XXxXXX blawg.
Awlla the world has one, so ah thawt ahd git one too.
Ah am reelie not shore how this thang reely werks, but from what
ah no about it, it makes everbody sorta fameus…
Now I juss gotta figg’rowt how to put it in this
enter-web folks are talkin’ abowt.
When I am cooking for one, I generally use tricks and shortcuts I have learned over the past few (7 or 
years that I found myself cooking for one again. One of those “hm… how to cook a single ear of corn without a big production and keeping clean up to a minumum”. I found this method a few years ago, and I think it works well.
Microwave Cooked Corn on the Cob
recipe found on cooks.comHusk ears of fresh corn; rinse with water. Place butter on each ear before wrapping individually with plastic wrap. Arrange on microwave carousel in a circle
Microwave on High (100%) 2 minutes per ear. If cooking 1 ear of corn, microwave 2 1/2 to 3 minutes. Let stand for about 5 minutes before unwrapping. *Be VERY careful when you unwrap the corn (steam burns hurt).
Last night, I planned my dinner for one: 1 small steak, 1 zucchini, sliced with chopped onion, 1 sliced small tomato, (served fresh – full of vitamins and important things like lycopene), and – one small ear of corn. I heated the cast iron grill pan (has raised strips to elevate the meat and it puts grill marks for visual appeal too!) I sliced the zucchini, chopped the onion, and poured a small amount of oil in the sautee pan (for the zucchini and onion sautee). Anyway dinner was good. This morning I walked into my kitchen and noticed “something” was in the microwave.
“What is that?” I thought. I tried to remember what it was that I may have attempted to reheat as a late night snack last night. Cluless, I opened the microwave. When I saw the small dish, with a single ear of corn, all smeared with (smart balance) buttery spread, with salt and pepper… it defined exactly how I’ve felt over the past week.
The Accused (the dog) is being charged with Assult and Battery with attempted Robbery against the much smaller victim, (the cat).
definitions:
Assault - “Imminent threat of physical harm when the victim reasonably believes that the attacker is about to carry out the threat”Battery – “Actual physical contact with the victim.”
Robbery – “The taking of another’s property by force or threat of force.”
Greed is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. The accused, being a canine, is by nature greedy. This is something that 14,000 (+ / -) years of domestication have not been able to resolve. This does not excuse the behavior that occurred on the afternoon of June 25th in the year 2005. Both parties have resided together since 1997. During the the years they have shared as housemates, they have learned to live in harmony, despite the fact that throughout history Canines and Felines are natural enemies.
On the afternoon of 25 June, Perotheus, the guardian of both parties, distributed evenly one tablespoon of cooked salmon to each. The dog, who is typically tolerant and obedient, will allow the cat to sniff, lick, taste or otherwise consume foods or treats given to them without scoffing, growling, huffing, puffing or otherwise reacting in a negative manner. That was not the case on the day 25 June 2005. As the guardian, Perotheus reported that as turned his back to the animals, he heard the distinctive sound of vocal angst coming from behind him. The sound was described in official reports as being similar to “RROOOWGL”. This sound was immediately followed with a distress call from the cat, who was struggling to free himself from the attacker’s hold.
“The whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion,” said witness Perotheus, who was later questioned about the incident, “but in reality it probably took place over less than 2 seconds.”
Upon hearing the struggle, Perotheus took action and reports claim that the sound of his own voice, much louder than normal, startled even himself, as he shouted, “HEY!”
The dog released his victim, and displayed immediate signs of both remorse and submission, bowing down and cowering as Perotheus stepped towards the crime scene. It has been reported, but not confirmed, that the dog trembled as Perotheus spoke to him in a low steady voice. According to reports the only words spoken were as follows: “Bad. Mean BITING dog. YOU GO.”
The dog then escaped, fleeing to the safe haven of his crate, which is located in the master bedroom. The cat was examined for signs of injury and given a clean bill of health.
The dog did not make an appearance in the house for over three hours, when he was summoned by his guardian. He slowly walked towards Perotheus, the dog’s body language typical of a dog that knows that he is NOT the Alpha of the household. He approached his owner with his ears back, flat against his head, wide-eyed and tail down. Perotheus extended his hand palm up and the dog placed his chin on the hand of his owner, maintaining his ears back and tail down disposition. Dog’s owner placed his other hand on top of the dog’s head, and the dog wagged his tail so slightly it was almost undetectable.
The dog then approached his victim who was on the couch, cautiously and the two greeted each other by touching noses. Then the cat joined the dog on the floor and the two walked side by side into the kitchen.
I am all for improvements and added features, but come-on!
Blogger Developers have recently added / or should I say updated the Image Uploader for their post publishing window. While this may seem fantastic to those of you who have .blogspot hosted ‘b l o g s – and no server space for your images; it lacks a few key features.
Images (at least at the time this was posted) automatically go to a directory /uploaded_images/ — which is great, I guess; but, if you have your own dot com (or dot net) and already have a directory set up on that server… it puts them in /uploaded_images/ anyway. This annoys me.
FUTHERMORE- it seems they did something, somewhere that changes the way people’s CSS is behaving. Escape Key noticed some freaky weird font style changes in her weblog, I’ve noticed line spacing issues on mine. (if these lines of text are not showing up with added spacing (1.5 line space for example) then it has been resolved! I’ve come across several weblogs (while randomly visiting “next b l o g” sites on which people are talking bout it as well.
I have contacted Blogger Support for this issue and got a standard text file reply explaining where I can find CSS help on the internet. My site appeared normally for several months without the line-spacing changing. I am fairly good with CSS. My site was fine until I published recently -without having even edited my .css file.
So, Blogger— It’s not me, its YOU.
At some point in the last month or so, I fell off the (sugar restricted) diet wagon; and I am now (figuratively) running like hell to catch it again. Lately, I have regularly been eating pasta, rice and other things that I had previously eliminated from my diet.
Physically, I feel tired, my stomach feels heart-burn-y, I have had 3 headaches in 3 weeks. My sleep patterns are extremely erratic, I am not as focused as I used to be, and generally I feel crappy. What does it all mean? It means that I will have to de-tox (again) and start over.
According to the doctors I consulted with previously, if I fell off the plan, I could get back on track by following the stage one (strict) portion of the plan for two weeks (rather than four as I had done about a year ago).
Psychologically, I feel guilty. I have offered suggestions and support to a few other people on this diet plan, and as their mentor, I feel as if I have failed. This is because I told them that while it is hard to change your eating habits, it gets easier to follow as time goes on. I have totally reverted back to the more typical American Diet, higher in fat and sugar and starch – lower in fiber and fresh produce. Not only do I feel that I’ve let them down, but I have also let myself down.
What is being eliminated? Weeks 1 & 2 – NO Pasta, NO Rice, NO Bread (not even sprouted grain flour-less). NO cheese. (YAH! I KNOW!)
What is being kept? Fruits & Vegetables (fresh or sauteed spinach; romaine lettuce, tomatoes, onions, garlic, strawberries, asparagus, broccoli… you know the drill.) *Lean protein* (chicken breasts, salmon, tuna, egg whites).
Week 3 – Slowly re-introducing sprouted grain (very fibery) bread, pasta and rice (in restricted amounts). Bran-or whole grain cereal (these items can only be consumed as 1 serving, no more than 3 days a week). Lean beef cuts no more than 2 times a week.
Follow me over the next few weeks as I report the (much anticipated) restoration of feeling healthy again. I promise I will try to make it fun; I will not allow this to become a food diary – I plan to write about my usual observations and annoyances throughout this trial.
side note! My windshield is being repaired today!
.. but it’s not what you are thinking.
On the way to work this morning, I was behind a nameless (large freight shipping company) truck. Suddenly, I see a small rock as it became airborne headed directly at my windshield. It struck with a loud “THWAP!”; which not only caused a small chip in the glass, but also prompted me to begin uttering a few choice words about the guy driving the truck. I wished him dual flat tires at night in the rain, and took the next exit.
Around 10 o’clock one of the guys at work said he was going on a coffee run, and wouldn’t you know it, when I checked my wallet, I had no cash. He was kind enough to spot me a buck and a quarter for coffee (which I paid back after lunch time.)
When I stopped for lunch, I burned the roof of my mouth on the very filling ‘burrito bol‘. The Aquafina sparkling water I picked up earlier turned out to be loaded with artificial sweetener (unlike one of their other varieties that has a limon flavor without sweetener).
When I got home, I cooked dinner and then cut a slice of apple pie (for dessert, which I am not really supposed to even be eating), and a large blob of filling landed on my pant leg.
I drove past a billboard advertisement for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory… 
Is it me, or do these two movie posters bear some resemblance? [at least the head position and camera angle of the subjects for instance]
Although I can’t see much point in doing so, spammers have started to submit Haiku-ish spam (the syllable count is not quite right) to my inbox. 
mischievous we happened.
wanted parents music disappoint whom explain.
I was trying to get some paperwork organized today and needed to ask (an associate) about a particular form with missing information. I started to approach her and before I could speak, she put up a hand (“talk to the hand” style), shook her head, and said, “NOPE NOPE NOPE. Don’t even talk to me, I’m off until Monday and I’m as good as gone now”. Then she started walking away.
I looked at one of the other people there, and cheerfully called after her, “Have a great weekend!” Several people shared a small laugh, and then one of the other women walked over to me and told me that she thought that was pretty funny.
Nearly forty minutes later, Ms. Good as Gone approached me and actually asked me to initial some paperwork for her so she wouldn’t get called over the weekend only because the form was missing information I couldn’t initial it yet… which is exactly what I was trying to corner her for in the first place.
