Prosthetically Hip

Bananaversary!

March 27, 2012 7:00pm

Right about this time 2 years ago, I did a very smart thing.

Bea and I are currently celebrating in our own unique ways. This post has been pre-written and set up to auto-post at this time, as I am currently hosting a D&D game at my house, and Bea is at roller-derby practice as she has her home opener this Saturday. And before you write one or both of us off as callous, it really was simply easier this way. We did lunch, btw. And when next week, when things aren’t quite as chaotic, we’ll probably go grab some geocaches, like we did in Hawaii.

In keeping with our nerdiness, my gift to Bea is a locket I stumbled across on reddit. I saw it months ago, and immediately ordered it. I picked out a picture I liked, and put it in the locket:

BTW, our first anniversary was spent at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Yes, we’re nerds. Yes, we’ll go back.

Lunch was great. We went to Redemption – a newly re-tooled restaurant in Mid-City. The kitchen is now run by Greg Picolo who was the culinary wizard at The Bistro at Maison de Ville, where we had our rehearsal dinner. I was leaning towards Herbsaint for lunch – where we had dinner for our first date/3-month-dating anniversary, and Bea wanted to try something new. I think this was a perfect compromise.

Bea’s anniversary gift at Redemption:

I’d also like to send out a congratulatory message to my friends Candice and Clay – married on the same day, and to Christy and Alec, who are the hipsters of March 27th – they got married on that day before it was cool.

Comma Comma Comma Comma Chameleon

March 26, 2012 8:20pm

I’m not gonna lie, I like commas. I’m also a fan of the semi-colon; however, I’m not as big a fan of the semi-colon as much as the comma¹.

I’d like to think that I’m not that much of a Grammar Nazi, I would like to talk about the Oxford Comma. I’m a fan.

Por ejemplo:

Now, I know it isn’t perfect, and in some cases create confusion, but I’ll stick with it, as long as it clarifies instead of confuses.

1) Heh, see what I did there? I swear I can hear Pistolette groaning, 3 miles away.

Patakillers

March 26, 2012 9:06am

Well, I saw my first Buck Moth Caterpillar of the season while walking the dogs this morning. I can’t believe it’s that time already. Like years past, I’ve scheduled the exterminators to make a visit to the oak tree next door. The infestation these days is not as bad as when I was a kid, walking to school with an umbrella due to the forecast being partly-cloudy with an 80% chance of falling caterpillars. But, they’re still there, in droves.

And ever since one of my younger cousins had a brain fart and referred to buck moths caterpillars as “patakillers”, I’ve always thought of it as fitting and at least referred to them as that in my head.

Sudoku Bastard

March 24, 2012 3:57pm

I like to complete newspaper Sudoku puzzles at Molly’s, and leave one square empty.
I hope that someone will see it and think I messed up, then go back and check my work only to realize I left the last square intentionally blank, and curse my name.

★★★★☆, my ass.

I also like to play games in the sudoku. Some of the rules I usually tack on are:

• Solve the puzzle without the center, leaving it for last. Sometimes this just means “don’t write in the center until last.”
• Only complete the sectors in a clockwise spiral, starting from the top right.
• Work out the squares in numerical order (all the 1s, 2s, etc.)
• Work out the squares in numerical order (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9, etc.)
• All evens / all odds / all primes / etc.

I like sudoku. I play it a lot.

Last Minute PizzaNight™

March 23, 2012 11:11pm

This is going to be another cheater post. Still though, a post.

Bea and I managed to throw together a last-minute PizzaNight™ at our house tonight, and it went well. Bea, as usual, rocked the pizza. Our guests, as usual, rocked the toppings.

A couple of quick photos before a viewing of last night’s Community, and possibly a Dr. Who after:

Current music while writing post (worth a listen all the way through): Michael Nyman, Ute Lemper – Chanson Einer Dame Im Schatten

Gutters, Punk.

March 22, 2012 7:33pm

Depending on your roof, proper gutters in Southern Louisiana can be pretty key. When we bought the house, it only really had gutters on the front – the second story gutters. For just about the entire first floor, which is quite long, there were none. And the 2nd floor gutters just drain to the walkways on both sides on the house.

Not a huge deal, except the people that owned the property before us neglected it. All that water was collecting under the house, eroding the dirt around the piers and bring them down with it. It’s one thing you can do/stay on top of that makes a big difference in the long run. House (re)leveling is a bitch.

In the picture below, you can see where one of the 2nd floor downspouts just sticks down at the end – the rest of it was knocked off when I had some mulberry trees removed.

I would very much like to not have it re-secured, but instead to have it closed off, and re-run at the front of the house, so it can drain to the front sidewalk. Of course, I’d do it on the other side as well. The walkway you see here is brick in theory, but it’s mostly brick supporting a nice layer of dirt/mud and weeds. I’d like to have it re-done, but this isn’t the time. And while I do like the brick, there’s a good bit of water that gets dumped there, and it doesn’t get a whole lot of direct sunlight. That make for slick bricks.

I’ve also been thinking about getting a rain barrel for the back of the house, so I can then just divert it to the plants in the back yard. I know that’s how the yellow fever became such a big deal, but we know better now. And we have science, medicine, and technology like screens to help prevent that. Also, where I’d like to put it is quite narrow – ~16″ – and while I haven’t looked very hard, I haven’t seen anything that’d fit. It might be a neat project to make one though, for my needs. I’d rather do something like that then spend $200 on one, which with the cost of water from city, would take FOREVER. Hrm…

I reckon some screens or something to cover the gutters would then be in order. Perhaps I should just do that anyway. I spent some time the other morning, just before this days-long rain, cleaning out a ~30ft length of gutter that was chock full of leaves, dirt, etc. And for me, the quickest way to do that is just to get on the roof. As far as I’m concerned, the less time I spend perched on the edge of the roof, the better.

The Viking Winter is Coming

March 21, 2012 8:33pm

This post started out as a paragraph on the previous post about mead, but I realized there was more to it than a paragraph or two. So, here we go.

I have to say, another big reason why I’ve re-delved into mead is my wife, my best man, and his wife. See, my wife, “Bea”, and Pistolette’s hubby, “Mikey”, apparently have this thing for live band karaoke and Pistolette and I have a thing  for something we like to call Warrior Porn™. What is Warrior Porn? I wouldn’t say it’s ultra-violence or perhaps even gratuitous violence, but it is violence, and there are usually swords.

We have this deal, where when the other two want to go to their cover bands, Pistolette and I watch viking movies / warrior porn. The first one was a blessing disguised as a complete catastrophe though. Not that we’ve had any since though, and that’s due more to scheduling than the aforementioned catastrophe.

For our inaugural Viking Night™, we watched Valhalla Rising, and judging by the trailer, we were starting things off on the right foot:

If you just watched that trailer, congratulations, you’ve just watched the best parts of the movie. No need to watch the rest. Apparently, the bulk of the movie is the sort of transcendental crap I don’t want in my viking movies.

The upside is that Pistolette forced me to finally watch the first episode of Game of Thrones. I’d seen the opening 7 minutes or so of the first episode, and that was all it took to not only convince me that I wanted to not only watch the show, but inhale the books. Well, I knew I wanted to read the book first, and I’d been holding off on reading it because I wanted to wait until “winter” – for better immersive feel. I was doing fine until I watched that first episode. Pistolette is my dealer, and she knows exactly what drugs I like.

Shortly after that, and right at the start of the first cold spell of our warm winter, I borrowed from 6th Ward Girl her paperback copy of A Game of Thrones, Book 1 of the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. I inhaled it, as was to be expected. And being the high-quality drug that it is, I did the responsible thing and helped get as many people as possible hooked on it too.

Since then, I’ve watched the first season (awesomeballs!) and read the five books out in the wild. And I can’t wait for the upcoming Season 2, which can only mean one thing:

GAME OF THRONES MARATHON WEEKEND! WITH LOTS OF MEAD!

And perhaps for our next Viking Night, we’ll go with a better viking movie, even if it’s one we’ve seen already. Or perhaps the new Conan the Barbarian with Jason Momoa who also played Khal Drogo in GoT.

Also, things I feel are relevant but didn’t feel like working into a paragraph:

• Did you know that the average honey bee produces one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime? It’s true. At least, that’s what nude girls random facts tell me.
• Also, the term “honey moon” originated with the Norse practice of consuming large quantities of Mead (a beverage made from fermented honey) during the first month of a marriage.
• That last post was enough for Andre to send me his mead recipe. Excelsior.
• I made a variation of the “Winter is Coming” meme for Mardi Gras.

The more you drink know.

Mjød

March 20, 2012 9:26pm

I have the memory, hazy albeit, of sitting on the balcony of the apartment that my friends Sonny and Lara once shared in Mid-City, drinking a bottle of mead with them and Bea, brewed by my friend and future groomsman, Andre.

And goddamn, was it delicious. A bit thick/heavy, spicy, sweet, and a high ABV. In a word: wonderful. That was good while ago, and on my birthday, if I recall correctly.

Well, years had passed, and I had forgotten about it. About a year ago, I think I was reminded of that honeyed wonder when Jack Daniels introduced their Tennessee Honey (this review is spot-on). It’s really good, but it’s hard alcohol – 70 proof vs. the 19 proof mead I buy at the store. It’s hard to drink it in smaller volumes, and is basically now banned from my house. Although, summer is coming up…

But that’s when I remembered mead – when the honey Jack became a problem. I bought some bottles here and there, but the most accessible one that I like best (available at Rouses by the office!) is the Dansk Mjød Viking Blod. It’s heavier like Andre’s mead, and for me just seems to check off all the boxes I like about mead. It’s decent at room temperature, but I think it’s best either warmed a bit – like a brandy – or a bunch, liked a hot mulled drink.

And as I’ve tweeted, there’s not enough mead in the world for me to drink. I think I’ve held on to about 15 of the Viking Blod bottles – and it seems to be a good thing I have. They’re a unique bottle – a heavy ceramic. My father-in-law¹ Ken and I plan on starting to brew mead, and these make great bottles.

Also, due to my talking about it, a friend of mine who distills a killer moonshine is brewing mead. His is a much lighter, almost cider-like mead. It’s not my preferred style, but I definitely like it and want to encourage more people to experiment. His is almost like a cider – very light and dry, but it does vary by jar, so it’s always a pleasant surprise. Plus, he’s willing to basically sell it in bulk to my D&D group (and they like it too), so that’s always nice.

Anyways, Ken and I are thinking about what sort of flavors we want ours to have. We will of course use local honey, but want to incorporate some sort of Louisiana feel into the flavor. I’m not sure how to do that, but it will at least be an interesting experiment. We also need to come up with a label / some names. I’d like to do some sort of viking / cajun crossover, like Sven’s Flatboat Mead, Fjørditoulas, or perhaps just Ninth Fjørd. I like Ninth Fjørd, especially because the number 9 is important in Norse mythology. Or, a new suggestion from my friend Rhiannon: Fjørd de Lis.

So Andre, really. Dig up that mead recipe from the days of yore, and send it on over. I’d love to try and re-create it. And of course send you a bottle or two.

1) He’s her step-father, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s close enough and not worthy of the technical distinction.

NaBloApparentlyNot

March 18, 2012 8:42pm

Well, Friday was my St. Patrick’s day, so I never got around to posting.

I wasn’t hungover Saturday, but just couldn’t find it in me.

And  just don’t seem to have it in me today. Today for me has been (and continues to be) the Utter Backgammon Destruction of Savannah™, followed by yardwork, cleaning, tidying, a little project time, the new Community episode, more cleaning, a brief Dr. Who interlude, followed by griddle scrubbing and more cleaning, all brought to you by the following bands:

• Acid Bath
• Alabama Thunderpussy
• Black Label Society
• Corrosion of Conformity
• Crowbar
• Down
• Exhorder
• Eyehategod
• Goatwhore
• Pentagram
• Red Fang
• Saint Vitus
• Sleep
• Soilent Green
• Superjoint Ritual
• The Sword

Which brings us to right now. I have computer work to do, but I just don’t feel like it right now. Why? BECAUSE I HAVE MORE FUCKING CLEANING TO DO, THAT’S WHY.

So, I’m going to upload and embed a picture or two (done and below), crack open another Abita, and quit my bitching and get back to cleaning. And maybe I’ll do it to Wil Wheaton’s brand new episode of Radio Free Burrito for a while.

Edit 1: Just spilled a bunch of my beer on the desk. Awesome.

Edit 2: Podcasts aren’t good over the stereo when you’re doing quasi-noisy cleaning / running the Roomba.

Hooked on Tonics!

March 14, 2012 9:08pm

‘Tis the season. Kickball season.

It’s starting to get warm again, and that means that for those miserably hot months before Saints season¹, me and a bunch of other idiots² will be spending our Sundays losing half our body weight in sweat, only to replace it with beer.

We had our first “practice” tonight in City Park. It wasn’t really big or structured, but we had enough people to throw the ball around and do some light kicking drills. Everyone likes kicking drills³.

And before you start saying “Really? Practice?”, I’m going to say yes, really. Kickball, if you play even remotely competitively (we’re in a “beer league”, after all), is actually quite a good little workout. Especially as pitcher (my position). Lots of little sprints, a lot of quick throws to first, and every pitch itself is actual effort. Plus, that iconic red ball doesn’t throw easily/far. It’s very easy to get sore playing a full 7-inning game of kickball. It’s a lot of arm use, and it’s a lot of twisting motions on your core.

So, it was fun and light, and I’ll probably be a wee bit sore tomorrow, but it’ll be a good sore.

1) Don’t even get me started. So much stupid going around.
2) We’re the Hooked on Tonics. We play for Pal’s Lounge. And yes, I include myself in the idiots grouping.
3) It’s not so much a drill as it is just kicking it. A lot. Still, fun.