Thomas, the unwritten manual, and my digestive tract...

Thomas completed his water camp this week. All went well. I even came by Thursday for Parent's night, and in the space of about 3 hours, we went windsurfing, canoeing, and sailing. Thomas is a real natural at all 3. The most adventure was sailing - we got off to a good start, got to about the midpoint in the lake, and then suddenly the rear starboard corner of the boat went under the surface, and the boat capsized. Thomas knew exactly what to do, and we quickly righted the boat and got back on. But then, the same thing happened again. Not sure what was causing it - we could've just been overloading the boat. Anyways, we had a great time. I can totally see why Thomas has been coming home exhausted from this.

I'm supposed to be writing a manual this weekend for an upcoming product, but so far I've been less than productive. I ate some bad sushi at the all-you-can-eat place in Folsom, and spent last night pretty sick. I didn't get much sleep, so today I spent the better part of the day falling asleep all around the house. I also took the time to work a little bit on my truck. It still runs bad, but it does have some more power from the new spark plugs. Most of the existing plugs were extremely old and worn, so it was worth the $8.99 to get new ones.

Windsurfing for Thomas

Thomas is attending a weeklong camp at the CSUS Aquatic Center out at Lake Natomas. Today was the first day, and he had a basic boating safety class this morning, followed by a challenging afternoon of windsurfing. It was freezing when we got there this morning, but it warmed up by afternoon. Tomorrow is canoeing.

Take a moment...

Go to www.letssaythanks.com, pick out a postcard, and send it. They are printed and mailed to one of the fighting troops over in Iraq. Someone will smile if you do. It's worth points.

Say a prayer....

If you have a minute, say a prayer for a friend of mine. He's known online by the name Hobbit. He's currently dealing with some bad mojo, and is stuck up in the hospital until his doctors say otherwise. I know how much I hate long-term hospital stays, so send some positive vibes his direction.

Chicken & Ribs. Perfection

So, today I had to cook the chicken breast in the fridge, or it would've been wasted, so I fired up my favorite smoker. This time, I used a wet BBQ sauce instead of my usual dry rub. The beauty of slow-smoked BBQ is that you can apply the sauce right away to the meat, and just put a fresh coat on about every 30-45 minutes. The end result is extremely flavorful. The outside meat is glazed over with sauce, and the inside is smoked and tasty.
(One of my biggest pet peeves about cooking chicken breast other ways is that the inside of the chicken doesn't get any of the flavor. I'm not a big fan of the 'natural' taste of chicken, so if it isn't flavored somehow, it's a tough sell.)
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I couldn't let the smoker sit idle, so I tried the same technique on 2 racks of ribs for dinner. The smoker was already at optimum temperature, and the fire was going along great, so I thought it would be a good time to face my one BBQ-ing nemesis - pork ribs.

The last time I tried ribs, I didn't know the proper way to dress them like you get in the restaurants. Check out this page for a complete understanding. You actually have to throw out quite a bit of what you buy, but what you cut off isn't worth eating.

You can also cheat, like I did this time, and get the supermarket to do it for you.

Anyway, I cooked the ribs for a little over 2 hours. Halfway through, I turned and slathered them with more sauce. Absolute perfection.

Chicken and potato salad for lunch. Ribs and beans for dinner. Now I know for sure my tummy is alllllllllll better. :)

Quarantine Lifted

Okay, we are all better now. No more plague, no more passing out on the ER floor. It's all good now. I'm even gonna BBQ tomorrow!!

Thomas starts summer camp next week, right before he goes back to school. Folsom-Cordova district is practically a year-round school, the way the kids have to go back mid-August. Ah, well.

Summer Camp is at a local lake this year, sponsored by CSUS. The kids learn kayaking, windsurfing, sailing, etc.

The Plague Continues...

So, Christine and Zac both came down with this nasty gastroenteritis on Monday, with the same symptoms that Bethany had Saturday/Sunday. Thomas and I got hit with it early Tuesday morning, and I was so sick from fluid loss, that I had to go to the ER yesterday and get IV fluids. Whatever this is, it's NAAAAASTY.

I found the quickest way to get help in the ER is to just collapse on the floor. Worked for me yesterday. Then, once you are in triage, find the nearest gurney and just collapse on it. They take care of you quick.

After 3L of fluids via IV, I was feeling a little better. No cramping and dizziness anymore.

Right now, I'm still weak, and running a 101.7 fever, but I'm dragging myself into work anyway because of a commitment we have with KVIE channel 6. I'm hoping to be back in bed by 9.