On Friday she'll be 15 weeks old. My only hope is that she stops growing so fast ...
Ok, I've been gone for a while but I'm now settled into my new place, and getting used to my new and very different surroundings. The mountain west is basically the polar opposite of Washington DC, and as you can imagine that's great on many levels and not so great on several others.
A great deal will depend on how well my students are prepared and perform, but I've got a couple weeks before classes start so that question will remain unanswered for now.
In the meantime I have a book review past due, and some reworking of the syllabi to make them more amenable to my new academic setting -- meaning that I can't assume as much preexisting political knowledge/interest as I could while teaching in DC.
The appropriate secondary-title for this post is "send vicodin, stat."
Ok, it's not that bad, but this morning my office chair literally burst and I fell directly on my rear end. For the past two or so years I've used an exercise ball instead of a desk chair, and it's done wonders for my back (consider how much time a guy like me spends at his desk). Only my heating system isn't great, so I supplement with a space heater, and a couple weeks ago the ball/chair rolled in front of the heater, stretching it out in one place and thus thinning it and causing a bulge in one spot.
So yeah, this morning it burst when I was sitting on it. The funny and cartoon-like thing was that for a split second after the big "pop" I looked down and saw that there was nothing beneath me, and then I fell.
It wasn't that painful actually, so now I can laugh as I order another one ...
For the past couple years one of my brothers has sent me an Omaha Steaks care package for my birthday, but it wasn't until this year that I realized that I'd been wasting each gift and ruining it by cooking such high-quality meat on my George Foreman grill.
About a month ago I took a chance on a cast iron grill pan, and the results have been fantastic. I wrote the following to culinary student Brian over at A Boy Named Sous:
I retired my George Foreman in favor of a pre-seasoned cast iron grill pan (which I seasoned several additional times just to be sure), and I'm loving it. The Foreman dries out the meat and usually burns one or both sides, but the cast iron with a grill press has completely changed the flavor and texture of everything I've cooked.
If anyone's interested, he responded with some good advice on caring for cast iron.
So the George Foreman is officially (and literally) in the trash, and today I picked up some high-heat safflower oil so I can get the most out of the new pan. At this point it's a forgone conclusion that I'll be buying a cast iron skillet to compliment the grill, so expect a post on that sometime soon.
As far as I'm concerned at this point, anyone still cooking with a George Foreman grill is wasting every piece of meat, fowl, or fish they cook with it.
This seems to be real: MarryOurDaughter.com
Is $50,000 too much to pay for a 13-year old? She did get an A in Home Ec. ...
Frequent commenter "Cormac" once mocked another frequent commenter "RAT" by saying he was quite the cherry picker when it came to playing hockey.
Regardless, the score between these two readers appears to be tied now, as RAT slipped yet another one past the goalie.
Leopold is always a good name for a boy ...
My friend Lee turned 38 yesterday, and for his birthday his wife brought ultrasound pictures to his office. He didn't quite understand why there were extra arms and legs in the picture -- but alas he wasn't drunk, just a soon-to-be father of twins. Nice work.
Ok, this may be my lamest post ever, but can anyone out there advise me on what vacuum cleaner to buy? I'm not psychologically ready to kick down $400+ for a Dyson, but all the others in the $150-200 range all seem the same -- 12 amp motors, bagless, HEPA filter, etc. Even the $99 ones have a 12 amp motor; I would have assumed that the power of the moror was the primary distinction, but apparently not.
Do any of you know the difference between the various machines out there? Which will be best for someone with a dog who sheds quite a lot?
