The boy has really got into rollerskating (well, rollerblading) in the past month. Which means we've been hanging out at the Chicago suburbs version of Roller Gardens. There's also another facility nearby, which is slightly rattier. What was Roller Garden's cousin facility called again? I can't think of the name...
We usually went to Skateland. I don't remember if that was because it was closer or cheaper.
Skatin' World was the 'Kato version.
That building is now a Pet Expo. I remember when I was a kid going skating there!
don't think that's the one. the outside was painted black IIRC.
New Wing-land list - I'd have chowdah on the list instead of fried clams, and NBBW pointed out they forgot lobster rolls.
Walked the 20yds to the beach last night before bed and checked the SW skies -- saw several new constellations for the first time: most all of Puppis, Dorado, etc. Got up at 4AM (because old) and checked again, and saw the northern most star of the Southern Cross between the clouds that had rolled in. It's nice to not worry about waking up at any particular time, and having dark skies to the east all along the horizon. Also, Star Tracker is a great (free) app to try out if I haven't mentioned it before.
Had a nice visit with a couple from inland Mexico and a couple from Wales. We talked about our respective homelands, and when the gentleman from Swansea said that there is relatively little danger in the area, I politely disagreed with him, having seen the havoc wreaked in Cardiff in Torchwood, which got a smile and a nod.
The barrier reef off the coast here is the second largest in the world. Also AMR, several bird varieties, but nothing outstanding. I don't imagine the more exotic ones hang around where there is so much human activity.
Drink of the Day: Sh!t on the Grass
nice play with the Torchwood reference.
Oh, and uni-watch: 1 - Teddy Bridgewater! (the bartender @ Resort sports bar)
Had a fun morning doing taxes today. I'm getting a refund (woohoo!) but it's probably the last year of that (D'oh!).
You (and your wife?) just need to adjust what is taken out of your paychecks to avoid having to pay in April next year.
^assuming you like giving the feds an interest-free loan.
We'll be jumping up a tax bracket next year, and all the calculators I looked at estimated I'd need to take zero exceptions to just barely break even. Owing wouldn't be the worst thing, but I do worry about owing too much.
With the difference between interest earned and not earned being a rounding error from zero, I don't think it is a big deal in this environment.
fair point.
Ideal is to owe the maximum beyond which you'd owe interest penalties.
I think we have our same standard tax situation we usually have: state of MO refund is paying the feds, with a little left to pocket
Ugh. I am about to start.
we owe 1500 to the feds (japanese frown emoji) and are getting 500 back from the state (double frown emoji (because broken everything in Louisiana...)). I'm going to have to get creative with my alternative accounting.
Trey's baseball season came to an abrupt end on Thursday after his team played a team that appeared to be from the Land of the Giants. They're entire lineup was obviously all 8th graders and most looked big and strong enough to be older than that. There was an obvious gap in talent pool. This is the problem you face playing junior high baseball. The vast majority of public schools don't have the funds for it, so the schools competing are almost all private schools. There's just not enough schools to divide up the schools by size, so you end up with obvious mismatches at times. The final score was 9-0, but it was stopped after 4 innings when Trey's team had a key player get hurt (jammed finger on base). He was the only base runner they had. Trey struck out swinging in his only at-bat. Junior will be playing high school baseball as a freshman starting in March. Trey will be trying out for junior high basketball, which also starts playing in March.
I'm hoping to throw together some sort of build-your-own tacos for dinner tonight. Does anyone have any tips for doctoring a can of black beans to make them tastier? (Yes, I know making your own from scratch is the best, but that's not happening today.)
I can't remember if you're a vegetarian ... but, anyway, bacon always makes beans better. I generally render two strips of bacon and then bloom cumin, chili powder, black pepper, paprika (smoked) and brown a bit of diced onion and a clove or two of garlic in the fat. I add the beans and a generous dose of stock (I also rinse the beans extremely well to remove surface salt), bring the whole mess up to a boil. You can serve the beans this way, or reduce the liquid to a paste and you've got re-fried texture without the hassle of frying them first. (I prefer the paste consistency anyway, and the end product is way more flavorful).
No shame in using canned beans, it's a lot faster....
Also you can skip the bacon and use some olive oil to bloom the spices if you must.
what meat said. Even easier (if not as tasty) is to just dump the beans in a pan, fortify with olive oil, garlic powder (and by garlic powder I always mean granulated garlic), cumin, and hot sauce. Bring to boil and simmer for a few minutes. If it gets too thick, add some water.
Heh, I'm pretty sure I'm both the token female and the token vegetarian around here. But thank you--the beans turned out wonderfully and a mundane dinner became delicious.
For my own reference as much as anyone's here's what I did: generous splash of olive oil, 1/2 tsp. cumin, 1/2 tsp. chili powder, 1/4 tsp. smoked paprika, and some quantity of ground black pepper that may have been close to 1/4 tsp. I used a little under half a purple onion (because that was the only onion in the house) and 1 medium clove of garlic. As is probably obvious, I used 1 15-oz. can of black beans. The only stock I had on hand was "better than bouillon," so I mixed a tsp. of that in a cup of boiling water. I worried at first that there was waaaaaay too much liquid, but I kept cooking it until the liquid had reduced and all was well. Oh, and I used a cast iron pan.
I served the beans on a flour tortilla (charred briefly on the gas stovetop) with brown rice, lettuce, salsa, a small amount of cheddar cheese, and sour cream and declared it a burrito. Yum!
Do the same thing and add bread crumbs and an egg and you've got black bean burgers... well paired with an 🥑 and 🥓...yeah I know you're not into bacon ... sad Japanese emoji.
Zach Lavine out for the season with an ACL tear.
That's not cool.
Aw man, that sucks.
At least Bazz has been surprisingly good the last month.
I like that Wiggins will get to see more at the 2, and presumably a bit more Bazz to see where he fits on the team going forward, but this is gonna be crappy. I hope it doesn't rob him of too much of his athleticism.
Maybe we'll see more Tyus Jones too. But Brandon Rush filled in for Zach before so I expect he'll take his place now.
I wanna see Wiggins at the 2 and Bjelicia at the 3.
apparently, you're all afraid of Big Cookie.
No, we just acknowledge the superiority of Caramel deLites, and find your preferences absurd.
considering that
isn't exactly a forgotten term for a licorice candy, I'm thinking that "Samoa" is a less than minor transgression.
If anyone is jonesin for some baseball, ESPN 3 is streaming Cuba vs Venezuela for the Caribbean series right now.
So, hey. Granlund, right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZyPQaQZqxo
really digging the late 3rd period defense.