Lots and lots of fun pictures

What a fun (and long) day! SDCC graduation was today, more on that later, but the greatest thing was that at Sonia's grad party, I learned 2 great, amazing, fantabulous things about my camera.

First, Mandy and JR helped me in my struggles to create upclose photos that have blurred out backgrounds. Between the two of them, I finally, finally, finally figured out which settings to change in the camera (I think I took the auto focus off), and then how to focus in and then set up the perspective how I like it. A-mazing! My two favorite examples from today, with Liz and Paulby as my models:

Then, completely by accident, I discovered that my camera has a way higher zoom than I ever knew. I was trying to take a picture of this kid who was playing with a remote control boat by the pool. I got one, but wasn't happy with it since it still seemed so far away, even though I had the zoom as high as it could go. So I went to take another, and I must have changed another setting when I turned off auto focus, because all of the sudden it was zooming way in! It was amazing how close up a picture I could get. I give you Example A and Example B:

Obviously, quite a difference. And now, with these 2 new tools, I can officially take some awesome pictures.

And, just for kicks, here's some fun pictures from Old Town tonight:

Ryan's Kitchen: Episode One

Tonight, for your viewing pleasure, we have conducted the first of many installments entitled, "Brittany and Ryan's School of Cooking." In this exciting adventure, Jordan pays rapt attention during the making of Thursday TV Night dinner, whilst Brittany and Ryan offer tips and tricks and general cooking knowledge in a cooking network show format.

Today's Meal: Spaghetti with Salad and Garlic Bread, and Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies



(Currently Playing: Always Be My Baby, the David Cook version)

Lesson One: Always scrape the excess butter and garlic off of garlic bread (also, for actual crispy brown bag, don't use bag... this rule applies for garlic bread that is not pre-frozen. Pre-frozen bread works well with the bag).




Lesson Two: If you do not want your spaghetti to stick to the pot or to itself, add a pinch of salt (note: a very small pinch of salt, not a spoonful).

Lesson Three: Always shake the bottle (Warning! Product placement!).




Lesson Four: Do not recycle the excess butter from aforementioned garlic bread for cookies.

Lesson Five: If butter has not been prepared/warmed ahead of time, microwave the sucker. (Important: take the wrapper off butter, or you will start a fire or melt wax into your butter.)


Lesson Six: Do not leave the butter on the pan for too long. (Exhibit A)


Lesson Seven: Never leave tupperware in the oven, unless you're looking for a good way to make abstract plastic sculptures

Lesson Eight: Fruity salad dressings (i.e. Raspberry Viaigrette) goes well with spinach, not so much with regular old iceberg

Lesson Nine: You must always play David Cook while cooking. (This one's debateable.)


And a pic of the happy family, enjoying the spaghetti dinner:

31 Cents, Baby!

It's that day again- hope everyone got their fill of Baskin Robbins ice cream. Last year, I distinctly remember being allowed to buy only one scoop. At the branch we went to today, the limit was 10. Oh, geez. I think I got (I was a little rushed): Strawberry, cherries jubilee, chocolate chip, and Heath Bar. The cherries with melted Heath bar were yummy.

So, as our good friend Barney from TV Land would say, "Scoop up!"

Oh, also I learned some unfortunate details about my roommates: they love pink bumble gum ice cream. Gag.

{Pictures to come.}

American Idol

Well, I used to be able to say I'd never seen an episode of American Idol, but this year when they came to San Diego, I decided to watch the auditions episode. It was... meh. I could see why people were entertained by it, but I wasn't terribly impressed. Then a few weeks ago, I started going with Britt over to Ryan's house for TV Thursday, where they watched the two nights' American Idols and that week's The Office, and I started getting to know the contestants, and I got somewhat hooked. But just for this season.

All that to say, as I'm sitting here watching tonight... how in the world is Jason Castro (or as I like to call him "the hippie") still in the running? He sings the exact same kind of songs, in the exact same way, and he has no personality. Why do these silly American girls keep voting for him? Dude, vote for the kid! He's stinkin' rocked every song I've seen, and the judges can't find anything bad to say about him.

PS- I like that Syesha goes on barefoot. I would totally do that. She's just standing there, facing Simon, in her cute dress and no shoes. I love it.

The Difference Between Girls and Boys

Ha! So I'm in the process of trying to get my laptop back up to full optimal performance, which for me involves a lot of deleting and reorganizing files. I found an MS Word doc that I'd kept with fun quotes from the roommates and our guests over the years (kind of the things that didn't make it onto the actual quote wall), and I found this great one from the Great M&M Poker Night of 2005. Sonia and I had Muruk, Boston, and Donald from New Mexico over during Thanksgiving break and we tried this varation to Texas Hold 'Em after we'd just spent the day down at Point Loma. Anyway, here's the conversation upon sorting out the M&Ms and dealing the cards:

Me: "Wait! I need to get my camera!"

Boston: "Girls and cameras." (Accomanying eye roll.)

Me: "Wait a minute! All I heard today from Donald and Darrin today was 'I wish I had a camera!'"

Donald: "That's different! That was the beach, this is M&M's!"

And the accompanying scrapbook page I did of the night: :)

The Future

So yesterday I got a peak into what the future will be like. I had to make a trip up to Vista to pick up a banner for work. A nice little two-hour road trip in the middle of a Wednesday, just what I like.


Anyway, I decided to stop for fast food while I was there, not really because I was hungry but mostly because I had downed half of a Mickey D's 42 oz coke on the way up and really needed to stop somewhere before I made the return hour trip home. The only thing I found was this ritzy looking Jack in the Box off the 78 freeway (by the way, who even knew the 78 was a freeway in San Diego?), so I stopped in there for a chicken sandwich.


Holy cow. First off, Vista must be a wealthy town, because the Jack in the Box interior was furnished like a Starbucks. Sleek modern looking tables and chairs, plenty of people in suits eating salads, and a whole ambiance to boot.


But the ordering line is where it got impressive. As I stood at the counter, being kind of ignored by the three people bustling around behind there, I noticed a machine just to the left of me. It kind of looked like a free standing ATM machine, except the screen was flashing ORDER HERE TOUCH SCREEN TO BEGIN. Pretty clear what it's purpose was, but still I thought, no way, they're still going to give me the option of ordering at the counter, right? It's not a computer-order-or-nothing place, right? Wrong. They continued to ignore me as I stood there, until finally a girl came out from the kitchen area to take my order by punching it all in the machine for me. (I could have figured it out.) They're clearly trying to wean people off the face-to-face ordering we've all grown accustomed to by doing this directly in front of customers so they catch on, although she punched in the order so fast I only caught glimpses of the various screens as they flashed by.





I'll admit, I was impressed. The machine had the whole menu, prices, flashing lights and buttons, credit card slots, all the things Americans are attracted to in technological advancement. I tried to find a picture online, but the closest I got was this ugly Taco Bell/KFC hybrid that is big and clunky and clearly last year's model:

So there you have it, friends. The Future of fast food. Pretty soon, these things will make our food internally and spit it out seconds after we complete our order. I give it 4.25 years.

Also, while I was searching for this pic I found another fun one here. Gotta love those beautiful Golden Arches:

Update in Pictures