Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Great Commentary - Understanding Memphis
German Apple Cake
This recipe is from a cookbook called the Joy of Vegan Baking. (Incase you're wondering... I tried the whole vegan thing for about a month this past spring. Let's just say it's not my style.) But this cookbook is great! The vegan element inevitably cuts out alot of the dairy and cream and butter and what not so many of the recipes (like this one) are low in fat or fat free :D (very good news for my health conscious self.) The cake is mostly applesauce. Couldn't be any simpler!
Daisies in the Dirt
Made these cute mini cupcakes for an end of semester party my studio drawing class had. (Yes, very second grade of us). They were very good!! The perfect little bite :)
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Glad Tidings for Summer
Monday, April 28, 2008
Fox's Jeff Goodman - Early entries: Ins, outs, mistakes and surprises
all roads lead here... (museum quest part 17)
i can't get over how hard it has been to get rid of these maori artifact baskets (the containers maori peoples mystic knowledge!) for my boss ms. rhonwyn.
things had been going fine since queenstown. i'd made it all the way up here to the end of new zealand's south island. due to bad timing everything in picton was closed forcing me to harmlessly explore.
the plan was tomorrow to hit the two... that's right TWO... museums in town, maybe the aquarium too, and than catch the ferry up to the north island.
of course like always in my life it wasn't to be...
having checked out a rather dull and boring picton on ANZAC day (good excuse for it to be boring mind you... just didn't help the events that were about to unfold) i decided to head back to the hotel i was staying and enjoy some TV.
just my luck would have it the british prehistoric related show primeval was on!!! i soooooo enjoyed watching it (review coming after i've finished this whole museum quest thing), but i didn't get much further in my relaxing couch potatoing...
as the next show's teaser came on an intense wave of nausia over came me... it was an all to familiar dizziness... just like when i'd opened up one of the baskets... that could only mean one thing...
MAGIC!!!... or sorry mystic gradient radiation the scientific name for it.
i froze with fear as outside my window a strange rhythmic clicking sound grew louder.
finally it stopped. for a couple minutes, it must have been, i simple sat there listening for anymore sound. all i heard was the deep and deafening pounding of my own heart as my limbs went completely numb.
finally i was able to peel myself off the chair and creep to the giant glass doors. i couldn't see anything directly. however i could make out a shadow being cast by something just outside my field of view. cautiously i unlocked the door and poked my head out the door.
just some deck furniture... PHEW!
than suddenly from behind me a monstrous growl...
spinning around there just on the other side of my table set was whiro the maori god of darkness himself (or is it itself?)...the fear and pounding heart came back!
we just stood there for almost a minute staring at one another... i realized this was a chance. with that furniture in between us it'd take him a few second to pursue me. i very slowly shifted my feet so i could sprint.
he just stood on watching... right when i was about to dash...
whiro launched himself at me. flinging the deck furniture out of his way! (why i thought he would respect the hotels property i'm not sure... cut me some slack though people of the innerweb i do have that tiny brain and all!).i stumbled backward tripping over the potted plants behind me and fell onto the ground at the bottom of the stairs.
"we meet again kauwheke te kura [which when i looked it up, after the fact, means ancestor of the moa]," whiro gloated as he towered over me.
"you did an admirable job trying to hide your route across te wai pounamu [the maori name for the south island meaning place of greenstone]. yet you were all too easy to track the same. i can see you are trying to scatter the kete o te wananga across aotearoa [maori name for all of new zealand meaning land of the long white cloud]. the only place you could be going than is te ika a maui ([the north island] meaning you had to come to this place," whiro confidently informed me.
oh man. i should have realized there was a flaw to this plan. he was right. obviously i'm making my way across the country, and unless i flew [which ms. rhonwyn informed me after the quest flying with the baskets would have been disastrous] there was no way to get across island to island than here... meaning whiro just had to come here, and wait for me!!!
"you have failed kauwheke te kura , and my victory over tane has finally arrived," whiro advanced once more towards me. his sharp jade fingers being propelled at me. "give me the kete o te wananga and i may spare your life."
i've watched enough movies to know that evil things like him always keep to those sorts of promises... NOT!
that and knowing the legend [plus what ms.rhonwyn told me at the conclusion of the quest] that there would be dire consequences if whiro got his hands on the ultimate in mystic knowledge...
his claw infested hand came down on my shirt... the only place i have pockets, and started patting me down.
after frisking my single front pocket "where are the baskets?!?" whiro demanded... oh boy did i just luck out! i'd left the baskets in the hotel room... normally i kept them in my pocket. whiro must have detected the magic residue on my shirt...
i might still somehow get out of this i thought...
the thing is he had me trapped. i couldn't run, i couldn't hide. i wasn't even on my feet. i needed a distraction...
than it occurred to my peanut sized brain... whiro was old. not as ancient as us dinosaurs, but old none the less. he was kinda clueless and gullible when i came to the modern world.
"uh their not in my truck," i lied, and acted like i was trying not to look at the random truck parked in the lot beside us. i hoped he bought it.
he didn't move, and his literally stone cold face didn't give away what he was thinking or emoting. i decided to gamble. "their in my room. i'll get them for you."
"very well," whiro agreed... oh no!that wasn't the plan at all. i was hoping he'd think i was trying to trick him... now i was leading him right to the baskets. if he could pick up on their having been in my pocket he was sure to detect them in my room...
i reluctantly got up, and turned towards the door with whiro at my back. what was i going to do?
than it hit me!
i slowly walked towards the door in as suspicious a manner as i could. i was rewarded with a "do not even think of trying to tricking me kauwheke te kura," whiro warned me... man if not for the fact he outdated movie stereotypes by a few thousand years i'd have sworen he was the most cliche bad guy ever.
"what are you talking about?" i deceitfully asked trying to be as obvious as i could. "i wouldn't try anythi..." i suddenly veered away from the door, and sprinted towards the truck.
i made it maybe 5 steps (which considering how built for speed my juvenile tyrannosaur body is not too bad a distance for the time it took me) before from behind i was struck. whiro had taken a lightening quick swing at me, and fortunately for me hit me with his wrist as opposed to the razor sharp ends of his fingers.
i'm sure glad i hadn't planned on fighting my way out! he is superhumanly fast, and strong! i think the only reason i wasn't dead was that i was faster than he'd expected... a mistake he probably wasn't going to make again!
i fell in a heap in the middle of the parking lot...
whiro rushed to the decoy truck as planned. boy i feel kinda bad for the owner of that truck. at the same time it was life over property... granted i never did get the chance to inform the owner of how, what, and why his vehicle was trashed.
needless to say i didn't stick around to check out what whiro did. based on the noise i heard in the hotel as i popped in to grab the baskets he was doing a number on it...
with the baskets "safely" in my pocket i opted to slip out the bathroom window (on the opposite side of the hotel building from the whiro occupied parking lot)...
running through town i had a blood curdling realization with my peanut sized brain... and i'd had a lot to curdle my blood up till this point people of the innerweb!... what was i going to do???
my running had brought me in front of the picton museum. a place i needed to try to use to get rid of the baskets, but how could i? it was closed till tomorrow...
even if i could outrun whiro right now, how was i going to keep away from him standing around in a museum?!?
making my current situation all the more pressing up the block from the hotel... i'd picked a hotel close to the museums and the ferry... came a most inhuman terrifying scream. whiro had just figured out he'd been had.
there was only one option left for me...
i booked it, as fast as my ornithomimid like legs would take me, towards the waterfront.
i had to get across the straight to the north island where i could lose whiro again on the open road.
i just hoped against all hopes that these museums in picton weren't the key to disposing of the baskets... ms. rhonwyn had been quite clear i had to hit every museum and location on the list... i was about to blatantly ignore those orders...
there was no more time to think. behind me came a louder version of the clicking i'd heard outside my hotel. whiro was sprinting after me, and for a guy made of solid greenstone he was getting some pretty good speed!
how was i going to get out of this one? even if i could outrun him to the ferry, how was i going to get my ticket or wait for it without him getting me?!?
to be continued...
Sunday, April 27, 2008
News and Notes From Dan Wolken
Wesley Witherspoon Visits Memphis, Will Make College Choice May 1st
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Calipari signs on through 2012-13
Friday, April 25, 2008
Just for Fun - A Friday Fill-in
picton
the quest to get rid of these ubber important artifact flax baskets (the containers maori peoples mystic knowledge!) goes on.i still haven't heard from my boss ms. rhonwyn, and am still in the dark on a few things. i still haven't even seen any signs of whiro the maori god of darkness.
finally it feels like at least progress wise i've made headway (though i still haven't gotten rid of any of the baskets... i did come CLOSE a few days ago). i've covered all my stops on the south island!
meaning i've been to half of new zealand... which in and of itself is kind of a big deal!
the end of the south island is a town called picton. its not a huge place, and its spread out funny so you'd think it's even smaller than it is.
i however had lots of time to explore it as it was a national holiday called ANZAC day and everything was closed. ANZAC day is kinda like remembrance day back in canada, but it is for remembering the sacrifices of the men of the Australian New Zealand Army Corp.
once everything opened tomorrow the plan was to hit the museums in town, and if i had time the aquarium, then hop onto the ferry to the north island.
speaking of the ferry it was about the only thing open today.the whole town was kinda built around the ferry. its the main emphasis of the harbour, and all of town leads you to said harbour.
wandering around a shut down town is kinda boring.
though a few things are both free and never stopping. like fountains!
it wasn't anything too fancy. in fact as fountains go this is pretty average, but it killed a good 30 minutes...
the coolest thing i found in town that i could do was head into the civilian harbour. you got to walk over a huge as walk way which was fun.
from up here i could see most of the waterfront. there were a lot of boats. i hadn't seen this many boats since vancouver!
new zealanders seem to owe less boats than other places i'd been in north america. in NA if there's water there's bound to be tons of boats... there are boats down here, but picton is the only place i've seen this many (non professional fishing) boats in one place or concentration.
my favourite of all the boats i saw was this one. coolest name/picture combo i've ever seen on a boat... cutest too.
the walkway itself was kinda fun. i mean look how big and curvy it is when you're standing on it!
one of the neatest restaurants in town had to be the echo. this is one of the oldest surviving ships used to transport people and goods to new zealand left. now its on dry land, and living out the rest of its days as a restaurant.
was neat to get that close to a real ship, and you know. not get wet...
i came across the local regimental club in my exploring. the place was packed for ANZAC services. i didn't want to interrupt or intrude on the event so i just checked out the old artillery gun they had out front.
it wasn't much i grant you people of the web wide world, but it was my little way of paying respect to those who were in those awful wars... sure won't want this thing shooting at me!!!
as i typically do i checked out the beach. this time i got one of my toe claws snagged on a rock which flipped over...on the underside i found the most amazing thing...
a tiny sea slug!
i'm used to all sorts of invertebrates, but they almost always have a shell or are a worm. this a crawling moving disc of sliminess.
way too cool!
things were sooooo boring that i even started paying attention to the signage in town...
which turned out to be worth it...
including one of my favourite words for getting things done... with gusto! i always say...
my faourite sign had to be this one though!
evolve... nuff said.
into what i wonder?
i figured maybe i'd head back to the hotel and watch some TV to kill the rest of the day...
i should have guessed, i wasn't the only one heading to my hotel though...
