Dad’s Diner is now listed on the Foodie Blogroll!!!
Just thought I’d let everyone know.
It’s a small landmark for me.
And the blog is doing quite well, thank you for asking.
I have a BBQ sauce recipe up right now that is just sick!
Please check it out.
For now?
Enjoy the food fight . . .

Free Video Hosting

I found this floating around YouTube and had to share it.
With a bit of preparation this recipe could conceivably work.
I have yet to try it but I will . . .
Have no fear.
Stay tuned.
I really like Alton Brown.
Try his One Minute Eggplant.
Good God . . .

I’ve wanted to keep a record of personal recipes for my daughters to cook
when I’m someday reduced to a room temperature dish of Fettucine-al-Dead-o, or Face-Planting the Meringue maybe even pushin’ up the perpetual parsley.
Something about food that’s familiar is quite simply
comforting with a capital C.
I began thinking about a small book of some sort but that idea fizzled.
A blog made more sense as it’s something I can just keep adding to as the years go by and I come across more recipes.
Click on the picture above and check out Dad’s Diner.
Eat at Dad’s where you’ll live forever and the cheeseburgers are to die for.
As always, I’ll leave the lights on for ya . . . 

ps. special thanks to Maureen for helping me get this up and running.

*I have no clue as to how many chapters are waiting to be written regarding this incredible time in my life.
As sure as the Akubra hat on my head, this will be far from the last.

I’m not entirely sure where to begin because my grey matter is still processing all that’s gone on these past few weeks. If I haven’t stopped by your blog it’s simply because the last month has consumed me both physically and emotionally leaving very little of me left to visit.
As most of you know already my family and I vacationed for a week with Maureen & Mark (M&M), Annie
and Evyl & Joyce down on Cape Cod.
The week after, M&M stayed at our home and rode the train into Boston with me most days.
I worked and they did everything from walking the Freedom Trail to taking a Trolley Tour all over the city. I was blessed on one night with a surprise game at Fenway Park. (saving that for a later post)
M&M also had their own personal city guide, my daughter Hannah,
who has found a new best friend in Morky (Moe, as well)

Cut to Day 1:

The flight carrying M&M, Annie and a very special present for yours truly landed late the Saturday they arrived.
No worries, right?
Planes land late all the time.
Little did I know that this was the proverbial tip of the holiday iceberg of mishaps.
I expected a phone call from Maureen when she touched down in Boston and assumed it would be her when the phone rang.
The phone did ring and I was surprised to hear Annie’s voice. (cue the bah-da-dum-dum)
All I remember from the conversation was Annie saying,
“They lost the didj. Don’t worry they will find it and hand deliver it to the house on the Cape tonight.”
The ‘special’ present was a custom made Australian Didgeridoo just for me. (click the link for a description)
I had already known about it for months because Moe had sent me pictures.
This instrument was special; sacred, actually.
I realized that Annie had made the call because Mark was physically restraining Maureen
from committing her first murder on American soil.
This didj was unique as a constellation in the sky, a one and only; a present that M&M held so dear.
My heart broke knowing how upset they both were.
Thank God Annie was there as the voice of calm and reason.
It seems she quelled the impending riot and got everyone to the van that would bring them to my house.
We made it to the Cape and got settled and began our wait for the didj.
Saturday night, no didj.
Sunday night, still no didj.
Monday, no didj.
496 phone calls later (by Moe and Annie) told us to expect it Tuesday night around 5:30.
Guess what?
No didj.
More phone calls and a promise that said instrument would be delivered by 10:30PM.
Things were getting surreal now.
A firepit was lit, many drinks were poured, cigars were lit and we all sat around the fire playing ‘Celebrity Heads’  laughing and listening for the courier to pull up in front of the house with the long lost precious goods.
It was at 10:30 that a van finally pulled into the driveway.
Like children on Christmas morning, all of us ran out to the front yard of the house totally freaking out the driver. He could tell that we were all very happy to see him
(* a bit pissed as well).
I high fived the guy and took the didj into the house as Mark and I began opening the nuclear war-proofed package.
Mark took the black padded sleeve off, handed it to me and said, “Here’s your didj, mate.”
Holding this incredible instrument was not unlike holding a newborn baby.
I knew how much it meant to Maureen and Mark and the moment overwhelmed me.
I then did what all father’s do when they hold their newborn . . .
I cried.
Like a baby . . .
Still learning to play it and getting close to an actual didj sound.
Stay tuned.
Annie, thank you for your relentless pursuit and urgent phone calls to the courier.
And Maureen?
Thank you for not ripping the head off of an innocent American body. (she’ll be right, mate)
Hooroo!
(below is a pic of the actual didj)

*slightly intoxicated . . .  
** btw- this didj is a low F# drone (sweet spot/fundamental tone)

I am all about the stars.
Just downloaded ‘Stellarium’ tonight.
Had to share.
Even the desktop icon is cool for this program.
If you like stars and the night sky this program is nuckin’ futs.
It’s a big file (@40megs) but totally worth it.
I’ve been trolling the sky for the past half hour.
Click on the picture above and enjoy.
Any guesses as to the constellation up there?
(Moe, don’t bother)

Enjoy . . .

I follow many people on Twitter and one of them is the writer Jonathan Carroll.
Although most of his tweets are of quotes and interesting life observations he
occasionally will post a link to a website he’s found that interests him.
Being a big JC fan I inevitably follow his links.
I consider Carroll to be an incredibly creative man and am usually glad I clicked on
one of his recommended links.
Today was no exception and this site has stayed with me all day.
Click on the picture above to visit a site called ‘Dear God’.
As Carroll says in his Twitter, he doesn’t know if the site is interesting or creepy.
I found it to be much more than that, personally.
Follow Carroll on Twitter.
He is an amazing man.
Maybe he uses Stumbleupon to find these sites but I am forever entertained and enlightened.
This site is a bit intense.
Forearmed is forwarned.

Say hello to ‘Sebastian’s Voodoo’ . . .

• Crappy ringtones are unacceptable. Upload a favorite song for free at Mobile17.com
  My current ringtone is the first 40 seconds of ‘We won’t get fooled again’ by The Who.
  ‘Panama’ by Van Halen let’s me know when Pamela is calling.
  Cool.
• Even a 50 year-old guy can learn to use Word (T9) to text on a cell phone.
  Drives them crazy that I can text almost as fast as them now.
• What life used to be like when I was 20 and how much fun I had.
• To never give up. Ever.
  (who’s teaching who here?)
• What phrases like ‘cover flow’ and ‘shake to shuffle’ mean. (Ipod terms)
• How to upload a Wordle to my cell phone. (Pam and I have Zero for Zooz on our cells) (Zooz Wordle)
• My day off is not for me to rest. It’s the day I cook one of them a favorite meal, ultimately receiving a load of laundry that needs to be done . . .  ahem, Sarah . . .
• Silence is a legitimate answer (as is yup, nope, uh-huh and dunno)
• Time is like a river . . .  to the sea
• Life is not always fair.
• College girlfriends can be incredibly vicious. And really nice. (all in the same day)
• That I am truly blessed to have 3 (and 4) such incredible women in my life.
• watch out guys, these girls are tigers.

Just a little thing I saw on the net.
I was hoping for Dali.
I guess M.C. Escher is better than M.C. Hammer . . .

Who Should Paint You: M.C. Escher

Open and raw, you would let your true self show for your portrait. And even if your painting turned out a bit dark, it would be honest.

It’s no surprise to anyone that visits me that I really like changing my themes.
Dare I say I change it more than some folks change their socks or underwear.
Some folks would even say I have some serious theme ‘issues’.
I plead guilty.
In my lifelong search for the perfect theme I came upon one called ‘ThemeLog’ that spoke to me
and said quite simply, “This is so you, Michael.”
You’re looking at it right now.
Flash header and all.
And yeah, I love it.
I happened to mention this to Moe (my angel from Oz) several weeks ago during one of our weekly chats.
She agreed saying it was “bloody gorgeous” and that it fit in perfectly with the overall feel of my blog.
Fast forward to last Saturday night when I checked my email before heading up to bed.
There was an email in my Inbox from NattyWP, a premium WordPress theme site.
It was a ‘Welcome to Natty’ email thanking me for joining.
Joining?
Me?
Maybe one too many Guinness, I thought.
I clicked on the link in the email and entered the login info provided and there it was . . .  the zip file for ‘ThemeLog’.
I immediately knew who was responsible.
It was the only person that knew how much this theme owned me.
Maureen.
We ultimately needed a bit of help getting it up and running which Moe was to so thanks are in order to Dave from NattyWP.
He had this sucker whistling Dixie in less than 2 hours.
After a bit more fiddling (and numerous emails) here we are.
And here I am.
A few more tweaks will be made but know that to comment you must click on the post title.
Most folks have already figured it out but I thought I’d let you know anyway.
My deepest thanks to Moe for caring too much sometimes.
That’s just her way, I guess.
God only knows, I need it these days.
You are a peach, my dear.
Smith is already thinking about doing a “How long will Murphy keep this theme up?” contest.
Any guesses?
I’m thinking he’s definitely going to lose.
Time will tell, I guess . . .
Really, how bloody gorgeous is this theme?