The General and the Genius

Sorry this post is  late- finished the book late last night. 


The General and the Genius: Groves and Oppenheimer — The Unlikely Partnership that Built the Atom Bomb by James Kunetka

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed this book. Much of what I have read has either focused on the strictly technical/scientific aspect of the work, Richard Feynman's part of the work and how he dealt with his ailing wife during the project, the decision to use the bomb, and drop the second one, the after effects of dropping the bomb/having the bomb.

This book does delve into some of the technical aspects (arguments over the gun vs implosion, and the different detonating devices etc) but not in an overly technical way, so that people with no science or technical backgrounds will still understand it. It talks about the challenges, the sheer infrastructure and logistics involved in the challenge, the bottlenecks caused by uranium and plutonium productions, the arguments between people who would go on to be seen as geniuses in the field. It is a lot about personalities. How they interacted, how they reacted to different decisions and situations. It is mostly about the relationship between Groves, a hard driving, get it done goal oriented career military man who wanted the weapon to end WWII, before the Germans developed something and then after the Germans' surrender wanted to use the device before the Army invaded Japan - at the presumed cost of thousands of lives American as well as Japanese, and Oppenheimer, a brilliant scientist who lurked at the edges of the physics of his day, ambitious, but never quite achieving the peer recognition he aimed for, chain smoking, self doubting, nervous introvert not necessarily ready for the roll he was thrust in. It detailed the effort Groves put in to pump up, enable and shelter Oppie. Groves almost is a guardian/father to Oppie when he most needs the unwavering support.

The end of the book, wraps up with the post war hearings, the second guessing, the moral dilemmas, the vilification of some players, how Oppenheimer in his vocalizations for the need for control of these massive weapons, becomes shut out of the process, Groves pissing off and alienating Eisenhower. It tells of the "rest of life" summary of various key people, and it summarizes the legacies- not just in terms of atomic warfare and weaponry but also how this was the first large scale government funded scientific endeavor, the use of committees formed to make decisions and manage the different groups of people that are then disbanded and new ones formed as the project moves forward in science research.

Once again, I really recommend this book, I learned a lot, and not jsut about the building of a bomb.



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Oink and Moo

I've heard of their food trucks, never happened to be at a food truck event where I was (not that I've been to a huge number of events) Just one of those back of the brain want to try list foods.  Then....

Curt (being food helpful - probably to make up for lack of fUSB progress) sent me a link to their website, Oink and Moo had a storefront location!!!  It is the next town over from where I work!!  If I were a bird it would have been much easier - it is in a really residential neighborhood - took 15 minutes and 9 turns after the main road to get there:

But I found it!!  And got dinner to go, 2 orders of Trifecta Tacos (basically one of each on the menu - although you can customize, I figure let's see what they are about first) they were out of both sweet potatoes :( So I got the mac n cheese, baked beans, greens and cornbread.  (for the record I shared with Curt - wasn't all for me - and he deserved some)

Pulled Pork, with pineapple bbq sauce and cilantro lime slaw - would have been too sweet if not for the slaw - perfectly balances and adds nice crunch.  Chipotle Chicken - had pickled poblano and cilantro lime sour cream - if you know me, you know I'm not a huge chicken fan and most of my chicken gets hidden or buried beneath stuff - but I would eat this again - highest praise bird will ever get from me.  My absolute favorite of the 3 tacos however was the skirt steak - before you think "she'll always pick the beef" I'm probably pickier about what I consider good beef over pork and chicken. Steak was done perfectly, had the same cilantro lime slaw as the pork but a chimichurri over top that added a nice, but not too spicy level of heat.

The mac n cheese was really good, liked the crunchy bits on top, could have used a bit more of a sharp cheese in the sauce seeing as it's a bbq side, the cornbread was sweet (I know some regions like that, I'll be quiet) The greens, a mix of collard a kale, were done really well, soft enough for Curt's happiness, not disintegrating like some places, seasoned well.  My surprise favorite though was the baked beans, there was a great balance between the sweet in the sauce and a slow heat as well.  They are probably my favorite baked beans I've had in recent memory.

Jeff Dunham

Curt had gotten us tickets, back in November, for Jeff Dunham's show at the Prudential Center in Newark.  It was a bit weird having people and not ice down on the floor, and I discovered that while the steep seats mean great views, during sporting events you are jumping up and there are 2 breaks for the zamboni in between periods, you don't notice how little leg room there is.  When just sitting there for 2 hours my knees were killing me by the time we left.

We stopped at Taste Venue across the street for some food beforehand (the Angie and I discovered it last year during a snowstorm that shut a lot of Newark down, but did not stop hockey) some empanadas, catfish fingers, and spinach artichoke wontonish dumpling things and a Guinness were absolutely yummy, although trying to get the check to get out was aggravating.

Jeff was hysterical!  And as a new dad of twins at 53 he has a lot of new material to work with, not to mention everything he gets from the Presidential debates.  He said he was working on some new material for an ABC special in the fall, so he was trying out some jokes, but we could get those jokes for "free".  I will tell you this - while some of this stuff had me just about crying, I'm pretty sure it will never air on network TV.

At one point during the show, he dropped Peanut.  The puppet just sort of flew off his hand.  Jeff picks him up, and Peanut's mouth is hanging open.  We hear Peanut say "my mouth is stuck" and we understand, but Jeff "doesn't".  Peanut repeats himself a bunch of times each time also calling Jeff and Asshole.  Finally Jeff figures it out and tries to fix Peanut's mouth, but Peanut now is saying his fingers smell like poop (remember newborn baby jokes earlier) Another funny that Peanut had was after Jeff talks about getting on the plane in LA at 80 degrees he gets off the plane and it is 2 degrees here, Jeff tells Peanut that NJ is having a mild winter overall - Peanut tells Jeff that a NJ mild winter is like being Kind of pregnant.
Walter, Bubba J and Achmed were all in rare form as well. (I bought Curt a Walter "shut the hell up"  shirt, and got an Achmed "silence I kill you" shirt for myself.

We were hungry after, and since it was late and they were doing road  construction, but we made it to the Tic Tock diner in Clifton in time that I was able to get corned beef hash and eggs before it was midnight and technically Friday ( I don't eat meat on Friday's in lent)

Weber's Grill Restaurant- should have posted Fri..screwed up the schedule thing

I've been dying to go to a Weber's restaurant ever since I saw them on a show (probably Food Network- don't remember) there was one relatively close to where we were wandering that Friday night, so we went for dinner.  There is an open kitchen when you walk through ( I wish I was sitting at one of the booths opposite where the waitstaff pick up orders so I could watch, but it may have gotten hectic ( I will tell you this - they have some kind of amazing exhaust ventilation system - you can smell the food grilling, but there isn't an smoke floating around)  I didn't take a picture but I glommed one off the net - there is a whole long line of grills that were maybe 4' in diameter!

I was surprised, because as much as I love grilled and bbq'd flesh, there is a certain expectation of a restaurant that specializes in this style of cooking.  Weber's was not that style.  They had really professional waitstaff, and it was really like eating at a very nice restaurant, that happened to specialize in feeding it's patrons grilled flesh.

The food and portions however were exactly what you expect!  The food was really, really, really good.  Couldn't finish half of what was on my plate though, and even though we were staying at a place with a full kitchen, I didn't take my leftovers because A. I would have to carry them around the rest of the night and B. I  knew we wouldn't be there to ever eat the leftovers and we'd toss them when we left anyway.

Flew Frontier Airlines

So, this week I will finish sharing my recent trip to Chicago.  We flew Frontier Airlines out of Trenton/mercer County Airport.  It seemed convenient, since the Angie was flying with us and I really didn't want to fly out of Philly.  It was after I booked us for a 7am flight, that I  realized we'd have to leave the house at like 3am since that was too early for the Angie to get there.  So we spent about 6 hours Monday night at a hotel outside Philly.  The terminal is tiny.

But the parking was cheap (especially considering what I would have been paying in Philly)  and we parked about 250 yds from the terminal. Only 64 dollars for 8 days.

There were 2 gates, there was a jetway off to the side, so I am assuming there was a third gate somewhere??  TSA security was pretty quick and painless.  (When they say be at the gate no later than 15 minutes before your flight they mean it - we were taxiing 5 minutes before and flight time was wheels up)  When it was time to board, we walked out of the double door "gate" and across the tarmac to the plane which had a boarding ramp.  Some people I worked with asked if for the price I paid if we were getting a jet or Fred Flintstone's teradactyl -- I am pleased to say we got an Airbus 310 - so a decent sized jet.  Attendants were friendly and efficient getting everyone seated -- and I did what I always do - fall asleep.

Landing at O'Hare was smooth - it amuses me to taxi across the bridge that goes over a regular highway.  The weird thing (and I don't know if it was our flight, or Frontier's contract with the airport or just O'hare in general - haven't been there in over 25 years) was wen we land, we walk down a super long jetway that had like 3 or 4 bends ( I joked to the woman in front of us that hte fares were cheap because we landed in Ohio and were walking the rest of the way)  and then we walked out a gate. Where people were waiting for a flight.  In recent history when I fly we've walked out the jetway into an exit area that leads to baggage claim (truth be told - haven't done any connecting flights in years - so I don't know how people get to their next gate)   We didn't check luggage so we only had to find the trains into downtown Chicago.

We got to O'hare for the flight out pretty early, because I get paranoid about how long TSA will take, got Starbucks for the wait and even though rain was moving in everything went smooth.  ( I must admit I preferred the Pelican on the tail of the plane we flew in on because you know, bird, has wings, flies, to the Dolphin we flew out in - although I guess he didn't mind getting wet as much) Exiting the plane you go down the ramp and through a small building  baggage claim is in there - there is a rolling ramp - like trucks sometimes use to unload loose boxes - and the plane is about 20 feet away, so they open a steel door - move the other piece of ramp under the plane and send the luggage down. (at least it seems harder to misplace this way) To pay for parking and hit the restrooms, you walk back around and into the front of the terminal.

All in all, excellent naps both ways, and other than Trenton being an hour and a half away, I would totally consider flying them again, if I was going somewhere they flew from there. 

First two pictures were taken from Google, we got to the airport at 530am - it was too dark to take those shots.

If in Chicago - Giordanos

The Angie wanted to try Giordano's deep dish pizza when we were in Chicago.   I will admit to being skeptical, especially since Uno's was terrible, but she flashed her dimples and on our last evening we found ourselves in a Giordano's on South Michigan Ave.  We showed up at a good time, no wait for our table, waiter was nice.  We started out with the appetizer plate. The mushrooms were especially delicious.

We split a small pie with pepperoni, mushrooms, peppers.  It was delicious!

 

I can never have eggs benedict again

I had the PERFECT eggs Benedict at brunch today. We took the red line up to Hash House A Go Go. I had salmon Benedict. Chunks of smoked salmon, jalapeños, spinach, sun dried tomatoes a chili cream sauce all pulled on an amazing biscuit! It has forever ruined me for eggs Benedict anywhere else.  I had about half and I think Curt may have to roll my stuffed butt out of here.

Went to the original pizza uno

Went yesterday. Split a pepperoni, sausage & mushroom pie with Curt and the Angie. Gotta say, still don't like it. For those of you who've had it elsewhere (not sure how many restaurants they have now) it pretty much is the same. If you like it, enjoy it near home. If you're like me and don't understand the fuss? Don't bother trying it in Chicago, it doesn't get better.

Last week, we made a quick run in and out of Philly.  I got out of work at 11pm the night before, we left the house at 530, got to the Angie at almost 8, had to run her to Home Depot, run back to her house, help her fix some stuff, then we had just enough time for a quick breakfast, before we had to be in north Jersey at my mom's house, in the afternoon and had to be back home by 4.  Deep breath.  We had a really nice brunch with the Angie at Cedar Point Bar and Kitchen in Fishtown.  Curt got red beans and rice with andouille sausage, (no picture sorry) I got their red flannel hash (diced sweet potatoes, beets, poblanos, onions & apples, I had my eggs over light and andouille) the Angie and I split A biscuit - yes just one that came with butter and homemade jam. 

 The Angie had a pound of wings (her dad had to help with that) that came with fried brussel sprouts and apricot horseradish sauce.  OMG everything was soooo good, it was almost worth how exhausted I was at work the next day!