Monday, Monday.

Yup.


Still, life is really good. :D


A couple of things, in case you missed it...


HoCoRising is working on a really cool project to end homelessness in Howard County. Phase one of the initiative is to raise money for the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center. There's also a "Team Anonymous" challenge via Sarah Says. I talked a little while ago about how awesome it is when people harness the power of the internets for good. If you can, please help support this great initiative. 


You can also check out a detailed post on the HoCo Homeless situation and current initiatives on HoCoConnect.


HCR, HowChow, and Patch also posted that Michael's in KC is closing tomorrow. Sad news.


WB meets Max, a yellow lab, at the Howard County Animal Welfare Society. Sadly, there are always fur friends that need forever homes. He says Max is a very sweet one.


53 Beers gives his take on the Harper's Choice Village Warbanner Logo (and several other things).


Erinn has started weekly Peeps Jousting on her blog. Someone call PETA. 


Remember the Bucket List Blogfest? Jeff has already knocked one item off his list.




Finally, O'Shanks got engaged this weekend!!!!! I will let the number of exclamation points I've used say the rest, although I will add that I look forward to the future with my amazing man, and am so glad to be a part of his wonderful family (and that he's a part of mine).

Brief Intermission...

It was a crazy weekend - crazy busy, not crazy Weekend At Bernies. The next few days will be just as busy. So while I have no shortage of things to blog about... I'll probably be off the radar for a few more days.


Until then... some stuff.


NaNoEdMo has gotten off to a slow start. Here's my progress as of Day 6. See the dark blue line? The sad looking one? Yeah... that's me. The few hours I have logged have not been focused on a single work. I feel like I should have gotten more today, but I feel weird about logging work stuff.

This might be, in part, due to some misspent time....


Pawn Stars is a great show - seriously, I know it must be somewhat staged but it's amazing what these guys know.

Still, I have questions...

• These people go in there and take a hit because the pawn shop has to be able to find a niche market for many of the items. In this day and age of the internet... WHY?
• How does one not notice the Made In USA stamp on the "original" French art?
• How much of that money actually leaves Vegas?
• Does anyone ever mess with Antoine?

Speaking of distractions...

Bucket List Blogfest is coming up - sign up today!


What else...

I made this for dinner last night. It also makes an excellent breakfast.

Pizza with fennel, pancetta, mozz, cheddar, and 1/2 with red onion.
Yes, breakfast. Don't judge.

I'll be at the Biophysical Society's annual meeting this week. I saw someone there today with something very much like this. I still am not quite sure what to say about that. I wish I had stopped and asked her about it.

Happy Monday folks. See you in a few days.

Centering and Stink Bugs

I took a yoga class last night.


I've sort of done yoga in the past, but never really practiced it with any discipline. Still, I realized the other day that I don't handle stress well (future post). Also, I'm aware of muscles that are inflexible and the imbalance of strength between muscle groups and between different sides of my body.


Yoga seems like a good solution. And while the class wasn't that intense, I am definitely aware this morning of muscle groups that got a workout.


As for what it does over time... I'll post more in a few weeks.


During class, as the teacher unfolded his mat, he picked something up and gently placed it further away. I guess it's a respect for life thing. Or a respect for creature - it was a stink bug. Apparently, they're back.


Have a lovely weekend! It's beautiful, if quite windy, out there.

Eye Candy Blogfest...

I can't eat any more candy.... but I can look at it!  Thanks to Ramblings and Randomness for extending this blogfest by a day.


Rule: Post a picture that makes you smile every time you see it.

Grimace a few years ago, staring out onto the patio.
And licking his face.

Post a picture that makes you smile, and check out some of the other blogfest entries here!

Well, hello 2011.

The last few days have been great.  


I ended 2010 with a chilly nine-ish mile run with some of the group.  The end was rough, but (or because?) we held a good pace for the first few miles.  Especially the first mile, gah.  Afterwards, showered, changed, and still shivering, I met Matt at Frank's Diner. After breakfast, I crashed for a midday nap.  Awesome. 


We celebrated at my family's house (Happy Birthday Dad!) and then headed out to the Hamilton's for a quiet and fun NYE - great food, wonderful people.

Photo: Mike Upton

Oh yeah, and some really good drinks, including a St.- Germaine's Cocktail (var: lemon twist) and a (new-to-me) beer from Dogfish Head.


For a very detailed New Yorker article on Sah'Tea, go here.


I scored my bottle of Sah'Tea from the Dirty Santa party.  Since it said chai, I was expecting a darker brew with some strong spice.


Instead, it really reminded me of a Belgian wit or hefeweizen or something of that sort in appearance and smell, only it tasted stronger.  The beer had a nice golden color and an interesting smell - I got a lot of juniper, though it took me a while to place it.  We split the bottle between five or six people.  I don't know that I would want to drink more than the small glass I had, but it was pretty good.  


We didn't stay out too much later than midnight and had a lazy morning.  A lazy morning that included pancakes with real maple syrup from Trader Joe's.  Pancakes were thick, fluffy, and really tasty.

This look says "I have not yet had coffee. But I do have a spatula.
Back off with the camera."

We filled the rest of the day with quiet time and family.  It was a great way to start off 2011.

I'll be back to regularly scheduled blogging this week, hope you all had a safe and happy start to the new year!

Cold winter days, Colds, and... yeah.

I can't quite deal with the cold.

It's always like this.  I'm not a winter person, even though I like snow.  It's not actually the driving, I can handle my car in the snow. It's not the shoveling.  

It's the cold, the feeling that I'm not going to be warm again until May.

My strategy for dealing with the cold has evolved and grown.  I used to layer.  I still layer. For the last week at work, I've taken to wearing fingerless gloves (for the sitting at the computer part, not the Science part), a scarf, and even a poofy vest (thanks Target).  At home, things get more intricate.

For example, I own a Slanket.

Full Disclosure: I ceaselessly mock the Snuggie commercials.  I do this for two reasons.  The one time I wore a Snuggie, I didn't really want to move.  The material was so cheap I was convinced a spark of static would ignite the fabric and turn me into the human torch.  But mostly, I mock the Snuggie for the commercials and spinoff products.

My Slanket is a nice, heavy fleece.  I like to wrap myself up in it, and then crawl beneath another blanket.  That's item number two, a down throw blanket from Target.  I twist around until I've got a personal cocoon.

Other items in my anti-winter arsenal include down socks (sorta like these - they're amazing) and an electric blanket.

I am a native Marylander, by the way.  

For all these things, though, the most effective way to combat the cold this week has been through food.  I don't mean prepping to hibernate.  I mean good, cold weather food.  It's been a really busy few days and I wasn't feeling well for most of them.  Last week, Matt threw together some crockpot chili.  It was awesome to walk in the door after a long day and smell slow-cooked chili.  He did a great job.

To the right, chili with sour cream and cheese, over rice. To the left, bulldog that wants to know where his chili is.

Caramel Cream ale - Homebrew, courtesy of our dwindling stores.  Look how clear it is!

Oooo. Shiny.

And of course, I can't forget the baking.  There are big plans in the works to do a day of cookies this weekend, but tonight I couldn't resist starting pumpkin bread with chocolate chips.  Here's a picture through the oven door, about half-way through.

The whole house smells like pumpkin bread!

How are you staying warm?  Or are you glad the cold is here?  Tell me all about it in the comments below.

Week in Review: 11-21-10

Yeah.  I know.  It's the 22nd.  Better late than never?  :\  To be honest, I'm going to be glad when November is over.  Or at least, for a chance to sleep over the holiday weekend.


Here are some highlights from the last week:


Plans are in the works for a new Holiday Blog Segment: Holiday Coffee Deathmatch.  See the first face-off on Friday, November 28...


...which is also Black Friday.  Cindy, Bridget, and I typically get up (or stay up all night) and go shopping.  Last year, the deals at the Columbia Mall were lackluster, but the people watching was awesome.  This year, I think I'm going just for the pancakes.  We're looking for suggestions for a place to start.  


Arundel Mills opens at midnight (Friday morning), but hanging around outside that Best Buy will be slightly scary.


Matt and I caught the new Harry Potter movie with the Sixes on Sunday.  I know I read the book, but I apparently forgot most (ok, nearly all) of the details.  The effects were cool, but this stage of the story translated into long, drawn out periods of inaction on screen.  I felt 'Meh', though I'm looking forward to the finale.  I might have to go back and re-read the series...


...once I'm done Jessica Z. by Shawn Klomparens.  I'm enjoying the book so far, even though I'm going through it at a crawl.  Why so slow you ask?  Well, I have to ration my time because...


...NaNoWriMo is still going on.  I'm well over 50K and finishing my book.  I'm also realizing that January will not be editing.  It will be a rewrite.  There are lots of things I need to go back and add in, but I won't be doing it this week.  Instead.... 


I got the crazy fabulous idea to start another one and try to finish it in seven days.  Not just any book.  Per the twitter vote, I will be tackling crazy mashup of historical fiction and a fairy tale.


Is it possible to write historical fiction with approximately 6 hours of research behind it?  Because thats about how long I can spare to research the history of female incarceration in the US, the glam-gangster age of the 1930s, and Grimm's fairy tales. Anyone have suggestions for good resources?



Finally, the BBC released the new Doctor Who Christmas special trailer.  Yay!


That's all for now.  Tune in tomorrow for the Tuesday NaNoWriMo update.

Things I learned this week: November 14

And now a sampling of things I learned this past week...

1.  Grimace (Pug) has very vivid dreams.  Sometimes I can hear him yelping and paddling from the next room.

2.  Wearing a bright green-yellow shirt while running makes it impossible to drop a sock.

3.  Bigotry can live in any zip code.

4.  So can tolerance.

5.  I get impatient at seminars when I realize no new information is forthcoming.

6.  Bon Fresco is awesome with a capital Awesome.

7.  Neglecting exercise in favor of sleeping or writing is not always a good idea.

8.  Starbucks gingerbread latte is nasty.  I used to have fond memories... no idea what happened.

9.  I <3 my Marine.  (Alright that's cheating.  I already knew that.)

10. If I find myself saying 'I have nothing to do'... I'm doing it wrong.

What did you learn (or remember) last week?

Friday Freedom!

We're headed off to enjoy the stunning weekend weather.  I thought I'd leave you all with some tunes to sing while I'm gone.


Check out this music video about NaNoWriMo.

And this one.  She plays a Ukulele.  Which rocks.

Hopefully I'll be past the 40K hurdle (and still without a nervous twitch) when we come back!  How will you be spending your weekend?

Things I learned this weekend (and maybe some other weekends mixed in)...

November is one of the best times of the year for camping... provided it's
a) in a camper, with a toasty ceramic heater.
b) sunny, which shows off the beautiful fall foliage.
c) accompanied by a cool propane heater and a blazing campfire.


Fresh S'mores are awesome no matter how old I am.


New cars manufactured after 2006 are required to have some sort of tire pressure monitoring system that notifies the driver when there's a problem.


It is possible for boxed wine to taste vastly superior to wine in a bottle.  Silver Birch Savignon Blanc was really, really pleasant to drink.


I can make almost anything with a grill, a slow-cooker, and/or an electric skillet.  Hey.  I said almost.


Jack London was a great American writer.  He is so much more than White Fang, which to be honest I didn't really enjoy that much when we read it in school.


Without distractions, I can write thousands of words in a day.


When most days involve running from place to place, focusing on a hundred different things, it's hard to get in time with the people you love.  I get a whole weekend with Matt when we go camping, and that's very special.