I'm getting just a little fed up with Netflix.

Of course, I still like their service. Well, I particularly like the idealized, advertised version of their service, but I'm willing to make due with what I get. And they have an amazing selection of DVDs to choose from. And as near as I can tell, the competition is no better.

If you were to enter 'netflix throttling' into your favourite flavour of search engine, you can read quite a bit on what the phenomenon is, and how much other people are complaining about it. Personally, I could give a rats ass how long it actually takes for a DVD to reach me, I just want to have something to watch besides crappy network TV each evening (or morning, in this case) but because of this sneaky underhanded crap, I find myself waiting rather than watching...

Let me 'splain. No, there is too much; let me sum up:
To save on postage costs Netflix intentionally introduces delays in their disc processing. Since they charge a set monthly fee, if they send you fewer movies they preserve a higher profit margin.

They tend to do this to their most enthusiastic customers (the ones who return things right away in hopes of getting more movies each month) and in general seem to do it to anyone who has been a customer more than 3 months. (some have used the term bait-and-switch to describe this practice-- I won't, but I see how it could be applied)

There are are a few things Netflix could do to fix this (but of course they do nothing except throttle us back and cash our checks)

(5 suggestions for netflix behind the break)

##

Of course, some free advice for other Netflix subscribers would be good too:

1. Cancel. Take your ball and go home.

Pros: Keep your money
Cons: Nothing to watch

##

If that won't work for you, then learn to play the mailing game, too.

- drop discs off at the post office, rather than the mailbox on the corner, or putting the flag up on your mailbox at the end of the drive. Typically, this will shave a day off the transit time

- always ship back to your local DC. They'll still sit on your discs for three days before acknowledging that they're back, but at least they don't have to fly to sunny, tropical locations first. Take that 6 day delay out of the calculations.

- along with that: I always ship back two discs in each envelope. I don't do this because it saves shipping costs (though it might-- you're welcome, Netflix, you ungrateful bastards) but so that I have spare envelopes addressed to my local distribution center. (I'm tempted to print up some mailing labels so I could just slap a sticker on, but I don't have to, so I haven't bothered)

Also:

- open the Netflix envelopes right away, and inspect the DVD. Some discs are scratched, some cracked-- and in the past I've only found out a disc is unplayable after it sat on the coffee table for three days. Murphy's Law being what it is, I'll find out on a Saturday, and not only am I out 3 days, it'll be 4 more to get it back to Netflix etc. etc. and in the meantime I'm watching nothing. So I check.

- upgrade the equipment. Many, many Netflix discs are scratched, and not all cheap Wal-mart DVD players can cope. (My laptop does a decent job playing even the worst discs, so it's just as well that I enjoy watching DVDs on my laptop. )
-- You can also buy some stuff that claims to 'fix' scratched discs, but I've often found that a simple cleaning will do the trick. I'll use rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle, and then wipe the disc on a clean t-shirt, typically the one I happen to be wearing at the time.

The only other trick I use is to watch TV series out of sequential order: You want to send me disc 3 before I've seen disc 2? No biggie. I'll watch it.
--but this is the sort of thing that drives other subscribers nuts.

##

It's not perfect. And honestly, I can't see why Netflix wants to screw over their customer base. But given the options out there, I guess I'll stick with Netflix. For now.

Oh, and RentAnime.

and maybe some others. At some point.
It's a big internet, something better is always going to come along.

To go along with other well established "drinking" holidays, like New Year's Eve, St. Pat's, Cinco de Mayo, Thanksgiving (I don't know about your family, but...), and um, Arbor Day, I propose that we drink copious amounts of alcohol to celebrate the start and end of Daylight Savings Time.

Of course, it's going to be an easier sell in the Fall, when you get an extra hour to sober up, but let's take a look:

- always on a Saturday night
- April, October... that's far enough away from other holidays, more or less.
- beer advertising would help us all remember when to change our clocks. (I mean, right now, it always seems to sneak up on us. Let Bud and Miller in on the action, and we'll all be sick of hearing about the date for a full month before the issue comes up)
- in the Spring, when we 'lose' an hour, it's just an excuse to drink more quickly. Or to start earlier.
- "spring forward, fall back". got to be a drinking game in there somewhere.
- like we need an excuse.

So who's with me on this one?

Amphital: a fantasy novel project
-- Previous -- first thread --
(I'll tie those two plot lines up, soon enough)


"Here's your knife back, lad. Though if you plan on going into battle, you'd be better off with something more suited than that. I don't think that would go through the mutton at the Jackline, let alone though even a thin leather shirt."

"Thank, you sir," Trey said. He didn't bother to sheath the belt knife. He didn't even look up.

"No need for 'sirs' around here, lad, no one but us guardsmen at the moment."

Trey did look up at that, and saw the same man who had helped him hours ago, right after the attack. "You're not an officer?" Trey asked. "But the cord on your shoulder..."

"Marks me as a sergeant, lad, not anything fancy like an officer or commissioner. My name is Bearn, and that or 'Sergeant' will be good enough for the likes of me."

"Thank you," Trey said. He took the man's extended hand, and tried to match the strong grip. "Thank you, Bearn. Please, I am called Trey."

"Good to know you, Trey."

Trey felt honoured in a small way, being treated as an equal by a guardsman. But he still calls me lad, Trey thought.

"So lad, do you know how to use that table knife of yours, or were you planning on scaring folks by calling out the guard?" Bearn chuckled. "Or were you planning on asking them nice-like, once you got there, to knock off with the murder and killing?"

Trey winced, and put a hand to his throat. I haven't had a chance to look, but I bet there will be some ugly bruises, Trey thought. He thought over Bearn's question, and then shook his head. "I don't know what I was doing. I wasn't thinking, I was just..." Trey couldn't put the rest of it into words. "I do know how to fight. My Grandpa taught me how to wrestle, a little bit about knives, but, well he died about two years ago. I used to go each spring, early, and back again at least a couple months in summer. But now I'm studying with Master Leonir in the shop, rather than going out to help with the family flocks."

"So a shepherd. Or, a wool merchant? Is your family beholden to a landlord, or do you own the woolly buggers?"

"We own the sheep, and Master Leonir helps us run the weaver's shop here in town. My father and uncle are usually out, either buying the wool, or down to Timol to buy the dyes, or selling cloth and yarn at Lembri, or on Palmara, though mostly they travel the other cities and towns of Altis"

"Perhaps I should bow and call you 'sir'?" Trey gave Bearn a nasty look. "Perhaps not," Bearn said. "Though it does seem like we have a more honoured guest than we realized."

Bearn leaned back. "I'm guessing my Captain asked you already, but what was a fine citizen like yourself doing in dark alleys this late at night?"

"I work odd jobs around the Bell's Stream district, a bit at the Three Sheets, a bit for the craftsmen nearby. Master Leonir lets me earn money in the evenings, when I'm done with my studies at the shop. I was walking home, well, I was running since I was already late, when I heard the scream"

"The master Weaver doesn't pay you?" Bearn asked.

"Well no, Sergeant. My family owns the shop, we pay him," Trey said.

"Your father doesn't give you an allowance?"

"My father used to give me pocket money, when I needed it. But he's been gone, close to eight months now. My uncle doesn't give me much." He seems to begrudge the need to feed me, Trey thought. "Master Leonir has been good enough to let me use my evenings how I will. Though I have to finish my chores and studies at the shop first, of course."

"Of course, lad." Bearn nodded, and stood. "And we've already kept you much too long, your Master will worry. It's nearly sunrise."

Trey sat up with a bolt. He hadn't realized the hour, with so much else that had gone on this night. "Oh no!" he said. I know I nodded off, but how long was I asleep? Trey thought.

Bearn clapped a hand to Trey's shoulder. "No need to worry, Trey, I'll walk you back to your shop myself. Once they get over the joy of seeing you safe and hale, and the shock of seeing you dragged home by the watch, we should be able to explain things." Bearn helped Trey to his feet, half dragging Trey's shoulder out of its socket as he pulled him up.

"And Lad, I'll look in on you at the Three Sheets, if you'll be working there tonight?" It was half a question, more of an order. Trey only nodded.

"Good, good. I'll have something for you then."

-- next --

I've been drinking too much light beer lately.

(even though I plan to file this under the 'drunken ranting' category, I'm not drunk yet. Just a clarification before we get started.) (and I'm continuing to drink as I compose this, so I guess we'll be there eventually-- drunk, perhaps, but no ranting)

On my days off, when I don't have other plans, you could say that I've been conducting some experiments in chemistry. My own blood chemistry.

I took organic chemistry in college at some point. (which major was that for, again?) Cellular respiration, photosynthesis ...fermentation-- all those fun processes that our little single celled friends (not to mention the-tiny-chunks-of-ourselves) carry out for the benefit of all. But O-chem is not so helpful when looking at macro-scaled-objects like my drunk ass.

While I know what the little yeasties do to turn cattle feed into the nectar of the gods, and while I know what my body does with the leftover carbs after some digestive processes, there are vast mysteries in the process that I have yet to educate myself on: I know the time limits on Blood Alcohol levels, but what exactly is my body doing with the alcohol? Some gets burned as energy, but what's the process there? Where is the fat in my beer gut coming from, carbs or alcohol, and which traitorous body organ is producing it?

Of course, after a few beers, who gives a shit.

But I am trying to lose weight, and since I've lost somewhere in the neighbourhood of 60 lbs since 2000 (used to be more, but I've gained a few back) --all while drinking admittedly unhealthy amounts of beer-- of course I'm taking another look at what I can do to lose weight while still maintaining my much beloved self-destructive habits.

So back to my original assertion, dare I call it a thesis: I've been drinking entirely too much gods-damned-light-beer. Part of it is of course the price difference between domestics and Guinness.

extended aside: I'd happily drink 2 gallons of Guinness every day until the end of my life. (Or for the next fifty years, whichever came first-- might not make it to five at 2 gals. a day) Guinness is the World's Only Perfect Beverage, and part of what makes it so very nice is that it only runs around 10 calories an ounce. And while I'd love to test the limits of my liver on a primarily-Guinness-diet, the limits of the wallet stall us out around the 6-pints-a-week-mark.

So, back to domestic swill.

[sigh]

and back to the thesis of this so-called-argument: Light beer. Sucks. What can we do about it?

No real use in complaining, though; I can't do anything about it, and I'm not going back to the high-octane shit for a while.

...

Well... this week, we will.

OK. So I didn't budget well. I still owe some money to the room-mate (not ideal, but no biggie: given a difference in our pay cycles-- monthly as opposed to weekly-- he has money now, while I will have money later, and that along with a few bribes means I can mooch for a couple weeks-- it works out, more or less) and given the fact that I just turned over about 80% of last week's pay check because I do in fact owe him a goodly chunk of cash, at the moment I'm a bit strapped for spending money. I've got what's in the cupboard (ramen. ick.) leftovers in the fridge (a couple of meals-- but no beer dammit) and whatever my creativity can provide, until next Thursday. I spent $14 on food, $18 on gas, and $19 and 5¢ on beer, which will have to last me for the next seven days. (I have 95¢ in cash and 92¢ in my account at the moment.)

(isn't this fun? This is what happens when you have to pay an ear-nose-and-throat specialist and your car mechanic in the same month. I had savings...)

$19.05 buys me 36 cans of beer. (w00t!) Not the best beer in the world, and I went with 'quality' (subjective) over mere fluid ounces. (Steel Reserve in this case. Not so bad, considering-- which is of course a step above my usual review which would be "[ack] [gasp] well I guess I can choke this stuff down") Of course there is a whole 'nother set of calculations that must be made to stretch 36 units over 7 days (and it ain't just simple division) but in today's post we're merely considering the type of beer at hand, rather than the quantity.

Steel reserve is not low carb. Tasty (relatively) but by no means light. If I didn't know that before hand, then I likely would have figured it out after beer #1. After what might be called a typical breakfast (coffee) and a light lunch (the leftover celery sticks-- and beer-- while I was preparing tonight's dinner) I got a sugar rush that might be envied by a pixie-stick chewing 13 year old.

A hopping-around-the-living-room-kind-of sugar rush.
Yeah.

Apparently it doesn't take much-- when one has been drinking entirely too much light beer recently. This is what I mean by an "experiment in blood chemistry". An intellectual appreciation of blood sugar levels doesn't leave one with much room to actually deal with the situation-- but since this will be coming up at least 3 more times in the next week, I suppose I'll figure something out.

##

Domestic Light Beer may have been diluting my soul. Perhaps this (temporary) shift will be good for me.

A follow-up: what does $14 ($13.27 today, in point of fact) buy you at the local grocery store?

More than 4 lbs. of chicken leg quarters. (at 69¢ a pound)
three 1 lb. packages of egg noodles
two packages of chicken gravy mix
a lb. of carrots, pre-cut
2 lbs. of celery, not precut, but like ¼ the cost that way (& with celery sticks to spare)
a medium onion

This, along with some garlic and herbs already on hand should yield enough chicken-and-whatever-you'd-like-to-call-it to feed 12. Or to feed me for a week+, along with some current leftovers for variety's sake.

Maybe I'll post that recipe later, though you should be able to figure out what to do from one of the three or four chicken-and-rice recipes I've already posted.

yes, that is a weak attempt at a pun that I'm using for my entry title today.

Maybe I shouldn't blame it on the beer. I might have the flu. I'll reserve judgement until I see how I feel tomorrow morning. But man, if it was the beer, then I need to put Steel Reserve on a blacklist, maybe give away the 20 some odd cans I got left.

Steel Reserve is OK, in small doses. It inhabits a grey zone, not quite a quality beer, not quite a malt liquor, not quite cheap. Well, it is cheap-- inexpensive, I should say. But in the lexicon that I use to describe beer, there is a whole category of 'cheap evil-smelling domestic light swill' i.e. old milwaukees, natural light, schaffers, olympia, anything 'ice', schlitz, busch, and for that matter bud light and coors light. In a pinch I'll drink a bud light, but I'm not going to say I like it.

Steel Reserve is not my first choice, or second, or fifth, but I find it nice enough and it's good to change out brands on occasion (not that there is whole lot of taste-- or variations in taste-- with most yellow beer anyway, but variety is good for it's own sake.) SR has a kick like a wild ass though. Not a full-of-alcohol kick (it runs just under 6% ABV if memory serves) but a hangover-the-next-morning kind of kick. I had forgotten. Or I had killed whichever poor brain cell was responsible for keeping that bit of information alive.

I woke up yesterday feeling like absolute crap. I had a headache that just wouldn't go away. And apparently I also ate something which really disagreed with me. That or I have the flu.

I didn't drink any beer yesterday, and I still woke up feeling like hammered shit this morning. So I'm thinking, worst-hangover-evar, or I have the flu or something.

eh. just me complaining today.

wasn't the beer.

wasn't the flu.

just a bad cold, or something. Still feel like crap.

So today's post is related to something I was venting about a week or so ago, and is a reply to sacrecouer (actually posted as a comment on her blog, in fact) but since the exercise allowed me to clarify my own thoughts a bit (and involved a hell of a lot of typing) I'm going to post it as an entry:

##

As one of the radical secular humanist atheistic baby-eating communists that is promulgating the secret agenda to marginalise and eventually criminalise Chritianity in America... wait. I've said too much...

[I hope we aren't so far gone that I'm the only person who finds that last sentence funny. Humor, people; laughter is the way to pierce the hardened heart and open up the soul]

My prejudice is against all religious institutions in general, and I'd have to say that prejudice is a two-way street.

anyway, my take on it:

Those who are anti-christian tend to practice exclusion. We don't care (and I say we because I recognise I'm part of the problem) what you do at home. Or even what you do in church. We just don't want to participate.

Some issues-- school prayer, and creationism in school; state-sanctioned displays, whether we want to look at nativity scenes or the 10 commmandments in courthouses; and 'morality' based laws, from laws against sodomy to the damn blue laws that keep me from buying beer in the grocery store on Sundays-- on these points I'd say I'm not going to condemn someone for their beliefs, I just want Jesus off the public stage and back in your hearts where he belongs.

I'm not persecuting christians (no lions or martyrs here) but I don't want to participate, and your some people's idea of 'innocent' expressions of faith make me feel like the persecuted minority.

In this brand of anti-christian prejudice-- which I'll admit to practicing-- I'm giving you all the room you'd like for the private expression of faith and all I'm asking is the same courtesy. (Heck. Or public expressions of faith, for that matter, as big and flashy as you'd like, if you'd care to buy the space and time for it.) Love Jesus? that's Great! Heard about the guy, not buying any this week, thanks.

[oops, sorry. not yelling at you there-- I got carried away by the force of my argument for a moment.]

My practice of exclusion-- which I might characterise as a matter of tolerance and respecting the boundaries established by polite society, but it still curtails what some see as their rights ...my practice of exclusion is going to seem like persecution and downright hatred by a small fraction of christians, and in a world of soundbites and 24-hour cable news channels, that fraction is the face of christianity shown on talk shows and news programs, and talk shows disguised as 'real' news programs.

I'm sure I'm getting a warped view; only the worst examples are offered up to the public.

Let me flip the coin over:

Those christians who are guilty of prejudice, on the other hand, aren't looking for equal time or respect of faith, but rather to change people.

Often it is just an old prejudice that has nothing to do with Jesus, but is trotted out dressed in christian robes because somehow that makes it 'right'
On one extreme end: anti-Jew, anti-gay, anti-muslim, (even anti-catholic) or just plain racist.

Nearly everone, I hope, can see past the trappings applied to hate, and knows that it's just not christian to want to kill people who are different from you and yours.

Other prejudice is more subtle. It's not even as honest as my policy of exclusion. There is the thought that christians are not only persecuted in modern america, but under a concerted attack from outside forces.

And it is this perceived persecution that drives some folks to fight back. They are even calling it the 'culture war' in some circles. The folks who boycot disney world, the ones pushing creation [*cough*] science, the sort who assert that America was founded by Christians so obviously god should be everywhere and in everything. (the anti-establishment clause in the first amendment being a pesky detail, at most they'll concede a need to be multi-denominational-- though that wouldn't include non-christian faiths)

These people are the ones that are pissing me off. But even so, I'm not saying we need to make this behavior or that practice illegal. All I want is neutrality and equality under the law, at least a nominal separation between private faith and state-sponsored institutions, and the right to be left alone.
(and beer sales on Sunday.)

I can't speak for everyone, but that is my take on it.

in response to a comment on the last entry
[bloging it rather than replying to keep my thoughts public; I said before, no one reads the comments. ]

all laws might be based on an simple question: "what is the public good?"

anything that seems like it supports the welfare and well being of the public (i.e., don't kill each other) tends to make it into most codes, whether based on the bible, or confucianism, or hammurabi's 282 ideas on the subject, or the 12 tables of the old roman republic, or the general consensus and traditions of small tribes everywhere.

so, morality=law is a good thing, provided everyone agrees on what constitutes the common good.

##

'morality' is a black and white thing, all too often, and I dislike extremes.

or things that make little sense.

I could point up a lot of silly laws, but here's one that is based on bible 'morality' that pisses me off once a month or so: Georgia laws against beer sales on Sunday.

Sunday is the same as any other day of the week, unless you follow (which one was that again? 1, 2...) commandent #4. So some bright guy back in 1935, when the legislature here finally got around to letting us drink again, thought "well and good and all, but no one gets to buy alcohol on a Sunday. That's sinful."

A lot of fixes and many local-option choices and jurisdictional things of various flavors have tempered that a bit:

I can buy a beer in a restaurant on sunday, I can buy beer at the pro football games on sunday, I've never been but I'd be willing to bet that you can buy a beer down at the Atlanta Motor Speedway if Nascar ever held a race there on a sunday...

But no beer sales in grocery stores or convenience stores.

!

...but it's a small thing. so I plan ahead when I want a sixer on the sabbath.

##

I tend to go overboard when I paint all christians with the same brush I should reserve for just the nutjobs who want to nuke the middle east into a sheet of black glass.

From last entries comments:
[quote]
"but there is a big difference between wanting the Muslim (or replace with any religion/ideology, or lack thereof) to become a Christian, and being anti-Muslim. i hope you see this difference."
[/quote]

Please:
Change people all you want.
You are reaching out with love.
it's a good thing.

I'm not anti-christian because of you, or people like you, or even 1 billion people like you --

But history has proven that even within the christian faith, folks are going to disagree-- if not now, then eventually, so I advocate a rather strict and even severe limitation between private belief & behavior, and public-- heck, let me capitalize that: Public, state sponsored behavior.

From silly beers to something more serious, let me try arguing this point a bit: there is a difference between praying with a gay man, talking to him, helping him see the light of christ because you feel his choices are sinful-- and putting a law against sodomy on the books because you know in your heart it's the right thing to do.

Even though his behavior and beliefs don't hurt you. Even though there is no way to know if anyone breaks that kind of law outside of accidental discovery (or unreasoning gov't intrusion); even though there is no way to enforce a ban on sodomy, in so many states it is still the law of the land.

I won't argue the 'gay' thing one way or the other, but maybe you can see that I have no problem with the first practice (as long as your gay friend is willing to put up with crap like that) while the latter idea just makes me furious

##

I have a fear that, if all these little 'christian' laws are put into place, eventually that which isn't forbidden will be required: the Church as the State. That is why I fight so very hard for what I believe in, and will rant and rail at the top of my lungs-- well, in my own way.

I'm a quiet guy. Shy. I'm not the preaching type. But if I plant enough small seeds in the right ears, even if only a few folks agree with me just a little bit, then the whole country will take a step back from the sort of fascist distopia that my paranoia and I fear we will become.

It's not that christians are doing the wrong thing, or want the wrong things.
Their spiritual message is a good one. But their secular message and methods may be adopted by those who have no one's best interested at heart.

that primarily is why I will always support tolerance, the rights of an individual to do that which he pleases as long as it does no harm, and the neutrality of the state when it comes to the practices, beliefs, & behavior of its citizens.

...which puts me at odds with the majority, more often than not. The christian majority, in this case.

...and I'm against all organized religions, for that matter, but that's a more complicated rant.

so I'm taking care of some administrative odds and ends around here, checking the tag board, checking for any new comments, checking the hit logs...

Oh good lord. On Friday over 750 folks stopped by. On just Friday. At least ten people read the comments. (I still maintain that as a general rule, no one reads the comments)

I would like to thank my debating partner, sacrecoeur, and her willingness to engage my drunking ranting with well-thought-out arguments. (and calling it a 'debate' may be stressing the point, since I think we actually agree with each other, it just took us a few thousand words to figure that out.)

And I think Amy won the debate. Though of course, it could be that someone around here is just tired of thinking too hard on weighty subjects, and would rather get back killing brain cells and writing bad fiction

"say, how is that novel coming?"
shut up, you
"just askin'. I mean, you talk a good game, but so far I've only seen about 12 pages worth..."

wait. 12?

"yeah. assuming I converted that correctly. You know those blog posts aren't exactly standard manuscript formatting... could be more."

Dude. That just made my day.

Turkey Burgers

Makes 6 burgers
takes about 40 minutes

Shop:
1+ lb. ground turkey. (the packs at my Publix are always a pound and a third)
most of a small onion, diced small (a quarter cup)
a few mushrooms, diced small (again, a quarter cup)
1 tbsp. garlic power
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt
red pepper, to taste
chili powder, say a half tbsp. or to taste
1 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
your choice of condiments, and a bun. (or no, if you're doing the Atkins diet or some such)

Hardware:
a mixing bowl sure is handy. These aren't really grilling burgers (though if you want to try it...) so instead pull out the non-stickiest of your non-stick pans. I have a 10" x 18" electric griddle that I don't use nearly often enough, and it worked out really well for the burgers.

Recommended Beer: Yes. (anything that would be good with regular burgers will be fine)

Lab Procedures:

Let's discuss burger theory for a bit, before I get into the how-to portion of the recipe:
In a classic, heart-busting beef burger, there is a fair amount of fat. -- mmmmm... fat. -- In the interest living past my 39th birthday, of course I'm looking for healthier alternatives. Fat keeps a cold, uncooked burger together, and makes the finished product so very juicy. When we use much leaner cuts of beef-- or bison, or ostrich, or something mundane like ground turkey, chicken, or lean cuts of pork-- we need to add a little something to take care of these two jobs. A binder keeps the burger from falling apart, and a handful of diced or minced vegetables will make the finished product juicy.

The veggies are particularly important with poultry, because we'll be cooking the bejebus out of these to kill the salmonella. (since you should be doing the same to any commercially ground meat, this recipe might be good for your everyday beef burgers, too)

The base here is ground meat + bread crumbs (a binder) + an egg (also a binder). If this looks like a meatloaf recipe to you, well, you're not that far off the mark. To the base I add diced onions-- though the vegetable options are limited only by your imagination-- and spices. This is a good place to start; you might prefer different herbs & spices than my choices. Feel free to experiment a bit based on what you like and what you have on hand.

Mix the meat, spices, & onions (and mushrooms, in this case) with the bread crumbs and an egg. The best way to do this is to get your hands dirty. After a good mix (not too much, the patties form better if the mixture is still cold) divide into six portions, form your patties, and fry 'em up.

Start off at 350 degrees and cook each side for 2 to 3 minutes, just to get a good crust to form. You can then back off on the heat and cook for another 5 minutes or so, just to be sure the burgers are cooked through. (we don't need to worry so much about them drying out: the vegetables will continue to wilt and give up liquid for as long as we'd care to cook them. to a point.)

Serve however you'd like. This evening I went with sauteed mushrooms (I bought a pound; had to do something with the 14 ounces that didn't go into the burgers) and the 'house salsa' (a can of diced tomatoes with green chilis, drained. good stuff.)

Turkey, no cheese, no mayo... hell, I think this was healthy for me.

So what have I been doing for the past week?

Well, the department had to go through that whole corporate-certification-thing again-- to make sure we are playing by the official company rules&playbook, more or less-- which meant multiple visits from the district manager and others to cover the same things we went over six months ago. Not sure, but this may be just a once a year thing, moving forward.

also on the work end: Inventory Sunday. I'm sure I've commented on inventory in this space before-- let me just say that it may end up as a 9-hour work day that won't start (for me) until 6pm that night.

I've also been broke for most of the week. The paycheck cleared Thursday, so I went out and spent 5 hours in a bar Thursday afternoon, because while my relationship with alcohol isn't what the medical establishment would term healthy (though of course we can also define "healthy" as sizeable, vigorous, and active) on top of that I have a concomitant addiction to bars, pubs, and taverns, with a sideline in nicotine and the occasional game of trivia.

Having spent enough time inside of a bar (even a crappy sports bar) to keep from going insane for another couple of weeks, and eating an unheathful number of hot wings, and smoking through a bowl of pipe tobacco, then taking care of a few odds and ends, I went home to settle into the me-shaped indentation on the ugly brown couch and do absolutely nothing for at least 15 hours. I read manga, then watched some anime, then lamented the fact that I'm turning into a 30 year old otaku fanboy loser, all while popping the tops of 2 more beers (...for extremely large values of 2. sorry, inside math joke. hazard of going to a tech school for 7+ years.) At some point there was a venue change to the me-shaped indentation in my bed, which kind of reminds me that it must be past time for me to get a new mattress.

Friday night was spent at work. Tonight I'll be at work. Sunday night, as mentioned previously, will be spent doing inventory at work. Monday, I'll change it up and spend just the afternoon and evening at work, before we follow this up with a one-two-knockdown: a Tuesday night closing followed by a Wednesday split shift, which means basically a 13 hour work day (7am-8pm) with a very long lunchbreak. (...the new displays for May have to be up prior to opening 5/3. I love retail.)

Of course I'm complaining. And I'm nuts. And I'm the one responsible for doing the schedule. But this is what happens when I have to schedule for inventory, and changeover, and account for 3 vacations days from one of my full-time staffers in the same week.

(On the other hand, she deserves the time off. I rigged the schedule to get her 5 days off in a row. I can be an OK boss, if somebody reminds me to think about it.)

##

there was a half formed idea in my head that my next update to this here blog should be the continuation of the Damn Novel... and what happened is, I didn't update at all. Go figure. I've got at least a few notes and a decent idea of how to get that narrative from point A to point B to point Z, with a side trip though slot J, tab D, wingnuts F & L, and some Ikea directions thrown in for good measure.

And a week passes...

I've begun to type up my Spring music roundup (ref. previous) (and a teaser: Edgar Meyer) but adding the links to that kind of write-up is at least as bad as doing one of the web trawls-- which I could probably get around to at this point as well, always a lot of crap in that buffer file.

Maybe I'm just mentally drained from work. Or something.

##

This week, and pro'ly for the next three months, I'm going to institute some austerity measures. Of course, I know myself & my habits... But here's to hoping that I can squirrel away at least a few quid in the next quarter so that I'll have a reserve for the next emergency.

On top of that (in spite of it, even) I've found a new habit. I'm buying manga, (if you haven't heard of manga, crawl out from under your rock already) and at $10 a pop, I am once again most glad for the employee discount at the bookstore.

How will I ever reconcile the old habits with the new addiction and a honest need to save money... [*cue dramatic music*]

"Stay tuned for the further adventures of the 30 year old otaku fanboy Loser. He's broke. He's alcoholic. And we just can't shut him up.

Thrill to the daring page-by-page descriptions of his exploits

See the seamy underbelly of Atlanta, one dive bar and comic book store at a time

Gasp in horror at his deteriorating, drunken diction and grammar

How will he ever cope with the demands of work and [*gasp*] socializing with other people? Will he take the final step toward total geekdom, and teach himself Japanese? Can he ever get another date?

The answers to these and other exciting burning, eh, questions coming soon to a blog near You!"

Oh, and I got a haircut (shearing, more like) this past week, too.

A two-fer for your Saturday afternoon reading pleasure, a bonus for today: since I never really stop tinkering with my recipes (that's how broccoli ended up in the stroganoff) here's a bonus for today, the latest iteration of the burrito/taco recipe:


(Not Mexican) Burritos.
For real Mexican food, go find one of those quaint little restaurants owned by the people running the kitchen and manning the counter

Shop:
1 lb. + of ground turkey
(Yeah, I know, I use a lot of turkey. It's cheap, and I like it. And I think it has less fat in it, too)
1 medium onion
a little butter (or oil)
garlic, to taste
1 cheap little "taco seasoning" packet. (I like the cheap Publix store brand)
+ the canned goods (the standard 14-16 oz. size):
1 of diced tomatoes with green chilis
1 of fat free spicy refried beans (Old El Paso brand, in this case)
1 of black beans
1 of garbanzos/chick peas
and something to put this stuff on: chips, tortillas, etc.

hardware:
1 large (13 cup) gladware/ziploc/tupperware container. A second smaller bowl is handy for the tomatoes. A large skillet of some sort. (a can opener would be handy too, methinks)

[insert the usual comment about beer here]

lab procedures:

So, what makes this one better than the last version? Well, the shopping list just got a lot easier to figure out (one of this, one of that). The addition of refried beans makes the final mix denser-and-much-less-drippy, which is handy for me since I'll often each in the kitchen, standing up, without a plate. (unless we're talking nachos, obviously) And the directions should seem a lot more straightforward, this go around. Besides, this recipe hasn't seen my main page for what? 2 years? so most of you have never seen it.

Get your mis en place in place: In the big gladware container, decant the refried beans. Drain your tomatoes, while reserving the liquid, and add to the beans. And add more beans: Rinse and drain the other two cans (I use a colander) and then add that to the rest. (you can use any variety of beans you like here, I prefer the black-and-white combo listed above, but I think they'll all taste the same) Rinse well; the liquid they pack the beans in is nothing but salt water. We don't need to mix this yet, just set it to one side.

Dice your onions, and now, cook. Saute the onions in a bit of butter. When they start to turn translucent, add the garlic (fresh, minced, or garlic powder), stir to incorporate, and then immediate add the ground turkey. Brown the turkey, drain the fat, and then follow the directions on the "taco seasoning" packet, using the liquid reserved from our canned tomatoes, and a little water.

You know, I used to do tacos-and-related-foodstuffs as a kind of build-your-own-buffet: salsa, diced onions, beans, rice, the seasoned meat, cheese, sour cream, fresh lettuce & tomatoes if I felt like getting fancy, your choice of nachos, hard shells, soft shells... then I realized two things: 1. this gets like 15 dishes dirty, and 2. I'm usually the only one eating anyway. So now I mix it all together in a bucket. Two exceptions: don't add the cheese. This just gets messy. And sour cream is best as a condiment, it also doesn't play well if you add it in before hand.

Everything else goes in the mix. When the meat mixture is done (perfectly fine by itself, btw, if you don't happen to like beans much) add it to the rest and give it a good stir. The refried beans do make this final stir a bit difficult; you can tough it out (good exercise) or alternatively, nuke the vegetable mix for a minute to soften the refried beans and then add your meat. Bonus: by using our large container as the mixing bowl, there's one less thing to clean. And we don't even have to clean it today, cause the lid pops on and the leftovers go in the fridge.