Month: April 2015

Popular Mechanics Magazine- Knowedge (and humor) for 14-Year-Old boys and Me… actually, anyone

IMG_6185IMG_6161On the flights home Saturday, I thought for my New Thing O’ The Day that I ought to pick up and read a different magazine- cover to cover, one that I had never considered before.

Popular Science looked great, but that would be cheating since I had read that before, but Popular Mechanics looked really good, too. I’d poke my eyes out before reading a gossip rag. I really DON’T care which celeb is popping encapsulated gold leaf so they can literally poop gold.

IMG_6163Check out some of the fun stuff I learned on a two hour flight:

Big Ol’ fold out section all about hammers. Now I know more about hammers than you, ha!

IMG_6165A really informative article all about the Lego company- from its beginnings to the MIT designing the programable bricks and their own feature movie.

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A “Field Guide to Life” section designed to teach anyone at any age how to do something… like

IMG_6167IMG_6166Butcher a pig, for ages 46-59, (my age demographic, here!) build a stone wall, play poker for money, or identify edible plants… I like that plant stuff. And poker. I’m not offended that the pig butchering was not in my age group.

IMG_6182Some of the best and most humorous writing though, was in the shorter info-graphic-y sections like “How Your World Works- How High Can I Get Up In A Lawn Chair With Balloons?” No author credit is given, but credit needs to go to whoever wrote this section- it was funny.

And…

IMG_6180IMG_6181The best- in the Skills section, which has the lead in “Found a dangerous piece of heavy machinery with the keys in the ignition? Here’s what to do next.”- “How to Drive Anything”- complete with Action Hero Bonus information! Alexander George, I like your writing. Please keep this up. Signed, a 48-year-old mom of teens. One of the best lines: “Tanks are not good for Fast getaways.” Duly noted. Thank you.

IMG_6172And another Skills article, a Q and A “Ask Roy” which covered noisy neighbor fixes and dangerous building advice…

There were a boatload of more interesting pieces in this month’s Popular Mechanics, not the least of which include an article explaining Blackberry’s QNX operating system, another explaining how some of the directors of “Furious 7” got an amazing action shot for the latest movie in the franchise,IMG_6185 a short but cool look at the 2015 Corvette (cool, but I’m a Mustang girl), and a TOTALLY SLICK look at what a 1965 Fender amplifier looks like, all exploded out for you to see each part.

My son will love this magazine now that I’ve finished it. I liked it so much that I think I’ll actually order a magazine again- we both would love this if these all represent how this publication usually rolls out.

Should I be worried that a lot of my interests align with those of a 14-year-old boy? I’ll reflect upon that question a little later… Top Gear’s Africa special is on and begging to be watched.

On Visiting a College with The Girl, short reflection…

Gotta say I’ve never done this before…

We’ve been visiting a university, taking the tours and walking the downtown area. Checking out the dorms on a personal tour with a family friend who is an R.A. Was a great bonus, gotta say, thanks Anna!

I am looking at this university through completely different eyes than my daughter- How safe are you in the library back in the stacks by yourself? Is there plenty of lighting along the pathways, and how much security is on campus? How dry are the dry dorms! In all honesty, come on…? Is the food glorified junk food or is there real nutrition available for my kid? AND MY GOSH, IS THERE DECENT COFFEE AVAILABLE?!!?

These are important questions, people.

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Photography on an Off Day… Not Bad- Return Trip Planned!

College visit weekend included some great photo opportunities, but all my chances for purty pics were completely marred by one thing- I felt crummy. There was so much to do, things to see, terribly interesting people to learn from and question… nope! Great foods, lovely walks, nearby cities to visit. All shot to hell with two of us falling ill.

We are getting better, and will have more opportunities in the near future to do all the things we missed out on- it looks like The Girl is sold on this place.

Although the lighting and framing is not what I want for almost every one of these photos, here is a sampling of some of the sights we did manage to fit in while visiting Spokane:

IMG_6091_2IMG_6103_2IMG_6108_2IMG_6107_2IMG_6110_2Industrial Photography at a renovated steam plant…

We really enjoyed this restaurant and I’m bringing the Nikon back to The Steam Plant for better photo opps.

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IMG_6121_2Inside the university’s student chapel:

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Staircase inside of the school’s oldest building. I wish I had more time for photography that day!

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Three shots from inside the parish church. It was beautiful!

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And a couple of shots from Oakland’s island airport- my son spotted the joke on the runway tug-truck… can you see it? And Can you believe that this is the view from one of the food court shops at an airport? It was really lovely, the picture doesn’t do that view justice.IMG_6149

I bet I can snap better photos if I am not ill! Oh well. There’s always tomorrow!

“Sleepless in Seattle,” meet Sick in Spokane -or-Photography First, Misery Follows

New restaurant last night in a phenomenal setting. Went to the Steam Plant in Spokane with The Boyfriend’s family.

Nutshell- it was great, but to me, even better than the food was the interior and the photo opportunities it provided.

Got back to hotel. Went downhill. Fast. Probably food poisoning, is my best guess. NOT from the Steam Plant. Twelve hours later, I think I can be a human being again instead of a wretched being

No details of the great food and even better company, I’ll just share the photos and the good news that I feel good enough to pound this out. Spokane wasn’t very nice to me on my first visit, but I won’t take it personally.

**UPDATE **  I did want to share a few observations on the food at The Steam Plant. Three of us had the steaks (from a nearby farm, I was told) and they were all a nice size (read: not huge), with a mixed fresh, sautéed vegetable and mashed potatoes. All of it was very nice. I didn’t care for the smokiness of the mushroom sauce on my steak in that it was too… smoky. If you like smokey flavors, smoked cheese or the like, then I’d recommend it since it really was a well flavored pan sauce. I think the winner may have been the buffalo meatloaf that The husband had! wow! That was delicious! It had house made ketchuppy type of sauce on top with a bit of a spicy kick to it, and was really tasty.

Everyone liked their craft beers, too, and I only downed half my stout so I can’t blame my stomach ills on too much drink… despite the fact that the mom of The Boyfriend and I are ready to drink at the thought of our oldest so going off to college together.

Exploring the depths of the old plant…
Steam Plant Pub hours

Be Flexible- It Could Mean You Get Korean BBQ!

Tonight I had The Family all ready to be forced to come along with me to eat at the vegan restaurant that I tried last month, The Loving Hut.

It was closed. The Boy fairly rejoiced.

He was positively elated when we decided to try the Korean BBQ place nearby. “Because, MEAT, Mom!” was his reason. Actually, this is a restaurant we had been wanting to try for about five years. Sometimes it is hard to get out of your sushi rut, you know?

Spicy salad dressing!
Spicy salad dressing!
About eight side dishes...
About eight side dishes…

Shozen Korean BBQ was really delicious, with very helpful servers who are ready to offer all the aid newbies like us need… so we understand what we are doing… so we don’t burn down the joint cooking the bacon. Yes, that is bacon on the meat platter!

The meats we had cooking were brisket, rib eye, tongue (delicious!), chicken, and uncured, unsmoked bacon… and maybe some more. I can’t remember. I’m still in a meat coma. Even though I ate all my salad, the rice, and nearly my entire bowl of Korean Miso soup, that was still a lot of meat. Korean Miso soup at Shozen has several vegetables, meat and large tofu chunks. The miso base was different than Japanese miso soup, too. I wonder if they use red miso? Or maybe miso without the dashi stock? I’ve got to ask someone now… I dig on international foods and their ingredients, if you can’t tell.

The other side dishes included a bean sprout salad, scallion pancakes, broccoli and tofu, kimchi, a cabbage and carrot salad, potato salad (that one surprised me), and a rocking green salad with a home made dressing- spicy, but incredibly delicious. Shozen also has a couple of dipping sauces for your meats, a soy sauce/jalepeño sauce and another of sesame oil with salt and pepper. Both added a nice dash of flavor to the meats that cook on the table top right in front of you.

Shozen Korean BBQ- I highly recommend it.