Category: Rando

Gotye

~ meh ~ Leave a comment

OK, this song’s been out for 8 months…hence the 81 million views on the video…so obviously I’m a little late on the uptake.  The guy is Belgian/Australian and he’s old news down under, but I just found him and the whole album is great and I can’t stop listening to it.

Thanks to Paul for introducing me to him.

Update: I just came across this.  Love.  PS22 also covers Adele, Passion Pit, Gym Class Heroes…pretty much everything.  Double love.

Deck the Halls

~ meh ~ 2 Comments
the complete display of holiday decorations at our house. its tree-shaped because the string of lights wasn't long enough to reach around the edge of the window.

Christmas has exploded in our office (I am going to apologize in advance for the quality of these pictures, they were taken quickly and with my phone.)

A 360 view of what I see as I walk out of my cubicle:

To the left (of course, I’ve mentioned this before):

look how much that battle has grown since the first ship landed on dec 1

To the right:

as far as i know, mitch is the only one in the office with a stocking

To the front:

oh hello there!

To the side (outside my neighbor’s cube):

ok, i lied. i have no idea who duckie is, but he has a stocking too.

To the other side (my neighbor’s file cabinet):

And to the back (inside my own cube, thanks to a coworker who hung it there):

A departure from my previous place of employment, where we weren’t allowed to have flowers on the counters because one of the managing partners thought it made the office look like a bank.

I should note, all of these are provided by a single employee who is letting the office “borrow” them for the season.  She also has three inflatable Christmas-themed decorations in the front yard of her home (a manger, noah’s ark…with flamingos…, and barn with all 9 of Santa’s reindeer sitting in their respective stalls. She showed me pictures on her phone.)  Can’t help but admire people who embrace anything with this amount of passion and just run with it.

P.S.  And what else to do when you’re sitting in a glittercloud of holiday than listen to some seasonal music.  Favorite this week: the She & Him Christmas Album.

Advent

~ meh ~ 4 Comments
Town hall in Hunfeld, Germany (where the advent calendar tradition started) where they use the actual windows of the house as the advent calendar. 

At 8:15 this morning one of my coworkers came bounding up to my desk, big box in hand, smile on face, and giddily told me, “Just FYI, we set up an advent calendar on this file cabinet here right by your desk every year, so for the next 24 days people will be gathering here every morning to watch it get opened.”

Sure enough, everyone and their mother came by my desk this morning to admire it and get REALLY EXCITED.  The theme this year?   Star Wars Legos.  Because what says preparation for the Nativity of Christ more than that.

So every day has a little bag of lego pieces that build something.  And because I’m the newest one in the office, and because this daily event happens just outside the door of my cube, I was chosen to build the first one:

I think it is some sort of ship (?)

I won’t lie, there were a lot of little pieces and with everyone watching me try to figure out how to put it together, I did experience some performance anxiety.  But in the end, I prevailed.

Hello, December.

YES YOU CAN!

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

And…we did.  Another exciting Friday night at our house.

I came home from work a few weeks ago to veggies, jars, and vinegar on the counter, samurai movies on TV…

…and Paul having a great time.

When he was in Costa Rica this past July the mother of the house where he was staying made this special chili (I’m blanking on the name…basically some sort of pickled onions and peppers) to put on their gallo pinto.  Paul was obsessed.   So, of course, it was the first thing he tried to can.

A little history: Paul had attempted to make kimchi when we lived in San Francisco, and it was one of the more disgusting experiments I’ve ever had the opportunity to witness.  So I was/am skeptical.

ANYWAY!  How does it work?

First, get a magazine or book like above (I found that at Meijer) devoted to the art of canning and preserves.  You will also need a big pot:

Some mason jars (which you can reuse):

Metal screw bands (which you can also reuse) and lids (which need to be new):

A jar funnel:

And a special pair of tongs to pick up the jars (note: all of this stuff, except for the lids, came in a canning kit I found at the local hardware store.)

Wash the jars and the lids, fill the big pot with water and bring it to a boil.

Fill the jars with whatever it is you’re canning (in this case, chopped carrots, onions, a few types of peppers, and vinegar…jams are a lot more complicated than just slicing and pouring), screw on the lids nice and tight and use the tongs to place the cans into the big pot of boiling water.

And let the jars sterilize:

After about 5-10 minutes (depending on the size of the jar), take them out of the pot and let them cool off for a few hours.  This is where all the excitement happens: you can hear the jars suctioning shut as they cool.  Paaar-tay.

After that, they’re done!

…and, in this case, ready to sit for a while while they ferment.   Ta da!  Some sort of chili to put on beans.

Update to follow on how it tastes.