Chef Mike does it again

There was a repeat performance from Chef Mike for Friday (shabbat) dinner. The dish was a cottage pie and the inspiration came from a Rachael Ray TV show. Cottage pie is a traditional English dish made with minced meat covered with a mashed potato crust. The lamb version is often called shepherd's pie. Thank you Wikipedia. It was excellent. Better than I could have done. I think we are onto something here!!!

Carpe Diem.

What do I miss?

I have a lot of time on my hands right now to consider lots of things. So what do I sometimes think about? Flying. The very earliest that I can be considered for returning to flying status is August 2009. That date may even slide further.

So what do I miss after doing this for nearly 28 years and almost 14,000 hours of flying?

1. The spectacular view from my office window.
2. My close (fellow pilot) friends.
3. The meals and sightseeing with these friends in different locations around the country.
4. The challenge and excitement of flying wonderful planes.

What don't I miss?

1. The commuting to work with all the associated headaches.
2. The yearly checkrides and twice yearly physicals.
3. Being away from home half my life!!!
4. The stress of flying in really stormy weather.

I know there are lots more points I could include in each category. Suffice to say, I am incredibly proud to be working (temporarily indisposed) for such an amazing company as UPS. I am confident that they got a good deal when they hired me in February of 1988.

So what to infer or make out from this diatribe. Nothing much. When decisions have to be made considering my career and my future I will make them with the best possible information at hand and the most comfortable feeling in my heart.
Carpe Diem.

My epiphany

During the lowest of lows for me, and on one of my many conversations with my family, I had an epiphany. Big word huh. I have kept it relatively quiet all this time but now feel the time is right to mention it on my blog. Don't ask why.

One evening we watched a news show about this orphanage in Cambodia. The next morning, during a long conversation with Russ, I told her what I want to do. I wanted to start an orphanage in my home town of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Taking care of AIDs orphans and abandoned babies. Quite an undertaking. My rational was simple. Even though the situation is currently dire in Zimbabwe (and the political situation is much the same), it matters not to the babies. What do they care about ZANU PF or the MDC or for that matter, inflation. What they understand and feel is that they have no food or shelter.

My family has been tremendously supportive about this passion of mine and I know it is doable. I know there are needs everywhere, including here in the USA. But in all honesty, who cares about Zimbabwe? I do!

I am currently working on this project with my families complete support and the help of some incredible friends. I will keep you all up to date. Unfortunately, it's a long process.

Carpe Diem.

Minor head carving

Sorry to get so personal with all of you but................

This morning I had a "blemish" surgically removed from my forehead just above my left eyebrow. I will know the pathology in about 10 days. I am sure all is ok. Nothing sinister. Besides, I am all "sinisterd" out.

My bi-weekly blood work came back just fine. Yes, I do have blood and yes, it works. All the tests were within normal ranges.

I also went for my yearly routine hearing test and that was stable and normal also. It really is refreshing to get tests back that are stable and normal. Lets hope that this is the way of the future for me. Hey, it's either survivor (optimist) or victim (pessimist). I'll take the former.

Still "recovering" from that great curry dinner of last night. The hot wings tonight haven't helped. I must be nuts.

Carpe Diem.

Wednesday with Chef Mike

Mike was off school today so he and I did some stuff together today. Of course it included eating!!! Mike is quite the accomplished cook. He gets his ideas off the internet and goes with them. Today he decided on an Indian (curry) theme.

So first, we went to Chipotle for a Mexican lunch. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Then second, we went to Wegmans Supermarket and picked up all the ingredients that he needed to make the dishes he wanted. Quite an array of spices and herbs with papads (bread).

Thirdly, we stopped at Barnes and Nobles so that I could order my "Teach yourself Zulu" book. Zulu is very similar to Ndebele. The language spoken in my part of Zimbabwe. Why, you ask and what does this all mean? I will explain more and elaborate at a later time. Don't read too much into this. Suffice to say, I have a lot of time on my hands.

The dinner prep seems to be going well. Though the house does smell like the slums of Mumbai. I will let you know later how it all turned out.......................

Incredible! Papads, tamarind chutney, "green stuff' (sphincter burning hot), saffron rice and of course, curry. A really amazing effort but what a bloody mess in the kitchen. Oh well. The kid has talent. Now off to watch the debate.

Carpe Diem.

Movie Monday and "shitty" water

I did my bi-weekly blood work this morning and then stopped by Panera's to pick up some fresh baked bread. No, I'm not obsessed with food. Just starting to enjoy it again. Thank you steroids.

Diana and I went to see the new DiCaprio/Crowe movie called Body of Lies. I loved it and Diana liked it. None the less, two thumbs up. Well worth seeing.

Now the "shitty" water part. Our home has a well and septic system and some how our water became contaminated because of a hole in the well cap. We realised this after having our water randomly tested. How lucky. The well was sanitized (chlorinated), the home filtration system was serviced and the septic system was drained and serviced. Other than the chlorination, everything else was due now anyway. So, potential visitors, all is "well" in Adrian's water land. And no, no one got ill. Phew!!!

Carpe Diem or, should I say, Carpe toilet paper.

College Park visit

We closed the pool a number of weeks ago and decided today would be a good day to put all the summer garden and pool deck furniture away for the winter (there, I said it). The decks look bare. Oh well.

After a relaxing rest of the day we took Rob back to school. Mike came along so that he could see the campus at the University of Maryland, College Park for the first time. College Park seems to be high up on his list of potential schools for next year. It would be really nice and convenient to have both kids at this same school. Not to mention how reasonable the $$$ are. Rob gave us a quick tour of the campus after showing Mike her dorm room. Her two other roommates showed up during our visit and it was nice to chat with them all. We then dropped Rob off at the soccer field as she was refereeing a game that evening. She also plays on a women's and coed team. Quite a busy young lady!

At last, Mike and I were able to go and get something to eat. Diana and Robyn had eaten earlier. Mike and I (well mostly, I) attacked Noodles & Company with a vengeance. I then wrapped it up with a Dunkin Donut on the way home. No I don't weigh 300 lbs. yet!!!

Carpe Diem.

How the stock market really works.

This idea could have been originally formulated in Zimbabwe:

Once upon a time, in a village near Bulawayo, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each. The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out into the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands of monkeys at $10 and, as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort.
The man then further announced that he would now buy at $20 for a monkey.
This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their villages.
The man increased the price to $25 per monkey, and the supply of monkeys became so small that it was an effort to even find a monkey, let alone catch it!The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50!
However, since he had to go back to Baltimore on some business, his assistant would now buy on behalf of him. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers:
"Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected.
I will sell them to you at $35 and, when the man returns from Baltimore, you can then sell them to him for $50 each." The villagers rounded up all their earnings, dipped into their savings, paid the assistant, and bought all the monkeys at $35 each.
They never saw the man, nor his assistant, again … only monkeys everywhere!

Now you have a better understanding of how the stock market works. I thought this was so appropriate to what is happening currently in the global stock market meltdown.

Carpe Diem.

Action in the hood

Nothing like the police ringing your doorbell at 7 am. Apparently someone at our neighbors house (directly across the road) called in a "shots fired" to the police. It seemed like half the Baltimore police department showed up, tactical (SWAT) teams and all. In the end no one was hurt. So much for a safe, quiet and peaceful neighborhood. But in all honesty, our hood still has all these attributes.

Carpe Diem.

Rob's home

Rob came home for the weekend. Cool to have her home. She had a tough week at school as one of her professor decided to give an exam on Yom Kippur day. A tad unfair.

Lots going on today. Every year now I am required (strongly recommended) that I get a flu shot and a pneumonia shot. I had never heard of a pneumonia shot before, but non the less, I got one. No big deal. My flu shot is next week.

A noon massage and an afternoon haircut and I now look and feel maaaavelous. Just my opinion.

Oh yea. We have a well water problem. In a nut shell, our well water had become slightly contaminated because of a hole in the well cap casing. So after having the hole repaired we had to chlorinate the well. It will probably be a few days till the water is back to normal. This chlorination process gives a whole new meaning to bleaching your laundry!!!

Carpe Diem.