Thursday, July 16, 2009

A bit about me

Well since Cruchy posted it (who stole it from Ruchi, who stole it from Beany who stole it fromMeadowlark...) and I love doing things like this and I have not done one in quite a while because doing something like this everyday or multiple times a day is annoying to other and because I have never done one here I thought I would, oh and also because I am postponing doing important things....

A - Age: 29, until Monday that is

B - Bed size: Queen

C - Chore you hate: dishes and laundry, only laundry because we don't have one in apartment so it takes on a whole aspect of having to carry heavy clothes a lot farther than I am comfortable with.

D - Dog's name: we had a dog named silhouette, we called her silly, she was epileptic and had many head issues, we found her a better home.

E - Essential start your day item: coffee

F - Favorite color: purple

G - Gold or Silver or Platinum: silver

H - Height: 5' even

I - Instruments you play: nada

J - Job title: i don't really have a title, i guess i'm an assistant or keeper. basically i'm a animal shit cleaner upper, that's what HAS to get done everyday, also feeding, if i'm lucky i do some fun stuff, some playing, even some cuddling of cute furry things if the opportunity presents itself. all in the name of work though.

K - Kid(s): just my pets

L - Living arrangements: 2 bed 2 bath apartment

M - Mom's name: leslie or Spanish Bandanna is her nickname now, it's a inside joke basically calling her a 4 letter word, all in good fun though, that spanish bandanna

N - Nicknames: mudnessa, nessa, all sorts of adjectives that can describe me are put in front of nessa, actual name is Vanessa if you didn't know

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: None

P - Pet Peeve: selfishness, ignorance, and closed mindedness

Q - Quote from a movie: "Why don't you just light your tampon, and blow your box apart? Because it's the only bang you're ever gonna get, sweetheart!" -Bernadette (Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert)

R - Right handed or left handed: Right

S - Siblings: younger brother

T - Time you wake up: this week its been about 8, usually its 10, I love sleep and hate mornings.

U- Underwear: Yes

V - Vegetable you dislike: Eggplant and peas

W - Ways you run late: every way possible, i usually blame the cats or the husband

X - X-rays you've had: Dental only, I think

Y - Yummy food you make: mac and cheese, tortilla soup, chili, mostly dinner foods, not good at baking

Z - Zoo favorite: hmmm, at an actual zoo as a "tourist" i like looking at the dogs/cats the most oh and the ring tailed lemurs, which i actually got to work with, a childhood dream of mine, but then he got feisty and I couldn't sit and cuddle with him anymore :( working wise i've loved working with a few specific binturongs, coati mundis, and monitor lizards. least favorite to work with definitely kinkajous in general, but just because they all hate/fear me and honestly i'm scared of them. I think it's because my hair is similar in color to their coats and they must think I'm a big funny smelling kink out to get them. i also don't love working with monkeys all that much just cause they are too damn smart test you and make you really think all the time and I have (controllable) fears of parrots and rodents, those beaks and teeth scare the crap out of me. been bitten by both too, not fun.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Cooking with Chopsticks

My preferred cooking utensil is a pair of chopsticks. In recent years I have started using a silicone spatula more than chopsticks because I have been making more one pot meals and the spatula is better at getting things moving around. I have found another use for my chopsticks while cooking, to keep the lid off the pot so it doesn't boil over as easily but still holds a lot of the heat in. When I cook I like to keep the lid on as much as I can to conserve all the heat I can but I quickly learned somethings just can't be cooked covered because they will boil over too easily. Pasta, quinoa, couscous, those types of things. I can't tell you how many messes I made before I gave up and just cooked those things uncovered, as you are instructed to, gee I guess I should listen to what "real" cooks have to say. With some other things I want to half cover the pot or leave it just a bit off so heat and steam can escape but also hold in a bit of the heat still. This is where the chopsticks come in, I lay them across the pot and the edges and then put the lid on top of them, it works great. Here are some pictures of this at work.




Friday, July 3, 2009

Plastic Packaging

Here is an item that is just totally over done in plastic and there is no alternative.

The story:
The product is basically a gift card. It is a pre-paid 60 day game card for the video game World of Warcraft. The game requires a monthly subscription to play. The game card is available at stores and instead of a gift card it come in a dvd case, a rather large dvd case, it is thicker than normal cases, not thicker plastic but it has a wider spine. So here is the breakdown of all the plastic for this little card. Shrink wrap, dvd case, and then the actual credit card sized card. A bit much, I don't see why they can't just sell cards that need to be activated like so many other services.


This game has a lot of things like this associated with it. When a new expansion come out if you want to be able to play the expansion right away you HAVE to buy a "real world product" full of multiple discs, play books, many inserts, a big dvd case, all wrapped in plastic of course. After the expansion has been out for a while you can just download the necessary files for the same price from the website. Also for each account you have to purchase separate expansion packs. Me and my husband play and we each have an account and we had to go to the store and buy two separate expansion packs. We contacted them about it and they said that there had to be a "real world product" blah blah blah.
Why the NEED for a "real world product" only though. The game would not be any less successful if us nerds who play got to sit down at our computer and NEVER have to get up or leave. When a new expansion is coming out so many people struggle with how to buy it, do I pre-order it online and possibly have to wait a week before I have the actual product arrive in the mail or do I go and stand in line all night so I get get the actual product and get home and play as soon as possible. If they could pre-order it online in digital format and have it at midnight believe me they would, so many of them would.

I'm not saying they need to get rid of the real world product because there would be those that want the booklets that come with the game and there would be those who would wander across the game at the store and purchase it there. But why do they really need a "real world product" only that is what I do not understand.