They're worried in Fargo that the river will top out over the dikes. Forty one feet. Now those are some tall lesbians! What do you call a guy with no arms and no legs who lives in Fargo? Bob. Oh come on. You're laughing. Seriously though, doesn't that water look cold? My heart goes out to those folks.
Ron and I hit our favorite sushi place last night to celebrate me hitting the half century mark. It's been over a year since we've been there. Same surly sushi chef, same ono food. They carry a beer from Okinawa called Orion. Good suds.
I've just turned 50 while living in the 50th state in it's 50th aniversary year. I will travel to Alaska this summer which is the 49th state, but which became a state the same year as Hawaii, so is also celebrating it's 50 anniversary as a member of the union. Is that some kind of karmic convergence or what?
At work Thursday, my co-worker brought in a batch of her soon-to-be-famous butter mochi. It's made with mochiko flour (that's finely-ground rice flour), butter, sugar, eggs and coconut milk. Hard to go wrong with those ingredients. I'm a big fan of traditional mochi - most flavors anyway- so this wasn't much of a stretch for me. Add in those other ingredients and you can't help but have a winner in my book. OK, so it's not exactly health food. All that butter should keep the blood sliding nicely through the arteries, shouldn't it? That seems logical to me.
Did I mention it's been raining? Last night, the local weather guy was bragging on the beautiful day. Obviously, he hasn't been hanging around our neighborhood. It's sunny and warm everywhere in the state except here. I've got a pretty good idea why this house was such a bargain.
I'm watching a CNN special showing drug sniffing dogs and border agents rooting out drug smugglers. Oddly, I see no examples of them confiscating Methamphetamine or Heroine or Cocaine or any other dangerous, addictive substances. All they find is marijuana. Bales and bales of it. Weed. Pakalolo. Ganja. What a ridiculous waste of money. What if we legalized marijuana, grew it organically right here in the USA, licensed sellers, allowed only those 21 or older to buy it, taxed it, then spent the money we collected in taxes to build drug treatment plans and research anti-addiction medications for those hooked on those drugs that are the true scourge on our society, the ones that actually ruin people's lives (like alcohol, for example). If we're worried about people operating motor vehicles with a THC buzz, we can inflict penalties and fines to discourage that. Then, the drug cartels and their lackies wouldn't be killing people to get this particular product to market. We'd save billions on drug enforcement. We could focus our efforts where they actually might make a difference. Our over-burdened prison system would get some relief. Shoots. We could grow plain old hemp too. We could make stuff, like fuel and ropes and clothing and cosmetics, all from hemp, all right here.
But what do I know.
A hui hou. Aloha!
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