Yesterday there was some summer sausage being cut up, and I got to wondering – why is it called summer sausage? I've never seen or heard of winter, fall, or spring sausage, so being named after the season seemed like an easy but wrong conclusion. I started to wonder if the "official" name for this type of sausage was something that sounded like "summer" and the sausage makers just decided to go easy on our poor american tongues rather than make us pronounce (or mispronounce) another german word.

I was going to ask you guys what you thought, hoping for some creative responses – and I still will.. creative the hell out of it….. if you can. But fortunately (un?), wikipedia actually answered my question:

Summer sausage is the general term for any sausage that can be kept without the need of refrigeration. Summer sausage is usually a mixture of pork and other meat such as beef and venison. Summer sausage can be either dried or smoked, and curing ingredients can vary significantly, although some sort of curing salt is almost always used. Seasonings may include mustard seeds, black pepper, garlic salt, or sugar.

In spite of its name, summer sausage actually tends to be made in the autumn, during traditional hunting seasons in North America and Europe. Summer sausage, like all sausages, makes use of leftover scrap meat and organ meat that would otherwise be wasted.

A particular kind of summer sausage is popular in North Dakota, occasionally containing cheese in addition to meat. This type of summer sausage is smoked rather than dried and is generally best kept and eaten cold, though it can be cooked.

I want cheesy North Dakotan summer sausage!

(If you can come up with an explanation of "summer sausage" involving Martians (Marsians!), you win!)

I've lost family members before, but they've always been the "second aunt twice removed that I met once when I was 6" kind. I've never really lost anyone that I *KNEW* much less that I was close to or cared about.

Yesterday my grandma passed away. The gravity of that is hitting me off and on.

Me, my sister, my cousin, my grandpa, and my dad had gone to lunch with her, we went to the menswear store next door that's having a going out of business sale after almost 150 years (where she tried to get me to let her buy me a corduroy sports coat), we went to the coffee shop, and then she wanted to go see how much further we had come on the house that my dad is building.

What was a really good day ended with us watching her faint on my dad and not get back up. The rest of the day was filled with phone calls, emergency crews, sitting in the hospital, and getting kind of annoyed but still appreciating all the staff saying "I'm sorry for your loss".

I'm glad I was there to try to help and was able to spend the day with her before she went, but as I found out last night, these images and memories are fuel for horrible dreams.

She was an incredible person, and an amazing grandma.

sparx: i totally got gas at $1.95 yesterday

spudart: whoa

sparx: that makes it sound like i bought cheap beans
i mean.. i bought gasoline at $1.95 yesterday
or expensive beans i guess. $1.95 is very expensive for a can of beans.. i think?
Sent at 9:37 AM on Thursday

spudart: i'm not a fan of cars or gas
i wouldn't mind gas costing $10/gallon
just so gov't gets off their butts and starts building more public transit
Sent at 9:38 AM on Thursday

sparx: i'm lazy. i think this conversation is today's post
Sent at 9:41 AM on Thursday

spudart: haha

sparx: quick, say something to the HUNDREDS of sparxmind.com readers!

spudart: How many days in your entire life have you spent outside your state in the United States of America?

sparx: you should make that one of your question posts and i'll link to it.. unless you already have?

spudart: i will be a pots

sparx: alright, i'll post this whole thing and update the link later

spudart: You can have a year to do whatever it is that you want to do. Don't worry about money. What'll it be?"
http://www.spudart.org/blogs/randomthoughts_comments/4377_0_3_0_C/
"Who am I" versus "What am I"
http://www.spudart.org/blogs/randomthoughts_comments/3976_0_3_0_C/
that question has ZERO responses
Do you know what you like
or
like what you know?

http://www.spudart.org/blogs/randomthoughts_comments/3272_0_3_0_C/

Stupporn
stup⋅porn [stuhp-ern]
-adjective
1. Acting stubborn and sticking to an idea or argument even after realizing that one is completely wrong. A combination of "stubborn" and "stupid".

I was checking my traffic logs.. and found a visitor from a town named Chilliwack in British Columbia, Canada.

Yay Chilliwack!

Wednesday I watched the movie "Wedding Crashers" for the first time ever. I've been meaning to watch it since.. well, I think I wanted to see it when it was in the theaters but decided to wait until it was on DVD – so, 3ish years ago.

What I wasn't expecting to see was a cameo appearance by John McCain. We had to rewind the movie and go back. Twice. And then pause it so I could be sure it was him. Sure enough, John McCain is in the movie Wedding crashers for maybe 4 seconds. It right after the scene where Christopher Walken's daughter gets married, outside the church. And RIGHT after the camera cuts away the next scene shows a Time magazine with Walken's mug on the cover and the caption "The Next President?"

"The Next President?" … Coincidence?

It made me smile. Poor McCain.

CostCo is the greatest store ever.

I saved 40% on a 20 pack of Vitamin Water, walked out with a 10lb bag of pancake mix, spent almost nothing on 40oz of mixed nuts, passed on a 3lb box of Wheat Thins, and paid $6.50 for 12 muffins that are bigger than my head (not quite, but they're damn big).

Oh! And free samples at the end of most of the aisles!

I was like a kid in a candy store – literally, when I went down the candy aisle.