Thinking more about chili

I went looking for chile pasilla yesterday at Fiesta. They didn't have it. They had a lot of chile ancho, chile california and another chile I don't remember. LOTS of it. I looked at Wikipedia just now and learned that chile ancho is dried poblano. I also went back and looked at the Texas Monthly chili recipe again, and realized that I improvised from the very beginning. I knew I added the idea of one fresh chile, either jalapeno or serrano, whatever I had on hand, but I had forgotten that the recipe only calls for ancho and pasilla. I added chipotle and guajillo, probably just because I saw them in HEB and said why not?

I wanted to learn even more about chile and found this article on Fine Cooking. It said that chili was originally probably about the chiles, not the meat, and I think that's the direction I want to head in. But I'm thinking instead making the chili more diverse in terms of chiles, at least for now, it may be better to go in the other direction. Experiment with two chiles, or even just one. With poblano, I have the advantage of easily being able to put my hands on both the fresh and dried versions. So now I'm thinking instead of reducing the amount of meat, I could just greatly increase the amount of both dried and fresh chile and see what happens.

The writing process

 Now as I'm almost done with what may be the last paper I ever write academically, this morning I found myself looking for information about the writing process. Does that make sense? No it does not. I think partly at this point it was more looking for validation for the process that I was kind of already doing, with tweaks to parts that I might have missed. The one that looks like it fit the most was from the University of Kansas. A lot of the other processes I saw didn't include the research step. And I understand that research is not necessarily a part of writing, but it has been a part of all the writing I've done. So a recap of KU's process:

PREWRITING

•   Make sure you understand your assignment.
•   Decide on a topic to write about. 
•   Consider who will read your work.
•   Brainstorm ideas about the subject.

RESEARCHING

•   List places where you can find information.
•   Make an outline to help organize your research.

DRAFTING

•   Put the information you researched into your own words. 
•   Write sentences and paragraphs even if they are not perfect.
•   Read what you have written and judge if it says what you mean. 
•   Write some more. 
•   Read it again.
•   Write some more.
•   Read it again.
•   Write until you have said everything you want to say about the topic.

REVISING

•   Read what you have written again. 
•   Rearrange words, sentences or paragraphs.
•   Take out or add parts.
•   Do more research if you think you should.
•   Replace overused or unclear words.
•   Read your writing aloud to be sure it flows smoothly.

EDITING AND PROOFREADING

• Be sure all sentences are complete. 
•   Correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
•   Change words that are not used correctly or are unclear.
•   Make sure you are using the appropriate style formatting.   

No bacon and eggs for breakfast?

I am trying to wrap my head around the idea of not eating bacon and eggs for breakfast. I have gotten to the point where I have two breakfasts that I've been going to, but both involve either eggs or pork. The first is huevos a la mexicana. I make it with no meat on the side, only three corn tortillas. The second breakfast is two frozen waffles and turkey sausage. Oh wait, that isn't pork! So I guess I've progressed a little. But it's a pork substitute. I mean, I still want pork.

I've been looking at the DASH diet stuff on and off ever since the dietitian at MacDill told me about it last year. But today before I went to the store I decided to just think through how I do breakfast without eggs and bacon. There are so many alternatives for lunch and dinner, but I just didn't have a whole lot of ways of thinking about breakfast. Now I have a few. For one, I don't have to have what I've considered a meal. I've always had this idea that a meal had to be balanced, as in it had to be three things. I'm letting go of that idea. I can eat one thing. So I can eat porridge for breakfast like in days of old. And by porridge, I mean grits. But I can also eat beans. I can see beans going up in rank. DASH says red meat is a no-no. Of course, I'm still going to eat it, but probably not as much. Although I don't think I eat it all the time now. The big thing is cutting down meat in general, and upping the beans is a good way to do that. 

What else? Yogurt. Yes I'm lactose intolerant, but it doesn't matter during COVID. And it's pretty hit or miss anyway. I guess I can keep some of those pills on hand. Put them on the list. And fruit. And fish has always been in the back of my mind. And eomuk. So I definitely have more options. Let's do this.

Anything Goes

I was reading Allison Cook's article in the Houston Chronicle about beer and dessert pairing, and I quote:

I am neither a dedicated beer person nor a die-hard dessert person, but in this topsy-turvy season, anything goes.

She's certainly right.

That last phrase took me off on a tangent--which is pretty common with me--and made me thing about the opening of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. That movie doesn't seem to be held in high regard, but it was the first Indiana Jones movie that I saw in theaters. We didn't go to the movies often, and I was not yet thirteen when the film was released. I do not know if I can describe the type of cinematic impact that film had on me. Anything goes indeed. 

NOOOOO

 I've been meaning to find this sound for a long time now: The Power in the Twilight Zone going NOOOOOO! From YouTube.

Chili redux

 So I made chili again. I followed the same recipe as last time, except I did modify the salt. Instead of a full teaspoon, I went for 3/4 teaspoons. Also, the original recipe called for some filler, specifically masa harina, which seems to be pretty standard. However, my favorite canned chili, Wolf Brand chili, uses oatmeal as filler, so I decided to try that. I only put in two teaspoons, so it didn't have much of an impact. But really, neither did the masa harina when I tried it the first time. It certain didn't ruin the recipe. It turned out good.

God is not a being

 I went to Facebook today and saw a post by Pete Enns that kind of blew me away. The Facebook post was a link to his blog post, but some of the quotes and discussion on the Facebook post were just as thought provoking as the blog.

Pete Holmes and Stuff

 I was re-watching the YouTube clip of Pete Holmes and Whitney Cummings, and for some reason I decided to Google Pete Holmes himself. As usual, I gravitated towards his Wikipedia entry first, and was surprised to find we had a lot in common. And by a lot I mean that he started out as a Christian, but his Christianity 'devolved.' I'm reading a CNN article about him now.

The interviewer asked him if he felt like he had to defend the Bible before, and he said yes. He said because of that he had to turn a blind eye to other things. Like how Jesus said "the system is a lie." My first thought was that isn't exactly true. My second is that it's overstatement. I would say that Jesus believes in the system, much in the same way progressives do. The fact that he critiqued it didn't mean he didn't believe it. In fact, he critiqued it because he believed in it. He wanted it to be better.

Which brings me to the thought that made me want to blog in the first place. We are getting to the point where some of us are very tolerant of others faults. There are still areas that promote a zero-tolerance culture, but not everyone. But we tend to have higher standards when it comes to systems. Systems can fail the same way people do. In fact, the whole thing about failure is that successful people do it all the time. How many TED talks have I heard about that? That was the main takeaway I was supposed to get from West Point. I'm going to fail, so I need to learn how to handle it. But what about systems, that are composed of fallible human beings? They are going to fail too, so where do we draw the line? And there is a line. Too much failing means that the system is in fact a failure, but where do you draw the line?

...

Oh, and somewhere there was mention of Rob Bell. I think on Wikipedia. I need to watch that documentary.

Kant and the justification of believing in god

 So I'm writing a paper about hermeneutics, and Schleiermacher is becoming a big part of it. I'm trying to start the paper off, and I'd read something (I think) about how Kant changed the way people thought about the Bible as an unquestionable source of truth. Rather than try to find that source again, I started reading Kant's Wikipedia page. I found more than I bargained for.

Kant provided a justification for believing in God, even though his existence cannot be proven. He basically says if you can't prove or disprove a thing, the question becomes whether it's in your best interest to believe it. What caught my attention is that he says it's no longer a question of whether we are deceiving ourselves or not if we take the position. I'm not trying to understand it completely right now, but what I'm getting is that he saw morality as a system but not happiness. He saw happiness as dependent upon morality. And apparently he saw morality as being intertwined with the presupposition of God, the soul, and freedom. Since God can't be proven or disproven, he's not saying that these beliefs have to be exclusive. God to Europe was the Christian God, but there could be other concepts of God that would be acceptable under this criteria, though not all.

...

But that brings me back to the idea that believing in God doesn't necessarily equate to believing in the Christian God or the Bible. You can hold to a belief that the universe was created by a supernatural being and that there are higher moral laws without holding to the Apostles' Creed.

CAR: Challenge, Action, Result

I had this in my notes from a long time ago and I figured I should add it here. It came from when I was writing a resume.

***

Consider the CAR formula if you get stuck. CAR stands for Challenge, Action, and Result. Every accomplishment should include the problem or challenge, the action you took, and the stellar result of your hard work. You can also invert this formula by leading with the result. Starting a sentence with a dollar figure or percentage will garner more attention.

If you took some time to review the impact that your role has on the company, use those results in your resume to show that you understand your role and the impact that it had on the company. It's called having business sense and acumen.

***

There was also a STAR formula, but I don't feel like looking that up right now.

My chili

So I finally got around to making chili. I looked for a recipe, and I found this one from Texas Monthly. As usual, I didn't follow it exactly, but pretty close. The biggest difference was I only cooked half of the recipe.

Now that I've got some experience under my belt, I have ideas about how my second time should go. Since this is more extreme experimentation, I'm only making 1/6th of the recipe. So here is what I'm going with:

2 dried ancho chiles, stems removed
1 dried pasilla chile, stem removed
1 dried chipotle chile, stem removed
1 dried cascabel chile, stem removed
1 jalapeño 
2 cups chicken stock
1 pound beef chuck
1/3 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 roma tomato, diced
1/2 tablespoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
dash of cloves
salt to taste (I used a teaspoon, that was probably a bit too much)

Basically what I did is take all of the chiles and put them in a pot with the chicken stock on medium heat. Then I took the ground chuck, onion and garlic and cooked them on medium heat in a skillet. Once the ground beef browned, I took the broth with the chiles and put it in a blender and blended it until the chiles were broken up. Then I put the mixture back in the pot, added the beef mixture, added the tomato, and then the spices.

And I know that this is going to be heresy for some people, but I've been trying to lose weight, and the "stay at home" order hasn't been helping at all. So I cut the ground beef by half and replaced it with mushrooms. We'll see how it goes.

How to cook beans

When I moved back to Houston last year, I continued my practice of cooking new things. I decided to try cooking beans instead of buying them from the can. I'd heard different ways to cook beans, but I wasn't sure which was right. I went to the Internet and found an article by Katherine Sacks on Epicurious entitled Epicurious's Myth-Busting Guide to Cooking Beans. I used that for cooking pintos twice last year. Hopefully the article will serve me well again.
...
I initially posted that I'd gotten interested in lima beans after learning that they have the most protein of all the vegetables. Then I learned that wasn't true! I was comparing the nutrition information on the lima beans with a package of pinto beans I had. Pinto beans have more protein. Then I looked at a package of lentils. They have even more protein than pinto beans. I then found a page showing the top ten beans ranked by protein, and it puts lima beans at the end of the list. Number one is soybeans. Interestingly enough, that page on the same website as the erroneous page.

Working out in the office

Last year I developed a nice little bodyweight routine. Then I got away from it. Partly that's because I wanted to get back into running. When I started working again and had to deal with time constraints, the strength routine went by the wayside. In an attempt to get things going again, I started doing pushups at work. I started with 10, then 20, then 30 at a time. Now my first set is usually 40, which I hadn't been able to do without stopping for years.

This week I wanted to incorporate some more exercises. I was inspired by an article I read that described the four basic movements: push, pull, squat, and hinge. Searching via Google brought up articles mentioning more basic movements. The squat is ubiquitous, and something that is easily done at work, so added it to my routine. But what else can I do?

I saw an article from Inc and another from Forbes. The four basic movements reminded me of Stronglifts, but I have to remind myself that it's okay to do exercises that don't work multiple muscle groups. So here's my office list so far:

Stair Climbing (But the three floors to my office aren't enough to count)
Pushups
Squats
Dips
Magic Carpet Ride
Calf Raises

Maybe don't be yourself

I've always thought that be yourself was terrible advice, but I came across an article about that very thing. From Leah Finnegan in The Outline. Maybe at some point I'll add some of my own reasons that differ from the ones in the article, but for now, I just wanted to capture it.

Hurricanes

We were always forgetting which Hurricanes were when, so I finally looked it up.

Hurricane Katrina: August 2005. Hit New Orleans.
Hurricane Rita: September 2005. Hit Port Arthur.
Hurricane Ike: September 2008.  Hit Houston.

Obviously more places were affected, I just didn't feel like capturing them all.

I totally forgot that Katrina and Rita were back to back.

Scholarly reflection

I'm taking a class where I am supposed to submit a reflection on each week's reading assignments. Almost all of the online classes have been this way, but it seems that this professor wants a bit more than the previous ones. He mentioned scholarly reflection, so I decided to Google it. I came across the following pages:

Reflection Tip sheet from the International Institute for Restorative Practices. It starts off by saying that it isn't a summary or a stream of consciousness mind dump. Many of my papers have definitely been the latter. But it is the "identification of the main themes of the readings integrated with your classroom experience and how both affect your thinking and practice." I think of identification of the main themes as a summary. I think that's what's been throwing me off.

But I do get how it says it's my opportunity to demonstrate that I've grasped the material and to explain how it may affect my thinking and practice.

How to Write a Reflection Paper by Trent University. What is the thesis? What is the evidence? What ideas stood out to me?

From RMIT University: Writing an Academic Reflection.

• Write using a detailed plan for each reflection: describe, interpret, evaluate and plan for future application.

• Write the body paragraphs containing one main idea (interpreting and evaluating the insight) stated in the topic sentence. Other sentences explain, support and give detail, with evidence from research and/or examples. Integrate theory and include references as you go. Expect to write a number of drafts. 

And directly from the professor:
What are the central themes?
What are arguments?
What's at stake?
Why are these things important?
What are they failing to see?
Do you agree or disagree and why?
How do their arguments work or not work?
What are they not considering, or not considering fully?
Do their conclusions not follow from their premises?

Practical AI

I've been saying that I was going to delve into AI. I started looking into some of the free courses when I was in Tampa, but I didn't stick with it. Honestly, I probably won't really realistically work on something like that until I'm done with my current studies. But maybe next year...

Anyway, I got a work email from SkillSoft Books about their latest releases, and this one caught my eye:

Mastering Machine Learning with Python in Six Steps: A Practical Implementation Guide to Predictive Data Analytics Using Python, Second Edition by Manohar Swamynathan

Apress © 2019 (457 pages)

ISBN: 9781484249468

Your practical guide to moving from novice to master in machine learning with Python 3 in six steps, this book covers fundamental to advanced topics gradually helping beginners become worthy practitioners.

I'll have to come back to that...

My chin and neck

I started shaving when I joined the Army at age 17. I'm not sure when the color of the skin on my chin and neck started changing, but it did. I vaguely recall having more of the symptoms of pseudofolliculitis barbae, specifically the bumps, but that hasn't really been a problem in recent memory, even though I shave daily. But the discoloration remains.

I started making inquiries in the Army about this, since healthcare was free. I got creams in Maryland, but they weren't effective. When I got to Korea, the thought process was to stop the hair from growing, so I wouldn't have to shave, which hopefully would allow the skin to heal. I got laser treatment, and the hair stopped growing, but the skin didn't recover.

During my last conversation with the dermatologist, he said that there were devices that could probably help, but he didn't have one in Tampa. He mentioned picosecond lasers, nanosecond (q switch) lasers , and non-ablative resurfacing lasers. These lasers are used for tattoo removal. He figured those would remove my pigmentation too, but he said the last one was probably questionable on the neck.

They had one of these devices in San Antonio, but I didn't pursue trying to have it done through the Army when I learned that it wasn't super expensive. Less than $1000. I found a place in Tampa called Erasable that did the work. I contacted them via email, but never followed through on it. Now that I'm back in Houston, maybe eventually I'll have the procedure. Maybe not.

Storytelling through media

Human beings used to tell stories. We transmitted our history orally. We shared who we were as a people through storytelling.

We still tell stories, but now we tell them differently. They aren't transmitted orally anymore, at least not directly. We use media to tell stories. Books and magazines. Movies and television shows. And for the last two decades or so, we use social media.

One benefit of social media that I hadn't seen until now is the ability to allow ordinary people to tell stories again. The printing press was revolutionary, but it limited who could tell stories. Not everyone can write a book. The bar is even higher when it comes to movies and television. But telling stories via social media is something that almost anyone can do. There's still the question of access. You have to have a device that can connect to the internet and have access to the internet itself. And you have to know how to use those things in order to share your message. But those barriers are much more easily overcome than to have a movie produced.

There's also the question of who will listen, and how you get people to listen. But that's a separate issue.