Where in the world are these guys?

We've been on vacation having a great time. Let's just say two family reunions in two weeks makes for a good time. And the fun continues. This is just what I needed. A pick-me-up for sure. As long as I live away from home, I'm going to be going back every August. It fills up my cup, as my mom used to say, and my cup is full to the brim.

Too many plums

Do you sometimes get carried away when you go to Costco (or any warehouse store)? My weak spot is the produce (it used to be the muffins, but I have since moved out of that phase, although it was a grand phase, those things should probably not be eaten on a regular basis). Take for instance my last visit. I picked up the following:

1 water melon
12 peaches
carton of grapes
carton of tomatoes
bunch of bananas
bag of green beans
carton of plums

...and I had to stop myself from buying 12 apples, a bag of snap peas (that were soon to expire), and a carton of blueberries.

We didn't have a hard time whittling down that supply, to tell you the truth, but we had some plums that were very tart. And we had 14 of them. And they were hard to swallow (pardon my pun). So I tried out this recipe for plum cobbler and I think I've found something that I will make every summer. Delicious!

bp's science: going on a hiatus (v.1)

The excitement for bp's science every week on Tuesday has waned a bit on my part. Don't get me wrong, I dig science, but I need a little break (and August is vacation month, right?). Plus, I need some more time to really think about these posts. As I always mention sarcastically, I am sure this will really make all of my blog readers very sad. Don't worry guys, the bp's science posts will still exist, but they may not always be on Tuesday nor will they always be weekly.

And with that, I say, here's to a break! But for some nifty video science, go here for some neat time lapse dandelion action.

The Mini

After being so philosophical in that last post, I think I'll bring something different in here.

Oliver really likes the BMW Mini:


We've got a car magazine with a Mini concept on the cover and he loves it. The magazine is several months old, but we keep it around. I think he likes the photo because it kind of looks like a face and it makes him laugh.

Speaking of laughter, the other day I was reading the Dorling Kindersley Visual Encyclopedia (a book I bought as a freshman in college for a screamin' deal at the university book store), and it stated that at the time of publishing (1995), the record for the number of people to fit into the original Austin Mini was 24.


That's 24 people in this car all AT THE SAME TIME. The other night I was thinking about how they made that happen, and I decided that I would not want to be the first guy to get in the car all curled up in a ball in the back. Nope, I'd want to be number 24.