The Tell Me About Yourself Award

For quite awhile, I was safe from Blog Chain Letters.  For one thing, only a few people read my blog.  And for another, I didn't blog enough to give anyone the idea that I would respond.  I guess more people read my blog now--I do have 20 subscribers on Google Reader.  But anyway, this blog chain letter is pretty basic: tell 7 things about myself.  And, the title of the chain letter / award is

If it says "Your blog is great!" in it, I'm a little more inclined to respond.

So, seven things about me.

1.  I have the music to almost all of Les Miserables memorized.  I could pretty much sing the entire thing, including much of the orchestral part.  When my high school put it on, I could tell you exactly what was changed and what was cut.  (That's also when I began to notice a lot more of the nuances of the orchestral part.  I guess playing the music adds to my appreciation for it.)

2.  I've read all the Jane Austen books, and have watched a majority of the film adaptations.  I've gradually gotten into books from other authors in the 1800s, and have watched and read (in that order) some of the adaptations and books from Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte Bronte, Anne Bronte, and Charles Dickens.
[Fun fact: The Bronte sisters' father changed his last name from Brunty to Bronte.  It was out of admiration for Lord Nelson, who had the title of the Duke of Bronte.]

3.  I've dabbled in a lot of different kinds of things: I've done some cool stuff with photography, have been learning a bit more about photo editing, have learned a lot about computers in the past few years, am now getting into jewelry-making, and have done some cake-decorating kinds of things in the past.

4.  I met my husband in a physics computer lab.  It was about 8 pm on a Wednesday night, and we sent something to the printer at the same time.  He recognized what I printed as a reading assignment for a class he was taking as well, and that started us talking.
[Aside: That morning, I had written in my grateful journal that I was really grateful to not be in a relationship--the previous day I had listened to two friends share the drama of their current dating situations, and I was glad to be avoiding that.]

5.  I'm working on a PhD in Mechanical Engineering.  (Yes, I am slightly crazy.)  I just passed my preliminary exam on December 7, which means I'm now in the stage of all but dissertation.

6.  Besides when I was one year old, my hair has only been cut above my shoulders once.  And that was only because the beauty school student cut it too short: I said 10 inches; she cut 14.

7.  My favorite color is green.  I think I have something like 12 green shirts, between the short sleeved tees, the long sleeved tees, the button-down shirts, the cardigans, and the sweaters.  I also have a plethora of green earrings to coordinate.

[Yes, I am supposed to pass this award along.  But I'm not going to.]

Food, Glorious Food

David and I decided that we didn't really want to do a turkey this year.  But, since we already planned on spending the entire day cooking, we should cook things that we really like but don't normally take the time to make, and then we could have a whole variety of leftovers.  Here's a sampling of what we ate on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday:

A top sirloin cut of meat, made into a roast, twice-baked potatoes, and fresh steamed green beans

 Homemade rolls

 A tea ring and strawberry-banana smoothies

 Skor cake

 Spinach lasagne with homemade lasagne noodles.

It was wonderful.

(Why, yes, David and I do have matching aprons.)

Why I'm Glad I Rent

(1)  Because when I find bats in the storage unit, I can call management, and they take care of it.
(2)  Because when the dryer is making a horrible noise, I can call management, and they call the appliance repair shop to come fix it the next day.
(3)  Because when the washer stops draining right before I leave on vacation, I can call management, and they send someone to fix it so it's working by the time I'm back in town.
(4)  Because when there is a fire in the apartment complex and the firemen kick in our door, management is already there at 11:30 pm to fix it so that my apartment is secure.
(5)  Because when there is smoke and ash damage in the walls after the fire, management deals with the insurance company and the restoration company to get me a new living room wall, 2 new windows, and fresh paint.  And, because management chose such an awesome restoration company, I get touch up paint all over the apartment, because they already found the perfect match and they're generous like that.
(6)  Because when the oven sends sparks out the bottom and the heating element is producing actual flames, I call management and have a working oven the next day.

Yes, all of these have happened to us in the 3 1/2 years we've lived in the same apartment.  On Sunday, it was the oven.

It's just really nice to have someone else do the research on the appliance company to use, the restoration company to hire, and identify that the oven is not dead, but only needs a new heating element.  And, of course, it's nice to have someone else foot the bill.  So, today, I'm glad that I rent.

Appalachian Autumn

I've never driven through the Appalachian Mountains in autumn before.

Wow.

Triathlon Challenge

Well, I can't say that I completed the Triathlon Challenge, but I really feel good about what I did.  Here's a breakdown of my progress:

Days 1-11:  Swam 0.3 miles, biked 43.6 miles, walked 7.9 miles.  (A 15-mile bike ride was cancelled due to David being sick.)
Days 12-24:  Sick, but still managed to walk 6.9 miles.  (Campus is pretty large, and I had to be there for a few things, despite being sick.)
Day 25:  Feeling good.  Swam 0.8 miles, biked 6.5 miles.  (Okay, let's be honest, I didn't swim 0.8 miles.  But, according to the rules, attending a 1-hour water aerobics class counts towards 0.8 miles of the swim.  And I did.)
Days 26-27:  Rain.  I probably walked about half a mile.
Day 28:  Biked 12.8 miles!
Days 29-30:  Maybe I overdid it; feeling sick again.

Total: Swam 1.1 miles, biked 62.9 miles, walked 14.8 miles.  That's almost half of the swimming, over half of the biking, and over half of the walking.  Given that I was only feeling well for half of the month, I'd say I did great.

An Update

Awhile back, I decided I would try and post about twice a month.  And I did.  Except in August.  But I posted 6 times in July, so I said that was okay.  It's now about time to post.  So, what to write about . . .

Going to see the PhD Comics movie?
The triathlon challenge I'm working on?
Having just finished reading Bleak House?
Having watched A Series of Unfortunate Events and being surprised at how much I enjoyed it?
Taking 226 impact points on an aluminum I-beam?
Convincing my sister's family to come join us for a reenactment?
The coupons I just found for Halloween candy which don't expire until after Halloween, which means that I can combine them with the 50% off sales?

I mean, it's all so exciting!  Okay, so it's really all pretty mundane, except for the candy coupons; I mean, what's not exciting about candy?  And it was exciting to have my sister's family come out, but she's already posted about that.

I guess I'll start with the triathlon challenge.  My friend, Sara, is really athletic, and she competes in triathlons regularly.  She's also part of the university triathlon club.  Knowing how much I bike, she started telling me about a triathlon challenge going on in October.  During the month of October, you have to bike, swim, and run (or walk, as she repeatedly reminded me) the distances of an Ironman triathlon.

I balked at the idea of running.  I haven't run a mile since 1999.  (I still haven't.  I ran 3/4 of a mile one evening, but I've gotten the rest of my distance with walking.)  I had never gone swimming for exercise.  The most grueling swimming thing I had probably ever done was when I had to tread water for 20 minutes.  (Was it even 20 minutes?  I don't remember; it would have been back in 2000.)  And even though I bike a lot, I would have to do 112 miles.  That is significantly more than the 80 miles that I might reach in a month, if the weather is really good.

David proposed going swimming one evening in late September, and we went.  I actually did okay!  I decided that maybe I could do this.  Then, I tried biking all the way from my lab to campus (5 miles).  I normally would hop on the bus to get to campus, because I hate riding up hills.  But I made it!  So, I decided to go sign up, and commit myself to biking 112 miles, walking 26.2 miles, and swimming 2.4 miles.

After the first week, I was feeling great!  I had done 39.6 miles of biking and 6.2 miles of walking (with a little, itty bit of that being jogging).

Then, I went swimming.  I told myself that I had to do at least 5 laps.  When I had done 4, I decided that if I could get to 8, I would be doing well.  At 8, I went for another.  At 9, I was feeling a little worn out, but figured that I ought to make it an even 10.  Bad idea.  My foot started cramping, and that last lap was a lot of work.  But I made it.  And in my mind, I remembered an email saying it was something like 69 laps to reach the 2.4 miles.  I was feeling okay.

Then, I actually calculated how far I swam.  500 yards.  0.3 miles.  (The pool is 25 yards x 50 yards, and they had the lanes set up the short way, in order to provide more lanes.)  And that 69 that I was remembering?  It was 169 lengths, or 85 laps.  At my current rate, I would have to come back 8 times to get to the 2.4 mile distance.  I was feeling a little disheartened.

And then?  I got sick.  Which means I didn't do much.  So, in week two, I biked 4.0 miles, walked 4.6 miles, and swam 0.3 miles.  I have a long way to go.

Then and Now, and more from Karen's wedding

There were a few pictures I wanted to make sure and get at Karen's wedding.  They would complete some "Then and Now" shots.  Like this one, from the last semester that Karen, Christine and I were roommates.

2006

2011

2006

2011

2006

2011

And with a bit of a flip . . .

My wedding, 2008

Karen's wedding, 2011

And now for some more photos, without any kind of then and now.

I got put in charge of making sure everyone got their flowers back on before the reception.  And that meant I pinned them on a lot of people personally.

Here I'm helping Karen freshen up in between the wedding and reception.

And getting the veil just perfect.

And one final picture of me with Karen.

It was a fabulous weekend, and I'm so glad I was able to be there for Karen and Martin.

Canals and Railroads

Last week, David and I studied the canals and the railroads: two outdated modes of transportation.  Not that we planned it like that, saying "Let's go study canals and railroads," but we looked at our list of fun things that we wanted to do, and that was what we chose on Labor Day, and then the following Saturday.

Monday we went to a Canal.  We started out our visit by renting some kayaks and kayaking around the canal.  It was a good upper body workout.  And it was a good day for David not to get me wet.

Then we toured the home of the contractor who had been in charge of building that portion of the canal.  We saw:

Lovely hand-blown glasses.  It must take a lot of skill to get them so uniform.

 An egg-beater (among other kitchen tools).  This egg-beater has no carbon footprint.

 An old sewing machine.

And spinning wheel.

The parlor, all fancy.  Did you know that funeral parlors got their names because people used to hold funerals in their own parlors?  I didn't.  This chair that David is standing behind is a man's chair; a woman's chair would have no arms, because it had to accommodate her hoop skirt.

The entryway had a marble design painted on the walls, and even had a sort of fake crown molding.  The only real crown molding was above the door.

This fireplace was also painted to look like stone.

After the house tour, we got a ride on a canal boat.

Here I am on the boat.

There was also a visitor's center with more information about building the canals, and there was one plot I wish I had taken a picture of.  It plotted the expected revenue vs the actual revenue of the canal.  The revenue was lower than expected every single year, and it was fairly quickly obsolete, as the railroads took over transportation.

Then, on Saturday, we went to a train museum, which had a few trains running on tracks over our heads.

One interesting thing we learned is that each railroad company had its own unique set of china used in its dining car, and its own unique meals.  That way, even though two different companies traveled the same route in the same amount of time, they had something to distinguish their service.  If you liked one railroad company's meals better than another, they had your business.  Plus, you wouldn't find the same meal at any restaurant anywhere.  Here's one set of china.

A plate from the B&O Railroad.  (Think Monopoly.)

Cups and saucers from the George Washington Railway.

And a golden ticket.  Not from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but a gold plate that allowed a former railroad worker unlimited free passage on that railway.

We had a guide with us the whole time, which was nice for two reasons: first, we got descriptions of what we were looking at (there weren't a whole lot of plaques describing the displays), and second, we got to touch things we wouldn't have otherwise been allowed to.  Here I am listening on an old telephone.

David the conductor.  Each conductor had his own unique ticket punch, so they could keep track of who punched the ticket.

All aboard!  Of course, that's not a real train; it's a cart they used for workers to travel up and down the tracks.  The real trains were outside, but the conductor's hat was inside, so we compromised.

This typewriter is capable of underlining and making spreadsheets.  Simply rotate the pencil down, and the move the carriage back and forth or up and down.  (There was also a non-qwerty keyboard we saw, which was pretty cool.)

 This is a fully polished cash register.  It simply gleamed.

The whole collection was really impressive.  There were dozens of lanterns, dozens of sets of china, at least 5 cash registers (one for marks and pfennigs instead of dollars and cents), conductor's hats, breakmen's hats, many large bells, 5 or 6 phonographs that I counted, and a whole slew of old railroad signs, to name a few attractions.  And it was all a private collection, not a government-owned museum.

Then we went outside and got in the caboose.

And got a picture of me trying to ride the rails.  Really, I don't know how outlaws did it.  That's a huge step, and a pretty high reach for the hands, and they were trying to get on the train while it was moving.

 David walking on the tracks.

What in the World?

When I was younger, I got the National Geographic World magazine.  On the back, they had zoomed-in photos of objects that you would try to identify, called "What in the World?"  So, here's your challenge: What in the World is this?

Since I don't want to have to wait for someone to guess it before I get on with this post, I'll tell you.  It's the end of a strand of my hair.  Did you notice how it splits six times?  Yeah.  Then, we have the hair I found that split, and then kept growing for four inches.  And then all the hairs that are about seven inches above the longest part of my hair, and split.  And of course, the fact that my hair looks really shaggy at the back.

This picture is a bit old (right before I chopped my hair in 2006), but it's a good representation of my shaggy ends.  So, it's a battle between not wanting to cut off more than four inches, not liking the tedium of searching out and cutting the split ends, and being annoyed with the way it looks right now.

Wouldn't it be nice if long hair was as totally manageable as it appears in "Tangled"?  I think so.

Karen's Wedding

One of my college roommates, Karen, got married last weekend, and I went out to Colorado to be there.

It was fun to see Karen's entire family again.  They had come to visit a few times while we were roommates, so I had gotten to know them.  Here she is with her dad.

(Martin wanted a kiss, too.)

I also got to see another college roommate who made it out for the wedding, Christine.  Here she is with her daughter.

Christine and I stayed at the same place, so I had some good time to visit with her.

Karen's granny particularly enjoyed holding Christine's daughter.

Christine's daughter particularly enjoyed the hem of Karen's dress.  The lace was so gorgeous!

Here you can kind of see the back of Karen's dress.  I didn't get a good picture, because of the sun.  Then, before the reception, everything was kind of rushed, so I wasn't able to make Karen pose for me again.

Karen with the flowers.  This is actually quite similar to a picture I have of her from college, enjoying flowers.

Martin.

Karen's parents, Jackie and Brian.  They were so gracious.  They had a whole crew staying in their home, and they found friends willing to house others of us, and they had food for all of us, everyday.  It was awesome.

 

Karen wore her wedding dress to the luncheon at Olive Garden.  With the napkin tucked in, it almost looked like she was wearing a green formal with a white shrug.

Right before the reception.  Karen's brother, Greg, is getting married at the end of August.

Two of Karen's nephews.  The little one is only 12 days old.  (Yes, Karen's sister drove 500 miles with two little boys 12 days after giving birth.  She's amazing.  And now that I think of it, my sister traveled 1500 miles to my wedding with two little girls while 10 weeks pregnant with twins.  I guess sisters are just awesome.)

There was a bit of a mishap with the cake, so this was the backup.  (I think it was originally going to be the groom's cake.)  It was absolutely delicious: chocolate and gooey and caramelly!

A close-up on the embellishments to the table.

I had a good chance to visit with Karen and Martin the morning I arrived.  We started talking about food, and I found out that they had two shelves full of spices.  Literally, full.  And yet, I gave them more.  :)  At least none of them are standard--it's a set of Italian dipping spices that you mix with olive oil and serve with bread.  I also gave her the cookie sheet to make the bread.  (This picture is from her bridal shower.)

We also talked about duplicate appliances, and I found out that Martin and Karen both had KitchenAid mixers.  Clearly, they are well-suited to one another.

And one final picture of the lovely couple.  (Although I will post more wedding pictures when I get the ones of me with Karen.)