Archive for January 2013
Here are the statistics folks, 4100 pages and 199 Chapters. This marks the finish of my Harry Potter reading extravaganza. I couldn’t put the last book down and finished reading it at 3:00 this morning (OMG). I’m so glad I made the journey through those books because it offered me a much richer story and well defined characters that the movies ever could or did. If you’re an avid reader I’d recommend reading the story from start to finish to anyone. Rowling made a boat load of money from her efforts with Harry Potter and in my humble opinion she deserved every bit of it. It’s time to move along to the next reading challenge and to leave Harry and his friends behind. Hopefully I’ll figure out what that challenge will be very soon.
In my travels yesterday I stopped at a local Starbucks in an attempt to give them one last try to wow me with their over priced products. As you can tell I’m not a fan but I’m willing to spend my hard earned money in an attempt to find something they sell that is worth the price they’re charging. I’d like nothing better than to have a second option for coffee buying besides Dunkin Donuts.
I recently saw a television ad where Starbucks was pushing a new product, Vanilla Blond Roast. They indicated in the ad that it’s for people who desire a milder version of their overpriced regular coffees. Being the nice guy that I am I walked up to the counter and ordered a “Grande” (that a medium for everyone else on the planet) Vanilla Blond coffee. It was freaking awful. I gagged down a couple of swallows and delivered the remainder directly into a nearby trashcan. I must say that I really had low expectations to begin with and they didn’t even exceed those. As I said so many times in the past, “Starbucks Sucks”. The only good thing I’ve gotten from Starbucks in recent months was a few free apps for my IPad. In the future I’ll just walk to the register, take the weekly free app card, smile at the barista (just so you know, that’s a cashier), and walk away. I’ll then jump in my car and make my way to DD for a real cup of coffee at half the price. Just saying!
I’ll leave you today with a joke I heard recently. Everyone needs a laugh or two especially at the expense of the King Obama. Enjoy!
Obama was leaving the country club golf course when he was accosted by an armed robber who demanded, "Give me all of your money!"
Barack haughtily replied, "Do you know who I am. I’m the President of the United States!"
The robber snarled back, "Then give me all my money."
I knew it, it made you smile too!
I’m back in remodeling mode today but honestly my heart isn’t in it just yet. I’m slowly but surely, a little at a time, collecting the materials I need to continue this room rebuild and maybe that will kick start my motivation.
I can tell the holidays are over when I find myself in Lowes looking for dry wall screws, joint tape, and a host of other things. I’m so totally uninterested in doing this job I’m beginning to bore myself. Lowes allows me to people watch a bit and while the people here are interesting I should probably stop at Walmart for the real deal. I’ll just ride through their parking lot which should feed my raging addiction for large numbers of A-holes acting stupidly. Instead I’m on my way for a quick walk through at a wildlife area along the coast. I can trudge through a foot of snow, gather my thoughts, and possibly take a few photos. The fresh air will hopefully do me some good.
Tra La La (This is time passing)
I’m back home with a few dozen photo’s, wet and freezing feet, and a better outlook on the day. I just put in an hour or so of prep work on the room remodel by beginning to reframe the closet to match the one found in the master bedroom. I also decided where I’ll be placing the new electrical outlets on the walls and where the wire runs will go. These are the many little things that need to be accomplished before the lumber and dry wall appears and the real labor begins. I still have a lot of rewiring to accomplish because the idiot who built this place apparently let his three year old do the wiring. The wires are improperly run, the boxes improperly placed, and a total lack of trying to meet any local code requirements. Just a sub-par job from start to finish. Oh no, my lack of interest is again rearing it’s ugly head so I’m packing it in for today.
I find myself totally obsessed with the final Harry Potter novel, the Deadly Hallows, which is almost impossible for me to put down. I won’t be able to finish it tonight but I’m sure to complete the entire story tomorrow. It’s not often I get a book that grabs me the way this one has and it’s nice. Total escapism of which I’m in dire need of right now.
I still need to come up with a few dinner possibilities for us this evening. My lack of interest has just magically expanded to include my food choices and just about everything else. I’ll wait for my better-half to arrive and drop it all in her lap. She likes to be in control of everything and I think I’ll let her. My father would call this crappy attitude my “I don’t give a shit about anything” approach. He never really appreciated it when I was a kid and I’m sure my better-half will feel the same now.
C’mon tomorrow.
I’d like to lighten things up a bit as we continue to enjoy the January doldrums here in Maine. I don’t know about you but I’ve been a big fan of Jeff Foxworthy for many years. He has a tremendous sense of humor which is wrapped up in all that redneck nonsense but he still makes me laugh out loud on occasion. I came upon this routine of his that I’m sure has been around for a while but it’s worth sharing with all of you. It’ll give you a true picture of what living in Maine is really all about. Here we go.
If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May, you might live in Maine.
If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don’t work there, you might live in Maine.
If you had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Maine.
If you measure distance in hours instead of miles, you might live in Maine.
If you know several people who’ve hit a deer more than once, you might live in Maine.
If you’ve switched from heat and AC in the same day and then back again, you might live in Maine.
If you can drive 75 miles through 2 feet of snow during a blizzard without flinching, you might live in Maine.
If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you might live in Maine.
If you carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you might live in Maine.
If you design your kid’s Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you might live in Maine.
If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you might live in Maine.
If you know all four seasons: almost Winter, Winter, still Winter, and road construction, you might live in Maine.
If you have more miles on your snow blower than on your car, you might live in Maine.
If you find 10° a little chilly, you might live in Maine.
I couldn’t explain Maine any better than that if I tried.
Well, my day in the kitchen is over and I’m sitting here labeling approximately 12 quarts of my new salsa recipe. After all of the adjustments were made to the recipe it turned out much better than I anticipated. After it cooled I was able to sample it with some nice and crispy yellow corn chips. I have a grading scale I use when making salsa and I rated this one a 4. That’s means after eating four teaspoons of the salsa the back of my head begins to sweat. This stuff is smoking hot and at the same time filled with great flavor.
I’m sending a pint of the finished product to work with my better-half tomorrow. I often use her fellow employees to test and taste my cooking efforts and their feedback is usually pretty accurate. It really helps me in refining my recipes. This batch is officially called Roasted Corn w/Black Bean & Currants. In another few months the flavor and heat should improve dramatically after sitting in the jar and make for a really great addition to any of my better-half’s Mexican food meals. Mission accomplished.
Now that my cooking job is over I can return to my Harry Potter reading assignment. I finished book #6 late last night and it was the absolute best one so far. I’m already one chapter into #7 and it looks like it will be even better than the last. What a pleasant surprise. I’m going to be very sad to see this story end because after seven books the characters are becoming like old friends. Another series for my eclectic book collection. I suppose I’ll be up late reading again tonight and hopefully get a decent nights sleep after that.
The weather here in Maine is very cold with approximately one and a half feet of snow still on the ground. I’d love to get into the woods but I’m waiting for a warmer day (around 30 degrees) before venturing out. I’m a fanatic about getting great Winter pictures but I’m not crazy. Patience is supposed to be a virtue so I’ll remain virtuous for a few more days.
Today is one of those dead days after the holidays where everyone is dragging ass with the loss of all that holiday adrenaline. I’ve decided I need to talk about politics for a bit after perusing the monthly observances listed for January.
Today is January 6th and I’ve discovered something earth shattering. The politicians must be losing their edge because not only have they chosen not to observe the 6th as Sherlock Holmes’s birthday which almost but not quite pisses me off, they’ve completely ignored the 6th for any type of recognition. While the 6th of January is included in some of the lame ass weekly observances, it doesn’t have a day of it’s own. How could our narcissistic and self-serving politico’s miss an opportunity like that. There’s a day for damn near everything and a few days that have multiple observances, so what the hell is wrong with the 6th of January?
Maybe it’s time for us to help those poor underpaid politicians do their job in a more proper fashion. How about we have the 6th remembered and observed as, “Take Down the Goddamn Christmas Tree Day” or “National Christmas Gift Refund Day”. Being as fair and balanced as I can possibly be I propose we name the 6th as “Take an Effing Liberal to Work Day”. We could show them off to our conservative friends and pass out a few food stamps as a surprise gifts.
The next time I have lunch with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid I’ll make that suggestion. They’ve been avoiding me since I refused that threesome offer over our last lunch. They’re so sensitive when sexually rejected it may take a few months for another invite to come my way (no pun intended).
I can’t wait for next year, it’ll take me that long to choose my liberal work buddy. I have a complicated and fun selection process which will make as many liberals as possible as uncomfortable as possible.
So there!
Today is going to be creative cooking day for me. I have a few hours to kill so I decided it might be a great time to adjust my favorite salsa recipe, Corn & Black Bean. I want to make it a little more flavorful than usual with a few new ingredients I’ve not attempted before. This takes a while to do but adjusting the written recipe is always much easier than making it work in the pot.
In the past I normally add the black beans (my fav’s) to the pot towards the end of the cooking process. This allows them to cook slightly in the pot and more during the twenty minute canning process. If done properly they’ll cook just the right amount and won’t be mushy. My problem was getting the corn to be more flavorful. I wanted a natural smokiness to come through my salsa without using something manufactured, like Liquid Smoke, to do it. My solution was to switch from whole kernel yellow corn to white Shoe Peg corn. I prefer the flavor of Shoe Peg and it seems to hold it’s shape better when cooked. If everything cooks to mush it makes for a salsa with little or no texture.
I propose to take the corn from the cans and spread it on an cookie sheet lightly sprayed with olive oil. Then lightly spray the corn itself and sprinkle with Cumin. Place in the oven at 425 degrees until golden brow then remove it, stir it up, and replace in the oven. When it’s roasted to my liking I’ll remove it and set it off to the side. That’ll give the corn a huge boost of flavor with some crispiness as well.
I normally make my salsa’s extremely hot but without losing all of the flavor to the heat. I love habanero and in my opinion it has by far the best combination of flavor and heat. I also intend to add a dozen diced jalapenos for addition flavor and 6-8 Serrano peppers for more heat. That should allow me eliminate Cayenne pepper from my old recipe. While Cayenne has great heat it lingers in the back of the throat which I really don’t like.
I want a person eating my salsa to initially taste nothing but the flavors of the ingredients and then slowly feel the heat begin to rise. The more you eat the hotter it will get and to me that’s perfect. Well, I’m off to shop for ingredients at the local supermarket and I shall return.
Do-Wa, Do-Wa, Do Do Ditty (Just a time killing tune)
I’m back with two bags of all of my favorite things; assorted hot peppers, fresh herbs, white onions, and my absolute favorite, red onions. I have at least an hour of dicing up these goodies in preparation for cooking. I like to throw them all into one container so they can mix and mingle their flavors overnight in the fridge before I toss them in the pot tomorrow. Hopefully by Sunday afternoon I’ll have ten quarts of dynamite, smoking hot, and tasty salsa .
I can’t wait.
Peace and quiet. I really think that the older a person gets the more peace and quiet become important. From now until sometime in late April I’ll have a great deal of quiet. The peace portion is another matter since I’m in a an intimate relationship that at times can be less than peaceful. It’s the nature of the beast I suppose.
I plan ahead to these weeks of quiet all year long and set goals for myself to be accomplished before Spring arrives. I read a great deal, I write a lot, and I examine my life even more. I’ve always been a good motivator for people who worked for me but I’m even tougher on myself. I’m my own worst enemy when I feel I’m not getting anything accomplished in a given period of time.
I have a sculpture I’ve been messing with for almost a year. I sit and stare at it for hours upon hours looking for something. I know what I want to do with it but I’m experimenting with some new materials that I’m not sure will work. If they refuse to cooperate it will ruin all of the work already completed and I’ll be forced to start over from scratch. I know I’m over thinking things but that how I work. I know that within a week or so I’ll take the plunge and attempt to finish the project, one way or the other. Once I start I’ll work continuously until it’s completed. The best time of my life are those moments when I’m strictly focused on creating. I don’t want food, drink, or company, just peace and quiet. Hours will fly by like nothing and even sleep isn’t important. It’s the rush of seeing what’s been in my head for months finally escaping to become a reality.
It’s not only sculpture but other forms as well. Painting, writing, block printing, photography, watercolors, pen and ink, and anything else you can think of. Those moments of total concentration and focus are more important to my mental health than almost anything.
So now begins my three and a half months of quiet. I’ve been waiting for it to arrive and I plan on making the most of it. My better-half has left for work, the cats asleep some where in the house, the TV and radios are off, the cell phone is off, and I’m sitting here writing this. You can hear a pin drop. I’m in heaven.
Are you one of those folks who loves celebrating birthdays? If you are you have my deepest sympathies. I’m not arrogant enough yet to believe that the world and it’s occupants really give a damn when I was born or for that matter when I die. I’ve never seen it as a special day and only send two or three birthday cards a year to family members because it’s the politically correct thing to do. I’d much rather celebrate the things they’ve done in their lives rather than the date randomly determined by the whims of their parents based on when they copulated. It’s a little like Christmas to me in that it’s more for the youngest of us to enjoy. In my opinion we should stop celebrating kid’s birthdays when they stop believing in Santa.
All that being said I’m celebrating in a few days what some folks consider to be the birthday of a fictional character that has taken on a life of his own. Happy Birthday to Sherlock Holmes. There’s no way to actually determine the birth date of Holmes no matter how hard some obsessed fans try but it seems January 6th is the date that’s been decided upon. As I said in the above paragraph the date isn’t all that important to me. This fact was obtained from surveysez.com and will help make my point.
- The total number of Americans who have ever lived: 558.1 million (558,097,837)
Take the number of Americans who’ve ever lived since 1776 and divide that by 365. That would roughly indicate 1,529,035 people born on your birthday. I readily admit it’s not an accurate figure but it does prove my point that the date really isn’t all that meaningful in and of itself.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created a character out of a need for money and it seemed to me, after reading about his life, he was quite the diva. When he tired of the Holmes character he killed him off without a thought and pursued more intellectual writings. It was too late to just walk away from Holmes as he soon found out. The fan base at the time raised so much hell he was forced to bring Holmes back to life with a lamely written explanation and proceeded to write many more Holmes mysteries.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Doyle but I’ve been captivated by the Holmes character since I was a kid. I’ve read every word written about the character, seen all the remakes, the movies (good, bad, or awful), and remain quite the fan. Even when the Law & Order program based Detective Goren’s (Criminal Intent) character on Holmes, I liked it a great deal.
Birthdays for us real people seem silly to me but a fictional character who has kept himself alive for decades deserves some recognition. Once again, Happy Birthday Sherlock!
The Christmas/New Year’s holidays are now passed and are slowly being erased from my memories or so I’d hoped. Only 363 shopping days left until Christmas. How’s that for a “buzz kill”. I spent a great part of the day today removing all traces of Christmas cheer from our home. I took down the lights, the tree, the ornaments, the knick-knacks, and anything else I could think of. Packaged them all up and hid them away in the attic for another year. I shouldn’t be too negative about these holidays since it was one of the better holiday seasons I’ve had in recent years.
I’ve now experienced my first holidays without both of my parents which was certainly a struggle at times. I spent a lot of time remembering my childhood Christmases and all the good times we had. My Mom loved Christmas most of all and always did everything in her power to make it special. Just after last Christmas and as her health began to fail, it was painfully obvious to those closest to her that she knew it would be her final Christmas. With the help of my sister she insisted on keeping the Christmas tree up well into April. She was enjoying her Christmas memories for the final time.
After finishing the general Christmas cleanup I decided to begin enjoying one of my favorite gifts, the extended Blue-ray DVD set of the Lord of the Rings. It’s 15 DVD’s just filled with more information that you can possibly handle. I lounged most of the day away suffering quietly from a minor hangover and watching the movies. I made it a full five hours and have only just finished watching the second installment. Best gift ever! I lost myself in Middle Earth for the day and it was wonderful.
My better-half returns to work tomorrow and she’s been mumbling and grumbling about it all day. I tried to make her feel better but to no avail. I did get a smirk or two when I mentioned in passing we were only 31 days from Ground Hog Day. It really didn’t seem to give her the boost I’d hoped but I’ll keep trying.
Off to bed for a good nights sleep then back to our somewhat normal existence tomorrow.
Happy New Year everyone. My best laid plans for our New Years celebration was only semi-successful. We had a few friends over early in the evening for drinks and few yucks. They had children at home looking to celebrate the New Year and needed to be there to supervise, so they left a little early. It was nice for a couple of hours to kick back and relax with some friendly faces. The get-together broke up early and my better-half immediately reheated the Chinese food she’d obtained earlier in the day and as always it was yummy and really filling.
I never planned on staying awake for the standard TV celebrations but my better-half insisted she was going to bring the New Year in properly by watching the ball drop with her favorite male fantasy figure, Ryan Seacrest. I retired to the bedroom to continue my readings on Harry Potter. I just finished book #6 and I was really getting excited about finishing the final volume over the next week or so. The story has slowly evolved from a kid’s story into a rather interesting novel. I’m glad I decided to hang in there and read them all.
It was 10:00 pm and I was really getting into the book when my half asleep better-half stumbled into the room, jumped into bed, and mumbled something about waking up just before midnight. I knew she was just kidding herself but I played along. It was lights out at 10:30 and no one woke up for the ball drop (sorry Ryan). We both slept straight through the night and wished each other a happy New Year around eight the next morning. I don’t care what anyone says, it was an excellent way to celebrate the end of 2012.
After a nice breakfast of twice reheated Chinese food with an egg on top we grabbed our cameras and hit the road. We had quite a lot of snow on the roads but we decided to explore some of the more rural areas looking for those elusive Kodak moments. It was cold and crisp and some of the snow scenes we shot were spectacular. Horse farms with horses in the snow, giant pine trees nearly bent over with the snow on their branches. This was the perfect way to spend a New Years Day.
After fifty or sixty miles and over a hundred photos later we returned home to get warm and to prepare a luscious pork roast dinner with sides of sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. We ended the day snuggled up on the couch watching a movie and looking at the days photo’s. Pretty damn nice if I do say so myself.
I can only hope that all of you enjoyed your day half as much as we enjoyed ours. Bring on 2013.
everyuselessthing.com 