Have I mentioned my website works properly now?
No?
Oh. Well, it does, so you should all go there and look at everything before doing anything else with your lives, save breathing and pumping blood. No, it's not going to change your life, but it's bound to be more interesting than the rest of my post.
Anyways.
So, before I go any further, I offer this bit of news on how not to treat your fans. You might visit here for more info. It's all kinda sad, and makes me wonder what I'm going to do this fall. We'll see.
I've resigned myself to the fact that owning a house comes with its fair share of ups and downs. I'm not sure what the ups are, save for financial reasons, but I can come up with a few downs. For some reason, they tend to be quite dramatic, and, well, expensive. Everyone remembers the Leaf Dam Incident and its sequel, the Glacier Escapade of last year. This year, I offer Gone With the Wind, or We're Not in Kansas Anymore. Last Saturday was freakishly windy. Like, windy enough to wake me up at 6 a.m. I think it topped out at 40 mph or so. So, maybe not tornado-esque, but still pretty strong. Like, strong enough to rip nearly 20 shingles from my roof because they weren't nailed properly. Yeah, we don't like that here at 210 Derhake. It's an unneeded hassle, and I don't like the way it sounds. Scratch that. The sound itself is fine, but the idea of hearing pieces of my house being ripped off is unsettling. Plus, it made my house look like it had male pattern baldness. Thankfully, Janice's uncle, in his uber-coolness came over and fixed it for free. I approve.
I approve of Hodak's chicken.
I approve of American Idiot.
I still approve of Pink Floyd.
Mom, as it turns out, has been a closet PC gamer for the past few years. I went down tonight to a.)upgrade my cell phone, b.)prep dinner for tomorrow, and c.)um, do...something...else. Anyways, I was helping her on the computer, and I find a copy of The Sims. Unopened, yes, but I think she's using it as a decoy. I bet she has HL2, Doom 3, and...Myst tucked away from when she's not around. Probably prepping to take Steve on in Death Match some day.
I should go practice, too.
Or, go work on Janice's birthday present.
I win!
the gold it's in the...
Dave
Saturday, January 29
Friday, January 21
The Dough Also Rises
UPDATE: If you visit the site, and get to an all gray page, you have to manually pull the frame bar down from the top of the page. For some reason, the site is rendered differently based on your browser configuration. I'm going to try and fix it this weekend.
Good news, kids. The website is finally up and going. I still have a few tweaks to do, but you can shuffle on over and see what's there (i.e., everything that will be, just not perfected yet). Please to be letting me know what you think, so I can make it at least 14% better.
Woot.
Yes, dough rises. I should know, as I made myself some homemade pizza dough Wednesday night. It's a bit of work, but in the end, it's a lot of fun, and very satisfying knowing I did it all myself. And taste-wise, it blows any frozen pizza out of the water. It's also a lot cheaper (in the long run) than buying frozen or delivery. It's pretty adaptable stuff, too. I made it fairly thick, but it would easily stretch out for a thinner crust. Next week: homemade Wheat-Thins, yum.
See, father dear got me Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food for Christmas, and I finally got around to trying the recipes (applications, as he calls them). It's quite a book, too. Part cookbook, part science book, and written like an episode of Good Eats. In short, good stuff.
I even have my copy signed by AB. Seem's he's on a book tour at the moment and decided to stop at Left Bank Books last night for a presentation and book signing. JK and I missed the speech, as well over 200 people showed up (163 and 164 for us), and the store's capacity is only 120 or so. That said, the 2 hour or so wait wasn't all that bad. Once we got inside we ran into Kara and Karl, who I haven't seen in a few months, so we got to talk for a bit. And, much to my delight, Alton was as nice as I could have hoped for. He shook everyone's hand, introduced himself ("Hi, I'm Alton"), posed for many pictures, and was good-natured and pleasant the whole time. I shared my revelations about pizza with him. Our exchange, as best I can remember it:
Me: "I tried the pizza dough last night. Great stuff."
AB: "You know, I really like pizza."
Me: "Blows the forzen stuff away."
AB: "Oh yeah."
Me: "And it's cheaper, too."
AB: ""Oh yeah."
He sorta said it in a way that seemed to imply "I know. Isn't it cool?". He thanked us for coming out, and then gave me a pat on the back as we were leaving. So, good stuff.
I finally got cable installed, so I can get back in the habit of watching silly infomercials I've seen no fewer than 45 times each. Maybe some other stuff, too. For some reason, though, my VCR and TV don't want to work together, preventing me from taping anything above channel 12 (i.e. Good Eats). I should, um, fix that. The two guys from Charter were quite nice, and avid PC gamers. We had a brief chat about Diablo II (crack for the PC, really), and the way game boxes tend to pile up after awhile.
I've also decided that, while puking is very icky, at least it tends to be over after one night. It's a cruddy night, yes, but compared to, say, this cold, which is just lingering, I'd rather be done after one night. A few hours of nausea is, at least right now, far prefferable to an entire day of sitting around sniffing and blowing my nose. Bleah.
Right. I'm done.
"Good news, folks! I've made it up to #10!"
Dave
Good news, kids. The website is finally up and going. I still have a few tweaks to do, but you can shuffle on over and see what's there (i.e., everything that will be, just not perfected yet). Please to be letting me know what you think, so I can make it at least 14% better.
Woot.
Yes, dough rises. I should know, as I made myself some homemade pizza dough Wednesday night. It's a bit of work, but in the end, it's a lot of fun, and very satisfying knowing I did it all myself. And taste-wise, it blows any frozen pizza out of the water. It's also a lot cheaper (in the long run) than buying frozen or delivery. It's pretty adaptable stuff, too. I made it fairly thick, but it would easily stretch out for a thinner crust. Next week: homemade Wheat-Thins, yum.
See, father dear got me Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food for Christmas, and I finally got around to trying the recipes (applications, as he calls them). It's quite a book, too. Part cookbook, part science book, and written like an episode of Good Eats. In short, good stuff.
I even have my copy signed by AB. Seem's he's on a book tour at the moment and decided to stop at Left Bank Books last night for a presentation and book signing. JK and I missed the speech, as well over 200 people showed up (163 and 164 for us), and the store's capacity is only 120 or so. That said, the 2 hour or so wait wasn't all that bad. Once we got inside we ran into Kara and Karl, who I haven't seen in a few months, so we got to talk for a bit. And, much to my delight, Alton was as nice as I could have hoped for. He shook everyone's hand, introduced himself ("Hi, I'm Alton"), posed for many pictures, and was good-natured and pleasant the whole time. I shared my revelations about pizza with him. Our exchange, as best I can remember it:
Me: "I tried the pizza dough last night. Great stuff."
AB: "You know, I really like pizza."
Me: "Blows the forzen stuff away."
AB: "Oh yeah."
Me: "And it's cheaper, too."
AB: ""Oh yeah."
He sorta said it in a way that seemed to imply "I know. Isn't it cool?". He thanked us for coming out, and then gave me a pat on the back as we were leaving. So, good stuff.
I finally got cable installed, so I can get back in the habit of watching silly infomercials I've seen no fewer than 45 times each. Maybe some other stuff, too. For some reason, though, my VCR and TV don't want to work together, preventing me from taping anything above channel 12 (i.e. Good Eats). I should, um, fix that. The two guys from Charter were quite nice, and avid PC gamers. We had a brief chat about Diablo II (crack for the PC, really), and the way game boxes tend to pile up after awhile.
I've also decided that, while puking is very icky, at least it tends to be over after one night. It's a cruddy night, yes, but compared to, say, this cold, which is just lingering, I'd rather be done after one night. A few hours of nausea is, at least right now, far prefferable to an entire day of sitting around sniffing and blowing my nose. Bleah.
Right. I'm done.
"Good news, folks! I've made it up to #10!"
Dave
Thursday, January 13
Fog on the Barrow Downs
Yeah, yeah, I know there was snow. I'll get to that in a minute. Did you catch the fog this week? Even The Fog didn't have as much fog as we had earlier this week. Tuesday night was particularly bad. At least rain and snow give you the chance to use your headlights. Of course, many people have yet to catch on to the fact that high beams in the fog are not good. Weren't they paying attention in driver's ed?
Anyways, snow.
So, let's see. Tuesday: upper 40s. Wednesday: 73 degrees and stormy all night. Thursday, 30-something and 5-6 inches of snow with an arctic chill right behind it. Only in Missouri, I think. Winter seems to be a pretty unpredictable season around here. Summers are reliably hot and muggy, spring and fall are usually a dependable mix of just enough cool and just enough mild as they segue into whatever follows, but you just can't seem to trust winter around here. Is it gonna be kinda mild and sunny? Or is it going to be frigid and snowy? Or will you get both? Last winter was pretty cold throughout. But this winter...first it was cold (damn cold), then it got mild, got normalish, got warm for ONE day, then comes the cold again. And yesterday's mildness was more or less outta nowhere. Tuesday was above normal, but it was still in the 40s somewhere. These things usually build up then stick around for a week or so. This one was one day and gone. Weeeeeeird.
But I like the snow. And cold. I'm hoping for a clear night this weekend so I can freeze my butt of to get a picture of the moon and stars lighting a field.
Yes, I am that nuts.
I'll have to remember to buy film for the camera......
Han-e-say and I hit the Jim Tuesday night for some up-buffing. I lasted a total of 35 minutes on two different bike-type machines and then spent another 45 minutes or so on various muscle enhancers. It's kinda fun, actually, although the last 4 minutes on those bikes can really drag on. Still, I'm looking forward to next week's trip. As long as my limbs stay attached, we should keep going.
That would imply then that Janice could lose her arms and I wouldn't really care.
I'm not sure I meant it that way.
Try these facts on for size:
-a bald eagle larger than George weighs half what he does (7 lbs)
-it has a wingspan of almost 6 feet
-diving speed of nearly 150 mph
-it doesn't sweat: it pants!
Yes, this bald eagle spent the whole night with his tongue out. It was pretty weird, but pretty cool, too. I'd like to hit Eagle Days this weekend, but time may not allow, what with Godzillathon 2005, Cardinals Winter Warm-Up, Ice Skating, website design, photo shoots, Calculus, Bus Chucker Club, etc.
We'll see.
And, really, I'm reaching for content at this point. Enjoy your three-day weekend, kids, and I'll catch you on Tuesday.
I'm not gonna lie to ya, that's a healthy piece of real estate.
Dave
Anyways, snow.
So, let's see. Tuesday: upper 40s. Wednesday: 73 degrees and stormy all night. Thursday, 30-something and 5-6 inches of snow with an arctic chill right behind it. Only in Missouri, I think. Winter seems to be a pretty unpredictable season around here. Summers are reliably hot and muggy, spring and fall are usually a dependable mix of just enough cool and just enough mild as they segue into whatever follows, but you just can't seem to trust winter around here. Is it gonna be kinda mild and sunny? Or is it going to be frigid and snowy? Or will you get both? Last winter was pretty cold throughout. But this winter...first it was cold (damn cold), then it got mild, got normalish, got warm for ONE day, then comes the cold again. And yesterday's mildness was more or less outta nowhere. Tuesday was above normal, but it was still in the 40s somewhere. These things usually build up then stick around for a week or so. This one was one day and gone. Weeeeeeird.
But I like the snow. And cold. I'm hoping for a clear night this weekend so I can freeze my butt of to get a picture of the moon and stars lighting a field.
Yes, I am that nuts.
I'll have to remember to buy film for the camera......
Han-e-say and I hit the Jim Tuesday night for some up-buffing. I lasted a total of 35 minutes on two different bike-type machines and then spent another 45 minutes or so on various muscle enhancers. It's kinda fun, actually, although the last 4 minutes on those bikes can really drag on. Still, I'm looking forward to next week's trip. As long as my limbs stay attached, we should keep going.
That would imply then that Janice could lose her arms and I wouldn't really care.
I'm not sure I meant it that way.
Try these facts on for size:
-a bald eagle larger than George weighs half what he does (7 lbs)
-it has a wingspan of almost 6 feet
-diving speed of nearly 150 mph
-it doesn't sweat: it pants!
Yes, this bald eagle spent the whole night with his tongue out. It was pretty weird, but pretty cool, too. I'd like to hit Eagle Days this weekend, but time may not allow, what with Godzillathon 2005, Cardinals Winter Warm-Up, Ice Skating, website design, photo shoots, Calculus, Bus Chucker Club, etc.
We'll see.
And, really, I'm reaching for content at this point. Enjoy your three-day weekend, kids, and I'll catch you on Tuesday.
I'm not gonna lie to ya, that's a healthy piece of real estate.
Dave
Thursday, January 6
Bagel? Mmm, yeah, alright.
With Steve's successive viewing of The Princess Bride, I think that leaves me as one of the few people on earth who have yet to watch it. It's just as well, though, as watching it would loer my standing in the club I started with Matt over at JB. I don't think we ever officially named it, but it went along the lines of Guys Who Haven't Seen Movies They "Should" Have Seen. My list, as best I can remember:
-The Princess Bride
-It's a Wonderful Life
-Titanic
-Casblanca
Others, I'm sure. It should be noted I have seen Gone With the Wind, which should count for something, since the movie runs just under 3 weeks (not counting the intermission). To my surprise, I kinda like it, even though Ms. O'Hara had the ability to make me want to reach into the movie and slap her for five minutes steady. But that Clark Gable sure is easy on the eyes, eh?
I'm also reminded of another fine group we started at JB. That, of course, is the...covert-spy-something-or-other faction S.C.Y.T.H.E. For those not in the know, that stands for Special Consulting Youths that Have Energy. You may not be surprised, but we built the acronym around the name, because scythe is a cool word, and sounds sinster if used properly. Alas, we never got anywhere with it. Not even ID cards. I think we only had 4, maybe 5 members. Our arch-rivals were...um...W.H.E.A.T.--Women Have Empathic Abilities Today. A group consisting of one person, I think, and named soley because....well, I'm sure you can figure out why.
Yes, we were silly. But we had fun!
So there.
I put in my notice, such as it was, at lessons last night. This shall be my last month. After 5+ years, I think I've reached a point where there's not much more I can get out of lessons. Certainly there's more to learn, but it seems like most of our time is spent working on songs. From a technical standpoint, I suppose it's fine, but it gets old after a bit. Another big factor is the fact I don't have as much time to just sit and play as I'd like. I blame work mostly. Finding two hours or so to just sit and work on songs and such is pretty hard these days. Sigh. I'm not crazy about quitting. It's always a nice break, and my teacher's a great guy, but I think the time has come. Maybe someday I'll pick them up again. We'll see.
I've also backed down on my plan to wait until Spring Training to get cable again. I will admit to missing it a little bit these days, especially when I just need to have something on in the background. I miss watching my man Alton Brown, too. It also turns out I miss infomercials, but I'd prefer to keep that secret.
Whoops.
Well, at least they have a 3-month special for $29.99, so that'll be nice.
I've eased back into this "working" thing better than I thought I might. I considered only working one day this week so I could better slip back into the routine. After all, coming back and working 5 full days after nearly two weeks off could have been a big shock to my system. I ended up deciding I should just jump right in. So far, so good. Still have today and tomorrow left, so we'll see what happens.
Speaking of, working would probably be a good idea.
I'll call it the super question machine!
Dave
-The Princess Bride
-It's a Wonderful Life
-Titanic
-Casblanca
Others, I'm sure. It should be noted I have seen Gone With the Wind, which should count for something, since the movie runs just under 3 weeks (not counting the intermission). To my surprise, I kinda like it, even though Ms. O'Hara had the ability to make me want to reach into the movie and slap her for five minutes steady. But that Clark Gable sure is easy on the eyes, eh?
I'm also reminded of another fine group we started at JB. That, of course, is the...covert-spy-something-or-other faction S.C.Y.T.H.E. For those not in the know, that stands for Special Consulting Youths that Have Energy. You may not be surprised, but we built the acronym around the name, because scythe is a cool word, and sounds sinster if used properly. Alas, we never got anywhere with it. Not even ID cards. I think we only had 4, maybe 5 members. Our arch-rivals were...um...W.H.E.A.T.--Women Have Empathic Abilities Today. A group consisting of one person, I think, and named soley because....well, I'm sure you can figure out why.
Yes, we were silly. But we had fun!
So there.
I put in my notice, such as it was, at lessons last night. This shall be my last month. After 5+ years, I think I've reached a point where there's not much more I can get out of lessons. Certainly there's more to learn, but it seems like most of our time is spent working on songs. From a technical standpoint, I suppose it's fine, but it gets old after a bit. Another big factor is the fact I don't have as much time to just sit and play as I'd like. I blame work mostly. Finding two hours or so to just sit and work on songs and such is pretty hard these days. Sigh. I'm not crazy about quitting. It's always a nice break, and my teacher's a great guy, but I think the time has come. Maybe someday I'll pick them up again. We'll see.
I've also backed down on my plan to wait until Spring Training to get cable again. I will admit to missing it a little bit these days, especially when I just need to have something on in the background. I miss watching my man Alton Brown, too. It also turns out I miss infomercials, but I'd prefer to keep that secret.
Whoops.
Well, at least they have a 3-month special for $29.99, so that'll be nice.
I've eased back into this "working" thing better than I thought I might. I considered only working one day this week so I could better slip back into the routine. After all, coming back and working 5 full days after nearly two weeks off could have been a big shock to my system. I ended up deciding I should just jump right in. So far, so good. Still have today and tomorrow left, so we'll see what happens.
Speaking of, working would probably be a good idea.
I'll call it the super question machine!
Dave
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