Kopaka's Ice Engineering

My, it's been a while, hasn't it? I guess I could recap the past week, what I've picked up, news, and what not.... My stock picks don't like me any more, A Collision by David Crowder Band, Thrive by Newsboys, The Eleventh Hour & Christmas Songs by Jars of Clay, I'm not nearly as upset about the Louisiana Republican party subverting my Huckabee vote as everyone else (electability, hello), and who in 1968 knew Fidel Castro would last this long? There, with that out of the way.... For the first time since I was in college, 6 years ago, I got to help with a MathCounts chapter competition. The NOLA chapter was very poorly turned out, in my opinion, even for post-Katrina New Orleans. 7 schools participated, and three of them were named "Lake Castle School". Makes me really wonder where I'd want to send a future kid to middle school. For those of you unaware, MathCounts is a nationwide mathematics competition at the 7th and 8th grade level, now in its 25th year. I participated in it when I was that age, and 15 years ago, I was 1 correct question away from a spot on the Louisiana state team, which would have gotten me a trip to Washington, D.C. Instead, I got 6th place for my efforts. Still, I have MathCounts to thank for going into engineering: were it not for the set ups at the 1992 state MathCounts competition in Alexandria, LA, I probably would have been a mathematics major. Here's a tip for those of you not yet into college: Things you can do with an engineering degree: Build bridges. Build skyscrapers. Design automobiles. Start at $38k when you get the first job. Things you can do with a mathematics degree: Luck into a job in statistics -OR- Go to graduate school, get your Ph.D., and teach. Just wanted you to be aware of that, all of you mathematically-inclined. I have more to say, but this is not the place, nor the time. Instead, I give you another funny email that sauntered into my inbox the other day: (NB: Some of this is a little tongue-in-cheek. The rough stuff I have edited out, but be wary if you are easily offended or otherwise cannot take a joke.) -KIE

"This is your bat." Quite possibly the most multi-faceted line in all of anime. -KIE

Thursday night, I earned all possible points in effort and in degree of difficulty. That was barely enough to avert disaster, though, and there is a lesson to be learned. For Valentine's Day, I thought I'd get fancy, and pulled a recipe from foodnetwork.com for Pistachio-crusted tilapia & chard with prosciutto and gorgonzola. Because Amanda doesn't like pistachios, and I have no idea where to find chard, I made some substitutions in the recipe. It starts simply enough: chop up some oregano, thyme, garlic and macadamia nuts for the crusting. Salt & pepper the fish filets, and brush with honey mustard before crusting and frying in olive oil. While the fish cooks (2-3 minutes on each side), the prosciutto, some pine nuts, and the field greens flash fry/steam in olive oil at a higher temp. Two pans going at the same time. Mistake #1, I forgot to add the honey mustard before applying the crust. It all went downhill from there. Mistake #2, I was tending to the fish filets while the oil was heating up. I'm trying to set the macadamia into a filet a little better, and all of a sudden, I hear a *foom* behind me. THE SMALLER SKILLET CAUGHT FIRE. Spontaneous combustion of the olive oil. I had LIQUID FIRE in my as-of-yet unused aluminum skillet. Mistake #3, I had never complained to the management about my not having a fire extinguisher. Adding water to an oil or other liquid-fuel fire does not help put it out: it only provides a manner of fuel transportation. (A mist of water is a different thing: the mist displaces some of the oxygen in the air.) I realized this, and knew not to run it in the sink. Pouring it down the sink was also not an option: fire would certainly tear up the PVC piping or the food disposal. I couldn't blow it out, as I was quickly losing oxygen myself (semi-cramped kitchenette) to olive oil smoke. The only option, remove the pan & fire from the apartment. I took it outside, as if to say "Now what?" Fire needs 3 things to survive: Fuel (olive oil), oxygen (air), and heat (the pan). While I couldn't do anything about the first two components, I could do something about the third. Fire rained down at Flowergate apartments Thursday night. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Mistake #4, I didn't have the sense to stop while I was ahead. Undaunted, I pressed on with the menu. After cooling the skillet, I put more oil (at a lower heat), and tried to continue in the still smoke-filled kitchen. While I got the prosciutto in for the right amount of time, the pine nuts were in a bit too long, and they looked more like coffee beans when the greens were done steaming. Amanda (who bruised her knee during the pan evacuation episode), was still impressed with the fish, but I clearly bit off more than I could chew. Two lessons. 1: NEVER EVER EVER leave a pan on the stove unattended. EVER. 2: Make reservations for Valentine's Day. -KIE

Rule #1: Eating chocolate on February 14 breaks no diets or New Year's resolutions. Lenten fasts are under debate. I'm trying to wrap stuff up in Kenner today, so I'm here to type out a blog entry. Tonight promises to be quite interesting: I'm cooking Ecuadorian tilapia tonight, in lieu of placing reservations at some place I won't afford (Well, I could afford, but then I wouldn't be able to go to a Brewers' game the first weekend of May.) Quick comment: Gosh, I'm glad my name isn't Roger Clemens, and I'm not in Washington, DC right now. Another quick comment: The Darwin Award of the moment goes to the individual responsible for the following story: Not the brightest bulb? I beg to differ: the cad must obviously exude an electric personality. -KIE, whose world doesn't need to be rocked by his girlfriend tonight

Tomiku, Zulu was told to stop throwing coconuts back in the late 80's. They complied about 15 years ago. For those uneducated, the Krewe of Zulu is the first parade in uptown New Orleans on Fat Tuesday, starting at S. Carrollton at the relatively ungodly hour of 8 AM. A Zulu coconut is a hand-decorated coconut that is now handed to select parade goers, and is often considered the "crown jewel" of a Mardi Gras throw collection. You have to be REALLY lucky to get a coconut. However, I did get some collectible throws [THAT WILL STAY IN METAIRIE] from d'État, so I don't consider the season a wash. -KIE

Nooooooo! Fight it, Smeag! Fight it with every last fibre of your being! Save yourself! -KIE

Mardi Gras was great. Amanda & I caught 5 parades all told: Excalibur, Atlas, d'État, Isis, and Zeus. We could have caught 7 more (Hermes, Morpheus, Muses, Napoleon, Argus, Elks Jeffersonian, and Jefferson), but circumstances didn't allow for it. Specifically, we were too late for Hermes, Morpheus and Muses were taking too long, Napoleon broke down, and after Zeus, Amanda was just plain Mardi-Gras'd out. Pictures are in the process of being uploaded to my maj folder. (I'm just uploading them straight from the camera.) We only caught 5 of the 63 Mardi Gras parades in the area. And yet, I have beads strewn out all over the place in my apartment. This is good for you, however: extra beads means I have something to give to you. Why would I give them to you? Skip to the end if you can't wait. Anyway, seeing as how Tuesday was Fat Tuesday, we are now in the Lenten season. I always look forward to Lent. While I'm not Catholic, and don't actually celebrate Lent, I enjoy it when it comes because fish sandwiches become more readily available at fast food restaurants. Heck, even Taco Tico has fish tacos during Lent. (I could do without the jalapeño tartar sauce, though.) Yes, I live in the Gulf Coast region, so seafood is available year-round, but even I don't have time/money to go to a decent restaurant for lunch every day. Anything, really to get into the habit of eating healthier. I weighed myself this morning, and the scale gave me good & bad news: 209½ lb., but only 24.7% body fat. Softball starts early this year, and spring training is right around the corner. Besides, there's a tuna salad recipe I've been meaning to try that uses ranch dressing instead of mayonnaise. Mind you, I'm free to eat red meat: at the moment I just choose not to. Next weekend, I will probably choose to eat red meat, so there. Oh, I mentioned the camera: Canon PowerShot A720 IS. 6× optical zoom. 8.0 mega pixels. It's spiffy. It will be making an appearance at BrickFair in August, along with the extra Mardi Gras beads. I want to give these authentic Mardi Gras beads to you. All you have to do is send your best MOCs to me so that they can be displayed at BrickFair. Yeah, I'm officially announcing my appointment as the BIONICLE coordinator for BrickFair 2008. Send me the good stuff and I'll send it back with beads. Details to come later this spring. -KIE

Know what works great when being razzed by your parents about growing up? Remind them of how much older THEY'RE getting at the same time. It'll work for another, oh, 8 years. Get to it. -KIE, who turns 29 later this year

It's been over a week, and no one has made an I Am Legend reference yet. I am disappointed. -KIE

Down in New Orleans where the blues was born It takes a cool cat to blow a horn On LaSalle and Rampart Street The combo's playin' with a mambo beat The Mardi Gras Mambo (mambo, mambo) Party Gras Mambo (mambo, mambo) Mardi Gras Mambo-ooh Down in New Orleans In Gert Town where the cats all meet There's a Mardi Gras mambo ...with a beat They shout to the Chief with the Zulu gang And truck on down where the mambo's swing The Mardi Gras Mambo (mambo, mambo) Party Gras Mambo (mambo, mambo) Party Gras Mambo-ooh Down in New Orleans Down in New Orleans where the blues was born It takes a cool cat to blow a horn On LaSalle and Rampart Street The combo's playin' with a mambo beat The Mardi Gras Mambo (mambo, mambo) Party Gras Mambo (mambo, mambo) Party Gras Mambo-ooh Down in New Orleans Mardi Gras Mambo (mambo, mambo) Party Gras Mambo (mambo, mambo) Party Gras Mambo (mambo, mambo) © 1954 The Hawketts

It's about .hack more than it is UO. UO is just a very big anchor to this series for me. -KIE

1) Translucent flames, like the ones that covered your BrickFest 2006 badge 2) I don't pay attention enough. 3) homage to Mata Nui (the island) 4) Organization is overrated. 5) BrickFair. Where I will be. -KIE

But I like the faux-transparent look! *clenches onto the old banner in a defiant manner* -KIE

There are friends waiting for you. from left: Mimiru, Helba, Bear, Tsukasa, Subaru, Crim, Sora, BT Image borrowed from a chinese site, by way of Wikipedia I may replace it with a better one if I find one in the DVDs that just arrived. .hack//SIGN was on Toonami back when Veritas, my guild in Ultima Online was still mostly active. Taking away from the main plotline (which, in the text of the characters themselves, really is a subplot), the interactions of the characters and their non-RP-ness in doing so reinforced all the cool things about MMORPGs that kept me with UO as long as it did. I haven't logged into UO since Thanksgiving. Most MMOs are very boring to play without other people to play with, and there aren't that many people that play in a manner which fits my playstyle: too many people are busy trying to "win" UO, instead of realizing that it, like any game, is an escape, nothing more. I enjoyed playing it when I did, and I might get back to it. Right now, though, Team Fortress 2 and spending time with Amanda is more fun than getting it back up. I still have two accounts, though. If anyone wants to play on Napa Valley with me, I could be bothered to start it going again. And Yantri, yeah, if what happened to Sora ever gets close to happening to me, you still have permission to smack me, hard. -KIE (aka Cephas)

Not to mention Mario à la Donkey Kong.

I've held my tongue thus far, but I take exception to the implication that some of the staff are like "robots" or aren't personable. One part of the staff screening process is a check for a sense of humor and personality. I myself have spoken with about 70% of the staff (and I don't even get to make the call on any of the "hires"), and I can say, with fair certainty, that we have no automatons on staff here. There are certainly people who don't have time to fully let their personality unfold here (myself included), but we are real people here. -KIE

Don't forget to macerate the strawberries before assembly. -KIE

This, is huge. Words only marginally describe how "HUGE" this is. Discuss, please.

Oh wow, I thought he'd never create a blue mage. I thought Blue Magery went against your credo or something, Omi. When did you have the change of heart? -KIE

Not really. The film is already in post-production, meaning the actors are done filming. -KIE

Who knew the first Joker would outlive the second Joker? Heath Ledger was found dead in his SoHo apartment this afternoon, at the age of 28. Pardon me whilst this 28-year-old ponders his own mortality. I guess it just goes to show you that fame, fortune, and a budding career a reason-for-living do not make. Take this to heart, those of you in high school and college: there must be more to life than what Mr. Ledger found. -KIE

"A bad game is Duke Nukem Forever. A delayed game is good eventually, unless its name is Daikatana." -KIE

But what about Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Garlic, Cream of Celery, Cream of Chicken, Chicken Noodle, Chicken & Stars, Tomato... *voice trails off* -KIE

I expect derision for this entry. Not because this is not anime, mind you. I concede this does not fall under the category, but the "oversized eyes" category had collected a lot of dust. It needed a little activity. No, I expect the derision to arise from the general subject matter. I became a Mo Willems and Tom Warburton fan back in the days of Sheep in the Big City. GREAT little show on Cartoon Network that didn't get nearly enough air-time; I wish I could buy the entire series (2 seasons) on DVD or something, just to relive all the punnery. That fan-dom translated to Codename: Kids Next Door back in 2003, when I went to Akron for my one semester of graduate school. Today, KND ends its 6 year run. I will miss it, but I do confess that it "jumped the Shark" back about the time the series transitioned from summer into school, just like Ed, Edd & Eddy, another personal favorite. I would be watching this final episode, but, I have to work today. *sigh* -KIE

If you want to thank someone, thank the author. I make it a point to copy in their email address in each article I pull & post. -KIE