Saturday, July 12, 2008
Another Helpful Hint
When your parents tell you not to climb on, or jump off of the tree in your backyard, they probably have a good reason. If you don't believe them, you will only find out for yourself, the hard way.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
In case you were wondering....
...yes, if you happen to be on the Wii Fit, getting some exercise, and you suddenly feel the urge to go to the bathroom, but you are in the middle of being weighed and couldn't wait and you accidentally pee on the Wii Balance Board....it's ok. The Board can take it. Wipe it up, and it still works.
I'm just saying, in case you were wondering.....
I'm just saying, in case you were wondering.....
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Farmer's Market
When you want to go to a Farmer's Market in the Bay Area, the Ferry Building Farmer's Market is pretty much the gold standard that others are compared to. With Hannah having been freed for the summer from her busy activities, we decided to take a trip out and enjoy the summer harvest of local farmers.
I support being a locavore as much as the next guy. I think Michael Pollan has a lot of very good ideas on how we can be more responsible with our the way we manage of resources. Looking at all of the organically grown food on display (look at those pepper! beautiful), I am definitely inspired to do more to support the local farmer. It is pricier than your local grocery store, but you more than make up for it in quality. I really wasn't looking to do a lot of shopping on this particular trip, but I couldn't resist buying a few tomatoes as thoughts of a BLT swirls in my head. (I LOVE a good ripe tomato. I can eat those things like apples. On the other hand, eating tomatoes in the winter time is one of the saddest experiences that I can think of) Then, amidst the abundant free samples, I also bought some potato-stuffed indian naan, some rhubarb that Britt turned into a crisp, and this love cheese sampler from Cowgirl Creamery. (I mostly took this to sow my friend Tim, who has developed a taste for fancy cheese)
Back to the sampling for a moment... You would think that all the samples of ripe nectarines, artisan cheeses, and even pickled green beans would be a meal in itself. But you know, sometimes the sampling works and it does indeed get you to buy more stuff. Besides what was mentioned above, I also tried a salumi "meat cone" from newly opened Boccalone. Excuse the blurry picture, I was having camera issues, but it's a paper cone with meat. Isn't that exciting enough of an idea?
So on a lovely summer day, I really can't think of anything better than spending the late afternoon/early morning strolling the Ferry Building. If it was inspiring to get me to wake up a little earlier on a Saturday morning, it's certainly worth a visit from you.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
My First Souffle
For my last birthday, Britt gave me a strong hint when she got me a souffle dish. Being the strong willed type (and lazy, let's not forget to give credit to...ah whatever), I pretty much left the bowl unused for about a year. Then one day, while perusing some of my favorite blogs in my Google Reader (the greatest time suck mankind has ever known), I run across the Amateur Gourmet's attempt at a simple Ina Garten souffle recipe. What really sealed the deal for me, besides the basic recipe, are the step by step pictures that Adam took along the way. It's one of the easiest recipes that I think I ever followed.
Of course, that means that reprinting the recipes or too many pictures would be highly redundant. So here a just a few of how mine turned out, and I highly encourage you give this a shot. As mentioned in his post, there are kind of a lot of bowls and such involved, so clean up is a bummer, but I found that it was a great way to distract myself while I tried not peeking into that oven.
As promised, a simple recipe with very few ingredients. I had to substitute the cheese choice as all I had on hand was some lovely Swiss Emmenthal. I thought it worked out pretty well.
This was what it looked like before it went into the oven. This is also one of the few times that I get to play with the stand up mixer. Britt is the baker, so she is usually the one mixing things with it. It was great to just put the whisk to the egg whites and walk away to other things.
This was the final product when I took it out of the oven. I was hoping for more rise, but I think when I let Sara help fold the egg whites in the mixture, she was a little heavy handed and mixed everything in. It's OK though, I don't blame her or anything. It was a lot of fun letting both girls help throughout the process. Besides, the pretty rise only lasts a short time before the souffle cools.
See? No hard feelings...
Of course, that means that reprinting the recipes or too many pictures would be highly redundant. So here a just a few of how mine turned out, and I highly encourage you give this a shot. As mentioned in his post, there are kind of a lot of bowls and such involved, so clean up is a bummer, but I found that it was a great way to distract myself while I tried not peeking into that oven.
As promised, a simple recipe with very few ingredients. I had to substitute the cheese choice as all I had on hand was some lovely Swiss Emmenthal. I thought it worked out pretty well.
This was what it looked like before it went into the oven. This is also one of the few times that I get to play with the stand up mixer. Britt is the baker, so she is usually the one mixing things with it. It was great to just put the whisk to the egg whites and walk away to other things.
This was the final product when I took it out of the oven. I was hoping for more rise, but I think when I let Sara help fold the egg whites in the mixture, she was a little heavy handed and mixed everything in. It's OK though, I don't blame her or anything. It was a lot of fun letting both girls help throughout the process. Besides, the pretty rise only lasts a short time before the souffle cools.
See? No hard feelings...
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Graduation Day
June is also the time of graduations, and it's no different in our household as Sara celebrated her promotion into kindergarten. It was challenging journey (she did have to repeat the grade), but she was able to buckle down on her studies and passed all of her finals. That finger painting exam had us a little worry for a minute there, but her excellent color composition and organization of her stick fingers really pulled her through.
Of course, all of that is ridiculous. As proud of Sara as I am for her accomplishment of progressing through school, it seems to me we put a little too much pomp and circumstances into this. The parents agreed to buy cap and gowns for their preschoolers, ones that will never be worn again, all for a ceremony that lasted all of 10 minutes. I remember when Hannah finished preschool they made paper caps and I thought they were the cutest thing ever. Why couldn't we do that now? It's preschool? Is there someone out there living on the streets because they were a preschool drop out and can't make art with dry macaroni? (that guy is probably running Microsoft of something)
Ramble all I want, the graduation took place with cap and gown, the kids look cute, and Sara is on her way to kindergarten in th fall. I can't wait to see her in another cap and gown next year for her promotion to first grade. And they say we aren't encouraging our kids enough....
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Happy Birthday to.....Me.
If you are wondering where the barrage of posts are suddenly coming from, you should know that we are in the midst what is known in our household as "Alan's month." There are just more events involving me than those other eleven months, so it's a busy time. I already took you through my anniversary, and there is also my birthday, follow by Father's Day. There was also a time when I would graduate from stuff this month too (ah those were the days) so really, you are getting a break from me compared to years past!
Well, that and me having way too much fun with a cleaver.
I did have a birthday cake too. I eventually shared.
Best of all, I found out I have a lot of very nice and generous friends. It seems that many of them got together and bought me what I always wanted: a digital SLR. The shipping didn't make it to the BBQ, but I was still pretty happy when I found out, as seen here:
The stupid grin is of a little boy that got everything he wanted for his birthday.
In case you are interested, or was an investor in this venture and want to know where your money went, the camera arrived Monday morning in time for my actual birthday. Here's another picture of my stupid smile upon seeing the package had arrived:
And the premiere of the very first picture taken:
Hey, it's not artistic genius yet. I'm working on it...
For my birthday, I wasn't looking to do a whole lot. Turning 31 is a lot like celebrating 9 years of marriage. People aren't exactly focused on the present year as talking about an adjacent year. So I decided to just volunteer it as a good excuse to have a little BBQ at my house, which people seem to like to attend. If you are my friend, then surely you like to eat, which is really what we do at these things. My parents stuff us with meat, we try to balance it out with some sides, and we sit around all day eating. Here is me balancing out all the meat by providing a refreshing watermelon:
Well, that and me having way too much fun with a cleaver.
I did have a birthday cake too. I eventually shared.
Best of all, I found out I have a lot of very nice and generous friends. It seems that many of them got together and bought me what I always wanted: a digital SLR. The shipping didn't make it to the BBQ, but I was still pretty happy when I found out, as seen here:
The stupid grin is of a little boy that got everything he wanted for his birthday.
In case you are interested, or was an investor in this venture and want to know where your money went, the camera arrived Monday morning in time for my actual birthday. Here's another picture of my stupid smile upon seeing the package had arrived:
And the premiere of the very first picture taken:
Hey, it's not artistic genius yet. I'm working on it...
Friday, June 06, 2008
Anniversary dinner
Ah yes, the dinner. Eating a a big part of this blog and I would be doing a disservice to you all if I don't at least mention the slightly fancy meal that I had for my anniversary. After last year's extravagantly enjoyable dinner at Gary Danko and before next year's...uh... something special for a nice round 10 years, we weren't really looking for anything extra fancy. As luck would have it, the semi-annual (that's twice a year, right? I always get bi-annual and semi-annual mixed up) Dine About Town coincides with our anniversary so I looked for an interesting place to try. By pretty much random chance I went with One Market, who has a recent reputation around the city and I am a fan of it's locale...well, on One Market, across from the Ferry Building, where I always try to take a stroll if I am in the area. My sister's favorite casual meal, Foreign Cinema, will have to wait until next time....
Overall, I would say that One Market is a good reliable place for good food. It didn't blow me away with any of their offerings, but it was all well prepared, well portioned, and overall satisfying. The ambiance can be a little on the loud side as there are a lot of business folk who work near by who drops by for drinks and a bite to eat. It may seem unromantic to you, but Britt and I like the bustling crowd as we can people watch a little bit. I don't want to say we like to make fun of other people... well yeah, we do that sometimes...but when you are married with kids, getting out around other adults is part of the fun. There is always alone time every night after the kids go to bed. You know, those couple of hours where you are half asleep while the TV is on sitting next to each other? What is more romantic than that?
Oh, but back to the food. At One Market, the Dine About Town special allows a choice of two starters, two entrees, and two desserts. It's a great deal for getting a full meal at a reasonable price. Britt went with the white poppy seed encrusted skate wing (following a hilarious discussion of whether Skate was fish or fowl. Thank God for my iPhone). I scanned the menu and decided that maybe if I forgo dessert, I can get something else for about the same price, along with a side (which for me, can count as dessert. I'm a savory man). So after much deliberation, I decided on Alaskan halibut "Sous Vide" (which I learned, is like poaching, but with the food in a vacuumed sealed bag) over bamboo rice, peanuts, shitake mushroom, shrimp-coconut nage (another poaching like method). As I said before, it was solid and satisfying, if not spectacular.
The sides you see behind the fish are what are known as "Big Fries", and big they are. Britt remarked that they look like French Toast sticks and indeed they do. I wanted to try them because I had heard that fries at One Market were fried in duck fat, and who wouldn't want to try that? I can tell you now that ...I can't tell if they are fried in duck fat. It was a delicious fry, don't get me wrong. How they get just the right doneness inside and out with just a thick cut is something to be admired. I couldn't even eat them all even though there were only seven fries (to the equivalent of what seemed like 3 potatoes). Any uniqueness of duck fat frying though, I can't really say...
Finally, good thing one of us had dessert planned. The kitchen would never be able to send their congratulations if Britt didn't order the Peach Brown Butter Tart with blueberry compote as follows:
Aww what a nice touch. It was delicious too. I like good vanilla ice cream. And yes, we did try to eat the letters. The chocolate was hard to get off the plate, but it was delicious. After a brief, and intense discussion, we decided that licking the plate would just be a bad end to the meal.
So there you have it. Another year capped of (or is it kicked off? ah well, one of those) with a good meal, good atmosphere, and most of all, with my wife of 9 years.
Overall, I would say that One Market is a good reliable place for good food. It didn't blow me away with any of their offerings, but it was all well prepared, well portioned, and overall satisfying. The ambiance can be a little on the loud side as there are a lot of business folk who work near by who drops by for drinks and a bite to eat. It may seem unromantic to you, but Britt and I like the bustling crowd as we can people watch a little bit. I don't want to say we like to make fun of other people... well yeah, we do that sometimes...but when you are married with kids, getting out around other adults is part of the fun. There is always alone time every night after the kids go to bed. You know, those couple of hours where you are half asleep while the TV is on sitting next to each other? What is more romantic than that?
Oh, but back to the food. At One Market, the Dine About Town special allows a choice of two starters, two entrees, and two desserts. It's a great deal for getting a full meal at a reasonable price. Britt went with the white poppy seed encrusted skate wing (following a hilarious discussion of whether Skate was fish or fowl. Thank God for my iPhone). I scanned the menu and decided that maybe if I forgo dessert, I can get something else for about the same price, along with a side (which for me, can count as dessert. I'm a savory man). So after much deliberation, I decided on Alaskan halibut "Sous Vide" (which I learned, is like poaching, but with the food in a vacuumed sealed bag) over bamboo rice, peanuts, shitake mushroom, shrimp-coconut nage (another poaching like method). As I said before, it was solid and satisfying, if not spectacular.
The sides you see behind the fish are what are known as "Big Fries", and big they are. Britt remarked that they look like French Toast sticks and indeed they do. I wanted to try them because I had heard that fries at One Market were fried in duck fat, and who wouldn't want to try that? I can tell you now that ...I can't tell if they are fried in duck fat. It was a delicious fry, don't get me wrong. How they get just the right doneness inside and out with just a thick cut is something to be admired. I couldn't even eat them all even though there were only seven fries (to the equivalent of what seemed like 3 potatoes). Any uniqueness of duck fat frying though, I can't really say...
Finally, good thing one of us had dessert planned. The kitchen would never be able to send their congratulations if Britt didn't order the Peach Brown Butter Tart with blueberry compote as follows:
Aww what a nice touch. It was delicious too. I like good vanilla ice cream. And yes, we did try to eat the letters. The chocolate was hard to get off the plate, but it was delicious. After a brief, and intense discussion, we decided that licking the plate would just be a bad end to the meal.
So there you have it. Another year capped of (or is it kicked off? ah well, one of those) with a good meal, good atmosphere, and most of all, with my wife of 9 years.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Happy 9 Years!
Oh my god that picture is from a long time ago. Granted, technically, this was while we were dating so it's more than 9 years old, but this picture is way funnier than some stuffy wedding photo that I could have showed you. I always liked my wind blown coif that day... and if I remembered correctly, I hurled after the tilt-a-whirl that day too. How romantic....
So yes, 9 whole years. Certainly no less significant because the big 1-0 is looming. It's still a wonder to think that is has already been that long. I don't really have anything profound to say, other than the somewhat generic, "It goes by fast" or "I wouldn't have changed a day of it." In today's society, we may already be viewed as a couple who have "made it". Our marriage have probably lasted longer than about 30 celebrity marriages combined. At the same time, I very much look forward to what lies ahead for us in the next 9, 19, or even 90 years. I may have read it in a fortune cookie once, but I believe the best part of marriage is the journey. An adventure that you take with someone who can share in the joy and excitement of each day. So from that perspective, my trip is only beginning. Through 2 kids (and working on a third), and a few interesting places we've called home, I wouldn't want to go get more stamps in our passport of life with anyone else. So Happy Anniversary, honey! We are just getting started.
Oh, here is us today. Right before dinner which I guess I'll share next time...
Monday, May 05, 2008
Get it your way (if that involves a flame thrower)
Is there such a thing as, too hot and fresh? Walked into the strangest Burger King in Stockton the other day. I don't know what it was before Burger King, but the kitchen is off to the side away from the cashiers where you can't see them at all. Then Hannah's kid's meal comes in the singed bag above. What exactly are they doing back there??
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Not fresh (or REALLY fresh) Onion
This why you should store onions in a cool, dry place....and probably use it within two weeks.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Sharing Spam Musubi
Nothing says Spring and warmer weather than fair season. We are warming up ourselves at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown in San Francisco. Fairs are big on crafts and culture, but honestly, we go for the food. While I didn't find the Japanese take on Funnel cake, I did expose Hannah to the wonderful world of Spam Musubi. No matter what your feelings are towards Spam, wrap it around some rice and you are pretty much good to go...
....The Apsaragus festival is next. Please don't let me have to use the port-a-potty too much!
....The Apsaragus festival is next. Please don't let me have to use the port-a-potty too much!
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Take Me Out to the Buffet...
(side note here. The A's always has a better campaign than the Giants. It makes a Giants fan like me jealous. The A's always have a clever campaign that really engages their fans (all 36 of them) out there. Don't even get me started on the Giants "Gamers Play Here" campaign. Gamers don't whine about their teams inability to sell themselves, and apparently they also can't hit they way out of their shirt.)
Anyway on with the food...or rather the three flights of stairs you have to walk up to get the section. A stroke of genius really, get the fan's heart pumping a little bit before clogging it with an over abundance of food. Lawsuits averted!
Pictures speak louder than words here, so I'll let Sara show you what is on the menu...
First, we have the nachos. Not quite stale chips. Gobs of warm cheese from a can. How can you go wrong? (Does that count as a Haiku?)
A rare chance for Sara to drink soda. The only non-carbonated choice was Powerade. I'll take clear soda over the blue anti-freeze any day...
(You notice the tiny paper shot glasses they used to sodas? You would think since it's All-You-Can-Eat they would just give you a big cup. Go Green, Coliseum!)
Now that we are warmed up, the hot dog is next. Sadly, they serve the same hot dog as the Dollar Days at the park. Tiny little things that might as well have a toothpick in it. With a 4 item limit on every visit to the concession window, my personal first visit involved 3 hot dogs and a drink....
Next come the highlight of our meal, the ice cream sandwich. If it wasn't melting so fast in the warm afternoon, we would have gotten more than one at a time. Simple cheap ice cream sandwiches, but one of those things that I rarely splurge for at a game, so it was nice to get one. We haven't sampled everything yet, so we decided to go back for a second one later.....if we had any room left.
For some reason Sara always ask for popcorn at baseball games. I wished it was Cracker Jack myself. Decent size bag. I kept thinking to myself, this would have cost me 6 bucks at the theater!
No Cracker Jack but peanuts! At least some tradition holds. Little paper bags of peanuts. Would have been better warm, but I might have just been pining for too much nostalgia.
That's all we could handle. One of everything. We left with the popcorn and peanuts and the ushers made us throw the popcorn out before we left. I totally understand not letting people leave with food during the game, they wouldn't want people to be hooking up their friends in a different section, but the game was over, and they would rather me waste the food than bringing it home to eat. Fortunately the peanuts were in my pockets and they didn't notice (just happy to see you!). Out of spite, of course, I then gave the peanuts away to Zach who was sitting in another section. Take that, Oakland A's!!!
So in conclusion, it's probably not worth the $35 regular price. But for $25, we got what we paid for, which was cheap food, a sunny day, an A's win (versus the Eating Champ himself, C.C. Sabathia), and for Sara, a big stomachache when she got home....
Monday, March 31, 2008
Root, Root Root for the Home Team...(or Adventure in Parenting, Part II)
Now I may just have been being snobby when I found it difficult to go to Hannah's school functions, but she started to play Little League and you would think this would be more up my alley. I mean, I love sports, especially baseball. I have two daughters but fortunately they seem to like sports so far so I was glad that Hannah wanted to play baseball this summer. But maybe it's because she is playing with mostly younger kids, and I just don't have the patience for youth sports at such a young age. It's hard for me to watch practice. It's really slightly organized chaos most of the time. It doesn't help that the league is new and not the most organized. Brittany can find the humor of watching kids run around in circles(as you will hear), but me, I am subjected to two hours of this three times a week and it's hard. It's very, very hard....
Is it the scrum that occurs after every batted ball? Is it the kid that doesn't even bother touching all of the bases? Is it my daughter just standing there swinging her arms? The choices are endless...
Friday, March 28, 2008
We done read good.... (An Adventure in Parenting, Part I)
I tried to be a good parent. I really do. It's important to me to be as involved as possible with what my kids are doing. There are some things, however, that I admit are hard to really get into. Here are two of those things:
1) School sponsored family activities
Every once in a while Hannah brings home fliers from school for activities at school to promote families learning together and getting parents more involved with their child's education. Nothing wrong with that, right? Except that I think we do alright doing things with Hannah, and I just don't think we are the target group of such activities. The other night was something called Family Literacy Night. Hey great, the family reads together is a family that stays together, I get that. I already read to the kids, I thought, we read before bed every night. The kids love to read and look forward to new books. I think we do a good job promoting literacy...The excellent promotional work by Hannah's teacher, however, really convinced Hannah that this was a big deal, and therefore it meant a lot if we attended, so I begrudgingly went along to see what the big deal was about...
...And boy was it everything I thought it would be. The idea was good, there were different stations ran by teachers to promote certain aspects of reading. My critical eye, however, quickly noticed alarming things. First, Hannah was coloring pictures that accompanied different Haikus. At first I thought, "Oh great, never too early to teach kids what a Haiku was all about." Then I tried to read it...
You obviously can't read that, so let me read it for you:
"Shooting Star
For the First Time
Fantastic."
Now I haven't written a Haiku since probably the 7th grade, but I'm pretty sure those words above does not constitute a Haiku. Maybe in its original Japanese form this would be correct? Anyone? Help?
If that wasn't puzzling enough, on the back wall of the cafeteria, there were butcher papers full of words that supposedly came from children's books. The point was to see how many of the words your kid can both say and know the meaning. I started to go through them with Hannah, and we came upon this list:
Now you can return the favor and read it to me. Chirped? Ok, I guess that's what it says. Curiois? Sounds like an illness the Man with the Yellow Hat caught from a diseased monkey. Ohey? ok, bad penmanship. Gracefully. Clumsy....I have no idea what the next word is. Peculior? At that point we left. Hannah went home with a few new books. And you can bet I will proofread them before I let her have at it.
1) School sponsored family activities
Every once in a while Hannah brings home fliers from school for activities at school to promote families learning together and getting parents more involved with their child's education. Nothing wrong with that, right? Except that I think we do alright doing things with Hannah, and I just don't think we are the target group of such activities. The other night was something called Family Literacy Night. Hey great, the family reads together is a family that stays together, I get that. I already read to the kids, I thought, we read before bed every night. The kids love to read and look forward to new books. I think we do a good job promoting literacy...The excellent promotional work by Hannah's teacher, however, really convinced Hannah that this was a big deal, and therefore it meant a lot if we attended, so I begrudgingly went along to see what the big deal was about...
...And boy was it everything I thought it would be. The idea was good, there were different stations ran by teachers to promote certain aspects of reading. My critical eye, however, quickly noticed alarming things. First, Hannah was coloring pictures that accompanied different Haikus. At first I thought, "Oh great, never too early to teach kids what a Haiku was all about." Then I tried to read it...
You obviously can't read that, so let me read it for you:
"Shooting Star
For the First Time
Fantastic."
Now I haven't written a Haiku since probably the 7th grade, but I'm pretty sure those words above does not constitute a Haiku. Maybe in its original Japanese form this would be correct? Anyone? Help?
If that wasn't puzzling enough, on the back wall of the cafeteria, there were butcher papers full of words that supposedly came from children's books. The point was to see how many of the words your kid can both say and know the meaning. I started to go through them with Hannah, and we came upon this list:
Now you can return the favor and read it to me. Chirped? Ok, I guess that's what it says. Curiois? Sounds like an illness the Man with the Yellow Hat caught from a diseased monkey. Ohey? ok, bad penmanship. Gracefully. Clumsy....I have no idea what the next word is. Peculior? At that point we left. Hannah went home with a few new books. And you can bet I will proofread them before I let her have at it.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Thirsting for Change....
I miss my Tivo.
Not getting to watch TV on my own time is terrible to have to transition back into. Not getting to skip commercials is an even more painful change. So many commercials don't make any sense (Can anyone explain to me exactly what a HeadOn does? It's weird if not borderline dirty), and most just insults the audience intelligence.
Take the recent Propel commercial attacking Vitamin Water. They are in a gym telling people how there are 125 calories in a bottle of Vitamin Water, and how it's like 492 sit ups to work that off, and almost 5,000 extra steps to walk off that drink. The people are appalled! They don't want to do all that extra work! Good thing there's Propel, with only 25 calories per bottle! Yipee! Let's drink away!
I'm not a math genius, but 25 is still a one-fifth of 125. Sure that is less, but a one-fifth of 500 is still 100, and one-fifth of 5,000 is conveniently 1,000. If you walk up to those same people and ask if they want to crank out an extra 100 sit ups, wouldn't they be just as upset? Who wants to do "extra" exercise?? Come one people! Use your heads! Just drink some water!
Not getting to watch TV on my own time is terrible to have to transition back into. Not getting to skip commercials is an even more painful change. So many commercials don't make any sense (Can anyone explain to me exactly what a HeadOn does? It's weird if not borderline dirty), and most just insults the audience intelligence.
Take the recent Propel commercial attacking Vitamin Water. They are in a gym telling people how there are 125 calories in a bottle of Vitamin Water, and how it's like 492 sit ups to work that off, and almost 5,000 extra steps to walk off that drink. The people are appalled! They don't want to do all that extra work! Good thing there's Propel, with only 25 calories per bottle! Yipee! Let's drink away!
I'm not a math genius, but 25 is still a one-fifth of 125. Sure that is less, but a one-fifth of 500 is still 100, and one-fifth of 5,000 is conveniently 1,000. If you walk up to those same people and ask if they want to crank out an extra 100 sit ups, wouldn't they be just as upset? Who wants to do "extra" exercise?? Come one people! Use your heads! Just drink some water!
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
What's Your Verb?
Ah March 4th, one of my favorite days of the year. The only day of the year that is a verb. I think I will celebrate this day of action...by sitting at home tonight and doing as little as possible.
I really am trying to take it easy at home as my right wrist is kind of sore. Oncoming carpal tunnel? Probably. Ironically enough, while a lot of the blame is on all of the computering I do at work (specifically, the mouse work. hence the pain on just the right wrist), my work setup is 10 times more ergonomic then what I have at home. The work computers are heavily restricted as far as using only sanctioned equipment though, so even though I have my own nifty cordless trackball mouse (that I "accidentally" took from my last job), I can't use it at my current job. The only trackball option here is this jenky thing that looks more painful to use then the mouse (if not physical pain, then certainly mental ones). So this all lead me to just take it easy with the computers at home. Nothing was on TV though (except a pretty good episode of No Reservation where Anthony Boudain was in Argentina watch calves get castrated....yum!), so I ended up watch TV.....on my laptop. Hey, it's still minimal use of the hands! (Tons of crude jokes I can be making here, but I won't. And you shouldn't either)
Being kind of a tech happy family, (as much as this poor family can afford, anyway) it was inevitable that my kids would get all into it too, especially with games...
No, Sara here has not been taken into the addictive realm of World of Warcraft by her father. (It's actually Hannah that likes to play WoW with me. My Blood Elf Paladin is just girly enough to be appealing to Hannah. She loves to slay those undeads in the Ghostland! Ok, enough nerdiness...) Sara is actually playing a very educational game on PBSkids.org (my laptop can never handle WoW anyway). The headset is a toy from her High School Musical dress up kit. Still, I don't think it's ever too early to get your child's frag count up. I wonder if she'll help me play some Army of Two (shameless EA plug)......
I really am trying to take it easy at home as my right wrist is kind of sore. Oncoming carpal tunnel? Probably. Ironically enough, while a lot of the blame is on all of the computering I do at work (specifically, the mouse work. hence the pain on just the right wrist), my work setup is 10 times more ergonomic then what I have at home. The work computers are heavily restricted as far as using only sanctioned equipment though, so even though I have my own nifty cordless trackball mouse (that I "accidentally" took from my last job), I can't use it at my current job. The only trackball option here is this jenky thing that looks more painful to use then the mouse (if not physical pain, then certainly mental ones). So this all lead me to just take it easy with the computers at home. Nothing was on TV though (except a pretty good episode of No Reservation where Anthony Boudain was in Argentina watch calves get castrated....yum!), so I ended up watch TV.....on my laptop. Hey, it's still minimal use of the hands! (Tons of crude jokes I can be making here, but I won't. And you shouldn't either)
Being kind of a tech happy family, (as much as this poor family can afford, anyway) it was inevitable that my kids would get all into it too, especially with games...
No, Sara here has not been taken into the addictive realm of World of Warcraft by her father. (It's actually Hannah that likes to play WoW with me. My Blood Elf Paladin is just girly enough to be appealing to Hannah. She loves to slay those undeads in the Ghostland! Ok, enough nerdiness...) Sara is actually playing a very educational game on PBSkids.org (my laptop can never handle WoW anyway). The headset is a toy from her High School Musical dress up kit. Still, I don't think it's ever too early to get your child's frag count up. I wonder if she'll help me play some Army of Two (shameless EA plug)......
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Let them eat bread
I am not a baker. It's too much pressure. Cooking is forgiving. You can skip an ingredient or make some minor substitution and it may not end up being what you started to make, but it will still taste good. When you are baking, almost every ingredient has their specific roles. So if you use the wrong item, or even in the wrong amount, your cookies might taste like cake, your cake might looks like a scone, and your scones just may looks like a cookie....dropped on the ground and stepped on.
"But Alan," you say, "you claimed that you like to cook for the geeky science of it. Baking is where all the science happens!" You're right. If I really am trying to bring out the Alton Brown in me, I must venture into the world of baking... Laziness still comes first, however, so when I caught wind of the No-Knead Bread phenomenon, I knew this was my chance to further my cooking repertoire.
Bread also works for me because so much of the baking world takes place in the land of desserts. I don't have that much of a sweet tooth (heh, try telling that to my dentist) and who wants to make food that you won't really enjoy? Bread-making, however, involves playing with yeast, which seems like entering the baking game at 'Advance'. I can't even keep the whole baking soda/baking powder thing straight, and now I have to grow some gas emitting little spores?? This better be as easy as they claim...
The first great thing going for it: Minimal ingredients! Flour, salt, yeast, and water. So far so good....
Mix all together and you end up with this gloppy mess. I believe the original recipe called it "hairy." Not much work far....
Then it sits....for a long time...this is the key, let the yeast slowly rise and develop the complexity of good bread. I was a little worry since it really should sit somewhere reasonable warm. But it's February at 10pm. Where would it be warm short of taking it to bed with me? The oven seemed like the only way to go. I just have to remember to tell Britt that it's in there in case she decides to preheat the oven for something while I am at work....yikes! ....Off to bed...
The timing of the whole thing is really the trickiest part. You should give it 12, preferably 18 hours to rise. It's pretty much impossible to do this on a weekday and still have it ready for that night's dinner. After much false starts (thanks to some untimely road construction outside my house), I decided to go ahead and just make it whenever I can. I may not eat it that day, but I'll still have fresh bread at home the next day. As luck would have it, we were being treated to Zachary's pizza the next day, so I didn't even need to worry about dinner when I got home. Just open up the oven to be greeted by my growing glop.
I was a little anxious and didn't get a picture of it after the long rise. I took it out and folded the glop once or twice, which turned out to be incredibly sticky. I think I lost a quarter of the bread by leaving it stuck to my hands. But I did the best I could and ended up with this...
After 15 minutes or so, I had to handle the glue dough again and try to form it into a ball before placing it onto a towel that has been floured or in my case, cornmealed. I don't really remember why I have cornmeal at home, so I figured this was a good time to use it. Then covered with another towel (more flour or cornmeal!) and let it rise again for 2 hours. This is where I went to have pizza. Mmmm pizza....
So this was the product that was going into the oven. Mostly round, but the best I could do without just baking my hands with the bread. I then came to my favorite part of the recipe because the baking takes place inside a dutch oven or other oven safe pot (like the one I used. I do not have a dutch oven. It is currently the other thing that I am coveting in my life, along with that camera that I begged you for last time). Baking is 30 minutes with the lid on, follow by 30 minutes or so without the lid, or until golden, brown, and delicious.
With all of the sloppy mess that I was handling, I was pleasantly surprised that what I ended up actually looked like bread. In fact, it looked like damn good bread. One problem though, by that point, I was all doughed out from the pizza I binged on, so as good as the bread looked coming out of the oven (and smelled even better), I just could not sample any that night without committing a deadly sin (gluttony, for those of you scoring at home). It tasted great the next day though, and the people that I shared the bread with seemed to agree.
It is somewhat time intensive, but the effort is minimal and the results well worth it all. It is such a cheap way to always have fresh bread around the house, that I am preparing another hairy glop as we speak. Let the baking begin!
"But Alan," you say, "you claimed that you like to cook for the geeky science of it. Baking is where all the science happens!" You're right. If I really am trying to bring out the Alton Brown in me, I must venture into the world of baking... Laziness still comes first, however, so when I caught wind of the No-Knead Bread phenomenon, I knew this was my chance to further my cooking repertoire.
Bread also works for me because so much of the baking world takes place in the land of desserts. I don't have that much of a sweet tooth (heh, try telling that to my dentist) and who wants to make food that you won't really enjoy? Bread-making, however, involves playing with yeast, which seems like entering the baking game at 'Advance'. I can't even keep the whole baking soda/baking powder thing straight, and now I have to grow some gas emitting little spores?? This better be as easy as they claim...
The first great thing going for it: Minimal ingredients! Flour, salt, yeast, and water. So far so good....
Mix all together and you end up with this gloppy mess. I believe the original recipe called it "hairy." Not much work far....
Then it sits....for a long time...this is the key, let the yeast slowly rise and develop the complexity of good bread. I was a little worry since it really should sit somewhere reasonable warm. But it's February at 10pm. Where would it be warm short of taking it to bed with me? The oven seemed like the only way to go. I just have to remember to tell Britt that it's in there in case she decides to preheat the oven for something while I am at work....yikes! ....Off to bed...
The timing of the whole thing is really the trickiest part. You should give it 12, preferably 18 hours to rise. It's pretty much impossible to do this on a weekday and still have it ready for that night's dinner. After much false starts (thanks to some untimely road construction outside my house), I decided to go ahead and just make it whenever I can. I may not eat it that day, but I'll still have fresh bread at home the next day. As luck would have it, we were being treated to Zachary's pizza the next day, so I didn't even need to worry about dinner when I got home. Just open up the oven to be greeted by my growing glop.
I was a little anxious and didn't get a picture of it after the long rise. I took it out and folded the glop once or twice, which turned out to be incredibly sticky. I think I lost a quarter of the bread by leaving it stuck to my hands. But I did the best I could and ended up with this...
After 15 minutes or so, I had to handle the glue dough again and try to form it into a ball before placing it onto a towel that has been floured or in my case, cornmealed. I don't really remember why I have cornmeal at home, so I figured this was a good time to use it. Then covered with another towel (more flour or cornmeal!) and let it rise again for 2 hours. This is where I went to have pizza. Mmmm pizza....
So this was the product that was going into the oven. Mostly round, but the best I could do without just baking my hands with the bread. I then came to my favorite part of the recipe because the baking takes place inside a dutch oven or other oven safe pot (like the one I used. I do not have a dutch oven. It is currently the other thing that I am coveting in my life, along with that camera that I begged you for last time). Baking is 30 minutes with the lid on, follow by 30 minutes or so without the lid, or until golden, brown, and delicious.
With all of the sloppy mess that I was handling, I was pleasantly surprised that what I ended up actually looked like bread. In fact, it looked like damn good bread. One problem though, by that point, I was all doughed out from the pizza I binged on, so as good as the bread looked coming out of the oven (and smelled even better), I just could not sample any that night without committing a deadly sin (gluttony, for those of you scoring at home). It tasted great the next day though, and the people that I shared the bread with seemed to agree.
It is somewhat time intensive, but the effort is minimal and the results well worth it all. It is such a cheap way to always have fresh bread around the house, that I am preparing another hairy glop as we speak. Let the baking begin!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Birthday Party
Saturday was Sara's 5th Birthday party, and as strange as it sounds, the weather cooperated and it rained for most of the afternoon. You see, being an election year, my street is scheduled to be repaved. The original plan was for the construction to take place right through the weekend of the party, which means no parking for anyone on the street. Luckily, it did rain (not as much as on Jan 4th though, the weatherman on TV said) and construction was delayed and party guests were free to take park wherever they want.
Of course, that meant 30 some odd people were crammed into my smallish house with no place to hide. It was festive and cozy, but I think it went pretty well. Thank you all who came and ate and partied. We readily admit that we are terrible at thank you cards so we didn't keep very good track of the many, many presents Sara receive. Just know that they were all very appreciated (even the messy and loud ones).
Of note:
- Who knew a plastic afro would be such a hit? I think I will start a Photo Set on Flickr of people in the 'fro. Stay tune, but here are some quick samples....
- Occasions like this allow me to play with my sister's fancy photography equipment. It's fun and I like how it makes me look like I am good at photography (which I most certainly am not). At the same time, it makes me want one SOOOOO bad. If anyone knows where I can get a cheap Nikon D70/40/60, please let me know. I don't know how much longer I can hold out and there really are more responsible things I can do with my tax refund.
- The first picture at top is currently my favorite picture anywhere. I told you that camera makes me look good....the beautiful subjects doesn't hurt either.
- I still can't believe we never took advantage of the Valentine's Clearance sales to decorate Sara's party before. A Love party every year! wait...that doesn't sound right....especially when she becomes a teenager....ack!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
I Eat Your Brussels Sprouts! I Eat It Up!
Oh, a quick word about the brussels sprouts. I love roasted vegetables. It is my preferred way of cooking almost any vegetables. The dry heat intensifies the flavor rather boiling it away in a big pot of water. It started with asparagus, and then broccoli, and now I even eat brussels sprouts!
(Ok, a clarification here. I don't actually remember ever having brussels sprouts before. I may have as a young kid, but I don't recall, so I was going along with their poor reputation along with everyone else. Britt claims to love it and always ask me to make it for her, so I figured if I was going to start, I would at least apply the best method possible)
Thanks to my new Food hero, Mark Bittman of the NYT for the inspiration. I liked it with a little balsamic vinegar, Brittany liked it the way it was. It didn't quite pass the Hannah test, but that might be shooting a little high....
The Food Section
So apparently I've been kicked out of sharing my food exploits from my "food band" because everyone wants to have their own solo projects. I am certainly not the Paul McCartney of the group, (or even the Justin Timberlake...maybe I can be the Joey Fatone of the group. "Fat One" I love that....) but I have been a little more inspired to try some new things lately, courtesy of all the food blogs that I am suddenly subscribed to (thank you Google Reader, you have pretty much monopolized the last remnants of my free time), so I need to share things somewhere. (wow, I just looked back and realized that last sentence was like 89 words. my old English teachers all probably hate my right now) So the 'mine has a food section as well...
There is a general theme to the cooking renaissance . First, it must be relatively cheap. No running out to the store and buying exotic things like saffron , Italian ham, or fancy French goat cheese (or red meat, with the way food prices are going....har har). All of those things are delicious, but just too costly to buy, for possible one time use only. The family is in the midst of trying to be better about finances, so along with living without cable for a while (and Tivo! Nooooo!), we are sacrificing as much eating out as possible. So I am cooking to save money, not for extravagance.
Secondly, it must be relatively fast. The second thing I usually hear when I get home from work is how my kids are starving and about to pass out (they should get honorary Oscars. just take one from the Coen brothers. Do they really need two?). I have probably an hour or so before they walk into the kitchen with forks and look like they are ready to pick out my meaty parts (too many of those parts, if you ask me) for dinner. So I have to be creative sometimes. If I am extra good I can make some preparation the night before, but honestly, when have you known me to be so prepared and un-lazy? (Yes my wife is home and can totally handle dinner, or at least help. But cooking has sneaked its way up to being a genuine hobby with me and I like to try new things, along with the challenge of making things my picky kids will eat. You will just have to live with my wife's baking after you get through my dinners...)
So with that in mind, I decided to go with a classic and made Tilapia with broccoli in parchment paper packets. Not only is it easy, but a cinch to clean up, and the kids truly feel extra special getting their own little packet to open up. It was a last minute decision so I just threw a bunch of stuff together. There is some inspiration from here, but what I ended up with bares little resemblance.
First I cut the broccoli into small florets and place them in a bowl. I tossed with olive oil, soy sauce, and a little salt and pepper. I also wanted lemon juice and realized that I was all out, so I went out to my yard and picked two blood oranges off my tree. We have some decent size fruit this year for the first time, but they are WAY sour, so I thought that would be perfect as a lemon substitute. Besides, the color is cool....
I place some broccoli on each of the parchment paper sheets, and then placed the tilapia in the bowl and rolled it around in the remaining sauce. I placed it on top of the broccoli, and crimped closed the packets, making sure that there is enough room for the steam that will be doing the cooking.
The packets were placed in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Let the packets rest for about 10 minutes before opening, being careful of the hot steam escaping. Made some cous cous while the fish is cooking as a side. Roasted some brussel sprouts while the fish was cooling, and a meal was completed....
There is a general theme to the cooking renaissance . First, it must be relatively cheap. No running out to the store and buying exotic things like saffron , Italian ham, or fancy French goat cheese (or red meat, with the way food prices are going....har har). All of those things are delicious, but just too costly to buy, for possible one time use only. The family is in the midst of trying to be better about finances, so along with living without cable for a while (and Tivo! Nooooo!), we are sacrificing as much eating out as possible. So I am cooking to save money, not for extravagance.
Secondly, it must be relatively fast. The second thing I usually hear when I get home from work is how my kids are starving and about to pass out (they should get honorary Oscars. just take one from the Coen brothers. Do they really need two?). I have probably an hour or so before they walk into the kitchen with forks and look like they are ready to pick out my meaty parts (too many of those parts, if you ask me) for dinner. So I have to be creative sometimes. If I am extra good I can make some preparation the night before, but honestly, when have you known me to be so prepared and un-lazy? (Yes my wife is home and can totally handle dinner, or at least help. But cooking has sneaked its way up to being a genuine hobby with me and I like to try new things, along with the challenge of making things my picky kids will eat. You will just have to live with my wife's baking after you get through my dinners...)
So with that in mind, I decided to go with a classic and made Tilapia with broccoli in parchment paper packets. Not only is it easy, but a cinch to clean up, and the kids truly feel extra special getting their own little packet to open up. It was a last minute decision so I just threw a bunch of stuff together. There is some inspiration from here, but what I ended up with bares little resemblance.
First I cut the broccoli into small florets and place them in a bowl. I tossed with olive oil, soy sauce, and a little salt and pepper. I also wanted lemon juice and realized that I was all out, so I went out to my yard and picked two blood oranges off my tree. We have some decent size fruit this year for the first time, but they are WAY sour, so I thought that would be perfect as a lemon substitute. Besides, the color is cool....
I place some broccoli on each of the parchment paper sheets, and then placed the tilapia in the bowl and rolled it around in the remaining sauce. I placed it on top of the broccoli, and crimped closed the packets, making sure that there is enough room for the steam that will be doing the cooking.
The packets were placed in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Let the packets rest for about 10 minutes before opening, being careful of the hot steam escaping. Made some cous cous while the fish is cooking as a side. Roasted some brussel sprouts while the fish was cooling, and a meal was completed....
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Snow Day
As promised, I took a day off during the kid's ski week vacation and took them to the snow. We realized that it was Sara's first time in the snow and that is really a shame. We tagged along with a friend's family and ended up at a snow park that is barely two hours away. Why didn't we do this sooner? The kids had a ball, getting braver as the afternoon went on and going higher. Unfortunately, our seldom visits to the white flaky stuff also meant that we don't really have the cloths for it. The rain boots you see on the kids are cute, but they are far too loose and snow got into them easily. Sara went through 4 pairs of socks and is now the proud owner of $8 wool socks, courtesy of the snow park store. If it were up to me, she will be wearing those on all future trips to the snow....until she's 16.
As a bonus, I also learned something that probably everyone who lives in the snow already knows: Never park your car next to a slanted roof full of snow. I had never seen snow smash a windshield before, and if I wasn't feeling so bad for the guy, I would have taken a picture to show you. Alas, you will have to just watch my kid in action:
Monday, February 04, 2008
Get it while it's hot!
Overexposed events like the Super Bowl makes it hard for me to be motivated enough to say too much about it (and from the scarcity of post here, one would think not many things motivate me to say anything here). I didn't have too much rooting interest in the game, so I was glad it was entertaining. For once, I think the game was better than the commercials...
...I did come across this for sale at Amazon though, which I thought was pretty funny. I wonder if they also sell those Dewey Defeat Truman posters too....
...I did come across this for sale at Amazon though, which I thought was pretty funny. I wonder if they also sell those Dewey Defeat Truman posters too....
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Watching MORE TV?
Out of habit, while I flip through my daily newspaper (who still reads newspapers? like on paper? apparently I still enjoy scrubbing the newsprint off my fingers everyday), I scan the back page of the entertainment section where the tv listings are to see if anything of interest is on. Lately, of course, I always end up with the conclusion that, well, nothing is on! I have as fond of memories of American Gladiators as the next guy (Larry Csonka! Nitro!), but on one of the networks? in primetime? what's next? update of Knight Rider? (oh wait) Reinvent Bionic Woman? (what? damn it!) Cast Dakota Fanning in the new Small Wonders? (Yes!)
The way I see it, there are two things preventing a resolution to this writer's strike business. First, the writers have not done a very good job of getting the average American to give a crap. Ask any Joe Schmoes in Middle America if they know that the writer's strike was still going on and at best, you'll get an answer to the effect of, "The writer strike? Is that still going on?" How would picketing a Hollywood studio lot bring your cause to the public? Last time I checked, I don't happen by the set of CSI:Walnut Creek on my way to work, and I certainly don't see anyone telling me that they are getting robbed of their online content royalty on my way to Safeway. Worse, while the writers are whining in their little corner of the world, the networks are getting away with sprinkling just enough new programming into the schedule that people don't even notice something it changed. There has been a steady increase in the hour of reality programming anyway, so what's 3 or 4 more opportunities to see what people would do if they were tied up to an alligator while trying to travel across the country trying to hook up with their high school prom date for a chance to win a hundred bucks and a bottle of ketchup? and I suffered through all sorts of interruptions during Heroes last season, isn't it coming back on in a few weeks just like last time? Television executives have effectively trained your average viewer to have basically no expectations when it comes to their programming, so really, no one gives a crap. How are the writers going to drum up any kind of support? (I know movies are technically affected too, but we are still a couple of months away from the well running dry on those...wait, Rambo opens this week? ah geez....)
I know one way that the writers can rally the public and put more pressure on the movie execs (which, incidentally, was my second point from earlier, but I am way past an organized rant by now), keep count of the length of the strike! Nothing revs up the urgency in a situation (and that is exactly what the writers need at this point) like some big number highlighting how long it has been going on? Does anyone know how long the strike have been going on? No! If you got into writing because numbers aren't your strong point, count weeks or something! Wouldn't you be more concerned if you turned on the TV and were told that we are entering week 13 of the strike, with no end in sight!?!? Come on! You guys create drama for a living! This has not occurred to any of you? Did all of you at one time wrote for the WB??
(Stepping off the frothy soap box)
For me, I think the strike has done me a lot of good. Mostly a financial decision, but made simpler because of the current situation, I have canceled my satellite TV subscription. For getting 200 channels there wasn't really ever anything on anyway. I will probably breakdown and resubscribe sometime after baseball season start (hear that, Comcast? DirectTV? I am declaring my free agency), but for now, I don't feel like I am missing anything at all.
And thanks to the magic of technology, there is more content online than ever. Through the magic of services of Joost, Hulu, Fancast, and even Netflix, I can actually watch more TV than ever, in bed on my laptop. So really, thanks you writers for taking a break so that I can catch up. I am trying to watch some recent shows that I never got around to the first time. I started watching, from the beginning, Arrested Development, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and that 800lbs gorilla known as Lost. So I'm going to stop looking at that depressing TV grid everyday (I switched to a weekend only newspaper subscription) and start figuring out how to best watch my TVs on my iPhone....
The way I see it, there are two things preventing a resolution to this writer's strike business. First, the writers have not done a very good job of getting the average American to give a crap. Ask any Joe Schmoes in Middle America if they know that the writer's strike was still going on and at best, you'll get an answer to the effect of, "The writer strike? Is that still going on?" How would picketing a Hollywood studio lot bring your cause to the public? Last time I checked, I don't happen by the set of CSI:Walnut Creek on my way to work, and I certainly don't see anyone telling me that they are getting robbed of their online content royalty on my way to Safeway. Worse, while the writers are whining in their little corner of the world, the networks are getting away with sprinkling just enough new programming into the schedule that people don't even notice something it changed. There has been a steady increase in the hour of reality programming anyway, so what's 3 or 4 more opportunities to see what people would do if they were tied up to an alligator while trying to travel across the country trying to hook up with their high school prom date for a chance to win a hundred bucks and a bottle of ketchup? and I suffered through all sorts of interruptions during Heroes last season, isn't it coming back on in a few weeks just like last time? Television executives have effectively trained your average viewer to have basically no expectations when it comes to their programming, so really, no one gives a crap. How are the writers going to drum up any kind of support? (I know movies are technically affected too, but we are still a couple of months away from the well running dry on those...wait, Rambo opens this week? ah geez....)
I know one way that the writers can rally the public and put more pressure on the movie execs (which, incidentally, was my second point from earlier, but I am way past an organized rant by now), keep count of the length of the strike! Nothing revs up the urgency in a situation (and that is exactly what the writers need at this point) like some big number highlighting how long it has been going on? Does anyone know how long the strike have been going on? No! If you got into writing because numbers aren't your strong point, count weeks or something! Wouldn't you be more concerned if you turned on the TV and were told that we are entering week 13 of the strike, with no end in sight!?!? Come on! You guys create drama for a living! This has not occurred to any of you? Did all of you at one time wrote for the WB??
(Stepping off the frothy soap box)
For me, I think the strike has done me a lot of good. Mostly a financial decision, but made simpler because of the current situation, I have canceled my satellite TV subscription. For getting 200 channels there wasn't really ever anything on anyway. I will probably breakdown and resubscribe sometime after baseball season start (hear that, Comcast? DirectTV? I am declaring my free agency), but for now, I don't feel like I am missing anything at all.
And thanks to the magic of technology, there is more content online than ever. Through the magic of services of Joost, Hulu, Fancast, and even Netflix, I can actually watch more TV than ever, in bed on my laptop. So really, thanks you writers for taking a break so that I can catch up. I am trying to watch some recent shows that I never got around to the first time. I started watching, from the beginning, Arrested Development, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and that 800lbs gorilla known as Lost. So I'm going to stop looking at that depressing TV grid everyday (I switched to a weekend only newspaper subscription) and start figuring out how to best watch my TVs on my iPhone....
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
I Don't Think We Are In Kansas Anymore....
And you thought the storm last week was a hassle for you...
Of course, the kids now have the roomiest yard to play in....
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