The Best TV Show You Have Probably Never Seen

What is your favorite TV show? The Office? Lost? I bet the first show that popped into your mind is not my favorite show.

The best show on TV, in my humble opinion, is a reimagined sci-fi show from my childhood past. The orignal was campy, but fun, and released about 2 years after Star Wars (the best movie of all time).

Any guesses? This show is not on network TV, although the cable network it calls home is owned by NBC. The best show that you probably have never seen is Battlestar Galactica. This show has it all - action, romance, good vs. evil, developed characters, and excellent writing. It is vastly different from the original. The original while good at the time did not have the depth in which the new series does. It all started as a mini-series for the SciFi Channel, which got excellent reviews from critics and fans. A new seasonal series began less than a year later and is now currently about to wrap up the mid-season on Friday, December 15th.

I realize that it is difficult to imagine getting involved in yet another show in which you may watch one episode and have no idea what is going on and give up. But with the advent of such novelties as Netflix and iTunes, it is very easy to "catch up" on what has been going on the past few years with the show. My wife has even gotten into the show this season.

This is not just some SciFi show with a bunch of weird aliens. This is an intelligent show that focuses on trying to understand the human condition. Check it out.

Eye on Barcelona

From Barcelona Miro

In November I had the opportunity to go to Barcelona, Spain on business. My sister and her husband were able to fly down from their home in the UK to Barcelona to celebrate their 7th wedding anniversary and hang out with me a few days prior to my meeting. The one sad part about the trip was that my wife, Melissa, and my son, Gavin, were not going to be able to make the trip over to Spain. Despite this, Susanne, Kristian, and I had a great time touring Barcelona.

A highlight of the trip for Susanne and I was that Joan Miró, the famous Catalan-Spanish artist is not only from Barcelona, but has a muesum in the city. Susanne and I grew up in Wichita, Kansas and spent our formative years hanging around the campus of Wichita State University, where our Dad worked at the time. Wichita State has one of the largest outdoor sculpture gardens in the United States on its campus. It was recently "named one of the Top Ten campus art collections in the United States by Public Art Review magazine, spring 2006". One of the more famous pieces of art on the campus is a mosaic by Joan Miro! There is also a Miro sculpture on campus as well.

We were both excited to not only be able to experience the city of Barcelona, but also to visit the Miro museum. The museum certainly did not disappoint!

Check out these fun pictures taken at the Miro museum in Barcelona. Click on the picture to be taken to the Picassa Web album.

Barcelona Miro

Something Posing As Meat - SPAM?

My sister just challenged the idea of SPAM as a food. I checked my favorite site for information on all things in the universe, Wikipedia to see if SPAM should be thought of as Something Posing As Meat or actual meat or portions thereof?

According to Wikipedia:

Spam (food)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spam is a canned meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation. It has gained a peculiar infamy, along with something of a place in pop culture, and has even entered into folklore and urban legend.

Spam is produced in (among other places) Austin, Minnesota, USA (aka Spam Town USA). The labeled ingredients in the variety of Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat with ham meat added, salt, water, sugar, and sodium nitrite.

Other varieties of Spam differ; Spam Lite contains pork and chicken, and Spam Oven Roasted Turkey is a halaal food, meaning that it is allowed under Islamic law, and is especially popular in Muslim markets. It also comes in a low-salt variety.

Like most other luncheon meats, Spam is precooked. However, Spam is often pan-fried or otherwise heated through again to impart a pleasing texture and flavor.
As of 1997, over 5 billion tins had been sold worldwide.

So while "chopped pork shoulder meat with ham meat" is actually "meat" and therefore a "food", it is not the most desireable food to me personally. But it is a food.

In response to my sister's recent comment to the previous post: "There is a good reason why that has not appeared in the recipe part of my blog, because spam is not food, and to qualify as a recipe, it should, by definition be edible." I say, SPAM = Food -> Food = Edible -> Edible = Recipe -> Recipe = Part of your blog ... therefore, simple logic dictates that a SPAM recipe should be part of your blog. All Hail SPAM French Fry Casserole! Bon Appétit!

FRENCH FRY SPAM CASSEROLE

I love my Gmail, Google's mail program. There are lots of great features, including tons of storage, which is great for emailing pictures and linerider videos. Gmail is free, by invitation only, and has been in "beta" for a couple of years. Google makes money on this mail program by inserting "ads" based on what is in your email. For example, if you received an email from a friend about the Indianapolis Colts, there would links for Indianapolis Colts gear, tickets, information, etc.

Gmail also has a very good spam filter. One very amusing thing about the spam filter and the advertisements is that when you are clearing out all of the junk, you get some very interesting links for food with the "food product" SPAM! They are quite funny and my favorite is "French Fry Spam Casserole". My sister has this amazing blog with lots of yummy recipes for food that she and her husband prepare across the pond in the UK. But I am wondering why this seemingly yummy "French Fry Spam Casserole" has not appeared as an offering?

You be the judge and try some "French Fry Spam Casserole" today!

Title: FRENCH FRY SPAM CASSEROLE

Categories: Main dish

Yield: 8 servings

• 1 pk Frozen french fry potatoes, thawed (20 oz)
  
• 2 c Shredded Cheddar cheese
  
• 2 c Sour cream


• 1 cn Condensed cream of chicken soup (10 3/4 oz)


• 1 cn SPAM Luncheon Meat, cubed (12 oz)


• 1/2 c Chopped red bell pepper


• 1/2 c Chopped green onion


• 1/2 c Finely crushed corn flakes
  

Heat oven to 350'F. In large bowl, combine potatoes, cheese, sour cream, and soup. Stir in SPAM, bell pepper, and green onion. Spoon into 13x9" baking dish. Sprinkle with crushed flakes. Bake 30-40 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

From RecipeSource

Shockers Surge to #10 in AP

I was excited to learn yesterday that the Wichita State Shocker men's basketball team has returned to the Top 10 for the first time since the early 1980s. Growing up in Wichita, KS, I attended many Shocker basketball games with my parents. I am a fan. While I did get a BA and an MA from The University of Toledo, my college basketball alligience will always be, first, to WSU.

The past two weeks have been great for Shocker fans, having beaten George Mason, LSU (#6 at the time), and Syracuse (#15 at the time) all on the road! Two Final Four teams from last year have already been victims of the Shockers (LSU and GMU).

Next up for the Shockers is another road trip, this time to Wyoming. This will surely be a huge test for WSU taking their new Top 10 ranking on the road. Go Shockers!

Beware of Potential Gift Card Scam

Well the crooks have found a way to rob you of your gift card balance.
If you buy Gift Cards from a display rack that has various store cards
you may become a victim of theft. Crooks are now jotting down the card numbers in the store and then wait a few days and call to see how much of a balance THEY have on the card. Once they find the card is "activated", and then they go online and start shopping.
You may want to purchase your card from a customer service person, where they do not have the Gift Cards viewable to the public.
Please share this with all your family and friends...

Here is a link to Snopes.com that offers suggestions on how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of this scam...hope you find it helpful.

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/sales/giftcard.asp