Life Liver

That time of year

2011-11-27T19:04:00.001-08:00

After years of not doing holiday cards, I decided this was the year. So I did them on Shutterfly.com. (I lurv it.) If you haven't done yours, the website has tons of cute versions.

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Grateful for adorable animals

2011-11-26T01:25:00.001-08:00

My loveheads and Mojo you already know. Also picture are las Chihuahuas de los Captains and Kristin's lovies: Ella, Rocky, Stormy, Chas and Houdini the rabbit.

Happy (belated) Halloween!

2011-11-26T01:01:00.001-08:00

It was fun being a blonde for a day. But I was happy to go back to being a brunette.

Mogollon Rim

2011-10-05T02:00:00.000-07:00

Last month ago, my friend S. and I decided to go to take a road trip to the Mogollon Rim. It's pronounced MUG-ee-on, after a Spanish colonial governor. It's kinda the Arizona test to see if you're from around these parts -- like Tooele in Utah.

Anywho, I had only read about this lovely area. S. offered to give me the grand tour, and I jumped at the chance -- it was 106 degrees in the Valley and the Rim promised forests and cooler weather. The Rim Road is a scenic -- but very bumpy -- road that hugs the edge of a plateau, which drops off thousands of feet in some places to a valley below.

Here are a few pictures and a map.
Some identities have been protected to protect the photo-shy.

While we were walking down to this lake, we saw a person going to the bathroom on the trail. Ladies, this might be kosher on a days-long hike, but a 10-minute walk to a lake? I think not! :)

Trees, glorious trees! And such a happy road-trip partner!

Rock on

2011-08-28T19:18:00.000-07:00

The other day I got the idea to go check out some petroglyphs during the Deer Valley Rock Art Center's "Twilight Petroglyph Tour." I always like the idea of Deer Valley, Ariz., because it reminds me of Deer Valley, Utah. Alas, the similarities end immediately after the name.

It was approximately 4 million degrees in Phoenix the day of the tour, but dusk made it a bit more comfortable. I went with a friend of mine. The petroglyphs weren't worth the hourlong drive (one way), but they were kinda cool and the company was good.

I wasn't able to get photos, but we also saw a jackrabbit and coyote. (Thankfully, not in the same place.)

Let's play a game

2011-06-06T02:53:00.000-07:00

It is 2:57 a.m. The cats have fresh food, water and a clean litter box. Guess what time one of them (it could be either, but my money's on Fat Cat) will wake me from a lovely sleep by meowing loudly.

Winner gets a trip to Hawaii!

OK, maybe not. Maybe just cheers and congratulations. :)

Good luck!

Almost there

2011-05-01T02:19:00.001-07:00

It's been a long semester, but the end is in sight. The only things that remain are a review for the final, giving the big test and then figuring grades.

I'm in the meantime, I'm practicing the finer points of the Dance of Joy:

Poetic license

2011-04-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, I know "cannot" is one word. I felt like parsing my words.

It's the final countdown

2011-04-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

Three lectures to go.

(Then a final review and giving the final, but those hardly count.)

Can. Not. Wait.

The Great Flood of 2011

2011-04-10T03:23:00.001-07:00

My garage is flooding. Note the "ing." As in, it didn't just get deluged once -- it is getting deluged continuously. Each night, I swab it out with a mop. I guess it could be worse, and water could be covering the entire garage. Instead, it is following a path, pooling on opposite ends of the garage.

I called a plumber, who will be here Tuesday morning. Sight unseen, he says the problem is my water heater. The only problem? There does not appear to be ANY leak from my water heater. Having survived the Great Flood of 2002 (?) -- in which my stupid neighbors' washing machine leaked into my condo, ruining carpet, drywall and a closet -- I have a suspicion that it is not my water heater that's the problem but my neighbors'. (For the record, they say it's not.) I have turned off my water heater, but warm water continues to flow in my garage. Harumph.

I could be wrong. It's entirely possible the plumber will arrive and say, "No, Melissa, something of yours is leaking." And if that happens, I'll take it all back.

But for now, smart money's on them.

This was taken after I'd swabbed the proverbial decks and had left my garage door open so it could dry. (This would be far less of a problem if it were 115 degrees and would evaporate quickly. It's only in the 70s these days.)

Back on the wagon

2011-04-03T01:09:00.000-07:00

The wagon. I'm back on it.

Well, not at this exact moment. I'm sipping a Coke and noshing on yogurt-covered pretzels. (Yogurt -- that's healthy, right?) But today I bought new workout clothes and a fridgeful of healthful groceries, so I'm on my way.

I started WW in December and was getting good results. But then teaching hijacked my schedule in a major way and all the good eating fell by the wayside. Now I'm just in the habit of eating fast food, so I need to stop.

Hammertime!

Speaking of dancing around, have you played Kinect games? So fun! I don't know the names of the games, but I like the one where you dance and the one where you do the obstacle course and jump to go faster. One round almost killed me, but it was fun. :) OH, and the fighting game is cool. Just remember to stretch first.

Sick

2011-03-22T01:43:00.000-07:00

Having a cough is not so fun. The only benefit is justifying the eating of frozen yogurt as a "homeopathic sore-throat remedy." :)

2 views of a cat

2011-03-07T22:15:00.000-08:00

How cat people see cats:

How dog people see cats:

Drive-by sightings

2011-02-26T21:25:00.000-08:00

Whild driving around today, I saw two very cool things that I wanted to share.

The first: the ElliptiGO
It looks like a person was at the gym on the elliptical and then just drove the thing through a window onto the street! It's so silly, it's cool. You can use it indoors, too. And it can be all yours for $2,500!

The second: I saw a sign that said Pizza Express | Psychic. These are separate businesses, but I think they're missing out on a business bonanza. The psychic can tell when you want pizza, the restaurant makes it, and then you pay the psychic and pizza dude on delivery. It's a win-win-win situation!

When I'm rich...

2011-01-17T22:18:00.000-08:00

When I become rich, I am buying this. The red one, to be precise. It is called the "Coca-Cola Freestyle." It is a touch-screen Coke machine that offers 104 flavors of drinks.

Totally overkill, I know, since I only drink one. Well, two, these days. I almost tried a raspberry Coke today but went for the old standby instead.

I don't know how much these cost, but they are so wanna-get-it-gotta-have-it cool!

Here's an unofficial commercial. Coke AND MJ is a can't-miss mix!

Exciting news

2011-01-08T23:54:00.000-08:00

I am going to be an adjunct faculty member at Arizona State University this semester! (In addition to my normal job.) It's been a whirlwind of a process. I heard about the job on Wednesday, applied and was hired Thursday, had orientation Saturday, and classes begin a week from Monday. I think the person they had lined up to teach had to withdraw -- hence, me. :)

It's a late-morning class (11:50-1:40) twice a week. The downtown campus is 2 blocks from work, so that's nice, location-wise. Oh! I forgot to say that it's an intro to editing class.

Although I'm glad I didn't have enough time to talk myself out of the opportunity, I wish I had more time to prepare! (I image that will be a recurring theme for the coming months!) It doesn't help that I'm fighting a cold, which doesn't make me eager to get prep work done. Oh, well, there is no shortage of crazy stuff I've seen over my 11 1/2 years of editing experience, so I should have plenty of fodder for examples and exercises.

I'm sure you'll hear more craziness as classes get closer!

Consumer review

2011-01-01T23:03:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the ads for the sticky strips you can use to put things up? You're supposed to simply pull down on the little tab, the elastic-y stuff stretches, and -- VOILA! -- no damage to the walls.

May I just say: Liar, liar, pants on fire!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T22:16:00.000-08:00

I don't have any earth-shattering words of inspiration, but it just seems right to say a few words to mark the occasion. Thank you to all my friends and family who made 2010 a great year. I wish you happiness, health and all good things in 2011.

The past few days have been fun. Probably because I didn't have to work. :) On Thursday, it snowed! That's right, SNOW in Mesa, Arizona! It only lasted a minute or so, but it was crazy. It was the talk of the town. I was driving down my street yesterday, and saw this. I common sight in Utah -- not so much in the Valley.

Today really felt like Christmas Part II. I found $125 in gift cards that I thought I'd lost. Yippee! And then I tried out the Belgian waffle maker that I got for Christmas. It's the cool kind that you can flip over. I had a delicious dish to ring in the new year.

Another reason was because I bought a printer with my Christmas money from my folks. I haven't had a working printer FOREVER! It will be nice not to have to go to FedEx Kinkos to print out boarding passes and such. And it's wireless, too!

I'm not really into resolutions, because I tend to break them right out of the gate. So, this year, I've decided to not make any, per se. I'm going to continue eating healthfully. Like, eating veggie casseroles! (Subtle segue, eh?) Here's a picture of the Butternut Squash, Kale and Shiitake Casserole I mentioned the only day. It turned out pretty well, except I learned that I don't like kale. Especially not cooked. Oh, well, live and learn. The other parts were all good. (But I can't in good faith recommend the recipe. For the time and money, it wasn't THAT good.)

Thanks again for being part of my life.

Love, Cind, Ind and Melissa

A new leaf

2010-12-29T01:15:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've been watching what I eat and being healthier. I've taken to heart a new mantra: If nothing changes, nothing changes. So I'm changing!

As part of this adventure, I've excised eating out to a large degree, and I've started cooking more. Which -- and I don't know if you know this -- means grocery shopping. FOR ACTUAL INGREDIENTS!

I know, it's a crazy life I lead.

Tonight, new recipe in hand, I went to Fry's grocery store. (It's the Arizona version of Smith's, and can magically make me feel like I'm shopping at Highland and 94th South.) I was looking for some specific items I've never bought before -- Thai curry paste, kale, seasame seeds and coconut milk -- so I had to slow down and go row by row.

It's amazing how many weird and wonderful things there are! For example, I found that they sell bottled pigs feet. That there is such a thing as neon-pink Jelly Belly pudding snacks. (Funny blog entry about them here). Or that there's a machine that grinds up whole peanuts to make peanut butter while you wait! Or that shiitake mushrooms cost about $2.80 for half an ounce! (Bad news when your recipe calls for 8 ounces. But I learned dried mushrooms can be reconsituted and ...

***NEWS ALERT!*** I interrupt this blog post cuz there was just a catastrophe -- key word: CAT -- on my desk. Cind just jumped and spilled a glass of water EVERYWHERE. Luckily, I got the cellphone and monitor wiped off in time. Seriously. Do you have animals that do that? Uggg.

Anyway. Where was I? Oh, yeah. Mushrooms. Anyway, you can sub dried ones for fresh ones, and it works out OK and doesn't cost too much.

I was overwhelmed by both how much odd stuff there is and the realization of how blessed we are that we have all these delightful things (minus the pig feet and pink pudding) to choose from and eat! I will, however, have to go to a specialty-food store like AJ's to buy some of the ingredients, such as cream of coconut and Chinese chili paste. Does Sandy or Salt Lake have a specialty-food store? I can't recall.

After I work my magic in the kitchen (haha), I'll take a picture and let you know how my Butternut Squash, Kale and Shiitake Casserole turns out!

P.S. The recipe is from the Washington Post and can be found here. To be honest, the picture looks kinda gross. (I picked it after seeing only the text.) Here's hoping it tastes better than it looks!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T21:25:00.000-08:00

"What day is it?"
"Today? Why, it's Christmas Day, Gov'nah!"
-- "Scrooge" (1970)

Merry Christmas! I hope you and yours have had a wonderful day. Love to you all!

And then there were two

2010-12-14T22:10:00.000-08:00

Let's see how long it take Kristin to realize I have copy-catted her blog (as close as I could). Darn the luck that I didn't have the same Venice shot. Oh, well, Athens will have to do. :)

Freezer-paper zombie stencil

2010-12-06T00:46:00.000-08:00

First, a story. For a gag gift, I'm making my boss a T-shirt. So I ask mutual friend/colleague F what size shirt I should get. F tells me, then looks at me and says, "You're so Mormon." I tell him the shirt has zombies on it. He thinks for a second. "That's not as bad. But still."

Haha!

After seeing tons of the great-looking T-shirts my cousin Erin makes, I decided to give freezer-paper stencils a try. I followed the instructions on her blog. It was an easy as she said!

I cut out my images -- two zombies -- on the freezer paper. I tried tracing and cutting out lots of letters, but I am not good at using X-acto knives. So, I stopped only a few letters in.

After ironing the stencil onto the shirt, I dabbed on the fabric paint. I (re-)realized while doing this that I am impatient. I think I carefully took off the stencil about halfway through the recommended drying time -- I couldn't wait to see it!

It worked! For the most part, anyway. Some of the paint on the smaller zombie bled through. Good thing zombies are a little lumpy to begin with.

Ta-da! The finished project. I won't lie, the letters were a pain in the butt. I had to resort to using some scrapbooking tools to get the words. Next time, I will only do an image. Some of the paint bled through again, which made me sad. But I'm still going to give it as a Christmas present -- it's only a gag gift.

But I'm pretty happy for a first attempt. When I feel like an expert, I might try something as tricky as a pug! (Click here for the supercute image)

You know you're little when...

2010-12-05T02:27:00.001-08:00

... You have to use a toothbrush as a hairbrush!

What a prosh little fruit bat!

Lots of liver news

2010-11-23T22:14:00.000-08:00

Some anger-inducing, some both happy and sad, and some exciting. Enjoy! (haha. how could you not, with that exciting intro?!)

Phoenix man denied liver transplant due to state cuts
Living with scars of grief and guilt: Transplant recipient struggles to cope with brother's death
Donated liver saved from UK plane crash

I love bats

2010-11-04T22:23:00.000-07:00

Destination: Surprise!

2010-11-01T01:50:00.000-07:00

As you probably know, I love planning trips. It was my friend Joe's birthday recently, so I came up with the idea of taking him on a surprise weekend road trip. I gave him three options -- Desert, Water or Forest -- but didn't tell him anything else. I'm glad he didn't pick Desert: a trip to Tucson to tour a cave (think Timp without the hike) and BioSphere 2. He was leaning toward Water, which was a trip to Lake Havasu City to see the London Bridge and go on a three-hour cruise (haha) on the Colorado River. But I steered him into picking Forest, because I knew he'd love it: a trip to Flagstaff ... wait for it (because Flag is not at all exciting) ... with a vintage-railway tour up to the Grand Canyon!

I think Joe was surprised. If not, he was sweet enough to act surprised! It was my first time on a train like this and his first time to the Grand Canyon. There was a Wild West cowboy show, and then we boarded for the 2 1/2 hour trip up to the South Rim.

Once we arrived, we had about 3 1/2 hours to check things out. After seeing Joe's awestruck reaction, I felt bad that I had been pretty nonchalant about the Canyon. It is amazing.

It is also chilly. Especially for Valley dwellers who are not familiar with phrases such as "a high of 52 degrees."

After a good lunch (happily inside), more Canyon viewing and...

Squirrel!
... we headed back on the train. And we were robbed! And I was accused of putting Nair in Joe's shampoo bottle! :) The robbers and the marshal were pretty funny.

What a fun trip. Happy birthday, Joe!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T01:15:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went to my first-ever Trunk or Treat. It was fun. It was a ward activity, but there were some new faces, which was excellent. Usually I have to work, so I don't get to hand out candy or do anything festive. It was a treat to see the kids -- and some adults -- all tricked out. (Oh, the puns!)

Some of my favorite kids costumes were Supergirl, Tigger, a dinosaur (I made a gaffe of calling him a dragon, but I was quickly corrected!), a giraffe, 1920's wiseguy, and a penguin.

As for the adults, one couple came as nerds -- him with hiked-up pants, glasses with tape on the frame, toilet paper stuck to his pant leg and a ping-pong paddle in his back pocket, and her with a fanny pack, busy-print sweater on top of a patterned shirt, too-short mom jeans, black socks and white tennis shoes. One woman in our ward was the spitting image of Cinderella. I kid you not. If i get a picture, I'll post it. But I think my favorite adult costume was of Joe Dirt and his girlfriend:

I went as myself. Hahahahah.
Do you see the Halloween surprise in that picture?

I think my favorite part of my costume was the stockings. I think I look very "Wizard of Oz" in this shot:

Can't wait to hear what you all dressed up as, or will be dressing up as, for the big day!

Products I'm eager to try

2010-10-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the ads for Dr. Scholl's Fast Flats? I so want them.

You know, because I'm always dancing at roof-top parties where the women outnumber the men. Aren't you? Although, I think it's odd that they tout how you can just hide them in your purse. Yes, you can do that. But it's the 5-inch stilletos that you'll have to carry around that will draw attention to yourself.

This next product is new; in fact, Kimberly-Clark is only selling this in test markets now. It's tubeless toilet-paper rolls. They still have the hole in the middle so you can put them in the TP holders, just no pesky cardboard tube. Nice and eco-friendly.

Hmm. There was something else, but I don't recall. Oh, well.

Moment of silence

2010-10-26T14:00:00.001-07:00

Ferb the Sea-Monkey died. Poor little guy has gone to the aquarium in the sky. It's a Phineas and Ferb reunion!

Wonder Chica's blog is back!

2010-10-16T04:05:00.000-07:00

And they say begging doesn't work!

My sister -- a lovely girl, my sister -- well, she started blogging again! I'm so excited! Check out her blog at chasandstormysmom.blogspot.com.

(OK, there was really no begging. Or not much, anyway. But I had to tie in the cute cat photo somehow.)

Brainteaser answers/guesses

2010-10-16T03:43:00.000-07:00

So, a long while ago, I posted this brainteaser. And then I never got around to publishing what a group of co-workers and I guessed to be the answers.

If you're so inclined, jump in to guess or second-guess:

Left to right, top to bottom: Gremlins, Top Gun (?), Terminator, Legend (?), Return of the Jedi, 48 hrs (?), Lost Boys (?), War Games, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Empire Strikes Back, The Princess Bride, Ghostbusters, Platoon (?), Raiders of the Lost Ark, Karate Kid, Goonies, Robocop, ET, Die Hard, They Live, Risky Business, Good Morning Vietnam.

Miner miracle no minor miracle

2010-10-16T03:11:00.000-07:00

Like many of you, I watched the rescue of the Chilean miners on Tuesday and Wednesday. But unlike most of you (I imagine), I watched it for about 10 hours Tuesday. Ah, the joys of working at a newspaper, where it's OK to have CNN on all day (and night) long! And then I came home and watched it, then watched it the next day at work.

It was such a perfect good news -- and good-news -- story. I found myself getting teary watching some of the miners reunite with their families and friends. I loved the second guy, who bounded up and gave "presents" to the rescuers. (See video below.) Their stories were amazing -- like the Bolivian who went to Chile to find work, and started at the mine a week or so before the collapse. About the man who was 2 weeks from ending his mining career. The miner who organized the group, rationing out a 48-hour food supply for 17 days.

And really, can you imagine being trapped for 69 days half a mile underground and not going crazy? By all accounts, these guys are doing really well.

Good news like this, a miracle really, doesn't come along every day. Especially in mining. Just today there was a mine explosion in China. Twenty were killed and 17 are trapped underground. In Ecuador, a mine collapse has trapped four. The results, sadly, almost certainly won't be as positive.

But here's the celebrating the victories of ingenuity and the human spirit. Viva Chile!

Sea Monkeys are alive! Sorta...

2010-10-05T04:15:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why i'm at the computer. It is very late/early (depending on how you look at it), but I realized I'd been a slacker blogger and decided to remedy that right away.

Two weeks ago, a week after seeing nother and assuming my Sea-Monkeys were never going to hatch, I saw two of them!

I named them Phineas and Ferb.

But when I checked on them Sunday night, only one was alive. :(
I know they are only brine shrimp, and I doubt they have the capability to feel sorrow when a fellow shrimp dies, but I was kinda bummed. But then I remembered...

Sea-Monkeys are magic! OK, not quite. But if you let all of the water evaporate (don't worry, i won't do this while Ferb is still alive!), add new water purifier and water, new Sea-Monkeys will hatch! Apparently, some need a cycle or two of getting wet before they'll hatch.

In the Sea-Monkey manual, it says scientists don't know how long SMs can stay in suspended animation -- "maybe even a DECADE!" Well, these shrimpies have been that way far more than a decade, so I guess it's a miracle even two hatched. I hope Ferb sticks around for a while!

At least someone's excited

2010-09-08T04:22:00.000-07:00

No signs of Sea-Monkeys yet.
But the cats were really eager to get started.

Sea-Monkeys

2010-09-05T22:46:00.001-07:00

I am soon to begin "a NEW amazing hobby that is so fantastic, it STAGGERS THE IMAGINATION!"

Or so says the 31-page booklet that came with my new Sea-Monkey Ocean-Zoo.

On Saturday at work, my department moved from the 9th floor to the 8th floor of our building. And unlike people in many professions, journalists are not real big on keeping their cubicles neat and clean. In fact, the more papers, notebooks, old coffee cups that a reporter has on his desk -- or the more calendars, dictionaries, soda cups, toys and figurines a copy editor has on her desk -- the more he or she is respected. Or considered a slob. One of those two. But anyway, a fellow editor had put out a box of "up for grabs" stuff that didn't make the move, and I picked up this Sea-Monkey kit. It was a white-elephant gift from last year. I didn't know if it would still work -- it's copyrighted 1996 -- but the label says they are "absolutely guaranteed to grow."

So today I set up the tank. I have to wait 24 to 30 hours for the water to be ready for the new little creatures. Stay tuned for Tuesday, when the "magical moment" will begin and I will "bring Sea-Monkeys to life -- in a 'flash,' and absolutely ASTOUND anyone who may be watching.

Namely, my cats.

P.S. The label states that the illustration is fanciful and my Sea-Monkeys will not wear diapers and pearl necklaces. Alas.

Name that movie!

2010-09-02T23:53:00.000-07:00

This has been going around -- I saw it on Dooce -- but I wanted to share anyway. It's fun to see if you can name the movie by seeing the dance sequences. Be warned: I rate this PG-13 for showing too much of Jamie Lee Curtis.

Brainteaser

2010-08-29T02:56:00.001-07:00

My friend posted this T-shirt on Facebook, and this puzzle is driving me batty!

Can you figure out which 80's movies are represented? I've nailed down (or guessed) about three-quarters of them -- but that was with the help of three co-workers.

Happy puzzling! Click on the image to enlarge it or click here for the link.

Fun at Macks!

2010-08-15T04:04:00.000-07:00

It was SO GOOD getting up to Macks and Yellowstone in June with the fam! Sadly, Wonder Chica couldn't come because she had to work. The Adorable Mr. A joined us, though, and it was fun to hang out with him. It has been far too long since I've been up there. The familiar sights and sounds, the beautiful weather and surroundings, the family time were just what I needed!

As an added bonus, Uncle Jim was there, as were Erin and Chuck and their babykins, who were up for a family reunion. We packed so much into our short stay! I had a great time pushing Mr. A on the swings, talking, playing board games and catching up with my awesome family! It's too bad Mr. A went to bed so early, or we could've introduced him to "Good Morning, Judge." Haha. We also...

Went for lots of walks to the river. If it was with anyone younger than 6, playing Ninja Turtles was usually a part of the outing. :)

Went to Big Springs

Visited the Big Springs boat launch.

Went into the park for the day. Mr. A was adorably cute and excited about everything there! Although he thought the buffalo was a little too close for comfort. At the gate, the ranger gave him a picture list of animals so he could check things off as he saw them. It kept him really engaged. The rest of us had fun playing musical chairs (or Lexuses, as it were.) After Yellowstone, Steven and Mr. A opted for a movie and McDonalds. Jim, Mom and Dad, and I saw "Seven Brides" and ate fudge at the Playmill, shopped in West, ate at the Gusher.

Played in the (very cold) river.

Floated down the river, which was far more dramatic than usual, with a touch-and-go phone situation and a 5-year-old!

It was sad to leave, but I got to spend an extra few hours with Steven and the Adorable Mr. A on the way home, and that was great.

Sad rant about change

2010-08-15T03:29:00.000-07:00

I hate when things I remember fondly change. I know, it's the way of the world, and I can't realistically expect things to remain the same for decades. But that doesn't mean I have to like it!

This came into sharp relief when I was up at the cabin a month or so ago. Big Springs -- a place I've visited since I was a child, where I remember Grandma teaching me to wad up the bread so the huge fish will eat it, where Dad and I would stop while we were out riding motorcycles -- is now overrun with seagulls. The stupid birds are loud and steal the bread. (Not that fish are in want of food, I imagine!) Tourists and people who don't know better think the birds are funny, and throw their bread to them. I wish those people would realize that they're doing a disservice to this beautiful place.

And now, let us pause to remember the "penny dollar store" in West. It is now the "dollar and more store." I'll spare you all the "when I was a girl, this rock animal only cost a dollar!" speech -- mainly because my faithful readers can say the same thing! And I swear the stuff there isn't nearly as cool! ;) And the store two doors down, what used to be the place with clothes and wood carvings is now a Harley shop! I don't have anything about Harley shops, of course, and it's kind of a cool addition. But what happened to the store with the cute pajamas!

I know in the coming years, there will be changes in the cabin situation, too. That makes me sad just thinking about it! So, seagulls or not, I'd better take advantage of going to Macks while it's the way I remember it!

Hipstamatic cats

2010-08-15T02:55:00.000-07:00

Just got th Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. It's fun. You can choose different lenses, film, flashes and gels to come up with funky looking photos. If you're a Dooce fan, you may have seen this type of photography there. (She was using different settings, though.)

Another brilliant 2 a.m. idea

2010-08-12T04:46:00.001-07:00

WEIGHTLIFTING WHILE WEARING STILETTOS!

Remember to stretch before you start! These ladies are about to do a stiletto aerobics class. A perfect way to work up to Stiletto Weightlifting!! (Photo: (c) SFgate.com)

Think about how perfect this is. It's the ultimate in multitasking. No matter what exercise you're doing, you're working your calves PLUS your core. An added bonus? It improves your balance!

But remember, safety first: Always have a spotter. And since you'll be wearing stilettos, the guys will be lining up to help!

If you think about it, the benefits totally outweigh the risks. What's a broken ankle or being crushed by a 60 lb. bar with four plates on each side when you can get sexy, shapely calves in half the time?!

P.S. I totally want the shoes the woman on the left is wearing. SO cute!

Getting rid of honeycombs

2010-08-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

On Friday, a guy from the bee place came out to remove the honeycombs and honey. Luckily, the bees' handiwork wasn't inside one of the house walls. It was in a decorative (?) portion of the house. But he still had to cut through a good chunk of plywood and stucco to get at it.
Although I am mad at the bees for setting up shop here, I was impressed by their honeycombs. They're so intricate! I don't understand how bees make them. It had been three days since the bees had been in there, and the honeycombs were starting to melt. It's been really humid here, so I don't know if that helped or hurt the situation. Honeycomb Remover Dude said he took out about 6 pounds of honeycombs and honey. He said the average job they do is about 30 pounds.
Here's hoping this is the last time I have bees! Otherwise I'm really going to start feeling picked on.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2010-07-27T10:09:00.000-07:00

Today my house is surrounded by very P-O'd bees. OK, maybe not surrounded, but they sure have overtaken the east side of my place and the neighbor's. So, for those of you counting, this is the third time I've had a swarm of bees decide to take up residence in/on my house. At least this time it was on the ground level! But the joke's on them (or not), because the pest company came out today to kill them.

The Very Brave Bee Man poked his head into the area they were hanging out -- and promptly got swarmed. Silly Very Brave Bee Man. He said there were 5,000 Africanized bees or so there. I don't know how that ranks on the scale of bee infestations, but that sounds like a lotta bees to me. And what to 5,000 bees do when left alone? They make honeycombs. And honey. Lots of it.

So now I have 5,000 angry, "soon to be leaving this mortal coil" bees buzzing around and who knows how much honey and honeycomb in my walls (under the little balcony). The Very Brave Bee Man said it's up to me whether I want to have that removed. But really, is not having it removed even an option? Because if the bees don't maintain a hive, it begins to deteriorate. And around here, that means it melts. So imagine you have melting honey in your walls. Soon, you have little bugs. Then the bigger bugs that eat the little bugs. Then a cat that eats the bigger bugs that eat little bugs. Then a dog that eats the cat that ... Chaos and very crowded walls ensue!

So stay tuned for pictures of the honeycomb removal.

Trip to Utah

2010-07-18T23:09:00.000-07:00

This is a belated entry, but a few weeks ago I went home for a week or so. It was such fun! Mom, Dad, Steven, A. and I went up to the cabin (photos to come) and later that week I was able to visit some old friends and colleagues. And I took advantage of every moment I could to spend time in the canyons. The weather was SO pleasant compared with the 114 degrees I had just left.

Here are some photos of the people and things I miss most about Utah:
Mom, Kristin and Dad! (And Sunday steak barbecues with corn on the cob and fruit salad and ...)

Steven! (Not everyone was together at the same time, so I had to take pictures where I could get them.)

Spending time in the mountains. Grandpa, Uncle Bruce, Nicole and Justin and their cute family and I went to Silver Lake and walked around.

The mountains!!

There are many many other highlights of the Utah portion of the trip:

* Being at home with Mom and Dad. It's so much more convenient talking to them when you're all in the same house! It was fantastic being with them. We went to see fireworks, went shopping in Park City, hung out and had fun.

* Having lunch with Krystal at The Pie Pizzeria. Ah, college memories! She and I go way back -- to the ancient days of middle school and through college. It was such fun hearing all about her family and what she's up to these days.

* Hanging out with my adorable sister, who I don't get to see often enough. (Hint, hint.) We did dinner and lunch together (girls gotta eat, right?) and then she and Matt had me over for the evening.

* Seeing Steven again. What can I say, he's cool. More about him in the Yellowstone portion. :)

* Visiting the old gang at The Trib. It was such fun to see everyone and find out what has changed. And I was relieved people remembered me! :) And tickled they wanted me back -- or at least wanted me work a few stories while I was there.

* Talking with Liz -- even if it was from the airport. One of the fantastic things about her is that we can not talk for a long time, and then pick up as though no time has passed. It's always good hearing about the many things she's doing.

Pointless but cute math

2010-07-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

plus
equals

Happy happy

2010-07-18T01:59:00.000-07:00

What a great birthday! It's a bit of birthday month, since I celebrated with Mom and Dad when I went home. Then yesterday, I went for a pre-birthday trip to Sedona (and even had the willpower to not buy two oh-so-cute bat scultpures). For the big day, I took it easy most of the day. Then Joe and I went out to one of my favorite eateries -- Pita Jungle.
We had amazingly delicious food -- seared ahi tuna for me! and it was medium, so I could eat it guilt-free! -- and lovely conversation. And the turtle cheesecake wasn't bad, either. ;)
Then we went to see "Inception." If you haven't seen it, you should. It's reaaallly good.

Birthday plans

2010-07-15T03:04:00.000-07:00

I was thinking tonight about birthdays and how/where I've spent the last few. Let's review:

Last year: Went to Vegas and my most-excellent brother took me to see Cirque du Soleil's "O."

Two years ago: Chilled in the hospital. Not so fun, but I got three birthday cakes.

Three years ago: Spent the day in the Serengeti. Yes, THAT Serengeti.

Those are some cool birthdays to live up to, and I'm afraid this upcoming one may fall short. But that's OK. I'm just happy the Escaliver and I get to have another one!

It's a start

2010-06-18T19:18:00.000-07:00

Today I bought my first "official" food storage items -- powdered milk and powdered eggs. Woot! They are good for 8 years.

I'm really excited about the eggs, of all things. I am terrible about buying, keeping and using real eggs. I'll buy a dozen, use an egg or two in a recipe and then realize, 10 months later, that the 10 or 11 other eggs have been in the fridge for a loooong time.

I'm on the lookout for a smaller container of the powdered eggs I bought so I can use them in daily life. The #10 can lasts for a year after it's been opened, but I'd probably only use a few tablespoons in that time.

Next up is water. Yes, I know I said that forever ago, but now I really need it. Powdered milk and powdered eggs are no good without water to reconstitute them!

Other great art

2010-06-05T02:50:00.001-07:00

"Dark Dawn," by Fred Wilson (blown glass)
This is a different piece ("Whole"), but it gives you a better idea of what kind of eyes "Dark Dawn" had.

I'm not sure how long this installation has been at the museum. When I first came upon it, I thought it was a beautiful if serious contemporary piece. But then I saw the (almost) googly eyes! So my "serious" impression went right out! First I thought of ink; then I thought of the oil spill, with sad oil-covered animals. I looked around for some type of review or description of this piece, but didn't find anything good.

"Sisyphus, after Tiziano, 2005" by Vic Muniz (c-print) [Photo courtesty DR000's Flicker page]

"Sisyphus" by Tiziano Vecellio (aka Titian) (oil on canvas)

Muniz's work is fun. He takes junk -- this series is even called "Pictures of Junk" -- into a giant warehouse and re-creates famous pieces of art. The "flesh" of his subjects is bare space on the floor. I can't even think how precise everything has to be to do this. In one piece, Muniz even used chocolate syrup as a medium! This wasn't at the museum, but it's so crazy I have to share: Detail of "Milan (Last Supper)" by Muniz (c-print?). (This is based on Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" and tweaked by Andy Warhol.

Ansel Adams exhibit

2010-06-05T01:17:00.000-07:00

Talk about procrastinating. An Ansel Adams exhibit has been at the Phoenix Art Museum for months. I kept thinking I'd go, but kept putting it off. But it's closing this weekend, so I FINALLY went. Museum entrance was free tonight, so it was crowded. I decided I prefer my museums far less crowded. You can't get near the art -- or step away from it -- and, I swear, this woman walking in front of me gasped at every photo she saw.

"Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941" is one of Adams' most popular and famous photographs. News to me -- I had never seen it before. But I see why, and at the risk of sounding like a joiner, it was my favorite of the exhibit. I love that he left so much sky, rather than cropping it down. How long did he have to wait for such a perfect sky? How did he get the lighting so perfect, so that each cross in the cemetery is clear?

Here are two more of my favorites:
"Sand Dunes, Sunrise Death Valley"

"Merced River, Cliffs, Autumn."

Busy day

2010-06-05T01:14:00.000-07:00

I've had such a productive day! I slept in, worked out, talked with my sister, went to the museum, bought a bathing suit, watched my favorite show, filled the tank, went grocery shopping and made dinner. And blogged.

Whew!

P.S. Parmesan pork tenderloin with Harry & David's Pepper and Onion Relish is delicious!

When in Venice

2010-06-03T03:27:00.000-07:00

Look! It's a journalist in Venice. How do I know? The dress, silly! (But, ideally, the dress and the person wearing the dress are at the same angle!)

Hard to tell which creation is worse: This one, or me as Melisserine!

What's a journalist to wear?

2010-06-03T02:56:00.000-07:00

I was on Facebook the other night and saw this ad for ModCloth's Journalism dress. Click to embiggen, and learn what journalists do! :)

Personally, I think it's weird that it's named for a profession. But perhaps no weirder than Express' Editor pants?
(I know what you're thinking, and yes. All journalists are this tall and look this good from behind.)

Express also has Illustrator pants and Stylist pants. There are also aviator sunglasses and trucker hats. And Dickies' Painter pants.

How come every profession doesn't have an official wardrobe, brought to us by retailers?

Unschooling

2010-06-02T02:01:00.000-07:00

I caught a snippet of a segment on some late-night news show that caught my eye. It was on "unschooling." Have you heard of this? There's a educational philosophy that keeps kids home from school to learn. But they are not being "homeschooled." In unschooling, as I understand it, the parental figure doesn't formally teach the children -- the kids follow their interests and learn from doing.

Here's a video from one of the main unschooling proponents, who was also on the TV show I saw. (I think it was "Nightline.")

I know that's just an intro video and heavy on philosophy as opposed to the day-in-day-out implementation. But my first thought after hearing about this concept was, "But what about math and ABC's and grammar?"

This is what unschooling.com has to say about math: "It's easy to see how children can learn many things without using traditional, formal methods of teaching, but many people see math as a huge stumbling block, mainly, because most of us have learned to hate math because of the way it was taught in school. There are a great many ways to encounter math in the real world. Geometry can be found in quilt making, algebra in painting a room. Shifting perspectives, from textbooks to the real world is sometimes difficult, but math that is actually used is math truly learned."

That sounds good, to a point. When I was little, I learned that if I had three oranges in my bag and Mom took away one of them, I had two oranges. But are unschooled kids taught things like figuring percentage changes? Long division? Both of those are "real-world math" for me that I wouldn't learn from doing household tasks. But maybe the participating parents figure that everyone uses calculators these days (which is true), so why bother teaching a child how to write out a long-division problem? I wonder if it's ALL free-form, or if there is actual, formal teaching that just doesn't happen on a set schedule.

Also, I don't see how this would benefit a child if she decides that one day she'd like to go to college. Can you imagine going from unstructured, unformal unschooling to rigid academia? Because you just know how much professors love it when you do your own thing on assignments or when you blow off a midterm project because you were following different interests that day! Or how do you get a job if you don't have a high-school diploma? You can get a GED, but would unschooled people know the answers? Would they know about square roots, numerators and how to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit? (Click here for more GED test questions.)

Maybe (OK, definitely) my traditional-education bias is showing. Does anyone subscribe to this? Do I have it wrong? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Now that's a carrot of a different color

2010-06-01T02:26:00.000-07:00

I recently learned that carrots were not originally orange. As Chazz Michael Michaels would say, it was mind-bottling. ("You know, when things are so crazy it gets your thoughts all trapped, like in a bottle?")

Beautiful, but, ironically, not natural looking!

Check out this 2006 variety. It's called the Purple Haze Carrot. Rock 'n' roll carrots, man, I love it! I found it at the Vancouver Seed Bank.

Apparently, they first came in red, yellow, and white, and they tasted awful. (This history recap is from the World Carrot Museum. No lie.) Word on the street at the Carrot Museum is that orange carrots were first cultivated in Holland as a tribute to William I of Orange during the Dutch fight for independence from Spain in the 16th century. I like that version better than the probably truer story: that some Dutch growers who wanted a better-tasting veggie mutated a gene and -- voila! -- got orange carrots.

ANYWHO, I have never seen a carrot that was not orange. (Although, as I was reading the ingredients of my V8 V-Fusion Vegetable & Fruit Pomegranate Blueberry 100% Juice, I noticed it has purple-carrot juice.) SO, it is my goal today to eat a purple carrot. I wonder if they taste the same. That was probably a stupid comment. Doesn't white asparagus taste the same as the green? Haha, I don't know. The white kind frightens me! ;)

Has anyone tasted a non-orange carrot before?

Midlife crisis, preprint-style

2010-05-25T02:22:00.000-07:00

I am thinking of having a midlife crisis. I'm probably not old enough to be midlife, yet, hence the preprint idea. By the time I'm ready, the timing will be perfect.

{For you non-newspaper types, a preprint is when you have a few pages that have an early deadline, even though they will be in the newspaper later in the week. For example, you might find out Thursday that you need to lay out and edit articles on 10 pages, and those pages have a Friday deadline. But those 10 pages will run Sunday, not Saturday. Capisce?}

I'm just not sure what to DO for my crisis. I'm not married, so I can't trade in my spouse for a trophy husband. (Is that even a real thing?)
I can't afford to buy a new cherry-red convertible, although maybe I could rent one for a few days. (Did I mention it's a Ferrari?)
I thought about coloring my hair, but ... ... Actually, I love the look of hot-pink hair. That might be coming to a head near you.

I could get a facelift -- heaven knows there are enough plastic surgeons around -- but I'm too young to really need one. And they sometimes look really fake.
Eh. Who knows. Maybe I'll wait after all.

Trip to Parker

2010-05-25T02:13:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Joe and I went out to Parker, which is on the Arizona-California border. It is a delightful spot in the middle of the desert where the Colorado River runs through. We weren't really dressed for water sports, but it was just as well -- the river was the domain of Jet Skiers and boats, not swimmers.

Here are some pictures:

We're going to a hukilau

2010-04-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

Photo from Brigham Young University-Hawaii Archives

Once upon a time, circa "Sunday drives in the backseat of Jim and Dixe's wood-paneled stationwagon," cousin Emily taught us a song. I think she learned it in school. Little did I know then how often it would get stuck in my head as an adult.

Oh, we're going to a hukilau
A huki, huki, huki, huki, hukilau
Ev'rybody loves a hukilau
Where the laulau is the kau kau at the big luau

We'll throw our nets out into the sea And all the ama ama come-a swimming to me Oh, we're going to a hukilau
A huki, huki, huki, huki, hukilau
Ev'rybody loves a hukilau
Where the laulau is the kau kau at the hukilau

What a beautiful day for fishing
In the old Hawaiian way
All the hukilau nets are swishing
Down in old Laie Bay
Oh, we're going to a hukilau
A huki, huki, huki, huki, hukilau
Ev'rybody loves a hukilau
Where the laulau is the kau kau at the big luau

If you don't have the pleasure of knowing the tune, check it out here on YouTube. You don't get to see anyone dance, but on the plus side, you don't have to hear a drunk dude sing it while playing the uke.

Next time

2010-04-07T03:09:00.000-07:00

The next time I want to take pictures of flowers, I'm just going to go to the temple grounds. Their flowers, even in fading light and with my iPhone, were more impressive than the wild ones I found. (Although, I suppose if I'd tried harder, I could've found better wildflowers. I know they're out there. I didn't mean to put nature down or anything!)

P.S. Does anyone know what these multicolored flowers are? (Besides out of focus on the top one; I'm calling it artsty!)

No justice

2010-04-07T02:33:00.000-07:00

Mission accomplished. I was up at dawn Friday and took pictures of wildflowers.
Ta-da! Truth be told, the flowers were really disappointing. Apparently, the areas I went to were sans wildflowers, excepting those few roadside blooms.

But I'm so glad I went. It was a beautiful morning -- warm with no clouds. I took in the beauty of the desert -- it really is beautiful, though I didn't really believe that before moving here -- and the sounds of birds, the rush of the river and the rustle of plants as rabbits ran by. The photos I took didn't do justice to how amazing things looked in the new light. And, P.S., rabbits are fast and hard to photograph.

It wasn't until I was editing this photo (very poorly, might I add) that I noticed this cactus is giving the bird.

I wonder what kind of animal(s) took a bite of this cactus.

Standing there with the sun cresting the mountains behind me, and the moon in front of me, I could almost see how someone could be a morning person.

Almost.

This may fail your 'breakfast test'

2010-04-02T04:23:00.000-07:00

So, it's 4:23 a.m. Just finished my taxes (woo-hoo for refunds) and am now killing time. The Valley has gotten a lot of rain this spring, so I had the insane idea of getting up (or staying up, as it were) at sunrise to take some photos of the lush wildflowers. By the time I'm usually out and about, it's 2 p.m. and the light is terrible. So stay tuned. I might post some pictures later. Or, a lame excuse as to why I didn't go.

Anywhoo, I learned (relearned) a hard lesson about fast food and advertising. I was quite hungry after work the other night, and I was swayed by What-A-Burger's ads for its new chicken melt sandwich.

The ads look like this:

The sandwich I got looked like this:
In fairness, I did leave it packaged for about 20 minutes while I drove home. BUT STILL! Holy grease, Batman! After I tossed out the grease-soaked and soggy bun, the greasy onions and the cheese (sorrowfully, because that part was good), the chicken was great. Hot and well-seasoned. But $4 is a too much to have to deal with the rest.

So consider yourself warned!

Too late

2010-03-25T02:53:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to name names, but if you were planning to do this, someone beat you to the punch. Via The Onion.

Big surprise

2010-03-25T02:33:00.001-07:00

Take the Quiz here!

Happy birthday

2010-03-25T02:18:00.000-07:00

To one of my favorite people. Happy birthday, little brother.

A girly quiz

2010-03-24T00:34:00.000-07:00

1. Pretend you're single. If you are single, carry on. A woman offers to pay for dinner on the third date. This is:
A. A sign she is fair-minded, grateful and/or confident.
B. A sign she doesn't want to go out with this person again.
C. A sign she is needy, insecure and/or an emasculator.
D. None of the above.

2. You have been ordered to a deserted island but told you must look your best. You can take 5 facial products and/or makeup items. There will be electricity, water and bar soap on the island. And you can't copy what Hayden Panettiere has. What do you take? ___________________

**This question is inspired by an episode of "Sex and the City."**
3. You just find out that a person in your social circle has given birth and chose YOUR baby name. You are also due soon. You:
A. Go with your second choice because the name is now ruined.
B. Demur and go with your second choice out of respect.
C. Go with your original name. The more, the merrier!
D. Go with your original name to spite her.

4. Your skirt or dress keeps riding up as you walk. You only have a few minutes to MacGyver a solution. You grab:
A. Pam Non-Stick Cooking Spray.
B. A slipperier slip.
C. No-cling spray.
D. A crinoline slip.
E. None of the above.

Puppy scrapbook

2010-03-20T01:04:00.000-07:00

The other day, a co-worker of mine was asking about my weekend, and I mentioned the scrapbook late-nighter I went to. Somehow the conversation turned to me volunteering to make a scrapbook for one of his dogs, who is now a little over a year old.

We at work love this doggy. L's beagle found this puppy, abandoned, when it was only hours old. So L and his wife took him to the vet, got him all fixed up, and bottle fed him until he was bigger.

So on Thursday, L gave me a disc full of 100+ pictures. It was superhard, but I narrowed it down to 55 to get prints of. I mean, would you be able to narrow it down if you had to choose from adorable pictures like these?!

Humor me

2010-03-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

This is why I don't play "I Spy" with cats...

I love how this cat says please ...

For Mom

2010-03-18T01:05:00.000-07:00

*WARNING: The management will not be held responsible if you are blinded by the whiteness of my legs in this photo! Thank you.

Retirement wheels

2010-03-07T00:28:00.000-08:00

When I saw this, my first thought was, "Only in Arizona." But then, I realized other hot enclaves for rockin' old people -- Florida, perhaps? -- might have these, too.

It cracks me up to see these souped up golf carts on the roads and in fast-food restaurant parking lots.

A Daunting Task

2010-03-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

Not sure what started me thinking about it, but I realized I haven't scrapbooked for a long time. By which I mean a LONG TIME. When I moved here almost four years ago, I had printed out pics of our trip to Italy and Greece. That same stack of photos is still waiting for me to deal with it.

So, tonight I made the first go at it. A local scrapbook store has a "late-nighter" open lab where you pay $15, and get to hang out in a fun, scrappy atmosphere for six hours and scrapbook. There are raffles, chocolate, free use of the Cricut(!!), make-and-takes, discounts, and a teacher there, if you need help. It was so fun! And, unlike doing it at home, if you find yourself stuck and need a certain type of paper or punch, it's mere feet away! And, because you're there so long, you can bring in drinks and dinner and snacks. (Thank goodness -- I cannot scrapbook without caffeine!)

Here's a surreptitiously taken photo of the class:

They offer these "classes" twice a week. I'm thinking of making it a monthly outing. Or maybe weekly or every-other-weekly (yes, I know there's a word for that, but I like mine better).

This was my favorite page of the night. You'll have to trust me that it looks better in real life.

New shoes

2010-03-03T23:48:00.000-08:00

I apologize to those of you who saw this on Facebook, but I want to repost this picture so Mom can see my adorable new shoes. The lady at the store was cute when I asked her if these shoes needed breaking in.
"You know how some shoes are 5-hours shoes? Well, these are MAYBE 1-hour shoes. Like, from the car to the restaurant and back."
I bought a cute new outfit to go with these, so one of these days I'll post that, too.

Alas, I never did get that video to work. It was supercute, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

Technical difficulties

2010-03-01T12:51:00.000-08:00

Have you had problems using Blogger to post a video? I'm trying to post one now, and it's taking FOREVER to process. Any tips?

Solve for x

2010-02-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

2/9/10=x

If he had asked a woman...

2010-01-27T23:55:00.000-08:00

Steve Jobs probably would've gone with a different name. Just a guess.

see more Epic Fails

Going to the dogs

2010-01-26T00:15:00.000-08:00

You know you've neglected your blog for too long when you not only have to think for a minute about your own URL, you have to reset your password because you forgot it.

I hope everyone is doing well and had a nice Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and Martin Luther King Jr./Civil Rights Day. And, any other holidays I may have missed.

I want to share footage of this dog being rescued in California. It's not necessarily the best shot of the rescue, but the commentary is unbeatable. Apparently Shepard Smith is a dog empath.

Here's the follow-up story on the rescued dog and the bitten rescuer from the good people at the Press-Telegram.

I would need to be sedated

2009-12-18T22:59:00.000-08:00

How much would this stink?!

LONDON (AP) — British media say four trains with more than 2,000 passengers aboard have broken down in the Channel Tunnel due to wintry weather.
Eurostar spokesman Bram Smets told Sky News and the BBC early Saturday that all the passengers are safe, though some of the trains were without heating or lighting in the tunnel connecting England and France.
Smets says two of the trains are being pushed by diesel trains toward London and passengers on the other trains were being transferred onto shuttles.
Eurostar told the BBC that the trains broke down because of the temperature difference between the cold air outside the tunnel and the warm air inside.

Five Thanksgivings

2009-11-25T01:44:00.000-08:00

This year is a five-feast year! And, happily, I only have to prepare one of them!

On Thursday, I've been invited to the home of my bishop and his cute family. After an hour there, I have to scoot to work -- where I'm in charge of getting the turkey from Boston Market for our work feast. The company is provided the main course and mashed potatoes, and we're doing a potluck for the rest. No doubt we'll have two offerings of corn, a salad and then 50 desserts, but that's the fun of potlucks, right?

Steven carving the roast beast in 2007. Joe ate with us, too.
(Bonus points if you spot the odd detail in this picture.)

And then -- as if that's not enough! -- Steven and I are doing our own dinner on Friday. As much as I love doing the big family gathering -- the cousins at the "kids" table while the adults are in the formal living room; the huge varieties of home-made dishes; and the leftover turkey -- it's fun doing a dinner just me and the bro. The control! No yucky veggies (Brussel sprouts, I'm looking at you!), no pies, no turkeys with guts you have to deal with. Just turkey breast, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing (for Steven), yam souffle and brownies. (And Coke, of course!) Deeeelicious!

But I am probably happiest about the two that have already happened. These are ones my brother and I gave to families in our ward. Actually, this is the second year my brother has arranged this. He approached the bishop and asked if we could donate the groceries for a T-Day meal or two. We dropped the food off at the bishop's house today, and he delivered it to the families. The bishop later passed along one family's thanks, saying the mother cried when he arrived with the bags of food. She had been at Walmart earlier and didn't know how she could afford a Thanksgiving meal for her family.

I've certainly read enough about how times are tough, but I find -- maybe this is true for you, too -- that it's easy to think somehow the people around you are insulated and that everything is OK. It makes me feel humble and very grateful that I am blessed to have enough for me and enough to share. And it made me realize that although now "want is keenly felt, and abundance rejoices," I need to be service-minded and generous throughout the year.

In memoriam: The Hawk

2009-11-23T02:18:00.001-08:00

It is with a heavy heart I bring you this final hair collage. This man had some of the coolest hair I ever had the pleasure to know.

Riposa in pace, hair.

It's bananas!

2009-11-08T01:15:00.000-08:00

(This nice photo was taken by this nice person whose profile is here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/meaduva/ / CC BY-ND 2.0)

So, many of you know that I hate bananas. I know, I know -- they're rich in potassium! They're portable! They're yellow! Sadly, no one has been able to sway me with these reasons. (Well, OK, the T-Team got me to eat a few, but I didn't like it!) But once in my life, I had bananas that I couldn't get enough of. I LOVED them!

Sadly, they were in Tanzania, and my local grocery store doesn't carry them -- neither does any store in the U.S. or Europe, I imagine. But I was doing some banana research tonight -- and I wonder why I'm single, spending my Saturday nights this way? :) -- and tracked down some information on the elusive creatures.

They are called sugar bananas or dessert bananas. I read somewhere they are locally known as "ndizzi," but I wonder if someone said that not knowing that "ndizi" in Swahili means "banana." They are sweet and, as I recall, don't taste as starchy as normal ol' bananas. And they are adorably small. :)

So, the next time you're in East Africa -- in a tented camp or at a local market, not a Western-style hotel -- eat up these delicious little treats!

Culinary find of the day

2009-11-07T23:53:00.000-08:00

It is also called lovosh bread (also spelled lavosh), or cracker bread. Which is apt, because it does look a giant Saltine cracker. According to Foodsubs.com, this is a large flat Middle Eastern bread that comes either hard (like a cracker) or soft (like a tortilla). I had it for the first today as a wrap at Pita Jungle. (If the Dodo restaurant were in a lower tax bracket, it would feel like Pita Jungle. Cool vibe, great food.)

So, the next time you get a chance, try some lavosh!

New look

2009-11-06T03:27:00.000-08:00

This new look is nuts! (Will the wittiness EVER end?!) No worries, it won't last long. I love the banner but not the acorns.

Also, there have been a few delistings. If you haven't updated your blog in the past six months, you're outta there! Except for Snarky. She was my tent-mate in Tanzania, and her blog details the adventure. She's an engaging writer. If you haven't read it yet, you should...

Hair hair hair

2009-11-03T00:26:00.001-08:00

SUCH BORING HAIR....

UNLIKE THIS ONE GIRL I KNOW....
Her name in Latin means "She who always has cute hair."

You decide

2009-10-10T03:57:00.000-07:00

People of Walmart

This Web site is:
A) Outrageous and funny.
B) A lawsuit waiting to happen.
C) Deplorable and mean-spirited.
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above.
F) A & B
G) B & C
H) A & C
I) There is no spoon.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I shop at Walmart. In all my visits, I have never dressed like this, nor have I seen anyone else dressed like this. I haven't made up my mind on my answer to this question, but I'm leaning strongly toward "D." With "I" a close second.

Leave the moon alone

2009-10-09T22:31:00.000-07:00

"That's not a moon, that's a space sta..... What? You say it IS the moon? Oh, well ... OK, then. Hold your fire. ... Um, oh, what the heck, let's blast it anyway!"

-- Overheard at NASA

I thought about staying up late last night to see NASA smash satellites and other things into the moon, but I thought, "Nah, it's probably not worth it." That, and I didn't want to support such a hair-brained plan. What if they accidentally destroyed the moon? What if they threw it off its rotation or messed up its gravitational pull?

The seas all seemed to be in their places when I woke up today, so I didn't think much about. But the more I tuned in, the more obvious it became that smashing things into the moon created an anomoly in our world today.

Exhibit A: President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Say, wha..? Politics aside, the man was in office for 16 days before the nominations were due! That's just crazy. (Although, you can't -- or shouldn't -- blame Obama himself. It wasn't like he had anything to do with it.)

Exhibit B: I got to work, only to find I had lost my slot mojo! The confidence to change headlines! The fortitude to slog through long, boring stories! The power to hand out graphics! I won't lie, it was touch-and-go for a while. It started coming back later in the afternoon, but ...

Clearly, I need to write a letter to NASA to tell them to stop smashing things into the moon. It's messing up my Fridays!

High roller

2009-10-06T02:09:00.000-07:00

Life has been crazy busy the past month, so I'm sorry for these after-the-fact posts. (Not sorry enough not to post them, however.)

So, last month, I decided to spend part of my week off in Vegas. I was reading some online reviews to help me pick out the cheapest and least skanky place to stay on the Strip. A common theme of reader reviews was the indignancy (I don't think that's even a word) people felt about having to pay for an upgraded room at a casino hotel.

So, imagine my persnickety joy when, as I was checking in to the Flamingo, the desk clerk said, "Since you're here for such a brief time, we'll upgrade your room for free."

Neener-neener! Um, I mean, clearly, the man knows a high roller when he sees one! ;) Ha, ha. Me and the penny slots, don't you know.

So here is my "Go" room on the 27th floor (why it's called a "Go" room, I have no idea):

Amazing view of the Bellagio fountains and the Strip.

Gotta love the hot-pink lights in the bathroom! I was happy to discover there were normal lights, too.

Look, you can watch "NCIS" while in the loo!

There was also some excellent stuff going on outside. As I was leaving the Paris casino, I heard "Who Let the Dogs Out?" blaring. I assumed it was from a vehicle stuck in traffic, until I looked and saw adorable dogs in the back of a glass-enclosed truck! Apparently, it was a moving ad for a puppy-waste cleaning system, and it certainly got people's attention! There was a sign that said the truck was air-conditioned and pet-friendly, so that was good. Meanwhile, the cute dogs just looked out at the gawkers and romped around!

Desert Botanical Garden

2009-10-06T01:48:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I went to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. It's a huge arboretum full of crazy-looking cactus, delicate blooms, huge trees, birds, butterflies and lizards. (It is where the Lumi is held in December.) But this day, it was a beautiful afternoon, barely in the upper 80s around noon.

Here are some of the images that caught my eye:

Fruits of my labors

2009-09-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

I know what you're thinking. "A month of no posting and then a picture of her garage?!" OK, secretly I bet you haven't noticed the long absence and that you are smitten with my garage photo. Or something.

Life has been slightly insane the past few weeks at work, so now that I have a week off, I have time to finish some projects I've let pile up. And the first was to clear out old newspapers from the garage. I don't have a "before" photo, but I felt I needed to post the "after." Otherwise my parents would never believe I had cleaned out months' worth of papers.

Next up? Filing papers and paying bills. Oh, joy.

And this is just random, but it's a fine reminder not to leave large cups of water out for too long.

Required summer listening

2009-08-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

Before the brudda and I went to Vegas, we made a CD to enjoy on the way. I hadn't listened to it since then, but I threw it in the CD player as I was driving to work yesterday. I had forgotten how much I loved it! It put a big smile on my face -- and it stayed all day.

* Miss Murder by AFI
* World Hold On by Bob Sinclar (Learn the Skeleton Dance by watching the video!
* Ain't No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant
* Everybody to the Limit (Come On Fhqwhgads) by Strong Bad and The Cheat on Homestarrunner.com
* Hang Me Up to Dry by Cold War Kids
* Welcome Home by Coheed and Cambria
* Brick House by The Commodores
* This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race by Fall Out Boy (If you're listening along at home, this song is Rated R for language.)
* Love Addict by Family Force 5 (Don't ask me why, but I picture Mom singing this but saying "Yuv addict!")
* No Woman No Cry by The Fugees
* Little House by The Fray
* Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N Roses
* Poker Face by Lady Gaga
* Teenagers by My Chemical Romance (Also Rated R for language)
* Happy Without Me by Resident Hero
* Vendetta Black (Acoustic) by Resident Hero
* Minimum Wage by They Might Be Giants
* The Sun by They Might Be Giants
* Istanbul by They Might Be Giants
* It's Not Unusual by Tom Jones. Bonus: Watch Carlton dance!
* Kiss Off by Violent Femmes
* Trogdor by Strong Bad

For extra credit, see if you can guess which ones I picked and which ones he picked!

BEANana bread

2009-08-25T12:29:00.000-07:00

Another delish recipe to help you cut out the fat, use food storage, or both!

4 bananas (sweet and ripe, but not too dark and mushy)
3/4 cup butter -- (replace with all white beans pureed, or half pureed white beans and half applesauce)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour (sift first and measure)
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Mash bananas in a large bowl. Add butter (softened) or white beans pureed (or mixture of beans and apple sauce). Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well. In a separate bowl, add sifted flour, baking powder and salt. Mix with the banana mixture (mix just enough to get them incorporated.)

Pour into two loaf pans.

Bake @350F until lightly browned on top and baked through. Use toothpick to see if it's done.

The bread will not be tall like regular banana bread or get dark. Do not over bake (in order to avoid drying out due to no oil in the bread.)

A site worth visiting

2009-08-18T12:51:00.000-07:00

(Bob Strong/Reuters)

Dad told me about this amazing site -- boston.com/bigpicture. It's worth your time to check it out. The photography is AMAZING.

What, not "National Geographic"?

2009-08-16T19:45:00.000-07:00

When you go to a zoo, often you will see "enrichment" items for the animals. Sometimes there are giant barrels, ropes, tubes or ice cakes. Those make sense, and it's fun to see the animals interact with them.

But I did a double-take at the ring-tailed lemur exhibit at Hogle Zoo the other day:

Really? "Modern Bride"?!

Le déluge: mon chéris

2009-08-16T00:38:00.001-07:00

Go ahead. Tell me these are not some of the CUTEST kids you've ever seen.

I love the face Ashton is making. This kid is so funny. Hmm, I wonder where he gets that?

Say hello to my little friend!

Ashton with Miles, Emmy and Jonas. It was so fun meeting Ben and Emily's kids! I've seen so many of their fun adventures on the blog! They are simply delightful. No surprise there! (And it was fun to see you again, too, Emily!)

Jonas, Miles and Ashton. It was fun to see them playing and getting along so well.

Back from Utah

2009-08-16T00:01:00.001-07:00

I'm still settling in after my weeklong trip to Utah. It was so great; it was really hard to come back. And not just because of the 20-30 degree difference in temperature.

I hadn't been home in 2 1/2 years. And, yes, for those of you keeping score at home, that makes me a bad daughter. A lot of things were different -- new families in the ward, major construction on Main Street, a Chevron in The Ranches(!!) -- but being there felt like picking up from three years ago when I left.

This will sound funny, but I had forgotten how Mormony Utah is. As I walked into Shopko, there was a kiosk of LDS books. There were Mormon billboards on the way to Lehi. And one of the trailers before "Julie & Julia" was for a Mormon movie. How quickly I forgot what it feels like to live in Vatican City. It gave me a brief glimpse of how Utahns who aren't LDS must feel. Weird.

It was so pleasant being at the (beautifully remodeled) house and hanging out with Mom and Dad. I got to see Wonder Chica, too, which was great. And I got to meet new (or at least new-to-me) family members: Ashton, Jonas, Miles and Emmy!

And I had the chance to meet up with some dear, dear friends. Such wonderful women, balancing jobs, children, husbands, homes, friends, church and sanity, all with great aplomb. I take comfort in the fact that the one hasn't yet completed the two manuscripts she plans to have published and the other hasn't yet perfected her pool game; proof, they are human! I've missed them so much.

So, prepare yourself for the deluge of pictures. It's coming.

That's one way to get out of church

2009-08-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite news story of the week. I'm impressed this little kid can drive so well!

Things I don't get

2009-07-30T02:01:00.000-07:00

Today's musings, in no particular order:

1. Birthers
These are the people who think Obama should not be president because, they say, he is not a U.S. citizen.
Yeah, I'm looking at you, Lou Dobbs, O Spouter of Crazy Ideas. And your little groupies, too! Apparently, it's not enough for some people that Hawaii's governor has verified Obama's birth certificate. Twice.
I'm not exactly sure what they're looking for. Do they really think they'll get anywhere with this campaign?

* -- *

(Bottom photo by Deanna Meredith; both photos from "Little Miss Perfect" Web site)

2. Little-kid beauty pageants
This girl is adorable as her natural self. Adorable, I tell ya! But she, like all the other little girls who participate in beauty pageants, goes from looking 9 (or however old she is) to 22! Maybe she loves the pageant scene, I don't know. Maybe I'm just jealous my makeup isn't that flawless.

* -- *

3. Why am I centering this post?
And has "pageants" always been spelled that? Once upon a time, wasn't it "pagaents"?

* -- *

4. Eat big or go home
Why do people try to eat the biggest foods possible? I love this scene from "Bill & Ted's," when Napoleon eats this giant sundae and gets the Ziggy Piggy award. ("Ziggy! Piggy! Ziggy! Piggy!") And there's always some crazy time limit for these artery-clogging feats, too. (Don't get me started on hot-dog-eating contests. Ewwww!)
Don't know about you, but I feel bad eating an 9-ounce steak, knowing it's 3 times the size of a "good-sized" serving. Have you seen these 72-ounce steaks? Crazy!

Oh, eau, "O"!

2009-07-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

For my birthday, I decided to go up to Vegas. (Odd to go "up to," rather than "down to.") One of Steven's generous friends hooked us up with a gorgeous room at Caesars. Loved the room -- it looked like something designed by Candice Olson, whose designs I adore.

Being the thoughtful wonderful brother he is, Steven gave me ticket to "O" by Cirque de Soleil for my birthday. We had AMAZING seats. Seriously, any closer and we would've been in the pool.

I can't really explain the show -- it's crazy cool, creepy, amazing and funny, all at the same time. There were acrobats, trapeze artists, divers, synchronized swimmers and clowns (but not the scary kind). And all of these incredible things happen in and around water! I can't think of a time I've said "Oh!" or "I can't believe they did that?!" so many times in 90 minutes.

So, if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend going to see it.

The rest of the trip was fun, too. Here are some of the photos suitable for a family-friendly blog. (Ha!)

If my grandparents ask what I did in Vegas

2009-07-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

Day at the museum

2009-07-13T01:05:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, I had the day off, and it was about a million degrees outside, so I headed to the Arizona Museum of Natural History. It was pretty cool. They had a giant display where there was thunder, lightning and a flash flood rushing by a variety of dinosaurs.

But then I saw the dinos MOVING! Luckily, I got video:

Clearly, I will make millions when I sell the video to the international media. Who knew, our own little Jurassic Park, right here in Mesa!

I discovered my new favorite dinosaur! I don't know his name, but isn't he odd looking?

For a natural-history museum, it had a great amount of Arizona-centric finds. Lots on mining, and all the dino fossils were found in Arizona. Alas, no raptors. But check out this bad boy:

Blog makeover

2009-07-13T00:37:00.000-07:00

I've been in the mood for change lately. But I can't really put my finger one what I wanted to change. I've been growing out my bangs for too long to get a haircut; since I survived the layoffs, I'm happy to keep my job; and I don't have the money to buy all new furniture.

So, the blog gets it.

Hope the green doesn't bother you too much. I like the vines, though. And I'm going to pretend those are not grapes.

Thank heaven

2009-07-09T01:00:00.000-07:00

I still have a job. But man, have the past five days been tough.

After weeks of waiting and uncertainty, today we finally found out who was going to be laid off. The damage to the copy desk is not as bad as I feared -- we lost one part-timer, whereas my cohorts and I were under the impression we were going to lose many more. Nineteen other people in the newsroom were laid off.

I am incredibly relieved, but daunted a bit by what's ahead of us as a management team as we reinvent the production process. But it sure beats the alternative.

Thanks for your thoughts, prayers and kind words of support as I was going through this. They mean so much to me.