Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 20

Busy doing nothing

I'm accomplishing very little here at the beach, but I manage to be quite busy nonetheless.  Sleeping, reading, walking, lunching, splashing in the pool, sitting in the hot tub, watching movies, and eating fill the days.  Each day, I feel a bit more rested, but I'm not up to fully rested yet.

Another good reason to go to sleep.

Beach time is chillin' time

It's amazing how little you can do and fill a day. I'm working at mastering that technique, and so far, I'm doing quite well.

I am definitely enjoying the break.

I love being here.

Grilling at the beach

It's the Fourth of July, so we must obey the traditions.

I listened to Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers sing one of my favorite songs of his, "Fourth of July."  I do love that one.

We grilled burgers and dogs because, America.  Being at the beach, though, I had to resort to charcoal.

Click an image to see a larger version.
I might have over-filled the Weber with charcoal because, damn, it was hot, hot enough to take off hand hair.

The burgers just fit


and turned out delicious but with a bit too much carbon; that was totally my fault. Yeah, that's 18 burgers on that grill.

Later, Kyle split a hot dog and added pimento cheese and bacon.


Oh, heck, yeah, that looked good.

Some even went to the grill much later and made s'mores.


I did not, but they're not a dessert I enjoy. Others did seem to like them.

On a serious note, our country is the most divided it's been in my life. Each side in the great political debate spends all of its time attacking the other side and nearly none of its time listening to those other viewpoints. This saddens me, because down this road, nothing good happens.

So, my wish for our country on its birthday is that we all pause to realize that we have more in common than not, that we are all Americans, and that if we can all come together to find solutions to our toughest problems, we can indeed remain a nation united.

What passes for a busy day at the beach

Sleep late.

Stroll and chat for two miles.

Pool.

Shower.

Lunch.

Grocery shopping.

Read.

Poker.

Nap.

Read.

Hot tub.

Pool.

And off to dinner.

Beach life is simple life.

The beach house says "Hi!"

As you can see, it and the beach wanted to send their greetings.

Click an image to see a larger version.
They are doing quite well, thank you very much.

Sarah also wanted to say hello. She is toasting you with her drink, which is prosecco with a watermelon-mojito popsicle in it.


Yes, that's a thing down here.

All is well in beach land. At the Mexican restaurant, though, a new menu has appeared, and it features a new set of dishes, the "skillets." I tried one.


Fortunately, it was tasty.

Back to beach life.

Today's slice of beach weirdness

Yes, you can buy this, and for not much money.


No, I did not buy it.

But I was tempted.

Heading to the beach in the morning

That's all I got.

Sabbatical help for hunger

As I've said many times, one of the aspects of PT that I'm proudest of is our sabbatical program and its charity work component.  Another PT staffer recently returned from her sabbatical, during which she worked at the
Here's the story of this most recent sabbatical charity work.



I'm proud of Sharon and all the other PT folks who donate their time to charities.

Hot dog taste tests

Lynn pointed me to this article, in which The New York Times conducted a blind, two-stage, hot-dog taste test. Their winners were the Wellshire Farms Premium All-Natural Uncured Beef Franks and the Hebrew National Kosher Beef Franks. I've eaten the Hebrew National dogs many times, but the Wellshire Farms tube steaks were new to me; I will obviously have to try them!

At a party a long time ago, I did a similar but less controlled blind hot dog taste test with a different variety of dogs, many of them high-end versions from various mail-order services. My group had a clear favorite: the Nathan's hot dogs, which finished in the middle group of the Times' test batch.

Clearly, it's time for me to repeat that test with a new selection of noble tube steaks that includes those from Wellshire Farms!

Jackie Chan on a rampage

Sure, I'm willing to go with Jackie Chan as an ex-special-ops soldier who's so stone cold he rarely speaks, and I'm willing to buy Pierce Brosnan as a government official who used to be an Irish terrorist, and I'm willing to watch this plot again, because, hey, Jackie Chan, action, and lots of things going boom.



Scott turned me onto this film, and we are both definitely there.

Jackie's showing his age and a lot of wear and tear, but that's perfect for the character.

Yup, one way or another, I'll find a way to view The Foreigner.