I discovered yesterday that being able to cook ribs, cheesecake, grilled tilapia, chicken pot pie, ginger cookies, and every other food I’ve attempted and done well at does not mean that one can fix Jello pudding. I needed one pie crust to make a chicken pot pie for tonight (which turned out just fine) but I can only find pie crusts in packages of two, so I wanted to use the other one for something as well. I figured an easy Jello pudding pie would be the answer. Nothing simpler, right? Wrong. I somehow burned the pudding, but it didn’t come out tasting like burnt chocolate, oh no, it tasted like something else altogether that had been burnt. It may have been because I used a sauce pan that has a bit of burned on food stuck to the bottom which no amount of scrubbing with steel wool has been able to remove. The pot has been through so many washings without removing that chunk of carbon that I’ve given up on it and now just consider it a part of the pot. I wouldn’t think such a small thing (it’s maybe the size of a dime) would affect the taste of an entire pot of pudding, but who knows. I followed the instructions, taking it to a boil and stirring almost constantly. That might have been my problem, because I was fixing something else at the time, too, and had to devote some of my attention to it. I was so annoyed at this because I consider myself a fairly able cook, then here I go and mess up a Jello pudding pie. Ridiculous. Next time I’ll just follow the microwave instructions, or use instant pudding.

I spent a lot of yesterday and most of today working on a programming assignment for my algorithms class. It involves writing several different functions for computing combinations, including a recursive function, iterative, dynamic, and memoized. We’re supposed to run the functions for high values, measure their running time, and plot graphs. I need to comment my code, ensure I’ve fulfilled all the specs, and then I guess submit it. I think we have to submit it both online and in class, which will be Tuesday. I also have a discrete math assignment and need to make some adjustments to this week’s physics lab report. Jessica sent me an updated equation for calculating the theoretical phase angles, so I’ve got to go through and redo that. Haha, speaking of Jessica, when we met the other day to go over our lab report, she had a story to tell Mike and me. You know how some people will say ‘uh-huh’ or ‘okay’ periodically when you’re telling them something? Well, Jessica called the teaching assistant for one of her classes and said that the entire time she was explaining a problem to him, he was saying ‘uh-huh.’ She said the sound never stopped, it was just ‘uh-huhuh-huhuh-huhuh-huh.’ That cracks me up; I can’t imagine what would possess a person to do that.

I went to lunch with Eric, Brent, and Todd today and we talked about the benefits of pets because Eric’s considering getting a cat. The subject of ferrets came up and I learned a few things that surprised me, one being that ferrets don’t chew much. That would be a big concern of mine were I to get a ferret, because I have an obscene amount of cables hooked up to my computer and other electrical devices. He also said that they run off with anything shiny; one time his credit card and license were taken from his wallet and he found them by tossing a pack of gum out, then following his ferret to her hidey-hole. That sounds adorable now, though I bet it would be annoying if I were ever in a hurry to find my crap. Ferrets are starting to sound very adorable to me; if only they didn’t stink like a motha, cost $150, and require a cage, food, etc.