Thursday, November 22, 2012
I would say this is the best meal of the year..Seriously great food, great family, great fun.. Great thanks.
Sure, we have this silly notion that Thanksgiving is about Pilgrims and Natives sitting at a table enjoying a meal. That may have happened but it wasn’t until Abraham Lincoln that this whole thing even became a national holiday, and that was after a big social campaign to have him do it during the Civil War. And yes, some even think there is a much darker and more sordid history of Thanksgiving than one portrayed in history books. We do know there is a pretty rough section of history large not told to young aspiring students in school. America’s government often (and still often does) treated Native Americans with contempt.. White landowners didn’t have their land until a trail of tears forced original settlers off of it. That is the dark history of this nation. One that cannot be ignored.
But we really cannot change much of that now. can we?
At this point we can only make sure the turkey is cooked and the filling isn’t raw. I don’t mind lumpy potatoes.
History is something open for debate often..
So all debate aside, all untold history of sketchy pilgrim and Native American dinners ignored, why is it really that Americans eat like gluttons and sit for hours watching large men in stretch pants knock into each other?? Well, it’s all because of Sarah Hale. She wrote the letter than saved Thanksgiving and convinced Honest Abe to name it a day. There must have been a big brain in that large forehead, Sarah.
Without it, today would just be Thursday and most Americans would be stuck in the weekly grind .. Instead now we will gain 10 pounds, pass out in our sloth, and wake up early to be rude to each other at stores at 3am. The American way.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
It is the biggest party night of the year..
… and right now my wife and my son are both soundly asleep and I am watching a Back to the Future marathon on HBO.
I don’t regret for one moment that I’m not out enjoying the party night.
But for those who are out be safe everyone.
Creepy Christmas..
We already know that stores are set to track your ID and see if you are a ‘repeat returner’ of products.
But this one is a little weirder and Orwellian to me. Store mannequins are not set to watch you as you shop to spy on your shopping habits.
Christmas of the future!
Buy local. Avoid the all-knowing eyes of the lifeless mannequin.
From the age of 16 until about a year and a half ago, I worked either full time or part time in the restaurant industry. I took a sabbatical from the profession since I had a full time job and a second full time job as a dad since 2011. Nonetheless, tonight was always a night of greatness in my restaurant recollection.
Pies. Lots of pies.
The smell of turkey roasting in the oven in the restaurant kitchen.
Setting tables up for reservations.. Making certain enough seating was available..
The magical ‘setup’ hours were fun times, in my memory.
Not like Mother’s Day. I despised worked Mother’s Day for a number of reasons—not because I hate Mother’s Day itself but more because I can’t stand the notion that so many kids see their moms once a year and their choice on that productive day is to take Mother to a busy restaurant with bad service and cold food. How lame.
But Thanksgiving? I always loved waiting tables on Thanksgiving. There was something fun about it.. something ‘holidayish’..
I am jealous of those who get to smell the wafting aroma of pies in restaurant kitchens across the United States tonight.
Yes there will certainly be some mighty big issues to talk about in 2016. Such as creationism.
Seriously.. I want a debate about creationism from the GOP contenders.. with Rick Santorum moderating. How fun that could be.
Yes there will certainly be some mighty big issues to talk about in 2016. Such as creationism.
Michio Kaku voices his solar flare fears
Physicist Michio Kaku was a guest on George Noory’s Coast to Coast AM last night.
Kaku quickly directed the conversation towards his fears over solar activity He told George Noory that he was disturbed by the size and strength of recent solar flares..
Kaku said that the fear is one of the flares could hit earth and ‘all hell could break loose’..
Kaku said it was a matter of time, mentioning that the last big flare happened 150 years when telegraph wires were shorted out. He mentioned that people in Cuba were reading newspaper at night because the Northern Lights went that far South.
In our modern world, Kaku said the satellites would be fried, power plants could go down, and he said it could be worse than 20 Hurricane Katrinas across the planet.. The scary possibility is more possible as the ‘maximum’ of solar activity is occurring The sunspot is like a rifle, Kaku said, and the flares are like bullets. “One of these days one of these solar flares is going to hit the earth,” he told George Noory..
Kaku spoke about Congress’ inaction in taking advice of physicists on concerning the grid. Kaku worried about nuclear reactors failing and more Fukushima type events happening simultaneously throughout the world.
A part of the chaos Kaku foresees: Food riots, and violence as people realize ‘no outside’ will be able to help the areas affected by a solar maximum flare.
How the mighty have fallen..
Life after an election: This is Mitt Romney now, post 2012 loss, pumping gas himself. One comment on his appearance: He’s on a ‘milk bender’.. Simply more fodder for SNL should they choose to use it.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Black Friday lament
I heard about a nifty deal today at Sears.. Buy four tires, get a rebate, and get a $100 in store gift card. Sounded great. The trouble if you have to be at Sears between 4am and 1pm Black Friday to take advantage of the deal..
Tires are needed. But do I really want to subject myself to the anarchy that is Black Friday? Is it realllllly worth that?
Some photos hit hard.. these both did. The innocence of childhood lost during the Israeli/Gaza conflict.. an innocent child's life also lost
Of all of the photos I saw from the Israeli/Gaza back and forth bombings, these both hit me.. A child, innocent, tries to salvage any bit of childhood he can while adults around him act more immature than him.
The fact that a child ‘does not understand’ war and the world means that the child is more humble and honest than any adult in power..
And in the other photo, an adult cries tears of humanity as he carries a dead child from the rubble after a missile strike.
There are many innocent people that die during warfare… they are the ‘collateral damages’ often uncounted by governments embroiled in hostility.
That is beyond disrespectful. They are people with lives, hopes, dreams.. and often innocence of childhood. Innocence lost in a second, dead bodies litter the streets..
War across the world. Isn’t this season supposed to be one of peace on earth??
Whatever happened to that..
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Send in the clowns.
Governor Chris Christie appeared on SNL last night.. But his participation in the skit on the show is drawing fierce criticism. Just wondering your thoughts?
The coming economic boom: Gay marriage
But will divorce attorneys eventually have the same luck as they have had with straight marriages? We will see
The coming economic boom: Gay marriage
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Some essential facts on caffeine and a personal testimony
But for me the bad has outweighed the good when it comes to caffeine consumption. I have been clean of caffeine for about two weeks now, the worst was the first four days. I went from drinking 9 to 12 cups of coffee a day along with tea to nothing..
A part of the reason was because my heart was racing constantly, sometimes the beats per minute was shocking. I was having way too much caffeine..
I enjoyed every drop of it don’t get me wrong.. I tried to drink decaf coffee for comfort during those first trying hours, but he was switching from regular coffee to decaf knows it’s just not the same…
But now two weeks into it, I feel much better, the headaches are gone, I am never jittery, and I fall asleep much easier at night. I’m drinking decaf teas and every now and then a decaf coffee, with one little spurt of regular. But I don’t miss caffeine at this point, I am too far involved with the detox of my body to be able to start drinking again.
There may be positive benefits to caffeine, I am not denying that, but it is a drug and the benefits of the drug don’t outweigh the consequences for my personal well being.
This was one of the hardest lifestyle changes I’ve ever made..
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