Melyssa-with-a-Y

Here's a scary animated representation of the growth of Wal-Mart across the US. I took three "snapshots": 1967: 3 stores (all around Bentonville, AR) 1988: 1167 stores (pushing north and across the south, but not yet northeast or west) 2007: 3176 stores - blanketing every population center in the USA (many times over), and some really out-of-the-way locations, bringing every-day-low-prices to the masses! Civilization! Next stop - world domination!

Who would have thought? two of my favorite foods, and they're very good together. (Not quite as good as chocolate and peanut butter, but then, what is?) I saw this recipe on Epicurious.com yesterday, and had most of the ingredients already, so I decided to make it. Grilled Scallops and Nectarines with Corn and Tomato Salad Ok, first off, I wish I were as good a food photographer as Deb over at smittenkitchen . But we'll just have to live with my imperfect camera skills. (and in this case, the quality of my camera-phone, which makes it even worse!) Things I did differently - 1. In the move from DC to TX, I got rid of the stovetop grill pan, so the George Foreman grill was the only option. I nixed that, and used a big sautee pan. 2. I bought smaller bay scallops rather than sea scallops, which would have made it nearly impossible to grill anyway - hard to get those little suckers on skewers! 3. I didn't do the basil puree, but I did chiffonade some basil leaves and sprinkle ...

Gretchen Rubin posted this on HuffPo , and I have to say, I definitely needed a little cheering up -- and it worked! [well, apart from the "good blazing fires" bit -- it's only 95-degrees here today...] These are pointers on how to cheer up from 1820. Many of them still apply. (and if you need some more, Gretchen posted her own tips for cheering up on her blog.) 1st. Live as well as you dare. 2nd. Go into the shower-bath with a small quantity of water at a temperature low enough to give you a slight sensation of cold, 75 or 80 degrees. 3rd. Amusing books. 4th. Short views of human life--not further than dinner or tea. 5th. Be as busy as you can. 6th. See as much as you can of those friends who respect and like you. 7th. And of those acquaintances who amuse you. 8th. Make no secret of low spirits to you friends, but talk of them freely--they are always worse for dignified concealment. 9th. Attend to the effects tea and coffee produce upon you. 10th. Compare your lot with...

Whew, four days of vacation in Napa/Sonoma/Calistoga is just exhausting. Oh, right, and Yenta #3 got married! Yay! Thursday we flew to Oakland and drove up to St. Helena (that's Hel-EEH-nah), where we were staying with family friends (N&S) in their rented villa. (It really is a villa -- the house has 4 bedrooms with full baths, and an extra apartment over the garage... a huge kitchen, big living room, and a pool... and is surrounded by grape vines!) The weather was beautiful - average mid-80's during the day, and down below 60 at night. brrr! What we did not know was that our illustrious lame duck President was attending a fundraiser in St. Helena on Thursday evening! We were treated to a line of California Highway Patrol cars up and down Route 29. We later learned that the wealthy Republicans who paid up to $7500 per person were forced to eat sandwiches, because giving them cutlery might have posed a danger to Dubya. Honestly, when you can't even trust your big...

Today, in the "news that's not really news" department ... maybe I'm glad I'm not going to Denver for the Democratic Convention? Apparently there are strict food laws in place for what will be served to the delegates. Some of them, like the organic requirement, I fully appreciate. The made-in-Colorado thing is just a way to shore up the state's economy, what with thousands of hungry delegates descending on the mile high city. But really, what's a good party without beer and wings and cheese fries? and how are you going to bring southerners and not serve fried chicken or biscuits? The convention host committee denies that there's a ban on fried foods. But ABCNews.com obtained a copy of the catering proposals, including an odd one that specifies how many and which colors of food are supposed to appear on a plate. Here are some of the requirements: - No items are to be fried. - Preference is to be given to vendors with "gr...

Phyl double-dog-dared me. (well, indirectly. She dared all of us!) 1. Who was your first prom date? Jeremy W., junior year in high school. (we had a junior-senior prom -- two, in fact -- we had one, and the boys school had one.) 2. Do you still talk to your first love? Not since I ran into him in my apartment building 7 years ago. eek! 3. What was your first alcoholic drink? Hm. Probably Manischewitz! ha ha 4. What was your first job? does babysitting count? Otherwise, summer camp counselor, when I was 16. 5. What was your first car? I drove Dad's gold Chrysler Town & Country convertible for a while, but then I got my own car, a cherry red Pontiac Grand Am. zoooooom! 6. Who was the first person to text you today? No one has texted me today... yet. 7. Who is the first person you thought of this morning? Someone at work. (and NOT in that way...) 8. Who was your first grade teacher? I had two. Mrs. Leesfield and Sra. Sagranichini. (try saying that name when you're 5 y...

Viva España! Rafael Nadal unseated the reigning king of Wimbledon yesterday, beating Roger Federer in five rain-interrupted sets. WOW. The tennis was unbelievable. Rafa looked amazing. I was jumping around my living room during the fourth set tiebreaker - I couldn't sit still! When I called mom, she wasn't even watching, she had to run away to the basement. But she gave in and went upstairs after she heard all of the screaming and yelling. ... and then I missed the end of the match. (I didn't even set the DVR) :( At the second rain delay (2-2 in the fifth set!), the tv commentators kept saying the players would have to come back really soon because otherwise it was going to be dark, so they'd have to finish on Monday. I figured they were right, it would finish on Monday, so I left the house. Little did I know that the rain delay would last only 30 minutes, and the match would continue into the twilight. (I remember one of Sampras' matches going so late it was ...

I love the 4th of July. It's my favorite holiday. I used to have a wardrobe full of red-white-and-blue clothes, hats, jewelry, you name it. I think when I moved to Texas I purged a lot of my stuff -- when I went looking for a flag shirt to wear to work yesterday, I couldn't find one! What's that about? But still, I love the Fourth. :) I slept late this morning, then went out and did my usual 5k walk around the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous morning, blue sky and not too hot (yet). I forgot that there's a parade in my neighborhood every year for the Fourth! So as I turned on to Far West Blvd, I was met with a steady stream of people walking back home, all decked out in their flags - dogs wearing bandannas, kids in wagons and buggies, men, women children - everybody showing their colors. And the people who live on Far West come out to show their support - they set up chairs on their lawns and in their driveways... I saw cars, trucks and even a tractor covered in buntin...

How many parts of this quote make my blood boil? Hugh Hewitt on OSU-USC football game: "[I]t's probably the last football game we'll ever get to see before the United States gets blown up by the Islamists under Obama" Leaving aside his contention that the Buckeyes are going to "slaughter" the Trojans (HAH!), the Obama thing just infuriates me. What is wrong with these people?!?! In much happier news, it's being reported that former Secretary of State Colin Powell is going to endorse Senator Obama. Woohooo!!! When I was working for America's Promise in the spring of '97, there was buzz about Powell running for President. He didn't (his wife Alma didn't like the idea, among other reasons), but things are different now. It'll be very "in your face" to the Bush Administration, but they made him a scapegoat, so I don't think he owes them anything.

Never mind that Man of La Mancha is one of my favorite musicals (I played the barber when we performed it in sixth grade)... here's a new twist - the Honda robot, Asimo, Conducting "Impossible Dream" with the Detroit Symphony. I love it!

Paul found this in the list of papers for the Siggraph conference this year -- Simulating Knitted Cloth at the Yarn Level (Yes, that is a computer-simulated scarf!) Basically, they turned knitting into mathematical equations, and recreated it computationally. To simulate complex knitted garments, we propose an implicit-explicit integrator, with yarn inextensibility constraints imposed using efficient projections. Friction among yarns is approximated using rigid-body velocity filters, and key yarn-yarn interactions are mediated by stiff penalty forces. Our results show that this simple model predicts the key mechanical properties of different knits, as demonstrated by qualitative comparisons to observed deformations of actual samples in the laboratory, and that the simulator can scale up to substantial animations with complex dynamic motion. (and no, I don't actually know what all of that means...except that their simulation is very realistic!) ;) The paper shows real knitted swa...

Sad. The man who gave us the "Seven Dirty Words" you can never say on television has passed away. Here's his recent "Modern Man" segment. Hilarious! He was slated to win the Mark Twain award at the Kennedy Center this November. I'm sure they'll do a tribute to him at the ceremony. I saw him on stage at the KC in 1994... it was a little disconcerting to hear him ranting on stage in the Opera House, but he was hilarious. Smart humor - my favorite thing. :) Miss ya already, George.

but very tasty lean brisket - better than Rudy's lean, IMHO- with paper "plates" and white bread, at a NYC restaurant called Hill Country. :) Rudy's BBQ Sause is better, though.

yes, we're in the *last* row of the bleachers, but we're here! I wore red, which is bad when the Yankees are playing the Reds. oh well.

Oh, Al Gore, how I've missed you. Yes, yes, we are all on board with the Global Warming thing. But when I think about how different this country would be if the Supreme Court hadn't handed the election to Dubya in 2000... it makes me so sad. So when I read that you were endorsing Obama, I thought, "Finally!" but I knew you'd be for him from the beginning. I mean, Bill Clinton was a great President, but not so good in terms of the lasting legacy that would have made you a shoo-in for POTUS. And very harsh with the burning of bridges and eliminating dissenters -- surprisingly similar to Dubya. So a great big ol' raspberry to the almost-co-Presidents. HERE is the Al Gore that I know and love: "After eight years of incompetence, neglect and failure, we need change," Gore said. "After eight years when our Constitution has been dishonored and disrespected, we need changes." Where was this pit bull when we needed him? [Note to the press, can w...

... and I'm not talking about our elected officials! Apparently a member of the GOP platform committee was offended on his trip(s) to Washington that there are statues and paintings of nudes everywhere. (Of course, he's from Texas.) The platform committee did not adopt Hurt's recommendation on Washington nudity (nor his proposal to extend the 22nd Amendment -- presidential term limits -- to spouses). But Hurt said he'll pursue the issue, possibly with another trip here to videotape the evidence. "I'm not going to stop until I succeed. I'm prepared for a long fight." Leaving aside the 22nd Amendment thing, having lived in DC until 2 years ago, I don't think it ever once occurred to me that the fountain at Dupont Circle was made up of naked ladies, or that "20% of the art in the National Gallery" contains nudes. (Really? Where did he get that statistic?) Please, people. Get over yourselves. Or go to Europe. Although, come to think of i...

The good: we rode the rollercoaster at NYNY at midnight, right before it closed. A little bone-rattling, but really fun. First time I've managed to ride the thing in all my trips to Vegas. The bad: we wandered from Bill's to Paris to Bellagio to NYNY to MGM, and my feet were *killing* me by the time we went back to the Riviera. (and boy do I miss staying @ Bally's!!) The ugly: the blackjack table at Bills took my money and didn't give any back. :( A fun trip, and useful for work, but I've had enough of Vegas for a while. Can't wait to head back to Austin today.

Thanks to my very generous family and friends, I raised over $1500, and my team (Eye of the Tiger) raised over $3300! Bryan didn't register for the Race, but he showed up towards the end of the route with a big sign for mom. Fortunately, she was wearing a pink shirt and a hat, which made it much easier for him to find her in the sea of white t-shirts. Here we are at the end, in the shade, recovering from the Race. I think mom enjoyed it enough to want to come back again next year! Thank you again to everyone who supported us! If you didn't get a chance to donate, and would like to do so, you can still give at my sponsor web page .

Taken from Dani's blog Accent: When I went to college in New Jersey, people thought I had a southern accent. Now that I live in Texas, I'm starting to pick up the accent for real, but I'm still more middle-of-the-road basic eastern US. Breakfast or no breakfast: Gotta have breakfast. Usually some starch (toast, whole wheat english muffin, or flax waffles), some protein (sun butter or cottage cheese), and some fruit. Keeps me going even if I don't get a chance to eat lunch until after 1pm. Chore I don’t care for: cleaning the bathroom. bleh. Dog or Cat: Dogs, mostly, but it depends on the cat. Essential Electronics: Unfortunately, my blackjack is now an addiction. I can get mail, directions, news, weather... it's bad. Favorite Cologne: I always liked Davidoff Cool Water on a guy, but that was a long time ago. On me - Jo Malone 's Grapefruit or Pomegranate Noir. Gold or Silver: Gold Handbag I carry most often: The black and red Nine West purse with the...