What-What?! Week of March 15th

This week has been eventful; my husband has been promoted, which is excellent.  I'm really excited by the opportunities this promotion opens up for him.  The increase in pay is nice, too. :P

I took Saffron to her Girl Scout meeting, and that went well.  We're starting to get into earning badges and doing activities in the little workbook thing.  They had strawberries and whipped cream to celebrate the founder's birthday.

Saffron and Oz both seem to be sick again, with runny noses and general tiredness.  I thought it might be allergies, but Saffron also has a fever and is just miserable.  Poor kid fell asleep watching TV yesterday afternoon, which almost never happens.

Backyard Bird Identifier via National Geographic

This is very cool.  I took Saffron out to walk around the lake this past weekend, and we both saw a pretty wide variety of birds.  I was trying to figure out what one of the song birds we saw was, and stumbled upon this bird finder.  You input facts about the bird you saw, and it gives you illustrated options on what it might be.  We saw an American Robin (female one, I think), Canada Geese, American Coots, and Wood Ducks (last two are not in the guide).  Since we moved, this is probably the most diverse I've seen the lake in terms of water birds.  I plan on using this and the information in the bird profiles to create some bird ID cards with the two big kids.  I think they'll really enjoy it.

Print Lego-Compatible Bricks!

I have no idea how to use this one!

 Finally, something useful to make with 3D printers! (Other than all those other uses...).

These are really cool, and I could see this as a great way to make your own sets.  I'd like to know if they are as good as actual Lego bricks, because I've tried some of the other brands in commercial production, and they just aren't as good.  They do okay, but just don't hold as well, and that's pretty important.  Especially since my boys like to smash spaceships together still. :P

What-What?! Week of October 19th

This week was a week.  I started on my new job, which is not horrendously exciting, but well enough.  I suppose I should explain what I am doing a bit more; I am working for ZeroChaos as an Ads Quality Rater.  The official description for what I do is: As an Ads Quality Rater, you will be responsible for reporting and tracking the visual quality and content accuracy of Google advertisements.  (Hit the link for more info on the job description).

Monday I had my training, and Tuesday I started working for real.  Thursday evening, I got my first review, and received pretty good feedback -- the things I went wrong with were mostly ratings where the guidelines are a bit more fuzzy.  This job relies on a lot of general knowledge in making decisions, and makes me happy I know as much as I do about computers and car companies, because I keep getting tasks centered around those topics.  The only difficult part about this job is doing it at home; I'm still working out a good schedule that makes it easy to work around taking care of the kids and house.

Flexible Muscle-Based Locomotion for Bipedal Creatures

I don't know what to categorize this as, other than just awesome.  Thomas Geijtenbeek and his associates do biomechanical engineering work, and have done extensive research on animating creatures using physics-based simulations.  The video below is both interesting and pretty funny.  For the author's website, hit the above link.

Crazy Halloween Costumes

Saw this on Reddit, and was really impressed by the costume accuracy.  This was the child's costume from last year.  The one for this year?  A vending machine:

...and my kids just want to be robots, princesses and Buzz Lightyear.

Maybe next year we should all be inanimate objects?

What-What?! Week of July 21st

I was really, truly going to cook this week, but then I didn’t.  Recently, my husband has spent more time cooking than I have; I’ve been tired and honestly rather uninspired by the ingredients I’ve had around.

Grocery News:  Appearing Clean versus Being Clean via Progressive Grocer

I have a subscription to The Progressive Grocer magazine, which covers grocery industry news and trends; along with that subscription, I also receive The Independent Progressive Grocer, which is specifically for smaller chains and independent stores.  I really like The Independent, because it discusses issues on a store-level, as opposed to more general trends and news.  This past issue discussed the topic of cleanliness, especially in how it relates to appearance – a store cannot just be clean, it has to look clean.  Many times, a customer can’t tell if the store is being cleaned properly, which creates a situation where customers are dependent on cues from how things look.  In the article, store owners talked about the importance of how employees are dressed, how the floors look, and designing a store so that customers can see the food prep areas.  By having sharply-dressed employees, the least important parts of the store looking great, and having transparency, it builds consumer trust, which is incredibly important in the food industry (I’d never buy food from someone I don’t trust, that’s for sure!).

News:  Tyrannosaurus Rex– Ruthless Hunting Machine via The Guardian

Now for something awesome!  A skeleton of a Hadrosaur was found with a T-Rex tooth embedded in its spine.  This find has the possibility of settling the long-standing argument of whether a T-Rex was a hunter or a scavenger.  I am very excited by this – I grew up watching dinosaur documentaries arguing about this, and would love to see it put to rest.

Food:  Stove Top Macaroni and Cheese

After last week’s post about instant mac and cheese, I decided to make some of the real deal.  The method that I use is adapted from White on Rice Couple, though I only followed the recipe once, then never bothered to measure again.  This recipe is brilliant because you make the sauce while you cook the noodles, in the same pot!  The downside is that it takes near-constant stirring for 15 minutes, which is difficult when I’m home alone with the children.

Ingredients:

• Noodles (as much as you want; I use 1/2 pound)
• Milk (enough to cover noodles in pot; I use 2-3 cups milk)
• 1 tablespoon mustard (Dijon, yellow, brown, whatever’s in the ‘fridge)
• 1 cup shredded cheese (Cheddar, Monterey jack, etc.)
• Salt
• Nutmeg, if desired

Add noodles, mustard, salt, and nutmeg to saucepot, and fill pot with enough milk to cover.  Heat on high until simmering, then immediately turn down to low.  Continue to simmer, stirring often, for about 15 minutes, until milk is thickened and noodles are nearly cooked (add more milk if needed).  Stir in cheese, then cover pot for 3-5 minutes – the noodles will finish cooking and absorb more of the sauce.  Give one final stir, then enjoy.

Disney:  Boxes with Humor
I had ordered some toys from Disney to put away for birthdays and Christmas, so when we received this box, we put the kids in their room and opened it up (because we like to look at toys, too).  When the husband started opening the wrong side of the box, we saw this beauty:

 “Open other end, Dopey”.  Someone, somewhere made the decision to put that there.

Next week, I’ll be reviewing Captain Bogg and Salty’s most recent album, talking pirate festivals, and perhaps a scone recipe that’s currently in the works.  ‘Til then!

(img via guardian.co.uk)