Friday, January 30, 2009
Love love love
Thank you, Feds!
People like to complain about the IRS, but you know what? The IRS rocks. Sure, nobody wants to get audited, and lots of people like to complain about paying taxes (and they can all stick a sock in it as far as I'm concerned). But I never hear anyone bother to express any admiration for the insane amount of work that the IRS gets done and does pretty darn well given the circumstances. And you know one thing that the IRS has gotten really good at in the past few years? Crazy fast tax refunds. God bless 'em.
I still have to do my state tax return. I've been having some technical difficulties getting their online filing thing up and running. I'm going to give it one more shot, and if I'm still having problems, I think I'll just file a paper return. The more I use the internet for everything, though, the more aware I am of how much paper we have used and still use for stuff like that, and it makes me a little ill inside. (For similar reasons, I don't like to buy CDs anymore, because why bother? All I'm going to do is rip it to my computer and load it into my iPod -- I don't even have a stereo that can play CDs.)
I still have to do my state tax return. I've been having some technical difficulties getting their online filing thing up and running. I'm going to give it one more shot, and if I'm still having problems, I think I'll just file a paper return. The more I use the internet for everything, though, the more aware I am of how much paper we have used and still use for stuff like that, and it makes me a little ill inside. (For similar reasons, I don't like to buy CDs anymore, because why bother? All I'm going to do is rip it to my computer and load it into my iPod -- I don't even have a stereo that can play CDs.)
What you do on your mid-morning tea break at work
Here are some NY Times articles that have caught my eye lately:
"It is not known for sure why exercise can elicit such strange lab results, researchers say." There's something funny about this article, the way that it expresses surprise that lab results might incorrectly reflect what's going on in the body of a person who has recently exercised. The anomolous results are interesting, sure, but isn't the point that the body is right and the lab is wrong? Somehow it seems that the "researchers" quoted above think it should be the other way around.
"Too many Americans believe that to lose weight, what you eat matters more than how much you eat" (quoting Dr. Pierre Chandon). This nicely sums up the point of this article, that some foods carry a "health halo" (like foods billed as "low fat!" or "trans-fat free!" or "with antiodidants!") that lead people to think they are healthier than they actually are.
"Food Storage as Grandma Knew It." I want a root cellar.
"I’ve got to do something about these plates. I’m not really a plates kind of guy." On the Obama approach to working at the White House. You really just have to read this one. I find it utterly charming.
"It is not known for sure why exercise can elicit such strange lab results, researchers say." There's something funny about this article, the way that it expresses surprise that lab results might incorrectly reflect what's going on in the body of a person who has recently exercised. The anomolous results are interesting, sure, but isn't the point that the body is right and the lab is wrong? Somehow it seems that the "researchers" quoted above think it should be the other way around.
"Too many Americans believe that to lose weight, what you eat matters more than how much you eat" (quoting Dr. Pierre Chandon). This nicely sums up the point of this article, that some foods carry a "health halo" (like foods billed as "low fat!" or "trans-fat free!" or "with antiodidants!") that lead people to think they are healthier than they actually are.
"Food Storage as Grandma Knew It." I want a root cellar.
"I’ve got to do something about these plates. I’m not really a plates kind of guy." On the Obama approach to working at the White House. You really just have to read this one. I find it utterly charming.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Back to the grind
One thing about working a normal full-time job is that you get a normal two-day weekend. How did it get to be Sunday night already??
This weekend, D. and I headed up north to hang out with my family. Good times. My grandma made about twice as much hotdish (aka. casserole, for those of you not from the upper midwest) as any of us could eat. My cousin J. and her man came with an assortment of 2-liter bottles of soda, including some cherry-flavored 7up fortified with antioxident vitamin E, which they got for seven cents with a coupon. Seven cents, and 10% of your daily value of vitamin E per serving--I'm equally awed and creeped out by that.
We brought an assortment of chocolate that we'd brought home from Poland, which turned out to be an even bigger hit than I'd expected. It was especially a hit with my nephew (which I did expect--that guy's a chocolate fiend). I also brought most of the remaining strawberry jam that I made last summer with some friends. I'd been meaning to share it--we made so much that we each ended up with something like 20 various-sized jars of jam each, including about 10 pint jars. And while D. may love strawberry, there's just only so much jam that we can eat. Also, there's something pretty cool about opening up a jar full of homemade strawberry jam in the dead of winter--like a blast of summer sunshine in jam-form.
This weekend, D. and I headed up north to hang out with my family. Good times. My grandma made about twice as much hotdish (aka. casserole, for those of you not from the upper midwest) as any of us could eat. My cousin J. and her man came with an assortment of 2-liter bottles of soda, including some cherry-flavored 7up fortified with antioxident vitamin E, which they got for seven cents with a coupon. Seven cents, and 10% of your daily value of vitamin E per serving--I'm equally awed and creeped out by that.
We brought an assortment of chocolate that we'd brought home from Poland, which turned out to be an even bigger hit than I'd expected. It was especially a hit with my nephew (which I did expect--that guy's a chocolate fiend). I also brought most of the remaining strawberry jam that I made last summer with some friends. I'd been meaning to share it--we made so much that we each ended up with something like 20 various-sized jars of jam each, including about 10 pint jars. And while D. may love strawberry, there's just only so much jam that we can eat. Also, there's something pretty cool about opening up a jar full of homemade strawberry jam in the dead of winter--like a blast of summer sunshine in jam-form.
Monday, January 19, 2009
In no particular order
I've been meaning to write a wrap-up of the rest of our travels, but, well... I haven't. In short, we spent the last few days of the trip back in Copenhagen, and this time we were a little more bright-eyed and alert for the experience. I really liked Copenhagen. The people were incredibly friendly, and the city has lots of interesting nooks to explore. It would be great to go back sometime, preferably in the summer, definitely when I'm less broke. You can, as always, see the pictures here.
We got back a little over a week ago, and we both had all of last week off. It was wonderful to take some time to decompress and relax at home. Today I started back at work -- the same temporary job that I've had for the last however-many months, which also means that it's back to the search for a "real" job. ("Real" meaning "with long-term career potential" as opposed to "not imaginary" -- please don't report me to the "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks.)
Other random bits and pieces I'd like to share with you:
Amusing road sign in Wales, via not martha. (She also has a good link to 5 Job Interview Questions That Mean You’re Not Getting Hired…And One That Means You Are for the rest of you job hunters out there.)
What should be in your pantry, according to the New York Times, and what Gluten-Free Girl has in hers.
Hand-made beards and the beard-maker's blog, via angry chicken.
The moon comes to visit, photos by a pair of Russian artists (with text all in Russian but you can still appreciate the photos even if you don't know Russian).
"My Dinners with Dubya" on Vanity Fair -- one man's own story of how it turns out that you don't necessarily want as President a guy who seems like he'd be fun to have a beer with.
And on that note, happy Inauguration Day, everyone!
We got back a little over a week ago, and we both had all of last week off. It was wonderful to take some time to decompress and relax at home. Today I started back at work -- the same temporary job that I've had for the last however-many months, which also means that it's back to the search for a "real" job. ("Real" meaning "with long-term career potential" as opposed to "not imaginary" -- please don't report me to the "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks.)
Other random bits and pieces I'd like to share with you:
Amusing road sign in Wales, via not martha. (She also has a good link to 5 Job Interview Questions That Mean You’re Not Getting Hired…And One That Means You Are for the rest of you job hunters out there.)
What should be in your pantry, according to the New York Times, and what Gluten-Free Girl has in hers.
Hand-made beards and the beard-maker's blog, via angry chicken.
The moon comes to visit, photos by a pair of Russian artists (with text all in Russian but you can still appreciate the photos even if you don't know Russian).
"My Dinners with Dubya" on Vanity Fair -- one man's own story of how it turns out that you don't necessarily want as President a guy who seems like he'd be fun to have a beer with.
And on that note, happy Inauguration Day, everyone!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!
We spent New Year's Eve with D's family. First we made an appearance at the Jewish theater downtown, to catch the last part of the evening's variety show. We hung out backstage briefly to say hi to D's grandfather, and then we took off to spend the rest of the evening with D's sister.
After the midnight countdown, we went outside to set off fireworks, which apparently is the traditional Polish way to ring in the new year. And these weren't just little sparkly fountain things. Although there were some of those too -- but mostly this was the big rocket kind. It was really something to be in the middle of a whole neighborhood of people setting off big fireworks. Hard to capture in photos, but I did manage to get a few, along with a short video of D. and his mom's partner almost blowing themselves up with a firework that didn't launch properly. (No one got hurt, although it did set off a nearby car alarm.)
After the midnight countdown, we went outside to set off fireworks, which apparently is the traditional Polish way to ring in the new year. And these weren't just little sparkly fountain things. Although there were some of those too -- but mostly this was the big rocket kind. It was really something to be in the middle of a whole neighborhood of people setting off big fireworks. Hard to capture in photos, but I did manage to get a few, along with a short video of D. and his mom's partner almost blowing themselves up with a firework that didn't launch properly. (No one got hurt, although it did set off a nearby car alarm.)
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