Got a fish tank yesterday for the kid, 15 gallon freshwater. Went to PetsMart bought all the shit to decorate it, bulbs to grow live plants, heater, chemicals, home testing kit, whole nine. Left about $250 poorer. Let it cycle, went to the pet store and got some starter fish. It was a day long process. Of course he only cares about it when we feed the little fuckers, and the wife and I are thoroughly enjoying it. Seems like that is how it always ends up -- kid only wants to play with mom and dad's real shit, we play with his toys more than him.
Guts are best when done like any other item. Liver will make a pate, sweet breads make good chicken nuggets with honey mustard sauce, tripe in goulash, marinara, or stew, etc. Had some tripe marinara in Florence and it damn near brought a tear to my eye. I have never made it that good, or tender. Stuff that squid. Toothpick the cavity closed, grill him low heat at least half an hour. I used to do an olive salad as a stuffing, drizzle him with a lemon vinaigrette. Or you could do a bread stuffing using his tentacles and other seafood. Braise him in a little tomato sauce for 30-45 depending on size. Shit, that sounds good. Or just slice him into rings to fry, or to make fra diavolo and linguine. Woke up today, immediately started a jambalaya for lunch. Whole house smells like sausage, bacon, and sauteed onions. Got a little tasso and shrimp to throw in too. Some cote du rhone in the fridge. Commence boner.
I should have mentioned I hate olives but I have been looking for Mediterranean dishes. I like the look of this recipe. I happen to have a few bunches of dill.
My counter top fryer is one of the most-used appliances in my kitchen. Wife hates it, keeps trying to hide it from me, but I always find it right around the time I get more ideas for shit to fry. Also, America: this is why we're fat. Just returned from the store with two pounds of bacon, eggs, panko crumbs, a pound of jalapenos and a shit load of cheese. Thinking of trying some friend bacon wrapped cheese balls covered in beer batter with panko crumbs, and some version of an armadillo egg.
In case anyone is interested (and missed my other post), SpaceX is having a live YouTube webcast of their launch that goes off in about 10 minutes:
Wild... they had to abort right at ignition (T-0)... very interesting to watch their failure protocols.
I remember when Home Depot used to hire actually knowledgeable people for their different departments and you would go in there to get parts and advice. Now they're all just Walmart graduates. Fuck Home Depot.
I find that there are about 5% of the staff at my local Home Depot that actually know their shit... 3 old guys that were contractors for years and are now enjoying heated, indoor work and benefits. I know two of them by name, and when I'm looking for some advice and the 16 year old kid asks if I need any help, I just ask if he knows where Larry or Tim are. We have a locally owned franchise called Home Hardware that is way, way better for experience, but they just lack the inventory of Home Depot. I'll usually try there first, and give them first try at solving the problem. Most stuff is, at most, 3 days delivery away, so if it fits my timeline, I'll be happy with that. If I need it right now, then I'll go to Home Depot.
I think part of it might be a reflection of society. I am constantly surprised by how many of my friends--men in their late twenties mind you---who are completely unable to perform even basic home repair.
One of my developers called a plumber to clean out the p-trap under his kitchen sink a couple of weeks ago. I was speechless.
The people that work at home depot are minimum wage employees. Where in the fuck are you going to find someone knowledgeable in anything to work at those wages?
Not all of them. Some of them are senior "experienced" guys. Sure, the vast majority are just meat puppets that wear the uniform, but there are a select few that know what they are doing. I don't know if that's just in my area, or part of the global Home Depot plan, so your mileage may vary. I do know that a long-time friend of the family who ran his own contracting company for years was aggressively pursued by his local Home Depot to come in as a senior guy, as they were actively looking for that "grey hair" experienced person on the team.
At work we have our own in-house maintenance company, carpenter, and an outside plumbing company that is basically supported by us and referrals. Regardless, I keep my tool box full in my truck and it's a daily thing for me to do these kind of repairs at the school I office out of. It's quicker, saves time and money, I usually end up doing it better than they would have anyway and just as importantly it's a good excuse to get away from the desk. Make it a point to explain to the teachers what I'm doing and why, so they can go home and tell their boyfriends and husbands they are idiots. #1 cause of a clogged sink for me is a paint brush clogging up a p trap. The kids love watching me do it and the parents think it's awesome we're teaching them things they don't otherwise learn in school (and sometimes the parents don't know how to do themselves). A few months ago I was cleaning out a p-trap, taught the teacher how to do it, and she goes "oh, that's good to know! Would have come in handy when my husband lost his wedding ring in the sink!" There's just some things every man should know how to do. But there's also some things EVERYONE should know how to do.
I worked there many moons ago. You had to know SO much shit. Especially the plumbing aisle, which holds about twenty thousand separate products. You had to greet literally everyone, even when they had their back turned to you so you seemed like a creepy orange ninja. And this fucking place sends in "undercover customers" who if you didn't serve absolutely proper, speaking each line in a certain order to them would result in you being officially written up. Ridicous regulation to sell strictly second and third (and occasionally fifth) rate building product. Now they don't give a fuck. It's like Canadian Tire and Wal-Mart where the employees hide from you when you enter their department. You ask them about an issue or product and Stosh who's fresh off the hovercraft replies "You must using the wrong kind of hammer with these screws!"
I recently had a Home Depot guy tell me they didn't stock a certain item, I think just to avoid helping me. Ended up finding it in the same aisle I was in when I asked him. The local Lowes has fantastic customer service, but that's just the one specific store. It varies with them place to place. I've actually found that this board is the best place to go with obscure questions, no matter the subject. It's a consistently valuable resource for me. Seems like every week now I'm make up an excuse about hearing something from "a friend" or "online somewhere... I forget."
I generally try to avoid talking to the Home Depot employees unless I need something off of a high shelf or I need to know what aisle something is in, because Home Depot apparently picks a floorplan at random for what is essentially a warehouse. Where I grew up, Lowes dominated the market for contractors, and I am probably permanently biased in thinking that that Lowes is for professionals, Home Depot is for your random homeowner, and Ace Hardware is for the people who know what the fuck they are doing.
I'm trying to think if there even exists a simpler home repair job. Calling an HVAC tech to change the filter in your furnace?