Ramblin' Man

[Aberzombie]

However, if I don't get a chance, I won't be heart broken.

[Aberzombie]

Dropped the kiddies off at daycare this morning. It was......a little chilly. Kind of reminded me of my days in Philly. Temp of abut 30 degF, with a wind chill of about 21 degF.

[Aberzombie]

Thankfully, by Christmas Day we are supposed to be back up near the 70s.

[Aberzombie]

Wife and I finished watching Jessica Jones last night. She asked if there was a second season yet.

She also says she wants to watch Luke Cage.

After she went to bed, I started on Season 2 of Daredevil. Crazy awesome introduction of Punisher.

[Aberzombie]

Still got some Christmas shopping to get done today. Mostly for my nieces and nephews. Plus a few extra things for the kids. Maybe one or two things for some other folk.

[Aberzombie]

At the moment, all I want for Christmas is to be healthy enough to enjoy some Beer for Breakfast Stout.

[Aberzombie]

Dropped the kids off at daycare this morning, then came home and slept for another 3 hours. Seems I needed the rest.

[Aberzombie]

In other news, I finished season 2 of Daredevil last night. I thought Punisher was an awesome addition. Jon Bernthal did a wonderful job and the character's story arc was compelling. Elektra, on the other hand, seemed....off. Granted, I'm not very familiar with the character, but from what I do recall, she wasn't raised by Stick and adopted by Greek parents. She actually was Greek. Also, I thought the fight sequences with the actress were a bit slow, and not well choreographed.

Otherwise, I loved the season. The scene with Matt and Fisk in the prison was awesome, even though it does not bode well for our hero and his friends when Wilson (inevitably) gets out of jail. Loved hearing Fisk use the name Kingpin.

And there were some nice bit roles by William Forsythe and Clancy Brown.

[Aberzombie]

One thing I love about all these Marvel Netflix shows is the sharing of minor characters to make a more believable whole: Hogarth, Claire, Sgt. Mahoney, even Reyes the DA.

[Aberzombie]

Sometimes my baby girl expresses a fear of trees. That's when I refer to her as Durkon.

[Aberzombie]

We bought the boy one more Christmas present from Mom and Dad. This one is a Lego set for the Minecraft game. He likes that game.

[Aberzombie]

I also bought myself a Christmas gift this year. It is also a Lego set. This one has Spider Man, Hobgoblin, and.....Ghost Rider. GR is the only reason I bought it. He's mine. The boy can have the rest.

[Aberzombie]

Thank the gods I only have two more nights of moving that little f~@& head Ralph the Elf around. I got tired of that shit a week ago.

[Aberzombie]

The wife and I started on Luke Cage last night. Very different feel from Jessica Jones or Daredevil. I like it so far. And, yet again, I was reminded of how linked these shows are. They had the Turk character show up. He's been in Daredevil a lot. I think he showed up in JJ as well.

[Patrick Curtin]

What a coinkydink! I just started Luke Cage as well.

I tried that movie Spectral. I do NOT recommend it.

Netflix does a lot of good work. That was not one of its finer moments.

[Aberzombie]

More Luke Cage last night, including his origin story, which contained an awesome homage to the character's original comics appearance. I'll admit, I was geeking out a bit.

[Aberzombie]

Otherwise, this month continues to be one I would like to just end.

[Aberzombie]

On another note, I am going to make some gumbo. Either today or tomorrow. It will be one of the available foods for Christmas Day at my brother's house.

[Patrick Curtin]

I love a good gumbo! As long as there's no seafood in it. I usually can't get the andouille sausage around here, but Portuguese linguica is an acceptable alternate.

[Aberzombie]

This is a chicken and andouille sausage gumbo, with the recipe coming from John Folse's Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine. It's an all-around excellent book for anyone who loves Louisiana cooking (pretty much the greatest cooking on the whole f&$@ing planet).

The only big change I made was not putting in any mushrooms, since I think those things are the work of the devil.

[Aberzombie]

Incidentally, and for some odd reason I cannot explain, this is the first time I am cooking a gumbo by myself.

[Patrick Curtin]

Yeah I've done the chicken and sausage style gumbo before. I'm a big fan of it, and it's fairly easy to do. I'm a big fan of rice dishes.

[Aberzombie]

Same here. Rice is basically one of my major food groups.

[Aberzombie]

'Tis looking to be a gloriously warm Christmas Eve.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas is on one TV. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is on the other. And I'm on my second cup of coffee.

[Aberzombie]

We've already decided if the children are reasonably well behaved, we will allow them to open up one gift each today. More than likely, it'll be the gifts they got each other.

[Aberzombie]

A successful Christmas morning. Kids were up before 0500, but it's all good. With any luck, it'll put baby girl down a bit early for her nap.

Much success in the presents department. The boy got the "drone" he wanted from Santa. It's a very simple helicopter flyer. He also got some nerf guns, which have proven less than impressive so far. He's proven pretty good with the Lego's so far, doing most of the putting together for one of his sets. He also did some painting (from a set his aunt got him). And he really liked his Hungry Hungry Hippos given him by his great aunts.

Baby girl got a bunch of Sofia the First and Frozen themed gifts, including a karaoke machine (gee, thanks in-laws) and a tea set and cart.

[Aberzombie]

There has also been bacon and coffee.

[Patrick Curtin]

MEERY CHRISTMAS ZOMBIE!!!

[Aberzombie]

Same to you!

[Aberzombie]

Another Christmas come and gone. Legos are proving to be a big hit with the boy. What's even better, about two years back, my brother gave him a Lego table, but the surface was for regular Legos, not the Duplos he played with at the time.

Now, that table is perfect for the stuff he got this year. As I type, he is quietly playing in his room. SUCCESS!!

[Aberzombie]

Also, my gumbo was a big hit. The only criticism, which I whole-heartedly agree with (and had already berated myself over when I cooked it, was the need to let my roux go along a little longer in order to darken things a bit.

[Aberzombie]

And I even gained a bit of a hint on something different to try next time, pre-seasoning the chicken in a bag.

[Aberzombie]

I had DVR'd the Hateful Eight, and watched it last night. Weird movie.

[Aberzombie]

I am not sure what to do with myself today. Other than maybe a bit of job searching, of course.

[Aberzombie]

For New Years day, we are planning to once again gather at my brother's house. His mother-in-law and sister-in-law will be in town. They are also inviting another, more local relative. So we'll have a good number of adults. I'm going to smoke some ribs.

[Aberzombie]

I do believe there's a dying smoke detector battery somewhere upstairs. I'll have to hunt it down later.

[Aberzombie]

Spoiler alert for Episode VIII.

[Aberzombie]

Sad fan: How Many more can you take from us?

2016: Challenge accepted!

[Patrick Curtin]

I found the gumbo recipe I used

[Aberzombie]

My dad would always take the carcass from the Christmas Turkey and make a stock out of it.

[Aberzombie]

Apparently, people were offended because Cinnabon tweeted about Carrie Fisher having the "best buns in the business". F&+%ing pussies.

[Aberzombie]

Methinks today is finally time to take down the Christmas decorations. At least the outside ones. I can work on the inside ones tomorrow.

[Aberzombie]

I'm beginning to think, on January 1, 2016, Death's exact words were "Hold my beer and watch this".

[Patrick Curtin]

Ugh. My big container of prime rib soup accidentally kept the door of my fridge open for eight hours yesterday. There goes an entire fridge worth of food :(

[Aberzombie]

That blows goats. Reminds me of when I used to live alone. Sometimes I'd make a pot of something or other (usually red beans) and then forget to put it in the fridge that night.

[Aberzombie]

Finally got around to using that holiday discount Paizo gives out. Ordered the Reaper's Eye novel. Weird, but I think that'll be the last non-AP item I get the AP discount for, since I'll be ending my subscription with the end of Strange Aeons.

At least I'll have a new book to read in a few weeks.

[Aberzombie]

Hrm.....

[Aberzombie]

I might try to convince my wife we need to get the boy a TV for his room, maybe as a birthday gift.

Currently, both kids fight over the downstairs TV, with Katie usually winning. This means Disney is on, which I consider to be not a positive influence for him. Finding things other than TV watching can be difficult sometimes, so a TV in his room might encourage him to watch in there.

[Aberzombie]

Took baby girl to the mall for her first hair cut yesterday. I considered getting the boy one first, so she could see how well behaved he is when he gets one. That idea went right out the window when I saw their prices.

They're f%+~ing crazy if they thought I'd pay over $20 to get my boy's hair cut. F+*% that shit. I can take him to a place right around the corner and get it cut for $10. And I even hate to pay that much.

I look forward to when my wife starts letting me shave his head. Then I can cut that shit myself and not pay anything.

[Aberzombie]

While cutting my hair and shaving this morning, I realized that, on occasion, I forget just how much of an awesome specimen of humanity I am.

I mean, it's hard for me to forget just how spectacular I am in the realms of personality and intellect. However, I sometimes lose sight of my badass-ness from a physical aspect. I could probably dye my hair purple with orange polka dots, cover my skin with unicorn and rainbow tattoos, wear nothing but speedos and pink, fluffy bunny slippers, and I would still look magnificent.

Being awesome - it's just how I roll.