The Bar 2016 Edition

[Elliot]

Good one, Simon!
When Ronald Reagan retired, some group bought him a fancy house near Los Angeles. The house number was 666. But they changed it to 668 or some such before Reagan moved in.

[lucky420]

Oh geez I fell again. Black ice with layer of new snow. Trader Joes parking lot. Fell on my butt (it's bouncy) so I'm ok. at least someone got out of their car to see if I was ok...

[trilobyte]

It's been a soggy week so far in the bay area. Lots of spot flooding in different neighborhoods, probably less because of biblical levels of rain and more because we get so little of the stuff that when it does come, all the leaves and bits that get washed into them clogs things up. Fortunately our place is dry.

Aserendipity, no sous vide is not a 3d modeling thing, it's a cooking thing. Here's a wiki article that talks about it, though lots of various cooking and chef-tastic web sites are talking about it these days. Pani was able to get a great piece of wild caught salmon at the fishmonger place she likes, then she cut it up and brined or marinated it (or whatever it was she was doing, I'm not much of a seafood fan), and then last night cooked it up with her new precision cooker. She was really happy with the results, saying it's easily the best salmon she's ever made and some of the best she's ever had... not bad for the first time she's cooked fish with it.

I remember that place, Elliot, it was in Santa Monica. I lived in an apartment not too far from it in 2004, and used to pass by it on the way to where some campmates lived as I was preparing for my first burn. We'd get together for dinner, drinks, or general hanging out and burn prep... or to look at their Burning Man pictures because back then there was no flickr and all their pictures were physical things you held in your hand. I remembered the day Reagan died, there were roadblocks and police and stuff everywhere.

Sorry to hear about the hard bounce, Lucky, but glad to hear there was no injury and someone was there to check. I don't miss the cold and ice one bit.

[Aurelia]

So sorry Lucky !

My oldest son worked on Alaska salmon fish boats for 2 summers to help pay for school
I will never again eat salmon as he sent back whole fish and we lived on them every which way.

Reagan and Nancy came to our place in Palos Verdes before he was the Gov. and before I knew anything.
Now I still don't know anything .
Now I know too much and still not enough .
Do watch the documentary film "Alone In the Wilderness".
I am buying a copy of it for each of my family as it describes how to live lost arts.
Match that up with the new Chinese car that drives itself using the brain waves of the driver .

xoA.

[MyDearFriend]

*waves wildly from her desk at work*

Wish I could be somewhere, anywhere, with you lovely people!!!

[Aurelia]

MDF you are with us always .

Happy New Year to you.

xoA.

[Elorrum]

*Slides hot coffee and Irish and bowl of fresh whipped cream down bar to MDF.*

Nice above freezing snowy day. Like fluffy slow rain. Balmy weather.

[Thecatman]

Damn lucky! Good to hear you're ok. Trader Joe's by Meadowood mall?
I580 was a major cluster fuck this morning near Glendale Ave. Glad I'm still on assignment in VC. I have 9 hours OT this week and will probably be working 12 hrs Saturday. All OT.

[magicmarty]

Hope your ok, Lucky and no too black and blue.

Sounds liked a load of work, Catman

Hi Elorrum

[lucky420]

Morning Bar...

Go away insomnia go away

[lucky420]

Yes catman, trader joes by meadow wood. I predict lots more OT in your future...stay safe

[MyDearFriend]

Morning, all!

*pours *

[lucky420]

Always good to see you MDF, how are the boys? Give them a hug for me, I miss you guys. Terribly

[AntiM]

When I heard the LA river was full and running, I wanted to go get about a thousand inflatable sharks and toss them in it. Then I heard LA county had a tornado ...

[lucky420]

The perfect storm...sharknado!

[MyDearFriend]

(((Anti)))) good to see you.

(((Lucky))) I miss you too, it's terrible to live so far away. My boyz are good; Archie, you will be amazed to hear, is so happy in love that he SMILES ALL THE TIME now You would hardly recognize him.

[lucky420]

Ahhh love...good for Archie.

[Aurelia]

Good Morning Dear Bar !

Your Boys are well MDF...
How is your Boy Lucky ?
My Boys continue to amaze me .and I continue to confound them whenever possible
I find it is more fun than confronting them

xoA.

[lucky420]

Adam is doing well. He's almost done with getting his teaching degree. Yes, he's taken the long route but no student loans incurred and he's had fun along the way.

[Aurelia]

It would be fun to see Adam and my Boy again at the Hof

Mine is wrestling loans and many other components of life
broken wrists when he went over his handlebars
...
and yet he remains , of course perfect.
took me to "Star Wars" first day

laughter is best
xoA.

[lucky420]

Eeeek to broken wrists...

Yes, if ygmir will be so kind as to host us again I'd like to see them up there again too..

[ygmir]

Eeeek to broken wrists...

Yes, if ygmir will be so kind as to host us again I'd like to see them up there again too..

the kindness, dear friends, is in you agreeing to come up to the Hof.

[lucky420]

*lays a big smooch up on ygmir...

[trilobyte]

Broken wrists, ouch! As a kid I went over the handlebars a few times, once at a pretty good speed on a racing bike. Bumps and scrapes and cuts and bruises to be sure, but fortunately no broken bones. Even if salmon was something I liked, an amount the size of a whole one of those would probably be enough to put me off it for a while too, let alone two summers of it. I came up with something I wanted to try and make with the precision cooker... my own gyro meat. That's something I've always wanted to try, but in many of the better looking recipes they call for putting the loaf pans of meat into a roasting pan full of water, and that was where the 'pain in the ass' factor kicked in and I figured that if I didn't mess up the recipe I would almost certainly slosh ridiculously hot water all over the kitchen and myself as I tried to check on or pull it out of the oven. Using the cooker would be easier, but take more time. So I worked on the meat yesterday ahead of making gyros for dinner tonight. After mixing up the spices and meats, and working it all in the food processor to get the right texture, I chucked it in the fridge for a few hours. Then I split in two and made two rectangular loaf shapes and vac-sealed each one. I set the cooker for 165f and popped them in for 2 1/2 hours. The meat cooks slowly to the exact right temperature, and all the flavor and juices stay in.



After they were finished and cooled off, I put them in the fridge. When dinnertime comes, it's just a matter of slicing and heating either in a pan or the broiler and then banging them into pitas or a salad or whatever. I've got some little teeny rolls from Acme bakery (favorite spot at the farmer's market), so I think I'm down for gyro sliders. Which reminds me, I need to get out to the market to get some freshies for fixins, as well as a few other errands.

We got the notice of a rent increase from our landlord yesterday. It was expected, but boo on them. Our lease isn't up until March, but anytime it's over a certain percentage they have to give you a longer notice I think, and the last couple years they've dropped the hammer right after new years. The owners aren't good people, and we suspected it would be a massive increase, so this was more of an affirmation that we'll be moving soon than a complete shock. We've got a few target neighborhoods, and fingers crossed we'll find the perfect spot and the timing all works out for all of that.

I'm off, aside from some errands I've got some tweaks and revisions to make on a logo and a couple other things to get cracking on. Have a great Thursday!

[Elliot]

Oooo… that reminds me of a wonderful memory from my own childhood. (Caution: Anecdotes approaching.)

I was experimenting with a bicycle stunt, and, being maybe ten years old, failed to anticipate the likelihood of catapulting myself over the handlebar.

Apparently I was lucky enough not to land on my hands, but somehow I “managed” to land on my knees. Walked the couple blocks to the family doctor who patiently picked out all the gravel without scolding me.

Now… to illustrate the difference between being ten years old and being 50….
(I kind’a enjoy being “elderly”. Soooo many mistakes I no longer need to make.)

A dozen or so years ago I was bicycling here in Clearlake when I must have hit a sharp bump I didn’t see. That is… I don’t remember seeing it. The front wheel dropped and stopped, and I kept going.

And I – absolutely literally, as the phrase goes – hit the ground running. Never even teetered. Just kept right on going, one moment cycling and the next instant running.
I distinctly remember my conscious decision to slow my running speed very gradually.

Only possible explanation is age. Accumulated experience. Perhaps my eyes saw the bump, informed my mind of it, and my mind began planning for the consequences, applying half a century worth of experiences, but didn’t have time to “tell me”.

Life is good.

[Ratty]

Elliott, WOW! We all have a story where we did something that we couldn't duplicate but that's a good one to picture.

[trilobyte]

Brilliant! Hooray for the spectacular dismount, Elliot - that's one of those moments it would have been great to capture on video.

Blargh... other stuff is coming along, but this 3D print job I'm running is taking forever! When I was setting it up, the program was telling me an estimated time of 2 hours... but it's been way over that and is only a little more than halfway done. This kind of stuff is exactly why Pandorra wanted to get one of our own - the makerspace we belong to has a couple, but you're only allowed to book for up to 2 hours a day. If I had been running this job on their gear, I'd have hit the 2 hour mark and have to shut down (they're popular enough devices that somebody's always booked time right after you). Fortunately, one of the benefits of big city living is there are a few different options for getting stuff delivered. I chatted with the gf to see what she needed and got a grocery order in that will arrive in plenty of time for dinner. I can catch the other errands tomorrow.

Time to finish off some stuff and maybe make a cocktail or two. Cheers!

[AntiM]

TEN for Elliott!!!!!

Life has been a literal shitstorm here. Nasty.

[lucky420]

ah shit^^^ hope this ends soon

[MyDearFriend]

Shit is just shit, Anti, and since it's yours, it shouldn't smell bad. The problem is, you are still wrung out from the surgery. It should morph into an interesting cut&paste puzzle once you get your strength back.

*tries not to reveal that ostomy nursing is actually fun*