Sagan

So, our new kitty needed a name. My first cat was named Aso, my current cat is named Bug. This is the beginning of a pattern of three-letter, alphabetical order names, but it takes three data points to cement a pattern. We tried all kinds of things. I thought of Cro (since he's black) and Cwn (Gaelic for dog), but those didn't fit. G suggested Cid or Cin, but those didn't fit.

I was musing around on Wednesday night. My mom's black cat used to be named Cosmo before she renamed him Buddy. I love the cosmos and astronomy and most all science, so I started thinking about scientist names. Newton? Well, he's certainly anti-social enough, but nah. Tesla? No, still doesn't fit, and has nothing to do with night skies. Hmm. Sagan. Yes! Sagan, after the late Carl. It was perfect. I talked to G, and he was receptive.

Then he suggested that if we wanted a three-letter C name, we should name him Crl. I agreed. So our new black kitty is named Crl Sagan. The pattern stands!

New Cat!

I have a new cat! He does not have a name yet. He is black and about 3 years old. I took some terrible pictures of him.

We finally brought him home today. He will need medicine every day for a URI he caught at the shelter, but he is a good boy. Very chill. Found a cat bed and made himself at home. Bug is less than impressed. I'm sure she'll come around in a few days.

July Begins

And so, it is another month. I did not get nearly so much done in June as I wished, but it's a new month and a new week. This week, too, has been a bit of a bust thanks to the holiday smack in the middle and a slight back injury, but I should be right as rain starting next week.

I'm still enjoying the hell out of photography and doing a lot of wedding planning. We have most of the ceremony knocked out, I've got a plan for the chuppah, and even started ordering things that we are going to need. It's less than two months away, and there's still a lot to do!

Tomorrow I want to start a new project of some sort. Not just research it, but actually sit down and make something. It's been far too long since I actually used my project desk.

Photography

I just accidentally picked up a new hobby. I was hoping to learn to take better pictures so that I could photograph the food that I make and post it here or elsewhere on the intertubes. I fell down the rabbit hole and haven't come up yet. I made a flickr account so that I could upload the ones I like.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/prismaticglasses

Gonna be a fun summer!

Pot Pie!!!

I am on a mission to do so much more cooking this summer. I got the stainless steel cooking pots and pans off the registry, so I am starting to use them. It's a new experience for a girl who has used almost exclusively non-stick. The only things I use that aren't non-stick are for rice, pasta, and soup.

Sunday for lunch I made a frittata. It was insanely good. I looked at a few recipes and didn't see any that fit what I wanted, so I made it up.

Ingredients:
1 russet potato, washed and sliced
2 zucchini, grated, put in strainer with paper towel, weighted, drained
1 onion, diced
4oz mushrooms, diced
shit tonne of garlic, minced (I used the 10-second garlic peeling method. It took longer than 10 seconds, but it was a lot of fun)
8 eggs
1 big spoonful of Trader Joe's plain Greek yogurt
S&P, spice mix that was made by a friend of ours as their wedding favor
Parmesan cheese, grated (I sent my SO to pick it up, and he brought back pre-grated. It worked, but fresh would have been better. I said, "Thank you," and left it at that.)

Once you've done all the prep, heat oil in a big pan. I used a nonstick pot because it was oven-safe, had straight sides, and was sitting out, anyway. Saute garlic for about 30 seconds in hot oil. Dump in onion and cook until translucent. Drop in potato slices. Cover and wander off for a bit. Come back, stir, return lid, wander off. Come back, stir, add mushrooms. Repeat stir/wander for a while. Turn heat to low. Add zucchini and let it cook down.

In a separate bowl, combine 6 eggs, a big spoonful of yogurt, salt and pepper, spices, and some parm. Realize that it's not enough egg for the amount of veggies and add two more eggs. Whisk until well-mixed. This will take a while, since the yogurt and the egg don't play nice at first. Be stubborn.
Turn heat back up to medium and preheat oven to 350. Pour egg mixture over vegetables and stir to combine. Let sit on medium heat until oven is to temp, then stick in oven until it doesn't jiggle when you jiggle the pan. Burn your hand by accidentally grabbing the hot handle because you folded the towel incorrectly when using it as a makeshift pot holder (optional).

It came out almost absurdly rich and delicious. I served it with a hunk of artisan bread and wilted greens from a big package of organic salad greens that I knew we wouldn't eat otherwise.


I had big plans that night to make a big supper with tons of sides, but I was exhausted. I'd already cleaned, then destroyed, then cleaned the kitchen, and making a big fancy meal meant destroying it and cleaning it AGAIN. Instead, I made a pasta sauce in the pan. A one-pot meal. I cooked a bit of bacon to render out the fat, then sprinkled in flour (a little too much flour, actually. Oops!), cooked that for a bit, then started adding milk. Once that was ready, I added a bunch of cheese and some spices. It was a bit too rich for the hot weather, but it was pretty tasty.

I plan to post recipes and in some cases tutorials for some stuff I cook. Last night I make country pork shoulder ribs, and tonight I made a ridiculously tasty pot pie. The pan you use makes all the difference. Seriously.

New Beginning

School is out. Only a few things have changed since last time, but all for the good. It's all jumbled together right now, so I'm not going to divide it up into sections.

My final went mostly smoothly, and I have about 1/4 of them graded. I spent the morning planning meals for this next week and then went shopping. This afternoon I had to go do all the last minute things at the old house today and turn in the keys, but we are officially only living in ONE place now, which is amazing. I'm going to get another large chunk done over the course of tomorrow (I can only grade 3-5 at a time before I run out of juice) while also enjoying some time with friends and doing some awesome cooking. Since I did not manage to get to the grocery store for so long, I spent much more during this trip than usual, but we have food to last us quite some time. I'm particularly excited about tomorrow's menu of a frittata of beans, mushrooms, artichokes, and onion with wilted greens on the side for lunch and country style pork ribs with corn on the cob and pan-grilled zucchini. For dessert I will be making banana ice cream (freeze bananas. Blend. Eat.) with fresh strawberries and blackberries.

My feet are back in ship shape, and I went to the gym on Friday night, which felt awesome. In just two weeks I'm already able to tell how I've lost endurance, but I'm doing well on strength. I haven't lost any weight these last two weeks, but I also haven't gained any, so I'm satisfied. Now to start getting those numbers WAY down. I'm thinking about buying groceries more frequently than once per week and walking/biking to the market instead of driving and getting a giant load every week. It will require more planning and time, but it's exercise built in to healthy eating.

Now that I don't need to dress for school every day, there will be a significantly different wardrobe going on. If I have to leave the house, jeans and a polo. If I don't have to leave the house, t-shirt with pants optional. Gonna be a good summer.

Yet Another Long Break

I am completely terrible at "regularly blogging". I did ok in April, then school went nutso crazy bonkers, and I barely had time to sleep among all the planning and grading and moving and other ridiculousness. HOWEVER, this last month has been amazing.

Moving: We are moved in and about 90% of the way settled. The old lease is up next Saturday, so one more week of cleaning and getting the last few things out, and that project is completely done. I spent two weekends ago on my hands and knees cleaning the old master bathroom from stem to stern, so it is ready for move-out inspection. The things that I worry about are the kitchen and the garage, but we shall see.

Teaching: I have a contract for next year. It is amazing. My final is written and will happen Wednesday morning. There's some graduations and meetings and such that I am required to attend, but for the most part my major responsibility is going to be grading the 60 final exams in a very short period of time and finishing up comments on my students. One class out of six has comments finished, so I plan to work on that tomorrow while I'm proctoring the Spanish finals. I was asked to be the adviser for the robotics team tomorrow, so I have a lot of research to do over the summer. My textbook for AP is picked, and a few hours on Friday has my AP and Gen Phys texts mapped together so I can keep the two classes on track as far as topics. So much stuff going on this summer with teaching, so we shall see how it goes.

Fitness: I have been bad lately. Last weekend my feet got all messed up with over two dozen mosquito bites. I haven't been able to wear shoes for over a week, and walking has been pretty painful, so little in the way of exercise. However, as of a week ago I was down ten pounds from where I started in April. I never thought I'd see those numbers again, so it's a great feeling. Now I need to get my feet healed up, get my ass back to the gym, and keep those numbers going in the right direction!

Cooking: I've been having a lot of fun with meal planning and cooking lately. It's all fairly simple fare, but it's all been tasty. There are some issues I still need to work out with my portion sizes vs G's portion sizes and what leftovers are going to be eaten when, but things are on the right track. It's still costing more than I would like, but that is my fault for still relying on packaged foods. Once I get better at making larger amounts of food, reliance on pre-packaged or frozen meals should plummet. Over this summer I want to get into baking my own bread, as well. I've tried off and on over the years, but nothing has ever been consistent. Now that I have time, a KA mixer, and a few recipes for no-knead bread, this may very well be the Summer Of Bread.

Crafting: I have done jack and squat as far as crafting lately. My sewing area is piled with flotsam and jetsam lever over from moving that has not found a home yet. I have Big Plans for my first few projects. Most notably, and what can be made from my stash, is potholders. I looked at a bunch of tutorials for various styles, and all of them seemed not quite right. I fooled around in the kitchen for a few minutes lifting things and putting things in/out of the oven to see how I grip hot pans. I want to make my own design that is halfway between a potholder and an oven mitt that is easy to use, is both protective and allows dexterity, and probably won't be made from simple rectangles. The other project I want to make, and this one will require shopping, is a magic wrap skirt. I saw a video of the five hundred different ways one can be worn, but they don't really come in colors/patterns I like and also big enough for me being a giant. SO, I will get my silky awesome fabrics in pretty colors/patterns and figure out the damn pattern myself! I miss engineering patterns.

Wedding: Where did I get those two dozen mosquito bites? In Oklahoma, visiting my family for our engagement party. My parents are awesome, and they throw an incredible shindig. Other than that, wedding planning is on hold. I'm not worried about this, because I scheduled May in as an off month since I knew we'd be moving. I am officially done with school as of June 13 when grades are due, so after that wedding planning begins anew with renewed vigor and haste. Also, it's now close enough to the wedding that we could buy a marriage license. SO AWESOME.

In short, life is crazy, but also wonderful. Living with just G and no roommates is the best housing decision I have made in my adult life. Today is a good day.

Too Much!

What a week! I haven't managed to get a post in sideways in over a week because everything has been crazy. I am feeling very good about how buying groceries and eating is going. My last measurements at the gym were fantastic. I may have finally passed the turning point on weight loss, but we shall see. One thing is for sure, I need new pants!!

On the teaching front, I just had to fix a big kerfuffle with the parents. I've been assigning projects every week as homework, and I wildly misjudged what was an appropriate amount of homework. The parents were up in arms, almost in tears, very frustrated, and not even at all happy. The reports kept coming in, "My student loves you, loves your class, thinks you are a great teacher, BUT THERE'S TOO MUCH HOMEWORK!" It was mostly from parents of students who aren't doing so hot, so I figured it was something I could fix in a later unit.

Then the Class Liaison got involved and sent me an email with a rather stark version of the situation. Students were spending 6-7, sometimes 10 or more hours on the assignments. They are NOT supposed to take that long, but this is all new to them. The homework load is supposed to average out at 2-2.5 hours per week per class. I messed up. The assignments were far too difficult.

That spurred me to action. I completely revamped the homework that is due next week. I didn't change the actual projects, just how many were required, what they were worth, and what they involved. They have to do 45 total points instead of 60, I upped the point level of two projects, cut out large portions of other projects, and offered two ways of getting bonus points (one for this assignment, one to apply to previous assignments). In short, I am bending over backwards to try to fix this. We'll see how this new assignment goes over.

Two students looked over the homework before I posted it and tell me if it sounded more reasonable. Then I grabbed every freshman I could find and told them to spread the word about a changed homework load. Two or three (one of whom belonged to some parents who had sent me emails) came in looking VERY worried. I have no idea what they were worried about, specifically, but they were worried about something regarding the new homework. As soon as it was explained, relief washed over them. All the students have sounded very happy about the reduced load.

Next week, I'll poll them again to see if this level of projects is better and re-adjust if needed. Next week should be much easier on me. All I have to do is write an exam. Monday and Tuesday is review. Wednesday is Community Service Day (I'm doing park cleanup with the freshmen), and Thursday/Friday is the exam. I start Electromagnetism with the AP students next week, so that should be interesting. RHR all over the place!!! That will give me a chance to catch up on my mountain of grading and get ahead a bit on planning. OR just unpack and enjoy living in my own apartment. One of the two.

Successful Week

This week has been amazing. Just from one end to the other.

Monday, I worked out for an hour and a half. Melissa made me do pushups to muscle failure THREE TIMES. And it hurt, but it was awesome. It left me super sore on Tuesday and especially Wednesday, but it was worth it. After the gym was the discussion group where we (folks from the gym) talk about our successes and challenges and support each other through trying to get healthier habits around food and exercise. After all that, I went home and made my weekly grocery list and meal plan, set up the crock pot for chili to use up more pantry items, and went the hell to bed.

Tuesday was exhausting, but worth it! After a full day of labs and activities, it was shopping time. Not just grocery shopping, but also buying 120 kids worth of ice cream making supplies for my and the chemistry teacher's labs for Wednesday and Thursday. In a complete coincidence, both classes were making ice cream at the same time by the same means. My lesson was on phase change; hers was one colligative properties. Worked out well!

I got groceries for meals to cook this week, although the plans have changed a bit, so I think I will shift things around a bit. The "being prepared, both professionally and at home" thing is awesome. The meal planning and shopping really aren't big chores at all. The "preparing lessons and grading papers" is a giant chore, but worth it. Oh, so very, very worth it! I'm a bit behind this week for a few reasons, but luckily this weekend is free and clear for all of packing, cooking, grading, and planning.

Wednesday was Day 1 of ice cream. It was a bit of a disaster. Whooooo, buddy! I made the mistake of grouping together two students, neither of whom have particularly strong executive functions. It was messy. But it worked out, I made additions, and it got better with every class. As soon as school was over, I updated and changed around instructions on the lab sheet to make things more clear. I think I will need to separate it out into one sheet of directions and one sheet of questions. It's too much to fit on one sheet.

After school, I took a walk/job around the block after work as part of my new plan. It hurt like all get out since I was still so sore from Monday, but I did it. And I will do it again next week. That evening we had dinner with a friend (in the plan!) and talked for a long time. It was nice to have that time talking and laughing and visiting, while also discussing some important and difficult issues. It was tough, but necessary.

Today was a successful day of ice cream (of which I had NONE), and I got some excellent news at work. Life is finally on the track I've been after for five years. I have an amazing fiancee, incredible friends, a fabulous support group and fitness coach, soon my own apartment, and the job that I've been seeking for a very long time. It's all coming together and will only get better from here. Tonight is hours of grading and prep, some planning for tomorrow, and at least one celebratory beer. Life is all right by me.

Teaching

Today was a really good day at school. We are studying phase change, so I started with my phase change concept map, talked about energy transfer, blew their minds by showing them that freezing and melting are warming processes, and got the new project sheet out. I spent almost all of Sunday (minus a few episodes of Psych) prepping for this week, and it is paying off so far! I made the homework project, AP prep sheets, homework templates for my AP students (who sent me on treasure hunts for problems and answers in the first homework they turned in), made a huge shopping list for all the labs this week, and graded every shred of paper anyone had turned in. It was a productive day.

On Mondays, I have a block of freshman physics, a block of AP, lunch, planning, and another block of freshmen physics. Tuesdays is three blocks of freshmen physics in a row, so I use that first block to test out my worksheets and fix any mistakes or misunderstandings or issues so that the other blocks run more smoothly. But! Today I did not have to make any changes! Everything went as smoothly as I had planned. The station switching is a little rough, and it's hard to balance the ones who write one almost-sentence and call it done with the ones who write a medium-length thesis and not have someone waiting around bored, but I'm sure it'll work out fine.


I just finished my grocery list and weekly meal-plan, so things are looking well-prepared for this week on the home front, also.

Healthy Habits!

I started this blog back in October, hoping to fill a void in my life with more communication, more reflection, and throwing words out into the great beyond and assuming no one would ever read it. Six months later, I'm in a completely different place. That void is gone, but I am on some new adventures that I would dearly love to talk about and reflect on.

1) I left my job as an analyst working in the Financial District of San Francisco. It was a perfectly suitable job, stable, good benefits, good coworkers, and left me feeling completely empty. After being offered a raise less than current inflation, so my new salary was still about $15k less than I feel I am worth, I started looking. I found an opening at a private school for a physics teacher. The contract isn't guaranteed for next year, so I am taking a MAJOR gamble, but teaching is my heart, my soul, my passion. I leaped at the chance and haven't looked back. I should find out within two weeks whether or not I'll be teaching there next year, so I am excited.

2) I am engaged to my life, my love, my dearest friend. We will be married this fall in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains. Wedding planning is whoa damn more complicated and difficult than I had any idea it would be. We both wanted a small, immediate family only, ~25 person affair. That lasted right up until his giant Jewish family got involved and demanded that "immediate family" include everyone. So, we changed plans completely and are having a 150 person potluck dance party. Should be a hoot, but gonna take a lot of work!

3)  I am on a mission to get healthier. I am not on a mission to be any particular size by my wedding. I am who I am, and what will be, will be. I want to be stronger, faster, leaner, and build good habits. My most fabulous coach is helping me get there. I've been working on this since September, but things just kept happening, and I kept telling myself, "After THIS giant crisis, everything will be easier!" I was wrong. It's not easier, and it's not going to change if I don't change it NOW. So, now it is. I'm struggling with this one mightily. 

4) I'm moving in two weeks to an apartment. My Husband Elect and I will be living by ourselves in a tiny studio with no roommates. Just today we spent all afternoon completely cleaning out the garage (filled with things from five roommates and a few people who don't even live here), pulling everything out, organizing it, and beginning the process of staging the things we want and donating the things we don't. This is probably going to be the least interesting portion of this blog, but it's a big thing right now and for the next six weeks, at least.

I'm sure more major things will come up, as they always do. I will post my trials, tribulations, experiments, setbacks, epic failures, fabulous successes, and everything in between. I've tried starting this thing a couple times, and it hasn't stuck yet, but I really do want to record my thoughts again. It's all about creating healthy habits, and that is the goal.