Bangers and Mash?

S0 here I am some 4 days after surgery, and am finally able to get out of the house for more than a 15 minute slow walk without great discomfort. The bruising has been dissipating in some areas while developing in others. Kind of a chameleon effect. My (specific body region) has never been that color before. Fortunately, the level of pain is less than the shade indicates. Not that there is no pain, there is as anyone who has had this surgery will attest. In response for those of you who whish to thank me for sharing: "You're most welcome." In respect for everything sacred, or at least sacred by my standards, I am not posting a pic, nor am I mentioning the specific part.

Ode to Hasbro

This morning while waiting to "go under the knife" we were watching news on the TV in the waiting room. It was ironic that one of the headlines was about mess-ups in the operating room: wrong patient operated on, wrong part removed, wrong medications given during surgery, etc. I was reminded of the movie "Airplane" when the in flight entertainment was a documentary on airplane crashes. Anyway, things went fine during my hour long nap, and I am making friends with Percocet.

A Very Large Moth

I saw this on an outside wall by the main entrance of the Physics building on the NAU campus. While I was taking this picture, a student copied me an also took a pic. This moth is HUGE!

Well, Duh!

For some time I have known about the existence of a hiking/mountain bike trail that runs between Ft. Tuthill and highway 89A south of Pine Dell, but have never found it. I knew where the trail entered Ft. Tuthill from the North, but never had the time to follow it from there. I also knew it took off from somewhere near the Pine Mountain Amphitheater. I would usually find myself at Ft. Tuthill only 1-2 times a year, but would take the opportunity to search for it when there. Today was one of those days. As I ventured toward the amphitheater, I noticed small black arrows on small yellow square signs attached to trees. These are type used to mark nordic ski trails. I decided to take a gamble by following the arrows and was soon on a bona fide trail that connected to other bona fide trails. I folowed one till it crossed highway 89A just south of Pine Dell. Exactly as the maps showed (except for showing just where the trail hits the amphitheater) All I had to do was follow the arrows. It just goes to show - I can earn an advanced degree in chemistry, but arrows escape me. The "Pinky and the Brain" theme fills my head. Now the real scary part - I Vote!

Road Trip Recap

So after decompressing for a week I finally decided to recap our trip to visit my parents in Boulder. It was kind of nice being in a population center despite the lower air quality, crowds and traffic. This is partly due to having a 11 year old daughter who is very much into Titanic stuff. Given this fact, we took a trip to downtown Denver to tour the Molly Brown Home, which wound up to be interesting. Another day and another trip to Denver so our daughter could experience some of the worst Mexican food available, but in one of the weirdest restaurants on the planet. Yes, Casa Bonita. Waterfalls, cliff divers, slapstick "gun fights"/archaeologist / pirate shows. Black Bart's hideout and free (and actually good) sopapillas. Again, REALLY REALLY BAD food. I thought it might have improved in the past 30 some years, but no. We also took another trip to downtown Denver to see the Egypt/King Tut exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. This was way cool, awesome, impressive, neat, keen, amazing, inspiring, and exciting. In uncivilized company, I sum it up in two words that can not be repeated here. Even the kids at the museum were into the artifacts.
My brother came in from Reno and we took a hike up Shadow Canyon while my dad and the women folk toured the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory. We also visited nearly every camping/bicycle shop in the area to find a "super visible" bicycle jacket for my bro'.
Overall a great trip even with the drive with an 11 year-old and two dogs. On the trip there we let the dogs determine the breaks and stops so it took over 14 hours. The trip back, the humans ruled - 12 hours 40 minutes. Both ways via Moab.
Did I mention the King Tut exhibit was COOL? Seriously - these artifacts were on display in Denver! Yes, Denver (FINALLY)

O Canada We Stand On Guard For Thee

Some men call their former girl friends when they get drunk, others call for help.

I ran across a news item about a man in Manitoba who dialed 911 (sometime last year) to demand the return of the Winnipeg Jets. Although I empathize with the man, he needs to realize 1: The Jets left Winnipeg about 14 years ago. 2: As witnessed during the last two weeks of the 2009-2010 season, Phoenicians will venture out to the worst named arena on the planet to watch hockey if the team wins a few games. 3: If the Coyotes move back north of the border, they are far more likely to land in Hamilton than Winnipeg. 4: He is lucky to have done this in Canuckistan where people understand what alcoholic beverages do to hockey fans. 5: Glendale is home to the WORST NAMED ARENA in the universe. I don't know what that has to do with the other 4, but "Jobing.com Arena?" The naming committee needs to present possible names to a group of 11-111 year old males before final approval. If there are snickers, guffaws, chortles, or laughs, the suggested name fails. Even a well-bred proper Mormon mom would shoot green Jell-O from her nose on that one.

I hope Manitoba does land a team in the future, but for now I am (Deleted Expletive) glad there is a team within 224km (metric as a nod to the denizens of "the True North strong and free") of where I live. If (when?) they leave I am likely to emulate the puck-head and dial 911 demanding the return of the team. Nobody ever said one needed to be smart to be a hockey fan. And for me even a fan of teams formerly known as the North Stars, or Colorado Rockies is a hockey fan. And as with firefighters, a brother is a brother, even if they like Dallas, or New Jersey.

Forget 12 step programs, try my 15 step program!

1) Get annoyed with dripping kitchen faucet and go to hardware store and buy appropriate cartridge/stem units.
2) Come home and replace units
3) Notice faucet still drips and go to same store and buy replacement spring/seat units
4) Replace seat/springs.
5) Readjust/tighten faucet handle/stem/spring-seat units when faucet still drips.
6) Remove "bonnet" to repeat step 5, realizing I forgot to make sure water was turned off.
7) Clean up water from ceiling/floor/self. (if you think this was stupid, wait till step 8)
8) Repeat steps 5,6,and 7. (with emphasis on steps 6 and 7) Tighten everything.
9) Dance around when there are no drips.
10) Stop dancing when water leaks from every possible place - including under sink.
11) Call friend for help.
12) Mess around with the whole thing repeating the steps, but making sure water is off.
13)Finally remove faucet from sink.
14) Discover why dripping stopped, but leaking started.






15) Go to different store to spend money on new faucet, because I don't want to play with solder. (Given my talent with step 8.)
15) Install new faucet. (it probably need replacing anyway)

Fun With Construction Stuff

While Flagstaff slept, alien conehead lumberjacks attacked!

Doubling Up On Typing Exercizes

As the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog, I packed my box with five dozen liquor jugs. All right, all right, I know I took some liberties here, but I have fake poetic license. I also am seeing double, and then some. Well, letters anyway.

WAAAAAAAAH! The Season Is Over

Well, it wasn't the team I wanted, (at least not publicly) but Chicago has won the Stanley Cup. The Cup, The Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, The Holy Grail, The Meaning of Life, Life of Brian. Oops I digress. After a dismal third period, and even worse start of the overtime period for the Blackhawks, Chi town finally figured out that if they score, they win. Even in slo-mo that winning goal was damn fast. Marilee, did you have something to do with it? The good thing is that I like the Hawks and am happy to have seen them win. This hasn't happened since my older brother was a toddler. Congrats boys, and thanks to Marilee. I hope you had fun watching.

But Seriously Folks,

Despite the fact I have not lived in Thailand for over 20 years, I am annoyed and saddened by the events there over the past 72 hours. Well, the past 2 months for that matter. This level of violent disobedience is most non-Thai as the Thai have a well deserved reputation for settling differences peacefully. Sometimes I think the word Thailand is synonymous with "bloodless coup." Thus, I am bewildered, perplexed and frankly pissed off at the actions of the arsonists. Although I feel for the rural poor, (I worked in international development when I lived in Maha Sarakham) I do not condone setting buildings afire. That is just inexcusable. To the people of Bangkok, Mukdahan, Khon Kaen, Maha Sarakham, Chiang Mai and other towns who are just trying to go about their business; I am truly pained to read and see the reports on the news. I wish you all peace and love.

Dive Right In

Kim had her birthday party a couple of weeks ago, and I have been too lazy to post anything about it till now. We went bowling and all had a great time. This year she requested a "swimming pool" cake with her diving from a "3 meter" board. No, the board is not to scale.

We Have A Serious Series!

I know this is obvious, but game 6 is over. Now on to game 7.

tuRmeric. tuRmeric. With an R

Phun with puns part 1.


True story: Yesterday I ran across a string about ingredients used in cooking that claimed tumeric [sic] had cancer fighting properties. Although the responsible party forgot the first "r" they did not use an "o." This is a good thing otherwise we would have a carcinogen and wind up with a tumor. Ick.

No, I Did Not Hear The Rest Of Them.

Snippets of two conversations I heard today.

1) "I know how to do it, but when I have to do it, I do it wrong."

2) "That will be good for your Adam's apple."


Both would be good primers for a creative writing assignment. Too bad they were parts of different conversations.

It Is All A Function Of Poor Humor

I think we elected a number of mathematicians to the U.S. Congress. I write this because there has been a lot of discussion about regulating derivatives lately. I find it very integralesting. I wonder if higher order derivatives will be taxed at a higher rate, or if we will simply allow them to be self taxing. I do know they have been known to tax my patience.

The More I Know, The More There Is To Forget

Things to remember concerning the Coyotes and Red Wings

1) At the time of writing this, the Coyotes have not lost a PLAYOFF game to the Red Wings since 1998
2) The Coyotes have not lost a PLAYOFF game since 2002

Things to forget:

The Coyotes have not been on the playoffs since 2002 and have not played the Red Wings in the playoffs since 1998


Something else to remember:

This time the Coyotes made the playoffs with some "room to spare."

Miracle on ice part II

In 2003 I said, "Well, maybe next year."
In 2004 I said, "Well, maybe next year."
In 2005 I said, "Well, maybe next year."
In 2006 I said, "Well, maybe next year."
In 2007 I said ,"Well, maybe next year."
In 2008 I said, "Well, maybe next year."
In 2009 I said, "Well, maybe next year."
It is FINALLY next year and THE COYOTES ARE GOING TO THE PLAYOFFS!

HOWL!!!!

So I was watching the tube in one room and shouted to my wife and daughter who were in the other room to turn on the game to check out the "New and improved" score. There was a lull in the action for a couple of moments when the silence was interrupted by a 10 year old girl screaming "Drop the puck!" I went to the room where they were and my daughter looked at me and said, "Well the ref was just standing there so I told him to drop the puck."

I don't know where she picks this behavior. At least she didn't curse Ala V.P. Biden.

Ranting and Celebrating

I have finished another journey around the Sun today and celebrated by taking a furlough day. So far I spent it by bringing our daughter to the bus stop, then driving all the way to her school to deliver her eyeglasses which she forgot, taking a mini nap, spending about 3 hours at Snowbowl. I also bought ice cream for tonight's desert and some crickets for the bearded dragon. President Obama celebrated my birthday by signing into law a piece of legislation that will increase the financial and medical security for all. Yes, for all! I reflected on how lucky I am to have employer provided health insurance, and how cool 50.34% of the house of representatives have the nerve to think nearly EVERYONE should be allowed to purchase health insurance from A PRIVATE HEATH INSURANCE COMPANY WITH THEIR OWN MONEY. I repeat: WITH THEIR OWN MONEY. Imagine the audacity to think people should not be denied insurance for no reason other than imperfect genes. It seems the remaining 49.66% of the House has a problem with people buying health insurance and want to take it away. Maybe they should start with eliminating their health insurance benefit first.

At finer bookstores nowhere.

Kurt's Dictionary

March: 1) A five letter word for still snowing in Flag. 2) Statistically the snowiest month in Flag 3) Ha! You thought we were getting close to spring. 4) The month before the playoffs start.

Corrupt Chimichangas and Girl Scouts in Congress

I could not decide weather to blog about inane daily activities, or take a political stance tonight, so I will do both.

For dinner tonight I decided to corrupt the general chimichanga by using multi grain tortillas, ground turkey, and mashed garbanzo beans instead of the standard ingredients. This was followed by a simply pan fry. The result was a light, clean taste, but still filling and satisfying. Of course there was cheese. I'm not THAT odd. After dinner, I contemplated the delightful congress we have. I have concluded that our congress is so ineffective that it could not pass a bill involving no public funds that would provide any U.S. citizen that wanted any, either a FREE box of Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookies or a bag of jelly beans. The Republicans would balk at the bill because it is the individual's responsibility to buy their own damn sweets; the federal government should not take care of our snacking needs. The Democrats would throw a fit because the cookies and jelly beans are not all natural and/or organic. That and Ronald Reagan liked Jelly Beans.

Geting Older With Bourbon And Voodoo

While watching the big game today, it hit me during the halftime show that none of us are as young as we used to be. I was also happy to discover that things (read voices) can loosen up after a song or two. This is concerning a group of folks whose generation is about half a generation before my generation. It also hit me that I really did care who won the game, so come the fourth quarter I switched between the game and "The Simpsons" - mostly because I forgot to get some "Dixie Blackened Voodoo" and had to do something to bring some luck to the Saints. It seemed to work because during the first 'mercial for The Simpsons when I switched back I noticed things had improved. WHAT AN INTERCEPTION!!!
I hold nothing against the Colts - one of my high school/college classmates used to play for them, but the city that has hosted several "Big Games" should also produce the winner of said big game at least once. So in celebration I will need to find some place in this town that sells Dixie Blackened Voodoo. I even felt the urge to be on Bourbon Street in The Big Easy despite the fact I hate crowds - it might have something to do with wanting to get away from snow for at least one day.

Gotta Have Soul

Last night I took a risk and introduced our daughter to a type of fish she has never tasted - sole. It was a pretty safe bet as she likes salmon, lobster tail and cod. She even tolerates cod in lutefisk form. The difference is that I used a little Parmesan cheese in the coating before baking it, so I was a little unsure of what the end result would be. She had two pieces at dinner and another two for an evening snack. I guess she liked it. Now she is asking for scallops.

How to make friends.

Another January in Flagstaff with...

snow




snow




snow (6' fence)




and more snow



Me an' my snow blower (A.K.A. my mistress)



On my way to the neighbors to pimp out my mistress.

It's not delivery - It's homemade!

Our daughter wanted a pizza for dinner, but knew we could not order one because the weather was lousy and delivery was not an option. She didn't even want to deal with driving a mile down the hill to the Mountainaire Tavern to pick one up. She was quite upset until I pointed out that we could make one. She even helped. And what a help she was.

A Very Good Day

It would seem that I have been stressing over clearing the roof of snow and the driveway of ice before the next storm hits given the ever shortening window of opportunity. The stress increased during the past couple of days because I knew our daughter wanted to spend today skiing, causing me to miss a day to accomplish the tasks. This was despite my knowing that if I went to the slopes, the remaining snow on the roof, and ice in the driveway would cease to matter. How a ten year-old came to be so smart is beyond me. When one is cruising down a snow covered slope with their child on a windless sunny day, the roof and driveway don't matter. Wait--it gets better! I decided the driveway is such a lost cause I should not stress over it, and Kim got tired early so I was able to get on the roof before sunset and spent 30 minutes to remove the remaining snow from the roof. It gets even better. While I was schussing away the Vikings (one of my 3 faves) killed/embarrassed/trounced/decimated, etc. the Cowbows (a team I refuse to acknowledge as more than slime mold) 43-3. This was icing on the cake - or better yet, the chocolate ruffles/shards on the "pain in the ass cake."

I realize this should have been posted nearly three weeks ago, but it wasn't so live with it. Anyway this is a U.S. Airways DHC Dash 8 being de-iced at the Flagstaff airport on Christmas morning. The temperature was somewhere between minus 5 and minus 10 creating a super cool cloud of mist. I also thought it was cool that the person doing the de-icing was 1) A woman, 2) the person who was at the ticket counter in the lobby, and 3) the person at the gate. Nothing like working at a small airport, no?

Packing Frozen Boogers In A House Of Cards.

So this afternoon I was chillin' in the recliner not watching the Penguins of Madagascar with my daughter when one of them reported "The temperature is minus seventeen degrees Fahrenheit; the freezing point of snot." I find no references to the freezing point of phlegm, and I doubt I would find such in the CRC handbook, but this seems to be what I hace experienced. Boogers freeze somewhere between minus 10 and minus 20 Farenheit. If anyone has a reference to the real freezing point of snot, post it!

I was watching this insipid program instead of the Cards/Packers game for two reasons. 1) It was on and the recliner was too comfy for me to leave to get the remote. 2) I like both teams and didn't want to watch a team I like loose. 3) This is a bonus - The team I like more was down 31 to 10 at the time of this posting.