He was lucky enough to attend STS-135: The last shuttle launch. Even though I wasn’t in Florida to see it for myself, I was still able to experience a taste of what was happening because of Twitter. It was because of that I decided to enter the next NASATweetUp lottery as soon as one came up. When I entered and won a spot, I was ecstatic! I tweeted at @Lartist mentioning I won, and if he had any advice. He replied saying to look up the TweetUp info sites and to get involved with the facebook group that will inevitably be created for it.

For the past year and a half I had really become a hermit. I was on break from grad school, I didn’t have a job, and most of my friends had moved away. I was stuck in Rochester. I was freelancing a bit but it was no where enough to support myself. I had some crumby self esteem. Locked up in the apartment, I was suddenly an introvert – the complete opposite of myself from high school. This sucked! Winning the spot at the MSL TweetUp was finally a way to break out of this hole I placed myself in. I wanted to get involved and make this a great experience!

Turns out that part of the experience was to create a shirt design that people could wear to feel part of the group. Another part was to have a “Thank you” poster to sign and give to NASA and JPL to show our appreciation! To make it a lot more fun there were also patches and pins. I wanted to be a part of it. @Lartist created the poster for STS-135 TweetUp and I wanted to make one, too! As a group we submitted ideas and designs then voted to the designs we liked the most.

To have my designs selected by my peers and then to see them worn and printed felt really good. I no longer feel stuck at the bottom of the hole. I’m not completely free of said hole but I feel hopeful that I can get out of it. Thank you for liking what I had to offer and allowing me to be part of the TweetUp.

And thank you NASA for one of the greatest experiences of my life! I hope you keep this going.

My store is still open for whose who still want a TweetUp shirt. I am in the process of trying to design a TweetUnion MSL shirt for when she lands in August. Maybe design a few shirts that are completely random. who knows…

MSL Curiosity Poster

right?

Well, I decided to create a new series called “Failed Attempts at Photography!” This is a new segment of my blog that I just made up about two minutes ago as an excuse to post pictures of things I currently feel proud of. The blog is like the giant fridge and you are the poor saps that have to look at it when you browse the kitchen for something to snack on!

The moon is bright and full tonight. I thought for sure Rochester would be mean and be cloudy all night long, but no! No! Rochester decided to be nice and break the cloud cover for an hour… long enough for me to run out and take pictures.

A balmy 28 degrees, I ran out in nothing but my Curiosity hoodie, PJ bottoms and untied converse shoes. A couple walked past bundled up in their warmest to walk their small dog (which, with a quick google search led me to think it was a Papillon or similar) once again labeling me as the weirdo in the neighborhood. Taking pictures of the moon. Standing and looking up waiting for the ISS. Do I care what they think? No. I observe the world and beyond. Deal with it!

So back to the photos. I should know more than I do, but I don’t. I try – and that’s what counts. So, enjoy, dear readers, a sample of pictures I took of tonight’s wonderful Full Moon!

Full Moon one

Full Moon 2

Full Moon 3

I was never a Handegg fan. I’m still not a handegg fan. I only have a thin grasp on the concept and rules of the game but I still question ‘why’. It’s a game, but it’s still a dumb game. Now hockey. That’s a sport! The players play the sport in Hockey. Handegg (sorry.. but football is a game you play with a ball and your feet. American football is handegg. Soccer is football.) is a game that is played by the coaches using the players as pawns in chess.

And why is it that NFL coaches always look like hobos? if you want respect, wear a suit LIKE ALL THE OTHER COACHES IN EVERY SPORT1! (Where a tie, ya bum!)

Anyway, I never paid attention to football but I’ve watched the SuperBowl almost every year since the 6th grade, why? Commercials. I love great and creative advertising. I hate selling your soul to abuse the consumer, but creative advertising where the product is second to the entertainment… that’s awesome.

So we feast to enjoy awesome commercials.

I had originally planned to take progress pics of the making of this feast but… ooops. But I will share the recipes I used.

Nathan Fillion’s 7-Layer Bean Dip of the Gods!

As long as those gods are in your image, Cap’n.. :: grins ::

Yes. Captain Hammer/Captain Mal Reynolds/Richard Castle himself shared a bit of his culinary secrets with his “Dip of the Gods”! Oh, and it is very mighty. Granted I made a lot of food, but Joe and I still barely put a dent in this dip. Oh. There is so much dip. He shared the recipe as a series of tweets. I shall now recite it for you, dear readers-

I would like to share with you all my very special Seven Layer Bean Dip recipe. Get out a pen and paper. Or fave the following-

This will be the Bean Dip of the Gods of song in Dr.Horrible’s COMMENTARY! Ready?

Layer one: Large can of fat free vegetarian refried beans.

Layer two: mix taco seasoning into low fat sour cream and spread over beans.

Layer three: four large diced tomatoes (use your jug dement for adequate coverage.

Layer four: Guacamole. (I use avocados mixed with Herdez mild salsa). Tomatoes will anchor the sour cream layer.

Layer five: one cute little can of diced green chilies. Suggest wee flinging through fingers for even spreaddage

Layer six: one cute little can of black olives. Same technique for spreaddage.

Layer seven: shredded Mexican cheese mix. Or to taste. I use a whole bag.

Casserole dish for dip, and a strong chip like Mission Rounds. Dip is thick- will destroy lesser chips. Maybe stock up on Beano, too.

I use my 9″x13″ baking dish for this crazy mofo. Two cans of ‘normal’ beans to make up for the fact that I can’t find a large can around here. Or small. so. yeah. I mixed the sour cream the night before to “sit” and “meld” mmmm and I used the taco seasoning recipe here minus all but a pinch of cumin. (What can I say, the boy doesn’t like cumin. :: shrugs :: ) People need to stop using flavor packets and actually use the spices in your spice cabinet. Your taste buds will thank you!

I made guacamole with two avocados and a guac flavor packet. YES, I KNOW I just berated you about flavor packets. I haven’t mastered guac yet… sorry! As for the chips? We don’t have Mission Rounds here, either. So we used Tostitos… and they did break under the might of the dip.

Oh Captain, My Captain

Pigs in a Blanket

This is normal recipe you can find anywhere. Get those cute little weenie-dogs from the store. Cocktail wieners? Yeah. Those things. I SO RECOMMEND Boar’s Head beef cocktail wieners. mmm, so good. I love Boar’s Head. I, however, live in a place where Boar’s Head is unheard of and maybe talk of it is sacrilege. :: shrugs :: The other ingredient is a roll of crescent roll dough. I get the pre cut kind but still cut those up even further. I can probably roll four weenies in one pre-cut triangle.

Roll up a weenie in a blanket of dough and place on a greased cookie sheet. I use aluminum foil or parchment paper for easy clean-up because i hate doing dishes! 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-15 minutes. Eat plain or dip with BBQ sauce, Ketchup, Honey mustard, whatever…

Corn Bread

I never made corn bread before. I used to have a corn muffins many years ago as dinner during my part-time job I had in high school. I thought corn bread with chili was crazy. But I didn’t want the usual rice with Chili this year. So… why not. I looked up a few recipes and found this one. I doubled it and baked it in a 9″x13″ dish. It was thick and moist and delicious. If I wasn’t so full I’d toast a small square and melt some butter on it right now. mmmmmm!!

CHILI!!

A game-day favorite (apparently). I only knew chili how my mom made chili. It’s pretty simple. This recipe is kinda close but I made a few alterations to suit my tastes. Light kidney beans and black beans. No peppers. I like peppers but only raw. I’m a raw veggie girl. limp veggies makes me sad. I skipped the tomato juice in favor of two cans of petit diced tomatoes with it’s juice and a can of tomato sauce. I also sauted some really tightly chopped celery with the onion. And, just like the taco seasoning, only a pinch of cumin.

OH! and more than half a bottle of beer. Mmmmm. Can’t make chili without beer. Finish off the rest of that beer while I finished cooking. I deserved that beer, damnit.

Hmm.. I guess the recipe wasn’t close at all! whoops. Oh well. top with some sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese.

Even with all this food and just the two of us, we still had a good time. And the Giants won so it’s all Win-win. Goof food. Good advertisements. Good leftovers!

Full... of food, of game and content.

10 seconds and you have peeled cloves of garlic. A whole head of garlic. Peeled. Done.

Bullshit?

No. I swear.

I was just as pessimistic as you probably are now. I’ve seen the videos and thought it was camera magic. No. And there are no easy payments of $29.95 plus shipping and handling either. All you need are two kitchen bowls.

That is it.

I hear your skepticism. but try it. Believe me, it is amazing.

Start with a head of garlic. From the store.

Now turn it upside down and, with the heel of your palm, smash. All you really need is just to loosen it up a bit. One smash. That’s it. Don’t kill it.

Now, once you have that, place it in one of your two bowls. Cover that bowl with the second bowl.

Now shake that mother for 10 seconds. Do your Mississippis or your one-thousands. maybe 3 shakes a second? a comfortable shake, guys, stop being so technical!

Oh! The suspense!1!

…

And walla!

Check out this sucker!!

A peeled garlic clove! WHAAAAT?!

Now. Do you believe me? I wanna know who the hell figured this out. I wanna hug them.

Now, some cloves will still be in their papery shell, and that’s okay. It’s loose enough to remove by hand. I would advise against shaking again or longer than 10 seconds. The cloves start to get damaged, letting loose their juice and then the paper coverings start adhering to the cloves again.

But Cat? What if I need only one or two cloves of garlic?!

Just do it the usual way. This is probably only good if you are going to use most of it at once. Though, I’m currently testing out the option of freezing the already-peeled cloves. I’ll let you know.

Enjoy!

]]> https://blog.razcat.net/?feed=rss2&p=117 0 https://blog.razcat.net/?p=88 https://blog.razcat.net/?p=88#comments Thu, 24 Nov 2011 05:15:11 +0000 Cathy Razim http://blog.razcat.net/?p=88 AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Sorry. Residual stress from DRIVING TO FLORIDA FROM NEW YORK  WHATTHEHELLISWRONGWITHME!? It was fun. Seriously. No. Yes, I am crazy. I don’t think I was ever sane.

In case you haven’t heard me rant excitedly like a school girl for the last month- I’m here in the sunshine state for the #NASATweetUp of the Mars Space Laboratory dubbed “Curiosity”. I’m going to see and experience SO MUCH that I decided to blog about it.

First off. What is a NASATweetUp? Well, I suppose I should break it down even further to “What is a TweetUp”… A TweetUp is a gathering of people, specifically with at least one thing in common – they use twitter. The only way to enter is to use twitter. And if you win, the organization assumes you will tweet about it, and then tweet some more when you are at the gathering. In a way, it’s like unofficial publicity. NASA has seen this power of publicizing through twitter and figured out how to use it. NASATweetUps- using social media to gather people, with another thing in common (SPACE) and plan something amazing and fun that they’ll share with their friends and followers to help “spread the word”. Awesome for them. Awesome for us!

Now, about this Mars Space Laboratory… We are sending a new rover to Mars. The planet. No, I don’t think it is made of candy (no M&Ms on Mars… Cheese on the moon, however, is still debatable.) This SUV sized robot of awesome is going to to drive around the Gale Crater and “investigate the area’s past and present environments”(MSL press release. Seriously. Everyone should read this.) Basically, it’s going to observe and analyze what’s on the surface and below the surface (up to 6cm, I believe, with a laser!) and run other tests because it is a mobile laboratory on freaking MARS. (Well.. not there yet…)

At this TweetUp I get to meet engineers, scientists, and other awesome people who are a part of this mission. I also get to meet other amazing people just because Mars is freaking awesome and they wanted to be a part of it, too! (*cough*Bill Nye The Science Guy *cough*Will.I.Am*cough cough*)

How did I manage to get this AMAZING opportunity? Easy! I entered the #NASATweetUp lottery! huzzah! Simply follow @NASATweetUp on Twitter and when they announce a new Tweetup just enter! You’ll be randomly pick from the pile! To be completely honest – I freaking lucked out! I didn’t know which tweetup opportunity I sumbitted my twitter handle for. I saw the chance to enter, put in my name and actually forgot about it. Only a few weeks later I got the email saying “CONGRATULATION!”

First I was like...

Then I was all like

Yeah… Go ahead. be jealous. I can take it.

I arrived in the sunshine state last night after splitting my insane road trip into two parts. Part A from New York to North Carolina in 11 hours. Stayed with the ‘rents for a day, then proceeded to Part B… another 10 hours from NC to Florida. Arrived at the Pre-Tweetup dinner and met a few awesome people. Meeting people you’ve only met online IRL was weird but exciting! Oh, and the food was good.

Today I went to pick up my badge. The drive to the Space Center was just totally terrific. I also saw the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in the distance. Oh it was a beautiful site. (VAB not shown.. sorry…)

I would not mind this being my commute everyday. *cough*HINT*cough*

I am already so excited, and I barely did anything yet. I received a free pass to the Visitor’s Center which I’ll redeem tomorrow. A full Thanksgiving day of just Space Nerd-ery. I’ll post an end-of-day post. Also follow me on Twitter and on this tumblr I just made while writing this to keep up with all of my thoughts and pics. Yeah. this is going to be awesome.

Then the impending doom of hurricane Irene threatened the East Coast.

Did I leave? HELL NO!

I never experienced a hurricane. I was just a mere fetus for Hurricane Gloria. So I was curious as to how this would turn out. Besides, earlier that week, I had experienced my first “earthquake” so.. why the hell not. I was gonna have Irene Rock me like a Hurricane!

I listened to the hype .. err.. Reports on the storm. I took them seriously. I couldn’t take Bloomberg or Cuomo or Christi seriously because they just seemed scared. It was supposed to be a good storm, but Irene’s PR definitely oversold her talents. Or maybe she just worked too hard on the southern states… Didn’t have to blow EVERY guy you met, Irene.

I was at my sister’s house on the South shore of Long Island. Only 13ft above sea level. South of Merrick rd had a mandatory evacuation (that we didn’t listen to. whoops) Slept through most of it. There was flooding near my other sister’s house. but because she didn’t have basement, she’s good.

But once it settled, I took a walk to survey the damage. Then ran home to get the camera. thought I’d share what Irene’s fury hath done.

Just debris

My sister’s house. Like most people, her lawn is littered with debris (leaves, twigs, etc.).

Survivor

This guy. He flew down next to me during my second walk. No idea where he hid, but he did alright. There are another little guy, a mouse, that wasn’t as lucky. No picture of him, though.

Leaning poles of Oceanside

There are two poles.. seem very attracted to something down the street…

Tree fell flat

… And that would be it…

Totally Treed

That side walk and truck were TREED!!! If you look carefully, you’d notice that the tree is still being supported by the wires. The sidewalk adding a nice counter-balance. But those wires are pretty much stressed…

Pretty sure that's on fire...

That’s a telephone pole that’s taking the strain from the last tree… Yes. It’s on fire. Something also seems to be missing though…

What's that doing there...?

… That would be it.

that's what the top of those poles look like

What I ASSUME happened. The tree (the one that is currently devouring the truck), fell over from the wind, and was being held up by the wires. However, it tugged one of them just a bit too much, causing sparks, a small fire. Singed the top right off.

I didn’t explore too far. Some flooding south of us. Nothing catastrophic. Now it’s just there is some leftover rain and wind.

Thoughts to those who were deeply affected by this storm. She was a nasty bitch. We can only come together and help one an other clean up and move on.

However, the other day I was at Target. A quick “in and out” shopping day (pffft. yeah right). I needed my command strips to hang a few new wonderful posters. I know the layout , and I knew to weave around the stationary (I LOVE PENS!) and past the book section towards the kitchen stuff, then the toys to get to said strips. (Everyone has a “route” right? or am I the only one?) And of course, I kept my hands in my back pockets through the ink filled wonders (COLOURED SHARPIE PENS ARE NOW IN PACKS!! AGH!) but took them out too soon when I reached the books. Hunger Games for $7!! HELL YES!

I’ve heard great things of this series. Nothing specific. I knew the very VERY simple premise. I had grown weary of Young Adult fiction since This Crap Came Along. (it shouldn’t have made it past the publisher. What drunk intern thought this crap was pasible for the public, I’m not sure.) But yeah. I read the first chapter, and was immediately HOOKED.

For those who don’t know. The Hunger Games is about Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12. With a tough life in the Seam she supports her family, and has become the tomboy. During the “reaping” or the name calling for this year’s Hunger Games, her sister was picked as the female tribute. Unable to accept this, Katniss volunteers which is a highly rare act, knowing the possible outcome of the games is death. With the boy tribute at her side she is transported to The Capitol and is all-too-quickly immersed in a game of survival where only one can come out alive.

The detail is perfect and not overly drawn out (like Watership Down) or redundant (god-damned Twilight). I guess I find it attractive because for the first time in a long time I read a book with a female protagonist that wasn’t all love and high school drama. I did find myself yelling [silently, as I read this at night while others slept] at Katniss like you would at a character on tv. They can’t hear you, but oh how they get you riled up!

I don’t want to spoil it for you so I will stop here about the book. However, I would like to point out they are currently filming the movie adaptation. I’m excited but also weary. The Hunger Game’s contestants are children 12-18. Only one comes out alive. This isn’t Harry Potter where, while yes there is death it’s “magic death”. Whip of the wand, magic light bursts out and, hit, you fall dead. I’m not knocking HP. I love those books too and the deaths made me cry. My point is, in the Hunger Games, there is real BLOODY death.. of kids… Just wondering how they’ll adapt it. :: shrugs ::

Point is. This is different. It is moving. I was brought into the life of the book which hasn’t happened in while. I grew so frustrated when it ended I had to re read the last few chapters to make sure I didn’t miss anything, and to just keep reading. (I only got frustrated again… and sad, and impatient, and happy …)

And now, because the Boy Wonderful is AMAZING and surprised me with the next books in the series, I can finally see what happens after the games. I HIGHLY recommend this book. Read! Go now! GET IT!

…And may the odds ever be in your favor!

Sorry, that was a small distraction. In contrast to the past few years where there was nothing but distraction in the news. You know, big issues like the recession or Health Reform being pushed aside for stupid little “Are you sure you’re an American, Mr. President?” It’s weird. Since Sunday night no one has focused on anything else besides Osama bin Laden, his death, the compound he lived in, it’s location, his body’s disposal (he’s sleeping with the fishes now). Political Pundints have been taking their Ritalin! Finally, they’ve only had the subscription for years…!

I’m not saying that it isn’t big news. It is! The face of evil of our generation has fallen.  If you’re fortunate enough to know someone who was alive during Hitler’s reign and remembered the day he finally fell, you’d probably hear similarities between how people reacted then to how they are reacting now.

“But where are the photos?” I don’t think we need the photos. It’s a shame that we’ve become so cynical of a society where there is no more faith in words or trust. Even if the President did release the photos, there will be the conspirators that shout, “shenanigans!” (Edit: Actually heard a good argument for showing the photos from Jon Stewart on the Daily show. It is important that we be exposed to the gruesome aspects of war. We haven’t been. All we have are video games where the bodies fade away “and a gold coin appears”. Hah, Agreed Jon.)

Though, as an American and a Human Being, I’m quiet pissed at how some people have been acting and what others are saying. I love social media, but the gossip and misinformation that spreads is a poison that must be dealt with. Not censored. I’m not one for censoring, I mean just plan untrue facts and one-sided truths that friends and family mindlessly copy/paste from each other. It spreads faster than wildfire and my twitter and facebook feeds are filled with this sludge. Though, If I didn’t want to get angry, I’d stay off the internet. But it’s unfortunately the only way to access the truth and whole story behind the misleading dribble. Fox news is the worst. CNN hasn’t been much better lately. Everyone has their own agenda.

If we wash our hands to help stop the spread of disease, why not do the same with misinformation?

But the comment that have inspired this post has been this joke that has lately invaded my feeds-

So, Osama bin Laden is standing before God waiting to hear his punishment, when God gets a tap on the shoulder.
Behind him stands 343 firefighters, 72 police officers, one K9 officer, 3,000 American citizens & over 5,000 soldiers. “Don’t worry, God, we got this!”

Why does this bother me? Besides the obvious disregard for religious belief,  it’s another hint at how self-centered American are. Al-Qaeda has been around since 1988. Since then it has inspired many other terrorist groups such as the Taliban. bin Laden was the founder of Al-Qaeda and thus inspired the radical ideals that caused the death of THOUSANDS more than the sum given in that statement. Does anyone else care?

Do you?

Because I haven’t seen or heard anyone point out the total death toll of this man.

And finally, here is my cynicism – No one has mentioned the hate he has inspired in all of us. The almost unnoticeable quick glance you gave someone at the airport? Suspect. Paranoia. The racism and the names. Osama did more than just plant hijackers on planes and smash them into buildings, or send suicide bombers into markets. He has done more damage to us mentally and emotionally than any body count. And that has not died. No. It still lives and continues to grow and spread. His Death toll is high, but those he infected is higher.

Being a senior, and in New Media, a bunch of us in a team are working on our final project. I can probably Link to that blog. maybe. haha. it should be on the side and here.

What else? I think I’m torn on my graduate school decision. Part of me is Happy and curious about Medical illustration. I’ve always been interested in archeology and forensic anthropology. So Appeasing my illustration/fine art/ science fangirl side, I can be happy and incorporate all of it into my New media background (3d, aftereffects, websites, flash)

But my love for video game design… being fictitious. Making up characters to stories and illustrating beautiful landscapes ad swords. (can you tell I like game design?)

So what do I do? Medical Illustration or Game Design Illustration? oooooo, choices…. oh gosh, choices…