Weekend in July Pt. 5: Bacon Explosion

What did you have for dinner? I had a bacon explosion, recipe courtesy of my main man Ben Pepin. Here's what is up:

You will need:

2 pounds bacon
2 pounds sausage meat
hella seasoning
bottle of barbeque sauce

Step 1: Weave bacon.


Step 2: Cook unused bacon.


Step 3: Season your bacon weave.


Step 4: Spread sausage meat over bacon weave.


Step 5: Add cooked bacon.


Step 6: Load it up with barbecue sauce. Bubba's is our choice.


Step 7: Roll it all up. This is the hard part.


Step 8: Cover it in more barbecue sauce.


Step 9: Grill it for a long time.


Step 10: Enjoy with greens.


Trust me, the incredible flavor is absolutely worth the stomach ache.

Weekend in July Pt. 4: Shadow Puppet Theater

One of the exciting things I did this past weekend was visit Red Hill Books for a shadow puppet show. When I was in middle school, I put on my own shadow puppet show about how Brer Rabbit outsmarted a lion by bringing him to a well so the lion got mad at his own reflection and jumped in thereby stopping any and all terror experienced by the animals.

It is sort of hard to explain how ridiculous the show is, so I'm gonna break the situation down into headings:

Description of Story Teller:



Do you see the focus in this man's eyes? His life is dedicated to shadow puppets. He lives in Humboldt County and every couple of months he comes down to the Bay Area to do a little tour of shows in bookstores in libraries, then he returns home. Whether he has another job is beyond my scope of knowledge, however I would recommend that he keeps it if he has it.

Whether he is the coolest man in the world is debatable; whether he has the coolest name in the world is not: Sean Powers. Sean Powers: Storyteller.

The coolest part about maybe the coolest person in the world is his musical instrument collecting.

His Instruments:

1. His 'Contraption' (A homemade brilliant thing)

Unfortunately, he didn't actually use this during the story. Ridiculous.

2. His Hu-Lu (a Chinese wind instrument)

He told a really convoluted story about how he bought it.

3. His Sanza.

His was made from a fish can and he says that in Africa, they play Sanza's as they walk from village to village

4. I can't remember the 4th, it must not have been that tight.

The Stories:
The first story was short. It featured a bird that hatches an egg. In the egg was a giant mouth with legs that talked about eating candy and how much it hated brushing teeth. Then a flying toothbrush forced itself on the monster and the monster changed his mind.


The second story was about a hungry turtle (the African Lore counterpart to the American Coyote [the trickster]). The turtle heard about the feast in the sky so he tricked the birds to giving him feathers so he could fly. He went up, ate all their food and they got mad so they took their feathers back and he was stuck on the cloud. He asked them if he could tell his wife to put the soft stuff from their house out, but they changed the message so his wife put the hard stuff from their house out and he jumped on it, shattering his shell.


His storytelling was like this:

"and then the birds were like... and then the turtle was like...etc."

All in all, brilliant show, wonderful day. Check his website here.

Weekend in July Pt. 3: Burritos

As I said, I would be reviewing restaurants that I ate at this past weekend (including last Thursday). You may link to all of them later in this post, but there is a more pressing issue at hand.

While at Taqueria Los Charros with my good buddy Dan from out of town, I watched him struggle and toil with his tin foil wrapped burrito until it collapsed in a hot mess accessible only by way of Fork and Knife, two friends that I always hope not to run into at Mexican restaurants.

For this reason, I want to share this instructions that I ripped off of High Tech Burrito's website. While they do not pretend to be very authentic, they do a great job demonstrating how one should eat a burrito:

(by the way, this is a huge win for my html skills because I had to dig through source code and figure out all sorts of difficult problems.)

RestauranTouring
Taqueria San Jose
High Tech Burrito
Bettys Burgers (THIS ISN'T MEXICAN!!!)
Taqueria Los Charros

(by the way, for those using google reader, see the actual post)

Weekend in July Pt. 2: The Most Ridiculous Place I've Ever Been

If you are like me, you've seen these gosh darn bumper stickers all over the place and have always assumed you were missing out on some amazing surf culture mecca that everybody west of the Mississippi reps harder than their own congressmen.


Turns out, you'd be way off. Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, California is not a surf shop. It is not a record store either (as my dad thought); it is actually the most ridiculous place I have ever been.

It is a circular area in the boonies of Santa Cruz where gravity is completely zoinked and your brain goes absolutely insane.

This picture does a pretty good job of showing you the ridiculousness, but you can also see pictures of me doing cool leans here.



I used to say that a visit to Muir Woods is the best way to spend 5 dollars, but I now believe that Mystery Spot is more amazing (plus it has redwoods).

Weekend In July Pt. I: All Over

This weekend, I did a ridiculous amount, and drove all over the freakin' place. This post marks number 1 of a series of posts dedicated to this fantastic weekend.

Feel free to look at this google.map to see all the places I went.

View Weekend in July in a larger map

Places Include:
Restaurants:
Taqueria San Jose* (not on map because I went on Thursday) [San Rafael]
High Tech Burrito* [Mill Valley]
Betty's Burgers* [Santa Cruz]
Taqueria Los Charros* [MountainView]

Places and Events:
Sonnen BMW [San Rafael]
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk* [Santa Cruz]
Mystery Spot* [Santa Cruz]
Red Hill Books* (Shadow Puppet Show) [San Francisco]
Production of the Bacon Explosion* [San Francisco]

*means you will see more about this on aaronstrick.com, Restaurantouring, or World:Aaroneous in the near future.

What a wild weekend it has been.

This post was done from my phone. My non-iPhone dumbphone. Amazing technology. If i could do picture mail, i would have put a pic up too. Sent from my Dumbphone

Google Latitude Reps Mill Valley

Google release their new 'Google Latitude' for mobile devices today. Basically, it's a way you can know exactly where your friends are at all times. Now you will know for sure when you weren't invited to hang out...

I guess surprise birthday parties as we know them will cease to exist.

You can learn more about it here:

Anyway, in the little sample uses, Mill Valley gets a hard rep so I added myself to the mix! Fred wants to hang out with me!

Summer Bummer: On TV

What do Bill O'Reilly and I have in common?

1. We're both Terriers.

2. We're both are on Fox News.

Check me out at 1:00

BTW...Fail on Fox News for not allowing embedding. I am sorry you have to leave my site.

Cardboard Tube Fighting League

CARDBOARD TUBE FIGHTING LEAGUE
This is an actual organization and today I participated in one of their tournaments. I got owned in the first round by a ridiculously scary dude with crazy hair and a gas mask...


One of my friends did pretty well though. I tossed together some of the footage. I hope you appreciate the ridiculousness of the situation.

Also, you can see more pictures of the dueling along with other fun summer photos here.

You can also see a review of the food that fueled my duel here.

And just so you know, this font comes from this fantastic experimentavision post.

BookArt: Awesome (who knew?)

W00t knew! I have to credit the w00t blog for turning me on to this, but it is freakin' incredible. It is basically the reason stumbleupon should exist...

Check it out here.

Yay Sunshine

Remember the Cryptids?

I previously posted about the Cryptids. You were probably a little confused on what it was... This video probably won't help, but check my epic-slowmotion-one-footed-hop at about 1:30.

Find more videos like this on CryptoZoo

Science.

Courtesy of WoodyJang.com

Coke+Mentos from Woodrow Jang on Vimeo.

Another angle to come.

Geekiness to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL

Two incredibly exciting, yet incredibly geeky events have just happened in my life and have come together in the most absurdly fantastic way.

1. I received an email from an excited friend (Dardashti) who I will now quote:

"Lastly, I think text macros are making a huge come back, and I'm highly in favor of it.

           `/shddmddddhymmmh.                                      
                                    `odhhhhhhoyyydhhhhdds:`                                   
hhhhhhhdssyyyoohdhhhhdms:                                 

                            `-:+oosooomdddhhhdyosys+odhhhhhhhmhh/                               
`+dNMMMMMMMMMNmddddddmdyyyhdhhhhhhhhhmhhh`                             
sMMMMMMMMMMNddhhhyyhhhhddddhhhhhhhhhhmhhhh                             

                         .sdmNNMMMMh::------:+shdhhhddddhhhhhmdhhhm`                            
                            ````:yo/:::--------:/oyhhhhhdddhmdhhhhm`                            
                                /s+/:::/++/--:++///+shysoosshhhhhhy                             

                               `o-       `/oo+.`     `/o:---:+hhhd.                             
                               s`          y-          .y-----:yd:                              
                               y  y/`--.   y     `:`    o/--/--y`                               

                               -+.`o+::/++/h     -s`    y:-od:o/+                               
                                -yoy-------/o`        `++-ooo+hoh                               
                                :o+yo+/:----:+/:-..-:/+:-o+-/hh.s                               

                                /y/:://+oo++++++////::--:/---d-:/                               
                              -o/::::::::::::://oo+/-----:+++h-``                               
                             /o:::::::::::::::::::/+o/---:/os/+/                                

                            /o:::::::::::::::::::::::os---:/y::s                                
                            h:::::::::::::::::::::::::s+--:-:/s.                                
                            ./+/+osy+++o//+o++s+/ooo::/y--+yo:`                                 

                               `..:h` `s``:+  +- .oy::/s---s.                                   
                                  /y/::s-.:o.-++:+s/::y:---y`                                   
                                  o+/://////////:::::s+----h                                    

                                   .:o+::::::::::::+s/-----h`                                   
                                     `:y+//:::::/+o/-------y`                                   
                                       y:/++++++/:---------oo:.                                 

                                     `.h------------------:ohyy-                                
                                   `+ooh----------:://++ooo++//y-                               
                               `..-s+hy/-------+yooo++++////////y                               

                             `syyhd+/yh///////osh///////////////syo/:.`                         
                        `.-/+ohhhmo/ssh-----:yo/oy////////////+oddhhhhys/:-.`                   
                    `.:sssds///+oy/yo/oo   .o+///h+///////++osyhsyhhhhhmosyhyo/.`               

                  -oydymsyy//////+y+///y. -s+////+h//+++osoo++h+///+osydyhhhhhhyyo-`            
                .ohhdysmyh///////h+////+y+o///////ossoo+/////h+///////hyhhyhhhhhyyhy/`          
                y/yhmyys+/////++hs+/////dyso/////////////////d///////shydsdydyyyyso+oy:         

              `:d/oyo+///////odhdhhhh+/+hsso/++oossssssssoo+/d//////yhydyhhyy////+oshsy.        
             :o/s+///////////mhhhhhhm+/h+////hsooosssso++ooy/d//////oddyhhsd+//os+/-:oh-        
           .o+--:h//////////+mhhhhhds/+h/////ddossoooosood+y/ss//////+ydyyho+os/------:++`      

          -s:----+y////////oyyhhhyoss/h+/////dd++syys+++oy+y//h////////+yy+so/----------/o-     
         :s-------+s//////+d///////so+h//////hd++ssys+++h+oy//+h/////////os/--------------o/    
        .s---------/y+//+ss+//////oy/h++/////hsy++oo+++yo/oy///oy//////+s+-----------------o/   

        y:----------:ossh+///////ss/oyhss////h/syoooosy+//os////oy+///os:-------------------y.  
       .y------------:ss+osso++oy+/+h/+o/////h//+oooo+////os/////+yo+yy:--------------------:s  
       :o-----------+s+/////++++///h+////////h+//////////+so///////ohsoho--------------------y  

       :o---------:so/////////////yo/////////+ooosssssssoo+//////////+++h--------------------y  
       `y--------/y+/////////////yo////////////////////////////////////y+-------------------/o  
        ++------:h//////////////ss+//////////////////////////////////+y/-------------------:y`  

         o/-----y+//////////////hysh////////////////////////////////+y:-------------------:s.   
          ++---:h//////////////ss/o+///////////////////////////////+h:-------------------/s.    
           :o:-oo//////////////h///////////////////////////////////h/------------------:o/      

            `/oyo//////////////d//////////////////////////////////s+-----------------:o/`       
              `do//////////////d//////////////////////////////////h---------------:++/`         
             `osh//////////////dosy//////////////////////////////y+-------o-----+s/.            

            `ysod+/////////////hssy+/////////////////////////////d--------y:---:/s:             
            :o-yMNdyso+////////oy////////////////////////////////d-------:y/++:/+/o+:           
             s/oMMMMMMMNmmdhhssshooooooooooooooooooooooyyyyyyyyyyd+-----+ooh::ys:/oo/s          

              -/yNMMMMMMMMMMM+:::::::/+MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMdssssssssssd:---+s--o+--h---h+/          
                  ddmmmNNNNMMy::::::::+MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmsssssssssssh+--:o--:h--h--:y            
                  dhhhhhhhhhhddhyyyyyydddddddddddddddddddddddddddddm++o/:-:s+/ss+++`            

                  dhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhm.  .:://:.               "

2. Another friend lent me his old copy of 'Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic' which I am about to play pretty much not stop for a couple of weeks.

Every so often, two less extreme things combine to form something so extreme, that you cannot even believe that something so wonderful could possibly have come from two such lesser things. Take salt for example. Sodium and Chloride are both awesome, but who could ever believe they would combine to make salt! Or how about water and corn starch? Mentos and Diet Coke (more on this later)?

Here is what I want you to do (if you have a mac. If you have a PC, you're outsky):

Open up Applications>Utilities>Terminal

Copy and paste this command into the program: telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

Hit enter.

Watch and be amazed.

Here is a preview of something you might see:


Enjoy! (and in case you didn't know, that is Homer Simpson)

More on Baby Gramps (palindromes)

A very serendipitous (great word) thing happened to me recently. It involved palindromes and an old songsman named Baby Gramps.

As a child, my elementary school had a completely awesome book that I read all the time and loved so much. It was called: "Go Hang A Salami, I'm A Lasagna Hog"


This book featured all sorts of palindromes! Some I remember include:
Tahiti Hat
'Nora, A raft!''Is it far Aaron?' (one very near and dear to my heart).

So, the other night, I went to this Baby Gramps show that you've now heard so much about.

I struck up a conversation with the man and discovered he is a palindrome man himself. He told me a fun one that he claimed to have made up about the actress Lana Turner.

'Anal sex at noon taxes Lana'

I then tried to impress him with the best one I know, 'go hang a salami, i'm a lasagna hog,' but he quickly dismissed it as one he knew.

He had a little more fun with words claiming:

'She was a farmers daughter: all the men knew her' [manure]
'She was a moonshiners daughter: he made me lick her' [liquor]

When I got home, I couldn't remember the exact palindrome he gave me (the one I have provided: 'anal sex at noon...' might not be the one he told me) so I looked for more information about Baby Gramps and palindromes online.

It was then that I made the most shocking of discoveries!

It turns out, on multiple websites (here and here), 'go hang a salami...' is actually ATTRIBUTED TO BABY GRAMPS! He wrote that! And I tried to impress him with it!

Apparently, 'Tarzan raised a Dezi Arnaz rat,' is by him too. Pretty good work!