Going Back to Old School!

I've been toying with the idea of taking up a wind instrument again. I played a good deal when I was younger on my fathers cornet but I never learned to play it with proficiency. I came across a clarinet I have to have, it's so sleek and beautiful and killer! I came across it looking through various music sites and saw someone playing it and that was it for me. It reminded me of when I used to watch those old Benny Goodman films with my folks when I was a kid. It's called a Buffet B12 clarinet, a student model of course! This looks like something that Benny could wail on for hours and not skip a beat, or lick, for him. Kenny G would probably have an easy time with this as well. It looks like a trophy for the Big Band 40's! I was going to pick up another cornet but this has more style to it and it just looks classier as well, especially as a beginner instrument.

My Christmas Wishlist

My wishlist this year is quite small, quantity wise that is. I only want two things and I think that's being modest since there are so many great and fantastic things to be had this year. The retailers have said as much. Right? I don't think so. I told my wife if I were to get one or two special gifts this year that I wanted a special English cologne and a black TAG Heuer FORMULA 1 watch. I'm one of those people that doesn't go in for the Rolex's and the like. I want a handsome quality watch and the other brand is just recycled and more of the same. I wanted something classy and different and besides, I am and always will be a watch person! If I get a watch it may as well be something I'll enjoy wearing because if it isn't then I wont be wearing it at all! Happy holidays!

Boston Red Sox 2013 Walk-Off Champions

Guiness Beef Stew The Right Way

Guinness Beef Stew from Cook's Country, February/March 2013

{Note: the recipe suggested avoiding Guinness Extra Stout - it'll make the stew bitter.}

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 onions, finely chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 1/4 cups Guinness Draught, divided

1 1/2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme

1 (3 1/2 to 4 lb) boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

1 1/2 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 325 F, with a rack in the lower third of the oven.

Set a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the oil. Once it starts shimmering, add the onions and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions have browned. Stir in the tomato paste and garlic and cook for about 2 minutes, or until fragrant and rust-colored. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute (just to get rid of the raw taste). Mix in the chicken broth, 3/4 cup of the Guinness, the brown sugar, and the thyme leaves. Scrape the bottom of the pot to pick up any browned bits.

Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for a few minutes until it has thickened slightly. Season the beef generously with salt and pepper, and add to the pot. Return the mixture to a simmer, then transfer the pot to the oven (uncovered).

Cook for 90 minutes, stirring once halfway through the cooking time. Remove the pot from the oven and add the potatoes and carrots, stirring to distribute. Return the pot to the oven and cook for another 60-90 minutes, stirring at 30-minute intervals. The stew is ready when the veggies and beef are fork tender. Remove the pot from the oven and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup of Guinness and the parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

I'd like to give credit for this recipe to Tracey at http://www.traceysculinaryadventures.com/2013/01/guinness-beef-stew.html. Please visit her website and subscribe to her very informative food blog!

There Has To Be an Easier Way!

There definitely does need to be a better way when it comes to pool floats and other inflatables for the pool and water, in general! I've blown out my lungs(figuratively of course) way too many times to get excited about a new way to sit on the water after getting dizzy inflating some new leisure item. What's leisure about seeing stars after pushing all ,the air from your lungs into a bag of plastic? I went to the local big box store looking for air pumps and was met with few options and other times with too many options. It depended which department you found a pump in. For example, in sporting goods the pumps cost more because they were packaged for outdoor, sporting use like for a mattress for sleeping on the ground in a tent. In the domestics dept. they were priced a bit more reasonably but were of a cheaper quality for, you guessed it, blowing up an air mattress(sounds familiar). If you were a bit more intuitive you'd have looked in the toy dept. where the cheaper ones resided since by the time you needed to use the pump a second time you'd have lost it, or broken it, by then anyhow!

Multitasking and Getting Paid For It Too!

I do setups for a small band that performs locally which provides me with some extra cash for the little things in life like mortgage, gas, electric bill, etc. You know, the little things that bring us so much satisfaction in life. Well, enough of that. When I'm home I like to make upgrades around the house and right now shelving in the garage is the 'flavor of the week' for projects. I have a specific eye for lines and being that way I like to have straight lines across with shelving as well.

That was a poor segue from band setup to garage shelving but, allow me to continue. I have a very nice laser level and I can use it accurately to a certain height and after that it's not so accurate. I was trying to think what to do when I was setting up the sound equipment and instruments last weekend when I tripped on the answer. No, I literally tripped on the answer. When this guy got his equipment for the band he didn't just buy whatever happened to be at a flea market, no, he bought great stuff. Some of the great stuff he got were these excellent monitor stands that could hold objects steady and securely, at varying heights. One of the stands he has, a model SS7761, will extend up to 80" without swaying. I can put my laser level on that, mark the walls, and get the stand back to him before the next gig. As a bonus, I can now setup the sound equipment all on a level plane at venues which will add an air of professionalism to the room.

I couldn't find a construction tripod that would go that high but an instrument/speaker tripod that could! Thank goodness he bought a quality rig to ace the gig! Sorry, I couldn't help myself there.

AquaChem 3" Chlorine Pool Tabs WARNING

Had a very bad experience yesterday. I went to add a couple of chlorine tabs to the pool float and had a very bad surprise. I opened the container(the approved original Walmart container) and noticed that the inside of the box was a mustard yellow color. What I noticed next was the fact I could no longer breathe through my mouth or nose! Talk about suppressing going into a panic. I had to get my face into the pool water to flush, what I later found out on the Internet, the residue of chlorine gas from my face. I have no idea why the gas formed unless the container was air tight and had moisture in it that caused the effect to happen where the gas got formed. In all the years I've used these tabs this has never happened. No more Walmart tabs for me. I had to hose down the inside and outside of the container, to get the rest of the residue off. Now I have to dry out all those tabs. Glad that I didn't have my face closer and above the box when I opened it.

Ender's Game trailer 11-2013

Global Cooling Now In Progress?

Can somebody PLEASE explain how this could be feasible? I just want to know how a planet that has been undergoing, over a long, long time, global warming can have almost an instantaneous switch to global cooling? The polar ice cap was in the stages of re-purposing itself back into sea water and now it's re-purposing back to polar ice? I, frankly, don't see how this could be a reality unless something catastrophic has occurred on the planet, or from outside the planet, that has removed the Ozone holes and stopped the extra UV rays from bombing the planet, in the process heating it up.

There is a saying in the physics community that every action has an equal and opposite reaction! In the real world of the layman we find these analogies.

There is no Alpha unless there is an Omega!

Every plus must have a minus!

Debits equal credits!

Do you want the good news or the bad news first?

The list goes on and on because even in the ancient times they knew that nothing was free or one sided. There would always be a price for everything and so it is with our climate. If the Earth is suddenly cooling there may be more severe things going on to cause it, if it truly is happening.

Weather conditions such as El niña and El Niño in the ocean that but either cool air or warm air currents into the atmosphere that directly influence our weather patterns for the year, influencing such things as typhoons in the Pacific and hurricanes in the Atlantic.

So, for a refreeze of the polar ice cap, which has not been proven, would take an extreme weather shift to make happen. I do concede that a re-icing could be occurring due to the oncoming winter but I don't believe that pack ice is being reformed with any significant depth, which is what we really need to happen. Polar glaciers are still fracturing and separating into the ocean sending their cold fresh water into the warmer salt water oceans which, if left unchecked, will begin to desalinate the salt balance in the oceans directly affecting sea life and eventually our lives!

What to do about it? I wish I had the answer. What I do know is that what are doing is not enough and eventually a critical point will come and go and then it will be too late to address! Here's hoping cooler minds will prevail in world governments.

Global warming ice cap pic:

Global cooling ice cap pics a short time later:

It must be a Harry Potter miracle!

Pesky People Chasing Whales

I have no idea why there are so many people, especially in kayaks, chasing after peaceful whales and dolphins. Do they think it's amusing to the creatures they taunt with their presence? Do they think that when the mammal breeches the surface it's doing it to say "hi" to them. Absolutely, not. Situations like this show that some simple sea creatures can have more sense than the simple minded land creatures. The only time people should involve themselves in the activities of these creatures is when their lives have been put at risk and the humans are there strictly to help, but not interfere.

The Golden Days of Currency

Ever wonder when the value of a dollar bill wouldn't be worth the cost of the paper ,it was printed on? I guess a lot of people are thinking that way as the desire for coin currency has been on a steady rise, even to the point where the Treasury Department has been stamping out more of those golden dollar coins than ever before. I call them the golden dollars because if they were real bullion they'd be worth a heck of a lot more than a buck each! For a dollar you probably would get a coin smaller than a thin, thin dime if you were lucky. Gold and silver bullion coins are on the demand because people want to feel the value of their currency and there is no better feel than in a coin of substance that contains what it says it contains and not a lot of filler metals with a valuable skin coat on it! I still have big dollar coins from the 70's. Yes, they're plated but they also have weight and feel to them and I like that. A dollar bill can slip away before you realize it's gone but a coin, you know where it is when you have it on you.