halo gingerly world! simple doodling with plumbago and paint 3d

I just upgraded my pc to windows 10 creators update which has Microsoft Paint 3d.  I didn’t have a lot of time to spend with it so I just did a simple doodle to test it out along with another free app called plumbago which is a notebook writing sketching app.  The first image below I did with plumbago and a stylus.

I then saved it as a png and loaded paint 3d and created a simple blue 3d sphere.   The eyes, mouth, and north pole err I mean hair are called stickers and you can place them on the 3d objects.  Finally, I loaded the first image as a custom sticker and stretched it over the sphere.  It also supports 3d text which is what I did the date in.  Lastly, I used a yellow light source on the first and red light source on the second and exported them to standard jpg format.

My main problem with plumbago is I couldn’t figure out how to lasso some of the image and enlarge or shrink it.  I figure it must be possible but with the ruled lines maybe it disallows it.  All in all both programs are pretty neat.  I’m sure I’ll try them out again when I have more time so I can gingerly doodle more and hopefully better images.  🙂

 

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straight out of the uh and into the frying pan – YAOR for teh internets

Wow – what a coincidence.  I had planned on writing a post about my chickens and an omelet I made with their eggs this morning and the word of the day is egg.  I also figured I’d take a moment to mention some of my kitchen hacks and recipe variations for omelets which I’m sure is not all that original.  I mean there are only so many ways to crack an egg huh.  So here goes for this episode of Yet Another Omelet Recipe for teh internets.

First for some pictures:

 

I used the 3 eggs on the cutting board to make the omelet – those are small to medium eggs (unlike that one giant egg in the corner of the egg carton photo).  This size omelet is really two servings so I cut it in half and only had half of for breakfast.  It actually keeps ok in the fridge so I had the other half for dinner with some grits.  As you may infer from multicolored eggs, my chickens are also multicolored.  I have some Rhode Island Reds, California Whites, and some Australorps which are black.  I’ll post some pictures of them another day – maybe when the word of the day is chicken.  🙂

Eggs used to be considered unhealthy but due to the healthy fats organic eggs have, I think expert opinion is shifting as long one doesn’t overdo it.  An omelet with salsa is fairly low carb for diabetics such as myself but they do have fat and calories.  I’ve been able to lose weight and keep my blood sugar down if I usually just eat one egg for breakfast.

So how do you cook an omelet?  Here are the steps I use and some tricks I’ve learned:

1. Before I turn the stove on, I prepare part of the veggies.  They are the ones in the small cup on the back of the cutting board in the photos.  One thing that I’ve found is I don’t use green or red peppers fast enough to leave them in the fridge but if you go ahead wash, de-seed and slice them right after you buy them, you can put them in a zip-lock bag or if you want a smaller carbon footprint and less waste then use a re-usable freezer container.  They wont be as crunchy and fresh out of the freezer but they are tasty in stir-fry and aren’t too soggy – just don’t cook them too long.
2. So I take only as much out of the freezer as I need of the sliced red or green pepper and chop it frozen – it’s easier to do than you’d think.  I normally keep vidalia or sweet onion chopped up in the fridge – I use it more often than red or green pepper and it keeps pretty well in the fridge.  So I add the chopped onion to the pepper at about a 3 to 1 ratio since i like onion and it’s more mild than pepper.
3. This is optional but to that small plastic cup of onion and pepper I take about 3 jalapeno slices out of a small jar i keep in the fridge.  I chop the 3 small rings of jalapeno up into small bits and add it the cup of onions and peppers.  It doesn’t seem to add too much heat for me.
4. Another thing i keep in the fridge is green onions.  If I’m making one omelet, I’ll take one green onion stalk out and wash it and chop it up.  If it has that hairy root stem on the very end just cut that small piece off and throw it away but I’m sure you already knew to do that.  I add the chopped up green onion to the cup with the sweet onions, peppers and jalapenos.
5. Now the veggies are sitting pretty in the plastic cup and raring to go, but I sit them aside for now.
6. I use a separate small pan for cooking the filling and i add a teaspoon or two of olive oil and heat the pan on medium.  Once the oil heats up I add a teaspoon or two of minced garlic – I get the kind that is in the small jar you put in the fridge and is already minced. This flavors the oil with garlic but it’s not real strong.  If you don’t like garlic you can leave it out.
7. If i have uncooked sausage I usually chop it up and add it to the frying pan at this point.  I don’t normally use the same cutting board for meat that I use for veggies.  I use the wooden cutting board in the picture mostly for veggies.  You can use precooked breakfast meat, or you can chop up sandwich meat such as ham or turkey.  If you have left over grilled pork chop you can also chop it up and add it.  Occasionally, I buy a slice of ready to serve ham steak and keep in the freezer and it can also be used in this step.  Oh and the precooked real bacon bits in the bag in the photo are also a convenient choice.
8. While that is cooking I wash the fresh mushrooms and slice them and set them aside.  If the meat is mostly done (no longer pink), I go ahead and add the mushrooms and stir occasionally.  If you’re not using raw meat and you’ve chopped up already cooked meat or sandwich meat you can add the mushrooms immediately.
9.   Once the mushrooms have cooked a little bit but aren’t cooked all the way, I add the cup of fresh veggies.  These will only need to cook for about 2 to 3 minutes on medium until the sweet onions look a little shiny.  Once that is ready go ahead and remove it from the hot eye but you can leave it in the pan until you’re ready for it.
10. if you notice the picture with the bacon bits bag, there is a large pancake spatula in it.  One challenge some people have with omelets is flipping the half cooked egg so that large spatula makes it easier to do without the egg falling apart.  I add about two teaspoons of olive oil to a medium sized fryer (it’s bigger than the one i cook the filling in) or you can use butter or spray oil.  Just crack the eggs into a bowl and beat with a fork or wire whisk and add a dash of salt and pepper if desired.  You’ll want to cook the egg pretty slow on medium heat so it doesn’t brown too much.  If the egg cooks too fast just pick up the frying pan and shake it a little to move the egg around and turn the heat down some.  This part will take some practice but just cook it until there is just a thin layer of liquid on top.  Then use the large spatula to flip it over.  Now this only needs to cook for about one to two minutes usually.  I go ahead and add the filling from the other frying pan to the top of the cooking egg mixture in a line in the middle of the egg.  Then I add a pinch of shredded mozzarella cheese and about 3 pinches of shredded cheddar cheese – you could use american cheese also.  By now the other half of the egg will probably be done enough you can fold the omelet – i use a smaller spatula for this.  You probably won’t have to flip the folded omelet at this point as it’ll likely be cooked soon.  You can hold the skillet up and slide the omelet into the serving plate and eat by itself or with some salsa.
11.  One thing to note is the bag of precooked bacon bits which i get from Sam’s club comes in handy for a lot of dishes.  I use it in egg scramble dishes, grits, and i use it when cooking a variety of veggies such as green beans, lima beans, turnips, collards, and black eyed peas, etc.  It works in canned, frozen, or dried beans etc.

Well good luck.  Cooking for yourself isn’t as bad as you may think if you’re not already doing it.  And you can better control what goes into your food – how much fat, salt, etc.  If you trying to eat healthier and don’t want to add meat just remove it from the recipe.  I use the veggie part of this recipe for several dishes including some Chinese dishes and some homemade soups.    The great thing about doing your own cooking is you are in control.

“All creatures are capable of darkness, but not all choose to succumb to it.” ― Sara Humphreys

“All creatures are capable of darkness, but not all choose to succumb to it.”
― Sara Humphreys

Sometimes I find a quote that I like that doesn’t necessarily match the topic that I wanted to talk about.  Of course the quote is usually based on the daily prompt word of the day which today is succumb.  I’m also not against borrowing quotes from Romance Book authors either so if that is a genre that interests you the quote is from this book, vampire troubles.  I’ve never read anything in the genre yet which with their liberal use of book covers with pecs reminds me of college Anatomy books.  I mean how many different ways can you illustrate books with close-up massive pecs pics – TBD.

What I really wanted to briefly talk about today was the good reads 2017 challenge for which i pledged to read 48 books this year.  And umm I’m only at 15 books :S

Therefore, I’ve decided to cheat.  Kind of.  I’ve decided to read shorter books like comics to try to catch back up.  I guess if i reached far enough I could connect three of the recent comic titles to darkness in the quote i used for this post.  And not that readers who would be interested in romance novels would likely be interested in comics but here goes:

Batman

And Batman’s sidekick Robin’s new gig:

Nightwing

and Scooby-Doo

And if you’re like me and like free, all of these comics just happen to be free on google play books:  Batman, Nightwing 201, and Scooby-Do Team-Up and all yes, just coincidentally are related to Halloween (I think) – this month’s holiday for some in the big wild world.  I hyperlinked those in case you use google play books and wanted to check them out and no I don’t get a percentage of your “free” purchase price if you go through with it.  🙂

 

The Harder the Conflict, the More Glorious the Triumph

The Harder the Conflict, the More Glorious the Triumph

-Thomas Paine.

Wow.  It’s been two months since I’ve posted on my blog.  I’ve got to get back into my routine.  lately I’ve been making another attempt to learn some new musical instruments – if I ever learn them then it will have been quite the triumph.  With this recent attempt, I’ve learned more about the guitar and keyboard than ever.  I’ve got a long way to go but so far so good.  I’m using a combination of an app called yousician, youtube vids, and books.  I also have a harmonica and ukelele within reach so I may just learn them all.  🙂

I’ve also been reading on music theory.  I just finished a book called The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten and gave it five stars on goodreads.com.  Here is the review i posted there about the book:

Well I had planned on giving the book 4 stars but after reading the ending and some careful thought, I decided what the heck, 5 stars it is. First off, my thought process is mostly driven by logic and scientific thinking so books like this that utilize mysticism and such initially don’t interest me much. However, I gave the book a chance and was astonished at how well it’s story came together. I suspect most people who think like I normally do can’t open their mind to such a story. That doesn’t mean I believe every ounce of the story or even most of it. I think the author himself alludes to some of the playful exaggerations he’s uses to get his point across. To me the story shouldn’t be taken too literally and you shouldn’t try to verify and audit each point for scientific accuracy. The idea that if you spend your time and energy helping others learn and achieve greatness that you’ll draw from hidden connected arcane energy and forces is a powerful idea not because of magic but simply because you’ve helped others achieve something they may have not have done without you. The story paints a picture of a town filled with students who learned from the teacher. Students some of whom may have had difficult situations like the author and couldn’t have afforded to pay the teacher but yet didn’t have to because his lessons were free other than what it cost them in time and simply giving his ideas a chance.

boltzmann’s brains final paradox and his late cat freckles

Warning.  This post may venture out a little farther than normal into the weeds of obscurity and geekiness.

Ok just in the unlikely case that any physicist or philosophical purist happens across this blog entry I hope freckles demonstrates (wow I had to think about subject/verb agreement there 2nd time in this sentence) that I’m being silly and playful with mixing ideas.

Lately, as a result of my OCDness and maybe having too many hobbies, I’ve been thinking about efficiency and as I often do how I can take it to the extreme or if you like Latin or you too are OCD you can read that as ad nauseam or ad infinitum or if you really hate the direction this is going, reductio ad absurdum.  So as an exercise of all those at once and hopefully to help illustrate my point, I often try to get two birds (or more) with one stone (or in my case words).    The bird thing is an example of an idiom and often leads me down the path of trying to remember the difference in a metaphor, idiom, cliché, euphemism, and trope to name a few.  All those words link to http://www. merriam-webster.com which is one of the better dictionary sites because it has a lot of extra information such as word origin, etymology, thesaurus and a rhymes with list (useful if you like writing poetry).  So before you get the idea I’m gaslighting, I’ll move on but only slightly.  🙂

So thoughts on why I blog?  Here is the short list of birds umm err words:

1. to share a story often personal which hopefully at least some people will find interesting.  Teh internets is a big crazy place so maybe.
2. to practice writing – grammar and content.  I know I often get the former wrong.
3. to document words and ideas that I have learned that I can share with others who are interested.  I do this with many hyperlinks in my blog posts.
4. to share useful tech-tips – tools and websites, etc.
5. to explore ideas or thought experiments that I think of sometimes that don’t fit into my fiction writing.
6. I’m sure there are many others that I can’t think of right now.  🙂

So why the title other than the word “final” being required to participate in the wordpress daily prompt?  So I have a long commute to work each day and I often play this recall game in my mind while I drive.  It may be that I hear something on the radio or an audio book or college lecture audio that I’m listening to and it reminds me of a word or concept that I’ve encountered in the past.  So on this one past day I was trying to remember Boltzmann Brain and all I could picture in my head was this image:

I know disturbing, right? LOL.  Well I kept forgetting to look it up when I got home or to the office but I would keep remembering it (the game not the words I was looking for) when i got in the car and started my daily commute.  So I spent days in agony trying to remember the words “Boltzman Brain.”  Now that I’ve mentioned it here, I’ll never forget it again – it has been etched in the halls of immortality on the Internet.  🙂

So I used the word “final” because I don’t really plan on writing about Boltzmann again (although it is possible) and if I actually believed (I don’t) as part of the theory goes that I and my brain are nothing more than a Boltzman Brain then it would be my last paradox on that subject.  And what about poor freckles?  Well obviously a reference to Schrodinger’s Cat (yet another paradox) since we were on the topic of physics and paradoxes and let’s just say I opened the box the cat was in (metaphorically) or was it Pandora’s? .  LOL.  I guess that depends on whether or not someone clicked this link expecting a serious discussion on physics.  Well I warned them early on.  🙂  I’ll have to save that discussion for another day.

 

 

learn to take control of your happiness and creativity and build truly great things

learn to take control of your happiness and creativity and build truly great things

My name is Jason and I live in Florida.  I’ve always liked to create things whether it was art, music, stories, crafts or video games – and that’s the short list.  🙂  I have a lot of appreciation and respect for other people who create things also.  I think too often people are overcritical of themselves and their work and sometimes they don’t see the beauty within themselves and in what they create.  I include myself in that group.  I’m trying to learn to be more open minded and appreciative of things around me because it’s easy to take what we have for granted when in reality everything around us is fragile including life itself.  I hope that you try to be all that you can be and encourage others around you to do the same.  Life is too short to stay stressed out and always worrying about what others think of you or your work.  Be happy with who you are and what you create and learn to draw happiness from within.   And I honestly believe that during your amazing journey you will learn to create truly remarkable things.   I chose the single word sun for my site tag line because of it’s enduring warmth and brightness and because it’s Summer time.  The pictures on this post are from my sunny walk at the park today during lunch.  Enjoy.

time’s apprentice

a stern teacher and a willing apprentice

an early lesson counting with tiny thumps, followed shortly by tiny wisps of air

sights, sounds, tastes, feelings and scents in a wild wild world, they are all there

curiosity follows, exploration, crawling, walking, falling, and walking with care

playtime begins with so many toys and friends and ends with a torn yellow bear

days with hours of numbers and letters and two long bus rides in the bully’s lair

then emotions lots of them with no where to go and what’s this, arrgh, chest hair

then a new close friend and sadness that she’s gone and realizing how life is unfair

out of despair a new friend and a new little family is born with many memories to share

days turns to weeks to years and decades and loss repeats itself almost to much to bare

finally time’s final lesson hugs and kisses some real and some not and a final prayer

 

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It’s not great but it’ll have to do i suppose.  It’s not all about me except the torn yellow bear was when my beloved Pooh bear was chewed up by dogs.  They tore his ear and I kept the bear for many more years.  LOL.  The new close friend was about a friend of mine in high school that was murdered by someone robbing her house.  Luckily they caught the guy and I think he is in prison for life.   😦

 

 

a zip and a prayer

a zip and a prayer

I’m constantly amazed at how insensitive, uncaring and thoughtless some people can be to drop off a dog or puppy beside the road and zip away in their car.  It must be easy for them to shut out the reality of their mind and not think about how the puppy will likely starve or get run over. So many days spent being alone and being hot or cold without food or water.

I’ve seen this event play out over and over during the years – rarely does the animal find a new and caring owner soon after being dropped off if at all.  One of the earliest memories I have from such an event was seeing a healthy dog sitting beside the road from where his owner dropped him off.  He sat in the same spot waiting very patiently without moving thinking his owner would surely return to pick him up – he just needed to wait a little longer.  Surely thinking his owner wouldn’t leave him all alone and without food or water.  Days went by and the dog didn’t move ten feet from that same spot and with each passing car you could see the excitement in his eyes which was quickly followed by sadness that the vehicle kept going by without stopping.  I saw him from the school bus window and I was too young at that time to take care of an abandoned animal but I told some adults about it.  I never found out if someone finally picked him up but the fact he was an adult dog probably didn’t help his chances of being adopted by a stranger.  Where i grew up as a kid was a popular place for people to abandon animals.

Some days ago my wife found a puppy wondering down the road towards the end of our driveway.  The puppy was starving and very emaciated with her ribs showing.  We’re going to try to make her story a happy one.  Meet Katy…

She’s still looks sad sometimes but her ribs don’t show quite as bad as when we first got her.   And she’s learning to play and be a happy puppy again.  She was playing with my shoe earlier today.

And her new best friend, Nala who just survived a a moccasin bite.  Nala is still getting over the moccasin bite and getting used to her new friend – she’s not used to another dog invading her space but they play well together so far.  This is Nala’s face when I told her we were adopting Katy.  Nala is used to being the center of attention.  LOL.

If you know anyone that is considering abandoning an animal beside the road talk them out of it and talk them into taking the animal to a shelter instead.  And if you need Nala’s help use this picture of her stare down.   Hopefully no one can resist it.  🙂

the mouse in the willow and the fry in the lake

the mouse in the willow and the fry in the lake

The sad young mouse looked out of his tiny window in the willow tree down at the lake below.  He saw a tiny creature in the water and asked his mother what it was.  She said that is a fry.  “Well, how does he breathe under water mommy?”  His mother looked at him for a moment and then said, “Well, you see son.  The fry’s mother has great magical power and she passed some of that magical power to her son so he too can breathe under water. ”  The tiny mouse said, “Wow.  I wish I had magical powers.”  She looked at him and smiled and said “Everyone is magical in their own way.  Even you.  ”

The next day the mouse was on ground next to the lake and saw the little fry crying.  He asked the little fry why he was crying.  “Some tall creatures, came and took my mommy,”  the little fry said sobbing.  The mouse remembered what his own mommy had said about the fry’s mother being magical and told the fry it would be ok.  Your mother will be back soon enough little fry do not worry.  But the little fry continued to cry.  It wasn’t long before the tall creatures returned and the little mouse hid behind a large plant by the water.  The tall creatures released the fry’s mother gently back into the water and he noticed she had some new colorful adornment on her with strange markings.  After the tall creatures left, the little mouse went back to the edge of the water where the little fry was jumping with excitement after being reunited with his mother.  “Mommy, mommy, there is the magical mouse I was telling you about.”    After hearing the fry’s kind and intriguing words, the little mouse smiled widely, his first smile in many days.

 

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I felt like writing a little story tonight.  The daily prompt words have been challenging lately.   LOL.

 

the pearl opaque, the clam half-baked

the pearl opaque, the clam half-baked

It seemed like a good day for a non-sequitur. Some time ago we amassed a noble dog army to help fight the evil snake empire.  Today the snake empire injured two of our little brave warriors, Nala and Wilburt.  We think Nala took the brunt of the venom so she’s sleeping in the little dog hospital tonight with an IV drip, antibiotics, and benedryl.  Wilburt is still here on blueberry hill toughing it out.  The dog doctor aka vet called us an hour or so ago and gave us a bit of good news that Nala’s swelling doesn’t appear to be getting worse and her heart rate is still good.  The same cotton mouth moccasin bit both of them.   Wilburt is pictured below – it’s difficult to see it from this picture but his left side of his face and neck is swollen.  He’s getting doses of benedryl.

We’re hoping that both our little brave warriors live through this ordeal.  Nala is the main one we are worried about because her head and neck was extremely swollen.  The snake is dead but the evil snake empire is getting an early start since the warm season is just beginning.  Sargent our biggest and toughest warrior has already killed one of the snake fighters a while back all by himself – he really hates snakes.  He’s a blue heeler and he’s already survived a direct hit from one of the vipers last year.  The only thing that scares him is lightening and bad weather.  LOL.

About 10 years ago I killed over a dozen ground rattlers in one season.  I opened our sliding glass door that same year and happened to catch something out of the corner of my eye and it was one of them trying to slither into the house.    He didn’t make it.  Hopefully between the dog army, the new chicken army, and Midnight the Ninja Cat we can beat back the evil snake empire from blueberry hill.