Food for Thought

I ask for your prayers.  Not for myself, but for a man I met today; Clarence Fox.  Pray for shelter, food, long life, health, peace, salvation, visitation, and furtherance in all good things to come.  The following is not a brag.  Not in the least.  Merely my story for the day.

I had a rough night, and slept maybe 2 hours.  I tried to take a nap this morning between classes, but couldn’t get to sleep then, either.  So, I walked from the International House at UT to the Cumberland Ave. Strip to hunt up some food.  This is normally not a problem, but I’m tired, cranky, and hungry.  Not a combination to provide easy answers.  I wanted one thing, decided it was too far, and went for something else.  Anyway, as I pass McDonald’s, a guy in a knit stocking cap and dirty clothes and jacket came up to me.  He said something like, “Excuse me.  Hey, I’ve got this watch here.  It’s a nice watch.  Can I sell it ot you to get some food?”  I stumbled through something about not having any cash, but I’d be willing to buy him lunch.  We went over to McAlister’s.  I told him to get what he wanted, and finally got him to own up to wanting coffee and the meatloaf.  We sat and talked, and he told me he was hitchhiking from Richmond, VA, to somewhere in Florida.  He talked about travelling by hitching, how he was trying to get to the truck stops at Watt Rd., though he didn’t know that, just that they were about 30 miles away.  I told him to get some cash and get the bus to Farragut.  I have some blank (lined) note cards in my backpack.  (I was using them to write down the list of people’s names to include in my prayers.  That’s a project that will take forever.)  I drew a cross on one and wrote the words “Orthodox Church” on it and told him that, if he really wanted to pay me back, to look for that kind of church and that kind of cross.  One that looks kinda like this:

He asked if he went there that he’d find help.  I said that he would, hoping that he really would.  I finished, whished him well, and went off to class (which I am sitting outside of, waiting to go in).
I pray he gets where he’s going.  Please, pray for him, too.

Peace,

Red Wolf

“I’ve been looking for
That heart I’ve never known
Searching for someone to sing me
Sweetly home
Sweetly home”
– “Nathaniel Miles” by Justin Mathews

Food Not for the Fainthearted.

Before I get into the meat of this post, (pun #1) I’m going to do some updating on life.  Classes are going to go extremely well, I think.  So far, fairly easy with a touch of work.  I got a bunch of my seeds, and I’m hoping to receive more soon.  Kubuntu is running reasonably well on my computer, although I am keeping my Vista distro for now, mostly because of the proprietary software involved there.

Now for the juicy part of today’s post. (pun #2, sort of)

Dinner tonight is inspired by two things.  The first is the bacon roll found here.  The second is the bacon roll found here.  Now, I’m not cheap (just ask my wife), but we had ground beef and some spices, so I made my own “sausage” (read “ground beef with spices and onion, pepper, and garlic puree”).  Beef does not stick together well, so, rather than try to roll it first, then roll the bacon weave around it, I spread the “sausage” onto the weave and then sprinkled sharp cheddar on top, then rolled it up, stuck it in a bread pan and baked it for a while.  It’s still sitting on the side resting.

Notes on this concept:

• On one website I came across, the guy recommended splitting the bacon in half lengthwise, wich I did.
• The spiced I used made the beef smell like hot dogs, which I do not find a pleasing smell.
• Flipping is not possible, and getting the thing out of the pan was not easy.
• Yellow beef is not a pretty sight, even if it’s from the turmeric and mustard flour.
• Baking at 350F is a good idea.  300F to start took too long.

Pictures would happen, but my camera bit it bigtime, so no photos.  Be glad.  If the artery clogging goodness of the ingredients didn’t already have you reaching for aspirin and the number for a good heart surgeon, the appearance of this… thing would surely have you clutching your chest out of reach of the phone.  It’s almost as heart stopping as driving past a Culver’s and thinking that stopping inside might not be a bad idea.  (I love Culver’s, btw, and wish they would have someone open them here in TN.  They make really good burgers.)

That’s all for now.

Cheers,

Red Wolf

New Year, New Posts

A non-resolution for the new year:  try to post on here once a week.  Probably won’t happen, but I’ll try my best.

School:  Passed 4/5 of my classes.  Not too shabby.  I am NOT taking Differential Equations again.  I’m taking Statistical Reasoning and Computer Literacy for Mathematics.  I really wanted to take ASL 2, but the class doesn’t even have a wait list.

Church:  I’m working on hand-writing a Russian/Slavonic – English prayer book with updated Cyrillic (post-Imperial) and modernized English.  Where things have been taken from Scripture, I have gone to the Orthodox Study Bible to write out the English.  Just a few more days until the anniversary of my chrismation!  I will be 2 as of January 7.  The church I attend has gotten permission from our bishop to insert some Christmas stuff since that’s Old Calendar (Julian) Christmas.

Gardening:  Garlic & shallots went in the ground back in October.  I’ve seen the garlic I picked out from stuff from the grocery store, but nothing yet from the stuff I ordered from the seed company.  I know I put them right side up since I dug out one or two cloves and roots were forming.  I need to order seeds soon.

Computer:  I’m now a Linux monkey.  Why monkey instead of penguin?  I’m using Ubuntu, which means I’m probably more a lemming than a monkey.  I’m running it through Wubi, which you can find out more about on their web site.  I am having problems with an external hard drive, though.  Seems it’s locked out.  Rats.

Wonderful thing for the week:  Most Dangerous Chocolate Cake in the World!  Find out more here:  http://office-humour.co.uk/item/10226/  I may e-mail them for permission to repost it here.  It’s a microwave chocolate cake you make in a coffee mug.  It’s really tasty, but, microwave…  it’s a little rubbery.

Art & Writing:  I haven’t done much lately.  Ideas keep bouncing around, but they’re few and far between, so it’s rare they contact the few brain cells floating around in there.  I have done some crocheting, and I have more that needs to be finished…  Probably won’t be anytime soon, though…

SCA:  My name and arms are out of proofreading…  Maybe I’ll find out more at the business meeting.  Which reminds me, I have a web site to finish…

Cheers for now,

Red Wolf