as of midnight last night I had written 23,543 words for that NaNoWriMo thing.
Just how much is that, you wonder? That comes out to around 80 pages of an average paperback book, give or take a few pages either way.

That said, I did fall short of the goal (again) and for the usual reasons. (most have ‘lazy bastard’ as part of their core description—I can come up with a lot of nice excuses, but that’s what it boils down to) Each year I get closer to 50k, and each year I take away some valuable story ideas, and when I’m lucky I can manage to salvage a chapter or two for the main novel project. No harm done.

I think the problem may be the month of November. I have a lot of stuff going on in November, usually, and there’s also the added headaches this year from the job. But that’s when nanowrimo.org puts their little program together, so there’s no changing that. I’ll be doing it again in 11 months.

Sometime in the interim, I think I might try it as a solo project. No web site, no forums, no national movement; just me setting personal goals and getting a shitload of writing done. February, for example, lacks college football games, major holidays, obligatory family gatherings, and christmas display set-ups at the book store. Typically, I take a week off of work in early February, because I have the accumulated holiday leave that I wasn’t able to use for three months. And just for the hell of it. Of course, just because I’d be taking time off doesn’t mean I’ll be able to get a lot of writing done. Oddly, the reverse is often true. (I would say I’m weird like that, but I’ve heard it from other writers, too: a day off from work doesn’t help much.) Still, that may be the earliest I can stop and take a breath, and then dive into this big of an undertaking.

I’ll think it over. I’ll keep you posted. But if I do decide to go for it, I’ll likely do it in a really big way.

In the meantime, I guess it’s time to go back to my normal writing rhythms, something more like 4000 words each week, rather than doing that much in a day. You know, along with my ongoing work on the story background—maps, history, mythology, etc. etc. Fantasy can be a lot of hard work. (Maybe one of these days I’ll give up on it and try my hand writing contemporary fiction of one flavor or another—nah. I hate that crap. But I do enjoy a good fantasy novel, even if I have to write the damn thing myself.)

Po Boy.

Catfish + Bread = Po boy. It's a sammich; there's not that much to it. Well, o.k., here's something with a bit more detail.

zero to eating in less than 30 minutes.

shop:
- one pound of catfish filets. That's about two filets.
- one loaf sourdough. (a baguette. sub roll sort of thing) (buy what you like, I like the sourdough)
- olive oil and butter
- tabasco sauce and cayenne pepper
- lemon pepper. (spice pre-mix. Lowry's is one brand)
- lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, etc.

hardware:
one large skillet

recommended beer:
Guinness goes with seafood. (Guinness goes with a lot of things, like sunlight, or oxygen. ) Actually, I thought about getting fish of some sort because I already had a nice hefeweizen in the refrigerator.

lab procedures:

Now, you could bread/batter the catfish and deep fry it, but it does just as well, really, pan fried with only a few spices. It's probably better for me that way too.

Cut the filets into managable hunks. I split each of my two filets into quarters, then hit them with a little salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and lemon pepper. (just enough to season. this isn't going to be blackened or crusted or anything like that) (though that's good too)

Heat your skillet and add a bit of the oil. Fry the catfish for a couple of minutes on each side. Thinner pieces will cook faster, and in fact a really thick piece might not be done on the inside after just a couple of minutes. That doesn't matter much. Here's a neat trick you can do with most fish: after frying or grilling, enough for the sake of flavor, you can always finish it off in amazingly short time in the microwave. You don't need to worry about dried up fish this way. (Unless you're splurging on tuna steak, which can be eaten rare. No, really. it's like sushi, you know, just get fresh hunks of fish)

So it's not much of a recipe. We're done cooking. Split your sub rolls, which I prefer toasted with butter, add the fish plus whatever sammich fixings you feel are necessary, and eat. I'd dress mine out with some lettuce, pickle, tomato if it's in season, tobasco, and maybe a bit of fresh lemon juice. A creamy horseradish sauce is also nice on catfish, rather than a tartar sauce or remoulade.

this recipe makes about 4 sandwiches. (a single serving. )

since I'm up anyway, might as well post something:

So I was working the evening shift today, which none of you could have been aware of since I haven't updated the schedule page in a week or so. (yeah, I'll get right on that.) The trick with working nights is that you get home around midnight, and while you are tired, you're not sleepy. Or maybe that's just me; though I do hear something similar from my coworkers so if you can get right to bed after work than maybe it's you that is the statistical anomaly.

[edit: multiple paragraphs of me complaining about work deleted.]

I suppose my point is that the variable schedule combined with short lead times makes it difficult for me to plan dinner each night, let alone anything as (relatively) complicated as a date-- and for the minority out there who just thought, 'dating isn't complicated': well, bully for you. You don't have the burden of coming up with outings that are original, seemingly-spontaneous, and (given my income) more on the inexpensive-rather-than-lavish-side-of-things. And I'm betting that if you think (planning dates and) dating isn't complicated, then you're female.

[edit: multiple paragraphs of me complaining about women deleted.]

The point here is that between the store, my writing, and my charity work (supporting the needy bartenders of Atlanta) there is little time (or money) for me to meet women, let alone date women, let alone plan the sort of dates that not only allow me to entertain members of the fairer sex but also seek to highlight my good points while minimizing my (numerous) faults.

About the only thing I have going for me is a moderate intelligence (o.k., I'll set aside the false humility: I'm pretty damn smart) unfortunately handicapped by an inabilty to gracefully articulate my thoughts (face-to-face; I seem to be a fair written correspondent), a sense of humor that is sarcastic more often than not, and a general shyness that is sometimes misinterpreted as emotional coldness. My other theory is that I must be homely. or something.

Hell, I don’t know why. None of my theories is effective at explaining all cases.

But I keep on trying. Something has to work, eventually. If I let rejection get to me, I would have committed suicide a dozen years ago or more in a fit of teenage angst. I’ve had to deal with rejection one way or another each week of my life. And when it comes to relationships with the fairer sex, my track record is so abysmal it would be fodder for a bad TV sitcom: you know, really funny if it were happening to someone else.

I've complained enough tonight. I still can't sleep but I'll try to find some other way to pass the time until sunrise.

Welcome to Dinnerbell.
This is a community journal (i.e. anyone who wants to can post) set up for recipe swapping and general food-related discussions. I've posted some recipes to my personal web journal before (they're posted again here, below) and thought it might be neat to see if anyone else had dishes they'd be willing to share.

We'll see how/if it works out. I'll give it a couple of months.

[theymightbegiants]
dinner bell dinner bell ring...
[/theymightbegiants]

This seems like a kinda cool idea. How do I join?
First you'll need a Tabulas account. Most of you have one; if this is really your first time, check out this page and this page and then sign up here. Don't worry, it's free.

I've got an account, now how do I sign up for Dinner Bell?
To join the Dinner Bell community, click here. You can also reach the join page by clicking the 'Community Members' link over there to your right.

Your recipe for [insert foodstuff here] sucks. How do I comment?
Even if you aren't a contributing member of Dinner Bell, you can still leave comments. You don't even need to have a Tabulas account. Just click the 'Add a Comment' link at the bottom of any post and fire away.

OK, but how do I post?
If you've followed the first couple of steps above, then all you need to do is post-- almost. From your control panel, go to 'Add an Entry'. Before typing anything in, however, be sure to click over to 'Advanced Mode'. To post to Dinner Bell, you'll need to click the appropriate Shared Journal box (located near the bottom just underneath Time Settings.) That's all there is to it, really. (Roy did put this info in a help file for us.)

Why do my Dinner Bell posts also show up on My Tabulas?
You wrote it, didn't you?
To post only on the Dinner Bell blog, before clicking the 'Post Entry' button, change the status (from the drop-down menu located just above Time Settings) to 'Community Posting'. It may seem like a lot of extra steps now, but it's actually pretty simple. If you do make a mistake, you can always go back and edit the post at any time to fix it. (The amazing part is that you can post to your own blog or any one of several communities from the same page. I think that's pretty slick, myself)

Hopefully that covers the standard questions, for now.

I just finished working what seems like my 5th full weekend in a row. I'm getting really sick of spending my saturday nights in the store. Last night was no cakewalk either, but at least we close the store at 9pm on a Sunday, rather than 11. Getting home at midnight sucks. Working later farks with my sleep patterns, too.

And now, after working the past couple of nights, I get to go in early (2 hours before we even open) for that [grumble][grumble][expletive] weekly managers meeting, before the priviledge of working all morning. Taking out the time spent inconscious, sleeping, I was just at the store something like 3 hours ago.

Oh yes, and our customers: for the record, I don't know your little Johnny, or your Aunt Mathilda, or your brother-in-law out in Tuscon. How the fuck should I know what they want? (Actually, I think I do know what the kid wants, but it's rated R or has a parental advisory sticker on it. Just a quick rule of thumb: add five years to the age of the kid, and buy a present you think would be appropriate for someone of that age group. No, really. If you were born before 1954, you might want to mentally add 8 years.) (they do grow up, you know, no matter how cute they were as babies) (and gift certificates make excellent gifts; so what if it lacks that 'personal' touch or whatever kind of crap? -- it's money. kids like money. Actually, you could skip shopping all together and just fork over the cash. Then little Johnny could come in on his own to buy Eminem, or blow it on crack or something, and we can cut grandma and her sensibilities out of the equation entirely.)

One of these years, I'd like to get a regular 9-to-5 sort of job, you know, with evenings and weekends off. Just to see what that's like.

I suppose I'll get around to updating the schedule page after work this PM, too. For those of you who wanted to know when I have an evening off, so you could invite me along for whatever [hint, hint]

No, really, do you guys even go out anymore, or is it just me? (I know a few of you are married, etc. but do you all have to act so old?) Hell, I suppose I'll see you next fall at the Tech home games, then.

actually, I think it's a combo of us all getting a little older, plus the married-couple thing (not knocking it, just saying) and the fact that folks are spread all over the metro area, different jobs, different schedules... maybe I should look into that band alumni thing, or the iota alumni thing. At least I'd see a few of you once a month or so.

o.k., now I really have to drop this and get ready for work. (cutting it too close this morning...)

dude, I need to stop posting before the coffee kicks in. It's kinda funny, so even though a typo like that is easily fixed... I'll leave it in.

I updated the schedule through the end of the month. Not that anyone was asking for the info, but it is the little bits of routine that keep me centered and stable during this otherwise very stressful time period. That's why I've been falling back on old haunts, not really venturing out much when I do take time off and go for a beer.

Next year I'll likely start doing research, going out to new places I've heard of or read about, seeing if there's room in my social calendar for yet another regular pub. (Hey, if it's a quality place, I'd be happy to make room in the rotation for another bar. Right now I really only have three worth mentioning.)

And on the seventh day he rested. Not to be sacrelicious (or sacrilegious, even) but it has been a long week, and I have worked for six days straight, and I finally have a day off. Not that they’re stuffing extra days into my schedule—without a set schedule, sometimes the days off sort of pile up on one another, and sometimes they don't. It's still a 40 hour week; if I work more than 40 hours I get overtime. BTW—thank you, Mr. Barnes and Mr. Noble (*not real people) , for ignoring Mr. Bush’s new overtime rules and granting me that much. (as a manager, I’m exempt under current Dept. of Labor rules, so they don’t have to pay me overtime) (of course, if I pick up one more promotion, I’ll be a salaried employee, not hourly, so that little bit of grace goes out the window—but then, another step up would mean more money plus other little benefits, so I’d probably take it. But enough about B&N HR.)

Today I’d prefer to thoroughly squander enjoy my day off, wasting time at some bar all afternoon and into the early evening. But there are things to take care of. I need to buy new khakis, ones that fit (side effect of losing weight) and I could also really use some new shoes or boots for work. So I guess I’ll need to brave the crowds and get out to some retail hell (didn’t I just leave there?) and pick up the necessities. (better today than this weekend.)

And then I’ll go out to some bar. If memory serves, not only is there trivia tonight at Jocks and Jills, they also run a $12 prime rib dinner special. And they pour these lovely quart steins of beer. And they’re a sort of crappy sports bar. [burns]Excellent...[/burns]

How often do I post a link? About twice a year, so far. So when I do find one I'd like to share, it's probably worth checking out: brutally honest music reviews, apparently as part of some retrospective since the reviewers seem to enjoy tearing apart whole careers and discographies, rather than particular albums.

A few favorite quotes:
"Why did Kurt Cobain whine and grimace like a man with crippling haemorrhoids? Maybe it was because he was a genius who channelled the existential despair of an entire generation through his poetic songwriting. Maybe he did have haemorrhoids."
"Forever droning on about a mythical, moral America, Young has even-handedly bored three generations equally thoroughly, and unleashed some unspeakable musical atrocities."
"Apologists point to his work for the black community, but a former jailbird who has faced arraignments for armed robbery, tax evasion and spousal abuse looks exposed on the moral high ground. So say it loud: he's crap, and he's proud."

...for the record, I like most of the bands on that list-- but the truth is the truth...

after a day off of work Thursday I was very reluctant to go into work yesterday. But I got through it, somehow, and the payoff was sleeping in until noon or so today. The rest of the today was "wasted" (and I put that in quotes because I didn't get out to do what I had planned on, i.e. drinking, but I did manage to do a lot of writing and writing-related-research this afternoon instead.) (I don't know what would have been better for me, in the long run. I have a sneaking suspicion that I should have gone out this afternoon. There's an odd feeling that I missed something I should have been around for) but even in "wasting" the afternoon a lot of stuff was accomplished. I still need to fold my laundry, though.

(I spend entirely too much time staring at the walls around here; a writer's occupational hazard, I guess. I really do need to get out more.) (that odd feeling....) (fuck it. too late now.)

It is the height of ego for me to assume that pesky miniscule details about my life would be of interest to anyone.

Resolution: less whining. more content.

Resolution: less whining. more content.

Note: less whining ≠ no whining.
In the future I’ll see if I can restrict personal details to 50 words or less. I see it as a journalistic challenge; a chance to cut through the usual bullshit and get to the pertinent facts and/or opinions. Fifty words is just a few sentences. I’m sure most of y’all can put up with that much.

As for the rest of it.
Hmm… content. I'll have to see what I can come up with. It should be stuff worth reading, preferably. --at least for some small portion of the general population. Some blogs go political, some go for the funny (*please note the correct English spelling on that), and others are little more than reciprocal link-back mechanisms, blogs linking to blogs linking to other blogs in neat little circle jerks, trading the same article back and forth for months. There are slices of life from artists and tourists, porn stars and poets, scientists and scholars and chefs, political wonks, Hollywood PAs, Australian sheep farmers, Wil Wheaton, Latvian college students, blogs with web comics, blogs about web comics, underground blogs from China to Iran to Montana and back, and finally of course-- blogs about blogs.

(and on top of all that, seemingly 1.08 x 10ee23 punk ass teen age kids grinding out the same old angsty stuff we used to write in spiral notebooks and keep to our damn selves. um. not that I ever did that or anything.)

There have to be a thousand and one different ways to reach out and connect with readers. Now, if I had come up with a really capital idea like Bookslut, I’d be set. Maybe I should just be a copycat. (tempting, but no. )

(to answer the question: why? I’m not sure, but I feel the need to contribute something. Or to start something; maybe a cult. Or I’m just an attention whore: lookit me everybody!)

Maybe I have the basics here already; I just need more reviews (of both bars and restaurants, this time), the occasional concert review, calendars with stuff happening around town each weekend. I could be interesting™ goddammit! And of course one nice little side benefit is that I’d hardly have to change my evil and debauched ways. I could still go out and drink every night like it was 27 October 1919, but instead of focusing on journal topics like "my life sucks", I could maybe spin that into "my life sucked this evening at a quaint little bistro/bar with a continental feel and a Provençal menu."

The original title of this particular web journal was A Drinker’s Guidebook. The original description went something like, "A travel guide to Atlanta, written one night at a time, and from the inside." Of course, this would work much better with some other burg, but you take the town you live in, right, and you make something out of it.

Today’s million dollar idea: Somebody should come up with a beer that already has ibuprofen in it. I was measuring out a dose and thought, “if they just put it in the beer to begin with…”
Slap a warning label on it: “this will eat big farking holes in your liver”; the FDA will approve it; it’s not like it’s any worse than what’s currently on the market.

A day off is only wasted time if you do nothing with it. After running a couple of required errands, I went out to drink this afternoon (and since we’re discussing bars I won’t restrict myself to that pesky 50 word limit).

First was a nice lunch over at Fado. Potato soup for starters, with a Tomato Mozzarella sandwich and a nice green salad. Other than crumbled bacon in the soup, it was a vegetarian lunch; not low carb, not by a long shot, but a very healthy sort of lunch.

(of course, my usual lunch of late is a large iced coffee from Starbucks; with the fake sugar it’s zero calorie, but this isn’t healthy at all. Not that I’m really watching calories or carbs, not as a matter of course. My diet is single-bachelor-bad; I’m lucky I don’t have scurvy or shingles.)

After lunch and a couple of pints, I did a lateral move to another bar around the corner (McTighe’s) to reload my weekly lottery tickets (“if you don’t play, you can’t lose”), do a couple of crosswords and drink a few more pints—It’s my day off, what do you think I’m doing? A few hours of this and that, and a bit too much money later I finally switch from beer to coffee and start the extrication process. (I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but if you think coffee actually sobers you up, than you’re just fooling yourself.) (there are other reasons to have a cuppa, but I won’t elaborate. If you can’t figure it out for yourself, you shouldn’t be able to use it as an excuse to drive drunk.)

Anyway. On the way back from the bar district I stopped by a provisional to get beer for tonight, tomorrow, and the weekend, because we all know it’s cheaper wholesale than buying it by the pint—I picked up a case of the good shit and a case of filler. Guinness Draft bottles and malt liquor, respectively. Oops, sorry, this particular beer bills itself as a “high gravity lager”, I shouldn’t disparage it by using that other term. Steel Reserve is a cheap beer/malt-something-or-other that I’ve mentioned before, and it serves well in it’s role as a backup to other beers (Guinness, et. al.) though perhaps not as a substitute. (the best sub I’ve had recently is a nifty little beer known as Edison. New Century Brewing Co., limited availability, though they have a Boston distributor, Bob, so you may find it up in your neck of the woods.)

And that pretty much wraps up today; sorry I couldn’t be bothered to come up with an insightful review, I was too busy enjoying myself.

even if I wanted to, I don't think I can change the name of this blog. This URL is number 1 on google for 'parenthetical aside'

I guess whatever direction I decide to go will have to incorporate that.

Beer out of a tap tastes different. Every now and then I'll get a craving that a bottle just won't satisfy. Still, given that fact that I'm doing a 10-hour turnaround at the store, I didn't really have the option of staying all night.

"Thanks, darlin', but no. I still have a few things to say to Arthur Guinness, but I need to finish this conversation at home." Three-beers-and-out, about 90 minutes at the bar, and that's all I can afford to spend. I can sense a point around 1am where I'll stop drinking, and really, I need to be at home when I hit that point.

I'm typing this around 11pm. I have to confront the shopping masses 9 hours from now; this'll hurt in the morning, but gods damned I really needed a beer (from the bar's tap) tonight.

--

Not much else to write about this fine evening. The aforementioned beers were from McTighe's, a lovely dive that also happens to be the nearest bar to my store. Xmas retail sucks, but you knew-or-could-guess that. My next day off is Wednesday, as posted on the schedule, but really, I'm just trying to keep it all together until February, when I can finally put this holiday crap behind me and relax.

Nothing new here, really, just a bit of an improv on a recipe I posted earlier. Folks dig on the chicken noodle soup, though. It's one of those recipes that inspires the comment, "wow, so you really can cook, huh?"

zero to eating in, um, at least a day. probably two.
(buy a can, it'll be faster)

shop:
4 lb. whole chicken
1 lb bag o' egg noodles
box o' chicken broth (I think it's a pint or something)
1 lb. carrots
1 lb. celery
1 small onion (or fraction of a larger one)
4 or 5 cloves of garlic
2 bay leaves
salt, pepper, olive oil.

hardware:
What they refer to nowadays as a slow cooker--used to be called a crock pot. Oh, you can do this in a regular pot on the stove, but the crock pot makes it so much easier. Also, something to cook the noodles in, and a fry pan to get the aromatic vegetables started. And some large plastic containers for leftovers.

recommended beer:
why, yes. beer is recommended. I love cooking with beer. Every now and then I also put it in the food.

lab procedures:

Speaking of aromatics, take about a third of your carrots and celery and dice it-- small pieces, they cook faster, but it doesn't have to be neat. Crush and mince the garlic, and dice the onion. If I had to appraise the amounts after the fact, I'd say about a cup each of carrots, onion, celery, and as much garlic as you can stand.

Throw the vegetable pieces in a skillet with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and set it over medium heat. (at this point anyone you happen to live with will wander into the kitchen and say, "Smells good, what's for dinner?")

While the green and orange bits sweat a little, let's move onto protein. There's a whole chicken over there that we have to deal with. Now, if you're lazy, and the crock pot is big enough, you can throw the sucker in whole and cook it that way (after taking out the guts and giving it a good rinse.) I like to quarter the chicken and save the chicken breasts for some other meal, because this recipe will be just fine without them. YMMV. If you do decide to go chainsaw massacre on your chicken, just remember that this is soup. You can be as ham handed as you want to; in the end the only things you need are a couple of nice chicken breast filets, and a pile of parts. (as previously posted, some handy reference material on chicken sectioning.)

So, with either a whole chicken, or just most of one-- you throw the chicken, the cooked aromatics, the box of chicken broth, and a couple of bay leaves into your slow cooker, along with enough water to make up the total volume and keep everything covered. Toss a lid on, and fire it up. This is almost a totally hands off process; what I do is put the crock pot on high and check in periodically over the next couple of hours-- when the pot is boiling I crank the heat down to simmer and leave it.

Literally, in this case. This past Saturday I set everything up and went to work. Nine hours later I came back to finish it off.

(We're dealing with hot liquid, so be careful.) Using a slotted spoon, or whatever you've got (a rice skimmer, in my case) pull the chicken out onto a plate. Get as much of the chicken, including all the pesky little bones, as you can. Let this cool. No, really. (A half hour may not be enough time; this stuff is hot) Now, we've boiled out a lot of connective tissue, so there is going to be a lot of loose hunks of chicken meat, a few large bones, and a lot of little pesky ones. Vertibrae, ribs, some I can't identify; a lot of little bones.

You can use a strainer, even. Once you get the chickeny bits out, you'll be left with chicken stock. Transfer the stock to a bowl/container and then pull as much meat from the remainder as you can. At the end of the day (night, really) you should have a bowl of chicken stock with chunks of meat, and a messy plate with bones, skin, limp veggie bits, and stuff you're not sure about but wouldn't eat. Along with the bay leaves. We don't need those anymore, so toss 'em.

And we're not done yet. Hey, if it were easy, would it cure the common cold?

Put the chicken soup in the fridge overnight, and throw out the bones et. al. Once everything has cooled, you can skim off the chicken fat (now a nice solid layer) and get the soup ready. After chilling, you'll notice the clear stock underneath the fat layer is little bit like Jello (TM) (a trademark of some overly zealous corporation) That's Good Stuff (note the capital letters) and also why homemade is always better than canned.

To finish off your soup: The leftover celery and carrots? (remember those? we bought a pound of each.) Cut them into bits, steam them in the microwave (2 min. tops) and add them in. Noodles? follow the directions on the package. Yes, you can use the whole pound of noodles. If you don't like noodles, try 2-3 cups of diced potatoes instead. Salt and pepper to taste.

This makes a hell of a lot of soup-- a couple of gallons or so. But this is really good stuff.

I don't really feel like celebrating as much as some others, but that's mostly because I work retail, so I 1) have to work 2) have to deal with people who waited to the last minute and 3) have to deal with people who waited to the last minute and have absolutely no idea what to buy for their loved ones

dealing with this last sort is enough to make me hang out with with the ghost of Marley and smoke cigars. Christmas? Screw that. Eternal damnation? Hmm, do I need to deal with holiday shoppers? Well then, measure me for a set of chains and hand me a 'bah humbug' t-shirt.

I used to enjoy the holiday. Or I thought I did; memory is slippery. For the past few years, though, I must say I've been more scrooge-like than not. I can't recall if I felt this way before I began working at the bookstore.

so, that's like 150 words. well, I haven't posted in a few days; I'll stretch it and say that falls within the 50 word limit.

Work metaphor: I'm a T-rex waiting for the asteroid to hit; yeah, it may be all roses and triceratops steaks right now, but I can see the growing shadow on the ground.

Christmas was nice. My folks are good people; I enjoy going home (every now and then) (briefly).

Typically, I don't make resolutions. (If I need to lose weight, I don't wait until 1 January. I start when I can) (and so on: weight loss is just one example) still and all, even without the resolve to do so, I see some nice things that might be attainable for me in 2005. And then there's what to do with this site, which I sort of discussed on here earlier. I might be able to do something useful with this. eventually. or not. At the very least, I can use the bar reviews as an excuse to go out drinking.

There are a few curious things about my tabulas, though: Every month I get more hits, more daily traffic, and every month I wonder why. I suppose I need to thank my friends, for I'm sure it's these tie-ins that are responsible for the majority of the traffic--though I do find that when I update daily, I tend to get more hits.

I'm not necessarily thinking of always doing daily updates, I'm just saying...

The tough one to explain is the twenty or so site views I got on the 25th; wasn't there anything on TV?