Sunday: Today's plan was "do nothing".

Oh crap, I forgot to put leftovers away.  And because of that, I can't make a lunch for tomorrow because I didn't start the dishwasher.  Ugh.

There's a Smashburger here.  It's by the close Target.

It's super greasy, and super delicious, and I hope they get more business because I want them to be open forever.  I was the only person in there.  One guy came in to get a to-go order, and another couple came in but didn't order.  I guess they wanted something more than burgers.  Whatever.

In any case, the mainland is apparently all of Alameda's burger places.

And then I came home and watched six episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura, because I've largely worked through my youtube backlog, and I needed something to watch.

If I read this correctly, there's going to be a new chocolate cookie variety to go along with Kinoko-no-yama and Takenoko-no-seto.

• Monkeys domesticating wolves.
• My other links were too depressing, so I'm sticking with the only not-depressing one.

Saturday: It was supposed to be cooler today. Why was it not cooler today?

I mean, I've been accumulating hoodies specifically under the assumption that it'd start getting cooler.  It doesn't work as well if it just stays hot all the time.  Stupid next week is going to be in the 80s again.  In donking October.  80s.

I wanted Japanese today, so that's what I went with.

 The AYCE place nearby has a few issues, but I don't really know of any place else where I can get ten different things in a nice small size.  It's kind of like the kaitenzushi place, but with people.  And no conveyor belt.

But with ice cream.

Thinking further on this, why don't they have kaiten-tapas?  Literally anything could be kaiten style.  More things need to be done that way.

I also realized that even if you've gone to Target already in a day, you can take a trip to the grocery store if you really feel like getting some cake.

Cheesecake works.

• I would think that anyone would have standing.
• I like when we get updates about things like the Maya.
• My standard yearly link.
• Duh.  Of course she's fine.

Friday: I actually needed a jacket today.

It was chilly.  It's supposed to warm up again, but I'm glad I now have my big coat, my blue jacket, and two nice thick hoodies.  I may go see about getting another one this weekend, just so I can be ready for colder weather.

And I saw this fuzzy guy today.

He was chasing a nut rolling across the sidewalk, and then went to bury it.

• Um...yes?
• This does seem like a logical conclusion.
• "Huh.  Did we discover the death comet?"  Yes.  Yes we did.

Thursday: Ugh, I just fell asleep on my couch.

I didn't mean to, it just happened.  I also should have taken a picture of my bratwursts for dinner, as then I'd have a picture.

• Also some links.  Whoops.

Also it's cold here now.  Brr.

Wednesday: I live in a miso desert.

I went to WF today, largely to check it out.  It's similar to the other ones, but a bit smaller.  They have a nicer meat counter than I've seen elsewhere, so that might be my go-to meatery.  They also have no miso, so ordering from Amazon might just be the best option.  I also meant to get bread, but totally forgot.  So either I use leftover probably-not-great rice for tomorrow's lunch, or I swap in a bratwurst bun and have a bun-less bratwurst at some point.

A decade ago Steak and Shake had closed.

I also maybe discovered a major bug in some code at work today.  I'm going to run more tests tomorrow, and probably send a note for someone to double check my thoughts.  I think this goes the wrong way to explain a mystery, but I should think about it more.

• I didn't know this entire story.  Doctors who don't listen are worthless and shouldn't have jobs.
• The Vatican uses FITS for their image needs?  What?
• Dang sneaky fox!
• "The gay penguins (right) screamed at the straight couple when they suddenly reappeared "

Tuesday: It shouldn't be this hard.

I wanted to pick up some miso yesterday, so I could make a quick miso-ginger dressing to go with my tonkatsu.  However, the Korean market only had a Korean version (which a google search told me has different ingredients and taste).  Then, both of the other grocery stores I went past on the way home were closed, because 8pm is too late for groceries.  I already knew that Wegmans and Target both don't have miso, so I went with the next best option:  I asked Amazon.

And they overnighted me some for about the limit of what I'm willing to pay.

Plus I have the new Ryan North book to start reading.  A good thing, because I've finished all of the Charlie Stross ebooks I've been reading for the past five months.

• This is dumb.
• This is dumb.
• Now I can find out what songs they play on the local radio station.

Monday: I do not understand traffic here.

People drive ten+ mph under the speed limit.  The lights turn red in an apparent attempt to stop all traffic from moving.  It's frustrating.

So I got pizza.

• That one guy from Cracked is apparently a piece of shit.
• These seem like a better idea.

Sunday: Today I spent a very unproductive day doing nothing.

I took a series of naps, though.  Naps are fun.  I probably should have vacuumed, but I did dishes instead.  It was cold and rainy out, and huddling on the couch under a blanket seemed the best use of the day.

And I made tonkatsu, so this week's lunches are going to be tonkatsu and katsu sandos.

Lesson for the future: an 8-pack of thin sliced pork tenderloin works with about 3/4c of flour, two eggs, and closer to 1c of panko than I used.  Putting the battered pork onto a cookie sheet while using another cookie sheet and the cooling rack for the finished ones is the best idea to make frying easy.

Now I want cookies.  I should eat my brownie bites first, though.

• That is pretty damning.
• Science and ancient texts.

Saturday: I really should have not spent an hour and a half reading rss things this evening.

Because I didn't get home from board games until 12:30.  Good thing the blog is still on Hawaii time, so I don't need to back-date it.

Not a bad night of board games.  A win at Fluxx, a win to someone else in Fluxx so we could go look at fish, and a loss at Munchkin due to it being late.  And then Another hour or so rearranging desks so I no longer have my back to the door when people come in.  I get surprised easily, so this will help.

And I changed license plates.  It's hard to believe it's been so long.

• I was right.  Today was the equinox.
• I am hungry.  Hungry for pizza-man.

Friday: I'm still getting used to this "structured" work system.

Partially because it means I just can't flail my hands at the computer screen when someone asks "why" and "what makes you think that" and "is that part of this problem".  I know it's better, and all that, but some days I just want to flail hands at two identical-but-for-naming functions and ask why myself.

Video games are good, because no matter how many times you chuck your character into the Pit of Spiky Death, you can always start over and try a better way to chuck your character into the Pit of Spiky Death.

• I guess this is my new voting location.
• Many good dogs in this article.
• I tried to do this before, but gave up because I got lazy.  Maybe it's worth trying again from this strategy.

Thursday: Things I should have done like two months ago.

1. Get a new driver's license.
2. Get my car re-titled.
3. Get my car registered.
4. Register to vote.
5. Change the oil in my car.

6. Have pizza.

But now that is all done, and although I still need to change my plates, all the difficult stuff is sorted.

• Now they get a BBQ place.
• This guy shouldn't have a job.
• I should have chosen a career path that involves giving drugs to animals.

Wednesday: This task ballooned quite a bit

I'll need to double check that it's really supposed to do that.  I don't mind it too much, because I have philosophical differences with the way it currently works, but it's more than just a two day thing.  It's more like a week or two.

I enjoy tiny weather frog.

• I would kind of like to see population weighted radial profiles.

Tuesday: Being a grown up sucks.

Because you have to deal with all the crap yourself.  Like the shitty health insurance system that I've spent the last decade nicely insulated from.  The good news is, you can call people on the phone, get them to donk around the schedule to better fit your schedule, and get them to send prescriptions to Target so you can pick them up later that day.  It's less convenient than having them just get shipped to your door, or being able to do all that online, or the combination of the two, and being able to do them at 2:30am if you feel like it, but I guess it's better than the alternatives.

Also I had to inform the doctor's office that Hawaii is six hours behind the east coast, so if no one answers, it's probably because it's like 2AM.

But I went to Target, and didn't buy this shirt.

I am not a kids 2XS.

• Are we not doing phrasing anymore?
• I am looking forward to Carol's movie.  I am also hoping that when she and Tony finally get together, she tells him to shut his damn mouth.  That is the only bit of Civil War 2 I want to see.  Carol and Tony fighting, because Tony is a dumbass, and Carol isn't (unlike how it was in the comics).
• So I'm the only one sitting here thinking that they could be Ace and that's perfectly fine?

Monday: the healthcare system is garbage.

I mean, I have insurance, but I'm supposed to call all the offices, and set up my own appointments with the regular doctor, and with any specialists, and then I need to call to organize prescriptions, and that likely involves passing tiny slips of paper around to people?

This is all stupid, everyone involved should be fired, and all companies associated with it should be nationalized.  Basically, it'd be like Kaiser, but instead of going in and proving you're a client, you'd go in, be alive, and then have everything sorted out with a minimum of hassle.

Yeah.  Sure, United.  I'm 100% positive this isn't going to be just another shitstorm.

• This was my ramen place, until they stopped serving the good ramen.
• These are good comics.
• I guess this is the Franklin BBQ recipe?
• 1.75 c ketchup
• .5c + 2 tbsp water
• .25c + 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• .25c + 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 2.25 tsp brown sugar
• 7.5 tsp worcestershire
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1.5 tsp pepper
• Mix it all, make it hot to combine, is done.
• Not as elegant as "CREATE TABLE new LIKE old", but it works.

Sunday: An unproductive day.

I woke up, thought of a number of things I could possibly do, finished the book I've been reading, started the next in the series, and then went to the couch.

The couch is a black hole of inactivity.  I left the couch only rarely all day.  Part of the reason for that is that I'm planning on taking leftover pot roast stuff for lunch this week.  Because of that, I needed to finish off my sandwich-ables, so I made a grilled cheese.

I did clean the stove top.  The youtube video that suggested sprinkling it with baking soda and then covering with wet/dish soap soaked towels was right.  That worked really well, and lifted up all of the rice starch and miscellaneous junk.  The downside is that my stove has baking soda streaks that I'll need to wipe up.

My outside thermometer isn't always very accurate.

 And leftovers for dinner:

I need to get more of these bowls.  Maybe that'll be a task for tomorrow.  They are perfect for reheating things in the oven, and I'm reasonably sure you can't really burn things if they have enough moisture.  The lid is heavy and keeps it inside.

• Not aliens.
• I should read Mockingbird.
• Washing pillows.
• These look super yummy.
• I think the bowl is a ttukbaegi.  There were like 99 sizes, and this was the ~$7 version.  It is a perfect single meal size.

Saturday: A productive day.

I took out the trash, the recycling, and a bunch of moving boxes.  I got the laundry and dishes done last night, although I probably should have waited until today (since I bought a new hoodie).  I decided I was never going to find a night stand I liked, so I should just get one I didn't hate.  I did, and now I don't have to worry about rolling over onto a bunch of things in the night.  But perhaps the most important thing I did was this:

"Did you know they put mac and cheese in a breadbowl at Panera?"

I did not, until I watched last night's Minecraft video.  Ryan discovered this, and Michael immediately noted that that's what he always gets.  It's not quite as good as they built it up to be, but it's M&C in a bunch of bread.  I got a soup as well, so I could dip the bread when I was done.  Maybe I just needed a soupier M&C.

Then shopping, then trash and such, and finally, after taking an ill-advised nap because it meant dinner didn't happen until 10:

Pot roast.

Or, more specifically, "basically a stew."  The meat is good, I probably put too many veggies in it (a bunch of potatoes, half a bag of baby carrots I needed to use up, an onion, like a pound of mushrooms), I should have added more salt, it didn't really need gravy, but dumping the liquid down the drain seemed like a sin so I thickened it with a quick roux.  I have a lot of leftovers, so this is probably lunch for next week.

• I was reminded of the "firefox/clear you cookies" comic today.
• While I was putting together my new night stand, I looked out at the lanai, and thought about squirrels, and how to get squirrels to visit.  This page suggests good foods for them to enjoy.
• And Amazon conveniently sells that stuff.
• Would have been nice earlier, but it's good to see someone improving.
• Now I want korokke.
• And, wow, a recipe for koppe pan.

Friday: I want to do something this weekend.

I know I'm going to make a pot roast.  That's on the plan.  I also kind of want to figure out some more bookshelves.  And a night stand.  And I should do laundry.  And dishes.  And the trash.  Ugh.  Writing it down makes it less fun and interesting.

I really thought having two gyms that I walk past every day would mean I would get more gym time.  Not quite.

• I also know of at least two bridges that have these signs nearby.  They do not appear to be official US Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices listed.  They are still pretty cute.
• The park is open again.
• Namie Amuro.
• Animal Crossing.

Thursday: Feeling oddly productive is weird.

Yellowstone.

I think this weekend is going to be pot roast weekend.  I bought a big chunk of beef, and I got some mushrooms, and I had carrots and potatoes and onion already.  I just want a big bowl of delicious hot food.

• New Animal Crossing.
• Remake of Katamari.
• Villainesses.

Wednesday: And then I talked so long that I used up all the time and will continue next week.

Which means I should go over the last few slides and make them not garbage.  :(

I realized today that I don't remember my secret code number.  Whoops.

At least I'm not allowed to log in to those systems anyway.  It all balances out.

• No links.

Tuesday: "I'm going to save myself two minutes by demonstrating how cops are all basically terrible."

He decided that he really needed to turn left into the gas station to get something inside the shop, so he turned on the lights in his unmarked SUV.  Good job, asshole.  Glad you didn't have to wait for your slurpie.

Because it was easier to just crank this out in snek.

And then I spent the evening putting together slides for tomorrow, most of which are just images with a title, because I'm lazy, and words are hard.

Also I bought a new domain name today because it's shorter and easier to remember for other people, and I can use it to dump things I might need to share.  Like the slides I made for tomorrow.

• MBMBAM.
• I don't know.  I don't think it'll be the same as the old Gawker.
• This was interesting to read over lunch.
• I didn't read this.  Robust PCA.

Monday: My head hurts, and I don't like doing code reviews.

Especially when the code review involves like seven reviewers and a dozen different packages.  Of the things I've worked on, like half of them have involved "a big bunch of the codebase."  I think that's partially why my head hurts.

Me: "I want ice cream."
Also me: "Wait, I think I have ice cream!"

And that's not helping KP.  I know you're better than my current doctor/insurance/health stuff.  You just don't exist here.

• This works out to something like $12/lb ham.  This town has a per capita income of like $17k.  I suspect something isn't lining up here.

Sunday: Better pork belly.

In fact, I should probably get all of my meat from the Woori-Mart by the train station.  Not to be confused with this Woori-Mart.  Or Woori-Market.

In any case, they had really nice looking short ribs that would make a great stew.  Their ground beef prices were good.  They had nice looking sliced brisket and steaks that would make good sandwiches.  Also: nice pink pork belly, with not so much fat, in nice thick slices.  Exactly what I wanted.

I got pizza before shopping, so I wouldn't be super hungry.

The one on the left is "tomato pie," which is a local thing.  It's like a pizza, but with a garlic heavy sauce and only a scattering of parmesan instead of the regular cheese.  It's good.

Also, WTF?  It was in the humid 80s/90s like three days ago.  This is crazy.  I guess it's supposed to warm up again, but I spent this weekend washing blankets anyway.  The storage section of my couch is quickly becoming blanket town.

But back to the pork belly.  I finally made this recipe that we've had at New Year's a number of times over the past ~4 years.

It is good and spicy and goes well with lettuce and rice.

And the mushrooms I bought yesterday when I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find the lettuce.  I'm planning on taking this to work for lunch tomorrow, since it came out so well.  Also because I made more than two pounds of pork belly, and so I have a lot.

• There's a debate about what a tomato pie is?
• I need to use up the leftover gochujang somehow.  Cheesy spaghetti, maybe?
• It's going to continue to rain.  A bunch.
• "How can we make it clear that our cheese is racist?"

Saturday: It's not very good pork belly

I don't know why they decided to make it "thin cut" pork belly, or why the package has to have quotes around "thin cut" like it's actually super fat or something.

I did get gyoza today.

 Although it took me longer than expected to get there because I still don't know all the roads.

And a reasonably decent ramen.

It's not as flavorful as I would have liked, and the noodles were a bit tough.  Balancing that out is the absolute best char siu I've ever had.  Three nice big chunks of delicious pork belly.  So this pork belly was just fine.

The pork belly at Wegmans was the problem.  I bought a package, but I wasn't happy.  I want super thick slices like the ramen place had.

• Which means I'm probably going back to the same shopping center tomorrow to look here.
• Good.  Investment residential is a horrible problem, and taxing it more is a start.

Friday: Nothing worked today.

A list of things that didn't work:

1. The disks on the main cluster node.
2. The main cluster node.
3. Jira.
4. Google's understanding of current restaurants.
5. The test server.
6. Parking.
7. Half the things I tried to make work today.
8. The sky.
9. The health insurance webpage.

It was not the bestest most productive day.  Plus, I should spend a good chunk of the weekend writing and planning a talk.  I think I'm going to make it mostly figures, because that's most likely to be useful.

I did get an etsy package today.

It was full of glitter.

 I was surprised, and kind of blew it all over.

Also the art I saw when Julie sent me a link to the artist.

• It's called racism, Ben.  That's the big issue.
• I got mail about this yesterday, and didn't know why I'd ever use it.  Then Julie was sick and couldn't schedule an urgent care easily.  This would be super easy to use from the couch, where I could be sick and get my doctor-ing done without leaving the house.
• I don't know, something something Squirrel Girl.

Thursday: Things are so much simpler when you use things you're familiar with.

Also junk mail.

I've spent a good portion of the week trying to understand how to "properly" access a database with the defined tools.  It was suggested to me today that that might be overly complicating a script that's designed to be a quick patch between the current codebase and a near-future better one.  With that, I spent a bit more than an hour adding all the functionality needed, another thirty minutes short-circuiting some type checks to force what I want through, and then another hour or so checking and doing some quick refactoring.

That means the "should take about half the month" problem is effectively solved, modulo "style" and "snek-like-itude".  Also convincing everyone that my type is better than their type.  But the proof-of-concept is done.

• So, "we don't know"?
• I just don't see how this is better than directly writing SQL.  Write the SQL, and then have stored procedures or some other canned stuff to do the most common things.  But keep the SQL stuff visible and active.  I hate the "abstract everything away" idea.
• Because I was reminded of this.

Wednesday: What is this crap?

Litterbugs.

• They're all monsters, this one is just trying to jump ship before it's too late.
• Distributions.
• Wait, we're probably getting Monica?  YES!

Tuesday: Back to work.

And I think I'm going to have to ask for help tomorrow.  I just don't see a sane way to solve this one problem.  Which sucks, and I hate it.

I also just thought about the dirty clothes I have on my bedroom floor.  "I should pick those up," I think, as I remember I just started the washer twenty minutes ago, so I've already missed the first part of cleaning.  I also remembered that I didn't clean the grease off the floor of my oven when I turned it on to heat up a snack.  Ugh.

I did find loganberry syrup at the grocery today, so that's nice.

• Pandas are bad at everything.
• Today Amazon recommended me home cleaning.  Stop being so useful, Amazon!
• 
  

Monday: Labor Day

Which meant staying home and eating hot dogs.  Then Julie sent me a picture of hotpot, and now I want hotpot.

Eight years ago I was in Belfast.

• Hotpot.
• I was watching NHK, and they were talking about Sarushima.  "Wait, isn't that just 'Monkey Island'?"  Yes.  It is.
• Adventure Time ended.

Sunday: Pizza day

Because I wanted pizza.

And then I did nothing some more all day.  I just stopped this blog post to add plotting functionality to my FITS program.  So that counts as something.  I also dumped most of a ramekin of sausage and potato all over the bottom of my oven.  That was less than productive.

• The National Museum of Brazil just burned down.
• This is hilarious.

Saturday: I think this is my first day not leaving the house in forever.

It was actually kind of nice.  Wake up, go back to sleep for a lazy morning, think about getting up and making breakfast, go back to sleep some more, have a realization about the actual identity of the breakfast I was planning on having, read the internet for a bit, get up and clean the bathroom, get clean, answer the equivalent of the phone, do a quick tour of my apartment via phone, work on porting a FITS utility program I wrote ages ago to snek, discover that snek often has too much "not api" documentation, but that the api actually isn't totally stupid (I'm looking at you, CFITSIO), make lunch, make dinner, watch youtube, watch a show I've heard about until it got too cringey to continue, do a bit of work stuff to kick my tests for another day, fix the stupid bug that probably broke the tests yesterday, and I probably need to fill the dishwasher before I go to bed.

The revelation this morning was that the scrambled eggs + fried potatoes + pan sausage + sriracha dish from Julie is just just the insides of a breakfast burrito.  My plan was to use the sausage and sriracha to cover up my dislike of scrambled eggs, since I've always considered them gross.

That all changed today.  I've finally learned how to make scrambled eggs, and what has been wrong all this time.  I also cheated, so I'll include the cheats in my recipe:

1. Cut up about two-three inches of green onion greens into super fine shreds.
2. Beat two eggs with the green onions, then add a few splashes of soy sauce.
3. Heat up a the small nonstick pan on medium
4. Beat the eggs some more.
5. No, really, like beat the eggs a lot more than that.
6. Add a big chunk of butter to the pan, and immediately drop it to #2.
7. Once the butter is melted, set the timer for two minutes.
8. Add the eggs to the pan, swish it around, and then use the spatula to push the eggs to the opposite side.
9. Repeat until ~1:30 have passed, and the eggs have stopped having liquid bits.
10. Plate.

The other stuff just got fried up in the big nonstick pan.

And then I made burritos with all that stuff and some cheese, and they were delicious.  Plus I have a big container of sausage and potatoes in my fridge for tomorrow.  And, I now have a use for the remaining ~8 eggs in my fridge.  It's like a whole new world of food.

• This was the only blog post I could find referencing the recipe.  I wish I had cider and apple butter.  People at work suggest apple butter is totally a thing here, though, so I just need to wait a month or two.
• My base recipe for the eggs.  I should probably get mirin at some point so I can make proper tamagoyaki.
• Today's youtube has been adversely affected by this crappy concert and their stupid advertisements.  I don't care, and I doubly don't care, even when you overlay the ad for the entire length of the video.
• Aggretsuko.