How to Give Sadness the Boot

Maybe it's the dreariness outside that's causing so many people to feel sad today.

I wouldn't even mention it except to say that whenever I'm feeling down, blah, unfocused, blue or whatever, I've got two sure-fire solutions based on personal experience ... and both are Absolutely 100% Guaranteed to get you refocused and your mind completely off being sad.

The Blahs Fixer #1: Let's Help the Dog Go Outside
Sometimes Luke gets so enthralled by his favorite characters on Animal Planet that he forgets when it's time to go outside ... and it becomes necessary to gently coax him along, using the side of my foot to help steer him through the porch door. Then I slam the door very quickly behind him ... before he reverses direction and slips back inside.

The other day Luke had different plans. At the last millisecond he faked me out and dodged back inside just missing the rapidly approaching door ... which I proceeded to slam amazingly hard on my bare and unprotected foot. Almost instantly I forgot all about being sad, and spent the next three hours wondering whether I should try driving myself over to AnMed or just relax on the curb and flag down an ambulance.

What if you don't have a dog?

The Blahs Fixer #2: Company's Gonna Be Here In An Hour
Gather up as many loose clothes as you can find. Keep on adding sheets and towels, whether they're clean or not, until you've got a load about 50% larger than your washing machine's rated capacity. Bundle everything up in your arms, making sure the top of the stack is at least a foot higher than the top of your head.

Now, and this is the critical part ... run down the nearest flight of stairs as fast as you can. Don't worry about breaking anything internally, because the clothes are there to protect you. I typically do this one 3, sometimes 4 times a month and it never fails to satisfy.

[Hint: when you do your face-plant, which is the whole point of this exercise, if you don't start rolling around and gagging on the hallway floor because you've knocked the wind out of yourself it only means you're not trying hard enough ... and may need to start thinking about whether you actually enjoy feeing sad.]

So don't let the blahs keep getting you down ... get out there and attack that sadness with gusto!

What's Picadillo Anyway?

If you read yesterday's post you might be wondering What's Picadillo?

Picadillo is a spicy Spanish and Latin American dish made from seasoned ground meat and vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and onions. I grew up with Picadillo served Cuban-style, with yellow rice (arroz amarillo) and black beans (frioles negros).

Why is this important? Because it's summer and when the humidity's topping 90%, Picadillo is one of the few meals you can actually enjoy on a blistering afternoon without worrying about falling asleep or feeling groggy afterwards.

And as everyone knows, I'd rather try dribbling a wasp nest than waste an afternoon sawing zzzzz's with Mr Sleepy Time.

Papa Ridgeback's Personal Picadillo Recipe # 1

butter
olive oil
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
8 ounce can whole tomatoes
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 cup beef stock
1 small can green peas

yellow or white rice (remember to add 2 bay leaves and butter while boiling yellow rice)

Sautee the finely-chopped onion and garlic in butter and olive oil, then add the ground beef and continue cooking over medium heat until browned. Stir in the tomato paste and whole tomatoes, then cover the mixture with beef stock. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Add sliced Spanish olives and green peas before serving over yellow rice.

Some people don't like tomato sauce; the next one uses white cooking wine instead

Papa Ridgeback's Personal Picadillo Recipe #2

2 onions, finely sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
3 tablespoons butter (minimum)
1 pound ground beef
salt and pepper
majoram (more is better)
oregano
500ml white cooking wine
250ml sliced Spanish olives
3 tablespoons canned green peas
butter
olive oil
pimentos

yellow or white rice (remember to add 2 bay leaves-and butter- if boiling yellow rice)

Satuee the onions and garlic in olive oil and butter until they're translucent, then add the ground beef. Season with oregano, marjoram, salt and pepper to taste. When the meat's done add the cooking wine and pimentos. Allow to simmer for while you make the rice (about 20 minutes).

Just before serving, add the olives and green peas to the meat mixture, and serve over the rice.

Hint: be sure to use enough butter ... and I like to add 1/4 cup of diced tomato to the yellow rice about halfway through.

You can find a nice recipe for Frioles Negros here:
http://www.recipezaar.com/141305 (adding cooked chopped bacon highly recommended!)

Papa's Picadillo Preparation Playlist:
Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen live - Santana - Abraxas
Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen - Santana - Sacred Fire Live in South America
Ya No Queda Nada (Reggaeton Album Version) - Tito Nieves
I Like It Like That - Tito Nieves
Ni Como Aminga Ni Como Amante - Grupo Niche

Get Your Guayabera On

I'm awfully glad Capri Pants for Men never quite caught on. The fall camouflage craze made masculine fashion sense kinda touch and go there for a bit (can you imagine Camo Capris for Men?), but except for a handful of waiters dashing through chi chi sushi bars in Atlanta I think the Capris for Men danger, at least for now, has passed.

Capri Pants For Men is plenty nauseous enough ... but I gotta wonder how long it'd be before guys wearing capri pants started wanting wedges, too. All I can say about that is, Yikes.

On the other hand I'm kinda sorry guayabera shirts also struck out. I don't have any explanation; 100% cotton guayabera shirts seem like they'd be perfect summer casual attire here in the Upstate ... but what do I know about things?

A friend brought me back a guayabera shirt from Havana several years ago, but clumsy as I am I'd probably spill picadillo all over the front ... so I've never worn my guayabera, not a single time.

Maybe I'll try it on in a few minutes, after cueing-up today's playlist ...

Take Time Out for A Terrific Tuesday Playlist:

Falling In and Out of Love/Amie - Pure Prarie League
Can't You See (live) - Marshall Tucker Band - Searchin' for a Rainbow

[If you're feeling anxious about ever finding your Perfect Someone, listen to these two songs and remember ... your Perfect Someone is still out there waiting to find you, too.]
River Seeks the Deep - Rafael - Music to Disappear In II
Healing Dance - Raphael - Music to Disappear In II

Why Didn't I Think of This Before?

I hardly ever drank coffee until about 2 years ago.

Then I met a genuine coffee meister (I don't wanna use his real name so let's call him "Ken") whose insights and brewing brilliance reversed my negative biases against coffea arabica. Now it seems like the day never quite kick-starts without it.

Still coffee-making was a chore and being chronically ADD I stayed fidgety about waiting 4 minutes for my little single-cup French Press to finish brewing. Then lightning struck my idea antenna like a howitzer and made me realize I'd been overlooking a simple solution.

Last night I pre-filled a 4-cup Mr. Coffee and moved it to my nightstand.

Viola! I've got hot coffee without having done more than roll over in my sleep.

Tonight I'm putting a George Foreman grill (I figure frozen bacon will thaw properly overnight) beside the Mr Coffee and plan on staying in bed really late or until the phone starts ringing ... anyway I start feeling guilty if I'm not up & moving by 5am.

Today's Playlist: It's dreary today in the Electric City so we'll keep things smooth and mellow ... at least until the sun burns off the murk.

Drifting - Jimi Hendrix (sweeter, more memorable than you might imagine)

Pick Just One So You Don't Spoil Your Supper:

Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis - Ralph Vaughan Williams
If you do classical music at all this moody, introspective piece probably deserves a listen during the after-lunch doldrums. At least it's more rewarding than surfing Ebay for Kula Shaker bootlegs or answering wrong numbers on the office phone.

Mountain Jam - The Allman Brothers Band -The Fillmore Concerts
Dwayne Allman's guitar (between 27:25-30:36) becomes a voice of contrition and comes closer to expressing ... well, if you've ever had a heartache and then got an unexpected chance at starting over I don't have to say anything else - but no fair skipping ahead to hear it first.

Adventure Is Where You Find It

Ken's new house has a big sprawling yard. So far Ken's been using a push-power to get the mowing done. Obviously Ken could be spending his time more efficiently and productively.

That's why this morning I topped up the tank, and right now am heading up Highway 81 on my little John Deere lawn tractor to Ken's house. It's 6.5 miles or about 4 hours from where I live to Ken's house, so my ETA is around 2 pm. I figure that's plenty of time to get back home before dark, but I checked the headlight before leaving and besides, there's plenty of gas stations between here and Ken's house.

Won't Ken be very, very surprised.

Today's Don't Honk At Papa While He's Riding His John Deere In Traffic Playlist:

Can't Find My Way Home - Widespread Panic (Uber Cobra)

Confessions of An Emotionally Shallow Mind

This is gonna be real hard, so I'll try to be real quick, too.

It takes me a long time to figure stuff out - I'm one of the people who just don't get it. Like, Wednesday night at New Spring the programs had a glossy white reverse side that spelled BIG in a cool stylized white font ... so I spent the next 36 hours trying to peel the white letters away - thinking there was a stubborn decal glued underneath.

Wait, it gets worse. I've met maybe 5 folks who claim they can see auras and each time I was told either my aura's battery's run down, or somewhere back in the garage waiting for parts. I even dated a Clinical Psychologist for two years; she told me I have roughly the same complexity as a saltine cracker. When it comes down to hearing "What's wrong? You should just know what's wrong!" well, you may as well try getting an answer from a traffic cone.

I also hate being cornered and forced to listen to other peoples' favorite songs because I already know I'll like my favorite songs better... but ballooning around the blog-o-sphere yesterday I found Jewel's 1000 Miles Away.

Looking back on the 56 or so of my relationships that have ended so badly, 1000 Miles Away best relives what it's like waking up at 3 AM and feeling like you've been abandoned on a forgotten planet ... and the total unfairness of suddenly realizing you've been in love alone.

Don't worry, I'm gonna snap myself out of it before The Jerry Springer Show comes on in a little bit. In the meantime I've got a full box of scented Kleenex ready beside the keyboard so here we go with today's playlist:

1000 Miles Away (acoustic live) - Jewel
Ball and Chain - Big Brother and The Holding Company
I Been Loving You Too Long - Otis Redding (Live at Monterey preferred)
Come Live With Me - Ray Charles (very hard to find; try Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers Live at Carnegie Hall instead)

Special Papa Ridgeback Growl-Out today to My Boy Brent - it's his last day in Greenville.
Brent, this one's for you: How Many More Times - Led Zeppelin

Unravelling the Hanso Foundation

The secret founder of the Hanso Foundation is Shankar Haran.

In Hindi, words sounding similar to "Shankar" include values, correction, an improvement, purification, an embellishment, a refinement, and education.

Similar-sounding words to "Haran" are removing, carrying off, seizing, taking away, plunder, ruin, destruction.

Just sayin'.

ps. Does anybody know if next week is a repeat?

My 50" Vertical Leap

This morning in Anderson County around 9:51 AM if you happened to hear what sounded like a 200-pound goat screaming as though its horns were being re-shaped with a John Deere chipper you can relax ... that was just me trying to do some ironing.

I only needed about 4 seconds of ironing to learn:

1) The handle is the only part of an electric iron that doesn't get extremely hot ... and if your fingers go anywhere near the hot part your skin will stick to that part, and stay there
2) I do have a 50-inch vertical leap - it's amazing
3) I can pronouce words I don't recognize
4) I can dance. I can dance!
5) I really need to pay more attention around household items that bite

Glad to say I never said any bad words, not a single one ... maybe because I didn't know any that adequately expressed the incredible sensations my thumb began sharing with me. Now I've got a blister the size of Rhode Island and I'm scared to go near the iron, not even to unplug it or retrieve the pants (they probably didn't need ironing in the first place).

I've decided ironing is Bad Mojo ... and Real Men should have nothing to do with it.

LOST: Housekeeping Back at the Shaft?

For all the Losties out there who're still reeling from last night's Reservoir Dogs-like climax, here's some ideas about why the bloodletting was bound to happen:

1) Fewer characters means a tighter plot, and fewer loose ends to tie up
2) Ana Lucia's unpopularity meant her departure was welcomed ... and long overdue
3) Lower production costs (i.e. actors' salaries)
4) Nobody really believed the romance between Hurley and Libby was plausible
5) Now we've got to be concerned about the nature of Michael's determination to find Walt
6) Maybe Walt isn't really Walt anymore ... he's the "Other Walt"

What's stressing me the most is whether we'll ever find out the real reason Libby happened to be sharing space-time with Hurley back at the institution. Libby's eyes always kinda hinted she had that replicant thing going on. Her irritating preoccupation on the beach with picnic details like blankets, drinks, etc. certainly suggested OCD tendencies ... and that can be a bad thing when you're stranded on an uncharted tropical island for the duration.

While we're waiting for the emotional fallout to spread further angst over the island, today's playlist is dedicated to Walt's still-missing son Michael ...

So Far Away - Carole King

The Loudest Band of All Time?

I was putting together today's playlist and for no reason at all thought of a band from back in 1968 that promoted itself as "the loudest band in history."

After googling around a bit I learned that Blues Cheer guitarist Leigh Stevens and bassist Dickie Petersen cabled between 8 and 10 100-watt Marshall heads together, turned the volume to infinity, and kept on going until either their speaker coils caught fire or their amplifiers' tubes exploded.

Blue Cheer played so loud drummer Paul Whaley nailed his drum kit to the stage floor to keep it from vibrating away. There's one article indicating Blue Cheer had to cut their show at Chicago's Kinetic Playground short because the rearmost wall farthest from the stage cracked floor to ceiling due to the vibration ... and that a number of people had already left the show with their ears bleeding

I'm guessing that was some serious volume.

Today's playlist includes Blue Cheer's 1968 AM radio hit:

Summertime Blues

* * * * *

That wasn't much fun, was it? Let's switch over to Enya, and give our ears a break.

Shepherd Moons
Storms in Africa
How Can I Keep from Singing?
Na Laetha Geal M'oige

Na Laetha Geal M'oige gets better with every listen ...

The Rules Were Different Then?

Remember what Einstein said about travelling at the the speed of light ... that you could never reach 186,000 miles per second, not ever, largely because (a) accelerating to light speed would require infinite energy; and (2) your mass would become infinite as you neared 186,000 mps?

Good enough for me, except for one thing. Physicists agree that in the first few nanoseconds following the Big Bang the universe expanded much, much more rapidly than Einstein's speed of light limitation allows ... unless of course you've got infinite power at your disposal.

Hmmm ... have scientists ever explained where that infinite power following the Big Bang came from?

Several years ago I asked a physics professor friend about this. He explained, "The rules were different then. Time as we know it didn't yet exist."

Really? Or maybe there's another explanation.

"From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can oppose what I do. No one can reverse my actions." Isaiah 43:13 [NLT]

"I am the LORD, and I do not change" Malachi 3:6 [NLT]

Science may allow itself a bit of fudging to explain incongruities ... but The Creator is without contradiction.


Today's playlist is way out there. Way, way out there. Don't let the moonbeams hitcha.

Kelly Watch the Stars - Air
Shattered In Aspect - Faith and the Muse
Angel's Breath - Sky of Grace
Flying and Floating - Paul Avgerinos
Mastodon - Steve Roach

Don't Read This If You're A Clemson Fan

Feels just like fall today, doesn't it?

Fall reminds me of football. College football. And Steve Spurrier's gonna be starting another exciting year coaching the Gamecocks. That's good news if you're a Carolina fan.

There's good news on two fronts for Clemson fans:

1) Spurrier's First Annual Tiger Thrashing Series doesn't start until November 25 - that's almost seven months away ... plenty of time to dump those season tickets on Ebay

2) Team-rowing, Badminton and Competitive Gardening are still wide open in the ACC

If you're a Clemson fan and read this after being asked not to:

Ok ... Smile Now and Have A Great Monday