And now for your household tip of the day:

To remove grease stains from leather, dab stiffened egg white to the leather and rub with a soft cloth.

My new shoes and I will let you know the results shortly.

Sometimes, even I do not feel much like working. Today happens to be one of those days. Unfortunately, I typically cannot indulge that urge unlike some of friends. I will not name names, but the slackers know who they are. I am a nice guy though, so at least dedicate a little time in my honor when you play one of these free gems.

Food festivals are a good thing in my book. Hence, today's upcoming Taste of Honolulu is a good thing. There are twenty-five restaurants to sample from this year, live entertainment, wine tasting and a beer tent, it is only $3 (plus the cost of any food) to get in, and it all supports a good cause. Sounds like a sure thing to me. Now, if Friday would only creep along a little bit faster.

For those of us who become newly independent, it comes as a shock that certain foods and products have things called expiration dates. Now, being the "live fast, die young" guy that I am, I generally feel that expiration dates were made to be broken. Fortunately for my friends and loved ones, I am much better these days than I used to be (it is amazing what a steady paycheck can do to a person). Anyway, back to the topic at hand. For those of you who prefer to be a little more cautious, Real Simple magazine has a handy list of common expiration dates.

Note to self: Stock nuclear fallout shelter with plenty of honey and mayonnaise.

In my other life, I am an amateur scientist. Even with these excellent qualifications, too much thinking about Quantum Theory tends to make my brain explode. Despite this unfortunate side effect, this article about a new quantum model for time travel tickles my brain just right.

In this case, once you witness the state of something, say the existance of a loved one, it is impossible to travel back in time to kill them because their state has already been determined by your witnessing their existance. I have no problem with this idea so far, but once I start thinking about the why's and the how's of Quantum Theory, that is when I start thinking too much. So, it is back to work for me before I am left scraping bits of brain from the floor again.

Like the new digs? Do not mind the mess (i.e. the stock template) while I work on the makeover. I am thinking about applying to one of those home makeover shows, so I can have my very own budget of $3.98 and team of monkeys to knock down walls and compile code. Either way, knowing my schedule and lack of energy when breaks exist within that schedule, I probably would not expect too much excitement for at least a couple of months.

P.S. I would seriously consider moving to Virginia just so I could say that this man is my Senator. I know it does not seem like a hot button issues in these times of scandalous memos, housing bubbles and climate collapse, but it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside when a rational person actually tries to represent and protect the people who elected him.

I actually have a wealth of information to disseminate today, but of course, not enough time to cover it. So, as a consolation prize until I do have time to actually write, you get a new toy that has me drooling. I have been searching high and low for the perfect alarm clock that does not cost $200, and this may just be the winner.

So much to do, so little time...or human capital to do it with for that matter. Anyway, got just enough time to post up a quickie today. It is something that will be helpful to me as an amateur chef and all-around cheapskate. Here is a nice list of when different foods are in season, which generally means when they are cheapest.

I know I had something meaningful to talk about today, but it turned into another typical Friday around here (and no, that is not a good thing). Anyway, I do have something to keep you busy on what is most likely a slow Friday afternoon for most of you.

I am kind of skeptical of its accuracy, since my ethnicity ranges from 100% Chinese to 75% Japanese/25% Chinese. Last time I checked, I was a member of the German/Swedish clan, but hey, I suppose that is good news for my girlfriend's very traditionally Chinese parents. Additionally, I only rank 1.4 on the slut scale and 1.6 on the gay scale, so good news for my girlfriend as well! Anyway, it did rank me as an intellectual alpha, which did seem to fit fairly well. That could very well be the broad scope of the personality categories playing tricks on me though.

We really need to hire some more people around here. Anybody looking for a job? Anyway, I found this the other day. There are some interesting products at the top, but the good stuff is down towards the bottom. Unfortunately, I did not read the books, but I do remember some Jules Verne movies that definitely sparked my scientific imagination when I was much younger. Now, why are there never any cool things like this where I live?

Raze the villages! Rape the towns! Loot the women! Storm the castle! "How," you may ask. Why with your very own trebuchet, of course!

Just once, is it really too much to ask for everyone to come to work for a full day? Is it too much to ask for them work with the corporate cards dealt to us instead of complaining to me about why did we not get dealt a full house? Is it too much to ask for the customer to be patient enough to understand that we only have five technicians to support 4,000 computers?

I suppose it is, but then again, maybe I just complain too much?