It’s amazing how easy it is to have a 2 hour phone conversation with a good friend that you haven spoken to in weeks and haven’t seen in close to 2 years, yet everything still feels the same and just picks up where you last left off.
They sold Charlie!!!
We went to Scottsdales to buy cat food and Bean wanted to go see the fish. Except they weren’t there any more. Apparently, someone came and bought all the koi they had, including Charlie. We’re talking several, several thousands of pounds worth of carp. Charlie, himself, was over a thousand alone. Dang! The sales guy was saying that some people took it a bit hard to see him go, but apparently they’re going to a very nice pond in a local village pub. Still, it’ll be weird to not feed the fish anymore – something we’ve been doing since before Bean was born.
Yet another reason to never deal with Zenith Staybright ever again
On Friday, I got a phone call from Katy at work saying that someone from Zenith would be coming round the following day to take pictures of our patio door. When they first contacted us years ago, their usual sales pitche said that as part of a “special promotion”, we’d get an “additional discount” if we agreed to let them take pictures of the house as a model home for their promo material. Naively at the time, before realizing just how much of a pain in the ass they could be, we said yes. As it turns out, it’s just a “legal” way to let them contact you every 6 months or so to see if they can sell you more shit. My patience and politeness with them is gone. I told the “security confirmation phone call” today that they could come and take a picture if they wanted but I wasn’t interested in a sales pitch and that we didn’t have any money for DIY. Surprisingly, no one showed up at their expected time to come take pictures. Go figure.
So, FYI, stay away from Zenith. The product is OK, but you can find just as good or better without having to deal with the snake oil salesmen from their front office.
And Zenith, if you happen to see this by whatever odd chance, STOP CALLING!!!!! We will never deal with you again.
It’s a hard life…
Recent pictures
I’ve added a bunch of new pictures here: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/various_aug_2012/. This album contains pictures from a recent trip to Great Yarmouth, with an unplanned stop at the English Whiskey distillery, as well as a trip to Hunstanton and the Sea Life center with the oldies.
Some highlights of those trips:
– Bean trying to dip his toes in the sea, and getting caught and flipped by some breakers in Yarmouth
– Bean acting like a dog during his trip to EW
– Being caught by a flash storm in Hunstanton and eating really good (and fresh!) fish and chips on the prom.
Cartoon wisdom :)
Fun with statistics
I fiddled around with Wolfram Alpha’s personal Facebook analytics to data mine my facebook profile. Some fun stuff appears below:
This one is really cool. It clusters all of my friends into how they’re related to each other. You can clearly see clusters based on periods of my life:
One more reason to hate wasps
I got stung by a wasp the day after the paellacoa, more than a week ago. Yesterday morning, I noticed that the bite was really itchy and a bit red. This is what it looks like today. Damnit.
[Recipe] Cretons du Québec
Ingredients
450g ground pork+ground veal
1 medium finely chopped yellow onion
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
125ml vegetable stock
125ml white wine
250ml milk
75g fine breadcrumb
In a large heavy bottomed pan, lightly sweat the onions, then brown the pork and veal mince (about 5 minutes). Add all the spices, mix well, then add wine, stock, milk and bread crumbs, stirring over medium heat.
Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is very tender and most of the liquid is evaporated, about 45m.
Remove the lid and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thick and all the liquid is evaporated, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove from the heat and adjust the seasoning, to taste. Transfer to a decorative bowl or several smaller ramekins, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled and firm, at least 4 hours or overnight.
* Serve with thinly sliced French bread or toasted French bread croutons.
I fucking hate fucking 4 o’clock in the fucking morning
Child woke up at 2:30 am and had a whiny hissy fit until 3:45. He’s now asleep but I’m wide awake and cursing his name.
Yay, parenthood.
Today is going to be a barrel of laughs.