reading the newspaper

A few years ago, I was a TA for a U.S. government class. One of the things I learned is that young people don't watch the news. Or read the newspaper. Why did I learn this in a U.S. government class? Because apparently, this little tidbit of information has implications for voting. Young people don't read the newspaper, and they don't vote. I'm sure that I'm simplifying the argument, but the logic is that by staying informed about what's going on in the world, you get (and remain) interested, you learn about new stuff, you care about stuff, and so you vote. That, in a nutshell, is how the two are connected.

I never read the newspaper until I came to grad school. Some of my fellow grad students lament that their students don't know what's going on in the world, but I don't join them. Because I was one of them. I was one of those undergrads that really didn't know what was going on in the world. Not unless it was really big news, like the 2000 presidential election. I don't know what changed for me, but something did. Maybe I decided that since I was now a grad student, I really needed to know about current events. Maybe I thought I would seem smarter. Is it working? You tell me. I love to incorporate current events in my discussion sections. Sometimes it's the first time the students are learning about what's going on, but most of the time it's not. (I hear that the Daily Show and the Colbert Report are doing their part to keep young people updated on current events)

I was a faithful LA Times subscriber, the print version. In an effort to become environmentally friendly, act my age, and transition to the 21st century, I canceled my subscription last spring. I know, I know, sometimes, I am a little slow to adapt to new technology. I was among the last of my friends to get a cell phone and a computer. I started texting only a year and a half ago. So it's not surprising that I was among the last of my friends to read the newspaper online. It seemed like a good decision at the time. After all , I rarely read the business section and I read the sports section only when 1) it is during the Olympics, 2) it is during the baseball playoff season, and 3) the Twins are playing the Angels. So not only was I wasting paper, but I was paying for sections that I wasn't even reading.

I tried my best to read the online version, but I was lost in the morning without my paper to go with my coffee. What was I going to do now while I ate breakfast? I made several unsuccessful efforts to read the news off my laptop while eating my breakfast drinking my coffee. It never worked.

I finally gave in last week and renewed my subscription to the LA Times. Finally I have something to do while I eat breakfast. And I feel so much better now, knowing what is going on in the world. It's a great way to start my day.

falling in love with fall

After 30 years, I have finally decided that my favorite season is fall. Whew. Now you can sleep peacefully, having learned that critical bit of information. I've tried not to play favorites all my life, but in the past couple of weeks, I've realized that there is no denying that fall is my favorite season. It's the baseball postseason (which is simultaneously exciting and depressing). I love it when the temperature starts to drop, the outside air feels cool and crisp, and the leaves turn gorgeous combinations of red, yellow, and orange. Sadly, I don't really get to experience these perks of fall in Southern California. The temperature begins to drop, but not enough for me to get out my fall jacket.

BUT, do you know what I do get to experience? Fall foods. Pumpkin, cranberry, and gingerbread, oh my! When fall rolls around, I start baking. A lot. I adore the seasonal fall foods, and I even begin to hoard them, saving them for later dates when stores don't stock them. A surplus in cans of pumpkin come in handy when you want to bake a pumpkin pie in May. Sometimes my stocking up is a tad unnecessary, but I do it anyway. I'm still using a jar of molasses purchased last season, and I still purchase extra jars, even though it's not a seasonal item. (It's just that last year, I went looking for molasses and I REALLY needed it, but the store had run out. That's just not happening to me again.) And did you know that cranberries keep in your freezer for a year? They do! I've already purchased a 3 pound bag from Costco. I never realized how much I liked cranberries until I found myself missing them last spring. I told Drew that I would stock up on like 20 pounds of cranberries so I would have them year round. He was certain that I wouldn't be able to use 20 pounds in a year, and I would like to prove him wrong, except that I'll get bored if I bake nothing but cranberry muffins, cranberry scones, cranberry coffeecake, etc for a year.

I recently purchased a gingerbread cookbook. It is fabulous. I've already made the gingerbread cake, and it is beautiful in my glass cake stand (a birthday gift from my parents- thanks mom & dad!) This weekend, I am making this. And pumpkin cupcakes. And ginger cranberry bars. It's going to be a yummy weekend.

moving, settling in, and baseball

It's been about 2 weeks since I've last blogged, but I have some good reasons, what with school starting and moving. Last weekend, Drew and I moved in together, and the move went pretty smoothly (we had some great friends helping us- shout out to you, W!). We woke up to rain on moving day, and that made us a little nervous, but the weather held up for the rest of the day. The unpacking is nearly all finished, and the place is starting to look like a home. Merging our stuff was quick and painless, mainly because we didn't double up on anything. Drew had the furniture, I had the kitchen stuff, for example.

Our new apartment is the same layout as Drew's former apartment, but it is more spacious than my former apartment. There is a lot of storage space, and my closet space has increased exponentially (sure, it helps that Drew takes up so little of it, but the closets are considerably larger than my old one).

Our only "disagreement" is over what to do with the Joe Mauer poster and the Derek Jeter poster. In case you didn't know, Drew is a Yankees fan (this is a flaw that I've been willing to overlook), and I am a Twins fan. It's a minor disagreement of course, but I really hate the Yankees. (On a sidenote, I once very briefly dated a guy from New York, and I asked him about his baseball team allegiance. He reassured me that he was a Mets fan, and so I decided that this was acceptable and that we could continue seeing each other. See? I take this stuff seriously.) So far, Drew and I have decided to put the posters on the sliding closet doors in the office, but I've been trying to figure out a way to get Mauer a better location in the apartment, prompting Drew to tell me that I'm the trickiest person he knows.

You may also know that the Twins and the Yankees are playing in the first round of the ALDS (American League Division Series). We didn't know that this was going to happen until after we moved in. One of our friends, while helping us move, pointed out that this would be a possibility. He joked that if this were the case, after the outcome, everyone might have to come back to help one of us move out.

This is the 2nd consecutive year that the Twins and the Yankees have played in the 1st round, and this time has been equally depressing. The Twins have home field advantage, but the Yankees have already won the first 2 games. The 3rd is tonight, and the Yankees could very well sweep the Twins. If this happens, this would be the 3rd time that the Twins have been swept in the first round in the past 5 years. This would be the 4th time since 2003 that the Twins have lost to the Yankees in the first round.

According to Wikipedia, the Twins-Yankees matchup is a recurring matchup in the ALDS. I'm not sure what qualifies as a recurring matchup, but I guess that October will always be an exciting (or tense) month in our household. And in case you're wondering, I'm not a Yankee Hater during all of baseball season. Very early on, Drew and I instituted a rule: I am not allowed to cheer against the Yankees (and he is not allowed to cheer against the Twins) unless they are playing the Twins (unless they are playing the Yankees). It's a fair rule and one that I've never tried to weasel my way out of.

packing up and moving on

I didn't move around a lot as a child. My family moved once, when I was 8, into the house in which my parents currently live. This is probably the norm, one or even no moves as a child. But since graduating from high school, I think I have moved at least 10 times, and this feels strangely abnormal. It's a lot of packing up all my stuff in boxes and moving them.

Needless to say, I think I'm pretty good at moving. I don't know what not being good at moving looks like, but if I can use friends who I have helped move as a barometer, then I think I'm pretty good at it. I practically have a moving system. I start (well in advance of course, in this case, the middle of August) by packing up my books, anything hanging on my walls, and my winter clothes. Or in this case, all of my clothes. And bedding. Because of the flea invasion, if you recall. Anyway, then I move on to pack up the kitchen and anything I don't use on a regular basis, like my bundt pan. Then, eventually everything gets packed up, the rest of the kitchen, the bathroom, and I disassemble my desktop computer (or in this case, Drew disassembles my desktop). I pack practically every last thing in boxes and I neatly label them. I am that organized. Or anal retentive. It's all in how you frame it, I suppose.

Drew and I finished packing up my apartment last weekend. I didn't think I had that much stuff, but when it's all boxed up and out in the open, it looks like a lot. I'm not a minimalist, but I'm definitely not a hoarder. Every few months or so I actually go through all my stuff and purge anything I don't need or use. Since I tend to think through my purchases and try not to buy what I don't need (except in the case of Bath & Body Works products), I usually don't get rid of a lot of stuff.

The big move and the merging of stuff is happening this weekend. I'm looking forward to it, but I'll miss my apartment, but only a little bit. It helps when you have chain smoking neighbors smoking on the steps and strewing ashes everywhere. I won't miss that.

school!

Today was the first day of classes. I wish I had something more thoughtful to say here, but I don't. But it is sure to amuse you. It's just that I've been thinking about the past 4 years I've spent in grad school, and for the past few weeks, I've been running into people I haven't seen all summer, and so I have decided that the following are my greatest accomplishments in the last 4 years:

1. I have no gray hairs. Yup, my hair is still completely black. I find a single random gray hair every few months, but no more since I began grad school.
2. I have not gained any weight. Sure, my weight has fluctuated by 5-7 pounds, but for the most part, I am the same size and weight as I started 4 years ago.
3. I am not balding. Still have a full head of hair. Shorter perhaps, but still a full head.

fall!

I had my first pumpkin spice latte the other day, which I guess means that fall is here. Judging by some of my friends' Facebook statuses, I'm not the only one who takes pumpkin spice lattes (or anything pumpkin really) as an indicator that the seasons have changed. There have been other clues, too. The weather is getting a tad chilly (this is relative, of course), grocery stores are stocking up on some beautiful pumpkins and squashes, and I found some canned pumpkin at Trader Joe's.

On a different subject, I know I'm going to sound young and maybe even a little foolish for saying this, but I'll say it anyway: I don't know what life was like before the internet. I've said this aloud many times, so I figured that it was about time that I put it in "writing." Just a few minutes ago, I googled "how to store pomegranates." And the internet gave me the answer. In case you're wondering, pomegranates will keep for one month undisturbed and out of the sunlight on your kitchen counter, or 3 months undisturbed and in the refrigerator. Amazing.

I consult the internet for many things I don't know. For example, one day I had to jump start my car, but I didn't know exactly how to do it. Drew was graciously helping me of course, and even though he knew how to do this, I was stubborn and wouldn't let him do it. After all, I didn't want to embody the female stereotype and delegate car stuff to a man. And besides, what would I do if he wasn't available? Consult the internet, of course! And so I did.

I use the internet to learn stuff (how to freeze vegetables, how to temper an egg, how to can), but I also use it to get from Point A to Point B. I have no idea what life was like before google maps. Seriously. My GPS system is a collection of fold up maps in my car, but even I cannot fathom how people got to places that they did not know.

I don't do everything on the internet, even if it seems like I do. I do use it for communication and for research. But I prefer to consult travel books when planning a trip. And when I really want to learn a new skill, I consult real books. When I decided that I wanted to learn to can, I consulted the internet as an initial guide, but I ended up buying the canning bible, also known as the Ball Guide to Canning and Preserving. I try out recipes on my favorite food blogs, but I still prefer cookbooks. And until very recently, I still read an actual newspaper instead of the online version.

I know the internet isn't always a good thing. While I'm googling "how to make a french knot," someone else might be googling "how to make a bomb." While I use the internet as a communication tool, some people abuse it and use it to stalk and bully people, and sometimes worse. The internet makes it easier to access the good stuff, but it also makes it easier to do the bad stuff. But, there are downsides to everything. I still love the internet. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to catch up on the morning news.

virginia!

Drew and I are back from Virginia. I had a pleasant and relaxing week. We visited friends, finally finished his tattoo (well we didn't, but the tattoo artist did), and ate at the Waffle House 3 times! Does it get any better than that?

We took a little tour of Floyd with Drew's parents, taking a drive along the parkway. His parents live in Floyd County, and Floyd is in rural southwestern Virginia. Fall was in the air; the leaves were starting to change colors and there are pumpkins in the store! We stopped at the Mabry Mill and had a nice walk around.

Then we headed to the Floyd Country Store for the Friday Night Jamboree. The Floyd Country Store is pretty much what it sounds like: a country store. It sells kitchen gadgets, outdoor gear, children's toys, music, books and cookbooks, and foods like jams, molasses, apple butters, and hushpuppy mixes. There is a small section where you can get prepared food, baked goods, and ice cream.

The Friday Night Jamboree features three bands that each play for an hour to an hour and a half. It draws a good crowd, but one with an average age of about 65 years old. For the first hour, I think that Drew and I were the youngest ones there. After about an hour, more people arrived, including a few tourists and a handful of others who were in our age range.

The crowd wasn't that diverse, but there were people who embodied many Southern and rural stereotypes. I saw a kid wearing a camo hat with a fish hook and a Ford symbol. Three stereotypes rolled into one! I saw a couple guys wearing shirts with confederate flags. I saw a couple other guys wearing t-shirts, with the sleeves cut off. And, this might be the best one, I saw a guy wearing a t-shirt with a confederate flag, sleeves cut off, a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, and a huge gap between his two front teeth. I overheard him talking, and I couldn't decipher his words. The only way for me to describe his thick accent is to say that he spoke some form of "banjo." There is no other way to describe it.

Although I found the crowd and the people-watching amusing, the bluegrass music and the dancing was equally entertaining. The dance floor was packed with people clogging, which kind of looks like a lot of stomping around combined with tap dancing. Oh and clogging isn't gendered either; women and men alike clog. Tap shoes seemed to be the preferred clogging footwear, even among the men. (but you can do it without the tap shoes too)

I had a great time, and I would definitely go to the Friday Night Jamboree again. It was quite the place to be, or as Drew said, the ONLY place to be. And now I will leave you with this funny joke, told by one of the musicians:

My friend was visiting me in Asheville, from Boston. (by the way, any time a joke starts off with "my friend from [insert Northern city/state here] was visiting me," you know that humor will come at the expense of the Yankee) It was around Christmas time, and everywhere we went in Asheville, we saw nativity scenes with 3 firemen instead of 3 wise men. She asked me why the firemen replaced the wise men, and I said I didn't know, having lived in Asheville for only a short period of time. Finally, she asked a local, who said "Don't you Yankees read the bible? It says that 3 wise men came from afar!"

Get it? Get it? "Came from afar!" Say it aloud. Hahahahaha!