EMPS: A Semi-Necessary Summer Treat

Working two part time jobs at once this past week, I haven't had much time to think about Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #98: Summer Treats. But I did buy a few summer treats, and yes, I took pictures of two of them!

As you almost certainly know by now, I live in Tucson. What you may or may not know is that this is the very worst time of year to live in Tucson. In May and June it was hot and dry; now it's hot and the humidity is rising. I'll explain in more detail when I post my entry for Weekend Assignment #327: Beat the Heat!  in a day or two, but for now let's look at two of the treats I've bought to try to cool off!



This is a McDonald's Mixed Berry(?) Smoothie. When I hit the drive through on my way to St. Matthew's the other day, I got this in addition to a large unsweetened ice tea. The person taking the drive through order offered me the smoothie, then misremembered which kind I'd ordered, and then asked whether I wanted it with the yogurt. Well, yes!

Three or four minutes later, the ice tea fell out of my cupholder when I made a left turn, spelling onto the passenger's side floor. I didn't get one sip of it. But the smoothie survived.



This one is more decadent, but I felt I deserved it after a long afternoon of wrangling parishioner pledge entries. I think it's a strawberry banana split shake. Very pretty, but frankly the smoothie was better.

There's one more similar treat I've purchased several times this week but forgot to photograph every time. There's a local chain of restaurants here called eeegee's. They sell subs and fries (with ranch dressing!) and other stuff, but their main claim for fame is the eegee, a frozen fruit drink. The standard flavors are lemon, strawberry and pina colada, and they have a Flavor of the Month as well. I loved last month's Orange Dream flavor, but this month it's Watermelon so I've been getting the Pina Colada. They've also recently brought back egg salad subs, and I've been enjoying those as well.



Anyway, I stopped by my local eegee's just before sunset last week for a small egg salad and a large pina, and noticed that the sun and the clouds were reflected in the front window. So I photographed it. Because in Tucson, photogenic weather is a different kind of summer treat!

Please scroll down for my Round Robin entry. Thanks!

Karen

Round Robin: What Is It? Stuff Out of Context

Happy Saturday! It's time for the next Round Robin Challenge, entitled

 The topic was suggested by Lisa of Lisa's Chaos back in May 2008.

So you know what you've got to do, right? You've got to "Guess What This Is!" If you know, or think you know, what the following objects are, please post your answers in the comments below. Ready? Here we go!

The first three photos depict parts of the same object.







Do you know what it is yet?

Okay, then, same drill, different object. Only two photos this time:





And only one shot at this last one, unless you count the logo for this Challenge!



To me, these are super-obvious, but I can't tell whether it's because I already know what they are. I look forward to finding out whether I managed to stump anyone, even for a moment!

While we're at it, let's guess what's in everyone else's photos:

Linking List
as of 3:45 AM PDT/MST, Saturday July 17th

Karen - Posted
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Jama - Posted
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Freda
Day One
http://fredamans.blogspot.com

Sandy - Posted
From the Heart of Texas
http://sandyfromtheheartoftexas.com

Jenn - Posted
Shutter Happy Moments
http://shutterhappyjenn.blogspot.com

Jennifer Robin - Posted
Robin's Woods
http://robinswoods.blogspot.com/

maryt/theteach
Mary Tomaselli's Photos
http://marytomaselli.blogspot.com

Erin - Posted
A Hardcore Life
http://erin-hardcorehensel.blogspot.com/

Sherrie
Sherrie's Stuff
http://sherrie-plummer.blogspot.com/

Rich - Posted!
Rich Image
http://richimage.blogspot.com

Ruth
ScrabbleQueen
http://scrabblequeen.wordpress.com

Carly - Posted
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Gattina - Posted
Keyhole Pictures
http://gattina-keyholepictures.blogspot.com/


Have fun!

Karen

P.S. Okay, so these were too easy. I've pulled one photo and here is one from a different object:

Weekend Assignment #326: Camp Among the Stars

It's taken me all week to figure out my response to Weekend Assignment #326: Off To Camp:

Weekend Assignment #326: Off To Camp


Guess what? You have been offered the chance to be the keynote speaker at a world famous fantasy camp! Great! Tell us what kind of camp it is, and what makes you such an expert!


Extra Credit: Create a special logo for the Fantasy Camp you are speaking at! :) Let's get a little visually creative!

Okay, then here's my logo. "Among the Stars" would be a fantasy camp for an audience that doesn't really need one: sf and fantasy fandom. The reason fans of sf and fantasy books, tv and movies don't normally need a camp is that we already have something that serves basically the same purpose, namely sf conventions.

But let's play this out. How would a fantasy camp for sf geeks be different from a ComicCon, and Worldcon, a Gallifrey One or any number of other conventions? It would be much smaller and more intimate, with more of the one-on-one opportunities that are a challenge for conventions to arrange, if they try at all. In most cases, if you want to chat with an sf author, or a guest star from your favorite episode of your second-favorite tv show, you basically have three choices. You can stand in an autograph line for half an hour or more in exchange for a minute or so of personal contact, or pay extra for a banquet or brunch, or approach the writer or actor in the hotel bar. A few cons manage to do better than this, but the whole point of a fantasy and sf fantasy camp would be to do much better. Attendees would spend much more than a con-goer would, in order to offset the economies of scale. The result would be more genuine interaction between fan and professional, but under controlled conditions. The professional would offer acting or writing workshops, or allow the fan to direct a scene, conduct an interview or even design a book cover.


John Levene (Sgt. Benton on Doctor Who) poses with an issue of 
TARDIS Time Lore, for which we interviewed him more than once.

So what would my role be in such an event? I would introduce a workshop in how to interview actors and other creative professionals. Over the years I've interviewed many actors, writers, and producers, a few directors, a costume designer, and I forget who else. My usual approach was generally to start with a very general question and move in from there. We always had a list of decent questions prepared, but the trick was to listen to the answers and follow the flow of the conversation, while still getting to topics people would want to read about. I'm not the world's greatest interviewer, but I'm fairly good at it, and I have some idea of the pitfalls. The last thing you want to do when interviewing someone is to bore or annoy them by fumbling for words or asking something the interviewee doesn't know or care about. (I'll never forget William Shatner's answer to some fan's technical question about dilithium crystals at an early Star Trek convention. "They're green," Shatner said. "And they make the ship go." How much more did the actor need to know about this fictional power source?)

Gee, I'm kind of sorry now that this Among the Stars camp doesn't actually exist!

Karen

EMPS: We Are Gathered Here Today...

Well, that's convenient! Boy, do I ever have a lot of pictures for Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #97: Gatherings! Two weeks ago yesterday, a few hundred people gathered for the wedding of Terri Renier to Father John Smith, the rector of the Episcopal Parish of St. Michael and All Angels. And I, for the first time in my life, was the wedding photographer! I was severely under-qualified, under-prepared and under-equipped, but I did my best. I took nearly 500 photos that weekend using two different cameras, spent many hours editing what I had, and just this morning presented Terri with a data DVD containing 385 images.

"380! Karen, you're out of control!" Terri said.
"I know," I replied.

Here are a few of the better shots:


A little girl arrives in her wedding best.


The church is filling up!


This little boy is at his first wedding.


Relatives of the bride watch for the procession to begin.


Terri with her father and uncle.


Flower girl and baby ringbearer.


Bishop Kirk Smith (no relation) presided.


The wedding is a family affair.


Just married!

I had a horrible time with inadequate lighting, which led to seriously grainy images when I tried to use my own camera in the church. I used a tripod for the rehearsal, but it didn't help much, and at one point I tripped while getting up from a kneeling position and slid onto on the floor! For the wedding itself I was able to borrow someone's professional grade DSLR, but I had no special lighting and no time to learn to change any settings if needed. Suddenly at the end the good camera decided it wasn't going to focus at all. I don't know why, but assume I knocked some setting off of where it had been.



The rehearsal was a more laid-back gathering.

I was able to edit out the graininess on many of my wedding rehearsal photos with an auto de-noise tool, but that meant losing detail on the faces. Good thing the happy couple is so forgiving, because I certainly did not manage professional-quality results!

Karen

Weekend Assignment #325: Tech-Savvy? Sort Of

Ack! As busy as I've been the past week, I've only got an hour left to answer my own question for
Weekend Assignment #325: Tech-Savvy!

Weekend Assignment #323: Tech Savvy

When you bring home some new piece of technology, do you usually get it up and running with pleasant anticipation and calm confidence, or is there more likely to be much swearing, wailing and gnashing of teeth? What's the most trouble you've had with a new computer, tv, phone or related tech gadget?

Extra Credit: Who do you call in to help, if you get stuck?

I never got the hang of using this phone in my First Magnus days.

I'm generally pretty good with tech stuff, particularly computers. I always get my new computers up and running myself, and am often asked by friends for computer advice. I also figure out my new phone or new digital camera - well, enough to use it, anyway. I've never, ever used a phone for web stuff, and still fumble to change settings on my camera.

Where I really fall apart is on office phone systems, and to a lesser extent with modem and router problems when they crop up.  I worked for Worldwide Travel for twelve years, and when I left I was still physically walking into the other room to tell people something was holding for them on line 3. I struggled with Cisco phones at First Magnus and Beaudry, and at St Michael's I don't even know how to answer the phone until someone else has answered it and put it on hold for me. No, really. the extension in my office is a little weird, and sometimes there's call forwarding on, and, well, it's all too much for me, with no real incentive to learn this.

And oh, boy, that business with S. last week!  Late on Tuesday afternoon, I picked up her cable box and swapped it for a new one at the Cox Communications store, because there was a price break (less than current charges) for doing so. When I came out, my car was spurting coolant all over the parking lot. Oh, yeah, I'm lousy at automotive technology, too. So I drove straight to my mechanic, who was about to close up. He very nicely drove me and S.'s Cox equipment home. To me home, that is. S., who has pretty much nothing in her life except tv, had to do without it overnight.

Wednesday it took all day to get my car back, so I didn't get to S.'s place with the cable box until about 4:30 PM. I spent the next five hours trying to get the following components to talk to each other (as applicable):

• S's old, non-HD Samsung television, with no remote and broken control buttons on the front
• the new Cox box with HD and DVR capabilities
• the cable feed coming in through the wall
• a cable splitter
• a new cable modem
• a new laptop

The big problem, aside from the Cox self-installation kit being missing the equipment diagram sheet, was S's tv, which was stuck on some less-than-ideal setting, and consequently didn't want to listen to any remote that might otherwise be programmed to control it. After a Cox tech support person and I tried every code on the Cox remote without success, I had to go out and buy a different universal remote. I tried every Samsung code on that, too. None of them operated the channel buttons, but one did manager to get it off its "I'm not listening, la-la-la" setting. On the third call to Cox, after half an hour of arguing with the automated computerized troubleshooter, I got a different tech support guy who had me try a slightly different procedure for programming the Cox remote. Success! He then cleared up the issue with the cable modem, and we were up and running at last. Hooray!

When I get stuck, I try to call the appropriate tech support person, or solve it online. But some tech setup at home falls in John's ball court. He always manages it eventually, including tricky stuff like setting up routers with passcodes and stuff. But it's always stressful for him. At such times, I try to stay out of his way!

Oh, and tonight? This entry was delayed when Blogger decided, wrongly, that Firefox didn't have Java or cookies enabled. I had to reboot twice to get Firefox to load properly.

Karen

EMPS: Welcome to Tucson, Carly!

No, Carly isn't actually here, and at this time of year that's probably wise.  But for Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #96: Your World And Welcome To It!, she wants to see where we would take her for a photo shoot if she were to venture outside her beloved Bay Area. I didn't have time this week to get out to any place especially scenic, but I have lots of shots from past jaunts, many of which I haven't posted on this blog before. Let's see what we can find, shall we?



We're at the worst time of the year, weatherwise. Tucson is well over 100 degrees every day and the humidity is climbing; but the monsoon hasn't actually arrived yet to clear the air with frequent afternoon thunderstorms. I love photographing the clouds and the flash flooding of the monsoon. John and I both enjoy "dramatic weather," and I enjoy the picture-taking possibilities. Here's a shot from June 28th in the late afternoon. We had a nice build-up of clouds, and I began to hope the monsoon was imminent. But nothing much came of it.



On June 2nd, 2010 I spent the very early afternoon at Tucson Botanical Gardens. I'm sure Carly would love the place, for different reasons than mine. Here is a traditional Mexican style garden, one of many themed mini-gardens on the grounds of this local treasure.



My most recent trip up to Mount Lemmon's Babad Do'ag Vista was on May 31st around noon, in search of saguaro blossoms. Mount Lemmon Highway would be an absolute must-see during a visit by Carly.



A few weeks before that, on May 6th, I got a little further up the mountain, chasing the sunrise. Morning or afternoon, it's a great place to visit.



On May 21st I made a quick dash down I-19 to Mission San Xavier del Bac, arriving no more than 15 minutes before they closed the mission's museum at 5 PM. A visit from Carly (or anyone else) would be a great excuse to go down there again, and take many more interior and exterior photos of this historic mission.

And that's just an overview of some of the scenic places I've visited over the past two months! We could easily go to the top of Mount Lemmon, or hike Sabino Canyon. We would certainly visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, home to live desert critters from mountain lions to hummingbirds; and Old Tucson, where Rio Bravo and many other westerns were filmed. For real-life historical sites, there's Fort Lowell and Agua Caliente Springs Park, or we can drive out into Agra Valley to look for petroglyphs. We can even go to the Center for Creative Photography, and check out their Ansel Adams collection. Some day, Carly, when we both have time and money, you ARE going to visit me at some pleasant time of year (say, around my birthday in March), and see all that Tucson has to offer someone who loves photography as much. Have I convinced you yet?

Karen

P.S. I know Google lets us link photos to maps, but I haven't gotten the hang of it. Here's a map I've been working on intermittently:


View Karen's Tucson in a larger map

RRPC: Here's One I Made Earlier

My entry for the Round Robin Challenge: Food Preparation (as suggested by Sherrie of the blog Sherrie's Stuff) is going to be a bit of a rant. Apologies in advance! Let's start with a quote:

Jeanine (Jami Gertz): I don't cook. I reheat.
--from Sibling Rivalry (1990)

I've quoted that before, many times over. I'll continue to quote it, as often as it takes!

I'm a triple threat in the kitchen: I don't like to cook, I don't like to clean up, and I don't do either job very well. For me, food preparation usually consists of opening a $1.99 hoagie from Safeway and adding mustard and an extra slice of cheese, or pulling something out of the freezer and sticking it in the microwave for 4:44. The aftermath of my "cooking" tends to look like this:



I have numerous reasons (or at least excuses) for my lack of expertise or interest in cooking:

1. My mom, who considered herself an inferior cook compared to her own mother, did not really have the option of not cooking for her family of four, despite being a professional psychologist with a job, a private practice, a theatre group for which she wrote, directed and acted, and five boards of directors on which she served at the same time, all while suffering from polio encephalitis and its aftereffects. She kept things simple: one meat (chuck steak, pork chops with tomato soup dumped on top, Shake N Bake chicken, hamburgers or hot dogs), one starch (Kraft Dinner, instant mashed potatoes, or Franco-American canned spaghetti) and a canned vegetable. Sometimes we just went with tv dinners. She had very little interest in cooking, and over the years did less and less of it. She even wrote a satirical song (sung to Hernando's Hideaway) about her only-slightly-exaggerated attitude toward housework. It ran, in part:

Once like you I was a house-slave,
Chained right to the kitchen sink.
But the worries that the house gave
Drove me straight to drink!

So, not for me that new vacuum sweeper.
Making love is more fun and cheaper.
So get wise and, just close your eyes and join:
Come on and be a slob! Olé!

Actually, she did keep up the housework better than I do, and she wasn't much of a drinker. In fact, she treated alcoholics for a living. Still, it's safe to say that some of my attitude toward cooking comes from someone whose recipe for "Italian spaghetti" was as follows:

Part of a bag of frozen diced green peppers and onions
One pound of hamburger
One can of Campbell's tomato soup
One can of Contadina tomato paste
One package of vermicelli

In a cast iron skillet that's a pain to clean, sauté frozen onions for Karen to laboriously pick out of her food later, and also the frozen green peppers, in a pat of butter or some bacon grease that's been sitting out in an old green coffee cup. Add hamburger and continue cooking, breaking the hamburger into chunks. Add tomato soup and tomato paste. Meanwhile, boil vermicelli in the "spaghetti pot." Mix with sauce and dole out onto plates. Serves 4.

My dad and I used to add oregano to ours, but that wasn't until the early 1970s.

Um, I seem to have gone on a bit more than I meant to with reason #1 why I'm not much of a cook. Let's go for reasons 2-4:

2. John doesn't like it when I cook steak, lamb, etc., because he hates the smell of cooking meat and we don't have a vent in the kitchen.

3. John doesn't like it when I cook in the summer, because it heats up the house, which has only room air conditioners in three rooms, even further. This is Tucson, after all!

4. John doesn't like it when I cook anything complicated, because I make a mess! Oh, and I don't like cleaning up the mess!

Case in point: when John got home from work on Thursday at almost 9 PM (he worked overtime and then went to the gym), he saw this on the stove:



John assumed it was a dirty dish from earlier in the week, when I baked fettuccine alfredo from two packets of chicken strips, fresh fettuccine, premade alfredo sauce, a splash of milk and a handful of shredded cheeses from a bag. He went straight to the fridge and started eating a $2.00 hoagie. I had to tell him that the dish of the stove contained freshly baked ravioli. It was similar to the fettuccine but made with whole wheat spinach ravioli and a different sauce, plus the leftover half of a roasted chicken, cut up. I'd already eaten my half. John ate part of what was left, and I finished it off tonight. Now I've got the cleanup to do:



It tasted pretty good, but was it worth the effort? Probably not.

Okay, okay. For you guys, I'll cook. It's something very simple, which I've made several times recently. It's flan, the Mexican version of custard. I've been making it as part of "Fish Custard," a better-than-you-think-it-is food combination introduced on an episode of Doctor Who in early April. I can't find packaged American custard from Jello at all any more, so I've been substituting the two closest packaged products I can find, flan or Crème brûlée.

Here goes:



The ingredients are easy: a box of flan mix and two cups of milk.



Step One of the directions, and I'm already messing up! I'm supposed to pour caramel sauce in each custard bowl, but ended up getting more than half of it in the first bowl! I evened it out as best I could.



Step Two: mix the milk and custard mix in a saucepan, and stir constantly while bringing it to a boil.



Step Three: pour it into the custard dishes, right on top of the caramel sauce.




Step Four: put the bowls in the refrigerator for an hour to set. Good thing I laid down a paper towel, because despite my best efforts I spilled a little.



The fridge was not the only venue for my clumsiness. Pouring equal measures of boiling liquid into small ceramic bowls is hard to do well with one hand while photographing the proceedings with the other hand. Inevitably, I made a mess!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a kitchen to clean up. Take a look at everyone else's food preparation adventures. I'm sure most of them do this stuff right!

Karen

Linking List 
as of 5:46 AM PDT/MST Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 (K)
Sherrie
Sherrie's Stuff
http://sherrie-plummer.blogspot.com

Carly - Posted
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Gattina - Posted!
keyhole Pictures
http://gattina-keyholepictures.blogspot.com

Linda - Posted
Mommy's Treasures
http://mommystreasures.blogspot.com

Freda Mans
Day One
http://fredamans.blogspot.com

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Rich - Posted!
Rich Image
http://richimage.blogspot.com

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Sandy - Posted!
From The Heart Of Texas
http://sandyfromtheheartoftexas.com

Fhaye
Your Daily Photo Depot
http://photodito.com

Suzanne
SuzyQ421's Photo Blog
http://suzyq421sphotoblog.blogspot.com

Jenn **Welcome, new Robin!** - Posted!
Shutter Happy Moments
http://shutterhappyjenn.blogspot.com