Telling Gets Old

Yields One Gallon

2008-07-24T14:35:00.003-05:00

Andrew and I are preparing for our backpacking trip, which today meant a trip to the store to buy all kinds of food that keeps for 5 days in the backcountry. You need a lot of calories (generally anywhere from 2,500-5,000 per day, although it could be more depending on your weight/height/exertion) when you're hiking all day, but the trade off is that you have to lug all that weight around on your back.

In order to try to combat that, people often pack a lot of dehydrated meals. They are light, since they have little water weight, and you just toss them in a boiling pot of water in the evening at camp.

To that end, I think it would be really great to buy some of this. Just think of how much weight I'd save in my pack:

Here is the description from the vendor's site: Now in a convenient pull-top can! Simply empty the contents of this can into one gallon of water. Stir thoroughly. Chill and serve. Contains No Artificial Flavors, Colors or Preservatives. No Nothing. Especially great for those with dry humor.

Indeed.

Book suggestions

2008-07-18T16:40:00.002-05:00

I am looking for suggestions for a book to take on vacation the week after next. We are going backpacking in Olympic National Park for 4 days, and then we'll be in Seattle a couple days. I want to take a book or two along in case I have time to kill in the airport, if we get stuck in our tent for hours during a downpour, etc.

Requirements:
--Something not too mentally taxing (I don't really want to read John Calvin or James Joyce after a long day of hiking)
--Something available in paperback (less expensive and, more importantly, less weight/room taken up in my backpack!)
--Preferably fiction, but entertaining non-fiction will be considered as well

Ready, set, recommend!

I have a PhD in Horribleness

2008-07-18T09:04:00.004-05:00

If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and go watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, the latest creation of Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly). There are currently two out of three 15-minute installments in the mini-series available on the site, with the final installment going up tomorrow, and they will only be up until Sunday. So watch while you can! You won't regret it.

Recommended for fans of:
-Joss Whedon
-Firefly
-Buffy
-Serenity
-Musicals
-Superheroes/supervillains
-Silliness in general

Softball

2008-07-01T20:48:00.004-05:00

Just a few photos from the softball game tonight. I promised Karen a photo of me with my glove on my knee, so here it is:

Baptism

2008-06-12T10:03:00.003-05:00

I've been slowly making my way through the papers from the PCA General Assembly seminar on the efficacy of the sacraments. They are well worth reading or listening to, which you can do here and here respectively.

So far I've only read Rob Rayburn's paper, and I found this portion very affecting:

Holy Scripture often draws attention to the fact that baptism is a divine act. The officiant may be a mere man, but it is Christ’s act: authorized by him, performed in his name by those appointed to act on his behalf. The emphasis falls on the fact that baptism is what the Lord himself does to and for his people (Gen. 17:10-11; Joshua 5:9; Matt. 28:18). Suppose at one of our churches on a Lord’s Day a baptism is scheduled. Suppose that at this baptism, alone among all the baptisms that have been performed through the Christian ages, this favored congregation was granted to witness the baptism by sight and not by faith. Just as the minister was preparing to begin the ritual, a great tearing sound caused all to look up. The ceiling and the roof of the sanctuary were parted and down through the opening descended the Lord Christ himself. Seraphim hovered above his shoulders. The people of God were on their faces before him, but he told them to rise to their feet and to watch carefully what he was about to do. He took the baby in his arms and pronounced the divine name over the child, he made the promise of his gospel and covenant to that child by name, and by name summoned him to the life of faith and godliness. He spoke a few words to the parents about the sacred stewardship he was entrusting to them and how they would answer to him on the Great Day for that child’s faith and life. Then he poured water on the head of the child, blessed him, handed him back to his parents, and ascended back through the parted roof and with a loud crash the roof came back together and everything was as it had been.

That baptism would become the great memory of that child’s entire life even though he would have no active recollection of it. Scarcely a day would pass without his parents reminding him that the Lord Christ himself had taken him in his arms when he was a baby and had declared that this little boy belonged to him from the headwaters of his life! As he grew up he would lie under the mercy and the specter and the glory of that baptism. His whole life would be colored and shaped by it. When he was bad the memory of it would correct him. When he was discouraged it would comfort and inspire him. Could anyone see such a baptism and not know for a certainty that Christ would be attending to the life of that boy and that his blessing would rest upon him? That is baptism and that is its effect, or should be. But we see through a glass, darkly, not yet face to face.

An Evening in the Life

2008-05-16T15:36:00.003-05:00

For lack of anything more interesting to blog, here is how Andrew and I spent our Thursday evening:

--ate dinner together - tacos, prepared by Andrew, which were waiting for me when I walked in the door from work. That's pretty much the best you can ask for.
--lounged around quizzing each other from a German dictionary - giving each other words in German from various categories, and giving the English definition. Needless to say, Andrew fared much better than I, even when I threw the "advanced" vocab at him. My competetive nature caused me to a) turn sullen when I didn't know the answers and b) resolve to study and learn the whole book.
--listened to a German podcast, wherein Annik Rubens discussed German music, prompting Andrew to go on a search for some good indie German music.
--While he was doing so, I prepared pasta dough and shaped it into (somewhat deformed) orecchiette for the next night's dinner, and then I did the dishes.
--Watched Helvetica, a documentary about the ubiquitous font found everywhere from New York subway signs to album covers to corporate logos.

So there you have it, a glimpse into our exotic and exciting (and not at all nerdy, nope, not us) lifestyle.

Movie quotes meme

2008-04-21T11:14:00.006-05:00

I got this from Lindsey. It's fun! Play along:

1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Right answers/affirmations will be posted in the comments section accordingly.
5. NO using Google or my Facebook profile or any other use of the intranets to CHEAT.

1: "The law is the law, and heck if I'm gonna break it. But if you can forgive someone... Well, that's the tough part. What can we forgive?"

2: "My top schools where I want to apply to are Oxford and the Sorbonne. My safety's Harvard."

3: "Nothing ever possibly in the least ever happens here. Mother, how do you get smallpox?"

4: "Only don't tell me you're innocent. Because it insults my intelligence and makes me very angry"

5: "Hey look, mister - we serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast, and we don't need any characters around to give the joint 'atmosphere.' Is that clear, or do I have to slip you my left for a convincer?"

6: "I wonder what grass tastes like."

7: "Well, I don't think it's very intelligent to keep an electrical gadget on the edge of the tub."

8: "I had a... hankerin' to be an actor when I was a young feller when I got out of the Coast Guard, but I... I went to taxidermy school instead... well, I took a correspondence course."

9: "If only I could meet someone new. I guess my chances of that happening are somewhat diminished, seeing that I'm incapable of making eye contact with a woman I don't know."

10: "I'll have a Pina Colada, not virgin. Wanna see my ID? Totally have it!"

11: "I hope John advises him against it. After all we know nothing about her parents. They could be pirates!"

12: "What ain't no country I ever heard of. They speak English in What?"

13: "All young ladies are accomplished. They sing, they draw, they dance, speak French and German, cover screens and I know not what."

14: "Pete, it's a fool that looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart."

15: "Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects."

Finally!

2008-04-19T07:39:00.003-05:00

I have been trying for literally years to remember what it's called when a picture contains a picture of itself, which contains a picture of itself, and so on, continuing on, theoretically (though not actually), forever.

As always, Wikipedia to the rescue.

My New Favorite Hymn

2008-04-08T21:16:00.003-05:00

I posted this in a comment on a friend's blog, but I thought I'd post it over here as well, in light of recent discussions with various people about suffering, hardship, and wondering what it is God's doing with your life.

We sang this hymn at Zion one of the last weeks before Andrew and I moved. I found it very moving then, and immensely comforting many times since then.

Commit Now All Your Griefs (to the tune of “Crown Him With Many Crowns,” or Diademata if you prefer. You can here a not-so-lovely MIDI file of it here if your memory needs jogging)

Commit now all your griefs and ways into His hands
To His sure Truth and tender care, who earth and heaven commands.
Who points the clouds their course, whom winds and seas obey,
He shall direct your wandering feet, He shall prepare your way.

Give to the winds your fears; hope, and be undismayed;
God hears your sighs, and counts your tears, God shall lift up your head.
Through waves and clouds and storms He gently clears your way;
Wait for His time, so shall this night soon end in joyous day.

Still heavy is your heart? Still sink your spirits down?
Cast off the weight, let fear depart, and every care be gone.
He everywhere has sway, and all things serve His might;
His every act pure blessing is, His path unsullied light.

Far, far above your thought His counsel shall appear,
When fully he the work has wrought that caused your needless fear.
Leave to His sovereign will to choose and to command;
With wonder filled, you then shall own how wise, how strong His hand!

Blingo redaction

2008-04-01T11:08:00.001-05:00

By the way, I am no longer using Blingo, as they committed the unpardonable sin of switching from Google to Yahoo for their search engine. Not even the lure of potential free prizes can induce me to use a Yahoo search engine. Blech.

Food, home, etc.

2008-03-30T19:25:00.003-05:00

Last night's dinner: Spinach & Spaghetti, via Needs More Butter, plus fresh steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and baby carrots. And a glass or three of Cabernet Sauvignon apiece. The spinach & spaghetti dish was easy and quick to make, and pretty healthy. It was a bit overly-cheesy for my tastes, but I tend to be a little less cheese-happy than some, and Andrew had no problem with the cheese level, so it's probably just my personal idiosyncrasy. Our favorite part of the meal was the steamed veggies, though. We had them almost every night last summer/fall, got tired of them, and subsequently haven't really had them much for the past couple months. Eating them after the absence was sooo delicious.

I don't mean for this to turn into a cooking blog, but I am loving cooking (and baking - currently there is a loaf of banana bread in the oven, made with love for my ban. bread-loving husband) more and more these days, and it's easier to write about food than about other things when I'm feeling uninspired. Speaking of food, we had an extremely lovely Easter celebration with two friends of ours here in South Bend, John and Anna (he's in Andrew's class; she's finishing her Master's - both in Medieval history), at their apartment. The company was great, and the food was exquisite and delicious. Our menu consisted of:

-tangerine-glazed ham
-caramelized fennel and pancetta salad with mixed greens
-lemon garlic asparagus
-Easter pigeons (slightly sweet bread rolls made in the shape of a bird)
-potatoes au gratin
-hard-boiled eggs (in cute baskets, with our names written on them in white crayon and then dyed - awesome idea for place cards!)
-peach bellinis
-hazelnut brown butter cake with chocolate ganache
-coffee/tea/fresh raspberries

It was pretty much the most delicious Easter feast I've ever had.

In other news, Andrew is plowing through the semester, doing great. I'm working, mostly enjoying it. We're visiting a new church that we really like. We are moving to a new apartment at the end of May - a fantastic, huge historic building near downtown. It's beautiful - all hardwood floors, 1000 sq. feet, a sun porch, original tile floor in the bathroom - we can't wait to move in. I, in particular, have been spending much of my time daydreaming about decorating, perusing Apartment Therapy, and wishing I had subscriptions to Real Simple and Domino for more inspiration. Also, our new apartment has an extra bedroom, so we can accommodate guests! Come one, come all.

Chicken Tikka Masala

2008-03-17T22:03:00.003-05:00

Andrew and I both really love Indian food, and this summer we made chicken curry probably about once a week, until we got kind of burnt out on it. Actually, I can date my burnout to a specific instance, wherein we somewhat ill-advisedly pureed the onions in the food processor to make a smoother curry. It was smoother, but it also tasted almost entirely like wet, mushy onion. That kind of put me off that particular recipe for awhile. I've since been able to eat it again, but I've never quite thought it was perfect.

Then last week I found this recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala, a kind of chicken curry. I made it tonight, and it was good. It was really, really good. I told Andrew I have a new favorite curry recipe, and I think it's even easier than the old one, which is an extra bonus. Steam some basmati, add some naan and you've got an Indian meal as good as any Indian restaurant I've eaten at.

Yum.

Conversations from this weekend

2008-02-17T13:36:00.002-06:00

Conversation #1
Me, apropos of nothing: What are you going to do about it?
Andrew: I don't know. What do you think I should do about it?
Me: ....about what?
Andrew: You asked me.
Me: Yeah, I thought you might know.

Conversation #2
Scene: Junior Parents' Weekend dinner, a large event for about 3600 people that my work caters. We hire many college and high school students to work as servers and to do food prep. When our conversation occurs, I am standing near one of the entrances, waiting to greet people as they enter. Up walk 3 random server guys.

Guy 1: What's this thing for, anyway?
Me: It's a dinner for juniors and their parents.
Guy 1: Oh...actually, we just came over here because my friend wanted to smell you.
Me: ....Oh.

The 3 guys all walk away. I am left flummoxed.

Other foods...

2008-02-15T10:23:00.002-06:00

Other food I have made and haven't made time to blog about:
Turkey tetrazinni - I've actually made this twice in the past several weeks, because Andrew and I liked it so much. I used the leftover turkey I'd frozen from the turkey we made in January. It's very delicious, and not too difficult to make. My only tip is to use heavy cream - I used half & half instead the second time, and the sauce stayed a little over-liquidy.

Dulce de leche cheesecake squares - Oh my word, so yummy. My coworker told me that you can sometimes find dulce de leche premade in jars in the ethnic section of grocery stores, but I couldn't find any, so I went with the "stir the sweetened condensed milk for an eternity in a double boiler" method. Worked fine, just a little laborious. But seriously, go look at the photos. They are as delicious as they look. Mmm.

Pita bread - I like flatbread, and I don't really like the grocery store bagged kind - it's always too dry and dense. The pitas turned out pretty well - they were nice and soft - but not all of them puffed sufficiently, so they wouldn't have all been good candidates for stuffing. But we made some of them into pita pizzas a few days later, which were delicious. Speaking of flatbread, anyone have a good naan recipe? Or recommend the frozen kind in the grocery store?

Places I Spent the Night, 2007

2008-02-03T15:29:00.001-06:00

Lincoln, NE
Kansas City, MO
Göttingen, DE
Berlin, DE
Basel, CH
Riomaggiore, IT
Florence, IT -to- Vienna, AT (overnight train)
Vienna, AT
Salzburg, AT
Estes Park, CO
Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
North Platte, NE
Chicago, IL
South Bend, IN

Salmon avocado salad

2008-01-27T17:50:00.001-06:00

Salmon avocado salad
Originally uploaded by abethanymind.

The next in the new recipes was inspired by the Salmon & Avocado Salad at Lazlo's in Lincoln. Andrew has ordered this salad the last several times he's eaten there (including for his lunch on our wedding day - trivia fact!), and, being the fantastic and loving wife that I am, I thought I'd see if I could replicate it.

It was pretty straight-forward: mixed greens, red onion, tomato, cucumber, avocado, salmon (which Andrew prepared), and a creamy dill-avocado dressing that I made from this recipe.

Upon the first few bites, Andrew declared that it was even better than Lazlo's' (how do you apostrophize an already apostrophized word?), but we both agreed that after awhile, it got to be a bit too much of the same flavor, and it would work best as a side salad with some other element to the meal as well. But it was a very yummy, very easy, and very healthy dinner.

Library of Congress on Flickr

2008-01-22T08:22:00.000-06:00

The Library of Congress has released hundreds of photos with no known copyrights on a flickr page for people to peruse, tag, and comment on as they wish. In their FAQ they say they neither "grant nor deny" the rights to use the photos, but that there aren't any known copyrights, so basically - go for it.

I could waste a lot of time today flicking through these photos. Check out this one of the Haymarket in Lincoln in the '40's.

Week of New Recipes

2008-01-21T18:13:00.000-06:00

For whatever random reason, when planning this week's dinner menu, I decided to include an unusually high number of new recipes. I thought I'd blog about them, and then you can make them at home along with us. (See how much fun? Interactive!)

Saturday I started with Rachel Ray's "You Won't Be Single For Long Vodka Cream Penne." The name is cheesy, but the pasta is not. (And that joke was.) Andrew and I both really enjoyed the pasta, and it was fairly quick and easy to make. It didn't taste all that much different/better than our standard homemade pasta sauce, though, and our stuff doesn't half a 1/2 cup of heavy cream in it, so it probably won't be supplanting our standard pasta sauce. It was very yummy, though, and definitely worth making. Andrew suggested that it would be good with shrimp (but he does suggest that about most dishes, so...).

The true revelation for me with this dish was the basil. I am normally not one for fresh herbs, simply because I don't have a garden, and it seems like a pain to pay $3 for something that I have the dried version of in my cupboard. Since I was going to the work of making the new recipe, though, I figured I'd do it up right and bought some fresh basil. And oh. my. word. It was heavenly. As I was chopping it, Andrew walked through the kitchen area and asked what smelled so good. It was the basil. If I've learned anything from this experience, it's to use fresh herbs as often as possible. Future goal: herb garden.

Also on Saturday, I needed to make a dessert to take to some friends' house for an evening of games (Settlers of Catan and Wii Sports, natürlich). I knew they were making some homemade ice cream, but I didn't know what kind, so I needed a dessert that would go well with whatever flavor they decided. Chocolate was the clear victor in this situation. I decided to get exotic and made Chocolate Stout Cake, which calls for a cup of stout (I used Guinness). I love Ivanna Cone's dark chocolate stout ice cream, which has a definite Guinness undertone, but this cake's stout flavor is not nearly so pronounced. In fact, neither Andrew nor I could really detect it.

While not being that stout-y flavor I was anticipating, it was the most moist, delectable chocolate cake I've had in ages. Seriously, people, it was good. One of our friends declared it her new favorite cake on the spot after eating a couple bites. And it paired perfectly with the (also incredibly-delicious) Amaretto ice cream they made.

(This photo is dedicated to the fine people of Needs More Butter. Yes, those are two sticks of butter melting in a cup of Guinness.)

Two movies

2007-12-01T17:15:00.000-06:00

Last night Andrew and I rented Waitress, a movie directed by Adrienne Shelley (who also acts in the movie) which just came out on DVD this week. I'd heard good things about it from people who'd seen it, and from reviews, so I had fairly high (but not astronomical) expectations. The movie was somewhat charming and had quite a few very funny moments, and overall we enjoyed watching it, but I'd have to say it was a disappointment to me. (If you haven't seen Waitress yet and want to remain unspoiled, stop reading here.)

I think my main problem was that I never felt much empathy for the relationship between main character of Jenna (played by Keri Russell) and Dr. Palmeter (Nathan Fillion), both of whom are married to other people. Yes, Jenna's husband is rather terrible - even abusive. She's still married to him. Not to mention that we're supposed to regard Dr. Palmeter as the husband's antithesis - sensitive, caring, nervous, sweet - and root for him to rescue Jenna out of her terrible circumstances; yet we are supposed to overlook the fact that he lacks Jenna's "excuse" for having an affair - he's married to a cute, sweet, adoring wife, which makes him all the more a scumbag for getting involved with Jenna. Not to mention the ickiness of a doctor exploiting a vulnerable female patient in very trying circumstances.

At one point in the movie, Jenna actually hits it on the nose. She discovers that a fellow waitress is having an affair with the owner of the diner where they work (both the waitress and the owner are married to other people), and she admonishes her friend. When her friend justifies it by saying that her husband is an invalid, and the diner guy says his wife is mean, Jenna replies that they know the wife, and she isn't mean; in fact, she's quite nice. Jenna would do well to take her own (hypocritical) advice; instead, she later apologizes to her friend, and the audience is left with the impression that it's ok to fool around a little because it's exciting and fun and sometimes spouses are mean or boring.

Yes, ultimately Jenna ends her affair with the doctor, but by that time the damage was done and I no longer really cared about her or the doctor. I commented to Andrew that the only really good guy in the movie is Ogie, the Mr. Collins-esque suitor of one of the other waitresses at the diner. (Also Joe, played by Andy Griffith. Though he is rather a bastard to people, he ends up being very sweet to Jenna all the time, and being basically the only person in the movie to call her on her b.s.)

Contrast Waitress with another new film, Once (coming out on DVD Dec. 18th - rent it or buy it! - and if you haven't seen it, again let me warn you, major spoilers follow). This movie, while very different from Waitress, is also about two lonely people who meet each other, have a special chemistry, and desire to be together. The girl is married (though separated) and the guy has been left broken-hearted by a break up with an ex-girlfriend. Unlike Jenna and Dr. Palmeter, however, despite their desire, the guy and girl never so much as kiss one another, realizing that it would be a mistake to become physically involved. Ultimately they leave each other to reconcile with their estranged significant others. The movie is much, much better as it is than if they had given in and slept with each other.

Maybe it's just because I'm married now that movies where people commit adultery - and we're supposed to root for them to do so - bother me so much. A few years ago I doubt that it would have phased me (I remember some married friends of mine saying that they didn't like Lost in Translation because they felt like the characters were essentially cheating on their spouses together. At the time I thought that was a little bit silly; I'd be interested in watching it again now and seeing what my impression is.)

Waitress and Once are both worth watching, but I found Once to be a much better film, and a much better portrayal of two people who feel drawn to one another despite knowing that it ultimately cannot be.

We're thankful for Trebek

2007-11-24T19:14:00.000-06:00

So Andrew and I were watching Jeopardy the other night (as we do on a perhaps pathetically-regular basis), and the final jeopardy answer was this, in the category 19th-Century Authors:
In 1833 a French historian said that this author had built "a cathedral as solid as the foundations of the other (one)"

After not much pondering, Andrew and I both quickly came up with Victor Hugo, which seemed like the obvious answer to us - how many French 19th-century authors wrote about famous cathedrals? Our suspicions that it was a pretty easy question for Final Jeopardy were confirmed when the first two contestants also quickly and correctly furbished "Who is Victor Hugo?" as their answer (or question, as it were). We figured the last guy, who was several thousand dollars ahead at this point, would come up with Hugo, too, but instead he wrote, "Who is Dumas." As he stood there looking confused with the word DUMAS emblazoned on the screen below him, one of us made a remark along the lines of, "No kidding," which sent us both into such a fit of laughter that we ended up crying.

Maybe you had to be there.

In other (less nerdy) news, we spent Thanksgiving in Chicago with my Uncle Duane, Aunt Debby and cousin Caleb. We had a delicious meal and Debby's sister's house, played a fierce game of Risk (which had to be ended when it went too late into the night - Debby was poised to take over the world, but Duane still insists he was about to make a run across the board and win), endured the crazy crowds at the mall on Friday, ate yummy Indian food, and played lots of Bob the Builder games with Caleb, who is just about the cutest thing on two legs.You try to keep from melting when that little face looks up at you and says, "Beshany, Beshany: love you, Beshany!" It just can't be done. He's irresistible.

(apologies for the repeat photo, but somehow we didn't take any new ones this weekend. And it's just a stinkin' cute photo anyway.)

Confusing

2007-10-13T16:53:00.000-05:00

Seen today at the mall: four young Amish people going into Abercrombie & Fitch.

A Day at the Beach

2007-10-07T11:54:00.000-05:00

We love Apple!

2007-10-03T12:54:00.001-05:00

Or: Thank you, Steve Jobs.

Read all about the excitement here, on Andrew's blog.

Blingo Blango

2007-09-30T13:27:00.000-05:00

So have you heard of Blingo? It's a google-powered search engine, so you get the exact same results from searching on Blingo as you would from searching on Google, except that they randomly award prizes every day to people who search through their site. It sounds like one of those many sites that say you can win something, but only after you spend a bunch of money to complete other "offers," but it's actually legit - they don't spam you, you don't pay anything. You're doing the same searches you would be doing anyway on Google, but you have an added chance of winning money, iPods, gift certificates, gaming systems, etc. I haven't won anything yet, but I've only been using it a few days. You can find lots of photos on flickr of people's prizes that they've won from Blingo.

I wouldn't promote this here if I didn't genuinely think it was cool, so feel free to register or disregard as you see fit. If you do sign up, though, do so through this link, and then if you win a prize, I will too!

Ow

2007-09-27T20:29:00.001-05:00

ow
Originally uploaded by abethanymind.

So, yesterday morning, me+bike+high speed+rain+freakishly tall rail road tracks at a weird angle = I totally bit it. Fortunately, it wasn't too bad of a fall, and I was wearing a helmet (though my head didn't hit the ground at all, but you should always wear a helmet!). Unfortunately, I was en route to my first day at a new job on campus, in the HR department. The chain came off my bike, and after a few half-hearted and unsuccessful attempts to get it back in place (using only my fingertips, since my palms were full of open wounds), I ended up walking my bike the rest of the way to work, walking in late, and proferring my handful of blood and gravel by way of an explanation.
There just so happened to be health screenings taking place in the buiding this week, so a nurse came into the bathroom where I was attempting to clean myself up, and gave my wounds a look, helped me disinfect them a little, and even applied band aids to my knee. This did little to lessen my feeling like a little kid who fell off the monkey bars at recess. So much for making a good first impression.

My husband was really wonderful, taking care of me. He picked me up from work and brought me home so I could change and bandage my wounds a little more thoroughly, fixed my bike, biked home with me after work, made dinner, washed and dried the dishes, and made me a gin & tonic and watched an episode of Firefly with me. What a guy.

(Speaking of Andrew, he says that this photo is more impressive if you pretend it's of my neck, and not the palm of my hand.)