The life and times of Sam Kurth. Rants, Cooking, eating, music, and whatever else he wants to talk about his life.
September 1, 2008
George wants to play with a bunny...
Thought this was pretty funny...
Posted by SammyD at 4:59 PM | Comments (0)
August 31, 2008
So I chopped up some onions that I picked up at the Des Moines farmers market on Saturday, put them on some new potatoes. Ground on some salt and pepper, and drizzled over some olive oil as a base.
Then I scored the fat of the Berkshire Pork Loin (from Eden Farms), covered both sides with salt and pepper and then rubbed in a mixture of Maille Dijon Mustard, some Iowa Honey, and some Olive Oil. The Pork loin had a lovely layer of pork fat on it.
So after 15 minutes at 450F and another ~60 minutes at 350F the meat looks like this:
On the plate with the potatoes, onions and some wonderful Smoked Garlic and Chives bread from Uncle Wendell's.
I think it turned out very well...and the pork...oh the delicious pork. It was so good.
Posted by SammyD at 10:12 PM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2008
In driving home from lunch the other day, with my boss, he reminded me of one thing that I had forgotten about.
With a justice in the 80s, and 4 in their 70s, whomever is the next president may have a huge impact on the future of this country by the possible appointments. This is an important thing that I hope that the Clinton Democrats who are still upset about the choice for the candidate realize they are making.
Anyways i heard parts of the speeches of both Clintons and Biden, and all of the Obama speech. But being that they are available on podcasts, I downloaded all of them and will be listening to them in their entirety. To give the RNC fair time I signed up for theirs when they are available.
Posted by SammyD at 9:24 AM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2008
Microsoft and Google coming to Iowa
In looking at the Des Moines Register's website yesterday, I read an opinion of someone who was complaining about the tax breaks given to both Microsoft and Google announced plans to build huge data centers in the state of Iowa. The complaint is that for the mere support of 50-75 high paying jobs per facility, and a burden on our electrical system we are trading off for huge tax breaks.
For me, this goes much deeper.
First, Google and Microsoft, even if they hire outside labor, that labor will be spending money when they are building the facilities. Being that these are huge, it will probably end up being a boon to local contractors that probably have been hurt by the downturn in the housing market (while in Iowa it hasn't been as bad as other places, it certainly has had an affect).
Second, because they are coming, there will be an uptick in investment in the infratstructure of both the electrical and internet infrastructure of Iowa. I know that Iowa has a few initiatives to build large scale wind farms, and I'm a big fan (ha ha) of that. We are used to cheap electrical prices, and I don't want that to change, but the demand from both of these, while it will be big, will only prod companies to further invest in the power generating capabilities of the state. As far as the internet goes, Iowa does not have some huge hubs of where internet traffic goes. If you take a look at the map, places like Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis have quite a number of giant pipes that go through their city. Because you would have both companies wanting multiple connections through multiple routes to the internet (to avoid things such as fiber cuts, or etc), this will prod development to bring multiple large lines to Iowa.
Having more cheap power and more redundant places to get to the internet will look very tempting to other companies that may be considering a place to put people for an IT company. Iowa has a fairly well educated workforce, but we still loose a lot of young people because a lot of the type of jobs that people want aren't here...but there is no reason why they couldn't be.
I'm thrilled that they're both coming and I have high hopes with what may follow and be spurred on by both Google and Microsoft building data centers here.
Posted by SammyD at 8:43 AM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2008
I've always thought that perhaps one day I might run for some public office, thinking that perhaps I could do some good or another. When it comes down to it, being in some sort of public office requires you to be personable and attend a lot of meetings...neither of which I excel at.
My friend Jenny Matta is running for School Board in Cedar Rapids, and it would be interesting to get that sort of inside track as to what goes on with all of that, if she were to win.
Posted by SammyD at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2008
Mexico Viejo
1760 Beaver Ave
Des Moines, IA 50310I've been here twice in less then a week. Last Friday, Shannon and I walked down there and I went again on Tuesday with Brandon and Keith from work.
Both meals were good and inexpensive. Shannon and I shared a Quesadilla with Chorizo, and then I had a Chimichanga (chicken) while Shannon had a Burrito Sonora (chicken). Both where quite good. the chorizo was red, a bit spicy and quite good. Service was quick and polite. The salsa was nice, and it seems to me like they fry their own chips (which I like). The cost was just over $30, including tip. My only complaint is that our food did not come out at the same time...If I was spending a few more dollars, I would complain more about that...but
On Tuesday, I had the Burrito Deluxe, which was pretty good. Brandon ended up buying, which is extra good.
Simple, quick, and delicious. I believe my inexpensive Mexican place has been replaced. It seems a bit fresher, cleaner, and tastier then El Aguila Real...and it's within walking distance.
Posted by SammyD at 8:23 PM | Comments (0)
August 4, 2008
We took a short trip to Cedar Rapids this past weekend. I'll skip over the first part of our trip and just summarize the rest.
Saturday around noon, we spent a bit of time with Joseph and went and got some BBQ (it was pretty good, Nicki's BBQ, Joesph's favorite in CR). Saturday night we spent time with the Mattas, Clif, Scott, Dan and Marisa, and Dan's parents. It was nice to see everyone and spend time with Taylor and Cali (the Matta's Girls). Got home late Sunday afternoon. Just a short trip, to get out of the house.
Before we went over to spend some time with Joseph (rest of the family was at a family reunion in Wyoming), we headed to downtown Cedar Rapids to see what was still going on down there. We've seen a lot of things on TV and on websites, but it really didn't hit to the same place of the heart. It was kind of removed. It was shocking to see some of the things that I remember from my childhood, more or less, mostly destroyed. The sewing/cloth place where Shannon and I got parts of her and the flower girl's wedding dress, was basically gone...the building was boarded up...and...well...doesn't look like it was coming back. We saw lots of trash, crumbling power infrastructure (one power sub station looks like it was about to collapse in on itself), broken wires and loads of cleaning trucks, fans, large scale portable generators.
Looking down the edge of the riverbank and you can see how much the water had to come up to trash, not only the parking meters, but the first floor of the library, beyond. I know that Clif, who was working in Florida when the floods were happening, said that most people just didn't get how big of a deal it was...
I remember when they moved from the old library (which is now an art museum, I think), to the new one, and I spent huge amounts of time. I watched movies, reading books (hundreds of books). I remember taking the bus from my parents, and spending a good chunk of the day down there, and sometimes I would take the bus home with my dad (or get a ride when mom picked dad up). It was my way to get away from the crowded house...it was quite, well air conditioned and had nice comfy places to read. It broke my hear to peer into the windows and see what remains of the first floor of the library. Seeing the land and possible structural damage to the building... Just heart breaking.
The Paramount Theater also go hit hard...and I went to several of the Cedar Rapids Symphony performances when I was young (My dad's company donated money to them, I think, and always had tickets...which apparently almost nobody but my parents wanted). The CR Symphony can be credited with my early love of music (almost all kinds).
We took a few pictures, and headed over to my parents to see Joseph.
Posted by SammyD at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)
July 29, 2008
After two days without my RSX-S, my car is now back in my possession and I got to say that the scratches are gone and the bumper looks like it did before.
Props to Acheson Auto Body West for getting it it restored back to it's original beauty.
Posted by SammyD at 6:31 PM | Comments (0)
July 28, 2008
Tonight, Gracie (the cat) proceeded to ruin a few mementoes from college. Though all of them are fairly minor, they have made the cut of clutter over the years. The highlight of which was a pen that my youngest sister brought back from Russia for me.
I'm a bit more then pissed (especially in the attempted recovery I was basically pissed on, since urine flowed from the plastic drawers onto myself), and I don't know how much more I can take.
This is not the first time that Gracie has peed. She's peed on my sandals (ruined), at the front door (we now have items there to make it less then comfortable to pee in the corners). She then proceeded to pee at the base of the basement stairs...not once, but twice. After the second time, Shannon put a litter box there...and while she went in there for a while...apparently that was no longer good enough.
Posted by SammyD at 8:06 PM | Comments (0)
Not something I expected to see...
Sunday evening, we're downstairs being lazy, watching some DVR'd things. And we both hear a loud thump against the basement window closest to the front of the house (near the northeast corner). I get up to investigate, and there is a tabby cat (stray I'm assuming) and in her mouth is a fairly large bunny rabbit (lots of clover in my yard, so we have lots of rabbits). She looked shocked to see me and quickly jumped out of the shallow window well and started to drag the kill away from our house. Shannon got up and went to the other window (near the southeast corner), to see it drag it further down the dead end.
Certainly not something I expected to see...
Posted by SammyD at 7:24 AM | Comments (0)
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