Trials and tribulations mostly over, December was a pretty fun month. I made pizza monkey bread for the department holiday party (fill dough with pepperoni and cheese instead of rolling them in cinnamon sugar!) and everyone seemed to like that. The crazy amount of food each year is so much fun. My friends in another lab also celebrated "super happy fun lab day" where everyone just tries out fun things in lab, and I was able to get some great shots (some videos too!). The following is a cornstarch and water solution on an amplifier - soundwaves make them into little monster fingers!
Furthermore, to get you in the holiday spirit, part of a sheet-mural that goes up during the annual grinch christmas party (during which participants take a beer shot every time they hear "who" in the cartoon Grinch movie, hehe).
Speaking of holiday spirits, this year - in addition to fudge - I delved into a little limoncello and amaretto making. Quite fun! I like how the ribbons kinda look like bowties...
Going home this year was quite eventful. First off was the cheme reunion at Iron Hill and Kate's; seeing everyone is always awesome. Then Peter came home (!!) and I stole him (after a hearty Dark Horse dinner with his family, of course) for the Maclary holiday party. Hooray for all of that. Whale band went well, and then it was time for cookie making - except this year, *I* had to make the spritz cookies! Oh no! Even though I've watched dad do them every year of my life, it was still scary to do myself. But I succeeded, although probably let the dough soften too long, resulting in very fat cookies. The snowmen were super obese and the reindeer (or dogs?? the jury is still out) looked even less like reindeer than usual. But no matter - good presents, good food, good hannukah ensued. My family also did a trek with family friends, Peter and his dad to the shooting range, which hasn't happened in a while. Always a good time (teehee, ezcheese). Also, how awesome is this wrapping paper Dad found? Note the Day Ford plate cover I found for him this year too, and the crazy dessert spread.
Further seasonal: we finally made it out to the Herr's factory xmas light show! Sooo many lights, pretty astounding.
Went with the family to the Keswick to see some MST3K folks (now Cinematic Titanic) riff on a double feature too! Hilarious. Highly recommended.
New years was a pretty low key event this year... I procrastinated for a while before showing up to Edwin's place to drink a little and watch Anderson Cooper and Kathy Lee Griffin be horrible to each other and it was lovely. I feel pretty ambivalent about 2011 passing, to be honest, given everything else. Of course to keep life interesting, Dad decided to tear out the bathroom to fix the pipes the next day. A good time to skedaddle back to Pittsburgh, I think!
A little year end books read review -
Church of the FSM, At Home, Half the Sky, Fiddler in the Subway, Catch-22, State of Fear, Cooking for Geeks, Sophie's World, Tales of Wonder / Sister Emily's Lightship, Bossypants, The William Powell and Myrna Loy Murder Case, The Oxford Project, Thursday Next #1-5, Shades of Grey, and a bunch on my phone including Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn and others. Not terrible, although my younger self could do this all in about a month...
Furthermore, to get you in the holiday spirit, part of a sheet-mural that goes up during the annual grinch christmas party (during which participants take a beer shot every time they hear "who" in the cartoon Grinch movie, hehe).
Speaking of holiday spirits, this year - in addition to fudge - I delved into a little limoncello and amaretto making. Quite fun! I like how the ribbons kinda look like bowties...
Going home this year was quite eventful. First off was the cheme reunion at Iron Hill and Kate's; seeing everyone is always awesome. Then Peter came home (!!) and I stole him (after a hearty Dark Horse dinner with his family, of course) for the Maclary holiday party. Hooray for all of that. Whale band went well, and then it was time for cookie making - except this year, *I* had to make the spritz cookies! Oh no! Even though I've watched dad do them every year of my life, it was still scary to do myself. But I succeeded, although probably let the dough soften too long, resulting in very fat cookies. The snowmen were super obese and the reindeer (or dogs?? the jury is still out) looked even less like reindeer than usual. But no matter - good presents, good food, good hannukah ensued. My family also did a trek with family friends, Peter and his dad to the shooting range, which hasn't happened in a while. Always a good time (teehee, ezcheese). Also, how awesome is this wrapping paper Dad found? Note the Day Ford plate cover I found for him this year too, and the crazy dessert spread.
Further seasonal: we finally made it out to the Herr's factory xmas light show! Sooo many lights, pretty astounding.
Went with the family to the Keswick to see some MST3K folks (now Cinematic Titanic) riff on a double feature too! Hilarious. Highly recommended.
New years was a pretty low key event this year... I procrastinated for a while before showing up to Edwin's place to drink a little and watch Anderson Cooper and Kathy Lee Griffin be horrible to each other and it was lovely. I feel pretty ambivalent about 2011 passing, to be honest, given everything else. Of course to keep life interesting, Dad decided to tear out the bathroom to fix the pipes the next day. A good time to skedaddle back to Pittsburgh, I think!
A little year end books read review -
Church of the FSM, At Home, Half the Sky, Fiddler in the Subway, Catch-22, State of Fear, Cooking for Geeks, Sophie's World, Tales of Wonder / Sister Emily's Lightship, Bossypants, The William Powell and Myrna Loy Murder Case, The Oxford Project, Thursday Next #1-5, Shades of Grey, and a bunch on my phone including Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn and others. Not terrible, although my younger self could do this all in about a month...
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