Posts Tagged ‘food’

• I felt lightheaded and confused but I knew that it was fantastic

  Date: 2010.08.22 | Category: travel | Response: 2

  After the first bite the left side of my face started to feel numb. After a few seconds I couldn’t control it and I began to drool. Undeterred I continued without regard to my health and well being. I thought I could hear the sound of angels and I approached the light.

  Minutes later the episode was over and I slowly began to recover and return to this world. I had experienced something that must have been delivered straight from Heaven.

  Cut to two hours prior – here I sat in this room thinking about my dinner options. The chow hall is closed on the weekend so I’m forced to venture out and find something to eat. It’s not necessarily a bad thing – getting out of the room is a welcome change. In time I noticed an article that touted burgers that could rival or even beat those served by the famed In-and-Out. Curious I looked up the location on Google Maps and off I went.

  There in the distance the sign beckoned me in.

  

  The signage was spartan but something fantastic lurked within

  The decor reminded me of a Jimmy Johns – there wasn’t much to it but you don’t really need much. After all, you’re there for the food, not the decor. I ordered, filled my soda cup, and sat down to wait. A few minutes later my number was called and my food was given to me in a brown paper bag. With great excitement I tore the bag in half to reach a massive burger wrapped in tinfoil and a giant pile of fries.

  

  That right there is what we call a stroke burger - you're gonna have one by the time you're done

  This burger was perfect – perfect. I can no longer eat at Red Robin. They don’t make burgers. What they serve cannot be compared. In-and-Out serves as a distant – yes, distant – second place in my opinion. This burger was fantastic.

  

  Thats a whole lot of fries... and they're GOOD!!!

  I ate no more than a third of the fries provided. Good god, that’s a massive pile of fries.

  Overall – A++

  I will be returning and I’ll never forget the angelic music – wow – that was a good burger.

• No problems yet

  Date: 2009.12.07 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 1

  Jessica’s Christmas present, a little Chesapeake Bay Retriever named Havoc, is sitting at my feet chewing on a dog bone. All of the dogs have been outside to go to the bathroom and the little one has been outside and gone twice (luckily I was watching her like a hawk and caught her before we had another accident). The morning meal went without incident when I learned that feeding the little one first was the easiest way to keep her out of my hair. The other dogs know that eating before they are released is a bad idea. They decided to sit and wait regardless of what was happening. The other two were shuffled off to the kennel with the little one in tow there simply to watch the proceedings. He was mostly there so I could keep an eye on her.

  I’ve got to keep the little guy quiet and busy until I leave. I know that if I put her in his kennel our morning of silence will be over. Did I mention that Jessica is still asleep? It also happens to be a Monday. Keeping her quiet lies within my best interests. Lets just hope that I can do it…. if I don’t my life expectancy will be drastically shortened.

• The process is a little different this year

  Date: 2009.11.26 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 0

  For the last two years I’ve traveled north with the Loveless clan to spend the Thanksgiving weekend in cold and occasionally snowy B.C. We ran dogs, played pool, board games, and ate as much of Paula’s food as we could cram down our gullets.

  This year we’re spending Thanksgiving at our home but the Loveless clan will still be in tow. It saves us some cash and it saves me from burning through some of my leave.

  The bird is in the oven and the other bird is in the smoker and we’re two hours away from dinner. Only time will tell how it all turns out – my one hope is that it’s edible.

• Stress, workouts, and the little things

  Date: 2009.06.04 | Category: Life as we know it | Response: 0

  Switching to night shift is always difficult and the events of this week haven’t made it any easier. I’ve found that it takes a good 4-5 days for me to get my internal clock adjusted to working an off shift. I need copious amounts of caffeine to make this work because I can’t stay busy enough to keep myself awake. I’ve tried to keep myself busy but there have been times when I caught myself dozing while standing up. Summer has arrived in the state of Washington and in the land of no air conditioning our house tends to get a little toasty during the day even if all of the windows are open. If it’s dark I can usually sleep but when its warm like this I don’t sleep quite as well.

  Jessica has had a rough week. Jeff, her brother in-law, was in the hospital because of kidney stone and a brand new diagnosis of diabetes (boo!), her uncle passed away earlier this week, and she has been running on empty all week long. She has been stressed (obviously) and taking everything in like this simply wears a person down. Stress feeds stress and I haven’t been my normal self all week.

  My normal stress reliever is a trip to the gym. The heat and the lack of energy due to the time shift has prevented me from getting in a decent workout. I feel like a weakling right now. Its extremely difficult to time to calorie intake so that I have some energy come workout time. When I work on dayshift I normally workout 4-6 hours after my last meal and 1-2 hours after my last snack. When I am working nights I haven’t had anything to eat in at least 9 hours. I feel like I am trying to win a race with nothing in the gas tank. I have tried eating immediately after waking but I hardly have enough time to digest. My only options are to suck it up or wake up in the middle of the night (or day) and eating breakfast. Can you imagine waking up at 2AM to eat a meal? I can’t and I really enjoy my six hours of sleep a night.

  Little things at work have been driving me crazy. Communication from my shift to the other shifts is a one way street. I try to send out as much information as possible and in return I receive nothing. Dayshift may do something and have some solid reasoning behind it but without communication I feel that they have lost their damned minds. Ten to fifteen times I night I ask myself what the hell were they thinking. Oh well – I’ve vowed to get in a good workout tomorrow and the weekend is fast approaching. Hopefully I can ignore the little things and relax – this isn’t the end of the world and I need to stop acting like it is. I really want to be able to work myself to exhaustion but finding enough work to stay busy is a difficult task. I’m writing this post instead of doing something because I want to be able to stretch out my one hour of scheduled work for this evening. Motivation is difficult when you are working by yourself. When you have no communication with other people it’s hard to gauge how much work you need to finish to be a contributing member. I’d much rather work with someone I despise than work alone – at least I’d have some competition.

• What has happened?

  Date: 2009.05.17 | Category: Life as we know it | Response: 0

  There was a point in time where I would spend hours looking for something that interested me. I would spend days on the internet trying to stay entertained and I would share much of what I found here, at this blog. Lately, however, I’ve found that life outside the internet is far more fulfilling and entertaining.

  Work has kept me relatively busy but I still don’t find much job satisfaction. My job has seldom been mentally demanding and I spend much of my time putting out small fires (not literal fires as fires around explosives usually leads to blown up people). I know that I could be doing more but unfortunately there isn’t much more for me at my current job. Its a rinse, wash, and repeat job and its gotten tedious. I have been stationed here for two years and as of next January this will be my longest single assignment. I really like the area around the base and the base itself – I just don’t like my particular job function. It does keep me busy – so busy that I can’t get a chance to write on this blog – then again, the wonderful BlueCoat filters have been cranked up a notch so I can no longer access my blog from work. Huuzah!

  I’m on a bit of a health kick right now so I’ve been planning my meals in advance and have been cooking two meals at a time. The planning and preparation takes quite a bit of time. Its a structured diet so I can’t eat exactly what I want – most of what I eat is rather bland. If only I could find a repository of quick and healthy meals that fit in with my current diet plan. The plan restructures in another two weeks so by the time I get it all figured out it will be time to change gears again.

  I also have a new workout routine that I takes 6-7 hours out of my week. I workout at the end of my day and it drains me of all of my remaining energy. It’s quite demanding but I really like the change. There is some yoga in it and this brand of yoga is not for the faint of heart. This stuff is intense.

  I’m working on a math class – something I should be doing right now instead of writing but I’m putting it off for just a little longer. I’m behind the power curve and I need to knock it out this week. It’s nose to the grind stone time.

  Jessica has been working fewer hours this past month. She hasn’t been cut in hours, she is simply no longer working any overtime. Her work is broken down into a couple of different segments and this particular one is the slower part of the year.

  We’ve been trying to get out of the house more often and we did just that yesterday. My college roommate and his wife-to-be (a former neighbor from down the street) were making a swing through the Pacific NW while on vacation. We acted as tour guides on Saturday and took them around Seattle. We rarely go to Seattle so it was nice to see some of the sights. We went to the Crab Pot for dinner and they literally dumped a bucket of cooked ocean on our table. They invited one of their friends to join us – he was another one of my neighbors while I was growing up. I guess he had been living in the local area the entire time I had been here. Small world huh?

  So – if you come to this blog and are hoping for tidbits of my life I’ll try to get them here. I’ve got more pressing matters to deal with at the time – if you have Facebook you’re bound to see a little more from me there… but not much more. I’m a busy guy.

• The Hap-Hap Happiest Christmas Since Bing Crosby Tapdanced with Danny F*ing Kay

  Date: 2008.12.27 | Category: family | Response: 0

  Well, it’s all over. The turkey is demolished and the wrapping paper is in shreds. All in all it went pretty well. On Christmas Eve, my grandparents aunts uncles cousin parents sister and bro in law all came over for Christmas dinner. I cooked my 26lb turkey and it was really yummy if I don’t say so myself. After dinner was eaten we had a small white elephant gift exchange which was really pretty fun. I ended up with a box of “gamble” chocolates ( which I re-gifted to my father) and John got a coffee set thing. There was also $10 in cash, a Sees Candies gift certificate, spam, coal, and scratch tickets galore. My 7 month pregnant cousin ended with a back massager and her boyfriend won the neck massager for her so she was really excited about that. It was a lot of fun and I loved being able to host Christmas in our house.

  About 9 everyone filtered out and headed home. John and I had a plan to open our Christmas presents from each other at 12:01am but that didn’t happen. We snuggled in the big mink blanket on the couch and started to watch White Christmas but got about 20 minutes in before we both passed out. We decided to just get up earlier and open them before going to my parents house. So about 4:30am we awoke. I was excited to see what I got. I got a very sweet card worth one good car cleaning, Seahawk’s gear, a fancy cork screw, planet earth on Blu-ray, a new blue tooth for my car, golf tees, golf balls and more goodies. He was excited to get 4 new shirts, a new MP3 player ( precisely the one he wanted), snowboarding socks and a coupon book. We also opened the presents from his parents and sister, which got us Wii games, tools, a new purse a wallet, REI gift card, Victoria’s Secret gift card, and more goodies. However, there was one present from each of us that the other couldn’t open until we were at my parent’s house.

  We loaded up the car and headed to Roy. We exchanged gift and I got very spoiled this year. In the big wood box from John I got a Coach purse. My sister also got one but it was from me. We also got a new microwave (with a browner), I gave John and Jeff NFL customized jerseys, and my sister and Jeff got me a set of brand new golf clubs. Leanne and Jeff made out pretty well because my mom and dad got then a new HDTV. It’s pretty awesome. After presents my dad made us all breakfast. It was fun. We had a good time.

  I love Christmas because I get really spoiled but mostly because I get to spoil other people. Like my parents when the 4 of us “kids” got my them a night’s stay, breakfast, and 2 massages at the Salish Lodge. They seemed pretty excited.

  Now the decorations are down and the Christmas music is faded and I get over my cold and prepare for work on Monday. I hope you all had a very Happy Christmas too!

  

  The Whole Fam

• You should read this

  Date: 2008.05.01 | Category: ahh the news, links! | Response: 0

  I’m not in the mood to write a full post so I’m going to give you a file and a couple of links. First off is the best appeal to an Article 15 punishment that I’ve ever seen. Its well worth the read – I had a feeling that I wasn’t the only sarcastic ass in the Air Force.

  Next up is an writer that looks at our nation and its productivity if we completely eliminated obesity. Its more editorial than fact but she does bring the work of a few economists into the mix. Its an interesting read thats worth checking out.

  Last is an article about corn and how it is and isn’t impacting the cost of food and gasoline in our country. For some reason, as an Iowa native, I feel compelled to write about corn whenever I get a chance. My home state only stands in the spotlight once in a great while. Most Americans only hear about Iowa once every four years during the Caucus. It’s a shame that most of them are still unable to point it out on a map.

• Insane prices? Totally our fault.

  Date: 2008.04.29 | Category: ahh the news | Response: 0

  In an influential 1932 essay, Lionel Robbins defined economics as “the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses.” (from Wikipedia)

  I read a fascinating article about our current economic “woes” and it turns out fear is more of a factor than short supply. Simply because we desire them more they become more “scarce” causing the price to rise exponentially.

  Congress and the White House have tried to help out our economy by giving creating an economic stimulus package that should hit most of our bank accounts within the next week. This was hardly the correct solution as our problems were created, in part at least,.by an economy that went from a traditional supply and demand model to one of scarcity. There has been quite a bit of fighting between the parties and the branches in an attempt to play the blame game. This year is charged with politics and I can see both sides using any fodder available to put their party into a more favorable light.

  Gas prices have risen greatly in the past year because we have placed an increasing amount of desire for the fuel to keep our lives normal. We have placed a priority on fuel and as such we’ve seen the prices rise through the roof. Supply has dropped by a small amount but speculation has lead to dramatic price increases. I wrote about somebody talking about the futures market a few months ago talking about the rising price of oil – he couldn’t see the logic in the market. I don’t think there was any logic – we’re seeing a market that is being driven by fear. Fear is anything but rational. It is a reactionary impulse that causes us to hoard and make quick judgments. We fail to completely think through the problem.

  The media fails to help our situation as they feed us with line after line of diatribe causing us to grow increasingly more paranoid about the situation. Its a shame that there little wrong to begin with. A state news organization is not the correct direction to head but we should ask more from the media. Sure, they’re in a business and they’re going to try and drive a profitable and addictive story that will keep readers and listeners coming back, but, they’ve got to show a little more responsibility.

  Yes, there are more factors involved than a scarcity economy and yes – this is part socialism and economics but its probably the root of current ill. It’s a shame there isn’t much we can do about it.

  
  
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• The joys of consuming

  Date: 2008.03.30 | Category: ahh the news | Response: 2

  The American dream is to consume and we do it better than almost any other nation. Lately, prices have risen sharply on an item we all use – oil. We are consuming oil at an alarming rate and despite legislation to increase the gas mileage on cars we are pushing record levels of consumption. As a result of the spike and the lack of new refinery construction we have seen prices at the pump rise to record highs. We have sought ways to make ourselves more energy dependent and one of those ways is through biofuels. The most popular biofuel is ethanol – a product that is grown and produced in my alma mater, Iowa.

  So – you’re probably wondering – what the heck is my problem with energy independence? Nothing. I believe that if we reduce our dependence on foreign oil our economic and political decisions will be based more on our needs than those of an other nation. Its a good thing for national security and stability to control our energy prices.

  So – you’re probably still wondering – whats my problem with biofuels? That answer is slightly more involved. In order to offset the carbon needed to produce ethanol we are actually polluting more than we are saving by growing the fuel and converting it. Growing cellulose based fuel isn’t as efficient as other types of ethanol (ethyl-alcohol). If we had the appropriate climate, we should be growing as much sugar cane as we possibly can – and I say this with a caveat – we don’t want to do this and negatively impact the environment or food prices as we are currently seeing with traditional ethanol production. Why sugar cane? – it provides larger quantities of fuel while using fewer acres of land and resources to grow. I read an interesting piece at Time magazine and found the following excerpt.

  Why is so much money still being poured into such a misguided enterprise? Like the scientists and environmentalists, many politicians genuinely believe biofuels can help decrease global warming. It makes intuitive sense: cars emit carbon no matter what fuel they burn, but the process of growing plants for fuel sucks some of that carbon out of the atmosphere. For years, the big question was whether those reductions from carbon sequestration outweighed the “life cycle” of carbon emissions from farming, converting the crops to fuel and transporting the fuel to market. Researchers eventually concluded that yes, biofuels were greener than gasoline. The improvements were only about 20% for corn ethanol because tractors, petroleum-based fertilizers and distilleries emitted lots of carbon. But the gains approached 90% for more efficient fuels, and advocates were confident that technology would progressively increase benefits.

  What should we do with ethanol production in the future – spend more money on research. Food prices have risen sharply and we have seen the start of a global food shortage. Many countries, that depend on our surplus food, have seen prices rise sharply as more of our output was diverted to fuel production. Hopefully, these countries will quickly increase their agriculture production and avert a crisis. They might do as some farmers in Brazil have done and grow food for fuel – thus compounding the problem. You can read a further detailed explanation of the issues at Time magazine.

• Crashing

  Date: 2008.03.15 | Category: Life as we know it, desert | Response: 0

  I’ve been crashing the last few days for some unexplained reason. I’m not driving vehicles into solid objects but rather experiencing my body deplete its energy reserves. Last night, about an hour before chow I noticed that I was having an extremely hard time concentrating. Little bits of time were disappearing and I was wearing down quickly. I knew that I needed to eat soon but I don’t have the ability to speed up time.

  We got on the bus to the chow hall and I promptly passed out and woke when we reached the parking lot. I entered, ate my food in 5 minutes, and returned to the bus to sleep for the next 40 minutes. When we got back to work I attempted to check my email and I found that I was falling asleep between messages. I knew that we would be returning to work in 40 minutes and that we would take the bus so I went back outside and passed out.

  When we arrived I was a little groggy until we started working. At that point, my body found its energy and I was fine for the rest of the night. I fell asleep, at the normal time, with relative ease.

  I woke up two hours early today and I haven’t been able to get back to sleep. I decided to eat something – I am never awake for what the day walkers call “lunch”. I’m not sure how this is going to affect me later. Only time will tell.

  My only guess to the cause of the crashes is that is related to my diet. I am not eating enough whole grain foods (that break down slower and provide longer lasting energy) so I’m going to tweak things a bit. We’ll see how it goes.