20 Questions Tuesday: 132 - Interview with Riley (Interviews)

For this installment of 20 Questions Tuesday I am interviewing the much sought after Riley from All Rileyed Up. I started reading her blog about 3 years ago and have watched it transform a few times. Her irreverence knows few bounds, and her posts and comments smell distinctly of sarcasm. Riley is one of the few denizens of the net that I would really like to get to know more. She and I have never met, yet I think our paths have crossed rather closely a few times. I have always loved her questions that she has for me, and now I am looking forward to her answers. For the topic of this interview (I decided to make it a recursive loop the kind of which only Star Trek excells) I have chosen "Interviews."

On to the questions:

1. How many interviews have you given since you started blogging?
In my incredibly busy 3-year blogging span, I've managed to get one other blogger interested in interviewing me. And now you. I'm taking the internet by storm, I tell you.

2. Two interviews in 3 years is not bad. So far, with 1 gigantic interview under your belt, what would you say is the best part about being interviewed?
Can I say that the comments to the interview were very exciting? I hate to sound like the kind of person who just REALLY wants other people to like her, but I gotta be me.

3. Who would be your ultimate interviewee/interviewer?
Are we talking anyone anywhere, time period and language barriers notwithstanding? Genghis Kahn. Preferably over a meal of turkey legs, you know those big kinds that you can buy at carnivals and festivals that look like you can use them as a weapon once you're done eating them?

4. Is that choice because of Genghis or because of the turkey legs?
Genghis, of course. I just threw in the turkey legs for his benefit. I think if he visited the twenty-first century, he would really like this food option at fairs (a close second being the deep-fried Twinkie).

5. Why hasn't fried-food-on-a-stick become more of an American cultural mainstay beyond at fairs and carnivals?
Fairs and carnivals usually only come to an area once or twice a year, and that's really all a human body should sustain of fried food on a stick. Could you imagine the obesity problem in this country if we had the fried food on a stick option ALL the time? I shudder to think. Or jiggle, as the case may be.

6. Speaking of the obesity problem in the US, what is your favorite decadent food? Mine is, as most faithful readers know (hello to the both of you), Vanilla Bean Cheesecake.
I'm not much of a cheesecake person. That's the one decadent treat I could always easily pass in. But pinpointing my favorite decadent food is really a difficult thing to do. You may as well ask me what is the worst outift Tori Spelling ever wore in the entire span of 90210 -- TOO MANY CHOICES. Or, since you probably didn't watch 90210, asking me who was the best bad immortal to ever fight Duncan MacLeod. I just don't know if I could choose. I could definitely choose the most irritating immortal, though: Richie. I can't stand him! Although the episode with Joan Jett hitting on him was funny. Um, where were we? Decadent treats? Maybe Girl Scout Thin Mints.

7. and you are in the thick of the Girl Scout Season as well... AckI hated the villain played by the lead singer from the Fine Young Cannibals. Anyhoo... what is your tv distraction du jour, since Highlander the series has been off the air for years now?
Thanks to the wonders of Netflix, Highlander the Series lives on. In fact, it is also through the wonders of Netflix that I can watch any TV because I stopped getting TV service in 2005. I'm a season behind, but I currently watch Smallville, Entourage, Lost, and Flight of the Conchords. (editors note: You can Google these your damn selves)

8. What made you decide to stop "getting TV service in 2005?" Next to Mt Dew, TV is my opiate.
It seemed like a lot of extra money to watch things I can eventually rent on DVD. The only thing I miss is the occasional football game, Saturday Night Live, and the Oscars, so I invite myself to other people's houses and watch it on their TV.

9. Back to the subject matter. When giving interviews do you try to answer as truthfully as possible and damn the personal consequences or do you hedge a bit to protect the feelings and thoughts of others?
I try to do a little of both, depending on the question, but really, how else am I to answer the question? "As truthfully as possible" is so subjective.

My feelings on truth could best be summed up by this excerpt from Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar:

Dimitri: So, Tasso, you seem to be one of those guys who thinks there is no absolute truth, that all truth is relative.
Tasso: Right.
Dimitri: Are you sure of that?
Tasso: Absolutely.

10. So do you think I am Hot? I am pretty sure I will have a better answer to the previous question by how you answer this one.
As I understand it, the temperature in Columbus is in the 40s today (Friday the 20th -the editor), which is my idea of freezing, so I think you're cold.

Interesting answer. 11. So sometimes in an interview, you feel that obfuscation and avoidance are necessary?
I don't know what obfuscation means. Please use smaller words.

12. Well-played, Riley, well-played indeed.
Thank you.

13. I know from my experience that I get a great deal of satisfaction answering 20 Questions Tuesday questions in the most obtuse yet technically correct manner. What gives you the most satisfaction when answering a question?
I derive a lot of satisfaction from referencing movie quotes as part of my answer. I don't appear to have done that in this interview thus far, which leaves me no choice but to say I demand satisfaction! I love that line. It's from Barry Lyndon.

14. In that case... Do you feel lucky, punk? Do ya?
I was trying to think up some cheeky answer. but much like the villains being faced down by Clint Eastwood, my mind has gone blank.

15. I am sure you would have been super intimidated if you saw my steely gaze as well. Favorite movie quote?
Didn't my answer to the favorite decadent food question make it obvious that I am incapable of pinpointing ultimate favorite things? I cannot choose. In addition to every line in The Princess Bride, I'm rather fond of the way Mr. T growls out "Prediction? Pain." and I often say "I dig that about you!" a la Cuba Gooding Jr in Jerry Maguire and "It's a sweater!" from Three Amigos. I could go on (and on and on) but for the sake of post length and keeping things swear-free, I'll limit myself to these.

I was fairly sure that you would not be able to boil it down to one favorite quote, which leads me to... 16. Do you have a problem with decisiveness, such that you can not reduce a universe of options to one finite answer?
Um, I don't know... let me get back to you on that once I've had some time to think about it...

17. List 5 bloggers you would like to interview.
Again with the specifics!!!! Let's see, I just asked Edj at Planet Nomad if I could interview her, and I'm stoked she said yes. I think I could also have fun with Our Little Tonginnator, Steph at Red Clay Diaries, This Eclectic Life, and Whee! All the Way Home. I believe you can find them all on my sidebar. (editors note: So visit her blog, already!)

18. What subjects (without going into the whys and hows and whos and such) are strictly off-limits in an interview... maybe this should have been my first question?
You could always lie and put this question first and pretend like you asked me that as question number one. I won't tell. As for the answer, no subject is always off limits (see my answer on absolutes), although I don't like having to defend my dislike of yogurt. Or Highlander.

19. Your love of Highlander, or dislike of Highlander? as a follow up: Duncan or Connor?
Sorry, I should have said "Or my love of Highlander." Duncan all the way. Not to say that I don't like Connor, and was sad to see him die, but Duncan was by far more entertaining and ridiculous.

20. Will you be posting this on your blog as well and is there anything emblazoned in your memory from this interview?
I will be a posting a link to this on my blog so that people have to visit yours to read it, and hopefully enjoy other posts by you as well, such as your threats to the yeti and hippo. Emblazoned in my memory are the following things: 1) I like Highlander 2) Obfuscate and 3) I'm indecisive.

Thanks!


To Recap:
Thanks so much, Riley!
I have much to do tonight since I have been fighting off a nasty headache all day
Hello, Fluffy. Been a while, hasn’t it?
Listening to Joss Stone sing Some Kind of Wonderful
Reading the The Shepard Kings by Judith Tarr

3 Levels

Well, this weekend was a sobering trip. The fam went up to Northeast Ohio and visited my lone remaining grandparent while she was in hospice. That’s right, hospice. She most likely only has a few more days. There is a sadness of three levels that I am going to mention here on the blog.

Sadness level 1:
It is my grandma, and I am sad for her passing. It is difficult to see someone you care for, however much or however little pass on. It is more difficult to see someone you care for more have to deal with this process when they are unwilling/incapable to deal with it. This has been a struggle for my mom. She is not having a graceful time of this and I wish that things were easier on her through this process of losing her mom.

Sadness level 2:
It is hard to see someone less vibrant. No matter who it is, less vibrance is a sad thing to see.

Sadness level 3:
I recognize that there is a problem with my familial relations that it is incumbent upon me to rectify. Some background. My nuclear family is not a close family, therefore my extended family should more likely be referred to as my very-loosely-knit-through-some-kind-of-DNA association. With grandma’s passing the binds that draw these disparate groups of similar DNA together will dissolve nearly completely. That which society considers my extended family will cease to interact.

My mom will most likely not talk much to her bothers anymore. Aside from the odd occasional Christmas Card, I imagine there will not be any significant contact between cousins at all. The cousins will drift away from each other and that which is the extended family will cease to be. All that will be left is the not closeness of my nuclear family.

I need to make my nuclear family closer, and I am the only one who can do that.

On to something more enjoyable about the weekend trip.

When no one else was watching and I was holding my dying grandma’s hand, she looked at me and asked through her labored breathing an occasional aching moans in a voice barely above a wisper…

“Have you found a new job yet?”

Thanks a bunch grandma. I will miss you.

To recap:
There is nothing to recap
20 Questions Tuesday tomorrow is an interview with Riley from the soon to be insanely popular All Rileyed Up

20 Questions Tuesday: 131 - Food (Irish Food)

Eventhough today is St Patrick’s Day and should be revered above most other holidays, I decided to eschew tradition concerning the theme of my 20 Questions Tuesday and have the questions not be about the holiday at hand. Yet, in the spirit of the holiday I shall answer the questions as they pertain to the holiday (as best as possible).

Thanks this week go to IC Yellow, Sparky, Capt McArmypants, John P, All Rileyed Up, and Nadolny. On to the questions:


1. Most interesting food you've ever eaten, where you've eaten it, and what they hell were you thinking at the time?
Most Irish food that I know of is not so much “interesting” as it is hearty. “Meat and root vegetables” pretty much sums up the basic fare of Irish foods. Not terribly “interesting.” The most “interesting” Irish food I have ever had is boxty, but that is just a potato pancake, so “interesting” is all relative.

2. What's the most disgusting food on the face of the planet?
I am not sure what the most “disgusting IRISH food” is, but I bet it has something to do with mutton and root vegetables.

3. What would be the point of beets?
The very bottom of them.

4. Why on earth would anyone ever want to actually eat liver?!?!?
I have no idea... maybe that is where the power is stored

5. What famous female celeb chef could eat crackers in your bed? (wink, wink) What crackers would you like her to eat?
I have had some trouble finding and Irish female chef that is also a celebrity to have an answer this question. As to the eating crackers in my bed, I think if that is your fantasy, you might just be “doing it wrong.” Celeb chef, hot or not, has to work in the kitchen. Period.

As to what crackers an Irish celeb chef would eat in bed? They would be:

IRISH CRACKERS
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 stick butter
1/2 c. whole milk
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease cookie sheet. Flour and salt, sift together. Heat butter and milk together until butter is melted. Pour this mixture into the flour and salt and mix quickly to make a smooth dough.
While dough is still warm from hot milk and butter, roll it out on a floured board to no more than 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 3 inch squares. Put on greased baking sheets. Prick with a fork so that you have 2 rows of little holes. Bake for 10 minutes. Makes about 1 dozen.

6. Do you watch Top Chef on Bravo?
Nope

7. Is there a Food Network show that you and Wifey enjoy?
Since Wifey is staying away from Dairy, Egg and Soy because of Q’s emergent allergies, it is best not to have food programs on TV, at the moment.

8. What is your favorite insta-snack and why? Follow-up: As a result of this being your favorite, do you make sure it is always in stock at Casa-SRH or do you make sure you do not keep it in the house?
I like baked goods, specifically butter crumb topped coffee cakes. Zap that in the microwave and off to blissful food heaven for a few seconds. I do not keep that in the house or I would be big as a house.

9. How has your life-meal-plan changed with the addition of two food allergy cursed chillins and do you hope to go back to eating certain things when they get older or are you satisfied with sticking with what is available to all for convenience?
Well, we have found a petty good amount of recipes of food that we like that are non-allergic for our kids. Little Man has grown out of all his allergies except tree nuts and peanuts, so that has opened a bunch of food avenues for us. Q is showing some reaction to dairy, egg, and soy. That being said, her reactions have tended to be less virulent than Little Man’s, so we hope that soy and dairy will disappear relatively quickly.

10. What makes the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake soooo magical? Is it the density or that goes with everything or the raw nigh obscene flood of sugar and fat combined?
I can only think that Vanilla Bean Cheesecake is so good because of some kind of culinary magic.

11. Were you forced to eat food that you did not like as a kid? and Why? Personally, I never quite understood that "hazing" ritual. I mean sure "waste not want not" and all that, but if I don't like brussel sprouts and you have been informed that I don't like brussel sprouts from past dining experience: 1. Why did you go and make brussel sprouts for me again? 2. How you going to act like this is my fault!? Personally, I never really experienced this as a kid, but this always seemed so absurd. Don't get me wrong kids got to eat, but isn't this is pretty much the same thing as when some big bully makes a little kid eat a bug?
Oftentimes the foods that kids don’t want to eat are the foods that are nutritive in their make-up. As a parent, one should strive to find nutritive foods that the kids enjoy. However, this is not always possible and sometimes it is necessary to make kids eat foods they do not want to in order to get them to vary their palette as well as get a well-rounded nutritive diet. Sometimes it is necessary for the kid to “suck it up, buttercup.”

12. Why aren't we all just eating in pill form as was so popular in late 50's sci-fi predictions?
You can’t put Shepard’s pie in a pill.

13. Agree or disagree: If you are eating nutritionally poor food you had better eat alot of it to get the nutrients you need. Calories be damned.
Agree.

14. Beer is a very good source of B complex vitamins does this make it an appropriate substitute for my enriched bread and grains?
Now this is an Irish question. I think if you head to the stout beers, you get more of a meal.

15. If you were starving, and had to choose between eating dog food or cat food, which would you go with (choose any brand if you care to be specific)?
I would go with Dog food, because some of the canned stuff has pieces parts that almost seem identifiable… then again, I could just treat cat food as pâté… Nope dog food, at least when you add water you get gravy.

16. Do you splurge for the hormone free/cage free/grass fed chicken and meat options, or buy whatever's cheapest?
If the free range/organic/grass fed/spa raised meats are not SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive than the hormonized/caged/corn-bloated meats, then yes, we prefer the “more healthy” varieties.

17. What's with the green eggs and ham story? Why with a fox or in a box? What kinds of options are those? Ever heard of Tabasco?
Green eggs and ham was a challenge thrown down to Ted Geisel concerning a certain number of words and a certain number of pages. Other than “try new foods,” I am not sure if it has any other higher meaning. His choices of withs and wheres were more about community building instead of flavoring…

18. So on Survivor, there is this one part where they send some people who are indigenous to wherever the folks are from who show them a dozen things to eat right where they are camped and have been starving for 3 weeks. Why in the world would you go on survivor and not practice fire-making beforehand and food gathering skills?
It has got to chap those poor natives hides that these foreign bastards are coming to their village to win more money than they would earn collectively in their lifetime. It is an amazing primitive wasteland for “Survivor” and Americans, but it is their home. That shit galls me.

19. In an apocalyptic Columbus 100 years from now, what landmarks will still exist that the food gatherers will use to guide them about on the hunt.
There would be the Mighty Olentangy River to deal with as well as the Scioto River. Those would be present for a while longer, especially as the small dams and other impoundment areas deteriorated. I think the remnants of the Shoe will still be there, as well as some pieces parts of the downtown area. They will all be in a terrific state of ruin, and not fit for human habitation, but they will be there. Most of the road beds and railroad lines will still be on embankment and serviceable as hiking trails, but the housing and retail araes will be “back to nature,” so to speak.

20. Same apocalyptic scene, what can the gatherers forage and hunt?
Well, the Dublin area would easily revert to corn… al those dormant seeds. And C-bus has always been a cow town, maybe they could hunt the feral cow.


To recap:
Happy St Patrick’s Day everyone
Job hunt is still hunty
One of the issues I am having with this job hunt is that I know the job I can most likely get is not necessarily what I want to do
Hard to get enthused about that
The idea of a job that I want is formulating
It is a swirling miasma of thought that is orbiting a singularity of doubt
I have to either coalesce the idea into something substantive before it gets to the doubt filled event horizon
Or ride the idea through the doubt to the other side of the black hole of doubt and fear
Not sure which it is going to be just yet
Listening to Cannonball by the Breeders

Ailment

Both Little Man and Q are sick today. More to the point they were both sick last night and this morning.

The really crappy part was that Little Man was still sick this morning and today at preschool was going to be the day that he could bring things in for his alphabet show and tell circle that started with the letter "T."

T as in TRAIN.

There was much weeping this morning. T Day is is favorite show and tell day because he can show them his trains.

To recap:
There are both doing better today, but still on the mend
Little Man has rebounded a bit more than Q, but I think his fever is hovering just out of site... waiting to pounce
Hopefully they will both be better tomorrow
Now I have to figure out something for dinner
No new job prospects as of yet
Still betwixt and between books
Listening to Wifey and the kids playing upstairs

20 Questions Tuesday: 130 - Traveling

Well, last week Wifey, Q and I went to Sundance, Utah for 4.5 days-ish. Sure we were really only able to see where we were for three days, but technically “boots were on the ground” for 5 days, but I do not live in a world of technicalities. Unfortunately, leading up to this trip to Sundance required more effort than previously thought and I was not able to get this 20 Questions Tuesday to you last week. C’est la vie.

Thanks this (and last) week go to Dr Clean, ACW, Atmikha, John P, All Rileyed Up, and Capt McArmypants.

On to the questions:
1. Is there an airline out there that still has customer service?
I have not really had too much problem with airline customer service as of late. My issue is not with the people on the ground dealing with individuals… uh… individually, but with the policy makers with whom customers never get to interface.

2. What is the most embarrassing thing you have forgotten to pack?
Toothbrush and toothpaste

3. What is the packing philosophy of both you and Wifey...just enough, enough for a round the world cruise, or does this still smell ok?
We are somewhere in between the 2. We tend to take just a bit more than we need for the “just in case” situations, but sometimes the utility stuff gets a bit gamey.

4. So Little Man is all "crazy train", what does he think of airplanes?
He likes then pretty well, but not as much as the diesel electric locomotives

5. Do you have passports? Little Man? Q?
Wifey and I have current and up-to-date passports, but the kids do not… yet. There is a tentatively planned trip to Cananada this summer that may require them to have passports, so that may be remedied soon.

6. When was the last time you traveled for purely recreational purposes?
It has been a few years, I think.

7. Harder with 2 kids or does Little Man pull his own weight (get it? - pull his own luggage - I slay me - or not...)?
Little Man does his share, but that does not mean that traveling with 2 is easier since he does some work.

8. Any favorite traveling games?
None that I can think of.

9. What do you enjoy most about air travel?
Since I am a cartographer by trade, looking out the window is massively important and fun.

10. Is there anything special you will try to do or see while Wifey is at work?
Just hiking in the mountains was enough.

11. Is there a regional culinary specialty you are looking forward to sampling while visiting Utah? -- I remember that some kind of fruit pie was heavily featured on almost every menu when I was last there.
There is no regional culinary specialty that I am aware of concerning the state of Utah.

12. Do you travel well or are you somewhat distressed by the whole endeavor?
I am a solid middle for those choices. I am typically distressed until the travel actually starts, then I mellow a bit until shit hits the fan.

13. Blues Traveler or the Traveling Wilburys?
I am more of a Blues Traveler.

14. Is the NBA lax in calling traveling penalties? I don't watch the game but wanted your opinion.
The NBA is lax about calling most penalties, but traveling is hardly ever called. I think when it is the looks on the infracting players’ faces are priceless.

15. What is/do you imagine to be the most fun about flying first class
The roominess and reclinability of the seats.

16. Ever been to Utah before
Nope.

17. Why don't missionaries try to spread the word on airplanes - seems they have a captive audience who can't go anywhere
I think most missionaries are very aware of the precipitous drop if they are asked to leave.

18. If you could have any job associated with airplanes and airports, what job would that be?
I think pilot

19. Will Bullet trains ever go anywhere in this country? (Yeh, I almost counted it as 2 questions.)
They go from Washington DC to Boston, MA multiple times a day.

20. After a 3 - 4 day trip, do you need a day after you get back of down time to get back into the swing of things? And how do you feel this ranks on the HOW DID I GET SO OLD!!! scale. Like worse than leaving the TV on the weather channel all day or better than start 6 of 10 sentences with back in my day?
I would appreciate a day, but at the moment it is not completely necessary… Don’t get me wrong, a day of downtime is extremely helpful, just not absolutely necessary. I think if “back, kids actually listen to this shit?” is a 1, and “where’s my shawl” is a 5, and “if that ball comes over here once more I’m gonna keep it” is a 10: a day of recoup is probably a 3.

And one to grow on:

21. What % of the "improvements" to air line security actually make you safer compared providing nominal to placebo effect?
I think about the only thing that makes me feel safer is the increased security presence and the relative fitness and vigor of the TSA workers compared to the screeners of, say, 1988. The shoes, the liquids, the sharp objects… all crap with no effect on safety whatsoever.


To recap:
Both kids are down right now with fever
Wifey’s mom is down as well
It is just me and Wifey and me clinging on to our health like wounded tigers…
Wait a second, that doesn’t sound right
Still on the fence about reading “The Battle for God” or reading “Presence”
I re-read about 15 pages of “Battle for God” last night
Tonight I am going to try for some pages of “Presence”
Capt McArmypants thinks I should go with “Presence” because “Battle for God” would be too depressing
Any other opinions out there?
Listening to King of Pain by Alanis Morissette from her MTV Unplugged special

3 Things:

Three things to get on to since I haven’t posted in a while…

Thing the First:
So, last week I was in the majestic mountains of Utah for Wifey’s work. She had some kind of board meeting to go to and I was Q’s childcare for the duration. Ah, bonding with your kid in the mountains of Utah… beautiful. The board meeting was taking place in the organization’s founder’s house in Sundance (the very same Sundance that is know for Bobby Redford and his film festival). So for 4 days we lived in a cabin in Sundance, Utah. It is nice to see how the other half live sometimes.

The time in Utah was great. I got to hang out with one of the few people from high school with whom I actively wanted to get back in contact, and to my knowledge, I am the only person from high school not related to him to see him in his new environment.

We forgot the camera, so no pictures of majestic snow-covered peaks or immaculate “cabins” with panoramic mountain views. Oh, well… I will always have the memories.

Thing the Second:
The trip back was a bear. We got into Chicago O’Hare at 12 for our 12:55 connecting flight to Columbus when everything went to hell. The 12:55 flight to Columbus was cancelled, the 2:40 flight was cancelled as well, the 4:00 flight did not leave until 6:45 and it left with Wifey and Q while I waited on standby. The 7:00 did not board until 7:30 and even on standby I was able to make that one. It did not leave the gate until 7:55 because they could not find a passenger. It was a loooong time to be in an airport with a 9 month old.

Thing the Third:
It is good to be home. We missed Little Man something fierce. He is such a wonderful little boy. It seems like he matured at least 15 years worth while we were gone. I am not sure that we can do a trip like that again without making sure that he is a part of it. I know that he is going to the work that Wifey has slated in March and in April.

To recap:
Q is sick today
She has a pretty nasty fever and is just a bit on the unhappy side
I would be a bit on the unhappy side as well if I were sick
I might actually be getting some freelance fantasy mapping work
That would be awesome
I almost feel like I could give freelancing a go
I am not sure that both Wifey and I being self-employed is the most strategic thing to do for the fam
Reading… I am torn right now between The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong and Presence by Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski, and Flowers
Any thoughts on which of the two to tackle?
Listening to S.O.S by Earl Greyhound