Terror Comes to Tiny Town…
Friday, September 5th, 2008 | Baby | 2 Comments
…in which I talk about my poor, poor little baby and his horrible, terrible, no good, very bad night.
So, Wednesday was not a good day for baby Ansel. He was dripping snot all day, didn’t sleep well the night before, and didn’t nap well all day. He was grumpy (which was reiterated by his “GRUMPY” onesie) and we were pretty sure that Wednesday night would not go very well either, but we had no idea how bad it could be.
For those of you who have not met our Ansel, he’s a super-champ. He’s very laid back, almost always cheerful, and just an all around happy baby. He hardly cries, and when he does, it takes almost nothing to soothe him again. Heather and I consider ourselves very lucky with him, and accept the fact that this may change as he gets older and are not taking his relaxed nature for granted. We appreciate every second of it.
My retelling of this may be a bit off, seeing as how I was pretty solidly asleep and I’m putting it together based on what I could discern from Heather. We struggled to get him to even go to sleep Wednesday night, and finally, with Heather sleeping on the floor in his room by his crib, he fall asleep. This was a short lived solace because after a short while, he all of a sudden awoke screaming, uncontrollably. I don’t know how long he screamed before I woke up in the next room, past a closed door, but I know Heather was crying trying to console him. After my head cleared and I realized this was no dream or hallucination, I got up to go check on them. When I found them, Ansel was in his crib screaming like his toes had been eaten in the middle of the night, and Heather was looking for something - anything - to soothe him. I rescued her and took him a way to try and calm him down myself.
Now, like I said, Ansel is usually pretty easy to calm back down. For the most part, if he’s crying, you can just pick him up, carry him around for a little bit and bounce him in your arms and he’ll eventually downgrade his crying to sniffles and rest his head on your shoulder. This was not the case! No amount of waking, carrying, or bouncing was going to stop his wails. He was crying so hard that his body was shuddering. I went to the kitchen to try to find a solution. My first thought was that his teeth were in serious pain. He’s been teething again, and I’ve heard tell that the further back the teeth are, the more they hurt when they come out. So I tried cold water and Tylenol. Neither of which helped, in fact, he almost just poured the Tylenol back out of his mouth with his relentless crying. So after what felt like an eternity, between Heather and I both trying to make him feel better, I decided I’d get him a cold teething ring and opened the refrigerator. As I reached in, he started to quiet down. In my half-asleep, completely frustrated, stupor, I had to stop and think about why the refrigerator was calming him down. Was it the cold? Was it the glow of American consumerism? Was it something in the refrigerator, specifically? It finally occurred to me that in an effort to keep the mood calming, neither Heather nor I had turned on any lights. To test this theory, I went in to the living room, flipped the lights on full blast and started poking all of Ansel’s music toys.
He immediately stopped crying and started showing interest in his toys so we sat down on the floor and played for a bit. Heather came in and kind of calmed herself down, as well. We sat there for a while before I admitted that I needed to go to bed or I’d be useless the next day at work. However, when I got to bed, I found that the two hours of sleep I’d already had, plus the excitement and fear from Ansel’s crying fit had worked me up too much to sleep, so I ended up just reading for another 45 minutes or so. Needless to say, I ended up snoozing my alarm far more than I should, and then dragging myself through the morning to the point that I was an hour late to work on Thursday.
Fortunately, Thursday was a much better day for Ansel, and Friday is shaping up to be better still. Whatever scared him so bad Wednesday night seems to have passed and he looks to be getting over his cold. Unfortunately, Heather and I both seem to be fighting off a little bit of a cold ourselves. What goes around comes around.
Jumping the Gun…
Friday, August 29th, 2008 | Blogging | 3 Comments
…in which I talk about my new blog style, before I’m even done with it.
I’d gotten more than one comment (complaint) about the white on black text layout, so I started looking for a new theme with a lighter color scheme. I like the one I got, but its got some layout issues that I’m still working out. So for now, its looking better, but I still have some work to do on it. I hope this is a bit of a better color scheme for you guys.
Oh, and I love CSS, but I hate deciphering PHP. Too I’m too picky just to take a theme as it comes, I have to customize it and make it the way I want it.
I’ll continue working on it and make it even better, so stay tuned for future improvements.
I’m sweaty, I’m sore, and I’m in love…
Thursday, August 28th, 2008 | Health | No Comments
…in which I talk about my bike being fixed and how awesome it is now.
I’m going to start with the short version of what happened to my bike to get where I am today.
Two weeks ago, on August 9th I believe, I took my bike to The Bicycle Path to get it tuned up. It was going to get a simple adjustment of brakes and shifters, a lube, and a wipe down. I also wanted to get my grips replaced, and was willing to pay extra for that. I was supposed to pick it up on the 11th, all ready to ride. Instead, I get a call on the 11th, saying that my brakes are broken and they need to be replaced. A thirteen year old part had broken and they wouldn’t be safe to use anymore. I asked them how much and they said they could put effectively identical brakes on for $30 or the brakes they recommend to all their customers were $40. Being poor and not a hard core rider, I chose $30. The brakes had to be ordered, and would not arrive until the 13th. On the 13th, I get a call saying that the $30 brakes were back ordered, and they would not be in until the 20th at the earliest - if even then. So I decided to suck it up and get the $40 brakes. They had to be ordered, and would not arrive until the 15th. On the 15th, I go to pick up my bike and not only have they not replaced the grips, but when they ring me up, the brakes that were quoted as $40 are priced at $60. I bitch about being quoted $40, twice, and the owner actually marks them down. They take 30 minutes to replace the grips and I can finally take my bike home.
Last week, it either rained or I needed to haul heavy equipment to and from work, so I didn’t get to ride my bike at all.
Finally, on Monday, the 25th, I got to ride my bike to work. The gears were shifting beautifully and the brakes were nice and tight. However, after about two miles, my rear shifter locks up in third, it won’t shift up but it will still shift down. Finally after about two blocks, the shifter frees up, but the “click” that indicates one gear from the next on the shifter is gone, but at least I can shift through all the gears. After another block, the shifter locks up again before releasing and restoring the “click.” This time, however, the shifting is all un-callibrated and I can’t even shift into 7th. I call The Bicycle Path from work and they say “oh, sometimes the cables slip after a tune-up, bring it in and we’ll adjust it.”
When I take it in, they start working on it immediately, but shortly afterwards, they return to admit that the shifter is broken and needs to be replaced. I ask them how much, but then, in a surprise twist, they explain that there’s no way of knowing if it broke before, during, or after the tune-up, so they claimed responsibility and paid for the shifter. However, it had to be ordered, and would not arrive until the 27th. So yesterday, I went and picked up my bike, again, and its all fixed and working great. I’ve got entirely new grip-shifts which means the last of the thirteen year old rubber is gone from my bike.
Today - with the new brakes and shifters, the tuned gears, and a new bike lock - it was like riding a whole new bike. It was a great ride in with nice weather, low traffic, and a sweet newly tuned bike. I’m, once again, looking forward to riding as often as possible. It’ll save me gas, reduce stress, and its a great way to stay in shape. When my rear-view mirror comes in, its going to be awesome.
The Bicycle Path has tried very hard to make up for the trouble that they have inadvertently put me through. To be honest, I’m not even sure they realize how frustrated I’ve been through this entire process, but either way, I’m inclined to not patronize them again. There are certain things, in my opinion, that you should keep in stock at all times. Brakes and shifters are kind of requirements and seeing as how the brakes they wanted to install were their “recommended” brakes, you’d think they’d have some on-hand. The shifters they put on my bike looked like the “standard” shifter for today’s bikes, too, so that should be an on-hand item as well.
People make the same complaint about my friend Derek, over at Talon Comics, and I respect their complaints. I agree that Derek’s consistent response to customer inquiry is “I can order it,” but the main difference here is that comic books are a speculative market. Something that you may think is going to be a big seller may end up sitting on your shelf collecting dust, and you paid for it out of your own pocket to stock it in the first place. At a bike shop, however, there are certain inalienable necessities: brakes, shifters, tires; the things that make the bike go. You’re going to need them, people are going to buy them. None of them are limited edition, none of them are released and replaced weekly. I can’t say if any other bike shops in Denton will be any better about this than The Bicycle Path, but I’ll probably be giving them a chance before I return. Fortunately, for the time being, my bike is in such good condition, I shouldn’t need anything that I can’t buy online, or from a general sporting goods store (I’m still contemplating the whole helmet issue).
What day is it…
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 | Baby, Family, Work | 2 Comments
…in which I talk about how crazy busy I’ve been and how that stress is not healthy.
Holy shit, where did the last two weeks go? Its been a mad house up in here and I’ve not only lost complete track of time, but pretty much any semblance of order and reason as well. I can’t even effectively recall everything thats been going on the last two weeks, but I guess I’ll try.
On Ansel
If child development was an Xbox game, Ansel would have opened up a ton of new achievements in the last couple of weeks. He’s a crawler (50 points). He’s cruising one handed (10 points). He’s feeding himself chunks of food (15 points). He’s identifying common objects (25 points). He’s figured out push-toys (10 points). He’s sleeping nights in his crib (100 points). That is a gain of 210 points over last time! He made some progress on Mobility acquiring 2 achievements, Self Sufficiency acquiring 2 achievements, 1 more achievement each in Playing and Communication and oh… man was it ever sweet!
On Home Life
I think Heather is getting used to being at home. Its a little tough to tell at the moment because we just finished our monstrous garage sale and things still haven’t quite settled back to “normal” yet. We spend the majority of last week setting up the garage sale, then all of the weekend running it, and this week is still recovering. I feel like I missed my weekend completely, because of it. We made some good money, as did those who participated in it with us. Heather also said that we could use the money from the garage sale to buy me Rock Band 2 when it comes out next month. She’s so awesome.
Aside from the sale, though, there hasn’t been that much going on. I’m so exhausted from work every day that I pretty much go home, play some xbox, watch some tv, and go to bed. Its so sad that I see Heather and Ansel so little every day, and yet I can’t hardy gather the energy to really enjoy my time with them. I’m totally turning in to the husband that works all day, comes home, sits on the couch, passes out and then slides off to bed. All I need is some slippers and a pipe.
On Cycling
So, after a week long drama of trying to get my bike tuned and subsequently repaired, I finally got it back just in time for a week long downpour. When I finally was able to ride it again yesterday, the shifter started locking up and gears started slipping. I took it in to have them look at it and apparently my shifter is broken. I should write an entire post just on my experiences with The Bicycle Path because its a rant and a half, and as soon as I get my bike back, I’ll probably never go there again. At the very least, they are willing to replace the shifter for free because they don’t know if it was broken before, during or after the tune-up. Either way, I was unable to ride my bike for a week due to repairs, another week for rain, and now half a week for more repairs. Is it so wrong that I want very badly to ride my bike daily, not on the rare occasion that its not at the shop?
On Work
We have a huge server migration coming up, and we’re way behind. I don’t know nearly enough to handle my end of things, some of the things I need to handle can’t be handled until the servers are all configured correctly. We’re all trying to get things together as quickly as possible which is stressful enough by itself, but then on top of that, the semester has started and that’s always its own little adventure. Add to that the fact that we’re doing a new website, and everyone has grand designs for its potential and I’ve got upwards of 20 new computers coming in any day now… is it any surprise I drink a beer or two as soon as I get home? Then again, maybe that’s why I fall asleep on the couch every day. Its an endless, vicious, cycle.
Automated for the People…
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 | Work | 2 Comments
…in which I talk about my recent experiments with Applescript and Automator, and probably bore you to tears.
So, in case you’ve never met me, I am the kind of person who likes to have things my way and will go to great lengths to customize things to be as close to my idea of perfect as possible. I would say I border on obsessive sometimes when it comes to attempting to achieve that perfection, but that would be a lie. There is no bordering, I’m all the way in. I’ve taken up residence in my obsessive compulsive need for things to function in the best possible manner.
To this effect, I’ve learned a lot about how Automator and Applescript work in the Mac OS X environment. I have to admit, I think Automator is one of the reasons I am starting to prefer Mac over PC. The fact that I can create miniature applications (applets) to do the things that, in my opinion, I need to do is invaluable to my pathological nature. Automator allows me to call forth commands and scripts from almost anywhere within the Mac environment and combine them into free running programs. It really is a great system.
Until recently, I had a free-standing application that would synchronize several different items with my Motorola Q through the Mac. It would automatically upload contacts, calendar items, photos, and music. Several factors have resulted in my abandoning that software. First off, with the University’s adoption of the Microsoft Exchange mail system, contacts and calendars are synchronized wirelessly on demand. Additionally, I found that I never really viewed photos on the phone. And finally, with my upgrade to OS X 10.5, I would have had to pay an additional $25 to upgrade to a Leopard compatible version of the software. I just didn’t see that it was worth the price, and system resources, just to move some music occasionally. Having previously purchased a pair of bluetooth stereo headphones, however, I really want to take advantage of the fact that my phone can play music. That, combined with the fact that I have over 20,000 songs in my iTunes library made me really lament the loss of that software. I decided there must be a way I can facilitate this process at no cost. First, I started surfing the web looking for a free alternative. Finding nothing, I turned to automator, which I’ve used in the past for smaller tasks, but never something of the complexity that this has turned out to be (links to the actions and downloads I used are after the break).
I found, in Automator, that there is a command that can read a list of tracks in a specified iTunes playlist. How handy is that? So I chose the smart playlist I had created previously for my Q and called in that data. I then passed that data on to a file copy command which would copy (not move) all the files discovered in the playlist to a location of my choosing. I had discovered my solution with only two Automator actions. As of 5:00 yesterday, I was happy with that. This morning, however, after having played a custom HeroScape map and then tweaked it after everyone left, I decided I could tweak my script to be better and more efficient.
Having failed to find a way to mount my Q as a drive on the computer, I am relegated to pulling out the memory card and use the card reader built in to my monitor (I honestly never thought I’d use that) to mount the music folder. Since I was already physically taking the card out and inserting it into the computer, I figured there had to be a way to save myself from having to click to start the applet. After some searching online, which actually resulted in several methods of triggering an action on mount. I decided upon installing a Preference Pane (another nice customization option for Mac OS X, modular system preferences), that simply watches for events, and performs other events in response. So I told the Do Something When (the preference pane) to watch for my SD Card to be inserted, and respond by running the applet. It worked flawlessly. I found that I could also tell DSW to watch for an application to quit. So I told it to watch for my applet to finish and then unmount the drive as a response. I no longer had to touch the computer at all to copy files to the card. Each step was getting more efficient, but thin I hit a snag.
My card is a 1gb card, and I was telling it to copy 128mb of music to it every time I tested the system. Turns out, there was no mechanism in my applet to remove the old files, so the SD card was getting more and more full, and finally failed to run the applet because there was no more room. I had to modify the system. I found that there was an Automator action to move files to the trash, so now, before copying files to the card, it first moved all the files in the music folder on the card to the trash, theoretically making space. Unfortunately, it was moving the tracks to the Trash folder on the card and leaving them there, so I wasn’t actually gaining any free space, only moving stuff around.
I spent a good little while trying to find a way to empty the Trash on the SD card alone (since sometimes I actually do go back and check the trash on my computer). Short of some pretty specific Unix commands, there was no way to do it, and since I was trying to make this applet adjustable (in case any of my variable change later on) I needed to figure out something different. I finally stumbled up on an Automator action that simple deletes files rather than moving them to the trash, and I’m okay with that. I was trying to avoid downloading any third party actions, so that my applet would be as self contained as possible, but I just can’t find a way around this, at present. At any rate, I now had the files deleting correctly, the new files copying, and then the SD card dismounting. I finally decided that a nice alert as to its completion would be nice, so I added a Growl action at the end that pops up and informs me that its completed and dismounted.
All in all, its a really nice process that I may not use nearly as often as would be merited by the amount of effort that went into creating the system, but what I think is more important, is what I learned from it. I know more about Automator and Applescript than I did before. This is how I learn, its how I’ve always learned. I find some lame project that doesn’t amount to anything of real value, but the processes can be applied to more important things down the line.
To that same effect, I’ve once again, surprised myself with my ability to decipher web code and rebuild it to work the way I need it to.
Yesterday I found that I needed to build a specialized page for the new CVAD web site but once it was built, it just wasn’t working the way it was supposed to. After some fine manipulating of the core programming, I was able to get my page to work just fine. It was a foray into completely foreign territory for me, but everything seems to have worked out perfectly, so I’m proud of my progress. I know that I often don’t credit myself with my adaptability or ability to learn, but in moments like that, I’m always surprised at how adept I really am at absorbing and reworking things that I have so little experience with. That’s definitely a skill that could get me work in other, more lucrative positions (damn you shirt.woot, why are you in St. Louis?).
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Honeydew…
Monday, August 11th, 2008 | Health, Home | No Comments
…in which I talk about all the things I accomplished this weekend.
So I don’t really have a “honey-do” list, mostly because Heather’s not the kind of person to burden me with assigned tasks like that, though sometimes I think it would be easier if she did. Either way, I did a lot of things around the house over the last week and through this weekend specifically to the benefit of my lovely wife. I felt bad about wasting so much of my home-time with just sitting around watching TV and playing games that I wanted to get some real tasks taken care of.
On Monday, I started by digging the hole for her new retractable clothesline post. You see, we don’t really have a place to put both ends of a clothesline up, so we decided to install a retractable clothesline on the side of the shed and then have a post to run the clothesline to just to the south of the patio. I also, in my infinitely odd inspiration, decided that the post had to be removable in the event of festivities in our back yard, so I designed, in my head, a socket system wherein a pvc pipe is anchored into the ground with concrete, and the actual post then slides into the pipe for easy installation and removal. This simple idea lead to almost two hours in Lowes, walking between the hardware, plumbing, and fencing sections, trying to configure a contraption that did exactly what I wanted. I found a pretty good combination of parts that would seem to facilitate my needs. So, back to Monday, where I dug half of a hole. I stopped right after finally breaking through a nearly 2-inch thick root that was, no joking, running exactly through the center of my hole. Tuesday, I continued digging to the point where I just didn’t care anymore. I was still 3-6 inches short of my goal, but I cut off the bottom of the “socket” pipe and went to work with the concrete. I installed a couple of pieces of all-thread in the bottom of the socket, and cut a tab-slot into the bottom of the fence post so that once the post was inserted into the socket, it would effectively lock into place. the all-thread was also almost 6-inches long, passing through a 2″ pipe, so I had almost 2-inches of anchor on either side to help keep the socket stable in the concrete.
I put a few inches of concrete in the bottom of the hole, dropped in the socket and post, leveled everything up, and filled the rest of the hole with concrete. I let it set for two days, just to make sure it was all stable, and finished up the post, flange, and cap. Between those days, I replaced the handle on the toilet in the master bathroom as it had completely come disconnected and took some fancy jiggling to get the toilet to flush.
Sunday, however, was the big day. I started off by replacing the faucet on the kitchen sink because it had gotten very drippy underneath. With the exception of hooking up the water connections backwards and having to reconnect them, it all went fairly smoothly with minimal cursing. I took a break to eat lunch and continued by replacing several outlet plates in our house with new baby-proof plates, now that Ansel is mobile. This was followed up by some last minute adjustments to the clothesline post and the actual installation of the clothesline. We had tried to get it all together early enough for Heather to actually try it out, but a cloud bank came in and blocked out the sun almost completely for the rest of the day upon my completion of the clothesline. I finished up by changing out Heather’s license plates.
I felt pretty good by the end of the day, I felt like I had done my husbandly duties around the house. Sometimes if just feels good to be responsible.
…on riding my bike.
So I’ve been riding my bike to work as much as I can since Heather quit. Last week I was able to ride three times and regretted not riding it on both days that I was unable. Its a 3.85 mile ride, so its not that rough. In the mornings, its usually only about 75°-80° and so its not horribly strenuous. It takes me almost 20 minutes to ride to work, which isn’t bad since it takes me just over 15 minutes to drive to work. I’m not losing much time, I’m getting a bit of a workout and a wakeup as I get myself to work in the morning, and I’m saving money. My ride home is a bit more of a pounding as its been over 100° each time I’ve ridden. Fortunately, I can ride slower, take it easy, and I’m not concerned about my sweat or my smell when I get home. Don’t fret, I always have water and I don’t push myself.
I didn’t get to ride today, however, because my bike is at the bike shop today getting a tune-up. Its needed it for quite some time, but I just never got around to it. I’ve done some minor re-callibration on my own, but I just don’t know enough about what I’m doing to be very successful at it. I’m getting all the gears and brakes adjusted to improve my ride. I’ve had problems with the lower gears on the back wheel with them randomly switching, usually when I’m trying to climb a hill. The bike is 13 years old and it probably needed some work anyway. I’m just glad they didn’t feel like it needed a complete overhaul.
And still, I’m bummed about not being able to ride today. We had a cold front come in (the one that brought all those clouds that canceled Heather’s clothesline debut, yesterday) and it hasn’t exceeded 95° at all. It would have been a beautiful day to ride. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, though!
Where did the Weekend go…
Monday, August 4th, 2008 | Family, Home, Video Games, Work | 2 Comments
…in which I talk about the loss of time
So this weekend, like most, flew by almost imperceptibly. I know I did something this weekend, but nothing that would be considered a responsible thing. I had wanted to do things like change out heather’s license plates, put up a clothesline, fix the toilet. You know, grown up, homeowner, husband, father type things.
Instead, I pretty much watched movies, played games, and wasted time with my Xbox. I know the responsible part of me is locked inside somewhere, I’ve seen it before. It usually surfaces with a flurry of activity, then drinks a beer and hibernates for several months, but lately, its been wracking at the bars and trying to get out, but I somehow keep distracting it and just waste time. Sunday, it almost won, but fortunately, Jason and Stephanie came over and showed it some little plastic figures and it ran in the corner and played army men.
We did, however, spend nearly two hours at Lowes on Sunday not only buying a deep freeze so that Heather can really devote some effort to the Grocery Game , but also meandering back and forth and back again between the fencing, plumbing, and hardware departments trying to figure out how to make a removable post for the retractable clothesline I’m going to put up for Heather. After much deliberating, I think I finally found the right combination of items to create a ground socket within which to install a fence post that can then be removed in the event that we want to have people over on the patio. I’m going to begin construction on it tonight if I can keep the Xbox from grabbing my attention.
Speaking of the Xbox, my addiction to it must be worse than I thought. Not only does the enticement of downloading and watching old TV shows almost completely disable my fatherly productivity (I’ve watched three seasons of Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place almost completely back to back), but games that just make me mad for two hours at a time will keep me hooked even in misery. I played Culdcept Saga for several hours this weekend, and hated almost all of it. Why can I not stop playing when I’m enjoying it so little? I think it is, in part, due to the fact that Culdcept is a combination of a board game and a collectible card game, both of which are weaknesses of mine, but at the same time, the rules eluded me and I didn’t understand why certain things were happening from time to time, so it just made me mad when I thought I understood and found out that I was wrong. This happened quite a bit. I finally determined that the root of the problem, was that in a live game where you are playing with other people, if something happens and its not what you expected, you can go back and figure out what’s actually going on. In a video game, events happen, and then the cards are wiped off the table and you’re on to another round before you even know what you miscalculated. You can’t go back and see what you mixed up.
Also, the game loved to surprise you with abilities that you’d never seen and didn’t know what they did, so you wouldn’t know how to prepare for them.
And finally, I’m now on my second day at work without Heather around and its still awkward. I got to ride my bike in to work today (it took a leisurely 16 minutes and I was actually not completely exhausted or sweat soaked), which is something I’ve been really looking forward to doing again. Today’s ride makes me confident that I can do that almost every day, depending on the weather. Its still unusually, however, to be going off to fix a computer problem (and usually the most asinine problem) and not be able to stop by Heather’s office and rant about it first. Heather and Angela were my biggest confessionals and while Angela is still here, she’s not on the way to most of the computers I deal with. Every time I go out to work on a computer, if I pass by Heather’s office, I look in expectantly, knowing that she’s not there. I know she’s home and happy with Ansel, but its going to take some adjusting for me. Heather and I have worked in the same building for 10 years, and its just not the same to not have her here anymore.
At least now I’m getting tons of comp time again, now that I’m not longer taking lunches. Eating at my desk, FTW!
Dogs Don’t Know Its Not Bacon…
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 | Food, Personal Flaws | No Comments
…in which I talk about a quest coming to fruition and possibly some person faults.
It was not long ago that a conversation about bacon and chocolate came up in a friendly chat. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure who came up with this Reesesesque concept, but my story would recall that it was me. In all honesty, however, it doesn’t really matter. The combination of bacon and chocolate has been a hot topic as of late. In my internet roaming, I stumbled upon Vosges, who actually happen to sell a bacon chocolate bar. We searched for it around town and even around Dallas a bit, but it is an elusive little bugger. there were even a few times where I was almost willing to spend $14 on a chocolate bar (thats the bar plus shipping and handling). Monday, we finally had a breakthrough. Angela’s friend Michelle found it at World Market here in town, a place we had looked for it several times. Apparently, word finally got out and they put it in stock.
In a few moments, I will be opening the bar that Angela so graciously and gregariously purchased for me, during my time of month end poverty. I know she, as well as other people, are expectant of my opinion of this holy grail of sweet and salty. So with no further ado, I will proceed to open the package and see what awaits…
…but first, I will share with you, the instructions printed on the package, the proper way to experience this sensual excursion.
Breathe…engage your 5 senses, close your eyes and inhale deeply. Be in the present moment, notice the color of the chocolate, the glossy shine. Rub your thumb over the chocolate bar to release the aromas of smoked applewood bacon flirting with deep milk chocolate. Snap off just a tiny piece and place it in your mouth, let the lust of salt and sweet coat your tongue.
Beyond the wheat colored sleeve, the bar is wrapped in the same silver lining of all the Vosges bars. I’ll note that, of no consequence, the bar is already broken exactly in half. Is this some other worldly hint that I am to eat half of the bar in this initial sitting? I hope not, I am the type to savor food over a longer period of time, taking smaller portions to make the bulk of the food last longer, rarely eating leftovers the next day so that there is at least a three day experience. I will do what I can to only eat two squares.
The aluminum is difficult to open. I do not recall having this much trouble with bars in the past, but maybe my anticipation is making my fingers weak and uncoordinated. I’ve corrected a surprisingly large number of typos already. The initial scent is very similar to the Barcelona Exotic Bar. The same deep milk chocolate with a hint of savory on the breeze. Even though I put it in the refrigerator after work, just to firm it back up from the hot car ride home, I took it out almost an hour ago to take the chill off. Its already soft again, making it difficult to pull the first two squares out. The scent of bacon is very subtle and almost imperceptible. Its more of an “after smell,” something that exists just beyond the chocolate perfection that all of Vosges deep milk bars are built from.
The feel is familiar, again because of my experience with other bars from the same chocolatier. The bacon bits are immediately apparent in the chocolate, they slide around as the chocolate melts on my tongue. Surprisingly, the taste is more subtle than I expected. The Barcelona (the best Vosges bar to date, in my opinion) was actually more salty. I think the combination of salty, sweet, smooth, and savory are more balanced in this one, and thus more harmonious. The fibrous nature of the bacon, however, is almost jarring with the exceedingly creamy chocolate. Where previous experiences left a salt crystal that melted naturally, the bacon is left to be dealt with all on my own, defiant and resilient.
I honestly cannot decide how I feel about it. In a way, it is superior to previous salty/sweet confections, but at the same time, the bacon left to be chewed almost reminds me of candy’s that leave chewy bits in your teeth. Also, while I understand the limitations of the medium, I almost expected the bacon to be crispier. Perhaps I would have rendered it more to make it almost brittle, but this is still very meaty. I was expecting something more like a nutty crunch, yet still obviously pork, but instead, this is a very solid matter floating in my chocolate. The flavor is perfect in its harmony, but the textures leave a lot of contrast to deal with. I find that larger bites, eaten more aggressively, deal with that conflict better, while still leaving the taste experience. The Barcelona is better served for meditative melting in your mouth, but to eat the bacon bar, you must admit you are a carnivore and plow into it, lest you risk breaking down the components and leaving them to each play solo.
Do not take any of this to think that I do not like it, it is simply a different experience than what I had imagined in anticipation. I now know that I wouldn’t spend $14 to have it delivered to my house, but I would spend $6 if I was already at World Market.
As an addendum, I would like to admit a personal fault of mine that I’m sure many of you are already privy to, but as journals are meant for, I will air my laundry in an attempt to better understand myself.
I have a problem with feeling like I need to experience things first. I’ve often been a groundbreaker of new games, new foods, new movies, etc. I pride myself on finding new things and sharing them with my friends. I sometimes feel like its how I make myself valuable to my peers. I know my friends enjoy my company for reasons far more respectable than that, but its something I’ve had a decent track record with. As I mentioned in my preface, regardless of its validity, I recall being the first to envision bacon chocolate together (please don’t correct me, I’m not interested in the truth or an argument about it - also, if you thought it it first, don’t be offended by my flawed memory, yours probably isn’t all that great either).
So my own history, and my twisted recollection, I somehow felt obligate to be the one to first savor Mo’s Bacon Bar and share my experience… or at least be amongst others who all tried it together. Unfortunately, since I didn’t have money to buy a bar, I had to not only rely upon the unbelievably gracious kindness of Angela, but I also had to wait until today to taste it. It shouldn’t have bothered me that others tried their Bacon Bar first, and I know that. I told myself that repeatedly after the Twitter came in.
Its stupid and I know it. I tried to not let it bother me, and for the most part, it didn’t, which means I’m getting better, but I still know that flaw is in me, and that it surfaces from time to time. There are several other facets to this personality disorder that I am more than passingly aware of, but I’m hoping that sharing like this, and keeping myself vigilant of my own stupid complexes will help me get past them and become a better person. I don’t know exactly who I am trying to improve myself for, but I am definitely aware of my issues and would rather them not affect my friends and have them reflect badly upon me (which, in and of itself, may be yet another flaw).
So, in short, Bacon Bar good, but not as good as my imagination. Personal weakness and need to be a “ground breaker” still present, but fading and more in control.
I didn’t blog last week…
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 | Baby, School | 2 Comments
…in which I talk about stuff, trying to make up for missing a week.
I’ve got three computers installing software on my desk right now, so I’m going to take a moment to just ramble mindlessly.
On Grad School:
I’ve pretty much decided I’m not going to continue in Grad School next year. I was thinking I could juggle it all, but I’ve been so much happier lately not thinking about photo. I love photo, don’t get me wrong, but I have to drop something and its the biggest stress relief of all the non-necessary things in my life. I can’t quit work, I can’t quit parenting, so that leaves gaming and school. Grad school is really expensive, not as expensive as it would be if I wasn’t a University employee, but still, its a good chunk of change, not only for tuition, but also supplies and incidental fees. With Heather quitting her job, our pockets are going to be tight enough as it is, so we really don’t need me to be spending $1000-$2000 a semester on school. We were barely covering the cost as it is. Also, its a huge stressor when I get behind or get “photo blocked.” I just don’t need that kind of stress right now. I can keep photographing without getting my MFA. An MFA gives me a sense of achievement and the capacity to teach at a Collegiate level, but I’m not sure I ever really wanted to be a teacher. I don’t mind giving demos, or doing workshops, but I’ve never been driven to be a teacher. I’ll be dropping the program with two Incompletes, but I’ve been informed that at the graduate level, they don’t revert back to the earned grade (which would be F’s in my case), but rather, just stay as an I. I’m fine with that. I may pick it up again when things get more sane, but I’ve pretty much gotten out of the program what I wanted. I wanted to get a renewed sense of artistry and to start photographing again. I wanted to shake my life up and get out of my rut. I wanted to feel more academic and intellectual. I wanted to take my life more seriously. Between the work I’ve put in to the program, and the arrival of Ansel, I’ve achieved all of those things, and made some good friends as a result. I do not regret my choice to enter the program, nor do I regret my choice to leave the program. The entire experience has been a joy and a success to me. I am thankful to everyone who supported me and helped me along the way, and wish to see only the best happen to everyone who is still working at it.
On Baby:
Ansel is developing so fast, he seems super-human. He’s started officially “cruising” lately. He’s still a little shaky around corners (he can walk the length of the coffee table, but stops at the corner and often turns back) and last night was learning how to use the “rungs” on the bed foot-board to walk back and forth. He can also transition from object to object, like from the coffee table to his music table to the couch (this is actually how he takes corners). He’s figuring out what he can pull himself up on, and how to get around once he’s done so. For example, he can pull himself up on his music table, but not the coffee table, so if the two are close enough, he pulls himself up on the music table and turns around to get to the coffee table. He’s also shown signs of obvious trust in us. I realize this is a weird concept for those of you without children, but since a baby’s emotions and dialog are so rudimentary, its tough to understand what a baby is thinking, even what he thinks about you. Lately, when he comes to the edge of something that he’s cruising along, if there’s nothing to continue on to, and I’m sitting with him, he looks back at me and grabs my hand so that I can guide him to something else. What’s so amazing about it is that there’s no crying or insistence, he knows full well that I’ll take his hand and we’ll waddle to another piece of furniture. In addition to this, he’s started hugging us, or at least wrapping his arms tighter around us, and grabbing our shirts to hold on when we’re carrying him. He also rests his head on our chests more, which is something he did when he was too little to pick his head up, but ever since he developed his neck muscles, never did afterwards. Now its more heartwarming because we know he’s doing it by choice. Lastly, he’s gotten his third tooth and is about to get the fourth. We know they’re hurting him, and there’s so little you can do but try to comfort him. As a result, his sleep’s been really off. Heather staying home with him next month (and beyond) should hopefully help his sleep, though.
Miscellaneous:
We got new carpet in our living room, its gorgeous but still a little scratchy on your bare ass. Our internet was out for four days last week, that shit pisses me off especially since I know they’re not going to reimburse me for my outage. I can’t wait to start biking to work, I need the exercise and I miss riding my bike. Someday I want to be able to ride my bike to Frisco, not because I want to go to Frisco, just to know I can. Thanks to wonderful friends of ours we get to go to two movies this week, thats more than we usually went to even before we had Ansel. I’m trying to think of more one line announcements, but I think I’ve said all I need to for the week.
Busy Little Bees…
Friday, July 11th, 2008 | Baby, Family | 2 Comments
…in which I talk about not only my hectic life, but the great achievements of my little one.
So even though we were on vacation last week, I feel like things have been crazy all over. With the very appreciated assistance of Angela, we flew out to Indiana Thursday to visit my brother and his micro family. We had a great time. My parents were in town to visit for the first few days, so it was nice to see everyone all at once. We got to go to Christy’s mom’s house for a nice Independence Day “meat and munitions extravaganza,” which was really fun and I got, what I think, are some really good fireworks photos (though, I’ve kind of decided most fireworks photos all look pretty much the same). All told, however, we had a good time. We ate good food, got out and walked around, shopped, relaxed, helped with errands and chores.
Ansel was pretty darned good on both flights. He wasn’t quite as good as he was when he was only 3 months old, but he was still a good kid and handled the flight well. He still had people complimenting him at the end of the flight, saying he was a very good baby on the airplane.
He’s learned so much in the past couple of weeks, its pretty overwhelming. In the past two weeks, he’s learned to pull himself up from sitting to standing, he’s learned to walk with us holding his hands; he’s learned to clap, wave, and high five; he’s started playing the “drop it” game and the “throw it” game (but I’d sure love for him to figure out the “put it down gently” game); he’s added another “word” to his vocabulary (he now says “ggg,” “dah,” “bah,” “bwa,” and “doo”). We expect him to be cruising soon as he’s got the pull-up thing going, and the “one foot in front of the other” thing down pat. He’s so cute and wonderful and smart. I understand, now, how people say your life changes so much with a child. I know everyone else’s child is equally special, but our is definitely the best baby in the world!
When we got home from our trip, we realized how much nicer it is to clean your house before you leave. Our house was a stye and neither of us has had any time to clean up at all since getting back from the trip. Its driving us both crazy. We’re hoping to get at least the living room picked up and the dining room a little tidier before people come over for the movie tonight. Heck, I vacuumed almost as soon as we got home because there was so much dog hair on the floor I almost didn’t want to put Ansel down. It also didn’t help that one of our cats decided to puke all over the house while we were gone. Thank god “Urinal Cat” was being boarded and we didn’t have to worry about that at all.
And finally, big wonderful thanks to Angela and Matt for taking care of the animals and giving us rides to and from the airport. You guys are great and there’s no way we can ever balance out the karma. No one should ever be expected to clean up chicken carcasses when dog-sitting!
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