here you go boys, i'm so f'in stoked...

Turkey - Part One

I thought I should finally share some pictures from my trip to Turkey.

This is the Hajia Sophia. It was originally built as a church during the Byzantine Empire around 500 A.D. It was converted to a mosque by the Ottomans but it is now a museum.

This is the Blue Mosque which is about 1000 years older than the Hajia Sophia. It is a working mosque, so the call to prayer was rather loud and I had to take my shoes off in order to enter it.

The Grand Bazaar is the world's oldest and largest bazaar, which means that it is a giant mall with really annoying salesman. The salesman would stand outside the shops and try to speak whatever language they think is your native tongue. One guy asked if I was from Holland.

This is a picture from Cappadocia. We stayed in a village called Goreme and it is surrounded by hills which have caves carved into the sides of them. The caves were made by Christians that were trying to escape from persecution.

This is a picture inside one of the caves that was made into a church. The landscape is literally covered with these caves and the walls are covered with paintings inside the churches.

Recipe Installment #2

So I have been at home studying and finally got through my goal for the day. So I decided to reward myself with a little treat. Fried Ravioli. I have had these frozen raviolis in the freezer for forever and decided to jazz them up:

Frozen ravioli
Egg
Flour
Parmesan cheese (not the crappy Kraft stuff, the real deal)
Oil
Marinara sauce

Cook the ravioli per the directions. Then lay them out on some paper towel and make sure they are dry. Heat up a skillet with an inch or two of oil until you get a good popping sound when you flick a drop of water into the pan. Now dredge the raviolis in the flour followed by the egg, followed by the cheese. Pop them into the oil for a few minutes until golden brown. If you didn't use a lot of oil, flip them over to make sure all the sides get crispy. Put them onto some more paper towel to soak up the extra grease and season. Finally, pour some marinara into a dipping bowl and garnish with a little basil.

Your whole apartment is going to smell like McDonald's with all the oil but it is worth it. This would probably work well as a cocktail party food too.

P.S. Bread crumbs are for sissies. The more cheese, the better.

Walking is good for your health, right?

Everybody I have a very important and urgent announcement

CANNON BALL!!!!!!!

I am bored at work so I decided to pass the time with this.

PS I named it the Octagon

Geez...

...you make one mention of "man-kinis" and end up with google ads like these... better remedy the situation. boobs, girls, tools, motorcycles, power, gorillas, grills, trucks, electronics.

New Car

Well guys, the Audi is finally gone. After years of excellent service, I finally gave up on her. She needed a new timing belt that would have cost more than she was worth and I have a ton of driving to do this summer so I figured I would take advantage of a slow economy and get a good deal on a car. Anyway, here she is. 2008 Mitsubishi Outlander XLS. 220-hp V6 with continuously variable transmission. Keyless ignition, leather heated seats, xenon headlights, premium sound, etc. etc. etc. It is a nice car and it was a good deal too. Anyone out there looking for a nice inexpensive ride, look at Mitsubishi. They also have a ridiculous 10yr/100k powertrain warranty and 5yr/60k bumper to bumper. Anyway, enjoy the pics and I'd be happy to pick anyone up from the Boston airport in it. =)

Yale artwork

Somebody please explain to me why I should ever think an education from Yale is worth a damn when compared to state schools. FYI, the link is in the title.

I guess I do not understand what the word "art" implies. A Yale student apparently thinks that self expression involves video taped, self induced abortions. I guess Yale assumes that a display of skid marks from my childhood could represent the saga of a young boy growing up in Florida, while it really just a bunch of shit stains in tighty whities.

But, what the hell do I know, I done got me an edumacation from one of them schools down south in them areas where them boys wear white sheets and chase around the darkies.

Costa Rica

Heading to Costa Rica in the morning. I will post pics when I get back on Tuesday.

Champions Club

Carla and I were thinking of signing up for champions club tickets for Gator games. Any other Gator fans interested? It won't be until Carla graduates.....next June at least, but if any of you are interested we could try to get tickets together. Just as info the seats are $2600 a piece per year if you are interested

......one more

Happy Birthday Chris! Hope it's a good one. Your bday is always so easy to remember ;-)

P.S. - Hope everyone got their taxes done....only a few hours left.

For the motorcycle guys...

Ok bike guys...I'm looking for any advice/input. Anything will help.

Do you use daily?

Do you suggest having a car also? Could I get by without it if I needed to?

Sorry to be so broad...but hopefully you guys can fill me in a little.

Joint Bdays

Happy Birthday Fasoli Boys. Welcome to the ripe old age of 26. Hope you guys have awesome days.

Love Nick D

I fear for the future...

I'm not going to post a link since the story is friggin everywhere by now, but have you all out of the area heard about the Polk county kids who beat the ever loving crap out of a girl who was talking smack on MySpace? One chick lured her a house where 6 girls were waiting to jump her while 2 guys waited outside as lookouts. The girl didn't even fight back and now has impaired hearing and vision. As if this weren't bad enough, these idiots were dumb enough to video tape the half hour beatdown (their great plan was to post it on YouTube), and now face kidnapping, battery, and tampering charges that could (but won't) put them in prison for life. They're all being tried as adults. Retards are gonna throw their lives away just for some stupid words being said. I know stupid kids will be stupid kids, but no amount of running your mouth warrants being trapped and beaten senseless like that. It reminds me of that punk who killed a kid by continuing to go at him after he fell unconscious... dumbasses don't realize they could actually murder someone when stuff like this escalates. Anyway, there's been some buzz down here on the radio and stuff about local kids thinking that what these girls did wasn't that big of a deal, saying that the first girl shouldn't have run her mouth in the first place. I was curious as to what you guys thought, because it pretty much makes me sick... *shutter*

YAY! No longer a bum!

I got a job, woo hoo! I started yesterday at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital as a PT Aide part time, and will be starting an internship with Corporate Fitness Works of Clearwater in a couple weeks when my semester ends. Only the first is a paid position, but I'm hoping both will beef up my resume enough to secure a decent chance at a job upon graduation. The internship might secure me a job in and of itself anyway, but will give me a Sh*t ton of experience and teach me to apply what I already know regardless. So yay, I'm officially not a piece of crap anymore :o)

Happy Early Nicholas

I will be gone all day tomorrow so I am saying Happy Birthday tonight. Yes, I was thinking ahead.



PS I love you

Adam's Chicken Hash

So over the weekend I decided to make an oven roasted chicken. Needless to say, one man cannot consume such a fowl in one sitting and I have tons of leftovers. So far, I made a chicken sandwich for lunch, made some stock, and put some chicken in a burrito. But my best use has been my dinner the past two nights: Chicken Hash.

It has been the perfect use of chicken and actually tastes better than the chicken dinner I made for myself initially. Here goes:

Ingredients:
Chicken
Potatoes (I have made with both regular and sweet potatoes)
Onion
Fresh Basil for garnish
Garlic powder
Chili powder
Salt/Pepper

To speed things up, I like to cut the potatoes in medium chunks and then boil them in water for maybe 15 minutes until they are cooked through. Then heat up a nice cast iron skillet with some oil (which works much much better than a regular pan) and add the potatoes and onions. Don't move them around a lot so they get nice and brown and cook for about 5 minutes. Now add your chicken and spices. I used a hefty amount of garlic powder and maybe half as much chili powder. Cook for another 5 minutes. Pop it on a plate, garnish with basil (I used green onion the first night and that was tasty as well) and serve with some ranch dressing and biscuits.

The spice possibilities seem pretty endless but these worked quite well. Also I am sure one could come up with a more creative dipping sauce but that is what I had in the fridge. Maybe something horseradishy would be good... Anyway, this is what I do with my time when I don't want to study anymore.

Airlines f**cked us, how about you?

As you probably know, the airline industry is hurtin' for certain. As a result, Jetblue stopped service from Tucson to NY as of May. Our July 4 trip to NY was, therefore, cancelled. Jetblue as a company was fairly easy to deal with. Regardless of what we decided to do (re-route, refund, etc.) they gave us $50 Jetblue credits per person per flight ($200 in total). In the end we are flying out of Phoenix now (a 2 hour drive as opposed to 20 minute drive) since flights have gone up so much it doesn't make sense to get a refund.

Has anyone else been affected or heard of someone affected by the recent cancellations? Which airline were they flying and how was it handled?