Lawyers, Guns and Money

As I write this I am listening to the music of Warren Zevon which I recently came across through the title music at the beginning of the TV series Justice. The song they use is 'Lawyers, Guns and Money', which is quite brilliant in its simplicity.

He also wrote a few other songs which you might have heard before, 'Werewolves of London' and the much covered 'Carmelita' being two notable examples. I acquired a copy of his album 'Genius: the Best of Warren Zevon' and I must say that I am enjoying it very much.

His style is very folk and country music inspired, but with lashings of early pop music thrown in, in essence 70's West Coast (peyote inspired?) experimental fusion. It is very 70's but that isn't a bad thing in this case. It is a very relaxing, comfortable listen with lyrics that will put a grin or a small smile on your face every now and again if you are paying attention.

I went home with the waitress
The way I always do
How was I to know
She was with the Russians, too

I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money
Dad, get me out of this, ha

I'm the innocent bystander
But somehow I got stuck
Between a rock and a hard place
And I'm down on my luck
Yes, I'm down on my luck
Well, I'm down on my luck

Now I'm hiding in Honduras
I'm a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The shit has hit the fan

Send lawyers, guns and money
Send lawyers, guns and money
Send lawyers, guns and money
Send lawyers, guns and money
- Warren Zevon

Finally managed to finish defrosting the freezer at about midnight. Lesson learned -> buy a frost free freezer.

Freezer Defrosting - Take II

Last December I defrosted my freezer and learned a few lessons in the process.

Today it is time to see if I really learned anything, it is a different freezer, but the principles should be the same; here goes nothing...

Update 18:40
Still going, not messy but slow.

Update 20:40
Still going, end in sight.

Half a Cigar

A while ago I bought a whole lot of Dominican cigars, that I recently noticed have been in the humidor long enough to mellow nicely. Now I don't really have the time most days to sit down and enjoy a full length Churchill so I have come up with a cunning strategy.

I cut them in half!

Now anyone who smokes cigars and knows enough about their construction will know that this isn't usually a very good idea, as the glue used to keep the outer leaf of tobacco from unravelling is mostly applied at the cap and so cutting the cigar in half usually means that the outer leaf unravels leaving a smokeable but unsightly cigar.

I stumbled upon a nice little solution a week ago and thought that it might be useful to someone out there; here's the clever bit, I gently and with great care slide the label up the cigar to a point just above the cut. This stops the leaf from unravelling after the cigar is bisected! I have to admit that I completely screwed this up a few times before mastering the technique. I also suppose that any other type of material could be used, like an elastic band, but using the label just seems like the most elegant method.

Job done!

Now I can enjoy half a cigar a few times a week. If only the cigar manufacturers would make double capped Churchills, that would be cool. When you have the time to smoke a full Churchill you could simply snip off one cap, when you only wanted half you could just cut it in half and have two shorts.

Maybe I should try to patent that idea!

Anyway a few points that I think I should also point out are:
1. This is a wasteful process as two half cigars do not equal one full length cigar in terms of consumable tobacco.
2. The flavour of the halves are a little different than the Churchills, I'm not entirely sure why, but it is.
3. I wouldn't try this with a really good cigar in case it goes wrong.

Rain

Last night it rained. Most people would have missed it because most of the rain arrived during the night at an hour when most respectable adults have long since drifted off into the land of nod.

I was awake and was enthralled by the sheer volume of water that crashed into the earth from high up in the heavens above. There was also for nearly an hour a continuous pulsating stobe of light from the lightening that lit everything up as brightly as daylight would for a second at a time.

The rain came streaming off the roofs of my neighbours houses at such great a velocity that it simply missed the gutters and fell off the roofs in sheets like waterfalls. The water on the ground became at first rivulets then something more as it streamed down the gradient of my road, all the time reflecting the pulses of light bursting from the sky.

But the best bit was the sound of all the laden raindrops crashing into the different surfaces; slate roof tiles, brick pathways, concrete pavements, asphalt roads, metal cars and glass windows. Each with its own unique sound and together contributing to the melee.

It was great. Like the 5th November fireworks at a water park. Shame it isn't raining again tonight.

"Can Michael make up enough points on Alonso in this race (starting in second as opposed to Alonoso's 10th place) to make the end of the season a nail biting finale?"

Yes he can! Alonso's engine blew up and Michael won, so there are only 2 points in it now with three races left in the season.

"Will Michael retire at the end of the season?"

Yes he will. Which is a shame as he if for me an integral prt of F1.

F1 - Italian GP

It is the Italian GP today and we find out the future of Ferrari & Michael Schumacher.

Will Kimi be moving to Ferrari?
Will Michael retire at the end of the season?
Can Michael make up enough points on Alonso in this race (starting in second as opposed to Alonoso's 10th place) to make the end of the season a nail biting finale?

I'll find out soon enough.