Gottman's Lab

Who-hoo!

All you pysch majors can appreciate this--I just got assigned an "internship" at RRI lab, most commonly known as Gottman's lab. I'll be assisting my former pysch 101 professor, Amber Tabares (quoted in the book Blink) in analyzing data from interviews and tests conducted with married couples to determine what actions have the most influence on the state of their relationship.

I begin my job in September and will be devoted to this study until February of next year. I am quite excited to have been given this opportunity, as I'm not a UW student and there are dozens of students who would have willingly done the job for needed credits.

I'm sure I'll have more to blog later as the lab work gets underway. :-)

Midnight Trips

Nick and I are an exciting couple. One of our hobbies is driving out late at night. It used to be, when we were first married we would drive up to Bellevue around 11pm to go to the 24 fitness club there. This particular location has a pool, running track, racquet ball, basketball, etc. We'd have a great time using the weight machines, treadmills, racquet ball court, whatever we wanted as there'd only be like 10 other people in the entire gym. After a long workout we would soak in the hot tub all by ourselves. I love going places late at night. My motto is, if you see other people while your out, you've left the house too early.

Anyway, it is sad to admit it, but its been quite awhile since the days of weekly midnight trips to Bellevue. But we still get out. The latest thing for us is visiting the super walmart down past Olympia. Its a nice quiet one hour drive and this walmart has some good stuff. Its huge. While most 25 year olds go clubbing on Friday night at 1am, you can find Nick and I at walmart and we don't even live on a farm in the south. I'm thinking we would probably be prime candidates for a "social life" edition extreme makeover show.

Funny thing is, seeing as how we're getting lazier as the years go by, I figure in about two years our new hobby will be visiting midnight buffets.

I know, I know... we're strange. But then again, have you been to a super walmart?

P.S. - Here is one of the items I love to get at the Super Wal-Mart, no other store carries these. Little cakes that are tasty and healthy.

Friday Night Poetry Reading

So, all this research for my nonsense lyric of the week post has got me motivated to write more. I realized that the majority of the world has no problem listening to songs that make no sense, and people have made good money writing what I call, "vending machine quality" songs for musicians. I think I better jump on this bandwagon.

My new goal with poetry is to go with what comes to me first--question nothing--and I might have better luck in seeing my work reach the mainstream audience. We'll see.

Heres my first attempt:

beatnik in a metal car
holding a popsicle in my wallet
i breathe, it breathes
the crimson sky is glassy blue

you told me once
a road is a road, is a road is a road
clover, daisy, ruby baby
can i eat you now

old port wine is good
for the garden I've got growing
lick the dice
and see what you get

Props to QVC...

So I am an average channel flipping TV watcher--and have happened upon the QVC shopping channel every now and then, stopping to watch, er, I mean make fun of the hosts and how they chatter away to convince the world that every one us needs to own a lime green, bejeweled, faux leather, fringed and flowered lab coat, or whatever the "hot pick" thing of the day is.

Last weekend, all of Saturday was devoted to scrapbooking--which besides food and wine is one thing I am all about. One item that caught my eye (enough to motivate me to buy) was a card making kit. I ordered it online on Sunday and today received the light blue fabric box that contains supplies to make 50 cards (from birthday to just because), 2 multipurpose albums and straightforward instructions on how to assemble each of the intricate, stylish "homemade"cards. I'd call the finished product semi-homemade, but none-the-less the cards look great and are much more chic than any store bought card! The supplies included are all in contemporary colors and are absolutely high quality, as are the albums and keepsake box it all came in.

Though on the set of alphabet stickers included--the letter K is missing. But no complaints, QVC actually emailed and called me before my item arrived to inform me the letter K would be missing from the sticker sheet and that they would be shipping it shortly. I had to laugh!
QVC gets an A+ for attending to the details!

You can find item number F10915 in three color schemes--beige, pink or blue at www.qvc.com Cost is $40, or $39.16 to be exact, before shipping.

Book Review: The Little Book of Stress

"Calm is for wimps, get real, get stressed."

I recently discovered a life altering publication titled,
The Little Book of Stress, by Rohan Candappa.

Rohan successfully imparts his wisdom on how to

work additional stress into everyday life.

Intended for people that currently experience

dissapointly low levels of naturally occuring
stress.

Here are just a few of his suggestions:

Schedules:

Make them whenever possible.

Include an unrealistic number of tasks.
Agonise over why you're constantly falling behind.

Bedtime Reading: Write down your
worries. Read the list before you go to bed.

The Best Policy: Be honest all the time. With everyone, about everything.

The End of Friendship: Come to terms with the
undeniable truth that a friend is only an enemy you
haven't upset yet.

See through my eyes...

Here's what I see through my cubicle window.

A little incentive to come to work :)

Uncrustable...

So you say your short on time? Life to busy? Too many time consuming tasks to make it possible to spend time in the kitchen like your mother used to?

Have I got the solution for you :) No longer must you spend hours searching for the white bread, p.b. and jar of jelly.. only to get messy and gooey as you unsuccessfully attempt to get more p.b. & j on the bread than you. It is all too familiar, and I like you, desperately needed an alternate solution.

Enter the "Uncrustable"... for all of us that just don't have the time to assemble high maintenance peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I'll admit that at first glance, I thought it unlikely that a crimped frozen sandwich would be at all pleasant to taste. Yet, this past week I bought a box. At 210 calories and 6g of protein a sandwich I figured it's not a bad idea for a quick breakfast. And I was pleasantly surprised. The crust, once thawed does for the most part mirror the taste of a fresh slice of white bread. Because it is frozen, it is a bit difficult to eat immediately, as that requires a defrost in the microW which can leave it a bit warm. <-- not to my liking.

For the optimal eating experience, place it in your lunch sack, that'll give it a good 4-5 hours to thaw. As far as the flavors of the p.b. & j? Acceptable, which for me is saying alot, I'm picky. I notice anytime a manufacturer changes the shape of, taste of or mix of ingredients. And peanut butter is particularly challenging... For example, Reese's PB candies, they all taste really different. The ratio of peanut butter to chocolate, shape of the candy, version, etc. yes, it makes a big difference. Some too sweet, some not sweet enough, you see where I'm going.

I am also sensitive to the flavors some foods take on once they are morphed into a " convienence product" which is intended to survive fire and flood, but apparently not neccesarily taste good... Having tried many a frozen dish, only to comment "why, why, can they not make this product taste better?"--I really didn't have high expectations, (which might be inflating my satisfaction with this item) but overall it met my criteria. Jelly tastes like jelly, p.b. tastes like p.b. and the bread...like bread. Amazing!

And because Smuckers paid me to post this blog, I must inform you that it comes in two flavors, grape jelly (and pb) and strawberry jelly (and p.b).... And you can find it at any fine local retailer.

Beef on Food Network

I love the food network. I'll watch any chef cook anything, anytime. Funny thing is, I don't think many watchers, myself included, watch with the intention of recreating the recipes they see made. I haven't quite figured out why (aside from being a foodie) I enjoy watching the food preperation process so much.

The point of this blog though is not to go on about my being a foodie. I've got a beef with many chefs on the FoodTV network. It seems that many of them think nothing of adding a stick of butter, a cup of olive oil, a few tablespoons of bacon fat or lard to a large percentage of their creations. The objection I have is that it seems that with large amounts of fat on hand, anyone can make almost anything taste good.

In my opinion, a good chef is someone who can combine lean meats, cheeses, low-fat side dishes with herbs and spices to create something pleasing to the palate without using the crutch called added fat (or sugar or salt for that matter). I liken being a chef to being an author. Authors know that punctuation should always be used sparingly. One sign of a weak writer is overuse of exclamation points. A good author should have the ability to craft sentences that fully express the emotions they want to convey, rather than relying on puncuation to carry the emotion.

Fats and oils are to cooking as expressive punctuation is to writing. They are to be used sparingly. If overused, they highlight a chef's inability to present his audience with an appealing dish that highlights his creativity with challenging ingredient combinations that please our palates without the cheap stand in of fat appeal.

Fatty, yummy lasagna dishes are a dime a dozen. But make a tasty one with low fat ricotta, mozzarella, and lean beef and you'll instantly earn my praise. That said, Emeril, Paula Dean, Barefoot Contessa... you've got work to do to become an excellent chef in my eyes.

Hi from Napa Valley

We've arrived! And will be on our way shortly to begin tasting. Yesterday was an adventure driving from LA up here in our rented convertible, we're loving it. We took the opportunity to take a detour (with the top down) to San Francisco. With downtown traffic we ended up driving around for 2-3 hours lost. We drove near the fisherman's wharf, but didn't stop. And all the frickin bridges makes for a confusing commute :)

Not much else to report, other than that we both still feel like we're moving having been on a ship for 4 days. I am glad to be eating some non-junk food... though here comes more alcohol..

Well, I'm off to see the beautiful valley and hopefully taste some really great wine :) Well be meeting up with the CA relatives tomorrow, should be fun!

Beth

Hi from Ensenada

Hello! sitting here outside a loud bar as the ship sways! We have had a fun week--left the ship today to tour wineries in Ensenada, bought some cuban cigars, vanilla and wine of course.

Nick and I participated in a scavenger hunt game last night and our group got 2nd place! bet you'll be jealous of my royal caribbean prize hat :)

So life on the cruise ship has been interesting, we've eaten about one of everything offered, danced, drank our fair share and played bingo, gambled, shopped and sun-tanned.

Tomorrow we'll be on shore heading to Napa. Loni-thanks for the cute letter from zoe, we loved it! I told you she was high maintenance :)

Hope to check in later. I'd write more but this keyboard sucks and I paying by the second :)

bye!

Sailing Away...

Hi!

Writing from the internet cafe on the monarch of the seas ship. So far we've taken stock of what the ship has to offer and are awaiting our dinner and entertainment which begin at 7pm. With all the 24/7 ammenities I'm thinking we'll come back as spoiled oompa-loompa's (but we'll try to limit ourselves to 2-3 buffets a day)

The safety drill really tested our patience as they packed us tightly in our life jackets out on deck. Nick neglected to inform me of this cute little welcoming ritual standard with all cruises.

I am enjoying a cosmo as I write, so forgive me if my words are jumbled.

Tomorrow we hit San Diego for a little shopping.

More later...