Summertime and the...
Grilling's Easy
Damn right. I haven't been grilling as much this year as in year's past, but when I do, hot damn is it good. Now that Wegman's has come to our area, I can get my mitts on all of upstate NY's finest culinary offerings, such as Salamida's State Fair Spiedie Sauce. If you've never had Speidies, you haven't lived. Take chunks of meat, marinate them for 24 hours in Spiedie Sauce (not sure what's in it, but I know there's oil, vinegar, and various spices) grill said meat, and then as they're hot and dripping on the skewer, slide them off by wrapping them in buttered French or Italian bread. Drooling now. The Albany area is not privy to the magic of the Spiedie, it being a western upstate NY phenomenon, but my college roommate freshman year was from beautiful Endicott, NY right in the middle of Spiedie country. I visited over the summer, for, of all things, a Queensryche concert, and he turned me on to the joys of Spiedies. Once you've had them, it's hard to forget them. But that's not all? What do you call a 5 lb pork loin roast, split open like a book, insides rubbed with an unholy mixture of BBQ rub, whiskey, mustard and brown sugar, closed back up, sprinkled with more rub, wrapped in bacon and grilled on a rotisserie? If you're at my house on Saturday, you'll be calling it dinner. You'll also be eating twice grilled potatoes, brimming with butter and cheese. Oh yeah, we'll all be dead by 50, but it'll be with smiles on our faces.
Tattoo's Healing
As Andy mentioned in his weekend recap post, I have a new tattoo. It's my third, and keeping with the superhero theme (Batman symbol on right shoulder, Superman symbol on left shoulder) it's a tribal spider with Spider-Man's face in the middle. It's pretty cool, at least it will be once it heals up. This is the first "visible" tattoo I've ever had, located on the inside of my right forearm right below the elbow. Based on my past tattoos, I knew that they scab up and then flake off as they heal, but I never knew it looked so disgusting in the process. When it's on the shoulder, you only see it when you shower, or when you put lotion on it, and not even then as you hopefully don't need a mirror to locate your shoulder. With this one, I've been able to watch the whole nasty process, and have become quite engrossed in it at the same time. Sad, I know. Other than the fact that it's not looking it's best at the moment, I'm totally thrilled with it. I was hesitant about getting a visible tattoo, but figured "what the hell". If ever I have a job interview or court date, I'll be wearing long sleeves anyway. I like seeing it out of the corner of my eye as I go about my daily business. Plus, it makes me feel like a badass, a comical notion for those who've ever met me. Unlike Andy with his bald pate, muscles and motorbike, I'm your usual 30+ year old suburban dad. Well, with the tattoo, I guess "usual" doesn't fit quite so much now. And, for those that would think of steppin' with that "Jon Bon Jovi has a Superman tatoo too" bullshit, my response will be a shot between the eyes. Wanted dead or alive motherfucker! New Jersey represent!
Lawn's Growing
My lawn is the most fucked up piece of mass vegetation I've ever seen. Some spots are all burnt out because the trees are blocking the sprinkler heads, some parts are 18 inches high because it's been thunderstorming in the afternoon every day for a month and all of it is a pain in the ass. I always thought I wanted a big yard until I had to mow it. Feh. At least I found something to kill those accursed Japanese beatles. I don't know what's in the bottle, and what it's going to do to my kids, the ozone layer, the universe, whatever, but it kills those bastards, boy howdy does it ever. My sprial cherry tree has never looked so resplendant this late into the summer. Unfortunately I think that, along with killing all the beetles, I also killed a bird, but that's still unconfirmed. I mean, the dead bird was confirmed, and has been disposed of, but what killed the bird is up in the air. I figure with no body, there's no crime, so hopefully the Feds will back off. The saddest part about the whole dead bird affair was the fact that both of my dogs walked right by it to frolic in the yard and then walked right by it to come back inside. What self-respecting dog doesn't stop to eat, or at least roll in a dead bird? Sheesh.
Games are Nonexistant
Man, summer is the suckiest time for video games. I've read the various demographic reasons for why games aren't released in the summer, and it all seems like bullshit to me. Why crowd up the holiday season when every other thing is competing for your gaming dollar and risk having your amazing game overlooked because of a glut of amazing games? *Cough* Prince of Persia *Cough*. Why not release some in the summer and get the kids who are home from school, or the parents that are home on vacation? Shit, even if they don't play the games, what the hell do you care, as long as they buy it. Right now I'm playing the GameCube remake of Metal Gear Solid. More truthfully, I'm watching the GameCube remake of Metal Gear Solid, as this game is about 3 hours of gameplay and 15 hours of cutscenes. Nothing like mowing down rooms of enemy soldiers to get to a cutscene where one of the main characters says "War is meaningless!" Right. Apparantly it isn't totally meaningless, as it seemed to provide ample inspiration for your game. Whatever. At this point I just want to finish the damn thing to watch the 4 hour ending movie. I wondered why it took up 2 discs. Now I know why. Fable won't be out until September which sucks. I good open-ended RPG would be just the thing right now. I still have Gladius but I'm starting to tire of it. What's a man to do?
Damn right. I haven't been grilling as much this year as in year's past, but when I do, hot damn is it good. Now that Wegman's has come to our area, I can get my mitts on all of upstate NY's finest culinary offerings, such as Salamida's State Fair Spiedie Sauce. If you've never had Speidies, you haven't lived. Take chunks of meat, marinate them for 24 hours in Spiedie Sauce (not sure what's in it, but I know there's oil, vinegar, and various spices) grill said meat, and then as they're hot and dripping on the skewer, slide them off by wrapping them in buttered French or Italian bread. Drooling now. The Albany area is not privy to the magic of the Spiedie, it being a western upstate NY phenomenon, but my college roommate freshman year was from beautiful Endicott, NY right in the middle of Spiedie country. I visited over the summer, for, of all things, a Queensryche concert, and he turned me on to the joys of Spiedies. Once you've had them, it's hard to forget them. But that's not all? What do you call a 5 lb pork loin roast, split open like a book, insides rubbed with an unholy mixture of BBQ rub, whiskey, mustard and brown sugar, closed back up, sprinkled with more rub, wrapped in bacon and grilled on a rotisserie? If you're at my house on Saturday, you'll be calling it dinner. You'll also be eating twice grilled potatoes, brimming with butter and cheese. Oh yeah, we'll all be dead by 50, but it'll be with smiles on our faces.
Tattoo's Healing
As Andy mentioned in his weekend recap post, I have a new tattoo. It's my third, and keeping with the superhero theme (Batman symbol on right shoulder, Superman symbol on left shoulder) it's a tribal spider with Spider-Man's face in the middle. It's pretty cool, at least it will be once it heals up. This is the first "visible" tattoo I've ever had, located on the inside of my right forearm right below the elbow. Based on my past tattoos, I knew that they scab up and then flake off as they heal, but I never knew it looked so disgusting in the process. When it's on the shoulder, you only see it when you shower, or when you put lotion on it, and not even then as you hopefully don't need a mirror to locate your shoulder. With this one, I've been able to watch the whole nasty process, and have become quite engrossed in it at the same time. Sad, I know. Other than the fact that it's not looking it's best at the moment, I'm totally thrilled with it. I was hesitant about getting a visible tattoo, but figured "what the hell". If ever I have a job interview or court date, I'll be wearing long sleeves anyway. I like seeing it out of the corner of my eye as I go about my daily business. Plus, it makes me feel like a badass, a comical notion for those who've ever met me. Unlike Andy with his bald pate, muscles and motorbike, I'm your usual 30+ year old suburban dad. Well, with the tattoo, I guess "usual" doesn't fit quite so much now. And, for those that would think of steppin' with that "Jon Bon Jovi has a Superman tatoo too" bullshit, my response will be a shot between the eyes. Wanted dead or alive motherfucker! New Jersey represent!
Lawn's Growing
My lawn is the most fucked up piece of mass vegetation I've ever seen. Some spots are all burnt out because the trees are blocking the sprinkler heads, some parts are 18 inches high because it's been thunderstorming in the afternoon every day for a month and all of it is a pain in the ass. I always thought I wanted a big yard until I had to mow it. Feh. At least I found something to kill those accursed Japanese beatles. I don't know what's in the bottle, and what it's going to do to my kids, the ozone layer, the universe, whatever, but it kills those bastards, boy howdy does it ever. My sprial cherry tree has never looked so resplendant this late into the summer. Unfortunately I think that, along with killing all the beetles, I also killed a bird, but that's still unconfirmed. I mean, the dead bird was confirmed, and has been disposed of, but what killed the bird is up in the air. I figure with no body, there's no crime, so hopefully the Feds will back off. The saddest part about the whole dead bird affair was the fact that both of my dogs walked right by it to frolic in the yard and then walked right by it to come back inside. What self-respecting dog doesn't stop to eat, or at least roll in a dead bird? Sheesh.
Games are Nonexistant
Man, summer is the suckiest time for video games. I've read the various demographic reasons for why games aren't released in the summer, and it all seems like bullshit to me. Why crowd up the holiday season when every other thing is competing for your gaming dollar and risk having your amazing game overlooked because of a glut of amazing games? *Cough* Prince of Persia *Cough*. Why not release some in the summer and get the kids who are home from school, or the parents that are home on vacation? Shit, even if they don't play the games, what the hell do you care, as long as they buy it. Right now I'm playing the GameCube remake of Metal Gear Solid. More truthfully, I'm watching the GameCube remake of Metal Gear Solid, as this game is about 3 hours of gameplay and 15 hours of cutscenes. Nothing like mowing down rooms of enemy soldiers to get to a cutscene where one of the main characters says "War is meaningless!" Right. Apparantly it isn't totally meaningless, as it seemed to provide ample inspiration for your game. Whatever. At this point I just want to finish the damn thing to watch the 4 hour ending movie. I wondered why it took up 2 discs. Now I know why. Fable won't be out until September which sucks. I good open-ended RPG would be just the thing right now. I still have Gladius but I'm starting to tire of it. What's a man to do?
posted by Brandon at
8:32 AM
