I'm going hard at some Minnesota jobs again. Let's do this.
49 thoughts on “July 20, 2015: Long Journey Home”
AMR, you've redeemed yourself.
Since I disembarked at the front of the bus, I decided to walk a different route to work rather than make an abrupt and obvious U-turn after retrieving the item. Given the construction currently taking place at my place of employment, that route is actually a slightly more efficient one at present.
I noticed you went a different way and that the package was no longer where I placed it.
The contents are nothing important. Just a last-minute decision to leave something I had on hand.
Pro tip: don't leave your windows open when it's going to storm. Had a screen blown in, and got about a gallon and a half of water out of the floor under the window on Friday night. Many, many branches down too. Nothing major, and no flooding in the basement, which is a great sign, given how much came down, and how quickly.
Had the sprinkler on for the first time this summer, but after one use, it's back off again with the new rounds of storms here.
To homeownership!
I ended up with this french press. My morning coffee today was better than usual and that was using decidedly mediocre coffee. Thanks for all the opinions!
Now you need to try cold brewing!!! 1one111!!!
I was randomly given a large french press by one of my bosses ("Here, I found my extra one and you'd said you needed one." ...did I?). Might have to try that. You've never mentioned that before, have you?
No, I do all his proselytizing for him.
I'm a born delegater.
I thought you were off of that.
I made a mango-jalepeno salsa this weekend (I may have mentioned it here before... coat the mangos in brown sugar and grill, throw them and some number of cored jalepenos, a medium red onion, salt, and juice from a few limes into a food processor). This version had a bit more of a kick than most previous ones, which was quite nice.
I decided to try it over vanilla ice cream for dessert last night. That. Was. Awesome. Ice cream with heat needs to be a thing.
There's even songs about it!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwjRMLHKGi8
I've put curry powder and cracked Prickly Ash pods (native North American equivalent of Sichuan Pepper) on vanilla ice cream.
Heh, I'd give that to really annoying kids after they asked for 50 samples.
I bet this would be a splendid item to share at a housewarming, should one be planning such a thing...just sayin'.
Me talking about mango chutney this last weekend and then you post this. Awesome!
I could even see adding some Scotch Bonnet to the party.
For our anniversary we went to Oceanaire in downtown. Expensive, but dang it was worth it. Best clam chowder I've ever had. Best swordfish I've ever had. Asparagus was amazing. And we got a free baked Alaska. Service was great, too, though getting there at 5:00 pm probably helped.
Afterwards we went to The Jungle Theater and saw You Can't Take It With You. Pretty good performances. I hadn't seen the play since my high school did a rendition of it. It was fun to see it with a good set and the fireworks actually working. They actually had real live cats in two of the scenes, and they were perfect, the highlight of the show. One thing I realized though is that I was kind of turned off by the moral of the play. It was very black and white about work versus pleasure, much like Rent. I also think Mr. Kirby's epiphany comes way too fast. I wish there had been more ambiguity in the end.
We did You Can't Take It With You? I... do not remember that/have never seen it.
Yes. Rachel was Penny Sycamore and Nicole was Gay Wellington. I might still have the playbill somewhere but that's what I remember for the cast off the top of my head.
Wow. If those two were both in it, that means it was Junior or Senior year... I am astounded that there was a play that I didn't either participate in or go see. I, uh... must have had a hot date.
But your hot date liked plays...
If you ever go there for a work event with a group (i.e. the Inc. is paying), order the seafood appetizer - huge pile of shaved ice garnished with many lovely frutti di mari (sea-stuff).
DAY GAME ALERT: Cedar Rapids is at Quad Cities this afternoon at 1:00 Central time.
So, the Nugs dumped Ty Lawson for peanuts and cap space to the Rockets. If the dude can stay sober, that could be a huge win for the Rockets. Denver, meanwhile, just turned the car keys over to a rookie who played in China last year. Huh.
Anyone else following The Open?
Just saw a comment from someone with the handle "Boof Bonser" complain that Ivor Robson didn't introduce Zach Johnson's hometown - Cedar Rapids, IA.
WGOM Saints Game
There are only 3 day games left and ticket pickings are pretty slim.
There's a 1:05 pm game on Wed this week that I'm considering attending, but there are basically only Standing Room tickets left on the website ($7). Could likely get seats from someone on the street beforehand or on CrgLst - quick search turns up 4 for $25 each for Wed.
Single seats only on Aug 19th, and I'm not interested in attending the game on Labor Day.
Otherwise, there's a bunch of 7:05 pm games between now and Sept 7. Any preferences? Saints Schedule
I'm down for a saints game. Oh, not those saints. Nevermind me.
Just make sure to continue to send me a Who Dat when they lose. I love all those teams dat keep beating dem Saints.
I look forward to those texts almost as much as you do.
After cutting a lot off an apple tree in an attempt to save it from whatever killed the other, I have a lot of green apples. As in not yet ripe.
I made a bunch of green apple sauce (with maple syrup for extra sweetener).
One kid got sick last night. Another never got out of his jammies today, a third's been some sort of unwell, and the fourth just wants chewable tylenols.
I don't think it's related, or if it is, it's from all of the unwashed raw apples they ate, or the unwashed green beans that EAR asked them to snap but they just went ahead and ate.
Nevertheless, I'm not going to get anyone else to eat this sauce or these apples. I've had no ill effects, and I left off the raw stuff. Same with EAR.
Would anyone want these? (Both specifically and generally.)
Any suggestions on what I could do with these? Freeze them and later make (sour) juice?
Many are bruised (I cut off bruises and bug-bitten places for the sauced apples), and they won't last long in the garage.
Could you explore the art of fermentation?
Maybe. How would I start?
make juice, add yeast.
So a sour cider?
so freezing and then thawing and letting the juice run out of the fruit should work?
Because that will give me lots of time.
I don't see why not. I feel like this would make a bit stronger cider than juicing fresh apples, but that might not be so bad.
To be perfectly honest, I have no idea. Never made cider before. Unless you think you'll keep doing it, the capital expense probably isn't with it. Perhaps if you knew someone near you who brewed, they could help?
Some quick research seems to show that it takes a good deal of apples to make even one gallon, so the expense would be quite minimal. So, uh, what meat said.
I've made several ciders, and the best are made from unpasteurized apple juice paired with champaign yeast. Dry and tart, best bottled with a bit of priming to make a sparkling beverage.
OK, so I'll put the apples in the freezer tonight. Then I'll need some wine bottles and champagne yeast? If the apple juice is unpasteurized, there will be wild yeasts in the juice, as well, right?
Thanks a lot, Edison. They were "updating" our power grid today and told us that the power would be off between 8:30 and 4:00. Not a big deal for most people, but I work from home, so I had to work through the night and finished a little after 8:00 today and then slept till 3:00. 4:00 comes around and no power. Close to 4:30 and the one light I left on finally turns on. After about 5 seconds, I hear a banging noise in the distance and the power goes off again. Family got home after 5:00 and still no power. Wife calls the hotline number and they tell us now power won't be restored until 6:30. House is now 84 degrees, so we head out to the nearest mall but not before having to convince Trey that the toilets and sink work so he can flush the toilet and wash his hands. Came back at 6:45 and the power is finally on but it's too late to do any more work so I lost out on a couple hours of work.
I work from home too, but the library or Panera Bread WiFi are my backup.
I can't pretend to work because I get paid by the amount of work I do, not for the hours I work. Actually, it's sort of both. I proofread transcripts and I send in a time log for each transcript. However, the longer it takes to do a transcript, the less I get paid per hour and there's a maximum time I get paid (3 times the length of the original audio it is transcribed from). I also get paid based on the number of errors I correct in the transcript. It's kind of a complicated formula, but it seems pretty fair and allows the company to avoid paying people for surfing the Internet on company time.
It's true!
Unfortunately, I need more than just WiFi. I've got software on my computer that I need to have. I should probably invest in a high-quality laptop for just such an occasion, but this is the first time in two years that this happened. Fortunately, I can work any time M-F, but the time when the most work is available is during the day.
AMR, you've redeemed yourself.
Since I disembarked at the front of the bus, I decided to walk a different route to work rather than make an abrupt and obvious U-turn after retrieving the item. Given the construction currently taking place at my place of employment, that route is actually a slightly more efficient one at present.
I noticed you went a different way and that the package was no longer where I placed it.
The contents are nothing important. Just a last-minute decision to leave something I had on hand.
Pro tip: don't leave your windows open when it's going to storm. Had a screen blown in, and got about a gallon and a half of water out of the floor under the window on Friday night. Many, many branches down too. Nothing major, and no flooding in the basement, which is a great sign, given how much came down, and how quickly.
Had the sprinkler on for the first time this summer, but after one use, it's back off again with the new rounds of storms here.
To homeownership!
I ended up with this french press. My morning coffee today was better than usual and that was using decidedly mediocre coffee. Thanks for all the opinions!
Now you need to try cold brewing!!! 1one111!!!
I was randomly given a large french press by one of my bosses ("Here, I found my extra one and you'd said you needed one." ...did I?). Might have to try that. You've never mentioned that before, have you?
No, I do all his proselytizing for him.
I'm a born delegater.
I thought you were off of that.
I made a mango-jalepeno salsa this weekend (I may have mentioned it here before... coat the mangos in brown sugar and grill, throw them and some number of cored jalepenos, a medium red onion, salt, and juice from a few limes into a food processor). This version had a bit more of a kick than most previous ones, which was quite nice.
I decided to try it over vanilla ice cream for dessert last night. That. Was. Awesome. Ice cream with heat needs to be a thing.
It is and has been for some time now, at least in certain places.
There's even songs about it!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwjRMLHKGi8
I've put curry powder and cracked Prickly Ash pods (native North American equivalent of Sichuan Pepper) on vanilla ice cream.
Heh, I'd give that to really annoying kids after they asked for 50 samples.
I bet this would be a splendid item to share at a housewarming, should one be planning such a thing...just sayin'.
Me talking about mango chutney this last weekend and then you post this. Awesome!
I could even see adding some Scotch Bonnet to the party.
For our anniversary we went to Oceanaire in downtown. Expensive, but dang it was worth it. Best clam chowder I've ever had. Best swordfish I've ever had. Asparagus was amazing. And we got a free baked Alaska. Service was great, too, though getting there at 5:00 pm probably helped.
Afterwards we went to The Jungle Theater and saw You Can't Take It With You. Pretty good performances. I hadn't seen the play since my high school did a rendition of it. It was fun to see it with a good set and the fireworks actually working. They actually had real live cats in two of the scenes, and they were perfect, the highlight of the show. One thing I realized though is that I was kind of turned off by the moral of the play. It was very black and white about work versus pleasure, much like Rent. I also think Mr. Kirby's epiphany comes way too fast. I wish there had been more ambiguity in the end.
We did You Can't Take It With You? I... do not remember that/have never seen it.
Yes. Rachel was Penny Sycamore and Nicole was Gay Wellington. I might still have the playbill somewhere but that's what I remember for the cast off the top of my head.
Wow. If those two were both in it, that means it was Junior or Senior year... I am astounded that there was a play that I didn't either participate in or go see. I, uh... must have had a hot date.
But your hot date liked plays...
If you ever go there for a work event with a group (i.e. the Inc. is paying), order the seafood appetizer - huge pile of shaved ice garnished with many lovely frutti di mari (sea-stuff).
DAY GAME ALERT: Cedar Rapids is at Quad Cities this afternoon at 1:00 Central time.
So, the Nugs dumped Ty Lawson for peanuts and cap space to the Rockets. If the dude can stay sober, that could be a huge win for the Rockets. Denver, meanwhile, just turned the car keys over to a rookie who played in China last year. Huh.
Anyone else following The Open?
Just saw a comment from someone with the handle "Boof Bonser" complain that Ivor Robson didn't introduce Zach Johnson's hometown - Cedar Rapids, IA.
WGOM Saints Game
There are only 3 day games left and ticket pickings are pretty slim.
There's a 1:05 pm game on Wed this week that I'm considering attending, but there are basically only Standing Room tickets left on the website ($7). Could likely get seats from someone on the street beforehand or on CrgLst - quick search turns up 4 for $25 each for Wed.
Single seats only on Aug 19th, and I'm not interested in attending the game on Labor Day.
Otherwise, there's a bunch of 7:05 pm games between now and Sept 7. Any preferences?
Saints Schedule
I'm down for a saints game. Oh, not those saints. Nevermind me.
Just make sure to continue to send me a Who Dat when they lose. I love all those teams dat keep beating dem Saints.
I look forward to those texts almost as much as you do.
After cutting a lot off an apple tree in an attempt to save it from whatever killed the other, I have a lot of green apples. As in not yet ripe.
I made a bunch of green apple sauce (with maple syrup for extra sweetener).
One kid got sick last night. Another never got out of his jammies today, a third's been some sort of unwell, and the fourth just wants chewable tylenols.
I don't think it's related, or if it is, it's from all of the unwashed raw apples they ate, or the unwashed green beans that EAR asked them to snap but they just went ahead and ate.
Nevertheless, I'm not going to get anyone else to eat this sauce or these apples. I've had no ill effects, and I left off the raw stuff. Same with EAR.
Would anyone want these? (Both specifically and generally.)
Any suggestions on what I could do with these? Freeze them and later make (sour) juice?
Many are bruised (I cut off bruises and bug-bitten places for the sauced apples), and they won't last long in the garage.
Could you explore the art of fermentation?
Maybe. How would I start?
make juice, add yeast.
So a sour cider?
so freezing and then thawing and letting the juice run out of the fruit should work?
Because that will give me lots of time.
I don't see why not. I feel like this would make a bit stronger cider than juicing fresh apples, but that might not be so bad.
To be perfectly honest, I have no idea. Never made cider before. Unless you think you'll keep doing it, the capital expense probably isn't with it. Perhaps if you knew someone near you who brewed, they could help?
Some quick research seems to show that it takes a good deal of apples to make even one gallon, so the expense would be quite minimal. So, uh, what meat said.
I've made several ciders, and the best are made from unpasteurized apple juice paired with champaign yeast. Dry and tart, best bottled with a bit of priming to make a sparkling beverage.
OK, so I'll put the apples in the freezer tonight. Then I'll need some wine bottles and champagne yeast? If the apple juice is unpasteurized, there will be wild yeasts in the juice, as well, right?
Thanks a lot, Edison. They were "updating" our power grid today and told us that the power would be off between 8:30 and 4:00. Not a big deal for most people, but I work from home, so I had to work through the night and finished a little after 8:00 today and then slept till 3:00. 4:00 comes around and no power. Close to 4:30 and the one light I left on finally turns on. After about 5 seconds, I hear a banging noise in the distance and the power goes off again. Family got home after 5:00 and still no power. Wife calls the hotline number and they tell us now power won't be restored until 6:30. House is now 84 degrees, so we head out to the nearest mall but not before having to convince Trey that the toilets and sink work so he can flush the toilet and wash his hands. Came back at 6:45 and the power is finally on but it's too late to do any more work so I lost out on a couple hours of work.
I work from home too, but the library or Panera Bread WiFi are my backup.
Study: Employees Happiest When Pretending To Work From Home
Damn, that explains why I'm so unhappy.
You and me, both.
I can't pretend to work because I get paid by the amount of work I do, not for the hours I work. Actually, it's sort of both. I proofread transcripts and I send in a time log for each transcript. However, the longer it takes to do a transcript, the less I get paid per hour and there's a maximum time I get paid (3 times the length of the original audio it is transcribed from). I also get paid based on the number of errors I correct in the transcript. It's kind of a complicated formula, but it seems pretty fair and allows the company to avoid paying people for surfing the Internet on company time.
It's true!
Unfortunately, I need more than just WiFi. I've got software on my computer that I need to have. I should probably invest in a high-quality laptop for just such an occasion, but this is the first time in two years that this happened. Fortunately, I can work any time M-F, but the time when the most work is available is during the day.