Ipod dock from binder clips

via not martha.

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if only we could all age so gracefully

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everybody celebrating Obama's victory

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Africans celebrating Obama's victory

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coolest headline ever

Obama Wins Omaha, NE Electoral Vote

Obama, President, Fondateur

From this site.

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Obamaha

Obama might get Omaha's 1 electoral vote.

I'm so proud!

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netflix and beer

now has "watch instantly" movies for mac.

in the good-idea-that-didn't-occur-to-me-category: drinking draft beer is greener than drinking bottled.

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I Voted Today

I stood in line for an hour and a half to vote in Precinct 38 this morning. It was my first time to vote for President actually in Nebraska--the other three times I voted absentee. I could have voted early, by mail or by going to the commissioner's, but I wanted to do it in person, at the polling place, I wanted to stand in line. When I left, there were still as many people waiting to vote as there were when I got in line--I estimate 60. At 9:45 am, I was the 89th person to vote , and at the last election, at my precinct, a grand total of 160 people voted. For some reason, Precinct 34, which also votes at the AV Sorensen Center in Dundee, had a very short list of registered voters and no line whatsoever.When I get in the booth, I always get nervous that I'll accidentally vote for the wrong person. I'm pretty sure I didn't.

The folks behind me--a mixed race couple and their voting-age son--provided an enjoyable eavesdrop, until they realized that they were in Precinct 34 and could skip to the front of the line. The mother, who was white, was exhorting her companions about how important it was to vote, and how she had seen on tv that Bush had stolen the past two elections and she wasn't going to let that happen again. The woman's son kept warning her that she should be quiet, because the Republicans might "jump" her, a possibility she viewed with enthusiasm. When the son said that he wanted to go home and have a bowl of cereal, or at least go sit in the car and wait, his mom told him that too many people had died for him to get the vote, and besides, "Can't nobody come get you when it's time."

I think the mother, along with several other people in line, distrusted the election officials. The guy who kept coming along and inviting Precinct 34 people to jump the line was met with skepticism. At least one person told him he was perfectly happy to wait in line. And the first time the guy came along, the son behind me asked his mother if she knew where they were supposed to vote (hoping that they were 34 folks)--she bridled in response and said, "Of course I know where we're supposed to vote! Right here!" It was only the second time that the guy came by with his Precinct 34 speech that she got her card out to check.

All very exciting. I don't know how I'll concentrate today.

Folks waiting to vote, view from inside the polling place.

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bushels of acres

Also in the potentially helpful I-had-no-idea category:

How much is a bushel? I was envisioning a bushel as one of those baskets you put apples in at apple-picking places. Not so. It's much bigger: 2,150 cubic inches, which is about as helpful as "a bushel". More helpful, if you're a baker: a bushel is approximately 42 pounds of flour, so if you imagine 42 of those 1-pound sacks of flour, you can see that a bushel = a lot. All this information comes from this site, which notes, helpfully: "The average person may never actually measure anything in terms of a bushel, but having a basic understanding of this form of measurement may certainly help city folk during that next visit to the orchard or farm." Also it will helps me understand the $19.99 for a bushel of apples sign on Leavenworth St. (a lot of apples: 42-48 pounds-worth). This is confusing, because it appears to be both a volume metric and a weight metric, but I guess 44 pounds of apples takes up approximately 2,150 cubic inches. I think it would be cool to start measuring things in terms of bushels, say, when moving: I guesstimate (my favorite form of math) I have about 150 bushels worth of stuff, give or take. Next time I move, I'll try to remember to measure it.

And an acre? Well, I was interested to discover that an acre is a measure of area and therefore does not require a particular shape. Similarly, a "square foot" need not be one foot by one foot square--it could be a rectangle with some fraction of a foot on one side and a foot plus a fraction on another side--or it could be a nonrectilinear shape altogether. An acre is equal to 43,560 square feet. For you sports fans out there, it's about 76% of a football field, or 100% of a football field minus the end zones and about 9 yards from one end. A square 40-acre parcel (e.g. "40 acres and a mule") is 1/4 mile by 1/4 mile. The other way to get a good idea for this is to go on to your county assessor's website, look up a property you're familiar with, and see if the acreage is listed.

Happy measuring.

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loan v. lend

This is something I did not know. Lent is the past tense of lend. Loaned is the past tense of loan. I always hesitated at lent, believing loaned was proper. Lend-lent has a bring-brang, mend-ment tend-tent, feel to me, I don't know why--it's not like there isn't send-sent, bend-bent, rend-rent, or that I thought lend-lended was right. But loan, the verb, is historically incorrect (although it's considered correct in the US now). Here are the rules, from bartleby.com:

USAGE NOTE: The verb loan is well established in American usage and cannot be considered incorrect. The frequent objections to the form by American grammarians may have originated from a provincial deference to British critics, who long ago labeled the usage a typical Americanism. Loan is, however, used to describe only physical transactions, as of money or goods; for figurative transactions, lend is correct: Distance lends enchantment. The allusions lend the work a classical tone.

Happy Tuesdays, all.

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p.s.

as you can see over there in the corner, I'm trying to rebuild my een per dag habit.
If you want me to take on a weekly theme, let me know, and feel free to suggest themes. I guess we'll see if anybody's still bothering to read this ol' blog.

DIY

I am now the world's foremost authority on troubleshooting thermostats. I still don't have a working one, but I have determined that fault is in the thermostat, and not in the installation. And I know how to put one on upside-down, even.

debutante

A colleague and I will be talking about Legal Aid of Nebraska, foreclosures, and other consumer-law issues on tv tonight for a local public-access show called the Latino Perspective (channel 22).

Omaha

For the first time ever, I will be voting in a place where my vote might actually change something.

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everlasting cookies

I made these cookies tonight. Really, I started making them three days ago. Then the butter softened for a day, and then the dough sat, as the recipe insists, for another 36 hours. Also, I used only regular flour, ghirardelli chocolate chips, and, for the first time, my own vanilla extract. I tried to make them as big as they say (generous golf balls) but maybe I just don't play golf enough. I got 30 cookies, whereas they got 16 for the same batch. And they're still plenty big and taste pretty good. SH, my roommate, declared them the best she'd ever tasted. I don't know if I can say the same, but maybe my tongue is exhausted from all this working out I've been doing.

Mine don't look like this, but who cares:


Mine are not so flat. The salt-sprinkled on top is genius.

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wild rumpus

Lulu and I have a couple of new roommates, as aforementioned. Here's one of them in action.



Meet Bernadette, aka Birdie, everyone.

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i am done with this book:

do you want it? It's ok. The fontsize is too big and the ending's disappointing, but I'll mail it to anyone who wants it.

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p.s.

I feel like I have done Alaskan architecture and J&B a disservice by forgetting to mention that unlike a lot of other buildings there, their house is beautiful.





Also, there is this cool museum:





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the post hoc couch report

So, Alaska was sweet,


I saw a moose,



I supported insulation with my head under a house on stilts (sadly no picture), I learned about the importance of getting water away from the house and how to make a trashcan into a rain receptacle



and the miracle of abandoned cabins that can somehow support life (due to the raspberries growing on top)


and cooking in shoprooms.



I also learned a ton about aurora borealis. They are made by SOLAR WIND (electrons spewed by the sun at us) hitting our ATMOSPHERE (electrons colliding with neon and oxygen gases make green and red lights) and traveling in our MAGNETIC FIELD (hence the waves). An electron can bounce back and forth from one pole to the other and back in 2 SECONDS. Sadly, I didn't get to see an aurora, but I spose that's yet another reason to go back--I plan on March '10 --anybody with me? I'll have some more pictures up from AK shortly.

Despite the fact that I have not felt the call to knit since tank tops became weather-appropriate clothing, Alaska inspired me to knit a whole scarf, which you see here before you. And although I pshawed the idear of an 8-foot scarf, including tassels (a first!), this here baby's accidentally longer than 8 feet. Which is longer than the panels of insulation I supported with my head.




In other news, the Em-Ms had a baby too (I'm so proud!):


And man! still more to report: Yesterday was my first Ice Cream and Charity Goat Social, in which various Omahans, one Lincolnitrix and one Minneapolitrix consumed my free, hard-won-essay-contest ice cream and raised enough money for possibly three goats! There are pictures from that too, but not at the moment. Much gratitude especially to SWT, without whom throwing a party would be a ton more work and less fun, and upon whose initiative the Charity Goat half of the Social was born. And of course MRG: she wins my Most Dedicated Socialite, Having Traveled the Farthest. Good work, everyone. Truly above and beyond.

Finally, Lulu and I have some new roomies. SH and her golden dude, Bernadette, are moving in tomorrow. I think it will be the best 6 weeks of Lulu's life (if not mine too).

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