What's That Smell?

Sweating To The Surreal

2010-03-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

In lieu of actual content, I ran across this video and wanted to post it for your consideration:

Please feel free to leave your "WTF?!?" comments after viewing.
I'm still scratching my head about this one as well.

Welcome Spring

2010-03-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

Not that this past Winter was as rough as the previous 2 or 3 years, but at last it's over with and Spring has arrived.

Let's see I think the poem goes likes this:
"Spring has sprung, the grass has rizz,
I wonder where da flowers is?"

Anyway, I thought we should send Winter off and welcome Spring with a nice, mellow song by Louis Armstrong as he performs "What A Wonderful World"..... the Death Metal version.

(Not) Bathroom Humor

2010-03-19T04:24:00.000-07:00

Over the course of the past weekend, I got to visit a bunch of different public restrooms.
Mostly at hotels, but also at the airport and a couple of restaurants.
Although they were different places and each one had a different "atmosphere" to it, one thing was common among all of them:
People who didn't flush after they were finished.

It's not just this past weekend either.
I'm seeing it happen practically everywhere I go to.... well, er... "go".

What is the frickin' deal with this?!?
Are people so proud of their 'work' that they feel compelled to share it with others?
Or have people just grown so lazy that something as simple, and DECENT, as flushing a toilet has become too much work for them?

Technology has advanced at an alarming rate in recent years; phones that fit in our pockets, televisions that are almost as thin as a deck of cards, and whole libraries of music that can be carried with you on a stick about the size of a piece of chewing gum just to name a few.
Some of it has been great and a real boon to modern society, while others have only made bad things happen faster and easier for people.
One thing that technology has brought us is the self-flushing toilet.

If people are so proud of their "performance art" that they wish to share it with the world, I think they should take a picture (after all, it lasts longer) and start their own "Poop Blog" so they can share it with the world.
Or if people have become so lazy that the simple act of pushing a button has become hard work, well now they have an even better excuse to not put out the effort.

With the economy in the "crapper", so to speak, I believe it would be in our best interests if the government were to fund installing these self-flushing toilets across America.
It would provide local jobs for people, thereby generating revenue, and make things a much more pleasant experience for people just trying to relieve themselves.

I hate using public restrooms as it is, but when you have the added 'bonus' of witnessing someone else's lunch from the day before, it makes me want to just set the place on fire to cleanse it.

Anyway, that's my 2-cent rant for the day.
You can go back to doing what you were doing before.
I'll be in the bathroom. Reading.

Emerald City Comic Con - 2010

2010-03-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

Another year, another comic convention here in the great metropolis of Seattle.

This show was the biggest ever, in terms of not only the guest list but also the sheer number of people who attended it.

There is just w-a-y to much to cover in this post, so I will simply touch on a few of the high-points of my weekend.

Friday morning started early... like 3:50 a.m. early!.... as I woke up 'cause I couldn't sleep anymore. I had to be up to catch a ride to Seattle so I could check into the hotel, then it was off to the airport to greet guests as they arrived.

I was at the airport with the Maimed Man from around 9:00 a.m. until 6:45 p.m.

We worked in tandem: he kept an eye on the flights and which baggage claim to meet them at, while I coordinated with the drivers outside and gave the guests their show packets. It was a great system and went very smoothly with both of us there.

We met a lot of the guests, including (but certainly not limited to) Erin Gray, Lou Ferrigno, and Leonard "Spock" Nimoy!

I also got to meet Terry Moore & his wife Robyn as they arrived. They remembered me and gave me hugs to say "hello".

It was a long day and very tiring, but after leaving to come back to the hotel we then went out to dinner with a bunch of the other ECCC volunteers.

Saturday morning, I got up early again and started taking my stuff over to the convention center so I didn't have to lug it there at the last minute.

It was about 6:30 a.m. when I walked up to registration and there was already a line of people waiting to get in. (The show didn't open until 10:00 and they still had 3-1/2 hours to go)

Then I got some breakfast at the Dragonfish with C. Burnham before going back to the convention center for the day.

People were still setting up their booths right until the time the doors were opened for the attendees.

I made my way around the show floor getting reacquainted with old friends and meeting a few new ones.

Then 10:00 rolled around and the people started pouring in.... literally!

Here's a pic of the crowd right before the doors opened:

And here's what it looked like on the inside just a few seconds after they opened:

There were three main places that people were making a beeline towards.

One was to get in line to meet Stan Lee.

Another to meet Leonard Nimoy.

And the third was at the opposite end of the building to meet Geoff Johns.

Those three areas quickly became a mass of bodies and chaos.

It took some wrangling, but eventually we got volunteers to manage those areas as best as possible.

As for the show floor, it was PACKED!

So much so that I had a difficult time getting around from place to place.

Still, I managed to weave through the crowd and make my way to the guests and bring them stuff they were asking for.

I ended up at the end of the day with blisters on two of my left toes and I was sore all over just maneuvering through the crowd and being on my feet all day.

Originally there was to be a "meet-and-greet" with Stan Lee right before the show opened for a few of us volunteers, but Stan got the the show floor too late for it to happen and then his line was overwhelming. I asked a couple of the promoters if there was even a chance of getting to see him, but it looked doubtful. So I gave up on my dream of getting to have my picture taken with him.*

I was busy the entire 8 hours of the show (not to mention being there a few hours early), but finally it was 6:00 and everybody was shooshed out for the evening.

A bunch of volunteers met up for dinner, but I went out with a friend and we met up with some of the comic writers from the show.

Along the way, I ran into Filip Sablik (the publisher at Top Cow) and Steve Rolston among others.

I was having a good time, but the evening began to catch up to me and I began to fade. So I bid them all a good night and headed back to my hotel room to try and sleep.

Sunday morning came and I got up later than I expected.

In fact, I had just enough time to take a quick shower before getting to the convention center and had to skip breakfast.

On my way, I was carrying an ice cooler on one shoulder and talking to my mom (who came for the show) with my other hand. The guy in front of me was nice enough to open the door and hold it for me so I could get in. It turned out to be none other than Joe Quesada! The Editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics!

I showed my mom and her husband around for a bit, and then I had to get busy as the doors were about to open again for the second day of the show.

Day two is always (THANKFULLY!!!) a bit slower, and I managed to meet a few new people and find out more about the books or art they were selling. I also was able to get a couple of sketches I'd been hoping to get this year and I picked up some new books to read.

The day went a lot easier with fewer attendees on the show floor, but my blisters from the day before began giving me trouble. I wrapped up each toe with a band-aid and continued to power on for the day.

As it drew closer to the end of the day, the crowds started to die down and people started to get their stuff ready to pack up.

Over the intercom speakers, they announced that this year's show was the biggest ever with over 14,000 people having attended it! (Although, I heard a little later that the number might have even been larger... so once I get the final total I'll let you all know)

The post-show dinner party took place across the street about an hour and a half later.

Hotness & I showed up a few minutes apart but mingled for a bit and then ended up sitting at different tables.

Since she works with the media guests, she tends to hang out with a lot of the volunteers from that group.

I am usually working with the comic book professionals, so I always end-up sitting with them at dinner and catching up.

After a couple of hours, they kicked us out of the resteraunt and sent us downstairs to hang out in the bar. Aaron Douglas (who was a guest at this and last year's shows) showed up and goofed off for a bit with all of us.

Then we headed out to another resteraunt for a few drinks and nibbles before settling down for the night.

We stayed at the hotel an extra night, so it was nice not having to rush home after staying out late the night before.

I got up Monday morning and had breakfast, then after Hotness woke up I took her to get something to eat.

There were a few guests in the hotel lobby when we got back and I got to speak with them and introduce them to Hotness.

Among them: Tim Bradstreet and Mark Texeira, both of whom Hotness has always enjoyed art they have done.

We finally headed back up to the room and packed up our stuff and made the drive back home.

It was a long, but very fun and eventful, weekend.

Much more so than last year's. (I was fighting off a cold last year, and by the end of the show I had no voice left and could barely walk anymore)

I'm resting up and looking forward to my trip to Calgary in a little over a month.

Lots of cool stuff happening then and I can't wait to tell you all about it.

* Oh yeah.

I had given up on ever meeting Stan Lee, when at about 3:30 in the afternoon on Saturday I got a text message that said: "Hustle your butt down to the photo booth right away!"

I got there and found out that I was going to get the chance to have my picture taken with Stan after all!

Unfortunately I didn't get to talk to him for very long, but I did get to shake his hand and tell him what an honor it was to meet a legend like himself. Then 3 seconds later, our picture was taken and I was out of there and back on the floor helping guests.

The photo printer broke down during the show and I was not able to get my picture before the convention ended. Luckily I know the photographer and will be getting it in the mail soon, though.

So.... About That Wedding

2010-03-02T23:32:00.000-08:00

I figured out a way to get online at the house. Not sure how or why exactly, but why look a gift horse in the mouth. I'll make use of it while I can.

Back to our previous topic: The wedding.

Hotness and I had planned on having a "Vegas Wedding". We didn't want to deal with finding a place out here and getting all that kind of planning together. Besides, something non-traditional seemed like "us".
However, the best laid plans never work out the way you want them to, so we ended up having to compromise.
Without a steady job to pay for tickets to Vegas (and not wanting to dip into what money I do have), Hotness thought we should have the wedding here at home.

She asked a friend of hers if they would mind letting us use their house for the ceremony and reception. They live quite a ways out in Preston, WA in a H-U-G-E house with tall windows that look out into the woods. (See picture below)
The living room was just the right size for a small group of friends and family to sit comfortably and share our day.

The minister she wanted to have was a friend's dad, and she called to see if there was any way he could make it up here to marry us. He currently lives in California, but has known Hotness since grade school and said "I'll be there. I wouldn't miss it

Hotness's brother had recently returned home from a several-months-long European trip (after having flown back-and-forth from Hawaii to Montana during their mom's illness), so he really wasn't in a financial position to come back out on ANOTHER flight right away.
Then, a few days before the wedding, he & I talked for a bit and then he said, "It's my sister's wedding. How many times am I going to get to see that? I'll be out there for it!"
We decided to keep it a secret from Hotness until the day of the wedding.
He took care of the flight and I just needed to figure out a ride from the airport and a place to stay for the night once he got in.
My friend Imperfect had recently come home from a family vacation in Florida, and had the house to himself while his wife and kids were still away. He said he wouldn't mind picking up her brother and letting him stay at the house since it was pretty much empty at the time.
So now we had that taken care of.

On the day of the wedding, Hotness got up and left to get her hair and makeup done while I got my suit and stuff together.
I headed over to Imperfect's place to check on Hotness's brother and go over a few last minute things with Imperfect.
Hotness called while I was there to say that she was already done and headed to the house where the wedding would take place.
This was much earlier than I planned on, so her brother and I left right away to get there before she did.
She beat us there by only a couple of minutes, and was out near the road tying balloons to the mailbox so people could find us.
As we got closer, her brother ducked down in the car so she wouldn't see him and then jumped out (after I slowed down, of course) to surprise her.
There were lots of squeals, smiles and hugs as told her "SURPRISE!"

After that, I went inside to get some of the food ready for the reception.
There wasn't much to do, but it was still too early to get dressed in my suit so it filled my time as people started showing up.

An hour before the wedding was to start, the minister took us aside to go over the vows and what was to take place.
Then 15 minutes before the wedding I went to get changed.
At 2:00 p.m. everybody was sat down in their seat, the music started and the wedding began.

It couldn't have turned into a more perfect day.
The sun was shining and it was coming into the house through the big windows we stood in front of.
Hotness's brother walked her down the aisle.
My mom and her husband came out and she made our wedding cake for us.

After a brief ceremony, we exchanged vows and the minister then pronounced us "Husband & Wife".
We walked down the aisle together as "You're My Best Friend" by QUEEN played on.

Everybody soon joined us in the next room where we thanked them all for coming and to please enjoy themselves to food.

We took a few pictures and then it was time to cut the cake.
I'm not a fan of "smooshing" the cake at weddings. The bride spends all day getting ready and trying to look nice for the biggest of "big days" and then you go and stuff cake in her face? I think not.
Instead, we took small forkfuls and ate them without a lot of fuss.

After that, we mingled a bit to make sure everybody had been introduced to everyone else.
Then it was time for us to sign the wedding certificate.

We mingled and talked for a while longer, then as it started getting late and everyone was heading home, Hotness, myself and a few others went to get dinner together.

So that's the gyst of it.
Here are a few pictures of the day:
I decorated the entry way with pictures of us at various stages of our lives. To the left were pictures of Hotness as a baby, child, teenager and an adult. To the right were pictures of me as well.
In the middle were pictures of us through the years that we've been together.

The big windows as the sun shined in during the vows, and our first kiss to "seal the deal" as a wedded couple.

The cake my mom made, as well as some of the food that was served.
My mom and I both made all the food for the reception.

Preparing to cut the cake. Notice Hotness's look of eagerness. (Should I be worried?)

Then our first bites together.

Signing the marriage certificate

A view of the back of Hotness's wedding dress.

Myself, Hotness, G-rod and Liz.

My new brother-in-law, Hotness, and myself

The newly wedded couple!

Post-wedding, Hotness is trying to earn back some cash to help pay for the wedding.

Since we weren't able to have all the people we wanted at our wedding, our plan is to have a B-I-G reception at a later date (hopefully this spring or summer) and invite everyone to it.

We really wanted to share our day with all our friends and family and by having another reception later we can include them all.

While our internet is working I'll try to post some more recent things, but we'll see how things go.

Thanks for your patience.

"We're Experiencing Techincal Difficulties"

2010-02-15T16:37:00.000-08:00

UPDATE:
Yes, Hotness and I are officially married now.
I've been trying to post about it, but our satellite internet connection at the house has gone out and we don't know when it's going to be repaired. We are scheduling a technician to come out soon, but until they get there we do not have access to the interwebs.

As a result, there is no "wedding update with pictures" to post.
I'm using a friend's computer right now, just so ya'll wouldn't think I'd forgotten about you.

I promise to post as soon as I can and give the rundown on everything, but until then this "mini-post" will have to suffice.

Sorry for the delay. I'll try to get back soon.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something "Blu"

2010-01-31T08:29:00.000-08:00

With the wedding coming up shortly, things are beginning to take shape.
I made Hotness's bridal bouquet and I'm taking care of the music.
I also need to get some appetizers whipped up (I have the stuff for one, but still trying to decide on what the other will be), and I'm working on the decorations... although we aren't going crazy with that. Just something to make the place look more "wedding-like".

I have my suit all ready and Hotness picked up her dress last weekend, so those are out of the way.

This is our last weekend to "take it easy", as next weekend will begin the final hours to the event.
Friday night we have a wedding shower to go to. Saturday night is the ballet. Sunday I will be getting the chairs and dropping off the decorations. Monday I'll be getting the appetizers made and setting up the chairs and decorations I dropped off earlier. Tuesday will be... let's see... um....
Oh yeah! The actual wedding.

As the day approaches, we have been asked by different people, "What would we like to have as a wedding gift?"
Hotness and I have different opinions about this.
I feel that we really don't need anything, as we've been together for so long and already have the things we need. Plus, with the economy the way it is, I don't want people to feel they HAVE to spend money on us.
Hotness feels that if people would like to get presents, we should let them. Some people really want to express their happiness for us by getting us a gift, so we shouldn't stop them and make them feel unappreciated.
So we're basically leaving it up to the individual as to whether they want to buy a gift, but it's certainly not necessary.

Now, having said that, we received our first wedding gift in the mail on Friday.
It was from my good friend Imperfect and his wife.
They got us a Blu-ray disc player!

I've been on the fence about getting one.
I was perfectly happy with the DVD player we currently had and didn't see the need for spending more money to upgrade just yet. But on the other hand, I did have a nice, new HDTV that wasn't living up to it's full potential and with Blu-ray discs being released at lower prices than standard DVDs, it was beginning to sway me over.

I would've been happy to wait until our wedding day to open their present, but due to some packaging SNAFUs, we decided to open it early.
We opened the box and... TAA-DAA!!! A beautiful, Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray player was inside!
So yesterday, I made a trip down south to Fry's to pick up the HDMI cable (and a Blu-ray disc, 'cause... Heck! Why not?) as well as some LAN cable to connect it to the interwebs.

I got back home and proceeded to hook it all up.
There was an update for the firmware, so I took care of that right away and then afterwards I went about setting up the adjustments (i.e. video output, audio, brightness, on screen language, etc...).

Unfortunately, my surround sound DVD player did not have an HDMI input.
That would have been the best option. So instead, I had to use regular co-axial plugs.
But to be totally honest, I can't see that it makes a bunch of difference to my ears. My "home theater" isn't that big and my ears aren't that discerning when it comes to sound. So I'm happy it works.
I did have HDMI inputs on the TV, so I plugged the Blu-ray player directly into it.

Then I went and tried out a few standard DVDs to see if the picture quality was any better.
I noticed it was a bit sharper, but almost a bit "over compensating", so I'll have to tweak the settings a bit more (or just use the regular DVD player).

Then I put in the new disc I bought. I got "The Blue Man Group: How To Be A Megastar Live!"
This had special significance on a couple of levels.
First: Being our first "Blu-ray" disc, why not get the "Blue Man Group"?
And Second: This was the same concert tour I went to see with Imperfect a few years back, and since he got us the player it seemed appropriate.
This was by far a H-U-G-E difference in visual quality. I really didn't expect it to be, but I was amazed. Even Hotness said "Wow, that's really clear and what an amazing picture!".
So I'm totally glad to have it have it and especially happy that they got us such a nice gift.
Thank you both again!

In other news....
Nothing new to report in the job-search, although I hope to have something exciting to say in the not-to-distant future.

The Emerald City Comic Con is only a few weeks away. I'm excited and nervous at the same time for it to happen. There are so many cool new guests (Stan Lee, Leonard Nimoy) and awesome returning guests (Terry Moore, Whilce Portacio). It's also expected to be the BIGGEST show yet, which means there's going to be a LOT of hard work to do while it's happening.
Last year was a tough one, so hopefully this year we'll be better prepared. Hotness and I are sharing a hotel room for three nights (instead of two, like in previous years), so that'll help in not having to travel back right away after the second day of the show. We can relax one evening and take our time leaving on Monday.

Babysitting is still happening quite a bit and despite catching the occasional "bug" from the kids, has been a lot of fun. Being "Uncle Ferretnick" is a blast.

Well, that catches us up again for now.
I apologize for the sparse postings, but until something happens that's worth "blogging" about, I tend to just let things slide on here.
With the wedding and conventions coming up I should have more to talk about.

Ya'll be good now!

A Pirate Looks A Forty

2010-01-20T13:35:00.000-08:00

Last week I turned 40.
I wasn't all "I'm having a mid-life crisis" about it, but still.... 40 years old.
That's twice as old as 20 and in some ways I don't feel any wiser than I did back then, only older.

Anyway, to mark the occasion, I wanted to have a "pirate-themed" birthday party at the Comic Stop with all my friends to celebrate.

(I was listening to Jimmy Buffet's song "A Pirate Looks At Forty" and thought that was kind of appropriate for me considering my penchant for acquiring music and such. *wink wink*)

My buddy Imperfect also has his birthday on the same day as mine, so we went to IXTAPA in town and had lunch together.

He mentioned to the restaurant owner that it was my birthday, to which I added that it was also his. The owner asked which of us was the younger, and we told him it was me.

So, after we were finished with our meals (which were muy bueno, by the way), he came over to us with two sombreros and two bowls of fried ice-cream for us, while he and a few of the waitstaff sang us "Happy Birthday".

Here we are, as the goofballs we tend to be:

Anyway, back to the party....

Hotness was busy with work and getting stuff ready for the wedding, so she delegated the party responsibilities to other capable hands.

It was supposed to be a surprise party, but since it was originally my idea and I'd only been talking about it all year, it wasn't much of a "surprise". Especially since I had to carry a cooler into the comic store that night of my birthday. (Hmmm... suspicious?)

Still, I was greeted with a loud "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" when I walked into the back and they turned on the lights.

The party was fun and it was a nice way to turn "middle-aged", even if I did look like a dork for the duration.

Here are some pics for ya:

I really didn't expect gifts, as it wasn't my intention for having a birthday get-together, but I got some pretty nifty swag nevertheless.

I got a few gift cards for iTunes and Target. A got a limited edition Mighty Mugg of Peter Parker with his "Spidey senses" going off. (Way cool!)

And I got a book that I had on my Christmas list (but Hotness wasn't able to find) called "The Supergirls".

The party didn't last too terribly long, but it was fun while it lasted.

-----------------------

On Saturday we met up with Dr. Zoltar and his lovely assistant to see their baby. (I'd actually gotten to see her a couple weeks earlier, but Hotness hadn't yet)

Then that evening we went to help celebrate 2.0's girlfriend's birthday. (She doesn't have a 'nickname', so I'll call her GF2.0)

-----------------------

Sunday was our second opera for this season and it promised to be a doozy!

It was "Il Trovatore", and it had just about everything you could want in an opera.

There was fighting, murder, love, kidnapping, curses, vengeance, gypsies and the popular "Anvil Chorus".

We were joined by GF2.0, who wasn't able to make it in time to get her seat for the first act, so she had to watch it in the lobby on the screens.

During intermission we caught up with her and we all got our seats for the second act.

Then, she left to head back home while Hotness and I went to... where else?... Pomodoro for dinner after the show.

Yum-yum-yummy, as always!

Overall it was a great birthday weekend and made turning 40 into a "not-so-bad" event.

Wedding Planning

2010-01-13T14:32:00.000-08:00

Well, back to the blog again.

After proposing and getting engaged almost a year ago, I tried to come up with ideas for the wedding (what to wear, where to have it, when to have it, etc...).
I wasn't met with resistance by Hotness, but rather benign indifference. Nothing seemed like a bad idea, but it all seemed like it could be taken care of later.
So after a few weeks of trying to come up with ideas, I gave up and put it on the back burner until she wanted to sit down together and plan for it.

Nothing, other than talking about going to Las Vegas, was ever really discussed.... until about 2 weeks ago.
That was when Hotness dropped her wedding plans on me. And only 1 month before she wanted to make them happen.

She thought I was upset at first, but really all it turned out to be was that I was totally unaware of what she wanted to do until that moment.
So in one fell swoop I got the lowdown on what she wanted to do and the steps she'd already taken to make them a reality.
I was a bit speechless.
I didn't know that she was planning ANYTHING, and now I'm having to rush around and get stuff together to make it happen in less than a month.

It's not all that bad though.
I got my outfit already picked out, and last Saturday we found a dress for her that not only looks great, but totally suits her.
So those two things are taken care of.
This afternoon, we'll be heading out to pick up the marriage license.

Other than that, we're planning a very small, intimate wedding.
So right now, we're in the process of trying to get invitations made up so we can get them sent out as soon as possible.

In fact, we're not even planning on a real reception for afterwards because we'll have so few people there.
The reception we want to have will be much more elaborate so that we can share it with all our friends. But right now, we're not even sure when that will be. Originally Hotness wanted to have it on the anniversary of when I proposed, but it turns out that that's on the weekend of the Emerald City Comic Con. I'm cool with that, but for some reason she says "no". Then in April, I'll be gone for Calgary Expo again.
So for right now, that event is up in the air until we can find a time (and a place) to have it.

In the meantime, I'm just kind of in a fog.
My birthday is coming up and we're sort of 'half-way' to the wedding, so everything just seems kind of surreal right now. I know things are going to happen, but they aren't happening "right now".

I'm kind of rambling, aren't I?
Yeah, okay. Onto other subjects...

I went and saw "Avatar" the other day.
It was in 3-D and I was afraid that I might get motion sickness (as I'm prone to do at movies lately), so I dosed up on Dramamine.
What an incredible movie. And the 3-D only made it better.
I think if I'm going to get a Blu-ray player in the near future, THIS will be the movie that tips the scales in favor of doing it.

What else? Hmmm...
Oh yeah!
I TOTALLY geeked out yesterday when I found out that Stan "The Man" Lee would be coming to ECCC this year!
I only have to real goals in life, and in the grand scheme of things they are within reason.
1) To meet and get a picture taken with Weird Al Yankovic
2) To meet and get a picture taken with Stan Lee.
Looks like I can cross one of those off my list real soon! (and if anybody can help make that first one a reality, please let me know!)

I'd like to say I have a whole bunch of other stuff to talk (or rather, "blog") about, but I don't.
No news on the job search other than I haven't heard back from anybody.
Nobody has called me to even set up an interview. I'm still sending out job apps and my resume, and all I'll hearing back is the sound of crickets chirping.
I'm not depressed, but it does get a bit discouraging after a while.

I'll probably have more to talk about after this weekend.
My birthday is coming up and on Sunday Hotness and I are going to the opera (our second one for the season).
I should have SOMETHING to talk about again by then.

So Yeah.... 2010. Yippee.

2010-01-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

2009 has gone out with a whimper it seems.
It had it's ups-and-downs (mostly downs) but I really can't think of last year as being anything spectacular. Just another milestone on the road of life.

Oh sure, we got a new President. That was new and a high-point for the year.
Everybody was all excited to see fresh, new blood move into the White House and take command. But where's that enthusiasm now?

Hotness and I got engaged last year. Another high-point.
But with money being tight, we really can't have the wedding we'd been planning to have.

Two good friends and myself lost their jobs last year.
Luckily the two of them were able to find work and I *might* have something lined up soon, but still... losing your job isn't exactly the most exciting thing to experience with an economy in the toilet like it is.

No, 2009 will not be a memorable year for me other than to say "Oh yeah, THAT happened".

Now with 2010 upon us, I get to look forward to hitting the 40 year mark.

I do have a lot to be thankful for, actually.
I have some very amazing, supportive friends. I'm no longer working at a place I didn't enjoy being at. I'm going to get married soon. I still have a roof over my head.
But overall, I just don't feel all that excited about this new year.
Maybe it's the grey weather outside. Maybe it's that I've been sort of cooped up in the house a lot lately. I don't know.

I realize I'm only three days into it so far, and I should really give it a chance to prove itself.
But today... I just don't feel the love for it.

Livin' Large

2009-12-22T05:55:00.000-08:00

Yeesh!
Almost a whole has gone by without any new posts.
I'd like to say I've just been too busy, but the reality is only partially true.
I have been busy but not enough to prevent me from blogging.

What's been happening?

Well, I'm still searching for a job. Lots of resumes sent out but nobody has called back.

I did have an interview, but it turned out to not be for a job directly. It was a 'job placement service' and they called me in to get more information regarding my work history. I think the interview went well, but I haven't heard anything from them since.

Been doing a lot of babysitting and I just recently house-sat for our neighbor last weekend.

Other than that....? Not much.

So see, really nothing exciting to blog about.
------------------------------------------------

I did make a major upgrade in our house a few days ago.

I was out shopping with G-rod the other day and noticed a flat screen LCD TV on sale for the holidays.
I've been wanting to upgrade from our old 29" clunker for a while, but I've been waiting for a good price drop on the new flat screen HDTVs before I made the switch.

This one was marked down $200 from the original price and seemed to have everything I was looking for in a new TV.

I asked G his opinion and he thought it was a great deal as well, especially the price.

So I came home and talked it over with Hotness and did some research online to get reviews and price comparisons before making a purchase.

Almost all the reviews I read were positive (and the few negative ones were really petty complaints) and the prices I found online for it were about the same as the non-sale price I'd seen, so overall it looked to be a good buy.
I decided... "This is it".

It's a SONY Bravia 40" LCD HDTV.

To make a very long story short, there were a few mishaps in trying to locate a store that still had stock on this TV while it was on sale but after some dogged perseverance I managed to succeed in my goal of finding one.
I even manged to get it for LESS than the advertised sale price so... BONUS!!!

I loaded it into my car (which was a feat unto itself... take a look at the pictures)

and brought it home to hook it up.

One of the reasons I liked this TV was it had a lot of different types of inputs for various cables.
My DVD player used an S-cable and this TV was one of the few styles I found that had an input for that.
So after I got home and took it out of the box, it was plugged in and I was watching movies on it within 20 minutes.

I'm loving this new TV and do not regret buying it at all.
I've been going over scenes from different movies just to watch how they look on the new screen.

With the surround sound system I acquired not long ago, I feel like I'm starting to catch up with the 21st Century finally.

As for my older 29" television, I gave it to my aunt to replace her tiny, little 13" TV.
(Yeah, people still have some of those!)
So everybody's happy and watching programs on bigger screens now.

I recently bought the "Ultimate Cut of Watchmen", and I'm looking forward to spending the better part of 4 hours watching it on hi-def and surround sound. Probably today since I don't have any other plans to speak of.

The rest of this week will be filled with playing Heroclix with a friend's kids, more babysitting and... something else I forget. (Aw c'mon! I know it Christmas this Friday!)

I don't know when I'll get back to this blog, so in the meantime have a great Christmas and hopefully you have your shopping finished.

Be talking again (hopefully) soon.....

Das Krümelmonster sagt NEIN!

2009-12-02T16:13:00.000-08:00

It's not Monday, but it would qualify if I was still doing those posts.

For your enjoyment, here's Cookie Monster singing with Rammstein:

Stress Symptoms

2009-12-02T09:01:00.000-08:00

I gotta take Hotness to the doctor today for an appointment.
She's been feeling under the weather, much more so than I was when I had the cold I just got over. We're hoping it's nothing to serious (as in the flu, or particularly H1N1) so we'll see.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about some stuff in my life right now and I thought I'd talk about them briefly.

Stress does a wicked number on your health in more ways than you can imagine.
When I was selling aquarium fish (many years ago) we always informed customers about the many factors that can cause stress in the fish tank environment and how to try and eliminate them for the overall health of the fish inside.

The same thing applies to us humans.
We have sources of stress on many, many different levels coming at us at all times.
Not all of it is bad, but constant repetitive stress can really wear you down after a while.

About 8 or 9 years ago I started having trouble with my sinuses. I wasn't having infections or anything like that, but I was having difficulty clearing my nose when I blew it into a tissue. It never seemed to work and only got worse as the years continued. I even went to the doctor to try and see what the problem was, but he couldn't determine a cause so it went on without any remedy.
Occasionally I'd take an over-the-counter allergy or sinus pill to help alleviate the symptoms, but they always returned.
At night, I'd have difficulty breathing and wouldn't get a full, restful night's sleep. In the morning I'd wake up barely able to breath through my nose and would spend a good portion of my morning trying to blow it out so I could breath a little.

I thought I may be allergic to the cat, but I never had been before and the symptoms never got drastically worse when I was around the cat.

Then, about 4 or 5 years ago I started having trouble with my stomach. At least once (and quite often twice) a week I'd have an upset stomach.
My tummy would cramp up and I'd have to go. It was not comfortable in the least.
The medical term for this would be called "irritable bowel syndrome". No real way to stop it, it just happens and people have to deal with it for the rest of their lives.

Well a funny thing has happened in the last couple of months.
I haven't had one instance of an 'irritable bowel' at all.
And around the middle of November my sinus started to clear up. I've been able to breath clearly at night, and when I blow my nose... it clears out the junk and I can breath.

What have I been doing in the last two months to make such an improvement to my health?
Nothing, quite literally.
I was laid off two months ago and in these past two months, my body has started to recover from stress I was subjecting it to at a job that I wasn't enjoying.

When my sinuses started acting up, I had just moved into "Will Call / shipping". I was there for about a year or two before moving into sales. Then in the last 4 or 5 years of being in sales and having to deal with customers, vendors, and even some co-workers my stomach started acting up.

When I was let go from my job, my tummy troubles ceased.... practically overnight.
My sinuses took a little while longer to start to clear, but they have been for the last 2 or 3 weeks and I can not only breath easier but I actually feel a lot better than I have in recent years.

You'd think that being unemployed would add more stress and make my body react even worse, but I've really been more relaxed than I ever have been in a long while.
I'm looking for work, but I'm only looking for things I seriously want to do. Not just the first thing that comes along.
I'm not about to subject myself anytime soon to the same stress levels I had been before.

Now, if I would just get my butt into the gym.........

Funniest Thing I've Seen All Week

2009-11-27T23:50:00.000-08:00

This is pretty darn funny.
It's actually safe for work, although you might not want to watch it there.
Just thought I'd warn you first, but nothing to offend anyone really.

Are you ready?
Go here.

(Hint: You have to click the 'play' button more than once)

Post T-Day Food Report

2009-11-27T22:36:00.000-08:00

OoOoOoOo..... finally recovered from my turkey-induced coma and can tell you about how the day went.
Ah, scratch that. I just want to tell you about how my recipes turned out.
In a word... Awesome!

I stuck to the list of ingredients, but I have to admit they leave a lot of room to play around with.
You can add or subtract as much sausage, celery, etc... to get it the way you want it.

I did make a couple of modifcations to it while I was mixing it up:
I added 1 small clove of garlic to the butter that I cooked the celery, onions and mushrooms in.
I also added a little bit of rosemary to the stuffing (I didn't measure, but if I had to guess it was about 1/4 teaspoon).
Otherwise I stuck to my original plan and made it the way I wrote it out and planned on doing.

I will definitely make this stuffing from scratch again. It was totally worth it.

As for the potatoes....
The only thing I did that wasn't on the recipe earlier was I added fresh ground pepper and salt to them before cooking them.
I cut up the potatoes, crumbled the bacon, (coarsely) chopped the rosemary and then put it all in a big mixing bowl. Then I poured the olive oil over it and ground some pepper and shook a little salt over it before mixing it up and dumping it into the baking dish.

They both turned out great and everybody like them.

Today Hotness and I braved a couple of stores to do some holiday shopping.
We weren't looking for any of the "Black Friday" specials, but there were certainly enough people out-and-about that it was difficult to find parking and get through the check-out lines.
Luckily we didn't have much to do so we weren't stuck in any of it for too long.

Tomorrow, I have some errands to run early in the day and then my afternoon will be filled with more babysitting. (I'm thinking of having business cards made up with "Professional Babysitter" on them. Hmmm.... what do you think?)

That's all for now.
More to come soon, I promise.

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-26T08:26:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Today I am making the stuffing I posted the recipe for earlier.
I'm really looking forward to how it comes out.
I'll post my thoughts on it after this Friday.
---------------------------------

So yesterday I got to spend the day in Seattle with Technogreek and my friends from Calgary, "K & L".
L is a B-I-G fan of animation and it just so happened that there was an animation exhibit going on at the Pacific Science Center.
Having connections like I do (wink-wink), I was able to get all four of us FREE PASSES to the exhibit for the day.
Which was especially nice, since the whole thing was geared a lot more for kids than for the general animation loving public.
There were a lot of hands-on projects for younger folks, but not a whole lot of history or background for us 'old fogies' who remember the "Good Old Days".
They did, however, have a nifty real-time animation set-up that took your picture in "bullet time" and then animated it right there for you.
This was just one of the three that we did:

Overall it was a fun experience, but I'm certainly glad we didn't have to spend full price to see it.

Afterwards, we went to a sports bar across the street for some Kobe Beef burgers, and then to Bellevue to check out a paper supply store for L.

Technogreek had an appointment in the afternoon, so he dropped us off at his place. K and I went to the Comic Stop and then to Jamba Juice before I dropped him back off and headed back home for the day.

Other than that, I watched "Boondock Saints" with Hotness that evening, under the threat of my brother disowning for not having ever seen it.
It was really good, and I'm surprised I hadn't known about it earlier.
Now that I have seen it, my brother has agreed to not disown me and I am back in his good graces again. (*WHEW!* I was really worried there for a bit!)

Anyway, I wish everyone a terrific Thanksgiving and I have some good news looming on the horizon. I'll write more about it when I have something 'concrete' to report.

Gluten-Free Cornbread Stuffing

2009-11-22T06:34:00.000-08:00

I'm up early on a Sunday morning. Hotness is still in bed snoozing.
I figured, now is a good time to blog and put up a recipe I'm working on for Thanksgiving.

Before I start in, I should mention a couple of things:
1) This is a recipe I'm making for the FIRST TIME. I'm not sure how it'll come out, as I'm "winging it" as I go along.
2) All measurements (that aren't specified) are approximate. I'll try to be accurate, but it's sort of up to personal preference on some of this stuff, so use as little or as much as you see fit.

First, we start with the cornbread since this is the base for the whole thing.
You can use a commercial gluten-free mix, like Bob's Red Mill GF Cornbread Mix. (This is probably the easiest way to go, but since I couldn't find it when I went shopping, here's how to make your own...)
> 1 Cup of gluten-free (GF) cornmeal
> 1 Cup of GF flour (I used: 1/2 Cup rice flour + 1/4 Cup Tapioca flour + 1/4 Cup cornstarch.... all available through Bob's Red Mill)
> 1 Teaspoon Xanthan gum (this stuff is rather expensive, but a little bit goes a very long way, so it all works out if you plan on doing a lot of GF baking)
> 1/2 Cup sugar
> 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder (I used Clabber Girl, but make sure the brand you use is gluten-free.... they should be by nature, but sometimes you never know)
> 1 Cup of Milk (I used Fat-free, or "Skim", but that's just personal choice)
> in a 1 Cup measure, put 2 eggs and then top off with vegetable oil to make "1 Cup"

Mix the dry ingredients first, then add the wet ingredients to it and mix well.
(for added flavor, I added about 1/2 tsp of rubbed sage and 1/4 tsp of thyme to the dry ingredients)

Pour it in a skillet or baking dish (8x8x2 should be fine) and bake at 425 F. (Originally my recipe said for only 20 minutes, but it actually took about 35-40 minutes. I'd say start at 20 minutes and check it to see if a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out without any gooey batter. If it does, it's done. If it doesn't add another 5-7 minutes until it is)
* One thing about GF breads is that thay are "heavier" and more dense than typical bread. Don't be surprised if it doesn't come out looking like regular cornbread (such as Jiffy Cornbread).

Let it cool and then slice the cornbread into 1/2 - 3/4 inch slices.
Take the slices and cube them into 1/2 - 3/4 inch cubes.
Then let them sit for a couple of days to get nice and stale. (You want them kind of dry and hard when you make the stuffing).

If you don't have a couple of days, you can spread the cubed bread out on a cookie sheet and dry them in the oven for an hour or so. Turn your oven to 150 - 200 F and check on them periodically. When they are nice and dry (almost like croutons), they're done.

That recipe (plus the stuff we're going to add next) should be enough to make a side-dish for 4 or 5 people. So if you are planning on more people, just double-up the recipe. If you have leftover stuffing, who doesn't like stuffing the next day? Only communists, I tell you.

Now to make the stuffing.
Measurements are approximate, so feel free to add more if you like it, or leave it out if you don't.

In a skillet on med heat, melt about 4 Tablespoons of butter and to it add:
1/2 cup of chopped celery
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 Cup of Mushrooms (see below)
Stir these around for a bit until they start to get a little soft. (The onion starts to turn translucent about that time)
Then add these to your cornbread cubes and toss them around to mix it all up

In a saucepan, heat up 1 cup of GF chicken broth (you could use vegetable broth if you want) and add 1 teaspoon of sage (I use "rubbed" instead of "ground", but the flavor is the same so use what you have... and feel free to use more if you like sage).
It doesn't need to boil, but get the broth to a simmer to make sure you get the sage flavor to mix.
Then add this to your cornbread cubes and mix it up good so that everything is soaked in both, and put it in a baking dish (the size will depend on what you decide to add to the stuffing next...)

I am adding to this mix:
> approx. 1 Cup of wild mushrooms (I bought dehydrated ones at the grocery store and followed the directions for reconstituting them)
> approx. 1 tart apple (like Granny Smith) chopped up into small cubes
> approx. 1/2 Cup of dried cranberries (I'm using Craisins, but you could also use chopped dried apricots instead)
> approx. 1 Cup of cooked and drained pork sausage (not the "maple-flavored" kind, though)
> approx. 1/2 Cup of shelled pistachios (or walnuts, pine nuts, or even shelled pumpkin seeds!)

Mix everything (or at least, everything you want to add from the list of extras) and bake it in the oven at 425 F for about 30-40 minutes until everything is heated through.

I've never made this recipe before, but I did make good old Stove-Top Stuffing and added these ingredients to it and it was wonderful. I can't see that making stuffing from scratch would be any different.
I'll let you know how mine came out after Thanksgiving is over.

***** Bonus Recipe *****
I'm also making some roasted red potatoes. This recipe is E-A-S-Y!!
Chop up some red potatoes into approx 1 inch cubes (about 7 regular-sized taters), and put them into a bowl.
Add fresh ground pepper and salt (enough to taste) and a generous amount of chopped rosemary (if I had to measure, I'd say at least a tablespoon)
And crumbled cooked bacon. (Mmmm! BACON!) Maybe about a 1/4 Cup (or a little more... it IS bacon after all!)
Then pour olive oil over (just enough to coat everything evenly) and toss everything around a bit to mix it all up.
Put it all in a baking dish and bake at 425 F until the potatoes are done (usually about 45 minutes, but check them periodically... it could take an hour)

Anyway, that's what I'm making this year.
If you try either (or both) of these recipes out and have any comments or suggestions, let me know.

Until next time.....

KISS Alive 35

2009-11-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the tardiness in getting this up on the blog, but I was kept down with a bad cold when I woke up on Monday and I've just been taking it easy.

Apparently rocking out on Sunday night took too much out of me. But before I dive into what happened, a little history first....

I'd never been a big fan of KISS growing up. Mostly because my mom thought they were a bad influence, but also that I wasn't really into that kind of music as a youngster.

As I grew older, and started to develop my (warped) sense of musical taste, I never really took the time to 'discover' them and see what the fuss was about. The few songs I'd heard were just okay to me.

But they have a devoted fan base of all ages.... the KISS Army, it's called.

I saw them about 8 years ago during their "Official Farewell Tour", back when all original four members were putting on the makeup and hitting the concert circuit.

I thought, "Well, I'll probably never get to see them again so I ought to check them out and see them live before they retire".

What a fantastic concert!

They pull out all the stops to make their show a spectacle beyond any other.

I became a fan of the band after that night.

Their "Farewell Tour" turned out to not be so 'final' after all, as they have continued touring during the last 8 years since I saw them.

When I heard they were coming back to town, I thought it'd be fun to go see them again but having been recently laid off (and therefore having to watch what I spend), I figured I'd have to pass.

Besides, it was only two original members and two others who've been in-and-out of the band over the years, so really it probably wasn't going to be the same anyway.

Then on Friday (before the show), I was putzing around on Facebook when I saw a post by Wicked Juan... "Going to try and score $10 KISS tickets".

WHAT!?! Tickets for 10 bucks?! Seriously?!?

I wished him luck, and he turned around and sent a message back to me, "You can try and get them too, here's the link....".

How... HOW, I ask you?... could I pass up a chance to get super-cheap tickets to go see KISS?

I couldn't.

So I followed the link, typed in the "secret code" and.... I scored them as well!

I figured I'd get two tickets, because really, what good is going to concert by yourself. Especially to see these guys?

I was so excited. Not only did I get the tickets for dirt cheap, but I was going to take my concert buddy with me.

I called her up and asked if she could join me, but it turned out she already had plans for that night.

So I called Elwood... same thing.
I called a buddy who works with Hotness, but he couldn't make it either.

I was getting bummed because I was afraid I'd have to go to the concert alone.

I mentioned that I got the tickets but hadn't found a "date" to go with me, when one of my friends suggested a camping buddy of mine.

I called him up and asked him and he said, "Hmmm.... I don't really know what they sing, but it sounds like fun. Sure."

So on Sunday night we headed into Seattle to meet up with Wicked Juan and his wife and have pizza before heading to the show.

We got to the concert, found our seats and got ready for the show.

Here' our view of the stage:

The opening band was Buckcherry. Not only was I unimpressed by them, but the sound was awful. If they were any good, I couldn't tell because they just sounded horrible.

In fact my ears hurt after their set was finished.

This isn't the first time I've had this problem with opening bands at the Key Arena.

The same thing happened when I saw Van Halen in 2004 there. Their opening band was Rose Hill Drive and they played so gosh-darn loud that I put in earplugs (something I rarely ever do at a concert).

Luckily, the main act doesn't have this problem and the sound is much better.

Anyway, they finished and left the stage. Then a big banner dropped while they switched out equipment:

After about 20 minutes, the lights dimmed and over the speakers everybody heard...
"ALRIGHT SEATTLE! YOU WANTED THE BEST, YOU GOT THE BEST!!!"

The banner dropped and the band started right in with "Deuce" and even set off fireworks right off the bat!

From then on it was hit after hit, explosions, fireballs, confetti, elevated stages, fog machines and the craziest rock costumes ever!

Gene Simmons did a bass solo, complete with the "spitting blood" routine and flying up from the stage.

There's a good video montage of the show we went to that night here on YouTube.

What the band lacks in profound musical lyricism, they more than make up for in showmanship on the stage.

There is no other concert like a KISS concert!

People were decked out in costumes all over the place, and all ages were represented.

There were young kids with their parents, teenagers, on up to the 40+ crowd.

Once the music starts and they start performing, no matter what age you are in real life you suddenly become an pre-adolescent and get your face rocked!

It was a total blast and I think if they come back to Seattle again, I just might have to go see them... one more time.

****** BONUS ******

A little Gene Simmons goodness to put on your desk so you can rock out at work.

Via Nice Bunny Downloads.

Going Mobile

2009-11-15T10:07:00.001-08:00

I tend to run along a fine line between being a technophobe and a gadget-freak.
I like nifty gadgets and such, but I don't always feel that I need to have the latest-and-greatest whenever it comes out. In fact, I tend to shy away from some things because I feel that they invade my person space a little too much.

I went a long time without a cell phone for this reason. I felt if anyone needed to get hold of me they could call my home number, leave a message, and if they were somebody I wanted to talk to (i.e. NOT a telemarketer!) I'd call them back. I don't need to be getting calls when I'm not near a phone. But Hotness talked me into getting one and now it's with me all the time.
And it has come in handy. I'm constantly using the camera, and texting has become second-nature to calling when I need to relay a message but don't want to make an actual call.

I felt the same way about my first iPod.
I wanted something to listen to when I went to the gym, on a plane ride, etc...
I tried to find an mp3 player that WASN'T an iPod, simply because I wanted to support somebody other than Apple. (They had a H-U-G-E market presence and I wanted to 'support the little guy')
But I eventually broke down and got an iPod Nano (because everything else on the market was geared for use with the iPod) and loaded it up with songs. It's served it purpose at the gym, camping, on my plane rides to Calgary, and so on.
I can't say that I couldn't live without it, but I do appreciate it's convenience and portability.

When the iPhone came out, it was eye-catching but didn't lure me in with it's sleek design or it's functionality.
What bugged me most was that you couldn't replace the battery on it. So once it "died", you were stuck with buying another one, and so on.
That's not to say I still didn't like it, but I managed to avoid being sucked in by it's sexiness.

Until, recently that is.

No, I didn't get an iPhone. But I did upgrade my iPod to an iPod Touch.
I have a friend who works for a company that builds applications for the iPhone and iTouch and was very impressed with what it was capable of doing.... besides just playing music.

I can talk myself into rationalizing just about anything, so it didn't take long to talk myself into getting one.
Hotness didn't dissuade me, but tried to get me to explain my reasons for wanting one.
I explained to her that with it, I could:
1) check my email when I'm not at home (especially while I'm out job-hunting)
2) use various applications, or "apps", that are specific to my interests (more on this in a bit)
3) I could instant message for free with her when I'm mobile, particularly when I'm in Canada (instead of texting her at $.30 per international text... which adds up after a week!)
... not to mention just playing around with it for fun.

"Okay, if you think you'll actually use it for that go ahead and get it," she said.
So I did.
I didn't go crazy and only got the 8GB version. I figured if it worked like I thought I'd be using it for, I could always upgrade at a later date.

I have fallen in love with it during the week I've had it.
I could probably live without it, but I have already gotten accustomed to having it with me at all times.

I was able to check my email and update my Facebook status while at the local coffee shop before heading to a job search.
I went to dinner with Hotness one evening and sent an email to a friend about something I had just thought of (and would probably forget before I got back home).
I loaded some "kid-friendly" apps on it and have used it to keep my niece and nephew entertained for a few minutes when I'm babysitting.
Not to mention, using it as a day-planner. (Am I free to babysit on Monday afternoon? Lemme see... why yes I am. Anytime after 2:00 p.m.)

I've been searching the iTunes store for applications, mostly free ones, that I can use for myself.
There's a ton of them on there. A lot of crap and a lot of useful ones.
Obviously you get what you pay for, but for the most part I've been pretty happy with the free apps I've picked up.
I got a few games (to kill time and keep kids busy), and a couple of conversion apps (i.e. inches to meters, Fahrenheit to Celsius, foreign currency to U.S. dollars, etc...).
I also picked up a language translator, not that I need it all the time but "just in case".
And I got a sale price calculator that will determine the cost of something with original and additional mark-downs plus figure in the tax so I'll known what I'm about (or NOT about) to spend on a sale item. (Since I do a lot of shopping, this comes in very handy)

Did I need it? No, probably not. Obviously I've lived this long without having one and could've continued to do so.
But like I said earlier, I've grown accustomed to having it in the very short time of owning it.
It's also helped me realize that having an internet-capable phone is something I'll want to have if I can find the kind of job I'm hoping to get. Portable internet access will be a necessity for me.

So here I am, sucked in by another shiny object on the technology shelf but very happy with it.

---------
Coming up soon:
KISS in concert
Gluten-free cornbread stuffing for Thanksgiving

Beware Of No. 3

2009-11-13T23:06:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posting.
I will try to rectify that soon, but in the meantime please enjoy this Public Service Announcement from BabyLove Diapers.

Heh heh heh... a "poo explosion"!

Being A Local Tourist

2009-11-07T07:18:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday I took a break from my standard schedule and headed into Seattle for a "job search / ticket purchase / walkaround town" day of adventure.

I called up 2.0's girlfriend to see if she'd like to join me.

She's currently looking for work as well and since I was heading into town to buy her a ticket for the opera as part of a trade we made (she's joining Hotness & I in January), I thought she might like to join me. Plus, I always like having company when I drive to Seattle.

It turned out she had a job interview that day... in Seattle.

So joining me into the city was a double-treat for her, as her car was not driveable that day and she'd been planning to take the bus.

We met up around 10:00 a.m. and drove to the Big City.

Her interview was at 11:00 and I needed to kill some time while she was there, so I went to the Uwajimaya store and looked around. (There's ALWAYS lots of stuff to look at there)

I ended up buying a DVD of some classic kung-fu action by the legendary Shaw Brothers.

It was "The 5 Deadly Venoms" and I'm still trying to find time to sit and watch it. I'm really excited to see it.

After the interview, we went to Seattle Center so I could pick up her ticket.

The ballet and the opera share the same venue, but apparently they do not share the same ticket office. We had to go about a mile and a half uptown to get the extra opera ticket.

We decided to hold off on that, as there was other stuff we wanted to do.

So we took the monorail to Westlake Center and then walked to Pike Place Market.

There were some businesses in that area that I wanted to check out and I wanted to wander around town since it was a nice day.

Unfortunately, my trip into Seattle to look for a job turned into a wasted effort, as everybody I went to see only took applications online. It didn't do me any good to actually drive into the city and try to apply in person.

However... the day was not a total loss as the two of us had a great time walking around Pike Place and looking in the shops.

We had lunch at a pasta bar in Post Alley. She picked up a present at the (ORIGINAL) Starbuck's shop. We went to the Great Wind-Up Shop. We stopped in at Golden Age Collectibles. And many, many other places.

It was a really fun day.

Then we headed back up north, where I dropped her off with her boyfriend and she caught a ride home with him.

Later that evening, we all met up again at the Comic Stop and hung out until after closing when we all went out for dinner afterwards.

Thursday & Friday were sort of uneventful, but tonight Hotness and I have another ballet to attend.

This one is "Director's Choice", so there are lots of smaller works with a lot of diversity to them.

I'm looking forward to it as there is usaully one 'stand-out performance' which makes the whole evening worthwhile.

After that, perhaps a late-night nibble at Pomodoro.

------------------------

I hadn't posted my Halloween costume from this year yet, so for those of you who missed it, here it is:

I intended to go as "The Fly" from the 50's sci-fi film, but never got around to finishing the mask for it.

Since I had all the major components of the costume, I opted for a 'mad scientist' instead.

And here was Hotness:

Me-ow, baby!

Well, that's all for now.

I'll be back soon when I have more to alk about about.

Breakdance Competition: Batman Vs. Joker

2009-11-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

No real content today, just fluff.

Have fun with this bit of interactive YouTube fun:

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T11:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween everybody!

Have you got your costume ready? Are you all set for going out and making a "ghoul" of your self at a party, or are you going to be hanging around and 'trick-or-treating' with the kids?

Well, whatever you do have fun!

Also... Happy Birthday to Peter Jackson, who turned 48 today.

What have I been up to lately?

Until yesterday, not a whole lot.

I've working on my unemployment obligations, so nothing exciting there.

I'm still doing the organization work for a friend of mine. Finally starting to see some progress there. It felt like I really wasn't making much of a dent in it but I'm starting to see that's not the case now.

On Wednesday I applied for a job position that I'd been hoping would open up.

I'm really excited about it, although I haven't been called in for an interview so I'm just in a holding pattern for now.

Thursday I had to attend mandatory "orientation" at the local unemployment office. *YAWN!*

But that's out of my way now. It counted as a job search for my requirements, and since it was early in the day AND it completed my week's quota... I blew the rest of the day off and watched horror movies while Hotness was at work.

First up was the remake of "Friday the 13th".

Other than being a newer "retelling" of the story, this movie didn't bring anything to the table that was really all that good. (Except for Julianna Guill. RAWR!)

I wasn't shocked in the least and the suspense wasn't really there.

On the plus side, it was better than the original in that it had a better budget and so the effects were on a higher level than when it first came out. Overall.... meh.

Second movie was the remake of "Halloween" which was directed by Rob Zombie.

This one fired on all 8 cylinders and was a great remake of the original.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

My only regret is having watched it during the daytime, as I think it would've been much better to watch it after dark with the lights turned down. Other than that, I thought it was top-notch for a horror / suspense movie.

On Friday I was supposed to babysit my nephew for the morning, but that ended rather abruptly when he decided that he'd had enough excitement and fell asleep in his highchair while eating breakfast.

I'd only been there 45 minutes before the little tyke crashed and burned. His mom was already home, so she put him to bed and didn't need me to stick around anymore.

I went the next town and picked up some Halloween candy to hand out at their house tonight, and while I was there I went to see a movie.

I watched "Where The Wild Things Are".

I'd been looking forward to seeing it ever since I heard it was coming out and wanted to catch it in the theater.

It was just under 2 hours long and when it was finished I felt like I'd really spent my money on a "non-experience".

I don't know... The cinematography was well done. The music was appropriately moody and fitting. The costume design was incredible. But when the movie was over I just felt like it really didn't say anything.

This is one case where I really think the book was better.

With that finished, I came back home and putzed around the house for a bit.

Then I took off in the late afternoon to catch up with my good friend Liz and go see a concert in Seattle that night.

She had won tickets to go see UFO at Neumo's and asked me if I wanted to join her.

The music was great. They are a band from the late 70's that has continued to have a somewhat lucrative career in rock, although they are somewhat unknown to a lot of people in the U.S. who are under 35 years old.

I looked around the crowd and it seemed like I was the youngest person there. Kind of a shock, but at least I wasn't "creepy old guy" for a change!

As for the bar, well.... I won't be going back just for drinks there anytime soon. If ever.

I'm not much of a social drinker when I'm out and about, so I didn't know what I wanted when we were at the bar. I sat down with Liz and looked over the drink menu.

Let me clarify that a bit. It's a "menu" of the types of drinks they can make which you pay for to enjoy. Sort of like going to a restaurant and ordering a food item that they offer on their menu.

So I went up to the bar and ordered my drink. The bartender said "A what?", so I repeated it and then said, "It's in your drink menu".

He fiddled with some cash for a moment, filled a beer glass and then came back to me and said, "What is it called?". I repeated it again. He looked puzzled.

Then he grabbed a glass and mixed up something that sounded like what I wanted and handed it to me. Plus he overcharged me for it.

So not only only did I not get what I wanted, but the bartender WHO WORKS AT THE BAR THAT OFFERED THE DRINK MENU didn't know what drinks were on that menu. Plus I paid extra for his lack of knowledge.

Customer service FAIL in my book. Thank you very little.

We finished and our drinks and then went to see the band. They rocked for over an hour and had a couple of encores. Then we left and headed for home.

It was well after midnight and the roads were very wet, so I stayed at her place and had breakfast there before coming back to my house to Hotness today.

Tonight we'll be handing out candy to costumed hoodlums at separate locations.

She'll be downtown at the auto parts store and I'll be at our friend's house.

Then after the ghosts and goblins (and princesses) settle down for the night, we'll be heading to a local restaurant for their Halloween shindig. It should be a fun evening.

** UPDATE!! **

I forgot I'd taken pictures of the band last night.

They aren't great but here they are:

We were on the left side of the stage in the second row, so we got a great view.

Wall Of Sound

2009-10-25T09:52:00.000-07:00

I mentioned earlier that I had acquired a 5.1 surround sound DVD player in trade for some work I did for a friend, so I thought I might talk a bit about that.

A buddy of mine recently upgraded from an older system to a newer, wireless surround sound with Blu-ray DVD system. (OoOoOo... fancy shmancy!)
He had recently gotten it and hooked it up, so his older system was still at the house.

He mentioned offhandedly that he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with the old system.
He didn't want to waste time trying to sell it, since it was older and probably couldn't get much for it, but he also didn't want to throw it away, as it still worked perfectly good.

I said, "Well if you want to get rid of it, I'd take it off your hands if that's okay."
He thought that'd be great, seeing as how I was already doing stuff for him and it would be a good trade.

So I packed it up and brought it home.
Along the way, I also picked up some new speaker wire. (The ones it came with were a bit damaged from his kittens playing with them)

I've never owned or set up a surround sound system before, and since I didn't have the directions that came with them I wanted to devote a whole day to work on getting it together.
My buddy Imperfect found the instruction manual online at the mfg'r's website, so I downloaded it in preparation of setting it up and read through it briefly to familiarize myself with it.

On Wednesday, Hotness worked from home and I had no other plans that day, so I picked that day to get working on taking apart my previous system and getting the new one hooked up.

I'm not going to go into details about the process ('cause it's pretty boring actually).
But I wanted to tell you what I had been using compared to what I have now.

I bought a Panasonic DVD player about 10 years ago. It was my first and only DVD player I purchased (for myself, at least).
I hooked it up to my home stereo and when Hotness and I would watch movies we had the "luxury" of listening to movies play in quadraphonic stereo (two stereo speakers + two TV speakers). This was the height of my sound system and has worked for us all this time.

I'd watched movies at friend's houses with better systems, but was still quite happy with my mediocre system.

I got done fixing the wires on the newer machine and hooked everything up. I turned it on and balanced the speakers.
Then I put in a DVD that I new had a lot of "sounds" so that I could see if I noticed much of a difference.

HOLY COW!!! What a difference indeed!
This new sound system is amazing compared to what we were using before.
There are so many little things we weren't hearing before when we watched movies.
I think we were only getting about 2/3 of the actual soundtrack at any given time.

I'm not an audiophile so I don't go around looking for the latest and greatest to try and get perfection for my ears.
But having used the set-up I had been for the last 10 or so years, I am very excited and happy to have this newer system to use.

In case you're interested, this is what I have now: SONY DAV-C770
It's gotten mediocre reviews, but I can honestly say that I have no complaints about it.
Now I'm going to have to re-watch all my DVDs so I can hear what I'd been missing all this time!

And Here Are Those Pictures I Promised

2009-10-23T03:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I may not be speedy, but I do deliver.... eventually.

I meant to get some pictures up about a week ago but I let it slide and look where we are now.

Anyway, here a few pictures from things I've been doing lately. Enjoy.

In between job searches I been filling my time up with babysitting for my niece and nephew.

A few nights back I had the chance to watch them for the evening while their parents went out looking for a new vehicle (read: bigger kid-transport).

My niece put these fangs on and tried to scare me:

It worked 'really well' as I was certainly terrified and couldn't sleep at all after being frightened by that cute face. (*wink wink*)

On a different day, I watched her brother in the morning.

He hadn't yet had breakfast, so I thought I'd make cinnamon toast for him and see if he liked it.

Trying it out

Seems to be a success!

Other than babysitting, I've also been doing some organizing at a friend's place.

He's been behind in getting his comic books filed and asked if I could come lend a hand while I'm available.

In trade for some of the work, he gave me his older 5.1 surround sound DVD player, since he'd recently upgraded to a newer system. (More on this later)

Also, I get to hang out with his kitties all day while I'm there.

See what rough working conditions I have to deal with?

Wednesday last week, I was running some errands and ended up in Lynnwood.

I stopped by the Comic Stop and later treated myself to some sushi at Sushi Misoya next door to the shop.

This place is tiny, but what they lack in size, they more than make up for in excellent food.

On this trip I had the 'paradise roll' and the 'tarantula roll'.

Absolutely wonderful and the people who run the place are fantastic!

If you like sushi and find yourself in Lynnwood one day, I highly recommend going there to eat.

Their prices are reasonable and their food if well worth it. (They also have non-sushi items on the menu as well, if that's not your "thing")

On Sunday, Hotness and I went to our first opera of the season.

Well, technically it wasn't the "first of the season" but it as OUR first one this season.

We went and saw "La Traviata". (Click the link to find out the synopsis)

It was wonderful. A very tragic opera with a suitably sad ending.

I'm not ashamed to say that I was bit sniffly at the end, but Hotness was definitely teary-eyed.

It was a good thing we'd brought tissues with us!

Here's a shot of the traffic afterwards as everybody was leaving the parking garage.

I took it from the Skybridge.

After that we went to Pomodoro for a bit to eat.

The two of us haven't been there together since I'd proposed to Hotness... 7 months ago!

Oh, it was so good and we'd missed coming there. The food was splendid (as usual) and we got to see our favorite waitress (who missed seeing us as well!).

We had our usual: calamari, halibut ceviche, as well as the Penne alla Vodka which we shared.

(Mmmm... calamari!)

I am so looking forward to our next opera, "Il Trovatore". It has treachery, deceit, political intrigue, attempted murder, kidnapping... and gypsies!

It also happens to be right around my birthday, so it's a double treat. (Guess we'll have to celebrate at Pomodoro again!)

That's most of what's been happening lately.

I probably forgot a few things, but I can't give away EVERYTHING.

I'll try to get back to this again soon, so stay tuned.

Pictures To Follow Soon

2009-10-16T23:48:00.000-07:00

Hey there!
I haven't forgotten about you all.
I just didn't think anybody would be interested in hearing my daily unemployment status.
("Woke up. Applied for some jobs. Didn't get called. Went back to bed. Etc.... Repeat daily")

I've actually been keeping quite busy, so this break from work has been kind of pleasant to get caught up on a few things.

I've got some pictures to post, but I don't have them loaded on the computer yet. I'll try to do it tomorrow and get 'em up on here for you to see.

In the meantime, I thought I'd chime in to let you all know I'm still very much alive and kicking. Just not very "blog" active lately.
Actual content coming soon though.

Barbie Couch

2009-10-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I spent part of my afternoon watching my niece and nephew so their mom could take a break and catch up on things she'd been putting off.

My nephew was asleep for most of the time, so it was my niece and myself for the better part of the time I was there.

We painted some rocks together for a craft project, and when we were finished I asked her what else she'd like to do.

"Let's play Barbies!" was her reply.

We went up to her room and she was very specific on which ones we'd be taking downstairs to play with.

We came back down and she decided they were going to all go on a "camping trip". So it was a Barbie slumber-party on the living room floor.

While they were 'setting up camp', they all took a break to "chat" and sat down on the couch...

which was conveniently similar looking to my leg:

Anyway, we played Barbies for a little while when I heard a "POP" noise come from the kitchen.

I knew what it was, but I made a funny face anyway.

My niece said, "Oh, that's just the 'fridgerator. It makes that noise."

I said, "I thought it came from you".

She replied, "No it's makes ice and does that".

I told her, "Well, I thought maybe you made ice with your butt".

She laughed and said, "Uncle Ferretnick*, you make me laugh so hard that sometimes I cry!"

She's almost four years old and saying things like that? She's such a trip!

* Obviously, she didn't call me "uncle Ferretnick", but I avoid using real names on here as much as possible.

Cthulhu Cupcakes

2009-10-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

Saturday was quite a fun and eventful day.

It was the day that some of the members of the Comic Stop Social Club got together to have a baby shower for Dr. Zoltar and his lovely assistant.

He (being a big fan of H.P. Lovecraft) and she (being very tolerant of his geeky ways) were given a "Cthulhu-themed" shower.

I wanted to bring something, as we are a bunch of snack-eating people, so I decided to make Cthulhu cupcakes.

I'd never made any before, so I did a quick Google search which directed me to here.

They were cute, but the Mt. Dew cupcake recipe is what really intrigued me about them.

This I had to try.

I should have started on Friday night, but instead I got started on Saturday morning.

It became apparent that I wouldn't have time to make the cupcake batter in the recipe but I could at least make the frosting.

So, going forward from there I got out my supplies and got busy.

The frosting recipe called for me to boil down the Mt. Dew and reduce it into more of a syrup to concentrate the flavor. So I did that while I started in on the cake batter.

I decided to use a white cake batter and just add food coloring to it.

I added a few drops of green food color and to add a little flavor I put in 2 teaspoons of lemon extract and the zest from a whole lime and half of a lemon.

Then I spooned the batter into the prepared paper lined pans and put them in the oven.

They came just fine with a nice pale green color.

While they were cooling, I mixed up the frosting.

It wasn't very green, so I added some food coloring to it. (Mostly some green but also a couple drops of blue to make it darker than the cupcakes)

Despite the amount of flour and butter in the frosting, it was still a little soft and tended to spread. But for the most part it stayed on top of the cupcakes.

(I've since found out that the frosting holds in place better after it's been chilled in the fridge for a bit, but it's a little harder to spread evenly)

Once they were all frosted, I got the garnishes ready.

I used "very cherry", "watermelon" and "peach" Jelly Bellys for the eyes and "Zappin' Apple" sour punch straws for the tentacles.

and made a few to get the look I was going for.

Then I left Hotness to finish them for me while I jumped into the shower to get ready.

They were VERY moist cupcakes and only had a hint of citrus flavor to them. (Less than I'd have preferred, but at least I didn't go overboard and make them too "lemony")

The cup cakes were a hit and went very well with the punch that was served

as well as the cake

The baby shower, itself, was a total blast and we all had a great time.
We all look foward to the "geekling" when she makes her appearance to the world next month.

Unemployed

2009-10-01T22:02:00.000-07:00

Not a very "catchy" blog post title, but it does get right to the point don't it?

Anyway, like it says, I am now currently unemployed.

After 15 years of working for the same company, I was let go today due to economic conditions.

Basically, they couldn't afford to keep 5 salespeople on the payroll when there was really only enough work for 2-1/2. So, somebody had to go.

I've kind of seen it coming and was expecting it to happen right about now.

September was the last month of our fiscal year, and October was the beginning.

If layoffs were going to happen, it was going to be around this time.

I'm not looking forward to my unemployment status (who does, really?), but I'm not all that shaken up about it.

I expected it to happen for a while and if I'd been thinking "Well, it won't be me" I'd have just been thinking like an idiot.

Now it's like a weight has been taken off. I don't have to get up in the morning and wonder if it's going to be my last day or not. I just had my last day.

I promised when I started this blog that I wouldn't gripe about my work, and I think I've honored that.

I'm not going to start now, but I would like to get a few things out of my system.

I'd been there for 15 years. That's along time.

I could've gotten married, had a kid and have that kid in High School this year during the length of time I've been there.

One thing I've been asked alot is "What do I want to do?"

Honestly... I do not know.

What I do know, is that I don't want to work in the same industry anymore.

I'm tired of it. In fact, I never really liked it. But the pay was good and it let me afford my hobbies. I may not have been enjoying it, but I'm not going to rock the boat . That'd be foolish.

On the other hand, I haven't had that many different jobs. The ones I've had have been V-E-R-Y diverse, but I haven't had that many of them. And for the last 15 years, I've been doing the same thing.

Now I've got to go look for another job, and I'm pushing 40 while there are a whole slew of younger bucks out there fresh on the market. That doesn't seem too favorable for me.

I may have to suck it up and do what I know how to do, instead of something different.

We'll see. I'll be sure to keep you posted one way or the other.

One of the downsides is that while I may have had a 'customer / provider' relationship with people I dealt with on the phone, there were quite a few whom I was friends with.

I'm going to miss talking with them.

Luckily some of them have my personal email and I'll be able to keep contact with a few of them.

But not all of them.

On the plus side, I won't have to deal with the same old office beauracracy I've been dealing with these past years.

I get to look forward to a whole new one.

Also, I really didn't want to be there when I turned 40. Now I guess I got my wish.

Now that that's out of my system, I get to start all over.

Tomorrow I'm going into Redmond and Elwood is going to help me with my unemployment paperwork.

It sucks that I've had friends lose their jobs recently as well, but thankfully they can help me navigate this uncharted territory. I'm very appreciative for their help.

I got a pretty generous severance, so as long we tighten our belts and don't do anything stupid, we should be okay for a while.

I'm actually not too worked up about this.

..... and by the way, that stapler in the picture above is mine.

I bought it.

Nobody's keeping my red Swingline stapler!

NUDGE Music Maker

2009-10-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

I've playing around with this for a few days.
It's kind of addictive.

You can pick and choose the particular notes you want to have play, or just drag your mouse over random spots and see what happens.
You can also change the tempo and volume for each "instrument", and you can speed up or slow the beats per minute. (or 'BPM' for you Ravers out there)

I wish there was a way to save your music.
If there is I haven't found out how to do it yet.

Gamer Droid

2009-09-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

No wonder Obi-wan used his Jedi mind tricks to keep the stormtroopers away.
With a droid like this Artoo unit, who'd want to give it up?!?

With eight... EIGHT!!!!... game consoles, a projector, and a sound system this droid rocks!

I tried to find more pictures and information about this project, but a Google search just turned up a bunch of sites repeating the same limited info.

Needless to say, somebody with a little too much time on their hands and lot of technical savvy deserves an award for this!

What An Idiot

2009-09-29T22:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed in the morning.

At lunch this afternoon, I took off from work to run to Target and get some stuff.
The weather forecast showed rain, but at noon the sky was clear and blue. In fact it was quite warm.
So I rolled down the windows as I was driving around around to get a breeze in the car.

I got back to work and went inside to eat my lunch.

As the day progressed, it began to get darker and the beautiful blue sky of earlier was replaced with cold, grey colds.
Then finally around 4:15 the clouds broke open and DUMPED rain like you wouldn't believe.

We all watched it coming down and joked with each other about having somebody bring our cars to us so we wouldn't have to get wet.
I even made a comment about needing to open my car windows so it wouldn't be all 'stuffy' inside when I left work.

It rained hard for at least a good 20 minutes or so, then slacked off a bit into a steady regular rain when 5:00 rolled around.

I got my stuff together and went out the front office to my car to discover....
that I had left my windows open the WHOLE time it was raining.
Both of my front seats were soaked and there was a little pool of water on the floorboards. (thankfully I have rubber mats so it didn't soak into the carpet)

Aw man!
I quickly rulled up the windows and then went back inside to get some newspapers or cardboard to cover my seat so I wouldn't have to have my butt get soaked on the drive home.

Now I'm home. The car is parked in the parking area at the house.
And I have to figure out how I'm going to dry out my car seats while it's expected to continue raining the rest of this week.

It never occured to me that my windows were still open from my lunchtime driving.
In fact, I can see my car in the parking lot from my desk and I didn't notice they were down at all.
I totally spaced on it, all the while the inside of my car got a nice shower.

What an idiot.

Comedy, Tragedy & Babysitting

2009-09-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

A lot happens in between the posts here.

My last entry was on Wednesday the 23rd, and since then I have done a lot stuff that kept me from the computer.

Thursday started out with work as usual. Nothing exciting there.
But that evening, I had plans to meet up with Elwood and go see Christopher Titus at the Snoqualmie Casino.

I left right from work and got to his house to pick him up, then we grabbed a bite at a local Mexican place before heading to the Casino.

That place is freakin' H-U-G-E!
I'm not a gambler, so I don't spend a lot of time checking out casinos. My only other experience was back when I saw ZZ Top and G-rod & I stopped into the Muckleshoot Casino before the show. It was kind of dark inside and not a place I thought I'd find myself coming to again.
But the Snoqualmie Casino was really nice.

The show opened with Duane Goad who was pretty funny and great start to the main act that was billed.
Then Christopher Titus got on stage and started in.
Most of his performance came from his "Love is Evol" tour, which I'd seen on TV a while back.
It was just as hilarious to see it live and he really does a good job.

We both stayed around for a bit after the show. Elwood tried his hand at one of the poker tables, while I walked around and looked at everything.

I dropped him off afterwards and got home myself sometime around 11:30-midnight.

I didn't have to work that Friday, so I took advantage of being able to sleep in. Which was really nice after getting home so late.
My big plan for the day was to go babysit my niece and nephew that afternoon.

I got there around 1:00 p.m. and my niece met me outside looking like this:

She said she got all "fancied up" because her uncle was coming over.
(She's been on a "Fancy Nancy" kick lately)

Her brother was asleep when I got there, so the two of us had a late lunch, walked around in the backyard, read a book and dressed up Barbies. (Yes... you read that right. I dressed up Barbies.)
When her brother finally woke up, we went to the park where I kept them entertained and out of their mom & dad's hair until 5:00 p.m.

Then we all came back and by that time Uncle Ferretnick was pooped!

I came home and made dinner and watched "Shoot 'Em Up" before falling asleep early and going to bed. (In that order!)
-------------------

Saturday found me up shortly after the sun was up (so much for sleeping in again).
I bummed around the house for a bit and decided I wanted to get out of the house instead of sitting inside all day.

I took off for Bellevue to see if Uwajimaya had any Ultraman toys (which they didn't. Well, not what I was looking for anyway).

Then I drove up to Lynnwood and picked up comics where I ran into Technogreek, back from his recent Euro-trip.

It was starting to get later in the day and I needed to get back pronto, as Hotness and I had tickets for the ballet that night.

Got home. Showered and shaved. Ironed my clothes for the evening and took back off out the door.
Traffic was good for a Saturday evening, so we made it in plenty of time.

The evening's performance was "Romeo & Juliet".
This was a more modern and minimalist version of the production, with music by Prokofiev (who's best known for his children's piece "Peter & the Wolf")
We'd seen this version before, and thought it was... okay.
Actually, I think that Hotness liked it more than I did. But I'm more of a classicist and enjoy the version with the elaborate sets and music by Tchaikovsky.

This production, while very well done and well-performed by the dancers, just didn't hold my interest. Especially the second time around.
We ended up leaving after the first part during the intermission and coming home.
We got home and went straight to bed to sleep.

Sunday was a do-nothing day.
We did some shopping for a project I wanted to start on, but I've had to give up on it for now.
I have this great idea visualized in my mind, but when it comes down to making it a reality I need to work on it some more and get it fleshed-out better.

That evening we had dinner with our neighbor and watched some TV with him.

And that brings us up-to-date to today.
Back at work again and nothing exciting to talk about.

Learning Korean.... The Hard Way!

2009-09-23T15:16:00.000-07:00

The other day I was killing some time and found myself shopping around Hmart in Lynnwood.

I wasn't looking for anything in particular. Just browsing around at all the funky packages and taking in the smells of the seafood dept. (which seems to be found throughout the entire store) when I happened along a sale of a particular product.

The sign said they were "stuffed pancakes", but as there were two very different looking pictures on similar-looking packages, I figured that one of them (the one that actually DIDN'T look like a sort of pancake) had to be something else.
Ironically enough, it was this other item that looked more enticing to me. Unfortuantely both the packages were in Korean, so there was no way to tell for sure.

I looked the package over, thinking "Well, they gotta have English directions on here", only to find:

that it didn't.

I studied it for a while and figured that according to the picture, all I needed was;
a package of the mix (250 g)
one egg (approx. 50 g)
and liquid, presumably water (70 ml) with a little extra to spritz on the rolls(?).

"Okay. Good enough for me", I thought. After all, I'm no dummy around the kitchen, so I could probably figure it out. Besides, maybe they had English directions inside the package. (One could hope, anyway)

I opened it at home and discovered that was sadly not the case.
I decided to hold off until the weekend to make them so I could spend some time on them instead of trying to figure it all out after coming home from work.

The next day, I went online and looked for the product via Google.
Keep in mind... the package was all in Korean (except for "Enjoy Home Baking" on the front), so I really didn't have a lot to go on.

I muddled around online for a bit when I came across a blog that described making this very product. YAY!
Of course, it was all in Japanese so NOW I was trying to decipher how to make a Korean biscuit(?) using Korean to Japanese directions.
It wasn't looking good.

One of my coworkers suggested I translate the page using Babel Fish.
Good idea! .... sort of.
It translated the page, but I think it actually made it worse.

There was a lot of references to "Military officer" and "empress" but not a whole heck of a lot of info about how to actually make the darn things.
I did see that it's called 'Kaechal bread', but whether that's the Korean name or a Japanese term for it isn't clear.

I'll try to attempt making them soon and let you know how they come out, but don't expect great results.
I'm going to be working blind.

So... I guess I don't really have a point to this story except to say this:
If you are in a foreign foods market and buy something "cool", you'd best be prepared to know what you're getting into if the directions aren't clear to you.
Lesson learned? Probably not. I'll most likely do it again.

Oh Snap!

2009-09-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

I've been "Kanye-fied!

It's Not Blog Neglect... Honest!

2009-09-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

Yeesh!
The posts around here have been pretty lean lately, huh?

It's not that I'm tired of this blog or anything.
I just haven't had a lot of things I wanted to devote a post to.
Usually when I find something funny (typically a news story), I've been posting it over on my Facebook page. I don't feel like writing up some big involved post about it, so it's just quicker to put it there.
I've also had a couple of recent posts over at the Comi c Stop blog, so it's not like I've deserted Blogger.

But I finally had something I wanted to put on here, so if you're still coming by here and reading this thing every so often, well today's your lucky day.

A while back (in March, to be precise), I made a gift certificate for a friend and offered to take him to a Mariner's game as a Birthday present.
Life quickly got in the way of things and there were a couple of com ic book conventions shortly afterward, so going to a game sort of became an afterthought.

Not much was said about it until the other day when I reminded him that my offer for the game was still open if he'd like to go.
He was still up for it and as luck would have it, the next game coming up was Sunday against the New York Yankees.

I got the tickets through my work and we made plans to enjoy the game that day.

We met up in Lynnwood and carpooled into Seattle from there.
Traffic was lighter than we expected, so we had lots of time to kill before the game.

We parked and then walked to Uwajimaya to get something to eat.
Then we walked around the International District for a bit. (I wanted to stop into Pink Godzilla and a Japanese toy store while I was there)

While we were wandering, there was a large group of people gathered at a small park in the neighborhood.
We asked one of the police officers what was going one and they said it was Chinese National Day celebrations.

Looked like they were all excited, but we had a game to get to, so we headed back to Safeco Field.

We missed the National Anthem and the first pitch, but got to our seats not too long after.
Our seats were in the 1st row, right off the third baseline. A great view with nobody in front of us to spoil it.

I'm not a big sports fan (hence the lack of "sports talk" on this blog), but I do enjoy a fun game with the sun shining and spending it with a friend.
Especially one that answered my questions about the things I didn't understand.
(I finally learned how they figure baseball averages, and why the home team didn't need to finish the last inning if they were ahead. Things like that.)

The Mariners scored two runs in the first inning and then 5 more in the second inning.
The Yankees only scored one run, but like I mentioned to George, it seemed like they weren't even trying.
So overall it was a fun game but not very exciting. Glad that the home team won anyway.

In the last inning, a foul ball headed our direction.
George went to catch it but it got knocked out out his hand. One of the players threw it back and this time George caught it.
It was a nice way to top off his birthday present!

After that, we headed back up north to get my car and parted ways.

And that was the highlight of my weekend.

Coming up:
Ballet season starts this week
New Ultraman news
Learning Korean... the hard way!

Fair, Camping, Bumbershoot

2009-09-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

I had planned on being back and posting long before now, but I just kept putting it off.
I'm sorry if I've kept you waiting.

Anyway, I could ramble on and on about everything, but it'll be much simpler to just post some pictures and give you captions to fill you up-to-date.
--------

Back in late August, Hotness & I went to the fair;
Where I had my annual Purple Cow*

We also checked out the floral dept.
They had a big display of carnivorous plants

As well as a live tarantula in one of the other displays

Hotness was not getting any closer than she had to, to see that.

Other than that, the fair was the same old, same old.
Nothing has really changed.

Oh! I did buy some lottery tickets to win a mobile chicken coop.

I haven't heard whether I was the winner, but at least I can figure out how to build this style from these pictures if I wasn't.
-------------

On Labor Day weekend, I went camping again.
This was the last of our "group camping trips" for the season.

It pretty much rained the whole time, but that didn't prevent us from having any fun.

We had a nice big tarp over the table, so we were able to prepare food and eat without getting too wet.

And on one of the few breaks in the weather I was able to pursue my quest for the perfect S'more.

This one includes a whole Reese's Peanut Butter cup.

It was extremely close to perfection!

I got back from camping on Sunday, and then on Monday I scooted off for Bumbershoot in Seattle with a friend.
It was rainy off-and-on, but we had a lot of fun despite the indecisive weather.

The first thing we did after getting inside the event was to get ourselves a pass for the comedy stage.
Then we headed straight for the EMP SkyChurch to watch an indie band called "Dept. of Energy".

They did a cool rendition of Van Halen's "JUMP" using a vibraphone.

Then we wandered around for a bit until going to the Mainstage to watch the "Black Eyed Peas" perform.

We got pretty close to the stage. Close enough to get a good view.
(That's Fergie standing on a speaker directly above the guy in the orange jacket)
They put on a really good show, although they blew an amp at one point and so they lost their sound for a few minutes.
They got it back and then lost it again.
Finally everything got figured out and the show went on.

Here's a view of the crowd from above the main floor:

That's a LOT of people!

We left the concert early so that we could get in line for the comedy stage we got passes for earlier.
It was an improvisational Shakespeare group, and that was one heck of a funny show!
Unfortunately we couldn't get any pictures or video, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
But it was well worth the money!

After that, we wandered around and looked at the art on display and then checked out Flatstock 22.

There were a couple of concerts coming up later in the evening, but by that time we were hungry and our feet were starting to hurt from all the wandering and standing in lines.
We grabbed a bite outside the Bumbershoot grounds at a nifty little Mexican place.
After talking it over we decided that we'd seen enough and that we really didn't need to stay.
We both had work the next day, and it was in our best interests to get back home so that we weren't dragging the next day.
--------------

Since then, nothing much has been happening worth noting.
At least, not until last evening.

A few of us got together to help celebrate Palindrome's birthday with burgers at Red Robin followed by aimless wandering at the nearby Target.

And THAT catches you up on things in my "exciting" life.
The fun never ends, does it?

* A "Purple Cow" is a float made out of:
Blackberry ice cream
Lemon-lime soda
and a bit of blackberry syrup

Rodents Of Unusual Size

2009-09-08T12:53:00.001-07:00

It's like a scene out of "The Princess Bride".

A new species of rat was discovered in Papua New Guinea that measures almost 3 feet long and has no apparent fear of humans.

It was discovered inside on the inside of a volcano crater (and not the"Dreaded Fire Swamp") by a film crew who were filming a documentary about the area.

That is one FUGLY-looking critter!

(via the Presurfer)

* FYI: Actual content to follow soon.
I forgot to bring pictures to post, so you'll have to settle for this random news tidbit in the meantime.

Meat Slug

2009-09-02T13:10:00.000-07:00

Isn't this just a thing of beauty?

Aw, c'mon! Don't get all grossed out. It's just a turkey tenderloin before I put it in the oven for dinner last night.

It came out looking like this when it was finished

and with a few carefully selected side dishes turned into this

The stuffing on the top-right, is just regular old Stove-Top Stuffing.
But I had cooked up some pork sausage and added a cut up apple from one of the trees in my yard to it.
It went exceptionally well together and really help bring dinner up a couple of notches.

And let me just say.... dinner was fan-freakin'-tastic!

Deep-Fried Anything

2009-09-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

I'd like to tell you that I've been really busy and just haven't had time to post anything cool until, but I'd be lying.
In reality, nothing exciting going on and therefore a lack of any blog posts with substance.

Hotness and I went to the fair this past Sunday where I took this picture:

I can only imagine what "red neck sushi" could be. It's obviously not something natural.

No, I didn't get anything here. I had my deep-fried Twinkie last year and it was enough for me for the rest of my life.

Other than that, nothing else unusual to report.

Just the 'same old, same old'.

--------------------------------------

In other news:

The whole "Disney buys Marvel" has been talked about a lot lately.

I don't really have anything good or bad to say about it.

Whether I like it or not, it's going to happen without my say-so.

I will say this, though...

If it means that we'll finally get a "Peter Porker: The Spectacular Spider-Ham" comic book again.... I all for it!

Also, it might open doors for Marvel to expand on some interesting stories if the characters are allowed to enter each other's universes.

For instance, I wouldn't mind seeing a team-up of Howard the Duck & Donald Duck. (A couple of high-strung, cantankerous waterfowl and their exploits.)

Could be funny if Jeff Parker gets to tackle it. Or very dark if Mark Millar does.

It'll certainly be wordy if Bendis gets to do something like that.

In Praise Of Uppity Women

2009-08-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

It was on this day, 89 years ago, that American women finally were able to vote equally with men.
Thanks to the tireless work of the Suffragettes, Congress passed the 19th Amendment on August 18th granting women from the age of 18 years on up the right to vote.
It became a law and was added to the Constitution on August 26th.

And that's your little nugget of history for today!

The New Currency

2009-08-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

Man, things still suck economically and there's no improvement on the foreseeable horizon.

In fact, check out this market report on the cost of cigarettes in prison:

Prison Economy Spirals As Price Of Pack Of Cigarettes Exceeds Two Hand Jobs

When will this insanity end?

Zombie Repellant

2009-08-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

Check out what about $550 can get you:

It's a Mossberg 500 series JIC (Just In Case) shotgun.

(This one is the "Mariner" version with special coating to prevent corrosion, from salt spray..... or blood splatter!)

These things are wicked cool.

At 18-1/2 inches with a pistol grip and full-on 12-gauge action, these guns will put a serious dent in the undead population.

Just the thing to include in your 'zombie preparedness kit'.

A good review on them can be found here.

Chick Fight

2009-08-15T16:37:00.001-07:00

The International Olympic Committee voted to include women's boxing for the 2012 summer Olympics in London on Thursday this week.

This comes as great news to female athletes, and particularly to female boxers, who have struggled for years for legitimacy of their sports and recognition in a male-dominated spectator event.
Inclusion of female boxing to the list of Olympic events in 2012 means that ALL 26 sports will include both male AND female competitors.
While the boxing event won't be as equal to the men's (10 weight classes for men compared to only 3 classes for the women), it's still a good step in the right direction in recognizing women in all sports and giving them a chance to show what they have trained for and are capable of.

Having said that, however, I've seen a couple of women's boxing matches and it can be very brutal.
I don't know if it's because they are out to prove something and try to be more aggressive than their male counterparts, or if it's just that watching women pummel each other just 'seems' more violent.
Either way, we'll all get a chance to see more of it a couple of summer's from now.

In the meantime, we always can watch G.L.O.W. and "foxy boxing" to entertain us.

The Triffids Are Coming!

2009-08-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

I have been a fan of carnivorous plants since I was a wee, little lad.

I've grown sundews, Venus Fly Traps, bladderwort, and a few different types of pitcher plants over the many years.

So I heard about a discovery of an entirely new form of carnivorous plant just recently and I was very excited.

It's located in a very remote area of the Phillipines and was named after British naturalist, David Attenborough.

But what I found kind of odd, was that the discovery was announced about the same time that the Perseids Meteor shower is happening.

Very ironic timing, I think.

In the story "Day of the Triffids", it was during a meteor shower that blinded most of the populace that a carnivorous plant started taking over and killing people.

Hmmmm..... coincidence?

So if you notice that your houseplant is suddenly not in the same place that you last saw it.... RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!

Old Skool

2009-08-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

You may not know it to look at me, but I actually do have a sense of style and can coordinate an outfit pretty well.
On a day-to-day basis, I tend to just wear whatever's at hand, though.

I've mentioned before that I buy Hotness's clothes for her.
I have a good idea of what looks good on her (colors and prints that she wouldn't normally pick out herself) and she doesn't like to go clothes shopping.
Since I know her sizes, I just do it for her so she can try them on at home.
I've had about a 97% success rate with the clothes I've gotten her. Not too bad.

Anyway, all that aside.
I also get clothes for my niece and my nephew.
Afterall, you can never be too young to be a fashionista.
I'm looking forward to school starting for both of them, so that maybe I can take them 'back-to-school' clothes shopping.

In the meantime, I picked up a nifty new T-shirt for my nephew.
I gotta point him in the right direction of geekology, and nothing says it better than some Old Skool sci-fi.

He's going to be a hit with ladies, I just know it.

(A special thanks goes out to the Maimed Man for his help. That coupon saved me a bundle on my order, dude!)

Money Creek Campground (Follow-up)

2009-08-12T09:08:00.001-07:00

Well, our camping trip to Money Creek was nice.

This trip was nick-named the "spouse-less" camping trip, as everybody who went was not joined by their significant other this time. So it was a fairly small group this time around.

Other than the usual (sitting around the camp during the day, and sitting around the campfire at night) there isn't much to tell you about.

G-rod and I carpooled up to the site on Friday after work. We got there around 7:30 p.m. and went right to setting up our tents before it got too dark.

Then we had something to eat and started up a campfire. No s'mores this time, though.

The kids went to bed, which left G-rod, Atul, and myself sitting in the dark and talking.

We would see the lights of cars travelling east & west along Hwy 2, but something caught my eye that didn't seem right. It wasn't moving in a normal fashion.

I turned on my headlamp and saw the head of a young raccoon looking back at me.

We all got up to chase it away, but he didn't seem to be very scared of people. He kind trotted off a short ways and just stared at us.

We picked up everything off the table and made sure the food was secured, then went back to the fire.

We apparently discouraged the little bugger enough that he never came back again.

Saturday was pretty lazy.

G-rod took off to go hike Mt. Index. I stayed back with Atul and the kids as we all went down to the creek to throw rocks for a while.

I discovered that there was natural clay along the bank under the rocks, so we scooped up a bunch to bring back into camp and play with.

We were later joined by some of the other people in our group (and more kids) and that was about the extent of our day.

I played "Cootie" with some some of the kids,

while others went "exploring".

The evening came and we made dinner, then the kids went to bed while the adults stayed up and played a game of "ZOMBIES!!!" in the dark by the glow of a gas lantern.

On Sunday, we all got up and ate breakfast. Then we broke down our tents and packed up to come back home.

Not a very exciting trip but a relaxing and fun one nevertheless.

Here are a few more pics from the weekend:

ZEN peeking out of the tent

The whole gang (minus G-rod who was hiking, and me who took the picture)

Chillaxin'

(check out those hairy legs!)

Chicken & Bacon, What's Not To Love?

2009-08-07T16:45:00.001-07:00

I saw this recipe for chicken, bacon & blue cheese sandwiches and thought it sounded yummy.
I just took the basics (meat, cheese, and bread) and made my own.

They were pretty good, but I was stuck with a bunch of leftover chicken afterwards.

I needed to do something with it, so I tried this:
Chicken, bacon & blue cheese grilled open-face sandwiches.

They were even better.

Here's how to make 'em....

1) Get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store or Costco and pull all the meat off. (You can slice the breast meat, but the dark meat is easier to pull off the bone)

2) In a small bowl mix 3 parts of mayonnaise to 1 part of horseradish, and set aside.

3) If you don't have a toaster over, place your bread (whatever you choose to use) on a cookie sheet and toast one side under the broiler for a couple of minutes. Then take the bread out out and turn the toasted-side down.

On the untoasted side, spread your mayonnaise - horseradish sauce all over the bread.

4) Place sliced cheese (cheddar works well, but I used Monterey Jack) on the mayo sauce.

5) Place the chunks (or slices) of chicken on the cheese and then top with crumbled bacon. (I didn't have any 'fresh' bacon so I used Bacon-bits. It worked just as good)

6) Then sprinkle some blue cheese over all of that and place it back under the broiler for about 3 - 5 minutes until it's done. (You don't want to leave it in too long or it'll burn. You basically just want to melt the cheese and warm up the chicken.

That's it. pretty simple and really quick to make if you already have the ingredients on hand.

Money Money Money.... Creek, that is

2009-08-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

Got another camping trip coming up this weekend.

For once, I'm actually all packed and ready to load the car without finishing up at the last minute.

All I have to do tomorrow is put everything in the car before I leave for work and I'm set.

It's all packed into a new storage container that I got last week (which Hotness is excited about, since it means I can keep all my gear together and not spread out everywhere).

We're camping just off Hwy 2 at Money Creek Campground.

G-rod and I checked it out last year to see what it looked like and we thought we'd give it a try this year.

So I'll let you know how the campsite was and how everything went after I get back on Sunday.

Stay tuned.......

Pork Chop Salad

2009-07-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

First, I want to just ask a question.
Why... WHY?!?... when it's too hot to be in the kitchen cooking over the stove, do I voluntarily go outside to cook over an open bed of hot coals? It's madness, I tell you.

Anyway, I found a new food blog and was inspired by this the other day and wanted to try it out for myself and Hotness.
It's a 'pork chop salad' and looking at the pictures he had on his sight, I couldn't imagine it not tasting good.

Here, compare his salad with my finished result:

Looks good, huh?

I made a few changes (what cook doesn't?), but nothing so drastic as to change the overall product.
Go read his recipe. No really, I'll wait. Go ahead.

Now, what I did differently was this:
Instead of iceberg lettuce, I used mixed greens (including spinach).
I swapped the cucumber for a zucchini squash.
I added 'shoestring' carrots
and for fun, I added Nasturtium petals.
Then I used only the balsamic vinegar and Parmesan cheese (no olive oil) for dressing.

I would have to say that I would prefer this over a grilled chicken salad any day. It was that good.

-----------------
In the meantime, while I was slaving over hot coals making the porkchops, Hotness took our cat out for a walk in the yard.

It's a very rare treat for her to be out (she's STRICTLY an indoor cat) so trying to get a good picture of her was difficult, as she was too busy inspecting everything.

I was told not to embarrass the cat by posting these.
I think she doesn't get enough exposure on here, so I was just trying to give her some. *wink wink*

-------------
And in totally un-related news:
Hotness and I do not watch 'regular' TV.
Oh sure, we have a television. But we don't get cable or satellite or anything like that.
Whenever we watch anything, it's because it's on DVD.

So when we watch a TV program, it's because we either borrowed it or I picked it up on a whim 'cause I'd heard good things about it.
The other option is when our neighbor "Tivo's" a program and we watch it later at his place.

Due to that last option, both Hotness and I are now totally hooked on "The Big Bang Theory".
He recorded one of the shows, because he thought we'd get a kick out of it.
Oh, how right he was! We loved it!
So he recorded another, and so on.

I just recently ended up buying the first season on DVD and I'm looking at getting season two soon.

Yeah, we're probably behind-the-times on finding out about it, but we're glad we finally did.
I can honestly say I haven't laughed out loud while watching a TV show as much as I have with this one. It's a total hoot!

Doctor's Orders

2009-07-28T13:58:00.000-07:00

It's hot.
And when I say "hot" I mean it's F'ing HOT!!

Right now my weather widget on my computer says it's 95 degrees F outside. That's just too much heat for my delicate constitution, even if it is summer.

I moved out of the south so I didn't have to live with heat like that any more.

I'm no doctor (but I play one in the bedroom! Har har har!), but here's my prescription for tolerating this weather:

Take liberal doses of Mojitos

Or margaritas*

And rest comfortably, preferably in a hammock with your feet up

Repeat as often as required until heat subsides and you can resume regular activity.

Or just repeat as often as you like and forget all about 'regular activity'.

We'll be back to our usual schedule of nothingness after the heat subsides.

-----------------------

* Ferretnick's easy-peasy margarita recipe:

In a 10 oz. glass filled halfway with crushed ice, mix the following;

1 shot of tequila (I prefer "1800" since it's reasonably priced and 100% agave. 'Silver' or 'plato' works fine since it's going to be mixed, but whatever you choose is fine)

1/2 shot of Grand Marnier

Top off with Newman's Virgin Limeade

No salt. No blender. No fancy umbrella.

Just good drinkin'!

And if alcohol isn't your thing, you could try cooling yourself down this way.

It Takes Guts

2009-07-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

One of the projects I've been trying to do, but never seemed to get around to, was replacing the 'guts' in the toilet in our bathroom.
It's not like it's a difficult job. I've done it before when we lived in Lynnwood and I did it at a friend's place when they had a leaky toilet.
So I knew what was involved, I just never took the time to start doing it.
Until today, that is.

I knew it was going to be a hot one outdoors today (right now, my computer weather widget says it is 90 degrees F).
I wanted to try and accomplish something, and figured an inside project would be much better than an outdoor one.

I moved the rack (for holding extra toilet paper, tissues, and various other items) that sat over the "throne", and started in.

Here's the old insides of the toilet. Kinda gross.

The toilet wasn't leaking, so it's not like there was a problem with that.
What was happening was that sometimes it took more than a couple of flushes to....
er... "get rid of the evidence", if you catch my meaning.

I figured a new set of parts would fix that and make life (especially mine) easier.

This is the valve and float that was in there originally.
It was just a matter of turning off the water and un-threading the nut under the tank. Then this whole assembly just came right out.

And here is the new valve and float. It's more of a one-piece unit and eliminates that tacky, black round 'balloon'-type float.

I put it in the tank. Adjusted the height for the water level. Threaded the nut on it. Then hooked up the water hose underneath.
Taa-daa!!
Just like new and now it flushes better.
No more "surprises" for the next unsuspecting customer.

Total amount of time doing the project: about 30 minutes.
"Why didn't I just do it sooner, if that's all the time it took?", I hear you asking.
I don't really know. Lazy I guess. At least it's done now.

---------------
Last evening, Hotness and I had dinner with Elwood and his wife at their place.
With the weather being so warm lately, I suggested maybe something to eat that didn't involve cooking.
He suggested a cold cut and cheese platter and I thought that sounded fantastic.
He also made a wonderful pasta and smoked salmon salad.
I made a couple of salsas (corn and verde) and some fixin's for mojitos and we were set.

After we ate, we sat around and talked for bit then we broke out my JLA Monoploly game.
I had gotten it as a gift almost 10 years ago, but had never played it.
Elwood got to take the 'virgin' role of the dice to break it in, and after that it was GAME ON!

Hotness was buying up everything she landed on and ended up winning the game when Elwood and his wife had to bankrupt after landing on one of her spots.
That left me and Hotness in the game, but I'd been having a bad run of obtaining anything useful so I defaulted.
(here I am, stuck in jail)
After that, it was time to go home.

Another fun evening with both of them. It's getting to be a habit.

*** Update 07/27/09 ***
I forgot to mention that we got a guided tour of the "Toy Story" studios while we were there.
It is a sight to behold in all it's geeky majesty.
If you have not had the fortune to see it for yourself, your life as a nerd is certainly lacking!
Seriously though, it's really impressive. He has a LOT of action figures (NOT dolls!) and I was amazed that he had them all displayed without having to rotate some of them into the room while others had to be in storage.

------------------------------
Today (aside from my toilet project earlier) I watered plants on my deck.
Here's how things are coming along in the ol' container garden area:

These are my cantaloupe vines.

Here is one of the two cantaloupes I'm growing.

Here's the other. This one is the larger of them.

I'm enjoying this warm weather (even though we could really use some rain soon), because these plants really dig it when it's warm. At this rate they should mature just nicely and be very tasty when they are fully ripe.

These are my cherry tomatoes, just starting to turn color finally.

And this is my Roma tomatoes (I have two of these plants growing)

Looking forward to making some homemade sauce with these!

(Add maybe even dry some of them in the sun for pizzas! Yum!)

-------------------------------
Finally, one last photo for you:

This was sent to me on my cel phone yesterday by Jedigeorge.

He took this at San Diego Comic Con.

This girl is dressed as Julie Martin from Terry Moore's comic "ECHO".

(Now scheduled to be a major motion picture, by the way!!!)

Rock on girl! Show the Terry Moore love at the convention!

Right now, Hotness and I are heading over to our neighbor's for pizza and TV.

And that's my weekend.

Hope you all had a good time as well.

Zombie Strippers

2009-07-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

I'll watch just about anything, as evidenced by some of my previous posts.

I do have some limits, but for the most part, everything is fair game.

So I've had my eye on one movie that came out about a year or so ago: "Zombie Strippers".

Hmmm.... strippers that become zombies. Sounds good, but then I've been fooled before.

After having it on my Amazon wish list for a while (to watch and see when the price dropped to a reasonable amount in case it turned out to be a stinker), I finally ordered it.

It arrived last week, but with camping that weekend I didn't get to watch it right away.

And this week, after getting home from work, I just didn't feel up to putting the effort into watching it.

But last night, with Hotness out of the house for most of the night with friends, I decided it was time and a great way to start the weekend.

I was not disappointed.

So in case it wasn't clear in the title, this movie is about strippers who turn into zombies.

In other words, lots of 'T & A' and flesh-eating shenanigans.

It stars Robert Englund (of Freddy Krueger fame) as a strip club owner, and Jenna Jameson (former porn princess) as the top diva in the stable of dancers.

The years (and plastic surgery, and drugs, and MULTIPLE sex partners, etc...) have not been kind to Jenna, but after some spackle and a few coats of paint she looks pretty good and pulls off the part fairly decently. In fact, it's fair to say that she isn't that bad an actress in this film.

Which isn't saying much, but let's face it... this isn't an Oscar contender.

In a nutshell;

The movie starts out announcing that in George W. Bush's 4th consecutive term in office, we are at war with pretty much everybody, including Canada.

With our forces stretched so thin, scientists have been working on a way to re-animate the dead so that fallen soldiers can return to the battlefield.

After all, once you die, what is is there to be afraid of? Keep on fighting soldier!

Of course, things never go as planned (those tricky zombies), and a group of rag-tag, special force, soldiers-for-hire are called in to fix the problem in a science lab that has been taken over by the undead.

One of the guys gets bit and soon after runs away, instead of getting killed by his troop for being infected.

He breaks a window and jumps in to hide inside a building, only to find out that he's broken into an illegal, underground strip club. (Can you see where this is going now?)

Then we cut to Kat (played by Jenna) dancing on stage who is soon attacked by our spec-op zombie.

After that, it just gets sillier.

The owner and the other dancers aren't sure what to make of Kat's recent return to life after having her throat taken out, but after she goes back up on stage, it's apparent that the patrons of the club really dig dead, naked, dancing chicks. So, since money is to be made, the owner decides it's for the best to leave her be.

Some of the other girls want in on the action and become zombies themselves, much to the delight of the crowd.

While the other girls are frightened by what could happen if things continue.

Anyway, this movies progresses as you'd expect.

The zombie strippers start eating the clients of the club. The owner and 'live' employees try to kill the zombies and escape, but to no avail. And then the special forces team shows back up in the nick of time.

Unlike "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus", which I had low expectations for and it STILL fell short and was disappointing, this movie was surprisingly good for what it was.

Well, maybe "good" isn't the right word but it was enjoyable.

If I had to pick a highlight in the film, it would have to be near the end when two of the girls (who are now both zombies) fight out their rivalry on the stage.

One of the girls attacks the other by shooting billiard balls at her... in an 'unusual' manner.

Overall, I was not disappointed by this movie. It delivered the goods and was entertaining.

In fact, Hotness (who typically avoids this kind of stuff) got home and watched part of it with me.

She attempted to read a book, but couldn't get through one page and finally gave up to just watch the movie. I wouldn't say she loved it, but she didn't leave the room either.

So let's review:

Military forces called in: check!

Scientific experiment gone awry: check!

Robots destroying structural property: fail

Zombies attacking and eating the living: check!

Lots of boobies: check! (or is that "DOUBLE check"?)

Ninjas: fail

Monkeys: fail

So there you have it. It may not be a perfect movie, but it's not bad either.

Definitely fun to watch.

----------------------------

In other Zombie -related news:

War and Social Upheaval Causes Spikes in Zombie Movie Production

and

Zombie Pinups. Where Beauty meets braaaaiinns.

Instructions

2009-07-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

For lunch today I had a half-sandwich and a Cup Noodles.

Making Cup Noodles is about as easy as it gets when it comes to making something to eat.

Just add hot water. That's it.

Even Ramen requires a *little* more effort, in that you not only have to add hot water but also open and distribute the seasoning packet.

So as I open my Cup Noodles, I notice there are microwave directions on the lid:

Well, okay. Not really directions but rather 'guidelines'.

But I was thinking, if all you have to do is add hot water, doesn't it stand to reason that the water could be heated up in a microwave or on a stove? Do they have to spell it out?

And if you were such a total cooking-retard that you nuked the container of noodles in the microwave anyway, then I'll guess you'd learn a valuable lesson... not to do it again.

Some people would call that "experience" and it helps us to make better choices later in life.

For instance: Today, 'Johnny the kitchen-retard' cooks his Cup Noodles in the microwave and now has a pile of melted styrofoam and wet noodles. Awwww.... poor Johnny!

Tomorrow however, he decides to heat up the water and pour it in the cup instead and voila!..... it's soup!

Johnny is now well on his way to being a productive member of society and is capable of cooking a romantic dinner of Cup Noodles for his sweety.

.... Or maybe I'm just thinking too much into this.

"Car 54, Where Are You?"

2009-07-22T12:57:00.001-07:00

On my way home from camping on Sunday, I ran across this beauty of a car wreck not even a mile from my house:

More than likely alcohol is to blame, as it happened sometime around 3:00 a.m.

The amazing thing is that the driver did all that damage and managed to walk home afterwards without any serious injuries.

The wreck was there all day Sunday and when I went to work on Monday, but they had towed it away sometime before Monday afternoon.

No idea when they are going to replace that pole.

Lazing In The Woods

2009-07-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

The camping trip this past weekend was just awesome.

The weather was great (upper 70's - low 80's) and we had even more people than I originally thought were going to be there. The total count was 20 people in our group!

We got three different sites that happened to be next to each other so we all spread out and took over our little piece of "forestry acreage" to maximum effect.

Luckily there wasn't a burn ban to prevent us from having a campfire, as long as we had a fire extinguisher or a 5-Gal. bucket of water nearby in case things got out-of-hand.

Friday we all showed up and picked out our spots. G-rod & I took a site by ourselves so that everyone else could be closer together since they all had children.

We made some food and sat around talking for a while until the bugs started coming out and it was getting dark. Then we built a fire in the pit and the kids all made s'mores while I got busy mixing up a few mojitos for the adults.

Some of us stayed up until well after midnight, just hanging out by the campfire and talking.

Finally we started to get sleepy so we headed of to our separate tents until later that morning.

The kids, of course, were the first ones up and ready to play.

The adults kind of stumbled around for a bit until somebody got some coffee brewed and then things started to come into focus.

Imperfect treated all of us to some fantastic French Toast on Saturday morning.

His French Toast is the bomb and always a welcome treat at camp.

While he was cooking up breakfast, some of the kids wanted to snuggle with "Uncle Ferretnick", which was just fine by me.

It was a bit chilly in the morning, so having a kid or two on my lap kept me warm until my breakfast was ready.

When they weren't snuggling, they were busy switching everybody's hats until all of them ended up on G-rod.

We all talked about what we were planning to do that day, but the general consensus was..... nothing.

Pretty much we all just wanted to relax around camp and enjoy the weather.

I had brought some crafts for the kids, but they were mostly busy running around and entertaining themselves when they weren't hanging off of me.

After a little while, we decided to take the kids to see Franklin Falls. It's a pretty short hike (2-miles round trip) and not very far from camp in case any of the little ones pooped-out.

We got about 20 yards into the trail when somebody noticed that there were some nice, smooth rocks right next to the creek. So we diverted off-trail and spent the next 45 mins to an hour hanging out on the creek side while the kids threw rocks into the water and splashed around for a while.

I also took a few pictures of the scenery while I was there.

Then everyone finally tired of that and decided to get back on the trail.
We got about another 30 yards and then the kids started getting hungry and fussy, so we just trucked 'em all back to camp.

It may have been only a 50 yard hike, but everyone had fun.

Lunches were made and the kids played while the adults mostly napped or read a book under the trees.

I got out the coloring books I'd made and took the kids to one of the picnic tables to color and keep them busy for a while.

I also made necklaces from rocks that the kids found at the creek. They loved them and wore them around camp for most of the remainder of the day.

Hotness didn't camp with us, but she did come out to visit briefly.

She got there in the late afternoon and stayed until dinner before heading back home again.

As evening wore on, I brought out some glow bracelets for the kids to wear around camp as it got darker.

Then we all brought out the s'more fixin's and got busy making some sugary treats.

I try to shake things up and stay away from the ordinary when we're at camp.

So for making s'mores I brought cinnamon-covered graham crackers and a bevy of exotic chocolates to choose from.

We had:

Caramel-filled milk chocolate

Peanut butter-filled milk chocolate

Dark chocolate w/ orange

Dark chocolate w/ pomegranate

and Raspberry-filled dark chocolate

Everybody experimented with the selection to come up with their own favorites.

No word yet on which one was the best.

After dark, the kids hit the sack (or rather, the sleeping bag) and a few of the adults stayed up for a bit around the campfire quoting scenes from movies and telling poop jokes. (Wait... did I say the kids had already gone to bed?!?)

The next morning, I got up and started working on a breakfast recipe that I came up with at camp a while back.

Basically it's a biscuit crust bottom with seasoned hamburger & toasted pine nuts (and sometimes I throw in a can of mushrooms too), topped with shredded cheese and then on top of that I cover it with more biscuit dough.

Then I stick it in a Dutch Oven to cook for about an hour.

Here it is cooking:

But I'm afraid I forgot to get a picture of it after it was finished.

It went over well with everyone and was finished quickly.

This was the last day of camping and we all had to be out of the sites before the afternoon.

Most of the people had a pretty good drive waiting for them on their way back home, so soon after breakfast we all started breaking down camp and packing up.

I got out around 11:30 a.m. and made it home shortly before 1:00 p.m.

I unpacked the car and then took a shower to wash the smoke, dirt and general camping "funk" off of me.

It was great time and everybody had fun.

-----------------------------

Here are a few other pics from the weekend:

Kind Of Like "Julie" From The 'Love Boat'

2009-07-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hey there! How have you been doing?

Good, I hope.

I haven't had a whole lot to really mention on here, so I've been keeping a low profile on the blog lately.

Stuff's been going on, but nothing really worth typing up a big ol' post to bore you with.

But that's about to change this Friday.

That's right! It's camping time again!

And this time we're expecting a pretty large group at this one. (Last count was at 17 people!)

I'll be bringing the magic with my Dutch Oven and I have a few other tricks up my sleeve I've got planned for the weekend.

I'm sort of like "Julie" from the 'Love Boat'.

I'll be the recreation event coordinator for the camp.

We have a few more kids this time, so I put together a coloring book with lots of 'camping -related' pictures for them to color.

Since the older kids are all girls, we'll also be making "nature necklaces" so they can wear a piece of their camp trip after the weekend is over.

There are a couple of short hikes (especially nice since I'm still nursing a sore ankle from when I sprained it) to get them out of the campsite for a while.

I'm also bringing a couple of games for them to play and last but not least... the popular biscuits-on-a-stick that seem to be a hit with the kids (and the adults!).

And that's not all!

For the adults, I'm bringing plenty of fixins' for mojitos, since the weather is supposed to be N-I-C-E the whole time.

I'm planning to make the breakfast biscuit meal that I originated in camp a few years back, and perfecting more gourmet s'mores to report on afterwards.

And in the evening, after the kids go to bed, I'm bringing "ZOMBIES!!!" and "ZOMBIES!!! 8: Jailbreak" to make the dark woods a little more... interesting. Bwa-ha-ha!!

I'll have a full report after the weekend is over, as well as pictures (if I remember to take any) and let you know how it all went.

-------------

Ah, but what's been going on in the meantime, you'd like to know?

Well, let's see....

I made a metric ton of enchiladas last weekend and on Saturday night I had dinner with Imperfect at his place and we watched "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (Ugh!) and "Waiting" (pretty funny).

Sunday I went to Costco with G-rod and loaded up on groceries.

Monday night I watched "A History of Violence".

I liked this movie. I wasn't sure what to make of it when I read the synopsis, but my neighbor loaned it to me and said he thought I'd like it, and he was right.

I wasn't quite prepared for the full on "beaver shot" of Maria Bello, however. That caught me by surprise. I've always thought she was kind of hot in a "MILF"y sort of way, but I never expected her to do a nude seen like that. (Not that I'm complaining, though)

Overall, it was a good movie. Good and violent.

Hotness has been out of town the last week and a half. She's coming back home tonight, so I need to change the sheets on the bed, wash dishes and generally get the place back in order before she comes home as well as pack the car for this weekend. Looks like I'll be busy tonight.

Here's something I'm kind of proud of:

An itty-bitty, teeny tiny watermelon that I'm growing on my deck.

It still has a way to go before being nearly big enough to eat, but isn't it just cute?

Oh, and one other thing...

I found this last night while I was shopping for exotic chocolate bars to make s'mores with:

Yup! A bacon chocolate bar. For reals!

I saw this at Cost Plus World Market in Woodinville last night.

It ain't cheap though. Just one bar was about $6.50!!!

I decided to pass on getting it. But if any of you are interested in trying it out, now you know where to find them.

(FYI: They're gluten free! So have at 'em my gluten-allergic friends!)

Well, that's all for now.

Catch back up to ya'll again soon. Probably after camping.

Coil Power!

2009-07-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

In honor of Nikola Tesla's birthday today, here are a couple of geeks playing the theme from "Mario Bros. " on Tesla coils.

Yeah, it's a re-post.
But c'mon... it's Nikola's birthday. He deserves it.

Migrant Worker Fantasy Camp

2009-07-09T12:27:00.000-07:00

Those are cherries from one of the trees in my yard.

I planted them the year we moved in and every year I look forward to making a couple of pies (or whatever dessert crosses my fancy) out of the cherries that have ripened in the sun in front of my place.

This year I put up a bunch of 'bird deterrents' to keep the little buggers from eating all of them once they were ripe.

My neighbor commented that my yard sort looked like a landing strip with all the stuff I'd put out to flash in the sun and scare the birds.

So far, I've picked enough for at least two pies and there are still plenty more of them on the tree.

I was reminded of a comedian who had talked about his friend who went to an orchard and picked his own fruit. It made him want to start his own "migrant worker fantasy camp" and charge people for the experience of gathering their own food.

Okay... it was actually funnier when he talked about it. But that's what it reminded me of.

It's Okay.....

2009-07-09T08:02:00.000-07:00

Wrong on so many levels, but still made me laugh this morning.

Interwebs

2009-07-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Last night Hotness got our satellite internet working again.
I un-installed the old modem and re-connected the new one, but that's as far as I was able to get it.
There were tests and serial numbers and all manner of information that was required to get the new modem working. None of which I had available to me.

So last night, after not having it for the past month, Hotness called the satellite internet people and they walked her through getting everything all up and running again.
YAY!!!

Now I can get back to ~~downloading porn & music~~ looking up recipes.

Post 4th Report

2009-07-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

The 4th of July Holiday came and went... with a bang. Ha ha!

I managed to survive my trip into Seattle on Friday despite my sprained ankle.
I applied ice and heat to it on Thursday and dosed up on painkillers.
That night wasn't too bad trying to sleep thankfully.

I got up on Friday morning and hobbled around watering plants, filling birdfeeders, etc... until it was time to leave and drive into the big city.
We got there and met up with my mom, her husband, and a friend of the family.
Not a lot to report, so I'll just post a few pictures from the day.

Hotness grabbed a bite at a shop in Post Alley.

The dishes were embedded in the cement steps next to where we were sitting:

Some shoes in a tree at a park near Pike Street that the homeless hang out in:

A view over the Alaskan Way Viaduct:

The infamous gum wall (with a close-up)

And across from the gum wall was "Narboo":

These Hanna-Barbera characters were part of a graffiti wall where we'd parked the car for the day:

Secret Squirrel & Morrocco Mole

And here's Hotness in the parking lot:

After we got back home, we just hung around the house for a bit before going over to our neighbor's to watch TV.
Here's Lewis the Barn Cat chillaxin' on the couch with Hotness:

On Saturday we went to our friend's place to BBQ, watch fireworks and play with my niece and nephew.
It was great fun spending time with everybody.

Here a few pics from that day:
Little ZEN sweeping the floor

The allure of sparklers

Hotness wasn't up to staying and watching people blow stuff up, so she headed home before it got dark.
I stayed until well past midnight and watched the neighborhod pyromaniacs light up the sky.

Sunday was a slow day.
We slept in and stayed around the house for the most part.
We did make a trip to the Comic Stop to pick up my comics and then that evening we went over to the neighbor's place again for more television goodness.
-------------------------------------
AND
In case you were wondering how my foot looked after the sprain...
Well wait no more!

This on Friday afternoon.
I'd worn an ACE bandage all day and when I took it off this is what my foot looked like.
The ankle was swollen and the bruise was starting to show.

This pic was taken this morning.
The swelling has gone down a bit but the bruise is more purple-colored now.
You can see color on both side of my foot, but it's more 'colorful' on the outside.

Laid Up On A Holiday Weekend

2009-07-02T18:36:00.000-07:00

For once I actually had plans to accomplish, but they got shelved in a matter of moments.

I got today off, as well as Friday, from work for a nice 4-day weekend.

Today I was going to sleep in and then run one errand and be home for the rest of the day to do things in the yard (like weed-whack, etc....)

I took off to go run said errand around 10:00 am and found out when I got there, that they weren't open until 1:00 pm. Great.

So now I had some time to kill. I decided to go get some groceries and off I went to the store.

Got back when they were open and got things taken care of and then I made a quick stop to pick up some more birdseed (I was starting to run out).

By now it was after 2:00 p.m., and much later than I wanted to be out, but whatever. I still had the rest of the afternoon.

I got the groceries out of the car and was walking up to the front door when my right foot slipped.

I overcompensated and lurched with my left foot to balance myself, but was carrying all the groceries so my balance was off.

I twisted my left ankle, dropped the bags of groceries, and fell on the ground.

PAIN!!!!

I know I'd screwed something up, so I hobbled into the house and then brought the bags in.

I took off my shoes and socks and.... yup. My ankle was already swollen.

I'd sprained it pretty bad.

So now instead of all the things I had planned to do, I had to park on the couch with a bag of ice on my ankle and the bottle of ibuprofen next to me.

My whole day got shot full of holes and I got nothing accomplished.

Tomorrow, Hotness and I are going to Seattle to meet up with my mom and her husband.

We'd planned this for a couple of weeks now and I'll be darned if I'm going to cancel it because of a sprained ankle.

I'll dose up on Ibuprofen and Tylenol tonight. And tomorrow... I still have the Vicoden from when I busted my toe.

I'm going to hobble around the city and enjoy myself if it kills me.

So if you see a bald guy limping around downtown Seattle on Friday, it's not a random homeless guy.

It's just gimpy old me.

Veggies & Sore Nipples

2009-06-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday we spent mostly outside.

Hotness did a lot of mowing while I was busy repotting plants into larger containers, refilling bird feeders, and stuff like that.

I'm happy to report that things are growing and seem to be doing well so far.

One of my tomatoes has "thumb-sized" fruits on it.

Now I'm just waiting for them to get larger and ripen up so's I can eat 'em!

I also put bright orange construction tape on my cherry trees.

When the wind blows, the ribbons wave around and are supposed to scare the birds.

Like so....

The last couple of years, I haven't been able to get the cherries off the tree before the birds eat them all.

This year, I'm hoping to get at least a couple of nice pies from cherries that I grew in my yard.

Other than that, things are going well.

The weather has been nice and my garden is coming along nicely.

------------

Yesterday, when I was getting ready for work, I picked out a shirt I haven't worn often.

It was going to be a bit warm that day, so I opted to just wear the shirt and not a T-shirt underneath.

BAD IDEA!!!

This particular shirt has a nice embroidered pattern running from top to bottom on both side of it.

Unfortunately, this pattern runs right down over my hairy man-nipples and the thread they use is some sort of nylon.

So as I'm wearing the shirt, it's like having sandpaper rubbed over my nips every time I move.

I discovered my mistake about an hour after wearing it, so I tried to minimize my movements until I could break away at lunch.

As soon as it was noon, I darted out the door and over to Target to pick up some T-shirts.

Ahhhhh..... I was doing much better after there was a thin cotton barrier between me and the torture shirt.

Today I wore a much more sensible (and less pain-inducing) shirt for work.

My sore nipples are thanking me.

Going REAL Old Skool

2009-06-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

Heh!

Here's a game I bet NOBODY expected:

(found via Super Punch)

You can find a whole bunch of other "classic" video games here.

A couple of other good ones:

Greatest Rock Song Ever?

2009-06-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

Probably not, but a classic nonetheless.

I mean what other song includes the following?:
grinding guitars, a funky bass line, pounding drums, flutes, a Hammond organ, an accordian, whistling, gibberish lyrics, and... yodeling.
Yes, yodeling.

None other than the epic "Hocus Pocus" by the band Focus.
Oh sure, Jethro Tull might've used flutes but did they yodel? No, they didn't. So there.

The song is pretty crazy as it is, but they played it even faster when they performed it live.

Waste. Of. Space.

2009-06-22T12:29:00.001-07:00

Howdy!

How was your Father's Day? (if you celebrated, that is)

Mine was spent practically all day on the couch doing nothin'. For reals.

I got up and fed the cat, then went outside to fill up the birdfeeders and parked my butt on the couch after that.

I watched "The Man Who Laughs", a couple of cartoons, and then spent the remainder of the day playing video games. Or rather, one video game called "Legend of Legaia".

It's an old PS1 game, so it's been around for a while now. I started it about 3 years ago and play for a few hours, then put it away and don't touch it for months. (The last time I played it was over a year ago).

I've gotten most of the way throught it and thought I should finally finish it so I could get it done.

I spent most of the day on the couch in my PJ's playing it.

I got stuck in one level and was constantly retracing my steps getting nowhere for about 3-4 hours. I finally gave up and looked online for a "walkthrough" to help me get out of that level.

It worked, and I thought I was done (or as close to it as possible) when it said I still had a bajillion more 'quests' to complete. Oh great.

I found a 'save spot' and turned it off for the day. My brain had turned to pudding by that point.

I think tonight I'll skip the gaming (or at least that one) and try to be more productive at the house when I get home.

It's not like there isn't laundry and dishes to clean and they ain't gonna wash themselves.

--------------------

The day before, I got up early to to see Hotness out the door.

She was heading back to Montana to take care of her mom's business now that she passed away.

I shuffleded around for a bit before going out to run an errand, and then I spent the early part of the afternoon with my good friend Imperfect and his kids.

We went to the hardware store, grabbed some Mexican food for lunch, and played with the kids for a while.

"Uncle Ferretnick" was pretty tired and started to fall asleep on their couch, so I took off for home where I had a nap with the cat.

I got up around 5:00 p.m. and called my neighbor to see if he wanted to get together and watch a movie.

I went over to his place and we watched "Gran Torino".

That was pretty much all I did this weekend. Nothing productive.

Totally a waste of space on the couch.

Rawr, Baby!

2009-06-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

Today is Hotness's 40th birthday today!

I don't have anything embarrassing to post about her, so instead I'll just put up some pictures of her and say...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my little sugar pickle!!!

You're my favorite cougar! Rawr!

Slow-cooked Pulled Pork

2009-06-17T12:35:00.000-07:00

Got another recipe for you all... if you're interested.

I'm not big on measuring things. I just kind of "wing it" as I go along but I'll try to give you some measurements to use for this.

I made some BBQ pulled pork the other night and posted about it on my Facebook page.
Not everybody reads that, so I'm putting the recipe on here for you in case you want to try it out.

You'll need:
Pork Shoulder (you can use bone-in, but boneless makes it easier to "pull" after it's cooked)
How much to use? Well, for this recipe... make a fist with your hand. Now get about 2 - 3 times that size in pork shoulder meat.
Barbecue Sauce
You can use what ever kind you like. Or make your own sauce... it's pretty easy.
For this recipe I used the cheapest kind I could find. (It was on sale at Fred Meyer for under $1 a bottle)
Onion (I used a regular yellow onion)
Spicy Brown Mustard (or you could use stone-ground mustard)
Red Pepper Flakes (the kind you shake onto pizza)
Buns or Rolls (your choice as to what kind to use. They're just for putting the pork on to make a sandwich with)

1. In a crockpot, pour a little bit of the sauce (enough to cover the bottom but not more than 1/4 inch deep) and then place your pork inside the pot.
2. Thinly slice your onion and put it on the pork. (You can use as much or as little onion as you please. I maybe used about 3 Tbsp. Just be sure to make it really thin when you cut it.)
3. Then pour some BBQ sauce on top of the pork, just enough to cover it and toss in some red pepper flakes (again... as much or as little as you'd like. More to make it hotter, less to just give it a little heat).
4. Squirt some mustard on top (about 2 Tbsp) and stir everything with a big wooden spoon just to get it all mixed up good.
5. Turn the crockpot to "low" and let it cook all day (at least 7-8 hours)

The meat should fall apart by that point and any fat from the meat will have cooked out leaving you nothing but BBQ marinated pork meat..
Take out the larger chunks of meat and shred (a.k.a. "pull") them with a couple of forks until you have it all nicely shredded.
Serve it on your choice of rolls or buns with some extra BBQ sauce, mustard, or whatever condiments you prefer. You can even put a slice of cheese on it if you want.

I'm sure those of you who like beer can find something worthy to accompany this.
I, myself, prefer an ice-cold Mike's Hard Lemonade.

This recipe will fill a 3-4 quart crockpot about 1/3 of the way and you'll get about 10 - 12 "hamburger bun"-sized sandwiches with this amount.
You can always increase the amounts if you want to make more.

After A Long Wait, It's Finally Over

2009-06-15T09:36:00.001-07:00

On Sunday morning (shortly after midnight) Hotness's mom passed away.

She'd gotten a call on Friday afternoon from a family friend saying that her mom might not make it through the next few days, so we'd been waiting for this call to happen.

It's kind of surreal at the moment. She's gone and will no longer be a part of either of our lives, but in a sense she had left a while ago when the cancer started taking over so it really isn't a shock.

On the other hand, she lived a lot longer than anyone expected so for her to finally be gone is a relief (that she's no longer suffering) and very sad (that she is actually gone).

I joked about her on here, but it was because I cared about her.

I'd call her occasionally to check in on her and make her laugh. When she got too sick to answer the phone, I really didn't get to talk to her much any more.

The cards I sent her (on Hotness's last visit) helped brighten her day and she kept them next to her in the nursing home so she could read them over and over again.

I didn't get to tell her "goodbye", but I'll never forget the first time we'd said "Hello" to each other.

I'd gone back with Hotness for her 10-year High School reunion, and stopped by her mom's to let he know we arrived.

The first thing she said to me was, "Oh! You'll like my friend Don. He's chubby too."

I just smiled as Hotness freaked out that her mom said that to me.

I said later that "if that's the worst I have to deal with from her, I think things will be okay".

And they were.

In the years after that, I looked forward to seeing her and joking around with her. We'd exchange email. And I'd make her laugh until she turned red and tears rolled out of her eyes.

I'll miss her.

Not as much as Hotness, obviously. But we were close. So close that she was referring to me as her son-in-law BEFORE Hotness and I were ever engaged.

Rest in peace Jankamur.

Feeling A Bit Artsy

2009-06-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

Nothing new to report.
I had some pictures on my camera and wanted to share them was all.

First up... some sidewalk art from downtown last week:

And this:

I just thought these dew drops looked really cool the way they formed on the blade off grass like that.

Bonus!
Here is a picture I took this morning of the strawberries growing on my deck.

They're almost ripe. I can't wait!
I'm going to celebrate by either having them on a bowl of cereal of making a daiquiri. (I guess it depends on how many ripe ones I have at the time)

By the way, all these pictures were taken with my phone.

Drink Up!

2009-06-10T16:21:00.000-07:00

You've maybe heard about it, but somebody is actually marketing the stuff now.

Bacon Vodka

I'm really not sure if I should be intrigued or repulsed by this.

On the one hand, their recipe for a "Bacon Mary" sounds pretty good.

But I'm not totally sold on bacon-flavored alcohol.

Sure it's the world's most perfect food.

But when other foods are 'flavored' to taste like bacon... it doesn't always turn out so well.

The good news (if you want to call it "good"), is that you can find it locally here in Washington.

So if you're the adventurous type, go get some and tell me what you think.

--------

In other news:

Haven't had a whole lot to talk about.

Our internet connection at home is still on the fritz, so Hotness is working on getting that fixed.

We had dinner with Elwood and his wife a few days back.

BBQ burgers an bratwurst followed by "Redneck Life" and "Zombies!!!: Jailbreak"

It was a fun evening and we're looking forward to getting together with them again soon.

That's all for now.

Be good to each other in the meantime.

Life In The Future

2009-06-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

Marvel at the astounding inventions that people will have in the world of tomorrow!

A funny video about life in the year 2000 as if it were filmed back in the 50's.

(via the Presurfer)

The Weekend In Review

2009-06-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

I have temporarily lost access to the interwebs from my house. Otherwise I'd have posted about what went on this weekend, you know.... while it was STILL the weekend.

Oh well. Whatever.
Hotness will be coming back home tomorrow and she has all the info to call the people who can fix our connection. I'll just use my connection at work for now.

So anywhoooo.......
Hotness took off to see her mom on Friday.
I came home that evening after work and picked up the mail. In the mailbox were my copies of Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus and Fanboys.
I fed the cat. Got dinner for myself (some tacos! Yum!) and sat down to watch MSvsGO.

Alright before I go into details, we ALL know that this movie isn't going to be the summer blockbuster to beat all blockbusters. It was a 'direct-to-video' release, fer cryin' out loud!
So my expectations were set low to begin with.

The acting is cheesy, but Debbie Gibson (or, Deborah as she's calling herself now) does a fairly decent job. She's no great actress, but she actually does okay in this film.
Lorenzo Lamas plays a government jerk, so not much of an acting stretch for him.

The story starts out kind of quick and takes off without a lot of explaining and quickly jumps from one scene to the next.
For example: Debbie Gibson is a marine biologist studying whales off the Alaska Coast. (And by the way... apparently Hammerhead sharks, moray eels and hard corals also can be found off the coast w-a-y up north there).
There's an accident... caused by the military, go figure... that releases the creatures.
After that we're suddenly in California looking at a dead, beached whale while an oil drilling platform is attacked off the Japanese coast. All of this takes place in about 24 hours.

The one lone survivor from the Japanese attack is jailed in a FEDERAL prison, for reasons that never get explained, but yet he gets to talk to a civilian scientist about "what happened out there".
The prisoner draws a very detailed picture of the creature, despite it being night time when the attack happened and the entire oil platform crumbling and falling into the sea... with him on it.

The military (ours, of course) is already out hunting down this rougue monster (even though they don't know what it is) and after just one attempt to kill it, decide that this is way beyond their field of expertise. (The U.S. Military backs down after trying... and failing.. to blow up a big shark in the middle of International waters?) now it's time to call in the "experts". Those of course being Ms. Gibson, her renegade biology professor and the Japanese scientist who got detailed descriptions of a creature he couldn't identify from a survivor that was being held in a FEDERAL prison and yet was able to fly to the United States to share the "classified" information.

They discover something that "just might work" to capture the beasties and then they are off into the big wide Pacific Ocean to capture a shark that is big enough to take a bite out of the Golden Gate Bridge and can leap into the air to catch a jumbo jet.

Anyway, you can see how this is going so I'll stop there.
It's dorky and hokey and everything you'd expect from something of this (low) caliber a film.

One thing that really did bother me about the film, was the computer animation sequences were constantly recycled.
The used the same scenes every time they showed the shark. The octopus didn't have much of an appearance, but the few it had were also the same repeated scenes.
The submersible craft that they used in the beginning of the film to study whales looks exactly like the submersible craft that the military employs to hunt down the animals.
So that got old really quick.

The movie is only 90 minutes long, so it only seems like you've lost years of your life watching it.

After that movie was done, I popped in Fanboys.
This movie was laugh-out-loud funny. There are a metric ton of Star Wars references as well as other pop culture topics. There are also quite a few cameo appearances in it. For instance: William Shatner, Carrie Fisher, Ray Park, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes, and a few others.
Also Seth Rogan plays two roles in the film. One is a nerdy Star Trek "trekker" (NOT "trekkie!) and the other is a redneckish, Star Wars-loving pimp.

It didn't get a lot of good reviews when it came out, so it didn't last long in the theaters. But it was definitely worth watching and a good way to make up for having seen the earlier DVD.

-------------------------------

On Saturday, I had a double-dose of the ballet. My niece (4 yrs. old, by the way) had her very first ballet recital early in the day. I went and watched her dance (or rather, she didn't after she got on stage and became too shy in front of everyone).
Then I hustled home to shower, shave, and get ready for the ballet in Seattle that evening.

With Hotness being out of town I was left with an extra ticket. I had already purchased one extra because we we're bringing a friend with us, but now I had two.

I talked her boyfriend into joining us for the evening. She really wanted him to go, but he was trying to avoid it if he could. He & I texted back-and-forth and I talked him into going, after I told him the two of them could have my season ticket seats... for FREE.

He kept it a secret from her about him going, and she didn't know about it until he got dressed and told her he was coming along. Needless to say she was happy.

The ballet itself was a mixed bag of pieces.

There was a contemporary dance. A more modern dance. And a classical dance. So really we got to see a little of everything. I won't bore you the details about the individual pieces and sum it up like this: The first one was contemporary and in my opinion, way too long. It was accompanied by a piano. At first it was nice but after a while the "plinky plinky" of the piano get to be irritating and the dances all seemed alike. This one just didn't interest me.

The second one was very short and very modern. It involved only two dancers and was quite interesting to see them both interact.

The last piece was more of a classical piece and ended with about 50 ballerinas on the stage at one time. Quite a spectacle to see!

So the last two pieces more than made up for the hum-drum (in my opinion) of the first one.

Afterwards the three of us walked to Dick's for a burger and to wait for traffic to clear out before we went to Pomodoro for appetizers and flaming desserts.
We ate and had a wonderful time.
When the evening finally ended, I think I got home shortly before 2 a.m.

I slept in until the cat woke me up and then stumbled around the house for the better part of Sunday. I didn't really get anything accomplished, but it was nice to not have to be anywhere and just relax.

That was pretty much my weekend.
How was yours?

Hallmark Has A Card For Everything

2009-05-29T12:16:00.000-07:00

I'm a bachelor again this weekend.
Hotness took off this morning to spend time with her mother one more time.

I used to call her mom every week or so (more often when the cancer started taking over) to just talk and make her laugh and to catch up on things that she wasn't sure she should tell her daughter. I'd filter the information and relay it to Hotness. (Her mom could be a bit dramatic, so it was always best to 'temper' what she had to say)
I haven't been able to do that in a while. In fact, the last time I got to talk to her was the weekend that Hotness and I got engaged (over a couple of months ago now). After that, her health got worse and she moved out of her house and into a nursing home for 24-hour care.

I'd been meaning to send her a card to cheer her up and let her know I was still thinking about her, but things would side-track me and I'd never take time to do it.
So last night, before Hotness was going to leave for her trip, I went to the local Hallmark shop to get a couple of cards for her to deliver for me when she got there.

I looked and looked until I found what I thought expressed the feelings I wanted to convey.
One was a humorous card about surrounding yourself with friends. The other was a sympathy card, which is kind of weird to buy BEFORE someone is dead let alone give it to the person who is the subject of the sympathy... but whatever.

I went up to the counter to pay and the cashier asked if I'd found everything I was looking for.
Instead of just saying "Yes I did. Thank you", I said "Well actually not quite, but these will do".
"Oh. Well can I help you find something more appropriate?" she asked.
"I don't know. It's kind of complicated. I was trying to find a card for my future mother-in-law who has terminal cancer. I don't think you have a card for anything like that" I replied.
She said, "As a matter fact, we do have a few cards that deal with sensitive subjects, including a few that relate to cancer. They're over here", and she directed me to an end cap with a few topical cards of diverse subjects.

I didn't find quite what I was hoping to, so I stuck with the original two I had picked out.
But I'll be dipped in cheese fondue. They really DO have a card for every situation.
I think I'm going to have to make it a personal goal to come up with topics that Hallmark hasn't got a card for now.

In the meantime, I've got stuff to do while Hotness is away.
I have some planting to do at the old homestead, so that'll get me outside in the sunshine during the day.
On Saturday late morning I'm going to watch my niece perform in her first ballet dance recital. And that evening I have plans to go to the ballet in Seattle (our last one for this season) with a couple of friends since Hotness won't be here to make it this time.
I'm also expecting a couple of DVD's to arrive in the mail: Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus and Fanboys. If I'm lucky, they'll be waiting in my mailbox for me when I get home this afternoon.

Some tacos, mojitos and two huge sea-beasties beating the crap outta each other. It's gonna be a good evening.....

Investments For Suckers

2009-05-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

Remember these?

Some of my favorite lines from this clip:
Girl: "... and if the fad ever dies out..."
Boy: "Which we all know will NEVER happen!"

Woman: "... and I found him. And he's uncut...."

Here's a funny article about them as well.

Ha ha ha!!!
Good thing I'm investing in comic books. I'll never have to worry about losing money on them. They're a sure bet to my financial future!

" I Thought These Things Smelled Bad On The Outside"

2009-05-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Remember this little nugget of joy from ThinkGeek back on April 1st?

It was only a joke, but a very well-received one. So much so that some folks were going to to even try and make their own 'cause they thought it was so cool.

But check out this:

Tiny frozen Luke inside a dead Tauntaun as a craft project.

(more pictures here)

It's for an art gallery showing at the Bear and Bird Boutique in Florida this coming July.

The showing is called "Stitch Wars" and according to the site's description, it's a "group art exhibition featuring amazing handmade goods inspired by the most fabulous space opera ever made".

I'm sold. Who wants to vacation in Florida during mid-July through August? (Wait... Summer in Florida? On second thought, I'll pass)

(via Super Punch a few days ago)

--------------------

But wait! That's not all!

As if that wasn't enough geektacular news for you, check out this custom Nintendo Wii.

The case has been modified into a Metroid Wii:

(Lots of different pictures of it here)

(also via Super Punch)

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus Update

2009-05-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

On a whim I checked to see if Amazon.com had gotten more copies of the movie in.

They now list it as available for pre-order, instead of sold-out.

So I pre-ordered it.

It should be released on next Tuesday (05/26/09) and I should have it in my stinky, sweaty hands about a week later. (I opted for free shipping, so they'll take their time getting it out to me).

Whenever ya'll are ready for a triple-feature weekend of:

Machine Girl

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus

and

Calamari Wrestler

... you just let me know, okay?

Go On, Take The Money And Run

2009-05-21T08:16:00.001-07:00

A New Zealand couple withdraw money and fled after the bank accidently deposits $10,000,000 NZ ($6.1 Mil U.S.) into their account.

They are believed to have left the country and Intrpol has been contacted to help in an International search for the two people.

They might also want to call Billy Mack. He's a detective down in Texas and he knows just exactly what the facts is.

He won't let those two escape justice.

He also makes his living off of the people's taxes.

I would think that both of them headed down South and are still running today.

If he hurries, he might catch 'em!

Something New To Look Forward To

2009-05-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hey There!
How ya'll been?

I've been away from blogging 'cause there hasn't been anything to really talk about other than my "deck garden" than I'm slowing getting together.
This cool Spring weather is really making things difficult for my 'warm-weather' plants.
Ah well, I'll just keep plugging along and hope for the best.

Hotness and I have one more ballet to attend for this season and then we're finished for this year. (Well, the 2008-2009 season anyway)
We're looking into getting tix for next season, but it's still kind of up in the air right now.

However, I did get tickets for the 2009-2010 season of the Seattle Opera.
They have a big year planned, what with the "Ring" cycle taking place as well this season.
Unfortunately I couldn't afford to include those performances with our subscription, but we are going to see three classics of Italian opera: La Traviata, Il Trovatore, and Falstaff.

I'm looking forward to all three, but especially Il Trovatore.
This one has most of the music that even the non-opera goers are familiar with, including the "Anvil Chorus". Plus our tickets for the weekend of my birthday!

So you can look forward to reading my opera reviews as well as my ones from the ballet.
I know you all will be excited about that.

In other news......
This trailer has been making the rounds on the interwebs:

It looks cheesy as all get-out but you know I'm going to be picking that badboy up.
It came out just yesterday on DVD and had already sold out when I looked on Amazon.com for it.

I'm already hoping there will be a sequel.
Where the octopus is a ninja and wields eight swords while fighting a shark with frickin' lasers on it's head.
That'd be so cool!

Don't Tease Me, Bro!

2009-05-13T16:41:00.000-07:00

YES!

I don't care if I'm behind the times and this isn't really relavent to anyone anymore, but.....

Guitar Hero: Van Halen is fo' sho'!

I only recently bought GH: Aerosmith when the price dropped on it and I still haven't gotten GH: Metallica 'cause... I just don't care, really.

But the best band in the entire known universe is finally getting it's own video game.

I am so totally there when it comes out.

Dave, Sam... it makes no never mind to me.

I *heart* VH

Garden Of Eatin'

2009-05-12T12:06:00.000-07:00

One thing I've always enjoyed doing, but never got to do enough of, was have a garden.

I had one when I was a teenager, but never really had much luck with it.
It's not that I don't have a green thumb, I just didn't have a great location (very shaded) and the soil was pretty poor.
The plants never really did well, but it didn't stop me from trying anyway.

I've been wanting to put in a garden at "Casa de Ferretnick" ever since we moved out there a few years ago.
This year, I'm finally starting to make that dream a reality.

On Saturday, I planted a bunch of seeds in a starter tray.

I realize I'm kind starting it pretty late in the season, but they aren't going to grow by themselves. Uh... wait a minute. I guess they do.
Well, anyway you know what I mean.

Instead of digging up the yard, though. I'm going to container garden everything and keep them up on my deck. They'll be safe from the deer and I can control pesky slugs a lot easier.
Plus, if I want something all I have to do is walk out on the deck and pick it. I don't have to go "out to the garden".

I mostly planted a bunch of mixed salad greens but I also planted spinach, brussels sprouts, snap peas, green beans, radishes and tonight I'm planting some broccoli , green onions, and carrots.
I also planted some corn and mammoth sunflowers, although I'm planning on putting them in the ground at the south end of the house. I don't have any containers big enough for them.
Also, if I'm really lucky, I might even get some tomatoes this year as well.

So with any luck my deck will be a festival of food as the summer gets closer.

In the meantime, the flowers I have planted around the place are doing nicely.
My Columbines along the walkway are really big this year.

And my Bachelor Buttons are starting to break out in bloom finally.

It's nice to come home after work and see all the color as I walk to the door.
And I'm especially looking forward to being able to make a salad from food I've grown on my deck.

In other "garden" related news:
I didn't plant any of these

But then, I didn't know you could get them from a greenhouse.

What's All The Hubub, Bub?

2009-05-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

I went to see "Star Trek" this morning. It is teh awesome!
No need to give a review. If you haven't seen it yet, you must. It's the law.
'Nuff said.

To start the day, I had breakfast with some good friends and then we all headed to the theater to watch it.
Afterwards, I stopped at the hardware store before coming home.
It was a BEAUTIFUL day today, and the lawn is in much need of taming.
I picked up some motor oil for the mower and a few plants to put in my flower bed right in front of the entry door.
Then Hotness took off and mowed like crazy while I mixed up some Miracle-Gro and watered the outdoor plants. It's been such a late spring that I figured a little extra boost of "food" would probably help 'em out.

Things are coming up good... slowly, but good. The dang slugs have been munching on all the tender shoots that are poking up out of the ground, so I sprinkled slug bait around everything.
I expect to fine lots of dead, slimy carcasses in the morning. Bwa-ha-ha!
But at least the plants will have a fighting chance to grow now.

I planted some tomato seeds. I'm kind late actually getting to it in May, but we'll see. If I get some, great. If not, no harm done.
I'm planning on planting some salad greens in pots on my deck, as well. My hope is that I can pick what I need for a salad anytime I want without buying a whole head of lettuce or a bag of it and then have what I didn't need go bad in my fridge.

I FINALLY got the front tires on my car changed last night after I got home from work.
I still had my snow tires on. Every time I wanted to switch them, something would come up and I wouldn't have time or it was pouring rain when I'd get home.
Last night nothing was preventing me, so I jacked up the front end and did the ol' switcheroo on them.
Then I made a margarita and played some Guitar Hero until Hotness got home.

Hmmm.. let's see....
Oh! I bought an electric weed trimmer today. (On my second trip to the hardware store in town)
I have a big, heavy-duty, gas-powered Stihl trimmer but it's a little too powerful to use right next to the house.
On more than one occasion I've whacked the siding and made a mess. Now I have something that won't cause as much damage and Hotness can even use it if she wants.

Other than that, my week hasn't been that eventful.

I did come across a link I'll share with you though.
Do you like to see people looking ridiculous? Do you like to make fun of them?
Then check out: Look at this F#&*^%G Hipster

That's all for now.
Nothing terribly exciting, I'm afraid.
But aren't you glad I didn't have another boring post about the convention?