Blueberry Coffeecake

A great recipe from my co-worker, Diane:

Ingredients
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 c. oatmeal
1 tbs. butter
3/4 c. blueberry
1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 tbs. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375.
Combine vegetable oil, egg, and milk. Sift together 1 1/2 c. flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt, and add them to the milk mixture. Mix well.
In another bowl, melt butter, add brown sugar, 1 tbsp. flour, cinnamon, and oatmeal.
Pour half of cake batter into a greased 9x9x2-inch pan. Spread blueberies evenly over batter. Add remaining cake batter. Top with the cinnamon oatmeal mixture.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Quotes of the day

On the extension of daylight-saving time:

"The beauty of daylight-saving time is that it just makes everyone feel sunnier,"
- Rep. Edward Markey

"Kids across the nation will soon rejoice, because they'll have another hour of daylight trick-or-treating.
- Rep. Fred Upton

Flip-flops as formal footwear

Way to go Wildcats! Represent my school with pride at the Whitehouse!

The next Earl of Essex

Check out this story from CNN.com. It's amazing what makes "Top Stories" these days!

New rooms opened to the public at Biltmore

Interesting article from USA Today.

I remember visiting the Biltmore mansion when I lived in Asheville, and going on the "behind the scenes" tour mentioned in this article. I thought it was really interesting to get to see some of the rooms that hadn't been completely restored. I think I remember the guide saying that there would always be a "behind the scenes" tour, becuase rooms have to be restored routinely to keep the house available to the public. Regardless, I highly recommend a trip to Biltmore, and if the "behind the scenes" tour is still available, it is definitely worth the extra fee.

Ease History - Michigan State

Ease History is a really neat site on US history over the last 100 years. It really focuses on the evolution of different issues throughout the years. Of particular interest is the section on campaign ads. I know I'm going to be spending a lot of time looking at this site over the next few weeks!

RSSOwl & w.bloggar - Fantastic Blogging Applications

I just found two great applications to make life reading and writing blogs a whole lot easier.
RSSOwl is a RSS feed reader that pulls RSS feeds into one, easy to use application. The interface is a lot like Outlook, so you can read new blogs and news feed posts all in one place without dealing with hokey web-based aggregators like MyYahoo.
w.bloggar is a great little app for composing blogs that is really easy to set-up and use. I looked a a bunch of other programs, and they were all way too complicated for what I wanted, and I had no Idea how to connect to my blog. w.bloggar had me up and going in no time!

Scooters, Scooters, everywhere!

The idea of scooters for commuting, especially one designed for a broken leg is a cool idea, but I just can't get over the sight of fully grown men and women in suits whipping through the streets of downtown Chicago on their Razor scooters, all the while attempting to maintain a purely professional appearance. It makes me giggle every time I see it. The little kid inside me jumps up and down and says, "Please, can I have one too?! Please-please-please-puh-lEEEEEEEEEEEzzz?!!", but I just don't think I can pull it off. I would be hunched over on the thing, scooting as fast as I could, and challenging all other scooter riders to races through the city; "Last one to the Metra's a rotten egg!!!" Kudos to all of you out there who are secure enough in their adulthood to commute by scooter every day!

Broken Leg? Get a scooter!

On my way into work this morning, I saw the best way of dealing with a broken leg. The device looks a bit like a 4 wheeled scooter with a knee-high platform. The man with the broken leg was kneeling with his broken leg on the scooter and pushing himself along the sidewalk with his good leg. No more crutches, no more sore armpits!

Ravinia: Alison Krauss and Union Station

I went to Ravinia last night to see Alison Krauss and Union Station. I didn't know much about the band, and only learned on the train on the way to the concert that they played a good portion of the music for Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?.

It was a beautiful night, and I ended up thoroughly enjoying the bluegrass-y music under the clear summer night sky. I may actually try to find a Union Station CD now!

Unfortunately, I awoke this morning to reports of the London Bombings on CNN. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.