Thothmuffin
Don't get any crumbs on the scale of judgement.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Check out all these crazy mothers!
Yesss! I finally found the obscure shoebox that I stuffed the pans for my Scales of Justice in. Oh, balance is restored~! <3
And I doused my oven with vinegar again and let it cook itself for about 3 hrs at 500F, and now I think almost all the death smell is gone.
I was telling my mother about my oven problem last weekend, and she was like "Oh, yeah, did you rinse it with vinegar?" And I realized that my mom is this huge source of practical and household knowledge, as I'm sure many people's mothers are. They are an untapped resource! So now I want to do a show called "Your Mom vs. the Internet" to see which one can come up with better, more relevant, and more reliable answers to real-life problems in the shortest amount of time.
My money's on my mom, to be honest. But I think the Internet has better hours, and I don't feel nearly as bad about waking it up in the middle of the night for trivial things.
And I doused my oven with vinegar again and let it cook itself for about 3 hrs at 500F, and now I think almost all the death smell is gone.
I was telling my mother about my oven problem last weekend, and she was like "Oh, yeah, did you rinse it with vinegar?" And I realized that my mom is this huge source of practical and household knowledge, as I'm sure many people's mothers are. They are an untapped resource! So now I want to do a show called "Your Mom vs. the Internet" to see which one can come up with better, more relevant, and more reliable answers to real-life problems in the shortest amount of time.
My money's on my mom, to be honest. But I think the Internet has better hours, and I don't feel nearly as bad about waking it up in the middle of the night for trivial things.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Meet my vinegar and despair, Oven!
So, my new apartment is really nice, but the appliances in it have been giving me some trouble. The dishwasher doesn't get dishes clean (a major problem), my oven reeks of poisonous oven-cleaner residue whenever I turn it on, and I'm pretty sure my dryer is missing the removeable part of its lint-trap, but it might just be poor design, so I'm afraid to bring it up.
The dishwasher is obviously something I'm going to have to take up with my landlords, but I figured the oven cleaner miasma could be fixed with a simple rinse. And I wanted brownies!
However, my foe was wilier than I surmised. Apparently oven cleaner is impervious to water. I thought of using vinegar, then wondered if that would make matters worse, so of course I asked the Internet. eHow told me that a watered-down vinegar solution would fix my problem in a trice. Not bothering to convert measurements to the scale I needed, I just threw some vinegar and water in a spray bottle and had at it! (Organic chemistry had a lasting and possibly detrimental effect on my willingness to accurately measure.)
I'm trying the heat-test of my oven right now, and despite my devil-may-care attitude towards proper concentrations, it seems to be working. At least, the oven cleaner smell is greatly dimished, and there is only a slight scent of warm vinegar, which hopefully will dissipate.
The dishwasher is obviously something I'm going to have to take up with my landlords, but I figured the oven cleaner miasma could be fixed with a simple rinse. And I wanted brownies!
However, my foe was wilier than I surmised. Apparently oven cleaner is impervious to water. I thought of using vinegar, then wondered if that would make matters worse, so of course I asked the Internet. eHow told me that a watered-down vinegar solution would fix my problem in a trice. Not bothering to convert measurements to the scale I needed, I just threw some vinegar and water in a spray bottle and had at it! (Organic chemistry had a lasting and possibly detrimental effect on my willingness to accurately measure.)
I'm trying the heat-test of my oven right now, and despite my devil-may-care attitude towards proper concentrations, it seems to be working. At least, the oven cleaner smell is greatly dimished, and there is only a slight scent of warm vinegar, which hopefully will dissipate.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
But how will I weigh the souls of the dead?
Does anyone remember where I packed the pans for my Scale of Justice?
I am serious. I cannot find them anywhere.
I hate moving. T_T
I am serious. I cannot find them anywhere.
I hate moving. T_T
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Maps need the help of SCIENCE.
So I'm all moved into my apartment in Denver, and it is great. All my commutes are under 2 miles and now I can hang out with folks in the library program.
The only major problem: I have no idea how to get anywhere. I've lived in the same town for the last 14 years, with the exception of a pretty self-contained and carless experience in college, so it's been a LONG time since I've had to figure out how to get places while driving at 65 mph.
I really hate being lost. I need one of those talking navigational systems in my car, but sadly the best I have is a Denver Metro street guide. There is some unspoken rule that the most confusing part of any road must be obscured and bifurcated by the edge of a book-style atlas. I try to compensate with the seamless digital technology of Google/Yahoo/Mapquest, etc, but their directions are what get me into these messes in the first place, and even the satellite can only help so much.
I got so lost trying to find a bowling alley that I had to call someone who knew the area 3 times. It really wasn't my fault. There were 1-way streets and FOUR SEPARATE ROUNDABOUTS on the same road. The best part was how it was 9 PM and dark and there were signs everywhere warning you to not pull over or pick up hitchhikers because there was a prison nearby. Lovely.
I need there to be a leap in map technology. I don't care what you say, no two-dimensional map, no matter how fancy and made from real satellites, will ever be genuinely useful to me. I need the 3-D eye-level map that includes all the highway signs so I can virtually "drive" the route. This will prevent things like me having to embarrassingly slam my brakes on and screech my tires so I don't miss the exit ramp that is practically an 80-degree turn. Just, you know, hypothetically. >_<
The only major problem: I have no idea how to get anywhere. I've lived in the same town for the last 14 years, with the exception of a pretty self-contained and carless experience in college, so it's been a LONG time since I've had to figure out how to get places while driving at 65 mph.
I really hate being lost. I need one of those talking navigational systems in my car, but sadly the best I have is a Denver Metro street guide. There is some unspoken rule that the most confusing part of any road must be obscured and bifurcated by the edge of a book-style atlas. I try to compensate with the seamless digital technology of Google/Yahoo/Mapquest, etc, but their directions are what get me into these messes in the first place, and even the satellite can only help so much.
I got so lost trying to find a bowling alley that I had to call someone who knew the area 3 times. It really wasn't my fault. There were 1-way streets and FOUR SEPARATE ROUNDABOUTS on the same road. The best part was how it was 9 PM and dark and there were signs everywhere warning you to not pull over or pick up hitchhikers because there was a prison nearby. Lovely.
I need there to be a leap in map technology. I don't care what you say, no two-dimensional map, no matter how fancy and made from real satellites, will ever be genuinely useful to me. I need the 3-D eye-level map that includes all the highway signs so I can virtually "drive" the route. This will prevent things like me having to embarrassingly slam my brakes on and screech my tires so I don't miss the exit ramp that is practically an 80-degree turn. Just, you know, hypothetically. >_<
