philscomments.com

To make a long story short (I started writing a lengthy how I got here piece, but have decided to yank it in favor of a few sentences), I decided I wanted an Apple desktop machine to replace my aging desktop. I have a Macbook pro, but it lacks the serious power I was desiring (yeah, don’t really need it, but I LIKE to have it just in case). I started pricing Mac Pro’s, but

Read more

My wife and I took a whirlwind trip to Seattle over the second week of Sept (Sept 10-14) 2010.  We departed Austin Friday evening and returned Tuesday Afternoon, both trips were on Alaska Airlines nonstop from Austin-Seattle and Seattle-Austin.  The flights were pretty standard, except for a few issues I will discuss below.

Since my wife and I wanted the LEAST hassle on our trip, we decided to go ahead and check our bag so we didn’t have to fight for room (larger end of the carry-on size since it had BOTH our clothes), and since we had a rental car/parked our car, it wasn’t a big rush to get moving once the plane landed.  Also, Alaska promises 20 minute delivery from the plane landing.  So, that was acceptable.

First, they charge $20 bucks for each checked bag up to 3.  Well, ok, we just paid even though that seems…well, you know how it seems.  For that we got the 20 minute guarantee.

So, here’s the scam/uber-lame part of it. 

Read more

I’ve named this article \”How not to run a business take 1\”, because I expect to write MANY more of these.  Last night, in thinking about my list of things to do for the week, contemplated several missed appointments from a certain roofing company.  Then I took it further and decided that one of the main reasons for our economic issues is that businesses have apparently forgotten, or never knew how to be run \”correctly\”.  Or as I said it last night, \”No wonder the economy sucks.  No one knows how to run a frakking business anymore\”.

Now on to my roofer story.

Read more

I’m going to veer off my normal course here for a minute and take part in a time-honored and under-appreciated form of expression, the RANT.  And, maybe in the course of writing it, it will become less of a rant, and more of a commentary, but I can only hope.  I will also be mentioning names of businesses, but only because they will be obvious anyway; nor do I wish to hide the identity of the guilty/offending parties.  I should also mention I am writing this stream of consciousness style, and will only edit for spelling before posting.

My wife and I drove to San Antonio today to attend a memorial service for my uncle (who died of (complications from) lung cancer.  It basically wasted him away to a shell, much as it did to my grandparents.  So, if you’re reading this and smoke cigarettes, knock that shit off, cause right now the reaper has taken 4 of 6 longtime smokers I know, with the other 2 lined up in the hopper and already exhibiting signs of joining the others soon). 

Read more

These muffins are great fresh or even frozen(reheated).  They have a nice lemon snap followed by the sweet tang of blueberry and then cake-y goodness.  I usually use organic ingredients to make these, but when the items are out of season and the wife wants a batch, I settle for the best quality I can find.

• 3 cups unbleached whole wheat flour (or you could use all-purpose flour)
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

  Read more

I’ve decided recently to focus more on healthier cooking, and with the number of vegetarians and light meat eaters around me have been trying to focus on vegetarian recipes (rather, I should say trying to make them vegetarian or as meatless as possible, but vegetarian first…then add meat back in next time if I feel it needs it).  In this chili, I didn’t miss the meat at all (I think I always say that 🙂 ).  I also experimented with adding carrots to the recipe, maybe next time I’ll do potatoes too.

This is a nice set it up and let it go for awhile recipe, making extensive use of the crockpot and slow cook speed.

Read more