Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader wrote earlier of his acquisition of a new grill. One that is both a gas grill and a charcoal grill…

Remember how he said he’d likely never use the gas side…

Well… Your Maximum Leader is a liar.

Last night Mrs. Villain informed your Maximum Leader that she wanted “grilled chicken” for dinner. And she wanted it in about 30 minutes. So it was out to the gas grill…

The chicken turned out just fine actually… Your Maximum Leader missed the smoke that you get from charcoal…

Your Maximum Leader imagines that this will be a recurring theme in his life. He’ll have to draw the line somewhere… It it goes unchecked next thing you know Mrs Villain will want him to cook ribs on the gas side…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader fancies himself pretty handy on the grill. His grill of choice for about 15 years now has been a Professional Char-Griller grill/smoker. (Here is the newest model of the one your Maximum Leader has used for the past 15 years and will highly recommend to you.)

Well, your Maximum Leader’s grill/smoker has served him very well over one and a half decades. But recently its fallen on some hard times. Sadly it has been left out a few times without a cover to suffer the elements. The ash catcher has completed fallen apart. Two of the cooking grates have been broken. (Your Maximum Leader will not say whom exactly broke them while attempting to “clean” them - but know that he’s looking at Mrs Villain right now…) And finally, the original paint has peeled off in a number of spots and the metal is rusting badly. (NB: your Maximum Leader has carefully sanded and repainted the spots with a high temperature resistant special grill paint, but the spots continue to peel and rust.)

Your Maximum Leader suggested to Mrs Villain that it might be time to buy a new grill/smoker. He figures he’d gotten his $99 worth out of the first one. Mrs Villain suggested that your Maximum Leader purchase a gas grill for the Villainschloss.

Well… This was something of a sore spot for your Maximum Leader. You see, he is an inveterate user of charcoal. He isn’t a gas grill type of guy. Grilling is something done over naturally created fire. And by definition when you smoke food (which your Maximum Leader does freqently) it must be using fire which produces heat and smoke.

Charcoal grilling isn’t for Mrs Villain. She doesn’t like the work involved. It annoys her that it takes 25-30 minutes to get coals ready to cook. It annoys her that heating is uneven. It annoys her that you have to watch for flame-ups. Basically, she loves the results, but can’t stand the process. This is to say she can’t stand the process if she has to do it herself. Most of the time, of course, she doesn’t even attempt to use the grill/smoker. It is the domain of your Maximum Leader.

That said, since Mrs Villain is home all summer (being a teacher and all) she likes to cook more over the summer. She would also like to grill more over the summer. But she doesn’t want to be a slave to your Maximum Leader’s schedule when it comes to eating dinner. So she wants a gas grill. One she feels she can control and use better and more often than a charcoal grill.

Well… Your Maximum Leader cannot ever forsee himself using a gas grill. It just isn’t him. But he loves his wife tremendously and wants her to be happy. He also doesn’t feel like coming home and grilling late into the evening during the summer. He also thinks it would be good for Mrs Villain to grill some on her own.

What to do? What to do?

Compromise of course.

The answer… A Professional Char-Griller Duo Model #5050 dual gas grill/smoker. Yes loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader got, what he hopes, is the best of both worlds. A gas grill (with side burner) for her; and a real charcoal grill/smoker for him. (Honestly, he might use both sides from time to time - and he can imagine that the side burner is really handy.)

You will get, from time to time, some updates on how the #5050 is working out. It will get used for the first time this coming weekend. Your Maximum Leader might need to smoke some bacon up since he is running low… He also plans on having some steaks on Saturday…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been drinking quite a bit of bourbon over the weekend. He made his first Manhattan cocktail on Saturday. It was fine. He made it with Evan Williams bourbon, sweet vermouth and a dash of bitters. As he said, it was okay but nothing to write home about.

(NB to readers, especially the Air Marshal if he is lurking out there: Your Maximum Leader felt compelled to write the exact brand of bourbon he used in his Manhattan so that the Air Marshal would not wonder about which brand he used. You see, your Maximum Leader brought home a bottle of Wild Turkey Rare Breed from his recent bourbon weekend with the Air Marshal. And the Air Marshal emplored your Maximum Leader not to mix the Rare Breed into a cocktail, or mix it into ginger ale or coke (as he does sometimes). While your Maximum Leader can’t promise that he’ll never mix the Rare Breed into a cocktail or ginger ale or coke, he did want you all to know that he didn’t this time.)

(NB - again: By the way. Your Maximum Leader knows that a “true” Manhattan cocktail is made with Rye Whisky and not Bourbon.)

Your Maximum Leader did notice on the Maker’s Mark website that they mix a shot of bourbon into an Arnold Palmer. It sounded good. So he tried it. Frankly… It is really good. So he’s been drinking them all weekend.

Frankly, your Maximum Leader imagines Arnie Palmer himself (and John Daly for certain) would like their Arnold Palmer’s with a shot of bourbon in them.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is returned from a quick trip to Kentucky. The purpose, as he mentioned in a previous bleg, was to road trip with a good friend to visit Bourbon distilleries. Specifically the Maker’s Mark distillery.

By the way, my loyal minions… What the hell is up with you people? Have none of the 3,000 unique visitors per month to this site ever been to Lexington, Kentucky? None of you? He blegs for a restaurant suggestion… And nothing… On the one hand he is glad that no one made up a recommendation. On the other hand he now wonders if any of you get out…

(NB to you all… Your Maximum Leader read his site statistics for the first time in months in order to ascertain how many of you might be out there…)

Your Maximum Leader will not bore you with all the sundry details of the whole trip. He’ll say that he visited three distilleries. Four Roses, Wild Turkey, and Maker’s Mark. Of those three, if you were going to visit one… He’d tell you without hesitation or reservation that the only one worth your time was the Maker’s Mark distillery.

As longtime readers of this spot know, your Maximum Leader is a Scotch whisky type of fellow. He comes from a long line of Scotch whisky drinkers. But over the past few years a combination of patriotism, changing taste, and the economy have started a love affair with Bourbon whisky. (Great Bourbon is a hell of a lot cheaper than great Scotch by the by. And times are tough you know…)

Your Maximum Leader’s favorite Bourbon is Maker’s Mark. He does like the Wild Turkey “Rare Breed” and Wild Turkey “101″ as well; but Maker’s is his favorite. He suspects this is due to the lack of rye in making Maker’s Mark. This is not to say that he doesn’t like Rye whisky. In fact he does. But if he is going to go down that taste path, he’d just as soon have Scotch.

In case you need photographic evidence of the trip…

Here is your Maximum Leader posing with the Maker’s Mark sign:

As many readers surely know, Maker’s Mark is famous for the wax seals on their bottles. The distinctive red wax is applied by hand to every bottle. If you happen to visit the distillery and want to pony-up the cash, you too can dip a bottle of Maker’s in the red wax yourself. Needless to say, if you are making the trip you really have to do the dipping too. So here are just two shots (from the sequence of shots taken) showing your Maximum Leader dipping his bottle of Maker’s.

The Maker’s Mark distillery is really worth the trip if you are in the area. (Of course, your Maximum Leader made the 470 mile - each way - trip for no other reason but to go.) The grounds are fabulously kept. The facilities are great and the people are terrific. Everyone we encountered was so wonderful. Your Maximum Leader was particularly pleased with Betty and Susan (who gave him his tour and who greeted us upon our arrival, respectively). In addition, the man who was mixing the mash in the fermentation barrel was very happy to answer some questions while he worked. Even the fellow doing the weed-whacking near the parking lot was a cordial guy.

Your Maximum Leader was not as pleased with Four Roses or Wild Turkey. To be honest he’d never heard of Four Roses. Apparently much of the Bourbon produced by Four Roses is for export only. The Four Roses distillery was okay. In many ways it was about half-way between the Maker’s distillery and the Wild Turkey distillery experience. Maker’s Mark was almost a high-end theme park dedicated to Bourbon. Wild Turkey’s distillery was more like walking through a factory. Four Roses was somewhere in the middle.

To be fair to Wild Turkey, they need to be more factory-like. They are producing in a month as much product as does Maker’s Mark in a year. Where the Maker’s facility was characterized by manicured green lawns, nice sidewalks, beautiful shade trees, and well-tended buildings; the Wild Turkey facility was characterized by paved streets, rail road sidings and the constant hum of machinery.

Oh yeah… Did your Maximum Leader mention that Wild Turkey’s visitor center doesn’t have a serve permit? So while your Maximum Leader was getting small samples at Maker’s and Four Roses, they can’t let you try the goods at Wild Turkey. That was a little sad.

Anyhoo…

Your Maximum Leader might, at some point in the future, return to Bourbon country USA. He was rather charmed by Lexington and the surrounding horse country. He can see himself going (with Mrs Villain) to Lexington and taking in some horse racing, fine dining, and another visit to Maker’s Mark…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader recalls reading that during the age of Caesar (Julius and Augustus) roman legionnaires almost always had access to pork or other meats. But the legionnaires always wanted a ration of bread every day. The citizens of Rome depended on a free bread ration for hundreds of years.

These people liked their bread.

When your Maximum Leader thinks of modern cultures that like their bread his mind first goes to an idealized France. He knows that the culture of bread in France has been dramatically on the decline for many years. But in his mind he likes the idea of going to the bakery in the morning and getting fresh baguettes every morning…

We aren’t big bread eaters in the US of A. Not like other cultures.

Your Maximum Leader likes his bread. He prefers crusty bread that is roughly torn from a loaf. Or just a bread with a good tasty crust. He doesn’t like his bread too doughy in the middle.

Last night your Maximum Leader craved bread with dinner. So he stopped at the local Giant and bought a fresh baguette on his way home for dinner last night…

Well, he needs to report that in slightly less than 24 hours he’s now eaten the entire baguette himself. He cut peices for dinner to sop up juices from dinner. He ate some with honey as a snack last night. He toasted a little this morning with jam for breakfast. And he just finished off the loaf as a sandwich and some slices eaten with onion and brie.

He feels sort of piggy today. But it is piggy in a reasonably good way.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is returned from a few days down in beautiful Key West. You want to know something? Your Maximum Leader might be the only normal person to go to Key West for 4 days, experience beautiful sunny 80 degree weather; and return home just as pasty and fish-belly white as he left.

Your Maximum Leader might recount more of his trip in a later post. Let us give a quick summary for you if you are so inclinded…

High points: friends’ wedding, “Little White House” visit, Hemmingway house visit, eating fish caught by friends at Eat it Raw (fish was cooked), drinking so many cuba libres that your Maximum Leader figured he might just go and try to libre the island of Cuba.

(NB to all: Your Maximum Leader takes his cuba libres in his own form. He likes white rum, coke, splash of lime juice, crushed lime wedge, and a float of 151 proof rum. He found that the bartenders at Eat It Raw thought his variation on the popular drink was particularly good.)

Low points: listening to a mediocre piano bar singer at hotel for longer than he wanted, waking up early due to cruise ship horns sounding at dawn, blister on heel from shoes

Regrets: not going deep sea fishing when friends did go with Captain Keith on the Lucky Strike.

There might be a photo of your Maximum Leader and a more detailed post coming… Or not…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has had a shortage of quality blog time for you all. This situation isn’t going to change over the next few days. He admits that he could have blogged some last night, but he got distracted by the Akira Kurosawa film extravaganza on TMC last night. (BTW, Happy Birthday Kurosawa-san. You would have been 100 years old yesterday.) After putting his villainous offspring to bed he spied “Rashomon” on the tv. Next thing you know, the “Seven Samurai” was on. Then your Maximum Leader fell asleep. He’s such a wuss that way.

What to blog? What to blog?

Well… First of he should congratulate the President, but most of all Speaker Pelosi for getting the damned health care bill passed. It was tremendous work on their parts. Your Maximum Leader gives most of the credit to the Speaker who must have used every bit of parliamentary/political/personal knowledge she knew to twist all the arms to make the deal happen. Your Maximum Leader wasn’t sure that she would pull it off. He wasn’t sure that is until she saw Steny Hoyer and the Speaker announce a vote would be held on Sunday. Once they actually gave a day for the vote and were adamant that it would happen your Maximum Leader knew they had the votes. So… Congrats to them. It was a tough slog, but they got the job done.

Is your Maximum Leader happy about the bill? Of course not. It sucks. But you have to give credit where it is due. And it is due in this case.

So what next? Well… One hopes that the Republicans can run an effective campaign this year and take the House or Senate back and work on serious modification of the bill. Your Maximum Leader thinks Fishersville Mike is right on with a slogan of “Change - the right kind this time.” Why does your Maximum Leader say serious modification and not outright repeal? Let’s be honest. Even after a few months there is inertia that sets in on any legislation. There isn’t going to be an outright repeal. Major modifications is the best course. It is the way the system works. Why did you think they were pushing so hard to pass something? Once it gets on the books it is there… Some portions of the law just enacted will remain no matter how hard one tries to remove them.

Ah well… One hopes that Republicans (for lack of a better alternative) can get their acts together and run a tight campaign and put themselves into a position where they actually have some institutional power in Congress…

Did you Wagnerians out there see that Wolfgang Wagner died this week? The grandson of Richard Wagner and longtime Bayreuth Festival director passed away at age 90. His daughter (and teutonic hottie) Katharina Wagner is currently the festival director.

Your Maximum Leader may, or may not, post again this week. He is off to Key West, Florida for a few days of sun, fun, and marriage. A good friend of his is getting married in Key West on Friday night. It should be fun. It has been a long time since your Maximum Leader was last in Key West. If you have any suggestions of things for him to see or do, leave a comment. (No need to comment that he should leer at drunken spring-break co-eds. Please accept that as read…)

This good friend getting married is the owner of Key West Key Lime pies. If you want to get yourself get best key lime pie EVAH (EVAH!!!) feel free to clicky on the linky and buy…

Later gators… Perhaps your Maximum Leader will get some sun…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader, although having no Irish ancestry, does enjoy partaking in a little corned beef & cabbage and Guinness beer on St. Patrick’s day. Yesterday evening he found himself singing along to the refrain of this song (which was playing on his iPod)…

While your Maximum Leader greatly enjoyed himself, his family was not as impressed with the singer or the song.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader must remember that this list of alcohol spirits of which he can consume heroic quantities does not contain sake. The list does contain scotch and bourbon.

Sake is dangerous because you drink it in those little cups. You never figure that 15 or 16 cups later you might have a problem.

That is all.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is a pathetic excuse of an American of Scottish ancestry. Why you may ask? Well allow him to explain…

As you may know, tonight, January 25th, is Burns Night. The night when Scots and those of Scottish ancestry around the world celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the great Scottish poet, Robert Burns. Often the night is accompanied with feasting and toasting and poetry reading… It is not uncommon for your Maximum Leader to try and have a fancy dinner and a wee dram with his family (and perhaps a few close friends). Burns would be read and a great time would be had by all…

But tonight…

There was no feasting. Indeed the dinner consisted of the remains of a pan-fried round steak, powdered mashed potatoes, and some re-heated frozen veggies (a carrot, broccoli and colliflower mix). It was eaten in about 20 minutes. There was no toasting, there was no poetry. There was no dram.

It was pathetic.

There is only one promising thing to say about the evening… That is that there is still a chance that your Maximum Leader will have himself a little dram of uisge beatha.

For those of you reading this blog closely you may recall that last 4th of July your Maximum Leader swore off alcoholic beverages of foreign make. (There was one exception - he had a Guinness on Arthur Guinness’ birthday in October.) His promise to himself to forego foreign alcohol expired on January 1. But since January 1 he has consumed two Guinness’, one Chimay Ale, and a few glasses of Italian wine. He’s not had any of the greatest drink in the world, Scotch whisky. That should change a few minutes after he finishes this post…

Cheers.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader couldn’t wait until tomorrow to post this. Although he’d turned off the computer he had to fire it back up to report this.

He just finished smoking 6 pounds of his own home-cured bacon.

Oh dear God in Heaven. It is sooooooooooooooo friggin good.

About 14 days ago he put the pork bellies he’d gotten from his hog (Thanks Smallholder!) into the cure. Villainette #2 dutifully turned the bacon in the cure every day. Time got away from us and we were overtaken by events so we didn’t smoke the bacon last week as intended, but had to do it today. Rather than taking 2-2.5 hours, it took nearly 4 and a half hours to smoke the bacon. Your Maximum Leader belives that this was mostly due to the fact that his smoker was sitting in 34 degree temperatures and it was hard to keep it hot without over-doing the coals.

After letting the bacon cool for a few minutes (perhaps 5) after coming out of the smoker, he cut off a little slice. Oh it was good. Then Villainette #2 got a slice. Then Villainette #1 got a slice. Then Mrs Villain. Then before you knew it, we’d all had two or three slices. Then we had to stop. We couldn’t just eat it all right there. Well, we could have, but we resisted.

Your Maximum Leader can already tell that he will have to buy more pork bellies and make more bacon when this runs out. He only had about 6 pounds to start with. (Now he has about 5 and a half…)

Thank you Michael Ruhlman for your wonderful book, Charcuterie, without which your Maximum Leader may not have ever had the guts to try this. Also thank you Smallholder for raising such an awesome and tasty hog. Oh this is good stuff… Your Maximum Leader (almost) wishes all of his long-time readers could be here with him to try it… (Almost.)

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader sees that in this down economy at least one new job has been created. Well… To be honest… It isn’t really a new job created, it is more like an old job is recreated. Or even better, one old worker is coming out of retirement.

Yes Virginia, the Noid is back.

Dominos pizza is changing their recipe to make a tastier pizza, and they are bringing back the Noid. As best your Maximum Leader can remember, he’s been avoiding the Noid since about 1990. Indeed, he’s been avoiding Dominos since about the same time. He’s never been a fan of Dominos pizza. He’s prefered Papa Johns. That is until he discovered a local mom & pop place nearby that has great pizza - Miones. So, he gets is take-out pizza from Miones (and sometimes Wegmans if the mood strikes him when he is in the store).

Good luck on the recipe change Dominos. Your Maximum Leader still likely will not buy your pizza, but he hopes that it does wind up tasting better.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is going to go and get his freshly slaughtered and butchered hog tomorrow AM. He will likely leave the Villainschloss around 5am to make the best of his day.

One ham and all the bacon will remain unfrozen. Your Maximum Leader will have to get to curing on Saturday afternoon or Sunday.

Yummmmm… Ham… Bacon…

He’ll try and photo the process for you… No guarantees however. If he does it all wrong he will not want to have to bask in his defeat photographically.

Carry on.

UPDATE: As excited as your Maximum Leader is to get the hog, Mrs Villain is probably just as (if not more) excited to get fresh hamburger from the steer that will also be picked up…

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been out there. By “out there” he means “on the interwebs.” Lurking. He’s been reading and ruminating. Occasionally he’ll comment.

All in all he’s not had much that he feels warrants a comment. That is one of the problems of blogging isn’t it. One might read a post (or a tweet or a newspaper/journal article) and say to oneself, “My self, that perfectly encapusates my thoughts on this subject.” But if you don’t actually write a post of your own linking the article/piece in question who the hell knows? Frankly, even if you did write a post and provide a link, who the hell cares?

Meh.

So hows about a post about nothing? Indeed… Lets…

Your Maximum Leader has been spending his free time watching hockey and football. He’s tried reading a few different books to see if something grabs him. He’s been sorely disappointed in his choices. What makes his disappointment more… disappointing is that all the books he’s chosen are recent additions to his library that he’s not gotten around to reading yet. Sadly, your Maximum Leader figures that he’s suffering from some sort of short-attention-span disorder.

Speaking of hockey… This Washington Post piece about the NHL “war room” in Toronto was interesting. The room is much smaller than he imagined. Although he does like the little detail of how the room smells of pepperoni pizza. That makes it all so real. So real. In a way knowing that the room is as small as it is makes your Maximum Leader sort of sad. He was hoping for a “mission control at NASA” feel. Or even better… Dr Strangelove… Alas, it looks like a production room at a secondary studio at a big city TV station…

Anyhooo…

Your Maximum Leader got word from his good friend, Smallholder, to let him know that the hog and steer raised for his consumption have been slaughtered and are going to be butchered this week. Today in fact. Your Maximum Leader has made three calls to the butcher to adjust his cutting instructions. Your Maximum Leader has decided that he needs to get the bacon and one ham fresh from the butcher. (Normally, the cut pieces are frozen for him.) Your Maximum Leader is going to try and make his own bacon and cure a ham this year. He’s got his pink salt in hand and will have to get to curing this weekend if he is going try his hand at ham and bacon. The bacon should be pretty easy to cure. It can be done in a large bag in the fridge. The ham is going to be more of a challenge. He needs more space and time. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure how he’s going to manage the ham, but he’s working on it.

Actually, your Maximum Leader trying to figure out the curing of the ham at the Villainschloss has been a mentally taxing exercise.

Moving along…

Your Maximum Leader is disturbed by his use of the DVR. He feels that he is watching more tv as a result of having more control over his viewing choices and times. He records a fair number of programs. By his count he has three shows recorded daily (Pardon the Interruption, The Late Late Show and his guilty pleasure Chelsea Lately). In addition to the dailies, he records only new episodes of 8 other shows. Then there are movies as he finds them on HBO. In his defence, if he doesn’t watch one of the dailies within a day or two of broadcast he deletes them. As they are topical there is nothing like watching old news… But he has a few movies that have been on the DVR for months… Almost half of the last season of Curb Your Enthusiasm remains on the DVR. (NB - Your Maximum Leader loves Curb Your Enthusiasm; but finds he can’t watch more than one episode at a time. The humor is uncomfortable at times and has to be doled out in measured doses.)

It would likely do him well to cut down (or out) a significant portion of tv time. Your Maximum Leader supposes that compared to “regular” Americans he might watch less tv than most. But it is starting to feel like too much.

Sooo…

What the hell is up with Tiger Woods? Your Maximum Leader doesn’t get it. If you are going to be a world famous personality and you know that you like to mix it up when it comes to female company; then why do you even consider marriage? Your Maximum Leader has a certain amount of regard for George Clooney in this regard. Clooney gives off the vibe that he knows he is going to have trouble in a long-term relationship; so he doesn’t enter into one. That is a good thing in your Maximum Leader’s opinion. Know yourself and save yourself (and others) lots of heartache. Your Maximum Leader is at one level shocked and at another amazed by the scope of Tiger’s affairs. Shocked by the numbers and amazed by the efforts that went into meeting/maintaining/hiding the affairs in his schedule. One wonders if he has an assistant helping him in this… Then again, if he had an assistant to help him with these things he might not be in the mess he’s in now.

Concerning Mrs Woods. She is a very attractive woman. That said… Your Maximum Leader finds something disturbing and off-putting about her eyes in most photos he’s seen of her. He’s not saying she has “crazy eyes” or “googly eyes” or anything. There is just something wrong about her eyes to him.

In real news…

Your Maximum Leader reads that the Senate seems to be stripping the “public option” out of the Heath Care Bill. He hopes that soon the “Health Care” part will also be stripped from the bill…

This bill is a mess and just continues to linger on getting worse. One would hope that at some point the Senate would just throw up their hands and say collectively “Fuck this… Let’s pass some stimulus bills, an anti-flag-burning amendment, and declare it National Cocktail Party Month.” After putting the health care measures out of our national misery they could go home for “Winter” holidays and raise money for their re-election. That’s a good plan right? Of course it is.

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has survived the holiday and he hopes you have as well. He feels particularly fat and slothlike. He’ll need to get out and exercise or something to try and counteract the urge to remain idle…

Apparently the sloth affecting your Maximum Leader is keeping him from writing a full blog post. So he’ll give you some banalities to occupy this space…

With some of the oysters left over from Thanksgiving your Maximum Leader made “angels on horseback” to have with dinner last night. They were a big hit. The kids kept trying to figure out if the oysters were the angels or if the bacon was. Tough call that one.

Your Maximum Leader must admit a certain fascination with the whole State Dinner crasher story. He’s not interested in the couple per se. Indeed, he couldn’t care at all about them personally. He is interested to know how exactly they got in. It continues to boggle your Maximum Leader’s mind. He’s attended presidential functions both at the White House and away from the White House. He knows that security isn’t perfect (certainly not away from the White House). But you figure that one would have to do more than just show up in a tux and act upset when your name isn’t on the guest list and act your way in. Your Maxium Leader is curious to learn how this happened and who is going to lose their job over it…

Your Maximum Leader thinks that Mrs Villain got him a Blu-Ray player for Christmas… That is a very exciting prospect. But it also means that he may have to get a new tv. His 46″ Sony HDTV is a rear projection job and doesn’t have an HDMI jack on the back. He suspects that he’ll live with the standard component connection for a while… But the urge to upgrade will be strong…

A close friend of your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain will be getting married in March. It is likely that they will be celebrating the joyous day in Key West, FL. Your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain are excited to go. But last night your Maximum Leader realized that March in Key West is sort of spring break time… Hummm… That adds an interesting (and often drunken) wrinkle to this trip.

Your Maximum Leader has been getting headaches with some regularity over the past 10 days. He thinks that the problem are his glasses. It has been about two years since his prescription has been adjusted… It might be time.

Your Maximum Leader wonders if a healthcare bill will actually get passed before the 2010 elections. He is beginning to doubt it. That is a good think all in all. If some bill must be passed he hopes it will be a stripped down one containing some insurance company reform and perhaps some minor tort reform. He realizes that such a bill is highly unlikely; but he hopes nonetheless.

What is up with Dubai? Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure if he should be concerned, worried, really worried or start to go crazy over what is going on with Dubai missing their loan payments. It seems like it isn’t a good thing no matter how you look at it.

Your Maximum Leader is also thinking about buying another turkey and cooking it up this weekend. He has left over gravy and needs to put it on something…

Carry on.