My life as a shutterbug

It begins today. I returned home to Delaware from Reading today with some money that I got for Christmas, and wouldn't you know it, my route takes me right past Best Buy, Circuit City, and CompUSA. So what could I do but buy a digital camera?

I came away with an HP PhotoSmart 635 camera--2.1 megapixel, optical/digital zoom, good flash settings and picture modes, and 16 MB of built-in memory. I sprang for an extra 128 MB SD card (it now takes 109 pictures at the highest resolution) and a carrying case, too. Looks like I might have to start paying for some extra upload capacity on my Flickr account.

Jerry Orbach, 1935-2004

A sad day for Law and Order fans everywhere.



Rest in peace, Jerry.

Christmas Wrap-Up

A few more bits of Christmas miscellany:

-I've added a few more photos from the second half of our family's Christmas celebration in my Flickr photo gallery.

-Here's a funny little story that only World of Warcraft players will find funny: A World of Warcraft Christmas Carol

Merry Christmas!

I hope all my readers have had a Christmas as enjoyable as mine! I'm at my parents' house in Reading, right on schedule. In keeping with a five-year-old Christmas tradition, I went out to Barbon's Tavern with my brother and a couple of our friends last night. Now the presents have all been exchanged (I had quite a nice little haul, including a 512 MB MP3 player) and the roast beef is a-cooking. Tomorrow it's off to Honesdale, PA for turkey and a second Christmas with my mother's family.

I put some of the pictures my mother took up in a Flickr photo set. I'll see if I can add some more later.

Bah Humbug.

Nothing will kill your Christmas spirit faster than Christmas shopping. I was actually pretty good and started my shopping about a month ago...okay, okay, I only bought my mother's present that night. She, my brother, and my maternal grandmother were pretty easy--it was my father and paternal grandparents who were a challenge.

What was so bad about Christmas shopping? Well, the weather, for one thing. The temperature wasn't bad (close to 50 degrees, which is actually pretty darned nice) so much as the wind and the torrential downpour. From what I saw on the news, most of the eastern seaboard got their world pretty well rocked by some sort of precipitation today. Add in the fact that I took vacation today specifically to finish my shopping (that and get my hair cut), thinking the stores would be deserted during daytime hours (you know, when most of the world is working), but was dead wrong. Everywhere I went was packed--crying kids, pushy adults, the whole ball of wax. I must have been bumped into about fifteen times today without so much as an "excuse me". And that's not counting brushing past someone in a narrow aisle. I'm talking NFL-caliber shoulder blocks. And when I went to the local beer and wine superstore*, I was hit by at least three shopping carts. Lastly, a big "fuck you" to the waste of flesh who parked his Silverado diagonally across two parking spots. I saw this guy getting into his truck as I was leaving the wine store, and he looked just like the kind of horse's ass who'd do a thing like that--dirty sweatpants, big ol' beer gut (not a little one like mine), trucker baseball cap, vacant drooling inbred stare.

*I'm not kidding when I say "superstore". This place is nearly as big as a Wal-Mart, bigger than some K-marts that I've been in, and it's all dedicated to beers and wines. I think they have hard alcohol somewhere, but truth be told, other than the various styles of whiskey, I'm not a big liquor drinker.

Blog updates will likely be spotty for the next week and a half or so. I'm going to my parents' house in Reading, PA tomorrow for Christmas with them and my paternal grandparents, then it's off to Honesdale, PA on Sunday for a second Christmas with my mom's side of the family. After that, it's back home to Claymont to ring in the new year with a few good friends and a lot of good food and drink. I'll post as often as I can (with pictures if possible), but if I don't get to post between now and then (I'm taking my laptop but won't be able to get online from Honesdale), I'd like to send my best wishes out to all my readers for a very merry Christmas and happy and prosperous New Year.

XM O&A

Warning: not-safe-for-work content in some of the links in this posting.

I've been a fan of the Opie and Anthony Show since 2001. It wasn't always that way--when they first came to the Philadelphia market, I couldn't stand them, but they were always on the local rock station in the afternoon, and being too lazy to dial surf when (at the time) I had only a five-minute drive from my office to my apartment, I'd leave them on, and after a while, they really grew on me (like the virus they claimed to be). When I moved to my current house (which is a bit further from work) in July 2002, I was actually looking forward to the 30-45 minute drive home from work...longer commute=more O&A=more gooder! Unfortunately, that was only true for about three months. Then the infamous Sex for Sam (better known by many as the "Sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral" incident), and they were gone from the air, seemingly for good, after a barrage of protests from a vocal minority and an FCC investigation.

They're baa-aaack...on XM satellite radio, uncensored and free from FCC regulation. They're also free from Viacom/Infinity Broadcasting management, leaving them free to talk about a ton of things that went on when they were syndicated from WNEW that they couldn't talk about at the time, mainly relating to Howard Stern. They've brought comedian Jim Norton along from their old show, and these guys are great. They involve the audience, both live and online, in their bits and gags--in fact, a good portion of the show is targeted to 'Net addicts and video game geeks like me. The first day I listened to them, in fact, their listeners invaded the message boards for the Tony Danza Show and got them shut down--hilariously. They also get pretty good guests--B-level celebrities, but still entertaining, especially when they subtly ask questions full of insider references that are funny because the celebs don't get it. This is a great show that's gotten even better on satellite radio; if you're planning to make the move and are torn between Stern on "the doggy network" and these guys on XM, I'd strongly recommend the latter.

Fantasy playoffs

Well, I lost one of my fantasy playoff games, but won the second. Of course, even my losing team plays in a "consolation" game for third place this week, and if my winning team wins, I'm into the finals in the league where I'm commissioner. Not bad for a first-time fantasy football player.

It really does change the way you watch the games and root for your players, but I've had a great time with it. It makes just about every game interesting to watch--convenient when you live in Eagles-land like me and seldom get to see your team play.

My own Christmas tradition

Every year, about this time, there's a particular book I like to read. That would be Skipping Christmas by John Grisham. Now, I'm a fan of his legal thriller/legal drama line of books, but if you're not, don't let it deter you. This book is nothing like anything else he's ever written. It's a comedy, and a comedy of errors at that. It's bitter, cynical, and pokes fun at everything that's wrong with the Christmas season in America...and upper-middle-class America in general, while he's at it. But it has a fantastic ending, too, that will really leave you "in the spirit" while delivering a Grisham-esque twist.

For the record, it's now a movie: Christmas with the Kranks with Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis. I haven't seen it, but I've heard awful, awful things about it.

Weekend football

Giants-Steelers, kickoff in about 12 hours. I've got my lucky Giants shirt and a fridge full of beer--I'm all set for game time. I have no illusions...New York is going to get killed. The best part about this game? The Giants loss will be over by 5:00 Saturday night, so I can get over it and get on with my weekend. The early game time means less anticipation and less disappointment.

Cut from the womb

I hate isolated incidents that make sensationalist headlines, but I just couldn't let this case pass without comment.

Holy shit, what a sick bitch. One woman shows up on another, pregnant woman's doorstep pretending she wants to buy a dog, then strangles the pregnant woman and cuts the baby right out of her womb. The details that have been released indicate that the woman who committed this horrible crime had lost a pregnancy previously. Too much Law and Order watching make me wonder if this isn't leading up to some type of insanity defense. If so, I hope the twelve people on her jury aren't dumb enough to buy it. It's called "sociopathy", people...it may be a mental condition, but it isn't an excuse for murder. Strap this sick bitch down and put a hot shot in her arm. And thank the Lord above that this baby was found alive.

Chicken soup

I made a chicken on Saturday and had plenty left over, so in honor of my WoW character crossing the 100 mark in his cooking skill, I decided to make some chicken soup. It came out well enough that I'll share my "secret recipe" with my blog readers. My soup has rice and noodles in large enough quantities that it's almost stew-like--no need to eat this soup with crackers.

Ingredients:
Leftovers from 1 whole chicken (if there's not enough meat left on the bones, you can add more meat from prepackaged chicken. When I bake a chicken, I usually season it with Emeril's Essence to make it nice and spicy)
10 cups water
10 ounces baby carrots, chopped
1-2 stalks celery, chopped, leafy parts removed
2 cups rice
1 cup egg noodles
McCormick HotShot!, to taste (you can substitute black pepper if you wish)
(Optional) Salt, to taste

In a large pot, put in the chicken and pour the water. Bring the water to a slow boil. While the water is heating, chop the carrots and celery. As soon as the water begins to boil, reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the carrots and celery to the pot; cover and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Don't let the soup return to a boil. If the fat forms a film on the top, remove it. With about 25-30 minutes to go, add the rice. With about 12-15 minutes to go, add the egg noodles. After two hours, carefully take the chicken out of the pot and separate the meat from the bone, gristle, skin, and fat. Return the meat to the soup and season with HotShot and salt to taste. Serve piping hot on a cold winter afternoon.

Playoffs, baby!

Fantasy football playoffs, that is. I made 'em in both leagues--Brian Westbrook didn't score enough points to beat me, and Drew Bennett had a career night (over 200 yards in the FIRST HALF, folks) and beat Trent Green by almost 20 fantasy points (even though the Titans lost), so I'm playoff-bound in both leagues. Of course, one of those games is against my friend Pat, so the trash talk e-mail barrage has already begun. I can't wait for the weekend.