Product Spiel

I recently posted about renting a "Rug Doctor" and the wonderful job it did on my carpet. Since then, Cleofus and Sheba have been doing their best to reinstate the old carpet stains. It's very strange: Sheba can apparently tolerate eating all kinds of junk that she finds on our walks, but my attempt to introduce a small amount of the "light" variety of her normal dog food completely upset her digestive systems. Anyway, instead of renting another Rug Doctor, I bought Bissell's Green Machine. This thing is AWESOME. Within 30 minutes, I was able to remove the 5 new stains on my carpet. Granted, it is designed for stains and not all-over cleaning. But still, it works really well. It has a heater to keep the cleaning solution warm and the hand tool has a motorized scrub brush. Easy to set-up, easy to use and easy to disassemble. I would recommend it to any fellow pet-owners.

Things are coming together well for my upcoming relocation to Ames, Iowa. On my last visit I viewed a potential rental house. It sounded good on paper (close to campus, quiet neighborhood with sidewalks, pet-friendly, near a public park, has a garage), but I wasn't too impressed when I saw it in person. It seemed kind of dark and shabby. I've looked around some more since then, and even dealt with a real-estate agent, but I think that I would be really lucky to find another rental unit that accepts large (75-lb) dogs without investing a lot of time in the search. Therefore, I sent in the deposit on the house this week. My plan is to rent for the first year while I look around for something to buy. Here's a picture of the new place (it doesn't look this nice in person).

Also, my teaching plans for next semester have been established. I'll be teaching the Material and Energy Balance course. Typically, this is the first "real" Chemical Engineering course taken by undergraduates, so I'm really excited about it. I'll be visiting Ames again next week for another meeting.

I'm still following the Weight Watchers program and am always finding great new food ideas on their message boards. My most recent new-to-me food is spaghetti squash. This thing is amazing. You just bake the squash in the oven and then use a fork to rake out these pasta-like strands. Cook it up with some olive oil, veggies and shrimp and then top with a little cheese and it's GREAT. It makes a very filling low-point dinner. Which means I have more daily points leftover for dessert! One squash provided me with enough strands for 4 meals, so it was a bargain too. Other good finds include steel-cut oats and angel food cake made with canned pineapple instead of water.

One of my co-workers has been immortalized in a piece of fine art. Claudia is a grad student in my lab and we are working on a project together. Several years ago, she and a friend were sitting in a coffee shop in St Petersburg when a man asked if he could take their picture. They agreed and he gave them his card, saying that he was an artist and might paint a portrait from the photo someday. Claudia was cleaning out her wallet yesterday and came across his card. When she checked his website, she found this lovely painting. The artist is Bill Farnsworth and you can view many of his paintings here on his website.

I am trying to enjoy the great outdoor opportunities here before I leave for Iowa, but it seems to be rainy nearly every weekend. Sheba and I did make it over to Cedar Key for a kayaking trips a few weeks ago. As is always the case at Cedar Key, I saw dolphins. This time, I paddled out to the main island and hiked out to the old cemetery there. It was a lovely day, though I think Sheba would have rather stayed home.

Congrats to my friend Lisa, her husband J and their daughters Janna, Heather and Kelly on the arrival of their NEWEST daughter, Natalie.

Otherwise, things here are pretty much business as usual. Work has been especially hectic this week. I've been doing a set of very time-sensitive experiments that have required me to be in the lab by 5:30am 4 times this week (including today, a SUNDAY). It's certainly unpleasant, but well worth it when it yields good data. Hopefully I'll finish the last of these experiments tomorrow.