One more reason to like Hilary Duff. (even tho it’s just a movie) Go Dodgers!!

You gotta love the power service here in Central Texas. Especially when the weather turns ugly (rain?). Yesterday afternoon we had a storm come through, and of course we lost power. The problem was that we lost power for over four freakin’ hours. At least we were able to keep our refrigerator shut during this time, and could save our food. We have a gas range, so we could make mac n cheese for dinner. The power finally came on at 9:17pm, while we were all starting to doze off. This morning as we were on our way out the door, the power went off again. I am at work now, and not sure if it is back on. This is not as bad as about a year ago, when the power went out one afternoon, and didn’t come back until around noon the next day. We had to throw out all our food from the fridge, which sucked.

The power situation is crazy around here. I don’t know how it is compared to other parts in the U.S. but I don’t remember the traffic lights going out when it rained in SoCal. Traffic lights, for goodness sakes. Shouldn’t they at least have a backup battery and just start flashing red or something? The lights here just go out. No flashing, no nothing. And they are big intersections, too. And the police rarely direct traffic. Last time that happened, I saw a patrol car parked near the intersection, and the cop was sitting in it, while drivers braved the intersection…

The other weekend we decided it was time to make a big pot of curry. Since Bay is now eating curry with us, we cannot make it karai (spicy hot), but instead make it sort of “kid’s curry” style, which means a little sweeter. This time we made it with chicken, potatoes, onions and carrots. This time, though, it was extra special, because we had it with cheddar cheese melted on top. (not in picture) When we were in Hawaii several years ago, we passed by a curry house and they served cheese-curry. I thought that it sounded pretty gross. Then, last year we went to Hawaii again, and went to the same curry house. Mariko said that cheese-curry is pretty good, actually, and that she had eaten it before in Japan. So, I thought, “What the hell, I’ll order the cheese-curry.” Man, was it good!!! I was so surprised at how great the combination was! So, I grated some cheddar cheese on top of mine this time, and it was delicious! We also had the best side-dish for curry, macaroni salad.

The latest in my weekly feasting is delicious croquettes, stirfry cabbage and miso soup. As always, accompanied by a cold beer.

I was at my local Costco the other day, and checked out their photo lab and was surprised not only with their prices for prints, but that they offered scanning services, from negatives and slides. The price for a low-res is only $.29 each, and hi-res (their hi-res is 3139px x 2048px) is $.79. Compare that to the local “pro” photography shop’s prices of $3.95 for a 1024×768 scan from a 35mm slide! So, I decided to have them do hi-res scans of 27 of my slides. Most of them came out better than I expected, although there were a couple that made it look like the slide was over-exposed. Anyways, the image above shows the complete slide, while the detail below shows the scan at 100%.

Not bad at all! Next I am going to have them do a couple of 8×10 prints. One from the scan ($1.79), and one from the slide ($1.96) and see how they compare. The examples they have at the store are great quality. I am curious to see how it turns out.

Some of the most interesting photos in baseball are taken when the pitcher is in the middle of a pitch. There must be some special name for it that is used among sports photographers. I mean, you can’t go wrong with a photo like that. Usually, the facial expression is totally contorted, and often you will see an arm that looks like it is bending the wrong way. The other day there was a picture of a pitcher whose legs looked like they were about to snap… too bad I didn’t save that one. There must have been hundreds that made the front pages of the baseball sections of the major sports websites; I wish I had saved all of ’em from this year, but I only have a few…. Click the link below to see the ones I did save. (and I will add more as the season progresses)

Tonight Mariko made an awesome quick sushi, which was sushi-rice, avocado, and smoked salmon. She just layered them in a plastic wrap-lined baking dish. It was yummy! We also ate karaage (fried chicken nuggets) which are always good. Plus, I had a beer.

The other night we made Okonomiyaki at home. The special ingredients in one of them was yakisoba and bacon. The other one was “kim-cheesu”, kimchee, cheese and bacon. It was super yummy! It’s so awesome to have tasty Japanese food several times a week. I am so glad that Mariko enjoys cooking so much. 🙂