Cat Hair Proof Furniture Arrives

We got some new furniture...naughide style....that won't get caked in animal hair. Erin labored to put it together, and it seems to be a success!

I made it to Mexico safe and sound. I'm going to try to blog but wifi is sparse. Here's a picture of the school I'm attending.


Here's a picture of a guy on the street.

Science marches on: Sausage Biscuits tested

It rained today, a Sunday, so I tested sausage biscuits from Burger King, McDonald's, and Hardee's. BK and McD had these on special for a buck, and they were $1.50 or two for $2.50 at Ha. First I weighed the products. Here are the weights in grams, in the order BK Ha McD.

Sandwich total: 116 118 112
Meat only: 43 30 42
Meat degreased: 37 21 33

The degreasing procedure was to microwave the room-temperature meat patty for ten seconds, and then to give it the maximal napkin squeeze with which my readers are familiar.

BK is the clear winner in this part of the test, with both the biggest patty and the least squeezable fat. Ha loses big.

Next was the taste test. My personal scores were McD 9, BK 8, and Ha 4. McD had a nice spicy kick, BK was almost as good, and Ha had a mushy texture with very little taste. Biscuits were not tested for taste but you can get their weights by subtraction.

I also got my dog Jake to help with the taste tests. He is a Boston Terrier, 14 months old. I ran this test as follows: I placed small samples of each sausage on the laundry room floor, left-to-right about a foot apart. I let Jake in, and recorded the order in which he snarfed up the samples as 1, 2, or 3. I started with the order BK Ha McD left to right, then redid it in the orders Ha McD BK followed by McD BK Ha. I then reran the whole thing, adding the scores. Thus Jake received in all 18 little meat samples. He enjoyed the tests and was a good little scientist. He dozes as I write this report. Here are the results: McD 9, Ha 13 BK 14. Jake prefers McD with Ha narrowly over BK.

The grand conclusion: get your SB at BK, and drop by McD on the way home to get one for your dog. Avoid Ha for this product.

Ugly Dogs

Why is it that the Chinese Crested breed always dominate the Ugly Dog contests?

Strange Weather

The sky turned yellow, but we narrowly missed the hail and tornados in Lincoln.

And after the storm we got this rainbow! The search for the pot of gold continues.

Emma Getting Comfy With New Cat Tree

Not only does Emma the cat spend a lot of time in the cat tree cubby hole, now she's insisting on eating there too! Don't be mistaken about the third picture. That's not an angry Emma...that's a tired Emma!

Yuki's New Kennel

Yuki has new luxury kennel accomdations in the back yard! It's happy time for the animal! Here's a look:



A closer look:

Miller & Paine Cinnamon Rolls

There has been a lot of buzz in the news about Miller & Paine cinnamon rolls. Over the years this Lincoln based treat has apparently garnered worldwide fame. Being a cinnamon roll junkie, I couldn't wait to try them when I heard they were again available for purchase. A local bakery called Braeda made a deal for the secret recipe with Arne Pederson, the 86 year old holder of the secret recipe.



The roll is very good, although not like a traditional cinnamon roll. It has loads of butter and sugar mixed with cinnamon to make a thick crusty sweet top. The roll itself is small, about the size of the rolls mom used to make, but very soft with some sticky elements. This is an excellent treat and I can see why people as far away as Australia order these things. Next time you come to visit me in Lincoln, we'll check them out. Or you can get them online at www.braeda.com but they make you buy at least 4 dozen. That is perhaps too many, although I suspect they would freeze ok. Here's the PR from the website:

Miller & Paine™, a family owned and operated department store originating in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1880, was widely known for its restaurant and bakery specialties from 1904 to 1992. Many of the recipes came with the family of founder J.E. Miller when they moved to Nebraska from Pennsylvania in 1879. The recipe and process for making the famous Miller & Paine™ cinnamon rolls was faithfully protected and followed through the years. Braeda® is pleased to carry on this proud tradition.

Here's a bit from a recent Journal Star article about the rolls:
Pederson said a woman from California ordered 16 dozen every Christmas to divide among her children.

“That was a standing order,” he said.

And Nebraska home football games …

“I had to have 200 dozen sitting at the case when the store opened,” he said. “People from towns around Lincoln would take 40 or 50 dozen at a time. They took orders for other people.”

Braeda knew it latched onto a good thing.

Emma the cat

Emma the cat investigates Erin's new macbook and is photographed in the act.

The Buddha Machine

I heard an interesting piece on Studio 360 about Buddha Machines. Basically, this guy was travelling around Tibet visiting Buddhist temples. In most of the temples, he heard soothing Buddhist sound loops coming from strange hidden boxes. He bought as many of these boxes as he could lay his hands on. Inspired, he decided to create his own Buddha Machine. It's available for $23 on the web. It has been called the "anti-pod" by some. I bought one. Here's a video I made:

Free!!! Good Cabinet For Files

One of the interesting things we've noticed about Cameron Park is that residents occasionally put junk out marked with a "Free" sign in the hopes that someone will take it off their hands. Usually the stuff is crap - like a well-used cat post. Actually that cat post people wanted money but most of the stuff features the "Free" sign. While too much of this can make a neighborhood look a little trashy we had the opportunity to try and take advantage of this trend over the week-end.

As we enter what I hope is the last phase of cleaning and organizing it become clear we no longer had room for my nice black file cabinet that once resided in the office. We cleaned it out and I made the required "free signs" and put it out on the street at 11am on Sunday morning.




As we ran errands throughout the day we anticipated returning and the cabinet being gone. At one point a truck stopped, looked at it closely and then drove off sans cabinet. A walking couple commented on the good quality of the cabinet and mentioned it would go nicely in their garage. Come nightfall, however, the cabinet remained. I walked down and moved it off the street so it was not inadvertently hit by a car.

On Monday we figured we'd try one more day. I moved the cabinet out of the ditch back to its perch on the street and we carpooled to work....

Arriving home from work there was a bit of a delayed reaction - but Steph and I noticed at the same time that the cabinet had been taken.

Mission Accomplished!

Fun With Erin's New Core 2 Duo Macbook

Is Pepsi Losing the Cola War?

This Ice Cucumber Pepsi may be coming to a store near you as early as next week. Lap it up!

Boa Vista Time

Took a quick trip to Boa Vista in Apple Hill this week-end. Long Bill's favorite Apple Hill spot, Boa Vista featured wide variety of fruit and veggies this time including fresh cherries, apricots and green beans.



There is still a little snow left in the Sierras. Zoom the photo and try to guess the fruit growing in the trees...I think they are cherries!

Erin's Birthday

Yuki undergoes humiliation in order to wish Erin a happy 28th!!!

A night at roller derby

A friend of mine who goes by the name "Busty St. Clair" is part of a roller derby team called the Hood Ratz. The Ratz recently won Lincoln's No Coast Roller Derby League championship beating out the Mary Kay Mafia. I made this little video in honor of Busty and the Ratz.

Corn Chip Conundrum

Cruising down the Walmart aisle I noticed an odd thing. X-13D flavored Doritos. What flavor is an X-13D flavored Dorito? Hard to say. The clue on the bag calls it an "All-American Classic". There is a web address where you can play a game to get additional flavor clues. I initially thought it was a ball park hot dog flavor with a liberal dose of mustard. After revealing a few clues I now believe the flavor to be a back yard grilled cheeseburger with a liberal dose of pickle. Regardless of the actual flavor, it is a pretty good chip. Nice change of pace from nacho cheese.

The city so nice they named it twice

Dad sees the Brooklyn Bridge

We see the Mets


We meet up with Henry

Robert fancies a SoHo pet supply


We make our way to Little Italy

Robert and Henry express pride in their wine choice

At the point of exhaustion, Robert hunkers down like the homeless in a subway station

We see the Flat Iron Building

In a New York Minute...

Here are some of my snaps from the New York Trip! Courtesy of the Sony 2Mg phone...

MOMA Snaps

Bill in front of one of the Richard Serra rust sculptures. A special Serra exhibit was just in the process of opening.


I don't believe there is more to say on this one...


Jasper Johns' "Map". We overheard a lecture to kiddies and the lecturer asked the kids what the artist did to make this map unique... Yes the answer is color.


And finally - a long Monet.

We walked under the Broolyn Bridge - never found the famous ice cream place though...


And into the financial district - note the flag of China that was also flying on the NYSE Building


Bill was excited to see a Tom Cat Bakery truck...


as well as the deli that Letterman made famous

Last Night, Avenue Q

We saw Avenue Q on Broadway last night. Pretty entertaining. Good music. Dad rates it lower than the Broadway performance of "'Lil' Abner" he saw in 1958.


Watching the musical helps you answer?

"What Do You Do With A B.A. In English?"
Princeton: What do you do with a B.A. in English?
What is my life going to be? Four years of college and plenty of knowledge, Have earned me this useless degree. I can't pay the bills yet, 'cause I have no skills yet; The world is a big scary place, But somehow I can't shake the feeling I might make A diff'rence to the human race...