See a Man about a Horse

"This is my happy face."

The BBC series "Sherlock Holmes" is finally on Hulu.  Last night I had the pleasure of watching the "Hound of the Baskervilles" episode and Hulu didn't freeze until there were about two minutes left.  So Benedict Cumberbatch, who recently played Kahn in "Star Trek: Into Darkness," is seen above in the movie "Atonement."  The movie was a WWII era drama, with no happy ending.  It was basically one big ball of rape, separation and sadness.  Apparently, both Roger Ebert and Wikipedia gave it rave reviews.  In any event, Keira Knightly is creepy skinny and here's a look at other creepy roles BC has had.

"Bloody hell, why does my mustache smell like horse dung?"

Tonight I finished my bench press; 1 rep at 245lbs.  That went up so easily I tried for 255 and then 250, but couldn't do it.  Friday I'll squat, probably at 345 or 350lbs.  If I am feeling sonsy, I'll give deadlift another shot.

I ate four pieces of steak, a pile of veggies and some eggs today.

I did some laundry and thought I'd get some clean sheets for my last week here.  After careful deliberation, the clerk at the laundry gave me this pillow case:

The pink really brings out the auburn in my 'stache.

Last night Sherlock told Watson, "I've got to see a man about a dog."  I initially assumed this was a singular quote from something way back, but found out it means "I need to leave now and want to politely say something before leaving, without telling you specifically where I am going.  I'm probably going to the toilet.  After that I'll probably meet a man in a back alley and commit a crime."  I'll give Hulu another try at Sherlock Holmes tonight and see if he uses any catchy phrases.

Don't drink coffee...sometimes

Coffee is hard on the adrenal glands, depletes your bones of magnesium and has been known to run away with the spoon, but I decided to just have two cups of Earl Grey tea tonight, with some medium chain triglyceride (MCT) oil added in for fun.  We'll see if skipping the coffee and eating an earlier dinner help me get to sleep closer to around the time the sun is getting up.

...I haven't given coffee up forever, just avoided it tonight.

Apparently Styrofoam cups can't handle the heat generated by the kettle at work and the MCT oil.  A crack showed up in the cup where my plastic MRE spoon stirred and scraped away from foam and a globule of tea sprang.  I'll stick to my "eco-friendly" coffee cup and just pretend my tea doesn't taste like yesterday's coffee.

After finishing Sherlock Holmes last night, there is a definite theme of "19th century London stepdad's wanted their stepdaughters' inheritance and would lie to no end to keep it."  If Sherlock Holmes existed today in America, he'd be encountered with the denizens of Fox's "Cops."  As it turns out the final four short stories wound up as follows:

• "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb"; engineer loses thumb while programming a computer; Holmes snorts cocaine due to a counterfeiter's axe; they get away with some of their fake coins
• "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor"; a woman is to be married to a young man; man is her father; Holmes does nothing an English Lord; woman was already married whose husband was presumed dead and is at the ceremony; woman flees with husband; Holmes finds the couple and makes them tell the Lord
• "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet"; Colonel Mustard steals a crown; Holmes in opium den Banker holds a crown in his home (already a dumb idea) while crown is collateral for a loan; boyfriend of his neice steals it; Holmes recognizes that banker's son did not do it
• "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches"; Holmes stops the Nazis This was one disturbing...Man seeks a nanny for his son and requires that the nanny look like his sick daughter; nanny is forced to cut her hair, hired and then acts out scenes to ward off the daughter's fiance; eventually the fiance and daughter escape and the man and is wife are (slightly) reformed.  Holmes solves mystery, which was again, a father/stepfather wanting his daughters inheritance.  

I've finished David Sedaris' book Naked, which was very funny.  His career seems to be based on his own admitted laziness, description of casual drug and alcohol use and the absurd descriptions of some common things he's gone through in his life.

It's a rest day, but I did do 50 air squats at my desk.  I tend to slouch, lean to the left and crookedify myself in my office chair.

Very unoriginally (I know it's not really a word) I decided to have two pieces of steak, two eggs over hard and a salad.  The combination of olive oil, red vinegar, white vinegar and lemon juice, with a healthy raining of salt, is quite delicious.  No pictures tonight; decided to travel sans backpack and accouterments to the cafeteria.

This is the end of this blog post.  I had something else to add written in my notebook, but left that little red notebook at work.  Tomorrow!

Last night I updated my books read log in Google Drive using the notes I've kept since 2003.  Starting with the Silmarillion and ending today with Me Talk Pretty One Day, I've read 308 books in 11 years, counting ebooks and audio CDs.  If you are interested in genres or what I've read, comment or email me.

Spoiler alert

I'm more than halfway done with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (thank you, MLA) so far the stories have gone as follows:

• "A Scandal in Bohemia"; Irene Adler; not really solved
• "The Adventure of the Red-Headed League"; a lying redhead and his accomplice were bank robbers
• "A Case of Identity"; it was the woman's stepdad, afraid of losing his daughter's inheritance; Holmes yells at him and then the stepdad leaves
• "The Boscombe Valley Mystery"; it was the dead man's friend from Australia; Holmes took his confession and let him go
• "The Five Orange Pips"; it was the KKK; client died, but vindicated later
• "The Man with the Twisted Lip"; client's husband is a successful beggar; no crime committed
• "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle"; thief steals jewel, puts it in a goose, Holmes confronts him and then lets him go
• "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"; stepdad is afraid of losing his daughter's inheritance (again), kills her and then attempts to kill her twin; is killed by his own snake

I have four stories to finish, but having seen that apparently Holmes only solves half of his cases, I think they'll go like this:

• "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb"; engineer loses thumb while programming a computer; Holmes snorts cocaine
• "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor"; a woman is to be married to a young man; man is her father; Holmes does nothing
• "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet"; Colonel Mustard steals a crown; Holmes in opium den
• "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches"; Holmes stops the Nazis

David Sedaris is finally getting funny, a la his Me Talk Pretty One Day.  Most of his stories somehow involve him mentioning the fact that he knew he was gay at a young age (ok, got it), but the story about his younger brother (11 years his junior), the brother's filthy mouth and his relationship with the Sedaris' father is hilarious.  Not really a "gonna keep this book for my grandsons to read" but decent enough now.

In an effort to stay 5-10 years behind the current Windows version, I had the pleasure of figuring out how to use Windows 7 at work today.  Some of it was "file X was saved in and is now here" and some was "I can't let you do that Jordan."  Anyway, it was tedious.

No workout tonight; decided to read and rest.  I did eat eggs, chicken sausage, meatballs and a salad.

Two videos I think are worth watching.  Mark Sisson (he's 57) goes on local TV to talk about his philosophy.  If you have an extra tractor tire around your house, try this (she's a paleoer, too). 

Saying goodbye

Tonight I'll say goodbye to two of the guys I've been working with since I got here almost a month ago.  I'm glad they'll get home to their regularly scheduled lives and interested to see how the two new guys will fit in.

I found a helpful Youtube video describing paracord bracelet making and put the instructions to good use!  The BX actually has a decent price for the paracord here so I bought a few hundred feet yesterday and made this bracelet as a first attempt.  It only took about 11' of paracord so I have plenty leftover to make other projects.

My rig setup

Finished product view 1

Finished product other side

Couldn't sleep, so I read "A Scandal in Bohemia" the Sherlock Holmes short story that features Irene Adler (or here).  Also finished Jim Butcher's Storm Front (I know you're thinking of Billy Joel's music video), which was tolerable.  Very similar to the TV Show "The Dresden Files"...not sure if I'll continue with the series.