Happy Halloween!

Play safe, kids.

You’ll know my house, ’cause I do this kind of thing to pumpkins.

Pumpkin Recipe Roundup

This ain’t your momma’s pumpkin pie, yo. Pumpkin’s like your acorn or your butternut squash– tasty, tasty, and also? TASTY. Please try one of these recipes this weekend, or let them be the jumping-off point for your own pumpkin cooking explorations.

Dulce de Calabasas (Mexican Candied Pumpkin) (vegan)

Rick Bayless’ Smoky Braised Mexican Pumpkin

Mexican Pumpkin Soup (vegan)

Savory Pumpkin Ravioli (vegetarian)

Pumpkin Empanadas (vegan)

Pumpkin Corn Muffins (gluten free)

Savory Pumpkin Casserole (vegetarian)

Chili Pumpkin Cranberry Risotto with spicy toasted pumpkin seeds (vegan)

Pumpkin Hummus (vegan)

Soft Pumpkin Pretzels (vegan)

Black Bean and Pumpkin Chili (vegan)

Thai Style Shredded Pumpkin (vegan)

Mark Bittman’s Autumn Millet Bake (vegan if you use maple syrup, vegetarian if you use honey)

Indian Pumpkin Curry (vegan)

Pumpkin Pasta

2012 Doomsday Bull is Driving Me Insane

The Mayans do not believe the world will end in 2012.

Do I need to say it again, louder? THE MAYANS DO NOT BELIEVE THE WORLD WILL END IN 2012, no matter what Hollywood and New Age Hokum is peddling.

You want proof? Ask a Mayan Elder.

Apolinario Chile Pixtun is tired of being bombarded with frantic questions about the Mayan calendar supposedly “running out” on Dec. 21, 2012. After all, it’s not the end of the world.

Or is it?

Definitely not, the Mayan Indian elder insists. “I came back from England last year and, man, they had me fed up with this stuff.”

You wanna know what the Mayans are worried about? Drought.

You wanna bet that no money from that stupid 2012 disaster movie is going to Yucatan drought aid?

My pain, let me tell you about it.

Y’all have no idea how much pain I’m in. NO IDEA.

And it’s all my dumb fault, too. Because as I was getting home from a party at 6am yesterday* I wasn’t watching where I was going** and collided face-first with the back of one of my neighbor’s minivans.

OW OW OMG OW.

—
*Yes, six a.m., because I have apparently decided to start being a party animal. No, I’m not being sarcastic, this year has been The Year of WOOO! PARTAY! And I’m kind of okay with being a late bloomer.

**I was texting, okay?!

This weekend…

…was busy in the kind of way that left me completely exhausted and feeling like someone beat me with sticks.

I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

Why I Am An Episcopalian

People often ask (or wonder so loud inside their heads I can hear the question from several feet away) why I go to church.

Because that’s where I get my ninja training, yo.

(HT to Fr. Mark Harris.)

Oct. 25th – Wonder Woman Day

As reported by Dave, it’s official and proclaimed by the Mayor his own self and everything!

It is a part of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which is (unfortunately) something near and dear to my heart, and while the official event at Excalibur Comics on 24th and Hawthorne is free, there will be a silent auction to raise money for several shelters and the Portland Women’s Crisis Line.

I’ll be there! You’ll recognize me as the hungover one* in the corner wearing a Wonder Woman bracelet.

—–
*The night before I’ll be attending a costume party that is promising to be both epic and legendary.

Bwahaha

I am the woman of the future! FEAR ME FOR I HAVE COME TO EAT YOUR BRAINS! Or evolve your species. SOMETHING.

From here:

Women of the future are likely to be slightly shorter and plumper, have healthier hearts and longer reproductive windows. These changes are predicted by the strongest proof to date that humans are still evolving.

Also? I have such a love-hate relationship with Jezebel. When they’re good, they’re really, really good.

When they’re picking on Voodoo Doughnuts for having an ad with 1) women’s underwear and 2) HALLELUJAH, PUBIC HAIR ON AN ADULT FEMALE because it’s sooo omg sexist, well– I’m just glad they’re all out in NYC being snooty patooties so they won’t be bogarting my doughnuts, yo.

Damn. Now I want a Memphis Mafia.

Current Way People Are Making Me Hyperventilate

By showing me estimated monthly payments on houses vs. the amount I’m paying for rent and ENCOURAGING ME TO BUY OMG NOT FUNNY.

(No, seriously though, I am pretty sure I once looked into renting a room in MLS#9045057.)

Real life, or an imitation therof

There have been a significant uptick of geeky flail posts on this blog since I got back from my Great Tour of the Southwestern US in September.

You’re probably wondering why. Or you didn’t notice, which is also cool.

But here’s the deal– I work for a hospital. And this is what my life looks like:

This is not a graphic that means P A N I C, no matter what FoxMSCNN News tells you. It just means that there is a significant uptick in patients visiting clinics and hospitals. Even higher than those from last year this time.

Yeah, I’m not a doctor or a nurse and the only time I see patients is when they’re on the bus with me. But my job is to make sure that those doctors and nurses have everything they need to take care of those patients.

Look at that map again. Now, imagine that all 5,763 of the other hospitals in the United States have someone just like me, calling all three manufacturers of supply x, trying to get enough product to protect our doctors and nurses from the coughing, hacking patients. I find the challenge fun, exciting, adrenaline-filled and completely exhausting, and I’ve been booking a lot of overtime.

Which means really, no time to sit down and do a thot-provoking essay on my experiences in Arizona, or Texas, or my feelings on the Blazers after watching them trounce the Kings in preseason from section 117, or how awesome it is to help put the Oregon Food Bank Learning Garden to bed after a long season*.

And then, of course, is the fact that my current goal is to buy a house in the next 12 months, WHICH IS NOT ADDING TO THE STRESS AND EATING TIME AT ALL OMG WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING?

(What am I thinking? Usually something along the lines of this xkcd comic.)

So, if you all are so kind to put up with my random popping in to just flail about the neatest new nerd thing, I promise to start writing deeper, more meaningful posts after the flu season.

Which the CDC estimates will be in June.

——

*which involved myself and another woman digging a huge, muddy hole. TOO MUCH FUN!