Modern Soapbox

The weekend came and went way too fast as usual. I surprisingly feel asleep real early on Saturday and didn’t wake up ’til Sunday. Sunday flew by, and Monday is mostly spent.

The work week begins. The first day is over. Four more to go.

This week will be interesting in the middle. On Wednesday, Thrice will be playing Stubb’s. I’m cashing in two hours of PTO to get to the show on time, since the doors open at 5:30PM. This means the show starts at 6:30PM. By the time I normally get out of work and make it to Stubb’s, Thrice will have already taken the stage.

I will enjoy myself that evening, because I’ve been looking forward to this show. Unfortunately, I will have to wake up waaay too early for my own good the next morning. I have my weekly vendor meeting that I have to attend with my boss where we chat with the vendor the same exact thing we can communicate through email. I guess it’s supposed to be some rapport-building experience, but I absolutely loathe it.

That day will be interesting. I will go to work at eight as opposed to nine. I will get out at 12PM, and I will be using four hours of PTO to make it to jury duty at 1:30PM and waste my time doing that for who knows how long. Then the gods will forgive me and make the next day Friday which will lead us into the weekend once again.

I’m not looking forward to Thursday, but fortunately, it’s the only day this week that looks grim.

This week’s ‘za was a Hawaiian-style pie topped with Canadian bacon and pineapple. This simple couple creates a unique flavor that Mare & I both enjoy.

Nothing complex went into this pizza, but I’ll go into a step-by-step process on making this pizza to beef up this post and because I have to constantly remind myself how to make ‘em!

Modern Soapbox ‘Za of the Week Recipe

1. Brush a thin layer of garlic-infused extra virgin olive oil on a rectangular baking sheet.

2. Stretch the dough evenly to fit the baking sheet. Stretch it a little larger the baking sheet and push the edges up the inner sides of the sheet. The pie will shrink a little when it’s baked, so this will make it fit snug.

3. Spread about seven tablespoons of pizza sauce evenly on the crust.

4. Sprinkle a generous amount of parmesan on the pizza sauce to help soak up any extra moisture created by the sauce, cheese, and toppings.

5. Spread about a cup and a half of low-moisture part-skim mozzarella evenly over the pizza sauce.

6. Evenly spread your toppings. For this pie, the Canadian bacon and pineapple were the toppings. When using canned toppings such as the pineapple, make sure to drain them very well. This will keep the crust from getting soggy.

7. Sprinkle about half to three-fourths of a cup more of mozzarella over the pizza to seal those toppings in.

8. Preheat the oven to 450°F.

9. Once the oven is preheated, place the pizza in the middle rack and bake for ten minutes. Rotate the pie 180° about halfway through the baking time to bake the crust evenly.

10. After ten minutes, remove the pizza and allow it to sit for about a minute. Then, transport it off the baking sheet onto a cooling rack to let the pie to crisp as it cools.

11. Move the pie onto a cutting board, slice it, and enjoy!

This pie had some extra dark spots, but I think it was caused by thin cheese spots. Remember to spread that cheese evenly and sprinkle it on thick to prevent those extra dark spots!

We also warmed up some focaccia like we did last time. All we did was brush some garlic-infused olive oil on both sides of the bread, sprinkled some parmesan and a blend of Italian seasonings, and baked it right after the ‘Za of the Week for four minutes.

The after photo doesn’t look much different, but you’ll notice the bread became more golden and the parmesan baked up as well.

We served this and the ‘za with a romaine and feta salad dressed with balsamic vinaigrette. This was a deluxe meal that Mare & I always enjoy.

Aside from skin tags on cashier foreheads, Wally World has many other wonders of its own. In this blurry phone picture, Mare saw some ice crystals growing in their own unique manner on the back surface of one of the freezers.

This mystical photograph is highlighted with lights that fill the store, and you can even see a bag of cut green beans near the bottom. A price tag is to the right that’s been cut off.

Two cents?! Not in this day and age, my friends.

The cashier that checked us out at Wally World last night had this noticeable skin tag on her forehead. I noticed details like that. I don’t see why she doesn’t rip it off. Maybe she has a sentimental attachment to it. No pun intended.

Tax Day has come and gone. I filed mine online a couple weekends ago, so I’m squared away. I am happy to be receiving a return this year as well as the Economic Stimulus bonus check.

Last few years weren’t so great. Last year, I ended up paying, because I was mostly self-employed, and the IRS likes to double-tax you if you earn income being self-employed. The couple years before only gave me measly returns versus this year’s but at least I got something back.

I see paying taxes in this country like a membership fee. It’s pretty expensive, but I feel that it’s worth every penny. To feel safe and protected in this country as well as having the many freedoms that would get you killed in other countries is all worth paying taxes. I also understand that it’s necessary in order to have many services that keep our country going strong.

I do have one thing to say about filing online. TurboTax knows how to try to snake you. They didn’t get me this year fortunately. Many free options are available to e-file if you check out the IRS website.

Some people have complex taxes and can’t go this route, but at this point in time of my life, I’m living relatively simple financial-wise so I was able to file for free. When it does get complicated, I will probably learn how to do my taxes myself… no, wait… that’s when I’ll fork up the fee. Yeah.

The weather’s been great. This month’s been great. My 9AM meeting is canceled tomorrow, so I’m not showing up ’til my usual 12PM. Time to eat some zucchini soup. Peace out.

This month has been good to me. Tonight was one of the two scheduled Pluckers nights. I went for five Fire in the Hole wings like I did the last time. Five is not so bad. Any more is death. They’re hott, but they’re tolerable in smaller increments.

The posse included K$, Neil, Gunner, Rhino, Mare & me. We made an awesome bone pile as we ate and made it more awesome when we finished.

The waiter tonight was terrible. He just wasn’t doing his job. You have to keep the glasses filled for people eating Fire in the Hole wings. He also missed putting in the order for our side of waffle fries. He just wasn’t paying enough attention to us and taking too long to get things done.

On top of the waiter’s bad service, he had the nerve to hit us with a 17% gratuity on the bill. I understand that parties over five are prone to this charge, but it is the choice of the server whether to hit us with a grat or not.

I’ve been to Pluckers on the corner of Research and Burnet multiple times, and this is the first time we’ve been hit with it when I was with the group. The other servers don’t do it, and they’re really nice to us. They actually do their jobs, and see around a 20% tip from us. I’m sure he knew he wasn’t doing his job, so he had to snake us for the tip rather than earn it.

Apart from the lack of good service, this was a good visit to Pluckers. The food is great, the environment is fun, and being in the company of friends is pure gold.

This weekend was a success. I’d like to thank K$, Mare, and Neil for orchestrating the events so well, and the memories will stay embedded in my mind.

Friday night was the kick-off for the birthday celebration. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Trudy’s and some quality drinks. I had my complimentary Mexican martini as well as a Cuban martini. It started out with Neil, K$, Mare & me. Dirty Fingers joined us a little later, then Rhino showed up. Later in the night, J-Bone and Justin joined us. We stayed ’til close enjoying each other’s company.

When we first arrived, the parking lot was packed. Unfortunately, the spot I located was underneath a tree. The parking lot that Trudy’s shares with the shopping center next door seems to be a place where all of the birds in Austin love to spend all day and all night up in the trees. We only spent about four hours at Trudy’s. By the time I made it back to the car, it must have been hit twenty times by birds caring less.

Driving around a car with white-accented bird feces is kind of embarrassing. I hand-washed my car for the first time in two or three years the next day at my brother’s before the party.

The party was great. Neil has a big grill, and we made a bunch of burgers and bratwurst. We also had a keg of Ziegen Bock, and ROCK BAND! I’ve never played Rock Band before, but I found it quite entertaining. The drums are difficult, because I’m not a drummer but it sure was fun. I scored a few presents that I really enjoy. K$ got me four graphic novels. Score! Erin got me a humorous coloring book about ’90s pop culture. J-Bone got me a device that plays Name That Tune using an MP3 player. My sister gave me a Buddy Christ bobblehead. I wasn’t really expecting presents, but I got some indeed.

We killed the keg before midnight, but we had other beer floating around the place plus some liquor. I felt everyone had a good time. I hope we have more barbecues in the near future. Maybe not with a keg and too many people but definitely with the core of us.

After recovering for the most part the next day, Neil, K$, Gunner, Mare & I made a trek down to the Salt Lick in Driftwood to complete the celebration trifecta. We all had the all-you-can-eat family meal and stuffed ourselves ’til we couldn’t stuff anymore. I absolutely love their ribs. We also had brisket and sausage. The sides included: coleslaw, mashed potatoes, bread, pickles, and onions. Everyone else loved the bread, but I know it’s just filler.

The best part after we were about to burst was that they let us take the leftovers home. Buffets normally don’t let you do that, but you know they were just going to throw it out anyway. Another bonus for the Salt Lick is that it’s BYOB, so I picked up a twelve-pack of Dos Equis for us to enjoy while we ate. We didn’t drink them all, but I figured it was ’cause we were so full plus we had been drinking a lot the day before. I scored that twelve-pack for twelve bucks at the convenient store. The grocery store normally sells it for fourteen. Dos Equis twelve-packs were less than Shiner Bock twelve-packs surprisingly.

Afterwards, I just went home and spent the rest of the day recovering from my awesome weekend. I read some of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1, watched some Aeon Flux, then put on TMNT: The Animated Series Volume 5 Disc 2 to finally fall asleep. The Case of the Mondays would return when the sun rose again.

On April 15th, the third and fourth volumes of Thrice’s concept album, The Alchemy Index, will be officially released. The two volumes are titled Air and Earth. I had the privilege to listen to the records for the first time last night, and I’m listening to it a second time as I write this.

I initially compared these volumes to the first two that were released, Fire and Water. The first two really followed their elemental concepts. Fire was a very heavy, disoriented record, and Water was much more fluid and calm. Lyrically and musically, Air and Earth both follow their elements as well. Air has themes related to breathing and flying. Earth relates to existence and uses acoustic instruments such as piano, banjo, and of course, acoustic guitar.

I enjoy how the last track of the first volume on each pair of The Alchemy Index transitions into the second volume. Silver Wings transitions well into Moving Mountains on this set. The Flame Deluge transitions well into Digital Sea. Whether this was intentional or not, it helps make the volumes seem like two full-lengths versus four EPs which makes it more satisfying.

The Alchemy Index impressed me as a whole. I plan on listening to it from the first volume to the last. I really feel that Thrice has channeled more of their musical influences and expanded their horizon with this collection. The songs are very different from each other which keeps the listener interested track to track. Thrice proves that they have grown as a band both musically and mentally. They did an excellent job producing this record themselves which is a feat in itself.

Many fans will miss hearing the angst-driven rock that Thrice hatched with The Illusion of Safety and evolved more in The Artist and the Ambulance, but I understand that bands that are meant to succeed will grow and seek out new directions. The progression of their sound was hinted in Vheissu and came to fruition in The Alchemy Index. You will notice many styles of music that include but are not limited to: experimental rock, post-hardcore, electronic, folk, alternative rock, and acoustic rock.

Since Thrice put away their flams and finger-tapping solos, they’ve explored more options in expressing themselves through the beautiful music that they create. All four volumes of The Alchemy Index prove this. To me, The Alchemy Index to this decade is what Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was in the ’90s. They are both solid concept records where each band took their experience as musicians and brought it to the next level.

Check out their site for current updates from the band.

I was planning on getting my haircut today, but I figured that I’d go get it tomorrow. The barber I normally go to is located near my mom’s house, and I have to pick up the food for the party that I’m keeping in her fridge. It’ll save me some gas if I do it tomorrow before I visit my mom’s.

I didn’t really do much of anything today. I woke up at 12:30. It felt great not having to go to work today. My bro, my sis, my mom and Mare all wished me a happy birthday. I got a text from my bro then my sis almost immediately after. I got these while checking my email where a message was waiting from my mom. Mare came by after school before work and wished me a happy birthday as well. K$ just texted me wishing me a happy birthday, too. Thanks, guys!

Mare picked up my package from the leasing office. I was hoping that it was my Cable Classic TPB that I won on eBay for half the cover price, but it was the Raphael one-shot that came out in 1985. When I received it, I thought it might have been fake, because the other three one-shots of the other Turtles are much smaller than this one. I verified it through the TMNT official website, so I’m content. It also arrived in excellent condition for being about 23 years old.

I spent the last couple hours being a total computer geek. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with making my sites W3C valid. My choice for achieving this goal has been to validate using XHTML 1.0 Transitional. It’s much more lenient than the others, but it can still be a challenge when a page is pretty code-heavy. I guess you can consider a fun game to play, ’cause it’s hours of entertainment… for me at least. The site I wasted to much time on was my old Swan Dive site that I put together in 2006 after I completed it for 24HCD. The entire site passed validation, and when that happens, I feel like I’ve accomplished something.

I’m going go with the fact that standards and rules are set that have to be followed in order to be validated. This page you’re reading is actually valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional. Yes, I know. It’s all flying over your head… for most of you. I get a kick of it. That’s why I wrote about it.

I was also planning on sketching out the first strip to the comic K$ and I are working on. I did some rough drafts last night, but I would like to complete a final before the weekend is over. I plan on sticking with these series like I’ve stuck to this online journal. If you’re reading this K$, keep on keepin’, bro. I’m really digging the material. We’re gonna make CB solid. The art won’t be great, but it’s all about the strength in numbers.

That’s right. I don’t draw very well. Neither does Jeffrey Brown, but he’s an accomplished cartoonist. All I have to say about drawing, art in general even, is that passion overpowers skill. Everyone will want to be a critic, but you have to know what they’ve accomplished and base the legitimacy of their judgment on what they’ve done. Some critics have cred. Most of them don’t, so can we agree that what they say doesn’t matter? Well, the free publicity is always good no matter what, right?

And to conclude yet another lengthy post from Siggy Wiggy the Birthday Boy, I should be going to Trudy’s tonight around ten to claim my free Mexican martini. This is a must-do tradition for Austinites ages 21 and over. Now that I’m thinking about it, I might get a Cuban martini, because I like those better. Wait. I just changed my mind again. I’m sticking to tradition. Peace out. PARTY!

I had the idea that my boss had canceled weekly meeting I have with him and one of our vendors every Thursday at nine in the morning. He had actually canceled the meeting for next week, because he was going to be in London.

I didn’t realize this, until I went to work at my normal time today, and Outlook gave me the message that my meeting was three hours overdue. The vendor was emailing wondering why didn’t have the meeting, but my boss replied saying that he couldn’t be there. Lucky me. I was off the hook with that one. I seriously thought he had canceled the one today and figured this would be one of my best weeks ever.

Actually, it kind of is. Work has not been stressful at all. I feel like I was so underworked this week that I’d stay up way too late punching away on the keyboard. I definitely didn’t get enough sleep a couple nights this week, and it made me dog tired the next day. I couldn’t even get myself out of bed this morning. I woke up at eight this morning with the intention of going in at nine anyway, but I couldn’t shake the sleep out of me. I went back to bed for a few more hours and went in at twelve.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I gave myself a present by cashing in eight hours of my hard-earned PTO to not go to work. I don’t have much to do tomorrow anyway, so it should be fine. I know for sure that I’ll be sleeping in. I also know that it’s payday, and I will be visit Mini’s to get a long overdue haircut. I seem to do that often… neglect getting my hair cut. I guess it goes with the fact that I don’t like to shave.

I don’t know what else I’m going to do during the day. Maybe I’ll have some time to catch up on my comic-reading. Speaking of which, K$ and I are getting back into the comic-creating, so my crappy art and his marvelous writing will see the light again! That’s all I’m going to say about that until our project comes to fruition.

Last night, Mare & I watched Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. I enjoyed it. I enjoy pretty much everything that Judd Apatow has something to do with.

Mare is currently baking my birthday cake. My weekend birthday celebration has been planned a little something like this:

• Friday night: Trudy’s for my free Mexican martini
• Saturday evening: Barbecue at Neil’s, plenty of friends, burgers, bratwurst, and a keg of beer
• Sunday: Salt Lick in Driftwood for more barbecue!

YES!! It’s all gonna r0ck!

I don’t usually celebrate my birthday, but I guess it was about time I did for once. Plus, Neil hasn’t had a party at his house yet and now is the time. We’ll be grilling on his new grill and having a good time. I hope most of the people that were invited show up, so we can all have fun.

We missed ‘Za of the Week last week, because we had other dining plans. This week, we kept it simple again. This pie was topped with sliced pepperoni and fresh mushrooms.

To save some space in these posts, I’m going to be fusing the before and after photos into one image. This will also allow you to see a side-by-side comparison of fresh ingredients ready to go into the hot oven and the result after it’s been baked to perfection.

We also warmed up a store-bought loaf of plain focaccia. To add some flavor to it, we brushed our garlic-infused extra virgin olive oil on it and sprinkled an Italian blend of seasoning and some grated parmesan.

The focaccia had a fluffy texture and tasted so good hot out of the oven. I placed the loaf in the oven heated at 450°F right after the pizza finished for about 4½ minutes.

We also had a tasty bag of Parisian salad that we picked up over the weekend. The bag had a mix of green leaf lettuce, frisée, radicchio, and julienne carrots. It also came with salad toppings that added an extra level of flavor. These toppings were: feta cheese, dried cherries, and frosted almonds. We dressed the salad in a raspberry vinaigrette which complimented our baked goods very well.

Lately, we’ve been on a bit of a health kick eating mostly soup and salads. I think ‘Za of the Week will be shifting to a bi-weekly schedule rather than weekly.

With my fairly recent rekindled passion for comics, I can say that my comic-buying madness is steadily declining. I’m sticking to current titles that I am reading right now, and I am satisfied with that. I am also satisfied with working through the back issues, discontinued series, random issues from the ’90s, and graphic novels that have made themselves into an unread pile (by ‘pile’ I mean bagged and boarded in a neat row inside a box).

I got through my variant cover-collecting itch or did I? At almost 9PM on eBay, the variant cover to The End League issue 1 was about to end with no bids. I remember seeing this same variant at Austin Books with a fifteen-dollar price tag. I didn’t want to spend fifteen bucks on this comic because it was a sketch variant, but I was intrigued that only one-thousand copies of this variant were printed.

I found it on eBay, because I was caught in a web-surfing vortex after enjoying the first issue of The End League, finding out that the second issue was released at the beginning of last month, thinking that I didn’t have it, and checking on eBay for a possible awesome deal (which I know you can never find for current issues). Mad run-on my bad. [As it turns out, I do have the second issue. It was just lost in the pile.]

I put the book on my watch list. It was listed at five dollars with five-dollar shipping. Total, this would be five dollars less (plus tax, which would have been another buck twenty-three) than what it would cost me at Austin Books even though I didn’t really want it. C’mon! I like the title. It’s a variant! Only 1000 copies printed, man! I’m a recovering variantoholic.

I checked on the auction when I ran across one of my eBay reminder emails. At ten minutes ’til the auction’s end, no one had bid on it.

I told myself, “Why not? It’s only ten bucks. A thousand copies printed, rare enough. You read the first issue last night and really liked it. Five less than what Austin Books sells it for!”

I was about to bid on it by placing my max bid to an evil six dollars and sixty-six cents.

Then I reminded myself, “Wait. What if someone else is watching it?”

So I did what every wise eBay buyer does: I set up a snipe.

I’ve won many awesome auctions by sniping. I don’t consider it wrong. If it’s wrong, then why is the option available? In a competitive environment such as an auction, shouldn’t a true winner be allowed to use his knowledge of the available tools in order to win? You may beg to differ, but you probably don’t use or win on eBay as much as I do. Yeah, that sounds inflated but you might wear one pair of shoes and I wear another. OK… moving on.

I set up the snipe. The auction ends. I’m the only bidder. I win The End League 1 in 1000 sketch variant for nine dollars and ninety-ninety cents. Score! On ComicsPriceGuide.com as of today, it’s 9.4 value is fifteen bucks. This must be how Austin Books prices their variants.

I don’t feel guilty about purchasing this, because the IRS approved my e-file and the Benjamins will be depositing soon.

This really wasn’t the point of this post. I just started rambling. Let me get to the point. Go!

The auction’s title had “RRP” in it. I had no idea what that meant, so I googled it and found a very entertaining set of articles by Terrence J. Brady at Movie Poop Shoot called CGC Hall of Shame. They were written during my dormancy from extreme comic-collecting.

I really agree with the guy. People on eBay pay crazy amounts of money for CGC-graded comics. One of the more entertaining discussions in one of his articles was the one about McFarlane’s Spider-Man #1 Gold Variant with UPC.

Every CGC Hall of Shame article is great writing that I recommend reading if you’re a total comic geek and understand the idea behind CGC grading. Even though these articles were written four or five years ago, the idea is still strong that buyers on eBay will flush money down the toilet to own a comic in a hard shell with a grade on it.

I can see the reason they’re so popular. The rarity increases based on the fact that an special group analyzed a specific copy of a comic. The comic itself may have hundreds of thousands of copies printed, but to be specially graded by CGC adds that extra touch for the collector. Plus, I’m sure it’s collectors’ bragging rights that are on the table when eBay gets involved.

Read this guy’s stuff even though it’s years old. Like I said, the information is still relevant.

This time for real. I ran across his articles, because I wanted to know what RRP stands for. RRP stands for Retailer Roundtable Program. Brady sums it up here.

Basically, it’s a secret society gathering that DC puts together to touch base with retailers. Special editions of comics are given away at these meetings, so they have value to collectors. You can’t find these special editions sitting on the shelves with the rest of the regular comics.

I know the warm-up to this post was longer than the execution, but hey, it’s late and I love comics. Peace out.

Before I start on my taxes for the night, I am going to write a short post for the day.

Today’s been relaxing. Mare and I stopped by the mall so she could return some clothes she order through mailorder. I found a fifty-pack of name brand DVD+R’s at Radio Shack for only twelve bucks including tax. Score! Mare also landed a copy of Jon Stewart’s America for only seven bucks at the mall bookstore. That was a definite score, because Half Price Books doesn’t sell that book for that cheap.

I also picked up my month’s supply of new comics. Even though I’m sooo behind on some of the series I read on a regular basis, I still have to keep up with the collecting. I just finished reading through the second issues of both Kick-Ass and Cable. I’m going to try to catch up on my comic reading by reading a comic a day and if I don’t, then it’ll be two the next day, etc.

The commentary to an episode of Mission Hill is currently playing in the background. I wish that series would have lasted longer than it did.

When I went by my mom’s yesterday, I had a jury summons letter waiting for me. I went online today to do the online version of impaneling. Unfortunately, I’m assigned to attend jury duty on the 24th. Grumble.

Well, the Mission Hill episode just ended. I think I’ll throw another one on while I start sorting through all my tax-filing paperwork. Tonight, TurboTax and I will be involved in a late night rendezvous.