0659- sleeping
0951- at Christmas Mass
1426- playing on my computer
2352- watching house hunters
Lunch-posole
Dinner-roast beef, potatoes, tomatoes, and lots of wine…
Random Fact- Genghis Khan was responsible for the death of over 11% of the worlds population.
Got woken up entirely too early, went to Mass (boycotting the new changes) then came home and ate breakfast- french toast. We then opened presents (I got a saw 'em off dart board, some books, an alpaca stuffed animal, some stirring spoons, and a sudoku cube). Then relatives started showing up and various people started cooking. My dad and I made our typical lemon pie, but otherwise I avoided anything cooking related, instead played Mario Kart and did some work on the computer. Dinner was great, and much wine was consumed, although this meant there was a ton of dishes to do and food to put away.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
26 December 2011
18 December 2011
Building spoons
0107- playing online
0259- bout to go to sleep
1917- Eating at Chicken oil with my sister, marveling as usual at the awfulness of the taxidermy
2303- ice cream ice cream everywhere but not a spoon to eat it with
Lunch/Dinner- Chicken Oil- cheeseburger on toast with mustard, tomatoes, and pickles. Also fries and fried pickles and a Dr. Pepper
Random Fact- there are more members of Pure Tango Blast in Texas state prisons then there are Little Rascals Gangsters in the entire US
Got woken up way to early and spent the morning loading up my parents van with my sisters stuff. After they left I played online and then took a nap with the kitty. Went out to the kennel and visited Dumas then grabbed dinner at Chicken Oil. Chicken Oil is covered in truly awful mounts, today I noticed a woodchuck mount for the first time. Finished up the day epoxying my BC, then using the left over epoxy to build spoons so Maria and I could eat ice cream while watching Gangland.
0259- bout to go to sleep
1917- Eating at Chicken oil with my sister, marveling as usual at the awfulness of the taxidermy
2303- ice cream ice cream everywhere but not a spoon to eat it with
Lunch/Dinner- Chicken Oil- cheeseburger on toast with mustard, tomatoes, and pickles. Also fries and fried pickles and a Dr. PepperRandom Fact- there are more members of Pure Tango Blast in Texas state prisons then there are Little Rascals Gangsters in the entire US
Got woken up way to early and spent the morning loading up my parents van with my sisters stuff. After they left I played online and then took a nap with the kitty. Went out to the kennel and visited Dumas then grabbed dinner at Chicken Oil. Chicken Oil is covered in truly awful mounts, today I noticed a woodchuck mount for the first time. Finished up the day epoxying my BC, then using the left over epoxy to build spoons so Maria and I could eat ice cream while watching Gangland.
17 December 2011
Life returns to normal
0127 playing Bejewled online. Quite productive use of my time I thought
1950 eating dinner at Martins, a BBQ place that's been around since the 1920's and even has a historical marker
2109 washing dishes
2322 Eating at yougert land (chocolate milk shake, strawberrys, and cookie dough).
Dinner- brisket sandwitch at Martins with a pickle, fries, potato salad, and Dr. Pepper
Random Fact- the first consigned shipment of cheese from New Zealand was shiped on the passenger ship SS Tararus, who ran struck a reef and sank off the southern part of the South Island. Of the 151 people aboard,only 20 survived making it the worst civilian shipping disaster in NZ history
Due to my inability to sleep until everyone else in the house has gone to bed I was up until close to 0500. Therefore it was a rather slow day, pretty much just hung around campus talking to a few people and playing with Ira's newish snake, Arthur. Saw Eric there, then later in the evening at walmart. My dad and I washed a ton of dishes in rubbermaid tubs (my sister's sink leaks) and to celebrate we got frozen yougert. Finally, my sisters cat is a truely impressive acrobat words don't describe her abilities to get into difficult to reach places, I spent much of the evening harrassing her so she would jump into wierd spots.
1950 eating dinner at Martins, a BBQ place that's been around since the 1920's and even has a historical marker
2109 washing dishes
2322 Eating at yougert land (chocolate milk shake, strawberrys, and cookie dough).
Dinner- brisket sandwitch at Martins with a pickle, fries, potato salad, and Dr. Pepper
Random Fact- the first consigned shipment of cheese from New Zealand was shiped on the passenger ship SS Tararus, who ran struck a reef and sank off the southern part of the South Island. Of the 151 people aboard,only 20 survived making it the worst civilian shipping disaster in NZ history
Due to my inability to sleep until everyone else in the house has gone to bed I was up until close to 0500. Therefore it was a rather slow day, pretty much just hung around campus talking to a few people and playing with Ira's newish snake, Arthur. Saw Eric there, then later in the evening at walmart. My dad and I washed a ton of dishes in rubbermaid tubs (my sister's sink leaks) and to celebrate we got frozen yougert. Finally, my sisters cat is a truely impressive acrobat words don't describe her abilities to get into difficult to reach places, I spent much of the evening harrassing her so she would jump into wierd spots.
12 December 2011
Penguins
11 xii 2011
011- Walking to the dock to start the glow worm trip
416- Working on the computer
1254- sleeping
1947- On the boat in Milford sound looking at some pretty amazing waterfalls.
lunch: sandwich, cheese, granola bar
dinner: fish and chips
Random Fact: The main fall at Milford Sound is 3x the height of Nigeria Falls, but not nearly as wide
We woke up and went to Mass. It was a really small church with a recorded musical accompanist. Once church was out we went back to the camp finished loading things and then stopped for breakfast at a café. I had chocolate ice cream. Then we headed off to the sound. The drive was beautiful along a winding road. We stopped a few times and took pictures of the views. Lots of steep cliffs and rivers, lakes, and streams. I also saw some decent grass patches and did some sweeping. Not a lot of leafhoppers but I did get a couple of them. We had to drive through a mile long tunnel (one way at a time), after which the road got really narrow (at some points just a single lane) and twisting. The road would have been super fun to drive in a zippy car. Once we got to the Milford Sound visitors center we checked in for our boat ride and then walked along the dock. Our boat is pretty cool looking- it’s a powerboat, but with sails (although we later found out it didn't have a keel so they only put up one or two of the sails at a time in the morning cruises). We boarded and picked up our lunches. Mom took my salad and other vegetable matter and gave me cheese. After we ate we went up to the upper deck and watched the scenery. We were able to sail along really close to the shoreline, in some areas the mist from the waterfalls would soak us. We saw a bunch of fur seals on a rock- they were all sleeping pretty soundly. The weather was great, apparently it hadn't rained in 6 days something of a record. It wasn't very windy either- there was some wind being funneled down the sound, but that was it. When we got to the end of the sound and entered the ocean the swells picked up (we got some pretty good bow spray going on and some of the people sitting near the bow got pretty wet). Dad pointed out a bird and I glanced at it and thought it was a seagull. Turned out I was pulling a Nick, as shortly thereafter the guide pointed out one flying overhead and said it was a wandering albatross. We got an awesome view of one flying over the boat, and saw another few behind the boat. Then we turned around and headed back up the sound. We stopped under waterfall that was 150m high and got some pictures. Apparently there is a Maori legend that says 10 years is added to your life if your face is hit by mist from the waterfall. We also motored through a small bay and then went by another group of seals. Back at the dock we disembarked, bought the picture/calendar thing the boat company made, and walked back to our van. We watched some birds on the walk back. The drive back was nice, mom led the way through the tunnel since the light changed just as we pulled up. We got to Te Anau at about 630, stopped at the information center and got reservations for the campsite in Gore. We also figured out the penguin situation for tomorrow. We picked up fish and chips to go from the gas station next to the info center, and my dad and I got gas while my mom waited for the food. I drove the first part of the trip while mom ate, and then we switched so I could eat. The trip was uneventful, lots of driving through sheep country and rolling green hills. Really pretty place. We pulled into gore about 830, and decided to go get some beer. We tried the convenience store first but they didn’t have beer. So we walked to the bar/bottle store and got 6 Tui beers- an IPA. It was a bit complicated because they didn't have any 6 packs of Tui, so we were going to buy a 12 pack, turns out they didn’t have a 12 pack so she pulled out a 15 pack and gave us 6 beers. We took them back to the camp, and mom fought with the camera to take a picture of the 3 of us with our beers. The beer was pretty good, and by the time we were done it was totally dark. We took some pictures of the moon, tried to get the DVD to work (unsuccessful) then went to bed.
12 xii 2011
436- Trying to figure out how to use the DVD player in the van. Apparently it's too complicated for any of us to figure out
1351- Taking pictures of leafhoppers
1439- About to leave camp
1908- At the Royal Albatross Center looking at penguins
Lunch: Tomatoes
Dinner: Seafood chowder and fries, with a beer
Random fact- "The Last Post" restaurant is housed in the oldest public works building still standing in the town of Oamaru. It was originally built as the post office, then served as a couple of other things before being sold and converted into a restaurant in 1992. Also, the Captain Cook Bar in Dunedin serves the most beer in New Zealand and has been in operation since 1860.
Well I got woken up at 830, and started the morning taking pictures of the leafhoppers I had caught yesterday. Only one of them kept trying to get away, the rest were pretty cooperative. Got some decent ones I think. We left about 10, and got breakfast at a café in town. I had scrambled eggs and toast with milk. After we ate we checked out a couple of shops and my mom got some wool yarn to make hats for us. We left about 11 and drove from Gore to Clinton (someone even labeled it the presidential highway), then went to Dunedin, on the coast. I did a bit of sweeping, but again not much in the way of leafhoppers. In Dunedin we got off the main road and worked our way to the tip of the peninsula, where the Royal Albatross Center is located. This was another amazing drive. The road was really narrow and at the edge of a steep cliff without much in the way of a guard rail. Its amazing how steep a slope the sheep can graze. The views were also amazing- ocean view on one side and bay view on the other. At the center I found out we could look from the cliff overlook and see spotted shag and spoonbill nests, and if we went to the beech we could see nesting blue penguin. The albatross colony was on the back of the cliff and only visible with the tour. I thought I would rather take my chances on seeing an adult fly by then go on the tour, which was 40 a person. The lady at the ticket counter told me yesterday the weather was really nice and there were albatrosses all over the area, but today the weather wasn’t as nice so the chances of seeing one were pretty slim. We went outside and spotted the shags and spoonbills pretty fast. The shags were everywhere with nests on the cliffs. We got some great views of the adults feeding the nestlings by the young sticking their heads in the adults mouths and eating (I'm so glad I'm not a shag, and I think my parents are too). Tons of gulls- mostly red billed gulls, but also some black backed gulls. When we had gotten out of the car a red billed gull tried to steal my soul- they really are pretty spooky looking when they just stare at you and don’t fly away, especially since their eyes are pale and they have a red eye ring. I thought I saw an albatross flying out at sea and flying into the albatross colony behind the cliff, but I couldn’t be sure. We watched for quite a while before deciding to try our luck with the penguins. We had to climb over the fence blocking the road (the receptionist said it was just to block cars not people, and the sign and fact the benches were set up like steps over the fence seemed to support this too) to get to Pilot Beach. We walked down the beach, and I spotted a hole in the ground. As we got closer I could see what looked like a white spot inside. Pulled out the binoculars and sure enough it was a blue penguin on the nest. We watched her for a bit, I can't believe I finally saw a wild penguin, I was beginning to think I would never see one. We didn't want to disturb her though so we left after maybe 10 minutes and continued down the beach to where a seal was hauled out. We were able to get pretty close without him getting too concerned about us so we took pictures of that and then walked to the end of the beach. I watched some songbirds and then we headed back. The sun broke through the clouds and suddenly there was an albatross. At first I wasn't convinced it wasn’t a black backed gull since they kinda look similar (although the albatross is about 3x the size), but it quickly became apparent it was an albatross. The bird was lazily making circles around the cliff- coming into view for about ½ the circle and behind the cliff for the other half. It did this for about 10 minutes (I'm assuming it was the same bird), and we got some really great looks at it. There flight style and wing shape is really different from the gulls once you have them both in view to compare its pretty obvious. My dad pointed this out, I think hes becoming a bit of an albatross spotter over this trip… During one flight all doubt was removed when I got a great view of both the back and beak- neither of which were remotely black backed albatross like. Then it was time to leave after a quick stop at the giftshop. We stopped in Portobello and got some drinks (I had lemon aid with a really cool bottle top opener, kinda like the ones you see on tin cans with a pull loop). I also pointed out some sheep in a truck to my mom. We worked our way through Dunedin and about 2 hours later arrived in Oamaru. We got a campsite, then decided to rent a room at the camp instead so we could have a smoother exit in the morning. The camp person directed us to the yellow eyed penguin colony and told us they usually come ashore at 1830. Since it was almost that time we headed over and got to the colony at 1825. Sure enough at 1830 the first penguin came ashore, quickly followed by another. They swim in so strangely- I expected them to be faster swimmers but it took them a while to make it onto shore out of the surf. Once they were on shore they spent about 45 minutes or so drying themselves on the beach and standing around (typically stopping 3-4 times for about 15 minutes each) before they went into the undergrowth. After these 2 came ashore we spotted another in the ocean swimming in but never saw it reach shore. Around this same time a bunch of sea birds showed up and were fishing offshore so I expect there was a school in the area and maybe the penguins stayed out later to get an easy meal. Right as we were about to leave another penguin showed up so we watched him for a while, and then a 4th one appeared. We left after this 4th one had made it almost all the way up the beach (he was a penguin on a mission because he didn’t stop at all for the first ½ of the beach). We walked back to the van and went to town. After mom only getting slightly lost we parked in downtown and walked around looking for someplace to eat before settling on "The Last Post" There was a loud guy from south Africa talking the ears off of the people he was with but otherwise the atmosphere was pleasant. My soup was really good as was my beer. My mom had a steak and my dad some salmon both of which were also good. Then we came home and organized our things for tomorrow.
011- Walking to the dock to start the glow worm trip
416- Working on the computer
1254- sleeping
1947- On the boat in Milford sound looking at some pretty amazing waterfalls.
lunch: sandwich, cheese, granola bar
dinner: fish and chips
Random Fact: The main fall at Milford Sound is 3x the height of Nigeria Falls, but not nearly as wide
We woke up and went to Mass. It was a really small church with a recorded musical accompanist. Once church was out we went back to the camp finished loading things and then stopped for breakfast at a café. I had chocolate ice cream. Then we headed off to the sound. The drive was beautiful along a winding road. We stopped a few times and took pictures of the views. Lots of steep cliffs and rivers, lakes, and streams. I also saw some decent grass patches and did some sweeping. Not a lot of leafhoppers but I did get a couple of them. We had to drive through a mile long tunnel (one way at a time), after which the road got really narrow (at some points just a single lane) and twisting. The road would have been super fun to drive in a zippy car. Once we got to the Milford Sound visitors center we checked in for our boat ride and then walked along the dock. Our boat is pretty cool looking- it’s a powerboat, but with sails (although we later found out it didn't have a keel so they only put up one or two of the sails at a time in the morning cruises). We boarded and picked up our lunches. Mom took my salad and other vegetable matter and gave me cheese. After we ate we went up to the upper deck and watched the scenery. We were able to sail along really close to the shoreline, in some areas the mist from the waterfalls would soak us. We saw a bunch of fur seals on a rock- they were all sleeping pretty soundly. The weather was great, apparently it hadn't rained in 6 days something of a record. It wasn't very windy either- there was some wind being funneled down the sound, but that was it. When we got to the end of the sound and entered the ocean the swells picked up (we got some pretty good bow spray going on and some of the people sitting near the bow got pretty wet). Dad pointed out a bird and I glanced at it and thought it was a seagull. Turned out I was pulling a Nick, as shortly thereafter the guide pointed out one flying overhead and said it was a wandering albatross. We got an awesome view of one flying over the boat, and saw another few behind the boat. Then we turned around and headed back up the sound. We stopped under waterfall that was 150m high and got some pictures. Apparently there is a Maori legend that says 10 years is added to your life if your face is hit by mist from the waterfall. We also motored through a small bay and then went by another group of seals. Back at the dock we disembarked, bought the picture/calendar thing the boat company made, and walked back to our van. We watched some birds on the walk back. The drive back was nice, mom led the way through the tunnel since the light changed just as we pulled up. We got to Te Anau at about 630, stopped at the information center and got reservations for the campsite in Gore. We also figured out the penguin situation for tomorrow. We picked up fish and chips to go from the gas station next to the info center, and my dad and I got gas while my mom waited for the food. I drove the first part of the trip while mom ate, and then we switched so I could eat. The trip was uneventful, lots of driving through sheep country and rolling green hills. Really pretty place. We pulled into gore about 830, and decided to go get some beer. We tried the convenience store first but they didn’t have beer. So we walked to the bar/bottle store and got 6 Tui beers- an IPA. It was a bit complicated because they didn't have any 6 packs of Tui, so we were going to buy a 12 pack, turns out they didn’t have a 12 pack so she pulled out a 15 pack and gave us 6 beers. We took them back to the camp, and mom fought with the camera to take a picture of the 3 of us with our beers. The beer was pretty good, and by the time we were done it was totally dark. We took some pictures of the moon, tried to get the DVD to work (unsuccessful) then went to bed.
436- Trying to figure out how to use the DVD player in the van. Apparently it's too complicated for any of us to figure out
1351- Taking pictures of leafhoppers
1439- About to leave camp
1908- At the Royal Albatross Center looking at penguins
Lunch: Tomatoes
Dinner: Seafood chowder and fries, with a beer
Random fact- "The Last Post" restaurant is housed in the oldest public works building still standing in the town of Oamaru. It was originally built as the post office, then served as a couple of other things before being sold and converted into a restaurant in 1992. Also, the Captain Cook Bar in Dunedin serves the most beer in New Zealand and has been in operation since 1860.
Well I got woken up at 830, and started the morning taking pictures of the leafhoppers I had caught yesterday. Only one of them kept trying to get away, the rest were pretty cooperative. Got some decent ones I think. We left about 10, and got breakfast at a café in town. I had scrambled eggs and toast with milk. After we ate we checked out a couple of shops and my mom got some wool yarn to make hats for us. We left about 11 and drove from Gore to Clinton (someone even labeled it the presidential highway), then went to Dunedin, on the coast. I did a bit of sweeping, but again not much in the way of leafhoppers. In Dunedin we got off the main road and worked our way to the tip of the peninsula, where the Royal Albatross Center is located. This was another amazing drive. The road was really narrow and at the edge of a steep cliff without much in the way of a guard rail. Its amazing how steep a slope the sheep can graze. The views were also amazing- ocean view on one side and bay view on the other. At the center I found out we could look from the cliff overlook and see spotted shag and spoonbill nests, and if we went to the beech we could see nesting blue penguin. The albatross colony was on the back of the cliff and only visible with the tour. I thought I would rather take my chances on seeing an adult fly by then go on the tour, which was 40 a person. The lady at the ticket counter told me yesterday the weather was really nice and there were albatrosses all over the area, but today the weather wasn’t as nice so the chances of seeing one were pretty slim. We went outside and spotted the shags and spoonbills pretty fast. The shags were everywhere with nests on the cliffs. We got some great views of the adults feeding the nestlings by the young sticking their heads in the adults mouths and eating (I'm so glad I'm not a shag, and I think my parents are too). Tons of gulls- mostly red billed gulls, but also some black backed gulls. When we had gotten out of the car a red billed gull tried to steal my soul- they really are pretty spooky looking when they just stare at you and don’t fly away, especially since their eyes are pale and they have a red eye ring. I thought I saw an albatross flying out at sea and flying into the albatross colony behind the cliff, but I couldn’t be sure. We watched for quite a while before deciding to try our luck with the penguins. We had to climb over the fence blocking the road (the receptionist said it was just to block cars not people, and the sign and fact the benches were set up like steps over the fence seemed to support this too) to get to Pilot Beach. We walked down the beach, and I spotted a hole in the ground. As we got closer I could see what looked like a white spot inside. Pulled out the binoculars and sure enough it was a blue penguin on the nest. We watched her for a bit, I can't believe I finally saw a wild penguin, I was beginning to think I would never see one. We didn't want to disturb her though so we left after maybe 10 minutes and continued down the beach to where a seal was hauled out. We were able to get pretty close without him getting too concerned about us so we took pictures of that and then walked to the end of the beach. I watched some songbirds and then we headed back. The sun broke through the clouds and suddenly there was an albatross. At first I wasn't convinced it wasn’t a black backed gull since they kinda look similar (although the albatross is about 3x the size), but it quickly became apparent it was an albatross. The bird was lazily making circles around the cliff- coming into view for about ½ the circle and behind the cliff for the other half. It did this for about 10 minutes (I'm assuming it was the same bird), and we got some really great looks at it. There flight style and wing shape is really different from the gulls once you have them both in view to compare its pretty obvious. My dad pointed this out, I think hes becoming a bit of an albatross spotter over this trip… During one flight all doubt was removed when I got a great view of both the back and beak- neither of which were remotely black backed albatross like. Then it was time to leave after a quick stop at the giftshop. We stopped in Portobello and got some drinks (I had lemon aid with a really cool bottle top opener, kinda like the ones you see on tin cans with a pull loop). I also pointed out some sheep in a truck to my mom. We worked our way through Dunedin and about 2 hours later arrived in Oamaru. We got a campsite, then decided to rent a room at the camp instead so we could have a smoother exit in the morning. The camp person directed us to the yellow eyed penguin colony and told us they usually come ashore at 1830. Since it was almost that time we headed over and got to the colony at 1825. Sure enough at 1830 the first penguin came ashore, quickly followed by another. They swim in so strangely- I expected them to be faster swimmers but it took them a while to make it onto shore out of the surf. Once they were on shore they spent about 45 minutes or so drying themselves on the beach and standing around (typically stopping 3-4 times for about 15 minutes each) before they went into the undergrowth. After these 2 came ashore we spotted another in the ocean swimming in but never saw it reach shore. Around this same time a bunch of sea birds showed up and were fishing offshore so I expect there was a school in the area and maybe the penguins stayed out later to get an easy meal. Right as we were about to leave another penguin showed up so we watched him for a while, and then a 4th one appeared. We left after this 4th one had made it almost all the way up the beach (he was a penguin on a mission because he didn’t stop at all for the first ½ of the beach). We walked back to the van and went to town. After mom only getting slightly lost we parked in downtown and walked around looking for someplace to eat before settling on "The Last Post" There was a loud guy from south Africa talking the ears off of the people he was with but otherwise the atmosphere was pleasant. My soup was really good as was my beer. My mom had a steak and my dad some salmon both of which were also good. Then we came home and organized our things for tomorrow.
06 December 2011
more museums [HRE]
222- Sitting in Is
and Andy's hotel room, talking to them and Is's mom. We "helped" Is come up with his
final…
1033- Sleeping, quite soundly
1409-Just waking up. My parents went to get some breakfast, I had them pick me up a chocolate croissant at the place we went to yesterday.
1540- We were trying to figure out how to get to the museum. We knew we needed to take the bus, but which bus and how it would work out since we had to all be back at different times took some planning…
Lunch- had some cookies and cream gilato at the museum, does that count?
Dinner- Beef Teryiaki and rice, some miso soup, 2 pieces of shrimp tempura, and a large piece of potato tempura, with a strawberry smoothie. We found a food court online, went there, found out it closed at 6 (we got there about 7) and the security guard directed us to a place down the street with like 15 food stands. Completely amazing
Random Fact- Peter Blake, who is credited with New Zealand's win of the Americas Cup (and the first country to successfully defend their win in the next cup) was killed by pirates while raising awareness of the Amazon rainforest 10 years ago today. He sounded like a cool guy, really involved in conservation.
I woke up for good when Is called. We figured out we would meet in about 45 minutes and go to the museum since there was no way to do the ferry and back before his presentation. The museum was reachable by a short bus ride. I figured out why my phone was staying on roaming (somehow got switched to CDMA). Checked in our backpacks then spent about an hour looking at Polynesian art and life in NZ over the last few centuries. The intricasys of the carving they did were amazing. Entire houses were built with each board carved with various designs. It also appears that when the top chief died the entire town was abandoned and rebuilt. Better hope you had a long lived dude. I heard my mom's phone ring and discovered there was a CDMA network, I had just assumed it was only GSM and had kept my phone on airplane mode to save battery. Quite exciting. Is, Andy, and I left at about 1, grabbed some gilato and watched birds (house sparrows and pigeons mostly). I realized I've now seen them on all continents but Antarctica. We then managed to catch the sky city hotel bus, which took us to the conference center for free. We found his room, then toured the exhibitor hall. I went to some presentations, including Is's a really cool one on rock wallaby phyogeography, and one on felids disease interface between domestic and wild species. I also saw a Hemiptera talk which had cool methods, but I couldn't figure out what the actual point was... Then I met up with Is and Andy, luckily they had my program book I had set down and walked away from. We talked to the Sirtrek guys for a while, i love how they always remember me. Then i went to a talk on sugarcane in Brazil and finished it up with a really cool weevil talk. She was extracting DNA from 200 year old specimens. Really interesting, even if it was only 150 bp segments of CO1. Met back up with Is and Andy then walked back to the hotel. We had been discussing prelims, so I gave them the blow by blow of mine. I went up to my room, and played online with my parents. Then we got hungry and decided to find the food court my mom had found online. After an amazing dinner we went back to the hotel, checking out a few shops along the way. Finished up the evening skyping with Maria and Eddie, watched the Peter Blake documentary, drank a beer, and now I'm watching lawn bowling. Yet another strange sport...
1033- Sleeping, quite soundly
1409-Just waking up. My parents went to get some breakfast, I had them pick me up a chocolate croissant at the place we went to yesterday.
1540- We were trying to figure out how to get to the museum. We knew we needed to take the bus, but which bus and how it would work out since we had to all be back at different times took some planning…
Lunch- had some cookies and cream gilato at the museum, does that count?
Dinner- Beef Teryiaki and rice, some miso soup, 2 pieces of shrimp tempura, and a large piece of potato tempura, with a strawberry smoothie. We found a food court online, went there, found out it closed at 6 (we got there about 7) and the security guard directed us to a place down the street with like 15 food stands. Completely amazing
Random Fact- Peter Blake, who is credited with New Zealand's win of the Americas Cup (and the first country to successfully defend their win in the next cup) was killed by pirates while raising awareness of the Amazon rainforest 10 years ago today. He sounded like a cool guy, really involved in conservation.
I woke up for good when Is called. We figured out we would meet in about 45 minutes and go to the museum since there was no way to do the ferry and back before his presentation. The museum was reachable by a short bus ride. I figured out why my phone was staying on roaming (somehow got switched to CDMA). Checked in our backpacks then spent about an hour looking at Polynesian art and life in NZ over the last few centuries. The intricasys of the carving they did were amazing. Entire houses were built with each board carved with various designs. It also appears that when the top chief died the entire town was abandoned and rebuilt. Better hope you had a long lived dude. I heard my mom's phone ring and discovered there was a CDMA network, I had just assumed it was only GSM and had kept my phone on airplane mode to save battery. Quite exciting. Is, Andy, and I left at about 1, grabbed some gilato and watched birds (house sparrows and pigeons mostly). I realized I've now seen them on all continents but Antarctica. We then managed to catch the sky city hotel bus, which took us to the conference center for free. We found his room, then toured the exhibitor hall. I went to some presentations, including Is's a really cool one on rock wallaby phyogeography, and one on felids disease interface between domestic and wild species. I also saw a Hemiptera talk which had cool methods, but I couldn't figure out what the actual point was... Then I met up with Is and Andy, luckily they had my program book I had set down and walked away from. We talked to the Sirtrek guys for a while, i love how they always remember me. Then i went to a talk on sugarcane in Brazil and finished it up with a really cool weevil talk. She was extracting DNA from 200 year old specimens. Really interesting, even if it was only 150 bp segments of CO1. Met back up with Is and Andy then walked back to the hotel. We had been discussing prelims, so I gave them the blow by blow of mine. I went up to my room, and played online with my parents. Then we got hungry and decided to find the food court my mom had found online. After an amazing dinner we went back to the hotel, checking out a few shops along the way. Finished up the evening skyping with Maria and Eddie, watched the Peter Blake documentary, drank a beer, and now I'm watching lawn bowling. Yet another strange sport...
24 November 2011
The perfect meal
My brother and I were talking a few days back about what a perfect meal would contain if there were no logistical concerns. Being the ultimate day to contemplate eating here is my perfect, and rather large, meal:
I would start off with some fresh out of the pot Alaskan shrimp. Most likely caught in about 320ft of water (that's the depth of the magic hole), in an undisclosed location in southeast Alaska. I boil mine in salt water for about 3 minutes, they come out perfect. Eat these shrimp and you'll never eat commercially produced shrimp again.
Next I would have a small "salad". This would consist of cherry tomatoes (in Catalina dressing), croutons (in Thousand Island dressing), sliced and skinned cucumbers, and skinned lima beans. None of these items will touch either cause that's just strange.
The main course is a tough one. I think I would go corned beef and potatoes. This is my family's go to meal for occasions such as Easter, birthdays, and treats when were well behaved. This corned beef comes in a can (make sure you get the imported variety, made by Libby). Cube up some potatoes, add some oil and fry. It's a slice of heaven, and a staple during field. Learned the hard way it's better to drive an hr and pay the extra 4 dollars to get the imported South American corned beef instead of the cheep locally manufactured variety. It's disconcerting being able to identify parts of the heart in your dinner.
But there are competitors. I had an amazing steak one day in South Africa. It was also grilled, but in a way I've never seen previously. An empty (I assume) oil barrel was coated with some sort liquid, I think gasoline or something similar, and lit. A flash fire occurred and the steak was instantly thrown on top of the barrel. About 5 minutes later you had a perfectly cooked steak. This is quite different from the BBQing I grew up around, where any sort of lighter fluid or gas was a mortal sin, and multiple BBQs were involved in the grilling process. If this meal had to be chicken biased I would pick Zaki's Fried Chicken in Sur, Oman. If you ever find yourself in Sur, be sure you check ZFCs (not the restaurant, I didn't go there since its too fancy for me, but the walk up window where the locals eat) I'm not a poultry person, and yet this chicken really excellent. It probably didn't hurt we got our chicken to go and ate it on a wall overlooking the ocean. The final option would be a hamburger. And what Aggie would not identify the Dixie Chicken as the best burger place around? I get mine on toast with pickles, tomatoes, and mustard.
Dessert is easy. My mom makes a cake known as Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake. It's chocolate awesomeness. This cake is so good people who have never met her contact her to request them. If I'm not home for my birthday I get them mailed to me. Cake isn't complete without ice cream and the best ice cream out there is Bluebell's Triple Chocolate. This is a seasonal ice cream (don't as me why) but if you are at an actual ice cream shop you can get it year round. Back when I worked for the P-fund we would go to Ft. Davis and get ice cream at the Caboose- the only place out there to get Bluebell. Jodie knew my order- 3 scoops of triple chocolate- and I was so predictable even if they were out up front she would keep enough in the back for me to get my order. To this day I still known as the triple chocolate girl.
My drink of choice is not so easy.
First we should do beers. My favorite beer is Shiner Bock, or if you can find it Shiner Black. However, there are 3 other beers that hold special places in my heart. The first is Guinness. Since I was a kid this was my family's beer. Back when we were young there was a math formula (my dad loves formulas) that calculated how much beer we were allowed to drink on special occasions. After Easter Vigil we drink Guinness and watch the Pope's Mass while eating corned beef and potatoes. Castle Milk Stout is an awesome beer I get in Africa. I have yet to find a good milk stout in the US, something that bothers me to no end. The last option would be Quilmes Black. A beer in Argentina. When I was down there in 2008 the first thing we did was hit a grocery store and bought supplies. Along with my corned beef and tuna I bought 2 six packs of beer. We drank most of that the first night but then I decided I should ration the rest, packed it up carefully, and hid it away in my backpack. A couple weeks later we were all gathered around a light sheet in Calilegua National Park, and I asked who wanted beer. Chris told me he was impressed that in the middle of nowhere Argentina I could produce beer and that that was the mark of a good grad student. Probably why he took me on for my Ph.D. When I left Argentina I wanted a Quilmes shirt so badly, but hadn't seen any anywhere. In desperation I went to the skateboarding shop in the mall (the only place that remotely looked like they might sell beer shirts) and in my very lacking Spanish asked if they had any ideas. The guy didn't, but decided to make me one. Talk about copyright infringement. He pulled the logo off the internet, I picked the shirt I wanted it on, and 4 USD later I had a Quilmes shirt.
Non beer drinks would be either chocolate milk (made from US or South African cows, the rest all taste funny), an orange juice from this small place we found in Muscat, Oman (and went back to on our way back through Muscat), or strawberry juice from hole in the wall place in the Bur, Dubai, UAE. I had never had strawberry juice, but quickly decided it was amazing.
I would then finish it all off with a shot of single barrel Jack Daniels or some good single malt scotch.
And that would be my perfect meal, now if I could just teleport it would be possible to eat it.
I would start off with some fresh out of the pot Alaskan shrimp. Most likely caught in about 320ft of water (that's the depth of the magic hole), in an undisclosed location in southeast Alaska. I boil mine in salt water for about 3 minutes, they come out perfect. Eat these shrimp and you'll never eat commercially produced shrimp again.
Next I would have a small "salad". This would consist of cherry tomatoes (in Catalina dressing), croutons (in Thousand Island dressing), sliced and skinned cucumbers, and skinned lima beans. None of these items will touch either cause that's just strange.
The main course is a tough one. I think I would go corned beef and potatoes. This is my family's go to meal for occasions such as Easter, birthdays, and treats when were well behaved. This corned beef comes in a can (make sure you get the imported variety, made by Libby). Cube up some potatoes, add some oil and fry. It's a slice of heaven, and a staple during field. Learned the hard way it's better to drive an hr and pay the extra 4 dollars to get the imported South American corned beef instead of the cheep locally manufactured variety. It's disconcerting being able to identify parts of the heart in your dinner.
But there are competitors. I had an amazing steak one day in South Africa. It was also grilled, but in a way I've never seen previously. An empty (I assume) oil barrel was coated with some sort liquid, I think gasoline or something similar, and lit. A flash fire occurred and the steak was instantly thrown on top of the barrel. About 5 minutes later you had a perfectly cooked steak. This is quite different from the BBQing I grew up around, where any sort of lighter fluid or gas was a mortal sin, and multiple BBQs were involved in the grilling process. If this meal had to be chicken biased I would pick Zaki's Fried Chicken in Sur, Oman. If you ever find yourself in Sur, be sure you check ZFCs (not the restaurant, I didn't go there since its too fancy for me, but the walk up window where the locals eat) I'm not a poultry person, and yet this chicken really excellent. It probably didn't hurt we got our chicken to go and ate it on a wall overlooking the ocean. The final option would be a hamburger. And what Aggie would not identify the Dixie Chicken as the best burger place around? I get mine on toast with pickles, tomatoes, and mustard.
Dessert is easy. My mom makes a cake known as Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake. It's chocolate awesomeness. This cake is so good people who have never met her contact her to request them. If I'm not home for my birthday I get them mailed to me. Cake isn't complete without ice cream and the best ice cream out there is Bluebell's Triple Chocolate. This is a seasonal ice cream (don't as me why) but if you are at an actual ice cream shop you can get it year round. Back when I worked for the P-fund we would go to Ft. Davis and get ice cream at the Caboose- the only place out there to get Bluebell. Jodie knew my order- 3 scoops of triple chocolate- and I was so predictable even if they were out up front she would keep enough in the back for me to get my order. To this day I still known as the triple chocolate girl.
My drink of choice is not so easy.
First we should do beers. My favorite beer is Shiner Bock, or if you can find it Shiner Black. However, there are 3 other beers that hold special places in my heart. The first is Guinness. Since I was a kid this was my family's beer. Back when we were young there was a math formula (my dad loves formulas) that calculated how much beer we were allowed to drink on special occasions. After Easter Vigil we drink Guinness and watch the Pope's Mass while eating corned beef and potatoes. Castle Milk Stout is an awesome beer I get in Africa. I have yet to find a good milk stout in the US, something that bothers me to no end. The last option would be Quilmes Black. A beer in Argentina. When I was down there in 2008 the first thing we did was hit a grocery store and bought supplies. Along with my corned beef and tuna I bought 2 six packs of beer. We drank most of that the first night but then I decided I should ration the rest, packed it up carefully, and hid it away in my backpack. A couple weeks later we were all gathered around a light sheet in Calilegua National Park, and I asked who wanted beer. Chris told me he was impressed that in the middle of nowhere Argentina I could produce beer and that that was the mark of a good grad student. Probably why he took me on for my Ph.D. When I left Argentina I wanted a Quilmes shirt so badly, but hadn't seen any anywhere. In desperation I went to the skateboarding shop in the mall (the only place that remotely looked like they might sell beer shirts) and in my very lacking Spanish asked if they had any ideas. The guy didn't, but decided to make me one. Talk about copyright infringement. He pulled the logo off the internet, I picked the shirt I wanted it on, and 4 USD later I had a Quilmes shirt.
Non beer drinks would be either chocolate milk (made from US or South African cows, the rest all taste funny), an orange juice from this small place we found in Muscat, Oman (and went back to on our way back through Muscat), or strawberry juice from hole in the wall place in the Bur, Dubai, UAE. I had never had strawberry juice, but quickly decided it was amazing.
I would then finish it all off with a shot of single barrel Jack Daniels or some good single malt scotch.
And that would be my perfect meal, now if I could just teleport it would be possible to eat it.
24 December 2006
Its official
So I woke up at about 630. Was suppose to be at Heep at 7. Got dressed for graduation- blue jeans, blue shirt, blue socks, blue everything- trust me. It wasnt planned, just happened, but hey blue is my favorite color so i guess its not unexpected. Blue runs my life really- I have to use blue toothpaste and a blue toothbrush. I also use blue soap and shampoo (the lids are even blue). So I guess saying i like blue is a bit of an understatement. But yall arn't reading this entry to learn about how monochromatic my life is, but rather to see if I actually was allowed to graduate or not. So after putting on my blue ensamble, I grabed my hat (both my blue p-fund hat and my bugified graduation hat) and ran out the door, only to realize that I would probabily need my black gown deal if I expected to actually walk. So back inside to find the thing. Luckily it was where I though it might be- Maria's closet after being used as a Harry Potter opening night costume. Back in the truck and sped over to Heep for the graduation breakfast. Everyone else was already there and had already been introduced to Woolley, Wharton, and Oz so that spared me the need to. I showed off my hat and woolley and wharton scored it. They threatened to deduct some points for a bug missing antenna and also for the elytra, but I think I prevailed. I ate some sausuage out of the pigs and a blanket deal and talked to cammack for a bit. The breakfast started to break up and everyone else headed off to Reed. Woolley and I signed the INHS loan form for my bugs and then he left. I waited around for Cammack then figured I should probabily head to reed since it was almost 830. I walked to my truck to grab the gown and cammack called me to see where I was. I met him in front of the building and we walked over to Reed. He decided to sit with my family so I had to call them and figure out where they were but we got it straightend out ok. We parted ways and I headed upstairs where the ag people were. I got up there and found out I got a honors deal since I was a research fellow. So I checked in with Mandi, discovered that Andy had also came to line us up. So I talked to Andy for a little bit, it was really cool that he came also. I gave my stuff to Kyle then ran back downstairs to find the honors people. Got it then back up the stairs. At this point we were all lined up and started heading down to the floor. We walked in and I looked all around trying to figure out where they were sitting. I was talking to them on the phone and texting like crazy. Eddie and I started texting diseases to eachother such as Ebola, Ecoli, Anthrax, and Infulenza. It was quite amusing. Once I sat down I was able to figure out where they were sitting since they were taking a bunch of pictures and so kept telling me to look at them. Balancing the boxobugs was kinda tricky and it was rather heavy so I took the lid off so at least there was less weight. The speakers were pretty good. At one point they asked for all the vetrans to stand up so I was able to look up and see grandpa ike standing, that was pretty cool. The intro was right off the program, almost word for word. Pretty soon I got board and read the entire program and then started playing games looking for different patterns in the book. I was also texting with Aubrey and eventually spotted her. They went through ENTO first, so got to yell for a couple of my friends that were graduating in that group. Then it was time for the wildlifers to go. We stood up and walked over to the other side and started walking up. We got stopped by the ento people so I got to talk to them for a bit. I told them after I walked I'd come back and sit with them til the end since realistically more of my close friends were over there than with wildlife. As i walked up to the stage I heard them call my name and announce that I was graduating with honors as a reserach fellow. It was very exciting. I walked up and shook Gate's hand as they took a picture. So I had my deploma handed to me by the secretary of defence. How cool is that. He signed it also. I walked through and shook all the random people's hands. A bunch of them asked what was in the box on my head and I told them it was part of my insect collection. They seemed to be amused by that. I walked down the steps and was greated by a couple of wildlife profs- slack and gelwick I think, but it was all a blur. Then I saw that the ento profs had stuck around also. I was really excited to see that. Oslen, Teal, and Heniz were all down there along with a couple that I didn't know. Ento actually had a better represntation than wildlife did. I hugged them all and went back to my seat to gather my stuff. I got a text from cammack through maria that said "hell just froze over". So true on a couple different levels. after a few min of congradulating my fellow wildlifers I went over to ento and sat with DiAngela and the rest of them. We talked through the rest of graduation and then all walked out together after a fianl word from Gates. We were the last group he was graduating, hes shooken over 40,000 hands over his time here, but we were his last. That was really cool. Once out DiAngela and I walked towards where our families should be and eventually found them. I got congradualted and hugged by everyone, guess its official now, i'm a college graduate. Scary aint it? We met up with Mika (who arrived shortly before the end) and Aubrey, then started to head back to heep. Cammack stayed to help DiAngela's family find eachother then met up with us shortly there after. We walked back to Heep, while dad and grandpa went to get the car. Mika and Aubrey headed to biocontrol and it was picture time. Mom tried to take a picture of me and Cammack, finally after the 3rd time it worked. Then they tried for a picture of all of us, but the wrong lens was on the camera so in order for it to work cammack had to be almost at ground level and all of us 30 ft away. Typical catanach camera debacle. Grandpa said no pictures of him cause he was an indian and to take his picture you have to pay a fee. We then headed off to HiKu, the Japanese place I wanted to go to. I rode over with Cammack and we met everyone plus Steven, Dasiy, and Aubrey over there. Mandi showed up after a few min too and we ordered. I got my traditional bento box with terioki beef and 8 california rolls instead of sushi. They came with avacados as always so I used cammacks chopstick to de avacado them. Its become tradition to do so, and even with other options it was the one we used. I think everyone else though we were crazy but o well. Lunch was great fun and was wonderful as always. Everyone pretty much knew everyone there so that made it easy. Daisy and Steven brough me flowers and a balloon and Mandi got me a pair of boots. Grandpa Ikie wasn't quite sure what to make of the japanese food so we got some good pictures of him inspecting it before maria's camera ran out of batteries. Daisy then took some pictures of me and my family. By now everyone was done and my family needed to get back on the road since they were going home. I got a ride back to Heep with Cammack then decided to run home to put my bugs away. I got home just as everyone else was about to leave so said good by to everyone then headed back to Heep after putting my bug hat in the deep freeze. I put my new bugs along with the ones I had taken up north for ID in my cabinet- which now has a full set of drawers. After a while Cammack came back and we attempted to get some work done. I got hungery and we decided it was time for dinner. Cammack said hed fix something, so we went to the store and got some beens and meat. He cooked it all up while I had a Sam Adams (I was reintroduced to it up north and now its one of my new favorites). Dinner was great as it always is when Cammack cooks for me. I also got my first introduction to a spoon holder. Its this little deal that you put on the stove and rest spoons your using to stir or whatever on it so they dont drip on the stove. It was pretty cool. He was in shock that I'd never seen one before so I called my parents and told them about it. They agreed I'd never seen one since Grandma Mary'd never used one as far as they knew and I didn't do much in Grandma Stella's kitchen (who did have one). The concept is quite facinating to me although I think its easier just to balance it on a pot or make someone else hold it. After dinner he took me back to Heep and I went home and was asleep pretty fast since I hadn't gotten much over the last week. Sunday was prety uneventful, went to Mass then tried to figure out what I would need for my Guatemala trip. Got a little bit of work done and got together with Cammack for a bit before heading to Dallas.
Monday and Tuesday were filled with Drs Apointments- physical, dental, and eyes. Great times. I hate doctors. I got the 2nd of my Hep-B series so that made it even more exciting. I hate needles. Other than that just hung around the house played with the dogs and all the normal home stuff. I went up to the Heard for a bit and saw some of my friends up there. Found out Debbie died a few days before. That was pretty sad to hear, she was always so nice to me and asking after my family. They have a new exhibit- anamatronic dinosaurs. It was pretty cool looking.
We headed out to New Mexico on Thursday mid morning. It was a typical Catanach exit- hurried and hours later than planned. Me and Eddie were in my truck following the renta van. The drive was pretty easy, weather was good almost the whole way, except for a little bit of ice in Clines Corners. We stayed in Albequerque for the night at Patty's. We were greated with Pasole (kept on the porch as is tradition) and chicarones- not pork skins like people here think they are but rahter balls of fried pork fat. Heavenly. I must have eaten 50 of them before deciding it was time for bed. I slept on the couch and was woken up by Patty's dog jumping on me. Tiny little dog, very soft. I needed to pick up my upgraded permit so got dirrections to Fish and Wildlife and drove over to the building. I walked up only to have to go back to my truck and unload my pockets since apparently you can't take knifes into a federal building. I finally deweaponed myself and was allowed to enter the building. I took the elevator up to the 14th floor then wandered aimlessly in hopes of finding Camilies office. I eventually figured out where it was hiding and went in. I met God herself and actually sat down for some coffee and cookies with her. She was quite funny and apparently has 2 JRTs that the spoils. I spent about 30 min talking to her before realizing I was suppose to meet Maria, Eddie, Grandpa, and Patty for lunch. So I left and met everyone at Golden Corral. I had the shrimp as always- must have eaten a plate full. We drove back to Santa Fe, Eddie and I following Grandpa and Maria. It was a bit of an adventure since we got seperated a couple times but we managed to figure out how to get home. Chaco didn't attack me as I went in so i figure thats a step in the right direction. We spent most of the day doing nothing, as seems to be our past time in Santa Fe. It was nice to sit still and watch TV for a change. We went to PCs for dinner, my mom and I did the bar run since there was a pretty long line for tables. I had a Negra Modelo which my dad thought was pretty nasty. I don't know why he doesn't like them I think there pretty good. I had an enchilada, sopapias, and natias for dinner. Nice to have real new mexican food again. You cant find a decent sopapia in Texas, enchiladas are differnt and people think your crazy when you ask for natias.
Monday and Tuesday were filled with Drs Apointments- physical, dental, and eyes. Great times. I hate doctors. I got the 2nd of my Hep-B series so that made it even more exciting. I hate needles. Other than that just hung around the house played with the dogs and all the normal home stuff. I went up to the Heard for a bit and saw some of my friends up there. Found out Debbie died a few days before. That was pretty sad to hear, she was always so nice to me and asking after my family. They have a new exhibit- anamatronic dinosaurs. It was pretty cool looking.
We headed out to New Mexico on Thursday mid morning. It was a typical Catanach exit- hurried and hours later than planned. Me and Eddie were in my truck following the renta van. The drive was pretty easy, weather was good almost the whole way, except for a little bit of ice in Clines Corners. We stayed in Albequerque for the night at Patty's. We were greated with Pasole (kept on the porch as is tradition) and chicarones- not pork skins like people here think they are but rahter balls of fried pork fat. Heavenly. I must have eaten 50 of them before deciding it was time for bed. I slept on the couch and was woken up by Patty's dog jumping on me. Tiny little dog, very soft. I needed to pick up my upgraded permit so got dirrections to Fish and Wildlife and drove over to the building. I walked up only to have to go back to my truck and unload my pockets since apparently you can't take knifes into a federal building. I finally deweaponed myself and was allowed to enter the building. I took the elevator up to the 14th floor then wandered aimlessly in hopes of finding Camilies office. I eventually figured out where it was hiding and went in. I met God herself and actually sat down for some coffee and cookies with her. She was quite funny and apparently has 2 JRTs that the spoils. I spent about 30 min talking to her before realizing I was suppose to meet Maria, Eddie, Grandpa, and Patty for lunch. So I left and met everyone at Golden Corral. I had the shrimp as always- must have eaten a plate full. We drove back to Santa Fe, Eddie and I following Grandpa and Maria. It was a bit of an adventure since we got seperated a couple times but we managed to figure out how to get home. Chaco didn't attack me as I went in so i figure thats a step in the right direction. We spent most of the day doing nothing, as seems to be our past time in Santa Fe. It was nice to sit still and watch TV for a change. We went to PCs for dinner, my mom and I did the bar run since there was a pretty long line for tables. I had a Negra Modelo which my dad thought was pretty nasty. I don't know why he doesn't like them I think there pretty good. I had an enchilada, sopapias, and natias for dinner. Nice to have real new mexican food again. You cant find a decent sopapia in Texas, enchiladas are differnt and people think your crazy when you ask for natias.
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