Peter Rogers's Blog
"You know what? Screw this. If anyone needs me, I’ll be in Margaritaville."

hangingfire

Wednesday (11/25/09) 11:31pm - New relatively quick eats

Noting this here right now so that I can remember it. Total revelation.

1. Cook a batch of eggs per the Momofuku poached egg recipe (which is not unlike the 65-degree egg that I somehow missed when it first made its way 'round the internets, though the Momofuku recipe does run a little cooler and creates a softer, runnier yolk).

2. When ready to eat, melt some butter in a nonstick skillet over medium heat.

3. While the butter is melting, crack open one of your eggs, drain off the runniest bits. When the butter in the skillet has stopped sizzling and foaming, drop in the egg and fry it for about 45 seconds. Flip, fry for another 45 seconds.

4. Dump the egg from the skillet onto a plate. Be sure to pour the butter from the skillet on top -- the butter by now should be lightly browned and nutty.

5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and eat. Be sure you have something to mop up the yolk and the browned butter, because you'll really, really want it.

Mood: full

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shadyglenn

Sunday (11/22/09) 6:56pm - Set list: ALX 11/22/09

My set from the afternoon dance at the Zilker Park Clubhouse, 5:00-6:00

( clicky )

Mood: happy

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nekomouser

Sunday (11/22/09) 9:55am - Newest Dell problem...the machine CUT me.

Seriously. I went to open it and sliced a gash down my finger. Luckily, it was mostly superficial, like a papercut, but I bled like a stuck pig for 10 minutes. Turns out, the damned screen isn't set flush to the case on the right side. It's like a little plexiglass razor blade. I don't plan to spend the next 4 years opening my computer gingerly, not because it is a costly purchase to be taken care of, but because I'm afraid it will take my gorram fingertips off.

I called immediately and they ordered a new speaker part and new LCD screen. They kept pushing me toward sending it in for a replacement instead, though that would by their own calculation probably mean 4-6 weeks without a computer. So I told them that I wanted a tech to come out and try to fix it first and then if he can't, then we'll deal with sending it back. They owe me a good faith effort at fixing what is wrong, first.
But they kept mentioning this 21-day policy on returns. So, I'm keeping very good records of every call and contact and date (even pictures of the cut). If they conveniently "take too long" getting the parts to the tech and the tech to my house because of Thanksgiving and then try to say on day 22 that he can't fix it but that I now missed my 21 day window and I can't exchange without a fee, I will take legal action.
I would like to think they wouldn't, but I've made good faith efforts throughout the process and if they do try to screw me, I will screw them back to a tune much greater than just fixing or replacing my computer in a timely fashion. Even if I lose in the end, which I wouldn't, I'd make sure the cost to them in time and legal fees and everything else is greater than the cost would have been for their just making it right to begin with.

Seriously, what kind of fucking computer CUTS you?

zinereem

Saturday (11/21/09) 6:35pm - for posterity: Wafflefest 2009 PGraph show

None of us could remember what we did last year for Wafflefest, so I'm writing down this year's summary for posterity. We took a dangerous/risky situation as a suggestion. We wound up with lion taming and cannon, so we combined those into EXTREME CIRCUS. Then we had a dance intro where we froze into a tableau.

The show was one long scene with occasional breakouts... and it centered around a big lion named Miles that we were having trouble taming.

There, that should be enough. Fun, silly show.

Girelaphant. Eleraffe.

shadyglenn

Saturday (11/21/09) 4:36am - Set list: ALX 11/20/09

My set list from the afterhours at ALX:

( clicky )

nekomouser

Thursday (11/19/09) 7:12pm - NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Leggo your Eggo: There's a waffle shortage
Kellogg is rationing its Eggo products due to flooding and equipment problems at two bakeries. The shortfall could last through mid-2010.
"We are working around the clock to restore Eggo store inventories to normal levels as quickly as possible," Charles said in an e-mail.

At least they're doing something quickly.


The sexiest man alive: Johnny Depp
Well, duh.

nekomouser

Thursday (11/19/09) 4:14pm - Dell...*grumpy*

So I got my new computer and spent two days getting it up and running. Transferring, organizing, installing, and downloading files and updates and programs, etc. Today I open iTunes and try out some music and...the left speaker doesn't work.

I'm pretty sure this is my last Dell for real now. Had I not had shipping delay frustrations, I would probably be grumpy but get over it. But on top of the delays and other frustrations, getting a media machine with a gimpy left speaker is too much to stomach. Now I have to figure out how and when to get the damned thing fixed.

nekomouser

Thursday (11/19/09) 2:25pm - I am in love with this kid. I hope my gets turn out this smart and civic-minded.

The other day I saw this video on YouTube. It was a clip taken from CNN that shows an interview with Will Phillips, a 10-year boy from Arkansas who refuses to stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance with his class because he won't swear an oath that there is liberty and justice for all when gay people cannot legally get married.



I saw this and I almost wept with pride and happiness for this boy. I loved everything about this kid--the way he handled himself, the strength and rationality of his convictions, his self-assured confidence, his knowledge base, all of it. He's clearly very smart (as they mention there near the end he skipped straight from third to fifth grade) and I am so happy to see parents that are equally brave enough to stand behind him, support, and encourage him in this. It seems so few dare to rock the boat any more.

So, after this clip, I decided to look the kid up and see what other articles had to say about the incident. This was the first one I came across and it made me even happier. It was like my heart grew three times this day...

All I could think after reading this was...there is still hope. This kid gets it. he understands what it's about. Plus, he probably understands just how freakin' cool a president Teddy Roosevelt was. And that is always worth points in my book.


A Boy and His Flag: Why Will Won't Pledge (Arkansas Times)

Will Phillips isn't like other boys his age.

For one thing, he's smart. Scary smart. A student in the West Fork School District in Washington County, he skipped a grade this year, going directly from the third to the fifth. When his family goes for a drive, discussions are much more apt to be about Teddy Roosevelt and terraforming Mars than they are about Spongebob Squarepants and what's playing on Radio Disney.

It was during one of those drives that the discussion turned to the pledge of allegiance and what it means. Laura Phillips is Will's mother. “Yes, my son is 10,” she said. “But he's probably more aware of the meaning of the pledge than a lot of adults. He's not just doing it rote recitation. We raised him to be aware of what's right, what's wrong, and what's fair.
...
“I've always tried to analyze things because I want to be lawyer,” Will said. “I really don't feel that there's currently liberty and justice for all.”

Will was sent to the office, where he was given an assignment to look up information about the flag and what it represents. Meanwhile, the principal called his mother.

“She said we have to talk about Will, because he told a sub to jump off a bridge,” Laura Phillips said. “My first response was: Why? He's not just going to say this because he doesn't want to do his math work.”

Eventually, Phillips said, the principal told her that the altercation was over Will's refusal to stand for the pledge of allegiance, and admitted that it was Will's right not to stand. Given that, Laura Phillips asked the principal when they could expect an apology from the teacher. “She said, ‘Well I don't think that's necessary at this point,' ” Phillips said.
[WAY TO GO MOM! WELL PLAYED!]
...
At the end of our interview, I ask young Will a question that might be a civics test nightmare for your average 10-year-old. Will's answer, though, is good enough — simple enough, true enough — to give me a little rush of goose pimples. What does being an American mean?

“Freedom of speech,” Will says, without even stopping to think. “The freedom to disagree. That's what I think pretty much being an American represents.”

Somewhere, Thomas Jefferson smiles.

Indeed he does.

Here's to Will Phillips and to his family. I raise one in honor of, and out of respect for, you tonight.

hangingfire

Thursday (11/19/09) 10:41am - For sale

One 2005 Vespa ET4, cherry red, about 1000 miles. Well-loved, lightly used. Has been in two minor tip-over accidents, but damage in both cases was strictly cosmetic and has been repaired to like-new status. The frame, engine, and mechanics are all perfectly sound.

Includes a matching top case, manuals, etc. Mirrors were replaced, but the original mirrors should also be available. Also a size medium helmet. Also a somewhat weatherbeaten cover; it doesn't look very nice, being faded, but it works just fine.

Asking price: $2500.

nekomouser

Wednesday (11/18/09) 3:55pm - NaNoWriMo #2

So, I spent Monday with no computer and yesterday my new one came so I spent all evening getting it up and running prior to use. So, I'm starting the next 15 days of NaNo today. That runs me through December 2nd, not November 30, but I figure that is fair if there were two unexpected days of being unable to write. We'll aim for November 30 if we feel it, but I figure I have fifteen days of credit left for a one month period and it that runs me a few days into next month, that's fair.

So, today is day 16...And away we go!

innocentsmith

Sunday (11/15/09) 6:38pm - Daily dose of random

So a few minutes ago, I went to take out the trash, and when I got to the dumpster saw a huge-ass wooden frame sticking out, obviously recently added. Being as curious as the next girl, I hauled it out: it proved to be a full-sized hand-done acrylic copy of John William Waterhouse's Echo and Narcissus.

It's not a profoundly inspired copy, understand: instead of having that sad-eyed, hollow-cheeked facial configuration Waterhouse loved so well, Echo looks perky and rather plastic. And Narcissus looks like nothing so much as a youngish, underclad Severus Snape.

I still snagged it.

Well, I mean, it happened I was in the market for a huge-ass painting, and I really like the colors. (And, obviously, mythology.) And anyway, who the hell throws a painting in a dumpster? Was it a bad breakup, or something leftover from an estate sale, or artistic self-loathing? At least give it to Goodwill or something, goddamn.

If someone comes around asking after it or posts something to the building's message board about a fit of remorse, I will give it back, of course.

Anyway, it is now behind my dining table, in the area that had been crying out for a huge-ass painting. I will spend the time waiting for the lost-and-found, fit-of-remorse posting (a week or two? a month? what do you think?) contemplating whether I should get some paints myself and do something postmodern with it, or leave it as is.

Yay for unexpected!art. \ o /

Mood: surprised

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innocentsmith

Sunday (11/15/09) 1:56pm - Yuletide Letter

Dear Yule Goat/Yuletide Writer/Person of Great Awesome,

Thank you in advance for writing me fic! I love story exchanges with a deep and burning love, so I can pretty much guarantee I'll love anything you post for me. I requested kind of a mad assortment of fandoms this year, so I don't have many overarching guidelines for Stuff I Like, though you're more than welcome to check out Yuletides past, and/or poke around this journal.

( If my extensively rambling prompts weren't extensively rambling enough for you... )

Mood: hopeful

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nekomouser

Sunday (11/15/09) 2:55pm - NaNoWriMo 2009: Days 15

DAY 15:
Word Count (Total): 51,023
Word Target: 25,005
Words Today: +3705
Word Status: 204% (of daily target)
Word Status: 100% (of final target)

Huzzah!
One to NaNo Attempt #2...
Reset the counters please!

nekomouser

Saturday (11/14/09) 11:32pm - NaNoWriMo 2009: Days 13 & 14

DAY 13:
Word Count (Total): 42,078
Word Target: 21,671
Words Today: +1965
Word Status: 194% (of daily target)
Word Status: 82.5% (of final target)
Best Google Search Phrase Completion Suggestion: I typed "Why can't I" and Google's number one suggested search was "Why can't I own a Canadian?"


DAY 14:
Word Count (Total): 47,318
Word Target: 23,338
Words Today: +5240
Word Status: 202% (of daily target)
Word Status: 92.7% (of final target)
DVD of the Day: Storm of the Century
Number of people Dead in story so far: Eleven
Total Cigarettes Smoked During Writing: Eleven

valetoile

Saturday (11/14/09) 2:01am

Got home from work today, was idly flipping through the Chronicle before getting ready for an improv show, and saw that Bishop Allen was playing tonight!!!  Bishop Allen is my current favorite band. 

I did my show, which went very well (I got to direct a scene that was a user's manual for your new vagina!), and then got Roy and Kaci to come to the show with me.  Kareem and Kacey met up with us there.

It was a splendid show.  When we got there the opening act was just about to go on.  They were called Darwin Deeez, and were dressed all 80s.  They had dance breaks to popular songs in between their own songs.  They played nice poppy songs with a lot of astronomical and science references.  They threw candy at us! 

Then Bishop Allen played!  We were right up at the front of the stage.  After a few numbers, this very strange girl came up towards the front of the crowd.  She was tall and thin and had an Angelina Jolie look to her.  She kept looking meaningfully at the lead singer, like she was either trying to seduce him or communicate something very important.  Throughout the show, she kept trying to get the band's attention.  She would gesture and give meaningful glances.  At one point she went and got a pen and went up to the stage and wrote something on their set list.  Kaci looked, and it said "2nd row" with a circle around it.  !?  In a break between songs she ventured to try to get their attention by saying "hey..." but Christian wisely ignored her.  She even went up and kind of tugged on his pants leg near the end.  I have no idea what was going on.  I'm just glad she didn't do anything crazy to disrupt the show.

They played a lot of my favorite songs, opening with Rain, and playing The Same Fire near the end.  But their rendition of Busted Heart was the best song of the night- it was amazing live.  We called them back for an encore after they left the stage, and they played three more songs, including Flight 180 which brought me to tears.  I love them so much!  We talked to them afterwards, but they seemed a little blase.  They are probably exhausted from touring.  I bought a T-shirt and Roy told them he knew the bunnies that were in their most recent video.

Yay!

Bishopallen.com

shadyglenn

Saturday (11/14/09) 1:45am - Set list: 11/13/09

My sets from Kick Butt Blues:

( clicky )

shadyglenn

Friday (11/13/09) 5:45pm - Set list 11/12/09

My 10:30 - midnight set at the Fed

( clicky )