Sunday, July 20th, 2009 ("blew out my flip flop")

(Japanese food stall, abc store, my hotel, view from my hotel) Waikiki is really a cheap place to visit, my hotel is only $60 a night)

Yes the sole of my right sandal became unattached. I had to walk 2 miles with the front of the sole flappin' around... haha! Now I know the meaning behind the verse "I blew out my flip flop" from Jimmy Buffett's song "MargaritaVille".

Before this happened I purchased a mask, snorkel, and fins (size 13) from one of the ubiquitous "ABC stores. Damn these stores are everywhere here! I've seen them across the street from each other, I've seen two ABC stores on the same side of the street on the same block, not 100 yards apart. ABC stores are magic. They look tiny, but when you walk in they get huge, and contain far more things than a typical convenience store. They have clothes, souvenirs, food, produce, beer/wine, liquor, cigars, SNORKELING EQUIPMENT, and at comparable prices to the big box stores. I wish they had ABC's where I live.

Legs feel better today, so I returned to Queens Beach to do some more snorkeling. Now that I'm used to the Waikiki streets, my journey was much shorter than yesterday. I bought some sushi, a hot dog, and a mango for breakfast at the previously mentioned magic store, and had a nice picnic on the beach. I was all set up in a good uncrowded spot and laid back to catch some rays, when a big wave hit and blew my towel and luggage about 10 feet further up the beach, getting all my stuff wet and sandy. Fortunately I had already eaten. Snorkeling was OK, but I really need to get out of Waikiki pretty soon to better sites to view.

Before I left I sprayed copious amounts of sunscreen on my shoulders, back, and legs. It worked, as I didn't burn today. But to get the sand off my body nearly required a chisel, as the sunscreen acted as a type of glue. Even after the jacuzzi, I still had sand in places which I won't go into detail in regards to the locations.

The beach here is truly what I would call "International", people of all races, ages, backgrounds were pretty much all represented, which makes "people watching" a fun thing to do here. Due to the ban on drinking alcohol on the beach, everyone seemed happy and lawful. I've been to some pretty wild beach scenes, and Waikiki is pretty nice and tame. Some of the Hawaiian residents look pretty rough and weather beaten, with the white folks as dark as the aboriginals. Many of the local surfers appeared to be stoned on marijuana. I was sitting near a Canadian lady with red hair and very fair skin. I couldn't believe that she was out during the peak tanning hours (or PTH), for over an hour. She probably had NASA's best sunscreen, or else she would have melted and disappeared out there.

Since I'm totally alone I've become quite outgoing on this trip. Where ever I go I don't hesitate to talk to people that I don't know. Most seem relieved that I'm a nice guy in spite of my mean appearance. I've had many excellent conversations with good intelligent folks since I've been here. Last night I met a big fat 60 year old native Hawaiian who was very wise and articulate. The same night I met another native who was so primitive, I had the impression he was looking at me like "how many of my villagers will this guy feed once cooked". No kidding folks, all Polynesians are not as tame as the famous "Don Ho". Most of the Polynesians are warm and accommodating, but a few seem quite "butt hurt" about what happened in 1898, when the US "stole" their land. I don't know what to think, but I'm careful not to make the point that a century before that; King Kamehameha, with the help of guns he purchased from whalers, brutally attacked the other islands (he was King of the Big Island), in order to rule and enslave them. He killed thousands of Oahuites, and Maui-ites and Molokai-ites and so on. Now he is the symbol for the modern day independence seeking natives? Fortunately most native Hawaiians are level headed and just go with the flow.

I went flip floppin' back to my hotel, scraped off as much sand as I could in the shower, played my favorite online game "mobsters" where I fought some miscreants and said hello and chatted with a few of my virtual friends, before I got tired and took a three hour nap.

Around 6 PM. I walked 1/2 mile to the International Marketplace and bought some spicy pork meal with rice at the Japanese stall, and a bowl of Miso and seaweed soup. I love seaweed, it is fast becoming my favorite veggie. Of course anything floating in Miso soup, has got to have that excellent "Miso" flavor, whatever the hell that stuff is.... Dinner costs $7.95, and I got to feed pigeons while I ate! The little buggers are everywhere here, but oddly enough: No seagulls? We have seagulls all over Logan, Utah (do to the reservoir nearby), but no seagulls are seen in Oahu WTF? Pigeons are much less annoying so it's all good.

I Bought a smallish wooded Buddha to keep me company in my lonely hotel room, then went to the "Food Pantry", which is a full sized Hawaiian grocery store. Amazing that 1/2 the store sold Oriental staples, like noodles, rice, sushi, and many things I've never seen like dry packaged smoked squid. The Japanese lady behind me bought 4 one pound packages of pre-made "Nigiri Sushi" at $10 per package! She spent over 40 bucks, but that is enough for four people.

The rest of the night was uneventful, mainly stayed in my room to avoid spending money at the bar, but since I have cable TV, the internet, a six pack, and a little Jim Beam; I am content to hang out in the room, the view is quite nice as well.

Saturday, July 18th, 2009 (third day in paradise)

Woke up at 7:00 A.M. Made a pot of tea (I brought my own "loose leaf Darjeeling" tea from Lipton), which is an excellent way to start the day. As much as I love good coffee, high quality tea is liked more by my nervous system.

I then tryed to book a Snorkel trip but was a little late, so I called my dad instead. Do you readers use SKYPE? It is a very cheap internet phone service, that costs about $40 a year. They even have cheap international plans for way less than cellular or phone card options. Had to cut the conversation short so I could hit a new beach and snorkel on my own.

Today I went to "Queens Beach", in dedication to one of the Queens of Hawaii. Apparently one of the last human sacrifices was held there by King Kamehameha. Peer pressure to observe the ancient "Taboos" was very strict back in the day; and I thought the Mormons had a strict peer pressure thing going on. I guess the two cultures have a common bond with this "taboo" stuff, since the Mormons have quite a big presence here in Hawaii. Sorry, enough Mormon bashing, if you've read my entire blog you would know that I appreciate the Mormons immensely, especially how much they value their families. But I digress.

Hiked a couple miles thru the heart of Waikiki when I noticed how bloody sore my hips felt. Nothing major, but I had to stop and stretch every other block or so. Being w/o a car or bicycle is a foreign concept to me, hopefully my legs can last and I come home stronger and more physically fit in the legs department. My upper body is great, I swim like a fish with decent stamina. My legs have always been total shit, partially due to being chronically bowlegged and many severe sprains to the ankles when I was young. Of course weighing 1/6 of a ton helps this matter very little. But again I digress!

Stopped off at an expensive looking establishment right on the beach called "Cheeseburger in Paradise" named for an old Jimmy Buffet tune, and looked at the menu. Every breakfast option was 10 bucks. I was about to leave when I spotted the "cheap bastard plate" for only $6.95 which consisted of chopped up fried potatoes, onions, bacon, and cheese. This really hit the spot, and I washed it down with a well needed tankard of agua fria.

Finally I got to Queens beach and paid ten bucks to rent some well used snorkel gear and flippers. The native Hawaiian recommended that I hand him my "bling"; since he mentioned that barracudas were attracted to the flash of silver, I quickly handed him my necklace and silver ring (yes i did get it back). I spent an hour floating on the surf and observing the myraid of beautiful reef fish while looking out for barracudas and sharks. I have kept many salt water aquariums in my lifetime including the one in my classroom, it was so cool to be able to spot and name every single fish I saw. I saw sargeant majors, blennies, wrasses, butterfly fish, angel fish, moorish idols, and two species of trigger fish including the hawaiian state fish: The Humuhumunukunukuapua'a. They call these humuhumu's for short. I did spot a sea cucumber but no other inverts, even the coral was dead. Soon I'll make the bus trip to some of the better snorkeling areas, but Queens is the closest. CRASH!!! Another cheesy high school kid smashed into my head! But it was all good since he apologized. Snorkeling in the surf is pretty neat because the waves, and the occasional surfer just pass overhead, while me and the fish stay under the constant waves.

Got home achey as hell, but it was a good ache. Ate some sardines and crackers with tobasco sauce, drank a beer and took the customary two hour nap, then hit the hotel's jacuzzi in order to sooth my aching feet and hips. Had a blast talking to two Brasilian dudes and drinking budweiser, which they agree is good beer. There was a bit of a language barrier, but one spoke enough English, and they both understood my broken Spanish and sign language. After a couple hours, they left to the clubs, while a couple from Edmonton Alberta stopped in and we had a nice conversation for another hour. I did not want to leave the jacuzzi but I forced myself, and gimped down to the local ABC store to buy some salami and crackers and a small bottle of tequila, which I haven't touched yet. It's 10:30 and I want to get an early nights sleep so I can do more snorkeling tomorrow. I really should give the legs a rest and take the bus before I injure myself. We'll see what transpires I'm sure.

Friday, July 17th, 2009

Got up around 10:00 A.M. feeling good but jet lagged. Got cleaned up, shaved (including my head), made a pot of coffee, opened up the lanai doors and sat outside smelling the ocean breeze.

Since we have a big mini-fridge I made my first excursion down to the local "ABC" store and bought 60 bucks worth of groceries and other needed items (sunscreen etc..), and went back to the hotel and had a breakfast of salami and crackers. Afterwards the jet lag hit and I took a nap for a couple more hours. By noon-thirty; I woke up again put on my swimming stuff and made the 7 minute walk through the heart of Waikiki and hit the beach. Beach theft is a big problem here, so I sat near a family of southern rednecks for a long time, just watching the waves, surfers, and those crazy Japanese (they shouldn't wear swimsuits...even the pretty ones...they do not have asses). I asked the redneck mama where she was from, "Kentucky" she said. "I used to live in Ashland when I was a kid" I mentioned. "Yeah, my son in law is serving 18 months in the Ashland penitentiary for being a felon with a weapons charge". "Amazing" I exclaimed. "My son in law is in a Texas prison for the same thing". By then we were friends, so I asked if I could leave my stuff near their stuff, so I could go swimming and not have my clothes stolen. They protected my stuff like only true southern friends would.

Most Utahans would have said "No, I don't want the responsibility" or "Why are you talking to me in the first place"? Don't mean to disrespect the Utah folks, but it seems that the farther south you go, the more hospitable people get. I will make Montana a big exception to this theory. But in South Texas, Louisiana, Mexico, and now Hawaii, I can smell the hospitality in the air. In the Northern climes, where people had to work their asses off to farm a bit, they seem to be less accommodating. Most Texans will loan your their cars, shirt off the back, wives, whatever... But a German, Swede, or New Englander, says, "why don't you have your own shirt in the first place"? It has to be a cold weather thing, since the Thai people are much more giving than the Chinese to the north, and the Kentuckian's are more sharing than those in Utah.

Now that I made this bold and general statement. Yes I know that your uncle "Fred" from Scandinavia, helped this and that and blah blah blah... But think about it; assuming you've been and lived in all these climates. Yes there all always exceptions: But go down south for a while and you will see what I'm talking about.

The other side of my postulation: People in the Northern climes do not steal so much. I have another theory about hospitality. Societies and cultures that feel free to borrow from one another also have a theft problem. In Utah, I never lock my doors or secure my possessions, I could leave a $100 dollar bill on my front porch and no one will take it! In Texas people "borrowed" things from me all the time.. In Hawaii, and in most of Polynesia...... PEOPLE WILL BORROW FROM YOU. But if you BORROW from them, they don't really care to much because it's all "PUPULE'". My daddy taught me never to "borrow" without asking or returning, back in the 6Th grade. I've never "BORROWED" again. But I'm not sanctimonious about it either.

I jumped in the cool water of the Pacific Ocean for the first time. It was quite fun, but a bit crowded. As much as I like the idea of a private beach I find the crowds quite entertaining; except for the cheesy teenager that almost ran over me with a surf board. I decided not to take my chances with the tropical sun (and I brought a nice tan with me), so I headed back to the hotel room to take another nap. I did get a little burned, with my shirt only off for 30 minutes. Tomorrow, the sun screen will come on.

This nap was only for an hour, and now the jet lag is over, so I took a very long walk though Waikiki, searching for the famous "International Market". After two miles of searching I found the place only 3 blocks from my hotel. But it was nice to see the backstreets, little old houses, tourists, locals, azaleas, hibiscus bushes, and many other interesting things. The international Marketplace was a bit of a disappointment. Instead of the 3rd world markets I've seen in Mexico City and Chile, this one was a bit "tinkely winkely" but it was international with Polynesians, Filipino's, Vietnamese, Koreans, and Japanese all selling the same tourist crap; in a "Dolly Wood" looking setting. I wanted to see pigs and goats getting slaughtered or something cool. The upside to the International Market was the food court. There was little inexpensive food stalls with all the cuisine of the aforementioned ethnicity's. I paid 7 bucks for a bowl of miso soup with an 18 piece sushi roll lunch! I love miso soup, one of these days I'll look up what's in it..... on second thought... I don't want to know, because it's bound to be weird or disgusting.

After the Market place I was stuffed so I decided to go back to the hotel and read or write (which I did both). Unfortunately, I got a sort of lost and walked another 3 miles before I realized that the market was 3 blocks from my hotel. (adding more later stay tuned)

After I wrote this last diatribe (whatever a "diatribe" is), I went to the local "ABC" store and bought a 6 pack of Budweiser for 6 dollars, in order to have a few at the jacuzzi. My shoulders are aching from last weeks swimming, my back is aching from the plane trip, and recently my leg feel like spaghetti from the miles of walking today. The hotel's jacuzzi is adjacent to the hotel and bar, with a 1st class pool that sports an island with a giant palm tree on it! For a budget hotel, this pool is nicer than any 4 or 5 star I've ever seen. But I was all about the jacuzzi, and since I'm poor I BYOB'd it. Crazy: But in one of the nicest pool settings on the island, I was the only one at this particular time! I fired the 9 by 9 foot jacuzzi up, and the jets came to life, like the Pratt and Whitley's of a 747!!! SHEESH, THIS IS A REAL JACUZZI! Probably built in the 50's like the rest of the place, this is one quality bastard! 12 folks could sit in this tub and all would get a full body massage in 10 minutes!

I stayed in there for at least an hour, it was dark, the beer was cheap, and on this "extremely crowded" island: I was the only one in this gorgeously landscaped, huge, pool area.

Then it happened. A maintenance man came in and was checking things out. I got out of the jacuzzi and asked for a towel (so as not to inundate the lobby floor on the way back to my room), he brought me 3 towels for some reason. I put two in the towel rack and kept one nearby, because they were soon to close the pool area. I got back in the jacuzzi, then a 40ish looking Japanese women casually walks up to the hot tub. I just closed my eyes and avoided any contact with her, so as not to cause discomfort (people seem to fear me, due to my size and mean look). She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt but no swim suit. I started to wonder about this, so I opened my eyes and said "Hi, how are you doing tonight?", I was totally sober, having just two or three beers all day long. She said "I have been walking all day and was thinking about getting into the jacuzzi". I replyed, "I have been walking all day as well, and I highly recommend it". "But they are closing the pool area in 15 minutes" she informed me. I was leaving anyway, so I said "Go get in why you can, you will feel much better". As I got out of the pool, I had the vibe that she was one of the managers, because you rarely see a Japanese woman, going to a pool alone at night time or anywhere during the day for that matter. But who knows? I do tend to over analyze things, I probably will know within the next two weeks (not that it matters). Hopefully she is single, alone, unattached, and appreciated the courtesy I gave her, by hauling my big carcass out of the Jacuzzi, so she could have it to herself. I didn't feel she was hitting on me. I just wanted to be polite, whether she was a customer or a manager. (more to come just stay tuned)!

The rest of the night was uneventful, I hung out in the hotel bar for a couple hours and talked to the local people. Most were converts from the United States. They were all quite wierd so I didn't spend much time with them.

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

Went to bed around 5:00 A.M due to the one large strong cup of coffee from “Crumb Brothers” the previous morning. I woke 4 hours later to being a 14 hour odyssey in order to get to my hotel room here in Waikiki.

Spent 2 ½ hours taking the Cache Valley deathtrap shuttle to the S.L.C. Airport, This van
actually broke the million mile mark this day. No kidding, the driver was proud of it. Problem was that the chassis was totally shot. I could feel the front right wheel wobbling like a cheap shopping cart and every bump on the road felt like we were being hit by a freight train. The driver was a pretty cool 55 year old Mormon, who worked hard and didn't complain. The loud squeaks and groans the van made caused one old passenger to say “feed that bird and she'll stop squeakin'”. Overall, I had no sleep or breakfast, and just wanted to get to the airport in one piece. At one point the million mile wonder van was doing 90 miles per hour. I started to feel seasick.

We arrived at the SLC International airport with little time to spare, only to find some very long lines to stand through, before going through the near strip search. I boarded the tiny regional plane and wound up being stuck in a window seat, next to a very kind mafioso looking Italian guy with a Brooklyn accent. We were the only two people on the flight to have a drink. I swear this Joe Pesci looking dude was in organized crime, but with the lack of sleep, my imagination could have gone south on me.

Landing in Portland was interesting: Three big volcanos could be seen from the airport, giving Portland sort of a “Land of the Lost” type feel to it. If and when any of those mothers erupt, it would suck to be a Portlandite. After 3 hours sitting in the much nicer airport, we finally boarded the 757 heading toward Honolulu. By now we were 7 hours into this trip, I was tired, felt like hell, and the idea of throwing up in the barf bag was a definite possibility, while sitting in a hot plane on the tarmac waiting for the plane to leave. To make matters worse I was sitting next to a gorgeous blond chick in her early 20's (I tend to spill over both sides of the seat), and a gorgeous young mom with 2 year old kid in the seat across the aisle from me. Then there was the infant in the aisle seat in front of the other mother. Hear I am, trying not to vomit, while sitting by these lovely ladies, and two babies within 3 feet of my ears. Damn the cabin was hot as hell. Then the blond next to me kept hugging on a big Puerto Rican dude in the middle seat in front of her who was her boyfriend and a United States Marine! Usually, I would have switched seats with him, but I really needed the aisle seat in case I needed the restroom in a hurry. I just closed my eyes and focused on not getting sick. 30 minutes later, once in the air (thank god), the cabin cooled down, and I regained some of my equilibrium.

KNOCK! KNOCK! the hot chick tapped me on the head because she had to go to the can. Once she got back and we were acquainted, she was crackin' some funny jokes and acted like we have been life long friends! She was a very cool chick in spite of her perfect looks. The kid next to me turned out to be quite pleasant, and the baby in front of him was a golden baby who smiled a lot but never fussed. We had a couple drinks and the movie started. The movie has funny as hell and the blond kept elbowing me in the ribs whenever someone said something funny. 3 hours into the flight everything was great, while we all made our way to Hawaii. The Puerto Rican Marine was pretty cool, but I could sense that he didn't approve of the fun we were having. When we landed I thanked him for our service to our country and he seemed content with the respect I showed.

Before I left home, I decided to wear my wide-legged “ghetto jeans” that I bought at a Mexican boutique. I knew they were loose and comfy so I chose to wear them on the flights. Only problem was: I packed my belt in my checked baggage, but I wasn't worried, since the last time I wore them they stayed on OK. But since I've been swimming and eating Ramen, I lost about 2 pants sizes in my waist, so I had to do the “ghetto cinch” by holding two belt loops together with one hand while I walked. This normally wouldn't be an issue, but since I had two heavy carry on bags it was a pain. At one point, when I had to show my boarding pass while holding up my pants and carrying two bags, my pants started sliding fast. I had to drop the bags and grab my pants, while handing over the boarding pass, otherwise Mr. Barnes would have been standing in the airport with my pants dropped to my ankles, and all these Mormons would have seen the funky designs on my long legged briefs. This issue was even worse in Honolulu, when I had a 70 pound backpack, in addition to the carry on, while trying to hike the ¼ mile to get to the airport shuttle. While walking, I felt the “my zipper is down” breeze, and actually managed to zip up while struggling with these bags, and waving goodbye to the Blond and her boyfriend simultaneously. I managed to do it while only looking slightly stupid!

Our driver was a native Hawaiian women, who was very sweet, sturdy, and polite. She dropped me off at my hotel and wasn't mad that I had no cash to tip her. Then I got my room key, and struggled up to my room while trying to keep me pants up the entire way. Once I got to the room, I poured a whiskey, and sat out on the Lanai for an hour, entranced by the view of the Ala Moana Canal and the mountains in the distance. By this time it was 9:00 PM Hawaiian time (1 AM Mountain time), and the world is good again.

At 11:PM Hawaiian time I went to the very cool hotel bar (the locals hang out here), and hung out with the bartender for an hour or so. Turns out the bartender was from Maine, then went to college at UT Austin, before moving to Waikiki. He said he wasn't going back.

July 15th, 2009

Damn, summer is half over already. Where does the time go? Seems that time speeds up every year.

Freddy wakes me up at 7:00 AM which would have been great except I went to bed at 4:00 A.M.. I let him outside and then couldn't go back to sleep, so I took my bike to the "Crumb Brothers" bakery and had a croissant and a cup of good coffee.

I last wrote about the wonders of Ramen soup. I have made this soup 4 times since I last wrote you. Last night I made a version using onions, sliced red bell pepper, schredded cabbage and one chopped up hotdog! It was great. I like cuisines where the emphasis isn't a giant slab of meat. These soups use very little if any meat, last nights meal used one hotdog for 4 servings of soup. Seems that meat is used more of a condiment in the orient. I like lighter meals, because I like having the energy to do things. I also made a new dessert!

Fried Peanut Butter and honey Oriental:

Make a Peanut butter and honey sandwich, fry up some butter in a hot skillet, fry the sandwich like your making a grilled cheese, remember to flatten the sandwich with a spatula.

cut into 16 squares, drizzle a little honey on the tops of the squares, sprinkle some sesame seeds on the honey. Serve with chopsticks. The chopsticks are important since they are the cleanest way to eat this, plus it's the only thing "Oriental" about this dessert. Enjoy! (using a sliced banana in the sandwich would be a nice addition).

Got to get packing for my trip to Hawaii tomorrow.

July 12th 2009

Sunday.

Got up at a decent time (11:00 A.M.) and headed straight to the pool with no breakfast. Drank a small mango smoothy for energy, which did kick in after the 15th lap or so. Kept it to 20 laps, to avoid overdoing it, I also want to swim again tomorrow. But 1000 yards is over 1/2 mile so I am happy with the work out. After laying in the sun for 20 minutes, and the jacuzzi for another 10 minutes, I drove to the grocery store.

I saw a food show on the travel channel the other day, and noticed that there were many noodle stalls in the Orient that specialized in nothing but ramen style soups. There are also many places in Hawaii and other American cities with the same concept.

There are many kinds of noodles made across the Orient, from buckwheat, soybean, rice, seaweed, and many others. The kind I'm talking about are the instant Ramen noodles you can buy at the grocery store for around 20 cents a pack or less. It is an instant wheat based noodle package that includes a flavor pack which is sort of like chicken bullion. They also make pork, beef, veggie, and seafood flavors just to name a few. Many poor college students live off this stuff. The only problem is that packaged Ramen contains little nutrition and a buttload of salt and MSG. Very little protein, vitamins or minerals can be found in commercial Ramen, but there still is some.

At the store I went through all the possible ingredients (and there are many of them), that could be used to make some hearty Ramen which could serve for a meal. Sounds easy right? Think of a combination of three to six ingredients, that taste great when mixed together, and can be made in one pot. (I added the one pot requirement, because Logan hates it when I shit up all the dishes, and I plan to bring a "Hotpot by Rival" to cook with when I go on vacation).

After racking my brain for the perfect ingredients, and hanging around the produce aisle way too long, I decided on a mixture of shredded cabbage, green onions, fresh cremona mushrooms, tofu, and egg. Look at all the protein, vitamins, and minerals in that combo. Of course this all will be combined with fresh ginger and garlic. I have been thinking about how to do this for several days, and have even scouted the internet for simular Ramen recipes, but this one is unique, and only uses one pot.

This serves one for a full meal with leftovers:

Al's Taoist Divine Inspiration Soup.

2 green onions finely chopped,
1/3 container of firm tofu (4 oz).
5 quarter sized mushrooms (any kind is ok...they all have potassium)
one small handful of shredded coleslaw mix (cabbage and carrots) I dont own a grater.
1 large egg
one thumbnail sized chunk of fresh ginger or more if desired (chop it fine)
two normal sized cloves of finely chopped garlic.

3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar (any vinegar would probably work)
2 tablespoons of honey (or sugar)
soy sauce to taste
Srichaca hot sauce (red pepper oil, crushed red peppers, cayenne pepper) will all work fine..
I like the Srichaca (sp?), since it burned off all my hair a long time ago. It's Vietnamese and deadly hot.

One seventeen cent package of Nissen Ramen noodles, chicken flavor. (or any flavor really)
Few drops of sesame oil (a little goes a long way) tahini works too. Actually feel free to omit this it's not as important as the other stuff.

Marinate the tofu for a few minutes in a bit of soy sauce.
Spray some oil in the bottom of the saucepan, heat to medium, fry the onions, ginger and garlic for a couple minutes, add the tofu for a little while frying on both sides to lock in the flavor.
Add the, sliced mushrooms, and a small handful of cabbage (this is not really a cabbage main dish so take it easy!). Stir a bit.

Since I used the "Rival Hot Pot" it was tough to fry in oil since the metal part on the bottom (the heating element) is about the size of a silver dollar, but I managed by pouring a little water over the cabbage, in order to steam it. THIS THING HEATS WATER FASTER THAN A MICROWAVE SO BE CAREFUL. BUT GO OUT AND BUY ONE FOR 13 BUCKS. THEY ARE GREAT! I fryed on the lowest setting... and used a dab of oil since the Rival company said to not fry in this thing. It's ok as long as you keep it low and fry on the small metal element.

The frying should be pretty light so don't screw up and carmelize anything. The steaming really helped get everything done as much as the initial frying.

Once all the ingredients are fry then steamed, add the vinegar (stir), add a couple shakes of soy (you can add more later), then put in the honey (to balance out the vinegar), and stir a little. Turn the heat down to simmer, add three cups of water, and stir once more, add the ramen flavor packet (not the noodles) and stir once more.
(Cover for 10 minutes. Go have a beer or check your e-mail.)

Turn the heat up till boiling, and add a brick of Ramen noodles (break it in half first), while stirring noodles add the pre-beaten egg, then immediately turn down to simmer. This should only be boiling for a short time, like 30 seconds. Add in some hot sauce, more soy sauce to taste, and finish each bowl with a few drops of sesame oil.

Scoop out noodles, egg, cabbage, tofu and mushrooms, and pour on some broth. Eat with chopsticks and drink the liquid from the bowl. I had two bowls and I am totally full. The myriad of oriental flavors were completely intertwined and perfect in a way that I can't really describe. Divine is the only thing that describes it.

This was the best oriental soup that I have ever tasted. I will eat this once a day!

The entire meal was less than a dollar, and I still have 1/2 a bowl left. And no being tired from eating a giant plate of meat or carb based food. This is a break through for our families daily diet.

Once the tofu is gone, I plan to make this with a seafood base, since there are so many places I can take this recipe. I could start a small restaurant selling nothing but this dish and a few spring rolls.



After lunch, I had enough energy left to clean the entire house including the dog. Logan helped me quite a bit, we really are a good team. The dog is now walking around all "butt hurt" since he has never had a bath before, we turned several shades of white in the bathing process. Next time I'll probably pay someone else to do it. The tap water here is cold as hell, and the dog appears to be emotionally disturbed from the experience.

Been a great day for me. Probably not so much for Logan and the dog, but the house is clean including the refrigerator, and my dog smells a hell of a lot better.

Lao Tzu says: Make a pot out of clay, but it is the space within that makes it useful.

July 9th 2009

I had two days of working on my old Volvo (I really dislike mechanical work). I sold the Volvo a month ago to my friend Hamin. Hamin is a very kind old Persian man who owns the sandwich shop near my school, and is my oldest friend here in Logan. I sold him the Volvo for $4000 but told him I would replace the heater coil for an additional $500. Lucky me... I tryed to persuade him to take it to the shop, since I am way to big to be crawling under neath the dashboard of a foreign car, but since I read the online instructions, I knew I could do it.

After spending 6 hours yesterday on my knees, squeezing my large body into mind boggleing contortions, and smashing my knees onto a gravel driveway, I managed to get the heater core loose, the antifreeze out of the coolant system, but was blocked by a large feckin' amplifier and bracket that was not in any of the internet pictures I looked at.

I woke up this morning kneesore and a bit disgusted, that I was nearly done with the operation, but failed to get the new heater core installed. I dreaded going out in the heat of the day to work on the car, so I had a couple beers at Logans job site, in order for the sun to go down a little. When I got home, Hamin shows up with this 19 year old kid who was supposed to be a decent mechanic. With this kid to assist me, we managed to get the amplifier out and the old heater core. Has was so proficient and had no problem fitting under the dashboard, I offered to split my mechanic fee 50 50 with him.

It only took 1 1/2 hours to get the Volvo back together. Hamin saved hundreds of dollars, the kid made $166 for his hour and a half labor, and I made $166 dollars for my 8 hours of labor, which is still pretty good money. The rest of the $500 goes toward the parts, which I'll get reembursed for. Thank god all that is over.

July 7th 2009

Not much to report. I've blown off the original idea of this blog, "to live in a truck camper", after having spent many hours in the "camper". It's a great place to hang out in the winter, when tired of being in the house, but I have not camped in there this summer at all....yet.
I do plan to retire in an RV at some point in my life, but living in a truck camper would be tough to do full time. I could do it if necessary, but it would surely be a suckfull existance.

I did buy Logan and I some backpacks, a camp stove, a tent, and he is wanting to camp as soon as his work lets up a little. Logan is still doing well at his job, his boss and coworkers have nothing but good things to say about him. I have nothing but good things to say about him as well. We will camp, when the time comes. I will probably be camping in another state very soon.

I have been quite the swimmer since I got the underwater MP3 player, I swam a mile (35 laps) last week, and apparently overdid it. I felt sharp pains in my clavical bones, and in my right rotater cuff. No big deal, I waited three days and held it down to 750 yards (15 laps), then did a follow up swim of 15 laps, three days later (today), with no pain whatsoever. I plan to do another mile tomorrow, if all goes well. Damn, my upper body is getting WIDE and I can only pinch 2 inches of flab at my midsection. I love the water and swimming so much, I love fish, the ocean, sailing, and body surfing . So I made a decision....

Booked a 14 day trip to the Hawaiian Islands, and plan to surf, swim, snorkel, and lay around the beach. I have studied the islands extensively, and know many different things to do while there. I'll probably start writing on a daily basis, once I get there (9 more days!). I plan to see the Pearl Harbor memorial, visit some Buddhist temples, eat at the noodle shops in China Town, go snorkeling in Hamanuma Bay, as well as in Wikiki. My hotel also has a very nice pool, where I can swim as much as I wish. The pool is big enough to get a workout, but the beach is only a couple blocks away.
I really want to fly over to the big Island, and take the tour to the top of Mount Mauna Kea (13000 feet!), but I will have to evaluate finances when I get to that point. There seems to be so much to experience on Oahu, but a cheap 47 dollar flight, will get me to any of the other islands. I invited my son and older daughter to join me, but both have to work and can't seem to get the time off. My younger daughter is finishing up her bachelors degree and will graduate this August!!!! You go ATHENA!

July 4th was pretty cool, I bought some fireworks for the children next door, and hung around with their mama while they had a blast catching things on fire. Their mama and I had fun drinking wine and discussing things. She's a pretty sharp lady and a good neighbor, but my appreciation stops there.... believe me!

Logan and two of my friends bought some little kids junk bicycles, and took over my garage with plans to customize them. I loaned them my tools, and wished them my best. I do hope they learn a bit about bike mechanics while they have fun with their experment.

Made a new recipe yesterday: Slawdogs!

I was researching slaw recipes, and found the KFC recipe to be a good one, but after adding mustard and Tabasco sauce, and reading about how some people actually put slaw on hotdogs instead of saurkraut, I decided to make SLAW DOGS!
I would have preferred potato salad, or baked beans, but slaw is way more healthy.

Take a bag of shredded cabbage/carrot slaw mix (I would do the shredding but lack the equipment). Add 1/2 cup Mayo, 4 tablespoons white vinegar (I used rice vinegar), 1/3 cup unrefined sugar (honey would be better), 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tablespoons mustard, some tabasco sauce, and whatever else you happen to like in your slaw. (KFC's recipe calls for buttermilk and lemon juice).

*AGAIN: Just taste it. If its to sweet, add some vinegar or lemon. To sour, add some sugar or something. But always taste your cooking often, but don't put that nasty spoon you licked, back in the mix, or my mom will kick your ass!

Let this marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, hopefully overnight.

Then boil or grill some good all-beef hotdogs. I like to grill stuff, but the boiled dogs seem to taste a little better, boiling tends to leach out all the nitrites and salt. Plus, hotdogs were invented with boiling in mind. I love to spend my time grilling, as a past time, but hotdogs, are much better if you just boil the damned things... Boil the hell out of them for 10 minutes and they'll be just great!

* After trying all the best hotdogs, I vote the Oscar Meyer all beef hotdogs, to be better than Ball Park Franks, and even better than Nathans. (Nathans cost the most, but have no skin (kosher laws), and far too salty. Oscar Meyer is the best value of the three ALL BEEF franks. Don't buy the cheap turkey/chicken/pork mixed crap! Beef Dogs are about 3.50 for a pack of 8 why buy the bottom of the barrel dogs, which are packed with cereal, turkey beaks, chicken asses, and pig snouts????

Buy whatever bun you like, stick the dog in it, and dump 1/4 pound of your slaw onto the dog.
and enjoy. This is one heck of a good meal, with plenty of healthy green veggies, and minimal carbs. I plan to experment with non mayo, vinegar only, slaws this next week. They will be even healthier slaw recipes for you and me. Substituting slaw for potato salad or fries, seems to make sense to me or anyone on a diet regimen. Next time I'll replace the sugar with Splenda.


Thats all for now! Al

June 26th, 2009

(This photo has nothing to do with the subject, but I love this picture. Dad is wearing a Rastaman hat that my daughter made me, and a pancho, that one of my 6th graders brought me from Mexico a few years ago. Dad was cold sitting outside in 50 degree weather.)



Woke up with dog pawing me to go outside. This wasn't like the time he woke me because he had to use the bathroom and was about to explode. He had an alterior motive. I happened to leave the back yard window open and he heard the dogs next door barking. He just knew how to manipulate me to get his wishes. Intelligent dogs are hard to trust and are often full of shit....

The llama communicates too. In the evenings I give her a scoop of llama feed then sit nearby and read while she eats. I have the radio going on while she's eating. When she is finished she stands about 8 feet away and stares at me with her big eyes and begins to moan. Once her moans get louder than the radio I look over and say "hey Sue"; she then starts smacking her lips in an overexaggerated manner. Usually I'll ignore her for 10 or 20 minutes, or tell her to wait, so she doesn't cram too much food down at once, but when I get up and grab the scoop she gets very happy and follows me to the house like a puppy. I make her stop at 2 scoops, since each scoop is 1 quart, and who wants a fat obnoxious llama?


Went to the gym, with my underwater mp3 gear, and swam 1000 yards! Thats 20 times back and fourth in a 50 yard pool. Farther than I've swam in 30 years!!! My old goal was only 500 yards, which I managed to swim for the past year, and it was boring as hell. But with music... 1000 yards is no problem. I'll increase this distance in a week or two. Due to time constraints, I'll have to keep it below 2000 yards, but it is great excercise, and fun now that I got music playing.

Imagine: You are swimming laps in a pool rockin to "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC or "Black dog" by Led Zeppelin??? This was so fun...

When I returned home I grabbed 5 days of emergency laundery and asked my son for some of his dirty laundry. He provided a pair of pants and a shirt. Damn, we haven't done any laundry in 20 days, and he hands me one pair of pants and a shirt. WTF?

With nice looking clean clothes on, I walked over to the restaurant where Logan works. The owner recognized me from the previous day, when I told him I was Logans father he became estastic, bragging about what a cool kids Logan was, and telling what a good job he was doing.
This restaurant is a very nice place, with great food and atmosphere. This was they're second friday to be open and the place was packed, with people waiting in line to eat. They didn't even advertise or have a grand opening.

June 24th, 2009

GOT TO GO HERE TODAY!






Another great day. (but lets revisit last night)

The chicken/red pepper/ corn on the cob party on the porch lasted till 4 in the morning. Three people joined the party which centered around very old and cool music: Logan, Freddy and me. I wouldn't have invited anyone else even if they all could have attended.

This city is so still and peaceful at those late hours; it's tough to imagine that 100,000 people live up in this valley.

I stay up late at night like this quite a bit. It's the quiet time when I can think. It's the time where I can dream of ideas and contemplate/catagorize my many thoughts. I can go though all my favorite subjects mentally w/o even having to open a book. Dream and philosophize about life in the past, present, and future. Allowing myself to stay up late at night is the most luxurious privilege I can think of. This is what I require..., next to oxygen, food, water, beer, and money (and totally in that order). Staying up late is number six on the "requirements for life.

So I woke up around 1:00 PM. Caught up on my computer things I do, took care of the animals, had a cuppa tea. Then drove the huge 900cc beast up to the GYM. The huge bike weighs about 700 pounds and has the power, fury, and sound of a B29 bomber. I love this bike, every time I ride her, it is like a special event or something. I generally prefer the smaller, more nimble enduro dirt bikes for Jaunts like this. But the CB 900 is a snarling beast that is a joy to ride, however more ominous.

Got to the gym and had to lay in the sun like an alligator again for 20 minutes until those damned swimming lessons were over. I really don't mind laying out in the company of beautiful Morman women, while listening to my MP3 player and baking in the sun with my Oakley sunglasses on. I'd rather bask here than in San Tropez. Once the kids got out, I swam the 15 laps (.42 miles) in about 25 minutes, before laying back on the lounge chairs and tanning my backside for a little while. I then took a steam bath and jacuzzi back in the locker room before treating myself to a banana/pineapple/coconut smoothy with "weight loss formula and a vitamen shot.

I felt so much better on the trip home than the trip there. On the way home I stopped off at Best Buy and found a dry land MP3 player for 50 bucks (nothing fancy) but obtained an MP3 case with built in speakers and a small amplifier, so I can play my sound any were I want, with out having to use earphones. I hope the MP3 radio works good, since I prefer the serendipity of the radio, compared to pre-recorded music.

Got home, totally beat from the workout (and the antics of the night before), and took a 2 hour recharge nap. Reawoke around 9 and went out to dinner at the place that Logan works. The Beehive grill just opened two weeks ago, and is like a Chili's, but with a better menu, better beer, and much more class. I wore a button down shirt for this event, since I wanted to look nice for my son. The second I got there I saw two of my students who seemed to be damned glad to see me! The girl kept bragging about how Logan was the best dishwasher in the place!

Since I was alone, I went to the lovely bar area, and ordered a beer and some German sausage/sauerkraut dish, which was top notch! Logan and another student stopped by to welcome me, seems that everyone there was proud of the great place they worked at. I have to admit: This restaurant is the best I've been too in many years. From the looks of the other patrons, I believe that this place will be a hit for many years to come.

I mainly sat at the bar, read the latest Smithsonian Magazine, and slowly ate my food, while listening to the happyness all around. I will go there at least once a week.


Came home and spent the usual hour and a half, sitting with the LLama (Sue) while she eats, she seems to like the company, and hung around Freddy the wonderdog at the same time. They were worried because I was about two hours late.

Freddy is proud of his communication skills. Last night, while the grill was on auto pilot I laid down on the couch for a few minutes to watch a tv show and started drifting off to sleep. Freddy, not wanting to miss his share of the food, started whining in a particular way from his carpet in the kitchen. He was so persistant that I woke up, and he indicated that I needed to get back to the grill. When I listened to him he started dancing around like he always does, when he succeeds in communicating something of great importance to me. He way so happy! Had he not intervened, I probably would have slept all night, and both of us would have missed dinner completely. Freddy is a brilliant dog, I will probably be a collie owner forever after owning Freddy.


Logan got home around Midnight and is patiently waiting to use this computer, so I guess I must get off for now.

June 23rd, 2009

Tuesday: I sold my Volvo! Now I can pay income taxes and shit. I can afford to fix up some of my remaining vehicles as well. Talked to Mom and Dad for a while, got some bad news about one of my uncles.

Rode the bike a few miles today; swimming was out of the question.

Logan worked hard again, came home in a great mood as usual. In the mornings he tends to be quiet and somber.

Slow bar-b-qued 6 chick legs with a cut in half red bell pepper (on sale for 50 cents each so I bought more than a few of them), and two water soaked corn on the cob with husks (I had to throw those wet bastards in the middle of the fire). Still doing that now.

Muscles still too sore to swim, but it is a "good sore" and not a bad one. Tomorrow I'll be back and swimming hopefully: My abdominal muscles seem to be very sore, so I will have to check them first. Don't ever want to piss them off!

Nite all, today was a fine day afterall.

AB

June 22nd 2009

Much better day than Sunday. My oldest daughter did call in the morning. I went to school on Monday and seven of my students showed up to make jewelry! I have to come in for aquarium maintanence any way so I hang around for a couple hours and let students use the facility, after all the place really belongs to them. Funny how some of them were asking how my summer was going, I told them that we've really only been out for 2 weeks, and that summer is going well.

I also recieved my SMP3 player!!! So I spent most of my school time making a play list and downloading it. As soon as I got home I ate an orange for energy and headed to the pool. After laying in the sun like an alligator for 30 minutes, I finally got a lane and swam for twice as long as I normally do. Wound up swimming 15 laps instead of 10 which is .42 of a mile! I'll be working out 1/2 mile soon instead of the privious 500 yards which was slightly over a 1/4 mile.
I lost 8 pounds since last monday, and should be shedding more since I'm on a low carb version of the Mediterranean diet. It was so fun to swim with music rocking through your head, I never got bored or tired, but my ligaments told me I was risking pulling one or more of them.

Tonight my friend "Hamin" is stopping by to purchase the Volvo. I hope he doesn't try to negotiate too much on the price, because I need the money for my future truck fund, and my income tax debt.

I just made a well-deserved Martini, and am planning on finishing it, and doing some last minute touches on the Volvo, like charging the AC system...

June 21st 2009

FATHERS DAY!!!!

No calls, no cards, nothing....

June 20th 2009

Went to gym, swam another 500 yards, laid out in the sun. Life is great! Came home and cooked Steak and fried potatoes with bacon. I could only eat the Steak, the potatoes have too many carbs. Logan enjoyed this meal......as did Freddy.

Shot a few games of pool with my good friend "Larry". Larry is an old man who fought in the Vietnam war, he is the only one of noble character that I have met in this pool hall. We broke up a small gang fight last weekend, by telling the two factions that: "We represent the Pinata's!" there will be no fighting on our turf"! Then we pulled the two combatants apart, and steered them to their respective cars. Funny how humor can diffuse a potentially bad situation.
I should have stayed out of it, but then the two groups of youngsters would have probably gone to jail. The "Pinatas" saved their asses!

Larry is a great human being, has lived a long life punctuated with wives, kids, alchoholism, and is one of the most honest decent humans I've met in a long time. I noticed that his pool playing ability increases with the amount of beer that he drinks. He won't drink hard liquor. We never play for real money, but prefer playing for yachts or corporations, wives, or whatever we happen to think up. We got tired of the pool hall tonight, and drank a few more beers on my front porch before Larry went back home. Very few people impress me, since most seem quite selfish. Larry is a poor old man who fought for our country, has worked manual labor for the past 35 years, never has an unkind thought towards anyone, and has achieved what I can only call Sainthood.

Since we both equally dislike this particular pool hall's owner, we are going to ride bicycles every Friday to the nicer pool establishment a mile up the road. I just got to convince the old man to wear a helment.




Larry

June 19th 2009

Didn't do much today, I was still sore as heck from my workout Wednesday. I haven't been to the gym in a couple months but got back into swimming last week. Wednesday, I worked out on the weight machines before swimming 500 yards (usually I do one or the other). Thursday I felt "good" sore. Friday, I felt, "you over did it" sore. Should be okay, I don't think any ligaments are pulled. I'll go back Saturday and keep it "Swim only".

I generally only swim 500 yards as fast as I can during a swim session. This only takes about 15 minutes, I would swim longer, but I get bored (try pacing up and down a football field for 15 minutes). So I decided to buy an underwater MP3 player. Hell, I needed a birthday present anyway. From what I hear, swimmers that use these tend to stay in the pool much much longer. When it comes in I'll give the "SwmP3" a full review.

I drove my latest classic bike around town, an 82' CB900 Custom, this bike is in excellent condition and gets stares werever it goes. I ran into a guy at the gas station who had a 72' Kawasake 750 Triple, which is a very rare machine. The Triple was a very fast bike, with 3 cylinders, low weight, two stroke, most of these no longer exist. The bikes frame was too weak for the engine, and the braking wasn't very good. Most Kawasaki Triples wound up wrapped around trees, it seems. The one I saw on Friday looked brand new. I got talking with the man "Olaf" and he told me how he took every part off the bike and either replaced or rebuilt each part. He claims bikes like that, in that condition sell for $10,000, which I believe.

He stopped by the house to see my old KZ 650 and was quite impressed by the condition. He even gave me tips on the carb work that I planned on doing to get her running as it should. Turns out that two of the man's daughters took my jewelry class last year and we would up talking for 30 minutes.

I spent the rest of the evening reading and hanging out with Freddy and the Llama (Sue).

June 18th 2009

It's been a month since I blogged my brothers and sisters. I must confess the daily guilt that this involves since I know that at least 5 souls were keeping up with this.

The school year ended, and as many know, the last month requires all one's mental faculties. I Screwed up and told my dad to book his trip to my house on Friday, June 4th, but, Friday, June 5th was my last day of school and also the day that I made the limo arrangements. So when I got the call on the 4th with dad asking how he could make the 80 miles from the airport, to my house, I had to tell him to get a cab. The cab driver agreed to make the trip for 120 dollars, but dad got charged 180 and he wasn't too happy. In fact: He refused to pay. I interceded and refused to get sucked in to this, since all the cabbie had to to was show the meter to the police, and we would have no case. Getting tossed in jail for theft of services is no way to start a vacation.

Dad just left a few days ago, after enduring 10 days of my hospitality. We had a good time for the most part. Of course it rained most every day, and the tempuratures on the front porch, where we spent much time, was in the mid 40's to mid 60's. Dad brought light shorts and T-shirts for the trip, saving his one pair of long pants for the plane flight. This was a bit of a problem so I had to constantly throw blankets, panchos, hats, my coats, in order to keep him from getting pneumonia or something. We hung out for 10 days mainly talking, going to local restaurants, discussing chess, and we drove the truck into the cold mountains a couple times.

Since he left on Monday, I have been cleaning the place a bit, working in my classroom, riding my new motorcycle (more on that later), and trying to make plans for the rest of the summer.
The llama (Sue), is becoming quite tame, she actually eats from my bare hand now. She has my back yard looking like a putting green, since no hay is available I've been giving her a quart or more of llama feed daily.


Logans job requires him to work very long hours, which he enjoys, since they fired the other dishwashers, and he gets much praise and glory from his managers! They raised his pay much higher than minimum raise in appreciation for his good attitude and tough work ethic. I am quite proud.

Tonight, I made a new dish: "Salmon Florentine" which isn't much precident for. I combined various ideas from simular recipees and came up with one that was nice.

"Salmon Florentine"

Ingredients:
One pound of Salmon fillet cut in two pieces
Four cups raw spinach
1/2 cup of cream
1/2 cup of mild cheese (ricotta, parmesan, feta, whatever you got handy will work)
small onion
2 garlic cloves
splash of white wine
1 tablespoon olive oil or more if you like it
Spices (I used lemon pepper, italian herb mix, habanero tobasco sauce, black pepper and salt
Just spice it how you like it, remember to taste a lot in order to monitor the flavor levels.)
1/3 lb dry macoroni shells
butter
One small fresh tomato (sundried tomatoes would work well)



Wash and dry the salmon with paper towels then soak the fillets in an oven pan coated in olive oil. Cover the fish front and back with the lemon pepper, black pepper, italian herbs( rub this in well, or the wine will wash it away). Drench fish in wine, then spoon excess oil on top.

Let marinate for as long as you can stand it! The longer the better.

Place some fresh tomato slices under the fish.

Cut up spinach and onions into little pieces then boil in salted water till tender. Drain then mix in some cheese, butter, and cream. Add black pepper. Saute all this until reduced. Spoon the mixture on the top of the fish then dump the rest of the liquid on.

Immediately clean the feckin' sauce pan or you will have to throw it away (scorched cheese syndrome).


Put oven pan into the oven for 375 degrees for 25 minutes.


Cook your shells. I used 1/3 lb and it was enough. Be sure to add a bit of butter after draining.

When fish is out of the oven put tomato/fish/spinach fillet on top of a bed of pasta shells. Spoon the excess juice from the pan onto the fish and pasta.

This was great!


Night all, I'll try to write way more often. As usual; no commitments, since I can't keep schedules too well.

May 18th 2009

School is so close to being out that they can taste it. The Seniors did an incredible Senior Prank last week. 5 or 6 guys broke in the school, and led 5 live sheep onto the third floor of the building. Sheep are much easier to lead upstairs than downstairs. These kids are smart. They also attached the address of the farm that they "borrowed" the sheep from! The note read take these sheep back to "This Address".

The police are on this one.

Mainly because of the dead skunk they left behind some vending machines.

Amazing that these kids commited two felonies in "their senior prank". Thats dedication!


This past weekend was a good one; nice weather, got the old Kawasaki KZ650's carburators on!
First time I attempted a bike repair that hairy, but in retrospect: It really isn't that hard of an operation. And when the engine fired up and purred as sweetly as I ever heard one of my bikes hummm, I was a happy man.

I made an interesting mixed seafood chowder on Saturday. I had bought a couple pounds of "mixed seafood" at the store, let it swim in fresh lemon Juice for a few hours, fried a mixture of onions, garlic, jalapenos, and celery w/herbs, until it was almost a paste (we want to keep the chowder as "bisque-like" as possible). Use lots of butter. Add a few tablespoons of flour at this point. Then I halfway fried a few chopped up Yukon Gold potatoes (the yellow ones), and added a quart of creme, a pint of water, two bay leaves, and another 1/2 stick of butter to this

Let simmer nearly on warm for the next hour or so. Dump the "mixed seafood" and a can of minced clams, into the mix. And coldly simmer for another 15 minutes or as long as you want to. Yes I tend to oversimmer, and yes the squid was like eating plastic but it sure was good plastic. This was some tasty stuff. The mixed seafood contained: squid slices, baby octopi, little green mussels, imatation crab leg meat (made from pollock) and some sort of fish. Be sure to taste your cooking alot and add the necessary, lemon/wine/tobasco/salt, as your tongue tells you. This is the key to good cooking, you got to taste it at least 5 times before you know its right. And don't go sticking the spoon, you licked on, back in the pot, or no one but you, will want to eat it!

The house smelled of the Atlantic by the time this stuff was done. Yes it broke my mediterrean diet but I'll get back to it. I had to celebrate since this weekend was so great.

April 22nd - May 10th

I need'nt tell you how hectic it is this time of year. In the past 3 weeks I have been working hard, fighting with my blood pressure, trying to stick to the Mediterranean diet (doing ok, but eating way too much bread), and working on cars, motorcycles, and bicycles.

Let us being with the volvo: She stopped running back in December for no apparent reason, I had her towed to the garage and the moron who worked there claimed it was merely a bad battery. I told him he was wrong, that yes the battery was weak, but the car still runs bad when it is fully charged. He claimed to have driven it around with a new battery in it and that it ran great! So I bought a new battery, drove the car home in the snow, and the car did run great..... for about five minutes. Luckily I made it home, and allowed snow to bury it for the next three months.

With all this new-found energy (due to my diet), I recently got on a British Volvo forum website and stated my woes regarding the car running like shit. After being talked down to, like only the British can, one good chap was kind enough to suggest I buy an OBD2 code reader. I purchased one and 5 different malfunction codes showed up. After talking to the Brits about them, another helpful soul suggested I replace the coolant sensor, and another Brit, even showed me pictures and full instructions on how to change it! It wasn't easy, and required special tools and an internet purchase of the offending sensor (gawd! Volvo parts aren't cheap), the car was running better, but after 10 minutes, it would start missing, and dieing.

So back to the OBD2 code reader, which only produced one code. Code 102... 102 means "defective Massive Air Flow sensor or the MAF as the Brits call it. The MAF, which I've never heard of, is a sensor that tells the computer, how much air is entering the intake manifold. Price for a new MAF? $150 bucks! For a Bloody Electronic part! (wow, I'm starting to talk like the Brits). So I looked up info on how to clean the old MAF, but no luck getting the old girl to work, so I took someones advice and unplugged the damned thing. Car runs perfect now! I still need to replace the MAF because the exhaust smells funky, but the Brits say I can drive it a couple hundred miles before the spark plugs and the catalytic converter start to suffer.

Now with all this vast energy and nice weather, I managed to get the Chinese dirt bike flat tire fixed, which is quite a chore, since you have to let the tire soften in a tub of hot water in order to cram it back on the rim.

Having done that, I noticed that the front axle was lacking a spacer, which prevents the brake locking up and tossing yours truly, all over the traffic filled streets. I got on another forum, called Chinariders.net and asked where to find such a spacer. The Americans, who were more friendly than the Brits, but not quite as educated or something. Most advice was: take the measurements of the spacer, then go to your machine shop and have them use such and such pipe. Well since I have no idea what the measurements of the spacer were (since I didn't have the part), I did take one Yankees advice and bought the spacer off EBAY, from a guy who was dismantling his Chinese bike and selling the parts. I like Chinese bikes, but getting parts for them is not easy. The spacer came in the mail and was a little to wide, but I crammed it in and now it works fine.

Notice in the photo, you see the two motorized vehicles I just fixed? The third vehicle, is what I have been using for the past month. Thats right, the bicycle. It has never failed me in the 8 years I've owned it....until yesterday. The wheel, subject to carrying a massive weightload just seemed to have given up yesterday. Now it is too warped to drive. After 8 years, thousands of miles, carrying me, groceries, laundry, suffering from a few wrecks, being moved to four different residences, being left buried in the snow all last winter: The old wheel was too tired (get the pun?). Seriously: If I were only allowed one vehicle, I would choose the bicycle.

My street bike: I also have a 78 Kawasaki KZ-650 road bike, which was running badly and leaking gas for the past couple years. I bought a replacement set of Carburators for it two years ago, from my friend Chuck, who had it for at least 5 years wrapped in plastic and stuffed in a box, like a mummy. I got on the internet, to the "KZ riders" site, and checked out "How to replace the Carburator set (this bike has FOUR carburators!) it looks complicated as hell, so I am in the middle of doing this. The other two pictures are of the now carburatorless (that can't be a word)bike and the new and old carburators. The new (actually rebuilt) carbs, have been entombed in a box for many years, and I fear that the linkages are way too stiff, but after soaking it in WD 40 for a couple days, I will try to install them tonight.

The last two photos are of my new pet LLama; "Sue" is what I call her, and a shot of Freddy from our camping trip 6 weeks ago. Sue and Freddy seem to get along quite well. Sue is the prettiest Llama and has a pleasant disposition. But keep in mind: Llama are quite independent and act like cats, which makes them tough to train. I have gained enough trust where she'll take food from my hand, and hopefully soon I'll be able to grab her halter and begin leading her around. Eventually, I want to take her and Freddy on camping trips, while she carries my backpack.

Thats it for now, lets hope I can keep up with the writing a little better, but I'm not making any promises. I appreciate all of you readers out there. Now it is after 5:00 and I am at school, so off to work on the bike and work on dinner. Grilled steak Melanese (low fat, thin cut, mexican beef), with grilled tomatos and plantain.

April 22, 2009

No pointless meetings this morning. I went to the meeting places, but there really is nothing we needed to meet for. I find most meetings to be stupid and unproductive. We meet just to justify that we all "met"....

Brought 3 baby rats to school today, because my monitor lizard "Bennie" was needing some food. These are rats raised by my rat, so I really didn't want to watch the killing, nor did I want them all to die. So I gave the pick of the little to some little kid with a criminal record, in order to give him a pet to bond with. The student, loved the baby rat, and I am confident that he will give him a good home. The other two rats got fed to the lizard, which is a big hungry "Savannah Monitor Lizard" from north Africa. This lizard is big and quite mean. I accepted it for free because it's owners were moving and appeared to be sick of it. Try owning a 5 pound lizard that hates all humanity, but requires poor live rats every two days for sustanance. Every time I try to handle him he goes ballistic and we have a major battle before I can subdue him. I just leave the lizard "Benny" alone. I hope I can find him a new home. I would rather have a nice python to occupy his cage, but as we all know. The lizard needs a new good home first. My students get a charge out of "Benny" the nasty lizard. I am tired of his crap, maybe I'll just make him a house pet in my house. Fifteen years ago, I had another surly lizard just like Bennie, like Bennie he was mean, but he was toilet trained. I put a piece of newspaper by my toilet and the lizard went to the same spot every time. He hated us, but he traveled around the house at will and was a pretty good mouse chaser.


After school, I slept for two hours then went to watch the JV Baseball game. I haven't seen a baseball game since I used to watch the Texas Rangers many years ago. It sure was fun watching kids play the game, and the seats were much better. Our school had a 3 run lead, when I left it; I was on my bicycle with shorts and a t-shirt when a cold front moved in. I know I discuss the weather here alot, but it is amazing. We rarely have storms and lightning like Texas, but the weather frequently changes from warm to cold. Today was 75 degrees, tomorrow will be in the 30's.

I spent the rest of the evening with the grill loaded with hot dogs, plaintains, and an open can of chile. I discovered that if you bake cheap hot dogs, then put chili on them, you can't tell that you are eating an inferior hot dog. I can buy an 8 pack of the cheap brand for 1.50, where the good brand is nearly 5 dollars. Rather than grilling for 15 minutes that I do with the good hotdogs, I bake the cheap ones for 45 minutes, so all the cartilage, intestine rinds, chicken feet, and whatnot, seem to render out to make some pretty good meat. But be sure to put chili on them to replace the meat that they lack. Then serve with mustard, cheese, and tabasco, in order to kill that "chittlin'" flavor. We eat the heck out of grilled hotdogs this way.

Spent the rest of the evening playing with Freddy, and he caught the ball a few times before acting like the big fat guy that no one wants to pick to be on his team, back in elementary school.

April 21, 2009

After eating a nice dinner of funky greens, basmanti rice, and swordfish, I polished it all off with a yummy desert of chopped fresh stawberries and canned condensed milk with special dark sugar from Maui (Sugar in the Raw). This was exceptional. Strawberries are in season now, so I plan to eat a lot of them until California's strawberry crop slows down. Damn I feel healthy after this dinner!

Freddy is getting the hang of catching the tennis ball, he really needs exercise because his rottweiler half is prone to lethergy. This is what makes Freddy and I such a team. His Aussie Shepherd half is inquisitive, bright, and creative. Freddy is also much the non-violent Buddhist. But he also has big muscles, and likes to do the Rotty thing to some extent, and tears up the yard when he feels negected. He is good for running for the ball about 7 or 8 throws. Then he pants profusely until i worry about him having a coronary at age 1.
I'll get both our asses in shape before this summer, I'm already riding the bicycle, and plan to teach him to ride with me on a leash. We both need this. But it is cool to lay around and watch TV all day with Freddy on Sundays, he is a low maintainence dog in the "need to be exercized" catagory.

April 19, 2009

(disclaimer: this picture is not me but the bike is simular)


4:00 A.M. Yes I woke up early this morning. Turns out the corned beef/cabbage I made last night put me to sleep and 9:00 P.M..





Friday afternoon was up to 55 degrees and sunny. I brought out the dirt bike and started her up for the first time in two weeks. The bike started on the second kick and purred like a lion. I tested her out in my back yard and within 5 minutes I had a small practice track.





After my backyard dirt bike riding adventure, I proceeded to clean the back yard up. The yard is about 80 yards long and 40 yards wide. The far back yard is overgrown with brush and low hanging tree branches, and the previous owners left a cornucopia of trash, rotton wood, and many dog toys. All this crap was hidden under the snow from when we first moved here. I piled up much of the wood and tree branches and made a medium sized bon fire. With the radio blaring out ancient hits from Louis Armstrong, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin (we have a heck of an oldies station up here), and an excellent view of the sun setting over the top of the not-so-distant "Wellsville" mountain range, combined with the company of "Freddy" the wonder dog, it was an incredible evening. Later that night and a few gin and tonics later, we proceded to slowly cook the best steaks I could find, which I bought earlier at the local Mexican grocery store. The butcher (who is also teaching me Spanish), seasoned the steaks personally. The thin cut, seasoned Mexican steaks, were better than the finest Ribeyes and T-bones. Mexicans know how to cut and season steak! After stoking the fire for 5 hours or more, we finally got most of the wood burned, and the yard is much improved. Freddy and I came inside long after midnight, smelling of smoke, and grilled meat.





Saturday, April 19th; I woke up at 7 AM, woke my son, who had an appointment for Saturday School, and cooked eggs, homemade hashbrowns, toast, and picante sauce. I read the online news for 30 minutes, and went back for another round of well needed sleep.





2PM: Chopped up some onion, cabbage, potato, threw it all in the crockpot with a 2 lb. corned beef brisket and a few seasonings. Turned the pot on high. Then proceeded to assemble the trailer hitch motorcycle I bought last month. After an hour of wrenching and pounding the sections together, I managed to get the thing together. Now I can attach my motorcycle onto the back of my truck, the only problem will be, trying to ramp the bike up high onto the carrier without any help. I really can't imagine doing this alone, since the ramp is steep and the 4 wheel drive F-250 sits up pretty high. It sure would suck being alone in the mountains and having no one to help load this heavy dirt bike. I might have to get a trailer after all. Bummer.





Read a few chapters of James Michener's "Alaska" which is an excellent novel of historical fiction. I was checking my old phone messages and accidently called my friend Lynette, whom I haven't heard from in a while. Nice to hear she's happy and doing well. By this time I was getting quite hungry, since the smell of corned beef and cabbage was wafting throughout the entire house and front porch. While eating the victuals, I was watching people actually going to the Thai restaurant across the street, I couldn't help feel a bit sorry for them, because this corned beef and cabbage is far superior to any Thai food I've ever eaten over there.





By 8 PM I was full and quickly falling asleep, it seems that after 5 days of hard teaching, it takes a couple days to catch up on sleep, so I crashed until 4 AM this morning. Now its after 5 and I am totally awake and ready for todays adventures, whatever they turn out to be.

April 17th, 2009

Friday! Getting back after spring break is always a bitch. Took two days to return to the "up at 6:00 AM" schedule. My students were obnoxious, and I was not too much fun as a teacher. Two of my students were particularly rotten on Monday and Tuesday, so Wednesday; I took them to the mean ceramic's teacher and let him torture them by making new clay from old clay scraps. I'll spare you the details, but the kids came out tired and filthy after the experience. On Thursday the two students were angels.
Combine the above with the fact that it is Income Tax week, and the cold wet storm that raged for 4 days dumping snow and cold rain daily, and the week was pretty "F'D up". Since my back yard was a cold muddy, snowy, mess; poor Freddy was black with mud and couldn't just come inside. We would leave Freddy in the utility room for several hours to dry out every afternoon, before I could brush the mud off of him. Freddy, as you know, is a very intelligent and emotional dog. When left in the utility room he takes it personal and gets all "butt-hurt" about it. I tryed to explain that he is too muddy, but he's still a good dog; however: he still feels like he did something wrong no matter how nice I am.

Thursday was quite a day. I woke up to find out the IRS rejected my tax return, after fixing the error, I learned that I owe $900 in income tax! So I rode my bike to school in the cold rain, lamenting the fact that I would have to make payments to the IRS. Got to school and realized I left my keys at home. I got the janitor to let me in my classroom, thankfully; the kids were well behaved. Since it was a casting day, I had to bust my ass casting 6 molds after school. Then I would have to go to an awards ceremony at 6:00 PM over in Brigham City 30 miles away that evening. I rode my bicycle home in the rainy 35 degree weather, only to discover that I had no keys, so I decided to wait for Logan in the truck camper. Of course the camper was locked (I never lock the camper), so I had to try to find Logan at the school. By the time I got home at 4:00 PM, I crashed for an hour before heading to Brigham city (SHIT! WHAT A DAY!).

I rode with the photo teacher and a few students, up the winding "Sardine Canyon" and made it to the Brigham City museum, in time to be stuck there with nothing to do for 30 minutes before the ceremony even started. After the awards were passed around (my students took first place!), the photo teacher dragged us all to some crappy looking, Mormon owned, Mexican food place.

By this time, all I wanted to do was go home, yet I got to spend an hour and a half, hanging out with the photo teacher and six of his pretentious students, all who thought they were little movers and shakers of the Art world, just because they can manage to click a shutter of a camera. I got stuck sitting across from an anorexic girl who ate nothing but put out negative vibes of tragic angst. The kid beside me looked as if suicide was all he thought about.

Actually the Chinese-American kid, next to "Miss Anorexia", was funny as hell, and the food was surprising good. The walls of the restaurant, were covered with bad Spanish and Mexican art from the 50's, with loads of black velvet and bullfighting scenes. The waitress was quite a charactor with full face paint and surly attitude. She was an absolute riot, cussing at the cook, while flirting with me and the other teacher. For the first time today, I started to lighten up and have some fun.

The drive back through the canyon, seeing the snowy mountains, shrouded with clouds that reflected the light from the distant Logan Metro area, was spectacular.

By the time I got home at 9:30 PM, I was too tired to move. I sat on the front porch with my dog and drank a beer in the cold, wet, night; thinking about how great this busy day turned out to be.

April 13th, 2009

Sorry to have let this blog lapse, it was supposed to be a daily, but this is my busiest time of year now that Spring is finally here. Not sure how much writing I'll do between now and June, this is supposed to be fun, but lately it feels like a burden or obligation. To anyone who still checks this page daily, just stop by every couple weeks or so, if anything eventful happens, I'll post it on here. I plan to resume the daily blog once June gets here. (39 more class days!).

Last week was spring break. The weather was cold until the latter part of last week, when we finally reached the upper 50's. This allowed me to sit outside and read, which is my favorite thing to do. I read a Grisham novel, and an excellent real life book about someone who survived 76 days floating in a tiny two man life raft across the Atlantic. Then I started rereading the James Michener book "Alaska". Logan and I camped out in Providence Canyon, but really couldn't go over 5700 ft in altitude, due to the huge amount of snow up there. It was still fun making camp, cleaning up after the last campers, who left trash, shell casings, and many live bullets laying around (imagine leaving a live bullet next to a campfire?). The temperature dropped fast after sundown to well below freezing, and Logan (who only brought one blanket) wound up having to sleep in the camper with me. We were cramped but warm, since two grown men and a dog, puts off a substantial amount of heat. This was the first time camping in the Hell Bitch, so I learned a little about what to bring and leave once I start camping on a regular basis.
Once back home, I got the now snowless yard cleaned up, did work on the truck, motorcycle, camper, and managed to cook some interesting meals every night. Steak Milanese with fried plantains, comes to mind. Also cooked fried chicken, ribeye steaks, grilled salmon, nice to have time to do all this.