Walt's Corner

Freedom! That feeling I got when we cut the cord over, what? A Decade ago? No more cable or satellite subscriptions. Paying for shit that I didn’t need.

I recall one year DirecTV offered me some NFL ticket for free as part of my package. I politely refused. I don’t watch sports. “But sir, that’s a $400 a year value!” Not to me. How about fuck your football and just comp me the $400? No? Didn’t think so. Must not really be worth $400 then, eh?

I’ve felt the same way with 1Password for a long time now. Ever since they switched over to a subscription model. But I was trapped! I had all my passwords in there, and the included password keeper that came with my iPhone or iPad just wasn’t snazzy enough to meet my minimal needs – passwords and notes.

Until now. Before i/iPadOS 18 the built in password app was part of a device setting. Now it is its own full fledged application, icon and all. And it has everything I need. I saw it on the horizon; knew it was coming. In preparation, I cancelled my 1Password subscription back in July and made sure all the passwords I needed, as I used them, were entered into the system password settings app.

If 1Password only had kept the buy once per major numerical version, they’d still have me. As it is, I’m super-stoked with the new Passwords app on my iPhone.

Thought I would try something different this weekend and it turned out pretty darned good. This will eventually be the Fiesta Burger

For starters, I like to use ground sirloin for all my ground beef needs. It just tastes meatier. Steakier. Yeah, I just made that word up. Straight sirloin – unless I’m literally smoking a burger – then I mix sirloin with some ground chuck for some fattier beef that renders down to meat juice when smoked. But this was not going to be a smoked burger. This is going to be my take on the TexMex burger.

For this burger I used straight ground sirloin. I seasoned them with some Fiesta brand Fajita Seasoning instead of salt and pepper. Liberally on both sides. I started the cook on the indirect side, covered, and let the patties come up to medium well. At this point, I removed the cover and threw the buns over the direct coals to toast the buns. They don’t take very long. This also allows the coals to get a bit more hot being exposed to all that open air and the burgers are ready to sear.

I placed the burgers directly over the hot coals and brushed a little melted butter over the top so that it drips into the coals causing a flare up which helps to sear the first side to a charry, buttery finish. Flipped the burger to sear the other side and about halfway through my desired char level of that second side I added a slice of pepper jack cheese and let it finish searing and removed from the grill.

I placed the melted cheese-topped patty on the bun, added some fresh made pico de gallo. For the initial tasting of this experiment I also had a wee bit of mustard. I wanted to see how well the flavor of the cheese and pico got along with the burger. It was delicious. Pico recipe will be listed at the end. Served up with fries cooked in peanut oil and Heinz Chili Sauce for dip.

Next step to this burger will be to lose the mustard and put a layer of guacamole on the bottom bun, followed by the pico on the guac, then the burger with the pepperjack and some sour cream on top of the burger. Placing the pico on the guac will help hold the pico in place. It wanted to fall all over the place.

Pico is super easy to make. This recipe will make you about a quart container full. For my batch I use:

• 8 romas, diced
• 6 jalapeños, diced
• 1 small red onion (I usally sub bunch of green onions but I couldn’t find any decent ones), diced
• half a bunch of cilantro (don’t be scared of them stems), chopped
• juice of 3 small limes, and
• kosher salt to taste.

Self proclaimed coffee expert, James Hoffman, tries the most expensive cup of coffee to see it’s worth it, but in my opinion leaves out the most important information – was the cup and spoon made from real gold and did he get to keep it?

He does a good job explaining why island coffees are as good as they are and how production costs can factor into the final result. Where an excellent coffee bean can be had for around $10/pound raw, a similar island coffee such as Kona or Blue Jamaican can run upwards of $30-40/pound. At least that is what it would cost me as someone who buys raw coffee cherries (beans) and roasts my own for brewing.

What I want to know is how much is that cup and spoon, and do you get to keep it? If that cup and spoon set costs $300 on the open market, and they are charging $35 for the actual espresso, than maybe it is worth it in the eyes of someone who wants that cup set.

Only a few people on this planet have tasted my coffee beans roasted here at Casa Basil. Very rare. Perhaps I should think about going commercial?

Netflix has released their statistics for viewership from January through June of 2024. At the bottom of that page is a link to get the spreadsheet version.

Number 1 show was Fool Me Once: Limited Series with 107,500,000 views. Number 10 was One Day: Limited Series with 39,400,000 views.

I haven’t seen either one of them. 3 Body Problem: Season 1 clocked in at number 8 and that is the only one I’ve seen out of the first 103! None of the others enticed me enough to give them a shot.

I’m trying to think what I watch on Netflix. Loudermilk. Big Mouth. That’s about it for now. Anything else I’d be interested in watching has already been watched. Like Stranger Things. Mind Hunter. None of their newer shows are seducing me.

Currently we are re-watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to fill the show-hole of waiting for the next big show we watch. Like – Severance. New Star Treks.

Carol bought me a surprise the other day. The KeenPower 21 volt portable air compressor.

Works pretty good. You can charge the battery via a wall plug in, or you can operate if off your vehicle’s 12-volt port. What you can’t do is charge the battery off your car. Why you ask? Because your car is a 12-volt system while battery of this compressor is 21 volts. You do the math.

There’s a convenient 4-bar LED indicator informing you of the battery’s current charge state. There are 4 settings for it with predetermined air pressure settings that you can adjust. Select Car and it starts you off at 36 pounds. You can adjust up or down to your liking. After charging the battery I used it on my truck. All the tires were at about 36 pounds. They should be at 40. I chose the car setting, increased the pounds up to 40, secured the hose to the valve stem and pulled the trigger. The compressor brought them up to 40 pounds and turned itself off. Next I used it on the motorcycle setting – 35 pounds. Good enough. They were both a little low and this brought it up to pressure much quicker than the truck tires.

The other two settings are for bicycle tires and balls. No, basket balls you pervert. There is also a flashlight function to it that is intended to light up the tire for use at night.

The compressor comes in a handy zippered carrying case for convenient storage and travel.

In the words of Agent Doaks on Dexter, Surprise, mother fucker! Surprise, indeed. And a good one.