Three deaths in eight days

I previously commented on the deaths of Pete Wilson, one of my favorite local talk show hosts, and my mom's aunt Lina. Pete died unexpectedly last Friday, during a relatively routine hip replacement surgery. My mom's aunt Lina died Monday, two days after being diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer.

Monday or Tuesday, my friend Corrii took their cat Daniel to the vet as he'd been behaving oddly -- wasn't eating, listlessness, etc. The vet ran some tests, and said it appeared as though is kidneys were failing. This was all rather sudden, as he'd been fine just a few days earlier.

Wednesday evening, she had to take him to the emergency clinic. They put him on an IV drip, and did what they could to make him comfortable.

This morning, Darren returned from a business trip to Japan. They went to see Daniel, and decided to put him down. :(

I liked Daniel, and this just sucks. In the past two or three years, they've also lost Gandhi and Brynne -- two other cats I liked (and this is coming from someone who really doesn't like cats all that much). Daniel didn't like to be held, but loved to be pet. And unlike Zashi, he didn't bite me when I went near. :) Instead, he'd grab onto my hand with his claws and say, "No, you're not done petting me yet. Get back here." :) He was a really cool cat, and I'm going to miss him as well.

Pete Wilson and Aunt Lina

Wow. Just... wow.

Friday night, one of my favorite talk show hosts died: Pete Wilson of KGO radio. He had a heart attack during hip replacement surgery Thursday evening. The medical staff at Stanford tried to keep him alive, but ultimately took him off life support Friday evening.

He was on from 2-4 PM, Monday through Friday, and for some time now, I've been relying upon Pete to keep me entertained and informed while out on my daily runs or hikes.

The irony of his death is that during his final hour Wednesday afternoon, he expressed his anxiety over the upcoming operation and asked listeners to call in with their own surgery horror stories. I was out for a run at the time, but when I got home I sent him an email telling him about my tonsillectomy a few years back, and mentioned that at least he'd be able to eat during his recovery.

Thursday and Friday, Gene Burns (another of my favorites) was sitting in on Pete's program, while Dr. Bill Wattenburg was doing Gene's program. I listened to Gene both days, but heard nothing of Pete's situation. I hadn't listened at all over the weekend, and only heard about it Monday when I tuned in at 2 PM to hear Gene.

On top of this, Saturday morning my mom's aunt Lina was admitted to the hospital with severe abdominal pain. She was later diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer -- the same thing that killed my mom eight years ago. My uncle Richard called to tell me she'd been given 2-10 weeks to live.

This morning he called again to tell me she'd passed away yesterday, a mere two days after being admitted. There's a memorial service Sunday, in Atascadero.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows III

Finished. 24 hours, including five and a half hours of sleep and probably an hour and a half of housekeeping (food, dishes, dog, bathroom breaks, etc.), and the time required to type up this message. :) I'd considered just reading straight through the night, but around 3:30 just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I got up around 9 this morning to finish.

Wow, the last few chapters are going to be utter chaos on the big screen.

I enjoyed the book, and initially thought I'd be saddened the series is over, but it's been several years, during which time Rowling has always told us it would be over with the seventh book. The only thing in question was the outcome: would Harry survive, or Voldemort? It was a good, suspenseful read. Sometimes it was a bit confusing, especially by the time 3:30 AM had rolled around, and I kept having to re-read entire paragraphs. :)

The first death was sad, as were the third and fourth. I'm now looking forward to getting the CD version, and listening to Jim Dale perform the story. I expect it'll be a topic at our next D&D night, which is next week. Hopefully everybody else'll have read it by then.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II

My book's just arrived. Time to dig in...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Tomorrow's the day! As of now I'm not looking at any web forum, not logging into any online game, and am not looking at Wikipedia, as I don't want some asswipe to give it away! Last time, when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released, some waste of skin posted forum threads to the World of Warcraft forums, announcing the big secret that happened in the book, utterly ruining it for hundreds of others who hadn't yet read the book, but who saw the message on the forums.

So, I'm avoiding them like the plague, until I've finished with the book.

Deathly Hallows is supposed to arrive sometime Saturday, before 7 PM. From the moment it arrives, Kaylin has strict instructions to leave me alone! I plan on burying myself in the book for the remainder of the weekend, until it's finished, and don't want to be disturbed.

I am curious to see how Rowling ends the story. Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry in the films, thinks both Harry and Voldemort need to die, in much the same way as his own death was the only way Holmes' could defeat Moriarty. I don't think she'll kill Harry, as it would seem to defeat the purpose of publishing the series in the first place, only to kill him at the end. But who knows, non-American books and films tend to have less than happy endings. We'll see.

Labels

Interesting. I've never used the labels feature of Blogger before. It appears as though setting labels on an article will allow a user to see all other articles with a similar label. So clicking the Doctor Who label in the Face of Boe article, below, will show all other articles on my blog that are also labeled with Doctor Who. Of course there's little point in doing so right now, as that's the only one I've labeled.

I've gone through and labeled the remaining July articles, and a portion of the June articles (specifically, back to the one discussing the making of fruit ice cream). So as I continue putting up blog entries talking about Ice Cream, Cooking or Alton Brown, they'll all start linking. I've also created labels for Car, Nephew, Xavier Rudd, Harry Potter, Bike and Didgeridoo.

Now I just need to remember to label any significant article so common themes reference one another. I have no idea how to label this one. How about...

The Face of Boe

I just finished watching the Gridlock episode of Doctor Who. Three episodes into Series 3, and I still miss Billie Piper who played the Doctor's previous companion, Rose. But the new companion, Martha, looks like she'll work out nicely. I was a bit worried the Runaway Bride might be the new companion, and was delighted at the end of the episode to learn she'd decided to return to London. :)

Anyway, Gridlock was a fantastic episode. Although, it was a bit sad that the Face of Boe died. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about. the Face of Boe is a billions-of-years-old alien who, like the Doctor, is the last of his kind. He'd appeared twice previously, once funding a viewing of the end of the Earth five billion years in the future, and again in a hospital on New Earth. At this time he claimed to be dying, but the Doctor's presence seems to have energized him, and he teleported away at the end of the episode.

In Gridlock we learn he's back on New Earth, powering the "Motorway" following the destruction of all human life on the planet. A new drug had mutated, and killed all humans on the surface. Sealing off the lower city, those on the Motorway were saved. But, they'd spent the previous 24 years stuck in the Motorway, in an endless traffic jam. He was aware of the Doctor's arrival, and sent his nurse, Novice Hain, to find him. Returning with the Doctor, they collectively managed to release those trapped in the Motorway, thus repopulating New Earth.

But in order to power the machinery needed to open the hatchways to the upper city, the Face of Boe had to expend his remaining life force, thus ending his life to save the lives of the remaining humans on the planet. In his final moments, he revealed to the Doctor a secret -- that he was not alone.

I'm not yet sure what this means, but am looking forward to the rest of the season.

Coconut-pineapple ice cream

Previously, I provided instructions for making fruit ice cream. Yesterday I crafted a batch of coconut-pineapple ice cream, in another variation on Alton Brown's recipe for vanilla ice cream. Here's the process...

1/2 cup pineapple, drained and cut into small pieces
1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
1 1/2 cups of whole milk
2 1/2 cups of bakers cream (or heavy whipping cream)
9 ounces (by weight) of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
4 tablespoons of vodka or rum

Put the coconut in a medium glass bowl, and pour the milk over it. Put this in the microwave, and zap it 'til the milk boils. Let it sit half an hour or so, then put it in the fridge overnight.

A couple hours before starting the ice cream, add three tablespoons of vodka or rum to the pineapple and put it in the fridge.

Half an hour before starting the ice cream, put a spatula, large glass bowl, and 6-8 cup plastic container in the freezer.

Empty the milk and coconut mixture into your food processor, and pulse a few times until the coconut has been reduced to small pieces. Dump this back into the glass bowl, and add the sugar. Whisk, then add the cream, the vanilla, and one more tablespoon of vodka or rum. Also drain off and add the liquid from the pineapple currently chilling in the fridge (then put the drained pineapple in the freezer to chill further). Mix again, and add the cream mixture to your churner.

25-30 minutes later, empty the ice cream into the large glass bowl from the freezer, add the pineapple, and fold with the spatula. Empty this into the plastic container, freeze for a few hours to ripen, and voila, you have coconut-pineapple ice cream.

It will taste a bit gritty, due to the coconut pieces from the food processor. Personally, I think this adds a nice texture to the ice cream.

The alcohol will help keep the pineapple from freezing solid, as in the aforementioned fruit ice cream recipe. (Frozen fruit chunks are not, as Alton Brown would say, "Good eats.") The alcohol will also help keep the ice cream from freezing too solidly.

--edit--

Why am I using unsweetened coconut? Because of the 9 oz of sugar included in the recipe. There's no way of knowing how much sugar is in a bag of sweetened coconut, hence there's no way to compensate to maintain the 9 oz quantity. By buying unsweetened (or shaving it from a fresh coconut), you maintain the proper amount of sugar. Too much, and your ice cream could come out too sweet.

Similarly, always use unsalted butter when baking. Again, you don't know how much salt is in salted butter, which could potentially throw off a recipe.

Establishing credit

My nephew is experiencing the joy of trying to establish credit. It all began when he decided he wanted a cell phone -- something he can actually get, now that he has a job. So we went through the process of ordering service and a phone from AT&T, only to receive a message that he can't get a phone without first making a deposit, since he doesn't have credit. After visiting the store and asking a clerk, he was told he'd have to pay a $500 deposit, for twelve months, in order to get a basic celluer plan.

So we tried Verizon. That online order is pending, while they run a credit check.

So I made a suggestion. Ride to the Shell station, and pick up an application for a Shell card. Give me the card, to use filling the car. You pay the balance on the Shell card each month, deducting the amount paid from the $100 you're currently paying me for rent (way less that he really should be contributing toward the house, but that's another story). This way, you'll be able to establish credit. It'll take a while, but it'll show up on your credit report, so next time someone runs a check on you, you won't be automatically denied.

So tomorrow, he's going to apply for a Shell card.

Harry Potter

Woot, the new film's out and it's fantastic!

There were, of course, the usual variations from the book -- elements that had to be dropped as they weren't critical, and elements that changed presumably to better fit in the time allotted (i.e. without having to provide additional back-story).

The thestrels were cool, and the actresses chosen to play Dolores Umbridge and Luna Lovegood were fantastic!

Variations from the book follow, so read no further if you don't want anything spoiled...

There was no Quidditch in the film at all, so Harry, Fred and George were never kicked off the team, and Ron and Ginny never joined.

Yates returned to the castle Cuaron used, which kinda irked me. I utterly loathe Cuaron, and what he did to the third film (my least favorite of the five). I do wish Yates had just stuck with the castle used in the first, second and fourth films, for continuity. I believe he's also directing the sixth film, so we'll probably see the same castle again.

Much of the chaos created by the student body was omitted from the film, leaving only Fred and George's departure at the end. Also missing was the swamp they created in the corridor.

Dobby wasn't in the film at all, though Kreacher had a small part. It's odd he was there, given the size of his part. I suspect he may be integral to the seventh book, so appeared in the film for continuity.

Sirius' mother was missing, as was Phineas (other than a brief appearance in his portrait in Dumbledore's office).

Neville found the Room of Requirement, where in the book Dobby told Harry about it. Not a big deal, really.

In the film it was Cho Chang who told Umbridge about the Room of Requirement, where in the book it was her friend. This was kind of annoying.

In the film, Filch saw students entering the room and camped out waiting for them to emerge.

St. Mungo's was omitted, thus Harry, Ron and Hermione never saw Neville's parents or Professor Lockhart. Instead, Neville told Harry about his parents in the Room of Requirement.

The OWLs, as administered by the Ministry staff, were instead administered by Umbridge. So the part in the book, where Harry produced his patronus in the great hall, was omitted.

In the book, Firenze was appointed to teach divination after Umbridge removed Trelawney from the post. This was omitted from the film

Insult to injury

The tire shop called to let me know my car was ready. So I went out to the garage to get my bike... only to find the rear fire was flat! It seems I'd picked up a thorn riding home from the shop earlier on the day (sigh).

Soon as my nephew leaves for work, I'm eating massive quantities of ice cream. :)

Well that was dumb (and expensive)

Last night, Kaylin and I were behind Corrii, Alan and Sarah. We were stopped at a light at the light rail tracks at Campbell, and I noticed Corrii's hand flapping outside her window. Then she flipped me off.

After the light turned green, I retaliated by driving up along side her, and giving her the three-eared bunny (inside joke). I turned to see if she'd noticed, turned back to the road... and saw the car heading toward a curb.

The Campbell Ave. bypass next to the library has two lanes, and a parking lane. At each intersection, the curb juts out into the parking lane -- this is what I was heading toward.

I swerved to hit the wheelchair ramp, but didn't have enough time to get out of the way of the curb. Bam! Hisssssss! Tire blew out. Sigh.

I pulled into a parking lot to change the tire, drove home, and this morning took it to Wheel Works...

Only to learn that the flat is shot, and can't be repaired. Needs to be replaced. The slow leak in the rear left tire is a nail -- also can't be repaired. No problem, the tires are under warranty, as I had them all replaced last July.

Problem is... the manufacturer changed the tread pattern in the year since I replaced the tires! Since an all-wheel drive needs a consistent tire size and tread pattern all the way around, last night's stupidity requires me to get two new tires to replace the set. Double sigh. Add to that alignment, and last night's stupidity cost me about $340.

Lesson learned: Watching the road is far more important than a juvenile response to a juvenile action. :)

Taiko rocks!

July 4th was a lot of fun. It started with a trip to Guadalupe Park in San Jose, for a 4th of July event sponsored by the local NBC affiliate. At 2:15, San Jose Taiko performed for 45 minutes. If you haven't seen taiko, look for an event in your area! It was a blast -- so much so, that I'm considering signing up for one of their 12-week recreational classes. :)

I'd never seen taiko performed live before, having only seen video of Kodo.

And best of all, there were no Santa Cruz hippies lighting up joints during the performance, as they did with Xavier Rudd. :)

The dread of July 4th

We're three days away, which means about a week of idiot neighbors driving Toby insane by setting off fireworks in their driveways.

Dogs really don't like loud noises, and every hear around this time he turns frantic, trying to figure out where all the shrieking is coming from. Kaylin told me that last night, two neighbors were setting off fireworks in their yards, and yelling back and forth to one another, "Is that the best you can do?" I wasn't home, but would likely have called the cops on them.

The 4th, itself, is really bad. Toby spends the entire evening running around the house in a panic. I think I'll ask if I can just take him over to Darren & Corrii's house to help keep him calm. No noise equals calm dog.