As far as I'll go

"It'll shoot your eyes out" chili

Well, it shot mine out since I didn’t properly handle the habaneros properly.

So I started with this chili recipe, modified about half of the ingredients/quantities & added a few ingredients - including veggie faux ground meat.

It’s a good looking meal but it looks more like the insides of a burrito with the works than a chili with that homogeneous reddish-brown color.  It turned out to be about the tastiest chili I ever made - full of flavor, just enough spice, and plenty of accompanying (but not overwhelming) heat.

move

In line with my previous post, if you google with me (chat, email, calendar, reader, docs), please do so with my new address

steven.feldman at gmail.

Resolutions & Plans for 2009

Thanks to MD for the idea.

Resolutions. These are things I must do for the significant betterment of myself.

1. Start higher education.
   • For fuck’s sake, I work a block from CCP at the moment.
   • I don’t want to do IT for the rest of my life.  I’ll stay computer & tech savvy, but I’d like tech to be tools in my work rather than work’s primary focus.
2. Drive towards having as good a relationship with my brother as the one I share with my sister.

Plans. These aren’t resolutions, merely things that can result in lifestyle improvements and satisfaction of pursuits.

• Get the house feeling like home.  It’s moving at a slow crawl.
• Blog more regularly.  My writing already suffers and I do have a lot to say.
  • Blog about my fantastic trip before I forget it.
  • Use Yelp.com like I mean it.
• Move to a more robust and variable password variety system.  Most of my identities have a unique and relatively strong password, but they could be stronger, tougher to extrapolate the others from, and still easy for me to categorize.
• Fully migrate my google identity & primary email to Steven.Feldman@ (calendar, contacts, docs, chat, etc).  Minimize use of my bootsector.org account with the intent to leave it entirely, and migrate chickencow@ to solely a mailing list/bulk/spam account.
  • There are a lot of Steven Feldmans out there apparently.  I’ve received some funny emails.
  • Google Docs.  ‘nuff said
• BSG from beginning to end.  I’ve hardly seen any and I owe it to the small but starving sci-fi fanboy in me.  Thanks Sipes
• Stay away from timesink video games.  Fallout 3 is kicking my ass in awesomeness and squandered time.
• Decide on and build a network at home functional for Anne & I.  Desired results: RAID file/media server, media PC for downstiars, comfortable office PC, strong wireless access in basement, yard, and all rooms.
  • I really liked the apple TV.  Is there a linux equivalent, and is it as good?  Will Apple TV work with non-apple file servers?  DVR?
  • No Windows OS in the house except for laptops.
• Play Go a little more regularly
• Get certifications while I’m still at NTR

Shit Shit where'd it go?

My bike, all locked up
Police station two blocks south
Yet snatched by some bitch

Overnight, locked up in front of Anne’s in South Philly.  Called police this morning to leave a report, but since we don’t have a non-emergency police hotline, I’m still waiting for a callback.  If you see someone riding this bike, please push him/her into traffic.  He/she might survive, since my helmet was also taken.

Description:

• Univega FS750 mountain bike - 24 speed
• Cobalt blue, oversized tube frame mountain bike
• Asphalt tires - angled tread channels rather than the knobby tread found on normal mountain bike tires
• Black crate mounted on rear via black aluminum luggage rack
• Black men’s comfort seat with a slightly peeling surface
• Two water bottle clamps, on top and bottom of lower main bar
• Blue & black saddlebag mounted under seat - the crate is purposely cut in the front to enable access to the saddlebag
• Hook for U-lock mounted on seat - locking bar of U-lock would rest perpendicular to the seat post
• If the tires were to be removed, one hub should have a rubber track on the inside and the other should have a cloth track
• Inside the saddle bag should be an old brass Presta valve converter, likely located in the mesh pocket

Other accessories (may or may not be present)

• Thief
• Bell helmet - blue/black/white with a tiny red triangle on back and black chinstraps
• Handlebar-mounted light
• 3-LED rear light mounted on rope on back of crate
• Green & white nylon rope - clothesline?
• Black unsheathed bungee cord with 4 or 5 or 6 holes for hooks (I don’t remember)
• Thick braided steel cable with loops on either end.  Sheathed in clear plastic with orange caps over the loop knots.
• I do not recall if I scraped my name anywhere on the bike.  If I did it is probably on the bottom and may be in english or may be my first name in 4 Japanese Katakana characters

Image and description of bike specs (my bike is blue, pictured bike is black):

http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=1998&Brand=Univega&Model=FS-750&Type=bike

Why I took my money & ran.

A couple of months ago, Wachovia bank posted a loss of $9bil.  I didn’t follow the story enough to know whether it was a cash loss or a write-down of bad debt, but either way that’s a lot of money.  The FDIC sounds like a suitable institution under normal circumstances, but I am somewhat skeptical of its effiacy should some of the larger banks buckle.  Given our government’s propensity to borrow excessively to fund unnecessary shite that has very limited return on investment, such as bailouts of investment institutions or, say, war; I am uncertain the US can put cash in place to prop up investor money for large quantities of people*.

I moved my money to PFCU - a federal credit union.  I’ve been long-dissatisfied with my money being part of a large pool that’s bandied about by wealthy folks indifferent to my needs.  I’m now quite satisfied to have my money in an organization in which its board is elected by its depositors, and is by mandate designed to serve its depositors.  I’m not suggesting you do the same.

With the following article, I’m glad I saw the writing on the wall.

http://consumerist.com/5055292/now-that-the-largest-bank-failure-in-us-history-is-over-is-wachovia-next

if you want something done right

you gotta do it yourself.

scallop scampi with shallots, saffron, parsley.  over pasta & asparagus

An American economy based on opening containers from China and selling the contents at Wal-Mart, or trading houses back and forth, provides scant profitability.

That quote succinctly describes why I might yet bounce even with Obama 08 and why I’ll almost certainly bounce with McCain 08.  I won’t tolerate my (eventual) lifetime of working for a living being eroded or made irrelevant by the machinations of an elite and indifferent class.

Original quote here, thanks klang

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JI16Dj08.html

My speed story from..

Anne’s Golden Shower short story event, on 09/11/08 (prewritten story to follow)

15 minutes given to write, with the following agreed-upon lines to be included:

opening: In the dim light, her nose closely resembled a meatball sandwich
middle: Sayonara, mother fuckers.
closing: It was as if none of this, excluding this moment, had ever happened.

In the dim light, her nose closely resembled a meatball sandwich. A toasted cheese, 3-week old sandwich, at that. That’s what face plants in concrete will do ya, Tony mused. That’s also what dissin’ my peeps will do to ya too, he c coming back with a satisfied grin. Tony then gazed lovingly lovingly at Maria’s scarred face, currently sleeping fitfully. “Why she gotta be dat way?”, he muttered out loud.

He thought back to their wedding, all roses and flowing wine and fried chicken. Longingly, he recalled the honeymoon – spending a long lounging all weekend at a divey hotel in North Wildwood. “God damn did Maria look hot in that bikini, and god damn was I smart to wear shades so I could scope the teenage tarts and their tight little illegal asses”, he thought to himself. His mind jolted to two years later – their anniversary at the same hotel in North Wildwood, with the same shades and the same (well, new) hot totties about. Some young blond jackass from New England started chatting with MY Maria. I got up like the living speedy dead, dragged his sorry ass to the waves, and hurled him in like a sack of potatoes. “Sayonara, Motherfucker,” with a satisfied grin. Fast forward to dinner the other night, and cousin Luke taking a third helping. Maria joked “you gonna walk that off, right?” Tony got all sorts of mad and slammed her head into the stove. From the living room.

At that moment, Maria stirred, and Tony lost his train of thought. They looked at each other, and went “I LOVE YA” at the same time. It was as if none of this, excluding this moment, had ever happened.