Asberry.org

Author: aron

  • Welcome to 2023

    It’s been a while since I blogged and there’s been a lot happening.

    Now that the holiday’s are behind us I’ll hopefully get into more of a schedule when it comes to putting down my thoughts and memories. Mom is fine, getting better day by day. We went camping and managed to head to NYE at the Park’s while getting our picture taken in front of the tree in Sundance Square after having dinner at Razoo’s and after visiting Mom, Ron, sis and Zak.

    I’m mildly optimistic that this will be a good year, actually I’m excited about the future, with a degree in my pocket, I’ve got a good run ahead of me. We’ve got some good things ahead of us.

  • Hospital Time

    So I got the news yesterday that mom fell. Grrr, I now know the frustration every parent has felt at some point when the kid does something stupid and the parent is like ‘what the fuck were you thinking, why did you do that’, it’s just now I’m saying it to my mom. Oh well, god knows I’ve put her through it enough times. This time she broke her shoulder and wrist, on opposite sides, she just has to be an over achiever.

    So I’ve been here for two hours and she’s still not able to see people. I mean I’m here for her but it’s somewhat pointless if you can’t see them. I’d say I’m giving sister a break but Ron was here for that. I guess I’m just annoyed that I’m stuck here watching stuff in the lobby by myself.

  • Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Dip

    I need a little push in the right direction when it comes to eating right, so I found this recipe and have had no issue getting my apple a day in. Yes, this isn’t the healthiest thing but because you’re eating it with fruit, I’m calling it a push.

    • 2 packages (8oz) Philadelphia Cream Cheese brought to room temperature.
    • 7 tablespoons of brown sugar, I prefer lighter.
    • 3 tablespoons of maple syrup, use the real stuff if at all possible.
    • 2/3 tablespoons (2 teaspoons) vanilla extract.
    • 1 tablespoon butter at room temperature.

    Put everything together in your stand mixer and mix thoroughly with the whisk, then put the spurs to it and whip it, whip it real good!!! We’re trying to get it aerated so that it can still be spread when it’s strait out of the fridge. This stuff is great with apple slices and is heaven on bagels or English muffins or put a spoonful in your oatmeal. I’ll admit it, I’ve eaten it strait more often than I’d like to admit.

  • 11 Herbs & Spices

    So this is supposed to be the ‘original’ recipe:

    11 spices — Mix with 2 cups white fl 1) 2/3 Ts salt 2) 1/2 Ts thyme 3) 1/2 Ts basil 4) 1/3 Ts oregano 5) 1 Ts celery salt 6) 1 Ts black pepper 7) 1 Ts dried mustard 8) 4 Ts paprika 9) 2 Ts garlic salt 10) 1 Ts ground ginger 11) 3 Ts white pepper

    I will give it a shot and post back to how it comes out.

  • Tech Sliding Downhill

    So the best cell phone I ever owned with the Note 3. What made this phone stand out? For starters, it had an accessible and replaceable battery, so you could have two batteries and swap them out, days worth of power without a charger, it was sweet. It also had an IR port, and a growing pool of apps that let you replace every remote in the house with the phone you were carrying around anyways. Lastly it had a micro SD card for ample storage, this is the latest convenience that they have killed off. My S20 Galaxy could handle a micro SD card up to a terabyte of data, that’s every song I own, my top 25 favorite movies and enough books on tape to last me a jog from sea to shining sea and still only take up 512GB. My new S22 Galaxy Ultra doesn’t have this, only 256 GB and I have to select what I want and make sure it doesn’t overload it. One step forward and two steps back…

  • Horizon – Forbidden West Completed

    It’s always sad when you complete/finish a video game you’ve been really into. I bought a PS5 with Horizon – Forbidden West when I still had about 4 to 6 months left of school and that was going to be my graduation gift to myself. Horizon – Zero Dawn was the first game I played (and loved) on the PS4 so it was fitting Horizon – Forbidden West would be my first PS5 game. Happy to say it didn’t disappoint but still when it ends, it’s like finishing a great book, you’re sad to see it stop/end/finish. Excellent game. Now it’ll be time to find the next one. I started the new spider man but it starts off trying to catch Rino and I keep losing him so it’s not much fun to start with, sure it’ll probably get better but I’m trying to decide if I want to commit that much time to another game. Maybe time to take a break and do other things:)

  • New Phone & Laptop Battery

    Notice that a watch isn’t mentioned because they still don’t know when I’m going to get it. I ordered it from Samsung, you think the manufacturer would know how many they have and how long it would take to get to you but noooo, they can’t seem to figure that one out so I just have the new phone. Loving the stylus though.

    The compromise of getting a new phone and watch was that I keep the old laptop another year, it was built in 2018 but aside from the battery it’s doing everything I need it to do, so I just bought a new battery for it and put it in (16 screws btw). So with that in place this laptop should last me another couple of years, gotta love the Dell’s.

    Review of the phone to come shortly and the watch if it ever gets here.

  • Updated Tech – Happy Holidays to Me!!!

    The older I get the less I need to keep up with the latest and greatest. This does however lead to a confluence where I sometimes get my tech upgraded all at once. This is happening with my phone and watch within the next week.

    My watch was bought in September 2020 when we went up to Colorado and even then the Galaxy Watch was a generation behind. It’s getting upgraded to a Galaxy Watch 5 Pro so the sensors and everything should be much better than I’m used to.

    My phone is about a year and a half old? I think… It was old also when I bought it (Galaxy S20 5G) but it was through Fi and I was hoping that the dual-band would help with the signal when there wasn’t much to be had (aka David Masons) but that didn’t turn out to be the case. In any case at the time the note was dead and I talked myself into going cheaper with a good camera. Now I get to upgrade to the Galaxy 22 Ultra which gives me my stylus back and a better camera.

    These two hardware updates are setting me back around $700 I believe when it’s all said and done. One of the things I insist on doing is trading in my old hardware instead of letting it sit around collecting dust. I’ll own everything outright and can switch providers whenever the fancy strikes me. Won’t have to upgrade that tech until the truck is paid off.

  • Aldi – Flub – Risotto

    Yesterday we introduced you to the find manicotti, today we’re sad to announce that the same Priano brand that we raved about has some pretty bad risotto. Well to be fair I’m not sure I’m a fan of risotto because I don’t know that I’ve ever had the real thing but this wasn’t worth trying or buying. We tried the garlic (the mushroom is pictured) but considering how bad the garlic was the mushroom didn’t make it to the pot. Save your money and skip the risotto.

  • Aldi – Finds – Manicotti

    Today starts a new type of blog, food > reviews that I’m going to use to review foods found in stores. Like Aldi, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, etc..
    The finds will be ones worth trying (or buying) again, opposed to flubs which are better left on the shelf.

    Priano is the name brand for Aldi Italian fare. Some of it is really good, I’m a big fan of the manicotti, it’s in the freezer section and you get 6 to a pack. The directions are pour spaghetti sauce on the bottom, put these in and sauce on the top. I need meat so meatballs are a great addition or if you have leftover spaghetti sauce (our version) that works great too! Its in the oven for 40-45 minutes but super simple and tasty.