LOTR + Strawberries = Saturday Night Fun

Last weekend, Mr. Dude's mom called me up and invited me to go strawberry picking.

Mr. Dude was out with his own dad to celebrate Father's Day [something about a brewery tour and a viewing of Godzilla, neither of which I was interested in], and Little Guy and I were about ready to go on a run.

But strawberry picking?

I posed the question on that social network the all-knowing audience [aka, "Facebook"]: 

Exercise Option: Do you think I'll choose my normal run with a stop at a park to let Little Guy play, or going to pick strawberries with my mother in law where Little Guy can play in the mud with us?

I'll give you a hint: I'm a foodie who hates running, and a mom who doesn't mind dirt.

Bonus points if you got the right answer before I show you this:

Grandma had a fabulous time with Little Guy, showing him how to find the strawberries and pull them off the plants. I'm pretty sure her plan was to get time in with her grandson whilst her daughter-in-law did most of the picking.

Cute baby in a strawberry basket in the middle of a field. Ridiculously cute? I think so.

Also, there was a lot of dirt. C'est la vie. 

Once we got home, though, the real work began. Washing, slicing, sorting and freezing two whole flats of strawberries is no picnic, people! It called for a marathon of something to entertain my brain.

[Fellowship to the Rescue!!!]

It was rather odd to be slicing something so sweet and yummy whilst Ring Wraiths attacked poor Frodo at Weathertop, or whilst nine members of the Fellowship fought off hordes of angry goblins and a cave troll down in the Mines of Moria. But it was nice to have the distraction.

Mr. Dude came home from time with his dad and paused the movie to tell me about his day. I think he may live in the meme-world a little too often, because he stopped it right here:

["So I walk in the door and Steph had this going. It seems I paused it at EXACTLY the right moment. One does not simply pause a 3 hr movie at the opportune time."]

Seriously?!?! How does he do that?!?!

Xbox One vs. PS4 ... GO!

Mr. Dude used to have a collection of consoles.

When we got married, he had an original Xbox and a PS2.

Then came an Xbox 360.

Then, somehow, he weasled his way in to buying a PS3.

Mr. Dude: But, Stephanie, we need a BluRay player. The 360 doesn't have one.

Me: And why should I care about that?

Mr. Dude: Because this:

[Image via Amazon.com]

Mr. Dude: And because it's available on Amazon Prime. 

Me: Ooooooohhhhhh ... well that's different. Fine. Get the PS4. BUT! New rule. For every console you purchase, you must get rid of one from here on out. And, there must be some benefit to me, as well.

Mr. Dude: DONE!  

[BluRay comes in handy for all sorts of things like the LOTR Extended Edition Trilogy, the bonus features for Enchanted that aren't available on the DVD, Pride and Prejudice with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth ... you know - the important stuff.]

Then sometime this year ... last year? ... [the timeline is foggy because we have so many discussions about what gadget he's going to buy next and why] ... he started musing on whether to get an Xbox One [which was confusing, because that's what we had been calling the original Xbox over here] or a PS4. Fortunately for him, he had already sold off the PS3 in favor of playing BluRays via his computer, so there was "room" for another console.

Want to see that conversation played out in real life? Here, we took video:

Okay, so really that's Sheldon and Amy from The Big Bang Theory. But you get the point.

I think I've mentioned before how it seems that the writers must just follow my life story for materials because I've had so many of the exact conversations that go on in that show.

It's getting kinda creepy, Chuck Lorre ...

Thankfully, we've put off buying anymore consoles for the time being. Mr. Dude believes that the consoles must be advanced enough technologically beyond the last generation to justify the price, so we're safe.

For at least the next five minutes.

Until he actually makes up his mind.

No, Seriously. What About Second Breakfast?

Little Guy turned one earlier this month, and my family made the trek all the way from sunny CA to celebrate with us.

They took the opportunity to give him some ... um ... appropriate gifts.

One sister, for example, created these:

It's what happens when you have access to the interwebs, a printer, and iron-on patches. So now my kid can go around proclaiming on his shirt what his general M.O. of life seems to be:

"But what about second breakfast?"

The other sister gave him what I call the "maniacal bumblebee" and what Mr. Dude has proclaimed one of the most awesome toys ever.

Want to see their ad for it? Watch the overly cheerful video. And then wonder if the video editor lost some hair while working on that project. Auntie's "Operation: Bug the Momma, Please the Nephew" is a complete success, y'all. Because Little Guy LOVES it.

[We have a dichotomy in our parenting philosophies, by the way. Mr. Dude thinks that loud, noisy toys make childhood more fun. I, on the other hand, am the one at home all day with Little Guy, so I hear that noisy toy a LOT. And I think a kid needs to learn to be entertained without all the flashing lights and sounds. But hey, he loves leafing through his board books and playing with blocks, so we'll call it good.]

I'm just worried about what's gonna happen when Mr. Dude gets around to building that DOS Pentium II off-line machine that our kids will get to use.

Too. Many. Flashing. Lights! Aaaaaauuuugggghhhh!

But What About Second Breakfast?

Or in my case today, what about a second cup of tea?

There have been a lot of second "cuppas" this past week as both I and this blog fell off the face of the earth. That's what happens when you've got one very sick Little Guy who decided that a fever meant lots of snuggling with momma and sleeping. I took to calling him a "Clingy Monkey". But at least he was a cute clingy monkey.

So, we're back. He's back to causing mischief, I'm back to writing, and Mr. Dude is the same as he ever was.

Well, except for today, when his company sent him to a SharePoint training this week instead of his normal work routine.

Know what he's most excited about?

Free, unlimited Mountain Dew.

You know, the kind of soda he used to drink during multiple weekends of playing waaaaaaay too much Halo in high school. He claims it's how he stayed out of trouble.

[I'm guessing his mom is grateful her couch got a little beat up by crowds of teenage boys working their way through endless levels of video games on the "Legendary" difficulty, rather than have her son get mixed in with the wrong crowd. I wonder if they thought to buy stock in Mountain Dew since they were probably single-handedly keeping the profit margin high?]

But back to real life outside of Mr. Dude's nostalgia trip today ...

I'm back on "PAX Duty" since he's out of WiFi. And back to real life chores after spending most of my weekend doing this:

Ever seen Meryl Streep's amazing performance in Julie and Julia? Holy cow. The movie is based on a mix of this book and the blog of a gal named Julie who learned to cook by working her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I'm wondering if anyone can read this book without getting drool all over their face and not getting up at least three times to go scour the kitchen for something, anything that could be even a fraction as tasty as all the food she describes in her book.

The mug, by the way, is full of Earl Grey. Hot. Make it so. [Yeah, that was a Star Trek reference. I know.] Because every good book needs a good mug or glass of something yummy to accompany it. One friend suggested that I have a good glass of wine, some fantastic crusty French bread and a really creamy Brie to savor while I read. I agreed, but I was fresh out of all three. And too glued to the book to go to the grocery store. So I settled for the tea. Much more British than French, but still tasty.

So that's what I geeked out on this weekend. Mr. Dude may be writing PowerShell scripts for this and that, continually locking down our network, and waiting for PAX Prime tickets to go on sale. I'm learning how to cook all sorts of tasty things.

C'mon. 'Fess up. What hobbies did you do instead of chores this weekend?

Nerd Status Panic Attack

In the world of baseball, going 2/3 in a game is a great batting average.

In the world of being almost a nerd, going 2/3 means I haven't gone over the edge. Yet.

But oh man, did I get a scare.

Scrolling through my FB newsfeed ... saw a post by Mr. Sulu George Takei that a friend shared ... and almost had a heart attack.

OH CRAP. I KNOW WHAT ALL OF THOSE ARE.

Or at least I thought I did.

The ways of the force? Easy, that is. Star Wars.

The One Ring? You mean the One Ring to Rule Them all? LOTR. Duh.

Muggles? Wow. Talk about a reference out of left field. They brought in Puddleglum from The Silver Chair? Random, but okay.

Except NOT okay because I know EXACTLY who they're talking about and so according to the totally legit authority of the some(e)cards meme, that makes me a full-fledged nerd!!!

Aaaauuuugggghhhhh!

Oh wait.

That said "muggles". Not "marshwiggles".

[Insert my quick Google search here.]

Oooooh. Those are from Harry Potter.

Never read the books. Only seen clips of the movies when other people have had them on in the room.

Never mind. I'm not a complete nerd.

[Yet.]

Awkward Family Photos and Verbal Analogies, SAT-Style

[We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this important bulletin: Today is "Family Harmonica Day".]

The Awkward Family Photo calendar said so.

"Why on earth", you ask, "do you have an Awkward Family Photo calendar?!?!"

Good question.

Have you ever heard of "photo-bombing"? Usually, it's a practice where someone jumps into another's scene while a photo is being taken, without the primary subjects noticing. Benedict Cumberbatch and squirrels alike have been known to take up the hobby.

At our house, it's what happens when you ask friends to babysit whilst you attend a wedding, and they see fit to grace our walls with said calendar's presence, without you noticing until after they had left for the night. In this case, the calendar literally "photo-bombed" our wall.

Fortunately, it's turned out to be quite the useful calendar with so many helpful holidays written in. Today is "Family Harmonica Day", and "Dress Like a Hobbit" comes later this month. And then there are other important occasions such as "Polyester Jumpsuit Day" and "Family Sweater Day". If you haven't gotten your harmonica on yet, though, you'll want to hurry. The day is almost done!

Know how Mr. Dude and I are celebrating this year's "Family Harmonica Day"? We're sitting side by side working on our respective computers while Little Guy sleeps. Ah, the life of a nerd and his wife. He's doing PowerShell scripting for work and I just finished up a freelance gig wherein I kinda-sorta-not-really played the part of a web developer.

Actually I was migrating content from one website to another, which really just means I was a glorified copy-and-paste wizard. But a wizard nonetheless, mind you. I'm working on getting my staff and a horse as cool as Shadowfax.

[#LOTRreferenceFTW]

What's that you say? You're surprised that I dove into the world of web development?

Me, too. Sometimes these things just land in my lap and I take them - always good to learn new skills and earn a bit of extra cash, right?

Mr. Dude, however, was more focused on the fact that I was uploading content into a WordPress site.

Mr. Dude: "That's not web development, Stephanie!"
Me: "Well, you're just doing PowerShell. That's not really programming."
Mr. Dude: "Yes it is!"
Me: "Then working with WordPress sites is web development. So there."

Very sophisticated arguing, I tell you. But a valid point, unless of course you agree that

HTML : WordPress :: C++ : PowerShell

If that's true, then WordPress really is nothing like "true" web development, whatever that means. I'm still accepting the title of "Copy and Paste Wizard", though.  

Happy "Family Harmonica Day"! 

Dr. WHO?!?!

Mr. Dude has a lifelong goal: Have our very own computer museum in the basement of our someday-house.

Doesn't matter that others before him have already built a collection for the public to enjoy so he could go visit anytime he wants. Nope, he wants to gather a bunch of "legacy" machines and tinker with them to his heart's content.

[Yes, computer museums exist. Didn't you know there's one in Seattle's very own SODO district? Mr. Dude passes by it every day on his way to work. I'm surprised he hasn't stopped by yet and just gotten lost inside, ogling at all the amazing technology. If I remind him about it, we may never see him again. He'd be lost in a world of computer nostalgia.]

So in yesterday's BBC news (yes, I read international newspapers; no, that doesn't make me cooler than you), the article on "Flossie" caught my eye.

You know, the 50 year old "computer".

Source: BBC

Didn't you know about Flossie? Oh good, me neither.

But now I know that it's found a home and they want to get it working again in the next 2-3 years so people can interact with it in its very own museum-like environment.

I'm waiting for Mr. Dude to announce that we're headed to England to go visit the computer. Handy, since I want to visit England for a bunch of other reasons, too.

One quote in particular jumped out at me: 

"Other editions of the machine were later used as props thanks to their arresting design. Doctor Who, the Pink Panther and the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun all featured ICT 1301s." 

Those are some good credits, Flossie! I've seen most of the Pink Panther and James Bond movies, so I guess I'll have to watch them again more closely to look for you in there.

Now comes my big confession of the day:

I've never seen a single episode of Dr. Who. 

[Insert collective gasp from every Dr. Who fan everywhere. - 

"Not seen Dr. Who?! Stephanie! How could you?! It's the best show EVER!!!!!!"]

For all the nerdy things I've watched, I've never watched that. 

Shoot, I'm stalking the TV listings to figure out when the next season of Sherlock is coming (bother - Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch are in such high demand for things like The Hobbit, Star Trek and Comic Con that they can't even finish a lowly BBC series) and already have Downton Abbey on the calendar, much to Mr. Dude's shagrin. I'll gladly watch an episode of Mythbusters (despite their lousy science - they're mostly just hilarious). And I've seen episodes from most of the TV shows featured in Glove and Boots' History of Television.

But I have never seen Dr. Who. 

THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is yet another reason why I am not actually a nerd.

Who needs to watch Dr. Who when I could read and drink tea instead?
We call this picture of last night's agenda #nerdalert.
And I blamed my sister for introducing me to such literature.
She told me I'm not a nerd until I can say the Ring's inscription in the language of Mordor.
I think I'm safe on that for a very, very long time. 

Six Months

Yesterday marked six (6!) months of life with Little Guy, post utero.

Man, time flies when you're having fun. Or when you're Sleepless in Seattle. Literally.

It was a loooooooooooooooooong labor, starting at 2:45 A.M. on a Friday, and going all the way to 9:41 P.M. on a Saturday. 43. Freakishly. Long. Hours.

Eeesh.

This weekend, we celebrated by taking it easy. Coffee. Walks. Naps. Parks. Sunshine. Reading.

I'm reading Fellowship right now, but the day I went into labor, I watched Peter Jackson's Two Towers and Return of the King.

I'm not kidding.

I listened to the soundtracks while I studied in college. I pretty much know the movies by heart. I've read the books. I figured it was a good (long) distraction while dealing with the contractions in early labor.

Good thing Mr. Dude and our doula didn't care. Or that they knew better than to argue with a lady in labor.

Someday, Little Guy is going to be watching those movies or reading those books and end up hearing all about his birthday. Hope that doesn't traumatize him ...

Never too early to start going to story time at the library.
Or to start reading classic literature. 

Side note: I borrowed The Hobbit from a friend and she was out of town when I needed (not wanted) to start reading The Fellowship of the Ring, so I got it from the library when Little Guy and I went for story time. I looked in the fiction section to find that Tolkien was not there. Then I looked in the library catalog via the app on my phone ("Oh those kids and their newfangled contraptions these days!") to see if our local branch had it.

Yes, they did. In the science fiction section. You know, where you'd find Star Wars, Star Trek, and comic books of all kinds.

Does that make Little Guy's mama a nerd?

Epiphany

#supernerdalert

Mr. Dude: Stephanie, I've had an epiphany.
Me: Oh really? What's that?
Mr. Dude: I'm a super nerd.
Me [guffawing, chortling, snickering, LOLing, etc, are all appropriate here]: Oh, please. Do tell me what made you realize such a thing.
Mr. Dude: I'm playing Defense Grid while wearing a Defense Grid tshirt.
Me: Yup, that makes you a super nerd, all right.

Zoey the Cat would like to complain about how she's not the center of attention by making sure she was part of the picture. Literally. 

And in case that wasn't nerdy enough, later in the week he was watching videos on the making of Defense Grid 2 (complete with multi-player! And no, I won't be joining him in that).

Then we got to watch the full version of this ad by Ford and Microsoft that totally makes fun of nerds who still live in their mom's basement and think Master Chief is the coolest person ever.

Oh yeah, and we learned that Steam OS isn't going to kill off console gameplay. Yet.

Excuse me while I escape his brand of nerdiness by reading LOTR: Fellowship. Frodo's trying to make it out of the Shire without becoming a Black Rider's lunch.

Just for kicks and giggles, we'll throw in a picture of this tshirt, too. NVIDIA was giving away tshirts at PAX that became your own greenscreen. You put on the tshirt, walked in front of a projector, and if the word "winner" showed up on the green controller, you got a prize. Otherwise something like their logo showed up and you just got to keep the shirt. AKA, you just won a chance to be dirt cheap advertising for them. It would have been funnier if the words, "I went to PAX and all I got was this lousy tshirt", had showed up for the non-winners instead. True story. 

Snacks: Dragons = Good and Vampires = Bad

We joke (in all seriousness) that in our house, we'll never watch or read Twilight because we eat FAR too much garlic for any vampires to come anywhere near. (We're not quite as crazy as my college roommate who bought 46 heads of garlic when the recipe called for 46 cloves of garlic, though. But that's another story. It also helps that we have standards when it comes to what can actually be called literature. Again, that's another story.)

We also are well-known fire breathers. (Does that make us part dragon? If so, I'd rather be Eustace than Smaug. Smaug dies.) As in, we have to remember not to put so many spices in when we cook for other people. We don't put jalapeños n our tacos - we use habaneros. Oh, and I may have found grinders of dried ghost chili peppers during the 5 minutes Trader Joe's carried them ... and bought 2. It's okay - ghost chili peppers only have 850k-1.5mil Scoville units (compared to a jalapeño's 3.5-8k) and they're only one of the hottest (non-genetically modified) peppers on the planet.

Side note: When I was trying to go into labor, people kept suggesting spicy food. Problem: I had been eating ghost chili flakes on lots of things during the whole pregnancy. I don't think they were going to be triggering contractions at the end if they hadn't done so in the first or second trimesters, and it doesn't get much hotter than ghost chili peppers ... 

But I digress. As always.

Our favorite snack of late has been stove-top popcorn.

Do you know how cheap popcorn kernels are - even the organic ones - and how easy it is to make that stuff?

First, gather your ingredients:

Next, put some of that coconut oil (or any other oil with a reasonably high smoke point) in the pot with a few kernels, set the heat to medium-high or high and put the lid on top.

Wait for the oil to melt and the kernels to start popping, then put in enough kernels to fill the bottom of the pan. I give it a good shake every few seconds so the kernels don't burn. 

When the kernels slow down their popping, or stop popping altogether, I take it off the stove, pour into a waiting bowl, and start dumping on the goodness. No measuring, just dumping. In the kitchen world, they call it "season to taste". In Mr. Dude's world, it's "Stephanie, I want the food to kick my butt. Please add more cayenne." 

Pro-Dragon/Anti-Vampire Mix: Coconut Oil, Granulated Garlic, Ground Cayenne Pepper, Salt

Steph's Favorite: Coconut Oil, Ground Ginger, Salt

"Traditional": Melted Butter (but cook in olive oil), Salt

Toss it all together, and hope that you don't eat it all in one sitting. But if you do, know that there weren't any crazy chemicals and it was dirt cheap. 

Oops. Empty bowl. Sorry, forgot to take a picture before we ate it. All. In under half an hour.

Bonus points if you aren't playing Defense Grid while eating it. 

Weekend Happenings: Tolkien, TNG and the Big Bang Theory

It's finally the end of Monday.

Monday took TWO cups of coffee for me to function like a semi-conscious human being, especially when Little Guy decided that 4:30 am and 5:30 am were good wake up times this weekend.

This morning, he actually let me sleep (mostly) till 6. It was heavenly.

Not to worry. Despite the crazy "let's pretend we're three time zones away" schedule, it was a fun weekend.

For one, I did this:

"Never laugh at live dragons!" - The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Duly noted. 

while drinking this:

"Earl Grey. Hot ... Make it so." - Jean Luc Picard

I lucked out with a husband who says, "What can I do to help? Take Little Guy? Okay!"

I got an entire afternoon to sit and read The Hobbit and drink tea while he and Little Guy watched the Seahawks/Jaguars game upstairs with the neighbors.

And it was fantastic.

To be honest, I'm not sure if he likes hanging out with Little Guy more because he likes being a dad ... or because he likes having a legit excuse to act like a little kid. Either way, it's ridiculously fun to watch them giggle together.

Mr. Dude keeps telling me all the things he's going to do with our kids - play whiffle ball in the yard, go to the science center, play Mario Kart, build Lego sets.

I believe him, too, because those were a large part of his childhood and he loves any chance he can get to act on his nostalgia.

That being said, I should be on the lookout for hidden plans to build a treehouse, complete with acrylic window for a Star Trek-inspired clear screen thingy.

What on earth would you call those?

Not sure, but maybe you should ask these guys:

The Big Bang Theory as The Next Generation.
Source: The Official Star Trek Site

Mr. Dude has indulged me by watching all of Season 6 over the course of the last week. Big Bang Theory, that is. 

Not The Next Generation. 

We already did that. 

In fact, we've already watched The Original Series, The Next Generation AND Deep Space Nine. 

That's seventeen (17!) seasons, folks. 

Not episodes. Seasons. 

So when I reference Earl Grey and think of Picard, or when I see an episode of Big Bang Theory that has the main characters dress up as Data, Worf, Picard and the Borg ... I know what I'm talking about. 

The irony? 

Watching The Big Bang Theory counts toward the seasons Mr. Dude "owes" me since I watched SEVENTEEN (17!) seasons of one of his shows. 

He's now seen SIX full seasons of Big Bang Theory and THREE full seasons of Downton Abbey. 

He'd like to claim that each season of Downton should really count as 2, and that he should be off the hook for anymore since last season was such a heartbreaker. 

And then I remind him that 6 + 3 = 9. 

He's still short by 8 seasons. 

So ... Casa de Nerds has a standing 8 pm Thursday date to watch Season 7 of Big Bang Theory (aka, laugh at the nerds) starting this week. And there will be a standing 8 pm Sunday date to watch Downton, starting in January, no matter how many times he protests. Even then, he's still got 6 more seasons of my choice to go ... 

Muahahaha!