Grande Shuttle Latte with Foam

Everybody's been going crazy about the big pieces of foam falling off the space shuttle during takeoff. NASA administrators call this a "test" flight to check these kind of things out, but I have a couple of pointers for them:

It's Not Rocket Science
Probably not the best idea to send a $1.7 billion dollar spacecraft loaded with 500,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen and 7 crew members up as a "test" flight (especially given recent track record). I know where to get a $19.99 Estes Shuttle Model Rocket we can stick some styrofoam on and launch from my buddy Mike's house in the valley. Use the remaining money to pay for things like education and fixing those nasty potholes on my street.

Stupid Is As Stupid Does
Maybe I'm the one who's dumb, but here's how I understand it. They put this foam on to protect the shuttle and it's tanks during liftoff. Along with other things, the stuff fell off back in 2003 during Columbia's ill-fated blast-off. This disaster led NASA back to the drawing board, tails between their grieving legs. They come back with the idea of using a different foam and a different bonding agent. It falls off again. What did they expect? You know how when you break something and you use superglue and it doesn't work so you then use Elmer's glue and that doesn't work? There's a reason. Some things just don't like to stick to other things. Hey NASA, newsflash: Insulating foam should not be put on the outside of rockets, that's why there's an "In" at the beginning of "Insulating." Have you thought about putting it on the inside?

Don't State The Obvious
After the launch, the director and all of NASA said that they would postpone any future flights until they figured this foam stuff out. Now that's good, cause I thought you would just keep launching the thing and hope that it works, sorta like those people who print something on the computer and when nothing comes out, they hit print again.

Be Amazed
All criticism aside, I am awed by what NASA and the space shuttle can do. While watching the launch with that new camera attached to the solid rocket booster capturing the violent, yet silent, separation from the shuttle; the curved earth and the inky darkness of space in the distance, I felt at peace and excited at the same time. I can only imagine what those crew members and the people who put them there must be feeling. I wish I was one of them.

Hobo's Popcorn

Orville Redenbacher did not die a poor man, and though he started his career selling popcorn grown on his farm, his products today contain a bunch of stuff that you don't really need to eat or pay for.

Here's a couple of popcorn recipes I came up with that are low-fat, healthy and cheap to make.

Lou's Hobo Popcorn

Get some good, plain old popcorn kernels (the yellow organics are really good) and some brown paper sandwich bags. If you're really saving your money, you can just ask the check-out people for some of the wine or "hot" bags.

Put 1/4 a cup or so of kernels in the bag. Fold the top down a couple of times so that it is sealed. Don't fold too low down or else the popcorn won't have anywhere to go. Place the bag in a microwave on it's side. Nuke for 1:30-2:30 depending on how old and small your microwave is. When you hear the popping stop, it's done.

Take the bag out and open it up. Smell. If it's burnt, throw it away, apologize to everyone around you, start over and use less time. If it's not a blackened mess, pour a mixture of either of the following into the bag, shake it up and dump in a bowl.

Hobo Mixture 1: Equal amounts of salt and sugar
Hobo Mixture 2: Pour some SPIKE seasoning in.

De-Construction

Well, next week we move out of our house and a couple of weeks later it will be demolished. Very sad to see it go, but I keep thinking Hakuna Matata, the Circle of Life and all that stuff.

Since the new house is going to force me to have to work until I am as old as Dick Clark, we've been trying to sell as much of the current house as possible: light fixtures, doors, refrigerator, garage door opener, toilets. It's like the Day After Christmas Sale at Wal Mart around here.

Craig's List has been wonderful in getting the word out. It makes ebay look like the DMV. I also like the way it has brought me closer to my community. We've met a lot of very interesting people from all walks of life, all looking for a little something to make their own homes brighter.

It makes me feel good that a lot of our house will become a part of other people's lives. Much better than it all being thrown in trucks and hauled off to a dump. My wife just told me that Habitat for Humanity will take any materials we want to give them -- they just won't take it out.

It's going to take me longer, but after we move out, I think I'm going to invite a few friends over and remove as much as I can. Anyone with a Sawzall, a little repressed anger and a passion to knock the hell out of a house for a good cause is invited. Let me know.

The Best Pizza You Will Ever Have

I was watching Chefs Afield on HDTV the other night. You can watch just about anything in HD and be sucked in, but this program about organic farms and creative, healthy cooking, is a real treat. The episode that night was about American Flatbread, a small, hippie-like restaurant/bakery in Vermont. The pizza they made there looked so good that I considered buying a ticket to the Mad River Valley.

After checking out their website, I found out that they sell frozen versions of their pizza at certain markets nationwide. I decided to check it out.

Do me a favor. Click HERE and find out where you can buy it. (I got it at Whole Foods in Santa Monica -- at least they're good for a few things). Pick up a few of the pizzas and give them a try. My favorite one is: Ionian Awakening, made of Tomato Sauce, Mozzarella, Red Onion, Kalamata Olives and Feta

They give new meaning to the word food.

A Little Bit of Rain

LGK_21646A
Originally uploaded by loomiswatoosi.

I'll shut up and let the picture speak for itself.

Flying

I flew today with my wife and son to Colorado. It was the first time since my son turned from an infant into a little boy. The last time, he stared blankly at a Baby Einstein dvd on the computer -- all the while drooling.

Ever since I was a kid, I always liked to look outside the plane window and watch the world go by. I've become so used to the scenery in the US that I can identify most places from 35,000 feet. While everyone else is watching the crappy airline movies that constantly get interrupted by the stewardess telling people to use the bathrooms in their cabin, I keep my head to the window, seeing rivers flow into oceans and towns turn into farmland. I've seen volcanos, glaciers and deserts. When you really think about it, it's pretty incredible that we can stuff ourselves into tubes and all of a sudden get a perspective that is not really humanly possible. Why then should we do things (read, watch movies, sleep) that we can do everywhere else?

Unfortunately, I'm usually alone in this regard. Most people just aren't interested. But today, it was different. Ben and I sat for hours at the window. We saw strato-cumulus forming into storms. We saw ski runs on mountains. We saw the Grand Canyon.

Suddenly, I don't feel so alone in the clouds.

Green Acres

Well, the wife and I have decided to go ahead and do it: we're gonna rip down our house, move into a cramped rental and subject ourselves to 10 months of stress and torture, all in the hopes of getting a few extra yards of space in our house in which to store all of our needless crap.

This is no small undertaking, my friends. The best way I can describe it is like this: say you go to the fair (I know, it's your favorite thing to do next to watching American Idol), and say at the fair you buy a hot dog with mustard. It costs 50 cents. You pay the nice lady behind the counter and turn to walk away. You take 10 steps and then realize that what you would really want is a foot-long with ketchup and relish and onions and cheese. So you turn around, throw the dog in the trash and order another one. Problem is that it costs 70 cents and you've only got 50 cents left after buying the first one, so you ask the guy behind you (who happens to look like Karl Rove) if you can borrow some. He says sure, but it'll cost you 2 bucks that you will have to pay back over a 30 year period, during which time he can change his mind and charge more. By the time you get to the nice lady again and order your super dog, she says the price has gone up. You're really hungry...you really want this hot dog and, by God, you're gonna do everything to get it. So you buy it, and it tastes good. Later in the week, while you're working overtime to pay back Karl, you think back to that dog. It WAS worth it, wasn't it?

Get the idea?

Anyway, since I don't have enough for the extra relish, which in my world means landscaping (and appliances, and nails), I was thinking about something like the photo below. What do you think? You can come over and play on it -- as long as you bring some relish.

New Video

I have a new vid. from the 4th of July up. Take a look HERE.

If you're running Quicktime on a PC, you will first need to upgrade your Quicktime program by clicking HERE and filling out the form. After the installation finishes, come back to this site and click again on the movie above.

The Best Chicken in Town

I've been trying to keep it a secret, but since I've eaten there almost everyday since it opened, I think I can share it with you now.

Zankou Chicken opened a store on the Westside just recently. Simply put, it is the best chicken you will ever have in your life. It will melt in your mouth, you will sell your car to get more, you will travel to Lebanon in search of the secret spices.

If you live within a 10 mile radius, go there; if not, send me your Fedex number and I'll mail you some.

Independence Weekend

The Ice Cream Man returned to my neighborhood this weekend -- all clangy, droning repetitive music on a broken down 1960 converted mail-truck and all.

God I love America.


FOLLOW-UP July 7, 2005

I wrote an email over the weekend to the ChocoTaco people (Good Humor) in search of ChocoTaco retailers and they replied with this piece of post-modern depressionistic verbage that completely changed my attitude toward their company and, dare I say, Choco Taco itself.

"Thank you very much for contacting us regarding the availability of the Choco Taco.

This product is what we call an impulse item. It is only sold in single-serve sizes. You can find impulse items in
convenience stores, one-stop gas stations, and from the ice cream trucks that come through your neighborhood.
We do not have a listing of places that sell this type of product and unfortunately we do not have a service to sell
directly to the consumer.

Thank you"

-- Dear friends, the collective neighborhood has really taken a downward turn.