I Sponsored A Child

One of my Pet Peeves on Facebook is people that post about bad/sad things like cancer, homeless people, kids without food, and then they ask others to post it on their status too. And it's always prefixed by something like "Only my real friends will post this...". It just bugs me.

Why? It does no good as far as I can see, 100 of your friends seeing the same sad message will really do nothing. So, instead of that type of status message do something that can make a difference. Write to your congressman, donate to the American Cancer Society, sponsor a needy child. Post about that and then invite others to do the same. I think at the very least suffix such a message with an applicable place to do something to help, such as link to the donations page for the American Cancer Society.

Today, for about $1 a day, I sponsored a needy child. That dollar a day will help feed and clothe her, provide medicine, education, and more.

I sponsored through ChildFund International. You can visit their web site here. Consider doing doing some real good with that pocket change you've got lying about. Sponsor a child, and then post about that on your Facebook status or blog, inviting your friends and visitors to do the same thing.

OK, I am now climbing down off of my soapbox!

Still Lazy After All These Years

For those wondering if I am still around, I am. Just not really been anything unique enough for me to post about. I often post small snippets of life here in the Midwest on my Facebook page, so, feel free to visit here and see, and feel free to friend me on Facebook.

Here on my blog I'll still be posting pictures and the occasional recipe, plus any earth shattering items, and I also do this on my Facebook page too, usually with a bit more frequency.

Facebook often gets a bad rep; people concerned with privacy and the like. If you only friend people you really know and set your privacy settings to only share with your direct friends, there's nothing to worry about. Feel free to visit my Facebook page and browse; I do have some public pictures and notes that you can view without joining Facebook.

Enrico M. Falco 1923-2008

Last time I saw my dad in 2007

Today would have been my Dad's 87th birthday. He passed away a few months shy of 85. He was not famous, so you'll never have heard of him, though had he been you'd know the following and probably every negative thing he ever did in his life that the press could dig up...but I digress.

At the bottom of my post is his obituary, and it's amazing how they can so easily reduce a mans entire life down to nothing but a few lines of text.

My Dad was so much more. Born of immigrant Italian parents with a dad who truly lived by the philosophy of "Spare the Rod, spoil the Child!" Sadly, I don't know too many details of his early life, other than some excellent war stories he told me from WWII. My mom would have been shocked to learn he 'adopted a couple of families overseas and lived with them, but according to him there was a lot of that in war torn Europe at the time. He flew in bomber aircraft a few times, but I don't recall which ones, he might have shot and killed an enemy soldier; he was one of a few that show at one by their camp and killed him. I have many pictures I got from his last apartment that show him on assorted army bases and places with people I don't know, only a precious few have any writing on the back to lend a clue.

As a father he too was tough but fair, and when my mom, who was schizophrenic, was in her good frame of mind I know she reined him in a lot of times and over the years taught him to be more open with his feelings.

I remember as a young boy going down to the freight yards in Newark with my Dad and his dad, and my uncle where we would by crates of grapes as they came off of the train. These would be packed in our station wagons and we would head by to grandfather's house where we would make wine. And no, we did not dance on it with our feet, they had an electric grinder and a press. I remember the occasional glass of wine but it was not until many years later that I developed a taste for the homemade version they made, which was far stronger than the wines you would buy on the shelf.

I remember going down to Ting-a-Ling's in Newark for Italian Ice, and I remember trips to Jimmy Buff's for Italian Hotdogs in Newark as well. I also remember the Short Stop diner by the Parkway overpass in Bloomfield. My dad would often bring home burgers and fries or their awesome bacon and egg sandwiches.

I remember something that appears to be totally alien to my kids, and that's doing REAL chores, particularly on weekends. There was no "Well I'm off to hang out with friends" Saturday morning. There was grass to be moved (with an old style push mower"), leaves to rakes, projects to be done, painting in the house, etc. on most weekends. plus, Dad's car needed to be washed. Sunday's there was church followed by classes. One memory of doing the chores comes to mind was my older brother was picking on me and I said "You'd never do that is Dad was looking!". he called over "Hey Dad!", my dad turned around and he slammed me! Ah! brotherly love!

I remember at Christmas time decorating the second floor front porch which has windows around the front and sides, where would would make holiday pictures on the glass using stencils and Glass Wax, and then put up lights around each window. We also decorated a little artificial tree and put it on a table int he center of the front window. The house looked pretty cool those years from the outside, plus you could the the full sized tree from one of the side windows if you walked a bit further down the street.

There are so many memories I have of my dad, and so much I just do not know about him. One of the most profound ones, which also shows his level of caring, was around the holidays. There were some years where he worked two jobs just so he could get us Christmas presents.

My parents had a very rocky marriage because of my mom problems, and let's just say mental health care 40 years or so ago was nightmarish compared to today. They finally got to a point where my dad was going to divorce her, and I only mention this to show his character. Those who know me my mom turned ill and wrestled with multiple sclerosis for over 10 years, and she had a very rare variant where she experienced constant pain which ranged from bad to very, very bad. She also had lung cancer her final years due no doubt to many years of smoking.

My dad, who was well along with his plans to divorce my mom, dropped those plans and for the next 10 years took care of my mom to the point of having to sell our big house in Glen Ridge because of the costs associated with her care ran down his insurance and caused her to spend a lot of time at home. My poor mom who was so bad we had a lift device to get her in and out of her bed and into her chair by the bedroom window where she spent so many days looking outside.

But my dad stayed, and took care of her. Down the road I moved back into his house and helped as well, and there was a period there where my brother was living there. I was so impressed how he never abandoned her, and I'll never forget the night she died, on my first wedding anniversary, how he cried. His raking sobs at her passing will be forever in my memory. There is no doubt in my mind that in spite of their problems he loved my mother deeply.

When I got married, we moved from his house in Glen Ridge to a mother/daughter house in the country, and he took the smaller side. I remember my son Chris and he were very close, with Chris often running over there to pop-pop's side every morning when he got up. Those were some good years with many memories such as Chris and Scott riding on the tractor with him when he cut the grass. No hand mower for the country place!

Then my dad hit a period that I call his third childhood, he asked my X and I to move out because he was going to sell his house, and get a small apartment as he needed more money, and it was going to sell fast. We sold so many of our possessions, including my truck, to do that and ended up in a small house behind Budd Lake where our daughter Danielle was born. It took me a few years to get over the hurt from that time, but, family is family!

Then I relocated for my job, and I saw my dad an average of once a year. His health had started declining somewhat before we moved but he was always as active as he could be. He never did make it out to visit us in the 8 years we were here before he passed. I know he would have loved the Kalamzoo Air Zoo and I had planned to take him there.

I could go on and on, I started this last night in fact....but suffice it to say there was so much more of my dad than what is said below:

Published: Friday, August 15, 2008, 8:35 AM Updated: Friday, August 15, 2008, 8:42 AM

Enrico M. Falco, 84, of Mansfield Township died July 27, 2008 at his home after a long illness. Born Dec. 16, 1923 in Belleville, he was a son of the late Joseph and Angelina Falco.

Mr. Falco lived in Glen Ridge before moving to Mansfield Township 29 years ago. He was retired after many years as a tool and die maker, most recently with Chatham Precision Tools.

He was a member of the Great Meadows Busy Seniors, the Sunshine Club of Blairstown and the seniors club at Ss. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Church in Great Meadows. Mr. Falco was an Army veteran of World War II.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Pauline.

Surviving are his companion of many years, Julia Pirrello; two sons, Rick of Millington and Christopher of Grand Rapids, Mich.; a sister, Kay Testa of Parsippany; and three grandchildren.

A funeral Mass was held Aug. 1 at Ss. Peter & Paul Church. Entombment was at Hollywood Memorial Park, Union.

Tales Of Tails Comic Strips

I did not realize how much I was going to enjoy making the photo comic strips featuring my cat Tails as the main character! I had posted the first few here on my regular blog but decided today at lunchtime to create a separate "Tales Of Tails" blog that would be used solely for these strips.

You can find that blog here!

Please let me know what you think of the strips.

Filmmaker Art Clokey Dies at 88

The headline this post is entitled with brought a bit of sad melancholy to me just now when I read it on-line. My brother and I grew up watching Gumby and Pokey. The full story can be found at this link.

If you've never seen Gumby, click and watch the video below. For our younger viewers it may interest you to know Gumby was the first Claymation style animation, done laboriously a frame at a time.

The Ghosts of Christmas Past

We're in the Holiday season and frankly I'm a bit blue because of it. Since I don't anticipate a lot of posting in the coming weeks other than my Picture Of The Day posts, I thought I'd go into a bit of explanation for those who might wonder why I may seem a bit distant and why I'm not online a lot these days.

Christmas Eve 2000

Growing up we were in the lower middle class bracket. We lived on the second worse street of a pretty affluent town. While we did not want for for simple good food or clothes, though I often wore hand-me-downs, there were not a lot of luxuries because money was always tight. My Dad took a second full time job around the holidays, I found out years later, just so my parents could afford Christmas presents for my brother and I. Christmas as kid, then growing up before and after having my own kids, it was always something special, magical, and just the best of times.

Danielle, Scott, and Chris on Christmas Morning 2000

We started our own tradition with the kids for Christmas. Christmas Eve the three of them would get new pajamas and a Christmas book which we would read a story out of after they we in there new Jammie's before they went to bed.

Starting in 2000 for four years each Christmas I would make and give away on the internet a Christmas Screen Saver for the PC. These took months to create in my spare time. I watched Christmas specials in the middle of July off of video tape and in later years DVDs. I just really loved Christmas.

In fact I truly loved the Holiday season starting with Halloween and stretching through New Years. Since the divorce, it's just not been the same. I don't have the creative spark to do the Screen Savers. Thinking about doing it seems like such a massive effort and before it was effortless. The first holiday season was a real struggle to get through but that year and subsequent years I did my best to try and make the kids holidays happy and I found joy in their happiness. It really refined in me the spirit of giving, and I truly believe it is better to give than to receive. So, most years I've hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner for the kids, the X, and her parents, I give money to charities around the holidays as well which brings the holiday to others. This does make me feel good for those I am helping.

For me though this year, now that the kids are older and have less child-like joy with it, and even my daughter is distancing herself from us, there's not that much magic to be had as I really loved their love of it. Sometimes I think nowadays for them it's an occasion to get some gifts and not much else. January can't come soon enough.

Yes, I know, I'm like Charlie Brown; the only person who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem. Wow, A Charlie Brown Christmas! I love that cartoon! I used to watch that special every year with my brother since it first aired until we moved to Michigan. I watch it every year though.

Anyway, thanks for listening.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

Captain Chris an' Polly, ready t' loot an' pillage!

If ye do nay like seafarin' heartys, ye might as well avast readin' this post! For them o' ye who ben livin' under a rock these past 7 years, take note! Today be International Talk Like A Pirate Day! When I think o' gentleman o' fortunes, I think o' th' romanticized version such as Captain Jack Sparrow. Swashbucklers wi' nay law other than th' Buccanneers Code. I jus' love th' way gentleman o' fortunes speak an' each year on September 19th at work I would drive me mateys crazy, partiularly th' years that I had direct reports as I would expect them t' talk aft t' me like a gentleman o' fortune!

So, I jus' want t' wish sea dogs an' land lubbers a great tide! Dasn't shave or bathe this mornin'! Really embrace th' role! Gather yer mangy crew an' get ou' thar an' drink, loot, an' pillage, gather up all th' dubloon an' booty ye can get yer hands on, all without breakin' any local laws o' course! We wouldna want th' police or the Royal Navy after ye me hearties!!

An' reckon, drink them multiple kegs o' run responsibly, an' dasn't set sail loaded t' th' gunwhales me heartys, or ye could jus' find yersef walkin' th' plank!

To sleep, perchance to dream wildly....

You all know I like to spin off my dreams as real life and then at the end mention it was a dream. Prime examples of this can be read here, and here.

Note though that after last nights nocturnal adventure, there's no way to spin it as a real story because it is just too bizarre! I've not been sleeping well at all since Sunday night due to the pain in my leg after falling and twisting it, and last night while I actually did get a bit more sleep, it was only a couple of hours. To sleep, perchance to dream.....a doozy!

In the dream I am here in my house at the start and it pretty much resembles my house. An EMT and ambulance has arrived, and the EMT himself is sitting on the floor of the hall outside my bedroom door with his kit all laid out as if he expects to be using it, but, he is watching the TV that is on in my bedroom. It seems to be showing nothing in particular just a jumble of incoherent images as though someone is constantly changing channels every second. Looking past the TV to the bedroom windows I see it is sunny and apparently warm outside.

I am carrying a load of wash which must be taken down to the machine in the basement. There is a sense of urgency that this wash must not leave my presence and it is imperative that it be done before the kids get home from school. I am at a loss as to this sense of urgency, but, it has me wanting to get the wash down to the machine in the basement quickly!

For a moment, the TVs mad changing of channels stops on a commercial for laundry detergent! I notice outside the windows now it is dark and stormy, with the rain pouring down and the wind howling to the point of trees bending and thrashing wildly in the gale-like conditions.

Suddenly my x-wife is there asking if I want her to try and sell the dirty laundry at a garage sale she is having. I tell her no, and after remarking that I could have made a pretty penny on this sale, she departs. Tails jumps up on the dresser in my bedroom to watch her go (as she often does in real life watching any one's arrival or departure from her perch) and I notice that outside is now blizzard-like conditions with a least a foot of snow on the ground though the X, seemingly unaffected by the cold, is sporting sun glasses and is dressed in shorts, a t-shirt, and wearing flip-flops! She pulls out of my driveway and zooms away without so much as removing the snow from the windshield of her car.

The urgency of getting the wash done continues to pressure me and I try to get to the machine but no matter where I walk to in the house I keep ending up back in my bedroom. I realize at this point I have a terrible headache (which in all actuality I did have when I went to bed, having had it most of the day. It was one of those throbbing "I have not slept properly in 72 hours" headaches. I begin ransacking the medicine cabinet which is full of medications galore except any analgesics!

I ask the EMT who is still sitting on the floor of my hallway if I can have a Tylenol so I do not have to go to the store with my leg hurting (which up until this point in the dream I was walking around fine). He hems and haws and says as I am not his patient it would be illegal. "Who the hell IS your patient!???" I demand and he simply shrugs his shoulders and returns to playing solitaire with a deck of cards on the floor. Several bottles of Tylenol are now lying visibly by his other equipment.

At this point I eject him from my residence and wonder why he was there at all. Suddenly my daughter is there and she asks me if I am ever going to take the wash to the machine and offers to do it for me. "No!" I tell her. For some reason in the dream the wash is important to me and I do not want to let it out of my hands.

I then start to walk through the house.....suddenly I am walking, without a load of dirty clothes, through a large industrial complex with a girl I used to work with at Smiths Aerospace many years ago back in New Jersey. She was an older woman named Linda(older than me anyway) who was very helpful to me as I established my carer. She passed away before I moved out to Michigan. In the dream this was not remembered by me and it was perfectly natural for me to be walking and talking with her.

"HR is over here, you can take care of your wash there." she said to me. Suddenly I was again carrying the load of dirty laundry and the urgency to get it cleaned was back. In the dream I am perplexed that I would be taking my wash to the HR department! I was also pleased that it looks like it would finally make it to a washing machine.

We enter Human Resources and the inside looks like a cross between my dream-scape and the old HR offices I remember in New Jersey at Smiths almost 10 years ago, but, there are washing machines hidden behind the filing cabinets. As I dump my laundry into one of the machines I turn and say hello to someone who works with me in Michigan in real life calling her by name. "What did you call me?" she says? I look at her again, and her face has changed, subtlety, but changed it has so now she just strongly resembles the person I first saw, but is obviously not her. I explain I though she was someone else, and she winks at me and and whispers conspiratorially "It's OK, I am someone else...in fact if I can tell you a secret, I am really...."

At that moment the door bangs opens and the HR manager from NJ walks in, says hello to me, and goes into her office and closes the door. I turn back to hear the secret but the girl is gone, the washing machine now takes quarters to do a load (of which I have none) and on the washing machine is a cat carrier with a mewling kitten in it!

As I go to open the door of the cat carrier, some guy I have never seen dressed like a maintenance worker says "You don't want to do that, Kitty has claws!". I look at the adorable innocent little kitten and chuckle as I open the door of the cage.

With the speed of a bolt of lightening the cat leaps from the cage and wraps itself around my arm and starts biting and scratching! "Ha ha! Told you so!" this strange guy says as he exits the area. In a mad attempt to free my arm of the biting, clawing, growling ball of fur, I fling my arm hard and the cat goes flying fast towards the concrete wall! I am worried the cat will be hurt, but it flips itself mid-air so it is now facing the walls with all four of its paws, and after landing on them like a coiled spring releasing it launches itself snarling right back at me once again attaching to my arm and attacking it with renewed vigor!

For some reason only my injured leg (which in the dream is not injured) feels the pain, and this is about the only part of the dream I understand.

All of a sudden the kitten and I are sitting in a nice large easy chair in a living room like setting that is still part of this mysterious HR department, and I am scratching her gently as she purrs loudly and relaxes. That's all she needed, I thought, some love!

At that moment some other girl I have never seen comes around the corner with a huge basket of folded laundry wrapped in plastic and announces my wash is done and I owe her 50 dollars in quarters!

I woke up! After doing my morning routine I got the wash together and took it down the the machine. It had been accumulating for a few days, and obviously this must have been bothering me. I nodded to the EMT technician who was sitting on the floor by the washing machine playing solitaire and I woke up!!! A dream within a dream! I can't remember the last time that has happened to me.

After doing my morning routine I got the wash together and took it down the the machine. It had been accumulating for a few days, and obviously this must have been bothering me.

Here's to hoping for a better nights sleep this evening! Thank god the wash is done.....I'll leave the sink full of dirty dishes until tomorrow.......

Remembering 911

Who could ever forget the tragic and horrific events of 911? I know I will never be able to. At least 2,998 victims perished as a result of the cowardly attacks. Direct and indirect costs totaled more than 100 billion dollars.

I was walking past the library at work here in Michigan, and they had rolled a large display to the front windows that showed the Twin Towers burning after the first plane crash. I had a huge lump in my throat and I was shocked beyond belief.

The world was stunned. I had close friends who worked in the Twin Towers...it was days before I found out that they were OK. I can only imagine what others, particularly those who lost a loved one, went through.

Words failed me at the time, but I had to do something to work through the feelings I had afterward. The following link is to a 911 Memorial Windows screen saver I made and gave away shortly after 911. I made this screen saver as both a memorial to those who were affected by the attack, and as a tribute to those who worked selflessly during the aftermath. 911 showed both the lowest level human beings could sink to, and the highest levels of bravery and courage they could attain. I received a lot of feedback from people who downloaded it, and some of the comments were very profound.

911 Memorial Screen Saver (Windows XP and later versions (such as Vista and Windows 7).

Also of interest to you might be The September 11 Digital Archive. From their home page "The September 11 Digital Archive uses electronic media to collect, preserve, and present the history of September 11, 2001 and its aftermath. The Archive contains more than 150,000 digital items, a tally that includes more than 40,000 emails and other electronic communications, more than 40,000 first-hand stories, and more than 15,000 digital images. In September 2003, the Library of Congress accepted the Archive into its collections, an event that both ensured the Archive's long-term preservation and marked the library's first major digital acquisition."

Picture Of The Day - 09/10/09

For those who don't follow me on Facebook, here's the picture of my Birthday Monster Burger. An excellent shot taken with my iPhone if I do say so myself! Note the ice cold Diet Pepsi with a twist of lime was an excellent accompaniment to this taste treat!

Click on this puppy to see it super-sized in a new window!
It should be noted this picture is a higher resolution than the one I posted on Facebook.

September 7th - My 53rd Birthday

Monday I celebrated my 53rd birthday and I had a wonderful weekend filled with few chores, lots of relaxation and I got to spend time with all of my kids.

Monday on my birthday I arose around 8:30 AM and did 2 hours on the exercise bike instead of the usual 90 minutes. Around 2PM we ate at Red Robin and my son Chris and the kids mom and grandparents joined us.

I had a Monster Burger with Bacon and the table shared a tower of onions rings. It was good food and good company. Even the requisite singing of Happy Birthday by the Red Robin staff was endurable.

The kids and I outside of Red Robin when I asked for a nice picture!

Afterward Chris and I watched two of our favorite Buffy The Vampire Slayer episodes; the "Once more with Feeling" Musical and the scary episode Hush. It was great spending time with him and the rest of the family.

The kids and I outside of Red Robin after numerous threats!

As to my favorite present of the day.....it would have to be my kids. They help me keep my life in perspective. Some days I might get a bit sad about lacking some things in my life, such as a significant other, no parents to talk to, or even a larger cash flow. The love of my three wonderful children and the pride and affection I have in them is all I need to put a smile on my face. They are what I am most thankful for on my 53rd birthday. All in all, this was the happiest I have been on my birthday since my divorce, so, it was a very good day for me.

Disclaimer: That's not to say I did not appreciate the gifts I did get, I did! It's just that you can't put a price on something like the love and affection I have for my children.

More Musings on Taylor Ham

I was emailing with a friend earlier today and decided, as it touched on one of my favorite foods which I have talked about here in the past, that I would flesh it out a bit and turn it into a post. We all know that these days I am so totally fixed on things I can't eat. Below is a picture of this food in one of it's many forms:

Warning: I tend to ramble on and on during this post. Continue at your own peril.

I grew up eating a New Jersey food called Taylor Ham. We had it for breakfast in any way you would expect bacon or sausage to be used. Sometimes with bacon or sausage in fact! It's definitely a Jersey thing and I've been eating it for most of my life, though admittedly a lot less since we came to Michigan since you can't get it here.

Shortly after we moved to Michigan in August of 2000 I tried with the local grocer, and Meijer which is a big chain of stores asking them to carry it, but, they ain't never heard of it so they had no interest in doing it. In retrospect almost 9 years later that's probably a good thing.

One of my fondest Taylor Ham moments back in New Jersey was having breakfast at a buffet that a friend used to be the chef for. They had Taylor Ham and not many buffets in New Jersey ever did! Oh my goodness I was in heaven. They also had home-made sausage gravy and biscuits! When he knew I was coming he would cook extra Taylor Ham and slice it thick and thin because he knew the various ways I would eat it and combine it with the other buffet items. I would eat way, way too much of this epicurean delight those Sunday Mornings!

On one of my Taylor Ham running trips back from a visit to friends and family on the east coast, I brought back a large quantity as described below, and I had a series of lunch time events where I invited about 6 people from work to come to my place for lunch, and I made Taylor Ham, Egg, and Cheese sandwiches on a hard roll. The egg and cheese were optional, but, you had to eat the Taylor Ham. So, I turned on about 18 mid-westerners to this delectable treat and they all loved it! I think if Meijer had stocked this, and fried some up and given it out as samples as they often do with new items, they could have made a killing. Their loss!

For those of you reading this that are not in the New Jersey area and want to try Taylor Ham, fear not! If you look on the right side of my blog I have a link to Jersey Pork Roll, a web site run by a Jersey Girl where I used to have Taylor Ham shipped to Michigan from. I even bought a slicer so I could buy the 9 pound one and slice it up! Their service is excellent and I can recommend it personally.

As mentioned previously my consumption has dropped since moving to Michigan. This is not a bad thing considering my Lifestyle Modification. I have not had Taylor Ham since last summer when I went to Jersey for my Dad's funeral.

I won't be having it in the near future either! With my caloric guidelines I could get away with it on a Sunday or even thinly sliced as a dinner meal during the week with some Eggbeaters. But I would not be able to consume enough of it to make the high price of shipping out here worthwhile. Plus, it's one of those rare things I have little willpower with. If it's in da house, I'm eating it!

Willpower is a funny thing! There are so many delectable things I see at the store while shopping. Things that I used to enjoy on a regular basis. Things I miss. Things I want. Things that if they were in my home, I know I would eat them! So, I simply do not buy them. Weird huh? I never bring them home, so they do not tempt me here, but I know if they were here I would not resist their siren call!

Back to the subject of willpower. Perhaps the thoughts of myself falling on top of 20 bags of chips at the store in a veritable feeding frenzy, followed by the panicked screams of children, large muscled security people beating me as they eject me from the store, and the inevitable blitz of media coverage is what keeps me in check while I am out in public. I do not know for sure.

In subsequent trips back to NJ (except for last year) I would take a cooler with me. My brother and I would hit the Pathmark and ShopRite stores by him and I would buy up to 15 3 pound Taylor Hams. We would put them in the freezer for a couple of days before departing back to Michigan, then put them in the cooler and cover them with ice. Of course I would by more than 15! We would have to consume some! Pretty much every morning my brother and I would start the day with Taylor Ham, Egg, and Cheese on a multi-grain English muffin. One summer, we invented the Taylor Hamburger. This was a 1/4 pound burger, which then had a cooked thick slice of Taylor Ham placed atop it, and this was then covered with cheese! Delicious! And of course oh so bad for you!

Anyway, when running Taylor Ham back from NJ to MI, they made the 11.5 hour trip back to Michigan where they were then consumer over the year. SO MUCH cheaper than having it shipped! And of course the slicer worked fine on the 3 pound ones as well. Thin sliced or thick, depending on the way it is being served. Back in 2006 I even made Mac Cheese with diced grilled Taylor Ham in it. So, so, good!

Whenever family was coming to visit from New Jersey, or whenever the X's folks (after they moved to Michigan) were going back east, I'd beg them to bring Taylor Ham for me with them. To heck with Pride, Taylor Ham is just that good! It's been a life long affair and one I hope to continue down the road but less aggressively.

I am sure I will be at a point in time where I can enjoy some of my favorite guilty pleasures, such as White Castle cheeseburgers (or rats as we called them) and Taylor Ham, served any way you can think of!

Recipe:Pasta with Chicken, mushrooms,and shallots with a saffronsauce reduction

I've been on my Lifestyle Modification plan for 99 days now, and Sunday I was just really, really craving some pasta! I've not had any in over three months and being Italian I figured I must be breaking some law somewhere in Italy!

Since on Sundays I get to have 500 calories for my main meal instead of the 300 I do for other days of the week, I decided I must have some pasta. Thanks to a show I saw last week on the Food Network with Bobby Flay, I decided it had to be flavored with saffron. This is also the first time I've used shallots in a recipe. And David, they were Christopher Ranch shallots.

I made the following dish which turned out so good I had to share the recipe. A lot of times when I post a recipe here, it is the second, third, or even fourth attempt because I won't post a recipe unless I think it tastes great enough to share. In this case, I hit "killer!" on the first try.

Note cooking the pasta in water & chicken broth along with saffron adds excellent coloring and flavor to the pasta. Reducing the liquid by cooking off the water, combined with adding the pasta before it is fully cooked, provides enough starch to make a light sauce that clings to the pasta. Figuring most of you have significant others, unlike myself, I adjusted the recipe below to allow two servings instead of the single portion I made yesterday which is pictured below:

Recipe: Pasta with Chicken, mushrooms, and shallots with a saffron sauce reduction
Serves: 2
Calories per serving: about 350
Nutrition info: very low in fat and sodium

Ingredients:
2 large shallots thinly sliced
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
.2 grams Saffron Threads
16 ounces low sodium chicken broth
8 ounces boneless skinless Chicken Breast
4 ounces Dreamfields Rotini pasta
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter No Calorie Pump Spray
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Chopped chives to taste

Preparation:
Combine 1 cup of chicken broth, half of saffron threads, and 3 cups of water in a pot and bring to boil. Once water is boiling add pasta to water and cook for 8 minutes. When completed, drain pasta and return to covered to pot to keep warm. Note pasta should be yellow in color from the saffron.

While water is heating spray bottom of frying pan with PAM and add shallots and chicken, cooking for several minutes while stirring shallots once a minute until chicken is browned on one side. Turn chicken, stir shallots, and add 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms to pan along with remaining 8 ounces of chicken broth and saffron threads. Bring to simmer and cover over low flame until pasta is finished, about 5 minutes.

Remove lid and break apart chicken with spatula. Sprinkle lightly with freshly ground black pepper. Add pasta and stir to combine. Cook covered so mixture simmers for 5 minutes. Remove lid and slightly increase heat until mixture returns to simmering. Stir every minute until liquid has thickened (another 5-10 minutes.)

Lightly spray surface of frying pan contents with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray and stir. Remove from heat and place food on serving platter, sprinkle with chopped chives, serve and enjoy!

Recipe - Falco's Fire Sauce

It's been quite a while since I posted a recipe here. Using the ingredients shown in the picture below, I actually measured everything today while I whipped up a batch of this, though I've been making this sauce for over a month now.

This zesty sauce can be used as a marinate, barbecue sauce, or condiment. I use it on hot dogs both as a catchup replacement, or brushing the dogs with it before grilling. It's really great with vegetables too. I often toss veggies with it, and fry them on the stove with eggbeaters as a spicy garden omelet. It's as tasty with seafood as it is with any kind of meat. I've even brushed it on corn on the cob and then grilled the corn. While this recipe has heat, cooking mitigates a good portion of this. For those with limited tolerance for hot foods, you probably do not want to use this uncooked as I often do.

WARNING! Use caution when preparing this recipe and handling habenro peppers and other spicy ingredients! Afterward make sure you wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water. Rubbing your eyes after de-seeding a Habenaro pepper can be quite the unforgettable experience! Use caution when removing the lid of the blender after blending. The fumes arising from the blender can be irritating to the eyes and throat (makes your mouth water for some of this, don't it??). No kidding here! Th first time I made this I followed the chef's instinct to take the lid off the blander and smell my creation. BIG mistake! My eyes watered profusely, my throat almost clogged shut, and I coughed for an hour afterward. I also rubbed my tearing eyes with the hands that had been rinsed in water......it...was......memorable!! Ingredients: 1 7 oz jar Conimex Sambal Oelek (It must be this brand) 1 7 oz can Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce (I use Embassa brand usually) 1/2 cup red wine vinegar 1 cup water 1 cup Splenda 2 tbs curry powder 2 tbs paprika 2 tbs onion powder 1 tbs cumin 2 Habenaro peppers (seeds in or out; in makes it spicier!) 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper (only 1 tsp; don't want to make it too spicy!) 1/2 cup roasted garlic cloves Juice from one lime Note: Those not concerned about sugar or calories can substitute 1/2 to 3/4 cup of honey for the Splenda. Preparation: In a blender add the jar of Sambal Oelek, the habaneros, the can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, the red wine vinegar, the Habenaros, and 1/4 cup of water. COVER! Blend on liquefy or puree until smooth. Wait a minute or two before carefully removing cover, as mentioned above the fumes of this first blend can be most powerful! Seriously! Add remaining ingredients and again blend until smooth. Keeps for about 8 days in the fridge, I sometimes split the batch and put half in a freezer storage bag and freeze for up to a month. ENJOY!!

On the road again.....

Scott spent the week at the Illinois Institute of Art — Schaumburg which is located in Suburban Chicago. His Mom took him down Monday night as he was on the chaperoned program where they put the students up at a local hotel and their time off campus is closely controlled but fun.

For example, one night they went to one of these large arcade places that features a multitude of games and activities, another night they had the Second City Comedy troupe come in and do an improve session with the kids. There is a very large mall close to the school and one night the kids were all let loose there where they had dinner and shopped. So, in addition to learning, there was lots of fun.

Scott, as those who read my blog know, is major artistically talented and he plans to use this talent in the real world. The Illinois Institute of Art is where he wants to go to school after he graduates high school next year, so, the fact that they were offering the program was a great chance for him to go down and experience the school first hand.

Yesterday was open house, where the parents were invited to attend a presentation at the school, and a showcasing of the kids works. They also wanted us to take our kids home afterward; imagine that!

So, the X and I headed down in our cars as she had business out of state the next day and was going to head that way after the function at the school.

I arose at 5:30 AM (On my Saturday off no less!), did my exercises with my dumbbells, got ready, and was out the door at 6:45. No sooner did I pass the City of Grand Rapids, did I see a familiar vehicle approaching from the rear. I saw this as it came up to pass:


Of course it was the X, or Racer X as I like to call her when she is driving. For those of you not familiar with "Speed Racer", Racer X was a character in the series.....so you can now see my clever turn of the phrase regarding the X! Below are some shots of the road I took while driving.




The X and I chatted on the cell phone for about20 minutes and I decided that the easiest thing to do would be to follow her even though I had a GPS and printed directions. We also chatted a couple of other times as well about Scott, Danielle, and other things. The hands free setup I have in the Mustang is very cool when you need to talk on the phone! If music is playing, either off the radio, or via the iPhone, which can stream music to the car stereo wirelessly, the music is stopped and the call comes over the car stereo speakers. There is a microphone I installed up in the headliner which picks up my voice. After the call, the music resumes.

So, since she knew the way thus began three hours of an exciting real time racing game! The speed limit in Michigan is about 70 and her speed was averaging about 77 while in state; reserved for her, but perhaps it was the vicarious presence of police cars. Her driving experience here paid off, at one point of the journey I had only seen one police car, she had seen three! Chasing her across three states as she weaved in an out of traffic at times was quite challenging!

Friends had advised that even on a weekend the portion of the trip through Chicago itself could be fraught with delays, but the X remarked later that was the first time she ever made it through that area so quickly. We barely took 3 hours and 15 minutes to make it to the school which is about 15 minutes past Chicago itself. We made a brief rest stop about 10 minutes from the school, and then because we had made such good time and were almost an hour early, the X texted Scott who was still at the hotel. We headed over to pick him up and sign him out, collecting his luggage from the room where they had consolidated all the students possessions. This would be a real time saver later when most of the visiting parents would have to go from the campus back to the hotel. I'll bet it was quite crowded and I was glad we did not have to do that.

After visiting and meeting some of his new friends, we left him there and headed over to the school as he wanted to ride the bus from the hotel with his classmates. Below is an exterior shot of the school, a display inside, and some student artwork.




We signed in at the the Illinois Institute of Art, and were ushered upstairs for the torture phase a few minutes after 10 AM. Torture because the room we were in was facing the sun and the AC was failing miserably at keeping the room, which was packed like sardines with the parents of students in the summer program, cool. It has to be at least 90 degrees. A chirpy, high energy admissions person was there and seemed, by the volume and copious amounts of verbage issuing forth from her in a never-ending stream, to be unaffected by the heat. She assured us later in the presentation that no way were the classrooms overcrowded like this for the students.

Finally the presentation started with an overview of the past week's program, which centered around an all girl band at the school. The kids all had to do things around this, such as photography, videos, conception drawings and posters, costume design, etc. Scott's group, and I am not sure how this related, designed levels for the popular Unreal game and also did video capture of the band. After this, we were given an overview of the schools degree programs and costs. The tuition was surprisingly affordable but housing costs were ridiculous! Four students share a two bedroom apartment for $800/month per student. We talked to one of the locals there who said his son and three friends rented a much nicer place for $1700/month, split 4 ways that's less than half the cost of the schools housing which does not include food or transportation to/from campus.

The sales pitch over we did a quick walking tour of the school which also featured the adventure of the elevator that would not work. After again wanting to emulate a tin of sardines with us overheated parents they crammed us into this one elevator that would not work. In fact, it dropped a few inches much to the screaming delight of the passengers! Now they wanted us to march up the stairs to the fifth floor. Fortunately by the time we would have to have headed up another elevator arrived in a different shaft that got us upstairs. I was glad not having to walk up multiple flights of stairs in that heat!

We took a look at some of the other projects and at Scott's work. Some shots of the Unreal levels he worked on are shown below:




Scott began saying goodbye to his friends, exchanging hugs with all of them. Scott explained to me later he had been adopted like 'the little brother' of the summer program, and the girls thought he was cute the way he got flustered when they paid him any attention. This is not a bad thing I explained to him! I have never had that problem in my life, nor could I see it as a problem!!

We started back home. I had him ride with his mom since she would be out of state for several days and we stopped at the same rest place she and I had hit earlier. Scott knew there was a Panda Express there and was coveting noodly Chinese food goodness! I fueled up the car and met them inside, and Scott had to settle for KFC as there were no noodle dishes that day at Panda Express. I bought him and his mom, pictured below, lunch and watched them eat.


It was not until this second visit that I realized that the food court and facilities were actually perched across the highway so it could be accessed from wither the East or West bound highway. This view out the food court window showed me this clever arrangement:


On the way out Scott announced he was still hungry so I got him some Cinnamon sugar coated pretzel sticks from Auntie Anne's. The X, Scott, and I said our goodbyes and headed back home. A Taste of Chicago was going on in the city and I missed the express lanes going back through Chicago so I got stuck in some minor traffic but nothing too terrible. The trip back though did take just over three and a half hours. Scott napped most of the way, though we talked a bit. He did like the school and the programs and does want to go there in 2010.

The X, who had zoomed past us at one point, phoned a couple of times with traffic reports and help hints on how to make sure to avoid them and get home which I thought was nice of her. I was happy it was a nice day for driving and bad weather did not impact the journey! The Mustang and I do enjoy a nice cruise, and other than the area going through Chicago it was a nice drive for most of the distance.

One thing that really freaked me about about the trip home was I discovered an interesting fact in Indiana about 25 minutes from the Michigan border. There were a number of pulled over cars (speeders I guess as the speed limit in Indiana and Illinois was 55). At first I thought the police had been on the attack of those owners of Mustang GT cars until I realized they were unmarked police cars! How clever! How evil! How sneaky! Who would suspect a nice looking Mustang GT to be an unmarked police car!!!

We arrived home around 4:30. I unloaded the car, turned on the AC as Danielle had left 5 hours earlier with her grandparents and left the 50" plasma display and receiver on. In a closed room they produce a goodly amount of heat! After about 30 minutes I climbed onto the exercise bike. In the first few minutes I was certain I would never be able to finish my 75 minute work out, but I did and in fact went on to do 90 minutes and 2.5 miles extra! Today, I am also dreading my exercise session which will commence shortly. (A footnote here, I did an bit of an extra workout, but only an extra mile or so.)

Danielle's grandparents dropped her off in the middle of my exercise session, I explained I could not talk too much while exercising as I set a pretty strenuous pace after the first few minutes of warm up. Mom expressed some concern over the extent of my exercising (A session on the exercise bike literally soaks my entire shirt with sweat) and I assured her so long as I stayed in my target heart rate range, I was OK.

Danielle was heading over to a sleep over so I barely got to see her. I ordered Scott a sandwich from Jimmy John's. Just like the last time I ordered they lost the order and claimed a problem with their on-line system. I mentioned to the driver this was the second order in a row this happened to; was this going to be the norm. He stated he could not help me as he was just a driver, so, I went online and wrote a complaint to the home office of Jimmy John's. We'll see if anything comes of that.

Scott's friend Greg came over a bit after 8 so I amused myself largely with TV until I retired around midnight. In spite of my early rising and extra exercise when I got back home, I did not sleep well for some reason. I did get a nice nap though between 6 AM and 9 AM.

Friday

So, the kids and I ended going off to Ming 10 and had an excellent lunch. The place was packed! We've been there many times and at all hours and never have I seen such a crowd. We were placed in the furthest section away form the food. Because there was so much traffic the food was constantly being replenished and never had a chance to sit for long so everything was wonderfully fresh.

After a thoroughly delicious repast eating stoutly like trenchermen, we headed out. We stopped at the Meijer that is adjacent to the complex that Ming 10 inhabits as my good friend Brian told me that his wife Carrie had found Dreamfield pasta there. This was good news because after the local grocer by my house stopped carrying it (they replaced it with disgusting gritty stone ground whole wheat pasta) I had been reduced to mail order to keep it on hand. Dreamfield uses a unique method to encapsulate most of the carbohydrates in the pasta so out of a normal serving which contains 40 grams of carbs, only five are digested. And it looks and tastes like regular pasta. Being a diabetic, Dreamfield pasta is something that lets me enjoy pasta without my blood sugar being affected!

They did indeed have it, so I picked up a few boxes, a roll of electrical tape, some cat treats, and a pair of wire cutters. Thursday after I got home from work Scott seeing the portion of the dash from the Mustang that contains the cigarette lighter was spurred into action and wanted to install the radio I bought for his car last September! I could not find my wire cutters so a new pair was needed.

We had gotten as far as we could Thursday having removed the old radio and gotten together everything we needed for the installation of the new.

Returning home I began working on the wiring harness that would mate the new radio into the existing wiring. I had bought the radio from Crutchfield and they sell a kit that makes the radio, which was a totally different size, fit like it was custom made int he dash of the car. They also give you a wiring harness that mates with the existing one in the car and that is wired to the new hardness. This requires some time as you have to solder and then tape each connection which I did. here's a picture of my work area:

So, after about two hours work all total I had the harness made, we got everything plugged in and the adapter faceplate would not mate with the holes in the dash of his car! A quick inspection showed I had put the new radio in upside down so I turned the bracket 180 degrees, and got everything connected. We turned it on and nothing came out of the radio except static, the same symptom of the broken radio! Scott was distressed because the person we got the car from said it was a bad radio. I checked the connections int he trunk to the antenna and they were fine, so, I pulled the radio out to find the antenna connection had slipped out! We got that firmly in place and Scott, with the radio playing, carefully put all the screws back in the pieces of his dashboard he had removed.

He headed out with his friends, and Danielle and I watched TV while snacking on some popcorn samples that had been delivered. Scott and Steve showed up a bit later and played Left 4 Dead here awhile before heading out to meet up with more friends. I dropped her off at her Mom's house around 6 PM and then Tails and I spent a very quiet evening watching TV and puttering on the computer. I retired around 1 AM.

Early Morning Music Musings

One of my all time favorite albums is Pink Floyd's Dark side of the Moon, which, incidentally is the third best selling album of all time. This came out in 1973 and I was a sophomore in Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey. I've seen Pink Floyd live twice, attending the Animals and The Wall concerts. I still have the program from The Wall concert. The Animals one, for reasons I will not go into here, was lost the evening of the concert. There is quite the story around that though, but at least one of my children read this blog on occasion. Perhaps I've already said too much.

As usual, I digress from the task at hand which is to blog about my early morning experience! I awoke at 3 AM this day, and after visiting the bathroom could not get back to sleep. After 30 minutes of trying I decided to listen to some quiet music via my MP3 player in the hopes it would relax me enough to fall back to sleep.

While I have listened to this album many times since I lived in my parents house in 1973, it has been many, many years since I listened to it with headphones as I often did while living with my folks. I did this for two reasons, it sounded better (I could afford a decent set of headphones verses a decent set of speakers), and it prevented that shout of "Turn down that damn noise!" from the bottom of the stairs leading up to my room.

On one wall of my room, which was painted a dark blue that was neutral to black light, I had in red black light paint, written the words to the song Time from this album. When the black lights in the room were on at night the letters seemed to just float in the air as the walls reflected none of the black light....it was very cool. Obviously I really like Pink Floyd and have for many years.

Listening this morning I was reminded that you absolutely need the headphones to truly appreciate the nuances of this album! Many studies have been done linking things to memory triggers. Smell, sound, sight, music being sound is a good memory trigger. The fact that I listed with headphones really brought this fact home to me as I had a real experience in this area this morning.

As I was listening to the songs Breathe, Time, and The Great Gig in the Sky, I was anticipating subtle notes, effects, and vocals seconds before they happened. These were ones you had to have the headphones (or ear buds in this case, a good pair of Skull Candy ones) to really pick out.

While I had not heard them probably since living in my parents house over 35 years ago, here I was remembering them before they occurred during this morning's listening.

THEN at one point, in the dark with my eyes closed, I actually felt like I was in the room at my parents house! I could feel the room grow larger.... see, in my minds eye in great detail with my eyes closed the layout of the room, sense the words of Time on the wall. If I reached out with my left hand, instead of hitting the wall in my Michigan bedroom I felt I would have encountered the doorknob to my old bedroom, I almost felt if I opened my eyes I might be back there.

It was quite the moving and enjoyable experience, and after listening to these three songs I was able to go back to sleep where I had a very vivid dream totally unrelated to the music!

Now, remembering this as I type it during lunch, I still feel the power of the experience and wonder....what would have happened if I had opened my eyes while feeling like I was back in my house on Washington Street in Glen Ridge......

Yes, of course I would have seen my tiny bedroom here in Michigan....but it is nice to dream once in awhile, is it not? To be back in the past 30 some years ago, to have my parents both alive again, to once again taste my Mom's home cooking.......ah!


Interesting footnote about my old bedroom, in addition to the words of Time on one wall, one of my friends, Dean Peterson had painted a large flaming Lynyrd Skynyrd (another group I saw live in concert) on one wall. I also had a few very good black light posters. Again in colors that could not be seen by the naked eye in daylight accented of certain areas in the room, such as window trim. On the ceiling, I had stars and such celestial objects painted in black light paint. The color of the ceiling and the stars was such that during the day with regular lighting you did not see them, when the black lights came on.....it was amazing. I spent a lot of time on that ceiling and friends often brought friends to see it, it was quite the experience. to come into the room, and have the black lights go on....and the stars come out. Even my parents were amazed by this, though of course my dad had to comment how there had to be a better use of my time......that was my dad!

Random Weekend Thoughts

The past weekend while in the 40's was raining, violently in some cases with very loud thunder.

Danielle had her boyfriend (yes boyfriend!) Jason over....that begs a discussion on the subject of my 14 year old daughter dating.

Evidently her ages definition of dating is someone you spend time with hold hands with but have no other physical contact with, such as hugging, kissing, etc. Sure different from my definition since my X and I would not permit the latter with our daughter only being 14. So, for now she has a boyfriend, who seems very nice and we share some interests in the technology space which is good and playing video games. Danielle has been told that if this progresses any further it will be over......but for now I am content for them to spend time in public places like the mall or in my house or the X's.... As his foster mom will not drive him anywhere on the weekends, I have to transport him him to and from here and the mall and such to his house.

Danielle and I watched The Golden Compass Sunday night when my 17 year old son went to the movies with a 21 year old gal pal......(yes, a 21 year old girl!). I had a bit of a conversation with Scott as to how his girlfriend, who is his age, would feel about this. He said she would be OK with it, I implied he has a lot to learn about women....though she could be one of the rare ones who would be OK with this. I often had issues with the X having lots of male friends at assorted points in our relationship. I pretty much did not worry after we were married.

The kids and I watched a lot of The Critic episodes over the weekend and played Left 4 Dead alone and together.

I spent considerable time making sure all data was moved from my old HTPC to the new one, and I even played some Left 4 Dead on the new PC which sports better graphics than the xbox 360! Whoo Hoo!!

Other than hurting my back tripping on the basement stairs Sunday night when putting kitty to bed, nothing else major went on over the weekend.

A Very Nice Weekend

Sorry for the lack of posts, been tied up with new system working a couple of issues, so that's been taking most of my free time, or playing Left 4 Dead with the kids, or watching TV with them, and frankly how many times do you really want to read about that???

SO, this past weekend.....normally Scott and Danielle would have gone back to their Mom's house Friday evening but she was traveling so I had them until Saturday. We had planned on watching the new Futurama movie Friday night but Scott had plans with his friends. I picked up Danielle at school after video game club and we stopped at Pizza Hut on the way back home. Scott dislikes Pizza Hut but Danielle and really I enjoy their stuffed crust pizza. and had not had it in ages. I ordered the pizza to go as she did not want to eat in. I returned to the car where Danielle was talking on her phone and we got into an amusing back and forth while she was talking. I returned to the interior of Pizza Hut, nabbed our Pizza and we enjoyed it while watching Ugly Betty. We played some Left 4 Dead and then each spent time on our computers. Scott came home around 10:30 and we watched a couple of The Critic episodes off of DVD before retiring.

Saturday after getting up, riding the exercise bike, and doing some house cleaning, I took Danielle to pick up her friend Jason, and we came back to the house. I ordered us lunch from Jimmy John's, and we settled in to watch watch the new Futurama movie Into the Wild Green Yonder. This is the fourth of four direct to DVD movies planned for the series which was canceled awhile back. There are no definite plans for another but fans can check out the link above for some possibilities going forward.

Saturday was my friend Suresh's 40th birthday so I sent an e-card and an Amazon gift Certificate. Turning 40 is a noteworthy occasion! I used to work with Suresh and the X and I were very close with him and his wife Indu.

A phone call from the road told me the X was close to home, and as I knew she had back pain and was tired from traveling, after Danielle and I dropped Jason off I ordered food from China Garden for the three of them, and picked it up on the way to dropping off Danielle at the X's house.

I spent the remainder of the evening with Tails watching TV and working on the new computer. I had not realized how much data and programs I had to transfer. This is a good opportunity to clean house somewhat so the transfer process may take several weeks of my free time.

Sunday I went out at 8:30 after getting up to shop for dinner. I went to Forest Hills Foods and bought what I needed to make homemade spaghetti sauce with sausage, meatballs, and pepperoni, as well as a loaf of Italian bread and the ingredients to make Garlic Butter.

I made the sauce and meatballs and had everything simmering by 1 PM for a planned dinner time of 5 PM. That also allowed about 4 hours for the garlic butter to pickup the flavors from the fresh garlic and spices I used.

Scott showed up around 3 PM wanting to spend some extra time with me and we played Left 4 Dead on expert level and got all the way the the finale. We failed three times and I had to get cleaned up and finish dinner, but we still had an awesome time, yelling and screaming when failed to get to the end of a level by a hairs breadth. It was a lot of fun.

Dinner was awesome! I had tried a radical variation on my meatball recipe and it was great! I think one or two more tweaks and I will have achieved meatball nirvana! After eating and cleanup the X, Danielle, and I watched Meet Dave which was an awesome movie. I was in bed early at 10 PM as I've been trying to get more sleep lately (though I ended up having a very restless nights sleep for some reason.

Back to Work

Well. several cans of Diet Coke with Bacon later I was well enough to come into work this morning. Though if Tails had not taken my RSA SecurID Token and dropped it down the furnace vent, I would have worked from home today. Over the weekend I had logged in, and then when I stood up I dropped the token. Tails, hearing it hit the floor came out of nowhere and started batting it around the wood floors. Thinking nothing of this I took my time closing in on her until it came to rest, tapped, between two slats of the vent leading down to the furnace!

Have you ever tried to race a cat! YOU WILL LOSE! She pounced at it and slammed it through. For a few seconds I head plunk plunk plunking noises as it fell, then a noise that sounded suspiciously like RSA SecurID Token meets spinning furnace blower blades!

Tails thinks this is a toy!

Thanks Tails! I hope to have a new token in a few days. I could have worked from home gtoday uilt free after the past two days intestinal woes I encountered. I was so sick yesterday, when the parts for my new computer arrived it was all I could do to put the box on the dining room table. There it sits, unopened, and I do not envision working on it this evening either!

Scott made my day Tuesday, he offered to come over and keep me company, but as I was spending way too much time in the bathroom, I declined, though I told him yesterday how much I appreciated it. Tails did keep me company though, napping on me most of the day as I tried to rest and recuperate. To her credit she did not take and drop my keys down the furnace vent!

Other than that Sunday two Sundays ago the weather has returned to cold and nasty. Some areas near hear are seeing much lake effect snow, but we are not, though it is barely 20 and it will be even colder tomorrow through the week end. next chance for temps above freezing is next week.