Fried Chicken & Hot Sauce

My job allows me the flexibility to work from home at times and today was one of those days. That flexibility affords many opportunities, one of which being culinary diversions - aka great lunches. Today's was inspired by a downtown restaurant, semi famous for dipping its fried chicken in hot sauce and serving in a sandwich.

I'll confess that I didn't have to go as far as the whole breading and frying route. That was already done for me by way of leftovers. The hot sauce application and consumption was all mine though.

A beautiful day in the Carolinas and a great lunch. Just thought I'd share my inspiration. Enjoy!

Are We Or Aren't We?

A Christian nation that is. Not that every citizen is a Christian, but that this country was founded on and still operates on a rule of law that is derived from Christian beliefs. This historical foundation is the basis of our freedom today.

The question is particularly relevant as President Obama continues to state that America is no longer Christian. Holding to that worldview has a definite impact.

A guest columnist on OneNewsNow.com puts an excellent perspective on the President's knowledge of history in an article titled "Arrogant Americans, Mr President?" which contains the following quote:

Barack Obama's first foreign trip as President of the United States has confirmed the naiveté so many of us feared during the election cycle. But worse than that, it has also demonstrated that our president suffers from either a complete misunderstanding of our heritage and history, or an utter contempt for it. Neither is excusable.

There are a lot of things going on right now in Washington that I believe are detrimental to our country. But it is our country. Why does our President continually see fit to condemn it?

A Fair Vote

Our family was selected to participate in an Arbitron radio survey. The poll lasted a week and consisted of simply recording when and what we listened to (individually) on the radio. We were selected by a random dialer as part of a nationwide survey. The results will be used to rank radio stations which no doubt will drive advertising campaigns and rates - although probably not on listener supported stations such as WRCM.

Maybe I'm just naturally suspicious or have let myself be influenced by national news reports on voting scandals (such as the fraud occuring in Minnesota with Al Franken since November). However in this case, I'm trusting Arbitron to administer the results fairly and then represent my preferences as part of the bigger picture.

A capitalistic free market should be driven by consumer demand. Government intervention to "balance" something the market won't support (such as with the politically driven so called Fairness Doctrine) has never proven to be sustainable. Thats why buying locally in your community and "voting" with your dollars is the best way to support the economy where you live.

Indirectly, thats what we did by participating in the Arbitron survey. It seems like a fair vote.

Where Are We Going?

News story heard today:

Uncle Sam was discovered today wandering aimlessly through the wilderness, many miles from the main highway. He had no cash or valuables and was in the words of one official "severely confused and physically ill". Here's the man who found him: "It was like he didn't know where he was going or where he came from." Uncle Sam has been hospitalized and is reportedly in critical condition.

Credit to Just Thinking - this was the intro to their "Understanding the Spirit of the Age" podcast.

The Best Watchdog

It looks like the old joke has finally been proven true. We have one of those watchdogs that burglars fear the most - the kind they'll trip over in the dark! WebMd now verifies how effective they are!

In reality, she's a very sweet dog (ignore the reflective eyes in the photo) and an excellent watchdog...but clearly all bark!

Free Information

Not just the random posts in this blog, but actual useful information - business information. More specifically business phone numbers. I might be late to discover this, but for anyone else who might have missed it, Google has a 411 service that's free to use and even to auto-connect.

The service is described at http://www.google.com/goog411/ and can be used by calling 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411). It might just be because I still have a restrictive cell phone plan, but free 411 is worth $1.50 a call to me if I'm out somewhere and need to call a business for directions.

For the Google world domination theorists, one final thought - it was interesting when I programmed the 411 number into my cell phone that T9 already knew "Google". Ah...I'll use it anyway, its free.

Successful Operation

This week's operation was a success by any standard. The old part that was causing all the trouble came out without any complications. It was actually an easy operation on a body that is considered old by today's standards. Everything is closed back up and functioning fine.

I'm talking about our main home computer of course, a commodity PC purchased for a rock bottom price about 4 years ago. The power supply quit working a week and a half ago and I've been waiting to be able to install the replacement. It was satisfying that something made to compete in a very thin profit margin environment was also designed to be serviceable. In an increasingly disposable, impatient society that seems a rarity.

My "other" operation was a success this week also. Thanks to all who prayed for me and my family during that time. I won't be like new as fast as our computer, but I'm doing very well.