October 2016

Sunday 2016.10.30

Dermatologist

On Thursday I visited the Dermatologist to learn more about the mole (formerly moles) on the side of my face. I mentioned in an earlier blog post that my personal doctor thought they should be cut off and sent to a lab to test for cancer. However, since then, one came off of its own accord — well, almost. I knocked it off with a towel when drying my face. Nothing was left behind but a very small scab, which fell off a week later, leaving nothing behind but skin — no scar. So I didn't want anything cut off. If a mole is going to fall off on its own, why cut it off and leave a mark? At 65 years old I'm not vain enough to worry too much about my face, but I don't want to eventually look like Frankenstein in my videos.

The dermatologist looked at the moles closely, using a magnifier, and announced they were nothing to worry about. No need for a biopsy. I asked him to remove skin tags, which he did. That hurt a little afterward, but I'm glad to see them gone. I also asked him about the one fingernail that keeps splitting. Can anything be done?

He said they recommend biotin. I went to the Vitamin Shoppe near where I live. A 120 tablet bottle of 5mg biotin cost me $16. Then I went to Costco, across the street. Same dosage, 250 tablets, $12. I won't make that mistake again.

Vlogging

Vlogging has opened up a whole new opportunity for me. I'm a thinking person. If you watch my first vlog you hear me say often, "I got to thinking about that." Even when I'm not thinking, there is some thinking going on in the background. I mention that because I got to thinking about the attraction of vlogging. And I think I understand it.

I get to talk!

Like everyone, I have friends. There are two in particular who love to have someone listen to them talk. They'll talk for hours if I let them. I used to have three such friends, but one of them stopped associating with me after I made it clear he would need to buy the food if he wanted me to cook meals for him. He likes getting fed for free. To be honest, he is cheap, the cheapest person I know. I like to say about him: "He's the only person I know who'll stop and get out of the car to pick up a penny."

Those other two friends don't crash my food budget, but they talk. Sadly, they only like to talk, not listen. A few years ago I called one to tell her about something that happened to me. She talked for an hour and then said, "Well, I've got to go pick up my son. Bye." I never got to tell her why I called.

Needless to say, I rarely call those two friends. In fact, their names in my cellphone's caller list begin with the words, in caps, "DO NOT CALL." That's a reminder to me to think before I press the "call" button.

Do you know what custom ring tones are? Most cell phones have them these days. You can create little MP3 files, maybe a favorite jingle, and put them in your phone. You can also assign them to individual persons in your phone's caller list. Using my computer, I recorded my voice, saying "(Name) is calling" for each of my friends, and then I transferred the files into my phone. When they call me, I don't need to look at the display to see who is calling. I hear "(Name) is calling." If it is one of the talkative friends, I quickly decide whether or not I have an hour to lose listening to them ramble on interminably about every subject that interests them. If not, I don't answer the phone.

And they never leave a voice mail. They don't want me to know they called. They want someone to listen to them talk for a while. If I don't answer, they probably call someone else.

And so that, I think, is the beauty I am enjoying about vlogging. I can sit in front of my camera, blather on and on about whatever is interesting me at the moment, and no one interrupts. Which brings up another issue.

I hate to be interrupted when I am talking. I was trained differently as a child in New England. Besides referring to my parents' sister as "aunt" (like the word "on" followed by a T) rather than "ant" — "Your mother's sister is not an insect!" — I was taught never to interrupt someone when they are talking. I listen. I even think about it when someone is talking. "Listen," I tell myself. I intentionally practice listening.

To be fair, I have other friends who are not addicted to being heard. I have lunch with one every week. We exchange conversation for an hour and it is thoroughly enjoyable. Whether it's politics, South Park, movies, or news, we both talk and we both listen. Lately I've been meeting with some new friends over coffee and possibly snacks, usually at a restaurant down in the city, and we talk. No one dominates the conversation. It is pleasant.

But vlogging is like 10 minutes of uninterrupted monologue. I love it.

Rain Report

We got some rain, about 2/3 of an inch (2cm) here. And it put us ahead for a little while. We are currently at 129% of normal. The rain isn't reversing the decline in our reservoir capacity, but at least it is reducing the rate at which we are running out of lake water. What we need is a storm that stalls. I remember such storms. It rained nearly constantly for four days. Fast-moving storm fronts pass over the area, dropping rain for half an hour, and keep going. They water the yard — thank you very much — but they don't contribute much. It's only the beginning of our rain season, which technically starts on October 1st. As I do every winter, I'll be watching.

Wednesday 2016.10.26

My First Ever Vlog

As I've said in previous blog posts, I've been toying with the idea of video blogging, or vlogging, in addition to this written blog. I shot my first vlog on Sunday afternoon and I titled it "Really, Really Big Stuff." Wishful thinking?

I contacted a friend, the guy who taught me how to do videos, hoping he would watch it and tell me whether or not to upload it to YouTube. If he isn't texting someone, he is watching YouTube videos on his phone. However, speaking of his phone, he is not easy to reach right now. I have never known a person who has worse luck with phones — he loses them in rivers, or down a mountainside when hiking, or sits on them and cracks the screen, drops them down a flight of stairs. I still have the same phone I got around 2005. It's still working. He has replaced his phone many times.

The best I can hope to do is email him. But, without a phone, he doesn't get his email unless he can borrow someone's computer. And even when he has a working smart phone, he checks his email once every two to three weeks. I should text him, but he doesn't have….

After watching my vlog many times, I decided it was, hopefully, good enough to upload to YouTube. It won't go viral. It isn't entertaining enough for that. But I have the audio/video equipment; so why not use it another way? I uploaded it, but the watch time was so short, I deleted it. Viewers weren't staying engaged.

Up A Notch

To be honest, I find the vlogging thing a little addictive. It's enjoyable. No, it's fun! I've been sort of "roughing it" though. I use the kitchen counter on which I do my cooking demonstrations. That's the one I built several years ago so that I could face the camera. It's a good height for standing, but too high for vlogging (unless I stand).

I want to sit behind it like I would sit behind a desk. I look more relaxed. Normal desk height is around 28 inches (70cm). The counter top is 37 inches (94cm) above the floor. Sitting in a standard desk chair, the top surface is a little below my chin. That won't do. So I turned a plastic milk crate upside down, placed an upside-down plastic five-gallon bucket on it, and then I set a small sofa cushion on that. It was just right, if a little precarious.

It worked, if I didn't think too much about what might happen at my age if I were to fall off it. All that danger was set aside on Monday. Last week I ordered an adjustable stool that was high enough to sit comfortably at the counter. It arrived two days ago, and it is wonderful. I love it. It really pleases me when something so simple can solve a problem so well. The stool wasn't expensive either — less than $90 on Amazon, with free shipping.

Sunday's Feature Recipe

As I've been saying, the holidays are coming. Thanksgiving is less than a month away here in the USA, and Christmas follows a month later. I've been planning for this. People will be looking for recipes. I did three potato side dishes — Potatoes au Gratin, Potatoes Dauphinois, and Scalloped Potatoes. The first one is the easiest. None of them are difficult.

I like potatoes. Almost any preparation of potatoes is fine with me. Who could find anything wrong with Fish & Chips? Any of the three potato preparations would make an excellent side dish for your holiday roast. I plan to upload all three during the next few weeks.

There was one issue however. When I looked for the photographs of the third dish, Scalloped Potatoes, there were none. I know I photographed it. What happened? Evidently, I thought I had already offloaded them to my computer and I formatted the camera's memory card. I need those photographs! Yesterday I made the dish again, just for the pictures. Thankfully it is delicious. I brought a large portion to a neighbor and I even gave some to the postal guy who was delivering our mail.

I probably should mention these aren't special dishes. They wouldn't stand on their own, any more than a plate of mashed potatoes and gravy might. They are side dishes, modest enough not to detract from the main feature, such as a roast turkey or ham. I can't be certain, but I suspect they'll be popular on my YouTube channel.

Sunday 2016.10.23

The Last Debate

I did watch the debate. More and more people, with the exception of the staunch Trump supporters, are agreeing Trump lost this election. I am happy the debates are over. There is nothing more to do for the remaining two weeks but follow the polls. If the rhetoric can be trusted, however, it won't be over after November 8th.

The analyses range from mild — the Republicans will adjust their image (like they promised they would, but didn't, after losing control of both chambers of Congress in 2008) — to severe, a civil war between the Reds and the Blues, brandishing votes rather than weapons. The books are probably being written right now. Some will trace the rise and fall of Trump, others will focus on the Republican party and suggest copious ways to change, and others will explain how the Dems did it right. I'll probably read a few.

Meanwhile, I continue to look at the prediction web sites like FiveThirtyEight.com to see how the predictions of a Clinton victory change. I don't agree with their projections of Electoral College votes. FiveThirtyEight appears to calculate percentages of state votes. With the exception of Maine and Nebraska, the states are winner take all. If a candidate wins more than 50% of the popular vote in California, that candidate wins 100% of the state's 55 electoral college votes.

If the current predictions hold true on November 8th, I calculate Clinton will have 358 votes and Trump will have 180. She will have the needed 270 before the polls close in Nevada. California, Oregon, and Washington here on the West Coast won't be factors. The predictions are, after all, only predictions. They can be wrong. Many were wrong during the primary season.

More unpredictable is the outcome of the Senate. Will the Democrats win control of that chamber? I won't even speculate. I've seen the predictions range from 50-50, with the Vice President needed to break tie votes, to a massive win for the Dems. I won't pay it much attention until election day.

The mid-term election in 2018 will be an important factor. If the war between the Reds and the Blues materializes, Clinton will be fought by Congress, no matter how good her proposed legislation might be. Republican Senator John McCain initially vowed he would block any Supreme Court nomination submitted to the Senate by Clinton. He later retracted that statement, saying he would consider a nominee's qualifications (read qualifications as "staunchly conservative"). A Democratically controlled Senate would be helpful, but the House will still be under Republican control for the next two years.

If Hillary can't produce results during her first two years in office (as Obama failed to do), the voters will retaliate by casting their votes for Republican congressmen, further stymieing her efforts to lead the country. We'll see another repeat of Obama's first term in office.

Personally, I look forward to putting all this behind me and looking to a better future. I don't trust the dire warnings of the fall of the American empire. We're a resilient nation. The pendulum swings back and forth. Some generations do better than others. If I could hope for anything, it would be that one party would lose so badly that they are then forced to accept progress and make major changes for the better. This country is changing. Whites are becoming a minority. Our government cannot hold onto the past and make it the present again.

And Then There Was the Dinner

MSNBC's Chuck Todd: "I didn't know you could lose the Al Smith Dinner."

Republican strategists are being interviewed on TV. They are saying: "There is still time." Trump could turn things around and win the election. Hmm, I wonder what the odds are of winning the lottery…

Gestation

When I was in college my major was Theatre. I can credit that experience for my comfort doing videos. I performed in front of thousands of people. It's so much easier to perform in front of a camera where I can re-shoot a clip again and again until I get it right. And I edit my own videos; so I have even more latitude to fix errors.

I bring that up because I remember reading An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavsky. It was a required text when I was in the acting program. He wrote about an actor gestating a character (this is method acting as opposed to technique) by reading the script again and again until the character was understood well enough to be fully portrayed on stage.

A while ago I blogged about possibly doing vlogs, or video blogs, in addition to these written blogs. I set up my camera in my home office, tried a few vlogs, and I didn't like them. They just didn't seem right. Finally, after several weeks, the idea came to me. Why not do them in my kitchen where I feel most comfortable in front of a camera? After all, I've been shooting videos there for more than six years. The difference would be that I would sit on a chair behind my kitchen counter in a more relaxed, more casual manner. There wouldn't be a lot of action, like there is in other vlogs, but I'd have a gimmick — "Welcome to my kitchen vlog." How many people vlog from their kitchen?

Wednesday 2016.10.19

Win a Few

As planned, on Sunday I did the Bourbon Chicken recipe again. And I shot the video too. I followed the original recipe closely, but I used half the volume of soy sauce. I also added a sprig of fresh rosemary and two sprigs of fresh thyme from my little herb garden, which is a collection of ceramic pots of various herbs outside my home.

This time the chicken turned out right. It was delicious. The marinade did its job. The chicken was lightly flavored, but the delicate flavor of the chicken predominated.

I reserved about ¼ cup of the marinade and every 10 to 15 minutes I brushed it on the chicken, which baked for less than an hour. There is brown sugar dissolved in the marinade; so it gave the chicken a slight varnished appearance, which I think looks perfect.

Rain

We did indeed enjoy some rain. Most of it passed through during the night, which was good for motorists. The first precipitation is always the most dangerous because the roads are slick and after several months without a drop of rain, some drivers forget how to drive on wet roads.

A few times during the evening I stood outside on the porch, under the awning, and watched it rain. It was gentle but steady, light enough to soak in rather than run off quickly. Where I live we had about a third of an inch. I won't need to water my landscaping for about a month.

Research

I like it when people make me do some research. There is always something new to learn. Sunday I uploaded my replacement video for Bailey's Irish Cream. Someone commented it wasn't really Bailey's because I used Scotch. Well, yes, technically true. But I could see where the discussion was going in the comments. Some were thinking Scotch isn't whiskey, as different from whiskey as rum is from bourbon. But Scotch isn't an entirely different spirit.

There is Scotch whisky and Irish whiskey (notice the difference in the spelling). They're both nearly the same, but Irish whiskey (according to the research I read) is distilled three times for a lighter flavor. Scotch has a more distinct flavor. It makes a difference to those who enjoy drinking straight whiskey, or mixed with water or soda. In a mixed liqueur like Bailey's with so many other flavors (coffee, almond, chocolate, etc.), I doubt anyone would know the difference, or care.

Meetup

We have an active Meetup community here. Meetups are available across the nation. If you've read enough of my blog posts you'll remember my writing about the World News Discussion Group I used to attend. I enjoyed it for about a year, but it changed in ways that left me feeling unsatisfied. The organizer is more than a little insecure about the upcoming election. He is desperate to see Hillary Clinton win; so if Trump's probability improves by a tenth of a percent (even if it is only 14.3% compared to her 85.7%) he panics and worries all is lost. Rather than a news group, it changed to "Liberal Democrats." He needs the reassurance.

Yesterday I attended a new one, titled Best of Times. I actually didn't mean to join. I wanted to click the "More Information" link and accidentally clicked "Join." The group is for older people seeking association. The organizer claims to be about 70.

It was a relaxed gathering. There were only five of us. The conversation was pleasant — we mostly learned about each other. There is only so much to tell; so I am curious to see how future conversations will proceed.

Remember This Date

A day to go down in infamy? Oh shock! Oh horror! Oh calamity! Did the world come to an end and I didn't notice? An error slipped past an editor at The New Yorker magazine. I might as well switch to reading The National Enquirer instead.

In an article about working for the New York super-chef Mario Batali the author wrote: "I felt an obligation to honor this bird in my hand by insuring that its thigh oyster found its way onto the plate." He was deboning a duck.

I have always loved The New Yorker — first for the cartoons, then I started reading the articles, especially the ones about food. As I mentioned in my last blog post, a writing instructor advised us students to read the magazine regularly because it was known to have some of the most accurate grammar to be found anywhere. Reading is a good way to improve writing. If you see it done correctly enough times, you eventually pick up the rules, even if you can't name them.

A digression: Many years ago I was interviewed by a college advisor before being admitted. "You have good diction," he said. "You must read a lot." "I've been reading the novels of Charles Dickens lately." It was true, but read enough Dickens and you'll soon learn how to write long run-on sentences. That man could fill half a page with one sentence. I had to learn how to write shorter sentences.

Did you see it? "Insuring." Insure is what you do when you purchase a policy that will pay compensation in the event of damage, loss, injury, etc. Ensure is what you do when you want to assure that something will happen.

For a long time my writing suffered two repeated mistakes — split infinitives and confusing it's and its. Probably the most famous split infinitive is in the opening lines of the Star Trek TV shows. "To boldly go where no man has gone before." An infinitive is a verb preceded by the word to. To honor, to obey, to uphold, to walk, to run, to jump — you get the picture. Those are infinitives and it ain't good grammar to split them with something like an adverb. "To go boldly" or "boldly to go" would have been correct, but maybe less dramatic.

Another one I had to learn was when to use that or which. It's a common error for someone to write something like, "He grabbed the bottle which had the longer neck." Nope — the bottle that had.… Which usually introduces a clause and is typically preceded by a comma — "quince-flavored grappa, which he made himself." It also appears in sentences like, "the author to which I refer is…"

Special thanks to word search on computers. I searched the Mario Batali article and there were 37 occurrences of the word which, all of which were used correctly. (There were also 98 occurrences of that, but I didn't check every one.)

Alas, there was a second use of insuring in the article. I did a word search for words that contained the fragment ensur and none were found. Sigh.

Another Debate

More than last time, I'm feeling ambivalent about watching this evening's debate between the candidates. I'm more interested in seeing Saturday Night Live's parody of it. Thankfully, it's the last debate. If anything, it might provide some grist for Sunday's blog post.

Sunday 2016.10.16

Cutting Boards

I typically don't bait easily. Stupidity gets to me, but I can let it go. However, when confronted with something inane, there is nothing more powerful than being armed with published scientific research. So, here goes:

A long time ago I was asked to do a video about kitchen safety, specifically about knives and cutting boards. (I believe that video is not on YouTube.) I did my research because I remembered reading something a longer time ago that said wooden cutting boards are safer than plastic boards. As I remember it, wood synthesizes its own antibacterial agents, kind of like we do, but ours are white blood cells and antibodies. Trees don't have the same circulatory system as we have; so to protect themselves from bacterial infection they create their antibacterial agents in the wood fibers. The bacteria-killing properties of those agents are still present after the trees are chopped down and the wood is harvested. They're in your house, your furniture, and your cutting board.

Plastic, on the other hand, has no defense against bacteria. Plastic, of course, is not alive and therefore infection is not a concern. However, humans are alive. New plastic cutting boards are safe because the surface is not scored with knife grooves — and that's why stores can sell them. However, as the boards are used, the number of knife cuts increases and this provides more and more places for bacteria to reside. Washing and bleaching a used plastic cutting board helps, but it is impossible to make the board safe with standard home cleaning practices. (Commercial sites might have better cleaning practices that could include heat and/or steam to sanitize the surface.)

New wooden cutting boards are as safe as new plastic boards. Used wooden boards, with many knife cuts, are safer than plastic because the natural antibacterial agents in the wood are still present. They prevent bacteria from multiplying and they eventually kill all the bacteria. Here is the University of California Davis laboratory study that proved it:

http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/docliver/Research/cuttingboard.htm

In their study they cited an earlier study that said people who use a plastic cutting board are about twice as likely to get sick from the board as the average person in the general population. People who use wooden cutting boards have about half the probability of being made sick by the board as the average person.

What brought this on?

Some idiot wrote an uninformed comment on one of my YouTube videos. I almost always delete those comments and, if the comment is highly disrespectful of minorities or whatever, I ban the person's comments from ever appearing on my YouTube channel again. It's just simpler to delete them and move on. However, if the comment is so appallingly ignorant as to be amusing, I leave it on my channel. Why shouldn't others enjoy a good laugh too?

I responded to the imbecile's comment with the link above, thinking this would be a good way to draw attention to that research. So, although the moron's comment was dead wrong, it provided an opportunity to help others learn how to be safer in their kitchen.

Needless to say, I have several wooden cutting boards but no plastic ones. And here's a tip: For a small cutting chore, use a paper plate and discard it afterward.

Wet Stuff

In the forecast is a 60% probability of rain tonight and 20% tomorrow. I normally ignore 20%. When I had a job I rode my bike to work everyday. 20% was too low to think about. It almost never rained. There was a 20% probability of rain last night, but when I checked this morning the roads were dry. 60% is hopeful.

If it happens, this will be the first rain we've seen in many months and those of us in the fifth year of a severe drought are hoping this might be an indicator of more rain to come. We desperately need it. One storm won't fill the reservoir, but maybe it will be the beginning of the end of this drought.

I'm hoping for enough rain to give my Dymondia a good watering. As it is, I only need to water it about once each month (we're allowed twice a week in this drought). A good soaking would stall the next watering by a month, and maybe by then we'll get one or two more periods of rains.

The down side is the roads. After many months of no rain the asphalt has built up a layer of hardened grease, oil, and other stuff. The first rain of the season is always the worst for drivers. The roads are slick. I open up the California Highway Patrol incidents report for this area. It lights up with collisions and hazards, a good reminder to me to stay off the roads. Thankfully, I can walk to the local stores.

Another One for the "Win a Few, Lose a Few" Category

I saw a recipe prepared on an America's Test Kitchen TV show. It was one of their Cook's Country shows. They marinated chicken in a mixture of bourbon and soy sauce, plus other flavors, and then smoked it on a grill. Aptly enough, it is called Smoked Bourbon Chicken and the recipe is in their Complete Cook's Country TV Show Cookbook (page 257). I thought I might adapt it for roasting in the oven, minus the smoke.

Well, it didn't turn out well. It looked great, as good as it looked on TV, but the flavor of the chicken was lost in the overpowering flavor of the soy sauce. I had to go for a walk in the cold night air so that I wouldn't taste the chicken again, if you know what I mean. Cold air helps. Maybe a lighter soy sauce? Less marinating time? They suggested 1 to 24 hours. Mine marinated for about 1½ hours. I think chicken has too mild a flavor for this type of marinade. Maybe fresh-caught tuna would be a better choice. Goat?

Undaunted, I walked to the store for a fresh bottle of soy sauce (mine was kind of old and dark enough to stain pine to look like ebony). Yesterday evening I set up my home for a video. I'll try again today. I know I can fix this recipe. Stay tuned.

Now What?

Next week Thursday I go to the dermatologist to learn more about the moles near my ear. Meanwhile, there has been a development. The one that looked the worst is now almost fully healed. I kept a small bandage on it because it would chafe against the pillow as I slept. Also, when I toweled my face one time after washing, I tore the cap loose and it bled a little. But now it's looking like a small scab, soon to disappear altogether.

I'll see the dermatologist as planned, but unless he can convince me otherwise, I will not permit a biopsy. And here's why:

Many years ago I went to a doctor because of some red patches on my cheeks. I wondered if they might be cancer. The doctor used liquid nitrogen to remove them. However, during the next few weeks I was more mindful and I noticed I was rubbing my cheeks as I rode my bicycle to work in the morning because my eyes would water. I switched to dabbing my cheeks lightly with tissue to absorb the tears. The rash went away. And I reported the doctor to the insurance company for performing an unnecessary procedure on me.

I'll mention that incident, diplomatically and respectfully, to the dermatologist. Maybe he'll get the message and agree with my wait-and-see attitude. My mom worked for a doctor and she taught us never to agree to any procedure unless it was absolutely necessary. I understand. Doctors have bills to pay and I have insurance. People with insurance are profitable for doctors.

I don't mind being tested for high blood pressure. They can put that cuff on my arm as many times as they want. But don't get near me with a scalpel unless you have a very good reason. The moles could be benign, or maybe I have some sort of miracle antibody that cures cancer. I'll wait.

And Finally…

I read something interesting in The New Yorker recently. I'm not getting snooty or highbrow all of a sudden. I like the magazine. Many years ago I took a writing course and the instructor told us to read The New Yorker regularly because they have the best reputation for proper grammar. It's a rare day when you find a split infinitive. You remember it, like "Where were you when the World Trade Center was attacked?" They said a political campaign is like sausages — not something anyone wants to watch being made.

Maybe that's why my sausage videos don't do as well as my bread videos on YouTube.

Wednesday 2016.10.12

Photographs

I haven't put any photographs in my blog so far this month, mostly because I haven't had many to share. I can tell you that one of the monarch butterfly chrysalises did fine. I checked it one day and saw the orange and black colors of a butterfly wing beneath the surface. I was hoping to get photos of the butterfly emerging, but when I checked a day later the chrysalis was empty. There are two others I'm watching.

Sunday's Feature Recipe and YouTube upload will be a remake of my homemade Bailey's Irish Cream recipe. Not much has changed since I did the original video five years ago, but it's an old video that I thought should be shot again and uploaded in high definition. I have many of those and maybe I'll replace more of them over time. There is no rush.

I bought more sweetened condensed milk and heavy cream last week because that bottle I filled last month didn't last as long as I thought it might. It's pleasant to relax in the evening with a little glass of Bailey's to sip. I'll make more this week.

Meanwhile, I shot a new video of my Chicken Liver Pâté recipe. It's a "cheater" recipe because it is unforgivably easy to prepare. I cook Italian sausage meat and chicken livers together and them grind it all up into a spreadable paste. I am thinking up uploading the video for the holidays, as an easy appetizer that can be made a day or two in advance.

Paul Hollywood Got It Right

If I had to choose a new profession at this point in my life, I'd bake bread. I like making and eating sausages. I can say the same for lamb, soups, and potatoes. But my bread videos do best on YouTube. Case in point:

On Sunday I uploaded my Rustic Bread video. By the following day it had been viewed more than 400 times, and is currently approaching 600. Here are a few more numbers for comparison:

Tuscan Sausages, 800 views in 2 weeks
Chocolate Chili BBQ Sauce, 400 views in 4 weeks
New England Clam Cakes, 800 views in 5 weeks
Chaurice Sausages, 800 views in 12 weeks

Some popular videos I cannot explain.

Salmon Jerkey, 16,000 in 11 weeks. That's more than 1,000 views per week!

My two most popular videos are:

Hawaiian Sweet Bread, 70,000 views and
French Bread, a whopping 178,000 views

I used to be somewhat obsessed about the popularity of my videos. A former friend convinced me I could become a millionaire, like him, by learning how to use "adwords" to seed my video descriptions with key words and phrases. I never bothered.

After a while I returned to my original mission for making these videos and having a recipe web site. It's a pastime to keep me occupied in my retirement. Going back even further, friends who loved my dinners said I should write a cookbook. The web site was an alternative.

I doubt I would have made much money with a cookbook, even if I could have found a publisher. I didn't even try because I'm not famous like Gordon Ramsay, Rachel Ray, Giada De Laurentis, and Jamie Oliver, to name a few.

So, as a not-famous person, my bread videos are the most popular of my YouTube videos, and that is why I would become a baker if I had to choose a new profession.

Should I make more bread videos? Not really. I don't make videos for a living. If I had to rely solely on the few dollars I make from YouTube I'd starve out in no time. Thankfully I have a pension and Social Security benefits. I make videos to have fun. Baking bread is fun, but so is making sausages, homemade pasta, and chicken liver pâté, even though they are not as popular.

I certainly don't ignore my audience. If you've seen enough of my videos, I often start with "I am going to fulfill another request today." Someone asked if I would do a video on Rustic Bread, and that's this week's video.

I can't fulfill all requests. Someone asked if I could do a sourdough bread video. I have never liked sourdough bread. When I was a child my parents came back from Alaska with a sourdough starter someone had given them. Some starters have been in families for generation after generation. The bread never caught on in our family. My mother's parents were Italian and we therefore ate a lot of Italian food. We preferred the flavor of regular Italian bread. I would feel bad getting some genuine sourdough starter, doing one video, and then letting the starter die. I wouldn't make more bread with it. It would be wasted.

Debate

I did watch Sunday evening's debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. There weren't many surprises. But I was sooooo nervous watching it. I was surprised that it didn't start with the words: "Candidates, load your weapons." I was hoping to hear no more than a few insults. I believe we didn't learn much that was new, but we saw two examples of conduct. I believe Hillary Clinton did a better job of displaying presidential decorum. But Trump did more to fire up his base. However, will his base be big enough to win the election? 40% is not enough to win and it isn't expanding.

And the Nobel Prize for low end mathematics goes to Donald Trump because even though it has been mathematically proven the bar can't go any lower, he proved it could.

I can't help wondering what people on other continents think about our upcoming election. The one thought that keeps coming to mind is: "You have plenty of cemeteries. Surely you could have dug up someone who would be a better candidate than these two."

I've said it before. This has been the most entertaining campaign season I've ever witnessed. It has been like one of those spooky carnival rides in the dark. What bugaboo will be lurking around the next corner? I keep counting down the days, not because I'm anticipating an exciting evening of election coverage on TV (which I sort of am), but because I'm ready for it to be over.

More than 4½ years ago I blogged about the GOP, wondering why they weren't nominating a stronger candidate to run against Obama in the 2012 campaign. (See my March 7, 2012 post.) I quote myself:

I believe Obama's re-election in November is such a foregone conclusion that any intelligent Republican who has good potential for being this country's next president is going to hide until 2016. Why waste the money and the reputation when a loss is all but guaranteed? So the Republican party this year is simply looking for the best candidate to throw under the bus. And Mitt seems to be their guy.

Well, here we are…

Sunday 2016.10.9

The Writing is On the Wall

There are four numbers currently on the wall of Belshazzar's palace in Babylon: 2 - 0 - 2 - 0. Why is the GOP focusing on 2020? There are several answers to that question.

As I mentioned in Wednesday's blog post, they have a blue chipper in Mike Pence. If Hillary's popularity is low in 2020, he'd be a good Republican candidate to run against her. If she is enjoying high popularity, the GOP would probably save him for 2024 (and maybe run Trump or Cruz again in 2020, throwing them under the bus).

Another message appearing more and more in the news reports now is that the GOP have all but written off 2016 for any hope of winning the White House. The latest prediction web sites are now estimating Clinton has better than an 80% probability of winning, with new polls improving her numbers everyday. That's not an estimate of the percentage of the electorate that would vote for her; it's a probability prediction of a victory. They're different.

As Trump has seen his popularity drop, his campaign behavior has become more and more eratic, offending more of his base and Congressional Republicans. The October surprise of his partial tax record did him no favors. He has been popular with the high school educated blue-collar workers of America. Seeing their candidate claim nearly a billion dollars in personal financial losses and then paying no income tax for 18 years didn't raise his popularity among many tax-paying voters.

Another October surprise, his open-mike recording talking obscenely about women was another nail in the coffin, costing him more female voters. Even Paul Ryan, who had recently swallowed his pride and cozied up with Trump, immediately dropped him like a lit stick of dynamite.

I am beginning to feel like I did weeks before the two conventions. The results of November's election are pretty much a foregone conclusion now. There aren't enough weeks left to make a difference (except make matters worse); so I watch other news instead. Hurricane Matthew provided a convenient respite from all the latest Trump news.

Will I watch this evening's town hall debate? Probably, but not to learn anything new. I'll watch for the entertainment factor, like I watched Lewis Black's comedy special Black to the Future on the comedy channel. I do have to say I take no delight in watching Donald Trump crash and burn in the public eye. He's the Hindenburg, in slow motion. I'm not a fan of either candidate. I think Hillary Clinton is a "Republican" Democrat. She talks about helping the middle class, but she knows where the money is. She has already made deals with Wall Street to help the rich get richer. Simply put, she might do less damage than Trump.

Can It

I received an interesting question recently. Had I tried canning my chicken stock rather than freezing it? I have a pressure cooker. So, why not?

It turns out not to be so easy. First, a pressure cooker is not a pressure canner. Although some people have successfully used their pressure cooker as a canner, it is risky for low-acid foods, such as chicken stock. I watched a few videos. The cooks added lemon juice, a little vinegar, etc. to the foods they were canning in a standard pressure cooker — acids that help lower the bacteria risk.

A true pressure canner is a larger pot with a pressure gauge on the lid. More than heat is necessary. The right pressure is necessary for the jars to seal properly. Otherwise, the food inside can spoil and make people very sick.

I had previously thought about purchasing a canner. The biggest objection is cost. How much would I save by canning my homemade chicken stock rather than freezing it? Nothing. After all, it's already practically free. And cooking for one person, how much convenience would I gain? None. It would increase the labor. Those answers don't justify spending $200 to $300 on a quality pressure canner. Even if my canning videos on YouTube made money, how long would it take to recover the cost of the canner? Years.

I don't have a large garden. I don't live in a farming community. I live in a mobile home in a trailer park in Southern California. Canning is an intriguing idea, but it's not practical for me, even if it makes popular videos.

Wednesday 2016.10.5

My October Ritual

If you've seen enough of my YouTube videos you've seen the calendar on the kitchen wall behind me. I used to buy those calendars when there was a Borders store here in town. The size was just right. Alas, Borders is gone, as is Barnes & Noble, and the calendars available at Costco aren't good enough. Now I print my own.

I don't know that it's a good thing, having that calendar there. If you watched my video on Tuscan Sausages the calendar said July. But toward the end of the video I added a clip to talk about storing and cooking the sausages. The calendar was September because I shot that clip two months later. I made sure to wear the same shirt and apron, but I forgot to change the calendar. The calendar and the clock sometimes expose my little tricks.

There is an unexplainable comfort associated with building that calendar each fall. It makes me think of women who enjoy knitting. Moving the numbers around and aligning them is repetitive and mindless. I can think about other things, or watch old Family Guy episodes on the other computer monitor. I'll delay the printing until later. That is more tedious, and sometimes frustrating if the card stock goes into the printer crooked.

Besides the kitchen, I have those calendars in my home office too.

The Billable Procedures Treadmill

On Monday morning I called for the appointment with the dermatologist. As expected, they had nothing available for more than three weeks. It's not surprising their automated phone answering system begins with: "If you are calling about a medical emergency, hang up and dial 911 or go to the hospital emergency room." The implication is clear. "If you wait for us, you'll be beyond examination by the time we can see you."

We have a very good medical network in this town. It's a money town, lots of wealthy people living up in the foothills. A lot of good doctors move here to put their kids through college and buy a new Mercedes every year. On Friday I might have insulted my doctor, with all due respect and proper decorum, by telling him I didn't want to be put back onto the "billable procedures" treadmill again. I've been there, when there was another possible cancer scare, which turned out to be nothing at all.

The medical group is "nonprofit." I put nonprofit in quotes because they seem to be very focused on earning money. I imagine all their staff meetings are more like business meetings. "Sell, sell, sell!"

Someone with a potential life-threatening medical condition is a cash cow. They ran me through every doctor, test, and lab they could, all within their own network. They didn't tell me, "You need to make an appointment to see Dr. So-and-so." No. They made all the appointments for me. "You will see this oncologist, that surgeon, get these blood tests, some x-rays, this scan, and just to make sure we've covered everything, we're sending you to our gynecologist too." Okay, I didn't see a gynecologist, but they do make certain that everyone gets their fair share when there is an insurance company to bill for procedures.

It took a year to get off the treadmill. I went in for a routine exam — "We want to see you every three months" — but the doctor didn't show up. (It was probably a new Mercedes and he couldn't figure out how to get the GPS working.) Mine was the first appointment of the day. I arrived early and explained that a very expensive item was going to be delivered later that morning (my video camera). I had to be home to sign. So, if the doctor was going to be late, would they please let me know so that I could reschedule my appointment. I waited 45 minutes beyond my appointment time and then I quietly walked away. They never called me. I haven't been back since then.

And try to cancel an appointment! When the biopsy came back negative I went to the reception desk at the oncology department to cancel my appointment. "Why do you want to cancel your appointment?" "Because I don't have cancer." "You should see the doctor anyway." "Why? There is no cancer. Why would a person without cancer see an oncologist?" I could see what she was thinking. Because you have insurance. Reluctantly, she cancelled the appointment. I thought that would look bad at the next staff meeting. "And our Oncology Department lost a sale this week. That's one demerit."

I hate the billable procedures treadmill. All tests were negative, and they gave me a staff infection.

Oh Dear…

Have you tried Nissin The Original Cup Noodles? Let me begin by saying I don't wish to offend anyone. Maybe you love Cup Noodles as the nearest modern equivalent to manna in the wilderness. I believe I have lived a deprived life, as far as Cup Noodles are concerned, and sometimes deprivation can be a good thing. For the first time in my life I tried them. I did a favor for a neighbor and she showed her appreciation by giving me four cups. She buys them by the case.

First of all, is this a message? Is she saying, "This is the only food I can afford"? I know she lives on a very limited income and I sometimes give her home cooked food. I'll also say this: Macaroni and cheese and ramen have gotten many students through college. I like them both. But Cup Noodles?

On a scale of 1 to 10 … well, numbers don't go low enough. I did eat most of one package. I'm not like Gordon Ramsay. I've seen him put food in his mouth and then spit it out so that he wouldn't cuss with his mouth full. I ate what I could, wondering How much is enough to kill me? What is the attraction? Is it the Styrofoam cup? The convenience of adding only boiling water? The dehydrated corn kernels? The liquid that sort of resembles synthetic soup?

What do I do with the remaining three cups? Thankfully she doesn't have a computer. She won't see this blog. I put them in the back of my cupboard. You never know when they might be a matter of life or death — and I'm not sure which I'd choose.

More Trump

If you didn't see the debate last week, you certainly saw the fallout, and probably the Saturday Night Live comedy sketch (which was brilliant). A couple of thoughts occurred to me this week. How far and wide has the news coverage spread? And what will happen after November 8th if he loses the election?

I'm sure everyone on every continent with a connection to news media or social media is aware of our embarrassment. Two of the least liked candidates are running for president, and out of 17 possible candidates the GOP ended up with Trump. Many Washington Republicans refuse to talk about him publicly, and when they do talk about him amongst themselves they ask, "What happened? How did we come to this?" Maybe there are a few Eskimos in the far northern regions of Alaska and Canada who don't know the difference between a Trump and a palm tree, or natives living deep in the jungles of Africa or South America who never heard of a Trump. And there are probably people thousands of miles from here who, if asked to name the two American presidential candidates, would answer, "Trump and that woman."

If he loses the election, and it is looking more and more probable he will, there will be massive news coverage of his response. "The system was rigged. My microphone didn't work. The Russians failed me." And then as he becomes old news he will fade into the background until he runs for congress or for governor somewhere.

Meanwhile, he has permeated everywhere. Trimming my toenails I'm thinking, "There must be a Trump metaphor in this." I'm confident the historians are writing books. The Rise and Fall of Trump. Or Trump: America's Catastrophe. And Who Was This Trump Person Anyway? If there is a god, he is probably shaking his head and thinking, "Take that reference to me off your money."

I can be thankful of one thing. The candidates made this campaign cycle the most entertaining one I have ever enjoyed. Politics usually bores me, but not this time.

And, Finally, the Debate

I tried watching the vice-presidential debate yesterday evening, but turned it off after less than 15 minutes. In the little I saw, Tim Kaine lost the debate by being disrespectful of Mike Pence, interrupting him and talking over him. Pence handled it well. Trump can be baited, but not Pence. He's a seasoned statesman. I'll leave the rest of the analysis to the journalists.

On the other hand, the Republicans might have a blue chipper. Watch for Pence in 2020.

Sunday 2016.10.2

Web Site Down

If you tried to visit my web site this past week and found it unavailable, there was a problem at the hosting service. I asked and their response was, "The web server hard drives are currently rebuilding after a server storage failure. The process will take some time to complete." So, no worries. My site is okay; it was the hosting service's servers.

There was no explanation of what might have caused the problems, nor how long it would take to fix other than "some time." Hours? Days? Weeks? I like my hosting service, but on a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give them a 1 for "informative." Their home page was fine. So it would have been helpful if a simple status message were placed there, something like, "We are expecting technical difficulties. We expect the web server to be fully functional in X days." Even when asked, they don't provide much helpful information.

If paid to guess, I would suspect the heat in Southern California might have had something to do with the problem. Circuits might have overloaded as air conditioners tried to deal with the record-breaking heat.

They put my site back on line by moving it to an alternate new server, but using a backup from the previous Friday. My latest feature recipe, blog, photos, etc., were all missing. Meanwhile, I wasn't able to access my site to upload the newest files. A few emails back and forth between the hosting service and myself didn't solve the problem.

If I can pat myself on the back a little, I got my site up and running mostly on my own. I did ask for tech support's help and they did provide some setting changes, but not all of them were correct. However, armed with enough information, I started experimenting with the settings. Eventually I found a configuration that worked.

And so I uploaded Wednesday's blog, even though it was two days late, because I had written it.

Welcome to Another Water Year

October 1 is the beginning of a new Water Year here in Southern California. I still have the reports from last year. We began the last Water Year with the local reservoir at 17% capacity. This year we are starting at 7.4%. As I've said before, we are currently using mostly ground water, with no plans to adopt desalination yet; so there is no immediate danger of running out of water. Nonetheless, without even an El Niño condition, this should be an interesting year.

Uh-oh Again

There might be a delay in my production of videos. I went to the doctor on Thursday because of a mole on my face. It's on my right temple, close to my ear. The doctor wants me to see a dermatologist to get a biopsy. It might be nothing, or it might be cancer. At my age, with all the years I spent on the beach, blond hair and blue eyes, back in college, it's surprising it took this long. If it is cancer, they'll remove it. Supposedly the type of cancer that causes these moles is not a type that might spread elsewhere, i.e., metastasize. It's just a nuisance because I'll have a bandage on the side of my face for a while.

I do wonder about scarring. My insurance will pay for the surgery, but any plastic surgery to reconstruct the area, if necessary, would probably not be covered. There are no big home improvement projects in the near future — I've taken care of those already — so maybe my monthly Social Security benefit might go toward the payments. However, it's too early to lose any sleep thinking about it. I'll know more after the tests come back.

I did an experimental video, turning my left shoulder a little toward the camera so that my face is slightly angled to the side. It would hide any scar on my temple. Look for it in future videos. If you see my face slightly turned, you'll know the reason why.

Meanwhile, I have enough videos backed up to cover my weekly uploads through the middle of November, and if I return to my former schedule of uploading every other Sunday, I'm covered through the end of the year.

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