3.20.04 All things related to mother nature
The past few days have been sunny and warmand "Breezy"
according to the NOAA
web site. Breezy. They use that word kind of casually. In the
past they've described winds of up to 40 mph as Breezy. Somehow
Breezy just doesn't have enough oomph to describe a 40 mph gust,
does it? I notice today that the winds are about the same as they
will be tonight, but because the temperature will go down to 21
degrees, they use the word Blustery.
It's been dry for the past few days, which is good because we
are waiting for the basement ground to dry out so the floor can
be poured. We're not supposed to get rain until Monday night.
Hopefully someone is out there pouring concrete today!
We are having a little bit of drama regarding water and our backyard.
It's a long story, a lot of which requires a knowledge of ground
slope and civil engineering. We have a meeting with our realtor,
builder and the development engineering firm next week. And we
thought weather-related delays would be our only house drama.
We're such silly, naive home builders!
Yesterday I was in the office
and it was really warm. I sit in the back, away from most of the
front office hustle and bustle, but also the heat. I have a little
heater that I use on cold days to keep me from turning into a
popsicle. Anyway, yesterday it was 75 degrees in the office, so
we opened up the back doors to let in a breeze. Usually I have
no problems concentrating at work because of being in the back.
It's not a major traffic area, and a lot of times I'm the only
one back there. (Contrast that to my last job where I sat in a
much higher traffic area and had a hard time concentrating on
my work. Here I get into super concentration modeso much
that one night I hadn't realized that everyone had gone home and
I almost got locked in. I have a key now!) The office is an end
unit, and backs up to a field. So here I am, 4 pm
on a Friday afternoon, with a warm breeze (see, now that's a proper
use of the word!) blowing through and the sounds of crickets in
the field. My concentration? Right out the door!
On a non-weather-related note. We've been staying up too late.
We're not sure whymaybe a touch of spring fever? We been
making a conscious effort to go to bed earlier, and have had some
progress this week. But tonight is the Malaysian
Grand Prix. We taped practice and qualifying, because to watch
it live would mean tuning in at 12:30 am. That's a very easy decision
on a work night. But the race is live tonight (technically tomorrow
morning). Is it possible to go to bed knowing that the race is
about to start? Is it possible to put a tape in and walk away
from the tv just when the cars are lining up on the grid in Kuala
Lumpur? We might have to work on the getting-to-bed-early
thing next week. (And by the way, get down with your bad self
Webber!)
3.15.04 Spring five days away?
Monday morning: wind so gusty the windows rattled and the car
alarm kept chirping. The sleet blowing against the window sounded
like little nails. Finally got up, put my slippers on and... oh
gross, the cat puked in my slipper. Happy Monday!
Talked with our builder today. We are still getting estimates
on countertops, and are giving the appliance specs to the cabinet
maker. No word on delivery yetjust that after drywall is
up, we are 60 days from closing. The floor still needs to be poured,
and the electrician still needs to do his thing before drywall
can be started. Maybe end of June?
Big event for the weekend: we drove up to Omaha Saturday night
to eat at Blue,
the restaurant recommended by my dental
hygienist. It's not exactly what we expected. It is located in
a strip mall, and the interior feels like a trendy hotel lounge/bar,
but with a restaurant. It was smaller than we imagined from the
web site. The sushi was good, for the Midwest, but not the same
as Sushi King in Columbia. We miss you Bamboo! I tried a new version
of my favorite Apple Martini: it was red, a little spicy, and
was made with sake. Tasty!
3.07.04 The local scene
Friday was our first night "out on the town" in Lincoln
since we moved here. Our evening began at The Starlight Lounge.
I wish there was something I could link to on the web so you could
see it. The decor is totally vintage 50s, down to the period couches,
lights and chairs! The colors are "burnt sienna" and
turquoise. It's fabulous!
The Starlight is actually owned by Buzzard
Billy's upstairs. We wound up at Buzzard's for dinner, and
were a little disappointed. The big attraction there is alligator,
but all of the gator dishes were fried. And it was Friday in Lent.
Catholics can eat fish, but not meat. Does the Vatican have a
ruling on reptile?
Then we went to the legendary Zoo
Bar to see Eddie
"The Chief" Clearwater play some Chicago Blues.
We missed him in his headdress, but he rocked the house.
We are becoming true Nebraskans (no, no Husker flags) and have
NE tags
on our cars (No, that's not our plate. Go here to see the history
of the NE plate.) and NE drivers' licenses.
We also have a subscription to Midwest
Living. (Ok, they were selling a three year subscription for
the price of one year. We got hooked by their marketing ploy!)
It's actually pretty interesting and lets you know what's happening
in and around the surrounding states.
3.05.04 Why mess with a good thing?
Our Girl Scout cookies were delivered last night, and we were
really perplexed as to why we had to buy Caramel deLites instead
of Samoas and Peanut Butter Patties instead of Tagalongs. We did
some searching
(PDF link) and found out:
Totem Council currently receives its cookies
from Little Brownie Bakers, a division of Keebler, which supplies
a little over half of the councils nationwide. However, Pacific
Peaks Girl Scout council in southwestern Washington uses ABC,
which does offer different varieties of cookies. All bakeries
offer a version of Samoa, Thin Mint, Trefoil, and Do-Si-Do (all
with different names), as well as four original cookies.
Why are there different recipes for the top selling cookies?
(Do-si-dos are called Peanut Butter Sandwiches and Trefoils are
called ShortbreadThin Mints are Thin Mints.) Our "Caramel
deLites" (reminds us of that crazy
band) were way more caramelly that we're used to, and the
"Peanut Butter Patties" just aren't as crispy and buttery
as the Tagalongs. Girl Scout cookies are an institution! We demand
more uniformity! And of course, uniform to the recipes we are
accustommed to, thank you very much.
Things could be worse. In Canada, they only sell these.
3.04.04 Ladies and Gentlemen, we have walls!
We had about two weeks of no snow and rain, and now our house
has walls, a roof and windows. But, we're supposed to get three
inches of snow tonight. Sigh. Our realtor called yesterday to
personally apologize for the rough winter we've had, and he hopes
things keep moving for us. Most say building a house in Lincoln
usually takes about four months. We are entering month seven in
our rental. The walls are starting to close in!
Don't miss the sloooooow dentist entry.
I wrote it last week and forgot to post it. Oops!
I am posting this while watching practice for the Australian
Grand Prix. I can't tell you how excited we are to finally
start hearing our friends David
and Steve
again. We missed you guys! They are like friends who come to visit
every other weekend for nine months out of the year. OK, there
are probably only a few people who read this who understand our
excitement. Our apologies to the rest. We usually watch these
races live, which means early Sunday morning because so many of
them take place in Europe. But because of the time difference,
this race will be live Saturday night. There's talk on T's car
list of getting together somewhere downtown to watch. Yeah!
Not much has been going on, really. We've both been working hard,
and we're a little tired. That's why there haven't been many updates.
Things have even been slow with our ethnic nights with the Korma
club. No new recipes for us, but we did have the Masts over for
Tandoori
Chicken and Channa
Masala. (Note: we use Madhur's
recipes from Invitation
to Indian Cooking.)
So, before you get too bored, I'll end this overly-stimulating
post. Once I download the new house pictures from the camera,
I'll post them.
Last month's Blog.
|
|
click to see larger image
House Update
3.15 - Choosing countertops.
3.4 - We have windows.
2.29 - We have a roof.
2.26 - We have walls.
2.19 - Framing begins.
1.31 - Planning the kitchen.
1.22 - Foundation gets brick.
1.15 - Exteriors are ordered.
1.6 - We're waiting for power.
1.3 - Foundation is poured.
12.28 - Hole digging has begun.
Photo Albums
August 18, 2003
September 9, 2003
December 3, 2003
Notes about Lincoln
soda...pop
shopping bag...sack
restaurant check...ticket
7-digit phone numbers
Lincoln
Weather
Nebraska Firsts
EMRlogic
in the News
Archives
Sept | Oct | Nov
| Dec | Jan
| Feb
Keep in Touch
j k u n d h i [at] inebraska [dot] com
|