Category Archives: Blather

Promises Made and Kept – To Others.

I am writing this because I promised Marielle I would. I am writing this because I promised Deb I would.

I’m writing this because I promised myself I would, and then I didn’t. Repeatedly. For months. And I still wouldn’t be, but Marielle and Deb aren’t me. Committing to them is, somehow, more imperative than committing to myself.

This, honestly, is how I’ve functioned for 90% of my life. Maybe more. Maybe a lot more. Commitments to others matter(ed) more, far more, than commitments to myself.

I have been trying to get motivated to update this here MetaCookbook for months. Even before I managed to publish Shafiqah’s wonderful beer origin story, and especially after. I had so many ideas after. I wanted to ask Liz and Russ and so many others.… Continue reading →

Recipe for the Best Shower

I love showering, but I very rarely take a long shower. The water waste is just too much for this New Mexican’s heart. Yes, even though I live in the Pacific Northwest now (and I don’t know if I will ever be dry again). Clean, fresh, temperature-controlled water on demand is a hell of a luxury on its own. I can enjoy it in under five minutes and feel delighted.

But I won’t deny, there’s something glorious about a long, hot shower. So, on rare occasion, I take one. And today? Today I finally figured out what might be the best shower ever. Better than that? It’s repeatable. A must for any good scientifically-trained person trying to find “the best.”

Ingredients

Music from Tegan and Sara
Music from Enslaved

Almost blisteringly hot water

An appropriate plastic glass.… Continue reading →

The Rude Thing About Life

I paid a bunch of bills this morning. That’s not the rude thing about life, though it is a rude thing about life. Bills, they have to be paid.

I put a butternut squash in the oven just now, because I don’t want to subsist on fast food and eating out, but I’ve long been too brain-dead to focus on cooking. Another thing that is rude, but not THE rude thing about life.

Except, really? They both are part of the rude thing about life. The rude thing about life is that it goes on. I haven’t heard For My Broken Heart in years, possibly as much as a decade, but a tiny piece of it has lodged in my head and reminded me “the world ain’t gonna stop for my broken heart.”… Continue reading →

New Year, New President, New “Blather” Links

The fourth Monday of a month is for “blather” links; things that I want to share that don’t really fall into the food, beer, or science categories of the blog. Also, new year means trying new things! I decided it might be interesting to end these posts with links to some of what I’m currently reading and listening to. Please let me know what you think!

… Continue reading →

All of Me

This little blog has existed for almost seven years now. I’ll be honest, that kind of blows my mind. It’s had numerous lulls (most of 2011 comes to mind, as does one of my most recent posts), but I keep coming back to it and I keep going with it. There aren’t a lot of things in my life that I can say that about.

Lions and science in general, as referenced below. Beer? We’re not that far along yet, but I’m still entranced and I think we’re in it for the long haul. Bill? More than double that in time, at this point (if not romantically for about half of it).

I started this post almost two years ago. I’m not sure why or how it fell off my radar, but in looking through my drafts, I came upon it again.… Continue reading →