Friday, November 21, 2008

Life Lessons from Homemade Salsa

I made some salsa again last night. It turned out yummy, but I learned something very important: the oils from hot peppers don't wash off one's hands very easily. At one point, both of my eyes were stinging from the oils after I unconsciously rubbed them with my fingers.

And then, later, I had to go to the bathroom.

I might just have to buy some disposable rubber gloves the next time I want to make salsa.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Another Year Younger

I turned 34 last week. They say that 40 is the new 30, but as far as I know, 34 is still just 34.


 

I wish I had turned 40, so I could be four years younger than I am now.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Voting Follow-Up: Foretelling Results

On the way back from voting, I stopped at Panda Express for some lunch. My fortune cookie had this to say: SOON YOU WILL BE SITTING ON TOP OF THE WORLD. Since I'm not planning any trips to Tibet in the near future, this could mean only one of three things:

  1. I will suddenly come in to a lot of money.
  2. The girl of my dreams will drop into my life.
  3. Obama will take Indiana.

I can't decide which is the more realistic option. It has to be one of these. And fortune cookies never lie.

My Voting Experience: Thinking of Changing My Name

Because I work so close to my polling place, I figured I could avoid the before- and after-work voting crowd by taking my lunch hour a little early and going to vote.

I arrived at 10:40 with two books to read. (I'm nearing the end of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, so I brought a second book in case I finished it.) Two precincts are voting at my polling place. When I got there, I saw one long line and one line with only five people in it. Turns out that both of these lines were for my precinct. There was no waiting for voters from the other precinct, and maybe ten people voted there while I waited in line. (I can't be too certain of that number because my nose was buried Jekyll and Hyde; at any rate, I never saw a line there.)

As I said, both lines — the long and the short — were for my precinct. One was for last names A–M, the other for N–Z. Guess which line I was in!

That's right. I was in the long A–M line. Seems my precinct has more Davises, Johnsons, and Millers than Smiths, Taylors, and Williamses. (Incidentally, I just found a list of the most common surnames in the US; 19 of the top 30 fall into that first half of the alphabet.) Maybe I should change my last name to Ziegfeld so I don't have to spend so much time at the polls?

But, all-in-all, it wasn't terrible. I was out of there by 11:15, and I got some reading done. Now we just need to see if any of the people I voted for actually win. (Cross your fingers that we know the election results before December this time!)