12.7
09

Flying Dutchman Ghostly Gangplank – Mall of America

by Terry Pearson ·

Yesterday was a lot of fun. Jessica and Tracey went up on the Flying Dutchman Ghostly Gangplank at the Mall of America.

IMG_8253

While they were climbing the ropes course, Abigail, my dad, and I hung out in Nickelodeon Universe below.

IMG_8252

This is by far the best deal at the Mall of America. For $5.95, you get as much time as you want to spend in the Ghostly Gangplank. During that time, you can traverse the different levels, challenge yourself to a tightrope walk, and get a pretty good workout in the process.

IMG_8255

Jessica and Tracey got lucky. While I waited in line for almost an hour, they were in the Flying Dutchman almost immediately.

But the main reason we went to the Mall, was just to hang out with family. We had a lot of fun!

IMG_8301

The Mall of America always looks so festive over Christmas!

IMG_8298

Here is Abigail and Grandpa (Mike Pearson)!

IMG_8148

Abigail really enjoyed the Rainforest Cafe Store and the Toys R Us Express.

IMG_8155

This Tree is as old as the Mall of America. It used to be in FAO Schwarz, but was transferred to the Rainforest Cafe after FAO closed their Mall of America location. My sister, Tracey, loved this tree because they both share a common name.

IMG_8156

And here are some more pictures of our Mall of America Adventure…

Link to This
SubscribeBlinklistBlogmarksDiggdel.icio.usFacebookFurlRedditStumbleUponTechnorati
1 Comment »Filed under: Family · Holidays · Personal · entertainment |
12.1
09

Google Wave Invites

by Terry Pearson ·

As of posting this, I have 17 Google wave invites that I do not know what to do with. If you would like to receive one, Mention this blog in your own blog, directly linking to any post besides this one. Then comment on this post. First 17 get an invite.

Good luck!
SIN Wave

Link to This
SubscribeBlinklistBlogmarksDiggdel.icio.usFacebookFurlRedditStumbleUponTechnorati
1 Comment »Filed under: Miscellaneous | Tags: ,
11.15
09

First time making flour tortillas

by Terry Pearson ·

For a long time, I’ve wanted to make homemade tortillas. At least a few obstacles stood in my way.

First of all, time was an issue. I usually don’t have time to spend much of my day learning a new recipe and everything. On the weekends, we are almost always out doing something and usually not at home. Secondly, I did not have a recipe, but my wife found a great tortilla recipe on a blog she reads. Finally, I just never had the motivation on the right day to do it. Fortunately, my wife provided this by setting aside some time today to try the recipe.

Tortillas are so easy to make, I don’t know why I had not tried it before. Even more important, the fresh tortillas are amazingly tasty!

Here is the recipe:

Flour Tortillas

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. softened butter
1/2 cup warm water

  1. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and butter in a medium bowl.
  2. Gradually add water until smooth dough is formed (If sticky, add more flour).
  3. Roll dough into 1 1/2″ balls and let them rest for ten minutes.
  4. Flatten one ball at a time between two plates, then roll into six inch circles. Get these as flat as possible if you want normal tortillas, otherwise you’ll have “gorditas” instead. You can use a rolling pin, but for best results, get a tortilla press.
  5. Place the tortillas on a griddle on medium heat (about 350 degrees) until they turn white (about 2 minutes). Then flip over and repeat on the other side

That’s all it takes to get some fresh tortillas. Mix up some rice, beans, meat, cheese, salsa, and anything else that you like on a burrito, and you have a great meal!

Link to This
SubscribeBlinklistBlogmarksDiggdel.icio.usFacebookFurlRedditStumbleUponTechnorati
1 Comment »Filed under: Miscellaneous |
10.30
09

Devaluing the dollar

by Terry Pearson ·

Glenn Beck posted a phenomenal video about the rapid growth of total dollars in circulation. See below:

Any time a government inflates their money supply, it lessens the worth of a single unit of money. When your grocery bill used to cost $100, it now costs $150.

While this presents a tough situation for many people, the theory is that wages will eventually rise to meet the pre-inflationary levels. Then we pay off our debt at less cost (in inflated currency) to us.

In practice, the situation is more complicated.

Once investors find that we give them back dollars that are worth half as much as the ones they loaned us, they realize that an investment in American loans is a greater risk. They call this “inflationary risk”. In order to compensate them for the greater risk, higher interest rates must be paid for every dollar borrowed.

The next in line are commodities. Traders in this area base much of their bids on the value of a currency. If Saudi Arabia is selling barrels of oil for $80 right now, but then the dollar becomes half as valuable, they will demand $160 (or more based on future projections) for that same barrel of oil.

What happens if we don’t want to pay $160? Google the term “price elasticity”. Basically, we will either reduce our standard of living, refusing to buy that high priced oil, or we will pay the higher price and neglect other items we would spend money on.

The hardest his people will be those on a fixed income. If you have to buy necessities, but those prices keep rising, you will eventually reach a point where your fixed income no longer exceeds the new expenses.

Link to This
SubscribeBlinklistBlogmarksDiggdel.icio.usFacebookFurlRedditStumbleUponTechnorati
No Comments »Filed under: Politics |
« Older Entries