You can't say "bomb" on a plane.

Source.

Or in a building full of the Attorney General's state government employees.

I heard a few ppl rushing past my office just now followed by, "Grab your things! There's a bomb threat!"

I was going to ignore it until an official announcement was made (our building has great security) but then all the staff workers were rushing by in their coats with their bags.

So I peeked into the hallway and our Bureau Chief was out there - explaining that there's a bomb threat a block away between Liberty and Maiden Lane.  And although we don't have an official building announcement yet they were advised to move anyone with Broadway-facing windows into the interior of the building.

I'm way in the back by Nassau so I'm in the "safe" zone.  Now we're just waiting for more "official" news.

Also, my trip to the bank (front-facing on Broadway inside my building) is momentarily postponed.  Oh, dear.

Other uses: Neosporin.

Neosporin.

I've long had "sensitive earlobes."

What this really means is that I can't wear any earrings for very long.  Or my ears get infected and itchy and painful.

I received a pair of earrings for my past birthday that I LURV but could usually only bear to wear them for half the day before my holes hurt so much I had to take them out.  And then my ears would be infected for a few days so I wouldn't be able to wear any earrings at all.

So - I recently found a way to deal with this problem: Every morning before I put (any of my) earrings into my ears, I stick the post into a tube of Neosporin to help kill all the bacteria on them/in my holes/around my holes/that develop during the day and then put the Neosporin-covered post straight into my ear (don't wipe it off or anything).

I have a specific Neosporin that is only for earring lubrication so I don't worry about it infecting my cuts or whatever else I use Neosporin for.  If you have just one Neosporin then I would suggest squeezing it out onto a cotton swab (aka Q-tip) first and then using the swab to put the goo on your earring posts.

I haven't tried it myself but I imagine that anti-bacterial hand gel might work in this capacity as well.

(P.S. I also put Neosporin on pimples that accidentally pop (too early) when I'm washing my face a little too hard or in the shower - it cuts the healing time down drastically and doesn't leave a huge angry red (or white) mark).

Delayed.

Regular scheduled posting still delayed. Very busy weekend. But will have a useful tip later this morning.

Happy Monday!

Content.

A good night spent with friends. Who all passed the bar. And I still get to sleep my usual 6 hours. Win!

Food on Friday 3: Lasagna

A few weeks ago, after my sister's crazy med school final (she's in a med school class even though she's just a master's student!) she was craving some lasagna.  Now, we are sortof lasagna snobs and not any old lasagna was going to do.  I told her to wait it out until we could get to a Maggiano's (OMG I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY PUT IN THERE BUT IT'S LIKE MY CRACK!!!).  Well, that never happened so yesterday I decided I was just going to make my OWN lasagna using the recipe for the World's Best Lasagna.

And my tweaks:
Substitutions:
1 package (3/4 lb.) of Aidell's Chicken Sausage (instead of 1 lb. sweet Italian sausage)
1 lb. extra lean ground turkey (instead of 3/4 lb. lean ground beef)
1 whole diced onion (instead 1/2 cup minced onion)
3 minced cloves of garlic (instead of 2 crushed cloves)
1/2 tsp thyme + 1/2 tsp rosemary (instead of 1 tsp Italian seasoning: I just read the Italian seasoning "ingredients" list at the store and used what I had)
1 Tbs garlic salt (instead of regular salt)
1 1/2 tsp dried basil (instead of dried basil leaves)
1 lb mozzarella (instead of 3/4 lb.)
1 1/2 to 2 cups grated Parmesan (instead of 3/4 cup)
Used "Oven-ready" lasagna noodles and didn't have to even pre-soak them.

Additions/Deletions:
+ 1.5 pinches of nutmeg to the ricotta
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds (I don't like how it tastes)
-  4 Tbs fresh parsley (don't like it either)
- no salt in the ricotta mixture

Suggestions for next time:
1.  1 Tbs sugar instead of 2 (I've also read that ground carrots work just as well to cut the tomato tartness)
2.  Would use 1.5 or 2 lbs of mozzarella (I LOVE cheesy lasagna!!!)

The starting ingredients

In a Dutch oven, cook [chicken] sausage, ground [turkey], onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned.  [I slit the sausage skin lengthwise, peeled it off, and chopped up the sausage]

Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley.  [I used a hand blender to mix it all up and to break up the ground turkey and chicken sausage]

Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. 

In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  
Oops - no pic: promise it was just a bowl of white ricotta cheese.

To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups [I used 2 cups and it barely covered the bottom of a 10x14 inch pan] of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture.

[Added a layer of spinach!]

Top with a third [1/2] of mozzarella cheese slices.  

Spoon 1 1/2 cups [used 2 cups again and still had 2-3 cups left over] meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

After baking for 55 minutes!  Lunch for 2 for a week for $30!  (we cut it into 12 pieces and my sister are taking one for lunch each day =)

Official bar exam results.

Available here.  Click on the K to L panel and scroll down to me!!!

(Actually most of my close friends are on that page, 4 Kims and a Kwak!)

Also, some stats from this year's exam:

11,182 candidates sat for the 2-day exam.
69.2% of all candidates who sat the exam passed.
78.5% of all first-time takers passed.

Only 35.4% of all foreign-educated candidates passed.
My sympathies - English is a brutal language =(

Freak.

Source.

Just got out of the elevator.  I was in there with 3 adult men.  I was heads and shoulders above all 3.

I felt awkward - like I was offending the other 3 men by being taller than them and should apologize...

Is there something wrong with me???

Am I a GINORMOUS freak?!?!

Or is there something going on with men, where it's like, somehow genetically beneficial for them to be smaller?

Passed the NY bar.

Win!

  

Edited: Ha.  Anonymous blogger FAIL.

I been Punk'd. And I'm so sad.

Checked our PSEG account online. Got the message in the picture. Was SO SO SO excited. Tried all our lights and things. Nothing worked. Called the number. Automated lady said our power was restored. Told her "No it's not" and spoke to a real live person. Looked out at the street and no one else has power either. Lady on the phone is real nice but affirms what I already know and dread. No electricity restored yet. Website was a fluke. As a cruel twist the generator went out as I hung up with her. Waiting for my dad to come home with more gas for the generator. Le sigh.

Ah, heat.

Picked up an emergency generator last night from dad's friend. Dad hooked it up. Only feeding the boiler, fridge, and bathroom lights. It's good enough for me. :)

The boiler is key. Heating the house and water. Wow.

From our friends at PSEG/PSE&G.

Since losing our power on Saturday evening, I have pretty much been stalking the PSEG outage map and Twitter feed via my iPhone and now at work on the Internet.

In the past 5 minutes the outage map has gone down and so I started clicking on some of the other links.

Here's a helpful hint:

In the event that a wire comes down on a vehicle with passengers, our advice is to stay in the vehicle until professional help arrives to safely remove you from the vehicle. If you MUST get out of the vehicle because of fire or other life-threatening hazards, jump clear of the vehicle so that you do not touch any part of the car and the ground at the same time. Jump as far as possible away from the vehicle with both feet landing on the ground at the same time.
Once you clear the vehicle, shuffle away, with both feet on the ground, or hop away, with both feet landing on the ground at the same time. Do not run away from the vehicle as the electricity forms rings of different voltages. Running may cause your legs to "bridge" current from a higher ring to a lower voltage ring. This could result in a shock. Get a safe distance away.

Emphasis added by ME.  SHUFFLE AWAY - with BOTH FEET ON THE GROUND or HOP.  I know it's probably sound advice and following it probably saves lives - but it's just hard to imagine and amusing to picture.

Because my first instinct in leaving a car that is on FIRE is to RUN. AS. FAST. AS. I. CAN.

Bizarro boss.

I've posted at least once before about how much  I love Ask a Manager.

But she got this one question that seriously has me scratching my head in a WTF manner.

Like, seriously.  Your boss goes THROUGH your desk to steal your food?

SO WEIRD!!!

Reading stuff like this reminds me of how lucky I am to NOT be in that situation.

But also, SERIOUSLY!?!?!? Who steals other people's food? ESPECIALLY when they know it's YOU?!?!?  And are doing things to try and prevent you from stealing it (putting it in her desk)?!?!?!?  AND YOUR STEALING IT PREVENTS THIS PERSON FROM EATING AT ALL????

OMG.  There are just so many things wrong with this boss, I can't wrap my head around it.

Law School Lies.

An Occupy Wall Street perspective on the current law school/legal climate.

Being a "volunteer attorney" and working with a handful of other volunteers sponsored by my law school's "generous" government fellowship program - we talk about these types of numbers and the truthiness of it all quite a bit.

Posts, Interrupted.

Due to an ongoing break in electricity at my home, regularly scheduled posts are taking a break. Will resume when possible. The only reason I'm going to work might be that it'll be warmer in my 65 degree office than my 50 degree house.

Voices in my head. Please hang up and try again.

Source.

At first I thought I was crazy. I felt like I could hear a fuzzy voice somewhere in my office. Then I thought someone was playing a prank on me. Like they had hidden a small radio somewhere in my office and left it on so I would keep thinking I was hearing voices. But then I remembered I don't have any work friends like that. So then I just decided I was crazy again.

Then I realized I had knocked my phone off the hook and the operator voice was repeating over and over and over and over again, "Please hang up and try your call again."

T.G.I.F.

What to frost?

I like how these people think. 

And these people.  And these people.

Not because I have leftover frosting, but because I need a frosting vehicle to transport the frosting into my mouth/belly.  Apparently eating it like yogurt with a spoon straight out of the bowl is a little too, sad/crass/fat.

P.S. Found 2 different Halloween treats I want to make this weekend - will I make one or the other or both?
EEK!!!

Food on Friday 2: Lemon Bars

This summer I was on a bit of a lemon bar kick.  I had a really good mini one at landmarc as part of their dessert sampler in February and that taste just haunted me.  It was sweet, but also tart, and refreshing, and just PERFECT.

 

On a subsequent trip to landmarc in late August.

Lemon bar on far left.

So as befits me, I used the interweb to locate a lemon bar recipe.  I found one called the "Best Lemon Bars."  Clearly, I had to try this.  I'm not a huge fan of mistakes or sub-par "best" so I actually read through ALL 700 or so of the reviews to see what tweaks were suggested and which ones worked.

The ingredients.

Tweaks I used in the crust:

1.  Used a total of 1/3 cup of flour and 2/3 cup of sugar

2.  Added 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp vanilla (also the leftover coconut flakes - less than 1/2 a cup?)

Tweaks I used in the filling:

1. Used 1 1/4 cups of lemon juice

 

Finished product

I thought the ratio of filling to crust (about 1:1) was just right.  But my mom preferred less crust.  I actually halved the crust the 2nd time I made this - but that proved to be disastrous for me.  I was using a springform pan and with the crust so thin and the filling so watery - it leaked through the bottom and I had to create a makeshift foilanyway it was a mess.  If I were to do it with half the crust again I'll just use a regular pan lined with too-big parchment paper (to make it easier to lift out).

I was surprised at how much my parents like this.  I thought it'd be for me and my sister only but they really liked how refreshing the combination of sugar and lemon was.

I also brought a whole box of these to a bridesmaid dress fitting and forgot I brought them.  And ate the whole box myself the next day... true confessions.

A teeny tiny snack for my sister who was studying for some cuh-razy exam.

Of kidnappings and ransoms.

Source.

I read a case (a few days ago) about a fund that was created to pay out rewards for information following an upstate NY girl's kidnapping.  This led to a 40-minute Google search down the rabbit hole about well-publicized kidnappings and abductions and changes to American law (ie. AMBER alert).

Now I have a weird question about policy/ethics regarding a reward/ransom.

A few weeks ago I read a NY Times Magazine article about an older English couple who was kidnapped by pirates and held captive for over a year.  (True Confession: I actually started reading this rather lengthy article because I thought it was a fiction piece with all the fun and fanfare of Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.)  It took their family that much time to come up with the money and also other liaisons to set up an exchange.  The thing is the British government policy is NEVER to pay ransom.

Contrast this with one of the cases I read on Wikipedia about Arjan Erkel who was kidnapped doing work for Doctors Without Borderrs and then released 20 months later when the Dutch government paid a ransom of €1,000,000. 

What are the incentives put in place by a country's ransom policy?  What is the conduct that we are encouraging or discouraging?

Disregarding the fact that the Dutch guy was actually imprisoned/kidnapped for a longer time, has the Dutch government focused a kidnappers' target on their citizens?  Will pirates and other evildoers focus on Dutch citizens because Holland pays ransom whereas England does not?  Or are the countries helping to spare the lives of their citizens?  Will a pirate kill his English victim upon finding out the victim is not wealthy and that his country will not pay a ransom for his return?  According to the Times Magazine article, keeping a hostage is very expensive.  If you have little chance at reaping a ransom, isn't it cheaper to "dispose" of your hostage?

Very difficult questions, indeed.  Today is one of those days I'm glad I'm not one of those key policy-decisionmakers.

Warm and gooey breakfast.

Something about rain and cold weather makes me crave hot oatmeal with cinnamon and a touch of syrup.

Good thing I packed some :)

Waking up with a (good) sigh.

Wouldn't this be an amazing view to wake up to?

 

Source

But also possibly terrifying - like at night or when it's stormy/hurricaney.