Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Damn, that abscessed tooth really hurt!
And of course it happens while we have company, so I’m grumpy and out of it when I should be enjoying myself and their company. Luckily we found a good dentist in the area, who took me at 7:30pm in an emergency visit in the -5°F night.
So good in fact that I didn’t feel the first two shots of novacaine at all. The third was in the roof of my mouth, but tolerable. After that, no pain at all. Just the really strange sensation of a tooth getting wrenched out. Wierd. Really wierd.
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Thursday, December 30, 2004
It’s official, a 15 year study, researchers have found that fast food makes us fat! Ok it fairness, they did figure out that those who eat fast food regularly weigh on average 10 pounds more and have twice the risk for type 2 diabetes. Still did it really take a 15 year study to figure that out? Maybe a 10 year or 5 year study would have suficed? Or maybe we should do a 50 year study, just to be really sure.
In other news, I don’t really know why, but I have been watching the Amazon Tsunami Relief page periodically — simply amazing! I couldn’t help but think about how the number would skyrocket if my bank (and everyone elses) would match those credit card charges…
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Tuesday, December 21, 2004
You may be familiar with Toby Keith’s song “American Soldier” which has become an anthem for our forces, especially those deployed. Last night as I was driving through Mystic, the radio started playing a song from my time in the Gulf. For some reason, I really lost it. Tears streaming down my face as I was driving over the bridge. By the time I got parked the song was over and I sat in silence in that freezing car for quite some time remembering people long gone and events I thought were long in the past.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve heard that song on the radio. In fact it’s been since I was there. Hearing it again brought back that flood of memories I have been wrestling with unknowingly for a very long time, and it made me realize something. I am damned lucky, and blessed.
And it’s time to give some of those blessings back.
I spent three Christmas holidays deployed in combat zones during my six years with the Army. They can be extremely rough times. I know from my family and my wife’s point of view they are also rough–in some ways even more so–for those waiting at home.
There are ways we can help support them–the men and women–whatever your viewpoint on the war or the politics of it all:
These are only a small selection of the programs that are available to support the soldiers and sailors, their families and the mission of rebuilding. They are a selection that I personally believe in. Supporting the rebuilding mission, supporting the soldier, putting a smile on their face by giving them a chance to call home, and supporting the families left behind.
Monday, December 20, 2004
Wahooo! Finally we have Snow!
I’m sorry but if you’re going to live in New England, even on the coast, you should be able to count on having at least one good snow before Christmas!
I guess I had better get to bed ASAP as Johann will be wanting to have sled rides, snowball fights, make snow angels and snowmen and just about requiring snow now that we finally have some. It looks like about an inch. Hopefully we’ll get another two or three inches before it tapers off. Actually I hope it will continue throughout the day so I can get some nice winter images.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Thanks to Cooking for Engineers — I love the way he presents recipes in tables — I got the family a new Waffle Stix Maker a few weeks ago for all of $7 — a one day special sale from Amazon.
Our old one was one of those giant units that was a pain to store, and cooked one giant waffle that could be separated into 4 reasonable sized individual waffles. By the time we left Boise the latches that kept the top and bottom iron plates in place were weakening and we decided to get rid of it. This new one is much smaller and far easier to store. It even stores upright so it takes up almost no space. It is easy to clean and cooks waffles very well (for only $7 I had to wonder).
Johann absolutely loves the new waffle maker, especially since it makes it possible to make waffle sticks. We sat around the dinner table coming up with every possible — and some impossible — toppings to put on waffles. I think we hit the maximum sugar load with maple sugar, nutella, chocolate syrup, cinamon sugar, whipped cream and powdered sugar all on one waffle. All the while Johann devoured the waffle sticks.
Tammy and I had to laugh at the warnings throughout the “users manual” — they came just short of “Do not insert hands in waffle maker and close lid with the unit turned on.” Then there was the subtitle of the manual’s recipe section:“Imagine - waffles from scratch!”. Sorry, but I can’t imagine waffles not from scratch!
Tuesday, December 7, 2004
A lot of people (locally and online) have asked what we had for Thanksgiving. Because of our schedule–vacation the week before, work and preparing for a craft show the week of, and a craft show the weekend after–our Thanksgiving was rather unconventional. Locally the conversation generally goes something like this:
- Them: ”So how was your Thanksgiving ? How did you fix the Turkey?”
- Me: ”It was very nice, busy bust very nice. We didn’t have turkey, we had chili.”
- At this point there is generally a look of utter confusion, followed by shock, and denial.
- Them: ”Oh, Turkey chili?! How was that?”
- Me: ”No, beef chili. It was very good, not too spicy, but very tasty.”
At this point they are either so confused or so far outside their comfort zone that even though I have just thanked them for asking and asked how their Thanksgiving was, there is usually a pregnant pause followed by a “oh, fine…look at the time…got to go. We’ll see you later.”
Speaking of the chili did you ever hear the joke about a tourist named Frank being invited—last minute—to judge a Texas chili contest?
(try the one at stevedanforth.com if you’re unsure–I have to warn you though, while hilarious, the joke is PG13 for language)
Tammy knows I haven’t been able to find a halfway decent bowl of chili in the past 8 years (since we left Texas) so she decided to surprise me with the chili for Thanksgiving. She used a chili mix (Mr. Hogg’s Hot Championship Chili) from Salsa Express, to create a wonderful tasting chili with enough spice to get my attention and respect. Not hot, but not mild either. Good mix of beans and meat. Tammy claims that, while one bowl was for her very hot, if she had tried a second bowl she would have soon turned into Frank. For her it was almost too hot, but not quite.
For her first Southwestern chili Tammy hit a home run. Best Thanksgiving Dinner I possibly could have had!
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Monday, November 22, 2004
It’s been quite a while since I posted anything here… I’ve been keeping quite busy the past 2 months.
I finally have a full time job - with Salsa Express. They are a small company in Fredericksburg Texas (essentially my “home” town) that sells all sorts of salsa, hot sauce, spices, snacks and other spicy fare. I spent two weeks out there in September with my folks working for Salsa and a couple days working there of our family vacation last week. The task at hand is not a small one — redesign and vastly improve their online presence. Everything from the store’s website through Google Adwords and Overture to email marketing and search engine placement. I will also be helping with mid to long term IT planning.
Luckily all things I can do working from home in Mystic. I will miss the almost unlimited spicy and gourmet snacks and salsa on the desk all day. I must have tried 20 different salsas, spiced potato chips, pretzels etc. My favorite snacks were Dave’s Painful Pretzels and Kick Ass Jelly Beans. Maybe it is best for my waistline that I am out here!
One of the things we are launching is a blog at peppertalk.salsaexpress.com for the small team that runs Salsa Express to be able to talk about life in the Fiery Foods industry and what it’s like working out at the ranch. Yes, it’s located outside town on a ranch in the central Hill Country with horses, deer, armadillos and black buck antelope just outside the fences of the company’s area. Beautiful. The staff will also share recipes and their own favorite spicy foods.
Of course on top of all the settling in to a new job, especially long distance, at the busiest time of the year for that industry no less, my wife and I have to prepare for a high-profile local craft show this weekend! I have 30 or so scarves and she has a number of handbags, and such ready, but we should be taking more, so every minute we have is being spent getting more done. Then we still need to print business cards, a portfolio and item labels! Argggggh! Not enough hours in each day. Especially when the laptop starts showing the strains of constant use and abuse of the past two+ years.
Sounds like a bit of griping?
No way! I love having these “stresses” compared to the mounting stresses of 2+ years of unemployment. Tammy and I are closer now than ever before, in spite of, even because of, the extremely rough time we’ve had of it since 2001. Working from home with my son running around the room is a blessing (I do have to work harder at scheduling breaks and play time though) I wouldn’t trade for double the salary. In other words life is busy, hectic even — but absolutely wonderful!
God is good.
Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Recently overheard between two 4 year olds at a party:
“…and you know who lives in New York? My Aunt Niki and Laurie Berkner! She is the greatest singer in the world, ever! I want to meet her next time I visit Aunt Niki!”
“Wow! Really?!”
So serious and so cute. Of course one of those 4 year olds was mine so I’m not without bias, but we have listened to Laurie’s catchy tunes non-stop all the way to New York and back. (about 3 hours each way)
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I (well, my wife and I) keep getting these email invitations from a family member:
Hi again, I noticed that I didn’t get a response from my last email to you. I’m using a new tool called Plaxo to update my address book. Your information will not be shared with anyone else. You do not need to download any software from Plaxo or register with Plaxo to send me your information. Please take a moment to review the information below from Plaxo and click the button to correct or confirm your contact information with Plaxo. If you want to update your address book too, get Plaxo at…
P.S. I’ve attached my current information in a vcard. If you get Plaxo too, we’ll stay in touch automatically.
The person who keeps sending these is a nice guy, but…
most of the emails from him are the latest jokes from the net (many not so “latest“) and chain e-mails. We would like to stay in touch, to keep up with what he is up to and how he is doing. If he were to start a blog somewhere we would look in on it weekly or get the feed from it. But that’s not really the point of this…
This Plaxo thing. What a naming disaster. Plaxo hmmm. What does that make me think of…
Get Plaxo - the all new mouth wash and tooth whitener that works while you sleep. Plaxo also enhances your breasts and enlarges your penis - ALL at the SAME TIME.
But WAIT!
Plaxo also cures baldness, cold-sores and dysfunctional relationships! Get your Plaxo today!
Plaxo is not responsible for any of the hundreds of side-effects you will experience, including but not limited to baldness, violent spasms, erectile dysfuntion, heart failure and brain damage. In an inconclusive 83% of test cases Plaxo caused severe tooth decay, leading to complete emergency denture replacement.
Of course, Plaxo is not any of that, but if someone were to ask what I think of when I hear the word Plaxo, well there you go. Right up there with Viagra.
No, no, this is an online, contact management application for Outlook. Dont believe me? Google it.
I’m not providing a direct link because I view Plaxo as an evil little spam and spam harvester application.
