As of today, 3 October 2007, I have moved my blog to a new address. It is now hosted by WordPress at katrinawilkins.wordpress.com.
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Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Monday, October 1, 2007
some things that are going on
baking
I made doughnuts the other day, both raised and cake kind. I watched Alton Brown making them on Good Eats the other day (the raised kind) and thought to myself, "That looks like fun -- and tasty to boot!" So I decided to make some. When I mentioned this to my dad, he told me that our former bishop's wife (not our bishop's former wife) makes good doughnuts, so I asked her if she had any pointers. She gave me her cake doughnut recipe, and I made a batch of those too. I had some trouble getting the oil to the right temperature at first, but with a little help from Mom, they turned out just fine. The only trouble was that, by the time they were finished cooking, Dad had started his fast for the next day, and Mom and I were almost late for watching the Relief Society broadcast. So they're now sitting here -- at least two dozen of them, still. In the meantime, Dad and Mom have both become sick, and I'm afraid I'm coming down with it too. :(
running
The other day I had a fabulous run. It was rather late, so it was already dark, but I had missed my best opportunity earlier in the day, thinking it was going to rain. It didn't at the time, and while I waited for it to, it actually snowed for some time. But that had cleared up and melted away by the time of the RS broadcast, so afterward I went out for my run. I've recently learned that it's a great help to me when I run in places I'm unfamiliar with. So that day I took a path I never have before, and it was simply amazing. On the other day, today's run (which also followed a new path) was awful. I didn't make it for my whole time, but I was so out of breath and so horribly sick to my stomach that I simply couldn't make it any further. I'm hoping that had something to do with my feeling sick.
work
My brother and sister-in-law are going on vacation this week, taking a cruise to the Bahamas. They've hired me to "nanny" their five kids while they're gone. I'm looking forward to the extra money and the nannying experience. I just hope I don't get them sick! (B isn't worried about it, so I'm still planning to do.)
church
I got a new assistant for my FHE calling, which is nice. It's a load off my shoulders, and it was especially convenient today, when I was able to call her up and ask her to take over the whole she-bang since I'm not feeling well. (She was already in charge of the lesson anyway, so it wasn't that huge a deal.) I do feel a little bad for her, though, since this is now the third calling she has!
books & reading
Mom and I have been reading James's "The Turn of the Screw," which is great preparation for Halloween season. We both are finding James's syntax rather challengning, though. Today I told Mom that I might have to start pulling sentences from James as examples of poor syntax in my composition classes, and have the students re-arrange the clauses into more understandable sentences. (Though I'm not sure yet whether I would want to tell my students that these examples are from an established author.)
I also picked up a book from the library on the life of Augustine, which I'm excited for. I've decided that I have to do some real, serious reading this week, and I figure that will help me with my planned quick-through of Augustine's major writings that I borrowed from one of the professors at BYU-Idaho. I also got about four Georgette Heyer books, in hopes that these would help Mom and me through our illness.
quote
The last quote was from the Leslie Howard version of The Scarlet Pimpernel, one of my favorite moments in that movie. The quote before that was from an episode of Futurama -- Man 1 was the Professor, Man 2 was Fry, and [name] was Bender. I just think that show's is hilarious!!
I made doughnuts the other day, both raised and cake kind. I watched Alton Brown making them on Good Eats the other day (the raised kind) and thought to myself, "That looks like fun -- and tasty to boot!" So I decided to make some. When I mentioned this to my dad, he told me that our former bishop's wife (not our bishop's former wife) makes good doughnuts, so I asked her if she had any pointers. She gave me her cake doughnut recipe, and I made a batch of those too. I had some trouble getting the oil to the right temperature at first, but with a little help from Mom, they turned out just fine. The only trouble was that, by the time they were finished cooking, Dad had started his fast for the next day, and Mom and I were almost late for watching the Relief Society broadcast. So they're now sitting here -- at least two dozen of them, still. In the meantime, Dad and Mom have both become sick, and I'm afraid I'm coming down with it too. :(
running
The other day I had a fabulous run. It was rather late, so it was already dark, but I had missed my best opportunity earlier in the day, thinking it was going to rain. It didn't at the time, and while I waited for it to, it actually snowed for some time. But that had cleared up and melted away by the time of the RS broadcast, so afterward I went out for my run. I've recently learned that it's a great help to me when I run in places I'm unfamiliar with. So that day I took a path I never have before, and it was simply amazing. On the other day, today's run (which also followed a new path) was awful. I didn't make it for my whole time, but I was so out of breath and so horribly sick to my stomach that I simply couldn't make it any further. I'm hoping that had something to do with my feeling sick.
work
My brother and sister-in-law are going on vacation this week, taking a cruise to the Bahamas. They've hired me to "nanny" their five kids while they're gone. I'm looking forward to the extra money and the nannying experience. I just hope I don't get them sick! (B isn't worried about it, so I'm still planning to do.)
church
I got a new assistant for my FHE calling, which is nice. It's a load off my shoulders, and it was especially convenient today, when I was able to call her up and ask her to take over the whole she-bang since I'm not feeling well. (She was already in charge of the lesson anyway, so it wasn't that huge a deal.) I do feel a little bad for her, though, since this is now the third calling she has!
books & reading
Mom and I have been reading James's "The Turn of the Screw," which is great preparation for Halloween season. We both are finding James's syntax rather challengning, though. Today I told Mom that I might have to start pulling sentences from James as examples of poor syntax in my composition classes, and have the students re-arrange the clauses into more understandable sentences. (Though I'm not sure yet whether I would want to tell my students that these examples are from an established author.)
I also picked up a book from the library on the life of Augustine, which I'm excited for. I've decided that I have to do some real, serious reading this week, and I figure that will help me with my planned quick-through of Augustine's major writings that I borrowed from one of the professors at BYU-Idaho. I also got about four Georgette Heyer books, in hopes that these would help Mom and me through our illness.
quote
As he pretended to ignore me, I pretended to ignore him. (21 points)
The last quote was from the Leslie Howard version of The Scarlet Pimpernel, one of my favorite moments in that movie. The quote before that was from an episode of Futurama -- Man 1 was the Professor, Man 2 was Fry, and [name] was Bender. I just think that show's is hilarious!!
musical monday: commercials
One thing about indie music is that it's cheap. That means that lots of companies are willing to pay the cheaper prices to use indie music in their commercials. And -- though I hate to admit it -- I kind of enjoy hearing great new music that way. So today's post is about some of the great music I've gotten to know from commercials in the last year or so.
Ingrid Michaelson: The Way I Am This is being used currently in an Old Navy commercial ("If you are chilly, here, take my sweater"). I love Michaelson's vocals, with the light but commanding tone of her voice. Can't get enough of it.
Feist: 1234 This is the song being featured in the Apple commercial for the new iPod nano with video (and, according to Wikipedia, in many other commercials). Though I don't love this song (I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars), it always reminds me of Feist's most familiar song, "Mushaboom," which I do love (5 of 5). Feist -- who also performs with Broken Social Scene -- has an ethereal, almost dream-like sound, and her lyrics always evoke for me early 20th-century domestic scenes. Maybe that's just me. "Mushaboom" was apparently quite a hit in the indie world, though, and several other artists have covered it (inlcuding the Postal Service).
Shiny Toy Guns: Le Disko I had already downloaded and fallen in love with this song (offered for free on iTunes) when I heard it used in some commercials for the TV show So You Think You Can Dance? and then, later, for Motorola's fancy-shmancy Razr2 V8 cell phone.
Iron & Wine: Such Great Heights I discovered this song when it was used in an M&Ms commercial, about a year ago. It stuck in my head, even though I didn't know it, and I loved the lyrics (the little of them I could hear in the commercial). So I had to Google it and find out what it was. As it turns out, Iron & Wine's version was a cover of a Postal Service song, and I prefer the original these days. Mostly, though, I love the lyrics in this song: "I'm thinking it's a sign that the freckles in our eyes are mirror images and when we kiss they're perfectly aligned; and I have to speculate that God himself did make us into corresponding shapes like puzzle pieces from the clay." They're great!
Of Montreal: Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games I haven't actually heard this song in a commercial itself, but when I first listened to it as an IndieFeed podcast, I found that I couldn't give it a fair chance because the tune is used in Outback Steakhouse commercials these days -- and annoys the crap out of me. I also don't much care for the rest of Of Montreal's music and mostly just find them weird.
Ingrid Michaelson: The Way I Am This is being used currently in an Old Navy commercial ("If you are chilly, here, take my sweater"). I love Michaelson's vocals, with the light but commanding tone of her voice. Can't get enough of it.
- visit Ingrid Michaelson's website, where you can watch a YouTube video of her performing "The Way I Am" on Carson Daly's show and read the lyrics to the song
Feist: 1234 This is the song being featured in the Apple commercial for the new iPod nano with video (and, according to Wikipedia, in many other commercials). Though I don't love this song (I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars), it always reminds me of Feist's most familiar song, "Mushaboom," which I do love (5 of 5). Feist -- who also performs with Broken Social Scene -- has an ethereal, almost dream-like sound, and her lyrics always evoke for me early 20th-century domestic scenes. Maybe that's just me. "Mushaboom" was apparently quite a hit in the indie world, though, and several other artists have covered it (inlcuding the Postal Service).
- visit Feist's website, featuring the music video of "1234"
- watch the music video of "Mushaboom" on YouTube
Shiny Toy Guns: Le Disko I had already downloaded and fallen in love with this song (offered for free on iTunes) when I heard it used in some commercials for the TV show So You Think You Can Dance? and then, later, for Motorola's fancy-shmancy Razr2 V8 cell phone.
- visit Shiny Toy Guns website -- scroll down a little to view the video of the Razr2 commercial
Iron & Wine: Such Great Heights I discovered this song when it was used in an M&Ms commercial, about a year ago. It stuck in my head, even though I didn't know it, and I loved the lyrics (the little of them I could hear in the commercial). So I had to Google it and find out what it was. As it turns out, Iron & Wine's version was a cover of a Postal Service song, and I prefer the original these days. Mostly, though, I love the lyrics in this song: "I'm thinking it's a sign that the freckles in our eyes are mirror images and when we kiss they're perfectly aligned; and I have to speculate that God himself did make us into corresponding shapes like puzzle pieces from the clay." They're great!
- visit Iron & Wine's website -- which frankly doesn't have anything that great; well, OK, you can launch a music player, but it only has three songs (none of which are "Such Great Heights")
- visit The Postal Service's website, where you can download "Such Great Heights" (go to Downloads in the menu) and check out the Such Great Heights EP, which inlcudes Iron & Wine's cover (Discography in the menu)
Of Montreal: Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games I haven't actually heard this song in a commercial itself, but when I first listened to it as an IndieFeed podcast, I found that I couldn't give it a fair chance because the tune is used in Outback Steakhouse commercials these days -- and annoys the crap out of me. I also don't much care for the rest of Of Montreal's music and mostly just find them weird.
- visit Of Montreal's website
- watch the video for "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games" on YouTube
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