April 2006 Archives

God, I'm wearing a pedometer now. I should just have the shit kicked out of me by middle-school bullies and be forced to give them my lunch money.

I had my Lasik eye surgery after work last Thursday and as the Easter promise goes, when I woke up Friday morning, I could see perfectly. I'm glad Jesus used to heal the blind in the temple and now just lets us all go to certified opthomologic surgeons who he uses as his long-range helper elves. The follow-up appointment first thing the next morning confirmed I went from 20/400 (coke-bottle glasses) to 20/20 in my right eye and 20/15 in my left. Perfect and better-than-perfect vision isn't such a bad result. Thanks, Jesus! The whole procedure went exactly as described to me, taking about 15 minutes once I was on the table and Jeff even got to watch on a monitor from the room next door. As a non-blood-n-guts guy, he said he could have skipped the peeling back of the cornea after it was cut, but over all, he was impressed.

The bonus of the whole thing, as if perfect vision isn't enough, was my discovery of Valium. I love Valium! I love Valium more than the Easter-only Reese's Peanut Butter eggs. I'm going to get this stuff anytime I need to fly or go to the dentist or watch TV. I had one right before the surgery that took the edge off the whole thing, then had a second one afterwards since Jeff worked the technician and wanted me zonked out because he knows what a sucky patient I am. I didn't think I was like Miranda when she had Lasik in Sex And the City, but Jeff thinks I was quite like that. I'm hilarious! Thanks for Valium, Jesus!

Today lights and lighted things still have a slight haze around them but I'm told I'll make a full recovery and it does give a rather religious and post-Resurrection glow to the world so I'm pretty into the whole experience. That, and I can see without my glasses which I've had since I was in the 4th grade. I'm still trying to find the school picture of me in my Battlestar Galactica frames from the 6th grade. Stay tuned for it.

But I can say I Freaked.The.Fuck.Out when my final class grade posted as an A- and dropped my final GPA to a 3.89. And that is with getting all A's and A-'s!!! No B's or below the entire time and I'm going to end up with a 3.89??? Fuck the hell, NO I'M NOT.

By way of my apoplectic fit, I emailed the professor and became one of those snivelling grade-whores I loathe. Those that will argue over a tenth of a point or a technicality EVERY time they get a grade. I just don't believe in it. On the other hand, I don't believe in accepting mistakes and I know that I was kicking ass this term, getting perfect papers back up until the last week when we didn't get anything back. And that was being in Harrisburg for most of the term, stealing a few hours here and there to cull together my final project and paper. So I email him and start out, "I'm not one of those students who will complain and argue a grade, BUT..." and continued on with my meltdown.

His reply this morning was short and sweet: "Don't know where the problem is but you earned a solid A for the class. The grade-change request is accompanying this email to the Dean."

Problem resolved. No need to get upset. That is all I'm saying.

In the last few months, I've been anquishing about one thing in particular and it wasn't about my MBA. It was about what to do around the Blog here once my MBA was done. I recognize that I had a pretty solid group checking in a few years ago and can definitely acknowledge that I had a pretty solid vibe in what I wrote at that time. Not surprisingly, all that went to shit with school. I stopped posting or made such ridiculously arcane, unconnected posts that, honestly, were nothing more than place-fillers for me until I got back. Then the looming end of the MBA came rushign upon and I'm now faced with a blog design two years old and tired, serious amensia about CSS coding and webby-techy stuff that I once used to know, and a "how-do-I-pick-up-the-pieces-around-here kind of attitude. That and Barnes has been voicing what I've been feeling for some time: I'm fucking BORING. So what to do, what to do.

Then this morning, as I'm riding the subway into work, reading a little ditty of book I picked up yesterday at the hospital book sale, the perfect moment of clarity hits me. "Eureka," I exclaim, and pump my fists into the air. Subway people at 6am don't like those kinds of sudden movements, by the way.

All the little pieces of my days, past and present are now starting to click and so the blog goes on. Hanging out the renovation signs as I write.

I've been eyeing the recipe for Paula Dean's White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Pie for about six weeks because I love almost anything white chocolate wiht macadamia nuts (except those nasty, pre-packaged Mrs. Fields version. They're totally toxic). I'd been holding off until I was done with school and give it my full attention. That was this weekend and just happened to be early Sunday morning. Nothing beats melting chocolate over a jimmy-rigged double-boiler at 8am with a hot cup of steaming decaf at the ready.

Overall, I thought the result was pretty good. The recipe is ridiculously simple which makes it a no-brainer if you need to take a good pie somewhere for this summer. I quite possibly over-roasted the nuts but it didn't seem to matter much. As a big fan of white chocolate, I was a little disappointed in how much the flavor was subdued by the nuts and chocolate ganauche but overall, the pie is really good.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Pie
Ganache:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream

Garnish:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 to 2 ounces chopped macadamia nuts

Ganache:
Place chocolate chips in a metal mixing bowl. Bring cream to a simmer over medium heat. Pour simmering cream over chips and stir until melted. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.

Filling:
Beat cream cheese and sugar with a handheld electric mixer until smooth. Scrape bowl with a spatula and mix in 1/3 cup heavy cream. Add the melted white chocolate, zest, and nuts and stir just until incorporated. Fold in the whipped cream. Spread into pre-baked pie shell and level off using a rubber spatula. Put in freezer until frozen.

To finish pie, place the ganache in the microwave on low for no more than 10 seconds at a time. Stir after each warming, until ganache pours loosely but is not even close to boiling. Be very careful when warming chocolate, as it will burn very quickly when heated in the microwave. Once chocolate is scorched it is unusable. Spread warm ganache over top of frozen pie, smoothing to the edges with a spatula.

Garnish:
Beat cream and confectioners' sugar with a handheld electric mixer to stiff peaks. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe edges of pie with whipped cream. Sprinkle macadamia nuts over top. Refrigerate until ready to serve.