The Ten Worst Drink Concepts of All Time

My favorite:
The D-Bomb
Meat from one ripe durian, cut in half, immersion blended with:
6 ounces vodka
6 ounces light rum
Juice of four limes

Spoon mixture into durian halves, each garnished with a gently used sock (recipe makes two sizable drinks).

Looking to step up the visual impact of your next Pacific-themed grilling party? Tap into the power of the biggest, baddest tropical fruit under the sun.

The sock garnish helps moderate the drink's odor without in any way conflicting with the earth undertones of Abe Vigoda and capital punishment that make durian such an adventure. Switch up to pantyhose to set a classier tone, or dress the drink down with a sweat sock that has survived a grueling neighborhood game of b-ball!

Kevin Smith is back with his latest movie, which he wrote and directed: Zack and Miri Make a Porno, set to open on October 31. The trailer has just been released! (Caution: contains NSFW words) How many View Askew regulars can you spot?

It's Wednesday already? Wasn't it just Wednesday last week? Man, someone should do something about these calendars.

So last weekend was halfway stress-free. On Saturday we had takaza's family over to celebrate his mother's birthday, albeit belatedly. We all went together and bought her a Wii. She's a big fan of old-school games like Zelda and Final Fantasy stuff, so the online purchase thing is nifty for her. Plus, we played Boom Blox and I think we sold his mother on the game as well as his brother on buying a Wii period. The damn game is like a virus, I swear.

On Sunday I carpooled with roho and genet down to meet with a prospect for our charity for Midwest FurFest this year (Dan went to see The Dark Knight with his family and worked on Anthrocon tax stuff). The meeting went extremely well and I hope to have an announcement on that front later this week. They're very excited to work with us and I think we're going to have a lot of fun and make them a lot of money. From there, we drove over to linnaeus's place where we were joined by siriuswolfstar, simbalion, feren, and lady_curmudgeon. We all enjoyed an excellent dinner of burgers and tasty sausages (mmm, andouille!) and some excellent beers. It was a very enjoyable evening!

Work has been more than a little crazy of late. I just wrapped up a big project yesterday which is a big relief, though I've got another project next week that will take up all of my time for the first three days of the week. We've also had a slew of new hires and I'm helping out occasionally to get them settled as well.

This weekend should be fun - I'll be at LAFF softball on Saturday to hang out and chat with folks. Not a lot of plans on Sunday, but we'll wing it and see how things go.

I'll leave you with two interesting links: If anyone is in Los Angeles and likes food and The Amazing Race, well, the Food Network is looking for you! Granted, being the Food Network, I'm sure they'll take a good idea and screw it up royally.

Also, it's about damn time. Anthony Bourdain has been touring around Chicago as he finally films an episode of No Reservations here. I don't know most of the places he mentions, but I'm glad to see that one of the highlights will be Hot Doug's, a true Chicago original. (Though I wonder about his choice of local guides. Mancow Mueller? Really?) Anyway, it should be a great episode when it airs.

But in the meantime, I came across this video on BoingBoing (safe for work) that makes me very happy. I love the music, and it's a nice reminder that there are some things that are the same all over the world.

Last night we got takaza's car packed (stuffed to the gills, actually - we had to remove the back seats of his Element. Three cash registers take up a lot of space!) and it's parked in the garage. I dropped him off at the train station this morning, so all I need to do when I leave here at 2 PM is go home and toss a few final things into his car (like my laptop). I pick him up from work at 3 PM and then we're off! We're driving as far as Independence, OH tonight, then we'll be arriving in Pittsburgh at around noon tomorrow.

All that's left now if for me to try to be productive until 2 PM. Yeah, wish me luck on that.

To distract and amuse myself, I give you...links!
All You Can Eat Bacon? It's a heart attack waiting to happen and yet heavenly at the same time! Sounds like a fun place to visit in Chicago, though.

You know what the world needs? It needs a bacon cheeseburger sausage!

Keeping with the theme, there's something to be said for "bacon textiles" - it's delicious!

OK, enough with the bacon. Let's talk about Monopoly + nukes.

Finally, because Anthrocon is so much on my mind, I'll point out the handy Official Anthrocon Map to those who will be attending. I just added a couple of interesting nearby restaurants yesterday (as recommended by roadfood.com!). linnaeus, if you get some time, you might want to check out Robert Wholey & Co., located only a few blocks from the hotel towards the Strip District - it looks like an interesting food market with great seafood dishes. Heck, if I'm free I want to go with you! If I get a chance, I also wouldn't mind going to DeLuca's ("best breakfast in Pittsburgh").

Four hours to go! Time to look busy...

OK, I don't often post YouTube links, but this one is a must for fans of Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe:
( Click for a very amusing clip... )

I don't normally link to YouTube (not that I don't like the site, just don't normally have time to click through to video links), but this cracked me the hell up: MC Chris rants about Kingdom Hearts 2. I don't even play the games he mentions, but it's still absolutely hysterical. (Note: NSFW. Contains Bad Words)

God is a DJ (8-minute YouTube video)

Very clever. A really nifty idea, well-executed. Four paws up!

Here, have a rambling entry, just because. I'm feeling better today, even though I forgot to take the heavy-hitting cough syrup (mmm, codeine-licious!) this morning. I'll stick with the OTC stuff to carry me through the day, I guess.

I'm vastly amused that an innovation from our old stomping grounds in North Carolina has been picked up on a lot of the tech blogs: Taco Bell/KFC Tries Out Touchscreens For Orders. It wouldn't surprise me if that was one of takaza's occasional lunch stops.

I'm still having fun at WikiFur. If you haven't created an entry for yourself, well, why not? I'll be happy to help with the editing and wikification, if needed.

We still need to try out some of the excellent restaurants in our area. Last weekend's trip to Tre Kronor was a good start, but there's so much more to try. Hey hartree - you need to come up and help us figure out the Korean BBQ place around the corner from us. It's gotten rave reviews, but the prospect of navigating all the dishes and condiments is...daunting. I think I need to make a list to work from.

Speaking of restaurants, we're looking at the possibility of hitting my favorite French restaurant in Highwood this weekend. Anyone care to join us? Plans aren't set in stone, but if there's enough interest, we'll see what we can do. Fair warning: while it's an excellent value for what you get, it is certainly not cheap! The Gourmet Menu ($32) and Chef's Creation of the Day ($36) are a steal for a prix fixe meal.

Microsoft Word is the bane of my existence. I've successfully managed to crash it eight times in the last two days - either our templates are retarded (quite possibly) or my MS Office installation is borked (also quite possible). I'll muddle through somehow, though.

Oh, and hi nymphara! Your comments about "the little Nazi" cracked me up, I must say :-) I hardly know the guy but my impressions of him have been, um, less than favorable.

OK, I'm off to immerse myself in my iPod and beat on Word some more.