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31st October 2010

The last day

Accomplishments this week:

  • 3 crappy windows removed (with varying degrees of difficulty)
  • Glass blocks sealed with silicon, then scrapped of hardened silicon when we realized that it wouldn’t seal properly, which took 2 entire evenings to accomplish
  • 3 glass block windows mortared and sealed
  • Basement floor tiles pried up around the periphery of living room
  • Loose paint and caulking sanded and chiseled from basement walls and joints
  • Gutters cleaned out
  • Leaves raked and raked and raked (and blown down the street to the neighbors 🙂 ) and sidewalks swept and lawn mowed.
  • Garage door lubricated
  • Moved smoke alarm and replaced batteries
  • Fixed living room clock that hasn’t worked since a month after I moved here
  • Removed outside light that was malfunctioning
  • Swept, mopped and disinfected basement floor
  • Vacuumed all of the carpet

(All of the photos from the project can be seen here)

Not accomplished (attempted, but abandoned)

  • Chimney capped (need longer ladder, or else need extinction therapy to remove my fear of heights
  • Basement joint plugged and sealant painted on walls
  • Car exhaust gas recirculation valve replaced (part bought, but too difficult to replace – will have to take to a mechanic)
  • Utility closet organized (it’s all still strewn across my living room)

As for A Picture A Day-ish, I posted 18 days of this month! Seeing as I had been posting 1-2 entries a month for the past year, that’s not too bad. Starting tomorrow, I am going to be participating in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) for the month of November, which I love doing. They have prizes and I’m determined to at least be in the running this year!

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30th October 2010

APADish – October 30

Inspired by [info]eponine119‘s achievements last week: Jonamac Apple Crisp (using this recipe here). I made it earlier this week (minus the raisins) and oh my word, yumminess. I still had extra apples, so made it again tonight.

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28th October 2010

channeling count von count

2 windows! 2 pretty windows done! Bah ha ha!

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27th October 2010

Oct 27 pictures

The great achievement of the week:
Destruction:


Construction:


We have installed one of the six windows in my basement! It’s not perfect, but it looks like it will do the job. We’re hoping to get another two done before Dad leaves on Sunday. Plus finish pulling up tile, caulking the basement joint, applying sealant to the walls, clean out gutters and maybe redo the trench in my front yard. The weather hasn’t exactly been cooperating – it rained most of the day yesterday, the wind was atrocious today and it’s supposed to be cold tomorrow – which has made things much slower going than hoped.

I have to head back to work tomorrow (grumble, grumble), but yay for progress!

(FYI, for those who read my blog via Google Reader, my RSS feed wasn’t working last week, so you may have missed a couple of entries. It seems to be back now.)

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24th October 2010

APADish – Oct 22

I know I missed a couple of days. My dad is here (w00t!) and it’s distracted me from taking pictures. We’re destroying my basement this week – removing and replacing windows, scrapping paint, covering the walls with sealant – so maybe I’ll get some pictures of that fun project.

In the meantime, here’s a few more pictures of autumn here (still the favorite). I went to a playground on Friday as the sun was setting. Unfortunately, a weather system was moving across, so the light was not as perfect as I had hoped, so the pictures are very slightly altered to bring out the oomph.

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20th October 2010

the daily pic – Oct 20

the daily pic - Oct 20

I have no idea how it got to be the 20th of October already. Seriously?! Seriously???

I’m on a lazy rotation this month. An elective, which on the neurology side, means I can pick and choose how I spend my days. Or as my colleague said “I’m on elective and I elect not to go.” 🙂 I haven’t been quite that bad. So I’ve had a couple of days of clinics, several days studying for boards, working on a couple of research/quality improvement projects and lots of lazy morning sleeping in and finally feeling somewhat human again. It’s been lovely and I’m sad that it will be coming to an end so quickly.

As I was driving home tonight, I was overwhelmed with the pulchritude (good word!) of the setting sun over the autumn leaves, and I managed to get home in time to catch the last rays of the day. It very shortly thereafter darkened and started to rain, so I’m glad that I was able to get these shots:

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18th October 2010

APADish – Oct 18

APADish - Oct 18


This is a little bit of a cheat, since I took this picture back in August, but as it was what I had for dinner and I photoshopped (or rather apertured) the image tonight, as it was yellow-toned, I think it counts.

Grilled Salmon with North African Flavors or as I call it “The Meal That Is Going To Get Me Married.” Or at least declared passionate love. My dinner partner that night pronounced it wonderful and seemed to swoon at my feet; alas, he is gay and while my fish is good, it’s not that good in overcoming biology.

This is my signature dish. I was introduced to it in college, tracked down the recipe, lost the recipe, found it online and now it’s in my head forever and ever. I’ve improved the recipe: I don’t use parsley, I no longer just marinate the fish (in fact, I skip it if I don’t have time), I drizzle the sauce over the salmon and then sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top and grill it in the oven. It’s unbelievably flavorful and yummy. Don’t believe me; just listen to these testimonials.

“You have to invite me over again for the salmon. This way I can make everybody jealous when I tell them what I had for dinner.” ~Sarah

“Our dinner parties were successful. But my sister always roped me in to help, and I ended up doing most of the work.” ~ Karin

“My girlfriend is lactose-intolerant. But I think it’s great!” ~Chris, who got rid of that girlfriend, just so he could eat more of my salmon

Tell me how my salmon changed your life in the comment section!

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16th October 2010

APADish – Oct 16


My “pseudo” niece and nephew. Love these two!

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15th October 2010

APADish – Oct 15

So glad that this meme incorporates “ish” because I am failing miserably at posting every day!


Driving through Illinois. I wish that there was a way that I could take pictures and drive at the same time…

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11th October 2010

APADish – Oct 11

APADish - Oct 11

On my way to study at the library, I stopped off at one of the local parks. The colors have been so beautiful, I couldn’t resist getting out my camera. Wisconsin, you’re going to break my heart when I leave.

(Taken through my sunglasses. I love the effect, but am irritated by the smudge at the bottom. Argh!)

All pictures can be seen here.

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10th October 2010

APADish – Oct 10


Corn maze outside of Waukesha, WI. It has truly been one of the most glorious autumns ever here. Warm weather, blue skies, vibrant colors.
All pictures can be found here.

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9th October 2010

APADish – the nephew cheat


I don’t know what all the fuss is about. You say it’s my birthday?
Read the rest of this entry »

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8th October 2010

APADish – Oct 8

APADish - Oct 8

My dinner tonight:
Roasted Vegetable Minestrone Soup with parmesan cheese
Pumpernickel toast
Milk
Oh my yumminess.

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6th October 2010

APADish – Oct 6

APADish - Oct 6

My study area at the public library. I haven’t studied at a library since med school. I was a little more productive there, though. Restudied the pituitary disorders and focused on the thyroid and my post-test scores were better. I need to complete all of endocrine tomorrow and make some headway through renal and pulmonary before my test on Tuesday. It’s times like this, when I realize how slow going this is, that I start really panicking about boards in a year (10 months). Right now, I’m able to put in 3-8 hours a day studying and I’m still making it only through 20 pages at a time. I’ve got 11 books to cover which average 80-100 pages each. When I take boards next year, I’ll be a fellow and won’t have the luxury of time off. Frightening. Here’s hoping for some retention.

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5th October 2010

APAD(ish) – Oct 4/5

APAD(ish) - Oct 4/5

Yes, I missed yesterday.

I’m supposed to be on vacation this week. My dad was going to come out, we were going to install new windows in my basement and paint the joints with sealant to help prevent some of the perpetual water problems. He called me from Nebraska to tell me that his Jeep had completely died. So much for the trip. Things happen and we’ve rescheduled the trip for later this month.

In any case, I have my internal medicine in-training exam (a mimic of the big boards that I’ll be taking in less than a year). I’ve never done very well on them, mostly because I’ve never gotten a chance to really study hard before taking them. So I’m trying to be good and study, but am failing miserably. Today I made it through 20 pages of endocrine – but I needed to get through at least double that. And when I took the “post-test”, I missed a lot of questions, so I have to go back and review hypopituitarism again.

I keep getting distracted by this picture:

Mt nephew turned one last week. I, of course, missed his birthday party,  but my sister finally updated her blog with pics of the festivities and the birthday boy. Footed pajamas kill me dead (must remember that for Christmas).

Oct. 5 Pic:

I love that its October and I still have raspberries!

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3rd October 2010

APADish – Oct 3

Found during a midday walk. One has to wonder why the need for a tea party for a porcelain cat, but you have to admit, it’s a rather pretty setting.

It was general conference this weekend and for once, I had the whole weekend off. My bishop (equivalent of a priest or pastor) invites the ward (congregation/parish) to his house on Sunday morning for breakfast and lunch, in between the 2-2 hour blocks of talks. It’s one of my favorite traditions. His house is about 30 miles away from Milwaukee, in tree blanketed hills, so this time of year is just absolutely gorgeous. After the first block, we ate lunch and took a walk around the hills. For the first time in months, I could hear birds and squirrels and nothing else. I miss silence, sometimes.

All of the rest of the pictures can be found here on my facebook. I think you should be able to see it without being my friend or signing into fb.

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2nd October 2010

A picture a day(ish) – October 2

Mt. Olympus hamburger: artichoke and spinach dip, feta cheese and a garlic mayo. Incredibly yum.

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1st October 2010

A picture a day-ish – Day 1

A picture a day-ish - Day 1

It’s October (how can it be October already??). I’m trying to resurrect this journal. I’ve had too many thoughts and emotions that have crowded my head that I have not been able to get down on paper; they fade in significance once words are applied. So I haven’t written. Maybe sometime soon I’ll be able to get them down. But for now, posting a photo a day seems like a good start into blogging again.

I just got home from a birthday dinner/movie, and I’m exhausted, so I’ll have to wait to upload the pics from night, but here’s some recent pictures from a very short visit to San Francisco. I went for a neurology conference; I’m not sure that the combined cost of the registration, air fare, hotel, transportation was really worth it for 3 days, but I did get to spend some time with my new boss, which was excellent. She’s as fabulous as I remember and we really connected. I also got fingerprinted for the FBI and the DOJ, so that the state of California will sometime in the next year grant me a license. All in all, it was a fulfilling trip.

I didn’t get a lot of time to see the city: I flew in Wednesday night, was in lectures most of Thursday and Friday, and then left Saturday morning. I had really wanted to explore the city, find neighborhoods where I wanted to live, but I guess that’ll have to wait for another visit. I did sneak away to go to a baseball game. The SF Giants were playing the Brewers; one of my friends had bought tickets and was not able to go. As I have not seen the Brewers play this year, I jumped at the chance. I couldn’t find anybody to go with me, and I was thoroughly annoyed with most of my colleagues by that point (I was annoyed with them before the trip, but that’s another story), so I went by myself: navigating the bus and subway system and sitting alone in a midst of orange, cheering for the team in blue. Brewers won, 3-1. I do like the stadium; I can see myself adopting the Giants for a few years.

I woke early the next day. My motel was just on the edge of Union Square, so I rode one of the streetcars to Fisherman’s Wharf and wandered around for a little while, before coming back for the long journey home.

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