Egghead Crush.

So, I'm pretty convinced that if Albert Einstein was alive today, I'd have an egghead crush on him. I only say this because some of the things he said were absolutely classic.  

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

"God may be subtle, but He isn't plain mean."

"I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed."

"Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them."

"The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax."

"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits."

Go, Albert, go.

Chowdah.

I generally refrain from posting recipes because this is not a cooking forum and it just sounds boring typing and reading a recipe.  But every now and again, something makes it on that is just a little special and would be nice to be shared.  That specialness is usually attained by being freakishly easy to cook, can be ready in less than 30min, and can be made with ingredients you most likely have around the kitchen.

The Tall One is predictably sick, since he leaves Thursday morning for a 4-day houseboat trip, so last night I wanted to make him a nice mellow dinner.  I got the idea from Kaylani to make a corn chowder of sorts and serve it with grilled cheese.  Easy!!  He loved it and I'm having it for lunch in about 2 hours.  Maybe earlier because I'm so excited about it.

You need: 

1- 14.75oz. can of cream corn 

2 potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 cups chicken broth

1 med onion, chopped

Saute up the onions until soft (you can do this while bringing the broth and potatoes to a boil), add the onions to the broth mixture and cook until the taters are soft and mashable.  Drain the taters, reserving 1c. of broth.  Add salt and pepper (I even added some parsley flakes), and mash everything together, using the reserved liquid to desired consistency.  Add can of corn, mix, taste, season more if you like and serve.  (I added a couple slices of bacon and it was great).

Chowdah, yo.

Trying.

Any form of the verb "try" is a cop out.  It covers a wide variety of all ills and I'm calling crap on it.

"I'm going to try working on that."

"I'm sorry!  I'm trying!"

"Trying" isn't "working" for me anymore.

Passing the buck.

It really was inevitable.

When friends that work with youth tell me things like the kids send thousands of text messages a month, sit next to each other and talk in electronic messages with bastardized english and ignore the outside world while fingers of fury fly, it truly was inevitable.

What was also inevitable?  The subsequent lawsuit for an action that might not have happened if the girl was concentrating on the world around her and not enveloped in her own fake texting world.  Staten Island residents should be pissed their tax dollars will contribute to the payout for the injuries of someone that were 100% avoidable if the girl had opened her eyes.  Once again, passing the blame when the blame rests solely on you.  Why did I go back to school?  I should just find dangerous locations, walk while texting and then wait for the settlements to pour in.  Forget the work part!!!

But who can pass up the quick buck?  

Adventure Week, Day 1.

Today I started the official countdown to the beginning of my career.  In the next 3 weeks, I'm trying to have as much fun as possible.  So, this week, I am naming "Adventure Week", and every day I have to do an activity that I deem an adventure.  Adventures are what you make of them, so even small things count.

This morning, I woke up way too early as both our smoke alarms decided to malfunction at 6am. While most people would say, "Hmmm, both at the same time might actually mean 'fire', check for smoke", I knew for a fact it was a curse and proceeded to dismantle fire alarms at rapid pace. I then slept in for a little while more, then got up, read my Bible, drank some tea, basically relaxed. And then I called Christy.

We decided a little bike ride adventure was the ticket, so I loaded up our beach cruisers and picked her up.  We parked at Trail 1 at San Onofre State Beach Campground (affectionately known as Trails) and unloaded.  We rode from Trail 1 to the outlook at Trail 6 and watched the surf and bodysurfing dolphins, then continued south.  For anyone not aware, the bike trail through the park continues even after the park ends and cuts through Pendleton on down to Oceanside.  It's nice, mostly flat and for how close you are to the freeway, the sound is shockingly muted.  We made it almost to the scenic overlook halfway between San Clemente and Oceanside before turning around, but not before heading out to the end of the random helipad on the cliff and riding around on it.  We kept waiting for a Marine chopper to appear from below the bluff ordering us out of the area.  We figured since we're big girls with licensed jobs now, perhaps some sort of trespassing on military property infraction wouldn't look so good.

And then we rode back.  It was such a nice day- sunny, breezy, and not crowded.  Afterwards, we went back to Christy's house and made homemade Pinkberry style frozen yogurt topped with blackberries and blueberries.  It's easy and freaking delicious.

The only thing to top this off will be a bike ride to the pier to hang out with the Tall One's cousins before they split out of town.  TWO cruises in one day- it's like super fun day!

Tomorrow's adventure is to surf in the morning, maybe go for a hike afterwards.  Or we might put the hike off until Wednesday.

Work is really going to suck in some ways...

(Easy Homemade Frozen Yogurt- Large (32oz. ?) container of nonfat plain yogurt, 3/4c. of white sugar, 1 ice cream maker.  Mix yogurt and sugar in bowl, get maker ready and turn on, pour yogurt mixture into maker, mix for 30min.  Top with whatever the heck you want.)