I’m working on the invasion now.

If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there and worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the loss of sleep.

~Dale Carnegie

Hear hear Mr. Carnegie!  Though sleep is useful, worry is good too.

play a little,

eat a lot,

scratch where it itches.

I would also like some of these.

And the goal for the new year is to start this (again).

Eat your heart out fat man.

I’m going to try to use it as a log to keep people up to date with how the trip is going.   Also so that people know I’m still alive (or can come save me if something goes horribly wrong).  If you read “They put me in the trunk and are headed south”, please call MI5 or something.  Don’t bother with the police or FBI, they won’t go near the Federales and I’m going to need all the help I can get (the British accents might distract them).

For those of you that are entirely confused, I’m flying out to San Diego today with Karen (from college) and meeting one of her friends and driving back.  On a whim.

In 4 days.

In a Cavalier.

Should be an adventure.  Will try to take lots of pictures and not to get arrested.

Note: I’ll probably have extremely limited access to email/phone.  Don’t expect a response right away, if not for a few days.

The evil that men do lives after them.
The good is oft interréd with their bones.
~WS

Cloves are potent and should be used sparingly. Because whole cloves are difficlult to grind, it’s suggested that you buy them ground. Reserve whole cloves for infusing flavor into hot liquids or for inserting into ham/bread.

That being said, I’m alive.  But I don’t know for how long.

Ugh.

• Brian P.
• Terry B.
• Tarleen S.
• Lavon S.
• Sarah B.
• Allison T.
• Suzanne A.
• Jenny S.
• Nisha A.

After the third one turned out NOT to be related to the person I knew, I stopped talking to them.

Also, people look at you oddly if you do back bridges in the US Airways gate in Philly, who would have thought.

• It’s very easy to spend a lot of money on chocolate.
• Pretty girl chocolatiers will give you free chocolate if you flirt with them.
• They sell waffles everywhere.  Even in the subway.
• It’s entirely too easy to accidently ride the subway for free.
• I don’t know French or Dutch, and it’s a problem.
• People here speak Freutcish, and it’s also a problem. (French-Dutch-English)
• Internet is very expensive and very slow.
• It rains a lot.
• The drivers in Belgium are far far worse than anything I’ve ever seen in the US.  With one exception, everyone can park straight here.
• The roads were designed by a drunk Scotsman.
• The dollar is very very weak against the euro.
• Soda without corn syrup is fantastic. (not new, just restating)
• Soda is very expensive.
• Beer is very cheap.  And strong.
• People protest everything in Brussels.  And they’re creative about it too.  Don’t like the tax on tomatoes?  Farmer Joe brings his tomatoes to the street outside Parliament and throws them at birds roosting on the building.  Picket signs are old news.
• A child saved the city by taking a piss and now they have statues of him everywhere.
• It rains a lot.

I recieved the following a few weeks ago:

Subject: hello

hay

u want 2 do lunch later?

~J

I almost didn’t bother to respond to him, but my conscious got the better of me.  He broke many of my email rules. So many that I considered marking it as spam for the hell of it.

1. The subject tells me nothing about the contents of the email.
2. It’s not obvious from the excerpt above, but it was sent from an email address that he doesn’t normally use, and thus I didn’t recognize it right away.  The signature, “J” tells me nothing.  That’s alright if I’m in a long email chain with somebody, but for an initial email?
3. Would it kill somebody to use proper English?
4. The number 2 is just that, a number.
5. If you can’t spend the 10 extra seconds to type out “You”, don’t send me an email. (Could take that long on a crackberry, I’m trying to give benefit of the doubt here!)

More of email etiquette here and here.  My favorites include:

• Don’t Use The Forward Button.  Ever.
• Nothing is more wasteful than to reply to an e-mail by including a complete copy of the original with the words “I agree”, “Okay” or “Ditto” at the bottom.
• Use of upper-case words is the equivalent of shouting in some one’s ear. ONLY use upper-case words when trying to make a point (such as I just did). Even at that, you should be careful with who you are exchanging messages.

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m guilty of many of these.  Heck, today, I was guilty of many of these.  But what’s that line from Family Guy….?

“You know what grinds my gears?”

Bad email etiquette is the answer of the day.

Note: I did reply to him, I did have lunch with him, and I failed to mention the anguish that his note caused.  Maybe he’ll read this.

Scary.

New interface, new version of WordPress.  Added some recipes to the side menu.  Still trying to decide where to put the penguins in this one.  Let me know if you have ideas.

Don’t normally use this for life/personal things, but thought some sort of an update was in order.  Overall doing pretty well at the moment.

• Job: Good (read: pays the bills, possibility for advancement, resume building if nothing else)
• Rescue Squad: Good (read: almost done with EMT class, still having fun, still learning, still making a difference)
• Living Situation: Improving (read: friend buying a house soon,  probably move in with him, kitchen I can use!)
• Family: Good (read: all in good health, even the crazy ones, Mom going in for surgery in a few weeks, kinda a big deal, but everyone is optimistic.)
• Social Life: Improving (read: still have little time for breathing, let alone spending time with friends etc, but recent events lead me to believe that this is also looking up.)
• Personal Health: Improving (read: overall I’m pretty healthy, but can always do better. Have cut soda pretty much completely out of my diet, only one or two cans a week. those that know me realize how impressive that is.  Started up with a decent workout program that I’m pretty sure I can stick to (yey kettlebells!) and just had a healthy visit to the doctor/dentist.)

• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 10 stalks celery, chopped (1 package)
• 3 carrots, peeled, chopped (or 1 package of baby carrots, 1lb)
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 3 (14 1/2-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
• 3 (14-ounce) can low-salt/fat chicken broth
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 5 chicken breasts with ribs (~ 4 or 5 pounds total)
• 1 cup corn starch
• 2 (15-ounce) cans beans, rinsed. Any kind; 1 can of black and 1 can of white work well together.
• Hot sauce (optional)

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the celery, carrot, and onion. Saute the vegetables until the onion is translucent, about 6 minutes. Season to taste. Stir in the tomatoes with their juices, chicken broth, basil, tomato paste, bay leaves, and thyme. Add the chicken breasts; press to submerge.

Bring the cooking liquid to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently uncovered until the chicken is almost cooked through, turning the chicken breasts over and stirring the mixture occasionally, about 25 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the chicken breasts to a work surface and cool for 5-10 minutes. Add the beans and starch to the pot and simmer until the liquid has reduced into a stew consistency, about 10 minutes.

Discard the skin and bones from the chicken breasts. Shred or cut the chicken into bite- size pieces. Return the chicken to the stew. Bring the stew just to a simmer. Season to taste.

Serves: 12-15
Serving suggestion: over brown rice.