Blogger redesigned the entire appearance of its blog publishing software. I suspect my mother will have a fit trying to get used to it. Best of luck, Mom.
It's a gray, rainy day here in Florida again. It was actually nice for about a week, but now it's gone wrong again.
Epril's visa was approved on September 22, approximately 8 months after first mailing it in. Now the government has put Epril's visa application in the mail (where they had previously lost it for 2 months, June and July — fingers crossed this time) to send it to the American Embassy in Manila, who will then contact Epril with the date of her interview. Epril will go to the interview, then she will wait a couple of weeks for her green card, and then she will be getting on a plane to come to America.
But wait; there's more.
This coming week is the real, official beginning of my company's sales efforts, where hands shake hands, samples are tested, presentations are made, and promises are delivered. Over the next 5 days, people from PeGreSol will be scattered to 4 different locations in 3 different countries in Southeast Asia talking with oil companies about setting up contracts to sell them the product that will provide them wax-free oil wells.
Assuming that we get just one contract out of the four (though I am certain we will get all of them, and we are expecting hundreds, if not thousands, of additional contracts), I'll be buying a plane ticket as soon as possible to The Philippines and going to pick up Epril. Then we will be flying to Thailand, where we will be renting a house in Pattaya (Maid Go is even available to clean and cook). There, we will stay and wait for Epril's embassy interview in Manila, having fun with all of our old friends, and working hard at getting PeGreSol moving to supersonic speeds. Then we will return to The Philippines for Epril's embassy interview. After that, we will have a couple of weeks to wait around in Cagayan De Oro until Epril's green card is received, getting Epril packed, and again having fun with all of our old friends. Then we will throw the biggest despidida (going away) party The Philippines has ever seen for Epril once the green card is received. Then Epril and I will finally fly to America together. We will be renting a nice house in Sarasota: So we'll have houses in both Pattaya and Sarasota, and we'll spend part of the year in each place.
So over the next 5 days especially, I wish good luck to my business partners and our global sales crew. Hopefully by the end of this week, I'll be able to give my beloved wife the second-best anniversary present I could give her: The date of my impending arrival.
Showing posts with label Daily Reports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily Reports. Show all posts
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Daily Report: Waiting
It's been terrible weather here in Florida: Rain and clouds almost all day, every day, since I got back from New York. Uncle Bob says this happens this time every year.
I quit smoking 4 months ago (and I was only smoking 1 or 2 cigarettes a day for a year leading up to that), but since stopping I've developed a bad cough... a big tickle in the back of my throat. Due to the times I cough (especially upon going outside), I've figured that somehow having stopped smoking made me more sensitive to breathing in stuff in the air. I bought some allergy medicine and that seems to control the cough.
Epril's visa is once again momentarily tripped up: The visa people didn't seem to care for the "official copy" of the marriage certificate I sent in, or the quality of the copy of the police clearance certificate either. Per instructions I got from the help line at the National Visa Center, I sent a "pretty please, look at it again" e-mail to the People Who Look At Things, and hopefully that will settle the issue. If not, I'll have to have new copies of the documents sent from Epril.
I've been practicing piano. I'm working on the 17th Chopin Prelude, Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique, and Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor (my old pieces that I was best known for playing). Hopefully I'll put up some videos of my playing on YouTube soon.
I'm now (along with my business partners) waiting on the first PeGreSol meetings with prospective clients, which are scheduled to start about 10 days from now. I'm so excited. FloWell is going to change the oil industry overnight... and certainly drastically change my life: Income from selling FloWell to only 2 (two!) oil wells on a regular basis would provide me enough to allow me to finally quit my transcription job. Mike is fully expecting us to supply FloWell to 20,000 oil wells in a very short period of time! Having my income increase by a factor of 10,000? I really just can't imagine it... but my fingers are so totally crossed, and I've even offered up a prayer or two.
By the way, here is why FloWell is so special (a description for the lay person): Imagine an oil well as a car. Every 45 days or so, your car's performance gets so bad that you have to take your car in to the repair shop, take the engine apart, clean out all the gunk that the dirty motor oil has left behind, put the engine back together, and put in new motor oil. If you don't do this, your car will eventually grind to a halt.
FloWell basically is a fluid that — while you are driving down the road — constantly drips into your car's engine, and stops any gunk from building up, and makes it so that your car never works less efficiently due to that gunk building up, and totally eliminates the cost associated with taking the car off the road and putting it in the repair shop to clean out that gunk.
So, in conclusion, FloWell is, as of now, the only product in the world that stops "gunk buildup" on oil wells as they are actively pumping oil.
I quit smoking 4 months ago (and I was only smoking 1 or 2 cigarettes a day for a year leading up to that), but since stopping I've developed a bad cough... a big tickle in the back of my throat. Due to the times I cough (especially upon going outside), I've figured that somehow having stopped smoking made me more sensitive to breathing in stuff in the air. I bought some allergy medicine and that seems to control the cough.
Epril's visa is once again momentarily tripped up: The visa people didn't seem to care for the "official copy" of the marriage certificate I sent in, or the quality of the copy of the police clearance certificate either. Per instructions I got from the help line at the National Visa Center, I sent a "pretty please, look at it again" e-mail to the People Who Look At Things, and hopefully that will settle the issue. If not, I'll have to have new copies of the documents sent from Epril.
I've been practicing piano. I'm working on the 17th Chopin Prelude, Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique, and Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor (my old pieces that I was best known for playing). Hopefully I'll put up some videos of my playing on YouTube soon.
I'm now (along with my business partners) waiting on the first PeGreSol meetings with prospective clients, which are scheduled to start about 10 days from now. I'm so excited. FloWell is going to change the oil industry overnight... and certainly drastically change my life: Income from selling FloWell to only 2 (two!) oil wells on a regular basis would provide me enough to allow me to finally quit my transcription job. Mike is fully expecting us to supply FloWell to 20,000 oil wells in a very short period of time! Having my income increase by a factor of 10,000? I really just can't imagine it... but my fingers are so totally crossed, and I've even offered up a prayer or two.
By the way, here is why FloWell is so special (a description for the lay person): Imagine an oil well as a car. Every 45 days or so, your car's performance gets so bad that you have to take your car in to the repair shop, take the engine apart, clean out all the gunk that the dirty motor oil has left behind, put the engine back together, and put in new motor oil. If you don't do this, your car will eventually grind to a halt.
FloWell basically is a fluid that — while you are driving down the road — constantly drips into your car's engine, and stops any gunk from building up, and makes it so that your car never works less efficiently due to that gunk building up, and totally eliminates the cost associated with taking the car off the road and putting it in the repair shop to clean out that gunk.
So, in conclusion, FloWell is, as of now, the only product in the world that stops "gunk buildup" on oil wells as they are actively pumping oil.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Daily Report: Encounter
I was out at the beach, wading back to shore in about navel-deep water. About 20 feet in front of me closer to the beach was a dark patch of underwater seaweed — of which there is not much on Florida beaches. Then I noticed that the patch of seaweed was being dragged towards me on the undertow, which was strange. In an instant, the dark patch was next to my hip, 8 feet long and as wide as the trunk of an oak tree... brown speckled skin: A manatee. He was past me before I could really react, and had swum on to visit a couple of people standing 20 feet further out. (I had just enough time to shout, "Hey, a manatee is heading for you!") His big snout came up in front of them for a few seconds, then submerged again, and his big rear flipper made a splash out out of the water, and he was gone.
Because I have a lot of readers from other countries who might not know what a manatee is, here is a video below. A manatee is a water mammal, sort of like a gentle walrus. They are vegetarians and hang out normally in canals and inlets where there is underwater vegetation and the water is a bit warmer. Cousin Paul says that they are friendly and curious, and will come up and visit with humans who venture into their habitat (or vice versa, as happened wtih me). However, they are a protected species in Florida, and messing around with them (or chasing after them, especially in water craft) is strictly prohibited.
Because I have a lot of readers from other countries who might not know what a manatee is, here is a video below. A manatee is a water mammal, sort of like a gentle walrus. They are vegetarians and hang out normally in canals and inlets where there is underwater vegetation and the water is a bit warmer. Cousin Paul says that they are friendly and curious, and will come up and visit with humans who venture into their habitat (or vice versa, as happened wtih me). However, they are a protected species in Florida, and messing around with them (or chasing after them, especially in water craft) is strictly prohibited.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Daily Report: The Biggest News
It's been a hectic 2 months, to put it mildly. Then I threw in a trip to New York to visit my family on top of it.
About the biggest news, I can't go into much detail at the moment but here is a general overview: I own 25% of a company that is the sales arm of a parent company that has created a product that is going to be purchased and used regularly for maintenance on every oil well on the planet.
Literally: If the sales of this product turn out to be only one percent of what my partners and I are expecting, my share of the commission from that one percent alone would still be 10 times more than the most I've ever earned before. It's that big.
That's it for now: Have to get back to work.
UPDATE:
My business partner in the comments section says to go ahead and spread the word.
So: If you own or manage an oil well and want to eliminate your paraffin buildup (and want to avoid it in the future), contact PeGreSol and we'll be happy to introduce you to FloWell, the newest in wax remediation technology: Not only is it the first nontoxic and nonflammable such treatment, but it works remarkably better than any previous wax remediation products.
About the biggest news, I can't go into much detail at the moment but here is a general overview: I own 25% of a company that is the sales arm of a parent company that has created a product that is going to be purchased and used regularly for maintenance on every oil well on the planet.
Literally: If the sales of this product turn out to be only one percent of what my partners and I are expecting, my share of the commission from that one percent alone would still be 10 times more than the most I've ever earned before. It's that big.
That's it for now: Have to get back to work.
UPDATE:
My business partner in the comments section says to go ahead and spread the word.
So: If you own or manage an oil well and want to eliminate your paraffin buildup (and want to avoid it in the future), contact PeGreSol and we'll be happy to introduce you to FloWell, the newest in wax remediation technology: Not only is it the first nontoxic and nonflammable such treatment, but it works remarkably better than any previous wax remediation products.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Daily Report: Mostly Baby Photos
My sister and her son Vincent and daughter Evie enjoying the pool at Watkins Glen State Park.
Evie having fun out on the grass in the back yard.
Evie is always exploring.
Campfire time in the great woods out behind the house.
Marshmallows for everybody.
Evie having fun out on the grass in the back yard.
Evie is always exploring.
Campfire time in the great woods out behind the house.
Marshmallows for everybody.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Daily Report: Random Photos Posted
With life being as slow and uneventful (yet hectic — but not worth writing about) as it is, little moments in time don't get written about on this blog and instead get set on the shelf where they accumulate until they create a large enough conglomeration of "unmentioned things" to warrant a mention here as a whole. (Or at least, that's what seems to have happened, since you are reading this.)
ANGRY BIRDS: These huge menacing turkey buzzards were hanging around outside on my patio waiting to hurt somebody, I think.
OLD FOLKS SWIMMING: My community's pool on a not-so-clear-and-bright day. There is a very pretty lake behind it, and a nice hot tub for soaking before taking a dip in the cool water.
KING KONG MUTT: My cousin Jonathan's giant dog (look at my toes for size comparison), Tank, came for a visit. He's a big ol' galoot who, as my uncle describes him is "friend to all, enemy to none." My cousin Paul describes him as "an oversized gerbil."
FREE POOL TABLES: The bar where I go to play pool. Like I mentioned: It is free to play as long as you buy a beer... and beer is always $2 (80 pisos, 60 baht) a pint... except for happy hour when it is 50 cents (20 pisos, 15 baht) a pint.
MY PRECIOUS(ES): I got my pool cues shipped from The Philippines, where I had left them. My prized possessions. The McDermott on the left has barely held it's value since I bought it in 1998. The Longoni, not so much, but it is still my favorite of the two.
YOUNG FOLKS SWIMMING: The local beach by my house: The water is always a beautiful temperature, it's quiet without any boats or cars nearby to make noise. There is not a speck of refuse anywhere. I wade out up to my chest, and then jog in the water down the length of the beach and back — easier on my joints, more strenuous my my muscles.
ANGRY BIRDS: These huge menacing turkey buzzards were hanging around outside on my patio waiting to hurt somebody, I think.
OLD FOLKS SWIMMING: My community's pool on a not-so-clear-and-bright day. There is a very pretty lake behind it, and a nice hot tub for soaking before taking a dip in the cool water.
KING KONG MUTT: My cousin Jonathan's giant dog (look at my toes for size comparison), Tank, came for a visit. He's a big ol' galoot who, as my uncle describes him is "friend to all, enemy to none." My cousin Paul describes him as "an oversized gerbil."
FREE POOL TABLES: The bar where I go to play pool. Like I mentioned: It is free to play as long as you buy a beer... and beer is always $2 (80 pisos, 60 baht) a pint... except for happy hour when it is 50 cents (20 pisos, 15 baht) a pint.
MY PRECIOUS(ES): I got my pool cues shipped from The Philippines, where I had left them. My prized possessions. The McDermott on the left has barely held it's value since I bought it in 1998. The Longoni, not so much, but it is still my favorite of the two.
YOUNG FOLKS SWIMMING: The local beach by my house: The water is always a beautiful temperature, it's quiet without any boats or cars nearby to make noise. There is not a speck of refuse anywhere. I wade out up to my chest, and then jog in the water down the length of the beach and back — easier on my joints, more strenuous my my muscles.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Daily Report: Update
Both of Epril's approved visa petitions, after being "lost in the mail" for nearly 2 months (from May 27 to July 20), finally showed up in New Hampshire and were entered into the system. Epril's Choice of Agent form and my Affidavit of Support have now been submitted. Although timelines seem to be sketchy as hell, we are looking at approximately 100 more days until Epril's interview in Manila — November 7th. Sigh. I guess we'll miss our hoped-for anniversary reunion on September 27th. Well, one can always hope against performance to date that things will speed up now and exceed stated statistics.
I had my pool cues sent back from The Philippines and I've been practicing. I found that the local bar that I went to a few weeks ago for 50-cent beers, that has the nice full-sized pool tables will, any time of the day, let you play pool for free as long as you buy a beer. That's an awesome deal. There is a pool hall also in the area, but they charge anywhere from $5 to $7 per hour depending on the time of day. Anyway, I've managed to get my game back to about 50% of what it used to be back circa 1998 so far.
I have had yet another opportunity fall in my lap, and this one seemed atypically providential... and also a bit deja vu: There was a certain point in my life where I was having a very tough time, and out of the blue I received a phone call... on a phone that never rang... in a place in which I never spent much time... but happened to be in front of that phone at my most needy moment. It was an old friend from college who offered to have me come back to New York City to work... and the rest is (my) history.
Fast forward to now, and my phone rings again, and there is the same old friend, whom I had lost contact with for more than a decade, who contacted me again with yet another opportunity. Actually, this opportunity requires a major amount of effort on my part, but it's an enjoyable effort. I've been getting up at 7 every morning, studying this stuff straight through until 5 in the afternoon, having my quick cocktail hour with my Uncle, having a nap from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., and then working from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. at my regular job. I haven't been this exhausted since college... and it feels good.
That's about it from here in Cougar Town. (I haven't even had time to watch an episode of Cougar Town in almost 2 weeks; maybe I'll enjoy one before going to bed tonight.) I'm seriously up to my eyeballs in stuff to do. It was only Epril asking me to write in my blog that had me dedicate this time before going to bed to write here instead of reading my book. But I'm afraid that really is all the time I have now.
I had my pool cues sent back from The Philippines and I've been practicing. I found that the local bar that I went to a few weeks ago for 50-cent beers, that has the nice full-sized pool tables will, any time of the day, let you play pool for free as long as you buy a beer. That's an awesome deal. There is a pool hall also in the area, but they charge anywhere from $5 to $7 per hour depending on the time of day. Anyway, I've managed to get my game back to about 50% of what it used to be back circa 1998 so far.
I have had yet another opportunity fall in my lap, and this one seemed atypically providential... and also a bit deja vu: There was a certain point in my life where I was having a very tough time, and out of the blue I received a phone call... on a phone that never rang... in a place in which I never spent much time... but happened to be in front of that phone at my most needy moment. It was an old friend from college who offered to have me come back to New York City to work... and the rest is (my) history.
Fast forward to now, and my phone rings again, and there is the same old friend, whom I had lost contact with for more than a decade, who contacted me again with yet another opportunity. Actually, this opportunity requires a major amount of effort on my part, but it's an enjoyable effort. I've been getting up at 7 every morning, studying this stuff straight through until 5 in the afternoon, having my quick cocktail hour with my Uncle, having a nap from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., and then working from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. at my regular job. I haven't been this exhausted since college... and it feels good.
That's about it from here in Cougar Town. (I haven't even had time to watch an episode of Cougar Town in almost 2 weeks; maybe I'll enjoy one before going to bed tonight.) I'm seriously up to my eyeballs in stuff to do. It was only Epril asking me to write in my blog that had me dedicate this time before going to bed to write here instead of reading my book. But I'm afraid that really is all the time I have now.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Daily Report: House Guest
I have a house guest: Uncle Bob's friend from Canada, a fellow named Mark, is staying in my house for a couple of weeks.
I like Mark because he's exactly like the kind of person you (hope to) find sitting next to you at a bar in Pattaya: In his mid-60s and tall; an old, globe-trotting adventurer, well-spoken and rakish, amusing and easy to laugh, and chock-a-block with stories: Trips through the mountains of Turkey, time on a ranch in the Outback, exploring fishing villages in Micronesia, or buying black market cohibas in Havana... and obviously lots and lots of stories about his time in Bangkok.
I enjoy his stories, and try and toss in my own paltry adventures when opportunity presents itself, but mostly I find myself saying, "Oh yeah... I saw that on the National Geographic Channel" as if somehow being aware of the existence of the places Mark has visited should justify my own membership status in Mark's Super Adventure Club.
And of course, as one would guess, Mark is full of the energy I haven't seen since I was 14: After we sat up till 3 a.m. drinking, Mark was up at 7 to ride his bike 7 miles to the beach, then came back and played a round of golf... and was half finished with his day before I had even woken up.
So yes, Mark is cool in a dozen ways that I'm not.
Oh... it looks like Mark is done writing an e-mail to his blonde model girlfriend back up North. So I'll have to go see if I can get some more stories out of him. Talk to you later.
I like Mark because he's exactly like the kind of person you (hope to) find sitting next to you at a bar in Pattaya: In his mid-60s and tall; an old, globe-trotting adventurer, well-spoken and rakish, amusing and easy to laugh, and chock-a-block with stories: Trips through the mountains of Turkey, time on a ranch in the Outback, exploring fishing villages in Micronesia, or buying black market cohibas in Havana... and obviously lots and lots of stories about his time in Bangkok.
I enjoy his stories, and try and toss in my own paltry adventures when opportunity presents itself, but mostly I find myself saying, "Oh yeah... I saw that on the National Geographic Channel" as if somehow being aware of the existence of the places Mark has visited should justify my own membership status in Mark's Super Adventure Club.
And of course, as one would guess, Mark is full of the energy I haven't seen since I was 14: After we sat up till 3 a.m. drinking, Mark was up at 7 to ride his bike 7 miles to the beach, then came back and played a round of golf... and was half finished with his day before I had even woken up.
So yes, Mark is cool in a dozen ways that I'm not.
Oh... it looks like Mark is done writing an e-mail to his blonde model girlfriend back up North. So I'll have to go see if I can get some more stories out of him. Talk to you later.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Daily Report: The Diligent Flaneur
Epril's visa application got lost being sent from the USCIS in California to the National Visa Center in New Hampshire. I had to wait 3 weeks before I could officially file a request for somebody to look into what happened. As best I can figure, Epril's via application was just sitting around in California on somebody's desk, forgotten. Tack on another month I'm apart from my wife because some stupid fucker couldn't figure out how to drop something in the mail properly.
I went and saw "Super 8" yesterday, which should have had the subtitle "No More Mr. Nice ET". I think that action movies are starting to be written by computers now: they are so formulaic. Super 8 was simply a mashup of every government-alien-conspiracy / group-of-kids-adventuring summer blockbuster since Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and The Goonies. (But yes, it was a fine movie, all things considered... just not clever; movies need not be clever to be good.)
I was going to see Cars 2 until I saw that the summary/average of reviews on RottenTomatoes.com was even worse than the recent Pirates Of The Caribbean, which was so bad that after watching I almost stopped to bitch at the theater employees on my way out the door about it... something I had never been inclined to do before.
I've recorded about 200 of my favorite songs from Grooveshark, and now have them on my Walkman for... well, walks. However, it has been raining every day lately and I have used that as an excuse to sit at home and record more music instead of actually walking. Yes, okay... I'll go today as soon as the rain stops.
New direction in life: I'm going to start studying to be a court reporter! I found this article ("Surprising Six-Figure Jobs") and court reporter was listed. Considering I type well above 100 words per minute, used to play classical piano, and have learned several foreign languages, I figure (hope!) that I will be a natural at court reporting. Nice thing is that since the medical transcription job has me working evenings, I'll be able to do both jobs for as long as I can handle it.
The medical transcription has surprisingly picked back up for me as well. I'm not sure what has changed... probably just me. I went from struggling to do 1,000 lines in a day up to 1,500 without a problem. My daily production has not been this high in years. Of course, with all the expenses associated with getting Epril here, a vacation to New York coming up this summer, the thousands needed for Court Reporter training, and saving up to move into an apartment when Epril gets here, I need to have that extra output.
I've been out to shoot pool a couple of times lately. My game is slowly returning. It's now at about 33% of what it was at my peak. (When I break and run out in 8-ball 50% of the time, then I'll consider my game fully recovered.) Oh, another expense: I left my pool cues in The Philippines. I need to get those shipped back. They are actually the most valuable things I currently own... quite pricey when I bought them 12 years ago, and only appreciated in price since then. Yeah, I'm thinking it too: Thousands of dollars entrusted to the mail service that has served me so poorly of late. Good idea.
I'm about halfway through the fourth book of the "Tale Of Fire And Ice" series (also known as "Game of Thrones series"). What a let-down this book is. In the third book, the author killed off half of the 20 principal protagonists at the end. Now in the fourth book, he has simply stopped writing about half of the remaining protagonists and those protagonists that are being written about are either (literally) stuck somewhere when it is obvious they need to be someplace else to move the story forward, or they are wandering around aimlessly, not sure where to go.
Well the fifth book of the series is going to be hitting the shelves at about the time I finish the fourth book, so we will see whether or not the author has any idea how to kick this tale back into gear.
Just finished my walk after the rain finished. I won't do that again — at least here in Florida. After rain time comes gnat time, and apparently my bald white head is the handsomest thing your average gnat has ever seen. I must have killed 1000 of them during my 20-minute walk.
I went and saw "Super 8" yesterday, which should have had the subtitle "No More Mr. Nice ET". I think that action movies are starting to be written by computers now: they are so formulaic. Super 8 was simply a mashup of every government-alien-conspiracy / group-of-kids-adventuring summer blockbuster since Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and The Goonies. (But yes, it was a fine movie, all things considered... just not clever; movies need not be clever to be good.)
I was going to see Cars 2 until I saw that the summary/average of reviews on RottenTomatoes.com was even worse than the recent Pirates Of The Caribbean, which was so bad that after watching I almost stopped to bitch at the theater employees on my way out the door about it... something I had never been inclined to do before.
I've recorded about 200 of my favorite songs from Grooveshark, and now have them on my Walkman for... well, walks. However, it has been raining every day lately and I have used that as an excuse to sit at home and record more music instead of actually walking. Yes, okay... I'll go today as soon as the rain stops.
New direction in life: I'm going to start studying to be a court reporter! I found this article ("Surprising Six-Figure Jobs") and court reporter was listed. Considering I type well above 100 words per minute, used to play classical piano, and have learned several foreign languages, I figure (hope!) that I will be a natural at court reporting. Nice thing is that since the medical transcription job has me working evenings, I'll be able to do both jobs for as long as I can handle it.
The medical transcription has surprisingly picked back up for me as well. I'm not sure what has changed... probably just me. I went from struggling to do 1,000 lines in a day up to 1,500 without a problem. My daily production has not been this high in years. Of course, with all the expenses associated with getting Epril here, a vacation to New York coming up this summer, the thousands needed for Court Reporter training, and saving up to move into an apartment when Epril gets here, I need to have that extra output.
I've been out to shoot pool a couple of times lately. My game is slowly returning. It's now at about 33% of what it was at my peak. (When I break and run out in 8-ball 50% of the time, then I'll consider my game fully recovered.) Oh, another expense: I left my pool cues in The Philippines. I need to get those shipped back. They are actually the most valuable things I currently own... quite pricey when I bought them 12 years ago, and only appreciated in price since then. Yeah, I'm thinking it too: Thousands of dollars entrusted to the mail service that has served me so poorly of late. Good idea.
I'm about halfway through the fourth book of the "Tale Of Fire And Ice" series (also known as "Game of Thrones series"). What a let-down this book is. In the third book, the author killed off half of the 20 principal protagonists at the end. Now in the fourth book, he has simply stopped writing about half of the remaining protagonists and those protagonists that are being written about are either (literally) stuck somewhere when it is obvious they need to be someplace else to move the story forward, or they are wandering around aimlessly, not sure where to go.
Well the fifth book of the series is going to be hitting the shelves at about the time I finish the fourth book, so we will see whether or not the author has any idea how to kick this tale back into gear.
Just finished my walk after the rain finished. I won't do that again — at least here in Florida. After rain time comes gnat time, and apparently my bald white head is the handsomest thing your average gnat has ever seen. I must have killed 1000 of them during my 20-minute walk.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Daily Report: Pool
I'm going to start practicing billiards again. I used to be an excellent player, probably a high B ranking. I was in the bar league in New York City and took 2nd place in the individuals 8-ball championship in 1999. I reached a point where pool had become such a big part of my life that I was putting in 20 or 30 hours a week. I decided that I either needed to dial it back, or quit my day job and go professional... which would have been a mistake.
Then I moved to Thailand and just stopped playing, and my entire game went to pot. About 3 years later, I tried entering a 9-ball tournament in Pattaya and embarrassed myself by getting stomped 9-1 in the first round (by a guy I would have beaten at my peak). I essentially lost interest in the game at that point and have played perhaps only a dozen times in the 5 or 6 years since then. So, maybe I'll start putting in a couple of hours of practice a couple of times per week... get my game back a little bit.
I was talking with Bob of Bob's BBQ in Pattaya the other night. Actually, Bob has sold the restaurant and moved back to America with the wife and kids. That's sort of sad, although it does mean that the World's Best Ribs are no longer half a world away from me should I choose to hunt them down.
I was also chatting with my friend Mike (still in Pattaya) who turned me on to SoundTap Streaming Audio Recorder, which lets you record whatever sounds your computer is making (e.g. whatever music your computer is playing) and turn it into an MP3 file. That's great, and I've already gotten back my favorite 50 songs from my lost music collection. The only problem is that you have to sit and play each song all the way through like in the old days with a tape recorder. I'm not even sure that qualifies as piracy since I'm not distributing what I record... more like a Tivo or VCR. If it is, at least it's not "out in the open" piracy, like downloading 4 or 5 thousand songs via LimeWire... the kind of stuff that gets the copyright police knocking on your door.
Then I moved to Thailand and just stopped playing, and my entire game went to pot. About 3 years later, I tried entering a 9-ball tournament in Pattaya and embarrassed myself by getting stomped 9-1 in the first round (by a guy I would have beaten at my peak). I essentially lost interest in the game at that point and have played perhaps only a dozen times in the 5 or 6 years since then. So, maybe I'll start putting in a couple of hours of practice a couple of times per week... get my game back a little bit.
I was talking with Bob of Bob's BBQ in Pattaya the other night. Actually, Bob has sold the restaurant and moved back to America with the wife and kids. That's sort of sad, although it does mean that the World's Best Ribs are no longer half a world away from me should I choose to hunt them down.
I was also chatting with my friend Mike (still in Pattaya) who turned me on to SoundTap Streaming Audio Recorder, which lets you record whatever sounds your computer is making (e.g. whatever music your computer is playing) and turn it into an MP3 file. That's great, and I've already gotten back my favorite 50 songs from my lost music collection. The only problem is that you have to sit and play each song all the way through like in the old days with a tape recorder. I'm not even sure that qualifies as piracy since I'm not distributing what I record... more like a Tivo or VCR. If it is, at least it's not "out in the open" piracy, like downloading 4 or 5 thousand songs via LimeWire... the kind of stuff that gets the copyright police knocking on your door.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Daily Report: DaysRunTogether
I'm waiting for Epril's approved I-130 form to get entered into the system so that we can continue the process of getting her visa. Next comes a form where Epril tells the visa people that I'll be handling her application process from this point forward. Then comes the actual visa application itself, as well as my affidavit of support.
Somebody told Epril that if I had hired a lawyer, all of this would have gone a lot faster. That's so wrong: As long as no mistakes are made in the forms and attachments (and the mail service works as expected), nothing a lawyer could do would make the cogs and gears of government spin faster. Applying for Epril's visa was not that complicated, and the website VisaJourney.com has been a very valuable resource.
I was out with my uncle and cousins to a bar the other night... first time out to a bar in over 6 months. They had 50-cent pints of Pabst Blue Ribbon. That's 15 baht or 20 piso drafts for all you people over where everything is "cheap". Venice Sports Bar and Billiards also had free pool on their 6 tables, free karaoke (sung by some rather talented people), lots of high-def televisions tuned into the various sports channels, and a surprisingly good ratio of guys to girls, and young and middle-aged folks.
Unfortunately in Florida, places that allow smoking cannot serve food, and vice versa. So you can't get any bar food with your 50-cent drafts. That sucks a bit... but you can always have a pizza delivered, I suppose.
I bought an 8 GB Sony Walkman with an FM tuner to take for walks. Epril lost my old MP3 collection recently though and now I have to figure out how to get my favorite 800 songs onto this Walkman without shelling out 800 x $0.99 in the process. No, I'd rather not "pirate" them all again. I should just ask people to e-mail me my favorites. Heheh.
The dishwasher is messed up; I have to call a repair man. I bought another beef roast to cook, and this one did not come out as well. It had a large fibrous tendon layer running through the middle of it, which really made it impossible to chew. I finished the third book of Game of Thrones — George R.R. Martin sure doesn't hesitate to kill off the heroes in his books. Budweiser is now making a wheat beer, which is not too bad. The new Doctor Who season just finished: Awesome ending! I need to google how one can wash pillows. (Update: Dry cleaning.) I wish I could record Epril on her webcam singing love songs to me via Skype.
Well, still: nothing exciting is happening. I make it over to the pool every other day for a soak and a swim. I make it out to the store every other day for a bit of groceries. Uncle Bob stops by every evening for cocktails. Then I sit down to work for the evening. Epril is still on my webcam... only on my webcam. (It's been 7 months, 8 days, and 6-some hours since that was not the case... and hopefully only 3 months and 12 days more until it is no longer the case.)
Somebody told Epril that if I had hired a lawyer, all of this would have gone a lot faster. That's so wrong: As long as no mistakes are made in the forms and attachments (and the mail service works as expected), nothing a lawyer could do would make the cogs and gears of government spin faster. Applying for Epril's visa was not that complicated, and the website VisaJourney.com has been a very valuable resource.
I was out with my uncle and cousins to a bar the other night... first time out to a bar in over 6 months. They had 50-cent pints of Pabst Blue Ribbon. That's 15 baht or 20 piso drafts for all you people over where everything is "cheap". Venice Sports Bar and Billiards also had free pool on their 6 tables, free karaoke (sung by some rather talented people), lots of high-def televisions tuned into the various sports channels, and a surprisingly good ratio of guys to girls, and young and middle-aged folks.
Unfortunately in Florida, places that allow smoking cannot serve food, and vice versa. So you can't get any bar food with your 50-cent drafts. That sucks a bit... but you can always have a pizza delivered, I suppose.
I bought an 8 GB Sony Walkman with an FM tuner to take for walks. Epril lost my old MP3 collection recently though and now I have to figure out how to get my favorite 800 songs onto this Walkman without shelling out 800 x $0.99 in the process. No, I'd rather not "pirate" them all again. I should just ask people to e-mail me my favorites. Heheh.
The dishwasher is messed up; I have to call a repair man. I bought another beef roast to cook, and this one did not come out as well. It had a large fibrous tendon layer running through the middle of it, which really made it impossible to chew. I finished the third book of Game of Thrones — George R.R. Martin sure doesn't hesitate to kill off the heroes in his books. Budweiser is now making a wheat beer, which is not too bad. The new Doctor Who season just finished: Awesome ending! I need to google how one can wash pillows. (Update: Dry cleaning.) I wish I could record Epril on her webcam singing love songs to me via Skype.
Well, still: nothing exciting is happening. I make it over to the pool every other day for a soak and a swim. I make it out to the store every other day for a bit of groceries. Uncle Bob stops by every evening for cocktails. Then I sit down to work for the evening. Epril is still on my webcam... only on my webcam. (It's been 7 months, 8 days, and 6-some hours since that was not the case... and hopefully only 3 months and 12 days more until it is no longer the case.)
Monday, June 6, 2011
Daily Report: Detail Doldrums
This is as boring as it gets.
The new dishwasher didn't have any of that Jet Dry stuff in it, so I filled up the little container on the inside of the door. The next load of dishes came out covered in white spots and nasty powder crap... and every load after that. Unfortunately, putting the Jet Dry into the dishwasher is easy. Getting it out of the dishwasher when you don't want it there is altogether more difficult.
I took the weekend off from watering stuff. There was a big rainstorm on Friday, so I figured no watering for Saturday and Sunday. When I went out to water the flowers on Monday, they were all wilted and almost dead.
I gave myself a haircut... or, more accurately, shaved my head. Heheh: It's funny that back a few years ago, cool-but-balding people like Andre Agassi and Bruce Willis (following Michael Jordan's lead) shaved their heads and managed to sucker a large portion of the male population who wasn't going bald into believing that shaved heads were "stylish" and now bald guys like me fit right in without looking like Neo Nazis.
I bought a 3-pound slab of beef and made roast beef for the first time. I never trusted myself or my equipment enough to take a big expensive piece of meat and throw it in an oven and hope for the best. But it came out fine... about 10% too far past perfectly done, but unmistakably roast beef.
I spent the day lining up some of Epril's paperwork for her visa. The Bubba-Gump project made $4 today... split amongst 4 people. I accidentally deleted the video codecs for my computer and had to reinstall them. Oh: I finally put gas in the car, almost 2 months after Mom and Paul left me with a full tank.
Yup, life is boring. But then it's supposed to be: Epril isn't here, and I have no inclination to go walk on a sunny beach without her, go out to a nice restaurant without her, explore Sarasota's nightlife without her, or meet people and make friends without her. I'm just taking a year off from all that to wait for Epril to arrive. In the meantime I'll watch the grass grow and insist it's fun.
The new dishwasher didn't have any of that Jet Dry stuff in it, so I filled up the little container on the inside of the door. The next load of dishes came out covered in white spots and nasty powder crap... and every load after that. Unfortunately, putting the Jet Dry into the dishwasher is easy. Getting it out of the dishwasher when you don't want it there is altogether more difficult.
I took the weekend off from watering stuff. There was a big rainstorm on Friday, so I figured no watering for Saturday and Sunday. When I went out to water the flowers on Monday, they were all wilted and almost dead.
I gave myself a haircut... or, more accurately, shaved my head. Heheh: It's funny that back a few years ago, cool-but-balding people like Andre Agassi and Bruce Willis (following Michael Jordan's lead) shaved their heads and managed to sucker a large portion of the male population who wasn't going bald into believing that shaved heads were "stylish" and now bald guys like me fit right in without looking like Neo Nazis.
I bought a 3-pound slab of beef and made roast beef for the first time. I never trusted myself or my equipment enough to take a big expensive piece of meat and throw it in an oven and hope for the best. But it came out fine... about 10% too far past perfectly done, but unmistakably roast beef.
I spent the day lining up some of Epril's paperwork for her visa. The Bubba-Gump project made $4 today... split amongst 4 people. I accidentally deleted the video codecs for my computer and had to reinstall them. Oh: I finally put gas in the car, almost 2 months after Mom and Paul left me with a full tank.
Yup, life is boring. But then it's supposed to be: Epril isn't here, and I have no inclination to go walk on a sunny beach without her, go out to a nice restaurant without her, explore Sarasota's nightlife without her, or meet people and make friends without her. I'm just taking a year off from all that to wait for Epril to arrive. In the meantime I'll watch the grass grow and insist it's fun.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Daily Report: Approval-ish
I got news on Epril's visa application today: It went all backwards... in a good way.
I had been following VisaJourney.com's instructions for obtaining a K-3 Spouse Visa and everything had gone as expected: First I submitted the I-130 visa application. Next I submitted the I-129F visa application. According to historical time data, the I-129F visa application was supposed to be approved sometime in mid-July and things would proceed from there.
Instead, now at the beginning of June, I received a letter stating that the I-130 visa application was approved.
According to the advice contributors on forum at VisaJourney.com, the approval of the I-130 application precludes any further action on the I-129F application: The I-129F application is the "express" visa application... sort of an "I-130 Lite" that would require Epril to make a quick upgrade in her status upon arrival to America to become a full-fledged "Permanent Resident", while the I-130 has the "Permanent Resident" status already included.
But the way I'm looking at it, the I-129F visa application is still sitting there, awaiting action. As far as I am concerned, even though the full I-130 visa application is approved, I'll need assurance that the I-129F application has been taken out of the system, and that a contradictory visa approval will not be catching up with the I-130 at some point in the future... or if it does, it won't confuse things.
It figures that this kind of stuff arrives on a Friday afternoon, and I don't check the mail until 8 p.m., leaving me an entire weekend before I can call the Immigration Service to ask them what to do, if anything.
But, the upshot still is this: Epril's visa application has been approved more than a month earlier than expected.
Actually I see here that the average days between the point we are at now ("NOA-2") and the interview worldwide is 160 days. Sigh: November 11th. Well, we will do our best. I looked at the data and it seems that when you take not the mean but the median number of days, it is closer to 100 days... September 12th. Here's hoping.
I had been following VisaJourney.com's instructions for obtaining a K-3 Spouse Visa and everything had gone as expected: First I submitted the I-130 visa application. Next I submitted the I-129F visa application. According to historical time data, the I-129F visa application was supposed to be approved sometime in mid-July and things would proceed from there.
Instead, now at the beginning of June, I received a letter stating that the I-130 visa application was approved.
According to the advice contributors on forum at VisaJourney.com, the approval of the I-130 application precludes any further action on the I-129F application: The I-129F application is the "express" visa application... sort of an "I-130 Lite" that would require Epril to make a quick upgrade in her status upon arrival to America to become a full-fledged "Permanent Resident", while the I-130 has the "Permanent Resident" status already included.
But the way I'm looking at it, the I-129F visa application is still sitting there, awaiting action. As far as I am concerned, even though the full I-130 visa application is approved, I'll need assurance that the I-129F application has been taken out of the system, and that a contradictory visa approval will not be catching up with the I-130 at some point in the future... or if it does, it won't confuse things.
It figures that this kind of stuff arrives on a Friday afternoon, and I don't check the mail until 8 p.m., leaving me an entire weekend before I can call the Immigration Service to ask them what to do, if anything.
But, the upshot still is this: Epril's visa application has been approved more than a month earlier than expected.
Actually I see here that the average days between the point we are at now ("NOA-2") and the interview worldwide is 160 days. Sigh: November 11th. Well, we will do our best. I looked at the data and it seems that when you take not the mean but the median number of days, it is closer to 100 days... September 12th. Here's hoping.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Daily Report: Into The Void
It's starting to get cloudier here in Florida; the rainy season is coming. Today I went out to the shopping mall and had a wander. I haven't been in an American mall in a very long time, and it was a bit funny to be walking through a mall that was almost entirely empty of people. Malls in Asia are always filled to the brim with people, even weekday mornings. I stopped by Yoder's Marketplace and had a slice of the peanut butter pie that had been mentioned on Man Vs. Food the other night. It was fair. I'll have to try some of the other ones to see if I like them better. (Yoder's had great coffee though.)
Cousin Paul dropped off a plate of spaghetti tonight for dinner. Yes, okay Paul: You're my favorite cousin... I'll admit that just as long as it gets me a regular helping of your cooking.
I discovered that Netflix has a great selection of documentaries and educational programming on their direct-stream selection. That's good: I was actually thinking of cancelling Netflix because their online selection of movies is so shitty, and I'm not interested in getting the DVD's through the mail. I've been watching an excellent series on the British Monarchy (viewing suggestion). There was also a fantastic 2-hour PBS documentary on the life of Martin Luther (another viewing suggestion).
I got an e-mail from one of my blog readers calling me a coward for not publishing his comments. Actually, the reason that your comments aren't being published is because you were a dickhead a while back and I got tired of reading your stupidity, and put a filter on my e-mail so that all your comments go straight to the trash bin and I never even know they are there.
I finished watching the 4 seasons of the television program, "Star Trek, Enterprise", the last Star Trek television series. It was okay. I had never watched any of the Enterprise episodes before; but as a Trekkie, I felt I probably should. My opinion: I think that the producers' and writers' were too restricted by the series premise of being a prequel to all other Star Trek series/storylines, and they weren't "daring" enough. Also, they spent too much time on various storylines (which worked so well in Deep Space 9) that the series got bogged down. Enterprise did have one clever bit though, where they tied in Khan and the Eugenics Wars with the fact that Klingons in the original series looked vastly different than Worf-era Klingons, and explained it all in a clever manner.
Now that I've finished Enterprise, I'm watching something that only true Trekkies ever take the time to watch: "Star Trek, The Animated Series", which aired for 2 seasons in 1973 and 1974. The episodes are actually quite good, if you don't look at them. I mean: They are written quite well with the original series writers writing and the original series actors speaking; in addition, the use of animation allowed a greater range of sci-fi environments and visual effects (especially in 1973) than live action ever did. But the animation itself was not well done. But, as I said: the episodes are all real Star Trek episodes — just trimmed to 30 minutes.
Work is still going well. I think that my new account (on the old software) will be switching over to the new software soon. That means it will be going over to speech recognition as well, which is every transcriptionist's bane. For me, in the old software, I type at a minimum of 300 lines per hour... closer to 350. With the speech recognition, I do 300 to 350 lines per hour. In other words, I can type dictation perfectly at least as fast as I can listen to the dictation and edit what the speech recognition software hears. Unfortunately, the S.R. work only pays 60% what the regular transcription work pays... so going to speech recognition represents a pay cut of one-third.
Well, there's always the Bubba Gump project, which should be moving out of beta testing tomorrow. Unfortunately, it will be months before we start seeing concrete results on that... before we know whether or not we've wasted weeks of work all for nothing.
Cousin Paul dropped off a plate of spaghetti tonight for dinner. Yes, okay Paul: You're my favorite cousin... I'll admit that just as long as it gets me a regular helping of your cooking.
I discovered that Netflix has a great selection of documentaries and educational programming on their direct-stream selection. That's good: I was actually thinking of cancelling Netflix because their online selection of movies is so shitty, and I'm not interested in getting the DVD's through the mail. I've been watching an excellent series on the British Monarchy (viewing suggestion). There was also a fantastic 2-hour PBS documentary on the life of Martin Luther (another viewing suggestion).
I got an e-mail from one of my blog readers calling me a coward for not publishing his comments. Actually, the reason that your comments aren't being published is because you were a dickhead a while back and I got tired of reading your stupidity, and put a filter on my e-mail so that all your comments go straight to the trash bin and I never even know they are there.
I finished watching the 4 seasons of the television program, "Star Trek, Enterprise", the last Star Trek television series. It was okay. I had never watched any of the Enterprise episodes before; but as a Trekkie, I felt I probably should. My opinion: I think that the producers' and writers' were too restricted by the series premise of being a prequel to all other Star Trek series/storylines, and they weren't "daring" enough. Also, they spent too much time on various storylines (which worked so well in Deep Space 9) that the series got bogged down. Enterprise did have one clever bit though, where they tied in Khan and the Eugenics Wars with the fact that Klingons in the original series looked vastly different than Worf-era Klingons, and explained it all in a clever manner.
Now that I've finished Enterprise, I'm watching something that only true Trekkies ever take the time to watch: "Star Trek, The Animated Series", which aired for 2 seasons in 1973 and 1974. The episodes are actually quite good, if you don't look at them. I mean: They are written quite well with the original series writers writing and the original series actors speaking; in addition, the use of animation allowed a greater range of sci-fi environments and visual effects (especially in 1973) than live action ever did. But the animation itself was not well done. But, as I said: the episodes are all real Star Trek episodes — just trimmed to 30 minutes.
Work is still going well. I think that my new account (on the old software) will be switching over to the new software soon. That means it will be going over to speech recognition as well, which is every transcriptionist's bane. For me, in the old software, I type at a minimum of 300 lines per hour... closer to 350. With the speech recognition, I do 300 to 350 lines per hour. In other words, I can type dictation perfectly at least as fast as I can listen to the dictation and edit what the speech recognition software hears. Unfortunately, the S.R. work only pays 60% what the regular transcription work pays... so going to speech recognition represents a pay cut of one-third.
Well, there's always the Bubba Gump project, which should be moving out of beta testing tomorrow. Unfortunately, it will be months before we start seeing concrete results on that... before we know whether or not we've wasted weeks of work all for nothing.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Daily Report: Local Grub
My sleep schedule is starting to skew forward again, which I don't like. I really wish I did not sleep as much as I do, but that has been the case since I was a child: Eight hours a night has never cut it for me; more like 9 and sometimes 10.
I'm going to schedule a visit to the doctor and get back on my stop-smoking pills. Not only do the Zyban pills cut down on my cigarette use (I'm back up to 3 cigarettes daily from the typical zero or 1) but Zyban does a fantastic job at regulating my sleep cycle better, so that I can make due with just 8 hours of sleep.
This afternoon, Uncle Bob and Cousin Bobby took me to The Frosted Mug, which would be a perfect hangout if it wasn't located right on the busy Tamiami Trail.
This was my second visit there. The first visit I had chili dogs, which were fairly good. This visit, I had a mushroom cheese burger, which was the best burger I have had in years! (Yes Bob in Pattaya, sorry.) Funny thing about parts of Florida: The Frosted Mug is one of the oldest businesses and buildings in the area, built in (get this) 1957!
Tonight there was simply no work to do. Whenever there is a 3-day holiday weekend, work can get a little tight, but we don't often run out completely. That sucked. But, I did sit down in front of the TV and pedal away for a few hours on my exercise bike while watching some educational TV.
Actually, I wound up watching a bit of "Man Versus Food" on The Travel Channel. Host Adam was visiting Sarasota for one particular episode. So, I found out the three "must visit" restaurants in Sarasota:
1. The Old Salty Dog on City Island. They have the best view from a restaurant, looking over gorgeous Sarasota Bay, and their deep-fried foot-long hot dogs appear insane... especially when you add the toppings.
2. Yoders Amish Restaurant, has pressure-fried chicken that is reportedly the best fried chicken a person can get. Also, more importantly, they have the best home made pies in Florida.
3. Munchies 420 Cafe, is a late-night eatery famous for crazy 5-pound-plus dinners-on-a-bun, and what Man-Versus-Food Host Adam (a guy whose show is all about taking crazy food challenges around the nation) says is the spiciest chicken wings on the planet. (He ate only 2 wings before giving up.)
So there you go: Four great restaurants in the Sarasota area!
And by the way, in the first video above, Host Adam mentions that Sarasota is noted for having some of the whitest sand on earth. It is true: Because of Siesta Key's pure quartz sand, it is perennially listed as one of the best beaches on Planet Earth. (1. 2. 3. 4.)
I'm going to schedule a visit to the doctor and get back on my stop-smoking pills. Not only do the Zyban pills cut down on my cigarette use (I'm back up to 3 cigarettes daily from the typical zero or 1) but Zyban does a fantastic job at regulating my sleep cycle better, so that I can make due with just 8 hours of sleep.
This afternoon, Uncle Bob and Cousin Bobby took me to The Frosted Mug, which would be a perfect hangout if it wasn't located right on the busy Tamiami Trail.
This was my second visit there. The first visit I had chili dogs, which were fairly good. This visit, I had a mushroom cheese burger, which was the best burger I have had in years! (Yes Bob in Pattaya, sorry.) Funny thing about parts of Florida: The Frosted Mug is one of the oldest businesses and buildings in the area, built in (get this) 1957!
Tonight there was simply no work to do. Whenever there is a 3-day holiday weekend, work can get a little tight, but we don't often run out completely. That sucked. But, I did sit down in front of the TV and pedal away for a few hours on my exercise bike while watching some educational TV.
Actually, I wound up watching a bit of "Man Versus Food" on The Travel Channel. Host Adam was visiting Sarasota for one particular episode. So, I found out the three "must visit" restaurants in Sarasota:
1. The Old Salty Dog on City Island. They have the best view from a restaurant, looking over gorgeous Sarasota Bay, and their deep-fried foot-long hot dogs appear insane... especially when you add the toppings.
2. Yoders Amish Restaurant, has pressure-fried chicken that is reportedly the best fried chicken a person can get. Also, more importantly, they have the best home made pies in Florida.
3. Munchies 420 Cafe, is a late-night eatery famous for crazy 5-pound-plus dinners-on-a-bun, and what Man-Versus-Food Host Adam (a guy whose show is all about taking crazy food challenges around the nation) says is the spiciest chicken wings on the planet. (He ate only 2 wings before giving up.)
So there you go: Four great restaurants in the Sarasota area!
And by the way, in the first video above, Host Adam mentions that Sarasota is noted for having some of the whitest sand on earth. It is true: Because of Siesta Key's pure quartz sand, it is perennially listed as one of the best beaches on Planet Earth. (1. 2. 3. 4.)
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Daily Report: Quality
I did some grocery shopping: Fixin's for salad, soups, some extra nice lunch meat (a special ham called capocollo, some mesquite-smoked turkey breast... I love fancy viands), and a couple of different appetizers for cocktail hours. Also some nice bread and cheese, fancy mustard... all so that I can make the world's best ham and cheese sandwiches.
I went and saw the new Pirates Of The Caribbean movie. It was completely wrong for the same reasons that Spiderman 3 was wrong: Not understanding why people liked the previous movies in the series.
The original Pirates Of The Caribbean movies were clever because there was spectacularly clever and flowery language used by spectacularly clever and flowery characters. The spectacularly clever and flowery special effects used to develop the spectacularly clever and twisting story line added to that foundation. This new movie doesn't really rely on the special effects very much. Worse, the story line is incredibly predictable. Unforgivable is that all but 3 of the numerous fantastic characters from the 3 original movies are gone from this movie, and all the cleverness is gone from the dialogue. And, as a final insult, Captain Jack Sparrow has muted all of his attractions: Even his flaky style of running is toned down.
The Bubba Gump project was stalled for a while as we waited for results of the first effort. (Still waiting, actually.) But hopefully soon we'll be moving into full swing with that. That will be keeping me occupied during the day.
Other than that, nothing much going on here.
I went and saw the new Pirates Of The Caribbean movie. It was completely wrong for the same reasons that Spiderman 3 was wrong: Not understanding why people liked the previous movies in the series.
The original Pirates Of The Caribbean movies were clever because there was spectacularly clever and flowery language used by spectacularly clever and flowery characters. The spectacularly clever and flowery special effects used to develop the spectacularly clever and twisting story line added to that foundation. This new movie doesn't really rely on the special effects very much. Worse, the story line is incredibly predictable. Unforgivable is that all but 3 of the numerous fantastic characters from the 3 original movies are gone from this movie, and all the cleverness is gone from the dialogue. And, as a final insult, Captain Jack Sparrow has muted all of his attractions: Even his flaky style of running is toned down.
The Bubba Gump project was stalled for a while as we waited for results of the first effort. (Still waiting, actually.) But hopefully soon we'll be moving into full swing with that. That will be keeping me occupied during the day.
Other than that, nothing much going on here.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Daily Report: In The Weeds
I've been weeding the front lawn. I kept watering it and looking at the huge patches of weeds and thinking how stupid it was to just continually water and grow weeds. So, I grabbed the first patch of weed and pulled. This 3-square-foot patch of tangled bramble that the weed was a part of came out of the ground. It was a satisfying experience in some man-over-nature fashion, especially on an effort-versus-results measure. To date, I have removed almost 30 pounds of weeds from what is actually a comparatively small patch of land. Yesterday, I went to the Home Depot and bought some "weed and feed" concoction that I spread around and watered in. We'll see what happens now. I'll probably need to buy seed for the bare patches, but maybe there is still dormant grass in that dirt.
Work has been going well. When I was moved to the new account back in November, I had actually pushed to be transferred to a different account on which I often worked, which was always very busy. Now 6 months later, I have been asked to go for a week to help out on that same account I had thought I should help with back in November. The funny thing is that I now like the new account more than the old account I had originally asked for.
The mind of the old fellow across the street is slipping quite a bit lately: He keeps stopping by and asking to borrow $10 (which I have been told by everybody not to provide). I figured I would just tell him that I only use plastic; that I never have cash in the house. That would keep him from asking twice. Wrong. He still stops by every 2 days to ask. Poor guy: He's really struggling with his mental facilities and is quite hapless and, I think, getting a bit frustrated and angry with a world that no longer understands him. He'll need to be moved to full-time supervision very soon.
Uncle Bob and Cousin Paul have been coming to cocktail hour every day. I did grocery shopping yesterday and picked up all kinds of appetizers for our daily klatch. We had cheese and salami today. Tomorrow is chips and salsa.
In return for my hospitality, Cousin Paul brought me some dinner to the house tonight: A mind-blowing plate of roast beef, corn, and mashed potatoes. I couldn't get over how good it was.
I've finally invented my own cocktail. (Not a punch, like the Cagayan Cocktail, for which I am already world-famous, but a proper cocktail.) I call it "Kentucky Daisy".
1.5 ounces bourbon
0.5 ounces coconut rum, like Malibu
0.5 ounces amaretto
Garnish with a Maraschino cherry and serve on the rocks.
Work has been going well. When I was moved to the new account back in November, I had actually pushed to be transferred to a different account on which I often worked, which was always very busy. Now 6 months later, I have been asked to go for a week to help out on that same account I had thought I should help with back in November. The funny thing is that I now like the new account more than the old account I had originally asked for.
The mind of the old fellow across the street is slipping quite a bit lately: He keeps stopping by and asking to borrow $10 (which I have been told by everybody not to provide). I figured I would just tell him that I only use plastic; that I never have cash in the house. That would keep him from asking twice. Wrong. He still stops by every 2 days to ask. Poor guy: He's really struggling with his mental facilities and is quite hapless and, I think, getting a bit frustrated and angry with a world that no longer understands him. He'll need to be moved to full-time supervision very soon.
Uncle Bob and Cousin Paul have been coming to cocktail hour every day. I did grocery shopping yesterday and picked up all kinds of appetizers for our daily klatch. We had cheese and salami today. Tomorrow is chips and salsa.
In return for my hospitality, Cousin Paul brought me some dinner to the house tonight: A mind-blowing plate of roast beef, corn, and mashed potatoes. I couldn't get over how good it was.
I've finally invented my own cocktail. (Not a punch, like the Cagayan Cocktail, for which I am already world-famous, but a proper cocktail.) I call it "Kentucky Daisy".
1.5 ounces bourbon
0.5 ounces coconut rum, like Malibu
0.5 ounces amaretto
Garnish with a Maraschino cherry and serve on the rocks.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Daily Report: A Day At Fox Lea Farms
Uncle Bob, Truck, and Trailer
Uncle Bob watches Marian and the
kids playing games.Today I was invited by my cousin Jon to join him and his family and his father, Uncle Bob, at Fox Lea Farms in Venice to watch his older daughter, Brooke, compete in an equestrian show being held there.
Fox Lea Farms is a very nice place just on the outskirts of Venice, with large paddocks, great viewing, and lovely vistas. There are also 30 sites at which one can park a camper for the night, and an on-site restaurant to pick up meals. Uncle Bob and his friend Marian stayed on the grounds in Marian's trailer, which made the day even nicer, with a big comfy cool room to return to when the heat got to be too much.
I had a member of Brooke's stable, Olivia, explain things to me a little bit so I was not too confused — this was my first horse event of any kind.
There are lots and lots of horse-based sports, from a local Rodeo all the way up to the Olympics. What Brooke would be doing was called "hunter", which is a subcategory of jumping ("show jumping", the other category, is more about speed; "hunter" is more about a horse's style), and "equitation" which is a competition in horse-riding posture, grace, and horsemanship.
It was also fun to learn all the different types of horse colors (roan, bay, pinto, appaloosa to name a few) and breeds (thoroughbred, warmblood, mustang). What was also interesting is the costs associated with riding: This is definitely not a sport for those without deep pockets.
Overall, Brooke was the best rider of the day, taking home second place in 4 out of her 5 classes (which beats a first and a bunch of thirds and fourths, like all the other competitors). So well done there.
After the competition was over, Uncle Bob cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, and we had a lovely lunch. Then it was back home to have a nap and then get some work done!
It was a lot of fun going out to the show, and I appreciate the invitation!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Daily Report: New Computer
Epril's laptop computer finally gave out. Fortunately, Mike Bird was leaving Honolulu for Manila only a few days after the death, so I was able to get a new laptop shipped overnight to Bird, who had it in Epril's hands 4 days later. It was a surprise gift for Epril, who thought she was going to be stuck in internet cafés chatting with me for the next 4 months.Nice computer too: An HP with a brushed aluminum case with a 17.3-inch display, 6 GB of RAM and a 500 GB hard drive.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Daily Report: Blame It On The Weather
I was enjoying watching the clouds roll in. The prospect of a nice soaking rain storm and a bit of thunder and lightning always appeals to me. But when the storm suddenly and violently arrived, I was unprepared: One second, rumbling cloudy skies and a mild gust of wind here and there; the next second, all hell broke lose. I had the back porch "wall of doors" opened and a 30 mile-per-hour blast of wind tore through the house blowing everything that wasn't nailed down three or four feet eastward. First, I ran and closed the "wall of doors" through which a torrent of rain was blasting. Then I rushed through the dining room (where my wet feet wiped out on the tiles setting me on my ass) to the living room to close the windows there, knocking over my book stand and breaking that. Then I rushed to my bedroom and closed those windows. Then to my bathroom where I made to close the window in the shower, grabbing the towel rack to slow my rush and tearing that off the wall. I guess I learned my lesson about blithely looking forward to storms without any preparation.
The power got knocked out, of course. I took the time to go to Walmart and buy three propane lanterns. (They were cheap.) Now, when the big hurricane comes, I'll at least have plenty of light to fall down to.
I finally did some grocery shopping last night. I couldn't stand it anymore: I needed proper meals and peanut-butter and strawberry jelly sandwiches were wearing thin. I went to Walmart at midnight. Third time I've done that and never again: All these scary-looking single ladies do their shopping at midnight and try to strike up conversations with me. No seriously: I'm three for three with that happening.
Anyway, I bought lots of healthy food... not an ounce of fat, more or less.
Uncle Bob is out of town this weekend, across the peninsula visiting my cousin, Doctor Christine, so no cocktail hours. Quiet weekend, all told. Nothing much to report. The weeds are growing.
I finally bought the "Angry Birds" game... the most popular game in the world today. Brilliant stuff. On the whole, I don't find it to be as clever or engaging as "Plants Vs. Zombies" but it is still immensely challenging. It's a lot of fun to see a simple game incorporate adult concepts into an entertaining whole. In Angry Birds, you're using kamikaze chickens to simulate artillery fire against em-bunkered green pigs. Lots of trajectory analysis to get the birds flying just the right angle, plus lots of structure analysis to figure out just where to hit the "bunkers" with the chickens to do the most damage. For $5... really a fun little investment though.
The power got knocked out, of course. I took the time to go to Walmart and buy three propane lanterns. (They were cheap.) Now, when the big hurricane comes, I'll at least have plenty of light to fall down to.
I finally did some grocery shopping last night. I couldn't stand it anymore: I needed proper meals and peanut-butter and strawberry jelly sandwiches were wearing thin. I went to Walmart at midnight. Third time I've done that and never again: All these scary-looking single ladies do their shopping at midnight and try to strike up conversations with me. No seriously: I'm three for three with that happening.
Anyway, I bought lots of healthy food... not an ounce of fat, more or less.
Uncle Bob is out of town this weekend, across the peninsula visiting my cousin, Doctor Christine, so no cocktail hours. Quiet weekend, all told. Nothing much to report. The weeds are growing.
I finally bought the "Angry Birds" game... the most popular game in the world today. Brilliant stuff. On the whole, I don't find it to be as clever or engaging as "Plants Vs. Zombies" but it is still immensely challenging. It's a lot of fun to see a simple game incorporate adult concepts into an entertaining whole. In Angry Birds, you're using kamikaze chickens to simulate artillery fire against em-bunkered green pigs. Lots of trajectory analysis to get the birds flying just the right angle, plus lots of structure analysis to figure out just where to hit the "bunkers" with the chickens to do the most damage. For $5... really a fun little investment though.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
