picky eaters

I have been trying to think of ways to bring variety to my family's meals. Mind you, it is a difficult task. It's not like they say they like very many different foods. To clarify, they don't like many sides to their meals. Foods like potatoes, vegetables, soups, salads (besides plain lettuce, which isn't really a salad to me) are often missing from our dinner table.

About 187 days ago, my daughter decided she was going to become a vegetarian. Not a vegan. I think she did some research and saw all of the things that she would need to give up to become a real vegan and decided it was more than she wanted to do. So middle of the road vegetarian it is. I thought this would be a chance for the more food adventurous of my kids, she tried shrimp first, to start getting into many other types of foods including vegetables. Well, not quite. I forgot that many snacks would be considered "vegetarian" in a teenagers mind. So she cut back on the meats but not on the snacks and didn't even look at vegetables. It's rather humorous to have a vegetarian that doesn't really like vegetables (or fruit for that matter). She has found that she likes tofu if it is cooked right.

All this has made me more interested in and determined to figure out how to get more variety, vegetables and fruits, into my family's meals. I have looked through many recipe sites and books and found a couple I think will get me started.

The first book is on Japanese cooking, something that my family has started to get into, albeit with little steps from the hardcore meat and potato crowd. If it wasn't for the Hibachi chicken, I don't think we'd be eating there. I try to order different things every time we go so they can at least see what different things look like. I always ask if they want some. Most of the time they just look at me funny and say, "no, we'll just let you enjoy that."

The second book is on grilling vegetables. I think these recipes have the best chance of making it onto my family's plates. I just need to start off with things that I already know they will eat. I think I can also do some of the recipes as stir-fry which I think they will like. It will have that asian feel as if they were at a Japanese or Chinese restaurant.

I think I will try out one of the easier recipes this weekend since I will have the time and the kids should be home. Maybe I should practice on myself during the week to prepare. Either way, the books are bought. The ideas are there. Now it's just time to execute the plan.

today i worry

Everything seems to be uncertain right now, well not really everything. Jobs are still hard to find, businesses are struggling and the economy is not in the best condition. I'm not sure if I will still have a job at the end of the year. I'm stuck in this limbo position but my boss, if he really is my boss, keeps telling me everything will be fine and not to worry. I want to believe him but I'm not sure I can. I just feel like he is setting me up to be the sacrificial lamb in his group so that he doesn't have to let other people go. Should I be looking for another job? I'm at least going to make sure my resume' is current and put out some feelers.

I've been getting more and more into reading the political news. What a bunch of finger pointing and spinning going on out there from both sides. I'm not sure anyone is telling the truth anymore. I read the GOP propaganda this morning. Seems the world is going to end if we continue to let the Democrats stay in office. Frankly, I've never been too impressed with either party being in office. I think they both spend way too much money and are only out for promoting themselves and rarely tell an unbiased story. After all, if they want to keep working, they need to stay in office.

Update to the Old

Well, the "goin' Google" thing didn't really work out. I tried it for a while but it just didn't work out. I think Google may have made a big mistake by limiting access to things like Google Wave during their product roll out. I don't know of anyone that was in their "beta" that is even using it anymore. I know the people I had in my group don't even check their mail there anymore and haven't in a while.

Their document capabilities are good but I still needed to convert everything to MS if I wanted anyone else to read it. Also, since most of the things I needed to create were for work, there was no way my security department would let me do anything out in the cloud and allow co-workers to collaborate with me there.

So, I've come to the conclusion that unless you do a lot of work outside of a large company or you are a student their are some serious limitations you can run into in trying to go Google. However, I still like the whole idea behind cloud computing.

Google domination.

Google is putting out some really cool stuff. I've been playing with Google Wave and Voice and both are really cool. I'm actually thinking about becoming an all Google on-line user. I may even stop my MobileMe subscription... I know, really. Google, with on-line applications and storage, Android, Chrome, Voice and Mail. What the hell else is there to want? It's amazing that all of this came out of a simple Internet search engine.

Just pondering this morning.

Halloween has just passed and we are now into November. The weather has certainly helped to make things seem much more Fall like with non-stop drizzle and cool weather for the past week or so. The trees are changing color quickly and the leaves seem to be falling even faster. I really like this time of the year. I like the changing seasons better than the static seasons.

I've heard a few people say that this winter is supposed to be more "wintry" than the past few winters. I guess that means colder weather with more precipitation in the form of snow. As long as the snow melts the next day, I won't mind it. I will probably put my hardtop on my Jeep soon just in case those people are correct. Of course, as soon as I do that, the temperatures will shoot back up in the 80's with plenty of sunshine.

Men and Urinals

Why do so many men spit when they pee? I don't understand it. I think it actually makes peeing even more gross. And what about the men that flush BEFORE they pee. I can see if someone has pee block and needs the sound of water to get them going, but then why don't they flush again when they are done. I just don't get it.

Ripping CDs

That's right, tonight is ripping CDs night. I got out all of my Yes CDs and now I am ripping them to my MAC. Soon they will be on my iPod for me to take with me where ever I want. And they all fit right in my pocket.

Not too long ago it wasn't that easy to take your music with you. The most common way to listen to music was on the radio, AM radio no less. You needed a record player to play your own music (33, 45,78 RPMs), then it was 8-tracks or cassettes, boom boxes, Walkmans, (remember mini-discs?) and finally, where we are today, media players like the iPod and Zune. I have no idea how many times I have purchased the same pieces of music because of these changes. Now I don't even buy CDs, I just buy files off iTunes. I have no idea what I am going to do when I need a new computer or, heaven forbid, my harddrive crashes.

Sure I back things up but still, I've never tried to restore anything before. What if it doesn't work right? Then where will I be?

I think it says something about the disposable mindset we all live in these days. Everything seems so temporary. Nothing appears to be made to last. Things have a lifespan of 3-5 years before it is deemed outdated and in need of an upgrade. Not like in earlier times when people tied to keep things as long as they could. It meant something to have anything for 20 to 30 to 50 years.

People may finally be seeing what's happening, missing some of the long term benefits of keeping things around. Global warming, the Green movement, reuse, recycle, all of these ideas are picking up steam in the world. If you aren't involved in something green then, by God, you just don't care about our planet and life in general. It's amazing. The world view is changing once again. I wonder if it will all align and come to the top with the year 2012. Wouldn't that be bazaar in a cosmic sort of way.

I know, all of this rambling because I starting ripping CDs. Oh how my mind wanders.