Murray's is not the cutting edge of Costcos

I know you were all really wondering about this, so I'll just break it to you now.

Murray Costco doesn't sell gelato.

I am disappointed.

breaking news update

The gelato machine at Orem Costco broke down under the pressure of an apparently overwhelmingly demanding weekend.

I'll keep this blog maintained with continual coverage on this dire situation.

P.S. The gelato is sold at the food court. FYI. (Though not currently.)

P.P.S. I used my supreme journalistic prowess to interrogate an employee who would like to remain anonymous. She said it would be back up on Wednesday. You can bet I'll be on the scene.

this just in!

Costco now sells gelato.

Of the pistachio variety.

!!!

Growth

My herb garden is growing! I only really cared about the basil, and the basil seems to be the only one that is flourishing. So that is good.

cravings much?

I usually don't (a) have strong cravings or (b) interrupt valuable sleep time to fill such cravings, but last night was an anomaly that way. I had an exceptionally strong desire to eat pistachio gelato, maybe combined with chocolate gelato.

Where to get good gelato in Provo? The only place that I even know of that sells gelato is Gloria's Little Italy. We tried there, but unfortunately it closes at 9, which is almost exactly when we were searching for it. I texted ChaCha, and ChaCha didn't really have anything for me. ChaCha suggested Spin Cafe in HEBER CITY. First of all, I don't want to drive 30 minutes for gelato, or I would go to Salt Lake where I know some places. Second of all, it was closed even before Gloria's was closed. Lame. I also texted Google, which suggested Maestro's, which is currently closed.

We went home, me feeling defeated. Then later, I made us leave again (wow) in search of ice cream of the pistachio and chocolate varieties. It was like 11 by that time, which is way past bedtime, and it was ridiculous, but also wonderful that we were doing this. We went to Smith's, which didn't really put out either, then drove all the way to WinCo and finally had success.

I'm enjoying some pistachio and chocolate ice cream now.

calculus

So I have several boxes that were in perpetual storage that I've been going through lately. Call it a summer project. There were a lot more boxes than I remembered, and I don't think I missed many of the things in the boxes in the years that I didn't have them. There are a few things that are fun to see and remember, but the vast majority of that stuff is garbage—including many of my copious high school journal-writings, which is kind of sad to say, but true. (I didn't throw my journals away, though, because interspersed through the garbage might be something of value, and they represent more than the other useless things I kept. Maybe?)

Tim was helping me sort the garbage into recycling piles (my past is now giving back!) and I went through my AP calculus binder, where I had all of my notes and assignments and all of that. And do you know what I was thinking? I was thinking that I haven't really done any math since that class (over six years ago), and I don't think I would have any idea how to do it these days. I have forgotten it all. I have never used what I learned in calculus. So what was the point of all of that? I want to know. Apparently I thought it might someday come in handy, because I kept it all for so long. Now with the benefit I have of retrospect, I see that it never, ever was.

Funny, though, because back then, I kind of liked it. Isn't that sick?

the new technological world

I wouldn't say this blog has a particularly pensive character, but this post is in that vein. I've been thinking a lot about this subject today for a few reasons (this, this, this) and wanted to express some of my thoughts related to it. Bear with me. (Or don't. Up to you.)

The article in New York Times called "Your Brain on Computers" was interesting, and the interactive features were entertaining (test your focus and your task-juggling skills). It was also scary. Research has found out a lot about how the brain changes in response to technology use, and some of these changes seem positive; others, not as positive. It seems like a couple of things happen when we are bombarded so heavily with information (and with instant access to it). For one thing, we lose our ability to discern what information is valuable or even true. Why? Our brain automatically responds to new information, and with so many stimuli, we can miss important things because we don't have any hierarchical criteria for classifying this new information. So we try to pay attention to everything.

Another thing that's scary about this phenomenon is that we lose our ability to be real. Again, from the article:

Mr. Nass at Stanford thinks the ultimate risk of heavy technology use is that it diminishes empathy by limiting how much people engage with one another, even in the same room. “The way we become more human is by paying attention to each other,” he said. “It shows how much you care.” That empathy, Mr. Nass said, is essential to the human condition. “We are at an inflection point,” he said. “A significant fraction of people’s experiences are now fragmented.”

For many of us, it is so much easier to interact with a lot people electronically, and I think part of that is purely due to physical distance. It's less powerful than communicating face-to-face. If you're writing an e-mail or a chat, you hardly even have to think about the other person, because that person is only an electronic presence.

And I'm not interested in delving into the vast problem of pornography in this post, but I think it could be said that this form of media dehumanizes relationships in similar ways.

On a similar note, Tim and I were discussing another interesting phenomenon: road rage. I told him about feeling irritated at having to slow down to avoid a pedestrian. Would I actually rather endanger another human in order to not be inconvenienced in my commute? No, I really don't think I would. But it's interesting how much anger I can feel toward this completely innocent person. Why is that so easy? This person can't hear me. And I'm alone in my car. So it seems like it's pretty harmless to shout "You idiot!" and get all worked up over it. And yet, is it harmless?

Online relationships seem to be the same. Because of the distance (emotional, physical, whatever), my interaction with other people when I'm communicating (or not communicating at all--just Facebook-stalking) is so limited that I don't even attempt to control my reaction to their behavior. Things are black and white, with no gray area. Someone is brilliant or daft, but usually daft.

i'm into this too

Something about blogging about the things I'm excited about makes me more excited about them. And it's even better when you have a nice little camera to render their beauty more strikingly. (I just need to learn how to use a DSLR, now that I have one.)

I forgot to tell y'all about the other culinary loves I have of late. I realized that I haven't been acknowledging the potential of my food processor, which is really quite limitless. I've been using it a lot lately, and I've tried a few new things in there, and I've discovered that it is so great.

Recently, I have made pie crust (which I had never made, and which is really not that hard), and homemade peanut butter (also amazingly simple and delicious). Hummus, of course. (That's not new. We love hummus.)

And currently, I adore the food processor for bread dough.

what i'm into lately

One of my favorite things to do lately is this:

(1) Go to Costco and buy a rotisserie chicken for $5.

(2) Come home and separate the meat from the chicken bones, skin, and fat. (Perhaps not for the faint of heart, but I don't mind it.)

(3) Peel some carrots and onion; cut them along with some celery for a little mirepoix.



(4) Throw in the chicken rubbish with the veggie rubbish (carrot shavings, less-savory onion peelings, and the part of the celery that you don't eat [base and leaves]); cover with water; bring to boil; simmer for 4 hours. Drain.

(5) Make chicken pot pie or chicken noodle soup with the stock (from the chicken and veggie rubbish), meat (from the chicken), more-savory veggies, and other things.

(6) Enjoy.

It just feels so good to use the whole bird and all parts of the veggies!