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Weather, politics and comics

The weather has finally broken and sweet relief from 90º days has arrived. AH! Even today, at 62º and rain is wonderful! I’ll take it! It’s always this time of year when I think that the NW wouldn’t be bad… But then I realise that it’s like this most of the time and MEH. It’s gotten too hot down here in general, but I like having 4 distinct seasons. I do wish La Niña would give us a break in summer.

Politics in the mornin’! It astounds me that so many dumb people (as represented on FB) STILL think Obama is doing a good job. WUT? How completely stupid do you have to be to believe that? Magical thinking much? He is a president who has accomplished exactly jack and shit. He has reneged on undoing the Patriot Act – twice. He can’t speak in front of a crowd at all without his Teleprompter. He’s never had a job fer chrissakes!! He wants to “tax the rich” to “even the field”. Oh, really? No, it sounds to me like take from the rich and give to the poor. Rich people do play the system, no doubt, so why do we not change the system? Fair Tax would stop that happy crappy. But this is not about leveling anything. This is about creating a nation of takers who don’t work and live on the dole (or who work for the government, same thing). UK, anyone? This is about crippling small business, making a hostile corporate environment and celebrating being a lazy fucker who lives on welfare.

While on the subject of lazy useless people, I’d like to piss off all the “disabled” assholes out there who have been “disabled” their whole lives and refuse to work. You know who you are. When I was growing up, I never knew anyone in their 20s who didn’t work. Now, it’s commonplace to see TEENS on disability. WTF? Hells bells, I had a BLIND friend who worked at Wachovia until he got too sick and had to go on disability – which he hated. When did being a lazy fucker on the dole become fine? When did it lose its stigma as a bad thing and something you tried to avoid? I must have missed the memo.

On the other hand, I know someone who has a real illness and is currently on disability while he goes to college online. He’s about to graduate. Which shows gumption and pride in his abilities. He’s not going to let his condition limit his choices in life. Bravo!

So do not tell me you “can’t” work. That is bullshit and you know it. Do something. Open an Etsy shop. Go to school. Find a way to be productive. Hell, even being a blogger is something! Geeze.

We have a convention next weekend (Oct 1 & 2). It’s in Nashville. It should be low stress. We’ve got our booth pared down to just a few totes and we’ve got the Square set up, so we’re good to go. I hope we make at least a little money. The comic is trundling along. We are in a slow period with dwindling ideas and lack of motivation. I hope the convention will get us cranked back up.

In other news, I’m working on a site for a local animal rescue group. I hope they like what I do and I hope they make lots of money for the pets. I’m also going to start volunteering for Centennial Olympic Park one day a week. Nick thinks I need to get out more. I probably do, but MEH. ;)

We are also planning a trip to CA to see Nick’s family in October or November. I look forward to seeing them, but not to the plane ride. Fucking TSA. ::sigh:: I’m gonna end up in jail if they fondle me, I just know it. Grr. Fucking useless harassment security theatre violation of my fucking rights… grumble, grumble.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on around here. What’s going on with you guys?

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Weekend report

So, another DragonCon is under the bridge. This year we helped out our pals from Florida, Echo and Lazarus Chernik. They drive a big ole RV to cons all summer and you just can’t park that thing in downtown Atlanta, so they parked it here at Casa Mizgala and we shuttled the booth + art back and forth in the Ranger.

We put on an art reception for Echo on Saturday night at the Courtyard Marriott that is tucked away next to the Westin on Carnegie St. The room was perfect for an art reception and Echo was pleased with my quickie catering. It was VERY fun and VERY tiring! Echo debuted her exclusive DragonCon print at the reception and we intend to do that again next year. Hopefully it will be a DCon tradition!

Overall, I have to say that I really do prefer working cons to just attending/partying. You meet many more people that way.

Echo gave me a giclée print (Seafood, part of her 12 food pieces) for helping out with the reception and made me cry. It’s really too much!! But I adore it and can’t wait to get it hung. THANK YOU seems inadequate for such a lovely gift! We can’t wait to do it again next year – it will be AWESOME!

I got the house cleaned, groceries procured and the laundry caught up yesterday so today I’m futzing on the intertubes and generally just laying around. :)

Gotta get my thank-yous done, too. Ah, I love organising stuff. Maybe I’ll find a job doing it!

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Apple of my Eye

[In the 10 years since Steve resigned, Apple has, indeed, lost the innovation and become a company that makes appliances. There are no professional level Macs under $4-5k. The new units (MB and iMacs) run on PHONE chips. Nothing is upgradeable or even fixable. Apple is a sad remnant of what it was, as far as I’m concerned. I still love Mac, the iPhone and the Watch, but I’m using a 12 yr old Mac Pro because I can’t afford $4-5k for a new one. I refuse to use a trashcan Mac. I am also not interested in a non upgradeable iMac that runs on a PHONE processor. So, here I sit, with old equipment because Apple has stopped making real computers. I am disappointed in Apple as a user, but they do a good job paying the stockholders, so yay? That is really what has happened. Apple is all about stock prices, which making appliances keeps HIGH, not being the best computer company in the world. Hence the name change from Apple Computer, to just Apple. Sigh. – Aug 2021]

So, Steve Jobs has resigned as CEO of Apple. It is the end of an era. I know as long as Steve is alive, he’ll be there, laying plans for more innovations and surprises. But when he finally succumbs to the various illnesses he has, I think that will be the end of Apple as we know it.

Yes, Tim Cook has been Steve’s right hand man for years. Yes, Jonathan Ive is the brilliant designer who took Steve’s ideas and made them real. BUT. Neither of these guys are the ones who THINK UP the mad schemes in the first place. Tim Cook has a reputation as a quiet, rather staid man. That does not make me think of INNOVATION. It makes me think of Microsoft.

Which is where Apple will end up when Steve’s ideas have been plumbed and there’s no more Steve to come up with a computer that “looks like a flower” (iMac circa 2002) or an iPod, iPhone, iPad… You get the picture. Yes, I’m sure Steve’s got plenty of innovations in channel and will keep it that way as long as he is able. But when he’s gone, he’s gone.

It makes me a bit sad to know that I will most likely see Apple grind slowly to a halt and become a useless behemoth like Microsoft. But I’m pretty sure it’ll happen.

I just hope it happens slowly enough that by the time Apple is dead, I won’t care because I’ll be too old to use a computer anyway.

In the meantime, Apple is still my brand and I wouldn’t dream of using anything else.

Viva la Apple! And long live Steve Jobs! :)

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Quick Boeuf Bourguignon

Print

Easy Boeuf Bourguignon

Marinading the stew beef is highly recommended - even if it's just a couple of hours. The wine helps break down the connective tissue that is typical of chuck. There are a good number of ingredients, but nothing exotic. This recipe is quite easy, just follow the steps! Bon appétit!
Course Main Course
Cuisine French
Keyword beef braise, beef stew, Boeuf Bourguignon
Prep Time 3 hours
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings 10 servings
Author misangela

Equipment

  • 1 Dutch oven

Ingredients

  • 3 Tbl EVOO
  • 5 slices bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces sub pancetta
  • 2 pounds beef chuck, 1" dice aka stew beef
  • 2 Tbl S/P equal parts
  • 1 cup flour for beef dredge
  • 1 Lg onion, large 1" dice about 1.5 cups
  • 3 stalks celery, 1/2" slices on the bias about 1 cup
  • 3 med carrots, 1/2" slices on the bias about 1 cup
  • 4 cloves garlic, rough chop
  • 1 pound cremini mushrooms, stemmed, 1/2" slices cut in half if they are large
  • 2 Tbl butter I use salted always, doesn't matter
  • 1/2 cup brandy or cognac optional, but adds depth
  • 2 Tbl tomato paste
  • 3 whole bay leaves
  • 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves 5-6 stems tied together whole or 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/2 pound frozen pearl onions about half a bag
  • 2 cups dry red wine pinot noir or a light cabernet
  • 2 cups beef stock start with one cup and add to taste/thickness of stew is to your liking
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley, rough chopped leaves only

Marinade for Beef

  • 1 cup dry red wine you can put this marinade in the stew, just strain out peppercorns and bay leaf, then measure liquid and add fresh wine to 2 cups
  • 2 Tbl Lea & Perrins Worcestershire L&P is the best
  • 1 Tbl EVOO
  • 2 Tbl whole black peppercorns or you use the mixed ones
  • 2 whole bay leaves

Instructions

  • Marinate the beef! Put beef in a ziplock bag with marinade in the morning and let sit all day. Or even just a couple of hours would be fine. It really helps with the flavour of the beef and it softens the sometimes chewy bits of stew beef.
  • Preheat the oven to 300F.
  • Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the bacon and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is lightly browned. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a large plate.
  • Dry the beef cubes with paper towels and then dredge them in flour, salt and pepper. In batches in single layers, sear the beef in the hot oil for 3 to 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove the seared cubes to the plate with the bacon and continue searing until all the beef is browned. Set aside.
  • Toss the onions, celery, carrots and mushrooms, a good pinch of salt and 2 good pinches of pepper into the fat in the pan, along with the butter and cook for 10 to 15 minutes over med flame, stirring occasionally, until the veg is lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
  • Add the pearl onions, tomato paste, bay leaves and thyme. Stir for a minute.
  • Add the Cognac and scrape any bits from the bottom of the pot. Put the meat and bacon back into the pot with the juices.
  • Add the wine plus enough beef broth to almost cover the meat. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and place it in the oven for about 1 hour or until the meat and vegetables are very tender when pierced with a fork.
  • Remove stew from oven and add fresh parsley. Check your S/P.
  • Serve with baguette.

Notes

This dish has a reputation for being difficult, mainly because Julia Child's recipe is soooo long! It is really not hard, there are just a few steps to follow. Drying the beef, dredging and searing it, is really the key to good boeuf bourguignon. 
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Responsibility IS a choice!

And again, today I’m reminded that responsibility is the core issue for SO many things. The hole that the government has dug itself is, at its root, caused by irresponsibility – that mirrors the complete lack of responsibility its citizens feel about, well, everything.

The word “trifling” has come up a couple of times recently and I think it’s safe to say that Americans have become disturbingly trifling in the last decade. The government is increasingly expected to nanny the populace with food laws, smoking laws, stupid warnings on everything and more. And the populace is demanding more, more, more. More entitlements, more laws “for safety”, more invasive behaviour monitoring. It never stops!

The populace elected a young, inexperienced man because he looks good, is black and can talk some good shit. ADMIT IT, he was elected for his skin colour and his pandering promises that have just about all evaporated – but the populace doesn’t want to hear that. No, way! It’s just the Evil Republicans messing everything up. And if Omama was a Republican, it’d be the Evil Democrats messing everything up. Americans have come to the sad place where there is no middle and it’s always someone else’s fault. It’s Evil Right or Evil Left. It is because that irresponsibility is easier than being responsible citizens and READING UP on what these asshats are actually doing on Capital Hill.

Which is nothing. Your elected officials do as little as is humanly possible with as much shit talking as possible to make it SEEM like something is happening. Sheeple buy it every time. Hence our current circumstance.
Continue reading “Responsibility IS a choice!”