Donde esta los tamales

Grocery stores were made "por mujeres, para mujeres, y de mujeres", well at least stocked with this in mind. No matter how many times I go to the grocery store by myself with a list from my wife, I always spend 30 minutes looking for one last item. This last time it was tamales. But that isn't quite as funny as me looking for q-tips. First I thought q-tips would be with make-up since that is what it is used for quite a bit. No luck, well lets try pharmacy, nope. Next to cotton balls, nice try. How about paper goods, not on your life. Okay let me go to a random corner, and the winner is ... They were next to nothing in particular at all!!!!

Then the worst is when they move something, you ask about where it is and the employee acts like its always been in the same place. One week I was looking for tofu; it's not in the Chinese produce section but the man says look in the natural foods section. Not there. Next week there it is again in the Chinese produce. GOO I'm about ready to get all my groceries delivered.

More of Andy's Life

YEA!! New awesome recipe.

It is for Uncle Yan's Secret Meat Sauce. Apparently the chinese cookbook that claims most of chinese food is vegetarian, actually has an awesome meat sauce recipe. But it's a secret, which makes me wonder, is it that the Chinese are vegetarians or that they just hide their meat from one another? But anywho it got the seal of approval from my wife, which is no easy thing to do, so it is officially in my lineup of great recipes.

Classes still hard.

So I am really in the wrong program, or else I really need to go get some other education before I finish this program. But it looks like I am going to have to change things. One of my collegues who also thinks things are too hard for him is rather discomforted that he didn't make it through. He, maybe more than me, took the hard classes and did well in undergraduate at a big engineering school, but our theoretical background doesn't amount to a hill of beans compared to those in the math program here. Anywho it looks like there will be some major changes in my life in the next few weeks.

Church is awesome.

Okay so we have found a group that is a bit more like us at our church now. Add to it our rosary group and all the excitement over our new Pastor and Calvert house has become an awesome place to go to Mass. I have even had whispers of my old spirituality that seemed all but lost come back. I am also reading some more literature and would love to write a Catholic novel at some point. But alas my writing skills really show that I should be a scientist, the Holy Spirit will have to do any writing that comes through me.

Goo Grad school sucks

Someone quoted "Grad School: a good way to waste the best years of your life."

If that means working endlessly to make sure that you know a bunch of facts that might change the world, but probably won't, he is absolutely right. But after a 30 hour studying weekend, I just know that they are facts and that is that.

Ugly People

Ugly people make me sad. I don't mean ugly as in "unfavorable looks" I mean as in rude. Especially when they are people you really like.

Summer STAY HERE!!!

The summer is quickly fading, and all of us Chicagoans are trying to hold on to it. Another winter of depressing cold and dark days. And grad school work to help the ambiance.

Well while it's here I am going to enjoy the summer. In the last week I have done more outdoor sports than I have in any other week since high school. One observation I have about exercise. It is a lot like beer. The more you drink, the more you will need to drink next time to feel the effects. Alas, the Buddha belly seems to be here to stay.

Me in Nethack

..)?...
...d...
.......

If I were a NetHack monster, I would be a little dog. I'm a loyal and trusting companion, always ready to protect my friends. Even if they do feed me tripe, sometimes.

Which NetHack Monster Are You?

Good Bad

Good things of today:

• Yummy veggie dish, Solyenka.
  
• My program worked.
  
• My wife.
  
• Evernight remembered who I am, even though I haven't played in about two years.
  
• Mass
  

Bad things of today:

• Veggie dish didn't have meat.
  
• My program needs more work.
  
• My wife has to work.
  
• My Valkirie in Nethack died of deadly poison, she is the third I lost that way.
  
• Mass ended.
  

Vegetarian YUM YUM

Okay I have found a truly amazing vegetarian dish. Now I know that people in my past would be taken aback that I could ever like anything but meat and potatoes, but they have yet to try the Indonesian dish Gado Gado. It starts off with a humble bed of baby spinach, with yellow rice to serve as a base to this visual masterpiece. Then we add the veggies: cabbage, sprouts, green beans, carrots. Top the veggies with come tofu and drizzle the oh-so-good peanut sauce all over it. And finally add sauteed onions, garlic, and ginger root.

Hehe much to the chagrin of my wife, I really want to serve this to all my vegetarian friends if they ever come over for dinner.

DIE YOU STUPID MACHINE DIE

The more I work with computers, the more I realize that you can't trust them. They don't know beans and they lie about it. In fact if you ask them nicely to do something for you, right away they zip off and do it or so they say. Unless you have Nazi type systems or extra enhanced bugging/error checkers sitting there to make sure what they did was correct, they won't care if it is correct or not. And they are very good at decieving all those other devices that say the computer is working correctly (after all they are part of the computer as well).

In a lot of ways it is like a 5-year old boy. You ask him to go wash his hands; off he heads to the bathroom to return immediately. You say, "I didn't hear any water running." With a surprised look he runs back. As he steps out of the bathroom, you asked if he used soap and back he goes. Finally, he comes out and you are stuck with two options. One go back and watch him wash his hands or two believe that he did it and let him die of e. coli because he really didn't wash his hands. So your only option is clear...or is it?

Why I don't like guns

Because you never get to meet the person behind them, only the gun.

High Noon in North Woods

Now how will rural white america give this man a fair trial? Guilty or not all we can ever meet is a man with a gun.

Great Labor Day

Heh the US is the only country in the world to celebrate Labor Day on a day other than May 1st. Mostly because that was the day of the big Union demonstrations in Chicago that had several explosion killing hundred or so people. The US government hung the unionist leaders saying they were responsible then exhonerated them afterwards. The world keeps their memory alive even if the FCC will fine any radio announcer who refers to May 1st as Labor day.

While we know that people in New Orleans might not be enjoying the day, it was beautiful here in Chicago. If only it really meant something like it use to.

OOH OOH NEW COOKBOOK!!!!!

Yup, I gots a new cookbook. So what you say! Well believe it or not, it is a vegetarian cookbook. My family is in shock and awe. "Andy ... eating vegetarian food ... He doesn't even like vegetables!"

Well, the times are a'changin. I just got the new Moosewood Cookbook, and let me tell you if everything in the book is as good as the first recipe that I made, spinach and cheese calzone , then I might become vegetarian.

The Moosewood Cookbook has been the largest selling cookbook of all time. I am sure that without it there would not be so many vegetarians today.

ID or Flying Spaghetti Monsters

This is great!!!

http://www.venganza.org/index.htm

Of course, it is a bit irreverant towards my faith but dead on with the science aspect.

My Boring Life

Okay so when I started this I never realized how cool/busy a person has to be in order to have things to blog about daily. In fact I was certain that I had enough thoughts to publish regularly but as it turns out my life is pathetic.

Okay, so I have the greatest wife in the world. My job is to play with numbers all day. And I have the blessed opportunity of going to Mass everyday. Yes my life is great ... just not to read about really.

Stupid reality check.

Life Beyond the Midway

So now I live at 61st and Ingleside. If you are familar with University of Chicago that is just over the midway, which means scary land for all those who live north of the midway. In fact, I was one of those people who was scared of the land south of the midway until I observed two things:

1. The price of housing in Hyde Park proper
   
2. The other cheap area around Hyde Park, i.e. the very scary land across Hyde Park
   

That would convince any of us cheap grad students that the land south of the midway is our milk and honey. But since I have moved over here I have found that it is not at all the dangerous land that I once thought. In fact where I live seems to be a very nice little neighborhood.

Some ways that the new place is better than when I lived in Hyde Park proper include:

• No one panhandling in front of my building
  
• I have actually met most all of my neighbors
  
• Police cruise down my street frequently
  
• Vistors will have a place to park
  

Well anywho I gots to run.

Yahoo for my wife

So today I pass the big one year mark, that is one year of being married. I know that this is the time to get all romantic and make all those people out there sick to their stomachs but that is what anniversaries are for, right? Well all I will say is that a year ago I made the best decision of my life and can't wait to work for the next 80 years making it a better decision.

The New Place

WooHoo we have a new place. It is great, hardwood floors, a kitchen that I can walk in, two bedrooms, and all that. Nevermind that I am still moving in, this place is great. It is also like a 15 min walk to my office versus the 40 min walk to the other place. Now since I am sure I will have so much time to enjoy it, well those times I am not trying desparately to keep up with the 80 hours a week of studying and the 20 hours of research and the general selling of my soul that they expect at the UofC. Hehe anywho pictures will come later (as soon as all the boxes are unpacked).

Life beyond Texas

Hello world,

I said I would keep an update on my life so here it goes. Cheryl and I had a great time in NYC. We saw two Broadway musicals, Phantom of the Opera and Fiddler on the Roof. We saw some nice museums and ate at some really good restaurants (and one really bad expensive one). Everybody always asks how we liked the city. Well it’s big. Really big. And big places are the type that everybody will find something they like. This is what NYC is. We visited like tourists and did all the things one does as a tourist in any big city. Besides that there really wasn’t much to it. Never mind that the hotel was a bit on the expensive side. Apparently when you pay more for a hotel room the less free services you get, like access to a washing machine or breakfast. But there were delis all around that we were able to get anything we needed for breakfast. It is interesting because in NYC deli actually means “place where sandwiches, breakfast, small amounts of groceries, convenient store items, Chinese buffet, internet café, and all the surliness you can handle is sold”. The town also has plenty of Starbucks. Every two blocks had a Starbucks, and two other coffee shops. So you can find one while you are avoiding the large smelly piles of trash lying around. The most expensive real estate in the world can’t afford trash bins. New York is also the only place in the world where you can make $175,000 a year and still live in state subsidized housing. (No wonder it’s a Democratic state.) But that is New York.

Chicago on the other hand is a bit different. Okay so it is a big city with all the same problems and pleasures just like NYC, but here I get to live so I see the unpleasant side a little more frequently. The good news is that the city is incredibly Catholic. Since we have been here we have done nursing home ministry, jail ministry, and participated with the standard college church stuff. One thing that is really nice is the church is about three buildings down from my office. So Cheryl and I can attend daily Mass regularly. We made some enchiladas for the Graduate Fellowship night and the students ate them up. I could have sworn that they had never seen these things called enchiladas before. One guy from Puerto Rico kept asking if this is what everyone cooks at home in Texas. Of course we were also told that the salsa was much too hot. I guess it is a good thing that I didn’t use my friend’s recipe that calls for four jalapeños. Our priest, Fr. Mike, is an incredibly nice man. He teaches moral theology in the doctoral program at Loyola University and has been kind enough to explain which programs around are Catholic by name and which by practice (kind of like Marcel, but in a much nicer more elegant way). He also gave us the low down on the university, “Its nerd central. I’ve been to Oxford, Stanford, MIT; none of these places are as nerdy as U of C.” He also gives about the best sermons I have ever heard. Typically they are only reflections on the Gospel passages but they really drive at the heart with challenges on living a Christian life. So we are really finding a home at the church here.

As for my studies, well they are just fine. Sure it’s harder than Tech but what serious program isn’t? Funny one of my professors said that we should really think if we are spending enough time working on our homework. One of my classmates later said he was spending 3 out of 7 complete days working on it, if that isn’t enough he quits. The scary part is that the class is basically a warm up for the hardest class of the program. I am not having too many difficulties; I just spend 2 whole days a week on it.
I guess the biggest adventure we have had while we have been here is the garage sales. Really advertising in Chicago is an art of interpretation. We saw an ad for a couch for $99 brand new from a local furniture store. When we got to the store the clerks had no idea that such an ad even existed. We went to a huge garage sale; we saw one table with toys and beat up pots and pans. We got to an enormous garage sale and found two tables with “furniture” (a lamp and stepstool). We went to the four family garage sale blowout, found the same only times four. After going to 14 garage sales we found a couch and two bookcases, at two estate sales. We were really glad to find them because we might have bought the 1950’s bright orange couch with wooden armrests and legs (it made me shudder at its hideousness but it was in our price range). So basically, the next time you are in Chicago, don’t even bother with the garage sale, even if they have the most elegant description you can imagine.

Well I am off to make a meal that will make any Atkins’ dieter cry, so long till next time.

God Bless,
Andy

Moving from Texas

Today is my first day at the University of Chicago where I will be a part of the Computational Mathematics program in the Department of Computer Science. It will be fun. Cheryl and I moved up to Chicago from August 28th to September 3rd. After packing every square inch of the U-haul trailer, we piled the back of the pick-up truck full to be the self-appointed Hyde Park Hillbillies (Hyde Park is the neighborhood where we live in Chicago). The hardest part of the trip was getting out of Texas. We really wondered if we could leave the state, then the bearings on the water pump decided they for sure were not leaving, causing us to spend the better part of two days in Shamrock, TX. Luckily, we found an honest mechanic who worked on the truck in a garage that resembled a farm shed built during the industrial revolution filled with rusty parts from everything from lawnmowers to irrigation tanks. We made the rest of the way with relatively few hitches. We did stop off at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows which was quite interesting and most definitely the highlight of the trip.

We arrived at Chicago on September 1st but were unable to move in till the third so Cheryl and I decided to scout out how we were going to move into the apartment. Never living in the city we thought it to be a good idea to check on things like parking and getting the keys to the apartment and what not. First, we find that there is no parking. Well that’s not quite right, the streets in Hyde Park are lined with cars that might move on a monthly basis. I think it takes at least a month of the public transportation system before people are willing to deal with finding another parking spot. Second, the freight elevator looks like the same mechanic actually built it in the industrial revolution not to mention that it is between the buildings dumpsters, adding that wonderful smell to a hot and muggy day. Finally, our apartment is nice except the architect wins the award for smallest kitchens. I guess I can’t complain, I can turn side ways in it but if my Buddha belly grows anymore I might have a hard time getting out.

Moving in was fun. The one problem was we didn’t listen to the flight attendant’s warning about the load shifting during the flight. I’m sure somebody got a kick out of seeing the Hyde Park Hillbillies race the truck down the street and slam on the breaks to a sudden stop several time while praying that it works this time. Fortunately, the U-haul door opened and the movers marveled at how efficiently it was packed. If a field mouse could get in there, the cat chasing him would definitely have no hope. After the grueling task of putting all the boxes in our apartment, we only unpacked enough to get by and then made our way off to NYC for the honeymoon. But that is another story.

As far as my website goes, I hope to update it with updates on Cheryl and I, Andy’s ranting of different stuff, and anything that I find particularly interesting on the web. This of course has never happened before but I will still pretend that it can happen someday.

God Bless,
Andy