Thursday, June 28, 2007

Voici
Hope I haven't keep you all breathless what with your bated-ness in awaiting my return to the electronical page. I had an extended visit from a friend I hadn't seen in a long time and a good time was had by, well, me for sure. But I think I can say I was a good and attentive host so I think the good time was had by all. After all this time, I can truly say: Love you, doll. You do good work and are a boon companion. I hope it won't be nearly as long in the future.
OK then. Anything worth posting about? Coffee - yeah sure, why not. Boca Java now has blueberry! Blueberry coffee kicks rump. If you don't like blueberries, it wouldn't be your cuppa joe but I've kept up my contact with the Gevalia Kaffee people for the sole reason that it afforded me access to blueberry-flavored coffee. Not no mo! Time to order some more from the Boca Java people I must say. Plus the Boca folks advertise with Rush, Sean, Sean, Laura Ingraham. I think you want my business if you're going to do that.
Politics? No much to say - a real democratic (small "d") revolution has killed the fatally bad amnesty bill and quite a number of politicians are going to feel the heat of an invigorated conservative base in the next election. Mark my words, oh ye mighty! Like a group of lions walking past someone on the last day of summer it is! (i.e. Pride goeth before a fall.) And the Democratic (large "d") attempt to stifle free speech in the form of a revived "fairness doctrine" will fail miserably. Yet they will not be held to account for their assault on free speech as their water carriers in the main stream media (d'ya like all that hydro imagery?) will manage to cover the asses asses for the majority of American idiots. Sic transit gloria mundi.
Food? I made dumplings for the first time last night! A qualified success I have to say. I made pork dumples and I over steamed them a bit. The wrappers clung to my new bamboo steamer. I have to figure out how to fix that. Plus, the steamer might work better if I make more won-ton like shapes rather than the semi-circular kind. I need to maximize steamer real-estate to get them goobers cooked. I added shiitake mushrooms and beni shoga (red pickled ginger) to my batch. I could have put even more ginger in and I would cut the mushroom into larger pieces next time. But I'd definitely use both again.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Lack O' Posting
Sorry for the light days. (Don't even THINK of riffing on that! -Ed.) Not much is going on and the rest of the blogosphere is doing all the heavy lifting. Go on about your business, nothing to see here, folks. Check back in about a week. Enjoy yourselves.
Oh, the deck farm is bopping right along. The pepper that the fargin' rat got was found tucked in behind the Earthbox. Even the mild pepper was too much for the little SOB. I hope they like the steady diet of bait pellets. Traps will be set later as a test. I'll keep you informed.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Molly Tells A Truth
Roast Beef Kazenzakis is now engaged to the lovely Molly Sanders and now must face the getting of married. Today Molly cuts to the chase and lays down an eternal truth about guys. She didn't hafta be so direct about it! Jeez.
Neologism
The Chinese art of lying about home decoration to ensure the outcome you want: Nifong Shui.
More Randomness
After my rebadging of Kaite Couric as "Newsy Spice," I thought I might do the same favor for Hillary Gotdam Clinton who will be referred to from now as "Commie Spice."

Another thought which sprung unbidden to mind is something that has long amused me, perhaps to my discredit. In the environs of one of Lycurgus's domiciles, there is a hotel which is named the "Flamingo Colony." Of course someone had to mess with the lights on the sign so that the last letter of each word doesn't show. Heh heh heh. Now that's funny.
I Like Steampunk
I mean, I'm not a slavering fanboi. But I like it. So imagine my delight when I find a blog devoted thereto: Brass Goggles. It figures it's a Britblog. Mosey on over, poke around. Something should tickle your fancy.

And be sure to set aside about ten minutes to watch "Steam Trek: The Moving Picture." Delightful. (Hat tip: Brian Tiemann.)
A Paradigm For Algore
In my morning troll through the blogosphere, I see global warming is a (snicker, snicker) hot topic again. Neal Boortz has a good piece on Czech Republic president Vaclav Klaus doing a little "truth to power" thing with the threat to freedom that the GW alarmists are trying. And, of course, it made me think of Al Gore who is the engineer of this train to Idiotown. Who is "no controlling legal authority" Gore (the GoreBot, OwlGore, etc etc etc) now? And it hit me: He's the donkey in Shrek.
You'll have to imagine Eddie Murphy in full tilt saying this but I see the words coming out of Gore's big, square head. "Shrek! Shrek! We're all gonna DIE!" Then he covers his head with his front feet. ... Nothing happens ... Still nothing. Then he opens one eye and looks around. Everything is all right. "Well, OK then." He gets up and trots off to join Shrek and Princess Fiona who've continued to walk along ignoring the dumb ass the whole time.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

If I Could Start A Meme
I'd have everyone start calling Katie Couric "Newsy Spice."
Headlines
Sometimes the headline on a little piece in the paper just doesn't quite work. Yesterday the Washington Times page that aggregates news from around the nation had piece on the latest work on the International Space Station, to wit: installation of more solar cell panels which will increase the generating capacity of the station. But that's not really what the headline said. It read: "Solar-power source installed in space"

Unh yeah. It's called "the sun" and God (or a Flying Spaghetti Monster if you prefer) did that several billion years ago. Jeez.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

This Doesn't Even Make Nonsense
I've been having trouble with my printer of late which leads me to start looking for a replacement. I've been using an Epson All-In-One so I started my intraweb peripatations with the Epson marque. I came on a review of the Epson Stylus Photo RX580 at the Macworld website. Now I'm not even going to bother with all the specs. I just want to call your attention to one little fact: The "best current price" - $110 and "cost to replace ink" - $120. So it's cheaper to buy a whole new printer than buy replacement ink.
That's just wrong.
You Little BITCH!
And that's my reaction moderated by time. The fargin' rats got my ancho/poblano peppers over the weekend. Since then I have put out two more poison baits packs and today I go out to "accustom" them to the snap trap and the catch trap.
I even considered buying a pellet pistol and sitting out on my deck to put a dab of .177 lead into the ... I almost slipped into the profanity that I don't use on the blog. I hate those rat bastard bastard rats.
UPDATE: I also ordered an ultrasonic pest repeller from the good folks at Amazon. This one. I am skeptical but more than willing to try anything to cause even the slightest discomfort to these ... you know, the whole profanity thing.
The tomatoes are setting buds with great panache though. I like that.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Whoof!
It was a foodie weekend. I so grotesquely over-indulged that I should be ashamed of myself. Yet I am strangely happy with all that I managed to tamp down my craw. First, Saturday night dinner at the Serbian Crown restaurant. (warning - link loads with music and a voiceover) A plate of their "Russian appetizers" consumed with a test tube (OK - not really - but that gives you an idea of the glass) of raspberry vodka, Chateaubriand for the main course, cooked exactly right and served with scalloped potaoes, a parmesan grilled tomato and cauliflower all perfectly delicious and that is coming from one who is not fond of tomatoes! A glass of cabernet sauvignon with the main course was just the right thing. And then a slice of Charlotte for dessert. Ah, and a glass of the peach vodka which is not as good as the raspberry unfortunately.
Then Sunday brunch at a secret location onto which the Enigmatic Misanthrope put me. Oh my dear Lord! It's not that I spend every Sunday seeking out brunch locations but I've been to a few in my dissipated life and I have never, ever had the brunch I had yesterday. Five different kinds of smoked salmon, smoked trout, gloriously big shrimp, duck, petite filet. I didn't even bother with the waffles, the omelet station or the carving station. Though I did take from the dessert table.
I admit to overeating this weekend but I offer a couple of things in my defense: First, the food I ate was glorious. Second, I can recall instances in my past where I ate much more than I did these last couple of days and the quality of that food was not even close to what I just had. And finally, in a highly unusual move, I ate nothing on Sunday after the brunch. In fact, I'm just starting to feel hungry enough to have lunch today. Can't even face breakfast.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

I'm With Fred
And you should be too. Go, sign up, help the country elect its next real president.
I'm never going to believe that any candidate is perfectly in tune with my views. But Fred Thompson gets the important things right. As do a few of the other Republican candidates and not a single one of the Democrats, candidate or not. I can say that since Joe Lieberman is no longer a Democrat. He does understand that we are at war.
But I digress. Expect to see more Fred activity here on PoW was the campaign progresses. That's right - I said "progresses!"

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Geekery
Apple has released (unleashed? nah - released) updates to its MacBook Pro "line" (scare quotes because it consists of, essentially, two models). Being the still-proud owner of a Titanium G4 PowerBook, I am coming to the conclusion that we have reached a point where changes in laptop computer will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Absent some silly change in something nanotechnological or some new thing in battery power, I just don't think there's much that can be done to fundamentally change the laptop. Having said that, I really do have to give it up for Apple's design people with such things as the "MagSafe" power connector which will connect firmly but separate when stressed so your expensive machine will not be dragged off a table by a passer-by whose foot snags the power cable. And a backlit keyboard. Nice touch.
Even though we are in an evolutionary period in laptop design, I have to acknowledge that Apple really did foster two revolutions in the field. First the introduction of the original PowerBooks. As much as they had limitations, they were a brand new paradigm of laptop design. And then the introduction of the Titanium, thinline PowerBooks. Sleek, elegant, with slot loading optical drives and style that still holds to this day. Not a lot of industrial design can meet that standard. (I am of the opinion that my long-gone 1988 Mazda MX-6 is one of those things that still holds up. It doesn't look 'new' but it looks good if it's been well maintained. Like a Mustang from any year of the 60s.)
Also on the plus side, Skype has put out a Mac side update which says it has improved on Bluetooth issues. I wasn't able to get my Bluetooth headset to work properly with Skype in a previous incarnation so maybe this will be the ticket. As ever with technology - fingers crossed!

Monday, June 04, 2007

What A Way To Start The Week
Sorry, no pictures of the Deck Farm™ yet but a brief report in lieu thereof: The poblano pepper plants arrived carrying blossoms. Well, now, a little more than a week after planting them, there are already peppers on the plants! Two peppers on the same plant and one is about an inch long, the other about half that but I am jazzed that I have pepperage actual after such a short period. And the Supersteak tomato plant has grown at least twice as tall and leafed out to maybe three times its size on arrival. I inspected the plants for buds forming and the Supersteak and Brandywine definitely have popped out buds. No flowers yet but I don't think it'll be that long before they set.
What else, what else... Ah yes. A stock I've owned since late 2004 has just today broken through the 100 point level. Another 11 points and I'll sell. If I could only triple my money on all my stocks, I'd be a happy boy.
Plus, tonight is the return of my hero Gordon Ramsay in the new season of "Hell's Kitchen." Over the weekend I watched some re-runs of the original season thereof and my admiration for Gordon is secure. No one does a cooking reality show like my fellow Scot. If you've never seen him on the cable-casted "Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" (which I see on BBC America), you're missing a treat. He is at his irascible best there. Better even than on his own show "The F Word."
Finally, my next guitar is starting its journey toward me today. A Telecaster. I'll probably prefer my PRSi but I'm going to be delighted to add an icon to the set.
What The...
I had a very weird dream this morning wherein I was spending time with Bill Gates in some dream-world version of his home ... that was also part of Microsoft's campus. It was filled with very cool dream technology (technology that only exists in a dream - not technology that assists in dreaming) and Bill was a lot less geeky in the dream than in real life. In the dream he was a technician not a coder.
It was all too weird. I'll never figure it out. I'll be scarred for life. And I'm a Mac user. Why wasn't Steve Jobs the lead figure in my land of nod? Glory! This one goes in the Whaaaaa? file.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Oh Well...
I was just about to gin up a pre-weekend post about several cool things that I've had the folks at Amazon, Thinkgeek and Mariner software send me in exchange for my promise to part with engravings of past leaders of our fair nation. Then, just as I began, iTunes served up Steely Dan's "Only a Fool Would Say That."
Ulp. Right you are.
This is the sound of me shutting up. Have a good weekend good people. More blogging, including first looks at the Deck Farm™ and some errant picture posting will resume on Monday. Tenga un buen fin de semana.