Notes from the field?

Chopsticks...

I had a very nice meal this evening with my friend Jordan and his girlfriend Deena - we had really good Thai food.  Anyway, we sat down and got chopsticks with our silverware - the standard Chinese place chopsticks:

Have you ever read the message on the front:

These things have been around since I was a kid - years - no one has ever bothered to let these people know that they have some spelling and grammar mistakes?  It gets worse...

The back includes instructions on how to use the chopsticks:

Let's go through step by step...

Step 1:

What exactly is a "tnurnb" - not even gonna mention "Tuk".

Step 2:

"chcostick"?

Step 3:

"tirst" - I'm not even making this up - that's the sad thing.

I know - it's kind of mean - but too funny to pass up.

What the heck is an ELT?

An ELT - Emergency Locator Transmitter - is the beacon in an airplane that allows it to be found if it crashes.  Of all of the searches CAP is tasked with only about 1% are actual crashes, most are false alarms.  We find the ELT by using a DFing unit called the "Little L-Per":

Click on the ELT below to hear what they sound like when you're searching for them with the L-Per.

It was a quiet night in Chicago...

Until...

5:17p.m.  My phone beeps (I was calling the Spring Encampment Cadet Staff to tell them they had been selected), it's 2d Lt Sam Mullin, our squadron Emergency Services Officer:

"We have a mission..."

With that I was off.  It was an ELT search - since most of my family and friends have no idea what CAP really does - besides cause me to be very busy very often - I thought I would try to give you an idea.

The team leader lets me know that we'll be rallying at Palwaukee Airport.  I arrive there around 6:30p.m., we began searching shortly after that.  We were fairly sure the ELT was on the airport somewhere - here's a map of the location reported by an airplane flying at 19,000 feet and where we ended up finding the ELT:

What this shows is - you can drive a pretty good distance looking for these things - luckily enough we knew roughly by the location identified by the airplane, that it was most likely on Palwaukee Airport.

It took us about 2 hours to find the responsible aircraft:

Ain't she pretty?  Fast too - max cruise: 481kt.

The data (numbers smudged to protect the innocent - and OPSEC):

Duh:

Let's have a look inside - maybe we can get the serial number and everything (again - tail number, OPSEC):

The guts...

 

The ELT itself:

 

Well - chock up another find - all in a days work.

Chuck Norris!!

I was pointed to this by a friend - it is really funny, even if you're not a Chuck Noriss fan:

Cicely Cooks!!

What a fun evening!  My friend Cicely came over and we cooked dinner - and by we, I mean Cicely - the menu was Steamed Mussels and French Fries, a favorite meal of mine.  Anyway, it was a blast - Cicely did all the work and I watched (and took some pictures).  The final product was amazing:

Here's the beginning of the sauce - garlic, shallots, tomatoes, and olive oil.

She's cooking now!!

Now the steaming - white wine and some more olive oil...

The finished product - yummmmm!!

Sleep...

I took this picture of my little sister (half sister) because it made me think about sleep.  Her sleeping here - this is the kind of any time anywhere sleep you can get when you're 2.  I wanted to tell her - cherish it - it wont last long - when you're an adult you'll sleep of course but it wont be like that. 

Peaceful.

Yes - That's Right - I Can Cook...

Most people who know me know I can cook - but I thought photographic proof was in order.  This is one of my favorites to make.  I've included the recipe in case you all want to try to make it.  It's really good.  It's Pasta with Chicken and Gorgonzola Cheese - with Pine Nuts.

Mmmmm...

The cooking show money shot!!

Happy Freaking New Year.

Yes - it is '06 - I am now 27 years old.  This apparently is a lot different than 26 - especially for Jewish women.  All of a sudden I have become very popular with the 30-something crowd on JDate, not sure why.  Anyway, I enjoyed a quiet evening at home for NYE - I was seriously considering meeting some friends out but decided to lay low.

Meanwhile I was at the zoo yesterday and captured this kinda funny video - enjoy: