We Weren't Ready...

...for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip when it came out. The show ran from September '06 to June of '07.

The show, which was written and created by Aaron Sorkin, is like West Wing meets Glee... and we weren't ready for Glee in 2006. It's smart like West Wing. It's sweet and entertaining like Glee. It's witty and charming.

More to the point: 30 Rock came out a month after Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and it's more accessible. I like 30 Rock; but, it's what we call in teaching "high interest, low readability"-- super engaging, but easily accessible.

Then, you peek at a list of events in September 2006... and it's clear, people were ready for Bubble Yum and not Tootsie Roll Pops--no one wanted to work for their joy.

And so, I conclude: We just weren't ready for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. If only they could bring it back now.

Critter Pics

I'm back on the blogging bandwagon. Here's some critter pics from tonight. (I tried to fix the red eye in one of the pictures... that's why it looks a little weird.)

Donors Choose

My pictures for the project funded in September are up on Donors Choose.

Why I Love the Internet

When I was in high school, I'd listen to this Christmas song. I thought it was called, "It Must Have Been the Mistletoe". It isn't. It's actually called "Our First Christmas".

At any rate, I've been trying to find the song for a long time. But, particularly since it was on a compilation CD, I couldn't find it. I didn't remember the artist, or the title of the CD... but then, I found it.

I understand the wonders of the internet, but still I couldn't find the song as of last year. It was just this past week that it finally popped up and finally, finally, although a month after Christmas, I found the song.

Here's 3o seconds of this awfully romantic sappy song :)

Winter's Bone

Scratch that--tonight we're NOT going to see Winter's Bone at Bear's Tooth Theater Pub. Winter's Bone is one of the 3 Best Picture nominees that I haven't seen. I have yet to see The Kids Are All Right and 127 Hours, but hope to see them both before the Oscars.

It's kind of funny, because, some years, I've seen almost all of the films and other years hardly any. This year I'm on a roll to seeing all 10 of the nominees... or NOT, I guess I'm going to have to work a little harder ;)

*Black Swan
*The Fighter
*Winter's Bone
*Inception
*The Kids are All Right
*Toy Story 3
*The King’s Speech
*The Social Network
*True Grit
*127 Hours

Community Acupuncture

I've been doing community acupuncture. Community acupuncture is where you pay some amount on a sliding scale-- I think the one I'm going to is $20-45 per session. You choose an amount that works for you. My first session was private, then my second session was with 2 other people. It's an interesting approach... but, for me anyway, it's what makes it affordable-- the difference is like $120 vs. $30.

Acupuncture has made a difference in my energy and the tension in my neck. I tend to slep A LOT the day I have it done, but the day after is much better.

If you're interested in trying community acupuncture, Jade Spirit in Phoenix (35th Street and Indian School) offers free acupuncture on First Fridays and $20-40 acupuncture otherwise. It's cross-listed in many places and has 1 positive yelp review, but I don't know anything about this place in particular. Let me know if you try it :)

Here are some other community acupuncture locations:

Los Angeles, CA, Eagle Rock Community Acupuncture
Washington, D.C., Little Bird Acupuncture
Boston, MA, Acupuncture for Everyone or Acupuncture Together

&

I've been going to Spring Wind Acupuncture in Anchorage, but here are some other Anchorage Community Acupuncture locations:
Snow Blossom Acupuncture, Massage Now!, and Spirit Path Acupuncture

or AcuTribe in Fairbanks, AK

Yahoo Maps

I never use Yahoo. I mean, for virtually everything, I avoid Yahoo. Maybe it was the stupid howling commercials??? I'm really not sure what my aversion is. But, I really don't care for Yahoo... EXCEPT for Yahoo's maps. Their driving directions are great! You can drag to change your route to adjust for ways you might want to go or avoid. Two thumbs up.

Groupon

Ah... so I've acquiesced. I've joined the land of the groupon. The local electronic coupons. It's cool... great for local businesses (letting way more people know about a company) and for customers (who get great deals and learn about something new).

Tap Root

We're going to Tap Root tonight to see Spiff. I'll let you know how it goes :)

Acupuncture

I went back for acupuncture today. I had a different practitioner who had a different approach. I think she was thinking more long-term. She did some heart lines. It hurt. Last time it didn't hurt at all. It's interesting. It had made a big change in my energy level initially; so, I'm hoping to have more success with it this week and next.

The Dilemma

Last night we saw The Dilemma. I know it had bad reviews; but, I was sure that it was going to be like Wedding Crashers or maybe Old School.

It's not. It's terrible. John said it had 20 minutes of funny, 1 hour of awkward, and 45 minutes of awful.

What was Ron Howard thinking?!

If it's in stock,

we have it.

...This was the marquee on a store in Vegas. Too awesome not to share.

Catching Up

I'm so behind in writing! Here's the quick update to get me back on track.

Last weekend John and I joined Kyle, Tracy, Dad, and Margo in Las Vegas to celebrate Dad's 60th birthday. We all had a great time.

We saw the Lion King.


We ate at Hubert Keller's Fleur. Our friend, Judd, had recommended it. It's tapas style and we got to try all sorts of delicious foods--meatballs, a cheese plate, rock shrimp, skirt steak, kobe sliders, mussels, and more. The dish that I expected to hate, but was actually delicious was the raw tuna tacos. So delicious... and I hate raw stuff.

We saw the Titanic and Bodies exhibitions at the Luxor. The Titanic exhibit is cool... just like the one that was at the Arizona Science Center. They did have a huge piece of the Titanic named "The Big Piece", which wasn't in Phoenix (at least I don't remember it). My favorite is still the re-creation of the Grand Staircase. I'm not putting any pictures from the Bodies exhibit. I really wanted to see it. I'd wanted to be a doctor and thought I'd love it. NOPE. Hated it. I found it so disturbing and nauseating. I was shocked!! No thanks.

We also completed CSI: The Experience at the MGM. It was basically a field trip for adults. It was nice to be on that end of a field trip.

We at the Paris's Eiffel Tower Restaurant.

It was a jam-packed few days. We finished the weekend in Phoenix, spending just Saturday evening and Sunday day with Mom, Kerry, Mina, Dodd, Jimmy, and Arash.

Acupuncture

I had acupuncture done today. The thought of it is worse than the treatment. But, it did seem to help with the headaches I've been getting.

Waive the Hamburger

Tonight John and I went to the Arctic Roadrunner for dinner... think In-and-Out, but not as tasty... close though.

It was originally an 8' x 30' trailer and has been around for 46 years... which would indicate nearly a half century of surviving consumers. Very promising.

Tonight John and I both ordered cheeseburgers with mine cooked medium and John's medium rare. In Anchorage, all burgers are generally cooked medium well or well. Arctic Roadrunner cooks all burgers medium well unless you specify otherwise, which we did.

They brought us the burgers and our receipt to sign-- supposedly as a waiver. I'm not a lawyer, but don't think signing the receipt does much in the "waiving my rights" division.

The BEST part of this was... the burgers were both cooked medium well.

Ahhh Anchorage!

A Year in 2 Minutes

Mom sent me this time lapse... it's very cool :)

Arizona Tragedy

While I generally shy away from political discussions on this blog, I feel like the recent events in Arizona transcend political concerns. These events concern us all as Americans.


Senator McCain's comments gave words to my thoughts, so I wanted to share them here.

“I am horrified by the violent attack on Representative Gabrielle Giffords and many other innocent people by a wicked person who has no sense of justice or compassion. I pray for Gabby and the other victims, and for the repose of the souls of the dead and comfort for their families. I beg our loving Creator to spare the lives of those who are still alive, heal them in body and spirit, and return them to their loved ones. Whoever did this; whatever their reason, they are a disgrace to Arizona, this country and the human race, and they deserve and will receive the contempt of all decent people and the strongest punishment of the law.” [emphasis mine]

The following video is of Keith Olberman discussing the widespread issues that have caused and arise from this tragedy. It critiques people across the political spectrum, including himself. I urge you to watch this and think about it from your own perspective, whatever that might be.

Ecto Cooler

Last night John and I went to see a Scared Scriptless show. Their shows are held at the Snow Goose Restaurant. Before the show I went upstairs and ordered a drink-- "Sex on the Beach".

This is an awkward drink to order... which I would guess is the point of naming something "Sex on the Beach" and there are certainly more absurd and embarrassing things to order (I'm thinking of the "Slippery Nipple" right off).

Perhaps the most uncomfortable instance of ordering "Sex on the Beach" was at Andrea and Kirk's rehearsal dinner. To begin with, everyone else was ordering beer. I don't generally care for beer; so, I sort of whisper-ordered my drink. Ha Ha-- I got away with it... or so I thought. When my pretty pink drink arrived, Charlee, Andrea's mom, asked me what my drink was... I may have said "Sex on the Beach" underneath my breath, which just led to her asking me to repeat myself... urgh-- "Sex on the Beach"... okay, I was safe... UNTIL someone else, further down the table, asked what drink I had. "Sex on the BEACH"!!! I hollered down the table as I shirked under it. If the drink wasn't so tasty, it wouldn't be worth having at all! Even so, we all had a fun evening :)

At any rate, last night I ordered my drink. The bartender took quite awhile in getting to my drink. "Sex on the Beach" is made with peach Schnapps, vodka, orange juice, and cranberry juice. This bartender made it with vodka, orange juice, apple Pucker, and soda. The drink was a neon green! It was tasty, but weird. It very much reminded me (well, mostly the color--not the alcohol) of the Hi-C Ecto Cooler that came out when I was a kid. I LOVED that stuff! So, I fondly renamed this drink the "Ecto Cooler"-- no embarrassment in ordering that :)

Body Back Buddy

...sounds like a crock... looks like a crock... is NOT a crock!

My Mom first asked for the Back Buddy for Christmas. I went on Amazon; took one look at it and thought, uh-uh. I wasn't going to waste my money on a big piece of plastic. I mean this thing is $28 to what-- exist-- literally be a big plastic lump. Like a true 20-something, I looked for its gadgetness-- Does it vibrate? Do Santa's elves pop out and wander up and down your back to relieve pain? No. It's a bit of a dud.

But then, I tried it. OH my GOODNESS... no elves necessary. This thing is contorted in such a way that allows you to push right on your trigger point knots. Good call, Mom! Good call. Mine is ordered and on its way. I'm giddy.

Vocabulary

One of our vocabulary words this week was "inherit"... One of my students shouts out, "Oh yeah, like the Alaska Native Inheritage Center we visited!" Pretty cute actually :)

Crockpot Enchiladas

[Okay... so I have holiday updates... the bottom line is, we had a wonderful time. But, if I keep waiting to have time to type in my winter break thoughts, I'm never posting again. I've decided to just move on... and hopefully, at some point, come back.]

John did our re-stock shopping at COSTCO on Sunday. He picked up a large package of ground beef. We, of course, made hamburgers; but, needed other things to do with the meat. I poked around online and found this recipe:

CROCK POT TIJUANA PIE

Printed from COOKS.COM

---

Read more about it at www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,171,155176-243207,00.html
Content Copyright © 2011 Cooks.com - All rights reserved.

1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3-4 c. grated cheese
1 (10 oz.) can enchilada sauce
1 (8 oz.) tomato sauce
2 (16 oz.) cans chili beans
1 (16 oz.) can corn, drained
1 (6 oz.) can pitted olives, drained
6 corn or flour tortillas (size depends on size of crock pot)

Brown beef, onion, garlic, and seasonings. Wipe inside crock pot with oil. Place 1 tortilla in bottom. Spoon on meat mix a little sauce and cheese. Top with another tortilla and layer on a bean, cheese and corn section. Drop in a few olives. Continue layers, ending with cheese and olive top. Cover and cook low 5-7 hours. Serve with additional hot tortillas.

I didn't have all of these ingredients, but used this recipe to come up with my own concoction. It was DELICIOUS! We will definitely make it again.

First, I cooked about a pound of meat in a skillet with taco seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a bit of ketchup and Worcestershire. When it was cooked completely, I drained off all the grease.

Second, I emptied a standard can of refried beans and a large can of enchilada sauce into a bowl. I then added the ground beef and stirred all of this together.

I prepared my crockpot with a thin layer of olive oil on the bottom (just enought to coat) and then sprayed the sides with PAM.

Finally, I put a layer of tortillas (1/2 of a very large tortilla plus a bit extra-- I just did a thin layer of tortillas, but you could probably double up), then a layer of the sauce (the enchilada sauce, beans, and beef mixture), and a layer of cheese. I repeated this-- another layer of tortillas, sauce, and cheese-- 2 more times, ending with cheese on top.

My choices for cooking were 9 hours on low or 2.5 hours on high. So, I went the 2.5 hour route. I left it in the fridge overnight and all day. Then, when John got home about 5- 5:30pm, he put it in the slow cooker on high. After about an hour, it still wasn't cooked--just melting at the edges. I cut it into sixths-- this worked well for scooping later and helped it cook. After another hour it was bubbly and delicious. If you like it crispier, you can let it cook longer. Yum :)