Robert Lynn Asprin

Not that I like keeping track of who dies, but it looks like Robert Lynn Asprin died this year, too.  Asprin wrote a lot of books, two of his series being the “Myth” and “Phule’s Company” books.

When I first started reading in earnest, “Another Fine Myth” is one of the books I kept and enjoyed many times over.  It’s sad that he passed away and he’ll be missed by many people who enjoyed his works, and his family of course.

Finally Friday

It sucks waking up to bad news.  This morning I turned on the laptop to see that Harvey Korman had died.  Harvey Korman was a comedic actor who, it seemed, I almost always saw on TV or a Mel Brooks film.  A childhood staple sadly gone now.

I guess the Mars Phoenix is humming away happily.  I haven’t really seen too much about it, just the initial pictures it sent back.  It looks a bit sandy up there.  And rocky.  I wonder how difficult it would be to erect a strip mall and, maybe, a suburb?

I’m a little dismayed to learn that someone is making a film based on “Have Gun – Will Travel,” the Richard Boone western from way back when.  I’ve been lucky enough to watch a couple (literally) of episodes.  I’d like to get all of them, but I don’t think it would be affordable.  Anyway, the new film looks like it will have Eminem as the lead.  What a travesty.

Terry Pratchett on TV

The Color of Magic: A Discworld Novel (Discworld Novels): Terry Pratchett: Books ISBN: 0060855924 ISBN-13: 9780060855925

I just found out last night that SkyOne aired “The Colour of Magic” not too long ago.  I didn’t even know that they were filming it.  SkyOne also filmed “Hogfather” a couple of years ago.  While finding that out, I also found out that “Going Postal” is in the works.

While I’m glad to see all this good stuff going on for Mr Pratchett, I have to say it kind of sucks that this stuff is going on in the UK and barely making any waves over here.  Granted, “Hogfather” is on DVD and I can get it at my local Blockbuster.  How long will it be before “The Colour of Magic” is here, though?  I’m an American and have no patience.  Someone must appease me.

I don’t know what kind of deal J.K. Rowlings struck with the Devil, but I’m beginning to wonder if I want in on that kind of action.  Just because she does stuff for charity doesn’t mean Old Scratch won’t want his due when her time is up.

On Being Cocky

One thing you should never do is brag, unless you’re willing to follow through with what you’re bragging about.  One should probably not brag for the sole purpose of being jealous someone else is taking a four day weekend, either.

In my case, I was wondering what I should make for dinner the other night.  I was wondering aloud.  In front of two people who were obviously hungry before lunch.  I mentioned that I was going to make a variation of Chicken Kiev.

Before I go on, I should clarify my use of the word, “variation.”  Anybody that knows me knows that I basically make things up in the kitchen.  Usually it doesn’t turn out the way I wanted it to; sometimes it works out better than I thought it would.  On this occassion I made a mixture of butter and garlic and a mixture of ricotta and parmesan cheese with Italian herbs.  Then I wrapped a chicken breast around it, rolled it in bread crumbs, and dropped it into some hot oil.

So, I was bragging because I really didn’t think I could make a Chicken Kiev, but the idea intrigued me.  On the way home I bought what I needed to make my idea of it.

Everything went well, actually, until it came time to fry it.  I made a test chicken first.  Actually, I don’t always just make things up.  Sometimes I look around to see how things are done first.  As far as I could tell, nobody actually tells you how to roll the chicken around the mixture.  In restaurants, I’ve seen it look as if the cook just injected the stuff in a chicken breast.  It wasn’t at all obvious that the breast had been pounded flat and rolled up.  Mine looked like a deep-fried turd.  It also kind of came apart, but was still together enough to look like a turd.

With the second breast, I tried something a little different.  I wrapped it more like a burrito by tucking in the sides first (to keep the cheesy goodness inside) and then rolled it up.  I must not have held on to it well enough in the fryer because when it came out it had opened up, but it was stuck in the shape of a bowl.  Kind of neat, but not what I was looking for.  I have to say, though, that while I’ve seen bowls made out of tortilla’s, I’ve never seen a chicken bowl (or a house fly).

In both cases, though, my guinea pigs — I mean kids — tried it out.  I went to two, seperately.  Both looked at them in digust and asked what it was.  Both tasted it (these kids will try just about any new food!), and both deemed it tasty enough to eat for dinner.  Ugly, but with a tasty interior.  Chef Ramsey would have a stock pot over my head and beating it with a metal spoon for making such an ugly dish.

Now, the bad part about the bragging is that I was dared to bring it in on Wednesday so these two people could have a taste.  I don’t actually feel up to making it again, but I don’t want to be seen as an empty blowhard.

Maybe I’ll just make up a bunch of it and serve it to everyone at work.  Maybe I’ll just keep my mouth shut and hope that everyone forgets I ever mentioned it.

In case anyone is interested, I served it over spaghetti with some jar sauce (Cabernet Marinara, I forget what brand) and some sauteed squash and zucchini.  Just for kicks, I took a small amount of both of those and breaded them and tossed them in the hot oil, too.  They tasted pretty good that way.

Locally Produced

Most Americans, I suppose, do their grocery shopping in a grocery store.  Probably a chain, like Krogers, HEB, FoodTown or Pathmark.  Food is shipped to each store by truck and comes from a warehouse.  Before the warehouse, the stuff was in a factory.

The rising cost of gas means that the food you’re buying is going to become more expensive because they need to cover the rising costs of shipping.

At what point would it be more cost effective to not shop at a chain grocery store anymore?  When does it make more sense to buy produce from a local farmer, or meat from a local butcher? 

When it comes down to it, though, we’re a lazy bunch.  We’d rather have everything laid out for us in one spot then go to a bunch of different stores.  Sometimes it makes sense to do it that way.  You wouldn’t want to burn up a tank of gas just to do your weekly shopping.

With the proliferation of strip malls, many of which lay unused and empty, maybe there could be a better way.  If those empty stores could be rented out to local farmers, butchers, and bakers then everything could stay local and yet still be moderately convenient.

Maybe we’d be better off in the long run.  We could have a little less chemicals injected into our bodies through our food.  Since food would have less distance to travel it wouldn’t need all the preservatives and chemicals that we eat now.  Have you ever really read the label on the food you eat?  Do you even know what half of the stuff listed in the ingredients are? 

Would it be better to buy a bunch of ears of corn from a local farmer, beef from a local cattle rancher, and whatever else?  Would the rising gas prices (especially diesel) make it more cost effective for everyone in the long run?  Would it be more environmentally friendlier?  Would it be more inconvenient?

Is this something that we could use, I wonder.  If it would help us as a society in the long run by forcing us to slow down and be a little more patient wouldn’t that be better?

I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I think about them when I’m roving through my local grocery store.  I wonder why beef is so expensive; I work for a big computer company and yet, across the street, there are fields with a bunch of cows in them.  Why is beef so expensive?  Why is milk so expensive?  Do we have a shortage of chickens?  Are pigs rare animals?  Is a yellow bell pepper made of gold? 

If I didn’t live in suburbia I’d try growing my own damn bell peppers.  But people are stacked on top of people and there isn’t room, even though there’s plenty of land.  Again, that’s convenience talking.  I wouldn’t be able to afford the gas to get to work if I lived further away from my job. 

At what point does all of this break?

Let’s Try Again

My “Page-a-Day” idea isn’t going so well.  I’m not even sure how long it’s been since I put a post up here.  I blame it on not being able to indent my paragraphs.  It just ruins it for me.

I haven’t been doing much of anything besides working, cleaning, cooking and working.  Although I did buy a used PlayStation 2 so I could play Ratchet & Clank again.  It’s such a great escape.

I’ve also been trying to learn to program in Lisp.  Not for any particular reason other than to be able to say that I know how.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of time to do that.  Come to think of it, I don’t have a lot of time to do anything. 

That’s what life is about, though.  Sometimes doing things you don’t want to do because they need to be done.  It sucks, but that’s the way it goes. 

I also feel tired lately.  Really tired.  It doesn’t matter how much sleep I get, either.  I’m just dragged-down, ass-in-the-mud tired.  Maybe I need more iron in my diet. 

I’ve given up on my idea to make my own deep fried hot dog, a la Rutt’s Hutt.  For anything less than a full-scale party it wouldn’t make any sense, given the amount of money and trouble it’ll take to pull it all together.  I mean, I’d need special hot dogs and beef tallow.  Who can manage that?

Maybe it’s time to just stop, to step on brakes and put life in ‘Park’ for a moment.  Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate life and what’s happening.  Maybe it’s time to get out a pencil and paper and start writing a list of what’s good and what’s not so good.

It wouldn’t be that hard, would it?  To get a cup of coffee and sit on the back porch writing down a list of things that need to be changed.  Watching the cats run around, and the clouds in the east and think about what one would really like to get out of life.

Global Warming

I’ve been reading a lot about global warming and how it’s really becoming a problem.  I’m surprised that no one has already hit upon the solution.  It’s very easy and wouldn’t be too expensive to enact if enough people participated.  It just goes to show that even you have a PhD and a genius IQ you can overlook the obvious.

The solution?  During the summer, open your front door while the air conditioner is running.  So simple.

New Buffet Charging Scheme

Here in Austin there are several buffet places.  There are the Chinese food buffet’s that serve all-you-can-eat Chinese food, and places like Sirloin Stockade that generally serve all-you-can-eat American type food (except there’s no hot dogs or hamburgers).  These places generally charge by person and age, so kids under 12 pay less than an adult.  They aren’t especially cheap, but the beauty of it is that you can eat like a heifer until you feel as if you’ve gotten your money’s worth.

There’s been some drawbacks due to this type of business model. For instance, in Houma, Louisiana, two large gentlemen were reportedly kicked out of a Chinese buffet because they were eating too much.  Another incident had to do with parents being upset because they were paying by their kids height rather than their age.

Obviously the thing to do is to pay by weight.  Weigh people when they come in, weigh them when they leave, and charge them the difference.  The only drawback I could see to that is the bathrooms.  It’s against to law to close them off, but you’d still have to worry about people who purge,  at either end.