Quote of the Day

"What if you knew that every time you flipped on your light switch, a mountain top in West Virginia just blows up?"

Kathy Mattea

Typhoid Mary

I'm sure that y'all have heard about this fine gentleman who, knowing he had a drug resistant form of TB and told to remain under solitary confinement, travelled by plane to Greece to get married then tried to sneak back to the USA via a flight from Prague to Montreal. Then, he drove to NY and got tagged there. The man is currently under quarantine. I personally think that if he's so happy to give this form of TB to other people, then we shouldn't be obligated to treat him. Let him hang out in the hospital for ever and ever and ever.

In his words, “I’m a very well-educated, successful, intelligent person.” Really? I guess that intelligence and well-educated doesn't necessarily translate into being thoughtful and considerate person.

I am flabbergasted as to why he is not facing prosecution. I mean, it's against the law to knowingly transmit AIDS. Why is this case any different?
Grrrrrrrr.

Bizzaro Monday

On weeks that there's a holiday, my schedule get allll thrown about. So, I've thought today was Monday. It IS Tuesday right?

Anyhoo. Here at school, I am quickly assaulted with all the work I'll need to do this week. Well, maybe next week too.

I saw a wee squirrel and chipmunk today, they are so adorable. I hung out for a few minutes under my favorite tree on campus. Maybe it's my favorite tree ever.

Keira Knightley doing her best impression of Braveheart is NOT considered legitimate pirate talk, it's just plain goofy. Pirates don't need to be told about freedom.

I've got more to do. Enjoy your bizzaro monday!

The Wall

Hyperion finally is reissuing his story "The Wall", please head on over and check it out. It really is Hyperion's most important stories.
:) LJS

Le meuble est mort, vie le meuble

I'm having one of *those* days where the couch and I are doing some serious bonding. I feel like not doing a darn thing, but I suppose that may be because my morning/early afternoon was so eventful.
For starters, my honey left for a week to go back to our "Montreal home" and I miss him tremendously. I've taken up my habit of having my digital pictures folder open, ready to show a picture of him at a moment's notice. But this absence is only one week instead of 6, so I'm thankful for that.
And, I forgot I signed up to walk in a holiday parade today for our congressman, John Dingell. A phone call at 9:15 am reminded me of my obligation. My brain is getting moooshy, must be old age, because I usually don't forget these sorts of things. Anyhoo. The parade was for ~ a mile, and our job was to walk behind the car carrying Mr. Dingell and his wife (they were waving to folks), and throw candy at the kids watching the parade. It was so much fun! I really enjoyed seeing the Dingells again, as they are very nice people. It is my hope that politicians are as nice and sincere as the Dingells. Again, I was reminded that it's really easy for us to get involved. There were about 10 kids who just walked up and asked if they could help, and they did. I think that our country would greatly benefit from folks doing something more to get involved in their local goings on. Did you know that the "average American" watches 4.5 hours of TV a day? I wonder what great things we could do if we gave up an hour of TV each day?
What would you do with an extra hour a day?

This land is our land

Thanks to the rocking gal-duo of DebBer, we have a car on loan. I used the car today to drive up to my favorite park, Gallup Park, for a nice long-ish run.
The park was filled with lovely people, all enjoying a great late spring day with their families or enjoying a bit of running or biking. I love going to the park to see people relaxed and loving life. That's not the curious part though, although it is truly joyful. What I love the most about going to parks around here is seeing such a wide diversity of people. The promise of peace, love and equality is especially evident in public lands such as parks, or walking on sidewalks through my neighborhood. Look at the old couple strolling along, or the family on bicycles, or the couple hand-in-hand. Watch as I zoom past you with my lightening fast running. Ha ha ha. Not.

Perhaps a park can be an Eden, where we are all children of sunshine and joy.

Enjoy the lovely weather!

Tagged Got I, Fun!

Many thanks to Sparky Duck for tagging me on such a soul-revealing "it's not a meme" about my life. If you have the chance, head on over to Sparky and give the boy some love. He's realizing that he and cheese are at a gastrointestinal impasse, with he being on the losing end.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
OMG. I am old. I graduated college 10 years ago!? And I'm STILL in grad school?? Anyhoo. I graduated in May 1997, and planned on starting my internship at UM in June 1997. May was spent with my best friend Tina, who had come up from Charleston for graduation, and many good times were had. We spent a week in Wheeling then drove down to Charleston where I stayed for...I'm thinking...nearly two weeks. It was the best month ever: we drank a ton, hung out in the sunshine, went downtown many times, and went a'boating every day. No responsibilities, no work, nothing to do but enjoy life in a way that only a 21 year old can.

What was I doing a year ago?
Hmmmm. I was not drinking a ton, hanging out in the sunshine, boating and going downtown. But I did/do have a boyfriend. :) And, I spend the last week of May 2006 visiting him in Montreal. And it was lovely.

Five Snacks I enjoy:
1. Chips and Salsa
2. Doritoes
3. Cheesy Poofs
4. Cheese popcorn
5. Chocolate chip cookies

Five songs I know all the lyrics to:
This is tough, I think that the reason why I can sing along is because of the music.
1. "I can tell that we are going to be friends" -The White Stripes
2. "Dancing Queen" -ABBA (no giggling! I love this song!)
3. "Road to Joy" Bright Eyes
4. Our national anthem
5. The Spongmonkey's "Quiznos song


Five things I'd do if I had $1000000:
1. Pay off my student loans
2. Buy a modest house
3. Put all the rest into a balanced portfolio, with a small percentage saved for any future wee pirates' Harvard education.
4. Sound boring? Just wait and see all the fun I'll be having since I'd be able to retire at age 40 with no house debt or student loan debt! Muhahahaha!!!
5. I'd buy you a monkey, I bet you always wanted a monkey!

Five bad habits:
I don't have bad habits, I have character flaws. And, man, are they a doozy.

Five things I like doing:
Running, cooking, researching, yoga, gardening

Five things I'd never wear again:
White eye shadow and blue mascara
That lilac-colored sweatsuit "adorned" with black leather trim.
My Elms uniform
Moon boots
Ripped jeans

Five favorite toys:
Blue Thunder, my honey's bike
My iPOD
Red 1 (I know, I know...it's not a toy, it's an instrument. But, I love it)
My bicycle
My espresso maker


I guess I'm supposed to "tag" 5 people, but...I don't roll like that (today). So, if you like this, put it up.
:)

Sparky's Apple Cake

Awhile ago, I copied Sparky Duck's recipe for apple cake and I've recently had a chance to make it. The cake was delicious! It's light and fluffy and just enough cinnamon spice. I agree with Sparky's recommendation to use a KitchenAid-the batter was very sticky. I included an extra egg, I always do that to make the cake a little bit lighter. And I used nutmeg instead of allspice.

Delicious with sour cream icing or caramel ice cream...or...both!
Enjoy! :) LJS

Mrs. Duck's Apple Cake

3 cups of Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup cooking oil
2 beaten eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups chopped peeled apples
1 cup toasted chopped peacans
2 teaspoon lemon peel (we didnt add this and it was fine)
powdered sugar

1.Grease and lightly flour 10 inch tube pan or bundt pan. Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice and a 1/4 tea of salt. Set Aside

2.In another mixing bowl combine sugar, brown sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on medium for 2 minutes. Add dry flour mixture and beat on low until just combined. Fold in Apples, pecans and lemon peel (if using). Pour entire batter into the prepared pan.

3.Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour or till wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool cake on wire rack for 10 minutes, then dust with powdered sugar. Cover and store in refridgerator until its ready to be served.

This comes from the Better Homes and Gardens New cookbook.

International Goings On

This week promises to be very exciting over at International ____ Day. There's lots of hugging, kissing, and a celebrity smackdown just to keep everyone on their toes.

Today, May 7th, is International Geosmin day. What are Geosmin? Go check it out.

Get your motors running for May 8th, when my favorite River Midget Tobias tells us how to go for test drives.

May 9th, International Celebrity Smackdown day, will forever be heralded by Yoko Ono fans everywhere as the day when Linda finally gets her comeuppance.

Catch a friend or two or three on May 10th, where Chelle not only enlightens us but also encourages us to be there for our friends.

Hate rap music? Well on May 11th, stop hatin' on a genre day, maybe you can find something cool where you never thought possible.

Leave it to Dragon, the lovely and talented Canadian Iron Chef extraordinaire, to deem May 12th as International Kiss the Cook Day. Give up the love for your cook!

And if you are feeling adventurous, stop on my May 13th for International Hug a Panda Day. Newcomer Sparky Duck is holding his own in this wild and crazy week!

InsJOKEide

Honey, this is Kip. See the resemblance??
:)

Drivers R Us

In every nook and cranny of this lil world, I've noticed one universal truth.
Ready for it?

People are so not Zen with their cars.

From Montreal to Xi'an, from Waimea to Barcelona, yes even in small town Americana. I've noticed that most of us (myself included) just go on auto pilot and tend to ignore the world when behind the car. My mom used to call it the "booger picking effect"-how many people have YOU seen picking their nose in the car? Many!

Perhaps going the tree-huggin' hippie route of bicycle and public transport has reawakened my senses. Maybe it's just a pesky need to keep vertical and breathing. But, I've become more aware of cars and the havoc they wreck (pun intended). I was wondering if it were possible for us to get Jesus, in a car sense. Perhaps a 12 step program where we reaffirm our:
1 Control of the vehicle.
2 Control to NOT drive over bicyclists. Please remember our skin does NOT shear, despite the awesome speed of our two-wheeled, non-polluting bikes.
3 Ability to see a stop line
4 And, going with #3, actually stopping AT said line
5 Cool quotient. Please, no ABBA unless you're the neighborhood, completely benign, pimp daddy.

These are only 5 steps, but they're a good place to start. And, remember folks, we do appreciate you stopping at the stop line.

Hey, enjoy the weather! :)

International Day

Looking for a holiday? Stop on by International ___ Day, where I and other folks find creative and unusual reasons to celebrate each day!
I've got May 1, May 9, May 20, and May 25!