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Kopaka's Ice Engineering

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  1. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    I've been hit by the nostalgia bat recently. A few weeks ago, I was tagged (on the book of faces) in an 18-year-old photograph of my senior homecoming, well, a homecoming alternative put on by those of us (and our parents) at the church I attended at the time. I was about to turn 17 (if I wasn't already) at the time of the photograph, and I'm now more than twice as old as I was when that photo was taken.
     
    Something else I saw on the book of faces recently: an update to something I posted 6 years ago. I got to reading the old entry, and I was struck as to what has changed in the past 6 years:
    I have not worked at another MathCounts competition since then.
    One of the other judges at that competition is now a co-worker.
    I'm now considering sending my firstborn daughter to one of those three Lake Castle schools for pre-Kindergarten.

    As for the funny email, well, it appears six years hasn't done too much to the running joke. I'm sure you've heard it before, but here it is to enjoy again. (Lines with no change have been greyed out.)

    Good comedy never gets old. Does this qualify as good comedy, though?
     
    -KIE
  2. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    One of the things about being a reporter, that I've caught on very quickly, is that I'm bound to get a lot more email. In fact, byron@bzpower.com is a whole new email account I set up exclusively for BIONICLE News.
     
    Unfortunately, news travels quickly...
    Before I go off on the miscapitalizations and the butchering of "Israeli", I'd like to comment that his is the first time that a copy of the "Nigerian" scam (Also called a 419 scheme, after the related Nigerian penal code under which this type of scam falls.) has ever made it to one of my quickly-becoming-a-dozen-for-the-first-time-since-college email inboxes. 
    The way it works is that someone off-shore (very important, as crossing international boundaries makes legal prosecution all-but impossible) emails the victim, stating that he has, or is charged with, a rather large sum of money, and has determined that the victim would be a good final steward of this money. A conversation is struck up, and while the promises endure, at some point it becomes necessary to "lubricate" the transaction by posting a fee to them. This charade keeps going, and the money never does make it to the victims' hands. It works, because the money is promised at the start, and the victim keeps looking back to it, coupled with the mental obligation that "if I'm this far along, I can just go ahead and see it through to the end."
    Suffice it to say, if you ever get an email that reads like the one above, just delete it. The money doesn't exist, and the charade will only end once you end it.
     
    I'm not dissing Nigeria per se. A former bunk mate of my dad offshore, ExxonMobil had him working out of Nigeria for about 4 years in the mid 90's. (He's in western Russia now.) It's just, well, sometimes you get a reputation and it's not your fault.
     
    (By the way, the domain on the sender's address was from Spain.)
     
    Sadly, this confidence scheme is not the worst I have to say regarding Nigeria this week.
     
    William Jefferson, 9-term representative, and senior Democrat in the Louisiana Congressional delegation, got caught with both hands in the cookie jar.

    Since none of the links work because I just copied and pasted, here's the Story on CNN
     
    I like Rosenberg's line about politics. Goes back to what I said a month ago: no one is above the law, not even lawmakers.
     
     
    Besides that, I'm ashamed to be from Louisiana right now. Not because Jefferson represents me (because he doesn't: I live in Bobby Jindal's district), but because, gosh darnit, I share a state with so many people who would RE-elect an obvious-to-everyone-but-his-kin felon. How in the world do my congressmen ask for more hurricane relief funding, when it will go to people who choose someone that corrupt to speak for them?
    It's not about the lesser of two evils: he shouldn't have been in that runoff in the first place.
     
    Sorry, I need to go stew for the rest of the evening.
     
     
    -KIE
  3. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    For entertainment purposes only.
     
    New Mexico
    Texas-El Paso (+11½) over Brigham Young
    BYU 52, UTEP 24
     
    Humanitarian, uh, MPC Computers
    Northen Illinois (-2½) over Fresno State
    NIU 40, FRES 17
     
    New Orleans
    Troy (-1½) over Ohio
    TROY 48, OHIO 21
     
    St. Petersburg
    Southern Mississippi (+3½) over Louisville
    LOU 31, USM 28
     
    Las Vegas
    Boise State (-16½) over Utah
    BSU 26, UTAH 3
     
    Poinsettia
    United States Naval Academy (+1½) over San Diego State
    SDSU 35, NAVY 14
     
    Aloha, er, Hawaii
    Hawai'i-Honolulu (-11½) over Tulsa
    TLSA 62, HAW 35
    (6 turnovers in the first half...unreal...)
     
    Motor City, er Little Cæsar's Pizza
    Toledo (-1½) over Florida International
    FIU 34, TOL 32
     
    Independence
    United States Air Force Academy (-2½) over Georgia Institute of Technology
    AFA 14, GT 7
     
    Champs Sports
    North Carolina State (+2½) over West Virginia
    NCST 23, WVU 7
     
    Copper, er, Insight
    Missouri-Columbia (+1½) over State University of Iowa
    IOWA 27, MIZZ 24
     
    Military
    East Carolina (+7½) over Maryland-College Park
    MD 51, ECU 20
     
    ev1.net, uh, GalleryFurniture.com, er, Houston, um Texas
    Baylor (-1½) over Illinois-Champaign
    ILL 38, BAY 14
     
    Alamo
    Oklahoma State (-6½) over Arizona
    OKST 36, ARIZ 10
     
    Armed Forces
    United States Military Academy (+7½) over Southern Methodist
    ARMY 16, SMU 14
     
    Gotham, er, Garden State, um, Pinstripe
    Syracuse (+1½) over Kansas State-Manhattan
     
    Music City
    Tennessee-Knoxville (+2½) over North Carolina-Chapel Hill
     
    Holiday
    Nebraska-Lincoln (-13½) over Washington (Sorry, xccj)
     
    Meineke Car Care
    South Florida (+4½) over Clemson
     
    Sun
    University of Miami (-3½) over Notre Dame
     
    Peach, er Chick-fil-A
    South Carolina (-3½) over Florida State
     
    Liberty
    Georgia-Athens (-7½) over Central Florida
     
    EagleBankTicketCity
    Northwestern (+9½) over Texas Tech
     
    Hall of Fame, er, Outback
    Florida (-7½) over Pennsylvania State
     
    Citrus, er Capital One
    Michigan State (+10½) over Alabama-Tuscaloosa
     
    Gator
    Michigan (+6½) over Mississippi State
     
    Rose
    Texas Christian (-2½) over Wisconsin-Madison
     
    Fiesta
    Oklahoma-Norman (-17½) over Connecticut
     
    Orange
    Virginia Tech (+2½) over Stanford
     
    Sugar
    Arkansas-Fayetteville (+2½) over Ohio State
     
    Mobile..er, papajohns.com, um, GoDaddy.com
    Miami University (-1½) over Middle Tennessee
     
    Cotton
    Louisiana State-Baton Rouge (-1½) over Texas A&M-College Station
     
    GMAC, er, Compass
    Pittsburgh (-2½) over Kentucky
     
    Emerald, um, Fight Hunger
    Nevada-Reno (-9½) over Boston College
     
    BCS
    Oregon (+3½) over Auburn
     
     
    Last year: was a very momentous year, but not for football picks
    This year: 8-7 straight up, 8-7 vs. spread
     
    Key:
    Correct
    Correct versus spread only
    Correct straight up, but not against the spread
    Incorrect
     
    -KIE, who reserves the right to update and republish this throughout the bowl season.
  4. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    Hello.
     
    Remember me?
     
    I used to be a moderator here on these boards, but life has happened over the past 7 years. If I hadn't rotated off the forum circuit by the time Katrina hit, I was awfully close to doing so. I'm thankful, however, for the time I've gotten to know people with color-shifty masks. I'm honored to have been one, and I do not regret the time spent, for more reasons than making friends scattered throughout North America and beyond.
     
    Gee, it sounds like I'm leaving the site. I'm not leaving the site: it's just been 10 months since I've gotten around to posting anything of consequence. Maybe if I were more studious about posting, I wouldn't feel like I have to reintroduce myself each & every time I duck my head in the door.
     
    "What has happened in the past 10 months?" you may wonder. Well, I live in the "country" now. My house is on an acre and a half, and the nearest full grocery store is some 10 miles away. My office in downtown New Orleans is 50 miles away from the carport. I spend about 2½ hours a day commuting. (What's more, the computer is usually reserved for my daughter to watch Jay Jay the Jet Plane episodes on a popular website for video in the evenings.) I find myself getting up at 5 AM to get to work, and am rarely home before 6:15 PM. I'm not complaining, per se: this is just where I am now.
     
    Anyway, I have more to address than the two tanks of gas I buy in a week. No, today is an important day in the USA.
    ELECTION DAY!
     
     
    Forty-five months ago, I set forth an auspicious challenge. A vote is a grave matter, and not something I should have thrown around so haphazardly. Of course, I felt that I was shielded by the fact that it would take a southern Democrat (see: Carter, Clinton) for Louisiana to light up any color other than red on the map, regardless of my ballot. I made my gambit not having a clue what the next years would actually have in store.
     
    And oh, did those next years have a curve ball.
     
    I confess, I felt as though this criterion was open and shut within 3 months. The passage of the second half of the stimulus package was a big deal, and we at the Jefferson Parish Sewer Capital Program sought to put in on the money being made available. Not a one of our projects was selected, and I thought that this was going to be it for my January posting.
     
    Then life happened.
     
    Not 4 months after the wedding, I leave the Yenni Building and end up getting laid off after 4½ years at DEII. Miraculously, I am hired before my severance runs out, and a countdown clock of sorts starts: with this job, of which 60ish% of the funding is footed by the ARRA, I am going to have to move my wife & I to Illinois for almost 2 years. As the calendar switches from March 2010 to April, we're driving a UHaul north on I-55 (figuratively: a good chunk of it was I-57).
     
    Not long after we leave, the Deepwater Horizon accident happens, and the Oval Office puts a moratorium on all deep water exploratory drilling. My father is laid off from Halliburton after 35 years, some 2 years away from his planned retirement. People in Illinois ask me what the big deal is, why drilling on the shelf alone isn't enough: I inform them that, by and large, the shelf is tapped out, and no one has expected to find anything new there for the past 15 years.
     
    Over the course of two years, my wife & I acquire a set of close friends in Illinois. We learned who we are as a couple, independent of our respective families. We learned how much we can rely on the other, for there were times (before the friends) we had no other person there. We become parents to a wonderful, adorable little girl.
     
    I say all this, needing to circle back around to the original question I posed myself forty-five months ago: are my life and surroundings better off than they were four years ago, and if so, are they a direct result of Barack Obama becoming president and his policies becoming law. To the first part, I say yes, absolutely. Certainly it is not in the manner I thought it would be "yes" when I typed that four years ago, but the fact remains: yes, despite my father losing his job, I and my family are better off. (I suppose there's a tangent here about when or where the definition of "family" shifted from "my parents & brother" to "my wife, and now daughter." Even though it doesn't seem to be long, I'm not going to chase it here.) To the second part, I credit my family's fortune to God's provision. However, I feel compelled to further elaborate. I'll save the full text of the story about God, the flood victim, the news, the boat & the helicopter and say that Divine Providence takes on many forms. It would be remiss of me to ignore the very real possibility that ARRA was God providing a way for me to provide for my family, even though none of it went to the sewer projects I helped submit for in the first place.
     
    Is this two years of northern exposure mellowing out my hard right lean? (Maybe)
    Is this all an exercise on how one shouldn't throw one's vote around? (Maybe)
    Is this going to make a real, appreciable difference? (Not really. It wouldn't have made a difference if we weren't back from Illinois yet, either.)
     
    Am I going to own up to my statements? (Yes)
     
    From the outskirts of Chocolate City will vote for the following candidates for the Louisiana Electoral College for the November 6 election:
     
    2012 Electoral College
    Karen Carter Peterson
    Shane Riddle
    Gilda Warner Reed
    Jay H. Banks
    Diana Hamilton
    Cedric Bradford Glover
    Leslie Dandridge Durham
    Kyle Gautreau

    pledged to vote for Barack Obama of Illinois and Joe Biden of Delaware.
     
    From the outskirts of Chocolate City endorses the following candidates and positions for the November 6 election.
     
    United States Representative, First Congressional District of Louisiana
    Steven Scalise (R)

    Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #1
    Medicaid Trust Fund for the Elderly
    AGAINST

    because we don't need to solve problems that don't exist
     
    Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #2
    Strict Scrutiny Review for Gun Laws
    AGAINST

    because we don't need to solve problems that don't exist (didn't I just say that?)
     
    Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #3
    Earlier Notice of Public Retirement Bills
    AGAINST

    not when the bills are going to get changed in the legislative process anyway.
     
    Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #4
    Homestead Exemption for Veterans' Spouses
    AGAINST

    not interested in changing the state Constitution for the benefit of less than 5 people.
     
    Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #5
    Forfeiture of Public Retirement Benefits
    FOR

    as toothless as this may be, since it's usually the USAO that prosecutes these
     
    Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #6
    Property Tax Exemption Authority for New Iberia
    AGAINST

    Nope. There are better ways to do this, City of New Iberia. If there aren't, you just got unlucky and are going to have to deal with it.
     
    Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #7
    Membership of Certain Boards and Commissions
    FOR

    because it won't make sense otherwise
     
    Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #8
    Non-Manufacturing Tax Exemption Program
    AGAINST

    because I honestly believe we have too many tax exemption programs out there now
     
    Louisiana Constitutional Amendment #9
    More Notice for Crime Prevention District Bills
    FOR

    ...because nobody needs "concerned citizens" end-running around their neighbors. I mean, come on.
     
    Local Option Vote #1
    Term Limits for St Tammany Parish School Board Members
    FOR

    because incorporating new blood is important
     
    My vote is my vote, not yours. That said, I am a registered Republican, and will remain a registered Republican. I would appreciate no further thoughts about, as a Republican, my supposed inability to empathize with views not my own. Bring back the melting pot: this composed salad bowl mentality isn't healthy for us as a nation.
     
    -KIE
  5. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    I can't exactly say that I'm a fan of Semisonic, or any of the other bands who may have covered the song "Closing Time", although it is a very appropriate lyric at the moment.
     
    We have just gotten back from a whirlwind trip to NOLA, only to be thrust into more acceleration. It is the endgame of my time in Morris. As of 12:30, my wife & I now own (well, mortgaged) a house outside Covington, Louisiana. Yesterday, the Army Corps of Engineers completed the dredging beneath the new bridge, widening the navigation channel by 150%.
     
    In other words, we are done here. Not to sound overly cryptic or shifty with my words, but this is the end.
     
    Morris is the past: when we arrived in Morris, I was met with McSkillet burritos at McDonald's, Italian Chicken Sandwiches at Burger King, homestyle fries at Arby's, and boysenberry syrup at IHOP. Things that had left my world before I had wanted them to leave.
     
    Morris is the future: as we leave Illinois we will not be the two we were when we arrived. Indeed, we are now three, and even just the two of us aren't the same as we were almost two years ago.
     
     
    While we've been up here, I've had the opportunity to download the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Virtual Console, and have played through it a few times. Forgive me if I hear Spirit Temple music in the background until we move next week.
     
    -KIE, who won't be publishing his bowl picks this year: no time to transcribe them into a blog entry
  6. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    Ever since I moved out from under my parents' roof in February 2005, Thanksgiving has involved traveling. I [and later Amanda] jumping in a car and driving an appropriate amount on I-10, I-20, I-55, or US 165 and arriving at my parents' [or her parents'] home for a Thanksgiving meal. (Except in 2007: that year we were on baby watch for Oliver in Baton Rouge.)
     
    Not so this year.
     
    For the first time, family is coming here for Thanksgiving dinner. Our cozy little house of 3 will become 11 in a few short hours, and cooking must be done.
     
    Good Eats, don't fail me now.
     
    I will be attempting to implement the Good Eats Nobel Prize Pending Roast Turkey recipe found from the 14th episode of the famed cooking show, named "Romancing the Bird." In the absence of time, I will refer you to the Food Network archive of said recipe, although a search of the episode's name will surely elicit 45ish minutes of high quality turkey talk. I will say that as my mother-in-law has an apparent allergy to sage, the sage will be replaced with garlic and/or bay leaves, in a quantity not yet determined.
     
    As I have a bajillion other things to get done, both with cooking and with work, I will bid you, dear reader, adieu, and wish you the warmest and heartiest of Thanksgivings, even you Canadans who jumped the gun a month ago. Don't go dropping frozen turkeys into a too-full pot of hot oil.
     
    -KIE
  7. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    Hello there. Have we met?
     
    For the many here that don't know me, I go by KIE on these boards, which is short for Kopaka's Ice Engineering. I derived the name from the bridge Kopaka built at the end of the first BIONICLE comic so many years ago. I am a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Louisiana, though right now, I live and work in Illinois. Within the next two months, my family will be moving back to NOLA [greater New Orleans], more properly, the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Hence, I will retain the "Chocolate City" reference in my blog's title, even though we're far closer to the outskirts of Chicago right now.
     
    I am 32 years old. I met the woman who would be my wife while we were summer missionaries some 10 years ago in northeast Ohio. It was there I discovered an Onua canister, and wondered aloud why LEGO Bricks weren't this cool when I was in the target age. I became an AFOL at that point, and have nestled into a no-longer-board-active role on staff here at BZPower.
     
    I am a father. My daughter Bonnie is 7½ months old at this juncture, and she is just so precious. I must gush, for she is my first child, and we do get a share of comments from random people about how beautiful she is.
     
    I like to play around in the kitchen. The 2011 edition of Tryptophantic Advent will include staying home instead of traveling. I'm roasting a turkey, too, this year. Wish me luck.
     
    I've worked for the company I work for now for 2 years. They've been in the bridge business since 1893, and the name is synonymous with excellence in bridges. It's funny, though, since 25 months ago, I was laid off from 4+ years modeling and maintaining [in an office role] the sewer system of Jefferson Parish. Admittedly, that has nothing to do with bridges. BUT, it was a bridge design program about 20 years ago, when I was a participant in MATHCounts that led me to engineering, civil engineering even, in the first place. A long, circuitous route to come full circle.
     
    I am also open to a line of questioning, if anyone cares to ask anything. If nothing else, expect more to filter in during the coming weeks as we move back south, out of winter's way. Seriously, why is it December outside the door already?
     
    -KIE
  8. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    My my, what have we here?
     
    So much dust; so many events; so much life has happened here, I should think I ought take a moment to catch you all up.
     
     
    However, that moment is not immediately. Expect more soon.
  10. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    As the temperature cracks 60 degrees of Fahrenheit for the first time since November, I have to comment that I'm glad that the snow is gone. Yes, I understand that the snow isn't gone for good: Chicago has seen snows as late as May, but, at least now, everything outside is brown as it should be [for January, not March], not white.
     
    I want to go back to a world where a "Blizzard" is something you go to Dairy Queen to get.
     
    I have had the pleasure of digging out a snow drift, shoveling the driveway, plowing through snow in the Modjeskimobile, driving on ice, and driving on a frozen road (two different experiences, let me tell you). I have seen a blizzard, and I have seen how ugly and nasty snow gets when the plows get bits of dirt and pavement with their frozen quarry. I have to think I've gotten the full on "Winter" experience that forever eluded a boy from the bayous of southwest Louisiana. (No, I'm not like Swamp People, but I am kin to some of them. I grew up in a subdivision, thank you.)
    In other words, bring on March. And not the upper 40's/lower 30's March of Illinois, but the upper 60's/lower 50's March of Louisiana. I'm tired of the calendar being two months ahead of the weather.
     
    There is a lot of anticipation about the garden this year. Not just because we're growing potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, squash, and a gamut of herbs: it's March; green would be nice to see.
     
     
    On an unrelated note, as of today, Amanda is 75% and Bonnie is -1. In layman's terms, "April 14" just became "any day now". Here we go. (and I'm not talking about Bud Light).
     
     
    -KIE, who will likely be a father within the fortnight
  11. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    Rule #1: Order the beef, not the vegetarian plate. This does not preclude ordering a side of asparagus, though.
    Rule #2: Don't lose your coat claim check.
     
     
    I have an expense report to take care of today.
     
    One of the drawbacks of being field personnel is how very far away from your home office you can find yourself sometimes.
    For instance, when the annual Christmas party came to pass 7 evenings ago for the New Orleans office of Modjeski & Masters, at Angelina's in Metairie, Amanda & I found ourselves some 900 miles away, in Morris, Illinois. Not content to have us suffer by my staying at my post (the bridge site), M&M offered us to have our own Christmas party in Chicago. With a budget of $50 per person, many steakhouses in Chicago became open for discussion. We decided to return to the place in Streeterville where we celebrated our first anniversary earlier this year: Lawry's: The Prime Rib (not The Chicago Chophouse, ha ha).
     
    Before researching restaurants earlier this year, Lawry's existed in my mind only as a brand of seasoned salt that my mom would pick up on occasion at Market Basket. I had no idea where the players in the Rose & Cotton Bowls ate on New Year's Eve. But wouldn't you know, it was restaurant that beget supermarket, and not the other way around.
     
    This trip was slightly more eventful than in June, primarily that June does not have snow. (December usually doesn't have snow either... in Louisiana.) When we made reservations, our only options were at 9 PM on Friday, 9 PM on Saturday, or 4 PM on Sunday. Our only real choice was early Sunday evening.
     
    When we made that decision, though, there wasn't a blizzard in the forecast.
     
    Growing up in the Gulf South, the first (and, by and large, only) thought that crosses my mind when presented with the word "Blizzard" is "I'll have a small Heath Bar, or maybe the Chocolate Covered Cherry." (I also remember when Dennis the Menace was on those Blizzard cups; why did you go to a disembodied mouth again, Dairy Queen?) Snow really isn't part of the equation.
    Well, it is now.
     
    Amanda & I made the grueling trek up the Stevenson Expressway into downtown Chicago for dinner. I have to hand it to Illinois DOT: they are prepared for snow, and the roadway was in very good shape for snow blowing around. The worst part of the trip was where my windshield washer fluid tank froze, and I couldn't clean my windshield. When we got back to Morris, the dark blue metallic vehicle was 60% whitewashed by the roadway salt.
     
    Dinner was amazing, though. It was still worth the trip, but I'm glad I won't have to do that again.
    I think.
     
    -KIE
  12. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    I saw my first snowflake yesterday.
     
    I've mentioned before that it will snow on rare occasion in south Louisiana. While it did snow two weeks before Christmas 2008 in New Orleans, it also snowed on Christmas in 2004, and to ring in the new year 2001. Before that, maybe something in the late 80's. I'm too lazy to look it up in an almanac now, anyway.
     
    Those of you who know the story that brought me to BIONICLE may also know that I passed a semester of graduate school at The University of Akron in 2003. It was the spring semester, which means that school began in January. While it did snow during my time there, it was largely a blur. Remember, part of the story that brought me to New Orleans was that I couldn't drive in the snow, and wrecked my car [the first time, although the second time was what did the experiment in].
     
    It snowed for the first time of the season overnight November 30. Where the snow continued on December 1, I was in the Modjeskimobile (what my wife & I have taken to calling the company minivan I'm using to go to work), and saw a small six-point star hit the driver side window. For a moment, I stopped to look.
    I'd never seen that before.
     
    I mean, we'd cut paper snowflakes in elementary school. It was a rite of passage in December, when leading up to Christmas ("I'm dreaming of a white Christmas//Just like the ones I never knew...."), but never did I get to see the real thing.
    It would snow, but it'd be minuscule flecks that would melt when they'd touch something, and could never be inspected.
    Even when I arrived at Akron, snow was already on the ground, and it all ran together.
     
     
    My, those things are pretty.
     
     
     
    In a slightly related note, it has become insanely cold outside. To compensate, Amanda & I bought our Christmas present to ourselves early: a copy of Wii Fit Plus, with a Wii Balance Board. Immensely fun, but not near as easy as we'd think. That, or we're really uncoordinated.
    Oh, and neither of us are keen on being deigned "obese", either. I have a large frame, and Amanda is pregnant. Those are very good reasons why our BMI's are above 22, thankyouverymuch. Seriously, if I got down to 167 lb., I would have to check into an ER again like what happened 11 years ago, with dehydration.
     
     
    Has it really been 11 years since my life took such a straight-yet-winding turn? My, how time flies.
     
     
    -KIE
  13. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    One of the most thrown-out-there quotes is "Art imitates Life; Life imitates Art". There's a measure of truth to it, too. For instance, I give you a scene from both Bleach 19 and 211: Bakudō 99. It's funny, in that the first time it is introduced, the ultimate manner of restraint is rendered insufficient. In a similar manner, I've seen intangible things grow lives of their own, even recently. That the hype around some things can grow and build and compress and concentrate and...compress, it is noteworthy, in any life.
     
    Have any of you ever had a delayed surprise for friends or family? Has the planning ever made you giddy? Has the anticipation ever got so intense, it welled up in your chest like a knot? Did the reactions in your mind's eye ever distracted you so, that the energy started to eat away at you? Has your heart palpitated over such a surprise? Was it such that there wasn't a day you couldn't think about it? That random eye and hand twitches pop, just out of the blue?
     
    Imagine, if you will, trying to squelch such emotions for two months.
     
     
    I have a confession to make: when I restarted this blog, it was under a slightly false pretense. None of what you have read since August here has been fabricated. Come to think of it, none of it since 2006 has been fabricated. However, I've not been forthright in hitting the biggest points going on thus far. This is by design, however, as protocol dictates blood family carry certain courtesies not extended to non-related family. Two months have passed tonight, and finally, the opportunity to extend said courtesies has come to pass.
     
     
    It's time to spill the beans.
     
    WE'RE PREGNANT!
    WE'RE PREGNANT! WE'RE PREGNANT! WE'RE PREGNANT! WE'RE PREGNANT! WE'RE PREGNANT! WE'RE PREGNANT!
     
    -KIE
  14. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    The end of September is always a favorite time of the year for me. Not only because September 25 is my birthday, but because Olive Garden always has their "never-ending pasta bowl" special. All you can eat pasta and sauce for $7.95$8.95...I think. For $2$1.50$1.95$2.95 more, you can get meatballs or italian sausage (like the pizza topping) or chicken with every fillup.
     
    I like pasta. I'mI was OCD over my wire-mesh colander, because I like my pasta. I tinker with cans of tomatoes, fresh onions & garlic, to make a good sauce, because I like my pasta.
    But Olive Garden is better at it than me, so I defer to their expertise.
     
    I give you:
    KIE'S GUIDE TO THE OLIVE GARDEN'S NEVER ENDING PASTA BOWL
     
    First things first, I will explain the different types of pasta.
    Spaghetti: You know it, you love it. A long noodle with a circular cross-section.
    Linguine: Spaghetti that has been flattened some. Not round, but more of a rectangular cross-section. Also comes in a whole-wheat variety.
    Fettuccini: Linguine flattened even further. A flat noodle that is often served with alfredo.
    Penne: Tube pasta cut at angles. "Rigatoni" has ridges running the length of the tube, but penne doesn't necessarily have them. However, they always look like they were cut in a miter box.
    Capellini: Also known as "angel hair," this is spaghetti that shrank in the wash or something. Very small, very delicate, very easy to snap and get all over the kitchen if you bought it at the store.
    Farfalle: The famous "bow-tie" pasta. Best for hanging on to chunky sauces.
    Orecchiette: Foreboding name. Shell pasta.Actually means "little ear", and is basically a large dimple. Neat.
     
    That's not all the pasta there is. You've got vermicelli, which is somewhere between spaghetti and angel hair. You've got ravioli and tortellini, which are filled shells. You've got lasagne, which warrants its own dish. The six (7 if you count whole-wheat) are just the choices you have at Olive Garden for this promo.
     
    Then, the sauces.
    This is less an explanation and more a critique, so that you will not waste a dish getting something you don't want.
     
    Alfredo: I didn't get this, but I have it on good authority that Olive Garden doesn't screw up an alfredo often. It's a white cheesy sauce that's not chunky at all.
    Marinara: A chunkier, spicier variation on the tomato sauce you know & love. If you're going to get meatballs, this should be your first choice on sauce.
    Meat sauce: All this sauce really is, is bland. Meat cooked down with some tomatoes, it's just oily and bland. Fleh. Despite the illusion of being able to cheat the system and get meat without paying for it, this sauce is just not worth it.Olive Garden has made some effort to improve this sauce. My folks thought it was okay, but I didn't have any the other day.
     
    And then, there are some non-standard sauces.
    Sun-dried tomato parmesan: I tried this sauce twice: once in Kenner and once in Lake Charles. Both times it was just...bland. The tomatoes didn't really add any flavor, and the base parmesan is not alfredo. It was missing something. Maybe garlic salt. Maybe garlic or some other herbs. I don't know for certain, but this sauce is incomplete as it is served now.
    ThreeFive cheese marinara: This sauce I remember from two or three years ago (I didn't get the chance to pig out on unlimited pasta last year: Katrina and Rita both closed the Olive Gardens that I would have been able to visit.), though it might have been a three cheese marinara at the time. The sauce is a smoother marinara, mixed with a five cheese blend (I can't tell you what the cheeses are, but it's cheese, right? It's not cottage, cheddar, or pepperjack so it all tastes the same.). Easily the best sauce they have. Might be too rich for meat on the side, but I definitely recommend this sauce for the younger palate.
    Sausage & peppers marinara: Italian sausage and red & yellow bell peppers in marinara sauce. Lovely to look at, but I'm not one for the taste of bell peppers. I confess: I didn't have the opportunity to taste this one.
    Smoked mozzarella alfredo: Alfredo with more cheese on it. Divine
    Asiago Alfredo: My brother said "It's good." I take his word for it.
    Tomato Basil Caprese: Light & tasty. Very good stuff, if only a bit runny at the bottom of the bowl. Highly recommended.
    Roasted Portobello Pomodoro: Whew. They bill this as a marinara sauce, but it's not anything like the multi-cheese marinara. If you've had the Capellini Pomodoro off the regular menu, this is the same sauce. If not, prepare for a spicy take on marinara. How they do it without chile peppers, though, is beyond me at this time. I am interested to find out though... Oh, and the portobello mushrooms contribute nothing: the pomodoro sauce well over-powers it. This isn't a bad sauce per se, just poorly described.
    Creamy Parmesan Florentine: It's cheese sauce. With spinach. Nothing. Special. Just. Disappointing.
    Chianti Three Meat: In a word, disappointing. If you've ever had the Chianti Braised Short Ribs from the menu, you know of the absolutely wonderful sauce that comes pooled in the bottom of the plate. This tastes nothing like it. It's spicy; it's heavy; it's greasy; it's disappointing.
    Creamy Parmesan Portobello: Oh, what did the cremini mushroom market do before they started marketing the oversized ones as portobello? Still, if a sauce has the name of a mushroom in its name, I would expect it to have some element of meaty umami in it. Instead, the sauce literally tasted like pasta water. I don't know who dropped the ball in the kitchen, but they would've done better to just drop some mushrooms in their alfredo and called it "done."
     
    Olive Garden's "Never Ending Pasta Bowl" ends in early October.
     
     
    On a side note, unless Donald Driver single-handedly beats the Philadelphia Eagles tonight, the Moss Bluff Cruisers will defeat the Poplarville Stallions and return to a .500 record, just in time to visit the Cookie Crunchers in Week 5.Assuming David Akers has a quiet night and Rashard Mendenhall has a ho-hum game tomorrow night, the Moss Bluff Cruisers will climb back to .500, going through the undefeated Waveland Wusses in the process.The Cruisers in globo laid an egg. Clinton Portis, Kurt Warner, Baltimore D/ST, Antonio Gates, Brandon Jacobs....it's going to be a long season.Hooray for fantasy football.
     
    -KIE
     
    (Yes, this is a republish. It will be republished every year, as applicable.)
  15. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    Those of you hoping to see the republishing of A Treatise on Pasta this year will likely be out of luck: for all the Italian restaurants to be found southwest of Chicago, the nearest Olive Garden (and Never-ending Pasta Bowl) is 25 miles away in Oswego. It makes me sad, but it can't be helped: Amanda's job is a solid hour's drive away from home, and I'm not about to indulge without her.
     
    This year, however, does mark my first time being around a corn harvest.
     
    It's different than it was in the winter after Katrina. Seemingly the only crop in Assumption Parish is sugarcane, and so the roads for 5 weeks were dominated by cane trucks. Here, there's an alternation between corn and soybeans. While defoliant has been spread on the soybeans, none of the fields I drive by every day have been harvested. Corn, however, is in full swing. Several fields along US 6, and the one catecornered from our house [which is not on US 6], have been cut down already.
     
    I suppose it is fitting, then, that the Grundy County Corn Festival be scheduled for the end of September. I can't say what's going on, because Amanda & I didn't go out last night to partake. However, with my folks within driving distance, we're probably going to make it out there this coming weekend. It promises to be a slightly bittersweet Saturday: not only is Saturday my birthday, but it's also my last Saturday off for a while to come. Tower steel for this bridge is 5 weeks late, and in the realm of construction, a month is a lot of time, especially with the threat of winter looming. Once the steel starts arriving next week, we're going to 6 day work weeks, which I can't say I'm going to enjoy.
     
    Anyway, we're here. Let the festival begin, or something....
     
    -KIE
  16. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    I never knew how green my wife's thumb could be until we moved to Illinois.
    One of the perks of the house, when we came to visit and house hunt, was a garden spot behind the garage in the back yard. Taking the advice of people to not plant before Mother's Day into account, we planted seeds and plants in early May. Then, we covered the plants for a week or two because we planted before Mother's Day.
    All told, however, our plants made it. We planted 5 Better Boy (a readily available hybrid variety of tomato plant) plants, two different packets of heirloom variety tomato seeds (I can't remember what they're called; the packets are long since thrown away.), three packets of straight neck squash seeds, four crook neck squash plants, four honeydew melon plants, two watermelon plants, and one each sweet basil, greek oregano, german thyme, and mexican tarragon.
     
    I don't know if it was that the previous tenants had not planted last year, or the 9-12-12 fertilizer we used, or more likely Divine Providence, but to say that our garden was a success would be an understatement. The melon vines withered, and the tarragon was accidentally uprooted, but these were the only setbacks to be seen in our plot. I tell you, we've gotten at least a bushel of tomatoes from 5 plants. 5 plants! From Wal*Mart!
     
     
    With such a plethora of savory berries, a new recipe had to be developed.
    The following is a modification of an "application" seen on the Good Eats episode "Tomato Envy", but strangely, it did not make the book Good Eats: The Early Years. The original called for chanterelles & morels, two mushrooms I can't get without a half-hour drive to Whole Foods. (When you have a lot of tomatoes to go through, this would make for a lot of trips for mushrooms.) Also, there's the issue of a splash of chardonnay, which I'm not going to get just for one dish. (While I will cook with wine, I have my reasons for not bothering with it in this dish.)
     
    Behold:
     
    I'm still not much better at making tomato sauce, but I had practice. Kinks were worked out, and, I know what to expect from home grown tomatoes going forward.
     
    Bon Appetit!
     
    -KIE
     
    P.S. If anyone has ideas for a large quantity of fresh sweet basil, I'm open to suggestions.
  17. Kopaka's Ice Engineering

    Sonar

    By Kopaka's Ice Engineering,

    Hello.
     
    I realize it's been a solid 4 months since I've posted anything worthwhile. In fact, this entry may go largely unheralded, but I'm not worried.
     
     
    I've been equal parts Busy and Distracted during this summer. My wife & I planted a garden, and tomatoes were never this much fun growing up. Beyond that, it's been good to scratch out a living, so to speak.
     
    Amanda & I went back to where it all began: Akron, Ohio. Well, we were in Akron to go to Canton for the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremonies for Rickey Jackson, the first Saints player to march into Canton. I didn't fully realize it in 2003, 2 years after the Summer That Changed Just About Everything, but here in 2010, 9 years after the fact, I do understand: time marches forward. Many things change, yet some stay the same. The world in my memories now exists only there: in my memories.
    And yet, it's a good thing. By the same token that it was good for BIONICLE to not sit & spin where it was in 2001, it's good that I don't sit & spin where I was in 2001, regardless of my wishes at the time for that to be the case.
     
    I promised thoughts on the Deepwater - Horizon oil spill. By virtue of some emails Congress decided to leak, this falls purely on British Petroleum's head. Whether or not upper management created a culture that some engineers had to forfeit their ethos and send unsafe, unsound directions to the rig, I don't know. I don't really care, either: Obama's shut down of deepwater drilling cost my dad his job: 35 years with one company, only to be laid off 2 years before he can start drawing Social Security.
     
    I'll try to hunt & peck at more thoughts to come, but this is all I've time for at the moment. Rest assured, big things are on the horizon here.
     
     
    -KIE
  18. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    Not that I've actually done anything to the computer, well, I have: we had to replace the monitor. Went from a 19" ViewSonic VX922 at 1280×1024 to a 22" widescreen ViewSonic VX2233wm running 1920×1080[p]. When they say HD, apparently they aren't kidding: text is awfully tiny now.
     
    But anyway, just wanted to drop a note saying I'm 3 years late to the party, but here I am: this entry was typed using the internet channel on our Wii.
     
    And yes, I am using the remote, not a keyboard.
     
    -KIE
  19. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    I do have thoughts on Deepwater Horizon, but that will have to wait for later this week. Today is a day of celebration.
     
    It may be disputed as to whether 69th mayor was the worst mayor in the history of New Orleans, but it will hardly be disputed that he was not the right man for the job immediately after Katrina. To have seen one whose platform be based on "business" and "clean up corruption" turn around to hire a tech chief who allegedly pocketed hundreds of thousands on non-working technology (Greg Meffert), let Montgomery Watson Harza use the city as an ATM (recovery project management), and attempt to end-run through "contracts for nothing" that couldn't be reimbursed with federal dollars (Municipal Auditorium), it's a shame really. I have to wonder if, in 2002, he only saw his election as a payday, his turn to move the dollars around, and nothing more.
     
    If you hear one thing from me, public, hear this: money is not the be-all end-all in life. If you hear a second thing from me, hear this: just because your hands control purse strings does not give you license to direct someone else's money to yourself or to your buddies without just cause.
     
    As Mitchell Joseph Landrieu (a.k.a. "Little Moon") is sworn into office in about 80 minutes, I don't doubt there will be some dancing in the streets by some truly cynical pundits. I, for one, will be grinning up here in Illinois. I'm not about to christen him as the Savior of Perdido Street, but it would be very difficult to do worse than the blundering incompetence that hallmarked the Nagin mayorship.
     
     
    -KIE
  20. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    (No poissons d'avril here. This is one of the many years I'm not pulling any pranks on the 91st day of the year.)
     
    So sorry I've been away.
    Been really, really busy with work, and right now, packing.
     
    (Actually, it's my wife & mom packing now: I'm at work until 4:30 PM.)
     
     
    It's an odd feeling.
     
    When I moved here in February 2005, I was all "country boy coming to the city." This was where I was going to make my fortune; this is where my life was leading me. After Katrina, 6 months later, this city became something of which I was proud, and protective. Rebuilding this place, and defending this place, was suddenly important to me.
     
    Then life continued to happen. I had the opportunity to state my intentions to Amanda. We became so wonderfully attached, there was no way I couldn't propose. We got married.
     
    And then the rug was pulled out from under my seemingly steady job.
     
    I still should've seen it coming, but our train still jumped the tracks. God provided another job, and another track. This one leads to Chicago. Illinois, one of those blue states of which I'm glad I'm not a resident...oh wait.
     
    New Orleans is a special place. Louisiana is an amazing state, even if it's always 48, 49, or 50 in the ranking of certain key figures (like education). (Good thing Mississippi obliges us by being the 49, 50, & 49 to us.) If you've ever heard the jazz song "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans", if you've ever heard it here in the Crescent City, then you know that it's more than just a song: it's a different way of life that's just so difficult to describe, I can only exhort one to visit and pass a season here: anyone that has ever visited at length knows that the notion of abandoning this city is nonsensical.
     
    I'm not one for patronizing Home Box Office, but oh, how I want to see Treme when it premieres the weekend after Easter. Knowing that my work will bring us back towards the end of next year doesn't lessen the sting of leaving family, friends, a church, and a city.
     
    I might get another entry posted, but it'd be a lyric, nothing more. Next stop, Morris, Illinois.
     
    -KIE
  22. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    Amanda & I saw a parade 43 years in the making tonight.
    We saw the Super Bowl XLIV victory parade from the plaza outside my office in downtown.
     
    The parade would've been better if the ##### in front of us hadn't been such a #####, but when he left, no one but new found fellow friends were near. (Words fail to describe how "cool" this ##### was.)
     
    What they say is true: no NFL fan base has a love affair with their team quite like the Saints & New Orleans. It's the common thread that crosses all races and income brackets in this town. It's more than just a synergy between team & fans: it's nigh symbiosis: colors and moods are brighter on Monday after a win, city-wide.
     
    If you ever get to taste this, enjoy it: it is a rare thing indeed. If not, I suppose I can't adequately describe it: the joy, the camaraderie, the euphoria that has taken hold. Will this fix everything Katrina broke 4½ years ago? No, and no one really expects it to. But this goes beyond Katrina, to 40+ years of suffering and futility. That the burden of Saints futility is lifted does indeed brighten the colors everyone sees and cheers every passer-by.
     
    Especially if those colors are black & gold and the passer-by has a fleur-de-lis emblazoned on their wardrobe.
     

    It's so pretty!
     
     
    -KIE
  23. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    "Pigs have flown. ###### has frozen over. The Saints are on their way to the Super Bowl." -call from Jim Henderson on the Saints Radio Network
     
    Somewhere, if only on the front page of the Living section of this morning's Times-Picayune, Buddy D is wearing a dress.
     
    Euphoria is running rampant in Chocolate City. I swear, but nothing else of relevance happened in the world except that the Saints are going to the Super Bowl.
    being the 1 in Tampa's 1-26 franchise mark Bum Phillips not figuring out how to win 1-15 the original Paper Bags The Aints Finally winning the Division, only to get throttled by the Vikings in the Wild Card round (1991) Bobby Hebert blowing the Dome Patrol's shots at postseason glory The River City Relay, only to watch Carney miss the extra point Mike Ditka trading away an entire draft for one questionable running back Aaron ___ Brooks *wince* Not a single player enshrined in Canton 43 years of abject futility are washing away even as I type this. This is every 8-year-old's dream come true, even those 8-year-olds that are now 28. Or 48. 
    The party has started early this year in New Orleans. I can guarantee it won't stop for the next two weeks. And, if the Saints win another game, Lord only knows what will happen next.
     
    Y'all come along for the ride.
     
    -KIE
  25. Kopaka's Ice Engineering
    The king is dead.
    Long live the king.
     

    Knowing José, I know this is not what he signed up for yesterday, but there you have it. 
    AB is a nice guy, really. Jovial is a very good word to describe him. He'll shake anyone's hand. Prototypical elected official.
    Then again, perhaps in the same prototypical fashion, the lines between public servanthood and private business blurred, and these days, such nepotistic arrangements aren't acceptable.
     
    The king is dead.
    Long live the king.
     
    -KIE
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