Category: general

Darn.

I’m going to bike there, though. We got a complaint about my bike being in the lobby, so I’ll bring it into our office. Robert’s out of town so it’s not like he’ll be charging into the office and tripping over it on his way to the printers or something.

Yesterday I made apple crisp and brownies, and partook of both. I also ate a Hershey bar, half of a 7 Layer Burrito from Taco Bell, the remainders of Sean’s French Dip sandwich from Friday’s from the other day, two Eggos with Country Crock and syrup, a can of Baked Potato with Steak and Cheese Chunky Soup, and a Philly Cheese Lean Pocket.

I just felt hungry. Not in the good way. In the “I’m so empty, I need something to fill myself up” way. I didn’t eat so much that I got sick…because I never quite felt full. There was a point at which I knew I wouldn’t be able to get anything else down, so I took a break for an hour or two before making the brownies :P

Bleh. I wonder if my hormones make me have these feelings of hunger. If so, it’s no wonder I overate so much as a teenager, back when my hormones actually worked correctly and I didn’t have to take pills to have my period. :P

Obviously, if the hormones do cause me to want to overeat, I’ll have to find some way to resist the temptation. I’d thought I was doing so well with my diet, but obviously I hadn’t really been tested yet. Maybe I’ve entered a crisis.

I’m just above a turning-point weight that I’ve been wanting to go under for quite some time now. It’s really annoying, because sometimes (like yesterday morning) it seems like I’m almost there, and other times (like today) it feels like I’ll never get past it.

In related news, my blood pressure was at an all-time high of 141/98 last night.

2 c all purpose flour	1/4 c dark cocoa
2 c granulated sugar	1/2 c buttermilk
1/2 c butter (1 stick)	2 eggs
1/2 c shortening	1 tsp baking soda
1 c strong brewed coffee or water	1 tsp vanilla

In large mixing bowl, combine flour and sugar.
In heavy saucepan, combine butter, shortening, coffee or water and cocoa.
Stir and heat to boiling.
Pour boiling mixture over the flour and sugar in the bowl.
Add the buttermilk, eggs, baking soda and vanilla.
Mix well, using wooden spoon or high speed on electric mixer.

Pour into a well-buttered 17-1/2 by 11 inch jelly roll pan.
Bake at 400° for 20 minutes.

1/2 c butter (1 stick)	3-1/2 c unsifted confectioner’s sugar
2 T dark cocoa	1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c milk

While brownies bake, prepare the frosting. In a saucepan, combine the first three ingredients. Heat to boiling, stirring.
Mix in the powdered sugar and vanilla until frosting is smooth.
Pour warm frosting over brownies as soon as possible.
Cut brownies into 48 bars.

A few notes: I have never made these with coffee, because I don’t like coffee. Tonight I made the brownies without buttermilk and the frosting with water instead of milk. Things turned out okay. However, if you start making the frosting right after you put the brownies in the oven, the frosting will change from a glaze into something very close to fudge before the brownies are even ready. This is bad. It doesn’t take long to make the frosting, so I would suggest waiting 10 minutes or so before starting on it. The idea is to drizzle the glaze over the brownies and let it harden into a light, crunchy, delicious chocolate shell.

These are my favorite brownies. I hope you enjoy them.

Here’s an article about the woman who was taken hostage by Brian Nichols, the accused rapist who allegedly killed four people in Atlanta. I guess she’s originally from Augusta. the story of her youth here is pretty startling. I guess I hadn’t realized that things like that went on in this area.

Weird, and scary. But the article is optimistic:

Her grandfather kicked her out of his house during the worst times, but now he can look back and see it all as a prelude to her encounter with Nichols. “All those experiences with tough mugs, those experiences helped her with this guy here,” he said.

I hope she continues to get her act together and is able to once again care for her daughter.

I’m reading a book that I would never have heard of if not for Penny Arcade. The author, John Scalzi, had Mike Krahulik (Gabe) do the cover art for the book. Great art, and so far I’m really enjoying the book. You can check it out for yourself here:

Agent to the Stars

There are only going to be 2000 copies printed of the hardcover edition with Gabe’s art on the cover. I’m thinking it would be a worthwhile investment!

Inane. Joke. 252.

BWAHAHAHA!

The only way I’ve found to use CSS to make the lovely borders I have here on this page is to make background images that are very tall and very wide, and just hope that nobody is going to have a screen resolution that is too big for them.

Screw that. That’s short-sighted, flawed design. I’m just going to use tables.

Now, if only there were an answer to my real burning question :P

I was feeling utterly crappy this morning. I still don’t feel all that great. I don’t think I’m actually sick. I think it’s the combination of this Period from Hell and stress. I’m glad Brooke dragged me out yesterday, because I would have spent that day just like I’m spending this one right now: sitting around in pajamas moping.

As soon as I exhaust my stock of websites to read, I’ll get to work on my WordPress template, I suppose.

So, here’s some news.

First, BoingBoing reports that a guy named Brad Templeton has some cool ideas about WiFi hotspots.

I wondered if we might do much more with a special beacon.

This beacon would deliberately tell you a bit about the access or location. It would contain a mixed XML/HTML packet with a variety of useful fields and general text. These could range from simple descriptions (“This access point belongs to Joe Smith, I’m a programmer”) to information (“On this site, Paul Revere stopped on his ride to consult with local minutemen”) to street directions (“Turn right to get to highway 101, left for downtown”) to, of course, advertising (“We sell fresh fruit and have a special on plums today.”)

I’m not particularly wireless yet. I don’t cart around my laptop or a Blackberry or anything. But I like the idea of going wireless. I’ve previously mentioned that I like the thought of geocaching, too. I think it’s neat that we could use technology to enhance our experiences in the real world, instead of technology chaining us to desks.

In a bizarre and sad story, a woman has killed herself in order to donate her corneas to her blind sons, but doctors say that corneal transplants might not even work. From Reuters, via Yahoo! News – Oddly Enough.

A Cessna crashed in Nicholasville recently, but I’m interested in the story not because it involves airplanes, but because it involves one of the most inscrutable utterances I’ve ever seen:

“Look at that plane just crashed in that field, went turned around sit and watched it.”

There’s another head-scratcher in that article, but at least that one makes sense if you change “lucky” to “luckily”. Is this poor transcription on the part of LEX 18, or are people in Nicholasville speaking a new dialect?

There was a big earthquake in Kyushu recently. I don’t think it affected my host family, as it seemed to deal the most damage to Fukuoka, which is in a different prefecture. Hopefully they are all okay.

Lastly, students in Japan are getting better at English. (This inspired me to try to write some Japanese in an email to my host sister just now.)

おわり！

I don’t know why, but I’ve always found the use of “v.” for “very” to be “v.” sophisticated. I think that’s why I don’t do it myself. My writing tends to be straightforward. I’ll put emotion into it, but I won’t put on airs.

In any case, my purpose in posting is just to say that Advil is great, and that I would have moped around the apartment all evening if it weren’t for Brooke. She called me at around 4 and said, “What are you doing?” When I responded that I was so bored that I was looking through the Box of Bunnies image gallery, she said, “Get your bike and let’s go to the Greeneway!”

While at first I laughed that laugh I use where I’m trying to think of how to respond–and in this case I was trying to think of what to say to get out of it–I ultimately realized that biking was just what I needed, especially after eating a freaking Quarter Pounder with Cheese. So I toted the bike downstairs and headed to North Augusta for the third day in a row :)

It was a good ride. I could have gone further, but I’m satisfied with what we did. My legs are pretty damn sore. While we rode my cramps weren’t all that noticeable, but they came back in full force once we were done, so when I got home I took two Advil. Ah, respite.

Brooke came over after taking her bike home and changing clothes, and we went to Mikoto for dinner. (Sean’s working 1 to 10 pm this week.) I used a $20 gift certificate, so we each ended up spending a very reasonable sum on what turned out to be an exorbitant amount of delicious food. God, I love Mikoto. (So much for those calories earned by the biking…all told, I went 738 calories over today ;P)

Complete Change of Gears: I may have a lead on how to make my template up in php/CSS for WordPress. Stay Tuned.

Also, I uploaded some pictures from Saturday. Enjoy! (Most of them aren’t that special, but there are a couple that are nice.)

This is the worst period I’ve had in years.

Ugh.

I just feel crappy.

Ow.

It hurts.

At least I have this Quarter Pounder with Cheese to console me. :P

While looking for more information about the I-520 extension, I came across this article. Check out the note at the end:

Who was Bobby Jones?
Being a smart-ass Yankee, I had assumed Bobby Jones was a local hero for chasing away an African-American family that was trying to move into town, or something similar. Actually, Bobby was an excellent amateur US golfer in the 1920’s and 1930’s. He designed the Augusta National Golf Course, which has hosted the Masters Tournament since the mid 1930’s.

Um, wow. I can’t even begin to fathom the depths of this guy’s ignorance. I guess I’d just like to extend him an invitation to visit sometime and see for himself. (Or he could check out some demographics.)

The new Episode III trailer is…good.

I mean, it’s very good.

After the creeping fear* of the first trailer, I was afraid this movie was going to be nothing more than a Cerebus Syndrome landing squarely in First and Ten. But now I’m not so sure.

It makes me wonder who directed each trailer. They are that different. It’s like they’re advertising completely different movies.

* Did you get that joke?

I’m a little behind in my news…haven’t had the chance to read much lately. So I did some catching up today. Here‘s something interesting, via Slashdot:

“[The film] is much more dark…more emotional. It’s much more of a tragedy,” adds Lucas. “My feeling is that it will probably be a PG-13, so it will be the first Star Wars that’s a PG-13.”

Note that he says “the first”, not “the only”. :P

ASU has the following offerings this year:

Beginning Photography
Bring your 35mm camera that can be set for
manual operation, camera instruction manual,
polarized filter, three rolls of 24 exposure ASA
200 or 400 color print film, and paper and pen.
(4 mtgs) A
SEC 1: TUE, JAN 25-FEB 15 7-9 PM
AR20101
SEC 2: TUE, MAR 1-22 7-9 PM
Allan Mouna Photomaster
AR20102 $89

Intermediate Photography
Learn how to take better photos of landscape,
pets, children and family, as well as photos at
night and in low light. Individual and class
photo assignments will be shared. Bring your 35
mm camera that can be set for manual operation,
ASA 200 or 400 color film, paper and pencil, and
an assortment (about 12) of your photographs.
(4 mtgs) A
TUE, APR 12-MAY 3 7-9 PM
Allan Mouna Photomaster
AR20201 $89

It seems I just missed getting into section 2 of the beginning class. :P But! Here’s a class on their online course system that doesn’t require me to have anything more than I already own, and I don’t have to go to classes ;D (Look at this other online offering…and here are some business courses…)

There are some other interesting classes, like:

Stained Glass
Create your own beautiful stained glass suncatcher
while learning safe techniques to cut and
design glass. The necessary supplies will be purchased
at the first class, and the cost is around
$70 Class size limited to 6; register early.
NOTE: Course materials contain lead.
Expectant and new mothers should not register.
You must be 18. You must attend the first
evening. No high heeled shoes. (4 mtgs) A
SEC 1: TUE, JAN 4-25 6:30-8:30 PM
CR50701
SEC 2: TUE, FEB 1-22 6:30-8:30 PM
CR50702
SEC 3: TUE, MAR 1-22 6:30-8:30 PM
CR50703
SEC 4: TUE, MAY 3-24 6:30-8:30 PM
Robin Schweitzer Augusta Art Glass
CR50704 $69

No high heeled shoes, now!

I’ve seen the Augusta Art Glass building before, I think.

Investing for Beginners
Take a direct route to intelligent investing by participating
in this course in a no-obligation and norisk
setting. Learn how to start an investment
program by concentrating in stocks, bonds, mutual
funds, and insurance products. Don’t miss this
“plain English” explanation of investments.
Bring a pocket calculator. Your textbook is
included in the class fee. (4 mtgs) F
SEC 1:
WED, FEB 2-23 7-8:30 PM
PF10101
SEC 2:
WED, APR 13-MAY 4 7-8:30 PM
James Cook Galloway Hall 204
PF10102 $54

I need this class…

Rental Income Property Seminar
Learn how to create income for now and retirement
by purchasing Rental income properties.
Learn how to maintain and protect your investments.
We will review such topics as: contracts,
credit repair, buying equity, sweat equity, limits on
repairs, tax advantages and what should be your
deciding factors when screening a potential
tenant. (1 mtg) F
WED, FEB 2 6:30-8:30 PM
Regina Preetorious Galloway Hall 203
RE30101 $29

Okay, every time I see “Regina” I think “Phelange”…

Beginning Ballroom
This class introduces you to Night Club Style,
Swing, and Cha Cha Cha. You will learn a minimum
of 10 steps in Night Club Style (slow
dance), 10 steps in Swing, and 6 steps in Cha
Cha Cha. (8 mtgs) F
Please register with a partner.
SEC 1: THU, JAN 13-MAR 3 6-7 PM
RF70601
SEC 2: THU, MAR 10-MAY 12 6-7 PM
(No class on 4/7, 4/14)
Bill Heaton Galloway Hall 101A&B
RF70602 $50/person

That one was pretty cliche. But how about this?

Supernatural Thrillers
Analyze and discuss selected novels/films from
thriller authors like King, Koontz and Harris.
Explore the ancient origins of supernatural
beliefs and their evolution from Persian, Greek,
Roman, and Chinese mythologies into the superstitious
Middle Ages. The course concentrates
on the philosophical and psychological implications
of supernatural beliefs. Students are invited
to select the films and novels to be discussed in
class. (8 mtgs) A
THU, JAN 20-MAR 10 5:30-7:30 PM
Dr. Aman Kay Allgood Hall N354
LI70101 $95

This is the kind of course kids love to take in college.

Brooke mentioned this one to me before. Unfortunately it takes place at the same time as bellydance class (assuming, of course, that I ever decide to attend bellydance class):

Tai Chi
The ancient Chinese exercise of Tai Chi can be
practised by everyone to improve circulation and
balance, reduce stress, and help with weight control.
Learn Yang’s Style Standard 24-form set
and Breathing Sequence. Wear loose clothing
and comfortable shoes. (8 mtgs) F
SEC 1: WED, JAN 19-MAR 9 6:30-7:30 PM
RF40101
SEC 2: WED, APR 20-JUN 8 6:30-7:30 PM
Alex Chiu
Christenberry Field House 117
RF40102 $79

I would be interested in this,

Microsoft Excel
Learn to create and use spreadsheets. After this
beginner’s course, you will be able to make your
own database of information that is important to
you (CD collections, wine lists, household inventory,
etc.) You’ll learn to build formulas quickly with
Function Wizard and use Office Assistant for
online help. (4 mtgs) C
M/W, FEB 28-MAR 9 6:30-8:30 PM
Susan Speir Galloway Hall 215
CO60301 $95 .8 CEUs

but it seems a little too basic. Maybe their online course would be best.

And, of course, no list of classes I’m interested in taking would be complete without these:

Arabic 101
This short, but lively, eight hour introductory
course focuses on learning the Arabic alphabet.
Greetings, simple phrases, language history and
pertinent cultural aspects are emphasized.
Motivated students can progress to Arabic 102.
(4 mtgs) A
Textbook: Alif Baa Take either Sec. 1 or 2.
SEC 1:
THU, JAN 13-FEB 3 7-9 PM
FL50601 $45 .8 CEUs
SEC 2:
THU, FEB 10-MAR 3 7-9 PM
Emad Fransis Allgood Hall E260
FL50602 $45 .8 CEUs

Spanish 101
Emphasis is on oral communication and beginning
word recognition, rather than grammar in
this twelve hour course. No previous knowledge
of Spanish is needed. Each two hour class
allows time for in-class practice. Gain comfort
for most travel and business situations. Your
experienced instructor is a native speaker from
Latin America. (6 mtgs) A
Textbook: Essential Spanish by Berlitz
TUE, JAN 25-MAR 1 7-9 PM
Elizabeth Smith University Hall 353
FL30101 $89

Missed the boat there, though.

Kristanne and Kilian, and possibly Jazz and her kids, will be in Kentucky in September, so I must also be there, in addition to the trip I’m taking here in a couple weeks.