Rice Krispie Hearts
I decided to make some treats for the office tomorrow to celebrate Valentine’s Day. I did the usual Rice Krispie recipe but substituted pink marshmallows (strawberry flavor) instead of plain. That wasn’t quite pink enough, so I also stirred in a fair bit of red food coloring. They’re quite gruesome now, don’t you think? I also stirred in a bag of white chocolate chips which I hoped would remain whole but instead they just melted into the rest of the cereal. It’s fine; they still taste good. The hardest part was punching the damn things out with the heart-shaped cookie cutter. I tried to do it while they were still warm (so I could mush the leftover bits back together to make more treats) but they cooled rapidly and I had a hell of a time cutting them out. Still, they’re kinda cute and it’s always fun to put the whole office into sugar shock first thing Friday morning…

This is where Kris’s ego instantly grows three sizes.
My normal carpool buddy Kevin stayed home today so I had to bus it. (And, as Molly Ringwald utters in Sixteen Candles, “I loathe the bus.”) So there I was on the way home, slumped in the corner with my headphones on and a scowl on my face, when a nice looking guy slid into the seat next to me. Five minutes later I realized he’d put down his book and was staring intently at me. Anticipating another iPod encounter, I hit “pause” and turned to him.

“This is going to sound really weird and stalkerish,” he said, “but you look really familiar.” I was all confused, like, “I do?” He next asked, “You’re American, aren’t you?” I was thoroughly bewildered at this point. “Yeah…?” “I read your blog!” No. Way. My jaw dropped. This guy seriously recognized me from this site. I was like, “You’re sure you’re not a stalker?” Nope, it turns out his name is Andrew and he’s a fellow Sydney blogger. How cool is that? I had to SMS the Snook immediately and tell him how famous I am. He was suitably impressed.

Annoyances:

– There are no Apple In-Ear Headphones in stock in all of Sydney. I called every Apple Centre in the metropolitan area. My shallow desire to sport visible white headphones has been thwarted.

– Has anybody else noticed that MetaFilter‘s been down for three days? I can’t find any status information on the usual sites and I’m craving a ‘Filter fix.

Excellent. Business 2.0 magazine has published photos of Dr. Atkins taken two months before his death. That is not a man that weighs 260 pounds.

My co-worker’s seventh wedding anniversary is coming up and today he was brainstorming ideas for a present. So I did a little research and turned up this list of traditional anniversary gifts. Needless to say, he was less than enthusiastic about his options (wool, copper, or a “desk set” if you want to go the modern route). My boss got all excited when he saw the choices for his upcoming ninth anniversary: willow or leather. I waited for the inevitable dirty joke. “Fantastic!” he said. “She can get me a cricket bat!”

Wow, Bill Maher has a weblog! I didn’t know that.

Check out this Online Barcode Generator. I’m totally using this to generate stripe patterns for my knitting! How cool would it be to wear a scarf with a secret code in it?

Remember when I asked when Anderson Cooper had gone “totally gray”? I’d like to revise that question. Here’s my new one: When did Anderson Cooper go totally GAY? An excerpt from today’s Sydney Morning Herald entitled “Spotlight on New York Fashion Week”:

Among the celebrities attracted to the opening shows was Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’s Carson Kressley. Reported the San Francisco Chronicle: “In the front row at the Nautica show, Carson Kressley was in a thin olive cashmere cable-knit sweater, charcoal grey pants and square-toe black shoes. Kressley and his apparent new beau, Anderson Cooper (Gloria Vanderbilt’s son), were cooing through most of the show, so it’s a wonder he saw enough of it to comment, but he did say he liked the mix of tech fabrics (waterproof merino jackets) with classic tailoring (charcoal cashmere wool windowpane three-button suits).”

Eeeeek! So since when does Anderson play for the other team? I’m depressed. Although given my history of like boys that eventually turned out to be gay, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. I bet Carson doesn’t let him wear any of those yummy flannel shirts anymore, either.

Before anybody sends it to me, yes, I’ve seen the story about how Dr. Atkins was supposedly obese. To be honest, I’m not really convinced by either side’s arguments there. The health information was leaked by a “pro-vegetarian” group with an obvious bias, but then again, the Atkins people have a financial interest in protecting his reputation. It’s confusing. Also, if he really did weigh that much, did they doctor the photos they used on his books? Because he certainly doesn’t look that fat in them.

At any rate, y’all shouldn’t worry about me. I had my blood pressure checked yet again last week and my doctor pronounced it “excellent”. Unfortunately I’m still a chunker, but I’m a lot less of a chunker than I was two years ago. I’ve got a new personal trainer who’s started me on a weightlifting routine. My body-fat percentage is a shocker – How can a third of my body be fat? That’s ridiculous – but we’re working on that. I’m even drinking protein shakes with milk now to speed recovery in my new badass muscles. Also, the Snook and I have each eaten our weight in cherry tomatoes in the past two weeks so we’re chock full o’ vitamin goodness. In summary: Don’t worry, kids; we’re not gonna keel over and hit our heads on the sidewalk anytime soon.

The Oscar Contest now has almost 150 entries. Who are all you people? I really hope we don’t have a twenty-way tie. On a related note, there’s apparently some controversy about Fernando Meirelles’s nomination for directing City of God. Apparently another filmmaker named Katia Lund basically co-directed it but she’s gotten very little credit. It sucks that Meirelles has, like, no chance of winning, because that might be her only chance to get a mention.