Roughing It

I'm finally getting around to mentioning the awesome weekend camping at the Michigan dunes with the girls, or more specifically, The Core Four (founders of the illustrious MLN). Despite some nasty hangovers—I'm pretty sure every one of us felt the HO bite at some point over the weekend—and a little rain overnight, it went off without a hitch. Thanks to Jackie and a few trips to the Village Market, we ate like queens. I didn't even know you could make blueberry pancakes from scratch. They are as delicious as one would expect. We even took a break from the whole camping experience to dine at an Italian restaurant, called inexplicably The Vineyard. They like their marinara sauce at the Vineyard, I can tell you that. After eating, we headed back home to the tents and crashed. We also squeezed in some beach time, quality girl talk, trashy magazine reading, and Apples to Apples playing. I have a feeling our camping neighbors know way more about us than they ever would have wanted to. We even got to take showers. (No, boys, not together. And there were no pillow fights, either.) It was even worth the 5 1/2 hours I spent waiting for my flight at Midway after gambling on a standby flight and losing. Good times with great friends.

Dignity Shmignity.

Nothing like a little dumpster diving to save your pennies. Imagine if that's what your boss advised in the face of a pay cut.

Oh, Britney.

There's really nothing more to say.

It's not in your imagination: hot dogs are dangerous.

This article was sent to me by Janet Lee. I can't say I find it that surprising. Matt hasn't eaten many hot dogs since he toured the Hormel plant, and now my occasional indulgence will probably end:
Hot Dogs May Cause Genetic Mutations

By Charles Q. Choi
Special to LiveScience
posted: 14 August 2006
01:51 am ET

Everyone knows hot dogs aren't exactly healthy for you, but in a new study chemists find they may contain DNA-mutating compounds that might boost one's risk for cancer. Scientists note there is an up to 240-fold variation in levels of these chemicals across different brands. "One could try and find out what the difference in manufacturing techniques are between the brands, and if it's decided these things are a hazard, one could change the manufacturing methods," researcher Sidney Mirvish, a chemist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, told LiveScience. Mirvish and his colleagues examined hot dogs because past research had linked them with colon cancer. Hot dogs are preserved with sodium nitrite, which can help form chemicals known as N-nitroso compounds, most of which cause cancer in lab animals. Extracts from hot dogs bought from the supermarket, when mixed with nitrites, resulted in what appeared to be these DNA-mutating compounds. When added to Salmonella bacteria, hot dog extracts treated with nitrites doubled to quadrupled their normal DNA mutation levels. Triggering DNA mutations in the gut might boost the risk for colon cancer, the researchers explained. "I won't say you shouldn't eat hot dogs," Mirvish said. Future research will feed hot dog meat to mice to see if they develop colon cancer or precancerous conditions, he explained. James Hodges, president of the American Meat Institute Foundation in Washington, noted this study is "a preliminary report that the author concedes requires further investigation. The carcinogenic risk to humans of the compounds studied has not been determined." The possible hazard presented here is not just limited to hot dogs. Salted dried fish and seasonings such as soy sauce may contain similar levels of these chemicals, Mirvish said. Mirvish and his colleagues reported their findings in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Back on the Island

Matt and I were back in Staten Island over the weekend for our friend Meghan and Nate's wedding. We stayed with Tim, Chadia, and Ismael, who is no longer a baby but an adorable 2-year-old with excellent manners. He's also bilingual—Chadia speaks to him in French and he answers in English. The wedding was beautiful and a lot of fun, although Matt and I wimped out at 1:30 a.m. while our friends went out and partied until 5 a.m. We even got a 2 a.m. call at the apartment from Alex berating us for wussing out. We're turning into old farts. So sad. St. George hadn't changed much, although Tim and Chadia have a new apartment with gorgeous views of Manhattan. I woke up briefly at 5:30 a.m. and the sun was just rising over the city. It was really glorious, and I might be able to share a photo if we didn't forget our camera once again. The only downside of the weekend was hearing a rumor that my former trusty cab driver and friend is now producing porn. For some reason, I find that completely depressing, although I know he's still a nice person. Kind of glad we didn't up renting an apartment in his house, though.

NINJA!

This has Quentin Tarantino written all over it. Ninja attack in uptown.

Tee Off

I think this might be my new bedtime t-shirt. Sarah told me about some cool retro t-shirt websites, including palmercash.com, which features this baby. Check it out.

New Bathroom

Other than a door that still needs to be painted, our downstairs bathroom is pretty much done. We stripped the wallpaper and painted it. We replaced the light fixtures. We installed a cabinet above the sink. We regouted (twice). And we put in a new sink. Woohoo! There will probably be more improvements in the future—maybe a new medicine cabinet, etc.—but we're happy with our "new and improved" pink bathroom. It's still pink, but that's ok.

Before (the only photo we have):

The old sink. Classy!

After:

Word Play

Just in case you ever need to write something in code ... or find a nice combination of names to get over that whole "Do I take his name? Do I keep mine? Do we hyphenate? Do we not hyphenate?" dilemma. Why not mix it up? (I can actually think of a lot of reasons, but whatever.)

The Internet Anagram Server!

Grousing about Grout

Last night I spent about five hours (minus five minutes for a quick black bean burger) regrouting our bathroom shower. Some of you may remember that we already regrouted our bathroom shower. Well, I did it again since it was so fun the first time! Not really. There are some problems with the wall due to an unbelievably crappy grouting job when we moved in—actually a combination of grout and caulk at random spots, which is a joy to get out. The grout we put in had already started to turn yellow. Grody. My dad told me about this epoxy grout that is sort of like a combination of plastic and concrete, and which never discolors (or so he promises). So I got out the old chisel and hammer yesterday and went at the old stuff. That part wasn't bad. Even putting on the new grout wasn't horrible. But then I discovered that there are downsides to epoxy grout. It's the consistency of toothpaste, so getting it off the tile is no easy task. Needless to say, it was frustrating. And I didn't get to bed until 12:30 with an aching back. I had also made time for a quick run after work, so basically my body hates me right now. But for the moment our shower looks brand new, or it would if it wasn't pink tile. We wouldn't pick pink for a brand new shower. Obviously. Since the bathroom is nearing completion (new paint, new sink, new light fixtures, etc.) I will post before and after pictures soon. Happy Thursday!