Latest Toenail Update

My toenail (the "stayed home" toe one) finally came off last night in bed. I didn't even feel it come off. The nail underneath is around 1/3 of the way grown in so it's not near as gnarly as I was expecting it to be.

It took from August to December for that one to fall off, so I am guessing my big toenails will be falling off in March.

Oh, and I went to Hungary last week. Not much to report except that I hate the Budapest airport workers who went on strike. Oh and I have a new favorite 'fair' food: Kürtőskalács. They Here's a picture of one being made:



And the finished product - in different flavors:



They have the lovely crunchiness and taste of a toasted marshmallow - without being sickeningly sweet. I had one (or two) every night after I found them. :)

Toenail Update

I made it worse last night, so this morning, I superglued it to the nail bed. It certainly seems to have worked but I will keep you updated.

Tuesday Update:
Nail adhesion: > 90%
11/3 Nail adhesion: approx 50%

I Have the Sense of Humor of a Third-Grade Boy

A Few Little Things

~Braces Update~

I ate some hot mustard without thinking and now my powerchains are neon yellow. I am just going to live with them until next week's appointment.

Also, the gaps between my two front teeth and my two front bottom teeth are closed.

~Product Review~

Jello Dark Chocolate Sugar Free Pudding - 60 calories each - 5 stars. Officially on the red-light food list now.

~Warning: Gross TMI about my Toe Section~

As some of you might know, I am trying to be healthier, so I am pretending to be a runner. I started in August and for the first 3 or 4 weeks, my running shoes were a half-size too small.

The first tip-off that my running shoes were too small was that my 'this piggy stayed home' toe on my right foot developed a blood blister. Second tip-off was that my toenail kind of hurt if I pushed on it. The blister went away, but the end of my toe was still black. Not a pretty fashion statement during flip-flop season.

Fast forward to Monday: I am clipping my toenails after running in my new shoes (Thank You Mom!) and I realize that my toenail feels really wiggly. I look down and o.m.g. my toenail is barely attached to my toe. It doesn't hurt and doesn't even look bad, but I can see down under my toenail at least 3/4 of the way down. Apparently it's attached at the very bottom, but I am now afraid to touch it.

So if any runners out there have any suggestions feel free to leave me a comment. Maybe they make Lee Press-On Toenails?

Orthodontist Update

I was intending to do a braces update after each appointment, but quickly determined it was too boring.

So here's the latest in bullet form:

• I've had braces on for 9 months now.
• I got elastics today. They aren't too bad but I can't open my mouth very wide.
• I asked the orthodontist if I was on track today (for the projected 24 months) and he said "oh no noooo no no no no." Meh!
• He had put a small gap between my front teeth for no apparent reason and he said he was closing it up now.
• He is using powerchains to close the gap. The powerchain is clear, which looks a little better, but I have to be careful with wine, curry, ketchup and mustard. They said if it gets ugly, to come in and they will change it out for me.

Edited to add:
OMG I can't yawn satisfactorily!

Near Miss

Ike completely missed Austin. The only thing I felt was some strong wind yesterday. I feel very lucky. Thanks for everyone checking on me.

Hurricane Ike is Making Me Very Nervous

Best map I've found so far

Interesting Fact

Between 1898 and 1904, a touchdown and a field goal in football were worth the same amount of points -- five.

Source: NFL

My New Favorite Firefox Add-On - Read it Later

This addon lets you mark pages that you want to read, but without having to create a bookmark for it (and then having to remove the bookmark, blah blah blah).

You just right-click on the page you want to read, and then choose "Read This Page Later" from the menu.



Then when you are ready to look at them, you click a little tiny book icon on the top right-hand side of your browser. Clicking on it produces a drop-down box with the list. When you're done reading a page, you click on a checkmark and it takes it off.



Don't judge me on anything on the list above - just did that as an example. My real pages are MUCH more exciting.

Product Review - Snap Capp

As most of you know, I drink a lot of Diet Cokes. I really prefer cans, because they are colder to begin with and seem to stay colder. But I also have a bad habit of having 1/4 or 1/2 full Diet Coke cans all over the place, so I generally buy the 16 oz bottles. So the other day, I bought this little thing when I was at a fake post office-type store. It was just on the counter next to the register.

It's a little piece of plastic with a lid that you snap onto a can. It keeps it from going flat and keeps it from spilling. I've used it probably 5 or 6 times since then, and it works really well. The seal is very tight on the can - in fact, the first time I tried to take it off, I launched it across my work cubicle.

Lion Mutilates 42 Midgets in Cambodian Ring-Fight

What in the hell?

Spectators cheered as entire Cambodian Midget Fighting League squared off against African Lion

The more you read the crazier it gets!

I Make Posts Just to Link to Other, Funnier Posts

Look on My Blog List -------------->

Today, I especially enjoyed:

Stuff White People Like - #107 Self Aware Hip Hop References
and

Sarah - When the man comes around

Ann's Birthday Tea

Ann's birthday is tomorrow, so we had a very girly birthday party/tea this afternoon for her. No boys allowed! The fact that we only have 3 guys on our team and they were all out of the office made that easy. :)

The Birthday Queen Ann


Ann, Lily*, and Val


Nancy feeding Lily pecans


I think we have enough wine for 11 women for a one-hour party


Lily on my foot after pooing on my jeans 3 times.


Nadja, Ann, Kate, Val


Group Photo


Sitting around after the party, Lily started a love affair with my earrings. Someone suggested that I fill it with birdseed. She pulled and twisted it for about 10 minutes.



*Lily is a boy but Ann didn't know this when she named him/her. Some other possible names that were suggested today were Lloyd and Lyle. Pretty sure Lily is going to stick though.

Olga Korbut from 1972

I did some fact-checking the bars are definitely farther apart (horizontally) now than they were then.

Oh yeah all the Chinese gymnasts are 16. For sure.

From an article here:

It was strange to see such tiny women with so many muscles. (Shawn Johnson of the U.S. team is small –- 4 foot 9 and about 90 pounds –- but these gymnasts are even smaller.)
Deng Linlin, 16 and about 68 pounds and 4-foot-6, had veins popping out of her forearms.
Jiang Yuyuan is listed as 16, 4-foot-7 and just 66 pounds in the China Daily newspaper’s Olympics section that ran last week. He Kexin, a favorite to win gold on the uneven bars, is 73 pounds and 4-foot-7.
The tallest and heaviest of them all — and certainly the most famous — is Cheng Fei, China’s most decorated gymnast. She is 20 years old, 4-foot-10 and 94 pounds. She will vie for the all-around gold, but her specialty is the vault, where she performs one of the most dangerous ones out there.

Pretty sure they aren't going to Mighty Fine Burgers after practice.

Discontinued Olympic Sports

Credit here:

It is fascinating the number and variety of sports that have at one time been part of the Olympic Games. Since the first modern Games in 1896, 12 sports have disappeared completely from the Olympic schedule.

These are:

golf

rugby

croquet

cricket

Jeu de Paume - like squash but using your hands instead of a racquet

pelota - another kind of handball-type game

polo

roque - a hard-surface version of croquet

rackets - early form of racquetball

tug-of-war

lacrosse

motor boating

Added to this is a large number of discontinued events from sports that are still on the program, such as the swimming events of plunge for distance and underwater swimming, the track and field events of the standing highjump and tug-of-war, and the shooting events of pigeon shooting and duelling pistol. You can have a look at the complete list of all discontinued sports, or my list
of some the more unusual sports.

Seriously - at least put lacrosse back in place of trampoline.

Olympic Events I Would Cut

Synchronized Diving
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Synchronized Swimming
BMX
Trampoline
Edited to add: 20K race-walk


I will add to the list as I find other events that displease me.

I heart the Olympics.

That's it.

Kailey - Kate - Abigail

This was our nightly routine when I was poodle-sitting last week.

Kailey would lay down by my left leg and rest her head on me, and then Abigail would lay down by my right leg. This same phenomenon happened in bed also (not quite as consistently).

The YES DanceAt Least Make it to Fork in the Garbage Disposal

Facebook

I buckled and signed up for Facebook.

Current Favorite Catchy Song Flo Rida - Low featuring T-Pain

I know Michele H. will like this one.

Stuff Kate Likes

This site has a ton of neat stuff:

Curiobot

Day 3

Forgot to add a quick post about Sunday. Didn't do much except clean and pack and of course, we all took showers. Don't remember who, but someone mentioned 'this house sure doesn't have much hot water.' Then everyone else started saying - 'hey - I had a cold shower/bath too.' We had all figured that the person before them had just used the last of the hot water.

As we were going over the "Things to do when you leave" list, we read through the "Things to do when you get here" list. Apparently in our excitement we had failed to notice item #3 "Turn on the breaker for the hot water heater".

...

Ate lunch at Baytown Seafood Restaurant in Palacios. It's kind of a Vietnamese/Seafood restaurant. Not fusion cuisine or anything chic like that - it's eggrolls and fried catfish. The eggrolls were really really good - I've never had a homemade one before.

And to give you an idea of where Palacios is:



And some information about how the town got its name: The bay was named after Jose Felix Trespalacios, Mexican governor of the area when Stephen F. Austin established his colony back in the 1800s. Eventually the town became known as Palacios and the pronunciation was Americanized to” Puh-LASH-uhs” rather than the proper Spanish Pa-las-ee-ohs.

Palacios Trip Pictures

Kate, Kelly, Stephanie, Nadja with weapons (Yes, a fishing rod is a weapon)


Kate doing a wine tasting (delicious homemade wine)


Kelly enjoying an adult beverage of her own


Nadja with the assault rifle


Kate with the assault rifle


A porpoise following the boat in the wake


Two other porpoises that stayed at the front (bow?) right-hand part (starboard?) of the boat.


Stephanie's lemon shark


Stephanie catching yet ANOTHER fish


Stephanie at the wheel of the U.S.S. Mustang


Happy Kate


Sunset over Palacios

Day 2 - The Boat Ride Part II

After all the shooting, Cap'n told us he was taking us to a small cove where we could swim. Foreshadowing: as we were heading to the cove, we saw hundreds and hundreds of white jellyfish in the water. So we get to the cove and the crew prepared the vessel to allow us to swim (Cap'n Tom pulled up the plywood door covering the torpedo ramp and put a cooler on the ramp as a stepstool; he also lashed a stepladder to a torpedo roller for us to use to get in and out). Cap'n was first in the water, followed by me, Nadja, Lisa, Lupe, and Kelly. Stephanie, who we now know is the smartest person on the boat, decided not to join us.

The water felt great... briefly. After about 3 minutes in the water, I started to feel some prickly pain across the tops of my shoulders and on my thumb. It wasn't very painful at the time, so I tried to ignore it. Then I heard Lisa say "Dad - what does a jellyfish sting feel like?" At that point, Nadja said she was going back on the boat and I said I was right behind her. We all ended up getting stung several places. We all got back on the boat (an adventure unto itself), and tried to laugh off the experience while attempting to identify if anyone was going into anaphylactic shock. We treated our stings with a combination of hand sanitizer and aloe vera gel with lidocaine. It actually worked pretty well. I really was happy that it worked well, because if that didn't work, our next options were snuff and/or urine. Small favors.

So since swimming was clearly out, we decided to fish some. We moved out into deeper water and tied up to a small offshore oilfield platform. When we were on our way out, some porpoises were racing the boat and playing in the wake. We were going 20 knots and they were easily keeping up with us. It was so neat.

Once at the platform, Cap'n taught us how to bait our own hooks with shrimp, squid, or mullet. We all got some experience fixing a line on an openface reel that has been backlashed. Stephanie clearly missed her calling as a pro fisher-person. She literally got tired of fishing after catching 6-7 catfish and a lemon shark. I caught 1 puny catfish (pictures to come).



^ Looked just like that one except it was ~2.5 feet long.

Lupe also caught a small hammerhead shark at the front of the boat. It was around the same size as the lemon shark. Nadja and I were strongly "encouraging" Lupe to throw the shark back when we saw Cap'n walk up with a mini aluminum baseball bat. We continued to nicely encourage them to throw it back and I finally reached over and took the bat out of Cap'n's hand. I felt like if I didn't, he would think we weren't totally serious and just brain the thing right in front of my eyes. They did eventually put him back in and he seemed to swim away fine. To be fair, Cap'n made the point that braining it and killing it instantly would be more humane than just letting it die from lack of oxygen. All other fish were thrown back with a minimum of distress.

By this point, it was getting pretty late so we started back in. Cap'n Tom let us all go into the wheel room and showed us all his gadgets like depth finders, two GPS's, his sound system, radar, etc. He also showed us how to navigate using a map along with some red signposts that were in the water.

We got home around 8:30. We took very very short showers (more on that in the Day 3 post) and went to Palacios Mexican Restaurant (PMR to the locals). Met up with the Cap'n, Lisa, and Lupe at Outrigger for a couple of drinks after that.

Day 2 - The Boat Ride (and I use that phrase loosely) Part I

Day 2: Boarding the Mustang aka the U.S.S. P.O.S. or the U.S.S. Heap

We showed up at the marina in Palacios right on time, and with everything girls need to have fun on the water. Beer, wine coolers, sunscreen, inflatable floaty things, junk food, and yellow watermelon.

When we originally saw the boat (evening of Day 1), our concern-o-meter immediately went into the red. Besides the exhaust/dead seafood smell, it seemed a bit - how shall I phrase this - rustic. After talking to Cap'n Tom, we learned that the boat was built in 1963 and was a modified torpedo recovery boat. The modification (singular) was to put a piece of plywood over the hole that led down to where the torpedos were stored. The torpedo storage ramp also doubles as our swimming entry and exit point.

He had two other people on the boat; Lisa, his 14-year old daughter whom we had met the evening before, and Lupe. Lupe isn't very talkative but seems nice enough. Cap'n Tom says that he's a friend of his daughters and that she's too young for him. He had originally scheduled two deckhands "of the female persuasion" but those plans fell through so our charter consisted of: Cap'n Tom, Lisa, Lupe, Kelly, Stephanie, Nadja, and me. We later learn that Lupe a) just kinda stuck around from the charter Cap'n did that morning and b) is at least 21 years old.

It was hot as Hades but once we were underway, the breeze cooled us off a little so we just laid out on the back of the boat and relaxed. After about 20 minutes, Cap'n came back and asked us if anyone knew how to shoot a rifle. We all pointed at Stephanie. Cap'n then asked her if she wanted to fire his SKS Russian assault rifle. WHUT. She agreed. WHUT. I asked him if it was legal. He just smiled.

He brought out the rifle and our concern-o-meter, which had dropped significantly, went back into the red.

<--- Imagine this gun but covered in rust. Apparently manufactured at the same time as the boat.

He threw an empty water bottle into the water (the boat is still moving at full speed!) and told Stephanie to try and hit it. She fired into the water a couple of times and we saw the water popping up where the bullets were impacting. He then encouraged her to fire several times in a row off the side of the boat. We then all took pictures with it trying to look tough. He also offered to let us shoot his speargun but we didn't get a chance to. The speargun looked like it was made pretty recently. He said it had three settings and on the strongest setting, the spear tip would put a hole throught the boat. It was called the JBL Sawed-Off Magnum Speargun.

Palacios Weekend - Day 1

Went on a trip to the coast this past weekend with some good friends of mine. The main activity in the trip was a chartered boat ride.

Day 1: Getting there
I used Google maps to find the route from Austin to Palacios. I was delighted to see that you basically take Hwy. 71 until you hit the ocean. We hit the road around noon after packing the car. We had a lot of stuff but were able to make sure the cooler made it in. I made a mix CD for the occasion and we had fun listening to it on the way down. We were on ZZ Top as we drove into Palacios so it worked out perfect. We also stopped about 45 minutes outside of Palacios and bought a yellow watermelon from a stand on the side of the road. Once we got to Palacios, we dropped off our bags at the house and went shopping at the Super S Foods store. We decided to go out to eat that night, so we just picked up stuff for breakfast and lunch on Sunday.

We went to Outrigger for dinner. It was not exactly what we were expecting but it was pretty good. If you like fried things, you will love the Outrigger. We got done with dinner around 7 and went and got a preview of the boat. Our first impressions were "of concern" but I will describe that in the Day 2 post. Suffice it to say, much of the night of Day 1 was spent trying to think up excuses to cancel our trip.

We had already decided to come back to Outrigger for their 9pm - 2am "All the watered down American beer you can drink if you pour it yourself from a keg into this plastic mug" special. As most of you probably know, I am not a big beer drinker. However, I do like a bargain! And once I saw that the mugs were provided by Porter's Ace Hardware and Marine Supplies, I knew it.was.on. We ended up sitting around on their deck basting ourselves in Off and listening to Rudy the DJ. At 11:15, a neighbor called the cops due to the noise so we took the party inside. FYI - it's hard to regulate how much beer you have consumed when you pour watered down American beer yourself from a keg into a plastic mug. At this point, I am ready to go "out". As my friends attempted to explain to me, we were already "out" and were at the most happening place in town. I strenuously disagreed and sent some texts to friends expressing that sentiment. To appease me, Stephanie drove us to Scandalo's, the 2nd of 3 bars in town.

Here is a picture of Scandalo's. Nothing says class like a bar with the name spray-painted on the front of the building. Nadja and I entered the building, waited a polite amount of time (15 seconds) and then got the hell out. Stephanie then proceeded to take me home with me protesting a little less this time. I did however send one text that night that summed up my feelings "They won't let me do the Humpty-Hump :-( "



Day 2 Post to come!

P.S. I know the first paragraph is deathly boring but I just had to start writing something so I would actually produce a post. I'll try and either make it more interesting or edit it down.

New "Would you Rather..." Feature

Instead of making a 'Would you Rather' post, I am going to try and update my poll widget every few days with a new one. I'll try to do some fun choice vs. fun choice soon - otherwise it might turn into a bummer.

CDI Boat Party Picture

Clearly, I'm thrilled about our CDI team recognition event. ;-)

Opting out of Yellow Pages

Getting the Yellow Pages (and fake Yellow Pages) at my apartment is a major pet peeve.

A friend of mine sent out this link where you can sign up to opt out of receiving White Pages, Yellow Pages, or both.

Yellow Pages were once invaluable but I believe they are at the end of their useful life.

Save a few trees:

YellowPageGoesGreen.org

And I think I'd rather age only from the neck down (assuming my brain was ok).

Would you rather...?

Age only from the neck up? OR Age only from the neck down?

Discuss.

~Day 5~ First Day on Production and July 4th! and Lunch Details

Just a regular day here in Debrecen. We started work bright and early this morning and the silence has already fallen over the room. I mean, dead.silence. Oh well, at least they're working.

I'll do a pie chart before I leave for Budapest but it's just too soon to see any results really - not even 1% finished yet.




So I just went to lunch. I mentioned that Hungarian cafeteria lunch is always a crapshoot, right? Today's lunch was soup (fine), a peach (stashed in my purse because it was hard as a rock), and 2 cinnamon rolls. Huh? Just on a plate like a regular entree. I ate one bite because I figured even a rabbit would try a nibble. And after that bite, I really didn't want anymore cinnamon roll so that worked out nicely. If any Hungarians are reading this, I sincerely apologize for talking smack about your cafeteria food, but I think most of you will back me up on this one.

~Bonus Post~ Data Steward Pictures

Day 1 Training Class - Left Side



Day 1 Training Class - Right Side



Day 2 Training Class - Left Side



Day 2 Training Class - Right Side



Yeah I don't know a few people still. It's hard to remember all their names! I know their usernames and that's the important part. I'll update them when I figure them out. :)

~Day 3~ Second Day of Training

Trained another 23 students today - only 6 from last year. It still went well and today I took full advantage of the students I knew and put them to work immediately.

Some interesting things I jotted down to put in my blog - no rhyme or reason to them:

• Men wear cropped pants here. These are definitely not shorts. They are about 6-8 inches above the ankle. They don't look as odd as you'd think.
  
• My shower head at the hotel is at the very least 7 feet high. I just went into the shower to make sure I wasn't exaggerating. I am 5'6" and I can barely touch the shower head with the tips of my fingers if I don't tiptoe.
• The accents over the o's and other letters in Hungarian like (ő) are called 'double acute accents' and I am physically unable to pronounce them.
  
• They played a dirty trick on me at lunch. They handed me a beautiful bowl of cherries - and fruit is fairly uncommon - so I was looking forward to trying them. I popped one in my mouth and well - I don't even know how to describe it - but suffice it to say they were sour! I forgot that sour cherries (meggy) are a Hungarian thing. They put them in yogurt, pastries and even soup.
  
• I think I mentioned this last time, but they say 'hello' for both 'hello' and 'bye'. It still amuses me and today when a group of students were walking out there was a little chorus of "hello!"
  

~Day 2~ First Day of Training

Trained 23 students today - 11 were in the prevous project/12 were new. It was wonderful to have the past students in the class because they immediately started helping the new students. Everyone did well on the test except for the trick question I threw in (using Junk Data as a workflow status).

We have two new team leads - Somogyi Marta and Toth Mate. They were here from the last project and I am happy to have them back.

Lunch was clear soup with pasta and was very good. I also had mashed potatoes with a grilled chicken breast smothered in and swimming on top of a creamy peach sauce (wha?!). Product Review - 1 star. At least it's keeping me on my diet.

I sat through most of a safety/fire extinguisher training for a few minutes after lunch - didn't understand one single word the guy was saying but the students seemed to be laughing so I'm sure it went fine.

Fewer login issues this time - one small technical hurdle was that we had 23 students and only 10 PCs in the room. So during the second round of Guardian work, I had to juggle some people around. I made sure that the people who hadn't been here last time did a full hour - some of the returning students only had to do 1/2 an hour.

I took pictures of both groups. I will try and get those posted tonight.

Hungarian Product Non-Review

So I was doing some more shopping at my favorite local grocery store tonight (p.s. I found good grapes!) when I saw Hot Dog-flavored Cheetos.

I actually picked them up because I knew my audience would want me to try them but after inspecting them further, I put them back. There are only two possible outcomes: 1) I wouldn't like them, thus wasting money and food, or 2) I would like them and then I would be tempted to eat them all. As some of you know I am eating mostly rabbit food these days, and Hot Dog-flavored Cheetos are most certainly not eaten by any non-genetically modified rabbits.

Here is a picture stolen from someone else's vacation:




If you would like for me to bring some back for you to try, let me know and I will try to remember to get some on my last day here.

~Day 1~ Getting over Jetlag/Getting Ready for a Busy Week Ahead

So I made it to Debrecen yesterday afternoon after many hours on planes and layovers. No problems with any of the flights or anything though so I'm not complaining.

Met my taxi guy at the airport (nem English) and after communicating with him via sign language that we could not leave until I got a Diet Coke, we were off. The poor guy must have thought I was drunk. I was so drowsy I slept probably 90% of the way. I was trying to stay awake to help with the jetlag, but no such luck. Kate riding in a car + sun = sleep.

Last night, I made my first trip to the Match grocery store to stock up on Diet Coke and water. I tried to find some fruit but no luck. Mini Product Review: Activia Yogurt - I had something that looked like mixed berry and it was delicious. I crumbled up some plain Puffins in it this morning - 5 stars!

More later - doing some last minutes touches on my training presentation for tomorrow. Training 20 students tomorrow, 20 Wednesday, QC'ing all of their word (and making any needed cuts) on Thursday and then starting for real on Friday.

Interesting Site

Intrade Prediction Markets

It's like a stock exchange for political figures and/or events. It's hard to explain but just go there and you'll see what I'm talking about.

I'm adding a "stock tracking" chart to my blog for the Presidential Candidates.

Edited to add: couldn't figure out a way to make it fit nicely on the left-hand side so it's gonna sit on top of blog posts for a while. When I get tired of it, I'll move it to the bottom.

Product Review - Fresh Gourmet Tortilla Strips

So my friend Mimi introduced me to Fresh Gourmet Wonton Strips (Wasabi Ranch flavor). They are like crack.



So when I saw Santa Fe style crack, I had to try it. I've been eating a lot of rabbit food lately so I need something to change it up. I really like these too! 5 Stars!



My friend at work, Ann, likes these plain salted ones, but I just don't understand why you would ever choose plain tortilla strips over MSG-smothered tortilla strips. Who knows.

I Promise More Posts at the End of the Month

I am heading back to Hungary at the end of this month to do some additional training, so I will try to post something daily during that week. I am not promising quality content people, just quantity.

Movie Review

Went and saw "The Counterfeiters" the other day and it was really good. It's based on a true story about prisoners in a concentration camp who are selected based on their professions (printer/graphic design) to try and counterfeit the British pound and American dollar for the Nazis. It's a little difficult to watch in places - they don't sugarcoat anything. Oh and it's in German with English sub-titles.

Cute Overload

Tiny pig + tiny boots = Cute Overload

Just kill me now.

You wanted more posts!

I didn't say they were all going to be good, but I think you will get a laugh from this:

How Many 5-Year-Olds Could You Take On In A Fight?

Btw - 16 *flex*

Tag

Julie and Mimi both tagged me with this tag game - I am to list seven random things about me and then tag seven other people. Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and leave a comment on their blog, so that their readers can visit yours. Her name is linked above.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 7 Random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 random people at the bottom of your post, linking to their blog. Let each person know by leaving a comment on their blog. (if you don't know 7 bloggers, just tag who you know)

I am the death of all things like this: chain emails - "send a recipe to 7 friends" or "send a pair of panties to 7 friends" pyramid schemes. So to humor everyone, I will give you some random facts about myself, but I don't plan on tagging anyone else. DIE GAME DIE.

1) I like hoodies.

2) I like James Taylor.

3) I like saying "fact-check."

4) My feet are perpetually cold.

5) I use a mini-fridge as my end table

6) My cat bites my head at night sometimes.

7) I like how facts these ended up in order by length.

Product Review - Viactiv - 5 Stars

I don't like taking vitamins. The last time I remember liking them was when my mom would buy Flintstones. And even then I think I only wanted Dinos.

But I bought these and I really really like them. They are like a chocolate-flavored starburst.



There are a bunch of different flavors and some nonsense called a Flavor Glide™ but I can only endorse regular old chocolate. I think I remember the canister being like $6 and there are a ton in there. I suppose if you have rugrats around the house you would probably want to hide these because they totally taste like candy.

The Spiderweb Patrol

On Friday, NI gave the day off to anyone who went and did volunteer work on that day. I <3 NI.

A group of 6 of us were assigned to Lyons Gardens Assisted Living in East Austin - off Pleasant Valley Rd. This is really quite a scary neighborhood so I wasn't sure what to expect as I was driving up. As I got within a block or so, I saw these cute little walkup townhomes and thought to myself - well those are cute - I am glad someone built those here. Well, it turns out - that was Lyons Gardens! It's an apartment complex for low income seniors - 58 units - built about 4 years ago.

We were all assigned different jobs from their "job jar." Things like hanging pictures, hanging curtains, flipping mattresses, and the benign sounding "sweep spiderwebs from the stairwells."

4 of us were assigned to the spiderweb job. They gave us telescoping brooms and sent us on our way. So between 10 and 3 (with 30 minutes off for lunch), I swept spiderwebs, spiders, spider eggs, and other spider stuff from stairwells and hallway ceilings of this place. It was a really satisfying job, because it made such a noticeable different - and a few of the residents even came out to thank us (probably because I banged my broom against their door). So I was feeling pretty smug about all my hard work and good deed for the day.

And then I saw what the other volunteers from NI did: You used jackhammers????

I will not be complaining about some spider webs on my shirt or my sore neck.

Yes I know I've been Neglecting my Blog

And I intend to continue neglecting it until I have something interesting to post.

I think I am going to start doing some more product reviews.

Anyway - just wanted to put SOMETHING up here so that people would know I haven't given up on it completely - just having quite a normal life at the moment.

My Mom's Picture of a rare Whooping Crane

Is on our hometown radio station's website:

KBST Radio - Big Spring

Pretty neat!

Product Review - Rain-X - 4.5 Stars

I accidentally bought one of these single-use Rain-X things about 4 weeks ago, so I decided to try it. You rip open the packet, rub down your windshield thoroughly with the towelette thing, then buff it off - sort of like waxing a car.

By performing this ritual, I was able to keep it from raining in Texas almost a month. But recently, we've had a couple of rain showers - and today it was really raining and I noticed a HUGE improvement when driving in the rain. The water beaded up and it was much easier to see.

It is so worth it - especially since it only costs 99 cents. I gave it 4.5 stars vs. 5 stars because it's a bit of a pain to apply, especially for those with gas-guzzling, environment-hating SUV's (i.e. me). I was climbing all over the place trying to reach my entire windshield and it was not lady-like (so Lisa - don't even attempt - just ask Rob to do it for you).

Kate

P.S. A couple people at work told me I was a late adopter for this product and that it's been out for like 20 years but since I didn't know about it (I really don't frequent car parts stores much) I thought yall might not have either.

Election Day

So I went and voted this morning and went back tonight for the caucus. I got there around 7:10pm. There was a huge line of people who had gotten in line to vote before 7:00pm so we all had to wait for those people to finish before we caucused. There were probably 250 people all waiting. I was approx number 10 in line and I didn't leave until a little after 9. I bet there are still people there right now.

My Mama's For Obama*

So my mom was in town last night and took me to a very nice dinner at North - an italian restaurant right across from work. We talked about several subjects but of course politics came up.

Here's the interesting bit: My mother lives in Borden County. There was no Republican party chair in Borden County this year, so there was no Republican primary. Basically, if anyone in Borden County cast a vote for the President, their only choices were Hillary or Obama.

So being the smart cookie that my mom is - *she voted for the person she thought her guy could beat. She wouldn't come out and say exactly who she voted for though - but I think it was probably Obama.

It's going to be a very interesting day!

My First Braces Adjustment

Was last Thursday. It was much easier than I had remembered adjustments being. I changed the pink o rings on my bottom teeth to light green, dark green alternating. I think they look pretty cute.

I also had a spring put in around the wire between my front top two brackets. I'll post a picture. It's not very big but it definitely gives the impression of being 'hardware'. He said he would take it off for me next adjustment. It's supposed to spread my front two teeth apart slightly so they can start turning.

And the biggest surprise of all - when I went to pay, the orthodontist told me I got an A+ for brushing. Wha? I never ever ever got an A+ for brushing the last time. The receptionist and the assistant both said he did not give A+'s out easily so I guess this makes me wicked awesome. I had to call my mom from the parking lot and tell her about this; she was proud.

He told me that he was working on two specific teeth. On Friday when I brushed my teeth it was like whirrrr whirrrr whirrr OW whirrrr whirrrr whirrrrr OW SONOFA! Whatever he did is definitely working.

Picture to come tonight if I'm not too lazy.

The Breakfast Club

Our team does a semi-monthly Breakfast Club where we meet for breakfast and a place and then head in to work.

A guy on my team made this for the invite and I thought it was hilarious.

Potluck Pictures!

As promised, here are some pictures of our Family Recipe Potluck!

The sign (long story but suffice it to say I will no longer delegate decorating to software developers):



The Whole Spread:



Cindy and Stromboli:



Aashin and Samosas:



Me and my grandmother's Mexican cornbread:



Krishna and Aloo Khorma (potato curry):
Winner - Best Tasting Dish



Misty and Popejoy Hamburger Stew:



Deepa and Panch Daal (lentils), Jeera Rice, and Kulfi:
Winner - Best Recipe Card (you can see them on the wall behind her)



Melissa and Cinnamon Chocolate Cake (made in a fleurdelis pan no less!)



Chris and Easy Pierogi:



Caleb and Pasta Salad:



Chris and Cheese Triangles:
Winner - Most Original Dish



Annette couldn't make it on the day of the Potluck but she brought Watergate Salad in later in the week for everyone to enjoy.




The Voting!



We also wished that Ann could have joined us but as we all know she is real ornery.