Off to LA

I had a great visit with my parents this weekend. Much fun was had. Now I'm off to LA for a one day trip to E3. More later when I've had a chance to slow down.

Home

Boston was lots of fun, but it is good to be home. I was greeted with blue skies and 72 degree weather. I went in to work yesterday, but I was so tired, that I touched base with everyone I needed to and went home. Of course, there is no food in the house so I treated myself to a hawaiian pizza. Third time ordering from this restaurant, third time the delivery person could not find my front door. This time I asked the delivery guy what I needed to say to get them to find me. Worth it, though. Good pizza.

On my way

I spent the weekend packing and cleaning. I think I'm ready to go. I've got a bunch of work to wrap up and a short list of last minute things to finish at home. Then look out MA, here I come.

Perfect teeth

I got a clean bill of health from the dentist. They were very impressed with my teeth, exclaiming over them several times. I got a similar reaction at my last dentist. If only I could find a guy who was into teeth and could overlook everything else.

Peeps losing

Shoot - We were robbed. Not from winning (We like the first place winner). But they only picked 18 to show in the slide show and ours should definitely been included.

Here's the sad news in print.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/living/14336520.htm

Spring

Spring sprang in the Twin Cities this weekend. Trees that were aching to put forth buds on Thursday had burst into glorious color by Sunday. Everything smells green and growing and sweet. Beautiful.

I spent most of my first free weekend in a month, lying around and watching the curtains billow. There was some cat snuggling, too, which got me back in T's good graces (she's not a fan of the weekend away.)

Time to pull everything together for the next big trip. AAM (and Boston) here I come.

Taxes are done

After working my third weekend in a row, I took yesterday off and did my taxes. Not getting much back, though. At least I'm not paying anything. The whole process felt weird, since I was in Philly for the 1st two weeks and MN for the rest. So I wasn't a full time MN res. Oh well.

And the winner is...

I almost forgot to mention my other cool job this week. I was a State Science Fair Judge. More specifically, I was a Special Judge for an award the museum presented for best exhibit design. I was co-judge for the junior division (middle school). It was buckets of fun. There were some really good projects and some clever ones. There were also some that were obviously thought up as a good way to get to shoot things (gunpowder ratios), watch movies (effects of movies on dreams), or have a slumber party (effects of sleep deprivation on 12 year old girls). Boy did it take me back to my salad days of last minute scrambles to complete my project. Our winner was a young man who was in his third year of studying toothbrush bacteria. This year he focused on the best place to store your toothbrush (in a cup by itself, by the way). His design was simple and clear and you understood everything in just a quick glance. He's got a future in museums, if he's interested.

Kayaking on the M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-Peep-Peep-I

So here's the Peeps diorama photo we submitted. We should hear back next week.

whew

This round of prototype testing is over. It went really well and we scared a lot of people. The busy push continues this week as we narrow down our component list and then meet with the outside designer this weekend. Then I get to collapse for a couple of days.

Countdown to Boston has begun!

so tired

Our first round of prototype testing is complete. We worked long and hard Thursday through Sunday. Today we review what needs to be changed before next weekend. Then I'm going to take a couple of days off before we do it all over again.

The Universe...

...is very big...and very small. And we don't really know how big or small it really is yet.

Omnifest is coming up and the staff preview of "Cosmic Voyage" was last night. That was the main idea. Cool, though.

Tonight is "Mystic India". I expect to go home craving tikka and panner.

I'm a "somebody"

Our bus accident made it into the paper. There's even a picture in the print version. Here's a link to the online article. I'm the "someone" who got the kitty litter.

Passengers pitch in, but the bus stays stuck
Pushing, shoveling, even kitty litter couldn't free Metro Transit bus
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/14091964.htm

Blizzard!

(and the march of the exclamation points continues)

After the warm front that melted all the snow, winter came back with a bang. All this happened over night. When I went to bed at 11pm it was raining with a light dusting of snow. This morning, I caught a glimpse of snow out my curtains so I went with the tall snow boots (just because I like them better - I had no idea how bad it was). As I left my apartment, I noticed blowing snow out the window, but I just thought it was blowing off the roof.

I was wrong. Very, very wrong. There was at least 6 inches on the ground when I got outside and it is still pouring down. You can't breath in without taking in some snow. Then there was the bus adventure. It was great to see how everyone pulled together to try to work the bus free when it got stuck. Sadly, things just got worse so I gave up on that bus and decided to walk. That resolution lasted exactly two blocks. Trudging through fresh snow during a blizzard is not fun. So I holed up with some other bus refugees in an entryway and waited an hour for the next bus to come. Now I'm at work...because a little snow doesn't stop a Minnesotan.

Adventure at every turn.

!

Since I seem to be temporarily obsessed with the exclamation point, I've decided to let this one stand alone.

As promised - peeps diorama planning, in process. That's Sara on the left and Renee on the right. Cari is at home, but will join us in the next phase.

Peeps!

Today I purchased $20 worth of assorted Peeps (but I only paid half that. I had a coupon.) This was in preparation for the Pioneer Press Peeps Diorama contents. Rule #1: Must contain Peeps. Rule #2: Must be a diorama.

Sara, Renee, Cari and I are working together on this one. I'm planning to document the process in photos. Tonight we debate the Theme.

Soup!

I made cilantro lime soup last night. Yum. And the apartment smelled so good. Now I need to pack it for storage before I manage to eat all of it.

Optometrist appointment today. They are going to dilate my eyes, so the walk home should be fun.

Nothing new

Worked late last night. Went home and heated up leftovers. Did not make soup. Went to bed. Would have been earlier, but the damn Colbert Report is funny. Daily Show is new again tonight. These are the kinds of things I look forward to.

planning ahead

I spent the weekend mostly cooking and cleaning. I made two loaves of banana bread. One will be breakfast this week and the other one I froze for later. Plus I made some sort of pot roast. I threw a bunch of stuff in the crock pot and took it out in the evening. I brought some in for today's lunch and we'll see how it tastes then. I'm trying to make sure to make extras of things to freeze, and sometimes I do. But its usually followed by a period of not wanting to cook and eating all my stores. Better than the reverse, I suppose. Tonight I'm making a pot of cilantro lime soup that is also destined for the freezer. After that I'm down to the dregs and I need to go shopping again.

I heart the 80's

Twice today I've been mocked for using the words "Totally" and "Awesome" (but not together, though, it's not that bad). Then I got caught chair dancing. It's totally time to leave. Luckily, today will end with beers. Ah....foamy.