Oh What A Night!

Boy it was some night last night. Char and I were working late at the store. I looked out the window at about 9:00 pm and said wow the lightening out south is looking pretty bad. I told Char, maybe she should go home and let the dogs out before a storm hits. We live about 15 minutes south of our store. Char left and after about 5 minutes, the sky opened up and dropped bucket after bucket of hail and rain. The winds were blowing so hard. all the leaves left on the trees were being thrown right off.

It was then that everything went black. A power failure! First a short one, then the power came back on, then another and another. The phone then rang and it was Char telling me she could not even see to drive. I told her to pull over and wait it out. Finally after about fiften mintes of what looked like the end of the world, it all came to a stop. I packed up what I needed and headed out while the gettin' was good. On the way home my cell phone rang. It was Char telling me it looked like a microburst hit our neighborhood.

When I arrived home, our metal gazebo had been pulled from it's stakes and thrown down on it's side about 5 feet from where it stood. Part of our fence was missing and our neighbors gazebo was laying in ruins behind our fence. What a mess! We had to pick up what we could and leave the rest for the weekend.

Name 3 of your...

OK, maybe I can get some participation from someone. You do not have to register to post comments. Do it anonymously. I have listed mine below. Name 3 of each of the blue titled items. I got this from another blog who got it from GwenWorld.

Name three of your…

Pet peeves:

Not using your turn signal to indicate a turn or lane change

Vulgar language in public.

Saying something about someone you would not say to their face

Favorite sounds:

Music

Birds chirping

Water gurgling

Biggest fears:

Spiders

Drowning

Getting cut with glass

Biggest challenges:

Staying sane

Paying bills

Keeping in touch with family and friends

Favorite department stores:

Marshall Fields

Sears

Target

Most used words:

Interesting

Cool

Too Funny

Favorite pizza toppings:

Sausage

Italian beef

Bacon

Favorite cartoon characters:

Scooby Do

Magilla Gorilla

Superman

Movies recently watched:

The Cell

Ginger Snaps

Cabin Fever

Favorite fruits:

Apples

Cherries

Strawberries

Favorite vegetables:

Asparagus

Zucchini

broccoli

Looks Like Rain

Took a couple of days off! Yesterday was a gorgeous day outside! I wish I could have enjoyed more of it. It was in the low seventies and the sun was shining!

Made a nice "Country Fried Steak" for dinner last night. Here's the recipe. Easy!

Ingredients:
3-4 Cube Steaks
1/2 cup flour
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 package of Lipton's Onion Soup mix

Directions:

• Heat up large skillet and melt butter in it
• Dredge cubes steaks in flour
• Place cube steaks in skillet, salt and pepper to taste.
• Cook until browned, 5-6 minutes per side
• Fill skillet with water until steaks are covered.
• Pour 1/2 package of soup mix
• Cover and simmer for 40 minutes

Serves 4

Goes good with South Beach Mashed Potatoes and a vegetable.

After dinner I went to go do an installation at a customer's house. I loaded up my vehicle with all my tools and I thought I better go to the washroom before I leave (it was a long ride). Well to make a long story short, I was zipping my jeans and the zipper broke! Yikes!!! I searched our store for a safety pin and found one. I pinned my pants together and left my shirt untucked. Not the nicest look, but It was better then having my fly open all night!

Watched a pretty interesting movie over the weekend - The Cell with Jennifer Lopez. I thought it was pretty weird, but what the heck I like weird movies.

Right now, I'm listening to:
Pure Moods - This is a new age type cd, very relaxing.

Daily Ramblings

I was just thinking of a tasty treat my mother used to make me when I was a kid. Fried Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches. Sounds gross, but it's actually pretty good. Make a standard PB&J sandwich, butter the outsides of the bread and grill it in a frying pan. Remove and eat when golden brown. CAREFUL that jelly can get pretty hot!

What I'm watching:

Movies: Ginger Snaps Wild movie about 2 teenage goth sisters and ones transformation into a werewolf. Not for weak stomachs.

TV: The Apprentice - I'm glad they voted Stacy off. She could not shut up and stop patting herself on the back.

Survivor - Sorry to see Lisa go. Rory is turning out to be a cleaver conniver.

Joey - At first I didn't have much hope, but this show is getting better.

What I'm listening to:

Paul Hardcastle - Cover to Cover

What I'm Reading:

Trace - Patricia Cornwell

What I've Been Doing!

OK, here is what has been going on. Yesterday I made a Coca-Cola Beef Roast. Not bad tasting, easy to make. I should have made gravy to go with it. My wife brought that up halfway through eating it. I made a quick gravy by adding some flour to the drippings. A little on the sweet side but tasty.

Finished watching a movie - My Little Eye which is a really weird movie (it finally gets good at the end, way to much time spent setting up the story) and finally finished Blow Fly by Patrica Cornwell. I was not that thrilled by it. I would have to rate it a 5 on a scale of 1 -10 for the Scarpetta series. She has done much better work. If you are a fan of Scarpetta, then it is a must read.

On my way into work today, I listened to Boz Scaggs - Other Roads on CD. Not a bad album. It's a older one, but a good one.

Tis all for now!

Here is a really funny political cartoon

This is a lot of fun. Turn your volume up (not too loud), sit back and enjoy.
This one goes out to John Sirridge in honor of his neighbor!

Jo's Attic

Cool Blog! Check it out!

Jo's Attic

Scary Movie!

Halloween is coming. What are your favorite scary movies of all time?

Mine are below:

Halloween
Friday The 13th
Nightmare on Elm Street
Dawn of The Dead (original)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Seven
Silence of The Lambs
Hitcher
Night of The Living Dead
House of 1000 Corpses
Cabin Fever

Where We Get Coffee?

What is your favorite place to get coffee?

Caribou Coffee Gloria Jean's Coffee Bean Starbucks Dunkin' Donuts White Hen Pantry Seatle's Best Other (put the name in comments if you want) I don't drink coffee, I drink tea!

Free polls from Pollhost.com

AlBrowne's Encyclopedia Of Coolness

Here's a interesting blog
AlBrowne's Encyclopedia Of Coolness

This is a new picture of my dog Jazzy. She was jsut groomed at the Cut 'N' Cuddle in Crystal Lake and she is looking cute with her Halloween bows. 

New Blog Stuff

I have now added a links section to the bottom of my blog. Scroll all the way to the bottom and you will see them. These are either places I like to go or friends/family of mine. Visit them, I think you will enjoy. I will try and add at least 2-3 a week.

German Spaghetti

OK, last night I made for the first time in my life an old family favorite - German Spaghetti. This is a special meal I remember from childhood and haven't had in maybe 20 - 25 years. Here is my interpretation of the recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 box spaghetti noodles
1 can tomato soup
1/2 lb of bacon
1 medium onion

Directions:

1. Dice onion, slice bacon into 1/2 slices.
2. Boil water for spaghetti.
3. In a large skillet, fry bacon for about 2-3 minutes.
4. Add onions.
5. Cook until onions are translucent.
6. Add tomato soup and 1 can water to bacon/onion mixture.
7. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
8. Cook spaghetti according to instructions on box.
9. Drain and rinse spaghetti, place in a bowl
10. Drain some grease from bacon/onion/soup mixture and pour over spaghetti.
11. The bacon/onion/soup mixture should be thin like a soup.
12. Serve with bread and butter and/or polish sausage or kiolbasa.

Serves:

3-4 people

Your Favorite Sitcoms

If you want to add a sitcom that is not on the list, click on comments and then Post Comments. You can either register with Blogger.com or click on the Post anonymously.

What is you favorite TV sitcom? If not here, put it in comments!
	Seinfeld
	Friends
	Happy Days
	All In The Family
	Cosby Show
	I Love Lucy
	Honeymooners
	Brady Bunch
	The Simpsons
	Cheers
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Hump Day

Do you like to cook? Have trouble keeping track of your recipes, want lots and lots of free recipes? If you answered yes to any or all of the questions above, check out this software.

Now You're Cooking!

I love this software package! You can keep multiple cookbooks, each one with hundreds of recipes. You can download recipes from the internet. The feature I like best is the screen import tool. If you find a recipe on the internet, you highlight the recipe and copy it. You then paste it into the screen import utility, select which lines are ingredients, cooking directions, etc and click on the import button. Whoosh! You know have the recipe in your own electronic cookbook.

I would suggest downloading this package and taking it for a trial spin. I think you can try it free for 30 days. The cost after that is minimal. You can even purchase a copy with unlimited upgrades. Very cool!

Fall is upon us

I feel the chill in the air, the leaves are changing colors and dropping fast. I found a wooly catapiller on the patio today. Is that some kind of sign? I hope not!

I downloaded the program Picassa from Google today. If you have not tried it yet, download it, it's free! It's great for organizing the photos on your PC.

Well I off to make dinner. I'm making steak and broccoli. Nothing fancy, but pretty tasty!

Beautiful Sunday

Sunday was a beautiful day. The weather was perfect. I woke up and made German style fried potatoes and eggs for breaksfast. To make the potatoes:

• Take 4-5 medium potatoes and slice them very thin like potato chips
• Slice one medium onion.
• Melt 1/2 stick of butter in a 12 inch skillet and add the potatoes and onion.
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cut 1/2 stick of butter into equal parts and place on top of potato and onion mixture
• Cover and let cook for about 20 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes
• WARNING - not recommended for heart patients or people on a diet ;-)

Helped my neighbor with her upstairs window. It leaks, so I ran a bead of silicone all around the edge. I how that takes care of it.

Ate lunch at White Castle.

We then proceeded to Sam's Club for provisions before moving on to Woodman's for weekly grocery shopping. Grabbed some sushi for dinner from Woodman's.

Crashed in front of the tv for the night and watched:

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

Desperate Housewives

The Surreal Life

Scare Tactics

My Top Ten TV Shows

1. Survivor
2. Apprentice
3. According To Jim
4. Everyone Loves Raymond
5. Queer Eye For The Straight Guy
6. Surreal Life
7. Extreme Makeover Home Edition
8. Still Standing
9. My Wife And Kids
10. Scare Tactics

These are in no particular orders. Let me hear what yours are?

David Bowie

Do you like David Bowie? Choose your favorite song below. All these songs are on the album above, so if you want to purchase it click on the link! If your song isnt listed, please let me know what it is in a comment.

Which is your favorite David Bowie song?
	Blue Jean
	Fame
	Young Americans
	Space Oddity
	Changes
	Suffragette City
	Rebel Rebel
	All The Young Dudes
	Golden Years
	Jean Genie
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Ed Gein and Traffic Musings

My wife and I drove into Chicago last night to visit my mother. The traffic going there was bad, but what was way worse was the return trip. We sat waiting at the toll booth for 30 minutes. Our governor wants to raise the tolls! I think they need to have some better planning going on. Since I have lived out in the far northwestern burbs (8 years), I have seen them expand the expressway at least 4 times. I could have saved them a considerable sum of money by telling them to do it 5 years ago. I don't need any fancy trending or logistics software, just plain common sense and driving around. Well enough of that topic. I had to get it off my chest.

This morning I watched the biography of Ed Gein on A&E. What a crazy guy. If you don't know about Ed, he was the inspiration for "Silence of the Lambs", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Psycho". This guy in Plainfield Wisconsin murderered 2 ladies and made clothing and masks from their bodies and dug up countless graves and made furniture and eating utensils out of them. You can read more about Ed in the book - Deviant. They have also made a movie of his life - Ed Gein. The human mind is very scary, isnt it!

Recipe of the Month

Recipe of the Month

FInally A Friday

Here is what went on yesterday! Busy day working, I sometimes work from home and boy oh boy it has been quite busy. Weather here is starting to get the fall chill in the air and the trees and bushes are changing colors.

I finished work up around 3:30 pm and went to Office Depot to pick up some print cartridges for our printer. We are printing out over 700 invitations to our "Customer Appreciation Day" at our store - Uncle Fat's Attic. If you are in Crystal Lake on Saturday, October 16th - stop on by for some refreshments and wonderful sales!

I then went to your store and Char and I started to decide what we wanted for dinner. We both agreed that a pizza from Georgios in Crystal Lake would be in good taste. So we ordered a medium Papa Georgios deep dish pizza. If you have never had a pizza from here, check it out. They have a takeout place in Lake In The Hills as well.

I am going to make a change today to my blog to allow people to leave comments without registering to Blogger.com. This was after hearing my wife complain about it. So please feel free to leave comments, just keep in mind I will be deleting anything in bad taste. Sorry, but I want this to be family friendly.

Hey folks, take my polls! I want your thoughts and opinions! Thanks!!!!

A Natural Art Gallery from CedarStump.us Woodcarvings and more

Here is a really cool website. This is my Uncle Denny's woodcarving site. He does fantastic work. Check it out! Makes for a nice Christmas present...

A Natural Art Gallery from CedarStump.us Woodcarvings and more

Is This The End Of Radio As We Know It?

How do you feel about Howard Stern leaving am/fm radio?
	I really could care less
	I am devistated
	I am excited, since he can now say what he wants
Free polls from Pollhost.com

look! cute little kittens! blogjam random kitten generator

look! cute little kittens! blogjam random kitten generator

405: The Movie

This movie is hysterical. Watch it, it's worth the wait.

405: The Movie

Who is Your Favorite Guitarist?

Who is your favorite guitarist?
	Eric Clapton
	Jeff Beck
	Jimmy Page
	Carlos Santana
	Peter White
	Slash (Guns N' Roses)
	George Benson
	Wes Montgomery
	Al DiMeola
	Other
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Just Another Day

• Watched a good movie the other day - Life or Something Like It with Angelina Jolie and Edward Burns. I enjoyed it. Last night I made some pretty good beef ribs. Beef ribs are usually tough and fatty and are sometimes called Country Ribs. Here is how I make them using 3 pounds of ribs.

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• Cut up 1 medium onion and 1 green pepper.
• Place 1 tbs of flour in a large roasting bag
• Salt & pepper ribs and place inside bag, along with onion and pepper
• Cut 6 1/2 inch slits in the top of the bag and place the bag in a roasting pan, tucking the open end under the bag.
• Cook for 1 1/2 hours at 350F
• Remove from the oven and pour 1 1/2 cups of your favorite BBQ sauce on them
• Place back in the oven and cook for 2 hours at 250F

They will fall off the bone. Serve with your favorite potatoes, here is one of my favorite recipes - Onion Roasted Potatoes and your favorite vegetable. You will probably want to put some more BBQ sauce on top after cooking.

The Official Dennis DeYoung Web Site

Are you a fan of Dennis DeYoung? Dennis was the singer/songwriter/founder of the group Styx. His music and his voice are out of this world. If you have never seen him live in concert with the orchestra, it is a must see!

Here is a link to his official website.
The Official Dennis DeYoung Web Site

Three must have CD's are:

Music of Styx:Live with Symphony Orchestra
10 On Broadway
Ultimate Collection

This is my oldest dog Tiny. She will be 15 years old this month. 

This is Joey as a little puppy.  

This is Kirby! 

This is my dog Jazzy 

Top Ten Romantic Songs

Here are my top ten romantic songs in no particular order. I could probably add another 20 songs to this list.... and maybe I will!


Europa - Gato Barbiari
Babe - Styx
Love's Theme - Love Unlimited Orchestra
Colour My World - Chicago
Look What You've Done To Me - Boz Scaggs
More Than A Woman - Bee Gees
How Deep Is Your Love - Bee Gees
Stranger on the Shore - Mr. Acker Bilk
True Love Ways - Buddy Holly
Ghost Box - Black Box (Yes, this is the group that had the dance hits in the 80's)

Trivia Questions:
What group originally did Europa?
Who was the founder/leader of Love Unlimited Orchestra?
What movie is "Look what you done to me" from?
What movie are the 2 Bee Gees songs from?
What group did Boz Scaggs play guitar for?

I Don't Like Mondays

It ended up we did go to Oktoberfest yesterday. Not a lot of German food. Gyros at Oktoberfest? We did however get a Polish plate that consisted of a Polish sausage, a stuffed cabbage roll, sauerkraut, 3 pierogies and a potato pancake. Not too bad, the sauerkraut and cabbage roll were way over-cooked and tasteless. The poorest part was the plasticware they gave you to eat with. I think they need to spend a little more money and get a little better quality. I was half way done eating and fork was practically useless. It;s tines were bent in every direction imaginable.

After eating we walked around the Fest and looked at the carnival rides for a while. We then went inside the Dole mansion for an art exhibit. The art exhibit was very nice. Everything from sculpture to weaving, paper art and painting.

Being done with Oktoberfest, we decided to take a run to KMart and pickup a couple of hanging plant pots. My wife Char was working all morning long on transplanting plants to larger containers and we were a few short.

I'd like to hear from some folks on this subject.

You are going to make a CD of 10 of the most romantic songs in the world. What 10 songs would you put on it? These can be old, new, instrumentals or vocals. Rock or classical, jazz, country or R&B. You name it. I'd love to hear from you!

I'll post mine in the next couple of days.

Cooking For Engineers: Recipe File: Grilled Pork Chops

Cooking For Engineers: Recipe File: Grilled Pork Chops

Cooking For Engineers: Test Recipe: Sauteed Zucchini with Mushrooms

Cooking For Engineers: Test Recipe: Sauteed Zucchini with Mushrooms

What I'm listening to and/or reading and/or watching

Here is what I am listening to:

Steve Miller Band - Young Hearts
Dash Crofts - Today If you like Seals and Crofts, I think you will enjoy this.
Van Halen -The Best of Van Halen Vol. 1
Here is what I am reading (fiction):

Blow Fly - Patricia Cornwell
Sandstorm - James Rollins I just finished this one. A little on the long side, but well worth it!
The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom A great read! Very quick and a great story!

Here is what I am reading (non-fiction):

Direct Marketing Techniques:Building Your Business Using Direct Mail and Direct Response Advertising - Lois Geller

What I am watching:
Cabin Fever

Other Items I feel are worth a look:

Dyson Vacuum for Animals
Fanthom Vacuum

Sunday is the day of rest

OK, Last night we went to a friends house for a dinner/birthday party. She had made the best pork roast I ever tasted. Mouth watering! Had some great conversation about vacuum cleaners. Vacuum cleaners! Yes, vacuum cleaners. We decided here are are favorites along with there ratings.

Rainbow - Fantastic
Kirby - very good, but a pain to work with
Electrolux - Great (I could not find a website for them)
Hoover - Very good
Dyson - Great
Oreck - Not very good suction, but very lightweight
Fanthom - Great suction. thats it!

When you have 4 dogs, 3 of which are very hairy - vacuums are a priority!


I watched a movie over the last few days that actually made me sick. The name of it was Cabin Fever. Now I love gross movies, but this one made me nauseous. I would highly recommend it if you look gross movies.

Checked my Ebay auctions and found one of my items had sold! Yippee!

Now we are trying to decide what to do today. It's a toss up between the Kane County Flea Market and the Dole Mansion Oktober Fest in Crystal Lake. I told my better half to ask her friend if she wanted to go to the flea market. If she does, then we will go there otherwise Oktober Fest it is!

Tune in tomorrow for the results!

PS
Two of my favorite tv shows are on tonight, check them out!

Extreme Makeover Home Edition on ABC
Surreal Life on VH1

It's a Beautiful Day

It's Friday, the weather is nice and I hate the drive into work. I work about 35 miles from my house (1 way). It was not a bad drive when I moved out to the boondocks, but everyone else decided to follow me out there!

Listened to some Steve Miller on CD. What the heck ever happened to him? What a talent. I switched over to Steve after listening to Howard Stern and having him piss me off again. I don't know why I bother.

Very busy day today at work. I write programs to create custom reports and data. I sure have my hands full today. Listening to WNUA light jazz. A great song is on right now - Peter White - Caravans of Dreams. I enjoy listening to smooth jazz at work, it relaxs me.

Reading a very interesting books by James Rollins - Sandstorm. He is one of my favorite authors. He has a website if you would like to learn more about him.
http://www.jamesrollins.com/

Here are some more of my favorite authors:
James Patterson - http://www.twbookmark.com/features/jamespatterson/
Patricia Cornwell - http://www.patriciacornwell.com/
Jeffrey Deaver - http://www.jefferydeaver.com/
Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child - http://www.prestonchild.com/default.htm

They are in no particular order.

I placed a new recipe on our businesses website - http://unclefatsattic.com/Recipe%20of%20the%20Month/October.htm

Very tasty! One of our customers baked it for us and I had to get the recipe. Try it! Yes, real men do eat quiche and like it! ;-)