Roasted Grapes

Well, really, they are grape tomatoes. To roast them into sweet, yummy goodness, spray the bottom of your pan with olive oil - I use Trader Joe's. Then pour your tomatoes in the pan. I use Trader Joe's Add 3 or 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, cut into 2 or 4 sections. I use Trader Joe's. Season with some salt and lemon pepper. I use Trader Joe's. Then spritz again with the olive oil. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. Let them cool before you eat them. They taste great alone, with rice or on sandwiches.

Tradition

via my favorite daughter

More Reading

My summer reading list just got longer. Oh why, oh why do I have to work for a living?

Love Is All There Is

Last summer marked the point at which I had lived in Nevada for as long as I had previously lived in California. I realized then that it will never matter how long I live in Nevada, I will always think of myself as a Californian. And today I am profoundly ashamed of my home state. I will never understand why some people are so bent on denying civil rights to gays and lesbians. I don't understand why anyone cares who marries whom. Nothing about gay unions harms anyone. The sad thing to me is that so many of those anti same sex marriage people claim to be Christians and want to use the Bible to justify their position. The same Bible that exhorts them to beware of casting the first stone, to love their neighbors, to judge not and to turn the other check. As as practicing agnostic, I sincerely hope there is a God and a heaven where these same people will finally learn that it is not important who you love but only that you love.

Demotivate Me

Caption contest at demotivators. Enter by midnight Monday, May 25th. My entry: "UPHEAVAL. It is not important how you face the upheaval in your life, only that you acknowledge your powerlessness against it."

Share your caption in the comments - and at the website, of course.

Summer Reading

Check out Stephen King's recommendations for summer reading. I like the list because I'm a mystery, thriller, suspense fan but also because I'm a huge Charles Dickens fan and any list that has him on it is fine with me.

Coming Soon

I enjoy the preview part of going to the movies. Which is funny because when I rent a movie I skip all the previews.
This weekend, my trip to the theater was full of previews that made me aware of a few movies I'd like to see.

Public Enemies has Johnny Depp playing John Dillinger. Good old time shoot 'em up that will be action packed. Timely too since (according to reviews) the public liked that fact that Dillinger was going after the evil banks that had plunged the country into a depression. Oh and did I mention it has Johnny Depp in it?

Julie and Julia. BFD will love this movie I'm sure. Julia Child is her hero. I think this will involve a summer trip to L.A. so we can see it together. And then maybe she'll cook for me.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. I never saw the original so I'll have to rent it to watch before going to see this remake. John Travolta is the bad guy and he makes such a great bad guy (see Pulp Fiction). Denzel is the good guy and, while he also makes a great bad guy (see Training Day), he makes a great good guy too.

It all makes for a great summer movie season.

ABC

A: Angels and Demons: For the first time in a very long time, I went to see a movie in the theater. This used to be a regular weekend event for my BFF in Nevada, Cheryl, and me but we lapsed about 3 years ago. The movie was action packed and a good choice for the big screen experience. We were shocked at how expensive the matinee has gotten though. Even so, we had a great time and decided this summer will be big screen summer for us.

B: Bank innovations: I stopped at the ATM this morning to deposit a check. A rare occasion for me due to automatic deposit and inter bank transfer. Our ATM has a new feature that allows you to put the check in a scanner. No envelope needed. The machine couldn't read the amount on my check which was hand written but typically can. Since the amount wasn't clear, I just had to type it in and verify it. Easy, breezy.

C: Coffee: It is now officially ice coffee season in Las Vegas. The temperature hit 100 degrees this past weekend and that is just too hot to drink hot coffee. Though co-worker Brian and I typically walk across the campus to get coffee, iced coffee is about $1 more than hot coffee* and so we're attempting to make our own to save $5 a week (more money for penny slots). Brian will bring the shots and milk and I'll bring the ice. I know, it looks like I got off easy but, believe me, Brian will calculate the value of the coffee and bill me. But it will be cheaper than Starbucks so I think it will be fine.

*the iced is more expensive because I insist on espresso for iced coffee. I like it strong and the ice waters down regular coffee too much.

Name That Cup

I may have commented before in this blog how it amuses me when the Starbucks clerks ask for "a name for your cup." I always like to give some other name besides mine, or say something silly like "Rainbow". I mentioned that point recently on a discussion group I belong to and someone suggested using phrases instead of names. Maybe political causes such as "Indict Bush" or "Ban Torture". Now I'm intrigued. Next time I have to name my cup, maybe I'll say "Vote for Choice" or "Hug A Tree" just to see if the barista will call that out when my coffee is ready.

Pasta Not

I am a big pasta lover and that is a problem because pasta has a lot of calories and because it makes me feel full and draggy after I eat a big bowl of it. I've tried spaghetti squash before, baking it and adding marinara and have not been pleased. That is until Debra made me a big dish of spaghetti squash for dinner. It was delicious. So the first thing I did, when I got home, was to make dinner from spaghetti squash. I didn't find the recipe Debra used but this one is just as good. Basically you bake the spaghetti squash and then stir in the sauce. It is yummy, yummy goodness.

Technology Puzzle

The wireless router at my house has been flaky for some time. Debra complains about it every time she visits. Since I seem to be able to steal connectivity from some one in my neighborhood, I've put off fixing the problem. My router worked sporadically so just wasn't motivated to do anything about it. When I got a new laptop from work, I decided I should also get a new router and stop fussing around with the problem.

Imagine my surprise when the new router didn't fix the problem. I decided that maybe it was my provider and that made me mad that I hadn't called in about the problem sooner. Because I knew the technicians would make me reboot the modem and router and connect, I moved my computer into the bedroom where the modem is. As I got ready to call, I decided to check all the connections one more time. That is when I noticed I had splitter cable coming off of the the main cable. It was there because there used to be a TV in the room along with the modem. Since the TV is gone, the splitter isn't needed anymore so I removed the extra cabling and hooked everything back up.

Now my new router seems to be working perfectly. I guess the old one would work too. Oh well. At least now I have a secure router installed. My old one was open to the world.

FAIL

I had a blog all ready to explain how I fixed my router problem in which the router keeps losing connection to the Internet and causes me consternation. But sadly, it is not fixed and I am still consternated.

What's Going On

There just isn't that much going on around here besides work and the animal-that-shall-not-be-mentioned flu. Not that I have the ATSNBM flu or know anyone with the ATSNBM flu but it does seem to be the only thing in the news. Currently I'm supposed to be forming an ATSNBM flu plan in the event everyone in my department contracts the flu and doesn't come to work. Or the city declares an ATSNBM pandemic and no one can leave their house. So far my plan is to punt. If anyone has some suggestions on what to do if everyone gets the ATSNBM flu or we all get quarantined, just leave your comments and I'll give you credit in my report.