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Mulligan!

OMG. 2015 has been so full of suck. Even Heroes Con was barely a blip of fun because of the surrounding suck.

I couldn’t make a proper blog post yesterday due to our sites being moved to a new server by our useless host WiredTree. This won’t stop the bot attacks (that they never told us about, all the while telling us it was WordPress, or the database, or bigfoot or whatever), but now that we know which bots are attacking the sites, we can do some htaccess stuff to try to stop them. WT is on notice: they have 30 days. If ONE thing goes wrong, we are moving to a new host. I’m betting it will. Got a new host lined up.

Anyhoo, how about a list of miseries that have ruined my month (top 3 have ruined a year+)? Let’s go:

    • – ended the quest for a pub after 2 years work

 

    • – ended the Arcade company idea due to it stressing Nick out (1 year work and 10 games)

 

    • – ended my quest to work in a pro kitchen and/or culinary school (1 year)

 

    • – webhost issues (mysql crashing every few days, downtime, etc.)

 

    • – fell and fucked up my ankle before Heroes (still fucked up over a week later)

 

    • – had new master cylinder put in Honda before Heroes ($500)

 

    • – made it back and car died Wednesday, new distributor ($413)

 

    • – some of my billing this week is almost late (requires hand deliveries)

 

    • – got into it with web host who denies culpability, now moving sites to new server (more expensive, of course and get no help fighting the bots that are causing massive bandwidth usage and crashes)

 

    • – had a bellhop leave our belongings in the parking lot unattended while he made personal phone calls (Westin DGAF, nothing stolen, thankfully)

 

    • – fish tank light has died

 

    • – dishwasher front panel broke again

 

    – having anxiety/panic attacks with heart palpitations (wonder why?? Hmmm.)

There’s little to offset all this, but if I try really hard I can list a few positives:
Photo on 6-17-15 at 2.07 PM #2

    • – I did get the lavender hair I wanted

 

    • – we feel much less stressed after making the decision to end the pub and arcade services ideas

 

    • – I know I’m not cut out for pro kitchen work (too old, too slow – and it’s OK)

 

    • – the new host I found will migrate all our sites for us

 

    • – my ankle still looks weird, but it’s mostly ok

 

    • – the mechanical failures on the Honda did NOT happen while on the road (both parts are ORIGINAL 20+ yr old!)

 

    • – I’ve got some of that wretched catering coming up to offset all the Honda bills (hate them, but like the $$)

 

    • – restaurant bills will get paid on time by owner (thanks to Nick for taking the stuff to TEV last night)

 

    • – fish tank light can be replaced easily

 

    • – Bosch DW panel is ordered and Nick knows how to put it on

 

    – get my car back today (Friday)

So it’s not all gloom and doom. Just mostly. I really need a Mulligan for 2015. Or maybe just June. At the very least I need some xanax for the panic attacks.

No comments today. Just wanted to whine a little and get it off my chest.

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Yesterday was awful!

So, Nick goes to work down at Joystick and I decide to mow the back lawn. Get dressed in my new Duluth Trading Armachillo Shirt (Pewter Plaid ON SALE!) and head to the shed to get the mower. Open the shed, start pulling out the mower and trip on the cinder blocks on a pallet. NO IDEA how it happened. But I got this for my trouble (plus an arm scrape/bruise):
IMG_1273

Take a break, bandage up the leg and go back out. Mower will start for a minute then die. After about 10 tries, I message Nick that the mower is dead. He hems and haws then says “Did you check the gas cut off? I may have turned it off.” Well, I had checked it, but I couldn’t remember which is ON and which is OFF, so I turned it the other way. Lo and behold, it worked. I was pissed by this time because it’s stupid to turn off the gas in the first place and this is not the first time Nick has randomly turned off the fucking gas for no reason. I used my rage to mow the lawn in record time. Then I told Nick to stay the fuck away from here for a while so I can get past my urge to nut punch him. He wisely did as he was told and kicked around L5P for a couple of hours before returning.

Later on we ordered pizza, wings and brownies and pigged out. The landlord came by and found out how eaten up the mailbox post really was when he yanked on it and it broke! We’ve no mailbox! He said he’d come by today and replace it. He’s the BEST.

So today I’ve got a nasty scrape on my arm and a good sized bruise at the elbow. The scrapes on my leg are doing OK. My ankle is sore but you can’t really see a bruise on it. Today we are cleaning this place up for our housesitter and this afternoon we are cooking out: Italian Sausage and beef blend burgers, brats and peppers, blackeyed pea salsa, fresh avocado & tomatoes, sweet potato fries and homemade slaw. Hopefully we can manage this w/out tripping, falling, breaking things or other bodily harm.

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Vacay Next Week!

SO looking forward to HeroesCon next week. I’ve got my hair bleached, cut and ready for lavender/hot pink/cyan. I’ve got the housesitter lined up. Just gotta do some housecleaning and pack and we’re outta here on Thursday.

We’re going to see Weird Al while in Charlotte. We’ll miss Friday night at the Con, but we don’t really care. Since we’re just attending rather than tabling, it’s gonna be chill. We might lay up in the room for half the con for all I know. We assume the Westin has room service and we might hole up. We’ve had a tough month or so.

It’s clear that the pub thing is not happening. And now we’re spending our money on games and shit, so it’s pretty much off the table for now. Whatever. I’m putting my energies into the game enterprise and trying to bring in more money myself. I applied to Michaels, a temp agency and a couple of craigslist ads and NONE of them even acknowledged me. It’s pretty demeaning to be treated like that. What is wrong with people these days that they can’t even be bothered to say THANKS FOR TRYING? Ugh.

Had to deal with Comcast this week. My intro rate of $50/mo for 50mbs service ended and the bill went up to $79 – which is a price not even listed on the fucking website. I called, got the Philippines (horrible connection) and asked for retention, which is manned from the US. Got some girl who couldn’t explain why my price was more than the “regular” price on their own site and couldn’t do much for me. I did learn, tho, that if I take the 25mbs service ($67/mo) for 90 days, THEN I can call back and qualify for an “upgrade deal” to get the speed back, probably for something around $50/mo. So far, I’m not really feeling any difference with 25mbs. Netflix runs fine, too. Whatever, Comcast. WTF EVAR. Oligobble, motherfucker. >:(

It’s about time to cut the cord with DirecTV. It’s $100+/mo that we really should be saving. Speaking of SAVING, I’m SICK TO DEATH of scrimping and saving, only to be cockblocked again and again. My 50th fucking birthday is looming and I think we might blow a wad of cash and take a Viking Cruise. FUCK IT. We never take vacation, all we do is scrimp and save and I’m sick of it. We never do anything nice for ourselves! Hell, we’ve not even been to Heroes for two years! And for what? Nothing, that’s what. It’s not like depriving ourselves of a life is getting us towards our [now defunct] goal, yanno? Nope, we’re still not in business and still don’t qualify for any sort of assistance. I’m old and I’m tired of a life of worry. Not like a restaurant will lessen that, now will it? I think it’s time to move on.

I’d like to run away to France or Italy, but Nick won’t go for it and I don’t even know if we’d qualify. This country is fucked and we’ll either die from lack of healthcare or go to debtor’s prison for not being able to pay for care. That’s what it’s coming to in this fucked up excuse for a modern country.

I’m stopping right here. My mood is not good today and this line of thought isn’t helping. I’m trying VERY VERY hard to stay positive and it’s fucking difficult. Let’s just focus on Heroes/vacay and go mow the damn lawn, shall we? How about a Shasti Kat pic? YASS!
ShastiKat_pets

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You Never Can Tell



Watched Pulp Fiction the other night. Still LOVE it.

Been a bit in the dumps lately. The pub thing is stalled and it’s frustrating. The world is ruled by the mighty dollar. It chaps my ass that people in PRISON have more shit handed to them (free plastic surgery? Sure!) than hardworking people do. Ugh.

Still haven’t spoken to my asshole family. Sent the women a Mother’s Day treat, got no thank you, nothing. Fuck those people. I also got rid of the idiot niece from my FL on FB. She is only on there to spy on me, no doubt, and she thinks I’m spying on her, since she keeps all her posts private. So, fuck her. I’m so done with them. I suppose the next call I get will be when one of the parents dies. Fine.

A little more info regarding my vaguebooking earlier – and the title of this post! You never can tell what the Universe has in store for you! Nick has been given the opportunity to work with Joystick Game Bar. They are expanding into adjoining space (they are also building a beer garden across the street!) and they want to double their arcade. They were working with another arcade guy, but he simply could not get what they needed done in a timely fashion and he resigned today. Nick will be stepping into his slot as well as spearheading the expansion. It is exciting!

So what this means is that we are officially getting into the arcade game business. This is not the business we necessarily were wanting to get into, but we feel that working with the Joystick guys will benefit us in the long run. They are really great guys and I can’t wait to collaborate on the new arcade stuff as well as whatever comes up in the future. I think they are good entrepreneurs to hang with. I’ll be involved with this endeavor to help Nick with the admin stuff: procurement, billing, logistics, etc. It’s what I do.

We don’t know where this will lead, but we are taking the open door to find out.

When you’re in a closed room and the Universe gives you a door, you take it.

Let’s hope it will lead us to where we need to be. :)

PS: The Pub concept is not dead (or all dead, just mostly dead SEE CLIP), but it’s going nowhere without more cash. It’s back burner for now. Just a quick rework of the biz card and we’ll have Player One Arcade Services. ;)

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Asian BBQ Pork Ribs

I’ve tested this recipe several times and it’s solid! It’s good in the slow cooker or in the oven – but the oven gives you a lovely brown crust that I really enjoy. Pork shoulder chops or ribs or pork loin ribs (country style ribs) are spectacular with this sauce. I serve over grits or polenta. TO. DIE. FOR.

Asian BBQ Pork Ribs
2# Pork loin or shoulder ribs (often labeled “country style”)

Sauce:
1/2 c soy sauce
1 Tbl minced garlic or garlic paste (I prefer paste. Get it at the Indian or Asian store.)
2 Tbl brown sugar
1 Tbl rice wine vinegar
1 Tbl sambal chile garlic sauce
1 tsp ginger paste (Again, from the Indian/Asian store.)
2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbl cornstarch
sesame seeds
1 cup grits cooked in 1.5 cup water, 3 tbl butter and 1/2 cup heavy cream
Low carb: broccoli, green beans or brussels sprouts

Preheat oven to 300-325F. Mix up the sauce and pour about half over the ribs. Make sure the ribs are well coated. Place ribs in single layer in an oven safe dish sprayed with PAM. Pour the rest of the sauce over the ribs and cover the tops of the ribs with sesame seeds. Cover tightly with foil and cook for about an hour and a half. At the 1.5 hr point, uncover the ribs and turn up the heat to 350F. Cook another hour or so until the ribs are nicely browned and the sauce is reduced. Pull the ribs from the oven, tent with foil and prepare the grits (or polenta if you prefer). Serve the ribs over the grits with some of the pan drippings. OMG so good!

Alternate cook instructions for slow cooker:
Spray crock with food release (such as PAM). Layer in ribs with sauce to just cover, top with sesame seeds. Turn on HI for 5 hrs or LO for 8 hours. If you want low carb, serve with a green vegetable rather than grits or polenta. This is not a low fat dish, but very low carb. To remove some of the fat that rises to the top, get several layers of paper towels and lay on top of the ribs in the crock. You’ll get a LOT of the fat off that way.