The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Jacque:

Paul Duncanson @296: While we're talking about soups, does anyone have any recipes for something soupy that lacks chunks and large amounts of (hot) spices and is both tasty and nourishing?

Cream of Dinner soup was invented with precisely this purpose in mind. Its inspiration derives from when I had my wisdom teeth out. After two days without eating much, I randomly burst into tears over nothing at all.

Howard looked at Jon and said, "Blood sugar crash." Jon nodded, went into the kitchen and heaved a can of Campbell's Beef and Bean soup into the blender. One of the best meals I ever had. (They don't seem to make Beef and Bean anymore, sadly.)

And @308: If you're feeling really tired and/or lazy, I find most any good soup works when blended. I try to keep some random stuff on hand for such occasions. (Though, as Nicole has pointed out, they can lack visual appeal.)

Rutabagas also evil.

Oh wow, man, lookit the pretty colors...

Chris Quinones @204: Sounds like you need to go to OHIO. Only Handle It Once.

Sort mail standing next to the recycle bin, with your checkbook (for bills) and your filecabinet (for records) within reach.

Do not set dirty dishes on the counter; put them in the sink and wash them right away.

Laundry and haircuts...can't help you there, 'cept maybe to suggest you want a ponytail?

I've also discovered that adding mixed frozen berries to my pancake batter produces some...interesting visual effects. Fortunately, they resolve into a fairly innocuous pink by the time the pancake is cooked. (I am not generally a fan of gray food, and green/blue gray is...non-optimal.)

Bizarre effects can also be produced by giving your kid a grape-juice chaser after the milk of magnesia. As my mother discovered to her panic when I was a wee tot.

xeger @177: boiled cardboard with skinned mice

Mmm, nummy! I've managed a few of those in my day. It's really depressing when it comes out tasting like that.

Passed one of the neighborhood ravens on the way in this morning. He was being very possessive with what looked like the former leg of a former squirrel.

Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little @166: I have attempted your Cream Of Dinner Soup today for brunch. It looked revolting...

Ah, yes. I need to add a note to that effect. (OTOH, pea or lentil soup will often produce a similar appearance if blended.)

It can, however, get quite entertaining when you start playing with colors. Purple cabbage + beets + purple onions = purple soup! Someday, I'm going to do pousse cafe soup.

Bruce Cohen (SpeakerToManagers) @117: [Falls out of chair, laughing.]

Reminds me of a story told about the debate over GMOs: One protester had finally concluded that she just wanted food without any of that nasty DNA in it.

Pendrift @123: Variant from a friend of mine: "If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done."

Mark @53: Jacque @ 52 re: cargo hauling bikes, your Google term (per abi in OT131) is bakfiets. Go!

Ah yes. My brain slid right over that the first time. Thanks for the pointer! (It's going to take conscious effort to refrain from parsing that word as "back fat.")

Caroline @56: Has anyone experienced this kind of boredom with a long-term project that had to be finished? How did you motivate yourself to keep working on it? Or did you do something else?

Whenever I run into this sort of bump, OtterB's trick of "chunking" is really useful. Sometimes the step is as simple as pulling a folder out and putting it on the desk. Often, just the act of doing that will start me off and rolling.

Another is ponder the project but turn it upside down and sideways in my brain to see if there's an angle I can get on it that I haven't thought of before. With writing, frex, sometimes if I bring the imagery closer in my mind, and set it against a backdrop of different, more intense colors, that will get me going.

Mental judo, you know.

I really like TexAnne's trick, too. Sometimes all it takes is to get the rhythm going.

Also: keep an eye on your nutrition. If you'd like a quick-and-dirty way to make sure your diet includes Real Food^TM, check out my Cream of Dinner Soup recipe. I find that this can make a startling difference in my mood and functioning.

Oh yeah, follow on to Emma (a different one) @77: get abi to do a binding for you! Hee.

Elliott Mason @58: She greatly enjoys taking on younger proteges.

If you'd care to send contact info to jacquem at panix dot com, I'd be delighted to chat with her. (Though I wonder how much "younger" she is than I. Maybe we can start a Little Old Ladies Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society.) (Hi, NSA!!)

She and I, however, get along about 500% better since she moved 3000 miles away from me. I can't take her in large doses.

Heh. I'm firmly of the opinion that same sex-parents should be classed as a Schedule II Controlled Substance, by prescription only, with careful attention to toxic side-effects. Sounds like you've found the appropriate concentration.

Regarding PB: once you've got a hole big enough for a shape, it's too late. It's that first, very first dip. That's where the rush is.

PB as sculptural substance, now that's a whole 'nother discussion. :D

Losing pets: I can't count the number of times, holding a guinea in my arms as he or she passes, I resolve Never Again. But then one of the others do something cute and...well.

I am deeply grateful to my fur kids. Some of the last seven years has been really rough, but mostly it's been joyous, and one thing I can say for sure: death of a loved one doesn't scare me anymore.

Still sucks big green ugly rocks. But Woofie's squeak of frustration when I thwart his attempt to steal the dandilons, or JJ's puzzlement over that wierd, blurry guinea that lives in the chrome table leg more than make up for it.

I really really like Steve Taylor @81's technique. That makes all kinds of sense. I would further advocate putting it in a nice binding and including any photos you have. Make it a keepsake. (I may do that for my guinea pigs.)

Bruce Cohen (SpeakerToManagers) @67: Jacque @ 52: Was there something you wanted to say about my #835?

Gah!! Sorry 'bout that. I was suffering from multiple iterative brain-farts yesterday. I went back and filled that in, but then mis-posted it back on Open Thread 131/945. My apologies. I am a potato.

dcb @83: Post here! Post here! And the flipside of @87: Just saw a great review in Science News of a book about making science writing more engaging: Don't Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style. (That issue also has a lovely article on lichens, with some rilly cool pix.)

nerdycellist @96: I've often wished for a giant hamster-wheel in my office.

Scraps and Velma: May difficulties today be disguised blessings to come.

Bruce Cohen (Scanning Tunneling Microscope*) @131/835:

From the trailer I saw of Avatar, the storyline looks suspiciously like the plot in Gordy Dickson's Alien Way. IMDB doesn't quote any such credit. Anybody know if there's a relation, or just convergent evolution?

*That's what I always think when I see people use the STM acronym.

#835 ::: Bruce Cohen (Speaker To Managers)

Lee @131/839: "Recreational surgery"??!!! Do I want to know, even in general terms?

To the best of my understanding: think outer outer fringes of the BDSM spectrum. (Not much weirder than voluntarily sitting still for a tatoo, when you think about it.)

Elliott Mason @131/841: Ah, yes. The Boulder Kinetics Race is a fine old tradition around here, with the added constraint that the vehicles have to be amphibious.

Wow. Quite a lady. This is your mum, eh? Does she have any openings for new daughters?

I also am researching cargo-bikes. I don't own a car, so I'm keeping an eye out for the bike equivalent of a truck. Mostly for schlepping large quantities of used guinea pig paper to municiple compost.

Interestingly, "bike-moving" is becoming quite the thing in Boulder.

Epacris @131/843: Wishing I could un-read one @825. Sorry 'bout that. I often get reminded that I have no couth. (Comes of hanging out with people in the medical profession, among other things.) This reminder often comes at mealtimes.

David Goldfarb @132/2 the sheer novelty of being in the single digits (let alone #2) on a new open thread was irresistable.

Like the first dip out of the peanut butter jar. (A hotly contested privilege in my house.)

SylvieG @7: I lost my best friend

Oh, so sad. Advice? As others have said, think about all the good memories. Eventually those take over the pain of loss. Don't avoid the hurt though. Think about how much you miss him. If you feel it, it shortens the painful part of mourning. Lee @26 is right. I just lost my little old man guinea pig (not quite 8 years) last week. Fortunately, he left my with a herd of offspring. Our household has lost its center. But I know we'll realign.

Epacris @20: Aw damn! I loved the Equalizer. Not least because that's where I first spotted J. Michael Straczynski's byline.

Question for the general Luminati: Has anyone else had this happen? This morning I posted the third of three comments in about an hour's span, and got an error that I had "posted too many, too fast, please wait a while." I'm assuming it's 'bot protection and am trying not to take it personally. (Yes, everything is about me. Why do you ask?)

AACK! Sorry about the malformed post. My mouse-finger clicked without my consent.

#833 ::: Bruce Cohen (Speaker To Managers)@833: TMI

There are times when I actually know to appreciate my naivete.

I've had an attack of sense and decided I'm going to do pseudo-NaNoWriMo this year (journalling, perhaps some blogging) and shoot for doing it for real next year, now that I'm plugged into the infrastructure. (Thanks, Nicole!)

Or maybe be a "Nano-phyle" as one of our dinner companions referred to herself the other night.

Elliott Mason @803: And please to post the results here, to inspire the rest of us.

Bruce E. Durocher II @793: Hee. Reminds me of a story told by a friend of mine. Once during his job at a one-hour photo lab he got called over to process a batch that nobody else could deal with. He used to do accident-scene photography for the police, and thus was the only one with the stomach to handle the recreational surgery photos from the gay biker convention.

Yeah, I can imagine one would learn More Than You Ever Wanted To Know working a job like that.

joann @774: I do, but not because of the evaporated milk smell. I do it because it's Tradition! in our family.

Found it. Technology is so cool when it works. And you can figure out how to use it.

Since this is my first year and I'm coming in late and I have five projects due by the end of the month and eleven guinea pigs (but no cats) to vacuum but no vacuumer so I have to do it by hand —

*WHEEZE*

— Is it permitted to just hang out and peck at the keyboard when the mood strikes, and work up the juices to participate NEXT year...?

Huh huh can I huh?

*sparkle*

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