Happy Holidays!

We had an unusual Christmas this year. We still managed to get to Miller and Estelline, but our stay in Miller was cut a bit short because of an impending storm of doom. So, we headed over to Estelline on Tuesday afternoon to avoid nasty driving. The storm stalled out a bit and didn't really hit until Christmas Eve, but it was foggy and drizzley on the 23rd so we were glad we were in Estelline and didn't have to worry about driving. Stephanie managed to get out of work on the 23rd so she could leave early to get to Estelline. Kristopher and Marie did not make it home because they wouldn't have been able to leave until Christmas Eve. Once the snow started...it snowed steadily for 3 days. They cancelled church on Christmas Eve and closed the interstates for 2 days. Needless to say, we spent quite a bit of time playing board games and we even managed to watch a couple of movies.

I am glad that we didn't have to try to get on the road until Sunday. I-29 in South Dakota was still quite slippery...but once we made it to Sioux City, the roads were much better and we arrived home safely last night.

Despite the nasty weather, we did have a lovely Christmas. I got some great gifts. Rob spoiled me a bit this year and got me both a new DS and an Ipod Touch (he did promise me that he got great deals on both of them though :). Rob also gave me a Royal Blue Snuggie. It was mostly for the laugh, but I tried it out last night and am a bit ashamed to admit that it's dang cozy.

Photos from this Christmas:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjanesetnes/sets/72157623087276698/

Bacon!

Snow!

When all was said and done, we ended up with about 16 inches of snow. It fell steadily over a 36 hour time period and was accompanied by strong winds (regularly gusting around 40 mph). DMACC let out early on Tuesday, cancelled all classes on Wednesday, and started late on Thursday. Because of my end of the semester schedule, I ended up home for all three days.

Today I am doing laundry and wrapping Christmas presents. Yesterday I made some Christmas cookies. Rob ventured in to work and found himself one of 11 employees who managed to make it in. The numbers grew slightly as the day went on, but management decided to let everyone go at 1pm. They even went to the nearby HyVee and picked up lasagna for everyone who made it in. Rob said that the roads were the worst he’s seen in town since we’ve moved here.

Our entryway/parking lot/ roadway here at the apartments is still full of snow. They’ve carved out passage ways, but many of the cars are still buried in drifts which make it difficult to get in and out of parking spots.

Today we started out very cold. It got down to about -10 last night. But the sun is out so we have warmed up to about 10 above zero. I bundled up and took the trash out and took the Christmas cards (which have been sitting ready to go since it started snowing) out to the central mailbox. I couldn’t stop smiling. Perhaps it was all of the fluffy white snow, or the strange feeling of being comfortable—at home—in this cold snow-packed weather. I’m sure that will wear off as soon as I have to drive in it. But for now, my car is still entrenched in a large snow bank. I cleared off all of the windows of snow to let sun do its work, but I still have an awful lot of snow moving to do to get my car free tomorrow.

Photos of the snow:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjanesetnes/sets/72157622845734983/

Blizzard

It's snowing steadily and supposed to intensify this afternoon and evening--and then the wind is supposed to pick up. All told they are forecasting about a foot of snow here in the Des Moines Metro.

Fortunately I have a working day scheduled for my students today, so I didn't have to agonize over my commute. Which is good, because DMACC isn't closing until 2:30, and the roads are really nasty right now and only getting worse.

Because I am home today, I am taking the opportunity to get caught up on my gradebook and do laundry. I am even baking some pumpkin bread. Later I hope to get started on present wrapping.

We got a little bit of snow on Sunday night, here is a photo from our balcony on Monday (12/7) Morning:

Here are some photos from noon today (12/8):

Thanksgiving, Black Friday

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Rob and I had a quiet day at home. We cooked a turkey breast, green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, some sweet corn that I froze from this summer, green jello salad, and jellied cranberry sauce. It was a delightful meal...and we'll be eating the leftovers the rest of the weekend :). After our afternoon dinner, we watched Angels and Demons...which was an entertaining movie.

This morning we woke up at 6am and pulled on some clothes and combed our hair and went to Target. We were actually surprised that everything we had noticed in the ad that we were interested in was still there (the store opened at 5 and we didn't get there until about 6:20). Rob got his XBox360 that he had been wanting. They had the bundle that the other stores had (with two free games), but it also came with a 50 dollar gift card. Not to mention that they were giving 10 dollar gift cards to anyone who spent over a hundred dollars this morning...AND I had a 10% off day card from my Target credit card....so it ended up being a very good deal. We got a few dvds and an Xbox game and a couple of Christmas gifts for family...so it was a good trip, until we got to the line to check out...which wrapped around the store. We were in line about 45 minutes. After Target, we were pretty spent, but we decided to check out Best Buy and Walmart. We made quick trips at both stores and were home with a couple of Egg McMuffins before 9am. The only painful part about the whole morning was the wait at Target...which wasn't all that bad since we were jazzed about finding the things that we wanted and there were two of us, so we would each take breaks by running to look at something while the other waited in line.

After our shopping today, Rob crossed the 50,000 word mark on his novel. He has officially become a NaNoWriMo "winner"! I'm very proud of what he's accomplished this month, and I look forward to reading his novel.

Once we go back to school on Monday, I'm down to just two weeks left. I have a giant stack of essays to grade this week...and then the final portfolios start coming in the next week. It's been a rollercoaster of a semester. I look forward to only teaching two classes this spring.

Restaurant Review: Smashburger

Tonight Rob and I went to Smashburger which recently opened nearby. They have a selection of burgers and chicken sandwiches along with a few salads. This restaurant seems to be joining the growing numbers of cafeteria-style places where you pay as much (or nearly as much) as you would for the food a sit down restaurant but you don't get waiters or plates or real silverware (think Chipotle, Panera, etc...). The burgers were certainly above average. We both had the "smashfries" which are fries with herbs and garlic on them. They were pretty good--they only cost 30 cents more than their regular fries--so worth it for a change of pace.

Verdict: Good, but a bit expensive for what you get. We will probably go back to try more of their menu.

Update.

Goodness, it's been too long since I've posted. October was dreary and cold. The leaves fell off the trees more quickly this year than any year since I've moved to Iowa. The trees are mostly bare, but the weather this first week of November has been warmer and sunnier...so things are looking up.

There's about 5 and a half weeks of the semester left. It has gone by VERY quickly. I am currently grading essay 3 (of 4). Next semester is going to be much less hectic. I am back to teaching my usual two courses and I will only be on campus on MWF.

Rob is participating in NaNoWriMo this year for the first time. He is trying to write an entire novel (50,000 words) in one month. Tonight he is at a "write-in" with other participants at the local mall. He has been on pace or slightly above pace all week, and he seems to be enjoying himself. It feels a little backwards for him to be going to creative writing meetings and not me. :)

They started remodeling our hallways last month and they finally finished painting (well mostly, they still need to come back and put the switch plates back on and what not). It took them about a month from start to finish, but we now have freshly painted tan walls and green doors. This week they added new stainless steel kick plates and new door numbers. Since they made no attempt to cover the carpet, I'm assuming that's in the works too.

Here's a photo photo that I took the day before they put on the new numbers and the kick plate.
More photos of the remodel can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjanesetnes/sets/72157622571469706/

visitors, seafood, board games, grading papers...

This last weekend, Sarah Ann came to Des Moines. She stayed with us on Thursday night and then we hung out with her and her boyfriend Alan on Saturday. We went to a local seafood restaurant that I had been wanting to try for a while (Waterfront Seafood Market). It's close by, and for seafood, the prices are good. We went on a Saturday at lunchtime and had to wait for a table and the service was slow in general. There is a warning on their menu that the food takes a while to prepare as everything is made from scratch....but if we weren't there with two visitors that we hardly ever see...the wait would have gotten very long. The food was good though, and I'll probably go back during an "off time" to see if the service is better.

We also did a little shopping and went out for ice cream. I found a copy of Rumis at Tuesday Morning (which I had been tipped off to by a forum that I read on Board Game Geek). I was excited because I had been wanting to play that game. Sarah and Alan helped Rob and I test it out. It's an interesting game. I think I like Blokus better, but it was a nice change of pace.

This week I'm grading papers like crazy and trying to get their progress reports done (which are due during week 6 instead of week 8 because they figure it gives the students more time to get their grades up before the drop date--but it turns out to just be a more inaccurate grade).

I'm still enjoying my new car....yesterday I figured out that I have at least 18 30 radio presets. I don't like that many radio stations ;)--it's just nutty.

Car!

Afte 12+ years of driving extremely USED vehicles, Rob and I purchased a brand new 2010 Chevy Malibu. It's a sweet ride I tell ya.




I was long over due for a car that didn't need a quart of oil every other week...and with the economy and the clunker program driving up the price on good used cars...and the tax deduction that's currently available on new cars, we decided to go with a new car. It's such a treat to have remote entry and a cd player and power windows. These are no small treats to someone who has been driving a car that was older than most of her college students.

ARRRR! Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!

http://www.savagechickens.com/2005/09/talk-like-pirate.html

School days...School days...

We started school a week and a half ago. I am teaching 4 classes this semester, which is twice as many as usual and the most classes I've ever taught at once. Enrollment is way up at DMACC. I guess I can thank the economy for that, but it sure is making parking a pain.

http://www.kcci.com/money/20570436/detail.html

4 days into the new school year, I got a nasty cold. I've been coughing ever since. I am feeling better. I have a distinct feeling that the next 3 months are going to go by either very quickly or painfully slow.

For Mythbusters Fans

http://fora.tv/2009/08/06/MythBusters_Just_the_Facts#fullprogram

Hour long (or you can watch it in chunks) interview of Adam and Jamie--I swear it's the most I've ever heard Jamie talk :).

The Great Lemon-Lime Taste Test

We were in Target one afternoon picking up the usual supplies. I'm not even sure how the conversation started, but we got the idea that we should have a lemon-lime soda taste test. I was adament that my favorite was Sprite--Rob's favorite was Sierra Mist. "I bet you can't even tell the difference..." ...and the challenge was on.

I don't drink much lemon-lime soda....but it's Rob's favorite kind of soda. So we set out to test if we could tell the difference between the 3 top brands in a blind taste test. We also marked which of the three were our favorites.


Rob went first. He accurately distinguished all three and correctly chose his presumed favorite. I went second, and only got my favorite right. I confused Sierra Mist and 7up (I remembered 7up as having a stronger flavor).

The consensus: We both liked 7up the least. Rob was in favor of the stronger flavors of Sierra Mist, and I approved of the smoother flavor of Sprite.

Rob gets the bragging rights though--he won the Lemon-Lime taste test challenge. Cola next?

P.S. Like my new Hickory Park Pepsi Glasses? :)

Weekend

This weekend Rob went pain(t)balling with co-workers (all of his welts went away after a day, so I don't have any fun bruise photos to post). I think he had a good time :).

While Rob was paintballing, his friend Beth from college came to town. Beth's family was having a reunion/anniversary party for her grandparents in Waukee (which is one suburb to the west of here). So we got to hang out at the family reunion and play some games and catch up. Was great to see Beth again since she currently lives in Arkansas.

Haring Reunion

This weekend we traveled to the Minneapolis suburbs to attend a family reunion for my Mom's side of the family. All of my aunts and uncles and their kids were in attendance...it's been about 3 years since we were all in the same place at the same time. In addition to the imediate family, many of my mom's cousins and my great uncle Les came for the weekend. It was a great chance to see everyone and play some board games ;).

Things I learned this weekend:
*If Grandpa Dick were still alive, he would have turned 100 this June
*Uncle Les is 89 and still plays golf 5 days a week
*Bananagrams was a hit with my family...both young and old(ish)
*Hopkins, MN has some nice antique stores
*I don't know how to spell referee (is that right? I'm not sure.)
*There must be some trick to Pandemic that we don't know about...because we've failed to cure the world of Swine Flu all three times I've played it

Pictures from the weekend:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjanesetnes/sets/72157621859980444/

Honey Creek

We just got back from a few days at Honey Creek State Park Resort on Rathbun Lake. Which is a brand spanking new resort owned by the Iowa DNR. Rathbun Lake, like most of the lakes in Iowa, is a flood control reservoir. Most of the shoreline property is public land. The state has taken advantage of this by creating a state park resort (which apparently a handful of other states have also done). The south side of Rathbun lake has some Army Corp of Engineers controlled parks and camping...the DNR has a portion of the north side of the lake covered by both a regular state park and this new resort.

A couple of frustrating things about Rathbun lake: there are very few places you can actually access the water--there was only one swimming beach open while we were there and it was at one of the Army Corps parks. Honey Creek State Park's camping spots are entirely surrounded by trees and the only way you can see the lake or the park's namesake creek inlet is to hike out on various trails to the water's edge. It's kind of nice and rustic on one hand, and completely frustrating on the other. My idea of a nice day at the lake is to be in the water...and since we don't own a boat...that was pretty much impossible at Honey Creek. They are building a swimming beach at the resort...and a walking bridge to connect the resort to the state park (which are separated by water)....but that, along with a playground and picnic area and a whole lot of landscaping, have not been completed yet. Both Rob and I expect Honey Creek to be in extreme demand in a few years.

What Honey Creek Resort does have right now is a lovely hotel, a small water park (indoor waterslide and miniature lazy river), a large marina, a bunch of large cabins, a golf course, a restaurant, and access to a ton of rentals (boats, jet skis, kayaks, etc...). It would be an excellent location for a large family or business gathering.

We had a great time on our little getaway...even if beach time wasn't involved (at least I didn't get sunburned...and we did go swimming at the hotel to make up for it). We made a point to drive through and stop at several small Iowa towns. We did a little shopping in Centerville and I was reminded how much I enjoy small town Wal-marts...and antiques (I didn't make Rob do too much of this :). On our way home we went a few miles out of our way so that we could stop in Pella and pick up some pastries at the Jaarsma Bakery (well worth it, I might add).

A few pictures from our trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjanesetnes/sets/72157621642620477/

Tomorrow we are on the road again, this time for a family reunion in Minneapolis.

HyVee's New Website

I really like HyVee's new online list feature.
http://hy-vee.gsnrecipes.com/Shop/WeeklyAd.aspx

It allows you to click on the pictures from the weekly ads and automatically create a list. You can also add your own items and select online coupons from various vendors. You can even e-mail the list to someone if you'd like. Super handy.

Birthdays, Art, Summer....

We've been busy the last couple of weeks. We celebrated both of our birthdays. The weather has gone from cool and rainy to disgustingly hot and humid to what could only be described as beautiful summer weather (78-85 with lower humidity...good stuff I tell ya!).

For our birthdays we went mini-golfing and to a couple of movies. We went shopping and out to eat. They were nice quiet celebrations at home.

A few photos from our B-days:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjanesetnes/sets/72157620635733791/

This last weekend we went to the Des Moines summer arts festival...which seems to be this odd contradiction of sorts. It's a celebrated artsy community event...but it draws mostly upper class suburbanites--because the art is very expensive. I was used to the arts fest in Brookings, SD which is like a county fair without the rides but with lots of arts and crafts and antiques. It's a good time in the park--lots of people and music and fun...It's a fun family event...and the artists are very talented but charge considerably less. The Des Moines arts festival with its Jazz and Wine pavilion...is not really my style. Nevertheless, we had a good afternoon looking at art and I had a delicious gyro and came home with a couple of small prints and a bag of kettle corn. :)

A few pictures from the arts festival:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjanesetnes/sets/72157620562406227/

Des Moines's Best Onion Rings

Each year Cityview (a free local publication) puts together a list of the metro's best everything (from restaurants to minigolf). The readers vote, and an issue in February releases the results.

Cityview's Best of Issue:
http://www.dmcityview.com/best_of/index.shtml

We were interested in the restaurant results because we hadn't heard of most of them. Our favorite asian restaurant won "runner-up" for best Vietnamese, and that was pretty much the only one we had been to. A West Des Moines restaurant called Maxie's Lounge won best onion rings and runner-up in several categories including best hamburger and best overall restaurant. So, we thought we'd give Maxie's a try.

From the categories that Maxie's won in, I was expecting a diner. But it was a nice sit down restuarant with a full bar. The night that we went was all you can eat spaghetti night. Rob had the spaghetti that came with a salad and some bread for $5.99. I had a hamburger and the infamous onion rings which goes for 7.99. These were some of the least expensive things on the menu. They had a wide range of dishes including steak, ribs, and lobster. Overall the food was good, but not great. The service was friendly, though a bit slow (they were busy because of the spaghetti supper). We will definitely go back again to try more items from their menu.

But, on the matter of the onion rings, I must flat out disagree. The onion rings from Cheddars are far better. The onion rings at Maxie's are pretty good. They very thinly cut strips of battered onion. They were so thin, though, that they were difficult to eat and needed to be scooped up in handfulls.

Our next stop for onion rings--The Drake Diner (they were runner-up).

Friend Feed.

I started an account on Friend Feed because Leo Laporte uses it and because I'm easily suggestable when it comes to trying new stuff on the internet, and because I trust Leo's opinions on computer and technology stuffs.

Friend Feed is a cool website that allows you to mash together all of your feeds...from everything: Twitter, Google Reader Shared Items, Facebook Updates/Links/Notes, pretty much any Blog, Bookmarking/Posting Websites like Delicious, Digg, Pandora, Netflix Ratings, Flickr Photo feeds etc....

You have one feed to show your friends and you can see all of their feeds in one place instead of hopping from site to site. There are really only two problems with this. One--your friends need to have accounts in order for it to be worthwhile. And two--it kind of makes me feel like I've slathered myself all over the internet...and not in a good way.

So the jury is still out....much like it is for Twitter--which I only have an account on because so many companies and celebrities are using it now--I think I am following 5 people that I actually know. Part of me just wants to delete every account I have except facebook and my blog...and email...and...damn, there's no way out is there? :)

http://roflrazzi.com/2009/06/11/celebrity-pictures-ford-hamill-career-continue/

Apparently, We Didn't Know What We Were Doing

This weekend we received a bunch of fun items in the mail. Starting on Friday with my shirt.woot t-shirt that I'd been waiting impatiently for. Followed by a box from Newegg with computer parts that Rob revealed I was getting as part of my birthday present....and then on Saturday more computer parts and a Roku Box (which was going to be a birthday present that I would have to wait until my birthday for, but it came in a box that said Roku all over it...so the cat was out of the bag).

So on Saturday we started by setting up the Roku Box--which was a piece of cake, mostly. It has a wireless internet receiver so that we don't have to run cords all over the living room (yay!). Unfortunately that meant we needed to know our WEP Key/Password thingy for the wireless router. Rob set that router up with his old computer and we couldn't find the password anywhere (even after trying to install the software for the router on both of our computers). So when Rob set out to upgrade my computer with the parts we received (1G graphics card, additional 2G RAM, and a new power supply to support them) we plugged his old computer into my moniter....and realized that the hard drive had crashed and we couldn't get into windows on his old box. Rob got my computer upgraded with only one little hitch (he had to open it back up because of a loose cable)....then he reconfigured the wireless router so that we could get a new WEP Key which we promptly got entered in to the Roku Box setup screen....and then we lost internet. So here we were with these two new toys that we couldn't even play with. We were without internet all Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Of course the story doesn't end there.

On Saturday evening we called Mediacom to see if it was an outage or if something had gone wrong when Rob was changing the wireless router. The message indicated to us that there was an outage in our area. So we occassional reset our cable modem to reboot the system to check if the internet was up and running. When we still didn't have internet access at lunch time on Sunday, Rob called again and found out that there were no more outages. So he had to go through a ten minute long automated program that asks if your modem is plugged in and if you've tried resetting it and all that fun stuff for people who have no idea what they are doing. After a good ten minutes, the automated program informed him that because he had called in on the digital phone (from Mediacom) that he would have to hang up and call in with another phone. So we called with the cell, and 15-20 minutes later, finally got to talk to someone, who told us that we had bumped our standby button on the front of our modem. Sure enough....we both felt like idiots. I wondered why that particular question wasn't part of the automated program for people who don't know what they are doing...cuz we sure felt like we didn't know what were doing after that.

On the plus side, everything is working now. My computer is awesome...and can now play games smoothly that were chuggy before. The Roku box is fantastic--if you're already paying for Netflix...I WHOLE HEARTEDLY recommend getting one. It's easy to use, the video and sound quality are as good as watching the show on cable, and it sure beats sitting at the computer to watch stuff.

Blank Park Zoo and Mini Golfing

Another beautiful day in Iowa convinced Rob and I to check out the Blank Park Zoo. The zoo is small but well kept, and we had a good time watching the sea lions swimming and the giraffe chewing on leaves. I also had ample opportunity to mess around with my new camera.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjanesetnes/sets/72157618931877819/

And for the first time ever....I took videos with the camera and posted them on youtube.

Fish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRffyjcDLLQ&feature=channel_page

Giraffe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytMeLXo9EM&feature=channel_page

After the zoo, we went out for lunch at a local restaraunt and decided to check out the mini golf course that we saw on our way to the zoo. It was a nice course. Rob beat me yet again.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjanesetnes/sets/72157618931949013/

Mom and Stephanie Visit

Mom and Steph visited last Thur, Fri, and Saturday. We went on some adventures including shopping, the art center, the park, downtown, etc... I had an awful cold for most of their visit so I stayed home the day that Rob, Mom, and Steph went to Living History Farms.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjanesetnes/sets/72157618683121584/

Carcassonne in Gingerbread

To go along with the cupcake catan....is gingerbread carcassonne ;). Again, very cool...but I'd be tempted to eat the game:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zendonut/tags/gingerbread/

Why not polka?

A collection of Weird Al's Polka Medleys (20 years of music in about 15 minutes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yugldxpRDMo&feature=response_watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCAt9WcCFbM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY-oili63QQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hdxt_wNpHo&feature=related

Weekend in the Twin Cities

This weekeend Rob and I trekked up to Bloomington to spend the weekend at Kris and Marie's house. Marie planned a weekend get-together with a couple of our friends from college. The two ravishing beauties in this first picture are Claire (2 mo) and Shannon (28 y :). The girls went out shopping on Saturday (we had planned on going to a spring art and music festival--but it was unseasonably cold, so we went to Ikea instead). Before we headed out, Amy braided all of our hair in true girls' day fashion.

On Saturday evening, Rob and I played board games with Kris and Marie. We played Pandemic for the first time and failed to cure the world of viruses--but it was a fun game.

On Sunday we went to the Original Pancake House in Eden Prairie (which I highly recommend--it's next to the Eden Prarie Center Mall if you're in the area). And then spent a little time we visited with Grandma before we headed back home. It was great to see everyone!

This week I'm preparing for my Mom and Sister to come visit. It's more excitement than I've had in ages :).

"There's a popfly coming at me..."

The small white sphere against the twilight blue sky was centered in my vision and falling in what seemed like a direct trajectory towards my head. I threw up my arms and watched through squinted eyes as the ball glanced off the arm of a man in the row in front of us and bounced with great force off of the back of a stadium seat a few yards away. My heart was pounding. I have never been hit in the head with a baseball. I had been hit twice with an aluminum baseball bat, but both times swung by a third grader and never at my head. I had been hit several times in the head with a basketball--one time it broke my glasses. I had no desire to find out what it felt like to be beaned in the head by a baseball. Fortunately no one was hurt. Earlier in the same game, a young woman sitting in the section in front of us was hit directly in the chest. I can only imagine what that felt like.

Last Saturday, Rob and I went to our first I-cubs (the minor league farm team for the Chicago Cubs) game. Neither of us are baseball fans but aside from the near close encounter of the baseball kind, we had a good time. We got free tickets (from Rob's work for JDRF) to their game against the Memphis Redbirds. The first half of the game was pretty uneventful. By the 6th inning the I-cubs were down 3-0, but the Redbirds' pitcher was getting tired. He walked 2 players and allowed a 3rd base hit to load the bases. With only one out in the inning, we were hoping for someone to score...but we were suprised by a home run into right field--a Grand Slam! Even though the I-cubs did eventually lose...they played a good second half of the game and went into an extra inning. Rob and I both decided it would be more fun to come back when the Sioux Falls or Fargo teams were in town.

I put a few pictures of our evening up on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjanesetnes/sets/72157617877851027/

Pepsi Throwback: A Review

Some of you may know that I am a big fan of Pepsi...so when I found out they were releasing a real sugar version of Pepsi for release this spring, I was excited. All I could think about was the deep smooth flavor of the all cane sugar Pepsi I drank when I was in Jamaica--ice cold and out of a glass bottle. When I tried Pepsi Throwback what I got was a more mild cola flavor with stronger hints of acidity. It tastes a bit like a weaker version of Pepsi...so as a big Pepsi fan, I was disappointed. My new fear is that folks will think it's the real sugar that makes it taste like this...it is clearly a different recipe all together. So, if you're not a big fan of strong cola flavor, you may like Pepsi Throwback, otherwise you may want to pass.

Yes!

I'm dangerously close to being done with school. The portfolios are graded, and I just need to finish up my grade book and check for errors and post online!

In celebration, I have decided to post a comic about grammar :).

Cupcakes of Catan

Someone decided it would be a good idea to recreate Settlers of Catan out of Cupcakes....I think an edible board game would be very dangerous :)

More photos including close-ups of the cupcakes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/quintanaroo/sets/72157594450089446/

Almost done...

Well...I'm done grading my students' last papers and am bumming around until their final portfolios come in next week and will be graded at warp speed.

I'm enjoying how it's smelled like rain for the last few days...but I think we could use some sun now :).

I really should be grading papers...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2pAgldNkI8

Ok, ok...I'm going...going...back to homework. :(

Weekday Adventures

This week Rob took some vacation days to chill at home. He hadn't taken any days off since Christmas, so he was in need of some relaxation days. This semester I don't teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so on Thursday Rob and I decided to go explore part of Des Moines that we hadn't been to yet. The weather forecast for this week has been very pleasant, so I suggested we have a picnic at a local park or go explore a local state park. Well we did both. We decided to check out Walnut Woods State Park (which happens to be on the southeast side of West Des Moines). The odd thing about Walnut Woods is that it's not all that far away distance wise, but requires you to take the long way around Racoon River to get there. So it took us a good 20-30 minutes to get there even though it's only about 5 or 6 miles away from our house.

When we finally arrived, the park was mostly deserted and clearly not ready for spring guests. The camping area was closed off with barricades. We found a table that overlooked the river and had our lunch, but the sun refused to come out. After a short walk where we got covered in gnats, we decided to cut our losses and head out. One cool thing at Walnut Woods was their grill attachments on their fire pits. Very cool...adjustable, mult-tiered, quite fancy.

After the park we headed to Southridge Mall. It was the one mall in town that we hadn't been to yet. There were quite a few empty spaces in the mall....but they have a Fashion Bug (which are hard to come by and as far as I know it's the only one in Des Moines).

We had a nice time. It was probably our last adventure until school is done...only 2 1/2 weeks left in the semester...off to grade stuff and record stuff and organize stuff...fun fun fun!

Happy Spring!

Today we had a day long soaking of light rain. Just the kind of spring rain that brings green grass and budding flowers if it would ever warm up.

Rob and I had a lovely Easter weekend at home. We spent Saturday shopping and had a lovely relaxing Sunday at home with a festive Easter dinner.

The Easter bunny brought me a special treat--a Chocolaterie Stam Easter Bunny. It is over a foot tall and comprised of milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate. He's almost too cute to eat...almost :). I broke off his ears last night...delightful. ;) I hope you all had a nice Easter weekend!

While you're down there...

Lately I've been reading Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss. Truss is the author of the critically acclaimed Eats, Shoots and Leaves which is an amusing book about the abuse of grammar and punctuation in modern society. I enjoyed Eats, Shoots and Leaves so when I saw Talk to the Hand at the local DollarTree, I picked it up. It's amusing...but not as interesting as Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Talk to the Hand is mainly a commentary on how rude we have become. Today I was reading and got a good laugh over her comments on this Ad campaign from UK's Keep Britain Tidy organization.

From Talk to the Hand: "I have to report that my reaction to 'While you're down there...' posters is, to say the least, mixed. I am actually revolted by their cynicism, disgusted by the explicitness, concerned that teenage promiscuity might be a high price to pay for less litter, but on the other hand relieved and pleased that, in a poster aimed at young people, the ellipsis has been used correctly and that there is an apostrophe in the 'you're.' In other words, it actually could have been worse."

Updates and Such

I had to delete the article that I was in process of posting because I started having problems copying and pasting (my problems led to me accidentally posting it for a few minutes, even though it was incomplete--so I apologize if you ended up with it in your feeds). I'm wondering if it has something to do with downloading the newest version of internet explorer yesterday...I don't know that they have all the kinks worked out.

At any rate. I'm back at school after my break. We had a great time at the Ben Folds concert last Wednesday. I got about 10 feet away from Ben Folds and he sang all of my favorites. The crowd was a pretty good one too...mostly 20+ and not a whole lot of pushing.

This week I've been thinking a lot about my friends and family in the Fargo area.

They are making the national news again...just like in 1997. The flooding there is expected to surpass all old records.

I even found an article from a Canadian newspaper that refered to Argusville as a "new residential development." :) But kidding aside, I hope that everyone stays safe and that your houses are spared. Mother nature is one fickle woman.

Weekend Away in Iowa

Rob and I took advantage of a weekend getaway package at the Royal Amsterdam Hotel in Pella, IA. As many of you know, we haven't lived in Iowa all that long, so we still have many places to explore. Pella touts itself as a touch of Holland in Iowa, so we thought we'd check it out :).


The downtown is full of old historical buildings and new buildings made to look historical. The whole town is filled with step-gable facades (even the McDonalds and Wal-mart take part in the local Dutch Flavor). There are windmills ALL over the town. Including a real windmill and one that houses a bank and another that houses the tourist information center. We had a delightful time going to the local food specialty shops. Rob came home with Beef Jerkey from the Ulrich Meat Market and we had lunch at In'tVeld's Specialty Meats. The Jaarsma Bakery was so wonderful that we went twice so that we could get more goodies (and breakfast danishes for Sunday morning)!

In addition to exploring downtown, we also went out to Lake Red Rock on Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday, we saw the Watchmen at the local movie theater (movie tickets were part of our package). It was great to get away! We look forward to visiting Pella again when they have their tulip festival some year (or at least to return when the tulips are actually blooming :).


Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjanesetnes/sets/72157615271223953/

First Family gets a Rainbow Swing Set

http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/politics/sns-ap-obama-swing-set,0,1199711.story

Jimmy Fallon Sets Rachael Ray on Fire

Rob really likes this promo...it makes me laugh too. :)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYU23Q8pGU

The Equitrust Penny Wars

Rob's JDRF fundraising has now drawn to a close. On Tuesday, Rob brought home the coin jars that they had had up since the begining of their fundraising campaign. They had penny wars between the different sections/departments at Equitrust. Whichever department had the most money in their jar after the pennies were subtracted won a bagel breakfast. I offered to help Rob count out the change, since we had to seperate the dollars and silver change from the pennies and count them seperately (we probably would have just taken it to a coinstar if we didn't need to get seperate counts :) ). I volunteered to count IT's jar so that Rob wouldn't get as much trouble from folks at work about "fixing the count" if they won. The IT jar was the fullest.

Here we are counting out the change. Rob has ALL of the Marketing jar in front of him. I have all of the IT jar in front of me. It took us an hour and a half to count the jars. I only counted IT. It took me almost as long as it took him to count the other three jars.

IT won the penny war by a lanslide and earned the most amount of money overall (something like 63 dollars--most of it in change). I counted over 20 dollars in pennies. The whole fundraiser made just over $138. Last year they had a coin jar for donations that made 7 bucks.

Rob enjoyed heading the fundraisers, but is glad that the campaign is over. They made about $1,600 total after expenses were deducted. They beat last year's total by over a hundred dollars, so he's calling it a success (especially considering the economy).

...time has gotten away from me

I'm starting to pull back on the reigns a bit. The last few weeks have been a blur.

Valentine's was a nice lazy weekend. I got my Dove truffles (which are divine really). I got some purple ear buds for my mp3 player and Rob bought me purple meeples (and he got me roses too :). We went out for lunch at our favorite asian restaurant. It was nice to avoid the crowd and to be able to just enjoy each other's company.

Midterm grades (which are done very early at DMACC) were completed and sent out. I have gotten through both classes' first essays, and I'm dreading the second set that will start coming in tomorrow. I have made it through 3 of the 4 Composition Portfolio reading and training Saturdays...this Saturday will be the last.

Other than that...not much to report. We picked up a recumbent exercise bike. Rob had been wanting one for a while, so we used some of his annual bonus to buy an inexpensive one. Oh, and I got my purple converse sneakers that I've been wanting for forever. :)

Back to school work...hope you are all well!

The Caf-Pow

Last week we went to pick up some burgers and get some gas for Rob's car. Conveniently enough, there is a local Kum & Go that has a Burger King attached to it. So Rob started filling up his gas and I ran in to get the hamburgers. Well, the service was a bit slow and Rob came in to join me. I suggested that he run over to the Kum & Go side and get us some fountain pop (since it's way cheaper there than at Burger King). He asked me what size I wanted and I told him to surprise me. After I got the burgers, I walked over to meet Rob...and there he was filling the largest plastic glass I've ever seen.

"Dude! It's a Caf-Pow!" I said.

"That's what I thought!" he said.

Now, if you don't immediately know what that is, a Caf-Pow is what Abby drinks on NCIS. It's a running gag that she's always hyped up on caffeine and folks (especially Gibbs) bring her Caf-Pow's to keep her working and at her best. The 64 oz "kup" from Kum & Go is as big as a juice/koolaid pitcher--it's enormous. The really amusing part is that it only cost $1.18. That's a heck of a lot of soda for a little over a buck. I, of course, did not finish all of that pop....I only made it a little past half before I had to toss it out, but it was well worth it--just for the amusement. :)

Under Construction

If you don't read my blog in an aggregator or on facebook, you may have noticed some changes lately. I've been trying out some new headings and color schemes. Feel free to weigh in with comments :).

We've been fighting some crappy health lately, so both Rob and I have been just wanting to chill out at home and go to bed early lately. We've been watching NCIS from Netflix. We are all the way up to the end of season 4 now. Today we started watching the second season of Dexter. I can't seem to get enough of the crime dramas :).

This morning, I had my root canal. My tooth is a bit sore, but otherwise everything seems to have gone smoothly. It certainly took less time than the bifurcated root tooth.

Blah

I'm starting to get back into the swing of things with school....which is nice. So far things are rolling along as anticipated--which means that my attendance for my Comp I class is already lousy. It confuses me why so many of my students think it's ok to have missed 2 or 3 of the 6 class meetings that we've had so far... Other than that though, things are going well. I've been participating in the reader training for the course assessments. Which means that I get to go in to work on 4 Saturday mornings and read student letters. Exciting stuff I tell ya! :) But hey...I get paid extra, which is always good.

I've been really feeling the winter blahs lately...the weather here has been merely annoying, not bad...but that coupled with the short days and this weird stomach bug that keeps coming back...and I just want it to be springtime....

An update on the BBQ fundraiser: Rob's group raised almost $250! We did end up having to throw away some BBQ....which was painful, but at least everyone had enough and it didn't stain my tupperware orange :).

22 lbs of Hamburger

Last night Rob and I diligently made 5-4lb plus batches of BBQs (using a slightly modified version of my Grandma's BBQ recipe). Approximately 22 lbs of hamburger leaves a lot of greese. There is a mixing bowl full on my counter that I'm trying to figure out how to dispose of (maybe a milk jug?). We used two of the largest containers of ketchup that they sell at our local HyVee plus some from our fridge because our math on the ketchup was apparently not that accurate. Anyway....I don't want to look at ground beef or BBQs for a good few weeks...at least....and there is ketchup splattered all over our kitchen. Rob carted two giant tupperware bowls full of BBQ to work late last night because we didn't have room in our fridge to store the giant quantities. Luckly they have a very large fridge at Equitrust. I'm expecting lots of leftovers...perhaps I should be more optimistic about this fundraiser...but I don't want to see the stuff ever again which means we'll be stuck with a good 5-10 lbs of leftovers. Murphy's law. So please...please...Rob's co-workers who do not read my blog...please eat lots of BBQs. :)

Oh and if you're curious, here's my Grandma's modified BBQ recipe (in normal quantities):

1 lb of hamburger
3/4 cup ketchup
1 Tbs Mustard
1 Tbs Vinnegar
1 Tbs Sugar (I usually split this half white sugar and half brown sugar)
salt to taste

Makes about 6-8 BBQs...depending on the size of the buns. :)

If you want to make them just like Grandma Anetta...use only one teaspoon of white sugar and add some grated onion...I have nothing against onions...just faster this way. :)

JDRF

Rob is once again participating in Equitrust's fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). He has taken on the role of team leader. If you would like to help him in his fundraising, click on the link below.

http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=87292159

This week I get to help him make a giant batch of B-B-Qs for a lunch fundraiser at his office. :) It's a good thing I have a top knotch B-B-Q recipe.

Back to School

Well I've completed my first week back at school. We had a half day on Monday due to a blizzard and we get Monday off for MLK day....It's nice to be able to ease into the semester a bit. So far the students are on their best behavior--so I have no idea what the semester will be like. My classes are both +1 (as in one over max) for enrollment. Which is a good thing--now I just hope I end up keeping 20 or so for the whole semester.

It's been very cold here this week...but not near as cold as it's been in ND and SD and MN. It is, however, the coldest winter that I can remember since we've lived in Iowa--which is confirmed by the local weather guy who insists that it hasn't been this cold since 1996. Really? -16 only happens once every 10 years or so here? -16 in Fargo is practically normal for January :). The elementaries and highschools in the Des Moines metro area were all closed on Thursday (the coldest day of the week). It makes me want to donate a bunch of children's mittens and scarves or something...because they are apparently not well enough equipped here. Oh well, we'll be back above freezing this weekend and the DOT will be back out spreading salt like crazy. Stay warm!

Where has my winter break gone!

Well I start school on Monday. I'm almost done revising my syllabi (I have a new textbook for Comp II so I had to change some things). So I'm almost ready for school to start...but man am I not ready for school to start. I had all of these notions about what I wanted to accomplish in my glorious month off...but it's dwindled to a meer three days and I haven't even finished taking down the Christmas decorations (though I am a firm believer that most of the decor should stay up until Three Kings Day/Epiphany...which was only two days ago).

I've been fighting this lingering phlegm fest of a minor cold this last week...not really sick, just annoying. Today I spent nearly two hours at my dentist where he was initially sure I would not need a root canal...and then by the end of the visit, he was sure I needed a root canal (of which I have to go to a specialist for because I have weird teeth...which means I have to wait for another two weeks to fix my toothache). Well atleast my dentist and I had a nice lengthy chat about the state of the American health care system while my novacaine was kicking in (My dentist really likes to talk politics...it's kind of weird...but in a good way :).

So I'm trying to decide which of my long list of things that I wanted to do I will actually try to accomplish in the next few days...I'm leaning toward taking the Christmas decorations down and doing very little else...I am on vacation...right?

Alton Brown on Fried Chicken

"It was like Colonel Sanders Pole Dancing..."