I love this Webcomic

Stumbled upon this accidentally, but so me...

http://xkcd.com/461/

an Iphone named Modern Morse

I already love my iphone. LOVE my iphone.

Here are the first few apps I downloaded:

Pandora (free internet streaming radio, choose an artist and the station finds songs/artists similar to your interests)

Urbanspoon (finds restaurants near you and gives prices, menus, and reviews)

Skype (free internet calling, low cost VOIP)

Kindle (read books on your iPhone, a search for free books revealed a bunch of options and I bought a few inexpensive books as well)

Other apps include: Crossword puzzles, Wifi finder, iTreadmill, MBTA schedules, BigOven (cookbook) NPR news, Birthdays, Solitaire, Flashlight, Universal Translator, BBC Reader, Dream Dictionary, Lonely Planet, NY Times, Guitar Tuner, and Facebook.

Most of my apps have been free although a few have cost $.99 to $2.99. There are a few apps I'd like to add, but I figure I'll add them as needed. One, a cyclometer, is actually pretty expensive ($9.99) and I'd like to see if it would be useful before shelling out the money.

I knew I'd use the apps, but my biggest surprise has been the Kindle app. I don't generally like reading online, but having a book on my phone has been fabulous. On the subway I can read a book without carrying anything extra along. I've read a few romances and now I've started downloading mysteries. I might buy a few books I've been waiting to read, but I'm not sure how much I'd like to spend on a book I will only use while coming and going.

On the other hand I haven't really used many of my apps. I haven't read NPR or BBC because I've been downloading podcasts of my favorite shows. I also haven't used the cookbook because I usually look up recipes at home before I cook or go grocery shopping. Maybe that will change when I go to the store next time? And the Birthday App is redundant because my iCalendar syncs with my iPhone so I can set up notifications without needing an app.

All in all, so glad I've got this phone, wish I'd bought one earlier.

First Day

In an effort to NOT have a car in Boston, and therefore NOT get two ticket in a row NEXT WEEK I figured out how to get to my new farm job by commuter rail and bike. It's not that bad, at least not right now while it's still pretty warm outside.

It takes a 5 minute bike ride to the commuter rail station or a 15 minute walk, then 30 minutes on the commuter rail itself, then bike 15-20 minutes or walk 45 minutes. Best case scenario 50 minutes, worst case scenario 1.5 hours. Seems a bit long, BUT the commuter rail has free wifi so I can check my mail and surf the web AND I get a workout (some of those hills take a bit of effort).

Today I learned how to use a seeder (not too complex) mixed grain feed for various animals, weeded three rows of lettuce, went on a quest for ripened squash, chased chickens into a hen house, got a turkey off of the roof of the turkey house, fed the goats, sheep, cows, chickens, and bunnies, and as I was leaving I took some raw goat milk home to try. I'm not sure if it'll make butter (but I'll give it a try).

Tonight I'm going to make zucchini bread from one of the misshappen, up for grabs, slightly wilted section of the farm stand, do laundry (seriously need to do laundry now) and fall into bed. I DEFINITELY need work clothes. Even my cats aren't really sure what I smell like.

But all in all one productive day. This was a volunteer day and tomorrow will be my first day with students. Apparently we inherit 17 seniors in an AP environmental science class for the day. Their teacher wants us to give them something memorable enough for them to refer back to for the entire school year. I'm not sure yet what that will be, but someone suggested mucking out the chicken pen. I'm guessing that would be pretty memorable for an 18 year old.

Winter cleaning

Well, out with the old, in with the new.

I found out about a farm that has educational programs that was hiring for various positions when I did an online search for raw milk last month. I sent out a letter of interest and didn't expect to get a response....

But I got a response! And they want me to work with them! I'll find out more about hours and pay tomorrow when we talk, but so far I'm totally excited!

So I quit a week and a half early. Friday's my last day and I'm so happy to be leaving. The office is gearing down anyway so they won't miss me much and I can debate whether or not I want to take two online courses starting in two weeks (I'd ruled it out for the semester because it would be too stressful so close to my last day of work).

In the meantime I bought a ticket to Germany to be there for my mother-in-law's 65th birthday party. It cost about a month's "salary" (the amount I designated from my army-job earnings to divide up per month for the school year) but Gerd tells me the tickets to Peru in October will be on him.

Adding up all of the money we're spending sent me into my own little panic attack/spender's remorse fit that resulted in our getting pre-qualified for a mortgage.

Our finances are going to have to change soon. We're not going under, but we're not saving either. So out with the old job, in with the new budget. We may not buy a house (the place we rent now is fantabulous and we don't want to move away from it) but we'll be looking at new options.

Life's getting a little dry cleaning right now and it'll be interesting to see what comes out.

Honey?

I'm pretty sick of allergies. I haven't been this bad since high school when I forced my parents to lock all the windows tight and turn on the air conditioning (that had a filter built in).

I THOUGHT that I was cured. After roaming around in 3rd world countries I got enough germs to stop my whateveritis from attacking pollen. Apparently we, I mean as a society we, are too clean and therefore our bodies, designed to deal with grime, don't know what to do so they make us sneeze.

So I came back from Iraq virtually allergy free. (There has to be some benefit from living in a war torn country).

But this year I did a body cleanse. This involved things like algae and probiotics and the like. I believe that the result of it was this. More allergies. I even broke down and started taking allergy medicine again (haven't needed it for over 5 years)

I'm thinking of planning a trip to somewhere very germy. Either that or many, many more cups of tea with local honey.

Personal Chef

Do you know that there are people out there who get paid to be personal chefs? They go into people's houses and cook all their meals for the week. I had no idea there was a market for that, but I guess it makes sense. I know people who would pay for the service. Me, I want a housekeeper who cleans weekly and takes care of the litter box.

I found a personal chef's blog while looking for recipes to can marinara sauce and remain fascinated by the descriptions of what meals they end up with. I wanted to find a way to make my own sauce after I spent $20 buying ingredients to make homemade pizza today. I probably won't be making the cheese anytime soon (my last effort was somewhat lackluster) but I figure I could easily put together the crust and sauce. The only thing is, I'd like pizza to be an easy meal during the week. My last pizza dough experience went a bit...well...wrong.

So my mom may, or may not, be able to come down this weekend. If she does we're going to the farmer's market and buying some heirloom tomatoes that weren't hit by the tomato plague. I figure that sauce comes first because a) tomato season is ending and b) tomato sauce is way more expensive than the dough (Foodies market carries "homemade" dough for $1.30).

I figure that the cost might not be much cheaper but it'll be MY sauce, made in season and preserved for the year (hope it tastes good).

Last days of summer

I took Tuesday off after a long, drawn out, no days off (not even the weekend) kind of work week. I took our "kitten" to the vet (she's 2, but still 10 years younger than the other cats) and baked a batch of roles, walked to the grocery store (Lionettes, a local foods market) and make dinner via crockpot. I sat out on the hammock on our deck and read a book for an hour and a half, and cleaned our house just enough to feel comfortable but not overworked. If you keep up with Facebook you already know this, but I thought it was a day worth mentioning a few times.

I'm off again today, this time for a doctor's appointment in the afternoon. Sure, I could have gone to work for a couple of hours but, with 2 hours of driving, it hardly makes sense. Instead Gerd worked from home this morning and I made waffles with baked cinnamon apples and whipped cream. I'm off to get a resident sticker for my car and wander over to the doctor's. I'll send off a few applications later, but perhaps spend a few more hours on our hammock before sunset. Summer's not going to be around too much longer. Why not make the most of it while it lasts?

Moving Time

I'm not moving, but every time I come home from work I see all of the college students moving in or out all along the Boston University and Northeastern University neighborhoods. Sunday, after a full day of work, traffic was at a standstill. Normally Sunday traffic is a breeze.

Turns out all the moving trucks lining the streets were reducing the size of city streets to about nothing. To make matters worse there was a Redsox game on, which is bad enough for commuters as is. Add the number of college kids toting mops and Yaffa Blocks (do you remember those age old stackable crates) across the street and you've got a commuter's nightmare.

Except that it wasn't a nightmare really. The beginning of school is such a magical time. All of these kids either packing up to go onto careers or parent's basements or moving in for their first day of school, it was like the streets were energized. My own college experience could not have been more different from these folks.

The busiest street at William Jewell was the main entrance, which I never used because I lived on campus. There were a number of commuters, but for a school that educates less than 3000 students, it's not exactly booming. We were an island of education, swept up in books and bad cafeteria food.

Boston University is in the city. Their dorms are literally brownstones that line the Charles River. I wonder how much studying I would have done if I lived in Boston when I was 18. I suppose they have a campus, but it seems to me like their campus is really Boston itself.

I suppose seclusion is no better or worse than inclusion (in the way of cityiness) but I wish I'd had a bit more of the world around my school, now that I know the world. Still, no use crying over spilled milk. Who knows if I would have finished my BA if I'd had a choice between the Squeeling Pig, the Boston Commons, or Modern Political Thought. My guess is that I would have remained isolated anyway considering how little I really knew about life.