My wife’s favorite pizza is the Papa Murphy’s Steak and Gorgonzola pizza, but it’s only a limited time item maybe once a year.  It didn’t come back this year for her birthday, but I wanted her to have it for her birthday.  I checked to see if there was a copycat recipe online, but none looked like the right one.  One hit I found in my search was a review of said pizza, and the reviewer broke down every ingredient he tasted.  Using that as my template, I decided to give it a go.  My first attempt was consumed by the family within 20 minutes, so I’d say I hit it pretty close.  For those wondering, here’s how I did it.

Russ’ Not Quite Papa Murphy’s Steak and Gorgonzola Pizza

One Papa Murphys De-Lite crust (they sell these for two bucks if you ask nice)

1/2 pound of thinly cut steak (HyVee cuts and wraps free)

One 4 oz. container of crumbled gorgonzola cheese

One 8 oz. package of shredded “pizza” cheese (or just mozzarella)

One package of Popeye Spinach (you’ll only need about 2 oz. of it, so if you can just get a little do that)

One jar of Newman’s Own Roasted Garlic Alfredo sauce (any roasted garlic alfredo sauce will do)

Before getting the crust (I did this the night before), fry the steak strips and set aside.

Then, unwrap the crust.  Spoon and spread sauce across the crust, using roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of the jar.  Sprinkle roughly half the package of shredded pizza cheese on top of the sauce, making sure it is spread evenly.

Now that we have the base, distribute the cooked steak strips all over the pizza.

Wash the spinach and then pull the leafy parts apart into small pieces.  Lay them near (but not on) the steak strips.

Then, finish with the crumbled gorgonzola cheese all over the pizza.  Depending on your taste for gorgonzola, you can alter the amount you use.  I used about 2/3 of a 4 oz. container, and that was a bit much for Kate (but just right for me).

Bake for approximately 14 minutes at 425 degrees and enjoy.

1.  Expand by two teams.
For the sake of this argument, we’ll say the Portland Beavers (Portland has been mentioned as a future expansion destination) and the Montreal Expos 2.0 (baseball worked there when they had competent owners and front office people, and baseball wasn’t trying to drive them into the ground).  The Expos go into the National League, and the Beavers to the American League.

2.  Milwaukee moves back to the AL.
Sorry to move you back Brewers fans, but the team has a lot more time in the AL than the NL.  While you’ll lose some time against the Cubs, you’ll re-ignite your rivalry in Minnesota.

3.  New divisions
A.L. North
Minnesota
Milwaukee
Detroit
Chicago White Sox
A.L. East
New York Yankees
Boston
Baltimore
Toronto
A.L. South
Tampa Bay
Texas
Cleveland
Kansas City
A.L. West
Seattle
Portland
Oakland
Los Angeles of Anaheim

N.L. North
Chicago Cubs
St. Louis
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati
N.L. East
New York Mets
Philadelphia
Montreal
Washington D.C.
N.L. South
Atlanta
Florida/Miami
Houston
Arizona
N.L. West
Colorado
San Francisco
San Diego
Los Angeles

4. Expand to two Wild Card teams
How would this work?  Well, the best WC team plays the fourth ranked division winner, and the worst WC team plays the third best division winner, with the first and second ranked division winners taking a breather, but not a long one.  The WC round is now a best of three, with the WC team getting a home game in game one, and the division winner getting home games in games two and three.  Also, if the series is tied after game two, game three is played the same day as part of a double-header.  That adds one round of playoffs without adding many days (and none if we cut down on off days), and it puts the weaker teams at a disadvantage against the stronger teams, thereby answering the call to make life a bit tougher on the wild cards (and the weaker of the division winners).  The wild card round gets spread between MLB Network, FOX, ESPN and TBS.

My optional idea is to address the potential for a division winner not having a winning record.  In the event that happens, that division is cut out of the playoffs and a third wild card is added so a more deserving team makes the playoffs.  I say that’s optional because it invites the argument about dissolving divisions all together and just having one big division and seed playoff spots after that.

I’d also advocate for a balanced schedule and limiting interleague play to a run of six weekends spread over June and July, allowing for a home/road rivalry series and a rotating division against division system.

C’mon MLB.  This will work.

Normally here [KKCK] we like to keep it light, talk about stuff and be excited.  I’m wondering if you’ll let me speak a bit from the heart today.

When I was growing up in South Dakota, I lived so far North that the border with North Dakota was only seven miles away.  My hometown didn’t have a cable provider, so over the air TV was the only option.  Since we were only seventy or so miles from Fargo, the only TV channels we could normally get were from Fargo.  However, we also had a lake cabin on Red Iron Lake, which was about twenty or so miles Southward.  We would go there at least once a week in the summer, if not more.

The lake was quiet, and there were plenty of woods, water and hills to keep me occupied outside.  However, in that lake cabin was an old black and white Motorola TV with bent rabbit ears.  That’s where I first saw Captain 11 on KELO.  I don’t remember much about seeing the show for the first time, but I knew I wanted to see it every chance I had.  There was just something about Captain 11 that was fantastic and yet local, because so many kids just like me severed as his crew every day.  From then on, every time we were at the cabin, I always made sure to get back to the cabin and warm up the old Motorola in time to hear the opening lines, which I’ll paraphrase now…

One man in each century is given the power to control time. The man chosen to receive this power was carefully selected. He was kind. He was fair. He was certainly brave. He fulfilled these requirements and more; and the Outer Galaxies designated to him the wisdom of Solomon and the strength of Atlas. He was, and forever will be, Captain 11.

Rest in peace Dave Dedrick.

I have been writing, but that writing isn’t ready for mass consumption yet.  I have been keeping to my MySpace/Fanwitch blog on a weekly basis, but my Sunday South Dakota blogs will be on break for a while yet.  I don’t want South Dakota to think I’ve stopped caring.  I’ve been sneaking peaks at goings on, and I plan to resume blogging about the fairest of states once I finish the project I’m currently working on.

Speaking of said project, the wee one is asleep.  Time to get my typing on.

I had to post a quick “sorry, computer’s broken” message on my 52 cards blog, but lately I’ve been thinking about abandoning that project.  When I came up with the idea to do a blog a week involving each card in the deck, I thought it would be easier than my daily story project Cliffhanger Theater.  It turned out to be a lot harder than I was expecting.  Cliffhanger Theater was actually a breeze compared to this, because it was just one long story.  Thinking of a new direction each week has been challenging and at times frustrating.  Some of what I’ve written there I really didn’t want to publish, because I thought it wasn’t up to my meager standards.  I do have a few multi-part stories I’d like to finish, but for the most part I’m ready to ditch 52 cards for a while.  I’d like to devote more of my free writing time to finishing the novel I started a few months ago.  I’m almost three chapters into it, but I haven’t written anything for it in almost three weeks.  That, combined with a ton of other ideas I’d like to get to sooner as opposed to later, and 52 cards is starting to look expendable at best, and a self-adorned albatross at worst. 

The reason I don’t think I can quit 52 cards?  I hate quitting things.  A good chunk of my younger days I was quite a quitter.  I’d like to think as the years have gone by, I’ve become less of a quitter.  I made it through a year of Cliffhanger Theater, which was important to me more as a big project I finished as opposed to an exercise in a practice run as a writer.  Either way, I’ll still be writing.  I just have to decide where to focus my resources and energy right now.

I hope to decide by Thursday.  Either way, I’ll try and do more with this blog on Sundays.

I enjoyed G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra.  I’ll probably go again this week.  My disclaimer on that statement involves my first figure being the first Zartan, and my first issue being about #34 of the Marvel run.  My fandom really started on a day when I found “The Revenge of Cobra” airing as one long movie on WGN.  Yes, they changed several characters…a lot.  That didn’t bother me because a live-action G.I. Joe movie is something I’ve wanted since #34, Zartan, and ”The Revenge of Cobra”. 

Early word from the producer is that the sequel, if greenlit, might have Flint.  Throw in Lady Jaye and we have a deal for a minimum three trips to the theater.

One of the popular arguments against how we do things relies on an argument that CHR radio is like McDonalds.  The argument goes that, while subtle differences might pop up, every McDonalds has a core menu and does the same thing.  Therefore, we’re doing it wrong because we have a slant that goes a bit alt-rock (maybe Rock 40 is a better format name?), and we’re doing it wrong because we spin more currents than some stations.  We also get it wrong because we tend to jump on some songs before they’re in the top 40 of the chart, and “making hits” is a right reserved for bigger stations.  On the basis of those criteria, we’d be guilty on all we’re accused of (with the exception of the Scissor Sisters…we’re continually accused of playing them even though we never have).

If they insist on running with the restaurant theme, I’ll meet them there.  Larger radio companies have strategies and consultants that give their stations a quality of sameness that is akin to a large, franchised burger joint.  Clear Channel might be your McDonalds, Cumulus might be your Burger King.  Us?  We’re consultant free, and we aren’t owned by a big time radio company.  If CHRs are audio burger joints, we’re like Marshall’s very own Mike’s Cafe.  They have some really nice burgers, but they also offer turkey commercials, a shrimp burger, and a variety of lunch items just to name a few things.  I’m not saying we’re better, but we’re just a different place with a different philosophy.

We’re also attacked for having no “direction” with our music.  For the better part of the last eight years we’ve had more of a direction than the station had before.  I’m not trying to knock KKCK’s “golden era”.  We had some great personalities, and some fun shows.  The music was a mishmash of rock, 80s, and AC-leaning CHR hits.  At one point our library had over 2,000 titles, where most CHRs have maybe a few hundred.  My predecessor came in and we trimmed the station down by almost 3/4ths.  Over the years, our gold library has grown a bit, but soon we’ll start weeding out the 90s music in chunks, leaving it to rest on our 90s noon show.  When new music is considered, the first thing checked is the current CHR chart.  After that, the alternative chart, rhythmic chart, mainstream rock chart, and urban charts are looked over for songs that are blowing up big and wouldn’t sound out of place on KKCK.  Notice I didn’t say a CHR.  KKCK has long been a station that wasn’t afraid to take a chance on a song, and that’s not something I was given this job to change.  My boss wants KKCK to be *the* new music source among our stations, and that means a more proactive than reactive approach to adding songs.  Do we occasionally add something that doesn’t pan out?  I’d be lying if I said no.  More often than not, we just end up adding a song that is a few weeks (months) from being a big crossover hit.

I’m not trying to rewrite the CHR manual with this job.  If a tight playlist and 70-80 spins a week work most places, that’s great.  What we do is what we do, and it works for us.  Our numbers are really good in our home area, and we have plenty of advertisers to pay the bills.  This leads me to the next part of the arguments involving us.  Apparently, after we get ourselves sounding like a McCHR, we should target Sioux Falls and take on their CHR.  We already reach Sioux Falls, and for a time they were a target during a four year stretch when there was no CHR station in Sioux Falls besides us.  Is Sioux Falls a tempting target?  Consider we’re a good 90 minute drive away, which means we’d probably have to hire salespeople in Sioux Falls and practically open up a branch office there.  We’re licensed as a Marshall station, and the bulk of what we do is in Marshall, for our listeners and advertisers in Marshall.  Sure, we have plenty of accounts in nearby towns, and even a few in South Dakota (mostly Brookings).  Maybe one of these days we’ll see about getting a few more Sioux Falls businesses on the air, but Marshall and the surrounding area is very good to us.  A side rant on these boards involves the Sioux Falls station sending salespeople to Marshall.  In theory, that might not be a bad idea.  Well, except that their station doesn’t come in very well at all (if at all) in Marshall, and there aren’t many people in a town over 100,000 that like to travel to a town of 12,000 because of a great sale (unless it’s a really great sale).  I think this argument probably comes from radio people in Sioux Falls who might be frustrated that our signal hits them, but their signals are cut off from us thanks to the Buffalo Ridge (our tower sits atop the ridge, hence our far reaching signal).

In the end, it’s an online argument that just isn’t worth it.  Back when this started, I’d stay late at work and type out the snarkiest comments I could to either put out a fire, or to stoke some flames.  I had the time and energy for it.  Now, I’d rather use my time and energy working on the station and my blogging, at least when I’m not spending time with my beautiful wife and super-happy-fun-time son.  Perhaps somebody I know who reads this will take the side of McCHR (and I do know one person who is quite a fan of arguing and fairly good at it) and a rational discussion can happen here.  Or, I’ll just let this one sit and call it like I called the subject line.

Unposted.

Can you believe the Blair Witch Project is ten years old this year?  I was in the camp of “scared of every noise at night for a good week” side of that argument.  I still want to know what the hell was happening in the ending.  Why was Mike just standing in the corner?

The weekend was nice.  I found a few keen G.I. Joe shirts at ShopKo of all places.  One is a nice black number that incorporates the cover of Marvel’s #22.  The only thing I’d never noticed about the cover was the Joe on the far left.  He has the arm and leg pads of Flash or Grand Slam, but the visor and torso of Short Fuse.  The issue is no help at all, as the main push of the cover/story is the funeral of General Flagg, and all the Joes are there.  I’ll just assume it’s Grand Slam, as he’s the 13th banana of the 13 original Joes.

If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to share a quick little kitchen recipe of sorts that has turned out to be a hit with the Mrs. and myself.  First off, get yourself some frozen chicken nuggets, but not ones that are pre-flavored.  You’ll also want to pick up some spaghetti or pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese if you don’t have any.  Next, follow the instructions for preparing the nuggets in the oven, and when they’re done take them out of said oven, but don’t turn the oven off.  Get a spoon and put a healthy dollop of pizza sauce (that’s what I use, but spaghetti sauce would work as well) on each nugget (I’d also recommend using parchment paper on the cookie sheet you baked the nuggets on, especially if you really healthily dollop).  Once dolloped, you put a good pinch of mozzarella cheese on each nugget.  Take the sheet of nuggets and put them back in the oven for about three or four minutes, or until the cheese is melted.  Once done, you’ll have a cookie sheet of mini chicken parmigianas.  I’m not sure why I thought to do this, but it works rather slick.

Is it possible to have a recurring villian in one’s dreams?  I’ve had the same mysterious villain twice now, in dreams about a week apart.  The only things I remember about him/her is that they have a large army, have never been defeated, and their advance is sounded by a pounding drum beat that can be heard hundreds of miles away.  I thought of a framework around a very ambitious novel that takes a lot from this, but I need to stop thinking of ideas for books and just start finishing books.  I’ve started three in my life, and I really need to finish one.

A few days ago I found some jeans by Ecko that retailed for $88 that were on clearance for about $20, and in my size.  I’ve never owned a pair of jeans that were worth that much, and many times I’ve scoffed at people who would pay that much for a pair of jeans.  In the past I’ve paid around $45 for Levi’s, but that was the extent of my jean spending.  Wrangler and whatever Target sells have been good enough for me for years.  While I’m not about to get all fashion crazy, I have to admit these might be the most comfortable jeans I’ve ever owned.  Here I thought people paid brand name prices for pants that were just pants.  I don’t know what the hell they do differently at Ecko, but I’m officially a fan.  Granted, wearing a Cobra hoodie probably negated any positive fashion impact.

I’m not going to say what inspired me to say it, but I had a reminder recently of my longstanding policy on blogging when it comes to blogging about other people.  I’ll type about me and my family and other random junk until my fingers hurt, but I have a policy about not saying anything online I wouldn’t say to someone’s face.  Sure, there are a few people I’d love to go off about, but most sleeping dogs are best left to rest.  I’m pretty sure there are a few blogs about me out there that aren’t friendly in the least, but that’s the writer’s right to write about.  There’s also a lot of jive talk about where I work on a message board, but it just isn’t worth getting into a verbal slap-fight with anonymous people who can’t even get some of the facts in the criticism right. 

I’ll keep my head up if you all will.  After all, the G.I. Joe movie is out in less than a month.

Some think it’s neat.  Others think it’s a waste of money.

Some days I feel like quitting cold turkey.  Other days I want to sell plasma to feed the habit.

I’m talkin’ about collecting G.I. Joe figures.  Those of you looking for a blog version of “Intervention” should use the WordPress search feature now.

If you’re still reading…I should write more, huh?

Today I spent a few hours in a room in the basement called “the G.I. Joe room”.  Granted, it isn’t just G.I. Joes in the room.  It also holds a good chunk of my baseball cards, Transformers, Construx, and bristle blocks, along with a few other odds and ends.  It’s called the G.I. Joe room because my Joe collection dominates it.  I was hoping to catch up  on a few things that had been sitting for a year or more.  Since Kate and I found out we were having Braeden, I’ve spent barely any time in that room, but I haven’t stopped buying stuff.  I have a table in the room, and it took me several minutes to move various comics, figure boxes, figures, and a few vehicles to find the table surface.  Once I was ready to start, I found myself just sitting there, staring at everything in the room.  Part of me felt overwhelmed about how much of that stuff I had accumulated.  Part of me felt like I’d wasted a lot of money and time with a toy-line, and that at my age it was time to just let it go.  An unexpected wave of depression washed over me as well, which was unexpected.  Just the day before I had bought a few of the figures from the movie line, and they were very impressive and well put together (for the record, I open them…they’re worth more in the package but they’re more fun out of the package).  I was feeling more into G.I. Joe than I had been in a long time, at least until I went downstairs.  Now I’m not so sure.  Kate seems to think I’ll spend more time down there once Braeden is older and doesn’t need constant supervision.  The thought of selling it all on eBay crossed my mind for a few minutes.  The option to let Braeden play when he’s older isn’t looking so good.  Early indications are that he’s taking his mom’s “destructo-child” personality, and a rough playing kid would pretty much total the brittle plastic of a twenty-five year old Skystriker in a few minutes. 

Overall, it was another great weekend, but there was that bit of weirdness. 

See, I told you I’d write something tonight.  As far as post #101, we’ll see.