A Special Kind of Stupid...

The 3rd Anniversary of my 29th Birthday came and went, and I don't feel any older, but my life has certainly gotten better and richer since the 2nd anniversary. Still working, still enjoying life, still madly in love.

The better news (perhaps), is that myself and my better half have decided to give the non-smoking side of life a try again, and so far I'm doing rather well, all things considered. So hurray for us.

In keeping with that theme, this is just awesome to rock out to at work:

I probably won't post again until Memorial Day or so, given my track record of consistency, so...have a great summer!

//a.

I am so exhausted and full that I can't actually sleep. One of God's better jokes in human physiology.

Cajun-fried turkey #1 went off without a hitch, and an entire household of skeptics are now official fans of poultry of the large, deep-fried variety.

Always my own worst critic, I found my dry-spice rub for the bird lacking. I went a little heavy on the salt and not heavy enough on the savory and heat. Not that any of you really care at this point, post-Thanksgiving food apocalypse and all...but my basic dry rub consists of:

Kosher salt
White pepper
Black pepper
Cayenne pepper
Ground bay leaves
Paprika

...and some other stuff that I can't think of at the moment. As mentioned, it was overly-salty to my palette, and not enough cajun, whatever that actually may be. I'm from Texas, so I'm allowed to be ignorant of certain details.

Gonna change up the rub mixture for Meleagris ocellata Cajunus #2. Maybe add some sage, more cayenne and quite possibly some chili powder (not much though) for some more kick. My family's palette has been collectively dulled by fantasticly spice-powered food, nicotine and the annual gross alcohol intake of Sudan, so raising the heat index ever so gently will be both joyous and triumphant.

And, seeing as this will be Number 6 in the adventures of cooking with large vats of death-lava oil, I'm raising the odds of removing my eyebrows and\or face by a factor of 12, again. I employ Danger, and it works weekends for minimum wage. Rawr.

Happy Holidays.

//a.

So it's old news now, I know, but yes - Orange Box has been released, Team Fortress 2 is great fun, and Portal is easily one of the best games I've played in years.

[Note: you can find me via Steam over this way -> http://steamcommunity.com/id/kujin ]

None of this really bears repeating unless you've been stuck in a cave in the Andes Mountains with nary a satellite connection to the intertoobs, but The Escapist and Zero Punctuation finally put up an honest review of the Orange Box and all things Half-Life 2, and I promise it will be the best 4+ minutes of your life spent today:

In other news:

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Get some badass Cube wallpapers over at http://hamsteralliance.com

Oh - I hate hate HATE pyros.

"Fire! Fire! Fire! I'm on fire!!"

Putzing around at work, waiting for some server maintenance to finish up, and I catch this little gem on the wire:

Street Fighter IV Announced

Capcom teases their next major fighter.
By Patrick Klepek, 10/17/2007

As Capcom's media event gets started overseas, the company has already dropped one spectacularly major, but long awaited, announcement by revealing Street Fighter IV is currently in development. Capcom's community website has been counting down for over a week now, as gamers have speculated over what could be such a big deal.

The short teaser is nothing more than some Ryu and Ken stylized artwork of them fighting, with no word on what platforms the game is coming to or a projected release date. Clearly, Capcom is strictly teasing at this point.

Read the entire article on 1Up.com

The teaster trailer:

The first new Street Fighter in 10 years. I may actually have to buy a console one of these days.

It came to my attention that I have been sorely lacking in the update department, and you know, I just couldn't argue with that.

My beautiful better half has finally joined the Vox Army and I'm so pleased by this that it's inspired me to stop being a lazy writer and get with the program.

See, the woman...she knows what's what. Knows the score.

It's been one hell of a year so far, and it just keeps getting better and better. Some things haven't changed: I miss my kid fiercely, but she's doing wonderful and it's a joy to hear her happy little voice. Work is keeping me extremely busy, but I love it, even though I may complain about it now and then.

The changes, though...man. Good stuff.

Moved in with the aforementioned love of my life, and she hasn't tried to kill me yet, so I count that as a win. Her work is going well too, even though we both are getting rather tired of working for other people. All in due time, I know I know. Shopping for a house, thinking about projects on the horizon...did you guys know we're thinking of opening a bar in the near future?

Yep. Life is pretty goddamn awesome and I couldn't be happier.

I even managed to find a beautiful ring (no, not The Ring, but one of promise...of things to come, if you will), and well, she loved it and I couldn't be more pleased.

I have a shitload of things to jot down, sort out, work over. Pictures to upload. Links to navigate. All in all, I need to continue carving out this corner of the intertoobs.

I know I keep saying that...it'll stick one of these days, I swear.

//andrew.

I'm baaa-aaack.

Last post: April

Fuck. Well, at least I never signed myself up to be consistent or anything. Summer...I blame summer.

Well whatever. I have so many things to do and so many things to share and write about I'm not even sure where to begin, so this may be a slow, even re-introduction into the cyber worlds.

We shall see....

//andrew

How fucking cool is this?

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1262484,00.html

The astronomy world is buzzing with excitement after a distant Earth-like planet that may be home to life forms far more advanced than humans was discovered.

The new world is 20.5 light years away - so far it would take astronauts almost five billion years to reach it in the fastest spaceship available now.

Gliese 581c is not much bigger than our own planet and is thought to be in the 'habitable zone' of the star it orbits.

This means it would be the right temperature to allow liquid water on its surface - considered a must for supporting life as we know it.

On the treasure map of the Universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X," said Xavier Delfosse, a member of the European discovery team.

Rivers, lakes, oceans and rocky regions may all exist on Gliese 581c.

And alien life forms could have years of evolutionary advantage on us as its ancient star may have supported life for longer.

Gliese 581c is 14 times closer to its parent star than the Earth is to the Sun, meaning the pull of gravity is much stronger.

Goddammit I love the fucking Internet.

I mean fucking c'mon. If you didn't laugh out loud at that you're dead to me.

DEAD.

//end.

*yawn*...man. I don't even know where to begin, or better yet, end.

It is Friday the 13th, and in my world that means awesome. Awesome because Gary and McKenney shine it up and we have ourselves a par-tay. This go-round's theme is "Hollywood Premiere", replete with champagne and red carpet (maybe), due primarily to the grande premier of McKenney's movie, which should both intrigue and horrify anyone that knows him.

I jest. I've been assured that his ass does not make any sort of appearance, implied or otherwise.

Beyond that, I don't know what else needs mentioning at this particular point in the day. Oh to be sure, there's topic-a-plenty for us to chat about, but I just cannot seem to focus for longer than 5 minutes at a stretch today. Feeling very A.D.D. today, anxiously awaiting the weekend that I know will go by much too quickly.

So, I leave you with this, and wish you a merry weekend.

Collecting_double_takes

http://xkcd.com/

//end.

There are no words to really pay justice to the fun that was had one rather slow Saturday evening at the beloved and beleaguered Horseshoe, Woodinville.

Karaoke at the 'Shoe

Karaoke at the 'Shoe II

Seriously.