Sunday, October 31

Over the past summer, my dad had a really big garden that produced no less than several shit tons of produce.  Well eventually you run out of space to store your preserved goods and ways to save them.  So it was at this point, I decided to "sun dry" tomatoes in my oven.  Long story short, I found directions on the internet and my project that was supposed to take 12 hours ended up taking 28.  But some of them turned out ok.  So again this fall I was faced with a large quantity of produce, namely apples this time and again, I was not sure how to preserve them all, so I again turned to the internet and found directions on how to dry them.  It actually turned out pretty well but through both projects I learned one thing, your oven drying only goes as well as the aluminum foil you use.  It's amazing what a difference a little Pam makes on some actual Reynolds wrap.
Anybody want a pile of dried apples?

Friday, October 29th

So this week I started attending school in the evenings at one of the accelerated adult learning schools.  I am taking 2 classes, stats and an English comp class.  Just like every other class I have ever taken, each class has someone very annoying in that you would like to punch.  But here comes the amazing part, in each class, the teacher smacked them down when they threw a temper tantrum.  I have never seen that before.  It was amazing.  In one case, the teacher went so far as to tell the woman that this was an accelerated class and that things were going to move fast and there would be lots of homework. She further suggested if the woman didn't feel she could keep up, she should drop the class and take the semester long version at the local tech school.  It was awesome.

Thursday, October 28th

So i was thinking, often the most popular stories on the news are when they revisit past stories.
Now i certainly don't consider this a news source, but I thought some follow up on previous topics might be appreciated.  Also, as J-HO pointed out, it's best I starting ending each post with some actual "key to living"  ( look at the web address if that statement confuses you)

So today I would like to give you a follow up on Lester.  In case you don't remember, Lester is a blue and pink beta fish I bought back in March.  Much to my surprise, the little guy is still alive.  I say surprise because for a quite a spell there he didn't look so good and often when I woke up in the morning, he would be laying on his side.  Not belly up, but close enough.  One tell I was telling one of my friends about this and he asked how often I was feeding the fish and I told him,  a couple times a day.  Every time I turned on the kitchen light, he would come up to the feeding spot and I thought he wanted to eat.  Turns out I was overfeeding my fish and he was constipated.  WHO KNEW you could constipate a fish????? So now I only feed him every couple days and guess what?? He's back to swimming around no longer laying on his side.

So you might ask yourself what is the lesson here??? Well let me tell you -- the lesson is, should you "accidentally" get a bunch of fish gravel down the drain and it clogs the garbage disposer in your apartment, you're going to want to throw a couple big vegetable pieces down there to disguise it.  :)
 

Thursday, October 14

So as many of you know, in many ways, I've led a fairly sheltered life.  Today was one of those days I got try something new and get out and experience a whole new adventure.  If you've been keeping up, you know now that I am working with a brand new company formed by some people I used to work with. It just so happens they live in colorado and as much as I want to think my home office is the nerve center of it all, colorado is really where the action is.  So after putting it off as long as I could, an airplane ticket in my name was purchased. I spent the two weeks between the purchase and the trip memorizing everything about trip including, but not limited to, the airplane lay out, the airlines website, and the layouts of both airports. Because there was nothing I hate more than looking like an idiot.  So airplane day finally came and after a few rounds of hyperventilating, I made it to the airport several hours early. I got in the plane, got to my awesome seat (1f) and settled in.  Imagine my good fortune that got to sit right by the flight attendant who was the nicest lady ever named ashley.  She talked me through take off, offered an adult beverage which I took of course, and overall made the experience top notch. I am definitely writing frontier a letter about her. She was genuinely nice, not fake.  I wasn't sure what to expect with the take off but it was amazing. The flight left about  7 and it just after sunset so you saw all the city lights and the sunset, it amazing. At one point, we were in the clouds and you could see the sunset glowing. That's something you don't see every day. So as we are flying west, we are flying into the sunset and watching stars come out. Oh and the plane banking isn't even freaking me out anymore.  So long story short, I'm a flyer now.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Tuesday, October 12th

So it's breast cancer awareness month.  I can hardly wait for it to be over and here's why:

I am so very aware of breast cancer because of recent events with my mom.  While many people have their heart in the right place, there are so many pink products out there, it almost like a brand new retail holiday.  It's ridiculous, I was at the grocery store this morning and ruffles were in a special pink bag, there are special pink chip clips etc.  


Sometimes it's just too much.  Some people like to deal with things privately.  Imagine just having been diagnosed with breast cancer and you try to go to the grocery and it's everywhere.  

I think it's time for marketers to try something they are not well known for: Tact.


And why do you have to mail the special pink Yoplait lids in for them to donate the money?  Why can't the just give it and make a note on the pink lids that by buying that carton, people are help donate whatever the amount is?  But no, you have to clean your labels, put them in an envelope, stamp them up and try to find a mail box to send them off in  ( which are getting harder to find by the way).  It's all just a marketing ploy.  It's a bunch of bull shit.

Saturday, October 2

Side View of Bridge

So after the stop for custard, we started working our way south and heading home but not with out a stop in Sturgeon Bay.

Sturgeon Bay is a bigger port than I expected and I was able to get some neat pictures there of some large ships. I also saw where they build Palmer Johnson yachts.

Bridge in Sturgeon Bay in open position.  Currently under repair.

Boats docked in Sturgeon Bay

One of the boats we saw there was the American Courage.  I found some interesting information about it on the internet.  


http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/fleet/amcourage.htm

Overall dimensions
Length	636'00"
Beam	68'00"
Depth	40'00"
Capacity (tons)	23,800
Diesel engine horsepower (2 combined)	7,200

The American Courage

After a stop in the port, we then Visited the Maritime Museum where there were some more cool things to see.  

Maritime Museum

Propeller from John Purves

 After all of this excitement, there was really nothing left to do except to gas up and head home.

And really, it was quite a day for a drive.....
 

Friday, October 1

So after leaving the lighthouse and enjoying a nice snack of chex mix in the car, we headed back to Ephriam on the way to Penisula Park and I got some more neat pictures.

View from above Ephriam

More from Ephriam

Penisula County Park is huge and a lot pretty than I could have imagined.

Pretty

These stupid ladies saw me trying to take the picture and wouldn't move. What a bunch of HO's!

Neat little island by the peninsula and view where we lunched.

Not licked yet

Our next stop was for some custard in Fish Creek at a neat little place.  They had all these chairs set up by the water so you could relax and enjoy your treat.  It had the neatest name.

Next stop... Sturgeon Bay