vom_marlowe

Sorry for the massive radio silence.  My terminally ill relative is now in hospice and we're reaching the end.  I'll spare everyone the grim details, but that is chiefly why.  Apologies.  It's been very hard. 

I'm still writing the management notes, but uh, I keep saving the drafts on my work computer and then forgetting to post them.  I suck.  But I will get them done!eleventyone I promise. 

In other news, I did move this past summer, so if you were planning to send me a card, you may have the wrongity address.  If you need the new one, let me know and I will PM/Email you. 

New Tricks( Read more... )

Friday Night Lights( Read more... )

FNL is a bit more drama and heartache than I'm up for right now, but I enjoyed what I did watch. 

Cooks' Illustrated Betrays Me
( Read more... )

As some of you know, one of my relatives is terminally ill.  We've recently found out that she's worsened.  In between doing research on end of life care, I'm doing my best to be supportive of my mom, who is losing her dearest sister. 

I'm looking for distracting movies, audiobooks, or TV shows to watch with mom.  She likes Terry Pratchett (we've read/watched them all), Tomb Raider, some fantasy (Lord of the Rings, yes, Star Trek, no), British dramas, Jane Austen (original books as well as movies), certain kinds of anime (Howls Moving Castle yes, Fruits Basket no), old fashioned stories like Anne of Green Gables or the Secret Garden, and documentaries (one Christmas, we watched a documentary about a Norwegian mens choir--I don't even know, man).  

She dislikes comedies, gore, sexual violence, and people dying of cancer. 

Does anyone have recommendations?  Ideally, I'd like to find something restful.

Netflix has some David Attenborough documentaries, which I've heard are very good, but I don't want to show anything that is all The Earth is DYING DYING I TELL YOU if you see what I mean.  Sharks eating seals would be fine, though. 

Suggestions?  Anti-recs?

People Skills.  It's all about People Skills.  (Hey, I had to get in a fandom reference somewhere.)

This is Part Two. 

From my observations of the OTW fiasco, I have to say that they appear to lack even the most fundamental organizational management skills.  Uh, sorry. 
( What a manager does )

I have to take a break now, but is this helpful?  Does anyone have questions?

I tried out the 'new look' of Gmail, which everyone is supposed to get, whether they like it or not. 
( I am really cranky today, so I'll cut for the capslock of RAEG )

....so I hear hotmail's good?

I have a post up at the HU about Avatar the Last Airbender.  It is spoiler free.  I think most folks here have watched that show, but if not, it's on Netflix and available streaming!  Highly recommended.

Murder at Monticello, Rita Mae Brown.  I admit I haven't finished this one.  It's got a cat and a dog (a corgi) who solve mysteries.  It's mid-series, but I chose this one because it occurs at Monticello, which I love.  The main narrator is a postmistress in a small town and they discover a dead guy at Monticello and then other dead bodies pile up and stuff.  It's all related to Thomas Jefferson owning slaves, which is fair enough, but when one person (I forget who) said that back then, the races were actually closer, I cocked my head to one side like the RCA dog and had to rewind to make sure I'd heard correctly.  I had.  Wut.  I listened to most of the rest of the mystery, but honestly, I kind of tuned out and focused on my knitting for a lot of the time, and I'm not sorry. 

Thomas Jefferson is one of my personal heroes.  He was a great man.  But you know, he was also fucked up.  It happens.  There's no shame in saying that he was a great guy who also fucked up.  Sheesh.

Moving on.

The Cat Who Knew A Cardinal, by Lilian Jackson Braun.  I had to check the publication date on this one, twice, to make sure it wasn't written in the sixties, because it has some very old fashioned notions.  Somebody actually says, "It's a gas."  Lol wut.  The plot is basic cozy mystery with cats.  There's a theater club and a play and there's an awful lot of talk about an octagonal barn (I've actually visited an octagonal barn--they are quite cool) and its restoration.  Honestly, I sometimes felt like I'd accidentally slipped into a 40s mystery.  Which is not a bad thing.  I fell asleep while listening a couple of times and didn't bother to go back and it all turned out fine.  Recommended if you're looking for sleepy, rainy-day amusement without much thought and/or like Siamese cats. 

The Tell Tale Horse, Rita Mae Brown.  This is another Rita Mae Brown, because I'd heard such good things and this one was supposed to have talking foxhounds and horses (it does) and I am into that kind of thing.  I haven't finished it yet, and so far I'm enjoying it more than I did the cat book.  The heroine is what would normally be a little old lady, but in this book is kind of a Crone Mary Sue of Awesome.  She's wealthy, talented, very tall, and has had her share of lovers.  She'a a belle of the ball and top of her game, and she's seventy.  Which is cool.  I may have a certain fondness for tough women who are in charge and own lots of tough-to-handle animals for obvious reasons. 

I've noticed already that Rita Mae Brown seems to have a theme about fidelity being kind of not the human way and that most marriages of long term end up being friendships and the principals have lovers on the side, kind of as a default.  I don't actually buy that.  I'm sure there are circumstances under which I might conceivably be unfaithful, but I went for nearly a decade of not even dating because I got distracted by other things and forgot.   I have a whole essay in my brain about female-female friendships and the weird ways of past descriptions of lovers relationships that would and wouldn't count, blah blah blah, but that is not what brings me here.  So, fidelity, infidelity.  It's just an interesting point and kind of a cultural thing, in my view. 

I do enjoy the discussion of foxhounds and kennels and horses.  Brown obviously know her dog behavior, which is a fucking relief let me tell you.  She also has strong ethical beliefs about those same animals, which I'm also enjoying so far.  I'm sure lots of folks would find it infodumping of the most annoying sort, so YMMV.

I also finished relistening to the Student Prince read and written by fayjay.  It's pretty awesome. 

I never got to learn much math, because I went to a wretched highschool and never took math in college.  I find it interesting and relaxing so I sometimes pick up teach yourself math books.  I worked through Headfirst Algebra (interesting, but not great), for instance.  When telophase posted about the Teaching Company's big sale on classes, I looked at some of the most popular ones and found a really neat looking class called The Secrets of Mental Math.  All about learning how to do math in your head!  I'm super excited.  I've downloaded the first couple of videos and gotten myself all psyched up.  I can do it!  (Or maybe not, but I aim to try.)

I also splurged and got myself a course on the great pharoahs of Egypt, who I've always always wanted to learn about.  That one I got the DVD for.  Wheeee!

This weekend Autumn came in and slammed down her fist.  It was hot (103) on Friday and on Saturday, we'd climbed up past 95 and then the storm arrived, right on time, and the temp careened down twenty degrees like Nature had switched a dial.  Loud thunder, huge lightening, crashing buckets of rain.  Dramatic.  Evening temperatures stopped being 76 and started being 59.  *love*

I went out with B to a new to us Korean place.  It's called Sobahn.  She got the galbi and I had kimchee stew.  Their rice was OK, but not great.  The rice at Choga is better.  More fragrant, better texture.  The kimchee stew was good but not as spicy as I expected; I mean, it was kind of spicy, but it wasn't really spicy, which I thought was odd.  B's galbi was tasty, but she said Choga's is better.  We both liked some of the banchan, but weren't wowed by it.  Their zucchini was nice, but I make that at home, and I found their radish and cabbage kimchee kind of bland.  The tofu had too much fish sauce for my allergies, but B liked it.  Neither of us ate much of the other ones and the portions were really tiny.  I mean, maybe two bites total. On the other hand, they had actual decor, fancy plates, metal chopsticks, and so on.  Their service was incredibly slow, but pleasant.  I think Sobahn is a place to take my brother or other visiting relatives; Choga is a bit more hole-in-the wall, but their food is so homey and delicious and their staff is so sweet, I love it to bits and I think B and I will flee back there toot sweet, as they say.  

And now for the apples.  I have been researching apples so that I can order some for my back yard.  It's very complicated, but I love it.  So far I've decided to focus on heirloom varieties.  My climate is more Southern than it is Northern, so those are the apples I'm concentrating on.  I've decided to get a Cox variety, probably St Cecilia for the longevity, and definitely an Arkansas Black.  

Has anyone had any other fine old apples they'd like to recommend?  Especially of the Southern character, like Staymans or Wolf River?

Also also, I have not updated any further ice cream adventures because I have become briefly obsessed with the banana and then got distracted when mom made homemade gingerbread in honor of fall. 

But I did make a crock of dill pickles for the first time, as well as three jars of mixed bean and pepper pickles.  I'm quite excited about the dills.  They smell exquisite.  I used a pickling spice of my own devising and used oak leaves, as suggested, to keep crunch.  They've begun to bubble and show action.  We have fermentation!  I always feel so connected when I put up food.  My family has been doing this for many generations and I feel like my feet are more and more grounded into the dirt as I walk about. 

The jarred frig pickles are a disappointment so far.  I don't think the recipe is good (not dangerous, but not accurate either) despite being written by a canning book author.  I won't link until I'm done deciding, pro or con.  *frowns*  I had high hopes for the flavor, too.  Grrr.  Still, it's cooking science and I do love that.  

So, how about y'all?  Any good produce your way?  New books?  Favorite apples?

I have a new post up at the Hooded Utilitarian.  It's about seeing Monet's Waterlilies together for the first time in thirty years. 

I'm trying to help my mom record a video for YouTube.  We've been using my little Canon Powershot, but the sound quality is horrible.  She ends up with a lisp.  The visual is fine.

Is there any way I can record audio in a better quality format? 

I have a small headset, for instance, with a microphone.  I have a good fast laptop, so I could try using its microphone.  Anyone have ideas or suggestions?

I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium.  I'm OK with spending a bit of money (say twenty dollars) but not a whole lot (not more than a hundred). 

*looks around nervously*

I thought I'd gotten over my summer cold last week only be slayed nigh unto death by sneezing and coughing and having bouts of Very Important Five Hour Naps. 

But I'm back now.  I swear. 

OK, so I'm still travelling with a box of kleenex, but it's good enough for government work.  As we say.