Wayne and Rebecca Madsen

Mreeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaoooooooooooooooooooooooow!

-Star cat, upon us opening our front door after being gone just over 2 days

Wayne was on spring break, and went in to campus to get work done on his projects even though he had no classes. He got to sleep in, and we stayed up late several nights. One night, I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday, we came up with a brilliant plan to go on a car trip [after we threw out ideas to fly somewhere, like Boston]. We went to maps.google.com and started scrolling along the CA coast -- south at first, since we've been north before. That's when we saw the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area near Pismo Beach. Excellent. We've always wanted to visit dunes. What else we would do and where to stay we left open-ended.  read more »

This week, I went to most of the advancement to candidacy presentations for the second year MFA graduates. ATCs are basically the thesis defense for MFA graduates in this school, as there is no post thesis show defense, only a presentation of the work. Most of the ATC candidates gave a thorough presentation, however I wasn't courageous enough to challenge those candidates I didn't think were addressing important flaws in their work.  read more »

Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.

-Neils Bohr

Again we had late nights of school much of the week, but starting Wednesday we began preparing for a "get together" with Wayne's fellow grad students we had planned for Thursday. Wayne wanted an opportunity outside of class to talk with the other students about projects and ideas and to just get to know each other better. And since school wasn't providing that opportunity, we decided we ought to. We made several dips and lots of cookies Wednesday, cleaned the house, and minimized furniture in the living room and dining room so there would be room for everyone.  read more »

I don't know much about investing, or retirement plans, or buying a house. These all seem like good ideas in theory, and I thought some general book about making wise financial choices would help me at least define some terms and help me know what I want to learn more about. This book did that pretty well. David Bach has several books all along this "finish rich" train of thought. I can only assume that Smart Couples Finish Rich and Smart Women Finish Rich have similar lessons.  read more »

I started Hero's Song while waiting around for...I think for Wayne to get done with class so I could take him home. It was slow to start with, and I didn't touch the book again for well over a week. But the next time I picked it up, I finished in two days. I admit it wasn't as well executed as another Edith Pattou book Wayne and I both loved, called East. But it was a fun world and I enjoyed some of the characters. What's not to like about a girl disguised as a boy who fools everyone she meets until she joins the journey, and then proceeds to fool only the main character.  read more »

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
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2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 14-inch, spring form pan with parchment paper and grease the parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs, beating well after the addition of each.  read more »

Neil Gaiman (apparently pronounced Gaym'n, not GUY-man - like someone told me) has to be my favorite author right now, and by far one of the most refreshing authors I've come across in a long time. His tales don't "feel" the same as any other authors but I'm not sure why that is. Some have speculated that a familiar Gaiman theme of characters whose nature works against their perceived roles is common in his books/graphic novels.  read more »

Last time we left off, we were up in the Santa Cruz mountains at camp Lehi, getting lips punctured, 25 foot flames and dropping off logs that weighed 500 pounds plus. We were sore Sunday and tried to catch up on that trip while preparing for this weekend's trip.

It was Rebecca's birthday, but thanks to my graduate studies, I only actually saw her for a few hours on her birthday. So, we celebrated mostly on Tuesday by going to a mediocre (not our fault!) mexican restaurant and then on Wednesday, Rebecca celebrated alone with a pizza while I was at a lecture. Rebecca got a lot of ecards, phone calls and birthday wishes and she was happy for that [thanks for all the cards and birthday wishes! -beck].  read more »

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything.

I like Terry Pratchett. I like his Discworld series a great deal. So far.  read more »

We love good food. While there are many restaurants we have tried and liked and we have many good recommendations for different types of food, these are the select few restaurants which you can not pass through the area without trying.

• St. John's - best burgers, Wednesday and Saturday is half price
  
• El Taco de Oro - best burritos/taco truck
  
• Sonoma Chicken Coup - fancy food at cheap prices
  
• Chicago Pizza - deep dish pizza in Santa Clara
  
• Cafe Baklava - Mediterranean in Mountain View
• Stan's Donut Shop - best donuts we have ever had
• Wrap This - the only place to get a real gyro

We are in the process of compiling our own travel guides for places we have lived: hopefully an insider's glimpse into these locations. This list is a directory of the best restaurants in the places we have been. These are the sorts of restaurants where you cry when the place shuts down (or even if the chef leaves and it no longer tastes the same); the sorts of places our friend jokes would be "best if you could just burn down the place afterwards so you never forget how great that food was." A bit morbid, but you get the jist - good food. The sort of place you should make a cross-country trip to eat there.
 read more »

Hot Sour Soup
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3/4 pound shoulder pork, thinly sliced

For Pork:
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce (I recommend Kikkoman)
2 teaspoons dried ginger powder
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
1 teaspoon cilantro, chopped finely
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons peanut oil  read more »

Yesterday was lovely weather. Wayne thought it was Hot, but I thought it was just about perfect in the 80s. So when Wayne got home from helping someone in the ward "move" (and helping paint their house for them because they weren't packed when people showed up to help), he told me he wanted to go swimming as soon as I got back from the primary activity.  read more »

There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.

-Pablo Picasso