What they want to know

It's amazing what my students want to know about me. I talk about very little with them because it is not what they should focus on...but sometimes something slips out.

This morning, one of my students told me she was hungry because she only had the muffin from the school's breakfast. I told her that I only had toast and we'd have to wait for lunch. A few moments later, she said, "Do you have one of those toasters with two things and something you push down?" I said that I did.

From the other side of the room I heard someone stage whisper, "She has a toaster!"

I love these kids.

P.S.
A few minutes after the first exchange, the girl who had eaten a muffin told me that I could get a toaster with four spots at the 99 cent store. I told her that was good to know.

Pork

So, right now I am making a dinner I've never made before. It's a part of my branching out to new, tastier foods, and enjoying vacation by doing things I really like to do but have no time for in my normal life.

In an effort to avoid trichinosis, I went to the w.w.w. to look up some information about cooking time for pork.

What I found instead was a chart that made me stop for a moment.

It's a chart of a breakdown of daily caloric intake of pork, per person, by country.

1 Austria 352.8
2 Switzerland 349.6
3 Finland 343.2
4 China 331.8
5 France 301.6
6 Spain 296.3
7 Denmark 293.5
8 Poland 267.7
9 FR Yugoslavia 264.3
10 Germany 247.1

That's a lot of pork!

Special Pants for the Snow

As I drove to work this morning, having just hacked very thin but
amazingly tough layer of ice off of all the windows of my car, I
thought about cold weather gear--specifically snow pants. One of my
friends wore snow pants to school for the entire winter of our senior
year of college. It was Ithaca. So snow pants were a little stroke of
genius.

After my day at work, I came home and procrastinated a little too
much. I had to do a small (yet essential) load of laundry for my trip
on Friday. My strong hate for the whole process of hiking my junk to
the laundromat 3 blocks away was kicking in and the snow was not
helping the fact. When my roommate returned from her walk in the snow
that lasted for a few hours, she offered up her company on the walk as
a bribe. I took it.

But, before we left, I decided that my snow pants were the right gear
for the walk. This was a little influenced by the fact that the whole
point of the snowstorm-laundry trip was to wash the jeans I was
wearing and a few favorite shirts.

So, we made the walk there and back three times, dug our cars out for
the morning, and generally enjoyed the snow. I think the enjoyment was
partially due to the pants.

Base TV habits

So, I still have some TV watcher guilt in me. I did not have a TV for a long time (really that was no cable but to me that = no TV). Then I fell. This year the DVR came into my life. It makes me so aware of my viewing habits. It records everything. You have to make decisions when there are too many competing shows. Today, I made one of those decisions.

My roommate called and asked me to check on American Idol. I am not a fan of the Idol. But, she is and so I pushed record. The "You're recording too many things" menu came up and I had to choose which show not to record...Gilmore Girls or NOVA.

NOVA had to go.

I'm so ashamed.

Out and about

I am a big fan of observing others while I'm out. Sometimes, it may dip too far into staring to be considered polite. But, it usually brings little nuggets of goodness to my life.

Today's highlights:
*A woman was on line for the bathroom at Starbucks and was texting to what I assume was her friend. She texted, "No, you are not too fat. You are hot. Not fat."
*A man who had covered himself with mean looking tattoos had given himself a tattoo that the native women of New Zealand have traditionally given themselves. It was a little chin tattoo with some dots. The Maori grandmas I saw with the tattoo and this knuckle tattoo guy = same.
*A woman (wearing a winter hat with little cat ears) sat on the subway reading a book called the Birthing Partner. When our train came above ground, she called her friend and exclaimed, "Hey! Hi!" She then had a whole conversation in exclamations. I wondered if I was too cranky-NY to deal with shiny-happy people anymore. Then, I wondered if she was really the kind of person who should be around to calm someone who is birthing.

Oh NYC.

Easy, easy

I've been known to chronically complain about the level of convenience in my world. I say it's too low. Getting to things I want to get to usually involves some type of route being mapped out in advanced, unexpected miles driven/walked, confusion and then the inevitable trip to the suburbs.

Today, I found out that it's possible I've just not taken advantage of local resources. Did you know that you can refill a prescription over the phone? I'm not a habitual prescription drug user. So, this was news to me. I found out yesterday when I called the pharmacy, expecting to talk to a person and then got voice jail. Today, I called back, armed with my yellow highlighted number and arranged date and time for my pick up! I just have to show up. Amazing.

Makes me wonder about all of the other things I don't know are out there. I'm sure there are tons.

Drink up

I often feel some guilt for selling out to the coffee corporate giant. But, I like the calmness of their set up. And, I like the tea they have. And, the coffee. And, their gift section.

But, I still feel like I'm a sellout. That is, until today. I have learned that Starbucks now spends more on health care than on coffee beans. They say they do it because it's just the right thing to do.

I've just been absolved of my guilt.

Genetics

On my way home from school, I was talking to my sister when she said, "Do you have a boop or do I?" She was talking about call waiting. The boop was hers. After a few rapid-fire questions (Should I get that? I'm going to get that...don't go, okay? Should I get it?), she answered the call waiting.

Like my sister, I am often unsure of what to do about the beep. When I finally take the plunge and try to click over, I hang up on people.

It seems that it's genetic.

Why I love the Mini

When I was a teenager, I went to Ireland and saw my first Mini. Actually Minis. They were everywhere - all old-school and very clown car-esque. I joked that I wanted to bring one home as overhead luggage.

My love of the Mini continued as I traveled to places where Mini's roamed. Then they came to the US and quickly replaced all other cars as my favorite. Cute, zippy cars = perfect in my world.

I have recently been thinking that I would really actually like to have one of these cars. While I love my Honda Civic, it lacks some of the sexiness that's inherent to the Mini. And, my '97 Civic also lacks power windows/locks, comfortable seats, and some of the major safety features I've come to like in my old age.

Today, the Mini-love found a new level. Having a Mini now means that you can have a personalized billboard. Until 5 minutes ago, I didn't know that I wanted a personalized billboard. But, now I really, really do....

Go Team!

So, I'm a few hours from my very first Superbowl party. Well...the Superbowl and party in their broadest definition.

The game has been FauxVoed, so the game part can be fast-forwarded so we can watch the good commercials. We plan on watching a little Top Chef in between commercials. The party is really just my friend and my roommate. But, I'm excited that I get make all sorts of things that can be eaten with fingers and use all my favorite serving dishes.