Half a Pica Distance

Thanksgiving music #1

2009-11-24T05:59:00.003-06:00

Samhain - November's Fire

This isn't new

2009-11-23T08:22:00.002-06:00

But it really brightened up my Monday.

Danzig tries to cheer up the tomato baby.

Computer use is a real pain

2009-11-23T08:01:00.003-06:00

And I'm not talking figuratively. I use the computer a lot. All day long at the office and many hours in the evening for entertainment. I have developed tendonitis that messes with my wrists, but that's pretty much mitigated now. I have learned how to hold my hands and such that I'm not causing myself to aggravate that pain. However, recently I've developed some sharp pains at the top of my forearm. Just on the interior of the arm, below the bicep, but right at the top of the forearm. It can be pretty harsh. My question to y'all is, have you experienced anything like this? It's almost like I tried to curl too much weight and have pulled/torn a muscle.

When someone puts a burn notice out on you, you get to assist in reenlistments

2009-11-18T06:53:00.003-06:00

Burn Notice stars Bruce "If Chins Could Kill" Campbell and Jeffrey Donovan become even cooler (if that's even possible for Bruce) by assisting a reenlistment during a visit to Iraq.

Via Blackfive.

I'm reading a lot of Hellboy right now

2009-11-17T09:31:00.004-06:00

I have nothing else today. Here are some delicious pancakes:

Weird commercials: Uncle Lou's

2009-11-17T05:49:00.005-06:00

This isn't particularly weird, in fact I'd say it's pretty good for a local commercial. Except all the explosions. They seem a bit out of place.

Uncle Lou's Fried Chicken has been featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives and is another Memphis institution. For some reason I find their commercial hilarious. It used to come on every morning when I was getting ready for work. Haven't seen it in a while though. The person who uploaded this video caught a bit of another commercial and Uncle Lou's commercial doesn't start until the 0:14-0:15 mark:

The thing to take away here is that with the right recipe, you can be a general. Keep that in mind military professionals.

Weird commercials: Mister Hats

2009-11-16T05:49:00.003-06:00

We've got this store in Memphis called Mister Hats. The commercials come on early in the morning or very late at night.

Anyway, the guy who owns the shop straddles a line between creepy and disaffecting. I can't decide. This video is the only one I could find on YouTube that features the owner (the kind that air every morning). In it, the guy's not too bad. The one's that have been airing lately are far more odd.

Lowered expectations

2009-11-13T08:10:00.004-06:00

I was in the shower yesterday and I started thinking. That isn’t to say that I’m prone to deep thinking in the shower. I’m just as apt to be singing Louie, Louie or some Hannah Montana song (if that’s what my kids were listening to on the radio) as I am to think something out. Heck, to be honest, I’m probably more apt to be singing something. So, on this rare occasion, I was thinking.

J-mom had just cut my hair. She did a pretty good job. I mean, anyone that can make this head look decent is doing good things. It was first time cutting an adult’s hair and only her second-ever hair cut. But, in the shower, I started thinking about how, after years of going to barbers, I have an innate sense of what should happen when I get a haircut. Even knowing that my wife had only ever cut my son’s hair prior to mine, there was an expectation there. Because it was there, I found it harder to just be happy that I was getting a free haircut than if I’d just accepted the fact that even if she screwed up badly, I could just shave my head – which was my last haircut.

UPDATE: It was pointed out to me that I might not have been very clear. I am quite happy with the haircut. What is weird is that when an experienced barber cuts your hair, you expect the clippers to move a certain way across your head. It was just a different experience. Not in any way a bad one.

ALSO, I should point out that over the past couple of years I have paid for some pretty lousy haircuts.

Seriously. There's only so much
you can do with this head.

So, I jumped to a conclusion. Self, I hypothesized to myself, it might be a better world if we lived without expectation. Just think how better entertainment would be if we had no preconceived notions about what we were getting into. Think how wonderful and surprising our experiences would be if we didn’t have any expectations guiding our attitudes. Think about how thankful we’d be if we didn’t expect certain things from people.

Yeah, that sounded good for about second. Then I quickly thought about how bad it would be if we didn’t hold certain people to a level of expectations. How bad would car repairs be? How bad would our educational system be (how much worse can it get, I guess)?

So, maybe it wasn’t the most enlightening rabbit trail, but it’s what I was thinking about. Perhaps I’ll just stick to singing for a while.

Legacy

2009-11-12T07:58:00.002-06:00

Just came back to work after a five-day weekend. A micro staycation, I guess. Really I was just taking advantage of my regular every-other-Monday-off and this Wednesday’s holiday to get some stuff done around the house. All I had to do was take Tuesday off to get that five-day. Doesn’t happen too often.

Anyway, my family is coming in for Thanksgiving and there are many things to get done. I could have done a lot more, but I’m happy that I got a couple of things accomplished that J-mom’s been wanting me to do for, oh, two years or so. Shelves in the garage. Man, who’da thunk something so relatively simple to do would take me so long to get around to? Well, anyone who knows me pretty well would have to say that they would. But they’re done now and the garage is almost there.

I’m not sure what other projects J-mom has in store for me, but I still have to haul off some things from our back porch and do some general cleanup back there. I’d like to be able to actually move around on my porch while doing Thanksgiving setup/cooking.

As for the title of this post, to prove that I didn’t just throw that out there for no reason, I present to you my office shredder:

Is there something poetic in this or what?

Veteran's Day

2009-11-11T13:09:00.003-06:00

To all veterans, past, present and future, those who paved the way for the freedoms we now enjoy, my contemporaries and those I've known, those who've yet to serve - thank you.

RIP Fort Hood soldiers

2009-11-06T05:29:00.002-06:00

Rest peaceful warriors.

On dreams and dairy

2009-11-02T08:22:00.000-06:00

I don’t often have vivid dreams, but last night I did. I dreamed I was a contestant on The Next Iron Chef. I guess it’s not terribly odd as I’ve become a pretty big fan of the show and I find myself wanting to become a better cook the more Food Network I watch. What’s weird is how completely sane and average the dream was. I mean, even the rare times I have a vivid dream and it’s about something mundane, fantastic things usually happen. There is often flight or some other kind of superhuman or supernatural goings on. This time, we just cooked.

I also remember what I cooked. I pounded out a chicken and pork cutlet very thin, almost paper thin (guess that’s a bit of fantasy). I then wrapped them around some sliced veggies and a fish stick. Can’t remember what fish I used, but I cut and breaded it myself in the dream. I wrapped the cutlets around the veggies and fish stick and then deep fried the entire thing. I’m almost thinking this isn’t sounding too bad.

Oddly, I was so proud of what I’d came up with. I was sure I had the winning dish. Alas, it wasn’t to be. I was beaten out by Amanda Freitag, who is an actual contestant on the current iteration of the show. Man, I was bummed (even though she’s my favorite to win the actual show). I had to, in my dream, placate myself with an amazing caramel apple cake.

Maybe it was the lortab I had to take yesterday, but that was a damn fine dream.

Memphis is about to float away, y'all

2009-10-30T13:06:00.003-05:00

Even the amphibians are seeking shelter. Found this little sucker in our foyer this morning.

So much rain! If it doesn't stop soon we're going to be flushed away and land on top of New Orleans. Which, come to think of it, maybe isn't such a bad thing after all.

Happy 70th anniversary Marvel Comics

2009-10-30T11:51:00.001-05:00

Marvel Comics started 70 years ago as Timely Comics. Their first comic, Marvel Comics #1 was released in October 1939. It’s hard to believe that the company has been around this long and has had so much impact on our collective culture. The recent purchase by Disney has many of us long-time fans concerned, but looking at the history of ownership and the crap they’ve put up with, the company should hold up fine.

It’s hard to explain exactly what Marvel Comics means to me. First and foremost they were my comic company of choice. Before I discovered independent companies, I was an X-Man fan. I was a Wolverine fanboy before there were Wolverine fanboys. Of course, my innocent fascination turned to disgust by the later ‘80s when the very comics I turned to to teach me a degree of worldliness displayed the same behavior they had taught me to be cynical of.

While I won’t go as far as to say comics flat-out taught me any great life lessons, they did help me better understand certain things. Being raised in a Christian home, the values of right and wrong were always important. Comics reinforced these concepts while at the same time introducing complex ethical dynamics. Beyond that, though, I think the biggest thing I got from any comic is a yearning for literature. Comics generously lift characters and ideas from all kinds of places. Because I read about Hercules, Thor, Faust, Grendel, and the concepts of Orwell and Huxley in the pages of comic books, I decided to go out and find the original books.

That is not to say that comics aren’t capable of being great literature in their own right. Everyone uses The Watchmen or V for Vendetta as examples, but I’d list Camelot 3000, Stray Toasters, Elektra: Assasin, Maus (more than almost any other), and many others as great examples of the heights to which comics are capable of climbing.

I found it difficult to give up X-Men even though Wolverine was literally showing up in every Marvel title while having two of his own books of one which was bi-weekly. I found a new psycho in First Comics’ The Badger, but it still didn’t have the nostalgic pull of the old-school Marvel comics. I eventually weaned myself off of them when I got into my later teens. I was far more interested in girls and figured that reducing my amount of geekiness would improve my chances. However, I’ve come back to read them time after time and I’m now an avid reader again.

The Times Online has a wonderful list of 70 facts about Marvel comics that you (maybe) don’t know.

The X-Men cover I chose to accompany this post is Uncanny X-Men #216. I chose this issue specifically because there was a full-panel splash page of Wolverine on Page 1 that I traced and drew and drew and drew. That’s how I learned to draw comics tracing and then doing free hand. I never got very good, but, at least for a while, I was able to hold my own. So, thank you Jackson Guice and Dan Green for creating compelling artwork I copied a whole bunch.

My hardware woes (and a garage update)

2009-10-29T11:27:00.003-05:00

The garage progresses. J-mom and our wonderful friend made much headway. I hope to get shelves up on the other side so we can finish it up. Then we can make the kids go play in there.

I am fixing a couple of our computers. One of my laptops has a bad hard drive. I ordered a replacement, but I ordered a SATA instead of PATA. And, of course, Tiger Direct didn't accept returns on the item because it was OEM. I wound up having to order another new hard drive and I decided to buy a USB enclosure for the SATA one so I'll have a handy mobile external hard drive.

My next computer project is causing a bit more grief. For quite some time, I've been getting a CMOS Checksum error when booting up my primary desktop. I thought it was a bad battery, but after replacing it, I still got the error. Much Google-fu later, I came to the conclusion it was the motherboard. I ordered a replacement and went to install it. Everything was going fine until I got to the part where I needed to connect the front-panel items to the motherboard headers. All my devices have 8/10 pin connectors. The new motherboard has 4/5 pin connectors. Now I have to figure out how to make these connections. It's giving me a headache.

I have found tons of information about regarding the various types of motherboard headers. Tons of information about how to make sure you connect the correct wire to the correct header. I've found next to nothing regarding how to connect a 8/10-pin connector to a motherboard with a 4/5-pin header.

Anyone with any information on my latter problem here, please feel free to overshare.

Meant to post this some time ago

2009-10-29T10:17:00.000-05:00

A pic of Darth Allie wondering why we must hate her so.

We've lived here for two years, guess it's time we start acting like we own the place

2009-10-27T06:45:00.002-05:00

I am a horrible procrastinator. Nowhere is this more evident than in my attitude toward housework. "Never put off 'til tomorrow what you can put off 'til next month," is my usual approach to getting things done in the homestead. However, yesterday I actually made a bit of headway on a project J-mom and I have been wanting to tackle for a while - the garage.

There will always be yardwork to be done. There's always dishes to clean, floors to sweep and garbage to take out. However, the garage is a huge task that's just overwhelming. I am not exaggerating by any degree when I say it looks like someone backed a dump truck up to my garage and just dumped stuff in it. And that's because when we moved in, we used the garage as a staging area. The furniture and such went right where we knew it would, but a lot of boxes and such were stacked in the garage and we slowly got to sorting them out. Once we had everything we needed, everything else just sat there. Seasonal clothes. Decorations. Who knows? As it remained stacked in boxes and Rubbermaid containers, the detritus of life also accumulated around it. Slowly the garage became unmanageable.

Yesterday I struck a blow against the clutter. I cleared out one side of the garage and built shelves! Perhaps that doesn't sound like much, but it was a huge step forward in regaining use of this space. What's really amazing to me is that it's the first time I've ever attempted to build a project this big. Now, the shelves aren't pretty, but I got up in about four hours and I'm proud of that.

Today, J-mom and a friend are supposed to tackle the rest of the garage, but it's supposed to pour rain all day. Figures. They'll have to reschedule, I'm sure.

The people in the theater during Paranormal Activity

2009-10-25T22:11:00.004-05:00

So, yeah, I finally went and saw Paranormal Activity tonight. The short of it is that it's a slow-paced movie that gets increasingly creepy and finishes big. While I think it's probably a best-for-video movie - to the point that I think the film would actually be creepier viewed at home - what you don't see at home are the people who leave the theater because the movie's freaking them out too much.

I went in to the theater knowing pretty much what to expect. If you've seen a full ad the for the movie, then you know what to expect. That's kind of a bad thing. There's not a lot happening in the movie. The majority of the film happens in the couple's bedroom - them sleeping or reacting to the paranormal activity, however. Otherwise you get some pretty stereotypical horror/suspense movie characters. Where the movie really succeeds is in its use of home-video style camera work. I read a while ago about how this use, kind of putting the viewer in the viewfinder, breaks the fourth wall. I don't know if I'd go as far as to say that, but it does make the movie feel more intimate that your average big-budget fare.

Outside of the movie was another thing all together. There were some annoying movie patrons nearby - a couple who wouldn't turn off their cell phone, some who wouldn't stop talking - but I was kind of hoping I would get to witness some reactions like you see in one of the advertisements. I wasn't disappointed. About 15 minutes from the end, a couple left. Then another left. Then another. It was too funny. Some who were left who were obviously close to leaving gave some pretty loud "OH DAMNS!" and interesting screams. That was worth the price of admission.

Thoughts from the non sequitur space

2009-10-20T14:53:00.002-05:00

Our dog has started sleeping in my son's bed. I think it's the cutest thing I've ever seen.

She's lazy though. I came home yesterday and she's passed out. Guess it's a good thing she hasn't discovered bon bons.

I've been thinking about building a platform/pedestal bed. I have a simple design in mind. I hope I can get it done before it gets too cold.

I hate the sometimes adversarial relationship between the active-duty and the civilians. There is almost none of it in my office, but there sure is a lot of it on this installation (and at every installation I've ever worked at, honestly).

I wish I was more handy. Or less lazy. Probably the less lazy one would work.

My kids do some pretty funny shit sometimes. I wish I'd remember more of it so I could write about here.

Stargate Universe ...

2009-10-19T15:23:00.001-05:00

You're moving too slow. Too little stuff in an episode. Pacing sucks. Pick it up please.

I wish my Blackberry took better photos in the dark

2009-10-19T06:59:00.002-05:00

It's my favorite time of year. I like coming into the office and being able to watch the sunrise. The gradiation from deep orange to dark blue is amazing and it not captured anywhere near decent in this photo - but this is my view from one of the windows in my office.

It's a small pleasure, but watching the sun rise while drinking my first cup of joe is something I've learned to enjoy and really look forward to. It doesn't last too long, so I like to soak it up while I can.

BBQ 2

2009-10-16T07:55:00.001-05:00

Last night we added a new eatery to our barbeque list. There’s a place just down the road from us called Big Bill’s BBQ and we’ve wanted to try them out for a while. This place isn’t exactly what you’d call nice. It’s definitely on the dive end of the Diner, Drive In and Dive trifecta. But even though the place doesn’t look like much, the food is fantastic. In fact, I may have found my new favorite rib joint.

I uprooted from the cubicle farm early yesterday and we decided to head to the zoo for a couple of hours. We were all ravenous by the time we were done at the zoo and decided to pick up something on the way home. Central BBQ was floated as an option and it was mighty tempting, but in the vein of my earlier post, I suggested we try a new place. So Big Bill’s it was.

Between the four of us we ordered barbeque nachos, ribs and a small order of pulled pork. The nachos were good, but after having the heaven-sent entrée from Central, “good” is all I can say. The pulled pork was also good, but I’ll go a step further and say that it stacks up nicely against the best pork shoulder I’ve had in town. One thing it has going for it was that it was good and moist rather than dried out like some places. Lastly, the ribs! The ribs had such a great flavor. They tasted back-yard barbeque, a charcoal and wood-smoke flavor that’s just unbeatable. And so, so tender. The only bad thing I have to say about them is that our rack had some fatty spots. A little more attention to trimming fat and these could be the best ribs in the region.

On Memphis BBQ

2009-10-13T20:16:00.002-05:00

I read in a local rag that Memphis has been called “The Garden of Eatin’” and I could not agree more. There are so many things here that are so good. Some cities have hot dogs. Some have pizza. Some have both. Some are famous for steaks, some for their seafood. Memphis is famous for food, plain and simple. Now, I’ll admit that most folks think of barbeque when they think of Memphis food and we do seem to have the market cornered in that regard. I’m not saying there aren’t other cities and towns with good barbeque. I’m just saying that there aren’t many other places out there with the barbeque density that we enjoy.

Memphis is barbeque. It is not an exaggeration to say that there’s a barbeque joint on every corner here. If the hype is to be believed (and, in my experience to date, it pretty much is), most are quite good. What’s sad is that with so many different barbeque places in and around town, we should have really hit a few more. But we’ve made some favorites and you don’t always want BBQ, you know.

Today we hit one of the more popular barbeque joints in Memphis – Central BBQ, and that prompted me to write something about our barbeque adventures to date. What’s funny is that in any other town, this might seem like a lot of places, but we haven’t even scratched the surface. I could easily list 10-15 other places we want to try.

In alphabetical order, here are the barbeque places in the Memphis area I’ve eaten at and my impressions of them:

A&R BBQ: A&R is a local chain and we stopped at the Stage Road location. This is the only joint on this list that doesn’t get a favorable review. You know it’s probably not that bad in most other cities, but compared to any other barbeque place in town it just doesn’t stack up. The sauce is bad, the smoke flavor isn’t very strong and they don’t give you as much food as comparable establishments.

Brad’s Bar-BQ: This restaurant is located down the street from one of our very favorite barbeque joints (see Pit-N-Whistle below). In an effort to try different places we stopped at this place once. We were very impressed. It has a down-home Southern kind of feel. We’ve only eaten there once, but it left an impression. We want to go back.

Central BBQ: Today was our first time eating here. It’s often rated one of Memphis’ best barbeque joints and we’ve been told by many that it’s a great place. We weren’t disappointed. So far, I’d have to say it’s the best barbeque we’ve had. Their barbeque nachos are truly amazing. Their pulled pork has a great flavor (though it was a bit dry). Their sauces are really good. I’m sure we’ll be visiting Central any time we’re downtown.

Jim & Nick’s BBQ: Jim & Nick’s is an anomaly. They’re a chain from outside Memphis and it takes some balls to bring your sauce into BBQopolis. Yet here they are and they’re awesome. The barbeque is as good as any average place and the rest of their menu (burgers, etc.) is amazing – probably our very favorite restaurant in town.

Millington Pig (gone – now just Pig on Beale): This was the very first barbecue restaurant we ever ate at in the Memphis area. When we were house-hunting we wanted to try some “real Memphis barbeque!” Unfortunately the Millington Pig was good, but not good enough. They closed down a while ago (they were a spin-off restaurant of their main location on Beale Street) but the BBQ wasn’t too bad. Decent pulled pork and very good sized portions.

Neely’s BBQ: There are several Interstate and Neely’s BBQ restaurants throughout Memphis. The Neely family are Memphis food royalty. We at the location on Jefferson and you could see the effects of their recent Food Network affiliation. There are banners and signs up all over the place, but otherwise, the restaurant feels quite worn in. The food was good, but I guess I was expecting something grander given their Food Network ties. The pulled pork was all right, the sliced brisket was OK, but the sliced turkey was dry. The ribs that I had were wonderful and moist. My parents were with us and there ribs were a bit tough.

Pig-N-Whistle (both locations): Pig-N-Whistle has two locations in and near Memphis. The location in Bartlett is wonderful (despite what the reviews on Google say – don’t know what they’re smoking). I have not had a bad thing on their menu (and I’ve eaten just about everything on it). They offer their ribs in three styles – wet (with sauce), dry (no sauce) or muddy (sauce with dry rub on top). Muddy is favorite. Their barbeque nachos were, until today, my favorite in town. However, there is a location in Millington and their food is nowhere near as good as the Bartlett location. This is sad because it’s a lot closer to us and the building is really cool.

Post Office BBQ: This place is a favorite around the Navy base. Most everyone I work with loves this place and I finally got to go a few months ago when one of the senior enlisted in my shop retired. Truly, this is a fantastic barbecue joint. It probably has the best-tasting meat of any barbecue restaurant I’ve eaten. Their serving sizes are amazing. It comes in a close second to Central.

Rendezvous: Charlie Vergo’s Rendezvous is probably THE place everyone thinks of when they think of Memphis barbeque. It’s a Memphis institution and it has earned its reputation honestly. I ate here for the first time just a couple of months ago when a friend was in town from Long Island. He wanted to eat there so that’s where we went. I think Rendezvous has the most unique rub and finishing style of any other rib joint in town, but I’ve not going to say they’re the best. They’re definitely worth the visit though. If you’re in town and have the chance, definitely stop in – you’re not only getting good food, you’re soaking in Memphis history. But, if you don’t get the chance, don’t sweat it. Go to the joint nearest you; you’ll be fine.

Rum Boogie: This is the first barbeque place we ate at on Beale St. I can’t even remember why we went downtown, but I remember my first pulled pork sandwich there. Until recently, I thought they had the best tasting pork in town. Their sauce is quite good. Portions are, like almost everywhere else, enormous. The greatest thing about Rum Boogie, though, is the atmosphere. Hanging from the ceiling, everywhere, are guitars signed by famous people. Our first time there, I sat under a made-for-metal shredder signed by Dimebag Darrell. A few minutes into lunch, a guy got on the small stage and started playing some acoustic blues. That’s Rum Boogie – great food and good music in a place filled with history.

Tops BBQ: Tops is a huge local chain. There are 14 locations in and around Memphis. Tops does a lot to define Memphis barbeque. They’re not the best, but they offer solid flavors in good portions. Their beans are great. They’re not my first choice, but they’re close to work and offer a solid choice if I need a barbeque fix.

Inspired by prize committees

2009-10-09T10:33:00.002-05:00

Obama Size

Wish I was Obama size
Everything moves you
Everyone tries to pull you
Out from your hole
Like a tooth aching a jawbone...

I was made with a heart of stone
To be paid off
With one good bribe
I've seen "The One"
Daily on TV
Talking much with no action done...

It ain't easy living...

I want to be
As "deep"
As "The One"
President Obama

Some people tell me
Home is in the sky
In the sky lives a spy
I want to be more like "The One"
No action
All talking...
No action
All talking...

Ripped off from Jane's Addiction's Ocean Size.

Nah-nah-nah, NSPS goodbye

2009-10-08T09:16:00.003-05:00

This is phenomenally good news for DoD civilian employees.

FTA:

The repeal of the National Security Personnel System came as part of a compromise House and Senate members announced in their negotiations over the Defense Department authorization bill. The Defense Department will maintain more performance management and hiring flexibility than other federal agencies, but it must halt NSPS by the start of 2012 and it cannot enact a new pay-for-performance system without submitting detailed proposals to Congress for approval.

There will be many who argue that the removal of "pay for performance" is bad. And I would agree if NSPS had in any fundamental way been about pay for performance. While the system paid lip service to the theory, in practice NSPS was a way to marginalize raises and bonuses and obfuscate the entire pay process.

The major problem with NSPS, outside of its inherent unfairness, is that it was initially created to do things that can be done within the old "GS" system. One of the biggest complaints about the GS system is how hard it is to fire an underperforming employee. And that is a true statement. It is difficult, but not impossible. If managers are willing to follow the rules. Which, in retrospect, wound up being far easier than anything NSPS dumped on the laps of managers DoD-wide. I can add some anecdotal strength to this - our department deputy called me yesterday to tell me about the amount of overtime he's been having to put in just to manage the NSPS paperwork for two or three NSPS employees. The other day he put in seven hours of overtime. One day.

You can talk about the GS system being broke all you want. You will have plenty of valid arguments to make. I have a great dislike for many of the GS hiring practices. However, none of these arguments will cancel out the fact that the NSPS system is horrible. You can't fix something broken with something broken.