Survived work week*. Check.
Changed color on the blog calendar thingie with this post. Check.

That is all.

* I don't count a day once it's started. So just by getting to work this morning, I can consider it completed, even though it's still in-progress. I've always done that, and I don't know why.

Posted by: Ted at 05:15 AM | category: Square Pegs
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This week is whipping my butt. I've mentioned that my job runs in cycles. Busy week followed by insanely busy week. Repeat. Well, this is supposed to be my merely busy week, and I'm looking forward to insanely busy next week, because it'll be a bit of a slack for me. Whew!

Good thing I love what I'm doing. That makes all the difference in the world.

Got home this afternoon and helped clean the house. Oldest daughter came home for a doctor's appointment, and then took Mookie back to ODU with her for a few days.

After dinner I started cooking. The weather forcast is calling for rain Saturday, so I'm committed to making tamales. Tonight I made a variation of my salsa verde for one type (maybe two, haven't decided), and a red sauce for the other kind I've got in mind. Look for recipes this weekend or early next week. The house smells like roasted chilies, at least for a little while yet.

I also got the bread pudding made and in the oven. So soon it'll be cinnamon and nutmeg in the air.

On a totally unrelated note, we've been listening to a satellite radio station (comes with the dish) called Buzz Saw. Classic hard rock is what they call it, and it's heavy on Zepplin, ZZ Top and AC/DC. I've also heard Nazareth, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sabbath and various others. Pretty good, and a nice change.

Posted by: Ted at 07:37 PM | category: Square Pegs
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Big whoop. I don't drink, I don't leave ladies to drown in my car, and I don't stab bar patrons to death. I'm not wearing green, and I'm half tempted to celebrate tonight by cracking open a cold Corona.

If I cared.

Posted by: Ted at 04:54 AM | category: Square Pegs
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1 Good Christ, Ted. Not a big fan of the holliday?

For the record I could care less too.

Posted by: Paul at March 17, 2005 07:50 AM (vbP6L)

2 Rawr. Are you a little teste today Ted?

Posted by: shank at March 17, 2005 10:45 AM (+H1yK)

3 Am I getting to you already Ted? I thought you were tougher than this!

Posted by: Collins at March 17, 2005 11:05 AM (N4ict)

4 I've had some good luck today, so I can't write off the holiday just yet. And Corona? Hell, that's still in the spirit o' the holiday!

Posted by: dawn at March 17, 2005 12:07 PM (bNYuK)

5 Dang, I completely forgot that it was St Patrick's Day until I started surfing the blogosphere a little while ago. And I'm Irish!

Guess I'll drink the 3 beers that've been sitting in my crisper since sunday. Might help me get some sleep for a change. **yawn**

Posted by: Tuning Spork at March 17, 2005 10:03 PM (4T89p)

6 I'm such a non-drinker that I don't think I've ever even *had* a Corona. If I'm going to drink beer, I prefer a real beer. Romer Pilsner. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Posted by: Ted at March 18, 2005 06:20 AM (blNMI)

7 LOL Collins, believe me, you'll know it if you ever get to me.

Posted by: Ted at March 18, 2005 06:21 AM (blNMI)

8 why, are you gonna fire a fuckin rocket at me through space or some shit?

Posted by: Collins at March 18, 2005 08:05 AM (YkSuu)

9 Hell! I would much rather have a "Negra Modelo".

Posted by: Daniel at March 20, 2005 02:34 PM (VtMFo)

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I pulled out the bread machine a couple of weeks ago, because hey, we own the stupid thing, we might as well use it. And I have been.

Yesterday evening I made a loaf of white bread, thinking that I'd make some bread pudding. Problem was, when I got home this afternoon, the house apes had gotten into it and half the loaf was gone.

Now how can I get mad at that? So I whomped up another - bigger - loaf this evening, this time honey wheat. Before it had cooled I'd sliced it up and tore a heap of it into chunks for tomorrows bread pudding. A good half dozen slices are left over, and I'm thinking peanut butter and orange marmalade for lunch tomorrow.

Good thing I get up earlier than the kids, or there probably wouldn't be any left.

Posted by: Ted at 08:43 PM | category: Square Pegs
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1 Bread machine? CHEATER!

Y'know what I like to use in my bread pudding? French bread along with assorted pastries and small globs of jam and/or preserves. That way you get tasty fruitiness in every other bite. Yum!

Hmm. I still haven't gotten around to posting a recipe for the whole wheat raison bread with a plum sauce swirl that I came up with last fall. Oh, that was a good one. Now if Lawruh would only get around to sending me the videotape we made 'cause I lost my notes...

Posted by: Tuning Spork at March 16, 2005 09:28 PM (Hs51V)

2 Those damn house apes!

Posted by: Victor at March 16, 2005 09:51 PM (etHvD)

3 Homemade bread? Yum. You'd make somebody a good wife (joking! joking! wink! wink!) But hey, that gave me a great idea. You can whip up that bread, slap a label on it called "Rocket Jones' Rockety Good Eatin's" and have a contest on your blog. The winner(s) get a loaf of your homemade bread.

Yeah, I think that's a GREAT idea.

:-)

Posted by: Cindy at March 16, 2005 11:01 PM (MMDER)

4 A bread machine is cheating? Then so is buying flour bucko! Go grind your own grain or pipe down.

Cindy, I'd make a terrible wife. I like sex.

I like the idea about the contest, now I need suggestions about what...

Posted by: Ted at March 17, 2005 07:38 AM (blNMI)

5
Ted, that's such a stereotypical 'wife' comment. :-)

When I did a contest on my blog, folks had to guess the name of my dog. I'm sure you (or your readers) can come up with something! I'll think about it and get back to you should some sudden burst of brilliance land on me today.

Posted by: Cindy at March 17, 2005 08:26 AM (MMDER)

6 Mmmm, whiskey sauce.

Posted by: SayUncle at March 17, 2005 08:58 AM (CDrd/)

7 Cindy, of course it was. That's why I said it! LOL

I know exactly what kind of contest to have. Look for the announcement in the next day or two.

Posted by: Ted at March 17, 2005 11:07 AM (blNMI)

8 Hmmm, PB + OJ Marm, gotta try it.

Posted by: michele at March 17, 2005 06:37 PM (ht2RK)

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Q: How do you make Holy Water?

A: Boil the Hell out of it.

You're welcome, my child.

Posted by: Ted at 12:19 PM | category: Square Pegs
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The AHL affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team is experimenting with a new ice surface.

The Sabres offered to try it and, after some experimentation, settled on painting the sheet in what they call "electric powder blue." To offset the new colored surface, arena officials decided to make the blue lines fluorescent orange, which is also the color used for the faceoff circles.

The center line, normally red, is now dark blue.

I like it. A lot. From the few pictures I've seen I already like it. One of my biggest gripes about televised hockey is that the glare in some arenas makes it darn near impossible to follow the action, and you can give yourself a headache, like staring into the sun.

The Cleveland Barons will be Rochester's first opponents on the new ice on Sunday.

Posted by: Ted at 06:09 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Ever seen the TV show where the main character wakes up, staggers into their workday, and the whole episode is one little drama and adventure and serendipitious event after another? And at the end of the day the character collapses into bed with a huge "oh shit, I have to do this again tomorrow". End of episode.

Today I had one of those days.

Posted by: Ted at 08:40 PM | category: Square Pegs
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1 *sharpens claws*
I do that every day.

So Ted?
Is that a rocket in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?

heheh

~kiss~

Posted by: DemonQueen at March 15, 2005 09:01 PM (lRTFS)

2 Both, of course.

Posted by: Ted at March 15, 2005 09:16 PM (ZjSa7)

3 Oh shit, it's time for some deep thinking about the next vacation!

Posted by: Cindy at March 15, 2005 09:26 PM (MMDER)

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About 10 years ago the "new" Russian embassy was built in Washington DC. The back of the property backs up to a residential neighborhood and as the story goes video survellience wasn't allowed or was severely restricted.

Some wag spray-painted "Wolverines!" on the rear entrance gate of the embassy compound.

Posted by: Ted at 04:59 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Peter Forsberg suffered a concussion after being cross-checked into the boards during a game in the Swedish League a couple of nights ago.

It was Forsberg's first game back after missing six weeks with a broken hand. His father coaches the team, MoDo, and says this:

"He's had his share of concussions, I think it is enough now (to cause him to retire)"

The player who made the illegal hit was ejected from the game and has been suspended for the next two.

Posted by: Ted at 11:13 AM | category: Square Pegs
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I'm that good kind of tired that comes from getting a lot accomplished during your day.

This morning I met a buddy for breakfast in a little diner down the interstate a ways. We caught up on what's going on with each other and then I headed home. The plan was to attend today's club rocket launch, but I never made it. Shame too, because it was a beautiful day.

Got home and decided to take care of a quick repair job on my truck. Twenty minutes later and a smidgen of epoxy and it looked that it was going to be good as new. Then my neighbor dropped by and asked about taking down that maple tree in my backyard. Well, of course I'm not going to head off for the day while he's doing me a favor, so we got going on that.

Something we saw right off was that the maple was bigger than either of us had realized. At the end of the day, we'd taken down every branch reachable with a fully extended 32' ladder, and there's a lot of tree left above that. We even managed to do it without dropping anything on a fence.

There's a nice pile of twiggy branches out in the common area that my son and I will be taking care of over the next week, and a fair pile of fresh cut maple logs to stack. They'll make nice fireplace and firepit fuel. We really opened up the yard with today's work (pictures to come), but the monster trunk and root system is still in the way.

We're tossing around the idea of taking down my back fence and using some tension ropes and come-alongs to just drop the rest in one swell foop. A couple of hours to set things up just right and fifteen minutes to actually bring the beast to earth. I'm also thinking about getting a tree company out here for an estimate, since we've done everything we can do safely and reasonably easy. The problem with that is that it wouldn't surprise me to get an estimate for a thousand dollars, and there's a lot of other home improvements I could do with that kind of money. Then again, I might just leave it for awhile and see how it's going to be. I'm not in any hurry now that the yard will get some reasonable sunlight.

Can you tell my mind is going a mile a minute? It's been a good day.

Posted by: Ted at 06:35 PM | category: Square Pegs
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1 Lucky for you the launch was post poned for Sunday!

Posted by: Maelstrom at March 12, 2005 08:09 PM (moQJN)

2 Say what? The launch was postponed?!?!?!

Posted by: Ted at March 12, 2005 08:26 PM (ZjSa7)

3 I just hope that you don't hurt yourself or anyone else when you finally take the rest of the tree down...It is a big tree!!!! See ya on Wed night By the way, Whats for dinner? haha.

Posted by: Robyn at March 12, 2005 10:52 PM (/AsC4)

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Standard for me:

Right front: pocket watch, loose change (if any)
Left front: keys
Right rear: wallet and comb
Left rear: handkerchief and Swiss Army knife

How about you?

Posted by: Ted at 06:22 AM | category: Square Pegs
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His music career sputtered along until he was mentioned in a Garth Brooks song.

Chris LeDoux, a former world champion bareback rider who parlayed songs about the rodeo life into a successful country music career, died Wednesday from complications of liver cancer. He was 56.

He had a lot of great songs, but my absolute favorite was called Five Dollar Fine:

Five Dollar Fine

We're a fun lovin' crowd, kinda rowdy and loud
Our jukebox won't play no sad songs
So don't come in here, and cry in your beer
'Cause we don't care 'bout who done who wrong

Chorus:
We've got a five dollar fine for whining
We'll tell you before you come in
If it ain't on your mind to have a good time
Ya'll come back and see us again

Well we don't really care about your clothes or your hair
This party is open to all
Yeah we like a good joke, and it's alright to smoke
We got just one rule on the wall

Repeat Chorus

Now there's too many fools makin too many rules
That's one thing you can't say about us
Cause we all get along when we sing the same song
There's just one thing that causes a fuss

Repeat Chorus

Adios amigo, you were never appreciated enough.

Posted by: Ted at 12:15 PM | category: Square Pegs
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1 Heck, I didn't realize he was in his 50s.

Posted by: Derek at March 10, 2005 05:20 PM (wEVXE)

2 Never heard of him. I just lo-o-o-o-ve that lyric, though!

And, yeah, Derek. Liver death at 56. We can only hope that he had a great time and it was worth it to him.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at March 10, 2005 10:43 PM (XvLoj)

3 He sang a duet with Jon Bon Jovi. Therefore, I love him. This is a loss to the music industry, whether many people know it or not.

Posted by: dawn at March 14, 2005 01:04 PM (bNYuK)

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I try to stay fairly professional in the workplace, especially the more formal setting I'm in now. I'm also careful about my language around folks I don't know, because it's the polite thing to do. Lately I've noticed that my co-workers have used a few curse words in my presence. The comfort level must be going up.

They probably got a clue the other day when I was shouting at my computer, swearing up a blue streak, in German.

Posted by: Ted at 12:07 PM | category: Square Pegs
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1 Really. Now there's a factoid about you I don't recall reading about. German, eh? Das ist gut!

Posted by: Cindy at March 10, 2005 06:54 PM (MMDER)

2 Not much more than some swearing and random words left.

Posted by: Ted at March 10, 2005 07:00 PM (ZjSa7)

3 I used to swear in French. Until someone popped up the head like a gopher over the cubby wall and told me pronunciation sucked.

In French.

Heh.

Posted by: Elizabeth at March 10, 2005 11:09 PM (rRxxN)

4 I generally use indirect pointers, shouting things like "The seven words you can't say on television" or "language that would make a sailor blush" rather than calling up the actual words.

Posted by: triticale at March 14, 2005 07:52 PM (KBUhr)

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In my HTML class we're going over images, and the instructor told us that the "alt" attribute on the "image" tag was so that special browsers used by the visually impaired could read a description of what the image was since they couldn't actually see it. This falls under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act:

Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. The Center for Information Technology Accommodation (CITA), in the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Governmentwide Policy, has been charged with the task of educating Federal employees and building the infrastructure necessary to support Section 508 implementation.

So once again Rocket Jones is on the cutting edge of social issues by posting things like Porn for the Blind.

Other than that though, I'll probably just continue to use the "alt" attribute to attach sly little jokes to the images on this site. Having a conscience doesn't mean I have to be fanatical about it.

Posted by: Ted at 05:51 AM | category: Square Pegs
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Tamales.

Look for a couple of Rocket Jones original recipes coming soon.

Posted by: Ted at 05:49 AM | category: Square Pegs
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There's a case to made for travelling light, toting nothing more than your bindle with the wind at your back. But for some of us, bringing along the essentials means at least one extra piece of luggage.

(in the extended entry) more...

Posted by: Ted at 04:31 AM | category: Square Pegs
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...and blowing straight sideways through Virginia on it's way to West Virginia.

A pair of cross-country skis and a sail and I'd be home in 15 minutes.

Posted by: Ted at 11:58 AM | category: Square Pegs
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This morning on the commute to work, we had that perfect set of conditions where the darkness and headlights and misty rain and rolling tires combines to make each vehicle look like it was trailing smoke.

Glancing to my right to make sure my wingman was covering, I eased in behind the Fokker. Apparently oblivious to my presence, the range closed until I could practically knock the bloody hun out by throwing rocks. Instead, he got a long burst from my Lewis gun. I saw the pilot slump as his plane sideslipped down and away.

The lumbering Heinkel was easy pickings. Either the tail-gunner had been killed by a lucky long-range shot, or his gun was jammed, because there was no defensive fire coming from his rear arc. I had to throttle my Spitfire way back to avoid overtaking him, and when lined up perfectly I let loose with everything I had. I was close enough to see large pieces of his plane break free under the withering fire, and within seconds the starboard engine was trailing smoke. He veered away in a shallow dive, heading back across the Channel to his base in France. One less kraut making his delivery to the shipyards at Liverpool.

What a farrago! Everywhere you looked the sky was full of planes, twisting and turning, occasionally trailing a dark plume as he made his final dive. I saw a chute open below me, and noted that the pilot would come down to the south of the Yalu. A MIG flashed by in front of me and I snapped off a burst. He was gone too quickly to assess, but I had other problems, as another Red was trying to turn inside me to get on my tail.

I have no idea where he came from, he was just suddenly there in my sights. Before I even had target locks I was squeezing the trigger, and we were joined by twin beams of light. I saw a plume of flash frozen atmosphere erupt from behind the crew compartment, and they suddenly decelerated. As I rolled past them in a defensive vector, I wondered whether that crew had been suited up when the hull was breached.

Some mornings you don't even have to turn on the radio.

Posted by: Ted at 05:45 AM | category: Square Pegs
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This just in. Japanese pinup star Yuki Aoyama has just been informed of my previous announcement, and we had a photographer on hand to capture her reaction.

She looks pleased.

(click photo for superbig most-happiness size - safe for work)

Posted by: Ted at 06:30 PM | category: Square Pegs
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1 Aah, she's into rocket thrusts!

Or, rather, rocket thrusts are into... nevermind.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at March 06, 2005 07:26 PM (R9/S3)

2 You know Ted, I've been trying to ignore your medical update statement simply because there's a witty and amusing response that I've just been unable to put into the right words. Give me a few weeks, I'm sure something will surface.

:-)

Posted by: Cindy at March 07, 2005 06:29 AM (MMDER)

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Sensible:

One secret of good managers is to keep the people who hate you away from those who are undecided.

The first thing I thought of was pirate captains.

Posted by: Ted at 09:50 AM | category: Square Pegs
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