First couple of days of school, and decorating with utility

Ugh...

I'm back in school now, taking some calc and chem and AmHist and econ crap. Lots of bullshit, but it all looks doable. I'm a bit PISSED THE FUCK OFF that the college has decided that those $100 calculators that they made us buy are no longer allowed during tests. Did I mention FUCK?!?!?!

I'm going five days a week, so that I don't have to A) run down two flights of steps, from one end of campus to the other, and then up another flight of steps in 10 minutes, B) especially not in the rain, and who knows where the hell my car is at this point, and C) spend 7 straight hours in class every Wednesday for the next three months.  So instead I'm going for a few hours a day... and still 5 1/2 hours on Wednesday, but no running across campus to make it to class on time.

In other news, I've gotten a pile of packages this week. It is like my birthday a few weeks early! Yesterday, I FINALLY completed my set of hardcover Stephen King 'Dark Tower' books. I got over my aversion to buying used things online, and got a pretty nice used copy for $20 including shipping. I ordered it on Friday, and it got here yesterday. I also ordered a textbook for $12 with shipping, and it looks like a $12 book... and saved me $75 over the used copy at the college bookstore. There's something broken in the textbook industry.... it is a terrible scam, that they add the last election to the new edition and yank the previous edition from the bookstores, and charge $120 for a 450 page paperback. Can't they just send out a $5 copy of the four pages that discuss Obama?

Anyways, I got my textbooks today. Later on this week, I should get my copy of THE STARTER by Scott Sigler. Numbered limited edition, and signed "Happy Birthday Joe!" just like my copy of his previous book THE ROOKIE. Scott Sigler is the coolest writer out there in the horror/SF genre. Free podcasted audiobooks, lots of fan interaction, groovy fookin' shit y'alluns. These books are "young adult" space football books, and a whole lot of awesome.

I also got hooks to hang my babies. They look pretty sweet... click on the pic for the full-sized version:

A back-to-school blog entry

Hey kids!

Now that school is starting back up, I'll probably have more to say. Let's start with school shopping!! I'm so like a little kid that way. I got off cheap on books this semester, so I had money to blow on other stuff. I bought a new backpack, some notebooks, printer paper, and a slightly ridiculous stapler. I needed a better stapler, because I prefer relatively heavy printer paper, and I got this:

Good times!

I'm waiting for my books to be delivered, because I'm sure as hell not hanging around the school bookstore for hours to spend too much money on books. In the meanwhile, my backpack with be much lighter without all those books in it.

Even after everything I bought this week, I had enough extra money to buy a bed for my cat. There's a story behind this. I've never been a cat person, and now I have three cats. The "middle cat" is Ellie, and she's a strange one. She disappears for hours, and doesn't respond to calls or for snacks or anything else, and then she strolls into the living room like she was there the whole time. She used to be obsessed with opening cabinet doors and exploring, but she couldn't get out and we'd hear the cabinet door opening an inch and then thumping closed, over and over again.

Now she's obsessed with my office/man-cave. She MUST be in here, especially when I'm in here. Even when I'm not in here, she sort of camps out near the door, and then when I come close to the office she jumps up and starts frantically scratching at the door. She's sort of my baby anyways, and she always wants to be in my office with me, so I figured she should have a bed. So I bought one.

A "dog" bed. With a bone on it. For whatever reason, the dog beds were better quality AND cheaper. I don't think she knows the difference, and I'm not going to tell her. She's the only pet with her own bed, and she hopped in it within maybe two minutes of it being on the floor. That was a few hours ago, and she's still there. I think Ellie has the right idea, so I'm going to go try to catch a nap too.

Cooking with Joe: Even better chili!

Almost exactly a year ago, I posted a recipe and pictures to go with it for crock pot chili. Since then, I have completely scrapped my old chili recipes and come up with an entirely new recipe. Really entirely new. It looks a little something like this:

• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1-1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 stick celery, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno, finely chopped
• 3 teaspoons cumin
• 2-1/2 teaspoons mild chili powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 can kidney beans, drained
• 3 Tablespoons finely chopped cilantro(I use the paste that comes in a tube!)
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 pounds of ground beef

A lot simpler, and the dominant flavors are the cilantro and lime, rather than the cumin and chili powder. I serve it with crushed tortilla chips, a dollop of sour cream, and thinly sliced scallions. Nummy!

In other news, I'm getting a fancy pencil today. In the mail. From Amazon.com. Do you know why I bought a fancy drafting pencil? Me either, but it looks cool!!

The life-cycle of the domesticated male

Yeah kids. Fun times.

My wife and I have been in good shape financially, in a position to buy the things we want AND pay the big unexpected bills that have cropped up. We have some large medical bills coming our way, and we'll pay them and still have a little spending money every week. In the meanwhile, we declared this payday the "last hurrah" for big spending, before we start sending 70% of our extra money to the hospital.

So, you can imagine how I spent my share of the spoils, right? New guitar gadgets, a couple of nifty kitchen gadgets from Williams-Sonoma, and a few bottles of high-end booze.

Well... no.

I went to Sears and bought $130 worth of tools, and a pillow from Bed Bath and Beyond.

We needed the tools, because every time a job needs to be done we-- and I mostly mean ME-- spend too much time hunting down the right tools for the job. Now I have a tool box, full of about 95% of the tools I might possibly need, and I'll pick up the other 5% the next couple of times I drive past Sears. All in a compact package, with room for nails and screws and anchors and such. So convenient that my wife can jump in there and find things.

Here's what I got:

As far as I'm concerned, not too shabby. There was an acceptable tool box included with the biggest set, and it holds everything I bought plus most of what I plan to buy.

I was all excited, and then I realized how lame it was to "blow" money on useful stuff... and then I get excited again, because that was a totally adult decision to make, and I'm always a few toes into childishness at any given moment.

Busy day... three birds with one stone!

I've not been posting much lately, because almost nothing has been going on. I've been sort of keeping a low profile... lower than normal, which one might imagine involves a shovel.

Anyhoo, one of the things I've been doing is posting stuff for sale over on Craigslist. It has been one part watching too many of those hoarding shows, one part wanting extra cash, and one part feeling like junk sitting around the house needs to GO! So I've already sold my iPod Touch, since I have a Droid that Does everything I need in the portable gadget department. I also put one of my three guitars up for sale... 600 would buy me a PlayStation 3 AND one of the snazzy new XBox 360s that doesn't act like it is going to explode all the time.

I also decided to sell basically ALL of our big DVD collection. Probably 350 DVDs total. They've been in a box in the closet since we moved here, so I figured just get rid of them. My wife and I have already dug out any movies we're likely to ever watch again, so I just closed the boxes and that's that. Found a buyer about 45 miles away, and since I had to drive that way for a dentist appointment today, I killed two birds with one stone. Dumped off the whole lot of them for $250. I could have camped out with the flea market losers and made double that... but that requires hanging out with the flea market losers.

I got done really early, and as I was driving to the dentist I realized that I had an eye exam on Friday, not five minutes from the dentist's office. Made a quick detour, rescheduled the eye appointment for right after the dentist, and managed to knock off a third bird on that one stone. Got my teeth cleaned, got my eyes checked, ordered a new pair of glasses to replace these shitty ones.

Tomorrow, I rest. :)


*****


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