The Story of the Red Icing

The story began at the last Icing Age, many eons ago. When vacating the premises, residents of an apartment in Brookline left behind a tube of Red Icing. Last week, the second Icing Age began, with the discovery of the discarded tube by our roommate Bettina. Subsequent carbon dating, and name analysis revealed that one of our ancient ancestors by the name of Betty Crocker had created this concoction. During the course of the week, Bettina decided to bake a cake for her labmates and it was suggested by a worldly soul (ahem ahem) that she use the historically important icing because, "after all, it's only sugar and some chemicals, how can it possible go bad". Other roommates opposed the stand taken by this worldly soul (ahem ahem), and eventually the idea of using the icing was discarded by the wayside. *sniff sniff*

This week was Bettina's farewell dinner, and this worldly soul (ahem ahem) decided to surprise her with a cake and sunflowers. The cake was a Trader Joe's Rasberry and Lemon cake. Trying to prove a point re: the use of icing, he used the icing to print "Auf Wiedersehen Bettina" (Goodbye, Bettina) on the top of the cake's plastic case. This way it would not put off those-among-us-who-shall-not-be-named who objected to this historic piece of Icing Age memorablia. It looked like this:

Puzzle for the Day: Unscramble "Auf Wiedersehen Bettina" from this jumble

And this breakdown pic dispalys the worldly soul (ahem ahem) 's ingenuity:

How does this story end? No one ate the icing, including worldly soul (ahem ahem)

This narrative is brought to you by the Society for the Study of the Icing Age - An Era of Sugar and Bright Colours

so,i think i broke my wrist...

Glory Road tells the story of Don Haskins who led Texas Western University to the NCAA national basketball championship in 1966 (college basketball is really popular out here). the uniqueness of the feat was not only that he turned an unknown team into a national champion, and that he took on Adolf Rupp, arguably the best college coach in history, but he did all this with the first all-black starting line-up (there was no looking back after that!).
where was i? right, well, in the movie, the coach tells the players not to "showboat" but play disciplined defensive basketball. And they do not start winning until the players start to play their game (a.k.a showboating). proof that showboating works. i decided to prove the hypothesis by applying it another sport. like bicycle riding. so on my way home from a lovely afternoon bike ride with J and S, i selected a parking lot between Pearl Street and 9 West, identified the section of the raised sidewalk (pavement, if you will) that looked amenable to accepting me, and my bike, when i jumped up onto it from the road, and off i went..
pumping hard, i raced to the sidewalk... at this point i have to take issue with manufacturers of all terrain bikes.. they ought to write out a disclaimer that rusty bicyclists ought not to showboat with these on Brookline sidewalks... i hit the sidewalk and was hoping that my earlier momentum (mass X velocity - i have a ton of that!) should take me over the top, what with me on a mountain bike and all!
well,what do they say about the irresistible force meeting an immovable object? i'm pretty irresistable, but in this meeting, the immovable sidewalk won. i was brought up short rather rapidly, the back of the bike lifted up and were it not for my infinite body weight, it might have turned over. that has its uses after all. anyways, my first thought was a radial styloid fracture, but i have now downgraded myself to a tendon tear... pipetting will be a b**ch tomorrow.
*sigh* "That's another fine mess I've got me into!"

Update: X ray showed no fracture or dislocation. I now have a wrist splint, and I "embrace" this handicap. hahaha...
I have also been advised to stay away from showboating.

what's happening in Boston?

Has anyone caught the 'Beatles' movie, "Across the Universe"? Chetan's endless replay of Strawberry fields and other random Beatles (henceforth called "B") songs - not to mention his B quizzing - seems to have gained root somewhere in me, because i loved the movie. okay, it was somewhat formulaic, but hey, it's all about the B. How about the B trivia ingrained in the movie - the rooftop concert, the characters named after B songs, "She Came in through the Bathroom Window", the green apple from the Apple Records logo; All of this speaks of true fandom, or as I came to realize when I was present in the Crowded House, Chetan's obsession. On par with Jethro Tull, but that is a post for another day.
On the work front, i am keeping busy. Talk at a lab meeting turned to Harvard, and Irv, who is a HMS graduate from way back in the day, mused aloud, "You can always tell a Harvard man, but you can't tell him anything" :). Word.
Last week was Adi's 6th birthday. A "Mad Scientist" performance was the highlight of the party - i missed most of it, so i cannot verify the popularity of said Mad Scientist performance, but if cotton candy making was any indication, it was a hit!
On a similar celebratory note, appy birdy day, alo.
On the culinary front, I have been active. Of course, one does not by Vee's yardstick, measure performance or quality, as sadly lacking, i will be. But I can say that I carried a whole meal from appetizers (masala dosa with coconut chutney) to entrees (peas pulav, chole, aloo paratha) to desserts (semiya payasam), all in one evening, for my whole lab. I have rediscovered my alter ego, Super Cooker, and I bring him out when there's is trouble in food land.
What else's hanging in Brookline village? the roommate situation is a bit ambiguous right now, and a flux capacitor is required to fill in room vacancies. if you or someone you know wants have a great time in Boston with wonderful roommates, you know who to call.
Spring is in the air, my bike is out of storage... off to Fenway I bike...