Just a few things

1) Got my grades back for the semester…two A’s and a B plus. Not too bad. Of course it would have been nice to have three A’s, but I’ll get over it.

2) I always like to read the Yahoo New! Odd News. Recently they posted a story summarizing some of the strangest stories of the year. Check it out!

3) Apparently some woman in Oklahoma just recently delivered (luckily by c-section) a 14 pound 3 ounce baby. Can you say gestational diabetes? Although from her picture the mother appears quite large herself. Some time last year at work, we delivered a 13 pound 2 ounce baby. That baby was delivered vaginally. Granted it was the woman’s fourth or fifth delivery. But still, I don’t think I’d be all too proud of something that large coming out of me without too much complication. Apparently the biggest baby ever born, was born in Brazil and weighed 17 pounds!

4) Recently the British hosted an EU summit in Brussels. Much to the shock/chagrin of the guests, English wine (Welsh white and English red) was served at the event. Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson was apparently so aghast, that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi sent him 24 bottles of Italian wine to make up for it. "Up to 24 bottles is fine. More than that is corruption," Berlusconi joked.

5) Check out this crazy fish that some guy in Nebraska caught. It has two mouths!

6) The following is the recipe for the most delicious corn pudding ever made…Mix together the following: 1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn (DO NOT DRAIN), 1 can (15 oz) cream corn, 1 box JIFFY corn muffin mix, 2 eggs, 1 stick butter (melted). Pour into a buttered 1½ quart casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. ENJOY!!

7) I had lunch the other day with my friend the Serpent Lord. We were discussing how Christmas Day and the first night of Hanukkah fall on the same day this year. He said he usually spends the first night of Hanukkah with his family and he would therefore be missing a very cool concert at the 9:30 Club. The artist is a Lubavitch Hasidic Jewish guy name Matisyahu. His style/genre is reggae/hip hop/rock. At the Serpent Lord’s suggestion, I check out his official website and MySpace page. The guy seems pretty awesome. Check him out!!

8) On Saturday night my family will be having a big traditional Swedish Christmas Eve smorgasbord. My dad started the preparations the other night by beginning the gravlax. For those of you who don’t know, gravalx is raw salmon, cured in a salt-sugar-dill mixture. It's sliced paper thin and served on dark bread as an appetizer, often accompanied by dill-mustard sauce. Other things on the smorgasbord will include: Swedish meatballs, various kinds of sill (herring), Sillsallad (“salad” made with herring and beets), ham , Janssons Frestelse (Jansson’s temptation, a gratin with potatoes, onions, cream, and anchovies), and various breads and cheeses. Dessert will be ostkaka with strawberry or lingonberry preserves. YUMMY!!