New! (sort of)

  I'm at it again with another new blog. Since my recent photoblog went belly up, I decided to start a new one. This one is not a photo-a-day for a year blog. It has no time limit. It will not be made up of photos I have shot the day of, or the day before. It will be a picture a day, randomly selected from any photo I've ever taken anywhere. That should keep it going for quite a while, and keep things interesting. Whenever I happen to take some new photos, those could show up in there too. Hopefully this one will be a little more engaging for viewers. Please check it out by clicking the link in the right hand column!

What's up

  No, it's not a question- I'm going to tell you what's up.

  A lot! Been keeping very busy between auditioning, graphic design work, web design work, church, and the daily business of being an actor. Translated, "daily business" means "looking for work." It's amazing how much time that eats up. There are never enough hours in the day to get things done. Finally, after umpteen days, I took a full day off on Sunday, and it felt great.
  In good news, I did get cast again, this time in an as-yet-untitled grindhouse horror project. I'm the guy who gets stabbed to death with a pair of garden shears. My audition consisted of me saying "Nooo! NOOOO! OH GOD NOOOOO!!!" and then screaming myself raw. Proudly, I was able to really rattle the room. My throat was tired and sore afterward, but I drank some tea and gave it a rest. We shoot this coming week.
  That's all the news that's fit to print for now. Oh, and if you're looking for my writing blog (unlikely), I have taken it down due to lack of readership. Apparently, nobody was interested. No hard feelings.

Do you read me?

  Are you reading my Story in a Year blog? Well, you should be. You can find it by clicking on that lovely logo in the right hand column that says "A Story in a Year." Clever title, right? That's why I write. I come up with gems like that, and I pat myself on the back for my ingenuity. Seriously, though, go read it. I'm writing a story over the course of a full year, one post at a time, every day. There is no plan, no editing. You will see it unfold at the same time I do. I tell you, it's fun every morning to sit down and start writing and see where the story leads. Join me, won't you?

The Civil Wars

  I may be late to the party in loving this duo, but good God do they sing beautifully. I hadn't heard of them until their recent appearance on the Grammys and I fell in love with them immediately. Now I can't stop rolling through their catalog. This may be my favorite tune of theirs, but "Barton Hollow" and "Falling" and "Poison and Wine" are also amazing. I don't even know how to quite categorize them. They're a bit Country, a bit Folk, a bit Pop. I don't care, I love their sound. If you're already a fan, good on you. If not, give them a listen and enjoy.

A Story in a Year

  Lofty goal? To be sure. Will it work? I dunno. Why are you asking yourself questions and then answering them? Because I am insane. Only an insane person would try this:

http://storyinayear.blogspot.com/

Fun with flowcharts

Designed for the heck of it. Click to view full size.

The Day of Many Pies

  As anybody who knows me is aware, I LOVE to cook. On my recent birthday, I was given a mini pie maker, and today was the first chance I had to use it. Let me tell you, the results were pretty spectacular!
  Facing many choices, I decided to make three different kinds of pie. Chicken Pot Pie, Apple Pie, and Cherry Pie. I didn't have any particular recipe for the chix pies, so I just made it up:

  I started with some regular chicken breasts...

  Cooked 'em up in a skillet with some spices...

  Chopped up and cooked some carrots, onion, and potatoes...

  Mixed in some condensed Cream of Chicken soup and a little milk...

  Added some peas...

  Mixed up some dough and cut out my crusts...

  Put my crusts in the piemaker and filled 'em...

  Slapped the top crusts on 'em and cooked 'em.

  The result! They came out perfectly and tasted amazing. Turns out I didn't really need a recipe after all. The crusts cooked a golden brown and were light and flakey. You would swear they were from a restaurant. So, then I moved on to the dessert pies...

  The cherry filling was straight out of a can (cheater!) so it didn't require prep, but the apple filling I made from my apple pie recipe. Usually, it just goes into the pie raw, of course, so I had to assemble the ingredients and then reduce them in a saucepan. Easy breezy.

  The apple pies came out beautifully, but as you can see, the cherries didn't fare so well. I made lattice tops for them, but I overfilled them, so the filling burbled up and singed. They were ugly, but they were delicious. For the first time in my life, I was able to say that I ate four pies for dinner.

  Can't wait for more culinary adventures with this new kitchen gadget!