Isn't it great when a week particularly stands out?
We're in one of those periods right now. It seems like every day brings something new and interesting - or at least something that particularly stands out.
Last Wednesday and Thursday I got to geek out at work and embrace my inner engineer. I had the opportunity to take a professional development class on Electrical Generation, Transmission, and Distribution for the Non-Engineer. I was really surprised by how engaging it was and how much I got out of it. Who knew that bushings, transformers, and aeroderivative gas-fired generators would be so interesting! My 17-year-old self (the poet) is rolling her eyes so hard that it hurts.After the I got home from our session on Thursday, I stood outside of our house and looked up at the power pole feeding our neighborhood (the neighbors are writing this down as tangible proof that I'm certifiably nuts). It was neat to be able to estimate the voltage of the lines, and identify the transformers, insulators, and capacitors, and to be able to take an educated guess at which lines carried current, which were the grounding lines, and which were the phone/cable.
BUSHINGS!
BUSHINGS!
(My, what big BUSHINGS you have!)
Friday night we went out on a quasi-date night, and ate out a new Boise institution: The Boise Fry Company.
It was a ton of fun. The staff was friendly, and the food lived up to the sort of preconceived expectations you might have for the potato state: as they say at the restaurant - the burgers are on the side. With no less than eight variations of potato, three or four cuts, and ten or twelve dipping sauces and flavored salts - the potatoes are really the stars of the show. They also had a few good local beers on tap, and several tasty burger and salad options.
We opted to try out two types of fries, and one of each of the dipping sauces. Of special note were the yam fries (similar to sweet potato fries) with vanilla salt and blueberry ketchup. Sounds funny, but we both agreed it was the best of all the combos we had. The smoked salt, sweet hot mustard sauce, and the spicy fry sauce were also standouts. We can't wait to take some of our out-of-town visitors here for an Idaho potato experience: http://www.boisefrycompany.com/
To wrap up the week, we did a little high-and-low culture here in town, attending the Western Idaho Fair, Othello at the Shakespeare festival, and then the Boise Curb Cup on Sunday afternoon.
Othello was our first real taste of fall - chilly temps, windy weather, and a little good ol' jealous strangulation made it a spooky, cozy evening. We snuggled up under blankets, drank cocoa out of a thermos, and enjoyed a little high-culture Shakespeare.
The Boise Curb Cup is an interesting event that they've been doing downtown the last couple years. Essentially a street-based talent show, performers from all sorts of venues and talents turn out to do their thing live downtown. The audience votes for the favorite acts by tossing tokens into the artists' buckets. At the end, the performer with the greatest number of tokens wins.
We saw a wide variety of talent - from a acrobatic jump roping club, to mimes, Sinatra impersonators, bluegrass bands, burlesque dancers, breakdancers, hackysackers, and kids doing karate. Impressive.
The turnout was also impressive - so many people crammed into the streets that it was hard to see the performers. It's my opinion that Boise is just drooling for this sort of thing - quirky, community-based festivals. The way in which people turn out for these kinds of events, and the spectacular support they receive just shows that we're wanting. Even the Farmer's Market this year indicates that: an expansion to extra streets, more vendors, and thoroughfares to crowded that people with strollers or bikes get dirty looks for their audacity. It's great to see, really.
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