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Ryan Gillespie
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Mar 06 2008
Sketch 9
Looks like I’m a couple days late on posting my weekly sketch again. This week I don’t even have a good excuse, I’ve just been lazy. I did end up making it to the Getty Villa last Saturday. It was a cloudy morning, threatening rain the entire time. The Villa holds the antiquities collection of the Getty. Its designed to resemble a Roman villa from Herculaneum. Most of the collection consists of sculptures, however there is also some jewels, coins and frescoes as well. It is of course much smaller than the main Getty Museum, but still quite interesting. Afterwards, I picked up some cupcakes from Sprinkles and stopped for lunch in Little Ethiopia.
I had to take my car in to the shop, it was making a rubbing noise anytime I turned. Turns out it was just that the power steering fluid was low. Apparently the power steering box could use to be replaced, because its got a small leak, but its also $750 for the part. So the mechanic said, just make sure to top off the fluid if it starts making noise. With an oil change and a few other minor maintenance things, I managed to escape for under $200. That made me happy, I was expecting something closer (or exceeding) my $600 budget (which I didn’t really have either).
One of my friends posed an interesting question last week. Which is worse: getting drunk or pre-marital sex? As I was thinking about my answer to this question, I also thought about how my answer has changed from when I was in high school to now a few years out of college. My simplistic current answer would be getting drunk is worse. Not only does heavy drinking damage your body, it has the potential to damage people around you in both your actions and emotionally. Pre-marital sex…well my views about the institution of marriage in our current political environment effect my answer on that. I personally have issues with the “civil” side of marriage. I don’t think we should be regulating who people can or cannot marry, I mean, if two adults love each other and want to commit to each other, than they should be able to. So back to the pre-marital sex thing, I believe that sex is an important part of our expression of love towards our chosen partner. It is still something that is very special and should only be done in the confines of a committed relationship. So for those people that marriage isn’t an option or that have problems with the institution of marriage, should they not be able to express their love physically?
This weekend I’m going to focus on working on my resume and looking for jobs for after the semester is over. Right now I’m focusing on three places for my job search, 1)Santa Rosa, 2)LA, 3)Eugene/Portland.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/03/sketch-9/
Mar 03 2008
When things are good…
“When you are going good, you’re not that good. When you are going bad, you are not that bad.”
— John McKay, former Oregon football player (and USC Head Coach)
as related by Mike Garrett, current USC Athletic Director
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/03/when-things-are-good/
Feb 28 2008
Sketch 8
Last week was a busy work week, as it was the week leading up to my big monthly event. Since my event was on Wednesday night, I didn’t quite get to writing up my sketch as I was preoccupied with last minute details for the event. Mainly, I just worked this past week, but I did manage to fit in a couple trips to the beach though, so that was nice. It is definitely one of the things that keep me sane in LA.
I had a good conversation with my boss/housemate about what will be happening after the semester is over and my job ends. We talked about the different scenarios I’m considering, and how we can work on making one of them work. I really think my top choice is trying to figure out a move to Santa Rosa. Its in Northern California, which is closer to home, and has at least a little more rain than LA. Its also about an hour outside of San Francisco, a city I enjoy quite a bit. The challenge now is to find a job, that I can start in May. At the very least, I need to work through the end of April, but I’ll probably end up working through the end of finals. Either way I’ll get paid through May 15th, which is a good thing for my finances.
I’m trying to relax a little today, and will definitely be relaxing this weekend. I think I’m going to check out the Getty Villa on Saturday.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/02/sketch-8/
Feb 22 2008
Whole Wheat Couscous with Feta, Sun-dried Tomato, Porcini and White Truffle Honey Asparagus
Because my favorite food blogger, Nicole at Pinch My Salt, hasn’t been posting much, I thought I’d do a food related post tonight. Since I’ve been in Los Angeles, my diet has definitely deteriorated and I haven’t been cooking near as much. So when I was thinking about my Lenten discipline this year, I thought it would be good to break a bad habit. So I decided to give up fast food. For the most part, its been pretty easy so far, however it does mean I’ve also given up In-N-Out for the course of lent. Sad. Anyway, one of the things I hope the breaking of the fast food habit would lead to, is more home cooking. I haven’t cooked at home as much as I would like so far, but I’m getting better about planning time into my busy schedule to do it.
Tonight’s dinner was something that just came together in my head while grocery shopping last Monday. I was thinking about how I could prepare the couscous I was planning to buy. While in the produce section I noticed that the organic Asparagus looked pretty good and was a good price. Remembering the White Truffle Honey I have in my pantry, the dish began to come together in my mind. I don’t really have a recipe per say for dinner, I just did things by personal taste preference.
Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Couscous
Feta Cheese
Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Dried Porcini Mushrooms (Rehydrated)
Asparagus
Butter
White Truffle Honey
Preparation:
Pan-steam Asparagus for approx 5 minutes. Drain water. Put some butter in pan (being careful to only brown, not burn the butter) with asparagus, add white truffle honey to taste. Cook approx 2 minutes longer, making sure asparagus is fully coated with butter/honey mixture. Remove from heat. Prepare couscous. Stir in Feta cheese to taste. Stir in porcini and sun-dried tomatoes to taste. Put couscous mixture on plate and top with asparagus.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/02/whole-wheat-couscous-with-feta-sun-dried-tomato-porcini-and-white-truffle-honey-asparagus/
Feb 20 2008
Sketch 7
I’m really thinking hard about what I’m going to be doing after my contract ends in May. I’m thinking about trying to do some schooling/training in wine making (aka oenology) and/or fermentation science (with an emphasis on brewing). But I have to figure out where and how I’ll do that.
The skinny on schooling:
There are a couple community college programs I know about in oenology. One is in Santa Maria, CA at Alan Hancock College. The known pros so far: I’m already in California and technically a resident. CC tuition is super inexpensive in Cali…$20/credit. Also basically in the middle of one of the major central coast wine regions. Would be good for eventually transferring to one of the BS programs at UC-Davis or Fresno State. The cons: Santa Maria is a small town. I have no job, place to live, friends there. Chemeketa CC in Salem, OR also has a wine making program. Pros: in Oregon. Good for transferring to Oregon State’s program. Close to Oregon Wine Country. Cons: Much more expensive ($70/credit). In Salem, which I’m not too excited about the prospect of living there.
*update: I just found a program in Santa Rosa (which is a little north of San Fran). Pretty much the same pros and cons of the Santa Maria program. Only instead of central coast wine country, i’m close to Napa and Sonoma and in the Russian River wine country.
What I don’t know yet…is it enough to just go to one of the community college programs? Should I just take some targeted science classes at a community college and then try and apply to one of the BS programs? Is there a CC program in WA that would help facilitate transferring to WSU’s program? Should I just stick to beer and try and find a brewer to apprentice with in Portland?
Anyway, that is the main thing stewing in my head (at least when I get a few moments away from work).
I finally made it up for a brief visit to Griffith Observatory on Friday night. By the time I got up there it was only open for twenty minutes, but it was still pretty cool. The sprawl of LA is both impressive and depressing at the same time. Saturday was largely a day of relaxation, running a few errands and trying to get my desktop computer working again (I didn’t succeed). Then I went to Sub-Level with some friends later that night. It was out in the middle of nowhere in an empty warehouse Sun Valley (ewe…i went to a party in the valley). I was out until almost 6am Sunday morning. I had lots of fun, but getting up at 10am for church and then working Sunday afternoon wasn’t as fun. USC observed President’s Day, so I got an extra day of relaxation over the weekend. Made a trip to Venice Beach and finally did some long overdue cleaning on my room. It was a very nice weekend.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/02/sketch-7/
Feb 12 2008
Sketch 6
Finally a day off!!!
Saturday, I decided to take advantage of the wonderful weather here in So. Cal. and I drove up to Malibu to check out one of the beaches up there. It was in the mid-70s. I just sat on the beach, read, and listened to the ocean. Oh and called some friends in less friendlier climates…from the beach…to rub it in.
In the evening, I met up with the “Cuddle Call” group at Masa in Echo Park. It’s a group of young adults doing some sort of ministry. A place where we can learn and build up each other. I’m glad to finally have something like this. I’ve really needed some place where I could find support. Even though it has pretty much come too late, but that’s a different story.
Work is still incredibly busy and stressful. Compounding it all, I’m feeling pretty disconnected from God, faith, spirituality. It makes it difficult to come to work with passion for my projects. I feel defeated by my job and the largely only negative feedback I’ve been getting pretty much the entire time I’ve been working here. I know that should challenge me to make things better, but right now I just don’t feel like there is anything I can do.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/02/sketch-6/
Feb 05 2008
Sketch 5
Well I mostly survived last week, despite working every day of it. My next day off won’t come until Saturday, but the major stress of last week has lessened.
The week was one full of meetings. It started off with a meeting at the Diocesan offices on Saturday (my normal day off). The meeting was a visioning meeting about campus ministry in the Diocese. It actually ended up being a pretty good meeting (and not as drama filled as I thought it might be). On Monday, there was a Religious Director’s Meeting talking about the search for a new Dean of Religious Life. Interesting, but something I didn’t really have the time for. On Tuesday, we had a Board Meeting for Canterbury. Then on Friday, I flew to Salt Lake City for a provincial gathering planning meeting (that lasted through Saturday).
Smack in the middle of all those meetings, Wednesday was our third MiX:USC event. This is the project that is supposed to take just under half of my time at work. In reality it takes much more (as do all my projects). I was really worried about the event, but over the last week, things really came together and the event was really good. If only more people could have been there to see it.
So there wasn’t much time for much other than work last week. I started Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra. Its going to take a little time to get through, as its 914 pages long. I watched Ratatouille one evening. It was enjoyable, but not the best of the Pixar animated films. Maybe its just the premise of rats cooking that’s just too much to get over.
Salt Lake was beautiful. There was a few inches of snow on the ground, but we were between storms, so the weather wasn’t bad. Most everyone else at the meeting found it a little cold, but I loved the cold, crisp, clean air. Plus I just love the sight of the snow covered Wasatch Range. I had a couple pints at Squatters Pub, aka Salt Lake City Brewing Co. Both the “Captain Bastard’s Oatmeal Stout” and “Organic Amber Ale” were quite good. I also had a sip of the “Provo Girl Pilsner” which was not bad for an American Pilsner. It’s nice to have good beer, and I don’t get to have it as much living in Los Angeles.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/02/sketch-5/
Jan 29 2008
Sketch 4
Tis going to be a short sketch this week. Work is pretty insanely busy right now, lots of meetings and a major event happening this week. I’m heading to Salt Lake City for a meeting on Friday and Saturday.
Basically I’m trying my hardest to survive without doing something stupid like quitting.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/01/sketch-4/
Jan 22 2008
Sketch 3
The big excitement of the past week was a friend visiting for the long weekend. She arrived Thursday evening, slightly delayed (as was I from picking her up at the airport). The next morning we took off for a couple days in Paso Robles, CA (a little over 200 miles north of LA). Paso Robles is the center of one of Central Coasts wine regions. On the way up we stopped at Sanford Winery which is in the other main Central Coast wine region.
We made it to the hotel in Paso Robles a little after 1pm on Friday. We decided to do some exploring of downtown Paso Robles in search of a good place for lunch. Since my friend had a craving for fish and chips we ended up at an Irish pub called The Crooked Kilt. This was after stopping by the Firestone Walker brewing company, hoping they’d have some food (they didn’t, but we did taste their beers, which were quite good). After that we just relaxed at the hotel until a little before 8pm, when we had an appointment for an hour in one of the outdoor mineral spas at the River Oaks Hot Springs & Spa. It was a nice cool night, which made the hot tub even more enjoyable. It was nice to just sit and relax under the stars.
Saturday was spent exploring a few of the vineyards in the Paso Robles area. We visited and tasted at Eberle, EOS Estates, Clautiere, Tablas Creek, Four Vines and Rotta. We also stopped by Robert Hall and Justin, but didn’t end up tasting there. At Justin, we did stop and eat our snacks we had brought along for lunch. My favorites were the Port at Clautiere, the Zinfindel Rose at Rotta and the Port at Rotta. The Tablas Creek wines were also good and interesting, as they are doing mainly French inspired wines.
I had to be back in LA for work on Sunday evening, so we had to head back on Sunday. Monday was a rainy day in LA, so we stayed in all day (after going out for breakfast) and watched movies, at least until my computer decided to go kaputz on the forth movie. After breakfast at The Kettle in Manhattan Beach, I dropped my friend off at the airport and headed back to work. It was a good weekend all around, I wish it would have been longer if only because it’ll be awhile before I see my friend again.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/01/sketch-3/
Jan 17 2008
Sketch 2
This weeks sketch is a couple days late because of a teensy mistake at my webhost, taking down the site for a good portion of 24 hours.
Largely due to a minuscule bank balance, I didn’t do much outside of work the past week. Most of the students didn’t arrive back in town until the weekend, so it was still pretty quiet around the office. I was able to attend both of the USC Men’s Basketball games last week (another loss and then finally a Pac-10 win over the Fuskies).
Payday finally came on Tuesday and my checking account was quite happy to finally see some action. After work I drove over to the Beach Cities and picked up a birthday present for a friend. I haven’t been over to the Beach Cities since before I left for the holidays, and it was nice to get out of the neighborhood for a bit. It’s nice having the students back around the campus, I’d forgotten how odd it is to be around a campus when classes aren’t in session. (Though that also means a return to the loud parties going to 1am across the street from my apartment.)
I’ve got fun plans for the weekend, but I’ll wait until next Tuesday to tell you about them. 🙂
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/01/sketch-2/
