#25, Chess coaster

I can't believe it's been almost two months since my last update! Time seems to fly in the fall when we get close to the holidays.

I did turn 29 on November 14th and I can't believe a year has gone by so fast! I know this next one will probably go even more quickly, and I'll be 30 before I know it. I need to get moving on my list of 30 things!

So, without further ado, I give you the chess coaster.

I am a big fan of the web comic xkcd. I think Randall Munroe is a genius and he makes me laugh three times a week at least. The chess coaster was inspired by this strip, which pretty much explains the whole idea:

Ever since I first saw this comic, I was determined to try this. Several other people have had the same inspiration, so I knew it could be done. When we went on a trip to Worlds of Fun with our friends Andy and Kelly, my moment finally arrived.

First, we had to prepare.

The shiny surface of the chessboard did create a few problems, but we managed to get an appropriate number of pieces attached. The chessboard we purchased was a folding one (which was about the only way we could figure out to do it), so it fit nicely in my bag.

We did have one moment of worry. While we were discussing in line the placement of the cameras that would snap our photo, and the possible placement of security cameras, a teen standing in line with us informed us that they would totally confiscate your cell phone if they saw you using it on the ride. This did make me a little nervous, as it was early in the day, and we didn't want to get thrown out of the park. But a little adrenaline makes everything more fun! In the end, my nervousness was unfounded and we were not confronted by park personnel. However, the picture did not work out as planned.

As you can see, Rick is doing a great job of the appropriate hand to the chin pose. I, however, had my hand down trying to steady the board, and we didn't hold it nearly high enough. Alas, in my efforts to get the board back into my bag before park employees could discover our scheme, most of the chess pieces fell off and the board tore. So, we were unable to make a second attempt. However, I did do the chess coaster and it was a great time! This task was completed on October 3, 2009.

Incremental update

Just checking in! I've been meaning to post--I've completed the chess coaster and started working on learning to knit. I have pictures of both and I will update soon with them.

Here's some other progress:

#3 & #21 - I decided to combine these two and am planning a trip with my mom to Rennes le Chateau! Our plane tickets are booked--we will be leaving for Barcelona in late February and then driving over to the south of France. I'm super excited about finally getting to see this place!

#29 - The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park is coming right along, and is scheduled to open in the spring. I still think we'll try to take this trip next fall.

#5 - We can buy our tickets to the Nutcracker next week. I'm so excited about seeing this ballet--it seems like a perfect Christmastime outing.

While I don't think that I will have 15 items completed by the time my birthday comes around next month, I do feel like I've gotten a good start. I probably should be getting back to Mastering the Art of French Cooking sometime soon, though.

#23, Dragon*Con

I've always wanted to go to some kind of pop culture convention and, by all accounts, Dragon*Con is one of the geekiest and most awesome. So, I wanted to make attending Dragon*Con one of my goals for this project. Dragon*Con is always held in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend, and we made it this year! We had SO much fun, and I think this could definitely be something that we do again.

Here are a few pictures from our fantastic weekend.

The first night we stayed with some friend in the Marriott, which is a really cool hotel. Here's a shot from the 16th floor down to the Atrium level.

This was taken Thursday night--there were far more people wandering in that area on Friday and Saturday nights.

While we decided to drive, and therefore didn't need to take Atlanta's famous MARTA trains, we did get a few pictures on one of the longest escalators in the country (at the MARTA Peachtree station).

This was one seriously long escalator, and I rode up and down it 3 times.

One of the most popular features of Dragon*Con weekend is the Saturday morning parade. This is an opportunity for everyone to get dressed up in their coolest costumes and strut their stuff on the streets of downtown Atlanta. We watched the parade from our hotel room and I didn't get any pictures while it was going on, but I did manage to get a shot with one of the floats.

(For those of you who may not recognize it, that's the Trojan rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.)

Of course, Dragon*Con attendees are amazing costumers, and getting dressed up is part of the fun! Rick and I put together costumes from the television show Firefly (tragically canceled by Fox after only one season). Here's a shot of Rick dressed as Mal, and I'm costumed as Kaylee.

Looking at and taking pictures of other people's costumes is also a lot of fun! We saw some wonderful craftsmanship, creativity, and attention to detail in SO many costumes over the weekend. I took way too many pictures to post here, but I did want to add one of my favorite costume shots.

(Yes, those are sexy Disney princesses fawning over Edward Cullen from Twilight.)

In short, we had a really great time, attended some fabulous panels, saw many famous people, and generally had a full weekend of geeking out. Since Dragon*Con officially ends on Labor Day, this goal was accomplished on September 7th. And I wouldn't be too shocked if we turned up at Dragon*Con again next year.

#26, Milk a cow

The Iowa State Fair is an event of epic proportions that contains many varied opportunities for learning and exploration. And beer. And some of the least healthy food you'll ever eat.

While the Fair is not my favorite annual event, I wanted to go this year because of the opportunity to milk a cow! The Iowa State University Dairy Science Club was sponsoring an exhibit where you could pay $2.00 and try your hand at milking.

While this exhibit was clearly aimed at children, I wasn't embarrassed. Much. Until the milking guy laughed at me.

Actually, he was very nice and helpful. And the cow was lovely and soft and didn't seem to mind at all that about a jillion kids were lined up to pull on her.

Afterwards, I rewarded myself with Fair food on a stick, dipped in chocolate.

So, number 26 was completed today, August 22nd. And I've completed 8.5 out of 30 goals. We are definitely going to Dragon*Con in less than 2 weeks, and I can't wait! The only problem will be picking the best pictures to post when I get back. We will possibly be driving down to Worlds of Fun in September or October, where I could do chess coaster.

I don't know if I will get 15 of my 30 goals completed by my birthday this year, but I think I'm doing okay. I have about 15 months to go and 21.5 goals to complete. Getting there!

#6, Cook 10 things from Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1/10)

Ever since I read Julie & Julia (soon to be released as a major motion picture!), I've thought about the idea of cooking my way through Mastering the Art of French cooking. Ultimately, I decided that doing all of it would be too much, and as a vegetarian, I can't eat most of it anyway. But I did want to try my hand at a few things, so I thought cooking 10 recipes would be a good addition to this project.

First up is Potage Parmentier (Potato and Leek soup). This is the first recipe in the soup section of volume 1.

Here's the recipe (we halved it since there were only 2 of us):

Ingredients

1 lb potato, peeled and diced
3 cups leeks, thinly sliced (white and tender green parts only)
2 quarts water
1 tablespoon salt
4-6 tablespoons whipping cream or 2-3 tablespoons softened butter
2-3 tablespoons minced parsley or chives

Directions

Simmer vegetables, water and salt together, partially covered, 40-50 minutes until vegetables are tender. Mash the vegetables in the soup with a fork, or puree in blender. Correct seasoning. Off heat and just before serving, stir in cream or butter by spoonfuls. Pour into a tureen or soup cups and decorate with the herbs.

Pretty simple, right? But I thought starting simple was a good idea. We started with fresh ingredients from the local farmer's market.

My friend Libby was on hand again to help out.

The lovely finished product:

This was probably the tastiest recipe I've made for this project. I think the next one I might tackle is the mayonnaise recipe. 9 more to go!

#7, Go to a drive-in movie

Again, it's been quite a while between updates, but I finally have something new to report. Last night we went to a drive-in movie! The theater was showing a double feature--Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and My Sister's Keeper. Because the first movie didn't start until dusk (around 9:00 p.m.) and the theater was about 30 minutes from home, we didn't stay for the second show. But we had a great time! Here are a few pictures:

Our friends Andy and Kelly joined us for the show.

We took Rick's convertible, but ended up putting the top up for the movie because there was so much ambient noise.

The theater was pretty cool--they had a classic sequence for the intermission, and even had some of the original speakers that still worked!

There were definitely pros and cons to the drive-in. We were in a car that was pretty low to the ground, and, as you can see from the pictures, there were a lot of very tall trucks and mini-vans with their back door propped open. This made it difficut to find a good spot to park. We arrived about an hour before the movie started, and found pretty good spots, only to have latecomers park in front of us and obstruct our view. I did enjoy having the sound in the car with us, and the seats were very comfortable. We were also allowed to bring in our own snacks. I think if we decided to go again, we would do it in the fall and get there even earlier.

So, my goal of seeing a drive-in movie was completed on July 25th. I'm falling a little bit behind, and need to accomplish a few more things this summer to stay on track. We do have an amusement park visit scheduled in the next couple of weeks, so I may attempt the chess coaster.

#27, Read something by the Marquis de Sade

This one is a little bit different than others, as I actually finished reading 120 Days of Sodom on January 30th.  However, I hadn't posted because I didn't get any pictures while I was actually reading it.  So, these pictures are a bit staged.  Rest assured, dear reader, that these are actual faces that I made while reading this book.  It was seriously gross.  (Thanks again to the super patient Libby for the book loan!)

The book in question:

Me reading this dreadful, dreadful book:

While I'm not sure I will ever entirely forget some of the incredibly graphic scenes in this book, at least I'm not actively thinking about them any more.  And I am very, very glad that I did not let Libby talk me into watching the movie.  *shudder*

In other 30 before 30 news, I was very saddened to learn that Glarkware has stopped carrying the stop sign stickers that I wanted to use for #10.  I was able to find some similar ones on Cafe Press, but I'm disappointed that I didn't get to buy the originals before they were discontinued.

Next up will probably be the drive-in movie.  Although the weather is lovely--almost makes me want to just take off and drive to Canada!