Soft Week

I hope you all enjoyed Gwyn's first post! She had fun writing it, and I am told there is more on the way... possibly even pictures of The Coat Factory post her moving in!

Last week was great for me! I got to hang out with Colson and be part of his trivia night! Thanks again Colson, that was great to get to hang out with you! Then later in the week I got to check off more locations in the Hogle travel guide. I got a tour of my mom's elementary stomping grounds... including the MASSIVE hill her house was on (it was about a .5 degree incline... barely enough to notice it was a hill), but then I got to enjoy a lovely meal with Grandma and Gramps in Morgan Hill. It was great to see them! Just those two visits made the whole trip worth it!

I also learned a ton about GPUs... really impressive tools if you can get your data to fit the architecture.

This past weekend was nice and easy, Gwyn and I played a lot of games and watched movies and TV. It was great after being away the week before.

Lastly I will leave you with some pictures:

This picture was taken... you all know what that means.

Dinner on Monday. That lettuce, from the garden!

Frosted Orange Drops

Yet again, another installment of Sunday cookies! This time Gwyn helped me too! She picked out the recipe. These turned out really well, a very refreshing taste. Like every cookie I make, I highly suggest making them... They were well received at work and here at home :)

Frosted Orange Drops

Approx Prep Time: 45 mins
Makes 4-5 dozen

2 Medium Navel Oranges
1/2 cup Butter-flavored Shortening (I used normal Crisco)
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Milk
2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Frosting
left over orange stuff
2 cups Powdered Sugar
1 Tablespoon Melted Butter

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees

Quarter the oranges, remove as much white stuff as you can from the peel and the orange flesh, remove the top and bottom parts that are hard and tasteless. Throw everything else in a blender (I guess you could use a food processor) including the peel. Blend until you have a nice and pungent orange mush. Set this aside.

In a bowl, cream the sugar and the butter until well incorporated. Beat in milk and 6-7 tablespoons orange mush. Combine the flour, baking power, baking soda and salt in a different bowl, then slowly fold into mixture. Mix until well blended.

Grease your cookie sheet. Place drop fulls evenly spaced. If you keep them small they will not spread too much. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or just until the bottoms brown. Remove, let sit for 5 minutes then cool on racks.

While all of this is going on, prepare your frosting. Pour the butter in to the sugar, mix well. Then add as much orange mush as you need to make a spreadable frosting (about 3-6 tablespoons... I did not really count). Once the cookies have cooled, spoon or knife some frosting on to each cookie. They do not need a lot, I made my frosting kind of thick, so there was only a dollop on each cookie.

Mmmmmm....

A Pittsburghers Guide to Living with Scott Griffith

Hello My Stained Tartan Readers! For the first time in the history of this blog, a new author will be submitting a post! (I have no idea if this is factual) Scott laid out what has been going on over the past week or so, but I thought you needed an update about what’s really going on in apartment 202. The answer? A whole lot of standing on my tippy toes trying to reach things.

Here are a few things that have been problematic:

            Trying to reach

                                               i.     Cutting boards

                                              ii.     Certain spices (not that I know how to use them)

                                            iii.     Wine glasses

                                            iv.     Chips

                                              v.     Glass recycling

                                            vi.     Anything on the top shelf in the pantry. Ive been here two weeks and I still don’t know whats up there

Other than that these past few weeks have been really good. Scott and I have cooked dinner, made cookies, played LOTS of board and card games (Dominion being the newest one), watched Criminal Minds (my new obsession) tried out new food, restaurants, and churches. I have met so many people too. Its been a busy few days!

If you know me well you know that I love fun facts. For a while I have been stuck on turkey vultures… I wont bore you with vulture facts but you should look some up- weird animal. Instead I will give you APARTMENT 202 FUN FACTS!


-One apartment can and will use more than three remotes

(though I have no idea what they all do)

       -Photo walls are not only an acceptable way to decorate- they are necessary

       -WOW dates are best

       -If you take all of Scotts stuff and multiply it by 3-
        he still would have less belongings than I do- 
             I am ashamed.

Well, That’s it for me. Thanks for everyone who read. My next post will have photos of the apartment and some more of what we have been up too. Stay tuned for our next blog post- written by your favorite spokanian… Scottie G.

This is Gwyn Rohrer… over and out.

Logan Airport

Oh! Also... something awesome I just walked through in the airport. There was this long hallway connecting one terminal to the next, and in it they had a number of poster from films that take place or that were filmed in Boston. Ranging from Good Will Hunting to Boondock Saints to Mall Cop. That last one was filmed in the Burlington mall, right down the street from the Coat Factory!

I thought it was a cool use of space for an airport.

Buisness Trip #1

I now have someone else to blame for the lack of blog update... Gwyn said she was working on a post. I think she even has one written. But it is not posted. Not yet. Ill bug her and see what is up.

At the moment I am at the Boston Airport, and am about to fly to San Jose for nVidia's GTC. Work is sending me there to learn as much as I can about GPU programming. It is going to be great.

In my off time I am going to do some visiting with Colson, and Grandma and Grandpa! I am really excited to see all of them, it is going to be great.

The odd thing about waiting right now is that Jet Blue has some of their flights take off from a really small part of terminal C. What this means is that there are not many things in that part of the terminal, like food or power, so I am waiting to get lunch/dinner before I go through security. This did mean that I could plug in an write this post!

Things are going well, work this past week was awesome. There was a workshop/conference where we show off to the people who pay us, and they show up and tell us what they need. Lots of presentations, but really cool talks.

I don't want to steal her thunder, but Gwyn is making progress in the Job searching category. She has a number of really strong potentials ranging from Starbucks to teaching Art at a private school. I am excited for her, and hope she gets something that she can enjoy.

Happy Mothers Day Mom! I love you! You are the best Mom ever!

The Penguin has landed.

Yes, Gwyn is here. And it is great! We spent two weekends ago packing up her stuff and driving out here. This past week she has been getting settled in and trying to find a job.

I am trying to convince her to be a contributing member for this blog so that I don't have to write so much... we will see if that happens.

We have been playing some Dominion, as my reddit gift buddy sent it to me. It is a great game, and one that is fun with two people (perfect for us).

Thanks Mike!

Also my planters are looking awesome! Wes said that he serenaded a humming bird today! So the feeder is in fact being used.

As Gwyn and I have spent the last week setting up all of her art, the apartment looks great! Coming up soon: pictures!

Also, I am aware that some people are getting weird background things going on... I cannot reproduce it on my computer here at home, but I can see it on Gwyn's and my work computer. Ill try to fix it.