Potato Peelers

Les and I have tried the tricky Japanese shirt-folding technique with quite a bit of success, so this easy potato-peeling technique from Japan seems appealing (get it? a-PEEL-ing!), too. I am not a big fan of peeling potatoes because I'm afraid of somehow nicking my potato-holding hand with the peeler (although this has never actually happened <--- irrational fear!). Also, it seems like I've never been in a situation that required fewer than 25 peeled potatoes, so its always a long and tedious process. The end reward of creamy, delicious mashed potatoes makes it worth while, of course, but what if there was a better way?

Unfortunately, I do not have any potatoes on-hand because they're just not a very summery food to me. I guess I'm just posting this with the hopes that someone out there will try it and tell me if it works. Any research assistants out there?

One of the commentors on the potato peeling page said that this Japanese process takes longer than peeling potatoes with a knife. He or she may be correct, but it seems so much more rewarding to see the skin come off in one swoosh. I mean, would you rather sit at a stop light if it meant that you could drive 5 miles without being in stop-and-go traffic, or would you rather just inch along for the 5 miles because it meant that you were constantly in motion? Wait! I may have come up with the universal question that defines our personalities and divides us up into two diverse groups! Potato-rific!

Working Ahead

I would not consider myself a deliberate, plan-ahead type of person, but my job (admin assistant) requires that I work at least a few weeks into the future in my boss's calendar -- making appointments, rearranging meetings, and planning for travel. As a result, I often find myself unaware of what the actual date is, and sometimes even have a hard time keeping track of the current month. On very rare occasions, the year somehow escapes me, although those moments are usually in December or January -- the transitory months between years when everyone else is confused, too.

One such time-warp event occurred tonight, as I was brushing my teeth, and I honestly lost my head for about 10 intense minutes.

Here's the scenario: We are a few weeks away from a long vacation to Alaska, and because we will be crossing into Canada on our trip, we need to have current passports. As I was brushing my teeth (brush, brush, brush), this little Q&A was playing out in my mind:

Q: Hmmm. How long are passports actually valid?
A: I think they're valid for ten years, if I remember correctly.
Q: And how long ago did we actually get our passports?
A: Maybe a year or two after we got married. It's probably been about ten years now...

At this point, you must imagine a small choke, some spitting, a clatter of a toothbrush in the sink (unhygienic, I know, but emergencies are emergencies!), and a rush of bare feet on carpeted floors (in other words, insert no sound effects here). I dug out my passport from its secret hiding place (yeah, you wish you knew!) and stared at the date. My passport reads: Date of expiration 20 AUG / 08.

20 August! Why, that's (gasp, gasp, gasp) six days from now! Already I am calculating how long it might take to get a passport renewed. I'm instantly sitting at the computer, typing "renew US passport" into Google. I'm reading government web pages frantically, looking for timelines, expedition costs, and online applications. I'm planning my Wednesday: I'll go to our local passport office as soon as possible in the morning. Nothing else matters. Nothing else!

Then, slowly, I have the calming realization that "08" means next year. We are in fact living in what is popularly known as "07." The tingling sensation slowly drains from my arms. My eyes blink. I take a deep breath. Everything is going to be okay. Really.

Based on current passport issuance trends, I should actually be freaked out now if I am planning a trip out of the country any time after August 20 of next year, but for the moment I'm going to stay focused on this month and this trip and put off worrying about next year until a later date. Hopefully, I'll still be at least three months ahead of schedule anyway.

Construction Complete!

I left on Friday and my world was construction-encrusted. When I returned home today, my world was nearly construction-free! It's a summer miracle!

It seems that most of the Briley Parkway/Elm Hill Pike construction is truly done, and the construction crews somehow managed to knock it out while I was away for the weekend. This created a "how long have I been gone?" sensation as I unexpectedly found myself driving on orange-barrel-free, newly paved roads on the way to my house this Sunday evening.

Although I barely remember what the roads were like before the days of construction, and although I never really hated all the construction messing up the traffic flow near my house, I do have to say that the current status is like driving through a paradise. It's so smooth, so roomy, so efficient. I am totally loving life now!

Viva la Manifesto!

First, let me start by saying that a person can never use the phrase "Viva la ______" too many times. I just had that realization (many of you cleverer people probably have known this for years) when I started typing the title of this post. I thought, "Oh, I probably have used 'Viva la ______' already at some point. I should search my blog for it before I use it again. I don't want to be redundant." Then I thought, "No, you can never use 'Viva la ______' too many times. It's a classic!" I just want you to know where I stand on this issue before we go any further.

Now, on to the actual topic of this post: An Incomplete Manifesto. I love the ideology of this piece of writing and, after losing it for about two years, I was happy to stumble on to it again (okay, I actually just thought of it tonight, and then googled it, and here it is -- deliberate stumbling). I used to have this Incomplete Manifesto posted in my cubicle at work at Borders. When I changed companies, I thought it was a bit too radical to post at my new job, so it didn't make the transition with me to my current cubicle. Some people would say that I shouldn't let things like where I work and who I work with determine the "flags I fly," but I beg to differ. Although I do admire people who are who they are all the time regardless of the situation they're in, I am more intrigued by people who manage to keep their work personas and home personas at least a little bit separate. I think it helps to define the mental space between work-life and home-life, but it also allows some flexibility to be who you need to be for that particular moment.

At any rate, I thought I would post it here for some others to enjoy. That way I'll know right where it is when I need it again.

Viva la repetition!

Scooting Around

Through zaadz.com's newsletter, I read about this woman who is traveling around the US on her scooter (she's only a few months younger than me, so it was even more interesting to read about her). I knew I would just lose track of her website if I saved it to my Favorites, so I thought I'd post about it here on my blog.

Although I'm quite overwhelmed by the idea of planning for an adventure like the one she is about to go on, I have to say that a sense of excitement coursed through me as I read about her prep work and experiments. At heart, I long to be the wild adventurer, heading out into the unknown wilderness. In reality, I've grown practical and more cautious as I've gotten older. I wouldn't consider myself "dug in" (as my friend Den likes to call folks who won't move houses or change jobs for the rest of their lives), but I'm walking more down that path than the path of wild abandonment.

I think I'm okay with that at the moment. In truth, I'm a really great cheerleader and I can happily live vicariously through other people's experiences. But someday I may run free again, and then I'll be having too much fun to blog about it.

Added an RSS Feed Option

Sick of wondering when I actually get around to posting something on my blog? Well, scroll to the bottom of this page and hit my RSS feed option and you'll never need to wonder. Updates will come to your door (sort of).

First, you'll need to get an RSS reader set up. Les recommended Google's RSS reader, which you can find here. Or you can download FireFox (another internet browser system) and read about their "live bookmarks" option here.

If you're like, "What's RSS?" then you should read this wiki entry about it here. Actually, I need to read it as well, because I am totally clueless. This post could be titled "the blind leading the blind" for all that I know about RSS.

Let me know how it goes. I've also linked my blog to my Facebook account, so if you're a Facebook friend, you can keep up with things online that way.

Remember that I'm a total non-techie, so these are giant steps for me. Gulp.

Clapicap

After years of trying to be a rhythmicly-inclined, participating audience member, I have finally come to terms with the fact that I just can't clap when I'm supposed to. I consistently find myself clapping to a different beat as everyone else in the venue, and when I notice it, I have to stop, watch everyone else for a few claps to see when they're clapping, and then jump back in, on-beat. It feels a little like trying to jump in between twirling double-dutch ropes. I was never particularly good at that either.

It could be worse, I suppose. I am at least clapping rhythmically, if off-beat, exactly opposite of everyone else. I could be unable to keep any rhythm at all, meaning that I could never get back on beat with people at any point. As it is now, if I really focus, I can eventually get to the point of blending in with the crowd. I think there is some sort of life symbolism here...

I don't know what to blame this opposite-clapping tendency on. Is it because I sang a lot of spirituals at vespers in high school and people at the sing-a-long were often trying to set themselves apart by clapping in interesting ways? Did I just develop a unique clapping style at that formative age, by association? Or is it because of "Dub Sundays" at our house, where I hear a whole four or five hours of dub music, which emphasizes the off-beat? Or is it just because I'm so unique that I have a hard time going along with the crowd?

I realized half way through this post that I could have actually called this problem that I have a "handicap" since it involves my hands misfiring. People might not have gotten the pun, but I would have laughed about it to myself every time I re-read this post. Instead, I broke out the word "clapicap" (which came to me one night as I was laying in bed, half-asleep), which probably no one will get until they get to this paragraph, but I became obsessed with the perceived cleverness of it and then couldn't walk away from it. "Clapicap" doesn't hold up as well in the light of day, but I'm comitted to it now and have decided to try and work it into today's vernacular.

Let that be a lesson to you all -- the words you think up half-asleep may not be the best tools on your workbench. Clap on!

I guess I'm the only one impressed...

After my June 1 (2007) post on the great progress I've seen the construction crews making on Briley Parkway, my husband sent me this Tennessean article. Obviously, I am the only person in the state of TN who is impressed with how quickly this project is moving along.

I've only lived here two years, so I just must not have reached the same level of critical mass of impatience with this project that people who have lived here since the beginning of this mess have reached.

I still say that it's really coming along, so my kudos remain in effect. I just wanted to give my blog readers the other side of the story.