From Blather Review:

Y'know, I was eating Alpha-Bits one morning and was surprised because I saw that it read "oooooo." Then I remembered that I was eating CheeriOs.

There's more, and it's all good.

Posted by: Ted at 11:39 AM | category: Links
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I have no problem getting an erection.

Hey, it's important to me.

Posted by: Ted at 04:53 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Last night I told my wife that I was thinking about taking down the big maple in the backyard. She surprised me with a hearty "go for it", then she mentioned that it was going to be expensive.

Heck, we are men with chainsaws. What is this "expensive" nonsense?

I took a closer look at the job, and it's not an unreasonable do-it-yourselfer, but it will take some care and planning. And my neighbor has to help. I'm pretty sure he will, because it involves chainsaws, and he's that kind of guy.

I'll talk to him, and might get started with the pole saw and rope saw on lower branches. Taking out the stump and roots is going to be a back-breaking couple of weeks of evenings, but it's cost free if I do it myself, and that's what the backyard is all about. It's my garden/landscaping playground where I test ideas and learn new skills like masonry and rock wall construction and now, maybe, tree removal.

Liz is already thinking small Japanese maple or dogwood to replace the monstrosity.

Posted by: Ted at 05:17 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Someone was kind enough to scan and post a whole heap of Players Cigarette cards. This particular set of 85 cards is of Actresses, and were released during the late 1930's (from clues like "her latest film was...").

I'll post one of these every once in a while, with a couple of simple links to IMDB.com or a bio if I can find one. You might be surpirsed at some of the familiar names you'll see. The category is "Star Cards" (over on the right column), and you can click there at any time to see all that I've posted. Hope you enjoy.

(in the extended entry) more...

Posted by: Ted at 03:51 PM | category: Star Cards
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Via Physics Geek, some ideas of how to let vacationing co-workers know you were thinking about them. Drink alert on this one.

A few days ago Mookie was telling me about this interactive buddy flash game, and I finally tried it. Oh man, is this addicting. You start off with a generic virtual buddy, and you get money for each interaction. Start small with tickles and shoves and such, and eventually you build up to tossing around fireballs and grenades. If you're not convinced that you need to release your pent-up psychotic yet, you can also purchase "skins" for your buddy, so that you're abusing interacting with Dubya, Michael Moore, and many others.

Posted by: Ted at 09:30 AM | category: Links
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Another "snowstorm", another bust for the local weathermen. I'll give them this, with all the major rivers, the coast to the east and mountains to the west, this area is a real Meteorological crapshoot to predict. Still, just claiming "sunny" every day would result in about the same accuracy rating in the winter.

But this morning the roads are an icy mess in our corner of the world, so I called in and took the day off. My job is cyclical, so this week I could do that, next or last week I wouldn't have had the option. My wife works for a medical facility, so she doesn't have that choice either. I made sure the sidewalks were de-iced and scraped the snow and ice from her car and walked the neighborhood a little bit to check the roads. She made it ok, but it was icy dicey until she got to the main drag.

Mookie is on day six of her weather-enforced pre-Spring break. She spent yesterday online looking at college information and found a place similar to Monster for theatrical jobs and internships.

For every star on Broadway, there's a thousand hardworking people behind the scenes who make them look good.

I looked outside a bit ago and it was snowing again. Huge fluffy, slow-falling flakes. Absolutely beautiful, but it was spoiled a bit by the cars parked everywhere you look. There's a reason Currier and Ives always pictured the Vermont countryside instead of Virginia townhouse suburbs.

But I'm tired of winter. I have a new gardening book, yet another "small space gardening" reference, and a renewed desire to turn my backyard into a peaceful green retreat instead of the dirt covered expanse of dense shade that it is. I did almost nothing last year out back, needing to take a break from my continual attempts to make it something beyond a handy place for the dogs to take a dump.

Part of me says that this is the year to finally take down the maple tree that dominates the back half of the yard. It won't completely open up the space to sunlight, because the neighbors on both sides have huge trees in their yards as well. But my maple drops those accursed monkey balls year round, and much of it's root system is at ground level, meaning I had to build a makeshift retaining wall around it's perimeter in order to hold enough soil for a few scraggly hostas and succulents. I'm tired of the tree and it's awkward location, and the entire space would be open to infinite change if it were gone.

Something to consider, I'll have to talk to my wife about it.

So that's my day in a nutshell. Pondering garden projects and happily sweating under the April sun. Planning and anticipating the renewal of spring.

And laundry.

Posted by: Ted at 08:52 AM | category: Square Pegs
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1 Ted I have to admit that our snow predictions here on the mountain at almost 2000 feet are a bit easier.We actually got our predict of about 7-8 inches.If it's even calling for a chance of snow we usually get some.Back in I believe `93 we had three big storms that all dumped over three feet on us.The one dropped over six feet.I used to have tons of pics of it all but when I left the job I was working at at the time I left them in my locker.
I am lucky in that we have a relatively undeveloped area here especially since the park is right behind us.I've got 6 million acres in my back yard.It makes for quite the winter wonderland.However,it's not the place to be at all in a severe ice storm.Out through the woods beside my house,about 3-400 feet away,there's a path that cuts through the woods.If you actually could run through those woods in an ice storm I would bet $500 that ya can't make it from my house to the path and back alive.
One thing that you can count on(I'm sure you'll agree)is the humidity during the summer.Just about the only thing bad about it.being the kind of person who just loves rainy nasty weather I really think i'm gonna move to Bergen,Norway.The City of Rain.Rains there an average of 9 of every ten days year round.That's why Nordic kayakers are so good.Lot's of whitewater there.Plus,all of the gals are blonde haired and blue eyes and everyone speaks english.I'm there,dude!Someone give me a ticket.
Well thanks for letting me rant.

Posted by: Russ at March 01, 2005 03:01 PM (kh5am)

2 That's what the comments are for, Russ. Feel free any time.

Posted by: Ted at March 01, 2005 07:45 PM (ZjSa7)

3 *LOL* Sounds like you have the Aaron Gene, Ted! ;-)

--TwoDragons

Posted by: Denita TwoDragons at March 02, 2005 11:59 AM (2qdm2)

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I saw this over at Rich's place before and meant to mention it. Tom is building a model rocket and documenting the process with words and pictures. This is a good chance to see some alternate construction techniques than what we used when we built the Fat Boy (scroll down at the link for the entire series).

And speaking of fat boys, Rich also posted a picture showing yours truly at our last rocket launch. I'm the big guy on the right, the tall guy in the middle is Frank, editor of our newsletter (that I mentioned here), and the guy on the left is Rob Edmonds, the creative force behind Edmonds Aerospace (that I talked about here). So yeah, Rich calls it "VIPs", and there are two of 'em in the photo, and me.

While you're over there, check out the other photos that Rich takes at our monthly rocket launches. Pretty cool.

Posted by: Ted at 08:44 PM | category: Rocketry
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Not sure what happened, but I've been unable to get logged on (or anywhere near logging on) all morning.

I did find a new trackback spam. But you won't. *evil grin*

Later.

Posted by: Ted at 10:43 AM | category: Square Pegs
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1 Ditto--I suspect either the trackback assault took us down, or Pixy did to stem it.

Death penalty for spammers!!!!!

Posted by: Susie at February 28, 2005 11:59 AM (eJ86P)

2 I have some news. Check the picture gallery on vforcerocketry.com, page 2, caption: VIPs.

Posted by: Maelstrom at February 28, 2005 04:36 PM (9zeuj)

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Here's the final part of our series to build your own box hockey game. If you have any questions, feel free to leave 'em in the comments and I'll answer them as soon as I can.

Previous Box Hockey posts are linked to from here.

(in the extended entry) more...

Posted by: Ted at 01:59 PM | category: Build It
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Nic has been posting hockey memorabilia - cards and autographs and such - and telling the stories that go along with them. These aren't mundane "I stood around for an hour until he came out of the locker room" stories either. These are cool stories.

There's more than I linked to. Go here, scroll down and read 'em all.

Posted by: Ted at 09:33 AM | category: Links
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I lifted this recipe from the Blog d'Elisson a while back, and tried it yesterday.

Wow.

I'm going to reprint the original here (since I sometimes use this category as my virtual cookbook), and then add my notes at the end about what I did differently. I don't know if this was entered in a previous Carnival, but it doesn't matter. All credit to Elisson for this wonderfulness.

Braised Brisket

5-7 lb beef brisket, trimmed of some of its fat
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp freshly ground pepper
1 tsp dried oregano (or 1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano, even better)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 medium yellow onions, sliced
2 bay leaves
3½ cups chicken stock or broth
1 28 oz can diced or chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine the salt, pepper, paprika, and oregano in a small bowl and sprinkle generously over the meat, rubbing it in well.

In a large, heavy pan with a close-fitting lid, heat the oil over medium-high heat and brown the meat, about 10 minutes on each side. [I used our big turkey roasting pan - RJ] Remove the meat and place on a platter to hold. Pour the excess grease out of the pan and add the chicken broth, tomatoes, and bay leaves, stirring and scraping to deglaze the pan. Put the meat back in the pan and smother with the chopped garlic and sliced onions. (If you're using fresh oregano, which I recommend, it doesnÂ’t hurt to throw another small handful in at this point.) Cover the pan and put it in the oven to braise for 1 hour.

After an hour, remove the cover from the pan and continue to braise another hour.

Push the onions and garlic into the braising liquid and cover the pan. Braise for 1 or 2 more hours - however long it takes to make the meat nice and tender. After one hour, check the meat for doneness by sticking it with a fork - when itÂ’s done, take it out.

You can serve the meat right away, but for best flavor, let cool, refrigerate, and let it sit 1-2 days. This also makes it easy to scrape off any excess grease. Reheat thoroughly in a 350° oven. Remove the meat from the braising liquid, slice against the grain, and arrange on a platter. The braising liquid should, at this point, have cooked down to a nice sauce-like consistency. If it’s too thin, put the pan on the stove on medium-high heat and reduce the liquid to the desired thickness. Remove the bay leaves and spoon the sauce liberally over the meat.

Notes: When I went into the pantry, I discovered that my big can of diced tomatoes was a big can of pureed tomatoes instead. I did have a smaller can of diced on hand, so to compensate I added two small cans of V8 vegetable juice to the liquid. Also, the family aren't onion fanatics like me, so I only used one onion, sliced fairly thin. Finally, since they hate bay leaf (geez, I live with some picky damn eaters), I went for a sweet and spice undertone by adding about 3/4" of peeled and sliced fresh ginger root to the sauce, and balancing the acid of the tomatoes by adding 4 diced prunes.

Oh man, was that good eating. At that link above, Elisson provides a nice idea for leftover brisket too. Not that there was much of it left.

On the side we made roasted parsley potatoes and some corn. I think next time I'll pull out the bread machine and have a fresh loaf of warm sourdough ready instead of the spuds, and maybe a crunch salad.

Oh yeah, I'll be making this again soon.

Posted by: Ted at 01:12 AM | category: Recipes
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1 ...And I have dessert for ya! :-)

How about a nice batch of Cranberry Orange Sherbert, eh...? ;-)

--TwoDragons

Posted by: Denita TwoDragons at February 27, 2005 12:46 PM (RNyQD)

2 Aack, linky no worky. Here ya go: Cranberry Orange Sherbert

--TwoDragons

Posted by: Denita TwoDragons at February 27, 2005 12:47 PM (RNyQD)

3 Mmmmmmm, that sounds de-e-e-licious!

Posted by: Tuning Spork at February 27, 2005 02:24 PM (ZoqEF)

4 Can I come over for dinner?

Posted by: Susie at February 28, 2005 12:01 PM (eJ86P)

5 Dinner and a movie, Susie, that's how it works.

Posted by: Ted at February 28, 2005 01:24 PM (ZjSa7)

6 Sounds very yummy. And I bet it made the whole house smell great.

Posted by: RP at March 01, 2005 05:08 PM (LlPKh)

7 Sounds like I oughta enter that bad boy in the Carnival of the Recipes, no?

Great combination: Rockets 'n' meat. Gotta love rockets 'n' meat.

Thanx fer th' tip of the hat!

Posted by: Elisson at March 02, 2005 11:44 AM (2zW8B)

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Our rocketry club, NOVAAR (Northern Virginia Association of Rocketry) has the latest newsletter up, and there's a wicked picture of our flying field on the front page. Here's the caption:

At January's launch, Ben Title's camera equipped R/C airplane snapped this shot of the Great Meadow flying field as a rocket took flight from one of the High Power pads.

It's a .pdf file (5MB), click 'newsletter', then select 'current issue'.

Posted by: Ted at 01:12 PM | category: Rocketry
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I found something interesting while hunting for vintage erotica online.

Someone was kind enough to scan and post a whole heap of Players Cigarette cards. I've since discovered (Google is your friend) that Players has apparently always included some sort of trading card with every pack of cigarettes. The topics have run the range from "wildflowers of Britain" to classic cars to "wonders of the deep" and many many many more. You can see samples of many of these sets on eBay. They're popular collectables and big movers.

This particular set of 85 cards is of Actresses, and were released during the late 1930's (from clues like "her latest film was...").

I'll post one of these every once in a while, with a couple of simple links to IMDB.com or a bio if I can find one. You might be surpirsed at some of the familiar names you'll see. The category is "Star Cards" (over on the right column), and you can click there at any time to see all that I've posted. Hope you enjoy.

To kick it off, here's the first one of the series that I have:

Click on the card for larger size.

Gwili Andre: her IMDB page and a brief bio (tragic). In the picture, notice in the lower left corner the word "Radio". That was the studio she was signed to - RKO - back in the days when each studio kept it's stable of stars under exclusive contract.

Posted by: Ted at 09:59 AM | category: Star Cards
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Via McCovey Chronicles:

"... you've got to have some serious talent to have 53,000 people saying you suck."

Go Barry Bonds. Heh.

Posted by: Ted at 09:28 AM | category: Links
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It must be oldies week here at Rocket Jones, only I didn't get the memo. I've suddenly gotten a flurry of comments and email about that series of posts where we built a Box Hockey game. I've also discovered that somehow, somewhere, the last part of the series has gone missing. I can't find it in the archives, so I'll recreate it and post it here in the next day or so.

Build your own box hockey game part 1

Build your own box hockey game part 2

Build your own box hockey game part 3

Final part coming soon!

Also, this is a variation of box hockey that a lot of folks remember playing as kids. It's not what my plans are for, but it looks fun too.

Posted by: Ted at 08:07 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Your kid doesn't have school because of yesterday's snowstorm? Wake the ankle-biter little angel up and have him (or her in my case) clean the snow off your car while you get ready for your day.

You'll feel better about having to go to work. I did.

Posted by: Ted at 06:02 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Thanks to everyone who's stopped by, and special thanks to all who contributed recipes for this Carnival. I went from zero to overwhelmed in seconds. If you've never visited Rocket Jones before, feel free to look around and I hope you come back to visit on a regular basis. Now, strap yourselves in and hang on...

(in the extended entry) more...

Posted by: Ted at 05:33 AM | category: Links
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1 Nice layout! Thanks for hosting it.

Posted by: vw bug at February 25, 2005 08:27 AM (xRFyn)

2 I've got a bad link (I submitted the email link) to see Canton Beef and Vegtable Soup visit http://azpnj.blogspot.com/2005/02/creating-recipe-blogger-style-canton.html

BTW, the Carnival looks great!

Posted by: Dave at February 25, 2005 09:08 AM (/zEUo)

3 Dave, I updated your entry. The recipe is there, you just have to scroll down the page a little bit. Dunno why it's doing that... let's blame Blogspot!

Posted by: Ted at February 25, 2005 09:21 AM (blNMI)

4 Sorry! Changed the link on you:

http://bebere.blogspot.com/2005/02/my-new-department-head-recently-asked.html

Could I order about a dozen copies of "Self-fulfilling prophecies for Dummies," too? Thanks!

:-)

Posted by: bev at February 25, 2005 09:39 AM (fikC7)

5 A stellar display--sorry to have missed you on the 1st orbit. If you pardon my vacuity, I'll shuttle something tasty over for the next.

Posted by: HelenW at February 25, 2005 10:06 AM (piQVD)

6 Oh, so nicely done!

Thank you!

Posted by: Christina at February 25, 2005 10:07 AM (zJsUT)

7 Bev, link changed.

Posted by: Ted at February 25, 2005 10:27 AM (blNMI)

8 This edition is out of this world. Great job.

Posted by: Punctilious at February 25, 2005 10:43 AM (s2hti)

9 Great job, Ted.

And I didn't even know this was the meatloaf eddition!

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at February 25, 2005 10:44 AM (UquFN)

10 Are the entire Carnivals (1-27) available archived anywhere?

Posted by: Andy at February 25, 2005 11:00 AM (zKaAj)

11 Nicely done, Ted. And for your answer to the Heinlein trivia question...wasn't it Mr. Stone in The Rolling Stones?

Posted by: Victor and his seventeen pet rats at February 25, 2005 12:31 PM (L3qPK)

12 Great job putting this all together! I found all the space pics at NASA's site; they have a new one posted every day. Would love to 'meander' through the stars someday!

Posted by: Michele at February 25, 2005 02:30 PM (4s+3F)

13 Ted, did they make those space food sticks in chocolate? I remember eating these things as a kid...they were about the size of a Slim-Jim, a chocolate flavor, a bit softer than a Tootsie Roll...but I can't for the life of me remember what they were called.

Excellent job on the Carnival, too!

Posted by: nic at February 25, 2005 04:37 PM (etHvD)

14 Fantastique! I am very impressed with all the work you put into this smorgasboard. Bravo!

Posted by: Dawn at February 25, 2005 08:09 PM (Dh1V0)

15 My sincerest apologies for the downed server. Murphy's law wins out yet again. Thank you to all the visitors. I will be up and running with photos and videos by Tues. March 1st.

Posted by: michuli at February 26, 2005 09:01 AM (fuiZO)

16 Andy, check here:

http://www.thedonovan.com/beth/archives/cat_recipe_carnival.html

Nic, there sure were chocolate Space Food Sticks. They're still available, but they're packaged differently and for some stupid reason there's a BMX biker pictured on the box. Ignore the bike and pretend the leathers and helmet are a spacesuit I guess.

Victor, I was thinking about "Job: A Comedy of Justice". Alexander is working as a dishwasher in a New Mexico diner and talks about rating cooks by how good their meatloaf is.

Posted by: Ted at February 26, 2005 09:43 AM (ZjSa7)

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I just saw a commercial on TV for a cordless soldering iron that supposedly cools in seconds. They showed this guy attaching a wire to a doorbell on his porch, then slipping the iron into his shirt pocket, while the voiceover says:

Now that's smart!

No, it's not.

Posted by: Ted at 09:46 PM | category: Square Pegs
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Last night in the Borders bookstore, I noticed that the erotica section is in the same aisle as the self-help books.

Posted by: Ted at 11:41 AM | category: Square Pegs
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1 LOL!

Posted by: michele at February 24, 2005 01:23 PM (ht2RK)

2 Hmm. I've never gotten out of the Sci-Fi section...

Posted by: GEBIV at February 24, 2005 04:22 PM (XJsR+)

3 And just what were you doing in the self help section?

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at February 24, 2005 04:56 PM (UquFN)

4 Yep, I was in the self help section...

Posted by: Ted at February 24, 2005 06:27 PM (ZjSa7)

5 LOL

Posted by: vw bug at February 25, 2005 06:34 AM (aCuoh)

6 My 15 yr old son has noticed that at both Barnes & Noble, and Books a Million...

I confess I don't know how to grok that in fullness.

;-)

Posted by: De Doc at February 26, 2005 02:12 PM (uVm5h)

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Like Robert the Llama Butcher, I'm less than impressed with "storms" around here, especially after having spent five winters in North Dakota (that's how you tell time up there, not by years but by winters).

That doesn't mean I hop into my truck and hit the roads when it gets weathery out, because there are enough nitwits out there already, thank you. But it does mean that I'm at work, because things need doing, and just because it's gonna be a mess later doesn't mean it's a mess now.

Just in case though, there's a blanket and pillow stashed in the truck, and I brought a good book to read if I'm stuck here for awhile. I learned a thing or two over five winters in North Dakota.

Posted by: Ted at 05:53 AM | category: Square Pegs
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1 Yeah, I came in at 6 to beat the crowd, and I'm expecting that most of the day will see the staff clustered around a window saying "How do the roads look? Do you think they will let us leave early?"

Posted by: nic at February 24, 2005 07:08 AM (JijW0)

2 Haha. We only have rain here. Dad, the snow is supposed to stop tonight, right? I'll prolly call you tomorrow just to be sure the roads in the neighborhood are okay before I hit the road home

Posted by: Robyn at February 24, 2005 10:17 AM (AO/zQ)

3 I spent 5 winters in New Hampshire and I choose to stay off of the roads here in DC because of the people who don't know how to drive in it. Makes me look like a wimp, but I'll be the live wimp with no dents in my car.

Posted by: jen at February 24, 2005 12:23 PM (uvxDG)

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