Ed Icionsub

Just remembered a tough food lesson from when I was in junior high school. I had to meet up with a classmate on a Saturday to work on a science project. Over at her house, it got to be lunch time, so her mother invited me to stay and share lunch with them.

The entire family gathered at the table in the dining room and had impeccable table manners. I don’t know if that was because I was there as “company” or if they always ate their meals in the dining room. At my house, we ate breakfast and lunch in the kitchen and only ate dinners in the dining room.

The father sat at the head of the table, picked up a plate and took what he wanted for his plate. Then he passed the plate to his right and the next person helped themself before passing it along to his right. Everyone took a piece or serving from each plate. I did, also.

The meal had to do with lunch meat and sandwich fixings, along with potato salad and sliced fruits. It all looked innocent and inviting. I made my sandwich with what I thought was sliced bologna and took a big bite. OMFG – what WAS that???????

Turns out that the lunch meat was liverwurst. It was AWFUL. I about gagged and choked, but could not be rude. I had to eat it and appear grateful for the food. But, OMFG – that was the most awful taste I have ever put into my mouth. Eating that liverwurst in front of those people was probably the most gallant thing I have ever done in my life.

NEVER AGAIN! To this day, I have never allowed even a sliver of liverwurst anywhere near my plate or my mouth. NEVER.

Growing up, I ate everything my mother cooked and put out on the dinner table and I thought she was a great cook. Everything tasted great, it was seasoned well and there was always a nutritious variety of foods, with mostly a “meat and three” theme.

As I went out into the world and  began eating with other people from my neighborhood, from school and later from work, I have noticed how different many people are about their food choices and habits.

For example, someone I know automatically puts a liberal sprinkling of salt and pepper on everything on the plate before even taking the first bite. To me, that is insulting to the cook and excessive use of salt and pepper. I almost never add salt nor pepper to anything once it hits the table. Seasoning should be done in the kitchen, not at the table.

Another person I know puts ketchup on everything on his plate except green vegetables. Again, I find that insulting to the cook, and I personally cannot imagine that mashed potatoes would taste good drowned in ketchup. But that’s his personal taste, I guess.

One of the biggest reasons I pay for broadband internet access at home is because I like to play various games on the internet. Most of the sites where I play are free to play, although some of the fantasy role playing games charge a monthly subscription fee.

One of the best site for free games is gameszombie.com and their miniclip games which are good for kids but also challenging for adults.

There are free games that are good for a quick mental break, like Tetris and Bejeweled. After I play one or two games of Bejeweled, I feel like my mind has been cleared and I can get back to work with new enthusiasm.

Other games are for amusement and might take a little longer, like super mario where you face opponents and obstacles. these kind of games are when I have finished work and just want to relax and have fun for a half hour or so. These are great to play while dinner is cooking or right after dinner before the good TV shows start for the night.

Another fun game is tower defence. I like to play those games on the weekend when I have some extra time for fun. On the weekends I can knock out a long honey do list and then kick back for an hour or so and play a few games to wind down, like a nice reward for working hard all day.

There are several different places around town to shop for groceries, sundries and drugs. Each week I have a reason to stop in most of the different types of stores, from grocery stores to drug stores to discount outlets and warehouse clubs. The price differences on some items can be astounding.

For example, at the traditional drug store, I found a bottle of 110 capsules of Relacore for roughly $22.00 and I thought that was a little high, so I didn’t buy it there. The very next day I happened to be in Sam’s Club and found the price of Relacore was just under $14 for TWO bottles of 110 capsules. That is a tremendous price saving and was worth waiting an extra day to make the purchase.

Here I am at a crossroad in my life and the people that I want to seek counsel from are already pretty well known to me. It occurred to me that seeking advice from people who I know well are the people who will tell me what I think they have to say, not necessarily what I need to hear. There is a difference between need to hear and want to hear.

So maybe I should turn to a neutral party for advice. Someone who might not know me well and yet will give me good advice. I think finding that person might be easy if I search for a phone psychic and have a reading. I have a list of questions that I want answered, and yet my regular sources of advice, such as my parents and my older brother, are restricted by their prejudices.

An open mind is going to be more thoughtful and objective, and an online psychic is someone who can do that for me. If you have never had a psychic reading, you don’t know what you are missing. The right person can ask the probing questions you need to hear to process your thoughts. A little mental push is sometimes all we need to see things in a different light and make a good decision for the best outcome in your circumstances.

Was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of David Carradine. He was in the “Kung Fu” TV series that debuted in the early 1970′s and several movies. I think the first Kung Fu show was in 1972. That’s when I remember first watching it, anyway.

I really liked the concept of a monk being trained in the Eastern religions and martial arts. I still, to this day, use the term, “grasshopper” with my grandson.

Master Po: Do you hear the grasshopper?
Caine: Old man, who is it that you hear these things?
Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?

Sad that he died under mysterious and unflattering circumstances. He was found hanged in a hotel room in Bangkok. I saw a headline that says officials do not believe it was suicide. That is so very sad, either way.

We’ve been looking into different summer camp programs for our 6 year old grandson and have decided that he would benefit most from a sports oriented Youth Camp, with the chance for him to learn the basic skills of either baseball or soccer. I’m pushing for the baseball experience and his grandmother is pushing for the soccer experience. It will be interesting to see which sport actually attracts our grandson’s interest without a lot of hinting and manipulation by the grandparents in his decision.

Our nephew is going to attend a Skyhawks camp this year for their Flag Football Programs, which are broken down by age.At 10 years old, he wants to play full contact football in the local leagues, but we are insisting that he play only flag football until he is 14. This is for his long term physical well being.

The main thing is that he understands the difference between a recreational summer camp and a skills based camp. In general, a recreational camp focuses on having fun and being safe. On the other hand, a skills based camp focuses on skill development.

When they get older I hope they take advantage of the Golf programs at the Skyhawks camps. Golf is a game that can last your entire life. If you learn the basic skills early, you can spend years refining your game. Not that you need to be a professional golfer to appreciate the game. A lot of business deal are made on the golf course. I want them to be prepared to handle themselves on the greens.

Saw an interesting show on the History Channel about a species of fish off the southern Atlantic shores of Florida called the Goliath Grouper.

These fish can live to be 35 years old, weigh between 600 and 800 pounds, and reach lengths of 8 feet. They are very large for a fish and are considered an apex predator, on the same level as sharks and moray eels. They hide in rocks and wait for their prey to swim by, and then they attack.

Although there have been few attacks on humans, this show had an interview with a diver who had been attacked by a Goliath Grouper and  his entire head had been inside the grouper’s mouth for a brief moment. He is lucky to have escaped the attack.

My cable bill came today and I have to say that I am sick and tired of paying almost $150 a month for the privilege of watching an hour or two of TV each night and getting online for a couple of hours each night or morning.

It would be one thing if I was home all day and had the TV on 24/7. But to be honest, there is not much on TV that I like to watch. Most of it is crap, and now that the couple of shows that I do like have gone into summer reruns, I can go for several days without any TV and not even miss it.

If I was home and on the internet all day, it might be worth the monthly fee. But with the advent of free wi-fi all over town, I wonder if I really need the internet at home. Maybe I should just stop by a coffee shop on the way home each night and sit there for an hour or two with their free wi-fi and just not use it at home any more.

Planning for a couple of road trips this summer, I’ve been trying to figure out what we can do to keep my 6 year old nephew entertained in the car for several hours at a time. He is not used to riding in the car for much longer than 20 or 30 minutes around town. When we go to Atlanta, he will be stuck in his booster seat for over 5 hours.

I think that he is good enough at video games that we can buy a Nintendo DSI and a couple of games, and he can play video games to help pass the time while we drive down I-24. I think that the Nintendo DSi is priced very reasonably and the variety of games for this system is very good. I found a web site called Gamestock.co.uk that carries all the popular gaming systems and lots of games.

There are Nintendo DS games for all ages and all skill levels. I used to like the Mario Brothers games and they have several good versions out for all the different game systems. The newest Super Mario Brothers for the Nintendo DS has 3D graphics. I can’t wait to see how that looks. In fact, I think my nephew might have to share his new games.