I Like It!

This Month's Blog Donation
Michael Yon. Support citizen journalism. Especially when it's done with courage and steel. Not to mention better reporting than in any mainstream media outlet.
In other news: I am so wanting a slice of meatloaf for lunch today. Don't know why it's meatloaf but I can actually taste it as I sit here and type this. I may hold that off for dinner.

Despite My Earlier Post...
I found out my new Toyota was equipped with built-in GPS. Unfortunately GPS stands for "Goes Past Stoplights."

More On The Whole Rectilinear Fish Thing
Sort of a side note, really. I was driving thru the drive thru (it works like that) at my local Burger King (I like their overly sweet iced "Mocha Joe," sue me) and saw that there is a new fishy offering in their "Big fish" sandwich option - Cilantro Lime sauced fish. I may have to try it as I am nuts for cilantro but I don't trust the King to make a cilantro sauce that's not cilantro inclined tartar sauce. To expect more is to court, marry and set up a household with disappointment.
But in the spirit of hopey changey, I'll try it if I'm at a loss for a meal one of these days.

Today's Moment Of WTF
Two posts about rectilinear fish products? What is on my mind?
For that matter, I'm getting together with a good friend of mine for dinner near the ides of the month and as it stands, the only place I'm really interested in going, mostly because I haven't been yet, is a restaurant called "Hooked" which (wait for it ...) specializes in fish. Personally, I want to see what their sushi is like.

And a brief note on mass storage. I continue to be amazed at how insanely affordable giant, mountain-sized hard drives have become. Today's wubbawubbawubba (shake your head like a bulldog when you say that) moment is a Fantom Green 2 TB USB 2.0 drive for $194 at Buy.com. Holy cow. You could store your whole life on that thing. Unless you were Obama in which case it would only hold an itty bitty part of your ego.
UPDATE: It was a good deal. Dealhack reports that it's sold out.

Mrs. Paul's Ad
Let me pledge now that I will never, ever buy Mrs. Paul's fish products, or anything with the name Mrs. Paul on it with the exception of anything from the wonderful wife of my co-blogger Paul. She is a treasure.
The genesis of my hatred is this ad:



You little bitch! Your parents put food in your mouth and you complain about it. It's minced, wahh waah! First of all you little (perhaps I should not use such epithets as are in my mind about some small child who is, after all, reading ad copy), no child your age has developed the taste to distinguish one fish stick from another so STFU. Then you abuse your mother who's probably trying to save a few pennies to put your little bitch butt through college. So forget that. You're on your own. But then mom accedes to this immoral suasion and buys you the non-minced variety. Of course you'll do nothing but mince them yourself with those horrible little chicklet teeth.
I hate you, evil child and I hate Mrs. Paul's for hiring you.

This Makes No Sense
I'm watching college hoops on CBS this afternoon and an ad for McDonalds wedges its way into one of the game's interstices. It seems that they're offering the "fillet-o-fish" sammich for 99¢. That's got to be a loss leader. If you really dislike the fast food giant, go there and order several of them. You'll cost 'em for each I imagine. That's just a side light though.
I remember as a lad, and a chubby cheeked, hale yute I was, that McDonalds was the franchise in fast food. My mother was quite fond of their fries and really, who wasn't? I thought the Big Mac, when it came out, was the best thing going in burgers (until I found the Whopper of course) and the fillet-o-fish was something unusual and good. O tempora! O mores! Times have changed. I have, at times when McD's was doing special promotions, ordered both the Big Mac and the FoF only to be sorely disappointed. Those things that were so wonderful when I was young are just nasty now. That's right, I said it: nasty.
Which leaves me with mixed emotions. First, good. I really (really!) don't need to be eating either of those menu items. I don't really need to be eating anything from that menu actually but we'll leave that aside as we contemplate the other side of the coin. It's sad because a fond memory of growing up has been perverted. (Sigh.) Ah well. If we live long enough, I suppose our dreams and memories will all be lost by the wayside.
One final though on the fillet-o-fish promotion. You can get a sandwich for a buck less a cent. And you can get a "meal" including medium fries and a drink for $3.99. So is a medium drink and fries really worth $3.00? Why not just get 3 of the damn sandwiches and have more food for less money?

Whoa II
I dunno ya know? There's something about this cold (albeit not arctic) combined with the continuing high winds that's just whipping me. I feel wrung out like a well-used dishcloth. I will admit that a hot shower awaits and that will probably add to my well-being but still, this wind just does something inimical to me.
At least part of the problem is that I don't sleep at all well when my bedroom wall is being slapped around like a domestic violence victim. I can sleep through a fair amount of noise but when you combine it with the pressure changes this weather brings, it has a greater effect.
So, what's to be done? I think I'll have to fall into one of those coma-naps this evening while wrapped in a quilt. I'd have my steaming cuppajoe but at the moment I'm lacking my dairy agent so I must go shopping for that treat. Although a brief run through the Mickey D's drive through for one of their cups of same is a definite possibility.
I hope you're having a good day!

Whoa
High winds tonight. If the house had sails we'd be in Jamaica by now. Or maybe even Grand Cayman. That would be nice.
And while I'm a gittin' wound up on the meteorological conditiaments, a light blanket of snow right now would not be amiss. The big snow that was heaped and piled has melted down to the point where only the big heaps and piles are left and the ground is muddy and just ... ugly. A glowing cloak of diamond dust would be an improvement. But after I go to Costco, please.
On the plus side, I went out to the Country Orchard today to get my allotment of agricultural products and have two bags of lovely York apples. Still crisp and juicy, with the one I snaffled out to munch on my drive home a sweet chilly delight. Like candy it was.
I was hoping to segue from that into the Manhattan Transfer's version of "Candy" but alas it's not on uToob. Instead, I offer one of their amazing a capella performances of the gorgeous and sensuous "A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square." Enjoy.



Just by the by, I could listen to Cheryl Bentyne sing for ages and never grow tired. She has one of the most feminine and at the same time versatile voices I've ever heard. Plus, her phrasing is just so perfect, it sends chills up my spine. Often an artist makes a song his or her own (Think Ol' Blue Eyes here) by individualizing the phrasing or tempo. Bentyne just kind of moves in and fills up the song with herself. The lyrics come spilling out just exactly where my ear expects them to be. I've used the words "lush and gorgeous" before but they deserve to be used again for this lady's music. And it doesn't hurt that she's drop-dead beautiful as well.

If You Invest
I hesitate to "finance blog" but the latest news has me thinking about one of the investment strategies that has, on a few occasions, paid off for me. And by "on a few occasions," I mean in those instances where I utilized this strategy, it paid off for me. I can't suggest that it will always work but in those instances when other factors make it a good bet, it's a good bet.
Nutshelling it: Buy on bad news. In this case, Toyota. The link is to Yahoo Finance and gives you a good jumping off place to examine company info. Now, of course Toyota right now is under a cloud. They are being roasted by Congress and they've made some real mistakes in dealing with the unintended acceleration problems. Their share price has been hammered in just the last month from 90 to under 75. This is still higher than the yearly low which came in early 2009 but I'll be willing to bet that price was reflective of the economy as a hole (yes, I meant to say that) more than the strength of the company. But. I'll say that again: But.
Toyota is, in the non-government supported way, too big to fail. And present problems aside, they make very good, very popular cars. They face a US market rigged against them by the government control of GM and Chrysler but Ford is going to be the beneficiary of this, not the government motor coach companies. (You may consider Ford a "buy" at this point and I'd bet you could make some money off it if you buy and sell wisely.) A good company will not only survive bad times but come back strong. Do you think the world's largest car maker is not going to bounce back? I do.
Caveats: If the economy were really on the rebound, I'd be much more sanguine about this. If we didn't have the economically illiterate (or intentionally obdurate) Obama administration confounding a real recovery, it might take Toyota a couple of years to come back but I'd be willing to bet that on a 3 year horizon, Toyota can probably get back to around 100. That's a 33% return on a three year investment. Which you'd be hard pressed to match in other ways.

Am I going to buy? I can't say absolutely yes at this moment but I'm going to track TM (the ticker symbol) and if it hits any more dips, I may get a few hundred shares. Remember: never invest money you can't afford to lose and always attend your investments yourself. The "professionals" are more in it for themselves than for the investor.

Oh Come ON People!
There has been much hoohah and foofaraw on teh intarwebz lately about the idea that hotdogs should be be "redesigned" as they present a choking hazard and, sadly, a four year old recently suffered that fate.
I feel for the loss of the child but as for the idea of a "hotdog redesign," it's already been done. It's called bologna.

BlogDog's Axiom #1
Inefficiency in life prevents boredom as there's always something that needs doing.

This Joke Kills Me
It was funny enough to begin with and when you add monkeys.... Well, any joke is funnier when monkeys tell it.


Also a comment queue full of jokes and thoughts on joke-telling at neo-neocon.

Tell Me What You Think Of This Sketch

No Blogging For You!
Blog Nazi that I am. No, actually I'm just feeling out of sorts today. Not sick. But not not sick. Off kilter. Not at peace with the universe. Grumpy. Annoyed. Need an IV of Kenya AA coffee stat! Look elsewhere for your fill of information and moral uplift today. As I will.
It's windy like hell outside though the temp seems to be promoting melting in the sunshine. This is akin to those bright, too-sharp in the glare autumn days that I call "headache weather." Not exactly such but, as I said (weren't you paying attention?) akin to. Luckily the only out I have to go is some shopping at either Safeway or Costco. I haven't decided yet. As if it matters.
Urgh. I hope you have a nice day.
UPDATE: And so what did we learn today? I never got out of the house to shop but I facilitated a woodworking project a friend of mine is undertaking. And he brought me a $4 sub from Harris-Teeter which was freaking awesome! Tomorrow I'm going to my localest H-T (totter into the Teeter?) and signing up for their in-store card. And I'm going to have another sub for lunch. Oh hells yes I am. I may even take a picture of it for thees here blog. Blog Nazi that I am.

OK! Now We Are Success
The Hackintosh project has become a full-on win. Snow Leopard loaded perfectly and it's running like a champ. One thing left me rather taken aback though. Yes, I get taken aback on the odd day.
The Mini 10v has a three cell battery which gives me about in the realm of three hours of power with judicious use. So I thought I'd take a peek at the six cell batteries Dell has and holy poop! They sell those cells for $150. That's most of what I paid for the refurb'd netbook itself. That's insane. I suppose one day I might get an additional three cell but there's no rush.
I'm still not happy with the trackpad. But I have a nice USB mouse that works perfectly. Obviating the need to actually use the trackpad is a good thing.

I Troll The 'Zon So You don't Have To
In "Today's Deals" you'll find the "Midwest Canine Camper Day Tripper Portable Soft-Sided Folding Tent Crate." Which is nice and all but the category of this offered deal is "Kitchen and Dining Deal."

"Here doggy doggy doggy! Dang. I forgot to preheat the oven!"

Valentine's Day Dialogue
"Did you just say you had a 'way with women?'"
"No, I said I had 'away with women.' I get near. They go away."

Happy Valentines Day!
To all you hearts and flowers followers out there.
And you Itty Bitty. Especially you.

SEIU = Barney
Big. Purple. Dinosaur.
That's all.

I'm Working On A Whole New System Of Eating
The working title is Vegantarianism. I only things that eat vegan. It allows a wide latitude from cows to hippies. More the former than the latter since the latter are so damn hard to clean.

(Insert Snarky Headline Here)
So, anyway, I'm listening to the radio machine yesterday when the lady with the nice newsvoice comes on to tell me that "the market" is up responding to the moves the EU is making to stop Greece from going bankrupt actual instead of just bankrupt moral.
Yeah, right.
"Hello Mr. Brokerman? Yes, I'd like to buy 200 shares of Apple because I think Greece is not going to go under."
No doubt there are complex mechanisms that move the market up and down but the idea that the Dow is because Greece is probably not going into receivership is just effing stupid. I'd like the market to go up but the reported reasons for market change are moronic and they just frost my already chilly shorts.

Captain Phil from "Deadliest Catch" died...I'm trying to think of a memorial Facebook status but "I'll miss your crabs" just doesnt sound right.

WWJD
In this case, What Would Jesus Doobie?

Progress
I thought I'd take a moment out of the Hackintosh project to post a pic of the Mini 10v in its torn-down state. Since taking the picture, I've installed the 2GB RAM module and done most of the closing back up. Right now I'm stopped at getting the keyboard ribbon cable back into the slot which is a pain because the ribbon cable wants more to push the lock down slide back rather than go into the slot to be locked down. Having clown fingers to work with doesn't help. But a break from the close-in work, a nice hot shower and I'll finish putting it back together this after noon.
Then, boot it up to be sure it's working and then tomorrow, the software hacking. It's fun.
UPDATE: Well, I decided to dive back in after posting and it's done. I was missing the proper slot in trying to slide the keyboard ribbon cable in as it turns out. Once I realigned the cable, it slid in and the lock down locked it down. Re-installing the WiFi card was a bit annoying as the connector plugs are minuscule but I got them lined up too. The li'l beast is now reassembled and powered up. I may try the software hack tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow.
UPDATE The Second: Bugger. My installation is bumping up against some problem which I have no idea what is. But OS X gets its lovely, lovely spacey screenshot on the Mini but it won't fully install. I'm leaving this until tomorrow so I can face with a fresh mind. But it peeves me.
D'oh! I think I may have found my problem. The install disk I used to create the install flash drive was of Leopard, not Snow Leopard (i.e. 10.5.6 not 10.6). I'll remake the install drive with a copy of Snow Leopard actual and try again.

You Know How Much I Loves The Amazon
But I'm really conflicted about a possible order. Should I get one of these or not?
I seek your wise counsel.

As Craig Ferguson Says
It's a great day for America everybody!
UPDATE: I was moved by Barack Hussein Obama (umm umm umm) calling Murtha a "Marine Corpse man."

So Sad
As has been noted by the estimable and esteemed (I can speak for Pugs of War in that regard) Joe Sherlock, Roger Daltrey can no longer sing. I knew when "The Who" was being advertised as the halftime entertainment this was not going to be good. And it's not. We're only a few minutes into the show and Roger practically has to contract his entire body into spasm to get the lyrics out. And Pete, whom I love dearly, is playing well - yeah, the windmilling chords, couldn't love that any more than I do. But his singing is too cutesy. Unbecoming of the world's real greatest rock 'n' roll band.
Anyway, "The Who" no longer exists. The passing of the greatest rock drummer EVAR and one of the unsung musical geniuses of rock music in the Ox (listen to the horns in "Tommy" if you care to dispute this) left the two remaining members a shadow of greatness with the exception that Townshend's solo work is brilliant ("All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes," "White City," "Empty Glass" and "Rough Mix" with the late Ronnie Lane are all nothing short of superb).
This halftime show leaves me sad. Oh and mad at that effing stupid "remix" of "My Generation" by the libtard in the Black Eyed Peas. Screw you pal. Make your own damn music and stop skull effing the work of your betters.
ADDENDUM: I think I get it now. "Who dat" nation, Who's yer state (read phonetically please) and The Who. It's a theme.
UPDATE: I have the pleasure of adding the words actual of Joe Sherlock (with permission) on the halftime show:

Halftime Show: Awful - The Who should return to whatever Senior Care Villa they call home. Roger Daltrey sounded like a drunk geezer in a karaoke bar and Pete Townshend looked 80, even though he's two years younger than me. (Note to Pete: Wearing Elvis Costello's hat didn't make you look younger; it made you look like Uncle Junior from The Sopranos.)

Get off the stage.

In short - what he said.

My Laugh Of The Day
Don Surber warning us of a new STD. Now that's funny, no matter where you're from.

Nuts!
By the Power of Greythumb!
Last night I was trying to peel a recalcitrant (by way of a slight desiccation) turnip and managed to skim a nice little bit off the left side of the tip of my left thumb (looking at it nail up). So after red-wetting a fair amount of gauze, I'm down to a reasonable sized bandage on my new flattop finger (well, half-fade is more like it) and I found that putting the hand into a nitrile glove and cutting away all but the thumb actually works much better at keeping the band-aid clean and the finger useful. The nitrile gloves are grey, thus the first line of the post, you see.
Grrrr. I took my revenge by eating the turnip. It was good.

I Question The Choice Of Words
Mr. Caption Writer could have called the mount a Percheron thoroughbred mix but nooooo. (click to embiggen if need be)

I Got This Ad In The Mail
It seems there really is a magazine for everything.
And my first thought? "Hugged it? No. I might have choked it a little...."

A Video For Next Year's SOTU Speech
Barry, baby, let me save you some trouble:

Add This One To Your Foodie Links
Chow. I've already watched the video on the "perfect soup dumpling" and it's brilliant. My jealousy of the chef's technique is boundless. The site looks to be as full of good info as anyone could want.

Hackintosh Update
Baby steppin' here boss. The colored purple Dell Mini 10v is here, as is the 8 GB flash drive. My research has shown me that stuffing the max memory into the thing will make the machine a vastly more useful one than trying to run it on the installed memory so I've ordered the upgrade from my favorite RAM source Crucial.com. I've already slapped a white Apple sticker over the Dell logo on the top and, deliciously, the old logo is still visible through the sticker. Heh heh heh. Me likee.
Once the memory comes, I'm pretty much going to have to gut the little beast to install it but disemboweling computers is fun. I've tried a little typing on the netbook and I'll give Dell credit for making a nice keyboard at that size. Not brilliant, mind you. But definitely good. I figure one full day to install the memory - no use trying to overdo and get all gumption trapped on the project. Tear it down, clip in the new memory module, stick it all back together, be sure it's running properly is enough for one day. Then the next day do the install. I figure that should take the better part of an afternoon, working "apace."
On the critical side, the trackpad on the Mini 10v kinda sucks. It may be partly because I'm not accustomed to it but I tried to play a game of Freecell and I was fighting the trackpad more than just using it. I'm hoping the drivers for the Hackintosh will make it run more to my liking. AFN.

Retro Thursday
Another place holder day here on PoW. A little 70s flashiebackie with a man who managed to pen a couple of iconic songs, sing a superb re-make of an icon's iconic song (Roy Orbison's "Crying") and then be left adrift in the ocean of time and the culture passing. I give you one of my favorites of his oeuvre:

Why Is This?
I would pay serious money for a fish taco right now. Watch it! I mean a fish taco at a place like Baja Fresh. I'd even settle for a really nice tuna sandwich. I think I'll make myself one tomorrow for lunch. My technique for using less mayo is to sub in a good shot of cottage cheese. It even helps with the texture.

Have A Great Day Everybody
A busy day will lead to a decided lack of posting here at PoW. So go, enjoy the lengthening of days and I'll try to come up with something interesting or amusing for another day. My netbook is slated to be delivered today so the great Hackintosh project will begin at the start of February.
ADDENDUM: The Woot Off is still ongoing. Check it for strange and wond'rous bargains on things you don't really need.
DAMMIT: The Woot off had a Kai Shun Yanagiba knife for $65. I missed it. Click the link for some unutterably gorgeous knife porn.I would have gone for the 270mm version. And then I would have gone to my local fish monger for some sushi-grade fish just so I could slice it. Oh, I'd eat it too. Make no mistake about that.

Woot FYI
Woot is having a Woot Off today, which means a stream of products all day long as they sell out. When I tuned in, it was a $600 Ken Onion knife set. I doubt there were many of them but oy! such a knife you should have!

Yummeh
Another test case from Amazon: microwave pork rinds. Surprisingly good. A nice way to make a fresh snack which isn't that revolting microwave popcorn. I don't suggest you rush out to try it but sometime, when you're inclined, give it a try. Warm and flavory.
In Other News: A friend recently gave me a small supply of mixed nuts in shell. I can crack walnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts in hand as long as I have two nuts to work with so my inability to find my nutcracker wasn't a problem. Until I got to the hazelnuts. Too small to use 'against' each other in hand. I was nonplussed until I looked at my garlic press. Hmmm. Worked like a charm. A short, sharp thwap and the shell was cracked sufficiently to open with a nut pick. Just goes to show - there's more than one way to flay a feline.

Since Rachel Ray's Ass Gets More Comments Than Anything Else
I see your static image and raise you Lisa Loeb in a thong:


UPDATE: In the "teach a man to fish" category of assology, The Other McCain posts something worthwhile.

Good News Everybody!
Emm Gryner has a new disc coming out. "Stray Bullets" by name. And if you pre-order (that's about $15 US), you're entered in a contest to win a home show from the talented lass. I don't like my odds but it would pretty damn cool.
Also, read this post by the vivacious and perspicacious Kathy Shaidle. There is much truth therein young padawan. Then again, why are you not reading her every post every day? You got some splainin' to do!
UPDATE: In my continuing efforts to find strange and wonderful things that I can order from Amazon, I stumbled upon Madagascar pink rice. It's not cheap, I can get a really nice Basmati from Costco or my local Korean supermarket at about a buck a pound. But ... it's pink rice. I have to try it. The description includes this: "tropial spice taste with hints of cinnamon and clove" (which I assume should be tropical). To have that 'built in' to the rice is really intriguing.

30 Minute Meal..
Ok, so Rachael honey, you may not be the best cook in the world and your blatant disregard for the English language-EVOO, Nutrish, Spoonula..ug..may pluck my last nerve...but OMG!!..I'll be right over with a 55-gallon drum of E.V.O.O., some shrink wrap and my snorkle..

Enigmatic's "Where are they now?"

Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker in "A Christmas Story"

Then...

Now...

Testing, Testing
With the greater amount of space PoW now has, a change to a larger font size may be called for. This post is just a test to see how it would look. Also, the font is changed from Lucida Grande to Trebuchet.

Layout Change
I've been dissatisfied with the width of the previous blog design for a while. I've elected to move to a new layout which I'll be tweaking in terms of color and other touches in the next couple of weeks. I hope you like it. These new things always take some getting used to.

That Mitchell & Webb Look
Great Brit comedy with one errant naughty word toward the end. Too funny not to post. "At least pigs are for sausages." Hat tip to Coyote Blog.

Sigh
It's muzzable weather here in the NoVa - rain and sleet, grey skies, cold with that penetrating edge that wet brings to winter weather. Survivable of course, but iconic in the sense that Lycurgus has identified "Virginia weather." Ah well, time to take as hot a shower as I can stand, break out a new blade and scrape face to the point of pseudofolliculitis barbae, cook up some oatmeal and coffee and scramble a couple of eggs in a knob of butter and catch up on reading. I believe I finally managed to corral the ingredients for the honey-wheat berry bread I didn't make before. Filling the house with the smell of baking bread would be a very good thing.
Which brings to mind my latest small experiment - bacon popcorn. My first batch was good but not what I wanted. I started with rice bran oil in the popper and added some bacon grease to the mix. What I found was that the fresh popcorn has so much flavor that the bacon became a trailing flavor, a hint o' bacon in the aftertaste. Despite its low smoking point, I'm going to have to try using pure bacon grease to pop a batch. Keep in mind though, that "Whirley-Pop" maker takes between one and two tablespoons to pop a batch. That's not much for a big fluffy bowl of corny goodness. And besides, it's bacon.
In other news, I just ordered a Dell Mini 10v refurb and an 8GB flash drive to geek it up and make myself a "Hackintosh." It's a project I've been wanting to undertake out of pure cussedness and seeing a coupon for 15% off a Dell refurb made me pull the trigger. I'll report on it as it happens.
Have a great day, those of you who don't have to deal with the greys and perhaps I can scare something really worth posting about over the weekend.

Blogdog's Poetry Corner Presents:

THE SECOND COMING

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

A Couple Of Bumper Stickers
I'm considering having CafePress make me a couple of one-off bumper stickers:

Paybacks are a Pelosi
and
Life's a Pelosi, then you're taxed

And I think the Rolling Stones need to be re-recorded:
"I see a blue state and I want to paint it red..."

Massachusetts - Scott Brown
Sweet.

Obama has lost traction with American voters in part due to the slick of blood and internal organs from all the people that have been thrown under the bus. Look for even more furious spinning of wheels in 3, 2, 1....
UPDATE: Congratulations to Lycurgus for getting his brilliant line quoted by the Blogfather, Instapundit.

Enjoy Yos'ef!
PoW regular read and blogpal Joe Sherlock is taking off for a while. So The View Through The Windshield will be on hiatus for a bit and we will miss it but very much hope Joe has big ol' buckets of fun while he's got his digital feet up. It must be noted (and to my chagrin, has not been yet) that Joe's addition of his own videos to his blog is a great example of the active and involved mind. My father, who was a huge 'gadget guy' would not only have approved but would have been pestering me to get the whole video thing running for him. And I would have.

Mr. Word Man Learns Something New
I've never bothered to dig into the word "petard," as in "hoist on one's own." But the idea of "hoist" always made me think of something mechanical, something pole-ish as it were. But I was everso wrong. It's actually a wall-breaching bomb. And, to Mr. Word Man's great delight, the etymology of the word is from the French for flatulation. Yup. The root of "petard" is a fart.

So, Anyway
There I was watching some of the product of the televisioning machine when who should appear but the First Lady of the United States telling me to be all kinds of generous to the sadly afflicted people of Haiti. I'm down with that. I'll be making a contribution to the Red Cross on Monday but not because that zombie told me to. Really. The over-made-up face, the dead, soulless eyes. That is one scary fembot. She must have found where to get a Hillary style nut-vise years ago.

More From The Critter Cam
Blogging has been light of late as there is so much ferment and foment going on that I've been dry. The excitement is out there and my adding some form of dittoes post would really be, well, not gilding the lily but more like overwhelming the lily. Just not really needed.
Yet posting ... is good. So I'm posting a few more shots from the Boca Grande Critter Cam, including the LaserFox! How exciting.

Earthquake in Haiti!
Thousands left homeless! Damage estimated in the hundreds of dollars!

Joking aside, I hope for the health and well-being of those Haitians who are suffering the effects of the seismic event. Remember, the earthquake has done less devastation to your country than the continuing kleptocracy you've had as government for generations.

Ice, Ice Baby
A report from the Southern Front in the War On Global Warming, Lycurgus sends us this photo of a peculiar way to keep your beer chillin: Wait for the birdbath to freeze and then set your beer on it.

You will note that this picture is almost nearly live from Central Florida and that the ice is thick enough to support the frosty can. Not just a thin skinning of ice but about a quarter inch of it. Woooeee. You could drink cold orange juice right out of the fruit.
In other Central Florida news, our intrepid correspondent has set up a critter cam in the lovely isle of Boca Grande and captured a bobcat out for a stroll.

There was also some local kittycat action, a fox and the butt of what would appear to be a rackety coon who was mozying along mostly out of camera range. Critter cams are fun where there are critters to cam. Elly May would approve.

File In "I Love Technology"
I just downloaded a free app for the iPhone - a WiFi based remote control for iTunes. So now I can control my iTunes from anywhere in my house. Why is this such a big deal? It all comes down to my need for talk radio. Rush is broadcast locally on a station that routinely gets a rotten signal in my house. And in my kitchen, despite the nice Bose Wave radio, it doesn't come in at all. So I moved my old iMac to the kitchen to use as an iTunes "server" and to sometimes web surf. But if I boot up the 'puter, the radio goes completely fuzzed out with interference. So then I can only run either FM stations or the computer signal through the AUX jack.
There are problems. Booting up the computer takes time and not a little effort to reach the start button given that the edge behind which said button lurks is the most distant from being easily reached. And the iMac takes up not a little space. Not a lot of space but not a little either. Yet there is a work-around. I have an Airport Express unit (about 2 inches square and and inch thick) which can serve iTunes from a remote machine to, say, a stereo in a different room. So I could leave my main machine booted up and running iTunes to send the signal to the little Airport box and save myself some kitchen space.
I can see you thinking, "But how will he control iTunes if he's in the kitchen and the iMac that's sending his radio is on a whole 'nother level?" Ha ha! Apple has thought of that already. The app store has a free Apple app called "Remote" that I mentioned at the opening of this post. I downloaded it, sync'd it to my iTunes (very easy) and started controlling my musical domain. Then the sticking point hit me. I don't see any controls to run iTunes radio on the remote. Bugger. But my Google Fu is strong. It turns out (and I did not know this) that you can make a playlist of radio stations! And once I did that, I had access to the stations I needed on the remote.
Tomorrow will be the set-up of the Airport Express and then the great experiment should be finished. I love technology that does what I want.

Trippin'
I have the distinct pleasure of relating that I got out of town on Wednesday for a day trip to Wilmington and most of a day with the Wilmington Boyz. The Boyz now include one girl as pupdawg Oliver (the world's quietest and chillin'est dog) has a fellow rescue in Lisa, little under-bitey sweetheart she is too.
The hangin out with was well worth the trip but it was topped off with a dinner of UnkaMika's Extry Special gumbo. Oh man. Sausage and shrimp gumbo that was glorious. I got a container to take home with me and I'm both delighted and sad to report that (you can see this coming, can't you?) it's all gone. It's been nomed-n-ated.
I'm no gumbo expert, as much as I'd LIKE to be! But I have learned one thing about it. If gumbo doesn't have some crawfish or shrimp in it, it's not what it could be. There's something in those critters, apart from their being just tasty, that adds a lush, gorgeous mouth-feel to the stew. Yuh-um!
I also got a take away bag of beignet mix. Looking forward to making those NOLA donuts baby!

Billy Beck Cuts Down To The Bone
And exposes the cancer at what should be the support for society:

(T)his is not a metaphysical crisis. In deepest fact, that can't even happen. (Reality has no "crisis" with human -- or any other -- affairs. It just is.) This is an epistemic crisis, with terminal ethical and political implications redounding to metaphysical consequences: reality will manifest the effects of objectively defective value-selections and ways of acting for them. Sooner or later and one way or another, the attempt of everyone to live at the expense of everyone else will fail, simply because this is not what human beings are. The failure might run over decades and generations, as in a case like the Soviet Union, where untold millions had countless values (unto their very lives, commonly) destroyed to the cheers of defective mentalities who always called it a success. It was always a constant failure, and that was reality having its way.

The added emphasis is mine. As ever with Beck, RTWT. There is great evil afoot in the body politic and only those with the clarity of vision to see it and lay it out will serve to open eyes that are blinkered by failing education, journalism and a multiplicity of social structures that traduce instead of inform. Billy Beck's vision came clear at some point and has remained unclouded ever since. And his voice works as well. Praise be.

UPDATE: After posting this, I read the following quote from the nation's greatest public intellectual Dr. Thomas Sowell: "We're becoming a nation of people who are propagandized from elementary school right on through to the graduate school in a certain vision of the world. And only the ones who, for one reason or another, either experience or insight or whatever, leads them to say 'Wait a minute!' Only those are the ones we have to depend on."
Billy Beck is standing on a rampart saying just that to anyone with the gumption to attend. That they don't listen will be on their heads, not his.

Steven Wright On The Craig Ferguson Show
"I've been having premonitions of flashbacks."

What A Cracking Wanker!
Don't worry. Just trying to keep my new year's resolution.

In Honor Of The Weather
Ladies and gentlemen, the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughn!



Boy could make a Strat sing. Wish he were still around and caught the PRS fever. That'd be cool.

I'm Running Around Today
But there is much chewy goodness at The Smallest Minority. Go thou and do some reading. As Tom Lehrer once said, "Life is like a sewer. You only get out if it what you put into it."
But I would like to note in passing that my weather widget tells me today that the temperature is the same 23º as yesterday but the "feels like" is up to a blistering 8º! If this trend continues, tomorrow will "feel like" 64º! Woo hoo!

Oh My Effin Gee
Pulled out the terminally hiPhone (that's "hip" buried in there, you see) this morning to look at the weather app. Ow! At noon, that's noon mind you, the temp was 23º and with wind chill (it's been more fierce than Beyonce and Christian Siriano put together), the "feels like" temp is one degree. One freakin' degree! Do I have to leave the bed today? I hope not. Wait, I'm at the computer. Too late.

In other news, or other non-news really, tomorrow will mark the first delivery of the revamped Washington Times to my frigid driveway. I believe I've said before that this saddens me. The newspaper is "re-inventing" itself as something akin to a paper which only has the "A section." No sports. Though the sudoku and crossword were brought back, the comics page has been gone for a while now. I doubt those returned features will be in the new version though. Basically, I will no longer be getting what I consider a newspaper. I will let my subscription lapse. And I will most certainly not be replacing it with the Washington Compost. -sigh- Sic transit gloria data.

UPDATE: Well, only the first step has been taken toward honey wheat berry bread - the wheat berries are boiled up to a pleasant mooshiness. Instead I made the first step toward my idea of "mocha" jello. Which would be a pan of chocolate jello. I'll need to make a pan of coffee jello and then cut each type into cubes which will be jumbled into a matrix of "milk" jello. I don't know if it'll be good and it may be not worth the effort but it's something I have to try. The idea springs from a blog post about "stained glass" jello.

A Little Sump'n Sump'n
I'm set up to make a honey, wheat berry bread tomorrow (should I use the tupelo or the non-orange blossom orange blossom honey? I think the latter as it'll sink into the bread better.) Wish me luck. It's been a while since I've been baking. So, being a cautious and optimistic type, I figured I'd get myself a little present from Amazon that will be incorporated into future baking: Dried cherries. Cherry is one of my favorite flavors and I'm thinking of a winter of muffins, breads and, time and aching bones allowing, cupcakes. I want to make a ginger cherry cupcake. I'm open to suggestions as to what sort of frosting would go well with that. Maybe a cherry cupcake with ginger frosting? Comments are welcomed, nay, encouraged.

Resolutions
We all got 'em. Here are some of mine in no particular order:
Use the terms "wanker," and "cracking" more frequently.
Try at least two new kinds of toothpaste.
A moratorium on fast food for three months and then re-assess the situation.
Bake more. Give more baked goods to friends.
Vacuum more frequently.
Hit a blogger's tip jar at least once a month.
Set up a for-real practice schedule for the guitar.
No more playing online mahjong! (Dammit!)

That's all for now. I've shown you mine, now you show me yours.
UPDATE: (Stolen from Maggie's Farm) This year, I resolve to think more.

It's The Last Day!
Let's all run around like decapitated barnyard fowl! Scream and cry! Fill your bathtub with gin and toss in an Olive. Not that there very many girls named Olive any more. But we all have our crosses to bear.
Happy New Year's Eve ever'body! I will *clink* you in absentia as I relax at home with some basquetbol on the televising masheen. I believe in 2010. I don't believe in Tinker Bell, the transformative power of Barack Obama and restrictions on our personal freedom. Ah, but I repeat myself.

Y'all go run along now. There's confetti to toss, booze to drink, cookies to toss and police checkpoints to be avoided. Not that I advocate the consumption of anything that our elders' warned us would make us weak and foolish though! But have some fun, dammit. If not on the Eve, then in the New Year. There remains much life to be lived and it's up to us to do so!

In Honor Of The Latest Islamic Splodey Dope
Ladies and gentlemen, Blue Öyster Cult!



Hmm, needs more cowbell.

Ginger Dust
Let me say this about myself first: I am the son of my Scots-blooded mother. There is much McMullen in me. This is often manifest in my desire to not waste a damn thing. And that often comes to bear in the kitchen. Thus beginneth the saga of "ginger dust."

I make my own ginger syrup. It's very simple. Two cups of sugar, one cup of water and a peeled hand of ginger (roughly palm-sized) sliced as thin as possible. The mixture is brought to a boil and simmered on heat for about 15 minutes and then left for about 24 hours for the flavor to strike through as much as possible. The syrup is then strained off. But this leaves a good wad of sugar-infused ginger slices.
One thing to note about ginger is that it contains two distinct type of flavor molecules, water soluble and fat (or oil) soluble. The aforementioned wad of ginger slices still have a lot of flavor in them but it's the oil soluble flavor that remains. Obviously. But I am loathe (note aforementioned Scots blood ) to discard a utile comestible. So I have a bowl of ginger chips that are 'wet' in the fridge. But I also spread a bunch of the chips out to dry on a cutting board. Those turned into crunchy little chips with very respectable ginger "bite." The trouble with them was that they were a bit too "bitey" and hard for use as they were. So, inspired perhaps by the freeze-dried ginger I have in the pantry, I wondered if I couldn't make a powder of the chips.
Story short - yes I can. I used a mortar and pestle and a lot of elbow grease to grind down the chips which I filtered through a fine mesh strainer into a pale yellow powder that has a sweet ginger tang. I haven't figured out how to use it - yet. But with the preservative effect of sugar, I think I have something with an infinite shelf life so there will be chances to try my invention.
One note - a spice grinder would probably make short work of the chips but I rather enjoyed the Zen of the grinding. Your mileage may vary.

So, the final question is what am I going to do with the "wet" ginger in the fridge. Well, I just some rice bran oil from the 'Zon (love the 'Zon) and I'm going to "fry" those to see if I can't make a light, crispy little ginger chip that can be used in a crouton-like manner on a salad or Asian noodle dish. If I manage the heat properly, I may end up with ginger-flavored oil as well.
Like I said: I don't waste anything in the kitchen.

A Little Enya For Ya
Merry Christmas everyone. (hat tip to Maggie's Farm)

Something New
I made what I call "ginger dust" yesterday. I'll detail the process in a weekend post but for now, I'm intrigued by what I've done and am a little bit proud of the idea.

TV Show Of The Year
Glee. Hands down. Or rather: jazz hands up.
It's fresh, there are evil characters, there are characters to root for and some performances that deserve more Emmys than are handed out. I'm looking at you Jane Lynch, and you Kristin Chenoweth, and really, the entire cast of "high school" students who rock the musical numbers week after week.
Honestly. Top marks and great praise to the creators of a show that's proving itself to be fresh and consistently interesting.

Not Gonna See It
I was highly intrigued when I saw the early trailer for James Cameron's "Avatar" but now that I can see that the story is a standard lefty group trope, I'm not going to give it a dime of my money. And I'm going to call it, from this moment on, "Battlefield Smurf."

Discount Woot
I have a coupon code for $2.00 off an order from Daedalus Books and Music. It expires on January 15 and I'm not going to use it by then. Anyone who wants the code can leave me a comment or e-mail me and I'll pass it along. Needless to say, it's only good once.

Raging Rudolph
MadTV's greatest Christmas parody EVAR. Have a Merry Freakin' Christmas!

Snow Day!
I finally watched Pixar's "Up." Charming. Wonderful. Another homerun for the animation studio that seems almost incapable of making a mistake.

I Just Realized
When Obama made that stupid speech all those months ago, maybe he did not intend that the world would "heal" but that the world would HEEL! And he was expecting to be holding the leash of course.
Not so much any more Barry.

Where I Try to Unpunch That Ticket

Once Again I Punch My Ticket To Perdition

I Have A Dream!
Like the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I have a dream!

Unlike the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., my dream pretty much resolves to the deep-frying of bacon in actual bacon grease.

Heard Today
I'm hearing from the radio machine that a 14th woman has come out of the Woodswork. That's just a putting green. A full round is 18 holes.
(Dang this stuff just about writes itself.)

Just So Un-Christmas-y
I could so kill a container of Popeyes Cajun rice right now. I suppose i should figure out how to make it myself but the fact will remain that for about four smacks, I get a stryo pot full of rice, hamburger and jalapenoy goodness. Hmm. Come to think of it, that's kinda pricey.
UPDATE: Or more accurately, ADDED: I recently made a road trip of sufficient length to necessitate stopping for food as well as gas. The stop had Popeyes and my traveling companion had a yen for bird so we got some of their strips. Boneless, so good finger food for eating while driving. I give Popeyes full marks for their strips, basically the best I've had from a fast food joint. Moist, flavorful, served nice and hot, crispy exterior. They're not particularly cheap but in this case, tey are well worth the price.

I see our old pal busted-ass Gordon Ramsay is going to have a "teach people to cook" special on Fox this week. I'll probably watch that. Maybe he'll make Cajun rice.

I Love Technology
I just downloaded a free app for my iPhone that takes dictation. That's right, I said "free." I tried it last night and it's not perfect (though spelling a name in a standard way for someone who uses a variant spelling really can't be faulted). But it works pretty darn well. I can talk to the phone and then have the text sent to an e-mail or a text message.
This stuff rocks so hard. Honestly, we live in magic times.

Magic times demand a Magic Mouse of course (see how I did that oh-so-seamless segue). I'm loving the Apple device in all sorts of major ways but I have found that it just drinks battery juice like a wino with a credit line at the liquor store. I use rechargeable batteries of course but I'm wondering if Apple might consider making a recarging cradle for this wonderful rodent as Logitech does for its MX Lazer mouse. Not a necessity, but it could make life just a wee bit more smooth.

Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright
In the fleshpots of the night.
You'll notice that I have resisted an comment on Mr. Woods and his ... ahhh, activities of late. There's something about it being a "target rich environment" for snark that makes me eschew the easy joke. But, really, could there be a sport more open to making mock what with things like "playing a round" of golf, his "woods," "driving." And now he's taking an "indefinite" leave of the links. I'd bet there are a thousand professional golfers who are now thanking their household gods for Tiger's wandering eye.
I will make one observation and then lay out one full-on snark after which I will never revisit the subject again. First, the women that Eldred has been linked with are about as nasty a collection of skanks as I've seen. A man of centi-millionaire wealth should have better taste. And then, it's probably good that he's leaving golf for a while. His driving seems to have suffered even as he's had no problem holing his putz.

UPDATE: How could I have fogotten this April Stevens classic?

Not On My Blogroll
Maggie's Farm is a daily read for me so I probably should add it to the 'roll. But there's a post there today that should be read by everyone. A statement in favor of freedom is one way to put it. If you don't visit the site, at least read the post. It is most excellent.

Coming Soon
I listen to talk radio a lot. More than anything else, really. But there's a huge drawback. I hear the same ads over and over and over. I'm going to start a list of ads that make me change channels immediately upon hearing them.
I'll start with these:
1. The "Zapper Credit System." Oh my long-suffering ears! Shut up. Just STFU. If I wanted to listen to an annoying sterotypical New Yawk yenta voice, I'd ... I wouldn't do anything because I don't want to and never will. Ugh
2. "The Talker" for the Ooma web-phone device. Annoying me with drivel will not make me want to buy this device. Pick another gimmick now.
3. The free credit report ads. Nuff said. Die you godless maggots.
4. The "Smart Cookies." AmEx (if I remember correctly) is pushing some gaggle of women who screwed their credit to the max and then realized that was unsustainable. So they formed a group and two years later got out of debt, or something like that. Holy crap. These women did something that was evidently moronic and now AmEx is paying them to lecture us. How about featuring people who never were that stupid in the first place? "Smart" cookies my achin' butt. Go away.

There are others and I'll be making notes on them as I listen but I invite you to add to the list in comments. I know you have something to add.
ON THE OTHER HAND: The home drug test ad where the mom asks the high school kid if he's used "beanies, hydro, whiffle dust, disco biscuits" is still funny. "Shabu shabu, dear." Heh.

Ow! Dammit!
Something very evil is happening in my right shoulder. Which sucks because that's the arm I use to support myself against the bad hip joints. My life would be vastly better if I were a masochist.
UPDATE: I'm pretty sure I'm dealing with a rotator cuff injury. Dammit.

I Tend To Do Things That Don't Make Sense
Especially when it comes to ordering online. I really don't like to pay for shipping. I'll go through contortions to avoid shipping charges. Case in point is my first purchase from drugstore.com. I prefer one particular brand of cheap bar soap. Which is not carried at Costco and is no longer carried by my local grocery store. So I checked the 'Zon. They have it but the "prime eligible" "free" shipping soap cluster was about three times the price of a similar cluster from drugstore.com and, my first order, if I bumped it up to $25 gets shipped free.
You know what that meant. I then spent about half an hour trying to track something, anything to add to a couple of soaps. Men's scents? Nothing I like (dang! no Cool Water? no Fahrenheit?) Well, I do need some lip balm. I now have a free-shipping package consisting of nothing but soap and lip balm headed my way. At least I'll have enough Blistex to put in every room in the house and in the car. Saves wear and tear on the pocket. Yeah. Like that's the reason why.

A Quick Question For You
What's your favorite candy? Drop a note in the comments if you please. I am rather fond of gummi candies (recently tried the pink grapefruit gummies from Amazon and they are go-ood!) but if I had to pick out an absolute favorite, I'm going to go with a variation on the basic marshmallow I found several year ago at my local CVS drugstore: The marshmallow itself is cut into cubes which are then coated with toasted coconut. Oh baby!

One Of Few
There are not too terribly many "modern" songs that I find to be real Christmas classics (this dates back to 1975) but Greg Lake's "I Believe in Father Christmas" is one. The original video for this is marred by an unthinking reflexive anti-war imagery that I'm sure seemed right at the time but now looks both dated and silly. So I post a mid-2000s version which hews closely to the original song. It has always seemed a pessimistic song to me but on reconsideration, and watching some YouTube video interviews, I see that the song was intended as a real Christmas song with a heart. And the music is brilliant. I hope you like.

One Of Those Days
Do you ever have a day where you just can't shake the 'tired' off? that's today for me. I've manged to do some household chores (my kitchen is almost clean!) but now in the shank of the afternoon, I'm sitting her yawning and rubbing my eyeballs into a state of (probably) red-rimmed moistness. A nap would be good but I don't have the impulse for that. Which means I might just nod out at the keybosasnsdfglrr l sdfm .............dfbklv....,vad;;ad ; ;la ;l a

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
And it's already significantly melted. Ah well. It was fun while it lasted.

Alert The Media!
How exciting! There is snow falling at Chez BlogDog even as I type (I'll drag the camera out for a couple of pix today just for giggles). And I got my first InstaLanche! Brought to me by knifeblogging and pancakes. Mmmm! PANcakes!

I apologize for the over-use of exclamation points in this post. Really! I do!

It's All About The Bass
Them low frequency vibes that is, not the fish. Though I have great appreciation for the fish too. I listen to a lot of my music off the computer as the subwoofer gives it a fullness that's rich and buttery. And though I've always liked Apple's earbuds for listening to the various iPods, I miss some of that rumble in the belly that a good bass response gives.
Luckily for me, the good folks at Amazon put these V-MODA Bass Freq Earbuds on sale cheaply enough that I went for it. Yeah. Nice. Of course there's no bass rumble to shake the digestive juices but there's definitely more thump! in the ear. There are little silicon sleeves around the earbud "speakers" that pretty much seal the ear for the sound. I don't know if that's essential to the sound but if i wanted to put in the 'buds to close out the world, these are the thing. I tried it on my test platform which is Donald Fagen's "What I Do" from the "Morph the Cat" disc. (polite golf applause) That'll do nicely. With, of course, the exception of the Nano which needs the control-chipped earbuds. I can make some sacrifices.
IN OTHER NEWS: I'm thinking of making this Celtic Woman disc as my addition to the Christmas music this year. Anyone care to disabuse me of the notion?

End Of An Era
Before I get too melodramatic, let me just say that I have been a newspaper reader since childhood. That may mean I read the comics, and then added the sports section to the read and then added the rest of the paper as my understanding of words progressed. But the "morning paper" was an important and as close to a constant as I care to think in my development. My mother, an early riser, would have the whole paper read, articles to share marked for note or clipping, as well as breakfast and school lunches made for the chilluns by the time we arrived at the breakfast table. I even subscribed to the Washington Post for a year when I was down in the Old North State for the collegiate experience.
Needless to say, it has been easily a decade and a half since I last regularly read the Washington Post due to its fierce leftist stance, regardless of facts or its allegation to be an "independent newspaper." I've read the Washington Times. And, generally, been happy with it. It's certainly more honest than the Post. But the Times has suffered of late. Scroll through ex-Timesman Stacy MacCain's blog (The Other McCain in my blogroll) to read the story. The Times is going to shed anything but its "core" so there'll be no more crossword puzzle and sudoku (actually already gone for a couple of weeks). Sue me but I enjoy those things as part of the whole newspaper read.
I'll still get the paper until my subscription runs out but I doubt I'll resubscribe.
This may give me one more hour a day but I will have lost something in that gain. It leaves me sad. I can hope that at some point a full-on newspaper will arise to compete with the Post but I think that the era of newsprint is essentially past us now. So here I go, posting this lament on the internet which is the very instrumentality that has eaten the lunch of the medium whose decline saddens me. O tempora, O mores! Sic transit gloria mundi.
On the other hand, jumping off at Glenn Reynolds's InstaPundit is a very good way to get a whole lot of the news of the day before the paper can deliver it and there are news aggregators like Drudge so I won't be without news. I just won't have it in the form to which I've grown accustomed.

Things To Keep In Mind
1. Jake Armerding with Eddie From Ohio at the Birchmere in mid January.
2. Al Petteway and Amy White at Jammin Java in March.

Must see both shows. This after totally forgetting the Al Stewart show I made such a big deal about. Sheesh.

Knivery
Just a note for the day - Amazon is offering a Shun Ken Onion 3-Piece knife set which is nominally a $595 set for $200 today. These are truly awesome knives and though I can't justify the purchase of any more kitchen cutlery, my cooking eye is twitching as I look at these beauties.

If You Love Mark Steyn
And really, who doesn't? If you visit Blazing Cat Fur, you can hear him sing "Sweet Gingerbread Man" with Jessica Martin. It's a little bit of wonderful. I wish I could imbed it but it's a non-clickable player so I have no idea where to go. But you can buy a copy of "Gingerbread and Eggnog" from the Steyn Store. Link to buy is at the link above.
In other holiday-related news, the iTunes Christmas playlist has been officially re-authorized and playing begins immediately. Have a holly jolly!