"More time to creep behind aisle three."

• I broke down this afternoon and ate some candy for no goddamned reason other than I was starving.  I need to start bringing more snacks to work because my metabolism is super charged these days.
• I like the direction season 2 of Breaking Bad is taking with the lawyer.  I think it's going to introduce some cool stuff though they should've just shanked Badger.
• Damn.  It's supposed to be 68 here tomorrow.  Sweet.  Hopefully the pond in my front yard will dry out a bit.  The warm weather will give my roof a rest as well.
• I've got volleyball tonight, but I don't really feel like going.  I'll tough it out though because I need the exercise.
• I'm thinking of visiting the Bay Area this summer.  I think it all depends on whether I get some money from a settlement with my former employer.

"I'm not a mind reader."

• Today was better than yesterday. The electrician and his brother came over this morning and we figured out the problem. For some reason, the deck and patio outlets are on the same circuit as the finished basement. It's been raining recently and the critters are active as well so I'm not surprised there is a short outside. He disconnected the deck and patio from the finished basement. When I get some money, I'll have him hook them up to their own breaker and put the lines in conduit to keep the critters away.
• I'm still bummed about the cost of my new roof, but it needs to get done. Hopefully I'll get a bonus a week from Thursday.
• I've been really hungry lately so I guess I'm detoxing from sugar and/or my metabolism is ramping up because I'm more active.
• It's supposed to be 80 on Saturday so I need to figure out some outdoor activities. I guess I can prepare the ground for my herb garden.
• I'm going to see if I can save enough money to visit California this summer. Maybe I can pare down my road trip to a few less cities.
  

"When I die, fuck it I wanna go to hell."

• I'm pretty fuckin' far from ok today. I woke up tired and slept in by an hour, but didn't really have much get-up this morning. Work dragged and then I got a call from my roofer. My roof is twice as big as I thought so I need to spend twice as much money which is 33% more money than I have right now. It means I'll need to use all my 401k loan money plus my tax return plus any bonus I get on a new roof which does fuck-all for me now other than save me more money and hassle down the line. Maybe it adds to the value of the house, but maybe not. Gah. No more spending on anything other than food or gas.
  
• I haven't been sticking very well to my no expectations philosophy. I need to give less of a shit.
• I'm still detoxing from sugar which means I'm hungry all the time for now reason. I just ate a big ass dinner and my stomach feels empty. I know better than to eat more because it's just the craving talking.
• I was going to drive down to EFK on Wednesday, but I've got too much work to do. Oh well. I'll go down next week.
• Hmmm...it seems like any money from Spansion could come in June. I could definitely use it given the first item.
  

101 items in 1001 days update

Another day, another couple of new recipes. Tonight I made cold eggplant with sesame dressing and shrimp in tamarind sauce over rice. The eggplant turned out well, but the shrimp dish had too much of a lime taste and I couldn't taste the tamarind. I couldn't find tamarind paste so I made my own from water and tamarind pulp.

Here's the eggplant:

Here's the shrimp:

Both recipes came from Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World. I think I'll take a break from that cookbook for a week or two.

I'm now up to 21 recipes in my recipe task for my challenge. I don't know if I can do five every weekend, but I feel like I can finish this challenge within a year or so.

"Fuck a medic, we gonna call yo ass a taxi cab."

• I've been pretty productive today. I did laundry, cleaned my house thoroughly, went to work and cooked a pretty tasty meal. I also found time to play some computer games and to watch some of the tournament.
• I've realized I'm a pretty weird dude, but people seem ok and are able to get along with me. I need to realize that my sense of humor is pretty unique though.
• Portland beat Oklahoma tonight. I didn't catch the game, but I'm stoked just the same.
• My sugar cravings are starting to dissipate. I'll have to see what happens when I'm tempted tomorrow at work.
• Taking it slowly is definitely a new experience for me. I'm doing ok so far though.
  

101 items in 1001 days update

I cooked more tasty food tonight.  I made stir fried spicy shredded pork from Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World and served it over rice and with gai lan with oyster sauce from the same cookbook.  Gai lan is Chinese mustard greens, but I used regular good ol' American mustard greens.  I did use authentic Sichuan peppercorns for the stir fry dish though.

Both turned out pretty well and made a healthy amount of leftovers.

Here I am with the stir fry:

Here are the mustard greens:

I'm counting each one as a separate recipe so I've now complete 19% of my recipe task in my challenge.  Sweet.  Makin' good progress.

101 items in 1001 days update

I tried another recipe tonight, chicken and sausage in vinegar, from Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World.  It's simple, healthy and tasty.  I would definitely make it again and recommend using chicken thigh.

I've now completely 17% of my recipe task in my challenge.  Sweet.