Irony

I'm emailing a friend about irony now, and it reminded me of this great comic from The Oatmeal (one of my favorite webcomics, but tread carefully, it can easily wipe out an afternoon if you start reading the archive...) 

Long before I had a blog, I saw this wonderful flyer posted at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (yes, my millennial friends, back in the dark ages, when people put up photocopied dead tree to advertise events, rather than create a Facehole event.) 

It read, completely un-ironically, something very close to "UMass-Amherst Anarchist Club Monthly Meeting: Student Union Complex, downstairs, Room 123, next to the ATM." 

Thai tofu red curry, veggie broth, and pineapple broccoli

With fresh Thai basil as garnish, ave brown rice. Nom. Nom.

ONION RINGS!

Delicious vegan onion rings. What else to say? Sufficiently filling and heavy that we could only finish about half of them. So I'm about to re-fry them for lunch.

Yum!

Tools

As any of my readers who have ever watched me painstakingly clean one of my leatherman multitools (with rubbing alcohol and Q-tips and occasionally chopsticks) I really love my tools, and try really hard to take good care of them. I have hand tools that date from the 40s, 50s, and 60s that are still in good shape (not to mention my collection of manual hand tools that can stand in for power tools when, ummm, there is no electricity.)

With all of the moving I've done in the last couple of years, sadly, a few things have fallen into the void.

I had a bunch of drill bits and driver bits, as well as a beloved pair of needlenose pliers that had gone the rusty route. (And some of you know the biggest story behind the history of these needlenose pliers. Hint: it partially takes place near an alma mater of both of my parents as well as my sister.)

So I soaked them in a vinegar and water solution for a few days, then scrubbed them with 0000 steel wool, then neutralized the vinegar in a baking soda & water solution, then scrubbed them again with steel wool, then wiped off the excess, then wiped them with 100% acetone.

I guess many people would have just thrown most of this stuff in the garbage (or thrift store donation pile.) Not me.

Cookie baking party!

Yep, pre-staged cookie ingredients, for molasses ginger cookies, that we're taking to a cookie baking party. How adorable is that? 

An end of another era

I bought my Camelbak Blowfish in spring 2002, to go on a mountain biking trip in Moab. I have loved this pack close to death. It has been to six continents, and on countless adventures.

You can see the places I've sewn it, and can't see other places that I've repaired it:

The Playa is a cruel mistress, and both main zippers failed in August 2015. I cleaned and lubed the everliving hell out of the zippers, but they continue to fail. I sewed a new zipper into the smaller exterior pocket, and made the expansion zipper for the main pocket the primary zipper (by sewing the main large pocket shut with dental floss) but alas, this wasn't meant to last. At least not for more than 14 years.

After a bunch of ebay'ing with a bunch of packs that really weren't what I wanted, and without bladders (~$30 to replace) I realized I should just suck it up and get the new version of the same pack. Other than the candy apple red, I'm super happy with it. 

Vegan pizza

That... kinda looks like Australia.

Right?

You see it, right?

"Quick" pasta

Fake chikn, fried artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes and garlic, fried onions and Serrano peppers.

ONIONS, DAMMIT.

What else to say, other than it's the beginning of a vegan hot dog bar extravaganza?