrysler promotional material

Sour beef

When I was growing up, my parents would sometimes make traditional Czech foods. One of them that I enjoyed was sour beef and dumplings. We only ate it a couple of times per year because it's pretty time-intensive to make.

My dad came to visit last weekend and brought me a couple of servings that he'd frozen. (He makes it a lot more often now that he's retired again.) I was more than a little concerned that it might be the kind of food that you had to eat while growing up in order to stomach, let alone love, but Steph liked it a lot. I didn't take a picture because, well, it's not the most attractive-looking dinner.

I don't have my dad's recipe yet, but I Googled the phrase last night and found a few, none of which look like they're the one our family uses. I also found information about some restaurants in Baltimore that serve it. The Czech word for dumplings is spelled knedlicky; it's pronounced KLED-neek in my family. Most people seem to make small individual dumplings, whereas we make large ones and then slice them.

My Czech vocabulary is very small, and I have difficulty locating the correct spellings of the few words I do know because they aren't phonetic. A number of years ago my cousins and I compared the Czech words we knew from our dads, and we discovered we knew different ones. They know the word for mashed potatoes, for example, while I know the words for facial hair, pacifier, and tail (as in "dog following you around," not "appendage on the back of animals."

Art car v2.2

My first and second visions for turning my 1993 Honda Accord into an art car have proven to be unworkable, so I have a new implementation of an old idea: I'm going to decoupage quotes onto the car and seal it with some sort of acrylic or polyurethane sealer to make it waterproof.

My second plan was to use letters cut from bumper stickers to make the quotes, but there just aren't that many free bumper stickers out there, so it finally occurred to me to cut the letters out of magazines, ads, and other found objects and decoupage them onto the car. The background for each quote will be a different piece of colored or patterned paper so that observers can tell the quotes apart. Last night I bought some scrapbooking paper at Costco, and then I came home and started cutting out letters. I'm sorting and storing them in a many-sectioned tool organizer. I've been collecting quotes for some time, although I'll probably need more than I think I will. Feel free to suggest your favorite quotes in the comments.

long time no blog

That day of silence turned into a week and a half somehow. Oops.

A day of silence

Our tree

Yesterday at Earth Day we were given a free tree. It is a black oak that will grow to between 90 and 100 feet tall. We planted the tree today in front of our house. Here is our tree:



Here is us with our tree:



Yes, it's the tiny little stick-like thing at our feet. Today is our anniversary, so we thought we'd start a tradition of taking our picture with our tree every year as it grows. It's our anniversatree.

Earth Day

This afternoon we went to the Earth Day festival in downtown Indianapolis. (Yes, I know it's a week late. I don't know why.)

There were five large tents with many exhibitors in each. I declined many, many brochures because I already knew the information on them, but we picked up quite a few with new information. Specifically, we're going to look into a solar attic fan.

We brought Spike because it was such a nice day and he likes festivals. He got a little overwhelmed in the tents because there were so many people, but he enjoyed himself anyway and got lots of compliments.

After we visited all the exhibitors, we stopped by the row of food vendors for a snack. Steph had a bowl of red beans and rice and I had an alligator sandwich. Yes, it was real alligator. It resembled bratwurst and tasted fairly similar to it.

I was disappointed in some of the displays because they didn't teach me anything new. I know that I'm pretty well informed, but I wanted more. I was very disturbed to hear the Toyota representative giving a couple blatant misinformation about the Prius. I didn't interrupt her, but I should have said something. She told the couple that the Prius runs on electric power up to 50 mph and only turns on its gas engine on the highway. In simple terms, the Prius only has enough battery capacity to run about three miles on electric alone, and the speed cutoff is 42 mph. The gas engine will run whenever the battery needs to be charged and whenever the car needs it to provide extra heat to warm the cabin or the batteries. (Learn more from expert Prius owners at any of the Prius-related Yahoo! groups.)

Now we're heading to Good Earth, the natural food store in Broad Ripple, to go get some natural and organic food.

NYR update 5

1. Floss: Still flossing consistently. I think it's become a habit by now.

2. Lunch: Slowly making progress on last year's deficit.

3. On time: I'm leaving the house a little earlier these days. Moving to our new building at work will help, as my commute will probably be a little shorter.

4. Flip: It felt like I got good height in my flip attempts this week, but I'm not getting the rotation, so I'm landing forward on two feet with a three turn to backward.

5. Save: Selling Steph's old house helped a lot in this department.

6. Recipes: The leg of lamb I made for Easter turned out well. I'm going to figure out something to do with ahi tuna this week.

7. Trans fat: Doing much better.

8. Perfume: One bottle down, two to go. I'm working on the larger bottle now, and I can see the level going down. I'm glad I like all of these scents -- this would be no fun at all if I didn't.

9. Compact: Doing okay. We bought a new vacuum and air purifier with a gift card recently.

Weekend update

On Friday night, we grilled out for the first time this year. Yummy!

Saturday morning we took a load of cardboard boxes to the recycling center. We purchased 800 lbs. of top soil (in 40-lb. bags) at Indiana Mulch on the way back. After all that work, we had lunch at BW3s and played trivia. Later, Steph learned that things like playing trivia keep your brain active and help prevent senility and Alzheimer's later in life. When we got home, we painted the rest of the balcony railings and post. One more coat on the floor and we're done! The rest of the afternoon and evening we spent organizing my music in preparation for moving it onto the server. We also started watching The Muppet Show, which I've never seen before, on DVD.

On Sunday, we got the wheelbarrow out and unloaded the 800 lbs. of top soil into it and moved them all to the deck in the back. Steph planted some flowers we'd started indoors, and we sat on the porch and read for a while before taking the dog for a w-a-l-k. After several false starts, I managed to move my music over to the server, and then we went over to Elizabeth's for dinner because Joe was in town.

Cucumber salad recipe

When my mom gave me her cucumber salad recipe, I didn't have any paper at hand, so it's scrawled on the back of a fast-food napkin. I thought I'd blog it because that way the dog can't chew it up.

Cucumber Salad

cucumber, peeled and sliced
2 Tbsp. vinegar
2 tsp. sugar
4 Tbsp. water
Pepper to taste

Combine wet ingredients. Add cucumber. Adjust proportions to taste.

My next car

I just put a deposit down on a Smart car. I've wanted one since I went to Europe in the summer of 2000 and saw them everywhere. (My friends were taking pictures of architecture and I was photographing Smart cars.) I chose the base model in yellow with black trim, and the only option for the interior color was gray. It will have a 5-speed automated manual transmission, which appears to be very much like the old VW Autostick. (I hope it will work better than the Autostick did.) I'm going to miss the clutch, but I'll still have one in Phoebe. It will probably arrive in the spring of 2008, several months after my Honda turns over 200,000 miles (my goal).

The gas mileage is estimated at 40 city/60 highway, which is not that much lower than a Prius. The Smart car costs about half as much as a Prius, and I expect it to hold its value well. I may decide to sell it in a few years and buy a Prius when I get tired of not having a back seat.

Hey Elizabeth, it comes in a convertible -- you should get one, too!

PoshPoints

I found an interesting online shopping/barter site. It's called PoshPoints. You sell things for points and then buy other things with your points. You can buy extra points if you need them, and you get 15 free points to start out with. Plus if you join through my referral link, I get 10 points when you list your first item for sale. Most of the stuff is little (say, the value of a DVD or a pair of jeans or less), but I've sold several books that weren't worth much at half.com and a little giveaway pedometer so far, and I've bought a shirt, a lot of something like 10 pairs of shoelaces (necessary in this house, where Dru is always looking for shoelaces to chew), a pair of jeans, and a tea bag squeezer/holder thing (difficult to explain).

Here's my referral link.

Lucy in my lap

Tonight Lucy kept trying to come into the living room with us (we were watching The Muppet Movie) and Spike repeatedly chased her back to the stairs. We put Spike in bed so he couldn't bother her, and for the first time since we moved here, Lucy came over and jumped onto my lap on the couch. I've missed having her curled up on my lap as I watch TV, and I hope Spike mellows out a little so she can do that more often.

Fortune cookies

I brought Chinese food home for dinner after my haircut tonight. I grabbbed four fortune cookies for us. My two were weird, and yes, I typed them accurately:

Your talents will be recognized and suitable rewarded.

I trust they're talkng about my editing talents.

Your dearest Wish will come true.

The one about eliminating all random capital letters, perhaps?

The sock hop tape

Playlist of the sock hop tape, dated 12/87 on side A and 2/88 on side B.

Side A

1. Shake Your Love -- Debbie Gibson
2. I Think We're Alone Now -- Tiffany
3. You Give Love a Bad Name -- Bon Jovi
4. Living on a Prayer -- Bon Jovi
5. You Give Good Love -- Whitney Houston
6. Always -- Atlantic Starr
7. You Be Illin' -- Run DMC
8. I Want Your Sex -- George Michael
9. Fight For Your Right (To Party) -- Beastie Boys
10. Secret Lovers -- Atlantic Starr
11. Pour Some Sugar On Me -- Def Leppard
12. Armageddon It -- Def Leppard

Side B

1. Jam On It -- Newcleus
2. Pop Goes the World -- Men Without Hats
3. It Should've Been Me -- Tiffany
4. The Lion Sleeps Tonight -- The Tokens
5. With You All the Way -- New Edition
6. Anything For You -- Gloria Estefan
7. Make It Real -- The Jets
8. Rush Hour -- Jane Wiedlin
9. Hands to Heaven -- Breathe
10. Let It Be -- The Beatles
11. The Promise -- When In Rome

In my dreams

Last night I had strange dreams. It was hot, and our bedroom was rearranged because the roofers were in the middle of having it painted. In one of the dreams, I went into a store, which had ice instead of a floor. I expected to go in and skate a program, but I was able to skate a little on the way in.

The first thing I did was try a backspin, and I held it for five revolutions. I was excited when I got to two, and although the spin slowed down, I hung onto it, and I was so happy that I screamed at the end of it. In real life, I've never gotten past just under two revolutions, and the dream was really great because I could finally feel what the spin is supposed to feel like. I dreamed about my one-foot spin before I was able to do it, so I hope this is a good sign.

We worked on my backspin in my lesson this week, and my coach had me keep my free foot behind my skating foot on the entrance, which helped a lot. I did one that felt really good on Thursday night, and I hope it continues to improve.

Songs on the Abba tape

Abba Arrival, Abba the Album, 2/1/81

Side A

1. When I Kissed the Teacher
2. Dancing Queen
3. My Love, My Life
4. Dum Dum Diddle
5. Knowing Me, Knowing You
6. Money, Money, Money
7. That's Me
8. Why Did It Have to Be Me?
9. Tiger
10. Arrival
11. Eagle
12. Take a Chance on Me
13. People Need Love

The Album cont'd, Abba Greatest Hits

Side B

1. The Name of the Game
2. Move On
3. Hole In Your Soul
4. Thank You for the Music
5. I Wonder
6. I'm a Marionette
7. SOS
8. Honey, Honey
9. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
10. Waterloo
11. Dance (While the Music Still Goes On)
12. Fernando
13. Bang-a-Boomerang

Sold!

Steph just called to tell me that she left the closing a few minutes ago and she no longer owns her old house. Yay! We have one fewer mortgage!


Seriously, the sale of Steph's house will free up many hundreds of dollars per month, money that we will use to replenish the emergency fund, work on our new house, and save for the future. Oh, and we might go out for a celebratory dinner at some point as well.

The Abba tape

A few weeks ago, we were going through some stuff, and I found something I'd misplaced several years ago: the Abba tape. My dad made the tape from some of his Abba records back in the early days of cassettes (it's dated 2/1/81), and we listened to it often. I used to put it on the stereo and roller skate to it in the hallway -- I had those skates that went over your shoes. The tape also accompanied us on almost every vacation, and we'd listen to it in the car. This, to me, was the definitive Abba, so some of the songs on Abba Gold and More Abba Gold (their greatest hits discs from the 90s) were new to me. Now I have quite a bit of Abba music on CD and MP3, but I know I'm missing a few songs that were on this tape, including one about an ocean that I haven't heard in years and never knew the actual title of. It sounds better than I expected it to after 26 years -- not great, of course, but not bad for a very old and heavily used tape.

I've been planning to recreate it as a playlist in iTunes, and this morning I rewound it, stuck it in the tape player, and started to write down the song titles as they played. (I also located a blank tape to make a copy of it at the same time.) I'll post it when the tape finishes.

In the same drawer as the Abba tape was the sock hop tape, which is a topic for another post. I promise to post that playlist too so you can make fun of the questionable musical taste I had in high school.

NYR update 4

1. Floss: Still flossing consistently. My dentist was happy with my teeth two weeks ago.

2. Lunch: I have gone out for lunch less than one time per week so far this year. However, I did go out three times last week for stress relief and co-worker bonding.

3. On time: Not doing so well.

4. Flip: Started working on flip with new coach this morning. I'm happy with the exercise she showed me and with my progress today.

5. Save: I can't complain -- we've not been buying much.

6. Recipes: Last night I made rosemary-peach chicken, which turned out well. It was supposed to be rosemary-orange marmalade chicken, but we didn't have any orange marmalade.

7. Trans fat: I'm still making a good effort. Except for the french fries on Sunday.

8. Perfume: Almost done with the bottle I'd been concentrating on. Second bottle (small) is just over half full, and third bottle (large) is about three-quarters full. I may not finish all three this year, but I'm reasonably certain that I'll come close.

9. Compact: Doing okay but not perfect. I did buy my loop a shirt on Saturday, after all.

Apparently it can be bribed.

So yesterday on the way to the competition, I told my loop that if it showed up, I'd buy it a shirt.

I forgot that it likes clothes.

My freestyle program went well, although I didn't land the loop. The ice was hard, but I coped with it pretty well. After my second spin, I looked up and saw my friends Patti and Kurt from synchro standing by the boards watching me -- I didn't expect them to be there, but they had a lesson nearby in the morning and decided to stop in and see some of the competition. I skated clean except for the loop. I placed second out of three, which I'm happy with.

My showcase program went well, too. I attempted the loop in the warmup, but it wasn't happening, so I moved on. I had to get off a minute early because I was the first skater in my group, but I was ready. My old synchro coach, Susan, was standing by the boards cheering for me and holding the Wicked monkey I'd brought as my mascot. (I considered skating with the monkey, but I thought it might throw me off because I hadn't done that before, so I let her hold it.) I skated the program much better than I did in Wyandotte. It was faster, and I felt more comfortable with the changes we'd made. I landed my loop and was so surprised that I wasn't sure how to get into my next element -- I'm used to landing (incorrectly) on my left foot. I placed second after Rhonda's very cool program as Daphne from Scooby Doo.

I had to buy the competition shirt for my loop -- I was afraid that if I didn't, it would never show up at a competition again!

Three loops

Tonight at practice I managed to land three loops. They weren't pretty, but they were on my right foot. It's been several weeks since I landed one -- lately they've been few and far between.

I'm competing at Skate Cincinnati on Saturday, and I had two good program run-throughs tonight. My loop even showed up in one of them. I probably shouldn't even suggest this, but if my loop wanted to accompany me to Cincinnati and show itself off in front of a bunch of people, I wouldn't argue.

Fish craving

On the way home I had the most incredible craving for fish. Not healthy, good-for-you salmon or tilapia, not expensive shrimp or orange roughy, but that fish from elementary school that's breaded and shaped like a plank. (My craving may have been precipitated by a Filet-O-Fish commercial I heard on the radio.)

So I went to Kroger on the way home in search of this fish. I was happy to find that Gorton's makes it. It comes six to a package (a serving is two pieces) and you bake it in the oven. Even better, it contains no trans fat.

I purchased a box of fish (and various other things -- honey, I got you a twelve-pack of diet Dr. Kroger or whatever they call their Dr. Pepper knockoff; I also scored two jars of pizza sauce for 35 cents each). I came home and preheated the oven while I let the dog out, and now, if you'll excuse me, I have some fish to eat.

ETA: Yes, yes, I know, no one cares what I had for dinner.

Weekend update

Steph's in Austin, TX, for SXSW this weekend, having a fabulous time. I'm keeping busy.

Friday evening I hung out with some co-workers at Alan's house and then came home and watched a little TV.

Yesterday I met with the roofer, who's finally finished with the gutters; took Lucy to the vet (just a checkup, though today she wouldn't eat -- she might be feeling bad from the shot they gave her. She just peeked downstairs, so I hope that's a sign she's feeling better); checked on my house; took Spike for a walk around the neighborhood, during which I picked up a bag's worth of garbage and one of recycling and Spike peed on everything and made friends with a few neighbors; took Steph's truck to get an oil change and filled it up with gas; went to Best Buy; and attended Douglas's birthday party.

Today I remembered about daylight savings time when I woke up, so I changed most of the clocks. Then I called my mom, gave the dog and cats special food, skated, and got out on the roof to finish priming the balcony railing.

While I was on the roof, my dad called to say that he won a European vacation and he doesn't want it, so he's giving it to me. (Yeah, I know, he must be crazy.) I almost fell off the roof. Fortunately I didn't, because broken limbs would make it uncomfortable to walk around Europe.

Interesting site on traffic jams

A physicist has figured out all sorts of stuff about traffic jams, complete with animations to illustrate his points. Years ago I looked at a book that explained why traffic jams occur, and I've been using parts of this guy's technique ever since.

The difficulties of making coffee

We have three coffeepots at work, one each for stronger coffee, weaker coffee, and decaf. They don't have a window to show the level of coffee remaining, but you can tell how much is left by the resistance of the lever you press to dispense the coffee. When there is no coffee left, pressing the lever causes the pot to dispense an unfocused squirt of coffee that sprays all over the place.

Several of my co-workers do not make coffee when they take the last of a pot. The rest of us can tell when the person before us knows they have depleted the pot; it's apparent. A few individuals (all, coincidentally, of the male persuasion) have remarked to me upon walking away from a coffeepot they emptied that they do not know how to make coffee and are afraid to screw it up. It's as if their time is worth more than mine -- or that of any of the other people who make coffee when they run the pot out.

There are directions posted on the wall next to the coffee bar. It's not hard. If you are capable of holding down a professional job -- which you obviously do -- then certainly you can make coffee. I'm sure your penis is not large enough to get in the way.

The Haydenettes

This is a video of The Haydenettes' long program. They're one of the top synchronized skating teams in the world, and they're based in Massachusetts. I cannot express how difficult this program is or how scary it would be to skate. The audience is cheering so much that you can hardly hear the music at some points.

Deborah Burgoyne North American Invitational 2007

This past weekend, I competed at the Deborah Burgoyne North American Invitational in Wyandotte, MI. It was my seventh year competing there, and I had a good time as usual. The arena was remodeled this year, and the new locker rooms and registration (warming) room are great! The bleachers are much easier to climb, too, especially in skates.

I placed third in freestyle and fourth in interp, so I got two medals. I skated both programs reasonably well, especially considering that I hadn't skated since the previous Sunday because of the weather. It was fun to skate in the same event as one of the skaters I practice with on Thursday nights -- I'd never seen her interp program before, and it was great.

My friends Dan and Melissa let me stay with them, and it was so nice to see them again and catch up with them. They recently moved back to Michigan from Texas, and they're settling in well to a nice new home and town. They always make me feel so comfortable in their home, and they put up with me dragging them around half the state to watch me skate, too. I got the chance to take them to Ikea for the first time on Sunday, and I think they'll go back. I got the curtains we wanted for the living room that were out of stock when we went this summer (you can hardly see the light tan vine pattern on them in the picture; notice, too, that they aren't available in mail order) as well as another Dave, which may be the best thing Ikea ever made. I exercised an extreme amount of self-control and spent less than $100 in all.

Snow day!

Well, not really. I'm working at home. We got a lot of snow (8-10 inches?) yesterday and overnight, and this morning we determined that it would not be possible to get my car out of its spot unless the person behind me moved. That happened a while ago, but it took us about two and a half hours to clear enough space in front of the house to get the car out. (And that was with the snowblower's help.) Spike had quite a time going potty this morning.

NYR update 3

1. Floss. Doing well -- I think it's become a habit.

2. Go out to lunch at work only once a week. Doing very well. This week's free burrito adventure doesn't count as going out, as it was free. Sometimes I make lunch for my co-worker Alan, and he pays me $3 per lunch. I've decided that making two lunches for Alan is equal to going out one extra time, and this (plus going out less than once per week so far) has reduced my "lunch debt" from last year to 10.

3. Be on time to work. I still can't get the hang of getting out of the house on time.

4. Land flip. No flip yet, but new loop exercises. Because there's a loop in the flip, they should help.

5. Save money. I'm not spending much, but not saving much extra either. This resolution has become more important in light of the news that my company was sold this week.

6. New recipes. A few weeks ago I made peanut sauce for a stir-fry, which turned out really well. This week I'm considering making regular chili, which I've never made before.

7. Less trans fat. I was doing well until today. We were out to lunch with some friends and I ordered potato salad with my burger. One friend ordered cottage cheese, but they brought him fries instead. He didn't want them, so I ate them. (It was probably a good thing after all, as I didn't like the potato salad.)

8. Perfumes. Doing well. I can see the difference in two of the bottles, but one of them isn't disappearing as fast. Still, I think I'll make my goal. I use a different perfume about once a week for variety.

9. The Compact. I'm not doing as well as most other people on the e-mail list I'm on. However, I've made a list of everything I've bought this year, both to make myself consider the items and to keep track of whether I use them.

Burritos

Last week I got a voice mail message that I'd won 15 free Chipotle burritos in a drawing. (I'd dropped my card in a fishbowl the week before.) I called the guy back, and as it turns out, I had to redeem my 15 burritos all at one time. So I headed over there at lunchtime today with five of my co-workers, Steph, and two of Steph's co-workers. They gave us our burritos and even threw in free drinks, and they let me take the remaining six home. I told the guy that I'd be back and that I'd recommend the place. The burritos are tasty and are big enough that I could have saved some for later. I'm thinking that if I made some side dishes to go with it, Steph and I could split one of the remaining burritos for dinner.

Super Bowl joke

Courtesy of our friend David:

What do you call 53 guys sitting around watching the Super Bowl?

The New England Patriots.

Chicken soup

I'm not feeling well, so I thought I'd have some chicken soup for lunch. Campbell's Chunky Chicken with White and Wild Rice doesn't hold a candle to my dad's chicken rice soup. Unfortunately, I don't know how to make my dad's soup, and we don't have any in the freezer. I'll have to get his recipe -- he's told me several times how he makes it, but I haven't written it down.

Soup from a can always seems to have a certain taste (maybe it's the preservatives?), with the exception of Campbell's Italian Wedding soup. Homemade soup just tastes better.

Blogging from the hotel

I'm in Madison, WI, for the Careers Conference. The conference has been great -- I've attended several interesting presentations and met many interesting people. I felt like I finally know enough about careers to make attending the conference worthwhile to me, and thanks to the clothes Steph got me for Christmas, I finally felt like I looked like I belonged there. I'm on a public computer, so I can't post my picture of the clothes.

You see, my laptop and my suitcase are on a shuttle to the airport. They were keeping my stuff downstairs until my shuttle, but they mistakenly put everyone's stuff on the earlier shuttle. Fortunately, they have the Internets in the lobby and I have a book in my bag. Also, the earlier shuttle will be returning before I have to leave.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the conference and I hope my boss will send me to another one soon.

Update: The shuttle driver brought back my luggage and apologized profusely. I was, of course, very understanding, especially because they had the Internets in the lobby and I had a book with me.

Colts win!

I tried to call Michelle to talk smack to her because the Colts will be playing the Bears in the Super Bowl, but it appears everyone else with Cingular is doing the same thing, so I don't have service. It was a very exciting game, though, with the largest comeback in AFC championship history.

Disclaimer: I am the world's biggest fair-weather fan. I don't follow football. I've only seen two entire Colts games before, and that's only because we had free tickets.

VW ASCII art

On the New Beetle list, I've seen quite a few different pieces of VW-related ASCII art. However, someone on the Prius list owns a '65 Beetle, and I think his is my favorite so far:

Carl
Proud Owner of Stanley, a 1965 VW bug!
(O\|/O) (.\~/.)

I love the back of the Beetle. I would have used lowercase Os for the headlights, though -- I think it's more to scale:

(o\|/o)

NYR update 2

1. Floss. I forgot to floss the other night. However, I've flossed each night except that one, so I'm working on forming the habit.

2. Go out to lunch at work only once a week. Doing well. I went out to lunch with some co-workers yesterday, and that was the first time I've done so all year, so I even made progress on my goal of catching up from last year's excesses.

3. Be on time to work. Not doing so well. I still can't get up early enough to get out of the house on time.

4. Land flip. No flip yet, but I learned a new jump sequence (half lutz-toe loop-falling leaf-salchow), which is seriously kicking my ass. It's most assuredly going in the program by the time I compete in February.

5. Save money. Doing okay. I'm saving money by cooking more at home, not buying stuff, and not shopping on eBay (except for the new walking shoes I bought to replace my walking shoes at work, which had split at the heel seam).

6. New recipes. Some progress. I'm making a new variation on white chicken chili tonight, and I made a version of baked ziti with some substitutions last week.

7. Less trans fat. Doing pretty well. I found a loaf of garlic bread with no trans fat last night at the grocery store, and I haven't had a single french fry all year.

8. Perfumes. Doing moderately well. As I said, I picked out three perfumes, and I've been wearing them a little more than half the time. Today I marked the level in each with a marker. (One has about 1/4 bottle left, one has about 2/3 bottle left, and one is almost full.) However, I purchased three new bottles of perfume at the Body Shop the other night. They were on clearance ($6 each, originally $16 each) and they've been discontinued, so I felt I had to get them. I already knew I liked them because I have a little sample pack of nine of their scents. They're keeping four of those and getting rid of five. I feel kind of bad about buying them, though, so I'm not going to use them until I finish at least one bottle of the three I'm trying to finish.

9. The Compact. Doing okay except for the purchase of some small stuffed animals (at 75% off) to throw to my skating friends at competitions and the aforementioned perfume. Also, I bought walking shoes, but that's kind of health-related, as I need to take care of my feet and my old walking shoes were cutting into them and making them bleed.

Blogiversary

I started my blog one year ago today. In honor of my blogiversary, I changed my template and added a blogroll.

2006 Year in Books

I read only 23 books in 2006. That's more than I read in 2005, but not as many as I wanted to read. Here's the rundown:



I read this for book club, and it was just okay.



We got an advance reader's copy of this at work, and I was excited to see a book about a kid with two moms. I ended up disliking some of the characters, though, which frustrated me.



Prep got mixed reviews, and I agree with those who felt the main character, Lee, didn't change or grow very much. I mostly enjoyed the book despite Lee's flaws, though.



Another book club selection. I enjoyed this book. I felt for Grady even though his predicament was all his own doing.



I forget the answer to the title question, but I found this book entertaining. It wasn't just another boring health book.



I read a different edition of this book. The cover has Encyclopedia Brown pictured wrong! Doesn't he have reddish-brown hair? It certainly isn't that dark. I had a bunch of Encyclopedia Brown books as a kid, and I found this one at a garage sale. When I was at my dad's last weekend, I found my old copies, so more Encyclopedia Brown may be on my reading list for 2007. He's still a good detective.



Steph picked this book up at a book sale; I read it one day when we were sitting around her house. It was a fun way to spend a couple hours on a lazy Saturday afternoon.



I bought this book for my not-exactly-a-niece Raven, who's 14, and I felt I should take a look to see what it was like. It's a good thing I did, because after I gave it to her, she called me to ask what some of the British words meant.



Yet another book club book. I thought it could have ended sooner. It was interesting to read a classic science fiction novel.



I like memoir-type books in which people talk about their daily lives. Karol Griffin has a very different life from mine. I enjoyed learning about the world of a tattoo artist.



I loved these essays, especially one in which the author and a friend made a contraption to remove stray plastic bags from trees.



One of my favorite books from sophomore English. We read The Great Gatsby for book club, and I enjoyed it almost as much nineteen (!) years later. I loved it for its social commentary.



I picked Amalee up at the library because I was interested to see what kind of book Dar Williams would write. I like her music.



Steph bought Geography Club because it is about a gay kid in high school. I wasn't out in high school, so it's interesting to read about kids who are.



I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I read this book. I got it at the library sale for Michelle because we used to watch General Hospital.



Another book club selection. It was a fun read; I borrowed his earlier book Jennifer Government from my mom, and maybe I'll get to it this year.



Jim Henson rocks.



I liked the premise, but I couldn't relate to the author very well.



I wasn't young enough, fabulous enough, or broke enough for this book. I already knew most of the stuff she covered -- I think I need a different Suze Orman book.



This book was a little unsettling. Freyer had friends over to tag items they thought were representative of his life, and he sold them on eBay. I liked the stories behind the items and the description of his process, but I was sad that he sold many of his photos and other items that were really meaningful to him.



This book didn't work for me. The dialogue wasn't realistic and the story seemed a little forced.



Adding to my collection of skating books...



Definitely one of my favorite books of the year. I loved reading about the author's relationship with the encyclopedia and with knowledge in general.

I hope to read a little more in 2007. I've already started two books, and Steph and I are reading a story each night from a book of 365 bedtime stories. This year I also need to buy fewer books and clear out a few more of the books I don't want to keep.

NYR update

An update on my resolutions:

1. So far, so good. I flossed after I got home from Dan and Doug's last night in a semi-tipsy state because I figured it was after midnight, so it counted.

2, 3, and 4. Haven't worked or skated yet this year. Did watch some skating today, though.

5. Didn't spend excess money at the grocery when on mission for soup vegetables. Oh, wait, maybe I did. But we will use the items I bought -- crackers to go with the cheese my aunt sent us and marinade for the chicken in the freezer.

6. I made bean soup a little differently today. It turned out okay.

7. So far, so good.

8. I chose three perfumes and wore one of them. I'm not sure I can stick to wearing only those three, but I can at least focus on using them a lot and using them up.

9. I didn't buy anything new today. Only food.

Music?

If you recognize the music behind the EV1 commercial I just posted, please let me know. It'd be fun to skate to.

1996 GM EV1 commercial

Pretty cool.

New Year's resolutions

It's the last day of 2006 -- time to post my New Year's resolutions.

1. Floss every night. I used to be really good at this one, but I started forgetting sometime this summer, and I need to get back to it.

2. Go out for lunch at work only once per week, cumulative (not counting weekends or when I'm on vacation). I've made this resolution since 2005, and I've varied in my success. In 2005, I ended up two ahead, but in 2006 I was 16 behind, so I have 14 weeks to make up. Guess I better get started on that ham and bean soup.

3. Be on time to work. Despite six months of my best efforts to leave earlier, I keep leaving the house at the time I used to need to leave when I lived on the east side. Old habits die hard.

4. Land my flip again. I've landed it twice from a standstill, both in 2005, and I want to transform that into a real flip jump. Unfortunately, it seems like most of my jumps arrive during times of great personal hardship. I'd like this one to come more easily.

5. Save money. We have a long list of things we want to do to the house and items we would like to purchase. I'd like to save more money toward those things. The next few items include a chest freezer, a new computer for Steph, and getting Phoebe's check engine light (yes, it's back on again) checked out.

6. Try more new recipes. I bought a new cookbook yesterday called A Slob in the Kitchen, which has some interesting easy recipes. My adventures in cooking have mostly turned out well, and I'm interested in exploring several other cookbooks we have. I've started dating recipes when I try them, too.

7. Less trans fat! I've been trying to cut down on my trans fat consumption recently. Guess I'll be getting my fries from Chick-Fil-A or Wendy's when the craving hits. I admit that the Shedd's Spread Country Crock limited-edition cinnamon spread that I love so much has half a gram per serving, but I should be allowed one indulgence, right? Besides, I don't use much of it.

8. Use up at least three of my perfumes. I have a lot of perfume, and as much as I've tried, I'm not a one-scent kind of girl, although Flower Moon could almost make me into one. I'm running out of space on top of my dresser for perfumes, and about three-quarters of the ones I have are scents I like but don't feel the need to purchase again when I run out.

9. The Compact. The Compact is a movement in which people don't buy new stuff. They do, however, buy used stuff. Exemptions are made for such things as food and health and safety items. We're going to try it and see how it goes. New stuff resold on eBay seems to count as used, too.

What we're watching tonight

Elizabeth lent us An Evening with Kevin Smith.



I love Kevin Smith.

What are you watching?

Holiday season in review

We've had a busy holiday season this year (as usual). Over Thanksgiving, we drove to Iowa to visit Steph's dad's side of the family, which was great fun. We attended several Christmas parties, hosted one, and went to four family Christmases (well, Steph only went to two). Steph got pleurisy again and had to stay home on Christmas. I hit the after-Christmas sales with Michelle and got some good deals. We shopped yesterday and today with our Christmas gift cards, and now I have more work clothes and we both have many books to read.

For Christmas, I gave many fun gifts and received a lot as well. Some of my favorite presents include a Wheel of Fortune game, the Out on the Porch calendar, two pairs of slippers, an excellent pair of gray pants, a book on living green, and a scribe (for drawing circles on the ice so I can learn some school figures).

Merry Christmas

I'm at my dad's, blogging from the other side of the kitchen table (opposite the side where I usually sit), which seems to be the only place in the house where I can scam on the neighbors' unsecured wireless.

Steph is at home with pleurisy. I was very worried about leaving her, but she convinced me to go, saying that she'd be fine and that she'd call Dan and Doug if something happened. I miss her. And the pets.

So far, my dad and I have cooked the turkey, which is almost ready to eat, and we (mostly my dad) replaced the other taillight gasket in the Honda so my trunk won't leak. I painted the wiper arms flat black where the paint had burned away (sounds like a precious thing to do on a 13-year-old car, but the silver metal on the tops of the arms reflects into my eyes in an annoying fashion).

Sauerkraut recipe

My dad's sauerkraut recipe, slightly edited. It was handed down to him from my grandmother. We're the only family I know who eats sauerkraut with the turkey dinner at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Sauerkraut copy 11/11/91

About 1# fresh pork, cut in small pieces
2 cups water
1/2 cup vinegar
Salt and sugar (a little pepper)

Boil pork and mix about 1 3/4 hrs.

1 onion
1 32-oz jar sauerkraut (Vlasic Polish sauerkraut with caraway seeds -- Polish is very important)
1 scant tablespoon caraway seeds (if sauerkraut doesn’t have them)
2 oz margarine
2 tablespoons flour

Add sauerkraut (Vlasic Polish with caraway seeds), caraway seed (1 scant tablespoon). Saute 1 onion in 2 oz margarine. Add 2 tablespoons flour and mix (don’t brown); then add to meat and kraut and let boil about 1/2 hour.

A real sit spin

In my lesson last Tuesday, my coach liked my sit spin -- she said that it was the best one she'd ever seen me do and that it was a real sit spin. I've been working on it for a few years, so I'm happy that it's improved.

Let me take a moment to say how much I like my new coach. She's very detail-oriented, much like I am, and her technical knowledge is unbelievable. I understand things on a different level, and it makes all the difference. In saying that, I'm not putting down my old coach in any way -- she is also an excellent coach. In fact, she came back for a visit about a month ago and had time to fit me in for a lesson during a week that my new coach was out of town. We worked on some of the exercises I've been doing with my new coach, and she helped tremendously by linking parts of them to other things I can do. She also said I've gotten faster since she left in August, which is pretty cool.

Cool rain boots at Target

When I was a kid, I read Ramona the Pestand I wanted a pair of yellow rubber rain boots like the ones Ramona was wearing when she jumped in all the puddles. (On the cover of the book, they're red, but I remember them being yellow.) Target doesn't have yellow ones, but I found these, which will do just fine.

3:47 am

It's 3:47 am. We've been up for an hour and fifteen minutes dealing with the flood down our bedroom and guest room walls. I'm not coherent enough to write a detailed post about it, but the roofers tore out the gutters in that section and the water coming in woke us up. Steph called the roofer, and he's on his way over.

Guess we're going to have to paint the bedroom after all, considering that the water is loosening many layers of paint and wallpaper.

Aaargh.

On various topics

For some reason, it's hot in our house tonight. There is no reason that it should be hot. It's not that warm outside. Our radiators are fixed, but the heat is not turned up that high. At this rate, I'm going to have to break out the summer pajamas.

Last night we had a holiday party. Unfortunately, we failed to take any pictures.

We took Spike for a walk this afternoon because it was about 45 degrees out. He got cold halfway through and I carried him most of the rest of the way home inside my coat. This amused the other walkers in the neighborhood.

Tonight we watched the finale of the Amazing Race. I didn't really have a favorite team this season, but I didn't dislike any of the teams either.

Last week I was elected treasurer of the Old Northside neighborhood association.

Happy birthday, Lucy!

Lucy is six today. This morning, she got special food, and tonight we're going to give her a new toy. I tried to tell those other cats to be nice to her today, but I don't know if they listened.

Finally back online at home

The router at home had trouble just before we left for Thanksgiving, so we weren't able to get online until yesterday. Recent highlights:

1. We went to Steph's grandparents' house in Brighton, Iowa, for Thanksgiving. Steph has a very large family, and I've always wanted a large family, so it's especially fun for me.

2. When we got home, I took Steph on a carriage ride around downtown (neither of us had ever done that before and we both wanted to), and I asked her to marry me. She said yes!

3. I rented my house! The tenants take possession Friday.

Cookies

I just found out that Crisco has introduced a shortening without trans fat. I can make my M&M cookies again!

However, it's odd that the nutrition label pictured says that the shortening is not a significant source of calories from fat.

Over the weekend, I looked at the nutrition poster at Wendy's and found out that their fries have no trans fat, either. (I had a side salad instead of fries on Saturday, but now I'll know where I should get fries in the future.) The nutrition section of their site says that fries have half a gram of trans fat per serving, though. I'm not sure which information to believe.

My Basic Skills class

I've been teaching Basic Skills skating to kids on Wednesday evenings this fall through Winter Club. (Many skaters join clubs; it can be a cheaper way to get ice time, and it's your link to USFS.)

I teach Basic 4, which consists of forward edges on a circle (inside and outside), forward crossovers in both directions, backward stroking and glides on one foot, back snowplow stops, backward pumping on a circle, and forward outside three turns (left and right).

Teaching is extraordinarily difficult. Now, I have never been under the impression that it wasn't, and I'm not a natural teacher, but I've really been having trouble explaining some of this stuff to the kids. Unlike me, they don't ask questions during class, and sometimes I can't figure out what they're doing wrong or what they need to know.

The kids have been interesting. I have a little girl who's about nine who doesn't talk much and two girls who are both about twelve who are friends and like to push each other around. One of them is really happy and enthusiastic and the other one is a little quieter. No-Talker Girl is very focused, and she's been having a hard time with three turns. The other two like three turns quite a bit and picked them up more quickly -- for them, it's just a matter of learning a little more body control.

I'm happy to say that all three of them passed my level last week! One of them even gave me a hug. No one is ready to move up into my level next week, so I'll be helping to teach the adults, which I find much easier.

Silly Beetle

Phoebe's check engine light went on in June in the midst of moving. I had just bought gas (and yes, I tightened the cap enough -- I always count six clicks), and it was my first over-$40 fillup, so I foolishly told Phoebe that she was expensive. Silly me -- I know better than to talk to her like that. Her light was on in less than two miles.

I haven't driven her nearly enough since, but today I finally managed to take her to Advance Auto Parts to have the code checked. The guy helpfully plugged the scanner in, and it directed me to start the car, which I did. The light went out. Then it wanted me to turn the car off for ten seconds and restart it. After I did that, it produced an error because it couldn't read the code. We repeated the scan and got the same error. The guy asked if the light was still on, and I told him it wasn't. Turns out it can't read the code if the light isn't on anymore. Whatever it was, the light has gone out.

I suspect Phoebe just wanted a little attention.

I'm a sucker, but it paid off

I am such a sucker for games like the McDonald's Monopoly game. I love collecting the pieces, seeing what I need in order to win, and imagining what I might win. Steph and I collected a fair number of game pieces this time around, and I have been entering the codes online, which gives you an additional chance to win. Until today, we'd been winning crappy things like free games and cell phone ringtones, which aren't really prizes because you have to let the company market to you on your cell phone. We didn't redeem those. However, today I was entering the last four game pieces and I landed on Go and won a $200 American Express gift card! It won't arrive for a while because it takes time to verify everything, but I'm looking forward to the $200!

Voting

I voted over lunch today. There was only a short line, and I was in and out in a very reasonable amount of time. My ballot was paper, and I fed it into the machine and watched as the number of ballots changed from 93 to 94.

Blogging at the Abbey

We decided to come down to the Abbey to have some tea and some dinner (Chef's Signature Portabella wrap! Yum!) and use their wireless. (Steph is participating in NaNoWriMo, so she needs to get some writing done.) The Abbey moved to Pennsylvania St. in the last year or so; I'd been going to the old location since 1995 or so. The new one is nice, but I liked the charm of the old one, with its funny triangular shape and the tables against the wall with wingback chairs that you could pull close enough together that the wings prevented you from being seen.

Earlier today we took the recycling, and then I skated. I came home and Steph had raked several large piles of leaves, so we bagged some of them and then it started to rain.

Yesterday I showed my house four times, and all four took an application. We'll see how that turns out.

Halloween on Ice

Thanks to a tip from our friend Amy, Steph recorded the very end of Halloween on Ice last night -- the finale was Nancy Kerrigan skating to "Defying Gravity." Even though Nancy isn't my favorite skater, I have to say that I was impressed. Her program was different from mine (because she's a much better skater than I am, so she has more elements to choose from and also a longer cut to work with), but there was one spot (the "close my eyes and leap" part) where we do the exact same thing, and that was fun to see. It's not very often that I get to see an elite skater do a program to the same music I skate to.

Halloween on Ice will be rebroadcast on Tuesday morning on the Style network.

Click for Cans

Campbell's Chunky Soup is sponsoring a contest. You vote for your favorite football team and the one with the most votes and the one with the most improved vote total get donations to their local food bank. If you don't have a favorite football team, please vote for the Indianapolis Colts!

Gilmore Girls quote

"If I wanted to play ping-pong, I would kill myself." --Emily Gilmore

50 Things...

Today I found the list I made of 50 things I could do when my roommates moved out. I made this list in early August of 2002.

1. I can park in the garage.
2. I can reach my coffeemaker (without having to move all the crap in front of it).
3. No more cat pee in inappropriate places!
4. [Roommate #2]'s brothers won't be around (really, I do like them, just in small doses, and they have hardly been here at all this summer)
5. No more playing musical cars to rearrange the driveway order so everyone can leave in the morning.
6. Guest room!
7. I can have people over for dinner and have parties.
8. I can always replace the bags in the trash cans so that no one else throws the trash directly in the trash can (and then if it's something messy it gets all over the trash can and is yucky to clean up). Besides, I spill it more often than not when pouring it from the trash can into a bag.
9. I don't have to buy expensive toilet paper because [Roommate #2] has a sensitive butt!
10. I can leave fun and cool soap and stuff in the shower and no one else will use it up. Corollary: I won't run out of shaving cream because [Roommate #1] forgets to buy herself some and uses mine... for six months at a time.
11. I can shower whenever I want.
12. I can talk on the phone whenever I want.
13. I can use the Internet whenever I want.
14. I can cook whenever I want.
15. Fridge space.
16. Freezer space.
17. I can put my fish teapot (really, it's quite cute) on the shelf in the kitchen and no one will decide that it should go in the basement because they don't like looking at it or something.
18. I can use my grandmother's dishes without worrying that someone else will break them.
19. I can have clean counters -- no clutter! Corollary: No sticky spills on the counters from other people not cleaning up stuff that spills.
20. Kitchen cabinet space.
21. I can eat at my kitchen table again without having to move piles of stuff that isn't mine. (I may have my own pile of stuff on the table, but it will be my stuff and I can put it away when it annoys me.)
22. I will always be able to find a pencil or pen when I want one. I can put one on a table or in a drawer and it will still be there when I look for it the next time. Same for a pad of paper.
23. I can do laundry whenever I want.
24. I don't have to fold other people's laundry in order to use the dryer.
25. I can do dishes as often as I want! No more stacks of dirty dishes in the sink!
26. No more icky sponges that smell like mildew because they weren't squeezed out when other people were done using them.
27. No dirty dish towels and laundry at the bottom (or worse, only halfway to the bottom) of the basement steps.
28. I can watch whatever I want on TV.
29. No wet dish towels in the sink. I really don't understand why that happens. They get all gross and yucky. What is so hard about hanging them up?
30. I can talk on the phone anywhere in the house without disturbing anyone or being disturbed.
31. I can watch skating videos in the living room.
32. No one else will reorganize my mail. I *still* haven't found last year's November property tax form.
33. I can buy soap and/or candles without having to hear about it when I get home. (I admit that I have too much soap and too many candles, but I am not five years old and I don't need a lecture on how much soap I have!)
34. No old Band-Aids in the shower. Yuck.
35. I can turn the A/C up so it's not as cold.
36. I will always be able to find a blanket. I leave blankets in the living room when it's cold and they disappear. There are a couple that I haven't seen for
*years.*
37. The futon will be folded up into a couch most of the time. I hate having it folded down for days at a time, but I do like being able to fold it down so that guests can sleep on it.
38. I will be able to see the top of the coffee table because there won't be a lot of clutter on it. I can put a candle there, and books I'm reading, and I will still be able to find them the next day.
39. I can use my new glass coasters without someone else dropping or otherwise breaking them.
40. I can hang stuff I like on the walls.
41. I can put plants in places other than my room. (Olivia [one of the roommates' cats] eats plants.)
42. I can bake stuff whenever I want.
43. My food won't disappear.
44. I can put up my own Christmas tree.
45. (When I find one) I can have my girlfriend over whenever I want.
46. I don't have to be quiet when I get up in the morning.
47. My scrunchies won't disappear (when I want a certain one because it matches the skating dress I'm testing or competing in).
48. I won't forget to shut the downstairs windows when I leave nearly as often as they do.
49. I can park next to the porch when I want to. (If I do that now, I'm in Roommate #2's way somehow.)
50. I can leave the outside lights on when I want to without being griped at.

And now for the furnace...

The furnace isn't working. The igniter seems to be the problem, and I'm currently waiting on a repair person. It's only 62 in the house, but when I got home, the dog was shivering, so I wrapped him up in a down domforter and held him on my lap until he stopped shaking. Poor little guy.

No renter after all

My renter backed out, so I'm back to square one. (However, I'd rather she do it now than three months from now.) This evening I had three appointments to show the house and only one of them showed up.

Overall, I have had an unbelievable number of no-shows during this process. It's more than a little inconvenient to drive over there, make arrangements for someone else to be there with me (my realtor doesn't want me to show the house alone because I might get hacked up and buried in the basement or something), and wait in a nearly empty house. If I were waiting at home, I'd have stuff to do, but my old house is pretty darn boring these days. I don't mind when someone has to call to reschedule, but it's really inconsiderate to just not show up. I never would have done that when looking for a place to rent.

I have a cold

I think it's time to admit that I have a cold. I don't wanna be sick. I have lots to do -- work, house stuff, fun stuff.

Stuff I can get done with a cold: Read e-mail, watch stuff on the DVR, finish reading my book club book, sleep.

Stuff I may not be able to get done with a cold: Work, skating lesson, put a bunch of stuff away.

What the cats said

Huckleberry and Annabelle were lurking near the top of the stairs looking suspicious as I was going into the bathroom to feed Lucy.

So of course I said to them, "Are you two in cahoots?"

Steph, speaking for the cats, chimed in, "We would tell you, but we don't know what a cahoot is."

Trees and branches

Our neighborhood association is paying for the rental of a wood chipper this weekend. Steph offered to help transport tree limbs and branches for people who don't own a truck, and we drove up and down several streets and alleys and picked up about eight truckloads of them. We may do more tomorrow.

A possible renter!

It looks like I might have a renter. She's coming by Monday to sign the lease, and I hope it all goes well. I'm quite relieved and very tired. Today I caulked several windows and doors and also the boards at the bottom of the posts on the porch.

National Coming Out Day

We celebrated National Coming Out Day by eating dinner at English Ivy's, a gay-owned restaurant/pub downtown.

I'm a lesbian, in case you hadn't figured it out by now.

Weekend update

We had a busy but productive weekend. On Saturday, Steph worked on installing edgers around the flowerbeds while I puttered around inside, and we went to my house to show it. On the way, we discovered that the Steak & Shake near my old house was being torn down. (Lisa, it's okay -- the last time I was in there, I overheard some of the employees talking about plans to knock it down and rebuild it. Besides, there's one downtown not too far from our new house.) The prospective tenant didn't show up, so we packed some garage stuff into the Honda and went back home, stopping to take pictures of the destruction of the Steak & Shake. It was supposed to rain, but the weather seemed to be holding, so we decided to go to the Fishers Renaissance Faire, which was great fun. Among other things, we watched a performer juggle knives and then sticks on fire, and we shopped a little and had a good time people-watching. (We also found my wedding dress, which I wrote about earlier.)

Then on Sunday, we showed my house in the afternoon and planted some bulbs in the front flowerbeds. The Steak & Shake was just a pile of rubble when we drove by. It was kind of sad.

eBay

I just listed my first eBay auction. Snow Moon is a BPAL scent that didn't work for me, so I'm selling it. I've been watching other Snow Moon auctions for a while, and this morning I noticed two others that went pretty high, so I decided the time was right. (It's getting colder out, and people don't usually buy winter-themed scents in the middle of summer.) Realisically, I'm just hoping to recoup my costs and maybe end up with enough to buy a bottle of Kindly Moon when it starts showing up on eBay. I missed it when it was up this month, and it sounds great.