Roseyland

WARNING!!! This blog post may be in violation of the Patriot Act. Continue reading at your own risk. Details to come later in this post. I did something I’ve wanted to do for a long time over Memorial Day Weekend. You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I road the St. Louis MetroLink from Shrewsbury to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. You might have noticed in my posts about Chicago and San Francisco that I have a little thing for light rail public transportation. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but it has something to do with that big city feeling. Riding the Metrolink (or subway, or El, or T,…) is an experience you share with other people, yet you remain completely autonomous. Also, trains are cool. Here is a picture of the Shrewsbury station where I parked my car and started my journey at 11:56 a.m.

I purchased an all day pass for $4.50, because I knew I wanted to get on and off a couple times. I wanted to get a few pictures of the cool underground stations near WashU, so I got off at the University City - Big Bend station, which you can see in the picture below. I love the underground stations because they make me feel like I’m in a bigger city and they have cool colored lighting effects. The pink lights in the picture below change from pink, to red, to green, to blue. I’m easily amused.

A random fact about me: I got my engineering degree at WashU. One of the campus apartments I lived in is right by the new University City MetroLink station. The station didn’t exist when I was in school, which is too bad, because that would have ruled. I used my elite Microsoft Paint skills to mark my old room in the picture below, let me know if you can’t find it.

There is a cool little tree lined path that links WashU and the loop. I was hungry, so I followed the path.

Here is a picture of the loop. The picture doesn’t really do it justice, but I love the loop. So many unique shops, restaurants, and a diverse mix of people. The loop is another thing that reminds me that I live in a big city with a lot to experience, if you remember to look.

I love Noodles & Company, I ate at Noodles years ago when they first started in Colorado. I was thrilled when they expanded to St. Louis. I had the seasonal asparagus pasta. I love asparagus, and I was a little disappointed that they didn’t put very much asparagus in the asparagus pasta. See? Look, where’s the asparagus?

I walked to the Skinker station to get back on the MetroLink. Here is a picture of a cool mural and the ramp leading down to the tracks. If you look close, you can see that the colored lighting effects are now blue. Woah! colored lights are awesome!

I had to change trains if I wanted to go all the way to Scott Air Force Base, so I got off at the Arch-Laclede’s Landing station. I got a cool picture of the Arch inside one of the stations arches. I call it arch in an arch.

I hadn’t see the new Lumière Place casino yet, so I took a walk to check it out. I have to say, I’m impressed. Lumière Place is by far the most Vegas like casino in the St. Louis area. I love the way the cool/trendy restaurants are mixed in with the casino floor. It reminded me of the Mirage casino in Vegas.

It rained just a tiny bit over the Memorial Day weekend in St. Louis. I got stuck out in the rain as I was walking through Laclede’s landing, so I hid under an awning and took pictures.

I debated whether or not to go all the way to Scott Air Force Base or to just head back to Shrewsbury. I kind of knew that there wasn’t anything I wanted to see in Illinois, but I also knew that I wouldn’t feel like I had completed the mission if didn’t go all the way. So I got back on the Metrolink and headed east. Once I got past East St. Louis, this is what I saw.

I pretty much felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. Don’t get me wrong, I love the country, I just don’t want mixed in with my Metrolink. The farm fields kind of ruin the whole big city feeling. Below is a picture of the Scott Air Force Base station to prove that I went the whole way.

After about 40 minutes, I arrived back in civilization. I had to change trains to get back to Shrewsbury, so I got off at the Convention Center station. This is another underground station, and it’s cool because overall it has a modern look, but the Metrolink tunnel entrances are old. I got this cool picture of the train entering the station.

See the picture above? This picture may get me sent to Guantanamo Bay. Right after I took the picture, the train driver came over the loudspeaker and said “SIR! DO NOT TAKE A PICTURE OF THE TRAIN!”. “Huh?” I stood there bewildered for a moment, not quite sure what had happened. “SIR! PUT YOUR CAMERA AWAY TAKING PICTURES OF THE TRAINS IS ILLEGAL”. I put my camera away and sat back embarrassed, confused, and a little angry. How in the world could taking a picture of a train be illegal, and why was publicly yelling at me over the loudspeaker the appropriate way to inform me?

When I got home, I did some research on the web. Initially it appeared that the Patriot Act had made any photography of trains, planes, tunnels, bridges, airports, etc… illegal. I was shocked. After some more research, I found that this is probably not the case. It isn’t very clear, and there is a lot misinformation out there, but this article (Should Photography be Illegal? by Jim McGee) does a good job of summarizing the situation.

Basically, there is good reason for police and public transportation agencies to be weary of anyone who is showing a lot interest in a potential terrorist target. Apparently, a few individuals with sketchy backgrounds have been caught extensively photographing and videotaping various cities’ transportation networks. Which is scary. That being said, legitimate photography does not appear to be illegal, nor should it be. Let’s face it, a little rule about photography is not going to get in the way of a psycho religious fundamentalist hell bent on killing innocent people in the name of god. I’m just saying. Also, if you want to make something against the rules, post a few signs or something. Publicly chastising people when they do something wrong is not an effective communication strategy. Yeah, um, I’m still a little hurt.

Here’s a picture of my entire route including the portions that I walked. You can click on the picture for a larger version.

There you have it, one long MetroLink ride. Overall I traveled 70 miles in approximately 4 hours and 15 minutes. 2 hours and 45 minutes of that was spent riding the Metrolink. You can see more pictures of my trip in my flickr set here. I highly doubt that I will ever repeat this trip, but I am glad that I can check it off my list now. This website is interesting, it is dedicated to the expansion of the Metrolink. I would personally love it if I could ride the MetroLink to work and/or the airport. I know I could ride it to the airport now, but I have to go all the way to Forest Park, then change stations, and that’s just too much. Okay, that is all, thanks for coming with me on my crazy long MetroLink ride.

For a while now, I have been attempting to create a beer cheese spaghetti sauce similar to the beer cheese sauce at one of my favorite restaurants (Spaghetti Works in Nebraska and Iowa). I documented my last attempt at beer cheese sauce in this post. It made a tasty beer cheese soup, but it still didn’t have the taste I was looking for. Then I received an anonymous comment to my blog post suggesting that I try Gouda cheese, Blue Moon beer, and a can of cream of mushroom soup. The can of cream of mushroom soup intrigued me, because that very well could have been the taste I was looking for. I love sautéed mushrooms (like you get at outback steakhouse), and sometimes sautéed mushrooms are made with beer (usually burgundy I think, but sometimes beer). I never realized it before, but sautéed mushrooms and the beer cheese sauce from Spaghetti Works have a strangely similar flavor. This new recipe was fairly simple, so I gave it a try. Here are my ingredients:

I didn’t know much about Gouda cheese before this, so I looked it up on Wikipedia. Gouda cheese is named after the city of Gouda in the Netherlands. It comes in young and old varieties. The young variety is a softer creamier cheese and the old variety is a harder brittle cheese. You can read the Wikipedia article here. The younger variety seems to be the only one you can easily find, and I figured it would melt better anyways, so I went with the most straight forward looking Gouda cheese I saw. I was going to shred it, but it was pretty soft and I thought it would melt easily, so I just cut it into pieces like this:

I didn’t have any instructions, so I just put the soup, beer, and half the cheese into a sauce pot on medium heat and stirred. The cheese seemed to be melting fairly well, but it looked like it needed more cheese to reach the right thickness, so I put in the rest of the cheese. After about 10 minutes, it looked like everything was going okay. Like this:

It needed to thicken up a bit if it had any hope of becoming a spaghetti sauce, so I kept stirring. I tried not to let it boil, but I failed. Pretty soon I started to notice that the cheese hadn’t melted quite right. I think somehow I turned it into cheese curd or something. The sauce was watery with a big glob of rubbery cheese like material in it. This is what it looked like:

Here is another picture:

I was about to consider this attempt a complete failure, but I tasted the watery part of the sauce and it wasn’t bad. Actually, it was very good. I’m not sure if it is the same as the Spaghetti Works sauce, but it’s definitely the best tasting beer cheese sauce I have made so far. I also tasted the rubbery cheese like material. I know you are thinking that’s gross, but I figured it couldn’t hurt me, and it was for science. The rubbery stuff tasted good too, rubbery, but good. I poured the watery portion of the sauce into a bowl. This is the big mass of rubbery stuff that was left in the sauce pot:

Gross huh? Here’s the watery stuff in a bowl:

I actually ate this with the saltine crackers, and it was very tasty. Thank you anonymous commenter. If you are still out there, could you tell me how to make it look like spaghetti sauce? I think next time I will mix the soup and an equal amount of cheese together first. I’ll slowly melt them over low heat and then add the beer a little bit at a time. It would probably help to shred the cheese too, rather than just cutting it into pieces. This recipe might work well in a crock pot, since I think melting the cheese slowly would help prevent the rubbery cheese curd effect. I’d also like to try this recipe with Michelobe Amber Bock, which is what I used in my previous attempt. Does anybody out there have any other suggestions? You know, somebody who unlike me knows something about cooking? I wonder if that cupcake blogger would help me?

If you read this post, you know that I love personality test. I took another personality test tonight that I stumbled across in somebody’s Facebook profile. According to the test, I am an Independent Thinker (IT). If you click on the button below, it will take you to a description of my personality type.

I’d say the IT profile fits me pretty well. It’s kind of scary, because the test only has 4 question. How can 4 fairly simple questions reveal so much about me? I thought I was more complex than that. Oh well. I’d love it if you clicked here and took the test yourself. Then tell me what your personality type is in the comments. How well do you think the profile describes you? The test is really short. Do It! Do It!

A while ago, I wrote a post about 5 women that I’m considering marrying. This is a similar post except that it is about 5 attractive women that I don’t find attractive. Don’t get me wrong, these women are beautiful, they just don’t do it for me as much as they do it for most guys. I’m always getting asked by women whether or not I find various celebrities attractive, a question I hate by the way, but these questions have partly motivated me to write this post. Let’s get started:

5. Paris Hilton

I know everyone is annoyed with Paris Hilton these days, but I never really thought she was that ‘hot”. I think it has something to do with the bone structure in her face. I wish her appearance was just slightly softer or something. It also might be because I feel like I know a little too much about her. Attraction requires a little bit of mystery.

4. Halle Berry

Halle is gorgeous except for one thing. Her hair. I don’t like her short hair, it makes her look like a boy to me. I know she has longer hair these days, but I can’t get the short hair out of my mind. This is kind of strange, because there are lots of women with short hair that I find attractive, but not Halle Berry. I think it is a combination of the short hair and its poofed up style.

3. Pamela Anderson

I almost didn’t include Pamela Anderson on this list, because you don’t hear much about her anymore. I had to include her though, because I wanted to talk about boobs. I’m not a boob guy. I mean don’t get me wrong, I like boobs, but I don’t go all gaga over a set of obscenely large breast when I see them. To me breast are a component of the overall whole, and they are most attractive when they complement the body they are attached too. It is just as easy for breast to be too big as it is for them to be too small. Pamela’s breast are far to large, I prefer a more natural look.

2. Cameron Diaz

I don’t know why, but Cameron Diaz looks like a smoker to me. I don’t think she is, but whenever I see here, I just have this vision of her smoking like two packs a day (is that a lot?). Smoking turns me off, so even looking like a smoker ruins it for me. I realize this makes no rational sense, but neither do a lot of things in life.

1. Angelina Jolie

Number one on my list of attractive women that I do not find attractive is Angelina Jolie. In this case what I don’t like is what everybody else seems to like so much. Her lips. Like I said about Pamela Anderson, I prefer a more natural look, and those lips are not natural. They are distracting and they bother me.

I hope this post doesn’t come across wrong. Of course all of the women in this post are insanely attractive, and of course there are much more important things that physical beauty. This is just one of those areas where I have different opinions that most people, and I thought that might be interesting.

Today is a big day. Are you excited? You should be. I have created a new game that is sure to sweep the nation. I call it Airborne Google Earth Photo Safari Game or AGEPSG. AGEPSG is kind of like Geocaching, Confluence Hunting, and/or Wheres Georgeing, except better in every possible way. This is how it works.

1. Get in an airplane and get a window seat, push and shove if necessary. The longer the flight the better, but the flight should be mostly over land and during the day.
2. Wait until the flight has progressed long enough that you don’t really know where you are.
3. Look out the window and take a picture of the ground. I recommend using a camera phone, so that you don’t freak out the other passengers too much. Also, turn off the flash, unless of course you enjoy drawing attention to yourself and you want a picture of your reflection.
4. After you land, get on a computer with Google Earth and try to find what you took a picture of.
5. Post something about it on the internet, so that the whole world knows how awesome you are.

I invented this game on a recent flight from San Francisco to St. Louis. I was looking out the window and I saw this lake, and I was like “What in the hell is that lake?”. So I took a picture of it with my iPhone. Below is the first Airborne Google Earth Photo Safari Game picture ever taken. Remember people, this is the picture that started it all.

Honestly, I didn’t think I’d be able to find this lake in Google Earth, but as it turns out, it’s a pretty big Lake. You can see the Google Earth version of it below.

I was able figure out that this is Mono Lake, which is a hypersaline lake near Yosemite National Park. Apparently it is one of the oldest lakes in North America and has something to do with volcanic activity. Follow the link if you want to know more. I took the next picture a little bit after Mono Lake.

This one was harder to find, but I found it. You can see the Google Earth version below.

It took a little bit of digging, but I was able to figure out that this is the Big Sand Springs Valley region in Nevada. Not much to say here except that it is one of about a million dry lake beds in Nevada. I took one last Airborne Google Earth Photo Safari Game picture about an hour after the dry lake picture. Here it is.

This picture was the hardest to find in Google Earth, because it deviated the most from the great circle path between San Francisco and St. Louis. I am a professional AGEPSGer though, and naturally I was able to find it. Here is the Google Earth version.

This is a picture of the Boulder Reservoir and Six Mile Reservoir near Boulder, CO. It’s funny, because I had no idea I was over Boulder, CO. Okay, so maybe it’s not ha ha funny, but it’s funny in that it’s kind of interesting, to me… a little.

Here is a big Google Earth picture with the location of the three AGEPSG pictures marked along with the San Francisco and St. Louis airports. The line is the great circle path from San Francisco to St. Louis. It is interesting that towards the middle of the flight we were significantly north of the great circle path. I figure this has something to do with the jet stream, or flight corridors, or another one of those massive government conspiracies. So there you have it folks. The beginning of the next big thing. Keep in mind, you don’t have to play this game alone. You can also send Airborne Google Earth Photo Safari Game pictures to your family and friends and see if they can find them in Google Earth. The possibilities are endless.

Wow… I almost forgot I had a blog. I haven’t posted for awhile. I have no excuse except that I have been traveling a lot and planning a kitchen remodel. I’m back in the swing of things now though, so all 3 or 4 of my loyal readers can expect more frequent updates in the near future. Near future as in like, right now. So I was in San Francisco a couple weeks ago for my Dad’s wedding. I had never been to California before, so my Aunt and I went a couple days early to check it all out. I had enough frequent flyer miles to fly first class from STL to SFO, and it was wonderful. All I can say is, I love warm nuts. I arrived about an hour before my Aunt, so I had sometime to hang out in the airport. I’m fascinated by big planes, and SFO had a lot of them. Below are a few 747’s at the international terminal.

One of our first stops was the famous Lombard street. We were staying near the water, and walking up to Lombard street nearly killed us. I knew San Francisco was hilly, but I didn’t know the hills went straight up. Below is a picture of Lombard street with a lot of SF in the background. That tower in the distance is famous, but I forget why.

Out next stop was China town as you can see below. There was lots of cat stuff in China town, which I liked, because I’m a cat person. Also, the food looked really good, adventurous, but good.

The picture below is of the most important stop on the trip. The CNET building. I am a big fan of CNET podcast like Buzz Out Loud and Gadgettes, so I had to see where these podcast were taped. I looked around for Tom Merritt or Molly Wood, but I didn’t see them. I did eat at the Maya restaurant though, which I’ve heard mentioned on a few CNET podcast. It was okay, I should have ordered the quesadilla.

One of the coolest things in San Francisco was the old street cars. Old street cars from cities all over the country are now in SF and are used for the F train that runs from Market street down to the wharf area. One of these cars is the “Streetcar Named Desire” from New Orleans. Below are a couple of these street cars. I think the one on the right is from Kansas City, MO.

Here is one of SF’s famous cable cars. We rode this car from the wharf area up to Market street, which was much easier than walking up all the hills.

This is a picture of Union Square in downtown SF near Market street. There is lots of shopping in this area, kind of like Michigan avenue in Chicago. I like the iPod billboard in the background, it is very fitting for San Francisco.

I love subways, so of course I had to ride BART. Here is a picture of a BART train. BART felt more modern that most subways I have been on, except for maybe D.C.’s. I remember that the BART trains were carpeted on the inside, this seemed odd to me, but it was nice.

Another thing I had to see in SF was the Palace of Fine Arts, which you can see below. The Palace of Fine Arts looks like an ancient Greek or Roman temple next to a beautiful lake. It is completely surreal when you see it in real life. It is also attached to the Exploratorium, which is an amazing hands on museum. If you are ever in SF, you must go see it.

Here is a picture of some of the beautiful houses in the Marina district of SF. I heard they cost about 10 million a piece, and they are built on sandy soil, so if there is ever a significant earthquake, they probably won’t survive.

Here of course is the Golden Gate Bridge. I was lucky to get a picture of it, because most of our time in SF the bridge was covered in fog.

Here is a picture of the Bay Bridge at night. I love the way this picture came out. Also, I was a little shocked that there are palm trees in SF, because it is definitely not a tropical climate.

Overall San Francisco was a great trip. I’m not quite sure how to describe SF. It didn’t feel as high techy as I expected it to feel. My Aunt described it as being like Paris or Amsterdam. I described it as being like a big city version of Bolder, Colorado. I wasn’t as in love with SF as I am other big cities like Chicago, New York, or Boston. I guess I’m more of an east coast or midwest type person. I’d still love to visit SF again though. Next time I want to eat in China town and see Alcatraz. Below is a picture of everywhere we walked, which was a total of 12.21 hilly miles. You can also see more pictures on my Flickr page here.

One last note. It has long been a dream of mine to feel an earthquake, and I though my trip to San Francisco might be my big chance. The first night in SF I mentioned several times that I hoped we would feel an earthquake. Not a big one, just big enough to feel. The next morning St. Louis had an earthquake, and I missed it because I was in San Francisco. How in the hell does that happen?