Gardening

Now that the cold weather is on its way out, I decided to plant my own garden. I am a bit more than excited about it. I've tried growing flowers a couple times, but they have either 1) been mistaken for weeds by family members, 2) been covered by a wheelbarrow full of dirt, or 3) just not grown because of the wrong time, wrong season, or wrong state. Who really knows? So, I cleared a huge 2.5 x 6 ft. area from weeds (and I think some chives from the previous gardeners). As you can see, our neighbor's cat, John Wayne, was feeling lonely. He kept me company the entire time. I weeded around him, but like the heroic dude that his namesake is, John Wayne would wake up from his nap and move over to another part of the lot. There was a lovely, unused lawn not more than a couple feet away with an equal amount of sunlight, but I guess I had to learn how to share.
I kept waiting for him to get up and help, but he was having too much fun watching me dig. I'll keep you updated on the progress, that is if they actually germinate. That will be a miracle in itself. I am planting basil, oregano, cilantro, chives, spinach, and broccoli, and, according to my research, they are the most easily grown herbs and vegetables, so I guess we'll see. Cross your fingers.

New York!

New York was awesome. There are way too many things to see in any given direction that you end up tripping on your own feet and looking a little silly... or maybe that was just me.

This was the St. Patrick's Day Parade, pre-happy hour. You can't really tell at this point, but it was so crowded, people were literally pushing each other to walk a single step. I think I got claustrophobic.




Brooklyn Bridge from the pier. Though being surrounded by huge buildings in awe-inspiring, it was very relaxing getting away from them and looking out on the water.










Another pier shot.














Pier shot looking at the city. Here's some trivia for you (thanks to Tyler S.):
Do you know why pigeons can live and thrive in large cities without a lot of trees?
Because before buildings were invented, pigeons used to live in sides of cliffs, and since huge buildings resemble cliffs and have plenty of little spaces for pigeons it's perfect for them.







Here's Becky, one of the girls I went with, and me at Times square. You can't really see the square but if you look closely you'll see Nike symbols in our pupils. Just kidding.









Here it all is. This is the place I did the most tripping. We met some very friendly drunk people. I also found out that Legally Blonde is now a musical, I really wanted to see it, but we ran out of time.









Here is Valerie, also a girl I traveled with. We're looking pretty good in our Hershey's "Factory Worker" hats. I guess that is some kind of honor in New York.










I nearly died laughing when we came across this kid playing for pennies on a street corner. We were also a little concerned, but then his mom showed up. Or maybe it was his manager, not really sure which. He was pretty good though.









Another parade shot.

I'm in the Know

I just got back from a journalism conference in New York on Tuesday. I went to several new media sessions, and I got the blogging bug! This will just be my personal blog to keep you all informed about Nels and me, but I plan to start a couple with my fellow students that went with me and caught the very same bug. Apparently, it's quite contagious.
Because we don't have babies and we don't live in a foreign country, I may be at lost for words most of the time, but primarily I'll be keeping everyone up to date on the little projects Nels and I have going.
I just finished my website: robin.axspace.com. I did it in raw HTML and CSS! It was pretty much self-taught, although I did get one of my professors to check the code.
I also am in the middle of writing my own cooking reference book for a class. Since I'm still very much a beginner at cooking, it will have things like how to cook meat and seafood in various ways: stir frying, braising, steaming, etc. Also, it will have the functions of ingredients, such as the difference between flours, what baking soda does, that kind of thing. It will also have the seasons of fruit and vegetables with a little info on each one. I'm pretty excited about that project.
In the summer I'll be starting my own podcast program for the Daily Universe. I think I'll mostly be doing arts and culture subjects, but it should be just wonderful. That's my best guess. I'll keep everyone updated.
As most of you know, I also I'm learning how to bake. I'm going through my baking book that mom got me, one recipe at a time. Most of them turned out awesome, knock on wood, but our favorite recipe is the bagel recipe. Quite scrumptious and surprisingly easy. I personally get very nervous around yeast, as it tends to die on me.
Well, that should be enough for now. I just finished writing a 12-pager for a class, I think my fingers are stuck in typing mode.