not quite saint patrick

1. The weekend is over already, and somehow I didn't get as much done as I hoped, but still had a pretty good weekend. By the time I got home from work yesterday, having lost track of time doing the non-vital bits of work and therefore staying an hour later, I was not in a homework space. So I knit, and had a generally quiet evening with some light research.
It was, however, Saint Patrick's Day - moved to the 15th by the Church so people wouldn't drink themselves stupid during Holy Week - and while we had no exciting plans as such, I did want to have something like a traditional Saint Patrick's Day supper. Here in the New World it tends to translate to corned beef and potatoes with cabbage and boiled carrots, though as should be pointed out, the Irish tended towards lamb or some such, and the corned beef is a purely immigrant invention. Anyway we were pretty unenthusiastic about going to the store to hunt a corned cow and potatoes, so I had almost given up on the idea when I went wandering around the kitchen and found some instant potatoes. If it isn't really St. Patrick's Day, I thought, why can't we have a Not Really Dinner?
So we had garlic instant mashed potatoes, fried slices of toupie ham, boiled baby carrots and frozen peas, and quick-fried Chinese cabbage, and felt quite good about ourselves.

2. It's been a busy internet weekend, mainly because I have a new toy. Angus invited me to PMOG, the Passively Multiplayer Online Game (this is a terrible pun), and I've been drifting through missions checking it out. Basically, you install a Firefox extension for an extra toolbar and it tracks how many unique addresses you visit and awards points. Obviously even prolific surfers like me only visit so many sites, so you can make and go on missions - guided tours of series of websites. They're all user-created, so it's really diverse - I've learned about Bollywood musicals, read a number of articles on the nature of gaming, and read about how to make a hovercraft out of a shopvac. I'm still not even halfway to second level - yes, there are points and levels and even classes of character to play, and you can spend points on various devices - setting mines on popular websites, leaving boxes of points and goodies for friends, sending revenge devices back to those who left mines. It's a fun sort of thing and has given me a great number of new things to think about.

• a pretty new desktop for Mom.
• Pepsi Ice Cucumber Cola.
• Live action Garfield cartoons with trippy music videos. I have no words.
  
• Munchkins: adorables. Squittens: tragic.
• Another great food blog: Goodies First.
• This photoset, and others like it, make me want to buy bento boxes and learn to love sushi. I'm willing to hack my palate to eat prettier food, and it's generally healthier too.
• Asian pizza is very weird. I knew this before, but "Abalone Sauce Cheesy Lava Stuffed Crust Pizza" from Pizza Hut is just weird.
• I may have already mentioned Hillary Is Mom Jeans and its corollary Barack Obama Is Your New Bicycle, but in case I haven't, they're great.
• Men who look like old lesbians. It's maybe not the most PC thing ever, but it's giggleworthy.
  

3. Anyway, this week, especially tomorrow, will be very busy, and I really just wish I could be wearing sandals for it. And wearing sundresses. Unfortunately, the snow is still here - on the way to the NBCC, the snowbanks are still taller than me. Soon, soon, soon.