Headshot

On the train

This photo was taken while we were on the train at the Montgomery Zoo.

A/C fixed

We had Luquire come out and fix the air. The compressor fan motor had given up the ghost, 2 months after its fifth birthday. After a couple of hours, and 335 dollars later, the house was back down to normal operating temperature.

A/C out

What a day to wake up without A/C. I got up sweating at 7:30 today, and noticed the A/C was blowing warm air, and the thermostat read 85. Yikes, sounds like it's time to sit on the porch and drink sweat tea until the repair man gets here.

New Food log

I've decided to transition all my dining critiques over to my new blog, which I've called Eating Montgomery. If web logs are blogs, then I guess E|M is a flog, or perhaps a dlog.

Check it out.

Awesome Drug Ad parody

I clicked on an ad on someone's blog which lead me to a great parody of these generic Pharmaceutical ads.

Arrow in FedEx

I just ran across something about the "Famous" arrow in the FedEx logo. Am I the only one who has never noticed it?

http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000273.php

I followed it from a link next to this one, which is equally interesting.

New Restaurant review

Red Star Tavern is a new restaurant in town, located in East Chase, where Crepes Egg-cetera used to be. I was initially hesitant to go there because the sign outside is off a martini glass, and I associate taverns with bars, not grills. I would have to say I was completely mistaken.

Walking in, you see the atmosphere is wood paneled upscale chop house. Walking through the bar area to the spacious seating area, you will pick up a beat in your step from the classical Jazz and blues playing overhead. It is like an upscale BBQ shack, serving everything from the lowly $12 meatloaf, all the way up to the $33 Porterhouse.

For drinks, I had a golden Cadillac martini, which was essentially, a mini margarita, made from Patron Anejo Tequila, Cointreau, Grand Marnier, and Sweet & Sour. It was served in a stemless martini glass, and shaken and poured directly at my table.

Our appetizer was a sweet pepper cornbread with honey butter. It was really good, the Jalepeno's really complemented the sweetness of the corn bread. I would have to say that this was even better than Smokey Bones' corn bread, witch I like as well.

Dinner was a sesame encrusted Tuna steak with ginger sauce cooked MR for myself, and the Sirloin Stack cooked MW for the wife. The tuna was cooked spot-on, although for $20, I would have like to get more than just 8 oz. The ginger sauce went really well with the tuna, but the sauce on my plate was broken, and was mainly islets of flavor surrounded by butter fat. The tuna without the sauce was unremarkable, and almost tasteless. I would definitely try it again if they could keep a sauce together. I had a Cesar salad and sweet potato fries for my sides. The Cesar was good, but a little different, instead of Parmesan, it tasted like they used blue cheese or gorgonzola and the croutons were toasted chunks of their sweet corn bread. The sweet fries were great. I first discovered them at a place downtown called Noble's, and these are almost as good. The Sirloin stack was a stack of thin cuts of Sirloin interleaved with thick oven roasted tomato slices, on a bed of carmelized onions. The sirloin was tender. The cooking to MW left charred stripes of burnt that detracted from the flavor. The onions were soft, but not carmelized. The mashed potatoes that came as a side were good; had a good balance of both mealy and new potatoes; and had bits of red skins, adding to the texture and presentation.

We had the brownie for dessert. It was truly an abomination of anything even resembling food. It was a homogeneous lump of what looked and felt like solidified slurry of cornstarch and cocoa powder. It broke apart into solid chunks, in almost crystal-like formations of irregular cubes. I think that someone must have messed up that batch, as I don't think any self respecting chef would ever conjure up a recipe so sadistically gross.

The service was spectacular. It was definitely outstanding for Montgomery. We had an attentive waiter that was actually interested in helping us, and at least 3 floor managers that were genuinely interested in our dining experience. The staff was familiar with the menu, although hazy on wine recommendations. Our waiter served my wine with my cocktail, and took a really long time getting my sweet fries out. That by itself did nothing much to detract from the meal, and we left pleased and ready to return.

Overall, on my Bonefish rating scale, I would have to give Red Star 1.50 Bonefishes. Their menu is more varied, the dining area and bar is larger, the ambiance is better, and there are more parking spaces. The Service is on par with, or slightly better than bonefish as well. Red Star is a definite must eat.

Father's Day

This was the first Father's day I've been actually able to enjoy. All the others were just Hallmark marketing gimmicks, because the only person I'm a father to was not sentient enough to make it special. This year, Brandi and Sophie made me breakfast in bed. That was good, but I would have to say the best thing that day was when Sophie told me Happy Father's Day.

Super tight things

I've loaded up this cool FF extension mentioned on BoingBoing called Outfoxed. Its a pretty neat concept that ties in social networking with searching and browsing teh intarwebs. It's still in beta, and it causes FF to crash when I use the back button, but its still a Super tight thing.

I've also joined Technorati it is like a blog indexing service that tracks linkage to posts and the like. I'm still not exactly sure of it's utility, but I'll give it a tenative rating of Super Tight.

GOP Hootenany 2004 speaker

I was in Books-A-Million tonight passing the time while the wife shopped. On the way out, I noticed a book by Zell Miller, the Democratic Senator that spoke at the 2004 GOP convention, slamming his party. This was an interesting quote that was on the back of the dust jacket:

"There have been ten generations of Americans since this nation was founded….Each left this nation in a little better condition than they had inherited it from their parents. This is the first generation at risk of doing the opposite. Why? I have come to believe that it is because we failed to acknowledge and discipline ourselves with the spiritual truths that have made us great for these two hundred years—faith, family, country, values. This book is about how one man thinks they may be restored and yet save this great civilization from itself."

Now, I haven't read this, so I'm not sure what Generation he is talking about. Who the hell does he think he is, to pass any judgement on a generation. This guy started public service in the Sixties. I can almost definitivley state that any surpassed generation says the same things about the currently ascended generation. Those kids and thier Jazz music. Those beatniks with the long goatee's. Them hippies with their marijuana and free love. Those statanic heavy metal rockers. Those kids with their rap crap music, spraying grafiti and selling drugs.

Decency is in the eye of the beholder.
I think the problem now is that the boomers, as they decline into the surpassed generation, are becoming hesitant to relinquish beholder status. The problem is that the boomers will still out number us, not accepting their diminished generational currency.

If you don't like it, sit on your porch and yell at kids for walking on your lawn. There is no such thing as the "Good Old Days". Time erases the bad old days. The low crime, white bread, better living through chemistry, decent america is a myth, and it always has been. There was less crime because blacks and hispanics were oppressed through legilated discrimination. The chemistry that improved life thinned the egg shells of condors and bald eagles. Decent America had their cross dressing J Edgar Hoovers and just as many homosexuals (albeit more were closeted).

I don't know why all of a sudden there is this culture war between fundies and the rest of us non-zealots. Fundies have a specific forum for their religiously masturbatory ideologues. It is called a Church. Leave the government to the secular humanists, just as the secular humanists leave the Church to the fundies. The first amendment protects the fundies from any restrictions on religious practices. Perhaps there needs to be a new book in the bible that prohibits fundies from imposing on those that choose to live differently.

Something rotten in Denmark

This whole thing with the Repubs threat of the Nuclear Option is, according to my conservative friend Gabe, just sour grapes over Roe v. Wade. Pro-Lifers are resentful that they were not given a voice over the decision. For that I have two thoughts: the first is the doctrine of Judicial Review, and the second is the amount of time since 1973 that legislators have failed to act to fulfill their wishes democratically.

The judicial review doctrine is outlined in the Constitution, and allows judges to strike down laws that they feel are contrary to the Constitution. This is not called writing laws from the bench, it's call throwing out laws that are garbage. Judges are not activists; they either follow a strict interpretation of the Constitution, or try to apply the Constitution to modern problems that weren't necessarily considered in the times of our forefathers. One of the things that make this country work is the doctrine of judicial review. If legislators want to override the Supreme Court, they can either pass a law that addresses the concerns in ruling, or they can attempt to pass an amendment to the Constitution. The other issue is that the legislature has had 32 years to pass an amendment to the Constitution or another law that dodges the Courts objections. It has not been able to achieve the needed number of votes in any case.

This is the democratic process as it exists in the United States. The Repubs, neo-cons and pro-lifers claim that judges striking down laws on the basis of unconstitutionality are undemocratic and activistic. They are not. Republican Senators attempting to subvert the Constitutional protections of the minority by undermining the filibuster is activistic and undemocratic. When the cloture rule was added to parliamentary procedure, it was the most democratic method of ending a filibuster.

This is dirty pool because the Repubs cannot convince enough people to confirm the President's appointments, and are afraid that they do not have enough support for a cloture movement in the event of a filibuster. Democratic means to resolve the current situation are already in place. What is going on now is an underhanded attempt to change the rules mid-game to favor the majority. This whole activist judge thing is an attempt at riling up a certain conservative part of the populace that are too simple minded or just plain ignorant of what is written the Constitution. They rely on talking heads like Painkiller Limbaugh or Pretty-blonde Coulture to tell them what the Constitution says, instead of reading it for themselves.

Live by the sword and what not

Kohl's Frozen Custard - Everything Else Is Just Ice Cream!

The latest finger biting incident at Kohl's frozen custard, (isn't that gelato?) has enabled another get rich scheme, I mean tort. The workers fingertip was sliced off, and being preserved in frozen custard, could have probably been reattached. But instead, this understandably upset customer chose pursue the get rich route over the compassion route. The finger biter refused to return the severed tip to the GM so that he could try and have it reattached to its rightfull owner.

If I were a lawyer, I would personally offer my services to the short fingered worker, so that I could sue the shit out of the asshole that wouldn't give the finger back.

It's this attitude that tort reform needs to fix, not caps on malpractice. It should be done in a supply side manner, punishing lawyers who encourage victims to with hold fingertips from being sewn back on, so that they can get their fee from whatever settlement.

Latest email to My Rep.

Judge Poe,

 

   I recently read your explanation to your vote against returning to House ethics rules. While I think your explanation is well intentioned, I can't help but think that our elected Representatives should be held to a higher standard. You talked about the Constitutional protects for the alleged, but I can't seem to draw the same parallels between the requirements for a Representative to step down from a committee while under indictment, and the loss of liberty associated with the criminal justice system.

 

I do see this as ironic that when the Republicans passed the "Old Rules", it was in their best interest, as it is now, when they are trying to hang on to the more lenient rules that they have recently brought about. I also see that the Honorable Tom Delay, who redistricted you into office, is the reason why the Republicans are against the rules.

 

I want to believe you voted for the reasons you give, but because of the Delay debacle, the Schiavo meddling, and the threat of the Nuclear Option, I have almost no faith in Republicans to do what's right for democracy, instead of furthering their own self interests.

 

v/r,

Charles F Presley II

Strawberry desert

Last night I made this kickass desert. I mixed a chopped up pound of strawberries with a 1/4 of sugar, 1/2 tblspoon of lemon juice and 1oz of vodka and let it steep for an hour. Once it had gotten juicy, I spread it all over a giant, dinner plate sized sponge cake. After the juices soaked in I sliced it, and then put whipped cream on top.
I'll have to make it for a party next time, because it isn't nearly as good the second day.