Go West, Young Man!

I have traveled up and down the east coast my whole life. There is a lot to see for a history geek like myself, the revolutionary and civil war alone could easily fill up a lifetime of vacations. What about the rest of this fine country though? The farthest west I had ever been before last year was Kentucky. Last year I went to Texas on a business trip and my eyes were opened, my interest was peeked and my appetite was wet. I want to go west!

Not move to or take an extended vacation to, but at least see the other side of this here America. My ideal trip would be a four week drive across the country and back with a lay over in California, Oregon or Washington. The reality is that we would probably fly and skip the headache of driving for weeks on end. Using all my vacation time for the year to see what many have termed "fly over country" doesn't sound that appealing either. It would have to be in the summer as that is when teachers run wild, but two other opportunities make the summer perfect too, PAX and Comic-Con.

While I don't think Crystal would be super motivated to go all the way to the west coast to spend 3-5 days in geek heaven. I do think that I could swing at least a day or two at one or the other while keeping her happy with less geek oriented activities the rest of the week.

Update: Now if we could cross the US in less than 32 hours that would be a different story.

Shedding my desktop husk

I have been planning a computer upgrade or rebuild since the last computer I built almost two years ago. I love following tech gear news and building my own rigs to suit my personal needs. It tends to be cheaper than going with a prebuilt and the power per dollar ratio just can't be matched. There is great satisfaction in building and tweaking your own machine and the pitfalls of being your own IT guy can teach you volumes of useful knowledge.

I have always focused on desktop computing though. Laptops never seemed to have enough power to make them practical and their price put them just out of reach. In recent years though laptops have gone down in price and gone up in computing power. I have also increased my net worth to the point where raman noodles just down seem like a necessity any more. So now my interest is peeked, but I still don't see any reason to leave the desktop. Until we got a laptop in the house.

Crystal, as a teacher in Henrico county is issued a laptop, just like the students. Ninety nine percent of the time she uses it to make lesson plans and other do other teachery things. Once in a while I will get a hold of it and check my email, write a blog post or watch the newest episode of Diggnation. This got me thinking about not being in one fixed location for all the other computer stuff I do. Gaming, web design, video editing, etc. Why be stuck in a dark room upstairs when I could be outside on the patio or sitting at the coffee table.

So now I want a laptop that can fill all my computing needs, but there is a twist. What if it were a Mac? My fingers burned just typing that. Crystal's laptop is a Mac though so I have grown to love the OS. But what about gaming? Boot camp seals the deal, I can have my cake and eat it too with gaming on Windows and everything else on the Mac. Wednesday night we went to the local apple store and I fell in love with the Macbook Pro. I feel dirty, but I think I can accept feeling dirty as long as my needs are filled. Kind of like a sailor on shore leave.

On Reading

My "reading" section on the right hand side of this site sat dormant for a very long time. This wasn't because of a lackadaisical effort on my part to update, there was just nothing to update. I hadn't been reading. Well that has changed now that I read three books in the last three weeks, well listened to actually. That is neither here nor there though, literature has penetrated my brain in one form of media or another in the past three weeks and I think I should share.

The Tipping Point
This is the kind of book I want to read to people or at least give them as a present so they feel obligated to read it. Rarely do I find nonfiction reading so fascinating, but the tipping point holds up on all ends. The basic concept looks at the three types of catalyst that are present in every epidemic. Epidemic can of course mean disease, but it also encompasses everything from fashion trends reaching critical mass to crime rate reversal. It is not very long, but it left me thinking and talking about its premise and concepts weeks after I completed it.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
I started this book in the middle of the summer and fell behind in completing it as other books peaked my interest. This should not be a commentary on this books pacing however, I am just a huge WoW lore geek and I stop everything when a new book comes out. Back to Confessions of an E.H.M. though.

The book puts a grim twist on the United States in the 70's and 80's that I want to take with a grain of salt, but even recent events make me think are valid. The view from thirty thousand feet has private engineering and economic firms working as consultants in third world countries in unison with the world bank and American contractors. The private firms convince the third world countries that they are on the edge of an economic boom and they will will need the systems to support said boom in place before it occurs. The countries borrow from the world bank to pay the American contractors to build their new systems. The boom never comes and the country is now indebted to the World Bank (which is essentially the United States) so they now can be manipulated (UN votes and the like). If the country won't play ball the US government sends in the CIA or goes to war. Great reading even if it makes me a little scared. If only half of the stories are true it still makes me question United States foreign policy.

If any family or friend reading would like either of these on CD please let me know. If I don't know you and you are reading this I would suggest you drop a few dollars at Audible.com or grab them off Amazon.

Thirty days of night

Horror films are not usually my thing, but I do like a good vampire flick. "Interview with a Vampire" comes to mind, "Lost Boys" anyone and I even got some cheap fun from "Underworld". So the preview for 30 Days of Night caught my attention on genre alone, well that and a little cinematography. Convincing Crystal was another matter though. She does not share my vampire fascination and she is completely against horror films (they keep her up at night). So Friday night after dinner at Panera, I won an epic game of rock, paper, scissors to secure my movie pick.

Not knowing about the films comic book origins until afterward, I was not tied to any expectation. So I was pleasantly surprised when the film turned out to be more than just a cheap thrills horror film or an action packed vampire movie. Oh it had elements of both, but the film took itself very seriously and had some great drama too. There were plenty of opportunities for the film to trip over itself and disappoint, but it always held true to the themes established early on.

Most action based movies that I have seen in recent years suffer from the same common issue. I love special effects as much as the next guy, but if I don't care what happens to the characters it is all for nothing. Thirty days did not have this problem, Josh Hartnett and Melissa George put on great performances that are down to earth in such a fantasy based setting. The violence in this film was very similar, while it was ever present, but it did not exist for its own sake.

It looks like this film will create a lot of backwards sales for the graphic novel it was based on and I can assure you I will be one of them.

Our neighors to the norph (part 3)

After the hurried pace and numerous activities of day one, we slept a little past our alarm for the start of day two. By ten we were dressed, lightly feed (an apple each) and outside in our parkas waiting for the shuttle though. The light rain necessitated the parkas, but our spirits where still high as the rain would get us just as wet as the mist. The shuttle dropped us off at the old casino and we sloshed through what was now heavy rain over to the Maid of the Mist.

The kind folks at the Servante de la brume had longer parkas for us (ours didn't cover our shins), so we shed the old for the new and ventured on to the boat. I did not grasp the falls true scale until we were at their base. They are a massive testament to the sheer power and force of water. We learned from the prerecorded guided tour that a seven year old boy went over the falls and lived back in the 70's. One of the Maid's boats witnessed his fall and picked him up no worse for wear as he floated down river. When we returned to the dock the rain was starting to let up so we ditched our parkas and walked the main drag for a bite. After just a single apple for breakfast we were starving.

The restaurant we picked was right across the street from the falls and offered a gorgeous view with our meal. We had to wait a bit at the bar for our table though, so we threw back some beers and planned the rest of our day. The food came quickly once we sat down and we snapped pictures of falls and local wide life between bites. Stomachs full, we paid our tab and made our way to the exit. Crystal was leading us out when she slipped and fell on the wet marble stairs that ended at the street. An elderly Japanese man ahead of us turned around and started laughing and clapping with glee at Crystal's misfortune. I don't know if it was his lack of a shared language or a cultural difference, but Crystal was offended and I was amused by his amusement.

Our next stop was the journey behind the falls. As the name suggest, there are a set of tunnels dug out behind the falls that open to sheets of water poring past you. It is a sight for sure. Another tunnel opens to a large roofed site seeing deck that puts you not 20 feet from the base. It wasn't quite worth the money, but for something we may only see once in our life times we were ready and willing.

Soaked and tired we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and ready for our night out at the casino. We stopped at a gift shop and watched glass blowing on the way back to our hotel, in case you saw the pictures and were confused. Dressed to semi impress we went back outside to wait for the shuttle again. The restaurant we picked for dinner was cafe across from the casino, the food was disappointing, but there was a live band and it served its romantic purpose. Before we went to the casino we wanted to go up the Skylon Tower. The view was breath taking from so high up and being able to see the falls lit from such heights made us appreciate it even more.

As expected the casino was a little over whelming. There are so many flashing lights and sounds that it felt a bit like Japanese seizure robots (I won't link to that site, don't worry). We finally got to an ATM and took out only $100. We both played $20 in slots combined and Crystal won $28 so we came out $8 ahead. While walking around looking for a slot table we spotted the only empty black jack table in the whole floor. We sat down ready to pretend like we knew what were doing when the dealer pointed to the $75 minimum a hand sign and we promptly got up.

We roamed around looking for a place to give the casino our money when we finally realized that it was 10pm and we needed to get back to the hotel. We cashed out our $108 in US and went to wait for the shuttle. We packed our bags and went to sleep knowing that we had to be up at 6am to drive home.

The border crossing at dawn on Sunday was uneventful and the ride home had Crystal sleeping and me listening to more podcast. Our trip up north was quick, but fun and memorable. I don't think we will go back until we have children, but we will be looking forward to it until then.

Our neighors to the norph (part 2)

Tired from the ride up, but made new by a shower and a change of clothes, we left our hotel to visit the falls and grab a bite. Crystal took time to dry and straighten her hair before we went out. So she was, lets say more than frustrated, when we got to the falls and the mist attacked her. Lessoned learned, she put her hair up and off we went strolling down the main drag. The main drag consist of beautiful views of the falls, public gardens and tributary streets that lead to more "cheesy" attractions.

When I say "cheesy" I should clarify. If you get tired of marveling in natures creative beauty you can walk about 3 blocks up from the falls and marvel at a wax figure of Ronnie James Dio. We avoided the wax museums, haunted houses (we counted 5) and other waste of time and made our way to a semi outdoor cafe for dinner. The food was decent enough and the 18 year old Canadian drinking age was rather apparent in the loud, but not disorderly guest around us.

Our plan for Saturday was to do "falls things" during the day and hit the casinos at night. So Friday night after we finished dinner we went to scope out the two casinos. Neither of us had ever been to a casino, so we figured some night before the test cramming couldn't hurt. The first casino (Casino Niagara) we went to was like an old folks home with slot machines. Not our scene. We hiked about six blocks over to what the locals called the "new" casino (Fallsview Casino). The Fallsview did a better job of mirroring what I imagined a casino to look like or at least what television has prompted me to expect. We took a few laps around the floor and decided that the young well dressed crowd better suited our style.

Casino preparations completed, we went back down the the main drag to wait on the fireworks that were scheduled for 10pm. The falls were lit by giant spot lights from the Canadian side that constantly changed colors in three minute intervals. I don't know if I was really thirsty, really tired or a combo of the two, but every time they were lit in all red I had a fantasy of a massive Kool-Aid waterfall. The fireworks soon shook me from my sugar water dream world and I snapped as many photos as I could. After the grand finale we found our car and went to the hotel for much needed slumber.

I will wrap up our trip to Canada in my next post and then it is on to new topics.

Pictures are up: here

Our neighors to the norph (part 1)

Canada, land of varied syrups, ice related sports and Alces alces. Crystal had never been to America's great white top hat (I just made that up), so we planned our trip about a month ago. Friday morning we rose from the dead of sleep at a coffee dependent 4:30am. All our things were packed the night before and Macy was staying at la maison de Hattan for the weekend. The above mentioned coffee came with some breakfast biscuits from the WaWa down the road. By the time we made our way to ninety five it was 5:30am and the highways were just waking up.

Around Fredericksburg, VA (6:30am) we started to see the morning commuters in full force. Thankfully our destination was off the well worn path of the cap city commuters. We exited 95 bound for Winchester, VA care of 17 north. The hilly country that is the home to the seventeen is a pleasant contrast to the toothpick pines and lifeless barriers of the modern highway. It ultimate finds its end in Winchester, a big town with small town undertones. We always stop at the apple farm market to grab some cider and a fresh baked muffin before transitioning to 522 north and such was the case on Friday. Berkeley Springs, WV is the only other town worth mentioning on the trip. It has the kind of small town charms that I can appreciate, but would not be sustained by. The rest of the trip after 522 is dead highways bordered by walls of trees, nothing but the same thing repeated into infinity.

So what does one do for ten hours in a car? In order to keep my mind for the ten hour trek, I accumulated a weeks worth of podcast that I would normally listen too at work. I could list some, but most are listed in the "fun links" section to the right. We also picked up America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction and The Tipping Point on CD (ultimately making their way to my iPod). America was some high quality humor that in some cases required a love of all things American history (me), but could still be appreciated by the history haters (Crystal). We never got around to The Tipping Point, but it is on my book to do list.

When we finally arrived at the border there was a line of cars waiting to cross. It took about a half hour in line before we it was our turn to have a chat with the border guard. Crystal had prepared stacks of identification leading up to our trip, in fear of being turned away at some strange Canadian whim. When the big moment came at the guard booth he simply waived us through, no ID required. Our hotel was only a mile from the border crossing so we went there first to unpack our bags and get a quick shower.

Nice and clean, with a fresh pair of clothes, we got in the car to start our evening at the falls.

I'll continue our tale of the north in the next post. Sorry about the lack of post last week, just got busy, but I should be back on a three post a week schedule this week. Pictures from Canada coming soon, most likely tonightish. The picture on this post is just a place holder.

Update for Pics: here

Apple of my eye (part 2)

So we have a metric ton of apples care of my Birthday weekend and no apple related recipes under our collective belt. What is a couple to do? Get on the internetz and learn something new of course. One oh one's recipe wasn't quite what I was looking for and looked a little confusing, so I went Google hunting. There was a lot of crap, but I finally came across the perfect apple pie recipe at Elise.com. Elise seems very similar to One o' one, she has a select amount of recipes, but they are all home tested and have a good story to accompany them.

We decided we would split the recipe between two days and make the dough on Monday night. Lacking a food processor and almond floor as an alternative, we chopped our almonds in the blender as finely as possible. The rest of the recipe called for a food processor too, but after reading 101 she mentioned that you could do it by hand too, so off my bear claws went. The dough seemed like it went well and we packed it in plastic, stuck it in the fridge and called it a night.

Day two, also known as Tuesday, saw Crystal getting home before me to find rocks in the fridge. The dough had been chilled for close to 20 hours so we couldn't get started as soon as we had wanted. A little television and Crystal's famous chili and we were back in the kitchen. I showed Crystal how to cut up apples quick and she mixed the filling. The dough must have gotten too warm or we screwed up the recipe, but the lower crust was sticking to the counter no matter how much flower we threw at it. Once we got it spread out to near twelve inches it was falling apart all over the place. We finally got the lower crust in the pan and I stuck the upper crust back in the fridge to try and fix the problem we had just dealt with. We cleaned up a bit and then tackled the upper crust. This time it went much better, chilling it made it much more elastic and it went one top with out headache.

There was a bit of dough left and a handful of filling, so I threw it in a tart dish and baked it right next to the pie. Both creations came out great, we let them sit for an hour and had some of the best pie I have ever tasted. Well not the best, but making it myself did make it a lot tastier. We will be back into the realm of apple in the future and this time we will have a food processor!

Apple of my eye

What better way to kick off a birthday weekend than to throw a none birthday related party. How should one follow up on a successful party? Apple picking of course! Saturday Crystal and I packed up the car (we got in it) and went west to Carter's Mountain. We went apple picking for the first time last year at the very same Colle di Carter and had a splendid time. This year proved to be even better as the weather was cooler and the trees weren't picked over.

The drive west is pleasant, the flats of Richmond turning into the rolling hills of Charlottesville is a sight. From there it is a half mile from the 121 exit and you turn left to climb. There are very few instances in which my SUV feels rugged and manly, the trip to the grocery store is a bit, um, lacking. The road up to Carter's is a steep grade and eventually turns rocky, testosterone laden if you will. By the time we reached the mountain top we had dust in our smiles and we were raring to pick.

Golden delicious and granny smith were the only two apples that were ripe to pick and opted for the golden. Most of the good apples were really high up and I can't see all that well so Crystal spotted them and I snipped them with my pro apple stick skills. The first one we got we shared on the spot, but the rest went in the bag for later. We ended up with two stuffed bags and headed out of the orchard for hamburgers and apple pie. Bellies and apple bags full we went to the man mobile for the ride home.

When we got back to Richmond we picked up Halo 3 from Costco, Macy from the house of Hattan and went home. At 6:30pm we meet up with Kat and Gabriel for dinner at Kabutos. I filled up on steak, chicken and tasty Sapporo. It must have been slow because we had our own chef, but he still performed like he had a full table, a true professional. We end up going to the mall for a quick walk and to get a Cinnabon before heading home to turn in.

I spent Sunday, my actual birthday, sleeping in and playing Halo. It was a great way to whined down a very busy weekend and it feels great to be 26. By the way, we have plans for all our apples, but more on that in the next post.

Party just to party

Whoever said “He who fails to plan, plans to fail” must not have had many impromptu parties. Tuesday night we decided we should have a party on Friday night and invite a few of the teachers Crystal works with. Wednesday morning she sent out and email to get the ball rolling. Thursday we stopped by Costco for food and drinks and did a quick clean and vacuum job at the house. Not a ton of preparation, no invitations months in advance and no extensive menu to plan. We have a house, music and beer, so come party with us.

We ended up with around 12 people at our house on Friday night and we all crammed into our kitchen and living room for a good time. Lots of "teacher talk", but that was to be expected when 8 of your 12 guest live and breath it. We had beer pong and guitar hero set up, but we never played either in favor of conversation. We did end up playing a variation on "the game" near the end of the party that was a lot of fun, but not as fun as the original.

What is "the game" you say? "The game with no name" or more commonly referred to as simply "the game" is a mix of Pyramid, Password and Charades with user created content. You start by splitting into two teams, the size of the teams does not matter, play 2v2 or 10v10 it is up to you. Everyone then comes up with nouns and proper nouns and writes them on a pieces of paper, the more people you have the less each player comes up with. The nouns go into a hat and the two teams Bato Bato Pick to see who goes first. The first round is done Pyramid style with one player feeding to their teammates for a minute and then the other team getting a minute, rinse and repeat until you are out of words. The nouns go back in the hat and you use the same words for the password round. Normally quadratic equation might be a hard concept to convey via password, but this the memory portion of the game, the same words were just used in the pyramid round. Again rinse and repeat till the hat is empty. The final round is charades, have fun acting out quadratic equation if you team doesn't remember it. Add up the points and the team with the most wins.

Wow, I didn't expect this post to be a Milton Bradley throw back (and I don't mean the baseball player's jersey), but there you have it. Friday night someone suggested that we play "the celebrity game", it is "the game", but you only use celebrity names, not anything you come up with (ex: lime green banana hammock). Not as fun as the original, but the party as a whole was fun times and great way to start off my birthday weekend.