Thankfullness

The almost national bird will fill many of our bellies tomorrow afternoon. I intend to crank Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant (which just this year I picked up on vinyl) while Sus and I treat ourselves to a pomegranate mimosa in the morning. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday hands down. Gluttony, excess, cooking, music and friends. It’s been a long time since the inception of the first Bastard Thanksgiving, in fact it’s almost been a decade. I find it funny now, that how over the past 10 years, I’ve developed some of my own traditions. The benefit of Bastard Thanksgiving (which as of 2008 is undergoing a name change to Hobo Thanksgiving) is that we’ve been introduced to many other family traditions that were different from my own. One of the rules of the potluck is to bring whatever you think is your family’s quintessential Thanksgiving day dish. Oh yeah, and a bottle of wine. Remember that gluttony is for food and excess is for wine. Just as an FYI. Luckily the good thing about Hobo Thanksgiving is that it’s just all good times, being in the kitchen for the whole day, sitting on the floor to eat because we don’t have a dinner table. It doesn’t matter. The point is that the house smells delicious and everything tastes great. Plus, there’s a keg of home brewed Oatmeal Coffee Stout, aka Spaz Stout, on tap.

The most important aspect of this holiday is to reflect on all that I’m thankful for during the course of the previous year. 2008 was a difficult year for our household: dislocated finger, melanoma, derma fibroma, hell even the dog has a tumor (luckily is just a fatty tissue tumor so not life threatening), lots of work, troubles with friends. It really doesn’t matter in the long run though and I don’t need to rehash that crap. I’m thankful for my wife, family and friends, that Sus and I finally quit smoking (it’s been 6 months), we are living healthy, Sus even got me to join a gym (somebody had to have won a bet for that). I am so thankful that we can knowingly accomplish anything, yet the doors that get shut in your face, make one learn to appreciate life and it’s experiences when good things happen. If we never faced challenges then we’d all be a bunch douche nozzles. Which is worse than being a douche bag…I think. Although they both don’t sound to appeasing, but I digress.

Let us also not forget though how this holiday all came about. Freedom from religious persecution (which still doesn’t exist) and stealing land from the Natives. No matter what the history books may tell us. There still is progress that needs to be made as a nation, a species, and as a global community.

Spend tomorrow reflecting on your family & friends, but also think about our world and your impact in it. Be thankful for all that surrounds you. There’s a lot to be thankful for.

Cheers.

First Snowfall of the Season

Our street on the morning of our first snowfall of the season.

This morning we awoke to a winter wonderland. Winter is here, the days are short and cold, and I find myself slowing down wanting to sleep just a wee bit more each day. The chill in the air does help me wake up every morning though, but it’s not in a loving way. It’s more like getting a pimp slap from Dolomite (R.I.P. Rude Ray Moore) every day. Our bathroom is off the back of the house, I’m not sure that it’s even insulated. Typically the bathroom is maybe, at best, a few degrees warmer than the outside temperature. Well what’s the first thing one does in the morning, yep, that’s the Dolomite slap.

One funny thing did happen this morning though. Chloe was barking like she needed to go potty, so I got up, went to the back of the house, opened the door and I could hear Chloe trundling down the hallway in a trot. When she got to the back door, it was as if there was an invisible wall up. She just stopped dead in her tracks! Looked up at me, then I could see her nose sniffing the outside. I encouraged her to go outside and when she finally stepped out, she tried to lift her paws so they wouldn’t get snow on them. Once her morning whizz was complete she darted back into the house, and happily allowed me to dry her off with Susy’s towel.

Fortune Cookie

From my fortune cookie at lunch today, which was packed from home by my wife:

“Love in its essence is spiritual Fire”

…
in bed

The Detroit 3 Problem

It’s time for our lame duck president, congress and senate to possibly make one last impression on our nation. Hopefully, they’ll can do something for good, instead of just throwing money, our money, at a problem, attach some strings to it. I honestly believe I have a solution for the Detroit 3, in fact, I think it’s pretty simple. I also don’t see it happening, because we as a species like to think things are more complicated than they really are. That’s another post.

The automakers shot themselves in the foot starting at-least 10 years ago. They chose not to invest in alternative fuel sources, or to work to find ways to make the gasoline engine more efficient. Nor did they really try to research into diesel more. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t, but I do remember hearing them always state that it’s too expensive, and gas is so cheap. So it’s their fault, and let me be specific in who I blame, that’s the CEO, CFO, the board of directors, the upper management folks. So I don’t really have any sympathy for them what so ever and more importantly it’ s more like a childish “I Told You So!” attitude I feel.

European auto manufactures have been working on this very same problem for awhile and they appear to be light years ahead. Yet, our government has made restrictions to not allow the importation of these autos. Take for example the somewhat affordable Mercedes A-Class, 56 mpg, and it has been around since 1997. It looks like a Toyota Matrix/Honda Fit, check it out:

Mercedes-A-Class-Edition

That’s just one example.

So here’s my solution:

1. Fire, with no golden parachutes, all the CEO’s, CFO’s, Board of Directors, Executives across the board. Period. Done. Gone. Pack your shit and get out.
2. If the government gives the billions of dollars to bail them out, then two things need to happen. All new cars coming out of production need to have a minimum of 30 mpg CITY, not highway. And an actual 30 MPG not the inflated under perfect conditions when tested in a lab 30 mpgs. Secondly, the production of any cars that get less than 25 mpg CITY, are discontinued and will not be manufactured in 2009 or ever again, unless they find a way to make them meet the new fuel efficiency/enviornmental standards.

Look, the UAW will still have jobs, people will have a new task to research, if Europe can make cars that are up to twice the efficiency of our cars, then why are we not making them. Gas isn’t going to get any cheaper. Ever.

The fact the the auto executives in Washington DC today are using the UAW as a fear factor, saying look you don’t give us the money these families are going to be out of work and our economy will slip deeper into a recession and or a depression. Is true, but they are not taking any responsibilities for their actions and decisions they made, and it’s their fault that these people will be out of a job. I just bought a car 15 months ago because I needed one. People need cars. Sure they might not be buying the top trim level, but they are still buying cars. So just build one that people can afford to drive. Hello? It’s not that hard. If other’s can do it, Detroit should be able to too.

Sweet Like Honey

The etymology of the word Honeymoon is derived from the alcoholic beverage of mead. During the 16th century in many parts of Europe, it was tradition to supply a newly married couple with enough mead to ensure happiness and fertility. The sweet and sometimes dry drink is probably known as the oldest alcoholic refreshment. I’ve only had 3 different occasions where I’ve tasted mead. The first time was while living on St. Thomas, at the time the husband to my boss was a brewer and he had made a passion fruit mead that was wonderful. The second time, I just went to this huge wine store in DE called Total Wine. This place is mind boggling, they even do their own tasting. Needless to say, they have a lot, and in their entire store they only had one, a single bottle of mead, which I bought. This bottle was straight mead, no fruit or anything else added to it, and it was thick like syrup. Ok, I guess but not as refreshing as I had remembered. Granted, close to 8 years had gone by since I had last tasted mead, so I wasn’t sure. Then there was last night, I tasted close to 15 meads from: strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, vanilla, agave, apple, hops, spice, and other’s I’m sure.

Last night, I was at a beer geek meeting that I attend occasionally, and the focus of last night was…yep you got it … mead. There was a guest expert speaker and prior to this meeting I was under the impression that most meads take about 9 months to ferment and then typically you bottle them for a year +. So it’s a long process. Well to find out that are ways to make short meads, these are usually only one gallon and take about two weeks. Well sign me and my liver up. Let’s do it. The woman was selling these kits, that are just add water and 2 lbs of honey into the plastic one gallon jug and let it ferment. Sounds easy enough.

Now, if you are not to familiar with mead or the fermentation process, here it is in a nutshell. Yeast eat sugar, and the byproduct is CO2 and alcohol. So the more sugar the higher the ABV. Now honey is sweet, so most meads are usually at 14-15% ABV. Chardonnay for example are usually in the 13% ABV neighborhood. I ended up picking up a Peppermint Mead kit from the speaker last night. I also traded her a bottle of my Oatmeal Coffee Stout for her May Mead. This mead is “a light mead with the fresh flavor of sweet woodruff and floral notes…May Mead was created by combining elements of traditional herbal metheglins with the sweet woodruff traditional in May Wine.” The speaker, Sherry, had created this for May day and Beltaine. Her kits state, you don’t need to know how to make mead or to have any brewing knowledge. If you interested in one of their vast kits, email me and I’ll send along her contact info. The kits are only $7.50 + shipping. So basically for $20 you can have your own gallon of mead.

I’ll keep you all posted on how our Peppermint Mead turns out.
To learn more:

http://www.gotmead.com/

http://home.comcast.net/~mzapx1/

Mechanics Alley

Mechanics Alley

There’s an alley behind our house and more to the point there is a vast network of alleys all around our town. Specifically, the one we live by is called Mechanics Alley and from what I understand, is that this alley was where all the mechanics operated their businesses from. I find that whenever I’m out walking the dog, and usually at night there’s an aspect of this alley that makes my eye do a double-take. I really think this alley is helping me reestablish the basics of my work. Light, texture and shapes. No people, no cutlines, no work, just seeing and trying to find the harmony between what I see and the mechanics of my camera. Periodically, I’ll post images of this alley as I wander around and photograph it.

Number 40 & Number 41

The winter is encroaching soon, the leaves are a deep ember color right now and the leaves are falling faster. The drizzly day today hasn’t dampened any spirits in Pennsylvania.  Change is coming. Election day for me is like my Superbowl, I’m that much of a dweeb. I find that I probably should have at-least minored in poly-sci, but maybe that’s a good thing too. I sprang out of bed today like a child on Christmas morning, grabbing my beautiful bride by the ankle saying “It’s time! it’s time! … Let’s go VOTE!” No sooner, had I touched her ankle she awoke from her slumber with an extra bounce as well. We both just grabbed what ever clothes were around us and let me tell ya’ I don’t fit into her pants…at all. Groggy yet excited we loaded Chloe into the car (we wouldn’t want her to miss this experience) and safely left the driveway for with a quick stop for coffee and then off to make History. 

 

We voted for the left color as voter #40 & #41 at our polling station. We know that it was going to be a huge election year when we got there at 6:55 a.m. and there already was a line out the door. Lucky at that hour the wait was only a half-hour. When we returned we we’re getting reports from friends that the polling station on the university campus was already a 2-hr queue. That was at 10 a.m.!

 

The rest of the day has been spent just the Mrs. and me, finally having a day to just hang out with no chores. We’ve spent most of the afternoon cooking. There’s tequila honey glazed smoke ribs on the grill, with spicy buffalo chicken breast burgers, grilled parmesan and panko encrusted zucchini garnished with a tomato and rosemary, onion baked potatoes. A home-brew keg of Spaz Oatmeal and Coffee Stout. Neil Young has been playing on repeat for most of the day. While one ear has tuned back and forth between CNN & MSNBC. I love the ability to multi-task, it’s rad.

 

Well our polls close in less than 2 hours!!!