Spicy Almonds? Yes please!

A few weeks ago I found a recipe for spicy almonds. I thought they looked pretty good, so I decided to make them as party of my holiday "baking" extravaganza. This recipe is amazing! The nuts are so good, my roommate and I could hardly stop eating them and I had to make another batch. So I decided to share the love. If you don't have some of the spices (such as ground coriander), some health food stores sell spices in bulk, meaning you can purchase as much or as little as you would like. That way, you don't have to plunk down $3 or $4 for a whole jar when you only need less than 1 teaspoon. Here is the recipe, courtesy of the Martha Stewart Holiday magazine. Trust me, this is fabulous. Enjoy!

Spicy Almonds
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
2 cups whole almonds (about 10 ounces)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spread almonds on baking sheet at toast in oven for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally (until browned and slightly dark).
2. In large bowl, whisk together sugar, salt, and spices.
3. In a large skillet over medium heat, bring butter, molasses, and vinegar to a boil. Add
toasted almonds and stir to evenly coat. Add nut mixture to spice mixture; toss to coat. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and spread in a single layer.
4. Bake nuts 4 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks (assuming, of course, they last that long!).

Mucho snow in Vegas!

So tonight I got a text from my dad that said "It's official. Hell has frozen over." Turns out, Vegas is pretty much snowed in. Well, not exactly. But when you have several inches of snow on the ground and no way to get it off, it might as well be snowed in. My parents were outside shaking snow off their (desert) trees and trying to prevent them from collapsing. The power went out a few times during the day. My dad said the driveway needed to be shoveled, but he doesn't own a snow shovel and apparently a big broom isn't terribly effective. So the driveway has become a bit treacherous. One of my sisters is in Boise, Idaho and her flight to Vegas was canceled this evening because there was too much snow on the runway in Vegas and they have no way to get it off. On top of it all, the schools have a snow day tomorrow! I know this is cliche, but this situation feels very surreal!

On a different note. . . I have been meaning to post pictures from Thanksgiving for a really long time, but it just hasn't happened (obviously). So if you are really dying to see what my Thanksgiving looked like, here is the link to my Picasa album.

Brrr!!!

Today I received an email, a few texts, and a phone call from my family informing me that it was snowing in Las Vegas! Snow in Las Vegas is fairly rare but not unheard of. I remember it snowing at least 4 or 5 times over the past 20 or so years. But apparently it is really dumping on them . We have been affected by the same storm system as it moves south from Utah (where I understand it left quite a trail!). While we certainly haven't received snow, temperatures in Phoenix have dropped quite a bit and it has been raining here off and on all day. You know you are accustomed to desert weather when you are quite chilled by temperatures in the high 40s and low 50s. It is funny, but it almost seems beyond my comprehension that I have to dress for colder weather. I really have to consciously remind myself to grab a jacket and hat when I leave for work in the chilly morning (before the sun comes up) and to avoid the short-sleeved, thinner fabric shirts I am so fond. I am so out of the habit, I can't seem to pick that habit back up again! Fortunately, cold weather only lasts for a month or so, and then we are back to what makes Arizona so fetching - warm weather! :)

Aarghhh!

My office is only about 5 miles away from my house on the same major road (I live on Thomas & Hayden and work on Thomas & 44th). With morning traffic, I can usually get to work in 10-15 minutes. My current assignment has me working in downtown Phoenix a few days a week. Traffic in Phoenix is horrid, particularly when headed to downtown. Fortunately I live right by a freeway on ramp so it doesn't take long to get on the freeway, but I have to leave my house by 7 or 7:10 (at the latest) or else I spend at least 15-20 extra minutes on the freeway. Today I had to work downtown, but I was running a little late and didn't get on the freeway until about 7:20. To get to work I take the 101 South about 2 miles to the 202 and take that straight into downtown Phoenix. As I was approaching the 202 interchange this morning, I noticed 3 things at about the same time: (1) My gas light came on (I suddenly realized that thanks to a pressing Relief Society need, I forgot to get gas last night), (2) the line to get onto the 202 was MUCH longer than it should have been, and (3) I could see the 202 in front of me and it was pretty much a parking lot. I got in the line to merge and immediately heard there was a car wreck on the 202 about 3 miles from the interchange. At that point the only think I could do was pray that I wouldn't run out of gas on the freeway in traffic, as the next exit was about 1 mile away. For the next 20 minutes or so (yes, it took me 20 minutes to go 1 1/4 mile), I watched the gas needle slowly sink closer and closer to the dreaded dark line until I finally made it to the first exit. I assumed that there would be a gas station right off the freeway so I could gas up and go. See, that's one of the peculiarities of Phoenix. For some reason, there are seldom gas stations right off freeway exits. Anyway, I finally found a gas station and filled up. My car takes 15 gallons, and I put 14.5 gallons in the car. It was a much closer call than I thought! After filling up I took surface streets for a few miles to avoid the traffic jam on the freeway. Of course, I was joined by roughly half the motorists in Tempe, so it much longer than expected. I guess the bright side to all of this is that once I got back on the freeway, most of the traffic was still stuck several miles back, so it was pretty much smooth sailing all they way downtown. All told, my 25-30 minute commute took me nearly 1 hour 15 minutes this morning. One of the joys of American life - traffic jams. What a way to start the day!

Elder Wirthlin

I want to recognize the passing of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, who passed away early Monday, November 1st. He was an apostle (a leader) in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a wonderful man. I always looked forward to hearing him speak in General Conference. His talks were never flashy or overly emotional and often appeared fairly simple. But the more you read and pondered his talks, you realized how deep and enriching they were. His remarks reflected a deeply kind and loving heart - someone who clearly lived the higher law taught by Jesus Christ, someone who loved God and loved his brothers and sisters. I have a few memories of Elder Wirthlin I would like to share. One of the most touching General Conference moments I have ever seen was during the October 2007 session when Elder Wirthlin gave his marvelous talk, "The Great Commandment." He was not feeling well and started to shake quite severely, making it very difficult to deliver his message. Elder Russell M. Nelson stood up to support sweet Elder Wirthlin so he could finish delivering his remarks, and at that point I couldn't help it - I started crying. I don't think I have every openly cried during a General Conference talk before. You could just feel the love and genuine kindness oozing out of him, even as he could barely finish giving his talk. This may sound weird, but watching Elders Wirthlin and Nelson made me want to be a better person. I will always remember that moment. The other fond memory I have of Elder Wirthlin is a talk he gave in 2002 entitled "Follow Me." He spoke of the importance of casting aside our nets, as the apostles of old, and following the Savior. Simple as that analogy may be, it has stayed with me for many years.

During my teenage years and early 20's, the LDS Church had no turnover in the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. This was a very formative time period for me, as I was gaining my own testimony in the troublesome teenage years, learning how to be an adult in my college years, striving to be a diligent missionary, and going through so many other changes. I grew to deeply love and respect those men and that group of leaders will always have a very special place in my heart. It has been difficult to see so many of them pass away over the past few years. However, I am so grateful for their service. They have all, including Elder Wirthlin, left a deep mark on my spiritual development and for that, I thank them.

I have put a link below to some of my favorite Elder Wirthlin talks.

"True love lasts forever. It is eternally patient and forgiving. It believes, hopes, and endures all things. That is the love our Heavenly Father bears for us.

We all yearn to experience love like this. Even when we make mistakes, we hope others will love us in spite of our shortcomings—even if we don’t deserve it.

Oh, it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us—even with all our flaws! His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never will.

We see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today. Our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever. Although we might settle for less, Heavenly Father won’t, for He sees us as the glorious beings we are capable of becoming.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of transformation. It takes us as men and women of the earth and refines us into men and women for the eternities."

- Elder Wirthlin, October 2007 General Conference

"Follow Me"
"The Great Commandment"
"The Virtue of Kindness"

Merry Holiday-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named!

Normally I am TOTALLY against anything Christmas before Thanksgiving. Jingle Bells is NOT appropriate for Halloween Day - no Christmas music until AFTER Thanksgiving dinner has been consumed! And I refuse to buy anything that has wreaths or snowflakes on it (including beverages and food!) in September. So keeping that in mind, I can't quite figure out what is going on with me this year. I have found myself (on more than one occasion) humming Christmas songs, mapping out Christmas shopping strategies, and looking up recipes for various holiday baked goods. What has gotten into me? We're still two weeks out from Thanksgiving! Aaah! On principle, I simply can't cave in! I've been putting some thought into it (lest I appear hypocritical), and I think I know why my Christmas sensors are hypersensitive this year: my family's Christmas plans! My parents rented a cabin near Duck Creek in Southern Utah. The whole family is going to be there, and we will stay about 1 week. We are going to cut down our own Christmas tree, make our own decorations, bake Christmas goodies, cross-country ski (me), ski/snowboard (everyone else), and generally have a pretty much idyllic Christmas. I AM SO STOKED!!!! Bring on the festivities and gingerbread men and mistletoe and wreaths and Bing Crosby version of "White Christmas"! However, despite my excitement I can't, on principle, cave into my excitement just yet. So, here's to the way over-commercialized but still fabulous and wonderful holiday that comes right after Thanksgiving!

Wagnerific

So the other day at work I finished listening to the prelude to Wagner's opera "Das Rheingold" (love it!) and then immediately switched over and started listening to "Yeah!" by Usher. It wasn't until later that I realized how strange that was. I actually stopped working for a minute to ponder on the bizarre combination. I think I may be the only person in the history of the world that has ever done that.

Are we there yet?

Unless you live under a rock, you have probably heard that elections are on Tuesday. These are the elections that have been going on since . . . well, it feels like forever. I think candidates started campaigning before I was born. Frankly, I have grown so weary of the elections that I stopped listening to the candidates, waiting for it all to be over so I can have NPR back. So here I am, just a few days before elections, and I just realized that I have not made a choice. I am part of the continuously pandered to 7-10% undecided group. The group that just can't make up their minds, the reason that the campaigning just won't stop. I am surprised McCain and/or Obama haven't showed up at my door yet, asking me if there is a little light filing or yard work they can do in exchange for my vote. So this whole thing might be my fault, folks. Maybe if people like me would just suck it up and make a decision, the candidates would just stop talking. This election feels very important to me - I don't know if it is because people won't stop talking about it and I just want it to end, or if there is some other, greater reason for its importance. I don't know. On the other hand, I can't decide on a candidate. To be honest, I really am not impressed with either choice. I feel like I have to choose which candidate I dislike less than the other. This is not an impressive choice to me. It is disheartening to think that our country went through so much campaigning and deciding, etc. to end up with these two choices. And it will probably happen as I step into the polling booth on Tuesday. How many of us are out there - the ones who ignore it all and then make up their minds as they step into a polling booth the day of elections? I wonder what kind of an effect we have on the outcomes of elections. So, here is to the 7-10% undecided group, last minute decisions, an election system that drags out campaigning for what feels like a decade, and the opportunity to vote, even when the choices make you wish you lived in Canada.

Responsibility - the leading cause of insomnia

Every once in awhile I go through periods where I just can't sleep. Some nights are worse than others, but I've noticed that my insomnia issues really seem to be stress-related. For example, during my first semester of grad school, I went through a several week period where I either didn't sleep at all for nights in a row, or would average 3-4 hours a night for several weeks. It was rough. Fortunately, these bouts with insomnia are pretty few and far between. Unfortunately, the insomnia appears to be back, if only briefly (I hope!). So, you may be wondering, what in my life is causing this current bout with insomnia? Well, it is hard to say specifically ('cause I'm sure work could be a culprit, too), but about 1 month ago I was called as the Relief Society President in my ward. That is no small assignment, under any circumstances, but our ward is undergoing big changes right now, making my task particularly daunting. In August our ward was moved from one stake to another, causing big changes in our boundaries. We are now housed in the Camelback Stake, but because we are a Young Single Adult ward, we take in 3 stakes, total. That is a very large area, geographically. That also changed our membership dynamics quite a bit, and we now have a MUCH larger ward, in terms of numbers and geography. I was called just after all the changes were made and inherited a Relief Society that had lost nearly all staffing due to the changes. We have had the large task of integrating a very big influx of new sisters and trying to almost completely staff a Relief Society. Needless to say, I have been on the go almost constantly. Tonight was the first night in some time that I haven't had specific Relief Society responsibilities (meetings, visits, staffing discussions, etc.) to conduct. So rather than catch up on all of my other activities that are falling behind (cleaning, bills, organizing, catching up on sorely overdue emails to friends), I got home from work, did a few small things around the house, and then crashed at about 6 pm. I napped for about 1 1/2 hours, then got up in enough time to watch The Office (which, I have to say, I am growing quite disappointed in. . . but I'll save that for another time). Admittedly, that evening nap probably didn't help my current state of affairs any. . . but still. Not being able to sleep isn't fun! So, as things start to slowly fall into place with the ward (as they always do), I am sure my sleeping patterns will improve. Until then, I am always looking for fellow insomniacs for some late-night company!

Mexico.2

Here is a little more information about our trip to Mexico.

Layne and I departed for Puerto Vallarta on Tuesday, October 7 and arrived back in Las Vegas on Sunday, October 12. The resort wasn't terribly fancy, but it was nice and attracted a pretty low-key, tame crowd. It is right on the beach, but the water is really rough on that beach and not good for swimming or other water activities. Thus, the resort organizes trips every day to various beaches and other activities (snorkeling, hiking, surfing, boat trips, etc.). Layne and I quickly got into a routine: every morning we would wake up about 7 or so head out around 8 for the morning activity. We usually returned sometime between 12 and 2, had a nice lunch, and then either spent the rest of the afternoon by/in the pool reading and napping, or else showered and spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool reading and napping. We often had a sunset walk and then a late dinner. Of course, we spent the rest of the evening reading and relaxing. We loved falling asleep and waking up to the sound of waves and the sight of palm trees swaying right outside the window. It was fabulous. Here is a sunset view from our balcony.

And Layne doing what we did best. . .

Layne and I were so fond of snorkeling, we went twice. The resort arranged for us to take a boat out to a series of islands in Banderas Bay. Apparently these islands are a national park, and there was good snorkeling all around the islands. There were lots of smallish caves around the base of the island and we had a lot of fun poking in and out of the caves and chasing fish.






We were also had a great time on the "hike" they took us on (more like a brisk walk, but whatever). There was another nationally protected area nearby at the base of an inactive volcano. It had lots of petroglyphs from an extinct native people. No one quite knows what the petroglyphs mean, but they were cool to look at. Our walk ended at a really lovely waterfall and swimming hole. It was so beautiful and green! And humid! We quite enjoyed our tromp through the jungle, even the near first-hand encounter with Mexican poison ivy (thank heavens for guides, or we all would have gone tromping through it, unawares).


It really was a wonderful trip. I wish we had more time to do some exploring and get a better flavor of the areas and towns we were in. I would love to go back to Mexico again, and spend some time traveling around and exploring. There is so much to see there, and everywhere we went people were SO friendly. Although I have traveled many places in the world, I am now wondering why it took me so long to become aware of a fabulous place just a few hours south of our border!

Mexico

Hola mi amigos y amigas! So, my younger sister, Layne, and I decided to take a trip together and after much frustration we ended up at a resort in Mexico about 30 miles north of Puerto Vallarta. (Here is the website.) I am currently sitting on a chair underneath a palm tree looking out over the sunset on the Pacific Ocean. Yes, life is good. :)

This resort is a smallish resort and attracts an eclectic crowd of regulars, families, drunks, honeymooners, and surfers. The resort is not one of those mega-resorts you commonly find near places like Puerto Vallarta. It is smallish and has lots of character and "local flavor" with an emphasis on surfing (they have surfing trips leaving every morning and most of the people here seem to come mainly for surfing). We have met several very nice people here. In particular, two surfer families from San Diego and a couple from Salt Lake. They have activities every day and my sister and I have been on the go every day. Here is a smattering of some of our activities:

• Snorkeling: We went to a grouping of islands a few miles offshore. There are several really cool coves and caves and the like and Layne and I loved it. We are going to go again tomorrow!
• Surfing: Layne and I went to this funky surfing town called Sayulitas and Layne took surfing lessons while I watched. She managed to get up 2 1/2 times! We spend much of the afternoon wandering around and eating ice cream. Yum!
• Hiking: The hotel hired some taxis and a guide and took us tromping through the jungle to see petroglyphs and a really cool waterfall. It was insanely humid, but very, very beautiful.
  

Okay, that is about all for right now (I want to finish watching the sunset), but I will write more and post pictures when I get back.

Goings On

It has been awhile since I last wrote, but these are a few of my more recent goings-on.

Surprise!
My mother turned 50 on July 30th and my dad decided to plan a surprise birthday party for her. She had a bit of a hard time with he whole turning 50 thing,but it was difficult to keep a straight face when she called complaining about how didn't want to turn 50 and didn't have any friends. All I could think was "if you can only see the guest list!" I flew in and surprised her on Tuesday night, and we made "special birthday plans" for the afternoon (the party was in the backyard and we had to keep her away from the house) and then on the way home, we swung by the airport and picked up her second surprise - my sister, her husband, and my two nephews! Just in case my mom suspected anything, we hoped to use my sister's arrival as a decoy. It worked! She totally didn't expect to see her and was expecting a quite family dinner. About 75 people were waiting in the backyard, and she was totally surprised! It was really fun to be able to surprise her like that. My dad had the party catered by our family's favorite caterers and Claire put together a wonderful slide show with pictures form my mom's life. Although it was a pretty hectic trip for me, I had a great time and it was really wonderful to celebrate my mom's birthday with her and to have the support of such wonderful family and friends. Happy birthday, ma!



Leilani
I have known Leilani since my freshman year in college. We lived a few doors down from each other in the dorms, and I kept her up many a night with my loud laugh. Despite that, we came to be great friends and ended up as roommates for the rest of our time at Utah State. She just finished defending her thesis at BYU (plant genetics!) and took a job in Iowa with a seed company. She will be moving soon, so she came out to visit me for a weekend. We had a lovely, if very relaxed weekend. It was really hot that weekend (up to about 115), and our morning excursion to the Desert Botanical Gardens was pretty uncomfortable. We mostly hibernated for the rest of the day, catching up and watching the miniseries North & South. We did venture out to attend the play The Music Man at the Hale Center Theater and to attend church, but overall it was a very relaxing weekend and great fun spend time with a good friend and to catch up.

Jackson Pollock and Me
At the end of July one of my roommates moved out so I switched rooms. It is larger overall and has more closet space (hooray!), but there was one very, very red accent wall. Don't get me wrong - I am quite a fan of red. However, the color was too intense for my tastes and I found myself getting the urge to sing odes to the Communist Party every time I walked into the room. Clearly, the color had to go. Now, for those that are not aware of my decision-making phobia, making decisions can be rather difficult for me. Actually, they tend to paralyze me. The thought of having to choose a new wall color was nearly overpowering. After much debating and an intervention phone call with my sister, I settled on the color "Porch Swing." It is a dark sage-like green, and it matches the sand color on the other three walls very well. The painting was an adventure in and of itself, but I had great fun splatter painting the primer. I suddenly understood why Jackson Pollock favored the splatter painting method! For various reasons, I have only been able to work on touching up the corners only intermittently, so I am not quite finished. However, I only have one corner left and I love the new wall!

Goodbye, Little Sister
Per previous posts, you are probably aware that I was a volunteer with the organization Big Brother Big Sister. I mentored an impossibly cute 7-year-old named Alexa. Alexa, her sister, and her mother, Kristie, moved from Iowa about 8 months ago. About two weeks ago I found out that Kristie decided to move back to Iowa, and they left this morning. Although I totally understand Kristie's reasoning, it was still very hard to see Alexa go. I grew to love our time together and always looked forward to our outings. We went to the library, to museums, baked cupcakes and frosted cookies, and went swimming in my backyard. She gave the the opportunity to adjust my viewpoint and see the world through the eyes of a 7-year-old. She is very bright and interested in the world around her, and she encourages everyone to do the right thing. For example, we went to the movies a few months ago, and I brought in my own candy. She looked up at me with her huge, chocolate brown eyes and simply said "I don't think we are supposed to bing that in here." Ouch. Although it was of short duration, I am very glad I had the opportunity to be Alexa's big sister!

Alexa and our impossibly cute ladybug cupcakes!

Sedona

Last week I went to a conference for work in Sedona. I was there for three days and two nights, and let me just stay that I am considering moving to Sedona and taking up employment as a clairvoyant. (For anyone that has never been there, Sedona is known for its artist and "new age" scene. See this link, the "vortices" section.) Not that I really have much talent in clairvoyance (at least that I am aware of), but still. That has never stopped anyone else. :)

Below are some pictures of the area. Please note, I did not take ANY of them myself. I just stole them off of the internet. :)




I definitely want to go back to Sedona again and explore the area a little more.

The Joy of Baking (sort of) and Jennifer Aniston circa 1996

Fanny Farmer Doesn't Live Here
I volunteer with Big Brother Big Sister, and my "little sister" is Alexa, the world's most adorable 7-year-old. She has dark, super curly hair, no front teeth, and often punctuates her walking with energetic skips. We generally have an activity about 3-4 times a month, and she usually chooses. She has grown fond of my house and likes to spend time there watering my dying plants, swimming, and banging on the piano. This week she wanted to make "the kind of cookies you cut into shapes," which I assume meant sugar cookies. I have to admit, when she said that my heart dropped a little bit. Why? I really hate baking. Really. I pretended to like baking for awhile, just like I pretended to like jogging. I finally decided to be a little more honest and admit that I am no Fanny Farmer (and really don't want to be), so I gave up my futile attempts at baking. Although I am quite fond of cooking, I just don't find much enjoyment in baking. Baking requires so much precision and I find it stifling. I prefer the artistic freedom allowed by cooking. If you don't have an ingredient, you can usually leave it out or substitute, and you never have to measure anything. Or maybe what I call "artistic freedom" is just a ruse for laziness. :)

I sucked it up, scoured the internet for a good sugar cookie and frosting recipe, and purchased the ingredients and necessary implements (because pretty much no one I know here in Phoenix just had cookie cutters just laying around). Alexa and I spent several hours on Friday mixing and rolling and frosting, and actually had a pretty good time. Below is a list of things I learned about baking with a 7 year-old:

1. No matter what the recipe says, double the preparation time.
2. The smaller the cookie cutter the more cookies you get - and the more cookies you have to frost.
3. Egg shell shards can be fished out of batter pretty easily. Just make sure you get them all.
4. White frosting is not very exciting.
5. If your frosting recipe calls for 4 cups of powdered sugar, seriously consider halving the recipe. Trust me.
6. Sprinkles rock.
7. Baking with 2 people is definitely better than with 1.
8. I still prefer to cook.

New Do
I got my hair cut on Friday. I went to a new guy (one of the 3 straight male hairdressers in Phoenix) for a cut, which can be pretty frightening. I told him what I wanted . . . and I didn't get it (of course). What I got looks a lot like of Jennifer Aniston circa 1996, only shorter. It took a bit to get used to, but I actually like it now. Between the new glasses, the new do, and my lovely new blouse (thanks, Target!), today at church I felt like a totally new woman! I don't have a picture right now, but I will post one later in the week.

Check these out!

I was growing rather tired of my old frames, so last week I bought a new pair and I picked them up on Saturday. As most of you are aware, I have never been much for making decisions (what an understatement). It took me way too long to pick them out, and the poor employee at the optometrists' office had to put up with a whole lot of "what about this frame? Do you like this style, or was the last one better?". Anyway, it is kind of fun to get new frames. Wahoo!

Seriously, this is a really cool fan.

I live in Phoenix, and it gets hot here. Really hot. We are just barely into June and it is warming up pretty quickly. In preparation for the impending 4 or 5 months of oven-like temperatures and in an effort to save money on the electric bill, I got a new fan for my room to use while sleeping. It is a Seville Classics UltraSlimline Tower Fan. Let me just say, this is a seriously cool fan. From the picture below, you will notice that it comes with a remote (a necessary feature to sell anything electronic in America) and a little mini fan for . . . something.



This fan has timing features, three speed selections, and it oscillates. It also has two very cool features I am eager to explore more: the "natural wind" feature (select low, medium, or high speed) and the "sleeping wind" feature (again, select low, medium, or high). The "sleeping wind" (the name alone is intriguing enough for me) feature allows the air to flow "as an evening breeze slowing to a light night breeze." I am already so relaxed just typing that. The "natural wind" feature "automatically selects wind speeds randomly as you would find outdoors" and the instruction manual has intriguing graphs that show examples of the 80 second wind cycle for the low, medium, and high settings. This fan really does provide an excellent and convincing breeze. I am totally hooked. You should all get one. (Available at Costco! And I am not even getting paid for this!)

The fruits of my labor: a cure for insomnia.

After much blood, sweat, and tears, yesterday my very first audit report was published. Here is the link:

http://www.azauditor.gov/Reports/Universities/UniversitySystemWide/Performance/08-03/08-03_Report.pdf

A few highlights:

My name, page 2/72
I wrote the three bullet points on page 32/72
Finding 2 - this is my portion of the audit report that caused me a great deal of blood, sweat, and tears. And I think a gray hair. Or two. Page 34/72.
A beautifully crafted appendix, if I do say so myself, page 59/72.

Oh, and don't attempt to read while operating heavy machinery or while driving. This report can and will cause extreme sleepiness. Believe me, I know. I wrote it.

Someone tell George Lucas to stop making movies.

So tonight I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Save yourself the $9.50 and don't go see it. Trust me on this one. Even Cate Blanchett and her terrible accent couldn't save it. What a sad time for American cinema.The only thing left to say about it is that Indiana Jones and aliens don't really mix.

Hello, gorgeous!

I have never been much for gardening, but a few months ago I was bit by the gardening bug. I planted tomatoes, peppers, and some herbs. A few days ago my first tomatoes were ripe enough to pick and eat! They were pretty small, but delicious. Yay for homegrown tomatoes!

If everyone else jumped off of a cliff . . .

Yes, I finally decided to create a blog. I tried the blog format for the family, but that deflated pretty quickly (cough, cough).

(Dad to me in the 14th email: I still can't figure out how to get on this thing.
Me to my sister for the 14th time: Will you PLEASE help dad figure out how to post on the blasted family blog?????)

So I decided to try and just do my own. My life is not terribly interesting, but this will give me an excuse to mess around on the internet even more than I currently do. (Always lookin' for an excuse!) Keep your eyes peeled over the next few days and weeks as I get this thing going. My life isn't terribly interesting, but I am strangely excited about the opportunity to ruminate about life in my quiet corner of the world.