Hot and Now

Netflix

We signed up for Netflix shortly after moving to Illinois, and we've enjoyed it the entire time.  We first signed up for the 3-dvds-at-a-time option, then downgraded to 2-at-a-time, then 1, back up to 2, and now we're down to 1 again (plus unlimited streaming).  Several times I've put our account on hold during college football season (for obvious reasons).  As you can see, our movie viewing waxes and wanes periodically.

SpongeBob

I mention all this because Netflix recently announced they've acquired streaming rights to more seasons of SpongeBob SquarePants!  They now have seasons 1-5 available for online streaming.  So if any of our readers have Netflix, and would like experience the best that SpongeBob has to offer, I now present our favorite SpongeBob episodes of all time, all of which are available to stream right now!  In no particular order:

• The Frycook Games (Season 2, Episode 19, second half)
• Krusty Krab Training Video (Season 3, Episode 10, first half)
• Mid-Life Crustacean (Season 3, Episode 15, second half)
• Missing Identity (Season 3, Episode 18, first half)

Ebert Presents at the Movies

I've become a fan of Roger Ebert's new show on PBS.  Since he can no longer speak, due to cancer, he usually only appears for one review which is narrated by someone else.  Most of the show is devoted to reviews by Christy Lemire of the Associated Press and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of the Chicago Reader.   I don't know if words can convey the sheer impressiveness of Ignatiy's name.  I did a double-take when I first saw him introduce himself.  Then I had to rewind and listen to it again.  And again. Then I had to try saying it, which took a couple of tries to get right.  Ignatiy Vishnevetsky.  Ig-naughty Vish-nuh-vet-ski.  Those are now my two favorite words to pronounce.

Anyway, I dig the show.  Christy and Ignatiy are fun to watch, they joke around, and sometimes those jokes are even funny.  They cover some lesser-known movies, as well as movies that are available to stream online (their "Hot and Now" segment).

My favorite experience from the show came last month, when they gave two thumbs up to an Oscar-nominated foreign film I'd never heard of.  After the episode, I went straight to Netflix and was able to watch the movie right then thanks to the streaming option.

Mountain Madness

During a company book sale last year I picked up a non-fiction book called Into Thin Air.  I hadn't heard of it before; it's written by a reporter who witnessed firsthand the disaster on Mt. Everest in 1996 as the group of climbers he was with were trapped near the summit due to a sudden snow storm.  It would become the deadliest climbing season in the history of Everest.  The back cover had quotes like these:

"Ranks among the great adventure books of all time"

"A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgement..."

"virtually defines excellence in the genre of narrative nonfiction"

So I decided to get it, thinking it might make a good gift.  Wendy had other plans, though:  she'd heard of the book, knew it was really good, and had wanted to read it for a long time.  In addition, she remembered the news stories about the disaster when it happened, and had vivid memories of seeing the survivors being rescued.

On our recent trip to Phoenix, she brought the book along and almost finished it during the 4-hour flight.  "It is utterly absorbing," she said.

I decided to read it on the flight home and it hooked me in.  I didn't finish nearly as fast as Wendy, but I was just as enthralled.  It is a very harrowing read.  Afterwards, we talked about all the amazing things from the book (and there are many).

The most amazing thing I got is just how huge Mt. Everest is.  When we lived in Colorado, we had a great view of Long's Peak, which is 14,259 feet.  If you doubled the size of Long's Peak, it still wouldn't match Everest, which stands at 29,028 feet.

But the author of Into Thin Air (Jon Krakauer) had even better ways to express it:

1.  The peak of Mt. Everest is at cruising altitude for some jetliners.
2.  Everest is so high that for most of the year it pierces the jet stream!  This creates a contrail of ice particles steaming off the peak.  Twice each year, during the spring and fall, the jet stream moves north of Everest, and that's when most summit attempts happen.

It dawned on me last week that it's spring now, so there are probably groups climbing the mountain right now and blogging their experience.  Here's one such group I've started following:

http://peakfreaks.com/everestnews2011.htm

Finally, much to my surprise, right after I finished the book, Jon Krakauer appeared in the news again, this time for alleging the book Three Cups of Tea is a fraud.

Spinach Salad

While making breakfast this morning, I looked out the window and discovered we had an inch or two of snow, just enough to cover the grass and coat the trees.  Between the snow and the oatmeal I was eating, this morning had a distinctly winter feel.

A couple of weekends ago Wendy and I went to Phoenix to visit Joy and Cory.  It was the first time either of us had spent any substantial amount of time in Phoenix, so it was cool to get a feel for the area.  My impression is that it looks entirely like an alien world.  The landscape is barren and sun-bleached, with cactus of all different shapes and sizes poking out of the ground.  The vegetation is just vastly different from the Midwest.

We did some cool things while we were there, including visiting the Botanical Gardens and viewing artwork and decorations produced by local artists.  My favorite activity was going to Taliesin West, which served as Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home and as a school for aspiring architects.  Wright’s summer home, Taliesin, was in Wisconsin, just west of Madison.  We haven’t been to see it yet, but we both want to now that we’ve seen Taliesin West.

Our flight to Phoenix went smoothly (discounting the extremely talkative retired guy I sat next to), but our flight home was delayed by 3 hours, which was never fully explained, but we overheard the ticket-counter lady saying that if a flight has to be delayed, Southwest likes to delay the Phoenix to Milwaukee flight because it’s a long haul flight with few connections in Milwaukee.  So that’s something to be aware of in the future.  At least they did give each of us a $100 voucher for a future flight.

While we visited Joy and Cory, we had a spinach salad for dinner a couple of nights.  That led to a conversation about something I discovered a few years ago: spinach helps me sleep better.  Even if I’ve been sleeping well, I can still tell that I sleep deeper than usual the night after eating spinach.  But, it has to be fresh spinach: frozen or cooked spinach doesn’t do the trick.

I discovered this effect after I kept reading about people making green smoothies (spinach + fruit blended together) as a way to get lots of leafy green vegetables.  So I decided to give it a shot.  For my first attempt, I went heavy on the spinach and light on the fruit (I think I used spinach, a banana, and ice cubes).  The result, as you might imagine, really wasn’t that good.  But I’d made a big glass of it, so I drank it.  And when I woke up the next morning I could not believe how well I’d slept.  That’s when I made the link.

I tried green smoothies a couple more times and discovered the magic ratio was 2 parts fruit to 1 part spinach.  If you did that, you really couldn’t tell there was any spinach; it tasted just like a fruit smoothie.  But that meant not as much spinach, so the improved-sleep effect wasn’t as great.  Eventually I stopped with the smoothies, deciding that eating a spinach salad was just as easy, tasted just as good, if not better, and as an added bonus I didn’t have to wash the blender when I was done.

The spinach salad we had in Phoenix was delicious: it had spinach, feta, dried cranberries, pecans, onions, and raspberry vinaigrette.  I highly recommend it.

Must Be Beautiful This Time of Year...

...all that snow!

We got somewhere around 20 inches - we measured anywhere from 16-36 inches, depending on the drifting.

For a sense of perspective, check out this post. Now imagine those bushes around the flag pole, only imagine them 4 and a half years taller. Now...

Those bushes are still there. Honest.

A few more pictures:

Randy worked really hard to get the driveway and front walk cleared. It even took our neighbors, who all have snowblowers, several hours to get their driveways cleared.

The driveway before:

And the driveway after:

Our street didn't get plowed until about 7 p.m. That's actually not bad, considering all the reports we read of snowplows getting stuck in drifts.

We ended up with a big drift in our backyard that was at least 36 inches tall. Is now the time to mention that I have a 27 inch-inseam?

Hope everyone is staying warm and getting shoveled out!

Tropical Fun

While I was slicing mango last night I realized our fridge was about to become a tropical wonderland. It already had sliced pineapple and sliced papaya, and now I was about to add two freshly sliced mangos. Delicious! Pineapple and mango are easily two of my favorite fruits.

And speaking of the tropics, this is a fine time to mention the cruise we went on last month with Wendy’s family. Our ultimate destination was the Panama Canal, but we did plenty of other things along the way:

• Bill and I went jet-skiing in the Bahamas. It was unbelievably cold and windy (apparently arctic air can still reach the Bahamas), but the wind churned up waves that made for a much more fun and intense jet-ski ride.
• Wendy and I went snorkeling in hot and sunny Aruba. Fortunately Aruba, which is just off the coast of South America, is close enough to the equator that arctic air can’t penetrate.
• We all went on a tour of caves in Curacao, which is an island just east of Aruba.
• We all got to see the ship enter the Panama Canal. Many pictures were taken.
• Wendy and I, along with Bill and Beth, took an aerial tram through the canopy of a rain forest in Panama.
• Bill and I went zip-lining in Costa Rica (Abby and Matt did too, but in a different group). Meanwhile, Wendy and Beth went kayaking through a Costa Rica jungle.

One of the daily on-board activities was Team Trivia Challenge, and our group completely crushed all competition (those who know the Drescher clan will not be surprised at all by this). We won at least 5 or 6 days and tied on another day. It was a 10-day cruise, and there were a couple of days without a trivia challenge, so we won somewhere around 75% of the time. We all came home with lots of mugs, bags, water bottle carriers, and Rubik’s cubes thanks to the famous Drescher Trivia Prowess.

The award for Most Interesting Passenger went to a Canadian music professor Wendy and I ate dinner with one evening. He collects musical instruments and currently has around 5,000 pieces, which is the largest private collection in North America. He supplied all the instruments for the Disney re-make of the Music Man, even providing a historically-accurate double bell euphonium for the song “76 Trombones”. He’s married, and joked that his wife will never divorce him because if she does, she’s stuck with half the instruments.

The ship also had internet access, and although it was expensive, I bought enough time to give me about ten minutes a day to catch up on my internet activities. I quickly discovered what information was most important to me: my email, the weather at our house (thanks to my weather station), and the latest college football news.

Finally, two bonus items:
1) A video I took of people doing the zip-line in Costa Rica:



2) A trivia question from Team Trivia Challenge that completely stumped the Drescher clan:

• What does a spermologist collect? Keep in mind this was a family-friendly contest. I’ll post the answer in the comments.

Book Roundup

I’ve written a lot about books recently, so please bear with me for one last book mega-post, and then we’ll move on to other topics.

During our recent cruise to the Panama Canal (more on that in a later post), I was perusing the ship’s library and came across the cool-sounding Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Tales by Algernon Blackwood.  The summary on the back cover included lots of quotes by H.P. Lovecraft praising the author, so I figured it must be good.  I flipped to the table of contents and noticed a story named “Wendigo”.  I was hooked.

You will of course remember the book I recently read about Wendigos.  It occurred to me that I never explained what a Wendigo is; I hadn’t heard the term until recently.  Basically it’s a Native American myth about an evil spirit often associated with wind, severe cold, and starving to death.  The exact details vary quite a bit, and what appears in fiction usually doesn’t match the historical descriptions, but in a nutshell, that’s it.

Algernon Blackwood’s short story was the first instance of Wendigos in fiction.  It, along with the other short stories in the book, was excellent.  Most of them can best be described as creepy nature stories.  His work is now in the public domain, so you can find a lot of his stories online, in the Kindle store, etc, for free.  “The Willows” and “Wendigo” are both really good.

However, the inspiration for this blog post was not the Algernon Blackwood book, but the other book I read while on the cruise:  “Zodiac” by Neal Stephenson.

Several years ago, at a company book sale, I came across a book called “Snow Crash”.  I half-remembered hearing of it before and having some kind of positive association with it, but that was all I could recall at the time.  So I bought it and read it.  And it turned out to be absolutely insane, crazy, over-the-top cyberpunk fun.  As soon as I finished it I turned to Wendy and said “Best.  Book.  Ever!”

That started me reading other Neal Stephenson books.  A couple of books later I read “Cryptonomicon”, which blew my mind.  I’d forgotten how a book, when it completely captivates you, causes your entire reality to shift into two modes:  Reading-Your-Book and Not-Reading-Your-Book.  When you’re Not-Reading-Your-Book all you can think about is getting back to Reading-Your-Book.  So you do whatever you can to get back there.  That was me during Cryptonomicon.  (I remember Wendy going through those modes when she read the staggeringly-long “Lymond Chronicles” by Dorothy Dunnett.)  After I finished Cryptonomicon, I turned to Wendy and said “I have to modify my earlier statement about Snow Crash.  Snow Crash is the Most Entertaining Book ever.  Cryptonomicon is the Best Book Ever.”  Even better than the Count of Monte Cristo, which I read way back here.

Since then I’ve plowed through the remaining Stephenson books.  From The Baroque Cycle, to Anathem, his most recent, which I inhaled more than read because it was so fascinating.  Zodiac, then, was one of his earliest books, and the final book of his I had yet to read.  The cruise gave me plenty of time to finish it.  And when I was done, I had really enjoyed it.

Much of why I enjoy his books so much is they often involve and hinge upon complex, technical subjects he’s able to easily explain. So not only do you get an entertaining story, but it’s almost like you’ve gotten an introductory college course on a particular topic by the time you’ve finished one of his books.  At the very least, you’ve gotten a glimpse into a complex subject you may never have learned about otherwise.

Here’s a breakdown of his books and a few of the broad topics each covers.

Zodiac
* Toxic chemicals

Snow Crash
* 3-D virtual worlds, Hacking, Ancient Sumerian mythology

The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer
* Nanotechnology

Cryptonomicon
* Math, Cryptography, Hacking, Information Theory

Quicksilver (Baroque Cycle, Part 1)
The Confusion (Part 2)
The System of the World (Part 3)
* Money, Finance, The Royal Society, Isaac Newton

Anathem
* Consciousness, Quantum Physics, Cosmology

If you’re interested in any of these, be warned that several of his later works are incredibly long (1000+ pages).  But, that’s part of the fun!

Merry Christmas!

OU vs Nebraska

A few days ago Wendy and I were talking college football, and I was telling her about one my favorite OU vs Nebraska plays, when I remembered another favorite, and then another favorite, and I thought “Hey, I should blog this”.

So here they are, in chronological order:

OU vs Nebraska, 2000

Probably my favorite, because I was at this game. Nebraska jumps out to a quick 14-0 lead, OU trims it to 14-7, and then on 3rd and 14, Heupel throws a long, arcing pass right as he's knocked to the ground. I looked downfield, there were no receivers anywhere, and I thought “Man, incomplete. 4th down.”. Out of nowhere, though, Curtis Fagan breaks free, sprints underneath the ball, catches and scores. Tie game! OU goes on to win 31-14.

OU vs Nebraska, 2001

This was a defensive battle between the top 2 teams in the country, and what I remember most are the trick plays. OU ran a reverse to Mark Clayton, who stopped and threw back to a wide open Nate Hybl. Hybl, unfortunately, stumbled and fell while the ball was in the air. Incomplete pass. Later in the game, Nebraska ran the same trick play, but Eric Crouch did not stumble; he made the catch and scored a TD. Unbelievable. Both teams had been practicing the same trick play during the week. One worked, one didn’t. Nebraska won, 20-10.

OU vs Nebraska, 2006 (Big 12 Championship game)

Up 14-7 in the 3rd, OU had the ball at their own 1-yard line on 3rd and 10. Nebraska had momentum, and with a stop would get the ball with great field position. Instead, Paul Thompson hits Jermaine Gresham for a 35-yard completion and a 1st down. That kickstarts a 99-yard touchdown drive(!!), putting OU comfortably in the lead. Nebraska never recovers; OU wins 21-7.

And now I can add this to the list...

OU vs Nebraska, 2010 (Big 12 Championship game)

It’s too early to say what the most memorable play will be, but here are some nominees:

• OU falling behind 17-0, but rallying to tie the game in the 2nd quarter.
• Travis Lewis’ game-changing interception in the end zone, the first of 3 turnovers he recovered.
• In the 4th quarter, OU had 3rd and 24 when Cameron Kenney catches a 20-yard pass and fights, fights, fights for 3 more yards. That brought up 4th and 1, making it an easy decision to go for it. OU converts, throwing to Kenney again, for an 11-yard gain, which sets up the game-winning field goal by Jimmy Stevens. Go Jimmy!
• Late in the game, Nebraska attempts a fake punt on 4th and 4, but just as they start the fake, the play is whistled dead. Stoops realized it was a fake at the last second, and called timeout just before the ball was snapped. With the element of surprise gone, Nebraska is forced to punt.

Final score: OU 23, Nebraska 20.

Monsters Reloaded

I finished reading The Curse of the Wendigo (the sequel to The Monstrumologist), and it’s fantastic. It doesn’t have as much gore and viscera as the first book, but makes up for it in other ways. I won’t give anything away.

Both of these books are really top-notch, and deal with some impressively adult themes. For instance, Dr. Pellinore Warthrop is a so-called monster-hunter, but despises the term, preferring instead to be labeled a philosopher of “aberrant biology”. After all, what is a monster? Is a lion a monster for attacking and eating the antelope? Then what of the creature whose sole means of survival is attacking and eating humans? Is it a monster for trying to live, for trying to provide food for its young?

And speaking of young, how do these “monsters” propagate their species? At what rate? What is their natural habitat? Are they nocturnal? How do they capture their prey? These are the questions that drive Dr. Warthrop.

Similarly, as the Doctor’s young assistant, Will Henry, points out, “monsters” aren’t always giant, man-eating creatures. Sometimes they’re microscopic parasites living in your blood, inflicting... well, I won’t give anything away.

Coming back to reality, all of this talk reminds me of an article I read in New Scientist last year, about the closest thing Earth has to the alien from the Alien movies starring Sigourney Weaver. The best the author could find was a long, stringy, parasitic worm; I don’t remember the exact details, thankfully, but I do remember feeling sick to my stomach afterwards, and thinking “I wish I had never read that.” Trust me, it was gross.

To finish on a less gruesome note, the Monstrumologist books remind me of one of my favorite authors growing up, John Bellairs. He wrote creepy, gothic horror children’s books full of crypts, tombs, evil spirits, magic artifacts, and haunted dwellings. Almost as good as the stories were the illustrations, drawn by the macabre Edward Gorey. (Unfortunately, the more recent printings of Bellairs’ books no longer have Gorey illustrations. If you’re interested in reading Bellairs, try finding some older printings.)

Among the various characters Bellairs created, Johnny and Professor Childermass were by far my favorite. Will Henry and Dr. Warthrop remind me a lot of Johnny and the Professor: Johnny and Will Henry are both the same age; and while the Professor has a love of chocolate cake, Dr. Warthrop loves raspberry scones. But the similarities are only superficial, I must say. Johnny and the Professor are short, creepy stories for middle school kids; Will Henry and Dr. Warthrop are lengthy, gruesome books for young adults.

Treats

1. While we were at the grocery store today, the X-Files theme song started playing.
2. For the first time ever, the grocery store had OU apparel for sale. I scored an OU shirt and cap.
3. A Halloween Android to add to my collection.
4. On Thursday, November 11th, a special SpongeBob episode will air: "Mystery with a Twistery". Our Tivo is set.
5. 5 Things SpongeBob SquarePants Can Teach You About Business

Boomer! Sooner!

I can’t let this week pass without mentioning college football.

Last Saturday, sometime around 6pm, there was a volcanic eruption of cheering centered around our house. OU, clinging to a 1-possession lead with a minute remaining, recovered a muffed punt to seal a victory against Texas!

I don’t think I’ve ever cheered so hard before. I’ve certainly screamed that hard in disgust (the Oregon game in ‘06), but this was a pure victory celebration. OU was in control for most of the game, but a bizarre series of plays tightened the game late in the 4th quarter, and only when OU recovered the muffed punt could we breathe a sigh of relief. Or, to put it more accurately, run all around the room, jumping up and down, screaming because we just beat Texas.

Boomer Sooner, baby!

Snap to, dear readers! Snap to!

Way back in January, at my day job, I came across a fantastic-sounding book review; a review so good I had to share it with Wendy. The book was The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey. This was the review, in part:

Grades 9-12. With a roaring sense of adventure and enough viscera to gag the hardiest of gore hounds, Yancey’s series starter might just be the best horror novel of the year. Will Henry is the 12-year-old apprentice to Pellinore Warthrop, a brilliant and self-absorbed monstrumologist—a scientist who studies (and when necessary, kills) monsters in late-1800s New England.

...

Yancey keeps the shocks frequent and shrouded in a splattery miasma of blood, bone, pus, and maggots.

...

Yancey’s prose is stentorian and wordy, but it weaves a world that possesses a Lovecraftian logic and hints at its own deeply satisfying mythos. Most effective of all, however, is the weirdly tender relationship between the quiet, respectful boy and his strict, Darwinesque father figure. “Snap to!” is Warthrop’s continued demand of Will, but readers will need no such needling.

Source: Booklist

Wendy shared the same enthusiasm as I. “Dude, that sounds awesome!” she said. I checked all the local libraries online, but it was checked out everywhere. The book had just won a Michael L. Printz Honor Award, which is how I heard about it, so it was no surprise the book was so popular.

Several months later, at the company book sale, we were winding down by going through the stacks of books we’d each found. As luck would have it, Wendy had found a copy of The Monstrumologist! Sweet!

The next several months, though, it sat in a big pile of books, nearly forgotten. However, I recently re-discovered it, remembered my earlier excitement, and decided to give it a read.

Well, I finished it last night.

And wow, that book has an astounding amount of gore! And it’s really good!

If you like your stories dark, grim, gruesome, appalling, with a LOT of gore, and with hordes of ravenous, man-slaughtering monsters, then you may have just met your match.

As for me, I think I’ll try something lighter for my next book.

But wait! There’s more!

I just discovered the sequel is about to be released! It’s called The Curse of the Wendigo and the Booklist review says it has "more honest emotion than any book involving copious de-facings (yes, you read that right) ought to have".

A One-Of-A-Kind Post

Several months ago I got a new Android smartphone. I hesitate to use the word phone, because it's far more of a hand-held computer than any kind of phone. There are apps galore that can be downloaded for it, and I've been having fun trying out a bunch of them, particularly astronomy apps. Some apps (Google Sky) are great for identifying stars and constellations, and others (Iridium Flares, Satellite Flybys) are great for spotting iridium flares, satellites, and the space station.

The Android OS has its own little mascot. This guy:

And a while back, a company started selling collectible Android figurines like this:

They turned out to be hugely popular, and sold out nearly instantaneously.

This brings me to my birthday! Wendy let it be known that:

1. She was making me a birthday present.
2. The magnitude of its dorkiness would be off the charts.
3. She waited too long to start it and was now hurrying to finish it in time.

I honestly had no idea what it could be.

So, on my birthday, the mystery was solved when I unwrapped this:

I loved it! It was way cooler than anything I had imagined she was making, and I was totally impressed with her mad crocheting skillz.

A few days after my birthday, the company got more figurines in stock, so I jumped at the chance to get some friends (minions?) for my custom-made Android:

The little guy on the right, by the way, is a glow-in-the-dark "radioactive" android.

The Android wasn't the only hand-made gift I got, either. Long-time readers of our blog know that Wendy and I love books, and we have a lot of them. So, some months ago, when my Mom mysteriously asked for a list of authors and books I like, I knew something was up. And when Cory blogged about his Concorde birthday gift a few months ago, I knew something cross-stitch-y was up.

Once again, the mystery was solved when I opened the box and found this:

(click to embiggen)

A very cool, not to mention very creative, gift that goes quite well with our tall bookshelves and stacks of books piled high.

A Monumental Report

Recently, I came home from work and Wendy was at the laptop surfing the web.

"I just finished reading an article about the 20 least-visited national monuments in the U.S. Guess how many we've been to!" she said.

It was a leading question, to be sure, so I knew the answer was greater than zero.

"Um, two?"

"You're right!" she replied. "Now guess which ones!"

Hm, a much tougher question. I thought about it for a bit and made a few wrong guesses. Then said: "George Washington Carver National Monument?"

"That's one!"

We wrote briefly about our stops at the GWC National Monument a few years ago. I'm surprised it made it in the top 20 least-visited monuments, but according to the article it comes in at #13, with 39,000 visitors last year.

So, one down, one to go. I tried a few more ideas, but with no luck. "Ok, I don't know. What's the other one?"

"The Capulin Volcano in New Mexico," Wendy said.

Ah, Mount Capulin. I would never have come up with that. It's a cinder-cone volcano in northeastern New Mexico.

Back in our Colorado days we took a continuing-ed Astronomy class at Colorado State University. From the class we learned about Star Hill Inn, an astronomy retreat in the mountains of New Mexico. You rent a cabin in the woods and get access to over a dozen telescopes of all different types to use for stargazing.

We went a few times and really enjoyed it. It was during one of those stays we visited the Capulin Volcano which was nearby. The thing I remember most is thinking we picked the right day to go; it was cloudy and cool, while the day before and day after were sunny and very hot. Had it been sunny and clear, though, we might have seen portions of four states from the highest point (New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Colorado).

I am sad to report while writing this post I discovered that Star Hill Inn is now closed. Bummer. It was a very cool place.

Finally:

"Now guess what the least-visited monument is and how many visitors it had last year."

"Well, it has to be in Alaska. 50 visitors?"

"Aniakchak, Alaska. 14 visitors!"

More Turtle Videos!

Turtles have a long and storied tradition on our blog: from sunbathing on logs to the annual migration across our yard. This year, we've decided to super-size that tradition! I now present to you, courtesy of the Springfield Zoo, a Galápagos Tortoise:

For the past few years we've been meaning to visit the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL. We've heard a number of good reviews of it, so over Easter Weekend we drove down for a few days.

Because rain was forecast for the latter part of the weekend, we decided to do the outdoors attractions first. Thus, our first stop was the Springfield Zoo. It was fairly small as one might expect, and a few exhibits were closed until later in the spring, but it was still a decent outing. Our encounter with Mr. Galápagos was alone worth the price of admission.

Afterwards, we visited the Dana-Thomas House which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. We went on an hour-long tour of the house, but pictures were not allowed inside, so you'll have to make do with these exterior shots. The interior, by the way, was very elaborate with lots of winding passageways.

Finally, at the end of our first day we visited Lincoln's Tomb. This was much more moving than either of us expected it to be.

Day 2 was devoted exclusively to Lincoln. We spent the entire morning exploring the Lincoln Museum, and yes, it is quite good. There's a lot of information presented very effectively. Again, no pictures were allowed of the exhibits, so you'll have to take our word on it.

One of the highlights was seeing one of Mr. Lincoln's top-hats on display (there are only 3 left in the world, the very helpful volunteer told us), complete with thumbprints on the brim where he would tip his hat. Lincoln wore the hats partly because he liked to carry papers inside of them.

Finally, from a gift-shop book I learned that Lincoln had quite a temper as a young politician, published vicious letters anonymously in the paper attacking his opponents, was found out by one of those opponents, and was challenged to a duel. Both men met with swords at the alotted time before a peace deal was struck at the last minute. (The entire affair is rather funny; you can read a full account here.)

For the last stop on our Lincoln Tour, we spent a while touring the neighborhood and house Lincoln lived in for 17 years.

Lincoln did quite well as a lawyer in Springfield.

This house was remodeled twice during his stay.

Lincoln's sofa. It was actually long enough for him to recline in.

His work desk in the bedroom.

We left Springfield the next morning, but took a longer route home so we could meet Danny and two of his friends in Champaign, IL. We had a delicious Easter brunch at Carmon's restaurant (their crepes are quite good), and enjoyed catching up on the latest news.

Kitto Katsu!

A few weeks ago I strode confidently into the living room and announced:

"I have an announcement!"

Wendy, perhaps mildly bemused, looked up from the laptop and cupped her hand around her ear.

"I am ordering Nestle Kit Kats from Amazon!" I stated, proudly and boldly. She cracked up, we exchanged a high five, and off I went to complete my purchase.

Rewinding several days, I was telling Wendy everything I had just learned about Kit Kats. I'd read a BBC article comparing Kit Kats and bananas as snacks, and it became apparent that Kit Kats in the rest of the world are vastly different than Kit Kats in the U.S. So I turned to the Kit Kat wikipedia page to fill in the details. Here are the things I learned:

• Kit Kats were created in England by a company called Rowntree, supposedly after a factory worker put a suggestion in the suggestion box for a snack a "man could have in his lunch box for work".
• Kit Kats are made by Nestle everywhere except the U.S., where they're made by Hershey.
• U.S. Kit Kats taste differently than those in the rest of the world (the U.S. version has more sugar and less milk).
• Nestle bought Rowntree in 1988 thus acquiring the Kit Kat brand, but they had to honor a 1969 licensing agreement Rowntree had made with Hershey to sell Kit Kats in the U.S.
• The deal is that if Hershey is ever sold, the U.S. Kit Kat rights revert back to Nestle. Hershey did try to sell itself in 2002, but failed, partly because if someone bought Hershey, they would immediately lose the Kit Kat brand.
• Kit Kats have become very popular in Japan, in part because of the Japanese phrase "Kitto Katsu" which translates to "You will surely win!" They've become a popular good luck charm for parents to give to students during exams.
• Finally, there are a huge variety of Kit Kat flavors, none of which are available in the U.S. Here are some examples: Mint, Orange, Caramel, Capuccino, Apple, Hazelnut, Banana, Strawberry, Green Tea, Passion Fruit, and Lemon Cheesecake.

Fast forward to last weekend, and my package of international Nestle Kit Kats had arrived. I had been eagerly awaiting them all week, and I'd read a number reviews praising how much better Nestle Kit Kats were than the U.S. version. I opened a pack, broke off a piece, and took a bite.

And it was a disappointment. "It's just a Kit Kat," I said to Wendy. I'd read so much about them, about how people "would never eat another U.S. Kit Kat again" after tasting the Nestle version, that my expectations had risen too high. My life did not change after that one bite.

So, I took a few more bites, then ate another piece, finished the package, and finally decided that they are actually pretty good. Probably better than most U.S. candy bars. The chocolate is definitely much better. And now, after having sampled... numerous... packages, I have to say that they are delicious and are indeed superior to the U.S. version.

Finally, if you would like to try these Nestle Kit Kats for yourself, now is the time of year to do so. The Amazon page states "Customer takes responsibility for melted chocolate (happens mostly during summer months)".

P.S. Wendy's reaction after her first bite: "Oh, that's good!"

The Legend of Tiny Gallon!

After one of the craziest Christmases in recent memory (see last post), we enjoyed a remarkably peaceful New Year's Eve by staying home. The highlight of the evening for me was:

1. Finding out OU has a basketball player named Tiny Gallon.
   
2. Watching Tiny Gallon do this:

There was a 50-minute delay while they brought in and set up a new basketball goal. Thus, the last game of the decade turned into the first game of the new decade. OU lost badly, but provided the most interesting highlight by far.

Also, props to the OU football team who, earlier in the day, won its bowl game (finally!) against a tough Stanford team.

To complete the OU-sports theme, I'll leave you with this quote from ESPN Big 12 blogger Tim Griffin, regarding Alabama's recent victory over Texas:

A victory would have made Texas the favorite for team of the decade in the Big 12. A pair of national championships would have been hard to argue with.

But now, Oklahoma's six Big 12 championships and one national title trumps the Longhorns' two Big 12 titles and one national championship in 2005.

Catching Up, Part 3: We Fought Christmas, and Christmas Nearly Won

Warning: this is a very long post! And we have no photos! You can check out Cory's post here for his take on Christmas, as well as some pictures.

We had tickets to fly to Tulsa on Christmas Eve, Thursday, at about noon. The warnings started Sunday, which was the same day I came down with a cold. Major winter storm coming Wednesday and Thursday! Ice! Sleet! Snow! If you value your lives, flee now! (Okay, maybe not that last part, but pretty close.) We kept an eye on the weather, and kept hoping maybe the forecast would change and it would get here by Tuesday, or hold off until Thursday night, but it stayed stubbornly fixed on Wednesday into Thursday. By Tuesday, they were saying we'd get a quarter-inch of ice on Wednesday, starting about noon, and then the snow would start that night. We were not feeling real hopeful for our chances of getting out of Chicago.

It kept snowing that week - just a bit every day, enough to make getting around kind of a pain. Wednesday morning, when I went to work, I checked the weather again and found the forecast for us unchanged. But the weather for Tulsa now said Major winter storm coming! Ice! Sleet! 7-12 inches of snow! If you value your lives, flee now! Luckily, one of my coworkers told me that the airlines were letting people change flights for no fee if they could get out of town ahead of the storm. I called Randy (who hadn't left for work yet), and he immediately called the reservation line while I looked up possible flights for us.

Luckily, we were able to switch our 11:35 a.m. Thursday flight to an 8:30 p.m. Wednesday flight. "Go to the airport now!" my coworkers said. "Otherwise you'll never get out of here! If you value your lives, flee now!" So I headed home, we packed super fast, and left for the airport by about 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday the 23rd. It started sleeting on our way to the airport, and it took us about an hour and forty-five minutes to get there. We got checked in and just for the heck of it, put our names on the stand-by list for the 4:30 flight. Unbeknownst to us (at that point), the 11:35 a.m. flight had been cancelled and there was no way we were going to get on the 4:30 flight.

So we sat down, and we waited, and I blew my nose every two minutes. Every flight we saw had a huge stand-by list, including ours. We waited more, and I tried to use my hand sanitizer as ostentatiously as possible, to avoid a revolt from my fellow passengers. We watched the sleet change to snow. It would have been beautiful had we not been trying to fly out - the flakes were huge, probably the biggest I've ever seen. We waited more, and I tried not to wheeze too audibly. Our gate changed probably 6 or 8 times. At one point, we were all sitting at G8 when a guy up at the agent counter turned around and yelled out, "Hey, it's H16 now!" Everyone sighed, gathered their bags, and shuffled off together. We were right behind a serviceman in uniform, who we'd seen at 3 of our previous gates, at least. "I've walked more today than I did during basic training," he said. I glanced over at a flight status monitor on our way over to H16 - and saw the gate change to H18. All we could do at that point was laugh.

Finally, at 9:30, an hour after we should have taken off, they announced that we could begin boarding and we both breathed a huge sigh of relief that we would not be spending the night at the airport. We had to wait for de-icing and finally took off a little after 10 p.m. Our flight was uneventful, except that we had to wait to deplane in Tulsa. Our captain came on the intercom to announce that due to the late hour, there was only one ground crew working and we'd have to wait our turn until they could get to us. I guess it could have been worse - after we made it into the airport at about 12:30, we heard an announcement: "Those of you waiting for the Denver flight, the new estimated arrival time is 2:30 a.m."

Joy and Cory had stayed up late to come get us (thank you!), and we made it back to Randy's parents house outside of Spavinaw at about 2 a.m. We were both starving, and after a quick sandwich, we all went to bed at about 3 a.m. It was a very long day.

It started sleeting by about 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and by about 2:30, the power was out. Because the house has an electric well pump, the lack of power also means no water. "Oh, that's a bad sign," Randy's dad said. "The power should not have gone out this early into the storm." We made the best of it, lighting candles and eating a late lunch by kerosene lamp. We decided to open our presents then, and called Randy's uncle to tell him he better head out from Tulsa ASAP if he was going to make it. (We, uh, may have also asked him to bring wine when he came. I think we all felt that we could maybe face a powerless Christmas a little bit better if we were all just a little bit, um, more relaxed, let's say.)

After about 4 hours, we were done opening presents, we had moved on to card games by candlelight, and Randy's uncle still hadn't arrived. Then the power came back on! We all cheered, and there was a literal sprint to plug in our cell phones, DS lites, and other electric devices, just in case the power went out again. At about that point, it started snowing, and wow, did it snow. After another hour or so, we heard from Randy's uncle - it had taken him nearly two hours to get to the outskirts of Tulsa, where he discovered what we had just seen on the internet - the governor of Oklahoma had declared all state highways, turnpikes and interstates closed. So he turned around and headed the nearly two hours back home.

Meanwhile, the snow kept falling. By the time it was done Christmas morning, there were about 7 inches at Randy's parents' house and in Tulsa, and Oklahoma City had gotten about 14 inches - more than it had ever gotten before!

It should be noted that Oklahoma does not get much snow. They just do not have the manpower or equipment to deal with a big snowfall like that. Joy and Cory had a flight out of the Tulsa airport at about 8 a.m. on December 26, and after some discussion, they decided that they really better head in to town the afternoon before, because they had no idea how long it would take, and so that they could make at least part of the drive before it got dark. So we quickly ate Christmas dinner and they packed up and piled into Randy's dad's truck. They took off, with Randy's dad at the wheel, moving very slowly and carefully. Nearly 3 hours later, they called to say they had made it to the hotel and that the roads were completely snow-packed.

That night, Randy, his mom and I played a game of Pandemic, which Randy got for Christmas. It's a really fun game, and we enjoyed it. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a little prophetic, and not in a good way. By that evening, Randy and his mom had both come down with the stomach flu and were vomiting.

The next day, Randy's dad made his slow, careful way back home. We heard from Joy that they had made it back to Phoenix before Randy's dad managed to drive back from Tulsa! Neither Randy nor his mom was really feeling any better. They both spent most of the day in bed. Meanwhile, I was checking the weather for our return on the 27th, and seeing that McHenry was supposed to be getting 6-10 inches of snow on the 26th. The only good news was that it looked like it was supposed to be done by the 27th.

The morning of the 27th, Randy (still not feeling good, but not eating anything so he would have nothing to throw up), his dad and I left for the airport. Our flight left at 2 p.m., and we decided that just to be on the safe side, we'd leave by 9 a.m. We headed (very slowly) out on to the icy, completely snow-packed roads. "Wow," Randy's dad said. "The roads are much better than they were the other day!" Luckily, by the time we made it to the turnpike (about halfway there), the roads actually were much better. Although one lane of the road was still completely covered in snow, the other lane was pretty much clear, although not totally. It took us about 2 hours, so we were plenty early for our flight, but we figured that was better than being late.

Once again, our flight was delayed, but only by about an hour. After a slightly bumpy flight back, we retrieved our car from the extended parking lot and headed home. My only concern at that point was how we were going to get our car up the driveway with all the snow. (We live in the pink area, right around the "d" in Woodstock.) Thankfully, a kind neighbor had come over with his snowblower while we were gone - there was an inch or two on the driveway still, but we didn't have to go out and shovel that night.

So! That was our Christmas. How was yours?

Catching Up, Part 2: Abby and Matt got married!

In November, Abby and Matt got married!


The wedding was held at the VA Chapel in Leavenworth, and everything went really well. Abby and Matt both looked great, and were very happy.

We were a pretty good-looking wedding party, if I do say so myself.

I had kind of forgotten how much work weddings are when you are not the one getting married. Not that it's not a lot of work to be the bride (or groom), but no one expects the bride to pin corsages on the groomsmen, make sure the ushers are in place, or track down her own safety pin a few minutes before the ceremony begins. Not that I'm complaining - please note that Abby did all these things (and more!) for me at my wedding, too.

The reception was a lot of fun, with very tasty food.


Now that Abby and I are both married to sons of preacher men, you can probably guess which song it is that we're dancing to here.


After the wedding, Abby and Matt headed off for a Caribbean cruise, and Randy and I headed down to Wichita to spend Thanksgiving with my parents and grandparents. We had a nice, low-key time, which I think we all appreciated after the wedding. We didn't do all that much while we were there, although Randy and I ventured into Hutchinson at one point. Since we're not all that familiar with the area, my grandpa let us take the bossy lady along for the drive. She didn't let us down, and we navigated there and back with ease.

We both had a good time hanging out with all the relatives and Matt and Abby's friends, but I think we were both very glad to be home, too. We've done much more traveling than usual this year, which of course means we've run into more travel problems than usual this year.

Unfortunately, our pleasure at being home and being done with traveling would turn out to be short-lived...(cue ominous music!) Tune in tomorrow for part 3 of Catching Up!

Catching Up, Part 1

There are several posts we've been meaning to make over the last couple of months. We're almost to the end of the year now, so I think we should hurry up and get them posted before 2010. This is part one of our catching up: my birthday trip to Mackinac Island.


I turned 30 this year, and Randy surprised me with a trip to Mackinac Island. It's about an 8-hour drive from McHenry whichever way you go, so we decided to drive there by going south, around the bottom of Lake Michigan, and come home from the north, through Wisconsin. Our trip started off on a pretty promising note when we checked into our hotel Saturday night (still on the mainland of Michigan) and discovered that Washington had defeated USC.

Sunday (my birthday), we caught the ferry over to Mackinac Island. They don't allow motorized vehicles on the island, so the main methods of getting around (other than walking) are by horse and by bike.

We did both! We started out by taking a tour of the island by horse-drawn carriage. The town is very picturesque, and our tour guide told us about several interesting historical facts. (Bonus interesting fact: look at the link to see where Dr. Beaumont is buried!) After seeing the town, we headed into the interior of the island. Although the coastline of the island is very flat, it gets extremely hilly as soon as you turn inland. I was impressed the horses were able to pull our tour group of about 20 people up the hill with only a few short rests.


It was very pretty, and the weather was perfect. After our tour, we rented bikes and rode around the island. There's a highway that goes all the way around the edge of the island - it's about 8 miles in circumference. It was really, really pleasant to be able to ride without worrying about cars on the roads!


Our second day on the island was not quite as perfect - we still had a nice time, but it was chillier and kind of drizzling for a lot of the morning. We went up to Fort Mackinac and rode bikes again. We managed to get slightly lost on a tour of the island's interior roads, and ended up having to cut across a golf course twice in order to get unlost. I was kind of outraged to see a (non-horse drawn!) golf cart at one point.

We had a great time and I would definitely recommend the trip. I don't think I can overstate just how gorgeous everything was!


Tune in tomorrow for Catching Up, Part 2!

Post #99

It's a little distracting trying to type this while Wendy plays Mario Kart, but here goes:

Happy Birthday, Wendy

We celebrated Wendy's birthday this year with a trip to Mackinac Island. If you're not familiar with it, it's in Lake Huron between Lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, and there are no motorized vehicles allowed on the island. Horses, hiking, and bicycling are the only options once you're there. It's a very popular tourist spot, but we managed to avoid the crowds by going during the week, and towards the end of tourist season. We'll post some pictures and more details in a later post, but for now I'll just say that it was way more fun than I thought it would be, and if you enjoy riding a bike, the place is heaven.

Happy Birthday, Car

My car turned 14 years old this month. It was purchased in October of 1995. "You've had your car longer than you've known me!" Wendy pointed out. It's been a pretty good car overall (a Chevy Cavalier). These days it doesn't have to do much except get me to work and back.

Booksale books

There was another employee book sale at work recently. I got 49 books total. Here are some of the more notable finds:

• M is for Magic and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
• Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origin of the Internet
• Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
• The Saga of Solomon Kane
• Batman: Year One
• Statistics II for Dummies
• Spinning Flight: Dynamics of Frisbees, Boomerangs, Samaras, and Skipping Stones

Nerds 'R Us

Speaking of books, we measured the length of all our books on bookshelves. It came out to 75.8 feet (910 inches), and, since we've cataloged them with librarything.com, we know there are just over 900 books, which works out to about an inch per book. Why did we do that? Because of this.

Noisy Frame

We bought a new bed a while back (mattress, box spring, and frame), and while the mattress is really nice, the frame was a disappointment. Any time you moved slightly or rolled over, it made a metal squeaking sound that would often wake you up. It felt like it just needed to be tightened, but the frame was designed to not have any screws, so there was nothing to tighten. We took it back, thinking it might be defective, and got another one, but it had the same problem. As usual, Google came to the rescue: someone online recommended putting rubber washers between the loose frame parts, and that worked perfectly. Thank you Google and anonymous internet person!

And finally...

Mario Kart is pretty cool.