ice ice baby

last night i had to work for a bit. i figured that people would be smart and not decide to go out to dinner when every weatherman that could fog a mirror was sayin that it was going to ice over. not so much. it was busier last night than it was monday night. most of them were outta town folk out for a business dinner. the good news is that i got to experience the sub-32 temps, the wind, the rain, the freezing rain, and the sleet first hand. for like 6 hours. there were a couple of super bright locals that stayed in the cozy little restaurant probably a little too long. at one point i pulled up this lady's car that was covered in ice because it had been sleeting for about 45 minutes - she looked at me and asked "do you think the roads are bad?" nope. they're probably fine. holy crap lady, what do you think? by the time i left, i could barely open the door to my truck. just walking through the parking lot was an exercise in balance. i wound up driving home without a problem, except for getting the truck sideways every now and then. on accident, of course. ok maybe i did gas it a little once or twice.

now it's morning, and sure enough, there's a layer of ice over everything. except the windows of the truck. they got nice and toasty late last night. my 7:30am class is cancelled. and my 9am lab. suck. at least i get to go to my other lab at 1:30. good thing i have online classes that don't care if its iced up outside. i get to carry on with my studies. yay.

some pics for your viewing pleasure:

@#&%*#@@!

there. i said it. i almost feel better. but first, allow me to wrap up with a small list of things that make my head implode.

[rant]
-paying out the *#@ for textbooks
-paying out the *#@ for access codes to get to online stupidity
-spending 2+ hours trying to configure computer(s) to work with said online stupidity
-morons
-last minute homework assignments with an uncooperative 9 year old
-traffic
[/rant]

serenity now!

science project

we have 2 going on right now. one is in the fridge. i figure there's always a science project or two in the fridge at any given time. the other is karlee's. something was sent home with them in early december with all the information and such. somehow (indirectly of course) her mom found out about it on friday. it's due on wednesday. i never pulled stuff like that when i was a kid. so she's over here for the weekend and it's crunch time. yesterday morning she decided on a subject and we went to work. the big question is:

how does the storage temperature affect the number of leftover kernels in a bag of microwave popcorn?

she has conducted one round of tests so far with 3 bags - one in the freezer, one under a lamp, and one at room temp. she still needs to do 2 more rounds of tests under the same conditions, but so far the room temp bag has the most unpopped kernels. i was kind of surprised although erin seems to think that it is common knowledge that bags of popcorn pop best when left in the freezer. the most fun of this whole process (and the best is yet to come) is karlee's slow realization that a science fair project is a crapload of work. fortunately she's out of school monday so we'll be wrapping it up, hopefully.

is this thing still on?

i guess i lost the will to blog or something. or i was busy. or i had nothing interesting to say. i still am a bit busy and i still don't have anything interesting to say, but i guess since this thing is still up, and on account of it being close to new year's,  i might as well as type some stuff for all you 2.3 people that read this.  

i think that since i last posted something, thanksgiving, Christmas, and new years have all come and gone.  all three were splendid as always.  i mostly perfected my now world-famous baked mac n cheese and also came up with a pretty good apple-pumpkin pie.  now it's a new year and there's no room for that kind of gluttony.  only apples, spinach, plain yogurt, legumes, and chili's cheese fries (2070 calories, 160g fat).  it's new years so i gotta eat right and stuff.  at least for a little while.   

i bought a new bike sometime after thanksgiving.  erin thinks it's ugly and that i'm crazy, and my cousin micah said there's no way he would be caught dead on a bike that looked like that.  all the shiny parts were rusted out, the paint was bad and pretty dirty, and the tires were rotted out.  the good news is that it was cheap.  and it has fenders and a rack on the back for stuff.  i figured it would make a decent little commuter bike - something i could ride to school every now and then, and also quick runs to the grocery store.  over the past two weeks, i've replaced the tires and tubes, and taken simple green and a brillo pad to all the parts and pieces i could pull off.  it's still not exactly pretty, but it's much improved - then i zip tied a milk crate to the back.  all i need is a small dog to put in the basket and i'll be set.  maybe one of karlee's stuffed animals.

this is what it looks like now:

this is a random bike i saw in mexico this past summer:

 

in other news today, erin and i just cleaned up the apartment.  it is now worthy of visitors, so call us up and drop by quick.