Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Spare Time Anxiety

I think at the moment I am suffering from a severe case of spare time anxiety. Which goes like this: Whenever I have spare time, I grow terribly afraid of not using it properly, I grow scared that I could be wasting all my precious spare time without relaxing properly.
That makes me completely unrelaxed.
So even if during the whole workday I was totally looking forward to a relaxing game of Grand Theft Auto, while and after playing Grand Theft Auto in my spare time it does not really satisfy me, because really, why do I waste my valuable spare time with playing video games?
On the other hand, if I am facing, let's say 10 days off in a row I could totally play three GTA three days in a row, because afterwards there'll be seven days left, therefore lots of time for "proper relaxation".
On yet another hand (!), if I use my spare time to do some housework, kitchen scrubbing and laundry doing, then afterwards I feel totally fine by wasting the rest of my spare time with video games.
I am weird.
I have spare time anxiety.
I want to relax properly so much, that I can't relax properly.
And what does that even mean, relax properly?

I will go now and play video games.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Tuna-Casserole

Today I made a tuna-casserole. It's a pretty simple dish to make, here's how I did it:

Take the equivalent of two cups of elbow noodles and boil them. Fry one large or two smaller onions and about 200 grams of mushrooms. Cut two to three medium sized carrots.

Put some oil into your casserole dish. Open a can of tuna and a can of cream of mushroom soup (I prefer Campbell's less salt), dump that stuff into your dish. Uncooked cream of mushroom soup always looks like Moppelkotze, which is okay, so please do not worry about it.
The onions and mushrooms should be done by now, throw them in there, too, and mix it all nicely.

When the noodles are done, drain them. I usually keep the hot water and cook my carrots in it, alternatively you can always throw the carrots in with the noodles a bit earlier. Mix the noodles with the contents of your casserole dish, then add another vegetable of your choice (I picked yellow beans because that was all I had, green beans would have been better - more colour variety.)

Finally add the carrots, stir them in, and put cheese on top. Because we didn't eat this immediately, I covered it up and put it in the fridge. If you want to eat right away, just preheat your oven to 350 and leave it in there for half an hour.
Enjoy.

Me And My Schrubber

Well, let me tell you this: The package finally arrived. What package, you ask?

I sent a package to myself and it finally got here.
(German postal service sent it back twice (yes, twice), both times with a sticker on it saying "undeliverable", but without giving any reason. After repacking everything into a different box, it shipped just fine. Weird. Must have been one of these automated package-sorting lines or something.)
Inside the package, among other things, was this: A Schrubber, which is basically a brush on a stick. Great for scrubbing floors. Couldn't find one here. All they seem to have is various mops. Yacht mops, commercial mops, plain mops, this mops and that mops. Fucking mops are no good for scrubbing floors, though! So I imported my own brush on a stick (well, actually just the brush, the stick is local).

Here's a picture:

me & my Schrubber

By the way, even though my new notebook was lowering the temperatures of my notebook, I really had expected more, yes, I might even go so far to say I was a little disappointed, but didn't want to let it show.
However, I purchased a bottle of compressed air last week and used it to clear the insides of my computer of dust; and wouldn't you know it, even though the fans and their immediate surroundings were pretty clean, there were shitloads of dustballs inside the copper exit vents.
No wonder temps were running high and the cooler underperforming! You can blow in cold air as much you want and it won't do good one bit if the hot air can't get out, right?
So now, when idle, and at all other times I'm getting awesome results.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Information Overload

I read in a magazine (Newsweek, I believe it was) about how too much information fucks our decision-making. Apparantly tests have shown that activity in some cortex behind the forehead, which is responsible for making rational decisions and keeping emotional outbursts under control, shuts down completely if too much input is given to the test person.
So next time you have to decide somthing, cut away all the bullshit and strip it to the most essential information needed.

That said, be warned that I wrote something like four posts this evening. That is a lot of information. You won't be able to react to or comment on everything, that is perfectly normal, so stay calm.
Please read carefully, save your energy and please, by god the almighty and his powerful friends, do not, I repeat, exhaust yourself.

Have a nice evening.

Cooler

I got myself a notebook cooler to help keep my computer cool. I've wanted one for quite while now, and finally I went and ordered one from tigerdirect.

It's a Zalman ZM-NC2000, black, it looks like this:

This little machine is really nice and quiet (even at the highest setting all you hear is a low rumbling whirr, as opposed to higher-pitched screaming of the fans in my notebook), and you can feel the cool air even at the lowest setting.

It lowered the general temperatures of my system by about 3 or 4 degrees when idle, which is not a lot, however, the GPU temp, which was around 52 idle before, now idles at 43, which is quite awesome. I am quite happy with this little cooler.

Addicted

I think I am addicted to video games.
And not just all video games, only those which really leave you with nothing but wasted time afterwards. Only there is no afterwards, because per defitionem addiction isn't meant to have an afterwards.

Right now I am addicted to a game called ""World of Cinema". link
It was developed by some guys in Germany and is being sold directly of their website, without a major publisher or anything else. I myself bought the basic version for 25 euros.

This is a game about making Hollywood movies. You are the manager of a film studio, and you get to pick directors, producers, actors, stunt and camera people and so on, and you make movies and movie posters.
You (me, in the basic version) never get to watch your final movies, they are just entities in the virtual world, and they produce ratings and box office results, and the goal is to make always bigger and more succesful a movie than the last. (There is, however, an all-in-one-version of the game which really lets you make watchable movie-scenes or so, but in my opinion that part is useless, for the fascination is not in making bad-graphics-clips, but in enjoying 340 million dollars of profit for your last Sam Raimi masterpiece Evil Dead IV.)

I for example have made, among others, these movies so far:















The game, even though it is mainly about juggling numbers and has no awesome graphics but still some bugs and other shortcomings, maintains proper motivation by featuring an in-game level system (I am currently at level 14), online all-time charts (see above mentioned website, look for brato) and the awesome feeling of making great films with great and well known actors, directors and producers. And really, who wouldn't (have) like(d) to see both Arnie and Stallone kicking ass together?

Danger Of Combustion

So, today while working I came across this little sign, which came attached to several pieces of garment, it was little girls pyjamas that had pictures of little fairies on it.


What does this mean, really? Is it meant to warn parents, that if you happen to dress your kid in loose-fitting clothes, they will easily go up in flames? That they will spontaneously combust?
And is there a garment, which is flame-resistant? Apart from asbestos of course, and everybody knows how important that is for the safety of our loved ones.

"Honey, I don't know about these asbestos fibers... little Janie's coughing blood again..."
"Awww come on, do you rather have her catch fire? The house might burn down!"
"Yeah, right. You're so smart - suck it up, Janie! Quiet now!"

Potato-Pork-Sauerkraut-Casserole

Good evening,

it is still cold here! But nevermind that, much more important is this:

A few days ago I made an awesome mashed potato-pork-vegetable casserole with cheese on top. Luckily I had my camera close by and was in the mood to take pictures, so now we can re-live this extra-ordinary cooking-experience together once more.

At first of course you have to peel some potatoes, about 7 medium sized ones should do it.

Cut them into nice little pieces and put them on the stove to boil...

Time for the meat. I chose pork this time, tenderloin even, because for some reason it was only 9.90 per kg, good price, I bought about 475 g of it.

Cut it to your fancy, and then fry it up a bit.

I myself enjoy Montreal Steak Spice, so I use plenty of that.

While the potatoes are boiling and the meat is frying, we can take care of the other stuff: Grease the pan slightly with oil and bring out the vegetables and cheese...

...and the milk for the mashed potatoes, and a can opener...

And you'll see, just like that the meat will be all done (we don't want it dark or brown, just fried a little bit from all sides).

The potatoes should be ready by now, pour out the water, mash them up with a fork and mix in some milk and salt. Mine looked like this when I was done, not the smoothest in the world, but then again, I didn't really care.

Time to put a nice fine layer of potato mash into our casserole pan (use about 2/3 of your mashed potatoes). Then throw the fried meat on top.

Now the vegetables. Peas...

...and sauerkraut...

...then cover it with the rest of the mashed potatoes.
Well, originally right about now I would have put the cheese on, but there was still room in the casserole dish, and I was out of mashed potatoes because my potato pot is kind of smallish, so I decided (partly because I considered it a healthy choice) to throw some more veggies in.

That's right, green beans and corn. And of course, don't forget to put cheese on top.

The whole thing goes into the pre-heated oven (at 350, or 180-200 degrees C) for a while (until the cheese is nicely brown, about 20-25 minutes or so), in the meantime we can tidy up the kitchen and do the dishes.

Nice. Dishes done, kitchen clean, food ready. When you take it out of the oven, it should look something like this:

Let it sit for a few minutes, then use a sharp knife to cut it.

You can easily lift out a portion (portion shown fills me up if there's dessert, otherwise I need more. Two of these portions are a bit much. The whole pan probably easily serves 5, or one for 4 to 5 days).

Mhh, delicious. Enjoy.
Cover up the leftovers and put in fridge for tomorrow...

...because overnight it'll turn into nice and almost solid blocks perfect for re-heating in a microwave oven.

Very good.
(If you're no fan of sauerkraut (which, I must admit, can cause awesome activity inside of you if you're not used to it - in fact, it'll turn you're usually so silent and odourless farts into awesomely long and seconds-lasting-cracking-attention-seeking monster-explosions that come with a stink so disgustingly terrible, you'll be amazed at yourself for the ability to produce that kind of rotten smell), so, as I said, if you're no fan of sauerkraut, feel free to leave it out.)

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

T-Shirt Weather

It has finally warmed up.
At last it is not so cold anymore.

No painful sensations of face-freezing-off when stepping outside no more.

Time to ditch the long johns and the winter parkas, the woolen furry toques and lined winter mitts.

Temperatures have risen to some balmy minus 5.
T-shirt weather, for the locals at least.

What else? Yes, the best dressing in the world, and, because it fits nicely, the best salad in the world. I don't feel like taking a picture, so this description will have to do:

Take equal amounts (maybe two tablespoons? probably three) of oil and lemon juice and put it in a biggish bowl.
Add some pepper.
Take a few cloves of garlic and dice them nicely on a bed of salt, then throw into the bowl.

Take a quarter head of fresh red cabbage and chop it to small pieces. Throw into bowl.
Take a relatively big carrot and scrape it to little strips. Throw into bowl.
Take a handful of raisins and yes, throw them into the bowl!

Stir and mix and stir and mix and let sit for 5 minutes or longer or eat right away. You will have enough for four, but if you are only two you can keep it in the fridge overnight and next morning you will find that the raisins have absorbed a lot of the liquid, they will be bigger and more delicious even!

I have to go now.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Still A Lot Of Winter To Go

The winter festival is over now, the final event was a big "social" on saturday. We didn't go (we are reclusive hermits after all), but several of my co-workers showed up either late or not at all yesterday. Which was monday. Party on! People here don't do things half-assed.

Anyone remember the good old game "Hollywood Pictures"? It came out in 1993 or something, and was simple and fun and about making movies. It's been old for a long time now, and has always left a hole in the world of computer games. Games focusing on the same aspects of movie making just didn't exist. Until now.
Appearantly now some dude from Germany has made a new game called "World of Cinema". I am seriously thinking about trying it out.

Today is also "Shrove-Tuesday" (?). On this day, so goes the tradition, people are supposed to eat the last of their eggs and milk before 40 days of fasting begin. Therefore you must have pancakes today. Great! Not that I need a reason like that to have pancakes. So we had pancakes today, yum!
I think, by the way, that this whole fasting-thing was invented somewhen during the dark ages to keep the masses down. All the peasants would regularily this time of year run out of food, all the stuff from last year's harvest would be gone with still a lot of winter to go. So the rich and powerful came up with some made-up bullshit story about some period of constant hunger, which they conveniently linked to the religious belief system (which in itself had worked out fine so far to keep the peasants in check), and the dumb farmers who are our ancestors believed that bullshit story once more, and we still live by it today.

For those who'd like to see what I looked like before I shaved off my beard, here's a picture of me taken outside Berlin Airport on february 18.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Thursday, March 3, 2011

2nd

The Joppie Blacksmith Memorial Whiskerino,
also known as beard contest
is over.

I came in second, because I just couldn't compete with ten years of white beard. Same guy who won last year defended his title this year.
They gave him 50 bucks for it.

I made 30.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Back In BFNowhere

I'm back, and I have been back for more than a week.
I find myself tempted to quote the old quote that tells us "[er] kehrt anders zurück als er aufbrach...", but then again, I am still the same.

Here in BF everything is the same, too.

Today I made red cabbage from a real head of fresh red cabbage, which I have never done before. The result looked like it was supposed to look and tasted pretty delicious.

I think today is the beard contest.