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.

Vibrivox.org

If you are familiar with Project Gutenburg than you will understand better what Librivox is. Libravox is a community of people working to make public domain texts available as free audio books. Community members get the texts from project gutenburg or a library and then record themselves reading it outloud. The books are then available as mp3s to download free from the site.

My opinion: this is a great concept. I just listened to Silas Marner that I downloaded from them, and it was quite good. If I had bought a recording of audible.com it would have run $16.50. However, the quality of the readings and the recording very greatly because anyone can be a librivox reader. In short, I like the idea but sometimes you get what you pay for.

blockbuster online

Today I canceled my blockbuster online account after having it for a year, but I still think it is a pretty good service. Make a list of movies you want to see and then they come in the mail. You can mail them back or go in to blockbuster and trade it for another movie for free (This was my favorite feature and they have added restrictions to it in the recent past.) and then the next (usually) movie on your list comes in the mail 2 days later. It is pretty cool, really... But I have now had a movie to return in my backpack for a whole week. I just don't need to have a new DVD to watch everyday, especially during the school year, so I am freeing up the 15 bucks a month I was spending on Blockbuster online to spend on audio books.

boggle!

A classic word game, everyone looks at the same 16 random letters in a 4x4 grid and tries to spell as many words as possible using touching letters.

My opinion: the greatest game ever. Well that is hyperbole, but I have been playing it a lot lately while passing through institute (a round only takes 5 min) and I think it is a blast.

rice crispy treats

marshmallows melted with butter and then added to a bunch of bland breakfast cereal.

My opinion: a waste of marshmallows. Just think of all the s'mores that have not been made because the marshmallows had been melted. However, tonight I made a batch with coco crispies and some chocolate chips thrown in, and they were pretty tasty.

teryaki burger

This summer Carl's Jr introduced their teryaki burger. Hamburger patty, grilled pineapple ring, lettuce, tomato, white cheese stuff, Teryaki sauce, and mayo on a sesame seed bun, and it is still on the menu four months later.

My opinion: I like it BUT! the white onion on the regular burger is to strong and does not compliment the teryaki sauce. The six dollar burger has red onion which is pretty good but that throws off the beef to pineapple ratio. I just order the single and ask for no onion (and then remove the onion when they put it on anyway).

Dennison's chili

Tonight I tried Dennison's hot and spicy chili for the first time.

My opinion: Blah. In classical Dennison's fashion it completely failed to impress. Stagg is still the way to go when it comes to chili.

Ambrose Bierce

Today I had my first encounter with Ambrose Bierce a short story called A Jug of Syrup it was a ghost story of sorts.

My Opinion: not bad but not nearly as good as Twain.

silas marner

I love this book.

It is one of my favorite classics, though I think Hunch back is still number one.