It’s October 29th. Do you know where your plot is?
‘Cause I sure as hell don’t.
I have about 3 ½ different plots rolling around in my head as feasible options for the impending NaNo, but I’m not sure which one I want to go with. I’m half tempted to genre jump into a genre I either hate (fantasy, for example) or a genre I rarely read (mystery, chick lit insanity, etc.).
Haha, Prime went so smoothly last year. Writing karma is kicking my ass right now.
Today’s song: Don’t Stop the Music by Rihanna
TWSB: My sunshakes bring all the spheres to the loop, and damn right, it’s hotter than yours
I apologize profusely for the title.
“Helioseismology is the study of the interior of the Sun from observations of the vibrations of its surface.”
DUDE.
Acoustic energy is used to “see into” the sun in a way similar to using ultrasound to see into the human body. The sun’s oscillations, first captured in the 1960s, have been used to try and understand the composition and dynamics of our star. According to here (which is an excellent cite full of info regarding this), “helioseismology is rather like trying to understand how a piano is built from the sounds that it makes when you drop it down a flight of stairs.”
Gotta love science.
And Berkeley’s Statistics program.
Today’s song: Prisencolinensinainciusol by Adriano Celentano
Surveylicious
This one’s been making its rounds for awhile.
90. First off, what is your name?
Claudiaaaaa!
89. What did you do last night?
Homework. Dinked around on the internet. Pondered NaNo ideas.
88. Do you have a best friend that you can talk to 24/7?
Nah.
87. Do you have any siblings?
No, luckily.
86. How many years apart is your mom and dad?
Three years.
85. Do you like someone?
Peh.
84. What does the 7th message in your text inbox say?
“Whaat lame. What are you doing?”
83. Who sits beside you in math?
You mean Multivariate Analysis? You must, ‘cause that’s vastly superior. Jasmine does.
82. Where is your dad right now?
Uhhhh I think he’s back in Moscow.
81. Do you burn incense?
Screw that, I can’t smell!
80. Do you have a problem?
Dude, you have no idea.
79. Who is the 5th person you got a missed call from?
UNKNOWN!
78. Closest purple object?
A square on the carpet.
77. Closest silver object?
Vaio II!
76. Closest yellow object?
My iPod.
75. Do you sing in the shower?
I sing Still Alive while I wash my hair. I’m badass.
74. What is bugging you right now?
Life.
73. How does your hair look right now?
Like hell. ‘Cause it’s my hair.
72. Do you know all the words to the Star Spangled Banner?
Yup.
71. When is the last time you said the pledge of allegiance?
Haha, oh man…I’ve been in Canada Land for two years now.
70. If you could kill someone, who would it be?
I don’t want to kill anyone.
69. Do you have any fears?
Failure.
68. What do you hear right now?
Music!
67. Do you like kangaroos?
I don’t dislike them.
66. Can you roll your tongue?
Indeed.
65. What are you wearing?
Pajama pants, tank top, underthingies.
64. Who was the last person to message you?
My mom.
63. Do you like emo kids?
Haha, I WAS an emo kid in junior high. Fun times, 8th grade.
62. Screamo or Country?
Ew, neither.
61. Rock or Rap?
Rock n’ roll, bitches!
60. Polka or Disco?
Disco’s where it’s at.
59. Flying or Driving?
Flying.
58. Who last called you?
Mom.
57. Was your Valentine’s day nice?
Hahaha, I spent my Valentine’s day with Kate. We walked downtown to see the Olympic insanity.
56. What are you doing now?
Blogging! And watching Muppet Treasure Island, because HELL YEAH.
55. Who was the last person you said I love you to?
Um…my mom?
54. Would you die for someone?
Probably.
53. Would you date anyone from your work?
I technically work at UBC so…yeah.
52. Do long distance relationships work?
Don’t know, never tried.
51. Do you have any pet peeves?
Yes. Most of them involve idiots on sidewalks.
50. Do you have to pee right now?
Nope.
49. When did you last talk to one of your siblings?
I have no such things!
48. What are you doing tomorrow?
Multivariate midterm!
47. Do you worry about getting older?
Nah.
46. Have you ever had an ingrown toenail?
Nope.
45. Do you pick your scabs?
Only when I’m nervous.
44. Ever drink your blood?
I sparkle sometimes, too.
43. Do your bandaids have cartoons on them?
Nope.
42. Do you bite your nails?
When I’m nervous.
41. Do you wax?
That would destroy my skin. I can hardly even shave.
40. Do you or have you ever had AOL?
Nope.
39. Do you check CelebPox.com for celebrity gossip?
That sounds like a bad disease.
38. Do you have a jar where you keep your loose change?
I usually just throw it on the desk.
37. Do you own a pogo stick?
No, but Aaron did. Suffice it to say nearly everyone in the house got hurt using it.
36. Ever gone a whole day without eating?
Yup.
35. Do you own ripped jeans?
I don’t own any jeans.
34. What makes you mad?
Usually just myself.
33. What would you do if you found out that you were adopted?
I would wonder why I look so much like my dad, then.
32. Are you jealous a lot of the time?
Nah.
31. Do you use a calendar or day planner to schedule everything on?
I write lists and schedules weekly, but I don’t use a planner.
30. Are you OCD?
I’m obsessive, but not enough to warrant any sort of diagnosis.
29. Do you have ADD?
I’m actually surprised I wasn’t diagnosed with this as a kid. Maybe if I had been a kid today instead of in the early ‘90s. Who knows.
But no, I don’t.
28. Do you have low self esteem?
Oh yes.
27. Who can make you laugh during the hardest time?
Sean or Nick.
26. What was the last thing you watched on TV?
Top Chef! Thank you, rec center.
25. When was the last time you had professional pictures taken?
Hahaha, my senior pictures. I am the least photogenic person ever.
24. Have you done a whitening treatment on your teeth?
Ouch.
23. What is your favorite movie?
Apollo 13.
22. Who do you love?
Several people.
21. What is playing on your MP3 player right now?
All three iPods are currently not in use.
20. What holiday is your birthday closest to?
Dude, my birthday’s Groundhog’s Day.
19. What’s your favorite drink?
Water.
18. Do you own any big sunglasses?
Pfft.
17. Bed sheet color?
Tye-dye!
16. Ever encountered a shark?
Nope.
15. Has anyone ever sang or played for you personally?
I got Sean to sing Maps for me once. But we were all playing Rock Band and he was obscenely drunk at the time.
14. Have you ever bungee jumped?
Hell no.
13. Where was the last place you went besides your house?
Stong’s.
12. What’s the first thing you notice about the same sex?
Hair?
11. Is it hard to express your feelings to someone?
Nah.
10. Why are people such self-centered beings?
‘Cause we’re bastards.
9. Are you sad?
Somewhat.
8. Are you happy?
Partially.
7. Favorite day of the year?
I don’t really have one.
6. Have you ever licked someones cheek?
Hahahaha, this is actually how Aaron and I started dating…
5. Watched all Spiderman movies?
Just the third one.
4. What are you looking forward to?
Being done with the semester.
3. Favorite Lucky Charms Marshmallow?
Lucky Charms are nastified.
2. Have you ever ridden in a limo?
I don’t think so…
1. Do you want to get married?
BAH.
Today’s song: DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love (feat. Pitbull) by Usher
In This Blog: Why I Blog
I may royally suck at actually posting these things, but I do write them on the days I specify. In the nearly 4 ½ years I’ve been blogging, I don’t think I’ve ever explained exactly why I do it.
When I started blogging back in 2006, I made it my goal to blog daily—a goal I didn’t think I’d ever follow through with. My first 6 or so months of blogs were 99% crap, and—admittedly—they’re still mostly crap, but maybe only 80% or 85% crap now. I guess I started with the intention to have someplace to just ramble, but my blogs have sort of morphed themselves into a little external depository for all the extra crap running around in my head. Some of which is interesting, some of which is not.
Therefore, there’s no quantity vs. quality debate here. I completely admit that my blogs sacrifice quality for quantity. Some people claim that as one of the cardinal sins of internet writing, but I submit that the internet wouldn’t be the internet if people didn’t post crap with no content. I also think that letting things “flow” rather than just restricting oneself to post only when one has a perfectly polished entry is a lot more constructive, relaxing, and hilarious in the long-run.
So where am I going with this? I guess I’m just saying that I blog to blog. I blog to remain (arguably) sane. I share components of my life with the internet world, but I don’t do it because I expect the internet world to care. I really don’t care if people read these. It’s nice to know that some people do, and I’d be totally thrilled if some day a complete stranger commented and said they’d been reading on and off for awhile, but that’s not why I blog.
I blog because doing so has become part of me. I do it so I can have a written history of life and my progress through it, however random and non-focused many of the entries are.
So yeah, I guess that’s it.
I blog because…I blog.
Yay.
Today’s song: Crazy (Violin Cover) by Jimmy Chaos
People Get Poisoned. Distributions Get Poissoned.
I’ve been thinking about tattoo designs lately. I definitely want to do the Leibniz thing, but I don’t really have a good design for it yet. So I’ve been looking at all my old scribbles, and I think this
would be a pretty awesome tattoo. Just get it on my back, across my shoulder blades. Big and expensive as hell, but it’s rainbow and can be seen as either an infinity symbol or a mobius band of some sort (or both), so I dig it.
Using one of my own doodles also avoids the issue of my passions not being readily tattooable.
What do you think?
Today’s song: Alison by Jeremy Fisher
It’s all in my head
It’s all in my head, it’s all in my head, it’s all in my head.
Go away.
Today’s song: Punkb*tch by 3OH!3
Saturday Chefing
Or should that be “cheffing?” Either way.
Do you have a potato? DO YOU WANT A TASTY DINNER?
This amazing blob of beige is made from a potato (and miscellaneous) and tastes substantially better than it looks. It’s good when you want something that has a lot of weird textures to it but you only have, well, potatoes.
Ingredients:
- 1 potato
- 1-2 tbsp. peanut butter (I used chunky, but I’m assuming smooth would work just fine)
- A small amount of olive oil
- A packet of ketchup, like from McDonald’s or something
- Salt
- Mrs. Dash (if you so desire)
Here’s what you do:
Take the potato and peel half of it. I’d say cut it in half first, but I think it’s easier to peel one half so you have the other half to hold on to. Next, wash off the peeled half and run it over a cheese grater until you have grated the entire half into a bowl. Fill the bowl with cold water and stir gently. This will get the extra starch off of the slices so that the hash brown part will be crisp and not chewy.
Next, drain the water from the bowl, dump the potatoes onto a paper towel, and pat dry. This will also help with the not-soggy hash browns. Return the potatoes to the bowl and squeeze the whole packet of ketchup onto them. Stir until all the pieces are coated.
Add the smallest amount of olive oil to a skillet (maybe a dime-size amount) and bring to a medium heat. Dump the grated potatoes into the skillet and kind of mold them into a little patty.
This was actually my first time attempting to make hash browns of any kind, so here’s where my guidance is more “cook them until you think they’re done.” I tried to base my doneness off of the hash browns at the University Inn, if any of you have ever had those.
Anyway, while that’s cooking, take the other half of the potato, put it on a paper towel, and microwave either for 4 minutes on high or on the “potato” setting on the microwave. Once it’s done, take it out, let it cool for a minute or so, then saw off the end where the potato was exposed from grating (it’ll be hard as a rock anyway). Scoop the flesh out of the skin into another bowl, trying to leave the skin intact. Unless you’re not into eating potato skin; in which case, maul away and just omit the skin from the final conglomeration.
Take your 1 or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and throw them into the potato flesh and just stir it all up. It’s going to look weird but it’ll taste awesome.
Assuming your hash browns are done, go ahead and dump them onto a plate. They’ll be super hot, so it’ll be good to let them cool for a bit. While they’re cooling, coat the inside of the potato skin with salt and re-add the potato/peanut butter mixture to the inside. Put the skin on top of the hash browns, then sprinkle the whole mixture with Mrs. Dash. Me being me, I can’t taste Mrs. Dash very well at all, but I added it anyway for a little color. I don’t really know how it tastes with the spices, so omit it if you want.
Anyway.
It tastes really good. Leaving the peanut butter potatoes in the salted skin kind of makes them soak up the salt, and that makes it even better.
WOO POTATOES!
Today’s song: Repetition Kills You by The Black Ghosts
This Week’s Science Blog: The Robots are Getting Creepier
Oh my freaking god, nightmares.
This one’s pretty hilarious, though:
The fact that these things are made out of something called “septom” makes it even creepier, I think.
Today’s song: U + Me = by Dan Black
Firefox, I will STAB you
SURVEY!
1. When you want to have “you” time, what do you do?
Listen to music. Blog. Sometimes Flash.
2. Are you comfortable with answering personal questions?
Sure.
3. Have you ever cried and didn’t know why?
Story of my life, man. Story of my life.
4. When is the last time you were truly happy with your life?
Probably never.
5. Have you ever thought your best friend was sexy?
Hahahaha, yeah.
6. Do you think long distance relationships are ever really worth it?
Don’t know, never had one.
7. What did you do at your lowest point in life?
I did bad things to my body.
8. What brought you back from that?
Still trying to deal with it.
9. Have you ever envisioned your own wedding?
Pfft.
10. When is the last time you personally made someone else cry?
Um…August?
11. Do you think you will be in a relationship 3 days from now?
Seriously, seriously doubt it.
12. Do you eat a healthy diet?
Broccoli owns.
13.Last person you called?
My mom, I think.
14. Do you believe exes can really ever be “just friends?”
Sure.
17. Would you be able to date someone who had a kid with someone else?
Depends on how involved with the kid I’d have to be.
18. When is the last time you were on a vacation?
I ditched this hellhole over the summer.
19. Do you make your bed every day?
I don’t really need to.
20. Are you too shy to tell people when you’re developing feelings for them?
Usually, yes.
21. Do you use the Internet or television more?
Internet. Internet, internet, internet.
22. Have you ever worn black nail polish?
It’s pretty much the only color of nail polish I wear.
25. Which celebrity have you been compared to most?
Does Bettie Page count? Just because of the hair.
26. Do you have romantic feelings for anyone, and if so, do they know?
Sort of, and maybe.
27. What are your plans for your future?
Get the hell out of here as fast as possible, then continue to become more educated.
29. If you could pack up and leave your life now to move away, would you?
Dude, you have no idea.
30. Have you ever done any acting on stage?
Indeed.
31. Do you like being in pictures?
No. I’m pretty much the least photogenic person ever.
32. Do you cry easily?
Hahahaha.
33. Have you ever been more attracted to a significant other’s sibling than them?
Um…
34. What is the last fun, free activity you did?
I wandered around in the Lougheed mall for like three hours last weekend.
35. Do you enjoy romance?
Sure.
36. Do you tend to fall for people easily?
Not particularly.
37. Have you spent more time in your life single, or in a relationship?
Haha, single.
38. What person in your family are you the most like?
Probably my dad. We both obsess over planning.
39. Are you quick to start a fight?
Nope.
40. Have you ever put anything other than cheese in your grilled cheese?
Nope.
42. Do your parents really know YOU?!
Somewhat.
43. Have you ever felt invincible?
Not really.
44. How many cars have you owned?
Zero!
45. Do you get along well with your siblings?
I have no such things!
46. Would you rather be cheated on or with?
Cheated on, probably.
47. Do you feel like you’ve got some growing up to do?
I am perpetually 12 years old.
Today’s song: Resistance by Muse
The world comes to its senses
Today is apparently the first ever World Statistics Day, which is probably one of the greatest days ever implemented (now we just need to petition for an International Leibniz Day).
Appropriately, a group of us spent nearly five hours on the homework assignment for multivariate.
It’s about time something like this happened. I’m not a fan of the way statistics has been vilified when there are a lot of people who aren’t bending the numbers inappropriately.
Woo!
Today’s song: Murder on the Dancefloor Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Dataaaaaaa!
Must…analyze…all of this…
I found this via this interesting blog post (thanks, StumbleUpon!). I knew philosophy was a male-dominated major, but I didn’t know the gender gap was so large.
I’m going to have to screw with these numbers and come up with some interesting analyses. I LOVE this kind of stuff.
Today’s song: The Boxer by Simon & Garfunkel
Survey? Don’t mind if I do!
Survey time!
1. Gone over the speed limit?
I try not to.
2. Slept in a different bed?
Indeed.
3. Made out in a movie theater?
Nopers. I don’t like going to the theatre, anyway.
4. Made out with 2 different people in one night?
Nope.
5. Thought your cousin was hot?
EW GROSS.
6. Been in love?
Very much so.
7. Slept past noon?
Just that one week when I was on those meds.
8. Taken a shower with the opposite sex?
Almost…
9. Made out for more than 3 minutes?
Hahaha, yes indeed.
10. Painted your room?
Yup. I was also allowed to draw all over my walls when I was young, ‘cause my mom is badass.
11. Drove a car?
SCARY!
12. Danced in front of your mirror?
I do that all the time. Almost one whole wall is mirrored in my apartment.
13. Gotten a hickey?
Yeah.
14. Been dumped?
Once, yeah.
15. Stole money from a friend?
Haha, I think I stole Aneel’s credit card and put it down my pants once.
16. Gotten in a car with people you just met?
Yup. Fun times in Boise with Matt’s friends.
17. Been in a fist fight?
Haha, nope.
18. Snuck out of your house?
Never had a reason to.
19. Had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back?
Soap operas could be written.
20. Been arrested?
Nope.
21. Made out with a stranger?
Haha, ew, no.
22. Left your house with out telling your parents?
Oh, probably.
23. Had a crush on your neighbor?
I don’t even know who my neighbors are.
24. Ditched school to do something more fun?
I don’t think I’d ever ditch school.
25. Slept in a bed with a member of the same or opposite sex?
I’ve slept in a bed with like five people before. Remember February when I came home?
26. Seen someone die?
My grandpa, yes.
27. Been on a plane?
Plane rides rock.
28. Kissed a picture?
Hahahahaha, yes.
Leibniz is deceased; it’s the closest I can get.
29. Slept in the opposite sex’s bed?
Yup!
30. Love someone or miss someone right now?
Yes, both, very much.
31. Laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by?
Possibly?
32. Made a snow angel?
Long ago in a galaxy far, far away
33. Played dress up?
I used to sprint around the house in a hoop skirt, does that count?
34. Cheated while playing a game?
I pushed Aaron off a cliff in CoD multiplayer when he was getting a Dr. Pepper.
35. Been lonely?
Yup.
36. Fallen asleep at work/school?
Nope. Almost, but nope.
37. Been to a club?
Does The Beach count?
38. Felt an earthquake?
Nope.
39. Touched a snake?
Snakes rule.
40. Ran a red light?
2 AM tofu run for Sean. There was NO ONE on the road.
41. Been suspended from school?
Nope.
42. Had detention?
Fun times in Algebra I with perfect squares.
43. Been in a car?
NEVER!
44. Hated the way you look?
ALWAYS!
45. Witnessed a crime?
Public nudity.
46. Been lost?
Downtown Vancouver + Claudia = panic attacks.
47. Been to the opposite side of the country?
Not the opposites side of Canada, no.
48. Felt like dying from embarrassment?
Meh.
49. Cried yourself to sleep?
Welcome to the last year of my life.
50. Sang karaoke?
Does Rock Band count?
51. Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t do?
Sure.
52. Laughed till some kind of beverage came out of your nose?
Haha, it’s been awhile, but yes. And it was Kool-Aid.
53. Caught a snowflake on your tongue?
Probably.
54. Kissed in the rain?
Nope.
55. Sung in the shower?
Shower time is Boston time.
56. Had a dream that you married someone?
Hahaha, William Shatner is my subconscious husband.
57. Played getting married?
Like in elementary school? I was the kid no one wanted to marry ‘cause I was “weird.”
58. Got your tongue stuck to a flag pole?
Nope.
59. Ever gone to school partially nude?
I don’t think so…?
60. Been a blind date?
Ew, no.
61. Sat on a roof top?
Indeed.
62. Didn’t take a shower for a week?
Yes, but that was because I slept for about 172 hours straight.
63. Ever been too scared to watch scary movies alone?
Nah.
64. Played chicken?
Nope.
65. Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on?
Nope.
66. Been told you’re hot by a complete stranger?
Just a drunk one.
67. Broken a bone?
No, surprisingly.
68. Been easily amused?
Dude, I amuse myself by breathing.
69. Laugh so hard you cry?
Hahahaha, memories of the house resurface.
70. Cheated on a test?
Never.
71. Forgotten someone’s name?
All the freaking time.
72. Blacked out from drinking?
I don’t drink.
73. Played a prank on someone?
We screwed with our friend Lara a lot in elementary school. She talked in her sleep and we messed with her head.
74. Gone to a late night movie?
I don’t like movies.
76. Failed a class?
Closest I got was a C- in Algebra II.
77. Choked on something you’re not supposed to eat?
That sounds so incredibly dirty.
78. Played an instrument for more than 10 hours?
Indeed.
79. Cheated on a girlfriend/boyfriend?
Once.
80. Did you celebrate the 4th of July?
Fireworks in Tidyman’s parking lot! Orgy piles in Pullman!
81. Thrown strange objects?
What?
82. Felt like someone else?
Nope, just Claudia.
83. Thought about running away?
Nah.
84. Ran away?
See above.
85. Had detention and not attend it?
I’ve only had detention once and I pretty much had to stay.
86. Made parents cry?
My mom, yeah.
87. Cried over someone?
I cry over everything.
88. Owned more than 5 sharpies?
I have a Sharpie drawer.
89. Dated someone more than once?
No.
90. Have a dog?
I’m not a big dog fan.
91. Own an instrument?
I own three.
92. Been in a band?
WOO BAND!
93. Drank 25 sodas in a day?
Hahaha. I don’t even like soda.
94. Broken a cd?
Yup.
95. Shot a gun?
I suck, but yes.
96. Been on myspace for more than 5 hours?
Just uploading blogs.
97. Fell asleep at the computer?
Haha, I always do this late at night.
98. Have a major crush on someone right now?
Pfft.
99. Have a religion?
I’m out in the woods with R.E.M. searching for it.
100. Thought about what people would say at your funeral?
Screw that.
Today’s song: Boy Inside the Man by Tom Cochrane & Red Rider
I’M A CHEF WATCH ME BAKE
HOLY CRAP I COOKED AGAIN!
It’s almost the same thing as last time because I still have half a bag of cornmeal (and because I freaking love cornmeal), but I was curious as to what would happen if I put ice cream in the oven, so I gave that a shot this time.
These taste good, but they’re also pretty, which makes them snazzy. You should have seen me experimenting with this while trying to write down the ingredients, it was quite funny. Here’s what you will need:
Base:
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 cup flour
- 1/3 cup cornmeal
- ¾ tsp. baking powder
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- ¾ tsp. vanilla
Ice cream cookie:
- 3 tbsp. butter
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- ½ cup ice cream (I used Oreo ‘cause it’s badass, but use whatever)
- ¼ cup peanut butter
Top:
- ½ cup cashews
- 1 ½ tbsp. brown sugar
To make the base:
Melt butter into sugar and beat until mixed. Add the egg and beat again. In another bowl, blend the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Add slowly to the butter/sugar mixture, stirring as you add. After all this is done, dump in your vanilla and stir once more.
As in the previous cookie recipe, you’re going to have to store this in the fridge for a bit. Get some cling film, roll the dough into a ball, wrap it tightly with the film, and stick it in the freezer for half an hour or so.
While it’s chilling out, go ahead and make the ice cream cookie (and get your oven preheating to 350°):
Melt butter into sugar and beat until mixed. Add the egg and beat again. Add both the ice cream and the peanut butter at once and blend slowly until everything is an amalgamated nasty looking thing (yes, it will look pretty gross). Slowly stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. I really guesstimated on the amount of flour I used, so here’s a picture of the consistency you’re going to want:
It’s also going to feel like a dead squid. This is okay.
Now that a half-hour has passed (maybe?), take your cornmeal dough out of the freezer. It’s going to be super crumbly, but you’re going to want to flatten out little portions of it large enough so you can cookie-cut circles out of them like so:
Put these pieces on a cookie sheet. Then get your ice cream dough and flatten it out as best you can. Like I said, it’s going to feel like some sort of dead sea creature owing to the coldness and consistency of the ice cream, and it may be a bit difficult to roll it out without getting it stuck everywhere, so use copious amounts of flour and cut carefully. I used a slightly smaller round cookie cutter, but the same size as the cornmeal base size works, too. Place the ice cream cookies on top of the cornmeal ones on the cookie sheet.
Now it’s time to beat the crap out of some nuts. Put the cashews in a sealable plastic baggie and sprinkle them with the brown sugar. Shake the baggie a few times to distribute the sugar, then pulverize the nuts with a spoon/rolling pin/mental powers until they’re broken up but not powdery. Sprinkle them atop the cookie layers and bake for about 12 minutes.
Yay! I think my favorite part of these is the fact that there are three different consistencies going on.
And, you know, cornmeal.
Today’s song: You Make Me Happy by Lindsey Ray
This Week’s Science Blog: Lost In Space…Sort Of
First off, that picture’s badass.
Second, this is proof that we’re all going to be massively screwed in the coming year or so.
Apparently the sun gave off a massive fart (read: solar storm) and blasted the Galaxy 15 satellite out of radio operation. It’s still working, but is now drifting in one of two “gravity wells” that house a lot of our space debris.
Those in charge of monitoring such things as the crap we dump into the vacuum that surrounds us say that it’s not likely the Galaxy 15 will collide with other active satellites, but there is concern over the fact that its still-working communications package might interfere with nearby orbiters.
The plan? Either shoot it with lasers (ooh, big surprise there) or just wait until its orbit decays and it hurtles through the earth’s atmosphere to rejoin us. Here’s my question: are they certain Galaxy 15 went offline due to the solar storm, or was that just a coincidental incident? If it wasn’t, then we’d better get the gravity wells ready for a whole bunch of incoming defunct debris, as these solar flares supposedly aren’t going to be backing off any time soon.
And yes, I checked—apparently “zombiesat” is an actual technical term. Snazzy.
Today’s song: Consequence by The Notwist
Oh! Canada!
Holy crap, the Canadian dollar was worth more than the US dollar early this morning. Creepy.
And this, because I have nothing else to say for today:
Starts out slow, gets pretty interesting (and colorful) a minute or so in.
Today’s song: Technicolor by Tim Myers
HOO-HOO!
Inspector Gadget theme.
Stuck in my head, going on nine ten hours now.
Shoot me.
Go go gadget insanity!
Today’s song: The Whip by Locksley
Life lessons and AWESOME COOKIES
It’s Canadian Thanksgiving today. NO CAMPUS FOR ME!
Anyway, today’s life lessons are as follows:
1. I should not be allowed around cornmeal.
2. I should not be allowed to “experiment.” My kitchen now looks like the Pillsbury Doughboy used it as a toilet.
Today’s AWESOME COOKIES are as follows:
I had a bunch of random ingredients left over from various cooking endeavors, so I decided what I could to with them all. These cookies are the result. I must say, they’re a lot better than I expected them to be. I shall take them to the office tomorrow and distribute them freely, I think.
I call them chocolate crunch cornbread cookies and they look like this:
What you will need:
Cookie base
- ½ cup butter (one stick)
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 2 egg yolks
- ½ cup cornmeal
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
Chocolate stuff
- ¼ cup cashews
- ¼ cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
- 2 packets of chocolate Pocky (about 15 sticks)
- 4 tbsp. peanut butter (chunky or smooth, your choice)
Note: the base was adapted from this site. I don’t like lemon or cranberries, hence why they’re absent from my ingredient list, plus I don’t think the chocolate would taste good with the cranberries, but what do I know?
OKAY, steps!
1. Soften butter and mix with sugar. Stir in the salt and egg yolks and beat until just mixed. Add the cornmeal and flour and mix until everything’s pretty evenly amalgamated. It should still be a bit crumbly.
2. Dump the mixture onto a cutting board (or whatever you’ve got) and get yourself some cling film. Roll the dough out gently (it’ll crumble fairly easily) into a tube shape until it’s smooth and delightfully phallic. Wrap it in the cling film and twist the edges like you’re making a giant sausage. You want the dough nice and compact so you can cut it up later.
3. Put the giant penis rolled dough in the freezer for about 45 minutes. While it’s chilling out, you can make the chocolate stuff! Combine the cashews, cereal, and Pocky (break the pocky in half first, it’s easier that way) in a sealable baggie.
4. Now just beat the hell out of it. I used my “grad school is destroying my soul” frustration augmented with the back of a spoon. Try to get the nuts totally pulverized, but if you want a few larger chunks of Pocky and cereal, that’s cool. I realized after I was done with this whole endeavor that grinding these ingredients into a coarse powder would probably work best, but I have no such apparatus for accomplishing that (and I’m too lazy to beat a baggie with a spoon for an extended period of time), so I just left it kinda chunky.
5. Dump the contents of the baggie into a bowl and add the peanut butter. Microwave for about 40 seconds and stir. This’ll melt the peanut butter so it’s manageable as well as the chocolate on the Pocky. You should get something gross-looking like this:
6. After the 45 minutes are up, take your dough out of the freezer and get slicin’! I cut mine into ½ inch slices, and that seemed to work fine. Now’s a good time to preheat your oven to 350° F.
7. Spread the chocolate concoction liberally onto the tops of the cookie slices. It should hold together fairly well, so don’t worry too much about getting it everywhere. However, if you went the “I don’t have a food chopper” route, make sure you don’t have any sharp Pocky sticks poking out. ‘Cause they hurt like hell.
8. Place the cookies on an ungreased pan and cook for 15 minutes.
Yay! Now you have tasties. These taste a lot better than they look, trust me. I got about 20 or so cookies out of this recipe. Enjoy!
Today’s song: My Philosophy by Holiday Parade
Creation? DAMNATION!
So the number of possible ideas for NaNo has exponentially grown over the past like five days.
Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap.
Maybe I just won’t have a plan and go from “hey, this might look good on paper.”
It’s worked before.
But so has planning.
Short sentences!
End blog.
Today’s song: Life In Technicolor II by Coldplay
Do naughty maize watch cornography?
You know what are hilarious? Relationships. I remember the great love trapezoids of 2008, what a fun year that was.
You know what’s even more hilarious than relationships? MSN conversations about them. Sean put up with a lot of crap.
Sorry, it’s been a long day. I had to go to fucking Burnaby to find Bisquick (Burnaby is approximately 2 hours away by bus/Skytrain). I also found shoes, but I didn’t buy them.
My life’s exciting, isn’t it? I’m in a bad weekend place, go to hell.
Today’s song: Kiss the Rain by Billie Myers
Random number generation is too important to be left to chance
I appear to be unable to form coherent thoughts that last for more than three minutes at a time today.
You know what that means…
RANDOMBLOG!
Had I the money and time, I would love to do a cruise around the world. How fantastically awesome would that be? I could totally make it happen in a year’s time if I didn’t have to pay rent, haha.
I want my new shiny to get here! I need a new electronic to fondle, never mind that it was a poor purchase choice. I’ll just have to learn to fondle live with the consequences.
Lady Gaga’s song Teeth has a freakish resemblance to Prisencolinensinainciusol in terms of the beat. I’m also in love with it. Go figure.
THAT IS ALL!
Today’s song: Teeth by Lady Gaga
HOT DAMN, Tukey Sandwiches!
No, that is not a misspelling.
NNNNH I have such a freakish urge to cook.
Hence these.
They’re a tribute to John Tukey, American statistician and source of horrible, horrible lunch meat puns. Yeah, I know, I made the joke two days ago and I haven’t been able to go 15 minutes without thinking, “exactly what would a Tukey sandwich entail?”
Ingredients, process, and general apology to Mr. Tukey as follows (I didn’t really measure stuff as I made this, so fair warning).
You will need:
- Bread. A small loaf works perfectly. You’ll need six pieces.
- Butter. About a tablespoon will work fine.
- Cheese. Colby Jack is preferred. Make sure it’s in a block so you can slice it.
- Turkey. Clean pieces of breast meat are best/neatest.
- Bacon. Three long slices will suffice.
- Mayo. 2-3 tablespoons.
- Cinnamon. A teaspoon sounds about right.
- Corn bread (or muffin) dry mix. Three or four tablespoons will be fine.
- Oil. Just a bit, maybe a teaspoon.
- Mrs. Dash.
- Water.
What you need to do to make this awesomeness happen:
1. Cut the crust off the six pieces of bread so that you have nice little squares.
2. Take three of said squares and coat one side of each lightly in butter.
3. Take the other three slices and toast them lightly, just enough to get them a little brown and provide them with a bit of structural integrity.
4. Mix the teaspoon of cinnamon with the mayonnaise. Add more cinnamon if you’d like. Mine looked pinkish when I was done. Once the three toasting pieces are done toasting, spread the mayo/cinnamon mix on one side of each of the three slices and set aside.
5. Place the buttered slices butter-side down onto a frying pan and turn on to low heat. Cut a three medium-thin slices of Colby Jack cheese and put a square onto each piece of bread as they heat up (note: they have up here in Canada land these cute little rectangular cuboids of cheese. They’re smaller in area than the bread, but I think it works fine that way). Sprinkle the cheese and bread with Mrs. Dash and let it cook until the underside of the bread is golden brown and/or the cheese is gooey.
6. Cook bacon (I’m lazy, so mine was precooked and all I did was heat it up in the microwave). Tear the strips in half and position them in an “X” position on the mayo/cinnamon bread.
7. Now it gets fun. Take the corn bread dry mix and mix it with the teaspoon of oil and some water. I really didn’t measure this, but you’ll want a consistency similar to that of the mayo/cinnamon. Don’t make it too moist, but don’t make it dry enough to crumble.
8. Lay out the turkey meat and spread it with the corn meal mix. It looks gross, I know, but it tastes good.
9. Fold the turkey into nice little square packets and place each packet onto the bacon and mayo/cinnamon bread.
10. Complete the sandwich by putting the cheese/Mrs. Dash bread on top of the turkey and securing with a pretty frill. In my opinion, these taste equally good hot and cool, so if you made a super mess out of your kitchen like I did, go ahead and clean before you try them.
Voila!
So why does this qualify as a tribute to Mr. Tukey again?
– There are six pieces of bread because he came up with the Six Pack Test.
– The sandwiches are square because he came up with the boxplot.
– They’re small because he coined the word “bit.”
– They’ve got turkey in them because DUH.
– Cinnamon is brown. He went to Brown University. I’m funny.
– He was born in Massachusetts. Corn muffins are the state’s official muffin.
– The turkey is also Massachusetts’ state bird, which is hilarious.
– He made significant contributions to jackknife estimation, hence Colby Jack cheese. It’s a stretch, but so is this entire thing.
– And I just assumed he liked bacon.
So yeah. This is why I should not be allowed to have free time.
This Week’s Science Blog: And God Liked It, So He Put a Ring on It
I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to post this picture with some related content for quite some time.
Anyway. Apparently there are tsunamis in Saturn’s rings.
Thirty years ago, NASA’s Voyager 1 probe detected rippling within a portion of the rings, as well as a gap that seemed to be a little larger than 9 miles wide. Today, observations taken from different angles show the gap to be much narrower than this, but have also revealed periods of “peaking,” as if there were obstructions in the gap.
Astronomer Phil Nicholson ascertains that these peaks are most likely slow moving giant ass tsunamis* rippling through the rings, reaching heights of nearly a mile. It turns out that the tsunami action matches the orbital rate of Titan (which circles Saturn once every 16 days), and thus scientists have assumed that the peaks are the result of the ring’s gravitational relationship with Titan.
As the article states, “As Titan orbits Saturn, its gravity likely yanks the section of ring particles that are in resonance with the moon—or moving at the same speed as Titan’s gravitational field.” However, aside from adding some really cool information about the interaction between Saturn’s rings and moons, scientists don’t think that these findings will have any major implications for the studying of Saturn’s rings.
*technical term
Math Puns: The First Sine of Madness
I’ve been in a math mood as of late. Here are some things that are fun.
– Create an arbitrary matrix. See if you can find the eigenvalues.
– Do stuff like this. Or just mathify food in general (Tukey sandwiches! Chocolate chi-squares! Mandelbratwurst! The ever punnalicious pumpkin pi! I could go on…). I think if we all had to Fourier transform our breakfasts in the morning our lives would be a lot cooler.
– I do interval workouts on the elliptical machine in the rec center. During the high intensity intervals, I start at zero in my head, count up to the next prime number, and count backwards to zero. Then I start again, counting up to the prime number after the first prime number, count backwards to zero, and repeat ad nauseum (like this: 0,1,0; 0,1,2,1,0; 0,1,2,3,2,1,0; 0,1,2,3,5,3,2,1,0; etc.).
– Do stuff like Zeno. Whenever you have to do something for a set period of time (like 30 minutes), divide the time in half in your head then, when you reach the halfway time, divide it in half again, and again, and again, until you’ve got like a minute left. I find this helps the time pass more quickly when I’m doing something not so enjoyable. Plus it’s fun.
– This video:
Yay!
Today’s song: Rich Girl$ by Down With Webster
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