Merri Su and Brian's Blog

It's Been a While...

2009-05-27T15:24:00.001-07:00

We last posted in January. It's now almost June. (When did that happen? Did I blink too much? How is it already past Memorial Day?) Clearly we haven't been diligent and timely in updating our blog. Ah well. No time like the present, right?

Since I love lists almost as much as I love B, here's a list of some of the things we've been up to since January 11, in no particular order:

SXSW (B)
2 half-marathons and 2 triathlons (MS)
Learning better cycling technique, sometimes the hard way (MS)
Working hard (MS&B)
Avoiding housework and yardwork as much as possible (MS&B)
Birthday parties for the very young and the not-so-young (MS&B)
Daydreaming about vacation plans (MS&B)
Watching too much Bravo (MS)
Watching hockey (B) (too much? I suppose it depends on who you ask)
Dealing with plumbing problems (MS&B)
Discovering mushrooms = unhappy tummy (MS)
Movies at the Drafthouse (MS&B)
Cooking dinner at home (MS&B - how lucky am I to have such a helpful hubs?)
Mattress shopping (MS&B)
Cleaning the litter box. Three cats = plentiful poop. (B - again, I'm very lucky)
Girls weekend in DC (MS, of course)
Laundry (MS&B - again, lucky me)
Helping friends move (MS&B)
Enjoying mostly pleasant and not-too-hot-yet weather (MS&B)
Forgetting to blog (MS&B)
Practicing the art of procrastination (MS, but probably also B)
Avenue Q (MS&B)
Vacuuming (MS&B - lucky again)
Watching Itzhak Perlman perform live (MS)
Looking forward to seeing Wait Wait Don't Tell Me live (MS&B)
Shoe shopping (mostly MS, B maybe once)
Missing our friends and family and not calling enough (MS&B)

So there you have it, just a few of the things we've been occupying our time with around here. It seems like we've been super-busy (which, if you know us at all, is not unusual), but now the list looks rather meager. Maybe we ought to blog more often; I might remember more of the things we do!

Boredom Leads To Creativity

2009-01-11T17:22:00.000-08:00

Merri Su and I joined our neighborhood association a few months after moving into our home. That was a very bad idea. It's not worth getting into. However, I must tell you that despite hating these meetings, I'm scared to miss them.

We attended the annual elections today. The nomination process was uneventful and boring. Not a single person questioned or challenged the suggested nominees from the current leadership. If someone did, they would have have been vilified by the vocal minority and likely asked to leave for not properly wording their motion in accordance to Robert's Rules of Order. OK, maybe that wouldn't happen, but it wouldn't have surprised me.

The nomination process did not lead to any voting since no one was willing to challenge the selections of the nomination committee. It was really boring. Instead of paying attention, I made these doodles.

This is Mr. Stephan Van Fatpants of the Connecticut Van Fatpants and his dog, Whiskers Van Fatpants.
This drawing, from Merri Su, is Mrs. Shinyhead No-Body. She is often mistaken for the sun, but that's just ridiculous.
This is Mr. Allister Catfancy, Esquire. He is the lawyer for Mr. Van Fatpants. Don't mess with him. You have been warned.
Finally, I give you Fishy "The Fish" Chang. I didn't want to name him, to be honest, but Merri Su was also bored and demanded a name.

New Driver's License

2009-01-09T15:49:00.000-08:00

Note: We still owe you two Holidailies posts. This is one.

After a year and a half of marriage, I finally got around to changing my name. It wasn't because I was unsure about changing it, it was because I'm a bit of a procrastinator. Or maybe a lot of one. Anyway, I started the official name-change process just before Christmas. I went to get my new driver's license just before New Year's, and it just arrived in the mail today. Yay!

The next time you see me, you should ask to see the photo. My hair is HUGE! I knew it was a bad hair day going in, but it was the only time I could find to make it to the DPS office. At least the texture of the bad hair day is undetectable due to the black hair, but the SIZE of it! Geez! My head is three times as wide as my face due to the gigantic hair!

One good thing about the photo is that while I look a bit older than my last driver's license photo (I think that one was about 5 or 6 years ago), I look significantly thinner (and it's not just the size of my hair that does it!). It is a nice reminder of my weight-loss/health-gain accomplishment. It's especially good now, as I recover from the holiday excess of food and lack of exercise and get back into my healthy habits and routines. Now I'm off to get ready for tomorrow morning's 10-mile run!

How to Forget to Post on the Next-to-Last Day of a Blogging Challenge

2009-01-06T20:02:00.000-08:00

Note: Today is the last day of Holidailies, but we've now missed two days of posting, so we'll keep going through Thursday instead.

Sometimes you might like to completely forget to post on your blog. If you find yourself in this situation, complete the following steps to expedite your forgetfulness:

Forget to pick up your dry cleaning on your way home from work so you have to turn around and leave as soon as you get home to make it to the dry cleaners store before they close.
Spend about an hour making dinner and cleaning up the kitchen.
Enjoy a nice, tasty dinner with your husband.
Unpack your new Wii Fit while your darling husband does the dishes.
Begin to set up your new Wii Fit account. Caution: The Wii Fit balance board weighs you. Prepare yourself for a change in the shape of your Mii based on the data the balance board collects. You might not like it. You might make faces. Ignore your puffy new Mii as best you can and continue with step 6.
Play lots of balance games and an aerobics game or two on the Wii Fit. Lose to your husband.
Fall asleep on the couch while your husband plays Tetris with Wii Fit the balance board.

New Year's Recipes

2009-01-04T15:34:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are the "recipes" (aka improvisations) I used for New Year's Day dinner, turnip greens and black-eyed peas. Actually, this is less for our faithful readers than it is for me, so I know where to find the recipes next year when I make them again. I still don't know where my original recipes and notes are.

Turnip Greens
Ingredients:

6 bunches of turnip greens
one box of vegetable broth
3(ish) Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
one onion, diced
6(ish) cloves of garlic, minced
3(ish) handfuls of various dried mushrooms (whatever's available should work)
1(ish) Tbsp ground cumin
1(ish) Tbsp garlic powder
1/2(ish) Tbsp onion powder or dried minced onion
salt and pepper to taste

Stem, rip up, and wash turnip greens.

Saute the diced onion and minced garlic in olive oil. Add turnip greens in handfuls to fill the stock pot. Add vegetable broth when it starts to look to dry in the pot.

As the greens cook down, add more handfuls until all are in the pot. Add mushrooms and seasonings and stir to make sure everything is submerged.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 4 or 5 hours. Serve hot.

Slow-Cooker Black-Eyed Peas
Ingredients:

2 pounds of dried black-eyed peas
3(ish) Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
one box of vegetable broth
3(ish) handfuls of dried mushrooms (use same as in the greens)
one onion, diced
6(ish) cloves of garlic, minced
one 28-oz can of diced roasted tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1(ish) Tbsp ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Soak peas according to package directions (I used the quick-soak method). Add all ingredients into large oval slow cooker, cover, and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve hot.

Cornbread
Prepare cornbread according to Alton Brown's "Cornbread No Chaser" recipe in I'm Just Here for More Food. (This one is a very traditional Southern cornbread.) And/or the "Crunchy Munchy Corn and Millet Bread" recipe in the January '09 issue of Eating Well magazine. (This a yeast bread and more chewy and bread-y than Alton's. It also takes 2 days to make.) Serve both with butter. Yum!

You might want to prepare another main dish, like chili, for folks who aren't into black-eyed peas and turnip greens (who perhaps you might be married to).

Possum-Breath Chili (modified)
An R. Wilson Original
Ingredients:

1 pound of ground turkey breast
10 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can no salt added tomato sauce
6 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper
3 Tbsp tabasco sauce
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp ground cumin
2 bay leaves
1 oz grated bitter chocolate
1 1/2 to 2 tsp salt (to taste)
1 can of diced roasted tomatoes + water sufficient to equal 1 quart
1 Tbsp cocktail bitters
1 c. brewed decaf coffee
1/2 c. masa cornmeal
crushed pepper and garlic powder to taste

Brown meat and drain. Dump everything but cornmeal into a large Dutch oven or crock pot. Heat just to boil. Immediately cut heat, cover, and simmer for 6-8 hours. Begin tasting at 4 hours and add whatever needs adding. Stir in cornmeal. Simmer uncovered for an additional 30 minutes, stirring on occasion. Serve hot. Can be made ahead (preferable if you're making all of the above as well) and reheated on the day of serving.

If you try any of these at home, let us know how you like them!

P.S. Everything went over very well with our dinner guests, and several took leftovers home to enjoy later.

Falling Behind!

2009-01-03T22:02:00.000-08:00

Here we are so close to the end of Holidailies, which runs through January 6, and we're falling behind! We owe our faithful reader(s) a post from yesterday AND today. Yikes! We're definitely going to follow through and finish strong, we might just bend the rules a little bit and post the requisite number of posts, just not on every day of the project.

As I've mentioned before, I'm training for a half-marathon, so this morning I ran 13 miles (nearly the distance of the race). It was a bit miserable weatherwise (it was so hot and humid (76 degrees on January 3!) and cedar season has started, which means I have itchy eyes and ears and plenty of sneezes). It was a pretty good run, though, and I saw plenty of interesting things on the run. The most notable thing was a pair of chickens in an urban, residential neighborhood, just strolling along the side of the road. There was a reddish brown hen and a pretty black rooster with a glorious fan of tail feathers. Strange and weird and yet not completely out of place for this great town we live in.There were also a lot of people out running, some obviously training for the marathon, others out for walks or jogs or bike rides, enjoying the spring-like weather.

In these final few days of Holidailies, you can look forward to posts that include New Year's recipes and photos as well as a meaty restaurant review. And whatever else we can think of.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T21:00:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! That's us at the beginning of last night's party, all dressed up and fancy-looking (not as much as the college girls sitting behind us, though). I'm totally pooped from cooking and getting ready for our dinner party. Don't worry, it's a good tired, from spending time with friends, feeding them good food, and celebrating the start of a brand new year together.

That's not everyone, but that's the best shot of the house full of friends, food, fun, and laughter that I got. I'll post more about the food I made later. For now, I want to wish everyone a happy new year and say that I agree with Brian about posting more here in 2009 (I'm glad we signed up for Holidailies!).

Suck it, 2008!

2008-12-31T23:35:00.001-08:00

We attended the New Year's Eve party at the Alamo Drafthouse this year. The party was hosted by our friend Henri. That's him in the picture above.

We will likely post many more pictures from the party at a later date. For now, I just want to focus on the new year.

What sucked most in 2008...
Michigan football

What I look forward to most in 2009...
Michigan football (not actually the thing I look forwad to most, but the number one thing would be so awesome that I don't want to jinx it)

What disappointed me in 2008...
I'm so fat that many of my shirts don't fit anymore.

What I want to change in 2009...
I want to throw out all my shirts and replace them with ones that fit. (Did you think for a second that I would make a resolution to lose weight in 2009? You obviously don't know me. It would be awesome to lose weight, but... like... that's a total jinx.)

What I did too much in 2008...
Sat at home. Seriously. This town is incredible with lots of live music and cool events and I sit at home most weekends. I need to get out more. I need to get my wife out more. We need to enjoy this town!

What I want to do more of in 2009...
Blog. It's fun to pretend that people read this and care.

Band that sucked in 2008...
Sorry Death Cab for Cutie, but Narrow Stairs was probably your worst album. I still have faith. Ben needs to get fat again!

Band I'm watching in 2009...
This is tough. I think it's a tie between Thursday and Jimmy Eat World. However, a band I've never heard of will likely blow me away and make this whole section moot.

2009 will be known as the year of the...
Narwhal. You just wait. They're ferocious and they've been waiting for 2009!

Happy New Year everyone! Go Red Wings. Go Tigers. Go Pistons. Go Wolverines. Go Owls. Watch out for narwhals in 2009. Good night.

New Year's Preparations

2008-12-31T06:33:00.001-08:00

Forgive us, again. We forgot to post yesterday, so think of this as yesterday's post.

Being good Southerners, my family has a food-related superstition, I mean, tradition for New Year's Day. We eat turnip greens and black-eyed peas. As I learned it, the turnip greens are for money, and the black-eyed peas are for luck. (Similar traditions I've heard of involve collard greens or cabbage for the greens.)

My grandmother used to make the turnip greens in the good Southern way of boiling them to death (probably about 8 hours or so) with some slab of pork product in the pot. The black-eyed peas got a similar treatment, though they weren't cooked for as long.

I choose to make my greens and peas vegetarian, both for the health benefits and because we have vegetarian friends that have joined us for past New Year's Day dinners. I add olive oil and dried mushrooms to the greens (and usually don't cook them quite as long, but still a long time), and olive oil, dried mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes to the peas (which I cook in the crock-pot). Unfortunately, I can't find my recipes that I created over the past few years so I'll be winging it on New Year's.

To prepare for the dinner, the first step is purchasing the ingredients. Whole Foods didn't have turnip greens, only collards, so I went to Central Market in the hopes they had some. Jackpot!

I got plenty of looks walking around the grocery store with that pile of greens (don't worry, they cook down a lot when you boil them for a few hours), and the cashier asked me what I was making with all the turnip greens. Uh, turnip greens.

To make room in the fridge, I took the stems off the greens and ended up with two produce bags stuffed with torn leaves.

I know we'll have lots of leftovers of the greens, regardless of how many people join us for dinner, because none of our friends are as fond of them as I am. But as with money, I'd rather have too much than not enough!

Happy almost-New-Year!

Great Lakes Invitational 2008

2008-12-29T20:12:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, Merri Su and I met up with Jay and Nate to see the finals of the Great Lakes Invitational collegiate hockey tournament. The University of Michigan earned a spot in the finals against in state rival, Michigan State University.

Jay and I were roommates in college my sophomore year. It was his senior year and he had hockey season tickets. I was able to go to a few games with Jay that year and he taught me the traditions of Michigan hockey at Yost arena (the best college hockey arena in the country, for what it's worth). It was fitting that I was able to enjoy Michigan hockey for the first time in over 3 years with Jay.

While Michigan is the reigning GLI champions, they don't often fair well in this tournament. Unfortunately, the nineteen and under World Junior Championship Tournament is played during the same time as the GLI every year. Since Michigan recruits so well, half of their best players are always absent from the GLI since they are chosen to play for the Canadian or USA hockey teams for the World Junior Championships. Three of Michigan's best players were missing this year.

No matter, Michigan was still the most talented team at the GLI tournament this year, and they showed it. They beat Michigan Tech, the host of the tournament, by a score of 5 to 0. (Little known fact, Michigan is a co-host of the tournament.) That earned them a spot in the finals against MSU. Lucky for us fans, It wasn't a challenge.

Congratulations Michigan, the 2008 GLI champions. I hope this inspires the team and they have a fantastic second half to their season. They'll need it if they want to compete for a national championship.

PS - I cheered for the MSU players that won various tournament awards and I cheered for their team when they accepted the runners-up trophy. Shame on the U of M fans that booed. We're better than that. More importantly, they're better than that and they deserve your applause. Hockey has a long tradition of exceptional sportsmanship. In fact, the following picture embodies what playoff hockey is really about. While fighting is a part of hockey, so is congratulating your opponent for a game well played.

Childhood Tailgating

2008-12-28T21:07:00.000-08:00

My sister and I had Michigan shoved down our throats since we were tiny children, I have proof. Now do you understand why I'm such a huge Michigan fan?

Edit: The "shoved down our throats" comment was meant to be sarcastic. However, I don't think it's nice that Sara is mocking me in that photo. As you can see, I'm doing everything I can to ignore that creepy wolverine hand puppet (or whatever that thing is).

More Christmas Traditions (and the snow begins to melt)

2008-12-27T14:35:00.000-08:00

There's one more Christmas tradition in Brian's family, and it involves all his extended family (ie, the neighbors when he was growing up). They always have a big holiday party with Brian's parents' generation, Brian's generation, and now Brian's generation's kids. Here are the ladies from Brian's generation (including spouses):

And here are the men from Brian's generation:

The moms:

And the dads:

We didn't get any group photos of the kids, but here's a good one of Gabi and Gunnar with Beth (and Moseley trying to get in on the cuddle action):

I've really enjoyed all the Christmas traditions I've gotten to experience for the first time with my in-laws. All of my in-laws, Brian's blood relatives and former neighbors, have been wonderfully welcoming, kind, and loving, everything Christmas should be!

I will leave with some photos of what I thought was impossible, snow melting in Michigan in late December.

Before (Christmas Day):

After (today):

Christmas at the Kaye's

2008-12-26T10:51:00.000-08:00

For as long as I can remember, my family has had Christmas dinner with the Kaye family. They used to live next door, but even after their move to Ann Arbor, the tradition continues. The Kaye children now have children of their own. So my sister, Beth, Kenn, and I are no longer the hyper, screaming children at the party. Now we have Gabi, Kendra, and baby Gunnar.

Gunnar's dad is a drummer, so my mom couldn't resist this gift. He just learned how to grab things last week, so it won't be long until he's the next Neil Pert. However, I think Gunnar's dad may break in the drum first.

Until Gunnar can enjoy the drum, he can get some use out of this.

The adults had fun too. My father made Spanish Coffees for everyone. I was once again my father's assistant for this process of showmanship and pyrotechnics. Here's a picture of me learning the process.

Let me try and explain the whole process. First you put sugar on the rim of a glass and put a small shot of brandy in it. Then you place the glass over Sterno, spinning the glass to make sure the heat is evenly distributed so you don't break the glass.

Once the 80 proof brandy is warm enough, the flammable alcohol will begin to evaporate. You then pull the glass back to allow the Sterno flame to ignite the alcohol vapors. Once you have a flame inside the glass, you continue to rotate the glass to melt all the sugar.

Next, you add Triple Sec to the flaming concoction.

You fill the glass with coffee, putting out the flame.

Whipped cream is placed on top, which gives it a slight cappuccino look.

Finally, Kahlua is added to give it a nice, adults-only kick.

Add friends and family (and hot chocolate for the kids) to get the infamous Spanish Coffee.

Merri Su's First Ruhmann Christmas

2008-12-25T12:10:00.000-08:00

Last year, Merri Su and I spent the holiday with her parents. This year, we spent it with mine. So this is the first year that Merri Su got the Ruhmann Christmas Morning Experience (TM).

When we first woke up, we found my Mom's new cat, Lucy, enjoying my shoes.

Ginger enjoyed her Christmas bone (that was completely gone about two minutes later).

Mom's cinnamon rolls were ready for the oven.

My Mother received her annual bribe from my Father.

The ladies all got matching sweaters. (That's my Mom and my Sister with Merri Su.)

Merri Su got her favoritest of all presentses like ever, ever, ever!

Christmas would not be complete without a new cat sweater for Mom.

Mmmm, our annual Christmas brunch was delicious.

Merri Su's haul was quite impressive.

My Dad played with his favorite new toy (a new cordless drill battery).

While I played with mine.

Merry Xmas Everyone!

Our Continued O'hare Adventures

2008-12-25T05:49:00.000-08:00

We were too busy to post yesterday, so this post is a day late. Sorry.

We woke up Christmas Eve still in Chicago. The good news is that we had tickets on a flight to Detroit. The bad news is that every flight to Detroit the previous day had been canceled and the weather wasn't much better today. Other than a gate change, everything was looking good. We appeared to have a plane and crew. I was starting to let my guard down thinking that we were finally going to make it out of Chicago. That's when we were told that the plane was being forced to carry extra fuel due to the bad weather and therefore was over weight. Twenty of the seventy passengers would not be able to fly on the plane.

My heart sank. I thought to myself that we would surely be on the top of the list of passengers to cut. I started chatting with other passengers to see what other options they knew of. Amtrak was booked (and canceling most of their trips due to weather). All the airlines were booked. There were no rental cars available in the entire city. I thought Greyhound was our only option, until another passenger told me they were also booked solid. If we didn't make it on this plane, we'd be stuck here along with the 87 passengers currently on the standby list.

Without any mention of how many people would be forced to stay in Chicago, they started boarding. That's when we got on that plane as quickly as possible. Would they really pull us off the plane after we were comfortably sitting in our seats? Absolutely they would, but it seamed like an unlikely scenario to me at the time. Still, by the time we were on the plane, I was feeling nervous. I remembered when we were flying standby out of New York. We became friends with all the other standby passengers trying to make it to Austin that weekend. We watched many of our new friends make it on to a plane only to be pulled off when ticketed passengers ran up to the gate at the last second after their connecting flight was late. Everyone at the airport couldn't help but empathize after seeing the tears on the faces of the standby passengers that just went through the emotional roller coaster of thinking they were finally making it home, only to be pulled off the plane, defeated again. Sitting on our plane in Chicago, I was fearing that such a fate could happen to us.

The flight attendants were amazing. They found every way possible to fit bags in the overhead compartments so they didn't have to be checked, thereby decreasing the weight of the plane according to the FAA (carry-on bags aren't added to the weight like checked bags are). These flight attendants knew how important it was to all of us to get home for the holidays. I even overheard one of the flight attendants say that she was only working today because she was unable to make it home herself. After seeing how hard she was working to help us, I really felt bad for her. What they did was remarkable, making sure that every seat on the flight could be filled. I made sure to thank both of the attendants personally at the end of the flight. It's the very least I could do.

We made it, finally through our ordeal. Unfortunately, our one checked bag was still having an adventure. It was stuck somewhere in Chicago, awaiting another flight to Detroit. Around midnight we got a call from the airport. Our bag had arrived. We gladly went back to the airport to pick it up. Now, it's time for warm and fuzzy family time. Exactly what Christmas should be.

Detour

2008-12-23T16:02:00.000-08:00

We were headed for Detroit this afternoon, but the snowstorm in Chicago had other ideas. We're now staying overnight in a hotel near O'Hare and hoping to be home in time for Christmas. Wish us luck!

I was once a computer programmer

2008-12-22T20:19:00.000-08:00

I an a software engineer. However, in my current position, I rarely use standard programming languages. Most of the time, I'm using internal tools at our company to make our applications work with our hardware. I mostly use LabVIEW, XML, and VHDL. On rare occasions, I've modified batch, perl, ruby, and python scripts. The only time I touch C is if I need to debug something that someone else wrote.

Recently, I was talking to Tim and started to realize that my skills might be getting rusty and if I were ever asked to use a standard programming language, I would struggle from lack of experience. Tim ensured me that it would all come back quickly, which I know deep down is true. However, I needed to prove it to myself.

Something I've always wanted to try was programming a flash game. So, over the weekend I downloaded the Flash CS4 IDE trial and started to play. After learning the basics and figuring out how to use the built in animation tools, I found a tutorial on flashgameu.com that shows you how to make a flash game. This is version 0.1a of Brian's Match Game 200X! Enjoy, and expect new versions soon.

I think it takes a while to load. You can also try clicking here to see a larger version.

Mermaid Princess Turns 3

2008-12-21T19:51:00.000-08:00

Our favorite toddler, Isabel, turned 3 yesterday, and her parents threw her a faboo mermaid-themed birthday party. Isabel's mom, Sarah, sewed an amazing mermaid outfit for her, which she loved. Isabel's best friend, Olivia, is so excited about the party she's a blur:
Isabel loved the gift we gave her, a monkey-shaped pillow.
And she loved the microphone her parents gave her. Future American Idol, we knew her when:
And this was the first birthday that she was old enough to blow out her own candles:

Isabel had a great time, as did her friend Olivia, the other baby in attendance, Willa, and the parents and parents' friends.

Trail of Lights '08

2008-12-20T23:38:00.000-08:00

Every year, the City of Austin puts up a Christmas themed display they call the Trail of Lights. Merri Su and I have had the pleasure of seeing this display with our friends Erik, Sarah, and Isabel (who just turned 3 today). This year, before driving downtown, we drove by a few houses in the neighborhood that we were told had tremendous light dsiplays. I was expecting a Christmas display, not this.

Oh yes, hating your college football rival is clearly more important than Christmas. I actually completely understand this. Next year, I plan on asking this guy to decorate our roof in the same manner, but adding an 'S' between the 'O' and the 'U'. Perfect!

When we finally got downtown, we started at the Zilker tree. My guess is that the Zilker tree has been an Austin Christmas tradition longer than the Trail of Lights. Since we don't have many large pine trees in Texas, this is how we fake our Christmas trees.

It doesn't look like much, but the idea is to stand underneath it, look up...

and then spin.

I tried to show how cool this was to Isabel, but then she reached for Mom and Dad and started crying. I guess she doesn't like it when the big guy with facial hair picks her up and spins her around. Oh well. Maybe she'll like it next year!

After the tree, we went on to the Trail of Lights.

We sound out "Where the Wiled Things Are".

We found Dora, who was exploring animated versions of downtown Austin buildings. (Yes, it's creepy to everyone, not just you.)

Isabel pondered why the rapping snowman had a carrot nose.

We were frightened by the dancing cupcakes. (The dancing popsicles were also scary, but at least they didn't have any legs!)

If you saw a recent post on this blog, you know that we had a run in with techno space Santa. I wish that was the weirdest thing we saw.

We also saw this...

What are those? Some sort of famous people as space elf aliens painted on what looks like tombstones? shudder

Oops!

2008-12-20T13:54:00.001-08:00

We forgot to post again! Please consider this our Friday post. :-)

We had a nice evening in, ate some crockpot chicken and salsa tacos (1 or 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast plus 2 jars of Ole Chipotle salsa, cooked on low for 10 hours or, in this case, on high for 4 hours; served with taco shells and spanish rice), watched a movie, then I turned in early to rest up for my long run today.

I've been training for the 3M Half Marathon with a great all-woman training group, Tough Cookies. We're very distinctive running on the trail and at races, with our bright pink shirts and 30 or so members. It's fun when people see us and say "Hey Tough Cookies!" After our long runs on Saturday morning, we soak in Barton Springs to help our lower bodies recover more quickly (the water is a constant 68 degrees year round). It might sound weird to stand waist-deep in cold water, but it feels really great after a long run, and we're definitely not the only runners out there on Saturday mornings. Really, there's nothing like a long run with friends to energize you and lift your spirits, then soak in cold water. I promise! (Okay, maybe I'm a little weird, but I love it, and I'm always reminded about how much I love where we live when I'm out for a run.)

The Trail of Lights Part 1

2008-12-18T20:47:00.000-08:00

The City of Austin puts on the Trail of Lights Festival every year at Zilker Park and it's pretty cool. It's also weird. But, you know, so is Austin, so it fits. But, like, techno Santa weird?!? Turns out, yes, it's that weird.

Muppet Time

2008-12-18T05:48:00.001-08:00

This is another post about The University of Michigan. I understand if you don't care. However, that's not gonna stop me. :-) Oh, and the blog is showing the wrong date for this post, this is Wednesday's post not Thursday's, I swear!

My mother grew up in Colby, Kansas and my father grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. They both attended and met at The University of Kansas. After graduating, my father got a job near Detroit, Michigan and my mother followed him there. That's where they met the man that would become my godfather, Bill. Believe me, this has something to do with Muppets.

Bill's company purchased many season tickets for Michigan football. These tickets were intended to be given to important customers as gifts. No one noticed (or cared) when Bill decided to set a few of these season tickets aside for himself and my parents. Believe me, this has something to do with Muppets.

Eventually, my parents became huge Michigan fans. I think you have to if you attend every home football game. My sister and I even got to attend one or two games every year. There's a great picture of my sister and I tailgating at a Michigan game when we were around 5 and 9 years old (maybe younger). I wish I had that picture with me so I could post it. Unfortunately, it's at my parent's house. Hopefully I'll get a chance to scan it in when we're at my parent's place for Christmas next week. Believe me, this has something to do with Muppets.

Suffice it to say, my sister and I grew up as Michigan fans. By the time I graduated high school, I had no doubt where I wanted to attend college. I wanted to go to the same school as my sister and the same school with a football team that I rooted for every fall Saturday. In fact, I didn't even apply to another school. Believe me, this has something to do with Muppets.

By the time I was a freshman at the University of Michigan and was able to obtain season tickets of my own, I had learned many of the school's traditions. One tradition that I never fully understood was the band's obsession with the song "Temptation". This is a song that I had never heard anywhere else. Yet, at every game the Michigan Marching Band played the full song at least once and played a few bars every time the Michigan defense forced a fourth down. Believe me, this has something to do with Muppets.

Until a few months ago, the only rendition of "Temptation" that I had ever heard was by the Michigan Marching Band. That was until I heard a familiar song from the other room. My wife was watching The Muppet Show on DVD.

Just in case you're interested, this is the version I am used to hearing.

This clip also appeared on MGoBlog. In fact, the author of the blog (also named Brian) loves this clip almost as much as I do. Every time Michigan has a big win, Brian posts this clip with the title "Muppet Time" (hence the title of this post). I think it's a fantastic new Michigan blog tradition. And because you can't have one without the other...

Lynn and Johann Get Hitched

2008-12-16T20:31:00.000-08:00

For our final wedding of the year, we went to the beautiful Chapel Dulcinea at a fun little place called the Wizard Academy (no, really, that's what it's called, and it's a business school). The wedding was a bit of a hardship for us (well, for Brian more than me) because it was at 10 a.m., and we had to be up, showered, and dressed in time to drive out of town for the wedding. We made it though, and we looked pretty alert.

Unfortunately, that photo does not do justice to the stunning view from the chapel. All of us were concerned about the weather because a cold front had blown in the week before, but it was actually quite pleasant. As you can see above, the sun was bright, and I was bundled up (very important).

Lynn and Johann had the most original vows of any wedding I can remember. Johann wrote Dr. Seuss-style vows, drew cute little fish illustrations, and had the whole thing bound into a hardcover book that they read from during the ceremony.

Woohoo! Married!

After the ceremony, everyone went to the legendary Salt Lick for the reception. Yum! (Actually, Brian and I took a detour in the opposite direction back to the only gas station for miles around because we were getting way too close to empty for being out in the middle of nowhere.)

Here we are with our friends Carrie and Taylor (who happens to be a fellow Holidailies participant), eagerly anticipating our delicious barbecue lunch to come.

While we enjoyed our delicious smoked meat and sides, the bride and groom circulated around the room to speak to each table.

I didn't get any photos of just the food, but it was very good, and we even got seconds. The waiter actually said, "Do you need a refill on meat?" How often do you hear that?

After the meaty lunch, I convinced Carrie, Lynn, and Heather to join me in a photo.

All in all, it was a wonderful wedding and we had a great time, even if we had to get up early for it.

Timmy B. Takes Us to Hearst Castle

2008-12-15T18:55:00.000-08:00

William Randolph Hearst inherited a bunch of money his dad made discovering and mining silver. He took that money and purchased The New York Journal. He turned that investment into a chain of nearly 30 newspapers in several large American cities. Eventually, he got bored and built a castle in San Simeon, California where he partied with his mistress and the Hollywood elite for over two decades. Somehow, the castle was eventually donated to the state of California (probably because the Hearst family couldn't afford the property taxes). That castle is now a California State Historical Monument and a National Historic Landmark.

In September, after Tim and Bonnie's wedding, a group of us visited the castle. They only charged us $20 to be allowed to walk around what is technically public property. As an added bonus, they allowed us to watch a short film about the castle before the tour. They even had the film on DVD for purchase. We thought about buying the DVD, but it was more than we were willing to pay (really, it was more than you'll-have-to-pay-us-to-take-that-DVD-home dollars).

After the film, it was tour time. Once at the top of the hill where the castle was, we got out and met our tour guides. Well, they called themselves tour guides, but in reality, they were William Randolph Hearst fanatics. Actually, more than fanatics. They had a wild crush on a dead dude. They're smiles glowed and eyes beamed with excitement as they talked about Hearst's infidelities and eccentricities. I thought I felt a buzz of excitement at one point, but then I realized it was just the alarm buzzing because I, as a commoner, had allowed my shoes to touch a rug.

So, in Summary, we went to Hearst Castle and all we got were these lousy pictures.

A Recipe for Turkey Meatloaf

2008-12-14T17:56:00.000-08:00

We made a very tasty version of meatloaf a couple of weeks ago that I thought I'd share with you: Turkey Meatloaf Muffins.

Ingredients:

1 to 1.5 pounds of ground turkey breast
1 package of spicy turkey Italian sausage, about 1 to 1.5 pounds
1 carrot, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/2 c. rolled oats
1/2 c. smoky barbecue sauce (I used Central Market brand)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 c. egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mush everything together in a big mixing bowl with your hands.
Scoop mixture into lined muffin tins.
Bake for 25 minutes.

Makes about 20 muffins, one for 3 points or 2 for 5 (if you care about such things). Very tasty.