Rocky

"You get your money when I get my family back." -------- (I just saw this one last night... and I have no idea who said it or from which movie the summer love quote comes)

Countdown is now less than one MONTH! (target date = Feb 15)

Yesterday marked one month left in the countdown! And I think we've got rain coming by Friday! Hey fellowshipper... you're welcome to send that 104F weather here to AZ!... but we still would like the rain. I expect it'll take you a while to send that heat our way... so pls have it delivered by July, tnks

Hey Fellowshipper, I can deal with 104F... we have that for more than half the year... It might freeze here again tonight, but not likely to be quite as cold as it has the past two nights... 25F at my house two nights in a row... They say it hasn't been this cold here since 1990. Hey Simonzelotes... hope you've been stayin warm (of course, you too niKa and TomStrange... as our cold weather is apparently heading your way).

I thought you meant that Oklahoma's been a declared a disaster area BECAUSE Peterson is not going to play there next season! Now THAT'S disaster (not really... but I'm sure there's plenty of disappointed folks). Just be sure to drive safe(ly). :D

I was at WalMart today... checked on crockpots... all but one model they had were under $30. The other, for about $40 has some computer controls on it... like a thermostat and digital timer.

Given the different sizes of the heating elements, using the oven instead of a crockpot might present a significant difference in how much electricity is used... It would seem intuitively to me that the larger oven element, along with the substantially larger space that the oven needs to heat up to the desired temperature, that it would probably cost significantly more to use the oven. The magnitude of the difference -- I don't know. But if you're going to use the slow cooker quite a lot, it might be worth making the investment in a new crockpot... Seems to me that even big ones can be had for less than $30. I have one, but don't use it much. One thing I liked making (and eating) used chicken, carrots, potatoes, barley (or rice, but I like barley much better) along with a cream of (multiple choice here... could use mushroom, celery, broccoli, etc.) something soup, and don't forget the onions and garlic and other spices (like maybe a variety of Mrs. Dash). I never write down the quantities... rather, I just wing it, using however much seems right at the time. ------------ I also got a George Foreman grill recently. You can grill (practically) anything and it seems quicker to me than stove top and oven methods... I've grilled buffalo burgers, turkey burgers, chicken, boneless pork chops, shrimp, scallops, bell peppers/onions and more.... one of the key selling points is that the grill is designed to make the fat in the food run off of the grill (and therefore off/out of the food item) into a drip tray...

Well, it's not even 8pm and already the mercury has dropped into the 30s... maybe next week for the pool party.

A VERY cold one here today toooooooooo.... my outdoor digital thermometer, at 7:40am today (just a couple minutes after sunrise) read 25.5F. Heck, I haven't been in a place that's been that cold since I went to Rochester NY in March 1997. Weather guys on TV are saying it's the coldest it's been here in the Phoenix area in three years... but I think it's been longer than that. And, just getting home from the gym, I'm reading 48.7F. We haven't had a HIGH that low in eons. And here's a big smackeroo to you all... mmmmmmmmmmmwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh! (I guess it would be rude of me to be tossing around French kisses -- moi -- here ;) ).

OH, and here's a link to the page Fellowshipper's tuna should show up on soon... http://www.freedomcharters.com.au/catch_of_the_day.cfm and Fellowshipper... what did you end up doing with that big ol' fish? Was there a good time in the ol' town tonight (or that night)?

Years and years and years ago (B.T., or before TWI), I was taught in high school that the correct spelling of that word is "MOI". Of course, I might have learned it wrong... and maybe that's why people used to tell me that it's not always about ME! ;) OH, and WHAT was the question again?

Ha! I don't remember...I was hoping you could tell me!

Hey Tom, I reminded you... did you remember?

Yeah... it's really just implied, no overt displays of affection.... btw, I've read about Jorja Fox (who plays Sara) that she might have some sexual ambiguity in her real life... I understand that this coming Thursday, there will be two episodes of CSI... first one a rerun, second one new. Btw, Catherine Willows sometime nemesis... a lawyer (I forget the character's name) is played by her real life husband....

Fellowshipper... I hope YOU were holding the fish... I saw some pics on their site... but didn't see you. So, raw tuna IS good? I've seen people eat it on Iron Chef America, but wasn't convinced to eat raw fish myself... ------------------------------- Hey TOM STRANGE.... Did you REMEMBER?

A good alternative aerobic exercise is to use a U B E -- upper body ergonomics machine. It's a bicycle type thing that you "pedal" with your hands/arms. I do 38 minutes a day, 4 days/week and get my heart going to about 75% of max rate (128-135 bpm) which is toward the upper end of the target range for cardio conditioning. Then I also use a NuStep machine, which is a "seated" stair climber... I do that for 15 minutes each day I'm at the gym... I do the NuStep so my legs don't let out of condition, but don't go as intensely as I do with the UBE. Besides the weight loss I've accomplished, my resting heart rate had been in the 80s before I started working out around the summer of 2005, then for a long time it was in the low 70s or high 60s. Now, I'm getting resting HR readings in the lower 50s. AND I lift weights... because muscle burns calories, but fat only stores them. Since I started in '05 my body's fat % has dropped more than 15 points... and I still have plenty to go.

Jonny, I hope you have a good time... BUT don't expect to get out of there without being HIGHLY pressured to buy into the timeshare... They're not giving you so much entertainment and such just because they're nice people. They EXPECT something in return... and that something is not just your two hours watching their video. But as long as you know that up front, you can go prepared and enjoy yourselves.

This is an excellent idea. The city council has a stake in the city maintaining a wholesome image. These task forces operate in large cities and small towns. Generally, since local businesses also have a stake in the image and social environment, there can be a plenty of volunteers/donations to hit the graffiti practically as quick as it gets put up. And after a while, when they realize their "monuments" aren't staying for more than a couple of hours, it'll frustrate the taggers and they'll probably stop.

Hey Fellowshipper, Have you a picture of that yellowfin to show us? That'd be really coooool. Tnks.

Remind you of WHAT Tom? Hey niKa, I can't imagine any better mild winter place than Tucson! It has better air than Phoenix and you can find places to climb all over the place (both in and outside AZ, and I imagine Mr. niKa knows some in S. AZ).

Indeed. And there's no question that you do NOT get that feeling at the BOB.

By "intimacy" do you mean that it feels closer to the game? Perhaps that would be because it IS....? And I'm not that thrilled with the "Bob" aka Chase Field (no, it doesn't feel like going to the bank, but it does feel like baseball in an airplane hanger)... BUT it beats the heck out of being in the sun on a summer day in Phoenix. How do you do a "sweaty smile" emoticon? Five weeks (35 days) until pitchers and catchers begin reporting!

Good for you, Potato! And your two major points of concern are quite reasonable and undoubtedly ON THE MARK. So, I hope you're able to do a Happy Dance these days.

I've also heard the "things are better now" line... a couple of years ago, I took my daughter to a local Payless Shoe Source store to buy her some shoes. I knew the guy who manages it had been formerly in twi and I knew that he and his wife went back into it. Now, he's a nice guy overall... and he only talked to me because I went to his store, but he had the same lines. Also, just a couple of weeks ago, I saw a car with a newfangled twi bummer (er, bumper) sticker... the gal was pulling into a gas station near my home. It didn't take me but a nanosecond to decide it wasn't worth my time to follow her to that station... "what would be the profit?" hehehe... BUT...WB, isn't it possible that your response was "inspired?" I mean, I think it sounds like the perfect comeback in that situation. :)

It's been a few years, but I've rented from Alamo (in California) and they were priced lower than the others then... My hunch is that if you check the rental companies' web sites directly, you should be able to tell fairly easily which will give you the best price given the dates/locations/types of car you'd like to use.