A place to talk about random things....

[l82start]

bend has a lot of nice micro brewery's, not sure about blending its western OR so a mix of CA nuts and good old boys..

[Mark Leavy]

bend has a lot of nice micro brewery's, not sure about blending its western OR so a mix of CA nuts and good old boys..

That's a great recommendation. Thank you. I like Bend a lot. There's a very cool guy that I once worked with at Intel many years ago. He got tired of the corporate life in Portland and moved to Bend so that he could hike and ski and what not. Intel made him an offer he couldn't refuse and opened up a branch in Bend. They set up an office and made him the sole employee. Smart move. He was worth every dime.

I would travel to visit him every month or so. Worth every bit of road mile. Plus Bend.

EDIT:
Damn. I just checked. He's still there. I'll definitely stop in.
If you ever pass through, be polite and mention my name. Best day you'll ever have.

[l82start]

i get up there a couple times a year... the micro distillery in Tumelo, "Bendistillery" is worth a trip.. i did there taste testing one time on a visit.. someday i will take the tour...

(tumelo is next door to bend..)

[dualstow]

Mark, I’ve been meaning to ask:

I want what’s on Mark’s plate.

I'm switching it out. Ribeye, Niagara Falls, tonight.
That tomahawk makes a good picture, but it has painful memories.

A tomahawk is always $100, plus. I ordered that in Catania, Sicily while on a volcano trip with my gal. Medium rare - to make sure all of the fat was hot. Standard procedure: the kitchen will sear it on a blazing fire and then put it in a slow oven for a half an hour.

After almost an hour, I asked the waiter what was up.

Then a guy in a suit, who was clearly someone's nephew, brought my steak. It was obvious that they had forgotten about it - and had just left it in the oven. It was visibly inedible. Destroyed. Mutton meat.

(Remember, this was Sicily) Then the nephew says "Enjoy!". No sane person would have served that steak.
My response was. "Thank you. Just the way I like it." Then we paid up and skedaddelled quick time.

In retrospect, I should have said. "I would like to pay for this steak as a gift to the kitchen. May the chef enjoy every bite."
That would have been the Sicilian thing to do.


tomahawk.jpeg

Were you in a hurry, or is Sicily just the kind of place where it’s better to scram than to complain to the chef?

[Mark Leavy]

Mark, I’ve been meaning to ask:

I want what’s on Mark’s plate.

I'm switching it out. Ribeye, Niagara Falls, tonight.
That tomahawk makes a good picture, but it has painful memories.

A tomahawk is always $100, plus. I ordered that in Catania, Sicily while on a volcano trip with my gal. Medium rare - to make sure all of the fat was hot. Standard procedure: the kitchen will sear it on a blazing fire and then put it in a slow oven for a half an hour.

After almost an hour, I asked the waiter what was up.

Then a guy in a suit, who was clearly someone's nephew, brought my steak. It was obvious that they had forgotten about it - and had just left it in the oven. It was visibly inedible. Destroyed. Mutton meat.

(Remember, this was Sicily) Then the nephew says "Enjoy!". No sane person would have served that steak.
My response was. "Thank you. Just the way I like it." Then we paid up and skedaddelled quick time.

In retrospect, I should have said. "I would like to pay for this steak as a gift to the kitchen. May the chef enjoy every bite."
That would have been the Sicilian thing to do.


tomahawk.jpeg

Were you in a hurry, or is Sicily just the kind of place where it’s better to scram than to complain to the chef?

Sicily is a beautiful country filled with some of the most wonderful people you will meet. It is also very very poor and under a very heavy thumb of a weakening mafia. Many of the local restaurants carry the burden of employing someone's nephew.

My steak was very expensive and someone obviously screwed up. $150 would be a big f'ing deal if I sent it back to the kitchen. When a young guy in a suit that clearly knew nothing about food brought my steak out, I knew there was a problem brewing. Something I wanted no part of. So I paid up and left.

[dualstow]

Makes sense. You’ve got international street smarts.

[Mark Leavy]

I stopped in Chapel Hill, NC this evening. For the weekend.

UNC Chapel Hill is the center of the universe for computer vision. I've worked with these folks for decades, but have never been here before. What a beautiful town. I didn't realize it, but classes are starting back up on Monday - so the town is abuzz.

My hotel bar was full of parents that had just driven their kids into town. I talked to a couple from Long Island for quite awhile. The guy said that Manhattan is a ghost town. Brooklyn is starting to slowly pick up. He thinks that UNC will shut down within a month and he'll be making the drive again to pick up his daughter.

Everywhere I stop, the story is different. But there is serious trauma right now. Hotel and restaurant workers. Parents with school aged kids. Businesses trying to figure out where and when to allocate capital.

There is palpable tension in the air.

I expect sanity to break out at any time. But it could go the other way.

Mark

[dualstow]

I hope you keep a journal occasionally, Mark.

[Mark Leavy]

I drove through Vermont last week. You have to lock your car doors and sunroof or you will come back to find your seats filled with zucchini.

[Kriegsspiel]

You're crazy bud. Zucchini is awesome. I had some seeds but I never got around to planting them this year, regrettably.

[pp4me]

Out of sheer boredom I built a raised garden in my backyard so my wife could plant some vegetables and herbs only to find the first crop eaten by some animal that I assumed to be a squirrel though it may have been a rabbit or fruit rat.

So I bought this gizmo on Amazon for $42 which I would describe as an electronic scarecrow but they call it a "Ultrasonic Animal Repellent Outdoor,Solar Powered Waterproof Animal Repeller with Motion Sensor". Seems to be working so far with the second crop just starting to come in.



(Further Note: Made in China, of course).

[dualstow]

Why do people even grow zucchini? I hate zucchini....

Pug, you have a lot of posts lately that amount to why isn’t the world more like me?

[Kriegsspiel]

Usually, most people only like diversity when it applies to food. Pug has chosen a different path.

[dualstow]

Speaking of food, I was looking for info on acid/alkaline diets and I found a helpful 2013 post from Gumby. So, it’s all bullsht, right? Urine might be extra acidic after a steak, but homeostasis keeps the blood pH shipshape?

( just made an eye of round roast, and kombucha is a very low pH drink that I think I need to be careful about).

[Mark Leavy]

Speaking of food, I was looking for info on acid/alkaline diets and I found a helpful 2013 post from Gumby. So, it’s all bullsht, right? Urine might be extra acidic after a steak, but homeostasis keeps the blood pH shipshape?

( just made an eye of round roast, and kombucha is a very low pH drink that I think I need to be careful about).

Yep. And your dinner sounds awesome. Eat and drink up.

Edit: Oops. Pug beat me to it.

[vnatale]

Out of sheer boredom I built a raised garden in my backyard so my wife could plant some vegetables and herbs only to find the first crop eaten by some animal that I assumed to be a squirrel though it may have been a rabbit or fruit rat.

So I bought this gizmo on Amazon for $42 which I would describe as an electronic scarecrow but they call it a "Ultrasonic Animal Repellent Outdoor,Solar Powered Waterproof Animal Repeller with Motion Sensor". Seems to be working so far with the second crop just starting to come in.



(Further Note: Made in China, of course).

I was all set to buy this as there is a woodchuck or similar type animal taking out a lot of my crops. But there are a lot of poor reviews for the product. Way too many for me to buy it.

Vinny

[dualstow]

Thanks guys!

[pp4me]

Out of sheer boredom I built a raised garden in my backyard so my wife could plant some vegetables and herbs only to find the first crop eaten by some animal that I assumed to be a squirrel though it may have been a rabbit or fruit rat.

So I bought this gizmo on Amazon for $42 which I would describe as an electronic scarecrow but they call it a "Ultrasonic Animal Repellent Outdoor,Solar Powered Waterproof Animal Repeller with Motion Sensor". Seems to be working so far with the second crop just starting to come in.



(Further Note: Made in China, of course).

I was all set to buy this as there is a woodchuck or similar type animal taking out a lot of my crops. But there are a lot of poor reviews for the product. Way too many for me to buy it.

Vinny

Yeah, it was one of those products that had a lot of good reviews and a lot of poor ones but there were more good ones so I took a chance. Like I said, seems to be working so far.

[vnatale]

Out of sheer boredom I built a raised garden in my backyard so my wife could plant some vegetables and herbs only to find the first crop eaten by some animal that I assumed to be a squirrel though it may have been a rabbit or fruit rat.

So I bought this gizmo on Amazon for $42 which I would describe as an electronic scarecrow but they call it a "Ultrasonic Animal Repellent Outdoor,Solar Powered Waterproof Animal Repeller with Motion Sensor". Seems to be working so far with the second crop just starting to come in.



(Further Note: Made in China, of course).

I was all set to buy this as there is a woodchuck or similar type animal taking out a lot of my crops. But there are a lot of poor reviews for the product. Way too many for me to buy it.

Vinny

Yeah, it was one of those products that had a lot of good reviews and a lot of poor ones but there were more good ones so I took a chance. Like I said, seems to be working so far.

I think I read the first three pages of reviews and the poor ones seemed to vastly outnumber the good ones. I always read Amazon reviews in reverse chronological order.

Vinny

[dualstow]

I always read Amazon reviews in reverse chronological order.
Vinny

Vinny

me too.

[pp4me]

I always read Amazon reviews in reverse chronological order.
Vinny

Vinny

me too.

I've had several Amazon companies whose product I purchased offer me something free for a 5 star review so that tends to make me discount them.

I always look at the 1 star reviews, especially if there are a lot of them, to see if there is one particular thing most people are complaining about. If so I'll probably forget about it.

On the other hand I have bought quite a few things that were just like the electronic scarecrow where there are a lot of both 5 star and 1 star reviews and never experienced the problems people complained about in the 1 star reviews so it doesn't stop me from giving it a try. Especially with Amazon's return policy.

[vnatale]

I always read Amazon reviews in reverse chronological order.
Vinny

Vinny

me too.

I've had several Amazon companies whose product I purchased offer me something free for a 5 star review so that tends to make me discount them.

I always look at the 1 star reviews, especially if there are a lot of them, to see if there is one particular thing most people are complaining about. If so I'll probably forget about it.

On the other hand I have bought quite a few things that were just like the electronic scarecrow where there are a lot of both 5 star and 1 star reviews and never experienced the problems people complained about in the 1 star reviews so it doesn't stop me from giving it a try. Especially with Amazon's return policy.

If I have no knowledge of what I want to buy I look for products at Amazon that have a ton of ratings and an average high rating.

I assume that if it's not a good product there are just not going to be that many people buying it to rate it. And, I'll read the first two or three page of reviews. I disregard all the short ones. I think I have a fairly good sense of which ones were written by an actual purchaser of the product.

I've never given a rating nor have I ever been solicited like you describe above.

And, I don't want to deal with Amazon's return policy as it'd be a minimum 45 minute round trip for me to comply with it.

Vinny

[Smith1776]

Thought of the day

3E78E3DF-95A8-40E6-81B9-8ACAC791100E.jpeg (82.85 KiB) Viewed 3844 times

[Mark Leavy]

Generally, when people ask me where I'm from, I have always said San Diego or Portland or Sonoma or Fort Lauderdale or anyplace that is not "here" and which I know well enough. Lately, I've been going with Sioux Falls, SD. Because there is paranoia permeating the air - and people need a quick label to know if you are "safe" or not.

Usually when I would check into a hotel, I would use my passport card for ID - as it doesn't have an address on it and I don't want a bunch of questions about Sioux Falls - which I know very little about. Now, though, I use my driver's license and proudly claim to be a South Dakotan.

No one knows what to think of South Dakotans. People don't have a snappy label to apply. Hard right or left? Virus infected or not? Are there even enough people in your state to matter? Is that far from here?

[vnatale]

Generally, when people ask me where I'm from, I have always said San Diego or Portland or Sonoma or Fort Lauderdale or anyplace that is not "here" and which I know well enough. Lately, I've been going with Sioux Falls, SD. Because there is paranoia permeating the air - and people need a quick label to know if you are "safe" or not.

Usually when I would check into a hotel, I would use my passport card for ID - as it doesn't have an address on it and I don't want a bunch of questions about Sioux Falls - which I know very little about. Now, though, I use my driver's license and proudly claim to be a South Dakotan.

No one knows what to think of South Dakotans. People don't have a snappy label to apply. Hard right or left? Virus infected or not? Are there even enough people in your state to matter? Is that far from here?

How many places did you live through high school?

And, I'm originally from Rhode Island (first 22 1/2 years of my life). I've met people in New England who have never even heard of Rhode Island! And, many times, I'm oftentimes the only person from Rhode Island a person has ever met.

I think you stated recently that you'd passed through Rhode Island not that long ago?

You probably know....so this answer is more addressed to others reading this.

How do you label Rhode Island? The smallest state in the country (however, usually back and forth with New Jersey for being the most densely populated state in the country).

Finally, back to directed at you. When people hear you speak where do they oftentimes assume you are from? For some reason people many times think I'm from New York, which is an accent not even close to the Rhode Island heavy Boston / Italian accent.

Vinny

Vinny