Grilling Goodness

04.26.2004

After a year of being in grilling limbo, I finally replaced the old grill with a new grill! Straight from the assembled grill section at Lowe's, I've got a new grown-up toy.

I tried out the new grill Sunday and quickly learned that I'm going to have some adjusting to make from the old grill. The new grill gets hotter, faster. I used to cook steaks 12 minutes and the would be med. to med. rare. After 10 minutes on the new grill, they're more med. to med. well. This just means I'm going to have to force myself into more rigorous testing. And cooking. Gotta hate that.

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If I Like It Enough, I'll Buy The Company

04.22.2004

I have been wanting to try the switch to an electric razor. My beard long ago became too tough for my favorite disposable, double-bladed Bic. I eventually switched to the Gillette Sensor Excel. It would provide a fairly close shave (I don't know if I've ever truly had a close shave), and being non-disposable, it became my first real grown-up razor.

Over the past couple of years, the number of blades required seems to have risen. 2 Used to be the norm, but now 3 and 4 blades are growing more prevalent. Just what is the optimum number of blades for a razor? I noticed that the cost of the replacement blades seemed to be getting higher and higher. A pack of 10 blades was costing me over $12, and a blade is only good for 1 round of shaving, maybe 2 or 3 if I shave every day. So it cost more than a buck to shave. That's when I started looking into the alternatives.

Investigating electric razors is really, really boring. I narrowed it down to what was at Target, read some reviews, and tried to narrow it down from there. From what I had read, the Norelco Advantage 6735X seemed like the right one to try. It can be used wet or dry. It has the little lotion dispensing button. It's said to do well on tough beards. Even better, once I arrived at Target, it was on sale for 30% off!

So I am now in the 3 week "get your beard used to the electric shaver" phase, today being Day 2. My first shaving experience was rather pleasant. I was afraid of little hairs being pulled, but none were. The lotion dispenser is a nice touch, I felt all silky smooth afterward. I've still got to practice on the right way to shave my throat - it's always been the toughest part to de-hair.

And if I've figured it out right, I should break even from no longer using the traditional razor on August 25, 2005. Oh wait, I'm supposed to be changing out those lotion packs. August 12, 2006.

Maybe I should re-think this?

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Kindergarten Breakfast

04.21.2004

I had one of my favorite childhood breakfasts this morning. It was a breakfast I remember from the days when Mom would have to drive Dad to work to Bruno's, then pick up something for me on the way to school. We would stop at the U-Totem across the street from the Bruno's. Everything was a U-Totem back then. No Circle C, Circle K, Circle Whatever. I always wanted a 7-11, but we're evidently the wrong part of the country for those. No, we had the U-Totem. So me and Mom would go into the U-Totem and I would get breakfast:

A bag of cheese curls and a coke.

It's what every growing boy needs. The cheese curls provide the daily recommended amount of salt and artificial cheese flavor, while the coke gives the sugar and caffeine boost needed to get through the day. Or at least through the morning until nap time. Plus, you get the added bonus of orange finger tips.

Ah, to have the simple life once again.

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JasonTracker Reborn!

04.20.2004

Much like my excursion to put the weather on this site, I've been wanting to bring back another page, the JasonTracker, but in a way that wouldn't require as much work.

The JasonTracker disappeared after I started to have a hard time keeping up with changes on the WWE travel calendar, entering them into my little database, and keeping everything up to date. It's not as much work as it sounds, just easy to slack off on if you're busy in the beginning or at the end of the month.

So after parsing the weather channel's output for the local weather, maybe I could parse the WWE calendar for what I needed. After a surprisingly short hour, I found that I could! So I know re-present the new JasonTracker, which will break the second somebody changes the format of the WWE event calendar.

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Spring In My Step

04.19.2004

Today is a good Spring day. It was a little on the chilly side this morning (mid 60's), lunch outside at McAlisters was perfect (74°, looking at the weather scroll). Spring is one of those seasons that seems to last about a week here in North Alabama. Before long, like next Monday probably, it'll be 95° with 80% humidity.

But today, it's ni-i-i-i-ce. And I'm basking in it for all it's worth.

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