We go away and end up having computer problems... The laptop now won't charge, and I find myself doing this post via e-mail from Wayne (the iPod).
Things have been fun - catching up with a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time and going to some cool places, but still more places and people to see. We went for a good hike today that included time walking along a beach and through bush.
We've done other stuff, but I'll wait until I have a device in front of me that isn't all thumbs...
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
To all the doubters...
Some people, regular readers if you will, may remember that on April 22, 2010, I claimed that I saw a Groundhog at work. There were doubters, and I can't blame them, because I had no proof. All I had was my word, and also Mike's word.
Well, word this!
Sure, the photos aren't of great quality, but I was shooting with the Canon, which I'm not used to anymore. It was nice of the camera to focus on the grass in the first shot... Despite the lack of focus, they get the job done.
It was a lucky spot - I was in someone's office and something moving across the grass towards the flower beds caught my eye. Yep - it was big enough to see from the 5th floor. So, I left and went back a minute later and saw something moving through the flowers. I knew it had to be it, but no-one was around to verify my story, so I grabbed the camera and went downstairs to find it still there. I came back in and showed Erin, and she thinks that it is a groundhog as well.
It was cool to see it, and I learned something new: apparently, groundhogs, or at least this groundhog, have an odor like an enclosure at the zoo.
Well, word this!
Sure, the photos aren't of great quality, but I was shooting with the Canon, which I'm not used to anymore. It was nice of the camera to focus on the grass in the first shot... Despite the lack of focus, they get the job done.
It was a lucky spot - I was in someone's office and something moving across the grass towards the flower beds caught my eye. Yep - it was big enough to see from the 5th floor. So, I left and went back a minute later and saw something moving through the flowers. I knew it had to be it, but no-one was around to verify my story, so I grabbed the camera and went downstairs to find it still there. I came back in and showed Erin, and she thinks that it is a groundhog as well.
It was cool to see it, and I learned something new: apparently, groundhogs, or at least this groundhog, have an odor like an enclosure at the zoo.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Japanese Food Rocks!
Last night we went out for dinner with some of Liz' family for a joint birthday celebration for Liz and Richard. We went to a Japanese restaurant in Port Chester called Edo. Here, they advertise Edo as being a place for Hibachi, but when we used that word in front of Stephen and Mari they were both puzzled. Basically, they cook the food in front of you and put on a bit of a show, such as making volcanoes out of onions and stuff like that.
I have strong memories of Edo - the first time I went there was the day I learned a valuable lesson: even if the date on mayonnaise says it is still good, don't eat it if it smells funny.
They give you a lot of food at Edo. Last night with the Hibachi dinner we got soup, salad, which Edo make with a really good carrot ginger dressing, vegetables, rice (either boiled or fried), shrimp and the meat that you choose. Edo is the only place that I eat shrimp. I've tried it other places and just don't find it at all appealing. At Edo though, I actually look forward to it. I generally get chicken, which they cook in a teriyaki sauce. To dip the vegetables in they give you 2 sauces - one is a brown ginger sauce, and the other is a mustard sauce. I always end up forgetting which one I prefer, so for future reference, Russell - you prefer the brown ginger sauce. Last night I loaded up on a lot of rice because Barbara gave Liz a lot of her fried rice, so she in turn couldn't eat her boiled rice. Mmmm... boiled rice with the ginger sauce was good.
Another highlight of the evening was when we were about to leave Gail's house and my crapberry rang in my pocket. It was a local number, so I figured I should answer it just in case something bad was happening.
"This is the Greenwich Police - we just got an emergency call from this number. Is everything OK?" came the voice from the other end.
"Ummm... no-one called the police." I answered.
"Are you sure no-one called? Is everyone OK?" they asked.
"Yep - my phone was in my pocket, it was locked, but it must have hit the emergency call button. Sorry about that."
"Well, if you're sure everyone's OK, have a good night."
"Thanks..."
I had to pull the battery out of the phone to get it to turn off "Emergency Call Mode". I really don't like the POS... sorry to have disturbed the Greenwich PD, I blame the Blackberry.
I have strong memories of Edo - the first time I went there was the day I learned a valuable lesson: even if the date on mayonnaise says it is still good, don't eat it if it smells funny.
They give you a lot of food at Edo. Last night with the Hibachi dinner we got soup, salad, which Edo make with a really good carrot ginger dressing, vegetables, rice (either boiled or fried), shrimp and the meat that you choose. Edo is the only place that I eat shrimp. I've tried it other places and just don't find it at all appealing. At Edo though, I actually look forward to it. I generally get chicken, which they cook in a teriyaki sauce. To dip the vegetables in they give you 2 sauces - one is a brown ginger sauce, and the other is a mustard sauce. I always end up forgetting which one I prefer, so for future reference, Russell - you prefer the brown ginger sauce. Last night I loaded up on a lot of rice because Barbara gave Liz a lot of her fried rice, so she in turn couldn't eat her boiled rice. Mmmm... boiled rice with the ginger sauce was good.
Another highlight of the evening was when we were about to leave Gail's house and my crapberry rang in my pocket. It was a local number, so I figured I should answer it just in case something bad was happening.
"This is the Greenwich Police - we just got an emergency call from this number. Is everything OK?" came the voice from the other end.
"Ummm... no-one called the police." I answered.
"Are you sure no-one called? Is everyone OK?" they asked.
"Yep - my phone was in my pocket, it was locked, but it must have hit the emergency call button. Sorry about that."
"Well, if you're sure everyone's OK, have a good night."
"Thanks..."
I had to pull the battery out of the phone to get it to turn off "Emergency Call Mode". I really don't like the POS... sorry to have disturbed the Greenwich PD, I blame the Blackberry.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Damn clouds!
Today is an overcast day, which is a bit of a disappointment. If the skies were clear, I'd perhaps be outside in the wee hours of the morning, or have encouraged Liz to come out in the early night to see the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower. The celestial conditions tonight were supposed to be quite good - a very thin crescent moon not producing much light and setting early; the sky in some places could have been quite dark. Oh well - it's an annual shower, so there's always next year.
The clouds kept the temperature down today, which was a welcome relief for some (I haven't been too bothered by the recent heat). It's weird though, as soon as there were some clouds and the temperature dropped from 87°F (30.5°C) to 71°F (21°C), I was seeing people wearing sweaters (jumpers for Australian readers) and putting on jackets when they came out of the building to catch the shuttle...
Last weekend we found out that the beach in Stamford is open after dark, so we went down there 2 nights. The sign at the entrance to the car park says it is open until midnight, but then once we got to the footbridge entry, it said the beach closed an hour after sunset. We would have liked to have stayed longer, but I don't want to get locked in overnight at the beach or have to hop a fence/gate to get home...
Last night we watched Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. I've seen it before and thought it was great, but Liz had never seen it. Before it she said "I'll try and keep an open mind.", and after it said "That was really funny. Let's add the second one to the list and watch it next." So, hopefully over the weekend or early next week we'll be watching Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.
Tonight for dinner we had slow-cooker shredded beef. It was good - I think the special ingredient helped it out. We put a type of pepper in it - it looked like chipotle, tasted like chipotle and smelled like chipotle both in cooking and on my fingers after taking it out of the can. But, according to said can, they were Chilpotle peppers. Spelling errors are all around, and I still enjoy finding them!
The clouds kept the temperature down today, which was a welcome relief for some (I haven't been too bothered by the recent heat). It's weird though, as soon as there were some clouds and the temperature dropped from 87°F (30.5°C) to 71°F (21°C), I was seeing people wearing sweaters (jumpers for Australian readers) and putting on jackets when they came out of the building to catch the shuttle...
Last weekend we found out that the beach in Stamford is open after dark, so we went down there 2 nights. The sign at the entrance to the car park says it is open until midnight, but then once we got to the footbridge entry, it said the beach closed an hour after sunset. We would have liked to have stayed longer, but I don't want to get locked in overnight at the beach or have to hop a fence/gate to get home...
Last night we watched Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. I've seen it before and thought it was great, but Liz had never seen it. Before it she said "I'll try and keep an open mind.", and after it said "That was really funny. Let's add the second one to the list and watch it next." So, hopefully over the weekend or early next week we'll be watching Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.
Tonight for dinner we had slow-cooker shredded beef. It was good - I think the special ingredient helped it out. We put a type of pepper in it - it looked like chipotle, tasted like chipotle and smelled like chipotle both in cooking and on my fingers after taking it out of the can. But, according to said can, they were Chilpotle peppers. Spelling errors are all around, and I still enjoy finding them!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Idiot movie
Lunch at my desk - it's been a couple of weeks since I did this... well, I guess I could talk about what has been going on the last few days.
We are still keeping our Netflix subscription going, and we are getting better about being able to wash dishes and watch movies on the same night. On Tuesday we watched Idiocracy, a movie that had a very limited release here. I actually enjoyed the movie, and would watch it again. Liz said she liked the movie, but never wants to see it again. They set the scene in the first few minutes, which you can see here. Basically, if you don't want to watch the video, natural selection (survival of the fittest) is starting to fall by the wayside as more and more intelligent people don't breed, and more and more less intelligent people over-breed. 2 modern-day average people, an Army private and a prostitute, are put into hibernation as part of a government test. They're supposed to wake up after a year, but instead wake up 500 years later, in 2505, to a civilization that has fallen to the point where everyone is stupid.
Admittedly, there are some scenes where I could see why people don't like the movie, because, frankly, everyone in the scene is an idiot. But the frustration at how stupid they are is what made it funny for me. My only dislike in the movie was the lead female who played the prostitute. I did not like her.
In the end, though, the movie scared me. The first couple of minutes where they run over what started the meltdown of society through over-breeding is actually happening. At times there were lines said by the future idiots that people say now. The high-ranking TV show of the future, "Ow my balls" is like Jackass. Perhaps, one day, we'll get there as a society.
Yesterday the new tripod head was delivered, so we put it on the legs and made sure it all looks good. We're both happy with it; it's a lot nicer than the old fluid head that broke. It may take some getting used to, but I'm glad we went with a pan-tilt over a ball head or another fluid head. I'm sure the camera will spend a lot of time on it over the next couple of months and years.
We are still keeping our Netflix subscription going, and we are getting better about being able to wash dishes and watch movies on the same night. On Tuesday we watched Idiocracy, a movie that had a very limited release here. I actually enjoyed the movie, and would watch it again. Liz said she liked the movie, but never wants to see it again. They set the scene in the first few minutes, which you can see here. Basically, if you don't want to watch the video, natural selection (survival of the fittest) is starting to fall by the wayside as more and more intelligent people don't breed, and more and more less intelligent people over-breed. 2 modern-day average people, an Army private and a prostitute, are put into hibernation as part of a government test. They're supposed to wake up after a year, but instead wake up 500 years later, in 2505, to a civilization that has fallen to the point where everyone is stupid.
Admittedly, there are some scenes where I could see why people don't like the movie, because, frankly, everyone in the scene is an idiot. But the frustration at how stupid they are is what made it funny for me. My only dislike in the movie was the lead female who played the prostitute. I did not like her.
In the end, though, the movie scared me. The first couple of minutes where they run over what started the meltdown of society through over-breeding is actually happening. At times there were lines said by the future idiots that people say now. The high-ranking TV show of the future, "Ow my balls" is like Jackass. Perhaps, one day, we'll get there as a society.
Yesterday the new tripod head was delivered, so we put it on the legs and made sure it all looks good. We're both happy with it; it's a lot nicer than the old fluid head that broke. It may take some getting used to, but I'm glad we went with a pan-tilt over a ball head or another fluid head. I'm sure the camera will spend a lot of time on it over the next couple of months and years.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
BURGER TIME!!!
On Friday night we had what is perhaps my favorite dinner time food at the moment - burgers. They're the type of thing we make a lot during summer - they're quick, they're delicious, they are better on the grill/barbecue than they are in the pan, they're tasty, and did I mention they are delicious.
I WILL BE BURGER KING!!!
The real King is awesome.
Our burgers start out with ground (minced) beef, which I then form into patties, generally of around 1/4 pound (that's about the size that a pattie would be on a McDonald's Quarter Pounder). Sometimes, if we are running short on time or are making a lot of burgers, we'll get beef that has already been formed into patties.
The next step on my list is to season them. I sprinkle on some salt, black pepper and garlic powder and rub some olive oil into them so that they don't stick to the grill. Then it's time to heat some meat!
Normally I would just put ketchup (tomato sauce) and mustard on my burger, but on Friday I felt like something different. I took some spicy chipotle barbecue sauce that we had gotten for free with a coupon from Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago and mixed it with some mayonnaise and smeared that on one of the buns. If you tried the sauce on it's own it had a pleasant but slightly strong back of the throat heat to it. When it was mixed with everything else on the burger though I couldn't taste it. The solution was to add more of it, which did the trick and added a new flavor layer to the awesomeness. After eating our burgers Liz was full, but I was just getting started. BURGER TIME!!!
Here are some shots of me with my second burger. First I show the burger in it's component form. There is a bun, a pattie, some onion, pineapple and the chipotle bbq mayo in a bowl in the background.
I spooned some chipotle mayo onto the bottom bun.
Weird looking Russell then pointed out, "There's enough chipotle mayo on here that the meat slides around! That's how you can tell you've got enough on the bottom."
After adding the pineapple and onion, I spooned more sauce onto the top pattie. Construction complete!
Oh yeah! Ooze, sauce, ooze!
More weird facial expressions as I do the fake out first bite...
...before sinking the teeth in!
The chipotle bbq mayo was a revelation, the greatest innovation in my burger-making since, um, sliced buns. All these successes, or lack of failures, in burger-making are slowly inching me towards being able to legitimately wear the mask/crown that Liz bestowed on me a couple of years ago and be like someone I idolize so much:
I WILL BE BURGER KING!!!
The real King is awesome.
Friday night Tiff arrived at about 9:30 or so, by which stage we were part way through watching Hot Tub Time Machine. It was good, but I enjoyed Pineapple Express more. There was some really funny stuff in that.
Friday night and into Saturday morning was filled with strange dreams. In the one I remember I worked for a cable company, and we made cables of all types, from the wires that go into network cabling to the large cables that they use on suspension bridges. The company kept getting calls for cable orders really early in the morning, and so I suggested to my boss that we should start adding a surcharge to any order placed before 6am on a Saturday morning. What seemed like seconds later, but time is hard to judge when you are asleep so it could have been minutes, hours or even days later, the alarm went off. It was 5:15 and time to take Tiff to the airport for a flight to Georgia. Out of the house by 6:10, at the airport by 6:55, and back at Audubon for an early morning walk by 7:50. The walk was good - there was no-one around, and all we could hear were the birds (saw very few of them, though) and the distant running of chainsaws. While we were walking we talked about how it wasn't so bad to be up this early in the morning, because you could get so much more done, walking was quiet and not hot and there was no-one around. We resolved to work towards becoming morning people. A problem with getting up that early is that you are hungry for lunch at 9AM, so when we got home from our walk we made some scrambled eggs, and, Liz's idea, put chipotle barbecue mayo on them with onions. They were good.
The rest of the day we primed a frame we are repainting, ran errands for people, visited Liz's grandmother, washed the Prius and then talked to my family. Both of us were pretty tired, so we heated up some leftover soup for dinner then sat around for half an hour to digest before hitting the hay before 9:30. Perhaps a drawback of the morning person approach.
Following our resolution to work towards being morning people we got up at 10 this morning, the plan today being to hit up the grocery stores we go to to get out weekly shopping done. On our list is ground beef, but this time, the chipotle bbq mayo, onion and beef are getting a new friend; the most noble of meat products. That's right, folks,
BACON BURGERS ARE ON THE MENU!
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