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Sustainable Fishing

I am working on Oracle mag today and read an article about sustainable fishing. It’s from Greenpeace, so there is slant, but assuming the ratings were applied evenly, I’m appalled by Trader Joe’s! They can do better! Hell, the fact that Wally World rated better than Kroger surprised me, too. (Still won’t shop there.)

NOTE: I found a fish called CUSK that is very comparable to mild, flaky cod! For a fraction of the cost, too. If you see CUSK, try it! -A Feb 2016

Of course Whole Paycheck and those places rated the best, but even they only made a 5/10. ::sigh:: I guess we as consumers just have to say NO to the fish on the list! Here’s the list:

1. Albacore tuna
2. Atlantic cod (scrod)
3. Atlantic halibut
4. Atlantic salmon
5. Atlantic sea scallop
6. Bigeye tuna
7. Bluefin tuna
8. Chilean sea bass
9. Greenland halibut
10. Grouper
11. Hoki
12. Monkfish
13. Ocean quahog (What the hell is that? It’s a cherrystone clam apparently. Who knew?)
14. Orange roughy
15. Pollock
16. Redfish
17. Red snapper
18. Sharks
19. Skates and rays
20. Swordfish
21. Tropical shrimp
22. Yellowfin tuna

And that covers just about every fish eaten by humans. Dammit.

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I broke 1000 entries!

This post is #1004 to be exact! Wow! That’s a lot of whining, bitching, ranting, praising, linking and navel gazing!

I write this blog for several reasons. I write to express my thoughts – which are quite tangled most of the time. I write to document where I am at any given time. I write to post my opinions on life, politics and my favourite: PEEVES. Heh. I also write to create an ongoing autobiography for anyone who comes along after me and finds my little life an interesting read – which I can’t imagine unless it’s family. Blogging is the 21st century equivalent to writing letters or paper journals.

We secured a technical executor for all our online accounts and electronic files this weekend, so I hope that our legacies will reach into the future. For non-breeders such as we, it’s important that our legacies go on after we’re dust. In our cases, we need someone who can secure our digital legacy of writings, art, photography, etc. for posterity. Also, I needed a technical executor who could transition all my web clients to someone else, which requires a specific set of knowledge. I wouldn’t want to leave my web clients adrift with no clue as to how to manage their sites and domains.

So, with a new year around the corner and 1000+ posts, I look forward to continuing my legacy. Thank you for reading. :-)

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Critter Count Xmas updated

213 miles up I-75, to family fun we go… Or something.

Anyway, Merry Christmas and here’s your Critter Count* for the trip, slightly off due to darkness on our return (bold = updated):

Critters 12 +2
Road Pizza 13
Greasy Spot 1
Deer 1
Raccoons 2
Skunk 1
Opossums 2

Weird stuff:
Hard Hat 1
Random Wad 1+1
Coke Bottle 1
(presumably full of pee – unverified. EEWWW!)
*all dead unless otherwise noted or inanimate

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23rd. Must shop.

GAH! Here it is the 23rd and there are still gifts to find. Goddam. I’m usually not a last minute shopper, but I think everyone is this year. I read that we had a week less to shop in or something, which would make sense.

My ring stamping scheme failed miserably. In an effort to salvage the rings, I’m going to cut them back apart, hammer them flat, sand as much of the mistakes off as I can, then flip them over, properly hammer the stamps on then solder them back together. So whatever stamping mistakes were still there will be in the inside of the ring and hopefully the flat stamping will take nicely. (Wonder if I need to anneal the metal after all this?)

The small ray of good news is that I can still do the Bubble design with the rings fabricated. I will probably have to abandon the specialty stamping all together and perhaps do etching or something instead.

So, yah, shopping on the 23rd of Dec. And I still have no clear idea of what I’m getting these last minute folks. I’m just glad I got a heads up that some friends got us gifties – we didn’t expect it. Gods. Well, sitting here fretting is not really getting it done, is it? I hope Miss O’Mouthy gets her ass out of bed today. I need to talk to her and I need help with the shopping. Strike that, we’ve decided upon giftcards and we’re DONE. HA! And I shall stay here futzing with my web work. :-)

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More boot happiness!

So, we went up to Taylor/Jeff’s place last night for a little Yule party. We were afraid of horrible traffic, so we left here around 4:45 in an effort to skirt the worst of it, thinking we’d do some shopping to kill some time since the party wasn’t until 7:30. Well, of course it was clear on the outer ring of 285 and it only took us 15 minutes to get to Ashford Dunwoody Rd (if we’d been late, it would have been bumper to bumper). We had 2.5 hours to kill, but fortunately, the strip center had a Borders, DSW, Petland and World Market! Shweet! We also had our Weasel Holiday™ cards to mail, which we did at the PO in the strip center.

We proceeded to Borders where we had some semi-icky lattes and got some last minute presents. Then it was on to DSW. Ooooo, the new shoe smell when you walk in… Deeevine! I go peruse the boots and find some cool ones with none left in my size, natch. Then I headed to the clearance rack and found these Dr Martens (Club Miranda Valentina):

drmartenmirandavalentina

We thought $89 was an astounding deal, but as it turns out, that’s about right. The original price of the boot was $138 but you can find them for $129 anywhere – which was the sticker price at DSW. I also found them for $89 all over the internet, but hey, they actually fit my fat leg (zip and lace up) and I got a decent price, so I’m happy! (After I looked this up, I remembered that DSW is not really a discounter – they just want you to think they are. Their prices are in line with Zappos or anyone else, FYI.)

The party was great, we met and hung out with some new folks. Shout out to Tay for a lovely spread and lovely decorations (teensy bows on everything!) and thanks again for the awesome yule gifties! Sorry we ran off and left them there – we were way too fixated on the cooler! I got the tin of treats, though! :-)

I’ve also got to comment about Rock Band… Weird game, that. If you are listening but not playing, you hear karaoke with lots of tapping (drums) and clicks (guitar/bass). Very odd. For me, the downside of trying to play Rock Band in an apartment is that you can’t belt out the rock properly. Look, if you’re going to play you’re a hair band singer, you HAVE to jump around and scream, ok? Perhaps I should arrange for a Rock Band party at a house… I’m sure Emily will host and she’s got a monstrous TV, too. Whattaya think, Rock Band folks?