I can’t believe it’s been 200 days since I started this blog. Back on a cold day in early January! The year is quickly coming closer to an end, though there is still a lot of road left to travel, it seems.
You know how sometimes you get spoiled by the little things? Well, one of my weaknesses is bbq sauce. Before I moved to the east coast, I liked a certain sauce sold in my hometown. It was great because it was often on sale at $10 for 10, though it really just meant $1/1 as you weren’t forced to buy in quanities of 10.
And then I moved, but kept the tradition alive by having my parents mail me care packages with some of the “good stuff” inside.
Eventually, I bought a lot of spicy things for one of Marco’s upcoming visits (a jar of jalapenos, hot sauce, jabanero doritos) and also a bottle of “Texas style” bbq sauce which is a more spicy style. And even though it was for Marco, I liked it. And kept buying it for a few years while I lived in New York. Probably a bit too much, since I went through it so quickly.
And then three or four months ago, it disappeared without a trace. Only the original style was left. What a bummer. I found a decent replacement, but it wasn’t the same as it was too sweet for my tastes.
Until today!
Lots and lots of bbq sauce. The crazy thing is there is only two flavors in this picture — mostly Texas flavor (my favorite) and a bit of the original flavor on the eft side.
Yeah, I’m not silly. I took a bottle (note the gap), prior to taking the picture just in case a horde of folks snapped up all 100 or so bottles while I was taking the picture. There was at least twice what you see here.
I will get another bottle tomorrow, as I have to go back. That’s the downside to walking to the grocery store – you can’t carry everything in one trip usually. I have a bbq party at work on Tuesday, so I offered to bring some non perishables like napkins, plasticware, and plastic cups.
One of my landlord’s older kids (in his 20s) purchased a dog named Smokey for his birthday back in November or so. Lately they have been letting the dog outside more to let him run around, which means that sometimes he is at the gate to greet me when I come home. This works out nicely since the entrance to my place is right near the gate.
It feels like just last month, he wasn’t tall enough to get his head over the gate. It barely came over…
At this point the poor dog realized iTouches are scary things. He wouldn’t come close after this picture. Boo! Hopefully I haven’t scarred him for life. I would miss my little greetings when I come back home.
This dog is so cute. Not that it means I want a dog of my own. This way I get all of the loving with none of the responsibility.
Sunday morning I went to Shoprite to pick up some necessary supplies. I returned sweating and pretty tired. Silly heat!
But on the way, I came across an odd sight:
I really have no idea what ran into this sign, as I couldn’t find any news piece about it. However, I did find it interesting that the top of the pole was bent slightly to the right. Perhaps something came and hit the top of the sign but did not manage to damage the bottom of the pole that much.
To me it kind of looks like someone put a small bomb inside the sign and set it off.
Number of days (straight) I have studied Dutch: 9. Time flies when you’re having fun!
I did find out that the Internet Polygot app (Apple | Android) does have a small quirk: there are lessons available to learn vocabulary, like dieren (animals). However, only the lessons that you have opened previously while you had an active Internet connection will work if you find yourself without an Internet connection. So I spent a few minutes opening up all of the lessons to make sure I have access to all of them later on, since I use an iTouch. (Note: after re-reading the app’s page, I do see that they mentioned this.)
One of the benefits to being an academic librarian is that even when one crop of students graduates, another group will inevitably arrive to replace them. One of my more memorable set of students was the ABSN (Accelerated Bachelor of Nursing) students who have called my department home for most of the last year.
The ABSN program is an intensive year long course that is guaranteed to make you pull your hair out. Of note, there frequently were two students who made my department home – it was common to see them arrive in the late morning after their class and stay until 8PM or later. (It almost made me feel guilty to leave at my normal time, but darnit, I had an IM or videochat with Marco waiting for me!)
The theme of the weekend is heat, heat, and more heat. I think the States are slowly turning into a large sweltering desert.
For your reference, 100F = roughly 38C. For me, it was still 95F at 8PM tonight. But, it still beats the harsh winter. And the heat can mostly be countered by lots of ice water. Though of course then I want to chew more ice! But Seattle (in the upper left) looks nice at 69F.
Heck, let me just move to the Netherlands 5 or so months early…
Tonight is more Olympic trials — for diving and gymnastics. The latter is my favorite summer Olympics sport by far, even if sometimes I can’t watch since I don’t want to see someone fall! Did you hear about the London taxi cab driver who is going to turn his taxi into a hotel room each night of the Olympics?
It carries such amenities as a solar powered fridge, an iPad, a bedside lamp, curtains, and more. It’s not so much that he is trying to make extra money, just recoup the money he expects to lose. (Taxis are not allowed to use the special Olympic traffic lanes, so they expect more traffic and slower journeys.)
On a non-Olympic note with something closer to home, don’t forget to watch your step. One of the subway exits in Brooklyn has a rogue step that causes a lot of commuters to trip. The cringe-inducing incidents were caught on tape in a 87 second video by a New Yorker who realized that no, he wasn’t a klutz… everyone was tripping at the same place. (In the video you can see a quick look at the step).
The issue is that the steps preceding it are about 7 1/4″ tall or a bit less. The rogue step is about 8″ tall – about an inch too high for the MTA’s guidelines. To their credit, within 24 hours of the video appearing (and gaining over 300k hits) the MTA had already closed off that particular subway exit and were looking at refurbishing the entire staircase by tomorrow. Apparently you’ll have to find somewhere else to lose your balance.
A long time before there was Marco in my world, there was Colonization.
1994, in fact.
It was my first time learning about the Dutch (who knows how accurate it really was). Colonization is a Sid Meier computer game where you can choose from one of four nationalities (Spanish, English, French, or Dutch). Your goal was to leave the Old World to come colonize the New World of the Americas. As it was a ‘city building’ type game, it was right up my alley, along with the Civilization series, Sim City, Caesar, and Pharaoh/Cleopatra.
You see a pattern of what games I like to play? I don’t like to fight much, though I’ll tolerate it if it’s not the main focus of the game.
In Colonization, every nationality had its own perk. For instance, English was into immigration, so you got an extra immigrant at the start of the game plus more immigration bonuses later on. The French interact better with the native Indians, while the Spanish get a bonus when fighting the Indians. But the Dutch… the Dutch get better prices, and they get an awesome Dutch galleon ship at the start of the game which can carry 6 units of cargo.
From colonizationfans.com. The Dutch look to be taking over the world… or at least this part of South America. There’s some Indian cities on the left (the grey cities with the cross and exclamation points) plus an Indian in a loin cloth, and an English settlement in the upper right.
So for most of my time playing Colonization, I played the Dutch. I am all about trading and cargo and getting money. Although my second favorite choice was the English for their immigration benefits.
A view from the city’s production screen. Note on the lower half in the middle, they are currently loading a Dutch galleon with its coveted 6 cargo spots. Currently it has muskets in the first cargo hold.
The one thing you always have to be weary of is making some cheap money by selling muskets and horses to the Indians. You think they won’t use them against you 30 turns later? Ha.
The goal of the game is to declare your indepence from the Old World… but when you click the revolution button, you better be prepared for the wave of revolutionary army units which appear right off your shores 1-2 turns later. The more cities you have, the more units will appear. You’ll see that this particular city is not looking for a revolution that much, as in the lower left only 2 colonists (19%) want it, whereas 11 colonists (81%) still prefer not to rock the boat. But that will change. That will change.
It’s almost enough to make me want to download a copy of the game again. Hmmm…
If you’re interested in a nicely detailed strategy guide, check out the Civilization wiki (both games are Sid Meier titles).
Another busy night! But I did receive an email saying that someone had found my Where’s George? dollar bill and put it in the system. Someone from New York City.
It started in Maryland back in June 2006. I was only a year graduated from college at that point. Hadn’t met Marco yet in person! It got to Pennsylvania in January of the following year. Then me last month (over 5 years later!). Then someone today in NYC.
It’s a hot day here. With that in mind, here’s a nice cooling picture of the Binnenhof fountain. Just don’t drop money in. It can’t be tracked if you do!
I found myself working on another project for the game I play. Of course, that meant the night slipped away faster than even I could have imagined! The good news is I got a lot of work done and am almost about to wrap up the project. Which is a very nice feeling.
In the meantime, while I salvage the last few remaining minutes before bed, here’s a picture I took last week of the beautiful landscaping around work:
Life in the Hague 