The Lighter Side of Life According to...

Most of the previous paella productions have been based on this recipe, since I guess having watched him cook it on TV made me realize anyone could do it. But more importantly, I realized it's essential to know how to prepare your favourite dish.

I found this other recipe a while back, but only used it as a visual aid. This time, I followed its instructions closer and inserted some of the steps from the original recipe. Listing all the parts of the 2-hour process could fill metres of prose, so I'll let y'all take a look at the pics and guess the ingredients:

The aerial view:


Up close and personal:


Yeah, OK, to start, let's get this straight: I don't own a digital camera and I was hungry, so I didn't notice the date was wrong and wasn't gonna take the time to fix it. :)

It's a long and involved process, but making paella properly is totally worth the time. Even though I didn't use as much rice or a few other ingredients as before, lots of leftovers exist. If you'd like a taste, then you can either come over or send a SASTC (the last two letters represent Tupperware Container) to my address.

But first...

A little appetizer for your perusal

The birthday weekend promised lots of food and fun, and it didn't disappoint in that regard. The Saturday Cambridge tournament? Not the result I was hoping for, but a good time nevertheless.

Coming into the event full from the previous night's dinner (matzo ball soup, steak, two kinds of chicken, potatoes of varied forms, kasha, asparagus, chocolate cake, cookies, fruit, other items I'm sure I've forgotten) and decently rested (did nothing on Friday up until the meal), I didn't know what to expect. One-day'ers are hard to predict and it's been a while since I had attended one in Cambridge.

So I went 4-3, which including losing the finale to the bottom seed when I couldn't find any of the available 8s with EOORSS? as an out-bingo. It was a really fun game and she played well, but that mistake cost me a placement prize. Oh well. I did beat up on Dunlop, but that was a given considering he sucks and he took FIFTEEN MINUTES on his first two turns.

The disappointment on the ride home quickly dissipated as we took my dad out for his birthday dinner. Same Hungarian restaurant, same food. If you enjoy goulash and wiener schnitzel, then this place rocks on both counts.

On a nonfood-related note, I applied for two jobs at an organization where I'd really like to work. After months of not even getting an interview, I feel I have a good shot of hearing back on at least one of the positions. Cross my fingers, hope to smile. :)

Because I know 93% won't read this...

Back for season number two. Who knows what stupidity I'll write this go-around? What's the next situation I'm gonna botch and then have angry readers write hate mail? Heh, you'll have to read the column each week and find out...

Oh, and I may or may not have written an article for the Scrabble News. The What News?! Yeah, they still exist. And whoever they are may or may not have asked me to write more for them in the future.

So those upstarts from the other side of Manchester thought they could leave Old Trafford with a draw. Wrong:



I don't think I'll ever tire watching these highlights. Seven goals and end-to-end action all game long. And who said soccer was low-scoring and boring?

At the Sheppard Grande 3:40 showing of Extract, trailers to begin, and I'm the only one in the theatre. Definitely a bit weird.

Don't think anyone could have predicted a 14-3 +1320 finish after losing the opener by 105 to the lowest seed (1151). But then again, nobody could have foreseen all the good fortune I would receive.

Besides the bingos, here is another mildly interesting stat:
Main event average score: Me: 427, Opponents: 349
Late-bird average score: Me: 473, Opponents: 382

The main event bingo count started off slow and was only propped up by 12 in the last four (including five in the finale). Two shutouts on each side, with me winning one of the times I didn't bingo. 11 bingos in the first three of the late-bird helped build a +485 spread, but a couple of huge plays in the title match from the other side did me in.

Let's have at them bingos!

Main event (Me: 31, Opponents: 21)

West Bloomfield:
WaTERMA(NE)* (it's not spelled any way as one word; opponent had comeback blank-bingo and later pluralized this)
DATAB(A)SE
GaRVEYS
ANtRUMS
bIOG(E)NIC (back-to-back blank bingos late weren't enough in Game 4)
STR(I)NGED
(M)EMORIAL
MOTOrI(N)G
HIRCInE
ARENITE
PI(G)TAIlS (blank L)
PEDLARS
REcE(I)VER
DE(F)RaYED
FURIOsO
TERMiNG
WAGGIER* (could've played it legitimately through an L, but I though this was good and it scored more)
ENDMOST
cOL(O)GNES
BA(L)LADIc (after trying ABIDA(B)Le* the previous turn)
TAILORE(D)
EUGEnI(c)S
DEXTrA(N)S
(R)ERACKeD (decided against (BA)RrACKED for 110, as I was already getting 88 for this entry)
MEGALiT(ER)* (and to think MEGALITRE# is the only acceptable spelling in either dictionary)
ATTRIT(E)S
SHOTTEN
P(e)RIGEAN
(I)MAmATES
S(T)ELLATE
DETINUE (hooking onto STELLATE as a hunch, although I could try that up by 156)

Pontiac:
TIR(E)LESs
UNSTAG(E)D* (I held this, wrote down the alphagram, and couldn't convince myself to challenge)
ONeROUS
POAC(H)INg
SILANES
SORRIEr
HIPl(I)NES (blank L)
ArcSINE
D(A)FTNESS
OVERUSE
HORNIER
AVOCEtS
ANXIOUS
CALCE(A)TE (made a really inferior play and stuck out the A on my previous move)
IODATES
GrANDM(A)S
SErIAtE
DAUBIER
T(A)NGLIER
BOTCH(E)RS
(T)OADLIKe
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Late-bird (Me: 12, Opponents: 6)

Birmingham:
BLURTED
SEA(P)LANE
sTOTINK(I) (yay for pluralized Bulgarian currency!)
IN(T)REPID
LABRUMs
SIENITE
WORDING(s)
TERMITE
REGATTA
PRIDiNG
SHRIEvE
GUTLeSS

Auburn Hills:
A(T)OMISER
S(Q)UINTER
DEPA(I)NTS
SLAINTE
EUcAINE
(R)EIMAG(I)NG (natural DWS-DWS for 102, which killed my chances to win the mini-event)

Time to leave and go back home. The holiday is over, kid. Work awaits soon after arrival. No more fun and games...until this Friday when another tournament begins.

So I guess I did OK at wherever I was in whatever I was doing. Luck sometimes helps. Let's say I probably received enough luck to cover five or six events. But more about that later on.

It was a nice two-plus-week break. I'll miss the good times, the great company, the scenic rides, the long meals, the mysterious scoops of food. And of course, I'll miss sopraffina the most. :'-(

The bus ride yesterday went really smooth. Can't really complain about much on that side, especially considering we arrived on-time. Hmm, I guess there really is a first time for everything.

Now sitting in the event hotel lobby for the free wi-fi and the heavy smell of perfume and wood paneling. Three-plus days and 21 games on the horizon. Don't really feel any pressure this week, considering the slightly lower-rated field. And hey, I usually cash in the Great Lakes State. So, what, me worry?

If I can think of anything else to say about my time in Denver and it is interesting enough, then I'll talk about it here. But really, I was either in enough pain, overmedicated, or just having too much of a good time to remember any further minutia on top of what I've already told.

I'll probably post tournament updates on Facebook and maybe a spoiler or two on here. To everyone who is at a tournament this weekend, good luck and have fun.

Getting ready to pack for Michigan, where I will be headed tomorrow afternoon via Greyhound. I know, I know, I just came back from Denver and I'm already being whisked away to another event. Isn't life grand...and hectic too? Because I work weekends and I'm already taking off consecutive ones, I'll only be playing the Early Bird and Pairs at next week's Toronto event. Now to return to the report...


Scrabble: America's Good Time Game

What can I say about Can-Am that hasn't already been repeated elsewhere? Congrats to the US team. You guys played great. Our team, on the other hand, sucked. We tried to make it close for as long as possible, but man, those Americans sure amped up the power on Day 2.

My games were about as erratic as possible. I felt exhausted most of the time because I couldn't sleep well. That, and I only realized after the fact the nasal spray I was taking to relieve sinus pressure causes drowsiness. The first day lunch of 10 Chicken McNuggets seemed to do the trick for the second half (went 4-0 after an 0-4 start), but I couldn't repeat the feat on Sunday (0-2 after 1-3).

I haven't analyzed the games, although I did enter 10 of them on Quackle right after. I know I screwed up a couple times in my second match with drbing. I also missed an easy bingo when I was up by over 100 against wallydraigle, but bingoed on the next turn. And I overlooked the possibility of glory when I held IIIUVX? against ididjonassalk. Besides that, I know I wasn't really playing at my best. But then again, the field was very tough and they played well when it counted.


Rhinitis Interruptus

Vacations work better when you're having fun. A constant running nose and an assortment of other sinus-related problems won't help the situation and definitely makes time seem like it's going in slo-mo. I spent almost all of Monday sniffling and sneezing. From the hotel to the stadium to the airport back to home, it was one really long and painful episode. I now realize I needed to use a different spray to solve this problem, but it may not have worked while I was in Denver since I was moving all over the place and therefore not in a controlled air environment.
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As originally stated, there may be a third installment. But it probably won't come until after I've arrived in Q-Town.

There's so much I could talk about from the last few days, but I'll have to split it all up in order to adhere to the latest LJ brevity standards.


Way up high, in the sky

They say you'll only feel the Mile High elevation if you start thinking about it. I believe that notion finally entered my head on the last day (Monday) when I almost passed out before our Coors Field tour. Apparently, my sinuses got messed up and decided to switch some of their functions without letting me know first.

Fortunately, I was able to recover in time for the 90-minute look around the stadium. It was very cool, since we got to step on the field (but not the grass) and hang out in the visitors' clubhouse (before the Mets arrived later on). Even one of the Rockies' players (Manny Corpas) made a cameo appearance, as he was in between rehab sessions and tried to sneak past the tour guide without her knowing. For $7, I can definitely say the tour was worth it. (I wish I had brought a camera, especially for the clubhouse notice showing exactly what substances are banned by MLB.)


The air up there

Invesco Field at Mile High is a beautiful building in a not-so-great downtown Denver neighbourhood. Of course, half the thrill of the trip there is finding parking. $40 right next to the stadium. $30 a little bit further down. And $10 to park in somebody's driveway. The last option worked fine for us, since a whole bunch of cars could fit behind the house. And the lady who lived there was super-nice, so much so she even drove up to us as we were walking blocks away to say our car lights had been left on. And after driving Max to fix the problem, she even dropped him off at our designated meeting place.

Even though it's preseason, we heard tickets might be difficult to acquire. The return of prodigal son Jay Cutler to Denver in another uniform might have had something to do with the buzz. I can't tell you how many different offensive Cutler t-shirts I saw being sold outside the stadium or how many Bronco fans were wearing Cutler jerseys with the name and/or number taped over.

The first scalper was selling $500 200 Level Suite tickets. I volunteered to be the lead negotiator and asked him how much he wanted. He said to make him an offer. After consulting with my team, we figured $60 was our limit each. He wasn't too impressed and wanted $80. I countered with $65. He countered with $75 and then was offered that by a 'stranger' who couldn't have been of any relation. Yeah, nice try. I expressed my gratitude and we walked away. We eventually found ourselves at the box office, scoring three tickets at the cheapest price available ($60).

After the 200-foot high walk to our seats, we noticed quite a few Bears uniforms in our section. Good times, especially when a few of them were consuming their monthly alcohol intake in one sitting. You'd be amazed to hear knowledgeable football banter coming from a dude who easily downed eight beers. But that's the kind of atmosphere it was, and everyone pretty much got along.

And the game itself? Not having been to an NFL stadium in at least 15 years, it was a fun experience. We might have been at the top, but any seat pretty much had an excellent view. At least i'll know for the next time never to mix a pretzel with a churro.
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Next installment: What medications should never be used while playing Scrabble.

Leave in a couple hours for the airport. Apparently, I'm headed to Denver for some heated head-to-head battle between two countries. I think we're playing Mexico or some island nation in Parchesi, but I could be mistaken...

...no, wait, it's the US and we're playing...Scrabble? Really?!? Dang, well there goes my weekend.

If you haven't heard about this event in previous years, then check out the stats at the bottom of this page. For the love of licorice, please skip by the photos. Hold on a sec. Let me take a look at those pics. Damn, we're old. And we could almost call this the LJ Bowl, if you consider excluding all of my teammates.

Does CAN really have a shot against AM? Yes, I CAN be confident that we AM, er, are. Or quoting the words of a noted sage: "America! F*** yeah!!"

Everyone knows quinquennia has some mad drawing skillz. We give him the requests, he whips up awesome sketches in short order.

So in honour of his birthday, I decided to revive what lingering proficiency I once had in the visual arts. And since he's been showing us other beings in their various environments, I thought it would be fitting to create a portrait of our favourite animation artist in his own habitat.

( Here's my best effort... )

After xpmorgan's lengthy ode to garlic fries, I took it upon myself to submit my entry for this recipe. So I bought the 1kg bag o'frozen fries, melted the 1.5 sticks of butter, roasted the head of garlic, chopped some parsley and green onion, and made some magic.

Following nine small batches, here's the end result:

( Step right up and see if you can reach the top of the mountain... )

Thanks to xpmorgan et al, here's my not-in-Dayton culinary entry...

Today's special: paella, topped with everything:




Tastes even better when no one else is around to eat it. Hopefully won't get sick of eating it for a week straight.

Now back to your regularly scheduled Scrabble-based LJs...

- Salmon steaks with teriyaki and chili glaze
- Spicy green beans, zucchini, and baby bok choy
- Jasmine rice

( Visual proof of the meal... )

With my brother moving out next week, the last month or so has consisted of everyone rummaging through closets and drawers to separate the keepers from the trash. In a search through the bottom section of my closet, I found some interesting trinkets from the 2003 WSC, a pair of sandals that won't give me blisters, a pack of blank writable CDs, and a few Scrabble games.

I found one of the Scrabbles to be interesting, since it comes in a tin and has some fancy stuff inside. The copyright date says it was produced in 2000. I think I got it at a CNSC but don't remember which one (maybe 2000?). Since I don't really need this and money is good, I decided to Google the item. Here's one of the few hits. Really? That much for a non-Franklin Mint version?!

Set up a seller's account on eBay (I've only bought two things on there in six years) and listed the game yesterday. Heh, I'm guessing most of you already have a set. But if you know anyone who is interested in a nice looking, well-manufactured Scrabble game, then please direct them to my auction. Thanks!

The 8th game in a tournament day is exhausting enough. Working on very little sleep and being under an overactive air conditioner vent makes it even more trying.

Before this encounter, I had only played Carolyn Easter at the Meijers club. Nice person, excitable character, proficient optometrist. (We also got to hang at an extended dinner that evening. More fun and libations ensued.)

So here's our match from Day 1 of Michigan Madness. Going in, I had just lost two straight (at 4-3), including one by 1 point. It's funny how karma sometimes shows up unexpectedly.

It's raining tiles, hallelujah!

The true north strong and free (31):
ALnICOS
ORNATEL(Y)
PRAISED
GaNISTE(R)
(H)ABAnERO
(S)AUCEPAN
MOURNeR
AIRLESS
CONTE(N)TS
ERUDITE
SIN(C)ERER
TOStADA (second Southwestern cuisine bingo of the day, no coincidence we went for Mexican dinner)
B(O)NIFaCE (out-bingo, as opponent graciously provided letter and emptied bag - serves this douchebag right)
ARsONIS(T) (missing HANdWRI(T) the previous turn)
AUDIENT(S)
(C)ULVERTS
IATRIC(A)L
EScHEWS
SKILLEd
ROLLINg
ENt(O)DERM
PROPINE
PRoLEGS
FOrBEAR(S)
DI(S)aVOWS
BAYON(E)TS
(T)ARRIEST
cORVINA
HENLEYs
UNLI(M)BER
SUaVEST

The largely independent (16):
SOUrEST
AN(S)ERINE
dISLIMN
PARTIED
aPOGEES
FATTIER
NEGATOR
AROUSeS
(S)YNTAGMS
TENACES
CURTAI(L)S
SLAINTE
MIlLERS (that's MILLERS)
AGEISTS
(T)INSELED
(I)NDOCIlE (INDOCILE with both blanks)

I went on vacation and all I got out of it was this stinking article

Well, technically, that isn't entirely true. But I did work extremely hard on this (wink, wink), so I would urge others to read this in the next couple hours before the information becomes outdated.

This past weekend was the Madness, Scrabble edition. Today begins the insanity known as the NHL Free Agent Frenzy. Teams will be spending more money than Johnny Depp would if he was at a restaurant all day long. By tonight, most NHL rosters will look messier than a set of Japanese hotel rooms, while others will seem tamer than a Pavel Datsyuk hairstyle.
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More to come, including tournament miscellanea, the longest bus ride ever, and further details on how you can enter the "Guess When Evan's New MacBook Will Die" Roto.

To all my Canadian peeps, have a happy Canada Day. To anyone else, I urge y'all to postpone celebrations for at least three days. Just a hunch.

The bus ride was painful as usual, and that doesn't include the multiple torrential downpours (where we almost had to stop twice) or the really loud passengers (woo hoo for headphones and loud music/TV shows). I got some wicked whiplash from sleeping, so I woke up every five minutes when my neck gave out.

But I'm here with my honey after a peaceful dinner and efficient grocery trip. And I just found out about the latest entertainment news. Sheesh, wow, what a day.

Totally psyched for this weekend. The Madness, bring it on.