Did some diving last night, been missing the free stuff! Grabbed all these things that looked like pulled bbq pork, turned out to be soy meat or something. I might eat crap if it's covered with barbecue sauce, so it should be good.

Also excited to try out a new bakery outlet store, our old one closed. This one's a little further away, but easily accessable. When i first drove up, some guys were coming out of the back of the neighboring store to leave, so I waited then drove around the block. When I came back, there was 1 car still there. I didn't know if someone else was about to come out, so I just peeked in and grabbed some hoagie buns off the top.

Fake meat bbq sandwiches! mmmmm...

New drawing! kinda

Just a thumbnail, but that's progress, right? Right? In case you're trying to figure out what you're looking at, this is a very rough sketch for the 1st page of Children of Light #3. There's a huge monster thing at the top crushing building tops in its hands, and the kids are below peeing their pants looking at it. I had a little trouble figuring the layout because of the perspective. I started with a 1-point perspective shot, but that made the monster look way bigger than I wanted, like it was at the horizon. I solved that by changing the street view like you're looking across the street at it. This is going to be a 2-page spread. What a way to get back into work!

Had a good night's dive the other day. There was almost 2 dozen boxes of cereal (an organic raisin bran and a kid's puffs thing) I took about half, since I had seen others diving there before. We could have used it all, but the half I took is a great find. I don't mind sharing, especially since we're not desperate. This is where I disagree with Master Diver John Hoffman. He says take everything you find. If competition approaches, try to keep them away.

The great part about that find is, Wife said to try to get some cereal as I was leaving. I had never found cereal before, and kinda rolled my eyes at her. It's not out of the question to expect cereal, I had just never seen any. Finding more than we could use seems like a small miracle to me. After having what seems like a crappy year, we're beginning to see God blessing us and answering prayers. We also received a financial answer to prayer we thought would be near impossible. I think God likes us:)

Food poisoning!!

Just kidding! Yes, we do eat most of the food I bring home. In the dark, I grab what looks good, and we sort when I get home.

"But isn't that food diseased?"

No. Places throw stuff out when it hits the sell-by date, gets dirty or crunched, is discontinued, sometimes no discernable reason. I'm reminded of the Seinfeld episode where George ate the donut from the top of the trash. What was wrong with that dounut? Does moving it from the counter or refrigerator to the trash change the chemical composition of the food?

200 years ago, maybe even 100 years ago, we ate fruit that had imperfect spots, drank milk with no sell-by dates (they used a fancy system where they opened the container and smelled the milk), and ate meat that hadn't been in a constant refrigerated state.

So sarcastic rant aside, we test our food using our brains and senses. If it smells bad, away it goes. Many times fruit is past the freshest state, but still perfectly fine and safe to eat. Meat I bring home is still cold from the store, and if still in a sealed package, is cooked thoroughly. For example, I found a 5-pound tube of ground meat. There was a small break in the package, but the meat was still cold, so had just come from the meat case. We saved everything except the portion near the break in the package, and didn't die after eating it.

If there was a ridiculous amount of the same item in the trash that hadn't expired yet, that could be a suspect of tainted food. Often these scares aren't as serious as they're made out to be (bird flu, anyone? Swine flu?). So again, common sense, sound judgment.

I'm not an expert on food science. I just use common sense, and that's gotten us by so far.

Peace!

Last minute stuff

Why, why, why do I always wait until the last minute to get stuff done? Tomorrow I have to have a sign printed for the show on Sunday, have cards printed and cut, and get everything I need together. Also going to see Transformers with Sam! Can't wait.

Had quite a prosperous dive Thu. night! Fridge is full!
7 loaves of bread & hot dog buns
13 yogurt
2 coffee cream
4 tomatoes
3 jello cups
bottle steak sauce
1 small broccoli
1 cauliflower
4 corn
2 dz. eggs
cup of roasted peppers
Value- $40 ish
Time- 2 hours (did a lot of scouting)

If only I was allowed to bring onions in the house, it was onion genocide in one place! Oh, the onion rings I would have made!

Goodwill to all

Went diving last night, thought I made out great, but ended up being disappointing. Looked like a foreign grocery cleaned out their freezer, and I filled a box with still frozen meat & fish. Turned out the stuff was years old. Years, like 2-5. Someone call the health dept! Sometimes there's a reason things are thrown out. There was a package of Chicken wings from somewhere else only a few days expired, so we kept that. Sell-by dates don't mean the food has become instant death, just cook thoroughly. Not much good produce. Got a leaky bottle of cooking oil, a few things Melissa made me throw out: a few dented cans, a broken bag of sugar & flour. I guess every day won't be great finds. There was a good "mystery" can (no label). I guess it would be safer (and fun!) to stick with those.

Behind a Goodwill store is a trash dumpster filled with discarded things. Definitely not a donation dumpster. I made sure! There are lost of good & semi-good things in there I guess the store thinks they won't sell. Yard sale stock for us! I almost feel guilty because there's so little effort.
Rescued was:
A nice baby stroller
a computer that can probably go on ebay for parts.
baby mobile floor play thing
electric hedge trimmer
oil lamp (Melissa might want to keep)
Princess Barbie for Melina (looked like Sarah Furgeson doll-she got a bath)
electronics experiment toy for Sam.
a small gift basket of soap (keep!)

Getting ready for comic show on Sunday, my 1st one in a few years. I've learned you need to do more than sit there and hope people make eye contact with you. I started doing some sketches to sell cheaply that can work as promotional material and act as conversation starters. Artists that have familiar characters on display attract more customers to their table, and people standing in front of you instead of looking as they walk by from a safe distance on the other side of the aisle so they don't have to talk to you is a good thing.

Thanks to my friends from Crashland who are sending me great stuff to have on the table!