Welcome To The Jungle
Ok so I'm pretty sure you all have heard of the shows Survivor Man and Man Vs. Wild. If not, these are shows on the Discovery Channel that show guys going into the wilderness and trying to survive. They are pretty interesting to see how someone can survive in the different environments. I haven't seen too many of these episodes, but for these, the biggest thing they say is that knowledge will help you survive. After watching one episode, one thing I know is that I'm pretty sure that I would die if I was stranded out in the middle of nowhere.
So I was flipping through the channels last night and came across Survivor Man. This time he was stranded on a deserted island in Costa Rica kinda like Tom Hanks in Castaway. He woke up after the first night and decided to go into the Jungle to look for a trail or something. It was just one guy, a knife and 55lbs of camera equipment he had to lug around. It was weird the way they do this show because it shows him walking around the jungle climbing around stuff, but the way the shots were done, he would have to put the camera down, walk back the way he came, and walked towards the camera again.
He was saying how hot it was in the jungle and how dangerous it was. It came to night and he had to sleep on a log and put the camera on night vision. This is very creepy in the middle of a jungle. Spiders the size of baseball mitts, snakes walking around and lines of leaf cutter ants walking in a line (I know leaf cutter ants are harmless, but VERY freaky at night). He tried sleeping, but couldn't because of the bugs crawling around.
The next day he was lost in the jungle again, he came back on and he was able to kill a small lizard for some food. He made a fire and BBQ'd the hell out of it. He broke up the little burnt pieces and ate it. At this point, I felt really sorry for him, being all alone eating small lizards; but I was hungry so I got some cake, put a little dollop of Cool Whip on it and got a nice glass of milk.
So as I was enjoying my delicious piece of cake, I was watching this guy wander through the jungle. He gave hints about keeping your body temperature low, and the importance of keeping hydrated. He ended up cutting his finger and said how bad it was that infection is the most painful experience out in the wild.
Eventually the guy made it back to the coast and spotted a small village so he made it out. I finished my cake by then and I was thinking about that, and I'm pretty sure if I was stranded out there like it, I would have most likely gone into the jungle and get eaten by wild jungle parrots or something. So it makes me feel lucky to live in California and I sure as hell won't plan on getting stranded on any islands. The main thing needed to survive is knowledge, so now I know, and knowing is what??? (I'll let you answer it)
MEAT!
Hey peoples,
I know it's been a little while so I decided to post about something simple. So the other day I was watching Tyler's Ultimate and he made a really good steak\potato dish so I decided to make it. It was a salt crusted, Ribeye over a baked potato hash brown topped with Bearnaise sauce. It looked easy to make and looked delicious.
We had some steaks in the freezer and I wandered to the store to get the stuff. I started with the steaks. The steaks were to be topped with whipped egg whites, folded with a blend of about 5 different herbs and a bunch of salt. Here is what the steaks looked like after being covered.
I know this looks weird and perhaps a little gross, but it's supposed to insulate the steaks and make a crust on the top. While these are all set up, I started on the baked potato hash browns. This starts with the something all things should start with. BACON! Bacon cooked down with shallots!
While this was cooking up, I had to shred the potatoes. One of these days I need to get a food processor or a mandolin, (or both muhahah) because using a box grater takes a while to shred them. After they are shredded, I put them in a kitchen towel and squeeze out the extra water. Man, I never realized how much water was stuck in a potato. It's kinda gross, but it makes the hash browns crispier.
Once the potatoes are done, they are mixed in a bowl, with Thyme, green onions, salt, pepper, one egg white, and of course the bacon and shallot. Even raw it looks good already.
Once all mixed up, it goes into the pan the bacon was in. (We can't waste any part of the bacon!)
Then it gets patted down and cooked until the bottom gets crispy. Next comes the hazardous part. I have to flip it over in the pan. Tyler did this all in one wrist flip, but I wasn't quite ready for that. I decided to take the safer route and put a plate over the pan, flip the thing over and then slide it back in the pan.
That was the plan to begin with, but as most plans go, this one didn't quite turn out (get it turn out). I started with the a nervous look,
Then the flip,
And finally the slide from the plate and ONTO the oven! Dammit, stupid potatoes fell down.
So half of the potatoes get flipped and the rest go into the oven. Soon after, the steaks come out with the crust.
While the potaotes finish up, I start with the Bearnaise sauce. Bearnaise sauce is basically a hollandaise sauce with a blend of shallots and reduced wine. So I start with the shallots and wine.
After the wine reduces, it goes into the blender with the egg yolks and then the butter!
With the completion of the sauce, the last things to do is to free the meat,
cut the meat,
Slice the potatoes,
and add the sauce,
So as always, a 40 minute recipe takes 2 hours to complete, a mess on the oven, but oh soooo worth it. It was phenomenal. The only thing that was a bit off, was the crust made the meat really really salty. So next time, I gotta make sure to scrape off more of the crust and do some major blotting. But all in all, this turned out really well and I'll have to work on the potato flipping thing. If you want to see a couple more pictures, I got them on the flickr thingy.
WOW
Ok, last Friday I was driving home and I was listening to the Tom Leykis show on Live 106.9 Free FM. This show basically has people calling in about their relationships and break up stories and things like that, but what got me this day was this particular caller.
This woman named Sue was calling from New Mexico or Arizona and she was telling Tom her story, her story was that she had a one-night stand with a guy and got pregnant. She told the guy but he didn't care, so she had the baby and then went to him for child support payments. He didn't want to pay, but she knew where he worked and got a court order to garnish his wages. He obviously didn't like that, so he quit his job, so she wouldn't get anything. She got pissed off, went over to his house, told him to give her money, he said no, so she shot him.
At this point Tom was very suprised and asked if she killed him. She said stuff like, "Yep, shot him twice in the heart." and "I'm a nurse too, so I knew exactly where to aim." Tom then asked what happened then, were you arrested, and she said "Nope! When the cops came over I told them he was drunk and shot himself, when they did a toxology report they found his blood alcohol level to be three times the legal limit, so they believed me and I never was arrested."
So Tom said wait a minute, and went over the entire story again with her step by step and all the time she was recanting her story, I could tell she was very proud of herself about how she killed this guy and didn't get arrested, but I was also thinking something pretty much along the same lines as what Tom did next. Tom's last recap of the story was that she wasn't arrested or put to trial, so he asked her if she relized that she just confessed to Murder on a nationally broadcasted radio show. He said that if she gets arrested, they can play this recording to a jury and she'll go to jail. She started to say how she didn't think that would happen, but Tom said that she called a 800 number to talk to him, and since they pay for that service, they get a log of every number that calls them. She then said that didn't matter either because she's using a friend's cell phone. He then told her that (obviously) didn't matter because when the police track down her friend, her friend will likely give her up. At that time there was a silence and then a dial tone blared on the speakers.
So she straight hung up on him and he was pretty mad about it. Not about the hang-up, but that she was stupid enough to say on the radio that she killed a guy. He said in his 23 years on the radio he's never heard anything like that, and he was totally prepared to assist the police in any way possible and was telling his producer or someone on the show to get that recording and the phone number ready. Sue was also dumb enough to tell Tom what town she was living in at the time as well. Tom then said on the air that if anyone from that town knew that voice, to call them then the police in the area and have her arrested. He also said that if anyone dropped any info that leads to the arrest and conviction of that person, he would give them $5000.00 of his own cash.
The next 15 mins or so after that was basically people calling in saying how dumb she was and how she'll so go to jail and stuff, so I basically turned the station at that point. I was really suprised that someone was really stupid enough to call in and brag about that. Now I know I hardly know jack shit about the law and penalties past what I've seen on "The Practice" and the occasional episode of "Law and Order", (the original one, not any of the spinoffs), but I do remember that there are no statute of limitations on Murder in this counrty, and this person is very likely going to jail. I also know that the fact that she didn't have a trial, and was not aquitted of any charges mean that she's not protected by "Double Jeopardy".
I don't think there could have been anything else she could say to give away who she was, she said her first name, which could have been fake, but she also said what town she was from, around what time this happened and what profession she was in. That with the "friends" phone number trace from Tom's studio hopefully means that the police will pick her up soon and arrest her for killing that guy. So I'm pretty shocked about this and that the fact that she sounded very pleased with herself when she explained what she did and what she told the police, and that she didn't hang up until Tom explained to her that she could still be prosecuted for this makes me think she didn't make it up.
The End of a Tradition
As many of you might not know, but my Birthday is coming up this Friday. As such, as many of you do know, I normally put together a big dinner and invite everyone I know, some I don't, and everyone in between. I've always enjoyed these get toghethers, as it's always fun to have everyone at the same place hanging out. Getting everyone there always involved lots of planning, annoying phone calls in August, emails, evites and all sorts of modern day communications to organize it. As many others have tried getting large scale parties at the right time at the right place, it is an endeavor, and for me I think most of the fun is in the setup as much as the event itself. I think it's part of my ongoing God Complex.
So you might have noticed that this past few months, none of it has happened from my part. I find it kind of weird that my Birthday, an event that I hold very sacred, is kind pissing by this year. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not feeling depressed or anything, I think I'm just being lazy this year. I'm not entirely sure why I'm not more weirded out by this, but I'm sure it'll hit me sometime this week.
I know I'm being narsisstic about this, and I know that not everyone takes their birthday's differently, some march defiantly into the future denying the fact that they are getting older, others just want it to pass by as another day, nothing special, and some actually get close to forgetting. Not me though, I alwasys think of my Birthday as a grand celebration of the day I entered this world, and another year I've been able to flourish. I enjoy life and any excuse to celebrate the wonder that is Me.
So after reading this over again, I think I'm starting to bum myself out that this year I haven't planned anything. But if anyone out there has any other ideas, let me know, or even any plans or ideas for a fun weekend. I'm going to get going now and get some sleep. I hope my random thought of my birthday don't worry any one else, not should you even think about it 13 seconds after you stop readng this post.
Until next time...
Well, It's Been a While
Hey there kiddies!
As the title states, it has been a while since I've been on the horn here, and I'm not sure where to start. I guess I'd better start with our little addition, Penny! As I'm sure most of you have already seen on Jen's website, we got a new cat last month. She's a little 4 month old Calico kitten. She's really cute, with a lot of white, brown, black spots. I forget how to put a photo in this blog thingy, but I'll figure it out or work on getting that Flickr thing that ya'll seem to love so much. But back to Penny, we got her at the shelter, and for like 150 bucks they were going to throw in the adoption fee, first round of vaccinations, Spaying, and the GPS tracking chip or whatever they call it. I thought it was a good deal until I get the call from them that she is sick with an Upper Respitory Infection and can't go into surgery.
So that totally sucked, as we then had a new sick kitten. We had to give her medicine 3 times a day and make sure she eats and drinks. It took like 3 weeks of back and forth, but she's all better now. After a few visits to the vet, we found that other people who adopted cats at the shelter also caught the Upper respitory infection. Also about this infection, some cases, it's a form of Herpes and the cat can sometimes never recover fully from it. As you can guess, this kinda freaks us out.
But she's all better now, which is good. We keep her in the second bathroom when we sleep and when we're at work. I don't think she like it too much, cause every morning she hears our alarm clocks and starts meowing like crazy until we let her out. The same goes for when we come back from work, as soon as we step in the apt, she starts meowing.
So it's cool that she wants to play with us a lot. She is a little wierd though. We found out that she likes Audrey Hepburn. That's right, Audrey Hepburn. If you've seen that GAP commercial where she dances around against a yellow background to AC/DC's Back in Black. When it comes on, Penny just totally stares at the screen and if she's close to the screen, she paws at it. Another thing she does is attack the cursor on my computer when it's zipping around.
Ugh, it's getting late. I guess I'll update again later.
Until then.
Clark needs a scooter.
Recently, Jen has gotten Smallville seasons 1 and 2. I remember watching this when it first came out back in the dorms and it was cool. So when we start watching the DVD's again, I get hooked. So if you haven't seen the show, you should netflix it and watch the episodes. If you were any fan of Superman at any level, the show is interesting to see how he grows up in Smallville Kansas.
So if you have seen the show, you know that Clark Kent has all these powers and he runs around town saving people all the time. I recently noticed something while watching this show. We all know he can run fast, but he always seems to zip back and forth all over the place and apparetnly NOBODY questions how he gets there. Apparently he beats the school bus to school every day and Pete just chalked it up as wierd. C'MON people! I know Smallville is probably a little behind the times, but if you see your friend appear somewhere where he should have not business beating you there, ya think you'd question it at least once!
But NOOOOOO....apparently everybody in Smallville just accpets the fact that Clark shows up out of nowhere. One scene in one episode stands out a bit, where Lex gets thrown out of his Limo in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. Of course Clark shows up, asks what happens, and then zips away. That's it! Lex doesn't question how Clark found him in the first place and where he suddenly dissapeard to in the middle of the night at the abandonded road.
So I was thinking that since Clark is all strong and what not, why didn't he just carry SOME mode of transportation with him where ever he goes? I think it would make it a little more plausable that he shows up in these places "all of a sudden". A Vespa, or one of those little gas skateboards with the handlebars, fuck even a bicycle or one of those Razor scooters would make more sense to me. Granted, I'm only on seasons 1 and 2, maybe in the later seasons he smarts up, and gets a car or something that could explain why he's showing up just in the nick of time.
Ok well hopefully he smartens up, and maybe in the new Superman movie coming out this month, he should at least make sure to appear next to a cab or the subway or something that could possibly explain how he got there.
Here I Go Again (Part 1)
OK I started writing this on 5/4/06 on my trip to Ohio and didn't get to finish it till today 5/17/06 on my trip to Texas.
So, as I'm sitting here watching Blade II for the umpteenth time I think back to how shitty this week was. It started out as any other on Monday and on Tuesday, but apparently this customer has one of our newest units, the SlotServer and he can't get it to work. What sucks for me is that this customer is Protctor and Gamble, the biggest manufacturer of cleaning chemicals and brands. They make Tide and Downy among others. So since this is a big account and it's gonna suck if our first new unit fail, I find myself on a fucking plane out to Ohio.
Flying to the east coast sucks ass. I've gone twice now and with SouthWest it's always the same. A short hop and then a LOOOONNNG boring one. This time, I land in Chicago for a 2 hour lay-over before hitting Ohio. Unfortunately the pizza place at the airpot sucks ass. But there was a good hotdog vendor there so it ended up ok. The fligths suck and they are long. Normally, a movie would put me through it, but my laptop only holds a charge for about 30 mins. I think I wanna get a video player for my Palm or something for next time. Anyways, with the time delay, I end up losing a whole fucking day traveling to the east coast.
And to put the shit-cherry on the sundae, I get a message from the Sales guy that I need to go to Baltimore to visit another customer's site. Now I'm annyoed because I barely brought enough clothes for this one trip to Ohio. Oh well, I'm half way there already.
The plan for Ohio is that I have a window from 6am to 2pm to get this working for the customer. The site is in Lima, about 2 hours away from everywhere in Ohio. Since I gotta be there by the ass-crack of dawn, I decide to drive to the hotel in Lima. Ohio sucks as far as driving anywhere. The freeway I have to take is like 40 miles long, there are no street lights anywhere and all around me is random houses and empty farmland. Since the freeway sucks so much, I'm basically using the compass in the car to figure out I'm still heading in the right direction.
I finally get to the right town, but they do a shit-job of labeling their streets, I get kinda lost twice before I get to the hotel. So I left Cali at 10am and finally get to my hotel by 10pm. SUCKS. Luckily there is a Waffle hut near the hotel so I can at least get a late dinner. I get back and hurry up because the customer is going to pick me up at 5:45, ya know, 245 back home. Ugh this job sucks sometimes.
The next morning comes, and of course I'm dead tired. I got to the site and work out some stuff. The customer isn't the most helpful and I was able to get some stuff done. I then leave and work my way back to the airport at Columbus. Luckily it was easier to get there during the day.
I get to the airport and ship my ass over to Baltimore. I take the hour+ flight and land. From there, I rent yet another car and drive to the next hotel. It takes me about 45 minutes and I end up driving to York Pennsylvania. This place is very nice, and built on a golf course. It would have been cool to play a round there. I end up getting there at around 8 and get some dinner at the Irish pub in the hotel. 3 Dollar Hot Wings are awesome! I then had some smoked Scallops which were good.
I then chill and get some sleep. I can't wait to get done with this trip and go home.
The next morning, I go down to the breakfast buffet at the hotel (which I was told was complimentary), eat some and then I know my ride is showing up. Now, I wasn't sure if it was really free, but I left anyway. I get a pretty nice tour of old York Penn. There are some really old school brick buldings and refineries there. We get to the company and find that the problem is on their side, and I see they fixed it in about 10 mins. I hang for another 20 mins or so to check in with the office and then we go to Lunch. I bought a flight at 3 to take me home. We go to an early lunch and get some kick ass crab chowder and a fried soft-shelled crab.
I then get another tour of downtown York and finally get to my rental car. I make the drive back and barley get on the plane on time. Now I get the long ass flight back home across the country. One stop off in Tenn, then in Phoenix, then Ontario and finally back home. This flight totally sucked ass because I had to stay on the same plane. This meant that when the plane landed, I didn't get a layover, just 20 mins before we were up in the air.
But it all worked out, I finally made it home. For now until my next trip.
