Tag: food

Last full day, Chicago 2009

Alas, today was my last full day in Chicago. But judiang and I have been making the most of it. We started yesterday after our vegging/YouTubing time.

Judi needed a iPhone 3Gs case for her new iPhone since her case for version 1.0 interfered with the sensor. I said either BestBuy or the Apple Store would be the place to go and asked which she wanted. She decided on BestBuy. Bad idea… Remember, elsaf and her car are heading back to Michigan at this time.

In addition to a case, she ponders BlueTooth headsets. She finds one and a case. And then we mistakingly go by the game consoles. And the Wii tells Judi she has to buy it. I tell her she shouldn’t. I mean, she’d need to buy the WiiFit as well to make it worthwhile. And then she talks to a salesman. And he suggests getting WiiPlay with the added Wiimote. I tell her not to, but she does it all the same…

So now we’ve got a ton of stuff to carry back, in the rain, to the condo. Thank goodness for the #12 bus. We dump the stuff in her pad and then take off, in the rain, to a tapas place Judi’s not been to before, Tapas Valencia. It was my first time for proper Spanish tapas.

When we saw the prices, we realized we were just going to have to go all out. So we started with drinks. Judi got a white Sangria and I got a Passion Martini. Not a big fan of martinis, but this one was tasty.

Our first two tapas were duck confit and crab stuffed puff pastries. Judi wanted to eat the rest of the duck and I wanted to marry the puff pastries. (It wouldn’t have worked out – turns out they were a tad salty upon further investigation.) We followed with patatas bravas (or as I called ’em, brave potatoes) which were spicy and yummy. Thankfully they brought out bread as well to help cool our palates.

We agreed early on to get paella, and chose the Paella Mariscos (mussels, clams, scallops, calamari, and shrimp). It, too, was tasty (though I still just don’t have a palate for mussels. I did eat one and left the other two for Judi).

We finished the meal with dessert. I picked the crema de chocolate, which wound up being creme brulee with little pieces of bittersweet chocolate in it. Way yum and even Judi agreed it beat out her choice of rice pudding (or Spanish kheer as she called it). The bill wound up being somewhat reasonable (just under $40 each including tax & tip, which is less than we originally estimated).

Once back at the condo (after our waddle home) we fiddled until we heard fireworks. They started the Navy Pier fireworks 10 minutes early. We got up in time to watch the last half of the boom boom, but it was over by 9pm (the time it was supposed to start). Still, at least I finally remembered the glow bracelets/necklaces that I brought with me. So Judi and I played with them some (until one broke on me).

We decided then to set up Judi’s new Wii. And wound up playing until about 1am. Ooops. And man, I now have to get one too. Evil Judi is Evil for buying a Wii.

Today we got up at a decent hour because we wanted to catch the first showing of Up at the 600 (AMC). So we had breakfast at the cafe across from her condoplex. I had mascarpone-filled French toast with blueberries and creme anglaise. Very yummy.

We arrived at the theater perfectly. Just a couple of minutes before the trailers started. I’d seen Up earlier this summer, but I didn’t mind spending $6 to see it again in the theater. Judi enjoyed it as well (her first time seeing it).

We took the bus to the Taste then and I bought 3 more strips of tickets. This time I spent all but 1 ticket (as did Judi). We gave our last two tickets to a family of four on our way out.

My food this time was as follows:

  • Macaroni & cheese from Manny’s Cafeteria & Delicatessen (only because Judi was in line for the turkey leg)
  • Small strawberry pecan salad from Home Run Inn Pizza (very yummy and pretty big for Taste portion)
  • Shrimp rolls from The Noodle Vietnamese Cuisine (basically shrimp in egg roll wrap, fried. Tasty.)
  • Pad Thai from Star of Siam (of course I had to get a Taste of pad Thai)
  • Crispy noodle shrimp from Polo Cafe & Catering (basically shrimp covered in noodles & fried – not too shabby)
  • Lemon Italian ice from Mazzone’s Italian Ice (and I tried some of Judi’s mango Italian ice – tasty and refreshing)
  • Taiwan shining noodles from Tamarind (yummy)
  • Frozen chocolate dipped cheesecake bar from JR Dessert Bakery (the only thing I bought that wasn’t a Taste portion. Very yummy, an excellent end to Taste of Chicago 2009)

We were happy that it was warm today and realized we tcould go swimming when we returned. So after a short break at the condo, we went swimming. I got to be in the pool for just over 45 minutes. Woohoo! It was very refreshing.

We vegged a bit more, played some Wii, then grilled hot dogs. (I’d eaten the rest of my pint of ice cream while Wii-ing.) Then more intense Wii-ing where I whupped Judi’s ass at baseball, tennis, and bowling. Go me! We also did some WiiPlay where I was whupping Judi’s ass again, but she hasn’t had any practice at WiiPlay yet (I played it earlier today). Fun stuff. Evil game console!

Tomorrow I fly home. I’m sad to be going, but am glad I get to see my kitties again!


Playing around with glow sticks
Playing around with glow sticks

Amazing what designs you can get with glow sticks (the necklace kind) and cell phone cameras.
More glowing
More glowing

This is 3 colors of thin glow sticks (blue, purple, yellow) in motion.
Ooops... Glowing hand.
Ooops… Glowing hand.

One of the glow sticks broke when formed into a bracelet. Glow on my hands and everywhere.
Taste of Chicago Entrance
Taste of Chicago Entrance

Finally we go through the official entrance of the Taste (instead of via the “back door” of the festival).
Wii
Wii

Mii & Judi (I’m ahead so far!)


Fireworks et al

Alas, elsaf is driving home as I type this. It was lovely seeing her again and I hope her drive back is smooth & uneventful.

After our fun time at Taste on Thursday, we spent most of the day relaxing. Toward supper time, Elsa cooked up Rogan Josh (a lamb curry) and Jasmine rice. Very yummy. Since we were nearly out of Bailey’s ice cream, I went to the market in judiang‘s building and got us each a pint of something. We finally got Judi to watch The Princess Bride. I think she liked it, but she did miss several jokes cuz the sound set up wasn’t quite right.

Friday was the day of the Grant Park Fireworks, so our focus of the day was making sure we’d be ready at 8pm to get to the penthouse to watch. I took a short walk in the morning to Dunkin Donuts to get us breakfast. I also walked with Judi to take the poochies for their morning walk. More relaxing, then lunch at a nearby diner/delicatessen Eleven City Diner. I had an open-faced Reuben and fries and cream soda. Very tasty.

Judi and I played pool in the afternoon. This time we were even on wins. She won solids/stripes and one of our 9-ball games. I won the other two 9-ball games. Alas, that’s the only kind of pool I’ll be enjoying this trip. Although the temperatures have been ideal, they haven’t been swimming-pool comfortable.

On our way home from the diner earlier, we’d picked up fixings for grilling steaks and making more ice cream. So for supper, we had grilled rib eye, baked taters, and the rest of the pineapple from Tuesday night (when Elsa grilled us burgers w/ grilled pineapple & onions and mozzarella). Then at 5 till 8, we headed up to the penthouse.

The place wasn’t at all crowded and we quickly found great seats on the balcony with a view to the Lake where the fireworks would be shot. Then we remembered the radio, so I went down to get it. Unfortunately, it didn’t pick up the station like it did down in her condo. Bummer, no synchronized music for us! Still, the fireworks were brilliant.

hergrace called us back (we’d left a Happy Birthday greeting on her answering machine earlier in the day) and we all got to chat with her while watching the Boom Boom Boom. It was almost like having her there as well (though she couldn’t see them). Glad you had a nice birthday, Steph!

This morning we got Elsa all packed up for her trip back. Then she drove us to Chinatown for Dim Sum at Three Happiness. Yummy as ever. We popped into Freida’s bakery for some (more) sesame buns and then hugged Elsa before she headed off. Judi and I took the El back.

Now we’re fiddling with YouTube and posting videos of fireworks. Behind the cut I have (I hope) the video that I just posted as well as a few photos. I’m impressed with what my phone can do!



Fireworks coming from the barge
Fireworks coming from the barge

The barge where the fireworks were launched was visible to us up on the penthouse balcony. That was pretty nifty to see.
Oooooh! Colorful!
Oooooh! Colorful!

I was pleased my phone was able to pick up the colors of the fireworks in this shot.
Booooom!
Booooom!

This was a big boom I managed to capture. Ooooh! Ahhhh!


Taste of Chicago 2009

Today we got to the Taste of Chicago! Yum! But before we did that, judiang and I went to her workplace in order for her to turn in cases she flexed on and pick up some new cases to flex. We got to the office block at quarter till 8am, so I wasn’t let allowed in her offices. So I popped into the Starbucks in her building and had a caramel steamer and read a book on my mobile. It was kind of fun sitting and looking out at the city view. So of course I took a picture.

Starbucks View
Starbucks View

The view from Starbucks when I had a caramel steamer this morning.

She came down to get me once visitors were allowed in. I read some more and enjoyed looking out her window. (I also fixed a certificate which had fallen from her wall. Yes, I’m anal.) Her office is on the 9th floor and you can see over the El (elevated train). I, of course, took a photo.

De Trains! De Trains!
De Trains! De Trains!

View of the El from Judi’s office at her workplace.



When Judi was done with her work, it was after 10am so we decided to walk to Taste of Chicago. elsaf e-mailed her requests, so once we’d grazed for a bit, we picked up her requests. Here are things that I tried:

  • Potato Pancake w/ apple sauce from Manny’s Cafeteria & Deli – alas, reheated rather than fresh.
  • Irish Egg Roll from Abbey Pub – my favorite 2009 Taste item so far. Basically a Reuben in a filo dough that’s been fried.
  • Grilled Anjou Pear Salad from The Grill on the Alley – tasty, but a little too tart.
  • Jambalaya from Blue Bayou – alas, they were already sold out of the Bananas Foster Bites.
  • Potato Pierogi and Cheese Pierogi from Polka Sausage and Deli – very yummy and the cheese one was sweet rather than savory.
  • Mustard-fried Catfish and Peach Cobbler – had a bite of these two items from Judi’s purchases.
  • Baklava from Costa’s – wanted to end on a sweet note, so I did.

We started at 11am on the dot and were leaving the Taste at 12:05. 🙂

Strawberry Festival 2009

On Friday, I had checked the times for the Strawberry Festival and for Sat & Sun, the booths were to open at 10am. So the folks and I decided that we’d go on Sunday when many folks would be in church. The plan, take one of the shuttle buses from the Meijer parking lot to the festival. The reality? Although the booths opened at 10am, the shuttle service didn’t start until 11am. Whoops! No matter, I drove us toward the festival and found parking at the old Hobart offices – just a short walk across the bridge to the levy where the festival is held. Though dad was a little disappointed he didn’t get to ride a school bus (that’s what they use for the shuttles), the convenience of the parking was worth it.

We got to the levy shortly before 10am, but many booths were already opened. We perused the various crafts and when we got to a booth selling strawberry smoothies, mom & I bought one to share. A few booths down, Panera was selling strawberry danishes (basically cheese danish with sliced strawberries on). A nice breakfast, IMO.

Once we’d been most of the way through the festival, we went down to the lower levy to buy the (now rather over-priced at $8 a dozen) strawberry donuts sold by the Troy Music Boosters. So I only bought a dozen donuts. My favorite lemon/strawberry shake up booth is on the lower levy, so I bought my shake up and we perused the booths there before heading back up.

Deciding what to have for lunch wasn’t easy – lost of wonderful choices. But the booth selling crawfish etouffee won my heart, stomach, and money. I also had to get the strawberry sushi. It was basically strawberry sashimi sliced onto sushi rice. 😉 Very tasty, actually. The folks got lunch as well and let me try their roasted corn on the cob & sammiches (grilled chicken for mom, BBQ beef for dad). Tasty.

I actually bought a few items – unsurprisingly foodstuff. I got some fudge-caramel sauce (for ice cream, etc) that was tasty, some jalapeño jelly (which wasn’t nearly as hot as the habeñero jelly they were also selling), and a huge bag of kettle corn. I’ve eaten about a third of the bag so far. Heh.

We got back to the car at noon, so it was a pretty successful day. We avoided most of the crowd by going early, had decent parking, and got out before it got too warm. We rock at Festivalling!

Beautiful Sunday Morning

It’s lovely out right now, likely to continue into a lovely day in the lower 70s°F. We’re down to the last week of school, but that doesn’t seem to make me any more caught up. Indeed, I sometimes feel even further behind. (The treasurer’s assistant assures me that “being caught up” is an illusion. I think she’s right.)

Still, I have moments of calm before the panic, and this is one of them. So I’ll take some time to write more about the Super Weekend of Fun that I had when my sister et al came in for Alumni.

As soon as I had nominated dad for the Newton Hall of Fame (I need to update that website with dad’s name), I called Amy to let her know and ostensibly pencil in the weekend of May 16th for coming to Ohio. It was another month or so until my superintendent informed me that not only was dad going to be inducted, he was the only inductee for the year. (They can induct up to 3 at one time each year.) I e-mailed Amy immediately and she began the process of getting herself & Rachel to Ohio for that weekend.

Later that evening, I told mom in secret about dad’s induction. Then it was just a matter of finding a way to get Amy & Rachel here and not letting the cat out of the bag. So one Saturday morning I told mom & dad some good news. “Amy & Rachel are going to come in for Alumni this year!” Dad was shocked, mom pretended to be. “Why?” “Well,” I explained with the excuse Amy & I had concocted, “It *is* the last Alumni in the old building. She wants to come & film in the old building with me giving a tour.” (That bit was true – we’d talked about it way back at Thanksgiving, IIRC.) So dad was no long suspicious, which was good.

Mom had some frequent flier miles laying around which she gave to the girls, so they were able to fly in for that weekend. They arrived late Wednesday night before Alumni weekend. Despite Thursday still being a work day for me, I had to come along for the pick up and chatted with folks in mom & dad’s kitchen until we all were too tired to continue. (It wasn’t too long after arriving – we were that tired.)

Dad wasn’t the only recipient of pre-planning for the weekend. Both Amy & Rachel have May birthdays, just 4 days apart from each other. And it happened to be Rachel’s 30th the day before they flew out. So Amy wanted a bit of a birthday surprise for Rachel, which I helped with. Since Rachel grew up on home-cooking from scratch, it stands to reason that her favorite birthday meal is… Kraft dinner, boiled wieners, and canned green beans. Heh. So that was planned for Thursday lunch. I walked home for that and it was quite yummy. I returned to work in my car, so that I could drive home to get back in time to meet an appraiser (part of my mortgage refinancing process). Once the appraisal was done, I returned to the parentals and we all headed off for more birthday evening fun.

We started by picking up the birthday cake for Rachel. She’s a wonderful scratch baker, but she does love store-bought cake. So I had ordered a cake from Kroger (grocery chain) which said “Happy 30th Rachel!” on it. I picked it up and hid it in the trunk (in case Rachel happened to look in there while we were shopping). Then the folks took us to the plot of land they are buying upon which their new house will be built. I took pictures of them by the “Sold” sign.

Next was shopping at Kohl’s. Turns out I was the only one who bought anything. (Well, mom bought a shirt which she later took back because it didn’t match the outfit she’d bought it for.) For supper, we went to Sakai, a Japanese bistro. We went to the hibachi side (mom’s first time having hibachi). We started out with sushi – crab salad sushi & California roll (which in this area is crab/fake crab, avocado, cucumber). Then we were entertained by Daniel San, our chef for the evening. The food was yummy and Daniel did a nice job. (I think he was younger than Rachel!)

We finished the evening with me & Amy working on her presentation for Friday. (She agreed to teach my Advanced Problems in Science class on grant-writing.) Then mom & dad & Rachel came over for cake & home made ice cream. (Another previously agreed plan was for me to make peanut butter ice cream, Rachel’s favorite.) We watched Gray’s Anatomy and had cake & ice cream. It was a great ending to a lovely day.

Well, time for me to go to church. Dad is preaching (actually, lecturing is probably a better term) about Evidence at the UU church in New Madison. If I didn’t dress up, I’d wear my “I [heart] Evidence” shirt. Heh.

Dallas, Texas, er… Dollars, Taxes

Whee! Wooster finally got their W2 to me (they always wait ’til the last minute) so I finished my federal taxes today. Thanks to the Hope Lifetime Learning college credit, I’m getting a substantial amount back from the feds. Yay! Best of all, using H&R Block’s online basic filing and a 20% discount from one of my credit card companies, it only cost $11.12 to file my taxes. (I looked at doing their completely free filing, but I think you have to be using the old 1040EZ form – I itemize deductions and thus went basic.)

Once I finished the federal, I filed Ohio and my school district taxes. Those are completely free through Ohio’s tax.ohio.gov website. iFile is your friend! Getting a little back from them (heh, $7 from the school district).

Most of the refunds will go into savings, but I have been eying a few things I think I’ll buy as soon as the refund arrives. I’ll probably talk more about those later. One thing I’m 99% sure I’ll be getting is an Acer Aspire One netbook w/ Linux and a 6-cell battery. I’ve toyed with the keyboard and know I like it a lot better than the Asus EeePC’s keyboard. And I think it’s about time I got a Linux box, even if it is a nonstandard version of Linux.

Oh, in case you were curious, the Lobster party was a success. A good time was had by all, I think. I know a good time was had by me. 🙂 I did the smart thing and got my lobster, ate it while it was still warm, and then went back and got the other foodstuff that people had brought (all of which was yummy, too). Mom baked her “Better than Sex” bars (well, we didn’t name ’em that – I can’t imagine anything that doesn’t have chocolate in it can be better than sex…) We also brought some Wholly Guacamole (sold at Kroger in the salad section) which proved to be a hit with the guacamole fans.

In kitty news, on Sunday, Linus managed to zip out the front door when I was getting my shovel from the front porch in order to dig my way out the back. So I put my boots on and got him out of the mud (why did he run right to the mud?) and dragged his muddy little butt to the bathroom sink. I rinsed all 4 of his paws off and his tail, much to his dismay. Then I chased him around the house with a towel, trying to dry him off. Poor baby – but it was his own fault.

So now I’m sitting in my library with the kitties on my lap (my favorite part about college). Time to see what folks are saying in the discussion boards.

Lobster Night

Go figure – two days after the big snowstorm had crappier roads than the day after… So we had the day off yesterday. I had a nice relaxing day. Got some college work done. Finished a book. Plenty of quality kitty time. Etc.

Today’s been relaxing too. Been updating the tunes on my iPods (over 9000 mp3s going onto my iPod classic now). Balanced my checkbook & paid my mortgage bill online (for the first time – we’ll see how that works soon enough).

Tonight should be fun – it’s Lobster Night at the Weavers. Bunch of friends from work (both now and from the past) will be gathering to munch on lobster and (hopefully) lasagna. The lady who usually brings lasagna whenever there’s shellfish (she’s not partial to it) wasn’t sure at first if they could make it since her hubby’s suffered a bad back. But his love of lobster is such that he intends to go. Dad is glad, though he was more than willing to stop ’round their place on the way to pick up the lasagna if he had to. 🙂 Mom & I will be having lobster, of course.

In other news, I made a design with my calendar entries this month! It’s the Eiffel Tower! Or something. Good thing I don’t usually shoot for patterns in my posting. Still, it was fun this month.

Well, Linus is on my lap ready for some quality kitty time (which coincides with quality college time), so I’ll head off for now.

Baking Day 2008

The annual tradition continued today – mom & I celebrated Baking Day. I headed next door at 9am with some extra baking sheets & my mail to be mailed. I returned home after 10pm. Heh. Over 12 hours of baking – mom & I are devoted.

Saturday, we went grocery shopping – big time. We spent an hour or so in Sam’s Club getting bulk ingredients (and I bought some short bread cookies – yum!) and then went to Kroger for even more supplies. A short stop at Dollar Tree so I could get some wine bottle wraps I’d seen before (but didn’t know I’d need). The crafty gift I’m giving could use those wraps. 🙂

Yesterday was to be my cleaning day, and I did get some stuff done. But when I returned from a (very very cold) walk, mom waved me inside the house. She was popping corn for crackerjack. So I came in & started helping. When I made the sugar coating for it, I followed the directions which said “light brown or white sugar” and I used the first option. Apparently when Gramma made it, she always used white sugar. Whoops! No matter, it still tasted yummy and when we made the second batch, I used white sugar. So now we have two-tone crackerjack.

Before I’d come over, mom had already made her ice box cookie dough (butterscotch cookies). Then while I was there, she made the dough for the Lindy Cookies (chocolate chip cookies). Both doughs went into the back porch, which in this weather is like a walk-in freezer.

This morning I headed over at 9am as I said. Dad made me an Egg McMikey sammich for breakfast – yummy! (I think the pat on the paper towel wrapped sammich is what gives it the best flavor). Then mom & I got to work. We started by baking the Lindy cookies. Then it all becomes a blur – we made lots of doughs & baked lots of cookies. Around 1pm, mom & I were getting pretty hungry. Dad was out at the Lake getting some things and we forgot to suggest he bring home lunch. So I headed to Covington & got us a sweet onion chicken teriyaki sandwich. We resumed baking again.

I had a bit of a break when I made the balls for the peanut blossoms upstairs & watched some of Jumping Jack Flash while doing so. (It was ironic since just the night before, I was telling mom that Jumping Jack Flash is one of those movies that I can watch anytime it’s running on TV. Heh.)

At the end of the evening, when we broke down & had supper (chicken sammich for me, made with the chicken mom cooked today for Christmas Day dinner of chicken casserole), we baked the gingerbread & sugar cookies that we’d gotten from Market Day. I had picked up some white cookie icing and green & red cake icing at Jo-Ann’s a few weeks back. I had a ball decorating cookies. And they look really cool.

Anyhoo, when all was said & done, we made the following items:

  • Crackerjack

  • Lindy Cookies

  • Ice box cookies

  • Cheesecake Cupcakes

  • Floor sweeping cake (caramel pecan dreams)

  • Nipple cookies (peanut blossoms)

  • No Bake cookies

  • Aunt Alma’s pecan cookies (it was soooo good to have those again)

  • Sugar cookies

  • Gingerbread men

It turns out Amy & Rachel are racing ahead of the storm and on their way home tonight. They spent last night & today in Chicago visiting friends, and are currently on their way to us. Expected arrival time is around 2:30am. Here’s hoping the way is easy!

(I love Christmas time!)

Thanksgiving

It’s lovely having a day set aside to be thankful. I try to be thankful every day, but for the days when I’m too busy or too frazzled or too sleepy or too sick, having a day like Thanksgiving helps to make up for those days.

Amy decided that she’d make a Thanksgiving Dinner for us this year once the folks and I invited ourselves around. (Well, we couldn’t resist the reasonable flight prices to Minneapolis, so we asked if they’d be willing to host us – they were!) So last night, mom baked a pumpkin pie and an apple pie (I peeled the apples). I made my “famous” Thanksgiving cheeseball. Amy prepped things for today.

This morning, Amy roasted a Heritage chicken, roasted chopped root vegetables (potatoes (Yukon, purple & red), sweet potatoes, yams (we learned this year there *is* a difference between sweet potatoes & yams), carrots, beets, onion, garlic, etc), cranberry & mushroom dressing, kale, green beans, and gravy (with Hefeweizen beer). Rachel baked some lovely (and sweet) corn bread. And dad carved the chicken.

Things were ready at 2:30pm and we ate a wonderful meal. And then ate a bit more. We still haven’t had dessert but will probably do that (and play games) after nap time. Which is what is going on now.

I’m grateful that my sister & Rachel have a lovely house which they can host us for dinner. I love that my family gets along very well and is fairly low key. I miss my kitties and hope they are having a nice Thanksgiving day. Hope you all (folks in friend’s list land) are having a nice time and that you have a lovely weekend.

A housewarming gift only I could think of…

When I last left off about my visit to Amy & Rachel’s, we had just received the Jakeeno’s Pizza we’d ordered. We ordered a regular pizza with Italian sausage and also ordered one of their specialty pizzas – the Spinach Special. I gave Amy a bit more money so we could also get their artichoke dip. The pizza was tasty and the artichoke dip wasn’t as cheesy as we were expecting, but it was all good. We watched Willow while we munched (and drank – mmm mmm tasty amaretto sour). Then we decided to call mom & dad for a little bit. We started Tron as well, but Amy finally crashed so we went to bed. (Well, I worked on college stuff then turned in.)

On Monday, I worked on Amy’s laptop looking to see how best to speed it up. But it was cleared out pretty nicely, so I decided to start looking at RAM prices for their laptop (a Dell Inspiron 5160). Although I found some good prices online, I got to thinking that, if I could find a local store I could install the RAM for the girls. I asked Rachel if she thought a gift of 2GB of RAM for their laptop would be an appropriate housewarming gift. She thought so (especially coming from me) and told Amy, who also approved. I found a Micro Center which said they had the RAM in stock and it had a rebate attached (which I still need to send in). Rachel figured out how to get there, so we decided to go there, get some lunch, then get me to the airport. Sounded like a plan.

I researched how to install the RAM on the laptop and it looked pretty straightforward. Amy found a Phillips screwdriver that fit the screw in the back, so we packed the laptop up with the screwdriver in tow. I packed all of my stuff up (conveniently forgetting my jacket – whoops!) and the three of us headed down to Micro Center. Despite it being a Columbus, OH company, I’ve never been to one. Ah, I must go to one again. The salesman who helped us found two 1 GB sticks of the RAM and they confirmed the price for me and the existence of the rebate. And while in the checkout I saw they had a 16GB flash drive for $40, so I put that on my tab as well.

Amy & Rachel decided that Patrick’s would be ideal for lunch. It’s a French Patisserie which was on the way to the airport. I ordered a fruit tart (my favorite thing from any patisserie) and a ham & cheese croissant. Yummy! I installed the RAM once we were seated and the laptop started up without a hitch. Hopefully things are going a little faster for the girls now when they’re on it.

Rachel then drove us to the airport and dropped me off at the terminal. I hugged ’em both tight and thanked them once again for letting me stay. I’d had a blast visiting. Check in went smoothly and I was soon sitting and reading up on nanotechnology (from PDF files I’d saved to my laptop while at the girls’) in order to write my essay which was due by midnight that night.

During my Milwaukee layover, I wrote most of the essay. And when I finally got home, I looked after the kitties (they’d done well during my absence but they seemed to miss me), had supper (McDonald’s from the drive home), and then read through my essay, made some changes and finished it, then turned it in. Yay! Best of all? I got the highest grade so far on an essay for the semester with that one. Heh. 95%.

When I got to school the next day I found out that the sub had not destroyed my classroom, always a good sign. The week was a busy one with an egg drop contest in the middle. And yesterday the Fisher’s had several of my coworkers (and former coworkers) around for steaks. I brought two funny cakes (recipe from justspies) which I’d baked in the morning (very tasty – thanks justspies!) There were so many desserts that one was unmolested, so I brought it home and have it in the fridge hoping it’ll last until mom & dad get home Wednesday.

Today is laundry day. I’ve cleaned the kitchen and will soon need to bake brownies for a Information Fair & Social we’re having at the school tomorrow. I also have another essay to write (due tomorrow by midnight) and some stuff to read for college. So a busy day for Trina! We have only a four-day week this week (with kids) and the first quarter ends Thursday. Friday is a teacher work day to get grades and stuff done. So it’ll be a busy week! Will be nice to catch my breath next weekend (which I’m hoping I get to do).