More pow[d]er to him!

At Mt. Hood, Oregon on July 27, a fellow by the name of Rainer Hertrich became the first person to have skied every day for 1,000 consecutive days...and he rode a motorcycle to a lot of the places he went to ski.

He rides a BMW; have skis, will travel.
(See picture, above)

Anyway, he started this "serial skiing" in November of 2003 at Copper Mountain in Colorado, where he works as a trail groomer during the regular ski season there.

This guy is the definitive ski bum. He's going to be listed in Guinness World Records for his achievement.

He has no plans to stop just yet. He intends to fly down to Chile right after Labor Day, ski there for about six weeks, then return to Colorado.

I've personally skied in Colorado one fine June, at A-Basin, and it was 32º at the top of the chairlift that day. Most of the other ski areas are closed then, however, even though there's generally still plenty of skiable terrain available. The demand is just insufficient to make it feasible to run the lifts, but then, there's backcountry (cross country) skiing.

Read more here:
Hertrich skis 1,000th day in a row
(By Devon O'Neil, Summit Daily News)

Get the feeling you're being watched?

Well, sometimes...you are!

A fellow blogger, who posts from one of my favorite places (The Big Island of Hawaii) turned me on to Sitemeter some time ago.

Because of that, I now get regular reports about who is viewing my blog, and from where. I even get their IP addresses. Consequently, I've been informed that the last 100 hits included visits from such places as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, India, Japan...and one of my favorite places: Kona, Hawaii.
(Did I say that already?!)

There have been visitors from many countries all over the world, in addition to the majority which originate in the U.S.

I don't know about anyone else, but I think it's pretty cool...

The Philly cheesesteak...

I was much dismayed this weekend to learn HERE that the guy who invented the Philly cheesesteak has died.

I've been told by some fellow Philadelphians that my cheesesteaks were the best they've ever had, but I couldn't have achieved such culinary prowess without someone else inventing the cheesesteak first; my version is merely a refinement of a fantastic original.

Anyway, I have been asked to post my recipe, so it follows.

"Philly cheesesteak a la Camo":

First, cut up some onions (Vidalias are my favorite), peppers and mushrooms*; sauté them in butter until soft, then set aside. Get the chipped steak (frozen or otherwise) and brown it in a skillet with garlic, Italian seasoning and soy sauce. If you like hot peppers, as I do, add them to the mix while you're browning the steak for best effect. When it's browned sufficiently, add the vegetables that you set aside earlier, then blend the whole medley together. Once it's all thoroughly cooked, arrange it so that it will fit inside an Italian long roll (a crucial ingredient!) and place your cheese (I generally use American, but mozzarella works well too...anything but Cheese Whiz!!!) on top to melt. Place a sliced roll over the mixture, reduce heat to it's lowest setting, and after a minute invert a plate on top. Use a small enough skillet so that when you flip the sandwich over onto the plate, it all stays on the plate.

Of course, you can vary quantities and ingredients to your own tastes. The method I described is what works best for mine...

*For the peppers, you could use green, red, yellow, all of them...or none. The same goes for the mushrooms; not everyone likes those, either. Same goes for the onions.
(De gustibus non disputandum est)

Another form of piracy?

Well, against my better judgment (and typical antipathy) regarding sequels and remakes, I ponied up the cash to take my girl to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

Despite my usual loathing of all things Disney, I had also gone to see the original, which was a thoroughly enjoyable swashbuckling romp.

This was undoubtedly due in large part to the talents of Johnny Depp, who may be a bit strange in real life, (pot, meet kettle!) but is nevertheless an accomplished character actor.

However, this latest venture into adventure falls far short of the original, and is what one might generally expect of a sequel...ie: not much.

Save your money; they're raking it in already anyhow...

Nobody's fool...

AP: PASADENA, Calif. - Mr. T has...shed the piles of gold chains that were his signature look after witnessing the destruction from Hurricane Katrina.

"As a spiritual man, I felt it would be a sin against my God for me to wear all that gold again because I spent a lot of time with the less fortunate," the actor said Thursday.

"I saw some, I call it `sorry celebrities.' They'll go down there and hook up with the people to take a photo-op. I said, `How disgusting.' If you're not going to go down there with a check and a hammer and a nail to help the people, don't go down there."

Mr. T, will star in "I Pity the Fool", which is scheduled to debut in October on TV Land. He dispenses advice to viewers who are struggling with life's problems.

The former star of "The A-Team" said he's about more than his rough-and-tough image.

"Yes, I am qualified to beat people up. But I am pretty intelligent," he said. "That's what throws people off. If you've been through something, that gives you an authority that you can speak on certain things. That's why people relate to me. I pull no punches."

I can relate to Mr. T, for a number of reasons; he seems to be the "real deal", as it were...a genuine "man of the people".

Also, we apparently have several things in common. I won't elaborate on them now, but I will say that we seem to have similar tastes when it comes to 'do rags...

Oh, thank Heaven!

More than 5,800 7-Eleven and other convenience stores are operated and franchised by 7-Eleven, Inc. in the United States and Canada.

Anyway, since today's date is 7-11, I thought I'd write about them.

From their website:
"7-Eleven pioneered the convenience store concept way back in 1927 at the Southland Ice Company in Dallas, Texas. In addition to selling blocks of ice to refrigerate food, an enterprising ice dock employee began offering milk, bread and eggs on Sundays and evenings when grocery stores were closed. This new business idea produced satisfied customers and increased sales, and convenience retailing was born!"

The name was derived from their original operating hours. I remember when they expanded those to 6 AM - 12 Midnight, I thought they should change the name.

Now they're open 24 hours a day. I used to go into a local 7-Eleven and ask what time they were open 'til; when they said 24 hours, I asked why they had locks on the doors, then.

When I was stationed in Hawaii at Schofield Barracks, it was nice to be able to run to the 7-Eleven in Wahiawa for beer on the weekends, especially when the stores on post were closed or (YIKES!!!) out of inventory.

Where I live now, there used to be an old 7-Eleven location that was bought by some folks who didn't want to pay the franchise fees anymore or something...so they changed the name to 6-Eleven. I haven't been by there in awhile, or at least I haven't paid attention when I have been, so I don't know what the situation there is nowadays. I just thought it was an amusing (true) scenario...

And they're off!

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL - NASA gave the shuttle Discovery a majestic Fourth of July send-off on the first-ever Independence Day manned launch at 2:38 p.m EDT.

Early signs showed the spacecraft was in good shape, despite once again being struck by the flying foam that has plagued the program.

Shuttle managers said early video images of liftoff showing small pieces of foam breaking away were not troubling...

I hope this mission goes off without a hitch.

It would be nice if the Space Shuttles can finish their projected service life in 2010 with no further loss of life.

It will also be interesting to see the state-of-the-art finished product of the next generation of orbital landers...or whatever they'll be called.

Stay tuned for further developments...

NASA on "da 'Net"