Google Plus
I was able to wrangle a Google+ invite from a friend in the great Northwest. Now I’m adding friends into “circles” and trying it out.
Google is taking another stab at tapping into the social extravaganza Facebook is dominating. So far, I like what I see. The “Stream” of the main page can be managed by your desired audience/sources which is very similar to Facebook’s “news feed” feature. One of the things that is pretty cool is that Google+ uses photos from their Picasa product that is certainly more robust in functionality than what I’ve seen from Facebook. In addition, there are lots of tie ins to existing Google tools that are much more mature than what Facebook is offering (or only starting to offer).
If you want to see me there, you can click the g+ logo in the right sidebar under “Follow Me”…or just go here.
Can I Complain About the Astros?
I like baseball.
While my likes baseball OK, my grandfather was a big Detroit Tigers fan. He would tell me stories about Ty Cobb sharpening his steel cleats while sitting on top of the dugout before getting out on the field and wreaking havoc. He and I would watch baseball on the huge console TV in my grandparent’s tiny living room on Saturday afternoons and he would explain parts of the game to me. He probably didn’t realize it, but he taught me a great deal about baseball.
To this day, I really love watching a baseball game…especially in person.
When I was in middle school and high school, I had a passing fancy with the Atlanta Braves. I remember Dale Murphy and Jack Horner playing and watched the team do quite well. However, it was when my dad took me to go see the Houston Astros in the Astrodome to watch Nolan Ryan pitch and Bob Watson hit a home run (with all the mad hullabaloo that the scoreboard performed when an Astro hit a home run), that I became an Astros fan.
I even have one of the old rainbow jerseys that I will wear on occasion.
I loved watching Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio play (mostly on TV) and seeing them pull out some amazing seasons in the past several years.
So…imagine my disappointment…almost disgust…at watching the 2010 and 2011 Astros. As of this writing, they’re at 30 wins and 60 losses…a winning percentage of .333 and dead last in the Central (if that weren’t bad enough…even behind the Pirates), but also the worst in baseball. The WORST in baseball!
I was going to take my son to an Astros game this summer…but…I’m not so sure any more.
I wonder how the Braves are doing.
Takeout Friday
Because we usually subject the children to crock pot creations and otherwise healthy food Monday through Thursday, we decided that Fridays would be special. We’ll either go out to dinner, but more likely we’ll order in. Last week was Chinese from Sichuan Garden…this week it’s Mr. Gatti’s Pizza.
It’s taking far too long to get here…
Slow Cooker Turkey Chickpea Stew
This little recipe is a variation on the Chicken Chickpea Stew I normally do, but I didn’t have any leftover chicken today. I substituted ground turkey instead. This makes a soupy, stew meal that is pretty darn healthy and my kids like it too. Pretty easy to make for busy folks.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 pound of dry chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- 1 quart (approximately) chicken broth
- 1 quart (approximately) water
- 1 14oz can of Rotel (we use mild, but you could use regular or hot depending on your spice preference)
- 2 bell peppers (roughly chopped)
- 1 medium onion (finely chopped)
- 1/2 small bag of baby carrots (chopped in half)
- 1 tbsp Tabasco sauce (consider your Rotel choice above when adding this)
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 cloves minced garlic (or 2 big spoons of the pre-minced variety)
Procedure
- Rinse the beans and soak in water overnight. Use a good amount of water as the chickpeas absorbs quite a bit.
- In the morning, drain the water and put the beans in the slow cooker.
- Prep the vegetables and put them in the slow cooker.
- Brown the turkey in a frying pan. Try to get all the pink spots out.
- Dump the browned turkey into the slow cooker.
- Dump the Rotel, chicken broth, water and spices into the slow cooker (be careful not to get it too full — skimp on the water if need be)
- Sprinkle the spices into the slow cooker.
- Stir well.
- Set the slow cooker for “low” for 8 to 10 hours.
- Enjoy.
Welcome Back to Guentzel.Org
I’m sure you kept checking Guentzel.Org to see when the inevitable return of the blog would be…right? No?
OK. I know I probably put a finishing flourish on this website several months ago…saying that Facebook had taken its place. However, while I’ve enjoyed Facebook, I’ve found that it doesn’t really allow you to do long form type posts with any elegance. And what business do I have doing long form? Well, there are thoughts that I’ve got that might be of interest to someone (ok….probably just my mom) and I thought it might be a good idea to open this up again.
I’m still playing with the theme (although I like this one), but you get the general idea. This is a place for me to post my random thoughts. I will probably post a few recipes here too. Sounds weird, but you’ll get the hang of it.
If you have any questions at all, please feel free to write me: mike at guentzel period org.
Have a nice day.
Native Texan, Father, Husband, Geek, Clumsy, Engineering Program Manager at Atlassian, PMI Certified Project Manager (PMP), Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and reasonably nice guy.
