a Regular Blog: Day of New

The past 24 hours has been a whirlwind of change, and, unlike Allie's dogs, I can deal with change. Sort of. Here's a summary of what's what.

New Header: look up. See that? It's a real header in a snazzy font. Be impressed.

New Button: look down. I've now got a button to match my header. Go stamp it around the interwebs, plox.

New Picture Blogs: I'm on day three of the challenge. That's 1/10th of the way!

And here are the two biggest changes that I've made, but you won't be able to see them unless you creep up behind me and gaze over my shoulder in a completely stalker-ish way.

New OS: Ubuntu 10.10, so far, so good.

New Browser: Mozilla Minefield / Firefox 4.0. Not sure how I'm liking this one yet. On the surface it operates exactly the same as Firefox 3.5 with a few aesthetic and layout changes, but underneath I can see that there are a tonne of new features. I haven't been able to explore them all yet, or even use them in a way that actually proves them to be useful. But I know that they'll be good come paper writing time, so I'll likely be quite familiar with the improved tabbing system as of, oh, Wednesday night. That's tomorrow, innit? Ruh-oh.

a Picture Challenge: 3 - in TV Land

Jonathan Rhys Meyers is Henry VIII. King takes Queen. It's good to be king. Lover. Warrior. Rebel. King. Prepare for reign.

I adore the Tudors right now. I've kept up with the first three seasons, and have the fourth (and final!) waiting for me at home in Vic. Can. Not. Wait.

photo by Showtime

a Picture Challenge: 2 - You and the Bestie

I decided to go with the most recent picture that doesn't look like we need to be institutionalized. It was difficult. On a side note, people often think me and my sister are dating. Gross. I'll have you know that we're quite happy living together as bachelors. Well, when we do live together, that is, which isn't all too often.

And yes, that is Prague. Yes, that's a miscellaneous Asian coin around my neck and yes, I've worn it every day since the ninth grade. Yes, my sunglasses are a little skewed, but that's what happens when you refuse to fork out more than two Euros for them. Hah.

photo by me.

a Picture Challenge: 1 - You and 10 Facts

• I have two tattoos, a combined 6 1/2 hour effort. One is a stylized Eye of Horus, the other is a Russian firebird. Together, they cover my left hip and stretch across my lower back to the opposite hip.
  
• I wanted to be a dentist until I was 12, when I decided I hated the hygienist lady that worked for my dentist.
  
• My first year of uni was angled at getting me into the sciences. After one month I decided I hated it and applied to the Cultural Studies program at UBC.
  
• I love more than anything to sleep. Naps are a favourite pass time, and I will often pretend to sleep as a form of procrastination and/or relaxation.
  
• My favourite colour is green. As seen in the photo.
  
• I went on a six week Eurotrip in 2008. I hit France, Monaco, Italy, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, and Britain.
  
• Moving to Kelowna was the best decision of my life. Seriously.
  
• I've worked for McDs, Gap Inc, UBC, and an addictions clinic.
  
• My sister is my best friend. And I'm pretty sure she'll insist on being my best man, without changing the title. Ferserious.
  
• The young Riesling by Tantalus in Kelowna in my favourite wine. I've got a bottle in my wine cooler right meow.
  
• I've had four different credit cards in a span of three and a half years. Only two of them are currently valid, which is still too many.
  
  photo by a friend of mine

Gullible

Over the years I have crafted many, erm, lies to make myself feel better. I can, in fact, trick myself into believing anything I want. Observe:

"Buy one get one half price" really means "Buy one get one free." Why? It's all in the math. Say you're purchasing two somethings that are both $20. With the BOGO deal, the second something works out to be $10, but you've also saved $10 because of the sale. Naturally, the $10 you saved pays for the $10 cost of the item. Simple stuff.

See how powerful my reasoning is? I'm hopeless against myself.

More recently, I have rationalized that by mixing Carnation Instant Breakfast with my hocho mix I'm being healthy. Seriously. It's no different than taking a multivitamin with breakfast. I just get to drink mine in chocolate form. I love it.

Happy Belated, Elsie!

I just had a realization: I started my story Lily Christianson on Ptag two years ago Sunday. Whoa. Just, whoa. One, it does not seem like two years ago. Two, I also realized that I have sorely neglected it. Poor Declan needs to finish his novel! Elsie needs to have her conflict sorted out! New girl needs a name! (Which she has, beeteedubs, in my notes. It just hasn't been revealed yet.)

So, why am I writing this? 'Cause I'm drafting the 16th chapter right now. Yah. I've probably jinxed the whole writing process now that I've made public my intentions, but whatever. All the more pressure, right? Right.

Who knows, maybe I'll convert this blog into a journal of my time with Elsie. Hmmm...

on Icky-ness

I am sick. This makes me unhappy. I have an essay due and a presentation next week, but the most productive thing I've done for the past few days was put up Christmas lights and a two foot tree. Unless eating 300% of my recommended daily vitamin C counts as productive. Meh.

So yah, that's why things have been slow on ze blog. I'm not dead or anything. Dying, maybe, but not dead.

In the meantime, please enjoy the musical stylings and rad dance moves of Janelle Monae.

on Repeat

This weekend I discovered a musician by the name of Jamie Cullum, and I've had his most recent album, The Pursuit, on repeat since, oh, Friday. It's that good.

But I need a little variety in my life. Not too much at this time, but a little, just to keep me interested. Jamie has one song called Mixtape, in which he sings, "I'll make you a mixtape that's a blueprint of my soul... It details everything that's running 'round my head."

So here's my "mixtape," courtesy of Grooveshark, and the playlist I've had on repeat the last two days. Note that it ends with Jamie, though.

a Photoblog: Green & Black

all photos by me

Food Blog: Thai Soup

I adore food blogs.

Now that that's out of the way, I will share the Thai soup I just finished making. Well, figuratively share. What you'll actually be getting is the recipe and a photo. Although when I say "recipe" I don't mean the recipe I found on Figs with Bri, but the modified version of her recipe that I threw together. It's how we cook at my house.

So, without further ado: Thai Soup, au moi.

2 medium-sized leeks, chopped (approx 2 cups)
3 carrots, peeled & shredded (approx 4 cups)
1 large yam, peeled & cubed (approx 2 cups)
1 stalk of celery, chopped (approx 1/2 cup)
3 cups water
1 can of coconut milk, 400ml
salt & pepper to taste
minced or ground ginger to taste
lemon or lime juice to taste
minced or powdered garlic to taste
butter or margarine (approx 1tbsp)
sesame oil (approx 2tsp)

In a frying pan, combine leeks, carrots, butter/margarine, and sesame oil. Fry for about ten minutes.

In a large pot, combine water, yams, celery, salt & pepper, ginger, and garlic. I used a few dashed of both salt & pepper, probably a couple teaspoons of ground ginger, and two cloves of garlic.

When the water reaches a boil, add leeks, carrots, coconut milk, and lemon/lime juice. I used about two tablespoons of lemon juice in mine.

Once the yams are soft, you have the option of leaving the soup as is, or thickening the broth a little by pureeing a portion. Bri recommended using a stick blender, but I'm a university student and don't have one of those. I found that my Magic Bullet did the trick. Personally, I'd warn against pureeing the entire pot, as the chunks of yam and spirals of leek are absolutely delicious whenever you come across one.

Including prep, the whole process took me about 45 minutes: you need to be patient with the yams. Totally worth it, though. It could probably serve 5 or 6 as an appetizer, but I'll likely get 3 servings out of it myself. Again, male university student.

Here's the photo Bri supplied, and a link to her original recipe.


photo by Figs with Bri

First of the Season

Yesterday marked my first major event of the school year, and I hope that many more will follow! Last year will be a tough act to follow, with appearances by Metric, Tegan & Sara, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet dancing Moulin Rouge, and a roadtrip to Whistler for the 2010 Winter Olympics. I'm up to the challenge, though.

Last night I saw Canadian indie powerhouse Stars, and they put on quite the show. Between the white roses they threw into the crowd sporadically and the bubble machines that accompanied the light show they performed some of my personal favourites. I was worried that the concert would focus on the two latest albums of theirs, In Our Bedroom after the War and the Five Ghosts, but nearly half the songs they played were from my personal favourite Set Yourself on Fire. This means I had no voice this morning.

Next up? Who knows, but these are some of the shows etc. that I've got an eye (or two) on:

2010 World Junior A Hockey, in Penticton next week
the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Wonderland, March
Reading Week Roadtrip to...?, February
any concert that comes near Kelowna, seriously.

update:
I should probably include my wine tour on my list of recent events, right? Yah, I went on a wine tour. Because I go to UBC in the Okanagan. And we're, like, the wine capital of Canada, eh?

For serious, though, I was introduced to the posh practice of wine tasting this afternoon. I tried six different wines at two local wineries, all for the huge sum of $2 (I have connections, y'know). Not only did I drink wine, but I got to watch some wine-making action, and drink some of the freshly squeezed Riesling grapes. Best. Grape. Juice. Ever. Even better than the actual Riesling wine, which, judging by the Tantalus sample I had, is my favourite. I also sampled a Pinot Noir, which was good, but was accented too strongly for my taste.

After Tantalus we hit Summerhill, which has quite the reputation, but which I found quite lacking on the part of our "guide." We won't go into that disaster. There we sampled a sparkling wine, of which they apparently make the best in the world, an ice wine, a red of some sort (I wasn't paying attention at this point), and a dessert wine that tasted terrible, like currants and stale cake. I do not jest. Obviously I'm not cut out for this wine connoisseur thing. Figures.

photo by Tantalus Vineyards