Dog Wearing Hat: A (Thankfully) Short-Lived Series

I don't know if Rion can look any sadder than this.



Oh, wait - yes, he can.




Explanation: My mom was here over the Family Day weekend in mid-February. She'd brought a bunch of things for me. This felt hat, which she had made for one of my Cabbage Patch Kids when I was a kid as part of a medieval outfit, somehow got mixed into the bag of stuff. It was perfectly doggy-sized. Rion was ecstatic when he saw that my mom took the hat back with her to Toronto.*

* He better not get too comfy in his current hat-less state. She is moving here this fall, after all, so that hat just might make its way back onto his head.

Dear Santa

All I want for Christmas is a wok with a proper lid.[1]




When I was a kid, my mom decided that my older brother and I had to learn how to cook, and so she instituted a twice-a-week plan where one of us had to cook dinner for the family, and then the other. A few months later, after one Kraft dinner too many, she admitted defeat.[2]

Around the same time, we had a conversation in which she asked me how on earth I was going to take care of myself when I moved out of the house if I didn't even know how to cook. In my 10-year-old wisdom, I replied, "Easy. I'm going to marry a chef."

She pointed out that someone who cooked all day long in a restaurant probably wouldn't want to come home and cook some more. "You're better off marrying a lawyer who likes to cook as a hobby."

So, some dozen-or-so years later, I decided to do one better, and went to law school myself. No, not to find myself a husband! In fact, I had a non-law boyfriend most of the time I was there. Who - purely coincidentally, I swear - loved to cook. His idea of "relaxing" was reading Thackeray's Vanity Fair whilst occasionally stirring a pot of something delicious-smelling.

Post-law school, I picked up some tips from one of my best friends who was my roommate in Toronto. That is also when I developed the 7 different forms of pan-fried chicken for which I am famous.

Then I hooked up with a lawyer who cooks. And the rest, as they say, is history.

However. In an obvious sign of the impending Apocalypse, I have cooked dinner 3 times in the last 3 days. Yay me. Sunday night, we decided to "scrounge" and make our own separate dinners. I was about to reach for the Mr. Noodles package when I suddenly decided to try something different. I made shake-n-bake chicken drumsticks with tandoori masala mixed into the crumbs, an instant curry rice package (yes, cheating), and edamame. It was delicious. And tonight[3], I'd been going through the dozen or so cookbooks that we own, and decided I should find something simple to make for dinner. From a book on casseroles, I picked "Orange Ginger Chicken & Rice", since I figured I had most of the ingredients already in the house.

Well, not quite. Since it is a casserole book called Favorite Name Brand Recipes, everything recipe includes one or more name brand ingredients.[4] Including, in my case, Rice-A-Roni. I've never had Rice-A-Roni, and to be honest, the concept seems slightly suspect to me, but I figured what the heck? I quickly Googled a recipe for a Rice-A-Roni substitute. But then I didn't have everything it needed, nor did I want to make as much as the recipe said. So I decided to just kinda...wing it. I wasn't supposed to use instant rice, but that's all I had. I was supposed to use vermicelli, but all I had was rice vermicelli - same thing, right?[5] I had no onion powder, so went without, and used minced garlic instead of garlic powder.[6] I also only made about half of what the recipe called for.




Fake Rice-A-Roni. Don't put the full 2 1/4 cups called for, as I did here - too watery! Also, forgetting to add the thyme until the last minute does not negatively affect the taste. However, I put in 6 packets of chicken bouillon, which measured out to about 3 tablespoons, and it was TOO SALTY. I will try just 4 or 5 next time.




I chopped up some carrots. Yup, when I go all out, I really go all out.




I had some frozen chicken thighs, so I defrosted them, sliced them into bite-sized strips, and fried them up with some 5-Alive (was supposed to be OJ, but beggars can't be choosers)[7], minced garlic, ground ginger, and dried red pepper flakes.

Then I remembered the poor carrots, still sitting, lonely, on the cutting board!




So in they went.

Anyway, it all took about an hour (I'm slow at prep, and that also includes looking on the Internet for substitutions, etc.), and it was delicious! There may be hope for me yet.




What it was supposed to look like, and what it actually looked like. (Though they cheated and used the more colourful broccoli instead of carrots. I would have too, but we seem to have a paucity of green veggies in the house at the moment.) Now that I've (obviously) mastered cooking, I just have to work on my food presentation skills.



[1] Actually, if you don't mind, Santa, I'd like it a bit earlier, since Christmas is almost 10 months away and I'll probably (hopefully) cook again before then. Maybe you could work out some kind of exchange-deal with the Easter Bunny? (I'm not Irish, so I guess that leprechaun dude won't be interested in helping me out.)

[2] In our defence, I was only maybe 10, and my brother, 12. Kraft dinner truly is an enjoyable meal meant to be oft-repeated at that age.

[3] What's that? I neglected to mention what I made last night (the 2nd night)? Umm, there is no photographic evidence, but they really were deluxe tuna melts. With pickles chopped up into the mix, and real cheese rather than the usual Kraft slices. Yes, I'm proud.

[4] We got it at Costco, and it was cheap.

[5] In retrospect, rice vermicelli is nothing like vermicelli. It also makes a frickin' mess all over your countertop when you try to measure a half-cup of rice vermicelli broken into small pieces. Just trust me on that one.

[6] Those of you who are related to me or who are otherwise familiar with my mom's style of cooking may find these substitutions amusing. My mom is known for making meals like "orange ginger chicken with rice, but I didn't have any oranges so I used apples instead, and I was out of ginger so I put some raisins in, and I had no chicken but pork is a white meat too so what's the difference, and I didn't have enough rice so I made mashed potatoes instead."

[7] See note 6.

Definition: "some"

My mom used to be a big knitter, but has not done so in over 25 years. She came to visit me this weekend, and a couple of days before coming, she asked me, "I have some old knitting needles - do you want me to bring them?"

"Sure!", I replied. "Plus any interesting yarn you might still have kicking around."





...Apparently her definition of "some" is not the same as my definition of "some". That's a TRUCKLOAD of knitting needles. There's got to be at least 30 different pairs of straight needles in there, at least 10 sets of double-pointed, and a handful of circular needles, as well as a bunch of crochet hooks thrown in there for good luck. There's even a Mexican fiesta hat point protector! I feel like I have hit the knitting needle jackpot. Now if only someone could help me with all the knitting I want to do. So many needles, so little time...

And to think other people's moms knit...

Despite having had a computer of one type or another in the house since about 1985, my mom could still hardly use the family computer less than barely 10 years ago. I remember once telling her to look for a certain icon on "the desktop", and she complained she couldn't find it...because she was looking on - you guessed it - the top of the actual desk. However, she is inept no more. Since about the year 2000, my mom's computer skills have taken off in a number of key areas. In particular, she is quite adept at photoshopping, having made more "memory CDs"* than I can count on all my fingers and toes. She has also gotten involved in a couple of online communities.** The most notable of these has been Webkinz.

To be honest, I'd never really understood my mom's infatuation with Webkinz. I mean, it's for kids, right? The premise is that after buying a little stuffed Webkinz animal, you are then supposed to register it on the Webkinz site, from where you can then "buy" it things and set up a house for it and meet other Webkinz. Kind of like The Sims, but with dogs and penguins and cows, and your Webkinz is generally upbeat and happy-go-lucky rather than dour and depressed all the time (or were those just my Sims?).***

But my mom has been totally into it. She would even stay up till like 3 a.m. to participate in online "auctions" (no real money is exchanged) that take place on the Asian Webkinz site (which she also belongs to).****

However, she has now outdone herself, and I laugh no more - I am awed by her Webkinz accomplishments and participation. A week or so ago, I received this email from her:

Were you wondering what your mother was doing in her spare time? Wonder no more. She has morphed into Webberlily and here is her recent Magnum Opus, which has covered her in glory and rep points (that would be reputation points for the ignorati). In addition, I made the Front Page and Breaking News… twice! and got my own stickered position in the Guides & How-to section. Woot! as they now say. Peruse at your leisure and explore all links:

http://www.webkinzinsider.com/forum/have-fun-decorating-t410557.html?p=11094602

and today I finally purchased the 24th ornament and unlocked the Flickering Fireplace.


I finally had the time this evening***** to look at her guide and MAN is it impressive. In fact, it's even getting me motivated to actually finally register my own little Webkinz, a little white curly-haired terrier, which my mom gave me as a present and has sadly been sitting, unregistered, on my bookshelf next to my computer for the past few months. I just need to come up with a good name first.



* CDs of photos from vacations or old family pictures, etc., set to music and with extra animation, voice-overs, captions, and so on...

** She's even on Facebook, though you'd never know it by her low levels of activity there.

*** I never really "got" The Sims. The first character I created was called Michael. He lived in a good house and had nice neighbours and a good job, but all he knew how to do was moan and bitch about how depressed he was, no matter how many times I got people to come visit him. Then I deleted Michael and created a new house where two women lived together. They were happier - I guess because of the fact that they had built-in company, so to speak - but I ruined their happiness one day when the phone rang, and when one of the women picked it up, she was asked "Do you want to adopt a baby?", and she (I) answered, "Yes." DON'T EVER ADOPT A BABY. One of the roomies had to quit her job, both the women were always tired, and all the baby did was cry. I suspect, in fact, that this virtual event may have a direct bearing on my current and continuing state of childlessness today.

**** Before anyone makes any "Evercrack" comments, I'd like to point out she's not (entirely) addicted. Plus, she's more of a night owl than even I am, so it's not like she'd be in bed if it weren't for this site.

***** The last two weeks have been insanely busy for me at work, spilling over into my evenings and even my weekends, largely because of a new class that was suddenly added to my schedule. (I found out about it on the 21st and started teaching it on the 29th).

60- er, I mean, 29...

Today my mom turns 60 or, as she likes to call it "29...no, make that 28."

As has (sort of) become my tradition, I present to you here a picture that I stole off her Flickr page:



The Birthday Girl, swimming with sharks, or at least, a noticeable lack thereof.

And now, if you will excuse me, instead of posting witticisms about my mother on the occasion of her birthday here, I am going to telephone her.*


* Good excuse, huh?

They don't call us The True North for nothing...

I love The Weather Network:

Winter storm watch for: City of Ottawa
Issued at 10:00 AM EST FRIDAY 7 MARCH 2008

..WINTER STORM EXPECTED TO GIVE HEAVY SNOW SATURDAY.. THIS IS AN ALERT TO THE POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF DANGEROUS WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS IN THESE REGIONS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS..LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS.
A STORM IS CURRENTLY OVER ALABAMA AND WILL PUSH NORTHWARD TODAY GIVING SIGNIFICANT SNOW TO MOST OF SOUTHERN ONTARIO. IT APPEARS THAT THE SNOW WILL COME IN TWO DOSES. THE FIRST ROUND WILL BEGIN AS EARLY AS THIS AFTERNOON FOR SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO AND NIAGARA THEN LATER TODAY IN EASTERN ONTARIO. WE MAY HAVE A BRIEF REPRIEVE OVERNIGHT INTO SATURDAY MORNING WHERE SNOW MAY BECOME LIGHT AND MORE INTERMITTENT. THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL IS THEN EXPECTED IN THE SECOND ROUND BEGINNING MIDDAY SATURDAY IN THE SOUTHWEST AND IN THE AFTERNOON OVER EASTERN ONTARIO. KEEP IN MIND THAT THE SNOWFALL DURATION WILL BE ABOUT 36 HOURS BUT THE HEAVIEST SNOW WILL BE SATURDAY AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. SNOWFALL WARNINGS HAVE BEEN ISSUED FROM LONG POINT TO THE NIAGARA PENINSULA DUE TO SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 15 TO 20 CENTIMETRES WITH THE FIRST DOSE. THESE AREAS WILL LIKELY BE UPGRADED TO A WINTER STORM WARNING DUE TO ADDITIONAL SNOWFALL AND BLOWING SNOW AS THE SECOND ROUND APPROACHES. STORM TOTALS MAY BE 20 TO 30 CENTIMETRES ALONG AND EAST OF A LINE FROM LONG POINT TO THE GOLDEN HORSESHOE THEN TO PETAWAWA. THERE IS POTENTIAL FOR 30 TO 50 CENTIMETRES OF SNOW OVER THE NIAGARA PENINSULA AND PARTS OF EASTERN ONTARIO. AREAS WEST OF THE LONG POINT TO PETAWAWA LINE SHOULD SEE BETWEEN 10 TO 20 CENTIMETRES WITH LESSER AMOUNTS NEAR LAKE HURON AND GEORGIAN BAY. BEHIND THIS SYSTEM STRONG NORTHERLY WINDS TO 70 KM/H ARE POSSIBLE. ON SATURDAY STRONG WINDS COMBINED WITH FRESH SNOW WILL CAUSE BLOWING SNOW TO LOWER VISIBILITIES AND CREATE DANGEROUS DRIVING CONDITIONS. WHITEOUT CONDITIONS FROM HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ARE POSSIBLE SO TRAVELLERS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO CHANGE THEIR PLANS ACCORDINGLY. TOTAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS WILL DEPEND ON THE TRACK OF THIS SYSTEM AND THE AMOUNT OF MOISTURE AVAILABLE TO CONVERT TO SNOW. THERE IS STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY AS TO THE EXACT TRACK OF THIS STORM. ENVIRONMENT CANADA WILL CLOSELY MONITOR THIS SITUATION AND ISSUE SNOWFALL OR WINTER STORM WARNINGS AS REQUIRED WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. WINTER STORM WARNINGS ARE ISSUED WHEN SNOWFALL OF 25 CENTIMETRES IS EXPECTED IN 24 HOURS OR LESS..OR WHEN SNOWFALL COMBINED WITH BLOWING SNOW CREATES SIGNIFICANT AND POSSIBLY DANGEROUS WEATHER RELATED HAZARDS.

PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST PUBLIC FORECASTS FOR FURTHER DETAILS.


I suspect, in fact, that the groundhog never even made it out of his hole this past Groundhog Day - and March looks more and more like a lion, than any lamb! Though of course, any comparison to Hell is somewhat misguided, no? (It's warm in Hell, from what I hear.)


Anyway, I suspect this crazy weather is just a ploy to amuse my father, who, as I'm sure most of you know by now, is weather-obsessed. The Weather Gods are just trying to greet him in style, as he returns sometime this weekend from an idyllic, sunshine-filled two-week vacation in the Caribbean with my mother.

Welcome home, folks! Hope you enjoy being holed up in Detroit!*

* I shouldn't even joke about being stuck in the Detroit airport. We almost had to spend the night in Detroit two years ago, whilst en route to Japan, when our connecting flight out of Ottawa was delayed. Thankfully, they held the plane for us in Detroit. Close call.

It's his party, and he'll cry if he wants to

Today is my dad's 62nd birthday.*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!

While I admire my Dad for many things, not least of which is his penchant for Star Trek and a myriad of other stellar (pun intended) and not-so-watchable sci-fi shows, the most noteworthy aspect of his personality is his ability to stay calm as a cucumber and happy as a clam in the face of clear and present danger**:




* But who's counting, right? Hey, only 38 more years till your centennial! heehee :)

** With thanks to my mom (Photoshop is her best friend, but I won't tell you which part has been 'Shopped in), from whom I stole this photo without her consent. What's she going to do? Sue me? Her daughter is a lawyer, true, so I guess it's always possible.

Le weekend (et la vie) roundup

My mom came to visit this weekend. And true to form, just to prove to her, once and for all, that she was glad she no longer lives in Ottawa[1], she arrived in the middle of a snowstorm. Luckily, she was taking the train, and so was able to make her trip without worry or bother.

Friday night, she stayed over at my aunt's place, and then she and my aunt came over to our house on Saturday morning. Randal and I made a big brunch of mixed-berry muffins, orange and cranberry scones, turkey bacon, hash browns, and my world-famous scrambled eggs[2], and we sat and ate and talked and opened some very, very late Christmas presents. My aunt gave me some lovely flannel pyjamas, and the most incredible pop-up book featuring the seven books in Chronicles of Narnia - if I wasn't worried about copyright issues, I'd take some pictures of the pop-ups - amazing!

Eventually, my aunt left, and Randal went to the gym. Mom and I stayed home with Rion, and watched one of my favourite movies, Gross Pointe Blank. When Randal got home, he made dinner - salmon with garlic and white wine sauce, rice, broccoli, butternut squash, and spinach salad with cucumbers, walnuts, and pear-guava dressing.[3] Soooo good. Then we watched another movie, Hot Fuzz, which, if you've never seen, go see![4]

Sunday morning, we started over again, with more food. My aunt and uncle picked us all up, and we went to a nearby pub called Tartan's, which has a Sunday all-you-can-eat brunch. It was tasty-tasty. Then we headed back to our place for about an hour before my mom had to leave for her train back to T.O.

Other than that, not much interesting has happened. We finally painted our living room and dining room a few weeks ago. Despite it looking in the can like a yellowy-green somewhere between baby poo and baby puke, the colour is AWESOME. Golden-yellow during the day, darkening to an orangey-yellow like the inside of a pumpkin by afternoon, and a soft camel brown at night (but almost limey green in direct light). I love it, and will post pictures soon. Just waiting to put some pictures up on the wall, then I'm going to take a whole slew of photos of the place.

Work is good. The first two weeks were tough, as I was training, and not doing a heck of a lot each day. But I've been in my actual section for over a week now. The work is interesting, and I'm just busy enough to not be bored during the day. Soon, apparently, I will be quite busy - it's a busy section. As I explained before, basically I am working in a research division with a bunch of lawyer-analysts. Whenever an M.P. (sometimes other people, but the M.P.s are our main client group) has a question, about anything whatsoever, they contact the library. Those questions related to law or government mechanics are sent to my division. Some of the questions go to the analysts (if they want a short research paper written on a topic, for example), but the majority go to the four of us librarians. It can be as simple as "What laws deal with adolescents who've committed crimes?" or "Can you find me such-and-such a case?", to much more complicated issues, like "What is history of food regulation in the European Union?" or "What did Trudeau and/or Pearson have in mind when they implemented the bilingual policy in the federal government?" Anyway, the work is interesting, and it will be good to sharpen my legal research skills. But I miss the daily interaction with people (most of our questions come via email, and I only rarely have to talk to someone on the phone, let alone in person!), not to mention my students.

Living in Orléans is great. We love our place. It's so nice to have so much space, and the dog is really happy. It takes about a half hour to get in to work in the morning, plus about 10-15 minutes walking time (10 to the bus station, 5 to my office). If I leave at 7:50 (which I've never managed yet, but there's always hope), I can get to work by about 8:30.[5] I usually read and/or listen to music. In just over 3 weeks, I have already finished two books![6]

Anyway, that's it for now. See you again in about 3 weeks.[7]


[1] She grew up in Ottawa.

[2] They really are the best scrambled eggs you'll likely ever have, if I do say so myself. I add a bit of milk and lots of cheese (cheddar and gruyère, this time), and make sure not to cook them too long. Anyone who comes to visit us (on a weekend) is welcome to a helping. Now come visit!

[3] Yes, we like food. And yes, if you come visit us (on a weekend), you can have some good food too!

[4] My friend Mark has a short, but pithy, review of it here.

[5] Those of you who know me well, know that I am not a morning person. However, I actually chose that start time. Right now I work till 4:30, and it's great leaving so early in the afternoon. After April 1, it will be 5:00, but it's really not so bad.

[6] Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland, and I'm almost done The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler.

[7] Just kidding.

My mom is the coolest person ever*

My mother could barely type 10 years ago, and she has since taught herself to be quite computer literate. Her specialty is photoshopping pictures (she uses ACD-See, actually, which I have also just started using since it came free with my digital camera), and the proof is that she removed the telephone wire which was obscuring the nice view of the mountains and clouds in my previous post. (The other two wires remain, but they would be more difficult to remove, and they don't impede the view as much anyway.)



Thanks, Mom!

* And it's not even Mother's Day yet!

"Happy BIRTH-day, dear Mommy..."

My mom is 59 today. She has one more year before she will stop riding for free as a Senior's Companion with my dad on VIA Rail. Then she also becomes, well, I'll save that for next year's blog post :)


In honour of your birthday, Mom, I give you your Celebrity Look-Alikes:



Yeah, I don't know who most of them are either. But all 9 of you are beautiful! And Liza Minelli - that's pretty cool!

Here's me:




Apparently MyHeritage disagrees with 99.99% of the population and does not think we look alike, or at least that the celebrities that look like us do not look alike.


Warning: I plan on pushing the "I resemble Scarlett Johanssen" line as much as I can from now on. Sweet! On the other hand, let us never mention the fact that I also apparently resemble one of the Olsen twins.

Of shoes and ... ladies' undergarments

Everyone is afraid of turning into their parents, right? I already divulged how I am slowly becoming my father. But I am afraid to say that every once in a while, my mother does something that I understand ALL TOO WELL, and it freaks me out to think that I might be slowly turning into my mother.*

Case in point: I spared you all last week's emotional and torrid story of the Bad, Bad Shoe Store. Suffice it to say, I bought a pair of shoes and was assured I could return them no problem if necessary. Unable to do so myself in Toronto, I arranged for my mother to return them, giving her my card number. The store*** would not refund the money to my card, since it was not present (I know that is generally the rule for purchases, but I've never heard of it being applied so inflexibly to returns - like I'm going to dispute the validity of an extra $90 being returned to my Mastercard). They allegedly needed the card in order to prevent fraud. Not the end of the story. After speaking to me numerous times and telling me she could make an exception to this policy, the manager then finally decided (without speaking to me) that this exception could not in fact be made, but that she saw no problem refunding the money to my mother directly, on her credit card (never mind the argument that this second card was never involved in the original transaction and belonged to a completely different cardholder - fraud-prevention my a%$). I'm not a finance genius, but even I see the problem inherent in this "solution". There is an idiot born every minute.

Anyway, long story short (too late?), today I received a cheque from my mom for the refund.

All of this a rambling story to share what I thought was a funny, funny card (likely just a product of my warped sense of humour):


My dear Julie,

      Here it is, the One and Only Shoe Refund! May it bring you more joy and happiness than the pair of shoes did. It will also bring Balance into your accounting system.

      Love,
         Mom

ps: on my way out of the Promenade thru Sears, I saw some PINK underwear (panties) and bought 3. At the cash register, I found out they were 30% off! So your shoe refund brought me LUCK! :)


I'm still laughing.


* Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.**

**Hi, Mom! Love you! :)

*** Not to name any names, but beware the Feet First store at the Promenade Mall in Thornhill.

Happy Mothers' Day!

Profile of a Mother Real Name: Lilian L. Code Name: Mom D.O.B.: 1974, with the birth of eldest son J---. Added to the package soon thereafter with daughter J--- in 1976, and capped the whole off with second son R--- in 1982. Claim to fame: Champion Ladybug marathoner, ca. 1983-1990. If nothing else, this lady knows her vegetables. Where the words "Japanese radish" made the rest of us frightful, she boldly continued on. Favourite expression: "Jer- I mean, Ty- I mean, Pee- I mean, Robert!" Runner-up expression: "Hmmmm, should I get lum-ber, or ore???" Usually seen: Trying to get you to watch her latest Memory CD of photos. Where she wishes she was: On a tropical island somewhere, snorkelling or reading in a hammock in the shade. Point of pride: Learning to swim only about six years ago, so that she could then learn to scuba-dive (which she also did!). Weirdest moment: When one of her children (who shall remain nameless) got his head caught in the cat carrier. Proof she can be a "cool" mom: Not only letting R-- dye his hair blue at age 16 or 17, but in fact making an appointment at her hairdresser's for him so that it would be done properly. Biggest mystery: She could have sworn she had a child named Jerrobert.

Blast from the past...

Today I went on a "field trip" at work - went to visit the Health Sciences Library with a few other librarians. It is on a different campus from the rest of the U of O.

The best part of the whole trip, however, was walking through the Health Sciences Building on our way to the library: the walls were lined with photos of graduating classes. We stopped to look at some old ones, then I said, almost joking, "Hey, I should see if my parents are up here!" They met at U of O Medical School and both graduated in 1972 (they married in 1971, though I note that despite my mother's declaration that she graduated under her married name, her maiden name is actually hyphenated to the married one).

And we found them, on the wall on the way to the library (it's like they knew where their daughter would end up someday):



It was pretty cool. I was told that my dad looks like a total hipster (he probably was at the time, and he still is, though in different, unexpected ways) - especially with his way-cool long sideburns - and that my mom also looked cool with her glasses and long, long hair. Plus, what I already knew and shall likely never escape: that I look like my mom - hi Mom! love you! ;) - though I pointed out that I have my dad's nose (at least, a more delicate, girly version thereof).

I don't know if this was the same building they would have actually attended Med School at; I think it is a "newer" building (though not in the true sense of the term "new", judging from the bright orange carpeting throughout the library).

See, Mom??? All those wasted mornings...

When I was little, my mother would often tell my brothers and I that we couldn't do fun things outside or with our friends or whatever unless we made our beds first. Well, she may have doomed us to a childhood of respiratory problems. National Geographic this month has a short news piece about a recent study that suggests that microscopic dust mites are less likely to survive in unmade beds since the exposure to air dehydrates them. In a nicely-made bed, warmth and moisture that get trapped in the smoothed sheets may help dust mites thrive.

Yet another justification for my post-parental-home slovenly nature. Now if only I could find a way out of doing the dishes forever and ever :)