Stuffed Mushrooms, Steak, and King Crab

That's what Jenny got for her dinner birthday today (I won't have any time to make dinner tomorrow). She really liked the King Crab Legs. I marinated the top sirloin steak in 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 c Worcestershire sauce, 1 clove of garlic, 1 green onion, two teaspoons pepper, and 2 teaspoons salt. The mushroom recipe was from Better Homes and Gardens. The crab legs were already cooked, but I put butter and parsley and a minced green onion on them (cracked open shell). We also had salad and asparagus. It was yummy.

The good news this week is that Dr. Gaufin can't find any evidence at all of any tumors in the recent MRI's Jenny had taken. She will have another set take at the end of May and if those are clear too, then we don't have to get another for a year after that. It is a big relief to be so far out from the last surgery and have no recurring tumors. It is a big blessing - thanks to everyone's faith and prayers in our behalf and that of the doctor.

So, our little shrimp morphed into an apple this week - about 4 1/2 inches and a few ounces. It is exciting to see Jenny's belly expand (little by little). This last week, she was lying in bed and felt something flutter inside her. It was very exciting. I think it was trying to get her attention because she describes it like someone tapping you on the shoulder (or belly lining in this case) very lightly a few times. Maybe it was having a craving for ice cream, but she didn't comply.

Here are our Halloween pictures. Yes, they are a bit late getting out, but you do what you can.


This last week I spent running the reactor at school as the other graduate student is out of town visiting plant locations of companies that want to pay him lots of money to work for them. That means that I fill up a bucket of ice and carry it across campus everyday (leading to sudden onset sore back and shoulders). The ice is used on the product stream leaving the reactor to trap out any water that was formed in the reaction (it interferes with the instrument readings if it is left in the system). I haven't discussed any Thanksgiving plans with the other graduate student yet, but neither has he talked to me and it is really his reaction, not mine, that is going on, so I will inform him that I am out of town starting Wednesday.

School is still busy, but not nearly as bad as before. I am still trying to be there everyday by 7:30 or 8:00 AM and I usually don't leave until after 5:30. My professor and I are working on preparing a publication (for a journal) and we are submitting a paper to be given at a conference in New Orleans next April. If we get it, he or I will give a 30-45 minute presentation on the work I have been doing since March. I will most likely present the same information at another conference a month or so earlier. The paper is on a reactor design model code that I have helped develop. There are some 30-50 different user inputs and the code tells you how long your reactor has to be in order to meet your criteria (and whether or not you can expect it to blow up). The reaction is the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (turning carbon monoxide and hydrogen in to diesel fuel and gassoline - its like turning coal into gas for your car).