switchiness

I've decided to switch over to wordpress, because it has cooler features. To big A and the 2.5 other people who read this, here is the new interblogowebasphere location:

http://andreality.wordpress.com/

The good ol' days

In anticipation of teaching a microeconomics course this summer, I've been scouting out the collection of books that are discarded from the department's reference center for old micro texts to use in the creation of my lecture notes. And some of them are truly old. You can get a sense of just how old by taking a look at some of the practice questions. In C.E. Ferguson's "Microeconomic Theory" from 1972, we have the following gems:

1. Why would an attractive young girl just out of high school become a call girl or prostitute?
2. Why do more unmarried women lose their virginity in wartime than in peacetime?

(Sadly, the book doesn't come with solutions)

Walter Nicholson's 1983 "Intermediate Microeconomics and its Applications" has this to offer:

Each year Sam Mellow grows 200 units of wheat and 100 units of pot for his own consumption and for sale to the outside world. Wheat and pot are the only two items that provide utility to Sam.

"Sam Mellow" ... classic. I'm pretty sure I would be facing a reprimand or two if I put questions like this on a test. Still, I can't help but experience a wistful longing for the days when one could make math questions about prostitution and illicit substances.

why is everyone wasting their time on swine flu?

My sister recently sent me this link to a new zealand news story, filed under "World Breaking News": http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25426069-23109,00.html

Unfortunately they didn't supply a picture of this amazing fruit, but a quick search of the interwebs saved the day:I was expecting something a little less like a moldy pear and more like a kiwi bird. Still, I guess it's sort of newsworthy that someone spent $680 canadian on this thing. This just in... man wastes money on old piece of fruit.

In other news, I love the calculating function on google. I just typed in "1000 NZD in canadian dollars" and it did the conversion for me. It's also handy for mile-km, lbs-kg conversions. And it does math computations too. Is there anything google can't do?

food stuffs

In keeping with my ongoing efforts to be more conscious of what I eat, I decided to substitute kefir for my usual yogurt purchase at the grocery store yesterday.  I was expecting it to taste kind of like yogurt; that was a mistake.  If you’re expecting a substance to taste like yogurt when, in fact, it tastes like yogurt gone terribly, terribly bad, the outcome is rarely good.  

But I exaggerate, it doesn’t taste that bad.  It’s not something I would consume by itself for the pure pleasure of the drink, but mixed with a delicious assortment of berries it’s actually quite palatable.

 

The nutritional greatness of kefir is twofold. First, it has but two ingredients:  organic partly skimmed milk and bacterial cultures.  Compare this to the Activia, source of fiber, fat free strawberry, kiwi and cereals probiotic yogurt:

1. skim milk, concentrated skim milk, fructose, sugar, strawberries, inulin, kiwi puree, corn starch, milk protein concentrate, cream, modified corn starch, rolled oat, white wheat flakes, gelatin, natural and artificial flavours, active bacterial cultures, pectin, malic acid, natural colour, potassium sorbate, calcium lactate, sodium citrate, vitamin A and D. 

Dosly, that delectable je ne sais quoie sour milk taste is a function of a longer fermentation time and the additional fermentation power of yeast.  This means more sugar is consumed during fermentation, and more bacteria are present in the end product.  And apparently the type of bacteria used to make kefir stay in your intestine for extended periods of time (compared to yogurt) and do all sorts of good things for you.

The nutrition facts on the two containers are not in entirely comparable units, but going on the estimate that kefir has approximately the same density as water, here’s what’s what:

	KEFIR	YOGURT
calories	90	140
fat	3.5 g	0.525 g
saturated fat	2g	0.35 g
carbohydrates	8 g	28 g
sugars	6 g	22.75 g
protein	6 g	7 g

what treasures

On Easter Sunday we had dinner at big A's mother's house. While there, A was charged with the task of rummaging through boxes of old belongings to see what he wanted to keep and what could be thrown away. Among the assorted treasures were a collection of old photos. Many of these were of such a nature that sharing them with the blogospheres would likely result in my prompt dismissal from girlfriend status and the finding of my belongings out on the curb, but some of them are just too cute to keep to myself.

To our left we see an early version of li'l big A. Note the conservative gray shirt combo, the fiery red hair and the cute button nose. Evidently this picture was taken long before he instated his "Dress shirts must be plaid or some kind of checkered-like pattern" rule.

Now if you look to the right, you'll see li'l gap-toothed big A all jazzed up in a dashing red ensemble he no doubt picked out himself for this special occasion. We can see that he has really come into his own in the freckle department at this point, and he seems really happy about something; I'm guessing it's the amazing faux forest backdrop he gets for his school picture. Also observe the shorter hair at this age; could this become a trend?

This one's pretty good too, li'l hockey-A decked out in his equipment. Who knew this little guy would grow up to abandon traditional projectile-based sports to become an Ironman-doing, Boston marathon-running, leg-shaving, gel-eating Labatt employee? Not me. Mostly because I wasn't born at the time this picture was taken.

In addition to the pictures there were a few memorable keepsakes. This beloved toy mouse was pretty adorable, and everyone loves a good E.T. keychain.

Enjoy this post while it exists; I'm guessing it has a high likelihood of deletion due to censorship.

***EDIT: I've been informed that the snazzy red shirt combo that childhood-big A has on is velour, and possibly a one-piece.  I thought this should be known.  Also, the mouse is apparently a Womble, Orinoco the Womble to be precise.  He was a little distraught that I failed to acknowledge this. 

birthday times

1. Waking up to birthday presents. My great boyfriend got me this great aero helmet, along with some delicious treats. It's a super present, moreso because it's something I probably wouldn't have bought for myself. And who doesn't love crazy lightning-bolt patterns?
2. Pancakes for breakfast. I'm continually astounded by how delicious pancakes continue to be for me. Yep, astounded. I'll go through periods where I have them just about every other day, and yet I cease to grow tired of them in the least.
   
3. Podiatrist appointment. As my handful of visits to the physiotherapist and prescribed stretches have done little my running injuries, I've decided to seek out other options. The podiatrist seemed competent, seemed to know what might be wrong, and was none too eager to plaster up my feet for a pair of orthotics. It's pretty much all covered by my insurance, so I had no objections.
4. Trip to the market. Perhaps not quite as enjoyable as ingesting food, I do love to shop for it as well. I was in the neighbourhood so I stopped by at sunripe markets. A little on the pricey side, but they have lots of interesting and delicious food items.
5. Research. As much as I would have liked to totally blow off school work for the day, I thought it was best to do get a modicum of work done. I do really like my research at the moment, so this in no way interfered with my birthday enjoyments.
6. Bike ride with Peaker. Got to enjoy the glorious spring sunshine while it lasted. A bit windy in parts, but thoroughly great, as biking usually is.
7. Run with the group. The great part about starting running again is that even short runs are very satisfying. The nice weather continued into the evening, and it was good to be out in shorts and t-shirt.
8. Dinner at alibi's. Had chicken fingers for the first time in approximately forever. They were tasty.
   
9. Tea, cookies, and watching survivor on the couch. A nice, relaxing end to the day with aforementioned great boyfriend.