TheCockSportif

Had someone told me a short, couple of years ago, that I'd get a perfectly cooked piece of meat (beef, pork, etc) by putting it in a warm water bath, in a plastic bag (Ziploc or vacuum-sealed), I would've laughed in their faces. Smoking, grilling, and pan searing had been my jam. But getting this sous vide contraption has been flat out great. Did a flank steak this past Friday. Garlic, thyme, olive oil, salt, pepper in a Ziploc bag; two hours in 134F water, then wiped down with a paper towel, and added to a screaming hot cast iron pan w olive oil and butter for 1 min per side. Perfectly done on the inside with the char that you want on the outside. Mind blown.

They used to play this a LOT on 97 Rock, and I would catch this most frequently on Fridays. Great track, tho! Fascinating track, and band. Alan Parsons didn't play that many instruments on this track, if memory serves, and the singer was from Pakistan (Karachi), which was rare for the time. (Some) people forget, also, that Alan Parsons was involved with production on a number of the Beatles' albums as well as with Pink Floyd.

So, regarding Top Gun: Maverick (TGM)? Exceeded my expectations, by far. Should you enter the theater with expectations in check, and are willing to suspend disbelief, then this movie will probably deliver for you. I enjoyed it immensely: camp, plot holes, and all. Not making a political statement when I say this, so seeing this highly entertaining movie during an extended time of national malaise, was a total gift. This is the first time that I can think of, in probably 20+ years, where a packed theater was clapping and laughing, and that moviegoers, who in some cases didn't know each other, were giving high fives. Great night, will see it again, and a must see if you enjoy escapist types of movies as much as I.

The keys, IMO, are two things: Competition, which should bring pricing down Upload speeds, which cable, unless you get a 400 mbps or higher package (which still sucks), is abysmal at Fiber gives you symmetric performance, for the most part. Not all people need it, of course, but I do, or at least it's preferable to have it, for work.

We're enjoying the new season of "Stranger Things" on Netflix. The premise of the season is hilarious because it takes all of the paranoia surrounding D&D in the 1980s, and combines this human-killing demon with a perceived possibility that -- a bunch of kids who were playing D&D actually conjured it.

In Maine, two things: (1) wings suck in general here, and (2) it's super expensive, like $20 for a dozen. And that majorly sucks to pay so much, in particular if you don't care for the end result. So, I've basically been shopping this sketchy Asian market nearby for wings, and they're cheap, like $3.25/lb (regular market is over $6/lb now). Then, in cold months, I cold smoke then fry then season. Or in warmer months like these, I dry rub, smoke (super heavy smoke, because...), and then flash fry. I'll make some dressings and so on, but we're both more satisfied with our results here than we are at any restaurant currently.

Correct re: cable. At least we're finally starting to get fiber up here in Maine, so there will be competition. They are offering 1g internet for $79/mo where my current 400m internet costs $99. Competition is always a good thing, and we agree on that as well. And you're also right about the picture quality. Even my dad, who's 85 and (sadly) losing his eyesight -- noticed the visible difference in picture quality.

I can back this up as true. We did this over Thanksgiving 2021, and could not be happier. We use the newer Fire Cube for streaming, which I was told is a must for performance (we formerly had a gen1 Fire Stick). Cable bill went down to $99/mo (Spectrum) for internet only. And since I'm a "remote" employee, work pays for the internet connection (dial up, DSL, cable, fiber, whatever). YouTube tv has been a great find. We tried it vs Hulu and could not be happier. We're not into the Disney bundle at this point, so nothing spent there. In the end (cable bill for bundled services hit $280/month), we're spending about $125/mo for YouTube tv + Netflix + HBO. So, that's a savings. And even if work didn't pay for the internet, it would still be a savings.

She cashed out at the minimum, and that's why this whole exercise has been a fail. Minimal returns for the CEO. Doesn't matter how many shares, in particular because the company was on its *3rd* CEO. You have to imagine that the shares would've been diluted at some point. Oh, and by the way? Strike price per share was like $4.25. If a company sells at $3.38, then game over. Full disclosure: I left the company last year, and I had a small number of shares to sell via 3rd parties, or via RSUs, or so on. I make like $1k in the end, but that's better than nothing, for sure. I am going to retire in 10 years, at 60. No doubt about that.

Over the course of 27 years, I've struck gold, equity wise, once. It paid for my wedding, and the rest went into savings. However, hitting a home run is a very potent drug. So when a company that I'd worked for -- for about the past 4 years or so, sold... I was hoping to see some returns. They *always* talked about going public. And that went on for years and years and years, and through *three* CEOs. Then they sold (were acquired by another company) for $3.38 per share, where 99% of the employees were underwater against stock options. There was even a secondary market where, if you teamed up with a bunch of people, they would sell your shares for about $8. In short, a bunch of people just lost a *ton* of money. Holy Christ. It seems a lot like crypto, but only a lot more demoralizing. Not really complaining, but just saying. I am happy that people continue to hire me, so let's not leave that niblet out of this. The good news, I suppose, is that the CEO of said company will never be a CEO *ever* again. You can't sell a company for $3.38 share and get another at bat. Or can you? Maybe she'll work for GameStop or something.

Harold Faltermeyer and Steve Stevens. j/k. It was fun and exciting, and told a story from beginning to end. Yes, the trailers are awesome. Wonder Woman II and Spider-Man 3 (Raimi), and basically all of the Disney Star Wars movies -- are beautiful to look at, but aren't really good at capturing a cogent story on film. And I say this all as a music guy, one who's usually not that picky about movies. But when I do watch a movie, having that steak along with the sizzle is much appreciated. Here's to hoping...

I admit that I am totally curious about TG 2. Having written that, why do I have this sneaking suspicion that it's not going to be so great? It would seem like it should be great, given the actors actually being in the cockpits of fighter jets and all, but I have this Wonder Woman II vibe about it for some reason. But who am I kidding? Either I'll watch it in a theater, or I'll wait until it hits streaming 6 months from now.

Isn't that the truth? Without this combo I would've never embraced Slayer or Skinny Puppy.

This tune, in equal parts, excites and confuses me.

To be clear, I watched every single moment of the drought Bills teams. I decided to limit myself to one project at a time in this regard. Sabres are getting better though.

The quality of play is respectable, definitely better than when I divested a few years ago, but they are still missing the playoffs... again. Good to me means having a winning record and making the playoffs and beyond. The Bills were debatably "good" in spots during the drought as well. I hope that the Sabres follow the same path. I think that there is something here, but only time will tell.

Rule #1: Don't steal his white tiger. Rule #2: His punches most likely hurt, like real, real bad. Has no airline passenger seen "The Hangover"? I thought of it somewhat as a comedy (it was very funny), but more of a life lesson. There's Something in the Air tonight.

I ended up watching a couple of Sabres games recently, in spite of my best judgment. Met up with a couple of old pals from WNY, and my take is that the Sabres might actually be good in a few years. Can I name any/many/most of the players? No, but given that I divested so many years ago, it should not be expected. This team has been a tire fire for so long, and what I saw in two games was a team who can contend, but obviously it's going to take more time.

Well done! I had 2 x 2s and 2 x 3s last week. I've been 3s and 4s thus far this week. Don't recall if I mentioned it before, but ANISE is another solid starting word.

Yeah, I remember that series. Really good series, a near mishap with children (bat-people) standing in the baseline / near home plate, really good pitching, Bonds raking that year, etc. It was also that year that I asked myself if the Red Sox would ever make it. 2003 was another heartbreaker, but 2004 more than delivered the goods. 2005 was the miraculous ChiSox squad.

Wasn't that in 2002?

The housing issues are happening everywhere, and in places that you would not expect. We live in Portland, Maine. 12 years ago, when we bought ours, houses would be on the market for months. Now they are on the market for a day! Now even a 1,000 sq ft house is going for 500k (it would've been 190k 10 years ago) as a sale price, and so long as it's in a great location, there'll be a bidding war so that it hits 600k, at least. This is a city of 65k people, and a metro area of 500k. Outside of the populated areas of the state, Maine is massively poor, and with a terrible industrial base. And yet, here we are. Oh, and property values have had a cascading effect on the rental market, which is also through the roof.

So you say that it's a "family act"?

Good call.

I hate birds. I have very few hateful items, and that includes American Nazis, but I really, really hate birds.