Resolutions Update

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted. I did not plan any regular updates, not even once a week. I just wanted to get it down when the mood strikes me.

I am not exactly setting the world on fire with my resolutions for the new year. I am making progress. I finished a book this week. It is a whole lot easier to finish one when it's a Jack Reacher mystery than Team of Rivals.

I resolved to exercise 13 minutes every day. I have not done that exactly. I do work out 30 minutes 3 times a week with a trainer, and I did walk an hour yesterday, so I am averaging more than 13 minutes a day. I have a race on my schedule for March, so I have to get in shape. Does anyone have a GoPro Hero I can borrow?

I'll be able to add a cultural event this weekend. No, not the Superbowl, but the Mount Dora Art Festival. Always a great was to kill a couple of hours - and you get exercise, too.


I got home today and found a bag with what looked like dog poop on my lawn. Must have been my neighbors. They must have seen some poop on their lawn and thought one of my evil demons had left it. I think I'll get them a sign for their yard.

Speaking of poop, I see where actor Jason London denies defecating in cop car during arrest. Who does he think he is- Ted Nugent?




And, speaking of Ted Nugent, local gun dealers are reporting sales have quadrupled in the past month. Quadrupled! One says you can't even get a spot in the parking lot at lunchtime. So, is ex-Senator Truck Nutz, owner of one of these stores, sending a personal thank you note to President Obama for making him richer. They blame him for the opportunity they have to gouge the gullible and make obscene profits, so they should be thanking him, too.

I can't believe I am watching The Greatest Superbowl Commercials of all Time. Will they be taking commercial breaks to show some football? We complain about commercials, and then we sit down to watch an hour of them. Are we nuts? No, I just wanted to see Catrinel Menghia again.

I can stare at Catrinel while Windows 8 is downloading. I am expecting a steep learning curve, but I want to upgrade to Office 365, and I'm assured it works much better with Windows 8. Sounds reasonable, so we;ll find out.

Bacon Fudge

I have been meaning to make bacon brownies for some time. I finally got around to it last night. Well, it was bacon fudge, but that's OK.

I had the bacon already. Yes, you can use any bacon that your favorite supermarket provides, but I was looking for something special. I used Boss Hog bacon, which is available from Bacon Freak. It may not be the perfect bacon for bacon brownies as it does not get crispy when you cook it. That means you have to cut it up instead of just crumbling it. Ladies, if you are interested in attracting the right kind of male, Bacon Freak also has Boss Hog fragrance.

Now, do not think that you need a whole package of bacon to make brownies. In fact, you only need about a quarter pound. What to do with the rest of that bacon is not a problem. One of the steps in making fudge is to stir the milk and sugar for four minutes. While your right hand is stirring, you can be picking up the prepared bacon with your left hand and enjoying it. It won't lesson the stirring time, but it sure makes it more enjoyable. I found that when I was finished stirring, I had exactly a quarter pound left.

I mentioned milk and sugar. You will need that as well as eggs and chocolate, Marshmallows are nice, and, while I consider pecans essential to good brownies, I forgot them. That is called a "senior moment." If you have not experienced one, don't worry, you will. Say that last line as Steven Berkoff did in Rambo II. LOL

Now, I could give you all the measures, but that would be a real waste of time. When I was picking up a Christmas present Pat at ordered at Walmart, I found a box of Carnation fudge mix at the checkout. I grabbed it, thinking this was a simple solution to my quest. Since I had no eggs in the house, It was the perfect solution. I just substituted a tablespoon of the bacon grease for a tablespoon of butter and I was good to go. I cut up my bacon and put it in the mix as I was putting it in the pan. I saved some to put on top as you see above.

Note the Carnation box says 24 servings. It should be obvious from my picture, that I will only get four servings.

Next time I will use a brownie mix. Ghiradelli and Duncan Hines both make them, and I am sure there are others. Makes  it easy to prepare as you do not have to worry about missing an ingredient. If you are a purist with time on your hands. there are many recipes for brownies and fudge on the internet, or you may have a favorite anyway. Just add bacon after you pour in half the mix, and then gently pour the other half on top. Remember to save a little to top you goodie.

It goes well with your favorite vanilla ice cream. I use Ben & Jerry's, but conservative friends can use something like Blue Bell. It's not real ice cream, but I guess it'll do.

Don't forget to enjoy.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Unintended Consequences

Things do not always turn out the way you planned. That should be no surprise to anyone, but sometimes the way things happen is just funny.

I went to CVS the other day as Pat told me they had a sale on TRESemmé. I am not a slave to brands, although I do like Pure Aveda, so three for $10 was very appealing. I got to the store and found they also had coupons on them worth $1.75. That's buy one, get two free! What a deal. Needless to say, I did look around and got caught at the "As Seen on TV" shelf. Santa brought me a Kuerig for Christmas, so I saw they had a package of four filters that you can put your favorite coffee in (Starbucks Sumatra) your Keurig. I had a single filter, but four means I always have coffee ready to brew. Hey, Starbucks, what's up with that "Blonde" coffee? If they want weak coffee, they can find it on the supermarket shelf in large quantities.

Then I saw what they called a "pocket hose." Definitely something I need, as I got a shower the last time I turned the hose on. There was also a light that you slap up on the wall and it turns on anytime someone walks by. Great idea, but it was a disappointment when I got home as it really doesn't provide much light. It's OK, but you would need about 10 of them to light a two-car garage. Lastly, I got a Mighty Mend. I have several projects where that would be useful.

Bottom line: I went in to spend $10 on shampoo, and walked out about $60 poorer. Maybe I would have been better off going to the salon.

Oscar Time

The Oscar season has started, and for the next 44 days, we will be bombarded with award shows, and discussion about who should win. I am something of a movie nut, so this is a fun time of year for me.

Three to see, if you haven't already, are Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, and Silver Linings Playbook.

Of course, there is always controversy about the Oscars. This year, it's the omission of highly regarded directors. I am reminded of a line by one of my favorite characters in  Inglourious Basterds: Shosanna Dreyfus: "I'm French. We respect directors in our country."

The Broadcast Film Critics Association gave out their awards last night, and Argo won Best Picture, and Ben Affleck was awarded Best Director. Affleck was one of the directors left off the Oscar ballot. Maybe I should add Argo to the "must see" list.

I really enjoyed reading "No Easy Day: The Autobiography of a Navy SEAL" by Mark Owen, so Zero Dark Thirty is on the top of my list to see.

Final Thought

I have been a philhellene for many years. I fully expect to spend my last days in Greece. Imagine my surprise to find out today that I actually have Greek blood. Being mostly Sicilian (from my mother), I find that at one time there were more Greeks in Sicily that there were in Greece. They totally dominated the island until the Romans came. Many of the greatest Greek myths, and some of the greatest Greek temples and amphitheatres, are Sicilian. Archimedes was born in the Sicilian city of Syracuse, which came to rival Athens in power and prestige.

Ya'll have a great weekend.

Sunday Morning Musings

In the aftermath of the Sandy hook shootings, we are seeing many panels of "concerned" citizens being formed. Orlando will have it's own on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.. You can watch it online at www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion if you want, but your time is better spent elsewhere.

The panel will include Ex-Senator Truck Nutz. What does he have to contribute except "buy more guns"?

Carey Baker is the poster child for what is wrong with the Florida legislature. An uneducated gun dealer who spends all of his time trying to find the next big office to hold. He has contributed nothing to improving Florida, and his presence on any panel is not even to the level of Taylor Swift.

There is also state Rep. Dennis Baxley, sponsor of Florida’s “stand your ground” law. This is the law that allows white Floridians to murder minorities with impunity. Like a cancer, it has spread to many other states through the efforts of white supremacists.

Can Orlando not find more intelligent and informed people to make up their panels?

I wonder how many of the panelists will bring up violent movies and games. Canadians watch violent movies and play violent games and they are not shooting each other. Maybe it is time to look elsewhere. That would, of course, require a panel that is not stuck in a rut.

We have a lot of gun deaths here in Central Florida; many of them are drug related or random drive bys. There are parts of Orlando that tourists should stay out of for their safety. I remember living in Tampa some 40 years ago. If you had to drive through Ibor City at night, you had your doors locked and windows up, and you better know where you are going. People would say that you shouldn't even stop for red lights - it was too dangerous. I haven't been to Ibor City in a long while, but I understand it has become quite a tourist attraction.

The availability of guns results in many losing their lives over what I consider trivial matters. I have always wondered why someone has to shoot their ex, and either spend the rest of their lives in jail or end up shooting themselves. Can they not just get over it? There are other fish in the sea. Seriously, no one has to be alone, you just may have to look harder for a mate. The sad result is children growing up with a parent, or innocent bystanders getting killed.

I am not smart enough to solve that particular problem. I just wish I could understand the reasoning. It is just one of those things that bug me because I don't know why.

It's like my search for George Forman "Comfort Zone" tees. They are the best I have ever worn, and now I can't find them. I swear I will buy 100 if I ever see them again.

UPDATE:  I mentioned Florida treasures the other day (Carl Hiaasen, Commander Coconut, and Debbie Wasserman Shultz), and I forgot one other: Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel. He is a must read, even if he does ocassionly waste your time talking about Taylor Swift.

Time to get ready to watch RGIII, so y'all have a great day.

13 for 2013

Me…jog???  Pffffft… If you see me running, you better run too cuz there’s something chasing me.

I do not plan to do anything in 2013 so outrageous. I did run once in Moron, Spain. It was during their local feria, and they had three or four bulls running in the street, along with some crazy people like me. I almost bought it, as one bull had me in a corner. But, it wasn’t my day, and he was distracted at the last moment. I limited my running after that to my annual fitness test.

Unless one wants to free-float, you have to have some targets, goals, or, what the heck, resolutions to guide you. So, I have come up with 13 for 2013. The intended consequences are to be a better person, and help others at the same time. Wish me luck.

1. Spend 13 minutes per day attempting to destroy a Gazelle by Tony Little.
2. Experience 13 new artistic tastings. I completed one already.
1. Wim Wenders’ “Pina.”  (Modern Dance)
3. Spend 13 minutes per day improving the look of my cave.
4. Perform 13 random acts of kindness.
5. Improve my diet by focusing on healthful carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, soy products in natural, unrefined forms and some fish, like salmon.
6. Visit the cinema 13 times this year starting with Oscar contenders “Amour”, “Les Misérables”, “Lincoln”, and “Zero Dark Thirty”. 
7. Attend 13 community events
8. Visit 13 new restaurants
9. Read 13 books of quality this year. Starting with “The Boy Kings of Texas: A Memoir” by Domingo Martinez 
10. Lose 13 pounds. Over 66 percent of adult Americans are considered overweight or obese by recent studies, and I am one of them.
11. Quit smoking. Believe me, it will be the 13th time I have tried.
12. Spend 13 minutes a day learning a language.
13. Stay tuned