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It certainly is starting off in a soggy, watery kind of way! My year is next year (Snake) and don’t know who of my friends are Dragons. Chime in, you!
This last weekend was not stellar. Actually, it kind of sucked. All the stress and angst over the comics finally came to a head and ended up ruining most of the weekend. The good news is that we worked through it and it’s all OK today. Mostly.
The weather today is gross and rainy, which pushes my housecat buttons. I just want to curl up with the other housecats and NAP. They’ve got the right idea, I tell you!
We started the Shakeology diet thing today. Not a big deal. Wish she’d have sent ScaryBerry rather than the chocolate, but it’s OK. It’s really a VERY good product – just pricey as hell. $100/mo for ONE person. Ugh. We are working for our Shakeology, but I doubt we’ll continue it once the testing of the plan is over. We just canNOT afford $200/mo for that shit. I’ll devise some other protein shake and we’ll go back to our regular vitamins. The Shakeology shakes have pretty much a multivitamin in them, which is nice, but I can do my own supplements for FAR cheaper. Anyway, we are on the plan and I hope it works.
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I forgot about this post I started yesterday. So today I shall finish it.
Today’s weather is much better than yesterday so at least there’s that. I woke up feeling a bit creaky today. :/
I’ve got some goldfinches at my feeders. They usually come by this time of year. My large flock of grackles and red winged blackbirds have cleaned out the feeders – again. They eat a lot when it rains, oddly.
I’m getting some work in from Rob, which is great because our digital publisher, Graphicly.com, has launched a new programme for multiple platform digital publishing for an amazingly small price per unit. $150 for one pdf? YES PLEASE! We are going to use this to reboot Think Weasel!. If we can get things rolling sufficiently, we might use it for Awkward Ninjas, too. Stay tuned.
Speaking of Think Weasel!, I’m going to redouble my efforts at doing a half way regular newsletter with special deals and such. Like maybe give away collections or sketchcards to the first responder, etc. Perhaps even a contest with a T shirt prize. Dunno. I’m going to try pushing it and actually USING our MailChimp account. For a change.
Ok, that’s it. I got a Darth Jr cat wanting lap. I must comply!
We are darkening all our sites for the SOPA blackout tomorrow, 8am-8pm EST. Misangela, IndigoDragon.net, thinkweasel.com, nickmizgala.net and all the other comics sites, too.
Please observe the SOPA blackout and contact your Senators/Reps to STOP INTERNET CENSORSHIP.
I’m grumpy. I feel OK so far today, but I have some leftover grump that I need to get out of my system, so here it goes:
1. Since when is it OK to search the internet for posts about you or your business, then bitch about the post to the writer? I’ve had three instances of this in the last week and it REALLY chaps my ass. It all started with my previous host’s owner asking me to delete – not just edit, but delete my post about why we left his hosting company. Yes, it was a negative experience, which is kinda why we left, YO. Since he’s also a personal friend, I edited the post, but did not delete it. And I am not happy about it, but he seemed seriously worried, so, whatever. Then I got a love note about my Rudolph post, which was VERY positive. However, at the end, I added that they needed funds for the Henson wing and that apparently sent their PR firm into fits. ?? Look, I understand trying to make sure there’s no slander or misinformation out there, but seriously? ONE WORD? You’ll write an email about ONE WORD in a post? Really, bravepublicrelations.com? How RUDE. Et tu, Trek Trax ATLANTA? RUDE RUDE RUDE. And YES I will be totally snarky when you send me these trifling bullshit emails. Get over yourselves. Ever heard the phrase “All publicity is good publicity”? See the Yelp/Facebook saga of the local eatery Boners BBQ for a nice illustration of “How to be a dick to your customers who review you.”
2. Comcast can eat a bag of dicks. Kate was over and downloaded a couple of movies and here comes the love notes. I think it’s SO CUTE how Comcast insists that they don’t have anything to do with the media companies’ noticing a torrent. RIGHT, I’m sure the companies monitor every port and every IP address all day every day. Bullshit. They get the IP addresses from Comcast. Clearly Comcast monitors home users and not businesses since Nick can (and has) downloaded the whole internet from work. Comcast, you are big media’s BITCH. At least be honest about it.
3. OMG I’ve had country music in my head for days. Miranda Lambert, Gretchen Wilson, Sara Evans, Jo Dee Messina. I love these ladies, I do, but DAMN. EARWORMS!! I think I’ll listen to a weird internet radio station today to see if I can change my internal channel.
4. I love my con organisers, I really do, but WHY, gods WHY can’t they join us in the 21st century? The really small ones want a check mailed to them. A paper check. I don’t even have any paper checks!! Even the big ones can’t get past FAX machines and having to call it in. Please guys, please, for the love of technology, get with the program and set up a PayPal cart and learn to use email. And NONE OF THEM send any sort of receipt or acknowledgment. Nothing. Is a receipt too much to ask for?
I gotta go hit the rack and fiddle with the weight bench. I’m still grumpy.
GET OFF MY LAWN YOU STINKIN’ HIPSTERS!
This is an odd recipe I found on AP of all places. It is a weird yet oddly satisfying soup. I’ve modified it (of course) to create a stronger flavor profile with fresh fennel and vinegar. It’s also VERY low fat and of course you can make it in about 30 minutes. Yield is about 3.5 quarts or 8 servings.
1# pork, diced
1 Tbl olive oil
1 onion, diced
.5 bulb fennel, thinly sliced (about 1.5 cup)
1 large sweet potato, diced
1.5-2 cups finely sliced cabbage (I used savoy)
2 cloves minced garlic
2 tsp caraway seeds
2 bay leaves
1 tsp crushed dried tarragon
.5 tsp red pepper flakes
1.5 Tbl dijon
zest and juice of one orange
1 tsp cider vinegar
about a quart of chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
Greek yogurt for garnish
Fennel fronds for garnish
Heat a large soup pot or dutch oven with olive oil to med high and brown pork. When the pork has browned on all sides, turn down the heat to med and add all the veg except the cabbage. Let the veg begin to get soft (about 5-6 mins) and add garlic, caraway, bay, tarragon, red pepper and dijon. Stir and coat the meat and veg. Turn up the heat to high and add orange zest/juice and vinegar. Keep everything moving so as not to burn. Add in enough stock to cover meat/veg and bring to boil. Add in cabbage and add the rest of the stock to barely cover the cabbage. Stir cabbage in thoroughly and bring back to boil, then turn down to simmer. Let simmer 20-30 mins. Serve with a dollop of yogurt on top, garnished with fennel fronds.
I forgot to write this up last week. We went to the Center for Puppetry Arts to see the Rudolph show on Fri Dec 30. I wanted to go before Christmas, but every show was sold out!
Now I understand why!
It was spectacular! It was WAY too good for kids! It was totally not what I was expecting.
When you think “puppet show” you think, well, puppets on a stage. But this was SO much more. Not only were the puppets exact duplicates of the ones used for the stop motion Rudolph movie from 1964, but they had 3D sets! There was a scrim in front of the whole stage that had foreground animations projected onto it. It was used for weather, surrounding scenery and transitions. When the stage lights came up, the scrim disappears (it’s VERY sheer) and you see the action of the puppets on a 2 tiered stage set. They even have smaller puppets for “long shots”! The puppets are voiced live by the puppeteers, some of whom are actors around town as well as puppeteers at the Center.
For $16.50, it was absolutely worth every cent. I’d pay more, actually. It’s live action, animation and live singing all in one. I HIGHLY recommend seeing Rudolph next year and other shows between now and then.
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer gets 5 of 5 stars
As a side note, the Jim Henson wing exhibits are just the first part of the overall plan to house the ONLY Jim Henson Museum in the world at the Center. The Center only gets $30k from the National Endowment for the Arts. (!!) I was shocked at how little they receive! People with children should think about joining the Center to help fund the Henson museum as well as taking your kids to some quality programming. It’s a VERY good cause!
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