someone for everyone

Today I helped a patron sign up for an online dating service for farmers and lovers-of-farmers. She had seen an ad for it on tv. It probably came on between commercials for Blain's Farm and Fleet and Red Wing Shoes, but how could I have possibly missed it?

winter ice

get me to a nunnery

Last night, the Dominican Sisters of Springfield opened up their convent chapel to host a Taize style advent prayer service. I have been a big fan of the Taize style of worship since visiting the monastic community in France during my college years. I was very excited to see that there was someone incorporating that style into a service in Springfield.

In addition, I had often passed the convent and wondered what it was like inside. Not being Catholic, I have no idea about nuns other than what movies tell me, which I'm sure is entirely misleading. Attending the Taize service and the refreshments afterward gave me an opportunity to take a sneak peak inside the secret lives of nuns.

The service was very nice. I sat in the nuns' seats at the front, which are individual inward-facing cubicle-like seats, but they have kneeling benches positioned to face the front of the church. The music was a mixture of familar tunes from Taize and what I imagined were some well known Catholic tunes. Despite the fact that there was a full house, the crowd did a good job of maintaining silence throughout the characteristic Taize style silent meditation sections of the service. Overall, I thought it was well done.

Afterward, the nuns led us through their living quarters and into their fellowship hall/cafeteria for tasty cookies and mulled cider. The building was very much like a college dorm, although instead of smelling of dirty laundry and puke, it smelled faintly like a nursing home. I looked around and could see no nun under the age of 50. In fact, there were quite a few buzzing around on motorized chairs. If the priesthood is having trouble recruiting, I bet the convents are having an even worse time of it.

wine 101: peach

Today was the Illinois Stewardship Alliance's Meet Your Local Producer event. It was kindof a combination of the last farmer's market of the year and an informative event connecting citizens with potential local resources for local food. I questioned a few of the Illinois wineries about their fruit wine making processes and learned a little bit about how they do it. I still like my way best.

Peach Wine
Date Started: September 10, 2008

Ingredients:
- peaches - 7 of various sizes (1/4 peck?)
- sugar - 4 2/3 cups
- yeast - 1/2 tsp.
- vessel - wide mouth glass gallon

Notes:
Peaches were probably not as ripe as I would have liked, but I was impatient.
I used the sugar formula, but dropped sugar percent to 10% since the peaches weren't ripe.
First attempt at dividing the yeast package into gallon portions - 1/2 tsp of yeast per gallon.
Let yeast sit for 10 minutes on top before stirring in.

Date Bottled: October 24, 2008
- yield - 3 quarts plus a little

Re-racked: November 3, 2008

*This wine smells great, but the taste is so-so. I blame it on my impatience and therefore my use of not quite ripe peaches.

wine 101: step 12

Yesterday, Sam and I finally visited two places we've been trying to get to for months, the Museum of Funeral Customs and Lincoln's Tomb. In front of the tomb there is a giant statue of Lincoln's face, and it appears that everyone rubs Lincoln's nose for good luck before going in to ooh and ahh over his burial chamber. Since Oak Ridge Cemetery, wherein Lincoln's Tomb lies, is the second most visited cemetery in the United States, Lincoln's nose is by now pretty shiny.

STEP 12 (optional): Re-racking.
I explained a bit about second fermentation yesterday. Today, I offer an optional step which speeds up second fermentation and helps in clarifying your wine. This is re-racking. Racking just means putting your wine into bottles. Re-racking is simply re-straining your wine into different (clean and sterilized) bottles. Through the process of pouring and straining, more carbon dioxide is released and more sediment is removed. It makes for a clearer, more finished tasting wine. I usually re-rack after two weeks, then again whenever I feel like it. Of course, if you drink your wine quickly, you might not even need this step!

wine 101: ingredients

On Friday night, Sam and I went to see The Capitol Steps, a political comedy troop that indiscriminately makes fun of all political figures. My favorite part of the act was the "Lirty Dies" a monologue wherein the letters from certain pairs of words are flipped around to create hilarious alternatives. You can hear the one we heard, "Load to the Erection 2008," on the website. It includes phrases such as "Obama is yandsome and hung" and "He will give us sope in our holes." Check your local NPR station listings for the the airing of their "Halloween 2008 Special: Politics Takes a Holiday."

And now onto the wine. In order to make wine you need four basic ingredients. I love simplicity, therefore, I make wine with only these ingredients. I have found several instructions and recipes for homebrewing that involve chemicals to clean up the wine, stop the yeast from fermenting, and other stuff I'm not so sure about. Maybe in the future I'll research these, but for now, my wine turns out perfectly fine doing it the easy way.

1. Fruit: One quart of fruit will make one gallon of wine. That's about the minimum. Of course, more fruit will make a stronger tasting wine.

2. Wine yeast: Fermentation needs yeast, and according the helpful man at our local brewing supply store, of the available yeast he had fruit wine was best made with the strain ICV D47. My store carries the Lalvin brand. One packet costs me 99 cents and gives me enough yeast for five gallons of wine. You can ask your local brewing supply store for the yeast they suggest.

3. Sugar: It seems crazy when you first pour six cups of sugar into your must, but don't worry, the yeast will eat most, if not all, of it. A gallon of wine will take somewhere between three and six cups of sugar, depending on the sweetness of the fruit and whether you want a dry or sweet wine. You should use white, granulated sugar. Less refined sugar, such as the organic kind, contains impurities which will affect the taste of your wine.

4. Water: Tap water is the cheapest source of water, but it also contains traces of chlorine and other chemicals which will affect the taste of your wine. That doesn't mean you can't use it, though. Boiling the water before and during the must-making will purify it enough. If you'd like, you can buy purified bottled water, but you'll still be boiling it eventually. It's up to you.

a little corny

In the midwest, the coming of fall also means the coming of hayrides, pumpkin patches, and corn mazes. Yesterday, Sam and I went down to the tiny town of Auburn, Illinois to experience the last of these - the corn maze.

Corn mazes have gotten more numerous and more complicated throughout the years with the help of GPS and desire for farmers to make a little more money off of their crop than in the past. According to the Corn Maze Directory, there are over 600 corn mazes in the United States this year, although I bet that number is even higher. There are even several companies that specialize in creating corn mazes for your cornfield.

The corn maze we went to was decent, although it wasn't the kind of maze you do to try to find the way out. It was the kind you do to try to find all the questions hidden in the maze and answer them. We were even provided with a map. Oh well. We had fun running around in the corn. And we finished it up with a trip to Dairy Queen. You can't get more midwestern than that!

i wil rant because it is appropriate

In order to apply for any non-professional (academic) job at an academic institution in Illinois, you must apply and then take the Illinois Civil Service Examination which corresponds to the job you want to do. I have been attempting to get a job at the University of Illinois at Springfield for about two months now and almost every week I am surprised anew at the stupidity of this system.

First, in order to take an exam, someone must count the number of hours of experience you have which apply to the job/exam you want, and decide if you that experience has provided you with the proper skills to take the test. Does this sound backward to you? Isn't the object of a test to decide if you are skilled?

If you are lucky enough to be deemed eligible, you are allowed to take a test. I have two tests today. I took the first one this morning, and there is no way in the world this should be called a test. No, I take that back. The ten minute typing test is acceptable. The following "Experience Test" is not. Basically, they gave me back my application and my transcripts and asked me to rewrite them on a separate piece of paper. Then, I had to rate the amount of specific experience I have, referring to each of my past jobs. Here's an example question:

1. I have written correspondence using Microsoft Word.

Mark A if you have no experience doing this.
Mark B if you have been trained, but never actually done this.
Mark C if you did this occasionally on your job.
Mark D if you did this often on your job.
Then, mark from what job(s) you got this experience.

I had to sit and answer fifty of these questions, most of which were very specific to the job for which I was applying. For example, if you were applying for a plumbing job in this manner, the question would be, "Have you ever unclogged a pipe in a 3 story house with 2.5 baths, a back porch, and 1.4 acres of land occupied by 2 parents, 1 child and a small rabbit with a pink collar?" Is anyone ever going to be able to reply positively to a question like that?

They should be able to tell by my resume if I have ever done the specific job for which they are hiring. And if they can't, it's quite easy to ask "Have you done this job for which you're applying?" And if they want to continue on this silly, "Experience Test" farce, any further questions should relate to skills learned in other settings which are applicable to the target job. By doing it this way, they wouldn't waste an hour and a half of my time and several hours of "grading" time for them.

"Have you ever revised guidelines and procedures?" No, but I'd sure like to start with yours.

ice cream truck-a-thon

The ice cream truck passes through my neighborhood almost every day around 6pm. The songs it plays are in some ways more and less annoying than the ones I remember hearing as a child. No longer is "It's a Small World After All" played over and over and over again. Instead, I get to hear variations on "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain," and "Grey Goose."

It's those variations that are amusing. First there's the change in melody for about two measures, not long enough for someone to be thrown off, but just enough to keep the ice cream truck company from paying royalties, I imagine. Then there's the clapping, thumping, or bell ringing which joins in at the most random places. Finally, there's the woman's voice saying, "Hello!" during pauses. It startles me every time.

If the truck would ever actually pass in front of my house, I'd go out and see how ludicrous the prices are these days, but alas, it's always about a block away.

to market, to market

Wednesday is quite possibly my favorite day of the week. This is because Wednesday is farmer's market day. Yes, there is one on Saturdays as well, but I am consistently in town and available to shop on Wednesdays. I buy all my favorites then bring them home and stack them in these lovely wooden bowls in the kitchen. Beautiful, isn't it?

I love farmer's markets because you learn what food is in season, and you can eat that food while it is fresh and ripe. It hasn't sat around in a grocery store, or ripened in a truck on its way from California. In addition, you get to know the local farmers - the garlic man, the mushroom man, the meat family, the bakers, and sprouts man, just to name a few.

Last week, my favorite purchase was delicious, local grapes, the kind with the thick skin and the pulpy insides. This week I got freshly picked Honey Crisp apples and Calhoun peaches, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, onions, and eggplant. I held myself back from all the beautiful squash and pumpkin until next week.

At my job interview yesterday, the guy asked what my hobbies are, other than ultimate frisbee. I should have said shopping at the farmer's market and eating local foods. I love it!

reliable source of transportation

I biked to my job interview today. Why not? The weather was perfect (sunny and 70 degrees) and taking the bus plus walking would probably take me the same amount of time. The interview was "way out west of town," past the mall and the car dealerships. From my house, google maps tells me it is a seven mile ride. I give myself an hour and fifteen minutes to get there, because a) I can't go so fast that I become soaked in sweat, and b) I am going to hit traffic at the mall.

Fifteen minutes later, I'm at a junction I thought I wouldn't get to until 40 minutes into the ride. So I stop and walk around Walgreens for a bit. Thirty minutes into the ride, I can see the building I'm heading for. So I stop and get some frozen custard at Culver's. I arrive at the interview five minutes early, smelling fresh and clean.

The interview went really well, I think, but more importantly than that, I am now convinced that things are really not as far away as they seem. I just have to get on my bicycle and start pedaling!

obama-rama

Our friends waited in line for four hours to get inside the metal detectors where people were actually passing out for lack of water while watching Obama and Biden. We got there five minutes before it started and had a great view of the big screen tv, free water, and a seat just outside the gates. More interesting to me than the speeches, however, were the people - the enthusiasts, the profiteers, and the snipers (look at the base of the flag).

aaarreee yoooouuuu reeaddddyyyy?

I know someone who knows someone who knows Important Things about Obama's announcement tomorrow. Unfortunately, I don't know that something. Actually, I don't really care, other than the fact that knowing things makes you cooler than people who don't know things.

Anyway, I wandered downtown this evening with some friends to check out all the preparations for Obama's visit tomorrow. The roads are already blocked off. Stages, tents, and chairs are set up. They are testing the sound system as we speak. And the drug/bomb/sketchy things sniffing dogs are due to come in for their first check in about an hour.

All this for an event that occurs at 2pm tomorrow afternoon, with an expected attendance of 30,000. They are saying we are not allowed to bring water bottles or umbrellas (on a 90 degree weather day..) into the viewing area. Or, we can stand just a few blocks away with our beverages and shade and watch it all go down on a big-screen tv. I'm debating.

This event is supposed to be very good for the Springfield economy, especially since it occurs right before the "BBQ and Blues" event downtown on Saturday night. However, few people seem to care that the Saturday morning Farmer's Market was canceled due to these goings-on. How am I supposed to get my fresh, local produce? I may boycott the event just because of this.

political inconveniences

It seems that Barak Obama is going to announce his vice president running mate on Saturday in downtown Springfield. I better get up early to go to the farmer's market before I am mobbed by the 25,000 expected visitors.

backyard friends and enemies

One of these bugs I let climb on my hand. It shouldn't be hard to guess which.

slippery as butter

This week is the Illinois State Fair, a wonderful event encompassing everything from deep fried candy bars to alligator on a stick. Sam and I wandered around for about five hours taking in the sights - the piglets, the 250 pound pumpkin, the lumberjack show, and the always amusing state-fair attendees.

The highlight for me, however, had to do with cows. First, there was the butter sculpture, as seen above. Then there was the incident as we were walking back to our bikes. Our departure happened to coincide with the end of the one of the cow judging sessions and there were parades of cows being led back to their barns. One did not want to go. He bucked, jerked the rope from his handler's hands, and ran straight at Sam and I. I guess our surprised expressions scared him into stopping right in front of us, and a second later another handler came over and grabbed him.

It's always a good time when there's livestock around.

rejection

Just down the street from my house is a plasma donation center. In this case "donate" means "get paid for it." Since I am healthy and have time on my hands, I figured I'd go try this seemingly easy way of making money. Half of Springfield had the same idea.

Yesterday I waited for three hours until I was told it would take another five to get me processed. Today I went in early, got my file prepared and went through screening in a mere hour and a half. My blood pressure was good, my iron and protein content was good, and I weighed over 110 pounds. Great! Then I waited another hour for my "New Donor Physical," at which time my blood pressure was read again. Too low. Sorry. Come back tomorrow.

The woman actually suggested that I do jumping jacks in the waiting room to keep my body from "relaxing" while I waited. Yeah, right.

conversation starter

A few years ago during the Lotus Fest in Bloomington, Sam and I went down to the Third Street Park to listen to some music and wander through the kiddie activities tents. While I was busy making an African banner, Sam decorated my bike helmet with gold lightning bolt stickers and a large yellow silk flower which sticks up from the top.

I still have the flower on my helmet and almost every time I ride my bike I get an acknowledgment of its presence by some stranger I pass on the street. Sometimes it's just a smile. Kids often wave. Today, I pulled up to library and a guy near the door looks over at me and enthusiastically says, "That's a kosher helmet!"

Since I am not quite sure how my helmet qualifies as a food product blessed by a rabbi, but I'm pretty certain he's complimenting the decoration and not the mushroom-shaped Walmart head protection, I just respond, "Thanks, I like it."

And then he asks, "Do you have any problems with wind resistance?"

beetle juice

The other night we had a little, but surprisingly big, visitor on our back porch. I tried to figure out exactly what it was, but did you know that "beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of species"? This makes it difficult to find a picture which exactly matches the one I took. Thanks to the internet, though, I have discovered that it is a Grapevine Beetle, also called a Shining Leaf Chafer. Apparently they aren't too destructive as adults, but their little grub babies destroy gardens. I don't know if this one laid some eggs around our house. I just know that it was quite possibly the largest beetle I have seen outside of a zoo, and it didn't do anything when Sam touched it.

neighborhood watch

I could probably write a book about the neighbors across the street. Well, I'm not sure if that's true, but I certainly get plenty of entertainment from them. I, and most likely everyone else within a block of their house, know a lot about their lives because they spend quite a bit of time on the porch or in the front yard yelling.

The mother yells at the father for drinking too much.
The father yells at the mother for not giving him enough money to drink.
The grandmother yells at them both for making a spectacle.
The mother yells at the children to sit down and shut up while she's yelling at them.
The children yell that there's no reason to be yelling at them.

And then there was the guy who pulled into their driveway one night, knocked on the door, and sat in his truck for an hour and half waiting for them to come home. They showed up about ten minutes after he left.