The verdict on that St.Regis "alcohol removed" cab'sauv near-wine: basically red wine vinegar with a little sugar and berry character. I imagine this is the problem with "cooking sherry" in general: lack of that key umami base or subtler notes like oak, vanilla, pepper, melon etc., because these get transported on alcohol and I imagine whatever process strips out the alcohol also steals some essential flavor esters at the same time. Simply no substitute for a nice merlot. Even box wine is OK to get your he... (...more)

1988 saw publication of UU minister Robert Fulghum's essay collection All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. I'm more of a Grand Unification Theory kind of guy but I also find value in homily-esque fragments of philosophical observation ala Fulghum (or Bombeck, for that matter), and even koan-style nuggets ala Eric Hoffer. AIRNTKIL from MMORPGs I said I'd taken Wizard101 about as far as I could without spending real money, and then proceeded to farm top-notch gear for my characters' level... (...more)

Went to bed relatively early, after insomnia or something throwing my sleep habits off since last week. Phone woke me at 8:30 but nothing anxiety-provoking. First coffee and vitamins by 9.

Matthew 6:27, Luke 12:27-28 ~ don't worry
Ephesians 6:1-9 - work cheerfully as if you were serving God directly

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20 "lazy" squats with 2x15# dumbbells.
Backups.

Pretty much an all-nighter Friday, woke briefly to pay rent Saturday morning but quickly fell down again until ~2:30pm, late-night but not all-night into Sunday, needed more sleep than I'd got by 8AM so I gave the 10AM service a miss. Coffee, vitamins, a bowl of shredded wheat for breakfast. Arrived at St.G's just in time for second coffee, and newcomer's class 4 of 5 at 11:45. A question that occurred to me during the meandering Q&A (which nearly eclipsed the class session agenda): If bowing for the go... (...more)

After trotting 4 characters through Wizard101's starting quests and grinding the rest of the way to L10, I think I've learned all I can from it without spending real money. I went with all female characters, for 2 reasons. First, if I have to eyeball a character for hours on end, she may as well be eye candy. Second, because in any and every online game, all the gamer-geek boys fall all over themselves trying to curry favor with girl avatars, even though we know that half the time there's a basement-dwelli... (...more)