Tag: Terri Caissie

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Digital Darkness Day

Yesterday was our 17th wedding anniversary and as requested I spent the entire day away from my computers, and did not use my iPhone … no emails, no web surfing, no phone calls. It was quite peaceful and I thank my wife for the request and quite honestly look forward to making this an annual event.

Of course, this was made much easier by considering the day as a holiday, but also as a last-minute decision it was greatly appreciated by my family, friends, and colleagues to honor our choice, too.

So, I would like to propose that March 25 be set aside as Digital Darkness Day when you take the time to turn off your smart-phones, your computers, and any other devices. Take a quality day for you, your family, and your friends; and, if March 25 is not the best day for you then choose a day that is … but most of all, enjoy!

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Lasagna and a Guitar

Christmas lasagna and a new guitar; I’m not sure there is much more I could ask for today.

For the last few years I have been half-joking, half-seriously offering or suggesting lasagna for Christmas. I’m not talking about just any lasagna; I’m talking about my Cheesy Mushroom Meat Lasagna. This year I am happy to write we just finished having it for dinner.

I hadn’t made my lasagna in what seemed like forever so I was a bit out of sync in the kitchen but everything came together quite well. As the lasagna was browning, I prepared the Caesar salad; and, as the lasagna was cooling, I finished the garlic loaf. I’m about to go brew a nice after dinner coffee and enjoy a homemade cupcake my daughter made last night … fruitcake is on the menu for later tonight!

Also, later tonight, I will pick up my new guitar and play for another hour or two. My wife, Terri, went to great lengths to get this gift for me. It was a well kept secret until our family Christmas last night at my son and daughter-in-law’s home. I’ve been interested in playing the guitar for some time although I would have never purposely went out and bought one for myself … I’m glad my wife bought one for me. I’ve even been taking song requests for next Christmas. It’s a great feeling to look forward to Christmas again.

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family, and my readers, too!

… and a special thank you to my wife, for giving me the gift of Christmas spirit.

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Coffee, Tea, or Keurig

I enjoy a good cup of coffee as much as I enjoy a good cup of tea. I also appreciate convenience and quality, too. You may be asking yourself why am I writing this? In a word: Keurig.

What is Keurig?

CHOOSE. BREW. ENJOY.®
It’s how we see the world. It’s how we work. It’s how we relax. It’s how we wake up. It’s how we power down. Welcome to Keurig. For coffee, tea, hot cocoa and iced beverages, the world has discovered Keurig and it’s how you brew. With over 200 varieties to choose from, it’s always easy to find the right one-for you.
from the Keurig.com website

My wife recently put in a great deal of time, energy, and extra hours at her work to help with one of their charity drives. One particular event this time was tea and coffee service brought to everyone’s desk. They used a Tassimo machine to brew the coffee and teas they served. As she was telling me about her day we started talking about the various “coffee machines” that use this “cup” system. That was about a week and a half ago.

After some online research and some personal opinions we started to seriously look at the Keurig brewers. The brewer and K-Cups are competitively priced but the true deciding factor was simply the abundant brands (read: choice of flavors) that support the system.

Friday night we went shopping. It had been a long week and a little retail therapy was in order. We decided on the Cuisinart Brewing System and as fate would have it our old drip coffee maker needed to be replaced after its six years of nearly daily use. The warming element had just recently became exposed, which I only noticed as I was cleaning it for storage. The timing was just right.

Now, it’s time for my morning coffee but I have a serious dilemma: what flavor do I brew next?

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Helping Hands

It always seems to get the busiest when you least expect to be busy. Where has all the time gone, I have not posted here in just over a week and before that it seems I was not to be found nearby either.

Let’s call this another update post and I will relate what is new in the last little while …

I have acquired more domains, I think I am getting to be a little addicted to buying domain names … is there a 12-step program I should be looking for? The latest domains are:

Although I am the person of record for these domain names they really are for one of my wife’s, Terri, pet projects. The RatTrain.com site will be used primarily as a hub of information for the transportation of fancy pet rats from one place, typically a rescue operation, to their forever (sometimes foster) home. The volunteers that we hope to see get involved in this are in no way restricted to just moving rats but are also encouraged to move any breed they are comfortable transporting as well.

The idea of helping all animals, especially those found in animal rescue organizations prompted the idea to also register the RescueRelay.com name (which will be temporarily “parked” on the RatTrain.com servers).

My thoughts are as the RatTrain expands to other breeds of pets, we will easily be able to open up the RescueRelay site to help with consolidating that information into one central hub, too.

In the meantime, if you are able to help, by all means please do. There are many animal resuces that could always use more help; food, supplies, transportation … even your time … all donations would be welcome.

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Inspirational Stress Relief

Sometimes the best intentions are overridden by better intentions. I am not one to practice “retail therapy” but my wife can present a convincing argument when she wants to. I set my work schedule aside to spend some quality time with my wife … and spend some money, too.

It was a very long week and stress levels were building so we, or better said she, decided to get ourselves ready and after some additional online research we headed out to get her a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet to be used in her new theme creation venture. We’ve been looking at these tablets for a while and the large model seemed the best fit.

I also registered a couple of new domain names that may be used for these ideas:

My wife also insisted I get a new monitor as I have not been overly happy with the one I’ve had for some time now. It required too many video setting adjustments when I am truly a proponent of the plug-n-play models of hardware. We looked at a few models and chose the NEC MultiSync EA231WMi Even though I was not happy with my Acer AL2016W, I did add it as a second monitor for my desktop PC.

I may not have accomplished as much work as I wanted to get done yesterday and I admit to being a willing participant; but, we did accomplish something of great value: inspirational stress relief via retail therapy.

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Bangers and Mash au Gratin

One of my favorite dinners is bangers and mash au gratin. It’s a simple dinner to prepare and only takes about an hour from start to table. It may not be the best dinner to serve with our current temperatures but it is well worth the heat and efforts. Below is a gallery of random pictures of dinner tonight. The basic recipe is rather simple although it is not always the easiest to find the bangers to use.

Follow along if you will:

  1. Start with instant mashed potatoes (it’s just easier)
  2. While the mashed potatoes are cooking start the bangers
  3. The potatoes will be ready long before the bangers, put a lid on them and set aside for later
  4. After the bangers are cooked, make the sauteed onions
  5. Grate the cheese while the onions cook
  6. Once the onions are ready add the gravy and cook together
  7. Put everything together: bit of gravy/onion mix; bangers; rest of gravy/onion mix; potatoes; grated cheese
  8. Bake for 20 minutes at 400°F in the oven
  9. Serve … and Enjoy!
  10. … and do not forget to share.
Sauteed onions in gravy
BooBoo waiting patiently …
Bangers in the baking dish
Freshly served
The table setting
Ready to eat …
Grated cheese for the au gratin.
BooBoo … after dinner
Fresh out of the oven
Going into the oven
Bangers and Mash au Gratin
The Mash!
Sauteed onions

PS: Alcoholic beverages are purely optional … but strongly suggested.

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Do You Know Me?

It seems every so often my wife, myself, or the both of us will get the family tree itch and start looking through old records, pictures or whatever other sources we find; and, since we are on vacation this seemed like a great past time for when it is simply too hot to do anything outside … and so we have started, again.

The number of people are adding up quickly in each or our respective family trees. I believe we will use the online versions available at Ancestry.com. You can currently visit Terri’s or my respective trees at:

A lot of the information in my family tree is from memory with help from mom (thanks). A few more branches were found with some research based on the starting points we worked out, but unfortunately no one seems to recall much about my father. I have not seen him since I was about two years old, although I do have a picture of us together likely sometime in 1967:

l-r: Joseph Caissie and son Edward Joseph Alexandre Caissie

I also have a generation photo. This picture has four generations including myself from my mother’s side of the family. In the front, I am sitting on my mother’s (Karen Morin) lap. Next to us is my maternal grandmother Winnifred Ferguson nee Homer; and, her mother Gertrude:

l-r: Karen Morin, Edward Caissie, Winnifred Homer, Gertrude

Have you traced your family tree? Are you part of our family? Do you know me … or my dad?