1-2-3-4, I declare Taco War!

VS

Few things in my travels have delighted me as much as an authentic Mexican style Taco. I submit that there is no reason to continue eating the taco americano as it were, when the ingredients to create a much better taco experience, are at our disposal. Let me explain...

I grew up on the 79 cent tacos from Taco Bell, and as a little kid, there was nothing greater. There ground beef was seasoned to perfection--though as a picky kid I often passed on the lettuce and cheese portion. As a teenager, Taco Bell introduced the Grilled Steak Tacos and my world changed a little. Again, I was not a huge fan of the random sauces and things that went into these, so I simply began ordering "tortilla add steak." I felt like I was onto something. I did not know then how that simple difference between ground beef and seasoned steak would open my eyes to a world of much tastier and authentic tacos.

When Juliet and I used to speak on the phone, she was always mentioning how they were going to get tacos. I had always assumed that being in Mexico, she was likely getting something more authentic than my Taco Bell substitute here, but I did not realize how much more delicious the possibility could be. 

The first time I was taken to a taco vendor in Rio Bravo, Mexico, I was not sure what to expect. The wood block hollowed out where the meat was cut and cooked was something unfamiliar to me. I also noticed a vegetable that I had ignored many times in my life up to that point-the onion. In addition, a little green leafy vegetable was seated nearby, and I am told its name is Cilantro. 

"What kind of taco is this?" I remember thinking. "where's the ground beef?" 

The first bite was exquisite--and each bite thereafter. The tortillas were corn, not flour, and this was also new to me. The size of tortilla was much different as well, being much smaller than even the corn tortillas I had briefly looked over at the grocery stores in the states. Something about the smaller size, made it seem that much more enticing. Here is a taco of which I can eat multiple servings without getting stuffed. 

Juliet pointed out that a real Mexican style taco is made with these smaller corn tortillas, steak (seasoned and cooked with some sort of magic process--perhaps the wood it's cut on...) cebolla (onion) and cilantro. After the first bite, I forgot what lettuce and tomato and shredded cheddar were, and immersed myself in this new delight. 

A choice of red or green salsa followed--with fresh pico de gallo being another option. Salt for flavor finished the treat. 

I'm not sure how many I ate that first sitting, but it was likely more than I would have guessed I'd be eating. There was just something much more satisfying about the ingredients when compared to our bland iceberg lettuce, barely cheese cheese and little tomato chunks (which are likely the freshest ingredient in our tacos here). 

I could never go back---and yet I had to return to the states. When Juliet came to the United States in June 2007, I was eager to have her try all of my various favorite restaurants and foods. I've listed them before, but here they are again for reference: 

Hamburger- Goldies

Hot Dog- Chet's (in Muskogee)

Steak- Outback Steakhouse or Texas Roadhouse---and later Cheddar's for a bargain but delicious steak

Being a meat eater, these were my primary focus. I was disappointed being here without the tacos I had enjoyed so much in my travels to Mexico. Juliet was also missing the unique flavor-so we sought out a more "authentic" taco experience. It was not a Taco Bell, but rather a tiny mexican market in a shopping center that made similar (but not the same) tacos. This was the best we could do in Oklahoma. 

Upon moving to Austin, there was a larger Hispanic community and we quickly found better (though still not the same) options for our authentic style tacos. Juliet one day purchased all of the ingredients needed to re-create our taco experience, and made some very delicious versions of what we had in Mexico. They were as close as we had gotten to the real thing, but we both knew it could never be the same. We kept our stomachs tied over until each subsequent visit to her family in which we might have that small joy of eating a real taco.

If I had never tried to eat a real taco, I might have gone my whole life thinking that Taco Bell and other similar establishments had the recipe for the best tacos.

 I grew up on ground beef, lettuce, and cheese. I will grow old on Bistek or Fajita, cebolla and cilantro--a hint of red salsa, pico and a very satisfied countenance.

P.S. My record of most Mexican tacos eaten in a visit was broken on this past visit. I have eaten 40 tacos in 62 hours at present moment. Perhaps stuffing myself with them was not the best idea, but it's hard to resist a real delightful food like my Authentically Mexican style Tacos--

The Christmas Crime

There is a  surprising and disappointing trend developing in our society. Throughout the world, a tradition that many of us grew up practicing, is being censored. 


"Well maybe he is talking about Christian persecution in third world countries," you think to yourself, "maybe he's talking about Jews not practicing Chanakuh in countries that have become dominated by the force of Islam." 


Sadly, what I speak of, is occurring right here in our very own cities, homes and schools across the United States. The persecution and criminalization of Christmas---and what it represents.


Now before everyone launches into their whole soapbox about how Christmas is based on a pagan holiday, and Christians are just as bad as anyone else because they got their tradition from pagan roots, let me stop you. While it is historical accurate to say that the traditions of Christmas are very similar to a pagan holiday celebrating the god of the sun during the winter solstice, it is not accurate to say that Christians specifically took those traditions---added in some Jesus---and went on their way. 


Christians in a world filled with pagan gods and goddesses were left with a holiday they could not rightfully participate in---after all, they knew the truth of Jesus' resurrection at this point--they knew they could have no other gods before the one true God and his Son Jesus the Christ. 


So, even though no one can be sure when Jesus was actually born in history (Though some estimate between April and October based on the fact that shepards were still tending their sheep in fields during the Christmas story) Christians of this time decided to recognize and celebrate the birth of their Savior on December 25th--the same day the pagan religions were worshipping their sun god. 


I'm sure many of you have been in situations where someone around you is celebrating something you cannot rightfully support. In these situations, rather than let your desire to celebrate be dictated by others, it would not be unreasonable to develop your own tradition--based on your view of what is right--to allow those of similar minds to come together and celebrate. There should be nothing wrong with this--- thus, the Christmas tradition is born.


Now that the disclosure is out of the way, allow me to get back to my point----


I would be willing to bet that 95% (and that's probably a converservative estimate) of my friends and family were raised celebrating Christmas. We all have sung "Hark the Herald Angels" and "Silent Night," and yet it is only in the last few years that these traditions are being questioned by the world at large. Sinatra sang Christmas carols and used the word "Christmas." Michael Buble currently sings "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" without censoring the word---whatever their affiliations may be (I don't know). If you were to look at many of our famous Christmas songs--their are Biblical roots throughout---and even the fun ones generally were written with the word Christmas.


-Imagine a joyful rendition of "oh holiday tree, oh holiday tree" or "we wish you a merry holiday season"--the tempo issues alone would be cause to not sing them that way


Why is it then that a second grader when asked to bring something to share for show and tell, is told she cannot bring her book about the Christmas story? Was she deliberately slamming her "religion" down another student's throat?  I can see it now <Girl: teacher my favorite holiday book is the Christmas story about Jesus! Teacher: WHAAAAAAT! Did you just say "JESUS" in school---No show and tell for you!>


While this soup naziesque rendition of the story may not be exactly how it went down--it is likely something similar occurred. Out of the entire class, the Christian girl was the only student not allowed to share her book. Meanwhile, Jewish children shared about Chanakuh and other children shared about Santa and Kwanza and basically all other traditions. Why was the Christian story censored? 


My theory is that persecuting and censoring Christians (even the young ones apparently) has become a popular societal pastime. I became aware of it as shows on television began to subtly poke fun at the faith. Gradually over time, it seems I couldn't find a single show on mainstream television that didn't have a "let's bash Christianity" episode--however subtly it may have been executed. 


We are constantly exposed to ridicule by personalities like Bill Maher and Jon Stewart...even Colbert has jumped on the bash Christian bandwagon in recent years---(Though in his case it might be well executed sarcasm).


I have been listening to the messages of Pastor Paul Sheppard recently and I enjoyed a humorous explanation of how to deal with society censoring our "Christmas." In effect it was something like, "when you are in the workplace, you may very well have to wish everyone Happy Holidays--and avoid words like "Christmas," but as soon as that time card is punched, run into the streets wishing everyone around you a MERRY CHRISTMAS! They can censor you in the workplace..but nobody can tell me that I can't shout Merry Christmas on my street---that's my street!" Pastor Paul 


His delivery was obviously much funnier--but you get the drift.


So what is it folks? I'm at a loss....why now? Why not when I was 5...or 10..who transitioned us into this hate the Christians and all the represent mentality? 1950s America at least left them alone even if they didn't acknowledge a particular faith


I may be wrong. I mean...this is more my concern for my children and their children. I have friends who have newborns--some who are due---what will their children grow up learning about? Santa only lasts for so many years before kids catch on. Jesus is a forever concept--the single greatest event in human history was the birth of the Lamb who would wash away the sin of the world. 


Is it not fitting for Christians to stand boldly for their faith? The saints of the early church stood boldly in the face of persecution. At best right now our current Christians face ridicule and a slow destruction of traditions being able to be celebrated publicly---no threat of death for now. But couldn't that be the case 20 years from now? What's to say once the secular world does away with all semblance of the Christian faith that they wouldn't authorize people to persecute physically? Even the Bible says these times will come--though hopefully current believers will be spared the worst of it (Previous statement based on premillenial end times viewpoint*).


I don't like the censorship of my faith. I started this blog to avoid hurtful comments and be free to share what I truly and honestly feel--as opposed to the censored versions that Facebook forced--God forbid I offend someone with my "crazy religion." It doesn't help that most political figures claiming to be Christian take things way out of context and come off as just as bad as non-Christians. 




To all my Christian brethren---may we stand boldly in the face of persecution! May we never forget that we are not of this world--we have a greater purpose in this world than to just live and go with society's flow. Let them take the ten commandments out of public spaces---let the schools tell Christian children they cannot present their stories---does this not seem ridiculous. Who is it hurting? 


"well my daughter should not be exposed to other religions when she leaves the home--I'd hate for her to become one of those Christian people." Umm...didn't I used to recite the Lord's prayer in second grade---pretty sure any of my classmates at Hilldale from that time would tell you they had NO issue with this---it was common practice. Now if you say the word Christ I imagine a team of school security guards escorts you off the premises until you agree to not use such naughty words (sarcasm included for humorous effect)


The atheist religion (because at this point that's what it has become) is filling the secular world's minds with as much anti-Christian propaganda as they can---but do they persecute the Jews? Of course not--they'd be considered Nazis. I doubt they believe any more in the God of the Jewish Old Testament--since He is in fact the same God throughout the Christian New Testament--and Christ and Holy Spirit 3 in 1. Yet they focus on bringing down the Christian faith---tearing down any mention of it in public society!


Don't get me wrong, there are some bad eggs out there. I will be the first to say i'm not proud of some people who have claimed to be Christians---heck I'm not proud of myself half the time. But Christ will handle the hypocrites when the time comes---it is not our place. 


"Oh I just can't go to church because it's all hypocrites and I can't stand seeing people there worshipping that were out partying the night before.."  SO? Is it your place to determine who comes to worship---did it not occur that maybe they are there because deep down they regret their constant partying?...and even if they don't---aren't you all the same people saying "don't judge." A Biblical concept knocked out of context if ever there was one! 


But isn't the point that we are covered by the blood of Christ--that our sins are wiped clean if we only repent and accept Him as Lord in our lives? The hypocrites and the ones who don't realize they are hypocrites--and you and me and everyone is just as sinful as the sinniest sinner (new words) out there---ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God---not just the people who partied the night before church.


This Christmas season---when you are able---say Merry Christmas!---Spell the word out---Teach the children that we as Christians choose this as our day to celebrate the birth of our Savior (Regardless of his actual birth date). Don't be afraid of our past---many of us were raised in Christian homes---why let society force us to turn away from our fond memories--from our faith! Don't be offended by a word---if you don't like Christmas--feel free to work---last I Checked there was not a "winter day off" scheduled for December 25th...my calendar says Christmas Day---and I hope it will continue to say it--from this year and beyond!


Keep the "Christ" in Christmas---after all---it was his sacrifice that made the day worth remembering---call on Him--He will answer---And you too can have life and that more abundantly in Christ Jesus this season!


If you haven't yet been ready to commit your life to Christ--let the below prayer be a guideline---there is no shame in the word "Saved"


"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this it not of yourselves, it is the gift of God-Not of works lest anyone should boast." Ephesians 2:8-10


*Salvation prayer*- Lord, I know I am a sinner---I know that I cannot possibly meet the requirements of your Holy nature by my own works. My list of works are nothing without the precious blood of Your Son. I invite you into my life Jesus--let my every thought and action be to further Your name. Save me from my sinful nature---redeem me with Your precious blood. Thank you for your sacrifice so that I may be forgiven---of all sins---you know my heart--please come into it and guide me in your will for my life. In Jesus' name I pray----AMEN!

Life's Timeline

I was editing my Facebook Timeline for its debut today, when I realized that this timeline could be a good metaphor of my life timeline. We will all stand to give account to our creator someday, and He will have our life timeline, there to see, each and everything we've done during our life. The posts will likely vary from spiritually sound posts to overcome by anger posts.

I spent some time today deleting mostly random posts with no point from individuals I haven't spoken to in years. I highlighted some of my favorite life moments to 'feature' on my timeline.

Facebook gives you 7 days to edit your posts before it is revealed for all to see. The Bible says that even some believers' works will be burned away---wasted/idle time---things we've done even after being saved that were of no good. The good thing is, as believers in Christ, we have the great Delete button (hear me out).

We don't know how many days God has established for us to edit our life timeline before it is revealed. I truly hope that it is many years before any of you are called to present your life before God (Stick around I like you). The simple truth is though that it is appointed that all men (and women) should die. And when that day comes, our Timeline will be revealed..our works exposed to a Just Creator who we are accountable to.

For Believers, we have the great delete Button, Jesus. We need only ask (click) and He will take away our angry posts, our shameful posts, our hurtful posts. He will Feature our happy moments, our life events, our service for the kingdom. Sadly, not everyone will have the 'delete' feature available.

My prayer to you friends, is that you find faith in the one who can edit your posts before it is too late. Once standing before God, if the great mediator Christ was not there to delete your sinful posts (sins) and forgive you, you will have no excuse. It is sad, but true.

I have many posts I need covered throughout my timeline. I know Christ has hidden and deleted them so that on my day of account to my Lord, I will be able to 'Feature' my entire life, laid out as an offering. I will hear Him say, "Well done my good and faithful servant."

May you all be able to say the same. Blessings this holiday season--edit those timelines--while it is an option. And may the peace which transcends understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (the Great Delete Button).

Seventy Percent

Those of you who know me, probably realize that there are times when I take a story or conversation just a little bit past the correct stopping point. I have a tendency to speak without always considering what I will say until it is said. Biblically this would be what was referred to as a "loose tongue." Personally, it has always provided a source of humor (or at times awkwardness) around my friends and colleagues.


Perhaps an illustration will demonstrate what I mean. Let's say for instance I am telling you the story about my brand new, super fast sports car. I begin by describing the feeling of the wind as I cruise over 100 mph down a stretch of highway, mountains visible as far as the eye can see. 


If I stop right there, everything is great. You have a good visual of me driving my new sports car. Here is what happens if I am truly telling the story... "mountains visible as far as the eye can see...then I rounded a corner and drove off of the cliff accidentally!"


See what happened there? A perfectly good story is ruined by a last minute addition or detail. My team at work has started referring to this as the 70 % rule. If I would just stop my stories or helpful tips at 70%, they would remain interesting and helpful. I have a tendency to move past the 70% well into that last 30% which is often unknown, unthought out territory. This leads to awkward or best case humorous situations. 


A story about how  great a conversation was going, leading up to a huge sale, becomes a less good story when I suddenly add "oh, but I think that's the lady that hung up on me." 


Another byproduct of this is what I will refer to as the "don't let on that you actually didn't know the information that was just presented even though it was assumed you knew" rule. Again, someone brings up an interesting fact that I did not know, but others in the group had assumed I would know based on position. I then point out, "oh that's cool I didn't realize we could do that.." This is followed by strange glances and stunned looks------


So in conclusion, I will attempt to complete my anecdotes and stories at around 70% to avoid the unnecessary add-on that ultimately ruins the context of my tale. 

Sitcom Switcheroos

As I was watching TV today on Hulu, I stumbled onto an old classic, "The Dick Van Dyke Show." I am occasionally drawn in by older things, so I decided to give it a shot. I began with the Pilot episode and watched two episodes total before settling down for my standard day sleep (I work overnights, don't judge).


I am noticing a pattern, and I'm pretty sure it's been around for as long as sitcoms have been around, of replacing actors randomly throughout seasons. This is something I had noticed before, but until recently let slide due to most shows that I watch being good enough to overlook a little side character swap.


It wasn't until Juliet and I began watching "Til Death" that I became annoyed with this phenomenon. "Til Death" starts out as a humorous look at what happens when the newlywed couple moves in next door to the grumpy old married couple. It had great potential starting out, and the first season was a riot. Then things began to change, and not even subtly.


A recurring character on the show was that of the main couple's daughter, Ally. Over the course of 3 seasons (cancelled), they went through at least 5 different actresses playing the part. It wasn't even like they went in a timeline of season 1=this ally and season 2=that ally. It literally swapped her out in nearly every episode for most of season 2 and 3.


I credit the writers because likely realizing just how ridiculous this was, they began a running joke with Ally's boyfriend Doug where he believes he is living in a sitcom. This helped offset some of my frustration with always wondering which "Ally" would appear.


The actress who finished out the series playing Ally, was a couple other characters on the show in earlier episodes, including a waitress who gets stiffed by the main couple's battle with their friends to not get stuck with the check. An episode later she's the singing Ally, a gimic the writer's must have started pulling where the characters, Ally and Doug, start randomly singing songs that they write.


To top the actress switcher off, the main newlywed couple that the show was based on initially, is all but gone by the second season, replaced by some minor characters who randomly reoccur throughout the final two seasons.


So, as I was watching the Pilot episode of Dick Van Dyke, I notice it was really titled "Head of the Family," and starred the show's creator Carl Reiner, in the role that would become Dick Van Dyke's role. Apparently the ratings were low with the first episode and it was revamped to include Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore starting in episode 2. Which means this phenomenon has been around as long as sitcoms have been around.....and it irritates me.


I get attached to characters. I learn to like their mannerisms and acting styles. If "Til Death" has taught me anything, it's that sitcom characters can be fleeting, and I should appreciate what I have because I never know when it will be gone, replaced by a gimmicky star who just last week was playing the part of "extra number 2."




  "the Evolution of Allison Stark over 4 seasons"




What is the world coming to?

4 Reasons Why Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is bringing out my OCD

Skyrim has brought about the obsessive compulsiveness in me. It had not occurred to me a year ago when I played through Oblivion that dedicating this much of my free time to one single video game was obsessive. 

Don’t get me wrong, Skyrim and the previous games before it are awesome, but I am beginning to notice small OCD patterns in my gameplay, and from what I can tell, I may not be the only one.

1) Constant Character Re-Creation- 

This has not affected me personally as of yet, but I have heard tales of friends of mine running into this symptom. To their credit, there are a huge number of combinations of player types with games like this. Do I want to be a Nord Battle-Mage, a wood elf sneaky archer thief, or a brute power Orc? Those are 3 of about a zillion combinations. 

All of those combinations seem to lead people to obsessively create and re-create their characters, for the sake of replaying the game slightly different from the first time. In their defense, you can experience the game in a new light by specializing in different skills. On the other hand, doesn’t it seem obsessive to relive the same dialogue and quests over and over simply to use a bow and arrow as opposed to a sword this time? It’s not like the main quest lines change that much. 

I suppose if you messed something up on the first character (I’m talking to those of you who sold the thieves guild armor and couldn’t finish the Thieves guild quests) then it could be justified. It’s like everyone wants to have continuous do-overs until they achieve the ultimate character, at which point the game becomes too easy and they go on to play something else. Maybe we all just wish we had countless life do-overs. A chance to try again as something cooler than the first time...or it’s signs of OCD.

2)Lists and lists and will I ever finish...?
This is the side that has struck me the hardest. I will admit that day to day, I can be a bit obsessive with documentation. I like a good list to remind me of things I need to do, or to provide organization in this chaotic world. In the past I’ve made lists of all sorts of things from restaurants that I think have the best of a certain food, to which James Bond movies are the best for each actor(From Russia With Love-Sean Connery, OHMSS-George Lazenby, For Your Eyes Only- Roger Moore, The Living Daylights-Timothy Dalton, Goldeneye- Pierce Brosnan, Casino Royale-Daniel Craig). 

Bond Height is another area of expertise for me

Skyrim has made my obsessive list making into an all out nightmare. I currently have about 30 active quests and each time I finish one, I seem to end up with 10 more. It’s bad enough that half of them involve collecting some random ingredient for someone. I decided to fight back and recently began going through my quests one by one, ignoring any alternate options that pop up. After about 10 of these I was feeling good. Then another realm of my Skyrim OCD kicked in....

3)MUST...FINISH...ALL...GUILD QUESTS.....!
...as I was saying... I realized that in the midst of ignoring all of these random quests, I needed to be focusing on finishing specific guilds. After all, what’s the point of the game if I can’t be the absolute dominating factor in every single guild in the game. Oblivion made it simple by organizing quests by guilds and showing me a nice icon to tell me I was a winner and head of the guilds. Skyrim is killing me because my quests are not organized by guild, and I cannot seem to become the head of anything other than the Dark Brotherhood. 

I began going one by one through quests, only to find myself drawn back to my obsessive completist need to finish all the main quests first. The wonderful oddity of it all is that if I were to finish all of the main quests, I’m left with the damn ingredient collecting quests which make things boring and lead me back to re-creating characters just so I can re-do all of the guild quests to attempt yet again to become the greatest player in the game. And my next character will end up with just as many random unfinished quests in yet another taunting list that never is complete!

4)Smithing...Alchemy...Enchanting....Irritation!
I love the introduction of smithing in Skyrim. That being said, I cannot figure out how my mind continues to allow me to spend hours upon hours pressing the “X” button on my PS3 controller to create dagger upon dagger upon dagger. Is smithing really that interesting? Or did the game once again trick my obsessive need to create things and sell them for money into a never ending cycle of create, improve, sell; create, improve, sell. 

The sad part is I hit level 100 in Smithing a month ago and I still continue to make random crap to sell knowing full well that I could be spending my time completing guild quests. Of course then I am left over with ingredient hunting quests and therefore need re-create my character for the zillionth time because Lord knows that this character will be SOOOO much different. It’s not like I’ll spend every waking moment smithing and enchanting and making potions with him....oh wait, I will.

I will eat up all of your free time...rarrrr! 

Oblivion gave me a chance to actually do EVERYTHING in the game and say, “Yes, I completely dominated that game.” Skyrim is spinning me in a never-ending circle of obsessive needs, one leading back to the other, again and again....and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Welcome to my World

It's been so long since I've blogged (I'm thinking Xanga days). This is really going to be a method of sharing my thoughts. I have tried this with Facebook, but occasionally I have unpopular thoughts or opinions, and at least this way I won't get blocked as often ;)

Let me just express to everyone out there who stumbles onto my humble site, that any opinion, story, musing, random thought, is that of my honest self. I feel that sharing honestly as opposed to censoring potential status updates on Facebook is a more healthy outlet for my random thoughts.

That being said, this is NOT the bummer blog. There will hopefully be many humorous stories and life lessons as well. For the real comedian in the family, navigate over to http://laughingwithleeann.blogspot.com

I know you have many choices when it comes to wasting time at work reading blogs, thanks for stopping by ;-)