Best New Years Ever

Perhaps the best New Years eve I've ever had, spent partying with friends here in New Haven. Sushi for lunch (the volcano roll is especially good and I tried a tempura roll for the first and likely last time), lots of fun snack food including Bacon-wrapped waterchestnuts, musical fun with Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution. Leap second (we spent it leaping, getting it on the second try). I had a wonderful time.

I'm blessed to have such generous friends who share their breaks and take me in when I visit, and I'm blessed to have the chance to visit such friends.

Life is fundamentally good.

Bacon wrapped waterchestnuts

Lightly oil rimmed cooking sheet with olive oil. heat oven 350. Drain waterchestnuts. Wrap each waterchestnut in one half piece of bacon, poking a toothpick through to hold it together. Bake for 10 minutes, turn, and bake for another 10 minutes. Delicious, tasty and crunchy.

A New Years holiday tradition in my family.

Missed Christmas eve service

I missed the Christmas Eve service today. In a scene so very Home Alone-like, I stepped into a bedroom to change to church-suitable attire and when I emerged the family had already headed out. I ran after the last SUV in the entourage, but couldn't quite catch it and didn't manage to be noticed. I then ran back to the cottage and called my sister's cell phone number -- and listened to it ring where it had been left on the mantle. Then I called my father's cell phone number -- and listened to it ring where it had been left on the table. I didn't bother trying my mother's cell.

I eventually found car keys to the remaining vehicle but decided it wouldn't be smart to head out to catch up since I hadn't managed to get in touch with anyone and wasn't really sure of the way. That's my excuse. If I were honest I'd admit I was a little miffed at having been forgotten, something I soon got over and should have gotten over sooner. I spent most of the time home alone reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Every Christmas eve service has something to offer. In past years I've enjoyed sermons exhorting me not to worship angels (and thereby miss the true meaning of Christmas) and not to over-value the trappings of Christmas (puncuated by the smashing of an heirloom Christmas ornament at the pulpit). Fortunately, missing the service didn't involve my having to helplessly watch chicks flee their coop into the snow and freeze to death (featured in another memorable Christmas eve sermon) -- but I think it likely was an even better reminder of the true meaning of Christmas than attending the service would have been.

My favorite cake recipe

My favorite cake recipe:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 T cocoa
0.5 t salt
2 t baking soda
2 t vanilla
2 t vinegar
2/3 cup veg oil
2 cup lukewarm water
Bake at 350 degrees 30 to 40 minutes.

Wit's End

My sister's home from school, and we celebrated this evening by playing a family game of Wit's End. Tidbits that came up that I learned something about: Ray Orbison hit Only the Lonely, poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the Atlanta Braves won the World Series only once between 1970 and 1999, Descartes once said "Travelling is almost like talking with men of other centuries". Wilson was elected president in 1913, Mussolini came to power in 1922, and Lenin died in 1924. Max Bruch was German, not Austrian. short:hour::long:? (do you know? I didn't.) The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse represent Conquest, Famine, Death, and War. The lemon tree is evergreen.

A random game, quite a bit of luck, and some of the questions are too hard / obscure to be fun. Still, we had a great time.

It's Christmas!

Note to self: chill out! I realized I've been worrying too much lately about the future, about what comes next, about moving, and I've been missing out on enjoying the present. It's Christmastime! My sister's coming home today, we'll be visiting my grandparents for the holiday. We're going to have a fabulous time and everything is going to be okay.

Or, as Yoda put it:

always looking to the future this one is. Never his mind on where he is, what he is doing.

What will you do when they come for you in the night:?

What will you do when they come for you in the night?

Or, just because you can try and convict someone, doesn't mean you should.

100,000 FTEs

By some estimates, there are well over 100,000 young people working in China as full-time gamers.

Handel's Messiah

Heard University of Chicago's University Chorus and Rockefeller Bach Soloists' excellent rendition of Handel's Messiah. Rockefeller memorial chapel.

warning label stupidity

I bought a Southern Cross wood pantry stool. Solid natural wood with a built-in handle. "Great for the kitchen, pantry, and garage."

It has a label: "Do not use this stool as a step or for standing." Um. What else would I use it for, in the kitchen, pantry, and garage? Grab it by the handle and use it to fend off invaders? Maybe tame a lion?

The proliferation of pointless, stupid warnings distracts from the warnings that are important.

This has parallels for issue tracking. Not every issue is "major".