How to Have your Pickles, and Eat them, Too...

I love pickles, always have, but they're REALLY bad for you. All store-bought pickles have HORRIBLY high sodium content and sugar content, even if they're not sweet pickles. I've looked up recipes to make my own, and it's the same for homemade pickles if you're making them and canning. I know the salt is a preservative, but I have no idea why a jar of pickles has more sugar than a soft drink.

What I've started doing, however, is making my own "refrigerator pickles" (in other words, not canned). I just make a mixture of vinegars in a container, throw in some seasonings, and then put slices of cucumber, onion or bell pepper into the liquid and put in the fridge.

A couple of days later, I can start enjoying my pickles. I'll throw them on top of my salads for some extra flavor or just have a few as a snack. Cucumbers have almost nothing in them except some vitamins and most of that is in the skin. This could also be done with carrots and cauliflower, for an "Italian mix"-esque sort of pickles, or cabbage with some hot sauce to have your own kimchi, of sorts. I don't want to use seasonings that have a lot of salt in them (that would defeat the purpose), but most of the flavor comes from the vinegar, anyway. I sometimes use dill, Mrs. Dash or even hot sauces - to bring the heat up a bit. This way, I can tailor the taste as I like and cut out a huge amount of sodium and sugar.

If you try this, you'll want to try mixing different vinegars to get a flavor your really like. Don't overlook white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar and, of course, apple cider vinegar.

One thing you want to do is to keep from introducing too much water into the jar, since bacteria can grow in water. I have put pepper slices in the oven to dry them out a bit prior to making them into pickles and will let the water drain out of cucumber slices and them dry them a bit by pressing them in a paper towel before dropping them into the mix.

Not only is this healthier than buying store-bought pickles, but you do this with vegetables that you "overbought," to help them last longer if you're not going to get around to eating them in other ways quickly. If you need to store them long term, you probably need to go the higher sodium route and actually can them, but, if you like pickles as much as I do, a few jars in the fridge won't last long enough to be a problem.

Want safe veggies? Grow'em yourself!

Looking at my scary-thing-of-the-day calendar, i see that independent studies have evidently concluded that consumers are most likely to be exposed to high levels of pesticides via bell peppers, celery, carrots, lettuce, potatoes and kale.

This makes sense, as these are all either root vegetables, which would absorb the pesticides in their root, or vegetables that have a high water content but grow close to the ground.

Yup, if you want these veggies, best grow them yourself.

Harlem Shaking...

By day, I am a programmer at Lamar Advertising. We recently did our own Harlem Shake video, partially for the exercise (we've got a wellness challenge thing going on) - and partly just for fun. Well, it was a lot of fun - and a surprising amount of exercise, to boot.

Noteworthy things about this particular video? I'm in it, for one - I'm wearing a "I'm blogging this"* T-Shirt and a Bumble-bee Transformer mask. The guy who leads the whole thing off is wearing my Call of Duty helicopter helmet (although you can't really make out the "GameVortexGeck0" written on it... and, for those who play COD, he's Stabby McStabberton, aka StabbyMcStabberton aka Awful Me on Steam.

Also, to the left of Bumble-bee, you may see none other than Hardy, GV's own Junior Hardware Intern - wearing a blue and black luchador mask.

Check it out and see what you can spot...

Game Vortex Shouts Out to Little Rock with LamarPostr

I'm reaching out to the folks in Little Rock, Arkansas, using a new special digital billboard advertising program offered by Lamar Outdoor Advertising, Lamar Postr (LamarPostr.com) to introduce them to Game Vortex.

If you're in Little Rock, you might have seen any of these messages. This is just the beginning of the advertisement campaign, so they're just teasers, so far...

Got game? - Game Vortex	So, who's heard of Game Vortex?
So, what exactly IS Game Vortex?	Hello, Little Rock! - Game Vortex
What to Play? - Game Vortex	Calling all Gamers - Game Vortex
Try this at home: Game Vortex	Would you like to play a game? - Game Vortex
Never waste good money on bad games. - Game Vortex	Curl up with a good book? - Game Vortex
Game On! Game Vortex	Need ideas for movie night? - Game Vortex

One aspect that's pretty awesome is that you can change out the text on a given sign twice after the initial posted text, for a total of three messages per sign in a given day. The twelve messages you see above were posted in one day on four signs in the middle of Little Rock, Arkansas.

Starting tomorrow, I will begin an ad campaign that is alphabet-driven, highlighting some of the interesting aspects and featured content of Game Vortex. If you're in the area, pay close attention... we're looking at having a "pop-quiz" at the end, with a prize of some sort...

Stay tuned...

Awesome T-Shirts, Part 1

I wear T-shirts. Pretty much exclusively.

I often get compliments on the T-shirts that I wear, as I usually go for shirts that are a bit quirky, humorous and witty. Some of them are down-right punny.

I usually get my shirts from TeeFury or, occasionally, at Shirt.Woot, but I never really check out Threadless, even though I've heard of them before.

For both of you who also suffer from this oversight, here are ten awesome T-shirts from Threadless.
Some may make it into my collection soon...

  1) The King - Awesome mashup.
  2) Them Birds - Mashup almost as awesome as The King.
  3) The Beetles - A classic, revisited.
  4) Khaki Kickflip - What plastic soldiers do when you're not looking.
  5) Big Trouble in Little Japan - Donkey Kong must be in every fifth shirt. Period.
  6) Foam Monster in Emotional Reunion with Severed Limb - Bwah. Hahahah!
  7) The Incredible Hawk - In honor of The Avengers... also awesome as a windbreaker.
  8) Introduction to Molecular Bonding - Who's the life of the party?
  9) Rock Paper Scissors Recycled - Circle of Life and all that...
10) Occupational Hazard - Donkey Kong must be in every fifth shirt. Period.

This just in... Dub Step is awesome...

Okay, so I'm not the most wired-in person when it comes to music... especially trends taking place across the pond. Heck, I'm still greatly enthralled by Hot Buttered's Popcorn. However, I have recently discovered Dub Step (or, more likely and more often, Bro Step, which, as I understand it, is what we in America** think is Dub Step, but its bass fails to get into the truly sub-base range.)

I recently reviewed World of Tanks. The music in World of Tanks is cinematic and appropriate for the WWII period. However, once I had evaluated the game with its included music, I foudn myself muting the music, playing Dub Step on YouTube while I played and having a blast...

At any rate, I cannot fully express how awesome Dub Step is*. It is a nearly complete and ultimate synergistic manifestation of everything musical from my teenage years. It is Electronica. I uses samples from popular media, including not only movies, but videogames. It often has a certain amount of irreverence. It is often ambient or environmental in nature. It often utilizes (or, at least, sounds good with) rap. It is all about bass. Each of these elements resonate greatly with me.

I'm interested in trying my hand at forging some Dub Step*. I expect to do most of my creating on a computer, and must first find the appropriate software. I'm doing my research now, but I'm definitely open to any advice. Anyone know some good software for building up Dub Step and/or mashups?

---

* That is GOOD Dub Step. Like any other genre of music, it is possible to create something with no creativity or skill to mention and label it as Dub Step. The label, in and of itself, does not make music good. (Nor does simple addition of Wub-wubs.)

**United States of America... not necessarily the North American or South American continents. Just the U.S.

Yes, Virginia, there really is Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure

I've worked a lot of different places in a lot of different capacities in my life so far. I've worked as an apprentice private investigator, as a telemarketer and as a computer consultant. I have operated a snocone stand and a video game review websites. I've worked at Autozone, Wal*mart, K-Mart and Service Merchandise. I learned something everywhere I went. One of the things that I learned first hand, while at Service Merchandise, is that every year there are one or two "hot items" that, statistically, every child wants for Christmas. It may not actually be every child, but from the perspective of someone working in the toy department, talking to parents that have trekked to every Toys'R'Us, K-Mart, Wal*Mart and department store in the city (and, possibly, the surrounding area) and they're all asking if you have that one toy that they couldn't find at any of those places... and that's the same toy that everyone else is asking about... and the next truck is expected to have two of them on it... that's certainly what it feels like.

It's been quite some time since my Service Merchandise days and I'm not nearly as familiar with children's toys as I used to be, but it seems like a few years back, this trend was true of new consoles being released, as well. When the PS3 first launched, it was just as difficult to get one's hands on as a Tickle-Me-Elmo or a Color Blaster from back in the day. But, all of these were examples of products that caught the attention of the children. While it's true that the parents earn the money and make the purchasing decisions, it would be foolish to think that that adorable high-pitched whine (which can only be made by small children or dental drills) doesn't help them make their decision in favor of getting whatever it takes to shut the thing off.

These objects of desire that capture the waning attention of the American youth typically have certain key elements that make them more attractive. They may be: novel, new, interactive, collectible, and, of course, well marketed to children... ...which brings use to the subject of this post: Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. This list could very well part of the features listed on the initial design for the game... and they've delivered on all of them.

I expect that Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure is going to be a contender for the most popular product this Christmas season. I has all the earmarks of one, and, while the game is rated for Everyone 10+ and the figurines are rated 6+, our reviewers who played the game enjoyed it immensely and most pre-ordered every figure they could and ran out to Target and Sam's Club to get the exclusive characters, as well. I've read of people changing pre-orders based on getting access to special extra items and J.R. Nip went out and bought the game for a second system just to get the exclusive figure from it that he can't buy packaged separately from the game. While it's true that some of our reviewers are collectors, they're far above 10 years old, I assure you.

I don't know that supply will be able to meet the demand this Christmas season...