Tuesday, September 15, 2015

One down, three to go

11 weeks left in my semester, and I only just got the first class completely passed as of today. My first/last paper got turned in yesterday (again) and was marked as "very well done". So I'm pleased with that. I say first/last, because it was actually the first paper I started, but then with all the computer issues from the end of July until the beginning of September, it was trapped on my defunct hard drive until I could get it back.

So it ended up being the last one finished.

And it serves as a reminder to make sure that all my papers are stored in the cloud, rather than on my hard drive. They normally have been, this one got shuffled somehow.

My paper was a two parter, the first part was a timeline of how a specific scientific concept changed over time. That one ended up being the change from Geocentric to Heliocentric views on the universe. That was not super hard, that is a very common and well researched topic.

The second part, also well researched in history but apparently not common for this class, was Pasteur's disproving spontaneous generation (the creation of life from non-animate matter, for example mice being generated by a mix of dirty rags and wheat.) This one had to be a bit more of a social studies and history section. You had to describe the social times of that point in history. That was a busy decade, the 1850s... there were wars, revolutions, unifications... and it was a big time for science and industry. That was when the first sewing machine was invented and when cholera was first traced back to a source, and all kinds of other stuff.

But I'm really happy to have gotten top marks on that paper. The part that makes me shake my head? I listed my resources EXACTLY the same way between all three of my papers. ALL THREE OF THEM. Formatted EXACTLY the same way... and one paper was marked that I do know how to do APA formatting, one paper was not marked for it at all, and one paper said I am only barely competent as far as APA formatting goes.

Ah well.

Today ended up not being all about staying home and more homework and chores, like I had intended initially. Instead, I had to run to Costco and the grocery store. Managed to forget to put one of the items on the shopping list, so forgot to buy it at all. I'll have to pick it up before or after work tomorrow. It's not hugely important, it's just flavoring for water that I use to hide the fact that the ice machine's filter is old.

I still have laundry that needs to be done and done soon. After laundry, more accurately, during laundry, I need to put dishes away, load the dishwasher and get started on my lasagna. I'm going to make a veggie lasagna tonight for dinner. I have rainbow chard to go in it, and 2 large portabella caps, and zucchini to make into the "noodles", and some various other veggies to be added as well. The mushrooms are going to be sauteed with an onion and some garlic before they go in, because that will help reduce how much liquid is produced. The zucchini slices are going to be put on a rack and sprinkled generously with salt to draw out some of their moisture, then rinsed and squeezed dry. I probably will saute the chard as well, just to add flavor.

I bought a kielbasa sausage that I will eventually make into a pasta salad, but it's in the freezer for now.

The other thing that has to get done tonight is I have more veggies that need to be cooked, blanched, and frozen, and I have a myriad of peaches that need desperately to be sliced, peeled, and frozen.

The peaches are semi-local, as are the veggies that need dealing with. But they are aging rapidly, and I would rather not have them go to waste.

They had to wait until I got to Costco to get vacuum sealer bags. Which I got, but they are way more expensive than I thought they were. ::sigh::

Oh well. It's all done and I have groceries for the next two weeks.

Quick addition as an update:

I made a veggie lasagna for dinner. I used a large zucchini to make the "noodles", and there are lots of mushrooms, caramelized onions, garlic, and an orange bell pepper in there as well. It looks really tasty, so I'm really hoping it tastes good too.

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