Author: trinalin

Bridge Contest 2007

As of Wednesday, school is back in session. I had a lovely time with my family and friend’s this holiday season. Indeed, the folks, Amy, Rachel and I spent Tuesday out shopping. We started with lunch at Sakai, the new Japanese place in Troy. Sushi for all (and some chicken cutlet for dad too). We tried many different types of sushi and rolls and enjoyed it. I love California roll, especially with crab salad, but I also love ebi sushi (steamed shrimp) and various tuna rolls and sushis. We discovered that the yellow tail roll that I got didn’t taste as good as the other items on the table, but I think that was the only real loser of the bunch.

Shopping started at Kohl’s and moved onto to the bookstore in Troy. I spent some of my birthday money there (for Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett and American Gods by Neil Gaiman) and also bought everyone coffee or tea at the coffee shop which is in the bookstore. I had a caramel steamer and it was very yummy. We finished up there and then moved onto the Piqua mall. I returned the leather jacket which I’d received for Christmas but which didn’t fit. Despite checking every store in the mall that might carry one, we just couldn’t find a nice replacement for that jacket. Perhaps mom and I will find one another day out. Still, I was able to complete my birthday purchase by getting The Beatles Love.

When we returned home, we had Wine Time which wound up sating us all for supper too. Alas, I had to work the next day and miss out one some quality A&R time, but I gotta be making the money to buy food for my kitties! So Wednesday morning, I got up bright and early for work.

The full week before Christmas break, my seniors were building bridges using only toothpicks and glue. (They also had Monday & Tuesday of our last half week to finish up.) Yesterday, we tested them. The bridges had to span a 30cm opening and at least hold the bucket. And all of them did that. Then the students were to add up to 15kg (~33 lbs) of mass into the bucket. Normally bridges break before the full 15kg is added, but this year we did have one bridge that held the maximum! Indeed, the girls who built this bridge wound up with the highest efficiency (mass held divided by mass of bridge). It held 550+ times its own mass! Pretty impressive!

I had dad drop off my camera because I’d forgotten to bring it that morning, so I managed to get a few photos in. And since my camera can do video, I tried to video some of the bridges breaking. Alas, my timing was off and I usually ran out of video time mere seconds before the bridge actually broke. (My camera does videos in 15 second segments – and doesn’t record sound.) However, I managed to capture the last two bridges that we tested as they broke. And I have uploaded one of them to YouTube for your enjoyment!

This bridge managed to hold quite a bit before it broke. Off hand, I can’t remember how much, but I believe it was around 7 kg. I was quite pleased with all of the bridge performances. And it was interesting to see the different techniques students had to add their masses to the bucket. As one student said “I think I used more physics to place the masses than I did in building the bridge!”

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, after welcoming in the new year, eventually judiang and I got off to bed. I shut the kitties in with me to allow Judi to get some sleep, but that meant that Linus (I swear, someone must have let him drink something caffeinated!) ran around in my room keeping me & Lucy up rather than keeping Judi up. He settled down sometime after 2:30am and we all fell asleep.

Around 6:30am, I let the kitties out in case they wanted breakfast or to do their business. Linus bugged Judi a little, but then he returned to me and we all fell asleep again. I got up sometime after 9am and made my way next door on the rumor that there would be cinnamon rolls there. The rumor was right!

As folks slowly made their way into M&D’s kitchen, we put HDTV on to watch the making of Rose Parade special and then the parade itself. I peeled potatoes for mashed taters while I watched. I wasn’t worried about missing too much of the parade since my computer was supposedly recording it. But an investigation around noon showed that my computer had just recently rebooted. Crap! So I’ve no idea how much of the parade that I have. I’ll make a DVD for watching later.

Mom had invited her brothers and their families for New Year’s Day lunch (pork and kraut, an Anderson family tradition). But before folks were to arrive, I had to feed Judi and then drive her off to the airport. In fact, we had just finished lunch (first lunch for me) as Aunt Madeline and Uncle Bob arrived. We said our hullos and good byes and I took Judi off to Dayton International. Seeing as she’s currently on IRC, I think she got home OK. 🙂

I returned home and it was still just Madeline and Bob. They were starting on desert, so I started on second lunch. It was just as good as first lunch was. Pork, kraut, mashed taters, and biscuits. Yum!

We decided to teach Madeline how to play Apples to Apples while Bob went upstairs to watch football (or was it sleep through football?) It turns out Madeline has a gift for Apples to Apples. She quickly made her way to the lead. I eventually caught up with her, but she won out in the end. It was during the last couple of rounds that Uncle Doug showed up. Then his wife, Aunt Charlene, and daughter Patty arrived as well. They had 2 of Charlene’s grand-nieces with her. They were fascinated by Apples to Apples and we promised to play it with them after awhile.

Despite mom having a nice new dining room table that could seat 10+ folks, people congregated in the kitchen. It was rather funny. But eventually we congregated in the dining room to play Apples to Apples again. Mom and Madeline decided not to join in, but Patty, Halie (the younger niece), and Uncles Bob & Doug agreed to join in. Some of the funniest table-talk took place in this game. But Halie (with a little help from her sister Sarah and from Rachel) quietly took the lead and eventually got the win. Meanwhile, I only got 1 card in this game. Alas!

The family headed out a little after 6pm and then Amy began making my birthday cake. She had the inspired idea of making cupcakes because they would cool faster and then people could decide whether or not to put icing on and how they wanted to decorate.

After the evening news, we put mom’s new copy of Ice Age 2 on and watched that. With a break first for folks to get supper. And then a break near the end for Rachel & Amy to bring in my birthday cupcakes. They had iced 5 of ’em and put “T” “R” “I” “N” and “A” on them. Then put sparkling candles on ’em for decoration. Despite the best efforts of the three of us, the candles refused to go out until we were nearly passed out from trying. It was quite a hoot. I had the “I” (cuz “I” was having a birthday today) while Rachel took the “R” and Amy took the “A.” Dad had a blank one and mom decided to wait.

After the movie was done, we had ice cream and (for some of us) cupcakes again. We watched Two and a Half Men (which mom and dad watch regularly). And when it was over, I opened my presents.

elsaf got me Volume 3 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection – yay! Wile E Coyote & catapults! Plus lots of other great cartoons! Judi got me the CD version of Monty Python: The Final Rip Off, which I am currently listening to. Thank you ladies! M&D got me some cash which I might get to spend tomorrow during our shopping spree. And A&R got me The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus Megaset. Yay! Plenty of Python and silliness to last me for some time!

So, now I’m 36. Hmmm… So far doesn’t feel any different from 35. 🙂

Happy New Year!

Well, judiang and I are resting up from our successful New Year’s Eve party. OK, so it was just us, my folks, and Amy & Rachel. But it was great fun. OK, so I forgot some things like, say, ice and, say, pop for folks other than me. But I had the ham cooked and was working on the mini-piggies-in-a-blanket when folks arrived. No matter, the folks brought lots of booze with ’em and their own drinks master: Amy.

We had supper and started mom’s (new) DVD of Trading Places. Once we finished eating, we sat and watched the movie to its end. When I started up Serenity, we ladies played Apples to Apples (which A&R gave to mom for Christmas) while dad tried to listen to the movie (unsuccessfully, from what I understand). I was in the lead for awhile, getting 5 cards. But then Rachel sped past me to the win.

Euchre was our next game of choice, but the movie ended and we had 5 minutes to go til midnight. So ABC came on and we Rocked our way to the New Year.

MERRY NEW YEAR!
(Beef Jerky Time!)

We finished the game of Euchre with Judi and I beating mom & Amy. (They say they let us win cuz it was now my birthday. Heh.) Folks then drifted off home and Judi and I cleaned up the place. The dishwasher is now going, Judi’s over in the chair on her laptop and I’m here on the sofa on mine.

2006 is dead and gone. Long live 2007! May it be a good year for everyone on my flist!

Holiday Swag

Yesterday was Christmas for my family. We had a late lunch of sandwiches and/or salads and Munchies. And then we chatted or read or slept or played Sims (well, just Judi for the Sims). But eventually we couldn’t stand the suspense any longer and at 4:30pm, Amy began passing out presents for opening.

We always do the “take turns” bit of unwrapping in my family. And we went in order of youngest to oldest. So Rachel started, followed by Amy, me, Judi, dad, mom. (The difference in dad & mom’s age is 6 months, but she is the older…) It was lots of fun unwrapping and seeing what folks got and seeing their expressions when they opened your presents. I, for one, had a blast with Amy & Rachel’s gifts. Rachel decided maybe she’d like some ice skates from LL Bean since they look more gym-shoe like and, thus, more comfortable than what she’d had in the past. So I told her that I’ll see about getting her some ice skates. And I did! And with Amy’s gift, I made up a Netflix-style service of my own DVDs. I call it Flicks DOT Net and made up a logo & everything. She got several pre-paid envelopes for the DVDs, and a list of my collection for her to mark up requests. We’re shooting for 5 at a time and we’ll see how it goes.

The surprise gift of the afternoon were these little wind-up flashlights that mom’s cousin got everyone. They’re LED lights and very easy to get lit. We had a blast cranking and shining and I’m happy to note that I’m not the ONLY one who looked into the lights. We took a break about an hour into the unwrapping and wound up finishing just a little before 7pm.

We had supper in mom’s “new” dining room. Chicken casserole, green beans, Brussels sprouts for mom & Amy, cottage cheese, cranberry sauce from the can, and vino. It was an excellent supper and we toasted Christmas and families.

We stayed there til after midnight and finally mooched on home with our swag. And boy did we do well! I have placed my holiday swag under my tree and taken a photo of it.

As you can see, I received many nice things. (The teddy bears are just decoration.) Several items of clothing from the parentals: 4 turtle neck shirts, 2 vests, corduroys and socks (which I picked up today). A Brit’s Pub shirt from A&R (from the English pub near their place). Dad’s toy (that the thing on the left with the nails in it) from this year. A Robopet from the parentals – yay toys! Books, a CD, and DVDs from the folks, elsaf and judiang. Wrap-around hearmuffs from the folks (all of us got a pair). The aforementioned flashlight and a box of gardening tools from mom’s cousin (the box of tools is under the clothes). A lovely photo of A&R in a motherboard-style frame from the girls which is currently on my kitchen counter and thus not in the photo. And some book uprights for when I finally get my bookshelves built (from m&d). The two wrapped presents there are birthday gifts – one from Elsa & one from Judi. I get to open then tomorrow.

Today, Judi and I headed off to Fairborn for my monthly(ish) trek to the Bookery Fantasy and Jeet India. We both got $50+ worth of stuff. And we had Indian Fud at Jeet. Wonderful buffet. We also went to the Evil Puppy Mall where Judi hugged a baby Pomeranian for a bit. At the Walking Place, I bought socks from mom as well as socks from me. (Well, they were buy 3 get 1 free, so I got 2 pair from mom and 2 pair from me). I love Fox River Socks!

For the third time since my holiday began, Judi and I visited Best Buy. This time, I was going in with the intent to get some speakers for my iPod for the kitchen and/or living room. (They’re portable enough for both – or even my bedroom should I desire.) I got a nice set of Logitech speakers for $150. And I’ve tested them out and they are nice. Judi got herself an external soundcard for her laptop.

After a short stop in Meijer for the last of my groceries for tonight and tomorrow, we returned home. Judi immediately plopped onto the sofa for a nap and I worked on getting things ready for tonight’s New Year’s Eve gathering. We’re playing games and eating food and watching movies and stuff.

I hope all of you have a Happy New Year! I certainly intend to do so!

Down & Safe

Yesterday morning, elsaf walked to her local bakery to get us some cinnamon rolls for breakfast. As usual, I was second up and judiang eventually dragged herself out of bed. We had a nice lazy morning after breakfast, just geeking and eventually packing. When it was nearing 1pm, we drove to Panera Bread in 2 cars. We had a relaxing lunch of broccoli cheddar soup in sour dough bread bowls. We knew that when we were finished with lunch, we’d have to part company, so we chatted for as long as we could. Then we left Panera, hugged, and drove off our separate ways. Elsa back to her place, Judi and I down south to my home.

Thanks to the iPod Transpod that Judi had given me for Christmas, we listened to her iPod for the drive home. We only had one stop along the way where we discussed feminine things as you see in commercials. It was quite funny. I also got to pick on Judi’s 23 versions of “O Holy Night” in her playlist. Spread out over 500 songs, it might not have seemed a little excessive. In a playlist of 95 songs, it got a bit, um, repetitive. She also seems to like “The Little Drummer Boy” a lot as well.

When we got to Troy, I stopped at Penn Station to get us supper. I got my usual Philly cheesesteak, got Judi a club with no ham, mom a regular club, and dad the Italian sub. Plus a large fries. Once in town, I got some beverages from the gas station (including blue Gatorade for Judi who had thrown out her shoulder playing some pretty mean Air Piano during one of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra pieces and was having muscle cramps because of it). We arrived at the parentals with food and had a nice supper in their kitchen.

After supper, Judi and I headed to my house (where I’d already been to cuddle my kitties) and I showed off my flatscreen TV by playing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Ah, some mad David Tennant! What fun! Near the end of the film, mom called to say it was time to pick up Amy & Rachel, so I headed next door and we three rushed off to the airport to pick up the girls.

They arrived on time and we exchanged hugs. Then we waited and waited and waited some more for the luggage to come out. When their baggage carousel began to spin, I predicted to Amy “4th and 12th.” Well, neither of their bags showed up 4th or 12th. Indeed, it was more like 4th from the last and last. As soon as their last piece showed up, the carousel stopped. Heh, what timing…

We returned home for cookies and milk. I dragged Judi over from next door because calling her on my phone did no good. “Trina, you had 2 phone calls just now.” Um, yeah! Silly gurl! 🙂 The cookies, milk, and conversation were all a nice wind up to a busy day for all.

Bedtime for Judi turned out to be Kitten Hell. The kitties had never seen the sofa open out into a bed and spent most of the evening playing under the bed, rolling things back and forth. They did eventually join me in bed to sleep, but they aggravated Judi enough so that she didn’t have the world’s greatest night sleeping. Still, we managed to get over to mom & dad’s shortly after 9am. Dad made everyone Egg McMikey sammiches, which, as always, were very yummy. The girls went back to bed, Judi fell asleep on the sofa, and the parentals headed off to the grocery. So I have returned home for a little waiting for the sleepy heads to return to the land of the living.

Tonight, we have our “traditional” Christmas dinner of chicken casserole and will then open presents. Mmmm, presents! I love presents!

Happy Feet

We had another nice slow start today. (I *love* vacation!) And today, elsaf made us French toast – yay! (I love French toast even more than pancakes, and that’s saying something.) And more sausage to eat with syrup. judiang, as usual. was the last one up.

Much of the afternoon was spent geeking and waiting around to find out when the National Day of Mourning will be. This has no bearing on me or Elsa, but Judi is a Fed and thus it is of great importance to her. And now we know – her day off will be Tuesday. Perhaps she will rant about the irony of that date in her LJ. Perhaps not.

Elsa made us roast beast sammiches for lunch. She and I had earlier walked to her local bakery to get some bread. It was pumpernickle rye, which Judi and I turned down for our sandwiches. What can we say, we’re White Bread Girls. 😉 The sandwich was great, and we had it with Royal Riviera pears from Harry and Davids. It was the best pear I have ever had – so juicy and succulant. Thanks to Elsa’s mum for getting a Harry & David set o’ items for us.

Judi decided that she needed to go to Best Buy again, this time to get stuff for herself. So we stopped there on our way to our Holiday Movie. She picked up two mice, because one mouse just isn’t enough… (Actually, she needed a wired mouse for her laptop and decided to get a wired mouse for her PC for when her wireless one gives her grief and I pick on her to “get a real mouse.”)

Our pick for Holiday Movie was Happy Feet. The only trailer we saw that was anything good was Harry Potter 5. And the movie? So cute! And such a great rythm. I had happy feet while I watched it. Penguins are of the cute! Go penguins!

We finished our fun evening out by having supper at La Shish. We ate at one of the restaurants last year and Judi wanted to go again this year. They make very yummy Middle Eastern food. The girls got the shish combo for two and I got the garlic & almond ghallaba. Judi and I also got smoothies – her a papaya and me a mango. I’d gotten the ghallaba last year and enjoyed it enough to order again this year. Maybe someday I’ll get a shish kabob. 🙂

Our evening was cut short by poor Elsa getting a bloody nose (she got one yesterday at breakfast too, poor dear). She had me drive home and I did so quite safely cuz I’m a good driver. Despite what other people say…

When we got back, we watched The Ruby in the Smoke and ate ice cream. I had Been & Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie while the girls had B&J’s Cookie Dough ice cream. Good eats and good show. Now we’re watching last week’s Torchwood and I’m writing this.

Tomorrow, our threesome breaks up when Judi and I head on back to Ohio to continue my Christmas celebration. And shortly my birthday celebration. Yay for celebration! Yay for presents!

An English Supper

Today started nice and lazy with me sleeping in until 9 and judiang sleeping in until 10. elsaf, however, had been up since 7-something. She assures us she had a restful sleep, so that was good.

Elsa made us a breakfast of pancakes and sausage. It really hit the spot and did a great job of keeping us sated until suppertime. We decided to do our gift exchange then. The presents were all nicely displayed in front of the TV (for lack of a tree – hey, they both start with T). And we began with Elsa’s birthday present from Judi. (For those of you keeping score at home, you may have realized that Elsa’s birthday is in August. So Judi was a little late…) The gift was an iPod transponder for her car. (Hmmm, looks like something someone would buy at Best Buy!)

Next it was time for the Christmas exchange. It turns out I, too, got an iPod transponder. Cool! She also got me a children’s book by Neil Gaiman. Thanks Judi! Elsa gave me the DVD of Ghost Light (What do you mean “don’t you already have that??? OK, so I hadn’t gotten the Region 1 version yet… But now I have it so YAY!) Thanks Elsa! Elsa liked the 3-tiered spice rack and gift certificate to The Spice House that I got her. Judi was excited for the Complete Peanuts 1959-1962 which I got her. Elsa also received a Southern Living Cookbook and meat pounder from Judi and Judi received 2 Sims 2 Expansion Packs from Elsa. A nice haul for all of us. And Elsa gave me my birthday gift, but I shall wait til Monday to open it. Woot! Thanks in advance, Elsa!

We had a few things we needed to get for supper after a quick stop at Elsa’s parent’s house. And one of the places we stopped was the butcher’s shop near Elsa’s house. Now, I dunno about you, but butcher’s shops are something that we still have around my neck of the woods. And obviously around Elsa’s neighborhood. But Judi was surprised. She thought they were extinct and thus had to take photos when we got in there. Heh, silly girl! Hopefully she’ll post at least one of ’em in her journal tonight.

We cleaned the kitchen when we got back and then Elsa began making the steak & ale pies for supper. She also started on the custard for the trifle she was making as well. Judi and I took it in turns to stir the custard and it thickened just when Tom and Ardath (Elsa’s bro and sis-in-law) arrived with the dogs. (They have 2 dogs, Rosie and Casey, and they’ve been taking care of Ollie while Judi and I were here since he gets exited by visitors. Only Floyd has been with us on our trip thus far.)

Tom had made shepherd’s pie and Ardi had brought some home-made toffee. A Wassail mix finished off the meal and we had a nice English supper of steak & ale pie, shepherd’s pie, wassail, and raspberry trifle. Wonderful meal and my hat off to all the chefs.

After supper, Tom took the dogs for a walk while we fixed the technical difficulties we were having with our viewing of The Runaway Bride (the 2006 Doctor Who Christmas special). By the time Tom was back with the critters, the VCD was done and we watched the special. We laughed and cheered and had fun with the silly story. Quite an entertainment for our group.

To finish off the evening, we all pulled Christmas crackers and read the silly jokes and put on the silly hats. Then Ardi passed around the toffee and we munched. Then she treated the doggies to doggie berry cobbler. (It’s canned stuff that they all simply adored and sat patiently for their turn at the spoon.) Lots of munching going on at that point.

At 10pm, Tom & Ardath and the pooches (all but Floyd) headed on back home. Elsa and Judi are cleaning the kitchen. And I’m sitting here writing all of this. And with a “and that’s that!” from Elsa, I think they’re done.

Yay! What a fun day we’ve had!

And so it begins…

Now that many people are done with their Christmas, I am finally beginning mine. Sure, I’ve been to the extended family gatherings, but since Amy & Rachel weren’t there, they don’t count. However, today I drove Oop North to Detroit and am at elsaf‘s for a few days. We exchange gifts tomorrow and later in the week, Amy & Rachel come to Ohio for our family Christmas. So let’s hear it for Christmases that last all week!

I got the Elsa’s safely and on time this morning. And shortly after, I was sent off to pick up judiang from the Metro airport. Eep! But I drove there & back just fine. And I even remembered to pick up Judi!

We did a short shopping spree at Best Buy where I wasn’t allowed to be where Judi was (and apparently neither was Elsa), but as I had to park the car (somewhere in the vicinity of the store – I think I was only 17 blocks away) I managed to avoid her. While in the store, I noticed I’m getting slack in my DVD collecting. Season 4 of Bewitched and the final seasons of Dangermouse are now on DVD. Looks like I know what I’ll be getting myself after the new year comes!

After a bit of geeking back at the house, we headed off to supper at Sy Thai Shores restaurant. We started with the appetizer sampler – spring rolls, shrimp thingies, and crab rangoon. I had pad thai with tofu (hmmmm, couldn’t think of anything original, eh trina?), Elsa got the drunken noodles, and Judi got the orange duck. For dessert, Judi and I opted for coconut ice cream (yum!) and Elsa got the Thai version of banana cake. Everything was yummy!

To top off our evening, we headed off to the Fisher Theater to see Spamalot. I bought a $20 program magically (well, Judi swears she never saw me buy it) and we found our seats. We had great seats on the mezzenine. Nicely done, Elsa! The show was funny and the songs quite entertaining. And a lucky guy in the audience got to leave with a miniature Holy Grail. Heh.

On our way back, Elsa drove by Lakeshore Drive (Chicago doesn’t have the monopoly on Lakeshore drives) so we could look at the Christmas lights. Some pretty swanky houses out there with even swankier Christmas lights. If we get the gumption, tomorrow we’ll go again and Judi will try to get photos.

Well, now that I’m nicely settled, Judi is insisting that I make her an amaretto sour. Such a taskmaster is our Judi…

Recipes!

As requested by scalderwood, two of the recipes from yesterday’s Baking Day.

Lindy Cookies

(Chocolate Chip-Oatmeal Cookies)


1cup butter or oleo

¾cup brown sugar

¾cup granulated sugar

2eggs

1tsp. hot water

2cups flour

1tsp. soda

1tsp. salt

2cup oatmeal

1tsp. vanilla

12oz. chocolate chips


Mix butter and eggs, add sugars. Cream together. Add hot water and vanilla. Slowly add dry ingredients, then mix in chips.

Bake at 350-375° for 6 or 7 minutes. Don’t over bake!


These cookies have been my favorite since I was a wee little child. It was Kathi Strong, I believe, who first called them Lindy cookies, since they are mom’s recipe. These are much better than store bought chocolate chip cookies and even better than Toll House cookies.

Butterscotch Cookies

(AKA Icebox Cookies)


4cup brown sugar

1cup butter

4eggs

6½cup flour

1Tbsp soda

1tsp cream of tartar


Mix sugar and butter, add eggs. Sift together (or mix with wire whisk)dry ingredients. Add to sugar mixture. Make into 1 or 2 loaves, set overnight in refrigerator. Slice into 70 cookies. Bake at 375°for 10 minutes.


Mom usually reserves the last ½ cup of flour for when she rolls the dough into loaves. These cookies are best served with a cup of coffee.

Straight out of the family cookbook! I love Cut & Paste. 🙂