I would like more reading time this year and there are some large purchases that I would prefer to not put off any longer. Don and I both need new equipment for our creative endeavors (individual and mutual). It would be lovely to have one of those combination washing machines that also dries the load in the same compartment sort of like a dishwasher. The time saved not going to the laundromat could then go to reading and non-specific projects involving aforementioned equipment. This is intentionally vague as a smart resolution ought to be.

But instead I will participate in the other New Years blogging tradition — compiling lists.

Things I enjoyed in 2008

Doctor Who series 4, up until the last episode which made me die a little inside.

Royal Bitch Reserve Pinot Noir

Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (pleasantly surprising!)

Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)

Drinking Skeptically, Steel City Skeptics, & the Pgh Chapter of the Center for Inquiry — making new friends

our metal Chuck Brown Christmas tree

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body, by Neil Shubin

Seeing my Vermont relatives over Thanksgiving holiday and old friends right after Christmas

conquering my fear of driving after an 8 year hiatus and finally being comfortable behind the wheel several hours into our nightmare drive across upstate NY in a snowstorm

unpacking my books — doesn’t feel like home until the books are freed, y’know?

Google Reader + the 90 or so feeds I follow nearly daily. Would have to take up smoking to get through a day at the office without them.

And last but not least –

Don’s homemade pizzas

All in all, not too shabby for a transition-y type of year full of moves and catching my breath. I’m so ready for a new year! Bring it!

Since I made the wise decision to clean everything before we left we came home to a relaxed weekend with nothing to do but restock at the grocery store. I’ve started cooking again this week and it’s wonderful not having anywhere I have to be after work and being able to make things the way I want them and not as prepared by grumpy greasy spoon cooks. Monday night I made stuffed red peppers, and last night I made my signature meatloaf. I wasn’t entirely pleased with how it turned out last night (I forgot to account for sausage shrinkage – ahem), but I must say that it made for a darned fine sandwich for lunch today. I’m proud enough of it that I will provide some actual content here by way of my recipe:

Eliza’s Extra-Hot Meatloaf

Mix ground beef and ground hot Italian sausage (in whatever combination you like, keep in mind that the sausage will shrink up more though) with:

• Diced red onion
• eggs
• Sriracha
• Packet of onion and mushroom soup mix
• Your favorite crushed pepper blend

Add to this mixture enough breadcrumbs (I like the Italian blend crumbs) to make it all stick together in a pre-cooked meatloaf-esue form. Shape into loaf in a baking dish. I usually go with a duck or a cat shape for the shock value, but do whatever feels right. Mom makes heart shaped “meatloves”. Cover and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Uncover for the last ten or until nice and dark on the top.

You see I haven’t included measurements. This is due to having to adjust for different numbers of servings and learning how to just tell by how it feels when mixing. Last night I made enough for 2 +leftover sandwiches and I used 2 eggs and not all of the beef was defrosted so I put some back in the fridge to use for something tonight. Not very professional. My point is though that this meatloaf has flavor, or as D put it, “doesn’t taste like bread” so I don’t think you can really go wrong with any combination of these ingredients.

And make enough for sandwiches!

Today I’ve found myself in one of those awesome dilemmas that one really oughtn’t complain about: My signed (!!!) copy of Dr. Phil Plait’s Death from the Skies! arrived just in time for my Netflix’d Doctor Who Series 4 discs to show up.  Something tells me that Dr. Plait would understand perfectly if I delved right into some Whovian goodness with my sweetie and got those most sought after discs back in rotation for all the other fans too. Widely overlapping circles and all!

Who Should Attend

• Private educators
• Public educators
• Pastors
• Beginning & intermediate-level creationists
• Creation science researchers
• Intermediate & advanced creation scientists
• Scientists
• Engineers
• Philosophers of science/academics
• Theologians
• Interested evolutionists
• Home-schooling parents
• Anyone interested in the origins debate

…so clearly I have been invited. And so have you!

They are promising “40+ original peer-reviewed  papers and special evening presentations by the world’s leading creation science researchers and speakers” and so surely they mean miracles! I wanna see miracles. Who doesn’t want to see miraculous wonders? I’m sold.

I really need to join the Pittsburgh chapter of CFI or something. (A quick search shows me there’s not really an “or something” — weird. How can that be?)

Unrelated: Here’s the question I posed earlier to friends — What Doctor Who alien would you hate to run into more?

I’m at a toss-up between Cybermen and those creepy weeping angel things from “Blink” that just aired here over the weekend. Those things are basically my childhood nightmare on screen in full color scare-o-vision: something that seems inanimate coming to life the minute you look away or blink with murderous results. Only instead of it being a small army of dolls that you could attempt to defend yourself against, it’s a bunch of cemetery statues that zap you into the past where you grow old with an unconvincing story and unfinished business? None for me, thanks!

I do know that when it comes to real creatures I do not want to meet, my answer is an adamant “toucan!” Or, ok, Ben Stein.