Cookie recipe feedback

In response to queries from our readership: Yes, I read AND bake. And no, I'm not gay. :)

Why did I choose a thumping trance anthem to accompany this post? Because I listen to music when I'm baking. And I've been load-testing the speakers to this jam for a couple weeks now. Boom!

Friend Sonz was asking for a winning cookie recipe, which prompted this exchange:

hrmm... my best cookie recipe isn't anything unique - it's the same as the toll house recipe with minor modification and specific techniques. it makes the best chocolate chip cookies that I'm aware of, but i don't know if they will win a cookie contest. what constitutes a contest-winning cookie? for example, my choc chip cookies are the best, but many people prefer peanut butter, or snickerdoodle (??). if someone tells me they love snickerdoodle cookies i don't even offer to share my cookies; they're not worthy. So it depends on what you want. I do think that the fake niemann marcus cookie recipe is quite good, even if the origin is a myth.

my mom has a recipe for chocolate sugar cookies with mint frosting that is super good, but they take FOREVER to make because you have to roll them out, cut them, bake them, let them cool, and then frost them individually. if you're really committed you make 2 or 3 different colors of frosting (red, green, white) and decorate them. lordy it's a hassle. each cookie ends up a work of art. If you're super committed then I will send you that one. You'll need a full complement of kitchen stuff though: roller, cookie cutters, frosting bag and frosting tips, and a LOT of spare time. you'll want to make a double batch, then bring only the top 12 or 18 cookies to the contest. when flavor is roughly equal, then effort will matter.

here then is the recipe for the Chocolate Chip Cookies of Legend, lifted straight from a previous blog post, because I'm like that:
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recipe for cookies of awesome is based on classic toll house semi-sweet choc. chip recipe. what follows is that recipe, w/ small additions. Note that the changes aren't for everyone. some people prefer a crispy, dry, flat cookie. the standard recipe will work fine for those idiots. for more discriminating palates, and moist, fluffy cookies, use the recipe below.

Buy semi-sweet nestle chips in yellow bag. I like buying the big bag so I can throw in a few extra choc chips when I'm making the cookies, but it's not a requirement. do not add nuts.

* = special steps i figured out through accident and error. they are what separates my cookies from the pretenders.

recipe:
2 1/4 cups + 1 Tblspn all purpose flour
1 tspn salt
1 tspn baking soda
Pinch of baking powder*

3/4 cups white sugar
3/4 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar (light brown is fine too)
2 sticks butter (margarine is acceptable but I prefer butter)
1 tspn vanilla
2 eggs
2ish cups semi-sweet chips

Preheat oven to 375.

Put flour/salt/b soda/b powder in small bowl. Set aside.

Beat margarine, sugars and vanilla in large bowl until creamy. A stand mixer works best, an electric hand mixer will do. (Mixing by hand alone won't cut it.)
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. when well mixed...
gradually beat in flour mix. I do it in three parts, works great.
Mix in choc chips. throw a few extra in if you're feeling zany.

cool dough for 8-10 minutes in fridge before you bake put dough to pan. also, cool dough again between batches.*

put cookies on sheet. I use two regular teaspoons (the small ones in your silverware drawer) because I have years of practice and I'm the shit, but some people use a mini ice cream scoop. whatever.

bake 9-11 minutes. be careful not to overcook.

to cool, place on cut up cardboard box laid flat on countertop, or on a paper bag (like the kind you get from the grocery) cut open and laid flat on countertop.* store when they reach room temp.
----------------------
done!

And when you least expect it: Jeff Goldblum

Killing hipsters: It might not sound like fun, but after spending last Saturday in Long Beach I can relate.

If everyone is wearing the same ugly clothes and ugly 'ironic' beards it isn't ironic any more, it's conformist.

REPOST: pictures

This picture is kicking around the intertubes today. It's from the National Geographic photo contest. Many more pictures over on the big picture, but this is my favorite. It's one of those things that you would be lucky to see, never mind capture in a photograph. Totally sweet.

Image copyright Sean Heavey and NatGeo.

Moar reading, but free

It's one of my favorite times of year: cooler weather means mostly comfortable motorcycle riding, I get a couple weeks off during the xmas holiday, and also it's cool enough outside that I can bake delicious desserts if I'm in the mood. I'm almost always in the mood for dessert, so I'll probably make a carrot cake or a custard pie this weekend. The carrot cake is a bit more work but it stores nicely. The custard pie is delicious but after The Episode* I haven't been able to have one of those in the house.

Thanksgiving highlight (aside from my friend making every effort to keep his happy holiday buzz from the previous evening rolling along throughout the day) was when Trevor attempted to identify the vaguely-turkey-shaped bread item on the table. I got the impression he wasn't really in the thanksgiving mood when his guesses were as follows: "Treble clef? Swannn??" Ahh, no and no. You had to be there but I promise it was funny. To be fair, it looked substantially more swannnn than it did turkey. Just sayin'.

Magazine articles for your reading pleasure: http://givemesomethingtoread.com/post/1660934095/give-me-something-to-read-best-of-2010

If you're ipad enabled you can read them on instapaper. I'm old school so I print them to a little thing I like to call 'actualpaper' and read them at my leisure. Then I give them to other readers. It's great!



* Can't remember if I blogged about The Episode, but what happened is I made a custard pie on a busy Friday night (I party) and proceeded to eat it that night and most of the next day. I worked through 2/3 of it before I had to throw it out because I was going to eat the entire thing. The kicker was I had just taken out the garbage so when I threw the remainder of the pie in the empty, clean trash bag I thought, "I could totally come back to this; the bag isn't even dirty or anything, it's just like a big ziploc." At which point I took the whole thing to the outside trash and did some soul searching in re: gluttony, desserts, and me. It was a Low Moment.

What are you reading?

The 'Best of' book lists for the year are coming out, which is great because I heart reading and I look forward to indulging this vice, especially in December when I'm only working half the month (vacationing during the other half, if you must know).

I recommend starting with the Guardian - they solicited feedback from several authors and posted it here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/27/christmas-books-year-roundup

Let me know if there's anything you liked that no one mentioned. Nobody put Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie on their list, perhaps because it wasn't sufficiently highbrow. I quite enjoyed it.

Give thanks: post number 974

Baby Girl can see the future: it looks good (there will be snacks)

Thanksgiving in the US of A today. It's a time when people get together and, depending on your family, enjoy themselves or argue. I enjoy thanksgiving very much, even though my own nuclear family went nuclear a long time ago. I have many close friends so I get to review several different thanksgiving options and pick the one that I think best suits my needs in re: dinner, dessert, accessibility, pre- and post-dinner plans, and company. I could visit my own parents but they're about 1000 miles away and it's too far for a holiday weekend. Thus they get low ratings for accessibility, pre- and post-dinner plans, and if they're mean to one another (which is often), company. To be fair, the dinner and dessert are always first rate.

October was an interesting month. It gave me a head start on what to be thankful for, and helped me figure some things out, such as: if you drop a piece of buttered toast, what side it lands on is less important than your attitude when you pick it up. In other words: good things and bad things will happen, but you own how you feel about those things. Cliche, I know, but here's the kicker: things that made me sad actually ended up making me happier. How can this be? They made me realize how good I have it, and how important it is to appreciate that goodness on a daily basis. Fuck yeah.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope this post finds you well, whenever and wherever it finds you.

hugs,
-case-

'evo' is Italian for 'boner-inducing'

Pictured is the new Ducati middleweight sportbike, the 848 evo. Not pictured: the stirring in my loins.

Middleweight bikes from the big four are 600cc machines, but Ducati is a v-twin, so they have to bump up capacity to get equivalent (or better) horsepower numbers than those inline 4 engines. (The advantage of a v-twin engine is that it makes more torque, which is good for acceleration. If you've ever hammered the throttle on an I4 engine at low RPMs you'd be amazed at how little happens, especially on a 600cc bike. You would subsequently be amazed when the engine spins up and the bike takes off like you just got launched off an aircraft carrier). The best engines are a combination (or compromise) between a good torque curve and max horsepower. This new iteration of the 848 is the best yet, at least until the MV Agusta F3 comes out, and the MV will almost certainly cost a lot more.

You can get a superb 600 for half of what the 848 evo costs; it's about $12k new, $6k for a used 600 is an easy find on clist. And your maintenance costs will be much cheaper if you get a Japanese bike. But still... look at that thing. It comes in red (lame) and white with red wheels (lamer). Stealth black, you are sneaking your way into my heart. On the sly. Because you're so STEALHTY. (See what I did there?)

Before there was scrabble, there was Angry Birds

Long before I was getting blown up by over 100 points a game by people both near and far ('qat' is a word? wtf?), I had a different obsession. If you haven't played then this video will make no sense to you. But if you have...

Sex advice from people that don't have sex

With apologies to our Christian readers, an admission: some of you may be new to this space, but occasionally We write unpopular posts about things that are important to Us, such as science education in schools, and civil rights. It gives Us an opportunity to flex our rhetorical muscle, clarify points that might get discussed in later conversations, and also use the majestic plural. We hope that you will continue to visit this space anyway. Because sometimes we post recipes and they are delicious.

The pope is in the news this week for making comments about using condoms. Never been a big fan of the pope or his organization, what with their centuries-long commitment to gross ignorance and institutionalized abuse. Oh, I meant these more recent cases. My bad. Sure I chose some easy examples but there are soooo many it's pointless to list them all. You either agree or you disagree already; I'm not going to change your mind here. I'm just telling you where I'm coming from.

Anyway, setting aside my personal feelings about how/why this tax-exempt, pedophile protecting group retains its influence, I wonder why anyone thinks it's a good idea to take sex advice from a guy that doesn't have sex. How can you trust the accuracy of information when the person delivering it has NO EXPERIENCE in that area? Indeed, professes to avoid it? Recommends that you too also avoid it, until you're married? (And then only if you're straight.) Why wouldn't you question their motivations? (If you're Catholic you're prolly not much of a questioning mind anyway, but that's a separate issue, about which see prev. paragraph.)

Just. Don't. Get it.
My issue is that any answer from Catholics will be grounded in Catholic theology, which I reject. Don't start there because it's a dead end. Instead, I want an answer that explains why it makes sense to solicit information on a subject from people that actively avoid its practice, except in specific circumstances (marriage) WHICH THEY ALSO DON'T PRACTICE. That is flat crazy. Would you ask a vegan how to cook a steak? No. You wouldn't even let them near your grill. Or smoker. Not that they would ever know the difference between grillin' out and barbecue anyway. Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiit. At least the Protestants and other reformation churches have some kind of leg to stand on with this stuff. Yeah they're full of crap too, but for different reasons.

Which reminds me: Why do you always take two Baptists fishing?
Because if you take one he'll drink all your beer!

Coming up: recipes for the chocolate cake I made yesterday, and also maybe the recipe for carrot cake I'm going to make later this week. I might have posted both of those already but I can't remember. you care.

Harry Potter denouement, analyzed (revisited)

The release of the latest Harry Potter movie reminded me of a conversation I wanted to revisit. My friend was very into the HP books and we discussed them at length when the final version came out 3 years ago. Also I wanted to review some of the plot points, since my normally superhuman reading retention/comprehension is compromised by the fact that I tended to finish the HP books in 24-48 hours (total elapsed time, not total time reading). If you look at this post and say, wow, that's a lot of words, well, you should see the books.

This is a narrative about which many people have Strong Feelings, and I'm surprised by how many readers I talked to loved the epilogue. I was not one of them. I did enjoy the strength of Neville, though. While Harry was a bumbling, idealistic bore, it was deeply satisfying to see Neville make good in the end.

Here then is our conversation from July 2007, in it's entirety. (Pls ignore typos):

--------------------------------
me:
what did you think? were you pumped when Mrs. Weasley took it to Bellatrix? did you say, WTF! when harry took a 30 minute time out to hang out w/ the pensieve and snape's memories? were you moved when you realized that snape was a repressed, jilted, bigoted, errr... hero? did you smile when Neville killed Nagini, because you had predicted big things for him (although you overshot the mark a bit)?

I thought the epilogue was cheesy. except for the last line, it was a family sitcom. pass out. tell us something about what they had become: aurors, teachers, whatever. Instead they're parents. it was a letdown after some good storytelling in the final chapters. also, the book was about 150 pages too long. that part in the woods added nothing to the story. overall, it was very well done.

---------------------------------
okay, let's see.

Mrs. Weasley was bomb, that was awesome.

sort of expected more from Harry chilling in the pensive. Snape loved his mama...okay. it was still his fault that she was killed, and he had no problem handing over harry and james. also, he was a jerk to harry who had no parents and no family, bc, why? jealousy? school boy grudge? eff that. i am not that impressed. [My friend] steph took the other side, incredibly moved by snape's pain, sacrifice, whatev. me, not so much.

neville's part was cool. what got me was when he pulled the sword out of the hat. he was a true griffendyor hero.

also, Narcissia Malfoy willing to sacrifice herself for her son got me pretty good. tears are stinging my eyes just thinking about it. she was the same as harry's mom.

i still really like the epilogue. i told you the reason i get so into the books it that i like hanging out with the characters, so i was excited to know how that worked out.

i had a few issues. i had expected a bigger twist/revelation. i had hoped for bigger turn arounds from snape, draco and maybe petunia.

i thought harry dying and coming back was lame. he either dies or he doesn't. too easy to make up a middle ground.

i also didnt like that harry was so perfect in the end. i would have preferred him more flawed. in particular, he didn't actually kill voldemort, he never had to confront the challenge of committing murder. he was still innocent/pure blah. not a real character. dumbledore and his lust for power/struggle not to take it was much more engaging and relatable.

overall, i liked it a lot too. it would have been pretty hard to screw up.
-------------------------
my take:
Harry was not much of a hero. no flaws, and every time he was in serious trouble he was rescued by someone else. example: in the ravenclaw house when searching for the diadem, he gets knocked down and Luna saves him. laaaaaame. maybe it's part of the fact that he wasn't supposed to be anything special as a wizard. voldemort was right when he said it was luck and circumstance, although we're led to believe at the end it's V's own bad choices that lead to his demise (linking himself to Harry). He was The Boy Who Lived, not The Boy Who Did Anything Much. He stands up to V, but it's Vs protective elements inside him that protect him. Harry stood tall in previous books, but in this book, not so much.

One point I really liked was when Harry stood up for McGonagall (shortly after Luna saves his bacon). Where was that guy the rest of the story? missing Ginny? feeling sorry for himself in the woods? punk.

re: Snape, enh, i was unmoved. he was an interesting character, but his resolution was unsatisfying for me. he did it all for love? are you kidding? he wasn't in love. he was obsessed. and he was an unremitting jerk who couldn't let go of a) his "love" for lily, or b) his bullying at the hands of James. get over yourself. move on. it's not noble, it's pathetic. if you say he was in league w/ Dumbledore, well, fair enough. It was interesting that Dumbledore was pulling the strings and that he was every bit the egomaniac that V was. It was his ambition that killed him in the end. There's a lesson there...

i missed the narcissia sacrifice. i will review that again. you were right, that is a key turning point.

when Neville pulled that sword out of the hat and killed the snake I almost wept for joy. i wanted to cheer for him. he came further than any other character. i said, f yeah, that's how you handle business. I was also much pleased when Harry gets back to school and they decide they're going to fight. Harry tries to talk them out of it (again, and again, and again, does Rowling just Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V these sections?) and they say no, they are there for him, and they are taking a stand. That was nice. And I wept a little when Dobby showed up w/ the house elves to turn the tide. A pleasant touch, i figured they would be left out.

lastly, I think there was too much made in the book of Harry's unwillingness to sink to the DE's level. He should have had more edge. Instead, he comes off as weak. Lupin chastises him for it in the early pages, but HP refuses to make the hard choices (unlike Dumbledore). You could argue that is why D died and HP lived, but i think HP would be a more triumphant character if he could make the hard choices and survive. If you have to wrestle a snake, you're gonna get dirty. It's how you clean up after that matters. (At least in my fantasy world.) :)

-------------------------------
and the last word from katie:
i agree with you about harry. he is a weak character. more of a conduit to the rest of the story than anything else.

i was very excited for neville in this book. as you know i had even higher hopes for him, but i do not hold him responsible for those not happening. he is one of the best characters. not in that i like him the best, but that his story is probably the most touching and heartbreaking of anyones. in the first book, when he gets house points for standing up to harry, he is triumphant. in the fifth when he is visiting his parents at the hospital and harry, ron and herm come across him, it is the most heart wrenching scene in the entire series. he has suffered as much, if not more than, harry, but is not "the boy who lived" and thus no one really knows about his pain and no one offers him their support the way they do harry. he is much stronger than harry.

harry has always been obnoxiously repetitive. him trying to convince others not to help, trying to protect ron and herm, refusing to go to authority figures who could help him at the appropriate time, etc. i think the three central characters all have the same essential problem of not growing throughout the series. they lack character development.

i completely agree with your last paragraph. you gonna get rid of death eaters by stunning them over and over again? obviously not.

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/end/

The gauntlet has been thrown down

I am officially everyone's whipping boy on words with friends. I remember now why I never play scrabble. I know a lot of words (more than anyone I can think of offhand), but I am SO BAD AT SCRABBLE. Ugh. But I will get better, people. Enjoy your victories now because the fat kid is going to improve. Search the web for strategies? Yes. Learn new high-scoring words before other players use them against me? Yes. It's going to be lopsided and lonely you get an xbox360 and allow me to destroy you at CoD: Black Ops. But I am going to practice. Or something.

Video is somebody doing amazing things on a bike. Sweet. Like epic skate tricks, it never gets old watching somebody do impossible stuff on wheels. The first trick alone was worth a video, never mind what he does about 1:45 in, over the bench to the retaining wall and back over the park bench. That is insane.

Buffalo buffalo

Had to hit the internet for some visual inspiration today. I don't know why I loved this animated gif so hard, but I do. Headline for the post where I scavenged the attached picture is 'sad bookshelf is sad', which made me laugh. (Notice how they had to put the encyclopedias at the bottom so it didn't tip over?)

Been a tough week in blogville. Not much going on. Usually I could hammer out something pithy about current events or my gym schedule but I don't have anything really good, so I'll dig into the email mailbag for a word problem I kicked over to my word-minded peeps.

The following is a famous linguistics exercise. It's also a grammatically correct, complete sentence:

Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

I asked friend Jeff if he had come across it in his studies and he said yes, but he can't teach it in his classes because his students would just get more confused. English is hard. Sentence is easier to parse if you read it as 'place animal (verb) place animal'. So: buffalo from Buffalo push buffalo from Buffalo.

I got the sentence from a Steven Pinker book about language. I forget which one. He references its source as an associate of his. So, credit where credit is due: check the book for the actual source. I would look it up but my books are in boxes in the garage. :/

In New Addictions I finally beat Skott in a furious battle of wits on the virtual scrabble board. By one point. He's up two game two one after delivering a spanking in game two. I had to withdraw in game 3 because I played a word I thought was illegal. Turns out it wasn't, but that's my fault for not knowing (word was jesuit, if you must know, and yes, the lower case usage is accepted, which is why it wasn't illegal). If you've got an ipod touch or iphone and want to go head to head with a very mediocre player then hit me up. LET'S DO THIS. My words with friends name is Dooshie McTool. All my usual videogame and forum names were taken. Which sucked.

REPOST - good enough to eat

Cribbed this from someone else's interweb space, but I liked it, and it reminds me of something I would do (the eating part, not the drawing), so here you go:


“Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.”

- Maurice Sendak

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It's almost Fall weather here. That means dessert time, and soon. Get excited. CARROT CAKE.

Somewhere Coach Jeff is laughing right now

I'm on injured reserve for a couple weeks with biceps tendinitis. Why is this funny? Because my friend Coach Jeff always gives me a hard time about only lifting arms when I go to the gym. That's ridiculous, but now I have an overuse injury and can't shock the guns for 2 weeks, followed by 4 weeks (!!) of light work to rebuild strength. :/ Could be worse, though. It's not serious, and I can still go to the gym, just can't do the usual.

I'll have to rotate some different work into the program. Spin class, here I come.

In new entertainments: try words with friends on the iphone or, if you're me, ipod touch. Scrabble with your peeps. Good times.

Veterans day was yesterday

In honor of Veteran's day, here's a good post from one of my favorite writers, who was brilliant on withleather.com (sports blog) until they moved him over to write about television (warmingglow.com). Ugh. TV? He's still funny, but TV sucks.

So here you go: http://www.uproxx.com/feature/2010/11/eight-completely-badass-veterans-youve-never-heard-of/

Yay for turtles!

This comes straight from the internets. It's still funny. Photo credit to whomever took the original picture. It wasn't me. Nice depth of field and photoshop effort.

In unrelated news, there's a psychic / 'spirit medium' that works (and I use that word very loosely) down the hall from me. She gets clients to come in and she has 'seeings' with them where they contact the spirit world. It gets quite loud when she 'channels' the spirits. This kind of thing can't be done quietly. Seriously, this happens. And people pay for it. Anyway, what kind of psychic is she if she can't even figure out when I'm coming down the hall and walks into me? Oh she's not THAT kind of psychic? My bad. She must be the other kind, not so much predict-the-future, more make-shit-up.

Maybe if she channeled the spirit of my dead loved ones she could predict why people pay to have her invent nonsense. Maybe.

Teachers are funny

Professor Jeff has to deal with mostly good students. But every now and then he gets to work with students that have no idea how dumb they are.

The cheating parts, and the parts where the student complains about 'deserving' a grade, are particularly common in his experience.

He sent this. I'm sure it's a big hit with teachers everywhere.

Sound req'd, and NSFW, because of the f-word.

The People Have Spoken, part V

Reader Shannon (NMSNSS) comes to us from LA, and I don't mean Los Angeles. How she ended up here is a mystery, but we're glad for the feedback and until we have more readers than time to respond to their comments we will continue to feature hers. She wrote a whole funny post on chicken strips, and the only thing I have to add is that she refers to the carefully chosen words I used as:

blah blah blah blah chicken strips

That's clearly wrong, because what my post actually says is:
blah blah chicken strips blah blah blah

Sheesh.

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Bad news is that corporate is cracking down on internet usage at the office. I used to like to post an update at lunch or in the evening but it looks like all internet traffic is now a Serious Issue, so I'll be posting only early or late henceforth. Minor hassle but I'll do what I can to keep the magic happening. In my pants. Wait, what?



What does Glasvegas have to do with any of this? Nothing. Sweet jam though.

Louder = Better

Spent the weekend doing important stuff, like, umm, restringing the Babe (pictured, in the chair - it's a Gibson Les Paul Classic). I need to restring Sara too (that's the acoustic), but I wanted to play instead of bumble with the strings so I put that off until later this week.

Stuffed animal (pictured) is a chew toy that baby girl left to keep me company. 

I needed my roommate to experience the full awesome of The Babe played through my Fender DeVille 4x10 amp. The amp is appropriate for 'small to medium sized gigs', and totally inappropriate for a 10x10 room with hardly any furniture and hardwood floors. It's also perfect when your roommate is suffering on the couch with a hangover. Sorry bro. Kind of.

Total number of seconds I played before a screw from the vent rattled out of the ceiling and fell to the floor: ~6. (Some of the falling fasteners are also attributable to the stereo. We do a brisk business in loud music here at Chez Spencer.)

Took me a while to get the tone I was hoping for. One of the (dis)advantages of a tube amp is that they don't start to sound good unless you turn them up. The volume increase is nonlinear, so it goes from inaudible (setting 1, seriously, it doesn't even make noise until you get to 2), to 'kind of loud' (2-5)  to 'deafening' (5-12; hells yeah it goes to 11). You can keep turning the volume on the amp up but you only get a minor increase in volume up above about 8; instead the tone changes as you push more power through the tubes. Further complicating matters are volume and tone controls on the guitar. So many variables! So much power!

Invited the roommate to plug in the acoustic (she's an acoustic-electric) and jam but he said he 'doesn't know how to play'. I pointed out that didn't stop me, but he demurred. I'm optimistic he might get involved next time. Next step: learn a song for the electric. Or two. Maybe two.

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Brief technical description for Music Whiz Scotty B, who has a similar guitar and same amp, and will want to know what settings I used. Skip this part if you aren't into minutiae.
Tone pickup on LP (front?), guitar pickup volume at 5, pickup tone maxed, amp volume to 4, amp treble at 6, regular drive, and I forget the other settings. no reverb.

The People Have Spoken, part IV

The people have spoken. It's been hard to find a moment to update this space and give the readerships comments the attention they deserve. It's late and I'm tired but I don't want them to have to wait any longer.
Reader Shannon (or, Not My Similarly Named Sociopathic Sister, henceforth NMSNSS for short) asks / comments:

I didn't understand chicken strips so I had to look it up.

Now I understand and I'm sure that my life will be richer for knowing.

I don't know why I get sucked into these things. I'm a middle aged house wife who works at a church, for pete's sake. I could care less about motorcycles or chicken strips (unless they're from Cane's).

Since you contributed to the wasting of 10 minutes of my life that I'll never get back, I think the least you can do is give me some ideas on how I can work chicken strips into every day conversation.
------------------------------------
Chicken strips are what you get on your motorcycle tire when you don't lean it over very far. The only way to lean a bike over is to go fast around corners, and in order to do that you have to trust both your tire and the road. Some guys like to lean their bikes over really far on public roadways. They have a trust in the roadway, and traffic, and conditions, that can best be described as 'optimistic', but is more often described as 'fatal'.

If you ride by the book, in every corner you leave a margin for error so that in the event of some unforeseen circumstance (a car in the road, gravel in the road, a dead coyote in the road - which happened to me last week, water on the road, whatever) you can either stop, adjust your line and go around it, or both. In the canyons the penalties for unexpected loss of traction are severe. So I go relatively slow, and I have some pretty sweet chicken strips to show for it. Truth is it's definitely possible to ride the canyons near my house safely and still go faster than me, since I only ride a speed at which I am comfortable. And that's not very speedy.

On the racetrack you can be confident about the road surface, and the line, and traffic, and traction, so you don't have any excuse and can fully commit to the turn. I hope to take my bike to the track in the next couple months and put some proper wear all the way out to the edge of the tires.

Not sure how to work it into conversation, since 'chicken strips' has a negative connotation and you don't want to insult anyone. Plus it comes up infrequently even if you like talking about bikes (and I spend a LOT of time talking about bikes), unless you're at the track. :)

Past my bedtime.
Thanks for reading.

I (heart) animals!

yayyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!

Priorities

I survived another layoff, still have a job.
 ----------------------
Indulge me for a moment while I take a break from the dick jokes and do some navel-gazing. If you're over it, come back tomorrow, and it'll be business as usual. Promise. 
----------------------
It's been an interesting month over here in me-ville. The company I worked for got 'acquired' by another company, so I had to wait out another round of layoffs (they cut 25% of the old company yesterday). It was the fifth round of cuts in 2 years. Also, there were some other personal disappointments I had to deal with at the same time.

These hiccups encouraged (forced?) me to examine how I felt about my job-career, my personal life, future happiness, and all sorts of other shit I don't pay much attention to when I'm busy practicing yoga / working / reading books / playing guitar / traveling to amazing places / working out / riding motorcycles / dominating / generally being awesome and doing awesomely. But sometimes things don't go your way, and instead of waking up every day noticing how good your life is, you wake up and wonder what the hell just happened. This is not my preferred Default Setting for navigating the day.

So where are we now? I don't think that all my life lessons need to be reproduced in this space, but the short version is that I appreciate my life more than I ever have. It's good to be me, though not because I'm anything special. Instead, it's good to be me because my friends and family are amazing. (If you're reading this, you're probably one of them.)

Have a good day today.
Thanks for reading.

Total domination: Daft Punk costume in action

Halloween 2010 was about what you'd expect: sloppy drunk with a side of shenanigans. I don't mean me - I had several drinks and there are some photos of me on fbook that I only vaguely remember posing for, but I was far from the most drunk person at the party. Yeah I was working the dance floor but I'm pretty sure everyone else out there was as drunk as I was so whatever. 

Costume of excellence goes to my roommate, who dominated from start to finish.

This is him pre-partying with a martini, and also spending a few moments in repose before he made magic happen at the club.The club shots are poorly lit, but I'll see what I can do.

Back to back Daft Punk

Sneak preview of the Roommate's Daft Punk costume for Halloween. Total domination.

The picture of Rodin's Thinker is a wall hanging I bought from Room & Board. The actual sculpture was too large to fit in the house. And also too expensive.

Party pics to follow.

oh hell yes

Daft Punk brings the noize.
Might have to get the soundtrack before I see the movie.

The brunette in black is Olivia Wilde, who is so pretty it makes my eyes hurt. Were there any other people in the video besides Ms. Wilde and Daft Punk? Not that I noticed. 

Cats = win

Got a haircut today. Just in time for Halloween. It doesn't really add or detract to my guy-in-green-velour-shorts outfit, but now my hair is shorter. And I'm 85% more dashing. Helloooooooo, ladies...

In unrelated news, this graphic with the cat made me laugh. I got it off the internet, so thanks to the theoatmeal.com for allowing me to pilfer it. I liked this, too.

And if you want to know how many Bieb-dawgs you could take in a fight, go here.

Me: 24 Biebers. Could have done better but refused to make protective armor from pieces of dead Biebers.

The people have spoken, part II, re: Pawn Stars

Longtime reader Big Cheese says:

I too just discovered pawn stars and came up with the very same analogy...its like antiques rodeshow with attitude. Its not as dumb as one would think. However, after watching every available episode on demand, I now have mixed feelings. Everyone who sells shit on the show gets taken to the cleaners. I guess your an idiot if you try to sell something at a pawn shop in the first place, but the smugness of rick, who is clearly knowledgeable, rubs me the wrong way. Its hard to watch a show and pull for a guy who takes advantage of people, kinda, even if its only cuz he's a savvy business man. Interesting show nevertheless.

Oh and I like chumlee btw.
-------------------------------
Well allow me to retort:

To put it bluntly: you can't rape the willing. It's a shame the people need the money more than they need whatever it is they're selling, but they are not coerced into selling. Nothing prevents them from going somewhere else. Or not selling. So I don't agree that the guy is 'taking advantage' of people, at least not as far as they show us in the program. If anything, it's the fault of the seller for not doing some research before they show up. And also their fault for not walking away from the transaction.

I also enjoy watching Rick drop knowledge. I also enjoy them asking, "pawn it or sell it". It's one of my new favorite expressions.

Maybe I'm smug because I love watching Rick tell people how much their stuff is worth? Seller: "I hope to get $3000." Rick offers $250, buys for $300. And then I laugh.

Reader Shannon (not my sociopathic sister) likes the show, and also to say the words 'Pawn Stars' because her "life is boring and it makes [her] feel a little dirty", which is funny. And reminds me of how my friend Boston Jeff liked to use a similar expression, pronounced 'pahn stah', in re: his, ahh, anatomy, and a girls indelicate handling thereof. Coincidentally, Boston Jeff's comments also made me feel a little dirty. Synergy.

Thanks for reading.

Westside Batman

It was this or batman with deer.
The westside hand was the difference maker.

Post fail - Update

Tried to post via mail and it didn't work. 

So here it is again:

This happened.
If it doesn't make sense to you, go here.

Truth in cookies

This is is pretty much how I decide if I should eat a cookie.
I love dessert.

Out of Town, watching TV in a hotel room

Out of town this week so I ended up watching some (mostly) bad television in the hotel room. That's why I don't have a TV in my room at home. Anyway, fun programs to watch on the History channel: Pawn Stars, which is like Antiques Roadshow with some harsh lessons about economics mixed in. And also American Pickers, which is a couple guys in the midwest trolling around and trying to find items they can flip for a small profit.

Pawn Stars is awesome in that the guys are smart, do a brisk business, and don't mind giving people a hard lesson in economics (and negotiating) when they bring in stuff to sell. The lesson is that your stuff is worth only what someone else will pay for it, which usually isn't much, and it is ALWAYS less than what YOU paid for it. They also employ the dumbest guy I've ever seen on television: Chumlee. Check local listings or set your DVR so you don't have to sit through the interminable commercial breaks.

American Pickers is two guys traveling around trying to flip antiques they dig up. The show was originally recommended to me by Jeff, and I was skeptical, not least because I'm never home and hardly ever watch TV. Long weeks traveling on business fixed that, so I'm caught up on my TV watching. Pickers is entertaining because they are not wealthy, just carving out a living doing something they love. And although they mostly sort through junk and trash, they do have a passion for old stuff and an infectious enthusiasm.

If you don't feel like learning about antiques and pawn-shop desperation, you can always head back over to discovery channel and enjoy more episodes of idiots yelling about overpriced, slow, hilariously unrideable penis-extensions. Or not.

The truth hurts

What he said.

The people have spoken!

Reader Shannon (not my similarly monikered sociopathic sister - some other Shannon) commented on the Mondrian Cake post, which is near and dear to my heart because I have liked Mondrian's art for a very long time, and I love cake like it's my job.

Take it away Shannon:

I've never cared for Mondrian because I always thought it looked like he made a career out of repackaging the same painting over and over again. Then again, I love Fornasetti who is pretty much the godfather of the one hit wonder.

So, I'm fickle.
----------------

I have no idea who Fornasetti is so I had to look it up.
Yikes! I don't see the appeal there, but to each their own.

Yes Mondrian tended to do the same thing over and over again. Most artists do, but Mondrian is more obviously repetitive because people recognize the pattern. Rapahel never got tired of painting his sluts groupies girlfriends as madonnas, for example. But that's apples to oranges. Maybe a better comparison is Pollock? Both adopted a style and then worked within it, trying to execute their vision. Either you like it or you wonder why anyone would hang it on the wall, never mind pay for it. 

Probably I like the Mondrian because it soothes my OCD. A place for everything, and everything in its place. It must be said that the works tend to show better in person; I've never seen a Mondrian and liked it less than I thought I would, even though they all "look" the same. Except when they don't. a ha.

Photo op: Seville

Been editing and re-editing my posts lately. Takes me a couple tries to get the words in order. If I edited my papers this much in college I might have gotten decent grades (proofreading is for chumps; I got by on genius alone).

Full size versions on flickr.

Took this in Seville. If you click through the image has a caption that explains why I enjoy this picture, but if you're not in the mood, here's a summary:

It's got some people for scale, and organic and inorganic elements mixed together. The architecture gives it a unique feel. It looks very Seville to me.

Walkway is wet because it had rained overnight, washing away some of the grit. (Seville can be a hot, dry, dusty place.)

Seville was a great place to take pictures. The architecture is beautiful, and the weather was either cloudy, with patches of sunlight, or bright sun. Cloudy weather makes things easier to shoot with my shit camera because the light is diffuse. Sunny weather makes the colors pop more. Either way it's hard to take a bad picture in that town. Like this wall, for example. It's a Gothic wall against a sharp blue sky, but it still looks cool. At least to me.

Motorcycles: putting some life in your years

Spent Sunday visiting with my friend Sean, teaching him how to ride his motorcycle. Photo is him sitting on it and getting ready to start learning how to ride. I had to sneak a shot from this angle because I know he was nervous and I didn't want him focused on me taking pictures; I wanted him focused on not dropping his bike.

We started from the beginning - he didn't have much experience on a bike before we took it to the parking lot. And by 'much' I mean 'any'. But that's okay - everyone starts from the beginning, and he had a good attitude about it.

Riding a motorcycle is not easy, but it's easier than you think.

Once he got used to the idea that he could do it (an important step in the process) he was doing circles in the lot without issue. Which is funny, because I didn't tell him how to turn the bike. I just said, 'make the turn' and pointed him the direction I wanted him to go. Moderate-speed turns on a bike are one of the easiest things about riding. Technically you use countersteer to turn (you push the handlebar in the direction you want to turn, so push left, go left; push right, go right), but by the time you get done explaining it people have a glazed look in their eye and they're worse off because they start thinking about it, tense up. Tense is bad, and Sean had enough to fret over with the shifting and braking and clutch and gas.

He did superbly, and he's got his permit, so he's going to practice in his suburban neighborhood for a while until he takes the MSF safety course and gets his full license. But now he can practice on his own. Awesome.

Hee fee

This from ze Smith.
What did I like best? Was it the soundtrack?* The graphics? The haircut? The unbridled awesome? No. It was they way he said "hee fee" every time 'HiFi' came on screen. Ahh, I laughed. If he had said something about "1969 being a very momentous year" I would have fallen out of my chair.

*In the time it took me to type this, the soundtrack skipped from Ghostbusters theme, to Pirates of Caribbean theme, to Indiana Jones theme.

Speaking of soundtracks, also this. I didn't much care for the video, though.

Let's take a picture

Posted the last of the pictures from my recent trip to Foreign Lands to flickr. Still planning on highlighting some of my favorites in this space. Pretty soon. Eventually.

For the record, this is the second to last picture I took on the trip. And the only extant photo of me and ze Newbs from the whole deal. Had to use the camera timer to get it. I know what time it is. (No, really, I'm wearing a watch.) Shirts optional. Killed the image at request of ze Newbs.

True Story: Had to call a guy from work and ask him a question. I kick out the jamz in the office, because I have a door (which I generally leave open, but whatever). I turn the jamz down when I get someone on the phone because the headset mic is sensitive and I don't want to bring the noize too hard. I'm a professional, after all. Just as I get on the phone the computer has a seizure so all of a sudden volume control is not available. Co-worker inquires "are you having a rave?" Me: "nah. it's dance party USA up in here, all day. TGIF motherf*cker!"

I'm management material for sure.

Watch this!

Because I think you should watch it, and also because it's a clock. Get it? har har har



The 600 Years from the macula on Vimeo.

Art you can eat: Mondrian cake

Some people like Piet Mondrian's artwork, some don't. I'm a fan.

In related news, I hope the next time I'm at SFMOMA I can get a slice of this cake. Because it's artistic. And I love dessert. A lot.

Happiness explained (evolutionarily speaking)

I thought I had posted this from ze newbs, but when I tried to find it, I couldn't. So here you go.

Short version: Your brain will change your view about the world so that you feel better about the world that you live in. And you won't even notice.  :)





Presenter is Dan Gilbert.

"Beer Guy" costume: delivered

The Liederhosen / Beer Guy / Shorts with Suspenders and Matching Socks costume arrived in the mail. It's early doors, but:

• It reeks of diesel exhaust, sweatshop, and child labor. I'm concerned it won't survive a wash; I'll have to hand wash and air dry. 
• The socks are my favorite part. 
• Green velour is very slimming.
• The hat doesn't even kind of fit.
• Tried the shirt on in the office, and it's a wee bit small. And by that I mean it's skin tight. Friends of the blog will remember that I'm not above wearing slim-fit shirts in general, so I'm going to keep it as is, since if the 70's taught us anything, it's that a tight polyester shirt > a loose polyester shirt. Or something.

Craig Ferguson wins again

Cold open from his show, featuring a flock of seagulls lip sync and the guys from Mythbusters.
And puppets.
And total domination.

The monster your monster could smell like

If loving this is wrong I don't want to be right.

A spoof of this excellence.



Note: 'I'm on a cow' just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Did they get him off the waiver wire?

Following the game from the web while I finish up at work. No idea who Fontenot is. Presumably he plays for the Giants, because I'm pretty sure the Cubs didn't make the playoffs. I know it's hard to keep track of all this stuff, but I'd imagine they would go through and audit all their player photos for the playoffs. Or not. Not's good.

Keeping busy: Stand up paddleboarding in Newport Harbor

Yesterday I wasn't busy so I followed up my advanced yoga class with a pleasant afternoon paddling around Newport Harbor on a stand up paddleboard. Conditions were really good and I was not terrible, so it ended up being really fun. Here's the summary of what I learned:

• The board is more stable when you're moving. If you get stuck standing (literally) in one place, such as if you have to wait for the ferry, you are more likely to fall in. I didn't, but it was a near thing.  
• Paddleboarding is waaaay more fun than going in circles in a Duffy. And better exercise. I'd argue it's better than a kayak, too. Much better view, 6 feet off the water.
• If you get stuck waiting for the ferry, tourists will take your picture. They do it to everyone, because when I told the guy at the rental shop that I had to stand and wait for the ferry boats, he laughed and asked me, 'did they take your picture?' And indeed they did do. I almost waved, but I didn't want to go tumbling into the water in the middle of the channel. Not because I couldn't get back on the board, but because the water in the channel is nasty. 
• Paddling downwind is easy. Paddling upwind, less so. 
• Eat a powerbar and drink some water before you get started.
• Sunglasses are optional but recommended. Sunscreen is required. 
• It's hard to throw a friendly wave at passing boats when you're one careless gesture away from a dunking. So I made do with my paddle as best I could. 

Next time there's no waves and warm(ish) weather I'll try it at Doheny, which is supposed to be super fun. At least the water there won't give me hepatitis when I fall in.
See you there.

Decision: Made

In a nice change from what has been the Shittiest Week Ever, I got to visit with my friend Steve and his lovely daughter Madeleine (pictured). She's in the argument for Cutest Kid in America, which is good, because her sister (not pictured) is also in the argument. Steve had the good sense to marry up, so they get their looks from their mother.

For those of you waiting on pins and needles re: What the fuck am I going to be for Halloween? - Wait no more. I decided to be the "Adult Beer Guy", which is sort of an octoberfest / liederhosen / alpine deal. I opted for this getup because it's about average in terms of douche level, but should be reasonably comfortable. Those velour shorts are looking wonderfully textured and polyester. Very slimming. You can't ask for more than that. At least not for $60.

It's times like these you start asking yourself the important questions...

Important questions like: what the fuck am I going to be for Halloween?

I loathe dress up but the alternative (sitting at home doing nothing) isn't really workable, esp. when my friends are throwing a big Halloween party again this year and all I have to do is show up. Last year they got 300 people to go. Plus there will be plenty of trashy girls dressed in slutty outfits (or is it slutty girls in trashy outfits? either way, really). So we're costume shopping.

Because I'm crap at costume ideas and even more crap at putting them together I'm going to buy one off the internet. It's fine to show up as a sunflower (Pete in 2008) or kissing booth (Jeff, 2007) or 'dynamite in the sack' (Jeff, 2006) or Dennis Rodman (Pete, 2009) or a cockblock (Mike in 2006 - he wore a box with pictures of roosters taped to it) but only if you're really committed to the project. I'm committed to getting out of the house, not the dress up aspect. Narrowed it down to a few choices: 

• Star Trek engineering costume (red, although if you didn't think 'red' when I said 'star trek engineering' then you're reading the wrong blog)
• Liederhosen outfit w/ the shorts and suspenders. And maybe the hat? Not sure. 
• Ryu, the character from Street Fighter. Because I think that would be funny. 
• Disco guy in powder blue polyester pants/vest (but a better, fitted shirt). 

I'm leaning towards the Liederhosen outfit because it would be reasonably comfortable and appropriately silly. Even though someone else will almost certainly be wearing it. Mix and match, get a Lieder-disco thing happening?
We're soliciting feedback, so if you've got some, let me know. I'll transact by the end of the week, I think. To make sure it's here in time, fits, etc.

Today > Monday

Nothing great about today except that it's not Monday. I wish I had something nice to say but I don't. FML.

Right now you'll have to make do with the first batch of pictures from my recent trip to London and Spain. I put them on flickr (instead of kodakgallery) because I wanted to be able to link to them directly from here and not have to send you an email invitation. It's especially useful for the people that visit this space that I don't know very well. Which, judging by the google analytics data, is most of you.

If you do decide to browse the flickr photos, be sure to read the comments. They may (or may not) explain why I included a particular picture. Photos that I really enjoyed will show up in this space for further review.

Photo for THIS post was taken in our room in Madrid. Both me and Ze Newbs were a) glad to be on the last leg of our journey, and b) glad that our trip from Sevilla to Madrid was about as easy as it could have been. And I thought it was funny to get a picture of him coming out of the closet, as it were.

Watermelon facebomb

Terrible day today. Just fucking terrible.
Bad news in my personal and professional life. On the professional front, my company is being acquired by another company. Should know if I have a job in the next 4-6 weeks. If not, well, I'll get a new job. That's life. Could have done without that news, esp. in light of the personal disappointment. But it's not like you get to choose this stuff. It just happens.

On the other hand, people still punish themselves with watermelons to the face.

True story: I sometimes use the phrase "I can't feel my face" after I've had several drinks. So that makes it funnier when the girl says it after she eats the watermelon.

It's the little things.

Decorating tips? Brotally!

Roommate hung this over the fireplace this week. It's powerful. Friend Scott says, "You guys are such bros!" I think he's just jealous. 

Making good choices

This from an acquaintance down in San Diego:

If you live down here, or are familiar with San Diego, this might really hit home.. My friend found a purse in PB. He looked around for some form of identification, but found a to-do list instead. Sadly it could belong to any number of girls who live here. Just paying it forward.

Not exactly the example I would use, but...

I edited this slightly for readability.

scottley: fuck i don't want to go to class today. hot in the class room.
...
scottley: there's an OCD/autistic kid in there.
scottley: i took his seat last week
scottley: on accident
scottley: he wasn't angry or anything
me: yeah but he needs his spot
scottley: he just walked back and forth in front of my desk 3 or 4 times
scottley: "oh wow! wow. i guess today i'll sit on this side. oh man. yeah, i'll sit over here. wow. oh wow. way to the left today. okay. okay. i'll sit over here."
scottley: he wanders the computer science department talking to himself
scottley: leans way over to kids sitting on their lap top to see what they're doing on the computer in the hallways
scottley: The other day, professor was talking about algorithms, how different processors in a distributed computing system communicate, send messages
scottley: in one algorithm, a message is sent by a processor to another saying essentially "OK, i've received your messages, stop sending them because i don't want connection with you anymore, i'm using this other processor"
scottley: and the kid YELLS out: "HAHA LIKE ON FACEBOOK WHEN YOU SEND SOMEONE TOO MANY MESSAGES AND THEN THEY BLOCK YOU BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT TO TALK TO YOU ANYMORE."
me: hahaaaaaaaaaaa

Load-testing the speakers with Mumford & Sons "The Cave"

This song is apparently about Homer's Odyssey. At least in part. Other parts, I don't know. But I like it.

For something similarly poppy and inspirational, I recommend the song Sigh No More. Actually I recommend you try out the entire record, but that's me.

You are not the customer, you are the sucker

My health coverage costs are going up (again), due in part to several 'very large claims' filed by other Fremulon employees. Seriously. It gets back to one of my favorite jokes about health insurance, which is that it's great as long as you don't get sick. I wish I were kidding.

Anyway, the problems with the industry, and the system as a whole, are wonderfully articulated in this article, called "How American Health Care Killed My Father", by David Goldhill. The essay summarizes nicely all the different ways in which the current 'health care' system fails the people that use it. In the process, it makes a lot of people a very large amount of money.

The important thing to understand is that you are not the customer in your doctor-patient transaction, and as such, you have no leverage. Another important thing to understand is that people in the business of making money on your transaction will fight bitterly to prevent you from having any choice (e.g. leverage) or transparency in the transaction. The final, and most important thing of all to understand is the position of the 'health care' industry in re: you the patient, which is: go fuck yourself.

The good news is that Obama, et. al. has signed all of America up for a system that is quite obviously broken and will bankrupt the country. So that's fun.

Where from here? Nowhere. As long as some people are making piles of money, what incentive do they have to change the system? The whole thing will have to collapse before we see any change at all, if ever.


http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/09/how-american-health-care-killed-my-father/7617/

Props to Big Cheese for sending me the original article, and also to Ze Newbs for discussing with me while we were in Barcelona and Sevilla (he had read it separately because he has a subscription or something - he's highbrow like that).

Quilting is hard (or so I'm told)

I've been told that quilting is hard. I have no idea, but this is cool. Because it's a color wheel, but also a blanket.

I bet it would be hard to get all those seams to line up right.

Pithy social commentary and travelogue coming later this week. With pictures, hopefully.

Thanks, DDC.

REPOST

Don't care if you've already seen this.
I loved it.

Not sure if I eat it, or it eats me

Is this awesome? Or just terrifying?
mmm... cake.

From me to you, via the internet

You'll have to click to embiggen.
Thanks, cool material.

sooo... that happened

If you hadn't heard, the teaparty.org website got hacked by 4chan, and they had (are having?) some fun with it. 4chan is best described as everything that sucks and is awesome about the internet, distilled into its purest essence. They don't pull punches over there.

Their main deal on teaparty.org is to redirect the photos to images already on 4chan, which gives you the result shown at right.

I laughed.

Thanks, boing-boing.

Is this some kind of intervention?

Just got back from a very long 2 week vacation (more on that in a bit). It was excessive. After going out 14 nights in a row I decided I'd take a break from the booze. So imagine my surprise when I got this incorrectly(??) addressed email in my Inbox.

Coincidence, or is someone trying to tell me something?

-----------------------------------------

Terri to [redacted, but how did they get my email address? was it an accident? or something more calculated... dun dun DUNNN] date Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 9:22 AM subject Re: Enquiry from pachills website

Sep 22 (2 days ago)

Dear Colin, [not me but apparently has an email address similar to mine. or maybe it is me??]

Thank you for your interest in Pacific Hills.
We have different pricing depending on the program, length of stay, location, insurance, etc... Please call me direct: 949.973.9153. [949 area code = it's in my neighborhood. coincidence? perhaps not...]

 
In the meantime, while the majority of Pacific Hills’ marketing material is on the website (www.pachills.com), I have provided a brief summary below:

* Pacific Hills has been in business for over 18 years providing short and long-term gender specific treatment programs.
* We offer a dual-diagnosis program, which means that we employ psychiatrists to help bring to the surface the mental health side of each individual’s addiction.
* We offer a Christ-based program of recovery, in addition to a traditional 12-step ‘AA-type” recovery program. Of course, there is a significant amount of overlap between the two programs.

We are also a National referral company and if our treatment center is not the right fit, I will be happy to help you find the best program possible for you.
Thank you and God bless you!
Kindly, Terri

Terri Chaney
Crisis Response Counselor
Pacific Hills Treatment Center
Recovery Options
949-973-9153
terric@pachills.com



On 9/22/10 8:55 AM, "> wrote:

Name :Colin [wtf?]
Phone Number  :N.A.
E-Mail : [redacted again, and not me, i promise]
Comment :cost for 90 day alcohol

sevilla was awesome, made it to madrid

Sevilla was awesome. More details on that later. And photos, if you´re into mediocre photos of cool places taken with an inadequate camera by a below-aveage photogapher. Because if you´re into that, i´ve got just the thing for you.

Made it to Madrid. It´s nice here, got a much more big-city feel than sevilla, perhaps because it´s a much bigger city. The sights are world class, and the food is good. Biggest difference between the outrageously hot girls in Sevilla (of which there are many) and Madrid (similarly many) is that while the Sevilla girls tend to smile, the Madrid girls tend to walk around with an insouciant big-city pout.

Visted the worlds largest open-air market yesterday. It is huge. it´s mostly a flea market full of junk, but it was fun to walk through and check out block after block of crowded merchant tents. You can buy just about anything there except food, because the food vendors that are already on the streets complained. Got a couple pictures of that, too.

They finished up the Vuelta de Espana in downtown madrid yesterday. I took a break from my busy afternoon of taking sun in the park to watch some of that. Third largest tour in the world, besides Tour de France and the Giro d Italia. So it was a big deal. They shut down the downtown for half the day. Tens of thousands in the streets, etc, etc.That was cool.  The peloton is a sight to behold. They go very, very fast and ride very, very close together.

I´ve been gone a long time and I´m ready to come home. Past ready, even.
thanks for reading.

Sevilla > Barcelona (image unrelated)

Just my early opinion. I´ll know more in a couple days. In the interim, the comic is so bad it´s good.

hat tip to regular reader scott for the tip.
more later.
-c-

barc(enh)lona

leaving barcelona tomorrow and i don´t know if I´m just exhausted from so much sightseeing or limited sleep but i will not miss it. at all.

not sure what all the fuss is about here. the sights are pretty good but it´s very spread out and everything is a pain in the ass. it took me four and a half hours to get dinner last night. seriously. and we took a taxi to the restaurant to 'save´ time. think about that - four and a half hours. 60 minutes to get to a restaurant, hour of waiting, hour and half for dinner, and a half hour walk home. the taxi ride was only about 15 minutes but we spent the next 45 minutes walking around the old quarter trying to find it. believe me when i tell you that barca is not an easy city to get around in if you don´t know where you´re going. street signs? illegible, if you can find them. street layout? not too bad in the newer parts but utterly impossible in the old quarter. never have i wanted an iphone or gps device more than last night.

my friend sonia said that she did one bike tour here and spent the rest of the time on the beach. i think that makes a lot of sense, having seen the city.

the sights are very good (sagrada familia, and the art) but since the city is so big it´s very spread out. be prepared to do a LOT of walking. i should have done more walking practice before i came here. i´m in decent gym shape but not in practical walking shape and it´s been tough on me to drag my ass around for hours every day. They have a tube system and although it´s easier to get around, it´s not any faster. so if you want to get somewhere in a reasonable time you´re better off on foot for most of it.

i am sure there is some cool stuff here but i haven´t been able to find it. and it´s not for lack of looking, since i´ve been walking all over the city. the cathedrals and buildings are great when you finally get there. the food is overrated, but the beaches are nice.

highlight of beach time yesterday was the completely naked man walking around. not only did not have any clothes on, he didn´t have any clothes at hand, so he was just strolling, sitting, rinsing, showering, and lounging in the nude. barca is euro in that tops are optional (i´d say about half the women go topless when sunbathing), but naked guy? he was the only one. he was in no hurry to go find some pants though. he walked through all the beach traffic, got in the water, went and had a lie-down on the chaise lounge, cruised to the showers on the main walkway for a rinse off, and came back for another lie down / sit-with-head-in-hands. sometimes when you´re tasting it on a barca beach completely naked you just have to take a few minutes and refocus.  note that this this all took about 2 hours, but at no point did the lounge-rental guy ever try and charge him for the lounge rental. zach and i agreed this was sound policy, because if he has money, where is he keeping it?

internet time just about up. hope you are well wherever you are.
next update from Sevilla or thereabouts.
thanks for reading.
-c-

Live from Barçelona

not much time and foreign keyboard is throwing off my game but so far so good.
london was outstanding but i need a vacation from my vacation. long nights out followed by long days sightseeing. great times.

barçelona is good so far. and warm weather means i spent my afternoon sunning at the coast. on the mediterranean. sights are as advertised, and by that i mean they are both epic and awesome.

okay more later when i get to an interweb cafe.

London / Barcelona / Sevilla / Madrid: see you there

Lincoln said, and it was later relayed to me, that it's 'not the years in your life, but the life in your years'. That might sound cliche and tired to you, but it speaks to me, and it's one of the reasons I planned this trip. 

Juuust about to head down to the airport and catch my flight overseas (waiting on my ride), and, if I'm honest, I'm pretty effing pumped about it.


Wanted to get the word out about my current favorite jam. I've been wearing this one out the past couple weeks. This is it:

Julian Casablancas - Out of the Blue

And I was introduced to this just today: Mumsford and Sons - Little Lion Man

Next post is from Foreign Lands. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading.

If historical events had a facebook feed

You will have to click to embiggen this, but I promise it's worth it. Using the image straight from coolmaterial.com, so go there and click through if you want to check out that website.

The Wilderness Downtown - interactive fun

I don't have chrome (tried it, didn't like it, went back to firefox), and I don't have time to close all tabs and windows, and my address didn't have enough data for the full 'experience', but this was still cool:

http://thewildernessdowntown.com/

You'll need speakers and a robust video card, but it's worth it.