Double-decker, Please

Among many of the challenges facing us as parents today are the rising cost of foodstuffs. I watched in amazement a woman who knocked 50% off of her grocery bill by handing the clerk a small pile of coupons. And I think "I need to start looking into this couponing lifestyle a lot more". Because she wasn't one of those scary women from the crazy couponing shows with the Dura-shed built on the back of the house to store her supply of cat food. No, this was an exchange done swiftly and without much fanfare or disruption. And she took $10 off her bill.

Dang.

So I will take the Sunday paper of our left-leaning local news and pore over the advertisements. It might be worth it. I think I could, in fact, become quite skilled at it. Stay tuned.

The other reason behind the obvious renewed need for fastidiousness is the advent of Tweendom in our fold. While having one teenager already in the roost has increased the obvious need for body wash, razors, Gala apples and hummus, when Tank turned 12 he suddenly became ravenously hungry. A bowl of breakfast cereal was suddenly replenished by a large bowl of 3 scrambled eggs with cheese and sausage. And last night he came in and said with all seriousness:

"Mom. I think you need to start packing a double-decker sandwich in my lunch". Basketball season starts soon and he weighed himself at the gym last night. Down three pounds. For our reed thin guy, this is not a happy achievement. So today as he devoured his eggs and cereal, I made him such a huge sandwich of meat and cheese I needed to double-bag it for safety purposes.

And last night he requested that I no longer make GF pasta for dinner anymore. He "knows" I'm trying to go GF, but...what can I say. He's right. The chicken pecan fettucine cooked with rice pasta ended up being a horrific failure. I have to admit.

So the new next adventure in parenting begins...

I should have seen this coming. He suddenly began demanding Baconators or bacon-topped cheeseburgers at whatever eating establishment we go to. I think this is the part they didn't talk about in Sex Ed and Human Development.

No one mentioned Dagwood...

Car accidents are stressful

Doe and I were driving home from a Dr's appointment on Monday. Here's what I posted on my Facebook page about what we saw. 

First on the scene of a car accident. We were eastbound on intersection of Horsetooth and Lemay. Stopped behind a stalled pickup at the stoplight. Compact car going westbound on the other side of the median slammed on brakes. Woman behind stopped westbound car slams into back of car going about 40 mph and pushes stopped car about 500 ft. We saw the whole thing...I thought the car was on fire with so much smoke from airbag. Smoke from hood and interior pouring out the car...Woman who rear-ended car 37 weeks pregnant airbag deployed into her chest thankfully not her stomach kept asking for help...I opened up the car door and asked her name, got her phone and called her husband...wanted to cry because her belly was having a massive Braxton-Hicks contraction. Got her to calm down her breathing. Doe held her little dog. I called her husband and the B**CH who stopped in traffic called HER INSURANCE COMPANY. I'm yelling at her CALL 911 and she's like "Hold on Hold on"....asked the injured woman WHAT MAKE OF CAR HER CAR WAS. Still don't know who called 911...
Stalled car? White pickup truck. Woman who had stopped in traffic? Pickup truck's mother. Woman who was too busy to call 911 because she was calling her own insurance agent? Pickup truck's mother.
If that is not a testament to the EVIL in mankind.
I hope Carla is going to be okay. I am glad she was conscious throughout the whole thing. And I hope that rear-ended woman gets the book thrown at her for obstructing traffic. Gave Carla's husband my contact info...
Giving you all the deets in case someone sees something I should have done differently. Never seen that before. 

Here is a copy of the report Doe filled out to give to the police investigating the accident. She is not a fan of the woman driving the first vehicle.

Update: Joan, the woman who stopped in the middle of 40mph traffic, was cited for impeding traffic. Carla, the woman who had no choice but to slam into the back of her, is being told her insurance will pay for nothing. I told Carla's husband I would help in whatever manner possible. 

I think Doe was a little upset, No?   

Game #1431

Ed. Note: Letter refers to game played on Sunday October 20th.
What transpired is a mockery of the game of soccer. Words cannot express the complete 'implosion' we witnessed on the field.
The end result being we walked off the field in protest.
Soccer is a sport full of vagaries, and we understand the gray areas of judgment. But this was a complete nightmare.
Good on Coach M for making this protest.
Proud to have him lead our girls.


Re: Game # 1431
Dear Sir/Madam:
I am writing in complaint of the referee crew assigned to our game # 1431 on 10/20/13, u17g Division 1, CO
Storm Royal vs. Arsenal CO Royal at Dove Valley Field #8.
Our center official arrived late from another field, which is totally understandable, it happens often with fewer
officials these days… He showed up and officiated in a plain black and grey striped hoodie sweatshirt, not his
official uniform, nor was his badge visible. The weather was cold and windy, so I understand that official
uniform spec is not always going to be followed, but it has to at least be under a uniform, and displaying a
current badge.
The AR’s were both extremely out of shape and never kept up with play. The center continually looked to his
AR’s for help on calls. Within the first 2-3 minutes of the game, an AR called a foul against our defender on a
fairly innocuous tackle, in fact, our defender fell to the ground and the attacker kept her feet and shot wide of
the goal. The contact happened about 2 yards outside the penalty box, yet after conferring with each other, the
center awarded a penalty kick. Jim Pereira with CO Storm was the opposing coach and came to me
immediately after and agreed that it was a bad call. The center then called several similar fouls against us,
creating many scoring opportunities just outside the penalty box, in which the opposing team capitalized on 2
more, making the game 3-0 within 10 minutes. His influence on the game with such misapplication of the law
created a very unfair match from the beginning, and we were down 6-0 by half.
I gave my best half-time talk to the girls, explaining that the only thing we have control of is ourselves and that
we needed to battle through the poor officiating, and move on. They told me that he made comments to them
like “I ref 9-year-olds, I shouldn’t be out here.” He was very unsure about many throw-ins and was often heard
saying “I don’t know, I didn’t see it.” Having a lot of refereeing experience myself, I understand that you don’t
see everything, but the players said he said that on every close throw-in call. What is he watching, if not the
play? The referee then came out in the second half with the same attire, (I was giving him the benefit of the
doubt that he rushed over and didn’t have time to put his uniform on, until then…) except this time he tucked in
his hoodie, I can only assume to look more professional?
In the second half of play, I will admit to making very snide comments to his attire and the unprofessionalism of
it, but I never once raised my voice to yell it across the field at him, nor did I ever swear or threaten him. My
exact words were “Well, now that he has his shirt tucked in, maybe he’ll be good,” and “you can’t start making
good calls now that you’ve been consistently bad.” He trotted over to me on the sideline (first time he had
broken into a run all game, by the way), saying “you know I can hear you” my response was “Good. Will you
quit making bad calls?” also, “You don’t belong out here, you are making very bad calls” He then told me that
he warned me, and that I now needed to leave because I cannot make those comments. Wait, what??? He never
once warned me, and now I’m being ejected?????? I never once raised my voice, cursed, swore, or threatened
him in any way. If he has any action to take, it would be to caution me for simple dissent. Yet he felt
compelled to kick me out for no viable reason at all. I got a parent from my sideline to fill in for me, and we
had a staff coach coincidentally on the adjacent field, Luis Dominguez Jr. to help if/when he wasn’t
preoccupied with his own game.
October 22, 2013
Page 2
As I viewed the game from atop the hill (100 yards away from field as required), I witnessed him make the
same ridiculous calls and then start issuing yellow cards to 4 of our players for very innocuous challenges. I
was not near enough to hear dialogue myself, but some of the players told me the reasons he was issuing them a
card were:
; “you were chasing players with your feet” ???? (that was verified by another player…)
; “ you charged into a crowd of people and kicked the ball” She was clearing a ball while her
teammate was on the ground nearby and an opposing player stuck her foot in front to block and was
consequently knocked over from the force of the kick on the ball…
 (straight red card); “you keep fouling players” clear misapplication of the law here… should
only be a caution for persistent infringement (though that in and of itself was questionable, because she had not
been called for a foul since the penalty kick at the beginning of the game), not a straight red card and sendoff.
There was one player from the opposing team (Storm) that received a yellow card for the same ridiculous type
call, and also did not deserve a caution.
Immediately after the game, I walked to the referees’ circle off the field and requested my passes and roster. I
said absolutely nothing else and made no contact with the center official, who had then finally put a black
referee uniform over his hoodie… The younger AR was very smug and over-enthusiastic to me, saying “hope
you have a nice day” I gave him no response and walked away with my roster and passes, all of them. He did
not pull the player and coach passes, and did not refer to the roster for the names of the players he cautioned
either. The roster and passes were under an AR’s bag when I requested them. So I’m not even sure if this game
is even being reported correctly.
The purpose of this letter is threefold. 1) I wish that the appropriate assignors are aware of this situation and do
not assign these officials to games they are not experienced for. I understand that the officials put their own
comfort and ability levels on their availability forms, however some familiarity with the referees is crucial info
for successful assignors and parameters can then be set by the assignors 2) I feel the referee’s clear
misapplication of the laws should nullify any cards given and consequences for such cards. And 3) I understand
that due to the lateness of the season, replaying the game may not be an option, but it is a request. We feel
cheated out of a good experience against a good team in which our players can develop and grow as soccer
players. Even though they received a great life lesson in how to deal with incompetent people and how to
handle themselves in difficult situations beyond their control, I don’t believe this experience best represents the
league, the referees, or soccer in Colorado in general.
I appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to your response.
Sincerely,

Seasons Will Change You Must Move On

Progrock forever

And we're Live...

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Cooking Is Freedom

By JIM SOLLISCH

Private Lives:Personal essays on the news of the world and the news of our lives.

TAGS:

COOKING AND COOKBOOKS,DISCRIMINATION, HOME ECONOMICS, POLLAN, MICHAEL

In 1972, I was hungry. Very hungry. After all, I was a 14-year-old boy. I played sports and was constantly working out. I could eat every hour. My mother packed my lunch in a grocery bag.

I was into eating and sports, but there were other manly pursuits I wanted nothing to do with. For example, I had no interest in tools. I could build a sandwich but not a birdhouse. Or a beer-can lamp. Which is exactly what I would be doing in shop class, which all boys had to take in ninth grade at my junior high school.

Girls took home economics. Boys took shop. Girls learned to cook lasagna and bake chocolate cake. I would be learning to use a lathe. I preferred lasagna. So I did the sensible thing: I signed up for home economics.

The school counselor called me into her office to tell me that boys weren’t allowed to take home ec. I asked to see her boss, the vice principal. Same story. “Well,” I announced, “we have a problem because I’m not taking shop. These rules are discriminatory.” This was 1972; discrimination was everywhere you looked. If you weren’t protesting something, what were you doing? My parents wrote a letter expressing their support for my decision.

My mother was called to school. The problem, it turned out, was that shop and home ec were same-sex classes, and they were worried that a boy would be disruptive in an all-girls class. As much as I wanted to be in an all-girls class — I liked girls as much as lasagna — I saw an opening.

The next day I circulated a petition at school, demanding that the administration establish an all-boys home ec class for the undersigned: some two dozen hungry males whose parents were willing to let them out of shop to learn to cook.

The democratic process worked, the administration backed down, and within a few days, we boys began our experiment in domesticity. It’s true that we spent most of our time throwing hot, wet spaghetti at one another and eating so much raw muffin batter that our muffins came out stunted, but in spite of ourselves we witnessed magic: onions sweetened by fire and flour transformed by yeast.

So began my love affair with cooking. I was given the keys to the castle, the ability to satisfy my largest appetite. It was like the power some kids feel when they get a driver’s license. If I was hungry (and I was), I didn’t have to beg my mother to cook me something or settle for pretzels or chips. I could make spaghetti or meatloaf. I was the master of my domain.

JooHee Yoon

In college, I might have been the only guy to ever use the dorm stove. I sold my meal tickets and cooked almost every night. I started with chili and burgers and soon graduated to making hummus and curried chicken. Along the way, I asked the cook at the local vegetarian restaurant for her blue cheese dressing recipe. It called for two cloves of garlic. I bought two bulbs. When I separated the sections, they were all different sizes. I concluded that if a recipe called for two of something, then those somethings must be pretty uniform in size. The bulbs were uniform, and so I proceeded to blend in about 45 cloves of garlic. Lesson learned.

By the time I was dating Rique, the woman who would become my wife, I knew my way around several cuisines and had a drawer full of spices. I invited her over for dinner and was in the process of roasting fragrant Indian seeds — cumin, coriander, fennel, black mustard — when she walked in. I ground them with a mortar and pestle and let her take a whiff. She was mine.

What started for me as an act of civil disobedience back in the ninth grade became a lifelong habit. I cook every day. I cook because I love to eat. And I want control. I don’t want someone else choosing the flavors and textures of my dinner. I cook; therefore, I am.

Michael Pollan, in his book “Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation,” suggests that cooking at home is the best way to combat the obesity epidemic. Most of us don’t make French fries at home, for example. And how often does a home cook reach for a jug of corn syrup, a common — and fattening — ingredient in so many processed foods?

Mr. Pollan also proposes that we spend more time in school teaching boys and girls to cook in home economics classes, which are rarely required courses anymore. I couldn’t agree more.

But in the end, health is just a byproduct of learning to cook. You could argue that cooking is the activity that most defines us as humans. Dolphins have a language; crows can create tools. But only humans can cook. By cooking, we transform the mundane into something sacred. And then we share it with others. Food is the most shareable currency we have. You probably don’t pass out money to your friends, but you can pass the paella. But first you have to know how to make it.

---

Jim Sollisch is a creative director at Marcus Thomas Advertising.

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Cooking and Cookbooks, Discrimination, Home Economics, Pollan, Michael

Naughty Naughty Austerity

Just a gentle reminder....September 30th our country goes into government shutdown. Republicans are resisting any new spending bills which would qualify more tax funds for Obamacare. If Obamacare spending plans are not cut the government will go into shutdown.
(This is the same Obamacare that Obama, his family and all of Congress is exempt from. Because it's going to be just that good. )
I hope the Syrian conflict is resolved by that time. Because the immediate cut of 20 billion dollars to our military due to a government shutdown might harm our armed service personnel. It just might.

 I may not agree with any military action in Syria (aw hail No), but dang it if they're going to serve they better have a hot meal on the battlefield. (Unlike our military in Afghanistan).

http://www.mrconservative.com/2013/05/18173-obama-cuts-hot-food-for-soldiers-in-afghanistan/

It's a chess match. Could this be a good rationale for our nation to engage in sectarian violence in the Middle East?

Is our President dangling our military as a pawn for the Republicans to spend more on Obamacare? Is our President paying for Syria with a check our country---our military---cannot cash?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/08/19/dems-have-an-ace-in-the-hole-in-coming-battle/
Greg Sargent, Washington Post, August 19, 2013:

Congressman Van Hollen gets in touch to explain the added $20 billion in cuts to defense further.

“Earlier this year, changes were made that gave defense some preferential treatment under the sequester, and therefore cushioned the 2013 cut to defense,” Van Hollen says. “That beneficial treatment does not apply in fiscal year 2014. In fact, under current law, defense will go back to being treated the same as non-defense. Because defense will not receive that preferential treatment in 2014, it will face an additional $20 billion cut compared to this year. The cut will be $20 billion more next year.”