Five Good Things

1.) The reason for my silence is that I was on vacation.  VACATION WAS GREAT!

2.) I finally, finally, finally saw a real football game played live.  It was super fun and ultra great. 

3.) I’m getting a new winter coat.   I am totally going to upgrade the warmth factor.  I also might attempt to buy a jacket that is not blue.  (I accidentally keep buying blue outerwear.)

4.) Improv tomorrow night!  I am already ready to laugh.

5.) I did not gain ten million pounds over Thanksgiving and vacation, despite eating a lot of junk.  I probably gained more like two.

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Effective ICE Contacts

My family bought our first cell phone – “for the family” – in the early 1990s.   It was roughly the size of our smaller cat; the battery alone outweighs my current phone.  And actually using that original cell phone?  Emergencies only!  Quick emergencies only!  Quite the opposite of my current life, in which my phone is where I check and send emails and text messages, find recipes online while at the grocery store, ask “The Goog” pressing questions, get directions, play games, study for the GRE, and yes, make the occasional call.  Despite all of its fancy tricks, emergency calls remain its most basic and most important function. 

 

I’m going to try not to get overly dramatic, but the most important thing your cell phone can do is aid you in an emergency.  Whether it’s a life-saving call to 911 or a call to a contact during a rough situation or medical info stored in notes; your cell phone can help big time.  If you do not already have an ICE (In Case of Emergency) contact stored in your phone, do it.  Do it now. 

Inflight WiFi

I’m flying Delta, a mistake for other reasons, who is offering free in-flight wifi through the holidays.  So far I’ve used it to:

1.) Search flights to family destination Christmas (woo!)…not on Delta

2.) Check the arrival status of my flight and email a text to the friend who is picking me up, telling her my delay has increased while inair.

3.) Play on facebook, gchat, and email.

4.) Take and post a picture of my ridiculous amounts of legroom (emergency exit row + almost a legal midget in Canada) on facebook.

5.) Blog.

Basically, what I would do at home.   I find the whole concept of in-flight wifi kind of ridiculous.  I mean, none of those things were at all pressing.  I remember the days when flights were spent with parents just threatening to beat their children with the books they were not reading, if they didn’t quiet down.

Five Good Things

1.) I have a Diet Coke habit.  I like the DC in the afternoon, usually while the kidlets nap.  To support my habit, I bring a DC with me to work pretty much every day.  My current employers noticed and started stocking DC for me.   I recently switched to bike commuting and while a can of soda is neither large nor heavy, it’s really nice to have one less thing to pack and carry in the mornings.

2.) I leave for Thanksgiving vacation tomorrow!  It is going to be fantastic.

3.) A little over a week ago, I started selling things I don’t want ebay.  Today I broke $100 in sales!

4.) I found – and bought – a fantastic Christmas gift for my stepmom.  This  is my third BIG WIN Christmas gift purchase of the season.  I often end up with safety gifts for my stepmom, so it’s especially nice that I found something unique for her this year.

5.) I don’t have to work at all this week!  (Hence why I get to leave for vacation Tuesday morning, ha.)

Big Day, Lights and Sirens

I’ll post more on this later, but by 9:30 this morning, I’d had my first rides in both an ambulance and a police cruiser.  (I’m totally fine.)  The distances of both rides are best measured in blocks.  Since 9:30am, I have not ridden in any emergency vehicles.  Unless I meet a studly firefighter, I’m hoping to keep up this trend.

Baconalia II Review: Turkey Bacon with Lindeman’s Framboise Lambic

Turkey Bacon with Lindemans Framboise Lambic

One of my long-standing beliefs is that people who claim “turkey bacon is just as good as pork bacon” probably don’t eat much pork bacon.  (Henceforth, pork bacon will be referred to merely as bacon.  Because it is.)  I paired turkey bacon with Lindeman’s Framboise Lambic, a Belgian fruit beer.  Thanksgiving inspired this pairing, hence why I’m posting it now.  I know cranberries are the traditional Thanksgiving fruit, but I think this is a better beer and using the terminology “inspired” allows me a fair bit of leeway for play and fun – both vital to a successful Baconalia.

The Image of the Invisible

I attended a discussion a couple nights back and this phrase really sprung out at me: the image of the invisible