Posts from — March 2009

The problem with being a “daddy” is that there just isn’t a lot of time to dedicate to the Nerd Arts like I used too, but this was a pretty decent Nerd Week for me. 

Let’s dig right in!

Comics – I’ve been catching up on my reading of late (my books come shipped bi-weekly, so I have a pretty decent stack to get through when they arrive).  It seems most of the titles I read are all involved in some much bigger storyline.  The Avenger books are revolving around “Dark Reign”, Batman has ”Battle for the Cowl”,  Superman is “New Krypton” and Green Lantern is setting up “Blackest Night”.  All four of these storylines have been pretty intriguing but I have to say I am enjoying the Green Lantern books the most.  Opening up the color / emotional spectrum and creating a “Corp” for each has been really cool!!  Geoff Johns has been masterful in constructing this story since coming on board with the “Rebirth” storyline and month after month I just can’t wait to see what comes next!  No surprise that he is also responsible for the Superman “New Krypton” arc.  Whatever he seems to touch, I just fall over for…

I also decided this week that I am going to cut my orders in half, from $100 / mo. to $50 / mo.  That’s a lot of books on the chopping block but it is probably time! 

I recently purchased “Comic Book Collector” software and have been building a database for my collection.  I’m almost at 3,000 issues and only half way through my comic boxes…I had NO idea I had so many books!!

Movies – I FINALLY SAW “WATCHMEN”!!  Better Half and I got a sitter and went to the Saturday matinee.  I got to tell you, I really liked the movie.  It didn’t feel as long as it’s run time to me, it was shot beautifully, colors popped from the screen and I thought the story and how they told it held up.  It has been years since I read the graphic novel, so I wasn’t beholden to the book when viewing and I think that helped.  Better Half had never read the story and as an impartial, she enjoyed it.  However, she did give me a raised eyebrow when I said I’d buy the director’s cut.  What I didn’t like was the sex scene, it was just a little too much and felt very gratuitous. The movie sort of halted right there…weird.  Maybe I am just getting too old.  Anyhoo – I’d give it 4 out of 5.

Games – I have become addicted to a Facebook app.  It’s called “Mafia” and I can’t stop playing it.  It is a simple “level-up” type of game, but has completely got it’s hooks into me.  Ugh, I am such a sucker for this type of thing!!

I’m also playing this little game from Big Fish Games called “Farm Frenzy“.  It’s a time management game where you have to complete the level under a certain time.  I get ultra competitive and have to beat every level within the GOLD time standard.  This typically involves playing some levels up to 15 straight times…I just get so worked up and into it.  I’m about 40% through all the puzzles and only one level has me stumped as to how to get gold.  I will break you “Farm Frenzy“!!

TV – Better Half switched our Comcast to AT&T’s U-verse service and boy has it taken some getting used to.  I have been a Comcast subscriber for 15 years.  I was one of the first to get my hands on digital cable.   I knew that remote and the channel listing like the back of my hand.  Now my world has been turned upside down.  One nice thing that I have noticed…it automatically extends your DVR recording at least three minutes after the show is supposed to end, so no more stuff getting cut off.  I can also now record up to four different shows at the same time, opposed to the two on Comcast.  The thing that sucks out of the gate is there is no “swap” feature.  So I can’t pause live TV on the one channel, hit swap to watch something else then swap back, unpause, and resume that other show.  Believe it or not, I used this type of functionality a ton.

Misc. – I can’t stop Sudoku-ing!!  Although now that the “Detroit Free Press“is not delivering the paper to my home every morning, maybe I’ll slow down.  I’ve got about a 75% completion percentage in beating the daily puzzle in the Freep and it really had become a nice little ritual…sitting down with the puzzle page, grabbing my purple pen and kicking it’s butt!!  Yahoo has a good daily puzzle, but it is just not the same on-line.

That’s all for last week.  I don’t know how nerdy things will be over the next two weeks…it’s a BIG sports time in the “D” with the Final Four and the Tiger’s Opening Day.  That also means a lot of drinkin’.  So if I stay sober enough, and if Lil’ Baird let’s me, maybe I find time for nerd pursuits…

Weekly Deals for Detroit Area Stores  - 3/30/09:

Adding a new store this week – Plum Market

Kroger - Oscar Mayer Bacon, Select Varieties (including ready-to-serve), 16 oz. ($2.99 w/ card)

Meijer - Plumrose, 16 oz. ($2.19)

Hiller’s - Hormel Black Label Bacon, Regular or Lower Sodium, 16 oz. (2 for $6)

Busch’s – Spartan Bacon, Regular, Thick Cut or Low Sodium, 16 oz. (2 for $5)

Holiday Market – Nothing listed this week.

Westborn Market – Nothing listed this week.

Plum – Deals announced on Tuesdays

Go Get Some!!

Need to see another store on the list…let me know!

was a GOOD Sunday, even before the big SPARTAN victory!

How I celebrated “Bacon Sunday III“…my first plate…

second plate….

and finally…clean plate club!

YUM!

I didn’t have to eat again until 5:00 pm!!

And that is why “Bacon Sunday” rocks!

Talk to you tomorrow!

Behold the POWER of “Bacon Sunday“!!! 

The team no one in the nation gave any chance to win just crushed the overall number one in the NCAA Tournament!! That’s right, my MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS are heading to the FINAL FOUR in DETROIT!!!

I couldn’t sit still the last 9 minutes of the game. We were over the limit putting Louisville in the bonus and just starting to build the lead…even up 15 under 2 minutes, I still couldn’t stand it. My finger nails are bitten to their nubs. WOW, just WOW!

I had the great opportunity to watch the Spartans in person win the 2000 National Championship and to even dream of having the same opportunity in my own backyard…goosebumps!

UCONN is next and that will be tough as hell…but PITT goes down, Louisville goes down, Memphis goes down…we can win this thing…why not?!?

GO GREEN!! GO WHITE!!

Hope everyone has / is having / had a terrific “BACON SUNDAY“!

In the Baird household, we are staying close to home and big daddy is makin’ his famous Belgium Waffle breakfast…

• Waffles
• Fresh Whipped Cream
• Raspberry Compote
• Coffee
• Orange Juice
• and BACON!!

That’s how we roll!

My best to all!

I gotta say, I really didn’t do that bad in regards to bacon this week. Chicken Bacon Ranch sub at Subway, Turkey Bacon Torpedo at Quizno’s, Bacon Cheeseburger at Red Robin…all and all that would be a pretty decent week of bacon eating. But we weren’t quite done my friends…

After Better Half and I too Lil’ Baird to her second ever swim class, we got a case of the munchies and headed out to a local joint in Berkley, Alex’s.

What you see there is a very good club sandwich! Big cuts of turkey and plenty of crispy, crunchy, delicious bacon. I normally don’t like thick turkey slices, I am more of a thin/shaved cut guy, but I gotta tell you, this was some good turkey. Very moist, even after it had been chilled.

As I sat there eating this perfect sandwich, I contemplated on this big bacon week and then remembered that tomorrow is “Bacon Sunday”, so we aren’t done yet!!! I had a hard time containing my excitement…but others in my family…

…they just don’t seem to care as much as I.  Oh well! She’ll know the taste of the perfect food soon enough!

Have a great “Bacon Sunday” tomorrow!

So bouncing around the googleverse today and came across a story about Padma Lakshami, the host of “Top Chef” on Bravo, was staring in a new hamburger commercial.

Okay, curious…I like Padma and “Top Chef” is one of my favorite shows…so let’s go to the video tape…

uummmmmmmmmmm…ahhhhhhhhhhhhh…..wow?!?

She really seems to like her bacon cheeseburgers!

I have been in a few Carl’s Jr.s in my day and I can tell you from experience that I have never seen a woman who looked like her in a Carl’s Jr…or outside of Carl’s Jr…or even within a 3 mile radius of a Carl’s Jr…beside that, it’s completely believable! 

Ah advertising, with your pretty women eating things I like!

Hello my FoTDB! (Friends of The Daily Bacon)!

Today marked Milestone #2 for this little slice on the interwebs – 2,000 page views!

I am flattered that you folks stop by and I hope you take a little enjoyment from my ramblings.  Knowing that the 10’s of you keep coming back is my motivation to keep posting something fresh everyday!  It’s been very enjoyable so far and I look to sharing more down the road!

Thank you!

(Yes, there is a gratuitous amount of “!” in the above post.  But it’s only to show my excitement and appreciation!  )

I also just noticed that THIS post is itself a Milestone – POST #100!!  YEAH!!!

So guess where I went to lunch today?

Boss Man and I ran out to Red Robinat noon today, had lunch and left restaurant at 12:40. That is pretty good service with a full restaurant at the lunch hour. I can actually say, best service I have ever had at a Red Robin, but I digress.

We both really felt like a good burger!! Today, mine did not disappoint. I ordered the bacon cheeseburger with provolone while Boss Man went for the Guacamole Bacon Burger. The bacon on both looked good. Mine had three slices and each had a real good crispiness to them. Bacon flavor in every bite, can’t ask for more than that.

If any of my 10’s of readers know of a good burger joint out here in the “boonies” of Rochester Hills, let me know. While Red Robinisn’t bad for an occasional burger fix, I much prefer a decent dive joint!

Out here in Rochester Hills, where my office is located, there are a lot of food options.  Unfortunately those options are:

• Burger King
• Wendy’s
• McDonald’s
• Little Caesars
• Subway
• Quizno’s

Sure there are a few others places, three sit downs, a dive coney joint, but that’s about it within the immediate circle.  The one local sit down joint that I was starting to take a liking to and where I’d get my club sandwich fix, Eddie’s, had a fire.

So it comes down to the small list above.  Now the one thing about that list is that you can get a good deal of food for around $5.00 at each of those places…the problem is most of it just isn’t that good for you.  Aside from an occasional “Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger” craving from Wendy’s, I have avoided the burger joints.  That really only leaves me with three choices.  It’s further cut to two after my last experience with a $5.00 “Hot-N-Ready” pizza from Little Caesars.  I brought it back to the office and ended up eating the WHOLE PIE!  I CAN’T DO THAT AGAIN!!  So Little Caesar’s is now out.

What’s left is a battle of the sub shops – Subway v. Quizno’s.  Let the battle BEGIN!

Yesterday was Subway.  With their $5.00 footlong commercial rattling through my brain I headed over to get a “good for me” lunch.  As I intently took in their menu, something became clear, they only have one sandwich that offers bacon as a “standard” meat.  Sure you can get bacon on any sub at Subway, but it will cost you extra.  That one sub with bacon was the “Chicken Bacon Ranch“.  Feeling adventurous and really wanting some bacon, I ordered.  I got to tell you, I really don’t like the consistency of Subway’s chicken.  It just always feels wrong.  I was also disappointed with the bacon.  They only put two strips on my entire 12″ sandwich.  But that wasn’t all…it’s pre-cooked bacon that is then nuked.  Ugh.  So crappy bacon + very little of it = not even knowing it was on the sandwich.  I did, however, get a package of sliced apples with my sandwich.  These were surprisingly crunchy and tasty, making for a good mid-afternoon snack.

Today, it was Quizno’s turn.  Of all the places around here, I have been frequenting Quizno’s more than any other.  I wasn’t initially planning on going over there today but then I heard of a new sandwich they just introduced: “The Torpedo”.  It’s a 12″ sub on a long, thin ciabatta roll.  It reminded me of the great sandwiches you’d get at sandwich stands in London (ED. NOTE – They are baguettes, I just couldn’t remember the name since no one in the old US of A calls a sub a baguette, useless you are a pretentious d-bag.  Any who, there are TONS of baguette stands in London and during my visit there I practically lived off them.  In fact I think I ate five during the day I spent at Wimbledon).  So I figured “why the hay” and ventured over.   They offered up five different variations, two with bacon.  I tried the turkey bacon and I got to tell you, not bad.  The sandwich was thin and watching just how little meat they used on the sub, I was getting a little dismayed, but it turned out to be pretty tasty.  I’ve mentioned Quizno’s use of crumbled bacon before and on this sandwich it works well.  There was a bacon taste to just about every bite, even if you don’t get the texture.  Best part – this sandwich is also selling for just $4.00!! 

Now I like both places, and have favorite subs at both places, but in this case I tried two new things and I got to tell you from use of bacon to overall enjoyment – this round goes to Quizno’s.

I give the Chicken Bacon Ranch – 5 piggies eating bacon!

 

 

For the Turkey Bacon Torpedo – 7 piggies eating bacon!

 

 

So let it be written, so let it be done!