Twelve year old toured Columbia while she was in NYC (her homecoming was Saturday evening), and wants to go there. I'm not sure an Ivy League is her best fit, given that she's extremely talented in math and science, but if she really wants to, she has to work her butt off to get in, and get a good financial aid package. Going by the inappropriate measure of picking Ivy League schools by the city I'd want to visit (again), Columbia is right up there with Harvard and Cornell, though for the last we'd have to avoid the extremely inappropriateness of asking her dormmates if they want to go skinny dipping in Potter's Falls.

I also brewed a batch of honey lager. I'm not sure what went wrong with my previous batch of Pilsner, though I did scorch some of the liquid malt extract, so this time I made sure the water was hot before I added the honey and dme. I may have it by Saint Patrick's Day, but the way the yeast is not working, probably not. It only started krausening yesterday, after reinforcing the Wyeast liquid Czech yeast with some expired dried yeast.

We tried to watch a movie this weekend, but Winter Solstice just couldn't hold our attention, it's a slow movie about a family dealing with a sudden death. Real slow, with not much in the way of dialogue. We watched about half, and figured our time is better spent watching old Twilight Zones. The Bewitching Pool is Mrs. Ha's favorite, that Earl Hamner Jr sure can write. I wonder if he wrote anything else? I liked Passage on the Lady Anne and got a big kick out of The Fear, I think it was the giant inflatable cylcopean alien. Oh yeah, how can you not like Mr. Garrity and the Graves, it's zombylicious.

Sunday we went sneaker shopping, and I found that 10 1/2 EEEE in Asics fit my way too wide feet, and for under $100. Woot.

Monday was my birthday, I made ribs in the crockpot, along with some black beans and rice and vintage corn bread, it was an improvement from our normal Monday dinner (leftovers, or pasta, or something else that only takes a short while). While the ribs were good, I still prefer them slow cooked in the oven. Seven year old said I should have stayed home, alone. While it was somewhat tempting, I could have broken out a kitchen table sized wargame, I passed, I'll probably need my vacation days to deal with taking care of the kids this summer. Twelve year old bought me a tin of little Hershey bar's while in NYC, she probably spent too much, and I feel a little guilty.

Speaking of wargames, I have a wish list going, but finances will be tight until the middle of March. I'm used to belated presents, though not from myself.

Mrs. Ha's cousin died, and surprisingly it made our local papers. She was living in Florida as a newspaper executive, so I suppose it's not surprising the AP carried her obit. I never met her, she was in Duluth or Florida the last few decades.