Christmas Recovery

Though I didn't travel this holiday, I sure am worn out. I had the immediate family over to the castle, and I am swimming in empty cardboard boxes. Too bad the trash pickup doesn't come for another week:(

On a gadgety note, I picked up a Flip Mino HD via some giftcards I got and have been playing with it all afternoon. What an excellent, simple HD camcorder. It really doesn't get any easier.

I've only had it for a few hours, but so far, I'm in love. Works on mac, win and linux!

Thanksgiving new-style

In a very odd twist, I'm in Florida for thanksgiving. Never did seeing Christmas decorations seem so wrong and un-natural. That being said, it's nice seeing palm trees out my window and driving past the blue ocean.

If only I had the miata with me! However, the company more than makes up for it.

Toadies Re-cap

The show was amazing with a capital A.

I really can't do it justice without the wordsmithing only a Mordecai can posses.

The show was in Richmond, in this tiny place under neath an overpass. Clark was walking around when the first band was on 'Conshafter', who happen to be from Chapel Hill (6 miles from my house). I introduced myself, we started drinking beer, took pictures...what a regular dude, totally awesome, approachable and just generally nice. He asked me where I was from, what I did for a living etc etc.

People in Planes came on..who are quite good, and he went and got a mini self amplified guitar and was following a long in the corner. Rez came out a few minutes later and I bought them whatever it was they were drinking. We toasted, they went back stage...

I enjoyed People in Planes for the good 45-50 minutes they were playing. Toadies came on, went through about 12 songs (abt half the set ), started playing a few riffs from random rock songs. I yelled to Clark to play the 'cowboy song' , a thin lizzie song, the toadies had covered on some obscure album I own.

Afterwards VTL told everyone after tyler to come hang out with them and talk, so we did. They signed two LP's for me, which I'm framing.

They then informed me that they were playing in NC tomorrow (today) and that I should go. I said I'd love to but it was in Charlotte...which is whats printed on their t-shits and their promo flyers.

They said yea, somewhere called Cat's Cradle. So I asked if they meant Carrboro and they said they were. Carrboro is less than 15 minutes away. The irony is, If I hadn't gone to Richmond, I wouldn't have known they were playing right next door. Clark only thought to mention it as I had told him I was from NC earlier. They then said if I showed up an hour or so before they went on I could come back and hang with them.

Doni (how he spells it) gave me a bass pic and one of their set lists that was taped to the floor as well.

I'm working on 2.5 hrs sleep and cannot hear and my lungs hurt from smoke inhalation.
Last night was one of the best times I've had, ever. And to think I almost didn't go...

Thank goodness its over!

Let me be very clear, despite what some may think about my beliefs...

There is cause to celebrate here, independent of who you cast your vote for. The vote yesterday made it reasonably clear that the majority of the nation prefered Obama. Our democratic process worked well yesterday and produced a clear victor, aiding in our ability to unite behind a majority
leader without the need for squabbling after the election. You may or may not like who won (I'm not sure I'll know for 6-12 months), but I know Obama is the will of the people. For better or for worse, it's what America is all about. I sincerely hope he can lead our nation justly and effectively.

We've definitely made a shift from one side to the other, and thats a good thing too. Until we have more than a two party system I'm not sure we'll ever really be TRUELY represented well in Washington, We're a diverse place to be equated to the same two groups for the past hundred years. but this is a great start.

Donuts and other fried things

This was very much a trial and error, and as expected, many of the results were not exactly what I was hoping for. But that's how one learns. I'm going to try another recipe tomorrow and see if I can get a more light and airy cake type donut.

Here are a few pictures. I also fried some oreos (left) amongst everything else. Delicious! The last thing I did was simply make up some pancake batter (thick) and roll it in to balls and drop it in the grease directly. When they were done I covered them in honey and they were quite good. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

More upgrade!

Just a quick note, as I'm exhausted today...


Finally put the suspension on "GoGo" and now she sits just right, I'm looking forward to driving her next week!

I also got to have a Kobe Burger at the Wooden Nickel yesterday. They rarely have them so I had to get one. If you're in the area, or visiting, I highly recommend the place in general, but especially the Kobe burger!

Upgrade!

Finally, after 70 days of long, arduous and sometimes stressful waiting, they have arrived!!

Thankfully they came in without a scratch despite their journey half way across the globe. I also managed to get a new radio and some gauges in while I was at it.

Next step is some suspension! Then she will be done for a bit as I save up for the turbo!

Toadies!!

Hell yea!


Apparently, they are back on tour! I've got tickets for the November show in Richmond! Very exciting stuff here. The last time I saw them was 5/21/2001 in NYC. They're minus Lisa but otherwise intact.

I can guarantee one thing, it's going to be a hell of a show! If anyone else wants to go, tickets are CHEAP!

Find tour dates here

Back (on task)

-Got back from the insane travel schedule last week, zombied through work and slept until 9:30am on Saturday. This might not sound like an accomplishment, but for me anything past 7:00am is worthy of note! I managed to get a dog run put up for sadie this weekend, cut the grass and put up a new light fixture too.

The next big item on my list is to get the Gymkhana setup for Greenville at the end of September. We've pretty much got it figured out but there are a few details to iron out. It should be pretty interesting and intense. We hope to drum up a lot of interest for this type of thing in North Carolina, so time will tell...

To the left is a sample of the course lay out!

Travel of death!

Tonight marks the start of a crazy 7 day period, and I'd prefer to take a nap at this point.






Today

• 6:00: I've got to try my tux on and pick it up.
  
• 7:30:Then to my parents house to get Ayden.
• 8:00: Ayden to bed
• 8:30: do all my laundry and pack for the wedding, and pack for Ayden
• 10:00: Eat dinner
  

Friday/Saturday/Sunday

• Drop Sadie at the Kennel
• Go to Greenville for rehearsal/dinner
• Wedding
• Go Home, sleep
  

Monday-Thursday

• Travel DC for work, and return Thursday night and sleep in my own bed...

Let's hope the booze is covered for that trip...

from the grey market of Thailand....

To U.S. for my Japanese car...

Today I received a new toy to match my red and black personal steering wheel in the Miata. I bought it from a gentleman in Thailand strangely enough, and while its probably not a licensed Mazda product, the retro emblem, glitter and the fact that it was $15 instead of $60 like the personal ones, made up my mind.

So, without further adieu...

DIY Pies

First blog post will be an email I sent to some folks yesterday...More to follow


So...as you all may or may not know, i love me some baked goods, especially crappy ones that are uber processed. I am also from eastern PA, nothing is more eastern PA or processed than tasty kakes.

http://www.philebrity.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/tkpp.jpg

I was jonesing some tasty kake pies in the worst way (i don't even think y'all have them in CT)
so I did the next best thing, actually better, and made some.

All with hormone free milk/organic sugar/natural shortening blah blah..scratch homey!

Here is the break down:
The first more browned ones are apple pie

The tiny white one (ran out of egg glaze) is chocolate pudding (Scratch made)

two of the chocolate glazed on tops are caramalized banana filling inside
the other two are vanilla custard.



Let me just say they are probably the best things ive ever made/eaten.

So, since NC is lax on food preparation laws I've filed for a permit to sell these at the local co-op farmers market as they are produced locally and organic i can sell them:) Not really a money making scheme but something fun to do and an excuse to hang out with the smelly crunchy people and listen to some music on saturday mornings.