Spring at Green Lake

Now that Spring is Officially Here, it's time to really get outside and do something. Since my back is still hurting, this weekend that meant going someplace pretty and then lying down.

So we went to Green Lake, our favorite place to run, and for the first time we took a blanket and some magazines and just sprawled out lazily. It turns out lots of other people do this too but I've always been so busy running that I never noticed. Another funny thing - we've probably run around that lake 300 times and neither of us could remember where the beach was.

The Studly Hubby brought his tripod and spent some time taking pictures. There were lots of good things to see.

Me, in my most comfortable position. Notice the book in front of me - it's the Studly Hubby's new ASP.Net book! This is what he brings to read on a leisurely spring day (and you all voted that I was the bigger nerd...!)

The fishermen hung out by the water the whole time we were lounging on our blanket - and I don't think they ever caught anything (but they didn't seem to mind either).

We finally got a picture of the "Spanish Lessons" guy - he wears a vest that says "Spanish Lessons" and walks around the lake looking for customers. Here he is walking with a customer (and I assure you they are speaking in Spanish).

This is the only thing I could think of that would be more sublime than what we were already doing - but not by much.

The Long Way Around

In an attempt to be Super Cool, the Studly Hubby and I started watching a new series on tv called The Long Way Around. Ewan McGregor and his buddy get on two BMW motorcycles and ride around the world. It seems fairly simple but they plan it all themselves and hire a crew to videotape them and have all sorts of adventures and see all sorts of strange things and it's really an awesome show. I recommend it to everyone, and we've only started watching it.

Also if I had to ride a motorcycle around the world (or down the block) it would probably be a BMW. I don't think I've ever admitted this publicly but I have a thing for BMW's. Not hot guys that drive BMWs, but BMW's. Hot guys driving them are just a bonus.

And the winner is...

Well it looks like the votes came up a dead-tie (there are five votes total, three abstained and we each got one vote). However one of our friends IM'ed me later and put his vote in for me (being that the Studly Hubby plays guitar, I guess in a guy's world this absolves anyone of all nerdiness). So I guess I am the nerdiest.

Ugh.

I'm going to need to retaliate with some kind of super cool behavior (that outranks even guitar). Then I'll prove you all wrong. Now what could that be...

Any suggestions? I can't think of anything! Does that make me an even bigger nerd?

Who's the nerdiest?

My Studly Hubby have recently started a competition over who is the nerdiest (except it is reverse, where it is better when the other one is the nerdiest).

So I am going to take this to a public poll:

Who is the nerdiest? (leave your votes in the comments below)

I understand that this is a hard decision, so I have given you some examples to help you decide.
I tried very hard not to be biased (seriously)

The Studly Hubby: Ordered a 4-inch book today on C# and ASP.net programming (and was excited about it!)

Me: Spent about an hour today watching internet videos about bacterial biofuel production and PCR (and was excited about it!)

The Studly Hubby: Checks slashdot.org EVERY DAY

Me: Can't wait to see what bacterial growth curves look like

The Studly Hubby: Sends instant messages to his wife (me) when she's in the next room

Me: Gets unnaturally excited about getting instant messages from her husband (The Studly Hubby) when he's in the next room

The Studly Hubby: Speaks in strange tongues about programming languages and server crashes at the end of the day

Me: Speaks in strange tongues about molecular biology and bacterial physiology at the end of the day

Hard evidence:


Josie's favorite new song (which can be watched here):

The PCR Song

lyrics as follows:
There was a time when to amplify DNA,
You had to grow tons and tons of tiny cells.
Then along came a guy named Dr. Kary Mullis,
Said you can amplify in vitro just as well.
Just mix your template with a buffer and some primers,
Nucleotides and polymerases, too.
Denaturing, annealing, and extending.
Well it’s amazing what heating and cooling and heating will do.
PCR, when you need to detect mutations.
PCR, when you need to recombine.
PCR, when you need to find out who the daddy is.
PCR, when you need to solve a crime.
(repeat chorus)

Garden Update

My bulbs are starting to come up! They sure took their sweet time, I was starting to fear for their lives. But I think they're going to be ok.One of my bulbs popping up in the front garden, where it is the sunniest. I already need to weed it - everything grows so fast here! It seems pretty happy and sturdy so far though.

My raspberry bush - it was just a stick for weeks and weeks and now finally looks like it could make something. Hopefully this year! I'll be thrilled if I get one raspberry (I'm sure it will be delicious!).

Speaking of delicious farm-fresh food, we got our first box of vegetables this week from Full Circle Farms:
The box had an abundance of good food in it, about half of which was locally grown (hopefully more will be local once summer is in full-swing). I swear this stuff is even more delicious than the co-op stuff, which is already pretty good. And what a fun assortment of stuff! We got collard greens, sweet peas, potatoes, mangoes, avacado, and a bunch of good recipes. Yummy!

What a week!

Merely a WEEK after my traumatic 30th birthday I was hit with a back injury that left me crippled, leaning over, requiring a walking stick and a back brace, and staying home from work. Everyone says, 'oh! You're only 30! you'll bounce right back!' - hopefully this is true.

I went to the chiropractor twice on Friday and they were very nice and helpful (they gave me the walking stick and back brace) but didn't fix it - it's a muscle sprain so there's not much that can be done. I hurt it hefting up the garage door with a heavy backpack on - at least I was doing something that requires some muscle (someone admitted to me yesterday that they hurt their back just as bad by simply bending over to put their underwear on - yech).

So I've been at home on the couch catching up on the stuff I can do from a couch - emails, reading, bossing my Studly Hubby around, and chatting on the phone. I thought I would get a lot of that kind of stuff done but it turns out everything happens pretty slowly when your back hurts, because it's still limiting to have to stay vertical and not move anything.

Eventually this afternoon my muscles stopped spasming and released enough so I could stand up straight. I immediately went outside and checked on my bulbs (a dandelion is growing over one of them, oh no!) and then had to come back in and lie down again because it was such an exhausting event. Tomorrow I will probably stay home from work again but there is still plenty more to do from the couch.

Hopefully I am bouncing back - I'm only 30, after all...

Traumatic Birthday

Friday was my 30th birthday. As my chipper co-worker said, 30 is a good number and the start of a good decade, yet.... it was pretty traumatizing. It's kind of an intangible trauma. I know many of you are going to tell me I'm being pathetic, but I really am starting to feel older. My knee has been hurting a little, I swear my memory is getting worse, I've become more anxious instead of less so, and I realized sometime last year that I am really going to have to work to achieve some of those dreams from my early 20s - yech.

A sensitive and caring friend asked in the hallway at work on Friday why I wasn't more excited about my birthday, and I almost had a breakdown right then and there. Subsequently she and several others decided I needed to go out drinking, so they planned a happy hour and dragged me out to Ivar's Seafood Restaraunt, a local seafood joint right on Lake Union near our apartment (this was the first place we went when we moved here with the Studly Hubby's Studly Parents, and since then we have taken numerous other guests there too).

The patio at Ivar's in high summer (picture from their website) - unfortunately the main patio wasn't open yet so we had the view but weren't outside when we went there on Friday.

We had a great time, and stayed out super late (8 pm) drinking and generally being merry. The next morning we bolted out early to get some skiing in (see previous post) and I was feeling better when we got back Sunday. Then today, I got an awesome present from my Studly Mummy - some new running pants!
Man these running pants are so sweet. They have reflective stripes, a butt-pocket, a moisture-wicking lining, and are warm enough for the cold windy days. I wore them today and I swear they made me faster. I look so awesome in them. Thanks Studly Mummy!

So tonight I am feeling better about being 30. It's still not great, but I think I can handle it. My Studly Mummy told me her most traumatic birthdays were 30 and 60. Well 30 is over with. Hopefully 60 doesn't come too soon.

From winter to spring

Before all the snow melted completely off the mountains, we headed out for a last ski run yesterday and turned it into a weekend getaway. We stayed in Leavenworth, a German tourist town just past the ski resort.


The town is cute but extremely commercialized to the point of being obnoxious. Despite this, and the hordes of crazy tourists we had to dodge, we had fun for the weekend because there was lots to see and do. This included a nice walk down the Wenatchee River Trail, a cruise through downtown and a wine tasting, a supremely yummy dinner at a quaint German restaraunt, and a stay at a European-style bed and breakfast right downtown. Our room had two balconies, one that looked out at the mountains and another that looked out over a church where a choir performance was taking place - so we could watch each group warm up outside before they went in to perform.

The weather was unbelievable, on the mountain it was in the 50s and although the snow was getting slushy it was still good for skiing. We saw people in shorts and t-shirts flying down the ski runs (one guy had no shirt on). Thankfully we kept ourselves pretty well covered because the sun was bright and we ended up getting some sunburn blotches on our faces where we missed with the sunblock. That always happens to me!

I think spring is officially here. Some of my bulbs are finally popping up - hopefully the rest will follow - and flowers are blooming everywhere now!

Happy Spring everybody!

During our whirlwind trip back to Iowa, the Studly Hubby's sweet Mac got pulled out and passed around a few times. The favorite, of course, was the PhotoBooth program which captured all kinds of good stuff as the relatives goofed around unknowing that it was being forever recorded and eventually put out in the public domain (these are the times, those are the rules!).

Do you recognize any of these people?

A happy return (and a happy trip!)

Just got back from Iowa and a conference in Chicago where I presented my work. I was in go-go mode the whole week and will be recovering this weekend and hopefully catching up on the blog.

Until then,

Toodloo

April Fools!

FYI The post below was a real article but it was an April Fools' joke, in case you really wanted to buy the game.

I knew that, I was just testing all of you.

Anybody else out there stumble on a good April Fools' joke?

Super Pii Pii Brothers - a new game for Wii

"The play mechanics are simple. Prepare yourself by strapping on the included belt harness and jacking in your Wiimote. A series of toilets are presented on screen and the challenge is to tilt your body to control a never-ending stream of pee. Get as much pee in the toilets as you can while spilling as little on the floor as possible. Sounds easy eh? Well the toilets open and close whack-a-mole style and occasionally the stray cat or other cute critter pops up. Spray a cat for extra points. Get too much pee on the ground and your game is over."

It is an amazing virtual pee experience!!

Check out the article and watch an example at ThinkGeek.com.