Steve Fey's Live From Las Vegas!

This is the last post to this blog. All of the content from this blog is available at Steve's Live From Las Vegas, which you will find at http://stevefey.com/LivefromLv/. Clicking the title to this post will take you there. If that's too much for you, you can click here.

If you received this message via a subscription, please go to the new location and re-subscribe. It's really easy, I promise. I'm not going to take this blog down, but I won't be able to update it after the end of this month.

Thanks for Visiting!

-- Steve

Labels: Info

I have decided to go with WordPress, due to the humongous amount of files that I'd have to transfer and the somewhat awkward way Blogger handles things after the transition. The blog is actually already up, although not everything is there or working just yet. I plan to transition over the weekend. If you visit stevefey.com after that time you'll be automatically taken to my new blog, which has the same name but a different appearance. All of the posts are already there. The categories did not transfer, but I'm working on that. It may take months to get all of the posts into the proper categories, but I'll keep doing a few now and then. I figure that the older they are the less it matters.

The links are easier to find and use as well, and I have much better control over comments, etc. This post will not appear on the new blog. So, if you're looking for the latest from Steve Fey's Live From Las Vegas! you need to click the title of this post, or here and you'll be taken right to it.

Labels: Info

I got an anonymous comment recently. I do not ever, and I mean this, publish anonymous comments. When I say "anyone can post a comment," I mean "anyone who admits who they are." So, if you posted a comment recently and it didn't appear, try again under your name and it will show up, almost no matter what you say.

'kay?

Steve

Labels: Info

You may have noticed that this blog is actually hosted on my own website. One way or another this situation will change before the end of March 2010. There is an automatic migration tool on Blogger to move everything there, which I just tried with my teensy and underused blog My First Published Novel. It appears that the entire process worked fine, so I will be trying it with this rather humongous blog as well. If it works you will have the option of letting my old site redirect you every time, or if you use a bookmark, of simply changing your bookmark to find me here. It's all good for me.

Should anything go wrong, however, I will be migrating the entire shebang to WordPress, and this blog will appear right where it is now. All this will be happening next weekend, if the wind's with me, so stay tuned and hope for the best.

See you later,

Steve

Labels: Info

No, not the movie. I've never seen it. And, to be honest, this is also about Scotty's Castle. Overall, I'd say this post is about Death Valley National Park. This was my second visit to the park. The first time the place had a lake that people were boating on, and there were wildflowers in profusion in many places. This time we did not visit Badwater, although we did get down at least 190 feet according to the sign at the Visitors' Center. My GPS had us at -176 feet in the parking lot of Death Valley Ranch, for what that's worth. Not much, I know.

But we wanted to see Scotty's Castle the first time we were there but frankly ran out of time in our day-trip before we could. This time we checked on routes to the park from Vegas and found a lot shorter way to go, so we had time for a tour. To be fair, the short way in was washed out the first time we visited. I must say, when it rains in the desert, it messes not around.

On the way in we passed Zabriskie Point, so we stopped.  Prior to visiting the park, I had no idea that there was such a place, really. Zabriskie was the VP and General Manager of Pacific Borax, and the original impetus behind creating Death Valley National Monument. Yes, the evil mining corporation saved the area for posterity. Think of that what you will, but do look up "irony" in a decent dictionary before you publish your opinion, if you'd be so kind. There's one of those informational plaques up on the Point that explains it all.

Then, after lunch, on to Scotty's Castle, where we learned that Scotty never owned the place. But, overall the story was really nice. It's a story of three people who all came to Death Valley looking for something (not all the same thing, by the way.) And, all three found what they were looking for, including friendship with each other. You can Google Scotty's Castle I'm sure and learn all about it, but if you have the opportunity, you really ought to visit the house and take the tour. There are three tours, actually, the house tour, the underground tour, and the tour of Scotty's actual abode, about five miles down the road.

I posted an album on Facebook that anyone can view. You don't need a Facebook account, you just need to click the title to this post and you're there. Go ahead, I promise it won't hurt a bit!

-- Steve

Labels: Info, Social Commentary

Labels: Info, Reviews, Social Commentary

I do, but still it was amazing to get this bit of spam this morning:

LE LICENCIEMENT
PROCEDURES & ASPECTS PRATIQUES
Tout ce qu'il faut savoir ... et plus

animé par:
Consultant expert en législation et relation du travail


Objectifs
Mettre à la disposition des gestionnaires une panoplie de textes et de procédures régissant la gestion du licenciement individuel et collectif dans les différents types de contrats et contextes ainsi ques ces incidences financières sur l'entreprise, afin de leur permettre de surmonter toutes les éventuelles difficultés qu'ils pourraient rencontrer

les 18 et 19 Mars 2010
à l'hôtel Karthago Le Palace

CETTE FORMATION VOUS CONCERNE

Directeurs
Directeurs/Responsables Administratif & Financier Directeurs/Responsables des Ressources Humaines Chefs du personnel 

    Contacter nous ...
Tél : 71782 733 / 24511 000
Fax: 71 782 936
Mail:firstacademy1@yahoo.fr
        
You can go if you want; I'm busy that day. Where do these people get my address?

Steve

Labels: Humor, Info

As I write, Tami is in the locker room of a strip club interviewing exotic dancers. Rather than paying to get in, which even the dancers have to do, she is getting paid to be there. Now I ask you, is that fair?

I thought not!

Labels: Info, Vegas Life

This is really for all my readers in the Midwest and East.

It's been raining a lot in Vegas. A whole lot. Makes driving a bit messy. Yep, lots of nasty old rain. Oh, it's awful, I tell you, just awful. Terrible about all that rain.

-- Snort Snort!

Steve

Labels: Info, Vegas Life

Labels: England, Info

I did not, whatever you might think, put the weather widget on this blog to make people from colder climates feel bad about themselves, or jealous of Las Vegas. Truth is, I first put it on Retiring to Vegas, where it seemed like a reasonable adjunct, considering I'm trying to talk to people considering moving here.

But, now that I think about it, what the hey. Nyah Nyah Nyah!

Boy, that feels better. Enjoy the cold and snow!

Steve

Labels: Info

It's about time. I got tired of saying "two thousand and" before the year, well, years ago. I'm so happy it's almost twenty-ten, I could just drink champagne and toot a silly horn. Check me out at midnight, and that's just what you'll find me doing.

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve, and a great 2010!

Steve

Labels: Info

I was struck this morning by the national weather map. Luckily it only glanced off of my shoulder, but boy, that was close.

I mean, that I was struck by the snow cover this Christmas, which is extensive across the United States. It even stretches to the higher elevations in Clark County Nevada, and right up to the county line to the north, where Lincoln County is a winter wonderland, or so they say. (They have a steam train they call the "Polar Express" this time of year.)

The exception, and this reminds me of several years when I was growing up, is the little area of southern great lakes, or eastern middle west, whichever way you want to look at it, where I grew up. Yep, ol' Tiffin will have a couple of chilly and cloudy days, followed by a bit of rain on Christmas. Once I spent Christmas Eve night up in the attic because we had a house full. I was lulled to sleep by the pitter patter of raindrops on the roof. Ah, yes!

So, for those of you living back in Seneca County and the surrounding area, I guess it's Christmas in the Rain all over again this year. If you can, send the rain my way. The odds are way against a white Christmas anyway, and we could really use the water!

Steve

Labels: Holidays, Info

Labels: Info

Yes, this is information, and a review. The title link takes you to a video that explains evolution better than I ever could, but quite correctly. Which, come to think of it, my be why it's probably better than I ever could. Anyway, I like it. And, if you like, here's that link again:

http://www.wimp.com/niceinfo/

I am an actual biologist by training, after all.

Steve

Labels: Info, Reviews

The thing about Vegas is that it's always election season. I don't remember a time in five years that I haven't seen "vote for me" signs cluttering up the available public land near intersections. And the media blitz is close to never ending.

For instance, the House just passed some sort of health care reform bill, which is now in the hands and feet of the Senate. Everybody knows that. We have a representative (well, some of us do, actually mine is somebody else) named Dina Titus, who almost beat out our Junior Senator during the last Senate race. She's controversial, possibly because she's never completely lost her Georgia accent. She was therewith accused of being from (gasp!) Texas, which to some ways of thinking is apparently like being from Hell, only not so honorable.

Immediately upon passage of that bill, ads appeared saying that we should all "thank Dina Titus" for saving civilization as we know it. Then more ads appeared saying that we should all contact Dina and tell her that she's a traitor to the Great State of Nevada. Both of these ads have been running all of the bleeding time! And, of course, we do have an influential Senator from Nevada. You may have heard of him. The one, of course, not involved in any sex scandals (that we know of,) the Majority Leader hisself, Harry Reid. More ads have appeared telling us how wonderful Harry is and what a swell job he's done for Nevada. (If he could get people to pronounce it correctly he'd get my vote for sure!) And other ads of course telling us how Harry and the other fifth-circle demons are conspiring to convert us into Soviet-style health-care addicts.

Well, that's my point. It's a free country and anybody can buy air time that has the cash. So I'm not complaining, just reporting. It's gonna be a long campaign season in Nevăda for 2010. Can't hardly wait for 2012, boy. Yee-Haw!

Steve

Labels: Info, Politics, Social Commentary

This is from a humor list called Mikey's Funnies. Mikey works with religious groups, and I subscribe because it's one of the few guaranteed clean humor sources on the Internet. I'm not against nasty bad taste jokes, quite the opposite, but sometimes it's nice to see the full range of humorous possibilities, dontcha know? Anyhow, here's the joke:

The tragedy of Canada: They could have had French cuisine, British culture, and American technology. Instead, they ended up with British cuisine, American culture, and French technology.

I'm not sure that's original, but I like it. You can find him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/mikeysfunnies. Or just click the title above.

Steve

Labels: Info, Reviews

The Beatles founded Apple Records, you may recall. The label still exists. You'll remember, maybe, that Apple Records had some issues with Steve Jobs and his Apple Computer and the Itunes Music store. So, with that background, I will mention that I just happened to notice that the remastered Beatles catalog, out on CD since September, will be released in a limited edition USB stick format in December. The USB sticks will be shaped like apples, as in Apple Records. Every so often that snobby little company in Cupertino gets some proper comeuppance, and I'm always glad to see it happen.

Long live Apple (Records)!

Steve

Labels: Info, Social Commentary

A couple of weeks ago we went to Cedar City to watch a few plays. I didn't review them because the season was almost over, but I will say that the bill was mixed. They did The Woman in Black, which came off as a very thin play, then we saw Tuesdays With Morrie, which showed that the two actors, and they were the same two actors, were much better than the material in the first play. Then we saw the new version of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged. If you've seen this play in the past, you might like to know that over half of it is all new, although they did keep the audience participation bit with Ophelia just as it was. Huh? If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry about it.

A play we did not see is A Christmas Story, which would be based upon the movie which was written by Jean Sheppard. It's an annual classic event, in which young Ralphie simply begs for a Daisy(tm) Red Ryder BB gun. Does he get it? Well, in spite of a cynical department store Santa and other misadventures, he does. Now, we live in a Vintage Vegas house, mind you, and we like to have various vintage items on display. We have a couple of authentic lamps, for instance, and a room dedicated to 50s and 60s kitsch, plus a bar and pool table of course. So, it was with extreme glee that we found, at a garage sale in Cedar City Utah, the item Tami is shown holding in this picture.

Click on the image and you can see a somewhat larger version. Read the stock of the gun. Yes, folks, it is indeed an air rifle just such as is coveted by Ralphie in the movie A Christmas Story.

Now I ask you, is that cool or what? Cedar City, I forgive you for The Woman in Black.

S.

Labels: Info, Reviews, Vegas Life

So okay, I made a joke about the swine flu last time, but that was before I went to a party where a pregnant lady said she didn't want the vaccination because it was all "new technology." My my, this flu, which is benign for almost everyone else, has a good record of killing small children and pregnant women. Like my joke said, it skips people over 50, not out of any respect for the elderly, but because we've all had it years ago. It was nastier last time. I remember thinking that it was no wonder it had killed all those people in 1918. But, it's just as deadly to people like my friend at the party as it ever was to the people ravaged by war and poor nutrition and other things ninety years ago. So, just in the hope that somebody will see sense and get that vaccination who otherwise wouldn't have done so, I offer this bit of truth and wisdom. And for once I'm not kidding.

In truth there is no new technology in a flu shot. The technology was first used in the Sabin oral polio vaccine in the 1950s. It works for polio virus, and it works for any other virus. For those who say, well, what about AIDS?, I'll tell you that the trouble with the AIDS virus is that it mutates so fast that it isn't possible to make a vaccine that will work on it's new form. It actually mutates not by chance, as do most living things, but by design. As design, you've got to admire it. As a potential victim, you've got to wish it gone. But, other than AIDS, the technique used in preparing the H1N1 vaccine is totally proven technology, and it works.

Every year the seasonal flu (you remember that, right, because if you don't you will in a month or two) is a new strain or two or three, and vaccines must be prepared from scratch to prevent infection. Usually older people are more vulnerable, because there are more strains of flu than a person is likely ever to be exposed to in one lifetime, so each year brings brand-new fun, so to speak. The same technique that prepares the seasonal flu vaccine every year is used to prepare the H1N1 vaccine.

And what is that? Well, I'll tell you. First, you find someone who has the virus so that you can collect a sample. Then you inject that sample into a chicken egg that you keep nice and warm so that the virus will grow and thrive on the egg until what you have is essentially an eggshell full of virus. Then you split the contents of that egg up among a whole bunch of eggs and repeat the process. And you do that again and again until you have run the virus through twenty-one separate eggs. That takes weeks, if not months, to accomplish, which is why sometimes there isn't enough vaccine to go around. However, unless you are allergic to eggs, the vaccination will not harm you in any way. The virus, although still alive, loses its ability to make a human sick while it grows on all those eggs. That makes it a perfect way to protect yourself against the disease, because your immune system doesn't know it's harmless, and not only kills the injected virus, but any other little virus particles of that type that you come in contact with, ever.

That's how vaccinations work! No big, strange procedures. No esoteric formulae. No secrets. And nothing at all cutting edge or new. As I said, unless you're allergic to eggs, getting the vaccine injected is about the same thing as getting saline solution injected, except that the vaccine protects you against whatever virus it contains.

A bit more truth: if you get sick shortly after taking a vaccination, you were about to get sick anyway. No vaccine ever makes somebody sick. And the risks of vaccine, while present, are mostly far exceeded by the risks of not getting the vaccine. In the case of H1N1 and a pregnant woman, I'd say about a million times higher risk comes from skipping the vaccine than from getting it. Maybe more.

So, for Pete's sake, folks, please don't be such an idiot as to mistrust science in the case of H1N1 vaccine. If you're otherwise healthy, well it's just the flu. But if you're pregnant, or have small children in the house, ask yourself how badly you want a child, or yourself, to die from the flu? At all? I thought not.

S.

Labels: Info, Social Commentary

Here's a Photo of something around Las Vegas:

Over on the ezine that I write for, Living-Las-Vegas, they have a weekly contest called "Vegas Eye." This is the photo from this week's edition. You don't win any money for getting it right, but you do get all sorts of glory. Why not stop by and check it out? It's free and easy! And, there's a new contest each week. You do not, by the way, have to live in Vegas to figure out where the object is.

Steve

Labels: Info, Las Vegas

Today, believe it or not, the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard resort opened for the season. They're only the second resort to open this season, and they are ahead of Keystone, A-Basin, and Loveland Basin in Colorado. Those who think it's always hot in Vegas, take note: Winter has arrived!

Labels: Info

In case you've been dead, you might not know that someone attempted to blackmail Dave Letterman because he'd had sex with staffers in the past. Yeah, and he's gap-toothed, too. His wife, the mother of his kids, is a former staffer, so that wasn't much of a revelation. He did the one thing you can do to stop a blackmail attempt: he went public with the whole story. I know, these days, it's cool to be gay, but I'm here to state, right now, for the record, that I've only ever had sex with women! I know, it's shameful, but at least nobody will be asking me for a million bucks to keep it to themselves.

I put a link to a BBC story about the incident under the post title.

Steve

Labels: Info, Social Commentary

It still wouldn't be this good. If you don't normally care for ballet, here are a few points:

1. Swan lake has cool music.
2. These guys really are better than the folks in Cirque.
3. It's only six minutes or so.
   
4. It's free, for gosh sakes.

Labels: Info, Reviews

Actually I'm not writing this one. I'm just pointing you to an article by Megan Edwards over on Living Las Vegas about charity work by the Variety Club Tent 39, which is located in Las Vegas. It's a different side of Vegas, and maybe even of some of our, um, less than upstanding founders. Check it out!

Steve

Labels: Info, Las Vegas

It's Woodstock Weekend on Fremont Street. They've got a line up of the best tribute bands they could find. Jimi Hendrix couldn't make it. Bummer. The VivaVision shows are all customized for the experience. It's more like Las Vegas than the strip is anymore. Come see it if you can.

Right On!

Steve

Labels: Info, Reviews

Did you know that Fremont Street and Boulder Highway are the same? Small county, ain't it?

This post is for anyone visiting Las Vegas between now and Labor Day, plus anyone who lives here or near here. I'm talking about the Fremont Street Experience Summer of '69 celebration. I remember the summer of '69, and I really was there. There, in my case, being Boca Raton Florida, home of an incredible flock of blind retirees who insisted on driving as if there were no lanes, but I digress. The bad news is that you've missed some good stuff. The good news is that there is still time to get in on it.

Consider the Hippie Nation Gallery, if you will. It is owned by John Van Hamersveld, now of Las Vegas, who did a lot of album covers that people over 40 will most certainly recognize. There are some original ink works available for a lot of bread (get that '60's slang?) plus a lot of album covers for a whole lot less. Inside the album covers you'll find the original vinyl recordings. Talk about a bonus buy!


If you've seen the Fremont Street Experience you still haven't seen it this summer. It's the best I've seen so far, a heckuva lot better than that lame alien thing they run sometimes, and of course if you were there in '69 you've gotta like the music. On Independence day they ran Jimi Hendrix doing the Star Spangled Banner from Woodstock. Nobody to this day knows how he made his guitar sound like that.

My point is that you have five weeks, plus a few days, to get down to Fremont Street and check out the Summer of '69 activities. The place really isn't too crowded in Summer, you know. We were there most recently last night, to drop in on Mayor Oscar Goodman's 70th birthday party. Know what the "official martini of Las Vegas" is? The Good Man -- basically chilled Bombay Sapphire Gin. I had one with a touch of vermouth and an olive. Happy Birthday, Oscar! He's just over ten years older than I am, so I wish him many more years. If he drinks as much gin as they say, he'll look the same when he's gone, but that's another story.

Local or out of town, check out the Summer of '69 today!

Steve

BIG PS -- I don't often do this, but I am republishing this post to add this embedded video. It was shot by Jack LeVine after we'd left the party. Do check Jack's blog at http://veryvintagevegas.com, by the way. I'm stealing this, so don't tell him, okay? It shows John Van Hamersveld taking pictures of his own artwork as it is projected above. I've seen the show a couple of times and it is the best I've seen from Fremont Street to date. So, with only a smidgen of further ado, here's the video:



Groovy, baby!

Labels: Info, Reviews

I live where it doesn't rain all that much, but it does rain a lot when it does rain. (The preceding sentence was deliberately left obtuse.)

What I'm saying is that we had a really great thunderstorm last evening. It thrashed the trees, sent sheets of water blowing down the street, left all sorts of crap in my swimming pool, and, most importantly, gave us a good dose of water for free.

We have toads in the yard. Mostly they hunker down in moist spots and look at me sideways when I notice them. Sometimes I see them hopping around the edges of the house, which is where the bushes are that get watered. With water on the bushes comes a place for a toad.

Toads apparently aren't all that bright. We've had a series of storms this week, although mostly they didn't provide any significant rain. When the storm winds pick up all sorts of trash gets dumped into the swimming pools in the area. Trash from places you've never visited in your life winds up in your skimmer. Then, the past couple of days, so did the toads.

I found my first swimming toad yesterday morning. They swim really well, just like frogs (there's a surprise, huh?) What they can't do, of course, is hop up eight inches out of the water to get out of the pool. Some pools have ramps leading in and out. Ours has steps. Several sets, but every top step is firmly under water. The toads are, sad to say, screwed.

Today I found a toad swimming in the skimmer when I went to clean the debris out. I flipped him into the garden. Then I saw another one along the edge of the pool, so I flipped him out. Then I saw yet another one, this one looking sort of tired. I flipped him out. Then I went and emptied the debris basket at the pump (if you have a pool you know what I mean.) When I returned I noticed a fourth toad valiantly kicking himself along the edge.

Now, really, I don't mind toads. They eat bugs, after all. But I wish they'd stay out of my pool. Like I want to go for a dip at bedtime (which I sometimes do) and end up with a dead amphibian next to me in the water. Or maybe I'll pull a dead toad out of the skimmer basket. I mean, come on, guys, I don't call the exterminator, now do I? Have some courtesy, okay? Sit under the bushes in the dampness and enjoy life. Eat all the bugs you can catch. Just, please Mr. and Ms. Toad, resist that urge to go for a swim. Leave that to the frogs. I mean, humans.

Thank you,

Steve

Labels: Info

I just checked the current conditions on the nearest weather station to my house. It's less than two miles away. It is, and I quote, 111.6 degrees, and the humidity is 2 percent. It is cooler, of course, than it is down where I lately lived, so that's nice. But, I just thought I'd brag a bit about the remarkably harsh weather we're having in Vegas.

Maybe I'll go shovel something, for old time's sake. But what? The streets are clear!

Steve

Labels: Info, Las Vegas

A while back we visited England. Somewhere I listed my email address. I know this because I now get spam like this:

Microsoft Award Team
20 Craven Park, Harlesden
London NW10, United Kingdom.

Attention: Winner,

This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUND (£500,000.00) for the New Edition 2009 Lottery promotion which is organized by YAHOO LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE in conjunction with a few other internet providers.

YAHOO & MICROSOFT WINDOWS, collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail we only select five people every Month as our winners through electronic balloting System without the winner applying, we congratulate you for being one of the people selected.

you are required to contact our fudiciary agent with the below contact details:

CONTACT PERSON: SIR. Chris McCormick
Email: chris_mccormick@w.cn
Tel :+447045763429


Wowzers, huh? Five-hundred thousand pounds! That's almost a lot, innit? What's interesting is the way that the scammers don't bother to edit their lists. And why should they? For one thing, the domain w.cn is not anywhere in the United Kingdom. The UK uses, well what do you think they'd use? .uk. .cn is from China, but, and this is also interesting, anybody can buy a .cn domain extension because China likes making money off of stuff (for supposed Communists they're pretty money grubbing.) So, it could be anywhere, but one thing for sure, it ain't Microsoft or Yahoo, both of which have domains in the UK ending with .uk.

If you'd like, feel free to call the number above. Let me know who answers if you do. In North America the + represents 011, by the way. I have no idea what other places use as an international code. But do go for it. Say you're me. You can have one hundred percent of the profits from the prize.

Ain't I the generous one?

Steve

Labels: England, Info, Social Commentary

My new site, Blogging to Work, designed to help people market themselves into a job or career, is now live. I just posted the first daily article. More will be forthcoming, well, daily. And no, I'm not abandoning this blog. My usual irregular and erratic schedule still applies. Aren't you glad?

Steve

Labels: Info

So, the complainers are out. Okay, here's an update. But first, allow me to plug my latest effort on Living Las Vegas. And then, Luvit Frozen Custard, on Oakey just east of Main. Yummy!

Now, the update. I've been working what's left of my butt off fixing up the old place. We have a tenant in there who is gathering roommates. Today I'm off to fix a wall that washed out in a bad rainstorm last fall. It's only 90 degrees or so, with a chance of rain, so it's a good day to work outside. (Yes, ninety isn't all that hot. It ain't the heat, it's the humidity that's making you miserable back in the unhinterlands.)

I'm going to be getting a teaching license the old-fashioned way. My dream is to be very successful and then go rub my old boss's nose in it. Wish me luck.

I was completely thrown by news of my brother-in-law having to go to chemo for recurring cancer. That sucks in every language I know (all three of 'em) and probably in every other language as well. Good luck to Tom! I know he deserves it.

Of course, he did get to marry my sister . . .

The new house is starting to look somewhat ready to live in in spots. I will say that a swimming pool is a lot of work, but if we get a cover on the thing life should get easier. Meanwhile, there is still much work to do, and lucky for me it's summer and I have the time.

Better?

Steve

Labels: Info, Reviews

What with the stress of starting a new teaching position, and the accompanying recurrent illnesses (which I seem to have under control) I haven't trained in five months. All that changes tomorrow morning. This will be my third Las Vegas Marathon. The Marathon is under new management (hooray for that) and I'm looking forward to good times and great music on race day. Until then, unless I break a leg, I think I'll post every so often just to let my friends know how I'm doing. I volunteered to be a pace leader, going for a time of 5:15, or about 12 minutes per mile. That's five miles per hour, or about six leagues per decade. Hey, it's better than carping all the time, isn't it?

Steve

Labels: Info, Marathon

Didja miss me? In the course of moving to the new house I lost the adapter to plug my PS2 keyboard into my USB port. I did post a review of Wolverine here, but that's all I could stand to type. Sorry for the delay. Assuming the Swine Flu doesn't kill me (ha ha) I'll be back to posting as usual.

Steve

Labels: Info, Reviews

Yeah, this is social commentary, but the information is true, so you'd do well to read and heed. I teach Biology, so I'm not making any of this up. Honest.

The swine flu has not a thing to do with pigs. Flu is what we in the bio biz call a "retrovirus." It's made, that is, out of RNA, not DNA. RNA mutates all the darned time. Flu passes between species all the time. A few weeks, maybe a few months ago, this one moved from pigs to humans. Scientists have been worrying about the "bird flu" doing the same, but so far it's stayed in birds.

If you believe what you see on TV, particularly on Fox, you probably think that the four horsemen of the apocalypse are about to ride into town. Here's the real scoop.

First, it's the flu. You ever had the flu? This is not even a particularly vicious strain of the flu. It's "virulent," which means that it spreads easily, not that it's more deadly than others.

Second, people die from the flu all the time. A very small percentage of those who get it, in fact. If you are elderly, an infant, or have a compromised immune system, it might do you in. For the vast majority that is the rest of us, it will make us sick for a while, then we'll get over it. If you've ever had the flu then you know what I mean. It is nothing like "The Plague" that ravaged Europe. The last time Americans got upset over a flu epidemic, more people were made ill by the hastily concocted vaccine than by the flu. It was 1976, and you can look it up. That was a "swine flu" also, interestingly enough.

Third, if you do what you really ought to be doing all the time anyway, which is washing your hands frequently (that's why you've been told to wash after you use the restroom, by the way, not because you peed on your hands,) only touch your eyes immediately after washing your hands, and in a dry climate maybe use some saline spray to keep your sinuses moist, you most likely won't get the flu from any source in the first place.

The flu doesn't just float through the air and land in you and make you sick. Most likely, when it spreads, it goes from hand to hand, or from hand to desk or book or other surface and then to another hand, which then touches the eye or nose and the virus rides along. If your mucus membranes are moist (see above) then most likely the virus will not find a home even then. Otherwise, you'll know firsthand what swine flu feels like. Lucky you.

Some suspect that the President of Mexico is using this outbreak to consolidate power. Maybe so. Certainly there's a lot of unwarranted hyperbole. The truth is, even if it does go around the world, only a very small percentage of those stricken will receive any permanent damage. And it would do wonders for stock in Kleenex, eh?

Steve

Labels: Info, Social Commentary

I'm just about to leave for a long weekend in New Orleans. And no painting! I'll review that city when I return. Watch for it next week!

Steve

Labels: Info

This is from my other blog, the one I almost never post to, but I wanted to let everyone know that I just posted the latest version of chapter one of my first published novel. You can see it here, or by clicking the title to this post.

-- Steve

Labels: Info

You've probably seen the chain email about this little game. Frankly, I don't do chain email (see #1 below) but a friend of mine got such a good response on Facebook that I had to post something as well. It's on Facebook if you'd like to go there to read it, but what the heck, I wrote it, I can post it anywhere I like. So, without further ado:

Twenty-Five Random Things About Steve Fey

1. I don't do chain letters.
2. I think Casablanca is the best movie ever made. Except when I'm watching Citizen Kane.
3. The cheeseburger is the greatest gift ever given to a hungry world.
4. I've owned a slew of Ford motor vehicles in my life. Got rid of the last one last Labor Day weekend.
5. If you think you know how to fix our educational system, by all means get in here and get to work!
6. Outside of the cheeseburger, pizza is the greatest gift ever given to a hungry world.
7. The odds are that a person has no idea what the odds are.
8. I think the addiction some locals have to "the old Las Vegas" is probably a condition listed in the DSM.
9. The DSM is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychological Association.
10. My favorite cake is red devil's food with boiled caramel icing. (Put red food coloring in and it's red velvet cake.)
11. I've never passed a parking test, but I've been licensed by four jurisdictions.
12. I once got hit by a truck, head on, while riding a motorcycle. I suffered a moderate concussion, which means that I survived after being knocked out. I do not recommend the experience.
13. I think twenty-five is a heck of a lot of facts to come up with.
14. I'm glad they're close to catching the Tylenol poisoner.
15. In spite of cheeseburgers and pizza, the best food I've ever had is the crab stuffed lemon sole at Spice Buffet under the casino at Planet Hollywood.
16. I could swear I used to get that dish at the Aladdin. Huh.
17. My doctor expects me to live well past a hundred. I'm not sure this is a good idea.
18. I'm not a good gambler because I do know the odds. Takes the fun out of it.
19. I discovered that getting a PhD is a symptom of ADD. Go figure, right?
20. The funniest movie I ever saw as a kid was The Shaggy Dog. On the fourth viewing I was still almost wetting my pants at it.
21. My favorite film genre is comedy.
22. That said, the Pink Panther series with Steve Martin is nowhere near as good as the originals.
23. The fact that they are remaking The Karate Kid is proof of something. Something sort of disturbing.
24. I really liked War and Peace once I found a decent translation of it. Never could stand Anna Karenina in any form, including film.
25. I'm glad to have gotten to number twenty-five. It would be embarrassing to run out of things to say about yourself after only twenty-four measly things!

Labels: Info, Writing

I've never shared publicly how I got to like the sort of humor that I like. Well, why not, I say? It's not like I could hurt my readership numbers much or anything.

It's all Nick's fault. Nick, Nicholas that is, was my grandfather. Grandpa, as I knew him, lived across the river, in the house where my father grew up. The house was really cool to a little kid because it had very unusual features. For instance, there was an old iron pump on the back porch. The water that came out when you pumped the handle tasted like iron, too. For help if you drank too much of the water, out in the back garden was an outhouse. Sort of like the ones in National Forests, only not so clean and nice smelling. Now, to a little kid, these two items were fascinating. You could pump all the water you wanted, for instance, and my mother, who never believed in paying for water apparently, wouldn't accuse you of wasting anything. And it was fun, for a four-year-old, to use the outhouse. Sure, the house had regular plumbing that worked fine, but hey, I've never seen a wasps' nest in an indoor bathroom!

Grandpa kept sweet rolls on top of his refrigerator. The kind you can still buy, with cinnamon or fruit rolled into them and confectioner's glaze on top. Lots of confectioner's glaze, and you can take my word for it. Believe it or not, I liked those things. So, I'd ask grandpa for a roll. He's say, in return, "Sure, go on, roll," as he gestured at the floor and made rolling motions with his hand. So I'd roll on the floor. After we'd laugh at that, I'd get the sweet roll.

See? All grandpa's fault! Classic conditioning, and wouldn't Pavlov be proud? I can't help it, I like cheap puns and stupid humor. Don't like my jokes? Tell Nick Fey. He's resting in Seneca County, Ohio. Should be easy to find, right?

Steve

Labels: Info, Social Commentary

Does anybody know where to buy Mary Janes candies in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Labels: Info

Same old stuff so far. Still, change is good, right?

Labels: Info

I just got a copy of this video from my brother in Ohio. Besides getting the brunt of the brutal campaign ads this year, Ohio is fighting a nasty economic downturn, so anyone living there can use some entertainment. Click the title of this post, or this link, to see an Australian politician talking about an oil tanker. One of which "the front fell off." It was towed . . . oh, well, just click the link and you'll see. It's a funny one, for sure!

Labels: Info, Politics, Reviews, Social Commentary

It had to happen. You can find me on Facebook. The title link will take you to the site. Facebook is what My Space never quite achieved. The entertainment's here, though. ;-)

Labels: Info

The following line is cut and pasted directly from an email I received:

Dont let your wife be nagry with you because of bad potence.

Isn't nager one of the seven sedly dins?

Labels: Info

why I liked watermelon so much.

Labels: Info, Social Commentary

Logically or not, if you are a fan of Star Trek and at all inclined to visit the Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton, you have until the end of August to do so. It was announced yesterday that the exhibit will be closing at that time. The Hilton won't say it is responsible for the closing, the Experience won't say it caused itself to close, and Cedar Fair, the third largest amusement company in the country (or so I'm told) won't admit to making the decision, either.

But whichever, if you've wanted to take in the Star Trek Experience, maybe eat at Quarks, have a Romulan Ale (you'll be glad you didn't,) you have two months.

After that, life support will no longer function in the current location.

Yes, I really, really think that the Romulan Ale is a waste of a glass. And frankly, the Experience itself is a bit stale. But, if you're into it, this is your last chance.

Labels: Info, Reviews

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Last weekend we spent in Big Bear Lake California, which is on a sky island in the middle of a vast desert. Big Bear Lake has several towns around it, boating, water sports, skiing, snow play, shopping, and amazingly enough a zoo. That would be the Moonridge Wild Animal Park.

We had an interesting experience at that zoo. They have some bears, some of which are black bears. One of the black bears, while we watched, climbed up on a platform alongside one of his comrades-in-fur. Then he started doing the sort of thing that your kid brother used to do when he'd lock himself in his room for a long stretch. If you're a Seinfeld fan, I can tell you that this bear was not the master of his domain.

Bears are not like people, are they? Imagine, you're sitting out on the porch, watching the world go by, and cousin Clem decides to let it all loose. Not a pretty picture, is it?

Staggering from that shocking display, we went into the aviary, which is where we saw the f***ing ducks. Not the effing ducks, as there's no rhyme scheme in effing. We were sitting there, minding our own, when a male mallard hopped up on a female and started pecking her in the neck, among other things. Really, this is quite the zoo they have in Big Bear.

In fact, the Moonridge Wild Animal Park has to move by February. They care for wild animals that for one reason or another can't survive in the wild. When possible they release the animals after treatment and care. If you'd like to help them, you can contact Friends of the Moonridge Zoo at 909-878-4200.

You can tell them to get that bear some companionship. After all, they did it for the duck.

Labels: Info, Social Commentary

Henderson, NV
0°F
Wind: SW at 114 mph
Humidity: 100%
Today

That's from Google Weather
I knew this was a tough climate, but sheesh!

Labels: Info

Once again I've taken the #2 spot in a top five list. You can go right to the list by clicking on the title of this post.

The topic is "The Top Signs It's Getting to Be Summer"

# 2 is, oh no, go ahead and click. It's funny, I promise.

S.

Labels: Info

I don't plan to make a habit of posting each time an article I write comes out somewhere else, but as this is my premiere effort for Living Las Vegas, I'm making an exception. It's a short piece about running in this desert paradise. You can see it by clicking the title of this post, or this.

Thanks for clicking!

S.

Labels: Info

There is a companion site to the Living Las Vegas site for which I write. It is called Road Trip America. It's a good travel site, and it has a collection of funny road signs. One of them is the Humped Zebra Crossing sign I mentioned in my posting about our trip to England. However, that's not the best one. You can pick your favorite by clicking the title of this post, which will take you to the one Tami took in Melton Mobray, and from there you can easily navigate the rest.

Believe me, there are some beauts. Some are a bit naughty, so you've been warned. But, do check it out.

Labels: Info

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This is to serve notice that I am now a regular columnist for a site called "Living Las Vegas." The link to the staff page is in the title of this post, if you'd like to see my picture again as well as pictures of the other contributors. It is a site about living in the real Las Vegas, where we pay for those strip shows about as often as does the average single mother from Cleveland, and where there is, if you can believe it, a rather nice Western city waiting to be explored if you'd care to. Some recent posts have included a bit about the Pinball Museum (not a tourist attraction per se, just a local thing, although tourists are welcome to play a few games of course) plus reviews of local attractions. I am scheduled for the fourth Wednesday of the month. This month will be an article about running in Las Vegas. Later I'll do other topics that I hope are of interest. To the left, in my list of links, is a permanent link to Living Las Vegas. Check it out, you might be surprised at what you'll find!

Labels: Info

I just posted a second funny page for the year. It's sort of intellectual, so you've been warned. It's all about ancient history and stuff. Really high class. Honest.

Labels: Info

I just returned from seeing Ka at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. That's the corner of Tropicana, if you know the area. It's big, it's green, it's the MGM. This wasn't the first Cirque du Soleil show I've seen. Let me assure you that there is no shortage of Mongolian acrobats along the famous Strip. It may not even be the best one I've seen, which just may still be Mystere, but it was pretty good. It even has a pretense of a plot

Pretense is the right word, too. The resolution is pretty damned easy for good drama, but there is a story line for those who care to follow it. There is also what may be the prettiest pas de deux I've ever witnessed, as among other things they didn't bother respecting gravity when they designed it. I would have been happy enough if I'd paid for the show, though, so I'm able to recommend it to anyone visiting Vegas with ninety minutes they'd like to fill with some top-notch entertainment. (I won the tickets in a radio station contest.) The story? A couple of Imperial twins, boy and a girl, get separated when the bad guys invade the kingdom. After some travails, they are reunited and defeat the baddies. Much fabulous acrobatic skill is displayed along the way.

Speaking of Cirque, I learned from a reliable source where the name "O" comes from. It seems that it's a water show, and Cirque being French Canadian they used the word for water, eau. Apparently they thought us Yankee hicks would pronounce it wrong. Hard to mess up the spelling they used, isn't it?

Labels: Info, Reviews

By golly and by gum I went and wrote up a new humor page. First one this year. Why at this rate I'll have a couple of 'em by 2009! Boy, that's something, ain't it?

Okay, seriously, click the title of this post to read it. Let me know what you think by commenting this post, if you'd care to. It's about BBC America. And bras.

Labels: Info

First, I'd like to mention that I check the visits to this blog, and I'm ashamed of what I did to an unusually large number of you in the past few weeks. I was finishing up a class I had to take to keep my job. It's over now, with only my usual training schedule keeping me busier than I'd otherwise be. I'm sorry for disappointing those of you who visited, and I'll try not to do it again.

But, while I have you, let me mention that I have watched the last couple of episodes of American Idol, at first because Tami has money in a pool on who will win. But now it's because every single contestant this time is worthy of being a music star. I'm not kidding; I've never seen such a conglomeration of talent. Last week they all took on Dolly Parton songs, which almost has to be a good thing, and they all were fantastic. This week was "inspirational" tunes. The guy who did Over the Rainbow, in particular, was amazing.

Labels: Info, Reviews

I just deleted a comment that said somthing about terrorists being the baby killing abortionists, which seemed to me to be apropos of not a thing posted here. Please, if you have an axe to grind, start your own blog.

Labels: Info

If you've ever watched Two and a Half Men or Big Bang Theory you may have noticed the very short slide at the very, very, absolutely last thing end of the program. Those slides are vanity slides written for the occasion by Chuck Lorre, who is the producer of those and other programs. If you'd care to freeze-frame one you can read it right there on your own TV. But if you don't have a DVR, or even a VCR, you're out of luck. You'll never get to see #191, which asks for a moratorium on the humorous use of the name "Chuck," for example.

But wait, hope is! You can click the title of this post and go straight to the web site where all of the vanity slides from all of the shows Mr. Lorre has produced are posted for all to see. I recommend that you do so. Right now. Go on, get on with it.

(Especially if you got here while looking at my "writing" posts in particular.)

Labels: Info, Social Commentary, Writing

This is from my other blog about my first published novel. Click the title of this post to get to it there.

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I thought I might never make any more progress on this project. It was moribund, that's more-eee-bund-o, my friend, but finally I am involved in a critique group. The first ten pages need lots of work, and will for a while because what I do is apply the advice to the next ten pages each week. And, boy the advice is fantastic! Finally, I have somewhere to go with making this thing fit to read. I can tell it's a good story, because my readers all want to know what happens next. I thought so, now I know so. Anyhow, it will take approximately 21 more weeks to go throught the whole thing, at which time I think I'll have something to show the world at last. Thank you to my critique partners (they know who they are) and thank you for reading this. Wow. I'll keep this posted as things go along. Later . . .

Labels: Info, Writing

I know that I was done with England, but just this one more thing. Friday was the last day of finals week where I teach, and some of my fellow teachers and I were going out to lunch. I got directions, then I got lost, which immediately reminded me of England. I was lost most of the time driving there, but we always arrived in time so it was okay. Here I was again, in an unfamiliar part of the valley, lost, and what do I come across but not one but two roundabouts. They seemed a bit odd as I turned right to get onto them. Oddly, they didn't bother me much. My only worry was that the other drivers might not know how to handle them. One week and already I'm an expert, huh? Anyway, there I was, lost on a roundabout. Made me nostalgic for the Midlands, it did.

Never did find the restaurant, by the way.

Labels: England, Info

I've been sending material to Top5.com for years. They've used a few Ruminations, and I've gotten into the Runner-up and Honorable Mention lists a few times, but as of yesterday my contribution was #2! Yowzers! Click the title to this post to see the list, and be sure to check the credits at the bottom.

Labels: Info, Writing

There are two distinct Englands. One is seen on the left below. That photo was taken in a bird sanctuary in East Anglia right next to the North Sea. On the right is Tower Bridge in London. (London Bridge, the scenic one, is in Arizona.)




In between the two extremes are many towns and cities such as Nottingham, Leicester, Stratford and hundreds more that make up the England in which most English people live and work.


I learned some things about England which I did not know. I knew, for example, that England went Metric a long time ago. I'd never driven in England, though, and thought that only beer was still availble in the old measures (pints, to be exact.) In fact, the highways are signed in miles and yards, and the speedometer on the car I rented was exactly like an American one, with the Kilometers in little numbers inside of the list of "real" speeds in miles per hour. Petrol (gasoline) is sold by the litre (liter) though, at just over a pound per litre. Since a Pound generally buys the same thing a dollar will buy in America, gas isn't all that god awful more expensive than it is in Nevada, maybe 25 percent or so more, which is less of a difference than I'd been expecting. Of course, right now the dollar isn't worth what it ought to be, so pounds are expensive for an American to buy. On the other hand, if you have pounds and want to visit America, I can tell you that you'll find it remarkably cheap. Come to Vegas, because everybody loves Las Vegas, and I'm not kidding. You'll have a good time. We even have some roundabouts, if you're feeling homesick. Also our petrol is cheaper.


You might think I enjoyed my stay in Britain, and you'd be right. It felt homey, in a good way, and the people were very friendly and tolerant of my American ways. One man even thanked me for bailing them out in World War Two, as if I'd had anything to do with it. Well, officially then, you are all very welcome, by British friends. Think nothing of it. Think of me the next time you're in Boots buying batteries. Finally, in gratitude for being shown a great deal of hospitality, here's something distinctly British, and even red, white and blue:

Labels: England, Holidays, Info

Labels: England, Holidays, Info

Labels: England, Holidays, Info

Labels: England, Holidays, Info, Writing

Made a mistake on that parking ticket. We were tired and not really focused when we found it. In truth, it was sixty pounds, and I just paid it online. The link to the City of Westminster site is in the title of this blog, by the way. Nice town. Bit pricey.

Labels: England, Info

Labels: England, Holidays, Info

Labels: England, Holidays, Info

We were in London the first night, as I said before. We, and by we I mean I, drove into the city, which was probably a stupid idea. Not only do they give you incredibly expensive parking tickets there, I was unused to driving from the right side of the car. Everyone assumes that driving to the left is a problem, but that's easy. Show me a lane and I'll drive in it. Heck, on the freeways I'm in the left lane a lot anyway. But sitting on the right side of the car makes it look like all of the oncoming traffic is about to run into you. Not pleasant when you're tired anyway. And then there's the roundabouts, but more about them later.




The photograph this time is of Harrods, the famous department store, as it was decorated this season for the holidays. It may be famous, but inside, it's a department store. That's not a bad thing, but frankly it ain't worth going to London to see. It was pretty on the outside though, and we had a good meal at a pub overlooking the high street in Kensington, at Knightsbridge. No word on where that bridge went or whether only knights got to use it.

Later in the trip we went back, by train. The trains go about 180 miles per hour, which is quite impressive. You can buy a ticket at Stevenage, and maybe other places, that lets you go to London and return, and ride the subway and busses all you want on that day. A fine deal for a tourist. Here is a picture from that trip to town, of some big old clock they seem pretty fond of. Big Ben, to be exact. The first time I was in London I never heard it chime as they were repairing it. This time I never heard it chime either. I have no idea why not. Nice clock tower, though, isn't it? We also took in the National Gallery, saw Westminster Abbey, and best of all from a tourist point of view, we visited the Tower of London. The place was started by William the First not long after 1066. Here are two pictures:









This is the White Tower, which is the one started by Bill the First. It was a home for kings for a long time, but by the time you may be familiar with, like Henry VIII, it was a good place to avoid as most who went in didn't come out alive. An amazing place to tour.

And finally here is a bit of the old city wall of Londinium. It was put up shortly after the Romans arrived, a couple of thousand years ago.










Next time: off to the races!

Labels: England, Holidays, Info

Maybe. While we're away I'm setting up a webcam in the livingroom so we can catch the dogs (and I guess cats) doing what they do best, which is sleep all the time. There is a link at the top of the humor page labelled "livingroom cam." Or, click here. If you do it when we're away, you can refresh every sixty seconds for a fresh view of whatever it is. If we're here, you'll just see whatever image was last when I shut the cam down. And they say I never provide entertainment . . .

Labels: Info

Yes, I am. I bought Tami everything she said she wanted. I'm no fool. And I found her a birthday gift she's bound to love, too. Why she had to get born at Christmastime is beyond me, but there you go.
Obviously, I've been a bit busy with the shopping and all, but that's over. Next week, though, well this Friday to be exact, we're off to England, so my next post after todays' will be a report about things in that country. I remember it as a very manicured looking place, even out in the sticks. I'm anxious to see if I still think that. Tami wants fish and chips from a street vendor. Okay by me.
So anyway I'm sorry about not posting for three weeks, and I'll see you after Christmas some time.

Steve

Labels: Info

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I'd like to get all worked up over some situation or other and vent a lot on this blog like I've done in the past. Trouble is, I'm too occupied with starting my new job to take any time out to notice what I don't like about, well, the administration, Nevada politics, people driving Ford Exaggerations, whatever.
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Just this week I took over the duties of a biology teacher at Sierra Vista High School in Southwest Las Vegas. Well, it isn't in Las Vegas, but then neither is the Strip, so who's noticing. Anyhow, I don't teach biology, I teach forensic science. I have crime scene tape. I have evidence bags with evidence bag sealing tape. I have Luminol™. Did you know that the stuff works better and better as the blood ages? Here's a hint: if you commit a murder, don't bother cleaning up any blood. Better yet, don't make your victim bleed in the first place. You'll never get it out. I've learned a few things already myself. Such as, they don't dust doorknobs for fingerprints. I'll leave you to guess why. Also, the famous GSR isn't all that easy to find on somebody's hands because all you have to do is wash it off. Unlike blood, of course.
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So the upshot of all that is that I've been too busy to write anything, which could be bad with NaNoWriMo coming up, but I'm getting more even on my keel, so to speak, so I'm thinking it'll be okay for this year, like last. And, speaking of high schools:
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The students are about the same level of idiots that my friends and I were at in the mid sixties. They'll be fine, really, just like you and me. Okay, maybe not fine, but, well, they mostly won't be criminals and neer-do-wells, okay? And I get a lot of exercise writing restroom passes.
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So there it is. I'll try to get righteously upset soon, I promise.

Labels: Info, Social Commentary

I started putting reviews in with my review of "Wild Hogs," which says, and I can quote, "Wild Hogs is a funny movie." I was trying to be funny myself and also to avoid the usual pompous ass type of review. Turns out I've put enough in that I thought that 'reviews' should be a category, so it is, and it includes this one. I also added it to a couple of reviews that are more traditional (yeah, pompous etcetera) because, well, fair's fair, innit?

Labels: Info, Reviews

Labels: Info, Social Commentary

We were hoping to go to England this year, but the way things worked out, what with time share trading and all, we're going to be spending Christmas in Wales. If only Dylan Thomas could be there, eh? Anyway, this is just an appeal to anyone who might have any tips for Wales (and the Southwest of England also) to write me and let me know what advice you'd like to impart. I've been in Britain previously, Tami's never been off this continent. We'll be in St. David's, on the very western edge of Great Britain. It used to be a Roman province, so of course I'm all over it. Also I have some ancestors from Wales. Should be fun. Please let me know if you have any tips.

Thanks,

Steve

Labels: Info

Biscuit or Cookie. Well, which is it?

Okay, both, to tell the truth. According to a quick and dirty article in Wikipedia, the concept of what we call a cookie goes back maybe all the way to ancient Persia. (No word if they used nuclear ovens.) Biscuit is the French term for the thing, and Cookie is the Dutch term. For some reason, in the United States, biscuit has lost all of that association, and now is a sort of quickbread, what the English call a scone. Of course, you can buy scones in America, too, so don’t think I’m writing this to ease your confusion.

I once had a job in a factory that molded things out of phenolic plastic. The plastic comes in bags full of small pellets, which are smashed together in a compression machine and made into a thing that looks a lot like a grey cake of soap. They called these things cookies. In England today, the term cookie is used for things that are smashed and molded in this way, such as ‘dog cookies’, which we call ‘dog biscuits’, which means exactly the same thing in most English speaking countries. I didn’t know that. So, biscuit or cookie, it doesn’t matter, just so you get to dip it in milk and have at it.

In the beginning were Hydrox chocolate crème biscuits, which gave rise to Oreo chocolate crème biscuits, which stayed just that until, apparently after World War Two, when both became cookies, not biscuits. My theory is that, having done time, so to speak, in England, a lot of American soldiers took to calling compression molded items “cookies.” The wafers outside of an Oreo are, by that definition, cookies. Since, in fact, most commercially available cookies in America fit that definition, the term is apt, from an English point of view, if you are referring to American-style cookies that used to be called biscuits.

I was reminded of all this when I decided to make a batch of a childhood favorite: Gertrude’s Drop Cookies. I have not the foggiest idea who Gertrude was. “Some friend of my mothers,” is all mom would say. But, the thing is, these cookies are a lot less short than Toll House cookies, they have baking powder in them, and they rise a lot on a greased baking sheet. (Pammed is okay, I’m sure.) They even look more like American biscuits than American cookies when they come out, and they stay soft for, well as long as it take me to eat several dozen. A day or two, at least. Less short, for the uninformed, means less greasy, which is why you need to do something to keep them from sticking to the baking sheet. If Gertrude was a friend of my mother’s mother, I’m sure she thought she was inventing “drop biscuits.” But of course my recipe calls them “cookies,” and that’s how I’ve always thought of them.

Just in case you’re curious, here’s the recipe. Just remember to spray Pam on or otherwise grease the baking sheets. Normal bake time is ten minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 and ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Chocolate chips (I use most of a ¾ pound bag)

Mix it all together, drop it out of a teaspoon onto the baking sheet, and pop it in the oven. They cool quickly, and taste pretty good.

Labels: Info, Writing

There was an as yet unexplained outage at my web hosting service yesterday. I could send mail and surf using my ISP, but I got no mail nor could anyone see my website. If this happened to you, I'm sorry. I truly hope it doesn't happen again.

Labels: Info

I know I used that title before, but this time for sure. The feeds are working! The feeds are working!

Thank you very much.

Elvis will now leave the building.

For a while.

Labels: Info

Wild Hogs is a funny movie.

Labels: Info, Reviews, Writing

Greetings, everyone.

I hope you’ll forgive me for not posting last week. I traveled to Los Angeles for some elective surgery, and just wasn’t up to the rigors of typing. Sorry. But, that’s over, and this week’s regularly scheduled post will appear above shortly, if it isn’t there all ready.

Labels: Info

This isn't really about any marathon per se. It's about yesterday's training run. The club is still together for those training for the winter/spring season. I'm going to San Diego, but that's not what this is about. These training runs take place in Henderson Nevada, in the Mojave desert, a region noted for being hotter than Hell or so I'm told (never visited Hell so I can't swear to it.) Yesterday we went for a nice run, wearing lots and lots of clothing. At the first aid station the person I was running with got to the table first and said, "Hey, Tim, the Gatorade's all frozen!" Tim being the guy who sets up the aid stations. He was right: the Gatorade was slush.

When I got up it was twenty degrees in Henderson. The sun wasn't up yet when we got to the first aid station, so maybe it was even colder. I know, those of you in cold climates are somewhat temperate in your sympathy. But, I have run and trained in Minneapolis, the coldest major metropolitan area in the lower forty-eight. I know what cold is. But consider, if you moved to Vegas, would you consider that you might encounter a hazard like frozen Gatorade? Last July it was 97 degrees one Sunday when we took off, 105 degrees when we came back in. Frozen Gatorade? Salted Sweetened water that freezes outside? In Vegas?

Okay, go ahead and laugh at my wimpiness now. I got it off my chest.

By the way, Tami and I just got back from an overnight in Zion National Park. It was in the single digits last night. Georgous place, but you can't get to the narrows because of recent snow. Drat it all.

Labels: Info, Marathon

Blogger has added labels to posts if the poster chooses to use them. I've been adding some, including so far Marathon, Politics, and Writing, plus the one for this post, which I'm just calling Info, meaning information about the Blog or similar. I occasionally do other topics, so there will always be some unlabeled posts, and I don't know how far back I'm going to take the labeling this time, but you may find the labels helpful. If you click on the link with the label name at the bottom of a post, you'll get a custom-generated page consisting just of the postings with that label. So, you can see all my stuff about training for and running the New Las Vegas Marathon at one time, if you want to.

I thought you might like to know that.

Labels: Info