The spotted cuckoo bird is flying backwards.

Apparently I can only post once a week.

No one told me about the new rule, so I apologize to the masses for my slackitude.

I made cooked food for Janice and Jess last night, and thankfully, no one needed an antacid afterwards. Not I usually need one when I cook for myself, but you never know, and it's always a plus when no one complains.

The fact that I cooked isn't interesting in and of itself, but a small story behind the cooking merits some attention. I decided to make a cheesecake for dessert, and forgot mum took the cookbook with the good recipe with her when she moved. The one in my cookbook was a tad complex, so I decided to check online for a simpler recipe. I moseyed over to foodtv.com, and checked out the Good Eats section, as I tend to enjoy the show and its somewhat offbeat host, Alton Brown. I knew he'd done a cheesecake episode, so I clicked around and found the recipe. The ingredients included (and I'm not making this up):

24 ounces cream cheese
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
4 ounces sour cream
2 large eggs
6 ounces smoked trout, diced
1/3 cup chopped chives

Hey! This isn't cheesecake!!!

Yeah. I didn't add any fish. Or chives. Maybe next time.

We also watched the Blue Collar Comedy Tour last night. I'd not seen it or any of its performers before, and I can happily say it was pretty amusing. Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Engvall are quite funny, and thankfully don't rely entirely on their schticks for laughs (they pulled them out for the 'encore'). Larry the Cable Guy would have been funnier if I could understand him without captions. I do give him credit for his last joke, involving NASCAR and, um, feminine care products: "How'd you get tickets to the Tampon 200? I pulled some strings, man."

It's either extremely funny or horribly tasteless. I'm not sure, so I'll leave it to you to decide.


A Digression
While I'm thinking of it, I'm proud to announce some new scales to go along with the Womack Scale of Hotness.

-the Jim Edmonds Scale of Unshavedness
-the Scott Rolen Scale of Squintiness

If you've been following the Cardinals at all this year, those will make perfect sense.

End Digression

After the BCCT, we watched an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, which is still funny some 30 years or so after it first aired.

I also thought a little bit about the differences between American and British comedy. American comedy seems to trade on the observational type, i.e. the oddities and absurdities of everyday life, parenting, working, etc. British comedy seems a lot more...intellectual, I guess, dealing with a lot of wordplay and such-not. There's certainly more to it than that, but I can't put a finger on it, and my mind is in no condition to expound upon the topic. I'll leave it to y'all.

Oh bloody hell...

In just under a week, I'll be 23 (XXIII for you Roman readers). Kinda dull, really. I don't get any new priv-a-leges, which sucks. I'm still 12 years shy of being able to run for president, and almost 30 years of getting my AARP card. I'm not in any rush, mind you, but after 16, 18, and 21, there isn't much in the way of birthday milestones for awhile.

Speaking of Rush, Neil Peart's birthday is the same day as mine. I should send him a card.

I stood in the sun too long on Saturday (7 hours, 7 soccer games, 1 sunburned neck). Even the fun of watching first graders play soccer wore off after awhile. Still, those little guys were scrappy as can be, so the games were far from dull. Surprisingly, the goalies were quite sharp, despite the fact their jerseys would often hang around their knees. Granted, they weren't facing too many difficult shots, but for their level, I was impressed. I liked watching the coaches run around on the field with their team shouting orders.

And, I swear to God, I saw 3 or 4 quails walking around in a field near the park. Are there any other native birds with belts on their heads?

Think about it, won't you?

Anyways, I gotta go. My mom's making rich chocolate Ovaltine!!!

Dave