No Motivation

Greetings,

I have lost my motivation to blog for some reason.  I still think about things, events in my life, in a blog-worthy / non-blog-worthy sense but the blog-worthy events don’t prompt me to boot up the computer, launch Live Writer and put it all down for others to read.  However, the kids are with their aunt today and the wife is “facebooking” on the couch so I find myself with some time to fill.

We started (that is the wife started) a small garden of sorts this year.  In the back yard we have a raised bed thing that has (among other things) some radishes and green beans.  The front yard has a small section as well with tomatoes, lettuce, cantaloupe and some herbs (like the cilantro above).  It is kind of exciting to go to the front yard when you need some seasoning.  Recently I saw a recipe for some seasoned fries in a magazine that we have a free subscription to (Food & Wine) and I was able to use the above pictured herb to make this…

The recipe called for rosemary but I used cilantro since that is all I had.  These fries are covered in olive oil then baked for 30 minutes (flipping them twice) then tossed in a bowl with cilantro and some crushed garlic along with season salt and some parmesan cheese.  They are baked for 5 more minutes and then they are ready.  The wife and I really liked them and were excited to make use of our garden for the first time.

The kids have grown addicted to freezes at the Speedway gas station.  The normal price is $0.89 for a 22 ounce but for the summer, the 44 ounce is on sale for the same price.  So when we buy them now, we get (2) 44’s instead of (4) 22’s and split them up.  The above picture is afterwards of course.  The glasses we use are the jars from the salsa we buy at a local store run by an Amish family (Miller’s variety store).  We have added to our glass collection quite a bit since starting to shop there.

Our dogs are just weird.  Take Nina for instance.  She has these poses that would make you swear she was human.  Here she is leaning up against a wall and crossing her legs while giving me “the look” (the look that says, you know I would really like to get on the couch with y’all like that little fluffy dog you have there on your lap).  Everyone once in a while she is granted access (assuming the wife is not at home at the time) and she takes all of 1/2 second to leap from the floor, arrive on the couch and find a spot where she literally will not move for hours (if you let her).

Well, the stomach is telling me it is time for breakfast.  Thanks for reading my random thoughts.

Jon

Just A Few Thoughts

Greetings,

I am now back home, safe and sound, here in Indiana.  I had a great time in Sacramento but the family unit here is not the same with the missing piece (me) so the wife and kids are happy that I have returned.  My body is thankful to be eating normal again.  I had decided I would not go crazy while on vacation, food-wise, but that promise was quickly broken.  Monday night (around 10 eastern) a few of us went to a steak house where I ordered a nice piece of salmon (the brown sugar based crust was quite tasty).  Tuesday morning we had an assortment of Panera Bread items brought into work.  Lunch was a catered taco / burrito bar (with baby shower cake).  We all (15+ of us) met for “happy hour” at a local hot spot and (a few appetizers and 3 hours later) we headed to Islands (a burger joint) for a late (midnight eastern) dinner.  Wednesday morning breakfast was had at the hotel (great breakfast bar) and lunch was just a bowl of soup at the work cafeteria but we made up for this at night.  We headed to a place called Crush 29 where I had a nice glass of Row Eleven Pinot Noir with my seafood pasta.  I then was talked into the Chocolate “Bomb” desert and a cappuccino by the guy sitting next to me.  Wow, my chocolate needs for the year have been met.  Thursday was breakfast at the hotel and then I just pieced here and there (bagel at the airport) for the rest of the day.  I have not even bothered getting on the scales yet and I might not for a while.

Since I don’t travel much, this whole trip was exciting.  Even standing in line to board the plane or get my boarding pass is exciting.  You can tell the seasoned travelers from the newbies or infrequent ones (like me) as they have less patience for any delay or inconvenience.  To me though, even watching the drink cart make its way down the aisle bringing a free ginger ale is exciting.  When I last traveled, they did not charge for baggage and so now everyone has at least one carry on bag.  The planes were not built with this in mind and  overhead storage quickly fills up so much so that on my return trip they had to check my carry on bag which turned out to be only a minor inconvenience (compared to the 3 other folks that were in my same position where you would think they were asked to donate a kidney).

On one leg of the trip (on both there and back I had to switch planes in Dallas) the plane was really chilly.  The stewardess announced that the pilot was going to turn up the temperature.  This struck me as odd.  With all the things that the pilot has to do (like, oh I don’t know, fly the plane) I would not think that he would also be responsible for setting the cabin temperature.  Maybe one of those 100 or so gauges on the cockpit dashboard is the thermometer?  Am I crazy to think that this should not be in his job description?

One thing I noticed is that everyone has some sort of little smart phone, and I mean everybody.  I felt like a 3rd world traveler when I did not have any little toy to whip out and play with right up until the time they announced that all electronic devices had to be turned off for take off or landing.  I was a little envious for sure but watching over people’s shoulders while they played with these things made be realize that I could do without them.  Even during the meetings during the week I was amazed at the number of people who have 2 of these things!  When I told a few of them that I do not have a cell phone, they looked at me quite odd.  I might as well have said something equally absurd (in their eyes) like I lived in a tent or didn’t much care for shoes.  So I spent a lot of time watching everyone keep in touch with everyone else.  I tried to strike up conversations with my row mates on each flight but either they were not interested or they were traveling with someone already and did not need a third conversationalist.  I did have my mp3 player to keep me company and pass the time.

Well breakfast is about ready here.  It will pale in comparison to the food I had this week but I can’t think of another place I would rather be right now.

Jon

Blogging at 34,000 feet

Greetings,

Today I am travelling from Kokomo, Indiana to Roseville, California.  There are no direct flights so my journey first takes me to Dallas, Texas.  At the time that I am typing this I am about 1 hour away from landing in Roseville.  My ears hurt (more about that in a bit) so I thought I would take out the laptop and catch y’all up on my journey thus far.

My flight from Indianapolis was not until 2:40 pm (local time) so I did log into work for a few hours this morning before driving about 75 minutes to the airport.  Technically I rode since the wife was driving but that is beside the point.  We told the kids that we would do lunch at Don Pablo’s before sending Daddy off for a few days (I return very late Thursday).  We had an uneventful van ride and a nice lunch.  We (as usual) ordered (2) adult entrees and split with the kids.  The son (who will turn 12 next month) is beginning to get near that “are you going to eat that” phase where I no longer am ensured that 1/2 of the adult platter will be mine.  That, and his fondness of tacquitos forced me to eat the taco that the wife / daughter did not finish.  While we were waiting for the womenfolk to return from the restroom I explained to him that some people actually complete that whole platter without sharing it with someone.  This boggles the son’s mind (no offense to those of you who do like to polish off one of these combo platters).

The dropping off at the airport was met with a few tears (what can I say, I am a popular attraction at home and will be sorely missed).  There was about a 45 minute line to check in at the American Airlines terminal.  I could not check in online due to the 2nd flight being overbooked and the website would not let me select a seat.  I am sure this makes sense on some level but I had to kill time anyway, so standing in line is not the worst way to do it.   Besides, I did entertain myself commiserating with the other passengers.  Once I got my boarding pass it was on to security where my one carry on bad was promptly flagged as suspect.  It seems my toothpaste says it contains 6 ounces and airline regulations only allow 3.4 ounces.  I was able to keep the toothpaste since it was a used tube.  I think I will leave the remainder of the toothpaste in the hotel trash can before coming home though.

The flight to Dallas was overbooked and they gave the normal “entice you with $300 in travel vouchers to catch the next flight” routine.  Finally enough people took the bait and we were departing on time.  I had an aisle seat and tried to engage my fellow row 14 travelers in their conversation but did not make any headway (they were even talking about the national bowling stadium in Nevada, but no dice).  I then realized that in my haste to make sure I had plenty of music and videos on my new Sansa player, I neglected to pack headphones.  So I read the in flight magazines and my copy of Watership Down that I brought along.  I did buy some cheap headphones at the Dallas airport (hence the reason why my ears hurt as these are really low quality and it is hard to hear my player unless you literally screw the buds into your ears).  Call it an $11 (plus pain) penalty for not packing thoroughly.  As I was taking the headphones out of their package, an 80 year old lady sat down next to me and we struck up a conversation.  She was returning from a get together with all (3) of her sisters (all were widows and over 80).  It was the first time in 10 years or so that they had all been together.  The decided (she said) that since they were all 80, they had better do the reunion soon.  I smiled and nodded as I thought, “Good plan!”  We boarded the plane but she is a few rows behind me so I don’t know if I will see her again.  This flight too was overbooked and the bidding got up to $400 before enough people opted to take a later flight.

I am in the middle seat on this flight and sitting between (2) ladies that appear to be younger than me.  I have not spoke to either one yet as they seem pretty interested in their books (Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and some book called the Secret of Bliss).  I saw the Ali author on The Colbert Report a few weeks back and I was interested in her books (she has a few).  The clock here (I think) says 5:45 pm (8:45 pm according to my watch and stomach [I have not had dinner yet]) and we are scheduled to land in about 35 minutes so I had better wrap this up before the pilot asks us all to turn off our electronic devices.  I would not want my blogging to interfere with a good landing.

Jon

Inspired by Sawyer (on Lost)

Greetings,

I think I mentioned before that we are going through the first 5 seasons of the TV show “Lost” before diving into the last season.  We are about 2/3 of the way through season 5 now and getting ready to dive in to get answers to some of those unanswered questions.  One thing that we have really enjoyed (especially the son, who had never seen Lost before we started watching it again) is Sawyer’s nicknames for everyone on the island (especially Hurley).  I realized that I do have an incredible number of nicknames for each of our dogs…

The Nina List

• Muttley: Since she is a pure bred Doberman, this is a sarcastic nickname for sure.  I think I get this from the Dastardly and Muttley characters or maybe I remember them better from the Wacky Races cartoons.
• Grandma: This is a name we give her when she is coming out of her cage after having been in there for a while.  She moves so slowly that we refer to her as either Old Woman or Grandma.
• Heavy Head: Nina has this thing she does when she wants your attention where she presses her head into your leg.  If you are sitting on the couch she will come lay her head on your leg and then press down (with great force).  It is painful at times.
• Cochise: I don’t know much about this Native American chief but for whatever reason, I use this name from time to time.
• Nose: Nina tends to stick her nose in a lot of places (some quite undesirable as any dog owner can testify to).  She also has this way of sitting down where she leans way forward first with her nose then settles back onto her hind legs to sit down.  This is quite often done around the dinner table where leaning forward (nose stretched out) gives her a better whiff of whatever is for dinner.
• Coldwater: After the joke about dishes being “as clean as cold water can get them” (where the punchline is that the dog’s name is coldwater).  Nina actually drops saliva on the floor while I am eating over easy eggs since she knows she gets to do clean up duty.

The Oreo List

• Muttley Jr: An obvious choice as Oreo is a year younger (and 50+ lbs lighter) than Nina
• K-Floof: The first of many rapper names I have for this little, fluffy dog.
• DJ Floofy Jeff and the Floof Prince
• MC Floof
• Dr Floof
• Sir Floof-a-lot, etc
• Little Man: This is one the wife made up I think.  I don’t use it much.
• The Alarm: Named for his bark which (evidently) is not for scaring bad guys, but setting off an alarm for the big dog to come in.  This alarm goes off for various reasons including, say, discovering that a back pack has been placed on the couch unexpectantly (to him anyway).

I am sure I am missing a lot of them.  It is a wonder the remember their given names.

Despite my cruelty to them, both dogs prefer to be near me at all times, including in the morning (above) while drinking coffee and sitting on the couch.

Jon

Fin!

Greetings,

The 10,000 point Uno game with the son is now in the books.  Here is a picture of all the scoresheets for both the son’s game and the 10,000 point game with the daughter…

Except for the son’s 4th sheet of paper, these are all covered front and back, (3) columns per page, (25) games per column.  The game with the son came to an end on game 463.  I led for all 463 games…

Other than a scare or two around games 70, 150 and 325, my lead was not in danger.  In the end his goal (which he accomplished) was to lose by less points than his sister.  My margin of victory was about half of the daughter's game so he claimed that he was “twice as good” as her.  I pointed out that it would be more correct to say “half as bad” but either way, he lost.  I am not sure where we go from here.  The fun has wore off for Uno for us.  Maybe a 3 way game with different rules going to a lower point total like 5,000 points.

This is the 3rd night in a row that the wife has worked all evening.  She has to work tomorrow too unfortunately.  This kids are not adjusting well.  One night with dad is OK, 3 or 4 nights in a row is a little much.  We have started a project that we are keeping a secret from Mommy and it should take us a week or two to complete it.  I will have to fill you in when we are finished.

Jon

Analyzing Uno

Greetings,

I admit it is strange that I am actually taking the time to analyze my (2) 10,000 point Uno games with my kids.  I posted a chart of my lead over time for the game with the daughter and would like now to provide you with some totally unneeded statistics that I am sure you will find of no use.

Margin of Win	Dad	Daughter
1-10 points	42	28
11-25 points	66	53
26-50 points	53	58
51-75 points	24	24
76-100 points	18	17
100 + points	26	13

I won 36 more games than her (229 – 193) and over 1/3 of my extra wins were of the 100+ point variety.  So it seems with the daughter it was better to play for the big win than to play for the small one (even though another 1/3 of my extra wins were of the 10 points or less variety).  The son and I are only a few games away from finishing our game.  I hold a 9,821 to 9,003 point lead after 450 games.  The interesting thing about our contest is that the wins are 224-223-3.  He has matched me game for game and yet I have never trailed (something I remind him of every 15 games or so).  He caught up from an almost 1,200 point deficit to less than 200 points only to watch my lead swell back up over 1,000 in seemingly no time.  I will have to let you know how it turns out (he is still holding out hope for a grand run and to snatch victory from me).

The wife starting a new job this week.  She has not worked for several years (since before we moved to Texas) so this is an adjustment for the family.  She is working afternoons during the summer so I am trying to work from home as much as I can so we can at least see each other.  She got a call out of the blue from the pet store that she worked at when we were dating.  She has worked there off and on and this is her 3rd time to return to work there.  The manager there knows her and calls her every so often when she is desperate or gets fed up with dealing with cashiers.  We are going to use the cash to fix up a few things around the house that we had to delay due to the extra expense of the kid’s private schooling.  She is still sore each night from the car accident over 2 years ago so I do not know how long this will last and I tried to talk her out of it but she wants to contribute.  She should be home in a few minutes actually so I had better wrap this blog up.

Jon