24 Comments

As you seem to be an avowed imperialist, once you get settled back in to home, make sure you contact PG&E and ask them to help you understand your energy costs in horsepower in lieu of those weird kilowatt-hours. If you are all in on the imperialism ask them about british thermal units (BTU) they are definitely easy and sensible to remember also. As far as that meter nonsense, stick with the rod and the furlong. Helpful the next time you go to Santa Anita.

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PG&E won’t return my calls, probably because we’re in LADWP territory. As their ads at Dodger games remind us, they’re LA’s home team too! But I take your point about how a country that’s supposedly on the imperial system really only uses it for distance and measuring things like gasoline and milk, but not soda, which for reason comes in liters. Honestly, I’ll use whatever system the weights and measures people want to use. But if we use feet and you ask me to estimate a meter, I’m gonna struggle.

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When I lived in CA I consulted with PG&E -- they definitely have their issues -- mine was a feeble attempt at energy humor :) -- I always figured the horsepower was about the most ridiculous unit of all -- in Asia maybe they used to use oxpower

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Horsepower is really absurd. I think the whole world using that one, right?

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It all gets confusing for people I think and that is understandable. The rest of the world measures power in watts, kilowatts, etc. We are alone amongst major countries doing the horsepower thing. We go with horsepower, but typically only if we are burning fuel. We measure electric motors in watts or kilowatts also although in order to sell crap, we convert power in Teslas for example to their equivalent horsepower so people can compare and feel validated :)

When I look back on why we avoided converting to metric I think its kinda funny. The British were the A-Holes we wanted to get rid of yet we stuck with their measurements for no reason other than familiarity I think. Who cares how long the end of the King's thumb is anyhow (an inch). So stupid, especially when you look at Prince Charle's bloated fingers.

Being a kid who grew up on the Canadian border, it was even dumber b/c when driving in Canada there were Imperial Gallons which were larger than "regular" gallons and nearly 5 quarts. You never knew how expensive your gas was but knew it was higher typically b/c of Canadian fuel taxes. Canada converted to metric back in the 70s though.

It's now down to US, Liberia & Myanmar still going with horsepower.

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Welcome home! Although, I'm a bit sad I won't be getting these dispatches from Bali in my mailbox.

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Thank you! I'm about bit sad that I won't be writing anymore Bali dispatches, but on the upside I'm sleeping in my own bed again and we missed our dog, and well, I'm sure we'll have more adventures in the coming year.

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Yes--nothing compares to sleeping in one's own bed and hanging out with one's pet!

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I went to the annual Thanksgiving dinner at the cousin's house and brought green beans with cherry tomatoes. I liked the fancy version of the green bean casserole that I used to make, but the host decided that was "too rich.'

On Black Friday I got an Apple watch for my wife. It won't work directly with her old IPhone, so now she needs a new phone.

WKRP is the best Thanksgiving themed program. Nothing comes close.

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It's funny that the green bean casserole was singled out for being "too rich." I mean, it is rich, but those green beans got nothing on the mashed potatoes and candied yams.

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Welcome home! No pie, but made pumpkin coconut custard. I love to make cranberry sauce but a friend brought over homemade cranberry lime chutney and I am in love. It's the only thing I want for leftovers for this and any future Thanksgivings.

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Thank you! Now, I'm craving pumpkin coconut custard and cranberry lime chutney, but not together, that would probably be weird, right?

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A yard is just short of a meter, not the opposite.

1) Yes. Cook.

2) Pumpkin bread. It dominates pumpkin pie, though I can make a good pie.

3) I ordered the complete Speed Racer and the complete Star Trek: The Animated Series on blu-ray.

4) Just rewatched WKRP S01E07. Falling like bags of wet cement...

5) apple; gluten free.

6) 1-5!

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See what I mean about my struggles estimating in metric?😁😁😁

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Normally I’d say my partner’s chocolate pecan pie, which is always a showstopper at a Friendsgiving. But this year she topped herself with an incredible sweet potato pie with a bit of spice to it, made from a fresh sweet potato from our garden. It’s incredible!

In terms of sales, both Steam and the eShop are having big sales right now. I bought a bunch of $1-$2 indie games recently.

Welcome back from Bali! I loved the series. It was a lot of fun keeping up with your monkey-related adventures.

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You had me at chocolate pecan! My sister makes a chocolate bourbon pecan pie that is out of this world.

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Ah! A suitably dramatic ending to your great adventure. Thanks for the lols.

Also: CHEESECAKE!!!

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You made cheesecake? Any special flavor like pumpkin? Or did you do OG cheesecake?

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Me baking a dessert that's a hilarious notion. When I bought my coop in 2017, the oven was broken and it's still broken. I bought a great OG cheesecake from Lassen & Hennigs, however, which I highly recommend for when you move back to Brooklyn. Better than Juniors!

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You should probably get the oven fixed. Maybe you don’t want to back, or try NyQuil baked chicken. But what if someone brings you a pie and you want to heat it up? And ok sure there’s a microwave, but that’s never as good as the oven. The microwave is the juniors cheesecake of kitchen heating devices, and it’s a L&H world!

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The physical therapy store has a survey about Thanksgiving desserts with about 12 different choices. banana cream, peach, apple, lemon meringue, pumpkin, fake pumpkin (made with pudding and canned pumpkin and Dream Whip), and blackberry are some of my favorites. No wonder I’m diabetic. I asked if I could pick them all, they said no. I decided to do m exercises instead of picking as a protest.

As for cooking, I do like to cook these holiday meals but I also like going to stores to get pre-prepared meals. If only Whole Foods could make better options, I’d do more of that. We started that tradition last year because we were in a temporary apartment without the required equipment.

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We've done holiday meals to-go a few times. Never with Whole Foods, but we've had good luck with local restaurants. I like that it's easy and the food is usually good, but as I made this year's meal, I realized that one of my favorite parts of the day is the way the food makes the house smell. Maybe I can get a holiday candle to take care of that part.

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I'm starting to think that when mankind takes to the stars, the American space stations are still going to be mumbling apologies about not understanding metric.

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We’ll also probably drive on the right side of the wormhole (or whatever we end up calling those intergalactic highways).

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