Walt's Corner

This is a tongue-in-cheek post, but still portrays my thoughts. I did my yearly Ash Wednesday duty and received the ashes. But as always, I leave feeling just a little bit dirty. Not because of having ashes on my forehead, although that should qualify, but because it appears we are doing the exact opposite of the point that our Gospel reading was trying to get across.

Yesterday’s reading is brought to us by the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6. Of particular interest is the part on fasting.

“16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” ”

What do we do immediately following this reading? Put ashes on our faces, get told to fast for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and not to eat of beast or fowl on Fridays during Lent. Now didn’t Jesus just finish telling us to wash our faces before we go out so that people don’t know we are fasting and praying? Seems kind of ironic to me.

I understand the meaning of the ashes. They remind us that we are all sinners and will eventually die, but isn’t there a better way to remind ourselves that we are of dust, and to dust we shall return? Like maybe put it someplace on us where WE WILL SEE IT? Putting ashes on my forehead does nothing to remind me. I don’t even see it. But everyone else can. And maybe that’s the point, I don’t know. Maybe we are assuming that there will be so many people that will carry this mark that I will be reminded of it, and I am also part of the collective that is reminding others. Either way, it still seems to contradict the point of Gospel reading.

It seems that some parishes get this too, because someone else I know says their priest puts the ashes on top of their head, where it’s not really visible at all.

Oh, look at me. I’m wearing ashes. I’m fasting and praying because it’s Ash Wednesday.

Guess I already have my reward.

I won’t be jumping to the new iPad 2. That’s not an indication to a lack of features, but a testament to the perfection Apple achieved in the release of their original iPad. I pre-ordered the 64GB 3G model when it was first released and that workhorse is still chugging away perfectly. So perfect in fact, that I am not compelled in the least bit to order the iPad 2.

When Apple released the iPhone 3G I so wanted to get one because it gained features that I desperately wanted. But I was held back because of the 2 year contract I incurred with AT&T. Because of that 2 year contract I am forced to leapfrog generations of iPhones. That is not the case with the iPad. Nothing is keeping me from buying the next generation except how well the first generation is performing.

The iPad 2 gains dual cameras, lighter weight, thinner form and a faster processor. I have no need to use a camera, although admittedly I’m sure I would use it occasionally for video conferencing if I were to find myself with that capability, but i also know that when I buy my new iphone this year, ill gain that option anyway. The lighter weight and form factor and faster processor aren’t enough to sway me to throw down another $900+. The memory sizes have not changed and I still find myself at the high end version of memory.

So I’ll just wait until the 3rd iteration of the iPad comes around and see if that adds any features that might sway me. Again, that just testifies to the perfection of the original iPad. If someone hasn’t bought the original version yet then this proves to be an even greater value.

Wow. Another year has come and gone, and boy have we accomplished quite a bit over the year. Rather impressive as I look back on it all and see it all at once. Clicking on any of the images wills how the full size version or the video, whichever applies.

The first Sunday in January there is the Starving Artist sale at the Embassy Suites Hotel. We picked up an oil painting and had it framed. It looks really nice in our living room. That was the first time we went to one of those. We went again this year and picked up a couple more, but now I’m getting into next year’s review.

We wanted to start painting the house. Something different than the one tone color that permeated the interior of our house. But this also entailed putting up crown molding in the rooms that we were painting. Might as well, right? Otherwise we’d end up having to paint again once we did install the molding. I bought a miter box and saw and cut out all the molding for the kitchen, living room, hallway, and bathrooms – all the rooms we planned on painting right now.

The kitchen walls were painted a sunbeam yellow and the ceiling a bright white. We painted the living room a rusty leather-ish orange. My bathroom was painted a mint green on the walls and that bright white for its ceiling. The same bright white was used for all the molding. This is how we spent most of our weekends  during January and February.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXCgf7NgxAk

At the end of February was our 5th Annual Tombstone Run. We had over 80 bikes participate in that run. We split up into about 5 groups and comfortably made our way through New Mexico, along the top of Mexico, into Arizona where we headed south into Douglas, up through Bisbee, and finally into Sierra Vista where we stay at the same Motel 6 every year.

My bike, loaded down, ready to head to Tombstone, AZ.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUxYpX9SbpU
Video of our first group departing El Paso

Coming back home meant getting on to the next (and possibly my favorite) project of the year: taking care of the back yard. Remember, that back yard here is all desert sand. We want a beautiful green back yard, but there is quite a bit of logistics involved in getting it done right. To start it off, we need to dig up the back yard for the underground sprinkler system. March through April’s spare time was spent digging the foot and a half deep trenches for the water pipes we would need to lay. When I left the Army, I thought I had used my last pick-axe. I was wrong.

Valve box for Sprinkler system

Water lines running in front of patio

Water lines running along the side and back of yard

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pPlwpXg7bQ
Video of sprinkler system finished, yard leveled back out, and sprinklers running

The sprinkler system will eventually consist of 4 separate zones. 3 zones for the back yard grass and 1 zone for the shrubbery that will be placed along the perimeter of the back yard as well as water the tree in the front yard. The control unit/timer is mounted in the garage. There are a total of 6 long stream (20 foot) oscillating heads and 4 shorter stream heads (6-10 foot streams). After laying the pipes, installing the valves and heads, covering the trenches back up, it is now time to bring in 130 cubic feet of topsoil. Cubic foot bag by cubic foot bag. That itself took several trips using both cars. After the soil is laid out across the back yard, we put some fertilizer down and waited until the right time to plant the grass seed. The right time to plant arrived in May, when the daily high temperature always exceeds 65 degrees, giving the seed the chance to germinate. Once planted, the automatic sprinklers take over and do all the work. By mid-summer, we had achieved a perfect green lawn.

130 cubic feet of topsoil added

Grass begins to grow!

Grass getting thicker

Looking real good now!

Perfect grass!

In the meantime, summer vacation! In July we drove to Virginia to see Carol’s family. We stopped at my folks along the way, as well as picked up Jonathan so he could spend the vacation with us. With the sprinkler taking care of the grass for those 3 weeks we were gone, there was a jungle in our back yard by the time we returned. From that point on, I had to mow the lawn twice a week.

Carol and I on vacation in Virginia

Jonathan and I on vacation in Virginia

Late spring brings me my iPad! Love it! It actually replaces most things I do on my iMac and PowerBook. Carol bought her new MacBook Pro while we were on vacation. This vacation was the first time I left home without a laptop. For my needs, the iPad totally replaced my laptop.

End of July through August was spent on a couple projects for the kitchen. First, we wanted to replace the original light fixture that came with the house with a large fluorescent fixture. That was small fries compared to the next job: the kitchen island. From scratch. We wanted a very large island that also had a large overhang on one side so that the bar stools would fit under it. We also wanted to make sure that the top of the island was ceramic tiles that matched the ceramic tile of our floors and the other countertops. I think we did a great job.

Replaced standard light with long fluorescent lighting

Finished kitchen island

Another view of the island

September was a relaxing month housework-wise. I only converted our two backward gates into wooden gates. They were simple iron gates, but Dolly could escape the back yard through the bars. The temporary fix was placing chicken wire on the gates. The permanent fix was to build a wooden gate around the iron one.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfGy3gJQ_Sg
video of wooden gates

We bought our new AppleTV in October. This replaced the original one we picked up in 2007. It’s pretty small compared to the old one.

October is when it begins dropping in temperature at night, and that’s a good time to plant shrubs. Anywhere from late fall into late winter here. The master plan is to have shrubs along the entire perimeter of the back yard. I decided on Nellie Stevens Hollie. I chose them because you can plant them close together and they will eventually form a living wall of privacy. To make this happen, I’ll plant them every 4 feet. I’ll let them grow to about 6 feet tall or so and cut them off there, forcing them to grow into each other. Another good thing about these trees is that they are evergreens. They’ll remain green year round. I ordered 15 of them in October and we planted them along the sides of the yard. Pretty soon we’ll order another 12 and those will complete our perimeter. When the perimeter is complete is when I’ll add that 4th zone to the watering system.

Nellie Stevens Hollie planted

I rode out to Aguirre Spring in October as well. My first time there. Beautiful mountain scenery. We also made our yearly trip to the corn maze in the Mesilla Valley.

Ride to Aguirre Springs State Park

Carol and I at the corn maze

October also marks the time I quite running my 2 miles in the morning. From Halloween through New Years. There’s just too much eating going on to make a difference. I picked up a Magic Bullet, this thing makes perfect margaritas. That’s pretty much all I use it for.

The Magic Bullet makes a mean margarita. And hey... doesn't that kitchen island tile look awesome?

November is the usual Thanksgiving celebration. We bought a new living room set too. The set consists of a 3 piece sectional with built in recliners, cocktail table, sofa table (that I converted into an entertainment center), 2 tall ladder shelves, and a matching smaller shelving unit.

New living room set

New living room set

New living room set

Finally, December marked the completion of my bathroom when Carol gave me a white wall-mounting cabinet for Christmas and I sealed the skylight at ceiling level with another window.

My bathroom wall cabinet, mounted.

So as you can see, we were pretty busy this year making our home, well, our home. We managed to complete the kitchen, living room, hallway, and my bathroom.

This year will bring many more improvements, I’m sure. Here’s looking to a great 2011!

We won't talk about this night. Ever.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvfVoQZOz-w

Little “how-To” I did when we planted our trees. These are going to be pruned as a tall box-hedge for privacy.

Every once in a while I come across an infomercial that garners enough of my attention to do a little research on it; find out if it actually lives up to its intentions. The Magic Bullet was one of those infomercials. I’ve seen it several times and each time I thought to myself, “If it really does all that then I’d like to have one.”

Saturday I was sitting on the couch when that infomercial began playing again. This time, I decided to do something about it. I went online and did a little research. Mostly what I found were good reviews with a smackering of bad ones lamenting that it didn’t do this or that well. Most of the “so-so” reviews gave the machine a rather good reputation, often mentioning how great it was, but after a year or so of using it 3 times a day, the gears gave out and they had to buy another one. They had to buy another one… That pretty much sums it up for me. This thing appears to do its job so well that when it breaks, people actually replace it with another one. They can’t live without it!

Ordering it from the telly would have set me back around $150 (including taxes and shipping). I did what any cost-conscious person would have done – check Amazon. There it was. Amazon had the same model with the same accessories, and all for $54.72. No taxes. No shipping charges. Having Prime membership also meant that it was shipped via 2-day shipping for free.

I’ve only used it for one night, but I did run some tests on it. The Magic Bullet has excelled in the frozen drink department. I don’t care for the recipe it gives for Margaritas, but using my own recipe it turned out fantastic! Probably the best I’ve ever made. The Magic Bullet took that ice and beat it down to an extremely smooth slush. I used the included recipe for salsa. Again, I don’t care for that particular recipe but it did a fine chop chopping everything up.

If you are expecting more recipes than what you see on the infomercial, you’ll be a bit disappointed as everything they cover there are all that’s included, but that’s OK. Absence of recipes doesn’t take anything away from the performance of this machine. I look forward to trying out their recipes for hummus and my own recipes for guacamole.

One obvious false claim: you can do all these recipes in 10 seconds. This does not include the time it takes to get your ingredients ready. 10 seconds is throwing them into the blender. Just sayin.