Well Turkey Day has come and gone and now the only thing left to do is eat the leftovers.
As it turns out, I didn't have my T-day feast all to myself, as I stated in my last post. All last week a fellow that I work with kept claiming that "he and his wife would be over Thanksgiving day to share in my feast", I thought he was just joking. So wasn't I surprised when there was a knock at my back door, Thursday, just as I sat down with my first plate. I had jokingly told him "the turkey would be done around 1:00 and the could show up any time around there." I really never thought they would actually show up though.
He and I have worked together a long time and are always joking around, so I really never took him seriously. Fortunately I made enough food to feed an army so there wasn't any problem there, and all the food turned out good, in my opinion, so all went well. He said that "since I had ran a restaurant before, I had better be able to cook" and though this is a little different than cooking bar food, it's well within my capabilities. I grew up on a farm, with a mother who worked full time, so I learned early on the art of cooking, which has always been something I have really enjoyed. I can remember my brother and I going out and collecting blackberries and creating blackberry pies with them, or going fishing in the morning and returning to cook them up for our lunch. Often making breakfast meant going out and collecting the eggs from the chickens first, so I learned my way around a kitchen at a very young age. Unfortunately many men never learn how to cook, and my friend is no exception, claiming that "he would starve if not for his wife feeding him", of which I have no doubt.
It was very nice to have some company for dinner for a change, and of course not wanting to come empty handed they brought me a Pomegranate. Now this may seem like a strange thing to bring, but during our many conversations I believe that I mentioned that I had never tried one before, so now I guess I am going to have to try this thing before I go back to work because I'm sure he will ask how I liked it.
So if you ask me what I'm thankful for on this holiday weekend, it would have to be "friends that don't let you eat alone." Though had I really believed that they were coming I would have made more biscuits and started the pumpkin pie sooner...
Hey You...
I want to thank everyone for their heartfelt sentiments and support for my last post, and to let everyone know that I'm doing ok. I really dreaded that day coming again this year, as last year was so very, very bad. This year I did handle it better, having learned to distract myself and "stay out of my own head", which seems to be the best way for me to "keep my balance" these days. I did take flowers (carnations, her favorite) and place them at the cross, out at the crash site on Sunday, but I didn't stay long, as that place is still very hard for me to cope with. I know she understands. Time seems to be "doing its thing" for me, even though I still think this has been going on for far too long. I don't know if I'll ever be totally over it...
I want to wish everyone a very happy "Turkey Day." Even though Halloween is my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving comes in a close second. You have to admit if there were a holiday made just for guys, Thanksgiving would be it. First you stuff yourself with massive quantities of food, then you snooze on the couch, drinking beers (not me though) and watching football games (of which they've added a third one this year). What could be more in tune with any mans expectations of a perfect day. I believe they added "Black Friday" just to make it up to the womenfolk for all the work they do on Thanksgiving while the men are absorbed with their debaucheries. I went to the store on Saturday and picked out my bird and all the trimmings to go along with it. I only got a small 13.5-pound turkey as I am cooking this massive feast just for me. I was looking for garlic oil to baste the bird in, but the only thing I found was garlic and basil oil, and since I'm not a huge fan of basil, I blew it off. This idea of using garlic oil was something my best friend "Jul" suggested and it sounded pretty good, but since I live in a small town and our grocery store has somewhat limited selections, it was not to be. I guess I'll go back to my tried and true methods for my turkey and look elsewhere for the garlic oil for next year. I also picked up Sweet potatoes, green beans (for the casserole) and a pumpkin pie. The only thing I forgot was the bread for left over turkey sandwiches, which is the real reason for cooking all this food in the first place...
I'm going out to see my son tomorrow, as it is his 17th birthday. My ex, "T1", has invited me over for dinner like she did last year. She has a funny way of inviting you for dinner. When I talked to her on the phone she said, "are you coming over for dinner", to which I said, "Yes, cook for me woman!" It wasn't like I was going to just invite myself over for dinner. It appears that my son is all grown up now, this year for his birthday all he wants is "cash". I think the first time they ask for that you know they have changed...
J.A.S. 1/30/69 - 11/19/04
"I Never would have opened up but you seem so real to me"...
"I don't have to pretend"...
"I believe this is heaven to me, to no one else but me and I'll defend it long as I can"...
"But I love the way you smile at me. I love the way your hands reach out and hold me near"...
I Love You and miss you always.
Up until now there has been one very large issue with switching over to Blogger Beta. We were not able to post a comment on an old blogger site with our new Blogger Beta ID and password. I've discovered that we can though; there is just a little trick to it.
If you go to an old blogger site and try to post a comment by putting your new Blogger Beta ID and password directly into the comment section, it won't work, giving you an error saying your ID is not recognized. The old blogger comment section won't take your new Beta ID and password, but if you go and log into your Blogger Beta dashboard with your new ID and then go to someone's old blogger site, when you go to leave a comment, it will post it without even asking for your ID and password. The idea is to be logged into the server first, then go to people's sites and comment.
I am very close to the point where I am going to blow off the Old Blogger site and just start using my Blogger Beta site. This last week with all the problems the Old Blogger servers had, has pretty much convinced me. While the Old Blogger was down quite often, the new Blogger Beta, on it's new servers, was chugging right along with no problems (in fact right now the Blogger Beta let me post this while the Old Blogger won't even let me log in). I'm not saying that there are no problems left with Blogger Beta, there are still is some issues with mobile blogging, team blogging, and if you need a dashboard in any language other than English, French, Italian, German or Spanish, but most the other bugs seem to have been worked out.
The new Blogger Beta does have some nice new features like being able to categorize your posts by adding "Labels". The new templates (though there are only about 8 of them that look like the old ones) have a nice GUI feature for adding sections to your sidebar easily. My Blogger Beta site, Dagoth's Domain, is an old template and does not have this feature but my Blogger Beta Site, Dagoth's Board Room, is one of the new templates and does have this feature.
There may still be some problems with posting a comment on a Blogger Beta site that has its security features turned on. If you have an anti-spyware filter running, the secure site wants to put a tracking cookie on your computer before it will allow you to comment and your anti-spyware software won't allow this. The ant-spyware could be shut off temporarily, allowing you to comment, and then turned back on removing the cookie afterwards. I presently have an email out to the Blogger Support Team asking them about this issue and a few others, hopefully they will get back to me soon.
Since I have been running dual sites I haven't heard of anyone having problems posting comments (other than the issues the blogger server had the other week) on either of my sites and have had some people posting on both. Having two identical sites has caused a little confusion which is why I am thinking about ending this practice. I would really be interested in hearing what you think, is it time to switch?
In my previous post, Household Pictorial Challenge, I showed the chessboard that I acquired down in Mexico, as one of my favor
ite objects. After seeing it, Blogger AndyT, who found my site through Gnightgirl (the post was her challenge), challenged me to a game of online chess. Never being one to turn down a game, and since it has been sooooo very long since I've had the opportunity to play, I accepted his challenge. So to facilitate said game, I have started a new blog, Dagoth's Board Room, where I will be posting pictures of our game and play-by-play.
Mind you, neither of us claims to be Grand Masters or anything like that. It just seems like it might be a lot of fun. I've always loved the game, though many people find it boring. I remember many games in my life, many wins and many losses, all of which were a great deal of fun. I especially remember one weekend when my father, my brother and his wife, and myself were snowed in, inside my small apartment. They came to visit just before a raging blizzard set in, and were trapped there. We entertained ourselves for three days, by having non-stop chess tournaments from morning till night. It was one of the worst blizzards that I can remember, with nothing moving outside except for snowmobiles. How better to entertain ourselves than to get two chessboards going, with winners playing winners. I couldn't begin to tell you how many games we played that weekend, but by the time the snow let up we had played so many games there was no way to tell who the overall winner was, and for that matter, it didn't seem to make much difference to any of us, anyways.
I hope you all will stop in to the new site and check out how the game is going, and don't be shy to comment. Though AndyT and I both agree that no kibitzing is allowed. I don't know how long this game will last, though we have agreed to try to make at least one move per day. As I have never played an online game before this should be quite interesting. I will be posting one picture for every two moves in order to try and save bandwidth. So I would just like to say good luck to AndyT, though I expect that any chess player would say lucks got nothing to do with it...Let the games begin!
This post was inspired by Gnightgirl's Household Pictorial Challenge wherein she asked that we would find a few items around our house that have special meaning to us and post pictures and talk about them...ya know, kinda like "show-n-tell" in school, the only subject I got straight A's in...yea yea, right...so here goes...
First of all we have the "Dragon Banner" I have had this banner for quite a few years now and I always say "Wherever this banner flies, that is my home". It has flown in more places in the last few years than I expected and whenever I move into a new place one of the first things I do is hang this banner...
This small pouch that I acquired down in Mexico contains some items that are very special to me, it has; 2 small stones, one from the ruins at Chichen Itza and one from the walled city of Talum (stones NOT from the ruins themselves), it has my two wedding rings from both my marriages (ok kinda strange), and most important the Lothlorian Broach from the Lord of the Rings that is pinned on the outside of the pouch that my girlfriend "J" gave me for my Halloween costume when I went as Legolas...
These are just a few of the dragons that I collect. I haven't quite found homes for them yet, but I will as soon as I build some of the shelves I have planned for my house...
This is my favorite chess set that we got at the flea market in Cancun. It features the Spanish Conquistadors versus the Aztecs and is really a lovely piece. It only has one problem; it's never been played on. There is something a little sad about a chess set that has never been played before but I hope to change that soon...behind it you can see my Samurai Swords which are also one of my favorite things...
This Oriental Lantern is a strange object that I have had since I was about 7 years old. I found it at an old junkyard where my friends and I would go to scavenge "good junk" when we were kids. It's an item that seems bound and determined to travel with me on my entire journey through life...
And finally this Oriental Fan that doesn't really fit into the rules of the Household Pictorial Challenge, because I just received it today. At work we have an Engineer visiting from one of our sister companies in China and he gave out presents to people in our department who have been helping train him. It's just very lovely so I thought I would include it. Now I just have to find a good place to hang it...
