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	<title>CleverDonkey.com &#187; Engineerboy</title>
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		<title>Scott&#8217;s &#8216;Homemade&#8217; Meat+Vegetable Spaghetti Sauce</title>
		<link>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/2037-scotts-homemade-meatvegetable-spaghetti-sauce/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/2037-scotts-homemade-meatvegetable-spaghetti-sauce/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:56:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>EngineerBoy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Engineerboy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recipes]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/2037-scotts-homemade-meatvegetable-spaghetti-sauce/">Scott&#8217;s &#8216;Homemade&#8217; Meat+Vegetable Spaghetti Sauce</a> is brought to you by <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com">CleverDonkey.com - ...Musings, Commentary, Opinions, and Drivel</a>!</p>
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<p>I was never able to find the spaghetti sauce that I wanted, so I decided to figure out making it for myself. &#8230; <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/2037-scotts-homemade-meatvegetable-spaghetti-sauce/" class="read_more">Read the rest</a></p>
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<p>I was never able to find the spaghetti sauce that I wanted, so I decided to figure out making it for myself.  You see, I wanted a combination of a meat sauce and a vegetable sauce, and could not find a restaurant or a recipe that fit the bill.  Note that this is &#8216;homemade&#8217; only in part, as it includes marinara from a jar.  I have made it completely from scratch, and it&#8217;s good, but it&#8217;s wayyyy too much work and it takes wayyyy too much time, and it&#8217;s only slightly better/different, so the marinara from a jar is simply a nod to the realities of a hectic lifestyle.</p>
<p>This recipe makes enough for four people, plus a healthy helping of leftovers &#8211; as with all spaghetti sauces, it&#8217;s better reheated the next day.  Ingredients as follows:</p>
<p>3 jars Newman&#8217;s Own Marinara sauce<br />
2 lbs. lean hamburger<br />
1 sweet onion<br />
8 cloves garlic<br />
1 bunch asparagus<br />
2 green squash<br />
2 yellow squash<br />
2 cups mushrooms<br />
8 tbsp olive oil<br />
salt<br />
pepper</p>
<p>Heat a large skillet on medium, add 2 tbsp olive oil, and saute half the garlic and onions (both diced) for 4-5 minutes, then add the ground beef, and salt and pepper to your tastes.  Let the meat continue to brown while chopping the rest of the vegetables.</p>
<p>Finely dice the rest of the garlic and the other half of the onion, and keep them separate from the rest of the vegetables as they will be cooked separately.  Cut the asparagus into .5&#8243; to .75&#8243; lengths, making sure not to include the woody base of the stalks, which can be tough.  Slice each squash in half lenghtwise, and then slice each half in half again lenghtwise, so it is in long quarters, then thinly slice making little pie-shaped chunks.  Slice the mushrooms thinly.</p>
<p>Heat a large pot on medium, add the remaining 6 tbsp of olive oil, then add the onion and garlic and saute for 4-5 minutes, then add the rest of the vegetables.  Continue cooking the vegetables for another 10 minutes, until they begin to get soft.  At this point the meat should be close to done browning &#8211; when it&#8217;s browned, drain any fat, then add to the vegetable pot.  Add the three jars of marinara, and stir.</p>
<p>Reduce head to medium-low, so that it cooks at a slow simmer, cover, and cook for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.  That&#8217;s it.  I occasionally juke it up with fresh basil or oregano, but it&#8217;s not strictly necessary.  I also sometimes add broccoli, but only some of the time since it turns it into a much chunkier, more vegetable-ier sauce.  We have taken to eating over <a href="http://www.barillaus.com/Pages/Product-Landing.aspx?brandID=5" target="_blank">Barilla Pasta Plus spaghetti</a>, which has protein, omega-3s, and fiber, but tastes like regular old empty-calorie pasta.  And don&#8217;t forget some freshly-grated parmesan!</p>
<p>There&#8217;s nothing magical here, but I can say that this sauce is universally popular, and we always end up eating all the leftovers as well.  It is also a unique combination, in my experience, of a meat sauce and a vegetable sauce, and it&#8217;s something I had to figure out myself since I&#8217;d known for years that I wanted something like this.</p>
<p>If you end up giving this recipe a try, please post back your results here, as well as any jukes/variations of your own.  Buon appetito!</p>
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		<title>The coming Muslim-Christian coalition in the US?</title>
		<link>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1892-the-coming-muslim-christian-coalition-in-the-us/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1892-the-coming-muslim-christian-coalition-in-the-us/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Dec 2011 01:26:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>EngineerBoy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Engineerboy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cleverdonkey.com/?p=1892</guid>
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<p><em>Disclaimer: the article below represents the noodlings of a dumbass who is talking about things way over his head, but </em>&#8230; <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1892-the-coming-muslim-christian-coalition-in-the-us/" class="read_more">Read the rest</a></p>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="al2fb_like_button"><div id="fb-root"></div><script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#appId=114875287893&amp;xfbml=1" type="text/javascript"></script>
<fb:like href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1892-the-coming-muslim-christian-coalition-in-the-us/" send="true" layout="standard" show_faces="true" width="450" action="like" font="arial" colorscheme="light" ref="AL2FB"></fb:like></div><p><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1892-the-coming-muslim-christian-coalition-in-the-us/">The coming Muslim-Christian coalition in the US?</a> is brought to you by <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com">CleverDonkey.com - ...Musings, Commentary, Opinions, and Drivel</a>!</p>
<div id="attachment_1990" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/coexist1.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1990" title="coexist1" src="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/coexist1.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="98" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Can&#39;t we all just get along? Probably not any time soon...</p></div>
<p><em>Disclaimer: the article below represents the noodlings of a dumbass who is talking about things way over his head, but which he nonetheless found interesting as a mental exercise.</em></p>
<p>When JFK was elected, the US had its first (and so far only) Roman Catholic president.  Barack Obama was the first African American president.  That leaves some interesting milestones still ahead of us, such as first female, first (openly) gay, and first (openly) atheist/agnostic.</p>
<p>I think there&#8217;s a good chance that we&#8217;ll hit all of those milestones, at some point, and that it&#8217;s just a matter of &#8216;when&#8217;.  I also think we&#8217;ll hit them in that order (female, gay, secular).  And I also think that as we hit each milestone, it will create a greatly increasing disturbance among conservative US voters.</p>
<p>The first milestone, female, will not have any overtly negative reaction at home or abroad.  There have been plenty of female heads of state, and anybody who publicly takes issue with that will be nearly universally condemned as a backwards nincompoop.</p>
<p>However, the next one (first gay) would set up the beginnings of a political holy war, as the groups who are anti-gay are really committed to being anti-gay.  These are people who put the behavior of same-sex consenting adults in the same category as child molestation or bestiality.  They will see a gay US President as the beginning of the end of the world, and will fight against it appropriately.</p>
<p>But the last one (first secular) would potentially set up an actual Holy War (notice the caps).  There was a recent survey that showed that people of faith trust atheists to the same level that they trust rapists.  <a title="Say what, now?" href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2011-12-10/religion-atheism/51777612/1" target="_blank">Yes, really</a>.  And a group with that outlook is going to work diligently (to say the least) to prevent it from happening.</p>
<p>Just as an exercise (not a prediction), I could see the future of Presidential politics progressing thusly (major party candidates, unless otherwise specified):</p>
<p>2012 &#8211; Obama re-elected, possible female VP (Clinton)<br />
2016 &#8211; female President<br />
2020 &#8211; gay VP nominee<br />
2024 &#8211; gay Presidential nominee<br />
2028 &#8211; secular serious 3rd party Presidential candidate<br />
2032 &#8211; gay President, secular VP nominee<br />
2036 &#8211; secular President</p>
<p>Yes, that goes 24 years into the future, and that seems like forever.  But consider if we were to look backwards, 24 years ago was the election of George H.W. Bush.  Not that long ago, for some of us.  Again, that is not a prediction as much as one possible future outcome, the likelihood of which is open to debate.</p>
<p>However, regardless of the actual dates and progression, I think we&#8217;ll eventually see female, gay, and secular presidents in the US, and that that progression of events will stir ever increasing ire among conservative Christian US voters.</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, there is another group whose reactions would, in my estimation, parallel those of conservative Christian US voters &#8211; namely, Muslims.  I am not Muslim, nor am I a student of Islam, but my lay-person&#8217;s understanding of Islam is that they generally hold that women should be subservient to men, that homosexuality is unacceptable, and that the faithless can be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheophobia#Islamic_countries" target="_blank">subject to persecution and even death</a>.</p>
<p>Also, I&#8217;ve seen estimates that project the Muslim population will double or triple over the next 20 years in the US.  One thing that has been consistent throughout US history is that while immigrant populations may retain a lot of their cultural heritage, they all usually end up &#8216;going native&#8217; and seeing themselves as Americans, not as displaced immigrants in a strange land.</p>
<p>So, let&#8217;s project to a point 24 years in the future.  There&#8217;s a larger, fairly well assimilated Muslim population in the US, and an increasing presence of openly gay and secular candidates on the national election stage.  Both the conservative Christian base and the growing Muslim-American community would have significant opposition to these types of candidates.</p>
<p>And there&#8217;s nothing, and I mean *nothing*, that unites groups like having a common enemy.  Politics makes for strange bedfellows, and although in today&#8217;s terror-focused, post 9-11 world it seems unlikely that Christians and Muslims would form a political alliance, time heals a lot of wounds.  Arguably, Muslims and Christians believe in the same God, and there <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_Islam" target="_blank">are a lot of overlaps in their faiths, as well as a lot of differences</a>.  However, in the face of a common enemy, and a heretical enemy at that, historical differences tend to be de-emphasized, and commonalities highlighted.</p>
<p>So, am I sitting here as a Nostradomus-like seer laying out prophecies?  No, it&#8217;s more of a mental exercise, and quite frankly started as a lark, but the more I considered a potential Christian-Muslim coalition, the harder it became to rule it out completely, and the easier it became to consider it as a realistic potential outcome.</p>
<p>How likely is this outcome?  I don&#8217;t know &#8211; as stated in the disclaimer at the top of this article, I&#8217;m just a dumbass with a blog who is noodling on things far outside my area of expertise.  America&#8217;s Jewish population and/or our alliance with Israel could be a wildcard.  The non-dogmatic US population could refuse to accept gay and/or secular candidates for a lot longer than is being speculated here.  And it could also be the case that both conservative Christian and Muslim US voters would have an equally vehement opposition to gay and secular candidates, but without forming any sort of alliance.</p>
<p>Dumbassery aside, however, I think it is at least plausible that, if faced with the prospect of an atheist/agnostic US President, the US Christian and Muslim communities could form an alliance to fight against such a candidate.  I&#8217;m not hoping this happens, I&#8217;m not saying I know it&#8217;s going to happen, and I&#8217;m not saying it should (or shouldn&#8217;t) happen.  However, what I am saying is that as implausible as a Muslim-Christian coalition seems today, I would not be surprised to see it happen in the future.</p>
<p>And just how unlikely is a Christian-Muslim coalition?  Well, consider that, today, the United States&#8217; closest ally is Great Britain, and in the decade after the Revolutionary War I&#8217;m sure that would have seemed like an outlandish prospect.  The US also counts Germany and Japan among our closest allies, and that would have seemed unlikely in the decade after WWII and Pearl Harbor.  Think Russia after the Cold War, or China after Korea.  All are now our allies, or at least our economic partners, and such alliances and partnerships would have seemed ludicrous to contemplate in the time period just after the hottest hostilities.</p>
<p>And that&#8217;s part of the historical context here.  I can look back over my lifetime and see the birth, growth, and death of many conflicts.  For example, my grandfather was a WWII vet.  In the 60&#8242;s, he gave us our first color television, and we couldn&#8217;t have been more excited the day it was delivered and set up.  However, my grandfather checked the labels on the back of the set, saw it had been made in Japan, and angrily returned it because he had clearly indicated he would not purchase a TV from our WWII enemies.  However, my father&#8217;s and my generation defined material success, in part, as having a Walkman, a Betamax, and an Accord, meaning that my grandfather&#8217;s grudge didn&#8217;t even last a full generation.</p>
<p>As I continued to grow up in the 60&#8242;s and 70&#8242;s, I experienced the tail end of the civil rights movement.  I did civil defense drills in school, hiding under my desk in preparation for the nuclear holocaust that was surely coming as we faced down the godless communists during the Cold War.</p>
<p>Then there were the weekly, sometimes daily, reports of violence and terrorism in Northern Ireland.  There was the rise of Japan in the 80&#8242;s, when they were an economic powerhouse that was going to take over the US, both economically and culturally.  Today it&#8217;s the terroristic threat of &#8216;radical Islam&#8217; and the economic rise of China that are threatening our way of life.</p>
<p>But, these, too, shall pass.  Old conflicts and enemies fade away, sometimes to be forgotten, sometimes to become friends and allies, always leading to a new reality in the future.  It&#8217;s the way of the world.  Does that mean that a Muslim-Christian coalition will definitely come to pass in the US?  Of course not, but it means that, to me, it is a distinct possibility, and I&#8217;ll be interested to see how events progress.</p>
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		<title>America&#8217;s Economic Bipolarity</title>
		<link>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1910-americas-economic-bipolarity/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1910-americas-economic-bipolarity/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:45:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>EngineerBoy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Engineerboy]]></category>

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<p>I&#8217;m a data person, and any time I have conceptions, preconceptions, prejudices, opinions, or assumptions, and there is relevant data available, I like to &#8230; <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1910-americas-economic-bipolarity/" class="read_more">Read the rest</a></p>
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<div id="attachment_1911" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/GINI-Current.png" target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1911 " title="Current Worldwide Income Equality" src="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/GINI-Current-300x231.png" alt="" width="300" height="231" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Income Equality (lower is more equal)</p></div>
<p>I&#8217;m a data person, and any time I have conceptions, preconceptions, prejudices, opinions, or assumptions, and there is relevant data available, I like to challenge my own opinions with facts.  One opinion I hold is that the United States is losing ground on being the &#8216;Land of Opportunity&#8217; from an economic perspective.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll stop here to state that I understand I&#8217;m talking about &#8216;first world problems&#8217;, and that the average American has it pretty good compared to the average world citizen.  Also, I&#8217;m not an economist, sociologist, futurist, or any other kind of credentialed -ist (other than &#8216;technologist&#8217;), so these are just the noodlings of an interested observer.</p>
<p>That being said, the people that put together the CIA World Fact Book seem to know a lot of things about a lot of things, and they share a portion of what they know via their public site.  The charts you see on this page are direct translations of their data into graphical form, and all credit/blame for that data goes to them.</p>
<p>One of the things they gather and post information about is relative income equality for countries around the world.  They share that information on this page:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2172.html" target="_blank">https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2172.html</a></p>
<p>The chart on the top right shows the Income Equality of the largest 100 countries (by population) from the CIA table, where a larger number is less income equality, and a lower number is more income equality (I know that&#8217;s counter-intuitive, but I didn&#8217;t develop the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient" target="_blank">GINI scale</a>).  So, the countries to the left-hand side of the chart are the most unequal from an income distribution perspective, and those on the right are the most equal.  The thumbnail view of the chart is pretty small (click chart for larger view), but the red line is the United States, and the green lines are the rest of the G8 countries.  You can see that the US is the left-most G8 member, meaning the one with the least equitable income distribution.</p>
<p>That sucks.  What it means is that the gap between rich and poor is pretty wide.  I think we can all look back over the last few years or decades and see that this has been happening, so although our place in the bottom third of countries isn&#8217;t a complete surprise, being the worst of the G8 nations is a bit disheartening.</p>
<div id="attachment_1922" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/GINI-Trending.png" target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1922 " title="GINI Trending" src="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/GINI-Trending-300x230.png" alt="" width="300" height="230" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Income Equality Trending (higher means increasing inequality)</p></div>
<p>I think that an impartial observer would agree that things are not good from an economic perspective in America today.  However, we have a legacy of bouncing back from adversity and overcoming obstacles.  Are we doing that here?</p>
<p>As you can see in the chart to the right (click chart for larger view), we are not only not improving, but are continuing to get worse.  In fact, only two G8 nations (Italy, Japan) have income equality gaps that are getting larger faster than ours.  Once again, the US is the red bar, and the rest of the G8 are the green bars.</p>
<p>So far all I&#8217;ve done is said we&#8217;re drowning, and then described the water.  What are the causes and solutions to this problem?  Although I have definite opinions about how we ended up where we are, I am not qualified to make any definitive statements about the economic and political forces that have put us where we are.  Note that I love to share my opinions, and I think that most of them are de facto facts just by virtue of being my opinions, but in this instance I don&#8217;t want to have this discussion degrade into partisan politics and bickering.</p>
<p>Also, I&#8217;m even less qualified to offer solutions.  I find it challenging to contribute to managing the finances of our household, and my wife does almost all of that work in the first place, with a competency that I can only stand back and admire with awe.  However, I do have opinions about what world economic and political leaders should be doing, but once again I don&#8217;t want the point of this discussion to be lost in partisanship and dogma.</p>
<p>And the point of this discussion is simply to point out, as factually and unemotionally as possible, where we are today.  The income gap in the US is one of the widest in the developed world, and it&#8217;s getting worse.  Income inequality is not the only factor that plays into quality of life, but consider, for a moment, the two extremes of income equality.</p>
<p>In the most unequal distribution, one single person would control all of the wealth of a country.  In the most equal distribution, everyone would have the exact same economic prospects.  I wouldn&#8217;t want to live in either of those countries.  In the most unequal one, there would be no chance to make a living or demonstrate economic worth, and any sustenance or shelter would be based on the largesse of the Grand Poobah.  In the perfectly equal one, the same would be true about economic worth &#8211; excellence and hard work would not be rewarded, because everybody would have the exact same standard of living regardless of ability, drive, ambition, or effectiveness.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the United States is moving closer towards the situation where more and more of the country&#8217;s wealth is being held by fewer and fewer citizens.  In fact, according to a recent study: <a href="http://persquaremile.com/2011/12/16/income-inequality-in-the-roman-empire/" target="_blank">&#8220;Even the Roman Empire, a society built on conquest and slave labor, had a more equitable income distribution.&#8221;</a>  The article also goes on to explain why the CIA publishes income inequality figures in the first place:  <a href="http://persquaremile.com/2011/12/16/income-inequality-in-the-roman-empire/" target="_blank">&#8220;Since too much inequality can foment revolt and instability, the CIA regularly updates statistics on income distribution for countries around the world, including the U.S.&#8221;</a></p>
<p>Does that match your vision of the United States?  That we are as decadent as Rome before the fall?  That China, the land of a billion socialist peasants, has a more equitable distribution of income?  That our immediate neighbors on the chart of income inequality are Uganda, Cambodia, Camaroon, Bulgaria, Jamaica, and Mozambique?  Is that really the economic neighborhood for a nation that considers itself the leader of the free world?  And not only that, it&#8217;s only getting worse, instead of better?</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t know about you, but none of that matches my expectation of the United States.  We are the land of opportunity.  We are a classless society, where anybody from any background can succeed through sheer force of will.  However, as wealth accumulates with a small group of the super-rich, so does economic and political power.</p>
<p>On a level playing field, I applaud anyone who is able to create wealth for themselves and their family.  However, I think it is clear from the simple charts on this page that the playing field is not level in the US.</p>
<p>And from here on out I will be interjecting opinion &#8211; as the rich have gotten richer, they have used their economic and political power to rig the game in their favor.  To protect what they have, and to have the opportunity to accumulate more.  I can understand that impulse, because who doesn&#8217;t want to protect and grow what is theirs?</p>
<p>However, every flexing of political muscle by the rich to keep and grow their wealth also has the equal and opposite reaction of denying someone less rich the opportunity for increased economic success.  I don&#8217;t know how to solve it, but the first step is admitting there is a problem.  I&#8217;m not sure how anyone could look at these figures still not be convinced that something is wrong and needs to be done to restore balance to the economic prospects of all Americans.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s where We the People and the government come in.  It should not be the job of the government to redistribute wealth by fiat.  However, it should be the job of government to make sure the playing field is level and that everyone has an equal opportunity.  Given the amount of money it takes to mount a campaign for federal office, the candidates are increasingly either personally rich, backed by the rich, or a combination of both.  What that means to me is that those that have the gold are making the rules.</p>
<p>That has always been the case, to a certain extent, and people with money will always be able to have an outsized impact by buying the cooperation of those willing to sell their influence.  However, it seems that this has become the rule rather than the exception in American politics today.  And although I can&#8217;t offer concrete solutions, I think the first step is for We the People to use the polling booth to reject candidates who, by their actions (not words), have shown their support for fostering and increasing the current economic imbalance.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Mourn the dead, honor the heroes, fight injustice, embrace freedom, celebrate life, and, on today of all days, forget to hate.</title>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 11 Sep 2010 14:26:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>EngineerBoy</dc:creator>
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<h6>
</h6>
<p>Mourn the dead, honor the heroes, &#8230; <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1785-mourn-the-dead-honor-the-heroes-fight-injustice-embrace-freedom-celebrate-life-and-on-today-of-all-days-forget-to-hate/" class="read_more">Read the rest</a></p>
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<h6>
<p><div id="attachment_1786" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 160px"><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/world-trade-center.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-1786 " title="world-trade-center" src="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/world-trade-center-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Peace</p></div></h6>
<p>Mourn the dead, honor the heroes, fight injustice, embrace freedom, celebrate life, and, on today of all days, forget to hate.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Peace.</p>
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		<title>How I went from loving to loathing TiVo&#8230;</title>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:22:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>EngineerBoy</dc:creator>
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<p>Dear TiVo,</p>
<p class="mceTemp">I read two articles recently that spurred me to write you this letter.  The <a href="http://www.multichannel.com/article/456378-TiVo_Still_Shedding_DVR_Users.php" target="_blank">first article</a> described &#8230; <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1649-how-i-went-from-loving-to-loathing-tivo/" class="read_more">Read the rest</a></p>
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<div id="attachment_1650" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 198px"><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/tivo_logo.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1650" title="tivo_logo" src="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/tivo_logo-188x300.jpg" alt="" width="188" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">I still *want* to love you, but you&#39;re losing me</p></div>
<p>Dear TiVo,</p>
<p class="mceTemp">I read two articles recently that spurred me to write you this letter.  The <a href="http://www.multichannel.com/article/456378-TiVo_Still_Shedding_DVR_Users.php" target="_blank">first article</a> described how at the end of July 2009 you had 3.05 million subscribers, but at the end of July 2010 you were down to 2.38 million.  Five years ago this would have surprised me, but not any more.</p>
<p class="mceTemp">The <a href="http://blog.tivo.com/tag/tivo-qwerty-remote/" target="_blank">second article</a> was from your site, describing the spiffy new QWERTY TiVo remote with a sliding face and a full keyboard.  I was overjoyed by the news, as I&#8217;ve been waiting for a remote like this since I bought and activated my first TiVo back in 2002.  I read the article in great anticipation, wondering how pricey the remote would be.  Hm, $90.  Not unreachable, but seemingly a little steep, which would make it in keeping with everything else you sell.</p>
<p class="mceTemp">But then I got to the last paragraph, where the last sentence read:</p>
<p class="mceTemp"><em>&#8220;The new remote will work with TiVo Premiere, Premiere XL, TiVo Series3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL boxes.&#8221;</em></p>
<p class="mceTemp">No Series 1?  No Series 2 or Dual-Tuner?  Leaving us faithful early adopters behind again, are we?</p>
<p class="mceTemp">Typical.  This is typical of everything I have come to expect from you over the years.  I still love TiVo-the-technical-solution, but with TiVo-the-company I have gone from love to like to not caring to being annoyed and, finally, to loathing, where I am today.</p>
<p class="mceTemp">I now own and use 5 (count &#8216;em) TiVos, but they are all Series 2.  My disillusionment began in earnest when you released the Series3 boxes, and included things like YouTube browsing that were not made available to Series2 owners.  Now, you had a story for why this was so, which was something about Flash, I think, but I didn&#8217;t (and still don&#8217;t) buy it.  If you had wanted to make it work, you could have.   But, you chose to have those features and functions be differentiators to try and get Series2 owners to upgrade.</p>
<div id="attachment_1653" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 160px"><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/tivo-slide1.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-1653" title="tivo-slide" src="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/tivo-slide1-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">So close, and yet so far away</p></div>
<p class="mceTemp">And it&#8217;s continued to be that way over the years, up through the latest insult of not letting us have the new remote (pictured at left).  You continue to add new and improved features and functions, very few of which are made available to your existing base of owners, unless they have the latest and greatest.  Now, I understand this from a business perspective, as I work in technology, so I know that it&#8217;s hard to keep the installed base happy.  It&#8217;s very easy to add new features and functions to totally new and redesigned devices, and your bean-counters are happy to see the R&amp;D and other expenses that go into anything that will grab new customers and dollars.</p>
<p class="mceTemp">I can visualize the meetings where you discussed the strategy of what to do with the installed base.  Spending money on something that will make the installed base happier is not a strategy that reaps short-term benefits, so it&#8217;s difficult for people to get behind it and make those investments.  Conversely, it&#8217;s much easier to talk about investing in the new model with the new features that will open up new markets and bring in new customers and new revenues.  *Everybody* can get behind that, and nobody gets fired for trying to grow the business.</p>
<p class="mceTemp">But people do get fired for spending money on things that are difficult to quantify, like the care and feeding of existing customers.  However, the sign of a truly successful company is that they do exactly that.  It&#8217;s like flossing your teeth.  If I don&#8217;t floss today, nothing bad really happens.  If I don&#8217;t floss this month, or even this year, there may be no noticeable negative impact from my perspective. </p>
<p class="mceTemp">But if I never floss?  Eventually I&#8217;ll start losing my teeth.  And teeth, like customers, are things that, once you&#8217;ve neglected them to the point that you lose them, you never get them back.  Well TiVo, you haven&#8217;t been flossing, and you have decayed my loyalty as a customer to the point where now I hope that some viable alternative presents itself, so that I can leave you behind.</p>
<p class="mceTemp">The good news, for you, is that the technology of the TiVo is awesome.  Usability is great, and you have features and functions that far outstrip anything that the cable companies offer.  However, from my cable company I can get an HD DVR for $5/month with no other out-of-pocket expense.  With you I&#8217;d have to spend $300-$500 to get the new TiVo Premiere, and then cough up another $300 for lifetime service, or $11/month for the monthly services.  Your DVR is far better than the one my cable company offers, but the three year cost for a TiVo Premiere for me would be $800, while the three year cost for my cable company&#8217;s DVR would be $180.</p>
<p class="mceTemp">Not only are you more than four times more expensive, but you only have a one-year warranty, so if my TiVo has a problem in year 2 or 3 it falls to me to fix it out of my own pocket.  My cable company will send me a replacement box at no cost if their DVR has problems.</p>
<p class="mceTemp">So, with TiVo I get a slicker product but at over 4 times the cost, and I also have to assume the risk of repair costs after the first year.  You&#8217;re good, but you&#8217;re not that good.  So, for the first time in eight years I am open to an alternative.  I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s out there, yet, but if I&#8217;m ready and willing to move away from TiVo that means there are others like me who are, too.</p>
<p class="mceTemp">I do hope that you figure out how to survive, and how to offer your products at a far more reasonable cost.  I know that cable companies are licensing your software to put on their set-top boxes, and I can see this being a way for you to survive.  My hope is that you are able to maintain the full feature set when provided by a cable company, because I can see them wanting you to disable or degrade certain functions so that they maintain control of their user base.  Don&#8217;t do that, please?</p>
<p class="mceTemp">And I think one thing that has become clear over time is that your subscription fees are poisoning your business model.  Either make me buy the device with a huge up-front cash outlay *or* charge me a monthly fee, but don&#8217;t do both.  For a $500 up-front purchase price you should be able to provide the programming information at no additional charge.  If you don&#8217;t want to do that, then let me get the box for $10-$15/month and no up-front fee, and back it with an ongoing warranty just like my cable company does.  I&#8217;d do that in a heartbeat &#8211; get a TiVo Premiere for nothing up front and $15/month?  Sweet.  How about doing that?</p>
<p class="mceTemp">But, after 8 years I feel that I know you well enough to know that you won&#8217;t do either of those things, because it appears that your corporate culture is too hide-bound to consider those alternatives.  Somebody, somewhere has decided that a monthly subscription fee needs to apply, and the huge up-front purchase price needs to apply, and that&#8217;s that.  If you have to have a monthly fee, how about making it something reasonable, like $5/month/household, and it doesn&#8217;t matter how many TiVo&#8217;s I have?</p>
<p class="mceTemp">I&#8217;m rooting for you, but only a little bit.  I used to care about you, but now I don&#8217;t, because you&#8217;ve spent 8 years not caring about me.  I wish you good luck, and I hope you figure out a way to survive.  But, if you don&#8217;t, I will no longer be among those who mourn your passing, because while you had great engineering, your business side sucks.  How about listening to your engineers, who I&#8217;m sure have been trying to tell your business folks all of this all along?</p>
<p class="mceTemp">But, no, conventional wisdom says that engineers don&#8217;t know what they&#8217;re talking about when it comes to business.  Er, except for Google, that is.  And Microsoft.  Oh, and HP, too. </p>
<p class="mceTemp">But, what do they know?</p>
<p class="mceTemp">Sincerely,</p>
<p class="mceTemp">EngineerBoy</p>
<p class="mceTemp"> </p>
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		<title>Dear prissy couple from my flight (and a desperate plea to airlines for offset seating)</title>
		<link>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1619-dear-prissy-couple-from-my-flight-and-a-desperate-plea-to-airlines-for-offset-seating/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1619-dear-prissy-couple-from-my-flight-and-a-desperate-plea-to-airlines-for-offset-seating/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:01:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>EngineerBoy</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1619-dear-prissy-couple-from-my-flight-and-a-desperate-plea-to-airlines-for-offset-seating/">Dear prissy couple from my flight (and a desperate plea to airlines for offset seating)</a> is brought to you by <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com">CleverDonkey.com - ...Musings, Commentary, Opinions, and Drivel</a>!</p>
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<p>I loathe and despise coach business air travel.  When I travel personally, &#8230; <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1619-dear-prissy-couple-from-my-flight-and-a-desperate-plea-to-airlines-for-offset-seating/" class="read_more">Read the rest</a></p>
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<div id="attachment_1642" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/train.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1642" title="train" src="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/train-300x202.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="202" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Typical US Airline Flight</p></div>
<p>I loathe and despise coach business air travel.  When I travel personally, it&#8217;s usually with Marie, and we usually plan to make sure we can travel in comfort.  You see, I&#8217;m 6&#8217;5&#8243; and not svelte, and coach seating is not designed for me to fit in comfortably, and when we travel for pleasure we either wait until we can splurge on first class, buy a third seat so we have room, or make the best of sitting side-by-side.</p>
<p>However, when one&#8217;s company is footing the bill and you don&#8217;t have the flexibility that you do with personal travel, you get the seat you get and you have to make the best of it.  You can try for exit row or bulkhead, but those seats are in demand and sometimes hard to get.</p>
<p>Lucky for me, on my most recent business flight I was able to get the exit row aisle seat both outbound and inbound.  The flight out progressed without incident (thankfully), but as I boarded my flight home and approached my row, I noticed that the two inside seats were occupied by a couple, with the man by the window and the woman in the middle seat, meaning that my aisle seat would place me next to the wife.</p>
<p>Now, although I am a big guy, I can sit in such a way that I stay completely in my own air/leg/shoulder/butt space, particularly in an exit row where I can fully extend my legs.  So, I resolved myself to spend 3.5 hours in my polite, curled up, as-motionless-as-possible seating pose, so that the lady next to me would not feel infringed upon.</p>
<p>As I sat down I could sense the woman was not happy about the situation&#8230;I mean, who would be?  Even three normal-sized humans sitting side-by-side-by-side in a coach cabin is oppressively claustrophobic, and when one of the three is a big guy like me it just makes it worse.  So, I understood her pained look at her husband as I sat down, and also understood his reassuring patting of her leg as if to say, &#8220;It&#8217;s okay, honey, I won&#8217;t let the traveling ogre squash you!&#8221;</p>
<p>So, I sat down, belted up, stuck my legs up under the seat in front of me, crossed at the ankles to keep my knees clearly in my own airspace and not in any way crossing over into her leg space.  I folded my arms tightly, with the arm closest to the woman specifically tucked up as far as possible, so that I was clearly not infringing on her shoulder room, either.</p>
<p>I had also brought a couple of magazines to read, and when I pulled them out I held them with my arms almost fully extended in my lap, and when I turned the pages I did it with my arms fully extended so that my elbows didn&#8217;t bend and momentarily reduce her personal airspace.  I also fully ceded the armrest to the wife so that she wasn&#8217;t too squeezed-feeling.  Note that this is what I always do when I travel seated next to anybody but Marie, as I know that my large-tallness could be a burden to other fliers.</p>
<p>So, there I am, a big guy squeezed into a seat that isn&#8217;t designed for me, but contorted in such a way that I did not in any way cross over into the seating space of the woman next to me.  On most flights similar to this, that would be the story &#8211; me contorted and uncomfortable, but otherwise flying without incident.</p>
<p>Well, not this flight.  At first, everything was fine, or as fine as it can be in a coach sardine can.  However, I then noticed that the woman, who was 5&#8217;5&#8243; at best (and slender), had not only taken to sitting with her legs crossed, but crossed in such a way that they were crossed *towards* me, and not only that, crossed at an angle so that her foot was clearly extending over into *my* airspace.  Really?!</p>
<p>I mean, she could have either a) easily not crossed her legs in such a manner that they floated into the legroom of the person next to her, or b) if she had to cross her legs in such a manner, at least do it in the direction of her husband.  He, presumably, would mind a lot less than me, and he was maybe 5&#8217;8&#8243; himself, so had plenty of leg room.</p>
<p>So her border aggression was pretty irritating, but I again took the stance that although she was being rude, I was still partially to blame for the uncomfortableness of the situation, given my height/size.  In fact, I realized there might be a chance that she didn&#8217;t even realize what she was doing, and might have been subconsciously making sure to command her space, or something.  So, I tried to let go of the irritation.</p>
<p>Then she picked up her book to read.  And with almost every page flip, she elbowed me in the ribs.  Only a little but clearly enough that she knew she was doing it.  I&#8217;ll again state that I was very clearly completely on my side of the seat divider, and had ceded the armrest.  But, this wasn&#8217;t enough for her, so she had to come past the armrest with each page turn and elbow me, even though she could easily have turned the page in a much less elbowic manner.</p>
<p>So, that&#8217;s how the flight progressed.  Me sitting in such a way that I was contorted and remaining 100% on my side of the leg/air space of the seats, and her dangling her foot into my space and elbowing me when she turned her book pages.</p>
<p>W&#8230;T&#8230;F?</p>
<p>I resolved to just accept that I was flying next to a selfish, thoughtless human being, and although I found her behavior to be quite rude I still realized that me being a big guy contributed to the situation.  I&#8217;m already stressed out enough when I travel for business, so I didn&#8217;t need to also marinate in a stew of bilious resentment towards the high-riding b*tch sitting next to me.</p>
<p>So, to the extent possible, I let it go and tried to relax&#8230;relax&#8230;relax&#8230;(rib poke)&#8230;&#8230;relax&#8230;let it go&#8230;deep breaths&#8230;(leg kick)&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;relax, dammit!!</p>
<p>And I did, I kept my cool and tried to get along as part of a society.  Eventually I fell asleep.  Note that this was done by fully extending my legs under the set in front of me, tightly crossing my arms in front of me, and lolling my head to the side away from Ms. Prissy Pants.  And so I dozed off a couple of times like that, as comfortably as possible, but I&#8217;d nod off for a few minutes, wake back up (still fully balled up and not infringing her in any way), read some more, then go back to sleep.</p>
<p>During one of my bouts of sleeping, I was startled awake by the husband, let&#8217;s call him Mr. Prissy Pants, full-on kicking me in the legs as he tripped over me trying to climb over me to get out and go to the restroom.  He not only kicked me, he kicked his wife, and half-fell into the aisle, clumsily grabbing the back of somebody else&#8217;s seat across the aisle and startling them awake, too.  Now, through this flight I hadn&#8217;t slept for more than 10 minutes at a stretch, so it&#8217;s not like he had been blocked in by my long sleep cycle or anything.  I&#8217;m also not deaf so they could have easily asked me to move, and the wife obviously had no social compunctions about elbowing me already, so she could have elbowed me awake and asked me to move.</p>
<p>But no, he decided to try to climb over me, a sleeping, 6&#8217;5&#8243; guy wedged into his seat as tightly as possible, and then clumsily tripping and kicking me, and waking me up and also waking up the guy across the aisle.</p>
<p>His polite response to this?  &#8220;Goddam it&#8230;fucking&#8230;shit&#8230;&#8221;</p>
<p>That&#8217;s it.  Then he stomped off down the aisle to the restroom.  No apology for a) kicking me and waking me up, b) waking up the guy across the aisle, or c) being stupid/rude enough to try to climb over me in the first place.  I assume there was no apology for kicking the wife because she was already used to his rudeness, or something.</p>
<p>At this point I did get sort of a pained smile from the wife, which I took to be contrite, but nothing more than that.  Also, she then immediately started shifting and squirming in her seat, like a 2 year old that has to go potty but doesn&#8217;t say so.  I finally asked her, very politely, &#8220;Would you also like to get out?&#8221;.  She said no, but she *clearly* needed to get up and go to the bathroom, too.  So I said, &#8220;Well, I was going to stretch my legs anyway, so feel free&#8230;&#8221;, and with that I got up and moved forward in the aisle to clear a path.  She immediately shot out of there and down the aisle.</p>
<p>I stood stretching my legs until they were both back in their seats.  I got nothing from the husband, no &#8216;thank you&#8217;, no &#8216;sorry&#8217;, not even eye contact.  Punk.</p>
<p>When the wife came back, she at least said a quiet little &#8220;thanks&#8221; with a pained smile.  But that was it, and sullen silence the rest of the flight.  The only good news was no more rib poking or leg kicking occurred.</p>
<p>I also noticed that, other than a logistical conversation as we were leaving (something like &#8220;where are the headphones?&#8221;, or something), the couple barely spoke a word to each other, although both were awake the whole flight, as far as I could tell.</p>
<p>So, maybe this couple was having some other problems, unrelated to air travel, that exacerbated the situation and/or their behaviors.  Maybe.  However, my gut feeling is that they were just a couple of rude, self-centered assholes who saw me as nothing more than an inconvenient lump that was further harshing their stonily silent travel.</p>
<p>At this point, I&#8217;d also like to make sure that the airlines get their fair share of the blame here.  You see, they already know what size seats are comfortable for the cross-section of normal travelers &#8211; just look at the chairs in the gate area.  The seats at the gate are by no means over-sized, but they are pretty much normal-sized, meaning that all of us waiting around for our flights can do so in relative comfort.</p>
<p>Now, I understand that I&#8217;m way over on the right-hand side of the bell curve when it comes to human sizing, and I don&#8217;t expect that airlines are going to make every seat large enough for me to be comfortable in.  But, what I would like, and what they could do with minimal effort in my opinion, is to offer slightly larger seats for slightly more money.  I, and I assume many, many, many other travelers, would happily pay an extra 25% for a seat that was 25% larger.</p>
<p>However, today the only option is to pay anywhere from 4 to 10 times the ticket price to get a First Class seat, which by my reckoning is about 25% larger than Coach.  That&#8217;s ludicrous.  The airlines have scrunched and scrunched coach seating until it&#8217;s finally at the point where even normal-sized humans can barely travel without extraordinary discomfort.</p>
<p>Another option is to retrofit airplanes with offset seating.  Today, seats are configured side by side in a line, so that the part of most humans that is widest (shoulders) are lined up, creating the least amount of room between passengers.  However, it&#8217;s possible to slightly change the arrangement of seats so that each seat is slightly offset from the other, meaning that each passengers shoulder goes behind (or in front of) the shoulder of the person sitting next to them.</p>
<div id="attachment_1644" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 260px"><a href="http://www.thompsonsolutions.co.uk/ts_economy_cap.html"><img class="size-full wp-image-1644 " title="good-seating" src="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/good-seating.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="200" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">More seats, more room, more comfort, more privacy. Come on, airlines!</p></div>
<p>Although it would be hard to prove, and I doubt there is such a thing as a retroactive patent, I have conjured this seating arrangement up on my own in my head over the years as I have spent countless hours contemplating the horror of US coach air travel (whilst traveling, of course).  When I started writing this rant, I did some web research and found that this type of seating arrangement is already commercially available.  The picture to the left is from <a href="http://www.thompsonsolutions.co.uk/ts_economy_cap.html" target="_blank">the website of Thompson Solutions</a>, for example.</p>
<p>First, I have to say that I love Thompson Solutions for creating these seat prototypes.  Second, why the hell isn&#8217;t this type of seating being immediately adopted?!?  Yes, I know there is an expense to retrofitting planes, but how about on new planes that are added to the fleets?  How about starting to add offset seating to those?</p>
<p>The truth is that I really don&#8217;t need more room.  I can be happy in a cramped space, as long as it&#8217;s not inhumane and doesn&#8217;t involve ongoing incidental contact with strangers.  Offset seating provides exactly that.  In fact, I&#8217;d rather slide into a human-sized tube, get it sealed up, and be stacked like logs when I take a flight, rather than have to deal with the current cattle-car arrangement.</p>
<p>One might respond that, in a free market, the customers decide what happens, and that if airplane travel were so horrible the airlines would be out of business.  Or, a competing airline would spring up and use smart new ideas to steal market share.  The problem is that, even though the airline industry has been &#8216;deregulated&#8217;, it&#8217;s not really a bunch of independent companies vying for market share on a level playing field.</p>
<p>Have you ever priced airline tickets?  Isn&#8217;t it an amazing coincidence how so many independent airline companies manage to offer the exact same fares on the same routes?  I mean, down to the penny &#8211; exactly the same.  This means, of course, that the airlines communicate in some way on fare structure.  Some might call that collusion, but I don&#8217;t want to get sued so I won&#8217;t.</p>
<p>Also, the major airlines have enormous control of gates at major airports.  Just ask Southwest Airlines.  They are probably the only real maverick airline, and they have been locked out of many major airports for a long time, because it&#8217;s impossible (or prohibitively expensive) to break the stranglehold that the larger airlines have on gates and flight times.  However, slowly but surely Southwest expands their routes over time.</p>
<p>They are actually my one hope for the return of sanity to air travel.  They&#8217;ve always gone their own way, and I could see them stepping up and doing something (like offset seating) to differentiate themselves further from the cattle-car airlines.</p>
<p>And to the prissy couple from above, and to all other fellow travelers, let&#8217;s please try to get along.  Air travel is a necessary evil in today&#8217;s world, and we are all just trying to get from Point A to Point B with our luggage and sanity intact.  I know there are rude people of all sizes, but let&#8217;s let them remain the minority.  Let&#8217;s all keep our wits about us and remember that we&#8217;re all human beings, and that if we could afford First Class we would, and if we could avoid cramped coach travel, we would do that, too.</p>
<p>But the reality is that most of us end up traveling from time to time.  As a requirement of our professions.  To visit family.  To seek medical help.  To unwind on a vacation.  To attend a funeral.  And, as hard as it is to believe, very few people travel for the sole purpose of annoying their fellow passengers.  We&#8217;re all on board for a reason, and if we have any anger or ire let&#8217;s direct it at the airlines for not offering us any realistic options, rather than sniping at each other.</p>
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		<title>Disposing of a Window Unit Air Conditioner in Texas &#8211; argh!</title>
		<link>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1607-disposing-of-a-window-unit-air-conditioner-in-texas-argh/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1607-disposing-of-a-window-unit-air-conditioner-in-texas-argh/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:41:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>EngineerBoy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brenham]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1607-disposing-of-a-window-unit-air-conditioner-in-texas-argh/">Disposing of a Window Unit Air Conditioner in Texas &#8211; argh!</a> is brought to you by <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com">CleverDonkey.com - ...Musings, Commentary, Opinions, and Drivel</a>!</p>
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<p>We recently replaced two of our old, crappy window unit air-conditioners with newer models.  The new &#8230; <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1607-disposing-of-a-window-unit-air-conditioner-in-texas-argh/" class="read_more">Read the rest</a></p>
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<div id="attachment_1608" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 255px"><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/recycle.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1608" title="recycle" src="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/recycle.jpg" alt="" width="245" height="250" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Don&#39;t lose your cool...</p></div>
<p>We recently replaced two of our old, crappy window unit air-conditioners with newer models.  The new units were from Home Depot and the installation was do-it-yourself, and when I was done I realized that I had two undisposable hunks of junk to deal with.  You can&#8217;t just throw away a system loaded with refrigerant, so I figured all I had to do was figure out how everybody else did it, then do that.</p>
<p>My first strategy was to ask at the local recycling center here in Brenham.  They said I could probably take them to the collection station (dump), so the next time I went to the dump I asked at the office if they would take window unit air-conditioners.  They said they would, as long as all the coolant had been recovered by an authorized contractor, and the units were officially tagged as being empty.</p>
<p>That sounded good, so I started calling the local AC contractors around town, and found that 90% of them responded with &#8220;we don&#8217;t work on window units&#8221;, 5% took a message and called me back looking to schedule a coolant recharge, and 5% had no idea what I was talking about (and/or feigned ignorance because they didn&#8217;t want to do it).</p>
<p>At this point I&#8217;ll clarify that I clearly expressed that I was willing to pay a fee for this service, I wasn&#8217;t looking for it to be done for free, or anything, and still no takers.  I finally started doing some serious web searching and found this site:</p>
<p><a title="Link will open in a new window" href="http://www.texaspowerfulsmart.org/rebate/recycling_partners.php" target="_blank">http://www.texaspowerfulsmart.org/rebate/recycling_partners.php</a></p>
<p>Which bills itself as &#8220;Official Texas Trade Up Appliance Rebate Program&#8221;, and that link goes to their list of recycling partners.  That list looked very promising, especially when I saw that all Best Buy locations were drop-off locations that take room air-conditioners, as shown here:</p>
<div id="attachment_1610" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 585px"><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/best-buy-nope1.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1610 " title="best-buy-nope" src="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/best-buy-nope1.jpg" alt="" width="575" height="184" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Problem solved?! Nope...</p></div>
<p style="text-align: left;">With a song in my heart and a &#8216;green&#8217; aura, I figured my problems were solved, so I loaded up the air conditioners (one of which was a 25,000 BTU model weighing 200+ pounds) and prepared to get rid of my albatrosses&#8230;albatrossi?&#8230;albatri?  Before heading out I figured I&#8217;d make a quick call to my local Best Best buy to confirm, and that&#8217;s when I got the bad news &#8211; they didn&#8217;t take air conditioners.  They didn&#8217;t really care too much about the fact that they were listed on the Texas site as being an authorized recycling center that took window units, it was no dice.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I figured I&#8217;d double-check on the Best Buy website, where I found this:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<div id="attachment_1611" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 680px"><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/best-buy-no-air-conditioner-recycling.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1611  " title="best-buy-no-air-conditioner-recycling" src="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/best-buy-no-air-conditioner-recycling.jpg" alt="" width="670" height="305" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Confirmation of misinformation, frustration</p></div>
<p style="text-align: left;">I figured, oh well, just some miscommunication and/or old information, no worries, and I&#8217;ll just work my way down the list of nearby listed recycling centers.  Unfortunately, each one I contacted had variations of the same story, they either didn&#8217;t deal in window units, or they only recycled old units when they were selling you a new unit.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">My strike-outs continued and my frustration mounted, until I got to &#8216;Barker&#8217;s Heating &amp; Cooling Inc&#8217; in College Station.  They knew what I was talking about, told me the fee ($75), said I could drop them off, and that they were open until 5pm.  I headed out as fast as I could, overjoyed at finally being able to finally get rid of these units in an ethical way.  Dealing with Barker&#8217;s could not have been any easier, they knew what they were doing, offloaded the units quickly, I paid the invoice, and I was on my way within 15 minutes.  Whew.  Here&#8217;s their website:</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a title="Link will open in a new window" href="http://www.barkerservices.com/company.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.barkerservices.com/company.shtml</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">We&#8217;re planning on eventually installing central AC, and when we&#8217;re ready Barker&#8217;s will be getting the first shot at it due to their efficiency and friendliness in dealing with the recycling/disposal of these two window units.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I&#8217;m posting this in case it might prove helpful to somebody else in the same dilemma.  Those of you Texans in bigger  cities and/or in towns that already have a straightforward way to recycle air conditioners, be thankful.  For the rest of you, I hope this saga includes information that may prove helpful to you if you happen to be finding it frustrating to figure out how to get rid of your old window units ethically and legally.</p>
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		<title>Iron Man 2 (***)</title>
		<link>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1566-iron-man-2/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1566-iron-man-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 May 2010 18:16:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>EngineerBoy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Commentary]]></category>
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<p>Iron Man 2 is a not-disappointing sequel, however it&#8217;s also not as entertaining as the original.  But, there have been only a very &#8230; <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1566-iron-man-2/" class="read_more">Read the rest</a></p>
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<div id="attachment_1567" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ivan-vanko.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1567" title="ivan-vanko" src="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ivan-vanko-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">&quot;If you could make God bleed, people will cease to believe in Him.&quot;</p></div>
<p>Iron Man 2 is a not-disappointing sequel, however it&#8217;s also not as entertaining as the original.  But, there have been only a very few sequels that equaled or surpassed their predescessors, so that&#8217;s not surprising. </p>
<p>What was surprising, for me, was the understated performance by Mickey Roarke as Ivan Vanko (right), Iron Man&#8217;s nemesis with a family grudge in this installment.  Calling his performance &#8220;understated&#8221; is an&#8230;well&#8230;understatement, because Vanko is of course a larger-than-life comic book villain.  However, within that context, Roarke&#8217;s performance is carefully restrained and excellently realized.</p>
<p>Also well cast and well characterized are Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, head of a competing defense contracting firm, and Garry Shandling (Garry Shandling?!??!?) as Senator Stern, Iron Man&#8217;s foe in the Senate who is looking to have the government own (and exploit) the underlying Stark technology.  Scarlett Johansson also does a good job as Natalie Rushman, Tony Stark&#8217;s new assistant who is &#8220;from legal&#8221;.</p>
<p>The story&#8230;well&#8230;the story gets us from Point A to Point B very effectively, but it felt like a transition piece instead of a complete story.  That may be the way it has to be for movies based on comic books, since the comics have been around for decades and have much more story material than can be compressed into a movie (or two, or three).  However, it seems like a movie of this caliber should at least strive to end at a more momentous and climactic juncture.</p>
<p>The film-making is also sloppier than in the first one.  As an example, there is a sequence where Tony Stark appears as Iron Man at his own Expo (about the size of a World&#8217;s Fair) and is attacked by an army of drone robots.  These drone robots are similar to Iron Man, can fly, and are packed with advanced weaponry.  Iron Man takes off with the fleet of drones in hot pursuit, launching a continuous stream of weapon fire at him.  Does Iron Man fly as far away from the gathered expo-attendees?  No, he spends five minutes swooping and diving around the Expo, causing the drone-fire to strafe the crowds of innocent bystanders below, over and over and over and over again. </p>
<p>He has no reason to hang around the Expo, there&#8217;s nobody he needs to rescue, nothing he needs to disarm or defeat, and if he had simply headed as far and as fast away from the Expo as he could he would have saved many, many lives.  In fact, after his 5 minutes of induced-strafing-of-the-innocents, he finally wises up and says something like, &#8220;Holy crap, I better get away from the Expo!&#8221;, and then zooms off.  Narcissistic personality disorder, indeed.</p>
<p>But, overall, it doesn&#8217;t disappoint, which is a bit of faint praise, but also a bit of a relief.  I really liked the first film, and was very worried that the sequel would go off the rails.  It didn&#8217;t.  It also didn&#8217;t blaze any new trails, but that&#8217;s okay.  This is one of the few sequels that left me wanting to see the third installment, and was definitely worth the price of a non-matinee, first-run movie theater ticket price.</p>
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		<title>My dogs eat Scotts® Organic Choice® Lawn Food</title>
		<link>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1562-my-dogs-eat-scotts-organic-choice-lawn-food/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1562-my-dogs-eat-scotts-organic-choice-lawn-food/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 08 May 2010 18:48:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>EngineerBoy</dc:creator>
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<p>I thought I&#8217;d try to be a little more gentle on the environment and use an &#8216;organic&#8217; fertilizer for &#8230; <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1562-my-dogs-eat-scotts-organic-choice-lawn-food/" class="read_more">Read the rest</a></p>
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<div id="attachment_1563" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 150px"><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/scotts-organic-choice-lawn-food.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1563" title="scotts-organic-choice-lawn-food" src="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/scotts-organic-choice-lawn-food.jpg" alt="" width="140" height="233" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Dogs eat it, flies swarm to it</p></div>
<p>I thought I&#8217;d try to be a little more gentle on the environment and use an &#8216;organic&#8217; fertilizer for our yard.  I found Scotts® Organic Choice® Lawn Food at the local Home Depot and decided to give it a try.  I just spread it this weekend so I can&#8217;t speak to its greening or healthifying effects on the lawn, but I can state, unequivocally, that my three dogs and every fly in the general area *love* it.</p>
<p>I first spread it on the front lawn, without any drama, and the only slight warning sign was the very&#8230;er&#8230;&#8217;organic&#8217; smell of the stuff.  However, it smelled like it could be a rich source of nutrients, if you know what I mean and I think you do.</p>
<p>Then I spread it in the back yard, where our dogs have access to the fenced yard.  I locked them in the house while I spread it, and as soon as I finished and let them back out all three of them started snuffling around the entire yard like prized truffle pigs.  Things took a turn for the worse when I noticed that all three of them were also licking the grass and ground and ingesting the fertilizer grains.</p>
<p>I also noticed that there were flies all over the yard, landing randomly all over the grass, apparently drawn in by the organic lawn food.  Note that I&#8217;m pretty meticulous about keeping our yard clean of doggie bombs, so the appearance of swarms of flies is not normal.  Also, the flies weren&#8217;t hanging around any dog piles, they were all over the yard.</p>
<p>I locked the dogs back in the house and figured I&#8217;d try watering the Scotts into the yard and see if that would help.  It didn&#8217;t, it only seemed to add an irresistable &#8216;gravy&#8217; to the granules and made even more attractive to my dogs and the flies.</p>
<p>So, now, here I sit with my dogs locked in the house, waiting for the time when (I hope) the Scotts has lost its mojo enough that my dogs won&#8217;t continually graze on it.  The stuff claims to be safe for kids and pets, and there&#8217;s even a picture of a kid and a pet laying in a grassy yard on the label, but I bet this stuff isn&#8217;t designed to be a dietary supplement. </p>
<p>I checked the <a href="http://www.scotts.com/smg/catalog/productTemplate.jsp?proId=prod100040&amp;itemId=cat50034&amp;tabs=general" target="_blank">Scotts site here</a>, but they don&#8217;t have any helpful information, and as of the time of this posting the &#8220;View Label&#8221; button on that page returns:</p>
<p><em>&#8220;We apologize for the inconvenience, but this information is no longer current and accessible.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>Similarly, the &#8216;FAQ &amp; Help&#8217; tab says:</p>
<p><em>&#8220;Sorry, no F.A.Q. material for this product is available.  If you have product questions Scotts experts are available by email and phone in our Help Center.&#8221;</em></p>
<p>Which neither answers my questions nor is helpful.</p>
<p>So, if you&#8217;re like me and you&#8217;re exploring more natural ways to keep your lawn green, and you&#8217;re wondering about Scotts® Organic Choice® Lawn Food and your dogs, I can tell you that I won&#8217;t be using it again.  My dogs haven&#8217;t seemed to suffer in ill effects, but still, I don&#8217;t want them eating this stuff.  Also, the flies were just the icing on the cake and completed my disappointment in this product.  I mean, even if I didn&#8217;t have dogs, who wants to have a fly-infested green lawn?</p>
<p>Not me.</p>
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		<title>Homemade breakfast muffins</title>
		<link>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1535-homemade-breakfast-muffins/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1535-homemade-breakfast-muffins/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Apr 2010 18:46:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>EngineerBoy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Engineerboy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recipes]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1535-homemade-breakfast-muffins/">Homemade breakfast muffins</a> is brought to you by <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com">CleverDonkey.com - ...Musings, Commentary, Opinions, and Drivel</a>!</p>
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<p>I&#8217;ve always been partial to McDonald&#8217;s Sausage McMuffin with Egg, but I prefer to avoid fast food whenever possible, and I prefer to eat &#8230; <a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/1535-homemade-breakfast-muffins/" class="read_more">Read the rest</a></p>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="al2fb_like_button"><div id="fb-root"></div><script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#appId=114875287893&amp;xfbml=1" type="text/javascript"></script>
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<div id="attachment_1540" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 190px"><a href="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/muffins.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1540 " title="muffins" src="http://www.cleverdonkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/muffins.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="272" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The preparation and the finished product</p></div>
<p>I&#8217;ve always been partial to McDonald&#8217;s Sausage McMuffin with Egg, but I prefer to avoid fast food whenever possible, and I prefer to eat healthy ingredients.  For the sake of this article, &#8220;healthy&#8221; refers to the ingredients being as natural and pure as possible, and as free of chemicals, hormones, pesticides, preservatives, cruelty, and &#8220;modified&#8221; ingredients as possible (and not necessarily &#8220;food pyramid&#8221; healthy).</p>
<p class="mceTemp">So, over the years I have learned to make breakfast muffins at home, and have refined the recipe to the point where I can barely eat fast-food muffins any longer, since they pale by comparison (if I do say so myself).</p>
<p class="mceTemp">The recipe below is for three muffins, the ingredients are:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp">3 farm eggs</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp">1/3 lb of natural pork breakfast sausage</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp">3 tbs butter</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp">3 slices Kraft Deli Deluxe American cheese, 3/4 ounce per slice</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp">3 Bays sourdough English muffins</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp">2 tbs of pure maple syrup (not Log Cabin or Butterworth type, but actual pure maple syrup)</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp">Salt and pepper to taste</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp">Tabasco to taste (optional)</div>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="mceTemp">A few words about the ingredients &#8211; we get our <a href="http://yonderwayfarm.com/pastured-eggs/" target="_blank">eggs</a> and <a href="http://yonderwayfarm.com/pastured-pork/" target="_blank">pork</a> from <a href="http://yonderwayfarm.com/" target="_blank">Yonder Way Farm</a>, which we are lucky enough to live a 10 minute drive from.  If you live in or around the Houston area we highly recommend either driving out to the farm (just outside of Brenham), or getting your order from one of their <a href="http://yonderwayfarm.com/pick-up-delivery/" target="_blank">many delivery locations</a> in the area. See more about Yonder Way Farm at the bottom of this article.</p>
<p class="mceTemp">Also, if you&#8217;ve never had farm eggs (or if it&#8217;s been a while), they are amazingly better tasting than store bought eggs.  The yolks are almost orange, instead of yellow, and the eggs are naturally a variety of shapes and colors (see picture above).</p>
<p class="mceTemp">One other ingredient note &#8211; the cheese we use is specifically and only Kraft Deli Deluxe American.  Don&#8217;t confuse this with the individually-wrapped &#8220;cheese food&#8221; versions of American cheese, the Deli Deluxe American is actually cheese, not a chemical concoction, and is significantly better tasting than the disgusting &#8220;cheese food&#8221; versions.</p>
<p class="mceTemp">The gear is as follows: </p>
<ul>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Emeril-Pro-Clad-Stainless-Steel-12-Inch/dp/B001B2NA4E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=home-garden&amp;qid=1270402159&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank">12&#8243; Emeril Pro-Clad Stainless frying pan</a> (which we *love* and use almost daily), for the eggs</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp">Cast iron frying pan, for the sausage (if you don&#8217;t have one, ask your mama about them)</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp">One <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fox-Run-Non-Stick-3-5-Inch-Ring/dp/B001GIOXC6/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&amp;s=home-garden&amp;qid=1270402294&amp;sr=1-7" target="_blank">Non-stick egg ring</a>, for forming the sausage patties (but NOT for the eggs)</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp">Three <a href="http://www.amazon.com/RSVP-Egg-Ring-Set-4/dp/B0000VONZ2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;s=home-garden&amp;qid=1270402294&amp;sr=1-2" target="_blank">stainless-steel egg rings</a>, for the eggs</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Calphalon-FN04-Nylon-Slotted-Turner/dp/B000IVAJ7K/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;s=home-garden&amp;qid=1270402594&amp;sr=1-4" target="_blank">Nylon spatula</a></div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/World-Kitchen-Ekco-1046090-Tongs/dp/B002HO4GPC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=home-garden&amp;qid=1270402650&amp;sr=1-1" target="_blank">Scissor tongs</a></div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp">Coffee cup or small bowl</div>
</li>
<li>
<div class="mceTemp">Butter knife and fork</div>
</li>
</ul>
<p>First, leave the cast iron skillet cold for now, but put the stainless steel skillet on medium-low heat (setting 3 out of 10 on our electric stove) with the three stainless steel egg rings in it, to pre-heat.</p>
<p>Now, <strong>in the COLD cast iron frying pan,</strong> we need to create the sausage patties in place in the pan.  Lay the larger, non-stick egg ring where the first patty will go, then take enough of the breakfast sausage to roll into a ball about 1.5&#8243; in diameter.  Put the ball in the ring, then gently work it flat until if forms a thin layer at the bottom of the ring, all the way to the edges.  We like our patties as thin as possible without falling apart, which means starting with about 3/8&#8243; thickness of the raw sausage.  When finished, lift the ring off the sausage, leaving the patty, and move the ring to the next position, and so forth until you have three patties.</p>
<p>Now, put the cast iron skillet with the three patties in it on a burner on medium heat (5 on a scale of 10 on our electric stove).  Now reach over and turn down the heat under the stainless steel skillet to low (2 out of 10 on our stove).  Crack the three eggs into the coffee cup (or small bowl), salt and pepper to taste (and add Tabasco if so inclined), then use the fork to lightly stir to break up the egg yolks and even out the seasonings.</p>
<p>Put a pat of butter in each stainless egg ring to melt, use the tongs to move the rings around to spread the butter evently.  Pour an equal amount of egg into each egg ring.  Let everything cook for a minute or two here.</p>
<p>Now, about the English muffins.  Unless you have a six slice toaster you&#8217;ll have to do multiple batches to get all three toasted.  Now would be a good time to start dropping the muffins to toast &#8211; you&#8217;ll probably have to experiment to get the timing correct for toasting the muffins, depending on the number of slices your toaster holds, how fast it toasts, how brown you like it toasted, etc.</p>
<p>Now, flip the sausages, they should be pretty browned up on the cooked side by now.  Watch the eggs, you&#8217;ll be able to see the cooked part solidify in the bottom and along the sides, when it looks cooked about halfway through (bottom half solid cooked, top half still runny), use the scissor tongs to hold the tongue of the egg ring in place, use a butter knife to run around the inside edge of the ring to loosen the egg, then use the butter knife to lever up under the cooked part of the egg, letting the runny part run back down into the bottom of the ring, then flip the cooked part of the egg over and set it back down inside the ring, covering the runny part that just ran into the bottom.  That&#8217;ll put what was the cooked bottom of the egg on top, and allow the rest of the egg cook below it.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a bit tricky to do the egg flip maneuver, but with practice you should get it.  I sometimes have egg run out under the bottom edge of the ring, or slide out over the top edge of the ring &#8211; if that happens, let the escaped egg cook for a few seconds to get slightly solid, then scoop it up and put it on top of the source egg to maintain egg volume.</p>
<p>After a few more minutes the sausage should be done, flip to be sure, it should be browned on the other side, too.  Remove the sausage to a plate, and pour a small portion of maple syrup onto each patty, and spread it around a little to cover the top.  You&#8217;ll probably want to add the syrup to taste, but my recommendation is not to put to much on, or it&#8217;ll drip on you while you eat it.</p>
<p>You should also be able to remove the egg rings from the eggs now, again using the tongs to grab the tongue of the ring and using the butter knife to run around the inside of the ring to loosen the egg.  If you do this too early, you&#8217;ll get some runny egg leaking out from the middle, and you&#8217;ll have to learn the timings for your stove, tools, and methods.</p>
<p>Flip the eggs again, and then at this point I use the spatula to flatten them out a bit, which spreads them out and makes them &#8220;English-muffin sized&#8221; and a better fit when put together.  At this point I also turn the heat under the eggs up to 5, to prepare it for grilling the muffins and to finish the eggs.  I also cut the corners off the cheese slices to make them octoganal and a better fit for the sandwich&#8230;if you leave the corners they tend to droop and &#8220;over-cheese&#8221; the taste.</p>
<p>Remove the cooked eggs to a plate, and put a cheese-octogan on each one &#8211; the cheese will melt slightly during the rest of the process.  Add a bit more butter to the pan, then grill the English muffins (insides only, not the outsides) in the pan &#8211; this crisps them up and makes a nice grilled taste.</p>
<p>Now assemble the muffins &#8211; muffin bottom, egg with cheese on top, sausage patty with a hint of maple syrup, and muffin top.  Voila, ready to eat&#8230;enjoy!</p>
<div id='stb-caption-box-6857' class='stb-grey-caption_box' >About Yonder Way Farm</div><div id='stb-body-box-6857' class='stb-grey-body_box' ></p>
<p class="mceTemp">Marie and I are not health nuts, but we do try to eat natural and healthy foods as much as possible.  We have been astonished at our luck in living so close to <a href="http://yonderwayfarm.com/" target="_blank">Yonder Way Farm</a>, and the great folks and products there.  We drive out every couple of weeks to pick up our eggs, sausage, pork chops, steaks, hamburger, chicken, ham, etc.  If you go out to the farm, you pull through the gates and drive right up to one of the outbuildings, and you pass free ranging chickens, wandering cows, and un-penned pigs &#8211; including the cutest packs of running/playing piglets that you&#8217;ll ever see. </p>
<p class="mceTemp">We lean towards vegetarianism, for animal-cruelty and unhealthy additive reasons, and Yonder Way Farm addresses both of those for us.  They process their own chickens, and use local processors for the beef and pork, and don&#8217;t send their animals off to large, commercial processors where the necessarily gruesome end is an inhumane nightmare.  The animals are finished on the farm, not at the processing plant, meaning that the animals are fed their healthy diet and treated humanely until just before they are processed. </p>
<p class="mceTemp">Most &#8220;organic&#8221; or &#8220;natural&#8221; meat available from grocery stores comes from animals who, although perhaps raised a bit more healthily at first, are sent off to commercial processing plants in a process that can take days or weeks, necessitating that the animals are fed whatever crap the processor uses to keep the stock alive until processing &#8211; definitely NOT natural or organic feed.</p>
<p class="mceTemp">So, if you live in the Houston area we highly recommend getting your eggs and sausage from Yonder Way, and if you live elsewhere you may want to check with <a href="http://www.localharvest.org/" target="_blank">Local Harvest</a> to find fresh, natural, humane farms in your area.</p>
<p></div>
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