another one bites the dust.

Well, had yet another in a series of birthdays yesterday...42. the answer to the question! Oh Douglas - you knew there wasno answer, didn't you? The thing is, I don't think there's a question either, but it'd take a lot of thinking and writing/re-writing to fully flesh out
my philospohy. plus, it's all already been said anyway and I'd just be re-hashing and paraphrasing the giants on whose shoulders I am standing :)
jeez...now that's a bit of blogger shite isn't it?
oh well, it's one day post-b-day so i am allowed...
Anyway, my favorite girl took me out for dinner (after showering me with gifts) and we went to this little local bistro after trying in vain to get into Sarah's (not enough tables in that place) and it was really great. I mean, the food was good if not a little too salty (french trait?) and the waiter, Harry, after spending most of the time reading a book while we ate (we were the sole patrons), became quite talkative, and enlightened us a bit on local history..it was pretty cool.
after that, we walked home and i made the requisite phone calls to various family members (my youngest sister shares a b-day with me, but three years older) and then we settled down to 'kill some rebels' - i am not sure how many rebels i have killed durning my Star Wars Battlefront career, but it's approaching maybe 50 thousand or so! eek...we can't really help it..the game is so much fun and we really like the co-op mode of it!
I suppose I don't really have any pearls for the swine...no words of wisdom to impart, no advice to give and no poetry to recite. Birthdays to me are just another day. celebration is nice, and sharing time with friends and/or family is really great too. just try to do it more often. there. advice. simple. clear. unfettered by my years of pent up rage and bitterness...
hahahaha (42 year old insanity laughter)

Positivism against the rant!

What the heck? I haven’t posted here for a while, and I suppose it’s because most of the things I feel really passionate about would lead me to making some huge rant – the environment, politics, society…I see so many things that drive me up the wall, and also see many things that really do put a smile on my face, but ffor the most part what I feel I can write comes out sounding like so much bitching and complaining that I end up erasing it and not posting at all…already this is turning into some self-loathing rant!
Haha!
Anyway, on to the positive things that I have seen, heard and experienced.
Yesterday we had S’ father over for some dinner. I got home after a nice listening session with my ‘audiophile’ group and pulled out the ribs that had been bathing in a vietnamese marinade for the past 24 hours. Put them on the grill, with some cherry chips, and smoked them for about 4 hours..man they were awesome! Along with some pickled carrots and potato salad (thanks S!), it was a real nice treat.
Recently I have had a sore back. It is not so unusual for me, since I have had lower back problems since my teen years. But for the past several years it’s been rare, and rarer still is it lasting more than a few days. I think it may be due to my lack of exercise. A plethora of injuries and illnesses, along with a sense of general malaise have kept me from the routine that has dominated my physical life for the past several years. So now I am caught in the ‘water draining down the sink’ spiral of trying to get back to some sort of routine. Funny eh? It seems that the less you exercise, the less you feel like exercising. Oh well…enough of that – today I get back into it with a bang. I will start posting my progress here on a separate thread or something (I wonder if I can link documents or something?).
Okie dokie – ‘nuf said.
B

Just another rant, or "Why we suck"

So there is a story today on the CBC news website regarding the “Street racing law” here in Ontario link. It reports that only about 33% of those charged with the offense are ever convicted. The accused are still stuck with the costs of towing and impounding (for 1 week) of their vehicle, regardless of whether they have been convicted or not. The article cites the case of a motorcycle driver who was stuck in traffic, drove between cars to get out of it(!?!) and subsequently was charged with the offense.
It ended up costing him more than $2,000 even though the original charge was not upheld (it was reduced to an illegal lane change – a $600 fine).
Now people are crying foul, because they are being stuck with a bill even though they may have gotten off the charge.
My first thought of this is that it is a little unfair to be charged monetarily for a charge that doesn’t hold up in court. However, I think about it again and it seems perfectly fair actually.
To be charged with this you have to be observed doing something that is patently wrong – driving 50km/h over the speed limit, driving very aggressively, etc. The fact that Judges in Ontario are easily swayed by X-Coppers and other such companies who help offenders reduce or eliminate their charges (many times on something that has nothing to do with the offense in question), or perhaps do not agree with the law or may feel lenient towards an offender does not mean it’s wrong for the offender to pay the bill for towing and impounding his or her car.
In our world today it seems that everyone shirks responsibility for their actions. There is a distressingly increasing non-willingness of our society to stand up and admit that we were in the wrong – that we’ve offended and need to pay the price of our actions. It is everywhere – people arguing tickets in court, parking in restricted parking spots “just for a minute”, blah blah – the list goes on ad nauseum and is prevalent in all facets of modern life.
I recently got a speeding ticket. I noticed that there was incorrect information on it. I was angry (mostly at myself for not having my insurance on me - another $75!!!) and didn’t want to pay it. After cooling off, I decided that I would pay it, after admitting to myself that I made a stupid mistake. The fact is that I probably could have gone to court and at least had it reduced, if not thrown out. But why? Why can’t everyone admit that they’ve made a mistake? Why does everyone have an excuse or a way to remove their responsibility?
I once had a law teacher in high school who said “The criminal mind is not the one that conceives the crime – it is the one that conceives the defense”.
Truer words were never spoken.

So, I wanted to make som Tandoori chicken the other day but had no yogurt. I also have always thought that usually tandoori has very little flavor other than the charred flavor from the oven. I like it, for sure, but always thought it could use some stronger flavouring. In any case, I came up with this recipe at random and was really impressed by it’s flavoring – very bold and balanced with added juicyness that tandoori almost never has (could be because I left the skin on too). So here’s the recipe:
Ingredients 2 tbsp Tandoori powder 2 Tbsp Ketchup 1 tsp red pepper flakes 1 tbsp milk 1lb chicken pieces (I used legs)
Prick the chicken all over with a fork. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients and then cover the chicken parts with it. Try to get the mixture into the chicken really well, under the skin, etc. Leave for about an hour. On the grill (I always use charcoal grilling, not propane!), ready the coals all to one side of the bbq so that it’s easy to adjust the positioning of the chicken. Once the coals are ready, place the chicken so that there is ‘medium’ heat. This is usually the place right around where the pile of coals ends. Cover the grill and let it cook for around 10 minutes (keeping an eye on it from time to time), and then turn them over. The skin should already have started to turn black in spots where the sugar in the ketchup has started to carmelize. Cook for another 5 or 10 minutes and take off the grill. For added smokey flavour you could put the parts over the high heat for a couple minutes. The juice from the chicken will drip onto the coals, increasing the flame and infusing the smoke into the chicken. If you do this be careful not to burn it. Eat and enjoy!

Vroom Vroom (maybe?)

Since the time I was about 10 years old I have wanted a motorcycle. I remember when I was 12 asking my parents about it. They had said that if I could save enough money from my paper route that they would pay half the cost of a dirt-bike. Back in 1978 a Suzuki 75cc dirtbike was around $1200 I think, and I am not sure how much money I was making delivering the Winnipeg Tribune, but that would have probably been a years saving. I also was interested in comic books at the time, as well as hockey cards, so saving that kind of money was next to imipossible for me (too bad I didn’t at least hold onto the comics and cards!) Anyway, fast forward 30 years, and the burning desire is still there. I have ridden quite a few motorcycles including dirt and street, but have never owned one, or even had my licence for it. A few years ago when I started putting pressure on myself to lose a few extra pounds (about 80!), I said to myself that if I could get to my goal that I would treat myself to a motorcycle. Well, the goal was too lofty and I never got the bike. And besides, the cost of the bike I wanted was far too high at around 12 grand.

Now here we are…I recently saw an ad for a honda CBR125R. It totals around 4K with tax, and that has really gotten me interested again. I think as a first step that I will go and get my M1(?) licence from the MTO. Then I will try a test ride on the bike in question and maybe check out the Yamaha 125 as well. I am not sure that either of these bikes will carry my load (around 200lbs), but we’ll see. I don’t need to break any speed records or anything. In any case, I will post results from my written test, as well as progress on this whole endeavor. CFN, Jojo

This is it...

Well, I have been wanting to start another blog for a while but have been putting it off, because I assume that at some point that I will completely lose interest and the blog will become really stale. A quick look over at the microsoft blogging site confirms this J
Anyway, this is another start.
My writing is completely imperfect - my thoughts are random, scattered and incomplete. I write no manifests and I make no implied warranty (that I may just change my outlook) on any statements that I may write here. There will be no poetry. There will be no prose. You may not find it interesting at all. In fact, you may find that I am obnoxious, or boorish, or insulting. On the other hand, you may find it enlightened, interesting or downright funny!
So, keep in tune and in touch. I may respond to comments, I may not. I may post frequently, or not at all – we’ll see…
CFN,
Jojo