I have started a new blog. Check out www.retrovideogameszone.blogspot.com for info.

OH YEAH!!!!!!

Retron 3 baby! http://hyperkin.com/index.php/retro-system-retron3.html/

Nintendo

OK, so I purchased an old school Nintendo about 2 months ago at a garage sale. I have already amassed about 100 games for it and I have been playing the crap out of it. I have discovered that the games that I thought were really hard back in the day are now very easy. I plan on reviewing games here. Saty tuned for more.

Pirate Radio movie review

OK, so Piper and I (and Andrew) saw Pirate Radio last night. Overall a good movie with some humor thrown in. The movie was based on a true story of a pirate radio station in 1966 that was playing rock and roll music in the north sea off the coast of the UK. The movie focused mainly on an 18 year old male character who was looking for his real dad and trying to lose his virginity. It didn't really cover a lot of the radio aspect though. If you going into the movie looking for a technical side of radio or even an operational side, forget it. They do show the wire antenna on the mast of the ship several times during the movie. They also refer to the 203 meter band several times where they are transmitting. Like I said overall good movie but not really that much about radio.

Jason Style Chili

OK, so Jamie shot a deer and got like 40 pounds of ground venison. What better to make than my famous (locally) deer chili. I made it about 6-8 months ago and forgot the recipe. This time I used a recipe online and heavily modified it to my liking. I made up a batch the other night and it was awesome! I am going to make up a batch today. This time I wrote down the ingredients and directions for future use. Some of the ingredients are a bit odd but trust me, this chili is the best! Steer clear if you are a vegetarian though as it has 4 pounds of meat in it. :) Here it is in its full glory:

Jason Style Chili

Ingredients:

- 3 Pounds of ground meat – Venison is best! (If not using venison use 2 pounds of hamburger and 1 pound of ground pork)

- 1 pound of bacon – Smoked is best

- ¼ cup of honey

- 1 can chili beans in mild sauce

- 1 can dark red kidney beans

- 2 cans of stewed tomatoes 14.5 oz

- 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

- 1 Vidalia onion finely chopped

- 1 Lime

- 1 teaspoon of Angostura bitters

- 1 cup of water

- 1 bottle or can of 12oz beer (I use Labatt Blue)

- ¼ cup of olive oil (you can use vegetable oil also)

- 3 tablespoons of chili powder

- 6 beef bouillon cubes (or 2 tablespoons of instant beef bouillion. Cubes are better)

- 2 tablespoons of cumin, ground

- 2 teaspoons of paprika

- 2 teaspoons of oregano leaves

- ½ teaspoon of coriander, ground

- 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa

- 1 teaspoon of hot sauce(this will not make the chili hot, trust me)

- 1 teaspoon of cornmeal

- 1 teaspoon of flour

- 1 teaspoon of warn water

Directions

Step 1 – Cook the bacon. Personally I like to fry bacon because I like my bacon kind of soft, not real crispy. To stick to the recipe, fry the bacon and drain the grease. If you really want it crispy then bake it in the oven.

Step 2 – Peel and finely chop the onion and the garlic cloves.

Step 3 – Brown the 3 pounds of ground meat. Halfway through the browning process, add your onion and the garlic. If you are using venison then you shouldn’t have to drain the grease because there normally isn’t any. If you are using hamburger / pork then drain.

Step 4 – Get your large pot out (not the doobie kind). I use 5 ½ quart / 5.2 Liters. This size works good.

Step 5 – Take the bacon and tear it up (not eat it, unless you took out the wrong pot). You can usually rip a piece of bacon into 4 or 5 one inch pieces.

Step 6 – Put the bacon, ground meat / onion garlic mix into the pot.

Step 7 – Add the beer (no tasting!), water, honey, both cans of beans (do not drain the juice from the cans of beans), olive oil, honey, bitters, both cans of stewed tomatoes (also do not drain), chili powder, bouillon, cumin, paprika, oregano leaves, coriander, unsweetened cocoa, juice from one lime, and hot sauce.

Step 8 – Stir everything together really well (colorful huh?).

Step 9 – Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered for 2 hours. (Stir well every 15 minutes or so).

Step 10 – Get a bowl (again not that kind) and stir in the warm water, cornmeal and flour.

Step 11 – Stir the mixture into the chili and cook covered for an additional 20 minutes (stirring once).

Step 12 – Enjoy! If made right, this will be a great chili that everyone can enjoy. It will be somewhat sweet and somewhat spicy, but not hot. I like to add hot sauce and shredded cheese to mine!

Update - I am still alive

OK, I haven't posted in a loooong time. I am still alive for all who care. I am sitting here at 2:42 PM on a Sunday sipping a pear vodka martini (it is very good). Anyways, a few things have changed in my life. I got a promotion at work. I have been promoted to the assistant manager and work in the office 99 percent of the time now. I do a little of everything around the office. Medical billing, customer service, accounts receivable, network admin, webmaster, and all around computer geek guy to name a few. I guess I saw it coming since I was pulled off the road from doing deliveries in late March and was instrumental in implementing our new billing system. I also helped with the conversion process from unix to windows sql database platform (groan). Anyway, that is boring stuff. We got a new vehicle, 2009 Jeep Compass and traded in the 2001 Blazer (cash for clunkers). I am also the manager of Andrews fall peewee baseball team. We held a practice yesterday and these kids are awesome. 6, 7, and 8 year olds that are all super interested in baseball and are really good. They were automatically shifting for left handed hitters and everything! It is a lot of fun. There are 7 games total for the year. Anyway, that pretty much sums it up. Jamie is going into the 8th grade and Andrew going into 1st. I have been really busy at work and so has Piper. She got her CNA license and has been working crazy hours. We are all good and the future is looking up!

? and the Mysterians

The original

...and


The 1998 version! :-)

Andrew's talent show

Beers and cheers to uncle Chuck aka Chiggins

I didn't know you too well.. but you were a decent person in my eyes. Cheers.

You were a giving man. Thanks for the memories.

Now that the election is over...