yet again, indigo gets screwed

bowling

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Game 1	5 4 9	x 28	9 0 37	1 / 53	6 0 59	9 / 73	4 1 78	6 / 98	x 115	7 0 122
Game 2	x 19	8 1 28	9 0 37	7 / 55	8 1 64	5 3 72	7 0 79	9 / 97	6 0 105	7 / 6 121
Game 3	8 / 20	x 39	7 2 48	6 2 56	x 76	8 / 94	8 1 103	8 0 111	7 1 119	6 2 127
Game 4	x 29	x 48	9 0 57	7 1 65	7 2 74	7 / 93	9 / 110	7 1 118	9 / 133	5 3 141

The picture is from game 4, frame 7. The final pin fell over immediately after being reset. Oops.

LOL

I bet someone feels dumb.

"I would like to opt out"

Just went through security at BOS. I loaded up the bin, and chatted a bit with the guy asking about belts and watches.

"Laptop?" He asked.

"Yeah, but it's a flippy bag," I replied as I unzipped the split to lay it flat.

"Oh, I see. Nice job sticking your belt in your coat pocket, keeps it all together."

"Yep."

"Ok, right through here."

"I'd like to opt out, please."

I could see him get confused. He looked at the older guy standing next to the magnetometer.

"Sure, right through here," old guy said after a few seconds.  I walk through, nothing happens, so I keep going, looking around for the designated TSA gropemaster.

Nothing.

I walk up to the output of the bag scanner, and start accumulating my belongings.  I keep expecting someone to object.

No one does.

Hooray for the most theatrical of security theaters.  There's a big expensive box that everyone has to go through, unless you don't want to, in which case you can pretty much just ignore it all.

Sent via DROID on Verizon Wireless

too long for twitter

I'm watching an episode of Rachael Ray's "Week in a Day," and she's making pot pies. That caused me to look up other recipes online, and I've come to the conclusion that no one makes them the way I do.

The fillings are basically the same, but I don't use a big dish with just a single crust. I always pie crust in the bottom of a big muffin pan (the muffins are big, not the pan), par-bake them until browning and crispy, then fill and top with another layer of crust. After baking, it's nice because you can (if you're lucky and greased it well) just pop out individual pies that are completely encased in tasty crust.

However, I can find no recipes online that do anything like this. It just seems like a far better idea than floating a crust on a sea of stew.

Lord of the Rings Livetweets

Wait...LotR is 12 hours, not 9, isn't it? Oops. Should have started earlier.
13 hours ago via mbpidgin

Disk 2! Yeah, this is definitely twelve hours and not nine.
11 hours ago via mbpidgin

The Mines of Moria are less suspenseful when the sun is shining so bright.
10 hours ago via mbpidgin

YOU SHALL NOT PASS! #lotr #marathon
10 hours ago via mbpidgin

Disk 3! Rated PG-13 for Epic Battle Sequences!
9 hours ago via mbpidgin

I've apparently decided that a BLT is the correct thing to eat while watching The Two Towers.
8 hours ago via mbpidgin

Potatoes! Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew! #lotr
6 hours ago via mbpidgin

Disk 4! #lotr
6 hours ago via mbpidgin

It's also fun to play "find Peter Jackson's kids" as I watch these movies. #lotr
5 hours ago via mbpidgin

I always like it when "ent that's on fire" runs up to put himself out after they break the dam holding back the Isen. #lotr
5 hours ago via mbpidgin

Putting the entire fan list at the end of all three special edition movies is a bit silly. #lotr
4 hours ago via mbpidgin

It's unfortunate that the dynamic range in these movies isn't really appropriate for living in an apartment. #lotr
3 hours ago via mbpidgin

GROND! GROND! GROND! GROND! GROND! Apparently that's the end of disk 5 as well. #lotr
2 hours ago via mbpidgin

Ohs noes! Corsairs! (Disk 6.) #lotr
2 hours ago via mbpidgin

Wait...was Aragorn's plan just to sit on the beach and hijack some ships when they came by? That's kind of...irresponsible. #lotr
2 hours ago via web

The Ride of the Rohirrim is another favorite. #lotr
1 hour ago via mbpidgin

This isn't going to be over by 3, is it? Oh well, I'll keep that in mind for next time. Thirteen hours. #lotr
1 hour ago via mbpidgin

Oops! Your head popped off! How did that happen? Man, that probably hurts! #lotr
1 hour ago via mbpidgin

With the bloody hand? Ick. #lotr
57 minutes ago via mbpidgin

I'M IN UR MORDOR, SAVIN MAI HOBBITSSES! #whyeaglesdon'ttweet #lotr
52 minutes ago via mbpidgin

Closing credits. I remember watching these after the midnight showing. While everyone else tried to escape the post-credit monsters. #lotr
28 minutes ago via web

I just now noticed that the Fan Club credits after the regular credits includes the entire cast. #lotr
12 minutes ago via mbpidgin

And the final answer is "pretty close to 13 hours." At least it's not morning like it was last time I did this. #lotr
9 minutes ago via mbpidgin

super bowl ad

my favorite

puppy bowl!

[Picture to be added later]

I remember in grad school getting together for chili and the super bowl.  I don't really care about football, but since Animal Planet has started showing the Puppy Bowl, I have something else to watch instead.  I've never actually made chili before, but I figured it couldn't be that difficult.  I used this as my basis, and made some changes (no beans, because beans are gross). My recipe:

• 1 lb beef stew meat
• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 28oz cans tomatoes
• 2 slices bacon.
• 1 onion
• garlic
• 2 jalepenos 
• 3 ancho chiles
• cumin/coriander/pepper/smoked paprika/regular paprika/chili powder/cayenne
• anchovy/soy sauce/worchestershire sauce/1oz dark chocolate
• 1 can beef broth
• 1 can tomato paste
• some wine

I first started on the sauce. After quickly roasting the chiles and the whole spices, I moved them to the food processor and ground them up. The anchovy was fried in some olive oil until it dissolved, and then 1/3 of the can of broth, 1 tbs tomato paste, and the rest of the umami ingredients went in as well.  The spices and chiles were added, and whisked to be reasonably smooth.

The meat was browned separately, and then removed from the pan. The bacon was diced up and added to the pan to render out the fat.  This was used to cook the onion and garlic. The pan was deglazed with the wine, and then the meat added back in, and the finished sauce mixed in.  The tomatoes were added in next, along with the remaining broth and tomato paste. One of the jalepenos was sent through the food processor, and the other left in two pieces, as I wasn't sure how hot it was going to get.

I let it cook for about two-three hours, making cornbread in my cast iron pan during the last half hour. This would have been much easier had my stick blender hadn't been lost in the move, as that would have made smoothing the sauce a far quicker task.  I also would somewhat like to blend a batch of the chili a bit more to use on chili dogs and whatnot.

I also will need to adjust the spices for the next time I make this.  The heat was fairly mild, only hitting in the back of the throat.  I think the solution will be to add a few more jalepenos, possibly roasting one before adding it.

Nautipocalypse

An apocalypse that starts in the ocean.

The Great Denver Adventure

Today's original plan involved @gakisama and me flying back to Honolulu from Austin. However, the flight out of Austin was delayed ten minutes, and since the plane was a tiny Canadair thing, we had to gate check our suitcases. By the time we'd landed, I had received an email that we had been auto-rebooked onto flights tomorrow.

That wasn't a great solution, so I stopped at the first kiosk I could see.  That told me to pick up the service phone, which connected me to someone who told me to go to gate b43 to get the new tickets.  That was the gate for the original flight out of denver.  When we arrived there, we discovered that we'd missed boarding by just a few minutes. So much for listening to email updates.

The gate agent then checked if we could get home, and put us on standby for a flight to Los Angeles that we might be able to connect through to get home.  We tried that, but due to the bizarre way United handles upgrades and standby, multiple people on the same reservation do not have the same priority.  That seems completely counterintuitive.  For both flights to and from Austin, I was asked if I wanted the first class upgrade if @gakisama wouldn't get one. Similarly, I was asked if I wanted the standby seat to LAX without @gakisama. Weird.

We attempted to catch the next standby to Los Angeles (possibly connecting to Lihue), but somehow didn't make the list. I checked if Kayak could find anyway to get home today, only to find that no amount of money could make a connection from DEN to HNL.

I told @gakisama that we were pretty much stuck, and she suggested waiting in the customer service line to see if we could get dinner or maybe even a hotel for the night.  I had little hope, but gave it a shot.  It took awhile but a "Mrs. L. Rodriguez":

- tried unsuccessfully to find us a connection tonight again
- checked us in for the flight tomorrow
- made sure we remained on the ugrade list for those flights
- gave us $30 in food vouchers
- $300 in travel vouchers for the future
- booked us a fully paid room at the rather nice Renaissance Denver, which has a free shuttle to and from the airport.

We took the shuttle, checked in, had a decent italian meal at the hotel, followed by me passing out in bed instead of catching Castle.

The attached picture is of a print in the bathroom here. I suspect it represents "WTF am I doing in Denver, and WTF am I going to do?"

Dinner?

Calamari?

Eighth floor?

Free fucking hot cider?

Room?

Elevators?

Driving?

living in the middle of the ocean is weird

OMGWTFBBQ!

hrm

I went to look up how much I hate Hush, and remembered that I wanted them to make Lego Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Video Game. Then I remembered that they are making that game.


but only (at a quality that I care to play) for systems I don't own.

Maybe I should look into buying a PS3.

ok, wtf?

Aren't rice krispy treats easy enough that kids can make them? Like 7 month old kids? Who exactly is so lazy they need to buy premade sheets of them?