Friday Five

The Excuse

None needed. W00t!

The Week

I count my weeks as Friday to Friday, so I didn’t mention this on my last Friday Five, but this past weekend an old^[1] friend from college Shelly, who was a bridesmaid in our wedding, and her husband J came out to San Diego. It was fantastic getting to see them again, having them over for dinner, and showing them a bit of our city. We found ourselves at the USS Midway, which has been turned into a museum. If you’ve never done the tour you really owe it to yourself – it’s awesome. If you like you can check out the pictures here.

My travel this week took me to a new city (town?) this week – Athens, GA. Athens basically exists for one reason – the University of Georgia. I didn’t get much of a chance to check out the campus, but I did find myself being a bit more of a tourist this week than normal. I spent a decent amount of time roaming around their small downtown area which, like Boise, is  surprisingly cool. It’s also of course home to the 40 Watt Club, which is where bands such as the B-52’s and REM got their start (which of course meant I had to get an obligatory picture).

The other thing that impressed me about Athens, GA was their microbrew scene. They have no less than 3 microbreweries in the area, which for a town this size is remarkable. And the beer is actually pretty solid (even for this admitted San Diego beer snob).

I guess what I’m trying to get at is that I had a pretty good week.

The Exercise

yeah, well…

The Travel Note

One of my favorite little tricks for “printing” a boarding pass when I’m on the road is to fax it to the hotel that I’m staying at. As I discovered this week, this only works when the printer that the hotel has is in working condition.

The Restaurant

Seeing as how I was in the south I figured BBQ was in order. On the advice of my class I went just outside of town to a hole in the wall called “Fresh Air”. The place was tiny, no bigger than our living room/dining room area. They just do pork, and only enough to make it through the day. As a result they were out of ribs when I got there but still had a good amount of pulled pork. The pork itself was flavorful, but the star was the sauce. They had a hot BBQ sauce that was just outstanding. Right amount  of spice and flavor. No frills BBQ.

The Five

Pulled from “the friday five” site.

1. Do you like your handwriting?
   I do. Although I don’t like writing by hand. I find typing much easier and more natural than writing by hand. I just may be a geek.
2. Do you prefer to print or write in cursive?
   I print in all capital letters, varying size for case. In fact, as I’ve mentioned before, I had to re-teach myself how to write in lower case letters when I started teaching programming languages that are case sensitive.
3. Do you think handwriting should be graded in school?
   I don’t know about graded, but good handwriting should be encouraged. Good handwriting, like speaking well, goes a long way in making good impressions.
4. Do you prefer writing in pencil or ink?
   Mechanical pencil. Did I mention I’m a geek?
5. When you write in ink, do you prefer a neutral color such as black or blue, or a fun color like purple or green?
   Neutral is just fine. In particular I prefer my I’m A PC pen.

^[1] Old as in time we’ve been friends, not age.

Friday Five

The Excuse

As I’ve mentioned before, if I’m home I just don’t get a good chance to sit down and peck one out.

The Week

I was home this week. No really – home. And working.

Trust me – nobody was more confused by this than me.

Any week spent at home is a week spent trying to catch up with friends. I was fairly successful in this endeavor, but it’s near impossible to try and see everyone I’d like to and still relax and spend time with Karin. I also did get a chance to cook a couple of times at home, which is always a treat.^[1] The one disappointment I had was I didn’t get much of a chance to play Rock Band.

By far the highlight of the week was getting to see the opening preseason game for the Chargers. Donna scored us tickets, and Sheri, Richard and I took in the game. Was great to see football^[2] again. I can’t wait for September. You can check out the rest of the pictures here.

The Restaurant

While not authentic, I’m completely addicted to Baja Betty’s. It’s a Mexican-ish restaurant in Hillcrest that features above average food, huge portions, and a 42 ounce margarita that comes complete with a rubber ducky (it’s essentially a tub of margarita). If you go the highlight of the menu is the chicken tortilla soup, although the burritos they do are great as well. What’s particularly nice about he burritos is they’re all build your own and they don’t limit you on the number of fillings.

The Exercise

At some point….

The Travel Note

I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that San Diego is now supporting paperless boarding passes. As I’ve blogged before, these are more convenient and more secure than paper tickets.

The Five

I don’t think I’m OCD, but there are more than a handful of small things that I’m very particular about.

1. My dry erase markers are specifically Expo 2 Low Odor. The normal ones give me a splitting headache by about 11a. And trust me, none of the off brands are any good.
2. I use two highlighters when I’m reading any tech book that has code – yellow for the text and some other color for the code.
3. Jeans have to be Levi’s. It’s not because I’m big on fashion. I guess I’m more susceptible to advertising than I think.
4. White Castle slyders need to be plain – bun, burger, onions, pickles.
5. Mustard is the first thing to go on any hot dog, regardless of what additional ingredients may be placed on the dog.

^[1] I know it’s weird that I look forward to cooking at home, but I really enjoy it.
^[2] Well, preseason football anyway.

Friday Five

The Excuse

None needed. W00t!

The Week

For the first time in a little while I found myself back in Houston. Now you might be thinking, “Wow. Houston in August. What a pleasant treat.” You’d be wrong. It was Africa hot. Tarzan couldn’t take this kind of hot. Add to that the fact that it will pour at a moment’s notice (and then clear up in 30 minutes) and you’ve got just a fantastic week!

I was able to get together for dinner with a friend of mine from Manhattan who happened to be in town which was nice. Otherwise it was mostly just the corporate apartment and work.

The Exercise

Oh! And the gym. I know, but go with me on this one. I actually did manage to make it down to the gym this week. Granted, it was only twice, but still, that’s twice more than last week. I’m just hoping I can get momentum built.

The Travel Note

If you’re going to sign up for anything, sign up for the rental car company memberships. Being able to walk straight to a car without having to wait in line at the counter after a long flight is awesome.

The Five

Went looking for questions for inspiration and stumbled upon questions here: http://community.livejournal.com/thefridayfive

1. What is your morning routine?
   Snooze about 5 times.
   Check email.
   Shower, shave (maybe), brush teeth, vitamins.
   Breakfast (usually).
   Rush out the door cursing myself for hitting snooze.
2. What is your nightly routine?
   Brush teeth.
   Sleep (if I can).
3. Do you like to listen to the radio when you sleep or have it quiet?
   Gotta have the TV on.
4. What do you like to sleep in?
   Yeah, I’m going to pass on that question.
5. What is the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning?
   What city an I in?
   Do I have any email?

Chicken Cacciatore

One of the things I’d meant to do with this blog is post links to recipes I’ve had success with. Currently, the list of recipes I’ve posted stands at one. Granted, it’s a great recipe, but still, there are others that need to be posted.

For whatever reason, I’ve never posted the link to the recipe I use for chicken cacciatore. I’m not sure if I can call a recipe developed by someone else my “signature dish”, but if I can then this one is it. It’s super easy and delicious. It also pairs well with both red and white wines.

The couple of notes I would add:

• Make sure there’s enough liquid to cover the chicken. This may mean adding more wine and stock.
• I don’t bother with the wings; I only use legs and thighs.
• Go with about 2-3 pieces per person.
• Adjust the amount of crushed red pepper to your desired heat level.
• I always wind up with a good amount of fat floating on the top which I strain off. Trust me – it makes for a more flavorful dish without it.
• If you don’t like mushrooms, this dish will change your mind. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had people say they don’t like mushrooms and then devour every one on their plate.

The link: Emeril's Chicken Cacciatore

Friday Five

The Excuse

Hey – look at that. I’ve got a blog. Who knew?

I had meant to get a Five up last week but was too tired after the conference. Then this past week I was at home, and as I’ve mentioned before I usually don’t get one done when I’m home for a week.

I do need to thank Abram for prodding me into getting a post up. You can check out his fine (and constantly updated) blog at http://abe-blinkin.blogspot.com/.

The Weeks

Two weeks ago I was at a Microsoft conference in Seattle called TechReady. It’s an internal conference, which means I can confirm that I was there, that I presented, and basically nothing else about the conference itself. I can say that I did get to hang out with a lot of friends, which is really the reason to do these conferences.

This week I was home – and not working. It was the first time I’ve been home and not working since…. well….. I’m not really sure. It’s been a very long time, and was a very well deserved break. It was a fantastic chance to get caught up with friends, and I was able to cook dinner on Saturday and brunch last Sunday, which is always one of my favorite things. On top of that, I was a bit productive, passing a test I needed to get done, and tying up some loose ends, such as buying out the lease on my car.

That last one didn’t work out super well for me. Well it did in that I have a lot of equity in the car. It didn’t because literally the day after I signed the paper work (and about 2 weeks after the warranty expired) the check engine light came on. Fun!

The Travel Note

I’ll never understand parents who let their children use basically anything in the airport as a jungle gym.

The Exercise

I will get things turned around.

The Restaurant

In Seattle I was treated to my first visit to Elemental. Elemental is like no other restaurant I’ve ever been to. As I described in my Yelp review, Elemental can best be described as a good friend inviting you over and cooking you dinner. Outside of choosing a cocktail at the beginning (assuming you pick something they have) and if you want wine, you basically get to make zero decisions; they simply bring you great food. The night we were there was in the middle of the heat wave that Seattle had, so the chef decided she’d go with an all cold menu, meaning a lot of raw food. It was a collective 7 or so courses, each one just outstanding, and each one paired perfectly with a wine. If you’re ever in Seattle, you must stop by. I can’t wait to go back.

The Five

Five miscellaneous things about me.

1. Based on the frequency at which I can’t get what I ordered, I may be the only person on the planet that prefers their water without ice.
2. I’m amazed at how challenging it can be to get a plain black coffee or a plain black iced coffee. Was running through the McDonald’s drive through the other day, had a good 30 second conversation with the person about what I wanted to drink, and yet I still got handed a plastic cup with tan contents. People – black means just coffee.
3. I had been to four other ballparks this year before finally making it to Petco (in San Diego) on Friday night.
4. I’ve still yet to be off this continent…. Although that will be changing soon. (Details later).
5. One of my favorite things (as indicated above) is hosting a dinner party. At this point I must give full props to Karin, as she’s really the one that makes it happen, as she shops and cleans the kitchen. (Yes, I have the greatest wife ever.)