:: Troutmaster blog :: November 2003 Archive

:: Saturday, November 29, 2003 ::

Timber and I went for a walk near Santa Teresa Park today and while we walked we most have seen about 50 wild turkeys. I couldn't believe that we were seeing so many. It made me seriously wonder what the hunting regulations were around there. And some of the turkeys were huge. But I probably wouldn't hunt them anyway because it is cool to just stop when you see them and listen to them walk and watch them move around. They don't gobble at all and they don't seem too concerned when people get near. Overall it was pretty cool.
:: Tom 6:15 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I was thinking to myself, what better way to spend Thanksgiving than with the Indians? And it just happened that we made a last minute decision to go to the Chuckchansi Indian casino for Thanksgiving with Timber's parents. You can get there from the Bay Area by taking 101 south to 152 east to 99 south to 145 east and then north on 41. It is about two and a half hours away and it is also pretty close to the southern entrance of Yosemite National Park. Once we got there we checked into the room and then we had our Thanksgiving dinner at the buffet. And I have to say that this is the best buffet that I have ever been to. They had traditional Thanksgiving food, Mexican food, Italian food, Chinese food, Mongolian BBQ, pizza, salads, and a great desert section. They even had red velvet cake. Needless to say I got my $15 worth. After we ate we signed up for their player's club and got paid $10 just for doing so. Then we gambled a bit. I played blackjack for a few hours and came out roughly even. After that it was time for bed. On Friday we drove to Yosemite and got to see the Mariposa Grove which is near the southern entrance to the park. We drove north in the park and got to see Half Dome with snow on it. It was quite a site. After that we left out of the El Portal road entrance to the park and followed the Merced River for a while. And soon after that we were home. It was a nice trip.
:: Tom 4:24 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I was worried for a second that this was my mom. I know she likes go shopping early the day after Thanksgiving. Luckily it was not her. But it is sad nonetheless.
Yahoo! News - Woman Knocked Unconscious While Shopping
:: Tom 2:02 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Can someone explain something to me? What the hell is the turkey in this picture eating? Is it cranberry sauce? Out of a can? I personally think it is pinto beans. That makes the most sense to me.

:: Tom 12:54 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Here's a list of the 12 worst intersections in the Bay Area. Luckily I don't have ot deal with these intersections very often. Dirty Dozen
:: Tom 12:37 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Here's an interesting article. Czech warns Europe of 'dream world' woes - The Washington Times: World: "dictating "
:: Tom 1:46 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Just when I think humans as a whole are getting more intelligent I have to see something like this article that makes me think that humanity as a whole is becoming brain dead. Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
:: Tom 9:56 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I just came across some information on how to treat a cold or the flu. This is probably pretty applicable since I know a lot of people that are starting to get these things. The number one thing that I know of to prevent catching the cold or the flu is to wash your hands. Do it often and do it well. There are things to do once you actually get it.
-O- Use a humidifier or vaporizer. They provide moisture that can help you to breathe more easily.
-O- Gargle with salt water. This soothes a sore throat.
-O- Eat chicken soup. Scientists have realized that there is something to Grandma's cure after all. Although there are lots of theories about why chicken soup helps cold-sufferers feel better, there's no doubt that it does. Some experts believe the steam from hot soup can loosen congestion, while others believe that the ingredients in chicken soup have anti-inflammatory qualities that may prevent some of a cold's side effects.
-O- Quit smoking. Smokers get sick more often than nonsmokers and stay sick longer. Second-hand smoke also irritates a cold or flu.
-O- Apply over-the-counter remedies. Many remedies treat more than one symptom, so choose a brand that treats the symptoms you actually have. The following guidelines may help you to choose a cold or flu remedy:
-O- Analgesics relieve muscle aches and pains, and reduce fever. This category includes aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen. Don't give children aspirin, as it can cause Reye's syndrome.
-O- Antihistamines block histamines, which are produced by allergies. Antihistamines can cause drowsiness.
-O- Expectorants thin mucous so that it can be coughed up more easily.
-O- Antitussives suppress a cough. These are usually recommended for dry coughs that aren't producing mucous.
-O- Decongestants constrict or tighten the blood vessels in the membrane of the nose and air passages to help clear them.
:: Tom 9:25 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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My Habana Cuba soccer team won last night. Our game was at 11:25 PM and the score was 8-3. We were down 3-2 at the end of the first half, but took care of business in the second half. I overheard the team we played against talking after the game and they said that the first half was the first time that they've ever been ahead. I'm glad to know that it was against us (being sarcastic). But I think my team passed the ball well but didn't take enough shots. And we played pretty well defensively overall except for people were missing some defensive assignments and getting beat by give and go's. Today kind of feels like Thursday. I'm not sure why. But I'm glad to be getting a few extra days off this week. It will be nice.
:: Tom 2:56 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I had a very Thanksgiving weekend. We had our second annual friends Thanksgiving get together on Saturday. We got a pre cooked turkey from Safeway along with mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. Timber also made chicken adobo which turned out very good and a pumpkin swirl cheesecake. All the food was really good and the party was a lot of fun. And then on Sunday Simon invited us over to a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at his house. So all of our Hawaiian friends were over and it was a Hawaiian Thanksgiving. We ended up playing a game called sequence and lost track of time. I didn't get to bed until about midnight. But it was a lot of fun.
:: Tom 3:32 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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This weekend we are having our second annual friends get together for Thanksgiving. We are going to have all the typical Thanksgiving fare, like turkey, stuffing, yams, pumpkin pie, etc... But we will also have a California twist. We'll have rice and other Asian foods. I'm still not used to seeing rice next to the turkey, but I'm sure I'll get more used to it in the years to come. Oh yeah, just in time for my Friday rant I went to take cartman for a walk yesterday and on my way to Jenny and Rong's house and on the way back I saw some crazy drivers. When I saw that they were doing things like swerving through traffic and performing u-turns while other cars were too close I looked closely to see who was driving. In all of the cases that I saw it was really old people. I have nothing against old people, but just like people of all ages, some of them need to learn how to drive. Another stupid thing that I saw was a commercial on TV last night showing single moms how to keep their kids off pot. It was almost as dumb as some of the TV shows on TV. Basically it shows a mom catching her teenager smoking pot. She gets mad at him and grounds him. Grounding means no phone, no TV, and no going out to play with his friends. And then he gets a phone and tries to make a phone call and she catches him and says "I told you No Pot!" And he puts the phone down. And she catches him trying to sneak out of the house and then he says something like "Come on, it was just pot, and I only tried it once". I guess it shows parents how to use the "tough love" approach while reinforcing the point that pot is a drug and that parents should stop their kids from doing pot. I just wanted to laugh. I got the impression from the commercial that a lot of parents don't care that their kids do drugs and I wondered if the approach that the commercial advocated would really work. Will your kid stop doing drugs if you take away their TV and video game privileges? When I have kids they better not let me catch them with any drugs. If they do they'll wish all I did was take away their TV and video games. They'll be more worried about being shipped off to military school or me shipping them to Guantanamo Bay and letting the US military beat them down.
:: Tom 11:34 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I watched the Bachelor finale last night. I thought Bob was going to pick the younger girl, but he ended up going with the older one. I told Timber that I would have picked the younger one. She asked me why, and I said that it was because the younger one brought him a Marie Calendar's Pie! Another factor was that for their dinner they grilled some meat. But the most important thing for me was to find out what kind of pie she brought. But I never found out. Overall I think ABC sucks and I wouldn't watch most of their shows. Luckily this show is over so Timber can't make me watch it anymore.
:: Tom 6:08 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I locked myself out of the house yesterday for the first time in a really long time. I was leaving through the garage to go to my soccer game and as I walked out I turned around and realized that I had the mailbox key instead of my car keys just as the garage was closing being me. Needless to say, it sucked. Luckily I had my cell phone with me, so I called Timber and had her come let me back in the house and then I sped off to my soccer game. By the time I got there and was able to check in and get out onto the field I had only missed about 5 minutes of the game. It was my Habana Cuba team, and I didn't play particularly well in the net, but we ended up winning 8-7. I think the other team only scored one goad that was a shot past me. The rest of the goals were off of rebounds and weird bounces and the like. But I really like the way my team took the game back toward the end and played with poise and purpose. It was a great thing to see.
:: Tom 3:43 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I'm listening to a song called "Black Bottom Stomp" by Jelly Roll Morton. I figured I would do a google search to find out more about him. As it turns out, he was quite a character. His biography says that from 1904 to 1917 Jelly Roll rambled around the South. He worked as a gambler, pool shark, pimp, vaudeville comedian and as a pianist. And he also formed a band called the Red Hot Peppers. I wonder if the Red Hot Chili Peppers know who he is? I'm guessing they do.
:: Tom 11:51 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Well the most exciting part of my weekend was getting some Hotel Collection towels from Macy's. I definitely wouldn't be blogging this if they weren't awesome. And they just happened to be on sale for the lowest price I had ever seen. So anyway, that was it for this weekend.
:: Tom 11:02 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I'm hanging out at work right now waiting for a process to run to completion so that I can go home. I was thinking about going to the Warriors/Clippers game tonight, but it is a good thing that I didn't get tickets, because if I did, I'd be LATE. I also missed out on my chance to hit the gym tonight. What an exciting Friday night. I guess I'll get up early tomorrow and go running. But that depends on the weather a little bit. Let's see... It looks like showers tomorrow with a high of 60 and a low of 48. I'll probably still go running anyway. I was supposed to go snowshoeing tomorrow, but Timber can't go because she lost her hiking shoes. And if she doesn't have them her feet are going to get cold and wet, and that's not cool. So I guess it is another weekend of not doing anything cool. This sucks!
:: Tom 7:01 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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My arm hurts right now because I went to get a flu shot during lunch today. And what a good deal that I get it for free through my work (being sarcastic). But that is understandable, because if I were to get sick and be out for a week or two that would be a huge loss in productivity. And besides, I don't want to get the flu, that would suck. But when I've gotten the shot in years past I've always had to wait in line for a while, but that wasn't the case today. I just had to show up at the location, fill out a form, and I got my shot right away. It was about as seamless as that process could be. So kudos to the people running the program. Good job. And I finally got a chance to ask the person that gave me the shot which strains of the flu I was being immunized against. As it turns out there were a total of 5 strains that I was being immunized against, and those are the 5 most "popular" strains that are working their way around the world right now. So that's how they choose. I'm glad I asked...
:: Tom 5:00 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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This is an interesting article. TIME Magazine: Coolest Inventions 2003, Apple Music Store I wonder if I'll be the first one to suggest this, but I'm guessing at some point video libraries will be like the itunes music store. We'll be able to browse and download movies to our home entertainment system. But that idea has a long way to go. First, all of the home entertainment devices need to be seamlessly integrated. Second, you have to be able to download the movie in about the same time it takes to download a song through the itunes music store right now. Third, are people going to buy the movies or just rent them? Lots of factors to work out. But in the meantime we can enjoy doing these things with our music.
:: Tom 2:21 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Timber and I called a truce in our vegetarian bet today and celebrated it with the ulti-meat pizza. It was pretty good. In other news, I saw on the news tonight that there was a huge delay for westbound traffic going to the Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge. Today was the first day, and what I don't understand is why Caltrans didn't do the switch at 2 am or on the weekend instead of 6:30 am on a weekday. The excuse they used was that they didn't expect so much traffic on a holiday. Hello? Who is it a holiday for? The postal service and Banks don't work today but pretty much everyone else does, so what's up? The article can be found here.
:: Tom 10:36 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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It has been a tough weekend, for a few reasons. The first is that Timber and I are dogsitting someone's dog and it is not fun. The dog is not trained at all, and in the combined 30 minutes that she was allowed to roam free in the house, she urinated on my carpet twice. My carpet is white by the way. And anyone that has been to my place knows that Timber and I keep our place extremely clean, so having to clean up spots of the carpet and have dog hair around in the house is aggravating. It is also difficult dealing with a dog that has obviously had no behavioral training at all. The other thing that made this a tough weekend is that Timber suggested a bet to see who could last the longest as a vegetarian. Her reasoning for this bet is because they did crazy stuff like this on Seinfeld. That means no beef, chicken, fish, lamb, turkey, or any other kind of meat. The person that gives in first has to buy the winner a lift ticket when we go snowboarding. I intend to win.
:: Tom 11:11 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I realized last night why I don't go to the movies much anymore. First, they now have regular commercials in the previews. I know they used to have one Mountain Dew commercial or something, but now it is four or five straight up commercials. Why? I paid $9.50 to watch a movie, why should I have to watch crappy commercials? I didn't go out of my way to go to a movie and pay $9.50 to sit through 5 commercials. After the commercials they have service announcements like "silence is golden" and computer graphics commercials about how awesome the movie theater is. Then, after that they actually have the movie previews. And because we watched "Under the Tuscan Sun", most of the previews were crappy. I at least can understand that because they want to make sure that the previews are similar to the movie that is being watched. That is totally understandable. So after sitting through crappy commercials, service announcements, and previews, we are subjected to a crappy movie 9 times out of 10. I was ready to strangle someone before the previews ended last night. One thing that I thought about that does make sense is that we pay money for cable TV, so I guess it is just an extension of cable TV where we would pay more for a single movie and have to watch commercials along the way. But because of this I am going to utilize the guerilla tactics that I have and go to very few movies. I remember the days when I went to a couple of movies every week, even I knew they were going to be crappy. But not anymore. I'm going to save that money that I would spend at the movie theatre and instead find good movies through netflix and invest in my home theater system. I am also going to email the movie theater that I went to yesterday and let them know about my displeasure. In the end I doubt they will change anything, but then again, a single raindrop does not think they are responsible for a flood either. By the way, the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun" was alright, but for all you guys out there make sure you have a date for it. Because guys should not be watching that movie by themselves or with a group of friends.
:: Tom 11:32 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I had a soccer game last night. My team, "the Burn" played one of our last games of the season. We ended up in an 8-8 tie. I played goalkeeper, and at the end of the game I thought we were going to lose because the other team got a breakaway. The guy with the ball came in a shot the ball. I dove to my right for the ball and was able to stretch enough to get one hand on the ball. Luckily I got enough of my hand on the ball to stop it so that I could cover it up when the rest of my body caught up with my hand. I wish I could see video of that save, because it surprised even me.
:: Tom 9:49 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I watched "The Bachelor" last night with Timber, and Mary was the one that got the boot this time. It was sad because she seemed like a really nice person, but the reason she got the boot was because she wanted to start a family right away yet Bob wanted to wait a while. I think she should be the next "Bachelorette". But the problem is that the producers of the show will have to find 25 guys that are willing to get married and have kids right away. That will be a true challenge.
:: Tom 12:26 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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This is an interesting paper that is sure to spark more arguments about global warming. Errors and Defects in Mann et. al. 1998. I haven't finished reading this paper, but news articles about this paper say that it corrects faulty data which was used as the basis for the Kyoto treaty. Now stop for a minute and think about what that means. Also think about how that makes you feel. This could tell you alot about yourself and how you feel about environmental issues. I think it is important for us to base our environmental policies on sound scientific data, and not try to mold the data into fitting any specific agenda. That is really the only way to ensure that people are treated fairly and also that the environment is treated fairly.
:: Tom 5:00 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I've been challenged by Timber to go to the gym at least 3 times a week. One of the things that I fought for is having my soccer games count as going to the gym and now the definition is two soccer games count as one trip to the gym. So based on that I've been to the gym twice already this week. And I'm going tonight, so after that I'll be done for the week. When I was at the gym yesterday I spent 30 minutes on the kayaking machine and 30 minutes on the treadmill. I usually run at between 5 mph and 6 mph, but since I had tweaked my ankle playing soccer I had to walk. Hopefully I'll be able to run on it a little bit today.
:: Tom 12:39 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I had two soccer games last night. In the first game, my team lost 7-5, and in the second game my team won 10-8. I don't know what it is, but that team never seems to get along with the teams that we played. I even saw one of my teammates flip the bird at some of the opposing players as the game was ending. It was a disgrace and there is no room for that kind of behavior in our sport. The same guy always seems to get into it with someone. I'm actually embarrassed to have him on my team. But the weird thing about it is that while he is a total poor sport on the field, off the field he is one of the nicest guys you would ever meet. Maybe he has multiple personality disorder? I don't know, but it is pretty bad...
:: Tom 3:19 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I just checked on my vacation plan for the rest of the year and it looks like I am going to be on vacation from December 22nd through January 6th. That's two and a half weeks straight. Now I have to figure out what to do over that period of time. Should I spend all that time on the slopes? Should I work on things around the house? Should I go see my brother in Las Vegas? No matter what I choose to do I know that this much is true, vacation is wicked cool!
:: Tom 5:23 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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Check out this article. Yahoo! News - Hussein Was Sure Of Own Survival. I am interested in finding out what really went on. Is Tariq Aziz telling the truth about what the French and Russians did? Was Saddam really as confused as Aziz makes him sound? With all things, it is hard to tell what is fact and what is fiction. But at the end of the day I think we did the right thing, but we're not done yet.
:: Tom 1:21 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I'm starting to gear up for a trip to Alaska next summer. I want to be up there for Summer Solstace (June 21st). So I'm thinking about flying up there on June 17th and then flying back home on the 27th or 28th. Some of the things I would like to do while up there are see my family, backpack in Denali, do some salmon and halibut fishing, and perhaps do some sea kayaking. I doubt there will be enough time to do everything but I am really looking forward to the trip. The biggest problem is convincing Timber to come backpacking in Denali with me. She is worried about grizzly bears and I'm trying to convince her that there is nothing to worry about. I think if we backpack with bear canisters for our food, put bells on our backpacks, carry bear mace, and don't go out of our way to be in contact with the bears then they probably won't bother us. I think she is worried about something that I said about hiking in bear country a while back. Basically I said always hike with someone that you can outrun. But of course I was just kidding. But I don't think we have anything to worry about. Besides, if any bear is going to get to her it has to get through me first. Wouldn't that make you feel more confident? Ok, I guess not, but it was worth a try...
:: Tom 11:34 AM:: [View/Post Comments]
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I've realized that Timber and I are cheap. We had to go to a laundromat today to wash a sleeping bag, a pillow, and a comforter. All three required the use of a front loading washer, so we went to the laundromat near our house but we decided to leave because it cost $4 to wash at each front loading washer. We went to the laundromat on Monterey Road near Mimi's and the price was a more reasonable $2.75 for each washer. Yup, I always knew we were cheap, but I did not realize the extent of our cheapness.
:: Tom 11:54 PM:: [View/Post Comments]
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