Dessert Recipes and a Drink

Hurry Up Coffee Cake

This is an easy one I got from my Mom.

1 package yellow cake mix
1 cup flour
1 can fruit pie filling (can be cherry, peach, apple, or any kind you like)
4 eggs

Combine the cake mix, flour, and eggs. Cut up any large chucks of fruit in the pie filling.** Stir the pie filling into the mixture. This can be put into a bread pan (I think it can fill two) or a 9x13 pan. Either way grease the pan throughly.

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. If it is a 9x13 pan, it can take 5-10 minutes less. Use a toothpick to see if it is baked throughout. If the toothpick comes out clean, it is done.

**If my Grandma is making this with cherry pie filling, she likes to leave the cherries whole and gently mix them in. This way when the finished cake is eaten the cherries are still individual cherries.


Pumpkin Delight

This recipe came from one of my Mom's friends. Even with the high price of pumpkin recently this is worth making. How can this not be good? It has two sticks of butter!

1 large can pumpkin (not to be confused with pumpkin pie filling)
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 can evaporated milk (12 oz)
3 eggs

1 package yellow cake mix
1 cup butter, melted

Mix the first five ingredients. Dump into a greased 9x13 pan. Then lightly and evenly sprinkle the yellow cake mix over the top. Drizzle the butter over the top and bake at 350 for one hour.

A variation is to add 1 1/2 cup chopped pecans between the cake mix and butter.


Glorious Revolution, or 1688

This is a drink I created myself. However, I am still looking for another alcohol to add to it.

1 oz Gin
1 oz Scotch
1 oz Irish whiskey
1/2 oz Triple sec

Fill with club soda.

I drew upon English history for inspiration for this drink. The alcohol represents England (gin), Scotland (scotch), and Ireland (Irish whiskey). If I knew of something I could use for Whales, I would include that as well. The triple sec (an orange flavored liquor) represents William of Orange who was invited to take over the crown of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

If you want the complete summary of the history, check out what the unnamed geniuses have written.

Which way are things going? Part II

My initial post in this series covered what some of my friends and other people (one of them is not a friend of mine) I know have done with their lives since graduation.

Things I have done
In this post I have summarized a few of the more interesting things I have done. Part of the reason I started this blog was to write down some of my activities.

People who have been positively impacted by me
The most important thing in my life is how I affect the people around me. These are a few examples.

• My Mom: I have helped her do many things she wanted to get done but could not do herself or get help with immediately.


• My neighbor Mary: She was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in September. Since I live closer to her than any of her family, I took her to doctors appointments and radiation treatment a couple of times a week. Without me she would have had to find someone else to take her; someone who would not have been as supportive and positive as me.


• My RICA catechuman Philip: If I did not get involved with the program, he would have a sponsor two or three times his age instead of someone only five years older.


• A few people with leukemia and people who had surgery and needed platelets. Somewhat related post about donations here.

Trips I have taken
All of the dates are approximate.

New York
These trips were to Western New York including Buffalo and Jamestown.

Oct 08 Visit grandparents with my brother
Jan 09 See Grandma get an award for supporting Catholic education
May 09 Celebrate my Grandma's 90th birthday
Jul 09 Spend time with Grandma

Las Vegas
Most of the trips were with my family where we went to comedy clubs, saw shows, and enjoyed buffets. I think I am missing a trip somewhere in here.

Oct 08
Dec 08 Hang out with Larry and Peter from high school
Jun 09
Aug 09 Hang out with Peter and Larry again
Sep 09 We took my Aunt Addy there on here visit here

Berkeley
Thanks to the hospitality of my Associate and Linda, Sidney, the Newman Staff, and the Taggart and Purcell families, these trips progressed well.

Aug 08 A goodbye tour before more people scattered
Dec 08 Visit the Associate
Apr 09 Stay at the rectory and plan for the alumni group
Jul 09 Fr. Charlie's last student dinner
Sep 09 Kim and Patrick's wedding
Jan 10 See people I did not see on my previous trip

I went to two CRP conventions in Anaheim and Sacramento. Rohit handled the rooms.

On the drives up and down the 5 and the 101 I made stops to see people many times in Santa Barbara, San Jose, and Sunnyvale.

I went to a few Cal football games. The close ones were day trips, but the bowls were full adventures into new places.

Cal at USC '08
Emerald Bowl
Cal at UCLA '09
Poinsettia Bowl

For good measure I went to San Diego last month.

There were a few day trips around Orange County, into Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara. I went to the Orange County Fair for the last two years. Considering the state is trying to sell the fairgrounds my visits were timely.

Books I have read
I made a separate post listing the books I read in the last two years. Reading 35 books in 15 months is a decent amount. There are at least 1,000 pages of reading that did not make it onto the list.

Television
I watched over ten seasons of The Simpsons, all of Arrested Development, all of Star Trek The Original Series, and all of Stargate SG-1. I spent a lot of time on Hulu.

Other
I have tried dozens of new recipes and made a lot of drinks. I took a class on PHP and MySQL, learned some C++, and started an alumni group complete with a website. I fixed a pencil vending machine and front door latch. I biked and ran more miles than I can remember.

A few books read

Listed here are the books I read after graduation through to the end of 2009. Most of the comments are what I wrote at the time of reading the book. If you have any questions about the books or want further commentary about them ask me. A few of the books near the end have links to posts about them.

Meditations Marcus Aurelius
The Roman emperor makes his case for a life focused on good living that shuns the trappings of wealth, fame, and power. There are many great comments in this book.

The Language of God Francis Collins
I had reached a similar conclusion before I read the book about how God and His creation can be glorified and better understood by science instead of attacked by it. I skipped over some of the sections recounting scientific advances I had studied before.

The Sign and the Seal Graham Hancock
The story of Hancock’s search for the Ark of the Covenant. Very well researched and presented, this systematically traces the evidence and reads like the real life Indiana Jones adventure it is.

The Gnostic Gospels Elaine Pagels

History of my own Times William Otter
This was assigned reading for one of my classes, but I did not open the book until over a year after the class.

Alchemy E.J. Holmyard
This Dover book has good general comments on Alchemy followed by sections on prominent alchemists. I did not read all of the alchemist sketches.

Union 1812 A.J. Langguth
Each chapter traces a different person and his or her involvement in the making of the Unites States through the War of 1812 and the buildup to it.

The Time Machine H.G. Wells

Catch-22 Joseph Heller

The War of the Worlds H.G. Wells

The House of the Seven Gables Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Invisible Man H.G. Wells


2009

The Associates Richard Rayner
Traces C. P. Huntington and his associates in their quest to build a railroad empire that spanned the continent. It also talks about the founder of that school that is across the bay.

Crazy Horse and Custer Stephen E. Ambrose
Ambrose’s masterful parallel biography of two great warriors follows their careers that clashed at the Little Bighorn. It conveys the history of Indian warfare from the 1850s through 1876 and looks at how the title characters embodied their respective societies.

The Ten Things You Can’t Say in America Today Larry Elder

The Beleaguered City Shelby Foote

Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson

The Enemy at Home, The cultural left and its responsibility for 9/11 Dinesh D'Souza
D’Souza talks about the causes of 9/11 based upon his research and travels in different parts of the world. He explains many societies have a negative view of America because they are bombarded by American entertainment and the negative points of our culture. D’Souza brings up a lot of good points that are completely absent from current discussions.

The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Celestial Railroad and Other Stories Nathaniel Hawthorne
This collection published by Signet Classic includes many of Hawthorne's short stories spanning his career.

The Interior Castle Saint Teresa of Avila
I stopped reading the book somewhere in the sixth of the seven mansions. The first few parts were great. However by the time I came to the sixth mansion I felt it was talking about things too far removed from me to keep my interest. I plan on picking it up and finishing it after I have read a few other things and made spiritual progress.

From X-Rays to Quarks: Modern Physicists and Their Discoveries Emilio Segre
I read a few parts of this, specifically the ones on E. O. Lawrence and particle accelerators. This has more mathematics than most layman books. I also applied to an internship named for Segre, but that is a story that ended in rejection.

Letter to a Christian Nation Sam Harris
This book berates Christians' behavior as compared to what they espouse. The book points out inconsistencies exist in the Bible and cites lines to show Christianity is intolerant and guilty of many things, at least as read literally in the Bible. The use of statistics in the book is unconvincing and selective to prove the author’s point. The reasoning is inconsistent. Examples of faults in Christianity from one section, if viewed in the discussion of a later one, become counterexamples to the author’s subsequent point.

The Lamb's Supper Scott Hahn

Atheism: A reader S. T. Joshi
I read a few sections to further develop some of the ideas from one of the above books.

The Lost World Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Moby Dick Herman Melville

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson
There were a few other short stories in the Barnes & Noble edition I read as well.

The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis
“Screwtape Purposes a Toast” contains ideas about the simplification of education that I fear have made much progress since the piece was written.

The First Men in the Moon H.G. Wells

Poker Wisdom of a Champion Doyle Brunson
Everyone should read about Doyle Brunson. He is one of the greatest poker players there is.

Dracula Bram Stoker
The great Dracula came long before so many other vampire stories.

When the Sleeper Wakes H.G. Wells
It was a veritable golden age of making posts about the novels I read including the sleeper.

The Egyptians Cyril Aldred
This kicked off my recent study of Ancient Egypt.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
I made a post about the hitchhiker and the galaxy, but I will summarize the singularly salient point here. If you ever happen to get your hands on this book Stop! Put the book down. Slowly step away from the book and move out of the area. Of all the books on this list, this is the worst.

Which way are things going? Part I

I have been putting this post off for a while, mostly because I know what the conclusion is and I do not want to write about a loser who is wasting his life.

This is the first in a series of three posts I have planned. They talk about what I have worked on generally for the last 20 months and where that is taking me. Today I bring up the post-graduation activities of people I know.

What other people are doing
Over the past couple of months I have seen many people I went to school with. They are all in the midst of different and varied things. Even a year or two after graduation, these people have done a lot. For example, there is:

• The person who is working for an economist in Chicago and applying for graduate schools.


• The person who is attending law school, after a year of working through the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.


• The person who is teaching elementary school with Teach for America.


• The person who is learning languages and applying for history graduate schools.


• The person who is attending law school.


• The person who is working for a chemical company and interviewing for M.D. programs.


• The person who is studying quantum computation in physics graduate school.


• The person who is working in sales analysis in San Francisco.


• The person who is working her second job after graduation and being laid off once.


• The person who worked for one of the big four firms before being laid off.


• The person who worked for an engineering firm before being laid off.


• The person who is attending law school and doing related interning.


• The person who is working for a legal aid clinic in San Francisco.


• The person who is a manager and living away from home.


• The person who is learning to run a family business.


• The person who is studying physics in graduate school (a much more prestigious school than the earlier person).

Those are just the people I saw in person recently. There is the person who will be traveling to another continent with the Peace Corps, the people who are enrolled in the seminary or otherwise studying to live an ordained vocation. There is the person who is working for a homeless non-profit through JVC, the person who is in graduate school to be a teacher. There are a few other people doing Teach for America and way too many people I know attending law school.

Then there is the person who is doing nothing like any of that. This person is not attending graduate school, has not had a single job, and has not done any kind of service or other helpful job.

This person is me.

Why am I getting mail from Tiffany & Co.?

People end up on mailing lists they never signed up for. Somehow I have ended up on the mailing list of Tiffany & Co. This makes no sense to me. I have never bought anything from them or a similar jewelry company.

The best way I can think of that I ended up on their list is from consumer profiling. I must have given my name and address to a group or company which then sold the information. This brings up my next question. Who could have my name and address strongly associated with an activity that a jewelry company would want? The first activities that come to mind involve astronomy, religion, politics, education, and consumer habits.

My name has been on astronomy lists from buying telescope equipment and subscribing to Sky and Telescope for a while. I do not see any connection between jewelry and astronomy or any religious affiliation. Educational mailings I get are very general and usually involve going to a school, buying a diploma frame, or something directly related to education. Consumer lists are a possibility, but I cannot think of any time I bought something at a Tiffany like store. I bought some perfume at Nordstrom's, but that was a couple of years before I started getting mailings.

This leaves political lists. I think my name was taken from a list of actively involved Republicans. Marketing research people could make the jump from Republican -> large disposable income -> want upscale items -> could buy from Tiffany & Co.

The only problems are I have neither an income that could support buying their items nor a girlfriend to dote upon.

If anyone has a better theory I would like to read it.

Two more appointments and a Saturday session

Since my last apheresis update, I have had two more platelet appointments.

The first appointment was exceptional for the speed at which the technician asked me the questions and did the examination of my vitals. Name, address, temperature, blood pressure, iron level, answer questions, sign here, and I was on to the actual blood draw in no time. This was the fastest of the 30+ times I have gone through this.

The second appointment was superior because of the movie I watched, (500) Days of Summer. I enjoyed it more than National Treasure: Book of Secrets from a fortnight before.

At the beginning the narrator states "This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know up front, this is not a love story." I am going to steal this line the next time I relate certain events from my own life.

While I do not have a sister, if I could I would adopt the sister from the movie, Rachel. I love her combination of humor and insight throughout the movie. For example:

Rachel: Better that you find this out now before you come home and find her in bed with Lars from Norway.
Tom: Who's Lars from Norway?
Rachel: He's some guy she met at the gym with Brad Pitt's face and Jesus' abs.

That other session

The Saturday session I attended was about CPR. It was put on by the Huntington Beach Fire Med program. It covered CPR and choking for infants, children, and adults as well as using an A.E.D. machine. While I hope I will never have to use any of these skills, the A.E.D. looks like fun. Slap the electrodes on and let the machine be loud, annoying, and do the work. If you want to know what I mean, take a class like this and you will get the idea. However, if you don't use the machine correctly, you could turn a bad situation into a much worse one; electrical shocks can set pacemakers on fire.

I signed up for a couple of CPR class last year, but they were cancelled because too few people signed up. Now I know what to do in an emergency and have a card certifying my knowledge for two years.

I was going to make a post, but deleted it instead

I was working a on post. I actually wrote most of it two months ago, but I did not have the ending of it until the last couple of weeks. After working on it some more today it was almost finished.

It was titled "The cause is great, but the people are inept." In the post I talked about my experience with a group that did important work but was poorly managed. I asked, should I work with this group to support their mission, or should I forget about the group because they cannot run a meeting or explain how to do the simplest things?

I decided it was not worth my energy and time to work with the group, even if they did important work.

I decided to delete the post. No good will come of rehashing events that make me angry and no one who reads the post will be better off because of it.

If something makes you angry do not dwell on it needlessly. After you have learned all you can from it press the delete button so you can let go of it and move on to better things.