Friday, January 26, 2007

Since I finished packing tons early, I was reading a little of my new Dee Scarr book:

Panicky divers and fishermen tried to rid the Barrier Reef of the [crown-of-thorns] sea stars, and at least one of their measures was counter-productive: some people were cutting up the stars to kill them. Instead of dying, though, these adaptable echinoderms were simply growing back from the pieces: a single crown-of-thorns that had been cut into, say, five pieces may grow into five separate crowns-of-thorns--which was definitely not the goal.

Posted at 8:30:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

So, I'm browsing the Vosges web site to read about the company that makes my new Favorite Chocolate Bar Ever (sent by Jan in my birthday package) (SALT!!!), and now I want this.... Look at the first caramel on the list: Hawaiian red sea salt + milk chocolate topped with li hing powder! Wow.

I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate, but Vosges' "dark milk" chocolate is the perfect degree of darkness for delectable salt crystal interplay.

Posted at 10:33:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Dave the postmaster is back! It was great to see him. (He had a heart attack in November.) He thanked me for the get-well card I sent him around Christmastime (addressed to "Postmaster Dave, East Berlin Post Office").

I would like to know why travel-sized items are so big. It's pretty silly, especially now that you have to fit all liquids in a ziplock bag. (We never check our luggage). But it's not just that... they're tons larger than the amount you would really use on a trip, so it just wastes space and you end up with an indeterminate amount left over, getting old and icky for your next trip. I think all travel-sized products should be .5 oz. If you really need lots (pretty unlikely), you can bring two. On a normal length trip, the only thing I can think of that you'd need more than that of is sunblock. That can be 3 oz. (I am bringing a 3 oz. thing of it... I'll see how much I actually need.) I just finished transferring all my liquid/cream items to .5 and .28 oz. containers. Empty Visene bottles work well because they're refillable, have nice squeezy tops, don't leak, and aren't going to contaminate your stuff.

I don't think the Conscientious Guy works at Rocky anymore. I haven't see him in a while. :-( He was a student, so maybe he graduated and got a real job.

The Marshmallow Guy made me an absolutely perfect cappuccino today.

Posted at 3:22:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Early, Early, and Earlier has been surprisingly easy for me this week. It's shocking. I wake up every day one hour earlier, wide awake. (My shoulders aren't very happy, though.) That new frilled shark video is super-cool. They're so deep sea looking.

Posted at 7:10:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Just how many deburring companies ARE there in Berlin, anyway??

I just got two packages! Two! They were waiting on the doorstep, delivered by FedEx and UPS while I was out. From dearth to plethora! (I've been very jealous of all the aviation-related deliveries Dean's been getting.) One's from blissen and one's my birthday box from Jan. [Edit: Ha! The shipping label says "Lucard Club."] Happy (Salty) Birthday to me!

Posted at 3:12:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

I got up at 9:00 and today was pretty fun! Well, I had my Tingly appointment, which was not fun--it was nerve-racking, because my slacky doctor's office hadn't filed the referral (even though I called them yesterday to bug them about it), and the Tingly dudes have a policy against seeing anyone without a referral in place, but after much growling (at slacko's office, not at me, but it racked my nerves anyway), the receptionist took pity on me and let me see the Tingler anyway. I was very calm but my treacherous hand was shaking while I was trying to fill out the forms. (And it was my right hand, not my tingly hand.) Anyway, the Tingly consultation itself gleaned no light on the tingles (is "gleaned no light" proper English?), so the Tingler doctor told me I need a Nerve Test (that's what it's really called!). He didn't tell me what the Nerve Test would be like--only that it would take about 45 minutes. I wonder what they do to test your nerve? I don't think I have much nerve if my hand got shaky from a growling receptionist. Of course, the Nerve Test person is tons busy (of course) so I can't see her until a couple weeks from now. Hopefully my hand will not still be tingling then. But maybe it will. That's what I said about the Tingler appointment, didn't I? And it's still tingling. [Edit: Dean says they offer you a plate of tongues and tripe and jellyfish and stuff like that to test your nerve, so I'll probably do great. Unless they really bring out an aquarium with a huge snake in it.]

Anyway, I had fun because I went to Jerry's Artarama and Jerry's is always great (even though the line was insanely long because every art student in the world was there today buying supplies for class) and because I was buying some Bass & C at Stop & Shop and the clerk asked to see my ID. After she looked at it and handed it back, she asked me, "Do you get carded a lot?" and I replied (rather skeptically), "Do I really look that young?" She said, "Yeah, kind of!" So I thanked her. And she was young, too! I mean she actually was young, unlike me. Like should-be-carded-herself age.

Also, I was nice to some college girls at the Jo-Ann's in Cromwell. I overheard them saying, "If only there was an Ocean State Job Lot around here..." so I told them there is an Ocean around here, in Berlin. Their eyes got all huge and filled with longing, and they wanted me to explain how to get there. I told them I couldn't explain because I have no sense of direction, but that it was near my house, so they could just follow me and I'd take them to it (Ocean State, not my house). They thought that was great and were very grateful and happy, especially since they had no sense of direction either. So they followed me and I brought them right to the Ocean parking lot. I had to drive really slooooow so they wouldn't lose me, because they kept lagging behind. I don't drive that fast, do I?

Well, none of that really sounds super-fun, but it was still fun anyway.

Posted at 6:38:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Oooh, I just found this in one of my books. Pretty good image of the new kind of sea cucumber (Keferstein's) I keep rhapsodizing about in my Big Island blogs. Except, they're even weirder in real life.

My shoulders are 100% murdered today. But I have my Tingly Appointment tomorrow, so maybe that's good. My iPod keeps playing a million different versions of "Corrina, Corrina" right now. It's pretty nice.

Posted at 12:08:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.

Monday, January 22, 2007

All right, my Hawaii blog posts are finally done!

Week One (I already posted this part, but I added a bunch of photos as links), Week Two, Week Three, Week Four, and Week Five. (Remember to start at the bottoms of the pages, since the posts are in reverse chronological order.)

(And I did get up right on schedule this morning. Dean was amazed.) I included a lot of photos on the final week... and, um, sorry so many of them are of mangosteens. Heh. But the number of mangosteen pictures is directly proportional to how significant they were! (Well, maybe not. But mangosteens are a lot easier to photograph than octopus.) Anyway, here's one more final photo that I didn't have a place for. It was from the last day of pictures (a classic Thursday photo, and it was actually Thursday, too!). I can't believe how many freckles I have.

Oh: one tip. Don't try to read it all at once. Trust me. Your brain will dissolve (like mine did). Also: there are some videos. Yes. And I even talk in one of them, unfortunately.

Posted at 8:28:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.

Well, I finished all my weekend assignments but one--the Hawaii blogs. But I'm on the last day!

Photos from Kauai are very very nice looking, I must say, even though Kauai itself is inferior to the Big Island.

My new arm-mounted dive slate is fantastic.

The above are two Zi photos from the Big Island. For no reason. I just like them.

I have to start my Early, Early, and Earlier practice tomorrow. First day = ten o'clock!

Posted at 1:47:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.