Now till Retirement

A few people’s journey through life.
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Archive for January, 2008

Drink of the Day: Midori Spice

January 31, 2008 By: Kelley Category: Random No Comments →

Equal parts: Midori, Malibu and Cream!

circle with pineapple juice

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I PASSED. Oral Board Time!

January 31, 2008 By: Phil Category: Career Progress No Comments →

I passed both of my exams and have now been scheduled for an oral board exam in front of three current sergeants on the 7th!

HUZAH!

Now I just need to ace this and I should be on my way to an academy date!

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Black Lagoon Soundtrack: My good friend Kevin has done it again.

January 31, 2008 By: Phil Category: Anime, Music No Comments →

My buddy Kevin out of nowhere from the kindness of his heart decided to give me a copy of the Black Lagoon Soundtrack. This is currently one of my favorite animes and I think the music from the show is quite well done. It has 29 tracks and I like all of them.


Black Lagoon Soundtrack

Thank you Kevin for yet another awesome random gift!

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Porsche 944 Headlight Upgrade

January 31, 2008 By: Phil Category: Porsche No Comments →

After much internal debate I have finally decided that I hate the stock headlights on the Porsche 944. The old standard sealed beams just do not cut it as far as I am concerned and I have often wished that Porsche had used the H4’s found on the 928s. I was aware of various upgrade kits out there but never put too much effort in to researching the options until last night.

After looking at all the various options and what is included I think I am finally set on the kit put out by 944online.com. Their price seems to be towards the lower end of the spectrum while including everything needed including a new wiring harness to avoid overloading the original wiring… and on top of it they have a ten percent off coupon in effect at the moment so that is another added bonus.

Looking up people’s thoughts about the company on Rennlist tells me they are a pretty honest and decent outfit to deal with, so I will probably be ordering sometime withing the next day or so. I will try to take pictures and write a post on the procedures and difficulties in using their kit once received.

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Hookah Flavor Review: Banana by Laylina

January 31, 2008 By: Phil Category: Hookah Tobacco Reviews No Comments →

Flavor: Banana
Manufacturer: Laylina
Price Paid: $2.95 (50 gram box)
Amount of Tobacco Consumed: Eight grams in an Egyptian style small clay bowl.
Hookah Used: Our standard test hookah(Junior style, 72″ hose, filtered water)
Coal Used: Quick Lighting made in Holland
Covering: Foil with six tiny holes around outer ring of bowl and seven tiny holes in asterisk pattern at center of bowl.
Length of session: About fifty minutes.
Appearance of Tobacco: Very moist, plenty of sticky molasses, very few stems to separate.
Smoke Appearance: Larger thick clouds of white smoke.
Tasting Notes: Light and smooth banana with sugar. Flavor stayed sweet and consistent till the end of the session.
Ill Effects: None
Overall Impression: This is a very smooth and sweet tasting smoke. It goes down easy and seems that it would be perfect for those who can not handle a strong smoke. I could very easily smoke this flavor all day long without feeling the slightest bit ill or lightheaded. I highly recommend this flavor.

Jelly Belly

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Awesome suprise at Checker Auto

January 31, 2008 By: Phil Category: Cars No Comments →

My daily driver is a 1985.5 Porsche 944 and it has a slight leak of brake fluid at the resivor base. Nothing too serious until a new one can be sourced at a non insane price, but does require topping off about every month. While on route I tend to pick up what I can from my customers to save the effort of having to go out later after work and today was no exception. Before picking up the Checker Auto I service deposit, I went to grab a bottle of synthetic DOT 4 brake fluid and I am met with what can only be described as awesome, the brand I use is on sale… and even better there is also a rebate for the sale price as well. FREE.

Not just brake fluid either, it is the time of the year apparently when Checker attempts to move out any remaining stock from the previous year to make room for the new shipments of the current year. Everything from starter fluid to engine oil is on sale with a limit of four per customer pf each item. If you do lots of your own car work as I do, prices of free minus tax cant be beat… as long as you don’t mind waiting for a rebate check. If ya have a free moment I suggest you go buy what you can before someone else does… I already cleared out the closest store.

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Cigar Review: Don Barreto - Toro Flaco

January 27, 2008 By: Phil Category: Cigar Reviews No Comments →

Cigar Name: Cigar Review: Don Barreto - Toro Flaco
Purchase Price: $1.00(shipped)
Location of Purchase: Famous Smoke.
Beverage: Diet Coke.
Cigar Size: 6×46 .
Wrapper: Dark Cuban Seed Nicaraguan.
Binder: Nicaraguan.
Filler: Sun Grown Cuban Seed Nicaraguan.
Appearance: Medium brown and slightly oily.
Construction: Solid looking but soft in too man yareas.
Aged: How ever long they spent in the famous smoke humidor.
Pre-Light Aroma: Hay and grass.
Method of lighting: Pre cut method(10 inch match, flame tip just under cigar foot while rotating cigar, cut cigar after cigar is lit).
Method of Cutting: Large ring punch.
Burn: All over the place.
Problems: Ash fell on me within a centimeter, burn was inconsistent and tunneling, unraveled.
Ash Color: Dark Grey.
Ash Structure: Flaky would fall off at random.
Draw: Easy draw.
Strength: Smoking a Burrito.
Tasting Notes:

First Third: Grass clippings, a bit of newspaper, and a hint of garbage.

Second Third: See above.

Finish: Same as before with spice!

Overall Impression: When I saw this deal on famous for these Don Barettos, I thought how bad can they be? Well the answer is very! Lord Baretto should have been named Don Burrito, because this is probably what smoking a burrito would taste like. Our friend Don Burrito must make his profit by giving us newspaper clippings whiel saving the crop of tobacco for his own personal use. Stay away from the King of the Burritos.

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Won’t know for sure until monday.

January 25, 2008 By: Phil Category: Career Progress No Comments →

Passed the physical with flying colors, will not know anything else until Monday. Keeping my fingers crossed.

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Nervous… just a tad.

January 24, 2008 By: Phil Category: Career Progress No Comments →

Tomorrow is the day, time to take the test. Pass or fail(hope to god tis pass). Going to go to bed now to give myself a good twelve hours of sleep. Wish me luck and soon the normal updates will resume.

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Cigar Review: Cohiba (Cuban) - Esplendido (Churchill)

January 21, 2008 By: Damon Category: Cigar Reviews No Comments →

My cigar buddy Bret thought he would help me on this review. I mean, how often do you get to a review a Cuban cigar with a good friend. Enjoy everyone!

Cigar Name: Cohiba (Cuban) - Esplendido (Churchill)
Purchase Price: $11.00 (Box price was $275)
Location of Purchase: Cozumel, Mexico
Beverage: Llano Estacado: Sweetest Red (Bret switched in a Shiner’s Light for the finish)
Cigar Size: 7.0 × 47
Wrapper: Natural
Binder: Connecticut Shade
Filler: Cuban Leaf
Appearance: Leathery, well constructed, tightly rolled (DW) / Light brown, very well rolled (BH).
Construction: Few veins and tightly rolled (BH).
Aged: 3 years in a well kept humidor.
Pre-Light Aroma: Earthy, semi-sweet, very natural like.
Method of lighting: Non-torch flame from Colibri lighter, while heating the tip for approx. 10-15 seconds before allowing to contact cigar
Method of Cutting: V-cut (as if we use anything else lately)
Burn: Smooth and even (BH) / “I concur” (DW)
Problems: (BH) “Went out when I went to get Damon some ice for his wine…yes he put ice in a fine wine)” / (DW) “Mine went out 3 times for no particular reason at all. The ice was to tame the wine, which didn’t appear as sweet as it was pumped up to be….BRET!”
Ash Color: Light gray with streaks of black.
Ash Structure: (DW) 2 1/2″, very tight / (BH) 2″
Draw: Extremely smooth with no problems at all.
Strength: Medium/Full Bodied
Tasting Notes:

First Third: (DW) - Spicy yet smooth with earthy flavors and hints of nut / (BH) - “Ditto”

Second Third: Not quite as spicy, hints of sweet and coffee; creamy

Finish: (DW) Extremely smooth with a creamy finish / (BH) “Great finish, not spicy & smoke didn’t burn my eyes”

Overall Impression: (DW) I highly recommend you try this cigar. If you don’t, you’ll be missing a large part of life itself. It’s an honor to be able to smoke a Genuine (not counterfeit) Cuban cigar (especially a Cohiba) and is also a joy to share it with a friend. These will leave you extremely satisfied and they are well worth the price. I would say, if you don’t think you can afford it then sell a kidney and buy a box anyway. Life is too short not to enjoy satisfactions such as these. This was probably the second best cigar behind the one I will be reviewing next…so stay tuned!!
(BH) - GREAT cigar! Smooth and easy to smoke. It was a great way to start the year!

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Testing

January 21, 2008 By: Phil Category: Random No Comments →

If this post appears, then the transfer of the site and database to its new host provider has worked correctly. YAY! Normal posting should resume in a while. After the 25th’s exam I should have my posting time again and the lack of updates shall cease.

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Transfering web hosting providers

January 20, 2008 By: Phil Category: Random No Comments →

Sorry for the lack of anything significant, changing web hosting providers is proving to be more difficult than previously thought. I am having trouble moving the database over and my current host isn’t giving my new registar the go ahead to switch the domain even though ive oked it with the auth codes.

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