Thursday, January 24, 2008

Two Rants, Three Raves

I have been involved in our recruitment/interview weekends here at Penn since I started grad school. It gives us a chance to show off our school to potential grad students and catch up with other grad students you don't see much while you're working in lab all the time. My problem is that I ran into one last weekend and she called me the wrong name! We have been in the same program for over two years now, she's seen me present data and papers before (with my name on the title slide) and I know we've hung out socially before. So, I got pissed and said, "No, that's not my name, it's ceedee." She made some lame excuse as to why she called me the wrong name. Did I handle that wrong? I try to be super conscious of people's names since, apparently, I am so sensitive about mine. Now, if she forgets my name again, I might just have to go kung fu on her ass. LOL
Another rant of mine lately is the use of the prepositions "at about". For some reason this grammar rule stuck in my head from Patty Penny Penrose's Honors English class and it really chaps my hide. It either happed at 4pm or about 4pm, not at about 4pm. I have seen this in print newspapers, magazines, published novels, and today I heard it said on the Today show. Not that I am a huge fan of grammar, but I think at least the media could use it correctly. Perhaps I expect too much.
On to Raves, I am loving two things in music right now: "High School" by Jeremy Fisher and The Jim Croce collection. Let me tell you, these are great! Take a listen.
I recently subscribed to a magazine called Cook's Illustrated and I am really loving it. They take recipes they have either had or tried and experiment to make them better. But they give you the reasoning behind things, like that bread should be between 70-85% water and it needs to rest for a while so the natural enzymes in the wheat flour to break down the proteins in the flour, allowing the bread to be more fluffy. And lots more stuff. You should check out their website if you like to cook at all. I made their super crispy pork chops on Sunday and they were out of this world!
Last rave for the day, I am really loving Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. Another used book I stumbled upon, very well written. I am only two chapters into it, but it speaks volumes. I will definitely let you know my final opinion of it.
And that's that folks. I hope you have a great Thursday :)

2 comments:

Randi said...

I hate when people use an apostrophe-S making what is supposed to be a plural a possessive. It drives me nuts.
Or should I say nut's?

Coodence said...

Hey Crust!

BFF mentioned you were reading Oranges - love it! And all books by Jeanette Winterson. You should hit up The Passion next - it's brillie.