Sunday, August 31, 2008

Oh fer...

Listening to: Juggy D - Sohniye

I am back, peoples. And I am an idjit who barely used her camera, so I really don't have much to add, unfortunately, at least in the picture department.

That said: What an AWESOME vacation. The week with my family resulted in only a minimal amount of infighting, which was a pleasant surprise. A minor clash with dad, but otherwise, we all got along great, and everyone got to do their "thing" a whole lot. Dad read a million books and sat in the shade a lot, mom also read books and came in the pool a bunch with Charlotte and I, Char learned how to snorkel (from the master) and how to grill (from the master), and I got to sample beers, eat tons of seafood, see fishies in their element, and hey, I even managed a tan. With only a little burning! YAY!

Oh, bonus - I got to see a very, very rare bird - the Hawaiian Nene goose. I do, in fact have a picture, which I will post later (once I've uploaded the pic).

So, school starts this week. Oy gevalt. I'm worried. This is my last semester at Temple, and it has to be PERFECT. I want to graduate as close to a 4.0 as possible (it's around 3.8 now, which makes me way happy). Allegedly, work starts soon, too, but I'm irritated - Kaplan has been busy farting around with my payroll access, and as a result, I haven't been able to input my numerous hours, and I haven't gotten paid. I'm pissed, and I have no idea what they're doing in the office. I have been in constant email contact to fix the problem, though.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Just gorgeous

Listening to: oceany noises

Hello hello!

Thought I should do the check-in thing as promised, plus post up a couple pictures (I forget my camera a lot, so there probably won't be tons throughout).

Anyway... after a hideously long travel day on Friday (leave the house at 3:45 am, arrive at condo in Kapalua at 6pm - or midnight, New York time), we've all gotten nicely settled into the rare variant of the L-family-vacation known as "lazing the hell around." Every day has been trip to beach/trip to pool/trip to beach (hell of good snorkeling here!), interspliced with eating and, in my case, sampling local beers. Even my usually go-go parents are taking it easy, although my dad's been digesting his book supply a little too quickly, as I anticipated.

The sealife collection, as spotted by Charlotte and I, has been pretty rad, to say the least. 4 varieties of butterfly-fish, sergeant majors, surgeon-fish, triggerfish (including the oddly ubiquitous humuhumunukunuku apu'aa), parrotfish, and swarms of goatfish. My eagle eye also helped me spot a little-bitty octopus, gripping onto coral for dear life.

At any rate...

This is the view from the condo - you can see Molokai off in the distance to the right.


And this is how the palm tree in the middle looks around sunset.



And of course, as evidence of my presence, here I am enjoying my book about drinks - kindly disregard the ghost-thigh.



Will post more later - stay tuned :)

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Aloha - the goodbye kind.

Listening to: Blondie - Heart of Glass

Alright!

Tomorrow, I go to New York on the Amtrak. No big deal.

Friday, at 4am, we leave for EWR, wherein we take our redonkulously early flight to O'Hare. Then, an hour an change of downtime, in which I shall buy food for my lunch. Which will be eaten on my 10:30 flight to HA-FREAKING-WAII.

Oh, and once in Honolulu, another flight to Maui. After the 8-hour haul to Honolulu, that last flight will seem like nothing, so I'm choosing not to think about it.

I am going to Hawaii. I AM GOING TO HAWAII!

Pictures will be taken. A slight tan may be acquired. Fishes will be seen/eaten. And I will enjoy my awesome summer vacation. A week where I will do everything in my power not to watch Mets games (can't kill my relaxation); I can read and snorkel, and eat tasty food. And take in gorgeous sights.

I will miss you all muchly, but I will bring my laptop, and may provide an update here or there, to keep you folks on your toes.

So Aloha to all!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Another reason to hate the Philthies.

Listening to: Genesis - Squonk

Just stumbled across this tidbit.

Philthie-pitcher Cole Hamels is married to Heidi "Ho" Strobel, of the *cough cough* "pretty girls" alliance from Survivor: Amazon.

Heidi-Ho was basically some vacuous twigs with a pair of bolt-ons, who was, along with the actually pretty cool Jenna Morasca, completely convinced that her gorgeousness was just too much for the other players. She is also known for stripping down to her skeleton for attention-whoring... I mean, peanut butter.

It's just too easy to make fun of the Philthies.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Interesting Bit Character

Listening to: Evelyn "Champagne" King - Shame

Do you guys have a strange "bit character" in your life? Someone you see who you just KNOW should be in a book or movie or something?

I now have a doozy.

This needs some background: Not long ago, since we decided that our relationship had to have honesty in it, I told Steve he was out of shape. The downside to this honesty: he told me the same (I know you're reading this, sweetie ^__6)

I decided to seriously remedy this problem as soon as possible by swimming daily over at the neighboring apartment building (I'm allowed to use their pool because the building is run by the same management as mine). It was at this pool that I happened upon my character.

I wish I could say that I made this guy up.

Two days ago, I first ran into him. Or rather, nearly ran into him. As I came into the pool-room, there was this dude, swimming in the pool. Or floundering, or something. An old guy, out of my "attractive older guy" range by a couple decades. Splashing along like it ain't no thang, doing his version of the front crawl (feeble noodle-arms, no kick), diagonally across the pool. I doubt that the diagonal thing was intentional, but he saw me and made no attempt to scootch to one side of the pool. I'm standing at the edge, trying to get in so I can do my laps. This other guy, over by the hot tub notices my smirk and suggests that I swim in a tiny circle over in the corner of the pool.

Thankfully, as I got in, the old guy got out. And I was horrified.

Very good muscle tone, yes, especially for a man his age. But in a very, very, way-too-revealing bathing suit.

I present to you...

Grandpa Banana-Hammock.

The dude was wearing a speedo, but its elastic had worn out a little, it seems. The guy might as well have been naked, for all he was revealing. Apparently, well-equipped.

EWWWW...

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Eats!

Listening to: No Doubt - Hella Good

First things first:

Aced the final teachback. I am officially a Kaplan Premier Tutor! WOO!

Thing the second:

I made another awesome dinner tonight! YAY!

This morning, whilst in New York (I had to get some cavities drilled/filled yesterday ::OUCH::), Dad and I went to the farmer's market in Larchmont - a nearby environ of Rye. I figured I needed some nice things, so I bought a variety of squashes, fresh garlic, bruschetta (must buy ciabatta tomorrow) and some amazing looking local sea scallops. Gorgeous, and they smelled sweet even before I cooked them - a sign of a great scallop.

I hauled ass back to Philly this afternoon, with the scallops on ice, and once home, tucked them away in my fridge.

Since they were fresh, I decided that the scallops needed to be my dinner. I pan-fried them in a little butter, with some minced garlic - the fresh one I bought- and some lemon juice. Nicely browned on the exterior, and white on the interior. Juicy, not overcooked. Also threw some zucchini on the George Foreman - I have never cooked zuke successfully on the GF, but I drizzled on some olive oil and cracked on some sea salt, and somehow, it magically came out perfectly cooked.

The scallops were sweet and perfectly tender, and the zucchini was flavorful and just the right texture.

I love a good dinner. Especially when I cook it.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

omfg earwom

Note: I am not sober right now.

I am listening to three variations on "In the Air Tonight," which is in my all time top 5 greatest songs ever.

I found a Nu-Metal cover of it by a group called Nonpoint. It's actually a pretty awesome cover:

Nonpoint - In the Air Tonight

Nukes?

Listening to: Ambrosia - You're the Only Woman

One of my peak political issues revolves around energy.

I know this is something a lot of people think about.

I am a HUGE supporter of nuclear power. HUGE. Like, it is one of the biggest things I support.

I don't think much of either of our candidates this year, but Mr. McCrap... I mean, McCain, has thrown some big support behind nuclear plants, and I have to applaud that. I'd never vote for someone based on one issue alone, but it has me thinking.

Why has this country dug its heels in so deep about nuclear power plants? Technology has come quite some way since the 1970's (when the US stopped building them - thanks a lot, stupid 3-Mile Island), and Europe flourishes with nuclear power. I mean, France is effing gorgeous - no pollution to speak of, and a lot has to do with those power plants - as well as a very big pedestrian population, something this country sorely lacks.

There's always a fear of meltdowns, but bad things happen no matter where you look. Chernobyl happened because of a really stupid human decision, as they were testing the strength of the cooling towers, and that backfired something awful. I won't deny that there is an inherent danger in using radioactive elements in anything, but I think this is something the States needs to consider.

I personally think that the problem comes with the word "nuclear". There's an automatic reflex to attach the word "bomb".

So how do you guys feel about nuclear power?

Sunday, August 03, 2008

We-ell...

Listening to: Jelleestone - Money

I'm not going to go into terribly graphic detail about the trip.

Grandma fluctuated between crotchety, complain-y, amusing, and baffling.

Lewis looked better than I thought he would, and was responsive when I chatted with him. This included grabbing on to my hand like a bear trap and smiling when I made fun of my mom, as well as when I played him some Doobie Brothers from my phone - bikers love that stuff.

My mom's friend, who is a known alcoholic and is also known for cooking dinners very late, managed to dial down her drinking, and made us a very southern dinner which was ready by 8. And her husband has recovered completely from his prostate cancer. They're both a hoot, and it was nice to see them again. Their son, who is my mother's godson, and his wife had twins in April, and they are adorable.

Mom and I made the most of the trip, as best we could, driving back and forth across Chattanooga (and taking a very peculiar detour on the way back to Nashville - mom wanted to show me parts of central Tennessee and got us a little lost in the process). We visited the aquarium, which is awesome, and took some nice walks downtown. I do like going down there, if only because I like seeing where my mom grew up.

At any rate, I'm home (have been since Thursday), and have been working my butt off to fill out my Kaplan book so I can do my interview the right way on Thursday. I am TERRIFIED. Absolutely shattered-terrified, like I have this sense that I am going to burst into tears the second I begin. The teaching part I think I have under control, but the whole Intro to Kaplan-parent-style-interview thing is going to be my undoing. I've never worked with customers before, and I have never "pitched" a product.