Cooking Time

First, sweat the onions.

 Brown the meat, drain the fat, and return to the heat

Add some mushrooms, oregano, basil, garlic powder, and marjoram. Marjoram is the mostly forgotten herb from Italian/Mediterranean food.

Cook and drain some elbow macaroni.

Add a jar of sauce, some olive oil, and salt.

Add meat.

Mangia!

Somewhere Over the Moon

I'm actually a little surprised that it's taken as long as it has to get a version of The Wizard of Oz synced up to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon to appear on youtube. But here it is.

Of course you can always listen to Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's Somewhere Over the Rainbow. 

Damn, Target

Here's how a trip to Target goes:

"Oh that's a good deal"

"Yeah, I needed that, I just forgot I did"

"That's on sale? Cool"

"I think I got everything"

"Alright, an open lane"

"What do you mean $75? But I just got a few...damnit!"

Small Rant

I must be getting old. Here I am, almost a day later, and I'm still pretty annoyed. Annoyed at, of all things, NBC and their atrocious coverage of the opening ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics. But it appears I'm not the only one. As the inane commentators said last night, "just Google to find out [more information]" about why it was a failure.

The actual show that Danny Boyle put on was exceptional. The way NBC delivered it was and the reasons it gave were not only lacking substance, but also insulting to our intelligences. Refusing to show it live or even give a live webcast of the show, we were given a heavily edited version that was forcibly interjected with commercials, interviews, and Ryan Seacrest. Any continuous and carefully built nuances were completely obliterated.

Then we come to the commentary. Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer seemed to be pandering to the lowest common denominator when it comes to the audience, which in this case seemed to be an inebriated fool who probably couldn't tell the difference between a  county and country, but can easily identify each Kardashian.

And some of their facts were just wrong. The total population of the UK isn't 6.3 million. It's 62.6 million.

Perhaps the most egregious moment is perhaps cutting away from a tribute to the victims of a terrorist attack so that we can see, can you guess? More Ryan Seacrest! There simply are no words for this incompetence.

Perhaps the Disney/ABC/ESPN conglomeration would have done it better. From what I've heard, many events still aren't being broadcast live. It's a 5 hour difference, not a day's difference as it was in Beijing.

NBC #EpicFail

#GetsDownFromSoapboxPromisesToTryToTalkMoreAboutFartJokes

New Zealand Food

Of all the places in the world, our little backwater town of Charlotte has a restaurant that serves New Zealand cuisine. It's a lot like any other Asian or south east Asian foods, but you're not limited to just sushi or rice. And it's not really expensive.

I had the pork in a white/mayonnaise sauce.

In a Rush

I completely forgot about this. So now I'm about to head out, and thought I should do something really quickly.

So here's Rush.

Small Victories

Are Victories Nonetheless

 That's right - read it and weep. 

boom

In the grand scheme of things it means nothing. But it does mean I can continue to drive unimpeded by safety restrictions. And I got to see some fish. 

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEERREEEEE FISHY FISHY FISHY 

Meh

I am both uninspired and unmotivated to write anything tonight. I've been picking up more shifts at work and haven't had as much time off as usual. Which is kinda good. I'm also on my way to get groceries, coz that's what the cool people do at night.

I was gonna make some chicken, but after I thawed a few breasts out, they smelled a little too funky to be viable. Kinda connects to the whole "not eating anything substantial" thing I've got going on right now.

So here's some Dara O'Briain

Well, Isn't That Special

Here I was thinking this was going to be the highlight if my day.

Not as good as the apple pie one, though...

I got a name tag at work. Now I'm on par with those hot shots at Applebee's! Or was it T.G.I. Friday's? Or Ruby Tuesday's?  Or O'Charlies? Or Friendly's? Or Chili's?

And I thought they didn't like me. Or maybe they're lulling me into a false sense of security....

I just hope I don't need to start acquiring around 37 pieces of "flair" and lame suspenders.

Diner & a Movie

Back to the movies. Tried to grab a pic of dinner, but my camera decided it didn't want to turn on.

These previews/commercials took almost as long as the movie.

Saw the new Batman flick. It was good. Wasn't great, but not bad. I don't know if it really needed to be 3 hours long, though...


And the cameos were nicely done. Burn Gorman was a pleasant surprise. I wonder if anyone remembers him in Layer Cake along with Tom Hardy. I'm fairly certain that movie got Daniel Craig his role as 007. 

Party

My old college roommate is moving away to Florida to become a doctor. Tonight was his going away party. There were plenty of people to see and I was able to catch up with most of them. I hadn't seen quite a few of them in a very long time. And of course it was hotter than haitch ee double hockey sticks.

Turn the Key, Nothing Happens

Long day at work where nothing happened. Then a big storm.

My car was only mostly dead. It needed a new battery. Luckily it started up and ran long enough to get it to a shop. In the pouring rain. At rush hour. When there were several accidents.

Back here again. At least it's all covered under warranty.

The real annoying thing was that I just booked an appointment at my garage to have work don on it for next Wednesday. This couldn't wait until then?

Time

As Opposed to Thyme

It is only sometimes on my side. It is also a huge construct. One that I am way to tired to go into depth about. What with time's probable non-existence before the universe's creation, it's distortion when in contact with black holes, the speed of light and sound, the possibility of travel within it at more than just the speed of normal time & the inherent paradoxes.

But if you want time travel, just watch Doctor Who or Back to the Future. 

It's nice to see that they still make hour glasses

Some More Music and Tools

Much like earlier in the month, I went out and got some more music today.

SUPER NON-BLURRY PHOTO TIME!

Some AC/DC, some more ELO, Tom Petty, some Billy Joel, and some Journey.

But then to the Home Depot. I broke a caster on my ottoman & went to get replacements.

Don't ask how they broke.

The brand new ones were fairly cheap and replaced the old ones within seconds.

Today Was

This.

It reminded me of The Big Lebowski.

Then this came on the radio.

Which reminded me of this.

G'night!

Stormin'

Or, the thunder rolls

Not to be confused with the Thundering Herd or Roll Tide. 

Ciao!

To piggyback off of what I was talking about yesterday, I have a terrible habit of using a bad Italian accent while playing Assassins Creed II. It's one of the pitfalls with playing the game for me. To help cure me of this or to keep it going, depending on my mood, I'll be watching Italian Spider-man. Even though he's dead.

Here is the link to the Youtube page.

And here's the trailer.

Shall We Play a Game?

That's pretty much what I did today. Not a lot of energy today. Didn't fall asleep until 4-5ish. Then woke up around 8, and kept waking up every half hour until I got a phone call. I realized then that more sleep wouldn't be likely, and so, seeing as I was taking someone to the airport later, I just got up.


The airport was the airport. Same as usual; drop off, then run out before you get hit, hoping to avoid traffic. I did break the streak of buying a new video game and going to firehouse subs on the ride back. Partially because I didn't want to spend the money, but mostly because I don't like other drivers. If only there was a nonviolent & peaceful way to make people better drivers.


But anyway, I went home, managed to put off cutting my fingernails for another day, discovered my beard trimmer was dead, & so, decided to not do anything. Today was a day for nothing. 


Except for playing Assassin's Creed II. 


I'd forgotten how much I liked playing that game; I'm a fan of the whole series. Here's the trailer for the next game in the series. 

It's not the only series of games I play, far from it, but it is one of my favorites. If you were to combine AC II, Brotherhood, and Revelations, it would be the perfect game. The end of October is too far away. 

Wacky Weather

Rain, rain, rain, & more rain.

Then nothing. Like it never happened.

Also, in the first picture, you'll see a bunch of trailers and stuff across the street. They were filming Homeland over there. I have no idea what it's about, but it's got Damien Lewis in it so it can't be all bad. Traffic was kinda crazy.

You can also see the rain spoiling the kids water day. Oh well.

Father Ted

Ah, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on

Father Ted was a mostly blasphemous sitcom from Ireland that focused on three priests living on a small island off the west coast of Ireland. Each priest was idiosyncratic in their incompetences, yet played congruent parts to each other's character. The humor came from the misadventures the main character, the eponymous Ted, and his man-child counterpart, Dougal, got into. Rounding out the trio is Jack, a drunk, semi-conscious, barely intelligible, often feral, elderly priest. Not to be forgotten is the downtrodden & tea mad housekeeper, Mrs. Doyle. 


The humor was simple. The jokes were well crafted and timeless. It only lasted for 3 seasons, but still some jokes live on. If you've ever seen a photo at a protest with someone holding up a sign which read either "Down with this sort of thing," or "Careful, now," you can thank Father Ted. 

Here is the youtube channel featuring some clips from the show. 

And here is part of a behind the scenes program about Father Ted called Small, Far Away

I've Always Got Room for Ice Cream

It doesn't matter what time of day it is. It doesn't matter what time of year it is. It doesn't matter what temperature it is outside.

I love ice cream.

My favorite is simple, plain vanilla. You can do so much with it; add virtually anything to it. Mix it with chocolate, cherries, peanut butter, anything and it becomes amazing. Mix it with some root beer and you reach the sublime.

It doesn't matter if it's a small pint of the expensive stuff, or a 3 gallon bucket of the cheap stuff - ice cream is the best.

I'm in a good mood thinking about ice cream. I think I'll go get some.

Here's some music.

Ehh...

Another one of those "meh" days. It rained some.

I found this big red button.

And then, at the grocery store, I discovered they were doing more renovations.

At least they were open this time. I mean really, what is the point of it saying you're open 24hrs of you're always closed when I go there after 9PM?!

THIS OLIVE GARDEN COUPON EXPIRES AT MIDNIGHT!

MacGyver AWAY!

I got nothing. It was another mundane day. So, yeah. Here's a link to a podcast called The Infinite Monkey Cage. 

And here's Professor Brian Cox explaining what goes on at the Large Hadron Collider. 

Rain

Finally, after weeks of intense heat, there was a small break. For almost 2 hours it rained. The temperature went far below the 101degrees we had reached. And then it went back up.

No sooner had the rain appeared, then the sun came back out. It almost looked lie God was going to pop out and chide me from averting my eyes.

Oh well. More rain should come. In a day or two.

Semper Fidelis Tyrannosaurus

Always Faithful Terrible Lizard

Some other Latin phrases:

• Quid pro quo
• Ego te absolvo
• Bona fide
• Reducto ad infinitum

I don't know why, but I've had Latin phrases going around in my head. I never studied it, and, even though Catholic, I've never been to a Latin Mass. The closest thing to this antiquarian language that I've ever come close to would have been anything written by Shakespeare. And they were many, many centuries apart.

I've been watching a few things on Shakespeare and his works. I'm somewhat glad I had the opportunity to read a few plays when I was in school, but on the whole, I don't think I've truly appreciated them until I became much older. 

The big ones, Hamlet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream were always more popular to me. Lately I've been trying to understand some of the historical plays that were written; Richard II, Henry IV pt1 and 2, Richard III.

You hear the famous lines and phrases while growing up, but once heard in context within the confines of the story, and pronounced as they should be instead of mindlessly mimicked, the words blend together; a whole picture is created. 

To hear Hamlet's soliloquy in act 3, scene 1 just be boiled down into 

To be, or not to be...

diminishes the entirety and the importance of the speech being made. Here it is again, but more rounded.

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd.

This now becomes more than a question about suicide, but about life in general. Life is painful, but we continue - we endure. The logical thing would be to end the pain. But at what cost?

To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub

Continued along we see the rise of a new line of questioning. What comes after death? Is it really worth it?

Being able to answer and understand the big questions are what life's about. It's never a straightforward answer. 

Big McLargeHuge

Mystery Science Theater 3000 was perhaps the best TV show to have on when growing up. It quite literally changed the way I watch movies.

And their continuation into RiffTrax is pure genius.

The Day After the 4th

I, like many many Americans, was very displeased with the fact that we had to go back to work today. National holidays in the middle of a work week are lame.

But never mind that. Here's some photos of fireworks from last night.

Super-massive sparklers

The nice and safe and legal North Carolina fireworks. 

Look at 'em go!

And we're done.

And, yes. It's still very hot.

Celebrate the Independence of Your Nation

by blowing up a small part of it

It's the Fourth of July. Independence day. Time for cookouts, fireworks, presidential speeches to rally the world against an evil alien threat.

There is a very good possibility that I would have been a loyalist during the American Revolution, but today's probably not the best day to discuss that. Never mind how lucky America was to actually win the war. Lets just have fun with snakes and sparklers.

America!

Tired

I think I slept about 3-4 hours last night. I say "night" but it was more like the wee hours of the morning. I knew I wouldn't be getting more when I started getting texts. And work was it's normal joy of joys.

One day, things will be different. One day.

Perhaps I'll sleep tonight. Once the fireworks display stops over by the mall.

Here's Monty Python's Parrot Sketch

Classic Meal and Some More SWAG!

Ah-HAHAHAHAHA!

Not only was there a good meal tonight, but there was success again at trivia. 

Om-nom-nom-nom? Yes.

And this was what was won.

Now, there are 2.

Laundry was also done today. All in all a pretty successful day. 

Out & About

Watched a documentary on The Who's Quadrophenia which prompted me to go out and buy said album. It was meant to be. When I got to the store, there was only one copy left.

To be honest, I think I'd buy more classic albums if I watched more music documentaries. I'd get more invested in it if I'm told the story of how it came about. I have the patience to be told the story of its creation. Quadrophenia was basically completed by Pete Townshend before he brought it to the band, and then they re-recorded it. 

The only reason I didn't get The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars is because they didn't have it.

SUPER BLURRY PHOTO TIME!

 Afterwards I went over to Home Depot to get some tools. Yes, very manly.

Here is where they keep all the light in the store. Everywhere else is pitch black darkness.

I needed some nut drivers, specifically metric nut drivers. I don't have any tools in metric, so this seemed to be a wise investment. 

Never mind it's a million and a half degrees out, I was able to go places and do stuff.