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You can't outrun it. You can't change it. It's there. It's done. Homuhomu come on!

Labels: akemi homura, madoka, screenshot

The third lunch I made in the triumvirate of lunches is a tuna salad with avocado. It's nothing special but the avocado gives it a gourmet flavor.

I used a tin of albacore tun, the fancy stuff, two dollops of mayonaise, half an avocado, a quarter of a red onion diced, some lemon, some pepper and salt, and a minced clove of garlic. That's it. Throw them all into a bowl and mix together, dollop out onto toasted bread, and add some shredded lettuce.

Yumm-o!

The sandwich was good and the tuna salad was still better the next day for breakfast. What went wrong was using too much mayo and perhaps more salt than I should be using. All things that will be fixed the next time I make some tuna salad. I'm also thinking adding some herbs and spices a la Akeshia's suggestion.

So what have I learned when I made myself lunch this past week? Baked bacon is a gift from the gods. Sandwiches are easy to make. Just take a look at a B.L.T. whose ingredients are in its name. Mango salads are best made with slightly less ripe mangoes. Red onions are as pungent as any other onion. Iceberg lettuce is flavorful too.

Labels: cooking, mmm

Homuhomu testing her new powers. It's alright. You're going to be fine.

Labels: akemi homura, madoka, screenshot

HomuHomu crushing it. That look on her face makes me smile.

Labels: akemi homura, madoka, screenshot, twirly-wirly

I was awoken on Saturday by the hammering and the pounding of the work that's happening on the buildings of my condominium development. They're pulling down the siding and the brick and installing a better building wrap. The workers are all over and I get worried about the car out back. I needed to get the car out of there. So I go about and find an early movie to watch. Not really caring what it is, I pick The Three Stooges. I'm hoping to see heads being banged together so that I don't rage and bang some heads together around my house. I want to go all Moe on someone.

The nice part about The Three Stooges is that they did old school style. Three different vignettes. Three different two reelers. Just like they had been presented back in the day. The also had the intro with their theme song and their floating heads -- I'm hearing "3 Blind Mice" in my head now. This was nice and unexpected. They strung their story in these three segments.

The first was the Three Stooges origin story. They're orphans raised by Larry David taking a nun's vow. Larry David as a nun is funny. The second was the Three Stooges out at work. They were doctors and carpenters. They caused mayhem. The final was a big hoighty-toighty party. I was expecting many pies thrown. They disappointed me.

It was a fun and funny time waster. You couldn't ask for anything more. I laughed. Everyone laughed. Guffaws! I've never heard a real deep belly laugh until the first noggin was knocked together. This lady laughed real loud for every head slap and eye poke. She infected the audience as she made us laugh when at times we didn't need to. She made it enjoyable.

3 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

Bacon. Avocado. Lettuce. Tomato.

Awesome.

After doing the tomato mango salsa salad, it's time to use the lettuce for sandwiches. Today was the B.L.T. with the avocado twist.

I used the old baked bacon trick. This time baked for only 12 minutes on a foil covered cookie sheet. I took four of those slices for the sandwich, ate one hot out of the oven, and still have two more for tomorrow's tuna salad sandwich.

On toasted whole grain bread, I spread a smidge of mayonnaise. Then I put a couple of slices of tomatoes. I don't usually put tomatoes on a sandwich because they are notorious at causing the dreaded spill of fillings. You bite into a sandwich with a tomato and most times the sandwich fillings with the tomato get squeezed out the backside. So, I place the tomatoes onto the bread to keep them in place. The lettuce goes next, and I probably put too many leaves. The four slices of bacon, and finally the avocado.

Now, it tasted pretty good at work, but probably tasted so much better freshly made this morning. It also could've used more slices of bacon, but really anything tastes so much better with more bacon.

Labels: cooking, mmm

We need more Orioles fans.

Camden Yards celebrating its 20th anniversary, and on most nights, she's only a third full. Come on, Baltimore, show you're support!

Today's link takes you to a crazy Orioles fanatic who wants every Wednesday to be Orange Wednesday. I'll join her, you should, too. That's a lot of Wednesdays. Maybe she should've tried every other Wednesday of the season whenever the Orioles are home.

http://dundalk.patch.com/d/articles/dundalk-native-wants-town-to-see-orange

Labels: Baltimore Orioles, Camden Yards, get off your butt, great minds think alike, lotd

HomuHomu swing and a miss! Baseball girl is also so very moe. Also, she's swinging a golf club.

Labels: akemi homura, anime, baseball, madoka, screenshot

I feel like making some lunch before I go to work, so this past Sunday I craft a menu in my head. A feel like salad so how about one with a tomato mango salsa. Then to get rid of the bacon in my icebox, how about a BLT. Finally, let's just make some tuna salad.

First up is the tomato mango salsa. I get a mango and dice it up. The tried chose one of the more fibrous variety of mango not the silky kind. I also tried to chose a less ripe one, but my fingers are always selecting one that is ripe. Having a less ripe on makes the mango pieces slightly hard so that it adds a crunch. I also dice up two tomatoes, then add half a red onion also diced. I mix all this up in a bowl with a squeeze of lemon, a dash of fish sauce, and a pinch of salt. When it came time for the salad, I used plain iceberg lettuce freshly cut from the head and add the tomato mango salsa on top.

You might not need any salad dressing, but I threw some on just for more flavor. A regular vinaigrette except I grated some fresh ginger into EVOO/red wine vinegar plus another squeeze of lemon and fish sauce. I like how that turned out.

Tomorrow is the BLT. I think I'm gonna add a couple of slices of avocado to it.

Does anyone have a nice tuna salad recipe?

Labels: cooking

Homuhomu is moe.

Labels: akemi homura, anime, madoka, screenshot

Watching Ozu on a rainy Sunday evening, and I end up looking up the wikipedia entry for Late Spring which leads me to today's link.

It's a link to a compilation of lists that add up to the 1000 best pictures of all time.

There's a lot to digest in a list like this. Did they leave any out? Are there any out of order? Are there any out of place? I'm sure we all have our own biases. Does this list exhibit any?

What's your take?

Also, Ozu's Late Spring comes in at 207, but his Tokyo Story is high up there at 11.

http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000.htm

Labels: lists, lotd, movies, Ozu

Crazy movie-like dream involving I. It must be written down or else lose it to the haze of memory as I wake. This dream had a great story line with a beginning middle and an end. Yet, it is already going.

I calls me out of the blue, and invites me over to her parents house on Saturday. They live right down the road from me. Really, they did in real life. I'm ecstatic and can't wait for the weekend to come.

On the day, I take public transportation or maybe walk over. When I get there, she invites me in. Her parents are not there, but she's not alone in the house. She's with a blonde haired young dude who she introduces me to. The guy can't stay and leaves us to ourselves. I at first think the guy is a neighbor; he's young and as he leaves, he walks down the street. Later, dude! I get to spend a Saturday with I!

This part of the dream is leaving me now.

We drink coffee. We hang out. We talk about our lives that has passed. We clean up her parents house. I am having a good time. It feels like I may have a chance with her again. At one point she goes to throw some things out, and I give her a hand. As she walks out the door with the garbage bag, she mentions that she never was married. She never had kids. I get the shakes hearing this. The window of opportunity just opened, right?

I start turning on the charm and try to be less subtle in my passes. I put the moves on her getting close to her, and she begins to feel uncomfortable. I back off slightly not wanting to ruin things. Then it is evening, and I had to go.

I'm taking the bus back home. She's steps out for a minute as I get my things together. I'm giddy trying to figure out how to restart our friendship and turn it into a relationship. Can I finally go out with I? Is she home to stay? She did say she liked me and missed me right before I got all forward, right? Yes, maybe, hopefully.

But she returns with the young blonde boy who I thought was her neighbor.

We get on the bus. Me and I on one side; the blonde boy on the other. I'm very happy thinking how to end this right. I think that I should ask her out to dinner or drinks or get her phone number. I can envision establishing a relationship wherein we end up married. It just may happen. She is my über-girl, and it would mean a lot to have her as a girlfriend.

As we are jostled around, I make a pass on her. I attempt footsies. I tickle her toe with mine except that it didn't really tickle. It seemed I scratched her with my toenails. She cries out, and I know that I've just killed any chance with her. She rubs her toe, and then the twist of this dream happens. The blonde boy immediately jumps to her side and embraces her! Comforts her. He rubs her feet and relaxes her. She gives him a peck on the forehead, but it is a signal to me that she is spoken for. She had brought him along as a hint that she had a boyfriend! My hopes are shot, and I can't of think of anything to salvage the situation. Maybe I can get in the friend zone and bide my time.

I wake up without ever finishing that bus ride.

Labels: dreams, hint, let's get together yeah yeah yeah, that girl, that sinking feeling, wishing for a pony

When I was in high school the music of the day was "classic rock." The Doors, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd were all popular with my classmates. These bands were all part of our parent's lives and years later they became a part if ours. It was a 20 year span before we embraced the music as ours.

Fast forward to today. The music from 20 years ago was Nirvana, rap, grunge, and R&B. I liked it then. Now it is our "classic music." I can't believe it. My generation's music is now "classic."

The time does fly.

Labels: nostalgia

I keep trying to play this on my guitar. Not this cover version, but the original by The Black Keys. It's straight up 3 chord song, but it needs the distortion of fuzz. Anyhow, I think I like this song better than the previous.

What about you?

Labels: music break

I'm really digging Puella Magi Madoka Magica, an anime from 2011 that is being broadcast on CrunchyRoll. I had torrented the first couple episodes last year, but never got around to finishing out the series because, you know, mahou shojo. And if you don't know, look it up.

I may like my anime or manga in the moe vein, but I didn't think I could get into the magical girl genre. Except, Madoka is different. I kept hearing about how it bent the magical girl genre into dark corners twisting its tropes, characterizations, and conventions into a deep, dark anime; that intrigued me. I had to catch up with it.

When I originally watched the first couple episodes last year, I couldn't maintain interest. The character design was off-kilter and simplistic. The main character Madoka with her eyes doesn't look appealing. She's got a doll like face. The style just wasn't to my liking and I probably gave up on it because of that.

On my second look, I got past my superficial first impressions and began to appreciate Madoka for its story. It's been a wonderful run, so far, and with two episodes left (out of 12) I can't wait.

It's always been my hope that the few readers reading this blog would follow up on some of the anime I blog about. I wish you would watch this one; it's pretty good.

Labels: anime, madoka

A rocking cover of a rockin' Black Keys tune, Lonely Boy, featuring girls on acoustic guitars? Sign in to blogger and post it for a morning music coffe break.

I'm kind of digging it! Hopefully so are you.

If so get up and party for a morning music coffee break!

Labels: coffee, it rocks, music break

Picture courtesy of sciascia

Whoa! The Shuttle Discovery's last flight to be part of the Smithsonian in DC. It's pretty cool and it was a beautiful day to take her out for one last spin.

Labels: picture, science fiend

The Cabin in the Woods is Scream for the Saw age. It takes the "wink-wink, nudge-nudge, no whatta mean-no whatta mean, say no more" snark and self-consciousness to another plane and cuts it up like a funny man. It's so post-modern it's back into the pre-historic days.

I couldn't get into it. It writes itself; you know what was going to happen. Even the big "twist," you'll see it coming. Then you wonder if they would go there, and they went there.

2 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

Save 35mm film! That's what some people want.

Bullocks to old technology! Embrace digital! That's what others want.

In the end though, it's another rear guard battle in the transformation to the post-digital age. Someone's going to get hurt.

http://www.laweekly.com/2012-04-12/film-tv/35-mm-film-digital-Hollywood/

Labels: digital future, lotd, movies

Labels: nendoroid, picture, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Where's BrowserMetrics? I had 4 seats and brought along the brother, sister-in-law and nephew.

Find us!

http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/photos/gigapan/?gpId=8e5ace81447dca38b17374b151705391&c_id=bal

Labels: baseball, Camden Yards, games people play, lotd

Usually, I am in tune with pop culture. I know of, watched, or read lots of what's been in pop culture. The Hunger Games came out of no where for me. Even when I spent weekends upon weekends in the bookstores, I've never heard of it until they started the advertising blitz last year. Should I read the book before the movie comes out? So I went in to the theatre last week blind. I didn't even read the wikipedia page.

As I sat there I had to process the film on several levels. The first being as a film in and of itself. The second being the adaption of a book I didn't even read. The third being the film as a pop culture phenomenon.

As a film, I liked it. It was enough action to keep me interested. Yet, I was bugged by it. As an adaption did it miss something from the book? I felt that it did, as plot points and themes that the readers of the book would figure out. I bet there was plenty I missed from not reading the book. It's funny because my brother complained about the film and most of his complaints could've been handled if he had at least read the blurbs on the back of the soft cover his son was in the process of reading.

So the readers of the book could love this movie. There are points that those who haven't can feel attached to the story, but it could be better if you know about the book before hand.

3 of 5 stars.

Labels: movies, review

I figured that instead of frying bacon in a pan I would try baking it in the oven.

I used a large cookie sheet which I was only able to arrange six slices of bacon on. The recipes I read online say to line it with aluminum foil. I pulled out of my drawer the aluminum foil I had. There was only a small sliver! So I forgo the aluminum foil and put the bacon on the cookie sheet. Maybe I should've applied a little something so that the bacon doesn't stick. Why? Won't the bacon oil keep it from doing that?

I set the oven to 375 and plan to bake the bacon for about 20 minutes. The bacon I had (Smithfield brown sugar cured) was rather thin as I stretched it across the pan. I bet thicker cut bacon would work better. As it baked, I watched it and took it out when the bacon looked brown and crispy around the 15 minute mark.

The bacon had stuck to the cookie sheet. I had to "scrape" it out. Although it was still crispy it was in several slivers of bacon. Note to self: get aluminum foil as the clean up was one of bacon grease all over the place.

Labels: cooking, mmm, step-by-step

Orioles win their home opener yesterday. We could go undefeated, or wire-to-wire, but that's doubtful. We've got to take it one day at a time -- one win at a time; hopefully, it will be one loss at a time rather than a series of losses. There's plenty of time to worry; we've got all season.

http://deadspin.com/5899831/motherfuckin-shit-take-your-ass-home-or-why-the-baltimore-orioles-matter

(ht camdenchat)

Labels: Baltimore Orioles, baseball

It would've been a tradition if only the one who help started it was still around. But still without Margaux, eating at Faidley's before the Orioles home opener is still awesome. Plus, if you have french cuteness it's doubly good.

(Here's the story of the french cuteness: she was visiting with her husband a friend who worked in town.)

Labels: mmm

The title to this post refers to what I hope the Orioles record will be at the end of the season. Yup. Still below .500 and they're still not gonna win that many no matter how much I wish. Not with that starting rotation or that defense. They'll still be the bumbling Orioles. Lovable, but bumbling.

It's Camden Yards' Twentieth Anniversary, and for 14 of those years it's been nothing but losing. Can you imagine that after all those sold out games of its first decade? It really is hard to imagine. The promise and the reality are just hard to figure.

These 2012 Orioles have a lot to prove, but must do it in the most toughest division in baseball. Their rivals are better organizations and make the owner look retarded. If only Orioles fans could get a better owner.

Well, at least we're in first place by virtue of the alphabet.

Labels: Baltimore Orioles, baseball, wishing for a pony

"That's it! You people have stood in my way long enough. I'm going to clown college!"

Homer Simpson, The Simpsons, "Homie the Clown"

Labels: go there now, qotd

Now that the Megamillions frenzy is over, we can breathe, laugh, and cry about the whole last week. Why? It's because I had been daydreaming about winning. Hoping beyond hope to hit the jackpot. Praying for something that will never happen, but believing that just maybe, just maybe it may.

One of the winning tickets was bought down the road. I was at work on a Saturday when I heard that it was in Baltimore County. To continue working was difficult. I sat banging away code and thought maybe, just maybe, I had the winning ticket. I left work quickly determined to find out if I did.

I drove home thinking of all the ways to enjoy that money.

Of course I didn't win. Just my luck. Yet, I knew. There were no cameras around the Exxon at work from which I bought my ticket. There would have been television crews to look for the winners. I didn't see any; I wasn't a winner.

There's lots I would've done with that cash. I would dream about that lots. Who I would share it with? Who else I would share it with? I wouldn't have a job quitting right there on the spot, because I don't want to work no more. That was the last I could think, just get the hell out of work. One of the last things I need a new job.

Labels: dreams, games people play, wishing for a pony