Let The Wild Rumpus Start!

2010 arrived today, not with a wild rumpus, but with a kiss and a hug and falling asleep before midnight. Eric and I watched the ball drop in Times Square though, so that usually means it's officially the new year, no matter where you are in the US. It was quiet in our neighborhood at the stroke of midnight. I could hear distant fireworks but no one was shooting off guns or yelling wildly or honking car horns. I like it that way. In my younger days I used to love to wait up and have a champagne toast, wear a silly hat, or as I did in Florida, jump into a pool sans clothing. Now I appreciate the quiet evenings at home, watching a movie or a football game or playing a game of Scrabble. I also appreciate not having to watch the Tournament of Roses Parade with a hangover.

So on this first day of 2010, I awoke with the sun. Usually I am up before the sun, so it was nice that we got up together today. Then I went grocery shopping, came home, watched the parade, watched some football, made some homemade chicken noodle soup, and began my resolution of reading the first of those 100 books I plan on getting through.

I had two choices. My fiction choice was "Amateur Barbarians" by Robert Cohen and my non-fiction choice was "The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics was Reborn" by Louisa Gilder. I chose the non-fiction book because I figure you should always start the new year out with the truth. Plus, I was never big on physics, quantum or otherwise, so I knew I would struggle with this book and figured it would be a good challenge. I was a little concerned that the end of the book contained 100 pages worth of glossary terms and notes, but got over that after looking at the glossary and realizing that I knew more about physics and scientific terms than I had remembered. Living with my mathematician step-father for all those years probably had something to do with it.

I am two chapters into the book and am finding it interesting but also realize that I still am not big on physics. The book contains excerpts from letters, interviews and conversations between all sorts of scientists including Einstein and Bohr. It has charts and footnotes and the author is doing her best to keep it an "easy" read rather than making the reader have to stop and look up every other word in the dictionary. But for me, this is a book where I am only going to be able to read a chapter and then will have to put the book down, think on it a bit and then pick it up again. I don't think this is like "Harry Potter" where I can read it in one sitting, nor do I want it to be. Part of this resolution is to introduce myself to new experiences, new authors, new ideas, and to maybe learn something or a lot of somethings in the process.

So even though the "entanglement" is sort of a "wild rumpus" in the quantum world, I'm going to take it in quietly, like my New Year's Eve celebrations.

What's in a Name?

Would a blog called Cooking Without an Oven still be a blog if it's name changed? Of course it would. Would it be the same blog? Of course it would. Just because something changes it's name doesn't mean its any different. Didn't Shakespeare teach us that a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet?

So, why am I contemplating a change in the name of my blog? Basically, I have to. This Christmas, Eric's mom decided to get us an oven. One that works on top and inside. One where I will be able to make tuna noodle casserole, and cheesecake, and german chocolate cake and my mother's pork chops and rice recipe and beef bourguignon. We aren't getting the oven until the middle of January though, so I still have a few weeks to contemplate what is going to be the first meal I cook, and what I am going to rename my blog. I can't really call it Cooking Without an Oven anymore since I will be cooking with an oven. Lots. My life is still not totally in control and I'm still taking it one step at a time and still learning and I don't expect an oven to change all that, although it will stop us from having to be so creative with ramen noodles.

I've already told you about my resolution to read every one of the 100 books on the NY Times Notable Books of 2009 list, so I thought about changing the name to "So Many Books, So Little Time" but that's rather commercial at this point. I was also thinking of calling it "Literally Literary" but I can hardly pronounce it myself, so maybe alliteration is not the way to go. I thought about doing a "Julie & Julia" type blog and type every day about how the books are going and then call it "A Year in The Life..." but that's not very clever either. I did briefly think of calling it "Damn You Bill Gregory! (among others)" in homage to my sophomore year English teacher for extolling the virtues of writing in margins of books, taking notes, and journaling every day, even writing the same word over and over and over and over until you thought of something else to write. But then I'd have to spend more time explaining and introducing you to all the English teachers along the way who have helped me to write and read and not only to do that, but to actually think about what I am writing and reading. I also thought I might call it "Horses, Death and Scenery" which was going to be the title of the biography I was going to write about Robert Redford, or the way I described my favorite movie, "Legends of the Fall." Horses, death and scenery have also played a big part in my life. But again, I would have to spend at least a couple of entries explaining all that. Finally I moved away from the literary and thought I could call the blog "If You Can't Stand the Heat..." and try to do a reading/cooking blog. One year I resolved to either eat at a new restaurant or try a new recipe every week. That would be 52 new experiences in a year. That worked for about 3 months. Don't know why I stopped, but I assume it's because life got in the way, again.

I'm not even sure if I can change the name of my blog without creating a new one, so this whole discussion may be pointless. But my original sentiment remains true....no matter what I call my blog, I hope that people will read it and enjoy it.

Is It Too Early to Make My New Year's Resolution?

This is exactly what I knew was going to happen. I start a blog, write entries like crazy at first, and then forget about it. I was horrified when I logged on this evening to discover that I haven't blogged in over a month. That's too long and I apologize and will try to be better at it.

That could be my New Year's Resolution. And yes, I know that we still have to go through Christmas before we should start making those, but why not start at least thinking about them now? I make them every year, and sometimes I stick to them, but like a lot of people, most times I don't. We all mean well when we make these resolutions and I'm sure some of you have been able to keep them for a full 365 days. I do well for about 3 months and then things tend to fall apart. Maybe Spring reawakens my senses and the fact that the sun finally shines again in Chicago, and green things start popping up out of the ground, or that windows can be opened again and we can put away the snow blower just makes me forget that when I was sitting inside, in the cold on January 1 that I had made resolutions for the year. I don't know. All I know is that I don't believe I've ever kept a resolution all year long.

This year, or in 2010, I have a feeling it's going to be a lot easier. Because this resolution I am going to make is probably going to take me all year to complete. Now as most of you know, I spend my days at work staring at a computer screen and when I get home on Friday, my eyes are pretty much red and itchy and I'm ready to not look at a computer for the next couple of days. Yes, I log onto Facebook during the weekend to play a few games, catch up with friends I haven't talked to, and check out how I did in my College and Pro football pools, but usually the computer stays off. Except for times like this. It's Sunday afternoon. The Bears are losing to the Vikings and Eric and I have decided to have some quiet time reading things off the computer. On Sundays I like to read the New York Times online. I enjoy being able to pick and choose which stories I am going to read without getting my hands black with ink. I read the Travel section, the Weddings/Celebrations section, the news stories that interest me, the sports stories that interest me, and, of course, the BOOK REVIEW. I love it online because they have a podcast and actual interviews with the authors, or readings from the books. They usually include excerpts and other things of interest.

This weekend, a full 7 days before the print edition comes out, they have listed their 100 Notable Books of 2009. Being the bibliophile that I am, I want to read all 100 books. I even scanned each title today and the short one sentence description they had and there is not a single one of those books that does not sound interesting to me. OK, maybe the one about the resurgence of Quantum Physics isn't going to be the first one I read, but even it is going to teach me something I didn't know. There are 45 fiction/short story/poetry books and 55 non-fiction titles on their list. I want to spend 2010 reading them all. Now I realize that may be a lofty goal. With 100 books and 365 days out of the year, I'm going to have to average a book every 3 days and I'm sure some of them are quite long. I only have a 15 minute commute on the train to work and back, and guess I will have to stop watching television in order to fit them all in. But I am a fast and avid reader. I read the Harry Potter books in one evening so I know I can do it, but its something that I am going to have to keep up with ALL YEAR LONG! I suppose I could cheat and start reading a couple of them now, in the last month of 2009, but I don't think that would be right. If it's going to be a resolution, then it has to start on January 1.

And maybe, just maybe, because I am determined to blog more, I should write a review of each book I read. That way, I will blog more in 2010 as well. There, it's November 29th and I've already made 2 resolutions. Now lets just hope March doesn't come in like a lion and blow these resolutions away. Happy Reading everyone!

Just Like Old Times

I am swimming in nostalgia this week. On Wednesday, when I came home from work, the weather outside reminded me exactly of the Octobers of my youth, when we would all get excited for the costume parade at school for Halloween, and then all cry when we had to wear jackets over our costumes. Some people in my neighborhood must have fireplaces because I stepped out of the car and the aroma of burning wood filled my nostrils. I couldn't wait to get inside and curl up with a cup of hot chocolate. It's starting to get darker earlier (and will be dark by 4pm next week when we put the clocks back). There is a chill in the air. The weather is cloudy and rainy. The trees are giving off their final blaze of glory. I guarantee that if it wasn't raining, I would go take a walk in the park across the street and let the brown, yellow and red leaves crunch under my feet.

Maybe upon feeling this nostalgia, Saturday morning my boyfriend and I went out to eat "comfort food." For me it was an open faced turkey sandwich, served on white bread with mashed potatoes and gravy on top, all with a side of cranberry sauce. I hadn't eaten one of those since my days back at Mizzou in the dining halls. The same dining halls that would have a sign describing the night's side dish as "chessy" rice. There was nothing like the taste of a slice of Wonder bread, topped with a slice of processed turkey meat and a perfect ice cream scoop of mashed potatoes and bright yellow, almost snot-colored gravy. They usually only served those on weekends and it was great because a lot of people went home, so they always had plenty of servings. For Eric, his comfort food was meatloaf with mashed potatoes. Mushroom gravy on the meatloaf, different gravy on the potatoes. I smiled at his horror when he broke the dam on his mound of mashed potatoes and the gravys started to mix. This is not allowed in Eric's world. Each taste must be separate. He managed to shore up the damn and enjoy his lunch. Now meatloaf was not something my mother made. In fact, I don't believe I ever had meatloaf until I was 11 or 12 and living in New Mexico. I rode horses and my trainer one night before a horse show had me come by, learn how to braid my horse's mane, and then I stayed for dinner. Meatloaf, covered in Heinz ketchup. It was delicious. I am hoping that soon Eric and I can get a new oven so I can experiment with making my own meatloaf.

After lunch, Eric and I went to Kohl's and bought a waffle iron. When I was growing up, Sunday mornings when we had waffles were an event. My mother and father had a waffle iron that had been given to either her parents or his parents as a wedding gift. It was heavy, large, and the cord was beginning to get frayed. There was a big dome light on the front and I remember my brother and myself waiting until that light to glow yellow so that the batter could be poured slowly, out of the giant plastic bowl, onto the grid. Then the games began. My brother and I would guess whether the waffle would stick to the top or the bottom. Whomever got the right answer, got the waffle. And it was never good enough to just yell "top" or "bottom." You always had to yell it three times! "Top! TOP! TOP!!!" or "Bottom, BOTTOM, BOTTOM!!" There were cries of disappointment when we were wrong, cries of joy when we were right and my father said that he actually could accurately predict where it would end up depending on how the pour went. We, as children, of course believed him and were amazed that he was always right. Now when we went to Kohl's there were all sorts of new fangled waffle irons that turn and twist and fold and all that other unnecessary stuff. Then there was the Cuisinart waffle iron, that not only didn't twist and flip, but was also on sale! I am a big fan of Cuisinart, owning not only the original Cuisinart, but a mini-prep, coffee maker and hand blender that all carry the Cusinart name. So we got that and this morning I was thrilled to discover, that after my first "practice" waffle that ended up sticking everywhere, (My fault, I didn't use enough batter), that of the next two batches, one ended up on the top and one ended up on the bottom. Both tasted the same and were brown and beautiful. We covered them with butter and Mrs. Butterworth's syrup. It was great!

Tonight, we're going to have pork chops and applesauce. No, not really about the applesauce, but we are going to watch Bears football, have some pork chops and then watch "Dexter." That's not really nostalgic, but it's a nice way to end the weekend. A nice family, nostalgic weekend with my new family. Eric, Harley, Blair, Jasper and Elsie. Let's get out the jiffy pop and the plastic pumpkin to stick candy in and dive deep into the pool of our past.

RANT

I just noticed that I haven't contributed to my blog in almost a month. That's terrible! I have an entire list of things that I want to blog about and now that I'm not spending 3 hours a day commuting in the car to work, I should have more time to write. So I guess I had better sit down and get some serious writing done. Of course, this isn't going to be one of those times. This time, because I haven't done it in so long, is going to be a rant. Just random thoughts I've had over the past week and things that I truly believe I need to get off my chest.

First of all, I am suffering from panic attacks again. I have had one every day for the past week from 11 am to 1pm. Mainly lunch hour panic. I'm not panicked about lunch. I'm working downtown, which I really enjoy. It gives me more time to read now that I'm letting the train engineer do the driving. I also am getting exercise by walking back and forth to the train station. So, why am I panicking? I wish I knew, but I know I need to get over it! I am almost 40 years old. Maybe that's it. The other ones started before I turned 30. They're not bad this time, just inconvenient. So, I need to either write to get rid of my thoughts, or I should visit my doctor and see if there is some physical reason for them. But I'm not wasting any more time writing about them or focusing on them.

Next, why do people start celebrating holidays so early? When I got off the train on Monday morning and was walking across the street, the sidewalk in front of our office building was blocked by men on big cranes putting CHRISTMAS LIGHTS on the trees! It's not even Halloween yet! Now I will say that they took two days to put them up but they have not lit them yet, so I will cut them a little slack. Also, it's probably more reasonable to put up the lights when it's 50 degrees and raining, rather than when it's cold and icy or snowing. But I think nowadays holidays are rushed. Halloween candy starts showing up in the store before Labor Day, as soon as that is gone there will be Christmas decorations up. We kind of just skip over Thanksgiving now. I remember when I was younger, it was a big deal on the day after Thanksgiving to head downtown because the stores opened at 9AM...a whole hour earlier than usual. It was also the day that Marshall Field's revealed their holiday windows. NOW, stores open up at 3, 4 or 5 am. Hell, K-Mart is even open on Thanksgiving Day. Mickey Mouse and his pals come to Chicago and light the lights on Michigan Avenue in the middle of November. And I guarantee you that as soon as December 26th hits, you can go to Walgreen's and pick out your Valentines. What ever happened to celebrating a holiday during the month in which it occurs. Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas all happen at the end of their respective months. I would think that 3 or 4 weeks is plenty of time to get ready. Too much and you end up getting sick of it. I used to travel to London every November. Usually the first week in November, and since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving there, I understand their need to have Christmas decorations up early. Although Harrod's is taking it a bit far, by putting up their Christmas displays in June. But I want the Macy's parade to be the first time I see Santa Claus. And to all of you people who refuse to take down your decorations on the outside of your house because you put them up in November and don't want to take them down in February, you should be fined! You don't have to throw out your tree on the 26th, but I think all Christmas decorations should be down by Super Bowl Sunday.

This posting ended up being shorter than I thought it was going to be, and I can live with that.

I could rant about so many more things, like the fact that we were all emotionally sucked into the story of the little boy supposedly lost in the balloon today, only to find out that he was hiding in the attic and that they had been on "Wife Swap." Or the fact that my female cat is a traitor. Or how for the first time in my football pool I voted against my Dolphins and they won! Or I could write about music, or the fact that I am secretly a technology geek. I could write about how I can deal with the fact that my cat snores, but I can't deal with the fact that my boyfriend does. I could write about my new iPhone and the cool Apps that are on it. But I won't. I'm going to save all those things to write about at a different time. That will force me to keep coming back and writing. I am sorry I have neglected this and I won't let it happen again.

A Book By Any Other Name...

I am a bibliophile. I absolutely love books. My dream home would have a library that would be bigger than the master bedroom with a fireplace and comfortable chairs to sit in. In my family, from a very early age, it was not Christmas without a book. I could spend hours in a bookstore. I go to the Printer's Row Book Fair (now called "LitFest") every summer with very little money because if I had more, I would buy many, many books. I bought a book yesterday as Eric and I were walking back to the car after dinner because it's title caught my eye. It's probably why I ended up being an English major in college. I have moved to Florida and back in the past 4 years and each time have moved over 3,000 POUNDS of books.

I love all kinds of books: mysteries, science fiction, novels, non-fiction, poetry, true crime, history, travel, cookbooks, sports stories, animal stories, and will even pick up a romance novel from time to time. I've read most, if not all of the classics, either because I had to, but mostly because I wanted to. When I was preparing for my move to Florida, and was thinning out my books, I had 5 copies of "The Picture of Dorian Gray", I weaned it down to 1. I have a set of the complete works of Shakespeare, and one of my favorite graduation gifts was "Bartlett's Famous Quotations."

I now find myself in a dilemma though. I am a fan of Amazon.com. I have bought many books, toys, electronic gadgets and even a Weber grill off of the site. As you may know, Amazon has a device called "Kindle" which is a little handheld device about the size of a small paperback on which you can download books, newspapers from all over the country and the world, and magazines. It downloads the book wirelessly, and all "bestsellers" are only $9.99. The Kindle holds 1,500 books, although if you get the newest model the "DX", you can have 3,500 books in something the size of a magazine. Considering most of my 3,000 pounds of books have been in boxes for the past 4 years, I have been contemplating purchasing a Kindle.

But here are some of my issues. One...the Kindle is expensive. The basic model is $299 and the "DX" is $489. That's a lot of money that I could spend on books, because this basic price only buys the "reader." I'd still have to pay for books and I'm probably not going to be on Oprah's "Favorite Things" Show where she would give one away. Why would I pay $10 to buy books I already have, just to save some space, knowing I will probably not get rid of the physical copy of the book? Another issue is that I stare at a computer screen, two, actually, all day at work and spend time on the computer at home, so why would I want to read books off of what is basically another computer screen? Plus, call me old-fashioned, but I love the smell of a book, I like cracking open the spine, I like being able to write notes in the margin or highlight a passage if I need to, and I don't believe you can do that on Kindle. I also believe in bookstores. When I was growing up there was a small bookstore in my small town and the two ladies that owned that store became lifelong friends. They would also order you any book you needed and you would have it in a couple of days. Now, we're left with Barnes & Noble and a few Borders, which are more cafe's/music/movie/stationery stores than the bookstores I grew up with. If I get a Kindle, I will be helping to eradicate the bookstore all together and I don't believe I want to do that. But I'm sort of a tech geek as well, and to be able to have one of the first "digital" readers would be kinda neat. I've heard rave reviews of Kindle, but I've also seen a lot of them for sale on eBay. I also think I would rather get a paper cut than to go blind while reading a computer screen. Yes, the Kindle would be great for travel, but since I haven't travelled very far lately, that's not a reason, plus when I went on the few cruises I went on, I enjoyed taking a book and then leaving it at the ship's library for someone else to enjoy. I also know I would fill up my Kindle and would feel really badly about hitting the "delete" button rather than donating the book to a retirement home, or for needy kids or a local literacy program.

So I'm going to keep pondering on this. I can always put a Kindle on my Christmas wish list.

Driving Off Into The Sunset

Those of you who know me know that I am a HUGE sports fan. I love all kinds of sports, whether on TV, watching as a fan in the stands, or actually participating in sports. Football is my all-time favorite and starting next week, don't even think about calling me on Sunday because I'll be watching games. I enjoy baseball, will watch the last 2 minutes of a basketball game--because that's when the real action takes place--watch and play golf, play 16" softball--a Chicago only thing--love the olympics, participate in equestrian sports, and also watch and play tennis.

Every Memorial Day weekend since I can remember, I would watch the Indianapolis 500. I will admit I watched mostly for the crashes, but enjoyed the true racing as well. Several years ago I would also watch NASCAR races, although they were not on TV as much as they are today. I remember sitting at my dad's house and watching Dale Earnhardt crash for the final time. I remember my step-sister Tina getting married and her husband, John, who was from Florida was a NASCAR nut. He liked Jeff Gordon and his rainbow car. I had heard of him and knew that car, but I wouldn't say I was a "fan."

In 2005 I moved to Florida to be closer to my brother. I got a job as a marketing/events coordinator at a Harley-Davidson dealership and made friends with my co-workers quickly. Little did I know at the time that NASCAR in Florida is almost a religion. Whereas in Chicago, there are Notre Dame, Michigan, Northwestern, Cubs or Sox flags flying from porches and flagpoles, in Florida, there are Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, and Jr. flags flying. If you walk into a sports bar in Florida, there is more likely to be a NASCAR race on than a football or baseball game.

The talk in our break room every Monday was about who had won the race that past weekend and the talk on Friday was on who was most likely to win the upcoming race. One of the girls camped out all weekend at Homestead every year and knew more about NASCAR history than I would ever know. The guy who was most into the races and the drivers was Larry. Larry was the guy who worked in the service department and washed the bikes. His entire area was covered with model cars of his favorite drivers. He had the NASCAR yearbook. When he finally got cable,he would ask me to show him how to look up NASCAR races on ESPN Classic. Larry, and others, told me that in order to be really into NASCAR I had to pick a favorite driver.

I knew I didn't want to pick Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson. I also didn't really like Dale Earnhardt Jr., much to Larry's chagrin. I liked Tony Stewart because he got mad when he lost and was a little overweight, but I didn't like the color of his car. So, I asked to borrow Larry's NASCAR yearbook and began to look at the drivers I thought were attractive. There were OK looking ones, but no one stood out. Until I got to the driver of the 38 car. His name was Elliott Sadler.

He was more than 6' tall--I've always like tall men--had a nice goatee, and was, I thought very attractive. He also drove the M&M's car. NICE!!! Elliott was going to be "my driver." I told this to Larry and others and they laughed at me. "Elliott Sadler? Really?" was the most common reaction. But, I stuck by my choice. Elliott was a fairly good driver. At the time I picked him he was in the "Race for the Chase" at the end of the year and

consistently was finishing higher than Junior, who was Larry's favorite. Plus he was hot AND single.

I got a little die-cast Elliott Sadler car, and when Larry went shopping at the NASCAR store in town, he said they had a bigger one that he would gladly pick up for me and I could pay him back. Deal. I joined the Elliott Sadler bandwagon and wouldn't allow any badmouthing and would defend him to the end. In 2005, Elliott Sadler finished 13th in the rankings of the top drivers. Not bad. Not as good as the previous year when he finished in the top 10, but since I wasn't following him then, I didn't care. The year after I started following him, he changed teams and numbers and cars. He now drives the number 19 car, which is either decorated in the Best Buy, Stanley Tools, or McDonald's colors. He also shaved off the goatee but he was still "my driver."

In 2007, I moved back to Chicago, but still followed NASCAR and Elliott. I joined the Elliott Sadler fan club, got t-shirts and sweatshirts and almost drove 80 miles, during rush hour traffic, to meet him in person when he was at the Chicagoland Speedway. I still rooted for him in races and he was still "my driver." I even ordered a picture off of his website and put it in a frame and had it on my desk.

Lately, Elliott has not been doing so well. He seems to do really well in the Daytona 500, the first race of the year, and then rapidly declines in rankings. He finished 25th in 2007 and 24th in 2008. He seems to start most races toward the back of the pack, and in the last race started 42nd out of 43 drivers. A few of the races this year, he has crashed so early, there's no point in looking for him in the scroll of drivers across the top of the screen. He is not going to be in the "Race" at the end of the year, not even close. He was not in the All-Star race. It's no fun watching the races on TV, when there is no chance of seeing Elliott's car, unless it ends up being involved in a crash, or even worse, causing one.

Yes, I believe it is time for my relationship with Elliott to end. Time for me to move on. Time for me to pick someone else to root for. Elliott got married in January of this year and I wish him and Amanda all the best in the years to come. Elliott Sadler will no longer be "my driver."

So, I am on the hunt for a new one to follow. I like Carl Edwards because he is from Columbia, MO, where I went to college. I think Clint Bowyer has gorgeous eyes. Same for Denny Hamlin. I like Mark Martin but he's a bit old. Jimmie Johnson, Junior and Jeff Gordon are still out of the running. Kasey Kahne is adorable, but I'd feel like a "cougar." I can't stand the driver of the M&M's car now, Kyle Busch, although his brother, Kurt, seems like a really nice guy. So I believe I will have to go to my old friend Tony Stewart. He's a driver/owner now. He still has that fire and actually wins some races. He also reminds me a lot of Eric.

There are 12 races left in the season and I will watch as many of them as I can. I will also stick it out with Elliott until the end of the season because I'm just a faithful kind of girl. But come the Daytona 500 in February of 2010, look for the number 14 flag hanging outside my balcony.