The Night's Plutonian Shore

Just tried to go there, blank page. Tried to go there via IP, blank page. Is it me or is it LJ? Who knows? I'm sure the DDoS'ers do....

This is just shit.

Okay, I've decided to import my LiveJournal blog to Dreamwidth, where I've had an account for a couple years. I've never used it, but it's been there, just waiting for LJ to finally pop its clogs. Seems all the DDoS attacks it's had recently might possibly, conceivably be related to a desire on the part of the Russian govt. to silence certain free speakers.

Well, that's fine if it's just a Russian thing, but when you start to affect an international group of users, that's going too far.

So, even though I love all my groups etc., I've imported my journal to DW, and I'll probably start posting there. I'll be crossposting here for the time being, but one more DDoS and I'm gone from LJ except for checking groups.

So I hope I see all my buds here over there. Let me know you're there -- my username is wobblerlorri on DW, same as here. I also have two ONE invite code, if anyone wants it.

Patrick and I went to see INSIDIOUS today. We weren't sure if it was going to be as good as the trailers, but we were frighteningly pleased. I always gauge a scary movie by how far in my seat I've scooched down by the end, the more the better -- by the end of this one, I was almost lying down in the seat!!

The only complaint I had was the music, which sounded like Stravinsky's "Rites of Spring" being raped by Stomp!, was a bit loud at the beginning, but that may have had more to do with the nearly empty theatre than any problem with the sound system.

This young couple, the wife an apparently frustrated pianist, the husband a high school teacher, move with their 3 kids into a half-timbered Craftsman style house in CA, if I judge by the palm trees. Soon weird shit starts happening, culminating with their oldest son, Dalton, falling into a sleep from which no one can awaken him. Weird shit keeps on happening, mom is going spare, dad is staying late at work saying he's grading papers but he's really going to sleep at his desk, and eventually the mom is attacked by a ghost and she begs dad to get them out of the house.

So they move to a smaller house, bringing along all 3 kids (Dalton is still asleep), and the weird shit continues and escalates. They call in a comedy team of ghost hunters, who call in their medium lady named Elise. Finally they get to the bottom of the issue, and scary, holler out loud and grab your son's arm in a death grip creepy scary hi-jinks ensue.

The movie keeps you going for the entire time, after a slightly slow start. The suspense builds and builds, until you think you just can't take any more, and then you find that yes, you better, because here it comes!!!

Worth one viewing at full price; subsequent viewings, wait for early bird discounts or until it's on cable. It's worth it.

The second outstanding thing we did was eat at 5 Guys Burgers. If you've never eaten there, go to their website and see if there's one near you. If there is, GO THERE. It is truly a Presidential hamburger. Absolutely delicious, your choice of toppings, quick service, and the fries are to die for. If you go with someone else, I promise you, one regular fry will be sufficient -- they fill an 8 oz paper cup with fries (rough cut by hand, Idaho potatoes), then dump at least another 8 oz cup full into the bag loose! A regular burger has 2 patties on it, so if you're not a double person, get the small burger, which is one patty.

If anyone remembers what What-A-Burger USED to taste like, back in the 60's, that's what 5 Guys tastes like. Nom nom nom.

You know, this is so weird. I'm in the midst of a discussion on (of all things) a Harry Potter forum, wherein the topic is "are people now more evil than they were 500 or 1000 years ago?" Apparently deep philosophical realizations can come from the most prosaic of places...
( tl;dr -- the soul wants out of the wheel of karma )

Just thought I'd share.

The Rules:
1. People who have been tagged should write the answers on their blog and replace any question they dislike with a new, original question.
2. Tag eight people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag who tagged you.

To quote SBG, "Tough toenails, I ain't taggin' nobody. Do it if you want. :P"

1. 5 things that you can see without getting up:

The giant freakin' computer (full tower)
My monitor
My quart jug o' iced tea
Maggie (in my lap)
My Wacom Bamboo tablet

2. How do you style your hair?

BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHahahaaaaa.... I wash it, let it air dry, then brush it. Every now and then I might color it if I'm feeling frisky. Other than that, we have agreed to coexist. I don't have the patience or the essential girly nature to fiddle with it a lot.

3. What are you wearing now?

Grey tee-shirt with cat claw holes and red Mickey Mouse capri length pajama pants. And my glasses.

4. What's your occupation?

Disabled, but used to be a microbiologist, and then a network administrator. Now I'm trying to get back into drawing, painting, and other expressions of "artistic" natures using digital and traditional tools.

5. What do you hear right now?

Listening to the 70's hits channel on the TV, right now they're playing Bread, "It Don't Matter to Me". I had forgotten that the 70's weren't dominated by disco crap, but that there was some Pretty Damn Good Music from that decade...

6. Who was the last person you hugged?

Little Jacky Roo Roo. She said er-ROOO! so I let her go. Silly little fat black and white cat.

7. What is/was for dinner?

Left over chili from yesterday, which means it was twice as good today.

8. What did you do today?

Had lunch at Chick-Fil-A with Patrick, then went to see Paul. See my earlier post for my review. tl;dr: GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!

9. Dog person or cat person?

Cats. Catscatscats. And Horses.

10. What is your favorite TV show?

Don't really have one, there are several I like a lot. I think Southland is probably the best cop show on right now. 30 Rock. Community. Bill Maher. Ghost Hunters. Destination Truth. Ghost Adventures, because the guys are so fuckin' cheesy, but enthusiastic. The First 48. The Daily Show. The Colbert Report.

11. What was the last thing that you bought?

6 mylar pompoms to hang up in my garden as bird chasers, and a pocket sketchbook. Oh, and popcorn and drinks at the movie.

12. If you could afford to go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

England, and I'd take Patrick, and we'd do a grand tour of the entire country from the Orkney Islands north of Scotland down to the tip of Cornwall, and from Pembrokeshire west to Norfolk east. I'd like to spend a week in each county. Then we'd go over to Ireland and do her up proper, too.

13. Where do you see yourself in five years?

Pretty much doing the same thing as I am now. Hanging out on the internet, fighting with dunderheads on my wobblers maillists, but definitely further advanced in my art.

14. Where's your birthmark?

On my face -- it basically looks like a big freckle, and when I tan you can't see it anymore so it's never bothered me.

15. What are you doing this weekend?

Well, I saw Paul (SEE THIS MOVIE!!!) today, tomorrow I'll probably get started on tilling up my garden plots. Then I'll make pasta primavera for supper, because we're in the middle of a freakin' heat wave (it was 80 today!! In March!!!) and it's just too damn hot to cook.

16. If you could play any musical instrument, which one would you play?

I used to play the organ and alto saxophone. I'd have loved to be able to really play piano, or the harp. Or guitar.

17. Who is the last person that sent you a text?

I don't do texts. Last email was from Jan Dabkowski, one of my wobbler friends.

18. Who are you missing right now?

Nobody, really.

Finally had the follow-up with the surgeon at Emory about my bile reflux problems. He talked with my regular doctor, and has all my test results and the surgical report from my RnY.

He feels that he could go in and surgically correct my situation by making the connection between my pouch and small intestine longer, which would make it so the bile couldn't reflux back up. However, because of my history of wound infection, and the mesh I have in place from my hernia repair in 2005, he also feels that the risk of wound complication would be rather high. In other words, if I have the surgery to fix the reflux, I stand a pretty good chance of getting a post-surgical infection. This surgeon, though, is on top of his game and it's at Emory, which is THE unusual case hospital of Georgia. If you're going to be a strange, hard-to-manage case, you should be at Emory.

On the other hand, each time I have a reflux episode I run the risk of aspiration, which (if I don't wake up quick enough) could lead to burns of the bronchial tree and aspiration pneumonia, which has a mortality rate of up to 11% as an outpatient, 25% hospitalized.

I'm going to call Dr. Eubanks tomorrow and make an appointment with her to discuss this. I honestly don't know what to do. I think Mike is worried I'll die or something if I have surgery; I'm worried I'll die from the next round of aspiration pneumonitis (which is basically aspiration bronchitis), since it took 14 days of Bactrim DS to knock it out...

[Error: unknown template qotd]The astrological signs didn't change, because astrology uses the tropical zodiac, which is fixed to seasons. What changed was the sidereal zodiac, which is fixed to the constellations.

So I'm still a Gemini/Cancer, and it fits.

The scales have fallen from my eyes. Yea, and verily I have been enlightened and gifted with the True Knowledge of what causes earthquakes.

This is courtesy of one of the fundie loons on my wobblers list -- this guy is just out the window and round the corner with some of his ideas (if I can call them that). He's the one who said nothing you read on Snopes is true because it has a liberal bias... check here and here if you care or wish to be refreshed...

Anyway, here's Fundie Preacherman's take on What Causes Earthquakes:

It is the way God rebalances the earth to keep it from vibrating as it rotates. There has been a tremendous amount of construction that has concentrated much Mass in a small area which creates a need to rebalance the earth. It is just like your tires, it must be in balance to spin smoothly. AS long as people continue to place large masses in a specific location, we will continue to have earth quakes. Volcanic eruptions also tend to shift balance also.

Luckily I'm not the only voice of reason -- someone else has wondered why earthquakes happened and volcanoes erupted before humans were around to start building, and someone else answered her with "Gremlins". Of course, I had to provide a mini-lesson on plate tectonics, seismology, and volcanology, because I'm just an erudite asshole that way. With tons o' links, including one to that bastion of Ebol Librul Untruthiness, snopes.

I swear, Fundie Preacherman is going to owe me money if I break my jaw. It always drops in a very loud and painful way alllll the way to the floor when he posts one of his Knuggets O' Knowlidje.

ETA: just remembered that the earth does indeed wobble -- about 23 degrees. It's called precessional wobble and it produces the seasons... naturally I had to twist the knife just a little more, so I fired off an update to Fundie Preacherman.

Last night everyone felt good enough finally to enjoy the steaks I wet-aged a couple weeks ago.

I bought 3 nice sirloin steaks on sale for $3.50 a lb, each one was about a pound. Looked up aging them, and the only realistic way to age a steak at home is to cut off as much fat as you can, bung it into a ziploc bag, and throw it into the refrigerator for a week or so. You put it on the bottom shelf, in the very back -- it's coldest there, and the temp doesn't vary as much.

You squeeze out as much air as you can, and check the bag every day or so, turning it over and squeezing out any air. When you're ready to cook them, you take them out of the bag, rinse them off, pat them dry, and cook.

Of course we all got sick the weekend I was going to cook them, so we just stuck them in the freezer.

Well, yesterday was Steak Day. Thawed them out, and looked up how to pan fry a steak. It's incredibly easy, and boy were they tasty.

PAN FRYING STEAKS -- makes 3 steaks

Put 1 T olive oil in your pan, and spread it around the bottom and up the sides with a paper towel. Heat it over medium heat until a piece of fat sizzles immediately when you put it in.

Season your steaks with fresh ground pepper and a pinch of garlic powder, then put them in the hot pan. They'll sizzle and make all sorts of noise, but let them sit there without messing with them for 6 minutes for medium rare, 7 minutes for medium well. Use this chart and a meat thermometer to determine the doneness.

DONENESS TEMPERATURES

Rare remove 125 eat 130
Medium rare 130 135
Medium 140 145
Medium well 150 155

Turn them and cook the other side for the same amount of time -- add time if necessary until you reach your desired level of doneness. Remove from the pan to a plate, cover with aluminum foil, and let rest while you prepare

BEURRE ROUGE

1 shallot minced fine
1/2 cup red wine
1 T balsamic vinegar
5 T cold butter or margarine

Stir the shallot into the hot pan with the juices from the steak; saute over medium heat for a minute or so, just until the shallot picks up some brown color.

Deglaze the pan with the red wine and vinegar; cook until the liquid is reduced by half.

Add the butter one tablespoon at a time, stirring until it is completely incorporated before you add the next. If you rush it, you'll make the sauce break, which isn't pleasant.

Once all the butter has been incorporated, spoon a couple spoonfuls on each steak, and then serve. The sauce will be very thick and dark.

I swear, this was the best steak cooked at home I've ever put in my mouth. Tender, flavorful, juicy, and the beurre rouge made the flavor just blossom. Don't skip the beurre rouge, please do make it. You won't believe the difference it makes. I put A-1 Sauce on top of the whole thing, and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

I'll still insist on Longhorn for Big Ol' Piece O' Meat Day (otherwise known as February 14), but now I know how to make a perfectly tasty steak at home, too.

Can y'all stand another Snapey piece of art? Yeah, I thought you could...

( cut to save your bandwidth )

This is for a challenge on DA for Severus Snape, Death Eater. It's just seconds before he receives the Dark Mark, and he's got a little smirk because he probably thinks it's just So Fuckin' Cool that he's finally gonna be a real Death Eater!! That'll show those Marauder gits!

You just keep on thinkin' that, son...