Where are you taking my car?!?!?!

Dave and I spent Christmas about 1,000 miles away from each other at our respective families' homes, so last weekend we used a groupon to stay two nights at a lodge in Beaver Creek, just up the road from Vail to have our own holiday.  These ski areas, similar to Aspen, are the places where rich people go to ski.  Beaver Creek's moto is, "Not exactly roughing it."  Now, that's not to say that normal folk like you or I can't ski there, it just means that we can't park anywhere near the rich people.  We must park far away, pay for parking, then take a shuttle to the slopes.  Dave's five-mountain season pass covers Beaver Creek.  This past weekend, Dave and I attempted to become one with the rich and pass the boundary where only people who are staying the night can bring in their vehicles.

We left Boulder pretty early for us, but a snow storm had started in the wee hours of the morning and ended up dumping about a foot snow in Boulder and the same where we were heading (fresh powder!).  During the snow storm we drove up I-70, through the Eisenhower tunnel, safely made it down the other side, made it through Vail pass, and luckily for us, most of the cars in the ditch were really on the other side of the road for some reason.  We arrived at Beaver Creek safely, but it was too late for me to get my money's worth out of a ski pass for the day, especially considering we had to be off the slopes by 2:30 to watch the Packer game.  So we stroll on up to our lodge, park, and try to check in, but our room won't be ready for another three hours.  We decide to take a bathroom break and then go for a quick snowshoe and get directions to the cheapest sports bar in town so we can catch the beginning of the Packer game.  On our way to the bathroom, a valet parking man says, "Excuse me, Mr. P?  We'd like to park your car for you."  We get them off our back for five minutes to use the bathroom, come back, and tell them we need to put on our gear to go snowshoeing, so if we could just have a few minutes to sort through our stuff, we'd appreciate it.

We open the back of the car and the valet man says, "Is all of this going up to your room?"  A valid question.  Having not just flown in to the airport like the rest of the guests, our luggage was not neatly organized in a clean rental car.  No, our luggage was dispersed among reusable grocery store bags, a cooler, suitcases, and an entire bag filled with cookingware, and sat among a pile of sweaters and a george forman grill and old espresso machine to take to Good Will.  This pile for Good Will has been in my car for at least two months, so it's now scattered in every direction.   

Why, you might ask, do we have cookingware with us on a three day vacation to a lodge?  Well, the day before our trip, I decided to map out some good restaurants that might have gluten free options so we could figure out the logistics of lunches and dinners.  In my search, I found nothing but $50 entrees and $30 salads.  There was no way I was going to pay for $120 meals for three days!  Unfortunately, our lodge room was not equipt with a kitchen, only a fridge.  What else could we do, but bring along a crock pot to make stew and a rice cooker to warm up our $1.50 cans of Progresso gluten free soups for lunches?  Of course the LAST thing I want my valet man to see is our slow cooker, green peppers, and stew beef to make Dave's favorite Pepper Steak Stew.

We talk the valet man into letting us keep our stuff in our car until our room is ready, then take everything up ourselves.  We start getting out our snowshoes and I put on some snowpants.  I got the feeling that changing in front of your car parked in front of the main entrance of a lodge at Beaver Creek is not Kosher.  The valet man is trying to push me along.  Really?  Don't you think that, outside of his job, he's totally just like me and is used to being the folks who drive to the ski area, park, get out and get dressed outside the back door of their vehicle?  In fact, on warmer ski days, Dave might strip down to his boxers right in the middle of the parking lot to put his snow pants on without too much insulation underneath.  Luckily, Dave held himself back this time.  I rushed to get out everything I needed to snow shoe:  snow pants, down jacket, boots (shoot, I have to put ON the boots so I can put my shoes back in the car!), neck warmer, hat, gloves, credit card, cell phone, camera, snow shoes.  Okay, okay!  I'll leave!  I gave the dude my spare key for the car, and he took my car, my gear storage, my purse, my food, to the far away land of valet-parked cars.  Two minutes later I realized I didn't grab my ski poles.  I'd have to go without.  :(  

We marched out the back door of the lodge and about 20 feet up the ski path, run into people briskly jogging in snow shoes.  Really?  I can barely walk in these things without occasionally tipping over or tripping over my other foot, and these people were in an actual snow shoe race!  We waited for the majority of them to go by and then followed, walking, down the path they had went on.  We climbed up the mountain for a bit, took a path covered in fresh snow around the side of the mountain, and popped out on a blue ski run (oops!).  The Packer game was about to start, so we "walked" down the blue in our snow shoes.  Honestly, I went down on my butt for a while, then realized my snow shoes could be used like skis at a certain angle and just slid much of the way.  We made our way to the cheap sports bar at the bottom of the mountain and there was no where to sit, so we asked the information lady for another option, and we found a sweet place called the Dusty Boot that had ample TVs, a classier crowd, and good food.  We watched the first half of the Packer game, then got the call that our room was ready and watched the win from the comfort of our room.

After the game, we realized we had to face the reality that we had to tell the valet man to bring our car back, unload it, then re-park it.  This would involve needing to give them a tip.  Well, my purse was in the car, so I guess I'd be able to manage this.  How much do you give to someone bringing your car around?  They are doing me no favors, I'd rather just go find my car, get out my stuff, and take it upstairs.  I'll give them $4.  (I found out later that a $66 fee was included in my bill to cover valet parking, but tips were still appreciated.)  Okay, Dave was going to make his move on the cookingware so the valet man didn't hear it rattle and wonder what we were up to.  I got the rest of our stuff loaded on a cart and we took it up to our room.  The valet man earned his $4 by taking our skis to the ski storage area.  We left our ice skates in the car, thinking we had already brought too much for three days.

Finally, we could relax.  We put on our suits and went out back to the outdoor hot tub and sat in it with some other friendly folks while it snowed on us, which is a really cool feeling. 

The next day we skied, my first day of the season and my first time ever skiing in powder.  We had soup for lunch.  I did well skiing, until about 2:30 or 3:00 when we were at the tip top of the mountain (11,440 feet), the wind picked up, and it started snowing again.  When getting off the lift, the thermometer read -14 degrees.  I started having problems with my nose stinging.  No wonder:

No wonder my nose was cold, but why wasn't Dave complaining about his cheeks?

The last run of the day, we went our own ways and it took me like a year to get down to our lodge.  I stopped at a cafeteria cabin to get the ice out of the inside of my goggles to I could see.  Then, I was in a mild white-out for a while, but just kept following a group in front of me.  I took a green to a blue to a green and my nose and frozen fingers wished I would have just skied straight down.  My Costco gloves failed me, time and again, despite their cool zipper to hold a hand warmer.  I'm moving towards mittens for my next buy.  However, I am loving my Ebay buy of my down jacket for 2/3 the regular price.  This thing at least kept my core warm. 

We made stew, sat in the hot tub with some younger folks (8 people staying in one room, I'm sure), and were just totally wiped after the full day of skiing.  That night it got down to -22 degrees at the base.

Tuesday we skied all day again and had sandwiches for lunch at one of the buildings on the mountain with amazing views.  It was soooo cold out.  I was having a hard time staying warm, but still managed to ski almost a full day and Dave managed to put up with my complaining.  Here's a few pictures I took during my last run of the day when I had to take breaks to thaw my fingers.

At the end of the day our car was waiting for us, out of its secret valet hole, and we tiredly made the trip home in great driving conditions.  The lesson to take away is that even a grad student and college professor can hang with the rich folks of the world.  Even if we're really faking it and rather than having a $50 steak for dinner, are hiding out in our room with a crock pot and $3 stew meat, we still managed to enjoy the facilities at Beaver Creek. I highly suggest spending some time there!  http://www.beavercreek.com/

Gluten free Thanksgiving- Darcy's Stuffing

My Aunt Darcy has the best stuffing recipe!  You HAVE to try it!  Back in the day when I actually went through the huge hassle of flying home for both Christmas AND Thanksgiving, Darcy would bring the stuffing fixings and we would use some on my gluten free croutons so I could have my own stuffing.  I've been making this on my own for a few years now and am planning on making it this year for the big day. The nice thing about it is that you throw it in your crock pot and while it warms up, you can forget about it until your other dishes are ready to go for dinner. 

Phase 1: 
Ingredients
1 loaf gluten free white bread
1 tsp onion powder
1 Tbsp sage

My first step this weekend will be to get some Udi's gluten free white bread from King Soopers (also available here).  (I have also used Whole Foods gluten free white bread.)  With your sharpest serrated bread knife, cut the loaf into small cubes (about 1cm X 1cm cubes).  Throw the cubes on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with onion powder and large amounts of sage.  Toast these in your oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Let them cool off and dry out completely before storing them in a ziplock and set them aside for the big day.

For a gluten-filled version of this recipe, apparently you can buy sage and onion croutons already made.  

Phase II:  This next phase can also be done before Thanksgiving and stored, or can also be made the day of.
Ingredients
1 cup butter
2 cups celery finely chopped
2 cups onions finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley finely chopped
1 lb fresh mushrooms diced
1 lb ground pork

In a large pan, melt butter and saute celery and onions in the butter.  Once these are looking somewhat transparent, add the mushrooms and parsley and let them loose their moisture and let that moisture cook off.   Set this aside.  In the same pan, brown the ground pork and drain any excess grease. Combine all of this in a Tupperware for storage until you're ready for phase III. 

Phase III:
Ingredients
2 eggs
4 cups chicken broth (or 4 tsp chicken bouillon and 4 cups water)
1 cup raisins (optional)

On the big day, 2 hours before Thanksgiving dinner, grease your crock pot.  Beat two eggs in a bowl.  Throw your croutons in the crock pot and pour the eggs over the top.  Add the Phase II mixture and four cups of chicken broth.  I like to use "Better than bouillon."  This is a moist bullion that is gluten free.  I then just combine 1 tsp of this with each cup of hot water to dissolve it and make my own faux chicken broth. The fancy organic boxed broth is usually labeled gluten free as well.  Stir your stuffing and put your crock pot on high for 2 hours or low for 4 hours, stir once or twice during this process and serve when dinner is ready!  

This year I'm going to make a vegetarian version of this by leaving out the ground pork and switching to a vegetarian, gluten free bouillon called "Not chick'n".  I'm thinking it will be equally as awesome! 

A note on raisins-- some people don't care for raisins in their stuffing or better yet, have never heard of anyone doing this.  I love them.  Darcy usually made two crockpots, one with, on without (we have a massive family!).  I say, if you don't like the raisins, then don't eat them. 

Enjoy!

Grid's Candied Yams

Yeah, Grid's yams are pretty sweet, but let's talk about food.  Last year Dave made his specialty for me on Thanksgiving, candied yams.  Somehow, my family seems to have missed out on this amazing recipe, so it was a new one for me and, wow, these things just melt in your mouth!  He will definitely be in charge of making these from now on. 

This is an easy, low-prep recipe that you can make just before the meal is ready to serve (not to take away from Dave and his cooking talents, the boy can cook). 

Grid's candied yams

Ingredients
one huge can yams (sorry, I don't have one on hand to check the oz.)
3 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp gluten-free flour to thicken (or corn starch)
coconut for topping
marshmallows for topping

Directions
Take the liquid from the can of yams and whisk in the flour or corn starch.  Melt butter and add to yam liquid.  Grease your oven-safe pan and pour yams in, pour liquid over the top, top with marshmallows and coconut, and bake at 350 degrees until bubbling (about 20 minutes).  I'm not a huge fan of coconut texture, so Dave made half without coconut for me. 

Gluten Free Thanksgiving- Green Bean Casserole

Halloween was great and all, me as Tinkerbell (again) and Dave as Buckethead (again), but upon turning my Google calendar over to November, I was pleasantly surprised to find that fall break is only two weeks away, which means Turkey Day is just a bit beyond that.  It's time to be thankful, but it's also time to cook!

Thanksgiving is a holiday that revolves around eating.  Unfortunately, us gluten free folk can usually be left with nothing to eat except mashed potatoes if the chefs use traditional preparation methods.  Through a few easy changes, and a few not-so-easy ones, you can replicate a traditional thanksgiving meal that is 100% gluten free and safe for us Celiacs.  Unfortunately, much of my traditional recipes are not vegetarian, but feel free to play around with adjustments on these recipes as your heart desires.  Also, these recipes can be made more easily with gluten and they are worth trying for you normal eaters out there!

Last year, Dave and I ended up at our new place for Thanksgiving.  We were still in disarray from our recent move, trying to build a pantry, putting shelving in closets, trying to buy a couch, and the general chaos that was my first semester of teaching four new college classes.  I was very excited to cook for the two of us and have a relaxing day.  I mapped out a whole menu and got the timing down so I could prep a few things ahead of time, but on the day of, only cook for about two hours and be ready to chow down. I planned and I thought a lot about the timing of one oven and six dishes and I had fun doing the actual cooking. 

First, here is my Thanksgiving Day menu.  I'll try to post my family recipes now in gluten free form as we get closer to the big day.

Turkey and gravy
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Candied Yams
Green Bean Casserole
Pumpkin pie
Hard Apple Cider

Dave insists that Thanksgiving requires cranberry sauce.  I don't remember this being a part of any of my traditional family meals, but if I find a fun alternative to pouring the stuff out of a can, I'll be sure to let you know, or, better yet, YOU let ME know.

Thanksgiving spread 2009.  Now that is a small table, but the base is from the Stanley Hotel.  Spooky! 

Today's recipe is Gluten Free Green Bean Casserole. The standard, easy green bean casserole requires two ingredients that are filled with gluten:  cream of mushroom soup and French's fried onions.  My recipe is copied and altered from Alton Brown, the nerdy chef from Food Network.  Original Recipe

My onions got a little over done.  Also, this was a pretty huge batch for two people.  I'd cut back for small crowds.

Ingredients
2 onions
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp gluten free flour
Handful of gluten free bread crumbs
Kosher salt
2 Tbsp butter
12 oz mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup gluten free chicken broth (or gluten free chicken bullion and water)
1 cup half and half
1/2 tsp pepper
 3 cans green beans (cut or whole, whichever you prefer)

Directions
First, start by making the onion topping.  Take two good sized onions and slice them (don't dice) so you have long strips.  Take these strips and toss them in 1/4 cup gluten free flour (I prefer Jules Gluten Free) as well as some large bread crumbs (take these from your stuffing bread crumbs that you'll make, we'll discuss these at a later date), and a large pinch of kosher salt.  Once the onions are coated, grease a cookie sheet and spread the onions out and bake at 475 for 30 minutes, tossing them twice during that time.  You can see mine got a little too well done, so be sure to keep an eye on them!

Next, in a frying pan, melt 2 Tbsp butter, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and add 12 ounces of diced mushrooms.  Let these heat up for about 5 minutes.  Then add 2 cloves of minced garlic and 1/4 tsp nutmeg, wait two minutes.  Now add 1 cup of chicken broth (I use "Better than Bullion," which is gluten free and create my own broth by taking a tsp of that and 1 cup of water**.  Be careful with your bullion brand, this is where gluten can creep into your recipe.)  Add 2 Tbsp gluten free flour, stir, and bring to simmer.  (**Note, if you don't have gluten free flour on hand, feel free to use corn starch instead.  In this case, you'd add 2 Tbsp corn starch to your cold cup of water, this keeps it from clumping like it would if you added it directly to the heated mix, you could, theoretically, replace your flour on the onions with corn starch as well).  Now add 1 cup of half-and-half and let thicken for 8 minutes.  Take three cans of drained green beans, 1/4 of your cooked onions and stir them into your mushroom and cream mixture.  Pour this into an oven-safe container.  Put the rest of the onions on top.  Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees.  Serve!

Stay tuned for more gluten free Thanksgiving  Recipes!

For the record, I wrote this about a month ago.  I am SWAMPED at work this week!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

 

This will be on TV Thursday at 7:00 Mountain time.  Check your listings (there's no rhyme or reason to how this translates to other time zones).  ABC.  Yay!

The Simpson's Halloween specials will have to wait 'till post-world series, watch for it the Sunday after Halloween.  

Pumpkin carving and raosting pumpkin seeds

A little pre-Halloween fun...

Dave's first face (he did a pirate on side two, but I don't have any pics!)  He looks soooo sad!!!!

Mine.  He won the award for most French.

Brent's.  Creepiest pumpkin EVER.

The back side of Frenchy

Roasting pumpkin seeds

Rinse your pumpkin seeds, let them dry, toss them in just a small amount of olive oil, salt, and throw in the oven at 350 for an hour or more.  Keep dry until you eat them!

Pesto!

This past weekend I decided to officially give up on my garden and outdoor plants.  I'll move a few of the herbs inside for winter, but went back and forth on the basil plant.  Instead of bringing it in, I thought, why not strip it, see if it lives, and then if it keeps going, bring it in.  I took every green leaf I could get my hands on and made fresh pesto!  Still no frost here, despite the high elevation and the fact that, well, check out the pictures from two posts ago.

Sometimes my food pictures don't look so bad.  Sometimes they look like barf.  You make the call. 

The pesto is really only half of the story in this picture.  Gluten free cheese raviolis?!?!  Sure enough!  For a price, you can get anything your heart desires.  These gluten free raviolis were like $7 for maybe 10 of them.  Seriously.  Dave got enough pasta to last a year with his $7.  Luckily, I have a little pasta squeezer that attaches to my Kitchen Aid.  Unfortunately, I'm not very patient, nor do I have gobs of time on my hands, and trying to get gluten free dough to stay together through a pasta press is not something I'm willing to do on a regular basis.  Dave successfully made me cheese raviolis once using this contraption and it was positively to die for.  I usually use quinoa pasta elbows.  I highly recommend it, it's the only pasta that has the right texture and it is good for you too.  Look for the teal box in your organic section.  Go supergrains!

Before I get to the pesto recipe, speaking of gluten free food, I literally just realized a day ago that there is a P.F. Changs a block from the bus station I've been using for the last 14 months.  P.F. Changs is well known for its fabulous gluten free food, but I've never been to one!  I need to start varying my walking route, who knows what other treasures I'll find!

Pesto Recipe (off the top of my head, but probably ripped off from Bittman, serves 2-3)
Ingredients
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
2 small cloves garlic (less if you're worried about your breath)
2 Tbsp roasted pine nuts (these are expensive, only buy what you need in the bulk section, then roast in a pan)
Pinch salt
1/2 cup grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese

Directions
Throw everything in your food processor except the cheese and have at it!  Once it's all blended (you'll have to whip out your rubber spatula and scrape the sides a few times), throw it in a bowl, add the cheese and stir.  Oh, give it a taste, too, and see if it needs more salt.  Toss your gluten free pasta of choice in the pesto and put some extra grated cheese on the table for topping.  Enjoy, but be sure to serve mints for desert! 

Spiked and Spiced Apple Cider

Give this a try for your next social event!  Break out your crock pot, or just do this on the stove.  Warm up a bunch of apple juice, throw in a few Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple Spice tea bags.  Once it's hot, throw in some spiced rum and serve in mugs!  A little brown sugar also makes a nice addition.  YUM!  http://www.celestialseasonings.com/products/detail.html/herbal-teas/cinnamon-apple-spice 

Halloween Nostalgia and The Moving Story of 2009

Things that make me nostalgic might not do the trick for you, but here's my attempt to give you some warm fuzzies. 

With the "Holiday Season" around the corner, and by that I mean fall, Halloween, Turkey Day, Christmas, and New Years, there are plenty of chances to remember fun holiday times from your childhood, carry on old traditions, and make new ones.

Fall
First off, fall is a time to pick apples, make caramel apples, bake pies, and hang out in pumpkin patches.  Having grown up surrounded by these things on an orchard, the cool weather brings back memories of these fun times.  I highly recommend taking a trip to your nearest orchard! 

Halloween
Halloween always included three very important traditions:
1.  Carving pumpkins and baking the seeds, salting them, and eating them.  Yum!  I have big plans to do this these next two weekends. 

Halloween 2009

2.  Going trick-or-treating.  We lived out in the middle of no where, so my mom, brother, and I used to travel to town to Cousins Cassie, Nici, and Ben's house to go trick-or-treating in the 'burbs.  We had so much fun getting dressed up and collecting bags filled with candy, then sorting it afterwards on the dining room floor.

3.  Watching "Disney's Halloween Treat".  Folks, this is a classic compilation of the scary parts from all of the Disney movies before 1982 strewn together in a cute way and narrated by either a pumpkin in later versions of this, or by the magic mirror in my favorite version.  A good friend got me a copy of this a few years ago, but it can be hard to come by the original!  This goes for $200 on amazon, but luckily for us, we can watch it on youTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyuwSOqcnrk 

The Big Moving Story
And finally, as long as we're taking a trip down memory lane, in recent memory, last year about this time, Dave and I moved in together!  I spent a week or two packing everything I owned into boxes in my living room, and then the big moving day came.  Good friends Matt, Yolanda, and Josh helped with the big move.  We rented a Uhaul, grabbed a load from Dave's place, unloaded it, grabbed a HUGE load from my place, and just as we pulled up to our new place, it started raining... and then the rain turned into snow.  By the next day, we had almost two feet of snow at our new home! I had to clean out the old place because new folks were moving in that very next morning.  I spent the whole day scrubbing and getting rid of the last of the odds and ends at the old apartment. 

Wedge the chinchilla.

The interesting part came when Dave left for a Phish festival in California the day after the snowstorm.  Luckily, he was able to get out, although I believe he was delayed a few hours.  The thing is, before he left, while we were unpacking, we realized that we had a little spider problem in our new place.  Okay, it wasn't little.  We pretty much had aggressive hobo spiders running out in all directions, as well as webs  and sacks just about everywhere.  It was straight out of a horror movie.  Rather than continue to unpack, we agreed that chemicals might need to be involved.  Now, we are both educated people, and we realize that these these chemicals are not only toxic, but may be linked to certain types of cancer.  We took a trip to McGuckins, got some help from the men who know everything, and decided on the least dangerous fogger we could find.  Dave left for his trip and I evacuated our plants, covered our fish, and took the chinchilla in his carrier to my car.  I put a fogger in three rooms, most of which had just furniture and boxes, let them off, and left with nothing but a change of clothes, plants, and the chinchilla, Wedge.

It was late, I didn't really have any plans on where I was going to go, so I went and grabbed a pizza, then realized that I'd be welcome at Dave's place, which still had lingering supplies that hadn't been moved.  I showed up on their doorstep with Wedge and they welcomed me.  I hung out, ate my pizza, and showered.  Oh did that shower feel good!  I blew up Dave's air mattress and slept a good night's sleep with Wedge hanging out in a makeshift cage next to me.  The next day, I was ready to return to the house and get rid of the spiders that should now be dead.  Unfortunately, I had left all of the plants in the car overnight, and most of them froze overnight and died.  Oops!

From there, things got better.  I aired everything out and vacuumed the whole place and was finally ready to start unpacking.  I went out with friends for Halloween and had a good time.  I also saw a VERY scary movie at the theater with friends and was a bit scared to be at home alone in the new place.  Dave returned a few days later from his trip and we finished moving the rest of his stuff in between working.  

The whole move was well worth the trouble.  I went from a very small place downtown to a cozy place near open space and the mountains, with lots of room and a garage, and of course I get to come home every day to my goofball boyfriend who still makes me laugh.

View from the back of our building.

 

Bus woes and my favorite podcasts

Some days you win, some days you loose.  Some days you drive to the park and ride, the bus arrives within seconds, it makes one stop, heads to the city of my workplace, I get off at the first stop, walk onto the light rail, which takes off immediately, then I end up comfortably at the front door of my office building, dry, room temperature, not even breaking a sweat. 

Then there's days like today.  Today was my "late" day (class at 10).  I'm about to walk out the door and realize I'm running three minutes late, which makes all the difference with the bus, so I decide to hold back and take the next bus.  This gives me time to finish drying my hair.  Last night was the first Phish-concertless night since last Friday.  Although I wasn't attending DURING the work week, on Saturday we had a mishap with the bus and didn't get home until 2:30 AM (just in time to make some dinner and go to bed at 3).  Sunday through Wednesday morning I was waiting up for Dave and John, one night having to pick them up, other nights, being in bed, but not quite sleeping when they returned.  This staying up past my bed time, yet still having to work caught up with me and I nearly lost my mind on Wednesday, so I decided to go to bed early and sleep in. 

I drive the two miles to the park and ride, get there exactly on time, wander to the bus stop, and wait.  And wait.  And wait.  Was the bus early?  Did I miss it by seconds?  Finally, about 45 minutes after the bus I usually take, my bus pulls up.  It is very full and I grab one of the last remaining seats in the front.  (Sitting in the back occasionally involves my using a barf bag).  We stop at three more stops, each filled with pissed off people who then have to stand for the 40 minute bus ride.  The bus driver never offers us an apology or an explanation as to why he is 20 minutes late.  Finally, a very angry woman asks him why all of us are going to be late to work.  He tells us that the handicap door got stuck open at one of his first stops and they had to send another bus.  Okay, I'll forgive him. 

We get to our destination and I jump off the bus and start wandering towards the light rail, that seemingly wasn't there yet.  Turns out, this late in the day, the light rail is only a few cars long and it was there, hiding behind two buses!  As soon as I spot it, I start sprinting with my rolly bag in tow.  I get to it, push the magic button, the doors open, and seconds later, we're taking off and I'm the only person from my packed bus to make it.  A quick stop at the office, a sprint to class, and I arrive only five minutes late, but severely out of breath and looking somewhat crazy. 

On my commute home, I manage to miss the light rail by about 10 seconds and was left waiting for 15 minutes until the next one.  Let's add this up. 


To work
10 minutes to park and ride
30 minute wait for bus
40 minute bus ride
1 minute sprint
5 minute light rail
5-10 minute jog

Return trip
15 minutes waiting for the light rail
5 minute light rail ride
2 minute walk to bus
40 minute bus ride home
10 minute drive home

That's 2 hours and 48 minutes of commuting.  Of course during the day I also spend 30 minutes walking for each class I teach (15 minutes there from the office, 15 minutes back.  This will change December 8 when I get a new office.)  I've definitely had many more good bus experiences than bad, but when they are bad, they are very noteworthy:  waiting in the snow and below zero weather for an hour waiting for a bus, the bus not showing up on the day of my current-job interview and my having to drive during rush hour, riding a bus who had chains on and decided to keep them on down the interstate, and many more.

Now, my intention here isn't entirely to complain to you.  Clearly, it's my fault that the only job I want is in a city that I don't want to live in, and that I live with someone employed in the city we DO live in, and I'll deal with it. 

While I'm spending a good portion of my life commuting, I get a lot of time to think.  Some people read on the bus, but this makes me nauseated as hell.  I occasionally am able to work on the bus if I'm sitting in front and looking up every few seconds.  This means I spend a significant portion of my day listening to my ipod.  Rather than listening to the same tunes over and over and over again, I listen to podcasts.  Without these, I would have lost my mind long ago. 

Here are my favorites
1.  This American Life-- an hour of pure bliss, usually three stories on one theme, but they only put out one of these a week, and I've already listened to all of the old ones I can get my hands on, so I save these purely for Monday mornings when I need it most.  http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

2.  Radiolab -- this is a sciency podcast that dives into a topic in one of the most entertaining ways I've heard.  It is very professionally done.  http://www.radiolab.org/

3.  Skeptic's Guide to the Universe (your escape to reality)-- this podcast helps you think like a true scientist.  They analyze the latest science news stories and through listening, you learn how to go through life not being duped by stupid stuff with no evidence to back it up.  (Homeopathy is a big scam.)  They are also pretty funny.  http://www.theskepticsguide.org/

4.  NPR Culturetopia-- this is good filler on new books, movies, tv shows, etc.  Recently, they've started doing happy hour podcasts with the most hilariously flamboyant men talking mostly about TV shows.  Now, I don't actually watch TV, but yet I find this commentary positively grin inducing.

5.  NPR On Science-- this is like a voice version of the science daily website.  They summarize the latest science news in a way that makes it accessible to scientists outside of a specific field.  However, I wouldn't recommend this to people who find NPR-type talking boring.

6.  TED talks (ideas worth spreading)-- If you've never listened to these, go back to the very beginning.  The older ones are the most inspiring.  http://www.ted.com/

7.  Get-it-done-guy's quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.  These are short, 5 minute, well-scripted comedic blips on ways to make your life more efficient.

There are a few Celiac/gluten-free podcasts, but thus far, none that I'll listen to on a regular basis.  Keep in mind that all of these are all free and available through an easy search in the iTunes store.  

I've been dying to get a book on tape to listen to, but my one shot at it got me a super boring read and I was uninspired to go back for more.   Plus, if not through the library, then usually not so free. 

What are your favorite podcasts?  Any I should check out to get me through my next commute?  I'm all about learning while commuting!