teena_dragonfly

Oh the joys of simple machines!

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 00:40:40 GMT

We bought Razor scooters to run with Hermes, since he needs move exercise, and can run a lot faster than we can. It tired both him and I out.

a collection of thoughts

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 04:35:42 GMT

If you throw a pizza party and let 11-13 year olds pick their own toppings, the only thing you need to buy is pepperoni as it is the only one they seem even mildly interested it. After they leave you may inexplicably have salsa on your bathmat.

If Hermes is sitting with me and my tummy grumbles, he will try to dig into my stomach to see what is making that sound.

Soy milk in coffee is actually worth drinking.

I am still undecided if Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard is worth reading. I gave it a try and felt like I was digging through pages of mud to find some beautiful gems. I liked the parts that I liked, but they rest was purely slogging through.

I thought I had more than four thoughts in my head, but oh well...

Lyrics that make me think

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 19:24:28 GMT

As you may know, I rarely pay attention to lyrics. I can often make up lyrics that I like better, and paying attention is just too detail-oriented for me the majority of the time.

But every once and a while people who write songs actually make a difference to me and inspire some thought on my part.

1) If I hide myself where ever I go am I ever really there?
-from "For You" by Barenaked Ladies

2) I believe there is a distance I have wandered
to touch upon the years of reaching out and reaching in,
Holding out holding in.
-from "Elsewhere" by Sarah McLachlan

3) It took a long time to become the thing that I am to you
-from "Become You" by Indigo Girls

Warning! Danger of hearing loss

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 19:14:47 GMT

Here is my public service announcement. Hearing loss from listening to loud music may not surface for ten years. So if you are listening to your iPod loudly and thinking, "my hearing is still fine, so my sound level must be ok," you should stop. Research has found that earbuds or external headphones have the same effect and that you can listen as long as you want to music that is only 50% volume of what is considered loud.

You have been warned.

Yay Google

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 20:46:38 GMT

I have been converted from a stuffy old paper datebook that never got used very efficiently to Google Calendars. I have always been resistant to "putting my day in boxes" but in exchange I have often forgotten things I would like to do. Now I have a pretty easy job of adding things and getting a picture of my week. Dave and I share our calendars with each other so we can see when the other is free as well. How wonderful.

That is one heavy book!

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 15:50:01 GMT

The prius has a sensor in the front passenger seat to tell it whether or not someone is sitting there, so it can turn the airbag on and off as needed. Hermes often sits in the front seat, but doesn't activate the air bag. However:

Hermes + Precalculus Text Book = airbag

I will be teaching Precalculus at Tech in the fall. From the stories I have heard it is going to be an interesting ride... I had a dream last night that I decided to bake their first quiz inside pancakes. But of course, as is the case with dreams, the letters on the quiz all ran together, I didn't have enough for everyone to have one AND the students thought it was really corny!

Yeep! Summer Break is ending soon!

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 23:38:40 GMT

We have returned from our wonderings.

Hermes enjoyed being in Canada with us. He got to sleep in our bed every night, run around in the woods, fight with a cat, have the attention of several small children, and get fed lots of treats. We were a little afraid he would not like it at home again! He wagged his tail as soon as we drove up to our place, and seemed to enjoy gathering in the scents of home. There were many trees that needed to be remarked and many doggie friends he strained at his leash to go visit. It must have tired him out though-- He has slept pretty much the whole time we have been home.

Home again Home again (briefly!)

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:27:10 GMT

I had a very nice trip to Hungary and then Vienna. I think Vienna might be my favorite European city now. It is a tight race between Vienna and Paris. I think I will need to spend more time in each for a tie breaker.

Pictures will be put up somewhere, eventually.

We are getting ready for a car trip with Hermes. I bought him lots of things to keep him busy, treats and toys and chew bones. A dog with a full mouth and a full belly is so much easier to deal with... We have some doggie downers just in case the other supplies are not sufficient.

Teena

Job Offer

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 19:23:11 GMT

Seriously, I was just offered a job.

I was in the PetSmart and the manager complimented me on Hermes's haircut. I told him that I had done it this morning. He was very impressed and told me to come talk to him if I wanted a job as a dog groomer. He offered me his card. I told him that I am so allergic to cats that a grooming job would probably kill me.

I just think about grooming the dog as my new art form. Sure it is a squirmy, teeth baring canvas-- but what is art without struggle?

Patriotism at its best

Tue, 04 Jul 2006 18:00:35 GMT

Ah... 4th of July. What a good day to fold laundry. 2 loads down and about 5 more to go.... I am in the process of packing. I haven't seen some of these clothes for awhile....

Gourmet

Tue, 04 Jul 2006 16:30:52 GMT

Hermes likes fried worms. Crispy on a hot sidewalk. Yuck. It makes me want to see if I can fry an egg.... It is damn hot here lately.

Pride Parade

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 16:18:55 GMT

We marched in Atlanta's Pride parade yesterday with our church. We brought Hermes. He was a little intimidated by the crowds, but did really well otherwise. I made him a little construction paper rainbow jester-type collar. There were a few hecklers. I was thinking yesterday that I am willing to respect free speech, even hateful free speech. I disagree with the message, but they have a right to speak their mind. This morning though, it dawned on me how brave those people are to stand against the tide of people. There were police guards for one of the fundies. He was giving running commentary on everything he saw. He had quite a bit to say about the current direction of the Episcopal church, but we could hear him because we were having too much fun drowning out his speakers with whooping. How arrogant to think that you know the message God wants to send to his creation, but how brave to proclaim it when surrounded by the enthusistic and flamboyant crowd. Maybe he gets a power trip from it but, still... We thought about the fun we could have with a "faux-test" of the Pride Parade. Instead of condemning people to Hell, we could inform people that God loves his creation. We had fun brainstorming "protest signs." (Although above I said it is arrogant to think we know God's mind, I am willing to assume God is a loving God and that he loves his creation.)

Zico abd Beets

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 00:27:47 GMT

I just tried "Zico: America's new sports drink." Coconut milk harvested at its peak potassium content and sold in spiffy containers. I am a sucker for interesting things to drink, especially in neat packaging. It was quite nice mixed with some rum and lime juice, and even drinkable on its own. Yum.

Also tried some fresh beet and carrot juice- it was ok, but the beets didn't add much but a garish color. Hermes was entertaining, because he loves carrots, but HATES the juicer, so was alternating between barking at the juicer and begging for carrots. Our kitchen shows the signs of our recent glut in beets. Our cutting boards and plastic spoons have that beet tinge. Tonight for dinner we are having Southern-style beet greens. Inexplicably, as soon as I saw the recipe called for "thick-cut bacon" I wanted to try it. Only southerners make veggies so unhealthy...

I have discovered I really like roasted baby beets. (If they are too big they don't roast quite as nicely)

Mon, 15 May 2006 23:12:17 GMT

My dog begs for carrots.

Is that weird?

measuring out our lives with coffeespoons

Fri, 05 May 2006 16:32:02 GMT

Well, it is clear we haven't been eating at home enough when we have to run with dishwasher with no plates in it. It is full of coffee mugs and cereal bowls.

Yikes.

Belt tightening ahoy though, since we got our new car! And, I just bought two bunches of broccoli on sale. Bonus.

Lessons from being car free

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 00:14:45 GMT

Tomorrow will mark a month car free.

Lesson 1) No matter what your buy-in-bulk urges tell you, it is OK to buy milk in smaller than gallon containers, especially if you have to carry it home on your back.

Lesson 2) If you don't have to find a parking spot, it is much easier to just wander into cool little stores that you used to drive by all the time.

Lesson 3) Everywhere in Atlanta takes about 60 minutes to get to on public transportation, no matter how far away it is.

Lesson 4) You can justify almost anything by saying, "well it's cheaper than a car"

oh poor poor neglected live journal

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 18:11:03 GMT

well, lets see. we are going on a month a being car-free (or care-free as one of our friends calls it). we are having adventures in public transportation. we have both read a lot more since our car went belly up (luckily, it didn't literally got belly up). my bicycle has gotten some well needed love and tune-ups and part replacement. hermes has gotten pretty good at riding with me in a pannier bag. trust me, it is super cute!

but we are the proud new almost owners of a shiny red toyota prius! we need to come up with a name, i suppose. it is going to come off a big boat from japan in 4-6 weeks. ya! (i hope the big boat isn't too polluting- that would sure be ironic. the prius is expensive, and it has been five years since we had car payments, but cleaner air is worth it. i wish more people we willing to get a super cool car and help the environment.

speaking of air quality, the pollen in atlanta is awful awful this time of year. i am living in that allergy haze again, but it is a lot better since i actually started taking antihistamines every day !

more later- gotta go think about matrices!

Sat, 11 Feb 2006 18:38:35 GMT

I found some haiku in a box that we had written at a meditation workshop. We hadn't opened the box since we moved from Nebraska!

Here are some of the ones I still like:

my creativity
fascinates me
for a short time

pixels coalesce
to form
senseless words

in the center of a maze
my mind
blissfully empty

.... and one from Dave:

first spring sun;
my skin
turns red

Spring

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 22:43:59 GMT

Yesterday I saw my first Robin. Hermes saw and then chased his first Robin of the Spring. Each to his own. I bet given his choice Hermes would eat the groundhog, whether it saw its shadow or not.

Time to shed the shoes! Ringworm be damned.

Dave didn't realize that different regions have their own groundhog. He thought that all the weather in the country was controlled by one groundhog in Pennsylvania. Cloudy, Brookfield zoo's own weather forecaster said spring is right around the corner! And she has been right for 5 years in a row. There was no indication on the opinion of the other ground hog at the zoo. How can you tell them apart you ask? Cloudy is the one without the braces on its teeth. No seriously. Its true.

Atlanta area groundhog, named General Lee also predicts an early spring. No word on what his girlfriend, Dixie, predicts.

Crunches

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 23:32:17 GMT

I was doing crunches on the floor (admittedly an unusual behavior) and Hermes was feeling left out. In the process of trying to figure out why I was in his territory acting differently than usual, he bit my hair, licked my glasses, attacked my sock, and pounced on my belly. I finally had to stop doing crunches when I was laughing too hard to continue.

For once the internet thinks I am smarter than I am

Sat, 28 Jan 2006 00:43:51 GMT

Here is my challenge: Use google to find out how many minutes it takes to bake sweet potato in its skin.

I found a bazillion recipes including baked sweet potatoes, but every one assumed I already knew how to make them baked :(

p.s. it has been 60 minutes and I am still waiting

Lemon tree very pretty

Sat, 28 Jan 2006 00:22:56 GMT

When I was in high school, my flute teacher had a lemon tree, in New Jersey. She had grown hers from seed, and it flourished. She carried it inside in the winter. I love the way the leaves of lemon trees smell.

Our trip to Europe a few years ago intensified my desire for my own lemon tree. We visited a little bed and breakfast on the island of Capri, called Hotel Mulino. We could smell the lemon scent from our room, and there was a little lemon orchard with the trees laden with lemons. We stopped at Versailles, where they had an orangerie (though it was called an orangerie they grew all sorts of citrus)- in order to deal with the climate in France, the trees were planted in sterling silver planters and wheeled outside each morning by some poor folks.

I had not acquired a lemon tree- as I have no ground to plant it in. But I finally decided to go the route of having a tree in a pot. When I was in Berkeley CA last year it was lemon season. I got a bag full of lemon from a (relatively famous) UC Berkeley professor who hosted dinner one night (in retrospect-- it was a pretty weird request). But, since they irradiate so much produce here, may of the seeds from fruits you buy in the store are not ferile. But I lost patience growing my tree from seed.

I ended up going to Home Depot last spring and buying a Meyer lemon tree. They are designed to stay relatively small, have sweeter lemons, and are happy growing in a pot. So the news is that my lemon tree recently bloomed! Now there are half a dozen little lemons which have started growing. I am not amazingly hopeful because I don't really have enough light to offer my little tree. We only have north facing windows and porch. I am hoping when it is a little warmer to convince a neighbor with a south facing porch to foster it for a few weeks, to give the lemons a fighting chance.

I got my first allergy shot today.

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 02:45:32 GMT

It wasn't really so exciting. I had no bad reaction, which isn't surprizing considering there was only 1 part per million of the allergen swimming around in there. Now I can get several a week, which luckily I can get at school- where I can walk to the clinic instead of taking a half-hour drive. I will keep you, small corner of the internet, informed.

Girl School

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 16:05:11 GMT

I always joke that I failed girl school and need remedial coursework. Today though, I started a facial regimen. Eeek. Three different products-- exfoliating cleanser and toner followed by a moisturizer. (I even had my choice of two different moisturizers). I decided I am too old to have acne. So that seems to mean I need to take better care of my skin.

Texas

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 04:33:09 GMT

I just visited Texas for the first time this past weekend. Texas is the 42nd state that I have visited. I visited in a big way too. I flew into Houston and drove to San Antonio for the Annual National Math meetings. It was a 4 hour drive across rural Texas, flat rural conservative Texas. I stayed a night in Flatonia, TX. Really. In a little rural Texas hotel. They only had whole milk for breakfast. That struck me as odd.

The first morning in San Antonio, I ate breakfast at a place called the Pig Stand. It was very southern and dirt cheap. They made good grits. Another morning I went to a very good breakfast buffet. There was scary a Mexican food called Menudo. The mexican man who recommended it said something like "it gave me this belly," but I think I misunderstood and he said it comes from the belly of a cow, since its main ingredient is tripe. Ick. At least they gave me all the kiwi fruit I could eat.

I found out that people really do wear cowboy hats in public, unironically even.

They don't play music I like in Texas.

There are cactus on the side of the road.

We went to a wedding in Houston. The wedding and the surroundings were beautiful. Dave joined me in Houston for the wedding so he got to visit Texas for his first time as well.