The Child Inside

One of my favorite songs of all time, "The Child Inside" by Qkumba Zoo - why oh why didn't they crank out more wonderful music with a feel similar to this song!?

Dad's birthday in Rochester

Dad's birthday was this past Saturday, and we hadn't seen my folks since Christmas, so we decided to head up for a visit. It was going to be a surprise, but mom figured she should let dad in on it so he wouldn't plan any golfing for the weekend. Turns out the weather was crap the whole weekend (up until Sunday afternoon, our return) - no risk of getting outside for some fun!

I'm just going to fly through with some BRIEF captions for allllll these pics I just uploaded!

Here's a pic Brett took of me as we were driving up. I didn't know he was taking a picture, or I would've tried to be more photogenic. We have a video that starts off looking like this - it sort of pays tribute to the late, departed "Drive" tv series. That'll come later - YouTube's REALLY slow with the uploads tonite!


Mom picked up two desserts from Wegman's for dad's birthday (rather than make a cake, which he really didn't want this year). The first was a fruit tart, which was REALLY REALLY good!! MMM! And you can pretend it's healthy with all that fruit. Here she's torching the candle on top.


Dad posing with what they call the "fruit jewelry" from Wegman's.


And blowing out the candle.


Brett partaking of his version of birthday dessert since he doesn't eat anything with fruit on it.


And the next day was actually Dad's birthday, so he got the other dessert - the chocolate dome from Wegman's. We shared this with mom and dad's young and very cool friends, Andy and Kelly. They have a LOT of interests in common with us (computers, gardening, chickens, bee keeping, biology, cooking, tv gadgets, Battlestar Galactica, home canning, etc). Andy also likes to hunt - something we're not so into. Anyhow - good to have them there to share the dome with - VERY rich stuff!


While roaming the back yard, dad showed me the duck nest - there's 10 eggs in there. The mom duck flew off, but came back later.


Backyard view of the house.


Andy sold dad his smoker so he can get a new one. Here's dad trying his first meat-smoking, and mom, um, supervising?


Dad checking out his weinies.


I guess when you smoke meat, you smoke A LOT at once (since you have all that space and it's sort of an all day affair. There was beef (with bacon on top), a variety of weinies (including Zweigels - a very popular brand in Rochester), and pork loin. All good stuff, and I know dad'll continue to refine his meat smoking techniques!


Brett enjoying a Zweigel's red hot...


Mmmmm, good hot dog!


Lounging around Saturday...


The girls - Ming in the background, and her mother Murphy in the foreground. Murphy's turning 19 this year, and Ming's a year and a half (?) younger...


Mom reaching out to Ming...


Murphy up close....poor old kitty!


Brett up close....poor old boyfriend.


Cute kitty!


Old paws.


Old, but still very fluffy!


Dad making waffles this morning, and mom fixing her plate...


Mmmm cantelope!


The girl's lounging around in front of the fire - AGAIN!


Mom let us have their old red leather chair - she and Brett have been in negotiations for years on this. We brought it back this visit (yes, more stuff as we should be decluttering for condo showings), and Simon really took a liking to it!

Tucker Loves Sharon

This past Thursday, my semi-usual "work from home" day, Sharon and I went out to House Gourmet for sushi/Chinese lunch (something we often do). Afterwards we went our separate ways - and since I'd taken the afternoon off, I changed a brake light in my car, and was just starting to fill some pots with dirt to start my first lettuce seed mix, spinach, bok choi and swiss chard for the year (a bit late, yes). The phone rang. It was Sharon. She was at the mechanic and what she'd hoped was going to be a short visit turned into a "we're going to have to replace your brakes or you're going to have a wreck" type visit.

Could I come pick her up while they worked on her car for several hours?

SURE! It was less than 10 min away - and she just wanted somewhere to do her homework. So I drove on out, got her, came back and she got situated. I did some other stuff needing to get done like started some bread dough to take to my folks' the next day and planted my seeds. We chatted while she did her homework and I did my stuff.

And Tucker felt she needed some lovin'...

Here's Tucker's expression while being ignored by a very studious Sharon - does he look put out or what!?


Two things are going on in this next picture:

1. I realized something odd was happening in the other pictures - they weren't turning out very well. Turns out there was a fine cloud of flour in the air while I was making bread dough, and the flash was lighting up all those flour particles. So, no, there's no smoke in the air - it's just flour floating around.
2. And the other thing - Tucker kept trying to get Sharon's attention, and did whatever it took - including cleaning himself ON the table in front of her!!
   

I'm uploading a video to YouTube right now of Tucker giving Sharon some real loving, but it's taking FOREVER....so I'll post that another nite...

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Ginger Tabby!!!! (Yes, a little bird told me)

No More Drive

Whaaaaat!? This is ridiculous! We really loved the show! And those of you who've commented on it here really seemed to like it as well. Do you know anyone who didn't like it?? Hm...this sucks. I feel bad for the main guy - name escapes me right now - the guy from Firefly. He's probably feeling like the kiss of death!

Short 'Drive': Show yanked after two episodes

Story Highlights

• Fox's "Drive" pulled after two episodes
• Show had high-profile debut, big publicity push
• Ratings dismal; show may have even hurt "24," which airs after

LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- It's been a short "Drive" for Fox's midseason drama, which has been pulled off the schedule after two weeks on the air.

For the time being, the serialized drama chronicling an underground cross-country race will be replaced by "House" repeats in the Monday 8 p.m. slot.

"Drive" received a strong promotional push on Fox's juggernaut "American Idol" and was launched with a two-night premiere, a strategy regularly used for the network's hit serialized drama "24."

But "Drive" never clicked with viewers, and its two low-rated airings on Monday seemed to hurt its leadout, "24," which posted its lowest adults 18-49 rating for an original episode in more than three years.

It is not clear when and on what platform the remaining nine episodes of "Drive" will air. Streaming the episodes on Fox.com or offering them as downloads through iTunes are among the possibilities under consideration.

A night chock full of TV!

Warning - there be spoilers below!

We finally got to watch last week's Ugly Betty - good episode, but not one of the usual "non-stop laughter" and "oh no s/he didn't!" type episodes. Still...pretty darn good!

And we watched tonite's new "Drive" - that show still keeps up the speed! The car crash with (and I'm trying to remember names here) Susan and Leigh?....whoa - intense!! I still think it was a racial thing (two black ladies driving around down south?), but Brett wondered if it was people in charge of the game smashing them with their pickup. Eh, he's probably right on this one.

And "Heroes"? WHOOOOOOOOOA! GOOD ONE! I don't know what it is about that show, but they can really make you feel like you're getting two hours worth of show in just 60 minutes! Great episode. Claire seems to be shifting gears real well after having left her family, but she DOES have her goals. Pretty much foresaw what happened with Peter. Didn't expect Isaac to go down like that. Was surprised Jessica did that with her son....and then "doh!" Oh. But I guess that should've put some more pieces of the puzzle together since she was there with Linderman?

Whatever happened to the girl who could hack computers/email? She was on so briefly!

I'm liking nuclear dude every time I see him. And it was fun having Mr Bennett direct the guys...

Hiro of the future looks SO different!

GREAT episode!

Game Night!

We've had another game night in the works for a few weeks now - it's hard to make these things happen with everyone's busy schedules sometimes. But finally the day was here, and I had to get busy prepping some food! Turns out we had two short notice condo showings that same day - one in the morning, and one the hour before we were due at Michele & John's - so I had to get with it as soon as all the cleaning was done!

Sharon was whipping up a super yummy batch of Sloppy Joe's from scratch. And homemade Sloppy Joe's need homemade buns (well, if you ask me they do!). And thanks to Joe turning me on to the King Arthur beautiful buns recipe awhile back, I was all set! Brett and I love these buns, and wanted to show them off! We needed enough to make sure all six folks would be well fed, so I decided to experiment and try converting one of the two recipes to wheat buns. I replaced 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour with wheat flour - I don't know if this is why the buns didn't rise as much, or if they just needed a little more time (I think I baked them in the wrong order). I DO wish they'd had more of that yummy "honey whole wheat" flavor storebought buns have - more sugar perhaps? As you can see, I dabbled with adding sesame seeds to some...



And since we had a pineapple at the peak of ripeness, I sliced it up the way dad does - which is always a HUGE hit!! Also took sliced bananas and strawberries, plus some chocolate fruit dip. YUMMMM!



Like last time, game night was a ton of fun! Here's Andy giving Sharon that "damn you're hot" look!


Michele doing the pass-off - "Do you know what to do with one of these things??" (Turns out Andy's got like a bajillion nieces and nephews?)


Sharon: "Oh, ok Andy - you're right, baby's ARE cute and I'd LOVE to have one after all!!"


I think it's a staring contest? Is Aidan winning!??


Brett probably won't love this picture, but people from around here DO love his shirt (Rolling Acres is a trashy/divey shopping mall) with a very bad rep.


Surprisingly, Michele let me take some pics of her - they turned out great!



Sharon looking plenty psycho here! When we were doing teams, it was me, Sharon and John vs Brett, Michele and Andy - and we were ROCKIN'! Seriously, we totally kicked their asses. It really helped that Sharon's a whizz at all games, and that John and I seemed to get this telepathic vibe going that was really surprising everyone else. We had a slow start, but once John and I got in synch, there was no stopping us!


Andy: "Beeeyotch, no one warned me you were this crazy before we started dating!!"


All in all a great night! Especially since I was on the winning team, and in the solo game I beat everyone else! ;-) And thanks to Leslie, our realtor, for loaning us all the fun games!

Growies

I was way past due thinning out the tomato and pepper seedlings, so I took a little time yesterday to give them a haircut. Before:


After:


And here's too many pics of the basil and parsley...




These are BIG - but based on the leaf shape (and being lazy and not getting up to check), I think they're the lemon or lime basil? If I remember right, those were a bit more pointy on the tip, and not as shiny and luscious green. Ok, after saying that, I had to check. Yup, they're lime. Not a favorite, so I didn't plant a ton of them....but they are a nice change once in awhile, and no where near as offensive as some of the purple basils. Blech!


Some of them are still tiny and cute!


And just to put things in perspective!

No more gay Zack

Aw, this is really disappointing - I liked Zack, and liked the parallel between Zack and Claire each coming out...

Heroes Producer Speaks Out on Axing of Gay Character Zach

http://www.towleroad.com/2007/04/heroes_producer.html

Last December, after a series of marketing efforts that appeared to hype Zach (played by Thomas Dekker), one of the characters on the hit show Heroes, as gay, NBC suddenly appeared to pull the plug on it.

Now, Heroes executive producer Bryan Fuller tells website popgurls the story behind the controversy and reveals that Dekker's manager said she would pull him from the show because he was up for a role on FOX and she was afraid that his playing a gay character would affect the network's decision to hire him.

Says Fuller: "[Making Zach gay was] absolutely was a path that we were going to take. In the first meetings when we were sitting down and talking about the show, one of the things about the show that Tim said that he wanted all these characters to represent different people in the world and we had an Asian guy and an Indian guy and… a whole bunch of white people. He just wanted it to be a united Benetton cast. I said that's fantastic, but if we have this many people, then we need to have a gay character. If you want to represent the world, that's certainly a demographic that we need to hit. [Tim completely agreed and] was thinking Claire's best friend might be a good person – and I couldn't agree more. So we were definitely going down a route of making [Zach] the gay character and having him have a big role in her life and sort of teaching her to come out about her ability and embrace herself and actually using the coming out metaphor and the gay metaphor in that instance as a fun piece of storytelling."

He adds: "There was an unfortunate miscommunication and when the script arrived that had the line in it, 'I would take you to homecoming but you have to know that I don't like girls that way.' The actor [Thomas Dekker]'s, manager threatened to pull him from the show because he was up for the John Carter role in The Sarah Connor Chronicles and she didn't want him playing a gay character because it might affect FOX's interest in hiring him. It got really ugly...

...It's unfortunate and really – we only took one line out of the script. In really, in all of our minds, the character was still gay but we couldn't say it explicitly. I was very upset by it – I was not happy about it at all. There were times I had to avoid talking about it because we didn't want to have a negative reflection on the show. The show's been such a positive experience for so many people, we didn't want to get hung up on the fact that one actor's management felt that it was a career killer for him to play a homosexual which, as a gay man, I found incredibly insulting. We had episodes planned for him to be in, and she pulled him from the show altogether. So that's why he sort of disappeared."

-------------

I gotta say - the smart/interesting thing here is listing the info about the manager who yanked him because of the gay spin on the character. You KNOW she's gonna be receiving some serious hate mail!!!

Thanks to Roger for passing this along!

This one's for Alison...

(and her husband!)

So we ALL remember the Super Friends from when we were growing up, right?? Check out the picture below of the classic Hall of Justice, where this team of super powered do-gooders (how evil do I sound!?) meet to hone their skills, swap casserole recipes (hey, it was the 70's), joke about Aquaman's powers, discuss whether Zan & Jayna were cooler than Wendy & Marvin, check each other out in the locker rooms after practice super-fighting, and basically wait for something nefarious to happen.

Can you name the silhouettes below?


And just a few weeks ago we were introduced to the JLA's NEW headquarters - golly, this Hall of Justice has a mighty familiar profile!!


And in case you worry about it being a little too easily accessible for all the bad guys, figuring they could just drop a nuke on it while the super fri....gang are all meeting to show off their crocheting skills - fear not! Sure, they may appear to go in the front door of the Hall of Justice, but once through those doors they don't necessarily stay rooted on Mother Earth the whole time. While they haven't been REAL clear what's going on yet, at some point while they're in the Hall of Justice, they get teleported up into the sky. To be more specific (and say it with me now!), 22,300 miles up - that's a geosynchronous position above the Earth - where they'll be in the new JLA satellite. Now this is what I miss! And check out that design - seems to be based on the Watchtower from the Justice League cartoon from a couple years back. NEATO!


Just got the new JLA comic in the mail today... I couldn't resist reading this one first since it's the first part of The Lightning Saga (have we done away with the word "Crisis" during these big get togethers? "Crisis" HAS been overplayed the last few years!)...and on the cover are Batman (JLA), Mr Terrific (JSA) and, yowza, Karate Kid (Legion of Super-Heroes!) Neato!

Some fun revelations in this issue as the teams start gathering, including acknowledgment that there sure have been a lot of LSH flight rings making their way back to the present, including Booster Gold, Vril Dox of L.E.G.I.O.N., Superman, and Supergirl (who's presently spending time in TWO comics, one of which is Legion of Super-Heroes). Oh, actually, Clark's got two flight rings. Hm. Didn't Bart/Impulse/Kid Flash (and now The Flash - blech) have one for a long time? Maybe they took it back from him.

Anyhow - I've babbled on plenty long... Just to get my fellow comic geeks a little more excited, check out this last page of JLA - which makes me all nostalgic for the best comics when I was growing up (I LOOOOOVED me some cross overs!), plus pointing out that both JLA and JSA are being lead by women right now (Black Canary and Power Girl, respectively). Interesting - that hadn't quite clicked. Plus, heck, you know those straight guy pencillers just LOVE drawing the big hooters ta-tas jugs boobies mams breasticles rack on Power Girl! LOL (Hope no one took offense to my trying to find the right word but, hello! - look at those things!)

Got Fuzz?

Guess what we're gonna see with the guys tomorrow nite!


Woo hoo - I'm so excited (and I just can't hide it!) We all LOOOOOVED "Shaun of the Dead" - and I'm really counting on this movie to be just as good!

What's for dinner!?

Several different things came together nicely tonite.

I had an orange and a lemon, both without their zest, drying out in the fridge. I'd used the zests in scones and something else on the weekend, and the exteriors were getting rock hard.

We had the leftover rosemary garlic olive oil from the foccacia bread the other night - less than a quarter cup, but I didn't want it to go to waste. Brett had freshly grated a bunch of black pepper into it for us to dip the bread, similar to how they do the "Italian butter" at Macaroni Grille, but we were out of bread for dipping. What to do with the oil?

I'd picked up some pork tenderloin earlier in the week, still in their vaccu pack, and wasn't sure what I was going to do with them. I've been so lazy about replacing the gas canister on the grill out back, and figured there wasn't enough to cook another meal.

There was an avocado on the counter, warning me it was at peak ripeness - and yet I had no intention of making guacamole. Ditto for some cherry tomatoes I picked up - can't eat 'em fast enough and they're gonna get squishy soon!

Annnnnd I've been tempted to make this Taco Bell gordita-like flatbread recipe from the King Arthuer Flour cookbook...it uses instant mashed potato flakes, which we bought for this recipe awhile back, and yet I hadn't gotten around to making the bread. Brett's been snacking on the potatoes, and I figured they were going to be gone before long.

So. Hm. Juice the lemon and orange. Dump in zip lock bag. Add a couple finely sliced huge cloves of garlic. And the rosemary garlic olive oil with all it's black pepper. Open the pork tenderloins - rebag and freeze one, cover the other in lime pepper (like lemon pepper, only better), toss in bag of marinade stuff. Dump in some soy sauce. Stick in fridge to "relax" all day.

This afternoon - start the bread process - was nervous because the dough didn't seem to have much rise to it. Turns out that wasn't a problem.

This evening - take out the meat to get the chill off. Start rolling out the bread dough balls (eight total). Fire up the grill and cross fingers. Once heated, throw the meat on the grill - so far so good. Start "dry frying" the rolled out dough - like really thick tortillas. Keep checking the grill - meat's cooking fine, temp's holding up. Wrap up making the flatbreads. Realize the meat's pretty much done ANNNNND the temp's dropping - we're outta gas. Perfect timing! Leave the meat in the grill to finish off while slicing cherry tomatoes and avocado, splashing with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

Bring in the meat. Let it sit a few minutes. Wash some lettuce. Slice the pork thin on the bias. Spread a little creamy caesar (me) or blue cheese (Brett) dressing on the flatbread, and assemble. Check 'em out!



Yum! We were both raving over this dinner - not bad for a throw-it-together and use-up-some-stuff and try-something-new meal, eh!??! Seriously - this was some GOOD stuff! Brett was raving about the pork alone. And he was comparing the flatbreads to pancakes...albeit very firm ones.


After my super faboo dinner, Brett created this monstrosity, aka "dessert", with one of them - this is how he eats pancakes - smears with peanut butter and cover in syrup. Ew. He took this pic and wanted me to post it on the blog to show what he made.


And here's how we felt after our super yummy dinner!


Since I know I owe some recipes on here (yes yes - I promise -SOON!) (but unlikely before the end of the weekend - we've got a lot planned!), I should probably include the flatbread and maybe even the pork recipes?? Granted the pork tenderloin wasn't really a recipe when it started, but I could certainly jot it down more formally to share if there's an interest.

PS We just finished watching tonite's Smallville....man, Lynda Carter's showing her age. I still think they could've wrapped up the whole problem if she'd just twirled in place and gone all amazon on their asses! LOL

Guess what!?!?

ONLY FIVE DAYS TIL OUR NEXT HEROES EPISODE!!!!

But who's counting!? ;-)

The Electricians

Brett was moving some of the components around in the new entertainment center recently, which of course involves a rewiring mess. And, let's be honest, you can't work on a project like this WITHOUT some feline help!



After several shots like that I tried to get Brett to just sit there and smile nice. What I didn't realize was each time I took a shot, he quickly crossed his eyes. Dork! LOL

Friendly visitor

There are four new stray (?) cats roaming the neighborhood these days...two of which seem to be pals, and none of which seem to be enemies. We never hear cat fights. And what's really odd? Our cats aren't going psycho when they come by - they just sit and watch. Brett's favorite is a solid smokey grey, with a very round face. Mine is probably this black and white one that come right up to peek in the back door more than once. He's got a really neat stripe right down the middle of his nose.

Anyone want a kitty?

After Sunset Before Dark

(I think I got that subject right...?)

So who all saw tonite's Drive? Still good stuff!! Man, the players in this game are a bit psycho!

Last night's side, tonite's dinner

Quick post before bed.

Last nite we had another super healthy salad with grilled chicken on top for dinner (same with lunch today!). On the side I served a foccacia-like bread - the recipe came in the new (and my last) Martha Stewart Living magazine that just arrived in the mail. The recipe was fun - started off VERY wet, but you run it in the KitchenAid on high for 15-20 min, and that really develops the gluten (and probably gives some of the moisture a chance to evaporate too?). Still a VERY sticky dough - but I believe that's what makes it so airy.

The recipe also calls for cooking 3/4 cup olive oil, sprigs of rosemary, and a halved garlic head (see pic below). This is drizzled all over the two dimpled logs of dough (one shown below) before rising again and then placing in the oven. Well, I had problems containing the oil, so you can see my attempts of using course salt and dishtowels to contain it. Whotta mess!



Even with the mess, we'll definitely have this again soon. We agreed it'd be fun to make calzones with it... Here's one of the leftover loaves getting ready to be tonite's dinner - I sliced it in half and roasted it on the baking stone for awhile.


And then smeared with pizza sauce, and loaded it up with toppings - fresh mozz, shredded four cheese blend, and pepperoni on both our parts, plus sauteed baby bellas and spinach on my half. (Notice how more and more of the scorched cornmeal accumulated. SMELLS and TASTES good - just not pretty)


Fresh outta the oven - mmmm! Brett ate his just-sauced-and-lightly-cheesed half separate from the loaded half.


Whereas mine was a sandwich! The other half of my part will HOPEFULLY hold up for lunch tomorrow! MMM! SO GOOD!

Our new addiction?

Heroes is back on in a week. Many of our shows have had their season finale, while some are just on hiatus. American Idol's mostly sucking this season. What's there to look forward to each week?

Welllll....did anyone watch the two hour premier of Drive tonite? With Nathan Fillion of "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" and "Firefly"/"Serenity" looking hotter on every show he's on, Kevin Alejandro (who plays Santos on "Ugly Betty"), and Melanie Lynskey (Rose from "Two and a Half Men"), plus a fast paced, adrenaline driving plot, it looks to be a fun fun fun show!!! We were hooked tonite, but it's hard to tell if this series will be able to keep us coming back week after week once the "ok, we have to race all those other people to the next check point!" part wears thin.

So - who else watched and got hooked?!

Swirlies

I guess before I go to bed I better post one more food entry so I don't get boo's and hisses from the kitty haters! ;-)

Last week our realtor had an open house, and in addition to making sure the place was sparkling clean, I feel it's good to have it smelling like you'd want to spend a lot of time here - and baked goods ALWAYS have that effect on me (ok, maybe I'm giving baked goods TOO much credit and I'm just using this as an excuse to bake more?)

Anyhow - below you'll see some of the stages of my second attempt at making cinnamon swirl bread. And like last time, I'm afraid the breads uncoiled a bit - still taste great though! After asking around, Peter came up with the best idea yet - maybe it's because I'm using pans that are one size too big, and the bread's not forced to stay in shape while it bakes... I should invest in some 8x4" pans, eh?

(Oh, the middle loaf below looks odd because I got some of the cinnamon sugar on half of the exterior. Kinda cool actually! And the right-most loaf I made a little long, so I tried coiling it a little in the pan, which resulted in the cool slices you'll see at the bottom)

Spring Flowers

With spring here, it's time for all the bulbs to start blooming.

And since it's Ohio, that means we're getting intermittent snow storms. (*I* like 'em! No one else does...)

However, this means I have to do the occasional dash out the back door to rescue some of the flowers before they're blown over or covered in ice. I didn't make it with some of the daffodils last week, but here's proof I saved some of the flowers two weeks ago...


....and here's proof that I saved some of the tulips before we were hit with more windy and snowy weather the end of this past week.


What're those baked goodies behind the flowers above? I promise to post something on those real soon! In the meantime, it looks like we're due to get more wind and more snow the next couple of days, so I might be outside with the scissors rescuing more of the growies. And I really can't wait til we have a huge yard where I can put Holland to shame with all the flowers I hope to grow! ;-)

Salad for one!

Uh oh - I KNOW it's bad when my MOM is emailing and telling me I haven't posted anything yummy on here in awhile... Seriously - I didn't even realize she was checking out the blog unless I sent her a direct link to something!

So, ok, one of the great tasting things recently I got to make just for myself. Brett had to go to Columbus overnight for a work event a couple Tuesdays ago. We joke - whenever he's going to be out of town the plan is I get to cook fish/seafood. When I'm going to be out of town, he gets to make Hamburger Helper. (Or it's possible one of us will be doing something in-town with a friend and the other doesn't come along)

These are all very rare circumstances, so in an odd way, we cherish them. NOTHING against the other person - it's just a fun food night for each of us to indulge in something the other has no interest in (or flat out hates).

And since spring is (sort of) here, I think it's been causing me to feel a bit guilty about the few winter pounds I've put on (seven to be exact), and I've been thinking we should be eating more healthy meals...this happens in stages, so it's not like we're turning over a new leaf or anything. Anyhow, I went all out and made sort of a salad nicoise...along with grilled salmon, steamed green beans, steamed asparagus, boiled potatoes, chick peas tossed with lemon juice and olive oil before broiling, and romaine letuce. Was a GREAT dinner! Here's a few pics:

Go Meat!

Hee hee - this gives us the major giggles! Every time it's on tv, Brett's gotta rewind it a time or two for us to watch!

Things that would've excited the hell out of me as a kid...

...if I'd known they were going to happen when I was an adult, and yet even as an adult, it's possible I wouldn't have even known to ask for something that would've excited me in this way - and here it comes!

Ya got that? No? Yeah, I'm not sure I did either.

Oh, and just for the record, this postings going to bore most of you, or just show how geeky I am. Peter and Weeding are probably the only ones checking in here who'll appreciate this. Are ya ready? Ok, let's get nerdy!

I grew up on the Legion of Super-Heroes - and loooooved 'em! They're like brain candy! So a couple years ago they went and rebooted the Legion of Super-Heroes...AGAIN! They had a good thing going this time - at least I was enjoying it. Sure, there were still some of my favorite characters lost in a previous reboot, but they occasionally reintroduced them, or came up with an entirely new spin that got fun (ie the insect-humanoid Shikari who was a pathfinder amongst the stars, sort of replacing the winged Native American Dawnstar of so many years ago). Anyhow, while I like the creative cast of the current LSH, I'm really not fond of their take on the characters, story lines, Legion-verse, etc. Why do I still buy it? I don't know? I guess because they didn't start from the ground up with this title, beginning with origins of the recreated characters, I felt it might be a temporary thing - an alternate universe version that would get written over shortly.

Then they tossed Supergirl from the present into the LSH. Hm. Maybe they're planning to keep 'em around? I should dump it. But wait - it seems like there's some sort of odd continuity things that could be affecting the title, the multiverse, etc - perhaps my wishes were coming true?!


And we recently got a starting over of the Justice Society of America. Not a favorite title of mine as I was growing up, but back they they originated on Earth-2, and took place during the wartime period. Not my interests... Nowadays, with history rewritten, the JSA represent the heroes of yesteryear that helped influence, mold and inspire the heroes of today. And then they started coming back and added themselves to the list of "the heroes of today"...training new heroes, helping the children of heroes of the past, etc. Damn good stuff!

But all heroic teams have to undergo turmoil. Someone or something tears them apart. And the publishing company loves the chance to throw on a new creative team and start over with a new #1. First issues sell like hotcakes!

So we've got our new JSA, and they're up to a whopping issue #4. And...WOW! Not only is it a good origin for the new superteam, a gathering of old and new, but there's something else going on...something very interesting.

First it started with the introduction of a new Starman. The JSA has almost always had a Starman of some sort. And the Legion of Super-Heroes has often had a Starboy. Heck, looking back, I had a major crush on the Starboy of the late 70s / early 80s I think! And then sometime in the 90s (early 2000s?) a connection between the Starman (men) of yesteryear and the Starboy of the future was hinted at. We didn't get much info - it was just a "hmmm, what if" teaser.

Well - this new JSA has a Starman who appears to be a bit loopy. No one knows his real name, nor his origin. He chooses to live in a psych ward. Annnnnd, he has the costume of Starboy from the LSH!!??! (NOT something the JSA'ers would know). This sort of draws a connection, also, to the "possibly an alternate universe" Kingdom Come story line from about 10 years ago that was a MAJOR hit! (Notice him here, in the black/starfield costume, only with a mask - which was really only seen in Kingdom Come)


I think it was just the second or third issue that we saw a part of Dawnstar's arm in a foreshadowing scene. We haven't seen Dawnstar since...hm....the early 90s maybe?

And in the most recent issue, we got another shocker. In the future, Starboy's longtime love was Dream Girl (she would have premonitions in the form of dreams). Now there's a revamped version of Dream Girl in the revamped LSH title, but she supposedly got killed awhile back. But in this new issue of JSA, we get a sneak peek of Dream Girl held prisoner somewhere...only it's the Dream Girl from the GOOD times in LSH - back in the 70s! MUCH like the new Starman's costume!!! Woo hoo - what's going on here!??! And there's a "next issue" teaser reminding us that there's a Justice League of America/Justice Society of America crossover coming next month. Oh - AND in the second panel in the scan below, there's hints of other LSH characters from the 70s - Lightning Lord (yellow lightning bolts on a green chest), Cosmic King (the purpley sleeves), and Tyr (red skin, mohawk) - all members of the Legion of Super-Villains - again, from waaaaay back when!


And today I got the new Justice League of America #7 in the mail...nailing down the new roster for the regrouped team. The JLA had some REALLY bad times over the last couple of years, so it's time for a breath of fresh air, some new members, some classic members, some really old members, etc. I mean, when was the last time the Red Tornado was a member?? Here's my fast-and-sloppy scan of the three-page fold out showing the new roster.


They just wrapped up the intro-storyline, entitled The Tornado's Path, and wow, it was meaty and good. By "meaty" I mean I need to actually dig 'em all out and read it in one sitting. They had some minor delays as they were shipping, plus sometimes a month apart is a bit too long to follow a story line. I do recommend ya get it if you're interested in what's going on with the JLA these days.

And what's more interesting? This last page in the issue that showed up today - Black Lightning and Batman checking out an unconscious Trident - a cheesy villain of the New Teen Titans from the 80s... He's one of those villains that makes a rare re-appearance, usually when a writer needs an easy-to-take-down villain, or someone to kill off that no one will lose any sleep over. But this is interesting - Batman's pointing out that his fingerprints are those of Val Armorr, otherwise known as Karate Kid (no, not from the silly movie) - from the 31st century, or more specifically, from the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Hunh!?


Oh, and as an added bonus - check out the "Next Issue" box from today's JLA:


OMG I think I just pee'd my pants a little! WOO HOO!!! Just how big a crossover is this going to be??! Well, without having scanned it, I can tell you there's a full page ad for the JLA/JSA crossover called "The Lightning Saga", written by Brad Meltzer and Geoff Johns (two big names known for stirring up craziness AND throwing in a whole lotta fun nostalgia!)

Ahhhhh....it's great when you're so excited about a comic book that you can't wait for the next issue!!!! :)

Misc Cell Phone Pics

Look at all the fun pictures I keep forgetting to take off my cell phone!

Happy birthday to my car! This is what I saw on my odometer as I was getting ready to leave work a week ago!


I'm not sure when Brett nabbed my cell phone, but here he is being a goof...


Here's Michele and John's son Aidan posing for the camera. I forget where we were and why he was covered in food (or was that snot??)


Me, after getting in the car after work one day - yay, snow!!


This is Dizzy - Brett's mom's cat. The cat's a bit freaky anyhow - having had neurological damage from an abusive owner before Linda rescued her. But now Linda subjects the poor cat to what is known as a "lion cut" - how embarrassing! (Normally she's a VERY long haired kitty, but now that long hair is just on the head, the feet, and the tip of her tail...)


This is a shot out the sunroof of my car while at a stop light a week ago. No, that's not a missile overhead - that's the Goodyear Blimp. (Actually, I believe there's more than one of the things flying around) This is a fairly common site here near Akron!

It was a cold and snowy nite...

Dave threw out the proposal to see Blades of Glory this weekend, so we drove up to Valley View to meet him and Jay out for a movie nite...something we haven't done in ages! Randy and Larry saw the movie the night before, and it sounds like it's just getting great reviews, plus it was a good chance to just get out and see some of the guys...

Gee, we weren't thinking about the mini blizzard about to hit the Cleveland area - especially since it's early April in Ohio (that's sarcasm).

Here's Brett and I on the way to Cleveland.






By the time we got this far, I was calling Dave to warn him against taking the same particular route if at all possible because of the treacherous roads... There was a lot of slipping and sliding of cars, people driving with their lights flashing, sliding down steep roads, etc...


But we finally made it to the theater, safe and sound, with no collisions!


For fun, I took a couple pics BEFORE the movie, just so we'd have something to compare to afterwards...just in case it kept snowing (again, more sarcasm).



Here's Jay after the movie...


And Jay hamming it up!


As you can tell from facial expressions, it was blustery!


The backside of Brett's car had about three inches. Too bad I forgot to hit the "save" option after taking the picture of Brett, which also showed more snow. Oh well... We all made it home safely after an evening of lots of laughs (it really IS a fun movie!), followed by wings and other bad-for-us food at Quaker Steak and Lube...

Come out, come out, where ever you are!

I haven't been posting progress of my seedlings as well as I'd planned, but I HAVE been taking pictures periodically... You'll notice and odd light to most of the pictures below - that's just the florescent light they're under...sorry, but I'm too lazy to shut off their light and drag them out from under it each time they're ready for a modeling session.

Monday, March 26 - this flat is just getting ready to be seeded...



Wednesday, March 28 - come out, come out, where ever you are! I see basil seedlings JUST starting to peek up from their beds...



Thursday, March 29th - those basil seedlings are making a little more progress. Starting seeds seems to have things happen in spurts...just give 'em a liiiittle more time!


Sunday, April 1st - Whoa - check it out! Now I've got tons of basil seedlings (foreground, left), and even tomato seedlings that are about an inch tall! The basil have finally filled in fairly consistently (even though I've got maybe 6 varieties, and they had different starting speeds), and the tomatoes were real spotty! I'm starting to think I might need to reseed some of them. The peppers and some of the other herbs were REAL slow. And the parsley? They still hadn't popped up by the time these pics were taken!



Monday, April 2nd - tomatoes! Looks like they're just about ready for harvest, eh? ;-) And actually, in the second pic below, the taller, spindlier seedlings to the right are the peppers - they seem to have jumped up with a real growth spurt!



Wednesday, April 4th - no new pics, but I did see some parsley seedlings just starting to peek out - yay!

Alanis Does Fergie - the follow up!

Thanks to Carolyn for sending along this link today...

Alanis Morissette Takes on 'My Humps'

Now you can watch both Fergie's original version and Alanis' slowed down cover, and place your vote as to which you think is better!

Oh, and PS for those of you who didn't know - yes, it's true, Alanis and Ryan Reynolds did end their relationship this past year... This just means he's available again! ;-)

(It's clear he's just saving himself for me! Right here, Ryan, right here!)

My boyfriend's other boyfriend...

Brett's always had such a crush on Joey Fatone from N'Sync, and now that he's (Joey, not Brett) on Dancing with the Stars, we've actually watched a few episodes. As always, Joey's cute and entertaining! This week he pulled out some very entertaining and creative stops while doing the tango to the Star Wars theme... Check it out:

Easter's coming!

And while we're not really big celebrators of the holiday, here's something possibly fun to try (I'm TOTALLY kidding) - easter egg colored rabbit! Hunh? Yeah, trust me, you need to click on the link and check this one out to believe it... This seems like something Peter needs to try doing! I'm sure not gonna do it!

Boyfriend Etc

Brett actually let me snap some cute pics of him after he got home from work the other day... Peter - hopefully these'll make up for all the cat pics!?





Now, on the days I work from home, I can see what crazy stuff the cats are normally up to all day while we're at work:



Simon posing with the first batch of daffodils I cut...


While I was working from home last week, Moxie wanted some laptime lovin', only I needed my hands for coding. It was chilly, so I had on an extra shirt - I just buttoned it up around her, which worked for a short while.


Then I realized it looked like I had an alien chest-burster busting out of me....so that picture DEFINITELY had to be staged! ;-)


And here's Simon contemplating helping me tie my shoe laces.

More signs of spring

Went out back after work today and replaced last week's cut daffodils that had fizzled out over the weekend... This time I got a mix - not just the all-yellows, but some of the yellow-and-whites, plus the hyacinths are opening up. I only cut some of the scrawnier ones with considerably fewer blooms - figuring this would reduce their intoxicating-but-headache-inducing scent in the house. I love it, but it's too strong for me! Also got some lilac buds in there, and a couple tulips I hope will open up over the next few days...





More signs of spring? There was a bumblebee out back, checking out the flowers. And who was checking out the bumblebee?


Bird's eye (bumblebee's eye?) view of Simon and Moxie:

Getting all Brokeback!

Poor Simon - he just wants to be loved. A LOT.

And poor Tucker - he just likes to lounge around in the sun.

But the two didn't go together too well. Surprised I managed to catch this "on film" - one minute Simon was snuggling with me, hopped down, went over to where Tucker was lying down, and actually flopped himself over to it was like Tucker was spooning him. Aw, how cute.


Give us a kiss!


Beeeyotch - get away from me - I am NOT that kinda puss cat!


Hmph!


But I just want to be loved! Is that so wrong?

Making Bread

So Saturday nite, while we were watching the latest James Bond flick, Casino Royale, I was also making bread - this time I tried the wheat rye oat bread (all mixed together, not some fancy braided bread) from the Recipes from the Old Mill bread book. WOW it's good stuff! Really nice for a wheaty sandwich bread that's got extra goodness for you in the form of rye flour, rolled oats, and a palmful of millet that I decided to add to the recipe (I couldn't resist tampering!). It made three nice, if slightly smaller-than-average-sandwich-bread-loaf sized loaves (plus I should get some 8x4 inch pans - my 9x5 pans are a bit big for some recipes!). Great stuff though!

Since Brett's mom and brother drove in from Medina (about 45 minutes) to transport our old entertainment center, old TV, and the huge box from the new LCD TV (just in case!) over to Rick and Carolyn's basement for storage, and since Rick and Carolyn are kind enough to let us store the stuff there til we get a bigger place, I figured they each deserved a loaf! So now we're down to less than half of the only loaf we've got - and it's really only a couple days later!

Need to make more!

Sadly, I forgot to take pics! Instead I'll have to present you with images of a different sort of loaf:

Casino Royummm!

Perhaps it's immature and perverted sexifying the latest James Bond flick, but we FINALLY got to see Casino Royale, the 21st James Bond movie, this weekend. Along with Casino Royale we also rented Borat and The Covenant, so maybe I'll talk about those later...

I haven't watched the last two or three James Bond movies - they just didn't look like they'd do anything for me, and I didn't care for the actors playing Bond. I admit to being skeptical about this one at first, plus I'm not really into card games, so that was a double whammy killing my interest. Even with the hot pics of Daniel Craig playing Bond. And yet I've heard nothing but good reviews of the movie, from review sites, friends, etc... So I countered Brett's wanting to rent Borat with my wanting to see this movie finally...

It was good! I have to say I don't think it was GREAT, but there could be a couple excuses for this. One, I was making a new bread recipe (yes Peter, I promise, I'll post this real soon!), and so we had to pause the movie every 45-60 minutes (and that usually involved a couple pause-start-pause sessions since nothing ever seems to be ready the FIRST time you pause). So I admit that definitely could've killed some of the fluidity of the movie for us.

Secondly, I feel like we were getting to know this particular Bond. I'm still a little uncertain how the whole Bond mythos is supposed to work now - and I know I shouldn't fixate on that, but I'm curious. Is it that someone comes along who's right for the job, so they get a new title (007) AND a new name (James Bond)? Or had there been other 007s by other names, and now James Bond comes along, and we're to just write off all the previous Bond movies and stuff from the fun multiverse that is Bond? (Uh oh, I'm crossing over into comics!)

Anyhow, as I said, we were getting to know this new bond - so far it's not the funny bond that some of the others were, and he's more stoic as well. Doesn't seem to like bantering as much as the previous ones. But he still tosses out some good lines. I dunno... I guess this was good like Superman Returns was, and I'm counting on the next installment in each movie series to be WOW! even better because we've gotten past the re-introduction of the character. (Like Batman Begins? Although that was a really good intro to the character)

We'll see...

I DO miss the fun gadgets. I'm sorry, but a defibrillator and the other medical gear in the car are NOT what I consider fun gadgets. So Q was sorely missed! Hopefully the next movie will add in some of the even-less-possible toys for James...

Moneypenny was cool in this one - I liked how she was introduced, their banter back and forth, etc. Granted, the romance and it's, uh, evolution (won't spoil anything for those who haven't seen it) sort of affects the future Bond flicks...

All in all, it was good, but not AS great as I'd expected from all the praise. I bet if they had an action scene at the end that compared to the one that started the movie, I would've had a totally different opinion!

Wonder Woman's Coming to Smallville!

Ok, so it's not exactly Wonder Woman, but check out who's going to be playing Chloe's mom on next Thursday's episode of Smallville! This could be fun! She sure looks nice and innocent in all the photos, but remember - Chloe's always freaked out that she's going to go down the same psychosis-laden road that her mom's been on all her life.




And, quick, see if you can guess who's in Smallville's hospital AGAIN!


If you guessed Lana Lang, YOU'RE RIGHT!

Seriously, of all the characters on the show who get to spend time in that hospital, Lana seriously needs a room, or better, a wing dedicated to her!!

Oh shit - what'd they do to Sue's hair!??!

Here's a picture from the upcoming Fantastic Four/Silver Surfer movie. Now I know Sue Storm-Richards sported a 'do like this in the comics way back when, but...


EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEW...

I seriously hope Jessica Alba put up a big fight over this!

Alanis Does Fergie

No no no - don't get all excited straight guys (wait, are there any straight guys reading this?!)...it's not what you think. This appears to be Alannis making some sort of statement about the amazingly, um, complex lyrics in Fergie's "My Humps". It's so slow, it's creepy!



Thanks for sending that along, Peter!