Roasting Something? I'll Consult the Meat Czar

Today is of course Christmas Day. It was wonderful weather in Western Washington this year, as opposed to last year which was... less so. Mom put me in sole charge of an eleven-pound rib roast and then said "good luck."

I just sort of winged it, as per usual with my cooking, and the roast came out perfect. Good meat.

For Christmas this year, I gave everyone something I would not mind getting myself. I extended my interest in comic books to my mom in a hard-bound copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published my Marvel Comics (On that note, the Cowardly Lion is my favorite character). Dad got a new pocket knife. Jim and Brooke got a little kid carrier backpack for hiking or whatever. Michelle got two sets of blocks; the young mad scientist's blocks and the alphabet in Braille and ASL. Gram is getting a new light installed in the bathroom and Gary got a Puget Sound photograph collection.

Mom also received a tutorial on the care and feeding of an iPod Nano.

You should stop what you are doing right now and go see Avatar. It is by far the best looking film I have seen in a number of years.

... Welcome back. Wasn't Avatar a good movie? Anyways, tomorrow being Boxing Day, I'm running errands over here before I have to scoot back to Pullman. This will include a trip to the German deli for some sausage and things.

I realize that running errands has little to do with Boxing Day.

I got a new broom for curling last week. It's sleek and white and shiny, with an orange flame job on the lower half. It took some getting used to, and I did burn one stone with it on its maiden voyage, but it will be a big improvement to our game. Starting in a few weeks, I'll be throwing lead for our team.

Driving in to my dad's the other night, when it was dark and dreary on a lonely road that is seldom traveled in the winter (so it seems), I found great relief to come around the corner and see Dad's house illuminated and the gate open. I said aloud, "There's the light of home."

Dad and I made a pot of clam chowder like we used to when I was very small, and we talked college football. I showed him some of my curling moves and we had a great time.

I think I'll head downstairs and work on assembling my Lego set, as per tradition. The narrative flow of this post has been erratic, but this is how it came out as I typed it. Thank you for your consideration.

Good News, Good Game, and Christmastime

First of all, I'll be an uncle again in May to another little girl I can spoil thoroughly. That's pretty great news. I'm having a good time spoiling the niece I already have.

I spent the weekend trying to recover from so much good food. The first annual Decagon Chili Cook-off was on Wednesday, and I sampled three excellent recipes from my coworkers. I was going to stop at two, but everyone raved about Uncle John's (John is the uncle of a friend of mine, so I refer to him as Uncle as well), so I had a bowl. Thursday was prime rib at the Christmas party, as well as samplings from the dessert contest. Friday had me eating a lot of ice cream leftover from Wednesday. It turns out we had far more than we could fit in our freezers, so we set it out on the back porch and it kept fine in the freezing weather.

I emphasize trying. I felt a mild streak of culinary creativity, so I cooked myself some good dishes involving breakfast sausage.

We also finished the regular season of curling. Next week is the bonspiel, or tournament play. Tomorrow we find out which team we get to play again. As long as it isn't Team Stupid Hat, I'll be happy.

I get to register for the STP on January 4th. I only need a way to train in the snow now. I've got a completely new perspective on training now that I have the experience. A partner would also be great, but that will come later I think. In any case, I hope to perform better this year than last.

My other big achievement this weekend is the taming of the cable mess on the home theater setup. It's not beautiful, but it definitely looks better than it did.