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Happy Groundhog Day 2010!

We got Phil saying more winter, but we got Chuck and Beauregard saying SPRING! Yay! I love the silliness of Groundhog Day, which is why I think it should be celebrated thoroughly! :-)

We are getting our Con schedule put together for 2010. The events calendar on the right has everything we’re confirmed to do and is updated when we add stuff. Connooga is our first con of the year and I hope it’s worth going to. We’re rolling the dice, but the cost is very low due to Dave’s employee discount at Hilton. I don’t have very high hopes as far as the comic goes, but I do hope to have some fun.

I’m trying not to get stressed out about the cons and our total lack of readiness. The book is still just an idea and we’ve no merch. ::sigh::

Hope everyone has a great (if rainy) Groundhog Day!

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New Tech smell!

Ahh! New technology! Makes me feel warm all over! Apple announced the iPad today and it’s SWEEET! We don’t need one, but we may have to GET one. Just because we can! We need it for cons, right? RIGHT! Write offy goodness! :-)

Now I need to rant for a sec:
Too bad the afterglow of the announcement has been somewhat tarnished by the retards on FB. Man, there are some seriously dumb people on that network. One ‘tard was bitching about the price for a “slightly re-engineered” iPod Touch, insisting it’s “$100s more than the iPhone for the same stuff”. Um. No, it’s not more than the phone and uh, there’s LOTS more “stuff”. Then there was the brilliant PC dude who said “yah, but MAC [sic] is just not as flexible as PC for word processing. It’s more for art!” OMG. How can such completely outdated info STILL be believed?? HOW??

It’s not MAC. It’s Mac, which is short for Macintosh, whereas MAC is short for Media Access Control (or MAC cosmetics). And if you PC people think that your piddly little version of MS Office compares in ANY way to Office:Mac version, you are sadly mistaken. The Mac version of Office will make you CRY it’s so much better than the PC version. Seriously. You. Would. Cry.

It’s ludicrous that people STILL believe that there is actually a software gap.
//end rant

It’s great that complete luddites feel they can contribute to the convo, but DAMN. At least have a tiny little clue, people! At least read the specs for the device! At least have a vague idea about the platforms before saying something as dumb as that PC guy.

Reality is that this device, the iPad (yah, the name certainly could be better, but WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE?), is the next in a long line of innovations from Apple that the rest of the tech world will emulate. Apple is the tech world’s R&D department and I think they should get 100% credit for it.

All the bitchers and naysayers seem to fall into two main groups of lusers: PC people who are clueless in the first place (as in: office workers who don’t know what “Windows” is and the like) and broke muthafuckahs who can’t afford anything great, so they feel the need to bash.

All I got to say to you guys is: hey, enjoy your knockoff (read: CHEAP) tech. It’ll trickle down to you in a coupla years when the rest of us are on to the next great thing. And don’t be hatin’ those of us who appreciate it NOW.

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Angela’s Italian Wedding Soup

UPDATED! Much easier recipe with fewer ingredients and better flavour. My take on the classic! Veal meatballs and chick peas added for fiber! A delicious main course soup!

Italian Wedding Soup

Angela’s Italian Wedding Soup
Meatballs:
1 pkg ground veal (about a pound)
.5 cup Bread Crumbs (Plain or seasoned)
1 egg, slightly beaten
.5 tsp Salt
.5 tsp pepper
.5 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Basil, Dried
2 tsp garlic paste (find it in the Indian foods or paste 2 cloves)
about 3/4 cup more bread crumbs to roll the meatballs in
olive oil

Soup:
1 med onion, large dice
1 sm pkg creminis, sliced
1 Tbl garlic paste
2 cloves minced garlic
1 Tbl dried basil
1 tsp herbes de provence
2 Tbl worcestershire sauce (L&P is best)
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 package Frozen Chopped Spinach
1 can chick peas
4 cup Chicken Stock
1/2 cup dried small pasta
2 Tbl sherry vinegar
zest of one lemon

to serve:
ground parmesan
Parsley, Fresh chopped
fresh squeezed lemon

Directions

Combine first eight ingredients to make meatballs. Heat heavy wide pot (dutch oven) to med hi and add olive oil to cover bottom. Form small balls about a teaspoon each, roll in breadcrumbs then place into pot and brown on all sides. When the meatballs are browned, remove from pan and set aside.

In same oil, add next eight ingredients, reduce heat a bit. Cook until the veg is softened. Add frozen spinach, up heat to med hi. Once spinach has thawed a bit, add chick peas and stock. Turn up to high, bring to boil then reduce to simmer. Add in small pasta, meatballs (with any juice), vinegar and zest.

Cook at a simmer for about 15 mins. Check for seasoning and add salt if needed. Finish with the fresh parsley and juice of half the lemon.

Serve with parmesan and a squeeze of lemon.

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Obamacare and other stupidity

We got very lucky last week with MA getting all Republican on the Dems ass. Yes, LUCKY. For all you hippies and takers out there who cannot understand basic economics, we are lucky that Obamacare has been more or less abandoned because now we won’t get taxed to death. Make no mistake, any sort of all encompassing plan will cost us one way or the other. There is no such thing as free money, although the American Sheeple seem to think so.

It is hilarious to me how the Dems scattered like my cats from the water bottle when they suddenly realised that a) they can’t cram this moronic plan down our throats and b) we are pissed. Of course my district is 99.9% Democrat and I won’t get to vote otherwise come election time, but I can damn sure vote anti-incumbent and anti-democrat on everything else. If the Libertarians would get GOING, now is the time to introduce a third party. [Yes, I know that is never gonna happen.]

There was yet another incident of turning a plane around due to “terrorism” last week. For fuck’s sake, people! The kid was saying his fucking prayers! JAYSUS! Stupidity of the flight attendants caused the fiasco and they should be punished. The fucking airlines need to hire people with more than a GED and then they should, oh, I dunno, TRAIN THEM. And Pilots should not call out jets and make unsafe, unscheduled landings just because a flight attendant is too dumb to understand what a prayer box is. The whole crew of that flight should be held accountable for disrupting the travel plans of a whole plane full of people due to their ignorance. It’s a shame the American Sheeple put up with this sort of bullshit.

I’m ashamed to live in a country where ignorance is accepted as the norm. It’s all about entitlement and not having to be accountable for yourself. What ever happened to working for what you get and paying for your way? I know I’m kinda old, but damn, how can people become sheeple in such a short time? Boggles the mind.