Visualize Whirled Series
I said the Boston Guys With Clubs might take this series in four. Well, the Coloradio Harp Seal Pups (as I will forever call them now) tried to scratch back last night by closing to within a run but the Red Smacks showed them who's on first (and second, and third and then home) another four times and hammered out another big win. I think the Mile High Guys can win one but they've not shown the pitching chops to get it done. And Beckett is waiting to close this one out.
My sympathies go out to my Janqui-loving friends but I know Jake's probably pretty doggone happy right now.

The Fire This Time
My thanks to the Enigmatic Misanthrope for mentioning the new King of Peppers in his comment on my post below. It is the Bhut Jolokia which clocks in at a blistering 1 million Scoville Heat Units. That's hot baby. And, when the season comes around again, you can get the plants here. Am I going to grow them? Oh hail no. I'm concentrating on some fleshier, medium hot peppers next year and a handful of the wonderful Biker Billy jalapenos again.

Until Further Notice
The domicile which has been called "Chez BlogDog" will now go by the name "The Snack Shack." I am feeling the urge to experiment in the kitchen again and that's just downright dangerous.
Today, for example, I made "Schlong's Famous Canned Corn Casserole" with a couple of additions (about a strip and a half of bacon crumbled into the mix and two diced jalapeno peppers) and, as good as it was (and it was good), I want to change it. I'm thinking at least four peppers, a quarter teaspoon of baking powder to fluff it up and cottage cheese instead of the sour cream with maybe half the whole corn kernels.
Then there's gathering the ingredients for the perfect pear sorbet recipe and the first faltering attempts at nutmeg-persimmon sorbet. I'll let you know.
Oh, the other thing that's being flipped in my mind like Greg Louganis off a high board in a San Francisco bathhouse is an ice cream: custard-based persimmon ice cream with a swirl of reduced ruby port. It will either be magic or suck out loud. Actually, it would probably be better if I just made a port and persimmon custard and skipped the frozen bit. Anyone care to weigh in on these ideers?

Anybody Got A Cookie?
I'd really like a cookie right now. Something on the soft and chewy side. White chocloate and macadamia nut. That sounds about right.
Oreos, Milanos, oatmeal & raisin ... there are so many.
Tell me about the cookies that make you go all buttery like Elvis did for the ladies.

Da Wurld Series
I haven't paid too much attention to the beisoboru playoffs but I did watch the first game of the World Series with the Colorado Harp Seal Pups and the Boston Guys With Clubs. This could be over in four.

And One More For Good Measure
(hate)Fargin' weather this time. It's October - late October - and I put the AC on today because the temp still stays up in the low 70s (which by itself is not bad) but the humidity, due to the overcast-skies-but-not-sufficient-to-make-up-the-deficit rain, is lousy. Rain is fine if the cold weather comes behind it. It's just too damnably hot and muggy for late October.(/hate)
I promise I will not bitch about the cold weather when it comes. I promise.

30 More Seconds
(hate)Dear gahdam Blogger, when I check the box to "remember me on this computer" I actually MEAN IT! Don't make me log in every time I sign on to make a post when I have explicitly TOLD YOU not to make me do so. You are so pissing me off right now.(/hate)

30 Seconds Hate
Things are moving faster in this work-a-day world than George Orwell ever would have thought. We don't hate the time to spare for a 20 Minutes Hate. No, we are efficient. We have it down to a zippy 30 Seconds now.
(hate)And what do I Hate for 30 Seconds? The AT&T ads were people need to use their phones in several different places the names of which they concatenate at the end into "one" place. Best argument against the iPhone is that it bundles with AT&T. (/hate)
I'm freakin' hopeless. Even when I'm venting I use words like "concatenate." Sesquipedalian SOB.

Pugs Of War, Peabody Winner
I'm proud to announce that I am the recipient of a Peabody this year. Not the Peabody award for journalism, a Mr. Peabody award for pointless, home-based time travel. The actual award is a small, Bakelite statue of his boy Sherman.
The actual time travel resulted in a really quite amusing paradox but I have to do something now so I'll post more about it earlier.

Another Great Song And Video
Gary Jules cover of Tears For Fears "Mad World." It was used in the movie "Donnie Darko" which I Netflixed no too long ago. Wonderful movie. Jake Gyllenhaal can be forgiven much of his cinematic idiocy when allowance is made for "Donnie Darko." Yes, it's that good. Of course it also stars Mary McDonnell who is a continuing crush of mine. But that's neither here nor there. Here, is the song:

Simple Questions
Apart from certain requirements, such as a plain gold band when a man has been suitably altared, what constitutes acceptable jewelry for men?
Many years ago I said that if I ever found a man's opal ring, I would wear it. Well, I did and I did. I still have it. I have a ring that served as my engagement ring as well. These things sit in a box in my dresser along with such vanities as my high school ring.
I like watches. I think a chunky, high-quality expensive watch looks very masculine and when I wear other than my everyday Times Ironman watch, I wear a Breitling. If I were loaded to the point I could indulge myself, I'd have a Rolex and maybe another insanely high-end watch.
And I do wear a simple gold chain around my neck which has on it my parents' wedding bands. That, I never take off and never will. I think something as freighted with personal meaning is fair game for a man.
But, say, bracelets for men? Pinky rings? "Gold nugget" jewelry? Oh HAIL no. Just flat no.
So I repeat my question: what constitutes acceptable male jewelry for you?

There Are Blessings To Count
Brother Lycurgus was returning home after a stay on a beautiful Georgia sea island and, late at night on the Interstate, he was hit by an idiot who fell asleep at the wheel. His Outback is toast. But he and his passenger are both all right.
For this we give thanks. And we offer our hopes that the quest for a new car is not too onerous.

300
The cat remix (meow mix?) with maybe a couple of skwerls and the "dramatic hamster" too.

More Halloween
I again call your attention to the wonderful, wonderful RavensBlight. I particularly like the "Haunted Paper Toys" section. I'm in the process of making The Face Plate mask. Last year I made Bela the bat. Bela was a pain to make but instructive in the process of making paper toys. There is some wonderful free (well, paper & printer ink aside) spooky holiday stuff at this site. Especially if you've got kids - projects with which you can spend quality crafty time with the younguns.

Boo Again!
Spiderpug, spiderpug, does whatever a spiderpug does.

(It would seem that a spiderpug has at least ten legs though. How does that work?)

This Is How Self Absorption Works
I bought mushrooms at Costco today - chanterelles. I didn't know Costco did chanterelles. This is all about my not knowing. Good fungus. Tasty. Not cheap. But affordable at Costco.

Noob!
Congratulations to the Enigmatic Misanthrope and Missusanthrope as newly minted grandparents to a tiny little girl child. Yes, yes, the parents congratulations, blah, blah. But this bebe is the one the grandparents get to treat like ... well, like grandparents treat grandbebes.

Boo Too 2!
Poo or poo not. There is no 'try.'

Don't Ask
Don't tellovich.

Boo Too!
I find your lack of snacks ... disturbing.

On Sickness
Yesterday I posted about sick blogging. I asked questions. I asked the questions, really, because I don't think they have universal answers.
Sickness, illness, is intensely personal. Even in the instances where there is an epidemic or a pandemic or a family afflicted with something malign, the sickness is a sickness of one individual. Others can be of comfort. Others can sympathize. Others can, as I said, even have the same illness. But if you are sick, you don't usually much care what's happening to anyone else. A flu that makes both ends projectile active will put you off caring about much of anything else. Except death - there are times you'll really, really want that.
Of course, that are those who have acquired some affliction which comes to give a kind of definition to their lives. Lance Armstrong, for all his success in the saddle, has devoted himself to battling cancer. And that's a good thing. Worth blogging about even. And there are those who blog about health issues they pursue - losing weight for example (congrats to Brian Tiemann on his success, in fact). And that's well and good too. But such pursuits are not transient events. Sickness is.
So I am disinclined to post about illness, now that I have actively considered the idea of sick blogging. I posted the first post simply as a point of information. And, in point of information, I'm mostly over what I had. And thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for that. So, what say you, reader, about the idea of sickness blogging? Is it worth venting about how gawd-awful one feels? Is mankind benefited in any way when someone gives chapter and verse about the frailty of the house of the soul?

Sickness Blogging
Is it worth it? Is there any other form of blogging more self absorbed?

Just
So sick today.

Fun With Stocks
I was just reviewing some info and saw that I bought shares of Halliburton three years ago this month. I paid $34.88 per share. Today the price of a share is (right now) $39.61. Three years and a $5 increase in share price? Not too great a buy. Ha. Not so. The stock has split since I bought it. I have more than doubled my money on it. And my oil services play, bought at the same time, is trading at over triple the price at which I first bought it. I wish I'd had the confidence to buy more.
I am sorry that I bought Microsoft though. I thought the introduction of the Vista OS would pay big. Lesson for the future: never underestimate the capability of Microsoft to suck. But the intro of Halo 3 seems to be working for them these last few weeks. Give me two more points and I'll sell it off.

Stuff I Bought Today
The Paul Reed Smith Dragons CD "Jenna's Eyes"
A PRS 513 T shirt (had to bring the order up to the $25 level)
Tools to sculpt punkins.

See. I really am out of things to post about.

Boo!

Lite Postings
I'm taking the time off to enjoy my new haircut. There's plenty going on (going to try to make Mojito Sorbet today for example) but I'm not going on about it. So there.
My friend the Enigmatic Misanthrope sent me some pugs in costume pics and, since it's the Halloween month, I'll be posting them. Come back later for awwwww-some cuteness.

One Thing You Have To Say For China
You used to be asked "Regular or unleaded?" at the gas pump. Now it's at the toy store.

Paul Reed Smith Himself At Experience 2007
Thank goodness for others' initiative and uToob. I love this song and it gives me a chance to show PRSH playing one of his instruments. I hasten to point out that this performance was on Friday evening and so I didn't hear it live. But I sure wish I had. The song is "Jenna's Eyes."
In his talk on Saturday afternoon, he said that the guitar he played was made from a reject neck and a reject body. The wood PRS buys sometimes has wormholes and what he called "bird peck" which show as flaws and PRS doesn't sell guitars with flaws. So very often PRS makes guitars which are provided to PRS artists but which they wouldn't sell. Seems a little backward but it actually makes hella sense.

I Am So Remiss!
I've been reading, and commenting on the lovely and talented Rachel Lucas's site for a while now and I haven't added the Blue-Eyed Infidel to my blogroll! She was there before she took a break and she back in fine form - how can you not love dressing dogs as long as they are rewarded for their indignity by pieces of tasty pork? So she's there. And there she'll stay. Until I add a few more links and start categorizing the blogroll.
Because I'm sooooo good at organization.
Also, Curmudgeonly & Skeptical is back and has been for a while. Rodger didn't manage to stay away long thank Gawdness.

Last Footy Post Of The Year
Congratulations go to the Geelong Cats who laid waste to the Port Adelaide Power (who do wear cool looking guernseys) by a score of 163 (24, 19) to 44 (6.8). Yow. First Premiership for Geelong in 44 years and a record-breaking winning margin. Geelong has had a magical season. I thought Port Adelaide would be serious competition as they took their previous match against the Kangaroos by a score of 133 to 46. Collingwood gave Geelong a real fight compared to the Power. I hope I get to watch the grand final. That must have been a helluva game.

Guitar Madness
My friend the Guitar Nazi and I went over to the Eastern Shore of Mryland yesterday to join in the "Experience PRS" fest at the Paul Reed Smith factory. We arrived too late to sign on for any of the factory tours but we got a sweet swag bag (high quality cotton tee and a hat) and heard some kick-ass music from Johnny Hiland, Gary Grainger, Dave Grissom and Mark Tremonti. Great artists who couldn't have been nicer to the fans.
And I managed to get a laugh out of the crowd at one of Paul Reed Smith's (often shortened to PRSH for "Paul Reed Smith Himself") talks. He was telling jokes toward the end of speaking and asked "Why do drummers leave their sticks on their dashboards? ... So they can park in handicapped spot." I said, "I resent that!" PRSH Said, "Are you a drummer?" And I said, "No, I'm handicapped!" There was much laughter.
And, quite frankly, I don't get the drummer joke to begin with.

Dateline: Cripple Creek, CO
Headline: Portly burros put on diet
Subhed: Veterinarian cracks down on Gold Rush icons
Nut graf: "In an ironic twist of fate, this city's historic herd of wild burros, the only live reminders of the Gold Rush that swept the Rocky Mountains a century and a half ago, have been rounded up and quarantined because of the onset of ... obesity."

Feel free to read the whole story, though I don't know how long the link will last. Why is this post-worthy? Because of exercise. As we all know, exercise is good for the overweight. So, given all the facts above, this is the one instance when you can turn to a teamster and say, "Move your fat ass!" And it's just good advice.

Since I'm Running Dry
I have nothing of interest to post. So I will resort to linkage. Go see Dark Roasted Blend. Lotsa, lotsa links to viddys, pics and all kinds of cool stuff. Go see the Icelandic Northern Lights photos. Oooooh! Ahhhhh!
I may have to add DRB to the blogroll.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!
Yesterday afternoon I was cleaning my kitchen, which has a view of my li'l townhouse driveway. I had neglected to go out and get the noisepaper which was lying in its orange baggie down at the end of said driveway. That being as it was, I look out to see the school children walking up the road from the bus stop down the way. And one of the girls stops, looks at my newspaper, picks it up, dumps it out of the bag, leaves the bag and starts to walk away with it. Excuse me? You're stealing my newspaper. So I open the window and say "Please don't steal my newspaper. I paid for it. Just leave it." And she drops it in situ.
But holy hell. Bloody little thief. I'll know better from now on.

I Don't Usually Do Gibsons
I leave that to Billy Beck. And, in point of fact, the link I'm putting up to this 2007 Firebird V is stolen (unnnhhhh borrowed I mean) directly from him. I'm not a particular fan of the Firebird series as it tends to lack style. Not this one though. Real beauty - flame maple wings on a mahogany body. So far, reasonably priced as well. It's no PRS, but you could do worse with a 'lectrified git-box than this one.

Recent Netflixing
I rented "Black Snake Moan" the other day. I can't say that anyone should waste money on this poor movie. It does feature the surprisingly luscious Christina Ricci and her amazing boobs. If they were more prominently featured it might actually be worth renting. But ... no. Actually, it's not bad per se, just not actively good. The same guy who wrote "Hustle & Flow" (which I haven't seen and won't be seeing - ever) wrote this one and it just drips with pretension. I will say one other thing for the movie though. Skinny whigger Justin Timberlake is a decent actor. I could buy him in the role he was playing. Which surprised me. I'm going to have to accept the fact that he'll keep getting acting work because of his musical "career" and he'll end being a good actor. He should be thinking God every day for the on-the-job training that Hollywood gives almost no one.

I Don't Dream Much
However, last night I had horrible nightmares. Nothing resolved, of course, but in my capsule hell of an overnight, Islamofascists detonated nukes in most of the West's major cities - Washington, London, Madrid, Paris, Buenos Aries (How did I know that? It was part of a news report.), Tokyo, Singapore, Los Angeles, Chicago and one in the Panama Canal for good measure. In my dream, the nuke destined for Jerusalem was found by the Mossad and delivered to Damascus in time for its detonation. It was the only success of defenders of civilization in the whole damned thing.
I'm willing to give up pleasant dreams if I don't have to live through the kind I had last night.

I Have The Book Title
Now, I just have to write a book about computer humor. It will be called "Quotations from Chairman LMAO."

LOLbugs #2
Not the best caption. You make one. In comments plz!

LOLbugs #1

Alternate captions: "Mr. Miyagi, I'm ready for my closeup."
"My name might by Kwai Chang Caine but do NOT call me 'grasshopper!'"
Please feel free to add more in comments.

Bugger!
The Collingwood Magpies dropped the preliminary final match to the Geelong Cats 87 (13.9) to 92 (13.14). That scores refer to goals (six points) and "behinds" (one point). It was, on the whole an up year for the Pies though. Finishing in a tie for fifth place in the regualr season with 52 points (although nominally behind Hawthorn), Collingwood put together a rousing post season to come within five points of regular season champion Geelong which finished well clear of the pack with 72 points.
And the detested Brisbane Lions finished in 10th place, out of the post-season play. Tahellwidcha!

PoW PSA: Help Homeless Animals

The Animal Rescue League of NH is holding their 4th Annual PetStep fundraising walk on September 22nd. The League is a no-kill shelter that is dedicated to saving the lives of pets and improving the lives of people. In addition to rescuing and re-homing 1,600 animals a year, the League intervenes in cases of animal cruelty and neglect, actively promotes spay/neuter, and provides free Humane Eduction to over 6,000 children a year.

One of the most recent cases handled by the League is Moxie. When Moxie got pregnant, her owner dumped her in a culvert where she was later found - starving - trying to protect her nine brand new puppies. These perfectly healthy and beautiful pups were taken to a shelter in their native Mississippi where they likely would have been euthanized due to overcrowding. The League's transport effort arranged for Moxie and the puppies to travel to New Hampshire, which has a low dog population. In NH they were all vaccinated, spayed, and neutered, one little pup with a bad knee got orthopedic treatment, and they will now all go to loving homes and have very happy endings.

To help save Moxie and hundreds of animals like her, please consider making a donation to the League's PetStep through their website at www.rescueleague.org. Please designate your donation as "PetStep - Moxie."
(Editor's note: This post will be bumped to the top of the page until Sept. 22.)

What I Made Today
A Maple-Pecan Upside Down Cake which recipe I got from Relish magazine. Or "magazine." It's one of those weekly newsprint insert thingies that comes with my noisepaper. I would provide a link to the instructions but it seems the site has hidden it by now. God thing I printed it out while it was "fresh." And how was it you ask? Well, it could have been better. I find that I use flour so infrequently that what I had in the pantry has lost its freshness. So now I have to dump the old stuff, buy new and try it again. And I used pecan halves. They are a bit unwieldy. I'd use no more than nut quarters in the future.
When I make it right, I'll post the recipe. If anyone wants it.

LOLcats Doesn't Always Get It Right
I saw the picture to the right posted with the caption I put a line through. My caption is better. More topical. Brilliant!

Why Support Animal Rescue?
Billy Beck points to the story of Roger van Bakel whose application for adoption of Baxter, a Saint Bernard, was turned down. RTWT but the nub of the gist is that despite a history of dog rescue care, van Bakel's family was not allowed to care for Baxter because there were children under the age of 12 in the household. And they couldn't guarantee the background of the dog. So Baxter was euthanized. I'm going to guess that liability concerns were the driving factor in this. This makes me very sad.
Please note that the Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire (below) is a no-kill shelter. That is the kind of animal rescue I do support.

Songs Of PRaiSe
Here's a Brazilian rosewood-necked 513 on eBay. The BIN price is basically the retail price of one when the Brazzy was the only model offered. Actually, with the artist pack upgrades, the price is even better. This beauty is in Mateo Blue which would make it, essentially the twin of mine. If you want a really, I mean really sweet guitar, here it is. Oh, and if you watched "American Idol," you saw this same guitar being played by the band's lead guitarist.

Maple Bacon Morning Coffee
In a word: Meh. In many more words: There is definitely a flavor of maple but it is subtle. I really get no bacon out of it at all, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It's OK but not any more than that. The blueberry was vastly better. Clear evidence that Boca Java doesn't hit every one out of the park. Than again, El Rushbo says the Maple Bacon Morning is his favorite so kissed the cow, YMMV, non disputandum, etc. etc.

Whadda Ya Think?
Tomorrow brings another trip to Costco and I do believe I'm going to bring home a watermelon for another sorbet experiment. I'm thinking green apple vodka in a watermelon base with just a hint of balsamic vinegar for spice. Any one care to argue me out of it? Or suggest another direction for the 'bet?

Todaze Photoshop Phun
According to the article "The Hillarycare Mythology" at the lefty waste of paper "The American Prospect" (no links because they are not going to get anything from me but derision), It was Billy, not Hilly who was behind the attempted socialization of of American medicine back in the 80s. I should say attempted National Socialization of American medicine just to get the true flavor of Hillary's Nazi inclinations but I'm just waaayyy too subtle to do that!
Instead, I take the OJ book and make a few modifications. As always, click image for a larger version:

Enjoyable Reading
I've been spending some time with The Angry Pharmacist lately. Angry? Yes. Amusing? Definitely. He makes me think this is how my friend the Enigmatic Misanthrope would be had he a PharmD and a blog. Higher praise I can not bestow.

Git You Some Chikin!
Fo free! The nice Christian folks at Chick-fil-a are offering up a whole raft of free sammiches and Co'cola sody pop - one at a time of course (don't be greedy!) - if you go to Free Chicken and Coke . com and register. It remains to be seen what they want to do with your info but I'll give up the contact info for a meal. I'm easy that way.

Wherein I Stretch For A Result
Canadian doughnut shop Tim Horton's recently set up a franchise in the US. One of the women hired to serve was, unbeknownst to the parent company, also a prostitute. When the police finally busted her, the headline in the local paper was "Horton Hires a Ho."

Hey. I didn't promise good. Just a result.

Apple's New iPod Nano Ad
I'm going to assume that you must have seen the new ad for Apple's new video iPod Nano. If not, you can follow the link. I won't get into the device itself save to say that it's another remarkable product - to get a tiny, tiny screen of dense resolution is something although it's squatty looks don't exactly goose up the geek lust. At this point, it's the ad I'm interested in. The video of the song playing is Feist's "1 2 3 4" which is on uToob so ...


I like it. It's wonderfully alive with the colorfully clad cast and the song is just enough of an ear worm that it makes a great choice for an ad. Apple's media people are no dummies (says the guy who was turned on to The Fratellis when Apple used "Flathead" in an iPod ad). The lyrics are not exactly overwhelming but that's not a big deal really. Feist has one of those voices that's not classical but has real character. She is interesting to listen to even if the words are not exactly "An die Fruede." And the choral swelling of the "Oh-oh-oh" works just perfectly right. Excellent songwriting.
As the blog has amply demonstrated over time with my fealty to Emm Gryner, I like whiny Canadian chick singer-songwriters. I think it started with Joni Mitchell. And Feist is right there. I wish her great success even though I'm not in any hurry to buy her disc.
What struck me, finally, after actually watching the video is how well Apple chose not just the song but the viddy as well. The appearing of the subsequent Nanos under the first picks up the way the music video has a raft of people appear from behind Feist. Watch the viddy and watch the ad. It's evident. Took me a while to recognize it though.

Today's Photoshop Phun
Original tag line: "Jack Burton's in for some serious trouble and / you're in for some serious fun."

More On The Coffee Front
I just tried the Boca Java blueberry coffee, Two words: Yuh umh! I've been a fan of Gevalia's blueberry coffee for a while - to the extent of buying into their "seasonal flavors" club. I can bomb out of that one now. Boca Java makes theirs available year-round and it's as much blueberry as I want. Winner.
I also have a bag of the "Maple Bacon Morning" which sounds t weird enough to be either really good, or gawdawful. The former I hope. I really, really hope.

9/11
I am not one to post an extended look back, the blogosphere is full of them and more talented writers than I have made the points that still need to be made even after the passage of six years. I just want to say that after six years the depth of the tragedy continues to unfold. It is a fractal fracture in the world. No matter how far down you drill, nor from how high up you observe it, the world was given notice that day that Islamofascism would not be satisfied short of putting the entire world under its control.
The fight against it will see me out of this life I am sure, just as the fight against communism saw so many out of their lives. I hope we prevail but I am not confident of that when I see the Democrats treat their political opposition as a greater threat than the imams.

Working The TV
Since NBC is seeing fit to resurrect the Bionic Woman (not the original Bionic Woman - she's sleeping on Sleep Number beds now and still lookin' fine ... is it the bionics?), maybe the Food Channel or the folks who do Iron Chef could gin up a show about a woman whose vegetarian diet gives her super powers. The Macrobiotic Woman. We have the technology!

Good Beer. Lousy Ad.
Heineken is advertising its 5-liter "draft keg" with a techno-pop robot dance ad on TV. It's here on uToob. I won't embed it because it is a crappy, lousy bad ad. The girl who is roboted up may well be very cute in real life. But she looks like hell in the ad. Very Maria if you remember your "Metropolis." But she's not the worst of it. The problem is the music. Who did they get to write that crap? I'm figuring that it was Ross Geller on his synthesizer in Central Perk.
Or maybe Prof Plum in the conservatory with a lead pipe.

A Shout Out
I want to give a friend of mine (you know who you are!) huge kudos for her weight loss. She has always been a beautiful brunette but now she could easily pass as Marisa Tomei's sister. Hubba hubba! Too bad she's already married. Enh, what the heck, she deserves all the credit in the world for overcoming what I've always struggled with. I hope you lose all that you want to lose and are ever comfortable with it.

Hsu Fly Pie
OK, so I don't know how to make that verbiage work in real life. And "if the Hsu flits" has already been used at least twice. But I am left to wonder at the reports that "fugitive donor" Hsu took ill on an Amtrak train in Colorado. Where can you find Polonium 210 in Chappaqua, New York?

Whoopi On Dogfighting
She says, "Who do I get to fight? Behar? That works."

New Appley Goodness
I am working up a post on the newly introduced revamped iPod lineup but Brian Tiemann has a pretty good look at them already up. Well worth a read. When I come up with something that's not slavering fan-boyism or rehash of others' takes, I will post. For the nonce, let me just say that Apple has done it again. I have more iPods than I have ears and I still want one of the new iPod Touch models. Sex-ay!
Also, with the price drop on iPhones and Steve Jobs' decision (I say Jobs because it strikes me as just the kind of thing he would champion even if it were a corporate decision) to give $100 rebates to those who paid the "early adopter tax" on the initial release, I say "Bravo Apple!" They absolutely didn't have to do this and yet they did. Can you say "brand loyalty?" Sure, I knew you could. Microsoft might think about giving Vista beta testers, unh, I mean "purchasers" a rebate. Ha ha ha ha ha! I like jokes.
UPDATE: My apologies. I called what Apple is doing a "rebate." It's not. It's a $100 credit for Apple products. Not as universally good as cash money but considering it didn't have to be done at all, pretty darn good.

Wow. Just Wow.

Dem Damaders
I had a Big Rainbow with my breakfast this morning. It was meaty, sweet and just downright amazing. I think that my selection of plants for next year's Deck Farm™ will be Supersteak and Big Rainbow. The Black Krim set not a single bud and the Brandywine is not to my taste. Got to plan these things doncha know....

There Is Snark To Be Found Everywhere
Conservababe Laura Ingraham is going to be signing her new book Power to the People at a Northern Virginia Costco on September 16. That's fine but since it is Costco, she's going to have to sign each book at least four times.

Popcorn. It's What's For DEAAAATTHHH!
It is now being reported that

Consumers, not just factory workers, may be in danger from fumes from buttery flavoring in microwave popcorn, according to a warning letter to federal regulators from a doctor at a leading lung research hospital.

What a load of codswallop. I have no doubt that any particulate, including buttery flavoring (and please remember that any product that uses an adjectival "y" construction is not to be trusted) can have deleterious effects. And workers who are prone to breathe in clouds of the stuff should wear respirators or masks at the very least. But all the foofaraw about consumers being in danger is the load of codswallop I mentioned earlier. If you're not huffing microwave popcorn (see the story at the "reported link above), you are in no danger. But "no danger" is not the way the press works. I support microwave popcorn for its convenience and flavor. Orville makes a kettle corn that is worth the three minute wait.
I remain, however, an ardent proponent of the Whirley Pop Stovetop Popcorn Popper. It uses less oil that a traditional popper and it pops ... every ... freakin ... kernel! And when I say "less oil," I mean one teaspoon. OK, so I tend to use a little more than that but the use of less oil allows you to use more real butter for the actual, proper flavor of popcorn. Oh man. I'm making myself start a hard jones for the stuff now. Gimme a big jar of Orville's and I'll roll fifty deep.
Just for fits and grins, here's a recipe for kettle corn.

Oh Bugger!
Rodger Schlong is shutting down Curmudgeonly & Skeptical! Just damn. A source of innocent merriment is being removed from my bloglife. The world is poorer for the loss. But he will stay on my blogroll forever.

Fargin Dumplings Again
For dinner and just so damn good. I am delighted with the addition of bok choy to the mix but will be, I'm sure, happier still with kim chee in its place. This calls for a trip to the local oriental supermarket. And the Safeway for another pack of ground pork. And more ginger root and ... and ... and etc etc etc. It never stops.

Obligatory Larry Craig Snark
I don't know if Sen. Craig is a basketball player but if he is, he probably concentrates on defense. Specifically the slow-down game or, as he might call it, stall ball.

Foodblogging For Over The Holiday
I've spent much of the Labor Day weekend heading up to Murrlyn to visit with friends who live near the battlefield and on Antietam Creek. Friday night I brought up a freshly made batch of ginger peach sorbet - having bought most of the peaches I used that same day from the Moutoux Orchard stand. I say, with all modesty, that it was very well received. I think I have the formula now: make a ginger simple syrup and use 1/3 cup of vodka (in this case vodka into which I put the ginger slices which I used to make the simple syrup) and a blender full of peach slices.
Saturday night I brought Chinese dumplings for starters. Actually I brought up dumpling wrappers and the filler mix which we bundled up and steamed on site. I put blanched bok choy in these and it was good but not great, kinda bland. So my next experiment is to use kim chee in place of the bok choy. Already a bit macerated by the action of the spices (as my late father said, and this is a direct quote, "That stuff ripens like an old boar.") so no need for blanching and more spice. I like spice. when I make it, I'll post about it.

Never Have Been
I've never been "all punked up on Jupiter oil" nor have I ever "roll(ed) fifty deep." But right now I'm thinking I'd like to try it. At the very least I'm adding these phrases to my daily speech. Chris Onstad is a freakin' genius.

Change of Pace
Not foodblogging this time. Though that'll probably change by the next post. No, this is another picture post. Lycurgus sent me a pic of storms brewing over lovely Englewood, Fla and the wonderfully ominous vibe was such that I wanted to share it here on PoW. Note the way the grey clouds flow in an echo of the similarly steely water and the boat provides a punch of highlight in an otherwise low-contrast scene. Nicely done:

You Want You Some Cheap Threads?
Thinkgeek is having a grab bag sale of T shirts. The price for new tees runs from $2 to $7. Can't beat that with a cricket bat. Of course there's no guarantee about design or color but really, can you complain when you're getting a fresh pec topper at about the cost of the raw fabric?

Ginger, It's Always Ginger
More sorbetblogging. I do believe that I mentioned that i used the last of my ginger vodka in a previous post. So I was nonplussed. What was I to do with the latest round of peach buys? The answer to that was peel 'em, cut 'em up and freeze 'em so I didn't have to deal with it right away. In any event, the nice chunk of fresh ginger I had sitting in the fridge was starting to shrivel on the long end and I wanted to do something different.
A new process was begun: I grabbed a spoon to peel the ginger, sliced it up as thin as I could manage and then boiled it up in the simple syrup (2 cups sugar, one cup water, juice of two lemons). Mmmm! My house smecks of ginger. Tasty. Let the syrup cool a bit, pulled out all the ginger slices (which are now on a cookie sheet drying in the kitchen - I think I'll use them in teas come winter time) and made a new batch of the good stuff. One cup of ginger infused syrup, a blender full of peach slices (still fairly frozen) and 1/3 cup of plain vodka. Liquefy. Pour into ice cream maker. Done and done. A delightful pink color as well - it was a mix of white and yellow peaches that I used. My sampling indicates that this is just as good a way to make a ginger peach sorbet as using the ginger vodka. Now I'm going to have to start hitting up Costco for peaches since the local season is ending.
I want a freezer full of this stuff!

OK, This Is Just Weird
I ate a tomato this afternoon. A Big Rainbow. Though mine was not nearly that size and fully red, not yellow. I wanted it to be yellow but that's not the strange part. The strange part is that I ate the thing. Sliced it up, salted it, peppered it, took knife and fork in hand and ate a tomato. And it was good. I doubt that I'm ever going to be as enamored of tomatoes as others are but I don't hate them any more. In fact, I liked it. It was very sweet. I am going to pay more attention to tomatoes in the Deck Farm™ next year.
I think the plants got hammered by some fungus or something this year. I say this because the foliage died back for a while but new growth is coming along that is not dying back. Heat may also have been a factor. Next year I'm growing tomatoes upside down in 5-gallon hanging buckets. That should be good for a post or two.
The peppers are doing fine. I had a poblano with my eggs this morning. Tasty. I must pick the hot lemon peppers this evening. In fact, I'll go do that now.

My Neighborhood Should Be Getting Ready For A Huge Poop
The Verizon subcontractors are out stuffing so much fiber into my neighborhood that it should soon produce something "gigantic" and "with no more odor than a hot biscuit." A bowl of Colon Blow for Sterling, Va!
Of course this means that the workers are tearing up my neighbor's lawns and using some infernally racketacious masheen to thump down all the up dug soil and the relayment of sod. It sounds like a small helicopter running in the out of doors. At least this is being done in hot weather while all the windows are shut against the heat. Small consolation.

This Is Kinda Cool
Blogger is now offering a movie link allowing us blogspotted users to upload viddys. Not that I have any I can upload ... but it saves the hassle of joining uToob.

In Other News
It looks like the justice system has made Michael Vick its bitch.

Use The Word "Metaphor" In A Sentence
It's taken astronomers to find my social life.

(To explain the post title, and I acknowledge beforehand that this joke only works when spoken but what the hey:
The teachers asks Johnny, "Please use 'metaphor' in a sentence."
Johnny replies, "I went out looking for a 'ten' but I only met a four.")

Drinking Desert
Now I want to make a mojito sorbet. You can use Google as well as I can. I'm going to have to get myself a big ol' pile of mint so I can work this into my own taste buds. Mojito sorbet. I like those odds.

Get Yo Mac On
I haven't made any mention of Apple's latest iteration of the iMac though now that the teevee masheen is pimping them I suppose some comment is in order. It's a really nice piece of tech. If I were swimming through money on my way to breakfast at McDonalds I'd be picking up one of these aluminum skinned beauties even now. I would go for the large 24" screen to increase desktop real estate and get a built-in iSight camera (which I don't now have) and all the juicy benefits of the Core 2 Duo Intel chip. But I'm only swimming in muggy summer air on my way to Mcmuffin heaven. So no new iMac.
Still and all, congrats go out to Lycurgus who recently acquired a new MacBook Pro. To jump from a G3 chip laptop to a slick metal Intel-chipped beauty is quite the change. Maybe the uToob viddies won't play back like a kinescope, eh?

I Don't Care Where You're From
The use of double "o" words is just plain funny. Here is a prime example. It uses two of the select list a past friend of mine once worked up of the "Double O Seven." Seven words using the "oo" that were important or could be made to sound just silly.

The Continuing Pursuit Of Ginger Peach Sorbet
In my freezer right now is another batch of yellow peach sorbet made from Loring peaches. Despite saying that I had settled on 6 tablespoons of ginger vodka as the proper amount, I used 7 this time around. Why? Because I only had 7 Tbsp left! And I think the texture of the 'bet is actually a wee bit better. Softer.
Not only that, if you make the sorbet with this much vodka, you don't really need an ice cream maker to make it. It's so insanely simple. Buy about four pounds of peaches (I buy more because I buy "seconds" which require more processing and cutting out of bad spots but sell for much less), peel and de-stone them (let me repeat: Every one must get de-stoned!). Make a simple syrup of 1 cup of sugar and one half cup of water. Juice one lemon. Heat the sugar mix and lemon juice until all the granules are melted. I let it get to the point of some bubbling at the bottom of the mix just to be sure.
Put the peach pieces into a blender (fill it up) and start liquefying the pieces. Pour the syrup into the blender slowly (because I do it while the syrup is hot) and just beat the hell out of the contents. The level of blended product will sink as the liquid takes less space than the peach pieces. Add the vodka, keep putting in more peach pieces until the blender is full of the liquefied mixture.
Then pour into what ever container you'd like to keep it in. About every 15 minutes for the next couple of hours, stir the mix around. And you're done.

Next for the test kitchen is white peach ("Lady Nancy") sorbet but I have to make more ginger vodka. And here's how to do that (from "Forbes FYI" magazine):

Ingredients:
1 two-inch chunk of raw ginger
1 bottle of vodka

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2) Wrap ginger chunk in aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes.
3) Peel heated ginger and slice into small strips.
4) Pour one shot out of the bottle and down the hatch, or set aside.
5) Push ginger strips through the bottleneck.
6) Place bottle on its side in the freezer and let sit for one week.

Knock yourself out.
UPDATE: I thought "7 Tbsp." to be an unwieldy measure. So with a bit of a test I can say that 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp is the equivalent.

A Summer Thing
In a desperate bid to get a submission in under the wire for the Carnival of the Recipes, I hereby offer my family recipe for a traditional Japanese dish that we call Summer Noodles. Summer noodles because they are served cold in the hot weather.
I'll start with the noodles themselves. The type of noodles we have always used is sold under the Japanese name of "Chuka Soba." I don't know what the Chinese name is. But the type is a sort of woven block much like the noodles in the el-cheapo ramen packages. But are decidedly not ramen noodles. I've seen woven blocks of noodles in my local supermarket that are sold as "Chinese noodles." (Oh! The genericity of it all!) I think they'll work as well.
Instructions? Boil for 2 minutes, separate with chopsticks, boil for 3 more minutes wash in cold water, drain, toss with a small amount oil (sesame is a good choice) to keep the noodles from sticking together.

So let's make the sauce:
2 C water
1 C soy sauce
1/3 C sugar (or 1/2 C honey)
1/2 C rice wine vinegar
1 Tb brown sesame oil
2 ts dry mustard (wet w/ water before adding)
1 Tb fresh grated ginger

Yep. That's a lot of sauce. You're going to need it once people start slurping up the noodles. Wear a shirt or blouse you don't mind getting speckled with dots of sauce. Or eat carefully. Either works.

But noodles are not just noodles. There's other fun stuff in the mix.
Side Dishes:
Ham - very thinly sliced and then cut into strips (maybe 1/2 inch wide)
Boiled cabbage - lightly boiled (blanched) & chilled before serving
Cucumber - peeled and sliced to a manageable size
Red Shredded Ginger ("beni shoga")
Tomato - cut to a size similar to the cucumber
Egg - mix well with a bit of water (using the blender is a good idea)
pour very thinly on a greased griddle - no need to turn
slice thinly - about the same size as the ham

Though calling these "side dishes" is a bit of a misnomer. All of these things go into the bowl with the noodles and a serious splash of the sauce. It slurpin' time!

Just as an aside, the egg mixture can be used to make tamago sushi (as long as you have the vinegared rice of course). Add some sugar to the egg mixture, pour out the mix a bit thicker (than the summer noodles recipe calls for) in a wide griddle so that it will cook through without browning. Fold up the egg like a Swiss roll and slice into the chunks that sit atop the sushi rice. You can strap it down with a little belt of nori seaweed if you want it to pass the NHTSA (National Highway Tasty Sushi Administration) crash test.

楽しみなさい!

Wherein I Go Too Far Analyzing Sloganeering
To wit: The Army's ad campaign.

There's strong:


Then there's Army strong:

And then there's Lance Armstrong:

I Believe In Energy Independence
Which has nothing to do with the fact that I'm in favor of drilling in Anwar. Not the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "Burn Notice" babe Gabrielle Anwar.
That's just rude. I apologize.

Bleg
Would someone please write a script treatment for a "Tomb Raider" movie where Lara Croft solves world hunger and poverty by adopting all the poor and hungry children in the entire world?

My Design
I'm a little late but here's my preliminary design for a building to replace the World Trade Center towers. Let the bastards figure out how to fly a plane into this!

Cue The Lizard King
This is the end. Beautiful friend. My only friend, the end. Etc, etc, etc ad nauseam. The end of another season of "Hell's Kitchen" and, I'm happy to say for my future time use, the need of my watching "Hell's Kitchen." The winning contestant (who is from the DC area, congrats to him) was telegraphed in the week the show began when Bodog (no links as I'm opposed to gambling, generally speaking) put up a betting board on the contestants. They then saw that a hah-youge flood of money was going on one contestant from Fox IP addresses. Bodog shut down the betting shortly thereafter. But the damage was done - I've known who was going to win since week, what, two?
Yet I still watched. It's what happens when you get a habit of eye. I've already bitched about HK earlier and I'm not going to repeat myself. This year's contest has done for me what season four or five of "Survivor" did: made it unnecessary to watch the show ever again. Even Bravo's "Top Chef" with its chintzy prize and increasingly annoying Padma Lakshimi is better than HK. Which leaves me sad because I still like Gordon Ramsay a lot. I look forward to the American version of his "Kitchen Nightmares" that Fox is producing. I hope they don't screw the pooch as thoroughly as they did when they aborted Dame Edna onto American screens. Man, I should be a top chef! Look at how completely I mixed those metaphors!
There is only one really good thing to take away from the end of "Hell's Kitchen." Well two things: First, it's over. Secondly, that butt-annoying Barbie doll "nanny" didn't win. And finally, I'd like to point out one tiny, tiny little thing that's stuck in my mind from season one, the kind of thing that makes me love Gordon just a little bit more. In one of the early episodes, as the kitchen was in the process of not producing food for the waiting diners, two stereotypical LA-type women come to the pass and start to question Gordo about the lack of food. He then says to Jean Phillipe, "Escort these women back to plastic surgery." Oh yes. The mot juste.

A Few Late Thoughts For A Friday Evening
I had a phone call from the Enigmatic Misanthrope who was more misanthropic than enigmatic. We took a shared experience which I ratcheted up a few notches to make a truly horrific joke which may well be told only in dive bars on Grand Cayman. I don't mean bars that are dives - I mean bars where divers are to be found.
I finally got the hummingbird feeder up. That took way too long. Now I have to keep an eye peeled for the little goobers. Since I figure the local formicidae will be quicker off the mark, I put an ant guard in place. Ha.
And I shared a few peppers with the good neighbors next door - a poblano, three jalapenos and three lemon peppers. They made corn bread and put one of the jalapenos into the mix. They gave me a hunk ... Oh bloody yum! I'm growing Biker Billy jalapenos which, as you've already seen are twice the size of regulation peppers and now I learn they're twice as hot too. Woo hoo! I'm going to devote an entire Earthbox to these next year. Only one pepper was put into the entire cornbread and it baked up suffused with a wonderful heat. Not even heat really, just the flavor of the heat - a party amongst the tastebuds with no angry, drunken guests to deal with. I'm going to have to get that recipe.
Tomorrow it's off to get more peaches and another stab at sorbet. Last week was yellow peach ("John Boy" sorbet with 5 Tbsp of ginger vodka. The yellow peach is flavorful enough to subdue the taste of ginger but the vodka really helped the texture. I'll try 6 Tbsp if I make the sorbet with yellow peaches again. 5 if white.

Deck Farm™ News
Peppers. In a word: peppers. The tomatoes are not doing well this year. The plants are dying back after not exactly overwhelming me with fruit though I expect to harvest more than I need. Because I don't need much when it comes to tomatoes. I did, however, eat my first mader this morning. A Supersteak which I sauteed and mixed into my morning eggs. Delicious actually. And this from one who doesn't care so much for tomatoes. It has a nice firm flesh without a lot of tomato guts - which I prefer. It's sweet and, well, I'm going to try this one again next year with more attention to details.
I also cut up a poblano pepper which is a pretty pepper (as you'll see in the picture) but not exactly the biggest flame in the fireplace. The pic shows 5 of my poblanos and one of my "Biker Billy" jalapenos. That would be a 3-inch long jalapeno pepper. Dang. That's one big pepper! I haven't gotten into it yet but looka that thang! Next year there will be many, many peppers and a return to non-hot, regular green bell peppers. They seem to do just spectacularly well on the Deck Farm™. Pictures of the DF itself shortly.
The pic was overly keystoned when I took it so I did a little digital manipulation to produce the image below but the scale is accurate. The peppers are sitting on a regulation 8.5x11 sheet of paper. For scale. Along with the ruler.

One Of Those Vagrant Thoughts
I imagined the following press release: The Discovery Channel announced today that it was searching for six more hours of programming per week when the FCC ruled that Mike Rowe could no longer use the word "poo."

Light Blogging This Week
I'm dealing with a pinched nerve in my right wrist - it acts up every now and then. But typing is not altogether pleasant. It'll pop back into place in another day or so and then I'll catch up on things like movies and drumming.
Yes, I said drumming.

Emm-bedded Video
Enjoy:

I Get Visits
The Philly Boys, who will not much longer be the Philly Boys but will always be the Philly Boys in so many ways are in my town for a while. Woo hoo! Blogging will resume later. Go now and enjoy your life.

I've Said This Before
And I'll say it again: Go read Joe Sherlock today. Cogent analysis of Ford's dwindling stature, great snark on the Monica of Clinton and BMWs (heh! you got me with those Joe!), perfect retrospect on white zinfandel (ptui!) and blush wines and a great quote o' the day.
I'd like to meet him one day but I'm already so impressed with his experience, humor and sagacity that I'd probably clam up and be thought less the fool than I am. Anyway, if he ever needs a ride from Dulles Airport, I'd be honored to run the Outback for him.

Celtic Music
These folks are going to be in my neck of the woods (I should learn how to say that in Gaelic) this month. I listened to all the samples on the page linked. I rather like it. Should I go see them play live? What say you?

Anyone? Bueller?
Anyone tried this new Miller "Chill" beer? Beer with a "hint of lime and salt." Given the beastly hot, ugly nasty weather around here this week, it sounds very intriguing about now.
I can verify that the Heinken mini-kegs are a great way to grab a cool, fresh one. Maybe some beer-blogging is in order....

What A Blah Day
It's hot here in NoVa. Ugly hot. Stay inside hot. I was going to make a Costco run and do a bit of work on the deck. Fuggedaboudit. So I'm doing indoor things. Like ordering gamma seals from the good folks at the Sportsman's Guide. To save you a click and load, gamma seals are screw-on tops for 5-gallon buckets. It's actually a snap on ring that the top per se screws into. They're great. They make empty buckets water tight and perfect storage containers. I plan on using a couple of the buckets for water transport to the next Atlantic Cycling ride which has a very water-intensive rest stop. Every year I've worked the stop we've more than run through all the water we have in plastic bladders. We have been allowed to use a hose from a house beside our stop but last year the water was rusty and awful. This year I plan to bring a couple of 5-gallon buckets of nice, potable water and a whole pile of gallon jugs of the same. Not to mention 5 iced-down watermelons and probably a couple of additional bags of ice as well. It's a hot ride.
That being as it may, the gamma seals are a good thing. I just thought I'd mention that. Sei gesund.