Hi friends,
Sorry about the swing and miss on Friday, it may be the first Black Friday since I started blogging that I did not produce a blog. It wasn’t because I was out grabbing “deals” (and pepper-spraying my fellow shoppers), it was because I actually forgot to write the blog and instead was writing code for a passcode entry screen). I’m still pushing the envelope on my CES project so my blogging is going to be scant again this week. Sorry.
Happy Thanksgiving Indeed
I was able to take some time away from software development this past weekend. I spent the majority of the weekend visiting with ITP-Readers Lisa and Randy. I celebrated Thanksgiving at ITP-Reader Randy’s mother’s (aka “Sanitary Not”) house, and on Saturday I hung out with the clan as we celebrated Lisa and Randy’s eldest’s “birthday” with some bowling at Funtime Bowl.
Also seen IRL (in real life) this weekend were ITP-Reader Barb and her husband Allan, ITP-Readers Laura and Bob with their little one, non-ITP-Readers Amanda (aka “ITP-Reader Lisa’s sister) and her husband Keith with their little ones.
Away From The Office, Not Away From The Job
I did put in many, though not enough, hours programming this weekend. Had I been able to concentrate (side note: I have a optometrist appointment in three weeks and am going to be interested to see how much my prescription has changed in the last year) I would have been quite successful. Instead I met some of my goals, though not all of them.
An Edible Near-Miss
On my way home Saturday night I stopped at Kroger to pick up some food for Sunday. I was feeling adventurous and was going to pick up some ribs, but when I saw packages of beef short ribs on Manager’s Special (aka “sell them now!”) I snapped up three-pounds’ worth. The original plan was to crockpot the ribs, but I wasn’t in the cooking mood yesterday morning. Instead I went “old school” and cooked the short ribs with potatoes, carrots, and onion, covered with some homemade barbecue sauce, in a dutch oven. (here is the recipe I followed) The final concoction was a bit on the messy side (the potatoes, though waxy, started to break down) and the meat, being beef short ribs, was a bit on the fatty side. I may try this recipe again using a different cut of meat as I don’t think the roasting short-rib bones added much to the final flavor. At least I have lunch already prepared for today…
Odds And Ends
– The Jackmobile repair was more expensive than I expected because there was rotor work done on the rear brakes.
– The ITP Estate hot water heater is still knocking/banging. I’m going to learn how to flush the hot water heater this week and attempt to clean it out next Saturday. Until then I’ll minimize the amount of hot water used at the estate by showering at work.
– I watched The Amazing Race last night. I still do not care for the female half of Team B-Average Joe. We’re down to four teams (finally!), and last night we saw the ousting of SPOILER …….. Team AARP. I’ve been awaiting their ouster since the first episode (which you’ll recall I correctly predicted but it was the fist non-elimination leg this season) but have to admit that I was a little saddened to see them get eliminated last night. I laughed out loud last night when they were on their makeshift raft and the male half shouted “We’re on our first date. You should try this.”
– Little known fact about me: I don’t like “Greatest Hits” albums/cassettes/cds. I want the music in the exact grouping/ordering as was initially conceived by the artist.
– I’ve decided that 2012 will be my “Year of Repair” — me, house, car. I’ll also attempt to make it the “Year of Gain” in my financial life, which will be in direct conflict with the “Year of Repair” but I’ll try.
– December (is only three days away?!?!?!) is going to be an exciting month for me. Come back to this space and see the changes I’m making…
Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Repair? The house? Wow.. it’s only taken how long?
I was sorry to see team AARP go, they were really holding up well.
Hope you have a coding breakthrough!!
-FP
I struggle deciding if I have a one-year, three-year, more-than-three-year “plan” for the house. How long has it taken? Depends on the job in question. Let’s face it, I’m a lousy homeowner. However, the mortgage is cheaper than rent (though I’m responsible for the many, expensive repairs) and I do have oodles of space.
Coding is going poorly this morning. Things that I thought would “just work”, aren’t. My short-term deadline is next Monday. After that I don’t know any more, and I’m trying not to burn myself out so that I’ll still give a shit.
It was good to see people that weren’t work related this weekend. We had 16 for dinner Thursday, and it was a tie between the smoked (Egg cooked) & the fried turkey. LOTS of great sides were brought, and I was smart in texting everyone to bring some to-go containers, so I don’t have a totally overflowing fridge.
Bowling was fun, though I’m as terrible as ever. But – maybe I will be better at Cheddarhead since I “practiced”.
as for Amazing Race, I just don’t want the Asian chick to win, it will just piss her off & that makes me happy.
I think I’m officially done with Amazing Race and it has nothing to do with the show itself but with stupid CBS. I thought I was being smart by recording all the shows for 2 hours after TAR so that when football ran late, I’d have it all. Wellll…. it didn’t occur to me that “The Good Wife” (normally after TAR) wouldn’t be on this week. So my DVR didn’t know to record “whatever show is on after TAR” — damn, if only that could be a setting! Thus, I’ve now missed 2 weeks in a row. The last thing I want to do after being on a computer all day is to go home and watch it online on my itty bitty computer screen that *buffers*… I guess the summertime season (aka: without NFL) might get me back, but eh… maybe I’m getting bored with it afterall (like what happened with Survivor).
I’m debating my loyalty to The Amazing Race as well. As much as I love football I was extremely frustrated when CBS cut away from a boring Patriots v. Eagles game to the Broncos v. Chargers game, which went into overtime. Because of this TAR started at 8:50pm!
Perhaps I’ve seen “it all” with The Amazing Race, much like the way I feel that I’ve seen “it all” with Survivor and no longer watch it.
well – we actually are recording Persons of Interest this season – so we were okay, but – that was kind of annoying to go to the other game.
But- it was a good game, I have no idea why I wanted the the Chargers to win (must be the light blue uniforms is all I can figure), but we were both into watching that ending.
Tday was a pretty low-key affair with the Abiogs this year. We ran a little (15,000 people) neigborhood race in the morning, picked up Jerry’s mom and had dinner. It wasn’t a bad weekend, a little too much driving of course. Coming back last night was the worst, I told Jerry never again!
We are finally getting new insulation in the attic tomorrow. I’ve been needing to do this since I moved in…they are also going to seal some leaks, vent the attic, etc. I hope it helps keep the place just a little cozier this winter.
After Pine Mountain, I’ll get another load of mulch but that will be about it until we figure out what we are going to do with the place.
Martha, I’d like to return your stuff (from nine months ago?!?!?!) to you sometime this week, with my sincerest apologies for not getting it back to you sooner. What night would be the best to drop by?
Ha, clearly the stuff has been missed since I’ve been pestering you about it for so long 🙂
We’ll be heading to Pine Mountain Saturday afternoon and be back Monday late morning, otherwise anytime, one of us is usually around.