Stunningly Beautiful Weekend

This last weekend was one of the most beautiful weekends in recent memory. Again, it was clear blue sunny skies with temperatures between 75° and 80° - we even had a very gentle breeze meandering around the back patio.


Bobby and I didn't leave the house once... well, except two trips to the grocery store, one of which I walked, and stopped at Rite Aid and buy a single scoop of mint chip ice cream to eat on the walk back. Mmm.


We also did nothing of importance whatever. It seems that lately we always have things that need to get done, or places or events we need to go to. This weekend? We spent some time Sunday afternoon cleaning the garage and kitchen, and doing a few loads of laundry, but other than that we relaxed, had our meals on the back patio, drank wine, watched Michael Clayton, and played computer games. It was a much needed rest.


For lunch we had some pork tacos. Bobby absolutely loves my shredded pork (my mom informs me that it's not carnitas if it's not fried in lard or something), and since I've had some on hand fairly regularly he has been eating it for lunch almost every day. Still, he doesn't complain when I suggested it for lunch. I just pulled it out of the fridge and warmed it in a pan so that it would crisp up some. I also cooked some red pepper and onion strips in a tiny bit of canola oil, adobo seasoning, salt, and pepper until they had just softened a bit. Some simple white rice with adobo seasoning, and some flour tortilla's warmed on the grill and we had a quick lunch. Lunch al fresca was peaceful and serene.


For dinner I made the dreaded chicken - Bobby was none too pleased with my selection. So I did what needs to be done to make him like anything - lots of garlic. We finally had the green & yellow beans my mom brought me, and we reheated some leftover pasta from yesterday to finish.


Roast Young Chicken
1 young chicken
6 large cloves of garlic, minced or sent through a garlic press
1 tsp. kosher/course salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 tsp. herbes de provence
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 lemon, quartered


Preheat the oven to 450°.


Mix the garlic, salt, pepper, herbes de provence, and olive oil together. Pat the chicken dry. Rub the seasoning/oil all over the chicken and inside the cavity. Stuff the lemon slices inside the cavity and close it back up. You are supposed to tie the legs together, but I've never found that necessary. Inster a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh (not touching bone), and pop it in the oven until the thermometer reads 170° (about 1 hour to 1hr 15min).


Pull the chicken out and let rest for 10 minutes or so before carving and serving. Makes for a really juicy chicken.


Beans with Shallots
2 tbsp. butter
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
enough green (& yellow?) beans for 2 people (for me, this is alot), trimmed and snapped into the size you want
kosher/course salt


Melt the butter over medium heat and throw in the shallot and beans. Sprinkle with salt and cover. Stir occasionally and cook to desired tenderness. I like them crisper, so I pull mine out first, then cook them a bit longer for Bobby - he likes them pretty limp.


After dinner, Bobby and I sat down and watched Michael Clayton. Now that we have made it through all three available seasons of lost, we can get back to watching other things... until season 4 is out on DVD of course.


Here's the synopsis from RottenTomatoes.com:
Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is what is known in the legal world as a "fixer," or in the character's own pejorative version, a "janitor" who cleans up legal messes for VIPs and corporations on behalf of a prestigious New York City law firm. A former litigator, Clayton has found a niche that capitalizes on his legal acumen and shrewd people skills, and yet, after 13 years on the job, finds himself increasingly disgusted with his clientele. The film covers four pivotal days of his life, in which a midlife crisis and a crisis of conscience neatly converge when he is called in to "fix" a situation unfolding in one of his firm's hottest cases. Brilliant lawyer Arthur Edens (another powerhouse performance by Tom Wilkinson), representing a huge agro-chemical corporation being hit by a class action suit, has a bipolar breakdown, compounded by guilt over his defense of a company that is probably in the wrong, but is wealthy enough to buy its innocence either way. The company's CEO (Tilda Swinton) will stop at nothing to keep Edens from sinking the case. Clayton must decide how much of Edens's mad rebellion against the company is sheer mental illness, how much is true, and how much it will cost him to do the right thing. Clooney delivers a rich performance as a hangdog and haunted man who wants to stay on the side of good, but is a little too skilled at moral margin-walking to make that an easy choice in every situation. Swinton glows as a secretly frail Amazon who somehow won't let a tortured conscience prevent her from getting ahead. The final third of the film is as suspenseful as any courtroom drama, without ever resorting to legal-thriller cliches.


It seems they are making their synopses longer, oh well. Bobby thought the movie was "great," I thought it was "good." I particularly enjoyed some of the ranting of Tom Wilkinson's character. I like to hear the rants of people that use words that you don't hear often, like "patina." I know, I'm a dork.


Coupled with a little mango sorbet (for me) and vanilla ice cream with strawberries (for Bobby), it made a nice end to a beautiful weekend.

Aspiring Tech Product Reviewer

Remember the job that Tom Hanks' character gets in the movie Big? I need a job like that - but for tech products like smartphones and online services and stuff. I have way too many opinions about how products could be improved, but I'm not sure who to tell. I'd even review stuff for free, especially if I got to try it out for free.

Of course, some of my recommendations are going to conflict with the system in any case where the system benefits the producer or carrier at the expense of the consumer. For example - the whole business about cell phones tied to a carrier. I wouldn't mind if you were given the option of signing a contract in order to get a better deal on a phone, but the fact that the phone only works on a given carrier is absurd. If I bought it, I should have the right to decide how to use it, and I shouldn't have to find a way around the system to make it work. If I find I hate the service, I should be able to pay the severence fee and take my phone to a different carrier. I think all consumers want to be able to choose the phone and carrier they prefer, without the choice for one limiting the choice for the other.

But I personally think that in the long run, companies and products that best serve the consumer have a leg up in terms of competition. If the products and services were equal, the consumer friendly company should win out. (This is of course affected by the sheer size and resources of some of these companies, unfortunately).

My Blackbery Curve
After a little over a month with my Blackberry curve, I know a little about what I love about it, and what could use some improvement. For the most part, I love it and wouldn't trade it in right now, but there are a few things I would add or change.

Things I love:

The reasons people get Blackberries - having all my contacts, tasks and calendar entries with me at all times, syncing up with Outlook so I don't have to enter the information twice. Being able to check and send emails wherever I am.

I have a full time job, and on top of that I have some duties for Bobby's new business as well, so I have email addresses for both companies. I'm able to set up my email with his business on my Blackberry, and filter my sync so that only tasks marked with specified categores are synced. This allows me to keep my Outlook at work (which is where I sync, as Bobby has commandeered my laptop) focused on my job, and my Blackberry focused on my personal and side work stuff.

Blackberry Messenger and Google Talk. These work great - I wish everyone had a Blackberry because of the former, and I love that both show up in my Messages section. A conversation in either shows up as a single entry in Messages, so I can select it to open that chat window.

Google Maps with the GPS for this thing is fantastic. On our recent trip to Park City, I was the navigator. We were able to go anywhere without having to preplan.

But there are some little things I would change. Mostly little things that can be overlooked, but if fixed would drastically increase my satisfaction with the product. Some of it can be fixed with add-on software, but I'd rather it were great out of the box:

• This is my first time with a screen this big, so I didn't realize how much I would love having the Internet available to me. The EDGE network is on the slow side, so 3G would be nice - the faster the better.
• Also relating to the Internet - I wish there were a faster way to scroll down on some sites - a touch screen in addition to the scroll wheel would be lovely. I wouldn't want just a touch screen, because that makes it harder to use the phone single-handed when necessary. The addition of a touch screen would make games like solitaire easier too.
• AIM. There is no Blackberry version of AIM available for this phone. I have to purchase additional software to use it, but then it doesn't show up in my Messages like BBM or gTalk do. I would rather it did.
• I would change the way Tasks are displayed on the Blackberry. The sync is great, but I'd like to see the due date, or filter the view so that only current tasks show up, and a checkbox would be nice so I could mark them complete.
• The way it acts with Microsoft Exchange (although after further research I think it may be the way MS Exchange acts with it). We've just switched to MS Exchange at work, and if I set up my work email address up on my Blackberry, then as soon as the Blackberry checks my email, then my Outlook marks the emails as read. So even if I don't read them on my Blackberry, they are read in my Outlook. I come in each morning, and I have no new emails, but that's not really true. I've given up, and my work email stays at work for now.
• I wish I could set more than one alarm. At least two. I would like to keep my daily one the same, and be able to add an additional one for whatever reason.

I don't care about having a camera on my phone - it needs good lighting and I never use it anyway. If I want to take pictures, I'll use my regular camera. I'd rather have resources directed at these other issues.