I Like This

Looks Pretty Cool To Me
iPlaymusic.com. I might have to access this for my moosical development. I've got to be able to actually play a song by February. Hunh? No. No reason. Just thought I'd pick an arbitrary month.
Also I'll be unlimbering the digicam tomorrow to snap the new guitar, the great assemblage of jelly jars and something on a package that fries my BVDs. Pictures - easier blogging than actually writing something.

Painful Beauty
I'm now in possession of my new guitar. It is like Teri Hatcher's breasteseses on "Seinfeld:" spectacular. The quilting is deep-end-of-the-pool lush. Even if quilted maple is not the sound wood that flame maple is, this sweetheart sounds awfully good to me. The gold hardware, the "birds in flight" on the fretboard. That's not a sentence because I couldn't think of a sentence to wrap around those descriptions. Let's just agree that this as yet unnamed beauty is deserving of lavish praise.
So beautiful it hurts. Pictures will be posted.

Mashup
Here is a drop-your-groceries funny mashup of "Seinfeld" episodes with Michael Richards' stupid rant and even more idiotic apology. Enjoy.

How Exciting!
I got a call from my favorite guitar merchant. I have been expecting, as I've mentioned before, my next PRS by Q1'07. But something has come from the Wizard of Kent Island. It's a tad bit more than the axe (oh gor blimey! I'm not allowed to use that word until I actually play! sorry) I was expecting but I'll go for it anyway. I was expecting a Singlecut Trem Artist's Package in Emerald Green flame maple. The one that's in store is slightly different: it's a quilted maple top. My friend the guitar nazi tells me that quilted maple is not as good a tone wood as flame maple but quilted maple is so incredibly, unbelievably gorgeous, it defies belief. Here is one of the Private Stock models with a quilted top for your delectation. I link to a Private Stock model as I don't expect that link to rot. Keep in mind that what I expect to be mine will be a grassier green and shaped like a Les Paul. If that doesn't mean anything to you, you really should have skipped this post.
More details later including a picture. I'm preparing for my happy dance.

Endarkenment
Billy Beck is back, thank goodness. I hate to see a domain get into the hands of someone who doesn't deserve it. Especially when the domain is being used so well. Though I posted about his brief (as it turned out) submergence beneath the moist swells of the interweb, what I was carrying in my mind was how much I appreciate his continued dedication to illuminating the endarkenment. What specifically made me think of him, several days ago, was listening to Laura Ingraham's radio show which had a segment on Congressman Rangel's (D-Pinhead) call for a military draft.
We know that it's not going to happen as the military itself has come to the realization that a volunteer force makes a better army than a mass of conscripts. But someone, and here's where the ol' debil memory fails, took off on Rangel's idiocy to advocate universal "national service." And Ms. Ingraham (usually a smart cookie, though not nearly as smart as she considers herself) said something to the effect that she thought it would be a good idea! Service me selectively! "National service" is "involuntary servitude" with a FEMA team of cosmeticians and plastic surgeons to make it look pretty.
I'd really hoped this country had moved beyond any advocacy of slavery. And barring that, that someone as nominally conservative as Laura Ingraham would not be advocating such a stupid idea. Thus the endarkenment marches forward. We beat on, boats against the current. Let's just not suck civilization actually back into the past.

Noted In Passing
Billy Beck's Two--Four blog seems to have been hijacked at expiration. Even though it hasn't been overtaken but a day or two, I miss his uncompromising Libertarian, even Objectivist take on the endarkenment. Not to mention his fierce love of the 'lectrified gitbox. I was amused to see that he recently posted about what a kick-ass guitarist Brad Paisley is. Billy! What took you so long?
In any event, I hope he reclaims his territory soon.
Also, Insty 'n' the lovely Mrs. Insty's podcast with Orson Scott Card is not to be missed. Link goes to the mp3 version. Superb use of the medium. Heh. Indeed.

A Question Of Use
Is the phrase "tow the line" or "toe the line?" I believe a case can be made for either but it seems that the phrase, by origin. should properly be one or the other. I await your input.
UPDATE: Nailed it in one. Dale in comments provides an excellent link which I will not reproduce here so as to force you to read the comments. I entirely agree. "Toe the line" is the most logical phrase and, should I ever have reason to use it to use said phrase, that is the way it will appear. My thanks for the swift input.

Very Nearly The Last Post On Peppers
I have used almost all of the 4.25 lbs of jalapeno peppers in batches of pepper jelly and cranberry jalapeno jelly. I have peppers certainly for one more batch of pepper jelly and possibly two batches if I scale back on the 1/2 cup of them I've been using in the making. So I'll probably make one more full-strength batch and then a mild, final batch. I've gone through three cases of 1/2 pint jars, a half case of full pint jars as well as using all the loose jars I've accumulated in the course of buying things in jars worth saving. By which I mean the very cunning hexagonal jars in which Trader Joe's used to sell kalamata olive spread. I've had good reports on the pepper jelly and I tried the cranberry variety (based off a recipe for cranberry habanero jelly - ouch!) at Thanksgiving. Me likee. Cranberry and sweet with a nice glow in it. The final post will be a picture of all the jars of product when I'm done.
And there will be more hot peppers in the deck farm next year. Oh yes. Indeed there will.

Michael Richards And Me
I have no privity with Mr. Richards actually. But his latest stupidity in shouting modern America's one verboten word repeatedly on the stage of a comedy club does force me to recall an instance of my past involving a comedy club and the same word. Though when you go far enough back to encounter my brief stage appearance, it was just a bad word, not "The N Word" it has become today. Let's pick the year 1985 out of the bucket of years-gone-by as the date for this one. If it wasn't that year, at least it was close thereto. I worked at a bank that no longer exists, sucked into a series of mergers as is their wont these days. And I had a friend who was a very funny guy. He decided to throw some of his material on the wall to see if it stuck at an open-mic night at Garvin's comedy club in DC. I went along for moral support.
That being as it may, the Black MC of the evening, saw in me a prime target: a fat white boy asittin' amongst the audients. He pulled me up on stage to "teach me how to be Black." I went along. He had me follow him in some struttin' walks and then asked me "Can you say 'nigger?'" Well, of course I could but I didn't really want to. So I looked him in the eye and said, "And LIVE?"
Best laugh I ever got in a public setting. And the MC even laughed on it. He then let me go knowing that I could hold my own. He then went into introducing the tyros who'd signed up. Several people that I passed as I went back to my seat asked me if I were going on stage. I had nothing prepared so, of course, not. I missed a good chance to either become rich and famous or really screw up my life completely. Still and all, that's my experience with comedy clubs and the word that Kramer The Pinhead used to screw up his life completely.
Ha. I win.

The Non-Obligatory Music Post
Even as I type, sitting in my shopping cart over at Amazon is the Charlie Brown Christmas CD. I give myself a new CD of Christmas music every year and I finally realized that I was missing the UR-text of popular Boomer Christmas nostalgia. As soon as I assemble a few more items (why? free shipping of course! duh!), I will remedy my glaring omission. And it goes for a piddling seven bucks. Sweet mother of Dolly Madison snack cakes! That's about two bucks more than cost of materials.
But what music has crept in since last I posted? Little Feat's "Sailin' Shoes." Very possible one of the greatest albums of the early Seventies. At the very least, from one the greatest bands of the Seventies. Too bad Lowell George couldn't shake that China White monkey off his back. He was brilliant. And, like me, just too fond of the calories.
I've put the link to the Wikipedia page for a couple of reasons. First, because it tickles me that the album has its own page and secondly because the page is rich with links about the band and the disc. I am a strong believer that every music lover should have an extensive selection of Little Feat music upon which to call. Even the post-Georgian disc "Representing the Mambo" is well worth owning for just "Texas Twister" and the title track. Ah well, 'tis the fate of the artist to burn out lest he fade away. Lowell George is one that I wish could have stuck around a while longer.

One For The Memory Hole
A souvenir, as it were, of good times in the year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Six.

Hot Damn
Netflix has made my lady vampire dreams come true. "Underworld Evolution" divid for $7.00. Purchase - not rental. Mmmmm! Laaaady vaaammmpire!

Ha!
A pug video wins the $100,000 prize on America's Funniest Videos.
Damn skippy.

Old Rockers Never Die
I caught a few minutes of Robert Plant on PBS's "Soundstage" this evening. Good lord is he looking ravaged. In order to carry his looks he needs to weigh about 92 pounds. And he looks like he's been snacking on the bones of John Bonham as well as the corpses of Led Zeppelin songs for about the last two decades.
And to finish the title of this post: They just start to really suck.

Let Me Get This Straight...
The Democrats "New Direction" is McGovernment? The man who was buried by Nixon has now been disinterred. Shite. McGovernment - "We're pulling you out of Iraq and do you want fries with that?"

Lack Of Posting
Will continue for an indeterminate period. In fact, I'm seriously thinking of taking PoW dark for the rest of time. If I find the spark to post again, it will most likely be in a whole new blog. And there will be no pointer to the new one from this one. Of that, be assured.

More Great Ideas
I recently read a short piece in the noisepaper about "celebrity perfumes." The smell-in-a-bottle that has some movie or TV rent-a-skank on the label as if, say, Sarah Jessica Parker ("Lovely" - flag on the play! 15 yard penalty for inappropriate naming) suddenly found herself in a lab coat at International Flavors & Fragrances. Other "celebrities" - I swear that word alone is starting to make me vomit just a little in my mouth - in the article were Hillary Duff and Jennifer Loves Hertits.
I shouldn't neglect the fact that some men's packaged stinks come with the names of sports stars on them: Derek Jeter, Michael Jordan. Doesn't that just call up some aromatic images! Used athletic socks, stuffy locker rooms. Eeesh.
In any event, I though the perfume purveyors are missing at least one bet: a famed one-trick-pony Hollywood director of Indian extraction. I can picture it now ... "Introducing the the newest production from famed director M. Night Shamalamadingdong, 'The Sixth Scent.' Musky overtones of sandalwood and patchouli blossom and shimmer over a base note of rotting human flesh. Do you want to try it? Of corpse you do! Spray it on ... and expect a surprise ending...."
I should be getting paid for these flashes of brilliance.

What Else Have I Been Doing?

Making jelly of course. The background is part of the new baker's rack in the kitchen (by the way - "nice rack"). I had reason to sample a bit of it (left over from the third set of jars) and it's not nearly as hot as I'd like. I'll have to get some more jars and make some more. Man, I'll take any excuse to make more JELLEH!

So Far Behind
The posting as been light of late for a couple of reasons. I've had a house guest from out of state who is dealing with divorce issues in the DC courts. Since he comes to the local airport, I've been giving him the benefit of my digs and a trip to the Metro station on his court days. He's been a good guest and helped me out with a couple of projects that the other cause of my light posting has been impeding. Said cause being lower back grief that has been just ultra-mega annoying. I seem to be coming out of it now. Thank goodness.
My stinkin' back pain is also the reason I never got it together to carve this year's Dent-O-Lantern. The fault is mine and I will be abashed until I redeem myself next year.
And the final note in this apologia is simple: I (heart) atomic clocks. I have wanted a replacement wall clock for the battery-powered analog clock that I first put up in my bedroom for about the last year. I am easily awakened by sound and the ticking of the analog clock was enough to delay sleep. I really wanted an LCD clock that mimicked the analog display. But at (good old) Costco the other day I found an LCD atomic clock and, though it has a digital display, I got it. It's great! Date, time (with an incrementing dots around the perimeter display for the seconds), temperature, no need to set it, accurate to much-more-than-I-need-it-to-be. All in a lovely brushed stainless case. I'm thinking of getting another to replace the analog clock in the kitchen.

Heh Heh Heh
His Excellency Rodger Schlong over at Curmudgeonly & Skeptical posted a picture of an actual Jimmah Carter campaign T shirt that said "Not Just Peanuts." I thought it had a germ of truth and altered the picture which I then passed along to Der Schlongmeister. He liked it but them altered his original image much more elegantly than did I, who just erased letters instead of making ghosts out of them. Check it out.
Since I am talking about "History's Greatest Monster" (one thing the writers of "The Simpsons" got right), I have to post the following quote from Spinoza: "Those who are believed to be most abject and humble are usually most ambitious and envious."
I don't know the source of the quote as it was included in the page of quotations on humility that was on the final page of the June 19 issue of "Forbes." So, despite the lack of provenance, I can not think of a better capsule assessment of Jimmy Carter. His public face is faux humility when his reality is a burning anger if not hatred of those who do not follow him.

Alastair Ian Stewart
Perhaps you know him as the man behind "Year of the Cat" though he is indeed so much more. Proving old folkies never die (finish that as a joke any way you like), he is touring. And he will be in Reno, NV on May 10. Having made 2006 the Year Of Traveling To See Mike Cross, I need to go more extreme for the seventh year of the decade. Perhaps the Enigmatic Misanthrope would like to join me on a trip to the west to see a show? I'd like to see him in concert before he dies or I die. You never know.
I'd also like to note with no small degree of admiration that his website posts a full page of fan-generated tabs for his songs. In an era where guitar tab pages are being shut down by copyright threats, here is a man who provides them for his fans. Fantastic. Not to mention that his website provides "alumni" links to artists who've played with him. That, in my estimation, is a mark of greatness that a man can share a spotlight.
Plus, I finally realized that Peter White, one of those "alumni" who played guitar with Al in that period where I discovered his music (and thus my favorite period) is also the Peter White who played with the great Polish jazz singer Basia. That would be a Polish singer who sings jazz, not a singer who sings Polish jazz. I'm sort of doubtful that there is such a category of music. Or if there is, it's got a pretty limited repertoire.

Another Small Grace Note
Friends put me onto something at Costco. I've long been a fan of the Costco rotisserie chickens: larger, more flavorful and at least a dollar cheaper than those sold at the regular supermarket. (I almost wrote "grocery store." Has there been a "grocery store" in existence since Dobie Gillis worker for his dad?) Now I know what they do with the birds they don't sell. They make a kick-ass chicken soup. A good half gallon (I'm guessing here but it sure seems like two quarts) with good stock, big hunks of chicken that are still laden with flavor, carrots, celery and, though I avoided them, noodles all for ten bucks. This is for at least three meals worth of soup, I tell ya what.
Once again, Costco provides a delicious grace note on a chilly weekend.

Not That Anyone Cares
But it seems the next PRS won't be on the scene until sometime in late winter of early spring. Q1 '07 as it were. Now that I'm committed to it, it gets harder to wait. It's just sodam beautiful. Singlecut trem, artist's package in emerald green. Yeah, I know I said it before. Odds are I'll say it again before I actually have it.

Insert Resigned Sigh Here
My service call to the HVAC people has turned into one of "those" moments. I moved into a townhouse that was built about 15 years ago, give or take. And the equipment installed was "contractor (or builder) grade." In other words, of acceptable quality but not good enough that someone living in the house would necessarily opt for it. Except, of course, where raw cost is the operative factor.
This has caught up with me in several ways since I bought this place. I had new carpeting put in when I moved in - the old stuff was dingy off-white and the padding was mashed down to nothing. Then there was the new roof. Then there was the AC unit last year. Then the kitchen make-over with new floor, new range and new hood-mounted microwave. And was I ever glad to see the old range thing go!
And it catches up to me yet again. There is enough wrong with my old gas furnace that to merely fix it would cost one-third the cost of a new system and even then the fix would probably give me a couple of years. So, as soon as we get the timing worked out, I'll be having a new and vastly better furnace put in. Oh well. It would have been nice to not have to drop the ducats on it but at least it'll be new and efficient and I'll not have to worry about it for the remainder of my time here. Most likely.
On the other hand, the baker's rack looks pretty good.

Jalapenos (Yes - Again)
I made jalapeno pepper jelly today. Oh yum. I made it hot. Since I have so much of the makin's, I'll make more tomorrow but it'll be milder. I'll seed the peppers first and I'll only use the green ones. That should do it. The jelly I made today used both the red and green jalapenos. It's got a lovely confetti look to it. I'll post pics when the jars have set and been labeled.
Also my new kitchen furniture, the baker's rack to replace the corner shelves, arrived today so I'll be building that as I process more of the jelly. Y'know, this shite is fun!

Firefox 2.0
Well I'll be buggered. I've downloaded and installed the new release of Firefox and the tabbed browsing has been altered in such a way that the close button is on the tab itself and not over in the corner where I expect it to be. Apple's Safari browser has operated that way and I rather liked the way Firefox used to do it. But I'm not such an old BlogDog that I can't learn new tricks. There is a clever little drop-down arrow where the close button used to be that allows navigation among tabs. That could be useful.
Also spelling is being flagged as I type in Blogger. That may be a Blogger upgrade but I appreciate it. I'm an OK speller but a lousy tupiat ... typist. Sorry.
UPDATE: With Firefox, all things are (at least seem to be) possible. Here is a page with all sorts of tweaks to this most excellent browser. I've already changed my tab close button to its old familiar place on the right side of the tab bar.

I Do Like Me Some Coffee
I've coffeeblogged before. But now I'd like to draw your attention to Boca Java. If you like coffee too, you can get free samples from them at the cost of shipping. Go to the main page (click the link above) and click on the little radio and flag button at the top. Enter "Laura" in the ensuing text box as exceptional radio host and conserva-babe Laura Ingraham is advertising for BJ coffee (BJ? That's not right!). You can then select from several options and enter your credit card info for the cost of shipping. How can you beat that? (UPDATE with details: four 8oz. bags of coffee for the shipping cost of $9.95. Heck, I'll order coffee from them out of guilt for having torn into them with that offer. Or not.)
I'll report further when I get it.

General Notes
First, it definitely has made a turn for the cold. I sit here blogging in my "I am the big dog" sweat shirt in attractive sage green. Well, maybe not sage but I'll go with it for convenience of writing a specific color. And the heat in the house is not ... really on. I flipped the thermo to "Heat" and heard a sort of 'clunk' from the boiler room but then no action like fans spinning up to push warmthed air around. (Homer's brain: "Now look sad and say, 'D'oh.'" Homer: "D'oh.") Service call is now on tap for Thursday. Better to get this done before everyone in creation is calling the HVAC people.

Jalapeno peppers. Yeah baby, yeah! I harvested the plants and after giving a generous double handful to my good neighbors, I have 4.25 lbs of peppers! Yee hah! Time to buy pickling salt and mason jars. I may even make the pepper jelly tomorrow. Here's what 17 quarter pounds of peppers looks like (with an Apple mouse thrown in for scale):

Not The Review
Even though I promised a review of Emm Gryner's new discs, this is not it. That is, in mag trade parlance, a TK. However, I wanted to put in a pointer to an interview with Emm on CBC radio. Click the orange "PLAY" button to listen. The picture of Emm is an old one but, yes, she's that pretty. You can also hear that she has a wonderful speaking voice as well. You can also hear some of the music.
I strongly recommend the interview but I am self-confessed slavish fan. OK, so you aren't but give it a go anyway.

On Tap For Tomorrow
I finally get around to reviewing Emm's new "Summer of High Hopes" and the bonus disc "PVT" (said: "Private"). In a startling departure from my slavish devotion, I will be heartlessly dismissive of the latter while praising the former with great gusto.

Sweet!
I just got my cholesterol numbers from my doc. HDL 39, LDL 101, triglycerides 86.
And I'm going to bring them down!

Is There A Doctor In The House?
I recently had a mole removed and have three stitches at the excision. A week from tomorrow they should be good to go. I really don't think I need to go to the doctor's office to have them removed. A nice, clean pointy pair of scissors should do just fine. Anyone have any reason I shouldn't do this myself? Anyone? Bueller?

My Next Million Dollar Idea
Tofurkey exists. And, it sucks. We need a new non-meat turkey that will satisfy the gobbler gobbling public. And I'm working on it: "I Can't Believe It's Not Butterball." Sooooo goooood!

Things I Want To See
A contestant on "American Idol" sing "Dragostea din tea" (AKA the "Numa Numa" song).

This Dog Will Hunt
We welcome Angus to the fold. Alert, involved, concentrated and loved.
Could a human ask for more? Could a dog ask for more?

More PRaiSe
I'll be picked up and knocked right back down again. Here is a 2006 Swamp Ash Special in Blue Matteo which makes it just like mine except a year younger. I find the color of mine to be a lusher, deeper blue but look at the grain on that one in the eBay listing! Wow! Wow and a half. And the bidding started at $850. It's only up to $1,000 with 8 bids. It might turn out to be a real bargain. Anything less than $1,500 qualifies. Nice hunk of wood there.

Oh Yum!
I think we've entered the new "any soft drink you like can be flavored with cherry" era. And thank God for that. I am sucking down Black Cherry Citrus Fresca like the 8th Route Army is in Richmond and heading north.

The Turning Of The Earth
Yesterday the cold front came through. Ahhh, glory. I am in a sweatshirt for the first time this season and loving it. The air has that bite to it where it's not so cold that turning on the heat in the house is necessary but cold enough that pulling your hands into the sleeves of the shirt gives them a deliciously warm feeling. This is prime sleeping weather. The quilt is back in action. I want to make a big pile of quilt on top of me and swim thorugh the night in that warm pool of self-generated heat.
The colors are starting come on around here as well. As I was stopped at a light yesterday I realized I was looking at tree in the full flush of its fall color. One bright blaze of red and golden brown amidst a generally green scrim. The season is starting and I can't wait for the frost to hoar the ground. Time to harvest the peppers and get ready to undo the Earthboxen for the nonce. Such is the turn of the season. Autumn. Glorious autumn.

Today's Woot
I am, I believe I've said before, a big fan of Woot's "one day, one deal" deals. Today they're offering a new sage-colored Roomba with all the fixin's for $150 and the usual $5 for shipping. If you've wanted automatic vacuuming, this is a deal that's hard to turn down.

Medical News
I went to Johns Hopkins to have them look at the pain I was having in my wrist. They said I had 500 broken bones. I said, "In my wrist?" They said that's what their survey determined.

Watching Tee Wee
Watched "Lost" again last night. Oh! I so hate the Others. I am now hoping that the Lostaways get to the point where they very painfully and slowly kill all the Others.
And tonight "CSI: Lost Wages" is on and some moh-ron at CBS thought it would be a good idea to put Cletus Federline on as a "guest star." It is a show I usually watch. Not tonight. My hatred expands to fill the available moronity.

More Green Nonsense
I read a little AP article entitled "Wet area studied for wine" in today's Washington Times. I like wine. I'm greatly pleased at the strides made in wine production in the United States. Heck, about 20 years ago some friends and I had a party to try wines produced in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia. They weren't very good. In fact a couple were actually pretty bad. Now, however, I could serve you a Virginia wine that would belong on any table in the world.
I say all this to establish my bona fides as to why I read the article and to provide cover for myself before I launch into the idiocy.
The background on this is that in Washington state, the "vast majority" of grape production is in the "hot, dry eastern" part of the state. However: "Now, Olympic Cellars owner Kathy Charlton has commissioned a study aimed at refuting the notion that good wine grapes can't be grown on the wet side of the Cascade Range and finding a valuable crop to preserve farmland under increasing development pressure."
Oh GMAFB! I don't find that there's any shortage of grape growing land in the drier eastern regions but some damnable effete vineyard owner pays good money to "prove that wine grapes" can be grown in less than the best available conditions and secondarily ot "preserve farmland." Bullflop. Most crops can be grown in less than ideal conditions. I could not be more certain that it's the "preservation" of farmland that drives this study. This is one of the great greenie chimeras of modern times. If farmland were the best economic use of the land, the land would be farmed. "Development pressure" is demonized as "sprawl" when it's actually an expression of the desire of people to live in homes of their own choice. The same debate is raging in my home county of Loudoun (which I call with great affection "LoCo") and the same bullcrap arguments are being made.
I sometimes think that if the "environmentalists" have their way, people will herded into ultramega dense housing (with all the concommitant problems) so that the annointed can enjoy the "open," "unspoiled" land that is owned by someone else and which has had its value stripped from it by governmental fiat. If you want to "protect" land, buy it. At least the Nature Conservancy got that much right.

One Of The Best Trompe L'oeil Evar!
An elevator floor that's not. I consider myself a rational person but I'm pretty sure I would have a real moment of panic before I stepped on that!

(Hat tip: Noodle Food)

New Goodies
I've been ordering things like a madman lately. Egad it's fun! Here's an example: the Weber Q 100 grill. It arrived today and, since there was little to assemble, I had it together in about ten minutes. Five, if I'd had a screwdriver to hand but that was only to put the handle on. I need to get some propane cylinders so I may be grillin' tomorrow night if the weather doesn't conspire against me (mumble, mumble fargin' fall rain mumble). Of course, now that I have a gas grill, I need to get some of Costco's most excellent steaks so I can christen the lovely, heavy cast iron grill plate. Maybe some shrimp too, hmmm (pondering) yeah shrimp.
I ordered a new "welcome" mat for the front door that does not say "WELCOME." The personalization will take a while. But I did get the first installment of what I ordered along with the mat - the corner unit of Brookstone's "Modular Swedish Shelving." I only have the uprights at the moment from which I can tell that the pine wood doesn't coördinate perfectly with the bamboo floor but it's close enough to get by. Also, it just might solve the problem of the corner of the kitchen that needs light in a big way. I'll blog it up a bit further when it comes together.
What else can one order these days? Boxer shorts (link entirely safe), shoes. Of course I also got a new chair mat though I had to go to Staples to get that. But there are those instances when you have to actually go to the store and grab hold of what it is you want to buy. And I needed to know that the chair mat I was buying was better than the one that surrendered to the pressure of my large frame as transmitted by the five points of chair casters. It seems to be a good mat ("limited lifetime warranty" whatever the heck that means) and I spent a good hour trimming the thing to fit the leg hole of my desk. Leg hole. There has to be a real name for that.
Sorry for all the quotidian fooraw but I just wanted to yak about the details of life.

Pugs Are Smarter Than You Might Think
Even pug puppies. I think I'll call the little goober in the link "Zeitgeist the Pug."

Halloween Prep
It is time to start. Now. Planning your pumpkin now gives you the chance to make some thing truly outrageous or even extreme. I've already locked in my concept for the Dent-O-Lantern for my dentist's office. No, no hints. But I will post pictures when it's done.
I'm also planning to try some new stuff so I may have pix of a few to post in a couple of weeks. I may not be artistically gifted but I have been known to crank out some fun Jack-Os.

Songs Of PRaiSe
A return to the fertile field of the Swamp Ash Special. This one is presented for your delectation primarily because the price is dead cheap - $900 with one bid. It's in a fairly conventional burst finish. It may be cherry burst but I don't know the PRS colors particularly. In any event, a nicely presented burst. And a nicely flamed maple neck though the dot fret markers are nothing to write home about. Gotta love me some PRS birds fret markers. Even better are the "birds in flight" fret markers but that's a story for another day. Even with all my quibbles, this has got to be the best price on an SAS I've yet seen on eBay.
UPDATE: If you want to see just how insane PRS can get, here's a $28,000 Double Dragon. Click through - check the detail on the inlay. Just pure mental illness.

Old Age Is Not For Wimps
When I was young, I wanted to be an astronaut.
Nowthat I'm old and far too acquainted with OTC medication, I've almost realized that ambition. I've become an asprinaut.

From Weakness To Weakness
There will be light to intermittent posting for the next couple of days. After having my wrist act up with a pinched nerve the other day, today I've full-blown carpal crapal going on. I tend to ride my right arm to compensate for my bad hip and it seems to have caught up with the wrist. It hurt more last night than it does today so perhaps that's a sign that it won't be troubling me long. Fingers cross OW! ed.

Sunday Morning
It is a beautiful day here in Northern Virginia. After a couple days of grey skies, rain that ranged from pelting down to drizzling, we have glorious clear skies and warming sunshine. This is the reverse to the obverse of what Lycurgus calls (and not incorrectly) "Virginia weather." It's why he lives in Florida. I, on the other hand, find the Florida sun just flays me. Stake me out on anthill or put me in the Florida sun on a summer day: I can't choose one over the other.
But, as I said, it is gorgeous early autumn and iTunes has just shuffled up Karen Carpenter singing "I Believe You." It's enough to accent one's heart beat with a frisson of delight. That clear, perfect voice coming in sweet and pure after some rock 'n' roll that's good but nowher near sweet. A tiny little grace note on a day that I'm hoping turns into one long chord of grace.
Still my desk calls me to take care of paper I've managed to pile up like icebergs waiting to sink the Titanic of my happy disposition. Ha! Not today. I will write a couple of letters. I will balance my checkbook. I will send off some papers relating back to the Atlantic Cycling ride in Thurmont, MD. My friend the Guitar Nazi (AKA Heinz Guderian as noted in a previous post) will be coming over to teach me something this afternoon. And Lord knows, I needs me some teachin'. My only hesitation is that I haven't figured out what I'm going to do for lunch and dinner. Maybe I need a restocking trip to Costco for such exciting things as salad, broccoli florets, steak and salmon. Yeah. That sounds good. Though I guess dinner will be with the entire Guderian family at my local Sweetwater Tavern. Better than Outback even. And that's high praise in my book for a steakhouse.
One final note: Anywhere But Here has Kris's pix from the Texas State Fair. They're a treat. Drop by and take a look. I may have to go to that shindig one of these years.

I Don't Know About You
But I'm going to do my level best to see Jake tomorrow night over on the Eastern Shore. He's a talent. Support your local folk singer! Ya heartless bastages, ya!
UPDATE: After picking up my houseguest at the local Metro station in the early afternoon and hearing that traffic was already starting to krep up (at 1:30!!!) in the rain, I decided that spending about two hours in rain and heavy Beltway traffic was not really what I wanted to do. So I didn't go see Jake. I'm deeply, deeply abashed.

And Then, Everything Changes
"Lost" returned last night. Yowsa. I have the feeling JJ Abrams and crew can keep this one going for about a decade after all the changes they sprung last night.
Be sure to visit humpys.net for all your Lost spoilerage and easter egg deconstruction.

News In The News
Katie Couric seems to be taking the term "anchor woman" just a bit too literally.

I'm Probably Late To This Party
I just watched 8 and a half minutes of Google video on David Hartwig and his wonderful dog Skidboot. Now of course Pugs Of War is very dog-centric but if you've never heard of, or seen these remarkable guys in action, click the link and watch the vid. It will make you smile. It makes me want to speed up the schedule to acquire a dog.
And congratulations to my erstwhile fellow blogger Paul and his lovely wife who have recently acquired Angus to add to their family. I'll finagle a pic of the newest member of the PoW family for you shortly.

Stupid Pun Of The Day
How do pirates design comfort into their ships?
Yarrrggghh!onomics.

As Peter Lorre Said
"I can't help what I do!" I have committed myself to a new PRS Singlecut Trem, artist package in Emerald Green. No word on when the shop will get it in but it was ordered in February so I suspect that it won't be too awfully long before it arrives. I feel like Hitler and PRS guitars are sections of the European mainland. Everytime I take one chunk, I'm sure my ambitions are satisfied. Then the desire starts all over again. Unlike Hiltler, I can stop at the Russian border. I may have to start calling my friend Bill "Heinz Guderian."
That being as it may, Heinz told me that the rumor is that starting in '07, PRS is going to institute minimum pricing. This won't have any impact on eBay price (maybe some upward pressure) but dealers will not be selling PRSes with the discounts they're giving now. I'm lucky enough to be piggybacking my purchase off the buying and selling of a collector who is known at the better guitar shops in the DC area. When you're with someone who buys many high-end guitars, you can get a better deal. And I think I got a darn good one.
Here is a page of reviews of this particular guitar by people who know better what they're talking about than I. Looks like a rather nice instrument.

A Bit Of Healing
My idiot right wrist has given up on torturing me. I should probably have the doc look at it a some point. The ulnar nerve that runs over the outside of the carpal bones (near that bulge that I think is the at the end of the ulna) gets mashed up sometimes which isn't terribly painful but it is annoying when I use my hand. If I ball up my hand into a fist and try to flick inwards (as if knocking on a door), the nerve will free up and not hurt at all. But it takes repeated tries to fully loosen it up. Which I've finally done here at the shank of the day. So regular blogging (hmm, that sounds a bit too much like "being regular" ... in more ways than I care to think about) will resume tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.

Oh Bugger
I was intending to blog a fair bit today but I am dealing with a pinched nerve in my right wrist which makes typing troublesome. I'll blog up mucho gabble-gabble when I manage to pop the wrist joint loose.

The Last Footy Post For 2006
I watched the Premiership final last night (taped delay of course) between the West Coast Eagles and the Sydney Swans. It was a great game. The Weagles jumped out to a 25-30 point lead which they held into the third quarter at which point Sydney pushed back to bring the match very nearly even. But at the end, the Eagles managed to beat the Swans by a single point. It was not only a stirring match from the excellent on-field play but this grand final was a re-match of last year's grand final where Sydney prevailed. There's something encouraging about seeing a team that came so close the previous year win it all at the next go.
It was a revelation to watch West Coast captain Chris Judd play. I don't think I've ever seen a player who could bull the footy out of a crowd of people as well. He's fast, he's strong and a great player to watch. Though I believe the commentators mentioned that he has a dodgy shoulder from a youthful injury. Sorry to hear that. Judd strikes me as the kind of player that footy is all about - tough, smart, aggressive. This game is so much better than what the NFL puts on.
Unfortunately for me, the Collingwood Magpies were taken out pretty convincingly by the in the first playoff round by the Western Bulldogs. But it was an up year for the Magpies so I look forward to the coming season. Now I'll have to content myself with watching the abomination that American football has become for the next few months. (sigh) Oh well. Things could be worse.

A Quick Note For The Weekend
First and most exciting, I got to meet Kim du Toit. He was (more or less) in town holding a Shooting Trail event at Clark Bros. gun store and shooting range. Clark's is technically in Opal, VA but it's really just outside of Warrenton. The event was a "teaching women to shoot event" though, apart from Kim's Missus, there was only one member of the distaff side by the time it got under way.
Why did I go? I have had two old rifles, a Remington of possibly WWI vintage and a Japanese Arisaka, that my father had and ignored for as long as I can remember. Thus, they had no emotional signifigance for me. Had my father ever told me about them, provenance and his connection to them, I may have been inclined to have them cleaned up and actually use them. But without any deep conneciton to them, I thought that I would give them to Kim who is, after all, the founder of the Nation of Riflemen, a true aficionado of old rifles and a staunch proponent of the Second Amendment. I gave the rifles to him. I did ask that he send me a signed copy of one of his books in exchange.
He was busy with a small crowd when I arrived and my lower back was still giving me grief (as it will from a trip and nights on a different bed) so I didn't stay long at all. Had I prepared, I would have brought my folding chair, ear and eye protection and enjoyed the festivties a bit. He was entirely gracious and I would have liked more time to converse with him. Still, a great experience to meet him.
That said, I made it a point to gas up about ten miles outside Warrenton. $1.94! (OK, OK $1.94.9) And this time it's not a typo. A solid nickel under $2 a gallon. I blame George Bush.

Songs of PRaiSe
I've tended to link up PRS guitars on eBay that are the same models as those I have. With the exception of the Santana SE which is, for all its beauty, the entry-level model from Paul Reed Smith. I break with that tradition here to show you an absolutely stunning Singlecut in violin amber with a blazingly flamed 10 top, a gold anodized stoptail bridge, the PRS signature birds fretboard inlays and, remarkably, a solid Brazilian rosewood neck and fretboard. Whoa. If I read the serial number correctly, it's a 2001 manufacture. If there is one PRS I'd like to add to the collection, it's a Singlecut (link goes to the PRS site). But I find it hard to pony up $4K for one on eBay even if it's a mint, unplayed unit with all the "case candy" (see the first picture in the set for what the term entails).
Take a look at the picture of the reverse of the headstock. That dark rosewood set off against the McCarty pegs looks amazing. Even the truss rod cover is rosewood! That's hard core. The bidding only goes on for anther two hours and there are no bids as yet. The collector who' selling this may have over priced it. Frankly, if this were about a grand less, I'd be sorely tempted.
UPDATE: Here's another Singlecut listed by the guy from whom I bought Holly. It has much to recommend it: a tremelo bridge (me likee - no good reason), a good but not exactly blazing 10 top, the anniversary "birds in flight" inlays which are extremely cool and a price that is a lot easier to swallow. Nuts. I really don't need another PRS. But I want one.

Return Trip, Part The First
I usually make the drive to and from Florida in a one-day, 15 hour drivefest. It's a long day but not as agonizing as one might think inasmuch as I have a very comfortable seat in the Outback and an iPod interface that lets me play BlogDog Radio all the way home. But this trip was different both ways. The trip down was broken by the Mike Cross show at the Randy Wood Guitar Shop and concert space. I'll get into that later. And yeah - it was great.
The trip up was broken at the same place (Pooler, GA) for a variety of reasons. The Holiday Inn Express in which Lycurgus and I stayed after the show was a great hotel - new, clean, comfortable. It could be less expensive but that is true of any number of things from phone service to Maserati Quattroportes. Since my departure from the Lycurgus compound was complicated by a difficult load out, we decided it made more sense to leave later and break the trip. So I didn't hit the road until 10am versus the, say, 6am I'd leave for the one-day drive. And it was a lovely day to drive.
With the exception of the farging love bugs. By the time I refilled the tank, I thought the sun was setting early. Turns out it was just a haze of bug guts on the windshield. My sole consolation is that while they were annoying me, I was killing them.
And where was I when I was filling up? Brunswick, GA of course. "Of course" because stopping for barbecue at the GA Pig (exit 29 east of I-95) is a necessary thing. I blogged it before. Just killer chopped boston butt pork barbecue. Killer. Also, there are several gas-em-ups at the same stop which have very attractive rates. I filled up with gas at $2.17. Well, $2.17.9 I suppose since they always play that little game. But still - least I'd paid for gas in quite a while.
Then, an easy cruise up the interstate to the Savannah area and into the hotel by 5pm. Easy peasy. And my first day was done.

Home
Doesn't that say a lot in just one word? I'll do a bit of travel blogging tomorrow as I ramp up the blather quotient.

The Post Where I Become A Food (non)Critic
In a previous post, I mentioned Farlow's restaurant and gave them a link because they have a web presence. Unfortunately, there is no web presence for the next restaurant that gets the full thumbs up. It is the Zydeco Grille on Placida road in charming Englewood, FLA. Last night's late dinner was a cup of crawfish and sausage gumbo and a plate of "Mardi Gras Crab and Shrimp" which was the specified seafood and asparagus pieces in a deep red sauce heavy with sun-dried tomatoes. (For someone who claims to not like tomatoes, I sure do like me them candy-sweet sun dried ones.) I couldn't even finish the main dish after pushing some off on Lycurgus who opted for the (big) bowl of the same gumbo. I tried my friend Elaine's cajun chicken dish and it was wonderful. It's almost a shame that she and shellfish are at loggerheads since the bayou contry food is so full of the fruits de mer. Still, I'd get that chicken myself without a moment's hesitation.
After dinner the owner, Joan Sambucci, stopped by our table to schmooze a while. And I say "schmooze" because she's a New Yorker by origin. We didn't get into the permutations that led her to be running a creole restaurant on the Gulf Coast but her enthusiasm was evident. Let's just say this: she's nearly as much of a treat as the food. I say nearly because I am a foodoholic after all. I need more foodohol.
I'll be going back for lunch there on Saturday as Lycurgus and his other half are off for the day on their necessary errands leaving me to lounge around and relapse ... sorry, relax. I think a nice cajun meal in the middle of the day will just be the ticket.
So, to repeat the important part: Zydeco Grille. If you are on the central Gulf Coast of Florida, make it a point to have something there. You will walk out with a smile on your face.

I Am Not Dead
Although my blog posting doesn't exactly reflect that. I am still fighting my hideous fungal attack and stand on the verge of victory! Take that ya mycorrhizal bastages! I am also down in lush Florida enjoying such things as boat rides and a dinner of barramundi (Australian snook according to Farlow's restaurant).
So I'll be back later here on PoW.

Five Years On
Feeling sorry for oneself becomes an excercise in gross self-absorbtion when confronted with the enormity of the evil that was done to America on 9-11-01. I watched the morning shows this morning and felt myself coming to tears at the reading of names of those lost in the World Trade Center. I am not particularly a sentimentalist but with what we know now, it is heart-breaking that these innocents, these civilans, were put to fire by a rampant evil that seeks to drown the world with fire by proxy. An evil that doesn't even have the nerve to stand and fight honorably for their dreams of world domination.
We may no longer be in what John Kennedy called the "long, twilight struggle" but we are certainly in a new struggle that appears to be longer still and just as poorly illuminated. In the next decade, there will be many deaths. We have to have the resolve that we can accept the loss of of some of our greatest for the ultimate destruction of the worst that rage against us. They are cowards who wrap themselves in the mantle of God. And they must be defeated.

It Would Seem
Apart from this, I lied. But it was an unintentional lie.

There Will Be More Blogging
Soon. This weekend I expect. My hideous state is under control but today my right hip (the "good" one, ha!) feels as though something has gone terribly, terribly wrong in there. Let's cross our fingers and hope against avascualr necrosis of the femoral head.
UPDATE: Hurts like holy hell. Something has definitely gone south in the pelvic region. And yet. And yet: I managed to hobble into the shower this morning and I'm walking slightly better with ach iteration. Even though I'm leaning on a walking stick and bent over at the waist. I think I'll be looking into a hip replacment sooner rather than later.

Not Dead
But still not healthy. I am mending but will be off from blogging for another few days while healing progresses. Thanks for the notes to all who e-mailed.

Sick
No blogging forthe next few days. I've got some thing that's just way too gross to go into. Think Cruex and you're on the right track. But there's ever so much more to it than that. Dip me a vat of cortisone cream and nuke whtever has found its way into me and I'll start to feel better. Not to mention the sunburn from AtlanticCycling support. Oh Lord, just kill me now. I promise I won't complain.
Sorry. Didn't mean to get into it.

Just A Grace Note For The Weekend
I was come over all of a sudden with a desire for blueberry pie so I went to my favorite purveyor of pies. I had a lovely lunch of the "Thnakgsgiving sandwich" (turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce on choice of bread. And a cinnamon roll. I had a piece of the pie at home later. I was only disappointed in that there were no deviled eggs to be had there. I love deviled eggs.
Still, I have consumed comfort food. And the pie was (is) absolutely fantastic.

Another Great Name For The Collection
Tamsin Grieg. She's a British actress who is featured in BBC America's short serial "Love Soup." She is, in my estimation, the quintessential image of the woman who is referred to as "handsome" and it's not meant in any way as a slight. She has a lovely, low-key (at least in "Love Soup" it may be part of her character) voice and a sort of hesitating style of movement as if she never approaches the central point of the scene directly. She implies where it is without having to be in the center of it. Yet the central wouldn't be there without her acting style creating it.
She is enjoyable to watch and she has another great name. Add her to my previous selections: Botti Bliss and Tierney Thys.

Self Aggrandizement
A transient thought alit amongst the bare branches of my mind long enough for me to recognize it. Bloggers love traffic. We want those counters to click over like the digits on a gas pump. Does it makes sense, then, to pull one's blog into one's real world?
The thought I had was blog "business" cards. Instead of telling people: "I blog. Visit www.pugsofwar.blogspot.com or Google the term 'Pugs of war," I hand them a business type card that says: "I blog!" and gives the contact details. Is this over the top? Is it presumptuous and self aggrandizing? And even if it is, is it unwarranted self aggrandizement?
Leave a comment, let me know what you think. I really want to know.

My Friend The Enigmatic Misanthrope
Let me start by saying that the EM came into my high school class many years ago as the quintessential outsider. Yet we fell into a fast friendship when I approached him about the track spikes he was wearing in gym class. I'd never seen track spikes before and I thought they looked really cool. In any event, I was thrown back to those most irritating of salad days by a commercial I saw on TV. I won't say what the commercial was for but it reminded me of one of the EM's contributions to that hoariest of school traditions, the "Senior Wills."
The Enigmatic One willed to a socially ... what do I say, not "outcast" but perhaps "misfit" classmate of ours: "A woman who would not make his pores slam shut." Odds are the legacy was never realized but it still makes me laugh to this day. The man has a perverse and fascinating sense of humor.
I didn't clear this post with him beforehand because I figure the "Senior Wills" were about as public a thing as our little class put out. And I have, in the past, extended him an invitation to blog here on PoW. As yet, he declines.

Upcoming Music
I had it in my mind that the superb Carbon Leaf was getting to the point of releasing a new disc so I cruised over to the web site (a permanent fixture on the sidebar of course). I suggest you do the same. They offer a stream of the songs on "Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat." Listen. These guys are sharp, talented and write terrific music. And buy the disc when it come out! Dang ye! Support these guys. They deserve it.

Movin' To The Country
My favorite purveyor of peaches has Loring freestone yellow and New Jersey white peaches currently for sale and I must say these two varieties may be the best of the season. The Loring are flavorful and the term "freestone" hardly does them justice. Cut open the peach and the pit will fall out of its own volition. How conVEENient! And the flavor of the New Jersey is just top notch. I wish someone would make a white peach sorbet. That sort of perfume-y delicate flavor with a sort of vanilla overtone is just ... well, if you've had a good white peach, you know what I'm talking about.
And speaking of crops, I made another step toward the pepper jelly. The recipe calls for liquid fruit pectin and all I could find at my local Safeway was powdered pectin. I bought a couple of boxes but I wanted what the recipe called for. So (stop me if you've heard this from me before) I searched Amazon now that amazon is doing groceries. Bingo! And I bought some Zatarains gumbo mixes to get free shipping. I like gumbo. I really should learn how to make it myself.

Rodentia Morituri
I was crusing around Amazon, looking for innovative and fun ways to nuke the rat bastid on my deck when I noticed one of those interweb things that just would never happen without modren computators. On the page that the search string "rat poison" pulled up, one listing is in the so-called "sponsored links" is "Get Poison Ringtones."
I think they're missing my point.

Pugs Of War Welcomes The Dog Days Of Summer
Today is a Norwegian Buhund - affectionate, compact and hard-working.
The pug would exchange butt-sniff greetings while admiring his new friend's cobby body and elegantly curled tail.

A Final Post For The Day

Nuts!
I wanted to be able to post a pic of the snapped spine of a rat bastid. Instead, I just have a tripped rat trap and no rodent to go with it. Bastage!
On the other hand, I bumped a pepper plant during watering and a pepper fell off. I take that as sign it was ready. Still no blushing though. Just a very pale jade green color to the peps. If I can pull my act together on Saturday, I might pluck enough produce to try to cook up a round of the pepper jelly.
I saved several clever hexagonal jars from Trader Joe's and I made up a label for them. Hey, I might as well show it off:

Pugs Of War Welcomes The Dog Days Of Summer
Today is a Swank - a peculiar breed in the working group that has inexplicably won Best In Show twice.
The pug, in a rare circumstance, would not exchange butt-sniff greetings but stroll away laughing.

"Star Trek" Inspirational Posters
Just go there and look at three pages of rib-ticklin' goodness.
The work speaks for itself. Anything I would say is just gilding the lilly.

And oh yeah, since these are posters, consider this also the final poster of the day.

In These Parlous Times
I have to ask myself one question:


(Who is Michael Garibaldi?)

Valedictory
The superb columnist John Leo has penned his final column and I just want to take note of it to memorialize the end of one part of a great career. I worked with John when I was at "US News & World Report" and he was a wonderful person to work with. He is a gentleman, he was probably the most widely recognized moderate conservative pundit in the weekly newsies and he deserved the recognition. His intelligence was active. His sense of humor was excellent and he treated the trench workers with grace and good cheer.
I hope his new endeavors will bring him great pleasure.

Browse With The Best
I am an ardent proponent of Firefox so I have to include a link to the Firefox crop circle made by the OSU Linux Users Group. Bravo!

And By The Way
Head on over to Gradual Dazzle and scroll down to Kris's Monday photos from the Dallas Farmers' Market. Just gorgeous. I want me some a them okra pods! And the cukes. And the .... Well, you get the idea. Even the broccoli is beautiful.

Pugs Of War Welcomes The Dog Days Of Summer
Today is a Catahoula Leopard Dog - versatile, energetic, hard working and requiring a lot from the owner.
A pug would exchange butt-sniff greetings but not if it's going to take a lot of effort to do so.

A Final Post For The Day

These Things Happen
Inauspiciously, the Atlantic Cycling website is in hock. Changes in the background meant the webmaster thought the registration was re-upped when it actually hadn't been. D'oh! So we are webless for a bit before the upcoming Easton, MD ride. Too bad - it's a great ride.

Pugs Of War Welcomes The Dog Days Of Summer
Today is a Lowchen - a spunky, foofy son of a Bichon (maybe cousin of a Bichon) that likes being a lapdog.
The pug would exchange butt-sniff greetings with suspicion that his new friend is trying to horn in on his territory: the human lap.

A Final Post For The Day
Call it a "reknewel post."

TV Tonight
I have studiously avoided commenting on Hell's Kitchen save for an early comment that I thought Heather was the leading contender. Obviously, my instincts were good. She's one of the final two. But as much of a fan of Gordon Ramsay as I am, I find this incarnation of HK to be of poor quality. I want haute cuisine from Gordo and he's given me The Olive Garden. I'm almost tempted to say Applebee's but I would never insult him so greatly.
I am deeply suspicious of the selection of chefs this time around. I could easily see several (well, a couple at least) of the first season's combatants as running their own restaurants. I don't have that confidence of any of this year's crew. Not that they are without talent. But to take the last three. Heather still strikes me as the most likely to put together the full package of capital-C Chef. But her over-emotional reaction to some situations leaves me a bit flummoxed. There was a competition where the chefs made lunches for construction workers who then selected their favorites. Heather's menu was the least favorite. Her crying breakdown was embarrassing.
Virginia, who seems to have won way more than her share of challenges, was manic depressive. Swoop way up then crash way down. "Oh I can't do this! ... Yes I can!" Oy. She demonstrated an excellent palate but seemed to have massive difficulty every time she actually ran a station in the kitchen. And she can not just shut up! For someone who showed a lot of pluck in surviving, when she was in social sitiuations, she was practically unable to form a thought. The mouth ran way faster than the brain methinks. That said, if Virginia had about two years of Gordon's tutelage, I think I would love to be in her restaurant.
And finally, that Chunk-looking jackass, Keith, or "K-Grease" as he liked to call himself. (And I was tempted to call him "Dim" instead of Chunk.) He really seemed to have an inside track on the win until he got just way too over-confident at the challenge. Where to begin? He wears his underwear showing in the kitchen because "That's the way I rock it." Oh fer whigger moronitude. And he persistently told other contestants that he would do something for them, like select them to go along on a challenge win, and then not do it! Oh come on! Have some integrity. I thought he might win until I flipped over into absolute hatred. Ramsay told him that he could cook but having seen him in action, I would not go to a restaurant run by Keith.

OK. I'm done with the post before the final show is done. I guess I hope Heather wins.
UPDATE: Winner, winner, chicken dinner! I hope she is a great success.

New On The 'Roll
I've added The Daily Gut to the blogroll. I can't help it. The combination of snark and really funny stuff is irresistible. I used to be that funny.

Crop Report
What would PoW be without a report from the Deck Farm? (A lot less boring -Ed.) Ed, I've told you before - shut up!
Tomatoes are starting to come off in greater numbers. But I discovered that there is a rat bastid bastid rat eating my produce. I thought it might be a squirrel but I stepped out to water yesterday and I saw that damned hairless tail following a skedaddling rodent. I now have a rat trap and I'm going to set it up this evening. A trip to the grocery for some peanut butter is called for. I wouldn't mind if it were one tomato here and there. But this little scuzzball has eaten at least five of them and has chomped into at least as many more. Its life is now forfeit.
And just damn. If it had been a squirrel, I would have been able to make a meal out of it. I ain't eatin' no got dam rat.
Moving right along.... Peppers. The jalapenos are coming on like gangbusters. I have another one sitting on my kitchen table and handed off two to my nice new next-door neighbors who moved early this year from Texas. Thank goodness I have good neighbors on one side! I'm going to let the hot peppers stay on plant for a while to see how they develop. But I'm seriously going to make the pepper jelly from them. Though I'm not going to put food coloring in it. That's just cheap.
And finally, the bell peppers. I picked the first two. I have to double check the type I ordered as the peppers are a very pale green. Almost a yellow-green. It's entirely possible that they need more on-plant maturing but the first two that developed had a dark spot in the bottom middle, where the flower was. I thought it prudent to pick them in case the bad spots were intent on taking over the whole pepper. I ate one and I have to say that it was a little under done. The other I gave to the aforementioned neighbor.
I may have selected the wrong bell pepper seeds. I prefer a nice, deep green bell pepper. But I'm willing to see what happens. After all, I have 10 of the plants. Oh and they are just all over with growing bells. Oh yeah.
UPDATE: I took the bell pepper too early. I have the Sweet Pepper Blushing Beauty Hybrid. Please follow the link to see the picture. They are indeed a yellow bell which goes red on maturing. These guys are going to get pretty. I seem to have an affection for stylish produce.

Pugs Of War Welcomes The Dog Days Of Summer
Today is an Alapha Blue Blood Bulldog - protective, sturdy, muscular and a great companion.
The pug would exchange butt-sniff greetings while realizing that this is the dog he wants to be when he plays pug-based first person shooter games.

Down Time
PoW will be dark a couple of days. My lower back is completely blown out for what reason I know not. I'm going to track down the very bestest pain killers i have in the house and try to get this to ease up.
Dang but getting older hoovers like madness.

Changes
You'll note a few changes in the template. Colors of sideheds, slight changes in sidehed size, addition of a permanent link to the Paul Reed Smith site. Nothing earthshaking. Let me know if you think they're improvement, eh?
Actually, I'd like to make the sideheds the green color of the tag line. Anyone care to weigh in on that idea?

How Much Good News Can One Stand?
First, the knives. In a word: Su-frickin-perb. Nicely formed handles lie well in the grip while cutting. The blades are wonderfully sharp - I sliced with ease through the tomato skin that usually resists a non-serrated knife blade. On the sharpening steel, they hone with that ever-so slight tug of resistance that shows the steel is having an effect. The steak knives have a sort of scimitar-ish upcurve that is not my favorite but that's a very minor quibble. And the "tower" (not block) works perfectly too. It fits under the cabinets on the counter and when it tilts forward, all the knives are free to draw out without bumping the cabinet bottom. I had to position my previous knife block forward of the backsplash in order to draw the longer knives freely. Last but not least is that the top of the tower is a flat space on which I can put some pot holders.
Sweet!
What else is good? The pepper. Oh baby! I thinly sliced that fellow pictured below and put it on the tomato I was cooking for my morning eggs. Woo hoo! Wonderfully, perfectly hot. Enough heat to wake up the entire mouth and yet not so overwhelming that I couldn't eat a whole pepper mixed into two eggs. I'm loving the crops I tells ya!