Average Jane

Blog

  • Average Jane Wants To Hibernate

    I'm just so cold...I hate to be that guy who complains about the cold weather, but I'm going to anyway. It's just so cold everywhere I go! My office is freezing year 'round, my house is horribly drafty and I can't seem to keep my hands warm in my car, even with gloves on.

    Fortunately there are solutions.

    I keep two blankets at the office. There's a grey knitted blanket that is big and warm but too linty if I'm wearing black. That's when I switch to the smaller fleece airplane-style blanket. Sometimes I wear them around the office like capes. I'm not proud.

    At home I wear a robe pretty much all the time. I have three to choose from, each more hideous than the last. There's the pink fluffy one that adds 40 pounds to my apparent weight, the pilly green and blue argyle one that I got at a clothing exchange, and finally the blue chenille one that makes me look like I'm wrapped in a big towel.

    Whether I'm in clothes or pajamas, you'll find me wearing one of these robes on top in the fall and winter. Yes, I wear them out into the yard while I'm walking the dog. If he starts taking me up the street, we have an ugly robe fashion show for the neighbors. Again, not proud.

    Speaking of the dog, he's the reason I have no complaints about the temperature in my bedroom. As soon as I get into bed, he jumps up and paws the covers until I lift them up. Then he curls into the hollow of my chest and stomach and falls asleep for the night. It's like having a dog-shaped hot water bottle under the blanket with me.

    So I have most of the solutions I need, but I had to get my annual complaining out of my system anyway. And if you can think of a way I can warm up my cold nose, let's hear it.

    Photo credit: Melinda Shelton

  • Average Jane Fails NaBloPoMo


    Knock, knock, knockin' on failure's door.Well, yesterday got the best of me and I forgot to do a post.

    Here's what I was doing instead:

    • Sleeping later than I should have.
    • Working all day.
    • Punctuated by a doctor's appointment.
    • Running errands for my dad, who has just been released from the hospital and can't drive for a bit.
    • Chatting with an old bandmate who came by the house to sell some drums to my husband.
    • Going to dinner with my husband.
    • Watching "Sleepy Hollow."
    • Feeding and taking the dog out as needed.
    • Going to bed on time.

    Those aren't excuses, just reasons. I'm just going to proceed from here and try to get in 29 posts this month instead of thirty. 

    Photo credit: 4rilla

  • Just Call Average Jane “Gamer of the Morning”

    A couple people in my gaming group thought it was a joke that our latest game day event was scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday. However, that proved to be a pretty convenient time after all.

    Four of us met at a coffee shop this morning and moved to the empty lower level of the attached restaurant to play two games, beginning with Firefly, which I own but hadn't yet played. [Link is solely for your convenience; it's not an affiliate thing.]

    Firefly Board Game

    This was a big table, but we needed every inch of space we could get (no pun intended). Even with four hours at our disposal, we didn't have time to get through a full game before one player had to leave for work, but it gave the newbies a chance to get in a good amount of gameplay. Our next game will go more quickly.

    Once it was down to three of us, I made a quick run home to take the dog out and when I got back, we played the Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game. 

    Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game

    Here's what it looked like after the first turn or two. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the starfield is a big piece of black felt impregnated with multicolored glitter. Two of us played the imperial ships but the rebels won thanks in no small part to the special properties of the Millennium Falcon. Next time…

    I've written quite a bit about my role playing board gaming, but I don't think I've ever talked about how it all started. 

    One day back in 2009, a group of my friends who had met through blogging and Twitter got together at someone's house. I was with the women in one room with a collection of more traditional board games (Apples to Apples*, Balderdash, etc.) and the men were in the next room playing Battlestar Galactica.

    As the evening progressed it became abundantly clear that the men were having a lot more fun with their game than we were with ours. We wandered in to watch a few rounds and then we asked, "Why can't we play with you guys?"

    As it turned out, the men had never even considered that we might want to play their more strategy- and treachery-heavy games. (See also: the history of the feminist movement.) Ever since then, we've had co-ed RPG get-togethers that take everyone's favorite nerd pastimes into account. And it's been glorious.

    *Back in the days before Cards Against Humanity made it so Apples to Apples wasn't fun anymore.

    Apologies to Juice Newton for the post title. There's really no excuse.

  • Average Jane Walks Her Dog

    Toby

    I don't know why this photo won't post the right way, but it's late and it'll have to do.

  • Average Jane Plans Ahead

    I remember being a kid and thinking it took SO LONG for certain days to arrive. My mother always cautioned me that the older I got, the faster time would seem to go, but it didn't seem possible when I was impatiently waiting for my next birthday or Christmas or summer vacation.

    Now I know exactly what she meant. Weeks are over practically as soon as they begin. The little things that mark each month—fresh pairs of contact lenses, new furnace filters, etc.—recur unimaginably quickly.

    They can't all be winners.Even the span between holiday seasons seems so short that I can now almost understand those people who throw up their hands and just leave their Christmas decorations up year 'round. (This year my Halloween decorations were up for less than 24 hours. I got home that evening and put up just enough stuff to signify that we had candy, then quietly removed it all in the morning.)

    This year I sent my first Christmas planning email to my sister in mid-October. The following week I started discussing Thanksgiving options with A Librarian, who joined forces with me for last year's dinner. Heck, I've made dinner reservations for Christmas Eve already because I decided that would be best for this year's circumstances.

    That might sound like jumping the gun, but I know what my schedule is like. Between work every weekday, gigs most Saturdays (lately) and just the tiniest amount of breathing room on Sundays, I need to think these things through as early as possible.

    For Thanksgiving, I'm actively searching for a humanely raised turkey to prepare. This year's Christmas Day food offerings are going to be chock-full of vegan and gluten-free options, which takes extra planning. That doesn't even count shopping for gifts, which will be part of this year's celebration after several years without.

    Oh, and did I mention I'm planning both an anniversary party and a cookie exchange party in December? The cookie exchange party pretty much takes care of itself, but I'm tempted to make my husband do all the planning for our anniversary party.

    Don't think I'm complaining. I love all this stuff or I wouldn't do it. I just know that I need to have plenty of time to get my plans in place so it all works out smoothly. Then it'll be time to start planning for 2014.

  • Average Jane’s Throwback Thursday: Bands

    I recently went through some old photo albums and scanned pictures of bands that I've been in over the years.

    Here are some of them, from oldest to newest. Click any of them to embiggen.

    Afterimage, circa 1985

    Whitehot, circa 1989

    Radio Sunday, circa 1995

    Hotwyre, circa 2006

    If you're curious about my current band, you can find us on Facebook.

  • Average Jane Turns An Unnatural Color

    I went to the doctor the other day and she fine-tuned my nutritional supplement list and added a post-dinnertime dose of niacin to my daily routine. Some of you already see where this is going, but for those of you who don't know, the side-effect of niacin is "flushing," which sounds more innocuous than it is.

    I knew about niacin's flushing effect and I thought I had experienced it when my face got kind of pink after I'd taken a multivitamin that contained niacin. Turns out, not so much.

    What happened with a true, all-out niacin flush is that I suddenly noticed that my face and ears felt warm. Really warm. Really, really warm. I started wondering if perhaps I was going to spontaneously combust like the people given Extremis in Iron Man 3.

    I turned the color of this pony. I'm not even kidding.I took my attention away from my possibly exploding head and noticed that my hands were bright pink. And whew! Time to take off my robe because I was hot all over! Now my legs were itchy and bright pink, too. 

    Yes, itchy. Everything was now itchy! I thought some lotion would be nice. Surely I was burning off every ounce of moisture in my body because HEAT!

    While I was seeking out lotion, I took a look in the mirror and it was pretty amazing to see myself with the skintone of a My Little Pony.

    The good news is two-fold: the effect only lasts about 15 to 20 minutes and it's supposed to get better with each dose as your body gets used to the supplement. The bad news is that I'm supposed to up my dosage every 30 days until I get to 1500mg. There are blood tests involved to make sure I'm metabolizing it correctly, so obviously it's nothing to mess around with.

    It may be my imagination, but it seems to me that after the workout my capillary system got yesterday, I'm not as cold as I usually am. Maybe my blood liked hanging out in my extremities and decided to stick around.

    I'm not going to lie, I'm feeling some trepidation about tonight's dose. Here's hoping I acclimate quickly!

    Photo credit: Endemoniada

  • Average Jane Loves Vegetables

    Veggie stir-fry is always a hit when I cook at home.
    I've been eating a largely vegetarian, dairy-free diet since I started overhauling things last spring. You'd think that Kansas City, with its reputation as a big barbecue town, would be a difficult place to find vegetarian and vegan restaurant meals. Actually, quite the contrary.

    Here's are some of my favorite places to go for veggie food when I'm not in the mood to cook:

    1. Cafe Gratitude – Yes, the names of the menu items are silly and they're kind of pricey, but their food is always good. They're completely vegan, so anything that sounds like cheese on the menu is probably made from nuts. They have a drink made from ginger and lemon that is delicious and charges me up more than any energy drink I've ever tried.
    2. FuD – This is the other strictly vegan place in town and their menu items range from super-healthy raw foods to what you have to admit is vegan "junk food" (nachos, mac & "cheese," etc.). Their big selling points (beyond deliciousness) are their reasonable prices and big portions. FYI – They're not open on Monday nights.
    3. Eden Alley Cafe – This is KC's oldest vegetarian restaurant and they offer a good variety of vegetarian and vegan options. Their prices are a little high, but they have some specials like Friday Night Date Night (appetizer, two entrees and dessert for $30) that help keep things manageable.
    4. Aladdin Cafe – There are a couple of vegan options on the menu, including a roasted cauliflower and falafel sandwich that is pretty much my favorite food ever. I also love their Greek salad (they can leave off the cheese).
    5. Blue Koi – I've always loved Blue Koi and thanks to their generous number of vegetarian entrees, I can still eat there. We often go there just for appetizers: the Tofu with Awesome Sauce, Veggie Dumplings, Scallion Biscuit and Tofu Lettuce Wraps are all great choices. They also have a version of their Ants on a Tree entree with tofu instead of pork. Ask for the "old style" tofu to get it crumbled instead of in big chunks.
    6. Blue Bird Bistro – In the same neighborhood as FuD, Blue Bird offers a nice selection of vegetarian and vegan options on each menu. 

    Aside from these, I find that I can get good vegetarian options at pretty much any Indian or Thai restaurant in town. Italian is trickier because there can be parmesan hidden in marinara sauce—always ask. Heck, I've been rather pleased and impressed at the number of vegetarian options on the menu at the bars my band plays. Bars sometimes equate "vegetarian" with "full of cheese instead of meat," but many of them are wising up and offering veggie burgers and grilled veggie sandwiches and wraps with no cheese.

    So there you have it. If you come to Kansas City and want a veggie dining buddy, just let me know!

  • Average Jane Watches TV

    KnaveofheartsMy husband and I both have such hectic schedules that we have to use shared Google Calendars to keep track of each other and figure out when we might be able to hang out together.

    Thanks to our lovely TiVo, we can (and often do) save up our favorite TV shows and binge watch them on the rare evenings when we are both home at the same time.

    Here is our current list of shows, in order of my desire to watch them:

    1. Person of Interest
    2. The Walking Dead (always followed by The Talking Dead)
    3. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
    4. Grimm
    5. Sleepy Hollow
    6. Revolution
    7. Once Upon A Time in Wonderland
    8. Once Upon A Time (yes, I like the new one better)

    I'm sure you can sense the thematic currents here: fairytales, sci-fi, fantasy, post-apocalypse, etc. If it's plausible, I'm not interested.

    Person of Interest has been good since the beginning, and even Jim "I Whisper Every Line Like I'm Freakin' Batman" Caviezel proved to have more personality than I would have anticipated. It's also full of interesting female characters and there's even a dog, so why wouldn't I like it?

    The Walking Dead has its flaws, but this season seems particularly good in that they're letting some of the characters have a little more personality.

    Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. comes in third. I enjoy the Marvel universe, the show is entertaining, and the movie actor cameos keep me coming back for more, but I'm hoping it steps up the wow factor even more.

    Next is Grimm, which is equal parts police procedural and fairytale. It's a little cheesy, but I like it anyway.

    Sleepy Hollow could eventually make its way higher up the list. Despite a premise that probably has Washington Irving spinning in his grave (unless he's been placated by the fact that there's a character named Captain Irving), I'm digging the show. The fact that it features a hot British guy doesn't hurt.

    Revolution makes it into the next spot. Initially I mostly just watched it because my husband liked it, but it grew on me.

    Then there are the two Once Upon A Time shows. They share an over-fondness for green screen and uneven acting, but I'm a sucker for anything with a fairytale theme. Plus, the guy who plays the Knave of Hearts in Once Upon A Time in Wonderland was Tom on Being Human (BBC version – seriously, watch it on Netflix), so I liked it automatically just for that.

    That's really about all the TV watching we have time for. Is there anything amazing I'm overlooking that I might be able to catch up on over the holidays?

  • Average Jane’s Weekend Beverage Tours

    My sister and I spent the past two Sundays taking part in activities that involved going from place to place by bus to sample various drinks.

    WineLast Sunday it was a winery tour. We drove to Atchison, Kansas and enjoyed an afternoon sampling various wines at Riverwood, Jowler Creek and Pirtle wineries. Due probably to the climate and soil qualities, Missouri wines are more limited in scope than, say, California wines. In general, the best wines are the dry and semi-dry whites. The dry reds are usually pretty terrible and the sweet reds are way too sweet for my taste.

    I had been to two of the three wineries in the past and I was interested to see how those two had started branching out in ways that sidestepped some of the grape "problems," mainly by making wines from other fruits. Riverwood has recently started making wine from the Asian pears they grow and I bought a bottle after my sister suggested that it would make a very nice white wine spritzer.

    Pirtle's apple wine has always been one of their better varieties but they also had a very nice blueberry wine. Their mead was better than I expected as well. It was a long, but fun day and we extended it with dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant on the way home.

    CoffeeThis Sunday was Caffeine Crawl. Last year I went by myself (and happened to run into friends), but this year my sister agreed to go with me so I bought two tickets. As the weekend drew nearer, she was ready to bow out due to a cold, but when I couldn't find someone to take the ticket she decided to come anyway. 

    As we had the previous week, we started off with a hearty breakfast. I could tell my sister didn't feel great, but I brought her a nice megadose of Vitamin C and a packet of tissues for the road.

    This year's route was Homer's Coffee House, Parisi Artisan Coffee, Revocup Coffee, Latteland (Kaldi's Coffee), The Roasterie and Black Dog Coffeehouse. As with previous events, there was a big focus on coffee education. Six stops made for a long day (and a lot of caffeine coursing through one's veins), but I enjoyed myself quite a bit.

    Now I'm just crossing my fingers that I didn't catch my sister's plague. Here's hoping that ignoring the time change and going to bed early will help.