Get out of bed! No time for napping...

I was watching Pee Wees Playhouse on BBC Kids the other night in a fit of boredom and *man*...it's even weirder than I remember. J loved it when he was little, but it was a bit too much for me at times...although my brother loved it. My Dad has a general dislike for cartoons and kids programming and he could not stand the show-for a man who didn't like Flinstones or Scoobie Doo, this was WAY too much of pretty much everything :). Just watching the intro got the theme song in my head for days...it's still there.
Damn it.

It makes me want to have a special word of the day today.
The word is "research".
Remember to scream and yell kiddies when you hear it today!

Inhale. Exhale.

OK...I'm better now I think.
It was either rant that out or say things entirely inappropriate at work...I'll get it straightened out eventually.

You know who you are...

After 2 weeks of shit work, putting my shoulder out and doing my best for all, apparently you weren't "informed" or things weren't done to your specifications, when you were conveniently unavailbale for anythign involving you. You tell me this NOW. AFTER it is all done, and want me to redo work that is pointless, to prove a point, knowing it may possibly damage equipment and WILL waste my time. In addition, you try and get me in trouble with my boss and make me look bad when all I've tried to do is what is best for you.

If I weren't such a good person I'd go up to your office right now and shout FUCK YOU to your face.


But I have work to do....

Cooking with Geo Vol. 5: Beer makes everything better

After some banter with my good friend Magnus about how amazing Guinness gingerbread would be, I wasn't able to stop thinking about it, so i went hunting and tracked down a great recipe for it. At work, any excuse for a cake is a good one, and little Lily coming to be with us was a perfect reason to make a cake and test it out on my guinea pigs, er, I mean coworkers. It was a bit time consuming make with the waiting to cool part in the middle, but in the end was spicy, moist, cakey deliciousness. I had no Guinness (a tragedy I know) but I used a bottle of espresso oatmeal stout (which tastes very similar) and it worked very well. You even get about 1/2 c of beer left to sip while baking, which to me is like cooking with wine...cooking and sipping makes it taste even better :)
I served it with whipped cream and I will definitely be making it again. It was devoured by my coworkers before I thought to get a photo, so you'll just have to imagine the deliciousness. Lily's Mum also gives it two large and two tiny thumbs up. I thought if I was asked to share the recipe with all them I should probably post it here too so you can all go home and make it this weekend. It's seriously some of the best cake I've ever had...and in my life, I've had me a lot of cake!

Gramercy Tavern Guinness Gingerbread

Ingredients
1 cup oatmeal stout or Guinness Stout
1 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground cardamom
3 large eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
Confectioners sugar for dusting

Special equipment: a 10-inch (10- to 12-cup) bundt pan

Experimental Protocol
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Generously butter bundt pan and dust with flour, knocking out excess. Make a few sniggering remarks about bundt pans. Then move on...
Bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan, stirring often, and remove from heat. Whisk in baking soda, then cool to room temperature. (when you add the soda it really foams up a lot...don't freak out :) You really need a large saucepan)
Sift together flour, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl. Whisk together eggs and sugars in another bowl. Whisk in oil, then molasses mixture. Add to flour mixture and whisk until just combined.
Pour batter into bundt pan and rap pan sharply on counter to eliminate air bubbles. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, about 45-50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool completely.

Serve cake, dusted with confectioners sugar, with whipped cream
Apparently it's best if you serve it the day after it's made. I did and it was freakishly good, so I can't argue...
Go have some cake...and a good weekend.
Bye :)

6 words for a friday morning

I was tagged by Pacian a little while ago with this meme. Describe your life with 6 words and, if you like, an image or photo. Then tag some others...preferably 6 of them.
It took a few days to ponder this out a bit, dump any too deep or wierd ideas, and I seem to have come up with the following that suits me just fine I do think:

Eccentric dreamer bakes cakes for free

(image courtesy of the Mr. Berkley Breathed, Bloom County)

And so I tag Magnus, Grapecat, Corey, Peter, Bag Lady and Chaucer's Bitch.

Curses! My plans for world domination with my monkey army are thwarted yet again!

Another reason why my job rocks:

Today, while setting up an experiment, I noticed the following words on the user instructions/safety info sheet for a research item I am using:

"This product is not compatible with monkeys"

How awesome is that?
I can honestly say I've never seen that before on any technical literature or manual of anything else I've ever done...anywhere.
If I took the time to explain why it was there it might lull you to sleep, or at least take the humour out of it...so just do what I did - think about it and giggle for a few minutes before getting on with things.

I'm a happy camper.
I'm doing lab work today. Aaaah....:)
Sure my plans with my mobile monkey ninja army have been setback somwhat...but I shall prevail.
Alternate plans of invasion are afoot...

Welcome little one

My new niece Lily Pearl is coming to be with us today...and my sister in law and brother in law and little niece Elliott are so very happy to welcome her to their family...and so are we.
Lily is so very small.
And squeaky.

Yay.

*blush*

So yeah...apparently spent all of yesterday with a small hole worn in my pants at work...either noone noticed, noone looks at my butt there (thank god) or they couldn't bring themselves to say anything (horrified at the occasional glimpse of my posterier).
J pointed it out when I got home.

Yup, I'm a scientist.
I feel so very very dumb.

I'm off to hide under a bag...that goes down past my butt.

Last day??

Everywhere I look I see
Boxes looming over me
Perhaps today I will be done
And dance with gladness in the sun

Wish For Wings That Work

This April Fools video by the BBC made me giggle uncontrollably. I lurve penguins...
Flying penguins - even better :)

Testing

This is a test of the emergency broadcast system.
We will return to regular programming shortly.