"In the end, only Muslims themselves can defeat the violent radicals," Romney says. "But we must work with them."
Well, then. OK. If you say so, Mitt. But if only the Muslims can defeat the violent radicals, why do we need to increase our troop count by 100,000? Also, coal and oil are soooooo 20th century. How about this ceramic battery thingamajig? or maybe some sweet photovoltaic cells?
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Sometimes I am a fuck up. It doesn't happen regularly, at least, I don't think it does. I suppose those around me can be the judge. But last night at the pizzeria, while being the sole kitchen hand at the pizzeria for what seemed like four or five eternities while Claudio was out delivering pizzas, I managed to make a mess of just about every activity I did, with the exception of dishwashing. Did Massimo yell at me? Thankfully, no. He did seem quite agitated though that I could not complete even simple tasks like placing boxed pizzas on the counter without accidentally juggling them awkwardly like one who has never used his hands before or perhaps has no hands or even maybe no arms. Was I a bit panicky? I was. There were too many phone calls for me to handle competently in that there was more than one. Did I cry under the pressure? I did not. Though I very much wanted to do so. I also just wanted to curl into a ball and perhaps roll away, somewhere far off where people were not upset at me for asking them repeat themselves. Massimo is very particular about how things are organized in his kitchen, which I can appreciate. Phone orders for delivery should be placed next to the register so they can be rung up. Phone orders for pick up should be placed on the counter in front of him so he can take care of them. It seems simple enough. Though I still somehow ended up with three or four green order slips in my hand at once searching for the right buttons on the register, frantic, wild-eyed and cursing myself under my breath for every wrong button pushed.
Luckily I get a chance to redeem myself this evening.
Luckily I get a chance to redeem myself this evening.
Monday, May 28, 2007
sometimes i find myself blogging about the inanities of my everyday life, such as i was yesterday, and i want to apologize to you, my tiny flock of readers. not so much because the post is self-involved and comprises useless information for most of you, but rather because the writing isn't very good. it just sometimes seems to lack any verve, humor, or even a hint of interest on my own part in what i'm writing about. it may best be described perhaps as gormless. in the future i'll try to put in more of an effort.
Wolfowitz on being fired: "I think it tells us more about the media than about the bank and I'll leave it at that," he told the British Broadcasting Corp. "People were reacting to a whole string of inaccurate statements and by the time we got to anything approximating accuracy the passions were around the bend... I accept the fact that by the time we got around to that, emotions here were so overheated that I don't think I could have accomplished what I wanted to accomplish for the people I really care about."
I also blame the media. It's a shame that such an upstanding citizen--nay! a good samaritan!--such as Paul Wolfowitz would have his name sullied by such a nefarious group of gossip slingers. Mr. Wolfowitz, I weep tears of sympathy. All you wanted to do was help the poor of the world and the thanks you get is the vitriol of... well, everyone. You did manage to lift your significant other out of the bonds of poverty. A noble deed. Only 3 billion people to go. Maybe now that you find yourself with some spare time, and your S.O. has some extra cash to spare, you can haul yourselves out of the mud you've been dragged through and truly express your love and goodwill toward the disadvantaged of the world. Or maybe you can't.
Wolfowitz on being fired: "I think it tells us more about the media than about the bank and I'll leave it at that," he told the British Broadcasting Corp. "People were reacting to a whole string of inaccurate statements and by the time we got to anything approximating accuracy the passions were around the bend... I accept the fact that by the time we got around to that, emotions here were so overheated that I don't think I could have accomplished what I wanted to accomplish for the people I really care about."
I also blame the media. It's a shame that such an upstanding citizen--nay! a good samaritan!--such as Paul Wolfowitz would have his name sullied by such a nefarious group of gossip slingers. Mr. Wolfowitz, I weep tears of sympathy. All you wanted to do was help the poor of the world and the thanks you get is the vitriol of... well, everyone. You did manage to lift your significant other out of the bonds of poverty. A noble deed. Only 3 billion people to go. Maybe now that you find yourself with some spare time, and your S.O. has some extra cash to spare, you can haul yourselves out of the mud you've been dragged through and truly express your love and goodwill toward the disadvantaged of the world. Or maybe you can't.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
spy vs. concerned citizens
so the government has been spying on my friends. it was reported this weekend that Solid Energy, a government run coal mining company, contracted Thompson & Clark, a security/private investigation company to investigate the Save Happy Valley Coalition. Thompson & Clark in turn paid at least one person to infiltrate and report back on the SHVC. it was also reported that Thompson & Clark paid at least one other person to spy on Peace Action Wellington and the Wellington Animal Rights Network. PAW has weekly meetings where I live.
the bad thing about this is that plans for protests, etc. may have been compromised. the good thing is that it makes Solid Energy look like a bunch of weasels and makes the SHVC look like a group of Jesuses by camprison. also we now know that we were being spied on and who the spies are.
saturday evening i worked my second shift at pizza pomodoro. and this probably isn't particularly exciting for anyone but me, but i was able to answer some phone calls and started to familiarize myself with the register. i also had a good chat with Claudio, an italian working there as a kitchen hand. he's also there on a working-holiday visa. i'm hoping to get him and Massimo the pizzaiolo to join in the sunday soccer games.
speaking of which, sunday brought a pretty good game of soccer. there seems to be a bit of a tradition of heading over to Ronnie's house afterward for a drink and some homecookin'. Ronnie is Chilean. He and his wife, who's from Larchmont, NY, both play with the NSO here. Chitto, also is Chilean and is currently staying at 128, and I hop a ride with Vladav, a Serb with refined taste and also a car.
i banked my first assist during the game. it was a solid bit of play--cutting through the midfield, i somehow managed to slip by three or four guys before slotting the ball to my teammate for an easy shot in front of the goal. it was the lone bright spot in terms of my play. the rest of my game was plagued with passes gone astray. beautiful day though. windless, sunny, and warm.
the bad thing about this is that plans for protests, etc. may have been compromised. the good thing is that it makes Solid Energy look like a bunch of weasels and makes the SHVC look like a group of Jesuses by camprison. also we now know that we were being spied on and who the spies are.
saturday evening i worked my second shift at pizza pomodoro. and this probably isn't particularly exciting for anyone but me, but i was able to answer some phone calls and started to familiarize myself with the register. i also had a good chat with Claudio, an italian working there as a kitchen hand. he's also there on a working-holiday visa. i'm hoping to get him and Massimo the pizzaiolo to join in the sunday soccer games.
speaking of which, sunday brought a pretty good game of soccer. there seems to be a bit of a tradition of heading over to Ronnie's house afterward for a drink and some homecookin'. Ronnie is Chilean. He and his wife, who's from Larchmont, NY, both play with the NSO here. Chitto, also is Chilean and is currently staying at 128, and I hop a ride with Vladav, a Serb with refined taste and also a car.
i banked my first assist during the game. it was a solid bit of play--cutting through the midfield, i somehow managed to slip by three or four guys before slotting the ball to my teammate for an easy shot in front of the goal. it was the lone bright spot in terms of my play. the rest of my game was plagued with passes gone astray. beautiful day though. windless, sunny, and warm.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
pizzaiolo in the making
sunday i had what was by far my most successful pizza making experience. i was invited to a friend's place with the purpose of making pizza for a handful of select people. the oven was sufficient. it went up to "high," which is some undetermined temperature after 250 degrees C. It also had a fan bake. getting all of my pizza making things over there was a pain in the ass. 6 balls of dough, a pizza peel, baking stone, olive oil, salt, half a bag of flour, and 2 1/2 lbs of canned tomatoes don't fit into a regular back pack. I had to pack it into my hiking bag for the bike trip over. wearing stuff like that messes with my equilibrium, though i somehow managed to not fall over.
sadly, i only have a couple of photos as proof of the scrumtrulescent results. i actually successfully got six pizzas in and out of the oven with minimum calzone-ing. the alpha pie was a pizza bread--no sauce or cheese. just dough, olive oil, crushed garlic, salt, and pepper. the results were pretty fucking great, if i may say so myself. second up was your basic margherita, also a success. the next three pizzas were a free for all in terms of toppings. i left it up to the guests to bring their own and we ended up with tomatoes, eggplant, garlic, mushrooms, bell peppers, and even some spinach. basil and garlic were the most popular toppings of the evening. we ended the evening on a half marinara/half margherita pie. yum.
of course, it wasn't a perfect outting. the cornicione of the first few pies was a bit undercooked and gummy. also the fresh mozzarella (kapiti brand) that i'd purchased was tasteless. so we had to go out and get some aged.
all in all, i'd give me and my pizzas an overall score of B-, which is good. A B- is good pizza.
in other pizza news, i apparently have been hired by pizza pomodoro (so far the only pizza place i've found in wellington worth going to) to be a bit of a kitchen hand. i'm not making pizzas or anything. mostly i'm a dishwasher, but i may move up to working the register (yeah, i know big whoop). actually, some pizza-making lessons look like a possibility. also i get free pizza out of it. so this evening i worked three hours and it looks like it'll turn into a pretty regular saturday evening gig.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
dropped some photos on my flickr site.
almost got run over yesterday by a moving van. it was backing up straight into traffic as i was biking past. still have all my faculties though.
almost got run over yesterday by a moving van. it was backing up straight into traffic as i was biking past. still have all my faculties though.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
W.: a D-grade Nazi.
can someone tell me why Bob Barker's retirement from the Price is Right is a homepage news on the washingtonpost.com? and do we really need a photo of a teary-eyed, mylar confetti-dusted Bob? by contrast the nytimes.com has a photo of Putin and an accompanying article about his comparing the US foreign policy (and apparently NATO) to the Third Reich. while i see his point (the use of bigotry and fear to mobilize a nation, imperialism, delusions of grandeur (or even just delusions) by the commander-in-chief, etc.), it seems somewhat unfitting. the Third Reich was much more competent and effective than our current administration... too bad they had their gooey innards replaced with evil.
Friday, April 27, 2007
...and then what?
ok. so, i guess here's my problem with withdrawing the troops: it
doesn't actually solve the problem that's at hand. i mean, okay, it
does solve the problem of US occupational forces getting blown up in
Iraq and innocent Iraqis getting blown up by US occupational forces.
it allows us to put more troops back in Afghanistan, which may or may
not happen and may or may not be good. it also hopefully will slow the
spread of antagonistic feelings that we provoke in Iraqis with our
oppressive, militaristic presence (i mean, if we pull out, US troops
won't be around scaring Iraqi civilians, either through purposeful
action or incidentally, by doing things like walking around city
streets with with large assault rifles). not that the US's power over
Iraqis will disappear entirely either, but rather the mechanisms will
migrate behind the semi-closed doors of politics and business.
doesn't actually solve the problem that's at hand. i mean, okay, it
does solve the problem of US occupational forces getting blown up in
Iraq and innocent Iraqis getting blown up by US occupational forces.
it allows us to put more troops back in Afghanistan, which may or may
not happen and may or may not be good. it also hopefully will slow the
spread of antagonistic feelings that we provoke in Iraqis with our
oppressive, militaristic presence (i mean, if we pull out, US troops
won't be around scaring Iraqi civilians, either through purposeful
action or incidentally, by doing things like walking around city
streets with with large assault rifles). not that the US's power over
Iraqis will disappear entirely either, but rather the mechanisms will
migrate behind the semi-closed doors of politics and business.
the problem that this will not solve is the problem of creating a
peaceful Iraq. remember when colin powell said something about the
pottery barn rule, "you break it, you bought it," when talking about
accountability in regards to invading Iraq? that, i think, still
applies. we went in and fucked that place up beyond recognition.
pulling the troops out is great. i'm all for less militarism. but we
have to do something after pulling out to help get the Iraqi people
back on their feet. until a reasonable post-retreat plan is proposed,
i'm going to feel ambivalent about any pullout. Iraqis deserve
significantly better than what we've given them. I'd like to see some
effort put forth by the people who are supposedly our nation's leaders
into figuring that problem out.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
the brunettes are playing a show at bar bodega on may 5th. that's like only a week and a half away. it's gonna be a dizzy time of pickled rock'n'roll with a side of lemony pop. what am i gonna wear?!?!
also playing that evening: teenwolf
also playing that evening: teenwolf
Thursday, April 19, 2007
what's news?
While I have nothing to say directly about the events at VA Tech other than pretty much the same sentiments that everyone has: it's a tragedy. While that's true, I'm a bit miffed as to why it is front page news. Still. Even in New Zealand. The Dominion Post, which services pretty much all of New Zealand below Taupo, had a large photo of Cho Seung-Hui brandishing his firearms on the front page. I understand that there's a fairly compelling human interest story. But this is also an event which can bring forth many points of discussion about American culture, higher education, psychology, basic human interaction and decency. (Gun control is being discussed of course, but somehow I doubt any progress will be made on that front.) There's an odor of exploitation that permeates media's coverage of these sad events, events which are fairly isolated and have a relatively small sphere of influence.
They're sensationalizing the people involved. They're playing up Cho Seung-Hui as some kind of one-dimensional evil villain, like someone out of Batman's rogues gallery. He doesn't make a statement. He has a diatribe. He's disturbed, anti-social, eccentric, and a loner. He's been dehumanized and is now a character in one of the media's stories about terror. And then there are the victims of the massacre, who have articles about them such as the one on the washingtonpost.com today that begins "Like a string of jewels come stories of priceless lives cut short on a day when the unthinkable occurred."
158 people were murdered in Baghdad two days later in similarly senseless bombings, but their lives aren't described as priceless and their stories don't sparkle like jewels. Their stories don't do anything because they're not reported. There is no follow-up. No real effort at making these occurrences human occurrences. The Washington Post article about these bombings interviewed one witness. ONE. A man who witnessed another man's head being eliminated. Maybe if news sources like the Washington Post reported on Iraqi bombings--bombings that are a symptom of a larger problem of sectarian violence in a region rife with tension due to religion and cultural differences that have global consequences--like they are the VA Tech shootings, people would actually care what's happening in Iraq. I only seems fair that Iraqi deaths should be noted as people not numbers and commented on by their friends and family instead of state officials.
And one last note: the washingtonpost.com is posting photos and bios of people killed at VA Tech. Why haven't they been doing this for US soldiers killed in Iraq?
They're sensationalizing the people involved. They're playing up Cho Seung-Hui as some kind of one-dimensional evil villain, like someone out of Batman's rogues gallery. He doesn't make a statement. He has a diatribe. He's disturbed, anti-social, eccentric, and a loner. He's been dehumanized and is now a character in one of the media's stories about terror. And then there are the victims of the massacre, who have articles about them such as the one on the washingtonpost.com today that begins "Like a string of jewels come stories of priceless lives cut short on a day when the unthinkable occurred."
158 people were murdered in Baghdad two days later in similarly senseless bombings, but their lives aren't described as priceless and their stories don't sparkle like jewels. Their stories don't do anything because they're not reported. There is no follow-up. No real effort at making these occurrences human occurrences. The Washington Post article about these bombings interviewed one witness. ONE. A man who witnessed another man's head being eliminated. Maybe if news sources like the Washington Post reported on Iraqi bombings--bombings that are a symptom of a larger problem of sectarian violence in a region rife with tension due to religion and cultural differences that have global consequences--like they are the VA Tech shootings, people would actually care what's happening in Iraq. I only seems fair that Iraqi deaths should be noted as people not numbers and commented on by their friends and family instead of state officials.
And one last note: the washingtonpost.com is posting photos and bios of people killed at VA Tech. Why haven't they been doing this for US soldiers killed in Iraq?
Monday, April 16, 2007
i traded my tv for box of bagels. magic bagels.
it's been two weeks already. time accelerates when there's lots of activity. i went to the beach, moved houses, attended the first ever 128 annual general meeting, had a couple of nice evenings with the bruells and regans, and eaten lots and lots of food ( feijoas are running amok at 128). i swept the kitchen and emptied the compost this morning. also, i biked to work for the first time thanks to a bike generously donated to me by the regans. i'm still planning to finish the other bike i'd started working on. hopefully that'll get completed this week.
photos of seagulls and similar nonsense is tk.
FREECYCLING!
http://www.freecycle.org/
It's kind of like craigslist... kind of..., except everything is free.
from the website:
photos of seagulls and similar nonsense is tk.
FREECYCLING!
http://www.freecycle.org/
It's kind of like craigslist... kind of..., except everything is free.
from the website:
Though, I think you have to register to use it.When you want to find a new home for something -- whether it's a chair, a fax machine, piano, or an old door -- you simply send an e-mail offering it to members of the local Freecycle group.
Or, maybe you're looking to acquire something yourself. Simply respond to a member's offer, and you just might get it. After that, it's up to the giver to decide who receives the gift and to set up a pickup time for passing on the treasure.
Our main rule: Everything posted must be free, legal, and appropriate for all ages.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
the janitor of the underground
monday i was approved on a provisional basis to be a caretaker of 128. there'll be a two month review of how i'm doing. and i pretty much move in as soon as i can find someone to replace me in the flat i'm currently in. so yeah. hooray!
currently listening to some reggae-inspired cover of billie jean on student radio.
more fun things: the owner of the gift shop i work in has apparently been negligent in paying rent. the landlord came in today and threatened to lock us out if rent wasn't payed tout de suite. no one has heard from him (the owner) in the past few days. where is he? i think there's a chance he's split the country. small but possible.
currently listening to some reggae-inspired cover of billie jean on student radio.
more fun things: the owner of the gift shop i work in has apparently been negligent in paying rent. the landlord came in today and threatened to lock us out if rent wasn't payed tout de suite. no one has heard from him (the owner) in the past few days. where is he? i think there's a chance he's split the country. small but possible.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
The Great Catsby
So Catsby has been living with Sarah in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Apparently she's made very good friends with Sarah's roommate's cat, Jasper Montrose. And she clearly, has not lost an ounce of cuteness since moving to hipstertown.
Hopefully I'll be making some pizza this weekend. I mixed up a yeast starter last night, which i dropped in the fridge for use on Saturday.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
what's more fun than pizza?
There's a David Sedaris quote I like to invoke from time to time and it goes, "You either have good experiences, or good stories."
Some background info: there are five of us in the flat: Nastasja, a nice, quiet, if somewhat humorless female German grad student; Eryn, a nice, friendly event planner; Chris, a bartender/musician and is probably best described as your prototypical frat-boy; Renee, a bartender/musician and former ballet dancer who is fairly serious about his music and whom I rarely see; and the there's me. Eryn and Chris are a couple.
As some of you may know, I've had some problems with a couple of these flatmates in the past weeks since moving in--loud arguments at 5am, loud sex at 3am, loud sex at 9am, loud Gun'N'Roses at all hours, etc. Well, last night we reached a new high or low. There was a raised voice argument (not shouting just loud talking) between Chris and Eryn. The argument was punctuated every 5 to 10 minutes by a door being slammed, feet stomping down the hall to the bathroom, and another door being slammed and more loud talking in the bathroom. And then there was the return slamming, stomping, and slamming back to the bedroom, and then again back to the bathroom, etc. This went on for 20 minutes or so. Then the Gun'N'Roses started. After a few minutes of Guns'N'Roses, I finally decided to get out of bed and say something. So I walked over to their bedroom, and pound a couple of times on the door. It opened. "What the hell is going on?!? It's 5am and I'm trying to fucking sleep here." Immediately Eryn apologized, while Chris slammed the door in my face. I quickly opened the door and start to say something, but before I really get anything out Chris burst through and gives me shove, yelling at me to never enter his room, to show some respect, and threatening to kick my ass. At this point, I've a hunch that the man has tossed a few back. Eryn is trying to hold him back and stop him from kicking my ass. Chris, I should note is about my height, but he has about 20 extra pounds of muscle on me, so I'm in no hurry for this to devolve into fisticuffs. He continued yelling things like, "Do you wanna go? C'm'on lets go!" and "I'll kick your ass right now!" To which I replied, "I didn't come out here to fight, I came out here to get you to be quiet so I could get some sleep! Have some courtesy for the people in this house." He then, still shouting, said something, to the effect of, "My girlfriend hates you. You don't even say 'hello,' to her when you walk in the house. Show some respect!" His girlfriend, meanwhile, told him to "stop it," and persisted at her attempts and keep him at bay while he continued his macho-chest beating, with further assertions that I should show some respect in his house, which I countered with the fact that is not his house, but rather we're all renting the space. The pinnacle of the exchange--for me at least--occurred somewhere in the middle of this when Chris threatened to kill me in my sleep.
It's not long after this that I asked him if he's drunk, which he denied, while Eryn nodded an affirmative. I then turned and went back to my room for some rest, which I eventually received, but only briefly because the construction started up around 7:30am.
Chris has since texted me an apology. I'm not particularly afraid for my life living in this flat, but I will say, that I don't have a lot love for it and subsequently don't spend a lot of time there. I get the feeling, based on this exchange that Chris doesn't like me very much, which is fine as I don't particularly like him. However, I don't feel I've had much opportunity to offend him--with the exception of tardiness in completing a couple of house chores that he seems particularly keen on people accomplishing on time--as I'm never really around.
In any event, all signs are looking good right now that I'll become a caretaker at 128 starting sometime in April, so my time in my current flat is coming to an end (fingers crossed). I should know by Monday for sure. I'm hoping to have a conversation with Chris and Eryn sometime soon so that we can clear the air a little bit. I'm not looking to be BFFs, but it'd be nice if we got some things out in the open while we're all calm and collected.
* * *
In happier, but less fun news, Brendan and I went out for pizza last night. It was delicious. We also had cake, which was also quite tasty.
Some background info: there are five of us in the flat: Nastasja, a nice, quiet, if somewhat humorless female German grad student; Eryn, a nice, friendly event planner; Chris, a bartender/musician and is probably best described as your prototypical frat-boy; Renee, a bartender/musician and former ballet dancer who is fairly serious about his music and whom I rarely see; and the there's me. Eryn and Chris are a couple.
As some of you may know, I've had some problems with a couple of these flatmates in the past weeks since moving in--loud arguments at 5am, loud sex at 3am, loud sex at 9am, loud Gun'N'Roses at all hours, etc. Well, last night we reached a new high or low. There was a raised voice argument (not shouting just loud talking) between Chris and Eryn. The argument was punctuated every 5 to 10 minutes by a door being slammed, feet stomping down the hall to the bathroom, and another door being slammed and more loud talking in the bathroom. And then there was the return slamming, stomping, and slamming back to the bedroom, and then again back to the bathroom, etc. This went on for 20 minutes or so. Then the Gun'N'Roses started. After a few minutes of Guns'N'Roses, I finally decided to get out of bed and say something. So I walked over to their bedroom, and pound a couple of times on the door. It opened. "What the hell is going on?!? It's 5am and I'm trying to fucking sleep here." Immediately Eryn apologized, while Chris slammed the door in my face. I quickly opened the door and start to say something, but before I really get anything out Chris burst through and gives me shove, yelling at me to never enter his room, to show some respect, and threatening to kick my ass. At this point, I've a hunch that the man has tossed a few back. Eryn is trying to hold him back and stop him from kicking my ass. Chris, I should note is about my height, but he has about 20 extra pounds of muscle on me, so I'm in no hurry for this to devolve into fisticuffs. He continued yelling things like, "Do you wanna go? C'm'on lets go!" and "I'll kick your ass right now!" To which I replied, "I didn't come out here to fight, I came out here to get you to be quiet so I could get some sleep! Have some courtesy for the people in this house." He then, still shouting, said something, to the effect of, "My girlfriend hates you. You don't even say 'hello,' to her when you walk in the house. Show some respect!" His girlfriend, meanwhile, told him to "stop it," and persisted at her attempts and keep him at bay while he continued his macho-chest beating, with further assertions that I should show some respect in his house, which I countered with the fact that is not his house, but rather we're all renting the space. The pinnacle of the exchange--for me at least--occurred somewhere in the middle of this when Chris threatened to kill me in my sleep.
It's not long after this that I asked him if he's drunk, which he denied, while Eryn nodded an affirmative. I then turned and went back to my room for some rest, which I eventually received, but only briefly because the construction started up around 7:30am.
Chris has since texted me an apology. I'm not particularly afraid for my life living in this flat, but I will say, that I don't have a lot love for it and subsequently don't spend a lot of time there. I get the feeling, based on this exchange that Chris doesn't like me very much, which is fine as I don't particularly like him. However, I don't feel I've had much opportunity to offend him--with the exception of tardiness in completing a couple of house chores that he seems particularly keen on people accomplishing on time--as I'm never really around.
In any event, all signs are looking good right now that I'll become a caretaker at 128 starting sometime in April, so my time in my current flat is coming to an end (fingers crossed). I should know by Monday for sure. I'm hoping to have a conversation with Chris and Eryn sometime soon so that we can clear the air a little bit. I'm not looking to be BFFs, but it'd be nice if we got some things out in the open while we're all calm and collected.
* * *
In happier, but less fun news, Brendan and I went out for pizza last night. It was delicious. We also had cake, which was also quite tasty.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
taken from here.went to a protest of the iraq war in honor of its anniversary yesterday. nice day for it. indy media says this. apparently i got some sound bite on the 5 o'clock news on the national radio thing here. i'm pretty sure what i said was incoherent, but if i can find the clip, i'll post it. UPDATE: found the clip, which is here. Of course, it left me thinking to myself, do I really sound like that? Also, I'd thought I'd said, "hundreds of billions," but whatever...
if you did find the above image funny, do not read the rest of this post.
also, i saw hot fuzz last night. and with the exception of the fact that the last quarter hour was so freakin' loud some lady three rows back miscarried, and vomit shot out of my ears, it was a good time (despite the mess). this is not a problem i normally have. if my stomach acid wants to escape it more often than not is ejected orally, and perhaps if i were to laugh at an inopportune moment, nasally. but yeah, generally enjoyable--lots of bang, bang and self-aware jokes. i also appreciate the fact that british movies also have normal-looking people in them and not botoxed flexi-props. and: the movie was viewed in the company of canadians. god help me.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
who's the marketing genius who came up with that one? seriously. ...no, seriously, i want to know.
My most recent pizza:
the crust on this joint right here was made with mostly 00 flour from Italy. the biga (aka yeast starter) was made with the stone ground organic stuff that i'd used in my previous pies and fresh, compressed yeast. when kneading the dough, i mixed in more of the organic stone ground shiznit. this 00 flour, which is extra finely ground, takes longer to bake than your standard stuff to get any kind of charring. it's something related to the hydration percentage i believe. in any event, i tried double-baking this crust. i put it in for a few minutes with only the sauce on it. and after about 5 or 6 minutes, pulled it out, added cheese, oil, and basil and stuck it back in for another 7 minutes-or-so. you can see some halfway decent charring starting to form on the bottom. the problem with this is that the crust dries out and your left with a pretty crunchy cornicione. i'll have to work with this a little more.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
bert and gonzo
so this guy, alberto gonzales, right? he's, like, the attorney general of the united states. he totally admits mistakes happened in the firing of these prosecutors 'cause of their political loyalties. says he takes responsibility. then he defends the firings. he's all like, "i stand by what we did, yo's. and i take responsibility." what's that's about? what does that even mean: "i take responsibility?" what kind of action comes outta that shit? and then, like, all these democrats and a couple republicans were wanting to kick this idiot guy out 'cause he be a crazy hypocrite bitch. and i'm like, well, why did you fools give him the job to begin with? and check--he said he ain't quittin and his buddy george ain't gonna fire him over small-time shit like that anyways. so stop your bitching and get back to work.
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