Cycling and Football

Yesterday, Jennifer suggested riding the Iron Horse Trail again.  We decided to ride the entire trail, and planned to take BART all the way to Concord, then ride down to the trailhead on Olivera.

However, when we got to Pleasant Hill, the train was going to wait for over 10 minutes because of track maintenance.  So we decided we'd get off, get on the trail, ride to the trailhead, and then turn around and do the whole trail to Dublin/Pleasanton.

Yeah, but then we lost the trail in Concord around Willow Pass Road.  Looking at Google Maps today, we missed where the Iron Horse Trail splits from another trail when it crosses Monument Boulevard.  Good to know, and we'll try again another time.

We dodged walkers with baby carriages, cyclists who had more gear than sense, and dogs no being controlled by their owners.  And to top it off, Danville was having a wine festival that was adjacent to the trail.

We were very happy to make it to the BART station.

In total with all the back and forth, we did just about 33.5 miles.

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Then this morning is the first Sunday of the NFL regular season.  It's a bit of a tradition for me to make Jennifer a special breakfast while she watches the pre-game show.

We made a quick race to Trader Joe's for necessary ingredients, and then using other stuff we had on hand, I made two breakfasts.  For myself, just a bagel eggwich with Kinder's peppered bacon:

But, Jennifer got eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, and a couple slices of bacon.

Away for the Holy Day

First off, I would like to declare myself participating in LBD (http://littledrummerboy.info/).

I've been lucky so far, but I'll need to make sure it are it off of Jennifer's iPod so that it doesn't accidentally come up while I'm at home.  Last year Starbuck's got me, so we'll see how I do this year.

Today, Jennifer and I are on our way to the Harvest Festival in San Jose (http://www.harvestfestival.com/).  We're enjoying a nice Amtrak train ride south.

BTW, football sucked yesterday.  None of the teams we liked won; although, we do enough watching the Lions win.

Down with the Sickness

Last Saturday was our monthly roleplaying game. One of our members came to the game and was just getting over being sick. As of today (as far as I know) I am the third of the remaining five to have gotten sick after the game.

Mr. Wilson's new epithet shall be Plague-Bearer.

So Thursday I had that one-sided sore throat where you ca pinpoint the exact location of your tonsil.

Thursday and Friday I was experiencing big bouts of sneezing. And I mean big bouts for me. Sneezes coming in groups of four or more.

Then Saturday I felt really bad. Nose plugged. Sinus headache that sort of thing. Pretty much the same today, but no relief on the headache. At least yesterday there were points where it didn't feel like I had earplugs jammed deep in my ear canal.

If the sinus pressure is no better tomorrow, then I'm staying home.

On a happy note for me, the Steelers and the Packers won. It's a sad note for Jennifer who was rooting for the Jets and da Bears.

Yeah, Whatever...

The rest of the week went pretty well. The driller's helper was a bit frustrated with us for the way the week went. Our primary concerns were water, and keeping the hole open. Thursday we left three holes with temporary casing in place, and then Friday we sampled the water in them. But these were some pretty impacted locations.

There was even little blebs of free product in the water samples we collected.

And I've decided I should never describe the weather patterns for the week to someone in the middle of the job.

Tuesday and Wednesday the weather was amazing. There was no fog on the other side of the Sunol Grade, and we got up to around 60 degrees.

Then I told Jennifer on Thursday not to worry about me being cold, described the weather, and then went on to be a bit chilly with high clouds.

Friday morning, I said we'd be fine, and again described the fog situation. Then on our drive Friday, the fog situation was reversed, and while were only on site for a few hours, it never got anywhere near warm. And we were sampling water, so even though we were wearing nitrile gloves with work gloves underneath, our hands were still cold and hurting.

I'm actually looking forward to being in the office this week.

And then this weekend was been spent enjoying my time with Jennifer, sitting on the couch and watching football. I've done a lot of computer stuff.

Sunday, Chili Sunday

Jennifer is back on winning with her fantasy football. She is now 6-3, and very happy. I'm happy too because it makes her mood lighter.

We're also both happy because we got a grocery run to Smart & Final in before the games started today, and we got some new chili powder: New Mexican picante. Just opening the bag smelled like a Mexican restaurant. I still used cayenne, but the majority was the picante. And the chili was excellent. I've even got a cottage cheese carton of the sauce left over.

That's a family tradition by the way to store leftovers in cottage cheese cartons. It started with my Papaw Jack who used to work for a dairy company. Somehow it became the thing to store things in the freezer that way, so my parents always had a case of cottage cheese cartons and lids. Now, that was back in the thin and hard plastic days, nowhere near as durable as the current PET 5 containers we get at Trader Joe's.

We used to wash them out and reuse them as much as possible. The part that would usually go bad first was the lid, usually from the flexing when we would open them up fresh from the freezer. It pretty much became a unit of measurement for me growing up because of the things my parents would store in them. They would make ice cream, and store it in the cartons. they would preserve fruit (plums, peaches, apricots, tomatoes) in the cartons. And of course the leftovers from huge batches of spaghetti sauce, chili, or even barbecue sauce.

So I come by it naturally. Jennifer and I began using Baskin Robbins ice cream containers (PET 2), but they've stopped using plastic and have gone to waxed paper containers. You just can't reuse those. So, now we've built up a stack of the containers from TJ's. Maybe next Sunday I'll make me some meat sauce for pasta...

Anyway, for a very simple chili today, I used:

1.5 pounds of ground beef
2 cans of tomato sauce
New Mexican picante chili powder
Cayenne chili powder
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Sage
Thyme
Ground black pepper
Spaghetti noodles
Cheddar cheese
Saltine crackers
Peanut butter

Brown the ground beef until it's nearly cooked, very little red left. then take it out and rinse it in a large strainer. Rinse it with hot water to wash it out the drain, and this will get rid of a lot of excess fat in the sauce.

Then in another pot put in the two cans of tomato sauce, and then fill each can with water and put that in. This will make the sauce thinner, and more like a soup. Also it gets the last of the tomato sauce out of the can. Turn the heat up to medium, and let it heat up. Then add the meat, and start seasoning. I put in about two tablespoons of each of the chili powders, and then added the rest of the seasonings to taste. You don't really taste much of them, but they add some depth beyond just the chili. I essentially stir the chili powder in, and then just cover the top of the sauce with each of the other seasonings. If you like the texture of cooked onions or garlic (or even diced tomatoes) you can use that, but I like a nice smooth sauce with little meaty bits.

As the sauce begins to boil, turn it down to medium-low, and then lower until it simmer, but is not boiling. This should keep it from burning or bubbling which causes a big mess of splattering tomato sauce. As it simmers keep it covered to prevent it getting too thick. Once it is simmering, you should do multiple tastes to ensure the chili is the right level of spicy hot for you.

Once the chili is the right taste, it's time to boil the spaghetti noodles. You can use what ever size you like, I used spaghettini today because I like thin noodles, but pretty much anything long noodle will work. break it into thirds before boiling it. I did halves today, because I had forgotten that the shorter noodles don't flip and splatter sauce.

Once the noodles are done, drain them and place them in a bowl, filling about half of the bowl. if you like beans or onions in your chili place a layer of them on top of the noodles in the bowl. Then ladle the sauce on top. as a finally topping you can add a layer of grated cheddar cheese on top of the chili.

My finally addition is saltine and peanut butter sandwiches. These are nice to spoon a little chili onto and eat that way. I'd say that's just me and my family, but Jennifer likes it too.

Not Lazy, Just Distracted

A weekend full of late nights, and Facebook made me neglect the blog.

Friday night, Jennifer was out, so I was left at home to fend for myself. So I watched the Back to the Future trilogy, straight through with the producer commentary. I started at 8:00, so that took me through to 2:00 AM. I learned some cool trivia bits, and still got to experience the movies too.

Saturday we went to a birthday party for a friend. She is turning 30,and had an 80's themed party. I'll have to put some of the pictures up once I get home.

Then Sunday was just football and laundry.

And today there is rain.

Weekend Wonders

Saturday morning, I read Planetary. And it was great. I was almost disappointed at first, but after reading some interpretations, I realized that I needed to look at the series as a whole, and not look at this issue as a stand alone. I'm satisfied.

Saturday, was a really fun game session. A full crowd, and lots of banter. Good plots and battles.

And today was a big day of football. Jennifer's friend Carlos came over, and brought bacon. So I made pancakes, with scrambled eggs and bacon. They got spicy bloody marys and I had milk. The mix was leftover from a Christmas package we got at work. It came with real maple syrup, and the breakfast was wonderful.

And the topper for the day is that Jennifer is 5-0 for her fantasy football league. She's very excited.

I Try, I Really Do

I don't know what it is lately. I plan to write a post. I have Blogger up and everything. Then something shiny appears, and I'm like the crow in the animated "Rats of NIMH".

I did update some comics links on the side, but then I totally forgot to write anything.

Lame.

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So, last night I watched Monday Night Football with Jennifer.

This has become easier and more comfortable of late. And the game was pretty cool.

And Brett Favre becomes the first person to beat all 32 NFL franchises during his career. It's just cool sounding.

First off a video using They Might Be Giants' newest song. I take issue with SiO2 making cement (acid will show it's mostly CaCO3), and CaSO4 as chalk (again CaCO3), but the rest of the video is fun.



Saturday was a fun day of gaming. It went well enough, but there are bits I could have done better. Sunday was a day of football, and fun.

Until I met the cat outside. I was seeing if Pom was outside,but instead I came across a yearling cat with a bell. We've encountered this cat before, but it meowed and seemed friendly enough. I made noises, and it came over to see me. I picked it up and it purred. And then it got spooked. It twisted and scratched and jumped down.

Did I mention I wasn't wearing a shirt at the time?

I got two short scratches on my right shoulder and two long parallel scratches across my left ribs to my navel. I quickly washed them with alcohol, and when they stopped being dirty (it had been raining, and the paws had been muddy), I followed up with Bactine.

It was painful this washing this morning in the shower.

Drilling, Food, and Football

no record setting action today on site. We had a slower rig, and a more laid back crew, but we still managed to get offsite not too much later than expected.

The downer was heading off afterwards, and planning on having Long John Silver's in Vacaville. But when we came off the ramp at Mason, not only was the restaurant closed up, but the Valero it was attached to was closed, and there were all kinds of white USA markings on the ground. I was bummed, and so was Yuko who likes fried food a little too much.

However, we drove on to Travis, and the formerly trashy LJS on North Texas is now a nicely remodelled joint KFC/LJS. The service was wonderful, and the food was just what we wanted.

Then we drove on back tot he office, unloaded, and I prepared for the big evening: The Return of Football Season.

Jennifer had said she wanted lots of food, so we ordered entirely too much food from our favorite Chinese restaurant (Ming's), and then ate nearly too much, and enjoyed and intense game of Steelers vs. Titans.

Sunday Painty Sunday

Today Jennifer and I helped a friend of hers paint his loft. This is the guy whose bed we're storing until he can move in. It's nice that he's getting to work on the place before moving in.

I went over and helped in the afternoon after making my run to Livermore for comics. Now we're both very tired after climbing up and down ladders and step stools all day.

Of course we listened to football while we painted, and were amazed at ow poorly the Chargers did against the Steelers. Next week should be good with Eagles vs. Cardinals and Steelers vs. Ravens.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

Saturday night as we were cleaning up, I told Jennifer that we weren't going to be watching football, because we were going to go see "Zack and Miri Make a Porno". So we got ready for a movie time of 11:25 at the Pleasant Hill Century, and left early to go by the Raider Image store nearby since it was going out of business, and Jennifer is going to the Raiders-Panthers next week.

While she was fingering one of the sweatshirts, Art Thom came up and asked us if we were going to the game. Yes, that Art Thom. Jennifer said she was going next week, and he asked if we wanted to go today. She asked where, and he said 50 Yard line, 27th row. She asked how much, and he said face value. She looked at me, and then turned to him and said yes.

So we went to the Raiders game. The seats were amazing, and it having been almost 15 years since I've marched on a football field, I was amazed how small the field actually was.

And they got slaughtered 24-0.