Dude Food 1

I have always thought it funny that guys will eat anything. Some of the combinations of food I have put together of the years would make Megan queezy just by discription alone. I consider many foods universal like crepes, peanut butter, and cheese but my favorite universal food is eggs. You can add an egg to pretty much anything savory and make it better. However as iI grow older and wiser, my palate has improved, who knew I would ever like mushrooms? I have now started really venturing into creating recipies of my own. You should never be afraid to trying something new, the worst that can happen is you throw it out and go grab a burger. Below is the first installation of my new current favorites... Andy's Dude Food. Try them out, they are very simple, healthy,  and Im still alive to tell the tale.

Andy’s Mushroom Soup

1 wax box of chicken broth, low sodium works well

1 can of cream of mushroom or low fat cream of chicken

1 container of baby portabella mushrooms, sliced

Dump it all into a pot, bring it to a boil, cover and simmer for an hour-ish. Delicious!

Andy’s Chick Peas

1 can of chick peas, drained and rinsed once

Garlic powder

Chili powder

Black pepper

Touch of salt

Combine all that together in a bowl and mix to taste. I like them cold on salads, heated up in a skillet with eggs, or as a side. Can substitute the above spices for taco seasoning as well, very good.

Andy’s Fish and Veg

Pollack Fillets or other white fish

Leeks

Portabella Mushrooms

Olive oil

Your choice or seasoning (Taco, Old World, Lemon Pepper)

Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Defrost fillets by sealing them in a ziplock bag and then submerging them in warm water. Grease a baking sheet with olive oil. Rinse the thawed fillets under cold water and pat dry. Chop up the mushrooms and leeks. Toss in a bowl and sprinkle with oil and seasoning. Place fillet on the prepared baking sheet and season. Cover the fillet with the veggies and bake for 15-20 minutes, until flakey.

The Grey

I think you all know I am a self titled movie fanatic. I love the movie theatre experience most; the sticky floors, the broken seats, and the escape from the average day into a land of make believe (Thanks Mr. Rogers). Even though I have been the go to guy for oral based movie reviews for years I thought this would be a good forum to try my hand at putting my thoughts down on paper… digital paper. My rating system is a little different than most “real” reviewers, who mostly suck.

Awesome Scale

0 - reserved for the worst of the worst, a movie that actually makes me angry or I leave (only done it twice before!)

1 – Really!? You got financial backing for this? I want my money back.

2 – Overall the movie entertained me for 90 minutes, I wouldn’t see it again, I nothing it.

3 – Pretty good movie, I might buy it if I saw it in the bargain bin at Wal-Mart, would recommend for a good night out.

4 – I can’t wait until it comes out on DVD! I might see it again at the cheap theatre and bring others

5 – Reserved for the best of the best. If you don’t see this movie we can’t be friends and I might disown you as a family member if you disagree with my opinion

The Grey (4 out of 5 on the awesome scale)

It’s a story about plane crash survivors fighting for their lives against a pack of man eating wolves… or is it? I am a shallow movie go-er, admittedly, and that story line is what got me to lay my money down. But as the movie progressed I slowly realized it was subtlety about so much more. I salute the director (Joe Carnahan) for bringing this short story to life on the big screen. I also doff the proverbial for progressing as a director; you can really tell his artistic talent is growing with each of the movies he makes (Smoking Aces, A-Team, The Grey). He must have as big a man crush on Liam Neeson as I do, casting him in his last two films. Did you know Liam is 61!!! Crazy.

The movie opens with some visually beautiful shots of a frozen Alaskan wilderness, really B.C., and a voice over by the movies main character, John Ottway (Neeson). I sometimes find voice over’s in the beginning of a movie a cheap director’s/ writers trick to convey a lot of information quickly to a seemingly stupid audience. It is easier to say a few words than to develop the story and the characters but in this case it laid the ground work for the feeling of the movie more than the back story. It gave you just a sense of who these men where, and why someone would be attracted to this environment.

The casting in this movie was excellent. You may not be able to name each actor by name other than Neeson and Dermot Mulrony but they have all be in strong supporting roles before, which I think really makes this movie great. The sum of the group is better than the individual. Slowly throughout the movie you realize how the other characters start to, each on their own, make up a great group dynamic. It is also an interesting choice in the way and order the group is killed off.

Ottway’s character is somewhat of an Irish great white hunter type, hired to protect the oil pipeline workers from the man eating wolves. The Irish background is great for more reasons than I can type, or you want to read. I believe it allows Neeson to act more naturally and relaxed and really separates his character from the rest of the group. It is a movie based around pack style animals as the main antagonists and right from the start Carnahan sets up Ottway as the Alpha. Fantastic, and very subtle.

Ottway is a very flawed alpha male, unsure, afraid, and carries deep remorse over the loss of his wife. You are made to believe that the absence of his wife from his life is actually do to his character faults, but the end brings about a fantastic twist, and everything becomes clear about why he acts the way he does. After the crash Ottway explains to the group that wolves have a 300 sq/mi territory but only about a 30 sq/mi hunting radius from their den. If they can put some distance between themselves and the den they have a chance to survive. However, none of them know where the den is, so they pick a direction that will offer them shelter and protection from both the wolves and the weather of the open plains they landed in, and head out.

The movie sets a good pace and Carnahan does a good job of building suspense with a few long scenes that never tip over the edge into violence or a chase. I found myself letting out a deep breath a few times. The group starts to gel and friendships are made. Tears are shed and they forge on. I like the fact that no characters death was dwelled over for too long, it was basic survival, you can’t stop to mourn and you can’t take the body with you. Wallet collection of the body was the norm, which helps set up the final scene.

SPOILER!!!  (Don’t read it unless you aren’t going to see the movie, or just don’t care)

If you didn’t guess already, Ottway becomes the last survivor. Wet from a frozen river rescue attempt, hungry, and scared he knows his time is up. He stumbles into small clearing surrounded by thick forest and high rock walls. He pulls out all the wallets and begins to stack them up, apparently to start a fire with them. Ottway has a moment of pause and begins to leaf though pictures stashed inside and remembers all the guys that died in their ordeal. He is now surrounded with wolves coming in slowly from all sides, and sinks back, a beaten man, and will no longer fight. Just then the Alpha wolf lets out a massive growl and all the others back off and sit, waiting for the ensuing carnage. Ottway looks around and realizes he is in the wolf’s den; the entire time he was trying to flee he was heading right towards it! The characters interpersonal fight comes to a head. His memory flashes to his wife, but you now see that she has a needle in her arm, hooked up to a drip, and her constant reminder throughout the movie telling him, “don’t be afraid”, was really about her dying from cancer. It wasn’t his fault no matter how much he blamed himself.

He opens his eyes, stares down the massive wolf, and arms himself with broken bottles from the planes drink cart and a knife he has been carrying.  Cut to the wolf’s killer eyes. Cut to the sorrowful eyes of Ottway. He thinks of his wife and his expression slowly changes from sadness to menace. He is no longer unsure, afraid, or carrying remorse for his wife death. He is resolved. Fade to black.

Hell…Yes.

Go see it. It’s has just enough violence to do the job, its quick paced, the cinematography is great, there are only one or two phony lines and the actors all do a great job. This movie is a classic example of man vs. man, man vs. elements, man vs. himself.

People Think Im Weird...

For the most part they are right. I have learned that nowadays what I consider fun or adventurous most people think as scary or stupid. This year I plan to participate in as many adventure races as time allows. When I tell people that, they look at me strange. Where else do you get to crawl through mud, climb rope ladders, navigate flaming tires, and charge through American Gladiator style pugilists? Trust me, I've done all of these before but when people, or my sisters, catch me doing these activities by myself in the woods they call the cops. I’m having trouble motivating most people around me to join up for this madness. Why wouldn't you want to do this is my thought.

I think attitude is what it all boils down to. There are people who say can and people who say can't. I don’t mean to get all Confucius on you, but think about the people in your life (friends, family, co-workers, or acquaintances) that you share the least amount of interests with. I bet you those are can't people. The problem is it is much easier to say can't than can. There have been many different wordings of the great Henry Ford quote but the gist is... "Whether you believe you can or cannot, you are correct". I’m not talking about going to the edge and physically hurting yourself; try it mentally, because your mind is where your actions and motivation begins. If you believe you can, then you can.

Next time you are veg-ing out on the couch in that catatonic state, really think about the position you are in. The less energy you expend the more tired you get, you body begins to shut down. All you can think about is not moving. You probably don’t even understand what is happening in front of your face. Just think if you multitasked while you watched. You can fold laundry, dust the room, clean up, or do a couple pushups or sit ups during commercials. I always feel energized when I do multiple things at once. Megan hates to watch anything with me because more times than not I stand. Just the simple act of standing allows your to stay mobile an alert.

When most people say "you can't do that" or "that's not possible", what they really mean is "I can't do that". Next time before you say can't, think about it first, I bet you can, you just choose not to.

Motivation and A New Old Discovery

I was dragging ass this morning. Even though yesterday, my birthday, was really fun, this whole weekend was hectic and I was feeling run down. I left a lot later than I usually do on Sunday's drive back to Iowa and I was spent when I got there. I have been working out every day during lunch but today I just wasn’t feeling it. But past history has always told me if I am tired work out, and I’ll be revived in no time. I headed to the gym to force myself into it.

(Side story, more like parallel story, or giant run on sentence)I am super excited that Meg got me an ipod nano for my birthday. It was totally unexpected even though she says I have done nothing but talk about it for like 2 months. If you are un familiar with the nano, it comes with a workout tracker from Nike as an app. You can set it for predetermined amounts of time, distance, intensity, etc and it will track your run. Basically it's a touch screen pedometer that plays music, awesome. Well it does soooo much more.

(Jump back in) I told myself I would run a 5k so that’s what I hit. This very authoritative woman’s voice comes on and states..."push begin when you start your workout". WHAT, it narrates my work out! Every .5k she comes back on and tells you the distance covered. At the end she sums up the run and saves it for future tracking. This is frickin sweet! When I hit 1.5k she says I am half way done. Ah crap, I must have hit 3k with my big fat Finn-gers instead of 5k. I already motivated myself to run 5 so I’m going to do it. And you know what? You can run past the end mark and she tells you how far you have gone past the finish. That is even better because now I feel like I am doing more and anyone expected of me. Like everyone is at the finish line stretching and drinking cool aid and I decided to take another lap around the course for fun.

So not only did I have Sarah (made-up name for the voice) tracking my run but the old ladies at the gym had on Days of Our Lives! It was awesome. Mildred, Estelle, Maude and I are all watching Days while we work out. Not being able to hear the show, I think, makes it better. The 20 minutes I watched was astounding. A husband and sister in law get caught making out by the wife, a son looks to be extorting his parents, and a fight between a sassy Latino woman and a senator at a political campaign party has to be broken up. BTW, has anyone ever told these actors that they are not performing a stage play where the people in the back row have to get the same action as the front rowers? It’s so bad it’s good, I laughed out loud, and I mean loud, like 5 times. I hope the ladies are back tomorrow because I don’t have the stones to change the channel to it myself.

I have worked with a gentleman named Tim Wolter over my past 6 months at Donaldson. Today (Friday) was his retirement day, after 39 years! That's crazy, do I have to work that long, I pray not. Tim is an amazingly nice guy and we have worked hand in hand every day. The hand in hand joke is funnier if you know him, because not only has he give 39 years of service, but also has given his right hand pointer finger from the last knuckle up! Nothing like a good press accident joke… it’s a manufacturing thing. We wear our maimings like a badge of honor.  

I asked my office partner in crime, Sandra, if it was a good idea to make him an office of his own using his cube and a bit of cardboard we have around the shop. Sandra, of course, egged me on (really she just said yes) so I ended up staying late last night to construct my masterpiece. The problem was I couldn’t get Tim to leave. I finally bid him farewell for the evening at 8:45! Luckily I had everything "prebuilt" so all I had to do was drag it in and tape it in place. I then plastic wrapped his chair. That damn chair would sink down every couple of days and he would have to turn it over and spin the hell out of the base for like 2 minutes to get it back up to the correct level. He never wanted a new one, despite our asking. Maria (2nd shift supervisor) helped me blow up and transfer 72 balloons to fill up the castle upon completion. (Side note: use an air hose to blow up balloons, its way easier. See I told you I'm full of useful advice!)

The rest of the office crew always comes in earlier than I do so they helped with the decorations. Tim was shocked and really loved going in and out of his new door. When asked how I thought up this idea, I said I just thought this is what you guys do when somebody retires, its fun. Sandra turns to me and states, "this is the first time anyone did anything like this." What?! My partner in crime totally set me up; I figured this was somewhat commonplace! Everyone enjoyed signing his castle and he has plans to take it home with him in the morning. I’m heading now off to hoist a beer with Tim and the rest of the crew. Overall it’s been a good day. Cheers!

Why This You Ask?

I think I missed the blog phase in america by about 2 years. There is no way these are still popular right? Well, I think this is a good outlet to share my stories, movie reviews, and information about how you should live your life. Thats right people, Im going to tell you how to live right! Thats not actually true, but if you boil down the name of this here blog you will see it is about my catharsis.

If you didnt know I am living by myself sunday through thursday night... wait a minute. This damn thing doesnt have auto correct! Well you guys are screwed, I just realized that you are going to have to decipher my crazy spelling and grammar errors. Sucks to be you. Back to it.

I started a new job and I live out in beautiful Decorah, IA for most of the week, and then commute home on the weekends to DeKalb to be with my family. Even though I am a very outgoing person, people can only stand to talk to me on the phone so long, and I think you all know my humor derives from my presence. I also thought about just walking up to a stranger and staring off on a story what happend the other day, but this town only has 8k people in it and half of them already know me as the guy who got pulled over on his BIKE by the cops. So allas here I am.

The name you ask? Well my BFF, thats right I used BFF, Jack named me the mountain climbing terrorist when I came to visit him in Alaska a couple years ago. It was like 50 and raining the entire time so I rocked out the shemagh around my neck, 20 billion people cant be wrong. I kept getting strange looks, but I usually get that so it didnt occur to me that my attire might make people nervous. Part B of the story goes... jack and I set out to hike this bitch of a mtn called Mt. Ptarmigan. It is a 6000+ ft craggy SOB that is unbeliveable cool and not climbed by many people. Short story goes 60mph wind, rain, snow, near moose attack, 10 hrs later we are heading back to the car coming within about 100 ft from the top. We got turned around by the ice forming on the rocks and no climbing gear to decend once we summited. I was exhauseted but detirmined not to stop along the 3.5 mile valley trek back to the car. Jack and I didnt even talk on the way back and thats because, when I turned around I realized I had left him 1/2mile back in my Batan Death March back to sanctuary. When he got there, he was laughing. He was like, "geeze Osama, its like you grew up in the mountains!" "I stopped trying to keep up with you like 30 minutes ago, you just couldnt be stopped!" Hence the PC name I received.

My stories wont all be funny, but my movie reviews will be accurate, and correct. You hear that Brian, you movie hating bastard!

So welcome all to my 21 century diary, I mean blog.