Normally I don’t blog about personal stuff, but I might as well since people might actually find that more interesting than school shootings that weren’t (police have found conflicting reports about the whole “gun” thing…), so here goes.

Today was a pretty good day. I bought new Doc Martens (no picture available due to weird ass lighting conditions in my kitchen) in my continuing effort to look less like a grad student and more like a normal person. I have to start filling out the wardrobe for spring, which is going to be challenging since I don’t have much of a base. I think it’ll be worth it, though. People tend to react to you very differently when you don’t look like you shopped for the cheapest thing you could find, and it’s kinda nice actually.

I also learned the ins and outs of chi-square analysis, just in case I actually need it for grad lab. Given how godawful my data is for the Hubble constant, I’m a little frustrated to find that using HII regions would have been much better than the galactic nucleus size, and might have yielded much better results.

But first, however, I worked on my car with the help of my friend Matt. The EGR valve was giving me lip, so we replaced it. I could instantly feel the car accelerating better, and with the next tank of petrol I’ll get to see if it really changes the gas mileage that much. Regardless of the outcome, the part cost $140 to replace and it took thirty minutes; a garage would have started me at around $300 for the parts and labor, which is absurd.

To finish the day, I put together baked tilapia and a side of white rice. I had baked tilapia and rice last week for lunch, but I used olive oil as a base for the baking, which was a bad idea. Also, microwaving rice turned out to be quite a chore. This time was different, though.

The fish got a little fresh ground sea salt and pepper, and some thin slices of lemon left on it during the baking. The remaining half of the lemon was squeezed out onto the fish, and I popped it into the oven for thirty minutes. What came out was delicious. The lemon slices did exactly what they were designed to do, the pepper and salt were just right, it was wonderful. I’m really getting impressed with my ability to slap together solid meals one night after the other, and the amount of money I’m saving is astronomical. The fish tonight cost roughly $2.50, the rice probably a few cents, the lemon was say a dollar, and then the amount of salt and pepper used amounts to maybe a few cents, again. That’s roughly $4 for a very good dinner. This same meal would have cost at least $10 at a restaurant, and it was still cheaper than eating at Wendy’s.

I’m getting to where I don’t understand why people don’t cook for themselves whenever they can. It is amazing how cheap everything is if you cook it all yourself. If I figure I’m spending $8 per day on food that I cook myself (this is being generous on cost), contrast with spending $13 and frequently going over for restaurant food bought on a budget, I’m saving roughly $150 per month (this probably is closer to $100, but still…) that’s a sizable chunk of change right there.