June 21, 2007 by Hawk.

We got our replacement order from Omaha Steaks today and the cooler it came in had a large chunk of dry ice left in it. Pretty impressive, 4 days on a Omaha Steaks truck and more than 12 hours sitting in a sweltering hot UPS truck, everything arrives frozen solid. Had to have a little fun with the dry ice. The results can be seen below:

Click here for larger version.

Click here for larger version.

Click here for larger version.

Videos! Whee! Hosted at YouTube:
Fun With CO2 Video #1

Fun With CO2 Video #2

Enjoy!

Hawk

Posted in Rant and Rave | 1 Comment »

June 21, 2007 by Hawk.

‘Bout a month ago or so we got a mailing from Omaha Steaks with a pretty good offer for one of their ’sample’ packages. It worked out to around $7.50 per meal for the entree which wasn’t bad so we gave it a shot. Below are my/our feelings on the products:

Burgers, 4Oz. - Not bad. A bit chewy. I think the majority of the problem here is we normally buy fresh beef, make our own burgers and cook them the day we buy the meat while the Omaha Steak burgers were, of course, frozen which does reduce the flavor some. Still, quite edible but not worth buying over the ‘net.

Boneless pork chops, 4Oz. - Again, chewy, I think this is a theme with frozen meat products. You’ll see it again I’m sure. These were good though. We grilled them with a bit of this and that spice rubbed onto them. Good excuse to buy applesauce!

“Gourmet” franks, 3Oz. - Yep, again, kinda chewy. In the last minutes of cooking the skin seemed to crinkle up and pull away from the meat. The skin itself was kinda tough and they were grilled low and slow on the ‘evil gas grill of doom’. Good, not bad flavor but for the price we’re going back to Ball Park. I’m not sure what makes these ‘gourmet’, they’re just larger than normal hot dogs.

Chicken breasts, 4Oz. - Good and actually pretty tender. A little smaller than those we buy from Winn-Dixie. Once again, price is the factor. We’ll be going back to the store brand.

Top sirloin, 5Oz. - These are good. From a company called Omaha STEAKS they pretty much had better be. Cooked to medium/medium rare with just salt and pepper. Good flavor, tender, quite tasty.

Stuffed baked potato, 5.75Oz. - These were great! Soft, silky, flavorful. Super easy to cook (stick in over, wait, remove from oven, eat). Even the skins which I feared would be tough were fine.

Stuffed sole, 4.5Oz. - Not our cup of tea. We’ll be giving these to friends who are sea food fans the next time I see them.

Along with our order came a ‘premium’ cutlery set and cutting board. These, sadly, were pure junk. A child of two could bend the chef’s knife double with little to no effort. Poorly ground with cheap plastic handles we threw them away without using them. The cutting board was also garbage, no thicker than two or three credit cards stacked up. We used it once to cut the chicken on and also tossed it in the trash. I expected better from a company that sells ‘premium’ meat products. Very disappointed.

I can’t close this without mentioning their customer service people. They’re top notch. One of the two-packs of pork chops had a chop that was improperly sealed and while it was probably perfectly safe to eat I’ve suffered from food poisoning in the past and wasn’t about to take the chance. Less than 12 hours after emailing them I had an order confirmation for a free replacement of all four chops. These arrived in four days.

Hawk

Posted in Rant and Rave | 1 Comment »

June 21, 2007 by Hawk.

We for the most part take our military for granted. During peace times we under fund and disparage them. In war we often revile them for their actions. We listen to celebrities who pretend they know what they’re talking about when it comes to military action. We rarely pay attention to the acts of individual soldiers who, above and beyond the call of duty, risk their lives not for us, not for the government but because it’s their job.

I invite you now to spend a little time reading about what it means to be a hero…

Medal of Honor Citations

Since it’s creation during the Civil War only 3.440 Medals of Honor have been awarded. There have been NINETEEN double recipients of the Medal of Honor.

An excerpt as an example. An already wounded soldier:
ATKINS, THOMAS E.
…for 4 hours, Pfc. Atkins determinedly remained in his fox hole, bearing the brunt of each assault and maintaining steady and accurate fire until each charge was repulsed. At 7 a.m., 13 enemy dead lay in front of his position; he had fired 400 rounds, all he and his 2 dead companions possessed, and had used 3 rifles until each had jammed too badly for further operation. He withdrew during a lull to secure a rifle and more ammunition, and was persuaded to remain for medical treatment. While waiting, he saw a Japanese within the perimeter and, seizing a nearby rifle, killed him. A few minutes later, while lying on a litter, he discovered an enemy group moving up behind the platoon’s lines. Despite his severe wound, he sat up, delivered heavy rifle fire against the group and forced them to withdraw.

Hawk

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June 21, 2007 by Hawk.

245+ hours into Final Fantasy XII and it’s done, over, finished. I must say I was a little disappointed in the last battles. I could have just walked away from the controller and let the gambits run the fight. Yet, all in all I couldn’t be happier. It was an amazing game. Beautifully designed, well laid out. I got my money’s worth out of it, that’s for sure! I’m just a little sad that it’s finally ended. I waited over a week to fight the final fights just because I didn’t want it to be over and now, {sniff} it is.

Hawk (Moving on to the next RPG)

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