iron butt

Jul. 4th, 2025 10:49 pm
totient: (Default)
[personal profile] totient
Part of an occasional series on superpowers. My superpowers are all Mystery Men level superpowers, but they're real.

I have what I'm told is called in motorcycling an Iron Butt.

Partly that's literally being able to sit for a long time with no side effects. I bicycled 3700 miles across the United States, averaging 8 hours a day in the saddle for a month and a half, and did not get any saddle sores.

But also with only a little bit of adjustment to my hydration and caffeination routine I can go 8 hours without a bathroom. This means when I drive the limiting factor on how far I go between stops is almost always the range of the vehicle I am driving. I rented a particularly fuel efficient car one time and drove it 450 miles without taking it out of gear. It hated this and kept trying to get me to take a coffee break. In less fuel-efficient cars sometimes I will refuel at a full service gas station and go two tankfuls between getting out of the car at all.

Being able to drive anywhere in my general region that much more quickly is a big factor in how I choose to make medium-distance trips. Beyond the question of how long the travel takes compared to a train or airplane, I'm sure I'd also find driving less enjoyable if I needed more stops.

I have actually rather a lot of superpowers, some inborn and some developed (or perhaps, I am told, earned). This one I suppose is some of each.

Rebuilding journal search again

Jun. 30th, 2025 03:18 pm
alierak: (Default)
[personal profile] alierak posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance
We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.

May and June Recap (Not Work)

Jun. 28th, 2025 04:10 pm
jss: (simpsons)
[personal profile] jss
I sure have fallen out of the journaling habit.... Using the same headings and order as the last time:

Car
The dealership wants me to sell them my car (2021 Totoya Avalon Hybrid). I may answer them at some point, but they won't be happy. My terms are "Give me a similar 2026-model vehicle as its replacement, for only the cost of the trade-in plus whatever I still owe on the existing loan," which as of next week is just over $6,200. There's no way in hell they'll do it, so I'm comfortable making the offer... and if by some stroke of luck they do go for it because of their desperation, I get a new car for "nothing."

It had its semiannual maintenance visit last week. Took a little longer than I wanted but still ready by the time they promised and under the initial estimate (even after adding new wiper blades).

Food
The food I'm making is in the previous entry. I did have a trip to Texas de Brazil a week or so ago, and there's commentary in the "Vacations" section below about Chicago food.

Health
My health has been generally good. Itchy eyes from allergies, being careful in the heat (especially this past couple of weeks). Had some issues with billing from the physical therapy that finally got resolved. I'm supposed to be on the hook for the co-pay, but they screwed up and tried billing three or four of the 15 visits against worker's compensation (from the 2019 broken foot which I closed out in 2020) instead of my actual insurance, so when WC declined the hospital billed me the whole cost. I, as you might well understand, objected. They eventually fixed it but I had to call about it twice because their first fix didn't catch all of the misbilling.

Home
Nothing major to report. The new tree hasn't died yet, though a lot of the ivy in the front landscaping has (thanks in no small part to my applying poison semi-regularly). The garage door cable broke and I had to get it replaced. They're supposed to be power-washing the building this summer, and they're fixing the brickwork. The major road through here (the city's responsibility) got a chip seal. I think my own road (the association's responsibility) is gonna be completely redone next summer.

Vacations
Cleveland in April (CLAW) went well. Both of my workshops were well-received, though they were more lightly-attended than I'd've liked. We were in a new venue out by the airport (who were cold to us at the start, until they realized both that we drink a lot and that we tip well; they warmed up by the end of the weekend), but we may not be there next year because rumors are they'll stop being an event space and become a data center. We had multiple hotels out towards suburbia, which was problematic in and of itself; my hotel was pretty craptastic: the building was settling such that there was a noticeable deep crack in the ceiling and floor indicating imminent structural failure, it felt dirty, and after we left they were supposed to close for a major renovation... which it desperately needed. The off-site dungeon space was too small and had no parking or signage.

Chicago in May (IML) went well too. The hotel was as expected, my one volunteer shift went without any problems (though I got to shush some of the executive board who were being noisy in the quiet-for-contestant interviews area. Had fun in my trip up to Boystown. I ate well (including my annual visits to Girl and the Goat and Giordano's). I tried a new-to-me Chinese place near the hotel; the food was passable but the service was abysmal; I might give them another chance next year but haven't decided yet. The train rides in each direction were uneventful, though I don't care for the new Amtrak Siemens cars. The Amfleet were more comfortable and their café car more convenient.

Food pr0n: Mastaccioli

Jun. 28th, 2025 03:25 pm
jss: (food)
[personal profile] jss
Of late I haven't gotten too far out of my food rut. I've been making the maple-dijon chicken with rosemary a lot, the lemon-artichoke chicken less frequently, and the occasional precooked BBQ ribs or from-frozen chicken cordon bleu. I had a lot of fresh corn on the cob in late spring. Lunches have mostly been sandwiches of some sort at home, usually one of corned beef, ham, pastrami, or turkey with Swiss cheese, though sometimes it'll be PB&J or an open-faced tuna melt. Also, every week or two, including lunch yesterday, I'll grab takeout sushi from the nearby place who have a lunch special (three 8-piece rolls — California, spicy salmon, and spicy tuna — for $20 with tax and tip).

For dinner tonight I made mastaccioli again. I was in the mood for Italian, I had a jar of marinara open, and it wasn't too much trouble to add an onion, the penne rigate, bulk sausage, and ground beef to my grocery order. It's simmering on the stove as I type.

Ingredients
  • 1 lb. bulk Italian hot sausage
  • 1 lb. bulk Italian sweet sausage
  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • ¾ lb. white or Vidalia onion, chopped fine
  • 8–10 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp. dried basil
  • ½ tbsp. dried marjoram
  • 1 tbsp. dried oregano
  • 1 tbsp. onion powder
  • 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
  • 3¾ lb. marinara sauce
  • 29 oz. diced fire roasted tomatoes (with their juice)
  • 6 oz. tomato paste
  • ¼ cup molasses
  • 1 lb. penne rigate
Mise en place
  1. Dice the onion and put it in a bowl.
  2. Mince the garlic and add to the bowl with the onion.
  3. Measure out all the herbs and spices and put them in another bowl.
Directions
  1. In a 10- or 12-qt. stockpot, brown the sausage and ground beef.
  2. Add the herbs and spices. Mix to combine.
  3. Once the spices have started to toast a little, add the onion and garlic. Mix to combine.
  4. Once the onions have started to soften, add the marinara sauce, tomatoes, tomato paste, and molasses. Mix to combine.
  5. Bring to a simmer.
  6. Add the pasta. Mix to combine. Make sure all of the pasta is submerged in the sauce.
  7. Reduce heat and simmer for at least an hour until the pasta is tender. Check every 15–20 minutes and thin the sauce out with more tomato sauce or beef stock if it's too thick or starting to char.
Serve once the pasta is al dente. I usually top mine with grated Parmesan and Romano cheeses.

Hozier

Jun. 24th, 2025 12:36 pm

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