Thursday, March 31, 2011

Heading Home


I estimate that Michele and I have 60 some songs specifically about going home. Why is it Black Happy that is the first to come to mind? Anyway, we're off to Stumptown within the hour. I love the place dearly but it's not really home anymore and I can't for the life of me figure out what is. Maybe that's why trying to nail down where we want to live next is so tough, trying to figure out what is home.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Updates, Happenings, Whatever...

Eddie and The Burden (notice how we're capitalizing now) came back for another quicky three day visit on Sunday and left late this afternoon. Always good to see him and that kid. We're all missing Star and pulling for her to get a transfer to Lewis/McChord after her training in Austin even if it would only be temporary until the nuclear threat subsides.


The Burden and The Monster in the back of the E not living up to their names...

I've been adding it all up and during Eddie's visits we've had Pagliacci's, Paseo, Baguette Box, Salumi, Marination Mobile, as well as multiple visits to both Mighty O and Mr. Gyros. We're going to miss them but my diet sure won't.


Me and The Monster outside Salumi earlier today. Always worth the wait.

Speaking of my diet, since we won't be here next weekend due to Michele's interview in Portland I had my final weigh-in for Ballard's Biggest Loser on Sunday morning. I'm down an even 17 lbs which is great but unless the three people ahead of me really fuck up I'm not going to win. By the way, tomorrow I'll be making some cookies in an effort to help some people fuck up.

On a housekeeping note, nearly half of the blog roll was either broken links or no longer updated on a semi regular basis. So that's kind of fixed now, there are still some problems, but for the most part it reflects what I'm reading regularly that is related to either bikes or friends.

*credit where credit's due, both photos stolen from Eddie's camera

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Heavy Things

First of all, the monster is up to 19 pounds.  That's heavier than an expensive bicycle (and more expensive).  Pretty soon he's going to be too heavy to weigh with my parts scale and we'll have to find a warehouse with a freight scale or something.  How do people normally weigh their kids?  Maybe the dump, you can only weigh things in 20 lb increments but that seems about right.

On to more important things, Eddie (of Star and Eddie) and Gavin (as in Star and Eddie's burden) came to town for a few days earlier this week.  Star's stationed at Yakota outside of Tokyo and sent the boys packing not long after environmental hazards became a possible threat.  Eddie and Gavin are staying with Star's dad and stepmother outside of Centralia until either they get the all clear to return or Star gets transferred back to the states.  By the way, as of right now it sounds like a transfer to Lewis/McChord is in the works but it's the military, so who knows what'll really end up happening.  Anyway, the monster and the burden mostly seemed to tolerate one another aside from a little tussle over the owls with the little balls in it.  At any rate, I'm guessing we'll see a bit more of Eddie, Gavin, and maybe Star in the future and that'll be nice even though these are less than ideal circumstances.


Friday, March 18, 2011

Getting Shit Done



Not exactly the kind of shit that Michele would classify as important, but what can I say?  I was hungry for some jalapeno cheese bread and that's something I just haven't really been able to find here in Seattle. 

It took me four hours to make my lunch today.  Excessive?  Maybe.  Worth it?  Totally.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Oatmeal Every Kind-O-Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup light packed brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
3 cups quick cooking oats
2 cups chips (I prefer equal parts white chocolate, milk chocolate, peanut butter, and toffee)

Preheat oven to 325

In a large bowl, mix together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla. Combine the flour, salt, and baking soda and then stir into the mixture until just blended. Mix in the oats and chips.

Place large spoonful’s onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 12-16 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool for 5 miutes on the sheet before transferring them to a wire rack

Just to be clear, I modified this recipe myself to suit my liking and bears little resemblance to the original in its current form and this shit'll kill you. Enjoy.