Monthly Archives: March 2005

Despite my not having biked since Friday, I managed to bike all the way up the big hill near my house this morning on the way to work! w007! (Previously, I had always had to stop and walk my bike at or before ½ of the way up.)

After only 5 days biking to work, I guess this is tangible proof I’m getting stronger and stuff.

Hopefully, I keep improving at this rate. Once my ride to/from work becomes trivial, I’m gonna start biking to the commons (or at least to an allergist)! :D

So I’m back in my hometown for Easter weekend (even though I’m agnostic doesn’t mean I can’t have holidays too!). It seems my dad has done a bunch of cleaning up, which to some degree involves placing things in my room which I had previously ‘cleaned up’ by hiding them somewhere in the house and forgetting about them.

Among the finds:

• Girl scout membership badge, expiry September 1990
• “Teri’s Box”, which is a pencil box I remember using when I was about 12. It had a bunch of lame stickers, some things written inside that made me blush now from reading them (Innocent at the time, but being older they make me wonder why I didn’t get my ass kicked more often by the more worldly kids. Writing saying such things as “Horse Lover”, among others.), and some other things written inside that remind me how much I hated a particular person at that time in my life (Apparently the worst insult I could come up with was ‘Satanic’. I don’t know why.)
• The veil form my first communion (I didn’t have a choice… I was like eight)
• A Minnie Mouse carmera last used during the 6th grade trip to the Statue of Liberty (actually, to a ferry that went past Liberty Island), which never got that last roll of film developed.
• etc.

Predictably, I chucked most of this crap, though the pencil box did remind me that I own a real art box now (and have since my Junior Year at college). Since the outside of the pencil box was kinda nostalgicly cool, and the inside can actually be useful, I painted the inside black using my newly remembered paint from my real art box. That junks coming back to Ithaca with me, as well as some really nifty shiny boots that seem to fit better than I recall…

My memory seems to be pretty bad, huh? Guess I should drink more ginsengified tea or something. And I should definitely stop making up new words. Definitely.

Specifically, music inspired by the works of R.A. Salvatore. I’ve only listened to the first few tracks, but so far it seems pretty good :)

Anyway, there’s a bunch of stuff like this over at Candlekeep, which is a nifty Forgotten Realms resource I just found.

On the TCAT website…

News

• Would you use Blue Light service on the Cornell campus in the summer? If so, please respond to our survey (go to surveys).

There are currently no survey questions

*sigh*

Also, there’s at least an inch of snow on the ground, so it looks like I’m not biking today :/

I just got the Super Mario Bros. movie on DVD, and I’m using the list of tracks as an mp3 wishlist. The original (I think) version of Love is the Drug (not the one by the diVinyls featured in the movie) is pretty groovy.

I’ve biked to work a few more times, and have bought all sorts of crap for my bike (like a side view mirror, a pad for my seat, and a bell that goes BRRIIINNGG!). It’s not getting much easier yet, but I guess I should be more patient and stuff. It hasn’t killed me yet, at least :)

Yesterday was productive, wherein I DDRed a bit, got groceries, and hung out with happicow and Elsa, watching Constantine (see below), and making a nice dinner (consisting of a Greek Spinach Frittata [see below below], greenbeans, and Zucchy bread for desert [which Elsa didn't mutilate nearly as badly as she thought she would]).

Today I mostly slept, though I did manage to get a little accomplished despite that.

Constantine was a fun movie, but not as good as I thought it would be. I dunno, I think it’s just the occult equivalent of gun fights and car chases is all… It was enjoyable, but not particularly good, IMHO.

The Greek spinach frittata was incredibly tasty, despite happicow forgetting to put the spinach in until after the eggs. I think it would be relatively easy to make, too, if only we weren’t making two other dishes at the same time. From Brookfield Farms, here is a copy of the recpie (originally from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home):

Greek Spinach Frittata

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium potato, cut into quarters and thinly sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
4 cups chopped, rinsed, stemmed spinach
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill
salt and pepper to taste
4 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup grated feta or Swiss Cheese

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Saute the potato and onion–covered, stirring frequently–for about 8 minutes, until they are tender and golden. Add spinach. When the spinach wilts, stir in the dill, salt if needed, and pepper. Pour the eggs over the vegetables, tilting the pan to distribute them evenly. Sprinkle on the cheese. Cover the pan and cook on low heat for 10 minutes, until the eggs are set and golden on the bottom.

To brown the top of the frittata: If your skillet is flameproof, simply place the frittata under a preheated broiler for about 2 minutes. Otherwise, carefully slide the frittata onto a plate and then flip it over, back into the skillet, to brown the other side. To serve, cut the frittata in half. Serves 2.

Mmm! I want more frittata!

Now it’s late. I wonder if I can/want to do anything with what little remains of the day… hrmm…

Sax just showed me this. Even though I’ve confirmed it in the GIMP, whenever I look at the original I still can’t believe it. It’s amazing, if you make a section of ‘B’ a floating element and drag it around the image, it appears as if it changes color as you move it. Usually when you see an optical illusion for what it is, you can see through it later on, but not this one (at least not for me).

This is the best optical illusion I’ve ever seen.

*brain melts*

I feel that my geekiness has been sullied by the fact that I don’t own this shirt yet (mostly because my last name makes it particularly apt). I’ve already ordered it (in normal t-shirt version), so this will soon be rectified.

In other news, I biked to and from work today (2.2 miles each way). I knew I was out of shape, but not this out of shape! I found hills that I’ve walked up a zillion times without ever having noticed their existance before. Ironically, the ride to work (with the one big hill [up]) was easier than the ride back- I only had to walk my bike halfway up the big hill (which I had expected to have to do in advance), while on the way back I had to stop once (allegedly to adjust my bike seat) and I had to walk my bike the last block to my apartment (where I previously hadn’t even known there was a hill, but suddenly I was too tired and achy to make progress).

I had aching muscles that previously I didnt even know I had. Also, my bike seat is really quite unpleasant.

Hopefully within a few weeks of doing this regularly I will get enough muscle mass (or endurance, or cardiovascular healthfulness, or whatever) to not ache all over and feel like I’m dying for the half hour immediately after a ride. I have less hope for the bike seat becoming less achy, but maybe I’ll get used to that, too.

All this exercise (which wasn’t even the original intent) should be good for me, if nothing else! I’m hoping that sometime in the summer I will look back on this post and laugh at what a flabby weakling I *used* to be :)