The mischief I've been up to lately

I think it's about time for an actual "what's happening in my life" post.

This week I was sick with something vague; the only definitive symptom was a temperature. Low but persistent nonetheless. I'm not sure that this would be related to allergies flaring up - I sneezed four times within an hour of getting up this morning. This Wednesday was the first time I missed a church library volunteer session since I started participating earlier this summer. I should have called the church office to let them know I was still alive because I'm sure they were wondering about me, but as I am finding out in many ways - I need to be allowed to ask pardon for anything I did or didn't do this week. I mean, I've really been irrational. Colin seemed a bit worried this morning, but then he sent me this cute picture and told me not to worry.

Last weekend we went to Lansing to Brennan and Sarah's wedding. It was actually a good time, despite being stung by something on Sunday. Six times! On my knee! I was just standing there! It wasn't a wasp but since the baking soda trick made it sting worse, it wasn't a bee? Vinegar did help. Just so you understand my shock a bit better, I've only been stung once in my life. That happened when I sat on a wasp at camp when I was five years old. So my fear of buzzy things is not without a good reason, but I felt like I've been doing better lately. Stupid hornet or yellow jacket or whatever it was.

Oh! I also saw Craig S. at the wedding reception! Few, if any, of you would know him, but I grew up with him since sometime in elementary school, whenever he moved to town. It was a shock for both of us - we recognized each other simultaneously. Sure, we were in Michigan, but Lansing is at least four hours away from our hometown. It turned out his wife grew up with Sarah who I went to college with. Just to give some perspective: I don't often accidentally run into people I went to high school with - there were only 80-some odd people in my graduating class! The only other time I bumped into someone from high school was in Kalamazoo at a bar between K College's and Western's campuses. Lots of people went to Western so it wasn't a big surprise to run into someone I knew in a bar one of the few times I went to one.

Last week I did some more canning - this time I made salsa for the first time! I'd gotten a fair number of free jalapenos and wasn't sure how to use up so many of them so I thought I'd try my hand at making salsa. There's a grocery store nearby with a great variety of international foods, so I picked up a bunch of tomatillos  (which I've never played with before) and followed a USDA-approved recipe for green canning salsa. I like it - not too spicy but still good. The obligatory pictures:

What have I been doing otherwise? Well, my current passion is genealogy once again. I've also started playing the piano more regularly. You might notice that things look a bit cluttered in the photos above. It's funny how things look just fine before you take a picture! Just so you know, the biggest pot was being used to heat the cans so I had to start the salsa in two smaller pots before it cooked down enough to fit safely in one. I won't bore you with the details of my latest genealogical research adventures, not in this post anyway. I'm considering just creating a separate blog for genealogy. While in Lansing, I got my interest piqued because we had some time to kill and I suggested we hang out in the Library of Michigan where I've done research before. I ran around like mad, taking notes and snapping pictures of pages for a couple hours. We were actually a little late for the wedding itself ... whoops!

I'm itching to do some more right now, but I have to do some other things first otherwise they won't get done. There's not many people who need to hold off on doing research and use it as a reward for getting other things done. Luckily, I'm feeling well enough and eager to do some attack cleaning around the house. And I've let my tea get cold ... I never have been good at multi-tasking.

News Roundup 3

I agree with this in so many ways:
"As a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don't want cool as much as we want real."
But at the same time, I have mixed feelings about church in general. Something nice and basic, not fire and brimstone or hyper cool, with the ability to actually participate in what church should be all about - instead of politics, e.g.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111704575355311122648100.html

This is definitely a guy to keep an eye on:

"The fragmented details of Jang Song Taek's career have led North Korea analysts to construct two conflicting narratives: Either Jang can be trusted or he cannot. ...

"no one else has been given more trust: put in a position in which he could serve as a mentor to Kim Jong Eun or attempt to seize power for himself once Kim Jong Il passes from the scene, at a time when North Korea's starving population increasingly doubts whether the Kim way is the best way. ...

"Jang is one of only three North Koreans (including the leader's youngest son and his sister) who can talk to Kim Jong Il directly."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/15/AR2010081503356_2.html?sid=ST2010081503399

Too bad I can't read Korean. Still, translated summaries prove interesting:

"The first message was posted to the account on Aug. 12 and declared (in Korean) "The Web site 'Our Nation' is on Twitter."

"It was followed by three messages pointing to important documents: a 1997 essay written by defacto leader Kim Jong Il on reunification, the North-South Joint Declaration of June 15, 2000, and the declaration issued after the North-South summit of Oct. 4, 2007. Subsequent updates have pointed to recent news articles."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100815/tc_afp/nkoreapoliticsinternettwitteryoutube

Asus tablet with Android? Awesome idea! However, high prices and open source doesn't really compute in my head ... we've already got the Mac version of a tablet, let's move on to something a little more disruptive, such as lower prices.
http://mobile.venturebeat.com/2010/08/13/asus-plans-for-android-tablet-in-march-announces-eee-pad-tablet-pricing/

News Roundup 2

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/business/global/01italy.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

"Is Italy Too Italian?" 

There are supermercados and a few other chains, but Italians stick with non-chain pizza places and cafes. They have different priorities and views. Much like Spaniards, they are clannish and their loyalties are on the regional level instead of the national level.

"While its finances are not as precarious as those of Greece, Portugal or Ireland, because it is far larger — the Italian economy is the seventh largest in the world — its troubles are more frightening." "'Italy’s problem isn’t that we have a lot of debt. It’s that we don’t grow.'”

"Until recently, there weren’t any rules about what “Made in Italy” actually meant, but that will change when a new law goes into effect in October. It states that if at least two stages of production — there are four stages altogether — occur in Italy, a garment is made in Italy."

"Economists said that Mr. Barbera had a point, but they also said that worrying about this issue was like fretting about the head cold of a patient with Stage 3 cancer."

"It is defined, to a large degree, by deep-seated mistrust — not just of the government, but of anyone who isn’t part of the immediate family — as well as a widespread aversion to risk and to growth that to American eyes looks almost quaint."

"Italians, notes Professor Altomonte, are among the world’s heaviest consumers of bottled water. 'Do you know why? Because the water in the tap comes from the government.'"

Health issues abound in recent news:

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/641751.html - comparison of Italian and African kids' diets and their gut bugs.

"The problem is we eat too much cheap, convenient food because it's our lifestyle and that can contribute to allergies," added Marianne Grant, a registered dietitian and health educator at Texas A&M Health Science Center Coastal Bend Health Education Center in Corpus Christi.

With the introduction of antibiotics and vaccines we might have also got asthma and allergies. Whoppee doo.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405602444073276.html

At least this one makes sense - bad food leads to bad cholesterol. What I don't like is that this focus could neglect to realize there are some people with bad cholesterol who lead healthy lives. Many times it is controllable yet sometimes it is not.

Mosque at Ground Zero? 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10846716

"The Muslims are not responsible for 9/11. There have been extremists in all religions. Denying them the ability to build a mosque… would be like London denying the Roman Catholic Church the opportunity to build a church during the years of the IRA bombings."

Unfortunately the issue isn't that simple; the physical presence will not erase feelings. If someone fears them, they will most likely fear them more. If someone understands the difference, they will continue to understand the difference. There probably would be some who take the initiative to research or who will listen to those who try to explain the difference, but unfortunately, I think this is the wrong step to take towards creating more awareness.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/08/03/2010-08-03_six_teens_drown_in_shreveports_red_river_while_trying_to_save_each_other_in_loui.html

A very good idea to learn at least the basics on how to swim. Or how to rescue others even if no one knows how to swim. Sticks or rope, anyone?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-03/tropical-storm-colin-forms-east-of-antilles-on-likely-path-east-of-bahamas.html

I like how this tropical storm has just managed to achieve its status by going 1 mph over tropical depression. Also, its name is Colin. :)

http://www.pcworld.com/article/202439/as_smartphone_growth_skyrockets_which_brand_will_dominate.html?tk=hp_new

Along with the news that iPhones are much easier to jailbreak, I think Android is doing quite well, don't you?

News Roundup 1

Every week I get an email with a summary of news. It's far from dry and boring but it certainly doesn't cover everything and it misses things I would like to know about or that I'd find interesting. So, this is my own round-up. It might not be every week, it might be more than once a week, it might turn out to be monthly. It might not interest you, it might bore you to death, it might be all repetitive. But it's the news that interests me and I'd like to keep a kind of "newspaper clippings" blog that might be fun to browse through again in the future. Plus, I don't read the news anywhere near as much as I feel like I should to be an informed citizen so this is an added incentive. 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-30/russian-farm-crisis-spreads-as-wildfires-kill-five-leave-2-178-homeless.html

Moscow hit 100 degrees F yesterday - for the first time in the 130 years of record-keeping. I'm surprised they're managing to deal with the heat wave at all. While it is sad that there are any death, I'm surprised only 25 have died so far. I have trouble beginning to fathom just how much land has been destroyed with wildfires - 25.5 million acres? Searching for equivalence shows that's almost 11 Yellowstones. Okay, so big. It is the size of developed land in the U.S.A in 1960. A better comparison perhaps, but our developed land has more than doubled since then and I wasn't around in 1960. "The land area of the lower 48 states is approximately 1.9 billion acres. To put things in perspective, keep in mind that California is 103 million acres, Montana 94 million acres, Oregon 60 million acres and Maine 20 million acres." The commonly used yardstick of Rhode Island is tricky, for the exact same reason that measuring coastlines technically lead to infinity. But, like the guy says, the smallest state with no coast line is Vermont, which is 9,249.56 square miles, or 5,919,718.4 acres. Okay so 4 and just under 1/3 Vermonts. Not sure I'm any closer to understanding how big the area is beyond "like, whoa, a lot." A bit more detailed search about land size than I'd intended. Moving on ...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2010-07-30-hailstone-largest_N.htm?csp=34news

Heaviest hailstone recorded in the United States! Okay, maybe not the world's largest or even the nation's largest in circumference ever recorded. And it may have been smaller than it originally was since the farmer kept opening the freezer to show it to people before the official measurement. But it's big and makes me wonder whether how much damage it could have done if it hadn't simply landed on the lawn but, say, a cow or his house.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/202249/amazons_new_kindle_spells_doom_for_other_ereaders.html?tk=hp_blg

As someone who holds a library science degree, I am supportive of embracing new technologies and cheer when I hear people mention their ebook readers have led them to read a lot more than they would have otherwise. As a backpacker, I am fascinated by the idea of how many books you can cram on one of them and thus (hypothetically) freeing up space. But as a reader? Nope, just not interested. So darn expensive, would probably keep the tree versions, would get them from the library if I can, wouldn't want my books "accidentally" deleted, needs to be charged, wouldn't take it backpacking anyway, and sometimes - shock! - I am weary of using electronic devices. However, I keep a tab on ebook readers and this idea of lower prices is definitely of interest to me. I think if they went low enough I would get one to see how it went - they can be handy and I don't think they're going away anytime soon. It's good to keep in touch with what people use that libraries might need to pick up on.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2010/07/north-korea-shames-its-world-cup-losers/1

Six hours of taunting in front of 400 important people?? Improvement because they used to be sent to prison camps if they performed badly? And this is after the government had banned live broadcasting of the games in North Korea because they knew they were going to do badly. And then they decided it wasn't humiliating after all after they lost 2-1 in their second game so they lifted the ban. Good grief. Oh, and I like this part:

"Also, coach Kim Jong-hun reportedly has been relegated to a construction job and expelled from the Workers' Party of Korea. (They make him a blue collar guy, but won't let him be in the Workers' Party? Go figure.)"

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE66T0ST20100730

I really want to get my hands on a translated copy of this book. I would read it with criticism but it's got to be extremely interesting to read. The reason for the confiscation of the biography of Kim Jong-Il? "The embassy officials said it contained false information because it made references to other texts published in North America about Kim, son of North Korea's late founder, Kim Il-sung, the country's "eternal" president."

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/23/world/la-fg-korea-torpedo-20100724

Someone needs to finally figure this out. It doesn't seem like that complicated of a whodunnit, but then you add the words "nuclear bombs" and "world politics" to the picture and it's impossible to solve. 

Did the president make a bad move showing up on "The View?" Well, I'm unfamiliar with the show and I haven't watched the particular episode but I think it's a lot of hullabaloo over what should just be a way for citizens to connect with the president and hear what he has to say. Katie Couric is right to say "it's not beneath him" but I think I agree that instead of reaching out to people who need to hear from him, it might have been a bit more like preaching to the choir. It is true that his rankings have been declining so he might have needed to bolster the spirits of his supporters. Also, it didn't hurt the show any since they were being considered for termination.

Well, that's enough for "News Roundup #1." Let me know if you liked/disliked it.

Why *is* a raven like a writing desk?

I tend to like anything related to Alice in Wonderland. Just have ever since it was my favorite movie to watch when we lived in the trailer (before I was five, so before I could read captions). By following a strange line of "only on the Internet" connections, I have found what is by far my favorite answers.yahoo.com, which happens to be about Lewis Carroll. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100304071140AAuCUY0
Now, I always knew the author never intended for the question to have a real answer, but the part about "nevar" I nevar knew before. I like typing "nevar" so it's fun to have validation from one of my favorite authors. :) I found http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1173/why-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk had a more colorful and explanatory description of the whole hullabaloo over "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

Although Carroll Lewis did eventually provide an answer and I do like "Because there's a B in both and an N in neither," I find it more fascinating that the Mad Hatter asked the question, didn't have a clue what the answer might be, and we're still wondering. It reveals more than it conceals, just not of the expected subject. The connection between ravens and writing desks? No, the nature of the human mind which simply insists that there be a connection.

Mulberries!

First, a couple updates:

1) The new house is wonderful! Of course not perfect, especially the disappointing discovery that the soil in the small gardening area is simply too wet for the plans I had (it was actually completely underwater after an especially drenching rain earlier this week). It's so much quieter; no horns or loud engines. You can hear the train but it is about half a mile away and the whistle seems whimsical to me now. Most of the people in this subdivision have dogs, there's quite a lot of families with children, and we're about 300 feet from a lake. Not much of a beach really, but at least a place to drop a canoe or small sailboat in. It takes just under three minutes to drive to the train station, lakes and trails are abundant, and there's plenty of shopping not too far away in multiple directions (if you know me, you know I mean things like groceries and walmarts, not expensive clothing stores). Strangers smile and greet you, which I didn't realized I'd missed so much. Overall, I feel less stressed, happier (such a generic and boring term but it'll do for now), and life feels like it holds so much more.

2) Ashley and Philip's wedding in Austin, TX went superbly! Of course, I wasn't aware of all the planning and detail hiccups that inevitably cropped up, but the celebrations were a blast. As one of the bridesmaids said afterwards, you know it's a good wedding when the pastor is dancing barefoot to AC/DC. Colin made fast friends with our host, one of Ashley's Austin friends, who is also a computer geek. I really enjoyed seeing so many K College people and swing dancing with Laurel. We managed to take a 4 oz jar of local honey through airport security that was a wedding favor. At the Houston airport while we were waiting for the flight to Milwaukee, Colin noticed they were looking for two people to volunteer their seats. After contacting some work people, we decided to go for it and partway through the planning with the airlines, we realized we could call up my aunt who lives in Houston and see if we could see them or possibly stay with them instead of at a hotel. It all worked out; my cousin picked us up and we got to see their "new" house (they've been living there for 7-10 years). In the morning before heading back to the airport, another cousin brought over her daughter who is less than two years old and the last time we saw her she was about 3 or 4 months old. She had great fun playing a "game" with me of picking out a blueberry in her cereal, looking at my reaction, putting the blueberry back in the bowl, looking at my reaction, picking it out, and so on. That was just before we left; after half an hour or so of being shy and climbing all over her mom, she was warming up to me.

Now onto the main topic:
There is backyard space that is shared with other houses and along the back perimeter are trees blocking the view to the houses nearby not in the subdivision. Colin and I ambled back there and I noticed a tree with berries on it. "Are those mulberries?" I asked. With a little internet searching, I found my suspicions were right and I started forming ideas of making jam or pies. Colin worried about whether or not we were allowed to pick them, but when I emailed our landlord, she said "Why not? Go for it!" So the next day, which happened to be the same day Tom was hanging out, I suggested we go pick them. It was fortunate he, who has some canning experience, was there to help pick out the equipment and know things like wiping off the lips of the jars before putting the lids on them. It took maybe three hours from tree to can and it was quite fun. We filled up 5.5 half-pint jars! Mulberry jam/preserves are delicious; if you've never had any, it's sweet and flavorful and the seeds don't seem to get stuck in your teeth. It does stain your hands really well and the biggest chore is taking the stems off (or more accurately, taking the pulp off the stem). Then about a week later, I checked the tree again and found many more were ripe and ready again. I was afraid the thunderstorms had caused most to fall off but there were plenty for another round of canning with Tom. We filled "only" four jars this time but there are so many berries still on the tree (yes, one tree). Colin suggested I take pictures of the process and post about it.

First, the tree and unripe berries:

I remembered the camera after we were done picking so I took this picture on the way back out:

The berries!

Nobody wants the stems in their jam. Trial and error taught us that the mulberry stem goes almost the whole length of the berry and the easiest way to separate them is to squeeze off the bottom half then the top half of the pulp. The system:

The technique:

The second batch we decided to keep boiling a bit longer since the first, while it tasted great, was kind of runny. We used a very simple recipe: 1 part berries, 1 part sugar, with a recommended canned boiling time of 5 minutes. The second batch actually tastes better - more like berries but still quite sweet but in the jar it doesn't seem to look different. Stirring the pot:

Lifting out the filled jars:

A couple clues to the clean up (the hands are *after* washing them):

Ta da! The end product:

first post from phone

I've found I have the time to drop a quick entry while in range of the internets but without my "real" computer (which brings up the question of whether or not my netbook counts as a real computer but I think it does). So typing out an entry with many typos, hopefully all of which will get caught but no guarantees. I have been pretty busy this hot humid week moving. Yes, apparently my favorite moving weather when I get drenched in sweat (no exaggeration), get sun burns and rashes, bruised, tired, stressed and sore. But all considered, the move is going remarkably well. Everything except furniture should be out of the old place by tomorrow then furniture gets moved Saturday. Also have to go back to Colin's old place's roommate's new place to pick up what he didn't even move into the current place (no room). We also need a new bed but it's not clear if anyone will pick up our old one via freecycle. And Laura and Mom will be in the area by dinnertime tomorrow night since Laura has her flight to Europe for study abroad Saturday evening - barring any volcanic interruptions of course. Yay stress!

Oh I don't think I have mentioned the new phones. For an early birthday present to ourselves we got google nexus ones. As you may or may not know, Colinhad been falling apart physically for sometime now and mine got so no matter how loud I or the other person yelled it was very hard to communicate (this is on top of my usual trouble with phones and the embarrassment of sometimes finding mysef in public shouting into the phone). Overall they are awesome. I have a bit interference woth my hearing aids which should have died like three years ago. Even without currently ha ing a data plan it's still awesome to use, includin for navigation as long as you look up the directions with wifi before hitting the road. I can't even remember well enough how much the new phone has affected my life but it has in so many different ways. For those pf you with good memory, the Peek is not a lost cause; it will be going to Sarah as a graduation present. Perfect for someone starting out in the real world with a teaching job.

Colin and I along with Emily who took the train from Kalamazoo drove overto Iowa last weekend to see Sarah's graduation. it was a nice weekend although quite warm and a little low on sleeping time. During the
Baccalaureate we sat in the second row and I was on the end. in the midle of one of the songs while we were standing, the elderly man dircetly in frpnt of me suddenly sat down. It was a bit odd but it was't until Colin bent over to doubpe check on him was it apparent that something was wrong. The man was not responding very well and people rushed over to help him and call an ambulance. The ceremony continued while the checked on him, laid him on the floor on his side, and then took him out on a stretcher. I kept making sure there was enough room but the whole time I was also focusing on not freaking out. I had been so sure he was dead ... and it hit me really hard since all I could think about was my grandma and how she just fell out of her chair, sitting next to my mom in a doctor's waiting room ... Colin and I left when they cleared out because I was so shoken up.

I didn't mean to end on such a sombre note but I am tired of typing (just can't get the hang of these onscreen keyboards) and there isn't really any other news. Next time I will hopefully be moved into the new plac, probably with everythig still in boxes - but I can't wait for the moving tp be over. Hopefully we'll have all of Monday to just relax together in the AC!