Berry Pie

Would you like something healthy for dessert?

A friend of mine showed me how to make this neat little berry pie about a week ago and it's so simple, I wanna share the instructions with YOU.

Crust: blend ingredients in a food processor - you'll know when its done.

2 cups of raw almonds

1/2 cup of seedless dates

1 teaspoon of honey

Spread this around a pie dish in the shape of pie crust.. duh.

Pie Filling: blend ingredients the same way in the food processor.

3 cups blueberries

1 cup other berries

(I don't think it matters what kind of berries you use as long as you use a bunch of blueberries...)

Put this filling in the pie dish and then place in the refrigerator overnight so it can congeal.  The next day, you can enjoy some delicious berry pie. MMM  (picture is not what your pie will look like)

Entertainment Trendwatch #5

It seems like the new thing in comedies is to show full frontal male nudity.

Ex.

1. Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story

2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

3. Zach and Miri Make a Porno

Entertainment Trendwatch #4

DVR is close to standard.

When watching my favorite TV shows, I feel like I only see commercials if I like the show so much that I can't wait till later to go back and watch the recording.

Entertainment Trendwatch #3

Disney's only good movies are now all with Pixar animation.

Ex.  As you go down the list, "Little Mermaid III" and "Cinderella III" seem to fall far behind "Wall-E" and "Ratatouille." 

Entertainment Trendwatch #2

We are never going to see the end of reality TV shows.  The "Real Housewives" is only on it's second city.

Entertainment Trendwatch #1

Bands are beginning to give away songs for free.  Most people aren't paying for them anyway.

Ex.  Kanye West has been releasing singles of his new "art" one at a time.

bump sorry

We've all done it.  I've just never heard anyone say something about it.  The other day I heard it and it made me laugh so here it is for your enjoyment.

"Don't you hate when you keep bumping into inanimate objects and then apologizing to them?"

South Austin BaRestraurants

So I'll just touch on a few of the bars and restaurants that I know in South Austin.  I don't know much.

1. Doc's Motorworks Bar & Grill is that place that looks like an old 2 door garage to a firestation or something.  It's got standard burgers and chicken tenders from what I remember.
2. El Sol y la Luna is that place with the sun and the moon symbol... Obviously.  Good Mexican food for a standard Mexican food price.
3. Exposé is St. Ed's neighboring Strip club.  You can't miss it.
4. Guero's Taco Bar might be the most famous Mexican food joint on South Congress.  It's in one of Quentin Tarantino's newest movies, Deathproof.
5. South Congress Cafe is across the street from Guero's on the same side of Congress.  I remembered it being really expensive and everything with fancy ingredients like goat cheese.
6. Shady Grove is the restaurant on Barton Springs under the big shady tree.. oh I get it.
7. Barton Springs Saloon is that local bar on the corner of Barton Springs and Lamar.  They never seem to card anyone I know.

I need to pay more attention when I go places.

Radiohead: "Create Your Own Rainbow"

Why am I always writing about Radiohead?

Other than the fact that they're awesome?

No reason.  Well maybe because they keep breaking new grounds again and again.

Well here's one more.  They've already let you have all the pieces to two of their songs, "Nude" and "Reckoner."  (With other artists, taking pieces of full songs apart would normally cost ... I don't know.. hundreds of thousands of dollars to be able to remix like this.)  

Now they've brought you into the creative process of another part of their entertainment.  They filmed themselves performing "15 Step" in Japan from 12 different camera angles.  (I think it should have been 15 camera angles but neither I nor you can tell Radiohead how to do their thing.)  

You can watch the video and as you do, choose which camera angle you want to see next.  It then saves this information on the little bar at the bottom tracking your progress.  Then you can watch the video again with all the angles you chose.  It's like being the man in the big booth with all the camera feeds telling people "camera 2!" "Take me back to camera 5!!"  It's fun. Try it. Or don't.

How to build a kegerator

Imagine coming home at the end of the day, grabbing a frosty pint glass form the freezer and pouring a glass of beer on tap.  A lot of people don't seem to know what I'm talking about when I say "kegerator."  It's simply a refrigerator that does nothing but keep a keg cold.  I love them.

You can buy one for $500-$600 but that's for fools.  Making your own is where it's at.  You'll save a bunch of money and then you can use the freezer to freeze your mugs or just as an extra freezer.  Plus, you get to tell people you made it.  

All you have to do is take out all the drawers from an old fridge and drill a hole in it (Vigilantly watch craigslist.  I got mine for $50).  You'll need a conversion kit which is just a tap, tubes, a CO2 tank and a faucet (you can get fancier with a drip tray or double taps but its not necessary).  The cheapest kits I found were here.  Once you've assembled your kit, just put the faucet through the door and you'll ready to watch all your friends come over and drink all your booze.

Election Night Facebook Statuses

So in case you haven't heard and "Shallow Thoughts" is your first source for news, Obama did it.  He will be the 44th American President of the United States and the 1st black one.

Tonight's biggest shocks for me came in the form of facebook statuses.  I hadn't predicted that people on my "friends" list would show such ugly colors after Obama won.  This is for all my fellow facebook status enthusiasts.

As soon as the results were official, happy statuses of Obama supporters started to appear.

[Joe/Jane Doe...]

• "Yes We Can"
• "believes in democracy!"
• "feels patriotic tonight"

Then some McCain supporters started to get a little childish.

• "is so happy that his hard earned money will go straight to all those stupid/lazy liberals!"
• "is moving to Canada"
• "is I'll keep my guns, my money, and my freedom... you can keep your CHANGE."

While it is important to note that they existed, I'm not going to post any offensive ones.  I am now ashamed to know those people and have already revoked their privilege of being on my "friends" list.

On a lighter note, here are a couple of good ones:

• "is Ron Paul"
• "is if you are stupid enough to leave the country over a President, please do so."

Teaching Swimming Lessons

I finally mustered up the strength to tell my boss I don’t want to teach swim lessons anymore.  (I work at the YMCA life guarding/teaching swim lessons)  

After I said goodbye to my last class on Thursday and sat in the hot tub to relax for a few minutes, the sunset’s orange glow illuminated the natatorium and the aqua-aerobics class was playing some kind of Enya song or something.  I began to meditate on what my last day to teach meant.  

No more ritualistically soaking myself in chlorine for 4 hours every Tuesday and Thursday.  (You don’t get used to it.)  No more stressing about how some of my little swimmers like Angel, Seung-Ha, Yuturo, Savannah or Kathleen just aren’t meant to be in the water.  

The smile of a parent who’s just seen their child swim for the first time is probably the only thing I’ll miss but to me, these don’t outweigh how bad it feels when a few students simply don’t have the multi-tasking skills to stay above the surface.  

"Trick or Treat I'm 30"

Exactly what is the age cut off for trick-or-treating?  

This year, I decided I’d join my neighbors in giving candy to the neighborhood children… and their older siblings… and their much older siblings… and their parents?  I’m pretty sure I gave candy to a woman with a newborn in a baby carriage.  I’m not so sure Halloween candy is good for an infant’s development.  That child’s going to be wired for life now and now I’m one to blame.  I should have called them both out for not having a costume.  

She reminded me of that person who goes to big events where they give away free snacks and ends up taking home a giant box full of everything they can grab.  I’ll go ahead and say don’t trick-or-treat if you are over 11 or under 1.  

Enjoy the candy while you can, lady.  Next year you will be denied.