Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tomorrow at work the Activities Committee is having a bake sale and they asked that Donna make some of her famous Chocolate Chip Cookies. So tonight I had the horrible job of stirring raw ingredients into a bowl of dough. And of course I had to dispose of the not so round and pretty ones that are unfit for sale.

It is a variation of the recipe that came out of a Betty Crocker Cookbook. Change one is the recipe calls for 2/3 cup margarine and 2/3 cup shortening, we just use 1-1/3 cups margarine. Through experimentation we have found that the cheaper the better. Our current favorite is the Kroger brand for 39¢ a pound. The second change is the addition of a little bit of coconut. This makes them just a little moister. Do not use a mixer, a wooden spoon and your arm to stir is all you need.

1 1/3 cups margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon soda
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
3?1/2 ounces sweetened coconut
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375.
Mix thoroughly margarine, granulated sugar, brown sugar, soda, eggs & vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients, one at a time in the order listed. I usually add in the flour a cup at a time. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly before removing from baking sheet.

Happy eating…

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32 Minutes 34 Seconds In

Red Sky In MorningThis morning, as I passed by the front door of ASCO with my ice and water filled mug, I noticed the sunrise was very vivid. While I stood and watched, the Plant Manager walked up to me on the way to his office and asked what was up. I pointed to the sky and said, “Nice sunrise. You’re the Grand Poobah, announce on the PA system for everyone to stop work and report to the front lawn to watch this.” He paused a second, as if thinking about the possible ramifications, and replied, “I wish I could.”

Our crowd of two attracted the attention of the Resident Engineer who came over to see what we were seeing. He knew I take pictures as an affliction, so he asked where my camera was. It was in the front of my lunch bag, I told him so, followed by, “See ya.” I went back to my desk, grabbed the camera and went out to the side door to snap a couple images. Across the street was the, now quiet, Western Carolina State Fair with an orange sky as a backdrop.

Let me apologize to the legion of Goonie fans out there, the title to this post is where I hit the eject button on the DVD of “The Goonies” tonight.

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Post Avoidance

OK, I’ve got nothing to say tonight. I’ve spent the last half hour reading other blogs and generally wandering around the internet looking for inspiration. At least that is what I told myself I was doing. Guess what? Didn’t find any. Come back tomorrow.

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A 1940 Oregon Coast Tour

Cannon BeachEvery Monday I print out two images on the departmental color printer and pushpin them to the outside of my cubicle. The first is the eleven year old Calvin and Hobbes Sunday cartoon and the other is a photograph I have taken over the weekend. For the last couple weeks I have been posting Cannon Beach photos, but last Friday my wife said, “No more.” Seeing those images has become to painful because we had such a good time in our two days there that it seems as if our normally “exciting” life here has lost some of it’s luster. So, today, to go along with Calvin and Hobbes I posted a picture from our walk in Hitchcock Woods on Saturday morning.

We are already planning a return trip to the Oregon Coast in May. To tide us over until then, we will have to settle for a trip back in time to there: A 1940 Oregon Coast Tour

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Folding Bucket

I went to the Patent Office trying to register some of my inventions.

I went to the main desk to sign in and the lady at the desk had a form that had to be filled out. She wrote down my personal info and then asked me what I had invented.

I said, “A folding bottle.”

She said, “Okay, what do you call it?”

“A Fottle.”

“What else do you have?”

“A folding carton.” “What do you call it?”

“A Farton.”

She sniggered and said, “Those are silly names for products and one of them sounds kind of crude.”

I was so upset by her comment that I grabbed the form and left the office without even telling her about my folding bucket.

Now Here’s Something You Don’t See Anymore

Here are some excerpts from a 3-page letter that came in the snail mail on Saturday for my deceased mother-in-law:

Dear Friend:
My name is Dick Hollman. In September 1991 my car was repossessed. Bill collectors were hounding me like crazy. I was laid off and unemployment ran out. In October I received a letter telling me how I could earn $800,000.00 anytime I wanted to!!! Of course I was skeptical, but because I was so desperate, and had nothing to lose I gave it a try. In January 1992, my family went on a ten day cruise and in February, bought an Escalade with cash. This program works perfectly as long as everybody is honest and enjoy not working again!!! THIS IS NOT A CHAIN LETTER!!! This is a perfectly legal money making opportunity. Please read the letter carefully, follow the instructions EXACTLY!!!!!

Whoever sent this forgot to advance the dates by a decade when they changed the vehicle purchased, Escalades weren’t manufactured until 1999.

1. Immediately send $1.00 US funds to each of the 6 names on this page.
Include with you dollar a request to be put on their mailing list. THIS IS THE CRITICAL STEP THAT MAKES THIS PROGRAM PERFECTLY LEGAL!!!!!

Bolding mine, doesn’t just putting this instruction in the letter invalidate this loophole?

4. Purchase a mailing list from DATA LINE, THEIR NUMBER IS 1800-497-2912. Ask for a list of opportunity seekers. This list is $40.00 and comes on address labels ready to go on envelopes. They will ship C.O.D. and take Master Card and Visa.

Internet searching reveals no company called DATA LINE that sells mailing lists. I also got no hits using a couple of toll free reverse look up directories for that number (I was scared to actually call it…) So this is probably not a way to scam people out of $40.

1)Steven Clewis
5453 Stewart Dr.
Virginia Beach, VA. 23464
…
6)Richard Creamer
Rt. 1 Box 2025
Ray City, GA.31645

The address label, a lick to apply kind, listed Mr. Creamer and that address. So, did Richard actually follow the written instructions in hopes of getting $800,000? Or did Steven Clewis have the return address labels printed up along with the

3. Copy or print 200 (or 500 if you are ambitious) copies of this 3 page letter.

in hopes of speeding up the income? As far as I can tell from my rudimentary internet searches, no one by the name of Steven Clewis lives at that address. There were 4 different names with 4 corresponding, but different, phone numbers that I could find listed at 5453 Stewart Dr.

Anyway, whoever hoped to profit from this “solicitation to join their mailing list” is going to be at least one buck shy of their goal as the letter went into our shredder. Right after I scanned it, so I wouldn’t have to retype these excerpts.

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Best Laid Plans

On our drive up to the upstate the fall colors ranged from none, to some, back to none, into really great to just a touch. My plan to take a picture of the car with a vivid fall backdrop was forgotten because the only time the leaves were what I might be looking for was in the middle of the drive up into the mountains at the NC border and I was busy driving like a mad man to even think about stopping for a photo op. This is usually how it works on our trips to the mountains, the really good scenery is reduced to a blur and not captured photographically as it unfortunately falls during the best sports car driving segments.

Tomorrow morning it is supposed to be raining, so depending on how long it looks like it will continue, we may forgo further leaf peeping and just head for home. Either way there will probably be no picture taking tomorrow either.

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