Why I Oughta...

Look at the size of that stick.   I put the 'Ove Glove' in there for some perspective.   I normally try to avoid pepperoni in favor of sopprasetta, but I was in a pinch last night and had to pick something up at the local Jewel.  Instead of the normal pre-sliced version, I came across this HUGE stick from Bridgeford.  The skins came off really easy and it was mighty tasty.  Liked it all around, but still not the best product for the pies we make at home.  However, when we're in a bind and buying the meats locally, I'll choose this one.

Yesterday, Politico ran a sharp piece on how the Santorum presidential campaign is running ads with Google that feature a endorsement from Rush Limbaugh and lead to a custom landing page that plays a Limbaugh clip that promotes Santorum.  Politico pointed out the importance/relevance  of the Limbaugh connection: It's a smart ad regardless of what state it's in, since Limbaugh tends to be popular with the types of GOP primary voters Santorum is hoping to pick up. But a Google  search analysis   shows that on average, Michigan residents search for Limbaugh in much higher numbers than internet users of the overall United States, meaning the ad is even more effective in that state than it may be elsewhere. Here's a screenshot of the ad.  It was running for users up in Michigan against a series (as far as I can tell) of generic GOP-related queries like [Michigan GOP Primary].   Campaigns have been using search for years, but the possibilities of targeting/messaging i

Nat picked up this little pot of Cineraria a few weeks back at Trader Joe's.  They had these really pretty purple flowers that bloomed strong.  Then...it started to fade and wilt and the leaves started to go limp and grey.  Something was wrong.  I mean...look at it.   Sad, right?  Lots of deadheads and sick foilage.  So, I replanted it into a real pot (with drainage) and hoped for the best.  It kept going the wrong way, so I turned to the web. Turns out, they thrive in cool weather .  Our house, with the thermostat set to 70 degrees was, apparently too warm for it.  Weird, right?  This is how it is described: Locate the plant in a cool room where temperatures are near 50°F to 55°F at night. Provide bright light but not direct sunlight. Excessive heat or dry soil can cause rapid decline.  So...off to the basement it goes.  On a ledge on the south side of the house to get some of that light.  But...NOT direct light.  I'll keep an eye on it and see what happens.   Seems to

What's this?  Another Christmas post?  In February?  Yes indeed.  Sorry about it.  When I was cleaning out the trunk of my car over the weekend, I came across this light set that I picked up close to Christmas (during their big sale) for Nat.  She'd been eyeing this thing since Menards put up their Enchanted Forest display but it was priced up near $25. I think I picked it up for $12.50 - 50% off but I forgot all about it.   I gave it to her for Valentine's Day because there's no reason not to. I'll put it away in the crawlspace with our other holiday stuff and when Thanksgiving comes around we'll pull it out having forgotten all about it.  Merry Christmas to us!  Indeed.

Even at Tebow's peak, he never caused quite the stir that the Knick's Jeremy Lin has in the past week.  According to Google's Insights for Search Tool, Linsanity is (still) surging. (If you are reading this in your email, you'll need to click here to see the chart below)

Just throwing down a marker her to note what a 'new' pizza pan looks like after a few dozen hours of seasoning in the oven and a few skins baked on it. Nothing for anyone to see here just yet.  We can just move along.  By Christmas-time, these babies should have a nice thick coat on 'em.

This was Friday's example.  Just going to take a few (dozen) more trials to get it perfect.  But...look at that charring/carmelization along the edge.  That's-a-nice!

This is what our French Pussy Willow looks like right now:  plenty of new red growth and these big red bulbs ready to burst open full of furry little dots.   We planted it this past season, so I'm not sure if this is what these things look like normally at this point in the season or if the plant is confused due to the unseasonably warm weather a week back. When Nat and I were driving around over the weekend, we spotted a few little flowers springing up, figuring they were just confused.  Sad to think that everyone might be loosing some spring growth because it is going to come up too early only to be killed by the certain frost left this winter. It's early February.  Does anyone have any experience with this type of plant/bush?  Are we on track and this is normal?  Or if not, is there something we can do to help it along and maybe slow down the spring awakening? BTW...looking through the analytics account for this site and the above-linked French Pussy Willow plant po

Hide your kids, hide your wife.  There's big news afoot!  Attention Chicago and Suburban folks:  Shamrock Shakes are NOW available at area McDonald's.  The Babe had her first one EVER yesterday and loved every drop of it. Stop what you are doing and get out to McDonald's RIGHT NOW. What's that?  Giving our daughter a milkshake while she mindlessly watches tv?  Sweet parenting! P.S.  Hide your husband, too!

I just renewed my driver's license via the Illinois Secretary of State's website.  No visit to the dreaded DMV.  No dealing with cranky civil servants.  Just a few keystrokes and in a few weeks a sticker will show up that I can stick on the back of my license that keeps me legal. Thanks, Jesse White.  No wonder he keeps getting re-elected by huge margins.  This is how government is *supposed* to work.