Zombie escape made simple

How I do love commoncraft. They make all of the crazy-complex stuff in life seem so much simpler, fun even. And for Halloween, they even help us stay safe from zombies.

Zombies don't eat candy, don't dance, and can't swim. They don't sound like much fun at all.

This is a purely technical, experimental, and mostly boring post

Nbii.gov partners 2007-2008

alliance amc art basin biodiversity conservation cswgcin department ducks energy engineering epa explorer forest galveston gbif information institute interdisciplinary invasive james land mapping marine monitoring montana national natural noaa nsf nwr parks pbif pondicherry program project protection resources resources- river science service species state texas university university- university-national usfs usgs

created at TagCrowd.com

As it says, I used TagCrowd.com, a quick and easy way to turn text into a tag cloud. I especially like doing it to my information science papers to see how big the words data, information and academic get, usually correlated to how boring my paper is. The best part is seeing the words you don't expect pop out at you. Like service, or even better, texas.

Many good tools exist to do this for you, starting with all kinds of input: your blog, website, excel spreadsheet (IBM Many Eyes = lots of text analysis tools), or just cut and paste text from anywhere. A list of cloud generators can be found here.

The cloud you see above is part of my practicum project this semester, studying the National Biological Information Infrastructure (Nbii.gov). I'll spare you the details. This is just a test--don't go thinking that this is valid, complete data, 'cause it aint.

We got married!?

After eight years of bliss, we decided to spice it up a bit. So we went to the courthouse and tied the old knot. We don't have pictures of that here, but here is our low-key, friends and close family party in the mountains that we threw to celebrate:


On the left is our friend who is designing our rings; he is a highly skilled jeweler in addition to being a lifelong friend (I can remember rolling around in his bunk bed when we were 3 or 4). He also teaches at John C. Campbell Folk School, if you're interested. On the right is my father-in-law. Ah, the naming of people is so much easier when you are married. He used to be my boyfriend of eight years' father, or some other complicated thing! That's really the only reason we got married. But we love each other, too, of course.



And Ranger Bob let my mother wear his hat, most likely against park regulations. But she sure was happy about it.






And the food was fantastic. One of my vegetarian friends said she would pay to attend a buffet like that. Hmmm...







This pesto was amazing, especially with the home-made bread.







Then my Dad got his banjo out, and things got a little bit more fun. Cause that's why banjos were invented.





















And then one of our guests drank a little too much a little too fast. . . and suffered the consequences. Either that, or the banjo music attracted zombies. It does that sometimes.

Sorry for the delay

In the interest of keeping some action going here, I'm going to be minimalist and post my pretty pictures while keeping my mouth mostly shut. Cause that's what I do when I'm covered up with school; head down and keep chugging. Thank god for late fall breaks, leaf-covered paths and rainy, windy fall days. It's about time!
















Thanks to Pisgah National Forest, I now have returned to a state of sanity, mostly. This place is one of the most magical in its ability to recharge the batteries. I think it's something about the constant wind blowing across the top of the bald.
Bring a toboggan and prepare to feel good. You just can't keep hold of a bad mood up here! Thank you Max, whoever you are.

This post is not educational

School has finally started! And in order to soften the blow, we went camping and got all nature-y. So enjoy this last uneducational post before I am so immersed in Information Science that I can't talk about anything else!


It's been a busy couple of weeks since my last post, first trying to cram as much leisure time in as possible, and then getting oriented in my new graduate program. We went to our favorite camping spot and got to see some really impressive shooting stars, part of the Perseid meteor shower, before we fell asleep like old people. But not before a little night swimming, one of the best things to do when primitive camping on a lake! Closely followed by the early morning swim while the fog is still lifting off of the water. We also did a little hiking to stretch our legs and give Solomon a chance to run.

The haze that you see in the picture is partially because it is August and we are having an endless heat wave and our air quality is like hot mud, and partially due to a small forest fire that was happening in a different part of the park. In the other direction, the air was much clearer. It was good, and we had more swimming afterwards to cool off. And then we had to go home, but we had huckleberries (more commonly known as blueberries, but I am respecting the local parlance, and it's fun to say!) to bring home and turn into cobbler for a few more delicious reminders of our fun.

And finally, before I end this post I have to brag about my mother. She called me after 9:30 last Saturday night, meaning something momentous had happened. Unlike my inlaws who routinely call after 11:00, and I do mean P.M., she goes to bed early, like 9:00. (I'm awake at 11, usually, but do I want to talk on the phone? No. I'm busy reading...or doing something else that's better than talking on the phone. Like flossing my teeth. I'm not really a phone person.) But back to my Mom... she had just gotten the exciting news that she had won 2nd place at the local fair with her quilt! See the birds? And the herringbone border? I think it's beautiful.

Okra...and other happy mishaps

Okra is one of my favorite things to watch grow. The flower is one of the most beautiful in the garden (no offense, squash blossoms!), and the whole plant just looks alien to me. With its crazy pods poking out, ready for action. So this year, I decided to try what promised to be an even more beautiful example: an heirloom red okra! I bought the seeds from John Scheepers kitchen garden seeds last fall, dreaming of how beautiful they would be. This spring, after the ground had thoroughly warmed (okay, I was busy, it was more like June), I used my little trick that insures germination of the hard-to-sprout tough little okra seeds, soaking them for five minutes in bleach and rinsing well before planting them. I had tried this method last year, being scientific and treating only half, comparing the germination between the two and taking careful notes which have since been lost, but that I remember clearly supported the use of the bleach method. (It also worked on moonflower seeds that had thwarted all previous efforts using sandpaper, a file/rasp, and finally a hammer when I got frustrated beyond reason.) The well-planned experiment of last year did not, however, include time as a variable, so I decided this year I would wander off and start a sewing project and maybe a load of laundry, triggering the sudden realization that I was still bleaching my expensive heirloom seeds 30 minutes later! I went ahead and rinsed and planted and waited, and waited and got two poor little plants out of six or eight seeds (I'm sorry, I can't remember, I didn't realize this was going to be important data). Interestingly, my regular old green okra fared much better after the 30 minute bleaching...must have a thicker seed coat or something. Anyway, I ended up with two lonely but beautiful red okra plants which is better than none, and I'll try again next year. And use a timer.
My other garden experiment this year (as if my entire garden isn't an experiment!) was trombolina summer squash, seeds from the same source as the okra. You can see its huge umbrella leaves (it grows daily, like kudzu) taking over my little city garden in the bottom right corner of this picture. Although they didn't claim it, I had heard that it is more resistant to squash borers, I think because it sends out little rootlets all along the vine, allowing it to stay healthy and get water even if the borers have gotten into it. Mine is definitely doing that, even scarring over and healing where it was compromised. I planted it about a month ago, in sad retaliation after the borers took all my zucchini out before I was ready to let go. And tonight I will test the flavor of my first trombolina!

Too much time on my hands

So I was talking to my mother the other day and she was discussing the trials of living in a small town where people think you're crazy. And I'm fairly unsympathetic because a) she chooses to live in said small town, and b) she is crazy. But she was told the other day after admitting that she grows her own sprouts that she has too much time on her hands. And my reaction was, "WHAT?!" They obviously had not ever tried growing sprouts because it takes no time at all. When you're doodling around the sink, you rinse them, morning and evening, and then you are rewarded in a few days with yummy little green sprouts to put on your cheese sandwich. Or whatever, because they are delicious.
I, in contrast, do make things that are beginning to indicate to me that I have too much time on my hands. Like mustard from scratch. Basil-shallot mustard to be exact. To go on my beautiful tomato sandwich. I think this mustard was invented to go on tomato sandwiches...it certainly makes the perfect compliment to a juicy tomato with its basil-y mustard flavor. Unlike sprouts, it does take some time, but it is worth every minute. Here is the recipe, adapted from Preserving the Harvest by Carol Costenbader:
Basil Shallot Mustard
1/4 C. yellow mustard seeds
1/2 C. dry mustard
2/3 C. apple juice
2/3 C. red wine vinegar
1/3 C. water
2-3 Tbsp. minced shallots
3 Tbsp. basil, chopped (I put mine in a glass and use scissors)
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. allspice
Grind mustard seeds partially in a spice mill or coffee grinder (not used for coffee). Combine all ingredients in a double boiler and cook over simmering water for about 15 min or until thickened (it will thicken more as it cools). Pour into 4-5 half-pint jars and store in the refrigerator.
The flavors should mingle and ripen for a few days, but I immediately spread mine on my tomato sandwich and it was heavenly. T's eyes rolled back in his head.