Kawasaki KLR650 2008

When I lived in the City, I commuted to work on a motorcycle from Ventura County to Los Angeles for 4 years, then another year from Palmdale to Los Angeles. Rain or shine, to work in the day, back home late at night. I rode a Honda Nighthawk 650 with very little farkle and little to no TLC. It was a commuter bike that got me there and back. I rarely rode it anywhere else (one gets tired of being on a bike for 2 to 4 hours a day). Dependable and reliable. Great bike! Even after I stopped riding it, the guy I sold it to rode it daily for several years afterwards with no issues at all. Very cool.

Fast forward a few years. It’s been almost 15 years since I rode a bike last, but it’s been on my mind since getting rid of the Nighthawk. One of these days I would get back to riding a motorcycle again but probably not such a long commute. Well, one of theses days finally rolled around. The gas prices did help a bit with the decision to get another motorcycle (driving a Suburban by myself costing $350.00 in gas per Month) as well as the short commute (12 Miles) made the decision simpler.

As many of you are well aware, I now live in the boonies where dirt roads are aplenty and street lights are non existent. The bike I was looking for needed to be good on the street as well as on the dirt, be agile enough to dodge the *&%$@ deer who seem bent on death, be simple to keep semi-clean (dirt roads are not known for cleanliness) and be fun to ride. Several weeks of research turned up a dual sport motorcycle winner: The Kawasaki KLR650. The KLR650 brand of bikes have been around for over 20 years, has a huge following (just check out the forum over at KLR650.net) and is priced right.

Picked up a green 2008 at the beginning of March 2008 and have been riding it back and forth to work every day since. Fantastic! With a 6 gallon gas tank I’ve only had to fill it up once since buying it (had a few gallons in it to start) and I have over 450 miles on it! It’s definitely what I had in mind for a dual sport bike, and with all of the combined knowledge from the KLR650.net forum, this has turned out to be a great start.

Speaking of gas prices, part of my research into buying the KLR was to determine the cost of ownership for the bike compared to the Suburban. After crunching the numbers and factoring the cost of a bike payment (no payment on the Burb), insurance and gas consumption, the bike will be saving close to $150 per Month! New toy and save money to boot. Gotta like that.

Ride safe.

New gaming rig. Wow.

It’s been 6 years since my last personal PC purchase. I’ve upgraded and updated my old machine past its prime and pushed everything in it past their limits causing all sorts of pain and suffering for me and my kids computing experience. Random freezing, locked programs, crashing here and there, yes, it was time. No matter how many defrags, scandisks and the like, there was nothing else I could do for the old girl. Specs:

• 1.8 AMD (wheeze)
• 2GB DDR (choke) RAM
• 160GB WD hard drive
• 256MB Nvidia 5600 video card (choke, gasp, wheeeeeze)
• 17'' Samsung CRT Monitor

Needless to say, not the best for high end gaming nor for many of those video and graphics intensive processes I have come to know and love.

I consider myself a bit higher on the food chain when it comes to PC’s and hardware / software issues. I should since I’m a customer support manager and part time PC hack, having to deal with everything from savvy users to noobs who tend to not get it when you mention the problem with their computer is between the keyboard and the chair. So when it came time to spend more money than I had on a fast gaming / video / graphics PC, I had my choice of 1 - building one from scratch, 2 - Pre-built PC or 3 - Purchasing a custom PC from one of the various white box PC builders out there. So I did like any self respecting geek would do, I did all three on paper to see where I would get the most bang for my buck.

This process is not what you would call quick OR simple. You basically need to do a great deal of research into motherboards, processors, video cards, memory, PC cases and software you own and consider any software you intend to purchase to start. You have to know what would be the very best hardware to use for your computing needs and what hardware will play together nicely as well as keeping it within budget. Yes, I mentioned the ugly "B" word since it is all too simple to spec out a monster machine that force you to eat pork and beans for the next 6 Years if you actually purchased it. My ultimate PC cost me $7,800.00 on paper. Explain that to your significant other come the credit card bill.

I ended up going with CyberPowerPC.com. They had the best bang for my buck, not to mention the added goodies (freebies!) we geek like. Here’s what I purchased:

• AMD X2 6400 AM2 3.2GHZ Black Addition
• 2X 160GB SATA-II 3GB/S 8MB in RAID 0
• 4GB DDR2 800 Crucial Memory
• 20X DVDRW/CDR
• 12-In-One Card Reader
• 2X MSI 8600GT 256MB Video Cards in SLI Mode
• HP 2207 22'' wide screen flat monitor
• Dual boot XP & Vista Home Premium

All total was around $1650.00. This was in January of this year.

"What about the freebies?" Glad you asked:

• CPPC T-Shirt
• CPPC Accessory Bag (small but functional)
• Surge Protector (better buy a real one)
• Coupon for 3 freebies for purchasing Vista HP

I only took 2 of the 3 items offered with the coupon since I didn’t have any need for a transfer cable (have one thanks) and they weren’t exactly free. The products were free, the shipping and tax were not. Ended up with the 80GB back up drive and a 80211.G wireless gaming router. Not bad since both combined are worth more than Vista HP was.

I’m pretty satisfied with the whole thing. Case looks great and the thing runs like a scalded dog.

CyberPowerPC was sloooooow. If you do go with them, don’t be in any hurry and be prepared to follow up with them to make sure the ball is still rolling. The first set of video cards I ordered were back ordered and they neglected to tell me this, so, for 3 weeks the rig sat there waiting for an answer from me. Well, du… how does one respond to what one knows nothing about. I see it as 3 wasted weeks. On top of that the replacement cards were about $30 cheaper but they needed some nudging to make sure I was refunded the difference after all.

All is well and gaming is happy time now. Video and image manipulation is fast and takes no time to get through. I’m just happy to not have to reboot at every freeze.

Why is dark meat, dark?

Just in time for Thanksgiving! The answer to the burning question on everybody’s mind: Why is dark meat dark?

It’s my favorite part of the bird. Probably due to dark meat being a bit moister than the light stuff, assuming it was cooked in the oven a bit toooo long. Not that *I’ve* ever done that… (Check out my blog about cooking a bird: Deep fry, oven cook or BBQ?

Basically dark meat is dark due to myoglobins. Myowhatins? "It is the binding state of oxygen to the myoglobin that creates the variation in meat color," explains Daniel L. Fletcher at the University of Connecticut Department of Animal Science. "The more myoglobin, the darker the meat." Read all about it at Life’s Little Mysteries.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Toasty Buns

Last winter I about froze my butt off. We were going to replace our wood burning stove with a pellet stove right after the beginning of the year in 2007, but thanks to a heavy workload and other delays, it was nearly the end of January before I was able to get started looking for a replacement. Since I did not restock our wood pile, we ran out of wood just about the same time the cold spell hit. Stuuupid me!

With no wood, our only option for heating was the central heating which, as many of you know, cost a small fortune to run for extended periods. Since we are in the boonies, we really don’t have any other option till we get the pellet stove sometime in the next 3 weeks so I thought, “Must find alternative heating source!” Found it in some simple, electric panel heaters.

Econo-Heat had what I was looking for. Small, inexpensive radiant/convection heaters that I would not feel paranoid to leave on all day when we are not at home. I’ve a REAL filer phobia (one of the reasons for getting rid of the wood burning stove) so any heater I could find that matched the first of the big three criteria:

1. Does not cause heart palpitations when you remember that you forgot to turn it off AFTER you left the house
2. Relatively inexpensive
3. I could get them NOW (It was below freezing remember)

Our place is small and we spend most of our time in a single room, the living room, so theses panels work great. Ordered two of them on a Monday and had heat before the end of the week. Ahhhhh… These are not designed to heat your entire house mind you, they are a way of upping the ambient heat of a room, making your other heaters work more efficiently. But for my family, they kept the living room comfortable and have been a great way to keep from having to run the now installed pellet stove day and night.

Your mileage may vary, depending on your house setup, room size, how well your house is insulated and how warm you like it to be, these panel heaters may be a good addition to your home heating.

Chrysler products are not designed for deer hunting.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time you already know that I live up in the boonies of Central California. It’s beautiful this time of year, with the sun shining, birds chirping, various animals out and about frolicking and making the most out of the spring time air, including deer (or as we locals affectionately call them, 80lb rats.)

My wife went deer hunting Saturday night and was lucky, getting one without even trying. The dang fool thing jumped right in front of her from a small brim at the side of the road, right in her sights. Unfortunately, the Chrysler engineers didn’t really design the Pacifica for deer hunting. Wish they would have. $4000.00 in damage for a low speed pass. Ouch.

It’s better that she hit the stupid thing. About 5 years ago, I swerved to miss Bambi and ended up on the side of a hill, tearing up my 1988 Fiero to the point that it’s been sitting in the garage with a bent rear cradle and busted rims. By the way, if you live somewhere close by and have a 1988 Fiero cradle available I could use it ;-).

Lordy Lordy, Look who’s 40

There is something about turning 40 that makes you look back into your past at your accomplishments, successes, failures, hopes dreams and wonder, whereditgo? Life seems to creep up on you in spurts and puts. One day you are graduating high school and running wildly with arms flailing about, nothing to think about but how vast life is ahead of you. The next moment, your kids are graduating high school and your arms are tired from all the flailing about.

I remember being in grade school and one of my exasperated instructors (just after a bout with the rowdy group he called a class was calmed down) stated “Life is brief, one day you will look back at your life and realize 40 years have gone by, instantly. Do something with your life” *walk out of room, head down*. Barring the frustration of being in his 70’s and the youth of the day were running slip shot over him, he was right.

As a kid we all had dreams and aspired to be Doctors, Police, Astronauts, or Luke Skywalker (70’s kid, coming through…). but something got in the way: Life. Is that a bad thing? I don’t believe so.

Life has a way of shaping you and making you into who you will become tomorrow. Case in point, and a dip into my hall of shame: I was a workaholic during my younger years, trying to find a better mousetrap to become that kazillionare before 30. I was not into the ‘get rich quick’ schemes out there (can you say pyramid MLM?) but the ‘work 200 hours a week to make it’ syndrome. Problem was, there was no ‘make it’ point. It DID make the time I should have been spending with the family become almost non-existent. Go to the movies? No time, I have a customer to meet. School activity? ‘Meeting just came up, crap, sorry honey.’ Vacation time? Cut short. ‘Busy time of the year, yano’. You get the picture. It took loosing my business, home, cars, possessions and with that my self esteem, to realize this was not working. Du… I did keep my family. That is all we need. With my family, I started over and worked smarter this time, not harder.

It’s been just over 7 years since the meltdown (key year for those of us who went through an ugly bankruptcy as far as the credit history goes) and with the Lord’s blessings and allot of hard, er.. smart work, we’ve moved on and created a new, less stressful, life for ourselves. We don’t have all the toys required to keep up with the Jones’s or the 12 car garage and I’m glad. Been there, done that, got my t-shirt, then had it taken away. Let’s keep it simple shall we?

There is more to the story but it’s boring. No one will want to write a book about it or make a ‘made for TV’ movie out of it but if there is someone out there who IS thinking of that, I can fill in the details for you. Lets do lunch….

Undercover Car Salesman

"What really goes on in the back rooms of car dealerships across America?"

"What does the car salesman do when he leaves you sitting in a sales office and goes to talk with his boss?"

"What are the tricks salespeople use to increase their profit and how can consumers protect themselves from overpaying?"

If you are in the market for a new or used car, or ever will be in the market, here is a great article from a reporter who has gone ‘undercover’ for Edmuns.com – Confessions of a Car Salesman.

"When I took this assignment as an undercover car salesman I knew I was agreeing to join the enemy. Everyone knows that the car salesman or woman is the enemy. He or she is the person we have to do battle with if we want a new car. I had always been on the customer's side of the desk. Now I was crossing enemy lines. But I didn't feel like the enemy until the first time I greeted a customer on the lot."

Read it here.

Who will be the first to ring in the New Year of 2007?

As we are getting ready to ring in the new year, I was wondering who will be the first ones ushered into the new year and the last ones to be dragged out of 2006 by Father Time. I wondered the same thing in 1999 (so did most IT people and doomsday sayers) when 2000 was just around the corner (remember the whole YK2 scare?).

Turns out that Christmas Island is the first in and the Samoa Islands are the last ones into the new year. Of course this is true for every new year, not just 2007.

You can count down to 2007 using a really cool little tool from Time and Date.com. Choose your time zone and click on "Use this TZ!" All times will be adjusted to show you when the new year ‘hits’ in all other time zones around the world. Turns out that all of us on the West coast (CA) are close to the bottom of the rung when it comes to ringing in the new year. Like *THAT* will stop us from partying…

Have a SAFE and FUN New Year celebration!

Merry Christmas

Letter from God

I received the following in a letter the other day and it reminded me just what it means when one states 'the reason for the season'. I hope it helps some others out there to put in perspective what it all is about this Christmas season as well as all Christmas seasons to come.

Dear Children,

It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you've forgotten that I wasn't actually born during this time of the year and that it was some of you're predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival; although, I do appreciate being remembered anytime.

How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don't care what you call the day.

If you want to celebrate My birth just....

• Get Along and Love Each Other.

Now, having said that let Me go on.

If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santa's and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.

Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can and may remember Me anytime you see any tree.

Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching that explains who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks are. If you have forgot that one, look at John 15:1-8.

If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

• Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.
• Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.
• Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.
• Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.
• Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile it could make the difference. Also, you might consider supporting the local Hot-Line: they talk with people like that every day.
• Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas" that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families.
• If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary, especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name. You may already know someone like that.
• Here's a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them (and I suspect you don't) buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Marines, the Salvation Army or some other charity that believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.
• Finally if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.

P. S. Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those you love and, remember....

I Love You.

God

What’s in a name?

I’ve been asked (on more than a dozen occasions) where the name Sarcastic Shrub came from. Like most all nicknames out there, even business names, the name Sarcastic Shrub has it’s roots (no pun intended) in the real world.

I work in a converted barn… no really. It was used to store farming equipment on an apple farm before my boss bought the property. Since the company is basically an internet based product service provider, we really have no need to farm, out went the tractor and in came high speed internet access and phones. We converted it into the office it is today, including running water and a bathroom. Don’t laugh but for 6 months we didn’t have those luxuries. Try melting snow to make coffee and you’ll appreciate the running water thing. I won't go into the details on the lack of a bathroom. Let's just say I had the largest bathroom with a great view.

The office is a big open area with desks scattered about. Everyone can see everyone and there is not much for privacy.

“Hey Shrub, are you going to tell us about how the name came about sometime today?” I’m getting to it, relax…

My desk semi faces the bosses desk and there is a fake plant right behind my monitor so if he looks over my way, he sees the fake plant (I need to lean over a bit for him to see me). Fast forward to deadline of a product coming up and me making sarcastic comments to / about the boss with him ducking and weaving the remarks flying around. (We have a great working relationship so this is a good thing…really). Unfortunately all he sees when he looks my way is the fake plant or the shrub… The sarcastic shrub.

For the fun of it, I looked up some of the more well known names in business and their name origins. Here they are:

Google: The founders of google, Sean and Larry, were in their office trying to think up a good name. Sean verbally suggested the word "googolplex" (the figure 1 followed by 100 zeroes) and Larry responded verbally with the shortened form, "googol". Sean searched the Internet domain name registry database to see if googol was still available. Sean made the mistake of searching for the name spelled as "google.com," which he found to be available. Larry liked the name, and within hours he took the step of registering the name "google.com" for himself and Sergey. Glad I’m not the only one who misspells goodies.

Yahoo: A "backronym" for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle. The word Yahoo was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book Gulliver's Travels. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance action and is barely human. Yahoo! founders David Filo and Jerry Yang liked the name since they jokingly considered themselves yahoos.

Microsoft: Bill Gates came up with this one (du) to represent the company that was devoted to microcomputer software. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was removed later.

Sun Microsystems: It's founders designed their first workstation in their dorm at Stanford University, and chose the name Stanford UniversityNetwork for their product, hoping to sell it to the college. They didn't buy it. Nuts to them.

How about some non computer related companies?

7-Eleven: Started out in 1927 as Tote'm (so called because customers "toted" away their purchases). In 1946, Tote'm became 7-Eleven to reflect the stores' new, extended hours - 7am until 11pm, seven days a week. Now, hours vary wherever they are at. The local one is open 24 hours a day.

Black & Decker: Named after founders S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G. Decker.

Coca-Cola: The name is derived from the coca leaves and kola nuts used as flavoring. Coca-Cola creator John S. Pemberton changed the 'K' of kola to 'C' for the name to look better.

Pepsi: Named from the digestive enzyme pepsin. Most sodas were initially markeded as a digestive helper or cure for ailments. Ironically dyspepsia means indigestion, exactly what I get drinking any soda.

Fiat: Acronym of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (for us english speaking folks that is Italian Factory of Cars of Turin). I’ve always heard it was Fix It Again Tony. Heard that one from Tony, my auto mechanic.

Volkswagen: From the German word for people's car. On a side note, Ferdinand Porsche wanted to produce a car that was affordable for the masses. The Kraft-durch-Freude-Wagen (or "Strength-Through-Joy car", from a Nazi social organization) that later became known, in English, as the Beetle).

Häagen-Dazs: Meaning expensive ice cream. Not really, it’s simply two made-up words meant to look European to American eyes. This is known in the marketing industry as foreign branding.

Nike: Named for the Greek goddess of victory.

Starbucks: Named after Starbuck, a character in Herman Melville's whaling novel, Moby-Dick. Contrary to popular belief that it is the rewording of 'Bigbucks', being the cost of a regular cup of coffee there.

Most of these came from one of my favorite wierd fact finding places, Wikipedia. Till next time.

Where’s a cop when you need one?

If you ever happen to be driving in central California, say around the Yosemite region, and you happen to pass through the County of Mariposa, you may notice the lack of Sheriffs Deputies running around. Thirty percent less. There is a good reason for it too, the Deputies are quitting in droves.

What is causing the mass exodus of Mariposa’s finest? Simply put money, or lack thereof. In December 2004, the Sheriff, Jim Allen, let the County Board of Supervisors know that there was a storm brewing in the Sheriffs office regarding his lack of ability to keep deputies in the department due in large to the low pay scale. Many were having a hard time making ends meet. He even went so far as to put deputies on 12-hour shifts so they could hold second jobs.

Fast forward to December 2005. Sheriff Allen informed the board that he would face a public safety crisis with the number of deputies leaving to seek employment elsewhere due again to the low salaries. Now, six months into contract negotiations between the County and Deputy Sheriff Association, guess what? Several more deputies have turned in their resignation papers to go to another department.

Put yourselves into their shoes. Average house in Mariposa is now in the $400,000 + range and you take home less that $2,500 a Month. That would not cover the mortgage payment much less anything else you would need to live. It doesn’t amaze me that there are so many leaving as much as there are so many staying.

Oh to be a fly on the wall at the last Board of Supervisors meeting. There was an impressive show of community unity and massive public butt kissing and promise throwing by the board (election coming up yano). Having more deputies stand up during the meeting and quitting in front of the angry mob was a great way to get the point across. Slick piece of showmanship by the Sheriff if you ask me.

Thanks on no part to the “Great Deputy Exodus of 06”, it looks like there may be some changes coming. The board recently decided (like how it takes a public flogging to get things done?) that the deputies need to be paid more to keep the talent in town. Well du.

I’m sure this is not over by a long shot. It never is when it comes to the small town atmosphere of political play time. This coming election should be fun to watch.

I'm feeling lucky. Google it!

Pretty much everyone on the planet has heard of Google at one time or another. You may have found this site using Google. Just about everyone knows of the different types of search such as Images, Groups, News, Froogle and Local but there are a slew of other searches as well as "Easter eggs". You know what Easter eggs are, those things we hide and end up finding behind the couch sometime in July... wait, wrong type of Easter egg. The Easter eggs I'm talking about here are the extra hidden "features" in some software titles, DVD's movies, books and yes the internet at large.

Google has some well known Easter eggs that are readily available by typing in the URL in your browsers address bar (I prefer the copy / paste method myself). Some Easter eggs are based on searches using Google's "I'm feeling lucky" button. The "I'm feeling lucky" button is suppose to bring you to the first relevant web site based on the search parameters but have become a product for Google Bombs. Google bombs are an attempt by folks to influence the ranking of a given page in the results returned by Google by creating multiple links to specific web pages.

Below are some of the more notorious ones from days past. First click here to open a new window to Google.com.

• In the search box type in "failure"
• Click the "I'm feeling lucky!" button.

• Now hit your back button and type in the search box "answer to life the universe and everything" (no quotes and all lower case)
• Click the "I'm feeling lucky" button.
• The first outcome will be Google's calculator answer.
• (This is in reference to Douglas Adam's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", in which it is discovered the answer to life the universe and everything is 42.)

• Again, hit your back button and type in "french military victories".
• Click the "I'm feeling lucky" button.

• One more time, click your back button and type in the number 1 (yes just the number one)
• You guessed it, click the "I'm feeling lucky" button.

There are several pages within the Google web site itself that are probably not considered Easter eggs as much as just plain "coolness". Below are the links to each. Just click on them to see...

• http://www.google.com/bsd
• http://www.google.com/unclesam
• http://www.google.com/linux
• http://www.google.com/intl/xx-hacker
• http://www.google.com/intl/xx-elmer
• http://www.google.com/microsoft
• http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html
• http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html

I'm sure there are more out there so If you have any, please let me know!

Shop, Ship, Rince, Repeat

I admit it. I'm one of the kazillion internet shoppers helping make FedEx and the Big Brown Truck richer with every purchase. Who cares? As long as I don't have to go back to Wal-Mart any time soon, I'll pay for shipping. It's worth it to keep from being ground into the floor.

I came across some statistics recently that tell me I'm not the only one getting presents shipped. Let's pick on FedEx. FedEx Express and FedEx Ground together will handle 8.5 million packages on December 12th alone. FedEx Ground will handle over 4 million packages, that's 60% higher than their daily normal. FedEx express is looking at 4.7 million packages being handled on the 19th of December.

Wow.

Ship till you drop.

Name that tune...Video game tune that is

I admit it, I enjoy video games, both PC and console gaming. I'm especially fond of the PC FPS games that are out. HL2, Far Cry, Medal of Honor, Day of Defeat, Star Wars Battlefront and the list goes on. It all started for me during the gaming revolution in the late 70's. Programming my own BASIC games on my Commodore 64 and plunking waaaay to many quarters into Pac-Man, Joust and Missile Defender.

That's why when I ran across "The Video Game Revolution" on pbs.org the other day, I spent a couple of hours cruising the entire site. Since I'm a 70's - 80's gaming kid, this site had allot of memories attached to it. The one section that I enjoyed was "Name That Game". Essentially it's just as it sounds, you match the game with the sound effect. Click to hear the sound bite, choose the game it is associated with. Simple. My score was 14 out of 18. Not bad since it's been over 20 years since I've played any one of the games on the list.

The site is pretty conclusive with sections on:

• History of Gaming - A look on how it all began.
• Inside The Games - A look behind the screen.
• Impact Of Gaming - How video games are changing out world.
• The Arcade - Test your gaming wisdom.

Another area of interest to me was the section called "Eight myths about video games debunked". Myths like "Scientific evidence links violent game play with youth aggression" and "Almost no girls play computer games". If your like me, you are constantly barraged with the evils of video games and why do you like "those games" type of statements. Check it out to get the firepower you'll need to quell those falsehoods that will no doubt come up during your family and friends Holiday get together.

A Christmas story that almost wasn't

In 1965, there was a project on the table to create a prime time animated Christmas story with well known characters and a timeless story. The main characters were to be children putting on a Christmas play depicting the nativity scene, with the main character wondering what the real meaning of Christmas is.

The project was attacked before it even began. The TV big wigs were not thrilled that there was not going to be a laugh track used (think scooby-doo cartoon canned laughter track most cartoons at that time used) and the character voices were going to be real children with little to no acting ability and the musical score was Jazz, highly inappropriate for a children's cartoon. They were really thrown back when they found out that one of the characters was to recite the story of the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke (Lk 2:8-14)KJV.

After much kicking and screaming the project was completed and the studio executives were sure the cartoon would never work. No one would watch.

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" first aired on Thursday, December 9, 1965. To the surprise of the executives, it was both a critical and commercial hit. A full 50% of the TV's in the United States were tuned to the broadcast. It won an Emmy and a Peabody award, and is now considered a timeless holiday classic and an annual tradition by millions of viewers.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of one of our favorite Christmas time cartoons loved by both children and adults alike. I've always loved the jazz soundtrack myself and my kids are now enjoying this Christmas icon.

Leave it to a TV executive to assume they know what we will enjoy. Just as with "A Charlie Brown Christmas" I believe they have missed the mark over and over again. I find myself going into the way back vault for those movies and TV shows that have stories with the values I want my kids to emulate and enjoy.

Merry Christmas.

December 7th, 1941 Day of Infamy

 

Frank Knox (U.S. Secretary of the Navy), December 4, 1941
"No matter what happens, the U.S. Navy is not going to be caught napping."

In the hours before dawn, U.S. Navy vessels spotted an unidentified submarine periscope near the entrance to Pearl Harbor. It was attacked and reported sunk by the destroyer USS Ward and a patrol plane. At 7:00 a.m., an alert operator of an Army radar station at Opana spotted the approaching first wave of the attack force. The officers to whom those reports were relayed did not consider them significant enough to take action. The report of the submarine sinking was handled routinely, and the radar sighting was passed off as an approaching group of American planes due to arrive that morning.

Major George Fielding Eliot (author and military science writer), The Impossible War with Japan, The American Mercury, September 1938
"A Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is a strategic impossibility"

Of the more than 90 ships at anchor in Pearl Harbor, the primary targets were the eight battleships anchored there. Seven were moored on Battleship Row along the southeast shore of Ford Island while the USS Pennsylvania lay in drydock across the channel. Within the first minutes of the attack all the battleships adjacent to Ford Island had taken bomb and or torpedo hits. The USS West Virginia sank quickly. The USS Oklahoma turned turtle and sank. At about 8:10 a.m., the USS Arizona was mortally wounded by an armor piercing bomb which ignited the ship's forward ammunition magazine. The resulting explosion and fire killed 1,177 crewmen, the greatest loss of life on any ship that day and about half the total number of Americans killed. The USS California, USS Maryland, USS Tennessee and USS Nevada also suffered varying degrees of damage in the first half hour of the raid.

Franklin Roosevelt
"Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy"

When the attack ended shortly before 10:00 a.m., less than two hours after it began, the American forces had paid a fearful price. Twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were sunk or damaged. Aircraft losses were 188 destroyed and 159 damaged, the majority hit before they had a chance to take off. American dead numbered 2,403. That figure included 68 civilians, most of them killed by improperly fused anti-aircraft shells landing in Honolulu. There were 1,178 military and civilian wounded.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto upon learning of the success of the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor
"I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve"

The Japanese success was overwhelming, but it was not complete. They failed to damage any American aircraft carriers, which by a stroke of luck, had been absent from the harbor. They neglected to damage the shore side facilities at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base, which played an important role in the Allied victory in World War II.

American technological skill raised and repaired all but three of the ships sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor (the USS Arizona considered too badly damaged to be salvaged, the USS Oklahoma raised and considered too old to be worth repairing, and the obsolete USS Utah considered not worth the effort). Most importantly, the shock and anger caused by the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor united a divided nation and was translated into a wholehearted commitment to victory in World War II.

Least we forget that freedom is NOT free. Our hearts and prayers go out to all those brave souls serving in our military defending the principals this great country were founded on.

Excerpts from the Department of the Navy -- Naval historical center.

Who's your daddy...?

"Genetic proof of a biological relationship can provide airtight evidence concerning a Child's custody or Child support. Such proof is absolutely necessary in a court of law. $395 Legal DNA Paternity Test: Includes one child, alleged father and mother. Results in 7 Business Days".

Don't know who the daddy is? Is the Billionaire playboy down the street suspect? How about that basketball star on TV? Have we got a deal for you! You know society has fallen to an all time low when do it yourself DNA paternity test are being advertised on the radio with the catch phrases like "airtight evidence" and "child custody". It's bad enough that we as a society have no qualms about kids growing up in various social environments with somewhat of an idea of who their real parents are, we have to go and create a way for people to deepen the wounds of the past. Leave it to us to come up with yet another way to break a child's heart.

Suffer the little children...

Gifting a White Elephant?

Have you ever been to those Christmas parties where you needed to bring a ‘white elephant’ present? You know, a gift that while being useless is still a gift. The gifting gets going when the first person gets to choose one of the wrapped gifts under the tree. Everyone watches to see what they got and so on down the line. Each subsequent person has a choice between one of the presents already opened or one that has not been opened yet (called stealing). If someone looses their present to another, they now can choose from another new present or steal an opened present from another party goer and so on down the line till everything is gone. To keep this round robin from going on till new year, a present is ‘locked’ on the 4th person who receives it.

Have you ever wondered where the term ‘white elephant’ came from and why it represents a useless present? Like most idioms or sayings, it’s based on some truth from our past.

In some Asian countries, white elephants are sacred and a symbol of royal power; all those discovered are presented to the king. Usually in a ceremony, not confiscated from the finder. The more white elephants the king has, the greater his standing. Kinda like shoes for my wife... (don’t tell her that, it will be our little secret!)

In the past white elephants were given as gifts to the king’s friends and allies. The animals needed a lot of care and, being sacred, could not be put to work. They were a great financial burden on the recipient so only the very rich could afford them. It’s the same for parents of teenagers today (just kidding...).

White elephants were sometimes given as a present to enemies (often a lesser noble with whom the king did not like). The unfortunate new owner of this brand spanking new white elephant, unable to use it for work and make any profit from it, was obliged to take care of it. Being of the regular Joe variety of citizen, they would suffer bankruptcy and ruin.

Because of this, the term “white elephant” came, in English, to mean a thing which is more trouble than it is worth, or has outlived its usefulness to the person who has it. While the item may be useful to others, its current owner would usually be glad to be rid of it.

So the next time you go to one of these white elephant parties you can be the uber nerd and recite the history of the term white elephant, or just steal away that toilet paper roll holder with the built in radio you’ve always wanted and be happy that you didn’t get the battery operated carrot peeler you brought.

Have flamethrower, will defrost

This is a follow up on my previous post Deep fry, oven cook or BBQ?

To start, we should get our bird defrosted. Turkey tends to cook a bit quicker when it is not in the middle of an ice age.

The experts recommend refrigerator thawing. Thawing a turkey on your kitchen counter at room temperature allows all those yummy bacteria to grow and populate waiting for their introduction into your stomach so this method is NOT recommended. If you have waited till Thanksgiving to think of thawing, you can use the cold water thawing method to get your bird ready for the oven.

Refrigerator Thawing:

• Thaw breast side up in the plastic your bird came in, preferably on a tray of some sort. I put it on the bottom shelf, right next to the hamburger so they can play cards...
• For every four pounds of turkey you will need 24 hours in the fridge. To answer one of my questions above, a 12lb turkey would take 3 days to thaw in the fridge. 12lb turkey ÷ 4lb x 24 hours = 3 days to defrost.

Cold Water Thawing:

• Thaw breast side down with no plastic wrapper in a pot big enough to allow cold water to cover the bird. Change the water every 30 minutes.
• Guesstimate a minimum thawing time to be around 30 minutes per pound. To answer the other question I posed above, a 12lb bird would take 6 hours. 30min x 12lb = 360 min ÷ 60 min = 6 hours to defrost.

Cooking your bird

Oven Cooking:

This is the most favored way of cooking turkey and with that, there are more ways to cook a bird than there are gravy mixes on the store shelf. I'm not going to go over pan sizes and how to truss the legs and wings, I'm just looking for the basics. I don't do the stuffing in the bird thingie, too much of a pain to scoop it out and it never makes enough so I won't be doing it here. If you do, add ¾ of an hour to the cooking time.

• Place bird in a preheated 325ºF oven.
• Estimated cooking time is around 20 minutes per pound. That means my 12lb turkey from above should take around 4 hours, give or take a half hour ether way.
• When your bird gets to about two-thirds through the cooking time, cover the breast and top of drumsticks with a piece of foil. Stops them from becoming crunchy and all around door stops.
• Start checking for doneness half an hour before the calculated finish time.

BBQ'd bird

My favorite way to cook anything, especially a turkey. I have a rotisserie attachment that can take a small pig so I usually go that route for my bird grilling. No worries, as long as one can close the lid to your grill with 1" to spare (with the turkey inside, du.) than grilling is still an option. Charcoal or gas grill? Gas. I've done the charcoal thing for years, now I just want to cook in the shortest time available so gas is the way to go.

• Fire up your BBQ and get it to about 350ºF.
• Prepare bird just as if you were cooking in the stove. I prefer to fill the cavity just as I do for stove cooking.
• Place bird in a shallow pan and center it in your BBQ.

The time for cooking is the same for oven cooking, about 20 minutes per pound. You want to use a meat thermometer to check for internal temperatures of both the white and dark meat. Breast meat should hit 170ºF and the thigh should be 180ºF.

For rotisserie cooking, it's very similar to the above directions. The difference is you need to dress your bird a bit tighter, leg and wings should be tight against the body. I use metal skewers to keep everything in line. If you don't do this, as the turkey gets closer to being done, you'll have legs and wings flopping all over the place.

Expect a 12lb - 18lb bird to take around 2 ½ to 3 hours. Start checking for doneness half an hour before the expected finish time.

If you make turkey gravy (MMMmmmm graaaavey) make sure and pour a little water in the pan to keep the juices from drying up.

Deep Frying your bird.

Like I mentioned above, I've never tried this one but I have friends that have attempted this and have had a measure of success. Deep frying does have a cost factor that you won't find in oven cooking or BBQ'ing. Special equipment is needed and gallons of oil, not to mention a safe place to cook, that is not in the garage, next to the house or under the back porch overhang. Remember we're talking hot oil and open flames here.

The size of the turkey can be an issue as well. The biggest bird that most fryers can safely cook is 12lb to 14lb. If you need more, you will need to have two fryers or double your cooking time since you will need to cook 2 smaller birds. Good news is cooking times is only around 3 minutes per pound so it's feasible to cook two birds within the same time it takes to cook one in an oven or BBQ.

Follow the directions that came with the fryer for determining how much oil is needed for your bird. This can be around 5 gallons so check around with the stores in your area to see who has that much. The popularity of deep frying turkeys has grown over the years so finding that much oil is not limited to shopping at large grocery outlets or specialty stores.

Internal temperatures are the all important factor here as well. Breast meat should hit 170ºF and the thigh should be 180ºF. There is a great site here with more on deep frying turkeys and recipes to boot.

Carve that sucker!

Regardless of how you cook your turkey, let it stand about 15 minutes to allow juices to set before carving. This is probably the least followed step next to thawing (or trying to thaw a turkey using a hair dryer and a blowtorch).

I'm going the BBQ route again this year, 18lb's of love on a skewer.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving All!