Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Snarf, Snarf...

As I believe I've mentioned, we have five cats. One of these days I'll get around to posting pics of all of them, but that day is not today. Anyway, I was musing to a friend of mine today that one of the cats in particular is a whiner. His name is Prince, if you're curious - he was originally named Princess because we thought he was a girl until we discovered he had boy plumbing.

I think all of that girly stuff - dressing him up in pink, painting his toenails (no, I'm not kidding), and getting him a foo-foo collar - had an effect on him. He's now a metro cat, if you want the truth of it. Anyway, he has this thing he does where he whines when he wants out, and will only accept Red letting him out. If I go downstairs to the front door to let him out he runs away.

My friend, The Bike Owner (and commenter here if you've been paying attention), refers to people doing that sort of whining thing as saying "Snarf, Snarf", and if you're at all familiar with the Thundercats cartoon from the 80's, you'll get the joke. If not, well, here is Snarf.

The funny thing is, of all of the cats, Prince looks the most like Snarf.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Weekly beer post

Kate has her Tippling Tuesdays. I thought I'd turn it into a review of da brew. :)

First up, one of my new favorites: New Belgium Brewery's "1554"

This ale is really, really good, probably the best dark ale I've found since Guinness changed the formula for their brew. It's very smooth, doesn't have a sharp aftertaste like a lot of porters do, and isn't bitter in the least. In short, I like it a lot. It's got an almost chocolately finish that reminds me quite a bit of the seasonal late fall brews that one finds from the micro-breweries out here in Oregon, only they make it year-round, and goes with just about anything you care to pair it with (had some yesterday with Red's corned beef & cabbage....HEAVEN).

As a matter of fact, I think I'll have another.

A non-depressing post

It occurred to me a moment ago after re-reading that last one that the last three posts of mine have been somewhat depressing reading. This means it's time for some hilarity.

I give you the lewd monkeys of Kenya. (h/t LifePundit)

Why holidays, generally, suck

I am, in general, a Grinch.

I've been asked about this a lot - why I don't particularly enjoy the holiday season, why my response to a lot of the hooplah surrounding holidays is "Bah! Humbug!", and why I tend to get a bit cranky around the holidays. It's hard to explain.

I guess for some people, the holiday season starting around Labor Day kicks off a time of fellowship, getting together with family, enjoying fall-time parties, and whatnot. I don't associate the "holiday season" with most of that. I'm not denying it's there, and I enjoy it as much as the next guy when it crosses my path, but when I think of the holidays, that's not the first thing that comes to mind. I've been asked if something traumatic happened to me as a child at the holidays - no, my life doesn't parallel the middle of Gremlins, and I've never had somebody keel over dead over the Thanksgiving turkey. There was one particular incident when I was 18 that has stuck with me involving a 13 hour drive to visit relatives and being thrown out of the house the next morning, to spend another 13 hours driving on icy roads to get home at Christmas; maybe that incident has something to do with it. Who knows.

See, the thing is, holidays have all of this big build-up. I can understand it about Christmas/Hannukah, I suppose, since there is loot involved, but come on, do we really need to start seeing the displays for the stuff in October???? Anyway, the build-up nearly always means a letdown for somebody, and that's where I start having a problem. There's always somebody around with stars in their eyes about What It All Means, and that person nearly always gets their dreams utterly crushed at some point. I don't particularly enjoy watching that.

There are reliable studies that show a predictable and regular surge in crime rates in certain times of year, particularly around the holiday season - the studies I found are from the early 90's, but I doubt things are particularly different today. And that's just the stuff that comes to the attention of the police. Maybe that's just because human beings tend to be a violent lot, or maybe it's because we're genetically wired to off ourselves every so often, who knows. What I do know, though, is that families that get together have a tendency to fight either right before, right after, or during holiday get togethers. That one, immutable, unchanging fact turns me right off of all of it.

Don't get me wrong here - I absolutely love watching the kids opening presents on Christmas morning, and I love sitting down to a turkey dinner at Thanksgiving more than any other meal all year long. It's the insidious combination of false cheer (but you have to be happy, it's Christmas! makes no sense to me at all), spoken or unspoken expectations of the people around you (ie. comparisons of gifts....that is offensive to me on levels I can't begin to describe), and the commercialization of all of this desperate rush to glee that I despise to the depths of my soul.

Oh, and Christmas muzak. I don't like most Christmas music in general, but the muzak version of it is what they play in hell for the really bad sinners, I'm certain of it.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Local doings....

Found this earlier at The Jawa Report. As I said in the comments, I'm pretty sure I recognize this guy, and I don't think his name's Landingham. See picture here, second one down in the G's. Is it just me, or is that the same dude?

What kills me about this is that there's an elementary school directly across the intersection from where this happened, as well as three or four good-sized apartment complexes with lots of kids within a short walking distance. As a matter of fact, although I no longer live there, I used to live less than 500 yards from that intersection.

On a related note of interest, the Oregon State Police maintain an active registry of all predatory sex offenders in Oregon. I keep a close eye on it - there's only one living within a mile of me or either of the schools my girls go to, and he's quite some distance from us.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Really Annoying Things

This morning, I'm sitting here in bed working on photos I took yesterday on my laptop and listening to a "documentary" in the background. This show somehow has managed to trip up on two of the things that irritate me the most about TV, so I'm going to share.

First off, the show is about ghosts, haunted places, etc. Okay, fine, I can deal with that - what irritates the hell out of me, though, is the assumption that I as the viewer am going to go along with the notion that this is an opinion-neutral show. It's plainly trying to convince me that this place is really really haunted and presents all sorts of evidence in the form of rhetorical questions about whether or not it could be true.

What irritates me the most about that is that it's fundamentally dishonest entertainment masquerading as a documentary, much like watching most mainstream news programs come to think of it.

The other thing that annoys me a lot about this show is a narrating convention I see from time to time in actual real documentaries. For some reason, it often seems that the primary offenders are British historians, or to be fair, historians with a British accent. I love the British, but their historians need to just knock this off.

When you're talking about something that happened in the past, the correct way to refer to it is in PAST TENSE. Referring to a sequence of events that happened six hundred years ago in sequential order, in present tense may perhaps be gramatically correct, however, when one is contrasting that with current events, not only is it incorrect, it's often confusing. Determining cause and effect when the narrative is temporally neutral is something that these people should not be asking me to do on my day off.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Art, redux

Cyanide and Happiness, a daily webcomic
Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Four Foods on Friday?

Okay, I know it isn't Friday. Maybe, like Kate, I'm just early...but it's a meme about food, and I can't pass that up.

1. How do you like your eggs cooked? Any special ingredients?

I like my eggs in one of three ways.

--Scrambled hard, with cheese and herbs mixed in (much akin to Kate's way of fixing it, sans the cream since I can't eat it).

--Mixed in with corned beef hash and pan-fried potatoes, and plenty of tobasco, OR mixed in with a really good, fresh chorizo and lime. Either way, eat with a tortilla.

--Omelettes, with a variety of things in them, are one of my utmost favorite things. Chili, cheese, veggies, or even fruit are all excellent things to add to an omelette. The thing is, though, the omelette has to be juuuuust right or not only is it not good to eat, it is highly nasty.

2. What's your favorite cold sandwich, made on two pieces of bread?

Hands down, that's gotta be the one made with leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, with cranberry sauce, dijon or brown mustard, bean sprouts, provolone, mayo, and whatever else I can come up with at short notice. I particularly like that on a really dark Russian rye bread, but that's me.

3. What is your favorite pie?

If I'm eating in a restaurant, that's going to be lemon meringue, any time.

If I'm eating at home, honestly, it's a toss-up. Red makes pumpkin pie around this time of year that is to die for, and I've eaten enough of it in one sitting that I thought that might actually happen. The one my family goes for, though, and one that actually got me threatened with bodily injury if I ever brought it again, is Tollhouse Pie. (Note: fair warning - it is physically impossible to eat small portions of this pie. If you are trying to lose weight, don't make it.)

Tollhouse Pie:
1/2 C butter, melted
1 C white sugar
1 C brown sugar, packed solid
1 t salt
2 eggs, beaten until submissive
16 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 t vanilla

Optional - any one of the following:
1 shot of spiced rum

Substitute half of the chocolate chips for cinnamon or mint chips - butterscotch is not recommended unless you have a sweet tooth that knows no limits.

Walnuts (I don't add them, as I think they're icky) or another nut you like, such as hazelnuts.

Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Preheat oven to 375F. Pour into two unbaked 9" pie shells - I make my own crust, but, again, that's me. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

4. Name one food you refuse to eat and why.

Anything with more limbs than me, because they're gross and fit into the general category of "bugs", whether they live in the ocean or not.

5. What's the name of your favorite restaurant, and is it small or part of a chain?

Given that I have a number of food allergies that restrict what I can eat, saying I have a favorite restaurant is impossible. I generally like authentic Mexican and Italian food because they generally aren't heavily based in dairy or nuts, which I have a real problem with. I can usually find something to eat at a steakhouse or a seafoood restaurant, and I often enjoy eating in such places. In general, though, uncomplicated food fixed by people who genuinely love to cook from things I can eat will win me over every time, and that usually leaves the big chains out of the running for first place.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

I got home, and my woman is streaking...


...her hair, that is. Frosting, I suppose, is the correct term, but it's funnier this way.

Okay, I'll admit, I have a thing for long curly red hair. She knows it, too....I said something about shaving my beard a year or two ago, and she looked over at me and said, "You do, and I'll cut off my hair." I was horrified.

Anyway, long curly red hair with blond highlights. Looks good, baby.


Edit: Here's what I'm talking about on the right.

A quick gum...

Since Kate is feeling an advanced state of teh g33zoorz, rather than biting, I'm just gummin.

Yes, that's three links to the same blog, but if you don't read em all, you won't get the joke....and if you don't want to get the joke, you may bite me, because it is teh funneee.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Playing in traffic

We had a couple of extra little girls here Saturday night (from our 3 to 5, all told - after a certain point, the wisest thing is to hide upstairs and only respond to the sounds of things breaking). This isn't an unusual occurrence, there are after all three girls in this house, and they all have friends. Anyway, one of said friends' family is moving to Eastern Oregon next weekend, so this was kind of a last hurrah in getting together.

So I went to take Small Friend and our youngest with me back up to Portland. Along the way, I did some minor maintenance and whatnot, putting fluids in where they were low. I got as far as just between the interchange with Highway 217, and -=bam=- serious overheating, like smoke coming from under the hood overheating. I got it off to the median side of the road, where conveniently ODOT had coned off the inside lane (plenty of shoulder space too, which is a rarity in Portland in most places).

And there we sat. A couple of friends of mine came and rescued us, but we didn't end up getting outta there until after the tow truck left at around midnight with my car. I'm missing work today so I can go fix my car (I hope) or deal with it in some other way. We'll see.

Anyway, the point of this post was that I spent several hours in a car on the side of the freeway with two little girls, and guess what the main source of humor was?

Yep.

Fart jokes.

I love kids.

Edit (later):
Replacing the water pump. Hopefully that's all it'll need, but as of right now there's no way to know. Waiting....

Edit (later still):
The news is good - water pump replaced, and it's going to need a new radiator and hoses at some point in the near future. Also had to replace a tire, unfortunately, but it was about to go kablooey, and I have had quite enough of that lately.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Presented largely without comment

Just because it's one of those family photos that she'll kill me for in about 10 years. :)

Friday, October 19, 2007

The problem with alarm clocks

I was never a morning person as a child, or even during my early 20's. At some point, though, about 9 years ago, I discovered a love of early mornings - getting to work really early always seemed to really make my day go a lot faster/easier, because I could get a lot more done from 6-8 than in the rest of the day.

I'm not sure when that changed, but it may have something to do with the pitter patter of little feet around the place I call home. Becoming an insta-stepdad has changed a lot of other things, so I suppose it's logical enough that that'd change too. (It's amazing - I can sleep through an earthquake, but not the sound of a 5-yr-old's feet on carpeted stairs at 3 am....)

This morning, the alarm went off as it usually does, and I think it must have gotten set to an earlier time. I laid in bed dozing for a few minutes and then at some point realized that I needed to get my sorry carcass out of bed and into the shower or I'd be late for work. It was at that point that I realized the time was a quarter-to-the-hour. I rushed thru my morning routine, skipped shaving and breakfast, and made it to work by 15 minutes after the hour (impressive when you consider I have a 20-minute commute). I came bustling in, convinced I was late to work and would have to take a shorter lunch than usual and barely registering the fact that the parking lot was emptier than usual.

It was when the first of several coworkers looked at me, quizzically asking, "Why are you here so early?" that I realized it was 6:15 AM.

*sigh*

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Sweet merciful crap.....

IMAO's Google ad at the top is advertising "sexy Hillary Clinton" photos.

If that isn't a terrifying notion, I honestly don't know what is. I think my brain needs more bleach.

Simply awesome

If you've never experienced the awesomeness of Despair.com, you have sorely missed out on one of the great cultural movements of our time. They have new Demotivators, and this one in particular caught my eye.

Go. Read. You'll thank me later.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

New Neighbors

As I write, I'm being treated to a lovely back massage, at 11:15-ish PM on a Wednesday evening. But there's a catch....the back massage is being provided by my wall.

I haven't blogged about it before, but the owner of the house nextdoor was something of an ass. Last winter, one of my roof drainage downspouts came loose during a rainstorm, and the resulting cascade of water did a truly awesome job of excavating a swath out of the bank between his property and mine - his is about 10' vertically lower because we're on a hill. He took it upon himself to dig replacement dirt from underneath my porch to replace it. Much arguement and finger-pointing ensued. It was not a good time had by anybody.

So he sold the place, and the team of renovating owners are now in the process of replacing carpet, painting, and whatnot. I'd applaud this if but for one item....they evidently have day jobs and are doing this at night during the week, and while I enjoy music as much as the next guy, their choice leaves a lot to be desired in both genre and volume. This brings me back to the back massage I'm currently enjoying. Sort of.

There is something basically wrong with the idea that a central weight-bearing wall running down roughly the middle of my house, over 100' away, could be receiving enough sound energy to have a discernable vibration, much less one that feels much like being pummeled by epileptic squirrels. I've chosen not to involve the police at this time, however...these guys have no idea what they're messing with in this neighborhood. One of these days I'll have to post something about the retired lady on the corner who typically does yardwork in knee-high rubber boots and a fuzzy nightgown.

I am feeling Kate's pain with the whole neighbor thing.

Making the unreadable impenetrable.

Rachel has a great screed from Steven Weber, possibly one of the most blatant examples of somebody being in love with their own vocabulary I've ever read. Just for fun, I thought I'd improve it a bit - original for comparison above at the link, and here's the "new & improved" Engrish version, after a few trips through Altavista's Babelfish. :)

The fact that has a similar integrity of America, the zelf gestileerde flag of the modern, developed and civilized liberty, offers even the person for with its nadir qualified (from note it the lyric poem to take involuntarily, which fulfills with passion me unselfishly within the public range) to carry out to help the absurdity of a similar effort to say, is tragic incontrovertibly, would be understatement on the carried out instruction "of the task", lost. Already rather the service at its country salts, by it with a safe distance of the large presidency bellcrank, which prefers to make more effectively in the place the time to change over and with much more reliability than private citizen restantrestant. And which it could show? A in such a way copied position became it that no genuine would think statesperson with a value of its salted replacement one day, which lives in the oval building. Now the fact that gremlins it will leave boogers below each Romanesque which has failure this hallways from the highest yard brings, and they stink with the each alteration worthlessly that the individual liberty the efforts remettantse, those and been the list flea of state in the conventional change of the guard, i.e., (choice) the potus rows shift only under a judge for "the received talent America guaranteed appearing!". However: What as, to reroute even in presence it this complicit into the American bush and still the sport it smug rictuses, still the vagabond below waanidee of one globusamericana still clasps itself it, which intimidate tactics, still smug the witnesses at the collapses in new Orleans carries Afghanistan and Iraq, and which cannot see their own inadequacy yet underneath the eyes... What as, despite the failure years under a republican controlled congress; despite the failure of the channel of programs enlaidis Orwellian, when a child does not leave behind and clear hemelen; despite the rope of the degradations, which implies boisterously, paragons republican of the virtue and the ethics, which becomes imprisoned with their portfolios and its trousers; despite and the monumental laehmt delocalisering the American jobs; despite the accumulation, which leaves cases crony doorzeefde debt under it from modern of this politics; despite the obvious oorlogswoekerhandel: despite the handling of our more expensive constitutional warranties; to earn despite the enemy jet from wereld withered to, how this is still explained to him for another poging? From side of the stage in the form, the income and the ground floor he ' D has its hand high point. He ' D must burn middernachtethylalcohol and with the lemonade of the bitterest lemon party this nation make, those for what is seen the time. He ' D occupied hopes world-wide on its shoulders. He ' D is 24 hours per day in crosshairs the section of Swiftboat of Blackwater, an attack, which would make the shocks and Awe, examines Mentos as morserij from Pepsi a concession. And it even sticks to know well none that the high point the policy of the bush and its treuen/goosesteppers apologistslegion up to them to prevent it it us completely approximately the firm high point dégringolé, and well knowing that strongly you Wanna As a beer with us slipped gi-normous Mickey Finnish and during our visieonduidelijke pictures our bags turns of, which are opening falltuer in the back to press ours, and to the point ours did not know the action at the center largely already only. And at this time the American myth can leave reinvigorated and is again to revive. And hope could again be ignited. And the nation, which is rejected by the Verteilersmirking, could together announced by uniter natures met. And America could do that, its, which it was once and must be so much again. If, over to heat global - it is the time goes. To know from Whattaya to?

I can feel my arteries hardening already.

It's when I see stories like this (h/t Instapundit) that I'm glad that Hardee's hasn't ever moved into the Pacific Northwest in force. I mean, really, wasn't the Monster Thickburger enough already?

I think Rachel is spot-on - Americans have gotten so used to per-person portions that would feed a family of four for a week in other parts of the world, that we've lost sight of how truly fortunate we are to live in this country.

Holy mother of....

This is unreal. Mind you, I have an eye for this sort of thing anyway due to what I do for a living, but this is staggering. A better rationale for a dress code in public schools I think I've rarely seen.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Wedding Photo


Red's little brother and his new wife, from their wedding in August. The only special effect on this one is the desaturation I did of the original RAW file. 1/160s @ f/5, 400 ISO at 120mm using natural light on a very bright sunny day.

Biting the Venomous One

Kate rightly castigates me and the rest of the universe for failing to bite when invited....so here's my nibble back, and an apology for my shameful neglect.

Things that Rightly Piss Me Off

Seriously, is there anything as deeply irritating as Doing As One Is Told at work, despite knowing that said action is dumber than a box of hammers and will result in no good, and less than twenty seconds later being reminded to take said action by a second person? Am I the only person who is annoyed by this?

I suppose the converse of this is telling one's management that a planned course of action will result in nothing good, seeing it disastrously and spectacularly go awry (in precisely the fashion objected to initially), and just smiling every time it's brought up. I've been fortunate enough to do that a couple of times in the past, and I suppose I'll go to hell for it.

Oh well. Hopefully it's worth it.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Heh

The single most awesome idea ever. E-VAR.

Link is work-safe, video there isn't.

(h/t Instapundit)

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Birthday fun

Ok, so Friday was my birthday. Yay, go me.....actually, I was finding the notion that I've been on this rock for 35 years now somewhat depressing. That is, until yesterday.

My wonderful Red had to spend a portion of yesterday working on her business....not a problem, all things considered. I got several uninterrupted hours to play my video game, and since that's a rarity, it was quite nice.

Then the Billy Joel concert tickets showed up. Did I mention I love Billy Joel, and that I've never seen him in concert? I'm stoked, even if I have to wait till the end of next month. :)

Then my friend the bike owner turned up here, around 8:30 or so (see my last photo-post - the motorcycle Julie is sitting on is his), and he and Red and I went to Presley's Playhouse. They poured a shot of Glenlivet and a pint or three of Guinness into me, and got me a private lapdance from Presley herself. I'm no connoisseur of lapdancing....actually, this was the first one I've received for myself, but I have to say it was, "Impressive....most impressive," as Darth Vader says. Red refers to it as "intoxicating", but I think that's the booze talking, whether she had more to drink than me or not. :)

After that, we went to see a local band from the Willamette Valley called Quandry. A lot of local bands come and go - I hope these guys make it, they were excellent live.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Anwyn wants to get together...

Kennedy School, November 3 in Portland. Sounds like fun!

(Yes, I know I have no regular readers, but one has to start somewhere....)

Some new photos

Okay, I suppose putting the bikini photo first is shameless. :)
Nicole, very bright sunny day; 1/500s @ f/10, ISO 400, 90mm using a 70-300mm lens.

Harley-Davidson owned by a friend of mine, with Julie. 1/100s @ f7.1, ISO 400, 25mm using an 18-55mm lens. Sunny day, shot partially in shade using a gold reflector.

Portrait of Melanie. 1/500 s at f8, ISO400 at 165mm, using a 70-300mm lens on a bright sunny day.

Hiatus of sorts over

Kate reminds me I haven't posted anything here in ages. Yes, I've been neglecting my blog shamefully - there are good reasons for it. Honestly.

Anyway, sunshine and happiness will now resume. The Current State Of Things is as follows:

1) Yesterday was my birthday; please ignore any silly stories about something some Italian guy did several hundred years ago, since the important event for October 12 was in 1972.

2) Red's new business is proceeding apace....I'll have to devote a shameless promoting post to it soon.

3) I have new pictures. More on that later.

-=post interrupted by birthday celebratory debauchery=-