National Pie Day 2014

I learned about National Pie Day (not to be confused with Pi Day) last January and threw together a pie baking contest with my co-workers. The prize for the best pie was a diet book that we were going to sell in a garage sale. When we moved to Florida I thought it would be a great idea to continue the tradition with my new co-workers. This year we had prizes in 5 categories: Best Dessert Pie, Best Savory Pie, Best Healthy Pie, Most Visually Appealing Pie, and Pie of the Year. While we only had 4 official contestants (store-bought pies were ineligible), my co-workers didn't disappoint. I found an apple pie recipe on the Food Network website. I was going to make Alton Brown's apple pie, but it was a little complicated and required to many ingredients that we didn't have on-hand. Ning brought in an Oreo ice cream pie, Ronald made a shepherd's pie, and Jennifer made a sweet potato casserole in pie form. Elias planned to make a pizza, but he ran out of time Wednesday night. Ronald's shepherd's pie was the clear winner of the day taking home the Best Savory Pie, Best Healthy Pie, and Pie of the Year awards. I'll admit, the healthy pie award was a bit of a stretch, but the shepherd's pie was the closest thing we had to healthy. I took home the Most Visually Appealing Pie and Ning won the Best Dessert Pie. The prizes this year were pie servers.

All the ingredients assembled.

Fresh out of the oven.

All of the pies assembled for the tasting.

The prizes.

The aftermath.

Stories from the Train - Week 1

When we decided to live 5 miles from Mandi's job, we knew there was a possibility that I would find a job more than 50 miles away. Turns out the actual distance is 75 miles. Fortunately 70 miles of that is straight down I-95 and traffic here isn't anything like Atlanta, so the drive takes about an hour and fifteen minutes in the morning and about an hour and a half in the evening. The only problem is that I would be putting 150 miles on my car everyday and Jeeps aren't exactly known for their fuel economy. When I drove down to campus for my interview I noticed a commuter train running along the side of the freeway. I filed that bit of information away in case I got the job and then looked into it right after I got the offer. The train runs from the north end of West Palm Beach all the way down to the Miami airport and it has a stop near campus. I did the math and figured that taking the train will save about $150 a month, even though my commute will take considerably longer (about two hours now). There is a bus route that connects campus with the train station and I learned during my orientation that FAU pays the fare for students and staff. I decided to ride the train a few times before taking the plunge and buying a monthly pass. That first week on the train was a doozy. Here are the highlights from that week (I'm hoping this will become a regular feature of the blog):

Tuesday (Day 1):
A girl on the morning bus ride from the train station was regaling everyone within earshot (the entire bus) about how fast her toenails grow. Not really the conversation I wanted to start my day with. I learned that it is necessary to keep the headphones on all the way to the office.

The trip home was one for the history books. The bus from campus was late, so I ended up missing my train. On top of that, the next train was also late. The train option wasn't looking good at this point. But that was nothing compared to what happened on the train. A woman sitting behind me was having a very loud phone conversation with who I presumed to be her father. From what I gather, her father and her daughter had gone to the grocery store to buy some needed items. The daughter had assured her mother that she knew what she needed to get, but she apparently did not get the right items. The mother proceeded to cuss out her daughter because she bought the wrong frozen pizzas and crackers. The conversation got pretty heated and the father hung up on her at one point. She happened to be going to my stop and as we were walking to the stairs I heard her say something about how "he knows my voice carries and I wasn't really angry." Mmm hmm.

Wednesday (Day 2):
I made the decision the savings outweighed the potential headaches of a longer commute and delays from late trains/buses, so I needed to get my discounted monthly pass. Not an easy feat. Because it was a discounted pass, I had to go to one of three stations that sell the passes so I could get my picture taken. One of the stations was the station before my normal stop, so I left early and took the train before my normal train to give myself enough time to take care of my pass before my normal train got to the station. I wasn't expecting the woman to take my picture through the glass at the ticket window. But she did. It is by far the worst ID picture I have ever had. But I got my discount pass.

While on the bus to the train station that afternoon a girl was talking with a friend on the phone about gummy bears. As I listened to the conversation it became clear that she wasn't really talking about gummy bears. The first clue was her comment about not wanting to get addicted to gummy bears. Kind of a strange thing to say. But then she talked about how she liked to have some gummy bears before bed because they helped her relax. Sounds to me like she was partaking of something a little stronger than gummy bears.

Thursday (Day 3):
I witnessed a guy sit down next to a stranger, start up a conversation with her, and proceed to flirt with her. And it wasn't creepy. I was incredibly impressed.

FAU

Kevin got a job!  He now works at Florida Atlantic University.  He showed me around campus a couple weeks ago.  It was really pretty.  The kids should feel lucky to be going to school in such a beautiful place (minus the fact that there are giant orb spiders EVERYWHERE).

Cheers and here's to new jobs!

Entrance

Outside the Biomedical Science building

Palm lined walkways

 

This was the coolest tree I've ever seen