A library meandering and a project started.

The local library has changed a lot since the last time I was there. I'm almost ashamed to say it, but it has been over 10 years since I have been inside.

 

Lately though, they have been ritzing up the joint. From a whole remodel, to adding all sorts of artsy bits. It is an entirely different place now. So today on my lunch hour I decided to go meandering around the perimeter. I didn't have time to traipse through the interior, but there was more than enough cool things to see outside.

 

Like the new Horny Toad scuplture that sits outside of the sculpture.

Both Tony and Granny J had posts during the unveiling of this lovely guy, so I figured I would get some closer up shots that they couldn't get during the opening:

 

GrannyJ also showed off the Mountain Lion sculpture (BTW she is totally my inspiration for going up here. She's always rockin the awesome library stuff), so I decided to get a little wider view:

 

As I meandered around to the back of the library I came upon some drawings on the wall. It shows the history of bookmaking, with some historical local figures thrown in for good measure:

and a few feet further down, I saw the artists working on what is to be a major mural. It was at this point that I did something I have never done before. I asked one of the artists if I could take her picture.

 

You see, I have been meaning to start the 100 Strangers photography project for a few months now, but kept getting all shy and ridiculous and deciding not to. Today that all changed. Meet stranger #1, Maggie:

She explained to me what the mural is about, how the painting process works, and seemed like she was totally psyched to be working on it. Even if it is a million degrees outside.

 

From here time was running out, so back to work it was, to play with all the photos in Lightroom 2.0, which is TOTALLY SWEET!!!!!

 

Hopefully in the coming months I will not only begin adding more people to my 100 Strangers list, but will also get inside the library for a look around.

Pic of the Day

Yin Yang sticker on the back of an old bus. How very symbolic to have a lock next to it. :)

You've got to love good companies

I ordered the first copy of my photo book from blurb last weekend. They said that it would ship on August 4th, which even to me seemed like a pretty quick turn around time considering the company's popularity.

 

Well today I got an email stating that my order was done being processed and shipped out late last night. Freaking AWESOME! In only THREE days they got every printed and bound and ready to rock and roll. Gotta love it!

 

UPS states that it should be arriving on tuesday of next week, woohoo!

Pic of the day

Quote wall at the Yavapai College computer/library commons:

The Last Lecture

 

DaNece asked me to post this so she could reference it later. It is long (1 hour 16 minutes), but very inspirational.

 

She is currently reading the book, and loving it.

We who are about to die - salute you

I read this post about how a relationship was like playing Doom II on nightmare mode. I laughed, and laughed, and laughed. For those who have played the game with vim and vigor; you will enjoy!

Mashup Fun

Snow Patrol vs. The Police

 

 

X-Men vs. Office Space

 

MAC commercial vs. Mr. Bean:

 

Army of Darkness vs. Welcome to the Jungle:

 

 

All found via VideoSift

Pic of the day

Walking down the alleys of Prescott again, and the combination of puffy cloud and hard brick caught my eye:

Yet another 3 exposure handheld HDR.

Some Tuesday Tidbits

Adobe has finally finished Adobe Lightroom 2.0!!!!! I played with the beta and liked it a lot, but didn't want to deal with possible migration issues, so didn't switch to it completely. But with 2.0 official now, I think I will be making the switch in the near future.

 

Rich is looking into getting a photowalk together on Saturday, August 23rd for Prescott. This is in conjunction with Scott Kelby's worldwide photowalk. I'm putting it on my calendar. Who else is down?

 

The How Tie is awesome. Shlubs like me can now see how to knot one of these new-fangled contraptions without having to go to the internet! They also have some other interesting things in their catalog.

(via)

 

Awesome use of shadow by Pilobolus (check out their website for a few other videos):

(via)

I think I might be an alien

Yesterday was a lazy day. Both DaNece and I were kind of gimpy, and so spent the majority of the day lounging around watching star wars.

 

When it came time for dinner, you could say we were uninspired. Kind of how you could say the Grand Canyon is a little ditch in the ground.

 

We finally got our lazy asses into the kitchen, but decided not to cook. I had my heart set on a garlic bologna sandwich. There was a problem though.

 

WE WERE OUT OF SANDWICH BREAD!!

 

But I was determined to have my bologna sandwich regardless, so I did something that I've never done before. I sunk to all new depths of desperation.

 

I made my beloved sandwich on Cinnamon Swirl Raisin Bread.

 

Yes I did. And the worst part? I actually..... kind of ..... LIKED it. Which makes me think that I might be an alien. Because I'm pretty sure that a human wouldn't enjoy the combination of garlic bologna, mayonnaise, mustard, cinnamon, and raisins. It is something that goes against everything that we are taught is right in the world, and I felt kind of dirty even as I was making it. But GOD was it tasty.

 

Maybe it was just the growling beast of hunger tearing its way out of my mid-section. But maybe it was something more.

Pic of the day

I drive by this bus every day. It sits in the Granite Dells, and hasn't moved in years. Finally I decided to stop and take a pic:

3 exposure HDR on a tripod for once.

A milestone

So you remember this post from earlier today? According to blogger that was my 500th post!

 

On year and four months after my first post and here I am. So is the blog everything I thought it would be?

 

- I didn't end up posting nearly as much philosophy as I had originally intended

- I didn't bitch about work as much as I thought I would

- I got into photography, which has taken over a big chunk of the blog

- I definitely posted as much food as I thought I would

- I met way more people through this blog than I could have ever imagined

 

And some things just never change - I totally still thing putting rutabagas into mashed potatoes will cause oralgasms on contact.

Pic of the day

Another foggy morning in Chino. The sun shining through:

A photoshop trick

Not sure how I've gone this long with photoshop and not known about luminosity masking. Oh well I know about it now, and I can see all sorts of useful things to apply it to. :)

 

Hooray for the internet!

Funny Funny

Testing the limits of what people with eat. Brought to you by The Onion:

(via)

 

Who said it? Bush or Batman?:

 

(via)

Another local art exhibit

I took a trip over to the PFAA Gallery today to look at the gallery that Tony Reynolds mentioned that he had a piece over there.

The show is called "Expressions of Style and Design II", and features a full range of art. From sculpted pieces like Tony's, to photography, jewelry, paintings, digital art, and more! Lots going on, plenty of colors, and it's free (My favorite thing).

 

So if you are in the downtown area go take a peek. They are open 10:00 to 3:00 Tues - Sat, and 12:00 to 4:00 on Sunday.

Imagining the Tenth Dimension

I remember seeing this video a year or so ago, but just found it and watched it over again. Imagining the tenth dimension.

Very interesting stuff!

Pic of the day

A century plant blooming at wet beaver creek:

Something's Fishy

Dinner last night was fishy actually.

Yellow-Fin ahi tuna steak topped with buttery shallot/mushroom/garlic. A side of (some very ugly looking) shrimp, long grain wild rice, and bread.

 

I would love to tell you all how I made this, but to be honest I was not very mentally aware of what I was doing. I pretty much just let instinct take over and cook while my brain sat off in fantasy land. And it was still edible, that's got to be a good sign.

 

Here is what I do remember:

- The tuna, shrimp, and shallot/mushroom mixture were all cooked in the same pan (in that order)

 

- The tuna went into the oven after searing, but on low heat just to keep it warm and finish what little cooking it needed.

 

- The tuna had a bit too much paprika on it, and not enough ginger.

 

- The shrimp were too salty, and I was totally bummed because I ran out of lemon juice to put on them, which would have made them awesome.

 

- I cooked the shrimp in too much butter/oil, so they didn't get the sear I was looking for, but they did get flavor from the tuna seasonings.

 

- Whoever cleaned the shrimp sucks. Half of them still had the poop shoot, and they were all sliced way too deep for cleaning.

 

- The shallots cooked just long enough and hot enough to get crispy before adding mushrooms and butter. Crispy shallots + rich and buttery mushrooms is a winning combination.

 

- The bread was some cheap safeway bakery 'artisan' italian bread, but it was REALLY tasty.

 

Yep, that's about all I got. Honestly - I was just lucky to remember to take a picture. :)

Coffeetable Book - in progress

Last week I alluded that I found a great way to create a coffee-table book. Now for a little more info!

 

When I had originally tried to setup my coffeebook layouts I was using Adobe Photoshop. While this worked okay, it was very time-consuming, and in the end it was way more work that it was worth. It took all the fun out of the project, which is why I didn't start it over after my computer took a dive.

 

So after deciding to make another go at this whole book-creation thing I started looking for other software to use that would work for what I wanted to do. And that is when I happened upon a post on 'The Viewfinder', extolling the virtues of Lumapix FotoFusion. I watched his video tutorial and was impressed by the apparent ease of use of the program. Now, anytime I hear about a program that is easy to use I am skeptical about how functional it can be. It seems like most programs dumb things down to make them easier, which greatly limits the ability of a person to be creative (which is why I'm not just using Blurb's layout software in the first place).

 

But every once in a while you get a program that is easy to use, and powerful enough to throw your creative weight around with it. FotoFusion is one of those programs. I've been playing with the software for a week and half now, and it is rockin' my world. No it isn't as powerful as photoshop, but it doesn't need to be. My photos have already been edited and dressed up, so I don't need to go in and make tiny little minute detail changes. What I need is a program to put picture to [metaphorical] paper. And Lumapix hit the mark with this little number.

 

I would seriously recommend anybody that is interested in creating albums, or who enjoys scrapbooking; try the software. There is a free trial that you can download and play with. And watch that video tutorial linked to above. Yeah it is long (21 minutes!), but it gives you a great idea of how nice this program really is.

 

As far as my book is concerned this is a godsend. It allows me to spend my time being looking at pictures, not counting pixels and inches. Right now I've got about one hundred pages done for my book, and am nearing the end.

Once I get the design finished I will send it off to Blurb to get it printed, and if I'm happy with the results I will post up a link for anybody that wants to buy a copy.

A heck of a weekend

Last weekend was one of the few that seem like it was non-stop action. We generally keep those to a minimum (thankfully), but every now and then they happen, and in this instance; it was even fun!

 

Friday night DaNece and I headed up to Jerome to have dinner with my sister Nikki. I have been hearing good things about a restaurant called The Asylum so we decided to give it a whirl. We had a reservation for 8:00, which got us to Jerome right around sunset. A cool breeze was blowing, the scenery was great (like it always is in Jerome), and life was good:

 

Once we finally met up with Nikki, we headed to the restaurant, which sits above the Jerome Grand Hotel gives a great view of the city, and has a nice vintage feeling:

 

 

We opted to sit outside, which gave the advantage of that nice breeze, but unfortunately the light was fading fast and leaving us all in darkness. I couldn't even see my food. Also, due to some noisy diners next door, and that lovely breeze, conversation wasn't easily heard so it was a quiet meal. The food was great, but the service was only so-so, Considering the price of food ($150 out the door for the 3 of us) I was expecting better. I probably wouldn't eat here again, as there are way better places and you can get more bang for your buck.

 

After dinner we took a quick tour of Nikki's house that she is renting. It is in a ridiculous state of disrepair, but she really likes it so power to her. :)

 

Saturday morning was the gym (at 5:00AM!! woohoo!), followed by the Beginner Digital Photography class. Wow, I guess we didn't realize just how beginner the class was.... it was pretty boring. Mostly just teaching the elderly folks how to make basic adjustments in the camera, and what the different settings meant.

 

Boredom took over, and random photos ensued.

Like a basic comparison on how white balance can be important:

And a basic macro image:

The saddest part about the class is that we were really just taking it (as a pre-requisite) so we could go on to the intermediate classes. Talking to the teacher on Saturday though, I learned that the intermediate class is mostly just post-processing techniques using Photoshop Elements...... guess I won't be needing that class after all.... DAMN! But I already paid the money for this class, so we are going to go ahead and finish it.

 

After class we went to see The Dark Knight. All I can say is wow. You should go see it. Definitely worth the hour and a half wait on a saturday matinee. So good in fact, that we went to see it again on Sunday.

 

Before seeing it again though, we made an early morning trip to Red Rock Country. A REALLY early trip, leaving at 4:00AM, and arriving at the Wet Beaver Creek trailhead at sunrise.

We hiked for about 2 1/2 hours, but DaNece wasn't really diggin it so we turned around a little short of where I had hoped to go. Oh well. We still worked in about thirty minutes for swimming in the creek which was an absolute blast.

 

From the trail we headed to Page Springs to diagnose my sister's car which had broken down. Turned out to be bad fuel pump, which I had neither the tools or parts to fix. I recommended she take it to a shop.

 

Then it was back home for some showers, and out to see the Batman movie again. Did I mention it was a sweet flick? Yeah, you should go see it.

 

That about sums it up. A very busy, but very fun weekend!

Pic of the day

Hoping to get some real posts up later today. Work and life have been keeping me running.

 

Until I get real posts up though, the pic of the day!

A Lotus Elise spotted at the college on Saturday morning:

The whole car can be seen here.

Pic of the day

DaNece enjoying the evening breeze in Jerome Friday night:

Pic of the day

The fountain in the Yavapai College sculpture garden (seen previously). There was finally some (though not much) water running through it, which was nice:

If you are around, check it out

Yavapai College has an exhibit in their art gallery featuring Japanese Woodcuts. The exhibit is entitled 'Scenes of an Ancient Culture' and will be running through August 14th.

Image totally ripped off of the Yavapai College website.

 

I walked up there on my lunch today to putz around, and I have to say I was impressed. Very cool! So if you are in this neck of the woods, go check it out, because it is FREE and neat!

 

Heard about it via Tony Reynold's blog.

A birthday nudge

My twin sister and I have had a longstanding agreement that we don't buy each other birthday gifts.

 

Lunch or dinner; maybe. But gifts; NO!

 

So imagine to my horror when she told me that she had a gift for me. I was incredulous. I was irritated. And I was slightly excited.

 

Never in my life has Nikki gotten me a 'normal' present. Generally it is a piece of artwork or something like that, which I can display in the house. Sometimes it is something un-identifiable, that I simply thank her for and spend a few days pondering over. So I knew I was in for something of a treat. And since she hasn't been doing any artwork for a while (to my knowledge) I knew that I didn't have a clue what it would be.

 

After some coordination issues (Nikki is living in Jerome, and up until last week was riding her bike to Prescott on occasion) I finally got my present. It turned out to be a book of photography from one of her friends who lives in the area: Thomas Kuiper's Photographs from 2007.

 

Overall the book is interesting, eclectic, and slightly disturbing. Lots of mannequin photos, some Jerome mine waste sites, and cicrus photos all sit together between the covers. It is just one amateur photographer's selected prints, set down in coffee-table book style.

 

This reminded me that I had been working on setting up my own photo book a few months ago (coincidentally, through blurb). A week's worth of tedious layout creation was destroyed by a head failure on a hard drive, and I lost all motivation to complete the project.

 

Well after seeing this book, I have decided to rekindle that fire of creativity and give this whole book idea another go.

 

And I think I found the perfect way to do it. :)

Awesome photography

Strobist featured Joey L. last year for an interview. Not only are his pictures amazing, but he is only 17 years old. WOW!

 

His site was a bit finicky when I was on it, and his blog was down? Hmmmm, oh well, something to keep on file for the future. :)

Pic of the Day

Rope hanging on belaying pins of the USS Eagle:

Pic of the Day

A spiny bit of color along the sidewalk of Carleton street:

The other pork tenderloin

After tenderloin dinner #1, we had a spare tenderloin that I set to marinating. Mom came over and helped us devour this delicious little morsel:

Sweet Pork Medallions on pasta.

The meal itself was simple, but the meat is what carried all the complexity.

The marinade that I set it in overnight consisted of a lot of things. I think this is all of them (in general order of how much I put in since no measuring occured):

- cinnamon

- black pepper

- salt

- sugar

- thyme (didn't have fresh)

- fresh rosemary

- fresh garlic

- cloves

- nutmeg

- cayenne pepper

- paprika

- just enough water to make a thick sauce out of it

I let the meat sit in this overnight. Before I was ready to cook, I took the meat out, sliced it into 1/2 inch thick medallions and put them back in the bag to get the sauce all over.

 

Other Ingredients:

- 1 box of pasta

- red currant jelly (we had about 1/3 of a jar left over, so that is all I had to use)

- parmesan cheese

- olive oil

 

1. To put the meal together, just cook whatever pasta you have on hand (farafalle for us), adding garlic to the water to taste (lots for us).

2. Preheat a pan on high with a small splash of olive oil. Wait until the oil begins smoking.

3. Place the pork slices in the pan (reserving the marinating liquid for later), but don't overload it. The more that pan temperature drops the longer it will take to cook them, and we don't want tough dry bits of piggy! I would say do no more than 1/2 on a standard stovetop.

4. Allow to brown 4-5 minutes per side, and then set aside.

5. Deglaze the pan with ~1/2 cup of water, scraping up all the bits off the bottom

6. add what is left of the marinating liquid, and the magic red currant jelly and mix it all together. Taste and add seasonings as needed (mine needed a touch of sugar since we didn't have much jelly, and some black pepper)

 

7. Once it begins to reduce add medallions back to pan, spooning sauce over them until the sauce comes to a nice consistency and the pork is cooked to your desired doneness. Mine sat in here for about 8 minutes.

8. By now the pasta should be done, so drain it, and toss with fresh parmesan and some olive oil.

9. Plate it all up, making sure to spoon some extra saucy goodness over the medallions and pasta.

 

Everyone agreed that this was a darn good meal. :)

Unfortunately: No leftovers. :(

Pic of the day

Two wasps fighting in the pollen of a prickly-pear bloom:

A little brotherly love

DaNece finally got around to posting some backed up photos to her flickr page. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw this one; Scrappy hitching a ride in the pool:

Meal-Time!

Ahhhh, another food post!

Dinner last night was nothing terribly special. We had some pork tenderloins that needed eating so we cooked one up last night, and got the other marinating for tonight.

 

Pork Tenderloin, Quinoa, Mashed Taters, and Green Beans:

Ingredients:

- 1 pork tenderloin

- 3/4 cup quinoa

- 6-7 dried apricots

- a few slices of cheese (I used raw goat cheddar from New Frontiers health food store)

- 2 servings of left over mashed potatoes

- 1 can green beans

- 3/4 cup pork broth (I had some from another dinner, bullion would work too.)

- 3/4 cup water

- a few tablespoons of butter

- a tablespoon of olive oil

- fresh rosemary

- fresh garlic

- black pepper

- salt

- paprika

- garlic powder

- flour

 

 

Making the meal:

1. Put the quinoa into a pot with water. Allow to soak for 15-30 minutes. Once they are done soaking, rinse them a few times to remove the soapy covering on the grains. Because draining these little buggers can be a pain in the ass, I would recommend using a coffee filter if you don't have a fine mesh strainer.

 

2. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Also get a pan pre-heating with some olive oil in it.

 

3. While everything is pre-heating chop up your rosemary, combine it with salt/pepper/garlic powder/paprika and rub all over the tenderloin. Then cover the tenderloin with flour.

 

4. Add 3/4 cup water and 3/4 cup pork broth to quinoa in pot. Dice your apricots and add them in, as well as about 2 tablespoons of butter, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of pepper.

 

5. Quinoa cooks just like rice. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 

 

6. Throw your tenderloin into that now-smoking-hot pan and brown all sides, about 3-4 minutes per side.

 

7. While that is browning, get a baking dish (big enough for the tenderloin) put about 1/4 inch of water in it, mince your garlic and add to water, as well as a few sprigs of rosemary.

 

8. Once the pork is browned, put into baking dish and throw into pre-heated oven. Turn it about every 10 minutes.

 

9. Drain green beans, and put in a small pot with butter/salt/pepper. Cook on medium low until heated through.

 

 

- The quinoa is done when the water is absorbed (just like rice). Go ahead and dice up your goat cheese and add it to quinoa once it is done cooking.

- The green beans are done when they are warm.

- The mashed potatoes are done when they aren't cold in the middle after microwaving

- The pork is done once internal temperature reaches (on my UBER-Cheap thermometer) 140 degrees, and then rests for 10 minutes. I like mine to be a touch pink in the middle. Some people are weird about pork and like to make sure it is well-done. Slice for plating.

 

DaNece didn't like the quinoa (they have a texture kind of like grits), but I LOVED them and will definitely be making them again. The flavor was great, especially with that sharp cheese in them. The pork turned out great, without being too heavily flavored. Green beans and mashed taters - meh. They filled the hole. :)

The coffee conundrum

Okay, so this is pretty much all over the internet right now, but since I am a guy who likes coffee I thought I would post it anyway.

 

Jeff Simmermon at AND I AM NOT LYING posted an experience at a local coffee shop that wouldn't serve him the coffee the way he wanted it. In this instance he wanted some shots of espresso served over ice.

 

The barista informed Jeff in an (apparently) un-friendly manner that they did not serve espresso over ice. The theory being that diluting down the espresso lessened the quality of the drink, and this establishment prided itself on the quality of its beverages.

 

I can definitely see where the customer is coming from. When I know what I want, that is generally what I expect to get, but I believe that businesses (in general) definitely have the right to deny making certain types of products if they don't believe them to be of a quality level befitting their establishment.

 

What really throws me is that when he goes back later, the barista offers to make him an Americano over ice. Yet an Americano is just shots of espresso watered down.  Wait.... wasn't that the exact reason why they didn't want to serve the iced espresso? WTF?

 

What do you all think?

The Piano

A cute animation about how an old man relives his life through music. Created by Aidan Gibbons, the music is Comptine d'un Autre Ete: L'apres Midi by Yann Tiersen.

 

(via)

Pic of the day

My favorite shot from Sunday's drive. DaNece and Lola with a little lightroom manipulation thrown in. Look how big our 'puppy' is!!

A day for a drive

Sunday DaNece and I decided to go for a drive. We wanted to take a route that we hadn't taken before. After a quick glimpse at a map we loaded up the dogs and departed. It wasn't a day for lots of picture taking, just a day to get out and about.

 

We started out heading south-bound on Highway 89, going through Wilhoit, Peeples Valley, Yarnell, and Congress. This drive we had done before. We did however, stop at a scenic overlook to grab a few pictures.

Graffiti at the abandoned overlook. Notice beer at right:

 

My girls:

 

Me and the Doo-Man:

 

As we dropped down the hill the temperature rose until we were in the high 90's. No A/C in the truck meant there were some sweaty bodies for sure. Of course this meant driving with all the windows down, which is my favorite way to go anyway, so Tom was a happy camper!

 

At Congress we turned northward onto Highway 93. On our tourist map of AZ (always a handy thing to have) this is labeled as a scenic byway. With a nickname of 'Arizona Joshua Parkway' you would think there would be at least one picture of Joshua trees, right?

 

WRONG! We drove through them for a good long time, but I was un-motivated to capture one. Oh well.

 

We drove for a good long time through desert landscapes, just letting the scenery and heat soak into us. Eventually we came to something that did warrant a picture (in my book anyway). It was the bridge over Burro Creek. At first I had the camera set wrong, creating an odd duck of an image:

 

A quick few button clicks later and I was set correctly. And what a perfect opportunity to make an HDR image! Once again without my tripod (as always), the camera was balanced on my knee for three exposures which were put together to make this:

Not too shabby for 15 minutes worth of work post processing, eh? :)

 

And a candid shot from D. Me doing my thing:

 

We followed 93 all the way to Kingman. Here, we drove slowly through town looking for a burger joint to get a fix. We found an appropriate diner (Mr. D'z Diner) filled with 50's era memorabilia and lots of bad likenesses of Marylin Monroe and James Dean. The shakes were great, the fries were awesome, and the burgers were definitely passable.

 

After we finished the meal, we made the trek back home via I-40. Luckily we were following on the tails of a monsoon storm, so the weather was unbelievably nice as we departed Kingman (mid 70's). The dogs were passed out in the back, DaNece was drifting in and out of sleep to my right, and the road passed by in a blur.

 

All told it was a 7 1/2 hour trip, and a great little mental health day. No real thinking, just pointing the car in our direction of choice, and enjoying everything that whizzed by.

My Wordle

Saw this on Kitty's website. Put your address into wordle, and it gives you back some of the words used in the first page of your blog.

 

Here's mine for the last 20 posts:

That's a surprising amount of food items.

Music Monday

A few other tracks I'm diggin.

David Grey - Sail Away. Mellow music for driving.

Sail away - David Gray

 

Death Cab for Cutie - I will possess your heart. Heard on the radio. DaNece was really liking it.

I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab For Cutie

 

Finger 11 - Paralizer. Heard on radio, and I'm lovin it!

 Paralizer - Finger 11

Pic of the day

Sitting on a bench at the square, writing in my moleskine the other morning. The  sun silhouetted the tree in front of me beautifully:

Ouch

Watch how his cab is totally crushed:

http://view.break.com/534959 - Watch more free videos

(via)

Ooooo, Gooooo

Non-Newtonian Fluid (Corn Starch and Water) + Subwoofer = Freaky Sweetness

(via)

 

Another video of Non-newtonian fluid. It's not in engrish but it is darn entertaining:

Pic of the day

Took the dogs outside to do their business at about 11:00 the other night, and happened upon a lovely crescent moon illuminating the clouds:

 

15 sec exposure (as long as the G9 can go), f/2.8 (as open as it can go), 800ISO (which causes so much noise, it is unreal)

 

Almost went and got DaNece's SLR so I could get a better picture, but figured it was time for bed. :) The streak of light is a low-flying airplane.

"What do we have in the fridge?"

That was the question when we talked about dinner the other night. Neither of us wanted to go to the store, but we had also failed to create a menu for the week, so we didn't have a lot on hand.

 

The answer it turns out, was just enough to make an awesome meal!

Chicken breasts were already defrosted, so that gave us a starting point. From there we did a quick inventory, and came up with the following:

- About 2 tablespoons of cheap parmesan cheese

- Some Italian-style bread crumbs

- 1 zucchini

- 1 bag Idaho potatoes

- 1 can of corn

- fresh rosemary

- 1 shallot

- a few cloves of garlic

- butter

- flour

- salt

- pepper

- onion powder

- garlic powder

 

With this we made quasi-chicken parmesan with pan sauce, mashed potatoes, fried zucchini, and corn:

 

The chicken got covered in the parmesan, bread crumbs, some rosemary, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. It then got a quick trip to the pan (about 3-4 minutes per side to get some nice color):

 

The zucchini got the remaining parm mixture, and made it's way to the pan as well:

 

Mashed potatoes and corn were made like always.

 

After the chicken left the pan (into a 350 oven to await the rest of the meal), in went some shallot, and garlic. Once those softened up a bit I made a roux in the pan, and then added some water, and additional spices until I liked where it was.

 

The verdict? DaNece actually liked the sauce, but wouldn't try the zucchini. Oh well more for me.

It was a great meal overall, and since we used almost 5 lbs of potatoes, there are plenty of left over mashed to munch on for a while. :)

10 great cockpit pictures

Very cool.

(via)

Seriously?

To the guy who goes to the gym and walks at a snail's pace on the treadmill for a WHOLE HOUR, TALKING ON THE FREAKING PHONE: nobody likes you. You are obviously illiterate (as you have ignored the '30 minute time limit when people are waiting' signs). And you talk on the phone WAY too loud.

I know it must be hard talking over the annoying hum of the treadmill, but seriously; nobody cares how the Cards are doing, nobody gives a crap about how your workday was, and I certainly don't give a flying shit about what you are doing later tonight.

P.S. - It's weird how much you stare at anything with tits.
< /rant >

Pic of the day

Morning fog in Chino:

Crazy bird swarm

A flock of Starlings does some crazy maneuvers. Very cool:

(via)

Fun little flash game

Found this game called totem destroyer. Took me about half an hour to get to the end. Not a bad way to waste some of the morning. :)

 

How far did you get?

(via)

Pic of the day

Rays of sunshine streaming through some monsoon clouds:

Pictureless food

Last week me and DaNece decided to pull a pork loins out of the freezer and stick it in the slow-cooker.

 

All day I thought of how good it would taste, but I didn't have anything to go along with it. The menu was a proverbial blank slate.

 

So I headed over to epicurious and found an AWESOME pear and ginger sauce recipe (I didn't have crystallized ginger, but powdered ginger did the trick just fine).

 

I knew the roast would be spicy (ala the cayenne, paprika, black pepper, and cumin that I added in vast quantities), and this sauce totally complimented it. Nice and sweet with a little bit of acidity.... YUM.

 

And at ten minutes to make the sauce, and only four ingredients (pear, ginger, sugar, and white wine), it was a total breeze to make. So, the next time you make a piggly wiggly dish give this sauce a try, you'll be glad you did!

Oh yes

Just another random post about things I'm liking at this exact moment. :)

 

I saw this bumper sticker on GrannyJ's blog and started cracking up:

"Dyslexic devil worshippers sell their souls to Santa."

Tell me that aint funny.

 

Gotan Project. Wait till about the 1:55 mark for the good stuff to begin.

Diferente - Gotan Project

 

Some T-Shirts that are super cool:

 

 

Currently Loving these two flickr photostreams:

RossStudio - this guy takes amazing pictures 'painting' with light.

Deyes - a very grungy and generally random photostream.

 

Some blogs I'm reading:

Nice - all about creative photography.

Anthony Bourdain's blog - one-time chef now a travel channel doobie. I love his style of writing and often cynical sense of humor. If you like it, you might want to read some of the books he has published, or watch his show which is also entertaining.

Notebookism - because who doesn't like notebooks?

 

Truly Random

Not sure why, but I have been photographing lots of cars lately. Yesterday was no different, as I caught this Jaguar XKR hanging out by the square:

 

And just in case that wasn't random enough:

 

 

Have a great day everyone!