Squirrel!!

We made a discovery a couple weeks ago.  Perhaps this is common knowledge to some people, but it seems more like something we could all care less about.  Except me.

I've been baffled by those little blue reflective markers in the middle of the street.  Near Trisha's parents' house they seem to be thrown randomly across the road: not in the center, not at regular intervals.

I started noticing them here in Austin too.  Austin reflective markers are actually quite cool.  Naturally they're yellow at night like anywhere else, except when you're driving down the wrong side of the road.  Austin has set up reflectors to glow red if you're going towards oncoming traffic and yellow if you're where you're supposed to be.  But as for the blue ones, like elsewhere they seemed to be at strange intervals.  At least here they come pretty close to the center of the road.

Then it dawned on me.  Blue.  Blue is like water.  At first I hypothesized that this might mean there's a snow cone shop out there for every blue reflector.  Sadly my field research disproved this.  But I did find out that for every blue reflector, there's a fire hydrant.  But the fire hydrants are NOT blue.  This is the sneaky part of what they do here.  In fact, fire hydrants can be painted silver OR red, but never blue.

Since then I point out every fire hydrant I spot after I've seen the associated reflector.  Trisha enjoys this immensely and has rarely been annoyed at my interrupting our discussions about job offers and family every 50 feet.

I suppose a quick internet search would have solved all our problems, but it's sure fun to figure things out on your own sometimes.

Vroom. Vroom.

Anyone that knows me, really knows me, knows how much I love cars, trucks and motorcycles.  Heck, I turned down a really good university appointment one summer so I could pursue my childhood dream of driving trucks.  It started out with a bus, then transformed into a semi-truck gig a year later.  I have never regretted it.

Lately with how busy I am it has been impossible to keep up on all the repairs for the old stuff I buy.  Some of it ends up being a good deal, more of it not.  I'm coming to believe the philosophy of just saving up and buying something good that will last and not leave you stranded.  If that takes a bit of busing and walking to save up for it, so be it.

So all my vehicles are being sold or have been sold.  I've had a few.  Right now I'm getting rid of a neat 1980 Honda CM400T, a street bike that hasn't ever let me down.  It's good enough to ride on the freeway and better on the city streets, and it has even handled some very brief encounters with dirt roads.  Successfully.  It just broke down again, but like any other time it was able to limp back home and then to the shop.

The Harley is the piece of work though.  It looks great, and rides great.  When it works.  Which is rarely.  It is so close to being fixed but I just don't have the time or patience to deal with it anymore.  It definitely looks like one of my kind of vehicles.  Medium-high handle bars, big engine.  Just redneck enough for me to love it.



Trisha told me that if we didn't compromise careers but went wherever she wanted that she would buy me a motorcycle.  A new motorcycle.  So my dreams of gardening and housekeeping came back to mind....  Just for fun, I have been looking around at different bikes though.  Here's what I've come up with.

And I don't know anything about picture copyright laws, so if I'm doing something wrong could someone please let me know before I get in trouble?  At the least, it's free advertising for them.

Ducati Monster.  It's weird at first blush, but it grows on you.  The oddest thing for me is that it's a sport bike.  Here's how I justify it.  It's Italian.  It's a sport bike with class.  This isn't your college student Ninja or anything.  It's a real bike.  It might also be uncomfortable for long rides.  I doubt I'll be driving to Canada on it though.

Buell Lightening.  Again, do not be deceived.  It looks like some kid's dirt bike but it's made by Eric Buell who was a sport bike engineer attached to Harley-Davidson.  Who knew HD made sport bikes??  They're well put together from what I've seen and heard.

This is another Sportster 883.  The picture is directly off HD's website.  I like the carbon look, but the gas tank is too small for me.

Honda Shadow.  It's hard to go wrong with Japanese.  I've had a couple Hondas now and they've been great.  This is the only one that Trisha didn't refer to as being "dippy-looking".  Well, those are my words but that's what she meant.

Kawasaki Ninja.  I really can't see myself driving a piece of plastic.  Of course, I guess that's what everything is these days.

Tron LightCycle.  I'm an 80s sort of a guy.  I could really see myself in one of these.  The best part is that I could block erratic traffic from passing me and cutting me off.  Parking would be a breeze too.  Now that I think about I really do want one of these.

2010 Tron LightCycle.  Now we're talking.  Same perks as the 80s edition but with a little more zing to it.  Plus, I might be able to get the sales rep to thrown in one of those rockin leather suits.





This is still the research phase so I haven't quite set my mind (or heart) on any of these yet.  I'm curious what others would recommend to me.

"I can't believe I ate the whole thing"

That's a cinnamon roll.  An 8 dollar cinnamon roll.  We went to San Antonio Saturday and stopped at Lulu's Bakery & Cafe on our way back home. We almost only go to restaurants by recommendation out here and we're almost never disappointed.  There is so much good food in Austin (and near it) and this place was no exception.

In fact, the menu offered jumbo burgers, which I got and which actually tasted like real beef, as well as "over-sized chicken fried steak."  Good grief!!  The thing was bigger than a dinner plate!  We actually sat at the bar/counter and watched the short-order cooks and waitresses work their magic.  As much as Trisha doesn't eat meat, she was impressed at the oddity and size of everything there.  I guess everything is bigger in Texas, including the traffic jams on the way back to Austin on I-35.

Speaking of food (which I do a lot and am quite happy about), I cooked my usual tomato thing so we could have lunches this week.  I call it spaghetti but nobody agrees with the name.  I pretty much never use spaghetti noodles, only sometimes use noodles of any kind usually replacing them with couscous grains and every once in a while rice, and don't even make it into a legitimate sauce.

However, my "spaghetti" is so good and so fresh a Frenchman would even eat it and not consider it a wasted dish.  It's never exactly the same thing, but this time around it consisted of: 1/2 a large garlic (meaning 1/2 the bulb itself, not just a clove), 1 onion, olive oil, 5 or 6 tomatoes sort of cut and boiled down for a while, about twice the basil you see in the picture there (note that the small leaves are the size of baby spinach leaves, the large ones the size of small, mature spinach leaves, for comparison), mature spinach, spices (fennel seed, oregano, black pepper) and Better than Bouillon.

The main variations are spinach or not, yellow squash, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, lavender, bay leaves and the type of tomato.  It all just depends on what I feel like putting in and what I remember to use.  Also, if I could use homegrown tomatoes, that's what I'd do every time.  Since Trisha doesn't eat cheese, that's the only other thing I usually consider.

Speaking of speaking of food, I looked over my selections of yogurt for the last couple weeks and discovered they all have "natural flavor": that stuff that nobody really knows where it comes from including the guy who squashed the bug and extracted its juices for Red #whichever.  Even my favorite one, Liberté, that I thought was natural has it.  The only one of the lot that didn't have it was Greek Gods, the one I made fun of for looking silly.  So this week I bought all the Greek Gods flavors at HEB Central Market to try out.

Central Market is the local competitor to Whole Foods down here.  It sports a line of main-stream hippy and fresh products that attracts most everyone from Billy-Bob the beef-braising, brisquette-barbequeing Texan to June-Flower the hippy with the home-made-looking sun dress with the tag from the local wanna-be store, and a lot of people in between.  Not too many people from the country (I just wanted to write that name) and not a ton of legit hippies, but a really good range of food options for people like me who want to improve their diet and not trash the Earth, but want to take a moderate approach about it.

And no, I don't fit into any of those persona types.  I wear the same, standard Eric-uniform I've been wearing since probably after high school that 90% of the time repels stereotypes and leaves you with this aura of mystique as I walk by.  Or something like that.  Yep, not only is it the same uniform, but possibly even the very same non-hip, non-trendy jeans and tee-shirts that I was wearing at that time.  I wouldn't know.

At last! But not really: A report on my report

     I was able to meet with my supervisor this last week and start getting some new direction for my master's report.  This is the first time we've met this semester, which would almost be scary except that we're using a term paper from last semester as the basis for the report.
     It's actually kind of exciting to be working on it.  It's a subject I rather enjoy and I am finally starting to understand how researching works.  I've picked up bits and pieces of how to research from various classes and tips from fellow grad students (mainly my wife).  So while many papers have been awful to try to write, this one is actually fun.  Mostly.  I think that doing it on a subject and question that I'm curious about is the other biggest factor.  If indeed I go on to a PhD, it's something I can develop.
     The rough part is that I have to flesh out a good draft in about 3 weeks.  That's not a long time.  Considering I read the average textbook at about 10 pages an hour and also how many articles I need to use for my paper and it's a little daunting.  Fortunately I've just started learning how to read like a grad student this semester.  And also fortunately, it's a field that I've read about off and on for a few years.
     All in all, I'm kind of excited that I should be able to graduate.  And not only that, I should contribute new information that will actually benefit my field, even if only a little bit.
     The working name of the paper is "Teaching Arabic Vocabulary within a Diglossic Situation."  Meaning: how can we present Arabic vocabulary to students and help them actually learn it and not be totally overwhelmed when they feel like they're learning two languages at the same time.  There's not a ton of literature out there about this exact question, which makes it easier and harder.  Easier because I can stay somewhat general, and also still get something worthwhile out there.  Harder because I can continue other people's studies as easily or directly, and because I generally have less to drawn on.
     Oh well, until May it's just living the dream: changing the world, one comma at a time.

Repenting on the way to church

Some years ago, one of my friends spoke in church about the importance of obedience.  Even in our teen-age years he was able to help us apply gospel principles to practical affairs.  He pointed out how every Sunday he would have seen one of our church leaders driving by his house on the way to church except that all he could make out was a little white blur.  Obedience in all things, he taught.  This was back when he and I and other friends terrorized the neighborhood.

I notice this even today, and it doesn't matter how big of a population our church members represent or what geographic region we're in, the doctrine of "repenting on the way to church" holds true.  In fact, it's a universal Christian principle.  At least in America.  On our way back from our meetings, Trisha and I witness members of other faiths relying on the Parable of the White Blur as they head in the other direction.

It's an eternal principle, too.  Just this morning we saw a car pull up right behind us on the freeway, tail-gate us, pull around us and tail gate the SUV in front of us.  As all three of us merged into the exit lane, this same light blue Mercury Sable from Austin, Texas heading southbound on I-183 at 8:51 am taking the I-35 North exit (did you catch all that, Jeff?) almost manages to pass the SUV on the right before having to slow back down.

We counted how many times the car changed lanes and how many other cars it tailgated before arriving at church with us.  We even got a good luck at them stopped at the light.  It was an older couple with a wheelchair folded up in their back seat!  The irony is that we actually got to church before them, without breaking any laws or endangering anyone's life.

What I find funniest is that this isn't the only couple who does this on their way to church.  We saw a lady do the same thing one Sunday morning a few months ago.  She ended up having a part to play in the church services. 

Our favorite game, now, is to guess which cars on the freeway are going to church with us and which are not.  Invariably, the ones breaking the most laws end up going to the same place.  I guess it proves your faith more that God will forgive you if you leave at the last possible moment and arrive more literally like a bat out of hell, taken into the presence of God than to prepare in advance.  Being prepared isn't a real test of faith.

The best part of it is that we get to calmly sit and judge people for their misdeeds, and then think less of them for it during our church meetings.  It helps keep me awake.  Some call that a sin, I just call it a practical solution to a real-world problem.  I'm applying what I learned as a teenager.

I guess that since breaking the law doesn't really get you to church any faster then the moral of the story is that, if indeed the first ones to church get forgiven more fully, then we're still in the clear in the end anyways.

I'm sorry, is that "yogurt" or "yoghurt" or "Yo Gurty!" or...

In this week's news....  Alright, so my blog isn't a food blog, but I like food so I blog about it more.  Plus, I manage to offend less people when I blog about food.

I decided to explore yogurt this month.  I've always liked it for various reasons.  It's sweet.  It's milk.  It's got a little kick.  It helps reset your system if you've recovered from stomach flu.  I just like it.

However as Trisha and I are eating more and more organic and local, and as we're becoming more aware of what we really put into our bodies when we eat, I've become more curious about yogurts.  I decided to give up the supermarket brand yogurts and common ones, like Yoplait, after watching how cows get treated on most industrial farms.  It's horrible.  Finding anything from sustainable farms or even organic farms is costly but I ventured the risk and tried one of my first "weird" brand yogurt several months ago.  Liberté.  I was not disappointed.  In fact, I tried Mountain High first and it was fine.  But Liberté just had me sold.

This month, however, I wanted to explore more instead of just settle on the first thing out there.  I developed a couple questions to guide me too:
Just what is "Greek Yogurt"?
Now that I've been eating organic yogurt, do the supermarket brands taste any different to me or still just fine?
What exactly do those cultures do??  I saw Streptococcus listed among them on Wikipedia.  Ummm...??  What gives?
How are we really supposed to spell yogurt?  y-o-g-u-r-t ?  y-o-g-H-u-r-t ?  d-o-u-g-h-n-u-t ?
What brands are there?
What brands tastes best?
Which ones are organic?
What flavors taste good?

I haven't answered most of these questions, but rather I'm beginning my research.  Curse you, grad school, for forcing me to more completely pursue my questions instead of settling for what the advertisements tell me!!

Here's the pictures of what I tried last week and what I'll be eating this week.  There's a bunch so I tried to keep the file sizes to about 120k each.  So here's the line-up.  Like I said, I haven't eaten them all yet so I only have a few comments.  But here's what I think.

Trisha recommended this one.  I think they got it sometimes at the Co-Op where she used to live.  It's Maple-flavored so I'm a little...intrigued.  It claims to have a creamy top, and I like creamy yogurt so maybe it'll be alright.
This one says it has no hormones and is all natural.  The ingredient list is pretty easy to read.

 This isn't trick photography.  This yogurt cup really is this fat.  And I didn't center the frame.  Darn it Jim, I'm a doctor, not a photographer.
Despite the really trendy-looking cup, I wasn't as impressed with this yogurt.  I had raspberry flavor, which isn't my favorite, so I'm trying peach now.  But before I mixed the fruit and yogurt together, I still wasn't as nuts about the cream itself.
As for ingredients, it's surprisingly legible except for locust bean gum.  No idea what that is.  Yet.

Don't laugh at the container.  I already took care of that.  In fact, I make it a point to never buy yogurt in ret--- silly-looking containers.  Trisha told me to pick this one up and try it yesterday.  I honestly didn't even see it, despite it being right in front of my face.  In other words, I've gotten to the point where I ignore what I considered "silly" yogurts so much that I'm oblivious to them.  Yet, this is the very reason I'm trying this new adventure: to give a non-prejudiced chance to as many yogurts as I can so that I prove my tastes right, or open up my options.
Non-organic, has a little bit of gunk, probably from cows injected with hormones.

 Silly.  This is the second of 2 reasons I wondered just what makes yogurt "Greek" yogurt.  The first is down below.
I tried this one and actually liked it, if I remember right.  I tried it before really planning to write a blog about it, though so I'll need to give it another chance.  I remember liking the cream a little better, despite myself.  Also, it has pure cane sugar and honey as its sweeteners.  We'll see what round 2 produces.

 If you can zoom in on this, I recommend doing so.  They call it "ambrosia" because "it's just that good".  Okay, so that's me putting words into their mouths but that's what I assume "ambrosia" is supposed to mean.  I didn't study the classics.  First, it's not made in Greece (no, this is not reason number one yet from above) so why the Greek name, claim that it's Greek yogurt, or the reference to some nectary drink imbuing people with immortality that I have no idea what is?
Result: it wasn't that good.  It tasted about like Mountain High's plain yogurt.  It wasn't bad, though.  And I will say this: all organic.

 Here's my personal winner!  I LOVE this yogurt.  It's made in Canadia, Québec to be specific.  Yet they use Vermont milk.  It doesn't claim to be organic :( !  But the ingredient list is fairly short, and the only names I didn't understand were the culture names.  No corn syrup, no malto-phosphate-gunk #5.  Plus, I LOVE blackberry flavor.  The lemon flavor comes out just right too.  Even the plum-walnut, coconut and strawberry flavors, none of which I'm nuts about--they are all worth eating, in my opinion.

 Didn't give it a fair chance.  It said "Chocolate Undergroud" so I had to try it.  And it's non-fat.  Next time I'll remove the strange variables.  But it's organic and low on weirdness.
The end result for this one was like crossing pudding with lemon yogurt.  Strange.  Not something I'll eat regulary.  But at least it wasn't bad.  I'll certainly give a normal flavor a real chance.

Yoplait!  Yoplait is known for its high fructose corn syrup.  But this one said Greek on it so I told myself I'd give it a chance in the name of science.
For this one, no corn syrup.  It's regular sugar.  But they still added in vitamins and mystery gunk.  I'm not nuts about anything being infused because I get my vitamins from their natural sources, but I'll give it a go.
Not organic; fat-free; doesn't say a word about being from cows not treated with hormones.



I'd love to hear if there are any particularly good yogurts out there that I haven't discovered yet.  I realize my sample is pretty small at present but it's a start.  It's too bad I'm not much of an investigative writer.  I'd love to see a really well-written article about different types of yogurts.  For now, this is my experiment and adventure for the month.

"♫Food, glorious food, what is there more handsome?♫"

I've decided to open a Chinese restaurant...an adult-themed Chinese restaurant.  Here's what the menu will look like:
Peeking Duck
Vegetable Chow Fun
Actually, that's all I've come up with.  And I didn't modify the last one.  It just sounded funny to me as-is.

Yesterday I ate too much dessert and drank too much milk.  I told Trisha that my stomach was aching a little bit from it last night.  First, I had half of a cookie that we bought from Mad Cakes around the corner from our house, a "Chewy Chocolate Cookie" which ended up tasting more like a thin brownie than anything; then an old fashioned style sour cream doughnut, one of those weird shaped ones with a bigger hole in the middle and tastes more cakey than even the average doughnut, chocolate; and lastly a pudding filled bismark.  I've heard these called eclair doughnuts, Boston cream doughnuts, but whatever they are, they usually suck and don't have much filling in them.  Just a tiny squirt that fills 1/4 of the doughnut and leaves my mouth watering for what I paid for and wondering why I keep calling these my favorite doughnuts.  This one was rectangular, so naturally it didn't taste as good as a round one.  However, it actually had the right ratio of doughnut to pudding filling.  I had intended to save the bismark for today, but my painful Arabic reading made me crave success, so naturally I turned to my bismark.  And I didn't want it to get stale.  Or lonely.  Note that I left half the cookie.

Today, after vowing I wouldn't make the same mistake again, I pulled out the other half of the cookie.  Trisha groaned and rolled her eyes.  I told her I didn't want to end up binging like I did last night, so I'd just go ahead and eat the cookie now.  While conversing, I finished the cookie, wiped my mouth and drank my water (not as good as yesterday's milk).  Mentally finished, I started wadding my paper cookie wrapper up to throw away.  When what to my astonishment I discovered one last bit of cookie!!  I completely derailed from our conversation--justifiably--praised all that was holy, and made the bit last for three additional bites.  Now was not this exceeding joy?

On a completely unrelated note, I started reading "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser which talks about America and our terrible eating habits.  I am appalled.