Still Snowing

But that doesn't phase anyone here.

Buffalo Grove

Yes it was 4 after midnight local time. But we finally made it to the
hotel parking lot. That's Jeff and Curtis in the snow drift.

Cat Magnets II

for Hans:

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Thanks to text-image.com.

Cat Magnets

Mmmm..... heating pads for a snowy day.



Each has to have their own.



I don't know which is worse.. my n800 camera or my Sidekick camera. I'm kind of liking the lo-fi crappiness of then n800 better.

Ugh!!!

Free Public WiFi!

Ever since I got the n800 I've been noticing these "Free Public WiFi" ad-hoc networks near any hotel, airport etc. They are totally useless.

I found a nice article at WLAN BOOK that explains it all:
http://www.wlanbook.com/2007/07/16/free-public-wifi-ssid/

Thank Microsoft (or stupid people or beer or George Bush if you'd rather) for the air pollution.

Not a Serena Libre

Barbar passed this one on to me from a book with a lot of Chilean goodies in it: The Serena Libre. (slight variation between Wikipedia and what we see here)



Well, for some reason I haven't been able to find plain papaya nectar at my local store. I know I can find some somewhere around here, I just haven't yet. So I used some papaya-pineapple nectar. So it's not a Serena Libre. I also used Peruvian pisco... so it's definitely not a Serena Libre since La Serena is in Chile.



I've probably violated both Chilean and Peruvian laws here. Then to top it off I put it in a tiki mug because... just because I wanted to.



Anyway.. it's not bad. I can tell that's it's just not what it's supposed to be because of the pineapple. The pineapple is just too prominent to let the subtle tastes of the pisco through. I have noticed int he meantime that the Chilean pisco has a little more flavor and aroma to it than the Peruvian pisco. Admittedly I've only tried one brand of each so far but I seem to prefer the Chilean. In any case they both rock when making a Pisco Sour with real limes.

The Tiki Bar is Open

Jeff got me this cool sign for my birthday yesterday. I decided to keep it here in the office until I have a home tiki bar.



It's pretty cool in that it looks like a neon sign but it's really using LED's for the lighting. They are all around the edges of the frame and light up the slightly raised graphics. This should have a pretty long life and use a lot less power than neon lighting (not to mention it does not give off much heat.)

Car Wash

I took Maxwell to a car wash today.

Many people might not understand what that means to me and how hard it was to do. I'm a hand-washer. I always have been and would prefer to die that way. However, thanks to our level four drought response declaration I no longer have a choice. I finally decided (after months of not washing my car) to head down to my local Carnett's. One of the few things that I could imagine being worse than this is dropping you child off for daycare for the first time. It was awful.

Anyway, the folks at Carnett's are super-nice and helped guide me through the process of getting what I wanted done. I basically wanted a thorough wash, NO waxes or sealers, and a hand dry. That's pretty much the "Full Service" wash package. They took Maxwell away, vacuumed his innards and then into the tunnel he went.



It must have been two minutes of hell in the tunnel but it seemed like ten.



In any case, the machines did a pretty reasonable job. At first I thought they had scratched the finish on the back of the car, but then I realized it really just didn't get all the dirt off the boot. I can't really fault the machine, I'm sure is geared more toward the average sedan. The back of a MINI accumulates more road grime than any car I've ever had. It's insane. It will be dirty tomorrow after I go to the store to buy a chicken.

I cleaned the boot by hand manually with a spray bottle and a microfiber towel. It came out pretty well. I then went all around with a coat of Z-5 and then a coast of Z-2 with Z-6 in-between all applications (Zaino is LOVE BTW.) Then the seats got some Z-9 and Z-10 and the tires a nice coat of Z-16. The only thing better would be some sort of dirt-repelling force-field.

Then I topped it off with a shiny new NASCAR sticker.



All-in-all it turned out pretty well. I think next time I'll try Carnett's Indian Trail location which is a hand-wash only facility. That might do a better job on the boot. My other option would be to just let Sweating The Details come do the whole thing... Zaino and all. I'm not quite there yet... I still like doing some of it myself.

Guthrie's

Auburn introduced me to a place called Guthrie's. Guthrie's became my definition of "chicken fingers."

A while back I discovered Zaxby's. Zaxby's did not fill the hole that Guthrie's left but it was fairly close and... it's all we had (stay away from their wings BTW... not pretty.)

A genuin Guthris opened up a while back off Chamblee Dunwoody Rd. not too far from work. Today I figured I'd give them a try for lunch.



It's pretty much what I remember. Limited menu. Good stuff. I even got an extra Guthrie's sauce. I was thinking Zax sauce was pretty similar... it's not even close.

Info from a coworker and a little poking around on the net say this is what's in the sauce:

1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
lots of black pepper

I'll have to try this for a sauce to go with my fake-chicken nuggets I sometimes make at home.

Behold! The Christmas Eve Buffet!

Yes. The Foodarama cookbook strikes again.



Who can't get enough of the "creamed diced ham, oysters and mushrooms?"

The mustard salad molds speak for themselves.

I'd probably try the pie.