Invisus Manus
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "herithoth" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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11:33 pm
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July 4 2009
Busy weekend of the fourth. Friday morning I subjected zen_oven to Dark City. One of my favorite SF films. I just love the plot device that the doctor uses to train the main character to use his psychic abilities and time perception. I wish I could "tune". Later in the day we toured five apartments in Midtown/Montrose that we drive by all the time. We don't plan to move until it cools down and is closer to the end of our lease, but we thought we'd get a jump on it. We liked the New Orleans styled Calais the best and it is the newest of the bunch and comparable in price. Here's pics:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.texasexplorer.net/calais1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.texasexplorer.com/MidtownHouston.htm&usg=__bj7hvfadiCQTMgZS_SMWGxn4Pvg=&h=432&w=720&sz=181&hl=en&start=14&sig2=rGB_UlRC7xqKdYiY7-1lyg&um=1&tbnid=SpVLNSi7ktO6yM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=140&prev=/images%3Fq%3DCalais%2BHouston%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1&ei=5n5RSqu6J6C-NPqC9PUP ;
Later that day I made a blueberry pie and squash casserole to have with the lamb chops that baalin grilled. Then we watched "Repo: the Genetic Opera". It was interesting, but not as engaging as Sweeny Todd or Moulin Rouge.
Saturday morning I went on the ice crawl with the Houston Chowhounds. I passed on the pork cooked in blood, but I did brave the rice with chocolate topped with a dried fish. Not my favorite. I won't push to have dinner at New Phillipiana from now on. I did enjoy the halo halo though. It was shaved ice with milk, coconut fruits, congealed coconut, jellied fruits, and two kinds of paste (one purple that was related to taro). This was followed by Malaysian at Banana Leaf (beef rendang, dried fish fried rice, etc.) and another bowl of frozen dessert Chinese style at Star Snow Ice. Very similar to the first but with many kinds of sweet beans and swelled grains, fresh cut fruit, and gelatins like grass jelly. In the afternoon I visited Central Market and bought cloudberries, gooseberries, champagne grapes, and several kinds of apricots and plums. I got stuck on the Apple movie trailers site for a couple of hours watching previews of summer films. We had tacos and margaritas for dinner at La Mexicana (guisada de puerco is fantastic) and then hiked a few blocks north to watch the fireworks at Buffalo Bayou from a vacant lot at West Gray and Taft. Lots of new fireworks styles. Shaped charges that looked like mitotically dividing cells, corals, and gnat clouds were shown. Afterwards we watched "Step Brothers" and Rome Season II episodes 9-10.
This morning we watched "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay". I made hot dogs with purple German potato salad with olives, capers, and some Branston pickles. Housecleaning and watering the yard (we really need rain) took up the afternoon. Finally, I made my own tomato ragout with grilled venison sausage, roasted green peppers, and spinach linguine. Over pasta, we watched the preview of Ken Burn's National Parks. Ken is truly a great person. I think his projects bring out what is good in America and I get proud and teary when I think about the effect of his films have had. I hope that his work galvenizes national support of our parks that have been dealing with more travelers and contracted budgets.
Tags: apartments, cooking, ice crawl, movies
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09:08 am
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Zen_oven's B-day
Today is Zen_oven's birthday. She's been feeling down about some things over the weekend and not feeling well, so please give her some B-day cheer. Yesterday I bought her a dozen pink roses, chocolate cake from The Chocolate Bar, breakfast at Baba Yega, and money to buy some new clothes (since she lost all the weight she hasn't had the money to get replacements). We may go out for a nice dinner at Mark's or Mockingbird Bistro, but not tonight because Monday is the worst day to go the restaurants since the head chef is off and their food shipment is the oldest while Tuesday and Thursday are the newest.
Over the weekend we bought a new camera (the old one stopped working) and lots of nice fruit at Central Market (white peaches, canteloupe, nectarines, cherries, blueberries). I'm working my way through my honey do list including clearing out furniture we don't want to move this winter when we find a new apartment. I sent my 1 year-old niece some boots that look like cows with tails on the back, a cloth book "Goodnight Bear", her name carved in wood, and a sippy cup that looks like a monkey head. I sent my dad some Buds 'n' blooms organic fertilizer for Father's Day from the online store at Maestro Gro. This stuff will make anything bloom. I wanted to send some Minerals Plus too but it's fertilizer so I can't send it through the mail.
Tags: birthdays, father's day
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08:08 am
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Scottish music
Last night we went to see Ed Miller and Brian McNeil (one of the original Battlefield Band members) at the Mucky Duck. We were treated to a great Scottish traditional song medley with union songs, "We're going to South Australia", and shepherdess jokes. Mucky Duck is really a great Houston resource. I overdid it with the food though. I had three trios. First three mini pies (beef and mushroom, chicken pot pie, and shepherd's pie), then a flight of three beers, then a flight of three ports, and a sherry trifle.
Tomorrow is the Houston Chowhounds slider crawl. We're eating sliders at several places nearby. We've got several eating marathons planned in June. We're doing a BBQ Throwdown, a Fried Chicken Throwdown, and an ice crawl (different ethnic frozen desserts).
After I finish the re-write of my paper on Sunday I'm going to the Accordian Festival at Miller Outdoor Theatre. I'm hoping to hear some zydeco music.
Tags: chowhound, miller outdoor theatre, mucky duck
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07:45 pm
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Emo ribozyme
I just posted to lolscience
Tags: emo, ribozyme
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07:37 am
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Summer 2009 Movies
The summer movie guide came out in the Chronicle this morning. Many prequels are in store (but no Hobbit yet). Here's a rundown of selected film titles:
May 1: X-Men Origins: Wolverine
May 8: Star Trek
May 28: Up - animated Pixar flick about a house flown to South America with balloons
June 24: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
July 1: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
July 10: Bruno - Sacha Byron Cohen as gay Austrian tv reporter
July 17: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
July 31: The Cove - documentary about the Japanese city that hunts dolphins
Aug 7: GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Aug 7: Julie and Julia - adaption of the book about a woman who spends a year cooking Julia Child's recipes
Aug 14: The Time Traveler's Wife
These looked interesting on Apple Trailers
Food Inc
http://www.apple.com/trailers/magnolia/foodinc/
Where the Wild Things Are
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/wherethewildthingsare/
Tags: movies
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07:23 pm
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Heisenberg Cat
Ganked from Lolscience
http://community.livejournal.com/lolscience/62377.html
Tags: lolscience
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12:50 am
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Crawfish boil
Check out these Peeps
http://tinyurl.com/cll32u
I've been missing this show that I used to listen to back in school.
http://www.echoes.org/
I should have remembered to listen on www.publicradiofan.com. They list all NPR shows streaming online at that time by station and program name. You can find almost any NPR program is streaming somewhere in the U.S. I like Afropop World and Thistle and Shamrock too.
Bellies full of crawfish and beer after a day of crawfish boil eating in Baton Rouge. I got a bit of acid reflux from the spices, but some OTC acid blockers knocked it right out. We also watched the end of the Return of the King on the tv. Right now it's pouring down rain and I've been looking up Rood Food recommendations from the Splendid Table website. We stopped in Breaux Bridge on Friday to eat at Cafe des Amis that was just reviewed recently on the show. I had duck and sausage gumbo and zen_oven had seafood and corn bisque. For the mains I had BBQ shrimp and she had crawfish etouffee. We ended with a sirop gateau (syrup cake) that was a 18th century style dessert gingerbread cake with molasses and topped with nuts that was served with ice cream.
I've been looking at the National Park sites in Lousiana. Jean Lafitte has six sites. We went to two near New Orleans several years ago. There are several in western LA. I'm thinking that visiting the Cajun sites in Lafayette and Eunice might be fun for our 3rd anniversary next month. The site in Eunice does Cajun dance lessons, cooking lessons, and a Cajun music show.
http://www.nps.gov/jela/prairie-acadian-cultural-center-eunice.htm
We could stay in Lafayette, drive up to Eunice on Saturday, and see the site in Lafayette also.
http://www.nps.gov/jela/new-acadian-cultural-center.htm
Check out the Lafayette NPR station KRVS for streaming Cajun music.
www.publicbroadcasting.net/krvs/guide.guidemain
On the Lafayette visitor's bureau website I found several good looking French bakeries (run by actual French people including this one: They serve American King Cake and the original French one. As http://wwwpoupartsbakery.com)
I expected, the French original was served on Epiphany and is filled with almond paste. That means my plan to reengineer American King Cake with almond paste and less sweetness would put me square in the middle of the original French recipe.
I also found out that one of our favorite seafood restaurants in Baton Rouge, Parrain's, means godfather's in French and was a very important role in Cajun society. I also didn't realize that the Lebanese restaurants in Louisiana result from an influx of Christian Lebanese during the early 20th century. Their common French language made a good match for this to be a Lebanese landing point in the U.S.
Today is the first day of National Parks Week Apr 18-25. 2016 is the 100th anniversary of the National Park system set up by Teddy Roosevelt. Ken Burns is making a six-part series about the National Parks too.
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2008/05/ken-burns-national-parks-documentary-where-does-it-stand
Someday it might be fun to visit some of the War of 1812 sites besides the Battle of New Orleans (Chalmette) and Fort Necessity (near Pittsburg) that I've been . I haven't ever been to upstate NY or upper Michigan to see Fort Stanwix or some of these non-national park sites. http://www.visit1812.com/historic-sites/
On a related note, I'd recommend the American Experience miniseries about the role of Native Americans in American history by Rick Burns "We Shall Remain". It gives an upside-down view of American myths that I believe that we still have not reconciled with. The next episode about Tecumseh and his prophet brother tells the story about the attempt that almost united all Native Americans to stop U.S. expansion beyond the Mississippi that was referenced in the "Alvin Maker" series by Orson Scott Card.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/
Tags: crawfish boil, louisiana, national parks, rick burns
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10:51 pm
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Peep shows
Check out these Peeps
http://tinyurl.com/cll32u
Tags: peeps
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11:09 pm
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Work and division planes
My research meeting was very enjoyable. I asked a lot of questions that got excited responses from the speakers. Unfortunately that didn't translate into appreciation from my boss. I did get promises from competitors to share materials. That the majority of the talks were related to my project has led my boss to reconsider ending my project and even thinking about writing a grant to expand the work, but he still doesn't trust me to do the work. No recognition that most of my past interests and predictions were at least partially validated by my work and several others. I have heard that some bosses play head games where they tell their employee that they don't think they can accomplish something in order to get them to prove them wrong and work harder to get the work done. I wonder if this is what I'm experiencing. I'm planning to spend some of my remaining training grant period looking into other career possibilities. I used to think that I was going to pioneer a novel career path. Maybe that's still possible.
I had an idea that came up after a discussion with a colleague who noted that some people have a "clinical eye" to see meaning in details that others often miss. Some say that autistic spectrum disorders cause individuals to lack a filter for much of the data they receive which forces them to develop novel strategies to cope with data and to see novel relationships. I also read that some speculate that Einstein would have been diagnosed as ADHD and might have not developed his theories were he medicated. I often take the perspective of the "riding on a light beam" thought experiment to explore a new problem. On several occasions I have thought that the branch pattern of trees and the branching of vasculature (as I saw in the latex forms in the BodyWorlds exhibit) display particular branch patterns that reiterate much like a fractal. Fractals can be derived from simple mathematical formulas. Each of the branches must ultimately be tied to the angle of a division plane with respect to the prior division. The outcome of a division in stem cells, either to renew as two equivalent stem cells (symmetric) or as one stem and one differentiating daughter cell (assymetric), is determined by rotation of the division plane in fly germ cells. So the division planes of a vascular bed over space or the stem cell divisions in an organ over time could be depicted like Morse code and compressed into a simple formula. Not being a mathematician or a programmer, I'm not sure how to derive a formula from observed measurements.
Tags: division planes, work
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09:32 am
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March 31
Lots of things to catch up on. Our wireless @ home has been acting up so I couldn’t do any of this stuff this weekend. So, if you want to keep in touch with me, email is still the best way to do that. I rarely check LJ and even rarer on Facebook. We made the decision over the weekend to eliminate our land line so I and Zen_oven are only available through our cell phones now. We’re looking at aspects of our budget that we can cut to save money. One of our long-term goals is to consolidate all our media (music, periodicals, books, podcasts, movies) on one device so that we can eliminate clutter. I heard that the Seattle Post Intelligencer is now online only with no print edition. I’m looking to get a PDF version of the Houston Chronicle or maybe use Google News so I can hear news on the topics that interest me. We’re planning on getting a computer with a media center and hooking it up to a television with a digital receiver. Then we can eliminate our cable and still record PBS shows to the hard drive. The other shows we watch can be downloaded from the internet or Netflix. I’ve heard of a few companies that are planning on replacing game consoles with streaming web-based games, so I think business models that allow access to download streaming content from the web will be the future. Some of you know that we’ve been having difficulty in our marriage. We had a good argument this week and some discussion Zen_oven has had with her new friends that has helped us come to some understanding of issues that we have been stuck on for the past two years. We’re both making changes to address each other’s needs and that has led to us feeling like we’re more willing to work together to try and make things work out. I heard an interesting podcast about the stories about how couples got together are often the stories that help them stay together. The author of the story remarked that rarely do people ask about the times that couples struggle and how they managed to stay together. Although I’ve been hearing useful advice from couples that have been together longer about how to resolve these differences. I resubmitted my science paper about a week ago also and have been hearing some positive things about funding in general as well as for specific money in my lab. This week I’m going to Testis Workshop in Philadelphia and then visiting my parents just before Easter. We’ll be heading to Baton Rouge the weekend after Easter for a repeat of the crawfish boil that we attended last year. Afterwards, I have no significant plans for travel or meetings for a while. I’ll be working on grants again this summer and may explore some teaching opportunities if my training grant doesn’t preclude them. A week ago I went to Dallas to see the King Tut exhibit, the Nasher Sculpture Garden, and the Crow Collection. The King Tut exhibit was okay but mostly oriented to the novice audience and very little of Tut’s burial artifacts were present. I enjoyed the early Kingdom period show in D.C. that J and ymasen and I went to much better. We had more opportunities to docent and the books at the Smithsonian were much better than this show. I regret I was unable to be there on Tuesday when Zahi Hawass was arriving for a special lecture. I saw some very interesting scuptures using light at the Dallas Museum of Art. In one room black lights were set up at intervals to make it impossible to see anything but black and white. In the opposite hall all you could see was intense colors without any appreciation of depth. The same artist had many pieces that incorporated the element of time. I also went to my old house in Plano where I lived from ’82-85. The whole place was unrecognizable. It was all subdivisions and strip malls. Aside from the art I found Dallas in general to be just one big sprawl area with inadequate signage downtown – I could really have used a Tom Tom. I would have like to have had a little more time for exploring places like the Soda Shop www.thesodagallery.com. Then maybe I would have seen a different city. I did have a great meal at Stephen Pyles downtown with some ceviche in guanabanana juice and four gazpacho shots including a tomatillo-honeydew one and a smoked beet one. Sunday I went to the Fort Worth Botanical Garden which is in full spring bloom and very beautiful. Their Japanese garden was very large and filled with hidden curves and gifts from their Japanese sister city. I had a buffet lunch at the restaurant in park which was your typical buffet food, but well executed and moist despite being in a steamer tray. I had time for a quick driving tour of downtown (fairly unremarkable to me and not much dining or shopping options) and then toured the Kimball Art Museum. I had seen it on Great Museums on PBS. It has a small but rich collection installed in a specially designed building of curved concrete with narrow light slits that disperse the light over the ceiling and not onto the art itself. Downstairs I saw Aztec chocolate vessels and Nok sculptures – some of my favorite things. They had a special exhibit on love in Renaissance Italy. There were a lot of specific platewares and trays painted to mark the betrothal, the marriage, and the confinement after childbirth. Bedroom chest lids were painted with erotic scenes to encourage children and some drawings that were the Kama Sutra of their day that were destroyed by the Catholic Church were also on display. Across the street is the Modern, one of the largest modern art museums in the U.S. I didn’t have time to see it, but hopefully I will have a chance someday. Fort Worth seemed more authentic than Dallas and has several museum about the cattle drives and cowboys to give it a more western feel. It is home to the corporate headquarters of several companies like Pier 1. Dallas is home to a lot of corporate dining chains and Blockbuster. This weekend we ate at Blue Nile Ethiopian restaurant Friday night. Saturday we had coffee and breakfast at Antidote Coffee on Studemont in the Heights. I biked to the Bayou City Arts Festival and then I joined J & LA for an event at Meridian in the evening while Zen_oven went to the Westheimer Block Party with her friend B from her work. I remember a photo of a set of bathroom doors marked “sit and wiggle” and “stand and shake” for the women’s and men’s bathrooms. Some of the artists I enjoyed included: Dave Rizzo (Ontario, CA) – trees www.daverizzostudios.com Sheila Walters Beaverton, MI Alexis Silk (Energy, IL) – women’s clothes suspended on hooks www.nogasilkartglass.com Aidi Kansas (New Orleans) – pugs www.aidikansas.com Gregory Arth – oil trees www.gregoryarth.com Will Connor – landscape photos www.willconnor.com Fred Conlon (Salt Lake City, UT) – metalwork www.sugarpost.com Lea Alboher – pug clocks Sam Stark (Asheville) – glass art similar to Chihuly www.starkartglass.com Audrey Heller (San Francisco) – photographs with little people figures www.audreyheller.com Jay Long (Austin, TX) – surreal art www.jaylong.com Sunday we joined greyanna and baalin for Watchmen at Marq*E, some furniture shopping (they bought a new dining room table on sale), and dinner at Cadillac Bar on N Shepherd. I had the meltingly soft roasted cabrito al pastor (enough for two or three) and some flan for dessert.
Tags: bayou city art festival, cadillac bar, dallas, fort worth botanical garden, kimball, king tut, marriage, stephen pyles
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11:22 pm
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St. Pat's Day
I cooked up the corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes in the crock pot along with a pub can of Guinness to celebrate the day.
I've been watching a Frontline episode about the upcoming crisis caring for the elderly that are older than 75. Some of these people are looking very frail. Despite being former doctors and nurses, they are no more prepared for their own aging care and death than anyone else. Apparently to reduce your chances of dying in a home you need to have at least three daughters or daughters-in-law. I'm reminded again how skewed my social circle is - I almost never interact with the elderly or children.
I've started listening to the Moth podcast through iTunes. There are some fascinating stories including one about a fireman's experience failing to save someone and a woman who dates a fireman just before 9-11.
This American Life has a great explanation of the U.S. Financial Crisis. Totally worth listening to in order to understand why sometimes we have to support unscrupulous bank executives to avoid a total financial meltdown.
http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1285
Just finished the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card. I enjoyed a lot of it since I like alternative histories (especially pre-civil war ones), but it did end rather abruptly as the reviewers on Amazon said that it would. Not sure what I'm going to read next, but I'm reading whole series that I've had on the shelf for a while instead of buying a lot of new books. Probably will read some of "Listening is an Act of Love" that I got as an NPR supporter gift.
Humanoid robot to replace fashion models.
http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=100425&newsChannel=oddlyEnoughNews
Some disturbingly human-like robots in Japan.
I joined the Couchsurfing network today. Madpiratebippy used it to find places to sleep on her cycling trip through California. I'm hoping to find some hosts in Dallas and other places I might travel to. Even having some folks to do activities and eat with could be interesting. Most of the folks on the website have traveled extensively.
www.couchsurfing.com
Tags: alvin maker, couchsurfing, robots, the moth, this american life
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08:10 pm
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Valentine's Day
I had a bad weekend last weekend about several different problems in my life. I've told most of you about what's going on. If I haven't and you would like to know email me.
Today I did some cool things though. I bought a beautiful metal Mexican Valentine's Day wreath from Manos E Magicas on Durham in the Heights. I went to The Blair House www.theblairhouse.com nearby. They sell a variety of Indonesian crafts, sculptures, and teak furniture. I got a bat kite like the one's I saw in Austin and some carved wooden rambutans and a jackfruit. I talked to (and was totally crushing on) the Indonesian salesperson, Ankah, a member of Space City Gamelon (www.spacecitygamelan.org). We talked about Community Supported Agriculture, Sandy's Market www.sandysmarket.com, and ecstatic dance every Sundy at Planet Funk ecstaticdancehouston.com (sounds like bodychoir in Austin). She said that the band is thinking about having a concert inside some caves near San Antonio (one is a state park). I would think that would be very cool to do.
Zen_oven and I went to Jenni's Noodle House for lunch (had to postpone our Indian buffet at India's due to lateness of the hour). The picture menu of the noodle dishes made them look awesome. I got the thai chicken curry. It looked great but needed more seasoning and the potatoes were underdone. I might try one of their slippery noodle dishes, the spicy beef ramen, or the soba noodle dishes before I pass final judgement though. We hoped to go to the cupcake store nearby but they were sold out on account of the V-day rush for cupcakes.
I finished book four of the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card while Zen_oven napped. The series is an alternative history set in a magical U.S. that never unified into the United States between 1820 and 1865. The main character is a christ figure and there are some Mormon elements to the story. Jace recommended the books to me in the past and I never read them, but I can see why she thought that I would relate to the main character and his system of "making". If you enjoyed the Greg Keys books about the magical 1760s and other Orson Scott Card books, I recommend the series.
I'm pleased that after a prolonged drought during most of winter that the past several days have poured rain ever since I turned my big rainstick. Like the Federal folks, I get vacation for President's Day on Monday. I'll probably try to arrange to sell some of my stuff at the iSold It on Ebay store on Washington Ave and possibly look into selling some old Dragon magazine issues and First Edition AD&D books that day. I've been purging a lot of old files, papers, catalogs, etc. this week. I'm looking for a good local service to scan some of my papers into PDFs cheaply.
Hopefully another weekend before it gets too warm I'll be able to go to Beuscher and Bastrop state parks for camping and bike riding the 12 miles between the two parks.
Tags: alvin maker series, housecleaning, jenni's noodle house, manos e magicas, sandy's market, space city gamelon, the blair house
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10:44 pm
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Newspaper stories
Scientist hope to engineer mosquitos that live shorter lives that will transmit less malaria since the parasite doesn't build up until late in their life cycle.
http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2009_4685337
Some software for preventing malware on Macs
www.iantivirus.com
Barney's Olympic Daydream on Barneycam
www.whitehouse.gov/holiday/2008
Denise Chen of Rice University has shown that humans make a sexual sweat distinct from regular sweat
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6199801.html
Dr. Anil Snood (MD Anderson) published a paper in NEJM showing that low levels of Dicer and Drosha have a poor prognosis for ovarian cancer
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/moms/6169811.html
Bohemeo's coffee shop in East Houston sounds like an interesting place
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/arts/gray/6113334.html
Tags: barneycam, bohemeo's, iantivirus, mosquitos, ovarian cancer, sexual sweat
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03:54 pm
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Christmas 2008
Yesterday went to visit Zen_oven's parents and got a bike rack for our car. They liked the golf balls I bought them in every place that I've been this year. I also visited one of my old coworkers. Ate another turkey dinner but was much less dry than the one I had on Thanksgiving at my mom's.
Today we had a relaxed morning reading on the couch at our hotel and then much Chinese buffet was consumed with ladykalana. She and Z. are officially engaged today too. Wedding colors to be pink, black, and purple. They plan for a long engagement. The sunshine on our faces outside was nice too. First time that it wasn't raining.
We're going to the Lumina to see a matinee of Benjamin Button.
Tomorrow, breakfast at Elmo's with ginko and kickaha and hopefully Bosphot and L. Dinner with SCA folks and party at J & C's house afterwards.
Saturday Zen_oven goes to Wilmington to see ladyeridan so I'll be without a car and hoping to hang out with folks.
Tags: chapel hill, christmas
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07:41 pm
[Link] | I've had connectivity issues at the hotel (Hampton Inn on 15-501) so I'm on ladykalana's computer now. Here's an update so far:
Saturday
Lunch with bosphot at Milltown in Carrboro. Had a big bowl of mussels and frites, several Belgian beers, and a chocolate mousse that got more carmelly with each bite. Went to the pottery store across the street. We went to mystic_trance's house for Yule ritual which was rather playful with the candle-lighting. We sampled several cheeses, apple reisling mead that has improved with aging, pastas, and some stollen.
Sunday
Much lovely dim sum was consumed along with ymasen & tigersfan, phoenixdefiant, marq & golemkennels, code_slave and friend, mystic_trance & A., et al. I have missed the dan tats and sticky rice. We had a random encounter with the Frye's and then spent an hour in the parking lot having a cocktail conversation. Zen_oven went off to visit with ysmasen and tigersfan and later Christmas shopping with T. Meanwhile I went to Cary Garden Supply and bought some ornaments and an amaryllis bulb. Afterwards I met bosphot at Morgan Imports for more ornaments and blue LED lights. Then we had some beer at Alivia's across the street from Brightleaf, including Hoegaarden and the seasonal beer on tap. Hoegaarden has an aftertaste of hotdogs. Probably would pair well with weisswurst. By this time T. and Zen_oven reappeared and lots of jokes ensued. No chicken wings could be procured so we thought to eat at Tyler's. However, three steps outside the door, the oysters at Fishmonger's were calling. I had the steamed platter and the oysters were succulent. Long wait for my Citrus Ale but otherwise a good time had by all. Topped the evening off with tim at the hotel watching "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow".
Monday
I met my old labmates for lunch at Merlion in Southern Village and discussed science. I spotted a new building in the medical campus area, but otherwise not too different from last year. Mystic_trance picked me up and we hung out with A. and friends at Southpoint. I enjoyed sitting by the fire in Coldwater Creek for a little while. Now we're at ladykalana's eating Greek foods. We will be leaving for goth nite at Legends in a short while.
Tomorrow we're having lunch at Guglhupf with phoenix_defiant followed by shopping at A Southern Season. Everyone is welcome to join us for this shopping at 2pm until we get tired of shopping. Wednesday we're at Zen_oven's parents all day for Christmas Eve day.
Tags: chapel hill, christmas
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08:37 am
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Dim Sum Sun Dec 21
I just sent out an evite for Dim Sum on Sunday Dec 21 at 11am at Neo-China in Cary. I couldn't find emails for some of my LJ friends. If you didn't get an email from me, please post your email or email me at my gmail account (greg.buchold).
Tags: dim sum
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09:52 am
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a holiday joke
When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not
produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the
Pre-Christmas pressure.
Then Mrs. Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which
stressed Santa even more.
When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them
were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were
out, Heaven knows where.
Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards
cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were
scattered.
Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a
shot of rum.. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves
had drank all the cider and hidden the liquor. In his frustration, he
accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of
little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the
broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the
broom.
Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door,
yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big
Christmas tree.
The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a
lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me
to stick it?'
And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the
Christmas tree.
Tags: christmas joke
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12:32 am
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Store closings
I'm passing on a note I saw about stores that will be closing some locations or closing down.
Circuit City
Ann Taylor - 117 stores nationwide are to be shuttered
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, and Catherine's to close 150 store nationwide
Eddie Bauer - closing 27 stores and more after January
Cache will close ALL stores
Talbots closing down ALL stores
J. Jill closing ALL stores
GAP closing 85 stores
Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January
Wickes Furniture closing down
Levitz closing down ALL remaining stores
Bombay closing ALL remaining stores
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
Whitehall Jewlers closing ALL stores
Piercing Pagoda closing ALL stores
Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January
Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
Macys to close 9 stores after January
Linens-n-Things closing ALL stores
Movie Galley Closing ALL stores
Pacific Sunware closing stores
Pep Boys - closing 33 stores
Sprint/Nextel - closing 133 stores
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores
Wilson Leather closing down ALL stores
Sharper Image closing down ALL stores
K B Toys closing 356 stores
Lowe's to close down some stores
Dillard's to close some stores
Tags: store closings
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09:03 am
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Christmas visit
Our annual trek to Chapel Hill is fast approaching so I wanted to let folks know what tentative plans were made so far. We will be arriving on Saturday Dec 20. I've heard that there may be a Hearthfire ritual that evening. Sunday morning I would like to organize a group for dim sum. Monday night is goth night. Wednesday we'll be spending the day with zen_oven's family. Thursday Ladykalana will be doing her annual Chinese buffet brunch. I'd like to organize another trip to Southern Season. Phoenix_defiant, you often have other plans so let me know if when you will be in town. Since we had the most fun playing games and hanging out, I'm trying not to plan all the meals, but I'd like to go to Guglehupf, the BBQ joint, the Malaysian restaurant in Southern Village, and House of Hunam. Zen_oven is probably going to visit eridan in Wilmington, but hasn't figured out when yet. We'd love to schedule time to have coffee, marq and golemkennels. I'm guessing there will be an Elmo's breakfast with kickaha and ginko somewhere in there. Wake_up_magy, maybe the day of goth night we could meet up with you? We might work in a matinee movie somewhere depending on what's playing. If there is anything fun happening that week that we should do, let me know.
Tags: chapel hill, christmas, travel
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09:52 am
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Sunday 11/16/08
Last Friday had to pull an all-nighter because my boss demanded draft of paper Friday afternoon before his flight at 8 am Saturday morning. He pulled the same Office Space boss routine this Friday at 5pm. Luckily I finished by 11:30. I went home and made pasta carbonara with two soft poached eggs, grated pecorino, and pancetta that was outstanding. This fusion of breakfast food and pasta makes a great late night dinner.
Yesterday I went on a mushroom foray with the Gulf States Mycology Society in the Big Thicket. I have been trying to go on one of their forays for two years, but always have had a scheduling conflict. I gave up going to the Scottish weekend of the Renn Faire. There is really almost nothing on I-90E on the way there. Luckily they were in the parking lot of the ranger station to pick up some other late arrivals or I wouldn't have found the group because I got lost at the end and there is no staff in the station. I thought of a great use for Twitter en route. If the folks that went to the foray twittered that they went looking for mushrooms, I could search Twitters locally for "mushroom" and then sent a text to their cell phones when I was lost. I like the idea of our technology alerting us to people nearby that have something interesting/in common with us. Just wait until some sex partner finding sites take hold of that technology. The mushroom discussion after the foray was very good and we collected a big tooth fungus. Then I went to the Dewberry Farms corn maze in Katy. The maze was disappointing, but I bought blue moon and cinderella pumpkins to bake pies with. They also do a lighted carved pumpkin display (they're actually carved foam forms, but better than some Christmas lighting shows I've seen elsewhere. I ate dinner at El Rey on Washington and N Shepard. This is a Cuban restaurant with a drive-through, but that said, actually has a good tortilla soup, guacamole, and ropa vieja. They do caneloupe agua frescas and rotisserie chickens too. I may convert Zen_oven to liking Cuban food yet. Today I'm eating BBQ for lunch and Indian food at Himalaya with the Houston Chowhounds.
The winter switch got pulled yesterday. Very windy Friday night but our heat is working. It's 45F in the shade outside and the house is holding at the temp I set the thermostat at and not running constantly. This is a big improvement over the old system. The cold has me wanting to bake bread and do my Christmas shopping.
We've been watching Family Guy and the second season of Dexter. I don't know how I didn't watch Family Guy before. The fact that my childhood friend managed the writers on this show means that the humor is coming from him in part and makes it all the better.
I have been talking about wishing that there was a lolcat translator. I stand by my prior comment that the internet is a possibility engine that responds to our unconscious desires.
I HAS LINK 2 SHOW U BOUT TRANZLATIN SENTENCEZ 2 LOLCAT
www.speaklolcat.com
Tags: corn maze, family guy, heat, lol cats, mushrooms, work
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