please stop hugging my kid
PA was great. For some reason our Thanksgiving visits always seem to be extra fun. We left in a driving snow flurry, but for some reason the roads weren’t being treated or plowed so the pavement was completely covered for most of Rhode Island. Reen suggested that the folks in charge didn’t want to cover holiday pay to get the plows out. After an hour or so of doing 35 in single file the snow turned to rain and the drive quickly improved.

Turkey dinner was great and included cheesy potatoes which are normally Christmas fare. What a treat. On Friday evening Reen and I went out with Mom and Dad for dinner at Speckled Hen where I enjoyed a Scotch egg and a fine dinner. While we were at dinner however, the rest of the gang was back home preparing the house for the surprise party which was planned for Mom’s retirement. It was a total surprise and good fun. It even included a retirement song, written, produced and starring TT, with the O’Neil chilluns performing in support.

Saturday saw the womenfolk head in to NYC and leave Mike, Dad and me to look after Fiona which was great fun. We ran some errands around town which provided an opportunity for me to steal Fiona away from her Granddad, at least for a little while. It took me some time to figure out why people were holding the door open for me and generally being polite. Such are the perks when you are carrying the queen of the castle around. We had BBQ for lunch while we were out and towards the end of the meal we were surprised to see a manic little girl putting the squeeze on Fiona as she sat trapped in her (is it height chair or high chair!?) thing, unable to get away. This girl was like an overzealous lamprey, leaving Mike leaning across the table with his hand pressing against her chest trying to separate her from his daughter, saying “Please stop hugging my kid!” After this wrestling match had lasted for about 2 minutes, the girl’s mom finally noticed what was going on and put her child back in her carrying case. Ah, the holiday season is wonderful, isn’t it?

And back on the homefront...my current setup for smoking sausage is a pain in the ass. Depending on the temperature and wind outside, the amount of heat needed to keep the proper temperature in the smoker can vary quite widely. And after the initial smoking period (usually 2 hours) you want to raise the temp in the smoker by about 30 degrees, which can be difficult with charcoal. My current system is to start a large charcoal fire in the base of the weber grill and then transfer some of the charcoal into the bottom of the smoker. But the fun doesn’t stop there. If it’s warm out and you only need a small fire in the smoker, it can be so small that it doesn't properly smolder the wood chips and so you have very light smoke. Which is bad, mmkay? On the flip side if it’s cold out, the fire can be so large that the chips will skip the smolder and just burst into flames. This isn’t good because the smoke is different from the full combustion to say nothing of the fact that your chips are all used up much too quickly and the burning chips can raise the temp in the smoker higher than you want it to be.

With that as a little background info, I happily share with you the news that I’m set to take the plunge and migrate from charcoal fueled smoking to propane. I’m pretty sure that I can get away with this for under $50, and if it brings down my smoking time from the 4-5 hours it takes now I’ll be very pleased. The idea is that your heat source becomes a propane burner which you set a frying pan on. The chips go in the fry pan and don’t burn because they are not in contact with the open flame. And you can easily adjust temp in the smoker by simply turning the valve on the propane tank. I will be making Kielbasa and Andouille in the coming weeks for the holiday season (mmmmm…..gumbo) so I’ll be sure to let you know how this plan works out.  2 comments

break dance fighting
i finally got to see You Got Served after almost renting it a few times. And yes, it totally rocks. In the best traditions of Bring it On and Drumline, this is another movie that is so filled with poorly written teen melodrama that it’s an instant classic. And what’s better is that after looking the movie up on IMDB just now, I see that the girl’s name isn’t Leah, but rather Liyah. Didn’t I tell you this movie is awesome?

We’ve taken the first tentative steps into the world of painting. Spurred on by tales of Pete and Susanne’s success at their new digs, we brought home some paint samples from Home Depot on Saturday morning. So now we have 3 reddish squares painted on the wall around the fire place. The 3 colors have small differences on the color card thing but look almost identical when up on the wall. In direct natural sunlight you can tell them apart but with indirect or lamp light they seem identical. I guess we’ve picked one so the next step is masking tape and drop cloths I suppose.

I cooked my first dish from the Les Halles cookbook which I bought a few months ago. It was a braised pork roast and came out quite well. Believe it or not, this may be the first time I ever cooked with leeks. I know that can’t be true, but I couldn’t recall when I last did. I also got to use my stick blender for the first time. This is one of many wedding gifts which had sat unused at Reen’s folks’ house since June 2002, but is now home with us. I served pumpkin risotto as a side.

Heading to PA for Thanksgiving on Thursday morning. Happy Turkey everybody!  0 comments

birthday weekend
the Revs lost the final 1-0 to LA in overtime. This is the same thing that happened in ’02 except that year the game was at Gillette, overtime was sudden death rather than 30 minutes and the Revs were just happy to be there. They’d played a mediocre season and getting to the final was a win-win situation. But when you have the best season in club history and are playing the 4th place team in the West (who’s record would have seen them miss the playoffs altogether had they been playing in the East), well that’s a game you expect to win. And yet it didn’t turn out that way.

Donovan had some chances but was generally handled pretty well. Matt Reis and the defense had a pretty good game in the back. The front 8 players however just seemed lost out there. Constantly second to every ball and not able to string simple passes together, the offense was just terrible.

So the best team in Revs history didn’t seem to show up to play in the championship game and that is a bit painful. But what’s worse is the guys on the winning side. Foremost among them is head coach Steve Sampson. Steve was once the Chosen One of US Soccer and the first US born coach to qualify the US for a World Cup, losing only a single match during qualifying to gain entry to WC 1998 in France. Following that successful run-up to France ’98, Sampson proceeded to cut long time team captain John Harkes from the squad, change the on field formation to the infamous 3-6-1, bench veteran defender Jeff Agoos (who burned his uniform after the tournament), reduce other team veterans to substitute roles, start 2 virtual unknowns in the midfield and lose all 3 matches of group play (including a loss to Iran) while only scoring a single goal and finishing last out of the 32 teams entered.

Couple this with the fact that the guy is an egomaniacal asshole and has never admitted fault for France ’98. He was given the LA job last year, with the Galaxy firing their coach despite the fact that they were in 1st place in MLS at the time. Then at the start of this season he had the best player in the US (Donovan) fall into his lap because Landon wanted to play in LA so the league let him go there.

To have this odious know-it-all douche bag be vindicated somehow by winning the league championship is just a bit much to swallow right now. There’s more to it too, like having the player with the worst shots/goals ratio in the history of MLS (not hyberbole) score the lone goal in the match. This friggin’ guy (el Pando! Ramirez) had literally become a running joke in the league. Once trumpeted as the next great talent from Central America, it became great sport to watch him take shot after shot from long range and never, EVER put the ball on target let alone score a goal. He scored his only goal in the regular season on a penalty kick where he hit the post but the ball ricocheted across the goal mouth, off the keeper’s back and into the net. He hadn’t played a single minute in the playoffs after having finally been benched towards the close of the season. I actually said to Reen “Oh good” when they showed him being subbed into the match. And so what happens? He scores a really nice goal on a volley from outside the box in overtime. Super.

So we’re left to suffer the "Pando-monium!" headlines and wish that it had turned out differently. Now here’s the good news: Preseason starts February 20, getting to MLS Cup qualified the Revs for the regional club championship tourney in March, yesterday Reen and I bought our season tickets for next year and MLS Cup 2006 is scheduled for November 12. Could be a special Happy Birthday next year…..



…much like my happy birthday this year. We had a fine time up in New Hampshire. It was about a 3 hour drive to Ashland, NH and the B&B Reen had booked us was really nice. Most of our time was spent reading, driving around the Squam Lakes and Lake Winnipesaukee and eating. We were introduced to the persistent presence of the Common Man Restaurants throughout central NH. It seemed that we couldn’t go anywhere without seeing one of their establishments. Luckily they serve some decent food, so it’s not a bad thing. We also had the pleasure of meeting Snickers, which was the horse I rode on Saturday. He seemed mild mannered enough, gnawing away at the fence rail when I first met him. While adjusting my stirrups, our guide explained to me that old Snickers had been acting funny lately and that I shouldn’t let the other horses get too close behind him on the trail. “Watch his ears,” I was told “and get him moving if they start to lay back because that means he’s about to kick.” Riiiight. I’ll keep an eye on them ears. Snickers was fine in the end and the ride was nice enough. We basically walked single file along the trail, some of it with a nice view of the Mad River as well as the brief jaunt along the side of I-93 for a little free advertising.

Our time was very relaxing and good fun. The guy Jim that runs the Glynn House is really nice and did a fantastic job at remembering everybody’s name and other details. I was very impressed.

In addition to the getaway up north, Reen also hooked me up with a mandolin style slicer which is a fantastic addition to our kitchen. I will have to whip up some potato gaufrette as a thank you. Many thanks to Pete also, who I am told provided some top notch research assistance.  1 comments

three things
So this is a big weekend.

Firstly, the Revs will play for the MLS cup on Sunday. 3:30pm, ABC. While there’s always the chance of another dyslexic word fight, this game should actually be pretty entertaining. The Revs are almost universally favored over the Galaxy, but it’s hard to say what will happen with Donovan on the other side of the field. He’s probably the only player in MLS who can single handedly take over a game for his team in a Larry Bird sort of way. The best case scenario would see the Revs midfield choke off service to the flashy front man so he has limited time on the ball. If you see Landy cakes coming back past midfield just to receive the ball, then things are looking good for the Revs. If he is getting the ball anywhere near the Revs’ goal with some room to run, then all bets are off.

Secondly, the US plays Scotland at Hampden Park in Glasgow. The game is just a friendly but should be entertaining nonetheless. Scotland failed to qualify for Germany 2006, but had a strong run of form at the end of qualifying following a coaching change. Meanwhile, this is one of the few remaining matches where the fringe players for the US can make a case for their inclusion in the WC squad. At some point early next year, The Bruce will have to stop looking around and finalize his choices for who’s made the team and who hasn’t. This game is on Saturday morning, 11am on Fox Soccer Channel.

And thirdly, my 30th birthday is on Saturday. We are taking Friday off and Reen has arranged a weekend in NH at a B&B. We will go horseback riding on Saturday, which we hope will be a bit better than our experience on the flea-bitten mountain ponies we rode in Mongolia. There are also plans for some hiking and good eating. It’s going to be a might chilly up there, but it should be a really nice time. I find myself remembering our few days in Santa Barbara a few years back. If it's half as nice as our time there we should be in fine shape.  1 comments

and then there were two
The game itself wasn’t noteworthy in a SportsCenter sort of way. In the 4th minute the Revs play a quick restart from about 40 yards out: pass into the box, muffed shot to the far post, a sliding Clint Dempsey knocks the ball in with his fanny. It’s hard to recall an uglier goal, but it served the dual purpose of putting the home team in the lead and making the whole Chicago back line look foolish, so it was alright with me. And that was how it ended up. 1-0 Revs. Eastern Conference Champs (2nd time in 4 years) and on to MLS Cup.

But of course something must have happened during the 86 minutes of the match which remained following the goal, and indeed it did. What was most interesting about this matchup on paper was that these two teams are among the few in the league who can actually stroke the ball around and give you some sense of what the phrase “the beautiful game” is all about. So where you might see a lesser team (or any Italian team) bunker in and throw 10 men behind the ball, content to defend the 1-0 lead for the balance of the match, we saw the Revs endeavor to play the same style that they have played all along. And Chicago must have felt that they had the entire game to nab the tying goal and it would only be a matter of time until they managed to break through.

What resulted was some sort of odd hybrid of a game, where neither team was able to gain the upper hand. It was like two dyslexics battling it out for the debate club title. There was plenty of passion, and each side clearly knew what they were supposed to do but could never put the pieces together and craft a coherent argument.

To be fair, a vast majority of this back and forth took place in the Revs' half of the field as Chicago dominated possession, especially in the second half. But that possession never translated into dangerous scoring chances. The best chances they had were always shots from outside the box, not from decisive passing to tear open the Revs defense. And when the Revs gained control of the ball they were consistently clattered to the ground by the Chicago midfield and defense. The persistent fouling was left largely unchecked by the officials and definitely served its purpose, allowing the Revs little time on the ball and hence no rhythm upon which to compose an attacking melody.

There was some drama at the death, where Chicago had a goal disallowed due to an offside call which thankfully, was correct. And we also saw Fat Zach Thornton (the Chicago goalie) charge into the crowd of Revs players who were celebrating at midfield just after the closing whistle. Early speculation suggests that the thought of missing out on a free trip to Pizza Hut Park was just too much for old tubby to handle.

The Revs will play the final against Landon Donovan this Sunday at 3:30pm. The game is on ABC.  0 comments

k v. d
I was recently reading through some of the testimony given by Dr. Michael Behe, the Lehigh biology prof who is a proponent of Intelligent Design and is serving as an expert witness for the defense in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (DASD) Case.

I realize that this stuff is quite boring, but if you’re interested, here are some of my favorite parts. Make of it what you will:

(1)
discussing the textbook Of Pandas and People which has been proposed as a reference text to be made available as a part of the Dover School District’s biology curriculum for 9th graders.
Q What did you review and comment on, Professor Behe?
A I reviewed the literature concerning blood clotting, and worked with the editor on the section that became the blood clotting system. So I was principally responsible for that section.
Q So you were reviewing your own work?
A I was helping review or helping edit or helping write the section on blood clotting.
Q Which was your own contribution?
A That’s -- yes, that’s correct.
Q That’s not typically how the term "critical review"
is used; would you agree with that?
A Yeah, that’s correct.

(2)
Q I just want to get it clear here, intelligent design is about cause?
A Well, cause is a broad word, and when you re trying to explain how something came about, you can say it came about for a variety of reasons. But intelligent design is one reason or one aspect or one cause to explain how the purposeful arrangement of parts that we see did come about.
Q Back to my original question. What is the mechanism that intelligent design proposes?
A And I wonder, could -- am I permitted to know what I replied to your question the first time?
Q I don t think I got a reply, so I m asking you, you’ve made this claim here, "Intelligent design theory focuses exclusively on the proposed mechanism of how complex biological structures arose." And I want to know what is the mechanism that intelligent design proposes for how complex biological structures arose?
A Again, it does not propose a mechanism in the sense of a step-by-step description of how those structures arose. But it can infer that in the mechanism, in the process by which these structures arose, an intelligent cause was involved.
Q But it does not propose an actual mechanism?
A Again, the word "mechanism" -- the word "mechanism" can be used broadly, but no, I would not say that there was a mechanism. I would say we have an aspect of the history of the structure.

(3)
The most interesting bit for me was the excerpt from a 1999 publication of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Renewal of Science and Culture (the main outlet for ID research), where Behe is a fellow. This article discusses a "five-year strategic plan" and describes the effort to stem the tide of “scientific materialism” which is fingered as the source of materialism in our society as a whole. I honestly have no idea what that means, but here’s what the article says should be done about it:

We are building on this momentum, broadening the wedge with a positive scientific alternative to materialistic scientific theories, which has come to be called the theory of intelligent design. Design theory promises to reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist world view, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions.

For me this is scary stuff and not remotely connected to reality, but there it
is. Behe’s response to this being brought up was simply that he didn’t write it,
didn’t know who wrote it and didn’t much care that it came from his Center.  2 comments