Although I do not have much to say this morning, I figure that it is good to keep in the habit of updating my blog.

The biggest thing on my mind lately is finishing my thesis in 6 months. Time flies. I think that I am running on time, but I'll be keeping my fingers crossed. Out of all the people I have met at Guelph, none of them have finished their M.Sc. in less than 7 sememesters (28 months). I'm trying to finish in the predicted amount of time of 24 months. I think that I am more or less on track. I started examining some extra material which wasn't part of the original plan. However, the way I see it, I've got two months to finish collecting data, and then four months to write my thesis.

Since I might be moving in September, I really need to finish on time. It will be good motivations since that is also when my lease ends. I'll miss this appartment. It is really nice and spacious.

In other news, Mom is flying into Windsor today to see Alicsa. Tomorrow they plan on driving here and staying until Sunday. And, as some of you from UNB know, I'm not always the tidiest person. I'm going to try to leave school early so I can tidy and hide the things mother's shouldn't see! I am very anxious to see how Mom reacts to the cats- she's never like felines.

Pizza

My new tradition (currently lasting 5 weeks) is to make pizza on the weekend. It works well for throwing together all the leftovers in the fridge. I've been trying differente dough recipes from the food network and have settled on two: one by Alton Brown, the host of Good Eats and the other by Emeril. Brown's is currently my favorite. The best thing about homemade dough is that you can add spices and herbs to it. I prefer oregano and garlic salt. I'm not including all directions on how to mix the dough- I just toss everything into my food processor and then walk away for 15 minutes. I like to Make mine into pizza "wrap" just like the did at Pizza Pizza at UNB.

2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 to 1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pure olive oil
3/4 cup warm water
2 cups flour (either bread flour or all-purpose flour)
1 teaspoon instant yeast

knead for 15 to minutes

Tear off a small piece of dough and flatten into a disc. Stretch the dough until thin. Hold it up to the light and look to see if you can see the light through it. If the dough tears before it forms, knead the dough for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.

Roll the pizza dough into a smooth ball on the countertop. Place into a stainless steel or glass bowl. Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil or spray with non-stick spray to the bowl and toss to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 18 to 24 hours. (I know it takes a while- but definitely worth the effort!)

Turn the oven to its highest temperature, about 500 degrees F. If

Split the pizza dough into 2-4 equal parts using a knife or a dough scraper. Flatten into a disk onto the countertop and then fold the dough into a ball.
Wet hands barely with water and rub them onto the countertop to dampen the surface. Roll the dough on the surface until it tightens. Cover one ball with a tea towel and rest for 30 minutes.
Repeat the steps with the other pieces of dough. If not baking the remaining pizza immediately, spray the inside of a ziptop bag with cooking spray and place the dough ball into the bag. Refrigerate for up to 6 days.

Sprinkle the flour onto baking sheet. Using your hands, form a lip around the edges of the pizza. Stretch the dough into a round disc, rotating after each stretch. Toss the dough in the air if you dare. Place on baking sheet (you may want to sprinkle flour on the sheet first to make sure the dough doesn't stick.

(Top and bake the pizza immediately for a crisp crust or rest the dough for 30 minutes if you want a chewy texture.)

Turn off heat in oven. Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. Rest for 3 minutes before slicing.

Morning Ramblings

This is going to be an unproductive day. I came to campus at 9am to discover that the power to my building is out. There was scheduled maintainence this morning that was supposed to end at 8am but a transformer blew. Since all of my work depends on me either accessing the computer in the lab or using a microscope (which requires electricity)- I have nothing else to do this morning but blog. Power should be back by noon. I was planning on only having a half day and leaving campus at noon. I have errands to run today: groceries, buying a new navel "ring", tidying before my cousin comes to visit this evening, etc. This is the first time in two years that I haven't had a piece of metal in my belly button. Quite the interesting scar.

Still feeling a bit nostalgic today, I am listening to La Femme Nikita soundtrack on my mp3 player. I love this sort of music! Intense and mysterious---probably the opposite of what people think of me. I used to wish to be like Nikita: sexy, mysterious, confident, fashionable, dangerous with an immense amount of power and information. And I don't forget Michael. The closest I have come to this is my damn fine skill of observation. Observing is what I am trained to do afterall. BTW, my favorite song on the sound track: Fear and Love (Morcheeba). Next playlist today will be the Darren Hayes cd.

As for other news, I am planning to take two weeks vacation to visit any parts west of Guelph. I haven't decided if I want to focus on BC and the Rockies or include Saskatechwan and Mannitoba. I've been thinking about taking 5 days to camp in the mountains around Jasper...but I am not 100% certain because weather is such a big factor. I'd definitely like to visit Victoria (British Gardens) and Edmonton to meet my cousin (once removed...I think...I've never really figured out the whole "removed" terminology). Further travel this summer will be a somewhat short trip home in July (no matter how long I stay, it never feels long enough!), and potentially moving to Halifax for September. At first I wasn't a big fan of moving to Halifax, but I am warming up to the idea since I have friends there (mainly Kelly and some friends from UNB in Digby). Mom is thrilled by the idea of me being back in NS - she says she will visit 3 times a month! *sigh*

Update
I bought the replacement metal works for my navel. After being free of the piercing for less than 5 hours, the hole had already begun to heal! A safety pin worked to fix the problem painlessly. I was dreading possibly having to have it repierced (which hurts a whole lot!). I wonder if it is more painful than a tatoo?

Reconnecting

Two thoughts under this heading:

1) Why is it so hard to keep in touch with good friends? Today was a good day. I was in contact with three friends that I haven't spent much time communicating with in many months. It is not that I am a bad friend but just that I am a lazy person. It is not New Year's but maybe reconnecting with friends should be my resolution. The way I look at it, such resolutions shouldn't be limited to January but should encompass all of the year. As an aside, I also broke out my flute for probably the first time in about a year. It didn't sounds too sweet, but I'll work on it.

2) My MicroSoft Windows died on the weekend and left me disconnected. As a nice surprise the person at the call centre was really nice and gave great customer support - I'm not surprised. It was located across the Cansoe Causeway from Cape Breton :). Unfortunately, I only have Windows for 30 days until I can contact the company who sold me the computer.


I know this was a boring post, but I'll have something more interesting to say tomorrow. I'm going out with my cousin for a three course fondue dinner.

Comments fixed :)

You can now post a comment without being a member (I forgot to click the button when I set this up). My supervisor is away this week (he gets a spring break even if I don't get vacations) so I'll be wasting time and making a longer post later today.

I've recently heard about a study on plants, global warming, and rising water levels. It seems that because there is more carbon dioxide in the air, plants don't need to leave their stomata (think air wholes) open for as long to get the CO2 neccessary for photosynthesis. This causes plants to lose less water to evaporation. So, to summarize plants need less water and don't drink up as much from the soil and this extra water causes rivers and streams water level to increase.


However, I think that it is interesting to not that the process of water evaporation is how plants suck up water. So if they can produce more photosynthates (products of photosynthesis) then they will need more water because plants get electrons for the electron transport chain from water. If this were the case, then water levels wouldn't increase. This of course assumes that plants are going to want to grow bigger or store more energy (and why wouldn't they, it gives a competetive advantage). If plants grow really big (I'm not saying this will happen anytime soon), then they will take carbon dioxide out of the air, give off more oxygen, and suck up water. Maybe this will eventually (I'm thinking centuries) lead to Earth recovering from our pollution.