DUDE, this was SO FUNNY. On Friday night, we drove up to the cabin in the mountains. Chris overpacks, so by the time we were loaded up with his stuff, everyone had gone ahead to the cabin. We walked out on to the completely dark road and had no idea where to go. We walked in a direction, wondering whether it was the right way. In a quavering but brave voice, I shouted "Marco" into the woods. Chris, responding eagerly to our rescuers, shouted "Polo". Then, in unison, we pretended to realize that we were answering each other, and said "Fuck!" and "D'oh!", because we were, in actuality, still lost. It was very very funny, and there is just no good in ever trying to repeat funny stories.
I'm sorry I never tell you funny stories, Justin. Maybe if I were a guy.
Pfft, I found that amusing. But, yeah, I guess that's true, funny stories are always funnier in person, so you can do some reenacting.
My friends and I had a similar lost in the woods in the dark experience a few weeks ago. I don't know how your story ends, but we randomly picked the wrong direction, and walked it for a few miles before turning around and finding the car just a few 100 feet from where we made the wrong choice.
flick or backhand? coke or pepsi? scrubs or house? voice mail or email? left handed or right handed? glass half full or empty? star wars or indiana jones? improv or standup?
or... why do you like to play frisbee only with organized defense? do you want your "guy" to be vegetarian too?
bleh. sorry, I really have nothing either. That's why I only blog about quantitative stuff.
flick or backhand? Flick, backhand for range. coke or pepsi? Coke, with lemon. Not ever diet. scrubs or house? Is this the television? voice mail or email? email, I guess, cause I don't have the other. left handed or right handed? right glass half full or empty? Full and cheerful, baby. star wars or indiana jones? Indiana Jones improv or standup? Mostly neither, I guess. I don't like nearly all comedians.
or... why do you like to play frisbee only with organized defense?
Because I am not fast or quick, and I need all the help I can get on D. Hold the force or I will send you a very hard look.
do you want your "guy" to be vegetarian too?
I don't care in the least, but if we got to the point where we lived together, I would ask him to switch to free range meat. (It is more likely that I will be doing the grocery shopping, and I will switch to free range meat on his behalf.) I won't cook it, though. I don't know how.
What's the difference between free range meat and normal meat? What about seafood? I've never heard of free range salmon.
And, are you unwilling to cook meat, because you're a vegetarian, or, is it just because you don't think you know how to cook meat? I mean, couldn't you just follow a recipe, and then get feed back from him as to what should change?
I don't know how and I don't want to learn how to make something I won't eat. I'm happy to make full vegetarian dinners, and if I'm doing the shopping anyway, I'm happy to pick up meat that doesn't bug me, but he can cook it his ownself.
Good. I've been waiting for you to wander back to water policy so I could ask this...
Here in Australia, South Australia anyway, "the driest state in the driest continent", every house traps the rainfall from their homes, sheds and carports. It runs into big tanks and is plumbed into the house. Some homes have this as the ONLY source of water. The place I'm staying in has a split where the main enters the property. I can have either all rainwater or all city water and could top my tanks (16,000 gals!!) with city water, if I wanted (I wouldn't).
Meg, the water is fantasic. Tastes great, your clothes come out nice and it's the best shower ever. And it's easy. They joke about light showers being "enough to knock the birdshit into the tanks" but there are no filters or treatment. In Adelaide, all new contruction is required to have a tank installed (1000 liters - kettle water, really).
But, why free range meat? And, aren't you concerned about the environmental impact of free range animals? It requires more space, the animals are out there eating, and trampling more vegetation, interefering more with nature. The livestock is more likely to come into contact with the native predators, so the ranchers then have to go kill off the predators and whatnot. Then, with no predators the deer population gets out of control, and now they're starving to death, and running into cars. So you have to bring in hunters, but some of them are really just out there to drink, and they're throwing beer bottles and cans everywhere.
me: backhand left for trickiness and right for distance, working on lefty flick, and righty flick just doesn't exist coke (though I'm not a soda bigot -- note I was just trying to come up with ADD answerable topics) house MD(tv show, mmm television as vice...so relaxing and beautiful you alternate reality world...) email! part of being visual probably. I hate people who leave my 5 minute long voice mail messages (at work usually) left handed
ok my questions are so boring I don't feel like answering them.
What I should have said is, I think it's ok to have a "I got nothing day"
re: organized D, I play a casual pick up game where zone means "run around and find an open-ish person and stand near them" and a lot of people can't throw very well (or catch) but I love it way more than the organized games around here. Plus I think that statistically the force gets broken more often than the benefit of it. The stack and force system seems to have taken favor but then has stagnated without any innovation. but I'm no strategy expert
More irrigation info! How do growers get enough water pressure* for wheel line irrigation? Why don't center-pivot irrigation systems use water pressure for movement? Wouldn't that be cool? Does the water source (surface delivery vs. groundwater) make a difference when it comes to irrigation method? I've got more.
A4
*You may have answered this already, when discussing weirs and underflow gates.
And, aren't you concerned about the environmental impact of free range animals?
I can't speak for Megan, but if I ate meat, I'd probably prefer free range because those animals are presumably treated better. I believe you are right about it using more resources, but I believe that is a good use of those resources.
Justin: "Free range" salmon is called "wild" (as opposed to farmed).
Environmental benefits to free range beef (with the proviso that it is entirely possible to do "free range" in really bad ways, though no producers currently do so): reduced emissions, increased carbon sequestration, reduced water pollution, reduced soil erosion, reduced soil nutrient loss, decreased fertilizer and herbicide use and run-off. Most of the benefits are a result of lowered density of cattle and their manure which help natural systems from being overwhelmed.
Of course there are also tremendous health benefits to eating grass fed beef even if the environmental balance was a wash.
I'm a little surprised that Megan thinks she would do most of the shopping with her Future Beau, especially given that she won't be cooking for him. If the girl doesn't know how to cook meat why would I trust her to pick out a good piece? If I'm cooking it, I might as well be shopping for it so I don't get stuck with some crazy vegetarian's idea of what a good skirt steak should look like.
Justus: I'm just guessing that I'd be doing the shopping, because I am more food oriented than most people. As the more interested person, I've just assumed food prep would fall to me. If he were concerned about complicated meat things, he would do well to shop for that himself, or give very specific instructions, hopefully on a 3x5 card that I can hand to the butcher.
Megan, I suppose that is probably true. It is easy to forget that not all people are like my closest friends. For nearly all of my close friends grocery shopping is an activity done as a couple and involves lots of "oooh...look! Honey Crisp apples are back in season! Let's buy 12 pounds!"
Hmmm. I'd love to be with someone who wanted to share food shopping, but figured it was more likely that I'd be doing most of it. Also, my ex and I ended up with an 'I pay for food at home; he pays for food out' division of costs, which worked well and reinforced that I did the grocery shopping.
Stories of Russia and wolves (or at least 'lions and tigers and bears'...)
For those of us who have never been to California it would be interesting (I think) to hear about deserts, communes, hippies and wyrd stuff (just make it up to entertain us).
funny story: a Sikh/Irishman/Pakistani (delete as appropriate) met a friend who noticed that both of his ears had been burnt.
"What happened to you?", asks the friend.
Oh, I was doing the ironing when the phone rang and I mistakenly put the iron to my ear. Anyway, it was a wrong number.
Book update! For those of us who have always threatened to write a book, but know that we will never go through with it, an update on how the process is going and how you are going about it would be a nice vicarious experience.
I've looked for an opportunity to suggest some cooking/recipe/kitchen/food tricks blogging for quite a while. This seems to be it. I don't know anything about cooking and you seem to prepare delicious food all the time, so maybe you could share some of your knowledge and improve the lives and health of people like me relying on frozen food and ready-bought pie?
Anonymous, 7:44..okay, at the risk of sounding like Rock Hudson from Pillow Talk , and at the risk of pissing Megan off for jumping in here, could I suggest the simplest of things:
6 ripe peaches or nectarines, halved and stones removed (or just get the cans) 4 tsp demerara sugar 1 vanilla pod, scored lengthwise and seeds removed (or just put in a dash of essence) 125g/41/2oz butter 125g/41/2oz caster sugar 2 large free-range eggs 125g/41/2oz self-raising flour
You CAN'T go wrong..even a klutz like me can make this!
Beat the butter, eggs and sugar until they're light and fluffy.
Add the flour and vanilla.
Mix.
Pour over the peaches. (don't worry if the mixture is a bit thick).
Put in a pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes at 200. Just keep your eye on it and when its golden brown at the top it should be done.
For a better variation: cut out the sugar and vanilla and put the juice of one large orange and its grated zest. Also, add small chips of chocolate (break them off some 70% dark chocolate).
You were very good about giving the ingredients in multiple units, but I'm afraid if I put that in my oven set to 200, it'd still be a little soupy when it came out.
how about how much gas or electricity is worth 1 gallon of water? I know you can generate fresh water with desalination which takes a ton of power. But say somebody was going to either run their pool pump for 12 hours per day or once per year entirely replace the water, which is worse for the environment
re: the recipe, anonymous 7:44 said he/she doesn't know anything about cooking yet your ingredient has "demerara sugar" and vanilla pods. I think you might better explain the ingredients (or use more common vanilla extract) I love to cook (when I'm not eating alone and/or workaholicing) but even some recipes like that trip me up when I get to the grocery store causing an inevitable call to my mom or dad (both good cooks!) which makes me scared because to steal a phrase from gray's anatomy "I don't know how to exist in a world without them" not because I'm dependent on them for anything other than a bimonthly ingredient question or the occasional advice on solving low water pressure but because I know they are there but I digress.
How about a topic of "why you inspire random people on the internet to keep coming back to your blog and writing random personal stuff and refreshing to see if you've answered comments?"
"write that up when I could be explaining why you don't see center-pivot irrigation systems in California?"
I am waiting, waiting and hoping, with shallow, bated breath, pupils wide. I can feel my heart in my chest, beating strong and weak at the same time. Will it happen? Please, please, please!
36 Comments:
I told you before, you should post pictures of your cats, or tell us funny stories. Funny things must have happened to you at some point in your life.
Justin
DUDE, this was SO FUNNY. On Friday night, we drove up to the cabin in the mountains. Chris overpacks, so by the time we were loaded up with his stuff, everyone had gone ahead to the cabin. We walked out on to the completely dark road and had no idea where to go. We walked in a direction, wondering whether it was the right way. In a quavering but brave voice, I shouted "Marco" into the woods. Chris, responding eagerly to our rescuers, shouted "Polo". Then, in unison, we pretended to realize that we were answering each other, and said "Fuck!" and "D'oh!", because we were, in actuality, still lost. It was very very funny, and there is just no good in ever trying to repeat funny stories.
I'm sorry I never tell you funny stories, Justin. Maybe if I were a guy.
1) Why do you like Sacramento; in what ways is it better than other places you've lived?
2) Tell us again how cold it is.
3) Book review!
Pfft, I found that amusing. But, yeah, I guess that's true, funny stories are always funnier in person, so you can do some reenacting.
My friends and I had a similar lost in the woods in the dark experience a few weeks ago. I don't know how your story ends, but we randomly picked the wrong direction, and walked it for a few miles before turning around and finding the car just a few 100 feet from where we made the wrong choice.
Justin
flick or backhand?
coke or pepsi?
scrubs or house?
voice mail or email?
left handed or right handed?
glass half full or empty?
star wars or indiana jones?
improv or standup?
or...
why do you like to play frisbee only with organized defense?
do you want your "guy" to be vegetarian too?
bleh. sorry, I really have nothing either. That's why I only blog about quantitative stuff.
flick or backhand? Flick, backhand for range.
coke or pepsi? Coke, with lemon. Not ever diet.
scrubs or house? Is this the television?
voice mail or email? email, I guess, cause I don't have the other.
left handed or right handed? right
glass half full or empty? Full and cheerful, baby.
star wars or indiana jones? Indiana Jones
improv or standup? Mostly neither, I guess. I don't like nearly all comedians.
or...
why do you like to play frisbee only with organized defense?
Because I am not fast or quick, and I need all the help I can get on D. Hold the force or I will send you a very hard look.
do you want your "guy" to be vegetarian too?
I don't care in the least, but if we got to the point where we lived together, I would ask him to switch to free range meat. (It is more likely that I will be doing the grocery shopping, and I will switch to free range meat on his behalf.) I won't cook it, though. I don't know how.
cook meat on fire.
What's the difference between free range meat and normal meat? What about seafood? I've never heard of free range salmon.
And, are you unwilling to cook meat, because you're a vegetarian, or, is it just because you don't think you know how to cook meat? I mean, couldn't you just follow a recipe, and then get feed back from him as to what should change?
Justin
I feel you, Megan. January doldrums.
I don't know how and I don't want to learn how to make something I won't eat. I'm happy to make full vegetarian dinners, and if I'm doing the shopping anyway, I'm happy to pick up meat that doesn't bug me, but he can cook it his ownself.
Good. I've been waiting for you to wander back to water policy so I could ask this...
Here in Australia, South Australia anyway, "the driest state in the driest continent", every house traps the rainfall from their homes, sheds and carports. It runs into big tanks and is plumbed into the house. Some homes have this as the ONLY source of water. The place I'm staying in has a split where the main enters the property. I can have either all rainwater or all city water and could top my tanks (16,000 gals!!) with city water, if I wanted (I wouldn't).
Meg, the water is fantasic. Tastes great, your clothes come out nice and it's the best shower ever. And it's easy. They joke about light showers being "enough to knock the birdshit into the tanks" but there are no filters or treatment. In Adelaide, all new contruction is required to have a tank installed (1000 liters - kettle water, really).
Why don't we do this at home?
They have, exclusively, metal or tiles roofs.
But, why free range meat? And, aren't you concerned about the environmental impact of free range animals? It requires more space, the animals are out there eating, and trampling more vegetation, interefering more with nature. The livestock is more likely to come into contact with the native predators, so the ranchers then have to go kill off the predators and whatnot. Then, with no predators the deer population gets out of control, and now they're starving to death, and running into cars. So you have to bring in hunters, but some of them are really just out there to drink, and they're throwing beer bottles and cans everywhere.
Hmmm, maybe I see why you're a vegetarian now.
Justin
cool.
me:
backhand left for trickiness and right for distance, working on lefty flick, and righty flick just doesn't exist
coke (though I'm not a soda bigot -- note I was just trying to come up with ADD answerable topics)
house MD(tv show, mmm television as vice...so relaxing and beautiful you alternate reality world...)
email! part of being visual probably. I hate people who leave my 5 minute long voice mail messages (at work usually)
left handed
ok my questions are so boring I don't feel like answering them.
What I should have said is, I think it's ok to have a "I got nothing day"
re: organized D, I play a casual pick up game where zone means "run around and find an open-ish person and stand near them" and a lot of people can't throw very well (or catch) but I love it way more than the organized games around here. Plus I think that statistically the force gets broken more often than the benefit of it. The stack and force system seems to have taken favor but then has stagnated without any innovation. but I'm no strategy expert
More irrigation info! How do growers get enough water pressure* for wheel line irrigation? Why don't center-pivot irrigation systems use water pressure for movement? Wouldn't that be cool? Does the water source (surface delivery vs. groundwater) make a difference when it comes to irrigation method? I've got more.
A4
*You may have answered this already, when discussing weirs and underflow gates.
And, aren't you concerned about the environmental impact of free range animals?
I can't speak for Megan, but if I ate meat, I'd probably prefer free range because those animals are presumably treated better. I believe you are right about it using more resources, but I believe that is a good use of those resources.
Get your minds out of the gutters!
How about some erotica?
Justin: "Free range" salmon is called "wild" (as opposed to farmed).
Environmental benefits to free range beef (with the proviso that it is entirely possible to do "free range" in really bad ways, though no producers currently do so): reduced emissions, increased carbon sequestration, reduced water pollution, reduced soil erosion, reduced soil nutrient loss, decreased fertilizer and herbicide use and run-off. Most of the benefits are a result of lowered density of cattle and their manure which help natural systems from being overwhelmed.
Of course there are also tremendous health benefits to eating grass fed beef even if the environmental balance was a wash.
I'm a little surprised that Megan thinks she would do most of the shopping with her Future Beau, especially given that she won't be cooking for him. If the girl doesn't know how to cook meat why would I trust her to pick out a good piece? If I'm cooking it, I might as well be shopping for it so I don't get stuck with some crazy vegetarian's idea of what a good skirt steak should look like.
Justus:
I'm just guessing that I'd be doing the shopping, because I am more food oriented than most people. As the more interested person, I've just assumed food prep would fall to me. If he were concerned about complicated meat things, he would do well to shop for that himself, or give very specific instructions, hopefully on a 3x5 card that I can hand to the butcher.
Megan, I suppose that is probably true. It is easy to forget that not all people are like my closest friends. For nearly all of my close friends grocery shopping is an activity done as a couple and involves lots of "oooh...look! Honey Crisp apples are back in season! Let's buy 12 pounds!"
It does result in nice dinner parties.
Hmmm. I'd love to be with someone who wanted to share food shopping, but figured it was more likely that I'd be doing most of it. Also, my ex and I ended up with an 'I pay for food at home; he pays for food out' division of costs, which worked well and reinforced that I did the grocery shopping.
Stories of Russia and wolves (or at least 'lions and tigers and bears'...)
For those of us who have never been to California it would be interesting (I think) to hear about deserts, communes, hippies and wyrd stuff (just make it up to entertain us).
funny story: a Sikh/Irishman/Pakistani (delete as appropriate) met a friend who noticed that both of his ears had been burnt.
"What happened to you?", asks the friend.
Oh, I was doing the ironing when the phone rang and I mistakenly put the iron to my ear. Anyway, it was a wrong number.
"and the other one?"
The idiot phoned again after five minutes !
As an smart engineering-type person, please explain why tattoos don't just slough off after a few weeks or months.
Book update! For those of us who have always threatened to write a book, but know that we will never go through with it, an update on how the process is going and how you are going about it would be a nice vicarious experience.
I've looked for an opportunity to suggest some cooking/recipe/kitchen/food tricks blogging for quite a while. This seems to be it. I don't know anything about cooking and you seem to prepare delicious food all the time, so maybe you could share some of your knowledge and improve the lives and health of people like me relying on frozen food and ready-bought pie?
Anonymous, 7:44..okay, at the risk of sounding like Rock Hudson from Pillow Talk , and at the risk of pissing Megan off for jumping in here, could I suggest the simplest of things:
6 ripe peaches or nectarines, halved and stones removed
(or just get the cans)
4 tsp demerara sugar
1 vanilla pod, scored lengthwise and seeds removed
(or just put in a dash of essence)
125g/41/2oz butter
125g/41/2oz caster sugar
2 large free-range eggs
125g/41/2oz self-raising flour
You CAN'T go wrong..even a klutz like me can make this!
Beat the butter, eggs and sugar until they're light and fluffy.
Add the flour and vanilla.
Mix.
Pour over the peaches. (don't worry if the mixture is a bit thick).
Put in a pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes at 200. Just keep your eye on it and when its golden brown at the top it should be done.
For a better variation: cut out the sugar and vanilla and put the juice of one large orange and its grated zest. Also, add small chips of chocolate (break them off some 70% dark chocolate).
Serve warm with creme fraiche.
@billo
You were very good about giving the ingredients in multiple units, but I'm afraid if I put that in my oven set to 200, it'd still be a little soupy when it came out.
-Dex
Didn't you promise us a post on blowjobs at some point?
Holy shit, you remember that? I can't think why. You seriously want to know why Dan Savage called me "An inspiration to us all"?
Why would I write that up when I could be explaining why you don't see center-pivot irrigation systems in California?
Keep the requests coming. I'll take them in order (unless I skip one entirely).
YOU'VE got nothing!?!??!
Megan, you disappoint me.
:)
how about how much gas or electricity is worth 1 gallon of water? I know you can generate fresh water with desalination which takes a ton of power. But say somebody was going to either run their pool pump for 12 hours per day or once per year entirely replace the water, which is worse for the environment
re: the recipe, anonymous 7:44 said he/she doesn't know anything about cooking yet your ingredient has "demerara sugar" and vanilla pods. I think you might better explain the ingredients (or use more common vanilla extract)
I love to cook (when I'm not eating alone and/or workaholicing) but even some recipes like that trip me up when I get to the grocery store causing an inevitable call to my mom or dad (both good cooks!) which makes me scared because to steal a phrase from gray's anatomy "I don't know how to exist in a world without them" not because I'm dependent on them for anything other than a bimonthly ingredient question or the occasional advice on solving low water pressure but because I know they are there but I digress.
How about a topic of "why you inspire random people on the internet to keep coming back to your blog and writing random personal stuff and refreshing to see if you've answered comments?"
"write that up when I could be explaining why you don't see center-pivot irrigation systems in California?"
I am waiting, waiting and hoping, with shallow, bated breath, pupils wide. I can feel my heart in my chest, beating strong and weak at the same time. Will it happen? Please, please, please!
A4
A4! It WILL happen. I'll take the requests in order, on the days I need a prompt.
Who are you?
Billo, I managed the peach thing! I used vanilla extract, for beginners... Very yummy. Thanks a lot!
Anonymous 7:44
My pleasure, 7:44.
Salaams,
b.
> I feel you, Megan.
Megan getting groped on her own blog.
Apparently when you take too long before writing about blowjobs, guys get impatient.
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