Neither I nor people driving by know...in any way that resulted in my car getting fixed. We think it's probably the fuel filter.
I was driving my mom home today when the Alero started to lose power about 10 miles from the next town. It was a bit of a bummer, and not only because the windows on that car do not work.
As I always do when I have car trouble, I popped the hood and looked at the engine, as though that would be helpful in some way. I determined that nothing was on fire, nothing was smoking, and no fluids were spouting out from anywhere. I knew it wasn't the battery, and I knew that I wasn't out of gas. So...that narrowed it down. Based on the way it lost power, and the fact that it would turn on fine and then die, my mom and I suspected the fuel filter. Coming to that tentative conclusion did not actually fix anything, but good job us, maybe!
A very nice person stopped to see if they could help, and they did the exact same thing. Looked at the engine, like 1. They'd figure it out just by looking 2. Be able to effect change with the tools they had in their car (a tiny electrical kit). They suggested that it might be the fuel filter.
On the one hand, I feel good about the fact that I have the same skill level when it comes to broken cars on the highway as random passersby. On the other hand, my car is still broken.
Good things about today:
Dim sum
Ice cream
Bike ride
I have fixed my dryer. Probably. For now.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Sunday, June 16, 2013
A Farewell to (Juice) Spreadsheets
I started this juicing experiment with a lot of skepticism, a free juicer, and a curiosity about the cost of juicing. But over the course of the last few months, I learned a lot about juice. And even more about myself.
Specifically, I learned that I make enough juice to justify the purchase of a juicer. That was really what the spreadsheet was about. That, and my love of spreadsheets. And my desire to know how much it costs to have a regular juice habit. It was about a lot of things.
There are many "things to buy for a kitchen" articles out there, and generally, I'm in the camp of people who think that you can make MOST things with minimal equipment. You need a pot, a pan, a knife, a cutting board, a stirring utensil. You can make a lot of stuff with those things. You can make COFFEE with those things (if you have ground coffee and water). I'm theoretically wary of specialty appliances that do only one thing, but in reality, I have a juicer, a blender, an immersion blender, a stand mixer and a waffle maker. The waffle maker is the most egregious of these "does only one thing" items and I use it all the time. Because waffles are delicious, and amazingly easy to make.
So the juicer...The juicer I have is awesome, and from the '80s. It's that odd yellow color that things used to be (similar to the avocado color of the '50s and then the '70s). It's not pretty, but it's very unique. This is not the juicer I would get for myself, but it is the juicer that my mom gave me for free. I started the spreadsheet with the thought that if I made enough juice, and tracked the cost both overall and per batch of juice, I could, eventually, normalize the cost of the blender that I *would* have gotten if I hadn't already had one just sitting in my kitchen. (And then, obviously, I could get that juicer. HA. No, of course not. But I would think to myself "I could totally normalize the cost of this juicer. But since I have a perfectly good juicer already, I won't." I would get the L'Equip Mini, if my brain were different than it is, for those wondering at home.)
Since January 22nd, I have made 28 batches of juice, and the average cost per batch (when I say "batch" I mean "liter" because that's about how much juice I make. I mention this because very few people seem to talk about recipe yield when it comes to juice, and I think that's ridiculous) has been $3.67.
I think that, while I don't make juice every day the way I did for the first couple of weeks, I still make enough juice to justify the counter space and the theoretical money I would spend on a nice juicer, if I didn't already have a perfectly good juicer. For me, the benefits of having a juicer in the house definitely make it a worthwhile accessory. If I wanted to do a juice cleanse, it would be pretty easy. It's also a good way to use up vegetables and fruits that might otherwise go bad (apples. I'm talking about apples. and maybe also spinach when you get it in the really big bag from Costco.).
Now that I have come to all of these conclusions, I don't think I really need the spreadsheet anymore. Plus, it's smoothie season, so I should probably start a spreadsheet for that instead. (just kidding. Each smoothie batch, which yields about 25 ounces, costs, on average, $1.24.)
Specifically, I learned that I make enough juice to justify the purchase of a juicer. That was really what the spreadsheet was about. That, and my love of spreadsheets. And my desire to know how much it costs to have a regular juice habit. It was about a lot of things.
There are many "things to buy for a kitchen" articles out there, and generally, I'm in the camp of people who think that you can make MOST things with minimal equipment. You need a pot, a pan, a knife, a cutting board, a stirring utensil. You can make a lot of stuff with those things. You can make COFFEE with those things (if you have ground coffee and water). I'm theoretically wary of specialty appliances that do only one thing, but in reality, I have a juicer, a blender, an immersion blender, a stand mixer and a waffle maker. The waffle maker is the most egregious of these "does only one thing" items and I use it all the time. Because waffles are delicious, and amazingly easy to make.
So the juicer...The juicer I have is awesome, and from the '80s. It's that odd yellow color that things used to be (similar to the avocado color of the '50s and then the '70s). It's not pretty, but it's very unique. This is not the juicer I would get for myself, but it is the juicer that my mom gave me for free. I started the spreadsheet with the thought that if I made enough juice, and tracked the cost both overall and per batch of juice, I could, eventually, normalize the cost of the blender that I *would* have gotten if I hadn't already had one just sitting in my kitchen. (And then, obviously, I could get that juicer. HA. No, of course not. But I would think to myself "I could totally normalize the cost of this juicer. But since I have a perfectly good juicer already, I won't." I would get the L'Equip Mini, if my brain were different than it is, for those wondering at home.)
Since January 22nd, I have made 28 batches of juice, and the average cost per batch (when I say "batch" I mean "liter" because that's about how much juice I make. I mention this because very few people seem to talk about recipe yield when it comes to juice, and I think that's ridiculous) has been $3.67.
I think that, while I don't make juice every day the way I did for the first couple of weeks, I still make enough juice to justify the counter space and the theoretical money I would spend on a nice juicer, if I didn't already have a perfectly good juicer. For me, the benefits of having a juicer in the house definitely make it a worthwhile accessory. If I wanted to do a juice cleanse, it would be pretty easy. It's also a good way to use up vegetables and fruits that might otherwise go bad (apples. I'm talking about apples. and maybe also spinach when you get it in the really big bag from Costco.).
Now that I have come to all of these conclusions, I don't think I really need the spreadsheet anymore. Plus, it's smoothie season, so I should probably start a spreadsheet for that instead. (just kidding. Each smoothie batch, which yields about 25 ounces, costs, on average, $1.24.)
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Smoothie Season!
Just a super fast post to talk briefly about how when the weather starts staying in the 80s and higher, it is smoothie season. Not necessarily my favorite season, but a very good season.
Current smoothie:
2% milk
Whole milk plain yogurt (which is so different from the yogurt I usually get that I don't even think it tastes like yogurt. It tastes like magic.)
1 banana
Frozen mango and pineapple
Frozen raspberries and blueberries
Blend!
Take to work!
I would consider a Costco membership *just* for the savings on frozen fruit. Smoothie season will probably continue well into the fall. I worry that it will negatively impact the amount of juice I usually make/drink, but given that I've been taking a break from juicing anyway (no reason, just taking a break), it would be very hard to prove.
Current smoothie:
2% milk
Whole milk plain yogurt (which is so different from the yogurt I usually get that I don't even think it tastes like yogurt. It tastes like magic.)
1 banana
Frozen mango and pineapple
Frozen raspberries and blueberries
Blend!
Take to work!
I would consider a Costco membership *just* for the savings on frozen fruit. Smoothie season will probably continue well into the fall. I worry that it will negatively impact the amount of juice I usually make/drink, but given that I've been taking a break from juicing anyway (no reason, just taking a break), it would be very hard to prove.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Mow all the lawns
I mow two lawns now, every week. Before I got my house, I really didn't like yard work, and one of the reasons I liked living in an apartment was not having to worry about that sort of stuff. Then I got a house, and my cheapness won out over my yardwork avoidance. I am not great at it, I basically mow about once a week (or once every two weeks in the parts of the year where you can get away with this) and my goal is never to have the best lawn, but to never have the worst lawn on the block. It's like that old saying about outrunning a bear. You don't have to be faster than the bear, you just have to be faster than the other person. In this case, the bear is yardwork. My dandelion-blessed lawn doesn't make this easy, but it has been all right so far.
Now I'm also mowing the lawn at my parents' house, which is luckily pretty close to my own. I don't think they're going to buy into my "the bear is yardwork" theory, so I'm actually trying to keep their lawn nicer. (They, and I, live on a street of retirees, which is AWESOME. There is no neighborhood watch like a retired neighborhood watch. They know about everything, and they will call the police if they get worried. I know it might seem like a bad thing, but it isn't. It's great.) Retirees love their lawns.
Mowing has become a good way for me to work through stress. It's mindless, there's a clear result at the end of it, and at least at my house, with my mower, there's also the added of excitement of "will this mower keep working until the lawn is totally mowed?" So far, the answer is yes. When it turns to no, then I'll get to fix a mower. It's either a throttle issue or a carburetor issue. I've never tinkered with either of those before, so I'm kiiind of looking forward to it. Small engine repair is fun, unlike painting (not fun. the worst). Plus, thanks to Craigslist, a new (to me), working (ish) mower is never far off, or very expensive. (at my parents' house, it's more a "this mower is so nice. I should get another mower like this for my house.")
I seem to be going the opposite direction with this blog than I did the last time I had a blog (on livejournal! remember livejournal? I do!), where I would tell interesting stories to the internet, and then when I saw people in person, I'd have nothing to talk about. Apparently I'm going for "aggressively boring" this time. Woo!
Now I'm also mowing the lawn at my parents' house, which is luckily pretty close to my own. I don't think they're going to buy into my "the bear is yardwork" theory, so I'm actually trying to keep their lawn nicer. (They, and I, live on a street of retirees, which is AWESOME. There is no neighborhood watch like a retired neighborhood watch. They know about everything, and they will call the police if they get worried. I know it might seem like a bad thing, but it isn't. It's great.) Retirees love their lawns.
Mowing has become a good way for me to work through stress. It's mindless, there's a clear result at the end of it, and at least at my house, with my mower, there's also the added of excitement of "will this mower keep working until the lawn is totally mowed?" So far, the answer is yes. When it turns to no, then I'll get to fix a mower. It's either a throttle issue or a carburetor issue. I've never tinkered with either of those before, so I'm kiiind of looking forward to it. Small engine repair is fun, unlike painting (not fun. the worst). Plus, thanks to Craigslist, a new (to me), working (ish) mower is never far off, or very expensive. (at my parents' house, it's more a "this mower is so nice. I should get another mower like this for my house.")
I seem to be going the opposite direction with this blog than I did the last time I had a blog (on livejournal! remember livejournal? I do!), where I would tell interesting stories to the internet, and then when I saw people in person, I'd have nothing to talk about. Apparently I'm going for "aggressively boring" this time. Woo!
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
This is not a post about Spectrum Live
This is a post about what I have to do after Spectrum Live.
And that is basically sit in a dark room, sleep a lot, and try not to interact with people for a day or so, because I'm so overwhelmed by the amount and intensity of social interaction that has gone on for the entire weekend (and then some - things kicked off Thursday night this year) that I need to decompress. The same thing happens to me after San Diego Comic Con, but to a lesser degree. It turns out, the hierarchy of social exhaustion, for me, goes: event organizer, exhibitor, attendee. Attending shows is SO EASY. Exhibiting at shows involves dealing with a lot of people, but at the end of the day, I get to go out and do whatever and I don't really worry too much about the next day (part of this is because I have already planned out how that next day is going to go, with a lot of flexibility built in, and I have been exhibiting at San Diego for 9 years now and I feel very confident in my ability to handle anything that show throws at me). Being an event planner, though...even when I go out after the show, I'm asking people how their day went, and how the show is going for them, and how it compares to last year, etc. The majority of my conversations revolve around the show (and the show is something that I have had a huge part in putting together, so I'm very invested in it going well). When I go to sleep, I have to make an effort to stop thinking about how I can make the next day run more smoothly. When I wake up, usually around 6 am, my first thought is "what are the things I need to take to the show/remember to do at the show, who do I need to check on, etc." And then I get up and start making lists, and then I go to the convention center and do anything that needs to be done before the show opens, and anything I have time to do in addition to all of my usual stuff during the show itself.
This is all in addition to being the main liason for all of the special guests and generally being helpful and pleasant to all exhibitors and attendees. And I'm very good at doing all of these things, and I enjoy doing them. I just need some pretty serious downtime after the show ends, because I have no patience for anybody by that point. I'm too focused on getting as many things done as possible, not forgetting anything, helping as many people as I can, and making sure that the show runs smoothly in as many ways as I can humanly manage. And I can manage a lot of stuff. I was thinking about what it was about this year that was so much more challenging than last year (I was very busy last year, but I was somehow even busier this year) and I realized that, oh yeah, we had two more special guests than last year! And two more days of programming! Mystery solved.
I said something about this last night at dinner, and I 100% meant it: it's easy to be nice to people who are nice, and everyone I've ever worked with at the show has been really, really nice. But even as easy as it is, in some ways, it takes a lot of energy to interact with so many people and be high energy and, in some cases, literally run from one part of the convention center to another because something needs to be somewhere else as quickly as possible.
Once I can go out in the world again and interact with people in a civil, normal way, it's time to go find frames for all the art I've acquired over the course of the show! That part is way more fun than the "sit quietly, don't talk to anyone, take lots of naps" bit.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="576"]
Michael Whelan is a class act.[/caption]
I love the show, and I love being a part of it. It's challenging, and involves a lot of different elements to plan and participate in it, and as someone who is both horribly arrogant and highly competent, this is a good match for me. In addition to this, I'm not a natural extrovert, but I do pretty well, all things considered. My normal life involves a lot of time by myself, so this is probably the most intensely social weekend I have all year (followed by SDCC), and it's an odd mix of work and fun. The people are all super cool and interesting, and I enjoy talking to everyone, but it takes a lot out of me once it's over. It's like being on a massive caffeine bender, and as long as you keep going and stay awake, it's great, and then when you crash, you crash hard. I crash hard. It reminds me a little bit of my last year in college, where I was working full time at McDonalds, taking a full course load, and also doing an internship in Kansas City. I'd wake up at 4 am and I'd be going until about 11 pm (some of my classes were night classes) and I was fine as long as I didn't sit down on a comfortable chair. As soon as that happened, SUPER tired.
The show is all I can talk about for several weeks afterward. If you look at this post, you'll see the word "show" a tremendous number of times. I work very hard on it, I want it to succeed, and it holds my attention for quite a while after it's over. It did the same thing last year. I wouldn't call it an obsession, but I might call it a highly focused point of interest. An obsessive hobby. Hobbsession?Sorry, I'm still very tired.
Totally worth it, though. It's exhilarating.
And that is basically sit in a dark room, sleep a lot, and try not to interact with people for a day or so, because I'm so overwhelmed by the amount and intensity of social interaction that has gone on for the entire weekend (and then some - things kicked off Thursday night this year) that I need to decompress. The same thing happens to me after San Diego Comic Con, but to a lesser degree. It turns out, the hierarchy of social exhaustion, for me, goes: event organizer, exhibitor, attendee. Attending shows is SO EASY. Exhibiting at shows involves dealing with a lot of people, but at the end of the day, I get to go out and do whatever and I don't really worry too much about the next day (part of this is because I have already planned out how that next day is going to go, with a lot of flexibility built in, and I have been exhibiting at San Diego for 9 years now and I feel very confident in my ability to handle anything that show throws at me). Being an event planner, though...even when I go out after the show, I'm asking people how their day went, and how the show is going for them, and how it compares to last year, etc. The majority of my conversations revolve around the show (and the show is something that I have had a huge part in putting together, so I'm very invested in it going well). When I go to sleep, I have to make an effort to stop thinking about how I can make the next day run more smoothly. When I wake up, usually around 6 am, my first thought is "what are the things I need to take to the show/remember to do at the show, who do I need to check on, etc." And then I get up and start making lists, and then I go to the convention center and do anything that needs to be done before the show opens, and anything I have time to do in addition to all of my usual stuff during the show itself.
This is all in addition to being the main liason for all of the special guests and generally being helpful and pleasant to all exhibitors and attendees. And I'm very good at doing all of these things, and I enjoy doing them. I just need some pretty serious downtime after the show ends, because I have no patience for anybody by that point. I'm too focused on getting as many things done as possible, not forgetting anything, helping as many people as I can, and making sure that the show runs smoothly in as many ways as I can humanly manage. And I can manage a lot of stuff. I was thinking about what it was about this year that was so much more challenging than last year (I was very busy last year, but I was somehow even busier this year) and I realized that, oh yeah, we had two more special guests than last year! And two more days of programming! Mystery solved.
I said something about this last night at dinner, and I 100% meant it: it's easy to be nice to people who are nice, and everyone I've ever worked with at the show has been really, really nice. But even as easy as it is, in some ways, it takes a lot of energy to interact with so many people and be high energy and, in some cases, literally run from one part of the convention center to another because something needs to be somewhere else as quickly as possible.
Once I can go out in the world again and interact with people in a civil, normal way, it's time to go find frames for all the art I've acquired over the course of the show! That part is way more fun than the "sit quietly, don't talk to anyone, take lots of naps" bit.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="576"]
Michael Whelan is a class act.[/caption]I love the show, and I love being a part of it. It's challenging, and involves a lot of different elements to plan and participate in it, and as someone who is both horribly arrogant and highly competent, this is a good match for me. In addition to this, I'm not a natural extrovert, but I do pretty well, all things considered. My normal life involves a lot of time by myself, so this is probably the most intensely social weekend I have all year (followed by SDCC), and it's an odd mix of work and fun. The people are all super cool and interesting, and I enjoy talking to everyone, but it takes a lot out of me once it's over. It's like being on a massive caffeine bender, and as long as you keep going and stay awake, it's great, and then when you crash, you crash hard. I crash hard. It reminds me a little bit of my last year in college, where I was working full time at McDonalds, taking a full course load, and also doing an internship in Kansas City. I'd wake up at 4 am and I'd be going until about 11 pm (some of my classes were night classes) and I was fine as long as I didn't sit down on a comfortable chair. As soon as that happened, SUPER tired.
The show is all I can talk about for several weeks afterward. If you look at this post, you'll see the word "show" a tremendous number of times. I work very hard on it, I want it to succeed, and it holds my attention for quite a while after it's over. It did the same thing last year. I wouldn't call it an obsession, but I might call it a highly focused point of interest. An obsessive hobby. Hobbsession?Sorry, I'm still very tired.
Totally worth it, though. It's exhilarating.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Spectrum Live is so soon
But it doesn't make Vacuuming Wednesday any less important.
I've got my Magic: The Gathering cards and I am confident that I will figure out what I'm wearing to the Spectrum Awards on Saturday.
We had an awesome planning meeting, and I can't wait for the show.
Too excited to sleep!
Also, people are apparently turning their air conditioners on. People, it is not that hot. Come on.
I've got my Magic: The Gathering cards and I am confident that I will figure out what I'm wearing to the Spectrum Awards on Saturday.
We had an awesome planning meeting, and I can't wait for the show.
Too excited to sleep!
Also, people are apparently turning their air conditioners on. People, it is not that hot. Come on.
None of us are tall.[/caption]
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