AJ, All-Star

Orioles @ Nationals (L)

Adam Jones batting against Stephen Strasburg. I think @SimplyAJ lost this battle and struck out.

I made a dumb bet with a friend — a Benjamin, if the Orioles have a better record than the Nationals at the end of the season. As of today, June 16, 2012, they have the same number of wins 38. The Orioles have more losses though. Can they sustain this excellence for the entire season and win me the bet?

Dark Shadows

Johnny Depp in that make up would lead you to believe that Dark Shadows, the latest Tim Burton film, would be campy just like Edward Scissorhands or Beetlejuice. Not really. It’s somewhat campy, but campy like Mars Attacks! In other words, it’s not a good movie.

The somewhat campy feeling — from the setting in the 1970s to vampires (!) — would make a movie bright. It is Burton’s signature atmosphere except the movie gets somewhat dark — from the setting in the 1970s to vampires! There’s some death which goes against the whole feel of the camp. It felt like the movie was caught between the two. Not campy enough and not dark enough. It was confusing. As well as that werewolf that shows up late in the film. What?!

2 of 5 stars

Link and Quote of the Day [6.07.12]

"No other object has been misidentified as a flying saucer more often than the planet Venus. Even the former leader of your United States of America, James Earl Carter, Jr., thought he saw a UFO once, but it's been proven he only saw the planet Venus.

Venus was at its peak brilliance last night. You probably thought you saw something up in the sky other than Venus, but I assure you: it was Venus."

Man In Black (Jesse "The Body" Ventura), The X-Files, "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'"

NASA's gallery of the transit of Venus across the Sun from the the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Whoa! Breathtaking.

http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?10996

On The Road Again

Broke out the Gios this past weekend, because it was a very cool Saturday. I only went a few miles, but I did go out both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, I went out in the afternoon for a quick jaunt around the neighborhood. It was only a fifteen minute ride that was about 3+ miles. On Sunday, I went out early, felt good, but also did a quick jaunt around the neighborhood. It was twenty-five minutes and 5+ miles. It looks like I’m averaging 12 MPH. Back to the beginning.

I also recompiled my bike logs since 2005. I rode the most 2007: 663 miles and 45 hours 22 minutes of saddle time. I did well in 2008 logging 517 miles. It was shaping up to be a banner year in 2009, until I stopped riding in July. I had logged 497 miles by then, and would’ve surpassed 600 if I only kept riding. I fell off the cliff in 2010 and 2011 riding only 21 and 34 mile respectively.

I just have keep going. Anyone up for a ride on the flat Eastern Shore?

1.. 2.. 3.. 4..

There’s supposedly a party today. It’s gonna be a swim party at my mom’s. What better way to have summer fun than drinking, eating, and swimming? And what drink? Rum punch!

So I made a pitcher of it following this recipe. I wouldn’t have to use a recipe if I can remember this old West Indies mnemonic, “One of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak.” The ingredients to this rum punch is one parts lime juice, two parts simple syrup, three parts rum and four parts orange juice. That’s it mix it all together and garnish with fruit.

The interesting part came when creating the simple syrup. I don’t have granulated white sugar in my house only sugar cubes. I do have dark brown sugar which is what I used to make the simple syrup. One cup dark brown sugar to one and half cups of water. Take this to a roiling boil and then simmer for ten minutes. It should reduce down to about one and quarter cup about 12 ounces.

For the lime juice, I squeezed 5 limes. I’ve got a sweet juicer that makes it easy. There’s a sixth lime, but that’s for the garnish.

For the rum, I used 1 part Malibu and the 2 parts the Captain.

Since it was dark brown sugar, the rum punch is a dark brown. It almost looks like an ice tea! Maybe Long Island ice teas next time!