"That's because she's not a boy"

This past weekend my children didn't listen when it was time to get off the Nintendo Wii. They had just gotten a new Star Wars Lego Wii game and were pretty engrossed in it. As my wife was getting upset about it, my 3-year old chimed in and asked if he could play with my iPod touch. My wife was a little frustrated and in an angry moment exclaimed (for the Nth time) "Ugh, I hate the Wii" (she really doesn't, she likes Wii Fit).

As she stepped away, I looked at my 7-year old and quietly commented "Mommy doesn't like videogames".

He immediately said, so matter-of-factly "That's because she's not a boy."

He's so right. :)

Hotel learnings, Pt. 1

This is what I've learned after two days of getting hotels on the road, coupled with a lot of other knowledge along the way.

Hotwire is good. They get great deals on unused inventory. We stayed at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark. Hiltons though, in general, are over-rated. This was considered a four-star hotel, but the room was decidedly two to three-star at best. The only four-star feature of the hotel was the doorman and the lobby bar. I knew when Hotwire said they had a four-star property downtown for $59 it was going to be a Hilton. A quick visit to the Hilton site, showed a $199 rate, so I feel pretty vindicated. My biggest issue with Hilton is they nickle-and-dime you for everything. Internet is $9.99 / day. Parking was $16/day, or $24 for valet. I couldn't leave my car for 10 minutes to unload, and had to drive to the parking garage and then schlep my stuff across the street.

I had considered using my Starwood or other points, but $59 for a 4-star hotel seemed like a better cash exchange.

Tonight we're staying in a Baymont Inn, and honestly the room is just as nice as the Hilton. Perhaps the bedding is of a lesser grade, or the mattress not as high-end, but the room has everything, AS WELL AS a fridge, which the Hilton did not. You can't possibly expect to get 4-stars and not have a minibar, in my humble opinion. Oh, and this hotel has free internet and free parking, right outside my window, for $69. And my children are just as happen. I booked this hotel on the travel site from my company using my corporate discount (we are allowed to use this discount for personal travel). Its the same rate as a AAA rate, but I don't have my card and didn't want to be asked for it. Add the free breakfast tomorrow, and I think its overall a better deal than the Hilton, and my kids like this one just fine (I asked them and they didn't have a strong opinion).

Now I'm also setting a precedent with $60 and $70 (+tax, license, dock-fee and registration) hotels, versus $40 hotels, but I've seen those, and I've stayed in those, and they are scary. I don't need to save $20 or $30 and be in a dump.

Kayak.com, Expedia, and Travelocity are also excellent, as is word-of-mouth. I'll add more details as I know them. Oh, and all things considered, the Hilton was barely worth it at $59 a night.

OK, we'll see what happens with Oklahoma City or perhaps Amarillo tomorrow night (or Elk City or Clinton), depending on what time we get out of here, health of my kids, and bathroom stops.

Update from the middle of America

Literally. We're in Rolla, Missouri. Take a look at a map of the US and you'll see it's pretty close to the center.

It's also very close to where we stayed last night, St. Louis.

Now that might be fine, if, for example, we had a ton of activities in St. Louis, and then maybe did some other ones along the way. But that's not what happened. My oldest son got sick; like a flu with a high fever. So we were just able to get out of the hotel this morning by noon. Then we did the following routein:

1. Drove for a while.
2. Stop to go to the bathroom.
3. Repeat.

He was really feeling sick, so at the last stop, a Steak and Shake (I've never actually been to one before) in Rolla, MO, I asked him if he wanted to keep going or get a hotel and sleep. He said "hotel", so I asked the waitress for a recommendation and she actually knew of a great one that was safe, nice, and reasonably priced. A few validations on the Internet and I wound up booking it through our corporate travel department for $69, and it's actually very comfortable. It's the Baymont Inn & Suites in Rolla, and includes free breakfast, which I learned this morning saves a minimum of $10 since you aren't even tempted to go to the Starbucks in the lobby, even if you have a room full of food. It probably saves more if you have no food in your room. Ah, that reminds me of a post I need to do about saving money on hotels on the road.

So we are 416 miles from our start, with 1396 more miles to go. If my oldest son is healthier tomorrow, we can hit the road reasonably early and go for a long day, since there's nothing major along the route. Regretfully we've abandoned the route I was hoping to take, which was through Memphis and then Arkansas. I'll have to visit Memphis another time. For now we're taking the most direct route, albeit with some diversions on to the old Route 66.

OK, the kids are eating pizza (delivered from Imo's and its surprisingly good). My oldest son is feeling better, so I think we're going to brave a quick Walmart trip after pizza. Then I'm going to put them to sleep, do some photo processing, charge my camera gear, and plan tomorrow's route... But first some hotel guidance... (next post)

Lessons learned when road-tripping with a 7 and 5-year-old...

Today started Day 1 of a multi-day journey home; specifically from Chicago to Scottsdale.

We got a much later start than I would have liked, but it was pouring and traffic was miserable in Chicago, so there was little I could have done anyway.

First lesson was that I bought and brought too much food. This isn't camping, it's driving, and you are never far away from another 2 apples if you need them. Also, my playmate igloo cooler is too small; it only fits 6 drinks, I need more space.

I have this amazing Verizona wireless card and it worked brilliantly in the car. The kids were using their favorite web sites and staying thoroughly entertained. I need to research more how they can both share the same WAN card, since creating a small peer-to-peer network didn't work. I'm sure I can figure it out after a few minutes online.

I need to buy a bathing suit, chapstick, kid-safe shampoo, and a CF card reader since I seem to be missing mine.

So what did I really learn this first day?

Visiting the Lincoln Museum in Springfield was kind of heavy. The kids were definitely traumatized by the exhibit depicting a slave auction. They also weren't particularly into the period pieces nor the history of the civil war in general.

This post got auto-saved, so now let me update everything with Day 2. The agenda has dramatically changed...

How do I get my 5-year old to be in a picture?

Aaron refuses.
I used to as well as a child. Now I regret it, but I think I
understand his brain.
I'm thinking of resorting to bribery, but he hasn't told me what he
wants yet. I'm not going to get mad about it. That *never* works
with him.

More later

Rows and rows of corn

I never realized Illinois was such a corn state as well, but that's
all you see driving south on Route 55. I wonder if it looked like
this when dricing on route 66?

Aaron needs his glasses adjusted. They are missing a nose pad.

I'm still not sure if we're going to be one night or 2 in St. Louis or
if we'll make it in time for the arch and river cruise.

And the last key question is do I use Starwood points or Hotwire?
They have a 4-star for $59 plus taxes. I'll book one night when we
get to Springfield...

--
Sent from my mobile device

The road trip has begun and through the first toll

Wayyyy late start. 10:22 in Deerfield.. Next stop, Springfield, I'll.

Its raining. Traffic is heavy... Guitar Hero music is playing..
Uh oh!
Forgot the guitars...

Ok, returned to base, got the guitars and one other thing. Back on
the road at 10:37...

Want to play Guitar Hero in the hotel. :)

---
Almost in the zone; Aaron was on his V-Smile, Ilan was using my laptop
and Verizon card to go to Nick Jr.

Then 'can not install missing plug-in'. I had to pull over to
manually install because it would not install from IE or Firefox.

3D Vidia player... Updating extra components...

It may be working...back to our route....

--
Sent from my mobile device

Up and out!

Before I forget, some things I learned:

Keep a fresh set of clothes, including and especially clean sweat
pants in your car for when you get out of the canyon, Also include
other socks/shoes, underwear, and a fresh and clean shirt.

Other things:
Bring only a magazine to read on the shuttle.
Consider an extra day at the bottom for recovery, although you will
use different muscles.
They give you tons of food at Phantom Ranch.
Bring flip-flops to Phantom Ranch.

Ascent time was 6:00 to 11:00 am; including an hours worth of stops.

That's it; more after photos get uploaded.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Still along the North Rim...

Just passed Lee's Ferry, where we crossed the Colorado River. The
only reason that little town exists is because it was where they could
build the bridge. I guess that is as good a reason as any.

90 more minutes to the North Rim Lodge. I had a bit of a head-cold
and now my head is throbbing. Might have something to do with the
elevation changes. We've gone from 2000 ft to 8000 ft to 3500 ft and
are now heading back to 8000 ft. I can clear my ears, but it will be
good to get some food in my body followed by a full night of sleep.

I'm not worried about hiking in the heat tomorrow. Maybe I can
finally sweat this cold out of me. :)

--
Sent from my mobile device

En route to north rim

So far so good, except we forgot to eat lunch.
Left home at 8:47, one bathroom break north of Flagstaff. Got to the
canyon by 12:30. Took a little while to navigate through the park,
but checked in at the bright angel lodge no problem. It's now 2:50
and we're on the long road to the North Rim...

--
Sent from my mobile device

Being Googley

My wife just told me that the reason the music teacher is leaving our son's preschool is because of a disagreement with the principal. I've heard both sides of the story and honestly I believe neither. At the end of the day, the children really like this music teacher, so why can't they focus on that and work things out. The differences, as I understood them, seemed trivial.

Focusing on the user. Think about it.

People at work (Google) are nice. Really nice. We sort things out. There are politics, like everywhere else, but a lot less politics, and we don't let egos/titles/positions get in the way of things. We just focus on the user, solving problems and trying to delight them whenever possible. I know it sounds hokey, but its true. So I'm thinking maybe we need to appeal to the masses. Write a book about "Being Googley". Understanding what it means and how it can just maybe help people get along a little better...

Wipeout, but don't let it interrupt your golf game.

I bike to work most days. It's 17.7 miles, and I was trying to break an hour. I started out Friday morning about 5:30 AM and was making pretty good time until I took a turn too fast on some wet pavement (from the sprinklers) and wiped out.

I didn't move for a couple of seconds. I was going really fast. I slowly got up, clearly hurt, and glanced over to see four golfers about 30 feet away from me, still continuing their game. They glanced at me, but didn't ask if I was alright, or come over to see anything. My arm was bleeding; I had flown off the bike, and as I staggered up I fell back down again on the grass.

These guys continued with their game.

How can some people so selfish & self-absorbed
they can watch another human being get hurt
and not stop to see if they are alright?

An older guy much farther away called over to me to see if I was OK. I told him yes, I think so. I sat down on the wet grass inspecting myself for a minute. I hit my head also (I was wearing a helmet), and now have a bruise there. My arm is torn (like a terrible burn) on the forearm and the tricep; its wrapped now in Neosporin and gauze and an ace -bandage.

If you ever see somebody get hurt. Please stop to check on them.

How to lose a customer...

My wife bought me a wine refrigerator for my birthday. It's silent, and sits in the dining room and I like it quite a bit. I couldn't find the handle screws that came with it, so I wrote an e-mail to the company asking them to send me screws. Their reply?

From: Customer Support - WEC
"We will send you the screws as a one time courtesy."

So my question is: Is that kind of reply really necessary? Emphasizing the one time. It isn't as if I'm going to hoard screws for the handle of my fridge, and even if I ordered a second set down the road at some point, who cares? Why couldn't they say "Certainly Mr. Pinkus, we'd be happy to send you a set of screws and we apologize for this inconvenience." If they had done that, I'd be super-happy with them, and likely to order additional things from them in the future, but NOW, there is no way I'll order anything from them ever. I'm insulted by their pettiness, which is sad, because we're actually planning on putting another wine-fridge in the bar area, not to mention I liked and was considering some of the other wine-related products they have. Alas....

So Wine Enthusiast, you just lost a customer.

White Chocolate ice-cream #2, and an egg-white omelette

Things of note:

I was making ice-cream this morning, using 4 egg-yolks, so instead of throwing away the egg-whites, or using them to help roll chicken cutlets in bread crumbs, for example, I decided to make an omelette. Conclusion? Stick with real eggs. The taste was OK, but the texture wasn't so great. One good thing though, is my daughter really liked it; I'm assuming it was the taste, since I used some dill and mozzarella cheese (and garlic and salt/pepper). The dill taste actually was quite nice, but as an omelette it was still missing something... Egg yolks. :)

So I took the cinammon ice-cream recipe that I've been using with some success, and combined it with a recipe from "the ice cream book" by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis. A few key differences between the different styles of making ice-cream, that I'll explain after the recipe:

4 egg yolks
6T caster sugar
1t cornflour
1 1/4C semi-skimmed milk
7oz dark chocolate (I used E. Guittard White Chocolate, 31% cacao)
1 1/4C whipping cream

This recipe called for whisking the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour (same thing as corn starch) until thick and foamy. Bringing the milk to a boil, then gradually whisking into the egg mixture.

First key difference is what you mix the sugar with. Some recipes have the sugar mixed with the milk, then the eggs slowly whisked in. This one obviously has the sugar mixed with the eggs, while adding the milk. I'd like to try it both ways, under a very controlled experiment, to see which way is better.

Then this recipe called for re-heating the eggs/milk/sugar/corn starch mixture until it thickens, and then adding the chocolate until it melts. The last thing you do, right before chilling in the ice-cream maker, is to add the cream.

Other recipes add the cream and then re-heat the entire mixture until it thickens, then cool the whole thing down before the "chilling" step. Again, another variable.

So things I'd test in a complete experiment:
eggs vs. egg yolks (2 options)
sugar with eggs or sugar with milk or split half/half (3 options)
with and without corn starch (2 options)
half-and-half or full-cream or milk to start (3 options)
adding cream after mixing milk/eggs then reheating vs adding cream just before chilling. (2 options)
how much reheating to actually do. (3? options)

2 * 3 * 2 * 3 * 2 * 3 = 6 * 6 * 6 = 216 different permutations of ice-cream.

Well, that ain't going to happen any time soon.

The big thing I'm curious about is "How easy can I make this", which you can also translate as "Can I make the whole thing in my vitamix?". I've heard the reason to mix the eggs in with hot milk is to be sure you aren't eating raw eggs (which doesn't particularly scare me).

So next time I think I'll try not using the stove at all, and see where it takes me.

For now, the white chocolate ice-cream is chilling; I'll pour it in ice-cream maker later around noon and see what happens.

Happy 7th Birthday Ilan!

This turned out to be a pretty good party; all the kids had a great time. Here's the recipe:

• Create a fun invite (see below).
• Order chairs from http://www.inflatablechairs.com/68539.html they were only $4.95 each.
• Go to Smart & Final and get some popcorn cups and water bottles (no juice boxes on the carpet).
• Buy a great movie (we watched Underdog), and borrow a projector and optionally a screen.
• Borrow an air compressor to inflate the chairs, or just use your lung power and go for it.

That was it. The chairs became the give-away gift also (for the record, I think the idea of giving somebody a gift for coming to your party (aka a goody bag) is insane. We had cake afterwards, and watched a couple of trailers off of iTunes as parents were showing up to pick up their kids.

Here's the invite:

La Fiesta de los Vaqueros - Tucson Rodeo!

Cool shot, huh? Awesome time at the Tucson Rodeo on Sunday! It can be a long day in the Arizona sun, so here's what I learned and what I need to do for next year.

1. You don't need to be there when it starts at 12:30. Get there for the ProRodeo Competition which starts at 2:00 and lasts about two-and-a-half hours, which is plenty of time in the sun :) Also obviously be mindful of the age of your children and their attention span :)

2. Bring sunblock. You can also buy a cowboy hat there or across the streeet. Prices start at $10 and go up to $200.

3. There is a lot of great junk food there including funnel cakes and ice cream and kettle corn. OR, you can bring food in, but not in a hard cooler. We had a soft cooler with food/drinks and it was no problem to bring in.

4. Give yourself time to walk around the rodeo also; lots of cool booths with lots of cool cowboy stuff. They stay open after the rodeo, so you have time afterwards also.

5. If driving down from Phoenix, stop off at the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch. You can spend 20-45 minutes there easily. Ostriches bite and are nasty. Don't hold your hands up high to feed them. Hold them low and bring them up slowly until the Ostrich can reach your hand. Better yet, feed the deer.

6. Get tickets online or over the phone, far ahead of time. They sell out. Try to sit in a row as close to the field as possible, and definitely sit in section B or A. Not that our tickets in section C were bad (as you can see by my photo above), but the roping activities happen from the chutes between sections A and F (see the graphic on the left). Also, the sun will be at your back if you are in sections C, B, A, and in your face in Sections E and F. I'd recommend the lowest row you can get in Sections B or A, and lower numbers are more south, so a high seat number in section A or low seat number in section B is ideal.

7. It's definitely a kid friendly event and a lot of fun. Kids under 3 were free, but next year I'd either still buy a seat to have the extra room, AND/OR bring seat cushions because they are metal bleachers.

Last thing: When the bareback riding started, Aaron asked "Why are they doing bull riding on horses?!?!" That was a particularly cool event, as was the Saddle Bronc riding (picture above of the winner, Billy Etbauer). The Tie-Down and Team roping was also really great fun to watch...

You can see more of my photos from the event here: http://picasaweb.google.com/david.pinkus/TucsonRodeo2008

Pareve Chocolate Ice Cream Experiment

It's in the ice-cream maker now...taking longer than usual to firm up...

Here's what I did:

Non-Dairy Vegan Chocolate Ice-Cream
1 lb. soft tofu, drained (what I bought was 14 oz.)
1 C sugar (oh sweet yummy sugar, twice as expensive domestically because of trade tariffs).
1 C plain soy milk (we'll add vanilla in a second)
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's, because Scharffen Berger I reserve for gelato)
1 T Vanilla extract
Pinch of Salt
Optional: Some Godiva liquor. It's pareve, but I don't know if it is vegan. Probably.

Why the liquour? Because alcohol has a much lower freezing temperature than water, so if you want to be able to scoop this ice-cream after you throw it in the freezer, you need to ensure it has some fat and sugar and alcohol in it. Otherwise it will be rock-hard in the freezer. Tofu and soy milk are mostly water, so anything you can do to help the scoopability will be good.

1. In my kick-butt Vitamix, blend them all together. Let it go for a while until they blend nicely. But not too long, or it will start to warm up (which just means it will take more time to cool).
2. Pour into ice-cream maker. Relax and wait. Grab a spoon. Periodically scoop some up the side and say "Yummmm"... When it's almost done, throw some chocolate chips in there if you're feeling saucy.

My favorite food....

I don't think that I've mentioned it before, but for the record, ice cream is my favorite food. I 'll even go as far as to say that I believe one of the secrets to a happy life is to eat ice cream every day. You can substitute other frozen treats for the once-a-day thing, but whenever possible, go for the real stuff.

And I learned something very important tonight, from this blog, which is that the reason some ice-creams freeze rock-hard in your freezer and others do not, is that fats and sugar don't freeze. So the cinnamon ice-cream I made last night, which turned out to be incredibly scoopable, was because the recipe had an abundance of cream and sugar in it. Not to mention some eggs as well. The strawberry ice-cream I made last week, which was great while it was in the machine, is now un-scoopable because the fruit (high water content) freezes solid. The way to manage that (as the above blog points out) is to add some liquor to your ice-cream; not enough to affect the taste, but enough to keep it slightly softer. I'll try it next time I make a batch (no doubt this week).

I also made chocolate gelato using Scharffen Berger Cocoa Powder ($8.25 a can at Safeway) and it was outstanding. Like wow! It was still somewhat scoopable while frozen, but it didnt' last long; it was too good.

Simple Strawberry Ice Cream
4 cups hulled strawberries
1/2 C confectioners' sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 1/4 C whipping cream

Puree strawberries in a blender or food processor until smooth, then add sugar and lemon juice and process again. Press puree through a sieve into a bowl. Chill until very cold. Add to ice-cream maker and churn until think, then add the cream and churn until thick enough to scoop. Next time I would add some liquor at this point to make sure it doesn't freeze too hard (unless we're going to eat the whole thing at this point).


Banana Gelato (pareve, but check the soy milk).
1/2 C sugar
2/3 C water
1 lemon
3 ripe bananas
1 1/4 C vanilla-flavored soy milk

Put sugar and water into a saucepan and bring to a boil; stirring until sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool. Put the bananas in a bowl and mash with a fork (next time I'll Vitamix it). Slowly add lemon juice (again, next time in the Vitamix). Stir the sugar syrup and banana mixture into ice-cream machine and start mixing with soy milk (next time I'll add it all into the Vitamix, along perhaps with a banana liquor because this recipe also froze like a rock). Also, you can use 1/2 lemon instead of a full one. If using unflavored soy milk, don't forget to add 1 t of vanilla extract.

I'm going to run for office within the next two years.

A politician (Nancy Barto) came to my front door last week asking for my signature on a petition and for my vote for the state legislature. My vote is important to me, so I took it as an opportunity to ask some questions about her positions on global warming/climate issues, education, economic incentives, etc.

She doesn't believe that humans are contributing to climate change. I was *astonished* and at the same time terrified. I also asked about education and she said that she endorsed vouchers, and wanted to do nothing for the public education system as it is today. I was aghast. Does she realize that Arizona ranks near the bottom of all 50 states in education? You aren't going to fix that by privatizing all primary and secondary education. I told her that our economy could be invigorated by a commitment to alternative fuel instead of diverting all of our resources to supporting the oil economy. She thought only the private sector should be focused on this. I pointed out that we don't pay the true price for oil because we also pay (through separate budgets) for the defense of our oil supplies, as well as through farming subsidies which buy fertilizer that also consumes large amounts of petroleum. She didn't seem to care. I think we should subsidize alternative fuel programs so that we are energy independent and are not destroying our planet, not to mention not creating the "brown cloud of muck" over downtown Phoenix.

So I'm going to run for office. I have to figure out exactly how to do this, but I will do it. Somebody sensible needs to be representing the intelligent citizens out there who actually care about the planet and America's role in the world.