My family calls this soda bread "skaun," which is a bastardization of the english word "scone." I'm posting this here mostly so I don't misplace it again. I just got this recipe from my mom and Aunt Minnie.

Ingredients:
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 1 stick butter
- 3 cups flour
- pinch of salt
- 3 tablespoons baking powder
- 1/4 cup caraway seeds (or to taste)
- cold whole milk (about a cup)

Instructions:
- heat oven to 350
- rub butter on a cast iron baking pan (or the heaviest one you can find)
- in a small bowl cream together the sugar and butter in one bowl
- in a larger bowl add flour, salt, baking soda

I can't believe all the hubub about the potential deal that would give a United Arab Emirates based company shipping operations in a number of US ports. The company would be operating under US regulations, subject to all monitoring as would any other company (US owned or otherwise).

The real issue here - and the purple elephant in the corner reactionaries fail to see - is the Bush administration's failure to focus on port security since the 9/11 attacks. The government's sanctioning of this deal should not prompt us to ask "Should a UAE (Arab) company be allowed to have this kind of access to our ports?" Instead, it should make us ask "Why do we feel like the government isn't making us feel safe enough that the ownership of a private company matters?"

This November my dad turns 60 years old. Recently 60+ folks turned up to celebrate the occasion in Tuckerton. The event was complete with good food, great friends and family, and none other than the chicken dance.

Here are some photos from the event.

With great support from my wife, parents, sister, aunts, uncles, and friends, I completed the Marine Corps Marathon in 4:01:31. Not a bad first marathon time. I'd have liked to have broken the 4 hour mark (by about 30 minutes) but it's something to work toward.

I'm walking funny today - two days later - but in all not to bad a recovery.

My splits - from the good people at Active.com - are as follows:

00:54:11 @ 10K mark
01:56:54 @ Halfway

This news tidbit comes straight from Olga Bolga. I'm sure everyone saw the story about the dolphins from some aquarium that were let into the gulf of Mexico during the Katrina hurricane when water levels rose.

Well, apparently some dolphins escaped from a secret Naval training project. However, these dolphins aren't trained to do cute little backflips. They're trained to kill.

From the article:

Experts who have studied the U.S. Navy's cetacean training exercises fear that as many as 36 escaped mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Dolphins, considered one of the species with intelligence second only to man's, now threaten divers and surfers. The U.S. Navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.

There was a ton of press about this last week. But apparently Russell Wayne Wagner, a convicted murderer and Vietnam veteran, had his ashes spread in the national cemetery for people who served in the military.

Would that this were something new.

It's no secret that I personally disagree with the US motivation for entering most if not all wars. I think this is a tremendous double standard being applied here.

Why the heck are people upset about one murderer being buried here, when tho

I read a story in Organic Style about the right kind of food containers to use. I was dismayed to find out that you should NOT drink from plastic #7 (the number appears on the bottom of the container). I was ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED to find out that the two containers I drink from are both #7.

I turns out the Nalgene bottles are in fact #7 plastic and can leach some chemicals into your water if they are old, scratched, or used to hold fatty/acidic contents. So, out went the Nalgene and in came a glass bottle from Gerolsteiner.

If you've got a strong stomach, read about a man who died after intimate relations with a horse. This story reminded me of the room I rented on Nantucket the first time I lived there. I was struggling to find a place to stay while working there for the summer. At the last minute a friend of a friend of a friend had a room that suddenly became available. I lept at the chance to rent it out.

Well, turns out that the guy who used to live in the room died a week before I was offered it. It also turns out - as I discovered from some friendly coworkers during my first week on the job - that the guy who used to live there had a "very interesting story." He was a local legend, originally from the cape and was arrested for attempting relations with a horse. No kidding. Turns out it's against the law in Mass., but not in Washington State, where the aforementioned story takes place. Anyhow, the guy from Nantucket was convicted and sentenced to some time in prison. When he got out, he moved to Nantucket and inhabited the room I rented for the summer of 1996.

So I've made the committment to train for the Marine Corps Marathon here in DC on October 30. I've been training with the good folks at DC Fit. These guys offer a great training schedule for each week leading up to the marathon. You basically train on your own during the week and then meet up with others in your pace group for a long run on Saturdays.

This past week was our 14 mile run and I have to say it was the hardest run of my life. Even though we started at 6 AM, it was 78 degrees and 98% humidity.

Visited Flagstaff, AZ with my sis last week. Nice, because it was 30 degrees cooler than Phoenix, lots to do outside, and everyone is fit. Food and hotel are crazy affordale. Ate at a super international/veg-friendly/meaty-too restaurant called Mountain Oasis, my review is there at TripAdvisor. Most of the smaller motels offered free wifi, too. One note, don't underestimate the fun of running at 6,000 feet in 10% humidity when you've come from DC running at sea level and