Soup's on!

Tomato Bisque with garlic bread and Bijan's sinful arugula salad

Tortilla Soup from 2 weeks ago

P.E.

As I was waiting for one of my colleagues to vacate the bathroom so I could make a deposit, I went over to talk to the P.E. teacher who was supervising his class playing soccer.

Rian Rodriguez: Man, you got it great! You get to run around in the sun and play some soccer all day.

P.E. Teacher: I wish... For the most part, all your students want to be in your class, right?

Rian Rodriguez: Yeah, for the most part.

P.E. Teacher: Most of these kids don't want to be here. The ones that do like sports get out of taking P.E. because they have sports, what is left is the general population of kids who hate taking P.E.

Rian Rodriguez: I remember how my two favorite subjects in 4th-6th grade was Band and P.E., what happened in 7th grade that made it so bad? Maybe getting bullied in the locker room?

P.E. Teacher: That could be it, because 7th grade is when you started changing in front of people. It's also when you get a bad attitude about other things and by the time you get to high school, P.E. isn't fun at all anymore.

Rian Rodriguez: I remember teaching a couple of classes where no one cared or wanted to be there, it really sucks. Thats too bad that kids don't look forward to playing in P.E. when they're in high school. It's only when they get older when they will realize what they were missing out on.

The End of Violence

Today I got an email from MoveOn.com about how our progressive politicians are going to back Obama in extending the tax cuts put in place by Bush. The democrats want to increase taxes, basically. I would like to pay less taxes, so I'm not going to sign their stupid petition. This is such a political move to raise taxes. Democrats think they are being fiscally responsible by doing this. Republicans just want more money for themselves and I'm inclined to agree with them. We should cut spending if we want to save some money.

So let's cut the war! Our clandestine operations are merely helping the rich. Violence costs way too much and it is a human choice to be violent. All religions teach non-violence, yet none of these pious fools listen. They use their religion as an excuse to be imperialists. We raise armies to protect our lands and way of life, but I see no threat to our lands in North America.

I'm taking up a cause to end violence. It should start in schools and churches and should be supported by governments. Naysayers will say that it is impossible to end violence, but I firmly disagree. In my own life, I have never been in a fight. The only violence I have ever been a part of was being bullied in middle school, some incidents where my parents chose not to spare the rod, and my brother and I quarreling over something ridiculous. I have shot a few guns in my life, but only at paper. In no way was I ever thinking of shooting somebody or using a firearm as a weapon. Shooting guns is a fun sport though and should be a sport for people like me who have great eye-sight.

Just like Gene Roddenberry invisioned an Earth where currency was a thing of the past and everyone had a personal communicator, I share his vision. We have cell phones now and iPads and iPhones. We can access any information from pretty much anywhere at any time. Replicating food, transporter beams, and space travel are in the works. Data storage is something that has made huge leaps that were never thought possible. Medicine has artificial organs. So why aren't we revolutionizing social issues?

Violence is a choice. Do your part in being peaceful and we can end violence.

Economics and Politics

Watching the PBS news hour, I learned that giving a tax cut to the top 2% wealthiest people in the USA would cost around 70 Billion, but extending unemployment would only cost 19 billion. Where would this money go? 70 Billion to the richest people would probably help wealthy people put their money in their business, which would create jobs for the middle and lower class, right? Maybe they would give bonuses to their top management. Do you really think this money would be spent here in the US in stimulate the economy...probably not.

If you spend it on unemployment, that money would be spent on stuff here like housing, food, automobiles, and stuff that would essentially stimulate the economy. Am I missing something here? Why would republicans want to choose the 70 Billion dollar option? Greedy bastards.

I think we should also get rid of our nuclear weapons. Call me naive, but who would really try to turn the US into a crater? I feel like owning a nuclear weapon is like owning a semi-automatic gun, only if you are afraid of your neighbor do you need one. What government would even have the resources and military to invade the US? I feel that the only reason other people are getting nukes, like North Korea and Iran, get them because they are afraid of us. Lets show the world that we are done with our imperialism. Lets keep our military to defend our borders, but why bother with anything else?

Lets spend that money on education. Imagine how enriched our lives would be if public education in America had the budget that our current military has? Imagine how our world would be if we dismantled all of our military and just spent it on education. So much fear rules our world.

I'm done with fighting and war. People fight because they're afraid. In high school why do kids fight? "You disrespected me, you disrespected my girl, you disrespected my friend." Gangs fight because of some economic disrespect, "you're selling drugs in my neighborhood."

Let's just make music together. Let's write, paint, sculpt, build, make movies, grow fruits and vegetables, care for animals, study history, explore space. Seeing this as our future, there is no room for fear, only love.

Rock Fish

Try this recipe if you like fresh fish:

Olive Oil in the pan, fry some garlic

season your fish with salt, pepper, thyme

Fry up the fish only 3 minutes on each side then remove to a plate

add a generous amount of White wine and a big nub of Butter

Reduce, serve over the fish with some spaghetti squash and broccoli.

Crabcakes

Made these last night with a nice mayonnaise dipping sauce. Used panko breadcrumbs for these pancakes. Thinking about eating the left overs for breakfast.

The Thanksgiving Post

Uncle Mike's classy treasure chest of Bud Light

Our delicious spread of spirits and dessert. Cousin Travis brought the Greenlabel to share. The Knobb Creek that I sipped on all day is not pictured .

Uncle Mike made two delicious and rich cheesecakes. The one pictured on top is a lemon cheesecake and on the bottom is a pumpkin chocolate cheesecake.

I designed the place settings this year. A gold charger with white plates. Water Goblet and Wine Glass on the right.

This is the Bird we cooked this year only 1/4 of the way done. It was delicious and irresistable. We put all the stupid gimmicks to shame. This turkey was put in the oven at 8:30 AM and taken out around 2:00 PM. It was brushed with melted butter and seasoned with salt and pepper. Pinot Grigio wine was put in the bottom. Yes! it was stuffed! No it wasn't dry! No brine, no herbs under the skin, just a good oven and great cooking technique makes the perfect turkey.

This was a very wonderful thanksgiving feast. I am very grateful for all the wonderful things in my life. I have money, friends, family, and a job to go to everyday. My house is warm, my fridge is full, I have abundant hair, an internet connection, nice skin, talent, and good penmanship.

I was recently accepted to attend a conducting masterclass in Leipzig in February. I will be conducting Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony, Beethoven 5th, and Don Juan. This should be great fun.