Monthly Archives: January 2007

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Humble Egg Pie

Do you have anything that keeps you humble? You know, little things that you should be good at, that you sometimes are good at, but that sometimes you totally mess up and you realize that you’re not really so good at them after all? Today mine is soft boiled eggs. I’m incredibly picky about them, how long they’re cooked, the texture and hardness level of both the yolk and the white… and at one time I’d perfected the cooking process so they came out just to my specifications each time. I hadn’t made them in a while (you’re not supposed to have them while you’re pregnant) and I recently started making them again, only to realize that I’d forgotten all my tricks. Through a process of trial and many too-soft eggs, I finally figured it out and was back on my game.

Until today.

I cooked the eggs the right amount of time (I think, but who knows now?) and they came out far too runny. So I’m forced to admit that I’m not so good as I thought, I have no space to be proud of my soft boiling abilities.

I’m also forced to admit that sometimes my posts are really mundane, aren’t they?

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Opinions followup

To answer Becky’s questions in the comments from the last post:

1. We’re moving to another complex about 5 miles from where we live now. I don’t even know if it’s that far. The apartments are cool, the one we want is really neat; we’ll find out if we get it tomorrow. The nice thing about them (other than hopefully quieter neighbors and cleaner communal areas and security gates that work) is that there are about 18 families from our ward who live in the various complexes in the community, so I’ll have lots of people to talk to and Zoe will have lots of kids to play with. We’ll hopefully be moving at the beginning of March.

2. I haven’t tried the aloe vera kleenex, but I love the lotion-y kind. I should try the aloe though, Zoe’s little nose is sore.

3. We haven’t had the progressive dinner yet, it’s still in the planning stages, and that’s why it’s evil. When you have too many people involved in the planning who each have their hearts set on different things it just becomes stupid. Honestly, I don’t think there is a point to it. Our wards just keep having them even though everyone admits they’ve never worked. Madness I say! Madness!

4. I have never entered a Readers Digest sweepstakes. Strangely though, every time I see one of those little entry form thingies I think of Grandma. Did she enter them? Why are they so linked in my mind?

5. I have no opinion on cars, unless its about what they look like. I know that sounds incredibly girlie, but honestly, I just don’t care about all the rest of it. So, here is my opinion on the Nissan Quest and the Honda Odyssey: The Quest is sleeker looking, and I like the brown/burgundy color it comes in. The black is nice too. I like the boxiness of the front of the Odyssey, but not the ridges on the sides. Overall, I prefer the Quest.

There you have it. Now go watch this, it’s funny. It would be even funnier if he could be thrown off at any moment, like a mechanical bull, but it is what it is.

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My opinions for the day

1. Purely Cotton tissues suck. While they may not claim to be soft and absorbent (all they really claim is that they’re “naturally gentle, hypo-allergenic, virtually lint free, and safe for eyeglasses”, oh, and “easier on the environment”) the whole cotton thing sure leads you to believe that they probably are. (And by you I mean me. You might be smarter than me, who knows?) The fact of the matter is, they’re scratchy, and dissolve at the slightest hint of water. Now I’m stuck with a whole box of the stupid things.

2. Progressive dinners are of the devil. You know that part in So I Married an Axe Murderer when he asks cute girl what the most evil thing was she’d ever done? Something that was “so bad you would say it was eeee-vil, like the fru-its of the deveeel”? Progressive dinners are more evil than that.

3. Our downstairs neighbors are stupid. Ok, I don’t know that for sure, but I do know that they’re either deaf or will be soon. They turn up everything so loud it makes our floor vibrate. I don’t care what kind of a mood you’re in, no one needs to listen to Alanis Morrisette, Rick James, or Bananarama that loud. (Ok, I made up the Banarama part, but the other two are real. The baseline of Super Freak gets really irritating if you’re not actually playing it in your own home. It actually was really funny for the minute or two I thought it was MC Hammer, but yeah.) They’re the number one reason why we’re moving.

4. Grease You’re the One that I Want is a great show. It entertains me. I wish the little girl who reminded me of Audrey Hepburn had stayed though. She was super cute. I predict that the soap opera guy (Austin) will win as Danny (at least he should, he’s far more polished than the rest of them, although I really like Max). I’m not dedicated to any of the girls yet, not since little Audrey left.
5. Sean Connery is awesome. Darby O’Gill and the Little People still scares the crap out of me though.
6. Will Smith is super cool because he has no qualms about making a complete and utter fool of himself.

Is there anything you want to know my opinion on?

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The Consequences of Falling

I finished The Hours a couple days ago, and appreciated again how you can have a completely different experience each time you re-read a book. When I’ve read the book before, the themes that stood out were those of madness and genius, of beauty and recognition of that beauty amidst the drudgery of life. Those themes were still there this time, but they took a back seat to that of the choice to leave or stay, and the consequences of that choice.

The three women in the book all face the choice in different ways and for different reasons. Virginia Woolf struggles to decide if living in a place that inspires her genius is worth living with the overpowering madness that is exacerbated by it. She makes two attempts to leave- one, unsuccessful, to return to London for a few hours, and the other far more permanent, into the river that takes her life.

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What I really want

In the last post I said I wanted a trip to the library hotel, and I do, but I REALLY want to go here. There are no TVs, no anything but books and quiet spaces to read. Each room is based on a different author’s aesthetic, and it’s just so cool. I’d want to stay in the Agatha Christie, Colette, Edgar Allan Poe, Fitzgerald, or Oscar Wilde room. It’s on the Oregon coast, and I have it on good authority that it really is as cool as it sounds.

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Calling any rich readers!

Anyone want to send me on a trip? This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. It’s like the Hotel Denouement from Lemony Snicket! I mean, without the people trying to kill you and harpoon guns and things.

Speaking of Lemony Snicket, Daniel Handler was on the radio yesterday, and man he’s a funny guy. I was cracking up, and so was everyone in the studio.

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Again, who are you people? I mean, welcome!

Google has a nifty little tool that allows you to see how many people are visiting your blog, where they are, and (kind of) how they found you. While the information is interesting, it’s also somewhat baffling. Who is it in Oslo who comes back every month or so? Who is it in England that’s reading? And Australia? There are some people I can guess, but others I have no idea.

I have on average, 25% new visitors each month. I know I got a decent influx from Gary linking to me from his awesome blog, and hopefully some of those people will stick around. So, in honor of De-lurking Week, which just ended yesterday, I’ve added a little guest book on the right. If you’re so inclined to help me stop going crazy wondering just who in fact found me from Bangalore, please click over and leave a little note. And if I already know who you are, go ahead and pop over there anyway if you want; you know, for posterity and all.

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This time, really, for Zia

Zia has taken up my challenge, and left me quite a list of topics about which to babble. I will endeavor to do my best. (Side note, you can tell Zoe is napping decently today because I have time to type!)

Dumbbell: I’m assuming she means the kind you use for exercise, not the name you call someone when you think they’re stupid. I actually prefer dumbbells to weight machines, because they make you work harder. I used to go to this great little gym at a defunct high school that was so tiny (the gym, not the high school) that the guy running it was able to give everyone one on one training. He was an awesome guy. He made the women use free weights before he’d let them near the machines because in his experience women relied too much on the machines, and he made the guys work the machines before he’d let them near the free weights for the same (well, inverse, converse? ) reason. I went there for a summer, and by the time I left I was up to bench pressing 50 lbs. That doesn’t seem like much, but I’m pretty small. I wish I’d kept it up, I was in pretty good shape! Then I went back to college and joined one of those mega-gyms and ended up paying for two or three years of membership and never going.

Cherry cordial: I’ve don’t think I’ve ever had cherry cordial. I’m not really sure what it is. Hang on, I’ve just looked it up, of course I’ve had them. They’re candy! I used to not like them because I didn’t like cherries, but I’ve come around to the cherry way of thinking, and have now embraced the cherry candies as well. They’re not my first choice, but they’re yummy.

Microsoft: Microsoft makes my computer go, so yay Microsoft! To be perfectly honest, I often forget if Microsoft does Windows, or what their deal is exactly. I realize that makes me sound kind of dumb (especially along with the whole cherry cordial thing), but there you go.

Atlas: I don’t have an atlas. My parents have a really neat atlas that I remember looking at as a kid. I’m sure they still have it, I should go look at it again.

Bamboo: What to say about bamboo? It’s pretty; I have the bamboo room set in Animal Crossing, but no bamboo in my actual home. At least I don’t think I do. No, that’s a lie, B’s kendo shinai are made out of