Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Serendipity? Perhaps...

I was standing in the kitchen eating dried cherries (thanks Meme!) contemplating life as I shifted from side to side. Moving muscles and thinking of the atoms shifting. Thinking about the structure of the atoms together making elements(remember being confused about the structure but appreciating it during organic chem), and elements making up stuff. The whole simplicity and complexity at the same time amazing. Well, I did have a birthday yesterday... Anyway. So I am there contemplating life, amazed that everything in the world is made up of atoms. The density changes, the composition, you know, but basically everything is the same.

Fast forward 10 maybe 15 minutes....

Page 155 of The Secret
Bob Proctor
Think of this for a moment. Look at your hand. It looks solid, but it's really not. If you put it under a proper microscope, you'd see a mass of energy vibrating.

John Assaraf
Everything is made up of the exact same thing, whether it's your hand, the ocean, or a star.

Dr. Ben Johnson
Everything is energy, and let me help you understand that just a little bit. There's the Universe, our galaxy, our planet, and then individuals, and then inside of this body are organ systems, then cells, then molecules, and then atoms. And then there is energy. So there are a lot of levels to think about, but everything in the Universe is energy.

If you know anything about The Secret then you would say I brought this on myself...

Friday, June 6, 2008

Off...

off on another adventure. let you in on it on saturday! too busy between now and then :^)

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Fabulous Dinner...

Ethel and I dined on the most fabulous dinner. I made roasted red pepper hummus. We had it in wraps with diced tomatoes, carrots, and broccoli! When we ran out of wraps (aka tortillas) we had the hummus on left over vegetables. When we ran out of vegetables we ate it from the spoon! Don't make a funny face! You would have too.


Here is the recipe...
Tonight I didn't rinse the chickpeas. I used 2 limes, 2 dashes of pepper, all the cumin, and the roasted red pepper and roasted garlic from the recipe below. With the extra lime juice I only needed to add a little water to reach the consistency I wanted.

Rob’s Hummus

Ingredients:

1 Can (14 oz) Chickpeas

Juice of 1 lemon or lime

2 Tbs Tahini

½ Tsp Salt

1 Tbs Olive Oil

½ Tsp Cumin (optional)

¼ Tsp Black Pepper (optional)

2 Cloves of Roasted Garlic (optional)


Directions

1. Drain chickpeas (rinse if you would like)

2. Put lemon juice, salt, garlic, cumin, pepper into food processor or blender and blend

3. Add ½ of the chickpeas and blend with pulses into a paste. If very dry add some olive oil and/or water

4. Add olive oil, tahini, and the rest of the chickpeas, blend until smooth. Add olive oil and/or water if too dry.


Options:

# Add juice of a 2nd lemon or lime. This reduces the amount of olive oil/water that you add extra.

# For Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

o Cut the pepper open, remove seeds and stem

o Place the pepper on a baking sheet with a little olive oil and the garlic to be roasted

o Bake (roast) until the pepper looks a little shriveled

o Add to the blender when the garlic is added

# Serve with fresh cucumber, carrots, broccoli, or sweet pepper

# Blend in Marie Sharp’s, chopped parsley, horseradish, paprika, dill, or other spices to add flavor

# Add orange juice instead of water to make the recipe extra special

# Blend in ¼ to ½ pound of tofu to make a creamier, healthy spread (though I have heard this is not as tasty)

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Rain recount...

I spoke with Steve- the one who told me the amount of rain- and it turns out there was not over 20 inches of rain. His calculations were based on the increase in inches in their cistern. I have heard that there has been between 13 and 15 inches from others. I doubt that anyone will be even remotely accurate since there were such strong winds.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Info from Nemo

Last post today promise!

Check out the link to Nemo concerning the flooding in southern Belize. The pictures are impressive. It actually looks like they are getting quite a bit of heavy rain now as well. I am rather disappointed in the coverage from The Weather Channel. I know that we are living in Belize and it is an American company, they should realize that there are a lot of Americans in Belize and Belizeans in the States.

The bands that came after tropical storm Arthur were far stronger than the storm itself. At least the part that we felt. With sustained winds of 60 mph and stronger and 20 inches or more of rain, the bands packed quite the punch. I actually contacted a friend this morning at 5am warning her of what was coming her way. I had saved the last of my credit on my phone just in case. Despite her home being rebuilt after Dean, I was concerned that she was in for another home make over. I have only heard from a few people, but the ones I am most concerned about won't be able to be contacted. Good Luck Everybody!

From an email concerning Belizean Hell


A man dies and goes to hell. There he finds that there is a different hell for each country. He goes first to the German hell and asks “What do they do here?”

He is told, “First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the German devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day.”

The man does not like the sound of that at all, so he moves on. He checks out the USA hell as well as the Russian hell and many more. He discovers that they are all more or less the same as the German hell.

Then he comes to the Belizean hell and finds that there is a very long line of people waiting to get in.

Amazed he asks “What do they do here?”

He is told “First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the Belizean devil comes in and whips you for the rest of the day.”

“But that is exactly the same as all the other hells - why are there so many people waiting to get in?” he asked.

“Because there is never any reliable electricity from BEL therefore the electric chair does not work, someone tief all the nails so there’s none to lay you on, and the devil is working for the new government so he comes in, signs the attendance register and then goes back home, calls channel 7's Jewels Vasquez & Indira Craig to help him make up a bullshit story to fool the Belizean People.

DandE's Frozen Custard

I am starting to have separation anxiety concerning DandE's Frozen Custard. While I refer to it as ice cream I assure you it is so much more. I don't think that I mentioned this around Christmas, so here is the story. A few days before I left I started thinking about ice cream. I wasn't really excited even though I would be able to have my favorite Phish Food. Then I realized what was going through my head... I am going to be eating ice cream out of a box! It wouldn't be made where I bought it and heaven only knew how long it had been sitting there!!! I have gotten used to Eileen serving me what ever flavor sounded best directly out of the machine. Dan accepting requests when getting ready to make the next batch. Or even sampling mid way through the process to see if the flavor is right. At the very oldest the ice cream might have made it a week. I go through phases. Sometimes I believe it is better to limit my consumption because soon there will be none. Other times I have been twice in one day because life is short and soon there will be none. While the answer falls somewhere in between I will enjoy it while I can!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Job search stuff

Tonight I have spent hours looking for prospective career options... This basically means that I have been scanning through lists of jobs and their descriptions. Writing down anything and everything that sounds interesting. I also started, though barely, a list of things that I most definitely don't want to do.

A few things off of the "No Thanks!" jobs or areas of employment

  • air traffic control
  • prison guard
  • customs inspector
  • cutting down big trees
  • explosives test operator
  • finance- Karen you can keep it!
  • hand composer
  • language specialist- I have a hard enough time with English
  • lock and dam repairer
  • missile/toxic materials handler
  • mortician
  • petroleum engineer
  • podiatrist
  • security guard
  • stevedore
  • tax law specialist
  • United States marshal
I was feeling like I needed a little Buffett in my life so I put him on for my job search. I have 10.2 hours of Buffett on iTunes and I listened to all but about 6 songs. I think I am caught up for a little while.