March 2006

Asta doesn't like kissing bears

Bear

You may remember my futile, silent protest against winter. Well, it has now ended. Call it 5% seeing a few blades of grass, 5% extreme itchiness, 5% lack of willpower, and 85% Asta.

Here's after:

Bare

Ah well. There'll be a new protest some day, I'm sure.

The Heights Theatre

Wow. Asta and I just got back from the Heights Theater in Columbia Heights. It's pretty stinkin' amazing. I'd never been there before, but when I saw that Lawrence of Arabia was playing, I figured I'd better check it out. Boy, am I glad.

heights_theater_karl_eilers.jpg

Before the film, an older gentleman (pictured above) came out and played the Wurlitzer Organ (read about it at the Heights Theater site), which came up off of the floor all cool-like. He played a medley of theme songs, including "When Time Goes By," which just made me want to watch Casablanca.

Then there was the movie. They showed the restored 70mm version of Lawrence, and it was a sight to behold. Seriously, if you get a chance, see it. If you're in the Cities before the end of March, it'll still be playing. I'm no good at writing reviews or anything, but it's a great movie. I'm not sure what he was like in real life, but Peter O'Toole's T.E. Lawrence was very interesting. In the heat of the moment, he seems to often enjoy himself, but then falls apart as soon as whatever it is that he's undertaking is over. I supose there's a little bit of that in all of us.

All in all, I think Asta and I will be making a trip back there when another film is playing. Tickets are $8.00 for general admission, and there are the usual discounts available (student, matinee, senior, and child). Seriously, check it out some time.

Lawrence on the Big Screen

Yahoo! Movies: Showtimes - Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia on the big screen? I think I'll be there. Asta and I are going tomorrow to the 7:00 show. It's at the Heights Theatre. If you want to go, let me know. Maybe we can all meet up there.

If you think it looks good...

lasagnahog.jpg

You should try tasting it! I made this pan o' lasagna, fresh for Saint Paddy's Day. Yes, me. I can cook! So, without further ado, the recipe:

Makes two 8x8 pans

What you'll need

  • 1 package lasagna noodles (1 lb)
  • 2 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce (usually a little less than a full jar)
  • 1 lb hamburger
  • 1/2 lb pork sausage
  • 8 oz cottage cheese
  • 1 1/2 lbs. mozarella cheese
  • A goodly bit of Italian seasonings stuff (I used the stuff in the shaker)
  • A goodly bit of garlic powder

How to make it

  1. Boil lasagna noodles (according to the directions on the package)
  2. Toss the noodles into one of your 8x8 pans
  3. Cook meat (you can use the same pot as you cooked the noodles in if you want)
  4. Add sauce, cottage cheese, Italian seasonings, and garlic powder
  5. Let it simmer for a bit
  6. While the sauce is simmering, separate your noodles from one another. You may need to run them under some water to help.
  7. Stack 'em up and cut them to a proper length to fit into the pans. The "halves" might not be even, but that's ok. It's just nice to have something to start with.
  8. Spray the 8x8 pans, then put a layer of noodles down (I found three "noodle halves" was just about right to cover the bottom of my pan)
  9. Pull the sauce off the stove and pour some on the noodles
  10. Put some cheese on top of the sauce
  11. Repeat. You'll need to use some of the shorter pieces at some point. Just overlap the ends a bit and you'll be fine. If you start to run out of sauce, just use some left over from the jar. It won't have any of the meat or anything in it, but that's ok. It'll still taste good.
  12. When you run out of everything, stop and put a final thick layer of mozzarella on top. Sprinkle it with Italian seasonings. I usually try to end "Noodles, sauce, thick layer of cheese, seasonings." That's how my mom told me to make it.
  13. Cover the pan in tin foil.
  14. Bake at 350 for twenty minutes. Remove the foil, and bake for 10ish more minutes, or until the cheese looks good and brownish-melty. Remember, everything's already cooked at this point, so if you take it out too early, it's not going to kill you.

But what about that second pan?

Lasagna's a great freezer food. Cover the other pan in tin foil and stick it in the freezer. It'll last for about a month in there. To use it, take it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge the night before you want to use it. Or, take it out in the morning and leave it on the counter until you get home, then pop it in the oven. My mom said it was ok.

If it's still cool, you'll probably need to bake it for 45 minutes to an hour. Again, it's cooked already, but nothing sucks more than expecting a hot bite of lasagna and getting ice. Enjoy, and thank my mom if you see her.

My Silent Protest

This happened:

freakin_snow.jpg

I hate winter. Last week was beautiful. Mid-forties and up pretty much all week. Then we went up to my parents' house for the weekend, and when we came back, we drove through a snowstorm that dumped eight inches on the Cities.

This is how I responded:

protest.jpg

Not shaving is my silent protest against winter. When I can see significant patches of grass, then people will see significant patches of my face again. Usually, I love shaving. But no more! Not until winter is done.

I want this shirt

Where'd the music go?

Ok. So about MP3s and the like. I used to download a lot of music. I also ripped darn near every CD that crossed my path--my parents' music, my brother's, my sister's... If it was decent, that is. My parents got my brother and sister MP3 players for Christmas, and Asta and I got them a bunch of CDs. I did my duty and ripped them. A couple of weeks, though, I made a big decision:

It was time to go legal.

I don't know that I was really feeling guilty, but I've been trying to "go legal" on all of my software, music, etc. I got a new Mac Mini a couple of weeks ago (just before they announced the new Intel minis... that's another story...) and everything on it is properly licensed or open source.

All of this is to say that my music collection was cut about in half. I'm working on getting some of the albums that I really liked now (I had an awful lot of music that I never listened to anyway). CD Warehouse is my friend in this process. I also listen to a lot of internet radio because I like the variety. I'll try to provide some reviews of CDs (like this post. Most of the time, though, I'll only review music I like. Ah well. If you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I love variety.

The Moon Is Down


The Moon Is Down (Further Seems Forever)

I really enjoy this album. It's a little on the emo side of things, but sometime's that's just what you need. Unfortunately, I'm unable to listen to it right now because my MP3 player's battery is dead. MP3 player? Aren't those illegal or something? No. More on my music collection later.

I'm back!

I know it's been a while. I hope there's still someone reading this. If you just happen to be stumbling on this for the first time (or, since it's been a while, you want to know if I'm really going to keep this up), here's the low-down. (If you don't want to read anything below this, here's the uber-condensed version: I'm going to update this on a regular basis, and not everything works yet. For the rest of you, read on.)

The blog

1. I work for a large non-profit. Lately, I've been offering a "Blogging 101" class to a number of the people in the company, and I've broken my cardinal rule: update regularly. That's largely the impetus of the site.

2. I also do web design "on the side." Since I only work part-time for the aforementioned non-profit, I would like to do more web design. Hence, this site should (hopefully) showcase my work.

3. I'm hoping to update this site at least daily. I visit a lot of websites in a day, so many posts may be links that I think are cool.

3. I'm a nerd. Blogging lets me be nerdy.

The rest

4. Some of the links and sections on this site aren't ready yet. Witness the three links at the top: About, Photography, and Resume. None of them work yet. The key word here is yet, and the hope is that the "yet" won't be a long yet.

5. If there's something you feel like I'm missing, please let me know. I'd love to add things that people want.

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