Hotel travel tip #223

Hotel coffee sucks 99% of the time and it doesn't matter if it's $40/night Motel 6 or a $300/night Sheraton. All hotel rooms have pretty much the same in-room coffee makers and in-room self-contained prepackaged low-grade coffee.

Easy solution. I went out and bought a bag of pre-ground decent coffee (Folger's would be a step up) and small coffee filters to fit the in-room machines. Problem solved. I don't know how the hotel would feel about me using mu own coffee and filters, but I really don't care.

Global warming misinformation and fear mongering

As geologists, we know there is climate change going on. We see it in the geological record with the receding glaciers and the CO2 levels. The fear mongering though torques me off. I get emails from National Geographic. One of the headlines was "Time-Lapse Video: Retreating Glacier" (http://tinyurl.com/3fm57c) . After taking Glenn Thackray's Quaternary Geology course, of course I am interested in this. The video shows the glacial movement and shows the obvious glacial retreat. The video is a compilation of 486 frames stitched together. It's pretty cool, worth a look-see.

HOWEVER... the time frame for the video is May-Sept 2007 in Alaska, from spring to fall. It seems to me that the glacier will OBVIOUSLY retreat during the warmer months and advance during the colder months. If this video were used as evidence as global warming, I would have to call b******t on them.

Upon further reading, this is a small part of a multi-year project which will be composed of over 300,000 photos. The project will continue until fall 2009. James Balog of National Geographic and his colleagues are conducting this project and I look forward to seeing the end results.

Recipe: Fettuccini Alfredo

OK, I love to cook. This one is easy and most restaurants just don't get it. Order Fettuccine Alfredo at a restaurant and you are liable to get bland pasta in oily cream (blech).

Fettuccine Alfredo

1 lb fettuccine noodles

1 cup heavy cream

I cup shredded Parmesan cheese

¼ cup butter

Pinch nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

Boil pasta according to package directions.

Melt butter and let cool. Mix together cream, Parmesan, butter, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Drain pasta and toss with sauce.

Recipes: Curry Chicken

This is my original curry chicken recipe. Since it's inception, I've made changes here and there.

Nick's Curry Chicken

3 lbs chicken cut into bite-sized chunks or strips
1 1/2 lbs coarse chopped white or yellow onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tblsp minced fresh ginger
3 tblsp oil
2 qts chicken stock (enough to cover chicken)
1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cp curry powder
1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

In a large frying pan saute shopped onions in oil on medium head until limp. Add chicken, garlic, and ginger. Saute until chicken browned on all sides.

Place chicken in large pan or dutch oven with chicken stock, curry powder, and cayenne and simmer for an hour.

*INstead of chicken stock can use adequate amount of chicken bullion to make 2 quarts liquid

Advantages of being married to a librarian

Last night Jenny guided me through CiteULike.com for all the geology papers I am accumulating and have no idea how to file with any hope of being able to find again. The rotten part is that somewhere along the line it was a matter of clicking one button and any citation on GeoScienceWorld would upload to CiteULike. That feature broke. It isn;t too difficult to export from GeoRef into CiteULike. For my next trick, I have a pile (and I mean a pile) of articles I need to upload. That will be done in my copious free time.

The leg is healing nicely. I am hobbling around crutchless most of the time. anyones planning on going to teh regional GSA meeting in Reno?

Stuff happens...damn ankle

In the sh*t happens department I managed to break my fibula (the small non-weight bearing bone in the leg) on a geomorphology field trip yesterday slipping off the top of a slick log. I had hoped is was just a sprain, but no such luck. GSA is out. The thought of driving all the way from Pocatello to Denver sounds like hell as well as navigating the Denver Convention Center with a cast. So, hopefully I will make it to the regional GSA meeting in Las Vegas and the annual one in Houston 2008.

What this ALSO means that REALLY stinks is that I am going to have to take a medical withdrawal or an incomplete from my fly fishing class. There is no way in heck I can fly fish with a bum leg.

Too freaking busy

Due to a chronic case of procrastination I dithered around with my grad school application and letters of recommendations the very last second and just barely managed to get accepted to grad school at ISU the day before classes started. I sweat on my rock hammer I will not do that when it comes time to be applying for whatever school it is I will end up at for my PhD.

Already I am in completely over my head. Paul dropped a very cool thesis project on my lap having to do with hot springs on the Bear River, Idaho and wants a prospectus yesterday. We ahvea geology writing class that's offered (and mandatory in spring) that teaches geologists how to write with the end product being the MS Thesis prospectus. So if I have mine done a semester beforethat class starts, do I get to take more fly fishing classes instead?



All next week, we're running around folowling the reverse track og the Yellowstone hotpot (way cool. In another few weeks, GSA (YAY!)