Fall Is Here...... Finally

Summer is done here in Az..... good riddance, and Fall has arrived. How do I know it's fall? Easy, 2 things. Last week, we had AN ENTIRE WEEK where the air temperature Did NOT exceed 100 deg F. Heck, one morning last week when I woke up, I even had to turn on my House's heater! Hey don't laugh, it was..... 68F outside.... Burrrrrrrrrr that's cold. What's that you say? 68F isn't cold? Baloney. It is when you live in Arizona. OK, it's not actually the temperature itself that's cold, but when the daytime temperature is ~ 98F, and overnight, it drops 30 deg, baby..... It FEELS cold. Although, I must admit, it is nice to drive to work in the morning with all the car windows open, instead of having to turn on the air conditioning full blast, at 7:30am, so I guess that I'm really liking it. I'm not sure when winter is going to decide to show up. but I'll keep an eye out "For The Birds". What am I talking about? Read "The Birds Told Me, That's How I know" BLOG entry from march 2004 archive http://tomh7259.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_tomh7259_archive.html So, If anybody local sees any flocks of birds around here, that are sort of looking longingly, in a southerly direction, let me know :-)

EBAY Is The Way

Guess what? I think I'm getting back into the Jerky Business. Initially, one of the reasons I sort of lost interest in doing it recently, is because doing it manually, it's a lot of work. Cutting up the Beef, and having to be around every 2-3 hours to move the trays around in the Ronco Dehydrator for even drying, was frankly a PITA. Not anymore, I've automated it.

To eliminate the manual slicing, I went on EBAY, and using my "secret technique", I was able to find, and buy a countertop electric slicer..... For only $9.00! http://tinyurl.com/3m8ro when similar models were going for > $80.00. Then I got ANOTHER sweet deal on a High Capacity Dehydrator, that blows forced hot air across all the trays at once, not only reducing the drying time, but eliminating the need to move the trays around, plus, with the unit's timer, I can set it to do it's thing overnight. This one cost me..... $42.90 http://tinyurl.com/4dtkz when similar models on EBAY were going for > $120.00. How come I got them so cheap? The Secret Technique.......

OK OK, I probably will kick myself later for revealing it, but I'll tell ya. The secret of finding good stuff on EBAY is....... People can't spell.

What? Am I nuts? Nope. Ya see, whenever somebody sells an "Item" on EBAY they have to input an "item description". That's also how most people search EBAY, by the Item description (slicer, dehydrator, washing machine, etc), but IF..... IF.... a person was to Mis-Spell the item name, it might NEVER come up on people's searches. Unless........ Oh, I don't know...... Unless........ some "smart person" (cough), was to use the item search first, but also noted the MANUFACTURER'S names, and then do another search on those. THEN they might discover additional items, in which.... For example, the word Dehydrator was spelled DehydraYtor....... or something like that http://tinyurl.com/4dtkz :-) In that case, most people wouldn't see it on their "item search", and there probably wouldn't be too much competition for that item, now would there? Shoot, if that one other "putz" hadn't discovered it, I might have won the dehydrator with my initial $19.99 bid :-) I'm not sure how I got the "Rival" Slicer so cheap though, but who cares :-)

So, anyway, a friend of mine is running some sort of Boutique in November, and she tried my Jerky, and asked me if I would be interested in bagging it up, and selling it through her. I would like to work out the "commission" details, but I think I just might be going into a limited Jerky Making business. I've already taken ~ 10lbs of London Broil out of the freezer, and I'm going to do a test run this weekend, but if someday, I end up being the Jerky King Of The USA, I guess I'll have EBAY (And Of Course, My Friend), to thank for it :-)

Recent Changes

• Added capability to comment on individual posts. Click the "comments" link at the bottom of the post. You can then add your witty reparte' to my postings. I may even answer you! Do me a favor though please, if you post a comment, and post anonomously, can you sign at least your first name at the bottom? I sign mine TomH, and I really like knowing who I'm talking to :-)
• Added capability to forward an individual SOL Post to others using email. Click on that icon that looks like an envelope at the bottom of the posts. I think Google BLOG will want email addresses entered, but it's easier then doing a "copy/paste". Either way is okey dokey with me :-)
• Aded an email limk to my profile. You can "view my complete profile" from the main SOL BLOG page, and use that email address if you want to bitch at me privately. Don't worry, I have strong SPAM filters enabled there :-)

The First Week

I started the new job this week. So far, so good. I have a new toolset to learn, but technologically speaking, it doesn't seem to be anything beyond my capabilities. I like to use the comparison of a Baker, who has baked bread all their lives, and now gets assigned to bake cakes. Sure, cakes are not bread, but basically, it's all Flour, Sugar, Butter and Eggs. Same thing. It's still Process Engineering, just done in a different way, on a different tool. Plus, these folks seem to be very cool. The Group as a whole has treated me with open arms. The guys even took me out for a "Teambuilder Lunch", and the place even had live lunch time entertainment. Pretty cool huh? I also noticed that the Group overall seems to have a sense of humor that is WAY off in Left Field, and warped way off center. In other words....

I think I'm going to fit right in :-)

The LASIK Experience

So, I went ahead and did it. If you read my posting "To LASIK, Or Not To LASIK", you know that I was considering doing the "Darth Vader" treatment on my eyes. It's done, and...... I LOVE IT!!!!! I chose Barnett Dulaney Perkins Eye Centers. If you're not from around these parts, BDPEC is considered by most in the area as "The Mercedes Benz" of LASIK. Not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for. Besides, I'm not interested in some $499.95 coupon on the back of the TV guide. I use a coupon to wash my car, not have surgery on my eyes. Why do they need to offer a coupon anyway, are they not good enough?

So, I go in, and you fill out a bunch of paperwork. Turns out Dr. Dulaney is doing the surgery. GOOD, I don't want any "Interns" putting their hands on my eyes, ya know? And anyway, I looked into these guys backgrounds on the web, and this guy's done boatloads of these, and he seems to know what he's doing. They give me a Demerol for any pain, and get this..... A Valium for.... well who cares what it's for.... eh? My first time for Valium, and you know what..... the stories are true :-)

I kick back in the recliner, woozy out, and then they have the nicest nurses that hold your hand, guide you around when you need to walk, talk nice nice to you, and basically wait on you hand and foot. It's the best part of the procedure so far :-) I get laser'd twice, once to create the flap, and then again for the LASIK. There's no pain during the procedure, but I did have some difficulty focusing on the red dot that you're supposed to look at while they are zapping you, after they peeled back the flap. How can I focus, if I can barely see the durn thing? Minor issue.

So, to make a long story short, zap zap zap, and eye drops given by the gallon. Afterwards, they gave me these cool UV protection goggles to wear while sleeping the first week, so I don't put any pressure on my eye, and they are so cool looking, I'm even going to use them as ski goggles later. I go back the next day for follow up, and despite the routine eye swelling, everything looks perfect. GOOD JOB DOC DULANEY! The local BDPEC eye Doc, says my vision "may" improve slightly, when the swelling goes down (maybe not), but we have already hit my hoped for goal. I didn't expect to go from 20/525 (L) and 20/625 (R) to 20/20, so I was hoping for 20/30 to 20/40. Right now, the left eye is 20/25, and the right eye is 20/30. Even if I get no further improvement with the reduced swelling, I'm MORE then pleased.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I know that you're asking the question..... The worse the eye, the more expensive, but both eyes together, including everything with follow up visits.... $3200.00 out the door. Not bad for a Mercedes IMO :-)