Sheri called me after lunch but before she went back to work. She is having another good day. Things are making sense. She made two iced triple espressos and says they are turning out pretty good.
Last night I took a stack of newspapers that were in the passenger seat and put them on top of the van before we went out for dinner. This morning Sheri didn't see the papers up there and drove off with a flurry of newspapers trailing the van and blowing all over the neighborhood.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
We talked about taking the train into the City on Saturday to see the Christmas decorations, walk through the Marshall Fields on State Street one last time before it turns into a Macy's, and maybe go ice skating (her, not me), but the wind chill is going to be 19°. That might make it a little uncomfortable. We'll see.
These are the two coffee machines Sheri has at work.
So far she has had better results with the Nespresso D300.
It uses little capsules of pre-ground coffee that you can only get from Nestle.
She said it makes a pretty good espresso on par with what you get at Starbucks.
You can get this machine at Amazon.com for about $400, and from what I can gather the capsules cost about $0.45 each.
The other machine is the Keurig B2003.
It uses a similar looking pod. The ones they have at her office are from Gloria Jean's Coffee.
She said the coffee tasted weak and crappy, but I looked on the web and there is a way to brew the coffee to the strength you want it. The way she was doing it gave her the weakest cup of coffee possible. If you push the "Start Brew" button a second time before it is done brewing it will stop the brewing process resulting in a stronger cup of coffee. She will give that a try today and see how it goes.
However I don't think the Keurig machine is an espresso machine, so I would imagine even if she gets it to make a decent cup of coffee, the Nespresso machine will still make a better cup. She has the flexibility of pouring straight espresso over ice and adding milk for an iced espresso, or if she is cold she can use the hot water dispenser to dilute the straight espresso to Americano strength.
From what I can find on the web both the Nespresso machine and coffee capsules are cheaper than the Keurig's. $400 versus $800, and $0.45 per capsule versus $0.55.
They sell cheaper Nespresso machines that start out around $180. At about $2.25 for my normal triple Americano at Starbucks it is possible the Nespresso system might not be out of the question at home.
Three shots of espresso from the Nespresso machine would cost about $1.35, which is $0.90 less than a triple shot at Starbucks. If these numbers are correct it would only take 200 drinks to break even from the cost of the machine at home rather than going to a coffee shop.
So far she has had better results with the Nespresso D300.
It uses little capsules of pre-ground coffee that you can only get from Nestle.
She said it makes a pretty good espresso on par with what you get at Starbucks.
You can get this machine at Amazon.com for about $400, and from what I can gather the capsules cost about $0.45 each.
The other machine is the Keurig B2003.
It uses a similar looking pod. The ones they have at her office are from Gloria Jean's Coffee.
She said the coffee tasted weak and crappy, but I looked on the web and there is a way to brew the coffee to the strength you want it. The way she was doing it gave her the weakest cup of coffee possible. If you push the "Start Brew" button a second time before it is done brewing it will stop the brewing process resulting in a stronger cup of coffee. She will give that a try today and see how it goes.
However I don't think the Keurig machine is an espresso machine, so I would imagine even if she gets it to make a decent cup of coffee, the Nespresso machine will still make a better cup. She has the flexibility of pouring straight espresso over ice and adding milk for an iced espresso, or if she is cold she can use the hot water dispenser to dilute the straight espresso to Americano strength.
From what I can find on the web both the Nespresso machine and coffee capsules are cheaper than the Keurig's. $400 versus $800, and $0.45 per capsule versus $0.55.
They sell cheaper Nespresso machines that start out around $180. At about $2.25 for my normal triple Americano at Starbucks it is possible the Nespresso system might not be out of the question at home.
Three shots of espresso from the Nespresso machine would cost about $1.35, which is $0.90 less than a triple shot at Starbucks. If these numbers are correct it would only take 200 drinks to break even from the cost of the machine at home rather than going to a coffee shop.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
I just got a call from Sheri about how work is going so far. There are a few other new people in the same position, so her boss is having a training session for all of them. They are in a conference room watching the boss do things on a laptop that also has a larger display attached to it.
So far she said it all makes sense. She likes the people and she likes what the actual job entails. She said there will be a couple more hours of training after lunch and then they can have the rest of the day to get comfortable at their desks.
She said the coffee machine uses pods to brew each cup individually, but she said it was not that good. She tried a French roast pod but it tasted weak. There is also an espresso machine but she has not seen anyone use it yet. They have an ice machine so I can see her figuring that out and then making her iced espressos right at work! That will save us a few bucks each day.
She was on her way to a McDonald's drive-through when she called and she sounded really good. Her voice was light, happy and enthusiastic. I didn't detect any dread or sense of "what did I get myself into" tones.
We talked about going out for a nice celebratory dinner tonight, but so far we have not decided on where. Our top of the line choice is Sullivan's Steak House. If we do that I would probably get a steak and she would just take a few bites, we would each get a lettuce wedge (her absolute favorite for some reason), and we would probably split one side, either creamed spinach or au gratin potatoes.
If that seems like too much food or effort I don't know what our second choices are yet.
So far she said it all makes sense. She likes the people and she likes what the actual job entails. She said there will be a couple more hours of training after lunch and then they can have the rest of the day to get comfortable at their desks.
She said the coffee machine uses pods to brew each cup individually, but she said it was not that good. She tried a French roast pod but it tasted weak. There is also an espresso machine but she has not seen anyone use it yet. They have an ice machine so I can see her figuring that out and then making her iced espressos right at work! That will save us a few bucks each day.
She was on her way to a McDonald's drive-through when she called and she sounded really good. Her voice was light, happy and enthusiastic. I didn't detect any dread or sense of "what did I get myself into" tones.
We talked about going out for a nice celebratory dinner tonight, but so far we have not decided on where. Our top of the line choice is Sullivan's Steak House. If we do that I would probably get a steak and she would just take a few bites, we would each get a lettuce wedge (her absolute favorite for some reason), and we would probably split one side, either creamed spinach or au gratin potatoes.
If that seems like too much food or effort I don't know what our second choices are yet.
One thing I hate about the traffic reports in Chicago is all of the highways have multiple names. Sheri and I both drive on I-88 and that can be referred to as:
Reagan Memorial Tollway
East-West Tollway
I-88
I-294 is a little better and only has two names:
Tri-State Tollway
I-294
The traffic reports only have a few seconds for their segments and talk really fast, so if you are listening for I-88 and they call it the East-West, by the time you make the connection in your head they are on to the next highway and you miss what they said.
They also rush saying what direction they are talking about (eastbound, westbound, etc.) and if you miss that you don't know if what they are talking about applies to you or not.
An even bigger gripe than that is when they give the traffic condition first and then the road segment it applies to. You kind of don't pay attention until they mention the road you are concerned about, and if they say the road name after they give the traffic you have already forgotten what they said. For example:
There is a 20-minute delay because of a large accident with injuries in the westbound left lane of the Reagan Tollway.
You don't realize what they said applies to you until they get to the last two words. How long is the delay? What lane should I get in? Was that eastbound or westbound?
The ideal order to deliver traffic information is:
1. Road name
2. Direction
3. Traffic information
For example:
On the Reagan Tollway the westbound left lane has a large accident with injuries. Expect a 20-minute delay.
It may seem minor, but when you have your hands full trying to dodge morons with a death wish talking on their cell phones, your mind is pretty much already at full capacity and the little things like that make a difference in comprehension.
Reagan Memorial Tollway
East-West Tollway
I-88
I-294 is a little better and only has two names:
Tri-State Tollway
I-294
The traffic reports only have a few seconds for their segments and talk really fast, so if you are listening for I-88 and they call it the East-West, by the time you make the connection in your head they are on to the next highway and you miss what they said.
They also rush saying what direction they are talking about (eastbound, westbound, etc.) and if you miss that you don't know if what they are talking about applies to you or not.
An even bigger gripe than that is when they give the traffic condition first and then the road segment it applies to. You kind of don't pay attention until they mention the road you are concerned about, and if they say the road name after they give the traffic you have already forgotten what they said. For example:
There is a 20-minute delay because of a large accident with injuries in the westbound left lane of the Reagan Tollway.
You don't realize what they said applies to you until they get to the last two words. How long is the delay? What lane should I get in? Was that eastbound or westbound?
The ideal order to deliver traffic information is:
1. Road name
2. Direction
3. Traffic information
For example:
On the Reagan Tollway the westbound left lane has a large accident with injuries. Expect a 20-minute delay.
It may seem minor, but when you have your hands full trying to dodge morons with a death wish talking on their cell phones, your mind is pretty much already at full capacity and the little things like that make a difference in comprehension.
Sheri made it to work OK but it took her about an hour and fifteen minutes. I was listening to the traffic reports on the way to work and they said the segment of highway she had to drive was unusually congested this morning, so hopefully that drive-time is a worse-case scenario. She said for quite a distance on I-294 she was creeping along between 10 and 15 mph.
She has to drive about 12 miles on I-88, and she said that was no problem this morning, and she has to drive about 9 miles on I-294, and that is where the congestion was.
She has to drive about 12 miles on I-88, and she said that was no problem this morning, and she has to drive about 9 miles on I-294, and that is where the congestion was.
Sheri seemed to be in very good spirits this morning. If she was nervous she fooled me. Her mission from me for today: get a picture of their "fancy coffee machine", and if she can't do that without making a scene at least write down the make and model so I can look it up on the Internet.
It was nice for me again to wake up with her. I didn't like waking up every morning and not be able to turn on the lights, radio, or TV or be able to talk with her.
I mixed up some of my magic chocolate no carb no fat soy protein drink for her this morning. I poured her about a cup and she drank almost half of it. Better than nothing.
She said she was going to stop an Panera for three shots of espresso for her drive in. I suggested she stop at the Dominick's nearby that has a Starbucks inside. She said she would just go to the Panera. I didn't understand because the Starbucks would be on the way, while the Panera would require a little bit of a detour, and the Starbucks has a little bit better espresso. After a minute of my questions and trying to figure out why she sheepishly admitted that she had coffee from Panera the day she had her interview for this job. Awwww… That is cute.
Good luck Sheri. I love you!
It was nice for me again to wake up with her. I didn't like waking up every morning and not be able to turn on the lights, radio, or TV or be able to talk with her.
I mixed up some of my magic chocolate no carb no fat soy protein drink for her this morning. I poured her about a cup and she drank almost half of it. Better than nothing.
She said she was going to stop an Panera for three shots of espresso for her drive in. I suggested she stop at the Dominick's nearby that has a Starbucks inside. She said she would just go to the Panera. I didn't understand because the Starbucks would be on the way, while the Panera would require a little bit of a detour, and the Starbucks has a little bit better espresso. After a minute of my questions and trying to figure out why she sheepishly admitted that she had coffee from Panera the day she had her interview for this job. Awwww… That is cute.
Good luck Sheri. I love you!
A real-time picture (well, updated every five minutes) of an interchange along Sheri's route to work. This is the I-290 - I-88 split. This is a map of the where the camera is.
Sheri will actually be taking I-88 to I-294 north, not I-290. The map will make it clear.
Sheri will actually be taking I-88 to I-294 north, not I-290. The map will make it clear.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Sunday, November 27, 2005
I have been really good for probably the last month not drinking things with caffeine. On the drive to Toledo we made a stop and I was thirsty. A cold bubbly Diet Coke sounded good, but I wasn't going to give in. A cold club soda or sparkling mineral water sounded equally as good, but fat chance of finding either of those at a highway rest stop.
That left me with the option of a bottle of water. It sounded boring and unsatisfying. Then I thought of 7-Up. It is close to sparkling mineral water because it is not as sweet as other soft drinks.
They didn't have 7-Up so I got Diet Sprite. I have never been too crazy for the lemon-lime soft drink category, but I was really thirsty and it hit the spot just right.
That positive experience and the fact that I need to find a replacement for my Diet Cokes let me look at the diet lemon-limes in a new light. For some reason I don't find the caffeine free diet colas as satisfying. It is probably in my head, but I just don't get as much enjoyment from them. Over the Thanksgiving weekend I had several lemon-limes and some cranberry ginger ale. I enjoyed all of them quite a bit.
Fast forward to today. We went to Meijer for a little grocery shopping. I noticed some different looking Fresca bottles next to the regular Fresca bottles. Fresca is a diet grapefruit soda that I have always liked, but I go in cycles with it. Anyway, the new bottles were two new flavors. One was peach-citrus and the other was black cherry-citrus. We opened up the peach one tonight and we both love it. The grapefruit is the dominant taste while you are drinking it, and then you are left with a nice fuzzy peach aftertaste. We will be getting the peach Fresca again. I will let you know how the black cherry Fresca is when we try it.
That left me with the option of a bottle of water. It sounded boring and unsatisfying. Then I thought of 7-Up. It is close to sparkling mineral water because it is not as sweet as other soft drinks.
They didn't have 7-Up so I got Diet Sprite. I have never been too crazy for the lemon-lime soft drink category, but I was really thirsty and it hit the spot just right.
That positive experience and the fact that I need to find a replacement for my Diet Cokes let me look at the diet lemon-limes in a new light. For some reason I don't find the caffeine free diet colas as satisfying. It is probably in my head, but I just don't get as much enjoyment from them. Over the Thanksgiving weekend I had several lemon-limes and some cranberry ginger ale. I enjoyed all of them quite a bit.
Fast forward to today. We went to Meijer for a little grocery shopping. I noticed some different looking Fresca bottles next to the regular Fresca bottles. Fresca is a diet grapefruit soda that I have always liked, but I go in cycles with it. Anyway, the new bottles were two new flavors. One was peach-citrus and the other was black cherry-citrus. We opened up the peach one tonight and we both love it. The grapefruit is the dominant taste while you are drinking it, and then you are left with a nice fuzzy peach aftertaste. We will be getting the peach Fresca again. I will let you know how the black cherry Fresca is when we try it.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Sheri and I went to Toledo for Thanksgiving with my family. Here is a little summary:
- Wednesday -
I went into work for just a half day in the morning. I got back home around 12:30 PM and we packed up the car with our bags we packed the night before. We also loaded up the GPS and the XM radio.
We would have left shortly after that but we didn't schedule the mail to be stopped until the day after Thanksgiving and the mailman had not delivered the mail yet. While we waited for the mail to arrive I had a couple turkey sandwiches for lunch, so the extra time worked out OK anyway. The mail showed up before I finished my second sandwich so we ended up only being about 20 minutes behind schedule.
We started driving around 1:20 PM and everything was going great until we got on I-294 from I-55. Parking lot. I think it took us about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get from there to the Indiana tollway. It normally only takes about an hour.
Traffic was fine until about halfway there. There was some bridge construction that only left one lane open for a couple miles. That added another 30 minutes of delay to our trip.
The final delay on this trip came one mile before the last Indiana toll plaza. Another parking lot. It took us almost one hour to creep from the "Tollbooth 1 Mile Ahead" sign to the actual tollbooth.
The normal four hour drive ended up taking more than six hours. We stayed with my sister and brother-in-law and they were waiting for us to have a hot dinner. They made a pot of delicious white chili, three packages of grocery store sushi, and cheese and crackers. Sheri and I split a piece of pumpkin pie for dessert. I loved the white chili. I can't believe Gourmand Brad never tried this before. It is definitely going to be added to my repertoire.
We got in late plus we were worn out from the stressful drive so I think we went to bed before 10 PM.
- Thursday - Thanksgiving -
Thursday morning I got up and took my still-frozen dough ball out of the refrigerator to defrost. Lisa made some cinnamon coffee cake the day before for breakfast and we all sat around the kitchen table for a while talking and having breakfast.
Mom and Dad came over in the morning and brought the dishes they signed up for. I think I my dough was ready to go and I started forming hard rolls between 1 PM and 1:30 PM. Tim started heating the deep fryer oil around this time.
The oil was ready to go when I put my first pan of rolls in the oven. After my second and finale pan of rolls finished baking I went outside to babysit the deep fryer with Tim. There was a constant and extremely cold 20 MPH wind that was not only painful on any exposed skin, but it also kept trying to blow out the flame and prevented the oil from reaching the proper temperature. The oil is supposed to be 375° but we could only keep it at 200°. After a while we put a piece of cardboard almost directly in contact with the deep fryer to protect it from the wind and we were able to get the temperature up to a little over 300°. Before the cardboard we had the grill and a two or three foot diameter metal disk as windbreaks, but there was still a lot of wind that was getting to the flame and preventing enough heat from getting to the pot.
The turkey turned out great and so did everything thing else on the table. This is what I can remember from the menu:
turkey
Mom's stuffing from Grandma's recipe
Stove Top stuffing for Lisa
candied yams
Tim's mashed and seasoned cauliflower
brussel sprouts
green peas
salad greens
my hard rolls
gravy
our family's traditional cold raw cranberry salad (it is not Thanksgiving without this!)
green bean casserole
black olives
green onions
I think that covers it. For dessert we had a pumpkin roll. It was a like a jelly role but the cake part was pumpkin bread-like, and the jelly part was sweetened cream cheese. It was really good, but I missed the pumpkin pie.
After dessert we all watched The Polar Express. We all really enjoyed it. Mom and Dad packed up shortly after that was over. The rest of us watched the Charlie Brown special that was on TV and then Finding Nemo. I was tired and Sheri and I went up to bed before it was over. She finished Finding Nemo in bed and I fell asleep.
- Black Friday -
Sheri and I got up at 5 AM for some Black Friday bargains which I already wrote about on Friday.
Lisa had to go into work for a few hours. She got back home about the same time Mom came over. Dad had to work Friday afternoon and evening. We had a big lunch of leftovers and then the six of us ran some errands.
Tim and Lisa needed ornaments for their new 12-foot Christmas tree so we went to Hobby Lobby. We told them about the 40% off coupons they have on-line, but once we got to the store it said only valid on regularly priced items. All of the stuff they got was already half off. They did have two remote control electric outlets that were $15 each and not on sale. Sheri and I each took one and a coupon an saved them $12.
Then we went back to Office Depot because Tim wanted an external USB numeric keypad like I got.
We stopped at Radio Shack so Tim could get one of the Bluetooth headsets for his cell phone that were on sale for $9.99, but at that price they were all sold out.
We stopped at K-Mart for a few things and then headed to Cabela's. That is always a fun spectacle to experience. I found a Cabela's t-shirt, but by the time it was ready to check-out my early morning adventure was catching up with me and I didn't have the energy to stand in the long lines, so I abandoned my shirt and we left.
For dinner we grilled up the three pounds of spicy Polish sausages I brought from Bobak's. We also fried up a pan of rinsed sauerkraut and onions. Very good.
Mom left for the night and we watched a little bit of the Star Wars movie on TV. Again I was too tired to finish it and went to bed before it was over. Sheri went up too and finished it in bed. I fell asleep listening to the audio book America on my brand new MP3 player. I downloaded the audio book that afternoon from our library back home. It is pretty good. It is like a Tom Clancy story. America is the name of the nuclear submarine in the story and thus the title of the book.
- Saturday - Today -
Lisa had to go into work again this morning. We took our time getting up, showered and dressed. We left the house around 10 AM to meet Lisa and Mom and Dad at Nick's Restaurant for brunch. We always have to get a Nick's fix when we visit Toledo. The last two times we went Tim and I split the Nick Omelet. It is $11 and is almost too much food for the two of us! It is a large oval plate of stuff covered with a large plain omelet. The pile of stuff has sausage, gyro meat, green peppers, potatoes, cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms(?) and probably a bunch of other stuff I am forgetting. Delicious. Sheri loves there fresh hand-cut French fries so she ordered those and a two over-medium eggs. Nick only has one size order of fries and it is huge. It comes on a large oval plate and is stacked as high as he can pile them on. They are some of the best fries ever. Not greasy at all and good potato flavor.
We said our goodbyes to Mom, Dad and Shawn (Shawn was spending the night with them) and then went back to Tim and Lisa's house. Lisa gave me her keys and I followed them in her van.
We packed up the car started our drive back home. After maybe 30 or 45 minutes Lisa called me on my cell phone and asked if I had her keys. Yes I did. They have a spare key so we didn't have to turn around. We will just drop them in the mail on Monday.
The drive back home was much better than the drive on Wednesday. It was easy traffic except for the construction zone when we first entered Illinois. It added about 30 minutes to the drive. I listened to a couple chapters of my audio book on the way home (while Sheri was driving of course) while she listed to the XM radio. The earphones that came with the MP3 player do a really good job of filtering out sound, so her radio playing didn't interfere too much with what I was listening too. Very cool. That will be useful in the future when she want to watch TV and I want to listen to something.
We got home, unpacked, freshened up, and got the house going again. I turned the hot water heater back up from the vacation setting. Sheri started a few loads of laundry. I had a couple of the sausages they sent us home with from Friday's dinner. We have a fire in the fireplace now and are just watching TV. We don't have any movies in from our Blockbuster On-Line account. That is about it for today. We will watch Mad TV and Saturday Night Live late this evening.
We have a few errands and chores to do tomorrow.
- Wednesday -
I went into work for just a half day in the morning. I got back home around 12:30 PM and we packed up the car with our bags we packed the night before. We also loaded up the GPS and the XM radio.
We would have left shortly after that but we didn't schedule the mail to be stopped until the day after Thanksgiving and the mailman had not delivered the mail yet. While we waited for the mail to arrive I had a couple turkey sandwiches for lunch, so the extra time worked out OK anyway. The mail showed up before I finished my second sandwich so we ended up only being about 20 minutes behind schedule.
We started driving around 1:20 PM and everything was going great until we got on I-294 from I-55. Parking lot. I think it took us about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get from there to the Indiana tollway. It normally only takes about an hour.
Traffic was fine until about halfway there. There was some bridge construction that only left one lane open for a couple miles. That added another 30 minutes of delay to our trip.
The final delay on this trip came one mile before the last Indiana toll plaza. Another parking lot. It took us almost one hour to creep from the "Tollbooth 1 Mile Ahead" sign to the actual tollbooth.
The normal four hour drive ended up taking more than six hours. We stayed with my sister and brother-in-law and they were waiting for us to have a hot dinner. They made a pot of delicious white chili, three packages of grocery store sushi, and cheese and crackers. Sheri and I split a piece of pumpkin pie for dessert. I loved the white chili. I can't believe Gourmand Brad never tried this before. It is definitely going to be added to my repertoire.
We got in late plus we were worn out from the stressful drive so I think we went to bed before 10 PM.
- Thursday - Thanksgiving -
Thursday morning I got up and took my still-frozen dough ball out of the refrigerator to defrost. Lisa made some cinnamon coffee cake the day before for breakfast and we all sat around the kitchen table for a while talking and having breakfast.
Mom and Dad came over in the morning and brought the dishes they signed up for. I think I my dough was ready to go and I started forming hard rolls between 1 PM and 1:30 PM. Tim started heating the deep fryer oil around this time.
The oil was ready to go when I put my first pan of rolls in the oven. After my second and finale pan of rolls finished baking I went outside to babysit the deep fryer with Tim. There was a constant and extremely cold 20 MPH wind that was not only painful on any exposed skin, but it also kept trying to blow out the flame and prevented the oil from reaching the proper temperature. The oil is supposed to be 375° but we could only keep it at 200°. After a while we put a piece of cardboard almost directly in contact with the deep fryer to protect it from the wind and we were able to get the temperature up to a little over 300°. Before the cardboard we had the grill and a two or three foot diameter metal disk as windbreaks, but there was still a lot of wind that was getting to the flame and preventing enough heat from getting to the pot.
The turkey turned out great and so did everything thing else on the table. This is what I can remember from the menu:
turkey
Mom's stuffing from Grandma's recipe
Stove Top stuffing for Lisa
candied yams
Tim's mashed and seasoned cauliflower
brussel sprouts
green peas
salad greens
my hard rolls
gravy
our family's traditional cold raw cranberry salad (it is not Thanksgiving without this!)
green bean casserole
black olives
green onions
I think that covers it. For dessert we had a pumpkin roll. It was a like a jelly role but the cake part was pumpkin bread-like, and the jelly part was sweetened cream cheese. It was really good, but I missed the pumpkin pie.
After dessert we all watched The Polar Express. We all really enjoyed it. Mom and Dad packed up shortly after that was over. The rest of us watched the Charlie Brown special that was on TV and then Finding Nemo. I was tired and Sheri and I went up to bed before it was over. She finished Finding Nemo in bed and I fell asleep.
- Black Friday -
Sheri and I got up at 5 AM for some Black Friday bargains which I already wrote about on Friday.
Lisa had to go into work for a few hours. She got back home about the same time Mom came over. Dad had to work Friday afternoon and evening. We had a big lunch of leftovers and then the six of us ran some errands.
Tim and Lisa needed ornaments for their new 12-foot Christmas tree so we went to Hobby Lobby. We told them about the 40% off coupons they have on-line, but once we got to the store it said only valid on regularly priced items. All of the stuff they got was already half off. They did have two remote control electric outlets that were $15 each and not on sale. Sheri and I each took one and a coupon an saved them $12.
Then we went back to Office Depot because Tim wanted an external USB numeric keypad like I got.
We stopped at Radio Shack so Tim could get one of the Bluetooth headsets for his cell phone that were on sale for $9.99, but at that price they were all sold out.
We stopped at K-Mart for a few things and then headed to Cabela's. That is always a fun spectacle to experience. I found a Cabela's t-shirt, but by the time it was ready to check-out my early morning adventure was catching up with me and I didn't have the energy to stand in the long lines, so I abandoned my shirt and we left.
For dinner we grilled up the three pounds of spicy Polish sausages I brought from Bobak's. We also fried up a pan of rinsed sauerkraut and onions. Very good.
Mom left for the night and we watched a little bit of the Star Wars movie on TV. Again I was too tired to finish it and went to bed before it was over. Sheri went up too and finished it in bed. I fell asleep listening to the audio book America on my brand new MP3 player. I downloaded the audio book that afternoon from our library back home. It is pretty good. It is like a Tom Clancy story. America is the name of the nuclear submarine in the story and thus the title of the book.
- Saturday - Today -
Lisa had to go into work again this morning. We took our time getting up, showered and dressed. We left the house around 10 AM to meet Lisa and Mom and Dad at Nick's Restaurant for brunch. We always have to get a Nick's fix when we visit Toledo. The last two times we went Tim and I split the Nick Omelet. It is $11 and is almost too much food for the two of us! It is a large oval plate of stuff covered with a large plain omelet. The pile of stuff has sausage, gyro meat, green peppers, potatoes, cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms(?) and probably a bunch of other stuff I am forgetting. Delicious. Sheri loves there fresh hand-cut French fries so she ordered those and a two over-medium eggs. Nick only has one size order of fries and it is huge. It comes on a large oval plate and is stacked as high as he can pile them on. They are some of the best fries ever. Not greasy at all and good potato flavor.
We said our goodbyes to Mom, Dad and Shawn (Shawn was spending the night with them) and then went back to Tim and Lisa's house. Lisa gave me her keys and I followed them in her van.
We packed up the car started our drive back home. After maybe 30 or 45 minutes Lisa called me on my cell phone and asked if I had her keys. Yes I did. They have a spare key so we didn't have to turn around. We will just drop them in the mail on Monday.
The drive back home was much better than the drive on Wednesday. It was easy traffic except for the construction zone when we first entered Illinois. It added about 30 minutes to the drive. I listened to a couple chapters of my audio book on the way home (while Sheri was driving of course) while she listed to the XM radio. The earphones that came with the MP3 player do a really good job of filtering out sound, so her radio playing didn't interfere too much with what I was listening too. Very cool. That will be useful in the future when she want to watch TV and I want to listen to something.
We got home, unpacked, freshened up, and got the house going again. I turned the hot water heater back up from the vacation setting. Sheri started a few loads of laundry. I had a couple of the sausages they sent us home with from Friday's dinner. We have a fire in the fireplace now and are just watching TV. We don't have any movies in from our Blockbuster On-Line account. That is about it for today. We will watch Mad TV and Saturday Night Live late this evening.
We have a few errands and chores to do tomorrow.
Friday, November 25, 2005
I didn't plan on getting up early for Black Friday bargains, but Office Depot had an ad in Thursday's paper for two things I was eventually going to buy anyway. One was an external USB numeric keypad for only $3. These are normally in the $20 range.
The other was an MP3 player. If it was any other MP3 player I probably wouldn't have noticed the ad, but it was the model that I had decided I was going to buy when I finally decided to plunk down the money for one. If have seen it on the Internet for between $100 and $120, but Office Depot had it on sale for $59 today.The store opened up at 6 AM so I set the alarm for 5 AM. The operative word there is "set". I forgot to actually turn it on. It turned out OK though. I woke up and looked at the clock at 5:15 AM.
Sheri was nice enough to go along with me, and will become an important part of the story in a bit. We brushed our teeth, threw on some clothes and went out the door. We left the car outside overnight the windows needed scraping before we left. It was very very cold, I wasn't dressed warmly enough, and I think just having woken up a few minutes ago my body temperature had not risen to its normal level yet. In a matter of just a few minutes I was shivering uncontrollably and my teeth were chattering.
It was just turning 6 AM and we were passing a Shell station. We were almost on empty and I thought it would probably be better to be a little late for the store opening than to run out of gas or get fuel line freeze up. Sheri got a hot cup of coffee for me while I pumped gas.
We got to the Office Depot parking lot about five minutes after the 6 AM opening but there were still people waiting in line outside. We sat in the car with the heat on until we saw people starting to go in. We got to the end of the line but it wasn't moving anymore. There was an employee with a clipboard inside the store talking to each person before they could move past him. I didn't know what was going on.
After a few more minutes he announced if you were there for one of the computer systems you didn't have to stop and talk to him. It turned out he had a ticket for each of the special sale items. You told him what you wanted and he handed you the ticket for it, and then you went someplace else in the store to pick it up. I guess it was a good idea so they could know exactly when the last of the special sale items had been sold.
As I was waiting there I heard him say to someone over his walkie-talkie not to sell any MP3 players without talking to him or without a ticket or something like that. I didn't pay too close attention to it, it just kind of stuck in my head.
By this time Sheri had stepped fully into the store so she could warm up. I signaled to her to go see if she could find the items on the shelf. Just in case.
When I finally got up to him and told him I wanted the MP3 player he looked to a guy next to him and said "He wants an MP3 player too." He wrote the SKU number down, asked for my name, and walked away. Huh? I was going to follow him around the store until I got my MP3 player, but just then Sheri came walking up with the MP3 player!
They were in an aisle inside of a locked case. She stood there blocking access to the case until an employee with a key showed up. There were only three of the MP3 players in the case, so she said she wasn't going to move until she had one in her hands. She said other shoppers tried to be sneaky and get in front by pretending to browse the selection, but she was having none of that. By the time an employee got there she said there were at least five other shoppers waiting for one, but she got the first one out of the case. Those others more than likely got there before we did too. Yeah Sheri!
We picked up the external numeric keypad (no line for those!) and used it to hide the MP3 player. I was afraid if we tried to check out they would ask for our ticket or something. We stood there for a minute trying to decide what to do. Maybe walk around the store for a while until all of the people that were clamoring for an MP3 player left. Sheri decided that once it is in your hands they can't take it away from you, and if they tried she would put up a huge stink. OK, if she was up for a stink I was up for checking out.
They only had two lines opened up and they each had over 10 or 15 people in them. Sheri spotted a girl working a register at the customer service desk. It was facing the front of the store so people couldn't really see it was a checkout line. There was only one person in front of us too.
We thought a nice hot cup of coffee would be good as a reward for a successful (and first) Black Friday shopping trip. There was a Starbucks just around the corner. By the time we sat down with our cups of coffee and a blueberry muffin to split it was still only a few minutes before 6:30 AM! I somewhat expected to spend maybe an hour or a little more at Office Depot.
So my big thanks to Sheri for a successful trip as well as a very fast trip.
We got back home and Sheri went back to bed for a couple hours. I tried out my numeric keypad and MP3 player. I downloaded a couple technology-related podcasts from NPR and a couple from This Week In Tech.
I laid in bed and listened to about of an hour of them with my eyes closed. It worked great. I wanted the player mostly for these kind of things and for audio books I can download from our library.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
The title of this article alone has anthropological and sociological value for our times.
(the tips are just ok)
Top 10 Things To Do For Mom's PC Over Thanksgiving
(the tips are just ok)
Top 10 Things To Do For Mom's PC Over Thanksgiving
We had a small snow event early this morning. We laid down 325 tons of salt that cost of about $16,250.
Our trucks get about 5 mpg and we have 734 lane miles so we went through about 150 to 200 gallons of diesel.
We ran for about three hours from 4 am until 7 am. All told, overtime, fuel and salt cost us about $150,000.
That works out to about $350 per lane mile. A mile of our roadway averages about 2.35 lanes, so that works out to about $825 per centerline mile to clear just under an inch of snow.
Our trucks get about 5 mpg and we have 734 lane miles so we went through about 150 to 200 gallons of diesel.
We ran for about three hours from 4 am until 7 am. All told, overtime, fuel and salt cost us about $150,000.
That works out to about $350 per lane mile. A mile of our roadway averages about 2.35 lanes, so that works out to about $825 per centerline mile to clear just under an inch of snow.
Monday, November 21, 2005
This year's survey of the most dangerous cities and safest cities was released today. Here are the results:
Listed as the most dangerous cities are:
Camden, New Jersey
Detroit, Michigan
St. Louis, Missouri
Flint, Michigan
Richmond, Virginia
Baltimore, Maryland
Atlanta, Georgia
New Orleans, Louisiana
Gary, Indiana
Birmingham, Alabama
At the other end of the scale, the safest are named as:
Newton, Massachusetts
Clarkstown, New York
Amherst, New York
Mission Viejo, California
Brick Township
New Jersey
Troy, Michigan
Thousand Oaks, California
Round Rock, Texas
Lake Forest, California
Cary, North Carolina
Listed as the most dangerous cities are:
Camden, New Jersey
Detroit, Michigan
St. Louis, Missouri
Flint, Michigan
Richmond, Virginia
Baltimore, Maryland
Atlanta, Georgia
New Orleans, Louisiana
Gary, Indiana
Birmingham, Alabama
At the other end of the scale, the safest are named as:
Newton, Massachusetts
Clarkstown, New York
Amherst, New York
Mission Viejo, California
Brick Township
New Jersey
Troy, Michigan
Thousand Oaks, California
Round Rock, Texas
Lake Forest, California
Cary, North Carolina
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Here is a quick weekend-recap:
- Friday -
I had to man a table at GIS day, so I was away from the office. It finished at 2 PM and it was closer to home than the office, so when it was finished I just went home instead of to the office. If I went to the office by the time I got there it would almost be time to turn around and go home.
I got home and Sheri was having a bad day. She decided a Lou Malnati's pizza and watching a movie would help her. It did (and me being home of course!). We picked up Robots, but it turned out we got an unwatchable scratched copy and could only watch the first 10 minutes or so. I forget exactly what we did after that, but I think it was just watch TV and go to bed.
- Saturday -
We got up early to get stuff before the Michigan vs. Ohio State game. We went to Burger King for breakfast and to read the paper. We also brought the laptop, but not to surf the web with. We brought it to listen to the pre-game radio shows streaming from 1460 AM in Columbus. It was difficult to listen to though because they had the background music in the restaurant turned up too loud.
We got some bread, tomato, and romaine lettuce for our turkey sandwiches, as well as some potato chips. We enjoyed watching the game. It was an exciting close ending.
Sheri exchanged the Robots DVD and got a good copy. We watched it in the early evening and liked it.
That night we watched Last Days. One of the most boring and slow movies EVAR! We fast forwarded through it in about 30 minutes, but it is still 30 minutes of my life that I will never get back.
Watched Mad TV and Saturday Night Live.
- Sunday -
I read most of the paper on the couch from about 8:30 AM to about 10 AM.
Sheri gave me a haircut.
Took a shower and then left for some errands.
Went to Meijer first. We both got a coffee from the Starbucks that is just inside the store. Just the previous day I was asking Sheri why Starbucks doesn't have a loyalty card where they give you a punch each time you buy a coffee and then your 10th one is free. The one inside this Meijer does! You buy five and your sixth is free. We only needed King Arthur flour and an air filter for my car.
We then returned the Robots DVD.
Next was Trader Joe's for for wine and soy protein.
Home Depot for some enzymes to pour down slow drains to open them up.
Tanked up the van so Sheri doesn't run out of gas driving to her interview tomorrow.
Gordon's for a pound of yeast and 2,000 packets of Nutrasweet.
Bobak's for Maxwell Polish sausages and buns.
We both had a slice of leftover pizza when we got home.
Then I started making dough. I will freeze the dough after it rises and and gets punched down a couple times. On Thanksgiving all I have to do is defrost the dough, form it into hard rolls, let them rise on a cookie sheet for a bit and put them in the oven. No mixing bowls or dough hooks to wash in the hectic Thanksgiving kitchen that way.
I replaced the air filter in my car.
I balanced the checkbook and went through a day or two of mail.
I did a few things on the computer, which brings me to now. I think I am going to make a turkey sandwich soon. We are going to watch The Poseidon Adventure tonight until Desperate Housewives comes on, and then switch to that.
- Friday -
I had to man a table at GIS day, so I was away from the office. It finished at 2 PM and it was closer to home than the office, so when it was finished I just went home instead of to the office. If I went to the office by the time I got there it would almost be time to turn around and go home.
I got home and Sheri was having a bad day. She decided a Lou Malnati's pizza and watching a movie would help her. It did (and me being home of course!). We picked up Robots, but it turned out we got an unwatchable scratched copy and could only watch the first 10 minutes or so. I forget exactly what we did after that, but I think it was just watch TV and go to bed.
- Saturday -
We got up early to get stuff before the Michigan vs. Ohio State game. We went to Burger King for breakfast and to read the paper. We also brought the laptop, but not to surf the web with. We brought it to listen to the pre-game radio shows streaming from 1460 AM in Columbus. It was difficult to listen to though because they had the background music in the restaurant turned up too loud.
We got some bread, tomato, and romaine lettuce for our turkey sandwiches, as well as some potato chips. We enjoyed watching the game. It was an exciting close ending.
Sheri exchanged the Robots DVD and got a good copy. We watched it in the early evening and liked it.
That night we watched Last Days. One of the most boring and slow movies EVAR! We fast forwarded through it in about 30 minutes, but it is still 30 minutes of my life that I will never get back.
Watched Mad TV and Saturday Night Live.
- Sunday -
I read most of the paper on the couch from about 8:30 AM to about 10 AM.
Sheri gave me a haircut.
Took a shower and then left for some errands.
Went to Meijer first. We both got a coffee from the Starbucks that is just inside the store. Just the previous day I was asking Sheri why Starbucks doesn't have a loyalty card where they give you a punch each time you buy a coffee and then your 10th one is free. The one inside this Meijer does! You buy five and your sixth is free. We only needed King Arthur flour and an air filter for my car.
We then returned the Robots DVD.
Next was Trader Joe's for for wine and soy protein.
Home Depot for some enzymes to pour down slow drains to open them up.
Tanked up the van so Sheri doesn't run out of gas driving to her interview tomorrow.
Gordon's for a pound of yeast and 2,000 packets of Nutrasweet.
Bobak's for Maxwell Polish sausages and buns.
We both had a slice of leftover pizza when we got home.
Then I started making dough. I will freeze the dough after it rises and and gets punched down a couple times. On Thanksgiving all I have to do is defrost the dough, form it into hard rolls, let them rise on a cookie sheet for a bit and put them in the oven. No mixing bowls or dough hooks to wash in the hectic Thanksgiving kitchen that way.
I replaced the air filter in my car.
I balanced the checkbook and went through a day or two of mail.
I did a few things on the computer, which brings me to now. I think I am going to make a turkey sandwich soon. We are going to watch The Poseidon Adventure tonight until Desperate Housewives comes on, and then switch to that.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
A study was done that shows caffeine consumption reduces a diabetic's sensitivity to insulin by up to 37%!
It reduces a non-diabetic's sensitivity to insulin almost as much; between 23% and 33%.
This is of concern for weight loss and weight maintenance because of the following scenario:
1. You have a cup of coffee or some soda.
2. Your cells cannot use insulin as efficiently to absorb glucose from your blood for a while.
3. Your blood sugar spikes.
4. Your body senses this and dumps extra insulin into your blood to get rid of the sugar.
5. The large load of insulin causes your blood sugar to drop too low.
6. Your body thinks it is hungry and needs food so you go and get a snack, thus adding more calories.
I have stopped drinking beverages with caffeine in them completely for about two weeks now. With this information there is no way I can enjoy a regular cup of coffee or regular Diet Coke anymore. I will occasionally have iced tea, but not the gallons I used to drink.
Hopefully this will let me drop a few more pounds too.
It reduces a non-diabetic's sensitivity to insulin almost as much; between 23% and 33%.
This is of concern for weight loss and weight maintenance because of the following scenario:
1. You have a cup of coffee or some soda.
2. Your cells cannot use insulin as efficiently to absorb glucose from your blood for a while.
3. Your blood sugar spikes.
4. Your body senses this and dumps extra insulin into your blood to get rid of the sugar.
5. The large load of insulin causes your blood sugar to drop too low.
6. Your body thinks it is hungry and needs food so you go and get a snack, thus adding more calories.
I have stopped drinking beverages with caffeine in them completely for about two weeks now. With this information there is no way I can enjoy a regular cup of coffee or regular Diet Coke anymore. I will occasionally have iced tea, but not the gallons I used to drink.
Hopefully this will let me drop a few more pounds too.
For those of you that are into getting up early on Black Friday for bargain hunting, these three sites will help you plan and prioritize your morning. They collect leaked ads, circulars and flyers from stores before they are published and put all of the deals up on the web. I see that Best Buy is going to have a $379 laptop!
For copyright reasons Sears is listed as Sbears and Kmart is listed as Jmart on the BK2005.com site.
www.bf2005.com
www.blackfridayads.com
www.gottadeal.com
For copyright reasons Sears is listed as Sbears and Kmart is listed as Jmart on the BK2005.com site.
www.bf2005.com
www.blackfridayads.com
www.gottadeal.com
Over the last 15 years or so I think I have pretty consistently followed the patter of:
1. Subscribing to National Geographic magazine.
2. When it is time to renew after 12 months I think "Eh, it enjoyed it OK, but not enough to renew again.
3. Wait three years.
4. Repeat.
I am almost at step two right now.
1. Subscribing to National Geographic magazine.
2. When it is time to renew after 12 months I think "Eh, it enjoyed it OK, but not enough to renew again.
3. Wait three years.
4. Repeat.
I am almost at step two right now.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
I just heard and interesting statistic from the book Freakonomics:
A swimming pool in the backyard is about 100 times more likely to kill a child than a gun in the house.
A swimming pool in the backyard is about 100 times more likely to kill a child than a gun in the house.
I think I have mentioned this before. Every night I fall asleep listening to the radio (Mostly news. Never music.) with a little earphone in one ear. When I wake up in the middle of the night to roll over sometimes the earphone is still in my ear and I will keep listening until I fall back asleep, and if it has fallen out I will feel around for it and put it back in my ear.
Because of this daily use I go through an earphone about every three months. My latest one somehow got a sharp bend in the middle of the cord and exposed the wires. I made my quarterly stop at Radio Shack after work tonight to pick up a new earphone. The normal conversation usually goes something like this:
Me: I need a mono-earphone with a three-foot cord and an 1/8" plug.
Clerk behind counter: (handing me an earphone package) Is this what you want?
Me: Yep. That's it.
Clerk behind counter: That will be $3.27. Do you need a bag for that?
Me: No thanks.
Clerk behind counter: Have a nice evening.
Me: You to. (exit store)
This is how the transaction went down tonight.
Me: I need a mono-earphone with a three-foot cord and an 1/8" plug.
Clerk behind counter: (handing me an earphone package) Is this what you want?
Me: Yep. That's it.
Clerk behind counter: We have stereo ones too for both ears. Wouldn't that be better?
Me. I don't need it in stereo. It's just for one ear.
Clerk behind counter: What do you need it for?
Me: (feeling annoyed but I don't think it showed)I listen to the radio in bed on my side. I lay on one ear so it is uncomfortable if something is in that ear.
Clerk behind counter: (with a tone like she is going to change my life)Did you know we have a special pillow speaker for this exact use?
Me: I don't like those. I prefer a mono-earphone.
Clerk behind counter: Well, OK. Do you need any batteries tonight?
Me: No.
Clerk behind counter: (sounding somewhat disappointed)Is there anything else you need this evening?
Me: No
Clerk behind counter: Did you find everything you were looking for?
Me: Yes
Clerk behind counter: That will be $3.27. Do you need a bag for that?
Me: No thanks.
Clerk behind counter: Have a nice evening.
Me: You to. (exit store)
I much prefer my normal Radio Shack conversation.
Because of this daily use I go through an earphone about every three months. My latest one somehow got a sharp bend in the middle of the cord and exposed the wires. I made my quarterly stop at Radio Shack after work tonight to pick up a new earphone. The normal conversation usually goes something like this:
Me: I need a mono-earphone with a three-foot cord and an 1/8" plug.
Clerk behind counter: (handing me an earphone package) Is this what you want?
Me: Yep. That's it.
Clerk behind counter: That will be $3.27. Do you need a bag for that?
Me: No thanks.
Clerk behind counter: Have a nice evening.
Me: You to. (exit store)
This is how the transaction went down tonight.
Me: I need a mono-earphone with a three-foot cord and an 1/8" plug.
Clerk behind counter: (handing me an earphone package) Is this what you want?
Me: Yep. That's it.
Clerk behind counter: We have stereo ones too for both ears. Wouldn't that be better?
Me. I don't need it in stereo. It's just for one ear.
Clerk behind counter: What do you need it for?
Me: (feeling annoyed but I don't think it showed)I listen to the radio in bed on my side. I lay on one ear so it is uncomfortable if something is in that ear.
Clerk behind counter: (with a tone like she is going to change my life)Did you know we have a special pillow speaker for this exact use?
Me: I don't like those. I prefer a mono-earphone.
Clerk behind counter: Well, OK. Do you need any batteries tonight?
Me: No.
Clerk behind counter: (sounding somewhat disappointed)Is there anything else you need this evening?
Me: No
Clerk behind counter: Did you find everything you were looking for?
Me: Yes
Clerk behind counter: That will be $3.27. Do you need a bag for that?
Me: No thanks.
Clerk behind counter: Have a nice evening.
Me: You to. (exit store)
I much prefer my normal Radio Shack conversation.
I discovered this neat free software called FreeMind. It is a genre called mind mapping software. The idea is that you the way you think is with a bunch of interconnected ideas. This software allows you to dump all of your thoughts into it and then link them together, allowing you to see the big picture of what you have to do. People use it for all sorts of things from planning a party to designing software to planning industrial processes.
I started using it today at work to keep track of things I have to do. The end result might be a few maps, but there may be a number of dependencies for each map. This software allows me to put all of these dependencies in one place and manage them from there rather than trying to keep it all straight in my head or on paper.
You can download FreeMind from here.
This is what I have so far:
click for full-sized image
I started using it today at work to keep track of things I have to do. The end result might be a few maps, but there may be a number of dependencies for each map. This software allows me to put all of these dependencies in one place and manage them from there rather than trying to keep it all straight in my head or on paper.
You can download FreeMind from here.
This is what I have so far:
click for full-sized image
Monday, November 14, 2005
We saw an ad in the paper yesterday for a 10 pound fully cooked and smoked Butterball turkey for only $12.99 at Aldi, so Sheri picked one up today for us to try. It is frozen, and we put it in the freezer until we decide when we are going to eat it. I think I want to eat it during the OSU vs Michigan game this weekend, but I am not sure yet. I am pretty excited to try it though. This could be my new favorite treat.
Saturday, November 12, 2005
We went to Whole Foods for lunch. We did a lap around the store first to see what samples they had out. They must have just refreshed all of the samples because all of the sample trays were full. Lots of good stuff. The highlight was a plate of $23/pound salmon candy. Stupid name, but it was just smoked salmon that had been cured with brown sugar. Delicious.
For lunch we both got our own carton and picked some things from the hot salad bar and ate it in the seating area in the front of the store. The main thing we each got was King Ranch Casserole which is chicken, cheddar, tomitillo sauce, tortilla chips, and spices. I also got one potato and pea samosa, one piece of boneless curried chicken, and a spoonful of Thai cucumber salad.
We got a cart and did some provisioning for our dinner. We had to stop at Dominick's on the way home for a couple things Whole Foods didn't have.
We got home just around 2 PM at the same time the house cleaner was getting her supplies out of the car. She was supposed to have started around 11 AM. We were tired and were planning on a nap, but it actually worked out good because we got a lot of yard work done. We got all of the leaves in the yard to the curb. I pruned a branch from the big maple in the back yard and cut that into bite-sized pieces, and disconnected the garden hoses, emptied the water from them, and coiled them for the basement for winter storage.
When we were at Panera's yesterday I smelled a combination of things that instantly reminded me of a sandwich my Mom made when I was younger, but I have not had since I was probably in grade school. I called home right then and there to see if she remembers them and what exactly was in them. She told me and I made them for dinner tonight.
It is pretty much a Devonshire sandwich with a few shortcuts. We start with a piece of toast and put couple slices of turkey on, then a slice of bacon, and finally slice of tomato. I warmed the turkey in the pan I fried the bacon in just so the turkey wasn't cold. I drained the excess bacon fat out but there was still enough flavor left in the pan to add a little extra taste to the turkey. Finally we ladled the special Devonshire sauce of the open-faced sandwich. The sauce is just a can of Campbell's cheddar cheese soup (undiluted) and a half cup of plain yogurt. Mom's recipe calls for sour cream, but the yogurt tastes just as good and is better for us.
Sheri never heard of them but loved it and finished her whole sandwich. She wants me to make them again.
While Sheri was talking on the phone with her Mom after dinner I hard boiled eight eggs and made a pretty good batch of egg salad. I added:
Hellmann's reduced fat mayonnaise
A squirt of Gulden's mustard
Dill pickle relish
Sweet pickle relish
A teaspoon of prepared horseradish
Perfect.
We were going to watch a movie, but Mad TV is on in 30 minutes and then Saturday Night Live. They are both new and the guests sound pretty good, so we are just going to watch that tonight.
For lunch we both got our own carton and picked some things from the hot salad bar and ate it in the seating area in the front of the store. The main thing we each got was King Ranch Casserole which is chicken, cheddar, tomitillo sauce, tortilla chips, and spices. I also got one potato and pea samosa, one piece of boneless curried chicken, and a spoonful of Thai cucumber salad.
We got a cart and did some provisioning for our dinner. We had to stop at Dominick's on the way home for a couple things Whole Foods didn't have.
We got home just around 2 PM at the same time the house cleaner was getting her supplies out of the car. She was supposed to have started around 11 AM. We were tired and were planning on a nap, but it actually worked out good because we got a lot of yard work done. We got all of the leaves in the yard to the curb. I pruned a branch from the big maple in the back yard and cut that into bite-sized pieces, and disconnected the garden hoses, emptied the water from them, and coiled them for the basement for winter storage.
When we were at Panera's yesterday I smelled a combination of things that instantly reminded me of a sandwich my Mom made when I was younger, but I have not had since I was probably in grade school. I called home right then and there to see if she remembers them and what exactly was in them. She told me and I made them for dinner tonight.
It is pretty much a Devonshire sandwich with a few shortcuts. We start with a piece of toast and put couple slices of turkey on, then a slice of bacon, and finally slice of tomato. I warmed the turkey in the pan I fried the bacon in just so the turkey wasn't cold. I drained the excess bacon fat out but there was still enough flavor left in the pan to add a little extra taste to the turkey. Finally we ladled the special Devonshire sauce of the open-faced sandwich. The sauce is just a can of Campbell's cheddar cheese soup (undiluted) and a half cup of plain yogurt. Mom's recipe calls for sour cream, but the yogurt tastes just as good and is better for us.
Sheri never heard of them but loved it and finished her whole sandwich. She wants me to make them again.
While Sheri was talking on the phone with her Mom after dinner I hard boiled eight eggs and made a pretty good batch of egg salad. I added:
Hellmann's reduced fat mayonnaise
A squirt of Gulden's mustard
Dill pickle relish
Sweet pickle relish
A teaspoon of prepared horseradish
Perfect.
We were going to watch a movie, but Mad TV is on in 30 minutes and then Saturday Night Live. They are both new and the guests sound pretty good, so we are just going to watch that tonight.
I have written before that one of the best things to happen to my health is my discovery of cheap soy protein powder at Trader Joe's. Before this I would usually skip breakfast, but then around 10 AM I was ravenous and couldn't control myself in regards to eating donuts or candy that coworkers bring in.
I mix four scoops of the vanilla flavored soy powder, two cups of water, and eight packets of Nutra Sweet in our blender. It tastes pretty good and keeps my satisfied until between noon and 1 PM.
It is definitely not a chore to drink it every morning; it tastes pretty good, but I was looking for ways to jazz it up a little. I experimented with cocoa powder and it was a success. Two or three level tablespoons gives it a nice rich chocolate taste.
If the story ended there it would be great. I made my healthy morning ritual a little more enjoyable which ensures I will keep doing it. However I recently read some studies that said cocoa has twice the level and activity of antioxidants of red wine and three times the amount in green tea!
Every article about this, though, laments that cocoa is always eaten with heavy doses of saturated fat thanks to the coco butter used to make chocolate bars. With my recipe though I am getting just the straight healthy cocoa powder and no added fat. I am also getting a nice dose of fiber. Each tablespoon has about 4% of the RDA of fiber, so I am also getting about a tenth of my fiber for the day.
I mix four scoops of the vanilla flavored soy powder, two cups of water, and eight packets of Nutra Sweet in our blender. It tastes pretty good and keeps my satisfied until between noon and 1 PM.
It is definitely not a chore to drink it every morning; it tastes pretty good, but I was looking for ways to jazz it up a little. I experimented with cocoa powder and it was a success. Two or three level tablespoons gives it a nice rich chocolate taste.
If the story ended there it would be great. I made my healthy morning ritual a little more enjoyable which ensures I will keep doing it. However I recently read some studies that said cocoa has twice the level and activity of antioxidants of red wine and three times the amount in green tea!
Every article about this, though, laments that cocoa is always eaten with heavy doses of saturated fat thanks to the coco butter used to make chocolate bars. With my recipe though I am getting just the straight healthy cocoa powder and no added fat. I am also getting a nice dose of fiber. Each tablespoon has about 4% of the RDA of fiber, so I am also getting about a tenth of my fiber for the day.
My office was closed yesterday (Friday) for Veteran's Day, so Sheri and I had a fun-day.
We got a pretty early start (8:30 AM) and went to Panera's for breakfast. I didn't want to overdo it there so I mixed up a glass of soy protein before we left.
Sheri had her usual Spinach & Artichoke Soufflé and I just had a toasted bagel with light cream cheese. I had just a little freelance work to do while Sheri read her book and worked a couple of puzzles from the paper. We ended up hanging out right into the lunch rush. We were getting hungry for lunch and trying to figure out what to do. We were already there and comfortable so we split a Bacon Turkey Bravo sandwich.
Sheri found an on-line coupon for 40% off at Hobby Lobby and I have been wanting to put together a plastic model lately, so that was our next stop. I wasn't a huge modeler when I was a kid, but I put together a few of them, and I guess I have had some nostalgic feelings surfacing lately about building them.
I wanted to build a World War II era bomber. My first choice was the B-29 and my second choice was a B-52. If they didn't have either of those my third choice was a B-17. They didn't have any of those. They had a huge 1:400 scale Queen Elizabeth and a 1:350 scale Titanic. They were each about three or four feet long! Sheri was pushing me to get one of those but they were $90 each ($54 after the coupon) and that just seemed like more than I wanted to invest in this right now. (Maybe if I really enjoy putting this next model together I will think about it.)
I ended up getting the USS Saratoga aircraft carrier. With the coupon it was only $13. I also picked up a tube of plastic modeling cement. I took the cap off for a little whiff and that instantly brought back a lot of memories too. (No, not from huffing, just the smell.)
I am looking for a little air brush to hook up to my compressor to give it a really finished look. Testors has one for only $15.
After that we went to Meijer to pick up some food for dinner. We got the $3.99 8-piece Friday chicken special that we tried last week and liked so much.
While we were having breakfast at Panera I read a New York Times article on-line about the increase in popularity of organic milk, so we tried a half gallon of that too. You have heard of pasteurizing milk to kill harmful bacteria. That is where the temperature of the milk is increased to 145º for 30 minutes or 163º for 15 seconds. The article I read said that a lot of organic milk is "ultra pasteurized" to extend the shelf life for a few weeks. This almost completely sterilizes the milk by increasing the temperature of the milk to 285º for two seconds. The only reason I can come up for this is because organic milk doesn't sell as fast or has to travel farther distances to the store because there are fewer organic dairies. The article said there are pros and cons of ultra pasteurizing. It is possible that it can impart a burned taste to the milk, but the story also said it can make the milk taste creamier. You know what? It really did taste creamier. We could not detect any burned taste. Maybe that is only if it is done wrong. The high heat can also change the protein structure a little bit which can make it more difficult to whip cream that has been ultra pasteurized.
We went home, put a fire in the fireplace, ate our chicken and watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. A really fun movie! I am not sure if I liked the voice that Johnny Depp used for Willy Wonka, but I got used to it.
This morning (Saturday) I had to get up early for a doctor appointment. My doctor bought a new machine that lets him do hemoglobin A1c tests right in the office rather than sending the blood out to a lab. This is great because he can change meds and courses of action during the appointment rather than waiting a week after the appointment. The 30 pounds I lost is really making a difference. My A1c was 6.1% which is in the upper range of a non-diabetic! (Lower is better.) A year ago my reading was around 7.5%. The target for diabetics is to be below 7%. He said if I can get it below 6% by my next appointment in four months we will start to drop and reduce meds. My blood pressure was really good too; 112 over 80.
We are at Burger King now doing our normal weekend hanging out. After this we think we will go to Whole Foods for some food for this evening's movie, Last Days. We also need to rake some leaves in the backyard and take them to the curb. We were going to do that yesterday, but by the time we got home from our day out we only had an hour of sunlight left and we both felt kind of tired.
We got a pretty early start (8:30 AM) and went to Panera's for breakfast. I didn't want to overdo it there so I mixed up a glass of soy protein before we left.
Sheri had her usual Spinach & Artichoke Soufflé and I just had a toasted bagel with light cream cheese. I had just a little freelance work to do while Sheri read her book and worked a couple of puzzles from the paper. We ended up hanging out right into the lunch rush. We were getting hungry for lunch and trying to figure out what to do. We were already there and comfortable so we split a Bacon Turkey Bravo sandwich.
Sheri found an on-line coupon for 40% off at Hobby Lobby and I have been wanting to put together a plastic model lately, so that was our next stop. I wasn't a huge modeler when I was a kid, but I put together a few of them, and I guess I have had some nostalgic feelings surfacing lately about building them.
I wanted to build a World War II era bomber. My first choice was the B-29 and my second choice was a B-52. If they didn't have either of those my third choice was a B-17. They didn't have any of those. They had a huge 1:400 scale Queen Elizabeth and a 1:350 scale Titanic. They were each about three or four feet long! Sheri was pushing me to get one of those but they were $90 each ($54 after the coupon) and that just seemed like more than I wanted to invest in this right now. (Maybe if I really enjoy putting this next model together I will think about it.)
I ended up getting the USS Saratoga aircraft carrier. With the coupon it was only $13. I also picked up a tube of plastic modeling cement. I took the cap off for a little whiff and that instantly brought back a lot of memories too. (No, not from huffing, just the smell.)
I am looking for a little air brush to hook up to my compressor to give it a really finished look. Testors has one for only $15.After that we went to Meijer to pick up some food for dinner. We got the $3.99 8-piece Friday chicken special that we tried last week and liked so much.
While we were having breakfast at Panera I read a New York Times article on-line about the increase in popularity of organic milk, so we tried a half gallon of that too. You have heard of pasteurizing milk to kill harmful bacteria. That is where the temperature of the milk is increased to 145º for 30 minutes or 163º for 15 seconds. The article I read said that a lot of organic milk is "ultra pasteurized" to extend the shelf life for a few weeks. This almost completely sterilizes the milk by increasing the temperature of the milk to 285º for two seconds. The only reason I can come up for this is because organic milk doesn't sell as fast or has to travel farther distances to the store because there are fewer organic dairies. The article said there are pros and cons of ultra pasteurizing. It is possible that it can impart a burned taste to the milk, but the story also said it can make the milk taste creamier. You know what? It really did taste creamier. We could not detect any burned taste. Maybe that is only if it is done wrong. The high heat can also change the protein structure a little bit which can make it more difficult to whip cream that has been ultra pasteurized.
We went home, put a fire in the fireplace, ate our chicken and watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. A really fun movie! I am not sure if I liked the voice that Johnny Depp used for Willy Wonka, but I got used to it.
This morning (Saturday) I had to get up early for a doctor appointment. My doctor bought a new machine that lets him do hemoglobin A1c tests right in the office rather than sending the blood out to a lab. This is great because he can change meds and courses of action during the appointment rather than waiting a week after the appointment. The 30 pounds I lost is really making a difference. My A1c was 6.1% which is in the upper range of a non-diabetic! (Lower is better.) A year ago my reading was around 7.5%. The target for diabetics is to be below 7%. He said if I can get it below 6% by my next appointment in four months we will start to drop and reduce meds. My blood pressure was really good too; 112 over 80.
We are at Burger King now doing our normal weekend hanging out. After this we think we will go to Whole Foods for some food for this evening's movie, Last Days. We also need to rake some leaves in the backyard and take them to the curb. We were going to do that yesterday, but by the time we got home from our day out we only had an hour of sunlight left and we both felt kind of tired.
Friday, November 11, 2005
There is a neat feature in the PC case I bought this week. They call it an "over-nighter" compartment. There is a zipper you undo that allows the bag to expand, and then there is a place with enough space for a folded shirt, a pair of pants, skivvies, and a few toiletries, and a couple of straps to buckle everything in. Just enough for an overnight business trip. Very cool. I am using it for the laptop's power cord and power brick.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
When we bought our laptop we did not buy a case for it because we expected it to live more than 99% of its life on the coffee table or next to the bed. It turns out we have been taking it out quite a bit more than we expected; Panera, Burger King, watching movies on Amtrak, etc.
We have been using the backpack I bought when I was taking classes at Northern, but it was just not up to the job. The backpack doesn't really provide any protection to the laptop, and the compartment we put the laptop in was a little snug at the corners and sometime the zipper would come apart at those points. Not good.
We have been looking at laptop bags and the ones I liked most were in the $90 range. I was thinking of telling Sheri this is what I wanted for Christmas.
I stopped at Office Depot after work to get some printer paper, and after I picked up the paper I wandered around the store. I always make a stop at the clearance shelf in the back. There was a nice Samsonite case with the style I was looking for with a clearance sticker of only $59.99. It had a really solid, sturdy feel. Hmmm, tempted. I looked above the clearance shelf and there was a little sign that said everything on the clearance shelf was 50% off the lowest price. Bingo! Thirty dollars for what I was willing to pay $90 for.
I also signed up for a free Office Depot Advantage card. If you spend over $200 in a quarter they mail you a gift card worth about 10% of your purchases for the quarter.
This is the bag.
We have been using the backpack I bought when I was taking classes at Northern, but it was just not up to the job. The backpack doesn't really provide any protection to the laptop, and the compartment we put the laptop in was a little snug at the corners and sometime the zipper would come apart at those points. Not good.
We have been looking at laptop bags and the ones I liked most were in the $90 range. I was thinking of telling Sheri this is what I wanted for Christmas.
I stopped at Office Depot after work to get some printer paper, and after I picked up the paper I wandered around the store. I always make a stop at the clearance shelf in the back. There was a nice Samsonite case with the style I was looking for with a clearance sticker of only $59.99. It had a really solid, sturdy feel. Hmmm, tempted. I looked above the clearance shelf and there was a little sign that said everything on the clearance shelf was 50% off the lowest price. Bingo! Thirty dollars for what I was willing to pay $90 for.
I also signed up for a free Office Depot Advantage card. If you spend over $200 in a quarter they mail you a gift card worth about 10% of your purchases for the quarter.
This is the bag.
People think honey is better for you than table sugar because it is "natural". It turns out to actually be worse for you than table sugar:
Although honey is a natural sweetener, it is considered a refined sugar because 96% of dry matter are simple sugars: fructose, glucose and sucrose. It is little wonder that the honey bear is the only animal found in nature with a problem with tooth-decay (honey decays teeth faster than table sugar). Honey has the highest calorie content of all sugars with 65 calories/tablespoon, compared to the 48 calories/tablespoon found in table sugar. The increased calories are bound to cause increased blood serum fatty acids, as well as weight gain, on top of the risk of more cavities.[source]
Pesticides used on farm crops and residential flowers have been found in commercial honey. Honey can be fatal to an infant whose immature digestive tracts are unable to deal effectively with Botulinum Spore growth. What nutrients or enzymes raw honey does contain are destroyed by manufacturers who heat it in order to give it a clear appearance to enhance sales. If you are going to consume honey, make sure it is raw, unheated honey. Good to use in special cures, but not as an every day food. It is not much better than white or brown sugar.
There is a cookbook called "The Silver Spoon" that supposedly every self-respecting Italian household in Italy has had in their kitchen since 1950. With over 2,000 recipes it is considered the Bible of Italian cooking. I heard about it from an interview with the Italian editor of the cookbook. She said that every newlywed couple receives a copy of this cookbook.
Last month for the first time ever an English version was released. One of the things that I found interesting is that in Italian recipes the ingredients are listed in order of importance with the most important ingredients listed first. American cooks are used to the ingredients being listed in the order that they are called for in the recipe, and that is the way they appear in the English version. I find little things like that fascinating.
Another thing I heard from the book is that grated cheese should always be added to the pasta before you add the sauce. Americans always add the cheese on top of the sauce. The reason is because the cheese will melt on the hot pasta better and release more of its flavor. They also said something about getting sandwiched between the pasta and the sauce, and the cheese gets more evenly distributed and resists clumping or something, but I forgot exactly what they said about that. I was merging onto the Tollway at that point.
Last month for the first time ever an English version was released. One of the things that I found interesting is that in Italian recipes the ingredients are listed in order of importance with the most important ingredients listed first. American cooks are used to the ingredients being listed in the order that they are called for in the recipe, and that is the way they appear in the English version. I find little things like that fascinating.
Another thing I heard from the book is that grated cheese should always be added to the pasta before you add the sauce. Americans always add the cheese on top of the sauce. The reason is because the cheese will melt on the hot pasta better and release more of its flavor. They also said something about getting sandwiched between the pasta and the sauce, and the cheese gets more evenly distributed and resists clumping or something, but I forgot exactly what they said about that. I was merging onto the Tollway at that point.
A properly brewed cup of coffee in a paper cup is usually too hot to hold with your bare hands. The original solution to this was to use two cups.
Somewhere along the line someone figured out that an insulated sleeve that slides around the hot cup and made out of recycled paper, instead of double-cupping, would save a lot of trees. Great idea.
I don't know if it is all Starbucks now or just the ones I have been too, but every time I have ordered a cup of coffee in the last year it has come double-cupped and with an insulated sleeve.
Is that a directive from Corporate that is supposed to make me feel pampered and special? Maybe I would feel even more special if the cups were stamped with something like "Made only with wood pulp from old-growth sequoia trees."
Somewhere along the line someone figured out that an insulated sleeve that slides around the hot cup and made out of recycled paper, instead of double-cupping, would save a lot of trees. Great idea.
I don't know if it is all Starbucks now or just the ones I have been too, but every time I have ordered a cup of coffee in the last year it has come double-cupped and with an insulated sleeve.
Is that a directive from Corporate that is supposed to make me feel pampered and special? Maybe I would feel even more special if the cups were stamped with something like "Made only with wood pulp from old-growth sequoia trees."
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Microsoft released a critical security patch for Windows today.
Click here if you want to install it.
Click here if you want to install it.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
After we left Burger King we went to Trader Joe's for soy protein powder which I use every morning for breakfast. We also got some delicious triple cream Brie cheese, stone ground wheat crackers, Luna bars for Sheri, pepitas (pumpkin seeds), almonds, and a couple boxes of cereal.
Then we went to Mendard's for a couple more 40-pound bags of wood pellets for the fireplace. We also got a couple jars of Fisher peanuts.
Our last stop of the day was Ikea. We didn't go there with anything in mind other than to get a hot dog, walk around and people watch. We ended up getting a couple cutting boards, three serving trays, a neat silicone ice cube form that makes four huge ice cubes, two kitchen funnels, and a $10 laptop bag, but the bag will probably have to go back. It is just a little bit snug for our laptop.
It is gray and dreary here in Chicagoland today so we just decided to cocoon for the rest of the day. I cooked up a bag of edamame to snack on this evening. I put out the Brie cheese on one of the new cutting boards to warm up to room temperature. We turned on the Star Wars disk we watched last night to watch with the commentary by George Lucas turned on. It was good but we both ended up dozing off for a bit. It was the perfect thing to do on a gray rainy day.
Tonight we are going to watch a German movie called Downfall about Hitler's final days, but through the eyes of his secretary. It is supposed to be very good and I am pretty excited about watching it.
Then we went to Mendard's for a couple more 40-pound bags of wood pellets for the fireplace. We also got a couple jars of Fisher peanuts.
Our last stop of the day was Ikea. We didn't go there with anything in mind other than to get a hot dog, walk around and people watch. We ended up getting a couple cutting boards, three serving trays, a neat silicone ice cube form that makes four huge ice cubes, two kitchen funnels, and a $10 laptop bag, but the bag will probably have to go back. It is just a little bit snug for our laptop.
It is gray and dreary here in Chicagoland today so we just decided to cocoon for the rest of the day. I cooked up a bag of edamame to snack on this evening. I put out the Brie cheese on one of the new cutting boards to warm up to room temperature. We turned on the Star Wars disk we watched last night to watch with the commentary by George Lucas turned on. It was good but we both ended up dozing off for a bit. It was the perfect thing to do on a gray rainy day.
Tonight we are going to watch a German movie called Downfall about Hitler's final days, but through the eyes of his secretary. It is supposed to be very good and I am pretty excited about watching it.
In the weekly flier from Meijer this week I saw they have an 8-piece fried chicken special every Friday for only $3.99. We thought we would give it a try for dinner last night while we watched our movie. It was really good and will probably do it again. We also got some stuffed grape leaves from their olive bar as a side dish. Also very good.
We watched Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and we both really liked it a lot. (Jar Jar Binks had a cameo appearance but did not speak, thank God.) Now I want to get all six movies and watch them back-to-back in order over a couple weekends.
We watched Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and we both really liked it a lot. (Jar Jar Binks had a cameo appearance but did not speak, thank God.) Now I want to get all six movies and watch them back-to-back in order over a couple weekends.
We are at our neighborhood Burger King again this morning to read the paper and browse the web. I got out my light bulb socket power adapter to screw into the light fixture, and as I started to unscrew the light bulb I noticed that there was already an adapter screwed into the socket. My guess is the manager saw what I did and thought it was a good idea for when he has to do some work on his laptop. I checked a few other tables and none of them have a power adapter which kind of reaffirms that he did it for his work table and didn't do it as a convenience for his Wi-Fi using guests. The other possibility is that another customer brought it in and either forgot it or left it and figured it wasn't going anywhere and it would be ready to go whenever he stopped in.
Last week I wrote about Burger King's new coffee machines and I mistakenly said you have to push one of three buttons to select either decaf, regular or Turbo. What I thought were buttons on the front are just decorative. The machine in the dining room only dispenses regular and decaf. If you want Turbo you have to ask for that from behind the counter.
They probably did that just to avoid the extra expense of another machine, but I think they could use that to their advantage in advertising by saying something like "Turbo: so powerful we have to keep it behind the counter."
They probably did that just to avoid the extra expense of another machine, but I think they could use that to their advantage in advertising by saying something like "Turbo: so powerful we have to keep it behind the counter."
Friday, November 04, 2005
I think frequent small pleasures are important. One of my favorite small pleasures is soap. In particular I look forward to alternating what kind of soap I use in the shower. I get a little pleasure at the store deciding if I want to use Safe Guard or Dial or Coast or Irish Spring this month. I get a little pleasure when I open up a bar of soap and smell the strong fresh smell that is different from the bar I just finished up. And I get a little pleasure just lathering up in the morning because the crisp fragrance of the soap is one of the first stimuli of the day for me.
Anyway, with that big lead in, about two years ago we were getting ready to go to a check-out line at Wal-Mart. We passed a big display of Old Spice soap. They had 8-bar packages on sale for one measly dollar! That is only 12.5¢ per bar. How could I pass that up. But wait, I hate Old Spice. Something in it actually gives me a headache. If I am around someone wearing it for more than five minutes my nose will literally start to burn and I can feel the beginnings of a headache. I put my nose up to the package and took a deep breath. Excellent! It wasn't the traditional Old Spice fragrance. It actually smelled similar to Coast. I took a few more deep whiffs to see if I could detect any nose burning or headache beginnings. Nope. A good smelling soap for only 12.5¢ per bar.
I didn't have a cart so I could only get what I could carry, which was five of the 8-bar packages. Forty bars of soap for $5. I think a good price for a regular bar of soap is $0.50 (I'm not sure, it's been so long since I have had to buy shower soap.) which means I saved something like $15. Maybe more. If the normal price is a dollar a bar I saved about $35.
What I didn't realize at the time, though, is that I was going to lose of one of my favorite small joys for a couple years. This week I finally opened the last of the big packages of soap. Eight more bars and I can once again enjoy my little ritual of picking out the perfect package of shower soap every now and then at the grocery store.
I did get to spice things up a little bit occasionally. For my first shower of the day I always use a deodorant soap. If I need to take a second shower because of yard work, exercising, etc. I use a soap that might be a little better for my skin, therefore I always keep two bars of soap going in the shower.
Anyway, with that big lead in, about two years ago we were getting ready to go to a check-out line at Wal-Mart. We passed a big display of Old Spice soap. They had 8-bar packages on sale for one measly dollar! That is only 12.5¢ per bar. How could I pass that up. But wait, I hate Old Spice. Something in it actually gives me a headache. If I am around someone wearing it for more than five minutes my nose will literally start to burn and I can feel the beginnings of a headache. I put my nose up to the package and took a deep breath. Excellent! It wasn't the traditional Old Spice fragrance. It actually smelled similar to Coast. I took a few more deep whiffs to see if I could detect any nose burning or headache beginnings. Nope. A good smelling soap for only 12.5¢ per bar.
I didn't have a cart so I could only get what I could carry, which was five of the 8-bar packages. Forty bars of soap for $5. I think a good price for a regular bar of soap is $0.50 (I'm not sure, it's been so long since I have had to buy shower soap.) which means I saved something like $15. Maybe more. If the normal price is a dollar a bar I saved about $35.
What I didn't realize at the time, though, is that I was going to lose of one of my favorite small joys for a couple years. This week I finally opened the last of the big packages of soap. Eight more bars and I can once again enjoy my little ritual of picking out the perfect package of shower soap every now and then at the grocery store.
I did get to spice things up a little bit occasionally. For my first shower of the day I always use a deodorant soap. If I need to take a second shower because of yard work, exercising, etc. I use a soap that might be a little better for my skin, therefore I always keep two bars of soap going in the shower.
It's funny the things you remember. Valentines Day in 1981 was on a Saturday, and it is also the day I had to take the three or four hour entrance exam to get admitted into my high school. The test started first thing in the morning, but before Mom and/or Dad drove me to the school they gave me a few Valentine presents. One was a bag of Kraft fudge cubes, which are like Kraft caramels only made of fudge. I remember, almost 25 years ago, taking about a dozen of them in a little sandwich baggie to snack on during the exam.
I was at work, just walking along, minding my own business, when all of a sudden my back went "twing" and took my breath away. All I could do was just stand there for a minute and try to stand straight up and try to twist left and right to work out the twing.
I made it to my desk and it feels good just to sit in my chair and press my back against the chair-back.
It is not bad enough to go home, I have had much worse, but I will probably be taking it easy over the weekend.
I made it to my desk and it feels good just to sit in my chair and press my back against the chair-back.
It is not bad enough to go home, I have had much worse, but I will probably be taking it easy over the weekend.
Yahoo released a new mapping website yesterday (maps.yahoo.com/beta) and I think it gives Google Maps serious competition. It maybe is even better.
It does not have any aerial photography (yet) but I think the way it lets you generate driving directions is better. It also lets you have intermediate stops on your route, not just a starting point and an ending point.
You can move the map around by clicking and dragging just like Google Maps.
If you are looking for something in an area you just type what you are looking for into the "Find on map" box on the left side and click the search button. Little flags pop up on the map to indicate where they are. If you place your cursor over either the flag on the map or the entry on the list, the name of the store will pop up on the map. Slick. If you zoom out the search will automatically add new entries that are with in the new larger map area, or if you zoom in it will drop entries that are out of range.
Right now it only covers the United States of America.
It does not have any aerial photography (yet) but I think the way it lets you generate driving directions is better. It also lets you have intermediate stops on your route, not just a starting point and an ending point.
You can move the map around by clicking and dragging just like Google Maps.
If you are looking for something in an area you just type what you are looking for into the "Find on map" box on the left side and click the search button. Little flags pop up on the map to indicate where they are. If you place your cursor over either the flag on the map or the entry on the list, the name of the store will pop up on the map. Slick. If you zoom out the search will automatically add new entries that are with in the new larger map area, or if you zoom in it will drop entries that are out of range.
Right now it only covers the United States of America.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
My car was overdue for an oil change so I stopped at a Jiffy Lube last night on the way home. $32. Not bad.
I still didn't feel 100% when I got home so I just had a bowl of soup and a peanut butter sandwich for dinner.
We had light rain last night, which kept the trick-or-treaters away.
My throat hurt enough last night to dig out the cough drops. That helped before bed, but I woke up in the middle of the night with really bad throat pain. It didn't hurt enough to get out of bed and spend 15 minutes sucking on a cough drop, but it hurt enough to keep me awake for a while. I took a handful of cough drops to work.
Still feel blah. It doesn't help that it has been gray, and it is dark outside when I drive home.
If it gets worse I guess I will take a day off, but since I bill by the hour I don't have any vacation days. Every day I don't go to work is real money that doesn't come in.
I still didn't feel 100% when I got home so I just had a bowl of soup and a peanut butter sandwich for dinner.
We had light rain last night, which kept the trick-or-treaters away.
My throat hurt enough last night to dig out the cough drops. That helped before bed, but I woke up in the middle of the night with really bad throat pain. It didn't hurt enough to get out of bed and spend 15 minutes sucking on a cough drop, but it hurt enough to keep me awake for a while. I took a handful of cough drops to work.
Still feel blah. It doesn't help that it has been gray, and it is dark outside when I drive home.
If it gets worse I guess I will take a day off, but since I bill by the hour I don't have any vacation days. Every day I don't go to work is real money that doesn't come in.