Universal in grand stupidity forced Youtube to take down the Straight No Chaser 12 Days video that had over 10 million views! Fortunately, AOL video still has the original up. You can see the new and old video by clicking to this post. I have since relocated the website selling their new cd called Holiday Spirits. I hope Universal comes to their marketing senses and lets Youtube put the original back up with its 10 million views intact.
Category: Holiday
State of Me
Too stressed to post. Shoot, too stressed to think straight.
Straight No Chaser – 12 Days
This is awesome! n.b. At the time of post this, the video had 9,299,104 views. That’s like 3% of everyone in the United States. Scroll down. This first video YouTube removed. The 2nd video is the new one (not as good as the first) and the 3rd video is the one you are here to watch.
Thank you LissaKay for Tweeting it!
Update: I’m so sick of Youtube and its pulling of content. The video above was the original video and had over 10 million views. It’s description had a link to the story of Straight No Chaser and how the video above (no removed due to some claim of copyright b.s.) was put up by Straight No Chaser and quickly rushed to over a million views which spurred a record label to have them do a reunion album which is apparently a fantastic piece. You can purchase it through a link in the description on the above video..oh, no you can’t because that video has been pulled due to a copyright claim by a 3rd party. I was going to buy the CD buy now I doubt I will make the effort to find the website..how’s that for smart marketing Mr. 3rd Party Copyright Gonna Cut The Golden Goose Off At the Neck? Below is the 2008 remake of the performance that made these guys famous; that is until Youtube pulls it. It’s okay but the original had more energy to the show.
p.s. Youtube sucks.
Update: AOL Video still has the original:
Watch more MySpace videos on AOL Video
Update: The name of their new album is Holiday Spirits which can be purchased online at this website.
Flickr Pro expires today – adding to wishlist
My Flickr account (http://flickr.com/photos/mccaughan) had the privilege of tasting Pro for 3 months. I liked it! I would have liked it more with an Olympus Stylus 1050 SW digital camera. So, I am adding a Flickr Pro account to my wishlist.
The rest of the evening
After eating, the whole family (minus Tommy who is at school and Sarah at flag practice) pitched in to quickly get the tree put together. Each section has lights semi-permanently attached so it goes together relatively quickly. The troubleshooting is what takes the time. We have a couple of darkened strings and 3 that hang out of the tree because they span sections. Those 3 have to be attached to branches.
To make up for lost programming time, I coded until midnight then overslept this morning waking at 6:50. Time to get the doughnuts to school.
Wife Ill – SuperDad to the rescue!
Wife ill. I have sent her to bed. Afternoon activities: program (finish a database audit trail system ie. track who makes all changes to the data, and finish a search engine), cook brownies for tonight’s Boy Scout Christmas party, pickup high school girls from school, buy ornament hooks from AC Moore so we can finish our advent calendar and let the children begin the Christmas countdown (aka this year daddy has his stroke). Maybe feed the children (which may involve a trip to the grocery) – there is some debate as to whether or not tonight’s Christmas party has real food (figure that out). Clean and prepare the children for tonight’s activity. And be kind to the wife and check on her to make her comfortable. That’s it.
Gobble Gobble!
Happy Thanksgiving! If I recall correctly, this is the holiday we celebrate that a native people showed us how to survive through the winter so that we could kill them with disease in the Spring and steal their land. Oh, and we should be eating lobster not turkey. While you prepare for your feast today, take a little under a half an hour and enjoy the full episode of the famous WKRP Thanksgiving Turkey Drop!
This morning I awoke before anyone else to enjoy the calm, quiet of the early morning. I freed the Roomba from the chairleg which had defeated it during its nightly run. It happily continued cleaning the floors which I prepared to make some dishes for today’s feast. Remarkably, the little ones slept in and when they did rise, the television seemed "broken" to them so the house remained someone quiet as they played with toys. The first item on my list is Buffet Cranberry Mold. Btw, when the recipe says "chlll for an hour and in the meantime…" meantime doesn’t mean go sit on the computer and blog. Meantime means you will use the entire hour to chop up the fruit unless you are fortunate enough to own a food processor.
Buffet Cranberry Mold
Time: early in the day or day ahead
Yield: 16 servings
- 1 envelop unflavored gelatin
- water
- 2 6-ounce packages strawberry-flavor gelatin
- 3 medium-sized oranges
- 1 12-ounce package fresh or frozen cranberries (3 cups)
- 1½ cups sugar
- In 4-quart saucepan, evenly sprink unflavored gelatin over 2 cups water; let stand 1 minute to soften slightly. Over medium heat, cooke, stirring, until gelatin dissolves and mixture boils. Remove from heat; stir in strawberry gelatin until dissolved. Stir in 3 cups cold water. Refrigerate until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from a spoon, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, remove peel and white membrane from oranges; chop oranges and place in bowl. Chop cranberries; add with sugar to bowl. Stir mixture until sugar is dissolved.
- Fold fruit mixture into thickened gelatin. Pour into 12-cup Bundt pan or mold. Cover and refrigerate until set, about 3 hours.
- To serve, unmold gelatin onto platter.
175 calories per serving. Low in sodiu,m, fat, cholesterol.
[Source, The New Good Housekeeping Cookbook, Hearst Books New York, 1986, ISBN: 0-688-03897-2, p.413]
Chopping cranberries by hand takes forever! I ended up letting my gelatin sit in the refrigerator for 1½ hours before mixing in the fruit and everything worked out fine. Next recipe is Dark Chocolate Mousse from The Food Network. I am doubling the recipe and based upon the comments using 3½ tablespoons sugar for each portion (7 tablespoons total).
The third item is Caramel-topped Rice Pudding.
- 2 tablespoons short-grained rice
- 1-2 tablespoons sugar
- 2½ cups milk
- light brown sugar
Put rice into an overproof dish. Add 1-2 tablespoons sugar to taste and milk. Stir to combine. Bake in the bottom of a preheated oven, 325° for 1 hour. Remove from oven. Top with a layer of brown sugar. Reduce over to 275° and cook for 20-25 minutes more, to allow topping to caramelize, or broil under high heat until sugar caramelizes. 2-3 servings.
[Source, The Ultimate 4 Ingrediant Cookbook, Chancellor Press, 2001, ISBN: 0-7537-0458-7, p. 308]
I doubled the recipe and left it in the oven at 325%deg; for 1 hour and 10 minutes. The extra 10 minutes was a mistake and caused the surface to bubble. When adding the light brown sugar, the bubble burst and left the center as liquid without caramelizing. Otherwise it looks good.
Photo Revenge
Because I posted this picture instead of that picture Cathy took a picture of me in 40°C or 50°C weather when I took a quick moment to decorate our skeleton.
Halloween was much fun!
Cathy has the pictures.
We had a miscommunication with the 12 year old boys. Noah wanted to be with his friend so we dropped him off but the boys thought we were going to do his friend’s neighborhood then go to our traditional trick or treat spot. When we drove away, they didn’t call to ask about our plan nor did they call to tell us they were done with that neighborhood and ready to join us. Cathy made amends by purchasing a bunch of sale candy after midnight and stuffing the boys bags.
The Halloween Costume from Hell Lives at Target
So last night (Tuesday night) was interesting. Cathy and Amy drove to the high school around 4pm to pickup Sarah and shoot across the street to Party City for Amy and Evan’s costumes, only they were out of Evan’s size. They returned home for a quick freshening up before having to rush Sarah to a 5:30pm color guard practice at Hardin Valley Academy. Since I was supposed to be running the Knoxville Asperger Support Group at 6pm, and we only have one functioning vehicle, I felt it prudent that I drive (plus the girls were tight on time and I have this way of bending space and time…more through backroads and minding the traffic patterns than speeding mind you). We got Sarah to Hardin Valley on time and waited 15 minutes for her to give us the thumbs up that she was situated. We drove off with me hoping to get to the support group meeting just a couple of minutes late and Cathy hoping we’d skip the support group meeting and go to Party City in Turkey Creek instead.
Naturally we ended up at Party City where I bumped into a familiar face (but that’s for another post) and the signs indicated they had not sold out of the toddler sized pirate costume! Yea! But the employee came back to say they had none. Boo. BUT! The computer indicated that the Broadway store had a single one left. For those that don’t know the area. From our house to Hardin Valley is pretty extreme. From Turkey Creek to Fountain City are exact opposite corners of Knoxville. After several hangups and infinite holds, the Turkey Creek employee finally convinced the Broadway employee to put the costume on hold. As I leave the store, an employee is telling another employee who is on the phone with a customer, "No way! We don’t put any costumes on hold two days before Halloween."
Cathy puts an SOS out on Twitter. As we drive toward Fountain City, someone alerts us that there is a temporary Halloween store in West Town Mall. We are just reaching that exit so we pull off the Interstate and into the mall parking lot. I slow to 5 mph and push Cathy out the door. I circle the parking lot to keep the antsy children calm while Cathy discovers the costumes are far superior in quality to Party City, but alas, no toddler sizes.
We return to the Interstate and rush to the junction of Old Broadway, Tazwell Pike, and Broadway. After a painfully long wait, we screech across the 4 lanes of Broadway and into the Party City parking lot. Upon entering and saying I have one on hold, the costume people look at me like I’m crazy. A helpful employee comes to my aide and tracks down the costume held in my name. It is indeed the last toddler size pirate costume in the store. I quickly purchase it and go to the car. Cathy points out that it is a 2T! Ugh. We needed a 4T. I go back inside and they are quick to point out the no returns policy but I get a full refund anyway. A giant billboard over Party City says there is a costume store at North Peters (for you outta townies, that’s pretty darn close to Turkey Creek).
The children are getting surly. We grab McDonald’s and allow the necessary potty breaks.
We drive from BFE East to BFE West and find the North Peters store. It blows all the other stores away! Great displays and wonderful stuff but no toddler pirate outfits. They confirm that I have been to every possible costume store in town. Dejected, we decide to return home.
As we come off the Interstate at West Town Mall, we decide to check Target, a mere 3½ miles from our house. We find the best Captain Jack Sparrow costume in Evan’s size and it was on sale at 30% off! It only cost a quarter tank of gas and 4 hours of driving. We even remembered to bring Noah home!
Well lemme tell you sonny!
I’ve entered the last year of my youth. Today I am 39. In October 2009, the Boy Scouts of America will make me fill out new forms to make sure I’m not dead before leaving for outings, I’ll get to check a new checkbox on everyone’s forms (35-39, 40-dead). And apparently all innovation happens between 20-29 or 30-39 so this is my last year to become famous (you know I was supposed to retire at 35 right?). Tim requested this post so that we could avoid talking about the Antichrist or that I’ve become an old fart. Al I can say is, "I’m not dead yet!" (And thanks to all for the birthday wishes in Twitter and in the comments on Reality Me. You all are great!)
Happy Anniversary Cathy!
She should have run like Hell! (our story) On February 12, 2000 we had our first date. Seven years ago today, Cathy and I were married at Gatlinburg’s Ye Ol’ Tyme Photo Boothe and its been one grand adventure since then!
How will we celebrate our anniversary? It is 4am and I am frantically programming to make some goals I set for this weekend and missed. Today, in between programming, I will try to find a divorce lawyer in Knoxville who actually returns phone calls so that I can have some old history reviewed. I have to do further negotiations with the karate studio who increased my monthly bill from $175 to $190 because I asked that the billing date be moved from the 20th of the month to the 5th of the month. Cathy will spend the day texting Tommy to try to convince him that if he is not in class he still has work to do. This evening we will rush through a chicken pasta dinner of Sarah’s request which due to the finickiness of our eaters has been reduced to basically sea shell shaped noodles, bite-sized broiled chicken, and mayonnaise with my special mix of seasoning (dill, oregano, garlic powder, sometimes onion powder but rarely, parsley, salt, and celery flakes). The boys…er…boy and I will rush off to a Scout meeting while Cathy fights the other children to clean up, bathe and get to bed. She will prepare their clothing and school bags laying them out neatly by the front door. Noah and I will return home. I will kiss Cathy and tell her I love her then return to programming. She will guide Noah through his evening ritual to usher him off to bed then she will spend a bunch of time hand washing dishes since the dishwasher long ago quit doing its job. Around midnight we will both crawl into bed, make a joke about being intimate, then fall asleep. Gifts? The karate studio gets those this year. Maybe we can send the girls to Blogher.
I cannot put into words how much I love Cathy! She moves me in so many ways. She has brought so much happiness into my life!
Cathy I love you! Happy Anniversary! I look forward to many more!
- This post.
- 2007 anniversary
- 2006 anniversary
- 2005 anniversary
- 2004 anniversary
- 2003 (started blogging in ‘04)
- 2002 (started blogging in ‘04)
The beach heals
As a child, when I had a wound, my grandmother would send me to the ocean. "The ocean will heal that!" A cut surely stings wading out into the salt water but it does seem to mend quickly. Perhaps the healing is psychological. The fun of the surf making you forget your scrape. Maybe its more. This week we had the full moon overhead. It lit the ocean remarkably. Thunderstorms blew in briefly and gave vivid light shows. Tides swelled and the ocean gave both lulling calm and thunderous waves without explanation for the ocean’s mood swings. Great forces were at work. And magical times for long lasting memories.
We have not had a family vacation since the last week of December 2000. This was a much needed break. Time to go home now.
ps. We only got referenced as "The Griswold’s" once.
Holiday Cad
I let another holiday slip up on me but this time I had plans! I had a very specific hour set aside to get my shopping out of the way. Unfortunately, irony usurped that hour away from me.
And what a merry Christmas it was!
To all to whom I have not responded, thank you for your well wishes!
To all to whom we did not send a card, you were not forgotten! There was probably a technical reason like needed your address or my mad cow caused me to fail to get you on Cathy’s master mailing list.
Miracles and angels came through to help pull together our Christmas at the last minute. The children were well gifted and very happy with their presents. 
We had a wonderful visit from both sets of grandparents and Aunt Kelly.Cathy and I promised to be budget minded and agreed to not buy each other anything which is why we are both now the proud owners of new iPod nanos. We both cheated feeling the other was well deserving of a new toy.
Each year it seems one of the children gets a bum deal. This year it was Sarah’s turn. Both Tommy and Sarah received new office chairs for their desks from their grandparents. They were thrilled! I prompted Tommy to hold off on assembly until I could help him. Sarah did not heed my warning and broken open the package of numerous parts in the midst of our unwrapping mess and started assembling without checking the parts list nor understanding the instructions. (She’s going to drive like Cathy! "It felt correct to turn this way. NO! I didn’t take a left turn at Albuquerque this time.") We could not find the screws! 6 screws AWOL. We even pulled the trash back inside and went through every piece of wrapping and package that had been discarded. Tommy learned and quickly went over his parts list only to find a critical piece missing. We quickly discovered his critical piece was already attached to his chair. It wasn’t until a day later that Sarah and I drove to Home Depot and purchased bolts and washers that we realized her bolts were already in their respective holes. 
We figured this out because we could not get the new bolts to go into them! Doh! She also received a Nabaztag but it still isn’t working. Story to follow. which is finally working! After creating an account at Nabaztag, you can send a message to her rabbit over the Internet or with your phone and it will speak the message to Sarah. Oh, I almost forgot. When assembling the chair, Sarah dropped a heavy part on her foot breaking a toe. Poor Sarah!
The children had a fantastic Christmas and so did Cathy and I. Now back to work so I can finish paying off this one and put away for Christmas 2008!
