The eyes are filled in which does wonders for my return from zombie-hood. There’s also some highlights (shading?) of the skin.
Christy has been excited to work on the martini glass, especially the bright blue (Magellan) martini. The concept of painting vibrant liquids with oil paints hurts my brain a little, but even her early “sketching” is looking great.
as in “Spring has…”
Here are some photos from USD’s campus, where I go to school. There are a ton of other flowering trees and plants around, it’s really quite amazing how it went from beautiful weather to beautiful weather with tons of blooming flowers almost overnight. Click to see the larger versions.
My zombification! To get away from the red tint, Christy started working on the flesh color.
The more she filled in, the creepier it became. The red eyes don’t help. You can start to see the effects of light she’s adding in, which I think is super cool. I tend to be somewhat astounded by the entire process.
I was writing an essay about how fundamentalist Christians seem to exist more in the suburbs and remembered an article about Ted Haggard and his church from pre-scandal days. It’s from Harper’s Magazine, and I thought it was a fascinating read.
Originally from May, 2005:
Soldiers of Christ – Inside America’s most powerful megachurch with Pastor Ted Haggard
Ok, some links I’ve been reading from Joel on Software. They’re all about developing software, not so much programming as managing the process. This is what I’m interested in, and it’s amazingly refreshing to read these. I’m getting an MBA at the University of San Diego, and I’m happy with the program for the most part. Lots of smart students, instructors, good coursework, too much work, etc. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t know technology if it rose up and bit them. I have remarked that it’s akin to being taught from the middle of a cornfield. Given that we’re in San Diego, perhaps it should be a beach. There is movement underway to change this, and certainly they’re doing great things for infrastructure including better wireless network (it’s in great shape now), having the Profs use WebCT, etc. Unfortunately, they are eliminating their MSIT program, so no classes on or from an IT prospective.
Here are some good articles that I should read again before I get back in the world of IT, assuming that’s where I end up next December:
So I was stirring a martini this evening, and it occurred to me that I should really just go ahead and see if shaking or stirring a cocktail adds more ice melt. Ice melt is the amount of water added due to ice cubes melting during the mixing process. People often think that shaking will add less due to the fact that stirring takes so much longer. However, that’s theoretically not the case, at least according to bar tenders I’ve talked to and read posts from. I tend to think the bartenders are right, and certainly the texture is reason enough to make your martini stirred, but I decided to do a quick and dirty experiment to see if I could really see a difference. Here’s what I did:
Conclusion
The main conclusion is that I need more precise measure instruments. That being said, it does look to me like stirring the drink adds less ice melt. This backs up the general consensus by those wiser and more experienced than I. Still, it’s nice to have confirmation. Even if it’s not terribly dramatic, the results are enough to satisfy my curiosity. In the end, the Junipero martini was tasty, so I consider the experiment a success!
Christy has been working on smaller paintings for a while, this is the first larger one she’s done since we’ve come to San Diego. It’s amazing how fast the first layer of colors goes on. Here’s the result of the second session of painting:
This is the cocktail I most associate with internet drinks, mainly because cocktail bloggers and devotees seem to have revived it in the past few years. While I like an Aviation, it tends towards being a little too sweet or tart to be one of my favorites. Still, the drink is intriguing, so I find myself returning to it. I’ve heard that Maraska instead of Luxardo might alter it more to my liking, but for now I’ve only had Luxardo maraschino liqueur.
Which brings us to maraschino liqueur. If you haven’t before, it’s worth trying but it really doesn’t taste anything like those bright red “cherries” in a jar. There is some cherry flavor, but it’s subtle, and the liqueur is a clear syrup. It’s powerful stuff, which is why I tend to recommend it in moderation.
2 oz gin
1/2 oz maraschino liqueur
1/4 oz lemon juice
Shake over ice, garnish with a cherry.
Now, a couple of notes:
Note that the above is me breaking a few rules. For one thing, that’s Magellan gin, which looks pretty cool but doesn’t work very well here. Since it works so fabulously in a martini, save it for that. Also, I added a lemon twist, which again isn’t as good as the original recipe’s call for a cherry.
