What DO we get up to at Harry Potter parties?


My haul from Harry Potter Yankee Swap



JUSTICE has a new look ...




Vacation Food Experiment: Quinoa Pudding




Vacation Food Experiment: Sautéed Chicken Livers







Spotted at Kenwood Towne Centre



Vacation Food Experiment: Beer Can Chicken

Sorry, no picture of this one.







Vacation Food Experiment: Tomato Ice Cream






Is it embarrassing to have a mouse daemon?

I mean, when other people have, like, rhinos and polar bears and things? I've never read The Golden Compass, so I don't know - and actually, I guess I don't know that the huge, fierce animals in the movie trailer are daemons or just fighting animals. The daemon website was showing things like foxes and cats as examples.

Please help me decide if I'm a mouse or not - you can go to the link and see if your answers match up with mine, or create your own daemon! (I'm pretty impressed with the introduction of a social element to the standard movie tie-in quiz, by the way. I don't think I've seen that tactic before.)


That Kuwaiti family eats a lot of eggs

If that's a double layer, each person is eating like eight a week.

Here's a super-fascinating photo project - what a week's worth of food looks like for families around the globe.

The project has sparked commentary elsewhere on the tubes about hunger and nutrition. I'm a little bit unclear on whether the food pictured represents what was consumed or just what was bought. Perhaps I will pick up the project's book and find out.


Daddy-o at Outback

The man likes steak.


Budget blogging

A few months ago, I got into some credit card debt and had to go on a budget to get out of it. My mom helped me set up the same budget she used back when I was a kid and our family was living paycheck-to-paycheck.

(I still remember that grey binder she seemed to take everywhere with her. One day while we were waiting for my sister's gymnastics class to let out, she let me decorate it; I used paint pens to draw a border and write "MOMMY'S BUDGET" on the front.)

Since it seems like a lot of my friends have been talking about watching their money lately, I thought I'd share how it works.

Step One. Figure out your monthly expenses: food, housing, gas, debt payments, whatever. Easy enough.

Step Two. Take it further; figure out your yearly expenses. Any significant expense that you know is going to come due at least once a year goes on the list. (This is to avoid that "Hey, I'm doing OK - whoops, my car insurance bill just came and now I'm broke" surprise.)

Also, it's a good idea to budget a bit of money for unpleasant surprises like medical expenses and car repairs. You know they're coming, so why not be ready?

Finally, you need to plan for miscellaneous expenses. The miscellaneous category is not optional. It's not just the "hitting the ATM for Starbucks money" category - it's the "I'm out of paper towels" category, the "birthday card for a friend" category, the "oh, crud, I spent too much on gas this month" category. Trust me; you need a miscellaneous category.

Here are the categories I have on my budget:
- Food (both groceries and dining out)
- Gasoline
- Rent
- Car payment
- Phone
- Gas/electric
- Internet
- Parking
- Savings (each month a friendly robot takes a small amount out of my checking account and deposits it into a mutual fund or something)
- Debt payment
- Car insurance
- Car license
- Car repairs/expenses
- Medical expenses
- OSU alumni association
- OSU football tickets
- Miscellaneous

As you can see, it gets pretty detailed.

Step Three. In this step, you divide up each paycheck you get into categories for your expenses. For example, if your rent is $500 a month and you get paid every two weeks, you know you'll need to devote (at least) $250 per paycheck to your rent. If your car insurance costs you $600 every six months, that's $50 per paycheck.

Wherever you can, overestimate. If you have a monthly bill that is $26.95 per month, budget $15 per paycheck. If your electric bill ranges from $25 to $35 per month, budget $20 per paycheck.

This is the step where you have to make the tough decisions; if your per-paycheck expenses break down to more than you're being paid, obviously you'll have to cut something out. I had to cut my food budget in half, make sure I was on the cheapest possible plans for phone and Internet, and give up my weekly trips to Target. You might have to cut out cable or consider getting a roommate. This is the sucky thing about life on a budget.

The good thing? All those little bits of extra money you're budgeting for your various expenses are going to spill over each month and pool into little puddles of extra cash you can dip into in a pinch. For example, after five months on the budget I have $25 extra in my rent category. Perhaps I will use this windfall to treat myself to Indian food!

Step Four. Write everything down. I use a binder with ledger paper, just like my mom did, but perhaps you can find a computer program that will set things up for you, or just use a spreadsheet. I've never tried.

Anyway, in the rows of the ledger you'll put your expense categories (with enough lines between each that you can write down your individual expenses), along with how much money per month and per paycheck goes to each one. You'll want a column to record the previous month's balance, a column for each paycheck, a column for any additional income (expense reimbursements from work; birthday check from Grandma; finally Coinstarring that jar of loose change), one for your expenditures, and one to record the balance at the end of the month. It's a little complicated to explain, so here's a picture:

Step Five. Finer points. Start off by listing your bank account balance in the "balance forward" column of your miscellaneous category. You want the amount of money represented on your budget to be equal to the amount in your account, and it's a good idea to check your totals at the end of each month against your bank account to make sure everything balances out.

Your entire paycheck should be accounted for; anything left over goes into the miscellaneous category. Also, I tend to put any extra income I get into misc. Then, at the end of the month, if you go over budget in any other category, you can move some cash out of misc. and into the deficient category.

Step Six. But wait - sometimes the dates work out in a way where I get three paychecks in a month! What then? This is another good thing about this budget. Since it doesn't ever plan for an "extra" paycheck, you get to do with it whatever you wish. Drop it into savings, blow it all on beer and pizza, use it to pay down your debt a little faster - anything you want. This is one of those happy three-paycheck months, so when I get my third check, I'll have an instant Christmas fund!

So, that's my budget. If you have any questions, drop them into comments. And, if you're one of the, like, six people in the world who's not worried about money, sorry for the long and pointless post.


Loud dogs

Things have been kind of loud in my apartment building today. Both my downstairs neighbors have small, yappy dogs, and they'd been working each other up for the past couple hours.

(I like to think they were saying:

A few minutes ago, I heard the noise of one of my neighbors thundering up the stairs, yelling at her dog, and presumably taking him out - because now there's only one dog making noise, but he's howling because his friend is missing.

I feel like I should buy my cat a toy for only ever making small purry noises.


You can buy little butter turkeys at Meijer. Cute and weird!


For Only One Night

Wow, I can't believe it's already 4. I spent half the day at MLT celebrating my flag football team's big win and watching th Buckeyes pull out the W against Wisconsin.

Anyway, some friends and I are doing a group blog devoted to basically what we do today. It's called For Only One Night, if you care to check it out. If you are going to a certain party tonight (and if the words "mountaintop chalet" mean anything to you, you're probably going), I'm sure you'll find tons of party pics there later.


Time to play "Guess my Halloween costume!" -- UPDATED with the answer at the bottom

No fair playing if I've already told you what it is!

UPDATE. And the answer:

A picture of the finished costume is forthcoming - I think. I hope I got one on my camera ...


Mike is back in town!


My first moblog


Handbag labels whose cachet I don't understand

- Coach
- Vera Bradley

Quick observation

If someone lets you into her lane in traffic, stopping dead in that lane with your blinker on to get into the next lane over is poor repayment for the favor.



I play flag football on Saturdays and soccer on Sundays this season.

I'm competitive. Kind of - I don't really care whether the team wins or loses, but I am competitive against myself. If I don't live up to my expectations for myself, I get very upset.

In football, my expectation is that if the ball is thrown to me, and if I am open, I will catch the ball. It seems like a very simple thing, and yet I can't do it in a game. I missed three passes today, and even though I caught three, that wasn't good enough for me.

I told Eileen I felt like Ron Weasley. She said I was being more like Eeyore.

(Soccer is actually easier because my expectations are lower for myself. If I can clear the ball a couple times a game, I feel like I've met my goal - and if by some miracle I manage to take the ball away from someone on the other team, I feel like David Beckham.)

I guess the thing to do is just to keep practicing - eventually, catching the ball will become routine.

Cat owners will relate, I think


Recycling news

I always forget what exactly I can recycle, so I was happy to find this handy guide on the City's website:

How weird - you can recycle "plastic bottles and jugs," but not "plastic food containers." I had always assumed it had to do with the number on the plastic.

Also, bad news that you can't recycle plastic shopping bags. I tend to save them for reuse, but sometimes I have too many and the excess goes in the bin. Ah, well - guess I'll have to start taking them to Bigg's. I'm pretty sure they have a program for that.


This quiz is OK

What Kind of Reader Are You?
Your Result: Dedicated Reader


Book Snob

Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm

Literate Good Citizen

Fad Reader


What Kind of Reader Are You?
Create Your Own Quiz

But I feel like there must be a better one out there somewhere.

Also, you might notice that the little percentage bars don't actually show up in the HTML coding. Here's what I saw when I completed the quiz:


My friends made a montage!

I feel like I could totally pass the LSAT now.


The case against The Big Bang Theory

The show, not the theory. I'm sure it's a perfectly good theory. Too bad it's got this crap show named after it now.

All right, full disclosure time: I only made it about 30 seconds past the opening credits of the show. Maybe it gets really awesome afterward. But here's what I saw before then:

- David From Roseanne and Some Other Guy go into a waiting room, where David From Roseanne obnoxiously solves Sassy Black Receptionist's unfinished crossword clues for her. You know, because nerds are know-it-alls. It turns out they are in a sperm bank for people with high IQs. Sassy Black Receptionist gives the nerds forms to fill out, but Other Guy chickens out, and they leave sheepishly. You know, because nerds take everything too seriously.

- Apartment building, scene of the most dramatic part of the show: the elevator is broken! Why? Anyway, Cute Blonde is moving in, and the nerds talk about her loudly and obliviously in front of her open door. You know, because nerds have no social skills. They make awkward introductions, then beat a retreat to their own apartment.

- But David From Roseanne vetoes their plan to watch Battlestar Galactica with the commentary and goes to invite Cute Blonde to lunch. (Frankly, I'm with Other Guy on this one.) Despite DFR's stammering references to colon cleansing and his failure to actually say, "So why not come over and eat with us" (you know, because nerds can't talk to women - you know, because nerds are always guys), she eventually gets the gist and accepts the invitation.

- Credits. Science-y cartoon stuff over a They Might Be Giants song, natch.

- Back in Casa de Nerd. Cute Blonde is admiring Other Guy's easel full of pages and pages of equations, which nerds do in their spare time. OG though initially slow on the uptake (just like a nerd!), has finally figured out the benefits of having CB in his apartment and is proud to show off. DFR counters with his own easel o' equations. CB compares them both to Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind.

- I turn off the TV in disgust. Actually, I unplug the computer's A/V output cables in disgust, because I'm watching the show through my laptop. But you get the picture.

And there you have it, folks. If this sounds like your kind of show, it is apparently on CBS.


My morning so far

Lying in bed on my side, staring at the glowing numbers on my clock that say I should have gotten up 15 minutes ago, I give a small cough.

Directly behind me, I hear: SPLASH, clatter, scrabble-scrabble-scrabble.

I know without turning over what sound it is: the sound of my cat being so startled by my tiny cough that she upends my water cup and zooms out of the room. "Thursday, you total spaz," I mutter as I climb out of bed and head to get a towel.

Ah, well; at least the cleanup got me up and moving.


Maybe I should start riding my bike to work ...

I calculated my commuting cost (via UrbanCincy), and here's what I got:

Yikes! That's good money that could be spent on important things like clothes or video games!

The calculator is from Metro, whose point is that sure, a bus pass might cost $40 a month, but look at what driving is costing you! Not to mention the hassle of commuting ...

I don't think I'll be giving up my car just yet. But good job, Metro - you got my attention.


Guitar Hero II rocks my socks

It's been a while since I pulled out the old Guitar Hero II, and it turns out the reason for that is that I was playing it alone. The only reason to play Guitar Hero II alone is to unlock more songs so you can play more with your friends.

Last weekend I carted my game and two guitar controllers up to West Chester, where some friends and I spent hours dueting on the 15 or so songs that were there, and it encouraged me to finish unlocking the rest of those songs. Which I finally did tonight for the Easy difficulty, thanks to a combination of persistence, Star Power, and luck.

So now I'm working on the Medium difficulty, and a couple things are different. For one, I get paid for each song I clear. Now I can visit the store and buy new characters and even songs. Awesome!

Another thing: Tonight I played my three songs to clear the Battle of the Bands venue, and suddenly, the audience is clapping in unison, and the screen flashes, "ENCORE! Do you want to go back on stage?" So I select yes, expecting the fourth song in the set to start up - but instead, some Spinal Tap song I've never heard of before comes on. I play it and clear it ... and now it's there in my setlist, presumably as a permanent option.

This post probably won't make sense if you haven't played Guitar Hero. Which is why you should totally play Guitar Hero.


From texting to movies to the GOP to DRM

Wil Wheaton eloquently sums up how the face of media is changing:

The revolution may not be televised, but it’s being blogged, YouTubed, MySpaced, Facebooked, Dugg and Netscaped.

Yes, the sound bite is hokey, but the column is actually this beautiful summation of every "OMG MSM sux" blog post you've ever read. It'll make you a believer - and, weirdly, make you want to text-message more.

Also! Are you reading Wil's blog? Because you probably should be. It has stuff like the column I posted above, but it also has stuff like this:

This afternoon, while I was trying to pull out a bottle of Tejava (99 cents at Trader Joe's) to enjoy a cool glass of tea, a bottle of clementine Izzie soda looked up at me, shouted, "Hooray! I'm free!" And launched itself onto the floor and landed in a sticky explosion of horrible, entropic freedom.

Of course you're reading his blog. If you weren't, it would just be ... weird.

(Actually, what's weird is that a copy editor in Cincinnati feels the need to promote the keynote speaker of Penny Arcade Expo. I blame the Chardonnay.)

Hello, fall

Welcome back, fall! It's been a while since we've had a good old-fashioned 85/49 day with isolated thunderstorms.


Game day, part 2

The Buckeye game was a blowout, of course. (Final score: 38-6.)

But every now and then, the scoreboard would flash the scores of other college games that were going on. When that happened, the stadium would erupt with cheers - because we could see that Michigan was losing to Appalachian State.

After the game, my sister and I made our way back to the Varsity Club party, where they had switched the TV over to the Michigan game. And let me tell you, the final five minutes of that game were more exciting than the whole of the OSU-Youngstown State game.

Appalachian State is located in Boone, N.C., which Wikipedia tells me has a population of 13,274. That means it's probable that the Mountaineers had more fans in Columbus yesterday than in their own hometown. (Possibly 10 times as many; the stadium seats over 100,000, and there were thousands more watching at the bars.)

There was pandemonium at the Varsity Club as Michigan's final field goal attempt was blocked:

(Here's a pretty good recap from the AP, and stories from Charlotte and Asheville - which, naturally, capture the mood in Columbus just a bit better than this column from Detroit.)

Game day

In May or June, I got a letter from the OSU athletic department informing me that I've been selected for the honor of purchasing tickets to the Wisconsin game. I immediately sent back a check for $120, which is my way of letting the athletic department know that I'd be honored to accept this honor. And in August, I got a letter informing me that, while they thought they could squeeze me in for the Wisconsin honor, it turns out that one is full, so here are tickets for the Youngstown State honor instead.

I wasn't surprised, because it happens every year. But I feel certain that I am working my way up the food chain, and after 10 years or so, I will be able to attend, say, the Northwestern game.

Anyway, I took my sister along.

If you go to a Buckeye football game, especially a non-conference game, there is a good chance you will spend so much time at the parties outside that you might not make it into the stadium.

But we got there by halftime, which was cool, because it was alumni band day, so we got to see four Script Ohios forming at once (the student band has two little ones going in the end zones):

Gotta love Script Ohio.


Back from vacation

Just haven't really found the time to post anything lately. Apologies.

To make up for it, here is a slightly out-of-focus photo of Mr. W looking suspicious among the wheat stalks:


The Cat Whisperer

I've managed to convince Gina to help me in my keeping-the-cat-alive goal while I'm on vacation.

To be honest, I'm a little nervous.

All the people I've had feed Thursday before (Mr. W, Sue, Kari) have actually been allergic to cats. (How nice of them to brave runny noses and itchy eyes to help me!)

Gina's the first cat owner to take on the task. And she's not just a cat owner. She is a cat person. She loves her cats. When I first took Thursday in, Gina's the one I called asking for vet advice. I kind of see her as the cat expert.

So I'm really a little nervous that she'll come by, take a look around, and decide I suck as a cat owner. What if I'm not buying the right toys? What if there aren't enough scratchable surfaces? What if Thursday hates the food I buy her, but I never knew because I've never owed a cat before this one and to me, kitty hatred looks just like every other kitty emotion?

Gina will know these things. She's the Cat Whisperer.

(Actually, the Cat Whisperer has been sick the past two days. Maybe I should start looking for a backup.)


Recipe Corner: Stir-fry sauce

When I was growing up, my mom had a pretty standard rotation of Midwestern recipes: mushroom-soup-and-rice casserole, chicken from the Crock-Pot, pork chops, make-your-own tacos.

There was one Chinese dish in this lineup. To this day, nothing I've eaten in a Chinese restaurant can compare with my mom's chicken almond. It's the reason I own a wok. (Well, that and Target was having a sale.) But since I don't always have raw almonds on hand, lately I've been trying out the sauce with different stir-frys. It's a really basic "chow mein" sort of sauce, so it works well with chicken and tofu. I haven't tried it with beef yet, but I bet it would hold up.

Here's the recipe:
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 3 tbsp. soy sauce
- 3 tbsp. water
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 2 tsp. honey
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch

I recommend that the wine be at room temperature so the honey will mix in a bit easier.

To use the sauce, start by stir-frying your meat/tofu in a bit of oil. Once it's cooked, add the sauce and cook until it's thickened. Then, add vegetables/nuts and stir-fry the whole mess until it's as done as you want it to be.

Oh, and in case you're wondering about the chicken almond recipe, it uses 1 1/2 lb chicken (cut into chunks, obvy), 12 oz snow pea pods, 1 c sliced water chestnuts, and 1 c raw almonds. Delish!


Wizard rock!

Headed to the show! Stacie likes it in the back (of the SUV).

Danae and I do that thing where I hold the camera out at arm's length and hope I have it aimed right.

Holly and Chele.

Chele rocks out with Brian from Draco and the Malfoys pre-show.

Danae bought a H&tP foam finger. That's right - they sold foam fingers.

Micah and her friend Aly, who lives in Grove City (Columbus suburb) and was kind enough to give us a ride to Skully's, where the show was. Aly has never read the Harry Potter books - but now she plans to. Such is the power of wizard rock.

Up first, The Whomping Willows. Wizard Rock 4-eva!

Holly, Chele and Danae in the crowd. Danae was about ready to go bustin' some heads if Matt didn't play "Draco and Harry." Luckily for all of us, it was his last song.

Draco and the Malfoys are up now, which means: "It's time to PARTY! LIKE! YOU'RE EVIL! It's time to FREAK! OUT! SOME MUGGLES!"

OK, so I guess Bradley lays down a drum track in advance, and then they use that for the shows. The drum machine went on the fritz, so Brian had to pull out his iBook. Macs ... is there anything they can't do? (I mean, except play City of Heroes ...)

While Brian fiddled with the drum track, Bradley played solo.

Whoa, dude - you kinda DO look evil there! I guess red-eye will do that to you.

It was an all-ages show. Here you can see a few kids sitting on the bar. I wonder if Skully's has ever had a crowd quite like this.

Things get hectic when my camera decides it's happier on the "Make Everything Look All Trippy" setting.

That would be Paul (aka Harry Year 7) if my camera weren't doing the trippy thing.

There we go! Hello, Paul!

Uh-oh! Looks like one of the Malfoys infiltrated the Potters' set! Bradley changed ties and came onstage as Bill Weasley.

Joe (Harry Year 4) pulls out a sax. Awesome!

These guys basically never stop jumping. Check their MySpace photos if you don't believe me.

It's tough to see in this photo, but this guitar has a lightning bolt painted on it, which is pretty cool. At one point, the guys did the guitar salute from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, which was pretty rad, because I knew there had to be someone else out there who liked that movie. Too bad I didn't catch it on film.

Joe plays keyboards, and the bubble machine goes wild! This was the big finish, "The Weapon." So the bubble machine's going, and suddenly the guys jump into the crowd and start giving everybody hugs, and everyone's singing, "The weapon we have is LOVE!" - and it sounds hippie-ish in the retelling, but it was pretty awesome if you were there.

After-party at Barley's in the Arena District. As you can see, Danae took advantage of the excellent happy hour at Skully's. During the show, she was fanning everyone around her with her foam finger - which was nice, except when she would get a little too close and start hitting you in the face with it. Afterwards, she wandered around the bar offering everyone Soft Batch cookies.