Squash night!

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This Friday night was squash night. I'm not even sure how we came upon the idea, but Ellen and I both love squash/pumpkin soup. So we decided, hey, let's make some! Besides Creamy Pumpkin Soup, we had several other squash related dishes, as well as a few non-squash dishes: Cranberry Apple Acorn Squash, Steamed Asparagus with Walnuts and Browned Butter Sauce, Pumpkin with Peas, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Bars, Hot Spiced Cider, and Fresh Hot Rolls. I usually cook by the recipe, at least the first time that I make something, and it was pretty much the first time for all of these. Keri, on the other hand, the creator of the pumpkin and peas, pretty much just threw some ingredients together and created a new dish (no recipe available). I told Keri, I normally don't get into a cooking mood, but when I do, I like to go all out. So I tried to. I think most things turned out all right, thanks to all the help I had in the kitchen. Although, I forgot to salt and pepper the acorn squash before I baked it, so the apple cranberry filling was good, but the squash left a little bit to be desired. Oops. Apparently I started to look a little stressed as we got closer to supper time and things (namely the pumpkin for the pumkin soup) weren't ready yet. But, appearances can be deceiving, since I wasn't technically stressed out, just trying to think about 6 things at a time. Anyways, the only slightly stressful moment was when the pumpkin soup flowed out of the pot and onto the stove. But we still had plenty of soup left to eat. Overall, I think it turned out well. Maybe I should get in these moods more often . . .

10 kilometers = 6.21371192 miles

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This past Sunday (not today, a week ago), Katie, Mel, and I ran 6.21371192 miles, give or take a few 100ths of a mile. CABL sponsored a 10K run, so we decided to do it just for fun. It wasn't too difficult, so while we ran, I helped Mel study for her Chrisitan Beliefs test. It was kind of funny, running and trying to look at a bouncing blurry review sheet at the same time, while inventing mnemonics involving frisbees, snowfall and churches. Apparently she did pretty good on her test though, so it must have helped at least a little. My knees haven't been bothering me for quite a while either, which is nice, so I'm thinking about maybe running the half-marathon this spring. Who knows. (In the second picture below, no one else is around us, because they had already left. We were just running for the camera's sake; and the orange ribbon around Katie's neck is the marker at the halfway point. We thought we were the last one's passing it, so we figured we might as well take it).

Fall!

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I love fall. I love trying to snatch leaves out of the air as they swirl down from the trees. I love that the air is crisp and I can wear my hat and mittens. I love that it means the snow is coming soon. And I love making a big pile of leaves and playing in it with friends. You might not be able to tell from the pictures, but the pile was huge. It was almost as tall as Melanie by the time we were done. And we didn't even have a rake. Just a broom, a couple of bags, and a tennis racket or two. I think we must have spent almost as much time making the pile as we did playing in it, but that was half the fun. I'm pretty sure people were looking at us kind of funny as we were running and back and forth around campus carrying large leaf-filled bags over our heads. But whatever. We did convince a few of the people who passed by to join us for a while though.

The last picture makes me think of a bunch of Greek gods and goddesses with their leafy halos. Except, I don't think I've even seen a picutre of Greek deity laughing so much.

boo!

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Trick or Treat! I think the last time I went trick-or-treating was back in highschool, when I dressed up as Zoro. The last time Jon went trick-or-treating was . . . well, never. This was his first time. We got started a little late, so we didn't get a whole lot. And then we had to split it seven ways or so, so we got even less, but we still had fun. We stopped by Keri's house, and found they were having their own little Hallowe'en party. After we were done, me and Jon and Jeremy went to Chipotles armed with a roll of aluminum foil to claim our free halloween burritos. Mmmm, I love Chipotles.

at the discotheque

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This was a fun night. I hadn't been skating in . . . oh, I don't know. A really long time. It would have been more fun, except they ran out of skates, so a bunch of the guys couldn't skate. It was still pretty fun though. Limbo, crack-the-whip, train, and all of the other good skating games. Except for tag. We never played tag. We'll have to play when we go ice-skating. Of course, the 70s theme was just a bonus.

Dogbert's New Ruling Class

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In his whenever-I-feel-like-writing-it newsletter, Scott Adams has a rather humorous take on the blogger mentality. Not that I completely agree, of course, but it's pretty funny nonetheless.

The Dilbert Newsletter