Testing 1, 2, 3

Yes, this is a test of Windows Live Writer, which is supposed to be easier to use than just opening up my blogsite and posting.  Who knows if it will actually be easy?  Most things from Microsoft aren't. 

So, this is the first test, and we shall see what comes of it.

That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.

Whether or not this overused platitude is true is NOT the subject of this essay. Long debates can and have been held on the subject, but not here...or at least not today.

The problem with this well-worn phrase is that some seem to feel that it is an excuse to seek out the difficult, the dangerous and the unpleasant. Rather than trying to avoid things that hurt, they complacently accept it, because it will make them stronger.

This makes about as much sense as letting the bus graze you. Not enough to let it kill you, but enough to make it hurt a lot. Now, that is an extreme example, and most who quote this phrase are not referring to physical injury, but far too many seem willing to quote this phrase and abrogate any responsibility to avoid that which causes pain.

Unfortunately, in their masochistic desire to experience pain, they often carry other along the same path, and when their victims complain, they pull out their shield of righteousness, quoting the phrase, as if they were doing their victims a favor.

Worse still, believers in this unproven platitude often rush towards pain in the belief that they will become stronger, and again they often drag victims in their wake. They believe so firmly that they fail to see that while pain may bring strength (remember, unproven), it also leaves scars and that pain does not create wisdom. It is in learning how to avoid pain that we learn wisdom.

Also, those who quote the phrase are often masking their own inability to avoid pain. In point of fact, they often become weak, without the strength or wisdom to get out of the way. They often seem to display a laziness, being unwilling to work to avoid pain.

On occasion, pain does make us stronger, but far too often, it leaves us scarred, bitter and permanently damaged. These are not strength. When hard times approach, the greatest strength and the greatest wisdom are shown when we do the right things to avoid and lessen the pain. In this way we show that we have learned the lessons of life, and have the strength to use them.

Changes

Well, I have not posted in a bit, because I had a bit of a problem, which was then compounded by another. The second problem has caused me to rethink a number of things, and face some changes.

I am diabetic.

I discovered this in the aftermath of a lesion that had to be lanced. They tested my blood sugar and it was 455. Now, that may not mean much to some of you, but those who know anything about diabetes will be rather alarmed. As I understand it, normal is somewhere below 100. That day, I was given insulin. Since them I am on medication, and for the last four days, my number has been below 200. Understand, that this is all very recent, and so I have less than a week of numbers to go by.

So, the first change has been Cokes. Yes, I was a coke-aholic. I used to drink 2 liter bottles in 8 hours. My daily intake was huge, and that has stopped completely. That has been a big change for me.

Second, no sweets. I love chocolate, and candy of many sorts, and that must go too. Now, I will admit that I have cheated a little bit on this one, a few candied nuts, a single skittle, and a dark chocolate pastille. If I can find dark chocolate that is not too bitter, then I may be able to give in to this temptation on occasion, but only in small doses.

It has been a depressing time, and it is not going to get better soon. Most of my comfort foods are now denied me. I used to eat, and drink, when depressed. Now I have to find something else.

Well, I thought I would have more to say, but I think it has petered out at this point.

The End of an Era

The last of the big three has left us.

I am sure that many will wax eloquent on the passing of Arthur Clarke. I will not join them in recounting his accomplishments and awards. They were many, and are easily found.

Arthur C. Clarke - Wikipedia
(don't downplay Wikipedia, it is a good source for quick information)

My thoughts are inspired more by the passing of the last of the big three than by the passing of Arthur Clarke. He lived longer than the other two.

I was born during the decade when Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur Clarke did much of their seminal writing, the 50s. Of course, I did not discover them in the 50s, when they wrote the works that made them giants in Science Fiction, nor even in the 60s, when they confirmed their reputations at the best in the genre.

It was not until Junior High that I really caught the reading bug (thank god my son is already infected at age 10), and it was science fiction that caught my mind.

I cut my teeth on Star Trek, and that was in the 60s. I caught as much of it as I could during its first run, but my parents would not let a 9 and then 10 year old stay up until 9:30 every Thursday to watch it. The third season it was switched to 10pm on Friday, and an 11 year old had an easier time talking them into that. Then it went into syndication, during those same Junior High years, and I raced home every afternoon to watch.

But, Star Trek was only one hour a day. In the other hours I turned to the books in the house, but I wanted books that had the same things as Star Trek. Fortunately, my older brother Roy read science fiction, so I started reading what he had finished, mostly Robert Heinlein. I never looked back. My next discovery was Arthur Clarke, Childhood's End, I think. Asimov was the last of the three, when I encountered the Foundation series. I read everything my brother had, and even bought a few of my own. Because there were so many books by these three to be found in libraries and bookstores in the 70s, I never really finished with them and moved on. I thought I was well read in science fiction until I got to college and took a class on science fiction and fantasy and my classmates knew authors I had never read, like Larry Niven, and Frederick Pohl. Of course, they had far less grounding in the giants than I had.

Science Fiction has been a life-long addiction of mine, since I found Star Trek more than 40 years ago. Robert Heinlein, Issac Asimov, and Arthur Clarke have been a big part of that, and with the passing of Arthur Clarke, that era of Science Fiction is ended. Science Fiction is not dead, far from it, but it would not be where it is, and I would not be who I am, without the thoughts, musings, surmisings, and above all, entertaining writings of these three giants.

Not Looking Forward to Anything

I do not look forward to anything.

I find that I have to expand on that to understand it myself. I do not mean that I do not have anything to look forward to. I mean that I do not anticipate. I mean the little things. I do not look forward to going home at the end of the day.

Now, before my wife explodes, this is not about her, or our son, or anything in particular. I just don't look forward to it. It is just the next thing in my day.

I don't look forward to the weekend. I am relieved when it arrives. I don't like going to work, so I definitely don't look forward to that, but there is nothing wrong with work. There is nothing really wrong with anything. I just don't look forward to anything.

I know how I feel, but I wish I could explain it better.

Jeeves and Wooster

Starting new things again.

I first read P.G. Wodehouse many years ago, and quite enjoyed it. I have read a few of the novels, and then I discovered the BBC series starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. I totally enjoyed them, and last night I started watching them again. I am not sure that I will write reviews of all of them, but I will write a review of the first, and we shall see about the others later.

Jeeves takes Charge

We are introduced to Bertie Wooster in a courtroom, where he is clearly drunk and where the judge keeps telling him to shut up as he makes feeble attempts to defend himself. After being fined 5 pounds, he is sent home, where he collapses on his bed. The doorbell rings almost immediately, and after a bit of grunting and groaning (by Bertie) we are introduced to Jeeves.

Now that our two heroes are in place, Jeeves makes Bertie a hangover cure, and we are introduced to the world of Bertie Wooster, first, the Drones Club. Now, for those of you not familiar with P.G. Wodehouse or Jeeves and Wooster, you should take note of the name of Bertie's club, for I doubt it is accidental. The Drones Club is filled with idle young men with barely a brain cell between them, but you will understand more of that later. We are introduced to several players in later stories, but some of them are little more than names.

The scene at the Drones club starts with a moose stuck in the door. Yes, a moose, and that is the sort of thing that you should prepare yourself when watching Jeeves and Wooster. As with the books, the most extraordinarily silly things are likely to crop up at any moment. The moose is connected with two of Bertie's cousins, and a club called the Seekers that they wish to join. But, that is not important now (but will be later), so we rush off with Bertie for a lunch with his Aunt Agatha, the "nephew crusher."

Aunt Agatha introduces not only the central theme of this story, but a central theme of all the Jeeves and Wooster stories, romance, or more correctly marriage. Aunt Agatha wants to see Bertie married off to someone appropriate, and Bertie doesn't. It seems at times that Bertie has been engaged to about half of the girls in England, and considerably more than half of the girls who appear in these stories. With a few notable exceptions, these engagements are not Bertie's idea, and he wants nothing more to get out of them.

With ties in neatly with the next step in the plot and the next one of the central themes in the stories. Bertie discovers that his friend Bingo Little is madly in love with the girl that Aunt Agatha wants him to marry. So, Bertie comes up with a brilliant (at least he thinks so) plan to ensure that Anoria (the girl in question) falls for Bingo, leaving Bertie free once again. Now, the plan is not a central theme, though they appear often, the central theme is the inevitability of Bertie's plan going awry, and of course, it does.

The next central theme, one which takes a bit of time to work its way clear in this story, is Jeeves coming up with a plan to pull Bertie from the fire, saving him, in this case, from matrimony to the "athletic" woman with the look like a "sargeant major."

I don't really want to ruin the story, so I will leave it at that. But, this first episode is endearing, silly and loads of fun. Fry and Laurie are perfect as Jeeves and Wooster. The rest of the cast is at least adequate, though they change in later seasons, which is a problem for the series, most of the replacements are not better than the originals, and if you change, it should be for the better. Bertie is easy to like, and Jeeves is a true mastermind.

Hopefully, you will not only check out the excellent BBC series, but also find and read the original stories which are excellent light reading.

The Magic Wok

This is my first food review, so bear with me.

The guys where I work decided to order chinese today, so I had the idea to review what I ordered. First, the restaurant.

The Magic Wok
2617 Guadalupe St.
Austin

Don't confuse this with the (note small t, not part of the name) Magic Wok chain with locations in Michigan and Ohio. They do not seem to be related, at least from what I could tell from their websites.

Now, we ordered for delivery, and that leaves me with the dilemma of whether or not the food would be better when it comes straight from the kitchen, rather than trucked 10 blocks, but I cannot change that, so oh well.

Sesame Chicken, with brocolli
Fried Rice
Hot and Sour Soup
Egg Roll (not sure what sort)

The portions are good sized, with the typical three compartment take out box. The large section is filled with chicken and brocolli, and the two small compartments are filled with rice.

The egg roll was packaged seperately, which is a nice surprise. An egg roll should be crunchy, and it is hard for it to remain crunchy when sealed in the box with other steaming foods. So, point one to them. The egg roll was tastey and at least somewhat crunchy, even after being taken for a ten-block and eight-story journey.

The soup suffered more from the journey and was barely lukewarm when it arrived. I don't count that against the restaurant, but it may be better when served hot to your table. I am a big fan of hot and sour soup, and I am considering trying to make it from scratch. Packet Hot and Sour Soup being hard to find and less than satisfying in most cases.

Now, I should say that I am a big fan of Hot and Sour broth, as I do not really like the vegetables, etc. in it. I generally spoon off the broth. The broth was lighter in color than I expected, almost as if it was made from a chicken stock and the others were made from a beef stock. I do not know if that is the reason, just a way of describing the difference in color. The taste is much the same as other Hot and Sour Soups I have tried, however, it lacked some of the initial bite I expect from Hot and Sour Soup, though it did have the pleasant after burn (not afterburn) that I expect. Not the best I have had, but not bad either.

The chicken is breaded or battered, it is hard to tell which under the sauce, and it does not really matter. The chicken was tender and tastey, with the breading adding a little soft almost crunch (not sure how to describe the texture) which was very nice. The sauce was sweet and not very spicy, just the way I like it

The rice was a bit tasteless, nothing bad, but nothing to really praise either. This seems to be a common problem with chinese restaurants, for the fried rice that they serve with meals. When you order fried rice as a standalone dish, the fried rice seems to have a lot more flavor. But, there was plenty of sauce to mix the rice with, so it worked out well and was very good.

Overall, I am impressed. I do not have a rating system, but I would not avoid The Magic Wok. In fact, I will going there again. I changed jobs, and I had a favorite chinese place near where I used to work, but I needed to find one near the William B. Travis building in Austin (17th and Congress). So far, this one is the best one that is close and I will be trying it again.