Duncan's Blog

Every time I logue on and get ready to write a little something of an entry I see the counter of visitors has risen in number. I never think of my expos? as being particularly interesting or inspiring to anyone but myself. Yet, the audience returns!
So I'm curioius to know who reads this. What do you like? Is there something you'd care to know? Are the subjects interesting? State your comments

It takes me about 1 to 1? hours to get to work. Since I don't have a radio, cassette, CD, DVD, reel-to-reel, or 8-track in my car I have to rely on my own form of meditation and reflection.

Sometimes I'll practice memorizing things grammatical (rules, irregular past participles, irregular verb conjugations, declensions).

I also think about stories that I'd some day try to write. Has there been enough written about the similarities and differences between the peoples of America's two coasts? If you think the disagreement between the North and South was a big to-do, you have no idea what sort of hostilities exist regarding the east and west. Food, restaurants, modes of transit, consumer items. Even the municipal water is a subject of conversation!

Needless to say, driving vs walking is a pet subject. If you think Angelinos are frightening behind a wheel, just get into a car with someone from the Empire State's Big Apple behind the wheel. Or better yet... BEANTOWN! There's defensive driving and then ther's OFFENSIVE motoring. I've taken up nail-biting since my last experience.

I drive a low-to-the-ground VW Bug. It never bothered me in the city. I can coast downhill and neutral and say, "Weee!!! I'm saving gas!" It's easy to clean and it never needs water to cool down. On the down side, however, I find I am in a bad position when I'm behind one of these raised off the pavement bus-type vehicles; the SUVs, HUMMERs, CARAVANs. I don't even know if there is a generic term for some sort of car that has the driver sitting closer to G*d than I am.

What's troublesome is that I can't see what's in front of them. I have no idea how much distance they have from the car ahead. It may sound petty, but it makes a big difference when I want to change lanes to pass them. It also makes a huge difference if they opt to make a quick stop (and don't have good tail light lights). This has happened more than once... and with illegally tinted windows in said vehicles I shudder!

Of course, when people see me and my car there is a whole host of imagery that goes through their mind. "Poor fool. Doesn't have enough for a new or newer car," "That car is a safety hazard," or "A convertible! He must be having fun."

My car doesn't pick up people for sex. Most folks don't want to go in it unless they have never been in a convertible. It has no air, no radio (as previously mentioned) and only has one working windshield wiper. Sometimes there are holes that reappear on the floorboard and if it drives through huge puddles, well... you figure out what the result is.

I like my cars. I don't love them. I don't think I'd want to be without one... even though I do dream of living and working close to each other. It's all part-and-parcel of living la vida Californiana.

914 and 254 were two numbers that I struggled to memorize. They represent the square footage of the house and the square footage of the uninhabitable basement, respectively. Oh, there's a person living in the uninhabitable basement. It's Tom, the musician/artist/tattoo'ed guy with the multiple piercings on his face.
Of course, the next normal question would be, "That's all well and good, but how much acreage do you have?"
I LOVE the sound of that. "ACREAGE!" It sounds like something the Eddie Albert character Oliver Wendall Douglas would have said on the TV show GREEN ACRES.
Somewhere, on some record of reconveyance, buried deep below the dust of the files, the answer can be uncovered. Does it really matter? I don't spend time outside anyway!
I think about this from time to time because I realize the whole time I've lived here I have had to have tenants. Homeownership proved to be too expensive for me. I'm not gouging these folks for what they get... in fact I check the going rates and they are actually living much better and more affordably than if they were on their own.
What saddens me and makes me feel as if I just don't have a sense of belonging is the fact that I actually felt and feel better when I am in an apartment. I don't do much gardening. I don't have a dog. I don't entertain. And I don't have kids. About the only nice thing that I recognize with house life is that I have off-the-street parking. I also don't like being beholden to folks who don't have the rent on time. It puts me in a tenuous position of having to cover for others.
Well, that's my rant for the day.

I often boast of my prowess as a polyglot and of the facility with which I can express myself in different languages. Obviously there are certain idiomatic expressions that have to be either learned or heard. I made a very amusing faux-pas at the roach coach.
I poured myself a cup of their low-grade coffee into a small styrofoam cup. Needless to say, nothing good was to come of this. I took the initial sip and made a face. I then asked in Spanish, "? Cu?ntos a?os tiene este caf? ?"
The roach coach roared.
? Hace cu?nto tiempo que prepararon el caf? ? would have been the appropriate inquisition.
So much for fluency.

Petit four

A petit four (plural: petits fours) is a small cake generally eaten at the end of a meal or served as part of a large buffet.

An assortment of petits fours.Typically, petits fours are approximately 1 inch square and about 1.5 to 2 inches high and consist of layers of cake and butter cream frosting. All of this is covered with fondant, often pastel in color. Petits fours are commonly decorated with piped icing roses or other sugar embellishments. Petits fours however can refer to any number of small confections.

There are two different categories of petits fours. Petits fours secs (sec meaning "dry") include a variety of small desserts, such as special dainty cookies, baked meringues, macaroons, and puff pastries.

Petits fours glac? (glac? meaning "iced") are iced or decorated in some way, such as tiny cakes covered in fondant or frosting, small eclairs, and tartlets.

They were traditionally made during the cooldown process of brick ovens fired by coal fuel in the 18th century. Coal heat is hard to control as it burns so much hotter than wood, and at the time was much more expensive so waste of the heat generated was not an option.

The name "petit four" is French for "small oven".

In Cambridge colleges, "petit fours" refers to any type of finger snack served at the end of a formal hall served with the port. Examples of Cambridge's petite fours include fresh fruits, e.g. strawberries, often dipped in chocolate, or simply fancy chocolates.