Come kick it and ride with me in SLO

I always have a couch open. Not a very comfortable one, but hey one of us has to suffer for us both to have fun.

Bring your bike. We'll ride to the beach(es).

It's a must. All of you come spend a weekend down here. Or come all at once, so gas is cheaper.

no excuses.

last.fm

If you're on there, add me as a friend, my username is arthur_allen.

Last.fm has recommended some great music that I really enjoy lately:

I can make a mess like nobody's business
Cage
Joe Purdy
The Weepies
Kind of like Spitting
The good life
Joshua James
Waxwing

gooood stuff. that site is amazing.

Some prose from my old blogger

I looked at an old blogspot account I had for about a week back in 2006, thought I'd share a couple of them, I might have shown these to some of you back in the day. Younger, simpler times.

ORIGINALLY POSTED FEBRUARY 14TH, 2006

average american boy

he's not clean shaven,
he just couldn't grow a beard
he's no pretty boy
in fact he's pretty ugly
the nicest boy you'll ever see
but he never gets the girls
and he's content from 9-5
and sleeps from 10-4
he's forgotten all his dreams
sold for an iou
and when he is reminded
he shrugs and goes for a run
and thirty minutes later,
the memory is gone
and the only dream remaining
is his paid vacation time

-----------------------

Feb 13, 2006
90 minutes cut short

a b movie romance
with too many cheesy lines
and a cliche script
the cameras are rolling

but the leading lady called in sick
now the doctor says she might not make it
to the happiest of endings

fade to black
roll the credits

tell all the extras to go home
the wedding is postponed
and the groom is left alone

-----------------------

Feb 12, 2006
what happens to a little boy from a small town when he's told to be a man in a city that he hates

he sits on the trunk of his car
and lights another cigarette
at some God forsaken rest stop
between paradise and hell
the seat directly to his right
is unoccupied, so he keeps busy
telling stories and chatting with himself
his exaggerated honesty
is never quite a lie
he wonders where his life will lead
but he knows hes never quite alive
watching red sunsets and hazy skies
writing dozens of those damn songs
but he'll only sing when hes alone
and his OCD is kicking in
his room will never feel like home
300 miles from childhood
still further from his dreams
mixing aspartame and alcohol
trying to convince himself he's ok
now his eyes are tired
from carrying his heavy heart
it won't be long before he goes blind
she offered him her artwork
"a pictures worth a thousand words"
so he writes a dozen letters
kept in blank white envelopes
a constant reminder of that
familiar onramp buried in cigarettes
the ones he lights when he drops her off
and he swears he's not a smoker
he just hates the feeling
of leaving her behind

New widgets

I made a last.fm station player widget, once it's approved I'll post the link, it's the one in my sidebar at the top.

ALSO, I was looking at amnesty international's site, reading about the issues at stake in the Gaza conflict, and stumbled on a petition urging Obama to stay true to his word to shut down guantanamo bay and scale back the patriot act. It's the primary reason I voted for Obama, so I already signed it. Thats the "100 days widget" in my sidebar at the bottom.

Click here to read a little about Guantanamo

If you agree that it needs to be shut down, please sign the petition. The pentagon is already working on a plan to shut it down and hold hearings for those imprisoned there. Those found guilty will be transferred to other, legal, detention centers.

Saturday, or: Grocery blogging

I'm in Gilroy for the weekend, didn't take me long to come back. I didn't bring my bike, rookie mistake, now I'm sitting at home wishing I could be riding around town.

Ah well, Monday will come soon enough. Farmers market was amazing, definitely taking my camera next time. I had something called a "grilled calzini".

It's exactly the same as a calzone, only it's cooked on a grill over an open fire. I took one bite, just the crust, and it was one of the most delicious bites of food I've had in a long time. It tasted like a dense focaccia, unbelievably savory, with just the right blend of herbs. Then I got to the filling, roasted eggplant, zuchini, onions and red bell peppers, again with just the right blend of seasoning. There was also fresh mozzerella and aged parmesan, delicious. I'm going to try and emulate the crust the next time I make calzones, and the filling gave me some ideas too. I always use some variation of mushrooms in my calzones, but usually they're drowning in some kind of sauce, but this calzone featured more of the fresh ingredients, which was eye opening.

I made chili last week, a big batch (alot bigger than I had thought it would be), and froze most of it. It is some of the best chili I've ever had. I have a serious weakness for chipotle. The recipe as best as I can remember was this:

Saute in olive oil:
One whole onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced

Add all of the following and bring to boil in stock pot, lower heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes:

1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes with jalapenos
1 4 oz can of chopped green peppers
1 14 oz can of spicy vegetarian refried beans
1 14 oz can of black beans
1 14 oz can of pinto beans
1 14 oz can of kidney beans
Hominy to taste (I got a big can but didn't use very much of it) corn would've worked well as a substitution
2 chopped chipotle peppers

Spices:
Chili Powder
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Onion Powder
---
ALL TO TASTE (I just kept adding it in small amounts and kept tasting, I'll pay attention to the amounts next time)

I cooked cornbread to complete the ultimate cold weather meal, and garnished the chili with some fresh cilantro, sour cream and sharp cheddar

Enjoyed my delicious meal while watching No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain.
Perfect way to start the quarter.

I also had my first food lab this week, cooked chocolate chip cookies, but the lab should be interesting. Basically I cook something new each week in a professional kitchen, fun fun fun.

I've decided I'm gonna keep experimenting in the kitchen and post my recipes/results in here.
And of course they'll all be vegetarian (maybe some will even be vegan), but I guarantee delicious results regardless of your dietary choices.

Ciao

P.S. If anyone has any suggestions for possible crust recipes/adaptations that match the description I have above (dense focaccia texture, savory) please share them with me

Anyone want to flip a few houses with me?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Radical-cheap-1000-cnnm-14005833.html

To be significant

This is a continuation of my original thought in my first post on here, about life being a book, and us scrambling around trying to be the hero, or antihero. The idea here is that so many people have this idea that the ultimate goal is to form some sort of legacy with the time we have. To be remembered is a universal desire, and so people all around the world try every day to make an impact.

True, the chief goal of each individual day might be survival for alot of people, but many people, especially in a society such as ours, where our basic survival needs are met much more readily, are trying to achieve the next step. To be significant.

And it's so easy to feel insignificant, just looking around at the world and trying to wrap one's head around the fact that there are literally billions of other people out there, just like you, can be discouraging. But each of those billions of people is constructing a legacy by simply being a decent human being to their friends, their family, their neighbors, and to strangers on the street they have nothing in common with. The good samaritan comes to mind.

This same desire to be significant, to be someone, ties back to the feelings of frustration that I mentioned in my post yesterday. There is nothing that makes one feel more insignificant than going to work and doing a job that has absolutely NO application to one's life. My favorite essay by Thoreau is titled "Life Without Principle", in which he urges his reader not to do a job that he isn't passionate about, surmising that selling your whole day away to someone else's ends, some great "industry", in order to put food on your table, is worse than starving. I would assert that doing your time in the dispassionate labor force in order to get yourself to a place where you can do what you love on a daily basis is an acceptable means to an end, though I agree with him that it seems a crime against oneself to embark on a career that doesn't inspire passion. The term "9 to 5" comes to mind.

With that in mind, I'm going to ride my bike to farmers market now, one of my favorite activities. The term "breath of fresh air" comes to mind.