Reindeer Jerky

I just finished making my gift for my family's gift exchange. We have the theme "Make it, Bake it, Sell it, Grow it". So this year I made beef jerky, which I am calling "Reindeer Jerky". In retrospect I should have bought venison or bagged my own deer.

Here is the label that I made:


Which is much better than my first option that I found online:



All for now. I will blog about my new job once I start working. Until then Happy New Year!

Looking for Answers

Remember when we all thought that AskJeeves.com was a search engine provided answers to our questions, as if it was our personal butler? Those were simpler times. We all swore we would never be fooled again by search engine ad campaigns that over promise and under deliver.

Then came Bing.com, the "Decision Engine". I tried it and was thoroughly unimpressed. All of its features had the "Oh, this is like GoogleMaps" vibe and "Is that a decision helper or another set of pay-per-click ads?" feel.

Google is great, but they have some weaknesses its intuitive search features. Take a look at what Google presumes you will ask:

WHY

HOW

WHO

WHAT

WHEN

WHERE

Autotune

I really enjoy autotune. It makes almost anything sound like music (even crying babies) . For some of you, hearing a science lecture may even be more abrasive than a crying baby. Symphony of Science takes some retro programs and gives them a fresh sound. Listen to this chopped up Carl Sagan feat. Bill Nye and Stephen Hawking and tell me if it is better than hearing a baby T-pain cry:



I especially like how Bill Nye looks like he is in a 90's Puff Daddy video with the fisheye effects.



If you need something a little more up beat, Auto Tune The News will get you pumped to hear the news:

Halloween

I finally finished painting the 6ft x 4ft French windows at my grandparent's house. I can't believe such a small area of work took 15 hours to complete. I am just glad that I was not born into window painting family in the 1600s near Versailles. I must give credit to Home Depot for making painting look like so much fun in all of their commercials.

After painting, I carved a pumpkin as the USC v. Oregon game started. I took the following picture after telling the pumpkin the score at the end of the game.

If you are wondering what I was for Halloween...I was a painter.

What's Good?

I just got into It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and it is out of control funny. If you thought Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm is morally despicable, you have not seen "the gang" from Always Sunny. Check out this site that has almost all the episodes commercial free in good quality: http://itsalwayssunnyepisodes.com/


2389876


I also have to mention Jake and Amir on CollegeHumor.com These guys make about 2 short videos each week.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Finishing Things

I just took the test that I been waiting on for a year (nailed it) . If it wasn't for my remarkably poor performance on the Fall 2008 AME 404 midterm, things would be very different right now. For one, I wouldn't have an extra set of loans to pay. I also would not be making a long commute into a city I really don't care for.

I am making the best of the situation in the mean time. I going to do my open water dives at Catalina this weekend, completing my SCUBA certification course. I have been fishing regularly. I have been learning to do real BBQ in a smoker. I also will be teaching another Family Science course with Iridescent Learning in a couple weeks. You can see some shots of me in action in the following video.



That is all great, but I am finding that I am always anxious for the next step. For example, summer was great, but I am ready for some fall weather. Same thing with part-time school and part-time work; I am ready to start supporting myself. I want to be an engineer.

After a month and a half of time away from the job search, I am ready to start up again. I learned a lot this summer about finding jobs in a tough economy and I am ready to see how things go now.

Horn Shark vs. Angel Shark

This is way some amazing footage(0:38 is where it gets good)

SCUBA Class is ON!

After a week of actively recruiting friends(0% success rate) to take a SCUBA diving course, I just got the call I was looking for. Pacific Sporting Goods just informed me that they were able enroll the minimum number of students for the dive course. This means I leave work at 5pm, drive to Long Beach, grab a quick dinner and start learning the essentials of SCUBA diving. From 6:30 to 10:30pm I will be underwater or sitting through small lectures about Barotrauma, Decompression Sickness, and Nitrogen Narcosis (fun to learn about, not fun to get).

Crescent Bay Diving

The bro and I went to the Crescent Bay in Laguna Beach for some snorkeling. This actually was the first time that I have ever snorkeled from the mainland. I got used to thinking that Orange County beaches and harbors are silty, dirty and green. I neglected to give South County a chance, despite knowing in the back of my head that it is known for being a great dive spot.

We went out in about 10-15ft visibility with a light-moderate surge. I saw some nice calicos, a big sheephead and schools of shiny baitfish. I dove and swam next to beautiful rock walls with Garibaldi nibbling on the mossy faces.



After getting a little too close for comfort at Seal Rock, we traversed the coast, absolutely pumped to be enjoying one of the prettiest coves in Southern California. Andrew said that the palm trees on the point looked like paradise.


A hammock and some iced water could really make it paradise.

I checked the sandy bottom for halibut but found none. It became more fun to get near the surf zone and ride the surge back and forth floating inches from the constantly resurfacing bottom.

I can't wait to get back out there...especially with some SCUBA gear.

SCUBA Certification

After work today I am starting a my SCUBA certification course. The course is on Monday and Wednesday nights for 3 weeks. At the end of the course on a Saturday, I get to do 3 out of my 4 open water dives in Catalina. Awesome! The next day I do the beach entry dive in Laguna Beach and I should then certified by the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI).

In no time I should be swimming in schools of tropical neon clad lady divers. . . or at least that's the plan.

Ghetto Scarecrow

I am always on guard as I walk to my car through the area west of campus. From my experience, this neighborhood has less students and more graffiti than the area north of campus where I used to live. I try to keep the words of Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer, in my head as stay "Calm and Assertive" walking by the apparent junk yard with a gnarly pitbull. Sometime I wonder what would happen if the dog could escape and get to me. It is best to not even think about it.

Sometimes, I am surprised as I walk by this house:



That figure on the porch is a dummy wearing a terrorist mask. Almost every other day, this Ghetto Scarecrow doubles my heart rate in a matter of milliseconds as I catch it in the corner of my eye.

I doubt it is even intended to keep hoodlums away. That is what the barbed-wire on a spike fence is for. It may just be an ironic use of a mannequin wearing USC and Disney gear. Either way I don't like it at all.

The Smoker

I just ate the best meat ever prepared at my house. After 22 years at 4709 Candleberry, I have never had such a satisfying meal.

My dad and I made the move into the world of smoking or BBQing. This is not grilling, or the kind of pool-party sizzle-fest done every 4th of July by every God-fearing, red-blooded American. But don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with grilling...it is just not BBQ. BBQ requires a slow and low indirect heat with wood chips to infuse meats, cheeses, fish, nuts, or fruit with smoky goodness.

We decided on the Masterbuilt 30" electric smokehouse, from Lowes. (below)

This is a great model, referred to as the crock pot of smokers. Because it is electric it can be set to cook at a prescribed temp and time and left alone for amazing results. I can say this because we just cooked 10 lbs of pork ribs for 5 hours with hickory wood chips. The meat was right on par with the award winning, presidential favorite BBQ places I ate at when I was in Arkansas.

After dinner my family sat around, not really speaking, but just blurting out things like, "Smoked Almonds!", "Yeah.", "Applewood smoked bacon!", "Big time.", "Smoked Cheddar!", "mmm."

I have a new hobby that is for sure.

"Pecanwood smoked marshmallows!"

"I want those"

Summer Study Abroad Pictures (B-Sides)

I am still organizing my laptop and external hard-drive and I came across the pictures from when I studied abroad. Here are some of my non-tourism related shots:


This was the official shirt of of the canyoning guides in Riva del Garda. I really like the idea of illegal time.


I posted a couple weeks ago that I broke the FLSHING pole that I got in Italy. Well here it is, fresh out of the box.


This guy had a pretty rad OC back pack. You have to wonder if he liked Marissa or Summer. If I had to choose, I would say he is a Summer guy.


Do Italians eat pizza? Yes, but we clearly ate it much more than they expected us to.

High Speed Camera Videos

I just cleaned my room, and now I am cleaning my computer. In the process, I ran across some cool videos that I shot during my senior project.

How Does This Happen?

This was the only thing I caught on Saturday morning in marine stadium:

That is an actual fish, probably a baby sardine, that I caught using that lure. I snagged its belly on my cast when the hook hit the water. . .Pretty shocking.

What is more shocking is how much I am liking pop music. I am liking it more than my sister, who swoons for acts like Nsync, Hanson, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and O-Town.

One of the songs that is topping my charts is Shakira's SheWolf. The video is out of control for these reasons:

• Sick intro with brass on a Daft Punky bass groove.
  
• Robot-with-a-limp combined with pop-and-lock-bellydancing in a ruby cave.
• Cage gymnastics in a flesh toned leotard

Today's Lesson: Don't Fish on the Docks

Last time I fished from the docks, I had a great day. I caught a leopard shark and walked home with some serious game fish.

Today I fished the docks at Alamitos Bays, looking to catch a bat ray. I ended up catching 3 Long Beach Police Officers and a warning.

There is nothing like hearing an armed officer say, "Sir! Please put the fishing rod down." like it was some sort of weapon. It was a good thing I wasn't cutting bait or it would have been a much scarier, "Sir! Please put down the knife!"

Once I was "un-armed" they started asking me questions. The first one was easy:

Q: What are you doing today?
A: I am fishing. Are you Fish and Game?

then it started getting complicated,

Q: We are with LBPD. Do you have a boat around here?
A: One on gangway 16B.

Q: So you don't have a boat on this gangway. What are you doing here? Did you see the "NO FISHING" signs?
A:I don't have a boat here. I came to fish by the park, but I saw all the signs, so I moved over to the docks.

Q: So you saw the signs?
A: Yes, and I thought it meant I couldn't fish from the walkways, so I picked a spot where I wouldn't bother anyone.

Q: You said you had a boat here, so why aren't you fishing by it.
A: I wanted to fish this spot by the park.

Q: And the boat is in your name?
A: No, It is in my grandparent's name.

Q: Do they know that you use their boat?
A: Yes, they own is specifically so that the grandkids can use it. It is on 16B do you want me to show you?

At this point they probably think I am lying. So I give them a data dump.

Q: What is the name of the boat?
A: Summer Salt II. She is a 31 ft motor-sailor. Slip 634 I think. It is registered to William and Gertrude Carroll. They are my grandparents.

He takes my ID and scans my record.

As it turns out I am clean. I have no criminal record, warrants or parole, and I start class tomorrow. This all adds up to someone who will take a stern warning to heart, so they let me off easy.

One of my Best Weekends

Having just finished my first week of work for Viterbi Admission and Student Affairs and learning that it is my last weekend before school starts, I made sure to make the best of every day this weekend.

Friday night I met up Graham and Brendan in Newport. We did some midnight surfing at 36th. There was no moon, tide or surf but it was an awesome session. This is what is looked like:


The next morning we went out to Harbor House for omelets. Then I went out to fish Newport Bay near a spot called "The Rail". I wanted to catch a spotted bass. I had just learned about spotted bass a week prior so I specifically was hunting for one. After 45 minutes of throwing plastics, I nailed one and released it.


Then for the first time in 6 years, I got new swim trunks. Surprisingly not from Kanvas by Katin(that will be my next pair). I then went to a friend's going away party.

Sunday morning I made plans to go fishing in the Back Bay of Newport with my cousin Michael and my bro Andrew. We fished the docks looking for bat rays, but ended up catching a leopard shark. Andrew had the urge to swim with the shark, so he did.

If that wasn't enough of a good weekend, a boat came to the dock and handed over a yellowtail and two dorado. We rolled up the fish in Andrew's towel:



And to top it all off, I am setting up interviews with an aircraft interior manufacturer and a medical device manufacturer so that I can have a full time engineering job in December.

Not too bad...

Short Term Future Planning

I came up to USC today to do some work and start figuring out my short term future plans. Today's tasks include financial aid, design work to build marketable skills, and finding a job.

I already found out that I need to come back tomorrow for financial aid.

I am about to start weighing the different options that may or may not be available to me in upcoming weeks/months. This includes living at home, living at school, living wherever a good job takes me, getting a job on campus, getting a labor job, or getting a real engineering job, taking my class in person, or taking my class online.

3 things are important right now.

1. I need to finish my last class.
2. I need a place to live.
3. I need a job.

I am gonna start brainstorming creative housing situations and job styles. I need to come up with a game plan to start charging on right away, but have plenty of fallbacks in place, just in case.

Freak Fish

I was fishing plastics in the river mouth at Seal Beach, and found 3 fish washed up on the sand, each semi-alive.


This is a lizardfish. It is super slimy and prehistoric looking. Some people where trying to convince me that it was a catfish, but I knew better. Catfish (even the saltwater variety) have a fu manchu like this:
The other fish, below, is one that used to annoy me at Newport Dunes. It is a needlefish, although I have never seen one as big as the one washed up on the beach.

The fish probably could not handle the bathwater type temperatures that the powerplant creates as it cools its generators. I put them out of their misery and used them for bait, fishing for sharks or bat rays.

Logistical Issues(Catalina Canceled)

I was supposed to sail my relatives over to Catalina this weekend, but for "logistical issues" the trip was canceled. That is as far into the details that I have been told...pretty vague...pretty lame.

I then say screw em, I'll take the boat over with a small 1 or 2 person crew. I already booked some nights to camp in Little Harbor and had visions of spearfishing. But no, they want to go for a day sail on Sunday. Weak.

My Uncle Cliff is in town, so I convinced him to go fishing on the whaler. Smart choice. We had the most productive day of fishing I have had all summer(for him the past 3 years). We pulled in about 10 bass each and other assorted fish. We had another octopus spit onto the deck. We fished the octo-bait but no real hits. The action was on live-anchovies and it was relentless. Here is a shot of Cliff with the knife for a scale(I forgot the measuring tape again) with a nice calico bass.

The action was soo hot that I broke the pole that I got in Italy when I tried fishing on Lago Maggiore. I wish it had broken on a fish hookup, but sadly it was when I snagged the rocks. I found out that the pole was made of carbon fiber, ultra low quality, but carbon non-the-less.

While we were on the water, I saw the Bell Family sailing over to Catalina on Seeker. I yelled out to them and they stopped by the boat for a "stop and chat". I wish that I could have hopped a ride with them, but I had "logistical issues".