Several things make a post

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Kristine Smith| Leave a comment

February is going to be a tough month, so blogging may be light.

1) I will be at Capricon this Friday, for the day only. Schedule is as follows:

Reading: Kristine Smith – Friday, 02-10-2012 – 11:00 am to 11:30 am – River C (Cafe)

My First Doctor- The Classic Doctor Who Panel – Friday, 02-10-2012 – 11:30 am to 1:00 pm – Botanic Garden A (Special Events – Programming)

Does It Matter If Science Fiction Authors Are Bad at Predicting the Future? – Friday, 02-10-2012 – 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm – Willow

2) I don’t care who wins the Super Bowl. The Blackhawks are in a slump, and that’s all the sports shit I can deal with at the moment. Trying to forget about it, actually. As my Dad used to say, I don’t have any money riding on them. And yelling at the TV just alarms the pups, anyway.

3) Stocked up the cookie jars yesterday in preparation for the month ahead. My fave oatmeal cookie recipe, with a few additions/changes. Toasted the oatmeal as well as the nuts (walnuts this time instead of pecans). Added a tablespoon of dark rum, a half-teaspoon of ground ginger, and a half-teaspoon or so of freshly ground nutmeg. Used organic raisins that turned out to be rather large, as in actual large shriveled grape-size, and a bit sweeter than usual. All combined to boost the flavor significantly. Next time, I will toast the oatmeal a little longer–some of it had turned light golden, but not all of it. But it looks like cookie flavor is improved if you lightly toast everything that’s toastable. And add more spices. And rum. I can tell you where some of the rum has gone.

4) Can’t believe tomorrow’s Monday. I do so love being home, puttering, doing what needs doing when I want to do it. Being able to think in solitude. The place is a hovel with dog hair everywhere and needs a good scrub from stem to stern, but oh well. Hovel Is Where The Heart Is. And The Brain, too, most days.

Posted in around the house, blogging, life

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In lieu of actual content, 1 Feb edition

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Kristine Smith| Leave a comment

No time to say more than…whoa. Totally encrusted with science…and just a bit scary.

And if they get a little bigger and brave the outdoors, UFO sightings will jump about 1000%.

Posted in science!, you tube

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Google thinks I’m an old man

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Kristine Smith| Leave a comment

Ever since Google informed the world of their Grand Unification of the Privacy Policies, folks have been checking out their Google Ad Preferences and finding in many cases that Google is to pinpoint accuracy as an elephant is to a Chippendale sideboard.

Your Ad Preferences profile is not based on your Google profile—what you search, what you talk about in your Gmail, what you upload to YouTube. It’s based just on what you visit.

Well, I visit a hella lotta sites, and according to Google Ad Preferences, I am a man, age 55-64, with the following preferences:

Arts & Entertainment – Comics & Animation – Comics
Arts & Entertainment – Music & Audio
Arts & Entertainment – TV & Video – Online Video
Arts & Entertainment – TV & Video – TV Shows & Programs – TV Sci-Fi & Fantasy Shows
Games
News – Politics – Campaigns & Elections
People & Society – Subcultures & Niche Interests – Science Fiction & Fantasy

No fashion sites. It missed all the cooking blogs I visit. All the recipe sites. SF/F “subculture” (hate that word. sounds like something that grows under the shower benches) is right. Politics. But nothing about books or writing or animals. Travel. Science.

On the other hand, maybe I should be glad that it missed me so badly.

Posted in the internetz

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Cornell Lab Prints Food

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Kristine Smith| Leave a comment

There are printers that can spit out 3-D model cars and others that can make paper solar panels. Next up: technology that can print food for restaurants and homes.

Engineers envision printed breakfasts synced with alarm clocks and gourmet spreads downloaded from high-end restaurants but served at the dinner table. Printers could to linked to digital food logs and programmed to churn out meals that fill in the day’s nutritional blanks.

So instead of not being able to get a table at an exclusive restaurants, will there be a waiting list for licenses for a particular dish?

It occurs to me how this could revolutionize food manufacturing–anything you eat could be plumped full of nutrients/fat-free/tuned to your individual metabolism. Could kick world hunger in the slats as well, depending on the price of the starting materials.

Link to the Cornell website here.

Posted in food, science!

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Physical

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Kristine Smith| 3 Comments

Had it today. Down 20 lbs since last year. BP’s down about 20 points (systolic), too.

I think it was the new treadmill, which shows total distance and approx calories burned. It made me want to work harder to hit high numbers. I added speedwork, which helped a lot as well.

So this is the least I’ve weighed since early 2004. I would like to lose 15 pounds more, but I would take 10. I’d be delirious if I managed to lose 20 more, but that would match the least I ever weighed as an adult, and the elderly carcass may balk at that.

Funny thing is, I’m still wearing most all of the same clothes. I was able to buy shirts one size smaller, but trousers are still hanging on. I need a belt for most of them, but they’re not too big yet.

Jackets and blazers fit me no matter what. Coat hanger shoulders.

I think I’m going to have to increase the running/jogging/walking/mix ‘n’ match in order to drop any more. Nice thing is, I’m still able to cook and bake and eat. I am eating less than I did before, but I was forced to the conclusion that I just don’t need that much food. Sad, but true. Breakfast, dinner, and a snack around lunchtime. The occasional cookie. Not giving up cookies. They are a food group.

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“We are not anti-social; we’re differently social.”

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Kristine Smith| Leave a comment

Another good column/Q&A about introversion, by author Susan Cain. The most surprising thing that Cain discovered?

The most surprising and fascinating thing I learned is that there are “introverts” and “extroverts” throughout the animal kingdom – all the way down to the level of fruit flies! Evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson speculates that the two types evolved to use very different survival strategies. Animal “introverts” stick to the sidelines and survive when predators come calling. Animal “extroverts” roam and explore, so they do better when food is scarce. The same is true (analogously speaking) of humans.

I have my extroverted moments. But the quiet glass of wine with a friend instead of a party? The need for seclusion at times? The irritation concerning the confusion between shyness and introversion? So me.

Posted in science!

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Tuesday post-con

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Kristine Smith| Leave a comment

Taking today off. A good idea.

I picked up the pups this morning from the Doggy Spa/Retreat. Both were !!HAPPY!! to see me. Gaby whimpered most of the way home and bugged me to pet her, while King sat in back and looked out the window. Once home, they ran around and drank water and ate snow and peed and dashed around and drank more water and ate more snow. They’re both sleeping now in their usual places, King by the back door and Gaby on the other end of the couch.

They were both groomed, and have the neckerchiefs to prove it. Gaby’s is pink checkers, while King’s is blue with white polka dots.

Household’s back to normal. Or as normal as it gets around here.

Posted in around the house, conventions, life with dogs

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Home

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Kristine Smith| Leave a comment

Got up around 630 EST. Packed up the car. Breakfast. Was on the road by 815 or so.

Temps were close to 50 around Detroit, and didn’t drop below 40 until I reached Illinois. Light rain all the way, changing to flakes north of Chicago. Made it home around 1 CST.

We had a snowstorm here on Friday, and I was concerned that I would need to clear the driveway before I could pull in. Imagine my surprise when I found it clear, with only a little slush and a melted-down plow bump at the bottom.

Unpacked the car, then went right out again and shopped for groceries because I had made coffee and didn’t have any half-and-half. The reason I needed coffee was because the hotel, while having pretty good food and one lovely wine, lacked in the coffee department. Seriously. Worst coffee I have ever had at a restaurant. Ever. It was as though they ran a gallon of hot water through a tablespoon of grounds. I had a headache Thursday and Friday, and while I thought at first that it was due to travel stress and dry hotel air, I think it was lack of caffeine. I slept like a rock, too, which one might do if one’s stimulant has been cut off.

I’ve had two cups of my coffee in the last two hours. I can feel my heart beating again.

Unpacked. I’m taking tomorrow off, so I’ll do the laundry then. The pups are still at The Bad Place, aka Not Home, aka the Doggy Spa. Picking them up tomorrow morning, which leaves me the evening to decompress. Kill Bill Vols 1 & 2 are on Spike. I may have another cup of coffee.

Posted in conventions

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Saturday/Sunday ConFusion

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Kristine Smith| Leave a comment

See what happens when you spend all your time doing panels and sitting at the bar? The con is over before you know it.

Sitting at a table with a plug so I can charge the MacBook. The con, it is over. I had fun. Panels went well. Spent much time talking to Violette Malan and her husband Paul, and Michelle Sagara West and her husband Tom. The reading with Jim C Hines went well. Talkingtalkingtalking until all hours.

Bought a key-shaped pendant watch, aka A Key To Time. Fear me.

Montes 2010 Malbec. Good wine. Good wine.

Hoping for decent weather tomorrow morning for the drive home. I’m seeing possible rain/snow showers and wind in the forecast, which I can live with. It’s ice that I fear most.

Time dilation. I feel as though I’ve been here for so much longer than four days. Not looking forward to the return to Real Life. Except for the pups. I miss the little stinkers.

Posted in conventions, Uncategorized

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Friday morning at the con

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Kristine Smith| Leave a comment

Tried to work last night. Dozed off at the desk, so I gave up and went to bed. The proverbial rock. Slept like it, I did. Got up at 630 CST (730 in this strange Eastern Time Zone), showered, and breakfasted. Am now in the lobby with coffee and laptop. The con really won’t get going until this afternoon, so I have time to work. Yes, *work*, dammit.

Quote from the Trib weather page:

THE CHICAGO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CONTINUES A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR 5 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW TODAY INTO TONIGHT – ENDING FROM THE WEST BETWEEN 9PM AND MIDNIGHT

Looks like I picked a good time to get out of town…although I despair for the state of my driveway when I get home.

Posted in conventions

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