Daniel: How do you make cajun zucchini again?
Me: Zucchini, olive oil and those cajun spices.
Daniel: Okay, I go make.

...

Daniel: Salt as well?
Me: No.  Just olive oil and spices.
Daniel: Okay.

...

Daniel: I use some butter as well.
Me: No!  Just olive oil.  And spices.

We shall see what happens. 

Well, since my last post I've been around the world (well, to Australia and back), gotten engaged (to Daniel), and moved to Pittsburgh! 

CMU Update:
1. Got my first homework in the mail yesterday. It was accounting. Gross. Least favorite of all business classes and that's what they want me to start on. Also: class starts when and I'm already doing homework?

2. Got roommates! Thanks to phoenix1701  and his CMU-connectivity, I now have two, probably three roommates.  They all appear to be very nice people.  Well, two of them do.  I haven't talked to the possible third yet.  I mean, I saw an email from her this one time... anyway.  I should get on that.

3. Ordered my laptop.  Who knows when I'll actually get it though.  Sigh.

4. Might even have a place to live!  The roommates from #2 appear to have found an awesome 3BR. 

5. Am considering hosting a packing party.  That way everyone else can help me with my stunningly boring chore that needs to be completed fairly quickly. 

The End of Analog:
I realized something at about 11:45 today: we have bunny ears but don't have a converter box (no one cared enough to get one) so we did the logical thing at midnight and turned on the TV.  We watched the end of analog.  I think that makes the second major historical event I've seen with Dan.  I'd kind of like to make that some sort of annual tradition, but it's hard to know ahead of time what is going to count.  (The last one being the election party in Grant Park.)

... you may have heard that I was applying to business schools. If you have heard this thing, you heard it correctly. I've heard back from all my schools now.

I will be moving to Pittsburgh, PA this August to attend the Tepper School of Business as a Forte Fellow. I'm five kinds of excited. Carnegie Mellon's campus is amazing. Also. It's CARNEGIE MELLON. I was a nervous mess all day Monday waiting to hear from them and couldn't focus on anything, but I did and I'll be going there. And taking out approximately a condo in loans to do it (or a house, depending on where you live). Which is kind of depressing. But also awesome. Because, as I may have mentioned, I'll be going to Carnegie Mellon.

Why, hello there LiveJournal. For someone who is my homepage, I certainly don't see that much of you. What have I been up to lately? Well, I was moved to part-time. Which is like getting laid off and rehired (or, to be more exact, technically I was laid off and rehired). I am currently bumming about until I hear back from grad schools. Then I'm either finding something to do with my summer or looking madly for a new job. Or both.

Since getting laid off, I've also played Bioshock through on easy and am in the process of playing on medium. This time, I'll get my PhD and ALL the journals. Then I'll play on hard without using vita-chambers. And Daniel will call me obsessive.

We have to go to the grocery today, so I believe I will insist upon a trip to the thrift store across the street and see what treats await me there. I should be more creative while I have free time most people only dream of. Um. Except for all the other people who are also out of work. Keeping busy is, I think, the key to not getting, oh what's that word... depressed.

I'm also writing a lot of college app essays. I think I've gotten to that wonderful point where when I get an essay prompt, most of the time I can say "oh, I've got an essay for that!!".

Also, my laptop is dying. If I get into grad school, I probably need another desktop replacement type machine. If I do not, then a netbook should suffice. Any thoughts on the subject?

Finally, I will leave you with this thought: It is not uncommon, I have discovered, for me to block entire sections of a movie out of my mind should they create cognitive dissonance. One such section is the ballet towards the end of Singing in the Rain. Because seriously, WTF.

Hello! I do not think I've said hello to LJland in a while. HELLO LJ LAND.

I don't really have anything to say. I'm avoiding cleaning. My aunt is coming today and I need to do a TONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNE of laundry before she gets here and clean. And I'm avoiding it. Which is silly because I actually kind of like having a clean house.

ALSO: I have officially applied to one business school. That sapped my brain power for the rest of forever. Seriously. I still have to apply to another. 22% chance of getting into one. 81% chance of getting into the other.

So I guess the real question is: where should I put the wine? It was hanging out on the spare bed. I guess... my closet?

So... Sam and I have started doing Project Euler problems which is really fun. It's just, like, math for the sake of learning a programming language at this point for us. And we're learning new math (but mostly programming). We got our spreadsheet-fu on first, but now I'm learning Python. I got really, really excited this morning because I'd been doing half Python, half spreadsheet things. Like, the big data chomp was in Python, but the answer was coming from the spreadsheet. This morning, however, I wrote my first program that would return an answer and I could just cut and paste.

Sigh, I gave in and had two bowls of beef vegetable soup for dinner as well as the two smores. It was so good! So completely delicious. I, for one, am really glad I made it. Will make again. Five stars. Thank goodness for soups.

Smores and wine probably don't make for the healthiest dinner.

But lunch tomorrow is going to be fabulous! (See, soup? You shouldn't have taken so long to cook! I replaced you with marshmallows, chocolate, graham crackers, and booze.)

Alright. Because I'm feeling *giving*, I will give you the recipe for breakfast of the gods. Don't say I never gave you anything.

1. 1.5 cups steel cut oatmeal
2. 3 cups milk
3. 3 cups water
4. 1 cup cream (failing that, milk)
5. 4 tbsp butter
6. 1/2 tsp salt
7. 1/2 cup brown sugar
8. 1 tsp cinnamon
9. strawberry preserves

Put #1 - 8 in a slow cooker and slow cook overnight.
Stir in the morning and let fluff another 15 minutes or so.
Top with #9.

ENJOY.

Well, the new years party didn't happen after all. Alexa came down with the stomach bug that Dan'd had the day before and Sam'd had a few days before that, so no party. Instead we just kind of hung out, Sam declared it a different kind of party, I demanded credentials for the party change, and he eventually said I was the one who made it lame as hell for falling asleep on their couch in the middle of his party. Nevertheless, I've managed to fight the bug off, so I haven't spent a day on the floor of their apartment moaning, "Am I dead yet?"

At least, not yet. And you can bet that if I do, it will be time spent there. Because I believe in punishing the people who make me ill. Yes, I do.

In other news, we played a super fun game that their friend from California made up. Actually he's from here but at school there. I also started cutting out squares for the weighted companion cube quilt. I've got the pink and black (border) squares cut. Now I just have to cut dark grey and light grey. For the rest of my life.

We finished Doctor Who season 3. Blink was probably one of the best episodes of all of the new Doctor Who. Definitely the best of the Martha Jones episodes.

I think I'm going to buy Torchwood Season 1, so we'll start watching it whenever I get it. And of course, I have season two, thanks to Meredith.

I'm making Daniel spend the evening alone with his father. Normally I would tag along, but, um, sometimes you need to spend time with your parents without your girlfriend there.

I think we're having oatmeal tomorrow. I hope so. I can't wait.

I have a new jacket. It's green. I love it. It kind of makes me look a bit like, well, Paddington bear. But I love it, it's so vibrant. And pretty. And nicely shaped. And it makes ME nicely shaped.

My LJ Portal informs me that it is Garrett's birthday, so happy birthday!

I think I'm going to go to the store and buy some generally unhealthy things and perhaps some slightly healthy things and have dinner.

Twittering tonight from the Grant Park rally. Watch BobtheRobot on twitter for pictures, comments, etc.

Obama's grandmother died this morning. It is... incredibly upsetting to me. I wouldn't not have found it to be nearly as upsetting on, say, Wednesday. But to pass away the day before her grandson most likely wins the Presidential election, that is heartbreaking.

I am exhausted. Canvassing is just beyond tiring. It is, more or less, the end of the campaign and I have volunteered enough to be pleased. Hi, we're volunteers with the Obama campaign, are you planning on voting in the election? But I have also gotten a completely awesome poster of Obama. I want to get it framed. And we officially have tickets to the election night Grant Park rally. I really can't wait. For so many reasons, I am glad I moved to Chicago. But right now, this is number one.

We're in the running for tickets. Dan says we have them, but frankly I won't believe it until I see them printed out.

I'm going to have a lot of thoughts on the election later and hopefully I'll take the time to write them out, if for no other reason than to have them later. Among other things, it is interesting to note that I've begun to really amend my mental image of some people based on their reactions to the election. And honestly, a lot of those changes were things I suspected anyway, but this has really brought them into the light.

I gave my YES WE CAN button to Lorraine (did I already say that here?). I'm hoping to get another in Indiana this weekend. (I was hoping to get one last weekend, but ended up not going.)

Chicago is going to be a NIGHTMARE next Tuesday, travelwise, but if we have tickets, I won't care. I've never hoped so strongly to be a +1 before in my life.

First?

I ITCH. I AM ITCHY. THE ITCHINESS HAS ME. IN ITS COLD, HARD, GRASP. I ITCH SO MUCH I NEED BIG, SHOUTING LETTERS TO DESCRIBE IT.

*pouts*

I'm always super glad to see something like Hannah Upp's disappearance posted. Not at all because I am happy that someone is able to vanish without a trace in this day and age (in fact that is almost terrifying) but because I very much appreciate seeing celebrity put to good use. It is one thing to say "support Amber alerts" or give money to hurricane victims. It is another entirely to go the extra mile and post missing information. That extra step may very well mean all the difference in this case and I was very appreciate to see two blogs that I respect immensely posting tonight.

To Hannah's friends and family: I hope she comes home soon.
I hope that she is safe and well. And most importantly, I hope she surfaces.

Quick shout out to Meredith for buying me the Notting Hill DVD. Thanks, I've really enjoyed it. Even if you only did it so I'd stop watching it on the TV and start watching it on my laptop. With headphones.

Actually, I had a full out girl fest. I watched Notting Hill, ate chocolate and drank wine, made decadent soup and garlic bread. It was good. Life is good.

(Decadent garlic bread is attained by taking the time to first roast the garlic.)