Wrapping Up Loose Ends

Wrapping up some loose ends, here are the answers to the quiz:

1. Jennifer's last name is:
a. Bussio
b. Muhlestein
c. Bussio-Muhlestein
d. Jennifer has only one name, like Cher

You'd be surprised how often people are mistaken on this.

2. For late night, Jennifer watches:
a. David Letterman
b. Conan O'Brien
c. Craig Ferguson
d. What are you talking about? She's asleep by 10:30 pm!

I can't recommend it in good conscience, but that Scottish Conan can be hilarious. In full disclosure, I do Tivo it and watch the next day.

3. Jennifer rarely reads this kind of book:
a. Fiction
b. Non-fiction
c. Old
d. Jennifer hates reading

Fiction's never rocked my socks. Why read made up stuff when you can read interesting real stuff?

4. Jennifer frequently quotes what TV show?
a. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
b. Bones
c. Dr. Who
d. Futurama

One of the funniest shows ever made. "You watched it, you can't unwatch it," "If that is your freedom day wish," "...and the lies upon lies." Did I mention their spaceship has an Accusing Parlor?!!

5. Speaking of TV shows, Jennifer's favorite is:
a. House
b. Bones
c. Angel
d. Dr. Who

If you missed this one, you are dead to me. DEAD.

6. Jennifer does not own any:
a. Perfume
b. Scrunchies
c. Lipstick
d. Mascara

Don't know why, just don't. I do own mascara, I just never wear it.

7. In Rock Band, Jennifer plays which instruments?
a. Guitar
b. Bass
c. Vocals
d. Drums
e. A, B, and C are all correct

Sadly, it would appear even small children can best me on the drums.

8. Jennifer's favorite color is:
a. Green
b. Blue
c. Yellow
d. Jennifer has no one favorite color


If it's bright and happy, I like it. No pastels, though. It's like they took decent colors and made them ugly.

9. Jennifer hates scary movies EXCEPT those with:
a. Ghosts because they are not scary
b. Vampires because they seek true love, not blood, these days
c. Zombies because she could take 'em in a fight
d. Monsters because they always look fake.

Also, zombies hold a special place in my heart. Thanks, House of the Dead 3!

10. Jennifer loves:
a. Cats
b. Dogs and cats
c. Most traditional pets
d. All animals except pigeons, cicadas and spiders who thirst for her blood.

Quail and I have resolved our differences, whoever asked.

11. Jennifer is married to:
a. Paul
b. That One Guy
c. David
d. Jennifer is married?!!

If you missed this, you are dead to Paul.

12. Jennifer is at school studying:
a. Chinese language
b. Chinese history
c. Linguisitics
d. Law

I'm not in it for the pure love of the Chinese language, people!

13. Jennifer's BA degree is in:
a. Chinese
b. Asian Studies
c. History
d. Dual degrees in Chemistry and History

See my previous comment.

14. Jennifer rarely makes cookies because:
a. She's bad at it
b. She has no time
c. She always eats the dough
d. She strangely doesn't like cookies

I maintain that there is no cookie that tastes better in cooked form.

15. Jennifer dislikes what common flavor?
a. Sweet
b. Salty
c. Sour
d. Bitter

I like sour and bitter things, no one who eats Gushers can complain about sweet. I do really hate salty things though.

16. Jennifer looks forward to the Muhlestein family reunion because:
a. she hates air-conditioning
b. she loves the outdoors
c. she enjoys sleeping in the same room as all her in-laws
d. she likes the Muhlesteins and that is the only reason

I'm sure you are all shocked to learn that.

17. Jennifer nixed Guitar Hero: Smash Hits for her siblings because her mother:
a. complains about the songs' poor grammar
b. hates the merriment of children
c. would explode if she ever heard "Killing in the Name of"
d. Both A and C
e. All answers are correct

I'm pretty sure my mother's head would explode if she heard any Rage Against the Machine song, in fairness to "Killing in the Name of."

18. Jennifer's favorite female singer/songwriter is:
a. Fiona Apple
b. Aimee Mann
c. Tori Amos
d. Sarah MacLachlan

If you don't know who this is, go buy Bachelor No. 2 or the Last Remains of the Dodo right now. I'll wait.

19. Which traditional childhood food does Jennifer NOT like?
a. Peanut butter and jelly
b. Mac and Cheese
c. Tuna fish and crackers
d. Trick question! Jennifer likes all of these things.

Peanut butter is not tasty. End of discussion.

20. The main stone in Jennifer's engagement ring is:
a. Diamond
b. Ruby
c. Sapphire
c. Emerald

See, I told you there would be easy questions.

Now as for a winner who wins prizes, Anon @ 8:08 wins. Guess he or she gets to pick his/her prize.

You Don't Know Me...Or Do You?

All right, here's the deal. We're going to play a little round of how well do you know Jennifer. Some of the questions are absurdly easy, some are ridiculously obscure. I'll post the answers when I feel like it--probably around Friday or so. I'll post a round for Paul at the same time. Ready? Good.

1. Jennifer's last name is:
a. Bussio
b. Muhlestein
c. Bussio-Muhlestein
d. Jennifer has only one name, like Cher

2. For late night, Jennifer watches:
a. David Letterman
b. Conan O'Brien
c. Craig Ferguson
d. What are you talking about? She's asleep by 10:30 pm!

3. Jennifer rarely reads this kind of book:
a. Fiction
b. Non-fiction
c. Old
d. Jennifer hates reading

4. Jennifer frequently quotes what TV show?
a. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
b. Bones
c. Dr. Who
d. Futurama

5. Speaking of TV shows, Jennifer's favorite is:
a. House
b. Bones
c. Angel
d. Dr. Who

6. Jennifer does not own any:
a. Perfume
b. Scrunchies
c. Lipstick
d. Mascara

7. In Rock Band, Jennifer plays which instruments?
a. Guitar
b. Bass
c. Vocals
d. Drums
e. A, B, and C are all correct

8. Jennifer's favorite color is:
a. Green
b. Blue
c. Yellow
d. Jennifer has no one favorite color

9. Jennifer hates scary movies EXCEPT those with:
a. Ghosts because they are not scary
b. Vampires because they seek true love, not blood, these days
c. Zombies because she could take 'em in a fight
d. Monsters because they always look fake.

10. Jennifer loves:
a. Cats
b. Dogs and cats
c. Most traditional pets
d. All animals except pigeons, cicadas and spiders who thirst for her blood.

11. Jennifer is married to:
a. Paul
b. That One Guy
c. David
d. Jennifer is married?!!

12. Jennifer is at school studying:
a. Chinese language
b. Chinese history
c. Linguisitics
d. Law

13. Jennifer's BA degree is in:
a. Chinese
b. Asian Studies
c. History
d. Dual degrees in Chemistry and History

14. Jennifer rarely makes cookies because:
a. She's bad at it
b. She has no time
c. She always eats the dough
d. She strangely doesn't like cookies

15. Jennifer dislikes what common flavor?
a. Sweet
b. Salty
c. Sour
d. Bitter

16. Jennifer looks forward to the Muhlestein family reunion because:
a. she hates air-conditioning
b. she loves the outdoors
c. she enjoys sleeping in the same room as all her in-laws
d. she likes the Muhlesteins and that is the only reason

17. Jennifer nixed Guitar Hero: Smash Hits for her siblings because her mother:
a. complains about the songs' poor grammar
b. hates the merriment of children
c. would explode if she ever heard "Killing in the Name of"
d. Both A and C
e. All answers are correct

18. Jennifer's favorite female singer/songwriter is:
a. Fiona Apple
b. Aimee Mann
c. Tori Amos
d. Sarah MacLachlan

19. Which traditional childhood food does Jennifer NOT like?
a. Peanut butter and jelly
b. Mac and Cheese
c. Tuna fish and crackers
d. Trick question! Jennifer likes all of these things.

20. The main stone in Jennifer's engagement ring is:
a. Diamond
b. Ruby
c. Sapphire
c. Emerald

Odds/Ends

Wow! It's been a while; I need to get caught up. First, I bought Piper a harness and leash (she has a breakaway collar, hence the harness). She is always looking out the window, so I thought she would like being outside. I was half-right. First, I bought the wrong size of harness, so I wound up attaching the leash to her collar anyway. I carried her outside, which startled a pigeon, which caused her to bolt inside. At least I know breakaway collars really work. The next day though, she totally bolted outside the front door after I took the garbage out. She made it all the way across the porch to the neighbor's before running back inside the apartment. Today I tried taking her out on the balcony again (without the leash, since she goes into death rolls on it)and she actually walked around for a minute before heading back inside.

Since my previous basil plant died under mysterious circumstances while I was in Utah, I bought another one. I haven't planted it yet, but it is still alive after a week. I'll try to plant it tomorrow. I've been able to resurrect the Zinnias and one of the Indian paintbrushes. Today it looks like the unknown plant is also rebounding. I'd given up on the rest of the plants, so now I'm wondering if maybe I should hold off on ripping them out for a while.

I've got a part-time job for the summer. It's organizing and cataloging a professor's library. I'm trying to play it cool, but secretly I am giddy. I am being paid (well) to organizing and catalog books! It's pretty awesome. Okay, it's really awesome.

What else? Let's see. I've worn Paul down on the second kitty front and found the most adorable orange stripy kitten to adopt. Now I just need to call the landlord and see if two cats is permitted. I'm trying not to get my hopes up and to get my courage up.

I think that's all for now.

Have I No Home, No Shelter, No Place of Refuge?

So I was looking around Facebook, learning about the post-BYU pursuits of my friends (Medical School at University of Illinois at Urbana! Graduate studies in Harpistry at the University of Indiana!) when I saw that one anonymous friend--let's call him Vance Johnson--was a member of the group, "You know You're From Provo When...." There's 75 things you should know if you're from Provo. I don't know 7 of them. I know it shouldn't bother me, but it really, really, really does.

10. You know where every scene of the Mormon "Pride and Prejudice" was filmed.

Now, I have never seen this film, so it definitely shouldn't bother me to miss, yet here it is.

33. You remember when BYU had a moat going around campus and were really quite bothered when they filled it up, but not as much as the ducks who were made homeless by the thoughtlessness of BYU groundskeeping.

I never recall BYU having a moat around campus. There was an open canal across from the Art Museum that was eventually filled in, displacing ducks. I have no idea if this is the moat in question (in which case the author of the list does not understand the meaning of "moat") or merely a fragment of such thing.

34. You enjoyed seeing the ducks in the Timpview parking lot when walking back from "release time."

I didn't attend Timpview, but well, see #10.

56. Jolly Jolly James

I literally have no idea to what this is referring.

59. You know the difference between canyon crap and edgie wedgies.

Ditto.

69. You go to Power Pump every Wednesday.

Ibid.

74. You know you're from Provo when you remember the rope swings on the Provo River trail until they cut them down.

I feel like I vaguely know something about this, but I think it was before my time.

Perhaps some of you could come to my aid and restore my street cred, as it were?

Trip to Utah

Let's see, on Memorial Day I drove home with Mary, who courteously took the Phoenix to St. George leg of the trip. We made good time (11 hrs including a lunch break and a horrible traffic jam outside of Salem. There should never, ever be a traffic jam near Salem. No one lives there!) and enjoyed an uneventful trip. I came home, enjoyed the presence of much family and some decent sandwiches and Chinese food. Seriously, how hard is it to make a decent turkey sandwich? But I digress. The occasion of my return was my brother's high school graduation, which went off smoothly and mostly meltdown-free. We took pictures, had a tasty family dinner, the usual things. On Saturday, Paul flew in and we shuttled between families for a day. Sunday, we drove home and made better time (10.5 hrs including lunch). I drove almost all the way, from Provo to Kingman. That's like eight hours for those keeping track. I also drove us into Phoenix, so overall I drove around 9 of the 10.5 hrs. I think one person could do it in one day with a strategic long break, but it would not be particularly pleasant. My back and leg were in agony going into Vegas, but by the time we switched everything was sufficiently numb, so it didn't matter. It was a little depressing to return to our sandwich, Chinese, and family-less town, but then I went out swimming and you'd be surprised how awesome you feel lying in a pool looking up at blue skies and palm trees. Really perks you up. Think I burned a bit though. Nothing, well nothing except the back of my neck looks pink, but my shoulders and cheeks have that dry uncomfortable feeling. Anyway, it was great to go and now it's okay to be back.

A Brave New World

As you probably know, gentle readers, I am a notoriously picky eater. And I love Mac and Cheese. These two statements are the foundations of ambitious new summer plans.

First, The Grand Expansion of Tastes. Every day this summer, I will try a new food or beverage. I was inspired by positive experiences with avocados and acai juice (which is delicious, FYI!) and not discouraged by tomatoes (which are, as I had previously believed, disgusting). Yesterday was hibiscus soda. It tasted acceptable, but the smell was awful. Paul considered it palatable. Today's was Wallaby's organic Australian-style pear yogurt. It's delicious and worth the 79 cents.

Second, the Great Mac and Cheese Experimental Taste-Off. I'm attempting to try every brand of Mac and Cheese on the market here. It can't be anything other than straight up Mac and Cheese (no shells, no white cheddar, no jalapenos). I'm taking suggestions, so take note next time you go to the grocery store. Heck, I'll even try any kind of Mac and Cheese you send, provided it meets the above requirements. (I'm not sure any of you care enough to send any though.) Since individual recipes vary, I've been using the my standard tbsp of butter and enough milk to dissolve the cheese powder for all of them. So far, I've tried:

Kraft (standard)--Three stars
Trader Joe's--Two stars
Annie's--Four stars
Simply Organic (Annie's organic line)--Two-and-a-half stars.
Back to Nature--Three stars. (Note: This one was good, but too salty. If you like salt, this would probably be three-and-a-half to four stars.)

Well, that's it. I'll try to finish up the post on my week in Utah later today or tomorrow.

Siblings?

I'm still recovering from our trip north, but I thought I post some pictures I took with my laptop while watching Bones with my sibbies. I know, you thought they didn't exist. Well they do, and I think the pictures say a lot about them.