Dad's BBQ Pork Micro Style

Gez. No post since January.  

Gee, dude ur phat and lazy for sure.  There is a good reason(s) but I digress. 

Years ago, I had a party and wanted to BBQ a pork shoulder.  So, I asked my Dad for his red meat rub recipe ”formula”.  What I got was, “Hmm, Son I’ll make you some”.   In typical dad fashion, not only did he deliver the rub but also showed up to watch the progress. “What is that?...Where is your mop son?...Didn’t I teach you how to make a decent mop for the mopping sauce?...no thermometer, how do you keep the coals at the right temperature?  You need more mesquite!”  Sigh… I guess that is how you learn.

Anyway, last week my friend invited me to this party at a private beach house and I volunteered to make a BBQ pork shoulder.  FYI Guam more so that the rest of the US thinks BBQ is grilling.  There are two decent BBQ place here but the rest are just grill masters.  So, here I am in Guam with no BBQ smoker to my name and yet I have volunteered to do real BBQ.   Task one find pork shoulder; Payless nope, California mart nope, Cost-u-less nope, Island Fresh nope.  I just default to a small picnic butt that will work best cause like I said I don’t have a real smoker neway.

Basic Red Meat Rub

Rubbed to be forgotten

Next step was the rub.  Pretty easy except I ended up buying some really large jars of spices.   I think I’m gonna make a big batch of rub to give some small jars away for Christmas presents.   Proceeded to prep the meat just like Dad schooled me.  Scored the meat fat side in diagonal criss-cross fashion then rubbed down the   pork the day before and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight.  The rub was a simple mix chili powder, garlic salt and onion powder, brown sugar, plus some other secrets.  I “Rubbed it and forgot it” overnight in the fridge. LOL.

Mopping Sauce w/Mop

Just a paragraph about the mopping sauce.  Saw some BBQ show on TV that used apple cider instead of apple cider vinegar with the red pepper flakes so I tried it.  Well 50/50 mix of cider and vinegar.  And yes Dad had I had real mop just didn’t shred a white tee-shirt.   Next time I’ll stick with apple cider vinegar…smile it is better.  I think you need the vinegar to offset the alkali of the pepper in the mopping sauce, it also adds a tangy flavor.

 

Any real BBQ master would have looked at my grill and walked away, Dad included.  It is a cheap (less than $15.00) home depot special.  It doesn’t even have a bottom vent.  In one word it sucks but did that stop me?  Hells no.  proceeding fearlessly.  Found this bamboo charcoal that is the shit.  The stuff burns even and well. The stuff is square and comes in a box…how weird is that.  Locally there is a wood called tangan-tangan that’s a great smoking wood.  The stuff grows all over the island except in Home Depot, so I bought a small bag of mesquite.  Talk about lazy -  in fact locals would argue that it took more effort to go to Home Depot than to walk to the nearest vacant lot and just cut some tangan-tangan down but, hey obviously I’m not local.  Last grille note is that I also used a small aluminum drip pan in the base of the grille, since it doesn’t have a bottom outlet.  Because I didn’t want the mopping sauce to smother the coals and mesquite.

Offset lid to for airflow

Ok so the next day comes and I really don’t fell like spending all day mopping and BBQ’n.  Wake up early to get started , fart around and the next thing I know it is 2pm.  Egad so I finally light the coals and the pork is cooking nice and slow by 3-3:30pm.  Good thing I didn’t find a pork shoulder I would have been mopping till 2am.  With no lower vent to control, I used the lid and just cocked it on top leaving about a ¾” offset to allow air to the coals.  All throughout the day I feed charcoal and mesquite chips through the grille.  Sometimes I had to slide the grill and meat over to get the larger chucks of wood and charcoal in, precarious but doable.  Caution - my maximum bed of coal was maybe 6” in diameter so need to be very tuned to micro fire management.

See the drip pan?

That is it! Tend fire, mop, rotate, tend fire, mop rotate…repeat till the meat is tender.  Don’t forget the KFC coleslaw...it is the best with BBQ pulled pork sandwiches.  Oh yeah, the party was cancelled! 

All done at about 1am

GM#2 - Another try at the ginger martini

So the other day I’m at the California Grocery store (Guam is funny the Korean Grocery store is called California ?) and saw these awesome humongous ginger roots. Yes indeed!! This is an omen to have another try at ginger martinis. Honestly, what else do you do with ginger roots that big? Anyhoo G-Daddy buys two big ass roots of ginger.

This time is going to be different. I’m gonna do it right.

Step two Grab some cheap rum, Virgin Island rum from St. Croix. No good dark rum on Guam, but last time that made the martini’s too dark. This time we are going for appearance, presentation, and taste. Gez, I just can’t do white rum it has no flavor.

Step three. Get a juicer, ain’t none of this silver bullet pint sized food processor action like last time. I borrow a juicer from a friend of a friend and proceed to burn the unit up. Hmm… I guess ginger was a bit dense for that juicer, seriously what a major mess. The feeder housing dropped into the grinding wheel and then plastic shavings got all into the juice. Then, I tried to use coffee filters to strain the slurry, the fines in the mix just clogged the coffee filter. Note from attempt GM #1. I did look for cheesecloth lol saw it the next day at the store, have now for GM#3

Repeat step three. This time I don’t full around - I buy a juicer. None of this Hamilton Beach plastic crap. I go with the Jack LeLanne’s Power Juicer Pro with special extraction technology, designed for performance and taste “as seen on TV”. This baby is stainless steel construction with a way better/bigger motor, and yes I did peal the ginger first. Holy cow!! The juicer 2000 did the trick. I’m all for high extraction technology.

Yield, three potion bottles of ginger syrup. That seems to be the default value. Kmart had the really cool stopper bottles. Last time I had to drink three bottles of sake for the bottles.

I also used white sugar, but I didn’t simmer the mixture for very long, just enough to dissolve the sugar. Mistake I had semi-sweet ginger juice but, not ginger syrup.

Mixology

Equal parts ginger syrup and rum. Mix in shaker filled with ice and serve in chilled martini glasses. The result was mixed (lol yes I was being punny). I personally thought the drink was too gingery, that in itself wasn’t a bad thing. Next time though I think I’ll rim the glasses with sugar. Still can get the color looking like something you really want to drink. The muddy browny yellow just isn’t that appealing. Need to get the MIHOTT opinion on that.

Conclusion, drinkable but nobody asked for another.

What I Got in Hawaii

While in Hawaii I wanted to get some artwork or something to remember the experience.  Problem was I also wanted something practical and functional.  Eureka, how about ukuleles.   Man,  Craigslist is the place for get ukes on Oahu.  So on the Big Island koa trees grow with really good grain, ukes with koa bodies have a nice deep rich sound.  haha I hear you people..."Yo G, do you know how to play ukulele".  Well, dat aint da issue I'm workin on the playin stuff.



Kimo Jones #247

Koa w/ebony frett board. Haven't figured out a name for his fella yet.  This is the only one that I brought new on-line.   I think the guy is in Kialua but, not sure?  http://kimosukes.weebly.com/    

King Kamaka



Full name King Koa Kamakamaka.  Oh yeah,  this baby is strung with a low G which is perfect to bring out the rich sound of the koa.  Got him from a guy in Mililani, he also threw in a little amp.   You could tell he was sad letting it go, was moving on I guess.  Never showed me the uke he was keeping.



Mango Baby



Mango Baby is injured,  Segundo dropped her and she needs to be fixed.  Needless to say I'm not happy.  She is a Tangi concert w/ebony frett board.  Tangi, he has stopped making ukes.  She has a really bright sound with an internal pick-up.



Blondi Blonde



Ok,  so one could say I have a thing for tall blondes.  Blondi is big and I have no clue what type of wood she is,  perhaps a tiger maple but I think the grain pattern is too tight.  The deal went down in the Ala Moana Mall parking garage.  I left the Koa Boyz and Baby at home, only have Blondi here in Guam.

Ginger Syrup - The Mixology Experiment

In an effort to be healthy I have been going to the local farmers market on Sundays for my fruit and veggies for the week. Well this one booth had these big ginger roots, I had to buy one. Great! So I asked myself, "Yo, what do u do with this big root-o-ginger?" Ahh yes, the answer was easy, make ginger syrup for ginger martinis. Note, how easy I stray from the "healthy lifestyle" pursuit.

Quick e-mail to M.I.

G-Daddy to MIHOTT
OK , I got this big chunk o'ginger. so what is ur recipe for ginger syrup. Can I make it with dark rum??

MIHOTT to G-Daddy
Equal parts water, sugar & Ginger (peeled & chopped). I usually do med to med high heat & stir a lot up front while the sugar is melting, then let it simmer until it's syrupy, about 30 min. That's it for the syrup.

For the martini, I experiment, usually 1/2 rum, 1/2 syrup or do thirds with triple sec.
Good luck!

Well for starters, no dude is gonna peel ginger root. Look at that thing, its alien. I just cut it small enough to go in my Black and Decker One-Touch chopper. Presto I got at least a pound of finely chopped ginger root. Now I happen to enjoy dark rum. So with that said I figure I'll go all dark and use dark brown sugar also. With those small deviation I proceed to make my own batch of ginger syrup.

OK so I melt the sugar in with the ginger and have this nice rich brown liquid...with all kinds on ginger peel pieces floating on the top. No worries, the house is equipped with a small strainer and I proceed to fish most of the chopped pieces of ginger skin out of my precious syrup. Simmer for 1/2 hr to 45 minutes. Hmmm, Doesn't look so bad.


I happen to have some blue sake bottles and some extra corks. So there, I have ginger syrup.

CONCLUSION: Let's say that for a first try I found all of the mistakes. Honestly who likes a brown martini? What was I drinking...I mean thinking? The dark rum was too strong, it clashed with the ginger. White rum next time.

Same with the brown sugar, white sugar next time. Oh yea, and if you don't want to peel then you need cheese cloth (hmm perhaps coffee filters will work). The strainer doesn't get all of the fines.

Good things. I got two containers of sweet chopped ginger root I have been cooking with. Ginger teriyaki tuna!!. The pineapple was great alone without any rum. The rum is great alone without any ginger. Mix the syrup with sparkling water for really good ginger ale.

Where was all the Fun and Happiness???

LOL.... back in April I posted some "short term goals" 30-60 days. Well with the year ending I figure I'll give a brief summary.

Lose weight...Yes I did. I even kept it off thru the holidays.

LEED AP... Yes I did. Now the good sustainable green building folks want me to select a speciality by 2011 so I'll have to get PDH's for that. Arrrgh

30+ engineering PDH's for my 2010 AK engineering license...Yes I did This was pretty cool.

Scuba Diving.....No, I didn't. Nothing, zippo, didn't even get wet. How lame is that? the most fun thing one that stupid list and I do nothing. yo G-daddy ur priorities are really f'd up. Sigh my pursuit of water colors was down also. I did only 7 post cards and 6 of those were Christmas cards of the same thing.

Years ago I had a TAB business with some college buddies. It wasn't a huge money maker but, every year we would have a big pizza super bowl party (hey, it was tax deductible). So at the party I would announce the word of the year. Remember Peewee's Play house? ok I digress. The phrase for 2010 is "Kick Ass Fun". I am going to focus on kick ass fun. This will be the one of the funnest years of my life.

Not saying 2009 wasn't fun. A few friends did come visit me on Oahu. I did get to the Big Island. Had a fun road trip from Denver to AZ thru New Mexico. However, more Kick Ass Fun in 2010 will be had by all.

No Pain, No Gain or Make Lemonade w/o Sugar

YOW

A lot has happened since the last post.

Amazing, I passed my LEEDS AP test. Hey don’t ask I needed a 170 out of whatevah and I got bare minimum 170. Postponed it from 6/19 to 6/23 and passed the buggah! OK so I met the pass the LEED AP exam goal.

7/15/09 the house I’m renting was jacked. Bastards stole my laptop, back-up HD, Nokia N82 cell phone, both ukulele’s a KoAloha and my KPK, GPS (old as it was), check books and bank files. Bitches took my water color paints and pencils. Took a month to cancel checks, get new accounts (in Alaska), and file fraud alerts at all three credit agencies. The police file was closed in a day, so much for Hawaii 50 in the year 2009. Now I have chains on both gates…kinda silly for a house with jalousie windows and ¾” T&G walls. I mean a tweaked out Samoan could just go thru the wall.

So then I start having dizzy spells. Dr. puts me on the EKG machine and goes hmmm perhaps you need to see a cardiologist and take a baby aspirin daily. Of course then I feel my heart and carotid arteries start throbbing. The dizziness gets worse and so next week I see Doc again which is followed by an immediate head CT scan. Good news here, the small growth in my head is identified as my brain and no tumors or aneurysms are waiting to explode.

But in the back of my mind I think well maybe it is the HBP meds. So I’m now I’m mortified G-Daddy has heart disease. I stop drinking and coffee, and start popping aspirin daily. In addition, I was told to get a HBP machine so I can track my pressure at home. (Why would a doctor tell an engineer to collect and plot data points?) So I’m taking 20-30 readings a day just waiting for the big one to hit me. To be honest, Doc also said it could be stress and do some stretching, exercise, try yoga. So after living in fear for three weeks, I finally get to the cardio stress test. The cardiologist was hilarious, great stand-up. Long story short heart is healthy, changed HBP meds, and dizziness has somewhat subsided.

The point is add the; house break in, HBP meds dizziness side effect, the heart disease scare, plus work stress (next Blog entry) Woo Hoo!! I lost 8 lbs. So, I’m gonna claim an 80% on the lose weight goal.

No Diving
2 more CEU’s more to follow

Ouch... That did hurt

Well that didn't work. Just highlighted how unmotivated my sorry ass is lately. Here is the goal progress summary:

1. Lose 10 lbs (first step in getting off HBP meds those things SUCK). This is a bigger than losing weight, I really want to get on a “whole health” mind set. Eat better, drink less, exercise more. Simply put I’m struggling with mortality. I haven't lost a fucking pound. Hell - no hiking, no rollerblading ,no nothing, this weekend.

2. Go diving, hell I have the gear, I’m in Hawaii. WTF?? Nope didn't do any of that.

3. Pass the LEED AP exam. Test is in June, need to get study materials. Well, I got the materials the test is on the 20th need to learn over 400 pgs in 6 days. Christ i really don't give a rip about LEEDs

4. Christ! I need 30 hrs of PDH’s to keep my license current. First step of this one is in motion. Will be in San Diego in May to attend a seminar but that is only ½ of PDH’s don’t know whether to plan another seminar or collect the remainder on-line. Canceled the SD seminar... lol pig flu worries ....more folks have it here in Hawaii. So the next attempt(s) is to go on-line. And yeah I'm stuck with a nonrefundable ticket to SD. Did attend an Hawaii AIA/ASHRAE "Mold in the Building Environment" brown bag luncheon. 2 PDH's down 28 to go.

Whew!! good thing it was only 4 goals. Folks, the long and short of it is I'm not going to be able to work another 15 years unless I find something more gratifying. The struggle for legal tender just to be part of the great US consumer economy has TOTALLY lost its appeal.

I guess a few simple goals won't hurt?

Howzit, folks yes it has been awhile. I was in Anchorage last weekend. Yeah yeah I know I didn’t see everyone (including Mom). Smile... telling folks here in Hawaii that it was almost 50 deg F. in Anchorage on Sunday makes them shiver. Nevertheless, it was nice, the sun was out, and it was a beautiful day. Anchorage was pretty dusty but hey that is the way the place is b4 the first spring rain. Well, OK maybe a bit dustier than normal due to volcano ash/dust. Primo and Segundo are doing well in the house. lol Primo’s cat is on the new version of Google Earth runnin across the street.

Here’s the deal. I’ve been slacking lately so I need to publish some goals. I need to get back to posting on a regular basis. Both are ways to keep life moving, the proverbial killing two birds with one stone. These are only short-term goals 30-90 days

1. Lose 10 lbs (first step in getting off HBP meds those things SUCK). This is a bigger than losing weight, I really want to get on a “whole health” mind set. Eat better, drink less, exercise more. Simply put I’m struggling with mortality.

2. Go diving, hell I have the gear, I’m in Hawaii. WTF??

3. Pass the LEED AP exam. Test is in June, need to get study materials.

4. Christ! I need 30 hrs of PDH’s to keep my license current. First step of this one is in motion. Will be in San Diego in May to attend a seminar but that is only ½ of PDH’s don’t know whether to plan another seminar or collect the remainder on-line.

My Dad

Well some of you may know that my Dad died on Nov 2, 2008 in Soldotna. So I flew that night back to Soldotna via Anchorage and arrived Monday morning at 7a to help Mom with the service and all. It was snowing in Anchorage and 4 degrees F in Soldotna when I landed. The service was nice, on Thursday the 6th, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (yes is that a good Catholic Church name or what?). My ex-wife flew in from WA and my sons came down from Anchorage. I being the only one of my brothers and sisters to show up (that is an entire other blog post) said a few words at the service. So I want to share those words with u’all also. I really didn’t write any of it down so I’m paraphrasing and adding in the things I missed also ;-)

Let’s see first I thanked my ex-wife for showing up, her and Pops were always close. Second, I named all of my brothers and sisters and thanked everyone on our behalf for coming to remember our father. Then I told about the different sides of Dad that I fondly remembered.

Soldier Dad- Pops served 30 years in the US Army. 3x combat veteran, a tour in Korea and 2x in Vietnam where received a Silver Star. Soldier Dad would send us cassette tapes every 1 or 2 weeks. He sent me a map of Cambodia and Vietnam and with each cassette he would send the coordinates of where he was located on a slip of rice/tracing paper so I could overlay it on the map and see where he was. Pops used to let me stay up and watch him shine all of his brass and place his ribbons on his uniform. He would shine everything down to the last oak leaf cluster. Soldier Dad gave me his field jacket in high school so I could be cool, taught me how to spit shine my shoes for ROTC. He gave me his special forces pin to wear on my Boy Scout cap.

Outdoor Dad- used to take all of us camping. We would load up the Olds Vista Cruiser and go to Fielding Lake or the upper Chena River. We would catch lots of graying and cook them, wrapped in foil, seasoned with lemon pepper, roasted on sticks, over the fire. I caught my first fish with Outdoor Dad; it was a rainbow trout at Otter Lake on Ft. Rich I think I was 9 or 10. I was too squeamish to clean or eat it, which didn’t sit well with neither Outdoor Dad nor Soldier Dad for that matter. I’ll talk more about this with Cooking Dad. Outdoor Dad took me hunting, skeet and trap shooting he was a great shot I was not. We used to go fishing on Ft Wainwright behind the golf course. Armed with a thermos of russian tea Outdoor Dad would catch a graying or two with his fly rod and bait us up for burbot (a fresh water cod like fish). We would drink tea in the summer twilight and dad would reenact how he would call pigs in his youth. Pops would go, “Wooooooooo PIG pig pig pig” with his voice dropping lower and deeper with each pig. At the end, it was so deep it would sound like James Earl Jones.

Then there was Fun Mischievous Dad - he used to play cards with us and would slap card on his forehead. Dad was fun to play cards with. One weekend or spring break when I came home from college mom was getting on Pops about something so he decided that we (he and I) needed to go to the hardware store. Which was followed by a side trip to the VFW, where we proceed to get rather tipsy (everyone should get drunk with his dad at least once). I think Dad just wanted to give mom other options upon our return home.

Cooking Dad – Most of you know Cooking Dad. He could fry fish in a deep fat fryer and still have spotless glasses. Cooking Dad to assist Outdoor and Soldier Dad made me clean fish, cut up meat and chickens to overcome by blood and guts phobias. Of course, the next step was start the grill, seasoning the meat advancing on to cooking it. Yes, Cooking Dad taught me how to cook on the grill. Some things Cooking Dad would not do. One year I was having a construction party for some work at my house in Anchorage an I asked Cooking Dad for his gumbo recipe. Pops laughed and firmly said, “NO, son how many ppl are you inviting”. Me made a huge pot of gumbo for all and then billed me for the ingredients. Hmmm... now that I think about it the same thing happened years before when I asked for his red meat rub recipe.

Well, those are the sides of dad I shared with everyone that day. I ended reading a poem about Pops, I wrote years before. I left out many facets of my Father; Rule Abiding Dad, Discipline Dad, Fastidious Dad, to name a few. Pops wanted his ashes spread in the flower garden at home. With single digit temperatures in Soldotna, the spreading of ashes will not take place until the spring. I love and miss my Dad

Gasoline cost in AK vs HI

PISSED

So I don't get it? I'm back in Anchorage for a week, and the price of gasoline is $3.75/gal. The price in Hawaii is $3.65/gal. What the fuck? How can this be? Alaska has the North Slope, 3 refineries and gasoline cost more than in Hawaii? Then to add salt in the wound the "Dubya" and the entire Alaskan congressional congregation, wants to open ANWAR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) for oil development. The jerks say it will lower the cost of gasoline in America. Bullshit, if the gasoline price in Alaska is higher than Hawaii right now! How is opening ANWAR gonna do anything for the price of gasoline in the United States in the future.

Duh …Exxon and Conoco-Phillips will just make more money.

If anyone really believes opening ANWAR will lower the price of gasoline then I have some weapons of mass destruction located in Baghdad to sell you. ARRRGH

G-Daddy 2007 summary/update

It has been a good year. I spent the first 8 months of this year in the RMI working on Kwajalein. It was way cool, learning to dive, a trip to Majuro, then to Micronesia and visited Kosrae and Pohnepe. Hangin with The Adventurer made kwaj the greatest. We got black pearls in Majuro, visited the copra plant. We had dinner with the US Ambassador and his wife. Majuro was boss. Then MI Hott came out for a visit, she tagged along with me and The Adventurer on our Micronesian sojourn. So kudos on the first 8 months of 2007. So, yeah I got the adventure thing down so so.

Then I came home, hmmmm home has not been that happy. For Thanksgiving I went down to Mom & Dads (in Soldotna 150 Miles south of Anchorage). Dad with PTSD + depression, Mom dealing with Dad, and Mom after her knee replacement. That was a new first for me, old parents are worse than children. I coached coed geriatric physical therapy for Mom and Dad. I got all of the lingo down cold. Up, down, 1,2,3,4,5...hold release, again, last 5,4,3,2, done…switch legs, next exercise.

Royalties you ask? How is that going? Slow. Did some water colors in kwaj but none while at home. Honestly, I think it will take 10 years+ to get to a point where I’ll be able to sell prints or anything. Just keep trying. But hey the popularity of this blog is growing like some asian economies. The Gigantic Coconut Crab Movie isn’t in the can either plus I missed the Anchorage Film Festival this year. Not happy bout that. I guess I can post the second clip. I have about 5 scenes that I need to edit and three I still need to film. Movie making is equally as hard as water colors…yo

I’ll close with a lack of job rant. I’m pissed at the Aussie job, the report date first was Nov, then Dec, then Jan, now they’re telling me Feb. Fuck that crap. I guess the security clearance background check thing is the hold-up. Hell I don’t even wanna a clearance, don’t wanna know any secrets either. I had no God damn intention to be in Alaska for December duh it is 5 F. outside right now. I ain’t waiting for the Aussie gig. Let’s be real… what incompetent sits around for over 90 days waiting for a job. In addition, it is just plain fucking rude (not no mention unprofessional) to expect someone to do that. The process stinks, they should 6 sigma this shit ….hissss. lol that would make it take longer. So… I had a job interview in Hono last week with two other résumé’s pending in Hawaii also. No word from any of them yet.

Yup, if you were reading between the lines I was in Hawaii for my birthday. My old buddy Heavy P is working a construction project there. Ole HP got me the interview. He has a place near Haleiwa on Oahu. That was fun cept for that head cold but who cares, I was in Hawaii and it was cold back home.

G-Daddy at home in the north

Fuck, it snowed today.

Honestly, I thought I would be outta here b4 it snowed.

This Australia job is taking way to long to close. I guess I still have to clear the security background check bullshit. Christ, if they said it would take over 6 months to get “cleared” for the job I would have said no and stayed in kwaj. In addition to that crap, I just found out that the place in Australia is a dry town (ha ha no pun intended) as of 8/1/07. You heard right a dry town in Australia, yikes that totally busted my aussie stereotypes. Yes, yours truly has accepted a job in a location where they don’t sell and alcohol. How stupid is that. Hmmm not passing the security clearance may be a blessing.

So the current plan is to be on site “the first week of December”. Meaning I have another 1 month to kill. Therefore when the passport returns from the visa process I’m headin back to kwaj. Pretty easy math, hang in anchor town for the beginning of winter or chill in the tropics and go diving. May hang in Hawaii for a day or two to see my buddy Heavy P. then go on to kwaj, see The Adventurer, and get some more diving in. I can still be back in anchor town for some snow boarding till December rolls in.

Here some pictures of the spot where we scatted some of Uncle Bubba’s ashes this is the mouth of the Kasilof River where we used to dipnet red’s. It was freezer fishing. We would catch both tides a day. Fish, clean fish, sleep, then fish again. It was a lot mellower than the Kenai River circus.

Guess what ya’ll both Primo and Segundo are living at my house. So far so good. At 20 and 21 not much interaction with the ole man but still it is kewl to have them around. Yeah yeah I know , but what about the hse when ur gone??? Solved I got better locks lol. Hell I don’t know? When the oz gig is finalized I’ll worry bout that.

Final note: I have been out of work long enough and I’m ready to paint. This is very good. Very very good, wooo hooo.

All in all, life is still good.
peace out mo fo's

Yes, I’m back in Alaska

Problem with Anchorage is I know too many ppl and places plus kids, parents and the ex-wife. It is way to easy to fall back into the same old grind. Well I have a lot of thoughts, and it has been along time since I have posted so here goes. Let me first; apologize for the random stream of consciousness but it all qualifies as Life.

Little Bro's ashes, I really don't want to put him in some fancy urn on my mantle. I don't even have a fire place. So, here's the plan …scatter him in three places. One is downtown Anchorage across from the old hospital, by the Park Strip, at the house we lived in when he was born. Second is at the mouth of the Kasilof River where we used to dip net red salmon. Third is at Beach lake in Birchwood where he used to party. I was thinking of making some Uncle Bubba geocache sites also but, Alaska has so many geocaches it isn't that unique. Maybe I will start an Uncle Bubba travel bug.

Mom and Dad, arrrgh Well I have sent about ½ of my three weeks home at mom and dad's house down in Soldotna. Dad is totally gone. Retirement and the complete lack of any activity as allowed the PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) to take over. Pops is a Korea and 2x Vietnam combat vet. He is constantly paranoid and paces around the house. He is not eating and I had to tell mom to call the doctor and take him to the hospital because he has lost so much weight, he was in for a week to get his weight and fluids up. Mom is in complete denial on how bad the situation is….mom historically isn't as incompetent as she seems in this situation but perhaps Bubba and Aunt Rose dying within 3 month of each other has had an effect? Last Sunday the boyz drove down for dinner and after dinner Dad announced that the food was poisoned….he is paranoid on the verge of psychotic. We had to explain the food was good, we all cooked it and it was safe to eat. Talking to my sister later it became clear that he is just scared shitless of everything. I guess it, the PTSD, has always been in the background but retirement left nothing to screen the weird behavior like working did. Sigh… we all saw it, there were lots of signs, but we didn't recognize the gravity until it was too late. Long story short, I told mom he needs to go to a psychiatric institute or hospital he is too much for her to take care of at home.

Yow, I remember going thru the times when everyone was getting married then having kids. This new phase of growing old and dying isn't too exciting. Speaking of kids I learned a valuable lesson. DON'T LET UR 21YO SON LIVE IN UR HOUSE WHILE YOU'RE GONE. Duh…apparently there was a party or two. Being the resourceful father I am, I hit the kid's roommate's blog to get any 411 on the said affair(s). Read http://wanghunglo.livejournal.com the Jan 4th entry. Young dude Wanghunglo owes me a mirror. I have also deduced that the broken tap explains the dark stains on the walls and ceiling of the bathroom. At least it appears to have been a decent dark/amber keg. Good thing is both boyz are enrolled in college, and currently have jobs. Primo is planning Segondo's 20th BD party. I have obtained written affidavits that the party will not be at the house.

Hmmm lots of details above but few thoughts, I'll summarize. I am torn about being back in Anchorage, some good feelings and lot of bad feeling. It is like I never left same old crap to deal with. I need to be gone before it snows, winter here will be depressing. I really miss my brother Bubba. http://www.myspace.com/welovebubba I don't want to be responsible for my parents, hell I'm not done with raising my own kids yet. However, I'm close to being done with kids, and the boyz are turning out pretty kewl so far.

Yup, nothing was said about relationships and future work. You could say I saved the hard topics for later. Next post will be free entrepreneurial ideas for young adventuresome capitalist eager to earn millions.

My Brother Bubba

Hello all

Yeah it has been along time since my last post and most of the time has been devoted to south pacific fun with the exception of the last three weeks. That is because I found out that my younger brother is dying. Get this, he has advanced cancer. A melanoma from a lesion on the sole of his foot spread into his lymph nodes and now it is at "stage 4" whatever that means. Can you image a black man, living in Seattle, getting skin cancer on the bottom of his foot? People get webbed feet in Seattle not skin cancer. As the cancer specialist said "hmmm this is extremely rare". He just turned forty. The doctors gave 6 months to possible 5 year time frame but I don't see him lasting longer than a year. Things seem to be deteriorating pretty fast while I was there.

So last week, I flew to Seattle and spent time with him. He was a blast, in good spirits and very accepting of his fate. At first I was angry because he was not going for life but my brother has always been easy going and very far from the coffee generation overachiever. Radiation and surgery are out of the question and with a 1 in seven chemo chance he said the hell with it, " I already feel sick why make myself miserable also". I know, I know, I tried the homeopathic/alternative medicine speech. Christ you can only lead a horse to water. I guess trying to beat 1:7 odds on a terminal illness would be too much work for him. More effort than he has ever put out in his life on anything but; he is the only person that can do it. We, meaning family, can all help him but he needs to be mentally there first and he isn't yet with time rapidly running out. That would be called acceptance.

My eldest sister Lorraine flew into Seattle, from Atlanta two days earlier. Big sis was cool and matriarchal, at first I was annoyed but man she was in charge and that helped ground me a bit. Mom and Dad flew down from Alaska two days after me. Each of us stayed for about a week, honestly the staggered family arrival and departure worked out pretty good. We had some fun, and ate good food, Salumi's downtown Seattle was great and 13 Coins late night is a SeaTac must for me.

Emotionally how am I? Hell, I don't know. Yes I'm sad, and sometimes I cry, but honestly getting divorced was more gut wrenching. Way lots more anger, hate and heartbreak. I'm mostly sad and reflective. I left a lot of stress and stuff to escape out here and not learn any more lessons in life for awhile. Sigh I guess life really includes all of the tragedy, pain, heartache, and joy (emotional stuff) along with adventures.

I love my Brother ..

Be still my heart

Howdy all

This is a copy clip from a recent e-mail from my last gf. She is a pretty awesome woman and had to share. What I really want to do [this week] is electro-chemistry. From The Hydrogen Economy: "So, the more evolved and complex the social organism, the more energy is required to sustain it and the more entropy is produced in the process of maintaining it. This simple reality flies in the face of orthodox economic theory. In fact, neither capitalism nor socialism is capable of accommodating the harsh 'real-world' realities imposed on society and the environment by the first and second laws of thermodynamics." The use of wind, geothermal, solar, etc., to power electrolysis to create storable, transportable hydrogen is very attractive. Don't worry, I'm also reading The Hype About Hydrogen, which seeks to debunk hydrogen as the silver bullet. Oh man nothing like a little "thermo" between engineers. Hindsight is 20/20 sigh... oh well, the good thing is we're still good friends. Next Post is Ebeye I promise

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

Every now and then, I get a warm fuzzy from one of my sons. It is a kewl feeling because it indicates that perhaps, as a parent, I did actually influence them. Note, I didn't say I did something right. The jury is still in deliberation on several counts before the final tally comes in. The other night while watching the news, as our highest nationally elected official, was commenting about the possibility of pending "civil war" in Iraq, my eldest son, Primo says, "Dad, I wish I believed in God." This part made me cringe, cause I do believe in God and Primo's atheists believes may in fact, one day get me struck by lighting. The next part was awesome. He continues to say," Because then I would know that these assholes would be going to hell." What was really kewl was the tone of his voice made it clear he had a complete grasp of all of the assholes including the politicians, capitalist, religious zealots and terrorist ones.

Wooo Hooo!!!, see I did it. My eldest knows right from wrong.

PS just a bit on the religious thing. I'm not a Sunday worship dude. I just believe that a whole lot of things in nature are just right. I think no matter how long things took to evolve there must have been God behind it all. I also can see that there is a fucking whole lot of demons and evil shit hanging around. If good then bad, If heaven then hell. Yada yada

My rants and ravings

I cannot sleep, therefore I rant.

Profit - I would like to offer my definition of profit. Profit is the difference between what a company spends to produce a product and the sale value of that product. Profit can be created in two ways; under compensating workers that produce the product and/or inflating the sale price of the product produced. If a worker was paid the real value for the labor required and the product was sold at its' true value, there would be no profit. In simple terms, making a profit either rips off your workers/subcontractors, or rips off your clients/customers. To be highly profitable, basically means ??? Outsource work to China or India and really under pay your workers or sell products with a grossly over inflated sale price. That is a global economy.

Capitalism Sucks - I wish ppl could see the difference between democracy and capitalism. Capitalism is all about money; get a good education and get a good job. Be a worker for the wealthy and well established. Democracy should be about life; get a good education so you're knowledgeable enough to vote and recognize bull shit terms like "re-vamp" and the "war against terror". You know that constitutional line about the….pursuit of happiness.

Voting - You know, I’m not sure that voting ever changed anything major. Voting didn’t stop Hitler. Voting didn’t end slavery nor racial segregation. Is voting really a manifestation of freedom? Does voting end poverty, wars or child abuse? I believe Change is the result of Action. I think in this day and age, in the US, elections are won with money. Capitalism again. Political lobbyists buy congressional influence, again with money. Honestly, why can’t ppl see how money corrupts and blinds us from what is really important. Life should not be about money but in today’s US society it sure as hell is almost all about money.

Life - Here is my philosophy of life. Life is a long hallway with many doors on both sides as far as you can see. To fully enjoy life you must travel down that hallway and open as many doors as possible. Some doors you open, look, then turn around and shut them. Some doors you open and experience love, joy, and happiness. Some doors you open and see adventure. Some you open see pain, sadness, and sorrow. Perhaps you open a door and see another hallway to travel down with more doors to open and explore. The more doors you open, the more you experience life. When I was younger, I used to think you had to kick open each door with gusto. I am older now and open the doors with confidence, strength and dignity. All of that kicking hurt my feet. Funny thing is some doors now open to familiar spaces. I never thought there would be repeats. Those repeat doors I can either enter or close and walk away. Most times I walk away.

Good night

WVO King

OK it is time for a WVO update

Here is the progress so far.

B4 the USVI trip I hand painted several 5x7 flyers/cards looking for members and ppl interested in the Anchorage Bio-fuels cooperative. Posted them, the hand painted bills, in all of the greenie places around Anchorage; the coffee shop next to REI, the Organic Oasis, Natural Pantry (Anchorage equivalent to a Whole Foods Store) and other tree hugger hangouts. The reply was dismal. Only four return calls.

The week B4 Christmas I sent out 90 letters to all of the hamburger joints, donut shops and Chinese buffets. Fifty bucks postage so far, including a self addressed survey post card. Basically it was a romp through the restaurant section of the yellow pages. The turnout was a bit better. I got about 14 returns, with an average of 15 -20 gallons of WVO available oil a week from each restaurant. Note I got also got seven, return to senders>, no donut shops nor Chinese buffet replies. Just for the record, yes I did create an MS Access database file populated with all 90 restaurant records and ALL four private ppl responses. Oh how punny, Yeah !! I geeked out.

A good indicator that I’m ready to go back to work is the fact that I sketched a system piping/process flow diagram of a small 50 gallon batch plant, complete with a materials list and cost estimate. Good thing I don’t have any drawing software on the laptop, else I would have created an AutoCAD file with a bill of materials. I stopped short of an electrical one-line diagram. I have a bunch of ckt bkrs and a small load center from an old ASTF grant project that I can steal/salvage parts from so, I need not get carried away with that. The final const for a good quality 50 gallon WVO-biodiesel batch plant is about a grand in Anchorage AK dollars. Here is what is next.


Make second contact. This is an easy one, since I only have less than twenty contacts to make. This is a one day task/completed by Monday 1/9/05.

I need more private members. Sigh, I think the next step is posting a newspaper add in the Anchorage Press, the local progressive rag. Point is I need more folks to use the bio-diesel. This will take place next week also. How about Tuesday, don’t want this to be like work or anything lol

I need a diesel vehicle. This is quite the exercise; I have the WVO sources but no diesel automobile. This is where living in Alaska is a disadvantage. If you want to buy a big ass Dodge Cummings Diesel that gets 8 gallons per mile there are a lot of those available (why bother). However, a 1985 diesel Mercedes-Benz or Volkswagen diesel sedan or wagon, for about 3 grand, is nonexistent up here. I’m still looking but those animals are rare birds. Yeah there are lots in Cali, but it is another 2 grand to get the vehicle north. Hisssss nasty Baggins has my precious

I need to complete the 50 gallon batch plant. That is easy just spend the money and buy the stuff. The plan is to construct a 50 gallon batch plant, set-up in the carport, by March 1, 2006. Oh BTW that is also the date targeted for my return to work. The return to work is another blog entry for sure. Arrgh just typing that phrase makes me ill, double yuk.

Merry Christrmas

Sorry folks I haven't posted in awhile so I'm gonna wrap a bunch of stuff together.

Christmas depresses me.

The Boyz spend Christmas at their mothers' house. I think kids need a tradition so I guess that is OK but still I get sad. I don't want to go to my parents house, cause that is an old tradition and I think I need to move on not go backwards. Primo (the son that lives with me)is home from college. He is not goin back didn't like the school or location (Honolulu). The drugs (ice/meth mostly) , violence and prejudice shocked him. I told him any large city is like that. Next day we had a very heated discussion that culminated with a hole in my wall. Merry Christmas.

Get a Job

The subject matter of the fight/discussion was how nobody here (his immediate family)has their shit together including me. Which pissed me off but maybe he is correct? I left a good job 4 months ago and not really been doing much of anything since. Alright there was 3 weeks in the USVI. True, I needed a break, that job was killing me. Honestly I don't want to go back to building design engineering/consulting. I did it for over 20 years, but I'm not really moving to anything else. I got a bit of cash to hang till Jan/Feb., Why should I rush to get back into that rat race??? Just to add to the tension my Dad told me to get a job. Kind of funny, the first time in forty plus years he said that. He also said "don't start a business I've known to many ppl that have lost everything by starting a business" arrrgh I was respectful, it was Thanksgiving, and changed the subject.

WVO-Anchorage Bio-Diesel Coop

I did send out letters to all of the burger joints in Anchorage. Including fried chicken/catfish joints and donut shops80 letters in all. with a cooking oil survey card. please please I hope I get a good return on the survey cards. I am approaching this with a new philosophy. I'm not doing the capitalist money thing. I just want to make diesel fuel out of waste vegetable cooking oil and develop a net work of similar minded folks in Anchorage.

Why I shave my head

In various circles, I have given several reasons for the current bald "look" I exhibit these days. 1. Michael Jordan has retired so I need to carry on in his image. 2. In my family, we have the island hair loss pattern. The hairline recedes in the corners leaving a small "isle of hair" in the middle of your head. Last Christmas my younger brother (by seven years) had achieved the full island effect. Boy, did I give him shit. To avoid any future retaliation from brother I just shaved it all off.

Those being great bullshit reasons, I must come clean with the real story. I used to cut my own hair. It was easy I had a pair of clippers and I would just put the plastic guide on and cut my hair. Kind of like mowing the lawn, adjust the wheel height and go. Well, the clippers were fairly inexpensive (cheap) from Sears. And after about 6 or 7 years they where starting to get dull. Dull clippers with kinky hair sucks. Yes, I have real tight kinky hair. Not the type that makes great "fros" the real tight stuff that u just cut short and forget about it. Anyway, the clippers started to do more snagging and pulling than cutting. Well in typical G-Daddy fashion, I started pricing a new pair of clippers. Sears didn't sell them anymore maybe mail order but I didn't check. (hmmm internet that is an idea) Checked K-mart, Wal-Mart, and Freddie’s they had them but nothing really struck me. Yeah I know, …what about clippers ever strikes anybody? Whatever I didn’t, buy any.

So the next time I start cutting my hair the bastards start pulling like crazy and I get fed up. Being the engineer, I figure I have a good diamond stone to sharpen my camping knife, soooo I'll sharpen my clippers. Engineers can logically justify taking anything apart. So, with the clippers now apart G-Daddy sharpens the blades. During the process of sharpening the blades, the plastic height adjustment guide drops to the floor and is stepped on by somebody? It kind of breaks. But if you hold it just right, with index and fore fingers on one side and with the thumb on the other side you can hold the guide while the clippers are cradled in the crook between the thumb and index finger. Easy. OK so I reassemble the clippers, and proceeded to cut hair. The sharpening was in concept only, bastards still pulled and snagged my hair. Somehow, during a most severe snag, my index finger slips causing a slight fluctuation of the pressure required to hold the plastic guide in place.

Well needless to say the guide pressure fluctuation causes major guide misalignment (the guide falls to the floor) that exposes the clipper cutting edge. Operator overcompensation for the encountered snag resistance brings the exposed clippers dangerously close to the operator's scalp. Yes the result is a 20-25 square mm bare patch. So now its like 11:30pm and I have two options go to Wal-Mart or shave it all off. I shave it all off. Refer to reasons 1 and 2 above. Of course, this has led to several interesting observations;

• Hot showers on a bald head feel great ...woo hoo!!
• Some women love it others hate it. I guess those cancel each other out.
• For the first time in my life my mom and dad have said, "Let your hair grow back!"
• Watch out for eyebrows when shaving your head in the shower. (Eyebrows grow back in about 3 weeks).
• The scalp stubble has a velcro effect when pulling shirts over head so go with the grain