JJB’s Ramblings

I’ve done this once or twice with the iPod and thought it may be interesting to take a look at 10 random photos to see if anything was worth sharing. Turns out there isn’t but I am going to do it anyway because frankly, you are working too hard today and could use a little break. 

Photo 1 Jay and I went on a little hike up in the White Mountains at peak foliage.  I always liked this photo because I didn’t do much photoshoping and it kinda looks like a painting.  Actually, I didn’t even take this on the hike.  I believe I made him stop the car on the way home to snap this one. 

Photo 2  Say hello to Meghan.  For some crazy reason she asked me to take a photo or two of her for a holiday photo for someone.  Anyway, the best part of the shoot was when I made her go outside into the freezing night. Bonus Photo

 Photo 3 Childrens opera at The Boston Conservatory.  Incidentally it was the first time E and I met, though neither of us really took any notice of it. 

Photo 4  Hellbone initiation with Roo…. Man that’s good stuff. 

Photo 5  Amber has so many talents, its impossible to really sum it up… but this does a pretty good job of coming close. 

Photo 6  Probably the biggest threat in the co-ed league.  K. Kortz will shut you down and then make you apologize for wasting her time.

 Photo 7   The only thing that makes me glad that the snow has to stop. 

Photo 8  This was taken at an old Lime factory back in Chesire.  The only thing creepier than the building was the neurotic owner chasing us off the property. 

Photo 9  I never get tired of seeing these dudes live. 

Photo 10  If wiffle ball is not the true sport of kings, then I really don’t know what is.

Oh yes.  I am finally taking that culinary leap into curing meat.  What better way to start than with Bacon? Who doesn’t love bacon (I mean besides veggies and people who don’t eat meat with 4 legs)?  Exactly.  So today I am purchasing 15 lbs of pork belly (as illustrated above) in the hopes of making several types and flavors of bacon. 

Actually, that’s all the detail I have right now, I just thought you should know.  Tonight I butcher.  More to follow…

Did you know that video games really help break a person down to expose their true moral fiber?  It’s true.

It’s no secret that I wanted Guitar Hero II.  In fact, it’s no secret that I occasionally digressed to the attitude of a spoiled 8 year old.  ANYWAY.  I finally got Guitar Hero II a few weeks back.  I told E that having it would help us spend more time together as we would come home from work and just play the game, eat dinner, play some more, etc etc etc.  What I didn’t count on was E’s natural talent to kick ass in the game.  While I was more concerned with playing the songs that I knew and liked and getting better at them, eRock  (which, I suppose, is more fitting now than ever) put the wa-wa pedal down to the metal (oh puns, how I love thee) and cruised through the Easy Career mode in a short time.  Oh, then she ploughed through the entire medium career mode unlocking the penultimate encore song Freebird.  She sailed through that and went back to bettering her scores in the medium mode before stepping up to Hard.  All the while I had skipped the easy mode and just started playing through all the songs in medium that I liked (and that she had already unlocked) and noticed that my best scores were still leagues below hers.  Well until this past Friday night. 

After a few warm-up sessions I launched into Guns ‘n Roses Sweet Child of Mine (a personal fave) and after playing what I thought was a stellar game, noticed that her score was still better than mine.  I would not stand for that, so in 3 more tries I finally beat her by about 15,000 points.  I was so psyched that I actually called her to tell her that I beat her.  That was it.  No other reason except to gloat.  She took it all in stride, asking if I really called her just to tell her that.  I said yes. She laughed and we hung up.  Little did I know that my reign was to be short lived. 

The following night we had some friends over for dinner and a little guitar hero action.  I was in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove while E talked her friends through the finer points of the game, occasionally playing a song or two herself.  Then I heard the opening notes of Sweet Child of Mine.  Wow, she made it through the opening pretty well…covered the first two verses like Slash …big middle solo sounds pretty darn good…  wow, she cleared that ending with ease….  That’s when I hear (from her friends) OHHHHH!  I knew that my reign was over… she beat me.  She beat me real good.  It must have been a damn near perfect play.  I am gonna start getting up in the middle of the night to practice I think… that’s when rock stars usually thrive.

Amber and I enjoy a unique friendship, as I have talked about before.  We both take a lot of photos, have a creative side and occasionally have some spare time.  We also are the founding members of the Circle of Hate (which isnt so much of a circle, as it is a strait line joining two points, her and I) and take every opportunity we can to get a shot in at the other. 

Example: 
me: better than a poltergeistmonster
amber: hahahahahahhah touché
me: douché
amber: asshole
me: thats about right
amber: illl be back.  

Anyway. 

As I was saying, we mess around in photoshop, usually using some sort of enemies and carefully adding our own unique take on it, as seen above.  About 5 min after I sent this to her, I received an email.  I think I must have tripped a ninja security system or something because the subject line to the email was:  Martial Art Children’s book “Sensei Teaches Focus”.  Was this some sort of sign?  A threat maybe?  Or are they trying to reruit me after seeing my awesome ninja ways. I can’t be sure, but if I find out you’ll know… or maybe you wont because I will be hiding in the shadows, ready to take you down in a split second. 

Here are some other photoshopped treasurers to enjoy. 
Spy vs. Spy
Classic Tom and Jerry

Like the goldfish that is continuously surprised when it sees the castle, I am continually amazed by the public library system.  I remember going to the library in Dalton when I was younger and being totally psyched that they had videos.  More precisely, they had Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and as far as I could tell, it was free and you could watch it as many times as you want.  Of course, I really only wanted to see the scenes with this guy.  That’s what nightmares are made of. 

ANYWAY.

 I have hit up my local Cambridge branch recently and the amazement is still there.  I can get DVD’s, CD’s and …um….. what is that other medium?  Oh yeah, books.  Them things with all those fancy words.  Nothing suits an obsessive subject of the moment reader like me better than the library. A month ago I was all about reading novels that were eventually made into movies.  Before that I was catching up on Augusten Burroughs latest book because I ran across two of his publications in my own book collection.  Yesterday it was a full on culinary assault.  I’ve been following Michael Ruhlman’s blog  for a while and find his writing pretty interesting and his interactions with another author favorite of mine (Anthony Bourdain) are always amusing.  The fact that Ruhlman also wrote this book: Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing pretty much assures that he will have my rapt attention.  I found that at my library in addition to four other books he has written and promptly reserved them all. Along with a few albums, movies and some more wordy pages.  And it’s free!   

Well, free unless you are one of those people who are tardy with returns.  Like me.  I paid almost $6 in fines last night for late books and will probably fork over some more dough for the Three Stooges bio that seems to have gone missing from my house.  I felt like a crook trying to cash a bad check.  “Can I help you?” asked the matronly old woman behind the counter. “Yes ma’am,” I said “ I believe I have some items on reserve.  Last name is Bates.”  This is where, if it were a movie, there would be a flash of lightning and rolling thunder in the distance.  “Oh yes.” She pauses and I break into a sweat.  Does she know I am a delinquent?  Should I just make a run for it now and call E from a small town in Mexico in 19 hours? No, no. Stay calm. “I have them right here. Lovely.” I relax a little as she scans my library card and then the first book. Then she has to rescan it.  Once more. She pauses and studies the screen, the computer beeps a few times. I think I here the march of footsteps coming down the hallway and look around to see if the window is barred. It isn’t, but it is about 7ft off the ground. Damn.  Also, it’s only about 2 feet wide. Damn, damn. She looks at me and I can tell she is sizing me up. The high school intern with the shaved head is eyeing the door and has stopped filing his circulations. Time pretty much stops and I know my cover is blown.  “I’m sorry dear, it appears that you have $5.40 in fines.  You will have to pay it down to at least $5.00.” I feign surprise.  “Really? I had no idea.  Here. Here is $6.00.”  Maybe she won’t notice my cold, clamy hands.  She makes the cash handoff to her associate who gives her back $0.60 and I swear mouths the words “Don’t F with the public library pal.” I take my books, turn on my heel and do double time out the door back to the car.  I am already planning the route to Mexico because I don’t want to find out what happens when you lose the book entirely.

Gulp.