The Peripatetic Programmer

July 13, 2013 ~ petefordwriter ~ Leave a comment

A busy few days, one way and another, hence the shortage of blog posts.

At work, I am still The Peripatetic Programmer—moving stealthily from project to project, leaving behind no trace but a trail of fixed problems. Possibly, the other developers catch sight of me as I melt into the shadows, then they say, “Who was that masked man?”

Or not. It’s Friday, it’s been busy week, and I have to say I might be a little punchy.

On the writing/editing front, I sent back line edits for Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia, Chapter 1, a couple of days ago, and I just sent what I hope will be the last copy edits for Chapter 6 about half an hour ago. Which means, at this moment, it’s all in the hands of my editors; my line editor has Chapters 1-5 and 8, and my copy editor has the rest. I could get markups back at any time, of course, but it does leave me with some time to work on the as-yet-untitled fantasy short story I’m planning to enter in Xchyler’s next anthology contest. So that’s probably how I’ll be spending this weekend.

Right now though, time for a relaxing evening. A blog post, perhaps a little blog maintenance. We’re planning a quick trip out to the local bookstore in a little while. Later, crack a can of beer and watch an episode or three of Person Of Interest. Nice.

Have a great weekend, gentle reader. Until next time . . .

Pete & Kate’s Chicken And Rice

June 19, 2013June 19, 2013 ~ petefordwriter ~ Leave a comment

This is a simple recipe that we do fairly frequently; it uses packet rice and a ready-cooked chicken from the store to save time. It takes about an hour and a quarter, costs less than $10, and serves four, maybe more.

You will need:

One ready-done seasoned roasted chicken (we get ours from Sam’s Club—we find they have the best seasonings).
2 regular size (7.2oz) packs of Rice-A-Roni Rice Pilaf. (This rice is especially good with fish and chicken.)
4 cups cold water.
4 tablespoons butter.
A large, deep skillet with a lid. (We use a fairly heavy hard-anodised non-stick job.)

SANYO DIGITAL CAMERA — You will need . . . (just the stuff on the front. You don’t need a coffee machine for this.)

First, do the rice:

Melt the butter in the skillet on medium-high heat, then dump in both packs of rice. Keep it turning until it browns. You’ll hear snapping noises when it’s getting close to done.
Carefully (because of scalding steam) add the water a little at a time, stirring continuously.
Turn up to high heat. Add the contents of the seasoning packets, stir in.
When the mix starts boiling, turn the heat all the way down (you’re aiming for a really gentle simmer), and put the lid on. Set your timer for about an hour.

While the rice is going, deal with the chicken:

There may be broth in the bottom of the container the chicken comes in; if so, drain it into something and put it to one side.
Get the skin off; keep the crispy bits with the seasonings (the parts from the top of the breast and legs, probably) and put them to one side.
Separate all the meat, discard the bones and fatty parts.
Cut the meat into bite-sized chunks, about ¾”.
Scrape any fatty junk off the seasoned skin, and chop the skin finely (it’s the seasonings you’re after here, so an alternative is to scrape those off the skin. Whichever’s easiest, and you don’t need much).

It usually takes me about 30-40 minutes to prepare the chicken, so there’s time for a tea break while I’m waiting for the rice. When the rice has had its hour, it’s time to put it all together:

If you had some broth from the chicken, add that to the rice.
Add the chopped skin/seasonings, stir well.
Add the chicken, stir it all in. Put the lid back on and let it stay on a low heat for maybe ten or fifteen minutes, stirring it around once or twice. This is just to get the chicken nice and hot; you might want to turn the heat up just a little, but not so high that it burns.

You’re done! Serve with nice bread (garlic bread, maybe, or seasoned bread sticks).

Reporting In

June 17, 2013 ~ petefordwriter ~ Leave a comment

Late for work this morning—or, since I work flexible hours, I should say that I was later than usual by about two hours because of an errand I had to run first. The moment I walked in, I was dragged into a meeting to decide which, of the two projects with critical problems, I was to be spending my time on. So that was decided, and I got right into it. And I pounded at that most of the day, until a bad headache came along. At that point I decided to pack it in and start fresh tomorrow. So, late start, early finish. I’ll have to make the hours up, but that’s not a problem.

Thanks to the yard work over the weekend, I didn’t get much editing done—a couple of hours on Saturday morning was all I managed to fit in. So the plan for tonight is, grab dinner (something quick and easy from one of the nearby fast-food joints will do), watch a bit of telly while eating (I’m watching Fringe season 4 on DVD), then get busy with some editing for an hour or two.

It Is Done

June 16, 2013 ~ petefordwriter ~ Leave a comment

I finished the yard work about an hour ago, which is good news on several fronts.

First and foremost, it’s done, and I don’t have to worry about it for a good while. Well, almost—there are a couple of weeds jammed between the deck and the fence, not easy to get to, but my back won’t stand for any more nonsense today; I’ll deal with those during the week.

Second, this will be the last time I blog on the subject of yard word, which is good, right? In fact, even though those weeds will just grow back, and I’ll have to do this all again in a few weeks, I promise not to blog about it.

I did promise Before and After pics, though, and here they are:

So that’s where our BBQ grill was, all this time.

The growth in that first shot came up incredibly fast—no more than three weeks, I think. Some of those big, stinging weeds (like the one just left of centre) grew four feet in that time.

In the hour since I finished, I’ve cleaned up, had a coffee and a couple of well-earned sausage biscuits as a late breakfast. Time for a break, then on with some editing.

Until next time . . .

They Don’t Feel Pity…

June 16, 2013June 16, 2013 ~ petefordwriter ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been back on the yard work, starting early while it’s cool. And wet. Yes, it rained last night (first time in weeks), so everything’s sodden, including me. I’m taking a breather break for a slurp of tea and to rest my back and hip (they’re giving me gyp already).

Still, I’m about a third done. I’d have got further if not for the weed in the picture (this weed is #6 in a series of . . . well, a lot; I’m collecting the set, it seems).

Heavy, fleshy green stuff on a fibrous endoskeleton that needs a machete to chop through. It can’t be reasoned with. It can’t be bargained with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or anger. It is the T-101 of weeds.

I’d better get back to it. Phased plasma rifle at the ready. Well, if I had one. Just what you see, pal.

More later, including before-and-after pics.

Yard Work: Fun With Filth

June 15, 2013 ~ petefordwriter ~ Leave a comment

Following on from the previous . . .

I marked off the area from the side gate to the back corner of the house as my target for today, which is about half the weedy area of the yard. Perfectly chosen, as it worked out: my back started to give out just as I was down to the last handful of weeds.

Weeds ripped out: several hundred, possibly into the low four digits.
Rattlesnakes encountered: zero.
Japanese soldiers encountered: zero.
Back-break factor: 50%, give or take.
Sweat: I feel like I’m a quart low. Is it beer o’clock yet?
Soil: gathered about half a pound. Could be worse.
Spiderwebs: two or three. Gross-out factor 90%. (I don’t like spiders, and I hate getting webs on me.)

I need tea, a shower then food. I might get back to editing after that (I left off at a bit more than halfway through Chapter 7, so I’m not doing too bad), or I might kick back and watch some telly. Tomorrow, the other half of the weeding.

Yard work. How I Just Loooove Yard Work.

June 15, 2013June 15, 2013 ~ petefordwriter ~ 1 Comment

You can probably tell, from the way I wrote that title, that I’m not really a fan of yard work. To my wife, gardening is a fun thing to do. To me, it’s a chore involving breaking your back while getting covered in sweat, soil and spiderwebs. As far as I’m concerned, the perfect garden is made of concrete.

But needs must, I suppose. Thanks to a couple of showers a couple of weeks ago, and heat and sunshine since, the yard at the side of the house is a mess. I mean, if you could hold it up, side-by-side, with a chunk of the Amazon rain forest, you’d have a job telling them apart. I’m putting on stout boots and gloves before I go out there. My wife thinks it’s in case there are rattlers hiding. In fact, it’s in case there are any Japanese soldiers in there, wondering if WWII is over yet.

Enough of blogging while I procrastinate. Better get to it. The sooner I get done, the sooner I can get back to the important work.

Later, friends . . .

Carrying On From Where I Left Off

June 14, 2013June 14, 2013 ~ petefordwriter ~ Leave a comment

Regular readers of my old blog (Sid and Doris Bonkers of Penge) will know that I’ve discontinued that old blog, and I’m now firing things up here on WordPress. I’m not deleting the old blog (among other things, I sometimes refer back to it for various reasons).

Before I get into things properly, a quick tour. Be aware that this site is still in flux, a bit, and I’ll probably be rearranging things, and maybe adding another page or two later. For now, though, there are just the four pages to explore. This page, of course, is the main page and the blog. There’s an About page, with a bit about yours truly, and a Social page, where you can find links to my Twitter and Facebook profiles, etc. Last is the WiP page, where you can see current status on present and future writing projects. Explore away.

Without further ado, then, an update on what’s been going on in general:

Writing

Right now I’m working on edits for Mr. Gunn & Dr. Bohemia. A bit less than half of the ‘script has passed through the copy-editing phase, and is now up for line editing. The rest is in my to-do queue. I finished one chapter the other day, but I haven’t sent it to my copy editor yet—there’s one little part that’s bugging me, by refusing to look quite right no matter what I do. I’ve moved on to the next chapter, and I’ll get back to that one shortly with a fresh eye. The trouble right now is that I’m so loaded up at the day job, that I’m not getting much writing time, and when I do I’m too tired to think straight. Things on that front might have to wait until the weekend.

The Day Job

I’m working on three, count ’em, three projects, under two different technical managers. And two of those projects—each having a different manager—have “critical” work that needs to be done. So I’ve had to put the tech managers together, and let them sort out which work has the higher priority. In the meantime, I don’t even get to stop for lunch breaks.

Home Stuff

Front and back yards have exploded with weeds, thanks to the summer arriving. I’ve cleaned up the front, but the back is a disaster area. And we’ve had a heatwave this week, which has meant that it’s been too hot to work outside even in the evenings. The forecast says things should cool down a bit soon, so maybe I can go a-weeding tomorrow evening. Regardless, though, I’m probably going to be out there Saturday and maybe Sunday clearing up the mess. Hopefully I’ll get some time to get a good chunk of writing/editing done. We’ll see.

That’ll do for now. It’s Thursday, 6pm and high time I organised some dinner, and then it’s time to relax with a bit of telly.

Until next time…