Comcast has a commercial currently running on TV, for their new nation-wide calling package. They helpfully explain that they fit in all the states, including Puerto Rico and Canada.
Category: Uncategorized
Mollie Sudgen
The rat bastard Death Ray got Mollie Sudgen today. The world will be a less colorful place without her.
Chess
When we were little, my brother and I would play chess for hours on end. Usually, this was accompanied by a big bowl of home-grown green beans, cooked with ham, onions, and potatoes, and slices of fried homemade bread to dip in the juice. The two things are permanently intertwined in my brain, so that whenever I think of playing chess, I can almost taste green beans with fried bread.
This is all by way of saying that I just recently noticed that my computer came with a chess game. I hadn’t played since I was a kid, so at first I couldn’t remember the movements of all the pieces. I played it a few times, though, and even managed to win a couple of games (on the super-duper easy level), but now I’m craving green beans and potatoes with fried homemade bread.
Summer Brownies
It’s too hot to turn on the oven, but I was craving brownies, so I thought I’d re-visit the thought of making them in the microwave. If nothing else, this is way cheaper and healthier than those microwavable brownie bowls from Betty Crocker.
This is basically my regular brownie recipe, halved, with a couple of tweaks.
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa (dark is best!)
pinch of salt*
4 Tbls olive oil*
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla (or do what I do, and just slosh a little bit into the bowl)
Add the dry ingredients together and mix thoroughly, then add the wet and mix. It will be fairly stiff (half-way between cake batter and cookie dough in consistency). Spoon into a shallow, greased soup bowl. (I used the left-over olive oil that had collected in the bottom of the measuring cup.)
Microwave for about two minutes. This is the only tricky part, since every microwave is different. If you don’t nuke it long enough, it’ll be too gooey. Not that I believe there’s such a thing as too gooey. Too long, and it will burn, and that would be a sad thing, indeed. My microwave seems to be permanently stuck on Chernobyl, so two minutes works well for me. This also assumes your microwave has a turntable. If not, you may want to rotate 1/4 turn every 30 seconds or so.
* The original recipe calls for melted butter. I didn’t feel like melting it, so I used olive oil. If you use olive oil or unsalted butter, you’ll want to add a pinch of salt. If you use salted butter, omit the salt.
Weird Semi-dream
I half-way woke up from a dream last night, enough to know that I had been dreaming, but not enough to be completely clear headed. I didn’t open my eyes, because, even though I was awake, I was seeing some Very Fun Stuff. It was like millions and millions of crazy images were flashing by on a giant, spinning cylinder. Flick, flick, flick, they flew by. In super-saturated color, but silent, and with dark, cloudy edges and scratches, like old home movies.
Overheard
“I’m convinced we really do need good public schools.”
Stated as if there could possibly be some reasonable argument against their importance.
Wireless Achieved!
My wireless router was delivered today, which of course means that it’s rainy and not fit for patio computing, but that’s OKAY, because I (finally, and after much swearing) managed to get it set up and working, all by myself.
And now, I’m blogging completely untethered, bay-BEE!
Quorn Acquired
I went ahead and joined Bloomingfoods last night. On my little shopping list, in addition to Quorn (two packages), were oatmeal, milk, and farina. I was irritated with myself for forgetting oatmeal when I went grocery shopping on Friday, but now I’m glad I did. Target quick oats are fine, but they really do not taste as good as Irish oatmeal. With milk and brown sugar. Yum.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been in Bloomingfoods, and I’d forgotten just how hippie-granola the place is. It was a very nice change from Kroger.
Bloomingfoods
We have a local food co-op in town, with three storefront locations, one of which is just a few blocks from my house. I’ve been intending to join, but I assumed (stupid me) that it was kind of pricey. Their website says membership is $90, and that it can be split up into monthly or quarterly payments. Okayfine. But what it doesn’t make clear is that that’s a lifetime membership fee, not a yearly membership fee, so it’s just a one-time $90 investment (or $7.50/month).
I R dum. Also, I R joining tout de friggin’ suite.
Mmmm… Quorn…
Cute New Tool
I went to the hardware store this morning, to get shelf brackets. I’m sick and tired of having shelving taking up valuable floor space. While I was there, I thought I’d better pick up a stud finder, too. The last one I had didn’t work very well. They had a battery-operated one, but they also had a magnetic one. Neat-o! No batteries! I bet a super strong, generic magnet would work just as well.
I also picked up a canvas, outdoor table cloth. I think I’m going to just move the ugly maple table out onto the patio, instead of Freecycling it. A) It weighs about a ton, so won’t blow away like the cheap-assed resin table I’ve got, and B) I’ve already got it in my possession, so it’s free.
And now, back to hanging shelves.
Oh, and I also picked up a bucket of mojito mix. It should be done freezing about the same time I’m done hanging shelves, so I’m going have myself a well-earned adult beverage.
red paper boat 