Yum, pie

Isn't it pretty? I put cinnamon and sugar on top so that is the dark brown. It smelled really good too. Bad thing about a pie, you can't sneak a piece early, people will always know. I taking it for tonight's dinner at a friend's house, tomorrow I will do mashed taters.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Update

So it has been about 33 days since I posted, sorry. Let me update you on the happenings of the last month.

My classes are finished for the semester. I submitted grades on Thursday of last week for the lab course and for the lecture homework, so I am now finished with that until January. I have been able to make some progress with research in the last week, just a little bit of progress, so that is good.

Vacation starts next week. I have been counting down the days since, well, October. I am looking forward to Germany but I can't wait to get home. It has been almost a year since I've been in Alaska and I miss it more now than ever. Can you give a state a hug? That is what I want to do when I get off the plane.

Oh, bugs. Bugs dominated my week last week. They were these little beetle looking things, similar to a weevil but not, that got in my kitchen. Two cans of RAID and 1 exterminator later they were finally dead. Unfortunately I had to throw out most of my spices, very sad. I ordered some Tupperware brand spice containers from the states, they should be here the day after I leave. I will be stocking up on some spices in the states but most I'll get here.

I hosted the knitting group this week. We had about 8 or 9 ladies at my place and I made breakfast, with help from a friend. I was having a hard time with the pancakes but the carrot cake and cream cheese frosting turned out good. I had to pull out every chair in my place for people to sit.

I am still debt free, which is a big accomplishment for me. I have been listening to financial people to keep my head focused on the goal. I also realized that the vacations that I have planned for next year are going to have to be more limited. I was planning trips to Dubai, Egypt, UK, Poland, and home. I think I am going to eliminate the UK trip and see if I can make those work. The airline tickets are expensive for some of these trips so we will see. I am thinking Dubai for 3 days/2 nights at spring break.

Did I mention I have 9 days until I leave? Oh, so we now get the 8th of December off as well so my vacation hours have been returned to me. I called Lufthansa to see if I could change my flight and leave on the 3rd instead of the 5th. It was going to be a 100 euro change fee PLUS a $503.94 change of ticket fee, I'm staying until the 5th. i was ready to pay the 100 euros, but the ticket fee is just a wee bit too high.

Well, I know this is an exciting post but that is all the exciting stuff that I want to share right now. I'll be home for Christmas on the 14th of December, assuming I make my connection in Amsterdam, and I leave to come back on the 1st of January.

Hope you are doing well.

21 cans of Cambells Cream of Mushroom Soup

I have 21 cans of cream of mushroom soup. This is a shopping story worth telling. I haven’t been able to find cream of mushroom soup for about 2 months so when I saw it this last weekend I bought 10 can of the reduced fat/low sodium kind, not my favorite but it works. Then I went to another store and found the regular kind there, so I bought another 10 cans (it isn’t like they expire). I used 2 over the week and then a friend who is leaving Doha gave me her extras, so I now have 21 cans in my apartment. Oh, I only have about 4 cans of tune left but I can find that any time.

Work has been busy. TAMUQ (Texas A&M University at Qatar) had our ABET evaluation this last week and we did great but it put me behind. So last week, and the first part of this week was spent playing catch up. I am currently adding ice to cool a reaction until I can put it in the cooler for the evening.

Oh, let me tell you my moments of brilliance on Sunday. So I wrote my quizzes for class, got everything out and I was ready. I gave my quiz to the students and they all did horrible, even my really good students! I told them afterward that they need to be sure to read the procedure I before coming to class. Then one of my students asked what lab we are doing so I told them that looking at the syllabus and knowing what lab is being performed would be very helpful when being prepared to class. I told them that we were doing the Phase Transfer Catalysis lab when then said that wasn’t the experiment listed on the syllabus. Oops, does anyone have a fork for my humble pie? I didn’t read the syllabus and I prepped the wrong lab. So, my awesome students did the catalysis lab and did a really good job. Then, oh yes there is more, I email my students for the next to tell them which lab we were doing. I went home, had dinner, read for a little bit and checked my email. A student emailed and asked “We have lab tomorrow?” I was thinking “OH. MY. GOSH. DON’T THEY KNOW THEIR SCHEDULE!” Until I realized that I didn’t know this student because I emailed the wrong class! I went to bed on Sunday hoping that I would wake up able to repeat the day and do it better.

So in 43 days I will be onto my next vacation. This one will be long, and cold. I finished my wool hat for Germany, my scarf is done, and Leigh is almost finished with my gloves. I should be ok if it isn’t too cold. I don’t know what my next knitting project will be yet, I think hats for my nieces (I already finished one for my nephew.). Oh, about the long part, I will be in the States from the 15th through the 31st of December. I have some things already planned, like doctor appointments, scratching the dog and playing with the nieces and nephew, but I would like to see lots of people when I am home.

Not much else is going on, other than me being a dunderhead. I figure I should start my US shopping list soon. I think I’m just going to go visit Fred Meyers for kicks, well, any store that has a pork section.

More Czech pictures!

These to men were relaying the cobblestones in the street inside Prague Castle. They were working pretty fast but still had a lot of work to do to finish the street.
We also went to Terezin Concentration Camp. This is the outside of the camp where many of the victims are buried.
Back in Prague in the Jewish Quarter the old Jewish Cemetery. There are about 100,000 people buried here. When they filled up the space the people brought in more dirt for another layer. There are about 12,000 headstone that you can see now in the cemetery.
Konopiste Castle, the last residence of Frans Ferdinand d'Este, was a not a planned stop but a very good stop. We took one of the tours inside and it was very interesting. Frans killed about 275,000 animals while hunting in his life and I think about 274,999 are mounted on the inside walls of the castle.
So navigation was difficult in Prague. Street signs weren't obvious, not that we know the Czech language anyway, but it was difficult. This is Mom and Vickie trying to figure out how to get back into Prague and then how to get back to our apartment. People were very good about giving directions, especially if you drove on the sidewalk.

Prague pictures!

That is Prague Castle in the background and the Charles' Bridge too. We did walk across it many times. Very pretty and under construction, actually, restoration.
Mom and Vickie at the end of the Charles' Bridge. You can kind of see the bridge vendors off to the right side. That afternoon/evening going home there were tons of people and lots of vendors.
Ah, Mom and Vickie waiting in line at the Prague Castle to use the potty. This one was free, if you could wait that long.
I wanted to make sure that this picture made it onto the blog. We rented an Opal Astra stationwagon and then had to fill it up. This works out to be about $64 (USD), not too bad when you split it 3 ways. Oh, 30.90 Kc/Liter is about $7.09/gallon.

I AM DEBT FREE!!!!

Ok, this is very exciting. I am debt free. The only loan I have right now is the car loan for my vehicle here which TAMU is covering with the transportation allowance so that is covered. I don’t have any credit card debt or student loan debt. This is an exciting day because I am finally working for me, well, for the next vacation.
Mom should be home now. Mom left on the red eye out of here on Sunday morning 12:25am and should have made it to Alaska 7pm Ak time. I hope the trip wasn’t too aweful. It is a long time on the plane and in airports.
Work is going well. I have 3 more labs to teach for the semester and then I’ll be finished. This semester has flown by so fast. It feels like we just started the semester and now we are about ready to end it. The good news is that I’ll be home for Christmas soon.
Oh, to all of you Canadians, Happy Thanksgiving.

Prague pictures coming soon!

Prague and the Czech Republic were awesome. Mom and I made it to Qatar on the evening of the 4th and she is currently at home while I am at work. We had a great time and pictures will be posted soon, I'm still in the sorting process for the 629 pictures that I took.

Hope all is going well.