The New Road

Superman

We saw Superman last night. Lori liked it, I really didn't. I thought it was ok, but there were elements of the story that were just plain missing.

To understand I need to take you back to wrestling in the 1980s. Remeber Hulk Hogan before he became a complex character? At every event he would be handly beating his opponent when, just before he was going to win, a henchmen would play a dirty trick on him. Then, as he we was staggering from the attack the opponent would beat him almost to the win. But then the opponent would stop to gloat, and at that time, the crowd would cheer the Hulks name. Hulk, drawing energy from the crowd, would deal his final blows to the stunned opponent and once again emerge victorious.

Which is really great the first time you see it, but not the 50th, which is why they had to change his character, anyway, I digress...

What does the have to do with Superman? Well, I forgot that the Superman movies always work the same way as the Hulkster. Why? Because it's a good formula. And they played it here. But the best part is to see the bad guy get smacked down as you are cheering for the hero. But that scene is missing from the movie. The best we get is a passing glare between Superman and Lex. Whoops.

That was the biggest plot flaw. But otherwise I just found myself being bored by the movie. I was thinking that the seats were too small, and that my thighs were sore from running, and that my foot was positioned in such a way that were I not careful it would hit the person ahead of me in the back of the head. All things I really shouldn't have been thinking in a movie that engaged me.

So I suppose I sum it up this way. It was boring, it was cliche. Poorly executed cliche. 

Mmm... That's some good irony

A couple of weeks back I was walking to work in downtown SF when I passed a homeless guy pushing a shopping cart. On top of the stack in the cart was a large cardboard box which had scrawled on it, 'Liberals is a mental disorder'. Mmmm... That's some good irony.

Ahh, my friend, watch what you wish for. In Grover Norquists' world you would be... dead. 

Awesome parody podcast

Here is an awesome parody podcast of the President's weekly address. Every one I have listened to has been hysterical.

Coulter and Hitler

Wow, it's really tough seperating Ann Coulter from Adolf Hitler just on the quotes. I only got ten of the fourteen right.

Lots of war news

Lots of war news in the last day. First, the Iraqi reconciliation plan not only calls for US troop withdrawl, yeah! But it also calls for amnesty for anyone who has killed US soldiers. Huh? Wha? Since you know our government was involved in drafting this document, what does it say about how our government feels about the sacrifices of our soldiers? I guess they are, as Tony Snow says, just numbers.

In other news they let twelve Saudis out of Guantanamo, I guess not everything there is a bloodthirsty terrorist who deserves to be tortured.

On the WMDs issue, looks like things are getting worse for the Republicans. Now the DOD is walking away from the report saying that the weapons had been known about for years and were not the weapons we had been looking for.

All that being said I think we have a serious problem wih how we are debating the issue of Iraq. We are being forced into two camps, either 'stay and die' or 'cut and run', where actually neither side is saying either of those things, or listening to each other. We need to have a real debate about the war, talk honestly about what is going on, what we are trying to achieve, and what the best way to get there is.

Republicans, keeping us safe...

From the kind of stuff you could find under your kitchen sink:

They probably would have been intended for chemical attacks during the Iran-Iraq War, said David Kay, who headed the U.S. weapons-hunting team in Iraq from 2003 until early 2004.

He said experts on Iraq's chemical weapons are in "almost 100 percent agreement" that sarin nerve agent produced from the 1980s would no longer be dangerous.

"It is less toxic than most things that Americans have under their kitchen sink at this point," Kay said.

And any of Iraq's 1980s-era mustard would produce burns, but it is unlikely to be lethal, Kay said.

Asked about the potential danger to U.S. troops, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said: "They are weapons of mass destruction. They are harmful to human beings. And they have been found."

Wow! Good job Republicans! Nice over-reaction to the news that anyone informed by sources other than Fox News already knew, that there were shells filled with very old chemical agents hanging around. I wonder if they will rediscover all of the weapons caches that we left unguarded in the days after the war (because we didn't have enough troops there thanks to Rumsfeld) that the early insurgents used to build IEDs.

Speaking of that kind of stuff, Frontline had an awesome show that is available online that covers Dick Cheney and his role as the War On Terror czar. It's fascinating to see how cronieism from the 60s is still dominating our foreign policy a half century later. Honestly, the way we are fighting this war you would have to think someone just replaced the word 'communist' in our war plans with 'islamofacist' and that's how we are fighting. Which would be, and is, a complete misunderstanding of this enemy, it's motives, tactics, and capabilities.

Cheney has finally lost it

According to Cheney we are fighting a roving band of terrorists in Iraq who follow our troops like Deadheads follow the Grateful Dead.

Cheney said. "If we pull out, they'll follow us," he said of terrorists.

He went on to talk about attacks all over the world. Ok. So what is preventing them from doing that today? Nothing, because the small Al Qaeda group in Iraq is just a cell. There are Al Qaeda all over. And this notion that they would follow our troops? Huh?

I think re-deploying and actively fighting terrorist targets, as opposed to nation building, would scare Al Qaeda. It would be a statement that we are going to fight them using our strengths and not like some predictable loafing zombie. So far we have telegraphed all of our moves. Getting out of the quagmire in Iraq would free us up to make some very aggressive and effective special forces attacks to decapitate the Al Qaeda organization. The way we should have on September 12th.

This notion that the best response to supressing a disjointed set of terror cells was to invade and occupy the host country has never made sense to me. (And that was Afghanistan.) We should have just sent in special forces and raided the camps. Let them know they aren't safe anywhere, in any country. These big army strategy takes months to spin up and the important targets are long gone before we get there. We have satellites that can pin-point position people, we can put a cruise missile anywhere, and we can dominate air space and inject special forces in any country we want with only hours of notice. Those are our strengths. Let's play to those.

WMDs

The Republicans are all excited now because Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum (*) discovered a report that details how we found lots of inert chemical artillery shells in Iraq. Oh, please Rick, run your re-election on that. We went to war to dig up ancient pre-gulf war artillery shells! Sean Hannity (*) was drooling over the news, as I'm sure pill popping drug addict Rush (*) will be this morning.

I'm glad that at least we are starting to see some talk about Iraq. For years it's been nothing but, "if you mention facts about Iraq you are a traitor". If they want to have a real conversation about Iraq I say "bring it on". Let's talk about the 9 billion missing dollars. Let's talk about how the troops didn't go looking for WMDs after the invasion because they knew they wouldn't find any. Let's talk about the construction of the permanent bases. Let's talk about the torture on both sides and what we can do about it. Let's talk honestly about getting the hell out.

Speaking of which, pill popping freak Limbaugh says that Liberals cheered the torture and killing of our two soldiers recently. What the hell is he smoking? Of course, he listed no sources. But it doesn't matter. idiots who listen to Limbaugh long ago stopped troubling their minds with silly things like facts and sources. I just find it appalling. Is that the level they have to sink to so that they can win elections? It's disgusting. Limbaugh should be hauled off the air. And people that listen to him should hang their heads in shame. To think that of a fellow American. It's appauling.

(*) A hypocrite who was vocally in opposition to Kosovo while troops were fighting that war, but who now says that such actions are treasonous. 

Oso Swimming Movie

Here is a video of Oso swimming.

Tiring of the WW II comparison

I know a lot about World War II. It's a topic that I have studied and read about since I was very young. These comparisons between the Iraq war and WW II are ridiculous. Previously I debunked the 'similar to the occupation of Germany or Japan' comparisons, but now there is a new one. Apparently the Iraq war is similar to Omaha beach or the Battle of the Bulge. Stretch as I might there is just no way to justify that comparison. Both of those battles were between uniformed combatants in a classic army setting. You shoot at the people wearing the enemy uniform. This was not a fight against an entrenched local insurgency.

Even the small instance during the Bulge where a small group of Germans dressed in allied uniforms to try and infiltrate the lines before the attack, doesn't really parallel anything in Iraq. 

As I have said before, this war aligns far better with the conflict in Vietnam. Which is not flattering to the administration, but at least attempts to parallel reality. There was insurgent activity during World War II, but I doubt people would like the comparison between ourselves and those fighting against the insurgencies in that war. There was no sustained insurgent activity in the post-war period of World War II.

Awesome Fathers Day

I had an awesome Father's Day yesterday. In the morning Lori gave me a new cookbook, and Megan gave me a hand crafted beer can holder. Then we went out to a nice breakfast and came back so that I could start fixings for dinner.

Around two o'clock Dru, Charlene, and their kids; Sierra, Aiden and Kennedy, came by. We all went to the pool and had a fantastic time since we had it all to ourselves. When we got back to the house Sierra helped me make pizza, while the rest of the kids ran themselves ragged in frenzied fun. Dinner was great, and I made some brownies (with help from the kids) to augment Charlene's pumpkin muffins.

At the end of the night all of were beat, but very happy. Sierra was really intent on getting together again, which to me is proof positive that the whole day was a winner. I think she really enjoyed reading to Megan who sat by her enthralled as she read book after book. 

The hilight of the night was when all of the kids put together a band with drums and a microphone, then Megan chimed in with a harmonica that made Oso howl incessently. It was absolute sonic chaos, but it was wonderful to seem them really enjoying themselves. 

Bush's rope-a-dope

Here is my prediction, within the next two months Bush's polls will be back up near 50% and the Repbulicans will retain control of both the House and Senate. Here is why. Rove is the best rope-a-dope player ever. And Bush has been taking hits for almost a year now. The Democrats are tired, their talking points sound old. American's, being a naturally optimistic bunch, want to believe we can win. We can't really, but we can say we are winning, then declare effectively a defeat with honor and spin it as a victory. Which is actually fine by me, as long as we end up getting out of Iraq.

But I have to admire how well this Republican spin machine can come back. It's so well oiled. The DOD was distributing talking points to the Republicans during the debate. The right wing media was spinning it. And you had the Zarkhawi killing right on time. It couldn't have been planned any better. And now they have a great tailwind going into the fall.

So what if this means two more years of quagmire, American deaths, Iraqi deaths. It certainly doesn't matter to Bush. What matters to him is he legacy and if he can dump this mess off onto a Democrat in 2008 then he can go down like Kennedy did with Vietnam. 

Lori's Sadie blog

Lori has a really wonderful blog about Sadie and what she went through in the decision and the experience of putting her to sleep. It is very hard to make that decision, but it is a gift that we can bring peace to those we love when they finally can't push on any longer.

Sadie's gone

Lori had Sadie put down tonight. It was a mutual decision. The final straw was that she had glaucoma and would have needed to have both eyes removed, or have a continuous course of very expensive drugs. I'm sorry I couldn't have been there with Lori. It's tough to handle it alone. But Gee needed to be taken care of. And I'm sure that Sadie was happy to be with Lori at the end, since Lori really loved her and was the only reason that Sadie was still alive after all these years.

As Lori was going through the procedure Oso got kinda close to Gee and I who were eating dinner. He stayed close and rather intent, as Oso goes. Lori called after and I mentioned that Oso was being intense. She asked if I had fed him. I'd forgotten. Oh, well. I guess there wasn't a strong connection between Oso that way.

I suppose in the next couple of months we will either get another dog, or start with the rescue program again. Oso is a dog who can't stand to be alone and I fear for what might happen to the house if he is left indoors without company for long stretches of time. 

Iraq War resolution

The Republicans have decided that they need to tell the public that they will stay the course in Iraq forever with a resolution saying as much. They are trying to force the Democrats to sign it as a political stunt. But they are wrong on both accounts. The current course is wrong, and I don't think the Democrats will mind saying so.

What we are doing right now is treating everyone who shoots at or around us like Al Qaeda. That's crazy because what motivates each of these fighters is different from person to person, and group to group. And if what you want is an end to violence then you need to figure out why they are fighting against you and fix that, not just fight back. Should we kill the kid who just wants to take a pot shot at us because we killed his mom or his dad? Is he an Al Qaeda terrorist? No on both counts. What about the guy who just wants us out of Iraq? What about the guy who is fighting for sectarian reasons? Only a very small portion are foreign fighters there to fight us, so why treat everyone like foreign terrorists.

It may sound weak but if you listen to the people directly involved in the Vietnam conflict, years on they tell us that they misunderstood the enemy. And it was that misunderstanding that caused us to lose the war. We can't fight our way out of this. Pundits on the right, like Ann Coulter, say that we should bomb the country randomly. That's nuts of course, but still, we can't kill our way out of this. To pacify the country we need to understand the motivations of the combatants, and deal with their problems. 

2PM doldrums

These 2PM doldrums I'm going through are getting really old. Every day are 2PM I get really tired and the world just kind of turns grey. My thoughts turn very blue and dreary. Then I get a coffee and about an hour or so later I'm back to my old self again. And nothing seems to help other than pre-loading myself with coffee around 1PM, but I usually forget to do that. It doesn't depend on my nights sleep, or my breakfast, or the size of my lunch, or whether I am hydrated, or if I'm in the city or in Fremont. Nothing seems to effect this at all. And Lori tells me she is suffering from the same thing. Is it just age? I can't imagine so since the onset has been pretty recent.

Man, I just need a siesta. Lori and I took one last Saturday about mid-day when Megan was down for a nap as well and wow, did that feel good. I woke up feeling refreshed. Really nice. Of course, we 'napped' for about two hours.

Ok, I just checked the Wikipedia and now I feel a little better:

In recent years, studies have suggested a biological need for afternoon naps. Researchers found that subjects of the studies felt that it was easiest to fall asleep at night and in the afternoon. Contrary to popular belief, eating lunch does not bring on drowsiness in the afternoon. There is simply a loss of alertness and a decrease in body temperature that occurs around midday, which brings on this drowsiness. These symptoms are similar to what happens at night during the first stage of sleep and are caused by Ultradian rhythms in the Circadian rhythm, also called the "internal body clock". The studies have shown that there is a strong biological tendency for humans to become tired and possibly fall asleep in the middle of the afternoon. A siesta, or a slightly longer nap, can often satisfy this desire for sleep and allow a person to wake up feeling refreshed and much more alert. Research shows that the drop in body temperature causing drowsiness around midday is considerably more pronounced in men than women.

 

 

Beer and Pizza beat cancer

According to recent research chemicals found in beer and tomatoes will help beat prostate cancer. Of course, the portions are outrageous, and you will probably die of liver disease or diabetes instead. But hey, you will die happy. ;-)

Gitmo suicides

Wow, once again I find myself in a little shock over the reaction on the right to the suicides at Gitmo. Michele Malkin, proud Christian and strong justice advocate says "Boo Freaking Hoo". To say it's callous is a kindness. She is just mean and nasty. And how that comes out of a Christian is beyond me.

You know, I can see having strong nasty feelings about Zarkhawi. Though I think some right wing talkers I have heard recently go too far even there. But there were a lot of people released from Gitmo who were rounded up in Afghanistan in a huge sweep who were completely innocent. And that was because their home countries complained. Most of those who remain have not been charged with anything. Which leads me to believe that their home countries don't care, or don't have the resources to fight for their release. Long and short, O'Reilly's assertion in the Malkin clip that everyone who is there is guilty is unverifiable bunk that not even the government upholds.

Seriously, the venom on the right recently is downright scary. First they boost their own hate group activity by demonizing undocumented workers. Then they get all nasty about the gay marriage issue again. Then they go all ghoulish about how they would have preferred a much more grizzly for Zarkhawi. And now this callousness about the Gitmo suicides. It's brutal recently. The right needs a class in anger management. Or it just needs to get laid.

Czech Republic had a present for us

Oh, hey. Who is that at the door? Why it's the Czech Republic. How nice. With a present. Quick! Unwrap it! Oh, it's our ass! Served up to us wih a tragic 3-0 loss. Ouch. Can we get that re-attached before the next match?

World Cup

I'm getting into this World Cup stuff. I watched portions of a couple of games this weekend. And I watched half of the Australia versus Japan match. Of course, I watched the wrong half where Japan scored a controversial goal and Australia was scoreless. Apparently the Aussies pulled it out and won that game 3-1. Which is amazing since they looked anemic in the first half. Whatever, a win is a win. Way to go Aussies! Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oy! Oy! Oy!

Now let's get on to our first match. Against the World's #2 soccer superpower the Czech Republic. Let's do this thing! 

Cars

I took Geeg to go see Cars today. I enjoyed it, and she said that she liked it, but I don't think she did. In fact, I think this is her first case of reality not meeting her expectations when it comes to movies (she has a lot to learn there.) It's not that the movie was bad, it's just adult. Or at least, more adult than Nemo and Toy Story. It's more in line with The Incredibles. And we have yet to let her watch that one.

For myself, I thought it was great. It was definitely a remake of Doc Hollywood. And I was blown away by the technology of the thing. Though I have to say it was a little difficult to get through the car as character thing. Animals are easy to relate to, but cars? Not so much. 

Dixie chicks silliness

The right has their panties all in a twist about #1 selling artists "The Dixie Chicks". My counterpart on the right throws in with her rightie pals. What I found funnier is that she gave a list of people who are on her shit list with some surprises.

Let's see what these crazy lefities say about our beloved leader's Iraq war:

"It's all to do with these weapons (of mass destruction) that we can't seem to find, and why did we go over there?" -Mel Gibson

That's just fucking crazy.

"I'm very, very concerned about the Bush presidency. I'm worried about the kinds of cuts in domestic programs that mean something to a lot of people, including members of my family, who depend on certain things from the government." -Sarah Jessica Parker

Oh, man. That's off the hook. She is concerned with his Presidency. Wow, that's tantamount to treason.

Charleton Heston? The only thing I could find was some white supremacist ramblings about how whites had to be protected from the mongrel races. Not sure why he made the list.

I can't figure out how to get on the list. Is it anything at all that says anything negative against the commander and chief while we are at war? If that's the case then what about quotes like this:

"No goal, no objective, not until we have those things and a compelling case is made, then I say, back out of it, because innocent people are going to die for nothing. That's why I'm against it."

And:

"Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?"

Clearly comments like that should make the list. This crazy lefty obviously doesn't support our troops. This kind of talk is treason during a time of war! Oh, but wait, the man was Sean Hannity and this was during the Kosovo campaign. And he is a great American!

Let's see what the other great Americans in Jacqueline's party said about the Kosovo campaign:

"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." - George W. Bush

"You think Vietnam was bad? Vietnam is nothing next to Kosovo." -Tony Snow, our new Press Secretary

"American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery.  Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy." -Tom DeLay

"If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy." -Karen Hughes

"This is President Clinton's war, and when he falls flat on his face, that's his problem." -Richard Lugar

"For us to call this a victory and to commend the President of the United States as the Commander in Chief showing great leadership in Operation Allied Force is a farce" -Tom DeLay

Why do these people hate our troops so much?

What was it the Dixie Chick's said again? "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." Yeah, clearly, the Dixie Chicks hate America.

Inconvenient Truth

Lori was spot on about The Inconvenient Truth. We saw it last night and I think it's safe to say we were both blown away. Some of the graphs he presents are astounding. Lori came away disheartened, but I think this is a challenge that we can take on and win.

I look at this kinda like recycling. I first heard about recycling when I was a kid at an afternoon BBQ party that my parents threw. As I was putting the cans in the trash a guy walked up to me and told me about recycling and asked to take the cans and bottles with him. I asked my Dad about it later and he said the guy was a loon and that recycling was crazy socialist nonsense. And that's the way I thought about it for years until we got back from Australia and Lori just did the right thing with recycling and I finally got my head screwed on straight and I now do the right thing.

Now, my Dad is a right winger, and he had the same response that the right does to all new ideas; attack the messenger, diminish the idea as, your choice, communist, socialist, gay, or secular. Same thing happened with smoking bans, seatbelts, slightly more fuel efficient cars, etc. etc. Now it's global warming. And no, there is no dispute in the scientific community, it's happening. And the response from the right is the same as it always is; Gore is a loon, and global warming is some socialist scare tactic.

It's apparently our god-given right to consume as much as we possibly can. Which is funny since both conservationist and conservative have the same root word, conserve. And somehow conservatives want to do anything but conserve our resources. In fact, they revel in huge automobiles like Hummers.

Anyway, all I hear from the right on this is attack the messenger, so that's a clear sign to me that it's true, global warming is happening. Oh, yeah, and the overwhelming scientific support helps too. 

Comments are back

Turns out the problem with the comments table was that it had bloated to accomodate all of the spam comments and even after deletion hadn't returned to a sane size. So I compacted it, then disabled comments from non-trusted sources on Socks on a Rooster, and that has fixed the problem and should staunch further leaks.

All Blacks

When Lori and I were in Australia we watched a bunch of different sports including Rugby. And I found myself rooting for a team called the All Blacks from New Zealand. One of the things that was so cool about them was the Haka they performed before every match. The Haka is a war dance that is tought to every kid in New Zealand schools, white and mowry alike. The Haka video I linked to doesn't really do justice to just how awesomely bad ass a well performed Haka is. The Haka is like saying; "I'm so pissed off. You don't even want to be in my time zone." Love it.

Coulter comments

Yes, I've heard the Coulter comments about how the 9/11 widows enjoyed the deaths of their husbands. He is an idiot. And the more that people talk about his idiotic words the better off he is. The best thing to do with Coulter is just to ignore him. Coulter is a fool, he taps around, bloviates, does a little dance to distract us while we our civil liberties are trampled by Bush and his cronies. People who tell me they like Coulter are just giving me a speed route to a unflattering opinion of their own intelligence. The same goes for people who think he is funny. The words he uses are hateful, and to find any humor in them demonstrates a core character flaw.

Good news at Peet's

I stopped by Peet's for a coffee this afternoon and got an earful about Scharffen Berger. Scharffen Berger is my favorite chocolate vendor. The chocolate is smooth, complex, rich, aromatic and very easy to work with. I use it exclusively in my baking, and have for a while. A while back Lori, Mel, Wendy and Ivan went to their factory for a tour. Needless to say, I'm a big fan.

 

 

 

Peet's is a fan of Scharffen Berger as well. They sell their chocolate raw. And now they are going to have a new chilled Fredo drink featuring their chocolate. And let me tell you, it knocked my socks off.

So that's the good news. The possibly bad news is that Scharffen Berger was recently bought by Hersheys. I figured that would just be bad news, but as it turns out, Hersheys saved Scharffen Berger's ass. Apparently their big antique grinder failed and they were going to go under. But Hersheys came up with a replacement mechanism and two additional grinders within a couple of days. So now they can even make more of their delicious chocolate. Sweet!

So lots of good news all around. Peet's is getting an awesome new drink. And Scharffen Berger is going to stay Scharffen Berger, but have the financial backing and support of the Hershey super-mega-conglomerate. So at least for a couple of years we will still have their awesome chocolate.

Republicans Out Of Touch

The Republicans seem more out of touch than usual lately. Here we are in the middle of two wars, pressing political crises with two more countries, crazy gas prices, unprecedented national debt, corruption riddled throughout the party in power and the Republicans... are fighting over who they hate more gays or mexicans. It seemed in times past that the Republican leadership was at least trying to deal with issues that had some relation to current events. But now... they are spending lots of time just trying to justify their concern over the marraige issue.

What a joke. These Republicans have to go. We need leadership in this country that actually deals with real problems, not ones who fret about how much starch to use on their white hoods. 

Odd Todd

Odd Todd is back. He is now doing small animated segments for American's Test Kitchen, and the segments are both funny and informative. I love the show and I think anyone who takes cooking or baking seriously should tune in. I saw the Odd Todd segment on a show about bundt cakes. He talked about dry and liquid measures.

If you don't remember Odd Todd you have to put on your wayback hat. Go back to 2000 after Bush stole the election from President Gore by letting batshit crazy Katherine Harris skew the results. The Republicans resumed their onslaught on the middle class and crashed the economy leaving millions out of work. One of those was a Flash animator named 'Odd Todd' who put together some animations about his pathetic life and asked for small donations. The animations were done in a very simplistic style along with some funny vocal audio.

Social stuff around death

I can certainly see the need for all of these customs around death. It's tough for people to know what to do or how to act. For me, I'm just trying to get on with life. And maybe that sounds hard assed or something. I don't really know. But I think it's what Mom would have wanted. Not that I ever lived my life based on what she wanted from me. And I'm sure that sounds hard assed too, though I think she would have agreed completely that the life of any child is their own and theirs to make of what they will.

Anyway, the people around my office have been great in being very sympathetic. To the point where somehow I often feel as if I should be outwardly more depressed. Definitely makes me understand the Jewish tradition of having a set period of time for mourning. You lose, you mourn, you get on with your life.

For me it's just more evidence that the only constant in life is change. Before was life with Mom, now there is life with no Mom. Life with no Mom will be better not because life with her was bad, but because I strive for continuous self improvement. And that's exactly what she would have wanted. For me to have the opportunity, and to exploit that opportunity, to make more of my life than she did hers. And she set the bar pretty damn high. 

Speaking of self improvement. Good cooking this weekend. I made the Margerhita Pizza recipe from Cooks Illustrated on Saturday and it turned out great. Nice thin crust, good toppings, easy recipe. Lori made an absolutely killer salad and picked up some great wine. For dessert I made the Lava cakes and they turned out great even though I was three sheets to the wind because of the wine.

On Sunday I made homemade pasta with a vodka sauce, with crusty garlic bread. Megan liked the pasta but not the sauce. So I'll just get a bottle of Newman's next time for her. The vodka sauce was a little light in flavor, so I need to boost that up.

70s toy commercial

I love this collections of 70s toys ads. It brought back some great memories. Especially with those pull stick racers which I wanted oh so bad.

Speaking of the 70s the movie Dazed and Confused has come out with a criterion collection DVD. I fell in love with this rambling classic when it first came out. Even though I didn't become a stoner until after high school I related to this movie completely. 

Homage to Mom

Mom probably would have hated this, but I figured I needed a little mini-site for myself where I could see pictures and read the things that people said about my Mom. She really was one of a kind.