Apropos o' Nuthin'

I just finished watching the president sign the stealth stimulus bill (with my teevee muted) and it struck me how positively ODD it is that signing ceremonies always involve six or more pens.  I know the purpose behind this quirky practice but I'm wonderin' just how one breaks one's signature up into six discrete parts.  That must be one of those "learned" skills.

Closing shot:  Granted, this is an old, old pic.  But have you EVER seen a bigger gaggle of obnoxious, useless people than the above?  I mean... EVER?

Update 1540 hrs, in which I answer my own question:  Well, yes.  Yes, we have.

Sorry, Gentle Reader.  How quickly we forget, no?

False Alarm

I think it's a condition of employment for weathermen:  your forecast MUST be a worst-case scenario, come Hell or high water.  So our "one to three inches" has devolved into this:

Now

Bands and areas of light to moderate snow will linger across much of eastern New Mexico and the northern Sacramento Mountains and adjacent Highlands through mid day. Most areas will see little in the way of new snow accumulation but up to an inch is possible in snow bands. Conditions are expected to improve this afternoon.

It's chilly though, at 30 degrees.  I'm thinkin' this might be as warm as it gets today.  I'm snug as the proverbial bug/rug and it's been perfect sleeping weather.  That's code for "I just got up."  The coffee is EXCELLENT this morning!

Clearing Up Some Possible Confusion

Many, if not most, of you Gentle Readers may have been confused by my post title last night when I referred to Niklas Lidstrom as "The Perfect Human."  And that's understandable unless your name is SN1 or mebbe one or two others... those of you that are among the few, the proud, the hockey fans.  And so along comes Pierre LeBrun with an explanation... to wit: "Nicklas Lidstrom, 'The Perfect Human'."  Let's quote:

DETROIT -- The passes are tape to tape, right in the middle of the stick blade, timed just right for the player taking them in stride. One after the other -- zip, zip, zip -- Nicklas Lidstrom seemingly can't miss.

It's a Thursday morning practice at Joe Louis Arena, one just like any other of the 3,000 or so practices he's skated in the past 20 years. And just like those other times, Lidstrom is dead-on every single time he makes a play.

"We call him the Perfect Human," said Detroit Red Wings teammate Niklas Kronwall. "And there's a reason for it. Whatever he does, he seems to do perfectly, so I think that's a pretty good nickname."

The Perfect Human is 40 years old. Not that you can tell while watching him on the ice this season. After failing to get nominated for the Norris Trophy in 2009-10, Lidstrom is back stronger than ever, and if the season ended today, it says here he'd be picking up his seventh award as the NHL's top defenseman.

Read the whole thing if'n you're a hockey fan; you'll burn in Hell if you don't read it if'n you're a Wings fan.  The rest of you... the hoi polloi, the Great Unwashed, the ignurunt... can read or not, as you see fit.  Whatever.  But be advised this article is the longest, most in-depth profile of Lidstrom I've read in quite a while.  The quotes are priceless, coming as they do from the highest levels of hockey, including Bobby Orr, the guy Lidstrom is frequently compared to and the greatest defenseman of all time.  It's great good stuff, and the piece just might be the best thing LeBrun has EVER done.  Don't ignore this one if you're a hockey fan.  Just don't.

Why I Don't Cook More Often

I eat out a lot.  Prolly way more than I should, actually, but I do eat well.  I'll admit to making a couple o' runs a month to Mickey Dee's and I'm not unknown at our local taqueria, either.  But I generally patronize "real" restaurants when eating out and I do this mostly because I can.

That said, I'm no stranger in the kitchen and I'm a pretty danged good cook, if I say so myself.  I pretty much taught The Second Mrs. Pennington how to cook (remind me to tell you sometime about the first meal she ever tried to cook for me, the short of it being she fixed lasagna, without boiling the lasagna noodles first.  Yeah: inedible.  School commenced the following day.) and I had my regular turn in the kitchen when I lived a conventional, i.e., married, life.

But these days?  I'm lucky if I actually cook... as opposed to "nuke"... dinner more than once a week.  You might ask why and here's part of the answer:

Cooking is a major PITA when you have VERY limited space in which to work.  The pic above is about halfway through the process of dinner preparation, and I was making a salad when I took the pic.  What went before was paring the pork chops, cutting bacon into one-inch squares, and slicing the onion used in the dish.  All that stuff stacked in the sink (bread, etc., on the left) is the contents of my breadbox (aka the nuker), which was heating up a bowl of beets when I took this pic.  Stuff used in previous steps has already been washed and is in the drainer.

So what's for dinner?  This is the entree:

That's a couple of thick center cut pork chops smothered in sauerkraut after being browned in bacon fat for a minute a side... simmer for 20 minutes and serve.  There's also half an onion lurking in there, along with two cloves of crushed garlic.  And the bacon bits, of course.  We don't throw much away.

Dinner is served:

Yum.  Fixing this was a pain but the results were worth it!

I might be motivated to cook more often if I lived in an RV with a kitchen like this:

Just look at that counter space!  (Sigh)

Waiting

For this (courtesy of the NWS/ABQ):

... Winter Weather Advisory in effect from 6 PM this evening to 11 am MST Friday...

The National Weather Service in Albuquerque has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for snow... which is in effect from 6 PM this evening to 11 am MST Friday. The Winter Storm Watch is no longer in effect.

* Snow accumulations... 1 to 3 inches across the east Central Plains... except locally around 4 inches on the higher Mesa tops of The Caprock.

Our brief three-day, mid-70s respite from winter weather is over, for the moment.  We'll be back into the low 60s by Sunday however and that's a great good thing.  I can do outdoor Happy Hours in that sort of WX, all that's required is a sweatshirt and the absence of wind.

So.  We did our bi-weekly commissary/beer run out to the base early this afternoon and we're all stocked up on consumables and good things to eat.  Ol' Man Winter should feel free to do his worst -- I'm prepared.  Bring it ON!

Traffic Signs

It feels like this sometimes, don't it?

From the usual source.

Congrats to The Perfect Human!

It's hard to believe he's gone this long without one, but St. Nick got his first ever hat trick tonight.  Here's Sean Leahy, writing at Wyshynski's place:

No. 1 Star: Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings

In his 1442nd game, Lidstrom recorded his first NHL hat trick, along with an assist, during a 5-2 win over the St. Louis Blues. Lidstrom has 19 career two-goal games and finished his first hat trick with an empty netter with 30 seconds remaining in the game. Henrik Zetterberg had a hand in each of Lidstrom's goals and finished with four assists on the night. Danny Cleary had a three-point night, including his team-leading 14th goal of the season.

I listened to the game on my Very Expensive Radio and was amazed to hear this was Lidstrom's first-ever hat trick.  Somehow I thought he'd done it before... but no.  Not bad for a 40 year old six-time-Norris-winning defenseman, eh?

Tonight's game was MUCH better than that 5-0 debacle against the Kings Monday night.  How any team can put 51 shots on goal and still get shut out... let alone the freakin' Wings, at HOME... remains something of a mystery to me.  But it is what it is, and tonight's game was a great way to rebound from an embarrassing loss.