Daynotes on a budget

Had a good interview with a bank this morning.  I hope it goes poorly for the other people interviewing there.  I can hope to be the best of the bunch, but hey, I can also hope that they're completely useless and I'm the preferred choice...  Well, a fellow can hope, can't he?

Later this week we will be experimenting with roll-your-own ketchup.  Let me state up front that I love Heinz ketchup - perfect balance of sweet and tart.  I can't stand raw tomatoes, but ketchup is the perfect condiment for my favorite food - Cheeseburgers.  However, lately I've yearned for something with a bit more character.  The ability to slant the flavor a little with some extra onion powder, a little more cinnamon, a little less sugar, perhaps a little garlic, whatever.  So this is what we picked up $8 worth of tomatoes for on Saturday at the Farmer's Market.  And undoubtedly, if it succeeds, I'll try it again on this Thursday.

Good Lord - the plane hit a "large bird" ?  I thought pterodactyls were extinct...  Of course, they say it's "larger than a seagull."  Yeah, right.  'Bout the size of an Ostrich.

Sorry - time to go.  Seems Blazing Saddles was snuck into the monthly TV schedule without them notifying me.  Must go.  Mel Brooks may not be the height of intelligent humor, but you gotta love the campfire scene...

The eldest left Daycare today complaining about an earache.  Back in early May, we installed ear-tubes in her head to allow her ears to drain.  Standing in the parking lot at Daycare, we called the doctor on a cell phone.  The doctor said "sure, come on over."  We got over there in five minutes (the entire trip was under the listed speed limits, too).  We walked in the door, had barely gotten in the room when they showed us back to the exam room - I hadn't even sat down when the doctor charged in, poked into her ears, figured out the problem, wrote two prescriptions, and packed us out.  We ran downstairs and got into the pharmacy on-site, got the two prescriptions, and were on our way home at 6:05 pm.  Total elapsed time, something under 30 minutes.  I love technology...

Hopefully I'll be more inspired tomorrow - I'm making ketchup and doing some laundry.  This should be fun.

The worst part about it now is the air "quality".  Normally, we've got a fairly good 4-6 mile visibility at ground level (I know the mileage because I've checked distances in my car.  On better days we've got pretty clear views for a good 20-25 miles).  Anyway, this evening when I picked up my kids from Daycare, we could barely see three miles.  If you looked straight up, the sky was a slightly dingy blue - horizontally, it was a brownish-gray.  Probably from all the fires out west and in the Black Hills.  The air was so bad my son was crying because his eyes hurt, between the sun shining in his eyes and the smoke in the air - since he's not quite four, he doesn't understand you telling him there's nothing you can do.  I just love the child-like faith he has in me.  Unfortunately, my son, you will soon learn that your father is not Superman.  I wish I were.  If you really wanna know what it's like over here, take a look at this picture.  Warning - it's large, and apparently from a rather slow server...

Heard back from the interview yesterday - they like me as a person, but my skills in their area of need were a bit weak.  I'm not surprised...  I kinda thought that going in.  However, the position was a find from a headhunter that hadn't been doing a whole lot for me, so I thought it might not be a good idea to turn it down.

Oh well.  Something will turn up.  I'm too good to be out of work for much longer...

Up here in the frozen wastelands (south of Canada, fortunately), we have this silly little convention - Summer tends to last for June, July, and August.  Now LAST summer I can remember being nearly terminally busy - we went from June 1 through late October with about three weekends total un-booked in some form.  Today, I found myself looking out on the balcony at the bikes we spent $750 on this spring, with every intention of getting on them regularly.  But for about 7 times that my butt has graced the seat this year, it's been a light year for those things.  Looks like we'll be looking for storage space for those items this fall.

Today was totally eaten.  Got everyone up and running, and came home with the intention of doing the Laundry that was supposed to be done Tuesday er Wednesday er Thursday morning, and started.  Got four loads in, and started on my breakfast.  Now, mind you, yesterday I received the notice from my most recent physical - my cholesterol dropped by about 25%, my triglicerides (whatever the hell those are) dropped by HALF, and I'm losing weight, too.  So what do I do?  Bring out the leftover brats from last night, slice them thin, toss them in a pan, and let them sizzle for about 15 minutes (they weren't quite done through).  Then, I made a two-egg omelets and stuffed it full of the brat slices, a little low-fat cheese, and some bleu cheese dressing.  Man, there went the fat intake.

Of course, before I was half-way through cooking my breakfast, the phone started ringing off the hook.  Took 8 or 9 calls this morning, including the three from some poor bastard looking for Susan Parker, or some such.  So Susan, if you don't stop giving out my home phone number, I'm going to start putting yours on the men's room walls again, OK?

After I nearly-finished the laundry, it was back to dashing around - off to daycare to get the kids, up to St. Paul via Shepard Parkway (and no, Mr. White Ford Mini-Pickup, I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to drift over into your lane - I thought I saw an on-coming car, and got the hell out of the way.  And thank you ever so much for lecturing my children in the finer points of profanity usage.  I did get to tell them though that people who use that many naughty words like that probably have a very small vocabulary anyway, so don't worry too much about it.  You can't help it, it's probably the fault of your parents or your educational environment, which, from what I was able to surmise, was probably inner-city somewhere.  Thanks, though, for the pointers).  

After I picked up Mrs. D, we stopped for tylenol and ibuprofen for the eldest, who is suffering from an ear infection which will prevent her from making that last leap into the pool here this weekend (our apartment swimming pool is outdoors, and closes between Labor Day and Memorial Day.  Never mind the fact that we frequently get ninety degrees or better outside of those aforementioned "summer months," apparently it's a liability issue regarding the pool's open and close dates.  Increasing the period would (so I am led to believe) double the insurance.  Humphf.

Anyway, after that, we stopped at the Thursday's Farmer's Market.  Picked up some habenero peppers, some jalepeno, some sweet banana, bell (green, red, and PURPLE, if you can believe that), plus the usual sweet corn and carrots rations.  While we were there, the temperature dropped from probably upper 80s to the lower 80s (perhaps even upper 70s), and the dew point positively plummeted from the mid-70s where it's been the last day and a half to probably the mid 50s.  Ah, fall.  Gulp.

And best of all, there's a company that wants me to come in and discuss the potential for a lead QA role with them.  I've done a wee bit of it during my time with Bankoe.  When in beta, you pray.  A Lot.  And take more notes.  I think this is something I could really learn to love doing.  We'll see.  

Off, this evening, to the ritual back-to-school night.  Should be a real treat for the kid - she's in the same classroom as last year; teachers shuffled rooms, damnit.  If they'd done that to me, I'd have gone nuts - I needed different views each year just to stay sane...  ;-)

And before I go, now you can say you "know it all" - I've added my own observations as well.

1. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
Of course they do - you can't find them in the fridge.

2. Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
So how much peanut butter DOES it take to blow a stump out of the ground?

3. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
Sure, only 293 if you want it ACCURATE

4. The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
Are they talking average internet user, or just "average typist"?

5. A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
Somehow, I don't think it's gonna help you getting away from it.

6. There are more chickens than people in the world.
Yes, and not a damned one of them knows the answer to the chicken and egg problem.

7. Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
And somehow, the stuff gets shipped here as well.  Was it the "Garden State" or "Garbage State"?

8. The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
And it's also the one word which is likely to strike fear into the hearts of husbands everywhere.

9. On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.
HUSH!  They'll discover our secret plan!

10. All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
I guess this is what Tarrantino meant by "Low Budget."

11. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
When pronounced properly, mind you.

12. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
Again, when spelled correctly.

13. All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial, on the back of the $5 bill.
Which is handy to know if you're taking a geography test and have a fiver in your pocket.

14. Almonds are a member of the peach family.
hmmm...  "Some times you feel like a fruit?"  Nope.  That whole Almond Joy jingle just falls apart there.

15. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
And once sent a woman flowers with the instruction to pin it on her white meat.  Don't ask.

16. Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
Yes, but from what I've been told, any time there is considered a sentence.

17. There are only four words in the English language which end in dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
You're forgetting supercallifragelisticexpealidocious.  Don't piss Mary Poppins off, you don't want to see her ninja umbrella routine.

18. Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula"
No wonder they abbreviate it to "Lala-land"

19. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
And only two between them.

20. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Which apparently begat the phrase "now you see it, now you don't".

21. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
Which is probably hell when it comes to shedding your fur.

22. In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.
Or 8:20.  

23. Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
Used, as in "dem was yoused to whack some of dem bums."

24. The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street, were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life."
Yet another trivial fact you won't find useful until you play trivial pursuit.

25. A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
Which gives the phrase "quickie" a whole other level of urgency.

26. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
Which means you can swallow him and he'll have forgotten the fishbowl when he hits your stomach.  Ugh.

27. A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
Oh, sure.  Make me re-do all those in the basement.

28. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
Twice.

29. The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
And never sneezes.

30. In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
Can we get about 600 of those for our elected officials?

31. The microwave was invented, after a researcher walked by a radar tube, and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
Sure.  That's what he told his wife.  But the cute radar technician, on the other hand...

32. Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.
I'm not at all surprised.

33. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
Okay, so that means there are seven other people like me who drop off nearly instantly, and my wife stays awake for about an hour.

34. There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
237, 238, 239 - whoops - damn - dropped it again.  1, 2, 3, 4...

35. "Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
See #4 above.

...now you know everything

Today I started with my mother's home-made ketchup recipe number three.  It involves 13 pounds of tomatoes.  Now, as a moderately intelligent person, I decided to take a risk and halve the batch.  First of all, Mom's recipe called for a peck of tomatoes, which is a half-bushel.  Since I purchased a half-bushel (a la one peck), I didn't want to blow the whole load one one batch of ketchup.  SO - I did up 6 pounds of tomatoes.  Unfortunately, they were Roma tomatoes, which are rather small compared to beefsteak, for example.  

So, I did a batch of ketchup, and then decided to make a batch of chili sauce.  No idea what that stuff actually is, so I decided to experiment.  Omigawd.  I had habenero peppers, chili peppers, banana peppers, and decided to mess with a combination.  I did a dozen habeneros, a dozen chili, and three banana.  I wiped my eye by accident, and that stung for almost an hour.  My nose hurt, my cheeks hurt, my lips hurt from the steam - wow, this stuff is like messing with a flamethrower in dry country.  I like it.  

And the best news is that Mrs. D really likes the ketchup batch I did up; guess I did a good job there.

It's a long weekend coming up, so I'm going to try, very hard, to sleep in just once this weekend.

So we went to Stillwater, visited with Donna and Al, had a little dinner (well, we had muffins, they had dinner, and then we hung out a bit in their truck.  Nice semi-tractor - I ever end up driving truck for a living, I'll buy a volvo).  Anyway, after spending time with Donna, Al, Apollo, and "Peaches" (Apollo is a little gentleman miniature pinscher, and a finer gentleman you've never met.  Peaches, on the other hand, is a handful.  Let's just say take Cujo, put him in a dryer ride for about four hours, let him fight a wolf and tie, and then piss him off.  That's Peaches.  In actuality, Peaches spent the first three years of her life being abused horribly, then decent treatment for the rest - she loves Donna and Al, but the rest of us are dogfood).  We got home after midnight.  Ugh.

So this morning, I somehow was surprised to find it was 10 am when I awoke.  Wow.  The kids slept in too.  Of course, when we got to the farmer's market, there was precious little good produce left down there.  So we contented our selves with some potatoes, and a loaf of bread.  After that, a trip to the library for a couple of lite-reading type books, then back home.  Then back to the mall to let the kids run for a bit, then to church.  Then back home, for dinner, and Dune.  Then, I hope, to bed.  Tomorrow is another, probably warmer, day.  With any luck, the humidity will leave.  What am I saying - of course it won't.  Oh well...

But I digress.  After not-quite sleeping through one heck of a lightening display last night we got up this morning to the typical gray and dreary.  So we got moving, almost, and the kids kept delaying our departure.  Finally, after repeated threats, several nap threats that included making them lay in bed, and much other noisy-ness, we left home for St. Paul, to visit the Snoopys.

For those of you who do not know, Snoopy has been co-opted as the symbol of St. Paul's tribute to one of their favorite sons, Charles M. Schultz.  What most people don't know is that I've come fairly close to that great man - my Uncle, Roman Baltes, hired Charles Schultz to work for him at the St. Paul Press-Dispatch, and remained friends with him until Uncle Romie died, back in 1998.  My Uncle Roman was one of those rare individuals who you could truly say was a wee bit off.  In a great stroke of good fortune, he was off on the fun side.  For example, my cousin Jon, who delivered a short eulogy at Roman's funeral, told the following story - Back, after Sputnik was in orbit, Roman went to Axeman surplus (one of those places you can find just about anything, depending on when you go), and picked up a silver mirrored ball, a couple of spare car radio antennas, and then managed to acquire some smoke bombs.  Then, a few days later, after gluing the antennas to the ball in the appropriate locations, went and stuck the ball in his neighbor's yard (with a little digging), lit a few smoke bombs and a rather large firecracker with a long fuse, then high-tailed it home, and called his neighbor - "I think Sputnik just landed in your front yard!" - of course, the poor fellow fell for it.  

Anyway, Uncle Roman was a definite riot.  When he passed away, I somehow managed to salve the wound by telling myself at least we had Charles Schultz to take up the slack.  Not no more, we don't.  So, last year, before he passed away, St. Paul; decided they wanted to do a tribute for him, and they decided to do the Snoopys on parade.  They started with 75, and went up to 101.  Different artists and others did rather fun things to the fiberglass dogs, and we ran around today and took an up-close look at about 40 of them.  That was fun.  When we get the film develped and put onto disk, I'll post new pictures here.  That was just about enough for the day.  So of course we did dinner at home and all the rest.  Did I mention that the Vikings played today, and won, too?  Scarey.  

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