Another nightmare

I have had this recurring nightmare for some time now...

I am looking in the mirror and I notice the bottom row of my teeth are really crooked.  After having braces for so many years, I am shocked to see how crooked my teeth have become.

As I look in the mirror, I start to lick the back of my teeth to feel how crooked they are.  Moving from the back teeth to the front, I can feel that one of my front teeth is quite loose.  The pressure from my crooked teeth were impacting one another causing serious problems.

I stick my fingers in my mouth and wiggle to tooth a bit and it just falls right out.  I start to panic and check my teeth again.  More teeth are loose and they start falling out one by one.  I end up pulling most of my teeth before waking up.

This dream is actually very common.  A simple Google search will say that these dreams are often linked to appearances and how others perceive you.  Teeth are also a symbol for power.  But you can read more of that on your own...

-Thundalips

Lucid Dreams with your host: Stevey Harvey

I wake up and see Kevin walking out of the room.  Still groggy, I do not bother to ask where he is off to.  I sit up in bed and look over to the other bed and see a person sleeping.  I look around my room and everything is where it should be.  It feels like every other weekday except that Chad is in my brother's bed.  My mouth starts to feel gummy and I lick the front of my teeth.  What?!  Braces?!  Again?!  I must be dreaming!  At the point Chad is sitting up in my brother's bed as well.  I look at him and our conversation went something like this:

Alex: Dude... I think I'm dreaming
Chad: Why do you think that?
Alex: I have braces...
Chad: Holy shit.  I think you are dreaming.  You haven't had braces in years!
Alex: I know!  I better wake up soon.

Then the dream ended.  I wake up in my room and look around as I did in my dream.  Like before, it felt like any other weekday.  It was still relatively dark out and my room was just as messy as I remembered leaving it.  Enter: Steve Harvey. 

Alex: Steve Harvey?!  What are you doing here?!
Steve: You're dreaming again!
Alex: Again?!
Steve: Here's what you do if you want to figure out if you're dreaming. Next time look at the fan over there (points to a fan), and if you can watch it... Uhh... Move... Like when it turns (makes hand motion of a fan turning)...
Alex: Oscillating?
Steve: Yeah!  Oscillate.  If you see it oscillate, just stare at it and if you can watch it for more than a minute then you're not dreaming!

Then I really woke up and my mom yelled at me to get ready.  That really happened...

-Thundalips

Que?

Love this song... It is a damn shame what those people did to him...  The girl in the video is not all that pretty but I love every outfit she is wearing.

So much for sleeping early...

-Thundasleepy...

Shut up

Mind your own business.  If I want your advice, I will ask for it.  So shut up and keep it to yourself.  You do not know me, and you are definitely not entitled to tell me how to live my life.  You can live your own crappy life and leave everyone else out of it.

-Thundalips

Smoke out

Fair warning.  If you do not care about smoking meats, just ignore this post.  That is all that I am going to be talking about here.

It's 7:52AM on a Sunday, and I am awake.  Why?  There can only be one reason...

BBQ!  Well... I am actually just smoking a pork shoulder to make pulled pork sandwiches.

If someone were to ask me what my passion is, I honestly would have no real answer.  Science?  Microbiology?  People watching? Maybe...  But I would feel more inclined to say, "Barbecue." 

Through the years, I have developed a specific taste for food.  I tend to gravitate towards crunchy, smokey, often burnt, foods.  Throw bacon in the mix and I am sold.  I guess I take after my father who eats the same way.  I often find myself fighting with him at the dinner table for the same pieces of meat.  Because he never actually barbecued (or cooked in general...), I had to learn everything on my own (although I would happily accept an apprenticeship with Mr. Huang). 

Smoking is not as easy as it sounds.  I always thought it was a set-it-and-forget-it type of deal.  Apparently not...  The biggest thing about smoking is temperature control.  With a gas smoker, one would think this would be easily done since the gas flow remains constant through the cooking process.  However, this is not so.

The temperature of the smoker not only depends on the gas flow setting (high, medium, low), but it also is affected by the damper openings, wind factor, and most importantly, the wood.  The wood that is used when smoking could drastically change the internal temperature of the smoker if they should flare up.  My smoker went from a cool 180°F to 310°F during a flare up.  After that passed, it went back down to 150°F.  Not exactly a walk in the park trying to keep a constant temperature of 200-250°.  That is a wide range but the temperature can be unpredictable. 

To monitor the temperature, I have three thermometers set up - one of them being a dual sensor thermometer.  The door thermometer seems to be highly inaccurate so I placed a second inside.  Neither of these are digital...  I wanted a more accurate reading of the temperature so I bought the Maverick ET-85.  This will measure the internal temperature of the meat as well as the external temperature (oven temperature).

It's now 8:36 AM and the meat has been smoking for about 10 minutes.  However, time is not the deciding factor on when the pulled pork is ready.  It is the internal temperature.  Once the pork is 170°F, it is ready to be taken out.  Then, I get to use these!

They are called bear paws.  The box says they can be used for pulling pork, transferring, lifting, and carving.  I only see one use for this.  Pulling pork.

6:XX PM - Lost track of time since people came over.  The pork shoulder is finally done. 

Results

I honestly think that it turned out okay.  On a scale of one through ten, I would give it a six.  It was definitely edible.  For a first attempt, I am quite satisfied.

Since it is getting late, I must end this post abruptly.

-Thundalip