Michael York is not "The Manimal"

Stories from Seattle: Day One
I had a great flight into Seattle. Arrived in time for dinner. I was trying to choose a good seafood place. My Dad sent me an e-mail recommending the salmon at the "Palomino Grill," which is only about 3 blocks from my hotel downtown. I walked down there and ordered the salmon, which was quite good. Halfway through my dinner, a couple next to me was celebrating a birthday, so the candle and dessert spectacle caught my eye. Hey...hey....that guy looks familiar.... I kept staring at him...kept staring...squinted....staring. Oh, *eyes dart down* he caught me staring. I thought he looked familiar. I thought it was "The Manimal" from one of my favorite shows as a kid. I ignored them the rest of the meal and made a mental note to look up "The Manimal" when I got back to my room." As I walked home through downtown, I noticed a poster of the guy above on the left. THAT'S the guy from dinner - Michael York!!! He's doing a play or something in Seattle. I immediately called my Dad - who informed me that Michael York....is NOT the Manimal. I looked it up. It's true. Michael York played Basil in the Austin Powers movies and Logan in Logan's Run. Makes me glad I didn't ask him if he was the Manimal. Woops.

The Sweet Escape

The first round of coworkers who opted into the Voluntary Separation Package left the company on Friday. So sad. My Chicago travel-buddy Jessica (second from left) has worked at Sprint for many, many years. Off to bigger and better things! Good luck, Jess! On a lighter note, we sent the "VSPers" off in style at a concert with an 80's cover band in Brookside. Fun, fun!

Happy Birthday Papa!!!

Double click the arrow below to watch the video...

Aloha Tami!

This past Saturday, my friend Sydney and I had a shower for our good friend and Bride-to-Be Tami. She is getting married next month in Hawaii. The shower was fun. We had a great turnout and Tami got some fantastic gifts. Sydney decorated the house like a hula hut and made a fantastic egg strata. I made Paula Deen's puff pastry pinwheels and French (AKA Tejas) toast casserole.

Down in the ATX

Hi y'all! I was in Austin again this week. It was a pretty good trip. I met up with Gunnar and his fiance Candice and they showed me around town. I got to eat some Tex-Mex and learned what rajas and Tejas Toast are. Turns out, Tejas Toast is durn similar to French Toast. I tried to get pics of the beautiful Bluebonnets that are blooming along the highway, but they didn't turn out. Candice said it's illegal to pick them because they're the state flower. I had a great time, but my flight to KC was cancelled. Oy! But I'm back now and all is well. Here are some neato pics from the trip. Thanks again to Gunnar and Candice! See you guys in September!

TX State Capitol

Tower at UT. Gunnar says when UT wins a big game, they light up the windows into a #1 or paint the top orange. Hmmm. Must still be reeling from those KU defeats (plural)

This wacky dude was singing at the airport. Local music is everywhere in Austin.

Neato graffiti. Keep Austin weird!

Dell HQ

Mark's Tornado Sighting

May 22, 1981 - Binger, Oklahoma (Home of Johnny Bench)

For years Mark has told me about a tornado in Oklahoma that chased him and his Mom in their Maverick. They went to visit friends 2 hours away and on their way back to OKC, they were alerted to a tornado warning in the area. Mark was 10 at the time and turned around and saw THIS out the back window. Due to the wonder of the internet, he was able to find a picture of the funnel!

Fainting Goats

Today, my friend Griesheimer was telling me a story about "Lost," which I don't watch, but I was humoring him and he compared some scene in last night's episode to the "fainting goats." So, I snapped out of my "pretending like I'm listening daze" to say "wha'chu talkin' about, Willis - fainting goats?" So, he proceeded to tell me all about this breed of goat with a neurological disorder.....And being the great internet researcher I am, I found a video of them. You're gonna get a real kick out of this....TGIF. Press the arrow below to watch.

I like the lady in the video who is recalling all their nicknames. "People call them myotonic goats, fainting goats, wooden-leg goats, stiff-leg goats, nervous goats, Tennessee goats...." Reminds me of Bubba from Forrest Gump - "well, there's boiled shrimp, pan fried, deep fried, stir fried shrimp, There's lemon shrimp, pepper shrimp, coconut shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp sandwiches..." Awesome. Have a great weekend guys! KK and MS
Go hawks!

Rock Chalk!

It's easy to rally around the Jayhawks after a landslide like Friday night's against Niagra. Hopefully, the Jayhawks can keep up the pace! Check out the video to get pumped up for Sunday's game against Kentucky. Watch closely in the beginning for a photo of one of the infamous chickens - thrown onto the court by our purple friends to the west, during one of the 3 games we won against them this year. Go Jayhawks - all the way baby! March Madness!

Bane of my Existence

Behold - The Guinness Cake............

So....I had a St. Patrick's Day Potluck on Friday at work. Being the devoted Irish Lass that I am, I decided to find a really TASTY dish to bring and I came across a recipe for Chocolate Guinness Cake. Beer AND chocolate? My two favorite things. Bingo.
The recipe had 3 parts: the cake, the sauce that soaks into the cake to make it moist, and the ganache coating.
Thursday evening, I started the task - made the cake, no problemo! Then, the sauce, easy-peasy! At 9:00, I started the ganache to the precise specifications of the recipe.....Uh. I ended up with a glob of chocolate in the saucepan with an inch of oil on top. Not good. What to do, what to do, uh...
Kristen: MARK! HELP!
Mark: Jesus, what did you do? You got it too hot and the chocolate separated.
Kristen: How can we fix it?
Mark: You can't. It's ruined.
So I go BACK to the store at 9:45 Thurs night to get more chocolate chips and more cream. Come home, Mark set up a double boiler for me to control the heat better. So I start the arduous task of making the ganache. After 45 minutes, I'm zonked. So, I poured the mixture on the cake. Bad news, chocolate isn't melted completely - visible lumps.
Kristen: MARK! HELP!
Mark: Jesus, what a disaster. You are not taking that to work. That's embarrassing.
Kristen: Get out.
So, in an attempt to prove my Thursday night not a total loss, I pulled out a bar of white chocolate and made curls to hide the chocolate lumps. Beautiful!
Next morning...
Kristen: What do you think of the cake?
Mark: You'd better give me credit for that. I helped!
Ha-ha! Success! The husband is pleased!
The best part is that I told my co-workers that the white curls on top represented the foam on a pint of Guinness. They were duped! Suckers! And it was the tastiest cake that I will NEVER make again.

Also, please note the autographed picture in the background of Brian Baker - AKA the Sprint Commercials Trenchcoat Guy. Bet you're jealous.

St. Paddy's Day Ode to Scott C.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,

Know when to walk away and know when to run.

You never count your money when youre sittin at the table.

There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.