That dude who broke the Jeopardy record is still going! Can you believe that? I figured he had lost a while ago. Apparently he has just set the record for game-show winnings. Freaking unbelievable!

It’s getting “cold” here in Central Texas, so we decided to make a big pot of Japanese-style curry last night. It was very oishi, with chicken, potatos, and mushrooms. Served over a generous serving of steamed rice, it’s a perfect meal. Accompany that with a cold beer, and you are in heaven! I love all kinds of curry, but I particularly like Japanese curry rice. There are many different variations of it. Of course there is the degree of spiciness, but also sweet curry (kid’s curry) too. I don’t like it too sweet, but now we make curry for Bay also, so it’s a little sweet, and we have to put chili powder on at the table.

Later this season, we will make another cold-weather favorite: oden. I love oden with mini-sausages in it. And lots of hot mustard (karashi) too. Mariko sent me a link to an oden recipe from Whole Foods, which surprised me. But it’s very cool that they are posting a recipe to a great Japanese dish!

A friend and I have been betting eachother for a few years, usually on sports, and the prize is either a lunch or movie. It seems like I have won every bet, although I must have lost one or two. Understandably, my friend has gotten a little wary of betting with me. It started out with straight bets, but when he didn’t want to bet anymore, I had to sweeten the deal and let him choose the team. That is sometimes enough to entice him to take the bet. The latest bet was about the Red Sox and Yankees. He chose the Yankees. I won a 2/3-pound burger at Fuddruckers. Our next bet involves the Lakers (me) and the Suns: who will have the better record. He almost conceded today like Kerry after he watched the Lakers win their season-opener. 🙂

I was up til 2AM watching the election coverage. And I am now seeing that Kerry is about to concede. That’s a smart move, instead of dragging the lawyers into this. The margin of victory in Ohio was just too much. But in the back of my mind, I keep imagining Cheney pulling strings and rigging the election. He’s so crooked. And another four years of a silly, embarrassing president? Woohoo. Party time! Go Team America!

Well, I got a new camera. This one is a Holga 120S, which I bought from Amazon.com/Calumet for $16.99. I also got a couple rolls of color film and b&w film. I first saw pictures taken from a Holga on TrekEarth and wondered how the photos were taken. I saw the names “Holga” and “Diana” and did an Internet search on them. I found out that they are medium format (120 film) toy cameras, made almost entirely of plastic, even the lens. They are cheap, non-precision instruments, and no two are exactly alike. The camera is not 100% light-proof, and each camera’s lens is different, so the pictures will have a truly unique look to them. I have taken a couple photos, and I have it set to take 6×6 sized images, for a total of 12 to a roll. My only problem with this camera (and rangefinders) is that I sometimes forget to take the lens cap off. Usually a few minutes after I take a photo, I wonder if I had the lens cap off, which is not a problem using an SLR. Here are a couple of good sites on the Holga and it’s brethren:

Toycamera.com
Lomographic Society International
Argonauta.com

In other camera news, I got back a roll of b&w film from the lab and it was a complete wash. The negatives were blank. I’m not sure what went wrong, or even which camera I used with that film. I just dropped off a roll of color film that I took with my Himatic-F, so we’ll see if those turn out ok. It kind of seems like the film was not being advanced. But all my cameras except one (which I am sure I didn’t use) have manual advance and rewind, so I can be pretty sure I rewound an entire roll of film. It’s a mystery…

They let longtime Dodger announcer Ross Porter go recently, and it has upset a lot of Dodger fans. Porter was not the best announcer (so many stats become overwhelming) but he was one of the true voices of the Dodgers, and could call a good game. Bill Plaschke of the L.A. Times wrote here’s another great story from the best site on the planet, Dodgerblues.com

Yesterday I went and voted. You know what? Early Voting is great! I went to the grocery store nearby with my voter registration # (I had long since lost my card) and my driver’s license and cast my ballot. I only voted on three things: the presidency, the Travis County Tax Collector, and the Light Rail initiative. But it was good to vote, and vote early!