Balance Ball?

Well I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm still getting a kick out of this.


I mean cmon guys this is amazing. Maybe?

Bread

Fresh French bread from scratch, thanks to Cathy. We enjoyed it with caprese salad and linguine with white clam sauce, thanks to Albert.

I bread somewhere that you may knead to let dough rest for at yeast a flour or so. Sure, rye not? There's muffin wrong with leavening the kitchen sometimes and taking a bake from work (no buns intended). I apologize, that was stupid.

Broken Glass

Crap. While swapping out lenses over the past weekend, my favorite lens rolled, dropped two feet, and then bounced off the ground a couple times. I saw it happen and all I could do was feebly stretch out my arm while choking out a pathetic "Noooooo."

The focus motor is wrecked for sure, and since the focus ring is electronically coupled (something I never liked) I can't even focus it manually. I'm also guessing some lens elements were knocked out of alignment, but I can't really tell without the ability to focus it.

Anyway, I'm sending the thing in for repair. I'm hoping for the best but I'm not exactly confident it will come back to me as good as it was.


Not even a Vernors can cheer me up right now (photo by Cathy).

Seigo

Eric sent me some pictures of the new addition to the family - his name is Seigo (say-go). Apparently it is a very auspicious name and it means "bright and aware." Here he is!


Seigo! I already love the name (and him of course).


Seigo and Eric.

A New Generation!

As of today, my brother is a dad, my parents are grandparents, and I'm an uncle!

I don't know what that makes Quentin, but he's happy too!

Museum of Science and Industry

Relatively long post today. Cathy and I had a day off earlier this week so we decided to go to the Museum of Science and Industry, which is apparently the largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere. I've never been there so I brought my camera along and took some touristy shots:


Obligatory shot of the Transportation Gallery. There was a train, a 727 (which you could go into), the Spirit of America, a Spitfire, and a bunch of other crap I don't remember. When I later went up into the 727 and sat in a coach class chair, I swear I began feeling the same minor anxiety (or is it annoyance?) I might experience during an actual flight. Good work guys.


There was an exhibit on various possible applications of technology in the future. Here is Cathy looking at a floating red blob from the future. I'm kidding, it's just dry ice and a projector (from the future).


An instrument in the future technology exhibit. Each block had different musical qualities which interacted in various ways depending on which side it rested on, it's location in relation to other blocks, and the multitude of groping hands pushing and prodding the blocks with no rhyme or reason.


Orville Wright on the Flyer. It's amazing to think that flight was not much more than fantasy 100 years ago, and yet now we've got planes that can send shit to outer space. Also, maybe it's just me but I would not be wearing a hat if I was planning on flying through the air.


Aerial view of Midwest farmland from the balcony level. This is actually just a very small part of a huge exhibit illustrating the railroad journey from Chicago to Seattle, complete with true-to-life scale models of buildings, people, and natural landmarks. One of the many fascinating details was a Chicago Red Line station that was "recreated brick for brick and is populated to reflect the individuals who were waiting for the train at 1:56 p.m. on April 3, 2002." Too bad this is the least exciting photo I took of the exhibit and I'm only posting it because two semis appear to be on a collision course.


The Berghoff in "Yesterday's Main Street" (at night I guess). I like the creepy mannequin staring out the window.


A psychedelic display of flowing bubbles and colors during an exhibit explaining the refining process of crude oil. To be honest, I was so busy staring at the bubbly visuals that I didn't hear a word of the narration.


A Foucault pendulum from two stories up. It's a visual demonstration showing that the Earth rotates. I remember seeing one of these in the Detroit Science Center as a kid and having the urge to just shove the thing as hard as I could.


Good times.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.


I posted flowers last year, so I'll post some this year.

More Snacks

Remember Sarah's dog Snack from this post and that post? Here she is, four months later:


She's got the crazy eyes (and tongue) in this one. You can see Kya skulking about in the background.


She looks like an alley dog. Also kind of acts like one. I like it.


The photos are from December, so she probably looks a bit different now - but not by much.

Another Day...

...another scan:


Standard shot from the Manitou Islands, 7+ years ago? Just used an old Olympus 35mm p&s, and I later developed the film in a homemade changing bag. That really means I duct taped dishwashing gloves onto a garbage bag, turned off the lights in my room, and started pouring chemicals on shit.

I'm off work today because today is Lincoln's birthday, which is a holiday around here. That's cool but today is also Charles Darwin's birthday, so I'm just going to pretend that's the real reason why I have the day off. Go evolution, go.

Al's Chicken Soup

Chicken soup, my way:


I make the stock with an Asian influenced mirepoix and finish it with shiitake mushrooms, kale, and some fish oil. Around here, a pot of this disappears in about two days. This stuff kills colds like nobody's business.

I'm a big fan of stews and soups. I think it's because when I was in school, my empty stomach was accompanied by an empty wallet and making big pots of stew was cheap, easy, and would feed me for days. Good times.

It's That Time Again

Toy on head time.


Albert, why hast thou forsaken me?

(blank)

Fetch

Stop Sniffing My Crochet

Up until about 2 years ago, I had no idea what the difference was between knitting and crocheting.

Up until about 2 years ago, I had no idea what Jo-Ann's Fabric and Craft was.

Up until about 2 years ago, I had no idea what tulle was.

Up until about 2 years ago, I had no idea what a dust ruffle was.

I know all about that shit now.


This is crocheting.


Christmas gifts crocheted by Cathy.