Sunday, May 31, 2009

Potpourri

This was a long weekend. My first weekend off and what did I decide to do on Saturday afternoon? Ya, I went to a track meet...I have a sweet life. Got in for free, obviously. Because we run the place. We're a bunch of jokers. I'm tired today. Little too much suds last night. Got a rippin' fire going, though. No place like Camp Fletch for summer evening fun (Well, there's one place but it's been awhile since we've made it out there...take notice and let's make it happen soon). So today I have on my persons the pleasant aroma of burnt wood and ass. Summer is here! Woo-hoo!

It was a good time. Liam stayed out instead of being a lame ass like he usually is, so that was a nice change. Got to throw a headbutt, first one of those in awhile. Had quite a bit of success using the Genius thing in itunes to make playlists. I have to say that I make playlists like none other, but this newfangled technology that they synced into itunes does a nice job in a pinch. It does, however, make me a bit nervous that the folks at Apple need to scan your whole library while you're connected to the internet. That, my friends, seems like it could end society as we know it if someone hacks into the mainframe with bad intentions. Maybe I just have a baditude when it comes to technology. Tomato tomato, I say.

Anyways, LOTS to do this week. 1st big things is I'm going to attempt to not sleep with my contacts in all week. My eyes are wrecked after the past few days alternating between falling asleep at 7pm or at 3am. It really is tough being me. What else? You forgot? BONNAROO IS COMING RIGHT UP, BABAY!!!!!!
That's right, tickets came in the mail Friday. No big deal. Normally, I live by the philosphy involves expecting the worst: low expectations ensure at least a modest level of satisfaction. However, in this case I'm 100% confident this is going to be EPIC. Caution will be thrown to the wind. Inhibitions? Out the window. All that needs to be determined is the route down and back. Chances are I will depart the 04210 area code this Friday or Saturday, so this really isn't a big deal. Boston to NYC to Charlottesville to Memphis and back to Manchester for June 11 sounds appropriate. Yip-f'n-ee.

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Late spring and early summer means grass is growing at an astounding rate. With Skip coaching Jva baseball at the high school I was forced to step up my game and cut the grass last week. And, man, did I do a hell of a job. Scope the blade lines:

Impressive, right? I know, I know, a little fertilizer could green up those brown spots. But to hell with that. "Farmer, farmer, put away your DDT," Joanie Mitchell famously said. Same goes for grass. Nothing a little water and TCL can't fix. But that's a story for another day. Simple pleasures are all you need. I like to mow the lawn. It was a good day.

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A couple more reason to like Clinton Portis:

Awesome. More to come on Eastern Motors, soon.

Also Awesome. Don't take yourself too seriously. It's as simple as that. And Rich Eisen: how's your career doing? Great decision leaving ESPN, buddy...

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Two random sites to waste tie while at work similar to fmylife:

TextsFromLastNight: Generally silly.

MyLifeIsAverage: Hilarious in its simplicity.

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That is it. I am out. Hope you enjoyed your Sabbath. Cheers.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Photoshop is Funny

Courtesy of Gizmodo, a site I've never heard of and still don't know much about. They call themselves the gadget guide. They seem like a bunch of nerds, more or less meaning it's run by people who are smarter than me as it relates to computers. In the game of life, however, I'm sure I would prove victorious. But they're sponsored by the History Channel and I'm sponsored by boredom. Jerks.

Anyways...they just had a contest that asked for people to Photoshop iconic photographs and add in newfangled technology to see who could be the most clever. Some are good, some are very good, some I just don't quite get...

While none of my three favorites were in the top three on the site I have still provided them below:


This was an easy choice because "Google Maps" is creapy as fuck.



See how easy it is to alter pictures with computers? The moon landing is still a crock of shit.



Easily the most clever of the 86. Talk about cold-blooded. Funny, but cold-blooded.


All can be found here. Cheers.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Quite possiblity the story of the upcoming summer:



(I had something to say...but forgot it while I spent a half hour dicking around with paint to make the chalk board look look professional and get the words somewhat centered. Paint is about as cool as a dump in your pants. But leave it to Woody P to provide genius insight on a dreary Wednesday afternoon. Cheers.)

Grill master

Monday was Memorial Day. Memorial Day means my 4'x6' American Flag is now proudly displayed and will remain proudly displayed until I deem summer to be over. Memorial Day also means it's time to get back into summer mode and get back throwing down on the grill on the regular (We still use the grill in the winter, don't get me wrong. Just, once a week-ish instead of five...). Some folks know I can handle a spatula, but Monday I had the opportunity to demonstrate my Darwin-given ability for some folks new to the household, and boy, were they in for a treat.

Not just the food (we had a monster spread: burgers, dogs, brats, 2 kinds of chicken, 2 kinds of chicken wings, 3 kinds of steak tips, peppers, onions, etc. And of course Ma's 'tater salad. No big deal, Nick), but the banter was on point. Nothing like eight or nine sauced up twenty-sometings looking to one-up one another in front of their parents. Lets just say the language was as colorful as the spring season all day...But man, did we have some fun. Marie took a bunch of digital photographs so I will look to show those off within the next couple days. For those of you who had cameras Monday (I really can't remember...you know why it was a long weekend..) feel free to send me a good one or two and if it makes me laugh then I'll figure out something to do with it.

For today and tomorrow duty calls, though. I'll be outside in the war...What the shit? It's supposed to be 45-50 today. Eff you, shitty weather patterns. It's post-Memorial Day...It's practically June. Fix that. Can one of you religion-heads out there talk to Jesus or G-d or whoever and tell him (or her...) to get his act together? This is ridiculous. Cheers (And this is the first announcement: the 4th of July will me more of the same at mi casa. If you're in the state then you're welcome to come by..).

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Take Notice:



Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone. Be safe; mind the fuzz. Bring yourself by. Bring Tea. Bring smiles (And stories. And laughs). You know that I'm a Patriot, but 18 hours from now I will also be sans responsibilities (This is how I choose to frame my unemployment..). Excuse me. My doggies just reached the end zone and I've got to do some celebrating. Cheers.

5 posts...

In May. I'm not going to try to make up for them tonight. Or tomorrow. Or the next day. All I can try to do is blog when I feel something blog-worthy strikes me in the future. It may strike me every day. Every other day. Every third day. Every week. I'm not exactly sure. I never exactly know. It just seemed to work out the way it should work out when you exclude May. 5 posts? 4 posts until today. That's just crap from me. I'm better than that. And that's all I can say. I'll do better the next time. That's life, right?

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On another note, Monday seems to be shaping up nicely. It sounds like Skip picked up a reserve today so the beverage supply should be stocked. Marie is set up to pick up meats and starches and produce;I have a sneaking suspicion Ms. Lever will bring anything else that may be appropriate and probably six things that have already been purchased by Marie or myself...Ms. Lever...if you read this (but my guess is you probably won't): DON'T BUY A FUCKING THING. Just sit back and enjoy...

My flag will be out. It will be a good day. If you don't think it will be a good day then you sound like a terrorist and you should stay off my lawn. That is all. Cheers.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Stolen material...

So, first a video I love:

Just another Hall of Famer sharing his immense knowledge of the game. Happy Memorial Day.

2.) This is a Fletcher-ism. We went to the Olive Garden on Thursday evening, and I wasn't terribly hungry. So I took a page out of Sammy's book and ordered a nice meal (The lasagniti or something...mini lasagna with italian sausage) and just had some nice salad and breadsticks and about 1/4th of my meal. Then the meal was my lunch and dinner today. NICE. I was out in the sun all day and the heat zapped my hunger, so all in all it was a nice day. Ready to get the full-on tan correct when I return to the 207, though. Could very well be back up on a roof come Tuesday...just another day at the office.

3.) This might be the funniest thing I've seen on the internet all week (hell, all month...all year? I don't know but it's awesome...). This was shown to be by an old friend, we'll see eachother soon, this time without my gas tank pouring out petrol into the environment. I think I need to get one of these bad boys, but sans-mullet I just don't think I can harness the positive energy.

Have a nice night. Cheers (from Ohio...).

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Look who decided to crawled out from under a rock...

Since I started the 'Pad last year (I was going to name a month but I don't remember exactly when this started...October maybe?) this is by far the longest hiatus I have taken since a post. And I'm sorry, I know I only had about 15 dedicated readers so I'm sure by now many have moved on to bigger and better things while I've taken a two week vacation from posting. I really don't know why I stopped. I have been busy, but not exponentially busy from my usual days of work and meets and everything else that I've been occupying my time with for the past 2-ish years. I haven't been going out and getting blind drunk every night to the point where I struggle through my days and NEED to sleep when I get home. I did have a beautiful day in the sun this past Saturday (my first Saturday off in 2+ months...bah) which involved plenty of Vitamin D, plenty of food, and plenty of Summer Ale but I'm pretty sure that was the only time I had a sip since, literally, my last post which was prompted by my purchase of a growler of BBC.

I have a suspicison that my lack of posting is due to a subconscious nervousness that is resulting from the fact that 3 days from now when I touch down in Portland early Sunday afternoon that I will no longer be employed. And this anticipation of freedom has my head spinning, mainly because I have no idea what I want to do with my life, but many people around me seem to have ideas of what I should consider. I appreciate all of the support, I really do. It feels good to know people care about you and are happy to provide suggestions as to what you think I would be good at. Some are humourous, many are intriguing, all are appreciated. My main concern is making a quick buck, so I can finance my (sure-to-be-debacherous-and-moderately-expensive) trip south to Bonnaroo, which has snuck up on me like you read about. So this trip in a couple of weeks has provided me with yet another excuse to delay legitimate job searching. I am a lazy piece of shit. HAH.

I know I can generate income doing things similar to what I did last summer, mainly by being a grunt laborer on the best damn roofing crew in Maine. We lay all day, roofers do it on top, blah, blah blah. But I digress. This is by no means a career. But here in lies the problem: Do I want a career right now? I just don't f-ing know. I know I don't want to coach next year unless I can't help it and I'm offered a fat paycheck out of the blue. Being on the road 21 weekends in 24 weeks is a ball buster. There's no other way to slice it. So know I am left with a career in the field of...anything but coaching. That's quite the jumping-off point, right?

So, who knows where I may end up? Not me. YIKES.

--

I've also been reading a lot. I've gone to the Auburn Public Library a couple of times recenty and when I do that I've only got 2 weeks to finish those suckers. When I take books out of the Bates library I can keep them hanging around for a year. So if I'm only reading 5 pages a night that's no big deal. But with APL books I need to get my act together and this cuts into my blogging hours. Idol's been cut out of my life, too, since Allison was sent packing. Tuesdays and Wednesdays were big time-wasting nights for me, now instead of the TV I've gone back to the books. See, these are BIG changes I'm going through right now.

My plans for my first week off include:
-Getting a passport. Not because I want to leave the country immediately, but because it might be nice to leave some time in the next 5-10 years. How long are the good for, anyway?
-New pair of glasses. Eyeglass, not pint glasses. I have plenty of pint glasses. It's been 6 years or so, probably more. I guess it's time. If I end up grimey down south I'll need to be an intellectual who wears glasses, not my usual intellectual who doesn't wear glasses. HAH.
-Get the blue goose stickered. Maine sucks, but in 2 years I'll be able to get antique plates and never have to worry about inspections again, but for now the old girl needs a new power steering rack. Shucks. I did get the my tail lights and parking lights all fixed up so Barney will need to see my old sticker before I get pinched. I'm not as easy of a target as I used to be...
-Hopefully get back on a roof, if my boss has lined up any decent work. I miss the puckered-butt feeling of being up 20 feet in the air on 2x10's with two foot splits in both ends scampering around with 50lb bundles of shingles on my shoulder. My fat keister needs to get back in shape, it's summer time.
-Get my shoulders to stop hurting so I can do more pushups. I started doing a lot of pushups in the mornings about 2 weeks ago. I do sets of 30. Some mornings I do one and then say f-it. Other mornings I'll do 10 because i have absolutely nothing better to do. But my chest is starting to come back together. I have a little belly but I can live with that for the time being.
-I guess that's about it. Sounds like a decent weke to me.

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I'm officially back on here...not like the last couple of times when I said I was back but wasn't ready to commit back to it. But consider this your first invite to Memorial Day at my parents' house. I'll be back at 4pm on Sunday. Grill, chill. My Flag goes back up for the season 9am Monday morning and that's that. Summer's here, if you're going to be back in town then you know where to find me. Tell your friends I'm back, spread the word. If you're still around then thanks for sticking with me. Now I'm off to get some Vitamin D. Cheers.

Friday, May 8, 2009

The good life.

So usually when I post from meets I'm in a tired mood. I've got a little baditude going. And many times that is appropriate. It's been a long day of driving. The weather has been obscenely hot or cold and it's just been a situation that no one would be all that happy about. And in fact this day hasn't been much different than usual. I was up around 5:15 this morning. I left my house around 6:30am and then drove for close to 4 hours to a meet. The Celts are down right now by 16 and Scal has 4 fouls but is on the floor.
K, I'm stopping right here. For everyone out there who knows my comments on the Celts' season last year, listen up. Look who's on the bench for front court players right now (I love Starbury, obviously). Scal is the man. But my point is this: Who did we have last year? A man by the name of Scott Pollard. Yes. I am taking this opportunity to reaffirm my statement on last year's success: The reason the Boston Celtics won the NBA Championship was Scott Pollard. You heard it from these gums all last year, and I think it's clear without his help on the defensive frontcourt that the '09 incarnation of the Boston Celtics are in trouble. Scal is playing OUT OF HIS MIND which I love from the Big VEal, but we need one more...and that one more is not Mikey Moore. It [was, not is...should be...] Scott Pollard.
But I am still having a great night. Because our hotel is next to Whole Foods. Many of you out there are thinking that there's no way, even as a crunch job, that I'd like Whole Foods because it is a pricey establishment. But, my friends, it's all in how you find the value that is offered. And I'll tell you this much: I probably overpaid for dinner. I purchased a $6.79 cold, pre-packaged Pad Thai from their prepped goods, but I actaully thought it tasted good. Obviously not up to the spice that I like, but overall it was good. And relatively healthy. But I spent a good 30 minutes over two sessions wandering about the splendor that is Whole Foods and their local fare is to die for. What is particularly rare for western Massachusetts, you might ask? Berkshire Brewing Company is my answer.

This is a shout out to Brian Rose. I don't know if he or Rachel (his much better half...) read but he's from the Dub-Mass area and lives close by to the BBC and brought me a growler (a growler is a half-gallon bottle of magic. Learn to buy your beers like you buy your milk...) one time and fell in love. Many don't know this, because few of my friends were over 21 when I built my first generation kegerator back in 2004 (ya, I built if before I was 21 either but don't worry about it...) but the first keg ever tapped at the Capone household was a BBC Steel Rail Extra Pail. Had I waxed poetic on this inside of the whole foods earlier tonight I pobably would have purchased that...but instead I went with their Drayman's Porter. The darker the better, I always say.

Anyways. BBC is legit. Tell your friends. They're pretty legit and are on quite a few menu's around southern New England ( Kath - they're on tap at the Public House....at least they were on tap last summer...you'd like their Steel Rail [HAH!!!!!! But seriously, you would]), but I'm going to try to have a guy on tap this summer, too. Because it's that good. Cheers (yes, I'm psyched for summer. You should be, too...)

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Happy Mother's Day, too. Get your mom something special. And Ma, let me know if you want me to cook you breakfast or lunch on Sunday, and if you'd prefer a sausage or bacon breakfast, with pancakes or french toast, and eggs or a lunch with steak or chicken. I aim to please, and so should you with your mothers...Love you, Ma.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

First email post - Be afraid...Be very afraid...

Don't be afraid of the fact I can post via email...there's never a place I'm at where I can get on the "internet" to check email and not get to the blogger homepage. And if I ever end up at a job that blogger is blocked they'll kiss my ass goodbye. That must be why blogger created email posting. Clever, google, clever.

What is not clever and should scare you, however, is google maps. That shit is fucking scary. Check out google maps and then type in your home address...then when the little box comes up click on "Street view" and be frightened. That's my street, that's my house. Are you kidding me?! This is what our satellites are doing? Taking snapshots of our city streets? What the shit? Ya...this is just innocent technology that allows you to familiarize yourself with locations on a street before you drive there...nice try. You all probably think I'm overreacting or just spitting more bullshit, like you think I was kidding about the moon landing being staged (Even after a Mythbusters bust-a-thon where they disproved every conspiracy theory about the moon landing...THEY JUST PROVED YOU COULD DO ALL THE WEIRD SHIT ON EARTH IN A LAB AND NOT ON THE MOON. HELLO?!). Well. You're wrong. If you're not scared of this technology and don't think it can be used for bad then you need to get your head out of your ass. This can only lead to bad things.

(This is where I say should say "Cheers." But there's nothing to cheer about with this...)

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Sunday Funday

So as usual I had some moderate plans for Sunday and then ended up sleeping all afternoon. Literally, all afternoon. I dozed off around noon:15 and woke up just south of 5:30. Not a bad day at the office, if I do say so myself. I still managed to cook a fabulous breakfast, though. Sunday breakfasts may very well be my favorite meals of the week. To the point I'll have Sunday breakfasts for dinner some times. See, breakfasts are breakfasts, but for a breakfast to be a Sunday breakfast you need to add a little bit of TLC to the breakfast. And I intended to use "breakfast" that many times, just to annoy you (who is you? Maybe you. Maybe not you?) Repetition is neat.

Anyways I should have taken some foodnetwork-style step by step pictures, but the Sunday breakfast of choice is pictured below in its entirety: Sausage, pepper and mushroom omelette with cheese and toast. Delightful.


Now time for some secrets. Take notes and write these down. Actually, don't. Bookmark this page and refer back to it while you memorize my secrets. Let's save a tree.

ANYWAYS.
1.) Always use real butter when cooking eggs. Heat the pan to just above medium heat, then put the butter in once the pan is warm. And have the butter softened. Don't put cold butter into a cold pan.
1a) This continues with the temperature issues in that NEVER cook cold eggs. Pull them out an hour or so beforehand and let them get to room temperature. They'll cook much more evenly than cold eggs. Same goes for anything you're mixing with your eggs. Room temperature mushrooms, room temperature peppers. Room temp cheese. This also helps provide a relaxing way to settle in to your Sunday morning. Wake up, stroll into the kitchen and fix a cup of coffee. While coffee is brewing go into your fridge and pull out everything you'll need, then sit down and have your coffee and read some pages to a book or something else, check the news on the "internet," then go back to breakfast. Work your way into your Sunday - it's a marathon, not a sprint.

2: Saute your mixed ingredients first if they are fresh. Pre cook the sausage, peppers, onions, whatever you're throwing in. If it's already been cooked (sometimes I use last night's chicken or beef from the grill) then do NOT pre cook it - you'll dry it out. Instead just make sure it's at room temperature and as the eggs heat the cooked products will, in turn, heat to an appropriate temperature for consumption.

3: Prior to egg addition make a small butter addition. This way your eggs won't stick to the pan and you'll also get a lovely golden brown kiss for your omelette. Just delightful.
3a.) Immediately after egg addition promptly stir the eggs around the pan for 10-12 seconds with your spatula, distributing the other ingredients and allowing the eggs to fluff. No one likes flat eggs. Give your breakfast some texture and make sure to scrap the bottom of your pan and get all the edges so everything cooks evenly.
3b.)After that just get the hell out of the way. Leave them be and let the heat do the work. You can gently work the edges but not much else is needed. Once you see some light bubbling of the eggs you can add cheese if you so desire. Again, it's critical for the cheese to be room temperature so it will melt without you having to burn the bottom of your 'lette.

Once the cheese is added, then work the fold. I'm a fold-in-half guy. Alton Brown is a dual-fold guy, in that he folds the sides into the middle. To each their own. I'll let you decide for yourself what you do. Then once you're satisfied with its done-ness remove the pan from heat and give 'er a slid onto a nice plate. Then pour yourself a glass of OJ, butter your toast and enjoy.

On a side note...blogger doesn't have "omellete" in its dictionary. Are you f-ing kidding me?!

And instead of waiting until Sunday to try out this lovely creation just be like me and have a Sunday breakfast for dinner tomorrow. It'll be worth it.

And yes. It tasted just like it smelled: DELICIOUS. Cheers.