| GOOD NEWS

(It's a suppository!)

The Lavapocaplyse is actually starting to recede... just REALLY REALLY SLOWLY. So it looks like I'll get a chance at a do-over on the design. That's awesome because I'd really hate to give up the "teleporter" (free fall from the top of the world to underground).

Is anyone else still logging on? lol. This has been, by far, the biggest project I've ever undertaken (makes the castle thing look really small). Really, was probably more than I should have attempted. But, it's almost done! Yay! Would love to show you jerks around :)

Maybe some of you jerks with experience in wiring / redstone could help me out on a part of the project I'm not real sure on how to move forward. It's not a necessity, but would be kinda cool.

Elzar, you still doing The End quest? How do I get in on that to help out?

| CAY-EWE-COAST

Or however the hell you pronounce that. I was totally in for December, but now that we've waited, some murky finance shiz is coming down the pike. I won't rule myself out but I'm now going to be a game time decision (should know for sure around the 1st of the year).

Unrelated: Playing Minecraft on our multiplayer world with the kiddos a bunch. The Mothership is almost done! I, eh... had a slight mishap when firing up the engine cores. It appears that I miscalculated on the ability for the lava-drive to power down with the cores removed. So, while the first test-firing of the engines went well and there were otherwise no mishaps... I realized a slight engineering defect that negated my "teleporter" and turned it into a one-way express into Death Town... but being unable to turn off the lava-drive, resorted to extreme engineering to try and fix it... which managed to make things a lot worse. Anyway. lol

That being said.. can't log in! Whassap with that? Anyone else having issues getting into the game world?

| Cayucos and Beyond!

After much confusion with the rental agency, I have finally received the rental agreement in the (e)mail!  Next step: pay the nice people for the right to live in their house for the weekend!  Step before that step: Pay Elzar some money upfront so the hit doesn't come to the old bank account at once!  The total cost out of pocket is $1,976.30 with $500 of that coming back at the end (security deposit), so how about it fellas - scrilla for the Thrilla from Aptosilla?  IIRC those to attend:

Elzar
Enron
jr0n
R00d
Pumpkin
Dave Defeat
Blackheart
Motorbyke
and possibly Oriental Rugs and Lost Wages.  So that puts us at either ~ $184 or $147ish a head.

 - For those of you with kids and an iPad and a desire to give the kid something to do that may or may not help them learn algebra concepts from like age 4 and up to 12th grade (I think), check out Dragonbox+.  Wylie is hooked for better or worse and I have fun with it too.  It basically turns the concepts of algebra into a non-numeric valued puzzle using monster icons.  It's very interesting and at a certain point I hit this 'a-ha' moment where "I see what you're doing there".

 - No brewing for me yet.  Haven't had the time, materials, energy, or equipment to do a batch - maybe you should come down for inspiration and we can have a brew day?

- For what it's worth, I'm a CISSP now.

| The Walking Dead

Only game I bought from the Steam sale was the complete season of The Walking Dead for $12.50. Still in the first episode but I'm really enjoying it. Haven't payed attention to much else on it. Microsoft Store was selling friggen Skyrim for $10 bucks but it sold out right away (the dvd version). I'll get that game if it comes out that cheap.

| Draft master

When I post from my office PC, I get the dozens of draft posts, due to the pain-in-the-ass content filters HQ has in place. It actually is a pain to post from work, but there are work arounds, with caveats, as you can see.

D>M>

| lol

Just saw the million drafts. lulz

| Steam Sale

Yeah, I picked up Portal 2 for $4.99 (never played either of them), and also got the Game Of The Year Edition for Civ5 at $12. Should be fun to play through with the kiddos.

Oven bags are a great festive way to prep your crack rocks.

Enr0n, there are like 20 drafts of that post. I mean it was funny, but you might be taking it too seriously.

Anyone buy any Steam junk? I picked up the new Deus Ex and Mark of the Ninja.

| Oven Bag Rocks?

fArt, I have never tried cooking rocks in my oven bag?! Do they tender up nicely? Do you saute them in mud for a little bit prior to putting them in the bag for a little favor enhancement?

eLzar, are you in the realm of the living still, or did you slip into another plane? Any brewing lately. I need to live vicariously through your brewing since I don't have the space in my apartment.

D>M>

| Oven Bag rocks

I also throw in some carrots, celery and apple slices into the bottom of the bag for added moisture. Can't do the 500 degrees thing from Alton's recipe though, the bag can't take that high of heat. 100% recommend the bag, though. It's awesome.

Thanks for the info about the bags. I used Alton Brown's method of starting the bird off at 500° for about 30 minutes and then lowering the temperature to 350 and putting an aluminum foil breastplate over the breast. So when my Thermometer told me the breast was at 161 I pulled the bird out. At that point the dark meat was in the mid 180s. Didn't do any basting because I was afraid of letting too much heat out.

| Oven Bags

Oven bags are for cooking a faster, more even roast. The biggest plus, it keeps the moisture in. So instead of basting every so often, and thus reducing the temp of the oven each time, you just keep the oven door closed the whole time. This keeps the oven temp up and the oven bag keeps the temp within the bag more consistent. This results in less chance of uneven temperatures around the bird. In a way, it averages out convection current hot spots in your oven.

Of course this doesn't solve the age old question of, "Do I cook for optimal dark meat or white meat temp": dark meat is best when cooked to 180 (most tender, otherwise under 180 it can be a little chewy), breast to 165 (above it tends to get drier).

Bags are relatively cheap (~$3-4 for two bags) and easily found in your grocery store. You just put a table spoon of flour in, shake it up and then throw the turkey in the bag before putting the whole thing in the oven.

D>M>

I'm going to have to try your brine recipes around Christmas this year. My 2nd turkey came out damn near perfect, but I know there's room to improve. Enoto - you gotta make your little family a turkey! It was honestly pretty damn easy. It also makes you feel manly as F. I don't really get how or why you'd use the turkey bag. Someone please 'splain.