You're Doing It Wrong

I don’t know if you know about Wikipedia — this has become a recent … what’s the word I’m looking for. Obsession is too strong. Fixation?

It’s a free encyclopedia and anyone can give input. And it covers all kinds of random things. Not just like the economy of Sweden or who invented paper.

I recently ran across a brief discussion about the reading order of the Narnia books and I go along with the folks who believe that they should be read in the order they were originally published and not in Narnia time chronology as they are currently packaged. This brief discussion cited an Wikipedia article that discussed this which you can find: here.

Please read the above because it’s freakin hilarious. It’s a completely straight-forward, dead serious summary of Narnia as if they were writing about Tunisia or Elizabethan England or other actual real places in history. I’ve read the Narnia books at least 10 times each and I learned new things. Did you know the Telmarines might have descended from the pirates from the HMS Bounty in our world? There was a portal in a cave on the island. I know, startling new information. I also didn’t fully grasp that Narnia is flat — which is pretty sad considering that Dawn Treader is one of my favorites in the series.

And let’s consider for a moment and this is high geek if ever there was such a thing what was going on at the end of Dawn Treader when they were heading for the end of the world: ” … and the sky, a greenish-grey, trembling, shimmering wall and it turned into a wonderful rainbow of colors. … What they saw–eastward, beyond the sun–was a range of mountains … these were warm and green and full of forests and waterfalls … .” and eventually Reepicheep vanishes into a sea of lillies. Contrast this with what Gandalf says in Return of the King, about the end: “The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass. And then you see it … white shores… and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.”

I don’t know.

I leave work at 6pm and now especially with the new commute situation (e.g. taking the train) I don’t get home until almost 7pm which means making me in charge of dinner preparation is not practical. Plus Bob’s commute is about 5 minutes (when he’s working and he’s off this summer) and he gets done with work (most of the time) way earlier than that so on weeknights Bob is in charge of dinner.

We usually figure out the menu in the morning. On weekends I try to make things with leftovers and we have a freezer full of Trader Joes stuff and we always have a big bowl of salad going so we figure out some ideas of things he can make. Bob is good cook and learning more all the time but he doesn’t do recipes that require lots of steps or advanced skills.

Last night I came home and he had the leftover chicken thing in the oven and some pots on the stove and I opened one and there were about 4 tablespoons of peas being steamed within an inch of their lives.

I had harvested the last of the peas from the garden over the weekend and taped a note on the refrigerator that said: “eat corn peas” so we wouldn’t forget to eat the fresh yummy stuff.

I was a teeny bit disheartened that he’d opted to cook the living shit out of my fresh pretty peas but it was done so I replaced the lid without comment. He saw me and proudly points to the sign on the fridge: “I saw your note.”

“Good,” I said.

“Yeah … that’s the last of the frozen peas. We only had a little bit.”

“Frozen peas?”

“Yeah.” He taps the note again.

“Why would I want to finish the frozen peas?” I go to the fridge, open the produce drawer and show him the bag of the fresh peas. “I meant these peas.” (Also note that the corn was still in there not being eaten.)

“You taped the note on the list with the stuff from the freezer.”

And this is true. I have a list on the fridge that roughly represents the contents of the outdoor chest freezer so we know what we have when we’re planning.

“So?” We spent the next several minutes doubled over in laughter. Then he said:

“I ate some last night, too.”

—

In a completely unrelated story, yesterday I walked to REI from my office which is a VERY LONG WALK because I wanted to get some new yoga clothes and WTF – they had hardly anything and it seemed like it was all on clearance which means it was all either XL or ugly colors so I went over there for nothing.

On my way back to the office I stopped at See’s and bought a pound of candy as a consolation prize.

Bob said, “I love it. You went to buy yoga clothes and came home with See’s instead.”

I have so many notes here of things I want to add, but I’m not quite there yet. Also, still to come: photos and narrative on the train journey.

Here’s a tidbit for now:

We rec’d an item in the mail this week that our waranty on our KitchenAid mixer was about done and do we want to extend it. I set it aside to examine more closely although, don’t they tell you to buy the KitchenAid mixer because it lasts about 30 years?

It comes with an addressed “no postage necessary” envelope and while I was gathering together a weeks worth of stuff that I’d “set aside” I noticed that the envelope was for “Priests for Life” in Staten Island, NY. There’s even a boldfaced notice with three (3) exclamation points informing me that my stamp will help PLF save more Moms and their babies.

I can’t tell you how long I looked back and forth at the KitchenAid form and the envelope — trying to figure out why the Priests are running the warranty program. Finally Bob comes up and says: the direct mail company screwed up. That’s the wrong envelope.

Regular Yoga Practice May Help Prevent Middle-Age Spread

SEATTLE — July 18, 2005 — A new study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has found that regular yoga practice may help prevent middle-age spread in normal-weight people and may promote weight loss in those who are overweight.

Perhaps I will have more success converting people now. In my 9 years of serious practice I’ve managed to get, I think 3 people, into a class.