Day: May 5, 2004

I can’t explain just how funny this “monster” blimp story is. Trust me, just read it. ROTFLMAO!

I guess when the Supreme Court steals a supposed democratically-elected presidency away from you, it takes a lot to regain some motivation in life, but buying a cable network? Is this some sort of mid-political life crisis? Okay, I don’t really mean to knock the man when he’s down, but one comment really did strike me as funny:

“This is not going to be a liberal network or a Democrat network or a political network in any way, shape or form,” Gore, 56, said. He added that he hopes to counter the trend toward “consolidation and conglomeratization” of the media industry and contribute to its “democratization.”

Hmm, sounds like a pretty good idea to me. So let’s take a look at the money behind this “TV rebellion”:

Apple Computer chief executive Steve Jobs is on the company’s advisory board, and investors include former AOL Time Warner chief operating officer Robert Pittman, who stepped down as the company battled financial and accounting woes, as well as Real Networks chairman Rob Glaser, former Warner Home Video president Warren Lieberfarb, Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy and actor Bradley Whitford of “The West Wing.”

Now I’m really confused. That’s like saying I want to make an honest film about real people and than casting Ben Affleck and J-Lo.

So I’m scrounging for change in my pockets at Mickey D’s (hey, it’s the first meal I’ve had there in quite a while) when I notice that one of my coins looks funny. I figured it must be some foreign coin that got mixed up somewhere along the lines, but the image included the title “Louisiana Purchase”. Hmm, my Junior High knowledge of history started firing and I said “Hey, didn’t that happen in the US?” Sure enough, it turns out that Louisiana is one of many states in the US. Who would have thunk?

A quickly fired search on Google led me to a US Mint page on their new “Westward Journey Nickel Series” celebrating the many ways we stole this land from its rightful inhabitants. I’m just surprised because I haven’t seen anything about this, and normally I’m very on the ball when it comes to currency changes – I was looking forward to those wicked cool twenties long before they were released. Sure they’re not as exciting as the state quarters everybody’s already forgotten, but give me at least a poster in the subway, a’ight. This way we can avoid the confusion that makes convenience store clerks refuse Sacagawea dollars as payment.

A couple months ago Lisa and I were making dinner for friends. We picked out a couple of dishes from one of Rachael Ray’s 30-minute books and got to work. Of course one of my ideas involved grilling vegetables (our guests were more or less vegetarians), and the closest appliance I have to a grill is one of those George Foreman things. So I decided (with a couple hours left until their arrival) to head over to BB&B to look for a grill pan.

Unfortunately the biggest one they had was only like 11″. I really wanted a big surface I could work on, so that just wouldn’t do. That’s when I found the Wisconsin Reversible Griddle. It’s a double burner platform with a flat griddle on one side and a grooved grill on the other. After cooking up some magnificent veggies (including eggplant, zucchini, and portobella mushrooms), I was in love. Seriously, the next morning I was cooking bacon and pancakes on the other side and I haven’t looked at the stove top the same way since.

Last night I did the whole grilled veggie thing again, and I’m getting the preparation/timing of it all down. I don’t mean to sound like a commercial, but I’ve now used this griddle/grill for breakfast, lunch, and dinner several times in just a couple months. I’m not sure how anyone can get by in the kitchen without one of these!! Of course now I must focus on baking needs as I have very little in the way of pans (making brownies a challege 😛 ). Once Lisa and I get our own place, I’m sure I’ll replace a lot of the pots and skillets, etc. – but for now my selection is more than adequate.