And now, a story for you inspired by Addie’s post on the 4th of July fireworks: I was at a work-related BBQ last night and a man from the middle of Wyoming was telling us about the Independence Day celebrations where he’s from. “It’s got the highest rate of fireworks purchases per capita in the country!” he said. (I’m not sure if this was conjecture or an actual statistic.) “Everybody buys hundreds of dollars work of big fireworks — and the policemen buy twice as much because the fireworks stands give them a discount — and starting at about 11:00 in the morning, they’re blowing them off. And there’s no ‘open container law’ on the 4th, so people are wandering around in the streets with their open containers all day.”

Now, where I’m from (the nexus of MT/WY culture), cultural commentary like this would go unspoken: it would be like a fish trying to describe water. Of course you buy big fireworks. Of course you, um, imbibe all day while blowing them off. Why the big eyes while I’m telling you this?

“You’re not a Wyoming native, are you?” I queried. Nope, he’s from Oregon.

I knew it! I love my roots

And I love my wife! I thought that was so cool, I had to share it.

New Apple Friend Bar Gives Customers Someone To Talk At About Mac Products

*side note: the local microbrew I’m drinking takes on completely different and really amazingly good flavors post chile sauce taste*

Posted verbatim from here

My adjustments: 1 additional habenero- all seeds left in, 1 additional garlic clove, on one big-ass ribeye. Grilled with the sesame and olive oil rubbed on as it cooks. Grill as hot as possible to sear and eat rare.

Serves 2- (unless it’s my big-ass ribeye)

You will need:

• 4 serrano peppers
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon fish sauce
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried cilantro
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 (1 1/2 pound) flat iron steak, about 1 inch thick
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Remove the seeds from two of the serrano peppers. Add peppers, garlic, soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice and rice vinegar to a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. In another bowl combine garlic powder, dried cilantro and kosher salt. Rub mixture over steak. Allow to rest for about 20 minutes.
3. Heat sesame and olive oils in a large heavy bottom skillet over medium heat. Cook steaks 3-4 minutes per-side for medium rare. Transfer to plate. Cover and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
4. Slice and transfer to a serving platter. Spoon chili-lime sauce over the top. Serve immediately.

We got back tonight and were having some post-hot tub discussion about our dogs as we were sitting in the family room next to the fire. We have two (but watching three more of the in-law’s canines)- one lab and one Boston Terrier. Somehow the discussion got around to what kind of car they’d drive if they could drive cars. (Admit it, we all would love to see dogs drive- great movie idea).

Anyway Callie, our Boston Terrier is rather um, high-strung, obsessive, and overall rather bitchy. Wife agreed when I figured her to drive the huge diesel truck with diesel stacks out the back. You may have never seen one, it’s the Fast and the Furious in cowboy land I think (FYI, never try to race one, if you have a fast car because they typically have wicked amounts of torque and very large turbos):

(image stolen from a forum via google)

Hanging off the back would be those nasty nut-sacks and a sticker on the back window that says, “I bit these off myself” License Plate: (BITE EM).

For our other dog Migo, our lumbering, laid-back, somewhat dim-witted black lab, my wife thought he would drive an old-style beetle, while I thought he’s more of the old Dodge van type (with bubble window):

We debated and disagreed but both agree that it would be the worlds first butter-powered vehicle (he loves butter- once ate an entire stick off the counter wrapper and all). And when he wanted to stop for a snack, he’d just pull over and lick out the gas tank. License plate: LIKBTTA (like butter or lick butter, either one works).

I think my wife was going to put up her thoughts on her blog over here so check it out in a day or so.

What would YOUR dog drive?

I have to blog about this. Scott Simmons over at The Edit Blog turned me on to it in a tweet this morning, shot me an invite and now I’m rollling. It really feels like the one application that rules them all. In a nutshell, it aggregates all of my communications across the web. Far beyond that though, it operates like an email account, your Twitter account, your Facebook account etc. You can send, archive, apply lables (Gmail), view, respond, interact, etc. Here are the applications, windows, and other things this app replaces for me:

1. Tweetdeck- completely
2. Facebook- partially
3. Adium- completely
4. Gmail – sort of

All of the above of which I have open all the time and have multiple accounts with. This is fantastic. This app brings these accounts together integrated in such a way that makes my communication way better and far more cohesive. For example, I received a new Twitter follow notification in my email account…I clicked the email in Threadsy (via Gmail) and was able to actually see his Twitter information, recent Tweets etc, in the side window. I don’t have to actually click through to Twitter or open up Tweetdeck now to get his information.

Chat integration (via Meebo) is simply outstanding. I use to have Adium up all the time- now I can shut that off and leave it in a brower. I don’t have to have a gazillion tabs and windows open either. I forsee this application being a must-have keeper for me.

If you’re familiar with CoTweet, you’ll see and find a striking resemblance with it.

Not Completely God-Like

Gmail: Because of the way I set up my Gmail account as simply the front end for my various forwarded domains (I don’t actually use my Gmail address) and even thoughGmail connects via IMAP, I still have to respond to all emails in Gmail…this is a HUGE bummer. I would like to see the ability to specify which domain accounts (set up in Gmail) I can send from or simply reply to from the same account it came in on.

*NOTE: If you’re a normal Gmail user, it works perfectly*

Contacts: No access to my email or facebook addess books as a separate tab (when composing a new message from a given account, you can select your contact ala FB style depending on whether you’re sending from Twitter, FB, Gmail). I would like to a separate window which you can add and remove contacts that syncs with Gmail and Facebook.

Facebook Pages: I maintain and admin four different Facebook Pages. The Facebook Connect feature is not as stout as Tweetdeck’s in that you don’t the ability to specify pages you’re admin of. I’d love to see this feature as well as the ability to interact with the conversations and updates on those pages.

LinkedIn: I almost didn’t mention this because it’s not that huge of an issue. I don’t spend much time on LinkedIn, but I’d love to see this add-on for messaging and contacts, and perhaps a connect ability; you select a contact on Twitter, or email or whatever and see a link to their LinkedIn account to which you can connect or messagge- a good work around is to continue forwarding updates to your email and just using their site as before.

A Ring I’m Wearing

There are total work-arounds to the Facebook Pages and LinkedIn options- just link your status on your FB pages to your Twitter accounts and viola- you don’t have to update those. Contacts…an issue, but not a big one, just keep adding contacts as usual (I add very little). As far as Gmail goes, don’t open it until you have too, or plan an hour or so a couple times a day to respond to emails- work management, but Threadsy will tell you when you have ‘em.

Regardless of the downfalls (and I’m going to pester them to no end on the email/Gmail issue), this is one app I’m keeping. it’s just so freakin’ handy. I’ll still have to keep Gmail open, but there’s absolutely no reason why I need to log in to Facebook, or my chat or Tweetdeck ever again (except the above mentioned Facebook Pages issue).

Check ‘em out when you get a chance. I have 9 invites left so let me know if you want one.

Watch the video on Oprah