Question (Yep I'm still writing... well, maybe occasionally)

I know, I'm sure you thought I would probably never write again. But alas, here I am. Of course it is only fair... given that circumstances that you may not be reading this anymore. I get that. And I'm ok with it. But I've been pondering a question, and I think it would be interesting to find out what people think about it.

Yep, you guessed it... It's a dating question. Kind of a dangerous topic, and could easily take a turn for the worse, but I think it could be helpful, both to me and to those who respond (or perhaps not to either, but still...)
As a preface I have to say that I know I'm not a perfect dater, And I'm not entirely sure what I think the answer to this question is, or perhaps even what I think the answer to the other side of this question is. Though I have been giving it some thought, but for now, I'd kind of just like to hear what you think. whoever you are. Ü

So here's the question:
What is a girls role in dating? or if you prefer, what is her job, or responsibility, or any other words that seems to fit better (though I will say if you choose to answer a somewhat modified question, I hope you will share the question as well).

I welcome your thoughts.

We interrupt you're regularly scheduled programing

For a PSA

Ah, Who am I kidding,
There's no regularly scheduled programming,
Heck we're lucky if there's any programming at all.

But since my parents up and bought a car last weekend, I thought I would take a minute to share some thoughts on driving.

(the car is being built right now... if everything is going as it should be)

You're probably worse than you think.
Actually it has long been my contention that we are, as a society, not really very good at driving.
It would be nice if there was a drivers re-ed class, to break some of our bad habits and to remind us of some of the laws that we totally forgot shortly after our amazing Drivers-ed taught by Herr Corry.

Maybe you didn't have the Herr, maybe you don't know about grandma walking home with her ice cream.
But even if you did, and as good as he was, I still think a little drivers re-ed would be nice.

I was actually lucky enough to have such a course.
In fact it was mandatory for my short stint at the post office, and it was actually pretty useful.
So here are three simple things that I learned that may be useful to you as well... and of course may make the road a little bit safer for the new CR-V.

Ok here's a test. How fast are your reflexes?
I remember when I was younger, (perhaps not much, but some) I used to take a stopwatch and see how quickly I could get it from off to on, and off again. most of the time I could get it under a one tenth of a second.  But I controlled all the variables, and I knew it was coming.  In the real world it's not so smooth. First you have to recognize a problem them you have to respond to it.  And of course there's that other bit... The laws of Physics. No matter how quickly you can react to your situation, your car is not designed to stop on a dime. So most safe driving courses will recommend that you follow  seconds behind the car in front of you.  The post office recommends a four-second gap.   This may not seem like much, but try it sometime, it will probably shock you how far back you have to be. (To count pick a spot on the road or something by the road, and count from the time the car in front of you passes it until you get to it)  For inclement weather leave more space.  I can pretty much guarantee that this alone would greatly decrease the number of accidents.  For bonus points make the car behind you give you some space too. At the post office they told us to slow down if someone was crowding us. Almost every time the other guy would go around.

#2 Do you actually come to a complete stop?
I totally thought I did this the right way, until I took the Post office driving test. I guess old habits really are hard to break, I knew they'd be watching for it, and I still missed my complete stop more often than I should have.

#3 If you have to stop behind somebody, at an intersection for instance, leave more space. Ok, maybe you are doing this one correctly. But this is what they taught me. Always make sure you can see the bottom of the next guys tire. This will help you if they roll back, or if you get rear ended.... which you can't always control.
When you get ready to leave a read light give it a second or two (especially if you're in New York). Yeah people will honk, but it's better than running into the idiot that thought he could beat the light... Yes, that idiot may be me, but I almost always do beat the light, and I only go for it if I think it's my safest option.

Well that's all for now. I can't wait to see the new car. And hopefully the roads will be totally safe by the time it gets here. Oh yeah, and I want a unicorn, and world peace.

Bougatsa, I'm not posting it for you, I'm posting it for me.

This is close to my real recipe, but there are some differences.
I'll fix it some time when I... well have time.

Ingredients

• 4 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks), plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Zest from 1 lemon
• 3/4 cup fine semolina (preferably Greek)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 9 sheets phyllo
• 3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons butter, and lemon zest. Bring to a simmer over low heat. Whisk in semolina, and cook, stirring, until the mixture is thick, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat, and whisk in eggs, one at a time. Return saucepan to heat, and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 to 40 seconds, to cook the eggs. Remove custard from heat, and let cool to room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a small saucepan, melt remaining 2 sticks butter with olive oil; use some of this mixture to brush an 8-inch round 9 x 13 nonstick springform baking pan. In a small bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.
3. Stack phyllo on a work surface, cover with parchment paper, and top with a damp kitchen towel. Working with one sheet of phyllo at a time, place one of the corners into the center of the pan and gently press the dough so that it fits tightly in the pan. Lay the corner of the second sheet of phyllo into the center of the pan, slightly overlapping the first sheet of phyllo. Press the second sheet tightly into the pan. Lay a third sheet of phyllo in the same manner, covering the remainder of the pan (one layer of dough is now completed). Using a pastry brush, brush the phyllo with a generous amount of the butter mixture. Lightly sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
4. Place three more sheets of phyllo into the pan in the same manner, brushing with the butter mixture and sprinkling with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Repeat process again with the remaining 3 sheets of phyllo (you will now have completed three layers). Fill phyllo-lined pan with custard; spread evenly.
5. Working with one layer at a time, fold phyllo sheets toward the center of the pan. Brush generously with the butter mixture and sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Repeat folding, buttering, and sprinkling until all layers have been folded toward the center. Do not sprinkle the top layer as the cinnamon-sugar mixture may burn and darken the pastry. Prick all over with a fork, and bake, on a Silpat-lined baking sheet, until golden brown, about 1 hour.
6. Combine remaining tablespoon of cinnamon with the confectioners' sugar, and sprinkle over the surface of the phyllo when removed from oven. Let rest 5 to 10 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature.
   
   Pilferred Borrowed from  Martha Stewart Ü

1. A note about puff pastry.... It takes four sheets or two packages.
2. Note number 2.  Puff pastry hasn't worked as well for me I think I would try it on 400º but
3. i'm not exactly sure, but I'm guessing the cooking time would be less too.
4. 
   

Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur

I guess you could say that I'm an idea guy.
I like to think about things. I think about things that I need,
I think about things that others need,
and I think about things that people might want.
And sometimes I think 'you know I actually like that idea.'

So sometimes when I like an idea, and things start to come together I just go with it. Last fall I had one such idea. I decided our community could use a good game store. So I started the process of thinking it through. I was not really in position to do anything about it, but I thought it would be interesting to explore anyway.  Yes I know that game stores come and go. Yes I even knew that some had failed, but naturally I assumed they were doing it wrong. Not all wrong through, I know they got a few things right.

Well I approached a few business, and gave them my plan.
They seemed interested, but no one was really in a position to do anything,
and as they pointed out, they didn't really know much about the market for games.

Time passed, and circumstances changed.
I earned a little money, and I lost my day-job.
So with all my free time, and some of my spare change I started exploring my idea a bit more.

To make a not-so-long story short. I found a way that I thought I could make work.
I found a partner, and I ordered some board games. 

Yep I started a business called Brilliant Boardgames.
And presently I have 5 games for sale at Braun Books in Cedar City.

Right now my games are all from one company (Rio Grande Games)
which I think is a great company, and they have some amazing game.

Many of their games have won the Spiel des Jahres and other great awards.
I decided to start with five games that I thought would give us a good variety.

1) Dominion Intrigue -- Dominion was the 2009 Spiel des Jahres. Dominion Intrigue is an expansion to this game that can be played by itself, or with the original game. I honestly didn't think I would like this game... until I got addicted to it. It's surprisingly fun, and I see now why it was the game of the year.

2) Coloretto -- Is another great game.  It was the card game precursor to the 2007 S-d-J.  It looks likes it's just a good quick game, that adds a fun twist to liven things up.


3) Bohnanza  -- Bohnanza, or 'The Bean Game' as it is often called, was a 1997 S-d-J Recommended title. It's a whole lot of fun, and you can play it with a group.

4) Space Beans -- is a Bohnanza derivative. Conceptually this game is quite similar to Bohnanza, but you always give your left over cards to the person on your right (If your games get a little heated, this is a nice little mechanism that can temper the tempers. Ü).

And

5) TransEuropa -- You've probably never heard of this game, but if you've played "The train game" with me, we may have played a version inspired by it.  TransEuropa is the European version of the award-winning TransAmerica game (I know you've probably never heard of it either).  It's sort of like Ticket to Ride, but it plays a lot faster, because you don't have to pick cards. It's surprisingly fun, and much to my surprise it came with an expansion pack - SWEET!

So there ye have it. I'm now in the board game biz.  And if you know someone who is looking for something to do... there might be something new at Braun Books that would catch their eye.

Honestly the part that surprises me most : how much I enjoy this.
(yeah I still have moments when I think this is crazy (like when I'm working on my logo)) but I like how the projects all come together and I'm excited to see how it all plays out.

So wish me luck. And have a great day.

Put it all together and what do you get?

Soup for one.
Yep I got the soup and it was worth it.

I learned perhaps even more than I expected to, and I am now a professional onion stirrer.

He even asked us if we wanted to know any of his other soups. He taught the one that I was looking for, so I didn't think to ask him about any others... yes I have failed every one of you. I didn't not learn the secret of the Tomato-Basil.
Drat.

But I made some Cream of Corn Poblano, and my Dad said he liked the stuff that I made even more than the batch that I brought home.

Wow, it was tasty. I want to try some of the other recipes, but I'm going to give my self a little bit of a soup break first.

And then... um I think I'm having a movie night sometime this weekend maybe.
I have a bunch of redbox codes and they probably expire in about 9 days. So if you want to come, or suggest a movie, let me know any preference you may have.

Oh and there is one more thing.
I may be looking at creating a new gamestore/online resource, or something.
so if you have a few minutes, I'm looking for a name. If you have a great name I'd love to hear it, but I also have a survey you can fill out to tell me what you think of some of the names I have looked at.
there are a lot of them, and I have my biases, but I decided to included them all, I mean I may be wrong about which ones are best.
Game Name Survey


Oh and have I ever mentioned how much I dislike searching for a job, it stinketh.
W.

33 Random Thoughts for the 33nd Day of the Year

Man it's cold outside, I'm so glad I'm not a mailman today.

You may not know this, but I will almost never cross my legs with the right leg on top.

I got my 1099 from Amazon today category: Royalties, and I smiled.

Best advice I ever got at the post office, 'just be faster.'

Second best advice I got... when I asked how to deal with the snow "Find a relative with a 4-wheel drive vehicle."

Favorite new game that I got got for Christmas? Frank's Zoo


Favorite new game that I didn't get for Christmas Dominion... and I thought I wouldn't like it. Silly, Silly, me. What was I thinking? Apparently there are multiple versions like Rio Grande Games Dominion: Prosperity

I have on occasion been found riding a unicycle

I've been eating a lot more pizza lately.

I really like the Pizza cart guy, and his greek pizza is pretty tasty, not huge, but good. Midvalley pizza is not too shabby either, I mean it's not the best pizza in the world, but the Thincrust is pretty good. I usually get the regular crust, because it's more pizza for the buck. Well at least that was my story when I passed it everyday. Either way the guy at the shop would usually try to find me a nice big slice. Awesome.

But don't get a Soda, it's 91% Ice.

Almost every street in Enoch has these huge drainage ditches that cross, at well, almost every intersection. Blech.

Is the Bowling Alley's Burger really the best in town? Well I don't know about that, but after I all my sauces sufficiently covering it was really really good.

I used an iPad for a weekend once and it was crazy productive for me, I used an ipod for about a week, and it was not crazy productive for me, but it may have been circumstantial.

I want a cr-48, but I don't think I'm going to get one... I do however, like the idea of a little free data, and offline back-ups.
15

I am however going to get an update for may Mac, and since it's been a while, I'm super excited about it.

I forget how much I like water, well how much I like good water, yeah I can totally tell the difference.

Is a person a food snob if they just like good food? Sometimes I think I'm a food snob, and sometimes I think I'm just the opposite, I mean I'll eat just about anything, but only if it's good, I like multiple versions of a lot of dishes (though sometimes I do have to call them something different) but some food just isn't that good.

I'm glad I went to Egypt when I did. It doesn't seem all that safe anymore.

Basically I try to not eat the first or the last of anything, and I won't open a package, of say cookies, unless of course I bought them.

I watched the trailer for the new Bieber movie, and I couldn't stop laughing, I'm not sure it was meant to be a comedy, but it's pretty awesome. Ü

I bought some tire chains for my car so I could do my job better, but I bought them when the weather was ok, and it never got very bad again while I was there.

Why is it that a vocal minorities can do so much damage, but there rarely seems to be an equally strong movement on the other side to counter them.

I have mixed feelings about socks. I like warm socks, but I don't like dirty socks. I like that socks keep my feet warm, but I don't like the feeling that I've been wearing socks all day. I don't like trying to find matching socks... mostly only a problem on Sundays, and I don't like those little furballs that I find in my socks after they have just been washed.

I ruined one shirt and one pair of pants at my last job. I bought a pair of shoes, but now I think I need something that's a little less utilitarian.

I'm in a new testament class right now, and it's pretty cool. I had my reservations about any class that delves into Greek, but only half of them appear to be valid. The definitions the teacher provided us are actually pretty dang good, the pronunciation well it's... well it's the opposite of really really good.

Oh man it's almost midnight, I'm gonna have to add one to my list.

I'm excited to see Ken Jennings take on the computer on Jeopardy. Yeah, I'm totally going to watch that.

When I told a neighbor that I was thinking of making some iPhone apps with all of recently acquired free time, he leant me an iPod touch, so I'd have a better idea what I was doing.
I was at a minimum surprised.

I love Angry Birds. I hate Angry Birds. I can't believe how much time it can consume.

It bugs me so much when I hear the same song on the same radio station for the third or fourth time in the same day.

I really believe that ubiquitous free (or really cheap) internet is coming. Please come soon UFI.

And finally I'd like to thank Apple for introducing us to the mouse, and for helping us move beyond it, and google I love that you brought us ubiquitous free email. I remember when your 1 Gig sounded ridiculously awesome... actually I still haven't even filled my first GB and I almost never delete things now.

Life of a Letter Carrier: the Perils

When you start at the Post office, they warn you about some of the common things you might run into. Dogs, cars, thugs, and of course the occasional wasp or bee sting. On my first day out, I realized just how many dogs there were in the area. There are tons of them. But mostly they didn't seem to be a problem. The USPS provides it's letter carriers with some dog spray, but it not actually something you have to use much, sure... everynow and then you meet a vicious little puppy, but mostly, they're not too scary.

What really surprised me was the wasps. Almost every mailbox is seems has it's own guardian wasp. And they don't just sit back on the box, or hover around it... most of the time, they like to perch on the handle. Usually it was just one wasp, but occasionally I could tell it was bad news.

I never actually got stung, well not by a wasp anyway, but I was glad for the can of Spray that they gave me on many occasions.

My trainer warned us about the dangers of another kind of sting, but after the first week or so I thought it was a myth. The dreaded rubber band attack. We use a ton of rubber bands, and for the most part that works just fine, but every now and then one of them will snap. Usually this is mostly just annoying, but sometimes it is more. Especially when they hit your neck. Actually anywhere from the neck up is pretty disturbing. The first time it happens, you find yourself in shock. The first time it happens for the third time in a day, you're getting pretty perturbed. The secret is you don't know when it's going to happen. Sometimes I went weeks without a rubber band incident, sometimes it was minutes. Needless to say if someone warns you about a rubber band, you might want to listen... and perhaps hone your reflexes. Who knows maybe you can turn faster than it can strike.

I'm learning the secret soup.

Hey everybody, I just wanted to let you know that I am learning the secret soup. Or perhaps its the secrets of the soup.

Ok so here's the scoop,
The other day I was just sitting there, minding my own business, and I got this email. It was all about some upcoming food events in this area. Quite honestly most of them didn't really appeal to me, but then my eyes caught something. I saw a name and I was intrigued. The name was Jeff, and I happen to know that Jeff makes some of the best soup around. You've probably heard of his restaurant... the Garden House.

Well Jeff is teaching a special class on soups Feb. 18, from 4-6
and I decided that I really wanted to attend. So I signed up.
And now I am inviting you to sign up too. Not because I'm all about publicizing this, just because I think this is a great opportunity, and I think it would be fun to do it with a few friends.

Sign up through the Alive Utah South website
It's $35 dollars, but I totally think it's worth it. Hope to see you there. W