a99kitten's Musings

Yesterday I went over my trading account portfolio for the year. Up 21% for 2012. I’ll take that. I also put some long-term ideas into my 401k that Chess had profiled in his blog posts but I did not count those in the 21% (if I did, I would be up more as they are up nicely as well :) )

I left my full-time job in April (YAY! I liked you guys but YAY!!!) and have been working from home on a part-time basis since then. So after I left work, I also signed up for a premium trading service (had never done that before.) I had been following chessNwine and TheFly on twitter since mid-2011 but with my work schedule I didn’t have a lot of extra time to devote to trading other than my “gut” feelings (which is how I typically trade AND gamble :).) But I knew that once I left my job, and could devote some more time to trading, I wanted to try out their premium service(s).

I keep a chunk of my money in more conservative investments. And physical gold/silver in my quest to become Scrooge McDuck. And Star Wars collectibles (doh!) But I wanted to use my trading account as a learning tool. Also, my shopping fund. So I signed up in April 2012 and while I still don’t spend enough time on it (I need to do MOAR studying!), I have done pretty OK following on trades discussed in the 12631 trading room.

I’m usually pretty quiet in the trading room and don’t post much. LURKER! But it’s a pretty great group of guys (I say guys because I don’t see many names that indicate there are other girls but maybe they are quiet like me) and I am VERY glad that I signed up.

I typically just follow on Chess’ trades but also some of RaginCajun and The Fly’s. And also a few based on other traders in the room mentioning them or me finding them. But mostly – follower. I hope to be more of a contributor to the room this year but will still follow on the trades because #1 Rule: Don’t change successful actions!

So a big thank you to Chess, RC and The Fly for creating fantastic content, great products and a fun, interactive place for traders. Oh yeah…and profitable trades :)

Go here if you want join in the fun: http://ibankcoin.com/

This is making the rounds on Facebook. While I actually doubt Morgan Freeman released this statement (although it makes us feel better to imagine his soothing voice saying it), whoever wrote it is 100% spot on:

TURN OFF THE NEWS…….

Morgan Freeman’s brilliant take on what happened yesterday :

“You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here’s why.

It’s because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbed
people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he’ll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN’s article says that if the body count “holds up”, this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer’s face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer’s identity? None that I’ve seen yet. Because they don’t sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you’ve just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man’s name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news.”

RIP :(

Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Rachel Davino, 29
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
Dylan Hockley, 6
Dawn Hochsprung, 47
Madeleine Hsu, 6
Catherine Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Jesse Lewis, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace McDonnell, 7
Anne Marie Murphy, 52
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Lauren Rousseau, 30
Mary Sherlach, 56
Victoria Soto,27
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison Wyatt, 6

It was stormy, cold and rainy this past week and I thought some chili sounded delicious! Plus it’s been forever since I used my slow cooker. I am not a super spicy food person nor do I like all sorts of stuff in my chili. Probably considered boring by some, but I like to think of it as simple :)

I found several recipes over the years and kinda sorta combined them/mutated them to my own tastes. I have decided that I like this recipe better than my previous version:

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pounds ground turkey (I have found I actually really like turkey chili)
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (1.25-oz.) envelope chili seasoning mix (I know, I know…cheating but basically chili powder, cumin and pepper I think)
1 (12-oz.) beer (I am not a beer drinker so I just picked a wheat-free pale ale – up to you)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 (28-oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1 (15-oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (8-oz.) can tomato sauce
Toppings: shredded Cheddar cheese (some people like chopped red onion – YUCK. But if I serve at a football party, I will put out for others like a good hostess along with oyster/soup crackers. Plus I’m sure you could add sorts of things to it if you wanted: onions, peppers, different meat as you cook it.)

Preparation:

Cook first 3 ingredients in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often, 8 minutes or until turkey is no longer pink.

Stir in beer, and cook 2 or 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want the beer to simmer in with the meat but not overcook.

Spoon mixture into slow cooker; stir in corn and next 3 ingredients until well blended. Cover and cook on LOW 6-7 hours.

Serve with desired toppings.

Now, it’s not entirely homemade because I used a seasoning packet plus canned tomatoes. Too bad, It’s chili. I wanted it to be easy-peasy and cook all day for me! I made it yesterday and ate some last night and it was delicious! But I am pretty excited to have it for dinner tonight! You know it will taste even better :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I am very thankful for a lot of things in life and won’t list them here. And even though I lost Angelus this year, I have to remember to be thankful for all of the smiles he brought me every single day for 11.5 years. And Storm is still happy and relatively healthy (his arthritis bugs him but he still motors around.)

I was not in the mood to cook a turkey or even the fixins’ (OK, I do want a vat of mashed potatoes and gravy but I almost always want that!) I saw an ad that AMC was going to run The Godfather all day so I decided on an Italian Thanksgiving! I am making a yummy bolognese:

https://a99kitten.com/?p=2029

In the Sierras with some red wine, some Corelones, maybe some Dean Martin later (but NOT his Christmas music – that’s tomorrow!)

All good :)

“Why are you bothering me?”

Two years ago today my little brother died unexpectedly. He was 27. I took him off life support on the 9th, but he died on the 7th.

Last year on this day, I hiked his ashes up to the top of Hawk’s Peak and let the wind take them. We had an early snow that week too.

Today is also Angelus’ birthday. Was I guess.

I’ve tried to suck it up today and think I’ve done a decent job. But I’m still not a fan of this day. I love and still miss them both terribly.

YAY! They made a full, hardcover edition so I can catch up and read it all without having to hunt down the various comics (still haven’t pulled the trigger on my iPad yet so I read comics the old-fashioned way!) Says publication date November 21, 2012 but In Stock so…?

When they make a compilation of a certain storyline, it makes it SO much easier to read like this. And easier to collect as this can go up on a bookshelf versus boarding and bagging comics. I have boxes of comics that I love to go through but they are a pain to store. But I’ll never get rid of them! Just try not to add to them anymore (why I need my iPad!)

I really need to finish up book 5 of Game of Thrones. I’m 68% done. My Need To Read list keeps getting longer and longer.

I have never made soup before (besides using a can opener that is!) Also, when I say homemade, that does NOT mean I made my own stock. That’s just silly IMO unless making homemade chicken noodle soup. I found 2 yummy looking recipes for Broccoli Cheddar Ale soup. I kinda sorta combined them/tweaked the ingredients and recipes a little for my taste:

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 medium red onion, minced very, very teeny tiny as I hate biting into onions
4 whole green onions (I trimmed them down to about half size. Again..not an onion fan)
2 whole garlic cloves, minced
2 bunches of broccoli (I only used florets)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon 
sea salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup flour
1 bottle (12-ounce) ale (I used a Pale Ale)
2 cups skim milk (although might try with full fat milk next time)
2 cups chicken broth (1 cup reserved)
4 – 4.5 cups grated sharp cheddar

Instructions:

Add the oil to a large heavy-bottomed pot set over medium-high heat.

Add the onions and cook until the onion is translucent, add the green onion and garlic, dry mustard, a small pinch of sea salt, and a crank of fresh ground pepper. Saute for slightly longer until green onions get soft.

Sprinkle in the flour and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring so it is well incorporated.

Pour in the beer and cook until the liquid reduces by half (about 5-6 minutes)

Whisk in the milk, 1 cup of stock, and broccoli.

Continue to cook for about 10 minutes.

Use a blender (got to use my immersion blender for the 1st time!) to blend the ingredients until you have the consistency you want (chunky broccoli or creamier)

Add the grated cheddar in batches, stirring frequently until it melts (keep the soup at a simmer – don’t allow it to boil)

When all of the cheese has melted, check for consistency – if you would like the soup a bit thinner, add the reserved stock.

I added a sprinkle of shredded cheese (yes…more), a few croutons and parsley (solely for presentation) and it was YUM!

One thing to note is that it is pretty salty. 4.5 cups of cheese can do that. I would probably try using whole milk and make sure the chicken stock is low sodium next time. I love salt but if anyone is salt-sensitive, they might find it too much. But I think adding thicker milk might counteract that, as well as low sodium stock. So might adding less cheese but whatever. :)

I had leftovers so I am currently warming some up for lunch today! Yumyumyum

I know several people who say they aren’t voting. The common theme is “oh, my vote doesn’t really count where I live anyway” and “I protest the entire corrupt 2 party system.” Uh-huh.

I live in the Bay Area of California. Blue State Central. But I still proudly cast my VERY red votes whenever given the opportunity. But you know what else I do? Vote on Statewide propositions and state and local elections where 1 or 2 votes CAN make the difference.

So if you are sitting there smugly not voting for whatever dumb reason you’ve made up in your head as a valid one, think about the many countries where people have fought (and were killed) for the right to vote. Or think about 15th Amendment which finally granted black males the right to vote (in 1870 I think). Or think about the 19th Amendment (1920) which also ***finally*** gave women the right to vote. Think about what these people, who battled for the right to vote, would think about your lame ass excuse.

And whatever you do, do NOT complain about anything. Because you did nothing to try and change it.

Today Disney (DIS) announced that they bought Lucasfilm. WHAT?!?!?! I ran into the living room to see the TV thinking that I must have misheard it. Wow. Lucasfilm has been held privately by George Lucas since creation. He, along with Copploa’s Zeotrope Studios, were created by these guys as a solution to the big studio system they felt wouldn’t understand them, let them make their films, etc etc.

Now, I have been a HUGE Star Wars fan forever. And Indiana Jones. And since touring ILM twice, I always look to see if they do the special effects on movies. George and his team truly created a new frontier. So when, in addition to the purchase, Disney announced a Star Wars episode 7 in 2015 with additional movies following every 1-2 years my head (figuratively – no Belloq action) exploded. I had given up on Episodes 7-9 after eps 1-3 and George said he was too tired.

Now, I was EXCITED. But a lot of twitter, mostly the self-confessed nerds and hipsters, were screaming NOOOOOOOO Vader-style. Some refused to even comment other than to comment that they weren’t commenting. But why? Disney bought Marvel and I have to say X-Men: First Class and Avengers have been 2 of the most enjoyable movies that I have seen in a long time. If you disagree – you just can’t enjoy fun films and probably prefer art house suicidal self portrait films. So if Disney can find some great talent and get Star Wars back into prime action – I say YAY!

I was reading some of the tweets and stories and was both annoyed and amused by their upset. I mean, you know this is mostly a group of evolutionists who can’t get their heads around their beloved childhood franchise evolving one little bit. That thought made me snicker. And all of them likely grew up loving at least one Disney (and/or Pixar depending on their age) movie, if not the entire catalog.

Now, let’s be clear – if Disney announced they were REMAKING (or even “reimagining”) the original trilogy, that would be a different blasphemous story. That. Better. Never. Happen. But they want to take the story past where it ended which is what George originally intended. And what we all grew up hoping for!

I have been collecting Star Wars (and Indy) related stuff (you know…collectibles) since I was a kid. I have quite a bit. Quite. I’m slowly getting it all out and displayed and thinking of new ways to display it. Now it seems I might need even more room. Although the original stuff will always be some of my favorites. But now I will need to get this poster (that was given to me by a friend) re-framed NOW:

I have bought a FEW Disney Star Wars weekend items over time but have tried to mostly stay away as Disneyana collectibles takes you down a long, dark road to bankruptcy. Or appearing on an episode of Hoarders. I do have Goofybacca though:

And have been on the search for a few years for Han/Donald in Carbonite:

I didn’t think I actually wanted it but then saw it in real life at ILM. Very cool. I have the action figure-sized one but I need the big one. To match Goofybacca of course :)

The fact that George wants to turn his helm over to Kathleen Kennedy and a Disney team, while remaining a “Creative Consultant”, bodes well I think. George is a genius. And he is great. But his constant monkeying with the original trilogy has been maddening. Now, I didn’t hate the prequels like some nerds or “truists”. I didn’t love them the same way as I loved the original trilogy but I can still watch them over and over and enjoy them. And the last 30 minutes of the Revenge of the Sith is pure nonstop awesome.

And let’s face it, George introduced Star Wars to an entire new generation or 3. Little kids walk around with toys and costumes because they think Anakin is a Jedi hero. And Ben is young. Yoda still kicks ass. And yes, Jar-Jar talked funny. If you want to expand your brand, you do what he did.

I JUST yesterday said out loud, after seeing a Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 billboard in San Francisco, that Twilight was probably going to be the last midnight movie I will wait in line for 2 hours for and care to stay up so late for. And now look – it seems there will be more :) OK, I can do it! Although I will still probably prefer the 10pm “midnight” show like we are doing for Breaking Dawn Part 2 :)

So to all the nay-saying geeks and fake geeks who just like to complain – I say a pox on you. Wait until we see what they give us before you have your nerdtearsattack. You might just enjoy it. You’ll probably hate to admit it though.

I am pretty sure that I will love it. And am damn sure that I will give them a chance. And will probably be as excited as I have been today until it gets here. In 2015….tick tock…tick tock…..I am about as excited as when I was a kid by this :)

I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. Very unusual for me.

Felt blah all day even though I got a boatload of work done. And wasn’t even hungry – also very unusual for me.

Then I realized the date. The 25th. I actually spent the day thinking it was 24th until I looked at my calendar. Ah.

I left for a 2.5 hour walk. I had to go to the post office so did that and then continued on to the coastal trail up to the HMB State beach and then back home. That was one of Angelus’ favorite walks because we could hit up the beach a couple times, lots of stuff to sniff, got to see (and bark at) the horses at the horse farm and best of all – no hills!

I lost him on March 25th. 7 months ago today. I still miss more than words can describe.