Howling out loud!

Deviled Eggs were YUM!

Alpha Wolf — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:57:58 +0000

Today at work we had a potluck lunch with a Barbecue theme. I brought deviled eggs, which were received very well. They were delish! There was lots of food there, we all ate well! It was a good send off for my ‘vacation’

The weekend alone

Alpha Wolf — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:56:30 +0000

Yesterday Alpha Cub went to visit his Maternal Grandparents. Omega Wolf (my lovely wife) went with her nieces and nephew to Taos, NM for a vacation. Well, they will be having the vacation, Omega will still have to work.

The moral of that story, I will be alone for this weekend. This is not the greatest feeling, but it is a bit on the peaceful side. I miss them both.

Also, I have three cats that Alpha Cub are allergic to, and it has become my task to get rid of them before Omega makes it home from her vacation. I am not looking forward to that particular task.

Over and out.

I have my new books!

Alpha Wolf — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:34:29 +0000

I got the two books I ordered from Barnes & Noble yesterday! I now have new books to savor, digest and thoroughly consume! Then the appropriate reviews will appear here for everyone’s perusal!

I also have a book I got from someone on BookMooch, ‘The Beauty Myth‘ by Naomi Wolf. That review should appear here very soon as well.

I am also finished with ‘Against All Enemies‘ by Richard Clarke. I will hopefully have the review done by this evening. It was a very interesting book that explained in my eyes many reasons why things happened and why people are taking the actions they are today. I will elaborate more in the book review.

Come back soon and read up on these books!

Rachel Maddow Praised: ‘Some Of The Finest Commentary Available On Cable TV’

Alpha Wolf — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:29:54 +0000

It doesn’t surprise me that she is being recognized for her intellect and her integrity.

I have been watching her for quite a while, she is quite the breath of fresh air.

She backs up what she says with hard, easily verifiable facts. She also will often intruct people on how they may verify what she has presented. How awesome is that! I love it when she shows everyone how she discovered her information.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

I will be getting a new book to read!

Alpha Wolf — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:08:26 +0000

By Paolo Bacigalupi

It has been way too long. I have the book ‘Against all Enemies’ that I have to write a review on and ‘The Beauty Myth’ that I am in the middle of reading.

I received a birthday gift of one $25 Barnes & Noble gift card. I look forward to picking up the book ‘The Windup Girl‘ tomorrow and continuing my reading and reviewing.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-21

Alpha Wolf — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:15:00 +0000

http://tinyurl.com/yauu7lz – It was a nice little… #

Maddow At CPAC 2010 Conference (VIDEO)

Alpha Wolf — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:48:15 +0000

It was a nice little article about the CPAC Conference. It is scary how many things that this particular Conference had booths for. I was particularly surprised at the violent ones. As Rachel Maddow said, they definitely let their freak flag fly.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Happy Birthday to Me!

Alpha Wolf — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:17:10 +0000

Yay! It’s my birthday!

I do have to work. There was no way around that.

However, I was greeted by Alpha Cub screaming ‘Daddy!’ like he usually does when he is awake. He even wished me a Happy Birthday, after only one prompt!

I will still have fun, even if it’s unusual.

Trying to make a decent Chili

Alpha Wolf — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:53:32 +0000

I decided about a week ago that I was going to start using my slow cooker more often. Specifcally, I decided I was going to try and make a signature chili. I decided that I would start from humble beginnings and use the Chili Recipe on the McCormick Slow Cooker Chili Seasoning Package. It was a very basic recipe, with 5 ingredients:

2 lbs. of Ground Turkey or Beef
2 Cans of Kidney Beans (16 oz Each) – Drained
2 cans of Diced Tomatoes (14.5 Oz Each) – Whole
1 Can of Tomato Sauce (15.5 oz.)
1 Package of McCormick Slow Cookers Chili Seasoning

I used Turkey Chili because both my son and I prefer the taste of Turkey over Beef. I also used a single 28 oz. can of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes and Cento Tomato sauce.

Well, I started with a basic recipe and ended up with a very basic Chili. M said that it had no flavor, and she was correct. It seems that the recipe was definitely made for Beef with some juices and fat still coating the meat. The Turkey I used was 99% fat free.

I wasn’t too upsed, I was planning on modifying the base recipe anyway. I will just have to modify the recipe a little more that I thought I would have to from the start. I am partial to having a tasty chili.

The Slow Cooker Chili Package has to go, but I have to have a decent replacement. I am thinking I should start with:

1/4 cup of Chili powder
1 tablespoon Ground Cumin
a couple of pinches of Salt
a couple of pinches of Pepper
1 tablespoon of Celery Powder

I think my next attempt with cover the replacement of the McCormick’s Slow Cooker Chili Seasoning with the formula above, and include all the other items. This is probably as fast as I want to progress with this Signature Chili because I want to know when I put ingredient x in I get result y. So in the future I will probably only add and/or subtract only one ingredient and see how it works.

I am pretty sure I will have to add additional spices to the chili to make up for the exchange for Turkey for Beef. Other items I look to add to the recipe in the future are Onions, Garlic and different kinds of beans. This will be an evolving receipe, probably for a long time, and I welcome all suggestions on how to improve my chili.

Book Review – A Contract With the Earth

Alpha Wolf — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:38:47 +0000

One of the lastest books I have read was “A Contract With the Earth – Ten Commitments you can Make to Protect the Environment Now” by Newt Gingrich and Terry L. Maple. Newt Gringrich was the Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999 and was an Environmental Studies Professor. Terry L. Maple is president and CEO of the Palm Beach Zoo.

As stated clearly by the title, this book outlines a ten-step program to help people protect the environment. The book lists the ten commitments, the contract, right in the second chapter of the book. They are:

Take the Lead
Reward a New Generation of Environmental Entrepreneurs
Retire or Rejuvenate Old Technologies
Transform the Role of Government
Become and Aspirational and Inspirational Nation
Postiion America to Meet the Challenge
Encourage Scientific and Technical Literacy
Invoke the Spirit of Collaboration and Cooperation
Support the Environment through Philanthropy and Investment
Enlist the Nation

This contract is obviously meant to be used by those in political power to direct the nation toward a more environmentally friendly way of doing business. It is also a primer for the average citizen to pressure their representatives to push for environmental reform.

I enjoy reading, and thus I enjoyed this book to a certain extent. It was a learning experience, and there was value in the reading. I will say that I often find myself at odds with some of Mr. Gingrich’s philosophies and some of the ideas presented in this book are not ideas I would support. I do agree with the basic concepts of the contract as outlined by the book. I often do not agree with how the concepts should be fulfilled. It seems to be a difference between Conservation and Preservation. Mr. Gingrich seems to propose using Conservation, or active Human management of Natural Resourses, as much as possible to basically use the earth as one big resource and to replace what we have taken. I, more often than Mr. Gingrich, prefer the route of Preservation, or from keeping humans from interfering with the Environment. I find that if one attempts the road of Conservation over Preservation, even with well meaning intentions, the results are much less than desired. I also find some of the books methods of Conservation wanting.

I would recommend this book to everyone, even if one disagrees with a lot of the practicalities in this book like I did. What matters most that people become active and educated in Environmental Pursuits and this book can and does help in that regard.

Title: A Contract With the Earth
Author: Newt Gingrich and Terry L. Maple
ISBN#: 978-0-452-28992-5
Format: Paperback Book