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Happy New Year’s! December 31, 2007

Posted by Mitchell in Food, Politics.
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I’m about to head over to my parents for New Year’s dinner.  We’re having shrimp cocktails, prime rib and some other stuff.  We supposed to have some 300,000 people in town crowding the Strip and downtown for the evenings festivities and a big fireworks display shooting off the tops of the casinos.  I haven’t done New Year’s on the Strip in many years, and tonight will be no different.  Hell, I don’t even stay up until midnight anymore, so 2008 will have to ring itself in around here.  Y’all have a happy one and be safe. 

So, any New Year’s Resolutions from you out there in internetland?

Where Have My Flowers Gone? December 27, 2007

Posted by Mitchell in Art, Politics.
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One flower, two flower Remember this one?

My sister in Indiana told me she really, really liked this painting when I sent her a picture of it  awhile back, so I packed it up with a nice, stiff piece of clayboard the same size in heavy cardboard and sent it off to her on the 18th via FedEx Ground.  She didn’t know it was coming and I thought it would be a nice Christmas surprise.  Alas, by Christmas it still hadn’t arrived.  I had a Han Solo level of “a bad feeling about this” and checked the tracking number on their website yesterday.  It arrived in their distribution hub in Phoenix on the 19th, and it never left.  I called up their customer services department and negotiated my way through the menu maze to a human.  He looked up my tracking number and informed me that my package to Indiana arrived in their distribution hub in Phoenix on the 19th and that he had no further information on it sorry.  He then got all my information – name, address, et cetera and told me that he would get “the Tracking Team” to look into the whereabouts of my package and that they would call me within 24 hours.  The Tracking Team called me a little while ago – they have no idea where it’s at.  I gave the lady a more detailed description of the package contents and she said they would call me again sometime next week and apologized for losing my painting.  I have little hope that they will find it now. 

FedEx ate my flowers 😦  I guess I won’t be using them again anytime soon.

I’ll have to get in touch with the instructor and have him e-mail me a copy of the flower photo and repaint them.

Christmas Frog December 26, 2007

Posted by Mitchell in Art.
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Christmas was very nice this year, not the least because I didn’t have to travel anywhere.  My parents gave me a lot of nice presents as they always do – and this time for the Big Present they gave me a $500 gift certificate for a fine art gallery in the Forum Shops at Ceasar’s Palace.  I headed down there today pretty much knowing what I was going to get, as I’d seen pictures of this item sent to me by sales rep a few months ago.  I looked around to see if there was anything else I might like better, but I knew months ago that I would eventually own this guy – Ace.  The Ace o’ Frogs

I shitteth thee not.  The artist actually titled this piece “Ace”.  More views below.  As always clicky the pics for full sized images.

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Merry Christmas Internet! December 24, 2007

Posted by Mitchell in Food, Home.
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Thanks for all the visits to my little corner of the interwebberytubes and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.  I’m going to head out and have Christmas Eve dinner with my parents and wrap presents.   Later!

Nigh Christmas Eve Bleg December 23, 2007

Posted by Mitchell in Art.
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Hello Internet People!  I’ve decided to get my parents a real nice bottle of scotch for their Christmas present, and I’d like some advice.  Mom & Dad generally like blended scotches like Chivas Regal and Dewar’s.  They don’t like the really smokey, peaty flavor that is typical of many of the single malts, so I’m not really sure what to get.  I’m willing to pay around 100 bucks or a bit more for a really good one.  Any suggestions?

I’m A Geek December 22, 2007

Posted by Mitchell in Science Fiction & Fantasy.
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Or so sayeth these people:

Take the Sci fi sounds quiz I received 85 credits on
The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz

How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Take the Sci-Fi Movie Quizdigital camera ratings

You’re an extreme sci-fi geek! You’re probably wearing your very own homemade TRON costume right now!

Well, no – I don’t have a TRON costume homemade or otherwise.  But I am geekier than your average Llama Butcher where I found this thing.  How Sci-Fi geeky are you?

Stay Right There Kitty! December 19, 2007

Posted by Mitchell in Art, Food.
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Man killed attempting to shoot greatest LOLcats photo evah! 

Human stupidity never fails to amaze me.  Note to the teeming throngs of my visitors:  do not fuck with the tigers at the zoo.   Do not fuck with them in the wild either.  Or the bears.  Or lions.  Or whatever the hell else that can rip you to shreds in an instant mmkay?

***Update***

Speaking of tigers – y’all remember Roy Horn of “Siegfried & Roy” the long running magic act here in Las Vegas?  He nearly died a couple years ago from a tiger attack that happened during one of the shows, and his injuries were so severe that it was predicted that he would never fully recover from them.  Well, according to my Mom, there are rumors around town that he has in fact made a very remarkable recovery even to the point where they are considering a return to the Strip!  At least, in some form or another. 

Why I Don’t Have a Cell Phone December 13, 2007

Posted by Mitchell in Politics, Science & Technology.
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Shamus at Twenty Sided relates the woes of dealing with Sprint/Nextel.  I’ve heard enough horror stories about other service providers to know that they all seem to have problems.  I looked into getting one a while ago and got one of those pay-as-you-go cells.  It was nice to have around in case of emergencies, but since no one ever calls me I couldn’t really justify the expense. 

Simple Foods December 12, 2007

Posted by Mitchell in Food.
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One of the things I’ve loved the most to make and eat since I was a kid is cheese toast.  Bread + butter + sliced cheese +  toasty heat = crazy delicious.  Here’s tonight’s fare:

Cheese Toast

Mmmmmmm – cheeeezy! 

That was sourdough bread and Land O’ Lakes sharp cheddar.  I got it a little done, but it was still wonderful.  Sometimes, if I’m feeling indulgent I add a schmear of sour cream too.  The richness acts like a force multiplyer. 

So, do any of you have any favorite simple foods? 

Sunday Range Report December 9, 2007

Posted by Mitchell in Guns.
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Yesterday I went down and picked up another 100 rounds of ammo for the gun.  This time I paid $26.37 for Remington .38 Special +P 125 gr. semi-jacketed hollowpoints.  I went by the range too, but they were packed and had people waiting so I passed and went today.  There were plenty of stalls available this time so I paid up and headed on in.  I picked up some new targets when I got the ammo so I had plenty of paper to shoot at and I remembered to bring a pen so I could accurately record the ammo and ranges I was working with.  They charge you 50 cents per target if you get them at the range, so it’s really worth buying those elsewhere.  Let’s see how I did.

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