In the past year (and a few months) I've been to more book signings than I've ever been to in my life. Here's a snapshot (literally), in chronological order. Enjoy:
As I'm snowed in at my parents house (having a lot of fun! and no, that's not sarcasm), I downloaded Google Earth. I haven't played with this software since college --- but since I'm researching beach houses for our family vacation so I wanted to check out exactly how much beach space the house we want has available after hurricane season.
After I got the images I needed... I played. Since I last used it, the Google Earth folks have added more functionality. Instead of only being able to see the image of the place Google chooses (usually from the previous day), you can now view each place at any time of day (ie.. you can see cars in the driveway at night, none during the day). I mean, it's a little bit startling, but probably not 100% accurate so I'm not going to worry too much... yet.
The coolest version now available, though: historical view. You can view places how they looked over 15 years ago. I saw my home in 1994- before the farmland next to us was bought and a ritzy subdivision was built. You can even scroll throughout the years. You can't go that far back for each place, for instance I could only see my grandfather's house back to 1998. Still, very cool. Makes you wonder what will be next in Google Earth and public sattelite imagery?
The final date I saw on my house was Jan 31, 2010 - which is tomorrow. I am hoping that was a glitch. My dad told me to see if I could view 2020 and, if I could, we would be "getting the hell outta here."
Download it and let me know what you think/ what you saw!
I've been taking the metro to work everyday since August 2008. I'm an Orange Line rider, but occasionally have taken the blue, green and red to get around. Overall, I get where I need to go, but I hear complaints everywhere. It's a mix of 1) The metro employees suck 2) The metro executives suck 3) The metro riders suck.
Here's my review: it's a mix of all three.
First of all, I don't think we should blame everything on the metro employees. As much as we hate it when we hear them calling on the radio that we have to "de-train", I'm sure they aren't thriilled to be sitting in the front of a broken train. Yes, there are some really crappy employees that text-while-driving and do other illegal things, but I've never seen that with my own two eyes so I don't think it's that rampant.
Secondly, if our metro trains are breaking down, then why did the metro executive offices get new chairs or carpet or something a year ago? If the track is breaking and the cars and disgusting and unsafe, why do the metro exec's still have ridiculously high salaries?
Thirdly, I rode the WMATA Metro Bus today. The passengers were 10 times more friendly than on the metro train. The difference was a marked improvement on my regular "I'm going to look you up and down, not smile, not move and push you over if you get in my space" metro train ride. I mean sometimes something that happens to me on the metro train in the morning can ruin my day. Like the time I stood on the metro and it didn't move for 15 minutes. Then again, on the bus line, a child did kiss my leg repeatedly until his mother pried him off (ew). So you take what you can get as far as clientele, I guess.
Overall, I have gotten everywhere I needed to get safely, and gotten a few good stories out of it. But I think the biggest problem is the major 'tudes of metro passengers. We're all going in the same direction, we all don't want to be stuck, we all want that seat with no one sitting by us... can't we all just get along?
Tonight, I made a recipe from "My Mama Made That", a cookbook my sister gave me full of "Virginia Favorites" from the Junior League of Hampton Roads, Inc. This is a big step for me because lately my "cooking" has been marinara and pre-made tortellini.
Mushroom and Swiss Chicken
Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tbs red wine vinegar
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tbs Cajun seasoning
1/2 tbs pepper
1 cup chopped scallions
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
4 slices Swiss cheese
Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the olive oil and garlic in a 9x13-inch baking dish. Add the chicken and turn to coat well. Sprinkle with 3 tbs vinegar, the Cajun seasoning (editor's note: use this seasoning with a light hand because it's HOT!) and pepper. Bake for 30min. Cover the chicken with the scallions and mushrooms. Sprinkle with 1tbs vinegar. Bake for 15min longer. Remove from the oven and top each chicken breast with a slice of the swiss cheese. Serve with wild rice or Cajun rice (editor's note: we had it with white Minute rice and it was still delicious).
Review: This recipe definitely cleared out my sinuses, so I think I'll cut the Cajun seasoning in half next time I make this, which will be soon. I definitely recommend this meal because it's easy, really delicious and fairly healthy.
One thing with me is that I tend to not cook a lot because I don't have a lot of the ingredients and don't know how. This cook book is awesome -- I also bought myself a Rachael Ray cookbook.
Happy eating!
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