Because of the time of year, and the fact that I love egg nog, I figured I’d make some from scratch. I knew it wasn’t too difficult, and I now assume that my overconfidence is my weakness*.
After looking around for a recipe, I settled on this Alton Brown recipe because, after watching his show, he tends to use old school tried-and-true recipes rather than some newfangled way of doing them. It’s classified as “easy” which means I should be able to handle it without difficulty.
Sometimes, I actually surprise myself.
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The Giants made it interesting, but the Patriots capitalized on a mistake. That’s sort of how they’ve played all year…they somehow manage to play good football, on all sides of the ball, for 60 minutes, and take advantage of the other team’s mistake(s).
The Giants looked good…very good at times…but I wonder if the same intensity will show up next Sunday against the Buccaneers.
As for the broadcast…I watched it on NBC because they had 5.1 sound while CBS had stereo. Also, my CBS has a little worse picture quality with some weird “bar” down the middle that can be distracting once in a while. It was weird hearing Bryant Gumbel call a game, but I think he did okay. I could have done without all the “your cable company is at fault if you don’t get the NFL Network” commercials. Rich Eisen’s lost a lot of hair since we last saw him on ESPN.
‘How It’s Made’, on the Science Channel, is one of the best shows on TV. If you haven’t heard of it or seen it, it’s title pretty much describes it. In a typical show, they show three segments profiling how “things” are made. The “things” range from sandpaper, to chocolate, to kitchen sinks, to curling stones, and they take you into the factory and show you the most interesting steps in the process. I’m almost always fascinated at how automated processes are, but yet they still require a lot of manual intervention. I’ve never been disappointed with a ‘How It’s Made’ show…until now.
They say there are two things you never want to see made, sausage and legislation. Guess what ‘How It’s Made’ showed in episode 16? Yup, hot dogs, and they showed it all. It’s true that no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to “unsee” something that you’ve seen, and this is one of those times I wish you could. Yuck. Pig parts…chicken parts…all mushed together…blech!
I’m just glad I don’t get Science Channel HD!
This was one of Amazon’s Deals of the Day that greeted me in my RSS reader today. What caught my eye was the price. It lists for $150 but it’s yours today for $75, a savings of $19.50? Wait, is that right? Let’s see…subtract the 9…carry the 1…multiply by pi…nope, not right. It’s a savings of $75 or 50%. They got the percent right, but not the amount. Whoops.
On an aside, I have this set and it’s great. They are a bit big and unwieldy to hold, but great if you read them on your stomach in bed or on the floor.
As the year comes to a close, I like to look back and examine some of the things I did right, and wrong, this year. The most glaring wrong this year has to do with a stock and a missed opportunity.
I dabble in stocks, but tend to be very conservative because, like electricity, I don’t really understand them. I won’t go into how I try to have a balanced portfolio, but I will say that I generally stick with companies and industries I understand. One opportunity that I’ve been paying attention to is this whole “green” movement that has been kicking up dust. In particular, I can see that solar power for the average home is a growth opportunity due to falling prices of solar panels and the fact that local municipalities are giving tax breaks to homeowners who install solar power, and even the power companies are letting homeowners “sell” their unused solar power back on to the grid. I figured this would be a good time to invest in a company that made solar panels. But this is where my confidence ended.
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This Saturday night’s Patriots at Giants game could be the most watched regular season game in history, now that the NFL has allowed CBS and NBC to simulcast the game which was only going to be on the NFL Network which only reaches about 40% of the country thanks to disagreements between NFL Network and a few cable operators (like mine). I would have been able to see the game since the games on NFL Network are simulcast on broadcast stations in the local markets, but this game highlights how consumers can get screwed when two large media companies fight over a few dollars.
And if you think à-la-carte cable subscriptions would solve the problem, think again. I tend to agree with this NY Times article, where Joe Nocera writes:
Take, for instance, ESPN, which charges the highest amount of any cable network: $3 per subscriber per month. Suppose in an à la carte world, 25 percent of the nation’s cable subscribers take ESPN. If that were the case, the network would have to charge each subscriber not $3, but $12 a month to keep its revenue the same. (And don’t forget: with its $1.1 billion annual bill to the National Football League alone, ESPN is hardly in a position to tolerate declining revenues.)
The New York Public Library uses a collection agency that can report your delinquency to the credit bureaus. Jerry would’ve gotten completely screwed over ‘Tropic of Cancer’.
Giants didn’t look too bad even with the messy weather conditions. Interestingly, all 59 points in the game were scored on the same end of the field. Sucks for those who had seats at the other end.
Kevin Everett, who was almost killed in the first game of the season, walked into the Bills locker room before the game and met with his teammates. Merry Christmas.
When interviewing an ass, would you kindly make sure there isn’t another one in the frame? Thanks.
Blue iris (No. 18-3943) is blue with some purple and suggests dependability. Color of the year? Do we really need that? What’s next, emotion of the year? I nominate ‘confusion’.
Duke Nukem Forever, a video game that was announced as being in development in 1997, has taken more than 10 years to develop and it’s still not done yet! This list includes events that have happened since it started. Highlights include:
- Steve Jobs was still running NeXT when Duke Nukem Forever was announced.
- In April of 1997, Google, eBay, and the term “weblog” didn’t exist.
- Adjusted for inflation, the average price of gas in the United States has doubled.
- The two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity were proposed, authorized, announced, designed, launched and successfully landed upon Mars where they have been exploring the surface for over 2.5 years.
Also included in the list are things that took less time than Duke Nukem Forever’s development:
- The Wright brothers designed and flew the first airplane.
- The United States’ entire program to put a man on the moon, from Kennedy’s challenge to the landing.
<sarcasm>If this game is ever released, it’s going to be freaking amazing!</sarcasm>
Is it me, or is she the second most annoying* person, ever? Evidence: “Delish”, “EVOO”, the Dunkin’ Donuts commercials, and she’s just so darn cheery all the time. I really dislike people who are cheery all the time.
* there is no “first most annoying”…sorta prevents one person from running away with the title…of course, she pretty much could run away with it if allowed to.
…the pancakes that you ordered were delivered with real maple syrup that you didn’t pay extra for. Sweet!
Scientists believe they’ve found out why, with all that weight up front, they don’t topple over. I thought Weebles had solved that years ago.
I love ESPN, especially SportsCenter, and I love most of the commercials in the “This Is SportsCenter” campaign. They are often funny, irreverent, and do a good job of incorporating, and poking fun at, sports stars.
One of my favorites from the last few years is The Manning Family Tour in which the entire Manning family (mother, father, three brothers) are given a tour of, what is probably, a small section of ESPN’s production offices. During the tour, Peyton and Eli, each wearing their respective team’s t-shirts, are “getting on each other’s nerves” by flicking ears, giving wet willies, and even a behind the back kick. While your focus is on the brothers and their antics, the tour guide talks about the various areas. The best part of the commercial is when Archie Manning looks back at the brothers and Peyton points to Eli like it’s all his fault. You can see the commercial on YouTube.
So, for the public’s benefit, I present the transcript of the tour. I love how the hallway plays a prominent roll.
Anyway, that’s the control room. Lotta chaos there, but it all looks good when it comes out on the show, actually thanks to those people. Then over here in the digital center is our highlight screening area. So that’s where we get all the games that are played that night down into ninety-second or two-minute clips or whatever you see on SportsCenter. This hallway, it runs between, you know, between both rooms, you know. If you want to get from the control room to the screening, then this is the hallway you take. Questions or anything? I can answer whatever you want about the place. No? Nothing?
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