I don’t care what GRRM has to say, it was an incredible game. I was really worried after the end of the first quarter, because Manning and the Colts made those 10 points look really easy. If there was anything there from the Saints, it was the way they halted that second drive and forced the Colts to kick for three. Three 40+ yard field goals later (isn’t that a record for a Super Bowl game?), and a touchdown for both sides, and the Colts just stopped.
Really the game to me was about some of the choices the Saints offense made: that onside kick to start off the second half; the brilliant 2 point conversion. And then there was that 74 yard interception return that even had Dena shouting. (She shouted at the onside kick and resulting dogpile, but that’s because she didn’t know what was going on.) It was an exciting, tense game.
Way better than the game against the Vikings two weeks ago, which was riddled with turnovers and penalties. Brees tied for most completions in a Super Bowl (with Tom Brady from a few years back). Everyone played a good game, and the Saints just wanted it more, and played like they were the smart guys in the room and had nothing to lose. At one point Manning spent the last portion of the second quarter, all of halftime, and a good chunk of the third quarter on the bench – about an hour of real time.
It was a great game to watch, and I’ll be feeling good about it for a while. I remember going to Saints games as a kid and expecting them to lose but still hoping something special might happen. Now I’m glad I it did and that I got to see it, even if from 3000 miles away.
I’m watching Atomic Cafe on YouTube. I’m about ten Firefox tabs deep into articles in Wikipedia. I’m looking at coastal maps of Georgia and South Carolina. I’m going to read a few Hemingway short stories after all that. No good can come of this. You have been warned.
I was expecting meager numbers for the CF/Wheels plugin I built (total of 32 between the official plugin listing site and the RIAForge site), but the Nanowrimo gem has been downloaded 159 times? That’s crazy cool. And a good chunk of those downloads (47?!) have been on the latest version, too. Pretty cool. I hope it’s useful for some people, and I’m pretty proud of the code in all its newbishness.
One of these days I’ll get around to finishing the Wrimostats.com site.
Anyway, I smoked a chicken on the charcoal grill last night. I used applewood chips in two separate smoke bombs and kept the thing at 300F (would have been nice to have it a bit higher, but I’m still figuring out long cooking on the grill).
The chicken itself was about 5 1/2 lbs and was prepped with the following:
I stuffed it with half an onion chopped, half a lemon in wedges, and about a dozen sage leaves that had all been microwaved with a bit of water for about three minutes to steep. I then separated the skin from the breast to make enough room to rub the meat down from the inside with a butter sage sauce made of half a stick of softened butter, fresh ground pepper, garlic powder, a bunch of fresh chopped sage, and about a tablespoon of lemon juice.
I put the chicken on a roasting rack and placed it uncovered on the grill but not over the coals. It cooked for an hour until the skin started turning golden. Then I covered it in tin foil, threw the second smoke bomb on the coals, stuck a temp probe in the breast and let it cook for about 3 more hours until it was just over 150F. I took it in and let it sit while we steamed broccoli and cooked up rice in the rice cooker with a can of cream of mushroom soup.
Once the chicken had rested I carved it up, leaving the wings and drumsticks intact. I pulled the breast meat off and chopped it up, and then boned the thighs and took that meat too. I finished by flipping the bird (heh heh) and carefully removing the Pfaffenschnittchen, which are still my favorite part of a chicken. I’m getting pretty good at carving up birds.
I still have to figure out the sauce part, too. It definitely tenderized the breast but I’m not sold on whether it altered the flavor. It definitely made a nice-smelling mess. I ended up scraping the remaining sauce off the breast meat before I removed it from the bird. I think maybe a bit of coarse salt in the mixture might have been nice, or maybe a salt rub for the skin over the breast, since I always remove that before I serve.
When I was at Western I would go to the video room at the library when I had a long break between classes and no work to do. I ended up watching a bunch of my now-favorite movies there. Lots of foreign films and weird little art films. I think I saw my first Fellini film there. Way too many John Waters films. I also saw A Boy and His Dog there for the first time, and loved the shit out of it.
There was another film I watched, with Peter O’Toole. I couldn’t remember the name of it, but it was just really crazy. I thought it was Lord Jim, but that doesn’t match the story. I did a bit of searching finally and found it – The Ruling Class. You can get it at Netflix, and right now it’s available in the Watch it Now section of the site. Definitely worth checking out.
Don’t read comment threads anymore
This is actually working. I’m annoyed because sometimes my eyes wander. But I’m getting better at it. This is one of the easier resolutions.
No eating mammals or fowl
Yeah… Okay. So I’m managing no meat during the week. The weekends are a little more difficult. Regardless, while I have a chicken out on the grill, I am planning on NOT eating meat tomorrow.
NO MORE SOCIAL NETWORKING
BOOOSH!
Get back to the novel. Get it done.
Well, I managed another 1500 new words a few weeks back. Thought that meant I was ON IT. But then I haven’t touched it since. Sooooo, while I’ve done something, I know it’s not enough.
Write a five song demo, record it, release it.
No where close. I’ve got the underpinnings of a complete song though. Getting there. The recording is going to be the real bitch. I’ve started getting used to my hardware and software, though.
Write at least five short stories
I’m sitting down with one once I’m done with this. It’s in the editing phase, and I haven’t touched it in years. Should be interesting.
Write more open code
Nope. Nothing yet. Maybe soon.
Actually, learn more languages
Obj-C is in the works. I think C is next.
Go to Europe
While I’ve been watching for low airfares, I haven’t even started with the passport or anything like that. It might have to wait until Fall. Eff.
He’ll wobble out onto the stage and everyone will be hushed – you know, because of the medical issues and we haven’t seen him in a while. Then after he takes a few steps he’ll stumble and roll and jump up and smile and everyone will scream and clap.
Then he’ll fart out a new device from his smug little beturtlenecked head and a million units will move in half an hour. I’ll resist the urge to buy one, and that will last exactly 9 months, desire gestating in my brain like some mutant force for possession of bold, revolutionary material goods. When he comes out he’ll join his older siblings of purchases past.
I’ll name him “Can Has?” And I will never tell him “no.”
