Yeah, I know, I know...

For all of the two people that regularly (or irregularly) read the incoherent ramblings I post here, these last few weeks must have been hard, huh? No posts from me...I mean, it's just as bad as that time that teh interweb went down in college, and all the tech nerds couldn't download their "research material" and other such things.

But anyway, here I am. So, what's been going on with me? Where to start...

Today is Seamus' birthday, and apparently, either today, or tomorrow is Wendy's birthday. So, happy birthday to them. Seamus is my dog, by the way, and he's one year old. I think he'll get something special in his dinner tonight!

Speaking of Seamus, we found out that he is considered to be a "Dudley" Yellow Lab, which is essentially an albino. His nose, lips, and the skin around his eyes are all pink, rather than black or brown, which is the breed standard. I saw the Dudley classification on Wikipedia, and my wife did some searching, reinforcing our conclusion. Seamus is now the Wikipedia standard for Dudley labs, and you can check out the article here. Seamus is halfway down the page, on the left side, near the "Dudley" section. My wife and I have taken to calling him "Dudley Mooright" as one of his many nicknames is "Seamoo," shortened to "Moo." Yeah, we love our dog. Probably too much so.

Let's see...what else...

We started rewiring the house. The new 200 amp panel was installed two weekends ago, while Meghan was down in North Carolina visiting her mother, and I'm hoping to have the inspector out this Friday to give us the all-clear, so to speak. He's already been out once, to examine the service entrance and the water ground, now he just needs to come to make sure that all our circuits are labeled correctly. In this old house, the wires were cloth covered Romex wires, and they all need to be replaced. The wiring runs from one room to the next, with little to no rhyme or reason, so after he tells us we're golden, I can begin the process of putting all new receptacles, wires, switches, and boxes in. Of course, this means that I have to cut a SHITLOAD of holes in the walls, so after I finish the electrical, I can start the drywall, and then the wife can finally start painting!

I don't remember if I've spoken of this before, but I've become complete addicted to 24. Jack Bauer is my hero. We started a few months ago with Season 1, and since then, we've finished about a season every three weeks. We're currently about 5 hours into Season 4. I'm very surprised that after this long, Kiefer Sutherland has been able to keep the show fresh and interesting. Exciting is a bad word for the show. Keeps you on the edge of your motherfucking seat for all 40 minutes of each episode and your heart keeps skipping beats while it's on its way to a 200 BPM average wow this was a long and rambling run-on sentence, is more fucking like it. I don't know what I'm going to do when we're finally all caught up with Season 6. I mean, I'm going to wait until Season 6 comes out on DVD, but when Season 7 starts, will I watch it each week, or will I just DVR it and watch it all when I want to, like I did with the first 6 seasons?

Speaking of Kiefer, I wonder what his politics are...I know that Donald Sutherland is a wacko leftist, but what of Kiefer? Wikipedia doesn't list anything about his politics there. I can't imagine he'd be a bunnyhugger, though. I mean, when you write and produce a show, don't your own beliefs and feelings start to enter into the show? If he was a leftist, wouldn't his character be more of the "Al Gore" or "Al Franken" type, preferring to bore the terrorists to death with diatribes about global warming and why the flat tax would discriminate against the hard working common man, instead of taking a sniper rifle and blowing a hole in the back of some Muslim's head? I don't know, though...

I have been meaning to get a gun. Owning a home with a particularly beautiful wife in it makes me somewhat nervous from time to time. Not that we live in a bad area, or anything. I think that Cherry Hill, NJ was listed as like the 7th safest place in the US to live. Besides, most of our neighbors are dead (cemetery, and all). But, there comes a time in a man's life where he might need a handgun. I don't know the first thing about guns, other than that I've shot them throughout my life, and very much enjoy shooting. I'm not particularly good at it, I just like shooting at pieces of paper. I do, however, anticipate that at some point in my life, I will need to use the gun, whether it be from a home intruder, or from the coming revolution in this country. Yes, I believe this country is heading for a revolution. No, I don't believe the commies will win. (They're afraid of guns, and all)

Unfortunately, the gun laws in NJ are ridiculously strict. Once you apply for the permit, there are all kinds of background checks and such, as well as waiting periods before you can actually buy something. Now I hear that John Corzine, the asshole that the people of this asshole state elected to lead them (I voted for the other guy), is wanting to pass a law that would ban most gun sales in NJ.

Great, so now the only people with guns will be the criminals. Oi-VEY!

I know, rambling post. I'm all over the place here, but my head has been chock full of nougaty goodness.

I hope everyone had a good Easter, and again, happy birthday to Wendy, and to my little boy, Seamus.

Steph, I posted, OK! I'm going back to my wire cutters and lineman's pliers now...

Weekend update.

We had a nice weekend down in DC, hanging out with a few of our friends. Two of them live in Alexandria, VA, so we stayed at their apartment, and we hit up the Library of Congress and the National Archives. I've been to the Archives, but never the Library of Congress. Both are very cool, but they're pretty much quick stops, since there really isn't MUCH to see. I happily took the time to check out the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Magna Carta.

Seamus was at my dad's house, playing all weekend with their Boxer and Great Pyrenees, so when we got back last night, he was completely exhausted! My parents found out that Seamus just doesn't stop, not for nothing...well, other than food and water. I swear, if water was expensive, this dog could drink me out of house and home! Unfortunately, for the most part, more water tends to end up on the floor, than in the his body.

So...Monday was my birthday. I turned 24; an age at which nothing happens. I mean, at 21, you can drink and all, 25, you get that nice car insurance discount. At 24, nothing. Well, I am closing on my house next week, so that's cool, but really, nothing's happening.

Anyway, I had been craving potatoes au gratin for quite some time, and the wife doesn't like to eat foods that aren't...healthy. So, I figured that my birthday was just about the only day of the year that I could demand them. Of course, I probably shouldn't be eating potatoes au gratin, since I've gained about 15 pounds since the wedding that I've been trying to work off, but eat I did. I made a couple of nice, thick steaks, and she cooked up some roasted asparagus (which has come to be one of my favorite foods). All she does with it is break the ends off, wash them well, then take a Pyrex pan with a tablespoon of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil...I know, I had to learn it, too), coat the asparagus, then salt and pepper them well. 400 degrees in the oven for 15 minutes, and you've got one of the tastiest foods I can think of. Plus, you have the added benefit of having urine that smells all weird-like.

Wifey got me the most kick ass present in the world; a cast-iron smoker. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love to cook. I especially like to grill and smoke meat. My ribs are fantastical. So, that was the first thing she thought of as a gift, taking into consideration that we were buying the new house. She tried to pick it up from Home Depot in her Mazda...I know...she asked for help at the Customer Service counter, and they told her she'd need to come back with something bigger. So, when we move on Tuesday, we'll go pick it up before we drop the truck off at UHaul. Also, she stopped at Buca Di Beppo, and amazing italian chain restaurant, and grabbed me my favorite desert, cheesecake. Theirs comes with raspberry topping and hazelnuts, and I was in my glory. They also were kind enough to throw and entire loaf of bread into the bag for her, for free. When I say a loaf, imagine a piece of bread, 6" thick, and with a diameter of about 18". Yeah, this thing was bigger than a damn pizza. It is so good, though.

Speaking of food, I came up with a dish that is amazing. I don't know what to call it, and I know it's been made 1000 times before, but I'd like to think I'm the first person in the world to come up with it. Essentially, it's nothing more than chicken with bruschetta over it. Here's the recipe, if you're interested.

You'll need:
6 or 7 plum tomatoes (about 1.75 lbs)
1/2 a purple onion, diced finely
4 cloves of garlic
a handful of fresh basil
2 tablespoons of EVOO
1.5 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar
1 lb of fresh mozzarella (although the wife prefers Sorrento's part skim mozzarella)
4 chicken breasts, cleaned
salt
pepper
garlic powder

Start out by cleaning the tomatoes and discarding the seeds and internal structure. Dice them up finely, and dice up the onion. Put in a non-reactive bowl. Add the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and a good amount of salt and pepper. Mince finely, the four cloves of garlic and add. Chop the basil as fine as you can get it, and add it. Basil gives it a great fresh flavor. Mix it all together very well, taste it, and add EVOO, vinegar, and salt and pepper as necessary. I prefer my bruschetta to be a little more salty, but you'll know when it's right. Stick that in the fridge to marinate.

Take your chicken breasts, and season them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Put them on a hot grill until they are cooked through. You can also stick them in a pan with some EVOO, but that changes the flavor and adds more fat and such. I prefer them grilled.

Take a medium sized Pyrex pan, 10" x 8" should be fine, and place the cooked chicken breasts in the pan, then cover with some thick slices (1/8" or so) of mozzarella. Cover that with the bruschetta, add a few leaves of basil on top, then place in an over at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. When it comes out, everything will be ridiculously hot, so let it cool a bit.

When it's done, serve it up with a nice baquette or italian bread.