Charlie B. Kenobi

The Jedi Charlie B.


and the Lego Hipster

Cone of shame

Neighborhood dog

There's this dog that lives near me. Every now and then as I walk by the dog is wondering around the back yard. It's kind of old and moves like it's sad. Slowly going from the fence to some where on the other side of the yard. Perhaps it's because the whole yard is paved and is more like a parking lot? I'm not sure.

Today the dog looked even more pathetic as he was wandering around with a cone around his neck. He stopped and looked at me with his sad eyes as if saying "My life stinks."

Jacqui's Birthday

Baby Hamster

Sandy needs a new cage

The new hamster retreat


Sandy, the female hamster daughter of Fred


Spider-Ham, Spider-Ham, Does whatever a Spider-Ham...


Running in the hamster wheel of life.


Hamsters: Not as graceful as cats

Rats

Early this morning or maybe late last night, I can't remember really as I was exhausted from getting home from work, I noticed that the hamster cage needed some cleaning. This led to disassembling the soiled compartments and bringing them to the sink.

While working on TV/movie jobs I usually don't stock a lot of food for fear that it will go bad so I the food that I buy and store is a lot of food with long storage life, stuff in cans or jars for example.

While moving the hamster stuff to the sink for cleaning I noticed a jar of peanut butter tipped over among a bunch of cans. Being that person with slight OCD I went to sit it upright. That's when I noticed this...


Peanut butter jar

The bottom half on the side not visible to me was completely eaten away. The impressive thing was that were no particles or half eaten plastic anywhere. I wouldn't have known the peanut butter was even touched other than seeing the jar was tilted.

I was a little freaked out about this then decided to check other containers on my food storage cart. This was definitely a surgical strike. There was no evidence other than other packages having been chewed on. There was no poop. At first I wasn't entirely sure it was rats. It could have been squirrels, raccoons, or maybe even a skunk. After inspecting the peanut butter jar a bit more closely I noticed the bite marks were relatively the size that would match a rat or a squirrel. The tongue marks in the peanut butter were too big for a hamster. So much for the professor coming back.


carton of vegetable soup

Weird that the carton of vegetable soup was not emptied of it's contents. I guess the rodent is a picky eater.

The Recovery of a Hamster

Captain Hill enjoys some Brussels sprouts

Captain Hill seemed better today. She wasn't bleeding any more so that was good. Her movement however seemed limited to getting food and sitting or sleeping in her fluffy bed area. She didn't really move much more than that. I'm going to keep an eye on her over the following days just to see if she's okay.


eating a peanut

Update:  Captain Hill started crawling around from level one to level three of the cage.  Although it looked like she was panting going up the tubes.  Maybe she's getting a bit overweight.  You'd think she was a smoker.  She'd crawl up a tube then just before going up the next one would stop, pant, like she was contemplating the next climb.  She hasn't been exercising in the ball as of late, it's possible she's getting out of shape.

Captain Hill, the $5 hamster

Feeding Captain Hill a peanut

Hamsters are on sale! "Hey, that's cool I always wanted to get a Hamster as a pet." Maybe because they eat and sleep all day. I could relate to that. And at $5, the only pet less expensive would be a pet fish or maybe a worm (more on that experiment here).

Of course once you add the food, the cage, the total racked up to about $200.00, Then with additional add ons, treats, more food, some hamster toys, shelving, bedding, and a hamster fluff supply over two and a half years the total increases to about $600. Then there was the operation add another $1200. Bringing us to a grand total of $1800, sorry $1805.

When Captain Hill had the tumor I thought about letting her go in a park, crawling off into the sunset. $1200 is a lot of money. I had been paid just then so I had the money and seeing the poor thing trying to crawl through tubes was sad. I had gotten attached to the thing, dammit.

Captain Hill made a full recovery from the surgery in less than a day. That was quite good news and she has been crawling around since and eating and sleeping.

Today I noticed she was leaving a trail of blood. I did some research online. It could be cysts developing in the ovaries. This is common in female hamsters that haven't produced off spring. It could also be a urinary infection or a vaginal discharge.

The pet doctor isn't open until monday so I can't do anything until then. I can only hope the bleeding stops or if it doesn't that my cheque comes in so I can afford to take her to the vet.

Somebody's watching me

The apartment creeper

Around 7:30am I woke up to see two eyes staring back at me.  It creeped me out at first until my brain kicked in and I realized that it was the neighbour's cat, Bonita, peering at me through the celler window.  I think she was there to say "Hi" to Captain Hill whose cage is located close by on the kitchen counter under the same window.

Once I made eye contact the cat then started meowing.  When I didn't respond appropriately (I rolled over to face away from the cat in order to continue sleeping) the cat started clawing the window screen making sound that could be compared to nails on a chalk board. My sleep these days is pretty sacred to me while I work such long hours during the week so I eventually got up and closed the open window to muffle the scratching noise. Bonita persisted and eventually I woke up and went upstairs to pet the attention starved cat.

In hindsight I suppose going upstairs to pet the cat was a bad thing as I've given the cat positive reinforcement to do the same thing some other morning.

Congee reversed engineered

Congee version 1.0

While in Boston I spent about 4 months without a kitchen before moving into Patrick's luxurious kitchen equipped apartment to take care of the dog Phoebe (see previous fat dog posts). It was during this great stay at the apartment that I had time to go out to the nearby Macy's and pick up a slow cooker for a mere $17 bucks.

Kitchenware can be pretty inexpensive in the US and at the same time it can be difficult to find a single food storage container (for sale by itself as opposed to buying the mega value pack where you get more than 10 containers at once), or oven mitts made of fabric.

Anyhooo... The last couple of weeks I'd been going to Vinh Sun, a restaurant in Boston's china town specifically to have their congee. This leads us to making congee at home in a slow cooker because sometimes we're just too lazy to go out in the cold and eat it in a restaurant.

So after a few sampling visits to Vinh Sun, I made mental notes as to the taste and consistency of the congee and thanks to multiple tries of making the stuff at the apartment (more than you really want to read about) I am presenting my findings here.

Congee (version 1.0)

Equipment

• slow cooker
• large bowl or food bin that can hold slow cooker contents
• pot
• knife to cut ginger
• cutting board (depending on how barbaric you are you may not need this)
  

Ingredients

• 1 cup of uncooked rice
• 10 cups of water
• 1/4 cup rice wine
• 3 celery sticks
• 1 clump of ginger

optional

• chopped green onions
• crushed peanuts

Rice (you only need one cup for this recipe)

Celery sticks


Rice wine


Clump of ginger

Directions

1. pour the rice wine, rice and water into the slow cooker.
2. Add the celery sticks
3. take the ginger, peel it, then chop the innards into fine thin strands, add to slow cooker.
4. place the slow cooker on low and cook for eight to 10 hours
5. let cool
6. remove celery (the celery has done it's job by adding salt to the mix; you can eat the celery or throw it out. I suggest not throwing it out; why be wasteful? Where's the fat dog when you need her?)
7. pour the remaining goop into a food bin or a large bowl that you can put into the refrigerator.
8. leave in refrigerator overnight.
9. The next day you'll notice a layer of water over the congee. Pour the water out.
   
10. from the bin/bowl scoop out the portion you want to eat a place in a pot.
11. heat pot until glob portion becomes more liquid like
12. pour into a bowl, add chopped green onion or crushed peanuts.
13. eat
    

"Wait! Why not just eat the congee from the slow cooker? Why do I have to put it in the fridge and reheat wasting time and energy?"
As I mentioned before I went through a number of variations at the apartment. The reason you put the congee in the refrigerator is to let the water separate from the congee making the congee less watery. You're welcome.

You''ll note that this congee recipe has no meat. To add meat (chicken, egg, pork, beef, whatever) you can cook it separately then add to the congee when reheating (step 11).

As I get more data on congee making I'll update the recipe for version 2.0 but for now make some congee and enjoy it. Maybe even share it with the dog...


Phoebe gives me the guilty eyes as I eat the congee.


To remedy this I take her for a walk


We end up at the Loews theatre near the park. N42° 21.187' W71° 3.871'


Not wanting to walk back to the apartment I take Phoebe on the 'T'. N42° 21.182' W71° 3.850'


Here we are on the GREEN line heading toward Lechmere (and the apartment) N42° 22.131' W71° 4.313'


Outside the apartment we wonder around a bit. N42° 22.285' W71° 4.466'

The loss of stuff

I dedicate this blog entry to the events that transpired today. I suppose every blog entry I write, now that I think of it, has something to do with that particular day. The focus is on the 'loss of things' because I have friends that are secretly getting rid of their kid's toys to alleviate the amount of stuff collected within their homes. 'Secretly' to the kids anyway, I found out because they posted the getting rid of stuff on facebook. This entry also documents my loss of data today from my iPad2.

Ironically the chain of events that follow all started off from performing a back up, of all things, of my iPad2 because my computer hard drive was getting full.

I had purchased Torchwood the complete seasons of one and two (mistake number one) which take up about 1.5 gigs an episode. My main hard drive sits in a netbook. Not a lot of space to begin with. The idea was to use iTunes to back up my files to an external drive. That was it. Simple. Straight forward.

Unfortunately it was neither. After backing up my files to my 'R' drive and checking to make sure they were all there by comparing it to my 'C' drive I proceeded to delete the stuff off my 'C' drive (mistake number two).

Upon running iTunes I noticed that all the apps were gone. How to solve this? I decided to hook up the iPad2 to the computer and download them (sync them) back to the laptop (mistake number three).

Instead of downloading the apps, iTunes decided to sync the empty laptop back to my iPad. Doing this not only wiped out all my Apps on the iPad, it also deleted all the support files and files created for those apps.

I lost music compositions, sketches, spread sheets, Word documents, game settings (including about a month of fish planet data), and all my sound recordings from travelling around the Boston T just before Christmas. Ugh. There could still be more stuff gone that I haven't discovered yet.

I suppose the part that really sucks about this whole experience is that it took almost 12 hours to get things back up and running properly and still not have those files. The good news is that Apple does keep track of all the software you buy so you can at least re-download everything. That was a small victory in itself. Had I not been able to reinstall the apps I would have probably put the iPad on eBay.

Things could have been a lot worse. Most of the data was only two months old. iTunes managed to back up my contacts and my notes data. This is the problem with a closed system like the iPad. You forget to backup files because they're hidden away. I knew this going into buying the Apple product so it wasn't a complete surprise when everything went to crap.

Whether it's computer data loss, a hundred view master reels your uncle gave away as a kid, that Apple ][+ (with all the software) your mother gave away to your relatives, your best friend dying, or your loss of youth and the ability to bend without grunting, you'll always lose something in life. It's just the way it is.

Wow, as I write this I realize that this blog entry is a big downer. To help pick you, the reader, back up here's some photos I took of Phoebe while I was working on the restoration of the iPad. We went outside when the computer was re-downloading the apps.

Also despite knowing the fact that loss is a fact of life, know this... Appreciate stuff when you have it. The memories of having that stuff in your life will last forever (or at least until your memory fades due to old age). If you buy an Apple product with a close system remember to back up each individual file (see, out of a horrible time consuming experience for me you have taken away some valuable time saving information; life is good)


Here's a photo of Phoebe with the neighbour's newspaper from today (It's the Wall street Journal)


The bridge near the park (again)


Phoebe rolling around on the ground (why? I have no idea)


Phoebe sleeps while I start the iPad's restoration


Phoebe changes beds. My restoration is taking a while.


Position three


Position four


Back to the softer bed (position five)


While the laptop is re-downloading all the iPad Apps I decide to take Phoebe for a walk.


Haymarket Pizza Prices


Phoebe with the statue of Kevin Hagan White, the longest-serving Mayor of Boston


Phoebe waiting for me across the street while I use the bank machine.


Phoebe at South Station


Phoebe near the Children's Museum


Phoebe across the street from the Barking Crab


Phoebe on a bridge connecting Boston to South Boston


Phoebe in front of some Christmas lights


A Boston park display


Phoebe in front of a large Christmas Tree in Quincy Market

Christmas in Boston

Phoebe Hurd

There was not a lot going on today being Christmas and all. All the stores were closed and even if I were in a shopping mood (which I wasn't) most of my day was filled with lounging and reading.

I had picked up some novels, yeah okay they are Star Trek related, purchased from the Apple iBook store. It's the four part Invasion series where each book covers a different crew (TOS, TNG, DS9, and STV respectively). A while ago I owned the first book, part one, in paperback and read through about half of it before losing it into a box while moving apartments. That was a few apartments ago.

The reader for the iPad2 was a free download so I figured I'd buy the book and see if it was any good (the iPad2 as a reader). The night theme on the newer version of iBook helped. It was easier to look at a dark screen.

I am posting this blog entry before some of the days past. I'm trying to catch up on blog entries since RollerCon. So if you already know I'm in Boston then pay no attention to what follows.

I'm in Boston. I'm currently on vacation from working on a movie being filmed here and instead of going back home to Toronto I decided to stay here at Patrick's apartment for Christmas. I really didn't want to do any travelling during the holidays. So in exchange for staying at the apartment I'm taking care of the family dog, Phoebe.


Looking for a good place to poo.

Phoebe reminds me of an ewok if one were to be real. If the dog were to say 'yub yub' this would not be of any surprise.

Phoebe requires walking a few times a day. This is a good thing as it gets me out of the apartment even if it's only a few minutes. I then get out of that stereotype of being that guy barricaded in an apartment by himself (or herself; let's not be sexist) over Christmas with food and movies on DVDs, sandbags at the entrance, and a shotgun to drive the curious kids and nosy neighbours away. Yes, walking a dog makes you more normal.


Wandering at the nearby park

Not that I was looking for this to happen but according to Patrick, and other dog owners, walking a cute little dog is a babe magnet. I would like to blow that myth out of the water. I had not seen or talked to any 'babes' today. This could also be that it's Christmas. Who in their right mind would be outside when they could be opening presents, spending time with family/friends, or sleeping... oh wait across the street... yep... another dog walker (specifically a guy who looked like he was thrusted out of his house by his spouse/girl friend/person that wears the pants in the house). Geez, he looked in sadder shape than me.

Did I mention that it was snowing? Not enough to start calling for snow plows or to start the barrage of putting salt on the streets, just enough to notice that it was indeed snow and not some person with a dandruff problem on a second floor apartment shaking their head. The snow melted by the time it hit the ground.


Phoebe walks toward me and the camera


The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge in the distance

Dinner

For dinner I had forgotten to take a chicken I bought a few days ago out of the freezer. So for dinner I had cereal (Krunch Heads) and a choice between two calm chowders I had bought at the grocery store (the same day I bought the chicken).


CHOICE A: Cherrystone Clam Chowder


CHOICE B: Snow's Clam Chowder

I went with Choice A. The Cherrystone. I wasn't really that impressed. It seemed to have more sand in it than I expected. That or hard shell like particles floating around. Also it wasn't that thick. Stay tuned for Choice B, which I'll probably eat tomorrow.


Close up of Phoebe

Phoebe, like most dogs, watches me without blinking (creeps me out a bit) while I'm eating. I suppose all animals are like that. She'll just sit there and stare until I have no more food left and have put the bowl in the sink. If I'm still holding the bowl she's still there... staring.


Suspicious but lazy

She also has a lazy side to her. If she's sleeping and hears me doing something not food related she'll look around with as little head movement as possible shifting her beady little eyes towards me to see what I'm up to. If it's food related she's up and as close to the bowl as possible.


Sunset over Boston.

And that was how I spent Christmas.