Wexis enters the 21st Century

So, I spotted an article today about how Lexis and Westlaw are finally getting their acts together and offering better search capabilities since so many free competitors are rivaling their services.  The best thing would be if they started charging some sort of flat fee for all-you-can-search the way it works in law school, but that’s probably unlikely.

The article talks about how, I believe, they’re going to improve their “natural language” search capabilities.  Which is good – but I actually hope that they keep their old, complicated Boolean search functionality too.  It gives highly precise results and makes sure you don’t miss anything if every single document within certain parameters comes up.  Sometimes I wish I was better at giving Google more precise search parameters, too.

In unrelated news, I’m probably doing Heart of Steel this Saturday.  But first of all, it’s expensive, and second of all, they keep spamming my Facebook every day…which is annoying.  But I’m probably doing it anyways.

Final piece of news:  I heard a rumor that OUMC and CUMC might finally start offering half-blues to climbers.  Which would be exciting but also extremely frustrating because I competed [and won] for both teams.  I want my two half-blues…then I’ll add them up and make a whole one!

Success

Look at this pot:

Last night, there was about half a centimeter of very burnt rice stuck to the bottom (I didn’t turn down the heat when the water started boiling…).  And it was really stuck.  Letting it soak in water in the sink and then rubbing with a sponge, and then scraping with a spatula, got nowhere.  Occasionally a black fleck would come off – but at that pace it would have taken years of continuous scrubbing to get it clean.

So, after searching on the internet, I tried several approaches.  I boiled water in the pot.  I boiled water, ketchup, salt, and baking soda.  I boiled just salt and baking soda.  I boiled just baking soda.  I let the pot full of baking-soda-boiled-water sit for several hours.  Finally, things were looking uphill, so I boiled more baking soda and water in the pot and then let it sit overnight.  Finally, this morning, with the help of a spatula, I was able to get it clean.  Success!  I used like half a box of baking soda, though.

Cooking and Food

Excitingly, I got a lot of food-making items for Christmas.  From Krissy, I got a set of bowls and measuring cups that I’m excited about.  From Nana and Grampy, I got a Target gift certificate that let me get a wok and a blender (after Daddy and I literally drove around in circles for a while trying to find the Target).  And, from Mom and Dad I got a “24 piece” (12 lids and 12 jars of varying sizes – including some small ones that Mom made fun of) Tupperware set.  (On this I compared notes with Rachel; she got one third of a 40 piece Tupperware set.)  So I’m pretty excited about all of this.

I’ve also been trying to eat a lot of salads for lunch lately, and also trying to run.  One of the “wedding checklists” Nick showed me told me that I’m supposed to be beginning my “health and beauty regime” right about now.  Uh huh.  Meanwhile Zeb has been theorizing that the fatter you are the more committed to the relationship you are.  Anyways, I put lettuce, carrots, peppers (of several colors), cucumbers, apples, sometimes cheese (either cheddar or goat’s), and croutons.  They’ve been coming out pretty good!

Yum yum.

Wedding and Other Updates

So, good news:  After a slow search, Nick and I now have a wedding date and venue!  It’s going to be on Friday, August 13, 2010 (unsurprisingly, you get extra discounts for booking on Friday the 13th) at Harrington Farm.  Invitations are now under works and should hopefully be out in the next month or so.  I’m sure everyone who reads this blog is getting one so if you don’t get one in the next few months check in and make sure that it hasn’t gotten lost!  We’re also working on a website with wedding info, but that is obviously very much under construction.  Check back soon!

In other news, I’m starting work tomorrow at the law school library, doing copyright research and other related tasks.  In preparation, I did six loads of laundry today.  So my room is the main drying area right now.  It was one of my less successful laundry days; I lost two socks (one of mine and one of Nick’s) and broke a pair of flip flops.  Oh well.

Least Annoying

I bet no one expected that I would be considered to be the least annoying family member in any situation.  But I recently saw this old YouTube video of Zeb climbing in the Gunks:

You can hear us all commenting annoyingly, in our own ways, in the background.  The funny thing that I discovered, though, was the first comment on the video:

leftystrat62

Nice vote of confidence about the integrity of the rock from your balayers as you go thru the crux. And of course we have the guy at the belay who is NOT leading(doohh) saying how it's easier to heel hook to the left. I think you should keep the encouraging female climber and drop the other dudes.

Most people who experience climbing with me in real life do not have that reaction.

For fun, another angle:

Milk

Now that me and my siblings have (mostly) moved out of my parents’ house, there are far fewer milk crises.  They have gone from going through a gallon or more per day to a half gallon every few weeks.  Meanwhile, though, I have to supply my own milk.

Before I left for England (Fall 2008), milk prices had been climbing for a while.  It wasn’t hard to pay over $5/gallon.  I was pretty shocked when I got back this summer, then, and was paying only half that at not-cheap supermarkets.  It turns out that while I was gone, there was a “dairy crisis” marked by falling milk prices.  More delicious milk for me!

Annual Milk Prices (from “Understanding Dairy Markets”):

2008 Milk Prices:

It looks like now I can drink twice as much milk!

Don’t Worry, They’ll Learn

A few months ago, I came across this article in the NYT.  The general premise is that the author took a climbing class with IME at Cathedral Ledge with his children, who consequently behaved better.  The first paragraph of the article, though, is 180 degrees opposite from how things work in our family:

For three days last month I had a break from family squabbles and smart-alecky retorts. My adolescent children didn’t tell me to “wait a minute” when I needed something done. Phones were shut off, for the most part, and neither a DVD player nor a computer was turned on.

We do nothing but squabble, smart-aleck, and tell each other “hold on, wait a minute,” usually while we’re on the phone.  Oh well.