Christmas Day Sunset

Unusually dramatic sky over San Diego, as seen from our back deck.

Nothing Compared to Me?

Our neighbors tried to out-do my fabulous display of Christmas lights with this failed attempt:

Overdoing The Christmas Spirit?

Yesterday I put up my elaborate display of holiday lights.  I hope that the neighbors don't complain that it's over-done.

Soylent Green is People!

Soylent Green for Halloween?

We went to a party on Saturday Night as representatives from Soylent Corporation.  Looking for bodies  to recycle into our famous product, "Soylent Green".

Our motto:  "It's never too late to recycle.  Even if it's the last thing you do!"


Soylent Green coffee mug (Google Affiliate Ad)

Exhibitionist Cats

Inspired by Sharon Stone?

Cleo

Sweet Pea

Tomorrow I guess they'll be pole dancing?

Tonight's Sunset

Looking west from our backyard deck.   A beautiful October night in San Diego!
Photo taken with my iPhone 4S.

We Like It Wild!

We attended a Project Wildlife event last Sunday  ...  "We Like It Wild".
Thanks to Chef Deborah Scott of Island Prime / C-Level Restaurants.
Some of Project Wildlife's educational animals were there, including this magnificent Barn Owl.

National Plug-In Day 9/23/2012

I drove the Leaf to San Diego's official electric car celebration on Sunday.  More than seventy electric car owners were there.  Free lunch!  Lots of talk about high-voltage Level 3 charging stations, which are starting to roll out in California.  Those make long-distance trips more practical; a Nissan Leaf could theoretically charge from empty to 80% in 20 minutes!

Unusual to see a parking lot full of non-guzzlers.  Two owners of the brand-new Tesla sedan showed off their beautiful cars:

This one had a sticker price of over $108,000.  YIKES!  If you can afford that, I guess the federal and state incentives don't matter very much.

Saint Lois Mangles Our Dishwasher

AuntGloria's sister, Saint Lois, is visiting.  She tried to be helpful this morning.
Why did she use regular foaming dish soap instead of dishwasher detergent?
I guess they don't have dishwashing machines in Connecticut.

Julida Polka?

Our former friends Steve & Maureen invited us to a backyard fish boil ... Wisconsin-style.
We knew there would be plenty of liquor, but wouldn't have gone if we knew in advance that the entertainment would include Maureen on the accordion accompanied by Steve's vocal stylings!

This travesty occurred on Labor Day, September 3, 2012.

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Video note:  The raw material was obviously flawed.  No light, bad sound, bad acting.  But I was able to create something a little fun using Apple's program Final Cut Pro X.  For more of my ideas about transforming horrible vacation video into an entertaining memory, take a look at henbc.com

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San Diego Quilt Show

AuntGloria volunteered at the San Diego Quilt Show last week.  Saint Lois (sister-in-law) and I took the San Diego Trolley to the convention center on Saturday 9/15 and found AuntGloria selling unnecessary stuff to unsuspecting quilt tourists:

There were many beautiful works of art on display, including two of AuntGloria's.  But my favorite was the perfectly executed 3-Stooges Quilt shown here.

If you are wondering about the strange words that were quilted between the memorable photos of stooge history, then you are obviously a woman.  At the risk of losing my top-secret male security clearance, I'll explain using this video from YouTube

Tennis Doubles Ladder - my all-time high!

I play in the men's tennis ladder on Saturday mornings at San Diego Tennis & Racquet Club.  Since I didn't start playing the game until after my fiftieth birthday, my skills are never going to threaten Roger Federer.  And after two back surgeries, it's something of a miracle that I can play at all.  But I do OK, some aches and pains but no use complaining.

There are more than 110 players on this ladder.  Each week, my position changes depending upon how I perform on the assigned court.  Four weeks ago that ranking had moved up into the 50's for the first time ever.  Then on August 11th, thanks to a perfect storm of better-players' absences and half-decent play by me, I jumped nine rungs up to #49!

There is a noticeable advancement in the level of play as you climb the ladder.  For the last two weeks my Saturday play has been nervous and uneven.  Right now I'm happily guarding Rung #54.

The Catholic Marriage Manual

Greatest Wedding Gift Ever

Our treasured copy of this two-LP classic is once again being shared among the young married couples in our family. There's a used copy available on Amazon today for $45 ... that means ours has gained 4500% in value since I bought it for 99¢ at Sam Goody forty years ago!

I wrote a "humorous" review of The Catholic Marriage Manual on Amazon.  No one has complained [yet], but I fully expect that a higher power is going to point some lightning at me one of these days.  You can read it below or by clicking this link:

Gazpacho Recipe

Yesterday we entertained friends for "Gourmet Night".  Gloria designed the menu; each of four couples were required to prepare and bring one item.  Gloria made her famous Eggplant Parmesan.

I wasn't obligated to cook anything, but the warm weather inspired to create some "Gazpacho", which is a Mexican-style soup that's served chilled.

Everyone asked for my recipe.  Of course, there is no recipe ... it was a trial-and-guess thing.  But here I've typed out some instructions.  To the best of my recollection, this is how to make "UncleGeorge's Gazpacho".
(These measures are approximate and should be adjusted for individual taste.  Also note that depending upon the season, the flavor intensity of fresh ingredients will change.)

I've found my "Special Purpose"

If it happened to Steve Martin, could it happen to me?

I've realized that I actually have an area of expertise which is under-served on the internets.  Amateurs like me need ideas for ways to transform their horrible vacation video into something their friends might enjoy.

For instance, it would be inhumane to subject anyone to eleven hours of raw video from our Baltic cruise.  But if that boring mess becomes ten minutes of humor, music, and narration there's a chance that I'll find an audience of volunteers!

Lots of experts offer advice to professional videographers and editors.  Plenty of vendors are ready to sell cameras, computers, and editing software.  But video hobbyists like myself spend our money and then we are ignored.

That's why I created my blog on heNBC.com  Examples beginning from my earliest efforts.  Ideas, advice, and information.  Click and take a look!

No More Mobile Me

Hi!

You may have followed some of my postings that were hosted by Apple's MobileMe.  Well, that service has gone away.
Welcome to UncleGeorge on Blogger!