Caught In The Whirlwind
Archive for October, 2008
I Made Food For Somebody Else…
01300 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
..and they lived! So far anyway. Hopefully they stay living.
Wassy came over last night and instead of going out I wanted to cook something in-house so I made baked Sea Scallops which turned out really well, with only a few minor issues. The scallops turned out really well, but the microwaveable rice ended up being slightly undercooked. Figures that the actual cooking bit would turn out ok and the easy part would get screwed up.
After that there was much rocking as we played Rock Band 2 for a while and hung out in general. Rock Band 2 is a really fun game to play with other people around, and it's definitely worth the investment that it took to get in the door.
Speaking of investments in games though, due to the price of the latest Xbox 360 type games, I'm trying out gamefly. It's basically netflix for video games, but not quite as good. But it's better than paying full price for a game you might play once. And the price is set up so that..basically, if I manage to play more than 1 game every three months, it'll pay for itself in savings since a 360 game is about $60 and the 1 game at a time thing is around $15/month + tax (2 is $22ish). So we'll see how this goes. My first game should be arriving either today or tomorrow hopefully, which is Fallout 3.
I finished Tales of Vesperia on Tuesday, although there's still a lot of the game I didn't get to do. I'll go back later once the walkthroughs are more solid so I can find all of the hidden items and such. There isn't really a great guide out for it yet since it's so new. But I managed to complete the game without looking at a guide except in trying to find certain locations on the world map. I have a terrible direction sense and I get frustrated if I can't find where I'm supposed to be going next. But other than that, walkthrough free! And it was an excellent game. Similar to other Tales games in it's game mechanics, but that's what you get into the series for. You know what you're getting when you buy one. The story did a very good job of keeping me interested and guessing as to what would happen next.
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Featured Life Question: Shopping Online vs. In-Store
01301 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Why do you make some purchases online and others in-store? What ultimately prompts you to go in-store?
Sponsored by Best Buy.
I apologize to the regular readers of my blog for this but…
Dear Best Buy,
I did not answer your question about why I purchase online vs in store, which is obviously a ploy to get marketing information from vox's demographic, when it showed up in the Question of the Week in the music section. Nor did I answer it when it also appeared in the Life section. I am going to continue this trend today.
Don't try to trick me into answering market research questions!!! I give enough information away already!
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First Snow
01301 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Well, I knew it was coming but I had hoped it would take a little longer to get here. It is now currently snowing for the first time this season. No accumulation, but there is definitely snowflakes coming down. I'm hoping it won't get too bad because I have some plans tomorrow which may get screwed up by the weather. It's looking fairly mild though.
I usually look forward to the first snow of the year, actually. There's nothing quite like it. But October is way too early. November is more my style. It shouldn't snow until after Halloween and it should only stay until January 1st. The rest of the year should be a snow free zone!
At least the weather is still looking good for the haunted house outing this Friday. Snow will not win!
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Four Day Weekends Are Win
01303 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Well, I've been pretty silent over the past 4 days because I kinda took a little break from everything. This weekend was intended to be a period of recharging and it worked out quite nicely.
The main event was friday and Saturday where my friends and I had planned an overnight stay sort of hanging out type thing. I was to bring my 360 and Rock Band 2 along with Mario Kart for the Wii and some slasher type movies to fit in with the time of year (along with a turkey dinner and some pumpkin spice beer which turned out to be an excellent combination). Also a lot of candy corn and root beer floats to round out the excessive amounts of sugar.
The event turned out very well. The Rock Band-ing took main stage and we spent an awful lot of time just having fun playing with that. I ended up mostly playing guitar, Wassy handled the drums and Jay did a lot of the vocals although we switched up a bit so everybody did something at least once. By far the highlight of the night was when Jay did the vocals to the Beastie Boy's "So What'cha Want?" as if he was a shakespearian actor rapping. It was so hard to keep playing and at the end of the song I was rolling on the floor laughing. We had to call an intermission so that we could all stop laughing.
Wassy and I also spent a lot of time playing the two Dream Theater tracks. By the end of Saturday, we must have played Constant Motion and Panic Attack at least 10-11 times each. It's nice to see a band like Dream Theater in one of these games.
As far as the movies go, it was my first time seeing Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream. I think out of the 3, I enjoyed Scream the most because it kept me guessing more than the others as to what would happen. But they were all good movies, especially for watching this time of year with all the Halloween stuff going on. We had intended to head out to a haunted house as well, but we got rained out (the place is mostly outdoors). We're going to attempt to go friday this week instead. So far the weather is looking much better for that. I've never been one for scary things (too chicken) but my friends are slowly turning me around on that.
Sunday was just a lot of hanging around and relaxing for me. So not much to say there. It was just a really nice and relaxing weekend, and I'm very sad that it's monday now 
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Vox Hunt: Morning Glory
01307 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Show us what you love most about the morning.
I get to eat this oatmeal. Wassy discovered it accidently when the store was out of her usual and she spread the word to me. This is the best oatmeal I've ever had, hands down. SO AWESOME!
Heroes: You Are Officially On Notice
01308 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Pretty much the only broadcast TV show that I make sure to watch these days is NBCs Heroes. After an awesome first season (which I saw in a very, very compressed chunk), the second season was kinda directionless and wandering but they managed to regain some focus by the end.
This third season though…It's not holding my interest as much as the first two. It's become quite obvious that the writers really have no overall story plan for this show, and that it's success season 1 caught them a little off guard. I have a couple of main beefs with the show this time around, which I will outlay in an official looking bulleted list format.
- Too many people with powers. The first season of the show was about ordinary people who suddenly discovered they had powers and were thrust into a situation that was bigger than they were in an attempt to save the world. This season they're acting more like comic super hero types, They're old vets of all this saving the world stuff. And everybody and their brother has a power. Which leads me to beef two…
- The show isn't focused. There's too many main characters. When they choose to show a couple of them, by the time their plotline starts gaining steam and you start getting interested…poof, we're off to another group of people. Nothing seems to be connected and nobody seems to be doing anything really important.
- They forget people have powers when convenient. The writers are trying to juggle so many people with powers right now that it's impossible for them to remember what everbody can do. And situations that should never happen with people that have certain powers happen anyway. Like somebody with super hearing not being able to hear a whispered conversation happening not 20 feet from them…
- They're acting out of character. Sylar especially. How, exactly, did he become a good guy? I know it's an attractive idea, but I don't buy the execution. It's just coming off as lame.
As of right now, I don't think I'm going to be expending an extra effort to watch this show in primetime anymore. I'll still watch it via hulu.com but I don't think it has enough of my resepct to plan my life around catching it. I hope that they can pull themselves out of this nosedive, but I think this is just another case of burnout after an awesome first season…
The Weekend Report
01310 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
What's that over there on the right? It's a Penguin! Which means that this weekend was the annual Penguin Pilgrimage out to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse. There have been previous penguin pilgrimages but I had always forgotten my good camera. But this time, I remembered and got some neat penguin shots along with some other animals. There's more pictures up on my flickr account.
Plans changed slightly as my friend Jay had slept badly and was feeling kinda blargh, so he decided to stay home and get some sleep while Wassy and I went out to the zoo. We had intended on going when it was cooler out, with the supposition that the penguins would be more active and the zoo would be less crowded.
Well…we had one out of two correct. The zoo was much less crowded since it was around 50F out. But the darn penguins were hanging out indoors mostly! And they weren't really swimming exactly. Boo!
There were a couple of them that were out and about and sunning (like the penguin on the left there), but most of them were hanging out indoors. Jerks! They're supposed to be cold weather animals! You're not supposed to huddle inside…
But as much as that part of the idea turned out to be a flop, it was made up for by the rest of the trip. Fall is definitely the best time to go to the zoo, just because it was much less crowded. A lot of the animals were more active too, which is probably because it was much cooler out.
We saw them feeding the elephants, one of which was a greedy bastard who took all of the food for himself. Pushed it all over into a little pile and wouldn't let the other two elephants get anything but a couple scraps here and there.
The biggest surprise was seeing that the red panda was up and about. (That picture is a lot better if you check the full size). The thing is usually sleeping in a little hole and you can never see it, but it was out and walking around very close to the fence area so i was about to get some good pictures.
It was excellent weather for just wandering around outside. Probably one of the last really good weekends before it starts getting too cold out to wander around comfortably for a while.
After we took in the outdoor sights, we headed inside to check out the various monkeys and birds and things. They added an exhibit of Sand Cats since we last went. They're basically cats that are adapted to living in the desert. They were the first domesticated variety of cats and I can see the resemblance to the modern day house cat. One of them was spazzing out and doing continual figure eight patterns around the exhibit while the other cat was staring at it like it was crazy
After we went to the zoo, we went around shopping as Wassy needed to pick up some art supplies and then headed back to their place to hang out for a bit. Jay was more awake. We ended up hanging around watching TV. She showed me how to do her version of Chicken Scampi which was excellent…adding another dish to my inventory. Then we watched the first Futurama movie which is something I really need to get the DVDs of. I missed the show when it was first on and it's totally awesome.
Sunday was just a very lazy sort of day. I played some Rock Band 2, did my laundry and a little cleaning…but mostly it was just kinda lounging around and relaxing. This week is going to be short and long. I'm taking Thursday and Friday off but this weekend We're planning a get together with my friends. And old school halloween type sleepover deal. Scary movies, visit to a haunted house, interspersed with various games and lots of rock band (I'm bringing my 360 over with me). I can't wait until friday!
I'll leave you with a final zoo picture, of a Meerkat and his lounging buddy.
Back Pain Is Metal!
01312 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Most of my leisure time over the past week has been taken up by Rock Band 2. Last weekend I moved into phase 2 of my Xbox 360 purchase and grabbed Rock Band 2 and the wireless drums. I've been having fun all week virtually drumming along to songs in an effort to unlock the song I bought the game for, Panic Attack by Dream Theater. It's one of the harder songs in the game so it's all the way at the end…I am nearing it though. Not too much longer!
Which is a good thing, because I've discovered that my back has become very unhappy with me due to the way I sit while I'm drumming. I really need to find a better way to do this so it's less painful on my back. I'm getting too old for rocking
But overall, I'm really enjoying the game. It should be fun once I can play it with my friends as it was meant to be enjoyed.
QotD: Pros vs Cons
01313 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Did you watch the baseball game or the debate last night?
Considering I'd rather get my eyes dug out with with rusty spoons than watch an entire baseball game (It takes so long for them to do anything!!!) I watched the debate.
I went in not expecting it to change my mind. I was going to vote for Obama before he even announced he was running for president, so not much is going to change my viewpoints on this. So, needless to say, I thought the debate was a big win for Obama. McCain looked like he was a grumpy old man getting increasingly frustrated with Obama's corrections of McCain's misinformation. A couple times it even looked like his eyes were going to fall out of his head because Obama had owned him so hard.
Joe the Plumber is a name I hope I never have to hear again after hearing about him so much last night. But it was worth it for when McCain brought up the misinformation about Joe's business saying that under Obama's health plan he would be fined for not offering health benefits.
McCain: Now, my old buddy, Joe, Joe the plumber, is out there. Now, Joe, Sen. Obama's plan, if you're a small business and you are able — and your — the guy that sells to you will not have his capital gains tax increase, which Sen. Obama wants, if you're out there, my friend, and you've got employees, and you've got kids, if you don't get — adopt the health care plan that Sen. Obama mandates, he's going to fine you.
Now, Sen. Obama, I'd like — still like to know what that fine is going to be, and I don't think that Joe right now wants to pay a fine when he is seeing such difficult times in America's economy.
((Some stuff edited out here))
Obama: I just described what my plan is. And I'm happy to talk to you, Joe, too, if you're out there. Here's your fine — zero. You won't pay a fine, because…
McCain: Zero? ((McCain's eyes were bugging out of his head at this point and it looked like he was staring at the headlights of an oncoming train))
Obama: Zero, because as I said in our last debate and I'll repeat, John, I exempt small businesses from the requirement for large businesses that can afford to provide health care to their employees, but are not doing it.
That was worth it. They also brought up Ayres and I think that Obama directly addressing the topic and explaining his relationship with Ayres should pretty much lay the issue to rest with most rational Americans.
All in all, I thought this debate was the best. The moderator was awesome and he let the topics go on if there was a good discussion going down between the candidates, but he wasn't afraid to step in and try to direct the discussion if necessary.
Now the three week wasteland wait begins…
Exploration of Food And Drink
01315 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
As the title suggests, this post is going to be about two things…food and drinks.
So starting with the food, I just wanted to give a little update on my cooking attempts. I've tried two new recipes this week. First up was some garlic chicken. This one turned out REALLY well and I'm definitely going to do it again. The best part is that it's pretty quick to do, about 30 minutes or so, so it's easy enough to do during the week. It's not terribly sophisticated, but it's very tasty. I think I used a little bit too much of the seasoned salt in this one though…it was a tad too salty, but I'll adjust that for next time.
The next recipe was for baked halibut. I had another halibut steak from last weeks seafood experiments and I wanted to try out this one. I didn't like it quite as much as the garlic chicken, but I thought it was servicable. I think It was a little too tangy, so I might need to reduce the mustard powder and dill weed a bit.
It's a little difficult to do some of these because I'm trying to reduce everything from feeding a family of 4 to one person. Not exactly easy sometimes. Later this week I'm probably going to try out a recipe for baked scallops, and potentially chicken quesadillas. We'll see what I feel like.
As far as the liquid consumption goes, I've been exploring different types of tea and I've arrived at Rooibos, or Red Tea. And man, I wish I would have gotten here sooner. It's now my current favorite tea. I tried it Monday night just straight with no flavoring and though it was pretty good. A little sweet, very smooth and very tasty. Then last night I tried the earl grey version, which is your standard rooibos tea with bergamot added. And it was simply awesome. I forsee myself going through the sample tin I have of this VERY quickly.
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