Morning News

Every morning the Middle Geek turns on the morning news while he takes a shower. (He likes having company while he showers, don't ask.) After his shower, he will watch some of the broadcast before coming down for breakfast. Lately this has led to some interesting morning discussions.

Yesterday he came down and said, "Mom get ready to say, 'What is wrong with people?'"

Apparently that is the only response I can come up with when I hear of the awful things that people will do to each other. I am not sure if there is a better response, okay I am sure there has got to be a better response, but truly some actions just leave me speechless.

He told me the story, "This mom tried to drown her baby in a toilet."

So yes I responded, "That is awful, what is wrong with people?" It makes no sense to me, how can I explain this to an almost teenager.

The best I came up with was this. "Terrible things happen in this world. Mean people do horrible things. That is why it is very very important to do be good and kind. It is why we should always try our best to bring goodness to the part of the world that we touch. We have to decide everyday to be kind to people, show love and try to offset the bad in the world. "

It was so inadaquate.

Today's question, "Mom, what is pornography?"

The Three Stages of Accepting a Snake

Denial - There is NO WAY he is going to put that snake on me!

Anger - I am outta here!

Acceptance - Please tell me when it is over.

How to make Charcoal Briquettes

Seriously this post is how to make charcoal briquettes, and no charcoal briquettes is not euphemism for anything else. (At least I don't think so, wink wink, you know what I mean.)

In Haiti, there is an excess of peanut shells. There is also a shortage of fuel for cooking. Therefore several people have been working to be able to turn peanut shells into clean burning charcoal for cooking. After a bit of research with my good friend google, I found recipes and video describing the process.

I also found this amazing (and horrific) statistic.

More children die from poor indoor air caused from smoky fires than from malnutrition.

Can you believe that?

Before I go to Haiti and help train people, I wanted to be sure I understood how it was done. So Mr. Geek and I made charcoal this weekend. Oh yes we did!! I know you wish you were us.

So go ahead and ask: AbFab, how do you make charcoal briquettes from peanut shells? We have to know!!

Sit down kids! I will explain all!

First you need some peanut shells.

Mr. Geek and I decided we should have lunch at one of those restaurants that serve buckets of peanuts. Then we could take home our peanut shells (and those of the surrounding tables) as well as have a nice lunch out. Oh the will the sacrifices we make ever end?

But (gasp) the restaurant was closed!

So we ate at Chevy's, I had a quesedilla and a Sante Fe Salad, thanks for asking. It was very nice and oh where was I? The peanuts! Oh the peanuts. No success!

So I went to the grocery store and bought two bags of peanuts. However now I did not have tables of people to help me crack the peanuts out of the shell. So I took the peanuts with me to band practice. After practice, I made the group circle around and shell both bags of peanuts. Thanks everyone! You are the best!

Then we gathered our high tech equipment. In Haiti we will use 50 gallon drums, so for the Geek trial we will use empty cans. Mr. Geek used a nail to make several hole in the can to allow for air flow.

We put the peanut shells in the can and lit them on fire. (Okay can I be honest here, I mean we are all friends right? The first try was not successful. We tried chopping up the shells first before burning. The chopped peanut shells were too closely packed to catch on fire, even though we used ten to twenty matches... in the cold wind...brrr) The trick was to use whole peanut shells and they burned much more easily.

The peanuts burn until they are very hot and the smoke begins to die down. At this point, air is restricted. Our high tech equipment was a spaghetti sauce can and dirt.

It worked great.

After the peanut shells carbonize and the cans cooled, we gathered the resulting carbon fines and crunched them into small uniform pieces using our hands and a plastic ziplock bag. (The Geek household is all about high tech.)

Now to make the final briquette. A binder was made with tapioca flour and water. (The Geek household happens to have these supplies in the pantry.) When the mixture is cooked it makes a delightfully slimey gooey substance. I mixed the goo with the carbon and voila it formed a beautiful briquette! I dried it in the food dehydrator.

All that is left is the burning to see how successful we were!

Guest Posting by AbFab's Sister

I had so much fun with the ME interviews. Here is the answers from my sister. She does not have her own blog so I told her she could post here. Is there anyone else that would like to be interviewed?

Take it away Chris!!

ok, my moment of blog fame:

1. Who is your favorite sister and why? Haha

Both of my sisters are my favorite, for of course different reasons since they are both so different & as Robin has many times pointed out, she is 10 years younger than me, where as Linda is only 19 months younger than me.

A. Linda is my tied favorite sister because we have always been each others best friend, we hung around with alot of the same people growing up & also as adults. We always have alot of fun together & enjoyed doing the same sports & most recreational activities through our childhood & adult life.

B. Robin is my tied favorite sister for other reasons. First of all, she started my love of babies that I have had through childhood & into adult life. Sometimes I thought my mom had her just for me. I have enjoyed taking care of her & having her with us as she grew up even after I moved onto married life, she was always part of my life. We also have alot of fun together & here I have to give kudos to our mom, because she raised us all so close & to most of all, really, really enjoy life with lots of laughter thrown in.(side note) question not asked, but who is my favorite brother? That would be Don. He is very good hearted & one of the nicest guys I know.

2. Apart from people or pets, what is your most prized possession and why?

I thought about this for a long time & I think I would have to say my house is my most prized possession, because of all the family & friends that have gathered their through the 20 years we have lived there. I love to have everybody come to my house for food, drinks, & lots of laughs.

3. If you could go back to high school and do anything differently, what would it be and why?

Of course, anybody that knows me, knows how much I hated school from the time I was little. The only thing I really enjoyed was the social aspect of school. So, if I had to go back, I would like to think I would apply myself more & go onto college & become a nurse or a nurse practitioner. Who knew I would enjoy the nursing life so much, especially sticking people.

4. What is more important good clothes or good hair?

Well, I love, clothes, mostly only comfortable clothes, but I would have to say "Hair". Bad hair, bad day.

5. Of all the embarrassing family stories we tell about you, which one is secretly your favorite to hear?

Since I tend to do & say some goofy things in my life, (somebody has to do it) I think my favorite is when Denny insisted I whiten his gray underwear. Mom never really taught us how to use bleach, so I bought some & threw all his underwear in the washing machine (this was the age of tidy whites). I then proceeded to pour bleach all over the underwear, I guess about 1/4 of the bottle. Boy did they come out white. I knew he'd be so happy. He wore them to work the next day. Half way thru his day he said his butt started itching, he was working at colonial baking company at that time & they changed their pants when they came in each day. Well, by the time he came in, he felt like he was almost raw from itching all day long. He took off his pants & to his horror all he had left of his underwear was the bands around the waist & legs & a very red & raw butt. He never complained again about white underwear.

Write about something mean you did to a sibling growing up

I am writing this post to give hope to all those mothers whose children fight mercilessly. I want to give hope to mothers of children who look you straight in the eye and spit out, "I HATE my brother, I wish he was never born!"

Happy ending first - Here is a post I wrote for my brother on his last birthday. You see, we are friends now!

Did you go back and look at it. Did you see that maniacal look in his eye? Oh yes when we were growing up he was a mean, mean boy. Take my word for it, he made my life miserable and I HATED him. Oh yes I did and I would have told you whether you asked or not.

He would twist my arm behind my back and hold me on the ground until I said "Uncle" and then he would say, "Now say Aunt." Now do you feel my pain? So I began to plot how to get even.

Everyone "knew" that boys had a BIG weak spot. At least all the girls in my group said all you had to do was kick a boy "you know where" and you won. None of us had actually tried it, but we we had heard people talk and had seen it on television. I began to bide my time and look for an opening (so to speak) and one day when he was facing me at just the right angle, no doubt mocking me, I quickly shot out a very well placed kick. It connected with a solid, somewhat eerie, thud.

(We will pause here for a moment while my male readers regroup.)

Well his eyes crossed, his face collapsed completely inward. And I learned the feeling of absolute power.

"Bwahaha ha ha....ha......ha......

OMG what have I done, I may have killed him."


Okay he recovered, I am assuming completely, although we have never spoken of that day until now. And after that day whenever I went for the kick, I always paused just long enough so he could block and so that I would not hit the "target". (I am sorry to say to the mothers out there that we did continue to fight until he graduated from high school.)

Thanks MamaKat for your writing prompts, maybe someday I will actually get it posted on time.

How well do you know your husband?

I thought I would give you an opportunity to learn more about Mr. Geek. I "borrowed" this from my niece's facebook again. Mr. Geek, you can correct me in the comments or if I am too far off, I will let you post a rebuttal.


Here's a chance to see how well you really know your husband. Cut, paste and fill in the answers, then forward . . . shoot, you know what to do. The real challenge is to send it to your husband to see how right you really are.

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what on? History Channel, The Unit, Mythbusters or The Detonators

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Honey Mustard on the side, unless the restaurant has a good house dressing

3. What's one food he doesn't like? Eggplant (Caraway seeds and Cilantro) That really is about all he doesn't like.

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order? O'Doulls Amber

5. Where did he go to high school? Antioch High

6. What size shoe does he wear? 8 1/2

7. If he were to collect anything, what would it be? Bikes

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? That is tough, how about a Dagwood with lots of different meats and cheeses.

9. What would he eat every day if he could? Rice (with other stuff of course)

10. What is his favorite cereal? oatmeal

11. What would he never wear? There is not much he would not wear, this is a man who routinely goes out in public in Spandex. He has wore a kilt to Tartan Days. I am going to go out on a limb (and hope) and say women's clothing.

12. What is his favorite sports team? Any team one of the Little Geeks play on. Professional team would have to be the STL Cardinals (He switched from the Cubs after the '82 World Series.)

13. Who did he vote for? McCain (no comment)

14. Who is his best friend? AbFab Geek

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? Me, I am perfect right honey? Okay one thing I do that annoys him, is I throw out cans instead of putting them in the recycle. There MAY be more.

16. What is his heritage? English, German, he is probably a mutt.

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? German Chocolate with Coconut Pecan Icing

18. Did he play sports in high school? Track, Cross Country and Golf (although personally I do not consider Golf a sport)

19. What could he spend hours doing? Training for a triathlon

20. What is one unique talent he has? Packing, the man can fit any amount of luggage, etc into a trunk or van or refrigerator. It is a gift.

Happy Engineer Week!!!

Surely you all had this on your calender!

In honor of Engineer's Week I am reposting this list from last year....

Top Ten Reasons Why Engineers are the Most Important People in the World

(They are too and I can prove it.)

1. Sanitary Sewers - Maybe you can remember outhouses and ditches for sanitary waste. If that memory is not gross enough, consider open ditches in the cities flowing with bodily fluids. Makes you want to hug an engineer right now huh?

2. Clean drinking water, in your house right now. Even if the water in your house is not as pure as you would like, compare that to traveling to town, pumping a gallon of water, carrying it back home, boiling and filtering the water to make it “mostly” safe to drink

3. Clothes, a lot of clothes. We may think living in Little House on the Prairie is romantic, but how many of us want to return to owning only two articles of clothing, one for everyday, one for nice occasions? Engineers have been instrumental in industries that allow clothes to be made cheaply enough that most of us own a closetful.

4. Central Heating or Air Conditioning. Depending on your weather outside, this needs no further explanation.

5. Music. While music is based on math, engineers really can't take credit for it BUT engineers deserve credit for making music available on demand, starting with Thomas Edison’s phonograph and ending so far with your IPOD.

6. Food. Okay again engineers can’t take credit for food, but think to yourself, “How much of the food that I ate yesterday, did I grow myself?” You can be sure that engineers have been involved in the irrigation, farming, harvesting and most importantly the shipping of this food to you. Ask yourself, on what kind of plant do Coco Puffs grow? Yes this is an engineered food that you may love or feel is the cause of the decline of civilization, I am sorry I can’t be responsible for engineers.

7. Bridges. This is something that engineers do routinely get credit for. However it takes a horrible tragedy like the bridge disaster in Minnesota, for people to realize the work and expertise needed to design and build a safe bridge.

8. Books. From the first printing presses to cheap paperback Harlequin romances to electronic books, engineers have made it possible for the printed word to be accessible to almost everyone.

9. Communication. We have come a long, long way from pony express to instant messaging all over the globe. Who do you thank? Engineers. Who do you blame when your boss can find you 24/7? Computer scientists and Physicists.

10. Sex. Hah, now I have your attention. Engineers have brought about the necessary items for both safe sex (i.e. condoms) and for adventurous sex (i.e. Ask someone else).

Where is AbFab Going? (the back story)

Here is the time line.

Various times in 2008

AbFab: "Someday I hope to be able to use mine and Mr. Geek's engineering knowledge to help the world."

December 2008


AbFab: "I really wish I could do something more, I feel like I am in a rut."

AbFab receives email from a student group: "We are looking for a Professional Lisensed engineer (PE) to travel with our group to Haiti to help the organization- Meds and Foods for Kids."

It wasn't really sent to me, but had been passed around and forwarded around the department finally landing in my in box.

AbFab thinks: "That seems like a really, really cool project. I would really like to help with that. I am not a PE, but I have a good friend who is and Mr. Geek is a PE. Yes, I think I can help."



Reply from Student Group in December: "Great, let's meet in January when the semster begins."

Time passes, emails are exchanged and a few meetings occur, blah, blah, blah....

Email from Student Group Last Friday: "Professor AbFab , we have purchased your ticket to Haiti."

Where is AbFab going?

The Last Interview?

I think the MEME yet is the "interview me" meme. For this meme, you make up five questions up for that person to find out more about them. For me deciding what to ask was as much fun as being interviewed. I jumped in when I asked Donnie, The Brit to interview me.

I was then able to interview my niece, Cheri, my blogger stalker and work neighbor Catrina, My friend, Elizabeth and a new blogger, Stacy (Check out the site for her book, Frankly Pregnant, it is too funny) and a friend I could have only met in cyberspace because she lives in Africa, Kash ( I snuck in six questions to her, thanks Kash for graciously answering all of them.)

The only one that did not answer my interview questions was my sister Chris. Now I don't want to let perfectly good questions go to waste, so I have decided to use these questions to interview myself. (I believe this is the definition of egotism.) Come on Chris jump in here any time.

Welcome AbFab, and thank you for agreeing to answer some questions.

The pleasure is all mine AbFab, fire away!

Who is your favorite sister and why? Haha

Okay this is not really a fair question, but I made Cheri answer a similar one about her favorite Aunt and I received such great complements I had to fish for more. I will have to copy Cheri's response and not pick a favorite sister but instead pick my favorite thing about each sister.

Chris is my oldest sister (ten year older in fact, thanks for asking). She was so excited when my mom had another baby because she dreamed of being a mom. As I got older she even let me hang out with her and her friends and I remember going bowling etc with all the high school kids.

Linda is 18 months younger that Chris (like how I snuck in both of their ages) and in her letter to my mom while she was in the hospital giving birth to me, she wishes I was a puppy. One of my favorite memories of hanging out with Linda, is when my mom let me skip school and spend the night (I think to help out with my niece). Linda is a night owl, so we stayed up late and watched trashy TV and ate blueberry toaster strudels.


Apart from people or pets, what is your most prized possession and why?

That is a really good question, you are such a great interviewer. I do not know if it my most prized possession but I have one piece of jewelry that is special to me. It is a sterling silver pin that brought back from Germany by my great (great?) uncle and passed down to me from my dad. Also I have a jacket that I have that was my dad's, it is just a jacket from a jogging suit but I still have his clean handkerchief in the pocket that I still wear.

If you could go back to high school and do anything differently, what would it be and why?

If I could go back to high school, I would like to think that I would be more confident and would not try to hide in the background. (Yes believe it or not, in high school, I really tried not to be noticed.) When I tried out for the school musicals, I would step up and sing my heart out, maybe I still wouldn't have gotten the lead, but I would love knowing I gave it my all.


Of all the embarrassing family stories we tell about you, which one is secretly your favorite to hear?

Since I am the youngest of four, there are not really too many stories about me. I was pretty much lost in the general commotion. The only story I routinely hear is this one. I was a child that was horrible to put to bed. I screamed and I cried and made everyones' life hell until I fell asleep. One night my dad was home and had the task of putting me to bed. I tried everything to put off going to sleep. Finally I begged and begged and BEGGED for a glass of water. When my dad gave in and got it for me, I told him I did not want to drink it. So he threw it in my face. For some reason this story amuses my entire family. I guess you had to live through the evenings of my screaming to get it.

What is more important good clothes or good hair?

Ah the fluff question. I suppose any good interview needs some soft ball questions. I would have to say good hair is much more important because you wear the same hair 24/7. Clothes come and go. All right if you must know, I have no clue about clothes but I can pay someone to cut my hair, so let's go with that.


Thank you AbFab, that was an incredible interview.

Oh, anytime AbFab. It was fun.

A Couples MEME

Okay I have been really busy working on something I will tell all of you soon. It has been taking much of my time and all of my concentration.

In the meantime, I stole this MEME from my niece's facebook. I thought it was cute.

All about Mr. Geek and AbFab

♥How long have you been together?25 years married + 2 years dating

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? uh, a couple of hours

♥ Who asked who out?Okay I see that I am going to have to explain how we met for these questions. Meanwhile, let's just say me.

♥ How old are each of you?He is 48 and I 46

♥ Whose siblings do/ did you see the most?Mine, his all live out of town

♥ Do you have any children together?3

♥ What about pets? None right now

♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? Probably working together in the winter when business is slow and cash flow trickles.

♥ Did you go to the same school?College. That is where we met.

♥ Are you from the same home town?no

♥ Who is the smartest?Oh my, well I have the highest GPA.

♥ Who is the most sensitive?Oh Mr. Geek is, he even cries at sad movies.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple? It's between a restaurant close to work that we go to for lunch or IHOP. We are party animals.

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?Canada (another blog entry, remind me of these)

♥ Who has the worst temper?Me, but I prefer to call it passion.

♥ Who does the cooking?Me, but he always cleans up. It works for me.

♥ Who is more social?Me

♥Who is the neat Freak?That is what this marriage needs is a neat freak, or at least a neater freak.

♥ Who is the more stubborn?Okay I will admit it, but I call it tenacity.

♥ Who hogs the bed?Mr. Geek, but he gets us at 4:00 am and then it is mine, mine, mine.

♥ Who wakes up earlier?Mr. Geek (see above) even on vacation.

♥ Where was your first date?Hmm, define date.

♥ Who has the bigger family?Mr. Geek, he has three sisters and one brother.

♥ Do you get steaks often?Yum, Ribeyes from Costco.

♥ How do you spend the holidays?Home with the Little Geeks.

♥ Who is more jealous?Mr. Geek

♥ How long did it take to get serious?About a year. It would have probably been sooner but Mr. Geek was kicked out of school for not making grades and I was having too much fun.

♥ Who eats more?Mr. Geek, no contest.

♥ Who does/ did the laundry?The Geek household has perfected the laundry routine. I put a load in every morning and Mr. Geek puts it in the dryer in the evening. Mostly he folds and I put it away. (We are engineers after all, efficiency is what we are all about.)

♥ Who’s better with the computer?It depends on what you need. I am better with software, but I haven't much patience with hardware at all.

♥ Who drives when you are together?Mr. Geek, he get carsick as a passenger.

25 Random Fact about me (or Too Much Information)

This MEME is running rampant on Facebook. What the heck, I like to share random things.

1. My first memory ever is of deciding to run away from home by riding my Tricycle. I made it a few houses away before I decide to go back home. No one missed me!
   
2. The first day of kindergarten, I was so excited and happy that my best friend Joey and I ran all the way to school. Unfortunately a Patrol Boy stopped us and threatened to “Report Us” to the office for running. He let me go when I started to cry.
   
3. I was in trouble a lot when I was in kindergarten mostly for not taking a nap. One time Joey and I had to sit on certain squares in the middle of the floor for the entire rest time.
   
4. I learned to ride a two wheeler on an old Schwin bike that had been handed down so many times no one knew who was the original owner.
5. My first new bike was a Green Huffy with a Banana seat, a small sissy bar and a white wicker basket on the front handles. I loved that bike.
   
6. The only sport I played while growing up was Softball. I played Shortstop. Every year my team, The Country Inn Donuts would lose to the team, Coca Cola. We hated those girls.
   
7. The first play I was in was in Second Grade. The play was a version of Chicken Little and I was the wise lion king that told all the animals that the sky was not falling.
   
8. My third grade teacher, Mrs. Brown, introduced me to some of my favorite books to this day- Charlotte’s Web, Little House in the Big Woods and North to Freedom.
   
   
9. In the Solo and Ensemble contest in Grade School, I sang, “Zing went the Strings of my Heart” and “My Favorite Things.” I sometimes sing these when I am alone and they still make me smile.
   
   
10. My family never calls anyone by their full given name, so many people in my family call me Rob or Robbie.
    
    
11. My favorite bird is the Cardinal and sometimes I think the birds send messages to me.
    
    
12. My camp name at Girl Scot Camp was Cardinal.
    
    
13. I collect statues of Cardinals.
    
    
14. I like the book Watership Down so much that I named my cat, Fiver, after the main character.
    
    
15. I was so angry at being passed over for National Honor Society in High School (supposedly for not having enough extracurriculars) that I joined every club that would have me the next year and ran for and was elected to Student Council.
    
    
16. The following year I was appointed to National Honor Society, but I never participated, hah! (I am over the trauma now, really…)
    
    
17. The only really speaking role I had in High school plays was in The Man Who Came to Dinner. I played the eccentric scientist who brought Sheldon the present of cockroaches. Even then I was typecast.
    
    
18. My only singing solo in a high school play was the words “Why not” in the song, Fruma Sarah, from Fiddler on the Roof. (It was awe-inspiring, I swear.)
    
    
19. My two sisters and my brother and I do not look alike. We have even been accused of lying about being related.
    
    
20. I worked as a waitress at Denny’s for five years during high school and college.
    
    
21. I can still carry five dinner plates at a time, more with roll and salad plates.
    
    
22. I remember when Denny’s served Sanka for the Decaf coffee and served Instant Ice Tea and the Grand Slam was $1.99.
    
    
23. When I was fifteen, I volunteered at the Humane Society on in the city. We would ride the city bus there every Saturday.
    
    
24. I also volunteered as a Candy Striper at the hospital. I worked over a year in the ICU ward where I saw my first dead body. I also got asked out by a boy who was in there for a drug overdose.
    
    
25. My goal during all this volunteering was to become a medical doctor. I have yet to achieve this goal, but there is still time.

The ME Interview

I enjoy blogging because it makes me feel like I can visit with people all over the US and the world. Some of my favorite blogs are from people that have relocated to different countries. I love the descriptions of the people and the food and well everything.

I found Donnie (The Brit) who lives in Brazil from some of my favorite UK bloggers, Mean Mom and MOB and Maggie May. He had posted a ME interview (like a MEME) that looked fun so I finagled an interview from him. (Okay I just asked and he sent me question.) In my mind, I am very important and my fans would love to know more about me... (Just go with it..please?)

Here it goes.

1: What are your biggest interests in life?

Of course there are my children, but that is the expected boring answer. I love to stand up in front of people and talk. Luckily I get a chance to to this when I teach or give Safety Talks. I also love music and singing. The time I get to spend singing at church either in the Praise Band or in Kid's Church gets me through my week.

2: I see that your blog name is "AbFab Geek" I love "Absolutely Fabulous"! So name another favourite British comedy series...

I would have to say my favorite British series would have to be Monty Python (not terribly original I know). I had one of the albums in college that we played over and over and would quote endlessly. I can still remember the first time I saw "The Meaning of Life". (Not the TV show but...) And lest you think all of that energy went to no good, my friends and I rocked the Monty Python portion of a Trivia night to win the competition. The other teams were awed by our knowledge (and probably a bit frightened.)

3: What has been your highest achievement in life?

I would like to say raising my three boys but as they are still works in progress, I would have to say earning my Doctorate Degree in Engineering. Not bad for a girl whose Dad told her she probably would even get through college.

4: Where do you see your life in 10 years time?

In 10 years, the Littlest Geek will be 21. I hope at that time I can claim that raising my sons was my highest achievement. My biggest hope is that I will have had the time and opportunity to see more of the world and to use my engineering to make positive progress in the world. (Too much?)

5: If you could travel through a wormhole through time and space what year would you transport yourself to? what country? and why?

This is tough because I am a big big fan of modern day conveniences. I would live to spend some time out in the old Wild West in the United States. (Can I change genders too, because women had it worse back then?) There is a part of me that wonders would I have the strength of Laura Ingalls Wilder to settle a Homestead and live on the food I have grown.

I really think I would tend to want to travel into the future. I enjoy visiting places where I can meet new people and learn new things. Doesn't everyone what to know what is coming up?

That was fun. Does anyone else have any questions?


If you would like to participate in the ME interview, here are the rules.

1. If you want to be interviewed, leave me a comment that says "Interview me".

2. I will respond by emailing you 5 questions (I get to choose the questions).

3. Update your blog with the answers to the questions and let me know when you have posted it.

4. You will include this explanation and offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When other comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Fun in the snow

A day of sunshine and almost 40 degrees turned the dry fluffy snow (no fun for sledding) into a nice slick ramp. In fact the little geeks traveled so fast down the hill, I had trouble getting their picture.

Let's try that again!

It was time for some trick riding. The little geeks built a ramp at the bottom of the hill and then tried to catch some air.

See the kids can have fun and GO TO SCHOOL! Did I mention, after two snow days, the day they went back was a HALF DAY! AARRGH!

Ode to My High School Chemistry Teacher

When I started writing my blog, one one the reasons was to practice writing and to get over my fear of letting others read what I had written. I hadn't written anything that wasn't technical since high school - and tech writing is not exactly riveting to read (or write). I have found a group of bloggers at Mama Kat . Mama Kat gives writing prompts (assignments) and a place to link to your site.

The prompt I chose was: Write a poem to your favorite teacher of all time. Well it has been since high school since I have written a poem (that was not a limerick, I have written lots of these lol). So please please please (I am desperate here) give me some feedback - but be gentle- it's my first time.

Ode to My High School Chemistry Teacher

by AbFab Geek

I was skating by in school
Making A’s pretty easily
Because I was on the college prep track
I signed up for Chemistry
Chemistry followed Biology

Chemistry education was completely different
I loved the blending of science and math
I loved finding the explanation of life
Now I could find out what was occurring on a minute level
Figuratively and literally a whole new world came into focus

I did not know it at the time
But this was my first experience with a geek
A Geek – Someone with a deep interest in a geeky subject
But retains humor and interest in all other things
A cool human being that enjoys learning – my new role model

Through this course and the advance course the following year
I learned the satisfaction that comes from working hard
I learned how to spend hours researching and processing knowledge
I learned what it felt like to really struggle with a subject
I learned it sometimes takes years and years to get it

Do you know the impression you left on students?
Did you enjoy being remembered as the hard teacher?
Did you ever wish for a more glamorous career?
How did you put up with desperate, frustrated students like me?
Where are you now?