Baaaaaad Things Man
2009-01-23, 9:53 p.m.

Day 1615

Remember that N1ke commercial with Dennis Hopper where he was sniffing the shoe of Bruce Smith of the Buffalo Bills? I don�t remember the entire context, but the commercial ended with Hopper sniffing Bruce�s shoe and saying �Baaaaadd things, man� in that 60�s drugged out hippie persona Dennis does so well.

Well, those baaaaad things hit last night. They�re really very trivial in the grand scheme of things, but right now I�m pissed at me for letting the even happen. First one? I left a fleece pullover at the bowling alley. I wore it to work yesterday, took it off for bowling. Had it right with my coat. Pulled my coat on, saw the fleece, internally said �I�ll pick it up after I put my bowling bag in the locker�. Put my bag in the locker and walked right out the damn door, leaving my fleece hanging over the back of a chair. Black, red trim, embroidered with �Kodak Health Imaging� over �xxth Annual Golf Tournament.�

I realized I left it behind as soon as I got home. Four + miles to go get a fleece? Eh. I�ve got 3 more. But I�m still pissed. I�ll heck with the bowling alley next week, but I�m not going to hold out much hope.

Another baaaaad thing that happened is I�m realizing that I have probably caught the cold Cindy had. It�s a lovely thing � sore throat, watery eyes, froggy voice, balloon head and a tight chest. Tried to burn it out in spin class this morning. (Shut up. It�s a guy thing.) Not sure it worked. Now I can add tight calves and tingly hams & quads to the list o�gripes.

One final baddy - I can�t find my thumb drive. A silly little 1G USB flash drive. What�s it got on it? Gobs of work stuff � configurations for board programming stations, scope plots � other necessary work applications, pictures I off loaded from cameras, all my blog entries for the last 3+ years . . . Man! I know I put it in my left coat pocket, with my phone, before bowling last night. Can�t keep it in my pants pocket � affects balance ya know. But I have my phone. I do not have my thumb drive. How does this shit happen? I just hope it doesn�t fall into enemy hands. Not that anything I wrote here isn�t true or what I felt at the time, it�s just that y�all are kind of anonymous (with a few notable exceptions) and I really don�t want to share some of that stuff.

Blog entries are buried 3 levels deep in rather innocuous sounding directories, but a nosey person could still get there. Didn�t see it on my dresser this morning, but it�s really, really dark at 5am. It may show up. I could check my pants too (BEFORE they get into the laundry), but my coat pockets are empty.

I�ve guaranteed that I�ll find that thumb drive. Went and ordered another. A nice little 8G drive. Now the other one will show up because it�s jealous. You watch. It�s analogous to going to the restroom when waiting for your meal at a restaurant. You give up on waiting, go to �freshen up� and when you get back, viola!, your dinner is on the table, cold, waiting for you. That used to be the cigarette rule, but since no one can smoke inside anything anymore (THANKS!!), we had to change the rule.

Bowling last night didn�t suck. I only bowled my average, but that�s an improvement over the last few weeks. Out team even took 6 of 8 points and Lefty had his second 279 in the last 3 weeks. Poor guy � he got the first 9 strikes then on the first shot in the tenth he leaves a ringing 7-pin. Good shot, bad break. Both 279 games were the same pattern. Weird. We won that game too.

It�s a little later in the day since I wrote some of the earlier drivel. Now I can add achy joints to the other 5 symptoms I listed earlier. If I had a thermometer, I might be able to add fever too. Just have that ick feeling that I associate with running a low grade fever. Plus, I�m tired as all get out. Throat has kind of a tickle that makes my eyes water, then it gets very difficult to keep them open. Ugh. Only an hour & a half of work left.

Got to call Eric and have him season the steaks. Having some NY Strips for dinner. We get them from a local food service. 8 oz strips, individually wrapped & frozen. 10lb box for $4.99/lb. The steaks are really good too. But. Did you know that when you season a steak, you should do it at least 45 minutes prior to cooking? This allows time for the salt to migrate into the steak, drive out some of the moisture, then the moisture gets re-absorbed in a kind of osmosis/diffusion trade off. It helps to achieve the tasty carmelization of the outer layer of the meat that makes it so damn tasty. Also � this is personal preference, but the only thing a good steak needs for seasoning is salt, fresh black pepper and a light dusting of garlic powder. Any more than that and you�re just masking the flavor of the meat in my opinion. One last thing � if you can still hear the echo of the cow�s last moo, you haven�t overcooked the steak. I can not understand people that insist on a �well done� steak then bitch about how dry it is. Well, Duuuuuuuhhh!! Try a little pink � you�ll like it (wink, wink!)

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