The Need for Speed (in a VW Jetta 1.8L TDI)

So Ciara and I were driving home the other day, talking about fast cars when she says, "I'm surprised this one can do 160..." I respond with, "just because the speedometer goes up to 160 doesn't mean the car can actually go that fast." Then a brief silence fell over the car, and she says, "...this one can."

At first I thought she was just joking around, I didn't imagine the little 4-banger diesel surviving anything much above 100. However, I insisted that she tell me just how she knew that our "mellow" little Jetta could go so fast. To my surprise there was a story:

Not too long after purchasing her car, she was driving through some remote part of Wyoming and her mom was sleeping in the front seat. Since the drive is not exactly exhilarating (and since her nuclear-safety-engineer mother was safely asleep), she decided to see just what her new little car could do. She pushed the pedal to the floor and listened to that little 1.8 liter diesel engine kick to life. She didn't let off until that little orange needle had settled down at the far-right side of the speedometer...160 mph. Fearing that her mom might wake up (and soon thereafter die of a heart attack), she slowed back down to a normal, remote-Wyoming-road pace.

...I'm pretty sure that was the COOLEST story I've ever heard! Does anyone have something like a BMW M6 that we could borrow for a day? I wanna pretend to fall asleep in the front seat while she's driving and see what happens!

"Crick" or "Creek"

For Memorial Day weekend we got the chance to take a trip to good ole Challis, Idaho. Challis is a tiny town where my dad grew up on a cattle ranch and where I spent many summers riding horses, herding cows and swimming in creeks (also pronounced "crick"). We went down for my cousin's graduation where there was a whopping 36 graduates. It was the best graduation ceremony I have ever been to because it only lasted about an hour :)

While we were there we also got to see a lot of baby horses that were in the field behind my aunt's house. They were pretty far away so we attempted to get closer by bringing some carrots with us to see if the horses were interested. A family friend (who is not a horse person) decided she wanted to come with us, but instead of bringing some carrots, she thought the horses would respond better if she brought cheese. That was pretty funny because if you know anything about horses at all you would understand that horses DEFINITELY don't eat cheese!

I also had the wonderful opportunity of getting my hair dyed and touched up by my aunt. We had planned to do it the previous day so that I could pick up all the stuff. The only problem was that when the time came to actually dye it, I discovered that my aunt had been having a little too much fun and was a little tipsy if you know what I mean (my family on that side have been known to be some pretty furious party animals).

Even though she was tipsy, I decided to take a gamble and let her dye it anyway. Luckily I still have hair on my head and the dye job didn't turn out too bad either! I just might ask her to dye it again sometime... I'm curious to know how good of a job she would do if she was sober : )

Confessions of a Rehabilitated Trekkie

Last night we went to see the new Star Trek movie. I thought it was fun and worth seeing, but it definitely threw me back to my incredibly nerdy childhood.

...I once proudly considered myself a trekkie (granted I was about 11 years old). I used to get together with my best friends Tyler and David and we'd pretend to be various characters from Star Trek. We would choose a Star Trek series (e.g. the original series, "the Next Generation," etc.) and spend hours flying around in our Federation starship fighting off Klingons and Romulans...that is if we weren't playing as Klingons or Romulans...

We also used to go to the public library and check out all of the old Star Trek movies on VHS and watch them repeatedly. I would also check out as many "non-fiction" Star Trek books as possible so I could fill my little head with the dimensions and top speeds of star ships, defining attributes of various intergalactic races, how to sew your own command officer's uniform, etc.

When my mom would occasionally let me rent an Super Nintendo game, I would try to find the "Star Trek Starfleet Academy Starship Bridge Simulator" game. Also, I was ecstatic when my cousin Brian got a similar computer game for Christmas...we spent many hours cruising through the "final frontier" of space.

..We won't mention the action figures or the Star Trek badge that was frequently attached to my shirt.

Thankfully I'm well past all of that. Needless to say, I kept all of this a secret until I was already happily married and beyond the threat of having Ciara wanting it annulled.

Anyway, the new movie is lots of fun, but definitely gave me flashbacks of my dark past...Live Long and Prosper.

Credit Card Slayer

Well, this last weekend we went to the Dave Ramsey seminar at the E Center in West Valley. It was really good. My dad wants us all to learn how to manage finances well and stay out of debt; so, last Christmas he got us all Dave's book Total Money Makeover and gave us all tickets to his seminar (which took place last Saturday).

I liked it a lot, he explained a series of steps that we need to take to get out of debt (and avoid any more of it), have enough money for emergencies, start a college fund, and build wealth. It was all very practical advice and didn't involve any crazy financial antics. The whole idea is not to buy something if you don't have the money for it...quite a novel idea.

It was a pretty fantastic Christmas present. Ciara and I are taking the challenge and are going to get rid of all our debt. Even though there's not all that much of it, it's something we can do without.

Anyway, check out the Dave Ramsey website (http://www.daveramsey.com). He's got a lot of good stuff on there. Nothing crazy either; just good sound advice.

A Fork in the Eye

Finals are finally done... I'm kind of surprised I survived them really. My accounting test was this ridiculous ordeal that took me over 4 hours (they gave us 5 to take it). It was only 35 questions long and was worth 1/4 of our entire grade. I'm not sure whose idea that was, but I'm pretty sure I'd rather poke myself in the eye with a fork than take another test like that.

Anyway, they're finished now. School is done, so now I can get back to my regular fishing schedule. It's been WAY too long since I've been able to go. I've got a couple months left of my fishing license, and I plan on making up for all my lost fishing time during the semester.

Other exciting news: I'm still getting into the whole horse jumping thing. Now I can ride a whole course without falling off and getting a mouthful of dirt.

Aso, Ciara's birthday is this Tuesday so we had a little celebration at my parents' house tonight. It was a lot of fun.

...Anyway, I'm kinda out of it tonight so I'm going to wrap this one up. Have a good night everyone!

Giraffe Art

I wonder if this will work during finals:

Maybe it will if I draw a horse instead of a giraffe.

Pasta Recipe

Here is the recipe for the yummy pasta I made last week: (I got it from this blog, which gives much more detailed instructions)

Pioneer Woman’s Pasta Primavera

Ingredients:

Butter
Olive Oil
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
½ to 1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup broccoli, cut into bite-sized florets and stem pieces
2 carrots, peeled and sliced on the bias
2 zucchini, sliced on the bias
1 yellow squash, sliced on the bias
½ red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 package white or brown button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup frozen peas

1 cup whipping (heavy) cream
1 cup half and half, plus a little more for thinning sauce
1 small wineglass of white wine
Low-sodium chicken broth as needed
6-8 fresh basil leaves
Grated Parmesan Cheese

Salt
Pepper
Penne pasta

Directions:

In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add onion and garlic and cook until translucent, about 2 minutes. Now begin sautéing the veggies in batches, cooking only 1 or 2 minutes (at most) each. To begin, add broccoli and carrots to onion & garlic. Cook only for a minute, then remove to separate plate. Add another tablespoon of butter to pan and add red pepper strips. Cook for one minute, then remove. Repeat with remaining veggies, being very careful not to overcook; veggies at this point should still be somewhat raw/crunchy. When all veggies have been removed and skillet is empty, pour ½ to 1 glass of dry white wine to pan. With whisk, begin to scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen all the nice, flavorful bits from the bottom.

Cooking over medium heat, add ½ cup low-sodium chicken broth, 1 tablespoon butter, 1
cup whipping cream, and 1 cup half and half. Add ½ cup grated Parmesan. Stir together and cook to thick, adding salt & pepper to taste. Taste sauce as you go; don’t oversalt, but don’t undersalt either! Chiffonade fresh basil leaves, and stir into sauce. Now add all the veggies, including frozen peas, at once. Stir gently to combine; if sauce seems to thick, add equal parts half & half and chicken broth to thin. Cook over low heat until warm, just a couple of minutes.
You don’t want soggy veggies! Taste & check seasoning; add more salt & pepper if needed. Dump in al dente penne pasta, stir to combine thoroughly, and pour onto a large platter. Garnish with more basil leaves, throw on some more Parmesan, and gobble it up!

Enjoy!