The roof, the roof, the roof is [not] on FIRE

So remember that time I set off the fire alarm? No, not making sausages for Family Dinner Friday in Hillside. Nope, not that time I was making a grilled tortilla in Susquehanna either (that was the BUILDING alarm, too). I'm talking about that time five minutes ago when I was making these salt-and-vinegar-potatoes-of-awesomeness.

IN MY DEFENSE, they aren't even burned! They aren't even fully COOKED! I don't understand why my fire alarmS (yes, one in my bedroom and one in the living room) went off, but suffice it to say that I doubt I will sleep through any housefires. Silver lining: I tested them (but not really?) and they worked. The alternating pitch, earsplitting squeal, one-two punch is nothing if not effective. Of greater importance, as of right now, I haven't triggered the building alarm. I have a feeling the building alarm brings the firetrucks.

Note to self: No firetrucks.

 The real problem here is that these salt and vinegar chip-potatoes are DELICIOUS (I just ate them ALL to calm my nerves). They weren't as crispy as they should have been, and yet they were awesome. Little did I know, soaking potatoes in white vinegar and then slathering them in salt, pepper and olive oil is basically the food of the gods. Now, when I inevitably want to make more (so like, in a few hours for dinner?), I'm going to have to find a way to aerate my apartment and trick my fire alarms into thinking I'm doing something else.

Maybe they aren't sensing fires, they're sensing deliciousness and they're trying to stop me from eating it all. Jerks.

Neither here nor there

Some things from around campus ...

A few weeks ago the Bud Light merchandise people were at The Inferno, which is the [unofficial official] political science grad student bar of State College ... And somehow my quest for some Bud light ray bans culminated in this impressive display of pride in something I would never, ever drink.

Coordinates nicely with my Bacardi collection from the week before ... Is this what grad school is?

In attempt to restore my reputation, I'll bring things back to what grad school really is. Which means spending as much time as I possibly can *NOT* being in this building. This is Pond Lab, home of the political science department. Don't be fooled by the classy exterior, it still has that middle school smell on the inside. And period furniture.

I awkwardly got in the way of a kid who was trying to go up these stairs, but I simply couldn't resist documenting the architectural marvel of this library staircase ... Which somehow replicates that parking garage feeling to which I thought only Binghamton's Engineering building could stake a true claim. Guess I was wrong. The actual library looks quite nice, although I'll admit that I much prefer being holed up in my apartment with an endless supply of snacks and hot beverages.

I couldn't decide which part of this was more disturbing - the actual blood donating part (trying to get up the courage to try it, but it terrifies me) or the fact that they are implying that I would like to bleed blue. Or is this some twisted social commentary on blue-bloods? Regardless, it certainly gave me something to gag about. (Incidentally, is that the mascot? He bears a tenuous resemblance to the "Nittany lion" I see plastered around town ... Nevermind the fact I don't know what Nittany means/is.)

I had been planning to update more, but I accidentally broke my phone charger (when it looks broken but still works, you should not attempt to make it look normal ... because you will break it for real). Here's hoping the one from Amazon doesn't vanish into the vortex that is apparently the State College mail delivery system.

The Land Before Time

So I was going through my browser settings, and trying to make sure I didn't have any unwanted cookies tracking my location (cough like these cough), and in Chrome's "Under the hood" tab, I was given some options about how far back I wanted to clear my browsing data. My personal favorite? Well, you can see it in the picture below ... "the beginning of time." How grandiose.

I would like to point out the fact that the websites I visit are rather mundane and unimpressive, but I don't think anybody needs to see all of them. Feels like I'm being creeped on by a multinational corporation, and I'm just enough of a crazy hippie to find that annoying. Ah, another day in the 21st century. 

Breaking up is hard to do

The time has come. I am walking away from Facebook.

"HERESY!" You shout. "Blasphemy!" You cry, as you gently avert your children's eyes.

"Why?" You might ask, after the initial horror has passed.

Because I have no self-restraint. Because I haven't liked a single change they've made to the site since they opened it up to everyone and their mom (literally). Because I have seen the future, and I want no part of it (if you haven't, check THIS out). Because the golden age of technology has taught me the importance of privacy, and I have developed an affinity for it(she says, with a trace of irony, as she posts her manifesto onto her blog)."Because," I respond, "I want my life back."

The changes Facebook has in the works would demand weeks of careful nitpicking over my entire history on their site, just to adjust it to suit my sense of privacy (never mind the potential for hackers). There are some things, Facebook, that I am perfectly happy to have forgotten. For the rest, I have Twitter, LinkedIn, and an indelible record of Pipe Dream columns. Quite frankly, I don't think the world cares this much about what I do, and if it does, well, that's rather creepy.

In the meantime, I'll be falling back on Gmail, Gchat, Skype, Twitter, LinkedIn, my professional site, BBM, my blog ... And lest we forget ... My cellphone. You can probably find a way to contact me, if you're trying.

Of Men and Mortals.

The death penalty needs to stop. Enough of federalism, this is what the national government is for.

Fortunately, there are people and sources like Democracy Now! to tell us about the important things.

Is it fall yet?

Today's trip to the farmers' market led to an important discovery ... CIDER. I was so excited, I only hesitated for a half second before I bought the full gallon. For me. All by myself. Also got a half-dozen ears of corn, because it's so sweet and delicious that you can snack on it without even cooking it. Yum.

Also got zucchini, because I'm intrigued by this recipe. Also a green pepper, as well as peaches and yellow nectarines. Anyone know what the difference is between yellow and white nectarines, other than color?

The sun never sets ... On a day in airports.

Last week I took a trip to visit my dad in Florida, and Johan came too! Here was my first experience at the State College airport ... Resisted the urge to turn around and throw up some Nixon fingers.

I flew from State College to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Charlotte, and finally Charlotte to Tallahassee (at least Johan and I had the same flight for that part of the trip). I had to grab a picture of the 'Aquarius' water bottles, but not without explaining to the flight attendant that it was because of the song 'Age of Aquarius.'

As luck would have it, those Sky Mall magazines are FULL of entertaining gems. This was one of my favorites ... An armadillo beer holder. That's right, beer cozies are a thing of the past my friends.

I think my all-time favorite, however, was the one shown below. It took me a minute to figure out what it was, but once I realized I was all but laughing myself into tears. It's an irreverent twist on your average garden gnome - it's a pretend zombie trying to claw his way out of your yard. Brilliant, just brilliant.

I committed one of the ultimate Penn State student sins ... I went to a Florida State game before I went to a Penn State game. Not my fault, Dad got tickets to the game, because he decided it was essential that Johan learn what AMERICAN football is. FSU seemed like a good place to start. Here's Chief Osceola, on his horse near the entrance to the stadium ...

And here is a winning shot of me before the game started for proof, since anyone who knows me even a little bit would demand photo evidence. The crowd was packed by the time the game started, in case you wondered. This was the season-opening, ego-boosting, freshmen-initiating first game, after all.

Here's a video clip of the beginning of the game. FSU is famous for it's opening rituals, and there's certainly no doubt into my mind as to why. The video cuts out right before Chief Osceola rides his horse down the middle of the field and spikes his flaming spear into centerfield, but you get the idea. I love seeing the marching bands, their half-time routines were all Beach Boys hits!

Here's my dad's baby, Charlie's brother, Barney. Barney and I had never met before, and he seemed thoroughly unimpressed by my lack of catch-playing interest. When I got a bit feverish and slept through the whole afternoon he was happy to cuddle though, so that worked out well.

Here's a picture of me with my dad :) Obviously no family resemblance there ... Riiiiiiight.

And here's a picture Johan and I took in the airport! He forbid me to put up any of the others from the game, where he had a baseball hat and aviators ... I might point out that this was when we got to the airport around 5am. For flights that ended up getting bumped later or changed entirely ... Awesome.

This is in the Tallahassee airport, FYI. I thought it was funny for two reasons:

1) Tipp Hill in Syracuse

2) Obviously built to serve the massive Irish population of north-central Florida.

Coming back was a beast, because I got bumped off my flight and onto one through Atlanta (I HATE flying through Atlanta) and then took a 45 minute extended tour of the runways of Atlanta, before we finally took off (late) for Philadelphia. Apparently I followed the massive, flood-inducing storm up the entire east coast, because the weather was miserable and the turbulence was still worse. In Philadelphia we got delayed to State College, and when our pack-of-gum plane finally took off, we were flying through the storm ... Worst turbulence I think I've ever experienced ... And then the airport had no cabs. UGH. Made it home though, and was very happy to sleep :)