Proximity

[Heaven gives its glimpses only to those/
Not in position to look too close.]
-Robert Frost, "A Passing Glimpse"

so does that mean that the equation looks something like this:

sight [sub: heaven] = r [sub: earth-heaven]

I think there should be some established limits, "where r becomes infinitely large" doesn't make sense practically, philosophically, or religiously....

I'm just giving you a hard time Mr. Frost, I gotcha. ;)

This is ridiculous....

I just felt the need to express how ridiculously good the newest The National album is.  I would go as far as saying it's orgasmic.  Yes, Yes, this is actually old news.  But I listened to it a ton when it first came out, then forgot about it for a while, and now I'm listening to it again and still love it.  The production is superb.  Also, every song has its own way of being completely relevant to any situation.... (seriously, just listen to "Sorrow" during a time of happiness and joy, it still works!)  It's the soundtrack of personal-statement-writing that I am currently being overwhelmed with right now... which is good.  I need lyrics that don't necessarily mean anything, but mean everything, all at the same time.  After all, these are the best kind...

Also, I have a theory... "Lemonworld" is TOTALLY about Evelyn Waugh and the Lygon sisters of which it is speculated much of his novel Brideshead Revisited is based upon.  Read this article, read the lyrics to "Lemonworld" and decide for yourself.

Refill your swiffer wet-jet bottle.

I just recently introduced Chris to the Swiffer Wet Jet (a contraption that I have personally fallen in love with, despite it's wasteful nature).  I also have been exploring the good ole' fashioned way of cleaning things with different concentrations of vinegar in water...a little salt here, a little baking soda there, add a little heat etc. The information really is nurturing the scientist in me that is presently being repressed while I pursue becoming one of Penn State's "well rounded graduates," with classes like "The History of Rock and Roll", and "Scuba Diving".  My first question is:  how did the world of cleaning products get so far away from the simplicity of these ingredients!?  My second question is:  how do I apply what I know about these simple cleaning solutions to my love of the Swiffer Wet Jet, and get my floors squeeky clean in a money-saving, time-saving, land-fill reducing way?!

The answer is this, my friends:  you don't have to go out and buy a new cartridge of cleaner for your Wet Jet every time you run out.

The Wet Jet cartridges are hard to open, impossible even...without a little heat.  The melting point of the white plastic cap is relatively low, heat a mug of water in the microwave (or better yet, get a pot boiling on the stove) and dip the top of the cartridge bottle into the hot water.  After a minute in the microwaved water (or 10 seconds in the boiling water), remove the bottle and twist the cap off with a dishtowel.  Voila!  Empty, opened Wet Jet cleaner cartridge!  Now, fill the cartridge carefully, or with a funnel, with a new cleaning solution of your own making.  I prefer a vinegar based concoction: 1 cup distilled white vinegar + 1 gallon of water.  Add a few drops of an essential oil, such as lemon oil for a clean scent.  Twist on the white cap until you feel it latch, test it by trying to twist it off again (you shouldn't be able to) and make sure the clear plastic insert in the middle is sealed (otherwise it will leak when you turn it upside down).

Yay!  You didn't have to add another cleaner cartridge to your grocery list, and saved $5 a pop!

I haven't tackled the disposable swiffer pads yet... but from what I've read you can just as easily make velcro washclothes and attach those to the bottom, afterwards just throwing them in the washing machine.  I like the swiffer pads, but my next project will definitely be finding a suitable, sustainable replacement for them as well.

Why, you may ask, don't I just buy a regular old mop then, if I'm making all these alterations?  I really like the spray abilities of the Wet Jet - battery powered though they may be - it's fast and effective, and the only reason there are disposable parts in the first place is for the makers of Wet Jet to get more money...so in part, I'm stickin' it to the Man.

so I just ate this....

Roast Pumpkin with Cheese “Fondue”
...and it was amazing. My friend Carla made two roasted pumpkins for a get-together she and her husband hosted. The occasion? Pressing apples into cider with their antique cider press. My boyfriend Chris brought his most recent IPA on tap, "Seafaring Monkey", and a brown ale, "Mild King". A few others brought their fermented ciders from a previous apple pressing session. "Apple" themed baked goods abounded, but the star of the show was this Roast Pumpkin with cheese "fondue". It was amazing. The recipe can be found above. Honestly, I had no idea you could even do this with a pumpkin. While we congregated around this dish, we discussed how you could probably do this with other squash varieties too. A quick google search brought up the possibility of Butternut Squash Fondue. Which looks just as good! Enjoy this fall season with some unique dishes!

Quality.

Short post buuuut. I wanted to share a thought. I don't usually spend too many words on superfluous topics such as blankets, or having a large disposable income but today is an exception...

One day when I own one of these blankets, and use it as the bed covering in my guest bedroom, I'll know I've made it big. Being about $425 at the cheapest....Just sayin. Oh yea, and the red/pink dye is made from insects. Woot.


Swan Island

Yeah... but I kind of like it.

I'm sure I'm not the first person who can say that they have been insatiably intrigued to the point of actively pursuing a topic of study that has proved incredibly elusive (aka insanity). For example: for this one online class I wound up huddled in the back of my station wagon heading south for Virginia, my roommate driving sleepily, I was studying feverishly for an exam that I was slated to take at 9AM. I didn't make it actually. I got all the way to the door of the testing center before I burst into caffeine infused tears for the exhaustion and pure terror of proving my worthiness to the gods of.....CALCULUS.

No, but seriously, I love calculus. I love math in general for it's overall practicality. (much to the shock, most likely, of people reading this who have heard me exclaim multiple times that I HATE calculus and wish it would die a slow and painful death not unlike those featured in the SAW movies). I like problems that are solvable. I like to be the solver. For some reason though...I could NOT pass a calculus exam. I did actually get reasonable grades in both of my required Calc classes in college (after two tries each).

For all my failures in the realm of calculus, I have this "trick-candle" desire of proficiency (i.e. the flame really never goes out, tricky). I actually caught myself daydreaming about the free time I would have after graduating, so I could dive into re-reading my calculus textbooks (that take up about...oh...a quarter of my textbook collection. It used to be more, but there was one month where, if I didn't sell a few textbooks, I wasn't going to be able to pay my bills. Sacrifices had to be made and I couldn't part with The Cell, Lehninger's Biochemistry, or Kuby Immunology.)

I could continue describing my personal battle with calculus ineptitude (I actually do get it now...it took 4 years, but I do), but I won't. My point is, that I found this book:

The Calculus Diaries: How Math Can Help You Lose Weight, Win in Vegas, and Survive a Zombie Apocalypse
By: Jennifer Ouellette

while perusing NPR's Talk of the Nation: Science Friday.

I really want to buy this book, read it, and hopefully validate my obsession (relative to other subjects.... excluding microbiology, but that's more of a religion, so I guess we shouldn't even count it) with being a calculus afficionado.

Hope just the title of this book inspires others to inquire about the usefulness of Calculus. That's all folks.

Transitions...

A lot has happened since I last blogged.
I read my words below and they speak to me from a time of despair. A time where I really could have been consoled by a pill (something I am rather vocal about, especially after a glass of wine, is how overly medicated our society is, and my desire to "be the change" so to speak), an anti-inflammatory medication for the physical and emotional ailments alike. I got over physical chemistry...I hear most people do...

Why do we need an excuse to "have a creative outlet". (This is stream of consciousness now as I'm listening to a particularly moving song by my gal Florence and her godsend of a Machine.) I only ask because as I browse other blogs I have begun to notice a major trend in their purpose. I begun this blog too as a "creative outlet". Because I felt science was stifling my inner desire to maybe...let's say...paint watercolor creations a la Eric Carle. What I'm trying to say is: I just got out of my sociology class where I spent an hour silently pondering (and admittedly not really listening) why we can't just be creative all the time, then getting really quite agitated with whoever was responsible for why I can't paint watercolor caterpillars and be equally successful as a medical doctor, AND have one be a means to the other. We humans I think, really like to compartmentalize things. We like to put things in order, we like to section off bits and pieces for times and places, and generally defy the natural entropy of the universe as it forces chaos on us (too much? okay, too much.) It's too much to ask, I know. (Sorry if that was a strange aside... but Hurrah if you've had the same contemplations) So here is my compartment for Creativity. Writing will have to do since I just got a new computer and would rather not watercolor all over it. I'm pretty sure that would ruin it.

Moving on...

I finished a book. A real one, with characters and a storyline, a beginning, middle and end. Actually over the course of a year I have finished a few...but most recently I have to rave about Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things, and Susan Jane Gilman's Undress me in the Temple of Heaven.

The God of Small Things really reinspired some wanderlust that had been swept under a rug. I now have a strong desire to travel to India, if only for the sensory stimuli.

Undress me in the Temple of Heaven was insightful about the 'backpacking' culture around China in the 1980's. Culture clashing, that is. How it is a pastime of the privileged, of those who can afford to fantasize about having "less" to understand "more". I realized after reading this book that I too often make this assumption, "if only I was stripped of everything (willingly of course), I could better understand the world through suffering with the world."