More Brass Monkey Weather

When my family came to visit in December they were quite disappointed that it wasn't snowing. Indeed, it didn't snow at all during their stay. All of North America had a very warm start to the winter. But it's become a very cold January; the last couple of weeks have got much colder than last month and colder than I remember last winter being.

The problem's not the snow, there's very little of it. It's so cold that the air's too dry for much precipitation. When it does snow there's not enough time for big crystals to form so all we get is a very fine powder, which is not much fun to walk on.

The problem is simply that it's bitterly cold. The 28th got down to -11˙C and didn't get over -2; today it got down to -12˙and hasn't risen above -8! I'm not looking forward to this weekend, they're forecasting -13 to -7˙C on Saturday and -16 to -10˙ on Sunday! Oh, and the wind-chill etc. often takes it down to -23˙C.

Now, I'm quite frugal when it comes to heating my apartment. I try to spare the enviroment and my wallet by putting on a jumper before I turn up the heat to mid-range. But the other day I found that I just couldn't put any more clothes on but my fingers and toes were still cold, so I had to turn up the heat to the very highest level, for the first time since I've been here. Although I turn them down low when I'm out or sleeping, the heaters are never off.

Bizarre Beverages

When I was at Disney World I bought some little tins of hot chocolate that come in funny colours. I got around to trying them the other day.

The powder is white when dry (partly because is has a lot of powdered milk in it) but the colour comes out as soon as it gets wet.












I was surprised at just how psychadelic the colours are.





The only side effect is that it really doesn't taste that great - too milky, not chocolatey enough. A bit like white chocolate. I guess that's what happens when you try to change something to such unnatural colours.

Spring Semester 2007

Classes start back today. Of course the break wasn't long enough but I think I'll enjoy these new classes.

I'm taking:
"Descartes and His World", "Topics in the History of Alchemy" and "Experimental Philosophy" "Philosophy of Biology".

Now, most grad students earn their keep by teaching undergrads, as I did last semester. But this time around I have a Research Assistantship instead, helping Bill Newman with The Newton Project. Hopefully there'll be some overlap with the alchemy class.

Update - 12th January
I've decided at the last minute (Friday of the first week of classes) to drop the philosophy class that had a very high workload and only moderately interesting readings in favour of a philosophy of biology class taught by Lisa Lloyd, the professor whose undergrads I taught last semester (so I know she's excellent paedogogically). The material looks like something the whole class will engage with quite well and overall I think the class will be far more manageable.

Also, at the first meeting of the Descartes class, when discussing the readings, the professor asked, "Who reads French?" I had to admit that I did. (It's much easier to read than it is to speak.) So now I'm going to attempt to read a few of Descartes' shorter works in French. It could be a very slow process but I'm sure I'll learn a lot of vocab and it is good to have a definite practical goal.

Back in Bloomington

Being back in Bloomington I've noticed a couple of things:

Indiana is much colder than Florida. I don't know where my career will take me after this but I hope I'll be living somewhere much warmer!

Bloomington roads are much friendlier. Unlike Orlando, there are plenty of pedestrian crossings so you don't have to drive everywhere. And unlike New York, where cars turning at the lights will drive straight through a pedestrian crossing unless you're dead in front of the car giving the finger, here in Bloomington cars will see you standing on the footpath and wave you across, even though they have right of way!

I'm Going to Disney World!

On the second day, while Dad was at Cape Kennedy, Erin and I went to Disney World. We saw Epcot and the Animal Kingdom. One interesting ride had us sitting up high, surrounded by a curved screen with air blowing at us to give the sensation of flight. It wasn't that convincing but what was surprising was that when we flew through a pine forest we could smell pine and we could smell orange blossoms when we flew over the orange orchard. It was great but there was far too much for us to see two parks in one day.

New Years Eve we returned with Mum and Dad to see Disney-MGM Studios in the evening (after having a relaxing morning including a swim in the hotel pool). While Erin waited for a churro I took the opportunity to go on StarTours again. We saw a few other things including Fantasmic, which had been updated since we saw it at Disneyland in 1992. I went on the Tower of Terror and elevator ride that doesn't just drop you but bounces you up and down! We stayed until the midnight fireworks then went back to the hotel to pack. We didn't sleep at all New Year's Eve. On the way to the airport we got breakfast (about 3am) at IHOP, Erin's favourite restaurant.

The Orange State

After New York we flew down to Orlando, Florida.

The first day we went to Universal Studios, Florida and the adjacent Universal's Islands of Adventure. At the Islands of Adventure there were some pretty good roller coasters. The Dueling Dragons wasn't bad, although it was a bit of a worry that they had to stop the ride for a few minutes when something went wrong.

The scarier ride was the Hulk. It started off creeping up a slope where it feels like you're going to accelerate down the other side but instead you start accelerating before you get to the top! It was fun but really very intense. Dad said it was about as intense as his ride in a MiG fighter jet!

Something interesting I noticed about these two rollercoasters was signs on the way in saying something like "People come in all different shapes. Rows 3 and 6 have been modified to accommodate these variations." That is to say, as we boarded the ride, the guard directed the fatties to those two rows. A necessary thing in contemporary America. (I must say, these things serve as a bit of a reminder to me not to eat too much American food and not to let the car make me too lazy!)

The rollercoasters were good but what was quite new to me was Shrek 4D. Not only is the movie 3D but the seats also move. And there's more special effects. In one scene where a bunch of spiders appear (in 3D) you suddenly feel something brushing your legs! The seats are equipped with little air jets for this as well as water jets in the seat in front of you. Erin was particularly impressed (read: disgusted) when we felt Donkey's sneeze in 4D!

New York, New York, It's a Hell of a Town

After Boston we came down to New York city by train, staying in a little two-bedroom apartment just off Times Square (on 48th St between 8th and 9th Ave). It's certainly an overwhelming place. Not because of the tall buildings, I've spent enough time in downtown Sydney (and now Montreal) to be used to getting around a big city. The thing that struck me was the people. All the caricatures you hear about obnoxious New Yorkers are really quite accurate. The drivers are all insane, especially the taxi drivers, and the pedestrians are just as pushy. Erin was particularly appalled when she overheard a mother instructing her children to push and shove!

Erin and Mum are disappointed that it's not snowing and there's none forecast before we head down to Florida. (Erin is particularly sour, saying a White Xmas is the only reason she came all this way!)

The first day there we saw the American Museum of Natural History together then I went over to The Met by myself. The dinosaurs were very impressive, so many huge fossils! The Met also had tons of famous works but my favourite part was when I overheard an American badly mispronouncing French names, saying "My favorites are Monnett and Rennoyer."! Both museums were far too big to see all of. The walk back to the subway station through Central Park was a little scary as it was getting dark and I was by myself but I was fine. I think the danger might be a little exaggerated.

Christmas Eve we went to see the Empire State Building; the 3rd tallest building in the world, now that the World Trade centre is no more. Dad and I went all the way to the 102nd floor. It was VERY windy! That night we had dinner at a very expensive restaurant on Central Park, The Tavern on the Green, and then took a carriage ride through the park.

Boxing Day we toured the UN building in the morning and saw Little Italy and China Town in the arvo.

On our last day in New York we caught the ferry out to La liberté éclairant le monde. Dad and I went inside but you can't walk up into her head anymore, we could only go to the viewing platform at the top of the pedestal. Still, it was interesting to see such a famous landmark up close.

On our last night we had dinner in a Puerto Rican restaurant, just as appropriate to New York as our lunch in Little Italy the day before. One of the sides offerred was plantains (a word I recognised from a conversation I had with a couple of Latino friends who were patiently explaining to me the differences between Mexican and Puerto Rican cuisine). So I tried the green ones and Mum tried the sweet ones. The sweet ones were too much like bananas for my liking but the green ones were very starchy and, fried up, tasted much like potato scallops.

A chocolate so dark that light cannot escape its surface!

More important than where we went is this discovery I found at the Lindt store at Kittery: Excellence 99% (sic.) Cocoa "Noirissime" Dark Chocolate!

I expect that this will make Waden green with envy as they have been known to wax lyrical about the pathetically weak 85% variety. Wade said that 85% takes some getting used to. In fact, their website gives safety guidlines so that consumers aren't overpowered:

To fully appreciate its flavor and texture, we recommend that you progressively develop your palate through our range of high cocoa content chocolate bars, starting with Excellence 70% Cocoa, then 85% and finally 99% Cocoa.

I haven't opened it yet. I might take their advice and make a base camp at 85% before attempting the 99% summit.

Oh and, Baden, they recommend that you take it with coffee, not tea, as you are wont to do.

Boston and Salem

Yesterday we went walking around downtown Boston, we followed an historical walk and saw a few old buildings. Did a little shopping but overall a quiet day.

Today we took a drive up to Salem. We saw the memorial for the witched they hanged back in the 1690s. (Apparenly Arthur Miller stuck to the true story pretty closely, all the names match.)

Then we drove up through New Hampshire into Maine to some factory outlets at Kittery where Mum and Erin spent several hours shopping.

Pennsylvania

After leaving Washington we travelled up through Virginia and Pennsylvania etc. on our way to Boston. We spent most of Friday at Leesburg, Virginia outlet shopping. We stayed that night at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and the next night at Milford, Pennsylvania. In between we stopped at Hershey, Pennsylvania, where we saw Hershey's Chocolate World. The animatronic tour was basically one big advertisement with a free piece of bad chocolate at the end. Oh, the kitsch value!

After Milford we drove through a bit of New York state and Connecticut into Massachusetts. Tonight we're in Woburn, in the outer suburbs of Boston.

The Centre of the Centre of the World

The first city on the winter trip with my family is Washington, DC. Yesterday Dad and I went to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in the morning and then in the afternoon to another Smithsonian air and space, the Udvar-Hazy Center, out in Virginia, where they keep the planes that are too big to display in a normal building, as well as the space shuttle Enterprise.

Then today we got to take a tour of the White House and the Capitol. Not just anyone can do that, yoou have to organise it through your congressman (my friend Sean arranged it for us). The White House tour was ultra high security, of course but once we got inside it was self-guided. We saw all the stately rooms and it was pretty impressive.

The Capitol Tour was even better. A staffer took us behind the scences and all throughout the Capitol, telling us all the stories behind every little detail of the building, as well as how congress works. It was really a fantastic experience.

We also took a bus tour around the monuments. We went up the Washington Monument and saw the Lincoln Memorial. I was really amazed at just how big the Washington Memorial is. I had no idea that you can go up to the top of it; you sure can see a long way.

Brass Monkeys Again

I woke up this morning to find it particularly cold. After turning up the heat I checked the temperature and found that it was -11 ˙C outside! It's not going to get above -1 today. Yesterday it didn't get above +1˙. There was just a little snow on Friday, just a few flakes that melted instantly, nothing much to speak of.

Marshmallow Madness

As mentioned in my last post, I went to a Thanksgiving dinner with an American family on Thursday. It was a hot turkey dinner, of course, with all the usual stuff except sweet potatoes (most Americans call them "yams" but not these folks) which had gone bad. Anyway, even though this family never goes so far as to bake their sweet spuds with marshmallow, they do turn it into a quasi-dessert by mixing it with apples, pecans and cinnamon (which meant we had a cinnamony apple-pecan mixture with our main course, not as a dessert). I asked the cook about the sweet potato-marshmallow abomination I'd heard of and she agreed that other Americans are crazy to make their veges so sweet but somehow failed to see that her apples and cinnamon were doing the same thing.

I saw that the supermarket was low on marshmallows and wondered whether this was because so many people were cooking that dish for their Thanksgiving dinners but I also saw that they were on sale so I bought a packet. When I got them home I noticed this recipe on the back:

Whipped Sweet Potato Bake
Prep time: 10 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 can (40 oz.) yams, drained
¼ cup (½ stick) butter or margarine, melted
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
24 marshmallows (about 3 cups)

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Beat sweet potatoes, butter, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.

SPOON lightly greased 1 ½ qt. baking dish; top with marshmallows.

BAKE 15 to 20 minutes or until sweet potato mixture is heated through and marshmallows are lightly browned.

Makes 10 servings, ½ cup each.

I hate to admit it but I'm just a little tempted to try it, just for the sake of a gastronomic adventure.

And while we're on the subject, marshmallow also comes in jars here, i.e. as a spread. When first I saw it at the supermarket I didn't really understand what it was. Then the other day my friend Sean, who's from Boston, explained that they have a sandwich there called a "fluffer-nutter" with peanut butter and marshmallow spread on it (similar to the ubiquitous PB&J, I guess). But, whatever you do, don't look up "fluffer" in the Urban Dictionary! (Seriously, you don't want to know.)

A bit of slack

I have no classes for the next week thanks to Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving falls next Thursday, and everyone gets Friday off for the start of the Xmas shopping season, the university also gives students Wednesday off. But my Monday and Tuesday classes have both been cancelled so all I have to do is show my students a video on Monday morning.

So finally I get a chance to take a breath and try to catch up on things like grading and writing a couple of papers that will be due in just a few weeks.

Unlike last Thanksgiving, I won't be cooking a turkey (nor a turducken) to eat with my Indian friends (dot, not feather). Cindy and I have been invited to a Thanksgiving Dinner with an American family. It'll be interesting to see an authentic American Thanksgiving dinner first hand. I'll let you know if they serve the sweet potato and marshmallow (sic.) abomination that so many Americans love.

Don't Drink and Vote

Today's the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, in an even-numbered year; it's election day, here in the US of A. Mid-terms, i.e. the House of Reps and a third of the senate (as well as governors in some states).

Anyway, I just got back from the store where I saw a sign saying that it's illegal for them to sell alcohol before 6pm on election day here in Indiana! Even though the no alcohol on Sunday rule annoys me (why not a less-inconvenient day like Tuesday or Wednesday!?) I think that a dry election day is a good idea. If nothing else it might remind the winos to go out and vote.

Comrades

I went to a Halloween costume party Saturday night. I was hoping that Cindy and I could go together as a pantomime horse but that wasn't possible so I had to look for other costume ideas. I was considering a few different ideas when I asked a couple of my American friends what they were planning. Larry said that he was going as Fidel, so Sean said immediately that he would go as Che. There was nothing left but for me to go as Lenin.

I think we made a good trio.

Jack o' Lantern, Second Edition

After reviewing last year's effort, Cindy and I spent some time sketching a new and improved, now even scarier face before carving this year's Jack o' lantern. Last year I did the classic square teeth, which are ok but not very scary. This year the teeth are pointy and the eyes angled differently. I'm pleased with the result.

Once again, I toasted the seeds and made pumpkin soup, which I'll be eating for the next few months.

United States Bans Vegemite

Bad news: I've heard from two sources now that the US government has banned Vegemite! It sounds a bit strange, given that I've seen Vegemite for sale here in Bloomington (at SaharaMart), so I'm not entirely sure if it's true. But apparently now it's not only illegal to import it commercially but also for personal use. The story quotes a source - "Former Geelong man Daniel Fogarty, who now lives in Calgary, Canada, said he was stunned when searched while crossing the US border recently."

If they're serious about this I might have to write some letters and lobby for Australian citizens to be allowed to import small quantities for personal use. It could even be argued that Vegemite is a sacrament for us! Surely it's a right to bear Vegemite.

If it's tangy and brown...

This weekend I discovered the joy of car ownership. I took the opportunity to leave Bloomington and took a nice drive through the countryside. Today I went to a cider mill. I bought a gallon of cider and half a peck of golden delicious (before driving off in my car that gets forty rods to the hogshead!). Of course it will take me a while to get through a whole gallon (even if it is a US gallon, not an imperial one) but it's not pasteurised so the longer I leave it, the more alcoholic it'll get; I'm in no hurry. The same place was also selling pumpkins.

And yesterday I went to a little town called Nashville, Indiana (not to be confused with Nashville, Tennessee). It reminds me a lot of Leura. There was a little bourgeois kitchen store where I half expected to see Prue and Trude from Kath & Kim. But most importantly there was a "candy" store with many different types of liquorice. This was quite a find because most US supermarkets only have one brand of hard, chewy liquorice, with a bitter after-taste. The kid working there acted as my liquorice consultant, "What sort of liquorice do you like? Hard or soft? Strong or mild?" and we established that Kookaburra brand was best for me; "An Australian brand," he informed me.

Skype Video

Good news! Skype has released a beta version of a video chat client for Mac. This means I can now video chat with a lot more people (more than I could using iChat over AIM). If you have a webcam and miss seeing my beautiful visage, drop me a line. (If you're used to chatting with me on another network, don't worry, I'll still be on those too.)