doug – Page 79 – Doug's Project 365

Rockwell Moment

Norman Rockwell, that is, not that 80s music guy.

My laptop’s screen is not supposed to look like this. I can make the vertical stripes on the left go away by squeezing the screen just right, but this is not an ergonomic solution. It’s had this defect once before, and the solution was a replacement LCD panel. This time it’s not an economical repair since this is now a 5-year-old laptop. So I took advantage of Black Friday and ordered myself a new laptop today. The old one will become the Parkercat server.

Turkey, deconstructed

This year I am trying something different with our Thanksgiving turkey. At 23 lbs it’s far too big to fit into the oven if spatchcocked (butterflied) — which was my original plan — so instead I have partially disassembled the bird. I’ll cook the leg quarters (partially deboned) and wings sous-vide to give them a head start, and add them to the roasting pan with the breast when it’s time to crisp the skin. The plan is that this will result in tenderer dark meat and moister white meat, and also be far easier to carve.

Family

My nephew Daniel brought his girlfriend Jennifer to meet the Boston-area Larricks this weekend.

Bird of Plenty

I picked up our Thanksgiving turkey today. I ordered a “large” this year because as far as I am concerned there is no such thing as too much leftovers. With 10 people expected, a 23-pounder should be plenty.

What hump?

The state is installing a raised crosswalk / speed hump in the road in front of my building at work. It’s the height of a normal curb, but from the 7th floor it doesn’t look like much.

Spoiler alert

Jeff and Claire got hitched!

View

Those of you who have been following my 365 since the beginning will recall that, early on, I posted a bunch of photos of this view from our big conference room on the 7th floor in Quincy Center. I have become pretty much used to it, though on some days (like today, a bright clear morning with fall colors just starting to come in) it still catches me. I have to enjoy it while I can, though: my office is now officially moving to downtown Boston late next spring. Our office will be only on the 2nd floor so our views will be of busy streetscape rather than panoramic Boston Harbor and skyscrapers.