Documentary Report

To Whom it may concern:

Hey Yall,

Hope the family and everybody is doing fine.

To pass some time and relax, we have been watching a couple of documentaries lately. One of them is called " The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia". It is about some folks from Coal Mining Country. I lack the verbal skills to correctly describe what it is all about so you can check out the DVD trailer on this YouTube video. Please keep in mind that it is not rated "g", or even "pg" so please do not let lead you to ruination.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3ysuG2O0zw


Another one that we are watching, but haven't seen the whole thing is about Mike Tyson. I wasn't sure what to expect but this one is kind of interesting if you are not already familiar with the actual story of Mike Tyson. What has hit me so far is that he didn't become Champion of the World just because it came natural to him. I knew already that he had been pretty much adopted by a mentor figure but I didn't realize how focused Mike Tyson was on becoming a great boxer. He studied films and focused on being an accurate powerful puncher and really was lead through a regimentied and diciplined program that resulted in a guy who would step into the ring and end the fight before everybody had a chance to get comfortable in thier seats. Just like Mohammed Ali, He focused on the psycholigical aspect of defeating his opponents as well as the physical. You may or may not be interested in this story but Mike Tyson remains something of a spectacle to me. Not that I find him to be hideous or anything like that. He is a guy who had nothing, got everything, and then pretty much lost it all but still has not "gone away". Regardless of all his other qualities, he has a sincere and (blatantly) honest quality about the way he presents himself.

This report seems to have fizzled and I haven't really given a proper rating to either DVD but as the kids used to say back in the day, It is what it is.


So keep the cards and letters coming and if you "owe your soul to the company store" please remember to remit your payment in a timely fashion.

Thank you to all Veterans

Today is the official day to honor Veterans here in the United States of America.

It is without any reference to any political affiliation or opinion that I hereby proclaim an expression of sincere gratitude and recognition to all Veterans.

Thank you for your service and sacrifice.

mesquite barbequed chicken vegetable soup

Howdy from the electric soup kitchen. I hope your doing fine.

Lately, I had the idea to make some soup and here is how I ended up doing it.

First I made some soup stock using onion, bell pepper, celery, and a good sized carrot. I put it on to boil and then I went out and fired up the grill.

Normally I have been using Pecan wood and haven't used Mesquite, except sparingly, since it can overpower the flavor of the barbeque. This time I wanted some of that type of flavor so I grabbed several chunks of mesquite threw them in chimney starter device that I really love.

Now, the idea is to get some flavor but you don't want to dry out the veggies or the chicken, since that is what makes the soup taste like soup (and not water). As you can see from the top picture, I threw 3 chicken breasts, a couple of jalapino peppers, a red bell pepper, an onion, a green bell pepper, a couple of good sized potatoes (cut up), a small piece of German Sausage, some celery, and I think that was about it, on the grill. Again, don't cook everything too much, but get some grill marks and some flavor.

The soup stock was cooked, I went back and took the cooked garlick cloves, carrot, bell pepper, and onion, out of the soup stock and put them in the blender with some of the soup water. I threw away the celery since it has those fibers and I didnt want that in the blender.

This part is very important. Power up the blender and imulsify the veggies from the soup stock (not the grilled ones). Before you pour that mixture back into the soup base, make sure to strain everything else out. Then go ahead and pour the blender pureed veggies back in to the stock. That will give the soup base a little texture and color. You will like the effect so didn't skip this step.

Now take all of the grilled items and chop them up and add them to the pot.

I forgot to mention that at the beginning, I also addes some garlic powder and onion powder, as well as some black pepper and a few other spices. Use what you like.

When I took the grilled items off of the grill, I put them on a big plate. Pour the juice that drains onto the plate into the soup also.

At this point, everything is almost already cooked so just bring it to a boil and then turn off the fire and let the pot sit covered for a while to continue cooking. Spoon up a little and give it a taste to see if it needs any more spices, It probably won't.

I don't use salt in mine but there is some sodium in the celery.

I am eating a small bowl right now just to sample it for this review and I have to give it a thumbs up. It is some of the best damned soup I ever made. It has a southwestern type flavor that you wont find up in New York City.

Next time you want to impress yourself, try this recipe your ownself.

Rock on Brothers and Sisters!

The Staircase

I just got done with watching a Documentary called "The Staircase"

We got it on Netflix.

Learn more about it here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388644/

I give this one a good rating because it is well done and has an interesting subject matter. Actually, there are a few different interesting aspects.

It is about the trial of Michael Peterson, an author, from Durham, NC. He was accused of murdering his wife. I won't tell you how it ends so as not to ruin the show if you decide to watch it.

I would have liked to have seen a little more of the trial but that wasn't entirely the focus of the documentary so I understand. Also, from watching the extra features on the DVD, I learned that the Prosecution stopped giving full access to the film maker after about 3 months into the process.

Check it out if you like this kind of thing. Theare are a several interesting charactars; Particularly the lady who is part of the prosecution team. She is almost like a cartoon character in some ways. I don't say that in a negative way. She is just who she is and happens to have developed or inherietied quite a persona.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the room

Here is the movie trailer for a documentary I just watched on Netflix:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zMakN-EMLg

Being from Houston, I found it kind of interesting. The Enron story is pretty much about human nature. People will rationalize just about anything if it is presented to them in the right way and they get a paycheck in the process. It seems to be a universal theme that greedy arogant assholes always claim excellence. Some things never change.

Basically, it wasn't much different than your average street hustle but just on a much bigger scale. Of course the guys at the top claimed they didn't know anything but they did end up in handcuffs at the end of the show.

Lucky for the surviving Enron Execs that this didn't happen a couple of hundred years ago. The Texans back in the day would have just tarred and feathered the scoundrels and moved on.

Salesmanship

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ3c3WZ-3UU

click it!

redigitized

First of all, Congrats to the Chilean miners, thier families, and the news media consuming public. It would have been pretty sad to know those guys were trapped and then didn't make it out.

A week or so back, the computer at the house started making noises. I took a listen and it was the hard drive. It wasn't really in the 2010 October budget but I had to go out and buy a computer.

One thing that may have contributed to the demise of our computing machine was that I recently made the decision to get high speed internet. I had tried to sign up a couple of times before but I always got irritated at the process. The other thing was that I wanted to keep my same email address but enough was enough and there you have it, and so forth, an well, as they say, ect.

Once we got the better computer connection, I started watching more music vidoes and movies online and it seemed to be making the computer work a little harder and it seems like it was running a little hotter than it should have and I think that is what did the damage.

My plan was to go to Wal-mart and to Office Depot and just pick out the best deal. I went to Wal-mart and there wasn't anybody who worked there who knew anything about computers but I did come across a nice man named Santos. Santos likes talking about computers and I don't know why he was in the store but he took great interest in advising me. We finally settled on the right model and it turned out it was out of stock.

Next I went to Office Depot and a young lady, who was very courteous, was showing me the computers. I finally just asked her which one she would recommend. She said it depended on what I was going to do with it. I told her that we just do normal stuff and I didn't want to spend too much money but I wanted something that would still be up to date and compatible for at least the next six months or so. I asked her again which one she would recommend. She still sadi it depended on what I was going to do with it. I told her that if she would just tell me which computer to buy, I was in the mood to buy a computer. I asked her if she got paid commission and she said she did. I told her that she needed to go ahead and tell me what to buy. I am not exagerating. She flat out refused to sell me a computer.

After that I went over to Best Buy and they had a desktop model that came with a nice monitor and a printer, and the whole package was about $584. There was a guy assisting me and he kept talking into a wirless thing. It had an earpiece and and a mic and he was acting like a secret service agent. I would be talking to him and I couldn't tell if he was talking to me or who ever was on the other end. It turned out that it was "the manager" on the other end. I told him I wanted the computer and he kept fooling around and doing other stuff and finally when I got his attention I aske him a question about a back up disc and setting up the computer and he told me it would cost $84. I then asked him if it had a word processor and he told me it would cost another hundred bucks or so. I then asked him if I could plug it into my TV and he said that he could have a member of the "Geek Squad" install the correct piece of equipment. I had already told him I was gonna buy the thing but he kept on fooling around and the manager came over and told him to wait on somebody else also (at the same time) so I told him I would come back later.

I then went over to Sams Club and saw a computer I liked but nobody was there so after a while I left. I went over to Radio Shack and almost bought a computer there but it was a display model and I didn't like the idea of the keys being banged on by kids or whoever.

I went over to Conns and there was a lady who asked me which computer I liked the best and I told her I didn't know because they were all turned off. She then asked me between two specific models which one I would pick. She didn't know anything about computers but she did ask me to buy one. I appreciated that but I was tired and I she didn't seem to have a clue about computers so I left.

This all took place in the period of about an hour and a half but I was gettting hungry and tired and decided to head home and I was passing by Office Max and decided, what the hell, I will stop on in.

There was a guy working there named Freddy and he was helping a guy who was about to buy a computer but he was making a call so Freddy spoke to me for a little bit and told me which computer to buy. He advised me to buy an Acer that was on sale for $399. It was a laptop with 3 gigs of ram, 320 gigs of memory, an Intel Pentium processor and already came loaded with Microsoft Works which has a word processor, a spread sheet, and other Microsoft Office style programs but just not as up to date. He also advised me to buy a thing with a couple of fans to set the computer on to keep it cool as well as a particular program to protect against spyware and other computer virus type infections.

Freddy probably didn't know any more about computers than the girl at Office Depot but he was honest with me and told me what I needed to hear. He told me specifically which items to buy and also what not to "waste" my money on. I normally don't buy the extra warranty but he told me it was a good thing to have so what could I say? I am glad now that I did buy the warranty so I appreciete the fact that he recommended it with confidence.

Basically, He did what Zig Ziglar said was all that needed to be done to be successful in sales. Zig's advice is to help people get what they want. I wanted a computer and Freddy helped me get it. Thank you Freddy.

I am sure that in a few years from now this computer will seem slow in comparison but right now I am flying through the digitized universe and consuming it at a rate that I have never experienced before. It is really too much for me. I have watched several movies, documentaries, and other stuff also. One movie in particular that I enjoyed was called "Play it Loud" which has Jimmy Page, Jack White, and the Edge. Check it out. I also watched a good part of a Rolling Stones Concert from a couple of years ago produced by Martin Scorsese (sp?). Those guys may be old but they still rock. I don't care what anyboy says. It is a free country and and as long as they can draw a crowd and everybody has a good time, I don't see the harm in it. Mick Jaggar is crazy and a high energy entertainer. Keith Richards may have lost his boyish looks but he is still an amazing riffmiester. The dude adds so much to the sound and knows when not to play also. They are really a tight band and they have a pretty good catalog of songs to choose from.

OK, that is all for now.

Elvis in the land of Sushi

Howdy Partners,

Today's lesson is about hamburgers. Chop you up some good ol german sausage and mix it in with the hamburger meat. Then add some chopped onion and bell pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, spices, and cook the burgers over charcoal topped of with pecan wood. Vegitate on that.


During Recess, please check out "Dead Elvis and his One Man Grave" on the youtube video link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0tbGeUrGfs

Seems like he is still eating the peanut butter and bananas in the underworld.

Here he is in Barcelona:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbU5uejhHik&feature=related

One of the benefits of advertising myself as a "one man band" is that I get to hear from other one man bands and Dead Elvis is currently touring Japan. If you are going to be out that way, please check him out. He will rock the tulips right over your head.

Here is another interesting character called "Reverend Beat-Man" who sounds like Howling Wolf. He also has a one man band but this video is somewhat of a sacreligious appearing cartoon presentation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jE9rk-dWek


Of course, I don't claim to be a literary critic but I have come to realize that all art and music that appears to be sacrelidge at face value is sometimes the complete opposite. When I was 13 years old I used to listen to an album by Jethro Tull called Aqualung. It contains quite a few references to the Churh of England and Christianity but what it is really mocking is the phoney values and abuse of religion being perpetrated by the perpetrators of such things. Power is a powerful drug. If you are the only guy who can fix a transmission, then when someone needs you, well, then you can call the shots.

Until next time,

Continue to seek the truth and enjoy good barbeque in the process.

Thanks

"Ruby Tuesday" is a name

A few Tuesdays back, I took the opportunity to go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. We were thinking of going to the world famous funeral museum but when I looked on line and found out that the HMNS had free admission on Tuesdays from 2 until 8, my cheap side took over.

The museum itself was absolutely fascinating. I was amazed and wonderfied.

When we first got to the museum section, I was looking at a fossil from about 5 million years ago and there was a fellow there who told me that he "wouldn't mind having that in his living room". It was a nice fossil in deed. I talked with the cat for a little while and it turned out he was in town from Alabama to get cancer treatment. I don't remember his name but I do wish him the best. He had been dealing with the cancer for several years and somehow I do think it is not going to do him in. He had a good attitude about it and he was getting treated at one of the world's best cancer treatment centers.

The HMNS has really come a long way since the last time I visited and if you haven't been lately, you gotta go man. It is really cool and there is something for everybody. They had a section about oil exploration and the enviromental impact but I didn't have time to check it out in detail. I mostly gazed at fossils, rocks, gems, shells, and stuff like that. They have a mummy in the basement and you can even see his toes.

I thought I had taken a picture of the "sloth" but I didn't find it on my phone. They even have the world's largest snail there. It is the actual world record snail.

After we got home, I took a break but I decided to head over to the Brittmore Icehouse where I had heard that John McVey has a regular Tuesday night gig. I got there kind of late and caught the final 4o minutes or so of his last set. I had seen John McVey play quite a few times as part of the house band set at the Shakespeare pub. I had also seen him play with his band at the Shakespeare pub during one of his official gigs there and also at the Elegant Hogg when he used to have a gig there. Basically, I thought I had a good Idea of what kind of player he is.

On the particular Tuesday night a few weeks back that I stopped by the Brittmore Ice House, it was a hot day, and also a hot night. There were a few "regualars' at the bar and a couple of folks sitting outside at a picnic table but there was no one sitting at the tables near the bandstand. Tuesday night is not big night for bars but John McVey would normally draw some folks in. I am pretty sure the heat was a factor.

When I got there, I ordered an ice cold beverage and then sat at the table right in front of the bandstand. John and his band were playing as a "three peice". Basically it was John, the bass player, and the drummer. I don't remember seeing these particular musicans before but they were very good. The drummer was high energy and both guys definitely pros. John played pretty much nonstop; going from one song to the next and it was truly amazing. He played several instrumentals that completely blew me away. The arangments were not the standard blues progressions and sort of had a surf feel to them but the main thing was John's Guitar playing. I really have not seen anybody play much better at the "club" level pretty much ever. John has the licks. Talk about a guy who had probably forgotten more riffs than most guitar players know, John is that guy. The only difference is that I think he actually rememers the licks.

I have mentioned him before here on my website, but please do take the opportunity to check him out if you like blues, guitar, or cool music in general. He is the real deal and seems like a pretty nice guy on top of that.

Rock On John McVey. May the Force be with you!

Pamela Anderson had the answer

Well, I forgot to mention that the gutter still leaked after the Plasti-dip experiment so yesterday when I was out and about, I stopped of at home depot and bought a tube of silicone.

I got up on the roof when I got home and put on a laytex glove and appled the silicone to the joints and then smeared it around to make sue I had everything covered.

Earlier today, I got up on the roof and poured a bucket of water in the gutter and there were no drips. Hopefully, I finally got the job done.

I should have done it the right way from the begining but sometimes you just gotta figure things out as they happen.

Quick Easy Electric Enchiladas

OK folks, Just checking in for a minute; I got several Irons in the fire today.

As I just splained to you, I am busy today. Still, I got hungry and I didn't want to eat something boring. I looked in the fridge and there was some leftover Wolf Brand Turkey Chili from when we had Chili-dogs and also some left-over Rosarita Vegetarian Refried beans. I decided to make me some microwave enchiladas.

I took four corn tortillas and put them on a plate.

Then I put some cheddar cheese in each one, and also a good sized spoonful of Turkey Chile and a little bit of the refried beans and I microwaved them on high for about 45 seconds; long enough for the tortillas to get soft enough to roll up with out breaking them.

After that I added some finely chopped onion, Rolled them up and topped them off with some more chili, some chopped onions, and finally with some cheddar cheese.

I put them back in the microwave on high for about a minute and boom.

Believe it or not, they actually taste pretty much like enchiladas.

Also, You don't have to add the beans. You could use Cheese and Chili only, or if you had some leftover chicken, beef, or even spinach, You could use that or whatever else you like in an enchilada.

Next time you want a Tex-Mex flavor and are in a rush, "Do try this at home"

Later.

Baby Please Don't Go - Marc Twyman's One Man Electric Blues Band

About a week or so ago I added (to public view on Youtube) a video I made a couple of years ago you can see it by clicking on the link below. (USE BACK ARROW TO GET BACK HERE)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuYyY2C8XBM


What are you waiting for? Click the link!

Plasticized & Rubberized

I woke up with my mind in the gutter again. I was thinking that I could get some of that stuff they used to dip plyers in to make the handles have a rubber coating. My oldest brother, Lon, worked as a teenager at The Company Store which was a hardware store on Gasmer in Southwest Houston. It was during the ten speed bicycle craze and they were a distibutor for Murry (I think) brand 10 speeds and due to Lon's high mechanical aptitude he was the guy would assemble them for the customers. He ended up working at other bicycle shops and was very good and constructing 10 speeds from the best components he could get.

I think he probably got some of the rubber coating stuff at the hardware store but either way I do remember us having it in the garage and it seems like he used it to coat some plyer handles or something.

So this morning, I was thinking maybe I could get some of that stuff and paint it on the joints of the gutters to condomize the gutter to fix the leak problem. I went to Home Depot and spoke to a guy behind the paint counter and told him I was looking for something that had a rubbery textrue that I could paint on my gutters to seal them up. At first he said he didn't have anything like that but then he said "wait a minute, I think we do have something like that". He took me to the aisle where it was located and he showed me two items. One was an undercoating material for vehicles and the others was the "Plasti Dip" that I was thinking about this moring. I thanked him for directing me to what I was looking for and he went on about his business. I looked around a little and they also had a spray can that could be used to line the back of a pickup truck and I thought about thatone and then right next to the "plasti dip" can, the one that opens like a paint can and you dip things in, they also had a spray version. It was perfect. That way I didn't have to ruin a paint brush or clean anything up. It was the laziest and most effective solution that I could think of so I bought it.

I came on home and was so excited about spraying the stuff on the inside of the gutter that I shook the can all the way home so there would not be any delay. I was about ready to head out back and all of the sudden I realized I didn't have my cell phone in my pocket. I spent about 5 minutes looking for the phone and finally found it under the seat of the car.

I then regained my composure and went up on the roof and sprayed the "plasti dip" where it needed to go.

Now I am hoping for rain. I could just use my garden hose to test it but that doesn't seem right. It would be like violating the "prime directive" on Star Trek. I can't be fooling with anything like that. I will do the right thing and wait for the natural process to take place. Besides, if it turns out that it never rains again then I don't need to worry about it anyway.

I have to go now. I want to go look at the sky.

Until next time, Just rock it like you mean it. Why the hell not?

the nature of water - the water of nature

Hi,

Just to give my regular reader(s) an update, I thought I would check in and let you know the latest.

This morning, I got up on the patio cover and sealed up sections of the rain gutter where it looked like the water was getting through. As noted in the last post or so, I readjusted the pitch of the rain gutter to prevent water from pooling up and then leaking out of the joints and dripping through the patio cover roof near my back door.

I got the job done and then I decided to doodle around and I came up with a brilliant design to hook up the sunscreen that I had taken down while I was working on the gutters and the fencing around the patio area. I got that done and I fooled around for little longer with some unfinished odds and ends and put up some of the garden tools I had left on the patio cover after chopping down a large shrub and cutting it up. Then I decided to go in and take a shower and have a glass of cool water. It is good stuff that cool water, especially when a person is thirsty. Then cooked a couple of pieces of chicken breast. They came out good but I am not going to go into the cooking instructions right now but I think I will call the dish "Spice crusted chicken".

After that we watched an episode of "Little People Big World" on DVD from the library and so on and so forth.

At some point after that I thought I heard a raindrop hit a window or something. Then I heard some thunder. I rushed outside to see if it looked like it was going to rain but it didn't look certain. There was some thunder and some clouds but they didn't seem to be covering the whole sky. Then a little bit after that I heard a few rain drops. I was sitting under the outdoor ceiling fan and sipping on cool water and hoping for a good rain so I could see how my raingutter repairs had worked. It started to rain a little bit then it stopped. Then it started back up a little. It wasn't covering the ground or a blanket of rain but I decided to be patient. It was a light rain and I sat there and hoped it would last for a while.

As I sat there I started thinking about farmers back in the day before irrigation and how they had the same kind of thought process but it was a little bit more life and death as far as thier crop and thier ability to feed the family went. I thought about how water, sun, and things like that are all very important but there needs to be a good balance. Floods are bad and people can die in the desert without water.

I continued to sit there and ponder and I saw a bluejay or some other type of blue bird and he seemed to be enjoying the light rain. He was fluttering around in the shrub and chasing bugs and I noticed how the birds were chirping and it was really a good moment. Very peaceful and it was nice to take the time to enjoy nature right in my own back yard. This went on for a while and then I decided to go inside since the rain had lighten up to a light sprinkle. A little bit after that I went back outside and the sun was out and the grass and the shrubs all looked refreshed and then I decide to go back in and I saw it. Right there on the ground was a small puddle of water right where I didn't want to see it dammit. I cussed under my breath and forgot all about how at peace I was with nature and all and then I got back up on the patio cover and had a gander. There was still some water pooling in the gutter but it looks like I just need to seal it better. I can still fix it but it sure killed my buzz. If the wonderful and life giving water would just stop finding its way down through the rain gutter, then I could feel proud of my self again. And yes, Sometimes it is all about me.

There you have it.

Now go back your homes. The show is over. Disperse.

The power of marketing

The heat has been hot for several days now but we finally got some rain. I know I am sounding like an old person but we needed it. The other exciting thing was that I got to check and see how my gutter repairs worked out around my patio cover. We had a pretty good shower and everything was beautiful. Water started coming out where it was supposed to and I was so proud. Then all of the sudden there was a drip near the door. Then it turned into drops and then all of the suddent almost a stream. Also there was a little coming down along the side of the chimney. Don't get me started on the chimney. I would rather have a window there but right now I got a long rectangualar monstrosity with two by fours on the corners and the cheap siding that Pulte homes used to use. Nowadays I they use hardyplank.

OK, back to the humidity. It was pretty miserable. My dream of sitting under the patio cover and enjoying a refreshing summer show came tumbling down and instead water was splattering all over the place.

After the rain stopped, I waited a while and went outside and got the ladder and got up there to have a look to see what happened. I had a pretty good idea that it was the rain gutter holding water since the water kept dripping even 15 minutes or so after the rain. It turned out I was right. There was not enough slant to allow the water to drain out of the gutter and there was also a leak at the joint right above where it was dripping. I had put some sealer in the joints but I missed one side and also the end cap that butts up to the wonderful chimney.

It took a while but I finally got it pulled loose and didn't tear it up too band. I hammered it back in and gave it enough pitch to stop the water from pooling. I could tell because there was still standing water and once I made the adjustment, It drained out. Thank you gravity.

While I was eating some chili and rice a commercial came on and the announcer came on and and said "Come see George at the Verizon" and then a guy was talking and It sounded likc George Costanza from Seinfeld. I looked the screen and there was a guy dancing around in a monkey suit.

So there you have it. While the rest of us are sitting around watching TV, eating chili, and fooling around in the gutter, Some genius figured out that they could put a guy in a monkey suit and sell tickets. There is still hope for America afterall.

Oye Como Va

Buenos Dias,

I am here in the heart of TexMex country, Houston Texas. People in Houston are in a hurry so I am going to tell you how to make spanish style rice in a hurry. I am talking instant rice and no, don't go buy a mix packet because that is what it will taste like.

I wasn't in a hurry but I have been using instant rice because it is convenient and also doesn't get a pan all stuck with rice. I used a pyrex bowl and put a glass plate on top of it (in the microwave) Today is the first time I tried adding anything to the rice and I was surprised how well it worked.

Chop up some onion and celery and put it in the bowl with the rice and then add some chili powder, garlic powder and some margarine or butter, whatever it is that you use. I used I can't believe it's not butter light. When you put the butter in, don't melt it first, it will be clumped up but just stir everything togeather. The butter will kind of hold everything so that nothing settles to the top or bottom. Then add some cold water from the tap. The idea is that you do not want the butter to melt until the cooking begins to keep it spread out evenly. Don't overdo it with the chili powder or garlic powder but put enough in to give it the flavor. As far as the chili powder, you can tell if you have enough based on the color.

Thats about it, Microwave it about 4 minutes or so and let it sit (still covered) for another 5 or 10 minutes and you will actually have some authentic tasting rice. Mine came out pretty good if I do say so myself but I was hungry when I ate it so maybe I was biased but I was till proud of myself.

Speaking of being proud of myself, Today I stopped by Home Depot to buy some gate hinges. I have some chain link gates that have been in the back yard for several years and I wanted to put on on the end of a 4x4 post that is part of my patio cover. They sell a "lag bolt" that would work perfect except for the fact that it is a pretty long and good sized bolt and I didn't want to thread that into the 4x4 because it would take away a some of the strengh of the board. It would make it as strong as a 4x3.25 and I didn't want that. I looked around for a while, asked a Home Depot employee for advice and then decided to go over to Lowes. They basically had the same stuff at lowes but I kept looking around and I found a eye bolt. It is made to thread into wood and has a round shaped hoop on the end. I then got a 2 and a half inch long 5/8ths bolt and some nuts and made a holder for the piece that hooks up to the gate. At one point I was about to give up but I kept telling myself that with all the hardware and stuff they had at these types of stores, the solution was there. I even told the cashier how proud of myself I was. She didn't seem overly impressed but she was polite about it.

I took a picture just now with my phone and it is at the top of the page. I found a bolt that was not threaded on the part closest to the part your hook the wrench to and then I used to nuts so I could tighten them against each other so as to be able to lock everything in place. The picture is of the bottom hinge but the top one looks pretty much the same. It actually took me alot longer figuring out how to come up with a plan than actually installing the gate.

I did something else amazing today but I am too humble to keep going on about myself like that so that is going to be the end of the report.

Red Beans and Ricely Yours,

The One Man Web Log Staff.

The absolute best hamburger you ever had in your life!

Aloha from Texas:

I get a weekly email from Jeffrey Gitomer. He is a sales trainer and has a little different spin from some of the standard stuff which is all good but Jeffrey does less re-packaging and he also has a common theme that I really like. He actually believes in taking care of customers and giving a good value. His focus is generally on building relationships with customers and he promotes the idea of using the internet.

It doesn't matter if you are not officially employed as a "salesman" (or woman), the stuff he talks about can help anybody. If you want to sign up for his weekly email, then just do a google search of "Jeffrey Gitomer" and sign up. It is free.

His email this week had some stuff about how to deal with "uncertain economic times". Again, I like Jeffrey and I do recommend that you sign up for his free service but I do not agree with the idea that we are in "uncertain" times now anymore than we have ever been in "uncertain" times. That is the essence of the future. It is always uncertain and our economic situation here in America is pretty much a relative thing. If you just got off a raft (and entered the country legally) and you had previously been living in a poor part of Africa or Pakistan or somewhere where you had to hustle just to have a bowl of rice, then I would say that America is a land of great opportunity that you have never experienced before. If you, on the other hand, have just seen your retirement account shrink over the past couple of years due to the stock market then I would still say that America is land of great opportunity. Nationally, unemployment is at about 9.5%. If you really believe that you are not in the top 90% as far as what you have to offer, then I would recommend that you seek spiritual and emotional guidence and then maybe enroll in community college or learn a trade. Keep in mind that running your own business is probably the best way for someone who has nothing to get a bigger chunk of the pie. Do what ever you like. If you like sewers, be a plumber. It doesn't matter. You can make money if you want to. I figure that at least half of the people who are unemployed could get a job pretty quick if they were willing to make some drastic changes. If you live somewhere where unemployment is way higher than 10% because the factories just got shut down, then move. We have a great highway system and it isn't that hard to do. Just put your mind to it.

OK. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Let me return for my personal quest for excellence:

Today I decided to make the "Best Cheese Burger Ever".

I wanted to use ingredients that I had on hand so I worked with what I had. First I thawed out some hamburger meat and cut up some Russet Potatos. While the french fries were cooking, I prepared the hamburger meat by finely chopping some onion and mixing them in with the meat and also added a couple squirts of "Sweet Baby Ray's" barbeque sauce. Another trick I saw on TV was to make the center of the burger thinner sort of like a doughnut so that you don't end up with a big round hamburger when it cooks.

I also took some bacon and put in the microwave inbetween some paper towels and cooked it where it was pretty well done. I also sliced some tomato and onion and got some pickle slices out of the jar. Of course, I had to have a little bit of lettuce and we had a head of Iceberg so I used that. The other ingredient was grated sharp cheddar cheese.

Now the burgers and fries were almost cooked and the bacon was done also so I toasted some bread using my flat skillet using a little bit of "I can't beleive it's not butter" on one side. I didn't have actual hamburger buns on hand so I used some wheat bread.

I assembled the burgers in this order:

Bottom slice of toasted bread
A little mustard and Miracle whip(for a tangy zip)
pickle slices
Burger
Cheddar Cheese
Bacon Slices (1 peice total per burger)
onion slices
letuce
tomato slices
top slice of bread (also with a little miracle whip and mustard)


That is it. The "Best Barbeque Bacon Cheese Burger" I ever had. It was pretty good and having freshly made french fries with it was nice also.

Now I did try to keep it healthy by cooking the bacon very well and also by using sharp cheddar so I didn't have to use as much. I also cooked the burgers pretty well and put them on a paper towel to drain excess fat.

The idea of making the best hamburger you can make is really important in today's lesson. If you like avacados an mushrooms, or even soy burgers, then you can still make the best burger ever. The general idea is that no matter what you do, do it. Don't fool around. Why the hell not? It is a hell of a lot better to eat your attempt at the best tuna sandwich ever than just eat a tuna sandwich. By the way, finely chopped onions is the trick for a good tuna sandwich but don't overdo it.

So there you have it. The secret to success. Just like the Nike commercials say "Just do it" and maybe you will end up just like Tiger Woods or OJ Simpson. Congratulations in advance.

Keep on Rockin!

In the desert, It's hard to remember your name

I had to do some work on the roof of my patio cover today. My rain gutters needed to be reatached and I had to replace some wood and put in some flashing.

It was pretty damn hot so I could only stay up there for so long and I had to come in and cool off. Finally, I decided to wait til tonight and at about 10pm I hooked up a shop light to an extension cord and it was much better.

Tomorrow I have to cut up some dead branches and I had leftovers for dinner.

What else do you want to know?

Oh yeah, I have a mexican built Fender Stratocaster that I have mostly used for a back-up guitar. I did a little work on it the other day to fix a short but I couldn't find the problem. When I put it back togeather it worked just fine. Hopefully it will remain one of life's mysteries and I won't have to worry about it anymore.

Several years back I had bought a set (of 3) Fender Custom Shop "Fat Fities" pickups and installed them in my main Stratocaster that I bought in 1988. I put the pick-ups out of that guitar in the Mexcan Stat, which is black. Then at some point I took one of the pick-ups from the 1988 guitar and put it in the neck pick up position on the mexican. This particular guitar used to have a humbucker in the bridge position but I don't roll that way on strats so I put in a single coil in it's place. I think it is what they called a "Texas Special" or something like that. It has pretty good size fret wire which Fender started doing after Stevie Ray was popular. The good thing about this guitar not being played so much is that the frets are still in good shape and the guitar plays well so I think I need to play it a little more often. You never know.

Well, I hope you got everything you were expecting in visiting my blog today. Customer satisfaction is very important to us here at the one man web log.

Good Morning.

sniper shovel

Good Evening.

Today I planted a few shrubs. The Houston Garden Center over on the Katy Freeway is where I usually buy shrubs & stuff like that. Usually, the fall is the best time to buy but the have sales going on right now since it is so hot in Houston right now. It really is too. Yesterday, while I was looking around and picking out some shrubs, I was about ready to get back in the Air Conditioning and do it another time but my perserverence perservered.

I was walking around and I ran into the dude over there who gives out advice on what to buy. He either really knows what he is talking about or he is a very good bullshitter. He always answers with confidence and makes a solid purchase suggestion. I told him I had bought some red tip photenias over there about 15 years ago and at that time they were supposed to be very easy to take care of. Since that time they have become less hearty and succeptable to blight or fungus or whatever it is that makes them die so fast. He pointed me out to some "silver" (in the sunlight) looking shrubs and I picked of three of them and then went over to Walmart and bought three bags of scotts top soil (.75 cubic liter). Walmart is cheaper for stuff like that.

I had left the shrubs and bags of topsoil on my driveway and today I carted them around to the back yard. My plan was to work in stages to keep from getting too hot but I didn't expect to be coming inside after just moving the shrubs to the backyard. I had my straw hat and a towel over my head so I looked like a landscaper and I brought some water outside and tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. I also brougth two shovels, one regular looking shovel made for digging and one that my dad, Kent Twyman, had used to plant trees and shrubs in our family home back in the 1960s. We had nine kids in the family and Kent wanted us to have trees to climb in so he planted fast growing trees. He knew trees and plants pretty well and I am sure he would have preferred to have Oaks and other trees like that but he planted quite a few chinese tallow trees. When I was a kid, there were plenty of trees to climb and we did spend a fair amout of time in the trees and shooting china berries with our slingshots. Many of them are already gone but they served the purpose and Kent was happy that his kids had trees to climb. There was one tree that was right outside the kitchen sink window that had a natural "crows nest" and I used to climb up there and watch the fireworks going off at astroworld at 10pm. It was a pretty good distance away but I could see them pretty well. Even as a young teenager, it was nice to have a place to "hang out" at night. It was very peaceful to be up in a tree but you had to stay alert. I never did have a fall. My dad had convinced me at a young age that I was a good tree climber and now that I am older, I realize that he was just giving me confidence but since I had so much practice, I did turn out to be a pretty good tree climber after all.

Well, back to today. I dug the holes, put some topsoil in, and then finished planting the shrubs. The "sharpshooter" shovel that my dad used to use made the job much easier. It is a little bit worn but still cuts right through roots & such and does a fabulous job.

After that, I spent the rest of the day in the AC, made some noodles and I took a nap. I had some dreams but if you want to know the contents of all my dreams too, that is going to far. I told you about my dinner, my shrubs and my childhood of climbing trees. Seems like you should be satisfied with that.

OK, I will tell you how I made the noodles but that is it. I just used some elbow macaroni and boiled them with a little olive oil. As far as the sauce, I didn't start from scratch but it was still pretty good. I used a jar of "Classico" sauce with "mushrooms and ripe olives". I also added a can of diced tomatoes (salt free). In a separate pan I put about 4 large cloves of chopped garlic and about half an onion, chopped up also. I then threw some hamburger meat in with the onions and garlic and put a little bit of garlic powder, black pepper, oionion powder with parsley, and some other spice but I don't remember which one. Once the meat was cooked, I drained off the fat and dumped it in the large skillet with the sauce and diced tomatoes and left it on simmer for about an hour. That is the trick if you use store bought spagetti sauce, You gotta cook the acidity or whatever it is out of it that makes it taste like it does if you don't cook it for a while. I also put some parmesan cheese in with the sauce to cheat a little bit and that was it.

See, this is really too much information. You are creeping me out again and I have to go.

Bye.

David and Kathleen Bagby

Last night I was watching an episode of Dateline NBC and it was a story about a man named Andrew Bagby that was murdered by his girlfriend and then it turned out the girlfriend was pregnant. She was indicted for the murder of Andrew but fled to Canada, where she was from, and the Canandian court system didn't extridite her back the USA for trial but instead let her out on bail.

The Grandparents of the baby, Zach, moved to Canada to be close to the baby and in the end the crazy girlfriend killed herself and the grandbaby. It was really a sad story but it was also very compelling just how decent the grandparents were in the way they tried to do everything they could to help Zach and aftewards they helped get the laws changed in Canada.

Compared to anything I have ever seen on TV David and Kathleen Bagby are the most amazing couple ever. God Bless those folks.

Here is a link to a story about a scholarship fund set up in the memory of Zach:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38387899/ns/local_news-pittsburgh_pa/

Here is a link to and an excerpt from a story about the murder suicide:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_150829.html

Turner, infant son found dead

Dr. Shirley Turner's attorneys thought their client was ready to face a September hearing in her continuing legal efforts to avoid extradition to the United States to face a murder charge in the shooting death of Dr. Andrew Bagby, of Latrobe, once her lover and father of her 13-month-old son, Zachary....

Here is a link to an article about the documentary made about the Dad, Andrew, that was intended to be given to Zach. It now turns out to be a tribute to both of them and also the amazing grandparents, David and Kathleen Bagby. There is nothing that can be done to replace the losses they have faced but I hope they find some peace and happyness. They really do deserve it.

http://www.moviezeal.com/dear-zachary-a-letter-to-a-son-about-his-father/