I think I caught a chill yesterday morning as I slogged to work in the rain. By the time I got to the office, my feet were positively soaked. I’ve been dragging ever since.
Fortunately, I have the day off today, so as I look out my basement window at the gentle fog (while hiding from the vet who is dealing with Mrs. R and the cats upstairs), a few lazy thoughts:
♦ The cats’ check-up reminds me that it must be mouse mating season, as several times this week I have awoke in the middle of the night to hear a peculiar high-pitched shriek coming from somewhere within the woodwork. It seems silly to think of “bull mice”, but I suppose that they fight it out amongst themselves just as savagely as any other males on the planet.
♦ Speaking of males, it isn’t often these days that I find myself interested in a movie, but I must say that I Love You, Man looks like it has some real possibilities. I’ve been a Paul Rudd fan since The Forty Year Old Virgin and Mrs. R likes him, too – says he reminds her a little of me. I’m not quite sure how to take that, but it’ll do. (She’s also occassionally made the comparison to John Cusack and Andrew McCarthy. I suppose there’s a bit of a pattern here.)
♦ And speaking of movies, whenever I see one advertised as a “must-see”, my reaction is “Go to hell”.
♦ Speaking of hell, I understand that the eldest gel asked Mrs. R yesterday, “How do we know that our God is the real one? I mean, the Greeks and the Romans believed in their pantheons just as much. How do we know they were wrong?” Quick! Activate the Pope-signal, Commissioner! (Actually, I believe there’s something about this in the Catechism. So I’ve got my research assignment taped out for me.)
♦ Speaking of such things, I relayed the whole Notre Dame-invites-Obama flap to Mrs. R this morning. Although not an RC herself, even she was appalled.
♦ Speaking of appalling, I suppose I have no choice but to finally sit down this weekend and do the damned taxes. This is the latest I’ve left it in some years. (Our second year of marriage found us driving to the local postal sorting station at 10:00 pm on April 15 in the midst of a violent thunderstorm. Mrs. R never quite forgave me for that one.)
♦ Speaking of taxes, I can’t help wondering if I am the very last soul in the country who a) does the forms himself, and b) simply sits down with a pencil, a calculator, a scratch-pad and a box full of receipts and statements. I’ve thought about turbo-tax from time to time and about electronic filing, but some Luddite sensibility buried deep keeps me from going that route. I know it’s irrational and perhaps silly, but so be it.
♦ Speaking of the refund I hope to get if my tax math is right, I need to buy a new weed-whacker this spring as my old one gave up the ghost in the fall. I have found myself recently at the hardware store standing in front of the Steihl display, gently drooling over the machinery. Mmmmmm……lawn care products…….Mmmmmm……….
♦ Speaking of the grass, although softball practice was cancelled due to the rain yesterday, I at least had the gratification of receiving a couple of emails from parents noting that their daughters were disappointed (one used the term “bummed”) by this fact. I assume this means I’m doing something right out there.
♦ And speaking of doing something right, I have been waiting patiently to try out Mrs. P’s ginger shrimp recipe. Since it’s Friday and since I have the time to both run up to the store for the fixin’s and to prepare the dish myself, today is the day. The question is whether taking a few “cook’s tax” nips at the vino whilst cooking with it violates my Lenten abstinence from the gargle. Were I a Cradle Catholic, I’m sure I’d simply sweep right over the question, but since I’m still a newbie, I can’t help feeling that I have an extra obligation not to try purser’s tricks to get round the pledge.
At any rate, I’ll let you know how it works out.
♦ And speaking of having some time, I must be off. I am closing in on logging twenty hours of “Wii Fit” time on our machine and want to hit that mark today. You may scoff if you like, but even the gels are beginning to remark about my appearance. Plus, the thing consistenly tells me that my “Wii Fit age” is somewhere between 25 and 33. (I am actually 44.) Now I know nothing about the accuracy of its formulae for calculating this figgah, but I’d be lying if I denied that I enjoy the ego-strokes.
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March 27, 2009 at 2:25 pm
beth
I tend to agree about the “must see” bit – it always seems like they can’t think of anything constructive to say, so they just hope to con you into going to see it anyway.
Re: the cook tax – not being catholic, this may be out of turn, but it seems to me that this is precisely the situation that giving up something for Lent is designed around — a situation where there is a temptation that then provides you an opportunity to focus on the sacrifice of our Savior while making your own (albeit considerably lesser) sacrifice. So, my thought says that yes, cook tax or no, any bit of “the gargle” is breaking your Lenten promise.
As to taxes of the other nature, I have to say, the old school approach is novel.
Tim gets entirely too much pleasure out of informing me the current amount we owe or are owed as he puts in all the numbers. Generally he starts out with just putting in paystubs and then says, “Well, we owe *insert big number here*” because there’s nothing else in there at all yet. After my obligatory heart attack, he lets me know he hasn’t put in the withholding or anything yet. You’d think after almost 14 years of this I would remember and not faint. 
March 27, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Mrs. Peperium
ROBBO!!!!!
GINGRICH JUST STOLE EASTER!
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/gingrich_catholic_easter/2009/03/26/196343.html
March 27, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Sister
a) You are paying your vet to do house calls? Uh….
b) I do my taxes the same way except I use a pen.
c) I am eying an edger for the perennial beds. Mmmmm.
March 28, 2009 at 4:59 pm
GroovyVic
I’ll bet you money they said “bummed” because they couldn’t spell “disappointed.”
March 29, 2009 at 12:13 am
Boy Named Sous
If you make those shrimp, a quick trick: Freeze your ginger root before grating it, it’ll grate much more easily.
March 29, 2009 at 2:27 am
Sister
I’ve tried freezing ginger before grating it and it just made it slimy. Is there a trick I don’t know?
March 29, 2009 at 3:25 am
Boy Named Sous
I’d only recommend it for dishes where the ginger is A) bering grated VERY fine and B) being cooked into the dish, not used raw. I use a microplane, and it pretty much dissolves right into the food.
March 29, 2009 at 3:26 am
Boy Named Sous
Sory, that should be BEING grated. And I’ve never tried it frozen in an uncooed application, it may be ok if you grate it fine enough.
March 30, 2009 at 6:44 pm
NBS
If you buy the turbo tax software, you can deduct the cost. You can also deduct the cost of paying someone to do your taxes for you.
March 30, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Ginger Pop « The Port Stands At Your Elbow
[...] response to my previous post announcing my intention to try the dish, something of a discussion brewed up in the comments about the proper way to go about grating [...]