bacon

In my opinion bacon is delicious!

There are two things bacon ought to be: Thick and Crispy!
I have recently discovered the virtue of butcher's counter bacon, it is sliced thick and hand selected so you get meatier cuts than you do when you buy prepackaged bacon. As for making the bacon crispy I recommend less heat more time and watching, listening, and smelling for doneness.

The Maverick six gun by Nerf

I am a big fan of the Nerf product line. Squishy foam darts may be one of the best toys developed in my lifetime! The Maverick six gun is squishy foam darts time six.

My wife sometimes provides me with the opportunity to develop the virtue of patients and entertain myself. I have taken to drawing targets on the bathroom mirror and then Nerfing them to death.

The maverick has a short barrel and does not have the best range, but this is made up for by the rapid fire ability. I can fire six rounds in about two seconds. As for accuracy the maverick is comparable to the other Nerf pistols I have used, You need to aim above your target and if the dart is bent it will likely drift but I can get all six darts in a 6 inch target from 15 feet.

The bottom line: this is awesome. you should get one!

Hall's Vitamin C defence cough drops

Each of these cough drops has a full dose of vitamin C. I don't know how important Vitamin C really is to beat a cold but, even if it is all, placebo it seems to help. I also really like the flavors. The citrus variety pack includes: lemon, which tastes like a lemon drop candy, orange, and pink grapefruit, which is my favorite. any time I feel a cold coming on, or when everyone around my has a cold I buy a large bag. This last time I noticed that if you have too many without some really food all the citric acid can upset the stomach (too many is 10 in a hour).

My opinion: These are the best cough drops out there.

Dune

I just listened to Dune as an Audiobook. It was my third time through Frank Herbert's sci-fi masterpiece, and I still love it. I honestly think it is one of the best books of the 20th century.

The thing I love about Dune is the politics. The complicated layers of personal vendetta, family honor, tribal structure and religion. It is a very real universe that is set up in a single book. I like it better than George Lucas's Star Wars universe but it has the same kinds of detail, only it is layed out concisely in a single work.

The Audio Renaissances recording is a very good one, it uses a cast rather than single narrator but it does it in a way that blends very well.

President Hinkley

This evening I got a text message, then a phone call, then six more texts, all telling me that President Hinkley had died.

I was very moved by this, all my life president Hinkley has been the most prominent leader of the church. I will miss his wisdom and leadership. I pray for his family and loved ones and am personally grateful for all that he has done in the service of the Lord.

I look forward to hearing from the new prophet (President Monson) in April and hope that Elder Eyring will still be in the first presidency.

Survivorman & Man Vs Wild

Discovery channel has two survival shows, at first this seems rather odd but they are very distinct (though even after noting that it still seems odd).

I saw Man vs Wild first and my first impression was that the show was decent, it was the high alps episode and the host made and used prussiks with parachord and dug a decent snow cave. I understood his decisions and agreed with him.

The first time I saw survivor man, it was the Costa Rican Juggle episode and I was disturbed that after building a decent shelter on the beach the host set off into the jungle and got lost. It was not as good of a first impression.

I was not really watching either but those were my first impressions. My friend Avi was talking to me one day about them though and pointed out that the host (Les Stroud) of Survivorman carries all the camera gear and shoots the show as well as hosting it. He also mentioned some that Man vs Wild had been criticized and accusations had been made that the host (Bear Grylls) did not stay in his survival shelters but built them and then slept in tents or even motels with the camera crew. I have watched more of both recently with a more discriminating eye and have changed my opinion.

Man vs Wild: Bear Grylls is a britt with an army background (though it was as a reserve and the lt cmdr rank mentioned sometime turns out to to be honorary) he is fairly charismatic and likable as a host. His advise is often addressing a worst case scenario and not the situation he is actually in. He eats and drinks things seemingly without discretion (including bugs, live fish, his own urine, etc) and he vamps for the camera by doing things like wearing his boxers as a hat after talking about the energy that can be lost when you have your head exposed. I think he is somewhat reckless, particularly in the Patagonia episode when he chose to tumble down a steep hill that he could have made a careful decent of and then building a "raft" to cross a lake he could have walked around in less time and ending up wet in a place where being wet could prove fatal. The show has petty good TV value but don't trust it if you are stranded in the wilderness. I do not watch the show often.

Suriviorman: Les Stroud is canadian and a wilderness enthusiast, he has held a guild license for many year. He is not as good looking as Grylls but is much more down to earth. His shows are self filmed, if you think about it this means he walks ever step twice ( once to set the camera and once to get recorder) and is still showing off for the camera much of the time. His show is always based on the goal of spending seven days in the situation and meeting his extraction crew at a given spot. I like that he always starts off looking at his resources, what is in his pockets and how did he get stranded. He generally cannibalizes a vehicle to start with, often using gasoline and the battery to start the fire he then tends and carries. His resources are realistic and I approve.

Les spends a lot of time talking about psychology and physiology, the importance of attitude and sleep, how long you can go without food, which I like and agree with. He also explains his decision making process generally influenced by weather and resources, I have disagreed with him (most notably Costa Rica mentioned above) but he always has his safety in mind above TV value, and will change things if he feels they are no longer prudent (in a recent episode he was trying to keep his arm in a splint to simulate an injury but took it out because it was becoming an impediment to his safety) He also shows in his Labrador episode, his safety crew coming into where he is and calling off his shoot because they felt a change in weather created to great a risk. Lastly I like that the majority of his shows are in north america. I find this show to be the much more practical of the two and would rather be stranded in the wilderness with Les , than Bear any day.

A Christmas Carol

Everybody knows the story; Scrooge, Three Spirits, Tiny Tim, from Bah, Humbug to Keeping Christmas, but I, for one, had never read the book. So a few weeks back I sampled what Audible.com had and picked an unabridged copy for about $15 and put it on my download wish list. I have been meaning to get it downloaded for weeks and yesterday was the day to get it done. However before paying for it I wanted to double check Librivox, I remembered not liking how it had sounded but wanted to check again because free is always better than $15.

The First link for A Christmas Carol at librivox is only okay, each stage is read by a different reader and the quality of the recording is a bit wanting. However, there is a second recording. It is labeled as "A Christmas Carol (version 2)" read entirely by Glen Hallstrom. I sampled it and it sounded pretty good so I downloaded it and took it to work.

Glen Hallstrom is a great reader, The recording quality is excellent, and the story is great. No movie has ever captured it. The Patrick Stewart version is a direct enactment of the story with the script being word for word dialog from the book, but there is a certain something that can not be translated onto the screen. I can see why President Monson reads it every year.

My opinion: It is free, it is short (listening time is 4 hours), it is a great story well read. Everyone should listen to or read A Christmas Carol.

here is the link to download Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol"

Meet The Robinsons

I think this was the first movie Pixar made without Disney, but I could have that backwards. I saw this with Jason and Devon back in the spring and I just saw it again last week. It is very sweet.

I think that a lot of people have missed out on this movie, but it has the same kind of heart as Cars and a sense of humor and fun. Devon and I particularly like the Dinosaure

My opinion: I really liked it. Go rent this movie and watch it with little kids or as a date.

the blackberry by rim

Blackberry was the original pda/cellphone. It was the first phone in the US to offer full key pad and support for email. However in the attempt to do two things at once it did neither well. I find it very odd to hold the very wide and somewhat short blackberry up to my ear to use as a phone and I find its vanilla email client and tiny keyboard to be a very poor tool for checking email.

Another big problem I have with it is that the OS has not been improved since it was first released 6 or 7 years ago, they have added features but not improved the odd jog wheel navigation of its folders. If email on your phone is important to you I think the iphone or any of phones that flip sideways and have the full keyboard would be better than the nextel blackberry I use for work.

My opinion: blackberry tries to be a phone with email but fails.

stranger than fiction.

I first saw this movie in the theater with Rosie. She is a big fan of Will Farrel (who stars in it) however I am not, and so I was somewhat reluctant. But, it turns out my fears were unfounded. This movie is not your average post SNL comedy, it has really depth to the story its humor is understated and mature (by that I do not mean obscene)

It is the story of an ordinary man who finds his life is being narrated. He knows he is not crazy and so begins seeking out the author who is writing about him. He does this by consulting and expert on modern fiction, who initially thinks him crazed but reconsiders when given a sample of the narration. The narrators foreshadowing leads him to carefully consider what his actual priorities are and he is challenged by the question: if you know that doing the right thing will lead to a conclusion you don't want will you do it anyway?

I loved this movie

vanilla mint listerine

Yet another new "flavor" of the original mouth wash

My opinion: This is good stuff. It really has a good flavor (for being a mouth wash, I am not saying I want a soda company to make something like it.) and the burn is greatly diminished, compared to the cool mint that I usually rinse with.

Transformers

Cars that turn into giant robots, how could you go wrong? Men my age have been waiting for this movie since we were five.

My opinion: it was LAME! Maybe the problem was high expectation but I just didn't like it. I thought the teenage drama thing was to big a part of the movie, and very poorly done. I thought the product placement was way to much, having Bumble Bee change from a "classic" Camero to a brand new Camero just but touching it trivialized something. I Thought that Autobots hiding behind buildings in robot mode rather than TRANSFORMING was silly. I was bothered that the Allspark only made Decepticons. The conversation the boy and his parents had in his room was totaly uncalled for.

Well, in short a childhood dream of every boy my age has come true only to bring us disappointment and heartache.

campbell's soup

more specifically campbell's select italian sausage with pasta and pepperoni, but that seemed a bit long for the title.

My opinion: this is really good soup.the broth has great flavor from the italian sausage the pasta gives it good body and the chunks of pepperoni are plentiful. This is WAY better than the last campbell's select soup I tried (their tortilla soup is mediocre at best) and I will definatly have it again in the future.

ebay user feedback

when you buy or sell something online you then get to say whether or not you were pleased with the product and sell (or buyer as the case may be). You have three choices for feedback positive, neutral, or negative and then room for comments (like A++ great ebayer)

My opinion: this is almost worthless. I generally feel neutral about shopping experiences (I am after all a guy). I pay what I think something is worth and, that is that, but in ebay land they seem to think you ought to have strong positive opinions about minor purchases or something is amiss. I do not understand why the seller doing exactly what they said they would should justify "positive" feedback. If I fill out a feedback card at a grocery store it is because somebody went out of their way to help me not because it turns out there staff doesn't push me down and take my wallet.

This comes up because I was looking at a feedback page from a ebay store that sells jewelry and they had received positive feedback form some one who in the comments indicated that the product was of a lower quality than described. I just don't get it.

quizno's

MMMM toasty?

My opinion: Toasty sure but not that much flavor, Ryann and I split a turkey ranch swiss yesterday for lunch and I could taste neither ranch nor swiss and there seemed to be an excessive amount of lettuce. Ryann said she only had one bite that tasted of swiss and also found the ranch lacking.

box ratchets

combination wrenches with a ratchet action around the box wrench end.

My opinion: these things are sweet. There are some places that a socket wrench just doesn't quit work but are tight enough to make a combination wrench very tedious at that moment you are very glad your father has box ratchets.

nausica and the valley of the winds

A japanese import animated children's movie. Captain Piccard even does one of the voices.

My opinion: Lame, dumb story (really who sets a children's movie in a toxic post apocalyptic future?)dialog is tedious just don't bother watching it. I have come to the conclusion that no matter what the diehard anime geeks think there is just as much (probably more) bad anime out there as bad american cartoons.

silver sake

Silver Sake is my local sushi place at the corner or walnut and marconi.

I like Silver Sake and feel they are a pretty good value at 6-12 dollars per roll. If you have not had sushi before and are reluctant to try "raw fish" you might try the marconi roll first, it has tempura shrimp and house sauce and the whole thing is fried it is very non-traditional but tasty. Today Mary Ann and I went there for lunch this was only her second time for sushi and the first was the above stated roll. I order the integra roll (spicy tuna and salmon with cukes and green onion) which she found too spicy [wimp :)] and the philadephia roll (smoked salmon and cream cheese without avocado) which I found bland until adding some chili sauce to it then it was very good.

The Hymns at LDS.org

I love the Hymns of the church, they uplift and inspire and can bring in the spirit. That said the versions that can be downloaded or listened to at lds.org are not very good. They are played and sung in a very subdued and sleepy fashion. I found I can not listen to them if driving after dark because they literally make me drowsy. I think they are there to be used as accompaniment for meeting and seminary when there is no pianist but they are both slow and flowery for that to work well. I just like the Tabernacle Choir or Enoch Train so much better because they have more emotion in the songs.

cow and boy

The Sacramento Bee doesn't run this comic, but you can check it out here

In short it is a Calvin and Hobbes ish comic strip about a 6 year old boy and his pet cow. They have conversations about surprisingly complicated issues and plan and or execute zanny capers together. Black and white daily with a full color strip sundays.

My opinion: This comic strip is great. It has a fun boys will be boys feel to it and is generally quite witty. Laugh out loud funny at least twice a week.