You Who?

To repent press 3 or say "repent"...

Well I tried out iGod on Contagious's advice. I have to say I was underwhelmed. iGod seems to be a lot like those automated voice attendants you deal with when calling the credit card company.

Me: What should I do with my life?
God: Are you asking me for advice?
Me: Yes
God: Specifically, what kind of advice do you want?
Me: What should I do with my life?
God: Are you asking me for advice?
Me: Yes
God: Specifically, what kind of advice do you want?
Me: Advice on what to do with my life.
God: Can you ask for advice in the form of a question?.
Me: What should I do with my life?
God: Are you asking me for advice?
Me: Yes
God: Specifically, what kind of advice do you want?
Me: Advice on how to live my life?
God: Can you ask for advice in the form of a question?.
Me: Is there a way you suggest I could live my life better?
God: There are many ways but not all are the same.
Me: Could you give me an example?
God: For example, gold.
Me: Gold?
God: Did you think it was a bad example?
Me: Are you telling me I should try to attain more material things?
God: What would happen if you didn't?
Me: Ummm... I don't know. I was thinking more charity or something like that...
God: Ahem. Me either. How do I know that you were really "thinking"?
Me: Because you are God.
God: Interesting explanation. Yup. That's me alright.
Me: Ok, well... swell. Thanks for the help.
God: Well what? Er. My brain pattern set does not have a response for that. My pleasure.

Not a very good Eliza implementation.

Moving further forward

In evidence of my rant about "moving forward", from an email: "I would like to have a conference call to discuss the changes we would like to make moving forward. ... This initial meeting will be used to inform everyone of the plans going forward so that everyone is on the same page. Going forward I will produce a more detailed task list. This list only contains things that we plan to do to this point. Other tasks may be added in the future as the product picture going forward becomes more clear."

John Vanderslice Redux

So as I mentioned, John Vanderslice was in Portsmouth. Although I was sick with a cold and my wife was on the tail end of hers -- and even though I knew my mother-in-law would not approve since I had taken the previous day off work -- I dragged us both out since I figured this was a pretty unique opportunity.

On the drive into town we were able to warm-up by listening to JV performing live on WSCA (Portsmouth Community Radio) which was pretty cool -- and we found out his set would be at 9pm. We had dinner at the Flatbread Company, during which I really started to wonder if I was going to make it until 9pm... and we were headed to a martini bar which meant we were pretty much obligated to have at least one drink. Nonetheless we headed over to The Red Door and momentarily confused the circle of smokers for a line, until a hip skinny guy in a suit asked "Are you [old people] looking for the Red Door?" (or at least that's how I heard it) and when I said yes he looked at my wife and said, "Can I see your ID?" Alright! This night is looking up!

I'd never been to The Red Door before, although I thought I remembered someone telling me they had been there and felt older, un-hip and generally uncomfortable, so I guess I was expecting some totally deck club full of chippers and cronkites and was surprised to find a small room with a bunch of junky furniture packed with mostly artsy-crunchy college kids plus a smattering of older people, including several far older than us. There was no place to sit however, and the only clear space to stand was in front of seated people, all scowling and watching some local guy perform. We elbowed our way to the bar and got a couple martinis so we'd have something to do with our hands, and then did our best to stand unobtrusively near the bar.

The drinks by the way were great. My wife had an Espresso Martini (because "at least it has espresso in it") and I tried the Wild Orchid (Tanqueray, Chambord, and gingerale -- because I'm always looking to try new spins on gin). I have to say about halfway through the martini I realized I felt better than I had in 3 days. As the British always knew, gin has amazing restorative powers! Next time I'm sick I'm skipping the Nyquil and going straight to the Bombay Saphire!

Anyway, after about 10 minutes the local guy finished and JV's set started. Now, if you listen to his music (he has several MP3s available on his web site) its pretty thickly produced stuff -- lots of instrumentation, electronic affects, etc. Here he was at The Red Door, solo with a guitar, ill-lit, hot, stuffy, cramped, competing with martini shakers, but boy, the guy can really sing. Of course I had the beenfit of having heard these songs fully orchestrated so I wasn't sure what my wife would think just hearing solo guitar, but she definitely recognized this guy was far better than the local intro act.

It was cool that everyone seemed to be there to enjoy the show and there was little to no talking except to order drinks. JV had great stage-banter. He told us how great Portsmouth was and then went on some tangent about how he has this adorable white kitten with blue eyes and when he took it to the vet she said, "I'm sure you know this but we have to just take a minute to discuss how cute your cat is" -- and that's how he felt about Portsmouth. He even said he was going to move out here from San Francisco, but I won't hold my breath. Someone's going to ruin it and explain to him about winter.

Overall, I had fun and was glad we made the effort -- although I'm not sure how my wife felt about the whole experience especially after we compared notes and determined that while I did my share of fondling, it wasn't my hand groping her hip. The worst I had to contend with was some 40-something lady who kept alternatively swaying to the music and then staring at me with hostility -- maybe someone was fondling her hip too.

Speaking of more chicks

Last weekend we were sitting on the couch enjoying the open windows when we (and Felix) were startled to realize there was a turkey on our deck, just about 4 feet away from us through the window. As mentioned previously, we knew the turkeys had been on our deck (and hot tub, and roof) when we were away, but I was surprised it came right up on the deck when we were clearly at home with the TV blaring. The cat in the window did not seem to phase it one bit, and likewise Felix was calm and unconcerned. The other cats would have freaked out. I went to grab the camera and just caught it as it was leaving the deck.

Here's a shot from a few days later of Mrs. Turkey with her brood in our back forty. (Blurry, sorry, shot through the screen.) They seem to be doing better than last year. "Yeah, more chicks." Plus our turkey-assasin neighbor moved out.

Live Free Market or Die

Trouble brewing downtown?: Another downtown cafe is now threatened with eviction, and its owners say the city’s real estate market is to blame. [...] The couple see the dispute as a symptom of a larger problem. They said inflated real estate prices downtown have made it increasingly hard to compete. "Landlords can price their properties high, and people with sufficient funds can buy the buildings," Jim Clark said. "They can then turn around and charge in rent whatever they need to charge to make money."

Sheesh, when my local tech company was going under why didn't they get an article in the paper decrying the fact that they had to pay rent!? It's the last sentence in the quote that really gets me. What exactly is wrong with charging whatever they need to charge to make money? Isn't that how they charge for a cup of coffee? Isn't that what we're all doing in our careers? When's the last time you walked into work and said to your boss, "Ya know, the salaries in my field have become really inflated. I don't need all that so why don't you just pay me half?"

Great Band Names

At the latest Blog 'n' Brew Contagious was taking a poll of who played what instruments so we could start a blogband. I have a name: Kreblog and the Ranting Contagions. I'm envisioning a Gorillaz sort of thing where the members are all blog personas.

The Blog 'n' Brew was a great success. When I commented to Kreblog that this one was even better than the last, he replied: "Yeah more chicks" (channeling Bob I would guess). I actually meant more people showed up and stayed pretty late.

John Vanderslice in Portsmouth

I've really been digging John Vanderslice's new album Pixel Revolt. I first heard it on WOXY, went out and bought the album (yes I still buy CDs), and found I like about every song on it. I was poking around his web site when suddenly I noticed:

September 10 | Portsmouth, NH
WUNH, 1pm, live performance and interview
WSCA, 6pm, live performance and interview
The Red Door, 8pm

Cool! Anyone been to the Red Door before? I've generally considered myself to old to go there, and I rarely venture out to any kind of band venue, but maybe I'll try this. He's got some MP3s on his site if you're interested in checking him out -- although my favorite song (Continuation) is missing.

Ancho-and-Coffee Rubbed Beef with Wild Mushroom Sauce

Wednesday night the in-laws and Uncle Gary joined us for dinner. I'm not a subscriber to Bon Appetit magazine, but the recent issue's cover shot of a filet mignon covered in a rich brown wild mushroom sauce caught my eye. Turns out to be Bobby Flay's recipe: Ancho-and-Coffee Rubbed Beef with Wild Mushroom Sauce. (This has nothing to do with anchovies. Ancho is a type of chile pepper which is not too spicy but has a little heat. Bobby Flay's signature is dishes with a Southwestern twist.) I wanted to try it, although it was a little involved. I actually started preparing the night before (one nice thing I discovered about Bon Appetit magazine is that in each recipe they point out places where you can prepare ahead or safely set things aside). So the night before I soaked and pureed the dried ancho chile peppers and mixed up the spice rub which consists of brown sugar, ancho chile powder, ground coriander, dried oregano, instant espresso (which is called for in many recipes and yet I can never find it -- finally found Medaglia d'Oro at Enoteca Italiana in Kittery), cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Anyway, it was a lot of work, but I have to say it really delivered with a very exciting and unique flavor that left just a pleasant warm buzz in your mouth. Served with a salad, cous-cous (because I forgot to make the rice pilaf), and summer squash ragout.

For dessert I made Lemon Pudding Cakes with Apricot Sauce from Food & Wine's special Chef Recipes Made Easy. I don't know if "easy" is the word I would use, but they were great and can be made ahead of time. Both recipes met the most critical test: They turned out looking like the pictures in the magazine!

Credit also goes to my two sous-chefs (notice the fancy job on the cucmber slices, courtesy of my father-in-law), even if they did get a little surly when they realized my mother-in-law was laying back!

And don't forget the wines, we had plenty: Bonny Doon Ca’del Solo Big House Pink (before dinner we polished off what remained from the previous night), Domaine Coteau Yamhill County Pinot Noir 2002 (the majority of which went into the mushroom sauce), Four Vines "Biker" Paso Robles Zinfandel 2003 (with dinner, a terrific match for the slightly-spicy steak), Louis Latour Domaine de Valmoissine Pinot Noir 2003 (everybody's second glass at dinner, very light compared to the zin, nice but unremarkable) and with dessert, Torbeck Barossa Valley "The Bothie" 2003 (a light dessert wine which we first had a couple weeks ago when brought by guests, perfect for the lemon pudding cakes). And yes we both made it to work the next day.