Oh. My. God.

Wonder how many applications he's gotten?

Go and wish him well

Dr. Monkey von Monkerstein, one of my absolute favorite bloggers, is going into the hospital for some heart surgery. Most who stop by this blog are already on his blogroll, and visit him regularly, but in case you didn't know, stop by this thread and wish him well, as I'm sure it would lift his spirits and speed along his recovery to know all his blogging pals are thinking of him.

Good luck Dr. Monkey!!! As I said in the thread, I sure hope it wasn't my cheesesteak post, I couldn't live with the guilt!

The Awesome

Dinner guests tonight!

Couple of my friends are coming over tonight, and we are going to make home made Philly cheesesteaks!!! We've done this in the past when I used to work at the pub at the end of my street (actually, it was shortly after I left the pub, but was still drinking there and advising the new cook),after I had returned from a road trip through Philadelphia, and enjoyed the fare at the famous Pat's King of Steaks, the owner of the pub let me cook in the kitchen one last time (with the ingredients I brought) and I served up some cheesesteaks to my friends, and a couple of lucky bar patrons.

There are a couple of unique things about the Pat's steak that I feel are worth mentioning. First, the onions are diced, this is huge. At most places the onions are julienned, creating long wet, hot strands that drag grease and chease onto your chin, and not in your mouth where grease and cheese should go. Secondly the cheese of choice is Cheese Whiz! Now don't get your knickers in a twist over this, I love real cheese, all cheeses, but in this instance you cannot beat the dayglow orange goodness that is cheese whiz. The cheese sauce mixes with the meat juice and forms a flavor sauce that seeps into the bread (in a good way, not soggy) and is just unbelievable...you will just have to trust me on this one.

It's good fun to create home made versions of well loved fast foods. Someday I will blog on my home made Big Macs...there awesome!!! The secret is shredding your lettuce!

Too funny, makes me almost want to go out and get this game

This is what someone did with the game Rollercoaster Tycoon. I normally hate tycoon games, but this video is certainly intriguing.

How to Abuse Rollercoaster Tycoon 3: Massacre
Watch more DIY videos on 5min.com

Shake it off, kid!

Sooo, I've shaken off the funk I was having on monday, and am back in the mix. You may have noticed I provided an altered photo of mine very own BBQ, and a giant Guinness. I discovered a free software that does most of what photoshop does (I have an old pirated copy of photoshop, but I would rather practice fair use, thank you very much), called GIMP2. While I am no Dr. Zaius (a photoshop genius if you ask me), I want to expand on my skills in this medium and add a little extra flavor to the ol' attic, after all, it's a little known fact, I dropped out of art school, and the need to create still ...burns, no....smolders? a smidge?? I don't know, but here I am trying it again. In my day we didn't have your fancy "computers", whith their "photoshops", and their "file types", ...we made art by hand, covered in paint and mud! AND WE LIKED IT!!!!!.....no we didn't...I dropped out, I hated just about everyone in my school. Bring me the sanatized anonymous world of digital media friends...I can't stand the filthy humans.

Longing for warmer months

I called in sick today, I just feel very blah, and with the rain coming down torrentially, I just didn't have it in my heart to get out of bed and go to work. I wish the winter was over, so I could drag out the old BBQ smoke up some ribs and tilt back some beers. Ah well, as my Nana used to say "if wishes were horses, the beggars would ride".

So stick your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye

Holy crap, the gang who couldn't shoot straight are actually planning to shoot down a stray spy satelite from an Aegis missile destroyer. Am I the only one who is a little leary of King Shit Midas tackling this particular issue? Duck and cover my friends, this is going to get worse before it gets better.


And while we're on the subject, doesn't this smack of a P.R. stunt? It's the kind of militaristic showmanship that the Bush crowd loves, puff out your chest, shout "Hoo-Wah!" and blow that satelite outta the sky! Talk about over compensating, sheesh! I'm just very concerned that like usual, these guys are going to cause more harm than good, children his age should not be allowed to play with these toys.

Update: Oh good, apparently we're just rattling our sabres at a tiny little country, that's no threat to us whatsoever....like, for example CHINA!!!!! When oh when will these jackasses be out of office!!!! Yesterday is to late if you ask me!!!

Update II: Well let's look on the bright side, this little expedition is only going to cost SIXTY MILLION DOLLARS!!!!!!! How on earth can these people refer to themselves as conservative, and/or fiscally responsible. That's outrageous!!

Update III: You know, I normally think thing like Aegis missile systems, and exploding satelites falls smack dab in the middle of awesome. Why does everything this administration touches turn shitty? I swear to god if they fuck with my precious giant robots, I will kill myself (I am a huge fan of giant robots, BushCo. would probably make the lamest giant robot in the history of anything).

Far away lands..

I got this new widget for my blog, you might have noticed it on the right, above 'Blogs I like'. It shows the location of peeps who have viewed my blog, kind of neat. And neater still, it looks as though someone in Iran has checked out the Old Attic!!! Well, I say welcome my international friend, please feel free to post a comment, be you a displaced American, or an Iranian national, I would love to hear from you and your take on the world today. Let it be known that not all Americans are war mongering jack asses looking to bring on the end of the world, we are not all idiots, I swear.

Update: And now I see someone from Australia...I am now an international superstar. Woot!

White Bean Soup, with Smoked Shoulder and Kale

Okay, so on sunday I made the wife and I a smoked shoulder (it's like a ham, but cheaper, and more difficult to carve), it was good, albeit a bit salty...but my true intentions were for the the BONE!

Shoulders come with a big honking bone, with clingy meat on it that is perfect for making soup. My wife and I decided that a white bean and kale soup would fit the bill perfectly for an application of the bone (kinda sounds dirty, don't it!).

Kale has been my veggie of choice lately, it stays firm and turgid (agian with the dirt, perverts) despite the most intense cooking conditions, it has the 'green' flavor that my body craves, and I like how it holds it's shape (unlike spinach) when used in dishes, as you can count on it's curly edges to provide tension to a composition.

I sauteed celery, carots and onion until soft, adding bay leaf and red pepper flake (while cooking the beans on the side with a rough chopped clump of the same), added garlic then deglazed with white wine. Then added the shoulder bone (extra meat removed), plus a secret ingredient, leftover Parmesan rinds...this adds such a nutty flavor to soup...try it and come back to me, and simmered for about 2 hours. Lastly added the meat and some fresh parsley to finish. It's a solid soup friends. Here's some video of the process

I am not sure the Giuliani Gambit is the way to go on this one

From the Politico

Did Mitt dodge a bullet, or was he told about the gun?

I have seen this written elsewhere, and the more I think about it, the more it makes a sort of sense. The Democrats will win the presidency, of that I am sure, are the republicans banking on this? Is this a Bob Dole situation where they are throwing what they believe to be an undesirable a bone, not letting said undesirable know that an even bigger dog is going to chew up both said bone and undesirable (of course biding their time for future battles)? I believe that this IS the case, Mitt was made aware of the dynamics and bowed out to fight agian in 2012, they have picked thier champion.

How Mitt became the standard bearer of the right I will never know, but it does seem he is on the inside track on this one.

It seems to me that on these larger issues it becomes more and more difficult to hide your hand, watch the news and pay heed to the propoganda, it's telling.

Update: Another argument that I think bolsters my original point, the fix is in.

So here is why they are sabotaging McCain- they want him to lose, or at the very least are hedging their bets. They want and need to paint him as not conservative, not pure enough to really represent the wildly successful (in their minds) conservatism that makes up the Bush dead-enders. That way, when they are blown out of the water in 2008, they don’t have to do any reflection, they don’t have to assess, re-prioritize, or re-think their policies. They can simply pin it all on McCain, claim he lost because he didn’t offer the voters a “real” conservative alternative, and get back to championing the end of the “death tax” and other important issues without skipping a beat.

In other words, McCain is the fall guy, and they are just distancing themselves from him.

And as things fell apart, nobody paid much attention

I regret not purchasing more Talking Heads albums back in the day, ah well. I love this song.

OOooOOOooohh! Check it out!

A quick caveat, Nate loves rough housing, this is not child abuse!!!!

Drat!

Well, I had hoped to post some video of my own Little Guy (TM), only sadly, the software on our new video camera doesn't seem to play nice on my main PC.....someone should call an IT person (oh...wait..), ah well, I will figure it out soon enough, and I suspect I know what the issue is as it stands. I think I might bring the camera to work with me tomorrow and post the video then...freaking saturdays....it's a goddamn crime that I gotta work em'.

Mitt Romney is out!

Good news from the campiagn trail, as Massachusetts own sleazy, citizen hating flip flopper has dropped out (nay, suspended) his run for the republican ticket to the white house. Anyone who has lived in Mass knows that America has just dodged a bullet. This guy was a slimey snake oil salesman, who used our state as a stepping stone for his own ambitions, and then turned around on the national stage and bashed on us relentlessly, for the crime of being liberal. Jackass. I am proud of this states liberal stance on gay marriage, and a woman's right to choose, I would like to see us be even more liberal on these issues truth be told, but I am proud of the steps my state has taken, and the leadership we have shown other states. Go back to Michigan, or Utah, or France Mittens, your kind are not needed around here, I'm just baffled he was our govenor in the first place.

Oh, and it seems Blogger's spellcheck isn't working....so pardon any misspelling for the time being, I am normally an excellent speller, but a terrible typist, it's my cross to bear *sniff*

Exciting!!!

Went out and voted yesterday, as Massachusetts moved it's primary date up to super tuesday. I am actually very pleased about it, as it makes my vote feel more important, like I am actually an agent of change in this election cycle. I am just going to throw it out there, I voted for Obama. I am a sucker for good propoganda I guess, as that video of his New Hampshire speech that has been all over these glorious internet tubes really moved me in his direction.

And now it looks as though we are in a dead heat on the Democratic side, a real nail biter. I am at work checking my blogs and news sites for all the latest updates, I don't recall an election season I have been more energized and excited about (and I said that same thing in 2006), and I want to thank the blogosphere for that. Prior to discovering blogs I was somewhat politically apathetic, but as the Bush administration wore on, and political activism grew out here in blogcountry, I started to feel like we the people could actually make a difference. That's an amazing feeling, and I thank you all for that.

Well, back to work, I am sure someone is doing something stupid to their computer that I will have to resolve.

Oh, and by the way, I am making a pledge to myself to post at least once every two days going forward, no more once a week/week and half bullshit....it's time I got serious, so hopefully you'll be seeing alot more of me around. Woot.