len_mullen

You should see the emails I have received. 'Protocols are in to ensure this never happens again!'. Pretty sure it was protocols that were the root cause of the problem.

My town hasn't been to work since March. Everyone's getting full pay, but no one shows up to work. In April, the town sent out post cards reminding people that it was unlawful to not license pets and provided instructions for doing so online. The cards were bright orange with the title, 'AVOID FINES!' across the top of the front of the card. I emailed the town's tax collector that my dog had died and asked if I needed to do something to AVOID FINES! She said I was all set. Last night, while preparing dinner, I heard a knock at the door. Local police going door to door collecting pet license fees. I offered to dig up the dog if he needed evidence of his passing. The guy was polite and apologetic. He obviously was uncomfortable with the task. This town was thoughtful enough to send out instructions for registering vehicles online -- a method that included a service charge and -- if you could not pay by ACH -- a surcharge. Same for real estate taxes. So we managed to collect auto registration fees, real estate taxes, and pet taxes without the town's tax collector, deputy tax collector, clerk, or deputy clerk going to work. Seems like we could probably eliminate at least three of those patronage positions and use the savings to offset the fees and surcharges for online payment. Government sucks.

Home a little early. Sitting at the computer in my bedroom. Windows are open. It's 86, but there is a nice breeze. For the first time this year, I am enjoying the sounds of summer -- birds, lawnmowers, and traffic. It's very relaxing.

Something really cool happened last month. I really like the Amazon Recast whole house DVR. Besides streaming and recording OTA, the Recast has a grid style program guide that integrates OTT services. Until July, those services were limited to Philo and Pluto plus Prime Channels. In July, Amazon opened the guide to Sling TV, YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV... https://cordcuttingreport.com/2020/07/08/fire-tv-channel-guide/

Looks like security camera footage from a bank robbery. Maybe get one of these for the next 'shoot'?

Not really a fan of Club Memberships, but ZDNet Academy is offering a one year Sam's Club membership for $40 that includes $45 in gift cards ($25 immediately and $20 20 days after first purchase). Another bullet in the chamber for this unusual Black Friday season... https://www.cnet.com/news/pay-40-for-a-sams-club-membership-get-45-in-gift-cards/ Happy Shopping!

I wrote this up for a friend and wanted to share here. He was looking for alternatives to Comcast. It turns out there are some very good options... Over-The-Air (antenna)... A UHF antenna pointed at Boston/Needham would likely pull in... ABC/WCVB, BOUNCE, BUZZR, CBS/WBZ, CHARGE!, circle, COMET, COZI, CW/WLVI, DABL, Fox/WFXT, getTV, GRIT, Heroes & Icons, HSN, ION, LAFF, MeTV, Mystery, MyTV/WSBK, NBC/WBTS, NBC/LX, PBS/Create/Kids/World, qubo, QVC, Stadium, Start, TBD, ThisTV, and WHDH Adequate antenna could be hung in a south facing window... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HQ4BRIG Add a Recast whole house DVR and you can watch two concurrent streams on any TV equipped with a FireTV stick... https://www.amazon.com/Fire-TV-Recast-over-the-air-DVR-1TB-150-hours/dp/B074J1GPB8https://www.amazon.com/Fire-TV-Stick-4K-with-Alexa-Voice-Remote/dp/B079QHML21 With the Recast, if you subscribe to Pluto (free) or Philo ($20/month) the channels are added to your OTA program guide. If you subscribe to Prime, you can add premium channels to your guide as well. https://help.philo.com/channel-lineup/https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-prime-video-channels-everything-you-need-to-know/ There is also something called PrimeTV... https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/epg Free/Ad Supported TV and Movies... PlexTV: https://mediaverse.plex.tv/Pluto: https://pluto.tv/welcomeRoku Channel: https://therokuchannel.roku.com/Vudu: https://www.vudu.com/ Free streamed local channels... https://www.locast.org/markets/506 You can stream 'cable replacement' services... YouTube TV: https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/ $64.99/monthfuboTV: https://www.fubo.tv/welcome $64.99/$84.99/monthHulu + Live TV: https://www.hulu.com/live-tv $54.99/monthSling TV: https://www.sling.com/ $30/monthPhilo: https://www.philo.com/login/subscribe $20/monthAT&T TV Now: https://www.atttvnow.com/ from $55/month You can try most (all?) of these on your PC. Most (all?) for free. It would be best to try all of these and decide what works best for you before cancelling COMCAST.

Not yet. Just got the new deep fryer. Tonight is her maiden voyage -- french fries. Mission is benchmarking. This is necessary because the fryer sets the temperature via a variable resister set by the operator rather than reacting to a measured temperature. While I have found that the fryer maintains a consistent temperature, that temperature does not align with the one on the dial. Also, the top temperature appears to be 350f vs the advertised temperature of 400f. A lot of my recipes call for temperatures of 375f. That said, chips and fries were excellent. The chips were just a test. We had fries with marinated steak tips and corn on the cob -- great way to end an August weekend. Lobstah and clams tomorrow. Nice way to start off an August week ;-)

I am angry on your behalf. I am angry for all the soldiers who have been let go by companies taking all the government money. I hope you get a great job so you can lift a finger towards your former employer. I am already doing that.

August 1st. Not much different than June 1st or July 1st for me. School is paid for, will be remote, and is on autopilot. Work is still pretty comfortable. I've worked from home about 1/3 of time so far this year. It's a little less now (1/5), but my commute remains a breeze, gas prices are still <$2/g, and parking is not a problem. I do not get out of my car from the time I leave my workplace until I reach the New Hampshire border. Despite not getting any stimulus handouts and losing a lot of money in my 401k, I have managed to accumulate a pile of cash this year. Retirement plans are firming up. I am now 638 days from pension eligibility and 881 days from retirement. I have finally succumbed to the mask nazis. Unlike this guy... I found a couple comfortable masks on ebay. They still impair my breathing and lower my O2 levels, but I only use one when absolutely necessary... The seller does custom masks and is making me a couple Make Breathing Great Again! masks. White print on red, of course. The girl who cuts my hair has set up shop at a new location. We've seen her once this summer. My dentist has re-opened. My son has an appointment Friday. Dentist sent a link to a new device they are using to keep us all safe... Hope the hygienist doesn't breathe on my eyes or teeth. I gag a little looking at the picture. Should be fun. And now, no t-shirts! Happy August.

You have my attention...

As long as each comes with a t-shirt!

I just told the woman I work for that she ought to accumulate 'must have' items now. Ships packed with Christmas leave China in August most years. Even if they leave on time filled with stuff made in workerless factories, it will be a challenge to get items to the shelf. Worse, shipping will continue to deteriorate.

My sister used to work in HR. She always warned me that HR works for the company not the employees. Don't trust them. If you are part of a union, ask your steward what is going on. If not, hope for the best and plan for the worst. Consider looking for another job. It's a good idea to do that when you are still financially comfortable.

This is a welcome development.

It's pretty public... https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2020/07/21/walmart-invests-428-million-more-in-associates-with-another-special-bonus-totaling-1-1-billion-in-special-bonuses-so-far-this-year?fbclid=IwAR2DNWTI_t4orsiopN_rL42TxkeRQrjKViSIPFxu8RGipsNZFqWq2tkC1kw&irgwc=1&sourceid=imp_Sg8TY-WYDxyOWecwUx0Mo38XUkiRdiUZUwCQSY0&veh=aff&wmlspartner=imp_64406&clickid=Sg8TY-WYDxyOWecwUx0Mo38XUkiRdiUZUwCQSY0&sharedid= I've always been of the opinion that I am fine with whatever works best for the retailers and employees. As long as no one is punished for not working, I am OK with the stores being open. I will never forget opening my paycheck for the first Thanksgiving I worked. I could not even do the math. I worked overnight Thanksgiving and into the Friday opening plus a Sunday. It was a lot of money for an 21 year old student. As I get older, I am starting to think, as a society, we need to work less and celebrate more. This is step in the right direction.

I wonder if that $428m in bonuses equals payroll for that one day. That would be pretty cool.

The only things I have bought from Walmart on Black Friday have been purchased on my way home form my in-laws on Thanksgiving...

I feel the same. B&M sales will be less spectacular and less successful as they have been since Amazon decided to join the battle. This will still happen... I have two items in my BestBuy.com cart because I can get just as good a deal without dealing with their new rules. Every sneeze going forward will be a new surge and met with measures that make B&M's less attractive. Just paid $1.56 for heating oil. Gas is still under $2/g. Got eggs for $0.99/dozen, porterhouse steak for $5.97/lb, and chicken tenders for $1.97/lb. Crazy deals on televisions every day. So, this was a good prediction... Supply chain is firming up. Ford is taken deposits on their new Bronco. Made in the USA, but quite a long supply chain. Retailers will blame the pandemic for their woes, but they caught the flu a long time before we did. I think the Big Change will be retailers marking down merchandise faster out of fear of other retailers marking down merchandise fast. With no 'back to school' for many and Amazon removing boundaries from Prime Days, I suspect we are already in the Black Friday season. I see a lot of this in Amazon's 'Today's Deals'... PRIME EARLY ACCESS DEAL Still, I stand by this...

Thank you. I'm giddy!

^^^ Have you done this?

A few years ago, our Boy Scout troop attended a jamboree at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. I had seen fast cars speeding around a track on television, but had only been to New England Dragway in Epping. We were allowed to be in the stands of the track while a Corvair club was doing laps. I don't know how fast those cars were moving, but the smell, roar, and feel as they passed in front of me was intoxicating.

My Gourmia Tri-Basket Digital Deep Fryer crapped out (the heating element powers on, but the buttons do nothing) after just over three years. I bought it in April of 2017 from Kohls for $38.49 (gottadeal, right?). I started out frying stuff in a dutch oven, but had trouble managing temperature. This solved that problem. I read that people re-use oil as many as ten times. Sounds crazy, but I would like to reuse oil if possible given the price of peanut oil. Filtering and storage of the used oil are not as important as temperature management, reliability, and ease of cleaning, but they are on my radar. Also, I only fry in oil about three times a year. We do it for for a whole day -- fritters or doughnuts for breakfast, chips with lunch, and a fisherman's platter for dinner. Then we start frying anything and everything until I run out of batter. The T-Fal FR8000 is a top rated fryer with a filtration and storage system, but it is 4x the price of my old fryer. Panned by America's Test Kitchen, but higher rated than the FR8000 by Amazon reviewers, is the Presto 05411 GranPappy To me, the big drawback to this option is that the temperature cannot be adjusted. The GranPappy always cooks at 375F. This chart recommends a wide range of temperatures. While reading about the GranPappy, I stumbled across this Presto 06009 Kitchen Kettle Multi-Cooker/Steamer. It is inexpensive, has adjustable temperature, is multipurpose, and has good ratings. The controls are mechanical and likely more durable... Steams, stews, roasts, boils, deep fries and more.Deep fries up to ten cups for jumbo batches of chicken, fish, fries, and donuts.Multi-use basket for deep frying, steaming, and blanching. Ideal for seafood and vegetables.Basket hooks onto rim of multi-cooker for draining.Fully immersible and dishwasher safe with heat control removed.Material type: Non-Stick Glass Aluminum It looks like I ought to be able to cook three lobsters in a 10qt pot. I don't know if people deep fry these days or has used this specific appliance, but I'd appreciate any input.

I'm a breast man. At the grocery store, that's where my eyes go. I'll suffer unappealing breasts if packaged with a single, fully formed, nicely shaped, pleasingly plump breast. The under achievers are set aside for lesser dinners while that one, perfect piece is reserved for Chicken Cordon Bleu. I set the breast smooth side down in the freezer until it is stiff but pliable. I take off the raggedy side with my meat slicer then` set the blade to half the thickness of the chicken and cut almost all the way through. I butterfly the cut breast, slip it into a large plastic bag, and pound it to a uniform shape and thickness with a rolling pin. I salt and pepper both sides, coat the worse side with a film of dijon mustard, layer with sliced ham then swiss cheese then more ham, roll the whole mess up and secure, coat with flour then egg then flour again, and air fry at 350 for 14 minutes. You're supposed to use panko crumps and parm cheese for the outer coating, but my kid prefers the 'fried chicken' version I described. This week I grabbed the best breast. It was huge, nearly square, and more than an inch thick. It was too big to cut on my meat slicer, so I carefully cut it with my electric knife. I had to 'truss' the roll because it was too big to secure with metal skewers. For the first time, I used the temperature probe of my air fryer to cook from top and bottom at 360 until the middle reached 165. This thing looked like a small loaf of bread when I removed it from the air fryer. I had to locate and remove the twine, but that was easy peasy. Then I sliced it like a loaf of brioche. I served it with roasted broccoli and riced cauliflower and garlic knots. My awesome air fryer Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe My only deviation from Ms. Laurence's recipe is to simply use flour for the outer coating. Bon Appétit!