Marshmallow Experiment

I ended up with a subscription to Bon Appetit because I needed to use up some frequent flyer miles. Summer is a good time for me to experiment in the kitchen because I have more time.
This month, I came across a recipe for marshmallows. And thought, "wow, you can make your own marshmallows?"
Like most people, I thought mallows had to be made by a company somewhere and were not something one could easily construct in one's own kitchen.

Boy was I wrong!

Shockingly easy. No fancy ingredients. You'll have to beat them with a mixer for awhile so a standmixer would be handy, but is not a necessity.

So, then your question is not why should you make your own marshmallows? But, why shouldn't you?

Because the final product is seriously yummy.
The bowl is fun to lick.

And, you may never be able to return to the manufactured version again because the homemade ones are soft and chewy, flavorful and airy.

Impress your friends and family. Or, forget them and just keep them all to yourself.
I dropped one in a cup of my favorite hot chocolate (heat milk, add a spoonful of nutella a.k.a. chocolate hazelnut spread, warm until blended). Yum.

Battling Verizon

I don't understand customer service...
I'm a customer.
I'd like some service.

I've been calling Verizon for over a month now to determine whether FiOS internet is available in my condo. It's available in other units in my building. When I call, the customer "service" agents all say "that's odd" when they discover it's available in some units but not others. No joke it's odd. Why would they install it in some units and not others? Oh wait. This is Verizon. They defy logic.

I have yelled. I have cajoled.
I have spent many hours on hold.
I have been rerouted countless times from person to person.
I have been to the Verizon Experience Store in Fairfax.
I wrote an angry letter.

Every person without exception has said "I'll follow-up on this and get back to you in 24-48 hours.". Without exception.

Not one of them has ever called me back. In a month. Not one phone call ever returned.

My question has been sent on a ticket to Verizon Engineering which appears to be a Never Never Land where all questions go to die and nothing ever comes back. Every time I call it's like starting over.

Today, I made one final optimistic phone call.

The lady said "I'll call you back. I promise."
I started laughing. I told her that was hilarious because everyone had said that and no one had ever called me back. Ever. No one. I kept laughing. She assured me she'd call with some update. I said something like "yeah, right, okay".

Then, I opened my door to go for a walk and one of my friendly condo maintenance guys was wandering through carrying a memo from the condo office.

It said they would be entering my unit on Thursday to pull the FiOS cables down from the attic into my condo.

Thursday.

The service techs came last summer to install FiOS and they're coming back on Thursday to finish the job in a random set of units? Whatever.

I started calling a month ago and no one could tell me that this Thursday they were coming to install the wiring?

I despair. I really do.

Why he must be President

My first sign: A grandma in a beige Prius just like mine with an Obama sticker driving on the beltway.
My second sign: No WiFi anywhere so I couldn't check my work email. (I tried two coffee houses in Alexandria, no luck.)

Alright, I get it. I know where I'm supposed to be. I'm supposed to go see him. (Sometimes God is blunt.)

Yesterday afternoon, I battled traffic on 66 West from Alexandria to head to Nissan Pavilion knowing that I was probably leaving late and might not get a seat or even get in, but I had to try to go see Barack Obama live and in person. Had to go. Just had to go.

At 6:03, they let me in. And, I even got a seat.

The last presidential rally I went to was to see Bill Clinton at the Fleet Center in Boston in '96 with a busload of Mount Holyoke College Democrats. Republicans at women's colleges are underrepresented minorities particularly in Massachusetts. They almost needed their own awareness week.

There is something about this man that I cannot describe. Just watching the people who were drawn to see him yesterday was inspiring in and of itself. Some of them (like me!) running to get in on time before he started speaking. A microcosm of our country. People with their children. Old and young. Black, white, latino, asian... just like he says in his speeches. All cheering "Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!" when he came to the stage.

We can end the war in Iraq. We can fix education (I need to remember that sometimes). We can make this country better. We can come together across division to see what we have in common and what is really important over what is petty and small.

Change must come sooner rather than later. We cannot wait any longer. We have waited long enough.

Camp Alfresco

For the second year, I went canoeing and camping with 20s/30s folks from the Diocese of Virginia. (see last year's post for the hellgrammite adventure)

7 young-ish folk and 2 older folk came along as Wisdom for the trip (really shouldn't go out in nature without some Wisdom but Wisdom left the building for the wine tasting on Sunday night which may not have been a good idea. Wisdom made us a late breakfast on Monday morning for which we were very grateful).

Overall, an excellent, relaxing time of being grubby in the woods, eating a lot of food and general craziness.

This year's highlights of Episcopalian camping...

1. Driving the canoe. Last year, I rode in the front of our guide's canoe so I didn't get to drive much. This year, I actually successfully navigated the canoe down the river without a lot of difficulty. Didn't go in circles too much and we did a perfect ride over the one really large rapids on the Shenandoah.

2. Last year, Susan and Patrick tipped their canoe and fell into the river. This year, I believe Laura and I hit exactly the same rock and fell into the river. Here's the sequence of thoughts.

"Look! A Rock! We need to turn! Now! NOW!!!!!"
(insert screaming and various expletives)
"Damn. We're in the water."

Fortunately, another canoe came over to get me (and didn't hit me in the process). Darren even noticed my hat floating in the water. Laura's sunglasses were our only offering to the river because in a prophetic move we had clipped all the water bottles and our bags to the canoe.

We've named the rapids: SLMP (slump) in honor of the four folk who've fallen in there. It's also notable because there's a good lunch spot right afterwards. Our faithful friends rescued our canoe and dragged us in like drowned rats.

3. Wine tasting back at Shrine Mont. Always a good time. Except there was WAY too much chardonnay. I think my own personal hell would be aisles and aisles of wine that's all chardonnay. We drank it anyway.

4. The BEST CAMPING FOOD EVER - the Super S'More - Take a s'more (chocolate bar, roasted marshmallow, and graham cracker for anyone living under a rock) and add peanut butter. The PB is not only yummy but you can use it to glue your chocolate to the graham cracker. Excellent. Truly excellent. (props to Brydon for that innovation)

Random...

I found a link to a really compelling blog the other day -

Matt, Liz, and Madeleine

Matt is the daddy. Madeleine is the baby. Liz is the mommy, but she died about 24 hours after Madeleine was born. She stood up from her hospital bed, felt faint... then, gone.

Matt's writing about what he and the baby do is beautiful and funny. The pictures are gorgeous. It's also fun to see the gifts and notes he's been getting from around the country.

Just makes you think.

Saturday, my first doctoral student graduated. Very exciting. Very fun. I had been on dissertation committees for two other new PhDs. Also entertaining to see all the faculty suited up in the gowns and hoods.

Today, I bought a Wii. Also very exciting since the last video game system I ever owned was this one .. by Atari.

Car Wash

I can't really describe the controlled chaos that is a church car wash.

Yesterday, we held our annual Mother's Day Mission Trip Car Wash. You leave your keys and some suitable donation with us. We wash your car. As a grown-up involved in this operation, one of my jobs is finding cars in the parking lot and driving them to the washing. This is, selfishly, a lot of fun. From setting off the panic button when trying to find the car, to accidentally opening trunks and hoods, to figuring out how to turn on all the hybrid cars out there... to driving the various Jaguars, Mercedes, and other fun cars in the parking lot... this is a hoot. Okay - getting behind the wheel of the Mercedes and realizing it only had 1200 miles and I was about to (a) drive it and (b) turn it over to a bunch of middle schoolers with hoses to wash was a little nerve-wracking yet really fun. (Note - we'll take your money NOT to wash your car as well.) One friend suggested we take donations for car-washing and 10 bucks to give you back your keys. ;)

There are a few truths of this operation.
1. You are going to get sprayed with a hose. Inevitable.
2. Keeping middle schoolers motivated for car washing is a tricky business.
3. It's controlled chaos and by some miracle all the cars will get washed by the time people are ready to go home from church.
4. We can't park your car where you left it. Part of the fun is hunting for your car after church. Accept it. Move on. Push your panic button.
5. Our kids are fun and hard-working. I love getting to hang out with them because they're very cool.

We raised $1500 in a few hours. We all had a great time. The cars are mostly clean. If not, no refunds. What do you want?

Crazy life of an education professor

This is a week in the life of an education professor -

Monday and Tuesday - furiously writing engineering education grant, requiring late night trips to a colleague's, lots of email, LOTS OF COFFEE, more lit review, endless checking and double checking of the check list... and, oh yeah, some actual intellectual thinking about what the research might be.

Tuesday night - teach class, hopefully enlightening teachers, praying they have learned something useful this semester

Tuesday, 11:57 pm - send all final grant paperwork to office for submission

Wednesday - drove to Richmond for the Middle School Math Specialist Task Force Meeting. We are discussing a new license/program for Virginia.

Wednesday night - teach class, hopefully enlightening teachers, praying they have learned something (did learn that one students' baby safely arrived at 4 am, he emailed at 6:40 am, why couldn't he come to class at 4:30 pm? ;)

Thursday - in the office, working, grading, answering email, chatting with colleagues, general putting out of small fires

Thursday night - review portfolios 4 pm - 9:30 pm - learned that teachers may have actually learned something in program and are doing a good job teaching their students (tired...)

Friday - go to an actual elementary school to help with a professional development session with some enthusiastic teachers in D.C. Played ice breaker games, ate snacks, talked about fractions, worked with colleague to discuss future plans for the school

My week has spanned K-16, pre-service and in-service teachers, the state of Virginia and D.C., discussions with people who teach in rural schools in Southwestern Virginia and teachers in an urban setting in the middle of the Capitol. Metro and I-95.

Not a bad week.
Nuts, but not bad.

Tomorrow - Denver.