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December 30th, 2008
11:17 pm - Rice won a bowl game!?!
Sadly, I didn't get a chance to watch the Owls' victory over Western Michigan in the Texas Bowl. But they won!
It's still strange to think of Rice as having a football team that can actually win enough to make it to a bowl game. But I'm happy that they managed to win. Once every 50 years. That seems doable.
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November 12th, 2008
03:08 pm - I own a house
It's now official.
Paul and I own a house!
Now the real fun begins. Painters, carpenters, and flooring installers, oh my!
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November 4th, 2008
06:28 am - Pillow snuggler
By way of ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) la_directora and hangingfire:
1. Stop talking about politics for a moment or two.
2. Post a reasonably-sized picture in your LJ, NOT under a cut tag, of something pleasant, such as an adorable kitten, or a fluffy white cloud, or a bottle of booze. Something that has NOTHING TO DO WITH POLITICS.
3. Include these instructions, and share the love.
Byron is kind enough to let me sleep on his pillow. And, as a bonus, he purrs me to sleep every night.
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October 25th, 2008
08:18 pm - Impressions from Chicago, day 1
I'm in Chicago. It took way too long to get here. My flight from Denver to O'Hare was canceled, and I ended up being routed through Springfield, MO. Then, CTA is doing construction the weekend on the Blue Line between O'Hare and the Loop. We went partway on the train, transferred to a shuttle bus, and then got back on the train a few stops later. Let's just say this wasn't the fastest 'El' trip I've ever been on.
For all the crafters out there: apparently crocheting while waiting for the train to leave O'Hare identifies you as a native. I had two people walk on to the train I was sitting on and ask me which stop they should get off on.
At least once I finally got to my hotel, there was a glass of wine waiting for me. Seriously. They had a wine happy hour from 5-6, and I was given a glass of rose when I checked in. Thanks to Priceline, I'm staying at the Hotel Burnham for significantly less than it should cost. The hotel is awesome, but I don't feel like I'm quite stylish enough to blend in with the rest of the clientele. The architecture geek in me loves the place since it's in one of Chicago's original skyscrapers.
At this point, I'm mostly just exhausted and looking forward to sleeping in before doing at least one architecture walking tour tomorrow.
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August 21st, 2008
08:05 am - 5K in 29:20
I did Nite Moves last night. I ran the entire way, going out easy and picking up my pace through the entire run, passing more people than passed me. Thanks to a bit of cheering from friends at the end, I even kicked pretty hard at the end to pass a few more people going in to the finishing line.
The course is hillier than the roads I'd been running, so I was a bit worried my knees would start complaining at some point during the run. I'm happy to say they didn't!
I'm still taking my running slowly, but it's really nice to feel like I can actually do it again. It make wearing some of my race t-shirts feel like less of a lie.
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August 17th, 2008
11:21 am - 2.8 miles in 28:35
Sure, it's not quite 5K, but it's the furthest continuous run I've done since I hurt my knee a couple of years ago. And, even better, I didn't feel any knee or hip pain.
I now feel confidant that I can run 5K again, just in time for the last two weeks of Santa Barbara's summer 5K series: Nite Moves. Hooray. Maybe I will be able to actually do a tri again next year.
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July 5th, 2008
09:58 am - Fire update
While the fire is still burning in the foothills (about 6-7 miles from our house at the closest point), things are much better now than they were Thursday night.
The winds yesterday (and especially last night) were much calmer. That's extremely important because when the evening "sundowner" winds through the passes pick up to 30-40+ mph, they drive the flames rapidly downhill towards homes. It looks like the winds are going to be mild again today.
Because of the number of homes potentially threatened, this fire is one of the top priorities in the state. That's given the fire commanders access to many more resources. The number of personnel assigned has roughly tripled the past 36 hours. There are now almost 20 planes and helicopters dropping water and fire retardant. While the continual sound of dual-rotor helicopters makes it feel a bit like a war zone, it's strangely comforting since I know it means they're helping keep the fire from spreading.
Our house has become a temporary storage location for documents and important belongings for several of our friends who live much closer to the fire. Fortunately none of them are in the evacuation areas (or even evacuation warning zones), and it looks less and less likely that the fire will get close to their homes. It's still *very* smoky at their houses, though, and they'll be cleaning up ash for a while.
Keep your fingers crossed that the winds will stay calm and that all of the extremely hard working fire fighters will have another "easy" day today.
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July 4th, 2008
06:26 am - Gap Fire
Thankfully Paul and I aren't very close to the fire that's currently raging in the foothills north of Goleta / Santa Barbara. Unfortunately, we have several friends who are much closer. They haven't been evacuated yet, but their neighborhoods have been closed to all but residents, the air is thick with smoke, and they can see flames about a mile away.
Keep your fingers crossed that the winds this evening aren't too strong and that the firefighters will be able to keep the flames away from homes.
http://www.independent.com/news/fires2008/
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March 19th, 2008
07:38 am - Truffles
Just before Valentine's Day I made a giant batch of truffles. Yes, that was in February and it's now March. I know. But I promised to post about how I did it, so here's the post, a month late.
I doubled the Truffles recipe in Sherry Yard's The Secrets of Baking with a few modifications. I also used a lot of the techniques called for by Alton Brown in his truffle recipe. I highly recommend Alton's chocolate truffle episode if you're thinking about making them. He covers a lot of general chocolate-working tips.
I spent most of an afternoon making them, but I was rewarded with about 10 dozen really tasty truffles:
I need to work on making them look a little bit neater, but everyone who tried one thought they tasted fantastic. That was enough to make me want to make them again sometime, despite the giant mess. I went through two pairs of gloves during the coating process because the first pair got so covered in chocolate that I couldn't really articulate my fingers anymore.
Here's the complete recipe.
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February 23rd, 2008
09:25 pm - snow therapy
Work has been very stressful recently since I feel like I'm behind on my current project. I'm still making progress forward on it, just not at the rate I'd like. Of course, it doesn't help when the project's end-goal keeps changing.
Anyway, I was very stressed. But now I'm feeling better thanks to a lot of frozen fluffy stuff.
This weekend Andy, James, Paul and I are at Mammoth. Instead of our usual schedule (drive up late Friday night and ski Saturday and Sunday), we decided to take a little more time. We drove up early this morning and got in a little skiing this afternoon.
And that skiing was awesome. They got 17" of snow yesterday, and there was more snow falling today (8+ inches) while we were skiing. There was also just enough wind to keep the lift lines short. I only got in a few runs, but they were so much fun, I could just feel the stress melting away. At one point, James and I were going down the Acts and I came across a pristine mogul. I was feeling silly and the run was empty, so I decided to flop down on top of it, lying there on my back with my mouth open, catching the falling snowflakes. Sure, it was childish, but it felt good.
We'll be here through Monday. That's perfect since there's a storm rolling through that will continue to dump new snow through tomorrow night. So tomorrow will be more stormy but soft skiing. Then, after the storm clears, Monday should be a sunny, low-crowd day of powder hunting.
I hope that by the time I'm back to work on Tuesday, I'll be physically tired from several great days of skiing but mentally rejuvenated and ready to tackle the next phase of my project.
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February 8th, 2008
06:38 pm - SBIFF '08
The 23rd annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival finished last weekend, but I claim it's not too late to post about the movies I saw.
Cream of the crop:
Beautiful Bitch - A story of a Romanian teenager trying to be a "normal" kid while meeting her quotas as a pickpocket for an organized crime ring. Extremely touching without being sappy.
Mongol - The epic love story of Genghis Khan. It was filled with gorgeous sweeping landscapes yet focused on personal interactions and stories. Not at all what I expected from an epic on Genghis Khan.
Recommended:
The Counterfeiters - The true story of a group of Jews in a Nazi concentration camp who were forced to print British pounds and American dollars to stock the Nazi war coffers. The movie did an excellent job of focusing on the interactions between the men (Jewish and Nazi) and looking at the choices they were making to survive.
The Pixar Story - A documentary about the history of Pixar. A well-told tale of the people who formed the initial core at Pixar and how they've been successful again and again.
Priceless - A French romantic comedy starring Audrey Tautou as a young woman trying to strike it rich by marrying any rich guy who'll take her. Amusing, cute, and occasionally sappy.
Vexille - An animated Japanese movie about what it means to be human. This is the weakest of my "Recommended" ones, but if you're interested in a sci-fi take on the definition of humanity, it's worth watching. And the film's depiction of US special forces can be pretty hysterical.
Don't bother:
Dasepo Naughty Girls - An absurd Korean musical about sex and high school kids. It was full of gags, but a lot of the plot didn't seem to hold together.
Freesia: Bullets over Tears - A Japanese movie about revenge and discovering long-hidden emotions. A hokey premise that was poorly executed; the movie creeps to a crawl at several points.
Triangle - A sort-of heist film with three famous Hong Kong directors felt like three movies grafted together. Once you finally got in to the flow of one director's portion, a new director would take over.
I also heard good things about Amal and Blind Mountain, but didn't get a chance to see either one.
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January 15th, 2008
07:16 am - Chocolats
Last night for dessert, Tim treated us to chocolates from the new chocolate shop within walking distance of his house in Carpinteria, Chocolats du CaliBressan. Yum. yum. yum. I ate two of the divine morsels: the "Bourguignon" (white chocolate with blackcurrant) and the "Venezuelien" (pure dark chocolate from Venezuela). The most amazing part was that the chocolate was rich and full of flavor without being overly sweet. Normally dark chocolate has a slightly bitter note to it. Not this. It was just pure chocolate flavor. It also had what I can only describe as a fantastic finish; the dark chocolate taste lingered in my mouth for 15 minutes or more. I don't normally indulge in bon bons and truffles unless I make them myself (which doesn't happen often either). However, these were just so good that I might need to find an excuse to eat them again.
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January 14th, 2008
12:08 pm - Purple lunch
In preparation for joining Fairview Gardens' CSA program, I've been reading through Deborah Madison's Local Flavors, a book I picked up a few years ago while Paul and I were still members of one of those "cookbook of the month" clubs. Most of the recipes are fairly simple, but the book really encourages you to get out and explore the flavors and flavor combinations available from really fresh, seasonal food.
One of the recipes that really stuck in my mind was a three-beet salad with goat cheese. I'm not normally a big fan of beets, and I've never made them before, but the salad looked so pretty in the book. When I went to the little farmer's market yesterday, one of the first vendors I saw had three different types/colors of beets for sale, and if you bought three bunches, you got a discount. Of course, I had to try my hand at the salad.
It was so pretty I had to take pictures.
Here's the result, still segregated in to groups by color:
And here's the more Jackson Pollock look that occurs when you actually mix it together:
By the time I got to actually eat it for lunch, nearly everything was deep magenta from the dark beets. It tasted good, but a bit strong (too much vinegar?) and is probably something I'd want to do for a side dish at lunch rather than the feature. It also turns everything it contacts a vibrant shade of purple.
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January 9th, 2008
09:41 pm - Community Supported Agriculture
Paul and I just filled out the application for a small share in this year's production from one of the local farms. We'll get 37 weeks of tasty, fresh produce grown at Fairview Gardens, about seven miles from our house. This is something we've talked about for years, but normally during the summer when it's too late. It'll be fun trying to figure out just what to do with the various items we'll get each week.
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December 29th, 2007
10:14 pm - New lair
Paul and I moved today. We're only about two miles from our old house, but it was still a pain to get everything here. Fortunately, we had friends willing to help. We've still got some of the little stuff at the old house to bring over, but 95% of things are moved now. And the kitties are exploring their new lair. It's all still a bit scary to them, but curiosity is slowly winning. Hopefully by morning they'll have decided this is an acceptable new place.
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December 13th, 2007
01:35 pm - Now, for the moving
It's official, Paul and I just signed the paperwork for a new place to rent. Now, we just need to get everything packed up and moved before January 15th.
I think our official "move the big heavy stuff" day will be Dec 29th, so we'll be in the new house for New Year's. The trick will be keeping the old house from feeling like a warehouse while my family is in town for Christmas.
The house we're moving to was on the market for a while, so the realtor has pictures and a floor plan on his web site. With the house now off the market, I don't know how long these will be available. But, it's going to be a big increase in space from the 1000 sq ft 2 bedroom house we're in now. Unfortunately, we'll be losing our giant backyard and fabulous mountain views. Oh well.
I think the kitties will have lots of fun with the hard floors, especially the little ones with their extremely furry feet. I just hope we're able to add enough rugs so that the whole house doesn't echo all of the time.
Ug. Moving.
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December 2nd, 2007
12:35 pm - moving
Paul and I will be moving between now and February 1st. Don't know where yet, but we found out this morning that our landlord is terminating our lease since she wants to remodel the house and use it as a second home. We're planning to stay in the Santa Barbara area, so we just need to find a place we're happy with. Just what I wanted to deal with right now.
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October 18th, 2007
11:28 pm - spun down
I like traveling, but the last week and a half has been a bit much.
Sunday, October 7 - 15 hours of travel from the west coast to the east coast thanks to delayed / rescheduled flights
Monday, October 8 - Orlando, FL
Tuesday, October 9 - Columbia, MD (DC area)
Wednesday, October 10 - Philadelphia, PA
Thursday, October 11 - San Jose, CA
Friday, October 12 - San Jose, CA (two nights in one hotel room!)
Saturday & Sunday - home in Santa Barbara
Monday, October 15 - a crazy day in the office dealing with a week's worth of backlog then drive to Pasadena
Tuesday, October 16 - Los Angeles area
Wednesday, October 17 - San Diego, CA
The reason I was in all of those cities was to visit customers, so I had to be cheery and a good engineering discussion facilitator every day. That was on very little sleep due to the travel and attempting to keep on top of my normal workload from the hotel room at night.
The trip resulted in good conversations, and I gathered useful data for future product planning. But damn am I tired now.
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August 16th, 2007
11:40 am - Today's air quailty: nasty
What does a dry SoCal winter foreshadow? A memorable fire season!
There's a 120,000+ acre wildfire burning in the wilderness area north of Santa Barbara. The fire isn't threatening any communities, but today the wind is blowing the smoke towards us. That means the sky is brown, it's raining ash, and everything smells a little bit like sulphur.
The former-lighting designer in me continues to be creeped out by the color of the sunlight filtering through the smoke cloud. It's orange. Very orange. Sunlight's not supposed to be that color.
Hopefully the winds will shift soon and we'll get blue sky again.
ETA: Details on the fire available here and here if you're curious.
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July 23rd, 2007
01:52 pm - first harvest
Memorial Day weekend, I planted a small rooftop vegetable garden on the patio over our garage. This weekend I harvested the first veggies of the year: a cookneck squash and a few small radishes. The tomatoes, beans, and chiles all seem to be doing well, and I expect I'll be able to harvest a larger variety of veggies within the next month or so.
Unfortunately I also discovered that the radishes were being devoured by an army of caterpillars. So I pulled up all of the radishes and the few carrots that were sharing the pot. A few of the caterpillars had moved into the neighboring bean pot, so I spent a long time searching the leaves for the little green guys. After destroying about 50 total caterpillars (only 3-4 in the beans), I think I've gotten the upper hand and hope that I can keep the bean plants from being eaten alive.
The hummingbirds also continue to demand that their feeder be kept full of sugary water. I had one hover nearby and chirp at me while I refilled the water. Brave little guy. Next time I'll bring my camera with me and see if they're willing to pose.
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