Blow Glass => Rowing Shell

I have changed yet another list item.  I'm not sure my inconsistency is consistent with the intent of the originators of this whole list idea, but I figure I made several mistakes in the drafting of the original, so WTF.

I'm watching "Good Will Hunting" this evening and there's a scene (brief though it may be) with someone rowing somewhere in Boston in some location that my sister Kathy would probably recognize, and it reminded me that I've always wanted to be someplace where I could get up at 0-dark-thirty, haul my shell down to the water and go for a row.

I've liked the idea ever since George Peppard, rowed about in the opening scenes of Banacek, way back in the early 70's.  And just recently I saw The River Wild, with Meryl Streep rowing a shell, probably in the same area of Boston, for all I know.


I originally had "Blow Glass" on my list, mostly because of a mistake.  That was supposed to tie in with the next item on the list which was to learn to make neon signs.  What I should have said was "bend glass" which would have been more appropriate for making neon.  So, I decided to just drop the blowing thing altogether.

As it turns out, rowing a shell may be a bigger challenge than anticipated.  A quick Google search on rowing shells turned up Maas Boats, and a quick search of the product specs yields no boats rated for more than 240 pounds of rower.  A Google search for "rowing shells for fat people" yeilded little worth further investigation.

Damn, I may actually have to lose weight.

#80 and #94, Carpool and Have Knives Sharpened

Quick note that, with help from Nicholas, I can check off #94 - Have my knives professionally sharpened.  We dropped some of them off one Saturday at Kitchen Fantasy (a silly name;  all they sell is cooking stuff - that's not my kitchen fantasy) in Temecula.  Actually, since they couldn't have the knives back until Monday I decided not to leave all my knives, keeping one so that I'd have something to cook with over the weekend.  Nick picked up the sharpened knives and dropped off the extra one on Monday, so by Tuesday or so they were razor sharp.  I have yet to cut myself with them, but it's only a matter of time.

I am also checking off #80 - Carpool.  I have carpooled quite a bit previously with a couple office mates, but let it lapse for most of the last year or so while I was spending almost all my time in El Cajon.  Of course, now that we are trying to pool again I am spending a lot of time at Escondido.  Oh well, I'm pooling when I can.  There irritating thing is that I tend to put about 20 miles on my car just getting to and from the carpool pickup spot.  Oh well, at around 4 bucks a gallon, every little bit helps.

Hopefully I will be able to keep my knives sharpened and my car pooling.  Otherwise I'll need to reinstate them on the list.

List Change - #69 is now "Attend a Concert"

So, #69 was never really a "to-do" item anyway, so I have decided to change that to "Attend a Concert."

Jethro Tull

Convenient, because I just ordered tickets to Jethro Tull's 40th Anniversary Aqualung USA Tour concert at the Greek Theater.  It will be just like old times at Jethro Tull concerts, except that this time I'll have a date and less hair.  Oh, and in the old times a pair of tickets didn't run $200.

#15 Revisited: I Have Consumed the Fruits of my Labor and Lived to Tell the Tale

Well, this was fun!  All three variations are pretty tasty, but I think the salt-cured need to cure a little longer and the water-cured can use a little longer soak in their brine.

The lye-cured olives taste surprisingly olivey and are the clear winner.  Also, they cured the quickest and you can't beat the adrenaline rush of cooking with caustic chemicals.  Any day you have to glove-up to prevent injury from something you're planning to eat is a good day.

Lye-Cured, Salt-Cured and Water-Cured (Kalamata-style)

Having tasted of my olives and finding them palatable, I'm calling #15 complete.  Now if I can just get my olive trees to produce I will be a happy man.

Next up - some Tapenade!