the latest in entertainment technology

I don't think I agree that the movies in 3D are actually 3 dimensional. They are more 3 dimenensional than a 2d movie but what is considered 2D in today's market actually a little bit 3 dimensional if you really look at them. The whole thing kind of buying a really expensive audiophile sterio system. You could spend $80,000 and get a really great recreation of live performances or you could actually just go out and see live music. But at the same time a top quality system like that can really be something to enjoy. If you really want true 3D, then just go to a play. And please, No talking, textng, or kicking the seat in front of you during the show. Do you really think the people in front of you can't feel that. Do you really need attention that bad?

Golden moments in Snowboard History

Yes. Hello. I am doing fine and so forth. How are you?

Of course nobody really wants to know how you really are. It is sort of a strange custom. Just like shaking hands. I do it just like everybody else but there are some people that I would rather not shake hands with but the problem is that I don't know specifically which ones. Some foks just don't wash thier hands after going to the bathroom and how am I supposed to know if they just sneezed in thier hand 2 minutes ago? Why can't we just give each other a friendly wave. I am OK with the fist bump but it is too confusing to know when someone else is going to know. First they stick out thier hand when you offer the bump and then you switch to a handshake and they throw the bump. It is just too akward.

Speaking of sneezing, I did happen to catch Shaun White and the rest of the Olympic Snowboarders in the medal competition the other night. The only way he was going to lose is if he fell down in both runs. They took the best score from eather run so that is what it would have taken. He really is a talented guy and I wish him the best. Congratultions Shaun! Thanks for winning a Gold Medal for yourself and the USA.

As far as the next topic, That isn't quite ironed out yet. I could talk about all kinds of things. I am good like that. Pick any subject. OK fine, I will talk about popcorn.

I like cooking popcorn the old fashioned way. I actually enjoy standing there and shaking the pan in anticipation. It seems like it takes for ever for the first couple of pops and then all of the sudden it is pure rock and roll. Kids today wouldn't understand but Jiffy Pop was alot more fun than microwave popcorn.

Now you are getting a little too curious about what I will say next and it is creeping me out.

Bye

instructions not included

I don't understand why it is supposed to sound like a better deal if I got to mail in a form and then never get my money even if I do. I generally don't buy things with mail in rebates.

I tried to sign up for a better internet connection and they want to add about $100 to my next bill and then mail me a rebate form that I can mail in and get my $100 back. It sure doesn't sound like anything they would put on a commercial.

That has to be a great job working at the Mail-in Rebate Processing Center. No pressure at all.

I don't know how old I was when I first saw the Beatles film "Help" on TV. They had this one scene where the Beatles walked into thier home. There were 4 separate doors going in to what looked like 4 separate apartments and when they got inside, it was one big place separated in to 4 individual spaces. However old I was when I saw it, I kinda knew they didn't really live exactly like that but I liked beleiving it anyway. Kinda like when you get just a little too old to really in Santa Clause but you keep it going in your mind because it is so damn fun. I am sure I covered that before so back to the 4 lads from Liverpool.

It is almost sad to listen to who play music that are about my age when they talk about thier musical influences. It always sounds like cliche. The Beatles are a standard influence. Just like Stevie Ray for people who played blues music but it is a fact that both the Beatles and Stevie Ray influenced quite a few people and also the reason that many people took up music as a hobby or somthing to do. Certain performers just have a way of reaching out to people. Thier lyrics and songs and thier entire personality seems to be able to strike a chord and thier fans felt like they personally knew them.

The Beatles were all equally important in my mind when it comes to actually making up who the Beatles were. Even the drummer. Ringo's personality as well as his excellent drumming skills were key ingredients. He wasn't the kind of drummer that would play the best drum solo but He had the knack for getting the right beat and creating the right sound. John Lennon was always the Beatle that struck a chord with me the most. Even with his solo career. All the songs weren't necessarily commerically great but at the same time he was John Lennon and it didn't matter.

If I am lucky I will never meet Jack White from the White Stripes. To me he is just one of those types of performers. His approach to everything is really cool. I like the way he is able to mix all types of music into his own garage band style & he can do it with just him and a drummer. Not to take away from the Drummer. Meg is just as important to the White Stripes Sound as Ringo was to the Beatles. It might have been a cool jam session but Buddy Rich could not do what Meg White does. It is almost like she is figuring it out as she goes along but gets it right. The White Stripes do pay homage to the original blues artists and they seem to "get" where they were coming from.

The reason that I wouldn't want to meet the White Stripes is because I would would be a starstruck idiot and sound like every other fan and I would then have the memory of knowing I was a pain in the ass to meet. Why the hell would they want to meet me anyway? They got people lined up just waiting to meet them in every city. I imagine they get sick of all the people with back stage passes hanging around thier neck. Not that they don't appreciate thier fans but after a while, I am sure it feels like you have met enough people to run for president.

If you are having trouble followng my train of thought then "welcome to my nightmare". Actually I did wake up pretty early but I fell asleep early also. Do you really need to know that? Why are you reading these personal details? It makes no sense at all. It is Sunday Morning and you should be standing on your driveway waiting for the Newspaper to get delivered so you can read all about the Superbowl. You better make sure to read all that sports fluff before the game because once they play the game, it will be done. Personally, I don't care too much about the SuperBowl this year. My team was the Texans and they didn't make it. Who knows? Maybe it will actually be a good game.

Now go back to sleep!

Copyright / Tradmark - one man electric blues band

OK,

I just did a google search of the term "One Man Electric Blues Band" and I found another dude is using the same name for his music act. I know this wouldn't bother most people but most people didn't put all the time and effort into the creation of the "one man electric blues band". Also, "other people" didn't work as the equipment manager for Marc Twyman's One Man Electric Blues Band.

It is actually something I copyrighted in 2005 and I have a digital time stamp showing that I used the term much earlier than that also. It is a trademark that I have established on the world wide web and is unique to me.

Used to be that if I googled "one man electric blues band", I was the only one who came up as an exact hit.

I am not as upset about it as the bass player (my left toe). It it was just up to me, I would let it go but I really don't think the rest of the band will feel the same way.

Not from the Shrimp's persective

Hola, Aloha, and Como Estas?


I just cooked some shrimp and they came out right.

Back sometime around 1984, I got the idea that I wanted to open a Seafood Restaurant. I worked for a short time at several different Seafood Restaurants and I started making a book of Recipes based on things I learned at each kitchen. I had recipes for Fried and Broiled Fish, Shrimp, Oysters and also the various ways to prepare and serve King Crab, snow Crap, soft shell Crab, Blue Crab, Dungeonous Crab, Crab Claws, Detliff Crab and more. I had a good recipe for Seafood Gumbo and also Clam Chowder. I determined which place had the best way of cooking French Fries, onion rings, and also baked potatoes. Then at some point a very dear friend to me decided that they would help me by offering me a job so I kind of lost my direction with the Restaruant idea. One thing I did learn about restaurants is that the owner has to be there all the time in order to watch the way customers are treated, food is prepared, and also make sure that food is not walking out the back door to feed the employees and thier friends. It is a real art to keeping food cost down. It costs money to throw away food also.


Fast forward to today:

I decided to cook some Fried Shrimp and I used the same basic recipe as a place called the "Crazy Crab". They have long since gone out of business but were located in the Westwood Mall area in Southwest Houston. Thier philosopy was to not put spices in the breading or on the shrimp but instead to have all the spice be contained in the "Cocktail Sauce".


Start out with Fresh Shrimp (if possible) but frozen will work.

Butterfly the shrimp and then after rinsing with water,

drop them into a bowl of flour.

After that dip them into milk/egg wash(Just mix an egg into a small bowl of milk),

Then coat them with Cracker Crumbs. It takes a little work to crunch up the saltine crackers (i used unsalted) Use something like a pie or layer cake baking pan and press then place the shrimp on top of cracker crumbs and then drop a handful of the cracker crumbs on top of the shrimp also. Press them down to make the crumbs stick but not hard enough to deform the shrimp too much.

Once you have all the shrimp prepared for frying, Then fry them in some cooking oil that is hot enough but not too hot. You want them to be golden brown and it is a good Idea to put enough oil in the frying pan that the shrimp will be submerged.

Then serve them with some good cotail sauce.

We ate ours with some green beans and microwave baked potatoes. It works better in the real oven but just clean some taters, punch holes in them with a fork (about 4 or 5 stabs) so they don't split and then coat them with olive oil.


I also have some dieting tips but I will share them in another post at a time of my choosing.


Rock Onward

Relgion vs Darwin???

I understand that back when people thought the earth was flat it would have been considered herecy to say the world was round.

Personally, I think Ben Franlin would have understood. Ben is one of those guys that even though everybody in the world knows they were amazing, my typical reaction when I read about him is to be astounded at how incredible a dude he was. Just like listening to Mozrt. Ben is the kind of guy who could do all the different things he did and at the same time do everything that you or I did and do it better.

If you want to share in my Amazement, then do a Google Search and read up on him.

I mention Ben because he was a scientist and it is quite evident that he did not see that as an attack or even in conflict with his personal religious views. I don't think Darwin was trying to make any kind of statement about religion when he did his science & I am pretty sure he "got" that. He was just being a scientist.

I got started thinking about this after watching a PBS special about DNA. I think it was an "episode" of Nova.

To me, It doesn't attack the idea that God made the world in "seven days" to consider that he may have done it using "evolution". If you think about it, a "day" is how long it takes the world to spin around one time. But when God made the world, it wasn't spinning. Who are we to assume how long a "day" was for God? Why is that Shakespere didn't have to just lay everything out? When they made me read Shakespeare in English, I had no idea what the story was about. We had to write a book report about it and everybody pretended like they just got it. I didn't. Why shouldn't God be allowed to write like that? Why would it be sacrilege to assume that God would write in his own astoundng style. He is afterall God.


OK, Back to the Sunday School Science Lesson:

Wait, I see the bell is fixing to ring and I don't want you to be late for Churh and we will pick up where we left of last week.

Walking on Sunshine: No Generic Substitute available

I don't think I ever gave the final garden update but the it has now been mowed over and I will probably just stick to tomatoes and cucumbers this year. Maybe some more lettuce. That was kind of cool. I will see how lazy I am in the spring. I wouldn't mind growing some onions.

Back on topic, I am getting sick of all the prescription drug commercials. I like listening to Classic Rock on the radio but nowadays it makes a person feel like a geezer. They advertise drugs for old people. TV isn't any better. Even my local Cinimark in Katy. I went to see a movie over there a couple of months ago and before the previews they had a commercial for the new Katy Cancer treatment facilities now available. Not that it isn't a good thing and will make it much more convenient for people who need the help, It is just that when I plop down $9 for a ticket and then 8 more for some popcorn and a drink, I want to get the traditional magical movie theater experience. I don't want to be thinking about any particular illness that I am somehow now the target market for thier advertising.

The other thing is that the side effects sound worse than the actual ailment that the pill is for. They have the wonderful music and people runnging through fields of flowers with no allergy symtoms but then you get a warning to stop using the drug if you have a stroke, kidney failure, or cough up blood. And is always such a small percentage that actually die but that isn't what I consider a good selling point. Of course they are required by law or fear of getting sued but damn. What about the one where they tell you to call your doctor if your erection lasts longer than 6 hours. Just consider how long it takes to get to see a doctor. You have to figure that most people are not going to be taking sexual enhancement drugs during work hours so if you do need to call a doctor, then it will be the emergency room. It won't do any good to call them but you better hope that there are not any heart attacks or other more serious cases that will get seen infront of you. If after 6 hours you decide to go to the emergency room, it is going to take 15 minutes to half an hour to drive over and then at least half an hour to be processed and then you have to wait until it is your turn. It could turn out to be a 10 hour erection before you actually get help. It is like your fears from Junior Highschool have come to pass. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't a few women out there who figured they had put in thier time when it comes to having sex with the old geezer that they are married to. There had to be at least a few that really wish that viagra had never been discovered.

I do believe in going to the doctor and getting the appropriate check ups and blood tests and so forth but it does scare me a little when I hear that over 30 percent of all treatments after false positives are not needed. There is no question that the health care industry is just that. An industry. I even saw a study on TV that when business is slow in a particual area or they have too many hospitals. Those health care networks just generate more tests and unneeded procedures to make up for it.

There is no way around it. Nobody Gets out alive.

What else?

Not much really. I have reconfigured my one man band using less equipment. I got burned out on carrying around so much equipment and having to set it up and break it down that I decided to see what I could do to make it a little more mobile.

I decided to eliminate the symbols and the actual Bass drum but I did come up with an Idea to purchase an electronic drum machine brain and I now put a second drumstick on my foot which extends backward and I made a Hi Hat in to a Low hat and I then put a sensor on it and which will fire off the bass drum sound when I hit it. It actually does sound tighter. The next I idea was just to run everything through the mixer and amp into one speaker. I am currently using a bass cab but I might see if I can find a powered speaker and elimnate the need for the amp. I do like the idea of it being a bass rig since I am running a bass drum and bass gutiar through it. Maybe I will just add a horn tweeter and see how that works for small settings. I am thinking of looking for a gig here or there but am not that organized yet.

Besides that you will have to go buy a newspaper or something cause that is all I got.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Austin Wonderland Limits

My sincerest digitized greetings to you all and thanks for stopping back in.

Last night I went over to the "spot" on 18th street. It would fit into the "dive" category as far as venues/bars go but that is how I like em. Even though I had a diet coke and then a glass of water, I like the honest feel of a local beer joint with live music. The Blue Flash band was playing and it was Beverly's birthday. She is a friend of the band and the girlfriend of one of the crew. I was invited to play a couple of tunes so I had brought my guitar along. Lately I have been playing my Epiphone SG. It is a white one with a set neck. That means the neck is glued and not bolted to the body of the guitar. It is also different in that there is a cut out in the body for the wood to slide into as opposed to a neck that just flatly bolts on like a stratocaster. There is a distinctly different sound. In the old days, Epiphones and Gibsons were made at the same factory and I have heard that in some cases, the only difference is the label. Nowadays, The epiphones are the import models that are made to specs in this case in China. I know I could go and spend about 800 or a thousand dollars more and get an official Gibson but this one sounds just fine to me so until I can afford one of those I will stay content with this one. Besides I like the guitar. Blue Flash was in excellent form and Marty J was looking like he was doing well. They have a new drummer that I don't know but he is very good. I started out the second set with the band and played 3 songs. Then a guy named Leonard Low Down Brown came up and played for a while then back to the Blue Flash lin-up with greg, ron, and Marty. I really enjoy listening to live music so it was a good night for me.

Tonight I decided to mow the back yard before it got too dark. I took a look at garden number 2 and there was a ripe canteloupe just sitting there. It was in the garden but it wasn't hooked onto a vine. I guess when they get ripe they just come loose. I also wondered if maybe someone hadn't gone to the grocery store as part of some elaborate hoax but this don't look like no grocery store cantaloupe. Maybe I will take a picture of it and add it later. I also found another squash. I was glad to see it since I thought I had harvested the last of the yellow squash. Over in Garden number one I found there were quite a few ripe cherrytomatoes and some more cucumbers alos. I also found one cucumber that I had missed and it is huge. I just decided to leave it and maybe see if it gets bigger. It is too big to eat now anyway. I am going to use it to see if the seeds from it can be used next year.

After all that I decied to click around the TV and got caught up watching one of those "48 hours mysteries" about a dude who was appealing his conviction. I don't want to ruin the ending but he was not guilty. After that I clicked over to PBS to see who was on Austin City Limits and it was Carolyn Wonderland. I had missed the original broadcast so I fired up the DVR. The first half of the show was Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. I had never seen Sharon before (pictured above left) but she is very entertaining. Carolyn is orignally from Houston and she has grown from being Houston's favorite to becoming a Texas favorite and now she is even bigger than that. I first became aware of her from seeing her at the Shakespeare Pub Blues Jams from time to time back about 8 to 5 years back. She would stop by ocasionally and it was always a memorable event for me. The first time I saw her play I was an instant fan. The times I saw her at the Shakespear Pub she mostly played blues. She is a hell of a blues Singer and guitar player both. One time I had my amp on the stage at the blues jam and when it was her turn she plugged into it. It is the same amp that Little Joe Washington and Ozell have played through also. Little Joe and Ozell have both played my gutiar also. Little Joe always was borring guitars and one time Ozell was there getting ready to play after me and since I was all set up I just handed him my guitar and he took over. It made me realize tha my rig at the time was just fine. He was a hell of a player and I realized I needed to focus on playing and not buying new amps. The amp I am talking about is a 70s Silverface Twin Reverb (fender) that I bought at a pawn shop sometime around 1994 or thereabouts. I now usually play through a blues Junior since the Twin Reverb it a 100 watt amp and it is pretty loud and heavier to carry. But back to Carolyn Wonderland. She did a short interview after the show and did talk about being from Houston which was cool since alot of people in Houston are proud she is from around here. It was also very relaxing to get to watch some good music in my own living room. It was one of the best Austin City Limits episodes in a long time.

dropping names & false claims

I never liked it when people who play music list all the people that they have "shared the stage" with. It is even worse when the person they "shared the stage" with has passed on. So what? Does that mean that person endoreses your music?

This past weekend I had a few days off so I decided to get out and about and see some live music. My friend Greg from the blue flash band was hired to play with a band Saturday night at the Last Concert Cafe which is basially an outdoors venue. The place has been around for a long time and is located on the outskirts of downtown Houston on nance street. There is a mexican restaurant and then a large outdoor area with sand, hoola hoops, picnic tables and a nice stage and sound system.

After I happened onto a really good parking space, I parked and entered the establishment and paid the cover charge. As I walked in I saw a guy that I recongnized named Mark May. He is a local guitar player that auditioned with the Allman brothers and also toured with them as an opening act. He doesn't know me so when he walked by I didn't bother him. The entrance takes you straight to the bar which is indoors along with some restaruant tables. I then went on "in" to the outside patio area and found my friends that I was meeting up there. They were sitting at a table and I went around and greeted everyone. There was also a lady that I didn't recognize so I introduced myself and told her my name was Marc. She said it is so nice to meet you and she gave me a hug. I was looking at my friends while she gave me the hug and I am sure I had a puzzled look on my face. She then asked me if I was going to play "call on the blues" so then I knew she thought I was Mark May. I told her that I was a different "Mark" and it didn't seem to upset her too much.

Later on I saw Mark May sitting at a table so I walked on over and asked him if Paul Ramirez was there. He is a guitar player that I know from several years back when he was in the 420 band. They hosted Jam sessions and also hung out at some of the blues jams. Mark told me that Paul was not there and I told him the story about the lady hugging me and told him that I know what it is like to be Rock Star. It turned out that the lady was there with her husband who was the sound man and knew Mark May was going to be there but I left that out to make the story sound better. After that I left Mark May alone. He doesn't know me and I didn't want to bother him. He was there to sit in with the band greg (from blue flash) was playing with and when he did play, He just plugged in and it seemed like he was already warmed up. I didn't reallyl stay all that long because I didn't want to be driving when the bars closed and the drunks were out so I headed on home about about midnight.


On Sunday I still had some energy left so I headed over the Sunday night blues jam at the Shakespear Pub. I got there early so I could catch the house band. They started at about 9. There was a guy named John McVey sitting in. He plays gigs there and is a club favorite. He is an Austin Blues player that moved to houston and is a local favorite who is very good. The band sounded great but the crowd was kind of small being that it was the end of a 3 day weekend. There were no other "jammers" there so I signed the jam list. I was the first "jammer" so I played after the house band. I have seen John McVey play several times and met him before but he meets alot of fans so I assumed he wouldn't have a clue who I was. He left his guitar and amp on the stage so I said hello to him and told him that he was welcome to sit in on my set if he wanted to. It was me, Spare Time Murray on bass, And Dave Corbett on drums. Both from the house band and a solid blues rhythm section. I played my first tune and there were about 5 or 6 poeple in the bar and John McVey came on up and plugged back in. He sat in for a couple of songs and it was very cool. I told him afterwards that I really appreciated it and I think could tell I was sincere. I also jokingly told him that I was going to call the newspaper and update my website and say that I "shared the stage" with John McVey.

I don't know the moral of the story. Maybe I just wanted to let you know how humble and honest I am. The truth is that if you like live blues you will probably enjoy catching a love show with either Mark May or John McVey. Mark May is a little more rock oriented but he can play the blues and will not let you down. John McVey is usually described as Texas Blues and a favorite of mine.

Now I think it is time for a nap.

Nite nite.

People for the ethical treatment of salads

I was in HEB, my favorite local grocery store, on Friday. It was crowded because everybody was buying stuff for the holiday weekend. I decided that since it has been so hot for so many days straight that I didn't feel like cooking outdoors and went with a plan to do fried chicken. I bought some drumsticks and chicken breasts and also some cooking oil. Last time I fried chicken I used corn oil because of the temperature chart on the back of the container. It really didn't come out all that great and I do think the oil was the reason. It wasn't bad, just not great. This time I went with Wesson "best blend" which was on sale for 2.49 for a large bottle. I was on the same aisle looking for the best type of flour. They had some mixes for frying chicken but I don't like those since they all have loads of sodium. I went ahead and got some store brand all purpose flour. The flour I had been using is labled "bread" flour. I was still looking around and a dude came shopping along who works at the store but was off duty. He is the guy who works a in the area between produce and the meat and fish sections. He will cook free samples and then promote a special using those samples. I generally don't eat the free samples but I have watched several of his presentations and he seems to know how to cook. I said hello and told him I recognized him from his job and then asked him if he could give me any tips on what to use to fry chicken. He said the flour I selected was the best way to go but he said a good trick was to put the spices on the chicken itself before you put it in the flour. He said to use an "egg wash" and I didn't question him at the time but I assumed he was talking about milk and egg. I prepared the chicken the way he said but I wasn't sure if I should have put the spices on first and then dipped it in the milk and egg or aftarwards. I decided to dip it first, then the spices, then the flour. Usually I haven't been using milk and eggs but just washing the chicken in water and then going straight to the spiced flour. I also used two skillets to cut the cooking time. It did come out well and I will probably do it pretty much the same way next time. I might try some with out the milk and egg just to compare. I might also try double dipping to see how that comes out also.


The salad in the picture above is all from the Garden. I had hoped to be able to eat a 100% actual garden salad and some tomatoes did ripen up in time so I had the cucumbers, leaf lettuce and tomatoes. I ended up cutting the cherry tomatoes in half and using a balsamic vinegarette dressing. I am a humble person but it was very good. We had a little cold fried chicken, a good sized salad, and some bread I bought HEB in the bakery section. If you are jealous of me right now it probably won't be a sin.

Hey PETA, What about misquitos?

First of all, If you are from my Homeowners Association, My front yard looks fine. I just have had a bout with allergies and am holding off on mowing the back until I get past that.

Above are some pictures I took today. I am starting to get some watermellons. As you can see in relation to the blades of grass, they are pretty small right now but I am still excited about the thought of fresh watermelons. I am going to keep my fingers crossed.

I had planted some additional green bean plants and harvested some today along with the squash. I am planning on cooking them in the same pan with garlic and onions. I think the beans will take a little more cooking so I will add the squash last.

Also, You can see that the tomato plants have gotten pretty big and there are starting to fruit also but nothing has turned red yet.

If I do plant again next year, I am going to plant everything that worked this year and try some new stuff also. I will also pay more attention to the spacing and location of plants. I will do the lettuce again but only in pots since that is where I am having the best luck. I tried transplanting some from the garden into pots yesterday and I am hoping that they will take.

There was a misquito biting me on my leg today and I swatted it. I know PETA got mad at President Obama for killing the fly but I hope they cut me some slack since the misquito bit me first. It was self defense so I hope they don't picket in front of my house. If they do maybe I can bribe them with fresh fruits and vegetables.

I won't tell them about the chicken that I am thawing out. It was already dead when I put it in the freezer but I don't think they will approve. I am going to use the large stainless steel skillet and cook the chicken on top of brown rice with spices, chopped onions, garlic, and whatever else I find in to throw in there. Maybe some carrots but I am not sure. I think I have told you enough about that so don't ask me any more questions.

Gday Mates!

The Bad Guys Win

The Lakers are a good team and Kobe is a very good player but I still don't care for em. I liked Shaq but he was humble. I think it takes a certain amount of humility to be as good as Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan. Sure there has to be natural talent and a huge competetive drive. Kobe has both of those. He is a pure shooter and he can also drive to the hoop and on top of that he is an excellent defensive player. I still would not consider him the number one pick for my team and I wouldn't hire Phil Jackson either. Congratulations Assholes. You too Jack Nicholson. Good for you. You goofy bastard.

Ive fallen and and I cant get up

I thought I was all ready for the switchover from anolog to digital. I had even passed the test when they did it on the news. They said if you can see the broadcast now you are ready. I had sent off for the coupon for the converter box but since I passed the test, I did not buy one. I think I even posted about that here. When the official switch happened the o ther day I could still get a few channels but about half of them would not come through. I guess I was getting the channels that were being transmitted in digital but not high definition.


I had several choices. One is to get cable TV or buy a new TV or maybe buy a DVD recorder that would convert the signal, Or do what I did and just head over to my friendly Neighborhood Walmart and buy a converter box. It took me a while to get over the fact that my coupons had expired and I didn't want to wait on the federal government so I just paid full price which is about $49.

I felt kind of embarrased walking through the store with the Converter box. I was worried that someone would see me and I would have to explain that I don't have cable TV or an up to date TV. I did make it out of the store safely and I got everything all hooked up and I am able to use my existing DVR which is set up to take in an analog signal.

Garden Salad Surgery

The Squash in the picture (above) is about ready to harvest. I planted two varieties and this one is called "Early Golden Crookneck. There are some of the other variety, "Early Summer Straigtneck" that are growing also.

Overall the garden is getting tangled and I need to do some work. I put the metal posts in last week but the plants are not gravitating towards them so I guess I will actually have to do some work. The Tomatoes need some support now so I am probably going to have to figure something out.

Hopefully I will get a chance to work on it tomorrow but today I was to lazy, I mean busy.

Oh yeah, The lettuce in the containers seems to do a little better than the ones in the ground but I will have to wait and see. No sign of any cucumbers or tomatoes yet. I was hoping to make a salad. We will see how it goes.

Nice People don't tell kids about Santa Clause

Speaking of "Nice People", Today I was getting off the freeway and needed to get over 3 lanes to take a right turn and there was a lady who actually slowed down and let me over. I know it is the law to yield to vehicles coming off the freeway but it isn't something that drivers in Houston usually do. Thanks Lady.

The other night I was clicking around on the Color TV set and there wasn't much on and I got stuck watching a show I don't even like. I don't like the idea of giving away magic tricks. It is much more entertaining to watch the trick and be mystified.

On this particlular episode they kept doing teasers showing how to make a street car vanish before your eyes. When they finally got to the end of the show and showed how it was done, They showed the trick and then went into the part of how it is done. The announcer for the show then says that this trick can only be done on TV and it only works becuase they point the camera at the front of the curtain over the bus while they drive the bus off of the set out of the camera's view. What a lame show.

I haven't had time to really work in the Garden too much lately but I am surprised to see that the lettuce is coming back and the spinich is now pretty much wiped out. Everything else is growing fine and at a pretty good pace. I am not seeing any squash or tomatoes yet but the plants seem to be growing pretty well. I will have to add some stakes pretty soon and I will probably plant (or transplant) something else where the spinache was unless it comes back. I don't know anything about growing spinnach or lettuce but I do like the idea of being able to make a real garden salad.

Harvest & Tamales

First of all, Happy Mothers Day and to all the rest of you I will say Happy Others Day.

I was watering the garden the other day and I noticed that those little things that were hanging from the Bean plants were actually green beans. I took a look at the seed package today and it said to pick early and often to promote growth so I harvested the green beans pictured above and also planted a few more seeds since the instructions on the seed package said to plant more every couple of weeks.

The Picture above is from Garden#2 which is the watermelons, squash and Cantalope. The taller plants are the Squash and It looks like I will have to figure out how to keep them from covering up the other plants. I did take some shots of the other garden but it wasn't in my camera when I uploaded so I don't know what happened.

The harvest was not huge but it worked out just fine since I had some tamales that my Aunt Lou had sent via my mom from California. She makes the best tamales I have ever tasted. I also had cooked some chicken and vegetables in the Crock Pot the other night so it worked out great.

I cooked them in Olive Oil with Garlic and as you can see from the photo, plenty of onion.

What else do you need to know?

Oh yeah, It was good to see the Houston Rockets beat the Lakers even though Yao Ming was out. The Lakers are definitely a good team but the seem sort of un-humble to me and I guess that is why it make the game more fun to watch. I will admit that if Kobe was a Houston Rocket, I would probably have no problem with his attitude.

I will get back soon with a report on the missing garden photos and I do apologize to keep you waiting. I know how important it is to you and I hope it doesn't cause you too much grief.

Good Night.

Plight and Fight

First the Plight. As you may have heard on the news, we had some more rain yesterday and it caused some flooding to the point that several local school districts cancelled class. It wasn't a problem for my commute but the underpass at I-10 and the west belt. That area always floods but this time it was bad enough for news crews to show up and also for people driving by on the freeway to act like idiots and pull over and act like it was a big party.

It wasn't much of a problem for Garden #2 which has the melons and squash but Garden Number one got hit pretty hard. The Spinach and Lettuce that were starting to come back got pretty much obliterated and the peas were hit pretty hard also. The mounds of dirt I had created pretty much all got flattened out and quite a few roots were exposed on the tomato and cucumber plants. Still, It looks like it will probably come back if we can get a break from the heavy rains. I will just have to wait and see.

Today, K-Love, one of my co-workers and friends, decided to head over to Sams Diner to get a Hamburger. As we drove up the feeder street to the turn-around/underpass, I noticed one of the local hobo street people walking across the street. There was a guy on the right side of the street who had a cardboard sign and was working the traffic. There are about 8 or 10 lcal hobos in this area. They all pretty much look like homelesss people and I had never thought about the fact that they all happened to be white but the New Dude that was working the corner on the right was a black guy. The white guy had long hair and a beard and walked up to the Black guy and it was pretty obvious that he was being aggressive. He started raising his hands and trying to intimitdate the black dude. It was pretty clear that he was telling him to get off the corner. He raised his hands a few time and made some agressive type motions but did not touch the new guy. The new guy then kind of repositioned his stance, threw a fake with his left and then came across with a Right and the white street guy was on the ground. It wasn't a true knock-down as far as official scoring. He did hit him but the guy also tripped backwards and did catch his fall with his hands and came back up. He backed away a good distance and continued with the verbal assault so the new guy walked on towards him and at that point horns were honking and we had to move on. Off to the left a group of the local orignals had come out from under the underpass and were just watching thier friend get his ass kicked.

We then took the U-Turn and came around to the other side of the freeway and I see all kinds of flashing lights and vehicles about a quarter mile down the road. There were news crews and also many curious bystanders. It was the location where a 43 year old hispanic man accidentally turned right into the cement drainage culvert which is pretty deep. Apparantly it was flooded and he thought he was turning onto the street but instead ended up in the water. They found his body today and you can read about it in the news. It is really sad to think about how out of the blue, this guys life was just over.


After we ate and were headed back to the office, I asked K-Love if he wanted to drive by and have a look to see if the black dude was still there with his cardboard sign. He actually was very positive about the idea so we drove on. It turned out he was still there and we pulled up and K-Love handed him a couple of bucks and let him know it was for the right hook. It was a pretty clear that the other poeple were being fairly nasty to him and it was good to see that he stood his ground.

That is all for now.

Please get some sleep. It is good for your health.

a total crock!

First of all, there is on first of all. I am just typing this in here to feed your obsession to know every little thing about me.

Yesterday I was at HEB, my favorite neighborhood grocery store, checking to see what they had on special that I could barbeque. They usually have something so I try to go with the flow. This week they had pot roast. It looked like a good deal but I didn't really have a good pot to cook it in. I decided that I would just pass on the bbq idea for this weekend and didn't really give it much though.

Fast forward to the checkout counter at JC Penny out on 99 on the way home from Red Lobster. The guy was so excited. When I told hime that we had never had a Crock Pot before he said "You are going to love it". I told him that I was going to stop on the way home and buy a potroast. He seemed to get even more excited. He said I had to stab it with a knife and put garlic cloves in it and then cook it in a bottle of wine. We got the cooker becuase it was a good deal; Only $19.95 after mail in rebate. Don't get me started on mail in rebates. Besides it makes me feel like I got a better deal to assume I will get the $10 check in the mail some day in the futre.

Well of course I drove staight to HEB and bought the pot roast and a bottle of wine. I cut up some potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions. I put the roast and everything else including a half a bottle of wine in the Crock Pot and set it on low and went to bed.

It was just like a scene in the movies. You know when the life boat scene where they are in a raging storm in the dark of night and it looks hopeless but then they all wake up the next morning in a calm sea. It was just like that except that instead of a life boat, It is a crock pot and instead of the the calming of the sea, it is a cooked pot roast.

Pot Roast! Its what for breakfast!

Now you want to know about the garden. Forget about it. Too much information at one time will cause you to have an overload. Please calm down.

The elements

Howdy,

I know you are here because you are excited to know how the garden is doing. I feel you but I have to talk about somethingelse first.

As my regular blog reader(s) will already know, I made resolution to get caught up with the current century. So yesterday, I broke down and bought an MP3 Player. A friend from work had told me that I could get one for $25 so I got excited about it and decided to make the purchase.

The problem I ran into was that when I went into Best Buy, They didn't have anything for $25 and the sales staff were not that friendly so I left and went to WalMart. When I asked one Best Buy associate where the MP3 players were, He told me "under the MP3 Sign" and pointed. Best Buy seems to have a knucklehead customer service approach.

Fast forward to Walmart eletronics department. No service but at least nobody was a smart ass.

I first chose a 2 GB MP3 player that was $35 made by RCA. I chose it because has the capablity for expanding the memory. After I bought it, I realized that it required AAA bateries and I didn't want to have to fool with that so I found one made by Phillips with 4GB memory but not expandable. This one has a built in rechargable battery and also runs videos. I really don't plan to use the video player but maybe it will come in handy one day if I am ever marketing the one man band to a venue owner or something like that. It also has FM radio and uses the headphones as the antenna. I spent a little time loading some CDs on it and listening to it and I do like it.

I did enjoy sitting in the back yard this afternoon and listening to probably the best version ever of America the Beatiful. It features John Campbell on Slide guitar and Odetta on Vocals with Doctor John on Piano. What an awesome recording.

The good news with the Garden is that all the seeds have sprouted. The bad news is that the Lettuce, which had sprouted nicely , seemed to have taken a real beating with the recent wave of thunderstorms and heavy rain. We needed the rain and I was thinking it wasn't going to be a problem but the lettuce spouts seem to be very fragile. I had trouble trying to transplant them and I am going to wait and see if I have a few that survived.

The summer squash in that is in garden#2 is coming in pretty fast so I placed a couple of plants in containers also and will have to thin it out pretty quick.

That's all for today.