Ode to the Record Store - Year Two

They aren't all gone yet! Last year was a good celebration with me picking up some good music...

Dimple Records is still alive here in Sacramento and hopefully doing ok. Who knows for sure though with the way businesses are vacating strip malls with no warning at all. I discovered our only Baja Fresh was closed when I walked over for lunch the other day :( But that's a different blog post...

This year I scored some more good music at Record Store day.

the eels second album which is a darker album... includes the awesome track Last Stop: This Town



I'm careful about buying Prince music that came after Around the World in a Day. This three disc set receives good reviews generally so I snapped it up for $6. Steph and I enjoyed it last night while sitting outside...some good stuff.


Most folks think Cyndi Lauper was a one album wonder and generally turn up their noses at her other work. Fact is there's a lot more to her music than just Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Time after Time.
An album I remember listening to a lot in college...I told Steph it really hadn't aged all that well... then I read that on the iTunes review as well! Regardless, there are some good tunes in here.



INXS debut album without Michael Hutchence. I added to my get list after hearing the first singles from it a year or two ago...Afterglow is very good IMO. There is other good stuff too.

Here's the deal with record stores though...I got all of the above used for $30. Looking at Amazon they can all be had for an average price of .30 cents with shipping for $3 each. The eels being the only exception where the cheapest was $2.50. So you could buy these 5 albums for about $20 on Amazon.... but you never would... record stores provide the fun of browsing and it is a random pool of stuff where things just pop out at you. An experience Amazon is unable to provide...

Here's to record stores surviving at least one more year :)

John Grisham's Law School Picture

I spent a few days in Oxford, Mississippi attending a conference at the Ole Miss Law School. All of the student photographs were posted in the halls, so I decided to try to find John Grisham's picture. I asked a secretary at the school what year Grisham graduated. She didn't know, but was willing to look it up for me. She disappeared into a back room and about three minute later, emerged with a file in hand. It was Grisham's grades and other law school records! She told me he graduated in 1981. I asked if I could look at his file and she said no. I asked her how his grades were, but she told me she wasn't allowed to comment on student records. Anyway, at least I found out what class he was in. I tracked down the class of '81 photographs and took the following pics with my cell phone cam.

I'm A Ramblin' Wreck From Georgia Tech....Famous Finger Commercial

The thing's gone viral...if you haven't seen it watch it!

Britain's Got Talent... Susan Boyle Audition


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Chicken Strips Comparison Test

I tried Zaxby's, Sonic, KFC, and Chick Fil-A. All were white meat with little flavor. Quality was quite similar. Be sure to get some kind of a dipping sauce.

Zaxby's

Strip weighed 38 grams. All white meat. Very Bland

Five 'fingers' for $3.79. Best value.

Sonic

Strip weighed 41 grams. All white meat.

Very bland, but a nice crunch.

Four piece strip dinner (bread, slaw fries) $4.89

KFC
Strip weighed 58 grams. All white meat.

Has a slight zing, causing me to call it the best.
Two piece strip meal (potatoes, gravy, biscuit) $3.49

Chick Fil-A

Strip weighed 44 grams. All white, very bland flavor.
Three piece, strips only. $3.79

2008-2009 Fiscal Cheap Candy Season Drawing to a Close

With the passing of Easter the 2008-2009 fiscal candy season wraps up. Over the next week or two is your last chance to get super-cheap post holiday discounted candy. The season starts each October with Halloween and rolls through Christmas and into the next year with Valentines Day and finally Easter.

Post Valentines day discounts were deep this year as stores looked to excess product. The best I ran across was at Long's Drugs where prices were 90% off with some good stuff remaining. I scored this simulated steel tin of Russell Stovers chocoloates for right around a buck.


Pez candy dispensers could be had for ten cents! Sadly I purchased a few at full price a week earlier.

Over 6 months 'til the start of the '09-'10 season so buy a couple extra boxes of peeps when you run across them!

Blog Backlog - Easter 2009

There is a bit of a backlog on the blog due to busy week-ends and taxes. Here are some of the best snaps over the past week or two. Hopefully a video within the next few weeks. In the meantime...

Jack is developing a habit of needing some snuggle time with Mom right after his baths.


And here he is at a friend's birthday party. Underneath a parachute!


Finally, Jack experienced his first Easter Egg hunts this week. One at school and one at home. Here he sets out on the search for eggs. Look closely and you'll spot two. (click image to enlarge)

A headboard, a bike, and two dogs.

They Start'em Younger and Younger

Kids and cell phones now seem to go together like pancakes and syrup. They text under desks without looking, cheat on tests and set the ringers to high pitched sounds only dogs and kids can hear.

By the looks of things this trend will continue as Jack already has a natural inclination towards my Samsung Smartphone.

Here are a few snaps as evidence:

"Any new emails?"



"Uh-oh - I better call Mom!"



"You want Dad to pick up a pizza on the way home? OK Got it. I'll send him a text message when we're done"



"Dad - Go 2 PapaM & get D-L Pizza"

The NCAA Title Game: No Big Eas(t/y) representation

All year long we had to hear about how great the Big East conference was. They were certainly good - but certainly NOT great. The other note is that calling this collection of 16 basketball schools a conference is probably a stretch...perhaps the Big East Coalition is a better name. Most conferences top out at 12 so you've got to figure that if you add four more teams you'll get more representation, etc...

So congrats to the Big East on an above average season. Maybe someone from your coalation will win it all next year... you are certainly due since the Big 12, the SEC and the ACC have all won since you have.... wait - maybe it is the Pac 10s turn next year.

The Ladies take first and second! 2009 March Madness Pick'em Results

With North Carolina beating Villanova last night Erin claims first in the annual pick'em contest.



Among those who didn't pick a #1 seed to win it all - Robert wins :)

Congrats to Erin for taking first and Steph for taking second.

Best of GT Final Four Runs

Here's Tech's final shot to beat Okie State and move into the finals!



Here's how Tech came back from down 4 in 13 seconds against Michigan State to force overtime...then go on to win. Kenny Anderson's coast to coast run for a bucket in 7 seconds is still amazing...

Faster than a speeding bullet?

Nah... just a blurry picture due to no flash.... but here's Jack playing a new game - hide in the closet...

Here he is "slowed down" before disappearing into the sea of shirts...

Look closely and you'll spy a baby!

My father, Lawrence Norman Tangeman was born in Firth, NE 8/14/1908.

My grandfather, Abraham Tangeman, is buried in the Firth cemetary.

His grave is on the left and mine is on the right for future use.

Bill and Erin are ready to go to work.

Carol at the state line south of Beatrice.

Night Night

As I was putting Jack to bed last night I was surprised to hear him say for the first time "Night Night" I say that time him a lot but this time he said it to me!

Here are a couple of recent good snaps of him. This one features one of his new wrenches. He also will smile when you ask him to - but it isn't a very natural look and is quite posed. I'll try and get picture of his fake smile up sometime...

Here's one of him looking quite carefree - there's actually a soccer ball up in the air!

When dogs dream

This is courtesy of Rob & D'Nena Moore.

http://www.wimp.com/dognightmare/

March Photo Montage

Mission to Marzipan

Ben & Jerry's has released a new flavor called, "Mission to Marzipan". It's a sweet cream ice cream with almond cookies and a marzipan swirl. Erin picked this up when I was in Las Vegas and found it to be weird tasting and basically inedible. I agree that it isn't the best B&J's flavor out there, but didn't have much problem eating the stuff.

We actually had to research marzipan to figure out what it was. Strangely, after reading about it, we're still not sure what it is. Here's the best description we could find:
"Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar and almond meal. It derives its characteristic flavor from bitter almonds, which constitute 4% to 6% of the total almond content by weight. Some marzipan is also flavored with rosewater."

Mission to Marzipan hits your tongue with a strongly flavored almond extract bite that rings a little weird. Maybe this is how marzipan always tastes. Who knows? At any rate, I'd say this flavor is for marzipan fans only, assuming marzipan fans exist.

Thingamajig Reviewed

I discovered a new candy bar from Hershey's in Walgreens recently. The Thingamajig. Yes, that's right, it seems the Hershey's people have officially run out names for new products.

The first thing I looked at on the Thingamajig's packaging was the ingredients list to determine whether the chocolate bar contained any chocolate. Turns out it does. There is coco butter on the ingredients list and the description clearly says "made with chocolate" instead of chocolate-like, chocolate-flavored, or chocolatey coating.

The bottom layer of Thingamajig is chocolate (flavored) crisped rice. The upper 1/3 is a sweet peanut butter (flavored) filling, kind of like the interior of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. These two layers are then covered in chocolate. Erin and I both liked the bar pretty well. Thingamajig is way better than the Whatchamacallit, a similar "fake chocolate" offering from Hershey's.

Engagement Gift!

We received a mysterious gift in the mail last week. Turns out it was an engagement gift from Robert, Steph, and Jack.

We opened it up to discover the fancy Cuisinart waffle maker and the Fiestaware butter dish we had put on our registry.
Sunday morning waffles have never been better! Thanks guys!

Pizza

Paul Tangeman, Bill Tangeman, and Robert Tangeman have all been making scratch pizzas of late. This is Richard Tangeman's latest. It is not fully scratch but is made from Wal-Mart brand crust mix and bottled sauce, plus peperroni and lots of mozzarella cheese.

2009 NCAA Pick'em!

http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1/register/joinprivategroup_assign_team?GID=170209&P=gobuckygo

Linke above should get you there and includes the password (which is gobuckygo) embedded. Make your picks and check'em twice.

Here's the info in case it is needed.

Group ID #170209

Crazy T's Pick'em Emporium

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

from the CA Tangeman clan including...


Ranger and Kodak


Stephanie and Robert


and baby Jack! shown here enjoying the first Peep of his young life!

Goosey Goosey Gander

Milder Nebraska temperatures seem to have put the visiting geese and ducks in a good mood. This weekend the friendly fowl made it up into our yard in their search for seed and food.

I was reminded of the classic nursery rhyme "Goosey Goosey Gander", which you can now read.

Goosey Goosey Gander,
Whither shall I wander?
Upstairs and downstairs
And in my Lady's chamber.
There I met an old man
Who wouldn't say his prayers,
So I took him by his left leg
And threw him down the stairs.
The stairs went "crack"
He broke his back
And all the little ducks went "quack, quack, quack"

The Antique Waffler

I made Jack waffles this morning - a Sunday morning tradition of sorts but instead of using the standard Villaware Classic Waffler..



I elected to pull out the old Tangeman Family 4-grid waffle iron - circa the 60's or 70's. I hadn't used this one in a while and don't think my last experience went that well with it.



I sprayed some Crisco onto it and wiped it down to condition it a bit and poured the batter in. The first waffle wasn't good - it stuck and was undercooked - not even dog-worthy. The second, third and fourth waffles, however were great! The antique waffle iron is back in the game!



It makes a thinner, crisper waffle than you get out of many of today's irons which tend to be more of the belgian style.

Jake-the-snake and some friends

I have posted recently on the dog, so here he is with our friends Carol and Lyra.

Happy Pi Day!

Nobody knows who 5Lab is... but Pi day we can do!

Animal Kingdom!

Yesterday - as we were putting the finishing on getting Jack ready for school I looked out the front window and saw a coyote crossing the street right in front of our house. He took interest in the neighbors lower yard area where a small warren of rabbits reside. I opened the door to scare the coyote away.

Next - as Jack is apt to occasionally do - just as we were heading out to the garage he made a few grunting sounds and we needed to drop our bags and head upstairs for a fresh diaper. I looked out the window to spy 2 ducks settling in by the new lounge chairs around our pool. I snapped a poor picture (heavily zoomed without a tripod).



After Jack's "oil change" we went out to the car - I first went to grab the papers and spotted a rabbit sitting in our front yard chawing away at some grass.

Finally, our animal adventure concluded as we saw two turkeys in the lot across from our house - we hadn't seen turkeys since back in the fall. So there you have it... 4 different wild animals in ~5 minutes.

On a related note, Steph and I have taught Jack to howl like a wolf.

5Lab Says:

A Puzzling Baby Video

Setting the Stage
A few weeks ago we got Jack a new toy. A wooden puzzle box with 12 holes in it cut out in a variety of shapes. Coupled with the box are 12 colored blocks - each of which match one of the box holes. Here's what it looks like:



He quickly took to the puzzle and has gotten better and better at it. There are several pieces which are quite challenging including a parallelogram and a somewhat random quadrilateral. It is fun to watch him study the pieces a bit before trying to put them in. It has also been fun to see which pieces are hardest and easiest for him....the results weren't intuitive but, after thinking about it, are not surprising... watch and see.

Who Watches the Watchmen?

I saw Watchmen yesterday, and for me, it is one of the best super hero flicks ever made. The fact that I had previously read the graphic novel and was familiar with the story no doubt increased my enjoyment of the film, and I'd definitely recommend reading it first (or watching the motion comic on the iTunes store). That being said, the two people I saw Watchmen with had never read the story and they both enjoyed it as well.

Jack and Daddy

Some friends of ours snapped this good shot a few weeks back at a birthday party.



Jack has managed to piece together a few 2 word sentences. Here are some of his first in approximate order of him uttering them:

Don't pee! - This was definitely his first
Bye-bye Doggie
Bye-bye Daddy
Uh-oh Buddy
No more