News from the "I can't leave well enough alone" department

Wow, it's been a whole week or so and I'm already looking at another re-design of this blog.

But there's some good reasoning behind it.  I sell a lot on-line.  OK, perhaps not "a lot", but I do have a few nice things available and I am thinking this blog can be more than just a blog...perhaps it can be a bit of a web store, too.

The thing that worries me is that I really do like blogging and I do have some blog posts that people have found interesting, or at least interesting enough to visit for a bit.  And I like that.  That's one of the biggest reasons why I started blogging in the first place.

So I have to be careful that this next "redesign" I do still has some "bloggy" feel to it, yet still seemlessly incorporates the webstore functionality as well.

We'll see how it goes.  But if there's one thing I can't stand, it's stagnation.  Be it my blog, or my life.

So I'll keep the coffee pot on (actually, a french press) and get a little bit done, a little at a time.

Cool vintage video: how to use a rotary phone

Even today, I can still remember where the telephone was in the house I grew up in:  on the wall, in the kitchen, right next to the hallway that led to the dining room.  It was a Trimline...big, pink, weighed a ton.

I also remember when we replaced it with a push-button model.  Oddly enough, the best thing about the push-button model (white, no pink this time) was that I was able to dial radio stations faster to try to win contests.  (Don't laugh...I won a couple of Rush albums from "The Loop" that way!)

In a way, the push-button model was the poor man's speed dial!

But for those who REALLY remember old phones, here's a cool video snippet for you to watch.  It comes from a time when phones were being converted from "pick up the phone and talk to the operator" to "pick up the phone and dial".  Yes, phones didn't always have dials on them.

Cleveland news: Proposal for statue of Comics legend Harvey Pekar

Photo credit: Lonnie Timmons III, The Plain Dealer

There aren't many people from Cleveland who can typically be described as legendary.  That's a name typically reserved for actors, musicians, perhaps some politicians, inventors...but usually not comic book writers.

Well, Harvey Pekar certainly deserves to be ranked among the legends of the comic book medium, right up there with Crumb.  There's no way I can adequately describe his work or its impact on the comic book medium, so you should probably take a look at his decent entry in Wikipedia.

Trying to find the right cat food

I have two rather finicky cats.

OK, who owns cats that aren't finicky. Can I see a show of hands.


I thought so.




But I'm convinced that if they have the physical and mental capabilities, they'd show their disdain for the food you give them by:

• picking up the bowl and hurling it against the wall
• start saying things that start with "Your mama..."
• convert your favorite chair/sofa/other beloved piece of furniture into their new scratching post
• issuing press releases criticizing your political leanings, dietary habits and sexual proclivities.

"Thiz not yummy nom noms...uze ded to me, hooman."

So, needless to say, if I find a cat food they like, I'm gonna stick with it.

Well...I think I found it.

Cat yumminess.  And a reprieve for me Eames Lounge chair.

Now, I've tried plenty of higher-end foods, and they pretty much turned their nose up at it and proceeded to treat the houseplants as their new food source.  But I've also been really trying to stay away from the food that they like...but I know may not be the best for them.

After years of painful searching, I finally decided to try Wellness.

The biggest reason why I was reluctant to try it was that it's not cheap.  The smallest bag goes for about $12...a lot of money to a poor boy like me.  But I gave it a shot.

The first thing when you open the bag is, well, the smell.  Ewww.  So...good sign.

The hard food actually felt kind of moist in my hand, like it was fresh and not dried out pellets...something more like real food.  Again...good sign.

I gave Dagny and Little One/Big Stupid/FatAss (still working on that name for cat #2) some.  They ate it like an Oreck eats dirt in an infomercial.

I'm also impressed with the ingredients.  Seems a far better fare for the kitties than other foods.

So, I think I'll be sticking with this for a while.  If I notice any changes in the cats (or you start reading nasty press releases about me) I'll give you an update.

Retro Auto Museum: Russian Style

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From the man who brought you the video on the Russian Museum Of Video Games comes this rather interesting viddy.

This is a tour of the Retro Auto Museum in Russia. Some of the cars are really interesting...they weren't all rip-offs of American or UK cars.Some were pretty unique and highly original.

If you have a few moments, take a look. If you have any interest in vintage autos, you'll like this viddy:



The coolest parts:  the limos.  And...making your own car.  Yeah.  Make your own car.

Of course, the baking pan steering wheel is pretty cool, too.

My new Bodum French Press coffee maker

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I'm not a French Press neophyte.

I owned a French Press many, many years ago. But I then purchased a nice (and rather expensive) Cuisinart coffee maker. I figured "Heck, it's a good name, it works great. I'll love it much more than my dinky French Press."

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I used that coffee maker for about 6 months then gave up on it. It worked fine, but the coffee never tasted the same.

So last week, I converted back. I got a new French Press.

I just made my first cup about 10 minutes ago.  It's about 90% gone and I'm ready to make my second.

From the moment before I even took my first sip and just got a whiff of that cup of coffee, I thought: "God, this is how coffee should be."

So you can keep your expensive coffee brewers with their fancy timers and gold filters and promises of brewing a pot in 3 minutes (YIKES!).  I've got my press back, and I love it.

The one I got, though, is considerably smaller than my first (a sensible purchase, since I am really the only coffee drinker in the house) and at 12 ounces it's perfect for a decent-sized cup of coffee.  But I had no idea how much grounds to use.

So I, of course, went to that bottomless source of all information, help and guidance:  YouTube.

Not the Food Network, not Cooking.com, not even the venerable wikipedia.  Yeah, YouTube.

Just search "french press coffee" and you will be amazed...no, astounded...no...positively shocked and awed by how many people did videos on using the simple French Press.

But...that's the trick.  It's not really that simple.  The mechanism itself is a model of simplicity.  Everything else, though, has its requirements and guidelines:

• The water temp should be between 195 and 200 degrees.  Water boils that 212, so a rolling boil is way too hot.  A serious simmer, probably not hot enough.
• You want to use 1/4 cup of coffee for about every 10 ounces of water.
• The coffee must be allowed to brew for 2-4 minutes.  Any less, you get coffee-flavored water; any more and you might as well chew on the wet grounds.
• Once brewed, your cup of coffee is good for about 20 minutes.
• The coffee must be "coarse ground", otherwise they'll clog the plunger's filter.  If you go to a coffee house, don't ask for "coarse ground", tell them it's for a French Press and they'll understand. Pre-ground coffee is asking for trouble and disappointment.

The best viddy I found for using the French Press was from Alton Brown:



The best part is that he cut through the conversion stuff (I don't do "grams"..."3 ounces", "1/4 cup", "3 pinches"...that I can understand).  He also explained how not to push the plunger down...very important.

So, what coffee did I use on my latest French Press maiden voyage?

Yum...just yum...

I was so excited about getting this thing, the first (and only) coffee I could think of was Mocha Java, and I remembered that Caribou had a pretty nice one.  So I got a pound, and it was...well...blissful.  Tasty, nice chocolately undertones, full-bodied, rich, high-octane flavor.


OK, enough typing.  Time to make another cup.

Dinner: Fat Heads in North Olmsted, Ohio

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After having a wonderful 7am to 5pm shift at work, I figured I needed a bit of a break. So, after running a few errands we decided on some dinner. Actually, we decided on some beer, but food would have been a welcome addition.

Hence...we wound up at Fat Heads.

Fat Heads in Cleveland sits in an old storefront in North Olmsted, Ohio. It used to be Danny Boys, an absolutely fantastic farm market until the local mega-grocery stores killed such local businesses. The building was turned into a micro-brewery/restaurant a couple of years ago and it's become quite a success story on the west side.

If you go to Fat Heads, you have to realize a few things:

• They're a micro-brewery, so expect some great (or at least interesting) hand-crafted beers
• They sell other beers, but don't expect to see Bud Light being offered
• If you plan on eating, be prepared to eat a lot or take a doggie bag home
• Expect to like the food which is pretty darn good.

Smoked chicken wings

If you ever get there, you should must absolutely have to try to smoked chicken wings. They are whole wings (not segmented) that have been smoked and coated with a seasoned dry rub. You can then get them in sauces from sweet to mild to fire-creating. I've had them about 6 times there, and every time they've been great:  moist, meaty, complex in flavor, and just plain finger-licking good.

(BTW, the beer next to the wings is their blueberry beer (look closely:  you can see the berries in the beer)...one of their "always available" brews).

We also had the French Onion soup (big thumbs up on this one, too) and the special soup of the day:  corn, chicken and sausage chowder (again...yummy).

My meal was the bbq pulled pork sandwich (something I seem always inclined to get, regardless of what other offerings the menu may have).

Sandwich big...sandwich good!

The sandwich (like most of their sandwiches) was big...as in "BIG".  The fresh potato chips it came with were...well...addictive.

I had a smoked porter with my dinner.  It was smoky (in both smell and taste), deep and delicious.  But I doubt I could drink more than 1 pint of it; it was good, but almost (I repeat: almost) overwhelming.  I probably should have started with a lighter beer first.

So if you ever get a chance to be in the Cleveland area, give it a shot.  Ah, I should also mention that they have another Fat Heads in Pittsburgh as well.

Tea? Yeah...tea.

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The weather is starting to get a bit nippy.  It's maybe low 60's outside right now but it feels quite a bit chillier.  And we're expecting a low of about 49 degrees tonight.

So maybe that's why I've been drinking like a gajillion (or is that gazillion?) cups of hot tea today?

First of all, you need to understand that as an American, I don't "do tea"...I drink it like a frat boy drinks cheap beer.

For example, here's my "tea cup":

Dainty, ain't it?


It's a vintage mug from Frankoma Pottery.  I have a lot of their pieces and I came across this piece for like $3 many, many moons ago.  And I've been using it ever since.

As you can see, it holds approximately 87 gallons (or 89,950 liters if my math is correct).  So a full cup should go a long way.

But...no...it doesn't.

I've been drinking a lot of tea today.  But at least I have some interesting teas.

(please note:  I am not a tea purist, and I don't have a lot of exposure to different unique teas.  If you want to recommend some for me to try, I'd be honored).

I started the day with the Rainforest Acai Berry (which was a disappointment; it was OK, but it's rooibos tea, which I personally don't like...but of course I didn't read the fine print stating this when I bought it, and I don't want it to go to waste).

I'm now on the chocolate jasmine.  So far it's the ONLY tea I think is enhanced by the addition of milk.  Man, this stuff's good.

Perhaps next week when I have some time, I'll try to hunt down some others to try.

Fashion crisis: shoes

VS

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So...am I too old for the shoes on the left?  Too young for the ones on the right?

I recently bought a pair of Adidas similar to these (canvas, rubber toe cap, no "CAMPUS" on the side, but very similar otherwise).  I like them, I wear them, they are actually comfortable, and they happen to look great with jeans or beat-up khakis (which are the only kind of khakis I own...primarily because I don't want to buy new pants).

But am I too old for them?

I personally hate seeing people my age ("my age" is late 40's) wearing clothes that they obviously had a teen-age skateboarder pick out for them and I laugh, thinking "why are they wearing that?!?".  (And of course don't forget the mid-40's pizza delivery guy we always get who wears hoodies, tight black (but still sagging) shorts and sockless high-tops...but that's another post in itself.)

But now I'm thinking I'm approaching that age where I can't wear what I used to.

But what can I wear?  I own cargo shorts; are they OK?  Half my life is spent in t-shirts and shorts; does that meet with public approval?  Ironically this is why I miss Eddie Bauer stores: they seemed to specialize in clothes for the 30-50 crowd (which may also be the reason why they aren't around anymore...nobody likes knowingly being targeted by marketers).

When do I stop wearing what I like and start wearing what I should?

When do I place my first order for power-walking shoes?  Or shoes with Velcro closures? 

Furthering my self-humiliation: The Ugly Dance

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All I keep asking myself is:  why did I do this?

Sometimes you just have to be able to laugh at yourself

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So, it seems that Oprah Winfrey is ending her 248-year run as top dog of Chicago television.

And to celebrate this event, there's the official "Oprah-fy Yourself" website! 

Yes, all you need is a pic of yourself, the ability to click a few buttons and move a mouse and you, too, can be host of your own talkshow (or, at least, have a promo pic for it).

Here's mine (please, try to keep the laughter down while I'm in the room):

Yeah, I don't know what happened to the left side of my face.  And I look HORRIBLE in those earrings.



I think Paul Scheer's pic, though, came out wonderfully:

So, hey, give it a shot.  At least it's something different than turning yourself into a Simpsons character!