Howdy,
Friendly neighborhood site manager Jon Abad here.

Sorry for the inconvenience with the comments recently. I did a hasty upgrade and it seems to be choking on something. Most comments are making it through alright, no matter how much code is being spit back in your face. If you are losing comments, contact MikeD or myself. Actually, contact me. MikeD seems to forget to tell me on occasion.

I am in contact with a team of Japanese scientists and we’ll have this problem fixed lickety split.

Yours in Rock,
Jon Abad

This morning the Acclaim was a block of ice. After fridgedly chipping thorugh the ice on the driver side I found the that lock was frozen over. 5minutes later I was breathing hot air onto the passenger side door lock. Finally, I was able to get my key in the lock. I got inside and turned the car on. After 10 more minutes of ice chopping to free the windshield wipers, I was ready to go. My fingers were falling off from the bitter cold, my feet were caked with snow, and as I stumbled into the car from the passenger side door my shoulder hit the rearview mirror which fell off.

Despite all this, I still love my car to death.

This past weekend was better than expected. Friday night Mandy and Becky both arrived safely, and around 7:30 we zipped over to the rockclimbing gym. Everyone climbed and had a wild time. We returned to the HoR to make two of Theresa’s recipes: Pan Fried Noodles and Aloo. Both came out great. Jesse and Joel arrived a short while later and we all hung out and had a good time.

Saturday started off with an 8 mile run with Mandy. It was breathtaking. (ha ha… ha) After that there was more rock climbing, and I’m pleased to report that I conquered a 5.12b that I’ve been working on. It was a big deal because the route was replaced the very next day. I was very happy to beat it before it was taken down.

Saturday night we all went to Jesse’s dad’s show in Winstead. It was Jazzy and snazzy. The 6 of us took the acclaim to fame and used the far underloved middle seat in the front, resulting in a very cramped, ‘that 70’s show’esque, hour and a half of driving in sleet, hail, and slush. We played car games and JonAbad rocked “wanna buy a duck?”

Sunday there was more running with Mandy, resulting in my legs today feeling completely useless. Mark had four more guests over Sunday evening so The House of Rock was full. And when the House of Rock is full, Fun can’t be avoided.

The first thing we made with my Cobalt Blue 5Qt 325W 67 point mixing KSM150PS Kitchen Aid Electric Stand Mixer (CB5Q325W67PMKSM150PSKASM for short) was some corn bread.

It was quick and easy and required no rising. Basically, it was just cornmeal, flour, sugar, milk, oil, and egg. Perfectly blended in the CB5Q325W67PMKSM150PSKAESM.

While I’m at it, I should mention that we also made shepherds pie the other day out of a 30min Rachel Ray cookbook. The mashed potato topping led us to bumping up my new appliance to level 10. LEVEL 10. It crushed, mashed, and whipped those potatos like you’d never believe. Someone took a photo of the crust, but I don’t quite remember who. I’ll try to get my hands on it tonight.

mike d’s rockclimbing ratings:
CornBread
Deliciousness: 5.7+
Difficulty: 5.5. JonAbad and I don’t even remember making it. The Kitchen Aid did all the work.

Shepherds Pie
Deliciousness: 5.9- and filling too!
Difficulty: 5.9-