#57 - Remote controlled power supply for our AV

Another one down.

We consume standby power in this household like it was wrapped in cheese.  In an effort to rein in some of that power consumption I bought a Belkin Conserve remote controlled power strip and hooked it up to the home theater system in our living room.

We now have the home theater receiver, subwoofer, DVD player, TV and turntable all connected to the remotely controlled outlets on the strip.  Only the DVR is connected to an "always-on" outlet, since it has to stay on to record programs as scheduled.

In theory, this should help reduce our electricity consumption and thereby our monthly bills.

While I was behind the entertainment center I took the opportunity to install a preamp for my turntable.  I haven't been able to use that since I upgraded the receiver (new receivers not bothering with phono inputs, since CD is supposed to be so much superior.  Pffffttt!)  Now at last I can pull out all those classic Jethro Tull LPs.

Anyway we will see how the next electric bill looks.  And then we'll have to see what we can do about the cheese.

#15 - Cure Some Olives

Last weekend while at the Wilkins' in Los Olivos, I decided to get a start on item #15, "Cure Some Olives, No Matter What Ails Them."

Doug and Sue have some giant-ass olive trees in their yard.  They are beautiful, but apparently the bane of Doug's landscape maintenance existence.  They dump their fruit indiscriminately about the yard creating a big purple mess wherever they splat.

I decided to help them out by taking a few pounds off their hands.  I would post pictures of the harvesting, but I didn't have our camera and Sue's pictures are posted on Kodak's photo sharing site where I wasn't allowed to download.  You can actually see the slide show by clicking on the link, but I am in several of the pictures, so how good can they be.  Anyway, the show features Doug standing on one of his drywalling ladders, stripping olives from the trees and me crawling around gathering them all up.

When we got home on Sunday I busied myself washing and sorting olives and dispatched Denise to Home Depot (primarily for railroad ties for my retaining walls) with instructions to pick up some lye.  I figured they would surely have it and if not, I assumed she could get it at Albertson's.  WRONG!  Lye is apparently very difficult to come by.  Turns out after a little online research that lye is apparently used in the manufacture of methamphetamine, so many places have stopped carrying it.

So, I gave up, temporarily, on the lye-cured olives I had planned and instead started two batches, one water cured (destined for Kalamata-ness) and the other salt cured.

As with most things, I have no frickin' clue what I am doing, but am forging ahead anyway, in this case with the assistance of a paper on olive curing from UC Davis.

The water-cured olives apparently have the advantage of being ready for consumption in a relatively short time, 5 to 6 weeks.  I started a batch last week (the jar with the reddish-looking ones) and today transferred them from their final water soak and into the briny concoction where they are supposed to remain for about a month.  These are tiny little olives, so I'm guessing they will be well brined in more like a fortnight.  (Is a fortnight anything like a dog year? New York minute?  One night in a fort feels like fourteen days?)  I also started a second jar of water-cured this morning (the black jar in the photo.)

The salt-cured ones will take a bit longer.  I am not truly optimistic about them, but what the heck.  I contrived a small curing container with a 2-liter plastic bottle.  I punched some holes in the bottom so that liquids could escape and lined the bottom with cheesecloth so the salt could not.  It seems like it might be working, although I am using Kosher and not pickling salt as prescribed by UCD.  They are supposed to get a weekly toss to redistribute everything, their first being this morning.  So, I can confuse people by telling them that I tossed my olives this morning.  Should that be cookies?  The olives seem to be coming along.  I hope they turn out to be worth their salt.

Not having given up entirely on lye-curing, I ordered some lye on line.  Sadly, it's kind of a dangerous chemical, so next-day air is not an option.  It is shipping UPS ground and god only knows when it will get here.  I'm afraid my olive harvest will be well past the point where it should have been curing by the time the lye arrives, but oh well, I guess it will wait until next year.  Or, I could always use it to make pretzels.  Or soap.  Or crystal meth, I guess.

Actually, since I've been ordering lye and researching lye's link to methamphetamine, I should be a little careful about those kinds of comments.  I'd be more worried is we were still under the Bush administration, but I suppose there's still some likelihood that the someone from the DEA or Riverside Sheriff could show up at my door.

One last note, as long as you're here anyway, I thought you might like an update on #25 - Grow Rhubarb.  My seeds are doing OK, despite my best efforts to raise them (my best efforts usually being fatal.)  Knock wood.

Look at how cute they are.  Their stems are evening turning a nice rhubarbic red already.

I hope I don't kill them.

#100 - Join a CSA

Last Tuesday (February 8) we received our first produce shipment from the Inland Empire CSA.  A huge array of produce, most of it unrecognizable.

Actually, with a little forensic analysis we figured that we had (spiraling clockwise from the top left toward the center in a whirling vortex of vegetation), green leaf lettuce, carrot-top cilantro, a couple pictures of the whole mass of produce, baking avocado, a bag of arugula, purple & green mustard greens, the box it all came in, some other kind of greens, broccoli leaves, some more greens, red leaf lettuce, radishes, a bag of spinach maybe, green garlic, spring onions, beets, and assorted citrus.  Oh, and there is some regular cilantro in there someplace.

Immediately applied some of the greens to a Sauteed Greens and Potato Gratin.  The recipe also incorporate some of the green garlic and spring onions.

To be perfectly honest, there is a lot of pressure to try to eat this much produce all in a single week.  We've been throwing together assorted sauted greens, salads, pasta dishes, etc.  Some Penne Pasta with Arugula and Pepita Pesto turned out pretty nice.  And Nicholas made a very nice Penne with Greens and Chick Peas.

So, this is fun.  And so far, so good.

#41 - Getting a Start on Brewing Beer from Scratch

I made a first feeble step toward this item today by making a pre-sale order for hop rhizomes from MoreBeer.com.

I ordered two each of the Chinook and Columbus Rhizomes, the web site having claimed that both varieties do well in hot dry areas, for which I'm sure Temecula qualifies.

Next up I'll have to order some barley.

So, now while I wait for the folks at More Beer to receive their order and then ship mine, I'm busy researching Hop Toxicity in Dogs.  Thanks to Lia, a frequent commenter on my Jake's Rehab blog, I'm aware that ingestion of hops can cause Malignant Hyperthermia in dogs.  A good thing that she mentioned that actually, because I probably would have been composting the spent hops from my homebrewing.  It appears that most, if not all, of the documented cases involved dogs eating the spent hops, which makes sense, because they'd be soaked in all that good wort which would likely attract any self-respecting dogs.  It also turns out that greyhounds are particularly susceptible to MH.  Leo is not very greyhound-like.

Interesting factoid: were you aware that there is a National Animal Poison Control Center.  I wasn't.

Anyway, I have explained to Leo that if he eats my hops he will be receiving a gastric lavage, an enema, activated charcoal, IV fluids, cold baths and a sternly worded lecture.  He seems to understand the concept, but I'll be fencing them in (or him out), just to be safe.

He's probably at very low risk: with my brown-thumb there's little likelihood that my rhizomes will actually produce.

#16 - Lost Moon

Thanks to the Temecula Public Library, I've now completed item #16 on the list, having read Lost Moon by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger.

I have seen Ron Howard's Apollo 13 several (countless) times and always enjoyed it and also always noted that it was based on Lost Moon and always commented to myself, I'll bet that's a great book, I should read it. 

Having read it I can say that it is excellent and depressing.

Excellent because the book brings out all the details and technical complexities and interesting factoids about space flight that the movie can only hint at.  One example of an interesting tidbit is the "PTC roll."  I have never thought about this, but instead of flying straight to the moon, the Apollo spacecraft travelled in a constant 1 RPM Passive Thermal Control roll, designed to rotate the ship through sunlight and shadow, keeping the temperature of craft more or less even.  Who knew; I would have thought you just pointed the thing at the moon and lit the candle.

Lost Moon is depressing, because a few short pages into the book you (or I anyway) begin to realize that you are (I am) no rocket scientist.  On my good days I like to think I'm somewhat intelligent.  After a few chapters of Lost Moon I'm pretty sure I'm a moron.

Of course, it's also more than a little sad to think of Jim Lovell and Fred Haise (another interesting revelation, watching the movie I would have just assumed Hayes) losing their chance at a moon landing, but then if they had landed safely they'd be quickly forgotten like most of the rest of the men on the moon.  As it is now, they're immortalized in print and film.  Not that that is probably a fair trade as far as they are concerned.

Anyway, I'm glad the Gumbilist finally forced me to act on my impulse to read the book.  This having gone so successfully I may have to read Gone to Texas, the basis for the film The Outlaw Josey Wales.  It's another I keep telling myself I should read.  And it might be a good idea anyway; if it's bad enough, maybe I will feel somewhat intelligent again.

#36 - Black Bean Burger - Third Time is the Charm

I think we have a winner...a minor variation on the recipe that I've been making all along, as it turns out. Tapioca flour seems to have been the secret ingredient that binds the whole mass together, without turning into a big doughy mess like the vital wheat gluten in early recipes.

Black Bean Burger Patties

• 2 cans Black Beans
• 1/2 cup Bulghur
• 5.5 oz Tomato Juice
• 1 Tbsp Bragg's Liquid Amino
• 1 egg (actually egg replacer in this instance)
• 1/2 cup Italian Bread Crumbs
• 3 Tbsp Tapioca Flour
• Canola Oil (or the rendered fat of a clubbed baby seal, whatever works)

Drain and rinse the black beans.  Bring tomato juice, liquid amino and bulghur to a boil in small sauce pan, remove from heat and let sit for about 10 to 15 minutes.   Reserve about 1/4 cup beans and place remaining beans, bulghur mix, egg and bread crumbs in a food processor.  Pulse until all the ingredients are combined.  Begin adding tapioca flour, 1 Tbsp at a time until the mixture becomes somewhat firm.  Move the mixture to a bowl and kneed in the remaining beans.  If the mixture is too moist add more tapioca flour, 1 tbsp at a time until the mix is the right texture.

Form into relatively thin patties (maybe 3/8 of an inch thick) and fry in oil over medium heat, about 4 minutes to a side.

Serve as you would any other burger.

In our case, we served...

...Black Bean Burgers with Black Bean/Tempeh Chili.

The black bean/tempeh chili was not on the 101, but since sampling it at Stone Brewery Nick and I have been inspired to rip off the recipe.  The first effort was just this side of horrible, but this time we just about nailed it.

• 8 oz Tempeh, crumbled up
• 2 cans Trader Joe's Black Beans with all that beanie liquid
• 4 Tbsp Tomato Paste
• 1 Tbsp Chili Powder (plain old McCormick or whatever chili powder, nothing special)
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Cayenne
• 1/2 tsp Bitter-Sweet Smoked Paprika
• 1/2 tsp Chipotle powder
• 3 cloves Garlic, crushed or finely minced
• Salt and Pepper

Combine all ingredients in an oven-proof container.  Bake, covered, at 325 degrees for about an hour.  With a stick blender (potato masher, whatever) partially blend up the chili, leaving it nice and chunky.

Nicholas and I are apparently not very bright, or at least have a short attention span, because we were taking photos of the entire assembly process and then spaced on the final product.  So no pictures of the Black Bean Tempeh Chili Black Bean Burgers.  Fortunately, we have leftovers of both the burger mix and chili, so maybe we can sneak in photo a wee bit later.

Serve on a burger with cheese, pickle, onion, tomato, lettuce and yellow mustard (just like Tommy's) or scoop into a bowl, cover with grated cheese and throw under a broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese.  Tasty!

#26 - See a Play - Spamalot!!!

Another one bites the dust; Spamalot!!!  Saw the Sunday matinée at the Fox Performing Arts Center, Riverside, CA, with Denise, Jean, Joe, Nick and Tee.   I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me.

Followed up the matinée with dinner at Sevilla in Riverside.  Only just fabulous.

I'd write more, but I promised Nick he could blog about this one; http://nickandtees101things.blogspot.com/.  But he's on a deadline; if it's not posted by Sunday, all bets are off.

#52 Well Underway and First Alternate Done!

The first tier of the retaining wall, with Nicholas' help, is pretty much done.  With any luck this will keep our fruit trees from washing off down the hill.  Unfortunately, I can't completely check this one off because we have at least two more tiers to go.

We finished in time to mix up a pitcher of celebratory Margarita's and kick back for a bit.

Tee arrived from NoCal shortly thereafter and we settled on a trip to Aiyara for a dinner of Thai food.  This place has very excellent food (not to mention a cool elephant fountain), but whenever I've been there previously you could have herded elephants through the dining room without trampling anyone.  Last night the place was packed.  Turns out that Saturday is $12 Chang Beer Tower night.  Seemed like a stupid concept to me, but apparently it is striking a chord with Temeculans.

Sadly, I gave Tee a taste of my Massaman Curry w/ Mock Chicken.  Tee, as it turns out, does not have much experience with spicy food and I had ordered this SPICY.  It took an assortment of remedies before she was fully recovered from the burn.

On another note, the first item on my waiting/alternate Gumbilist is done.  Inspired by John Goodman's character in Always (at least I think that's where I saw this) I tried to eat a Twinkie with a straw.  This is easier said than done.  I tried warming the Twinkie in the microwave for a few seconds to get the creamy filling flowing.  Bad idea, because I think warming actually brings out the full flavor of all the nasty chemicals.  This is not something I'll be repeating, but at least when asked I can hold my head high and say that, "Why yes, I have eaten a Twinkie with a straw."

Oh, and again, the obligatory Leo shot, "Lusting for Twinkie!"

OMG, #20 - Strong Ales

I totally forgot to check this one off.  Monday night at 7:00PM, Nicholas and I attended "Strong Ales" at the Stone Brewing Company in beautiful Escondido.  Strong Ales is one of many classes in Stone's Beer University, the tickets to which were Nicholas' Christmas present to his father.

Naturally, since I needed to be in Escondido at 7:00, my meeting at work ran late and I didn't get out of Riverside until 5:15.  Google Maps would have us believe that Toro, Riverside to Stone Brewing, by way of our house, is a 1 hour 40 minutes drive time.  Worse during the evening commute, of course.

I phoned Nick and told him to be standing by with a sammich of some kind, since I wouldn't have time to eat before the class.  With much cursing at the opposing drivers I was home by something like twenty past six.  Peed, grabbed my sandwich (OK, I washed my hands first) and then back in the car and on the road.

Amazingly enough, we were in the door at Stone with almost 10 minutes to spare.

We really did not know at all what we were getting into.  We were like, "Do you think we should run to the bar and grab a beer on the way in?"  But we bypassed the bar and got in line for the class.

Turned out that when we got into the "classroom" which is just the upstairs part of their restaurant, there were long tables set up in a big "U" around the perimeter of the room.  There were chairs and settings for probably 50 people.  There were platters of assorted cheese and baskets of flatbread/crackery sort of things.  A couple of snifters and a water glass at each seat.

As it turned out this was a tasting of and PowerPoint presentation on the several styles of beers chosen to represent the broad range of strong ales.  Our instructor for the evening was "Dr." Bill Sysak, Beverage Supervisor and Certified Cicerone, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens.  Here we have one interesting dude!  (A cicerone, in case you don't want to drill into the hyperlink, is a beer sommelier - thats sommelier like the wine steward, not Somali, like the east African pirates.)

Anway, who knew.

The lecture/tasting included all of the following.  BTW, I'm not going to recount a lot of detail from the lecture because, a) I didn't particularly good notes, b) I was really pretty much out of my element and c) if your interested you can check out the presentation yourself right here.

Sample #1
Fullers Vintage Ale 2010, 8.5% ABV in the style "Old Ale"

I vaguely recall liking this ale, but then it was the first and about the lowest ABV in the bunch; eight samples later, my recollections were becoming a little fuzzy.  The lecture notes re. Old Ales said "fruity notes are often present" and sometimes an "'old school' funk."  Of course, you could tell me a beverage had notes of black swan, yeti and mongoose sweat and I wouldn't know it from squat.  I can say it has a nice bottle.

Sample #2
Stone Lukcy Basartd, 8.5% ABV, American Strong Ale

This was my favorite, not merely because it was from Stone, but because it was the only one that was really hoppy.  Hoppier is bettier in my book.  It was also probably the only ale that I would actually drink for drinking's sake.

By that I mean that most of these have more of a strong port or brandy-like character.  You might quaff a snifter of one with some stinky cheese or some Belgian chocolates or maybe a Canary Islands cigar, since you can't get a Cuban, but you wouldn't sit down and knock back a six-pack.  You wouldn't do that with Lukcy Basartd either, but you could certainly knock back a couple.  And in case you're wondering why I keep misspelling Lucky Bastard, click here.

Sample #3
Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux 2009, 9.5%ABV, style "Saison"

Saison/farmhouse/season ale.  The main thing I remember about this one is that Dr. Bill mentioned that back in the good old days when they started brewing this stuff the general feeling was the "Water Kills!"  So drink strong ales; sterile, reasonably well preserved by the alcohol content and pretty tasty.  What's more, fish make love in water.  Learn more at the website.


Sample #4
Dieu Du Ciel Rigor Mortis, 10.5%ABV, style  "Abt/Quad"

I can only assume that the name, Rigor Mortis, has something to do with your condition after several of these.

Sample #5
Alesmith Speedway Stout, 12%ABV, style "Imperial Stout"

This was a pretty stout stout.  Normally you get coffee flavors from all the roasted grains and what not, but in this case, the brewers actually added coffee into the mix.  It was good, but I felt like I should be having it with breakfast to kick off the day with a good caffeine rush.

Apparently there's some controversy about what "Imperial" actually means, with everyone using it for marketing whatever strong ale they happen to make.

Sample #6
J.W. Lees Harvest Ale (Aged in Port Barrels), 11.5% ABV, style "English Barley Wine"

This one, from the UK, reminded me of some of that really good scotch that's aged in port or sherry barrels.

Sample #7
Lost Abbey Angels Share 2010 Brandy Barrel, 12.5% ABV, style "American Barley Wine"

This stuff is pretty intersting and really cries out for a cigar or something.  Virtually no carbonation whatsoever, it's very much like sipping a glass of good port.  This Lost Abbey place looks to be interesting.


Sample #8
Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme 2011, 11.0% ABV

Bonus, there were only supposed to be seven samples, but we got an eighth, I guess because we were such good students.  I must check out more of the Lost Abbey.   Haven't tried many of their beers in the past, because they were a) expensive and b) I can't recap the bottles for my home brew.  The all have these big tops sealed with champagne corks, and they won't take a standard bottle cap.

Some of these will be good choices for aging to see how well they mature.  Problem for me is that beer seldom are aged more than a week or two.  I don't exactly have a wine cellar.

That about summed up the evening...
...at least as far as my beer drinking went.  The class ended a bit early; scheduled until 9:00 we skipped out about 8:40.  It being Stone and "Meatless Monday" we decided to have a light late dinner.  So, we got a table outside in on their terrace, Nick ordered there Ruination IPA and Cheddar Soup (along with another beer) and I the Black Bean and Tempe Chili, with a water. (Designated driver.)

The chili was the best vegetarian chili I have ever had, smothered in cheese and thrown under a broiler so it was sort of French Onion Soup-style chili.  The waitress gave us a list of the ingredients, but not the amounts and without in some cases specifics.  For instance, the menu mentions five kinds of chilis, but her ingredient list only mentioned chili powder and dried chilis.  So, some forensic analysis or reverse engineering is in order.  I tried a knock off of the recipe on Tuesday night and absolutely aced the texture.  Sadly, the flavor left a lot to be desired.  I think some of my chili powder may have been inching toward rancid or something.  Had to spike the chili with a liberal amount of agave nectar to get it back to edible.  In the end, I think it was a good experiment, so I'll just wish myself better luck next time.

All in all, it was a very nice Christmas gift.  In actual fact, in was not really a beer brewing class and as such should not count toward my list item #20, but I'm checking it off anyway on the grounds that at least now I will know what to expect when I attempt a strong ale recipe.  Wish me luck.

Sometime soon, I will have to invite you all over for some Strong Ales.

#25 - Rhubarb Update - Are you ready for some PIE?

Quick update, the pie is almost ready.  Look at them, thrusting upward, ever upward, seeking the light.  I should plant some strawberries.

They're quite cute little rhubarbs; one is even wearing a hat.  He (or she) is still wearing his little seed pod.


Oh, BTW, someone asked about the recipe for my Quinoa and Brown Rice Tacos.  It's in my recipe blog right here.

List Change! #27 Updated

Seems as though the logistics of stalking a celebrity might prove a little difficult, there only being 1001 days to get all this stuff done.

Consequently, #27 is now "Eat a hot dog at Pink's."  I figure Pink's is a popular spot among Hollywood celebrities, so maybe I'll at least see one there.  Probably not, since anyone above the D-list would send a studio flunky to pick up their dogs.

Oh well, I'd rather focus on the dogs anyway.

#36 - Black Bean Burger - Take Two

As Gennifer Flowers said when comparing her relationship to Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky's, "Close, but no cigar."

The second attempt at the BB Burger was significantly better than the previous attempt, but still not quite where I want it to be.  This time we tried...

Black Bean Burger Part Deux

2 cups canned Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup Bulghur
1/2 cup Vegetable Broth
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsps Vital Wheat Gluten
1/2 cup Bread Crumbs
2 Tbsp Herdez Salsa Casera
2 Tbsp Braggs Liquid Amino
1 Tbsp Cilantro

Boiled the vegetable stock and stirred in the bulghur.  Let the bulghur steep in the broth for 10 minutes or so.  Put most of the beans in a food processor (reserve about a quarter cup) along with the drained bulghur, gluten, bread crumbs, salsa, Braggs, cilantro and 1/4 cup of the reserved vegetable broth.  Pulse in the processor until everything is thoroughly mixed.  Add remaining beans and pulse in the processor to coarsely chop the beans.  Form dough into patties and fry in olive oil for about 4 minutes per side.

Served the burgers on sourdough with pepper jack, tomato, red onion, jalapeno, avocado, lettuce and dijon mustard.  A little cole slaw on the side.

Very good, not excellent by any means, and still a little doughy.  I believe for my next attempt I am going to substitute nutritional yeast for half the gluten, add some cayenne and maybe some smoked paprika and maybe some flax seed.  If that doesn't work, I'll probably try a little ground beef.

Another One Bites the Dust

Number 24 is history.  As of this evening, I have made corn tortillas from scratch.

Nicholas and I purchased a tortilla press at Kitchen Fantasy (they do not seem to cater to my particular fantasy, but that's another story) in Temecula.  For my first attempt, they was not without some redeeming qualities, although it would have been nice to have known WTF I was doing.  Some didn't want to come off the press so cleanly, thus the disfigured little creatures in the photo, but after some practice they started coming out pretty nicely.

The finished products were actually edible.  Gave them a short fry and converted applied them to Quinoa-and-Brown-Rice Tacos.  These I have made previously, and the fact that I've made them a second time must bode well for them.

#25 - Rhubarb - In Progress

I received my rhubarb seeds from Amazon, so this weekend I will be starting on #25.

Rhubarb does not do well - I should say DIES - in our climate, but I have been reading a website about growing rhubarb in Texas.  Apparently there they grow rhubarb as an annual, planting from seeds at the end of the summer and harvesting in the late spring.

I am obviously getting a late start, this being late, LATE summer, but I'm forging ahead anyway.  I'm hoping to get at least a few meager stalks before they're all kilt by our blazing summer heat.

Need to find a spot indoors for them to sprout and then I'll be transplanting them into the south forty.

Wish me luck.

#17 - Use the public library

January 6, 2010

As of this evening, I  have a card at the Temecula Public Library and checked out my first book since leaving Flagstaff in 1995.  The book in question?  "Bonk" by Mary Roach.  I just finished "Stiff" and enjoyed it so much I plan to have myself composted, assuming that Promessa has a licensee somewhere in the United States by the time that I shuffle off this mortal coil.  Who knows, I could, quite literally, be pushing up daisies.

I have "Lost Moon"  by Jim Lovell on hold, being transferred through the system to the Temcula branch, so I'm on my way to completing #16.

101 Things in 1001 Days

101 Thing to do in 1001 Days

Effective January 1, 2011, I commenced this list of the one hundred and one things to do in the next one thousand and one days.  By my reckoning (actually by the reckoning of www.timeanddate.com) 1001 days from January 1, 2011 will be September 28, 2013.

Saturday, Septemner 28, 2013!  Excellent!  Being on a Saturday, I'll be able to cram a lot of items in on the last day if I'm running late.

This all stems from the fact that over the years I have become increasingly - what's the word - boring.  I used to do some things that were kind of interested, or at least entertaining to myself; rock climbing, backpacking, skiing, waterskiing, bike riding, the occasional road trip.  Lately, between the office and the efforts to forestall the rapid decline of our homestead, all work and no play has made Jim a dull boy.

So, maybe by documenting the stuff I'd like to do and giving myself a deadline of sorts I'll be able to accomplish a few things of interest before shuffling off this mortal coil.  It won't hurt that we should have a little bump in disposable income, what with Nicholas completing his studies at UC Davis.

I'll be posting updates as I check off list items, just to keep tabs on myself.

To review the entire list, click the "The List" link in the upper right cornier of the page.

Wish me luck!