Meant to do one of these earlier this week, but time flies...
ITEM! So, a belated Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans! Yesterday was a pretty busy day for me, and it actually started the day before... heck, it started Tuesday with the grocery shopping for Thanksgiving, with prep starting on Wednesday. On Thanksgiving Day itself, I was up at 6 am and working away on the turkey and the various sides I was preparing. This year, I decided to do a brine on the turkey (it adds flavor and moistness) and it's a good thing I did, as the turkey was finished cooking several hours earlier than I anticipated (I was using Alton Brown's recipie -- he of "Good Eats" fame on Food Network -- and estimated cooking times weren't included). The turkey was still pretty moist when we finally ate, even though I was holding it at temp for a while. The ham that I started warming up in the crockpot Wednesday night didn't turn out anywhere nearly as well... the entire texture of the ham changed! Still tasted good, though.
ITEM! As many of you will recall, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Mac person. That's the platform of choice for me, and it has been since about 1985 or so. So what was I doing this morning, getting up at 4 am for? A Black Friday special on a Netbook! Radio Shack was offering an Acer Netbook for $179 (Best Buy had a similar one for $30 less, but I wasn't about to deal with those crowds), and I wanted one for school, since the online classes don't always work on my Mac (plus the Netbook is more portable). I've been using my wife's laptop when I needed a PC for school, but I was getting tired of lugging that to school with me. So, when I saw that deal, I knew I had to act! I was at the local Radio Shack at about 4:30 am, with an hour to go before the store opened, but I was first in line, and I got the only one of those netbooks that store had (plus a new alarm clock and something for the kids).
ITEM! Thanks to whoever made Amazon purchases through my links, Amazon paid me some Associates funds just as I was winning one of the two 1970s-era Give-A-Show Projectors my collection was missing on eBay! Just one more 70s-era set to go, and I've got a bid on that!
ITEM! I was completely remiss in not mentioning last weekend's Portland Comic Book Show! But I have an excuse, as you'll see. For my birthday, my wife decided we'd spend Saturday night there, so we wouldn't need to drive down Sunday morning. We spent Saturday during the day at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, which the kids really enjoyed, and then did a few letterboxing "missions" (letterboxing is a kind of scavenger hunt where you follow clues to track down rubber stamps, which you stamp in your log book), and having dinner at a place that was billed as Portland's best seafood restaurant -- although if that's the best, I can't say much for seafood in Portland! Anyway, Sunday we went to the show, and aside from buying a set of the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends action figures, I spent all my money at one dealer's table, where he had boxes and boxes of great old comics for 50 cents or a buck each! I mostly picked up some oddball stuff (such as some Archie superheroes, a few Dells, a few Charltons, and a couple of Gold Keys), as well as some great Marvel and DC stuff! You'll be seeing some of the books I picked up in future Retro-Reviews for sure! Unfortunately, somewhere along the way I must've eaten something that didn't agree with me (it was either at the seafood place or Denny's, where we had breakfast). By the time we got home, I was feeling pretty sick, and spent most of Monday napping while I tried to recover! And in the midst of all this, it started snowing on Sunday evening... enough that by Monday, the Olympic College campus was closed (and it stayed closed the whole holiday week). Fortunately, we never lost power or cable during that time, but it did get pretty icy here for a while! The weather's warmed up in the last 24 hours, and all the ice and most of the snow is gone now! Next up on the convention calendar for me will be Emerald City!