Saturday morning: This and that . . .

1. Oh, it's quiet now, but Coronation's in a week. Can you say total insanity?

2. My new favorite joke:

God calls Adam and Eve over and says:

"My children I have two precious gifts. Since Adam was here first he gets to choose first.The first gift is being able to pee standing up."

Adam does not even wait for the second choice but yells. I want that one. Please, please."

Gods says: "But what about the second one? Don't you.."

Adam. "No, I want to pee standing up. Nothing can be better than that."

So God gracefully gives Adam what he wants, turns to  Eve and says:

"My dear that leaves you with multiple orgasms."

3. Having recently listened to Jon Krakauer's "Under The Banner of Heaven," which is about Mormon fundamentalism, I am carefully watching the news about the Texas government taking children from the Warren Jeffs' compound in Eldorado. The most thorough story so far come from Houston Chronicle.

I should also link to the small, local paper: http://www.myeldorado.net/ which has more information.

4. Then there's this one from the Windsor (Ont.) Star:

Describing the crimes as "despicable and selfish," a judge sentenced Windsor businessman Carl Leone Friday to 18 years in prison for engaging in unprotected sex without advising his partners that he was HIV-positive.

"The spread of HIV in the community must be stopped," Superior Court Justice Joseph Quinn said during his 90-minute ruling.

Leone, 32, pleaded guilty a year ago to 15 counts of aggravated sexual assault. Five of those victims have since tested positive for the virus that can lead to AIDS, and the judge said each of them now has a shorter life expectancy.

5. Still not Spring yet.

Nifty stuff for sale . . .

As we continue to settle into the apartment, I keep finding useful things that I am not using, things that my friends might well like.

This includes books, but it also includes other items, which I now put up for sale, first-come, first-served.

I think the prices are reasonable. Contact me if you want to talk.

I can certainly deliver to Coronation (or some from Boston who will be at Coronation).

If I need to ship, we can negotiate that.

Contact me privately at bill@goonbox.com if you are interested.

1. A Western Digital MyBook storage device. 500 GB. New in box and plastic wrap. List is $169.99, although you can find it a little cheaper on sale. $120.

2. Poetry On Record: 98 Poets Read Their Work. 1888-2006. Tennyson, Dylan Thomas, Langston Hughes, Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath. New in box. Four disc set. List is $49.95. Price is $35.

3. $50 Land’s End gift card: $45.

4. Red Sox books:

Hardcovers in excellent condition.
Feeding The Monster, Monookin. Inside the front office, $10.

Hardcover used
Lost Summer by Bill Reynold (1967: The Impossible Dearm season)

Softcover, used
Idiot by Johnny Damon, $5.

5. There is no longer a No. 5

6. Other history books

Hardcover
Mayflower by Nathanial Philbrick. New. $10.
Under The Black Flag (prirates) by David Cordingly, new. $10.
African-American Literature (textbook) $5.
Band of Brothers (used paperback) $4
Where Have All The Leaders Gone. New hardcover. Lee Iacocca $10

7. LGBT Books

I have a collection of maybe 20 books on this topic that I collected along the way while I was a Gay Straight Alliance advisor.

These include:

The Gay 100
Out For Good
The Front Runner (in my opinion, a great Gay lover story)

Contact me for the rest of the list

8. One used game in good shape:

Lord of the Rings Risk $10.

New game
Older version of Empire Builder. New in box. $10.

Saturday evening: A food day . . .

1. So alethea_eastrid's folks are over. (They're reading and she's making garb). They took us to Steininger's, the really cool restaurant/dessert place/chocolatier across the street. We tried to go at noon, but it was packed, so we went back at 1:30 p.m. and gorged. I had a three German sausage plate with fried potatoes and sauerkraut. Alethea had a grilled chicken salada, Mom had a meatleess Chef's salad, and dad had an open-face turkey sandwich. All were terrific, and the coffee was great. We weren;t going to have dessert, but A. wanted the ice cream/puff pastry/etc/.. and got it. I got a croissant pudding (think bread pudding) off the maple menu, Dad got ice cream with something gooey, and Mom went for rainbow sherbert wih raspberry sauce. Yummy.

I had already put on Portagee Stew Beef for dinner, which was had much later. Alethea had urged me to make it, and her parents liked it a lot. We had the fresh bread left over from lunch and then cranberry bread, which I made last night, for dessert.

The roast I had gotten at Hickory Smoke House was too big for just the stew, so I also made a pot roast with apples, beer and ciders (and fresh carrots and potatoes, just like the stew). That's fork-tender and in the refrigerator.

2. One of my favorite blogs belongs to Steve Barnes, a restaurant critic at the Albany Times-Union.

When I saw in the print edition that Anthony Bourdain spoke locally last night, I knew Barnes would have some good quotes.

Now, Rachel Ray is somewhat local, and of course Bourdain does not like her.

There are other good lines, but this was the best.

When he was asked under what circumstances he would share a meal with Rachel Ray, Bourdain said:

 If she were wearing “a ball gag and assless chaps.”

You know your life is not normal if that makes you immediately think of someone on your friends' list. Actually, two people. ;)

3. Reminder: Lunch tomorrow at the Long Trail Brewery. It's at 12:30 p.m. Fresh Belgian White, yum.

4. I have to remind myself not to go grocery shopping until Tuesday when I go to a meeting in Warrensburg, because that way I can stop at "The Meat Store of the North," which is there.